Come now, look at all the progress that has been made in the quest for justice since I kicked off all those years ago!

At the end of the day, we’ve all been taught to take it up the bum from the Royals and their tame parliamentarians our whole lives; far too many folk do indeed seem to enjoy it

Clearly abuse of power is of no great concern to you…

Shame you’re not modding these days eh…

It’s a fair point about the rise in the age of consent, though the overall story remains the same:

In Victorian London, the age of consent was just thirteen. Unwitting girls were regularly enticed, tricked and sold into prostitution. If not marked out for a gentleman in a city brothel, they were legally trafficked to Brussels, Paris and beyond.

All the while, the Establishment turned a blind eye. That is, until one policeman wrote an incendiary report.

Disgraced for testifying against a violent colleague, Irish inspector Jeremiah Minahan was transferred to the backwater of Chelsea as punishment. Here he met Mary Jeffries, a notorious trafficker and procuress who counted Cabinet members and royalty among her clientele. Within days of reporting Jeffries, Minahan was unceremoniously forced out of the Metropolitan Police. So he turned private detective, setting out to expose the peers and politicians more interested in shielding their own positions (and peccadilloes) than London’s child prostitutes.

The findings Minahan did reveal in 1885 sparked national outrage: riots, arrests, a tabloid war and a sensational trial…other secrets were so fearful he took them to his grave, where they remained – until now.

This is the true tale of a man caught between a corrupt English Establishment and his own rebel heart: a very Victorian scandal, but also, a story for our times.

Many is the time I’ve swooned over the timeless wonder of a Legnum and their relatively low purchase price… however, the prospects of the running costs and the associated environmental catastrophe have always just about tamed my desires

Jolly good job too; a country with such a rich history of chivalry!

Arise sir Tony!

Surely it’s about time the Right Honourable Lord Mandelson got bumped up the honours list…

follow the money

"When Epstein was a director, the Black Family Foundation donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. Millions also were donated to the MoMA. Other common recipients included Charles Bronfman’s Birthright Israel Foundation."

— Whitney Webb (@_whitneywebb) October 13, 2020

Odd there’s been so little mention of the hidden cameras…

We drank gin, brainstormed heavy stuff, created fire, butchered a deer, sat round the fire, jumped off cliffs into the sea, had a sing-a-long, and played Zorb British Bulldog.

How many of these perks are included with the purchase of every watch?

(or will every watch sold help finance more such motivational activities for a̶m̶b̶a̶s̶s̶a̶d̶o̶r̶s̶ the sales team?)

Wonder how much additional carbon has been released as a result of the legal precedent which prevents the use of rickshaws and pedicabs in most UK towns and cities…

Enjoy, Norco have been coming up with some excellent bikes of late, add to that the fact that you’ve scored a bargain during a drought and you should have many smiles ahead

Unlike those nasty foreign children who keep getting in the way of drone strikes (whose only redeeming features are dispensing with all the faff of serving legal papers and freeing up valuable court space), our humble prince is clearly innocent:

It would take a heart of steel not to cancel all investigations into his alleged sex crimes pic.twitter.com/4s7oo51xLq

— James Felton (@JimMFelton) September 22, 2021

Where does Temple Mount fit into all of this?

After all, it’s a key site in Judaism, Islam, Christianity and Freemasonry…

Really enjoyed it when I rode it a couple of weeks back; there is a few sections which could be improved, but for the most part, it’s a bloody good 1st draft; and not nearly as shit as some folk whose livelihood depends on people going on youtube looking to be inspired to ride non uplifted trails in the wilderness might have you believe.

As a trailbuilder myself, I’m aware of time and budget constraints which mean you rarely achieve exactly what you want and looking at the scale of what they’ve built, I consider it an impressive achievement; if you’re a timid rider, just finding their feet, you shouldn’t go too far wrong; big rocks are often used as a visual aid (or ‘choke’) as the primal fear they instill is generally pretty handy for slowing riders down to a safer pace… at the other end of the scale, if you’re giving it beans, you can get some real schweet hooligan drifts in some of the turns just after the pedally bit (although I ended up riding chainless most of the day when I was there).

