Thu, 15 Oct 2026 13:10:35 +0100WeeblyThu, 15 Oct 2026 11:50:34 GMThttps://www.colinchallen.org/blog/one-to-watch+A lot hangs on the Chancellor’s Budget on 28th October. (I could start every blog with this line, like ‘A lot hangs on how the Premier League handles Manchester City’ or ‘A lot hangs on whether a Canary Islands volcano collapses and causes a tsunami which wipes out Mar-a-Lago.’) Any way, a lot hangs on John Healey’s words in a couple of weeks’ time. Reports suggest he has ruled out equalising the level of Capital Gains tax with Income tax. Apparently such a move would drive investors away. I wonder why the reverse is not considered applicable too. Not equalising Income tax with the current level of Capital Gains tax might drive away workers! To which one might add bring back free movement but not everybody favours the idea that workers should be as free to roam as capital or the wealthy. If Healey does nothing to tame capitalist excess in this budget we will hear a rapid expulsion of air from the Burnham bounce balloon.

+A lot hangs on the outcome of the forthcoming Israeli general election, not least whether the country may become a little less anti-Semitic. Or self-hating. How else can one explain the actions of the current government which is pursuing an intra-tribal war amongst Semites? (And dragging the rest of us into it.) The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles defines the word ‘semite’ thus:

‘A person belonging to the race of mankind which includes most of the people mentioned in Gen[esis]. 10 as descended from Shem son of Noah, as the Hebrews, Arabs, Assyrians, and Arameans. Also, a person speaking a Semitic language as his native tongue.’

It seems that far from cleansing the world’s surface of badness, the Flood enabled Noah’s family to begin a feud which has lasted to this day. Present day descendants of Shem must feel very grateful for how he is described in Wikipedia:

‘Shem’s story emphasizes faithfulness, obedience, and the continuity of God’s plan through generations. His life bridges the pre-Flood and post-Flood worlds, ensuring the survival of humanity and the preservation of divine worship. Through his descendants, Shem’s legacy shapes the history of the Near East and the unfolding narrative of salvation in biblical tradition.’

Well, you couldn’t make it up! I’m not sure I want salvation in the ‘biblical tradition’ but it seems we all have to pay for this continuing religious nonsense.

+ In case you missed it: the overall cost so far of the mid-term US elections has risen to $11.6 billion – more than ever before. I will be interested to see what impact this spending has on the results – sometimes the increased exposure of a bad message has a negative backlash. The Tories outspent Labour in 1997 and look where it got them. The Texas Senate race has so far cost the contenders half a billion dollars, and with the American way of focussing so heavily on the personalities of candidates, this from the New York Times today is revealing:

‘He’s got baggage to spare [Ken Paxton, Republican candidate]. During a quarter-century in Texas politics, he has never lost an election. But as attorney general, he was charged with felony fraud. He cut a deal to drop the charges in exchange for paying restitution and performing community service. Then, a group of his aides accused him of bribery and abuse of office. The Texas House impeached him in 2023. (The State Senate acquitted him.) And last year, his wife, Angela Paxton, a state senator, filed for divorce on “biblical grounds,” after his impeachment trial revealed that he’d used burner phones, a shared Uber account and secret email address to conduct an affair.’

There’s the Good Book again! Doesn't it say sinners should be given a second chance?  The Democrats haven’t won a state-wide election in Texas for 32 years, but now it’s in contention. One to watch.

]]>Tue, 13 Oct 2026 08:09:47 GMThttps://www.colinchallen.org/blog/free-adviceA lot hangs on the outcome of the US mid-term elections (for this profound insight I should be offered a highly paid post as a Vice President of some big US PR Co.). Yes things are looking dicey for the Republicans, so this snippet in the New York Times (12/10/26) about Republican candidates amused me greatly:

‘There have been new ads stating opposition to Trump’s tariffs from candidates who supported them, calls to end the war in Iran from candidates who backed it and efforts to look bipartisan from candidates who pledged to be Trump’s top allies.’

