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BBC Forced To Apologise To Farage

Yet another BBC gaffe:The BBC has been forced to issue a grovelling apology to Nigel Farage following a furious row sparked by last night's edition of Newsnight. The Reform UK leader's lawyers sent a furious letter to the broadcaster's director-general this morning, demanding the apology and issuing other demands amid accusations Mr Farage had been defamed by the programme's host. Newsnight presenter Matt Chorley repeatedly misquoted Mr Farage's response to the Henry Nowak murder, claiming three times that the Reform leader said it should spark 'white cold rage' from the British public. But Mr Farage actually said 'pure, cold rage' in his emergency broadcast yesterday morning.‘This afternoon, the broadcasting behemoth said it had issued a private apology to Mr Farage directly and published a public version on its website. The corporation also promised to broadcast a further apology at the start of tonight's episode of Newsnight. In addition, last night's episode has been removed from the BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds. But it remains to be seen whether Mr Farage is satisfied with the apologies, after his lawyer issued a list of additional demands this morning.’

Sue Hammond ● 16h12 Comments ●

PUTNEY POOL WILL SHRINK

Please help us keep Putney pool to its 33-metres they’re planning to shrink it to 25-metres. Please sign our petition thank you. https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-putney-s-33-metre-pool

Nina Sklar ● 1d7 Comments ● 25m

Random pic 4 June 2026

A bee having a walk in Wandsworth Park https://flic.kr/p/2s9D8Li

Michael Ixer ● 9h0 Comments ● 9h

I knew that Reform could not resist fluffing this one.

"Zia Yusuf has been monstered after he complained about black men being offered screening for prostate cancer.Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman said it was further evidence that the UK is a “two tier country” following the murder of Henry Nowak.The 18-year-old was arrested and handcuffed as he lay dying after being stabbed by Vickrum Digwa, who had falsely accused him of racism.Ministers announced earlier this week that black men aged between 45 and 74 will be offered prostate cancer screening because they have double the risk of contracting the disease compared to the general population.Reacting on X, Yusuf said: “On the day the whole political establishment claims we do not live in a two tier country, they announce this. Note, the NHS makes NO drugs available exclusively to white people.”However, social media users – including politicians from all parties – condemned Yusuf’s attempt to create racial division about a potentially life-saving NHS initiative.Former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said: “Are there any doctors who belong to Reform UK who can quetly tell Zia to stop being a wazzock about this stuff?”Labour MP and trained surgeon Dr Zubir Ahmed said: “How can someone as thick as you aspire to hold any form of public office? Please go and ask your father how medical screening works, it’s time you were educated.”Fellow Labour MP Luke Charters said: “What is wrong with you? Black men are at significantly higher risk of prostate cancer. This isn’t ‘two-tier Britain’. It’s basic medicine.”Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty advised Yusuf to speak to Dr David Bull, a GP who was until recently Reform’s chairman.Tory councillor Festus Akinbusoye said: “Bro. Have you lost your mind? Do you understand how targeted medical intervention works? What is wrong with you Zia? Seriously!”Other social media users joined in the near-universal condemnation of Yusuf’s remarks." (Huff Post today)

David Ainsworth ● 16h1 Comments ● 15h

Two tiers?

More than two tiers, I'd say. And more tears will come. Starmer on Farage's "Address to the Nation":— "His response has been to appeal for rage. That’s his response to a father who’s lost his son and asked for that not to happen. Exploiting this tragedy to create grievance and division would be wrong in any circumstances, but to do it when the family are expressly saying please don’t is unforgivable. It shows who he is."

David Ainsworth ● 20h3 Comments ● 16h

Farage's Address to the Nation

"After the court had delivered its verdict on Monday, Henry’s father had given a dignified and moving statement. He asked that politicians not use his son’s death as a chance to promote their own agendas. “We don’t want his death used to create further division, hatred or tension,” Mark Nowak said." (John Crace, Gdn)But somehow Farage missed the plea.