I can see why people might prefer a singletrack trail, but it’s probably worth doing a bit of deduction and reading between the lines here; let’s not forget, the Macavalanche, a mass start race involving a lot of overtaking has recently moved venue from Glencoe to Nevis range…

Israel’s role in the formation of Hamas is another odd one…

The man is a true innovator…

The waters quickly get muddy when you remember how extensively Saudi Arabia has invested in the promotion of the wahhabist version of Islam… and the arms that the fundamentalists created by such religion need to further their cause

“Why has your govt suppressed a report on the funding of terror groups?” @MichaelLCrick challenges Foreign Sec on relationship with Saudi. pic.twitter.com/iU4EqdauWL

— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) June 6, 2017

All very odd when you consider Boris Johnson is apparently a ‘passionate zionist’

I know that we’re not being told the full story; after all, the UK and Australia share the same head of state…

The very same head of state on whose behalf a prime minister was deposed when he started asking too many questions about the CIA’s involvement in Pine Gap

Ain’t called the Royal Australian Navy for nothin’

Here’s a question for you, do you think OJ Simpson was guilty?

Not so fun fact… that dodgy so and so Alan Dershowitz, who was himself implicated along with Epstein and negotiated the plea deal that meant Epstein could still live the high life after his initial conviction (after which Prince Andrew continued to visit), was also on OJ Simpson’s defence team.

Dershowitz also arranged for private investigators to dig dirt on many of Epstein’s victims so they could be intimidated and discredited…

Of course, there’s much talk about due process and the rule of law, but many seem to be forgetting that much like diplomatic immunity (not forgetting that most of MI6s work will be dealt with via embassies around the world) intelligence services (who have oh so many questions to answer in all of this) are above the law; so much so in fact, that whilst everyone was losing their shit about covid, new laws were introduced to further protect their right to break the law…

Undercover informants working for the police and MI5 are going to be explicitly permitted for the first time under British law to commit crimes.

The unprecedented legislation to authorise and oversee crimes comes after years of unclear rules over when these agents can break the law.

The law will not specify exactly which crimes can be committed.

Which agencies will be able to authorise secret crimes?

MI5 and other intelligence bodies
Police forces and the National Crime agency
Immigration and Border Officers
HM Revenue and Customs, Serious Fraud Office
UK military forces
Ministry of Justice (investigations in prisons)
Competition and Markets Authority, Environment Agency, Financial Conduct Authority, Food Standards Agency, Gambling Commission and Medicines and Healthcare Regulation Authority

It would be foolish to assume that Prince Andrew (or Ghislaine Maxwell, or Jeffrey Epstein) has had no dealings with the intelligence services throughout his life

Well now, perhaps there is something to this after all:

4/. “Let me know when we can talk. Got some specific questions to ask you about Virginia Roberts”

The summons shows that #PrinceAndrew emailed #GhislaineMaxwell in 2015 after @VRSVirginia’s allegations became public

In 2019, he said: “I've no recollection of ever meeting her”. pic.twitter.com/PeOPibUWpT

— Stefan Simanowitz (@StefSimanowitz) September 14, 2021

Though many people may be unaware, there’s an uncanny synergy to all of this…

Mick Hannah was key to the global pump track boom

Something about this guy cracks me up; this episode, where he’s broken his MTB, so sends DH trails on a 1 brake BMX with street tyres tickles me somewhat:

Having subesquently gone to find and inspect the tree drop and step down in question, the video really doesn’t do any justice to just how bonkers the stuff he’s riding is!

Exactly, the last thing we want is any kind of ‘justice’ interfering with our national debt!

There is no magic money tree!!

I mean, we’re already approx £2.5 trillion in debt…

Imagine how many drones the Royal Air Force could buy to target brown people in other countries with high precision for the amount of cash this young lady is likely to extort from Her Majesty’s treasury!

The government is investing £94m to upgrade the RAF station so it can house the drones, which are set to enter into service in 2024.

When asked if the UK government would consider launching drone strikes in Afghanistan, Mr Wallace said: “I’ll do whatever I have to do to protect citizens’ lives and our interests and our allies, when we’re called upon to do so, wherever that may be.”

Far better that such monies go to those with shared values:

Anyhoo, best not stray too far off topic…

How can you lowly oiks be so insolent to His Royal Highness!!

This brave man has been doing sterling service for our country throughout his life; lest we forget, back when he may or may not have met Miss Guiffre, he was UK’s special representative for international trade and investment, a role he took over from his mother’s cousin (and head of the Freemasons), the Duke of Kent.