I don’t think this necessarily suggests the demise of Trump’s circle of IQ-challenged lickspittles and sycophants, since with two years left in office, he will still wield considerable power. I imagine anyone coming to him with a money-spinning idea will be rewarded, although they may not get what they think they deserve. Trump doesn’t pay his bills. But for the rest of us, if a new Congress can curtail his catastrophic international interventions as they have the power to do it could ease the chaos his Presidency has created.
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If the Democrats can win control of the House, which is likely, and the Senate, less so, then there's a real chance Trump could be impeached and ousted. That would be justice indeed, but might it awaken deep antagonisms in the country which in the end would do more harm than good? And why open the door to JD Vance? My advice to the Democrats, which is completely free, is curtail as best you can the damage Trump could still do whilst at the same time building your alternative narrative in readiness for the next presidential election when hopefully you'll have a new candidate (not Kamala Harris, the current frontrunner). 

]]>Mon, 12 Oct 2026 12:55:36 GMThttps://www.colinchallen.org/blog/catching-terroristsIf on the 7th February, 1991 the IRA had access to AI controlled explosive carrying drones, British history may have taken a different turn. Instead all they had when they then tried to wipe out the British Cabinet was a Tranny van with the roof cut out loaded with three mortars. The subsequent blasts were relatively harmless, but the shells made one or two craters and the explosions made John Major's Cabinet dive under the table. Nobody was killed. Now, I doubt you would need a tranny van parked out the back of No.10 to do more damage. It could be parked in Sloane Square, with a load of 30 drones, with perhaps another one symbolically parked near the Imperial War Museum with a similar load.

In this context I could understand fears of what went on at RAF/USAF Fairford, fears which have forced some of the US's mightiest weapons to be withdrawn back home in a panic. Maybe my earlier suggestion that the three white vans parked near Fairford were filled with sheep rustlers was a bit supercilious. I have no idea whether there are any sheep near Fairford. But the vague assessment of the situation given to the public by the government encourages speculation. If indeed the men arrested were somehow linked to a 'terrorist' plot it seems very odd that they were released on police bail almost immediately - when they could have been legally detained for at least 14 days without charge, if suspected of terrorism. This presents an interesting problem, since they were probably released on the basis that they had committed no crime. Perhaps they were on a rehearsal with empty vans. But wouldn't it be rather odd to drive three empty white vans at midnight to just outside the base? A bit noticeable, isn't it? A single car would have been less obtrusive.

t must now be demonstrated that they were part of a plot. Which makes one wonder why they aren't still in detention. Perhaps when it comes to tackling 'terrorism' the police are better at catching pensioners holding placards saying 'I support Palestine Action.']]>Sat, 10 Oct 2026 17:27:26 GMThttps://www.colinchallen.org/blog/nauseaWith a rising sensation of nausea I listened to an extended interview with ‘Lord’* Tom Watson and Nick Robinson in the BBC series ‘Political Thinking.’ Watson, playing a calm, smooth talking ‘gob for hire’ brushed aside any awkward suggestions that he had hypocritically taken on a position as vice president of Palantir as odd – somehow his progression from a power-baiting MP had now found a natural home in a business designed purely on the principle of democratic socialism (apparently one of Palantir’s top bosses is a self-declared ‘democratic socialist.’} And poor Tom doesn’t seem to know very much about Palantir’s absolute top dog, Peter Theil who has little respect for democracy per se.

Nick Robinson didn’t ask whether Watson sought out this job, or whether he was head hunted, but whichever way it was I think Palantir may eventually experience buyer’s remorse. Watson’s grasp of situations has largely been self-serving which makes the possibility of being wrong footed more probable. He built his career on entering the lion’s den of controversy, not least when it came to promoting sordid falsehoods. Such is his complacent self-gaze, he suggests that opposition to Palantir’s sordid involvement e.g. with enabling death in Gaza or US ‘immigration control’ is neither here nor there, it’s just stuff cooked up by ‘hot heads’ and could lead to ‘mob rule.’

