Sunday 25 October: Decades of mismanagement have left the NHS unable to cope in a crisis

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its comments facility (now reinstated, but not as good as ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/10/24/lettersdecades-mismanagement-have-left-nhs-unable-cope-crisis/

670 thoughts on “Sunday 25 October: Decades of mismanagement have left the NHS unable to cope in a crisis”

    1. ‘Morning, Angie. Not much chance of a functioning sundial for now in yer E Sussex. Given the extreme wevva yesterday evening – gale/storm force winds and torrential rain, the likes of which I cannot remember – most sundials have probably been washed away.

  2. ‘Morning, Peeps. Happy GMT!

    This must be right, given the writer’s name:

    SIR – The Ministry of Health in 1938 predicted that 600,000 civilians would be killed by aerial bombardment in a war with Germany. This was modelled on the suspected strength of the Luftwaffe and previous experiences of bombings such as the Japanese attack on Shanghai and the German destruction of Guernica.

    The belief was generally held that “the bomber will always get through”. These horrors were depicted in films such as Things to Come, and reported in cinema newsreels. The prophesies of the alleged experts determined the government’s policy of appeasement and the country readily acquiesced, given the media support.

    The policy failed and war followed. The bomber did get through, and 60,595 civilians were killed by aerial bombardment. But hundreds of thousands died fighting elsewhere, the national debt soared and the economy was wrecked.

    Readers will see the parallels with our current situation. Fortunately, Churchill confronted the enemy head on, whereas Boris Johnson ran away at the first whiff of grapeshot, encouraged by Professor Neil Ferguson’s paper predicting 500,000 deaths, which was modelled on the suspected strength of the virus and previous experiences of coronaviruses.

    Peter S Wiser
    Bedford

  3. ‘Morning again.

    Some reasonably encouraging news from the DT. At least we saw the back of Purnell last week, who saw fit to eject teddy from the pram when he was passed over for DG. In theory that is an unbelievable £315,000 p.a. saved – until they find another incompetent leftie to replace him…

    Tory-backed group launches ‘Defund the BBC’ campaign

    It claims that viewers can ‘cancel their licence fee now’, although gives few details about the legal aspects of that claim

    By
    Steve Bird
    24 October 2020 • 10:00pm
    A Tory-backed group has launched a campaign to ‘Defund the BBC’ by telling homeowners how to “legally cancel” their licence fee.

    Tens of thousands of people are due to receive a leaflet which claims viewers who only watch ‘on demand’ programmes, apart from the BBC iPlayer, do not have to pay for a licence.

    The document, called “The BBC is broken”, is emblazoned with the slogan: “You do not have to pay”, and claims the corporation has failed to keep up with the pace of new technology.

    It adds: “Over recent years the BBC has cared less and less about its duty to provide impartial content that unifies and reflects the British people outside the M25.”

    It adds that viewers can “legally cancel their licence fee now”, although does not go into detail about the legal aspects of their claim.

    Defund the BBC is supported by Conservative MPs including Andrea Jenkyns, Ben Bradley, Lee Anderson and Christian Wakefield.

    Rebecca Ryan, campaign director of the London-based group, said: “Defund the BBC is working to inform the British public on how they can cancel their TV licence without fear of prosecution.

    “The BBC’s system for catching and prosecuting non-licence fee payment disproportionately affects women and the poorest and most vulnerable in society. This must stop.

    “Decriminalising non-payment of the licence fee is only the first step. It is totally unreasonable to force people, by fear of imprisonment, to pay the BBC in order to watch non-BBC live TV.”

    The £157.50 annual television licence is secure until December 31st, 2027. However, in February the Government announced a public consultation on whether non-payment of the licence fee should remain a criminal offence.

    The consultation is also looking at possible alternative enforcement schemes that could make watching television without a licence a civil (rather than criminal) offence.

    Currently, anyone who watches or records live TV or uses BBC’s iPlayer without a TV licence is committing a criminal offence and could go to prison.

    Research suggests that many of those who are convicted are the poor or vulnerable who often struggle to make ends meet and find a criminal conviction makes life even harder.

    A BBC spokesman said: “The licence fee continues to ensure the BBC is an independent, universal broadcaster, committed to serving everyone and to investing in British creativity.

    “It is the agreed method of funding the BBC until at least 2027. There’s always debate about the funding model and we’re happy to do that – but the right time to do that is as part of the next Charter discussions.”

    The BTL comments are vociferous and overwhelmingly in favour of de-funding, and some have already disappeared.

    3. “It is the agreed method of funding the BBC until at least 2027” – yes, but IIRC that was agreed when the BBC agreed to fund licences for the over 75s – since they’ve unilaterally decided to go back on their agreement, surely the Government would be quite within their rights to shut down the licence fee this year!? They won’t, of course, as they’re spinless!

    4. I think Dildo Harding, the ruling classes’ favourite crumpet, will soon be looking for another sinecure.
      She knows on which side her yeast based comestible is buttered.

    5. We’ve never had a TV here. No one’s missed it, but TV licencing are abusive, insulting and offensive in their arrogance.

      Their goons are simple thugs who prey on the weak. One tried to break in by leaning on the door handle. Another threatened to have Jerry put down. I do believe he bounced when I kicked him out of my home. He never did press charges for assault.