David Ainsworth ● 1d6 Comments ● 18h

Hallelujah - my redeemer Burnham Cometh

Unless there is a big surprise from Reform in his own backyard, it looks as if we will soon have a new Labour PM in the form of 'Mr Manchester' Andy Burnham when he is elected in the Makerfield constituency and his own Party then forces Kier Starmer out.Well at lease he cannot be criticised for lack of experience in politics because since he left Cambridge he has never had what some people (me !) would say is a 'proper job'.He has been a Labour advisor, Councillor, MP, Minister and Mayor.But does he know what it is like to compete for and hold down a role in the private or even the public sector and have to competitively compete in the market place of life ?And he does seem to have changed his mind over social issues, most notably gender identification.Some good points from Andrew Neil in the MailOnline.https://www.dailymail.com/debate/article-15859349/ANDREW-NEIL-real-beef-Streeting-Burnham-promoting-dreary-socialist-agenda-70s.html(Sorry Mr Ainsworth. Could not find anything pertinent on this issue from your beloved Guardian !)'My beef with the Streetings and Burnhams of the Labour Party – indeed with the current Leftward drift of the party as a whole – is how they propose to make us more equal: higher taxes – especially on the wealth creators – more welfare, more government ownership and more regulation. In short, the same dreary socialist concoction that brought us to our knees when Labour was in power in the 1970s.I recently suggested Labour should rebadge itself the Welfare Party. But perhaps the Back-to-the-Future Party would be more appropriate.Burnham is especially guilty of this. In the Makerfield by-election, which he hopes will be his springboard to the Labour leadership, it’s almost as if he’s running against Margaret Thatcher and wants to return us to a mythical pre-Thatcherite idyll.Even though she stepped down as Prime Minister 36 years ago (and died 13 years ago) she gets it in the neck from Burnham for all the ills of the constituency for which he has suddenly decided he wants to be MP'.By railing against ‘40 years of Thatcherite neoliberalism’ he (Burnham) is burnishing his credentials with the Labour Left, which has always despaired that so little was done to reverse the Thatcher revolution during the Blairite era.He intends to put that right. In his response to Blair’s mini-manifesto he argued for a ‘very interventionist’ government with ‘strong public control and direction’ over investment and key industries such as transport, energy and even housing – the antithesis of the New Labour years. And all in the name of a more equal society.He intends to put that right. In his response to Blair’s mini-manifesto he argued for a ‘very interventionist’ government with ‘strong public control and direction’ over investment and key industries such as transport, energy and even housing – the antithesis of the New Labour years. And all in the name of a more equal society.So let’s look at how that might work out. But before we do, a word about inequality. Left-wing rhetoric increasingly implies that the rich and well-paid barely pay any taxes at all.Nothing could be further from the truth. Our tax receipts are more dependent on a small number of the well-off than almost any other advanced economy.The top 10 per cent of income-earners stump up 60 per cent of all income tax revenues. The top 1 per cent pay 30 per cent and the richest 0.1 per cent account for 11 per cent – which is a bigger share of income tax receipts than the lowest 50 per cent of earners contribute.'I wonder how it will all work out ?

John Hawkes ● 4d30 Comments ● 21h

Random pic 3 June 2026

Athens sunset https://flic.kr/p/2s6qRV1

Michael Ixer ● 1d0 Comments ● 1d

The Judge's Final Sentencing Remarks on Digwa

The Judge's Final Sentencing RemarksTHE KING -v- VICKRUM SINGH DIGWA SENTENCING REMARKS  1/6/2026 https://tinyurl.com/f46685xh

David Ainsworth ● 1d5 Comments ● 1d

I can't breathe

Can anyone tell me where and when the white lives matter march is after the young lad in Southampton was arrested and handcuffed by police whilst dying from 5 stab wounds ? His last words were ' I can't breathe'.....sound familiar?Will our footballers and Starmer etc be taking the knee for this poor lad? Will they heck as like.2 tier policing, yep its here.