How ironic that he and Tony Blair have both been willing to sell their souls for 30 pieces of silver. Although Blair made rather more than that from the dictators he served. Watson’s hopes of distancing himself from Theil’s politics would be just about as credible if he felt the same about taking up a role working for the Trump organisation.

*Since Watson has taken ‘leave of absence’ from his duties as a parliamentarian in the upper chamber, it is hard to see why he should still retain the title ‘Lord.’ His original departure was caused by ill-health, but since he has taken on a job which pays in the region of $213,000 (Google suggests) he should make a choice. As should any other peer who may be perceived to be profiting from their title. Yet another argument for the abolition of the House of Lords.]]>Fri, 09 Oct 2026 18:01:22 GMThttps://www.colinchallen.org/blog/snuff-it-outIt remains to be seen whether the convicted murderer of 13 US service people (17 years ago) will have his death sentence performed as a public spectacle – ‘live streamed’ in the current vernacular. This at the behest of US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Clearly, Hegseth’s time in the armed forces has done much to humanise him. So much so perhaps he could serve in the firing squad. Perhaps he could be its sole member. He could re-enact the vigilante role of Charles Bronson in one of those retribution films from the 70s and 80s, very popular with people who like the idea of ‘natural justice’ and who anonymously issue death threats every day on ‘social’ media. I can’t see any distinction between Hegseth and the ISIS bros and their beheading snuff movies. The savagery currently emerging in and from the United States should be met with loud and vocal condemnation from any leader sensing a moral obligation. So far, the silence has been deafening. Unpleasant – bad, very bad – people the world over will be encouraged, and why wouldn’t they?]]>Thu, 08 Oct 2026 10:54:16 GMThttps://www.colinchallen.org/blog/infowars
​Anybody who is the least bit familiar with U.S. disinformation campaigns from the past will have experienced a snort of disbelief when reading what follows, about countries pulling out of a conference:

‘Disinfo2026, [is] an anti-disinformation conference that features panels talking about the U.S. as a foreign-interference threat, citing discomfort with how some panels are framed. 
The event: Disinfo2026 is an annual conference on countering disinformation, with this year’s taking place in Lithuania this week. The Lithuanian government said it also withdrew its sponsorship and the EU’s diplomatic service did the same, participants told The Globe.
The dissent: The U.S. State Department in an e-mailed statement criticized the conference for proposing that the country is a source of foreign interference and manipulated information. It declined to say whether Washington raised concerns about Disinfo2026 with Canada and European countries.’ (Globe and Mail, 8th October)
 
Is there a bigger peddler of disinformation, misinformation and falsehood than Donald Trump? One can only assume that many in his administration loyally follow his lead. (Further reading: Casey Michel, Foreign Agents, How American Lobbyists and Lawmakers Threaten Democracy Around the World, St Martin’s Press, 2024)

What a co-incidence! A story flagged up in the New York Times today:

• Times exclusive: A top aide at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem has repeatedly suppressed and altered reports critical of Israel.