    6. “It is the agreed method of funding the BBC until at least 2027” – yes, but IIRC that was agreed when the BBC agreed to fund licences for the over 75s – since they’ve unilaterally decided to go back on their agreement, surely the Government would be quite within their rights to shut down the licence fee this year!? They won’t, of course, as they’re spineless!

    7. “It adds that viewers can “legally cancel their licence fee now”, although does not go into detail about the legal aspects of their claim.”

      Err…the article neatly sums up the legalities: “Tens of thousands of people are due to receive a leaflet which claims viewers who only watch ‘on demand’ programmes, apart from the BBC iPlayer, do not have to pay for a licence.”

      I haven’t paid (legally) since 2005. £2345.50 saved to date.

  4. Isolation for test and trace could be halved. 25 October 2020.

    The 14-day isolation period for contacts of those infected with Covid-19 could be halved over fears about levels of compliance with the Test and Trace system, The Telegraph can disclose.

    Officials on Boris Johnson’s Covid-19 taskforce are examining the case for cutting the fortnight period of isolation to between seven and ten days.
    The disclosure comes amid rising concern among ministers and Tory backbenchers about the effectiveness of Test and Trace, with the Prime Minister said to have become “disillusioned” with official statistics provided by the service, after some were later proved to be incorrect.

    Morning everyone. It’s impossible to know if this is genuine or an invention of the Telegraph but if we assume the former we can speculate on it. The first thing is that the 14 day period is a scientific calculation of the time taken to ensure that those people who tested positive are no longer carriers. This has not changed. It cannot be changed. It is a scientific reality. So if the time is being reduced it can only be because of other factors. The most probable one is that aside from those people like myself (we are probably the majority which in itself ensures the failure of Test and Trace) who are not even bothering to be tested and are thus outside the program, those who are being tested and isolated aren’t paying any attention to the instruction to isolate. In other words the whole thing is bunk. That the Government would think of halving the quarantine time would be an admission that they know this as well.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/10/24/isolation-test-trace-could-halved/

  5. The stupidity of HS2 continues, unabated:

    SIR – The wanton destruction of one of the country’s most iconic trees, the 250-year-old Cubbington pear tree (report, October 21) in Warwickshire, to make way for HS2 is just the first step in what will be remembered by future generations as one of the most heinous acts of state-sponsored environmental vandalism in human history.

    It is an astonishing display of hypocrisy on the part of successive governments to wring their hands over the destruction of rainforests in the Amazon basin and Indonesia, the wrecking of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan by the Taliban, and the demolition of the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria by Isis (to give but a few examples), while agreeing to the destruction of ancient woodlands, the despoliation of many areas of outstanding natural beauty and countless historical buildings, to facilitate the construction of HS2. All this to reduce the journey between London and Birmingham by a paltry 30 minutes.

    Given the horrendous financial impact on the country of Covid-19, and that the cost of HS2 has already risen to more than twice the original estimate of £56 billion, it should be scrapped before another penny is wasted.

    Robert Readman
    Bournemouth, Dorset

    SIR – I have been very fortunate to live in a beautiful part of rural south Warwickshire for the past 25 years. Last week, when travelling along a nearby road for the first time since before the lockdown, I was stopped in my tracks and reduced to tears. Mature hedgerows, copses and woodland had been ripped up and swathes of the countryside had been desecrated by construction work for HS2. No other organisation would get away with this.

    We have six ancient woodlands in the way of this monster. Planting trees will not replace 600 years of growth or the habitats of countless insects and other animals. This has to stop now. A very expensive vanity project, HS2 is totally inappropriate in the Covid era. The Chancellor can find many better uses for the money.

    Lynn Pearson
    Northend, Warwickshire

    1. A very expensive vanity project, HS2 is totally inappropriate in the Covid era.

      It’s a scam! A fraud.

      1. Of course it is, but we are going to get it anyway. This is how those that define the nation now deem this is what we have agreed to, and we must comply with this contract with them. Or else. Besides, they have agreed to our colonisation under their Orwellian “Anticolonisation” platform, where only the lives of the racists and the colonisers matter, and those that are in the way of their aspirations, be they yeoman or ancient tree, don’t.

        What can we do? Rise up and cut off their heads, Bastille-style? Form ourselves into revolutionary groups and create mayhem and the banners of ‘Socialist Worker’? Few of us on this forum approve of these groups, but who else have we to turn to, who are on our side?

        We must make the work of these impostors sidelines and irrelevant, however we can. It is not easy, when these control the law and money and church, and will use all the weight of State against us, and will scapegoat us for their transgressions. We have long passed the Great Depression; we have passed Dickens; We are passing Magna Carta, and it cannot be long where the only surviving historical model for our nation can be found with William the Conqueror, and we all know what he thought of the North.

    2. BTL Comment:-

      Robert Spowart
      25 Oct 2020 7:25AM
      Some good comments on the unnecessary tragedy of HS2.

      No doubt next week’s letters will include the usual counter missive from the totally independent and disinterested William Barter of Towcester.

    3. https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/our-remote-first-future-has-turned-hs2-into-a-glaring-anachronism

      That article ^ is an interesting read. I make no pretence I find the state a pointless waste of time that provides very little value at immense cost. However, some things that provide ‘no value’ are for a public good – research of any kind, for example.

