Podcasts about Metropolitan Police

Meet Baloo, a charismatic Belgian Malinois whose promising police career was cut short when she was hit by a suspect's car, leaving her for dead at a crime scene in 2018. Baloo came out of emergency surgery full of metal bolts and without her front right leg. As an amputee, she was forced into medical retirement. Baloo was adopted by retired police dog handler, Mandy Chapman, who sensed the potential for a new career direction: trauma support. It's been a hugely successful partnership, culminating in Baloo winning Hero Dog of the Year at Crufts 2025. The pair support police officers, staff and their families through the wellbeing charity Oscar Kilo's dog charity, the "OK9" organisation. Their work goes beyond the police force, and includes visiting nursing homes and schools in support of the wider community. Mandy Chapman talks to Dogs with Jobs presenter, Kate Fairweather from the Dogs Making a Difference Awards organised by the charity, Service Dogs UK - where Baloo took yet another award for his support work. Fellow award nominees included Mika, the well being and trauma support dog in the Metropolitan Police, who came on the show back in 2023, and Phil, the dual qualified medical alert and autism assistance dog, who came away with an award, too. Other police dog career stories: Champ, the engagement dog working in child protection in the Victoria police The UK's National Police Dog Trials 2025 P.D. Viper the firearms support dog P.D. Chase and the career arc of a general purpose police dog P.D. Meika, who searches for London criminals' cash, drugs and firearms P.D. Ted, the explosives detection dog with the West Midlands Police P.D. Jax the victim recovery dog with Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary Do you work your dog? Or perhaps you know someone else who might like to come on the show? I love all and any working dogs - and am always looking for dogs to come on the show. Get in touch with me, Kate, via team@shineradio.uk. Find more dogs with interesting jobs. © & ℗ Kate Fairweather, 2025See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ian and Hannah review the biggest new films and bingeable shows on UK streaming services for the week beginning Friday 31st October 2025, including:Vicky McClure returns as the Afghan war vet turned bomb disposal extraordinaire, in season three of the popular ITVX thriller Trigger Point.When a child goes missing in the aftermath of a house explosion, a concerned neighbour teams up with a private investigator to find them; as secrets unravel and a military conspiracy emerges, chaos ensues on South Oxford's sleepy suburbs. Emma Thompson stars in Apple TV original series Down Cemetery Road.In the Metropolitan Police's smallest department, the Heritage Crime Unit, an art-loving detective tackles cases connected to the world of art, antiques, collectibles and cultural heritage, in season one of Art Detectives on U.Daisy May Cooper and her brother Charlie reunite on screen to spend the night together in notorious and reportedly haunted buildings across the UK, discovering long hidden secrets about the buildings – and each other in NightWatch on BBC iPlayer.Follow Bingewatch on all major podcast players for your weekly rundown of the best binge-worthy shows across Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ and more.Remember to leave a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser and Goodpods AND you can now show your support and leave a tip for Ian and Hannah.You can also stay in touch with the team via Twitter AND if you like Bingewatch but you're looking for a specific review, check out BITESIZE BINGEWATCH, our sister show making it easier to get the bits you want!Discover your next favourite restaurant with NeoTaste, the exclusive membership unlocking huge discounts at hundreds of restaurants. Get 2 MONTHS FREE on us! Simply use the code BINGE at checkout. Sign up here: https://bingewatch.captivate.fm/neotaste For ad and sponsorship enquiries, email liam@mercurypodcasts.com now!

Why did the Home Office pay Hadush Kebatu £500 to leave the country?  Sky News has spoken to migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu hours after he was deported to Ethiopia. He claims he tried to hand himself in to police after he was released accidentally from prison last Friday but they ignored him.     Responding to Kebatu's claims, the Metropolitan Police told Sky News: "The Met is not aware of any evidence to support the claims that Kebatu approached officers on Saturday morning.  "The actions of officers who responded to the sighting of him on Sunday morning show how seriously they were taking the manhunt. Kebatu's actions on the morning of his arrest were more like those of someone trying to avoid officers, not trying to hand himself in."   Gareth Barlow speaks to home affairs journalist Danny Shaw and Sky News correspondent Ashna Hurynag - who has been in Epping, Essex, where Kebatu sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl and a woman.  Producers: Tom Gillespie and Araminta Parker Editor: Wendy Parker  

This week brought an avalanche of Prince Andrew revelations that dominated royal headlines. We break down Virginia Giuffre's explosive memoir "Nobody's Girl" with its shocking allegations, the Metropolitan Police investigation into Andrew's attempts to dig up dirt on his accuser, and excerpts from a new biography revealing his appalling treatment of staff and dangerous driving habits. Plus: Why hasn't Andrew paid real rent on Royal Lodge in over 20 years? Will the U.S. Congress call him to testify? And what about those alleged meetings with Chinese spies? In lighter news, King Charles makes history praying alongside the Pope in the Sistine Chapel, William and Kate prepare to move into their "forever home" at Forest Lodge, and Meghan hints her Netflix cooking show might be toast. We also round up the week's best (and most brutal) commentary on what the Andrew scandal means for the future of the monarchy—and why Prince William is already planning a much harsher approach when he becomes King.Check out "Palace Intrigue Presents: King WIlliam" here.

In CI News this week: Peers expose significant failings in Kim Leadbeater's assisted suicide Bill, investigations over non-crime hate incidents have been ditched by the Metropolitan Police in the wake of the Linehan debacle, and a baby born at 22 weeks celebrates his first birthday at home. You can download the video via this link. Featured stories Experts warn House of Lords Committee about assisted suicide dangers Met Police scraps investigations of non-crime hate incidents ‘Children as young as 10 are using cocaine', says Scots Cllr Baby born at 22 weeks celebrates first birthday at home

Prince Andrew's downfall has accelerated sharply in the wake of fresh allegations tied to Jeffrey Epstein and the explosive release of Virginia Giuffre's memoir, Nobody's Girl. The book recounts new details about Andrew's alleged sexual encounters with Giuffre while she was being trafficked as a minor by Epstein. These revelations reignited public outrage and renewed scrutiny over Andrew's long-denied relationship with both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Buckingham Palace has reportedly been forced into damage control, with King Charles III supporting Andrew's decision to give up his “Duke of York” title and remaining royal honors. The palace has publicly stated that the new allegations must be fully investigated, signaling growing institutional distance from Andrew as pressure mounts for full transparency and accountability.Adding to his disgrace, newly surfaced claims allege that Andrew attempted to orchestrate an online smear campaign against Giuffre to salvage his reputation. According to The Guardian's coverage of the memoir, the prince and his aides tried to hire internet trolls to harass Giuffre online and even sought access to her private information, including her Social Security number. Reports indicate that the Metropolitan Police have opened an inquiry into whether Andrew misused his royal security detail or other public resources during this smear campaign. Parliamentarians are also reportedly pushing to strip him of any remaining titles and privileges, as his reputation continues to collapse under the weight of new evidence and public disgust over his conduct.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsources:Prince Andrew tried to hire 'internet trolls' to 'hassle' his sex accuser Virginia Giuffre, her posthumous memoir reveals | Daily Mail Online

Prince Andrew's downfall has accelerated sharply in the wake of fresh allegations tied to Jeffrey Epstein and the explosive release of Virginia Giuffre's memoir, Nobody's Girl. The book recounts new details about Andrew's alleged sexual encounters with Giuffre while she was being trafficked as a minor by Epstein. These revelations reignited public outrage and renewed scrutiny over Andrew's long-denied relationship with both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Buckingham Palace has reportedly been forced into damage control, with King Charles III supporting Andrew's decision to give up his “Duke of York” title and remaining royal honors. The palace has publicly stated that the new allegations must be fully investigated, signaling growing institutional distance from Andrew as pressure mounts for full transparency and accountability.Adding to his disgrace, newly surfaced claims allege that Andrew attempted to orchestrate an online smear campaign against Giuffre to salvage his reputation. According to The Guardian's coverage of the memoir, the prince and his aides tried to hire internet trolls to harass Giuffre online and even sought access to her private information, including her Social Security number. Reports indicate that the Metropolitan Police have opened an inquiry into whether Andrew misused his royal security detail or other public resources during this smear campaign. Parliamentarians are also reportedly pushing to strip him of any remaining titles and privileges, as his reputation continues to collapse under the weight of new evidence and public disgust over his conduct.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsources:Prince Andrew tried to hire 'internet trolls' to 'hassle' his sex accuser Virginia Giuffre, her posthumous memoir reveals | Daily Mail Online

Paul Page served as one of Prince Andrew's royal protection officers within the Metropolitan Police's elite Royal Protection Command from 1998 to 2004. During that period, he claimed to have witnessed troubling behavior by the Duke of York and unusually lax security surrounding Andrew's associates—particularly Ghislaine Maxwell, who Page said came and went from Buckingham Palace “at will” and without being logged, something unheard of for any non-royal visitor. Page also described the prince's domineering and erratic temper toward staff, alleging he frequently berated officers and demanded obsessive control over trivial matters, such as the precise placement of teddy bears on his bed. His later public statements painted a portrait of a man entitled, abrasive, and completely out of touch with normal standards of conduct or decency.Their relationship eventually soured when Page was later convicted of fraud in 2009, though his prior service gave his subsequent revelations about Andrew's behavior a unique level of access and credibility. In interviews and documentaries, Page said he had initially admired Andrew but grew disgusted by his arrogance, his treatment of staff, and his relationships with controversial figures like Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. Page's firsthand accounts have since been widely cited in media reports scrutinizing Andrew's private life, offering rare insight from inside the royal bubble and underscoring the culture of impunity that surrounded him for years.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.

Paul Page served as one of Prince Andrew's royal protection officers within the Metropolitan Police's elite Royal Protection Command from 1998 to 2004. During that period, he claimed to have witnessed troubling behavior by the Duke of York and unusually lax security surrounding Andrew's associates—particularly Ghislaine Maxwell, who Page said came and went from Buckingham Palace “at will” and without being logged, something unheard of for any non-royal visitor. Page also described the prince's domineering and erratic temper toward staff, alleging he frequently berated officers and demanded obsessive control over trivial matters, such as the precise placement of teddy bears on his bed. His later public statements painted a portrait of a man entitled, abrasive, and completely out of touch with normal standards of conduct or decency.Their relationship eventually soured when Page was later convicted of fraud in 2009, though his prior service gave his subsequent revelations about Andrew's behavior a unique level of access and credibility. In interviews and documentaries, Page said he had initially admired Andrew but grew disgusted by his arrogance, his treatment of staff, and his relationships with controversial figures like Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. Page's firsthand accounts have since been widely cited in media reports scrutinizing Andrew's private life, offering rare insight from inside the royal bubble and underscoring the culture of impunity that surrounded him for years.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.com

Prince Andrew's downfall has accelerated sharply in the wake of fresh allegations tied to Jeffrey Epstein and the explosive release of Virginia Giuffre's memoir, Nobody's Girl. The book recounts new details about Andrew's alleged sexual encounters with Giuffre while she was being trafficked as a minor by Epstein. These revelations reignited public outrage and renewed scrutiny over Andrew's long-denied relationship with both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Buckingham Palace has reportedly been forced into damage control, with King Charles III supporting Andrew's decision to give up his “Duke of York” title and remaining royal honors. The palace has publicly stated that the new allegations must be fully investigated, signaling growing institutional distance from Andrew as pressure mounts for full transparency and accountability.Adding to his disgrace, newly surfaced claims allege that Andrew attempted to orchestrate an online smear campaign against Giuffre to salvage his reputation. According to The Guardian's coverage of the memoir, the prince and his aides tried to hire internet trolls to harass Giuffre online and even sought access to her private information, including her Social Security number. Reports indicate that the Metropolitan Police have opened an inquiry into whether Andrew misused his royal security detail or other public resources during this smear campaign. Parliamentarians are also reportedly pushing to strip him of any remaining titles and privileges, as his reputation continues to collapse under the weight of new evidence and public disgust over his conduct.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsources:Prince Andrew tried to hire 'internet trolls' to 'hassle' his sex accuser Virginia Giuffre, her posthumous memoir reveals | Daily Mail OnlineBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Prince Andrew's downfall has accelerated sharply in the wake of fresh allegations tied to Jeffrey Epstein and the explosive release of Virginia Giuffre's memoir, Nobody's Girl. The book recounts new details about Andrew's alleged sexual encounters with Giuffre while she was being trafficked as a minor by Epstein. These revelations reignited public outrage and renewed scrutiny over Andrew's long-denied relationship with both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Buckingham Palace has reportedly been forced into damage control, with King Charles III supporting Andrew's decision to give up his “Duke of York” title and remaining royal honors. The palace has publicly stated that the new allegations must be fully investigated, signaling growing institutional distance from Andrew as pressure mounts for full transparency and accountability.Adding to his disgrace, newly surfaced claims allege that Andrew attempted to orchestrate an online smear campaign against Giuffre to salvage his reputation. According to The Guardian's coverage of the memoir, the prince and his aides tried to hire internet trolls to harass Giuffre online and even sought access to her private information, including her Social Security number. Reports indicate that the Metropolitan Police have opened an inquiry into whether Andrew misused his royal security detail or other public resources during this smear campaign. Parliamentarians are also reportedly pushing to strip him of any remaining titles and privileges, as his reputation continues to collapse under the weight of new evidence and public disgust over his conduct.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsources:Prince Andrew tried to hire 'internet trolls' to 'hassle' his sex accuser Virginia Giuffre, her posthumous memoir reveals | Daily Mail OnlineBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

In 2011, Virginia Roberts Giuffre became known as the most outspoken victim of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Her campaigning against their abuse and trafficking helped to get justice for many women, but she was perhaps best known for a now-infamous photograph, taken when she was aged just 17, meeting with Prince Andrew. She claimed it was taken prior to one of three times she was forced to have sex with the King's brother. Encounters he vehemently denies took place but which have led to his public downfall, with Prince Andrew reportedly paying around £12 million to Roberts Giuffre, formally ending a civil case brought against him in the US without admitting liability. Earlier this year, Virginia took her own life. Before she died, she wrote a memoir, determined for the world to finally hear her story in her own words. In this episode of The Fourcast, Jackie Long speaks to Virginia's brother and sister-in-law, Sky and Amanda Roberts, about the woman behind the headlines, the legacy she leaves, and the campaigning she wanted to be remembered for. They also express their frustration with the Metropolitan Police response - but the Met reiterated to Channel 4 News today that they do not consider themselves the appropriate authority to investigate alleged crimes in the UK related to the Jeffrey Epstein case.This episode includes conversation around suicide and abuse.