]]>Wed, 07 Oct 2026 17:08:46 GMThttps://www.colinchallen.org/blog/same-old-rubbish+The other night I watched that great Ealing comedy Passport to Pimlico. There was something very Brexit about it, which is to say what does a declaration of independence actually mean (if not as it turns out to be a declaration of fealty to some other power)?  How when the independent state of ‘Burgundy’ in Pimlico was set up did it became a target for spivs, criminals and black marketeers (all from ‘England’)? And later, after punitive British government sanctions were introduced it showed the sight of decent working class people (from England again) throwing supplies over the newly erected barbed wire fences in solidarity. This is – and isn’t a film – for comfortable viewing for that scoundrel Nigel Farage.* It successfully mixes up alternative considerations of patriotism to the extent it can be hard to determine what exactly that word means. But it is clear it means something, which at the end of the day (in the film) is love of place. (Burnham here we come)
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+The Tory conference has ended and according to Kemi Badenough the ideological boundaries between left and right have been re-established. This news will come as a blow to Tony Blair, who once thought he had abolished political ideological thinking (Third Way and all that). Now it feels like Groundhog Day with Badenough wanting to cut inheritance tax, presumably to replicate the same trick George Osbourne pulled in 2007 which upset Gordon Brown's general election plans. It should be remembered that only 5% of people ever have to pay any inheritance tax. Interviewed on the radio, a Tory shadow minister in defence of their policy claimed that people had already paid tax on what they owned, suggesting perhaps that the value of what they owned all came from earned income. This is nonsense of course. The enormous inflation of asset values in recent years had nothing to do with earnings. The assets most people own who are drawing close to their demise is their house and as well as having a home of their own they will simply have watched its value rise and rise without having paid a penny of tax on its upward financial projectory. It's worrying that a Tory finance spokesperson doesn't understand this, but their mantra is 'It's your money not the government's.' I would suggest they consider the natural conclusion to that argument which is to say each taxpayer should have the right to hypothecate their own taxes, e.g. if you don't want to pay for Badenough's 'Britannia Shield' you won't have to. Or nuclear weapons. Or dedicated cycle lanes. Or traffic lights. Who likes traffic lights? They're the daily reminder of the profligate, overarching nanny state! (I hope you follow my drift) 
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*That is my honestly held opinion. ]]>Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:31:18 GMThttps://www.colinchallen.org/blog/a-stain-on-the-history-of-the-united-kingdomQuite a kerfuffle over the Green Party's adoption of an anti-Zionist motion at its annual conference. According to the Green Party's website: 

'The motion sets out the Party’s opposition to Zionism, defined as an ethnonationalist political project, and states that anti-Zionism should not be equated with antisemitism. The motion reasserts the Party’s commitment to Palestinian liberation, the right of return, Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), and a full arms embargo against Israel. The motion also restates the Green Party’s backing for the right to self-determination and calls for the establishment of a single democratic state throughout historic Palestine.' 

This is pretty much a call for an end to the state of Israel as it is today, which I suppose is what anti-Zionism means. I emphasise 'as it is today' since what the Greens are advocating is a one-state solution. That of course could mean a country with a different name, but then again it may not. As things stand, a one-state solution is about as likely as a two-state solution, which the current Israeli government rejects. I think the resolution is calmly worded and merits consideration. Self-reflection on how it came to this might be in order – but obviously not in some quarters. The Israeli government had this to say: 

'The Israeli Foreign Ministry responded sharply to the decision, saying that "the Green Party in Britain has stopped functioning today as a political party and has turned into a terror-supporting entity." The ministry also said that "the Greens have officially adopted Hamas’s green flag and its ideological platform calling for the elimination of the State of Israel through armed struggle." 

The ministry added, "The shocking decision adopted today by the Green Party, which legitimizes armed struggle, calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state from the sea to the river, in effect for the destruction of the State of Israel, and equates Zionism with racism. It is no longer a political text. This is a text that crosses the boundaries of political discourse, and as long as it is not removed, it constitutes a stain on the history of the United Kingdom."' Israel National News, 4th October 2026) 
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Where does the motion call for armed struggle? Or supports a 'terror-supporting entity?' I haven't Googled it, but I suspect that the Foreign Ministry would have said the same thing of Nelson Mandela – who also supported Palestinian liberation. The Israeli government is incapable of self-reflection and goes into hysterical fits when anybody dares to criticise its treatment of Palestinians. In the long run, this will prove to be a self-defeating approach. One is bound to conclude yet again that it has no other ambition but the elimination of all Palestinians. Some Israeli ministers have said as much. ]]>Sat, 03 Oct 2026 20:21:14 GMThttps://www.colinchallen.org/blog/alert-they-could-be-stashed-behind-that-hedgeI am wondering if we’ll hear much more of the terrorist/explosive/attack/threat/plot which did/didn’t take place at or near RAF/USAF Fairford. It is quite likely that this PR exercise if not developed pretty soon will simply prove to be another classic failed  scaremongerer and will fall out of public consciousness as quickly as it arrived, merely leaving an ever widening pool of scepticism about ‘threat’ claims. I am old enough to remember in the 1970s when Heathrow airport was surrounded by armoured cars and tanks following an alleged IRA threat. Nothing happened. In 2003 the same Heathrow thing happened under Mr T. Blair. An interesting report described what happened: 

'The move, reportedly in response to warnings that [Al Qaeda] terrorists had managed to obtain surface-to-air missiles which could be used to bring down a passenger jet, prompted widespread public concern. Files released by the National Archives at Kew, show that then home secretary David Blunkett told the Cabinet that while the deployment had been agreed with the security services and the military, they had not been expecting such a high-profile show of force. 

