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Drumfire for Starmer. Allies  plaintively whinge.

15 September 2025 BBC"Paul Ovenden, a senior aide to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, has resigned after offensive and sexual text messages came to light in which he recounted a conversation about veteran MP Diane Abbott.The messages were reported in the Daily Mail, and are understood to have been made eight years ago, as part of an online private conversation.In a statement to ITV News, Mr Ovenden said he was "truly, deeply sorry for it and the hurt it will cause".A spokesperson for the prime minister called the messages "appalling and unacceptable", saying: "As the first black woman to be elected to Parliament, Diane Abbott is a trailblazer who has faced horrendous abuse throughout her political career."They added: "These kinds of comments have no place in our politics."Abbott has declined to comment on Mr Ovenden's resignation.Mr Ovenden was Sir Keir's director of political strategy and the messages are understood to have been made when he was a press officer for the Labour party.In the messages, he recounted colleagues' comments made during a more explicit version of the game Snog, Marry, Avoid with graphic sexual imagery relating to Abbott.Abbott is the longest-serving female MP in Parliament, having represented the Hackney North and Stoke Newington constituency since 1987.For much of her parliamentary career she has been a Labour MP, but earlier this year was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party for comments she made about racism.Mr Ovenden in his statement: "I am accused of eight years ago as a junior press officer sharing with a female colleague the details of a silly conversation that I was party to with other female staff members."Before summer, I had announced to some of my colleagues my intention to leave government."Though the messages long pre-date my current employment and relationship with the prime minister, I've brought forward my resignation to avoid distracting from the vital work this government is doing to positively change people's lives."As an advisor, my duty is to protect the reputation of the prime minister and his government."While it is chilling that a private conversation from nearly a decade ago can do this sort of damage, I am also truly, deeply sorry for it and the hurt it will cause."His resignation comes just a few days after the prime minister sacked Peter Mandelson as his ambassador to the US and less than two weeks after Angela Rayner resigned as deputy prime minister.Asked if the Downing Street operation was "a shambles", a No 10 spokesman replied: "The PM's focus is on delivering practical change to make a difference to people's lives."The spokesman would not say if Sir Keir had contacted Abbott about the messages.One senior ally of Mr Ovenden in government said: "It's a factional hit to expose Keir and Morgan [McSweeney, Sir Keir's chief of staff]. Pathetic."And it raises a massive question about how we judge ourselves. Someone's private messages get hacked, held for eight years on someone's laptop, briefed to a journalist... and they [Ovenden] are the one who has to resign."Labour MP Nadia Whittome said the "misogynistic comments...recounted with glee by Paul Ovenden are utterly despicable"."Ovenden:- "While it is chilling that a private conversation from nearly a decade ago can do this sort of damage, I am also truly, deeply sorry for it and the hurt it will cause.""One senior ally of Mr Ovenden in government said: "It's a factional hit to expose Keir and Morgan [McSweeney, Sir Keir's chief of staff]. Pathetic."And it raises a massive question about how we judge ourselves. Someone's private messages get hacked, held for eight years on someone's laptop, briefed to a journalist... and they [Ovenden] are the one who has to resign.""If you can't catch, don't throw.How sad that there could be a "factional hit to expose Morgan McSweeney", so undeserved. Now perhaps they start to realise what they did and how it felt for Corbyn and his supporters.

David Ainsworth ● 18h1 Comments ● 18h

Back from Ukraine in one piece

Didn't see a single drone but more and more vehicle owners are investing in drone jammers - a big square box on the roof with lots of electrics in it.And we think we've got problems!A huge thank you, by the way, to those who have supported Medical Life Lines Ukraine, including the very generous "Anonymous".  Thanks to some of you I have raised over £12,000 since June.Here is an extract of my email to as many donors as I have email addresses for:Our journey was long and tiring – about 1,250 miles – but that was as nothing to the emotions we felt when handing our four ambulances over to the hospitals and search & rescue teams who will be using them.  Each recipient sent a small deputation to show appreciation and to give them a day of R&R.  There was a formal dinner (including salo but not much vodka) and of course many speeches.One team had come straight from the front line, picked up their 4WD search & rescue vehicle (which came with hydraulic cutting tools used to extract people from damaged buildings) and drove it straight back after one of the first responders had told us of what they had to deal with virtually every day.  As they see it their front lines are not only Ukraine’s but those of Europe too. The ambulance I drove will be used by a rehabilitation centre for wounded veterans and at the dinner we heard harrowing testimony from the man who now runs the centre, an ex-POW who spent two years in Russian captivity.  How he was treated was appalling and degrading.  Almost literally inhuman.One of the other vehicles will go to a hospital that specialises in treating limb loss injuries.  This hospital alone has treated over 18,000 victims to date.We started out with five ambulances but one, a mobile treatment centre, sadly broke down en route in Belgium.  Once it is fixed it will be delivered separately.  For those still keen to support MLLU, the repairs for this vehicle will cost around £2,000 and that needs funding.  Once again, here is the funding link: https://www.justgiving.com/page/jonathan-callaway-1Each of the drivers raised well over their £7,000 target and our Ukrainian friends were especially touched that on average each of us had found over 100 donors.  Just knowing that we had such a lot of support behind us was a lift to their morale.  It really was an emotional evening.Before the handovers we had a few hours downtime and managed a trip into the beautiful and historic centre of Lviv.  A visit to the “Church of Tears”, where hundreds of fallen soldiers and civilians were commemorated, was a vivid reminder of the seemingly never-ending toll this war is taking on the country and its people. There is a Church of Tears in every town and village.  Seeing the pictures of some of the children who had lost their fathers – and the messages they left for them – was especially heart-breaking.It seemed unreal to us but life in Lviv goes on pretty much as normal (even the air raid sirens are often ignored).  Kids playing in the fountains, people walking around with ice-creams, bars and cafés full of people, everyone making the best of things.  However, a couple of things stood out – there were very few young men around, some buildings had been boarded up as a protective measure and – unlike two years ago – a lot of vehicles now have rooftop drone jammers.This was a physically tiring but emotionally powerful experience for all of us drivers.I will end by mentioning that the charity is still looking for a couple of drivers for the next convoy in November ... please consider this especially if you still have a C1 licence.Thanks again to all of you