Prince Andrew's downfall has accelerated sharply in the wake of fresh allegations tied to Jeffrey Epstein and the explosive release of Virginia Giuffre's memoir, Nobody's Girl. The book recounts new details about Andrew's alleged sexual encounters with Giuffre while she was being trafficked as a minor by Epstein. These revelations reignited public outrage and renewed scrutiny over Andrew's long-denied relationship with both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Buckingham Palace has reportedly been forced into damage control, with King Charles III supporting Andrew's decision to give up his “Duke of York” title and remaining royal honors. The palace has publicly stated that the new allegations must be fully investigated, signaling growing institutional distance from Andrew as pressure mounts for full transparency and accountability.Adding to his disgrace, newly surfaced claims allege that Andrew attempted to orchestrate an online smear campaign against Giuffre to salvage his reputation. According to The Guardian's coverage of the memoir, the prince and his aides tried to hire internet trolls to harass Giuffre online and even sought access to her private information, including her Social Security number. Reports indicate that the Metropolitan Police have opened an inquiry into whether Andrew misused his royal security detail or other public resources during this smear campaign. Parliamentarians are also reportedly pushing to strip him of any remaining titles and privileges, as his reputation continues to collapse under the weight of new evidence and public disgust over his conduct.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsources:Prince Andrew tried to hire 'internet trolls' to 'hassle' his sex accuser Virginia Giuffre, her posthumous memoir reveals | Daily Mail OnlineBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.

Prince Andrew's downfall has accelerated sharply in the wake of fresh allegations tied to Jeffrey Epstein and the explosive release of Virginia Giuffre's memoir, Nobody's Girl. The book recounts new details about Andrew's alleged sexual encounters with Giuffre while she was being trafficked as a minor by Epstein. These revelations reignited public outrage and renewed scrutiny over Andrew's long-denied relationship with both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Buckingham Palace has reportedly been forced into damage control, with King Charles III supporting Andrew's decision to give up his “Duke of York” title and remaining royal honors. The palace has publicly stated that the new allegations must be fully investigated, signaling growing institutional distance from Andrew as pressure mounts for full transparency and accountability.Adding to his disgrace, newly surfaced claims allege that Andrew attempted to orchestrate an online smear campaign against Giuffre to salvage his reputation. According to The Guardian's coverage of the memoir, the prince and his aides tried to hire internet trolls to harass Giuffre online and even sought access to her private information, including her Social Security number. Reports indicate that the Metropolitan Police have opened an inquiry into whether Andrew misused his royal security detail or other public resources during this smear campaign. Parliamentarians are also reportedly pushing to strip him of any remaining titles and privileges, as his reputation continues to collapse under the weight of new evidence and public disgust over his conduct.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsources:Prince Andrew tried to hire 'internet trolls' to 'hassle' his sex accuser Virginia Giuffre, her posthumous memoir reveals | Daily Mail OnlineBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.

In 2011, newly surfaced emails suggest that Prince Andrew attempted to use a Metropolitan Police protection officer—assigned to him as part of his royal security detail—to dig up damaging information on Virginia Giuffre, the woman who accused him of sexual abuse linked to Jeffrey Epstein. The email reportedly contained Giuffre's date of birth and U.S. Social Security number and alleged she had a criminal record in the United States. It was sent to a royal press aide, implying coordination to discredit Giuffre before the now-infamous photograph of Andrew with her surfaced. There is no evidence that the officer followed through on the request, and Giuffre's family has confirmed she never had a criminal record. The revelation underscores Andrew's desperation at the time to undermine his accuser rather than face the allegations head-on, revealing a cynical attempt to weaponize his royal privilege and the resources of law enforcement against a survivor.The Metropolitan Police have since announced they are “actively looking into” the claims, which have triggered widespread public disgust and renewed scrutiny over Andrew's use of taxpayer-funded protection. The timing of the revelations—coming shortly after Andrew's forced relinquishment of his Duke of York title and amid continued fallout from his ties to Epstein—paints a picture of a man still trying to manipulate institutions to protect his reputation. The notion that a royal would attempt to enlist the police to smear a victim of alleged trafficking is seen by critics as emblematic of the rot within Britain's elite power structure. For a man who insists he “never met” Virginia Giuffre, his determination to have her investigated says everything about guilt, arrogance, and moral decay behind palace walls.to contact  me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:Met Police to look into claims Prince Andrew sought information on accuser

Paul Page served as one of Prince Andrew's royal protection officers within the Metropolitan Police's elite Royal Protection Command from 1998 to 2004. During that period, he claimed to have witnessed troubling behavior by the Duke of York and unusually lax security surrounding Andrew's associates—particularly Ghislaine Maxwell, who Page said came and went from Buckingham Palace “at will” and without being logged, something unheard of for any non-royal visitor. Page also described the prince's domineering and erratic temper toward staff, alleging he frequently berated officers and demanded obsessive control over trivial matters, such as the precise placement of teddy bears on his bed. His later public statements painted a portrait of a man entitled, abrasive, and completely out of touch with normal standards of conduct or decency.Their relationship eventually soured when Page was later convicted of fraud in 2009, though his prior service gave his subsequent revelations about Andrew's behavior a unique level of access and credibility. In interviews and documentaries, Page said he had initially admired Andrew but grew disgusted by his arrogance, his treatment of staff, and his relationships with controversial figures like Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. Page's firsthand accounts have since been widely cited in media reports scrutinizing Andrew's private life, offering rare insight from inside the royal bubble and underscoring the culture of impunity that surrounded him for years.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

In 2011, newly surfaced emails suggest that Prince Andrew attempted to use a Metropolitan Police protection officer—assigned to him as part of his royal security detail—to dig up damaging information on Virginia Giuffre, the woman who accused him of sexual abuse linked to Jeffrey Epstein. The email reportedly contained Giuffre's date of birth and U.S. Social Security number and alleged she had a criminal record in the United States. It was sent to a royal press aide, implying coordination to discredit Giuffre before the now-infamous photograph of Andrew with her surfaced. There is no evidence that the officer followed through on the request, and Giuffre's family has confirmed she never had a criminal record. The revelation underscores Andrew's desperation at the time to undermine his accuser rather than face the allegations head-on, revealing a cynical attempt to weaponize his royal privilege and the resources of law enforcement against a survivor.The Metropolitan Police have since announced they are “actively looking into” the claims, which have triggered widespread public disgust and renewed scrutiny over Andrew's use of taxpayer-funded protection. The timing of the revelations—coming shortly after Andrew's forced relinquishment of his Duke of York title and amid continued fallout from his ties to Epstein—paints a picture of a man still trying to manipulate institutions to protect his reputation. The notion that a royal would attempt to enlist the police to smear a victim of alleged trafficking is seen by critics as emblematic of the rot within Britain's elite power structure. For a man who insists he “never met” Virginia Giuffre, his determination to have her investigated says everything about guilt, arrogance, and moral decay behind palace walls.to contact  me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:Met Police to look into claims Prince Andrew sought information on accuserBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.

A former special education instructional assistant at Oakdale Middle School has been ordered held without bond. Metropolitan Police have arrested a man in connection with a deadly stabbing that happened earlier this summer in Northwest D.C. Plans to give undocumented immigrants in Maryland access to the state's health insurance marketplace will not take place as scheduled next year. Brunswick Police Warning About A Scam Call Possibly Targeting SeniorsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On August 23, 2010, police discovered the body of MI6 spy Gareth Williams locked inside a gym bag in his London flat. The brilliant mathematician and GCHQ codebreaker was found naked, decomposing, padlocked from the outside in a red North Face holdall. The key was inside the bag, under his body.Two forensic experts attempted to replicate the scenario 400 times. They failed every single time.Was it murder? An accident? Russian intelligence assassination? Even the coroner and Metropolitan Police can't agree.Keywords: True crime podcast, unsolved murder mystery, British spy case, MI6 secrets, intelligence agency cover-up, espionage thriller, cold case investigation, forensic mystery, Gareth Williams death, GCHQ codebreaker, Russian assassination, KGB conspiracy, London crime, mysterious deaths, government secrets, classified operations, unexplained death, detective investigation, criminal mystery, spy thriller, real crime stories, murder investigation, dark secrets, conspiracy podcast, investigative journalism, true crime stories 2024 Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/we-saw-the-devil-a-true-crime-podcast--4433638/support.Website: http://www.wesawthedevil.comPatreon: http://www.patreon.com/wesawthedevilDiscord: https://discord.gg/X2qYXdB4Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/WeSawtheDevilInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/wesawthedevilpodcast.