      HS2 is based on Tens,or TEN T, the EU mandated railway project. Trying to justify whether to continue it based upon the value it is expected to return is a nonsense. It will never make a profit. Heck, it’s a 9 year old project and not a shred of track has been laid – nor will be this decade, I’d imagine.

      The numbers are astromonical. I know a project manager inside the team – for 6 months she charged over £2500 a day and achieved precisely nothing. She’s not one of the higher paid consultants either. Now, I know they’re not going to start slapping track down on day 1. It’s going to take a long time but it’s going to be 3 decades before the thing is even properly underway and the cost will be north of half a trillion by the end. Half a trillion – a quarter of our GDP – for a trainset we simply do not need or want. Money could have gone directly into a publicly owned fibre backbone. Even with a FTTH cost of close to 50K (and most of that is digging up the road and council idiocy and delay – sack such tossers) the set up could have been sold at £250 install and £30 a month return for say 2 years or £25 for 5 years, with 500mbit upgrades every year.

      Such could have gone to ISPs as a product to sell. It’s just infuriating that the civil service is determined to provide what we needed twenty years ago in twenty years time.

  6. Good morning from the Saxon daughter of Alfred of Wessex with cleaned axe and well used Longbòw.

    The sun is trying to break through the clouds 10c atm so quite mild in East Anglia .
    Husband is making breakfast and I’ll be making roast guinea fowl for lunch .

    2. It’s gloomy and raining here – much refleective of my mood. Didn’t sleep well so probably going to take Honor Harrington to the armchair and fall asleep.

      One thing I don’t understand about dogs is that one day he can sleep nearly 30 hours straight, yet should I so much as stir he’s leaping about wanting to go for a walk. And he’s just nicked my biscuits!

  8. Morning all

    SIR – Successive British governments have unwisely elevated “Our NHS” to the status of a deity. Now, however, the British public is being asked to do everything in its power to protect the NHS. Surely the function of an efficient health service is to protect the people and take care of their illnesses.

    Over the past three decades, there has been a continuous erosion of healthcare capacity due to relentless bed reductions and hospital closures. Could this be relevant to the present precarious state of the NHS?

    Malcolm H Wheeler FRCS

    Bonvilston, Glamorgan

    SIR – Instead of wasting time preparing legislation to restrict the movement of care-home staff (report, October 22), the needs of care homes would be better served if the Government introduced measures to give designated visitors key-worker status, so that they can be included in the testing and other protocols required to be able to visit residents and assist with their care. I am sure there are many able-bodied relatives and friends who, apart from being desperate to visit their loved ones, would be eager to volunteer to help relieve pressure on the professional staff.

    Advertisement

    Last week Helen Whately, the care minister, said there would be a pilot scheme regarding key-worker status for visitors. What is stopping this? I am becoming increasingly alarmed and frustrated by the inertia and apparent lack of real-world awareness from our decision-makers.

    Susan J R Rothwell

    Turton, Lancashire

    SIR – Far Eastern countries have shown that they can control Covid-19 with effective test, trace and isolate policies. Why is the Government ignoring this? Our test-and-trace system is only partly effective, and the isolate part is simply being ignored.

    All that Tier-2 and Tier-3 restrictions will do is ruin the hospitality trade while people ignore the rules on mixing. In a misguided desire not to infringe individual liberties, the Government is wrecking the economy and failing to control the virus.

    Richard Duncan

    Guildford, Surrey

    SIR – The vast majority of us who are over 80 will die very soon from cancer, dementia, a stroke or a fall. Could somebody tell me why Boris Johnson wants to keep us alive at the cost of our grandchildren’s future?

    Barbara Barnes

    Greenfield, Lancashire

    SIR – It’s an irony that the young, who appear to suffer the least from Covid-19 and are therefore likely to have a more relaxed attitude to the safety measures, are the same young that will ultimately, as working men and women, be paying the Covid bill.

    Our borrowing is already very high, and, while interest rates may be low, the bill must still be paid – a fact that Keir Starmer, Andy Burnham and even a few Tories seem to have forgotten.

    Tom Palin

    Southport, Lancashire

    1. All the discussions are meaningless.

      Where did ‘Our NHS’ come from? Labour. The NHS is no more ours than any other public sector nonsense. It’s a protected, controlled, remote, utterly uninterested organisation. It is no more ours than the roads.

      Labour used the term as people were starting to understand how inefficient it was. To them, it is a bulwark of Left wing employment. A whipping post to hold the public against. The Right think ‘it’s a healthcare service’ the Left see it as a big state control system. To ensure that control system continued to exist Labour changed the name to avoid people thinking too much about the cynical reality of the dichotomy that is the NHS.

    1. No one will, Rix. Nothing ever changes. The NHS is inept, what happens? It’s given more money and we pay the price for it.

      Until the time comes when the NHS is broken up into localised units nothing will. That means the massive public sector bureaucracy must be broken up but they just close ranks and nothing ever changes. For the Left, the NHS is a whipping stick. While the legions exist nothing wil change. It’s designed not to.

      1. Most British people living in France would agree with me that the French medical service is infinitely better than the NHS.

