The revellers during the October 7, morning attack by Hamas terrorists on the Supernova music festival in the western Negev desert were typical of the pretty young people you usually see at these kinds of events.
Children with idealistic views, those who aspire to a more just and better world, who champion issues like environmentalism, transgender rights, and decolonization, and who chastise their parents for not being sufficiently progressive.
The kind that can be found on any sixth-form college or university campus; they are the ones that march and debate the virtues of socialism, and they idolise people like Greta Thunberg who tell world leaders how awful they are.
That’s what this week broke my heart.
That one of the symbols these lovers of peace most likely revered did not so much as acknowledge their awful situation.
What does this so-called “Saint Greta of Thunberg,” the alleged messiah for Generation Z, do after hundreds of idealistic young people are murdered by terrorists? Declare her support for the opposing viewpoint.
She is shown holding a sign that reads, “Stand with Gaza,” in a social media post that has since been removed.
“Today we are striking in solidarity with Palestine and Gaza,” the caption says.
The world must raise its voice and demand an early end to hostilities as well as justice and freedom for the Palestinian people.
Not Israelis, mind you, just Palestinians.
Not a word about the beheadings, torture, rapes, or kidnappings of young girls just like her.
It’s really mean.
Heinz is correct when they advise us to store baked bean tins upside down to avoid having too much sauce and not enough beans.
However, I’m not so sure about the suggestion to serve warm beans—64 degrees Celsius is said to be ideal—over slices of buttered toast.
I like to put the beans on top of my toast and eat it on the side.
If not, everything gets mushy.
This also holds true for stolen eggs.
Toast will go soggy if you place them directly on it.
Though I probably think about these topics too much, it’s a nice diversion from Armageddon.
Not a word about any of it, except than a blue stuffed octopus next to her, prominently displayed for everyone to see.
Alright, so much for compounding harm.
The octopus is frequently used as an anti-Semitic cliche, a reference to a “sinister” Jewish cabal that seemingly controls all aspects of our life.
This image is based on a Nazi depiction of the world under the control of a gigantic blue mollusk with a star of David on its head.
Later, Thunberg said that the item only assisted her autism and that she was unaware of its connection.
She’s likely to be taken at her word by many.
It is challenging for me.
Thunberg is an experienced, skillful campaigner.
That she and her group would have been ignorant of the sensitivity associated with such material is unthinkable.
Like the singer Alicia Keys, who wrote, “What would you do if you weren’t afraid of anything?” as the caption for an Instagram photo last week.
“I’ve been focusing on paragliding,” was followed by two emojis with eyes.
Perhaps Thunberg simply believed that it would go unnoticed.
How come? Because Jewish lives seem to matter less or not at all compared to Palestinian lives for some reason.
Like Keys, Thunberg is typical of so many whose intellectual arrogance, sense of entitlement, and seemingly selective moral conscience allow them to entertain a bizarre world view.
The group of luvvies that signed an open letter demanding “an end to military and political support for Israel’s actions” also included actors Tilda Swinton, Steve Coogan, and Miriam Margolyes.
The letter made very little mention of the atrocities.
This reminds me of the saying, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” to paraphrase George Orwell, the king of all things dystopian.
When taken too far, this viewpoint victimises the target of their wrath in addition to devaluing them, which justifies hostility and violence.
It’s a tried-and-true strategy, used by radicals to justify the treatment of individuals or groups of people throughout history, from the French Revolution to slavery.
It permits individuals to act or say heinous things about other people, or to ignore injustice, all the while fooling themselves into believing they are in some way on the side of the angels.
This same principle led to the destruction of posters depicting kidnapped children, the Islamic State’s justification for the rape and killing of Yazidi women and children, Russia’s bombing of Ukrainian maternity hospitals, and demands that Israel produce “proof” of the crimes it has committed against its own people.
It’s new, though, how common this method appears to be these days.
How much of an integral part it has become to our daily life.
This is, I believe, what King Charles very sensibly alluded to last week when he said that the “shouting” of the “digital sphere, where civilised debate too often gives way to rancour and acrimony,” was drowning out the British people’s natural tendency to “pull together and co-operate.”
He’s correct.
Although Israel is the most extreme example and has brought the issue to light, none of this is unique to Israel.
But make no mistake: this deeply rooted bias and selective morality, which frequently passes for wokeness, affect all facets of discourse, including social, political, cultural, and ideological ones.
And it guarantees only one thing: further rifts in a world that appears to be caught in a horrible, hopeless, never-ending circle of hatred.
I was reminded of my wonderful ex-husband, Michael Gove, by news that researchers have found listening to speech-based radio increases the errors motorists make.
I now know why he was such a bad driver: he used to blast Radio 4’s Today show at full volume while driving.
I had never understood this before.
Sufficient to make anyone round the bend.
I’m sorry for Georgia.I can’t help but feel a little sorry for the prime minister of Italy.
It’s terrible enough knowing your significant other is approaching other ladies for a triple date, but it’s unbearably painful when the proof is made public to the whole country.
Since then, Giorgia Meloni has declared their separation, which is undoubtedly what her political adversaries desired.
The small daughter of the couple will have to endure constant taunts about her father’s disgusting nature as she grows up.
Another example of why families have no place in politics.
I have to disagree with the new shiny trousers that are supposedly a “must-have” for this season.
It is firmly stated that without them, no stylish wardrobe is complete.
(In Marks & Spencer, I even spotted a pair with silver sequins).
I apologise, but no.
If you wear metallic trousers, you’ll either appear like a sausage wrapped in tin foil or like you just came off the set of some shady 1960s B-movie about three-breasted aliens.
Avoid startling retirees.
With the rising cost of living, the state pension already hardly covers subsistence levels.
However, as of the following year, over 400,000 pensioners may be required to pay back some of their personal allowance due to the Chancellor’s misguided stealth taxes.
As it is, the Tories are failing miserably.
Is it truly their intention to alienate the one demographic—the over-65s—who might still harbour a modicum of devotion towards them?
It is imperative that the perplexing “postcode lottery” of bin collections ends soon.
At her Manchester student flat, my daughter has been engaged in a protracted battle with a rat that wanders past the window.
Known as King Rat, it has an ample supply of food because the bins on her street are always full due to the biweekly collections.
A weekly food trash collection will be provided to every household as part of the government’s new programme.
It might stop King Rat’s nocturnal invasions, but I doubt it will bring an end to his reign.
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