Tag Archives: politics

October 14, 2026 · 7:38 am

#HeadlineTherapy Housing industry experts call for the amended Renter’s Rights Act

Thank you to Helen Gregory and LandlordZone for the Headline

Facts,statistics and Lobbyists. In this particular instance an ex-Housing Minister (during Grenfell Tower Fire) who also held the post of Chief of Staff in Downing Street under PM Theresa May is leading the Prosper UK Housing Commission’s lobby to get the recently passed Parlimentary Law, the Renter’s Rights Act, changed to encourage investment in the Public Rental Supply.

The argument is that the only way to ensure rents are affordable is to ensure supply and that new landlords will not invest in property unless the conditions are right for them. The lobby is asking for a statutory exclusion preventing rent controls, backed by a ten-year agreement between ministers and the sector on rent indexation, to give investors greater certainty and clarity over future returns.

In reality they are not looking to offer “affordable rates ” but are looking to guarantee their investment and indeed control rents for ten years and then foist whatever they want on the poor renter for another ten year period. So a hike every ten years.

Whatever your thoughts on this, the professional lobbyist, particularly with the pedigree of an ex-MP who admirably managed to raise a Private Members Bill ( on Mental Health Discrimination) and successfully got it through Parliament is well placed to head this campaign.

It is just unfortunate that their career is a bit checkered by the fact that in the run up to the Grenfell disaster, they largely ignored warning from the All- Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Fire Safety and Rescue chaired by David Amess MP. They were contacted seven times about the dangers of Class O fire rated materials , and received the last letter 26 days before the Grenfell Tower fire and took no action.

Whatever your thoughts on “investment properties” or how we organise Public Housing, relying on a market that is “controlled ” by Ministers and the sector rent indexation is extremely dangerous.

Perhaps for the future what people can afford to pay for decent housing needs a practical problem-solving approach not a percentage monetary gain approach.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

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October 13, 2026 · 6:17 am

#HeadlineTherapy Ex-Grenfell housing chief no longer at Barnet Council

Thanks to Ayshea Buksh and BBC News Online for the Headline.

“Barnet” Homes is a Company owned by Barnet Council in London. They appointed the ex-Director of Housing who was in post at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea when the Grenfell Tower fire killed 72 people in June 2017. During the public inquiry into the disaster it was stated by her when giving evidence about what she would have done differently “if only we had more due diligence in relation to the cladding that was placed on the tower”

Barnet Homes is an arm’s-length management organisation (Almo) responsible for managing more than 14,000 council-owned properties in the north London borough. Why do we need (Almo’s) are these a council thing?

Barnet Council employed the ex-Director as she was the best candidate for the job, and of course all these decisions are confidential for the benefit of the candidate, she joined Barnet Homes in 2024 and was appointed to a senior role earlier this year.

She is no longer in post as the Metropolitan Police announced recently it had referred 54 individuals and 20 Companies and organisations to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) as part of it’s investigation into the Grenfell Tower fire. I don’t know if the two are related as surely the CPS are the ones who decide if there is sufficient evidence to prosecute.

It’s one example( apparently there are more) where despite a high-profile Public Inquiry and much discussion and identification about what went wrong that caused the horrific fire at Grenfell that the findings are not considered when making appointments to jobs with similar responsibilities.

It does seem strange that Barnet Housing weren’t aware of the details of the Public Inquiry, and the possibility of legal proceedings. It does make me think that perhaps interviewers need to have a broader perspective and sensitivities to those who may have lost loved ones in high profile disasters that their candidates have admitted that their due diligence was not sufficient prior to the disaster.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

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October 12, 2026 · 4:49 am

#HeadlineTherapy Independent beats PM Tusk’s candidate in Kraków Mayoral Election.

Thanks to Notes from Poland for the Headline

Lukasz Gibala , an independent , has won the mayoral election in Kraków ,self-financed and successful on his fourth attempt beating the Prime Ministers favoured candidate by a significant margin.

As the Mayor of Manchester became our PM who is to say what will happen next.

Immediately he knew he had won he stated quite categorically that the people did not want Warsaw to dictate to them and that Kraków’s people had shown they wanted a leader who would stand up for them and that the people of Kraków know better what is good for them. Fine words.

Lukasz Gibala is a wealthy business man and his campaign has concentrated on things that matter to the people of Kraków, apparently it is the most visited City by tourists in Poland and the local people are not happy about the prevalence of Air B’nB’s and the affect it has on the development of the City. Also they are not happy about the imminent “clean transport zone ” for vehicles. Please note Bristol and London. Also he is looking to reduce croneyism and the cost of public transport.