  10. Good morning all.
    Just made a post on Going Postal I think is worth sharing here along with the original I responded to:-

    GlobalGaz, PPE and Bar • 39 minutes ago • edited
    Boris rolling over to a couple of tweets from a millionaire footballer with the following Twitter angst and gnashing of teeth, further digging a hole for himself by giving the flake a MBE (FFS) is coming back to bite him big time.

    What a twat. You can never ever satisfy a leftie. Once the begging bowl has been filled it must be topped up like a bottomless hole. And of course the Socialists are absolutely using this as an attack line. You don’t want children starving, do you?

    It is the usual topic you “can’t” disagree with.

    You don’t want racism do you? (BLM)
    You don’t want facism do you? (Antifa)
    You don’t want to destroy the environment do you? (Climate Change)

    So agree with everything I say and take the knee.

    9
    •
    Reply
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    Avatar
    Bob of Bonsall GlobalGaz, PPE and Bar • a few seconds ago
    All part of the Cultural Marxist application of Critical Theory.
    To weaken a society one must criticise EVERY aspect of it.
    Keep up the attacks and if you can not find a grievance to make use of, create one.
    Refuse to acknowledge any part of that Society or its history as being good or worth saving. If you can not find a grievance, create one.
    If that Society gives you concessions, begrudge accepting them, but rather claim they are insufficient and that they prove you were right. Use them as a basis for demanding more concessions.
    Use your grievances as a means of gaining influence, demand places on bodies set up to investigate them and join up with fellow thinkers already within the Establishment to push for more and more concessions to weaken the grip of Conservatives on the reins of power.

    By these means the Cultural Marxists hope to weaken Western Society and bring about the creation of the Marxist Society they desire.

    •
    Edit
    •
    Reply
    •
    Share ›

  12. SIR – It is ironic that, while Black Lives Matter and the Left-leaning press fixate on the past – with the latest target being Lord Nelson (Letters, October 18) – the Telegraph breaks news (October 9) about African migrants being held in Covid detention camps in Saudi Arabia.

    Rather than trashing the reputations of the dead, BLM and the socialist press should be championing the living.

    Rupert Mindelsohn

    London W6

    2. Hmm, Is Saudi making a case for Covid detention camps in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco?

      What a good idea – don’t forget to destroy all the rubber boats.

    1. ‘Morning, Hugh and thank you – it’s all grist to the mill of grinding down the useless, costly assemblies and the wee pretendy parliament, to dust and bringing their current functions back to Westminster, with full authority, responsibility and, most important, ACCOUNTABILITY.

      1. Well said, Nanners. The pandemic has exposed devolution for what it always was; stupid, costly and devisive, and a great opportunity for little people with huge egos to show us how utterly incompetent they are.

  15. A chilling little read………

    “Introduction

    The British public’s widespread compliance with the Government’s draconian diktats has arguably been the most remarkable aspect of the coronavirus crisis. The unprecedented restrictions on our basic freedoms – in the form of lockdowns, travel bans and mandatory mask wearing – have been passively accepted by the large majority of people. Despite the lack of evidence for effectiveness of these extreme measures, and the growing recognition of their negative consequences, it seems most of us continue to submit to the ongoing restrictions on our lives. Why have we witnessed such capitulation?”

    https://www.coronababble.com/post/how-the-mean-psychologists-induced-us-to-comply-with-coronavirus-restrictions
    I commend the rest of the article,don’t forget to add in the 77 Brigade

        1. Handel’s music makes my spine tingle. I have sung most of the Messiah in concert but this wasn’t included.. I shall be much happier when the choirs I am in can resume rehearsals.

    2. Happy Birthday Sue!

      I haven’t rated St Crispin since he invented salt & vinegar flavour.

    4. Morning, Sue.
      Many Happies.
      Many, many, many happies …..
      Love from
      Lady Counterblast (née Clissold)

    7. Happy, Birthday, Sue and I’ll let you off even though that was Harfleur and not Crecy (St Crispin’s Day).

      1. I thought Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V was better than the much over-praised film by Laurence Olivier which I first saw when I was at prep school.

    9. Morning, Sue! Singing a rousing Happy Birthday to you – hope you can hear me down there.

      2. Very good, Bob of Bonsall. I scratched my head at first but finally got it. (And, as I said on an earlier post, a very Happy Birthday to you.)

    19. I am late to the party! Happy Birthday, Sue, and many happy returns of your special day.

  17. Good morning, all. A sunny morning – but with a very strong south-westerly blowing.

    This malarkey about “poor, starving children”. Does anyone know how many of them there really ARE?

    1. Few children in the UK are starving as a result of income. The few who are suffer because of neglect and abuse.

      Those abused children are often the ones most failed by the state machine yet the ones the public expect to be protected.

      This is why for every feckless breeders troughing away, having sprog after sprog to get a bigger house on the tax payer take money from the system to protect the most vulnerable. It’s insulting, but big state just doesn’t care.

      1. Then just what is this bame wendyballer Brashford on about?

        Do I detect an edge of racism in his comments? Shirley not (sarc).

      1. Even more gross, possibly, than the appallingly fat kid in the advert – Rightmove I think – who is jumping on his bed. I’m surprised the ceiling hasn’t collapsed!

