Not so Lammentable? PMQs 5th November 2025

The commentariat are lammbasting Deputy PM David Lammy for his allegedly calammitous performance at PMQs. However they need to look more closely at James Cartlidge’s daft questioning.

JC told Lammy he was surprised that the DPM had not apologised to the victim’s family for the accidental release from prison of the Ethiopian sex offender. Lammy replied that he had then and repeated it now. Cartlidge continued obliviously with “I do think the Deputy Prime Minister owes it to the family to offer an apology here on the Floor of the House” and when the reaction made his error clear he had to cover with “he should have done it at the start of his remarks.”

JC said these were “very serious matters” that required him to ask a “further, very important question”:

“Can he reassure the House that since Kebatu was released, no other asylum-seeking offender has been accidentally let out of prison?”

Everybody (including Lammy, as he later admitted) knew the answer to that already. It was in the morning edition of the the Daily Telegraph: there had indeed been another inadvertent release of a foreign jailbird, an Algerian this time.

The DPM dodged the query and counterattacked - this is exactly what Starmer has often done with Mrs Badenoch telling him and us that she has noticed. Lammy said JC had been Justice Minister himself while prisons were rotting; early releases began under the Tories in 2021; Labour was now busy fixing the mess; Dame Lynne Owens was continuing her investigation. All fair points.

We could have moved on, but no, JC was channelling his Paxman. He continued to over-emphasize, saying these were “extremely serious crimes” and therefore felt he had to repeat the “very specific” question. By George, he was going to nail the DPM!

Lammy replied with what he had done and was going to do to sort the problem. His tactical error lay in not admitting blandly that there had been another inadvertent release and then making all his valid points, spinning it as a legacy Conservative failure. But it may not have been his error: doesn’t the Cabinet Office script everything?

On JC’s side, what did he hope to achieve with his repetitions? We all knew the news and the Tories could expect no response but reminders of their own incompetence.

Cartlidge’s persistence was getting annoying and when he lectured Lammy on his duties as Justice Secretary the DPM exploded: “Get a grip, man! I know I am the Justice Secretary.” The bullyragging had provoked the powerfully-built man into bovine aggression, leaning over the Despatch Box, jabbing his finger and shouting. There is a reason why the centre aisle is thirteen feet wide.

Was that Cartlidge’s aim, to show that Lammy’s short fuse makes him an inappropriate candidate for the top job when Starmer quits? There is to date no indication that Lammy wants it; but if the choice is between him and the boggle-eyed eco-zealot who is destroying our industrial economy, then hooray for Britain’s first black PM! At least he is sane.

JC started again, “The purpose of government is to take -” responsibility, we assume, but his pomposity was interrupted by noise from the benches.

In the end, Cartlidge never got to his killer punchline, for he had miscounted his allocation of questions and the Speaker guillotined him. JC was reduced to a post-session afterthought in the form of a Point Of Order, about whether Lammy had known of the Algerian incident. Hoyle wafted him away with “You have put it on the record.”

A further afterthought came into the media from some spinmeister who pointed out that Brahim Kaddour Cherif is not in fact an asylum-seeker but a visa overstayer.

The Leader of the Opposition’s position is in no immediate danger.

Was this whole to-do about prisons, or about the relentless rubber-boat invasion? If the latter, a better case might have been the man who came back here a month after being thrown out of the country - perhaps collecting frequent-floater points?

Meanwhile our frequent-flyer PM was in Brazil for the COP30 international climate conference, together with Prince William, Ed Miliband, the Mayor of London, the metro-mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin, and a host of British assistants and advisers.

Eight miles of Amazonian rainforest had been bulldozed to create a four-lane highway to Belém for 50,000 aviation-borne global eco-champions. Absentees from this fossil fuel-burning beano included major polluters India, Russia, the US and China. Irony is not dead: blame it on Rio.

Back in Westminster, Lib Dem Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper spoke of threats posed by Russia, China and Elon Musk. Her supplementary was about taxing banks rather than “struggling families,” in response to which the DPM “gently” reminded her of her Party’s role in Coalition-era austerity.

The SNP’s Stephen Flynn tried to link BBC’s Scam Safe Week to the upcoming Budget and was treated to the usual lecture on the SNP’s failures. Lammy later assured Scots that they were not a threat to national security but the SNP, with its opposition to the nuclear deterrent, was.

