The Art Of Politics: October — Of Shutdowns, Teardowns, & A Fragile Peace
by Richard Bruton
Once more proving that a picture paints not just a thousand words but, in the political sphere, skewers all they target … it’s The Art of Politics…
PEACE IN OUR TIME? THE GAZA/ISRAEL CONFLICT…
Well, there was the rather unexpected thing of Trump negotiating peace in the Israel/Gaza conflict, negotiating the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, both the living and the dead, in the wake of the terrorist organisation’s October 2024 attacks that led to 251 people being abducted, men, women, and children. In return, Israel ceased its campaign of genocide on the Gaza strip, a genocide that’s left Gaza as a bombed-out apocalyptic wasteland, thousands dead, many more starving to death with the lack of aid convoys being allowed in. But peace it was. For a time at least. It took almost no time for both Hamas and Israel to claim the other side had broken the peace deal, and it wasn’t long before the Israeli strike on Gaza resumed.
Ella Baron on the fragile peace…
Kal with a slightly more pessimistic take…
Ben Jennings on Trump the peacemaker…
Dave Rowe on the same…
And Ben Jennings again on Trump and his little escalator mishap at the UN — it was all part of a plot according to MAGA…
Martin Rowson on the ceasefire…
And more from Martin Rowson…
Nicola Jennings on Trump’s peace plan…
Dave Brown again…
And Nicola Jennings again on Trump making the best of it all..
Ben Jennings on Trump’s response to the resumption of hostilities…
OVER IN THE USA… ONE MAN DOMINATES IT ALL ONCE MORE, JUST AS HE LIKES IT…
Time Magazine published a cover photo that the President really didn’t like — oh, the vanity of the man. Trump also failed to get his long coveted Nobel Peace Prize, went to China for talks that led nowhere, and demolished the East Wing of the White house. Oh, and the entire government shut down (again) as the two sides of the political divide decided to punish the people for their not being able to get things done…
Ben Jennings on the Time cover that Trump really didn’t like…
Dave Rowe on demolishing times…
Kal on the White House’s East Wing being demolished for Pres Trump’s very tasteful (we’re sure) plans for a grand ballroom…
And Bill Bramhall again…
Ann Telnaes on Trump’s next projec t… ‘After demolishing the East Wing for his oversized Vegas showroom, Trump now wants to extend his reach in the city with an arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery.’
Dave Rowe on Trump — man of peace…
Morten Morland on Trump’s lack of peace prize…
And again from Morten Morland…
Dave Brown on the China talks…
Dave Rowe on those same China talks…
The government shutdown began on 1st October, where the ‘greatest’ country in the world does another thing that no other major country manages to do … and who suffers? Well, not those in power, that’s for sure…
Tim Campbell on the government’s message to the people…
Meanwhile, the tariff wars rage on … Ontario put up a naughty video with quotes from Ronald Reagan about the dangers and damage of tariffs … it wasn’t well received inside the White House, and toys were, as usual, thrown from the pram…
And Michael de Adder again…
And then there was Ukraine … it’s all gone a bit quiet on the whole Ukraine front…
UK NEWS… CONTINUED LABOUR WOES & ANDREW MOUNTBATTEN WINDSOR DOMINATE…
Well, in the UK, things continued to go wrong for the Labour government, who, it appears, would seriously have trouble organising a piss up in a brewery right now. And then we had the continued woes of the Royal family, particularly the man formerly known as Prince Andrew.
Ben Jennings on the budget hole the Labour government find themselves in…
Ella Baron on the Labour government’s continued over-the-top response to those protesting the Palestine/Israel conflict…
Of course, towards the end of the month, all news of politics was pushed aside as the continuing saga of Ponce Prince Andrew Windsor rumbled on. The Epstein links, the posthumous release of Virginia Giuffre‘s book alleging even more against the man who absolutely denies anything to do with her, oh, it wasn’t good for the royal, who’d already paid £12 million to Giuffre despite maintaining that he absolutely hadn’t done anything wrong — as you do.
It did, however, see many wags on social media repurpose the lyrics to The Grand Old Duke of York….
‘Oh the grand old Duke of York,
he had 12 million quid.
He gave it to someone he never met,
for something he never did.’
Andrew had already ‘voluntarily’ given up his titles and honours mid-month. But, by the end of the month, worse was to come for this person who, according to so many sources, was the worst example of entitled arrogance. Right at the end of the month came the news that the King had made the decision to strip Andrew of his Prince title and kick him out of his publically-owned mansion. So, “Prince Andrew” became Andrew Mountbatten Windsor…
Ben Jennings on King Charles’ trip to the Vatican…
Ben Jennings on Andrew’s living arrangements…
Ella Baron on those we shouldn’t forget…