        1. When I was a young kid & w visited my grandparents in Ebbw Vale, I was sent to bed at the usual time & told to keep very still & quiet, otherwise the bed would come down through the ceiling.

      5. Julius might have liked him but I doubt whether, like Cassius, he thinks too much.

    1. Many nations haven’t. You’ll note a parallel between those economies that have low debts and those with direct democracy. Ones where the state is small and controlled have lower debts, higher incomes per capita and lower taxes.

      You’ll also find they have effective and efficient public services as well the equivalent – and usually better – of most other heavily indebted economies

      1. 325867+ up ticks.
        Morning Anne,
        When the governance party / party’s get round to the dance
        macabre, will the skeletons in the cemetery adhere to the
        2 m AKA 6′ 6& 6 1/8″s spacing ?

        I know.

    3. I got into quite an argument in the comments on an article about Canadas rising debt.

      The lefties were adamant that the bank could just keep printing money to cover the grants and handouts. Don’t be silly, a few big companies will pay more but it will not effect the normal person. There was absolutely no concept of paying back this ever increasing debt or even servicing the interest.

      1. 325867+ up ticks,
        Afternoon R,
        I got in plenty of hot aqua in calling the lab/lib/con a coalition
        years ago, they have now proved to put lab in the shade when reckless spending comes about,
        HS2 to for instance & the current
        wonga, strawberries to donkeys in many respects, issue.

  22. Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth

    SAY not the struggle naught availeth,
    The labour and the wounds are vain,
    The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
    And as things have been, they remain.

    If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;
    It may be, in yon smoke concealed,
    Your comrades chase e’en now the fliers,
    And, but for you, possess the field.

    For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
    Seem here, no painful inch to gain,
    Far back, through creeks and inlets making,
    Comes silent, flooding in, the main.

    And not by eastern windows only,
    When daylight comes, comes in the light,
    In front, the sun climbs slow, how slowly,
    But westward, look, the land is bright.

    Arthur Hugh Clough

    When I first read this poem, I just saw it as a struggle to achieve the impossible; later reading about ‘The Great War’ (WWI) I thought it an allegorical reference to a typical day at ‘The Front’ but discovering that it was written in 1849, although very apt for WWI, it sadly wasn’t.

    However, since my Father (1895 – 1955) fought in both World Wars, I’d like to think that he also thought like this.

    1. The final verse has always been
      one of my favourite pieces of
      poetry, it promises so much.

      Good morning, NtN.

    2. Hello again.

      My father used to recite this poem to me when I was a boy.

      (Incidentally, would you like me to add your name to the Birthday List? As far as I know Dellboy (born in 1936) is the oldest of us here but there are 14 of us on my list born in the 1940’s)

  23. Great excitement – we are going on an OUTING – to Snettisham to see if there are any birds. And to see if two interesting churches are open (being a Sunday – prolly not!!!)

    The MR has made a PICNIC – the first we have had for over a year – with, you’ll all be delighted to know, TROMBETTI soup.

    I’ll look in at the end of the day. Have fuun.

    2. He’s my MP, I’ve met him a couple of times. He’s reminiscent of the black guys i use to work with in my teens and early twenties after a short time you don’t actually notice what colour they are, mainly because they are not shouting at you whilst bashing you over the head with a chip on the shoulder black stick.

        1. Apart from the majority of white English around 20 in all. Out of all the people i worked with, two Africans, two Jamaicans two Jewish guys, a Spaniard, a Polish chap, an India who was one of the nicest people I have ever met. They only person who was difficult to along with was Irish. And an absolute AH !
          And one incident that stands out more than anything, was in Johannesburg. When a black labourers was trying to take a bucket of white wash up a ladder through a trap door and it tipped over him. Every one was in fits of laughter and the innuendo was wonderful. We had fun for days after the event.

          1. I have always thought that you need three elements for an accident to happen.

            That chap certainly had all three. A ladder, a bucket of whitewash and a trapdoor.

  25. An interesting BTL comment from a Mr Simon Brady on the DT article about Macron saying he will opposes any deal if France cannot keep its access to British waters:

    EU beginning to realise that Brexit has a price.

    What the EU empire loses. The list below is just some of the things the EU is desperately going to miss:

    * Privileged access to the 5th largest economy in the world

    * The worlds number one financial centre

    * EU’s number one trading partner

    * One half of The EU’s two UN big five seats

    * EU’s most capable armed forces, by far.

    * One of the EU’s two nuclear armed powers.

    * The world’s number one soft power.

    * EU’s most creative and inventive member.

    * World leading film industry, 23% global box office take.

    * EU’s largest diplomatic network.

    * EU’s largest tech hub.

    * The world’s no,1 city for fintec investment

    * EU,s only member of the five “eyes”.

    * EU’s most capable intelligence services.

    * EU’s largest job creating economy

    * 4 of the global top 10 universities. EU has none.

    * EU,s second largest net contributor, £15 billion annually.

    * The world’s third largest food exporter

    * EU’s largest maker of satellites.

    * Our guaranteed IMF, world trade, G7, 8 or 20 agreement.

    * The EU’s second largest foreign aid budget.

    * Any last remaining, minute amount of credible democratic legitimacy.

    * Lots and lots of free fish

    * Number of noble prize winners

    * Uk 2nd in Olympic medal chart.