In 2011, newly surfaced emails suggest that Prince Andrew attempted to use a Metropolitan Police protection officer—assigned to him as part of his royal security detail—to dig up damaging information on Virginia Giuffre, the woman who accused him of sexual abuse linked to Jeffrey Epstein. The email reportedly contained Giuffre's date of birth and U.S. Social Security number and alleged she had a criminal record in the United States. It was sent to a royal press aide, implying coordination to discredit Giuffre before the now-infamous photograph of Andrew with her surfaced. There is no evidence that the officer followed through on the request, and Giuffre's family has confirmed she never had a criminal record. The revelation underscores Andrew's desperation at the time to undermine his accuser rather than face the allegations head-on, revealing a cynical attempt to weaponize his royal privilege and the resources of law enforcement against a survivor.The Metropolitan Police have since announced they are “actively looking into” the claims, which have triggered widespread public disgust and renewed scrutiny over Andrew's use of taxpayer-funded protection. The timing of the revelations—coming shortly after Andrew's forced relinquishment of his Duke of York title and amid continued fallout from his ties to Epstein—paints a picture of a man still trying to manipulate institutions to protect his reputation. The notion that a royal would attempt to enlist the police to smear a victim of alleged trafficking is seen by critics as emblematic of the rot within Britain's elite power structure. For a man who insists he “never met” Virginia Giuffre, his determination to have her investigated says everything about guilt, arrogance, and moral decay behind palace walls.to contact  me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:Met Police to look into claims Prince Andrew sought information on accuserBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Nick Jeffery and John Granger continue their Q&A conversations about Rowling-Galbraith's Hallmarked Man (if you missed the first discussion, click here to catch up). As usual, the pair promised to send links and notes along with their recorded back and forth for anyone wanting to read more about the subjects they discussed. Scroll down for their seven plus one questions and a bevy of bonus material they trust will add to your appreciation of Rowling's Strike 8 artistry and meaning. Cheers!Q1: What is the meaning of or artistry involved with Pat Chauncey's three fish in the Agency's fish tank, ‘Robin,' ‘Cormoran,' and ‘Travolta/Elton'?Mise en Abyme (Wikipedia)In Western art history, mise en abyme (French pronunciation: [miz ɑ̃n‿abim]; also mise en abîme) is the technique of placing a copy of an image within itself, often in a way that suggests an infinitely recurring sequence. In film theory and literary theory, it refers to the story within a story technique.The term is derived from heraldry, and means placed into abyss (exact middle of a shield). It was first appropriated for modern criticism by the French author André Gide. A common sense of the phrase is the visual experience of standing between two mirrors and seeing an infinite reproduction of one's image. Another is the Droste effect, in which a picture appears within itself, in a place where a similar picture would realistically be expected to appearSnargaloff pods (Harry Potter Wiki)“It sprang to life at once; long, prickly, bramble-like vines flew out of the top and whipped through the air... Harry succeeded in trapping a couple of vines and knotting them together; a hole opened in the middle of all the tentacle-like branches... Hermione snatched her arm free, clutching in her fingers a pod... At once, the prickly vines shot back inside and the gnarled stump sat there looking like an innocently dead lump of wood“— The trio dealing with the Snargaluff plant in sixth year Herbology classSnargaluff was a magical plant with the appearance of a gnarled stump, but had dangerous hidden thorn-covered vines that attacked when provoked, and was usually best handled by more than one person.Juliana's Question about the Oranda Goldfish:did anyone else notice - I confess to only noticing this on my second re-read of THM- that Travolta, Pat's third fish, dies?What do we think about this? Could this mean Mr. Ryan F. Murphy dies…? Or could it just be foreshadowing of the fact that him and Robin don't end up together? I think the fish symbolism was quite humorous and delightful paralleling such a deep and intricate plot. Just wanted to know if anyone noticed this tinge of humor towards the end of the book… As for the fish theory, Pat's three fish in the tank: Strike, Robin and the third, she calls, Travolta — ironically, named after a “handsome” man. I'm thinking JKR meant Travolta, the fish to symbolize Murphy…What I was referring to in my original comment: the three fish = the love triangle between Ellacott/Murphy/Strike. I was asking: since Travolta died in Chapter 113, do we think this foreshadows Murphy either dying physically, or just that Robin and Murphy do not end up together?John's ‘Fish and Peas' Response:It's a relief to learn that Travolta's most famous role wasn't a character named Ryan Murphy that everyone in the world except myself knows very well. Thank you for this explanation!There's more to your idea, though, I think, then you have shared. Forgive me if you were already aware of this textual argument that suggests very strongly that these Oranda goldfish have been an important part of Rowling's plan from the series from the start. In brief, it's about the peas.In Part 2, Chapter 3, of ‘Cuckoo's Calling,' Robin and Matt are having their first fight about Strike and the Agency. The chapter ends with an odd note that this disagreement has blemished the Cunliffe couple's engagement.“She waited until he had walked away into the sitting room before turning off the tap. There was, she noticed, a fragment of frozen pea caught in the setting of her engagement ring.” (73)Your theory that the fish bowl is an embedded picture of the state of Robin's feelings for Murphy and Strike, a Mise en abyme of sorts, is given credibility in the eyes of this reader by the appearance of frozen peas as the cure for the dying Cormoran goldfish. It is hard for a Rowling Reader to believe that these two mentions of frozen pea fragments were coincidental or unrelated, which means that (a) Rowling had the office Oranda goldfish scene-within-the-scene in Strike 8 foreshadowed by the Strike 1 tiff, and (b) therefore of real significance.There is another pea bit, of course, in ‘Troubled Blood' at Skegness, a passage that links Robin's heart or essence with peas.Strike was still watching the starlings when Robin set down two polystyrene trays, two small wooden forks and two cans of Coke on the table.“Mushy peas,” said Strike, looking at Robin's tray, where a hefty dollop of what looked like green porridge sat alongside her fish and chips.“Yorkshire caviar,” said Robin, sitting down. “I didn't think you'd want any.”“You were right,” said Strike, picking up a sachet of tomato sauce while watching with something like revulsion as Robin dipped a chip into the green sludge and ate it.“Soft Southerner, you are,” she said, and Strike laughed. (807-808)If you tie this in with the fish symbolism embedded in Rowling's favorite paintings and the meaning of ‘Oranda,' this is quite a bit of depth in that fish bowl -- and in your argument that the death of Travolta signifies Murphy is out of consideration.You're probably to young to remember this but Travolta's most famous role will always be Tony Manero in ‘Saturday Night Fever,' the breakout event of his acting career. Manero longs for a woman way out of his league, attempts to rape her after they win a dance contest, she naturally rejects him, but they wind up as friends.Or in a book so heavy in the cultish beliefs and practices of Freemasonry, especially with respect to policemen that are also “on the square,” maybe the Travolta-Murphy link is just that the actor is, with Tom Cruise, as famous (well...) for his beliefs in Scientology as for his acting ability.So, yes, it's fun, your ‘Peas and Fish' theory, but there's something to it.Check out this note on ‘Peas' in the Strike novels from Renee over at the weblog: https://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/hallmarked-man-placeholder-post-index/comment-page-1/#comment-1699017 The fish symbolism embedded in Rowling's favorite painting: https://hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/p/rowlings-favorite-painting-and-what And the meaning of ‘Oranda:' https://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/rowling-twixter-fish-and-strike-update/Follow-Up by Julianna:I'm not sure what exact chapter this is in, but let's also not forget that on Sark, Strike procures a bag of frozen peas to soothe the spade to his face injury. I also want to add that he has used frozen peas before, to soothe his aching leg too, but I could be wrong about that…I cant remember where I've read that, so it might not be true….Lastly, after reading Renee's comment, I have to say, that now I do believe that the peas might have been an ongoing symbol for Strike (a la…the pea in the engagement ring) and…stay with me here….peas are potentially, what save Cormoran, the goldfish, from dying.“The black fish called Cormoran was again flailing helplessly at the top of the tank. ‘Stupid a*****e, you've done it to your f*cking self'.” And the very last line of the book being: “Then pushed himself into a standing position ear and knee both throbbing. In the absence of anything else he could do to improve his present situation, he set off for the attic to fetch the empty margerine tub…and some peas.” (Chapter 127).My point being: this could be a way of Rowling saying, that Strike saves himself from himself…another psychological undertone in her stories. (Lake reference: Rowling has pulled herself up out of poverty ‘by her own bootstraps' we say.) Thoughts? Thanks for induldging me here, John! I am enjoying this conversation. Apologies for the grammar and potentially confusing train of thoughts.And from Vicky:Loving the theories and symbolism around the peas and fish! Just had a thought too re John quoting the Troubled blood scene. Robin calls mushy peas by a familiar term “Yorkshire caviar”. Caviar is of course fish eggs, and poor Robin, Yorkshire born, spends much of THM agonising over the thought and pressure of freezing her eggs. Giuliana mentioned the frozen peas Strike puts on his swollen face after the spade hit...maybe this is foreshadowing to their intimate and honest dinner conversation later with Robin baring her heart to Strike about her ectopic pregnancy griefQ2: Why didn't the Strike-Ellacott Agency or the Metropolitan Police figure out how the murderer entered the Ramsay Silver vault to kill William Wright the first time they saw the grainy surveillance film of the auction house crate deliveries?Tweet UrlFrom ‘The Locked Room Lecture' (John Dickson Carr) It's silly to be disappointed in a border-line absurd Locked Room Mystery such as Hallmarked Man because improbability is close to a requirement in such stories:“But this point must be made, because a few people who do not like the slightly lurid insist on treating their preferences as rules. They use, as a stamp of condemnation, the word ‘improbable.' And thereby they gull the unwary into their own belief that ‘improbable' simply means ‘bad.'“Now, it seems reasonable to point out that the word improbable is the very last which should ever be used to curse detective fiction in any case. A great part of our liking fofr detective fiction is based on a liking for improbability. When A is murdered, and B and C are under strong suspicion, it is improbably that the innocent-looking D can be guilty. But he is. If G has a perfect alibi, sworn to at every point by every other letter in the alphabet, it is improbable that G can have committed the crime. But he has. When the detective picks up a fleck of coal dust at the seashore, it is improbable that such an insignificant thing can have any importance. But it will. In short, you come to a point where the word improbable grows meaningless as a jeer. There can be no such thing as any probability until the end of the story. And then, if you wish the murder to be fastened on an unlikely person (as some of us old fogies do), you can hardly complain because he acted from motives less likely or necessarily less apparent than those of the person first suspected.“When the cry of ‘This-sort-of-thing-wouldn't-happen!' goes up, when you complain about half-faced fiends and hooded phantoms and blond hypnotic sirens, you are merely saying, ‘I don't like this sort of story.' That's fair enough. If you do not like it, you are howlingly right to say so. But when you twist this matter of taste into a rule for judging the merit or even the probability of the story, you are merely saying, ‘This series of events couldn't happen, because I shouldn't enjoy it if it did.'“What would seem to be the truth of the matter? We might test it out by taking the hermetically sealed chamber as an example, because this situation has been under a hotter fire than any other on the grounds of being unconvincing.“Most people, I am delighted to say, are fond of the locked room. But – here's the damned rub – even its friends are often dubious. I cheerfully admit that I frequently am. So, for the moment, we'll all side together on this score and see what we can discover. Why are we dubious when we hear the explanation of the locked room? Not in the least because we are incredulous, but simply because in some vague way we are disappointed. And from that feeling it is only natural to take an unfair step farther, and call the whole business incredible or impossible or flatly ridiculous.” (reprinted in The Art of the Mystery Story [Howard Haycraft] 273-286)Q3: Hallmarked Man is all about silver and Freemasonry. What is the historical connection between South American silver (‘Argentina' means ‘Land of Silver'), the end of European feudalism, and the secret brotherhood of the Masons?How Silver Flooded the World: And how that Replaced Feudalism and the Church with Capitalism and Nation-States (‘Uncharted Territories,' Tomas Pueyo) In Europe, silver also triggered the discovery of America, a technological explosion, and a runaway chain of events that replaced feudalism with capitalism and nation-states. If you understand this, you'll be able to understand why nation-states are threatened by cryptocurrencies today, and how their inevitable success will weaken nation-states. In this premium article, we're going to explore how Europe starved for silver, and how the reaction to this flooded the world with silver. ,See also Never Bet Against America and Argentina Could be a Superpower, both by Pueyo.‘Conspiracy Theories associated with Freemasonry' (Wikipedia)* That Freemasonry is a Jewish front for world domination or is at least controlled by Jews for this goal. An example of this is the anti-Semitic literary forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Adolf Hitler believed that Freemasonry was a tool of Jewish influence,[12] and outlawed Freemasonry and persecuted Freemasons partially for this reason.[13] The covenant of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas claims that Freemasonry is a “secret society” founded as part of a Zionist plot to control the world.[14] Hilaire Belloc thought Jews had “inaugurated” freemasonry “as a bridge between themselves and their hosts”[15]* That Freemasonry is tied to or behind Communism. The Spanish dictator Francisco Franco had often associated his opposition with both Freemasonry and Communism, and saw the latter as a conspiracy of the former; as he put it, “The whole secret of the campaigns unleashed against Spain can be explained in two words: masonry and communism”.[16] In 1950, Irish Roman Catholic priest Denis Fahey republished a work by George F. Dillon under the title Grand Orient Freemasonry Unmasked as the Secret Power Behind Communism. Modern conspiracy theorists such as Henry Makow have also claimed that Freemasonry intends the triumph of Communism[17]* That Freemasons are behind income taxes in the US. One convicted tax protester has charged that law enforcement officials who surrounded his property in a standoff over his refusal to surrender after his conviction were part of a “Zionist, Illuminati, Free Mason [sic] movement”.[18] The New Hampshire Union Leader also reported that “the Browns believe the IRS and the federal income tax are part of a deliberate plot perpetrated by Freemasons to control the American people and eventually the world”[19]Umberto Eco's The Prague Cemetery, a Freemasonry Novel (Wikipedia)So much for the link between Freemasonry and Baphomet worship!‘The Desacralization of Work' (Roger Sworder, Mining, Metallurgy, and the Meaning of Life)Q4: Ian Griffiths is the Bad Guy of Hallmarked Man. His name has definite Christian overtones (a ‘Griffin,' being half-eagle, half-lion, King of Heaven and Earth, is a symbol of Christ); could it also be another pointer to Rowling's mysterious ‘Back Door Man,' Harry Bingham, author of the Fiona Griffiths series?Troubled Blood: The Acknowledgments (Nick Jeffery, November 2020)In both Silkworm and Career Rowling/Galbraith's military advisors are thanked as SOBE (Sean Harris OBE?) Deeby (Di Brookes?) and the Back Door Man. Professor Granger has identified the Back Door Man as a southern US slang term for a man having an illicit relationship, but beyond this is so far unidentified.Any thoughts on her dedications or acknowledgements? Any new leads for the elusive Back Door Man? Please comment down below.Harry Bingham's website, June 2012“My path into TALKING TO THE DEAD was a curious one. I was approached by a well-known figure who was contemplating working with a ghostwriter on a crime thriller. I hadn't read any crime for a long time, but was intrigued by the project. So I went out and bought about two dozen crime novels, then read them back-to-back over about two weeks.”Could Rowling have hired a (gasp) “ghost writer”? Or was it just “expert editorial assistance” she was looking for, what Bingham offers today?Author's Notes in The Strange Death of Fiona Grifiths (Publication date 29th January 2015, before Career of Evil):“If you want to buy a voice activated bugging device that looks like (and is) an ordinary power socket, it'll set you back about fifty pounds (about eighty bucks).”This is the same surveillance device used in Lethal White, but interestingly is not used in Bingham's book. (Nick Jeffery)Moderators Backchannel List of Correspondences between Cormoran Strike series and Bingham's Fiona Griffiths mystery-thrillers (John Granger):(1) A series that has an overarching mystery about which we get clues in every story, one linked to a secret involving a parent who is well known but whose real life is a mystery even to their families;(2) A series that is preoccupied with psychological issues, especially those of the brilliant woman protagonist who suffers from a mental illness and who is a student of psychology;(3) A series that is absorbed with death and populated by the dead who have not yet passed on and who influence the direction of the investigation more or less covertly (”I think we have just one world, a continuum, one populated by living and dead alike,” 92, This Thing of Darkness), a psychic and spiritual realm book that rarely touches on formal religion (Dead House and Deepest Grave excepted, sort of);(4) A series that, while being a police procedural because the detective is a police officer, is largely about how said sergeant works around, even against the hierarchy of department authority and decision makers, “with police help but largely as an independent agent;”(5) A series that makes glancing references to texts that will jar Rowling Readers: “All shall be well” (284, Love Story with Murders), she drives a high heel into a creepy guy's foot when he comes up to her from behind (75, This Thing of Darkness), Clerkenwell! (103, The Dead House), a cave opening cathedral-like onto a lake, the heroine enters with a mentor, blood spilled at the entrance, and featuring a remarkable escape (chapter 34, The Dead House), etc, especially the Robin-Fiona parallels....(6) A series starring a female protagonist who works brilliantly undercover, whose story is about recovery from a trauma experienced when she was a college student, who struggles mostly with her romantic relationships with men, a struggle that is a combination of her mental health-recovery progress (or lack of same) and her vocation as a detective, who is skilled in the martial art of self-defense, and who is from a world outside London, an ethnicity and home fostering, of all things, a love of sheep;(7) A series with a love of the mythological or at least the non-modern (King Arthur! Anchorites!)Q5: Can you help us out with some UK inside jokes or cultural references of which we colonists can only guess the meaning? Start with Gateshead, Pit Ponies, and Council Flats and Bed-Sits!* Gateshead (Wikipedia)J. B. Priestley, writing of Gateshead in his 1934 travelogue English Journey, said that “no true civilisation could have produced such a town”, adding that it appeared to have been designed “by an enemy of the human race”.* Pit Ponies (Wikipedia)Larger horses, such as varieties of Cleveland Bay, could be used on higher underground roadways, but on many duties small ponies no more than 12 hands (48 inches, 122 cm) high were needed. Shetlands were a breed commonly used because of their small size, but Welsh, Russian, Devonshire (Dartmoor) and Cornish ponies also saw extensive use in England.[2] In the interwar period, ponies were imported into Britain from the Faroe Islands, Iceland and the United States. Geldings and stallions only were used. Donkeys were also used in the late 19th century, and in the United States, large numbers of mules were used.[6] Regardless of breed, typical mining ponies were low set, heavy bodied and heavy limbed with plenty of bone and substance, low-headed and sure-footed. Under the British Coal Mines Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. 50), ponies had to be four years old and work ready (shod and vet checked) before going underground.[15] They could work until their twenties.At the peak of this practice in 1913, there were 70,000 ponies underground in Britain.In shaft mines, ponies were normally stabled underground[16] and fed on a diet with a high proportion of chopped hay and maize, coming to the surface only during the colliery's annual holiday.* Council Flats (Wikipedia)Q6: What are Rowling Readers to think of Robin's dream in chapter 22 (174 )when she's sleeping next to Murphy but dreaming of being at Ramsay's Silver with Strike and the showroom is filled with “cuddly toys instead of masonic swords and aprons”?* ‘Harry's Dreams:' Steve Vander Ark, Harry Potter LexiconQ7: The first bad news phone call that Robin takes from her mother Linda in Hallmarked Man is about the death of Rowntree. What is the connection between Robin's beloved Chocolate Labrador, Quakers, and Rowling's Golden Thread about ‘What is Real'?‘Troubled Blood: Poisoned Chocolates' (John Granger, 2021)‘Troubled Blood: The Secret of Rowntree' (John Granger, 2021)I explained in ‘Deathly Hallows and Penn's Fruits of Solitude‘ why Penn's quotation is a key to the Hogwarts Saga finale, how, in brief, the “inner light” doctrines of the Quakers and of non-conformist esoteric Christianity in general inform the story of Harry's ultimate victory in Dobby's grave over doubt and his subsequent ‘win' in his battle against death and the Dark Lord. I urge you to read that long post, one of the most important, I think, ever posted at HogwartsProfessor, for an idea of how central to Rowling's Christian faith the tenets of Quakerism really are as well as how this shows itself in Deathly Hallows.What makes the historical chocolate connection with the Quakers, one strongly affirmed in naming the Ellacott dog ‘Rowntree,' that much more interesting then is the easy segue from the “inner light” beliefs of the Christian non-conformists to the effect of chocolate on characters in Rowling and Galbraith novels. The conscience of man per the Quakers are our logos within that is continuous with the Logos fabric of reality, the Word that brings all things into existence and the light that is in every man (cf., the Prologue to St John's Gospel). Our inner peace and fellowship, in this view, depend on our identification with this transpersonal “inner light” rather than our ephemeral ego concerns.What is the sure way to recover from a Dementor attack, in which your worst nightmares are revisited? How does Robin deal with stress and the blues? Eat some chocolate, preferably a huge bar from Honeydukes or a chocolate brownie if you cannot get to Hogsmead.Access, in other words, the Quaker spiritual magic, the “inner light” peace of communion with what is Absolute and transcendent, a psychological effect exteriorized in story form by Rowling as the good feeling we have in eating chocolate. Or in the companionship and unconditional love of a beloved Labrador, preferably a chocolate Lab.Christmas Pig: The Blue Bunny' (John Granger, 2021)“Do you just want to live in nice houses?” asked Blue Bunny. “Or is there another reason you want to get in?”“Yes,” said Jack, before the Christmas Pig could stop him. “Somebody I need's in there. He's called DP and he's my favorite cuddly toy.”For a long moment, Jack and Blue Bunny stared into each other's eyes and then Blue Bunny let out a long sigh of amazement.“You're a boy,” he whispered. “You're real.”“He isn't,” said the panic-stricken Christmas Pig. “He's an action figure called—”“It's all right, Pig,” said Blue Bunny, “I won't tell anybody, I promise. You really came all the way into the Land of the Lost to find your favorite toy?” he asked Jack, who nodded.“Then I'll be your decoy,” said Blue Bunny. “It would be an honor” (169).The Bunny's recognition here of Jack as a messiah, sacrificial love incarnate, having descended into existence as a Thing himself from Up There where he was a source of the love that “alivens” objects, is one of, if not the most moving event in Christmas Pig. Note the words he uses: “You're real.”Rowling has used the word “real” twice before as a marker of reality transcending what we experience in conventional time and space, the sensible world. The first was in what she described as the “key” to the Harry Potter series, “lines I waited seventeen years to write” (Cruz), the end of the Potter-Dumbledore dialogue at King's Cross….In a Troubled Blood passage meant to echo that dialogue, with “head” and “backside” reflecting the characters inverted grasp of “reality,” Robin and Strike talk astrology:“You're being affected!” she said. “Everyone knows their star sign. Don't pretend to be above it.”Strike grinned reluctantly, took a large drag on his cigarette, exhaled, then said, “Sagittarius, Scorpio rising, with the sun in the first house.”“You're –” Robin began to laugh. “Did you just pull that out of your backside, or is it real?”“Of course, it's not f*****g real,” said Strike. “None of it's real, is it?” (Blood 242, highlighting in original).The Bunny's simple declaration, “You're real,” i.e., “from Up There,” the greater reality of the Land of the Living in which Things have their awakening in the love of their owners, clarifies these other usages. Dumbledore shares his wisdom with Harry that the maternal love which saved him, first at Godric's Hollow and then in the Forest, is the metaphysical sub-stance beneath, behind, and within all other reality. Strike gives Robin a dose of his skeptical ignorance and nominalist first principle that nothing is real but surface appearance subject to measurement and physical sensation, mental grasp of all things being consequent to that.Christmas Pig‘s “real” moment acts as a key to these others, one evident in the Bunny's response to the revelation of Jack's greater ontological status. He does a Dobby, offering to die for Jack as Jack has done in his descent into the Land of the Lost for DP, a surrender of self to near certain death in being given to the Loser he considers an “honor.” He acts spontaneously and selflessly as a “decoy,” a saving replacement in other words, for the “living boy” as Dobby did for the “Boy Who Lived.” The pathetic distraction that saved the DP rescue mission in Mislaid despite himself, crying out in desperation for his own existence, has metamorphized consequent to his experience with Broken Angel and in Jack's example, into a heroic decoy that allows Jack and CP to enter the City of the Missed.The Blue Bunny makes out better than the House-elf, too, and this is the key event of the book and the best evidence since the death of Lily Potter, Harry's defeat of Quirrell, and the demise of the Dark Lord that mother's love is Rowling's default symbolism for Christian love in her writing. The Bunny's choice to act as decoy, his decision to die to his ego-self, generates the life saving appearance of maternal love and its equivalent in the transference attachment a child feels for a beloved toy. The Johannine quality of the light that shines down on him from the Finding Hole and his Elijah-esque elevation nails down the Logos­-love correspondence.EC: All through Hallmarked Man Robin is saying to herself, “I think I love Ryan, no, really, I know I love him…,” which of course is Rowling's way of signaling the conflict this character has in her feelings for Strike and for Murphy. What is that about?* See ‘The Hallmarked Man's Mythological Template' for discussion of the Anteros/Eros distinction in the myth of Cupid and Psyche as well as the Strike-Ellacott novels Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Hello, and welcome to episode 191 of the Financial Crime Weekly Podcast, I am Chris Kirkbride. In this episode, the EU has extended sanctions on those responsible for Russian hybrid threats, including cyber-attacks and disinformation. In the UK, Daniel Pugh has been sentenced for operating a £1.3 million Ponzi scheme and the Metropolitan Police has secured convictions against the launderers of over £5.5 billion in Bitcoin. On financial integrity, anti-corruption training in Guinea-Bissau's health sector, and new UK guidance enabling anti-money laundering regulated firms to share customer data under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. Finally, the expiration of the US Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act amid a government shutdown, and Europol's urgent call for lawful data access to counteract evolving criminal threats.A transcript of this podcast, with links to the stories, will be available at www.crimes.financial.