The other candidate campaigned on seeking to locate an AI “gigafactory” in Kraków, to boost availability of housing for young people and to offer women free mammograms’, pram-friendly infrastructure , free menstrual hygiene products and safer night-time public transport. All , aims of significant merit , but perhaps not appealing to the broader vote.

It’s interesting that Gibala used to be an MP in Tusk’s Government and though he ran as an Independent, gained a cheer from the Right Wing on his victory in Kraków. I think he won because he was more in touch with what the people wanted, fascinating about the dislike of Air B’nB’s.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

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August 7, 2026 · 8:49 pm

Jaffa Oranges

This post is a labour of sweet love. I’ve been listening to an audio book about Seafaring and Trade in the Mediterranean and it mentioned the town of Jaffa (apparently also known as Yafa).

As a child I can remember seeing the label in the Supermarket, I always associated Oranges with the name Jaffa. Oranges seemed sweeter when I was a child.

I didn’t know the History of the Jaffa Orange and was unaware of the sadness attached to it. “The Land of Sad Oranges” is the title of a famous story by the late Palestinian Journalist and writer Ghassan Kanafani that tells the story of the life of a young child growing up in an orange grove in Palestine. The history of the Jaffa orange has strong symbolism with the Palestinian’s connection with the lands and the immense loss they have suffered.

Sad to say at the beginning everyone worked together to make the Jaffa Orange a success story. It was a sweet orange with a thick peel, ideal for the export market. Arab cultivation was regarded as labour intensive but in actual fact it was probably the best way to harvest the original crop and it brought wealth to the region.

Nowadays , the crop is not a pure Jaffa Orange , and it can come from a number of Countries depending on the season. In fact now it is an all year round orange which means Jaffa is a brand. It and other fruits are grown under the Jaffa brand and sold in Tesco.

It originated in Palestine, but globalisation and the situation in the Middle East has led to the name Jaffa becoming a brand.Who cares for the fruit or where it comes from as long as we put it on the supermarket shelves and it’s fit to eat and we make money out of it.

I think if I saw the label “Jaffa” on a supermarket shelf, I would walk by because to me it is a sad orange. However, if things change and there is Peace and Prosperity in Palestine and the Oranges are grown in a Cooperative way where everyone benefits from the crop, then I would look differently at the “fruit” and it would no longer be a sad orange but a happy orange.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

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July 17, 2026 · 11:40 am

#HeadlineTherapy Trump alleges Chinese election interference in address to nation.

Thanks to Sky News for the Headline

Not  knowing anything about the German language I never really understood what Hitler was saying or how he managed to enthrall so many people with his speeches. I suppose he really was speaking nonsense, that appealed to generations of people who felt they had been unfairly treated, it did not need to make sense, but it did need to play on their reactions or fears. A soundbite and then a lot of rabble rousing cheering.

Is it possible that today’s politicians use the same technique? Polarising people into thinking or believing what they want and then mobilising them into actions which history will judge as shameful.

Let’s hope we have moved on, I really think we have.

So this claim by President Trump that China had used “the largest compromise of election data in history” contradicts the findings of a Senior Intelligence Expert who investigated the claim in 2020 and is now the CIA director no less. Yes Joe Biden beat Donald Trump fair and square.

Well, we may all laugh at his claim and the fact that President Trump is belittling even his own Security forces. The President took twenty five minutes to rant about it on a recording that some will believe because they want to believe.

I think I understand better how Hitler worked and how he mobilised those who wanted to believe him.

My experience, though is tempered by the people who made fun of Hitler, I was a child born in the 1960’s and there was some brilliant television programmes made by men and women who had lived through the war. One “Dad’s Army “has always stayed with me. The programme itself was genius but the opening credits stuck a chord.

” Who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler?

If you think ol’ England’s done

We are the one’s who will stop your little game

We are the one’s who will make you think again.”

The tone was definitely Hitler was a clown, a clown who unfortunately resulted in a horrendous amount of innocent people getting killed. Even during the War though there were colloquial songs aimed at making fun at the Nazi Establishment ” Hitler Only has one ball” which was very funny. There were others too, I found this one You Tube it made me laugh . I do believe Spike was from California

The Chinese Embassy in Washington stated that China ” has never and will never interfere in the presidential elections of the US” and also wary of the need to fact-check the president’s claims first- several US networks chose not to broadcast it live on their main channels.

It’s funny what thoughts reading a headline generates, the article explained that the Republican’s are concerned that their mid term election results will be weak and perhaps this is the reason for the twenty five minute rant about the Chinese bogey man .

