When rumour becomes reality
Notes from my Bunker
It has been a long haul. We were told years ago that paedophile Jeffrey Epstein did not kill himself, and that the guests to his island were partaking in the abuse and rape of underage girls, young women and now possibly even boys and men. We have had to wait till January 30th, 2026 to gain access to the millions of pages of emails, photographs, documents and receipts that would finally prove that none of this was fiction, it was all real. Among the correspondence are emails talking about slices of pizza, the details of which are believed to be code for the type of children and abuse of them as preferred by these perpetrators.
What we are still missing is the indictment and prosecution of the long list of targets that Epstein kept detailed documentation, photographs and film on. How easy is it to hunt through millions of pages to work out who was guilty of what when so many of the names are redacted? In a press conference held on the 30th January Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said that Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act ordering release of the documentation in November of 2025. The Department of Justice is releasing documentation in accordance with the Act. In this tranch alone 3 million pages, 2000 videos and 180,000 images were released. The videos and images are not all taken by Epstein or by the people who were around him. They involve a lot of pornography that was not produced by him or people around him. Redactions of personal files and medical information have been in order to protect victims. All files of child pornography, death, physical abuse and injury have been withheld. 200,000 pages were withheld also under legal privilege. In the videos all women were redacted apart from Miss Maxwell, but there were no redactions of men unless it was impossible to redact the woman without redacting the man.
The very man who talked about just jabbing people liberally during the Covid outbreak, has been caught accused of catching a sexually transmitted disease from ‘Russian girls’ and passing it on to his wife. Bill Gates of course is furious according to the press, saying that the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was desperate to be Gate’s friend. He doesn’t seem to publicly deny, however, that he caught an STD or passed it on to his wife.
An email has emerged from Sarah Ferguson thanking Epstein for complimenting her in front of her two girls, which means that the Princesses had also been exposed to the paedophile. She also thanked him for being the brother that she never had, suggesting that their relationship was a lot closer than previously thought. Even though the mention of Epstein in these documents does not mean Sarah has done anything wrong, her judgement of the man must be brought in to question in the same way as the judgement of Peter Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. Meanwhile her ex husband Andrew has appeared in a number of photographs which show him fully dressed on all fours on the floor leaning over the body of a fully dressed woman, or girl. In some of the photos he is touching her midriff. It is unclear how old the female is and her face has been redacted as per the Department of Justice’s statement.
The latest release has again brought Peter Mandelson back in to the frame. It appears that he, after his partner received money from Epstein in the form of ‘loans’, may have received instructions from Epstein asking Mandelson to intervene in a 50% super tax on bankers bonuses. Mandelson was ‘trying hard’ to get the bonus policy changed, in his words. We can only hope that Mandelson will find himself being stripped of his titles in the same way that Andrew Mountbatten Windsor has been.
Talking of Andrew, he is reported to have been sent a second woman by Epstein with whom he was to have sex. The woman was in her 20’s at the time and received a tour of Buckingham Palace. This strengthens the case against Andrew for facilitating the trafficking of women. He was also accused in one of the emails by a man called Bryan Miller, of the torture of a woman who then died.
Starmer this weekend has said that Andrew should appear in front of Congress in the United States to give evidence on the Epstein files. With his titles and protections removed is that going to be easier now? Mandelson may also be called to give evidence in front of Congress.
Even the Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit has appeared in email exchanges between her and Epstein. In other correspondence about her, it appears that the Crown Princess may have wanted to become pregnant by Epstein. It suggests that the relationship between the two people may have been intimate, though Epstein declares that ‘Mette is a mess’ in an email to a Boris Nikolic [...].
As more analysis of the 3 million pages takes place, worse stories are emerging of the rape of children, reportedly the eating of babies and of torture. We are getting close to knowing the whole truth but the process of bringing these people to trial will undoubtedly be lengthy and drawn out. The first arrest will shock the world perhaps?
Meanwhile in the UK the gloves have come off in the fight for the Gorton and Denton by-election, triggered by the resignation of Andrew Gwynn because of ill health, and due to take place on the 26th February 2026. This reportedly down-trodden area of Manchester is being visited by campaign teams daily as each candidate jostles for position. The Reform UK party announced their candidate with fanfare this week. Matt Goodwin has background in Manchester though many people claim that he hasn’t. He is having to repeat ad nauseum the connections that he has with the area to the press and on social media. Matt Goodwin has a good head on his shoulders and has solid knowledge of the pressing political and social issues both locally and nationally. He is out treading the streets, knocking on doors and talking to the residents of Gorton and Denton. In clips out on the street he laments how the problems in the area have been summarily ignored, and if he is voted in, the area will no longer be ignored. He will work for the people of the constituency and for the businesses. On Sunday morning in an article by Sabrina Miller, Goodwin also said that if Reform UK wins this by-election that it spells the end of Starmer as leader of the labour party. Starmer will resign according to Goodwin.