It's Friday, October 3rd, A.D. 2025. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com. I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Adam McManus Muslim terrorist shot dead outside British synagogue on Yom Kippur On Thursday, a British terrorist of Syrian descent drove a car into people outside a synagogue in Manchester, England and then began stabbing them, killing two Jews and seriously wounding four others in a terrorist attack on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which is the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, reports the Associated Press. Officers shot and killed the suspect though authorities took some time to confirm he was dead because he was wearing a vest that made it appear as if he had explosives. Authorities later said he did not have a bomb. The man has been identified as 35-year-old Jihad Al-Shamie, a British citizen of Syrian descent, where 87% of the population is Muslim, reports the BBC. The Metropolitan Police in London, who lead counter-terrorism policing operations, declared the rampage a terrorist attack. Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said two other suspects were arrested, though he provided no further information on the arrests. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, an atheist, denounced the attack on the Jewish synagogue. STARMER: “Earlier today, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day for the Jewish community, a vile individual committed a terrorist attack that attacked Jews because they are Jews, and attacked Britain because of our values. “So many Jewish families first came to this country as a place of refuge fleeing the greatest evil ever inflicted on a people and Britain welcomed them. Communities like the one attacked in Manchester provided safety, but also the security that comes from a promise that this is a country that stands up to hatred and that we don't just provide refuge, we provide a home for so many Jewish families, that is the story of Britain. “But Britain is also a country where Jewish buildings, synagogues, even schools, require round-the-clock protection, where dedicated, specialist security is necessary because of the daily threat of antisemitic hatred. Today's horrific incident shows why.” Antisemitic incidents in the United Kingdom have hit record levels following Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and Israel's ensuing military campaign in Gaza, according to Community Security Trust, an advocacy group for British Jews that works to eliminate antisemitism. More than 1,500 antisemitic incidents in Britain were reported in the first half of the year. Pope Leo blasts Trump's hard-line immigration policy as not “pro-life” Pope Leo XIV strongly criticized President Donald Trump's hardline immigration policies, questioning whether they were in line with the Catholic church's “pro-life” teachings, reports The Guardian. Outside the papal summer residence in the Alban Hills, near Rome, this is what Pope Leo, the first American pope, said about Trump in response to a question from a U.S. journalist. POPE LEO: “Someone who says that I'm against abortion, but I'm in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants who are in the United States, I don't know if that's pro-life.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reacted. LEAVITT: “I would reject there is inhumane treatment of illegal immigrants in the United States under this administration, there was, however, significant, inhumane treatment of illegal immigrants in the previous administration as they were being trafficked and raped and beaten and in many cases, killed over our United States southern border.” Texas megachurch pastor pleads guilty to sexually abusing a child The founder of a Texas megachurch who resigned last year after a woman in Oklahoma accused the pastor of sexually abusing her in the 1980s pleaded guilty Thursday to five counts of lewd and indecent acts with a child, reports KLTV. Robert Morris, age 64, entered the pleas before a judge in Oklahoma's Osage County as part of a plea agreement, according to the state attorney general's office. The abuse began in 1982 when the victim was 12 and Morris was a traveling evangelist staying in Hominy, Oklahoma, with her family. The abuse continued over the next four years. Numbers 32:23 says, “You have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.” Morris was the senior pastor of Gateway Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Southlake, where he led one of the nation's largest megachurches until his resignation. He was indicted earlier this year by an Oklahoma grand jury. Under the plea agreement, Morris received a 10-year suspended sentence with the first six months to be served in an Oklahoma  County Jail. Christian wedding photographer wins in court A federal court has sided with a Christian photographer challenging misguided mandates she believes would force her to take pictures at a homosexual wedding despite her religious objections, reports The Christian Post. This is the latest example of U.S. courts ruling in favor of religious liberty protections.  In the opinion published Tuesday, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky sided with photographer Chelsey Nelson in her ongoing legal dispute with the city of Louisville. Miami Dolphins player Tua Tagovailoa credits Jesus after win And finally, Miami Dolphins player Tua Tagovailoa (Tah-go-VYE-lo-a) thanked and glorified God after his team's win in a recent game, marking the latest example of the athlete using his platform to highlight his Christian faith, reports The Christian Post. On Monday, the Miami Dolphins beat the New York Jets 27-21 in a game between the two National Football League teams. In a post-game interview with Peter Schrager following Monday's game, Tagovailoa did not hesitate to give God the glory. Listen. SCHRAGER: “You come out with a victory. All three facets dominated. The Jets today, your impression and take on the game." TAGOVAILOA: “First and foremost, all glory belongs to God, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Just want to thank Him for this victory, for keeping us safe for the most part. My prayers go out to all the guys that got injured tonight. My boy Tyreke. It was a team win. That's all it was. That's all I could say about this. It was hard fought to the end. Just wanted to make sure that I glorified my Lord and Savior, Jesus, Christ.” His post-game interview was not the first time the athlete has put his Christian faith on display. In 2018, as a college football player for the University of Alabama, Tagovailoa reacted to his team's win against the Georgia Bulldogs by proclaiming, “First and foremost, I'd just like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. With Him, all things are possible.” 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Friday, October 3rd, in the year of our Lord 2025. Follow us on X or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

