https://www.postalley.org/2026/01/26/now-more-than-ever-lets-remember-whats-in-the-declaration-of-independence/

Nominate a charity for a donation from the retailer when you shop online - this looks like a good idea https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRD1UKRt/

https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2026-01-30/murder-investigation-launched-into-prisoners-death-after-inmates-attack

More prisoners are being attacked inside prison than before so this is not unusual news apparently

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1277907250822483

I’d call it attempted murder

https://youtube.com/shorts/rAia2bT6Xtk?si=-yt7yUs56ID-anKY

It really isn’t

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c07x020mrxzo

From badger baiting, cock fighting, greyhound killing (bolt to the head) animal testing, mutilation (dog tails and ears) pig crating and gassing, we are still lagging behind 😢

This poor dog 😢😢

https://www.graphic.com.gh/features/opinion/ghana-news-we-owe-putin-an-unreserved-apology.html

I have been asked to post this for another member who has not got posting rights in this group
I am happy to oblige as I am sure members will wish to hear this


https://youtu.be/GDaPdpwA4Iw?si=qSeGwOafGmjZ-rpo

How will Trump feel about this?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c93v4pg07y7o

Filming and recording is getting out of hand

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjrzpr10q30o

So much , once again, for the vetting procedure

https://youtu.be/x5_4PC4-PeM?si=wJLtqLaNa3duQB3-

Bus driver sacked

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp376n7k0g9o?ua_linkname=bbcnews_busdriversackedafterchasingandpunchingthieflisticle2of7_newsuk&at_campaign=crm&at_objective=conversion&at_medium=emails&at_ptr_name=airship&at_campaign_type=owned&at_ptr_type=media&at_creation=%5BPANUK_DIV_05_NCA_StarmerInBeijingEditorial_RET%5D-20260129-%5Bbbcnews_busdriversackedafterchasingandpunchingthieflisticle2of7_newsuk%5D

For filming ICE

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c24gm3dz36po

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/18BvrQgMxk/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The slopaganda era: 10 AI images posted by the White House - and what they teach us

Under Donald Trump, the White House has filled its social media with memes, wishcasting, nostalgia and deepfakes. Here’s what you need to know to navigate the trolling.

It started with an image of Trump as a king mocked up on a fake Time magazine cover. Since then it’s developed into a full-blown phenomenon, one academics are calling “slopaganda” – an unholy alliance of easily available AI tools and political messaging. “Shitposting”, the publishing of deliberately crude, offensive content online to provoke a reaction, has reached the level of “institutional shitposting”, according to Know Your Meme’s editor Don Caldwell. This is trolling as official government communication. And nobody is more skilled at it than the Trump administration – a government that has not only allowed the AI industry all the regulative freedom it desires, but has embraced the technology for its own in-house purposes.
Here are 10 of the most significant fake images the White House has put out so far.

Trump as king
19 February 2025

The first AI image posted by the White House X account sets the tone for Trump’s second presidency – marking a turning point in which the shitposting that had been associated with the far-right online culture that brought Trump to power moved from fringe message boards, such as 4chan and Reddit, to mainstream platforms.

The image was posted alongside an announcement of the repeal of New York City’s congestion pricing, and leant into fears that Trump would govern as a king. The New York governor, Kathy Hochul, held up the image at a press conference when she announced that she would defy attempts to block the congestion charge: “New York hasn’t laboured under a king in over 250 years. We sure as hell are not going to start now.” The congestion charge remains in effect.

In another post on Truth Social in October, the president posted an AI video depicting himself as a president-king, crown on head, flying over “No Kings” protesters in a jet fighter and dumping faeces on them. The House speaker, Mike Johnson, defended the post, saying: “The president uses social media to make a point. You can argue that he’s probably the most effective person who’s ever used social media for that. He is using satire to make a point.”

Studio Ghibli meme of a woman being deported
27 March 2025

OpenAI’s Studio Ghibli-inspired meme generator became a sensation in March 2025, with its uncanny ability to translate any image into the beloved anime studio’s house style (without Studio Ghibli’s permission or approval).

The White House applied it to a woman in tears as she was arrested by Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agents before being deported. The original photograph, and the woman’s name and alleged crimes, are also included in the post.

For Caldwell, this demonstrated just how up to date the White House is with online trends. “They’re hopping on brand-new, fresh memes,” he says. He suspects White House staffers might be regular visitors to Know Your Meme. “The Studio Ghibli meme trend kicked off on March 25 on X; we covered it the following day; and then the White House covered it the day after that.”