Other questions and comments included:

The multiple stabbing on a train in Huntingdon, and heroic civilian defenders there
   The murder of mothers by their children
Crowdfunding for a young cancer patient
   Seeking NHS drug approval for a rare mobility disorder
Prostate Cancer Research
   The alleged failures of Reform in Kent
Contrasting the National Minimum Wage with the non-Parliamentary earnings of Reform leader Nigel Farage
   The threatened closure of the Lindsey oil refinery
As Remembrance Sunday approached, commemorating the wartime military contribution of Jews and the West indies Regiment, and Indian troops for whom a marigold may also be worn
   Funding for the London Metropolitan police
Housing for the Armed Forces
   Leaseholder rights
Engaging young people in politics
   The need to limit the burning of waste
Coordinating repair works to road rail and utilities
Access to NHS dentistry
   Review of maternity and neonatal services
The hurricane damage in Jamaica, and the need to combat climate change

… all so much more important than making teacher lose his temper!

FRIDAY MUSIC: The Waterboys, by JD

The Waterboys are a rock band formed in 1983 by Scottish musician and songwriter Mike Scott. The band’s membership, past and present, has been composed mainly of musicians from Britain and Ireland, with Scott remaining the only constant member.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Waterboys

https://www.mikescottwaterboys.com/

The Pan Within

The Waterboys - The Stolen Child (a poem by W B Yeats)

The Waterboys - The Whole Of The Moon (HQ

The Waterboys - Spirit (Full Version)
Based on a poem by W B Yeats

Peace Of Iona (Live) - The Waterboys
(they have also recorded and posted a Gaelic version - Síocháin Iona)

Too Close to Heaven (2013 Remaster)

Gollum and Golem: PMQs 29th October 2025

Recently the Speaker has allowed Sir Keir some latitude in his opening preambles. On the 15th Starmer included 450 self-justifying words on the China spy case; this week he slapped the Tories and Reform over the new Renters’ Rights Act, and both parties (Reform here dubbed “Putin-friendly”) plus the Greens over NATO. Who is supposed to be replying to whom? Perhaps these sessions should be be retitled Prime Minister’s “Provocative Assertions...”

… and “Bendy Answers.” Labour’s Nick Smith opened with a question on nuisance off-road biking in Wales, so that the PM could boast of extra police numbers and powers. But Starmer did not stop there: he noted that the Tories and Reform had voted against the Crime and Policing Bill last June, without mentioning their reasons which included concerns over further potential restrictions on protests and free speech.

Enter the Dragon.

Mrs Badenoch repeated verbatim a question she put on 9 July based on Labour’s election manifesto: “Labour promised not to increase income tax, not to increase national insurance and not to increase VAT. Does the Prime Minister still stand by his promises?”

Sir Keir’s response then had been a straight “yes”; today it was 87 words longer, none of them to the point. “Well, well, well; what a fascinating answer,” remarked LOTO. The PM countered “no Prime Minister or Chancellor will ever set out their plans in advance,” although he had done exactly that in July and the Chancellor was now “flying kites” (as KB put it) about tax rises in the coming Budget.

There followed some unenlightening exchanges on how the nation’s finances had been handled under the Conservatives, culminating in Starmer’s statement “the Conservatives were kicked out of office because they broke the economy” - an elephant in the room threatened to trumpet at that contention. As for what according to Sir Keir are the government’s current successes… “events, dear boy, events,” said Supermac.

LOTO threw in a suggestion of her own, one that brightened the Conservative Party conference three weeks ago: scrap stamp duty on family homes. She may need to rethink that wheeze. It is always nice to be let off an impost but quite possibly the effect would be nullified by a corresponding rise in house prices. The driver for socially destructive asset inflation is the willingness of banks and building societies to lend money - especially during manias like the one that led to the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, or the “Barber Boom” of the early 1970s. There must be some way to rein-in such expansion of credit if another great disaster is to be avoided. Can anyone come up with a workable scheme?

There followed an uncomfortable question from Labour’s Jeff Smith, on Gaza, IDF airstrikes and withheld aid, skirting around Hamas’ own breaches of “the peace agreement and international law.” The PM registered his concern.

In came the Leader of the Lib Dems, who as before wanted to smear Reform with “Russian meddling and money.” Starmer gladly joined in, using his scriptwriters’ buzz-phrase “Putin-friendly” twice more.

“Comparisons are odious”: at least the Russian President was directly elected last year, and with 88 per cent of votes cast. Here we have a lumbering golem of a PM not appointed by the people and continuing the destructive constitutional program initiated nearly thirty years ago by a power-obsessed Gollum. Who is more of a threat to democracy?

Sir Ed returned to another pet topic, the alleged “damage of Brexit.” He reminds me of C Northcote Parkinson’s board member who is valued because he is consistently wrong. The PM was happy to concur with his “opposition” about “the botched deal of the last Government and the damage that has done to our economy.” Of the damage done by 46 years of our EEC/EU membership he had nothing to say.