    * And much ,much more besides.

    Instead, the EU fantasy of becoming an empire of global clout is shot to shi,te as it leaves just a worn out husk of a barren organisation.

    At least one European country should be a genuine democracy, thank goodness it will once

    1. Excellent list, but I cant help thinking this claim is a bit itchy beard…

      The world’s third largest food exporter

          1. Oops, Sorry: The term is also often used to mean a country’s ability to feed itself. But it is not the same as “self-sufficiency”. Self-sufficiency exists when a country can source the goods it needs without having to rely on imports. Government statistics in 2018 showed that the UK is approximately 61% self-sufficient in all foods and 75% in “indigenous type food”; figures show that UK self-sufficiency has been declining for the past 30 years. The UK imports more than it exports for all food categories except beverages, but the balance varies between different food types (see chart below).

            So that should be 39%.
            https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/food-security-what-is-it-and-how-is-it-measured/

          2. We import between 45% and 50% of the food we eat. Some suggestions are that it is now over 50%.

            Your “self-sufficiency” figures include those (third largest in the world – I don’t believe it) exports. So if we ate all that we produce we would only need to import 39%.

            One striking example is that we produce more lamb than we eat, but because we import thousands of tonnes from NZ we need to export lots of our own.

          4. We were only producing 30% of what we needed in 1939; but, as Nanny says, we had got as far as 70% in the late 80s and early 90s.
            The lamb issue is exacerbated by the fact that too many of us are fussy. We just want to eat the best bits. We do export live lambs and we do export whole carcases, but we also export a lot of “fifth quarter” and other less desirable cuts and we import a huge amount of legs from NZ. We need to get better at eating the whole beast (every beast).

          5. Curses. Forgot to order ox cheek and pigs’ trotters from the butcher when I was there on Friday.
            But at least you’ve jogged my memory.

          6. Write it down Anne… 😉

            My cousin’s late husband once said that up to the age of 45 he never used a shopping list and by the age of 60 he daren’t go shopping without one. I find that I remember all the “every week” stuff, but tend to forget the occasionals unless I write them down. Oddly enough, having written the list I seldom need to refer to it – the act of writing down (as it did in the old days with exam revision) seems to fix it in the memory – at least for a while.

            I eat lots of offal and bits – as, apparently, do you – but many people don’t. Partly a matter of taste and partly because they don’t know how to cook them. If just made the best part of a gallon of soup with two ox kidneys and a heap of root veg, it’ll simmer for a while and then I’ll divide it up when it’s cooled down and another handful of quick suppers join the mix in the freezer.

          7. Ok, so third largest in terms of the percentage of its own crop and livestock reared. Not necessarily the same as the largest quantity of exported food.

    2. According to our friends and relatives in Oz many people have been heavily fined for ‘breaking the rules’. The police have been merciless.
      I don’t think Australians have any perceived or significant sympathy for a known black criminal who died in police custody thousands of miles away, any more than the people in the rest of the world who think it’s pertinent to (i hate the expression) ‘take the knee’. But have given up smoking or lighting any flame in sympathy for the absolute devastation and many deaths caused by the recent bush fires.
      A game of rugby or cricket is far more important than a dead crim to most of them.

  27. All together now: “It could never happen here.”

    “Gloucestershire Police also announced an operation covering routes from Wales into the Forest of Dean where officers will stop motorists travelling into England to find out what they are doing.

    Drivers will be encouraged to turn around and head back to Wales if officers ‘are not satisfied with their explanation’, a spokesman said. If they refuse, police will tell forces in Wales so they can issue fines.”

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8f8198b54f112617444750dd0a2ca8843e9618835b86380fb96af0cb5774c403.jpg

        1. Not difficult Anne. 😊
          Our eldest grand son was 5 years old yesterday. we had a lovely time eating cake and later home made pizza.
          His little sister (8 months) is now very mobile and has more balls to get were she wants to be, than not just the government, but the vast majority of our pathetic political classes.

    1. Some people have got too much time on their hands, and said people are usually domino nerds

  30. The Saxon Queen has prepared her French guinea fowl to go into the oven
    but I’ve noticed that unlike our poultry that has to entrance points on either
    side ( to put it politely) the French guinea fowl doesn’t, the skin is intact
    and covers it’s behind part totally. I shall leave it like that I think and
    do the stuffing separately. It’s quite a bony bird and not as plump as
    a chicken.

        1. The giblets are always placed in the rear end of a bird & the big risk is that they may be wrapped in plastic. You must open up the rear end &, if present, get them out.

        2. Send the ones with sealed up rear ends to Bradford. There’s a chap there who will open them up.

    2. It doesn’t need roasting for long. I remove the legs and wings to make the stock. I then brown the crown in butter and oil in a pan and then roast with the legs and wings in the same tin.

      You need to have another look at the rear end.

    1. Sadly, arrested and charged with various offences. Anyone remember a time when the USSR existed and people were sent to the salt mines for disagreeing with the government. Maybe the Welsh clots in the Bay will be looking at reopening a coal mine to punish dissidents.

    2. He doesn’t look any more indecent than people covered in tattoos, who walk around half naked in the summer.

      1. 325867+ up ticks,
        Morning N,
        I make you right, is it because the welsh have a different dress
        code appertaining to supermarkets.
        PS he’s got the dicky the bow is in the post.

