Happy New Year.......

The Calendar Act 1750 remains the reason for the tax year starting on 6th April. Finally, after nearly 200 years since the design of the Gregorian Calendar, England and her dominions made the switch, thus moving the start of the year from 25th March to 1st January. 11 days were lost to the out of kilter Julian calendar.

Earlier steps towards a one world government?

"In and throughout all his Majesty’s dominions and countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, belonging or subject to the crown of Great Britain, the said supputation, according to which the year of our Lord beginneth on the twenty-fifth day of March, shall not be made use of from and after the last day of December one thousand seven hundred and fifty-one;

and that the first day of January next following the said last day of December shall be reckoned, taken, deemed, and accounted to be the first of the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and fifty-two;

and the first day of January which shall happen next after the said first day of January one thousand seven hundred and fifty-two shall be reckoned, taken, deemed, and accounted to be the first day of the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and fifty-three;

and so on from time to time the first day of January in every year which shall happen in time to come shall be reckoned, taken, deemed, and accounted to be the first day of the year, and that each new year shall accordingly commence and begin to be reckoned from the first day of every such month of January next preceding the twenty-fifth day of March on which such year would according to the present supputation have begun or commenced."

👇

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/apgb/Geo2/24/23/contents

And, for a bit more background:

👇

https://www.mass.gov/news/happy-new-year

If only the bootnecks could be tasked with keeping the legal drugs off British streets, too.

Sally Beck on cherry-picking statistics, when it comes to “infectious diseases”:

👇

https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/this-cruel-and-dangerous-push-for-the-measles-jab-remind-you-of-anything/

A prediction; no more Gurkhas in 20 years’ time.

“The British Embassy in Kathmandu (BEK) has a small pot of funding to scale up our ambition to support LGBT+ awareness, advocacy, and artistic expression in Nepal.”

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/british-embassy-kathmandu-call-for-bids-lgbt-enabling-fund

In response to the Sally Beck TCW article 👇

I've got the book mentioned in that article: Dissolving Illusions. I can't recommend it enough, though it's difficult to read at times as it explains in great detail what wretched lives the poor, particularly children, led during the Industrial Revolution

As you may be aware, some of the King’s Guard will be found by the Gendarmerie Nationale today and, in Paris, a detachment from the Coldstream Guards—my regiment—will be showing the French how this sort of thing is done properly.

There have been a number of questions about this, understandably. It has not been unusual to have non-British soldiers turning up for a ceremonial stint in London, but they have all come from the Commonwealth. Picking 120 years since the Entente Cordiale seems odd (why not 125, and I doubt anyone considered this in 2004), which makes this look like it is much more about NATO than Anglo-Frog relations.

The guard rooms at the royal palaces are classed as “transit accommodation”, because nobody spends more than 48hrs there. This means that the blokes sleep on squeaky bunk beds with plastic mattresses and there is a distinct lack of ambience. Since each battalion and company on public duties has a mass of other training to be getting on with, getting any help with this is always viewed as a plus, even if it means the public do not get the same spectacle.

Assuming the officers are given lunch in the mess at St James’s Palace afterwards, partaking of snuff might be a little awkward; the snuff box is made from one of Marengo’s hooves.

👇

https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1885542/buckingham-palace-french-soldiers

Or….👇

This is perhaps easier to read, and more up-to-date than Dissolving Illustrations

For those still on the edges of their seats, this has either been completely misreported (likely), or today was a rehearsal of some kind.

The Scots Guards have not dismounted guard, so there was a much abbreviated and simplified ceremony. In short, the French turned up from Wellington Barracks (just over the road, which is usual) and formed up on the north side of the forecourt. Gendarme drill is very basic. They are unable to carry out a left form, which means we are perfectly safe, even if the entente falls apart.

Therefore, the King's Guard has not been replaced by the French; they merely turned up for some shouting and marching. However, now they know their way through the palace gates, maybe they will get a go at camping there in due course.

In a UK Column segment on 27th March, I played a clip of Tim Davies speaking about the announcement that 10 Ukrainian pilots had received basic fast jet training in the UK. Tim flew fast jets for the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force for 20 years; he also trained pilots and he worked as an electronic warfare officer.