Trump as Pope
3 May 2025

This image is proof of Trump’s willingness and ability to insert himself into any conversation, even ones that have nothing to do with him, and shows how effective that can be.
Predictably, the image went viral, made global headlines and was met with outrage from Catholic groups and politicians. “There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr President,” wrote the New York State Catholic Conference. “We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St Peter. Do not mock us.”

As so often happens with such shitposting, those who ​took offence were accused of lacking a sense of humour. “They can’t take a joke?” Trump said soon after at a press conference. “You don’t mean the Catholics, you mean the fake news media … the Catholics loved it.”

Trump as Jedi
4 May 2025

Trump has been the subject of flattering fan art throughout his political career (remember the digital Trump trading cards?), but AI has made the job a whole lot easier. On 4 May, the White House crashed Star Wars fans’ special day with this image of the president as a jacked Jedi, lightsaber in hand, garlanded by flags and eagles. Who cares if his lightsaber is the wrong colour (the good guys’ are blue), or that the White House’s claim to be the Rebellion not the Empire rang laughably hollow? This was pure fantasy art.

In 2022, one of Trump’s trading cards clumsily grafted his headshot on to a superhero body; last July he was slightly less clumsily grafted on to the body of Superman, to gatecrash the launch of the new movie. The same month, the White House portrayed a besuited Trump heroically striding into the Colosseum. Fans and allies have generated reams of similar content themselves.

Hakeem Jeffries as a Mexican
29 October 2025

Why did the White House choose to put the Democratic house leader Hakeem Jeffries and the senate leader Chuck Schumer in sombreros and have them holding plates of tacos? It doesn’t matter. They look a bit silly, and it’s provocatively offensive, and once again, the world’s attention is colonised.

The image illustrates how difficult it is to respond to this type of content. It’s part of a running joke, stretching back to a deepfake video Trump posted a month earlier, which slapped a crude sombrero and moustache filter over Jeffries. That video was roundly condemned as offensive and racist , not least by Jeffries himself (who replied by posting a genuine image of Trump with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein) . The Trump administration then doubled down, playing the video on a loop on screens in the White House briefing room for several hours and creating more images in a similar vein, which kept the trolling going.

Welcome to the Golden Age
1 January 2026

Few people outside the Trump administration believe the US is in a “golden age”, but that hasn’t stopped Trump from repeating the claim. In January, the White House posted an AI video of a golden White House facade behind a shower of gold coins with the text “The White House? She’s in her Golden Age”, backed by Bruno Mars’ track 24K Magic.

Even if Trump’s Midas touch is more a figment of his imagination, this type of wishcasting is more effective than it appears. According to one paper by the academics Michał Klincewicz, Mark Alfano and Amir Ebrahimi Fard – who coined the term “slopaganda” – “neural representations of information that were shown to be false continue to influence people’s beliefs and reasoning after being corrected”. In other words, even when you know it’s fake, your brain still kind of believes it.

Which Way, Greenland Man?
14 January 2026

On the face of it, this seems like a straightforward “Trump wants Greenland” post. However, it has a much darker message.
Again, the post is riffing on a popular meme, Caldwell explains: the “dramatic crossroads” image originated with the manga series Yu-Gi-Oh!, and started gaining traction online around 2021.

The slogan “Which way, Greenland man?” seems to reference a 1978 neo-Nazi text titled Which Way, Western Man?, in which the white supremacist author William Gayley Simpson called for violence against and the deportation of Jews and Black people, and argued that Hitler was right.

“It’s absolutely shocking to see such images being deployed by this administration,” said Heidi Beirich, a co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, which monitors US neo-Nazi groups. “The idea appeals to racists and white supremacists who think only white people should be in positions of power.”

In August, the Department of Homeland Security posted a mock recruitment advert for ICE with an image of Uncle Sam at a crossroads and the slogan: “Which way, American man?” Earlier this month, the US Labor Department posted an image with the slogan: “One Homeland. One People. One Heritage”. Critics pointed out that it had overtones of Hitler’s “Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer” (“One people, one realm, one leader”).
Stand with ICE Propaganda poster
15 January 2026

“AI is very good at constantly reiterating images from the past, so it can create this nostalgic imagery of traditionalism,” says Daniel de Zeeuw, an assistant professor in digital media culture at the University of Amsterdam. Thus the extremist messages of the present – such as ICE’s militarised policing – can be inserted into more reassuring and familiar graphic styles, such as patriotic recruitment posters, 80s action-movie posters or 1950s public information campaigns (as with a recent image of Trump as a friendly milkman).

