The right to protest vs intimidation

I have just seen atrocious behaviour by protestors intimidating an MP.  I have posted before about the right to protest, then about how freedom of expression should not be inhibited by protest.  But this is a different matter. 

As many of you know, I am considered a transphobe by many as I do not consider a transman to be a man, or a transwoman to be a woman. But I would never support the action in the video.  Such toxicity and intimidation should face punishment by the law just as it has in the past.  

Trump and the Epstein files

The documents of allegations of Trump and an underage teenager have been published. But Trump will probably get away with it thanks to people focusing on him bombing Iran.

Just remember the timeline.

In a June 2024 interview with Fox News, Trump talked about releasing the Epstein files, but did talk about “the phony stuff” it might contain. 

In June 2025, Elon Musk tweeted that Trump featured in The Epstein files. The tweet has since been deleted. 

In November 2025, Trump was forced to release the files in an increasingly rare show of support by both parties. 

Just before the latest attacks on Iran, reports of missile files of allegations linking Trump to improper conduct with an underage teenager were released. 

Then the not-a-war started, which has worked to divert the attention of most of the world.

And now the files are visible to all, in a redacted manner. But I doubt many will talk about this as the bombing of Iran will get more attention, which means that the objective of the conflict has been met. 

Skrufts

Our dog was cheated out of third place! She took part in Skrufts at the Prettyfields vineyard. There were several categories and she entered Waggiest Tail and Prettiest dog (for girl dogs). With her beard, I wanted to enter her into the most handsome dog, but was banned from doing so.  She did not deserve to win any, but should have got bronze for wagging her tail. As for the prettiest dog, a small girl was judge and picked the Pomeranian in a sparkling coat.  I did try to influence her by getting her to stroke Leia, but she declined the offer to give her a treat, but others cottoned on to my ploy and copied me afterwards! 

Welfare reform

This week, listening to podcasts, I heard Rory Stewart on The Rest is Politics, and The Newsagents talk about welfare reform.

I agree it needs to be reformed. Most people on it need it, but there are a minority who abuse the system.

But there are several issues to bear in mind when it comes to improving the system.

Rates of poverty for those who are working is too high. 

Too many people are forced to have to use foodbanks. 

The development of AI is going to make it harder to get jobs. 

Any change, which is needed, with the benefits system should not make it harder for people in the UK considering how bad things are now.

Operation Epic Fury and why the UK is acting differently this time

In 2025, Iran was attacked by Israel, the USA joining in afterwards. At the time I commented about how UK bases were not being used in the attacks, notably how bombers had to fly from the USA to bomb Iran. 

This time, thanks to Iran retaliating against other nations, the UK is to allow UK bases to be used by US forces to strike the missiles being used to attack nations other than Israel.  Not allowing full use of UK bases has annoyed Trump and also there are many in the UK who think we should be backing the USA fully. Needless to say, many think that we have gone too far in supporting the USA. 

What both sides do not mention is that Starmer did not allow UK bases to be used to attack Iranian missile sites and launchers when Iran were only retaliating against Israel in 2025. 

To be fair, it should be up to the media to point this out, but either they have not noticed, or do not care.  My views on the media bias against Labour have been posted before and I suspect the media will be happy to let Labour get castigated by both sides again. 

Anyway, if the wag-the-dog theory is true, it has worked. While all the Epstein documents were meant to be released, it is reported that some are missing, notably documents relating to an unsubstantiated claim involving Trump and a 13 year old. 

Can You Keep a Secret?

The secret for this film is that it is probably not worth watching the film. It started poorly but did improve. It may be that the film is aimed at a much younger audience than me and it may be that my children would appreciate it more. The Guardian gave it two out of five, and I would agree that is a fair score. 

And on the topic of scores, Arsenal won today, which I am grateful for, but the holding in the penalty area confuses me. My understanding is that defenders should not hold onto attackers, but it may be that Arsenal got lucky again. 

Back from Bristol

My wife and I drove our daughter back to Bristol today.  Due to driving by electric car, the journey is longer than it has been when we have used her hybrid as we need to stop to charge the car. Which means it is about a twelve hour day. She can and has used the train, but I like the drive there. My son spent the time in Colchester recovering from a hectic week and greeted us on our arrival.

While the drive was exhausting, it was worth it. The picture is taken from when my wife and I had lunch while my car was charging.  Our dog got to eat as well, and we may return here if the weather is good (they do not allow dogs inside).