#LondonProtest #BanPalestineMarch #KeirStarmer #ShabanaMahmood #UKPolitics #JonGaunt #UKFreeSpeech Today at 2.30 Jon Gaunt will go live to discuss one of the most urgent and controversial issues in the UK right now. After the shocking events yesterday, the government, police, and public are divided over Saturday's planned Palestine march in London. Should it go ahead? Should it be banned? What are the implications for public safety, freedom of expression, and community relations? Jon will be covering: What Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said and done. Or not done! The Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's response. The Metropolitan Police's position on the march The wider debate on security vs free speech Reactions from communities across the UK Join the live discussion, share your views in the chat, and let's talk about the real consequences of these decisions. #PalestineMarchUK #LondonProtest #BanPalestineMarch #KeirStarmer #ShabanaMahmood #UKPoliticsLive #UKFreeSpeech #MetropolitanPolice #UKGovernment #FreedomOfExpression #ProtestRights #PublicSafety #JonGaunt #Islamistterror #Manchester #TommyRobinson Palestine march UK, London protest, ban Palestine march, Keir Starmer, Shabana Mahmood, UK politics live, UK free speech, Metropolitan Police, UK government, freedom of expression, protest rights, public safety, Manchester, Tommy Robinson, This video is a politics blog and social commentary by award winning talk radio star, Jon Gaunt

Roksana Lecka, 22, is going to prison in the United Kingdom after security cameras recorded her abusing babies. Metropolitan Police detectives say Lecka scratched and pinched babies and even kicked one child in the face. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through some of Lecka's arrest and interrogation footage in this episode of Crime Fix —a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/crimefix to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas.Host:Angenette Levy https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest:Dr. Daniel Bober https://www.instagram.com/drdanielbober/Producer:Jordan ChaconCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Secret filming by the BBC's Panorama programme last night revealed evidence of racism, misogyny and officers revelling in the use of force at one of London's busiest police stations. Panorama's evidence suggests that a toxic culture still exists inside the Met and that racist and misogynistic attitudes haven't been eliminated but have been driven underground. Anita Rani speaks to Matt Jukes, Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.The secrets we keep reflect the conventions, taboos and laws of the outside world, and women have traditionally had the bigger burden of secrets, often unable to reveal things that could get them or others judged, in society or by law. Anita talks to Juliet Nicolson about her new book The Book of Revelations which explores secrets through social history, her own family and many case studies she spoke to. The conservationist and primatologist Dame Jane Goodall died yesterday, aged 91. According to the Jane Goodall Institute, she died of natural causes in California where she was staying as part of a speaking tour in the US. There has been tributes from around the world. Joining me Anita to remember this ground-breaking conservationist who revolutionised the study of great apes is wildlife biologist, National Geographic Explorer and President of the Wildlife Trust, Liz Bonnin, and Jillian Miller who is the director of the Gorilla Organisation who work to save gorillas from extinction.From gowns buried underground to transforming fabrics with melted bandages, fashion has a history of exploring the aesthetics of dirt and decay. A new exhibition at the Barbican, Dirty Looks, explores 50 years of designers from Vivienne Westwood to Alexander McQueen, who used dirt and distress to make statements about luxury, beauty, class and the environment. The exhibition also looks at waste as fashion is now one of the most polluting industries in the world. Anita is joined by the exhibition's curator, Karen Van Godtsenhoven, and artist and designer, Michaela Stark, whose work challenges ideas of imperfection.Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Rebecca Myatt

Eight serving Metropolitan Police officers have been suspended. The Force Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, has apologised for the 'reprehensible behaviour' highlighted by the BBC. Also, PPE Medpro, the company linked to the lingerie tycoon, Baroness Mone, is ordered to pay millions of pounds back to the government for breaching its contract to supply surgical gowns during the pandemic. And: the council leader spending her spare time digging graves.

Up to 80,000 phones were stolen in London's streets and transport network in 2024, according to the Metropolitan Police. As File on 4 Investigates discovers, gangs are targeting unlocked phones. We discover that if a phone is unlocked, criminals may be able to access online banking and cryptocurrency accounts within minutes. We hear from one victim who lost £15,000 from a phone stolen from his pocket, another who lost £40,000 in cryptocurrency and about the financial and emotional cost of trying to recover lost assets.Adrian Goldberg joins City of London Police as they carry out a series of raids as part of Operation Swipe. They have recovered more than three thousand handsets in the last three months alone.Reporter: Adrian Goldberg Producer: Paul Grant Technical Producer: Nicky Edwards Production Co-ordinator: Tim Fernley Editor: Tara McDermottHave you had your phone snatched? Tell us your story via Your Voice, Your BBC News. Email: bbcyourvoice@bbc.co.uk WhatsApp: 07756 165 803 Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist and have your comments included online or appear on TV/radio.Image credit: PACity of London Police