"The armed forces had not been expected to use their military hardware quite so visibly and this had, perhaps, led to the threat seeming more dramatic than was in reality the case," he said, according to the minutes of the meeting. He said the action had been authorised in response to a "specific terrorist threat" identified by the security services, but did not go into detail. 

"The security services were continuing to work on assessing the threat but were having to strike a difficult balance between intervention and surveillance," he added. In discussion, ministers dismissed claims the deployment operation was "merely a tactic" to build support for the impending invasion of Iraq by British and US forces as "absurd but not surprising"'. (emphasis added)
(The striking day Tony Blair ordered 450 armed troops to create a 'ring of steel' to protect Heathrow; The move, reportedly in response to warnings that terrorists had managed to obtain surface-to-air missiles which could be used to bring down a passenger jet, prompted widespread public concern. - Free Online Library) 
 
Times of heightened tensions, are I think often used by governments to heighten tensions even further, like the banter between boxers before a match. There is no evidence that anything happened at Heathrow. But that of course is all the evidence you need that the military/intelligence op was 100% successful. 

What is absent from any of the media reporting of the RAF/USAF Fairford case is what the USAF is using the base for, i.e. its largest bombers – some with a payload of 24 tons – to attack Iran. Purely defensive you understand (a la Starmer). 
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I wonder what happened to the ‘surface to air missiles' Al Qaeda must have smuggled into the UK in 2003. Are they still lying around? Call the police if you find one.]]>Fri, 02 Oct 2026 10:44:15 GMThttps://www.colinchallen.org/blog/sheep-rustlersI was in the library today and took the opportunity for some free entertainment, in the form of the Daily Telegraph. On the front page there was a story about Israel having tipped off British intelligence about the so-called RAF Fairford terrorist attack (I say ‘so-called’ because at this stage nothing seems to have happened). It’s possible the ‘attack’ was just a group of white van men on a sheep rustling exercise – maybe that’s why a farmer spotted them at midnight. Anyway the Telegraph reports an Israeli source saying that Ed Milliband’s prospective ban on illegally occupied West Bank products will do great damage to our friendly relations with Israel. It may jeopardise future intelligence sharing, an argument which if true would obviously cut both ways. But also on the front page was another story, given much less prominence, about how Mossad had failed to spot the co-pilot of the plane where he tried to hijack it by stabbing the captain. That’s a significant failing, given how Netanyahu said it could have led to another 9/11. Perhaps another way of looking at it was as an Israeli ‘black flag’ operation? Who could say what goes on in the murky world of Mossad – the same intelligence service that didn’t spot Hamas planning the most devastating attack on Israel in decades. Perhaps our intelligence services should treat Israeli intelligence with a degree of caution.

Reading on it is clear that Andy Burnham has ruffled more than a few feathers amongst Telegraphistas. Space is given to top-tier Brexiteer Lord David Frost to sound the alarm about the PM’s suggestion we might rejoin the EU. Frost says that despite post-Brexit (mainly Tory) governments’ failure to properly ‘take back control,’ the UK has done remarkably well economically, outpacing the EU in terms of growth. Another quite separate story in the business pages tells of UK stock markets pulling in investment from all over the place – all this is contrary to the story that Britain is ‘going to the dogs’  which the rightwing media normally spouts. Who do you believe? Apropos my blog 28/9/26 ‘Where’s the real deficit?’ might we rely on HM Treasury to tell us what’s going on?
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Readers will be relieved to learn that I do not intend to make a habit of reading the Daily Telegraph.

​*Metaphorically speaking

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