We have been waiting to see which candidates have been fielded by the other parties, Labour are fielding a candidate who is currently a Manchester City Councillor for Whaley Range. After very publicly rejecting Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, in a meeting of Labour’s National Executive Council (NEC), Keir Starmer was left looking even more desperate to protect his position as leader of the Labour party and the United Kingdom. Much weight had been given to the idea that Burnham would run in a safe Labour seat in order to later supplant Starmer as leader of the Labour party and ultimately become the Prime Minister himself. Rumour had it that Andy Burnham knew the NEC would reject him but applied anyway knowing that whichever way the decision went, it would leave Starmer looking weaker than ever. Burnham issued a statement after the decision was made saying that he would be fully focused on delivering for Greater Manchester as their Mayor.
The Labour Party’s pick is Angeliki Stogia. She is of Greek descent, having moved from Greece to the UK in 1995 to study at the Manchester Metropolitan University. She ran in the 2024 General Election for Chester South and Eddisbury but only garnered 31% of the vote, losing out to the Conservative candidate (37.9%) Aphra Brandreth. She also ran for the European Parliament in 2014, again failing to get the required number of votes. She has been a voice in debates about transport in Manchester, encouraging Mancunians to reclaim the streets of Manchester. She was a proponent of the pedestrianisation of Deansgate in May 2020.
The Green Candidate is Hannah Spencer. She claims in an interview with the BBC that she is in fact a plumber and is training to become a plasterer. Anything to bring her close to the electorate. Others on social media suggest that she is infact working as a plumber and gas engineer for E.on, whilst her husband works for the vaccine giant Astra Zeneca. The couple live in the wealthy Hale area where homes average around £600,000. Hannah Spencer has already been labelled a Champagne socialist by her detractors.
The Liberal democrat candidate is Jackie Pearcey who has been a Governor of the Oasis Academy Aspinal in Gorton for over 20 years. She has a doctorate in nuclear physics and has been a vocal campaigner in the area according to the BBC. She has churned out the usual areas of focus for ailing Britain - the NHS, Cost of Living and the local high street.
As of the 28th January 2026 there was no listed Conservative candidate for the election. Ben Habib of Advance UK has controversially put Nick Buckley MBE forward for the election, risking a division of the right wing vote. Nick has had various positions in Manchester Council and has worked for 15 years in the charity sector for homeless people in Manchester. He previously stood in the Deansgate Ward of Manchester as an independent for the Council but did not achieve the votes required for office.
Whether the residents of Gorton and Denton want to be a weather vane for which way the wind will blow in the next General Election is unclear, but they really don’t seem to have much choice in the matter.
In further news around 5 explosions rocked Iran on Saturday 31 January. In one of the explosions, in the Port City of Bandar Abbas, it is claimed that the IRGC’s Navy commander was taken out. Other explosions were located in Tehran, Karaj, Ahvaz and Tabriz. We have yet to hear what the targets were in the other locations and who was responsible. Israel has said that they are not responsible for the explosions, so it is possible that the targeted attacks were carried out by US special forces.
The messaging coming out of Iran about the explosions heard in Pakdasht earlier in the week, is that these are routine tests carried out at the Parchin military facility and there is no need for locals to worry. However, looking at the nature of the explosions that took place on Saturday 31 January in Iran, it could suggest that the two explosions heard in the Nuclear plant, connected to the Parchin military facility near Pakdasht, may not be testing, as previously declared by Iranian authorities. Could US forces be underground infiltrating these deep bases?
These explosions come in the wake of calls for the United States to wage war on Iran as speculation mounts of how many people the IRGC have killed in the Iranian uprising of the last weeks and months. Figures range from just a few thousand lives lost, to a possible 79,000 lives. News is very patchy as Iran have all but closed down the internet. Even Starlink is struggling to make a dent in the lack of verifiable news coming out of Iran. We see the occasional clip showing forces shooting at people gathered on the streets.
Iran has threatened to bomb the United States aircraft carrier the USS Abraham Lincoln and strike group that arrived in the Gulf this week. Iran has created propaganda style AI videos showing them striking the Abraham Lincoln with a swarm of their Shahed-149 drones. Meanwhile the UAE has stated that the US cannot launch an attack on Iran from their territory. Saudi Arabia will also potentially be taking delivery of a large $9 billion shipment of Patriot missiles in a landmark sale from the US.
Iran, Russia and China have announced they will be holding a joint naval exercise in the Northern Indian Ocean in late February as tensions keep rising in the Middle East.
To round off this week, as the Epstein files were released on Friday the largest sell off of silver (and gold) since the 1980’s took place, wiping out trillions of dollars. Prices plummeted a massive 28% according to @NoLimitGains on X today. This account says that JP Morgan closed their shorts position on silver at exactly the point that the silver price bottomed out. Another account said ‘A COMEX report shows they closed their silver short around $78’. Did JP Morgan and others crash the market deliberately? Anyone who bought into silver on its stratospheric ascension over the last two weeks will have lost out.
That’s it for this episode of Notes from my Bunker. War still doesn’t look likely any time soon. For that we can certainly be grateful. What we do need however is a release of the pressure on the cost of living. The weak deal Starmer struck with China on the export of Whisky will do nothing to alleviate the stresses we are experiencing here at home.