When a London couple were found dead in a lover's lane, in 1987, evidence pointed quickly at some of the city's most notorious gangland figures — both established and upcoming. But despite informants and wiretaps the trail ran cold.Then another body showed up. Then another. Before long, cops were connecting the dots between four different killings, all carried out in disturbing fashion across the British capital. And it looked a lot like the Metropolitan Police, London's historic force, was directly involved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2003, British police infiltrated a group of idealistic young environmental activists, forming sexual relationships and spying without warrant on hundreds of innocent civilians. Among these young activists was Kate Wilson, who developed an intimate relationship with Mark. Unbeknownst to her, Mark was a fictional persona created by the Metropolitan Police to spy on her. After this shocking discovery, Kate Wilson fought back, and now she joins us to tell her story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Two officers from the Metropolitan Police were already dealing with an incident when they were asked to come and assist an unconscious woman lying on a park bench. They refused, leaving her alone, a decision that would have devastating consequences...*** LISTENER CAUTION IS ADVISED *** This episode was researched and written by Eileen Macfarlane.Edited by Joel Porter at Dot Dot Dot Productions.Script editing, additional writing, illustrations and production direction by Rosanna FittonNarration, additional audio editing and mixing, and script editing by Benjamin Fitton.To get early ad-free access, including Season 1, sign up for They Walk Among PLUS, available from Patreon or Apple Podcasts.More information and episode references can be found on our website https://theywalkamonguspodcast.comMUSIC: Cain by Cody Martin Dark Night by Cody Martin Dragonsilk by Cody Martin Every Life Matters by Cody Martin Far From Home by Cody Martin Final Moments by Cody Martin Nightlock by Cody Martin Tainted By Darkness by Cody Martin Distant Water by Chelsea McGough Ocean Shadows by Chelsea McGough Retreat by Chelsea McGough Selene by Chelsea McGough See You Soon by Chelsea McGough SOCIAL MEDIA: https://linktr.ee/TheyWalkAmongUsSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/theywalkamongus. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode, I take a look back at the movies and streaming shows I watched in Summer 2025. This coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Ghost in the Serpent, Book #1 in the Ghost Armor series, (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) at my Payhip store: FALLSERPENT50 The coupon code is valid through September 15, 2025 (please note the shorter expiration date). So if you need a new audiobook this fall, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 267 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is September 5, 2025 and today I'm doing a review roundup of the movies and streaming shows I saw in Summer 2025. Before we do that, we will have Coupon of the Week and a progress update on my current writing and audiobook projects. First up, this week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Ghost in the Serpent, Book One in the Ghost Armor series (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) at my Payhip store. That is FALLSERPENT50. This coupon code will be valid through September 15th, 2025 (exactly one week). So if you need a new audiobook to listen to as we head into fall, we have got you covered. Now for an update on my current writing and audiobook projects. I am pleased to report that the rough draft of Blade of Flames, which will be the first book in my new Blades of Ruin epic fantasy series is finished. The rough draft came at about 90,000 words long, which was what I was aiming for. Next up, I will be writing a short story set as sort of a bonus in that plot line called Thunder Hammer and that will be the backstory of one of the characters in Blade of Flames. And when Blade of Flames comes out (which will hopefully be later this September), newsletter subscribers will get a free ebook copy of Thunder Hammer. So this is an excellent time to subscribe to my newsletter. I am also 8,000 words into Cloak of Worlds. At long last, I am coming back to the Cloak Mage series after nearly a year's absence. Longtime listeners will know the reason was that I had five unfinished series and I wanted to spend the summer of 2025 finishing the unfinished ones and focusing up so I will only have three ongoing series at any given time. I'm hoping Blade of Flames will come out before the end of September and Cloak of Worlds before the end of October, and after that I will be able to return to the Rivah series at long last. In audiobook news, recording is finished on Shield of Power. That will be excellently narrated by Brad Wills and hopefully once it gets through processing and quality assurance and everything, it should be showing up on the various audiobook stores before too much longer. Hollis McCarthy is about halfway through the recording of Ghost in the Siege, which was, as you know, the last book in the Ghost Armor series that just came out. And if all goes well, the audiobook should be coming out probably in October once everything is done with recording and quality assurance and all that. So that is where I'm at with my current writing and audiobook projects. 00:02:34 Main Topic: Summer 2025 Movie/TV Roundup So without further ado, let's head into our main topic. The end of summer is nigh, which means this time for my summer movie review roundup. As is usual for the summer, I saw a lot of movies, so this will be one of the longer episodes. For some reason I ended up watching a bunch of westerns. As always, the movies are ranked from least favorite to most favorite. The grades of course are totally subjective and based on nothing more than my own opinions, impressions, and interpretations. Now on to the movies. First up is the Austin Powers trilogy, the three movies of which came out in 1997, 1999, and 2002. The Austin Powers movies came out just as the Internet really got going in terms of mass adoption, which is likewise why so many Austin Powers and Dr. Evil memes are embedded in online culture. Despite that, I had never really seen any of them all the way through. They've been on in the background on TBS or whatever quite a bit when I visited people, but I've never seen them all. But I happened upon a DVD of the trilogy for $0.25 (USD), so I decided for 25 cents I would give it a go. I would say the movies were funny, albeit not particularly good. Obviously the Austin Powers movies are a parody of the James Bond movies. The movies kind of watch like an extended series of Saturday Night Live skits, only loosely connected, like the skit is what if Dr. Evil had a son named Scott who wasn't impressed with him or another skit was what if a British agent from the ‘60s arrives in the ‘90s and experiences culture clash? What if Dr. Evil didn't understand the concept of inflation and demanded only a million dollars from the United Nations? What if Dr. Evil was actually Austin's brother and they went to school together at Spy Academy? Michael Caine was pretty great as Austin's father. Overall, funny but fairly incoherent. Overall grade: C- Next up is Horrible Bosses, a very dark and very raunchy comedy from about 14 years ago. It came out in 2011. Interestingly, this movie reflects what I think is one of the major crises of the contemporary era, frequent failures of leadership at all levels of society. In the movie Nick, Dale, and Kurt are lifelong friends living in LA and all three of them have truly horrible bosses in their place of employment, ranging from a sociopathic finance director, the company founder's cokehead son, and a boorish dentist with a tendency to sexual harassment. At the bar, they fantasize about killing their horrible bosses and then mutually decide to do something about it. Obviously, they'd all be prime suspects in the murder of their own bosses, but if they killed each other's bosses, that would allow them to establish airtight alibis. However, since Nick, Dale and Kurt are not as bright as they think they are, it all goes hilariously wrong very quickly. Bob Hope has a hilarious cameo. If the best “crude comedies” I've seen are Anchorman, Zoolander, Tropic Thunder, and Dodgeball, and the worst one was MacGruber, I'd say Horrible Bosses lands about in the middle. Overall grade: C Next up is Cowboys and Aliens, which came out in 2011. Now I almost saw this in 2011 when it came out, but I was too busy to go to the theater in July of 2011, so I finally saw it here in 2025 and I would say this was almost a great movie, like the performances were great, the concept was great, the scenery was great, the special effects were great, and the story was packed full of really interesting ideas, but somehow they just didn't coalesce. I'm not entirely sure why. I think upon reflection, it was that the movie is just too overcrowded with too many characters and too many subplots. Anyway, Daniel Craig portrays a man who wakes up with no memory in the Old West, with a mysterious bracelet locked around his wrist. He makes his way to the town of Atonement, and promptly gets arrested because he is apparently a notorious outlaw (which he doesn't remember). While he is locked in jail, space aliens attack the town. The aliens, for unknown reasons, abduct many of the townspeople, and Daniel Craig's character, who is named Jake even if he doesn't remember it, must lead the town's effort to recover their abducted citizens. Harrison's Ford has an excellent performance as this awful cattle baron who nonetheless has virtues of courage and fortitude that you can't help but admire. An excellent performance. That said, the movie was just too packed, and I thought it would work better as a novel. After I watched the movie, it turned out that it was indeed based off a graphic novel. Novels and graphic novels allow for a far more complex story than a movie, and I don't think this movie quite managed to handle the transition from a graphic novel to a film. Overall grade: C Next up is Heads of State, which came out in 2025. This was kind of a stupid movie. However, the fundamental question of any movie, shouted to the audience by Russell Crow in Gladiator is, “are you not entertained?!?” I was thoroughly entertained watching this, so entertained I actually watched it twice. Not everything has to be Shakespeare or a profound meditation on the unresolvable conflicts inherent within human nature. Anyway, John Cena plays Will Derringer, newly elected President of the United States. Idris Elba plays Sam Clark, who has now been the UK Prime Minister for the last six years. Derringer was an action star who parleyed his celebrity into elected office (in the same way Arnold Schwarzenegger did), while Clarke is an army veteran who worked his way up through the UK's political system. Needless to say, the cheerful Derringer and the grim Clarke take an immediate dislike to each other. However, they'll have to team up when Air Force One is shot down, stranding them in eastern Europe. They'll have to make their way home while evading their enemies to unravel the conspiracy that threatens world peace. So half action thriller, half buddy road trip comedy. The premise really doesn't work if you think about it too much for more than thirty seconds, but the movie was funny and I enjoyed it. Jack Quaid really stole his scenes as a crazy but hyper-competent CIA officer. Overall grade: C+ Next up, Captain America: Brave New World, which came out in 2025 and I think this movie ended up on the good side of middling. You can definitely tell it went through a lot of reshoots and retooling, and I suspect the various film industry strikes hit it like a freight train. But we ended up with a reasonably solid superhero thriller. Sam Wilson is now Captain America. He's not superhuman the way Steve Rogers was and doesn't have magic powers or anything, so he kind of fights like the Mandalorian – a very capable fighter who relies on excellent armor. Meanwhile, in the grand American political tradition of failing upward, Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, who spent years persecuting The Hulk and whose meddling caused the Avengers to disband right before Thanos attacked, has now been elected President. To Wilson's surprise, Ross reaches out and wants him to restart the Avengers. But Ross (as we know) did a lot of shady black ops stuff for years, and one of his projects is coming back to haunt him. Wilson finds himself in the middle of a shadowy conspiracy, and it's up to him to figure out what's going on before it's too late. I was amused that lifelong government apparatchik Ross wanted to restart the Avengers, because when the Avengers had their biggest victory in Avengers: Endgame, they were essentially unsanctioned vigilantes bankrolled by a rogue tech billionaire. Overall grade: B- Next up is Ironheart, which came out in 2025. I'd say Ironheart was about 40% very weird and 60% quite good. It's sort of like the modern version of Dr. Faustus. The show got some flak on the Internet from the crossfire between the usual culture war people, but the key to understanding it is to realize that Riri Williams AKA Ironheart is in fact an antihero who's tottering on the edge of becoming a full-blown supervillain. Like Tony Stark, she's a once-in-a-generation scientific talent, but while she doesn't have Stark's alcohol problems, she's emotionally unstable, immature, ruthless, indifferent to collateral damage and consequences, and suffering from severe PTSD after her best friend and stepfather were killed in a drive-by shooting. This volatile mix gets her thrown out of MIT after her experiments cause too much destruction, and she has to go home to Chicago. To get the funds to keep working on her Iron Man armor, she turns to crime, and falls in with a gang of high-end thieves led by a mysterious figure named Hood. It turns out that Hood has actual magic powers, which both disturbs and fascinates Riri. However, Hood got his magic in a pact with a mysterious dark force. When a job goes bad, Riri gains the enmity of Hood and has to go on the run. It also turns out Hood's dark master has become very interested in Riri, which might be a lot more dangerous for everyone in the long run. Overall, I'd say this is about in the same vein as Agatha All Along, an interesting show constructed around a very morally questionable protagonist. Overall grade: B Next up is A Minecraft movie, which came out in 2024. I have to admit, I've never actually played Minecraft, so I know very little about the game and its ecosystem, only what I've generally absorbed by glancing at the news. That said, I think the movie held together quite well, and wasn't deserving of the general disdain it got in the press. (No doubt the $950 million box office compensated for any hurt feelings.) One of the many downsides of rapid technological change in the last fifty years is that the Boomers and Gen X and the Millennials and Gen Z and Gen Alpha have had such radically different formative experiences in childhood that it's harder to relate to each other. Growing up in the 1980s was a wildly different experience than growing up in the 2010s, and growing up in the 2010s was an even more wildly different experience than growing up in the 1960s. Smartphones and social media were dominant in 2020, barely starting in 2010, and implausible science fiction in 2000 and earlier, and so it was like the different generations grew up on different planets, because in some sense they actually did. (A five-year-old relative of mine just started school, and the descriptions of his school compared to what I remember of school really do sound like different planets entirely.) The Minecraft game and A Minecraft Movie might be one of those generation-locked experiences. Anyway, this has gotten very deep digression for what was essentially a portal-based LitRPG movie. A group of people experiencing various life difficulties in a rural Idaho town get sucked into the Minecraft world through a magic portal. There they must combine forces and learn to work together to master the Minecraft world to save it from an evil sorceress. As always, the fundamental question of any movie is the one that Russell Crowe's character shouted to the audience in Gladiator back in 2000. “Are you not entertained?” I admit I was entertained when watching A Minecraft Movie since it was funny and I recognized a lot of the video game mechanics, even though I've never actually played Minecraft. Like, Castlevania II had a night/day cycle the way Minecraft does, and Castlevania II was forty years ago. But that was another digression! I did enjoy A Minecraft Movie. It was kind of crazy, but it committed to the craziness and maintained a consistent creative vision, and I was entertained. Though I did think it was impressive how Jack Black's agent managed to insist that he sing several different times. Overall grade: B Next up is Back to School, which came out in 1986 and this is one of the better ‘80s comedies I've seen. Rodney Dangerfield plays Thornton Melon, who never went to college and is the wealthy owner of a chain of plus-sized clothing stores. His son Jason is attending Great Lakes University, and after Thornton's unfaithful gold-digging wife leaves him (Thornton is mostly relieved by this development), he decides to go visit his son. He quickly discovers that Jason is flailing at college, and decides to enroll to help out his son. Wacky adventures ensue! I quite enjoyed this. The fictional “Great Lakes University” was largely shot at UW-Madison in Wisconsin, which I found amusing because I spent a lot of time at UW-Madison several decades ago as a temporary IT employee. I liked seeing the characters walk past a place where I'd eat lunch outside when the day was nice, that kind of thing. Also, I'm very familiar with how the sausage gets made in higher ed. There's a scene where the dean is asking why Thornton is qualified to enter college, and then it cuts to the dean cheerfully overseeing the groundbreaking of the new Thornton Melon Hall which Thornton just donated, and I laughed so hard I almost hurt myself, because that is exactly how higher ed works. The movie had some pointless nudity, but it was only a few seconds and no doubt gets cut in network broadcasts. Overall grade: B Next up is Whiskey Galore, which came out in 1949 and this is a comedy set in Scotland during World War II. The villagers living on an isolated island have no whiskey due to wartime rationing. However, when a government ship carrying 50,000 cases of whiskey runs aground near the island, wacky hijinks ensue. I have to admit the first half of the movie was very slow and deliberate, gradually setting up all the pieces for later. Then, once the shipwreck happens, things pick up and the movie gets much funnier. Definitely worth watching both as a good comedy movie and an artifact of its time. A modicum of historical knowledge is required – if you don't know what the Home Guard is, you might have to do some Googling to understand the context of some of the scenes. Regrettably, the version I watched did not have captioning, so I had to pay really close attention to understand what the characters were saying, because some of the accents were very strong. Overall grade: B Next up is Happy Gilmore 2, which came out in 2025. This was dumb and overstuffed with celebrity cameos but thoroughly hilarious and I say this even though it uses one of my least favorite story tropes, namely “hero of previous movie is now a middle age loser.” However, the movie leads into it for comedy. When Happy Gilmore accidentally kills his wife with a line drive, he spirals into alcoholism and despair. But his five children still love him, and when his talented daughter needs tuition for school, Happy attempts to shake off his despair and go back to golf to win the money. But Happy soon stumbles onto a sinister conspiracy led by an evil CEO to transform the game of golf into his own personal profit center. Happy must team up with his old nemesis Shooter McGavin to save golf itself from the evil CEO. Amusingly, as I've said before, the best Adam Sandler movies are almost medieval. In medieval fables, it was common for a clever peasant to outwit pompous lords, corrupt priests, and greedy merchants. The best Adam Sandler protagonist remains an everyman who outwits the modern equivalent of pompous lords and corrupt priests, in this case an evil CEO. Overall grade: B+ Next up is Superman, which came out in 2025 and I thought this was pretty good and very funny at times. I think it caught the essential nature of Superman. Like, Superman should be a Lawful Good character. If he was a Dungeons and Dragons character, he would be a paladin. People on the Internet tend to take the characterization of superheroes seriously to perhaps an unhealthy degree, but it seems the best characterization of Superman is as an earnest, slightly dorky Boy Scout who goes around doing good deeds. The contrast of that good-hearted earnestness with his godlike abilities that would allow him to easily conquer and rule the world is what makes for an interesting character. I also appreciated how the movie dispensed with the overused trope of the Origin Story and just got down to business. In this movie, Lex Luthor is obsessed with destroying Superman and is willing to use both super-advanced technology and engineered geopolitical conflict to do it. Superman, because he's essentially a decent person, doesn't comprehend just how depraved Luthor is, and how far Luthor is willing to go out of petty spite. (Ironically, a billionaire willing to destroy the world out of petty spite is alas, quite realistic). Guy Gardener (“Jerkish Green Lantern”) and the extremely competent and the extremely exasperated Mr. Terrific definitely stole all their scenes. The director of the movie, James Gunn, was quite famously fired from Disney in 2018 for offensive jokes he had made on Twitter back when he was an edgy young filmmaker with an alcohol problem. I suppose Mr. Gunn can rest content knowing that Superman made more money than any Marvel movie released this year. Overall grade: A-   Next up is Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, which came out in 1988. This was a very strange movie, but nonetheless, one with an ambitious premise, strong performances, and a strong artistic vision. It's set in post WWII Los Angeles, and “toons” (basically cartoon characters) live and work alongside humans. Private eye Eddie Valiant hates toons since one of them killed his brother five years ago. However, he's hired by the head of a studio who's having trouble with one of his toon actors, Roger Rabbit. Roger's worried his wife Jessica is having an affair, and Valiant obtains pictures of Jessica playing patty cake (not a euphemism, they actually were playing patty cake) with another man. Roger has an emotional breakdown, and soon the other man winds up dead, and Roger insists he's innocent. Valiant and Roger find themselves sucked into a dangerous conspiracy overseen by a ruthless mastermind. This movie was such an interesting cultural artifact. It perfectly follows the structure of a ‘40s film noir movie, but with cartoons, and the dissonance between film noir and the cheerfulness of the toons was embraced and used as a frequently source of comedy. In fact, when the grim and dour Valiant uses the toons' comedy techniques as a tactical improvisation in a moment of mortal peril, it's both hilarious and awesome. Christopher Lloyd's performance as the villainous Judge Doom was amazing. (I don't think it's a spoiler to say that he's villainous, because his character is named Judge Doom and he's literally wearing a black hat.) Like, his performance perfectly captures something monstrous that is trying very hard to pretend to be human and not quite getting it right. And the amount of work it must have taken to make this movie staggers the mind. Nowadays, having live actors interact with cartoon characters is expensive, but not unduly so. It's a frequent technique. You see it all the time in commercials when a housewife is smiling at an animated roll of paper towels or something, and Marvel's essentially been doing it for years. But this was 1988! Computer animation was still a ways off. They had to shoot the movie on analog film, and then hand-draw all the animation and successfully match it to the live film. It wouldn't have worked without the performance of Bob Hoskins as Eddie Valiant, who plays everything perfectly straight in the same way Michael Caine did in A Muppet Christmas Carol. So kind of a strange movie, but definitely worth watching. And it has both Disney and Warner Brothers animated characters in the same movie, which is something we will never, ever see again. Overall grade: A Next up is K-Pop Demon Hunters, which came out in 2025. Like Who framed Roger Rabbit?, this is a very strange movie, but nonetheless with a clear and focused artistic vision. It is a cultural artifact that provides a fascinating look into a world of which I have no knowledge or interest, namely K-pop bands and their dueling fandoms. Anyway, the plot is that for millennia, female Korean musicians have used the magic of their voices to keep the demons locked away in a demon world. The current incarnation is a three-woman K-Pop group called Huntrix, and they are on the verge of sealing away the demons forever. Naturally, the Demon King doesn't like this, so one of his cleverer minions comes up with a plan. They'll start a Demon K-Pop Boy Band! Disguised as humans, the demon K-Pop group will win away Huntrix's fans, allowing them to breach the barrier and devour the world. However, one of the Huntrix musicians is half-demon, and she starts falling for the lead demon in the boy band, who is handsome and of course has a dark and troubled past. Essentially a musical K-drama follows. I have to admit I know practically nothing about K-Pop groups and their dueling fandoms, other than the fact that they exist. However, this was an interesting movie to watch. The animation was excellent, it did have a focused vision, and there were some funny bits. Overall grade: A Next up is Clarkson's Farm Season Four, which came out in 2025. A long time ago in the ‘90s, I watched the episode of Frasier where Frasier and Niles attempt to open a restaurant and it all goes horribly (yet hilariously) wrong. At the time, I had no money, but I promised myself that I would never invest in a restaurant. Nothing I have seen or learned in the subsequent thirty years has ever changed that decision. Season 4 of Clarkson's Farm is basically Jeremy Clarkson, like Frasier and Niles, attempting to open a restaurant, specifically a British pub. On paper it's a good idea, since Clarkson can provide the pub with food produced from his own farm and other local farmers. However, it's an enormous logistical nightmare, and Clarkson must deal with miles of red tape, contractors, and a ballooning budget, all while trying to keep his farm from going under. An excellent and entertaining documentary into the difficulties of both the farming life and food service. I still don't want to own a restaurant! Overall grade: A Next up is Tombstone, which came out in 1993. The Western genre of fiction is interesting because it's limited to such a very specific period of time and geographical region. Like the “Wild West” period that characterizes the Western genre really only lasted as a historical period from about 1865 to roughly 1890. The Western genre was at its most popular in movies from the 1940s and the 1960s, and I wonder if it declined because cultural and demographic changes made it unpopular to romanticize the Old West the way someone like Walt Disney did at Disneyland with “Frontierland.” Of course, the genre lives on in different forms in grittier Western movies, neo-Westerns like Yellowstone and Longmire, and a lot of the genre's conventions apply really well to science fiction. Everyone talks about Firefly being the first Space Western, but The Mandalorian was much more successful and was basically a Western in space (albeit with occasional visits from Space Wizards). Anyway! After that long-winded introduction, let's talk about Tombstone. When Val Kilmer died earlier this year, the news articles mentioned Tombstone as among his best work, so I decided to give it a watch. The plot centers around Wyatt Earp, played by Kurt Russell, who has decided to give up his career in law enforcement and move to Tombstone, Arizona, a silver mining boomtown, in hopes of making his fortune. However, Tombstone is mostly controlled by the Cowboys outlaw gang, and Earp is inevitably drawn into conflict with them. With the help of his brothers and Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer's character), Earp sets out to bring some law and order to Tombstone, whether the Cowboys like it or not. Holliday is in the process of dying from tuberculosis, which makes him a formidable fighter since he knows getting shot will be a less painful and protracted death than the one his illness will bring him. Kilmer plays him as a dissolute, scheming warrior-poet who nonetheless is a very loyal friend. Definitely a classic of the Western genre, and so worth watching. Overall grade: A Next up is Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, the eighth Mission Impossible movie. Of the eight movies, I think the sixth one was the best one, but this one comes in at a close second. It continues on from Dead Reckoning. Ethan Hunt now possesses the key that will unlock the source code of the Entity, the malicious AI (think ChatGPT, but even more obviously evil) that is actively maneuvering the world's nuclear powers into destroying each other so the Entity can rule the remnants of humanity. Unfortunately, the Entity's source code is sitting in a wrecked Russian nuclear sub at the bottom of the Bering Sea. Even more unfortunately, the Entity knows that Hunt has the key and is trying to stop him, even as the Entity's former minion and Hunt's bitter enemy Gabriel seeks to seize control of the Entity for himself. A sense of apocalyptic doom hangs over the movie, which works well to build tension. Once again, the world is doomed, unless Ethan Hunt and his allies can save the day. The tension works extremely well during the movie's underwater sequence, and the final airborne duel between Hunt and Gabriel. I don't know if they're going to make any more Mission Impossible movies after this (they are insanely expensive), but if this is the end, it is a satisfying conclusion for the character of Ethan Hunt and the Impossible Mission Force. Overall grade: A Next up is Deep Cover, which came out in 2025. This is described as a comedy thriller, and I didn't know what to expect when I watched it, but I really enjoyed it. Bryce Dallas Howard plays Kat, a struggling comedy improv teacher living in London. Her best students are Marlon (played by Orlando Bloom), a dedicated character actor who wants to portray gritty realism but keeps getting cast in tacky commercials, and Hugh (played by Nick Mohammed), an awkward IT worker with no social skills whatsoever. One day, the three of them are recruited by Detective Sergeant Billings (played by Sean Bean) of the Metropolitan Police. The Met wants to use improv comedians to do undercover work for minor busts with drug dealers. Since it plays 200 pounds a pop, the trio agrees. Of course, things rapidly spiral out of control, because Kat, Marlon, and Hugh are actually a lot better at improv than they think, and soon they find themselves negotiating with the chief criminals of the London underworld. What follows is a movie that is both very tense and very funny. Kat, Marlon, and Hugh are in way over their heads, and will have to do the best improv of their lives to escape a very grisly fate. Whether Sean Bean dies or not (as is tradition), you will just have to watch the movie and find out. Overall grade: A Next up is Puss in Boots: The Final Wish, which came out in 2022. I don't personally know much about the history of Disney as a corporation, and I don't much care, but I do have several relatives who are very interested in the history of the Disney corporation, and therefore I have picked up some by osmosis. Apparently Disney CEO Michael Eisner forcing out Jeffrey Katzenberg in the 1990s was a very serious mistake, because Katzenberg went on to co-found DreamWorks, which has been Disney's consistent rival for animation for the last thirty years. That's like “CIA Regime Change Blowback” levels of creating your own enemy. Anyway, historical ironies aside, Puss in Boots: The Final Wish was a funny and surprisingly thoughtful animated movie. Puss in Boots is a legendary outlaw and folk hero, but he has used up eight of his nine lives. An ominous bounty hunter who looks like a humanoid wolf begins pursuing him, and the Wolf is able to shrug off the best of Puss In Boots' attacks. Panicked, Puss hides in a retirement home for elderly cats, but then hears rumors of the magical Last Wish. Hoping to use it to get his lives back, Puss In Boots sets off on the quest. It was amusing how Little Jack Horner and Goldilocks and the Three Bears were rival criminal gangs seeking the Last Wish. Overall grade: A Next up is Chicken People, which came out in 2016. A good documentary film gives you a glimpse into an alien world that you would otherwise never visit. In this example, I have absolutely no interest in competitive chicken breeding and will only raise chickens in my backyard if society ever collapses to the level that it becomes necessary for survival. That said, this was a very interesting look into the work of competitive chicken breeding. Apparently, there is an official “American Standard of Perfection” for individual chicken breeds, and the winner of the yearly chicken competition gets the title “Super Grand Champion.” Not Grand Champion, Super Grand Champion! That looks impressive on a resume. It is interesting how chicken breeding is in some sense an elaborate Skinner Box – like you can deliberately set out to breed chickens with the desirable traits on the American Standard of Perfection, but until the chickens are hatched and grow up, you don't know how they're going to turn out, so you need to try again and again and again… Overall grade: A Next up is The Mask of Zoro, which came out in 1998. I saw this in the theatre when it came out 27 years ago, but that was 27 years ago, and I don't have much of a memory of it, save that I liked it. So when I had the chance to watch it again, I did! Anthony Hopkins plays Diego de la Vega, who has the secret identity of Zorro in the final days before Mexico breaks away from the Spanish Empire. With Mexico on the verge of getting its independence, Diego decides to hang up his sword and mask and focus on his beloved wife and daughter. Unfortunately, the military governor Don Montero realizes Diego is Zorro, so has him arrested, kills his wife, and steals his baby daughter to raise as his own. Twenty years later, a bandit named Alejandro loses his brother and best friends to a brutal cavalry commander. It turns out that Montero is returning to California from Spain, and plans to seize control of California as an independent republic (which, of course, will be ruled by him). In the chaos, Diego escapes from prison and encounters a drunken Alejandro, and stops him from a futile attack upon the cavalry commander. He then proposes a pact – Diego will train Alejandro as the next Zorro, and together they can take vengeance upon the men who wronged them. This was a good movie. It was good to see that my taste in movies 27 years ago wasn't terrible. It manages to cram an entire epic plot into only 2 hours and 20 minutes. In some ways it was like a throwback to a ‘40s movie but with modern (for the ‘90s) production values, and some very good swordfights. Overall grade: A Next up is Wick is Pain, which came out in 2025. I've seen all four John Wick movies and enjoyed them thoroughly, though I've never gotten around to any of the spinoffs. Wick is Pain is a documentary about how John Wick went from a doomed indie movie with a $6.5 million hole in its budget to one of the most popular action series of the last few decades. Apparently Keanu Reeves made an offhand joke about how “Wick is pain” and that became the mantra of the cast and crew, because making an action movie that intense really was a painful experience. Definitely worth watching if you enjoyed the John Wick movies or moviemaking in general. Overall grade: A The last movie I saw this summer was Game Night, which came out in 2016. It was a hilarious, if occasionally dark comedy action thriller. Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams play Max and Annie Davis, a married couple who are very competitive and enjoy playing games of all kinds. Jason has an unresolved conflict with his brother Brooks, and one night Brooks invites them over for game night, which Max resents. Halfway through the evening, Brooks is kidnapped, with Max and Annie assume is part of the game. However, Brooks really is involved in something shady. Hilarity ensues, and it's up to Max and Annie to rescue Brooks and stay alive in the process. This was really funny, though a bit dark in places. That said, Max and Annie have a loving and supportive marriage, so it was nice to see something like that portrayed on the screen. Though this also leads to some hilarity, like when Annie accidentally shoots Max in the arm. No spoilers, but the punchline to that particular sequence was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Overall grade: A So no A+ movie this time around, but I still saw a bunch of solid movies I enjoyed. One final note, I have to admit, I've really come to respect Adam Sandler as an entertainer, even if his movies and comedy are not always to my taste. He makes what he wants, makes a lot of money, ensures that his friends get paid, and then occasionally takes on a serious role in someone else's movie when he wants to flex some acting muscles. I am not surprised that nearly everyone who's in the original Happy Gilmore who was still alive wanted to come back for Happy Gilmore 2. So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show enjoyable and perhaps a guide to some good movies to watch. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes at https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.  