AI is inherently backward-looking, says de Zeeuw, as it is fed on historical images. This aesthetic is in keeping with the Make America Great Again movement, which is constantly evoking a “better” past. Another stark example was the Department of Homeland Security’s chilling post from last December: an image of a vintage car at a deserted, palm-fringed beach with the slogan “America After 100 Million Deportations”. Ironically, the original was painted by a Japanese artist, Hiroshi Nagai, who complained that it had been used without his permission.

The arrest of Nekima Levy Armstrong
22 January 2026

“It’s not going to be on Twitter,” said the agent filming the Minneapolis civil rights lawyer Nekima Levy Armstrong, one of the city’s most prominent activists, as she was arrested last Thursday. Within hours, though, it was: the Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem posted a still from the video, in which Armstrong seems composed and shows little emotion.

Half an hour later, the White House X account posted a significantly altered version of the same image: this time, Armstrong is exaggeratedly upset, tears streaming down her face. Her skin tone also appears to have been darkened. The image was captioned: “Arrested: far-left agitator Nekima Levy Armstrong for orchestrating church riots in Minnesota.” In fact, Armstrong was demonstrating at a church service led by an allegedly ICE-affiliated pastor, and was later released without charge.

Until this moment, the White House’s AI-generated output had been conspicuously outlandish: there was little danger of mistaking it for reality. This image purports to be an authentic photograph – or at least omits to mention that it is not. It is not so much AI-generated trolling as an AI-assisted deepfake.
As with Musk’s recently shared Grok tool, which removed women and children’s clothing without their consent, there is also something abusive about it: AI has been used to attempt to humiliate a woman by manipulating her image, to make her look weaker and more distressed than she actually was.

The fact that the deepfakery is not all that convincing is part of the point, de Zeeuw thinks. “What is being communicated here is the falsification itself: you’re showing your ability to falsify images, to falsify evidence.”
After the fakery had been called out, the White House deputy communications director Kaelan Dorr posted the response: “Enforcement of the law will continue. The memes will continue.”

The Nihilistic Penguin
23 January 2026

In response to this image of Trump and a penguin walking towards a Greenland flag, some observers pointed out that penguins actually live at the south pole. But that’s missing the point of these types of post, says Robert Topinka, a reader in digital media and rhetoric at Birkbeck, University of London. “People continue to interpret them as if they’re meant to be a legitimate claim, or an argument or a piece of evidence, but they’re emotional hooks.” Their purpose is to stir up the base. “White House staffers have said they use AI because it’s the fastest way to get content out. It’s not the fastest way to say something that’s true; it’s the fastest way to push their propaganda.”

To those in the know, this is a riff on the “nihilist penguin” meme, which has gone viral on TikTok in the past few weeks. It’s based on a scene from Werner Herzog’s 2007 documentary Encounters at the End of the World, in which one penguin inexplicably separates from the colony and wanders off towards the Antarctic interior, and certain death. “But why?” Herzog wonders. Many have asked the same of Trump’s quixotic attempts to acquire Greenland.

The image resonates with what Naomi Klein and ​Astra Taylor ​christened “end times fascism”, says De Zeeuw, where tech industry leaders and their enablers are almost willing the end of the world as we know it, striding towards oblivion like Trump and his penguin companion. “It’s like they know they’re moving toward the end, but they do so joyfully.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/29/the-slopaganda-era-10-ai-images-posted-by-the-white-house-and-what-they-teach-us

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRAHnEGP/

Many dealing with far right extremism

This nutter kept cyanide in his shed

https://www.beds.police.uk/news/bedfordshire/news/2026/01-january/bedfordshire-man-jailed-for-making-explosive-and-poisonous-substances/

I love Duke 😃

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRAPpkwS/

Spain’s plan could work wonders

So far they’re thriving

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62n6gw1dp9o

Can ICE be stopped

https://youtube.com/shorts/12CxxvNW5zg?si=70-gVLxlC97J1ajI

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRAP8TJ1/

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/27/high-density-hydropower-system-generating-electricity-devon-renewable-energy-storage

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRSoho5o/

President Donald Trump on Tuesday again insisted Alex Pretti shouldn’t have been armed with a handgun when he was killed by federal immigration agents in Minnesota, remarks that could further inflame tensions with gun rights advocates.

The president said he hadn’t heard the assessment from some of his top officials, including deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, that Pretti was a domestic terrorist or an assassin, but said, “certainly he shouldn’t have been carrying a gun.”

“I don’t like that he had a gun, I don’t like that he had two fully loaded magazines, that’s a lot of bad stuff. And despite that, I’d say it’s very unfortunate,” Trump said while visiting a restaurant in Iowa.