In the end though a sense of humour ridiculing the pompous and corrupt works wonders and I’m afraid the headline made me smile.

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Namaste and Thank You for Reading🙏

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June 15, 2026 · 9:13 am

#HeadlineTherapy ‘Nothing works’ : Russians react as intelligence services shut down the internet

Thanks to Anastasia Stognei and Max Seddon and the Irish Times for the Headline

Before we all rush to the idea that the Russian secret service the FSB (which replaced the Soviet era KGB) is deliberately blocking the Russian Citizens freedom of expression out of choice. Not caring that it is returning the Russian economy to the late 1970’s where mobile payments were a thing of fantasy and it was faster using a geriatric pigeon then the Russian Postal Service and the connectiviy of e.mail and attachments was a distant dream.

Think the recent Israeli attacks on Tehran which wiped out most of the Senior Government figures. These targeted and effective attacks were facilitated by mobile phone towers and software embedded in Tehran’s video surveillance systems. No wonder the Russian Secret Service are worried.

Up until now the Russian Government has tried to create an appearance of normality in Moscow, as if the population could continue about their normal very Westernised activities with plenty of social interaction, communication and even a cashless society without the worry of terrorism or indeed invasion.

No longer, the threat from external forces led to the FSB requesting and receiving powers to block internet access. Unfortunately now “ordinary citizens” can no longer rely on what used to be a reliable service and connection. It has even hit Telegram which was used by over 90million Russians and now is being hit by “outages ” and lack of connectivity. I suspect a few Apple I-phones have been thrown out of high rise suburban flat windows in pure frustration.

Apparently it has been a major pet project of the Russian Government to offer alternatives to the Global Media Services which up until recently had flooded the market in Russia. There are government controlled applications which try and do what the more established Western applications do , and without all the “outages” .The uptake of these alternatives has increased. Their effectiveness, however, is patchy and one particular service is linked to a subscription to a news channel run by Vladamir Solovyov, one of Russia’s leading propagandists. Not something you wish to have if you just wanted to order some groceries online.

The FSB sounds a rather inefficient Big Brother, nevertheless there is an element of fear all around , not just from suppression of original thought but from how the freedom that technology allows has the potential to be manipulated by dangerous forces. Russia needs clever technologically savvy people to ensure their safety , they cannot afford a brain drain of those skills. Is the FSB fit for purpose?

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Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

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March 4, 2026 · 5:19 am

#HeadlineTherapy Gas and oil prices soar and shares tumble on fears conflict could escalate

Thanks to Osmond Chia and Natalie Sherman from BBC Online News for the Headline.

The main talk around what is happening in the Middle East in our house centres around prices , that everything will go up and fuel and energy prices which have seemed to have steadied will now become unaffordable. Suddenly the prospect of not being able to do things that we now take for granted comes into play.

In truth , the advisors and analysts can produce as many graphs and detailed comments on the effect on inflation and interest rates as they like. The real effect is that we are being asked to not do things, not travel, not buy what we like from the shops, reduce our consumption, live like monks and not to rely on having any power ( energy wise or voting wise).

Waste is everywhere and certain governments just want to ensure that their War Machines and the Business’s behind them don’t collapse. Forget the little people.

It does feel incredibly unstable and for what reason? The Middle East is incredibly beautiful and it’s big enough land wise for it’s various populations, they need to learn to live together and Western Governments need to stop interfering with their infrastructure and their economies.

Also they need to stop encouraging us to buy Heat Pumps as they are not efficient and we really need to find ways of looking after our consumption of energy more rationally. I predict the traffic on the roads will reduce and having a car will become a luxury. The problem is that business’s and therefore choice will not survive.

The British Government have thought they can take the consumer for a ride , well there’s no more to give or take; with House Prices, Fuel Costs and Education loans, I think most working people are actually broke and looking at their standard of living dropping like a stone.

I saw on the news that President Trump has a rash on his neck, well if I’d got myself into the mess he’s made I think I’d develop a rash too.

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Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

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February 3, 2026 · 5:38 am

#HeadlineTherapy Bangladesh hands down jail sentences to former PM and her Labour MP niece.

Thanks to Sky News Online for the Headline

You can choose your friends but you can’t choose your relatives. Poor little Tulip, still as Sir Keir Starmer PM and ex Director of Prosecutions has said that the court cases are not valid as Tulip has not been given any opportunity to review the charges against her or indeed be represented in the Bangladeshi Court and let’s face it Sir Keir must know a thing or two about the Law.

What really interests me about this debacle is that the ex Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina (Tulip’s Aunt) attacked for many years the founder of the Grameen Bank, Professor Muhammad Yunus after he fell out of favour with her for considering forming his own political party in Bangladesh. She accused him of corruption and nuturing poverty not solving it, her main target being the Grameen Bank.