Other questions touched on health services, special needs, football, knife crime, the State pension “triple lock” and frozen personal tax allowances, the loss of bank branches, the “disarray” at the Home Office, the difficulties faced by small businesses, the opportunities for R&D offered by Cambridge University, and the King’s praying with the Pope in the Sistine Chapel.

Labour’s Annaliese Midgley deplored Reform’s opposition to the Employment Rights Bill but failed to reflect on the ERB’s unintended effect on employment levels.

As the government presses on with its digital ID scheme, it was useful to hear from the DUP’s Gavin Robinson about a massive data breach in Northern Ireland in which all PSNI police officers had their personal details leaked which “represented not only a breach of privacy, but also an increased risk to their safety and that of their families.” He told Sir Keir that the Treasury was balking at releasing financial reserves to deal with it; the PM replied with boilerplate on how much HMG has already provided to the PSNI and the Northern Ireland Executive, and handed-off this issue to the latter.

Also relevant to the theme of potential electronic disaster, the Lib Dems’ Caroline Voaden bemoaned the imminent closure of the last bank in the Devon town of Totnes and asked for a “banking hub.” Without that, readers may fear we shall be driven to a plastic card/smartphone-operated (and “tyranny-friendly”) central bank digital currency. Anyone who has watched shoppers fiddle with their devices at supermarket checkouts as the line lengthens will have a glimpse of the future. Perhaps it is time to revive local currencies instead, like the “Totnes Pound”; a scheme in the Austrian town of Wörgl during the depths of the Depression was such a boost to its economy that the central bank quickly banned it. “Freedom is frightening”, especially for the Powers That Be.

From Wolves of Westminster

FRIDAY MUSIC: The Manhattan Transfer, by JD

“There were several incarnations and formations of the Manhattan Transfer, with each edition having different styles.

The first rendition was in the 1960s, consisting of a mostly a cappella-tinged style; it featured Tim Hauser, Erin Dickins, Marty Nelson, Pat Rosalia, and Gene Pistilli. The second version of the group, formed in 1972, incorporating a more vocal jazz approach, consisted of Hauser, Alan Paul, Janis Siegel, and Laurel Massé.

The third, and most commercially perceived, formation of the group happened in 1979, because Massé had to leave the group after being badly injured in a car crash and was replaced by Cheryl Bentyne. This edition of the Manhattan Transfer performed electronic-styled pop, soul, funk, and rhythmic music, having success in the 1980s.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Manhattan_Transfer
https://manhattantransfer.net/about/

Chanson D’Amour. The Manhattan Transfer

The Manhattan Transfer - Birdland | Live in Munich

The Manhattan Transfer - A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square - Live

The Manhattan Transfer - Tuxedo Junction

Manhattan Transfer - Four Brothers

Sex - PMQs 22nd October 2025

Hunter S Thompson said journalism suffers from “a curious rape mania that rides on the shoulder… like some jeering, masturbating raven.” True in 1967, true today.

The Daily Mail regularly titillates its readers with sex-obsession, not only in its health and celeb articles - full of oldies trying to prove they’ve still “got it” - but in its comic section, where the soul of a newspaper reveals itself. The “Chloe & Co” strip features the eponymous, shameless slapper together with her doughnut-addicted friend Angela, a vicarious fantasy of what women might do if all their controls were off.

The DM certainly has plenty to slaver at now, what with the media dogpiling on Prince Andrew and the furore over the yet-to-start gang rape enquiry. If the Left plays on the former sufficiently to ruin him completely and even to endanger the monarchy itself it may then seem to them “a good day to bury the bad news” about the latter.

However, this issue won’t stay buried. It’s not just about the gangs, it’s also about the institutional enablers and complaint-suppressors that have allowed them to operate for decades. Several victims have now pulled out of the panel, together with the two candidates (with backgrounds in policing and social work) shortlisted to lead it.

The lack of trust goes further, into party politics. Victims fear that the Government seeks to widen the investigatory scope to cover sexual abuse of the young in general, so as to muddy the waters. Earlier this year the PM had resisted setting up a national enquiry at all, saying that Conservatives were “jumping on a far right bandwagon.”

But this bandwagon is a public juggernaut and Labour are tied to its wheels. If they don’t cut the bonds quickly it will roll right over them. The reason they haven’t yet done so is their forlorn hope of keeping Muslim voters onside by not looking too closely into the vile crimes of a small number of the latter’s co-religionists.