The head of the Metropolitan Police has called on the UK government to "change or clarify" the law following the arrest of comedian Graham Linehan over posts he made online. The 57-year-old Father Ted writer was arrested under the Public Order Act on Monday on suspicion of inciting violence in relation to posts about trans people on X. We discuss this further with Dominic Grieve Former UK Attorney General and Conservative MP.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has admitted to underpaying £40,000 in stamp duty, but says she won't resign. Xi Jinping has thrown a massive military parade in Beijing, Ed Balls is on the attack against Zack Polanski, and Graham Linehan has been ordered to stop tweeting after his arrest by the Metropolitan Police. With Michael […]

Washington, D.C. isn't just a backdrop of monuments and marble. It's a living, breathing city—home to more than 700,000 people who work, who raise kids, who build their lives here. Known for decades as Chocolate City, D.C. carries a proud history of Black culture and resilience. And yet, unlike every other city in the United States, its residents watch democracy without fully taking part in it. They pay billions in federal taxes. They serve in the military. And still, they live under taxation without representation—the very injustice that fueled the Boston Tea Party and launched the American Revolution. More than two centuries later, the capital of the United States remains the only city where that founding demand is still denied. And here's the twist—this federal district is saturated with law enforcement. Dozens of agencies with arresting authority overlap in the same small space: the Metropolitan Police, Capitol Police, DEA, FBI, Secret Service, Park Police, Transit Police. And more recently, the National Guard and ICE. A city layered with power, yet stripped of the most basic power its people should hold—the right to representation in Congress. This is Dispatch from the Heartland. In today's episode, Ty Hobson Powell brings urgency and fire to the fight for DC statehood, making the case to Corbett Landes and Tammy Buckner that it's time for the capital to finally become the 51st state. This isn't just politics. It's about identity, equality, and the unfinished promise of democracy in the United States. We're at Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska—join us, won't you?"