Pretti had a permit to carry, yet administration officials have criticized him for being armed, drawing a sharp rebuke from Second Amendment advocates.

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump said, “you can’t have guns, you can’t walk in with guns.” When prompted by a reporter about the Second Amendment, he repeated, “you can’t walk in with guns.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that “any gun owner knows” that carrying a gun raises “the assumption of risk and the risk of force being used against you,” during interactions with law enforcement.

On Sunday, FBI Director Kash Patel said “you cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want,” and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Saturday that she didn’t “know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign.”

Trump has enjoyed longtime support from the National Rifle Association, but the group has called for a full investigation into Pretti’s death and condemned “making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens.”

“The FBI director needs to brush off that thing called the Constitution, because he clearly hasn’t read it,” National Association for Gun Rights President Dudley Brown told POLITICO. “I know of no more crucial place to carry a firearm for self defense than a protest.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/27/trump-pretti-shouldnt-have-been-carrying-a-gun-00750241

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15477867/amp/Illegal-gun-explosives-factory-linked-criminal-gangs-secretly-run-Britains-biggest-traveller-site.html

Prize-winning composer Philip Glass has called off a scheduled world premiere at the Kennedy Center of a symphony about Abraham Lincoln, the latest in a wave of cancellations since President Donald Trump ousted the previous leadership.

Glass’ Symphony No. 15, “Lincoln,” was to have been led by Grammy-winning conductor Karen Kamensek for performances on June 12 and June 13.

“Symphony No. 15 is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and the values of the Kennedy Center today are in direct conflict with the message of the Symphony,” Glass said in a statement released Tuesday by his publicist. “Therefore, I feel an obligation to withdraw this Symphony premiere from the Kennedy Center under its current leadership.”

Roma Daravi, the center’s vice president of public relations, responded in a statement, “We have no place for politics in the arts, and those calling for boycotts based on politics are making the wrong decision.”

Glass, who turns 89 on Saturday, was a Kennedy Center honoree in 2018. Three years earlier, he was awarded a National Medal of Arts by then-President Barack Obama.

https://apnews.com/article/philip-glass-kennedy-center-cancellations-d29fda6fa3ea80dcdc7ded1033d6c04e

First watch the explanation

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRSEsv8K/

Then go to the website

https://www.reasonstostay.co.uk/

And then when you do you’ll be abused, attacked and ridiculed

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRSEypmm/

Didn’t Gary Lineker do so and singer presenter Beverley Humphries has been doing so for years.

https://petapixel.com/2026/01/26/28-award-winning-photos-from-society-of-photographers-photographer-of-the-year-2025/

This film was on BBC2 this evening and is available on iPlayer.

It stars Anthony Hopkins as Nicholas Winton.

Synopsis:
In the months leading up to the Second World War, a young London stockbroker attempts to rescue hundreds of predominantly Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Fifty years later he comes to terms with the guilt and grief he carried with him for decades. Fact-based drama, starring Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Flynn, Lena Olin and Helena Bonham Carter.

This film deals with wartime immigration so may not be appropriate for some Anything Plus members. However, it is extremely moving and copious amounts of tissues will probably be needed.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002ql0x/one-life

Take a few minutes and relax watching this sweet video

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRS9UQvc/

https://www.facebook.com/reel/761802516401492

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1JMLcZppUQ/?mibextid=wwXIfr

White House claims protester shot dead by ICE was a threat. Here’s what footage shows
Analysis of witness videos casts doubt on version of events claimed by authorities.

Alex Pretti appeared to have been filming a federal agent with his phone before the shooting in

A 37-year-old intensive care nurse was shot dead while confronting immigration agents in the second high-profile killing to take place during protests in Minnesota.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claimed Alex Pretti challenged Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers with a handgun as they carried out a targeted search in Minneapolis on Saturday.

But witnesses have given sworn testimony that he was holding a camera.

Donald Trump, the US president, blamed local politicians and police for the shooting, sharing a picture of the tan pistol Pretti was said to have concealed on Truth Social, and the DHS insisted that officers fired in self-defence after he resisted arrest.

The deadly shooting on Saturday came less than three weeks after Renee Good, a mother of three, was shot and killed in her car by an ICE agent, in equally disputed circumstances that triggered widespread protests.

The Telegraph has analysed first-person accounts and witness footage to provide a comprehensive view of the shooting, which casts doubt on the White House’s version of events.

Alex Pretti is seen confronting ICE agents on the street before the shooting in Minneapolis.

ICE agents were deployed to Minneapolis as part of a large federal immigration enforcement operation launched by the DHS.