        1. Wasn’t in Wales where Tesco had to ban people who came shopping in their pyjamas a few short ears ago?

          5. It was a pun. Having a Welsh mother, I know that ‘ear’ (& here) is pronounced ‘yer’ in the Valleys.

          6. Yes, Peddy, when I worked in Llantrisant (dubbed ‘The Hole With the Mint in it) we had a guy called Dai 18 months because, having half of one ear chewed off, “…he only ‘as a yer anna half.”

          7. “Yes, Peddy, when I worked in Llantrisant (dubbed ‘The Hole With the Mint in it)…”

            My father would have laughed himself silly over that, having worked for the Royal Mint at Tower Hill for nearly 3 decades, before refusing to go to Llantrisant.

            Thanks Nanners.

  33. Like many of my friends here I dip into the Daily Mail site from time to time for my ‘fix’ of scurrilous rubbish!

    There is an article about a chap called Philip Scholfield who is, apparently, a media personality, who has recently told his wife and family that he is a homosexual and another chap called Richard Coles who is a a homosexual Anglican priest who is also a media personality. Apparently they are flirting with each other and where, asks the Daily Mail, will this lead.

    I have a very attractive friend who has been married to women four times – indeed he is still happily married to wife Number 4. However, he is very much a man’s man in that he is happier and more relaxed in male company. He puts it as follows: ‘ I am homosexual in everything except sex.’

    .

    1. I’ve nothing against people having their own proclivities – but why do they have to force them on everybody else? I don’t care who they sleep with – I just don’t want to know.

      2. They are desperate to convince us that it is normal, when they know full well it isn’t…

    3. I avoided all the Schofiled articles. No idea who he is, but he looks like an annoying little twerp, and I don’t care a jot about his sexuality which he seems to keen to over-share with the world.

  34. Salut!

    Really clutching at straws now…
    “Unknown Warrior likely to be white soldier because of ‘bias’, research suggests”

    1. So what
    2. Wokists will obvs have to exhume the body to see if they can find something to be outraged about.

    1. These completely ignorant bastards should be drummed out of their posts.
      The authorities went to great lengths to ensure the soldier could not be identified, so it is not impossible, although it is extremely unlikely, that the warrior could have been from the Empire.

      Of course the Unknown warrior is likely to have been white, if there is a bias it is because the battlefields where the unknown soldiers were exhumed were fought over by predominantly white soldiers.
      The Aisne, the Somme, Arras and Ypres.

      https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-11710660

      1. ‘Morning, Sos, my father was there from 1914 to the armistice – he was white. Does that help?

        P.S. he also served in the 1939-45 little upset.

        1. If he served in the second he definitely won’t be the unknown warrior.

          The background, and selection process and eventual reburial always affects me emotionally, because of what it represented to the families.

          I can never look look at one of the stones marked “Known unto God” without tears forming.

          1. …and the same with Binyon’s words For The Fallen:

            They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
            Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
            At the going down of the sun and in the morning
            We will remember them.

            Brings a tear every Remembrance Day…

            …and in between.

          2. And John Maxwell Edmonds lines (which are a slightly altered translation)

            When you go home, tell them of us and say
            For your tomorrow, we gave our today.

        2. Good morning NTN

          You must have one of the oldest father’s here – when was he born? My father was born in 1898 and was 48 when I was born. He too served in the First World War.

          1. Born 1895 and died in 1955. 51 years of age when I was born, My mama was 41 and I’m sure that I was an accident.

      2. It is astonishing that some people cannot leave well alone. Surely the authorities did all they could to hide the identity of the soldier as he would act as a representative for all those poor sods who disappeared in the artillery carnage that ensued during most of the war.
        He represents all of the fallen who could never be returned to their homes, it matters not a jot to anyone what his background or heritage was.

        Why don’t these busybodies worry about something more contemporary, such as inquire why PM Tony Blair managed to seal the records on the Dunblane massacre for 100 years? Who, still living, is he protecting and why did he extend the timeline to 100 years when we usually get access to sealed Government records after a mere 25(or is it 30?) years?

        1. Totally agree.

          There are far too many coverups by Blair. I suspect many very prominent people are being protected, not least Blair.

        1. I have more than the average number of legs (and fewer than the average number of bladders 🙁 )

  35. There is a little on the BBC website regarding armed police being sent against demonstrators for freedom.
    “Commander Ade Adelekan*, of the Met, said he had become “increasingly concerned that those in the crowd were not maintaining social distancing or adhering to the terms of their own risk assessment”.
    He added: “Organisers did not take reasonable steps to keep protesters safe which then voided their risk assessment.** At this point    ” I ordered my men in to break up their skulls and the demonstration.

    * Not of the white persuasion.
    ** An excuse he has used before against predominantly white peaceful demonstrators, but not in respect of military marches by the BLM terrorists
    PS The final bit I made up, but that is, in effect, what happens.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-54678374

  36. Let’s turn back time – to when we didn’t mess up our clocks. Peter Hitchens. 25 October 2020.

    Johnson, the man who ruined Britain, continues to stamp across the landscape like a mad giant, squashing small businesses, obliterating jobs and then flinging funny money at the victims as if that could bring back what they have lost for ever.