His view on the Ukraine conflict is that Russia is in control of the sky and that initial training of 10 pilots is effectively meaningless for Ukraine, but there will be knock-on effects for the airmen of the UK.

Our 25-minute conversation is now up on the UK Column website and I commend it to you. It is hard to believe that an aircraft flies faster than Tim speaks, but that is, apparently, the case:

👇

http://www.ukcolumn.org/video/winging-it-why-is-the-uk-training-ukrainian-pilots

You may have seen Matthew Randolph on UK Column News Extra last Wednesday.

In addition to challenging Gloucester City Council over planning applications for 5G masts, he is standing at the forthcoming election for Police and Crime Commissioner.

For more on the planning debacle, see Matt's conversation with Rachel Mathews:

👇

https://youtu.be/O-oAVWOYNY0?si=n7uM2KeMMJtHMY4E

Editor's Choice articles from ukcolumn.org front page. Don't forget you can now listen to our articles read aloud, just press the play button. If it has not been added yet to an article you'd like to listen to please get in touch.

1. Ukraine: The Search for Peace (Wednesday, 18th January 2023)
2. Canada's expanding euthanasia laws: Making the unthinkable thinkable again (Friday, 9th December 2022)
3. Ecoterrorism from Above and Below: From Davos to Deep Green Resistance (25th May 2023)
4. Military Union: British Government Policy Since 1948 (15th January 2019)
5. Sustainable Renewable Energy: Neither Sustainable Nor Renewable (31st January 2023)
6. The Online Radicalisation Myth (25th October 2021)
7. Stabilising the Code (12th September 2021)
8. Leak: German Government's Ukraine war propaganda campaign (5th October 2022)
9. Why is the BBC apparently featuring terrorists in its documentaries? (16th July 2023)
10. The true significance of King Charles’ and Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation Oaths (27th July 2023)
11. Bertrand Russell — The Impact Of Science On Society (Monday, 1st March 2010)

Not quite enough room in this Telegraph article to mention that DEFRA has been busy sponsoring farmers to take their land out of food production, in order to meet the Terra Carta target of putting 30% of the UK's landmass in 'nature recovery' by 2030 (a considerable rush, though I don't mean half past eight), or that DEFRA has had to row back on its unlimited offer under the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

If the rain does ever stop it will only be attributed to....climate change.

It's almost as though there's some sort of link between this newspaper and this government.

👇

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/09/farmers-warn-food-shortages-no-harvest-world-war-two-rain/

Charles Malet and I will be talking about strategic planning and operational command tomorrow from 8PM UK time. He'll be sharing some of his experience and insights from Sandhurst and the Coldstream Guards. I'll be thinking about how trivial my career was in comparison! Come join us for a live discussion and Q&A. More info here https://open.substack.com/pub/riseuk/p/charles-malet-live-interview?r=2656vg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

One can't help but feel they could have thought more about the wording of the final sentence:

"The leaders also discussed the pioneering UK and Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership which will break the business model of criminal gangs risking lives at sea, and the Prime Minister updated President Kagame on the next stages of the legislation in Parliament.

Both leaders looked forward to flights departing to Rwanda in the spring."

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-meeting-with-president-kagame-of-rwanda-9-april-2024

Though somewhat out of date (and of course it did happen to a very unfortunate few), I cannot remember anyone succumbing to heart disease or cancer as an undergraduate university student.

Nevertheless, the Government has seen fit to pour money into diagnosing conditions which would not, usually, be associated with this age group.

They must have thought long and hard before deciding to call it "CDC".

👇

Press release
Diagnostic checks rolled out to 160 sites under CDC programme

Community Diagnostic Centre sites have already delivered over 7 million tests, checks and scans to patients across England.

"Patients can now benefit from vital tests, checks, and scans being delivered at 160 sites across England as part of the community diagnostic centre (CDCs) programme, Health and Social Care Secretary Victoria Atkins announced today (Thursday 11 April).

Based in shopping centres and university campuses – as well as NHS hospitals – CDCs play a vital role in identifying and treating illnesses such as cancer and heart disease."

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/diagnostic-checks-rolled-out-to-160-sites-under-cdc-programme