Around 2,000 agents were sent to the city for targeted arrests, raids and investigations related to illegal immigration and suspected fraud.

Following the death of Good on Jan 7, the agents faced fierce resistance from thousands of protesters, with tensions reaching a boiling point on Saturday.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets to call for the immigration agents to leave the city, including Pretti, who had become frustrated with Mr Trump’s crackdown.

The first in a series of widely shared videos of the incident emerged at 9.03am, filmed from inside Glam Doll Donuts on 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue.

The footage shows at least four masked federal agents wrestling a man to the ground before two others join the skirmish and begin hitting him. A woman in pink appears to film the encounter from the pavement.

Moments later, several gunshots are heard, and the agents are seen springing to their feet.

Pretti is seen lying motionless on the floor. He was later confirmed dead by police at the scene.

The point of contention has centred on when the agents realised Pretti was armed, and whether they had shot him after his weapon was seized.

Slowing the footage down appears to reveal an officer retrieving Pretti’s 9mm pistol. But some of the agents seem unaware that he has been disarmed by their colleague.

Amid the confusion, one officer is heard asking: “Where is the gun?”

The DHS claimed Pretti had confronted officers while holding a gun and two magazines as the officers were “looking for an illegal alien wanted for violent assault”.

In a statement, the agency said: “An individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun. The officers attempted to disarm the suspect, but the armed suspect violently resisted.

“Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots.”

However, a second video, filmed from the perspective of the woman in pink, appears to call into question this perspective.

The video begins with the piercing cries of whistles, a tactic used by anti-ICE protesters to distract federal officers during their patrols.

Pretti, wearing a black cap, tan coat and trousers, walks into frame. Standing in the middle of the road with a phone in his hand, he appears to direct traffic before being approached by an officer.

Moments later, a woman wearing a white coat is shoved into the snow before Pretti intervenes, being sprayed with a substance, most likely pepper-spray.

As he attempts to shield the woman, he is quickly wrestled to the floor by agents. By now, several more have arrived, and as many as six officers attempt to restrain him.

“The f--- is wrong with you?” the person behind the camera is heard saying.

Then comes a moment of panic. Onlookers scream as the piercing sound of whistles is replaced by several gunshots.

The group of agents struggling to detain Pretti spring to their feet.

Pretti momentarily rises to his knees before falling to the floor, where he is shot again. As per the DHS statement, officers quickly administer first aid.

One agent slips and falls on the ice as he rushes to Pretti’s side, and it is still not clear where Pretti’s pistol is.

The woman in the pink coat gave sworn testimony on Saturday night, saying: “I didn’t see him with a gun. They threw him to the ground. Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him. They shot him so many times.

“I have read the statement from DHS about what happened and it is wrong. The man did not approach the agents with a gun. He approached them with a camera. He was just trying to help a woman get up and they took him to the ground.”

Screengrab of video appears to show an ICE agent holding a gun after a scuffle.

A third angle appears to show one of the agents running away from the scuffle before any shots are fired, carrying the victim’s handgun.

According to online experts, it was a Sig P320, with Mr Trump later posting a picture of the weapon on social media.

Stephen Miller, Mr Trump’s deputy chief of staff, called Pretti a “domestic terrorist”.

On Saturday, Pretti’s family painted a picture of a law-abiding citizen who cared deeply about people. He had been upset, like the hundreds of others who had taken to the frigid streets, by the immigration crackdown in his city.

Pretti was an avid outdoorsman who loved going on adventures with Joule, his beloved Catahoula Leopard dog who also recently died.

He had participated in protests following the killing of Good earlier this month, according to his family.

“He cared about people deeply and he was very upset with what was happening in Minneapolis and throughout the United States with ICE, as millions of other people are upset,” said Michael Pretti, Alex’s father.

“He felt that doing the protesting was a way to express that, you know, his care for others.”

ICE shooting victim Alex Pretti was protesting against the ICE crackdown in Minneapolis to show ‘his care for others’, his family said
Tensions are rising in the city of Minneapolis following a second fatal ICE shooting.

The family statement said: “The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs.

“He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper-sprayed.

“Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/25/minneapolis-ice-shooting-footage-moment-protester-killed/

As we are a few weeks into 2026 we should look back at the
‘Flag shaggers scam’ and how much was pocketed during their visits to France

https://youtube.com/shorts/xoGbqqdP6to?si=PyNRisx8GjG-DSbV

'I almost died fighting in Afghanistan. Trump is literally adding insult to injury’

After losing three fellow soldiers to American ‘friendly fire’ in Helmand, Stu Parker condemns the US president’s ‘careless lies’.