Too late: the Minister (PUSS) for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls very nearly lost her seat last year on a different and still hot Muslim-related issue, namely Gaza. How long can the UK remain a secular, liberal, nation-based quasi-democracy?

The real choice for this government is whether it will continue to bow to an influential and power-seeking minority, so showing them a dangerous weakness and compromising the unity and safety of the country, or stand up for justice without fear or favour.

And so to PMQs.

First came the Lib Dems’ Dr Roz Savage, who said her question had been photographed entering Number Ten in a see-through plastic folder (a rare example of governmental transparency?) She used this slender link to raise security concerns over the drive for digital ID. Sir Keir batted that away easily, saying “you cannot see it” and it would help with access to services and with combatting illegal immigration. If only all queries could be dealt with so superficially!

Then Labour’s Jayne Kirkham asked about housing in Cornwall.

Enter next the Leader Of The Opposition (LOTO) who broached the “grooming gangs” topic. Badenoch quoted a victim, one who had left the inquiry panel, as disappointed in Jess Phillips’ Parliamentary comments the day before: “what’s the point in speaking up if we’re just going to be called liars?” Victims also complain that what they wish to say is controlled using a process of official nudges and written submissions - blurt-proofing the hearings?

The PM said “The inquiry is not and will never be watered down, its scope will not change, it will examine the ethnicity and religion of the offenders, and we will find the right person to chair it.”

M’Lud: define “scope”; and does “examine” imply “publish”?

Starmer also announced the fresh involvement of Dame Louise Casey, whose “National Audit” report in June had led to the decision not to delegate the matter to local authorities as originally proposed, but to have a national grooming gang enquiry after all. Sir Keir resisted the call for a judge to chair it, on the grounds that Baroness Casey felt it would proceed faster without judicial involvement and also allow criminal proceedings to be instituted in tandem with the inquiry. He endorsed Jess Phillips (as previously with Angela Rayner) and “gently” (a bully-word in his vocabulary) reminded the Tories that they had had 14 years in power to tackle the problem.

LOTO may not have scored signally on this occasion but left us all in no doubt that the Government is “under the cosh.”

Labour’s Bill Esterson gave the PM a breather with an invitation to congratulate a mental health institution.

Next up was the Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey. He reminds me of C Northcote Parkinson’s board member who is valued because he is consistently wrong. On this occasion he was “jumping on a far-left bandwagon” by attacking the beleaguered Prince Andrew’s grace-and-favour residence. Davey seems not to have wished similar homelessness on Lord Mandelson, now in line for his third lot of severance compensation. Sir Keir waved that away with a generalisation that Crown properties should be scrutinised.

The Prince and the Lord are only two of the many prominent figures with whom the late Jeffrey Epstein cultivated warm relations, to their cost. Goodness knows what he may have told them of his dealings with the law, perhaps playing the role of victim. But the Press loves it all, regularly reprinting that photo of the Prince with the stunning seventeen-year-old redhead, affording the reader the chance to disapprove and ogle at the same time. Cor! Caw, caw!

The girl seemed very happy to be there, but appearances are deceptive because the human psyche is multi-layered. The sexual abuse she claimed to have suffered at the hands of her father at the age of eight may have acted as a slow poison in her, leading to bad and self-destructive life choices. How many “escorts” and common prostitutes have such early experiences in their past? This is why a wide scope is appropriate when delving into the prevalence and long-term effects of childhood neglect and abuse.

But that should not be used to drown out the extra factors of racism and religious bigotry at work in the “grooming gangs” or the broader threats to the King’s peace implied in their mindset and that of their sympathisers.

Sir Ed turned from kicking a man when he is down to urging the PM to “repair the Brexit damage by negotiating a new UK-EU customs union to boost Britain’s trade and grow our economy.” Starmer pretended to disagree but then said he had achieved “a much closer relationship with the EU, recognising the damage done by the flawed Brexit deal that the Conservative party negotiated.” In other words, yes, broadly speaking, but don’t be so obvious, fool. Eurocommunism must be established by stealth.

Following this we had others’ questions on pothole repairs, inequality of wealth (the PM “gently” told the Greens’ spokesperson Dr Ellie Chowns that her party should start voting for his measures) and maternity services. Wendy Morton (Con) asked about building development on the “grey belt.” Labour’s Lee Barron complained of a school that had deplorably refused to make a playing field access ramp for a disabled child.

Will Forster (Lib Dem) reported that local elections had been put off in his constituency and elsewhere. Sir Keir said “we expect the elections in Surrey to be for the new unitary councils,” that new system that simultaneously sucks power from Parliament and from grassroots voters.