Jonathan Callaway ● 2d14 Comments ● 18h

Every time they’re making progress, it seems like he bombs someone

TOI 12/9/25"US President Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly growing frustrated with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after Israel bombed a meeting of Hamas leaders in Qatar on Tuesday while they were reportedly gathered to discuss a US-proposed framework for a hostage-ceasefire deal.Trump has made it clear that he was displeased by Israel’s strike — in no small part because it targeted Hamas leaders inside Qatar, a close US ally — saying in its wake that it did not “advance Israel or America’s goals.” But he also stressed publicly that he believed “eliminating Hamas” was a “worthy goal.”Yet a report by Politico on Thursday suggested that the Trump administration was more frustrated by the situation than it has publicly let on.“Every time they’re making progress, it seems like he bombs someone,” a person close to Trump’s national security team told Politico. “That’s why the president and his aides are so frustrated with Netanyahu.”It was unclear whether the strike would impact efforts to reach a hostage release and ceasefire deal, but Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum said on Thursday that the assassination attempt on the group’s senior leadership was “an assassination of the entire negotiation process.”Asked how the strike would affect the negotiation efforts, Trump told Israel’s Channel 14 at a press gaggle Thursday: “Hopefully, it won’t affect it at all.”“We want the hostages out, and we want them out soon. Hopefully it won’t affect it,” the president repeated.Meanwhile, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told the UN Security Council on Thursday that his country “will continue [its] humanitarian and diplomatic role without any hesitation in order to stop the bloodshed.”An Arab diplomat involved in mediation efforts had told The Times of Israel earlier Thursday, however, that all mediation efforts, previously led primarily by Qatar and Egypt, had halted since the Tuesday strike.“When one party chooses to bomb the mediator and one of the negotiating delegations, what kind of talks can be considered valid?” the official said."

David Ainsworth ● 4d9 Comments ● 23h

An ageing student writes

Gdn today:-"Starmer defends engaging with Israel, saying refusing to do so would be student politicsStephen Flynn (SNP) asked why the Israeli president was being invited to Downing Street. He said Isaac Herzog was someone who “called for the collective punishment of the Palestinian people and who signed the artillery shells that destroyed their homes, their families and their friends”.Starmer replied:We have suspended arms that could be used in Gaza. We have sanctioned extremists. We suspended trade talks.But the point he raised is a very serious one. We all want an outcome that ensures peace, that the hostages get out, that aid gets in under a two-state outcome. It is the only way we will get peace in a region that has suffered conflict for a very, very long time. I will not give up on diplomacy – that is the politics of students.""--------------------------------Peter Oborne:-"In October 2023 he [Herzog] claimed that all Palestinians in Gaza were "unequivocally" responsible for the 7 October Hamas attack on southern Israel."It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved," he said in remarks that South Africa submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) during its genocide case against Israel."---------------------"The Netanyahu government’s handling of the war in Gaza is “leading Israel to pariah status,” Health Secretary Wes Streeting warned Tuesday, ahead of Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to the U.K.Herzog is set to visit Britain this week “to show solidarity with the Jewish community, which is under severe attack and facing a wave of antisemitism,” according to his office.But, Streeting, who narrowly held his north London constituency last year against a challenge from a pro-Palestinian candidate, said the Israeli president must be held accountable for the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza.“He needs to answer the allegations of war crimes, of ethnic cleansing and of genocide that are being levelled at the government of Israel,” Streeting told Times Radio on Tuesday. “He needs to explain how, when we have seen so much evidence of the atrocities being perpetrated by the Israeli army, how he can possibly claim that the IDF is the most moral army in the world.”The health secretary stressed while Hamas’ attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 “united the world in condemnation,” they could not “be answered with a level of civilian innocent loss and suffering that we’re seeing in Gaza.”Streeting added: “This Israeli government is leading Israel to pariah status and finding itself increasingly isolated on the international stage.”" (Politico 9/9/25)

David Ainsworth ● 5d42 Comments ● 2d