The sheer money he would’ve been dealing in that role is inconceivable to tiny proles such as yourselves; it’s no wonder the poor man needed to let his hair down every now and then with all the stress of those constant arms deals, not to mention all the juggling of offshore finances, so crucial to such activities

So wind you necks in and be thankful that our head of state and her progeny have done their utmost to preserve the profitability of your tax investment!

Lucky man… a bit like riding a mechanical bull that’s hooked up to a death slide over an assortment of broken bottles, barbed wire, sharks, alligators and rattle snakes, only to land on a bean bag, with your conveniently placed pipe and slippers at the ready!

and to think, that’s the same fella (Bandar Bin Sultan) that set the Al Yamamah deal in motion which got Prince Andrew all het up when it looked like the Serious Fraud Office were going to delve deeper.

Wonder what Sherard Cowper Coles, Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia at the time, who successfully intervened to prevent full investigation, before becoming HM Ambassador to Afghanistan the very next year is up to now?

Sherard Cowper Coles, was Robin Cook’s PPS 1999-2001…

It’s all very well to suggest the CIA or MI6 (or the many other intelligence agencies with whom they collaborate) are organizations in chaos, with no real co-ordination; in fact, if you look at this paragraph:

US intelligence helped Saddam’s Ba`ath Party seize power for the first time in 1963. Evidence suggests that Saddam was on the CIA payroll as early as 1959, when he participated in a failed assassination attempt against Iraqi strongman Abd al-Karim Qassem. In the 1980s, the US and Britain backed Saddam in the war against Iran, giving Iraq arms, money, satellite intelligence, and even chemical & bio-weapon precursors. As many as 90 US military advisors supported Iraqi forces and helped pick targets for Iraqi air and missile attacks.

It would be hard to argue that the outcome of CIA efforts supporting Saddam Hussein in the late 50s was mapped out decades in advance… I for one wouldn’t suggest that for a moment, however, when you modus operandi is to covertly plough weapons into a situation, you can’t really be too suprised when

a) You spark a trend whereby the global arms race intensifies and more and more resources and funding are ploughed into the weapons trade as nations rush to remain competitive and protect their interests (which just so happens to be quite profitable for many in political, military and intelligence circles)

and

b) It blows up in your face

Quite aside from all this, just why is it that the UK and US remain so in league with Saudi Arabia, happy to turn a blind eye to all manner of transgressions, from the orchestrated spread of wahhabism, to the vast humanitarian crisis in Yemen, to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi (who lest we forget, is reported to have been Saudi Intelligence’s go-between with Osama Bin Laden)?

Do you now accept that the US didn’t fund Bin Laden and Al Qaeda? Or are you picking and choosing which bits of wikipedia you believe?

Quite the tangled web…

and to think, that’s the same fella (Bandar Bin Sultan) that set the Al Yamamah deal in motion which got Prince Andrew all het up when it looked like the Serious Fraud Office were going to delve deeper.

Wonder what Sherard Cowper Coles, Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia at the time, who successfully intervened to prevent full investigation, before becoming HM Ambassador to Afghanistan the very next year is up to now?

So, here’s a weird thing, one of the more surprising users of Blackhawks is China’s PLA (they operate a couple of dozen S-70 variants bought in the 80’s..).I wonder if they’d be willing to supply parts? Perhaps even some training?

Stranger things have happened.

Fair point… it’s worth remembering China supplied many of the weapons for Operation Cyclone after the CIA decided it wanted to use AK47s, so as to blur the source of all the arms flooding into Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, back on topic…

For years now Afghans have been fleeing their home country

(from 2011)

Afghanistan continues to be the prime country with the most refugees under UNHCR responsibility across the globe. There are three million Afghan refugees, one out of three of the total worldwide number. Countries facing conflict and disruption feature heavily in the report and a big trend seen is the number of refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries.

The UNHCR says that “by the end of 2010, three quarters of the world’s
refugees were residing in a country neighbouring their own” – neighbouring Pakistan and Iran were the refuge for over 2.7m Afghans in 2010.

As seen in last years report, developing countries host four fifths of the world’s refugees. Pakistan, Iran and the Syrian Arab Republic are the top hosting countries globally for refugees.

in no small part due to the unrest caused by the allied invasion

But who can blame them when life is such a worthless commodity?