Already local authorities seem almost enigmatic to the man in the street - when the football row about Jewish supporters at the upcoming Villa match (will it be renamed the Bob Vylan Ground?) burst out I had to find the Mayor’s name on the internet. The list of other Council members, added to the three Muslim MPs in Birmingham (two Labour plus the independent Ayoub Khan who called for the ban) raises the issue of factional influences on how decisions are made and to what extent Parliament can help maintain fair and impartial dealings in the provinces.

Ironically, Labour’s Alan Strickland said Reform’s Durham members “cannot cope with accountability” while at the same time Nigel Farage has taken to sulking in the public gallery since the Speaker has been at no pains to let him reply to the multiple attacks on him by Starmer and Co.

More questions and pleas came, on hospices, flood defences, struggling pharmacies and youth clubs.

Rebecca Smith (Con) reported that small businesses were telling her that the PM’s plan for them would be of little help. He replied with what he had said to her last week, to Opposition cries of “rubbish.”

As we face clocks going back again, Alex Mayer (Lab) urged the reintroduction of “Churchill time” aka British Double Summer Time. The PM thanked her for her question.

The session ended with comments on the sad state of NHS dentistry: and on a fatal school stabbing in Huddersfield that prompted Sir Keir to speak of his Crime and Policing Bill with its powers to tackle knife crime.

Then everyone went off for a cuppa and a Walnut Whip.

FRIDAY MUSIC: Darius Rucker, by JD

‘Country and Western’ music seems to have become fashionable recently. A few weeks ago Sky Arts started showing the Grand Ole Opry from Nashville featuring newer artists as well as old favourites and it has been very entertaining. This year marks the 100th birthday of the Opry which means the shows are by way of a celebration and they have already featured, believe it or not, Ringo Starr. The Beatles of course recorded a Buck Owens song called Act Naturally on their ‘Help’ album which was released a year after the Buck Owens original.

The Beeb has obviously taken note of the viewing figures and decided to raid their archives and dig out and put together programmes about Tammy Wynette, Charley Pride, Dolly Parton etc. Unfortunately the Beeb has decided to show their programmes at the same time as the Sky programmes. Why I don’t know, but they do.

So here is Darius Rucker, a new artist to me who was in one of the shows earlier this year and very good he is too. He is also following in the footsteps of Charley Pride who was C&W’s first black superstar.

https://www.opry.com/
https://dariusrucker.com/

Darius Rucker – “Wagon Wheel” | CMA Fest 2025
The ‘official’ video for this song has 450mmillion page views which gives an indication of how popular it is. But this live version is much better and includes the 4000+ audience singing along with it!

Darius Rucker - Beers and Sunshine (Official Music Video)

Darius Rucker - If I Told You (Official Music Video)

Darius Rucker - For The First Time (Official Music Video)

Darius Rucker - It Won’t Be Like This For Long (Official Video)

Darius Rucker - Let Her Cry (Bing Lounge)

Sunday Supplement: Half a dozen not so new paintings, by JD

When I was trying to tidy up my files in this computer I found lots of old paintings and drawings hiding in remote dusty corners. It has been interesting sorting them out and realising how many there are and a lot of them I had forgotten about plus more than a few of which I have no recollection of producing. But that doesn’t matter, I have selected half a dozen which are posted below together with a few words about each.

1) This is a representation in acrylic paint of the San Bartolomé Hermitage in the Cañón del Río Lobos. The view is from inside the la Cueva Grande, the largest of many caves in the valley. If you wish to compare the painting with the photo on which it is based you can see it here - https://theylaughedatnoah.blogspot.com/2022/05/colour-supplement-canon-del-rio-lobos.html

2) The painting shown here is of a view a few hundred yards from my house. As you can see it is a snow scene which means it was a few years ago, we haven’t had snow like that for a long time and I hope we never see it again! The painting is now hanging on my friend’s wall in Madrid.

3) This is one of the pictures mentioned above. I have no idea when or why I did it and it is no doubt lying around somewhere in the house. It has a title of ‘Salon’ so I must have known its origin once upon a time.

4) This one is a puzzle to me because I have no idea how I got that effect. It might have been acrylic paint or it might have been the result of messing about with the ‘paint’ program in the computer. The view is somewhere in the back streets of Valparaiso and they really are as steep as they look, one of the reasons the city has 17 cable cars.

5) This one is watercolour and is a view of nothing in particular. It started as something else but as it progressed it became a sort of ‘make it up as you go along’ It looks very ethereal now.

6) A tree. I like trees. I have painted lots of trees some I can see from my windows, some I see on my travels and some are imaginary.