“When I heard President Trump tell the world that Nato forces stayed well away from the front lines in Afghanistan, I felt as though I had been kicked in the solar plexus – no, not the solar plexus, the balls,” says Stu Parker, telling it straight, like any soldier would.

To describe Parker, 48, as furious would be an understatement. The former Royal Anglian corporal served in the Taliban heartland of Helmand Province. In 2007, he was all but blown to pieces by “friendly fire” from an American fighter jet that erroneously dropped a 500lb bomb on him and his fellow troops as they were locked in a battle with the enemy.

But according to Trump – who on Thursday claimed that British and other allied forces “stayed a little back, a little off the front lines” – Parker and his unit weren’t there.

“I feel outraged and insulted – most of all for my three soldiers who died that day. How must their mothers feel about the commander in chief of the US military denying their bravery and their sacrifice?”

Privates Aaron McClure, 19; John Thrumble, 21; and Robert Foster, 19 lost their lives in the incident in Mazdurak, Helmand Province, nearly two decades ago after American forces were fed the wrong coordinates.

Parker, who was flown back to the UK with catastrophic injuries, was put into a six-week medically-induced coma and missed their funerals, something that still pains him.

His survival was touch and go. The force of the impact blew off his body armour, his clothes melted on to his body resulting in third-degree burns, his lungs collapsed, his eardrums burst and his spleen was ruptured. His leg was broken, his hand was shattered, part of his pancreas was lost, and he was covered in blood – his own and that of his soldiers.

“Trump has literally added insult to injury,” says Parker. “What he says is a complete lie, but the trouble is that when he makes ignorant, careless statements like that, people listen.

“He has no idea. He doesn’t care about facts. This is a president who dodged the Vietnam draft and yet refers to his own soldiers as ‘losers.’”

Indeed, this is not the first time Trump has faced a backlash for making controversial remarks about service personnel. In 2020, he was widely castigated after reports emerged which claimed he had mocked American soldiers killed in action as “losers” and “suckers”.

Trump was said to have made the comments after cancelling a planned visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, near Paris, where he had been scheduled to honour America’s war dead. “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers,” he is reported to have commented at the time.

During the same trip, Trump also allegedly referred to 1,800 US soldiers who died during the First World War, at Belleau Wood, as “suckers”. The troops’ sacrifice had helped to prevent a German advance on Paris, and remains venerated by the US Marine Corps.

Some details of the incidents were corroborated by a number of news organisations, including Fox News, but Trump has persistently denied ever making the remarks.

“Whatever that disrespectful idiot says, I think it’s important to recognise he’s not speaking on behalf of the US military,” says Parker, whose army career saw him serve in Bosnia, Northern Ireland and Sierra Leone before embarking on two tours of Afghanistan in 2001 and 2007.

“In Afghanistan, we worked with them [US troops], and I’ve also worked with them elsewhere in the world. Trump has no concept of the heat, the dust and the high-pressure environment soldiers endure. They lose limbs, they lose their lives, but all he cares about is grandstanding.”

Stu Parker
‘I feel outraged and insulted [about Trump’s comments], most of all for my three soldiers who died,’ says ParkerCredit: Jay Williams
Trump’s latest incendiary statement was made during an interview with Fox News, in which he suggested that Nato would not support America if asked.

“We’ve never needed them,” he said. “They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan... and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.”

In fact, 457 British troops were killed in combat and during other operations in Afghanistan between 2001 and the withdrawal of coalition troops 20 years later. A great many more – including Parker – were wounded and suffered life-changing injuries.

Britain’s swift involvement came at the behest of the US, which invoked the collective security provisions of Nato’s Article 5 after the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York. But according to Trump’s version of events, American troops largely fought alone.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was damning in his assessment of the president’s intervention, saying Trump’s remarks were “insulting and frankly appalling” and suggesting he should apologise.

His outrage was echoed by Kemi Badenoch. “Trump saying Nato allies ‘weren’t on the front line’ in Afghanistan is flat-out nonsense,” was the riposte from Tory leader.

“British, Canadian, and Nato troops fought and died alongside the US for 20 years. This is a fact, not an opinion. Their sacrifice deserves respect, not denigration.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/23/almost-died-fighting-afghanistan-trump/

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRSfR7Lv/

About Tice

https://www.threads.com/@gingerrob/post/DT7uscyjFaT?xmt=AQF08lMk_Ve6inVmWvQD1-CuPalLjrkdpa0w2g1aGUo-dfi4QD6pkK31ld35ih5tfiSdVAY&slof=1

British soldiers are ‘great and brave’: Trump backtracks on Afghanistan slur.

