That Ed Sheeran Thing

September 16th, 2026

The Catalyst:

Ed Sheeran has continued his tour despite his support acts and backing band pulling out in solidarity with rapper Macklemore, who was dropped after his onstage call to “Free Palestine” prompted objections from venue owners. The controversy has dominated headlines for days, with Sheeran expressing regret over how the situation unfolded while insisting the decision to remove Macklemore was not his. Despite the growing backlash and withdrawals, Sheeran has chosen to carry on with the tour.

My Take:

What angers me most about this story isn’t what Macklemore said. It’s what happened afterwards.

Had he shouted “Free Palestine”, finished his set and everyone simply gone home, some people would have agreed with him, others would have disagreed, and most would probably have carried on with their lives. That’s how it should be. Hear an opinion, think about it and make up your own mind.

Instead, the controversy gets amplified until everyone is expected to pick a side and get angry about it. That’s where I think the media plays a damaging role. Rather than simply reporting what happened, stories like this can become fuel for an already raging fire.

And I find it frustrating how readily people allow celebrities, politicians and headlines to form opinions for them. Whatever Macklemore says on a stage shouldn’t determine what anybody thinks about such a complicated conflict. Think for yourself. Question what you’re being told — including by people whose views happen to match your own.

I also can’t shake the suspicion that there are powerful interests that benefit from keeping people divided, angry and focused on conflict. War is an enormous business, outrage attracts attention, and attention makes money. I’m not claiming some grand conspiracy behind this particular story. I’m questioning a system in which conflict and outrage can be profitable — and wondering whether constantly pouring fuel on the fire really serves ordinary people at all.

The Questions: Why are people so easily lead? Is it lack of education? Why does the media always light the fire and let it rage? Why do celebrities feel the need to persuade their audience? Are they an integral part of the Government to seed division, in cahoots with the media?

Hypocrisy at it’s finest!

September 16th, 2026
The Catalyst: The small Oxfordshire village of Piddington have voted to leave the UK because they don’t want 1,250+ male asylum seekers dumped on them into a converted MOD site right near their homes. The have also set up a donation website for people wanting to support their campaign.
My Take: Well, this village and it’s voting area of Bicester and Woodstock voted, and won, for the Liberal Democrats in the 2024 General Election. Their candidate, Callum Miller, gained from the Tory’s with a 38.7% share of the vote. The Liberal Democrats take on immigration? Well, they want to:

  1. Immediately scrap the Illegal Migration Bill.
  2. Fix the broken asylum system by taking powers away from the Home Office and establishing a new, dedicated unit to make decisions quickly and fairly.
  3. Provide safe and legal routes to sanctuary for refugees from all countries, including:
    1. An expanded, properly-funded refugee resettlement scheme.
    2. A new scheme to resettle unaccompanied child refugees from elsewhere in Europe.
    3. Reuniting unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Europe with family members in the UK.
    4. Expanding the scope of refugee family reunion, including enabling unaccompanied child refugees in the UK to sponsor close family members to join them.
    5. Humanitarian visas that would allow asylum seekers to travel to the UK safely to proceed with their claims.
As we can see, they want immigrants in the UK…only, which is apparent,  not anywhere near them! Funny that. These left leaning, altruistic band of hypocrites are fine with housing thousands of undocumented aliens into inner cities, far away from their pretty little villages. Well, suck it up buttercups, you voted for this and now you’re seeing the rewards for your crazy virtue signalling. Look, I don’t want to see them dumped in Piddington either, or anywhere else in the UK. They need to go back to whence them came and to stop further foreigners invading Britain under the guise of refugees. They are nothing but economic migrants looking for free housing, paid medical treatment, free food, free driving lessons, free phones, free money etc. etc. All at British tax payers expense.
The Questions: Why are the left so open to destroying the country? And why are they so anti-British? Do they regret voting for an immigration-welcome party?

The £13,000 Illusion

September 15th, 2026

The Catalyst: Today’s news reports that the UK state pension is set to rise to just over £13,000 a year, thanks to the triple-lock tracking a 3.9% wage growth. The mainstream narrative is already spinning the usual warning bells about “long-term affordability” and “generational unfairness.”

My Take: Calling £13,000 a year a “substantial cost” is an absolute illusion. If a citizen has given 35 to 40 years of dedicated labour paying into a system under the promise of security, £13k isn’t a reward—it’s a baseline for poverty. The real target should be £20,000+ a year for full lifetime contributors.

A plausible way to achieve this? We stop importing asylum seekers immediately and deport every single one who has arrived over the last decade for starters. The vast majority of these economic migrants have completely drained the coffers of this country. It is a necessary start, alongside clamping down on lifelong scroungers. There are many ways to fund a peaceful, well-deserved retirement for the people who actually built this country, provided they have paid into the system for 35 years or more. They’ve earned it.

The Question: Why are we told the cupboard is bare for the lifetime contributors, while the borders stay open?