Metropolitan Police—commonly known as Scotland Yard—announced in 2019 that it would not reopen its investigation into Virginia Giuffre's claims that she had been trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein and coerced into sex with Prince Andrew in London when she was 17. Senior officials argued that the case was largely centered overseas and therefore outside their jurisdiction, effectively closing the door on UK law enforcement scrutiny. When the matter resurfaced in 2021, Scotland Yard once again dropped the investigation, sparking criticism that the decision looked less like jurisdictional caution and more like deliberate avoidance. These refusals coincided with repeated reports that Prince Andrew had not cooperated with U.S. prosecutors, raising suspicions that British institutions were ensuring the royal remained insulated from serious investigation.Critics argue that this institutional reluctance effectively shielded Prince Andrew from the consequences of his Epstein ties. Former U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman recounted that his team was stonewalled when they tried to reach the Duke of York, further fueling the belief that UK authorities deliberately protected him from accountability. While no charges were ever brought, the optics were damning: Scotland Yard's stance, combined with Andrew's legal evasions, created the appearance of a protective bubble that prioritized the monarchy's image over justice for Epstein's victims.To contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:https://knewz.com/lust-lies-spies-part-2-how-the-enormous-power-of-the-british-police-force-provided-a-protection-racket-for-prince-andrew-and-covered-up-epstein-maxwells-criminal-ente/

Metropolitan Police—commonly known as Scotland Yard—announced in 2019 that it would not reopen its investigation into Virginia Giuffre's claims that she had been trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein and coerced into sex with Prince Andrew in London when she was 17. Senior officials argued that the case was largely centered overseas and therefore outside their jurisdiction, effectively closing the door on UK law enforcement scrutiny. When the matter resurfaced in 2021, Scotland Yard once again dropped the investigation, sparking criticism that the decision looked less like jurisdictional caution and more like deliberate avoidance. These refusals coincided with repeated reports that Prince Andrew had not cooperated with U.S. prosecutors, raising suspicions that British institutions were ensuring the royal remained insulated from serious investigation.Critics argue that this institutional reluctance effectively shielded Prince Andrew from the consequences of his Epstein ties. Former U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman recounted that his team was stonewalled when they tried to reach the Duke of York, further fueling the belief that UK authorities deliberately protected him from accountability. While no charges were ever brought, the optics were damning: Scotland Yard's stance, combined with Andrew's legal evasions, created the appearance of a protective bubble that prioritized the monarchy's image over justice for Epstein's victims.To contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:https://knewz.com/lust-lies-spies-part-2-how-the-enormous-power-of-the-british-police-force-provided-a-protection-racket-for-prince-andrew-and-covered-up-epstein-maxwells-criminal-ente/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.

Metropolitan Police—commonly known as Scotland Yard—announced in 2019 that it would not reopen its investigation into Virginia Giuffre's claims that she had been trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein and coerced into sex with Prince Andrew in London when she was 17. Senior officials argued that the case was largely centered overseas and therefore outside their jurisdiction, effectively closing the door on UK law enforcement scrutiny. When the matter resurfaced in 2021, Scotland Yard once again dropped the investigation, sparking criticism that the decision looked less like jurisdictional caution and more like deliberate avoidance. These refusals coincided with repeated reports that Prince Andrew had not cooperated with U.S. prosecutors, raising suspicions that British institutions were ensuring the royal remained insulated from serious investigation.Critics argue that this institutional reluctance effectively shielded Prince Andrew from the consequences of his Epstein ties. Former U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman recounted that his team was stonewalled when they tried to reach the Duke of York, further fueling the belief that UK authorities deliberately protected him from accountability. While no charges were ever brought, the optics were damning: Scotland Yard's stance, combined with Andrew's legal evasions, created the appearance of a protective bubble that prioritized the monarchy's image over justice for Epstein's victims.To contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:https://knewz.com/lust-lies-spies-part-2-how-the-enormous-power-of-the-british-police-force-provided-a-protection-racket-for-prince-andrew-and-covered-up-epstein-maxwells-criminal-ente/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

President Donald Trump confirmed that he will patrol Washington, D.C. tonight alongside Metropolitan Police and National Guard troops. This ride-along is part of a broader federal anti-crime initiative that has already led to 630 arrests and the seizure of 86 illegal firearms in the city. Please Like, Comment and Follow 'Broeske & Musson' on all platforms: --- The ‘Broeske & Musson Podcast’ is available on the KMJNOW app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever else you listen to podcasts. --- ‘Broeske & Musson' Weekdays 9-11 AM Pacific on News/Talk 580 AM & 105.9 FM KMJ | Facebook | Podcast| X | - Everything KMJ KMJNOW App | Podcasts | Facebook | X | Instagram See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In April 1999, beloved TV presenter and journalist Jill Dando was shot dead on her doorstep in West London… a shocking crime that stunned the nation. As one of the most recognisable faces on British television, her murder sparked one of the largest investigations in the Metropolitan Police's history.Despite a high-profile arrest and trial, the case remains shrouded in mystery. Over the years, theories have ranged from a targeted hit to a tragic case of mistaken identity, with speculation involving underworld figures, political motives, and international intrigue.In this episode, we examine Jill's life and career, the events of that fateful day, the police investigation, and the enduring questions that continue to surround her murder. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On August 14, 2025, Washington, D.C. residents took to the streets to protest President Trump's unprecedented move to place the Metropolitan Police under federal control. Demonstrators accused authorities of acting like “fascists” as National Guard troops and federal agents patrolled the city.

OA1182 - DC is under full federal occupation. California is putting the Trump administration's unprecedented deployment of the National Guard to support federal immigration enforcement on trial. And a major challenge to a critical provision of the Voting Rights Act is on the line in front of the Supreme Court. It's Rapid Response Friday, and we're here for all of it. Finally, Matt breaks down THE BIG FREEZE--a new collective approach to stopping the rapid coming expansion of ICE which every decent person can do something to be a part of. Nothing is inevitable, and none of us are alone. DC Home Rule Act (President's emergency authority over Metropolitan Police at p.85) Declaring a Crime Emergency in the District of Columbia – The White House Complaint in Newsom v. Trump (6/9/25) “THE AMERICAN GESTAPO IS HERE (and there is only one way that we can stop them now),” Matt Cameron, DEPORTNATION (8/15/25) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

City officials in Washington are declaring victory after they say the Trump administration backed away from a plan to appoint the nation's DEA chief as an “emergency police commissioner,” a move they call an unprecedented federal power grab. It comes after the city sued to block the president’s attempt to take control of the Metropolitan Police. Geoff Bennett discussed more with Marc Elias. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

Violence against women is out of control. Conviction rates for rape are so low that most survivors think it pointless to report, or later regret doing so. Ruthless trafficking gangs run the sex trade. Women have no confidence in the Metropolitan Police. The year is 1914. As the First World War began, a group of British campaigners founded the Women Police Volunteers, hoping to protect the vulnerable both from crime and from patriarchal policing and justice. The movement's pioneers included a militant suffragette who'd spent time behind bars, a moral purity activist, a blue-blooded radical, and a court reporter born in the workhouse to a single mother. In Controlling Women: The Untold Story of Britain's First Female Police Force (Hurst, 2025) Sandra Hempel follows their astonishing journey, through all of its troubling turns. Controlling Women is a vivid snapshot of rapid national change, and a rich tapestry of ethics and emotions among its fascinating characters. Reconciling political ideals with institutional compromise, these bold, complex women made history, despite establishment opposition and destructive infighting. They show us just how far we have to go in the fight for women's justice. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Violence against women is out of control. Conviction rates for rape are so low that most survivors think it pointless to report, or later regret doing so. Ruthless trafficking gangs run the sex trade. Women have no confidence in the Metropolitan Police. The year is 1914. As the First World War began, a group of British campaigners founded the Women Police Volunteers, hoping to protect the vulnerable both from crime and from patriarchal policing and justice. The movement's pioneers included a militant suffragette who'd spent time behind bars, a moral purity activist, a blue-blooded radical, and a court reporter born in the workhouse to a single mother. In Controlling Women: The Untold Story of Britain's First Female Police Force (Hurst, 2025) Sandra Hempel follows their astonishing journey, through all of its troubling turns. Controlling Women is a vivid snapshot of rapid national change, and a rich tapestry of ethics and emotions among its fascinating characters. Reconciling political ideals with institutional compromise, these bold, complex women made history, despite establishment opposition and destructive infighting. They show us just how far we have to go in the fight for women's justice. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

This week, Trump federalized the Metropolitan Police and deployed National Guard troops in DC.We have updates on the Epstein filesDoJ launches new investigations into New York Attorney General Tish James and Senator Adam Schiff.The Newsom v Trump trial is underway in California. The IRS is now on its 6th Commissioner.We have updates on the 2020 election interference cases going on in the states.  And the AME Church is suing the Proud Boys for copyright infringement. Allison Gillhttps://muellershewrote.substack.com/https://bsky.app/profile/muellershewrote.comHarry DunnHarry Dunn | Substack@libradunn1.bsky.social on BlueskyWant to support this podcast and get it ad-free and early?Go to: https://www.patreon.com/aisle45podTell us about yourself and what you like about the show - http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=BffJOlI7qQcF&ver=short

When Scotland Yard announced it was closing its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein in 2021, it sparked widespread criticism and renewed allegations of institutional cowardice. The Metropolitan Police had previously reviewed several allegations involving Epstein and his associates—including claims made by Virginia Giuffre that she was trafficked to Prince Andrew in London—but ultimately concluded there was “no further action” to be taken. Despite international pressure and mounting evidence, the decision signaled that UK authorities were unwilling to pursue meaningful accountability, especially when it involved proximity to the royal family. Critics saw the move as a transparent effort to shield powerful figures from exposure rather than a genuine conclusion based on lack of evidence.The announcement reinforced a pattern familiar to Epstein's victims: doors closing, institutions retreating, and justice slipping further out of reach. Scotland Yard's explanation leaned heavily on jurisdictional limitations and a vague assertion that the case had already been “reviewed twice,” but it did little to explain why the London portion of Giuffre's allegations—where she claimed she was trafficked and abused at Ghislaine Maxwell's residence—wasn't pursued with greater urgency. For many, the decision served as yet another reminder that Epstein's network didn't just corrupt individuals—it hollowed out the very systems that were supposed to stand against him.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11138849/Met-Police-drop-investigation-disgraced-Jeffrey-Epstein-absence-information.html

Michael Cohen reacts to Trump's press conference where he announced that he would place the D.C. Metropolitan Police under federal control. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jon Herold breaks down a whirlwind Monday as Donald Trump declares “Liberation Day” in Washington, D.C., seizing control of the Metropolitan Police and deploying the National Guard under the Home Rule Act to restore law and order. He examines parallels to past federal interventions, speculates on potential election-related motives, and explores theories from crime reduction to deeper strategic plays. The show covers Kash Patel's law enforcement stats, the backlash from former FBI officials, and Judge Engelmeyer's rejection of the DOJ's bid to unseal Ghislaine Maxwell grand jury transcripts. Jon also highlights a sweeping federal court hack potentially exposing sensitive case data, the Intel CEO's controversial ties to Chinese firms, and the brewing intrigue around Trump's upcoming peace summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, with Zelensky possibly sidelined. From cartel threats to reclassifying marijuana and the geopolitics of Ukraine, Herold connects the dots on a day heavy with both domestic crackdowns and international maneuvering.

When Scotland Yard announced it was closing its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein in 2021, it sparked widespread criticism and renewed allegations of institutional cowardice. The Metropolitan Police had previously reviewed several allegations involving Epstein and his associates—including claims made by Virginia Giuffre that she was trafficked to Prince Andrew in London—but ultimately concluded there was “no further action” to be taken. Despite international pressure and mounting evidence, the decision signaled that UK authorities were unwilling to pursue meaningful accountability, especially when it involved proximity to the royal family. Critics saw the move as a transparent effort to shield powerful figures from exposure rather than a genuine conclusion based on lack of evidence.The announcement reinforced a pattern familiar to Epstein's victims: doors closing, institutions retreating, and justice slipping further out of reach. Scotland Yard's explanation leaned heavily on jurisdictional limitations and a vague assertion that the case had already been “reviewed twice,” but it did little to explain why the London portion of Giuffre's allegations—where she claimed she was trafficked and abused at Ghislaine Maxwell's residence—wasn't pursued with greater urgency. For many, the decision served as yet another reminder that Epstein's network didn't just corrupt individuals—it hollowed out the very systems that were supposed to stand against him.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11138849/Met-Police-drop-investigation-disgraced-Jeffrey-Epstein-absence-information.htmlBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.