Andy Pike ● 3d23 Comments ● 1d

Trump says ‘crazy’ Netanyahu has made everyone hate Israel in furious phone call

In the Independent (and many others) "Donald Trump lashed out at Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an expletive-laden phone call over Israel’s continued strikes in Lebanon on Monday, according to US media reports.The US president was reportedly furious after Iran threatened to suspend peace talks with the US over Israel’s strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon, telling the Israeli prime minister that “everybody hates Israel” because of his actions."But of course:-"In his public remarks after the two leaders spoke, Trump announced that a partial truce had been agreed between Israel and Hezbollah and that the call had been “very productive”."And yet:-"But behind closed doors Trump is said to have yelled at Netanyahu over the phone, calling him “f****** crazy”, Axios reported late on Monday, citing two unnamed US officials familiar with the call.“You’re f****** crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your a**. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this,” Trump said, according to a US official’s summary of the remarks.Another source who briefed Axios about the call said Trump was “p***ed” and at one point yelled at Netanyahu: “What the f*** are you doing?”Trump’s intervention came after Israel expanded its ground operations in southern Lebanon. Israel and Hezbollah agreed a fragile ceasefire in mid April, but the militant group resumed attacks after Israeli strikes in Lebanon that Israel characterised as self-defence."It is quite something to watch world class bullshitters at the peak of their performative game.It's like 1960s TV wrestling matches, but one still watches it.------------------------------------"Israeli drone strikes in southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed eight people, including a father and his son and daughter, a day after US President Donald Trump said Israel and Hezbollah agreed to dial back fighting."

David Ainsworth ● 1d3 Comments ● 1d

Do You Know You're a Slave Yet?

Well you ought to - you've been one long enough, and it's been going on for thousands of years. All that's changed is the presentation. For a long time, you'd do your day's slave labour without pay, of course, and be housed & fed for free; but in more recent times, to con you slaves, you've received an income for working, then have that income taken away for housing & food, with anything left over taken away in taxes, with your rulers continuously looking for new opportunities to get rid of any cash surpluses, whether that be through orchestrated wars, pandemics, banking collapses, immigration, climate scares - they don't care, as long as it gets rid of cash quick, to keep you skint; and they're really ramping it up now.So if you really don't know you're a slave yet, it's time you did; so take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror, and have a long hard think; then accept you've been had, and decide what you're going to do about it..

Michael Brown ● 2d4 Comments ● 1d

Cyclists

Cyclists will now be fined £50 for going through a red light. Police on the look out in Putney.  Front Page of Forum.

Barbara Stevens ● 2d1 Comments ● 1d

Knife crime is down (ONS)

The Ben Kinsella Trust:-"The latest Office for National Statistics figures bring some welcome news: knife crime is continuing to fall."Offences are down by 10% compared with last year (December 2024 to December 2025), with 49,151 recorded offences. That is a significant reduction from the post‑pandemic peak of 54,548 and indicates that progress is being made in tackling a problem that has also been described as an epidemic in the recent past.Encouragingly, reductions have been seen across most police force areas. However, the national picture is being driven by particularly strong falls in areas with the highest volumes of knife crime. London has seen a 17% decrease, the North-West (including Greater Manchester and Merseyside) is down 13%, and the West Midlands has recorded a 12% fall. Together, these areas account for a large proportion of knife crime nationally, so changes there have a substantial impact on the overall figures.There are also other positive signs. Homicides have fallen by 6%, and hospital admissions for knife‑related injuries are also down by 10%. Fewer lives lost and fewer people seriously harmed is always something we should recognise, and credit is due to everyone working tirelessly on prevention, enforcement and support on the ground.That said, we must be realistic about the scale of the challenge that remains. Knife crime offences still stand at 49,151, a long way above the Government’s target of reducing knife crime by half, to 27,303, by June 2034. Progress, while welcome, cannot lead to complacency."

David Ainsworth ● 1d0 Comments ● 1d

Random pic 2 June 2026

Barn Elms from Bishops Park https://flic.kr/p/BX8ziK

Michael Ixer ● 2d0 Comments ● 2d

Putney’s Oldest Buildings

What are the oldest buildings in SW15?  
I know the Winchester House Club is old and looking online the house dates back to the early 17th Century, but what are the others?  Anything Georgian? I think the churches must be some of our oldest buildings, but what’s the oldest house? Thank you for any info.

Martine Guy ● 7d22 Comments ● 2d

Front  page Putney Bridge Station

Woman assaulted, picture of the man.

Barbara Stevens ● 2d2 Comments ● 2d

I'm sure we all condemn anti-semitism in all it's forms right?

No matter who is depicted of course.  Cartoons from The Sun, The Daily Mail, The Telegraph and The Times

Michael Brigo ● 28d71 Comments ● 2d

Large-scale knife problem - likely ban?

Kitchen knives might well face a ban when a Reform government takes power in UK. Possibly.In the year ending March 2025, 95 homicides were committed using a kitchen knife in England and Wales. This made the kitchen knife the most frequent murder weapon among all sharp instrument fatalities, accounting for 46% of all knife homicides.It stands to reason.

David Ainsworth ● 2d1 Comments ● 2d