US president says British military is ‘second to none’ after comment on veterans provokes anger.

Donald Trump says British troops were 'among the greatest of all warriors'

Donald Trump has backtracked on claims British troops stayed away from the front line in Afghanistan after anger over his “appalling” comments.

In a statement on Truth Social the US president said that British troops were “among the greatest of all warriors” and were “GREAT and very BRAVE”.

He added that the bond between the British and American military was “too strong ever to be broken”.

Mr Trump issued the statement hours after Sir Keir Starmer confronted him directly on the phone over his comments about British military staff.

On Thursday Mr Trump told Fox News that he was “not sure” America’s military allies would support the United States “if we ever needed them”.

Speaking about the US’s global partners, Mr Trump said: “We’ve never needed them. We’ve never really asked anything of them.

“They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan... and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front line.”

Prince Harry – who served in Afghanistan – responded to the president’s remarks, saying that the “sacrifices” of British soldiers must be “spoken about truthfully and with respect”.

Sir Keir also published a video calling Mr Trump’s remarks “insulting and frankly appalling”.

Kemi Badenoch, Nigel Farage and Sir Ed Davey also condemned the remarks.

On Saturday afternoon the Prime Minister spoke to Mr Trump on the phone, raising his concerns in a discussion that touched on “the brave and heroic British and American soldiers who fought side by side in Afghanistan, many of whom never returned home”.

‘Bond too strong to be broken’
After the call, Mr Trump released a public statement honouring the “GREAT and very BRAVE soldiers of the United Kingdom”.

He said: “In Afghanistan, 457 died, many were badly injured, and they were among the greatest of all warriors. It’s a bond too strong to ever be broken.

“The UK Military with tremendous Heart and Soul is second to none (except for the USA!). We love you all, and always will!”

Mrs Badenoch, the Conservative leader, said: “I’m pleased President Trump has now acknowledged the role of the British armed forces and those brave men and women who gave their lives fighting alongside the US and our allies.

“It should never have been questioned in the first place.”

Prince Harry declined to comment on Mr Trump’s latest statement. However, a friend noted that the US President had not apologised, nor had he mentioned any of the other Nato countries that had served on the front line, incurring between them hundreds of deaths.

The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 to oust the Taliban, who they claimed were harbouring Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 terror attacks.

Britain suffered the second-highest number of military deaths in the conflict, sacrificing 457 troops, while the US saw 2,461 fatalities.

More than 3,500 coalition soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, before the US withdrew in 2021.

No 10 said that the two leaders also discussed “the need for bolstered security in the Arctic”, which Sir Keir said “was an absolute priority for his Government”, in their afternoon call.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/24/trump-backtracks-on-afghanistan/

So why was this hidden away

Found on threads

Reeves gets deals done at Davos
Votes of confidence in the UK economy as Chancellor secures £1.5 billion in major new private investments

From:
HM Treasury, Office for Life Sciences, British Business Bank and The Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP
Published
21 January 2026

UK savings and investment giant M&G earmarks £1 billion for communities, biopharmaceutical firm UCB confirms £500 million for UK R&D
Deals were secured by Rachel Reeves as she meets global investors, CEOs and leaders at the World Economic Forum where she promoted the UK as a haven of stability in an uncertain world.
Britain’s reputation as one of the best places in the world to invest was bolstered today as the Chancellor announced major new private investments at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

225 places across Britain – including in the North, Midlands, Wales and the South East – have been identified by savings and investment giant M&G as places where communities could benefit from a landmark £1 billion investment fund, announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves today in Davos.

The new UK Social Investment Fund will invest in areas facing housing and transport shortages and in communities needing town-centre renewal, new education and health facilities, and low-carbon or digital infrastructure to support the UK’s net zero transition.

In a further vote of confidence, global biopharmaceutical company UCB confirmed its £500 million investment in UK R&D and manufacturing, in Surrey.

The investment means that UCB will continue to develop a range of medicines for immunological diseases, here in the UK, from its new world-class research hub being developed in Windlesham. It will support cutting‑edge research, safeguard and create high‑skilled jobs, and help drive the growth that keeps Britain competitive on the global stage through our outsize strengths in the life sciences sector.

Made possible by the government’s Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund, the investment will also strengthen the country’s health resilience, securing capacity for end-to-end medicines development in the UK.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said:

I came to Davos to champion Britain as one of the best places in the world to invest, grow a business, and deploy capital – and that plan is working.