On Afghanistan, I recently published a long investigation into how the CIA turned the country into the world's largest narco state, sparking a massive, region wide opioid epidemic — one which dwarfs the one in the United States. https://t.co/RmUWaXAT5a

— Alan MacLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) August 25, 2021

Am I right in thinking that aside from the photos, there is literally no mention whatsoever of the jumps… reckon they’ve missed a trick there

‘A good variety of dirt mounds sculpted with love by local craftsman so as to enhance and enjoy the laws of physics in delightful natural surroundings’

You know who else uses translators? The Mossad…

Whoa, steady on, thought we were looking for humanitarian solutions…

To be fair, you do have a point there… Gary Webb is a clear example of a journalist who dug too deep in the days before the internet gave a far greater degree of protection;

Webb exposed drug smuggling from Central America, so key to the US Crack Epidemic (and the running of arms in return, via Mena airport)… turns out it involved not only the CIA, but also the US president at the time, Ronald Reagan and 2 men who would go on to become US presidents; George HW Bush and Bill Clinton.

And to think, all of that was going on whilst the CIA and MI6 were pumping arms into Afghanistan and aiding Osama Bin Laden’s efforts before the Mujahideen became Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

No doubt Bill Barr could fill you in on more details of that period, though of course, more recently he was tied up with the Jeffrey Epstein affair and just why it was his Father recruited Epstein in the 1st place when he lacked the necessary qualifications.

All heavy stuff no doubt, but something tells me that despite GCHQ and the NSA’s best efforts, there are still ways to stick it to da man…

Literally no-one has suggested this.

Perhaps they didn’t have to…

Military expenditure increases in the first year of the pandemic

The 2.6 per cent increase in world military spending came in a year when global gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 4.4 per cent (October 2020 projection by the International Monetary Fund), largely due to the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, military spending as a share of GDP—the military burden—reached a global average of 2.4 per cent in 2020, up from 2.2 per cent in 2019. This was the biggest year-on-year rise in the military burden since the global financial and economic crisis in 2009.

OMG, what if someone other than consumptive nations built on global exploitation and genocide get their hands on military aircraft capable of bombing civilians…

There’s only one thing for it, we need to up military spending and send the troops in!

(or if sufficient public support can’t be drummed up with humanitarian sentiment, we’ll have to keep it covert like Operation Cyclone and Timber Sycamore)

Still, in the meantime, the more fuss we create, the less likely anyone is to realize that the translators were left behind because they know too much…

We need an opposition, full stop. Starmer isn’t it.

How very dare you sir, he is leader of Her Majesty’s Most Loyal Opposition

Still, being loyal to Her Majesty seems to have it’s rewards…

And to think, the Queen's Lord Chamberlain (William Peel) is Brother in Law to Serco CEO Rupert Soames…

Not forgetting Prince Charles' lifelong friend, Nicholas Soames who threatened Diana not long before her unlawful killing https://t.co/9Bdki0ICCs pic.twitter.com/FjLOJbALbz

— Tom Young (@OldTomYoung) August 6, 2020

Now, if only there was evidence to suggest that the 2 party political system is a cunning device used to divide and distract…

I mean Bitcoin seems very useful if you want to sell heroin and buy weapons illicitly

Huh, dunno how HSBC will feel about someone muscling in on their patch

(cough, don’t tell British Cycling)

Every time I post anything approaching the truth on a thread about geopolitics, the arms trade, natural resources and climate change I will be banned from further posting in that thread in short order…

Whatsmore, cheese is often quite pleasant

something tells me he’ll bounce back just fine…

The Gap (Glencullen Adventure Park) is defo worth a visit; excellent variety of trails with killer views and being a relatively small hill, you get loads of runs in during a session.

All told, it comes highly recommended (though I would say that having had free reign building one of the soon to be opened trails there)

Shouldn’t be anything to worry about if you stick to the purpose built trails…

So far afghan has cost the US 2 trillion dollars, let’s ignore the costs for other NATO countries and the lives lost…. That $2 trillion is enough to end world hunger, help sort climate change, end poverty or give every person on the planet approx. $250 each

That sort of hippy mindset would wreak havoc on the global arms trade, likely having a deep impact on offshore finance and government as we know it!