The Grameen Bank enabled the “poor” mainly women to borrow small amounts of money to start businesses and work their way out of poverty in Bangladesh. It is a model that was taken up by many other countries and eventually won Professor Yunus the “Nobel Peace Prize”. My impression is that the Grameen Bank is a success and that Sheikh Hasina’s attacks on it were vindictive, apparently she is another Politician that believes she should have been awarded the ” Nobel Peace Prize”. I really feel sorry for the Norwegians having to put up with these gainsayers.

In reality it was very much tit for tat and after the resignation of Sheikh Hasina, Professor Yunus was appointed the” Chief Adviser of Bangladesh” and since 2024, has been part of the interim Government .

Professor Yunus has put in place many improvements such as improving communications and introducing a digital legal aid system which enables those on a low income to take legal address without having to incur large fees. Yes Professor Yunus knows a thing or two about the Law too and seems not very interested in buying up real estate.

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February 1, 2026 · 8:15 am

#HeadlineTherapy Shipping giant Maersk to take over Panama Canal ports after court ruling

Thank you to Lyndal Rowlands and News Agencies Aljazeera for the Headline

Panama’s Supreme Court has ruled that the Hong Kong based shipping Company C K Hutchinson (such a British Name) will no longer have the right to control the entry and exit to the Panama Canal and as an interim measure the running of the ports will be taken over by Maersk the Danish Shipping Giant.

In terms of the employment of local Panamanians working in the ports this will mean significant insecurity. Who will be responsible for paying them and will their conditions of work change significantly. Will more automation be introduced? Who cares, at least it’s not in Chinese hands anymore?

“Shadow tankers” supplying oil to Countries that have had worldwide sanctions applied to them have been the bugbear of the United States and puts into perspective the actions of the United States recently with the kidnapping of the President of Venezuela and the agreements now in place to allow Venezuela to produce and ship oil in partnership with the United States. The control of the Panama Canal is now in Danish hands, not sure if this has anything to do with Greenland, maybe it’s some kind of concession. Here you have the Panama Canal and we can have Greenland. Watch this space.

Either way the Chinese aren’t very happy about it but Victor Li the President of CK Hutchinson has experience of being kidnapped himself while a young man in Hong Kong, his father paid a ransom 1 billion HK$1 to get him free , he was held for one night. The Hong Kong gangster responsible for the kidnapping was later executed by Mainland China , which would not have been possible under the then Hong Kong jurisdiction, so it is probable that there is a close relationship between the Hong Kong Company and the Chinese Authorities.

Panama itself was caught between a rock and a hard place, but perhaps it was a bit strange not to review the contracts and the working of the canal with more care and they shouldn’t have just been automatically renewed for long periods without any bidding process.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading. 🙏

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January 29, 2026 · 6:22 am

#HeadlineTherapy Venezuela’s interim president’s oil law reform to break with Chavez model

Thanks to Lila Vanorio and Aljazeera for the Headline.

Venezuela’s oil has become a free for all now with the support of their parliament. Overnight with Maduro’s departure, the reforms that Hugo Chavez put in place to Nationalise the Oil Industry under the state-owned oil Company PDVSA in 2006 have been thrown to the wind with the backing of a £500billion energy agreement from the United States. “Stop Oil” protesters eat your heart out.

I often wonder about the practicality of these things , but the main drivers to achieve a more open oil industry is allowing external private companies to purchase interests in Venezuelan Oil projects, permit the opening of bank accounts in any currency and jurisdiction ( profits will go back to investing country ) and while stating that PDVSA still will maintain a majority stake in joint ventures , but allow minority partners to exercise technical and operational management( does the Venezuelan Government feel they lack the technical know how of the likes of Red Adair the famous Texas Oil Driller).

I’ve probably oversimplified the situation, but Delcy and Donald seem to have come to an agreement and everyone has forgotten about the kidnapping of Maduro. Nice to know that one of the main concerns of the major American Oil Companies has been addressed , in that there will be Arbitration and Legal redress for businesses working in Venezuela, this follows the disaster where the American Oil Companies were thrown out in 2006,their fingers were burnt and they do not want that to happen again.

Already the oil revenues have increased for Venezuela which is going to help their economy, the bill still needs to go through a second reading . Does the World want or need Venezuelan Oil? We will have to wait and see, there are Hydrocarbon agreements in place Internationally .Can we really afford to live with this and what impact is this going to have on the environment in Venezuela or indeed the World? A powerful headline indeed with lots of food for thought.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

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