M&G’s investment is exactly what our pensions and investment reforms are designed to unlock - billions of pounds to build the homes, infrastructure and invest in innovative businesses that will power Britain’s next decade of growth.

I’m also delighted with UCB’s vote of confidence in Britain’s world‑class life sciences sector that will support cutting‑edge research, create highly‑skilled jobs, and help drive the growth that keeps Britain competitive on the global stage.

Andrea Rossi, Chief Executive of M&G plc, said:

By unlocking capital from British savers and international partners, M&G is poised to build critical infrastructure, support the growth of British businesses, while laying the foundations for a more productive, sustainable economy and stronger communities across the country.

Alistair Henry, Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, UCB, said:

The LSIMF grant strengthens our collaboration with government to support the life sciences sector and we are delighted to be able to deliver a campus and scientific capability that not only cements drug discovery here but adds value to the country’s health resilience and opportunities for the life sciences workforce.

In addition, M&G also announces today that its M&G Catalyst Growth Equity Fund (‘Catalyst’) has secured commitments in excess of $850 million, including $100 million from the British Business Bank alongside other institutional investors.

Catalyst backs innovative growth-stage companies in the UK and globally that are addressing critical challenges for our society. With the help of capital from Catalyst, these companies can become market leaders in technology, healthcare and sustainability. The British Business Bank’s investment is driven by its wider mission to boost support for high‑potential UK companies at the stage when growth capital is hardest to secure.

The Chancellor’s programme at the World Economic Forum continues today with a Women in Work fireside chat, where she’ll set out how women’s participation in the economy drives a stronger, more productive and more competitive Britain on the global stage. She will also meet with top executives from AstraZeneca, LinkedIn and Revolut.

Credit from the James O’Brien Appreciation Society and a chap called Michael Michael

And strangely before you read it, it helps me understand who my step dad was just a wee bit better. He couldn’t see that the people he voted for, let him down. Anyhow, read on…..

The country’s changed, the street’s have changed, the slang has changed —

but no one ever sat him down and explained when that happened.

He says something at breakfast and the room goes quiet.

“You can’t say that, Dad.”

Not shouted.

Not angry.

Just… awkward. Like he’s said something from the wrong decade.

He doesn’t even know what word he used wrong.

Only knows it used to be fine.

Used to be normal.

Later, out with the missus — he jokes with the waitress, calls her “love”.

There’s that look.

The one that says please don’t.

The one that says people are listening.

He clocks it.

Swallows it.

Learns to say less.

At home the kids talk identity like it’s homework.

School emails read like HR policies.

Everything’s inclusive now, except him.

And he’s thinking:

I didn’t vote for this.

Didn’t ask for this.

Didn’t get a say.

Then a familiar voice pops up online.

Same haircut, same cadence, same fury —

a Tommy-by-any-other-name type.

And standing just behind him, polished and grinning, there’s Nigel Farage, pint in hand, telling him it’s all very simple really.

It’s immigration.

It’s boats.

It’s borders.

Not the politicians who rinsed the country for a decade.

Not the Tories who smashed it up, sold it off, and walked away.

Not the wages frozen in 2010.

Not the ladder pulled up while he was still climbing.

No — it’s the bloke with an accent who arrived with less than him.

And suddenly everything clicks.

He’s not falling behind —

he’s being overtaken.

He’s not angry —

he’s protecting something.

He’s not racist —

he’s just “asking questions”.

That’s the trick.

Turns decline into invasion.

Turns economic vandalism into culture war.

Turns “we’ve been robbed” into “they’ve been given”.

And best of all, the people who actually mashed the country up get to float away, while he’s left shouting at the wrong horizon.

No fixing the street.

No fixing the work.

No fixing anything.

Just point.

Repeat.

Rinse.

Because as long as he’s angry at them,

he never has to ask what was done to him —

or who really did it.

I'm probably the only one fed up to the teeth with the current 'news'. Not in the least interested in sad Harry and his unhappy wife (other than the possible cost to come) nor David Beckham and his family - with both craving publicity at every turn. I think it's highly unlikely anyway that Harry's wife will ever set foot on these shores - out of choice - and the Beckhams won't change their promoting ways come what may, especially as they still have Harper to push. Hard-hearted Hannah remains.

Or does it - as it owes money

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/stars-and-stripes-no-longer-flying-at-who-but-us-cant-really-leave-until-dues-are-paid-agency-says/

https://youtube.com/shorts/_7SWz7bUliA?si=ldKV-_kjBFnHu-07

It’s only got until March

But with More MP’s letting their constituents down and leaving the party there were elected in as , change is needed .

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/737660