    By doing so he achieves nothing. The crisis which he claims to be dealing with exists only in twisted statistics and shameless propaganda.

    No suspicion that he might be mistaken appears to have crossed his mind. Those of us who have tried using facts and reason to change his mind are more or less in despair. The funny money is visibly running out.

    Increasingly, I fear that anger is the only force that will bring this misery to an end. I hope not, for that will bring new miseries. Can nobody reach him, while there is still time?

    Peter Hitchens has been moved to the Russia column which I suspect is more deliberate than not. He’s right here of course but what we do not yet know for certain is whether Boris is just incompetent or deliberately incompetent!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8876105/PETER-HITCHENS-Lets-turn-time-didnt-mess-clocks.html

    1. 325867+ up ticks,
      Morning AS,
      You do not make it to the top echelon of the ” in name only” tory party unless you are a master of deceit plus
      competent at being incompetent.
      Proof = major, the wretch cameron, may & now…………

    2. The only thing that could save Boris Johnson from bottomless perdition there to dwell in adamantine chains and endless woe would be if he scrapped his surrender WA completely.

    1. Thank you for posting that, I remember the film with Susannah Yorke. It brought back memories, the title is so evocative.

        1. Another of my “convalescing” books.

          I’ve got quite a few of Rumer Godden’s, I’ve never failed to enjoy one of hers.

    2. In her introduction Rumer Godden remembers him as a Mr Martin, who befriended her and her sisters and drove them around the local countryside.

      An age of innocence! For all the neoliberal cant such a thing would now be impossible!

      Thank you for that Horace. Much appreciated.

  39. October 25 1415, Battle of Agincourt.

    And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
    From this day to the ending of the world,
    But we in it shall be rememberèd—
    We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
    For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
    Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
    This day shall gentle his condition;
    And gentlemen in England now a-bed
    Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
    And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
    That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

    I don’t suppose that it will be long before Shakespeare himself vanishes from the ken of Englishmen. Even the values within this short quote are anathema to the present ruling elites. Honour. Manhood. Patriotism. They are things to be despised. The question is of course whether a Society lacking them can survive let alone prosper. My guess is no, not only because it would rapidly fall victim to one that has them but because they are the glue that hold country’s together.

      1. Yes. Even the Unknown Warrior is toast

        From the DT today: “Unknown Warrior likely to be white soldier because of ‘bias’, research suggests
        The National Army Museum suggested bias may have influenced the selection of the body whose remains were interred at Westminster Abbey”

        1. I don’t imagine it biased but simple probability. During WW2 the UK was predominatly white. Any soldier is likely to be a white male.

          It’s all a bit stupid. Do these people squeal and rant that Treptower park is not representative? Dear life, blacks and ethnics are a tiny minority. The vast majority of the minority are decent, hard working people. The massive explosion in that demographic is only due to Labour’s malignant attitude to society.

          It annoys me somewhat they the racist Oxford prof was not summarily smashed down with a hammer for her racism but not only tolerated but promoted.

          1. The Unknown Warrior was selected from unidentified soldiers whose bodies were found on four WW1 battlefields, where the likelihood was that most, but not all soldiers were white, some members of Empire Regiments also fought, but they were a small minority of the overall numbers killed.

            The racist was a Cambridge lecturer and was promoted by the university to a professorship.

          2. Almost 10% of those who died fighting under the Union flag were Indian troops, they were by far the largest group of non-whites and still, as you say, a fairly small minority.

            They are not forgotten, their graves are kept as well as any others and their names are in the record books.

            I watched a very interesting documentary a few years ago; as still happens from time to time a farmer turned over some body parts during cultivations. The procedure, the care, the amount of time and effort which was taken to identify the bodies and the final laying to rest of 3 named men was quite something – almost 100 years later.

          3. Remains are found almost every year and the authorities try their best to identify them, sometimes successfully.

          4. Yes, I know that they are found quite frequently – everything from just a bone or two which is clearly human to a group of almost complete skeletons (as the ones shown were) with bits of uniform and equipment. Obviously for a documentary on the subject you need to start with significant find – or there’s no story to tell

            But it was interesting to see the way they went about it and the involvement of the team doing the work. Regimental tunic buttons seemed to be rather significant as a starting point. It was also interesting, given that the army sometimes (probably quite fairly) gets a bad rep for how it treats people, to see the care with which they approached families when it came to the final stages of the search aand the arrangements they made for one or two quite elderly close relatives to attend the eventual interment – in France, with their colleagues.

          5. The Army and the war graves people as well as the archeologists and genealogists do fine work in tracking down the families of those they can identify.

            I took my B-i-L to visit his great uncle’s grave for the centenary of his death, my wife and I visit most years when returning from the UK. It is in a corner of a small French civil cemetary and looks just like a standard British one, except that as well as the white headstones there are also French graves from the battle. There are two sections, at opposite ends of the cemetary, dedicated to British soldiers. The French still do the maintenance and they do a superb job.

            I also took my M-i-L to see the Menin gate where one of her family is named as having no known grave. It was a moving experience for her.

          1. It wasn’t as high as that Anne, Britain had 1.3 million Indian troops fighting during the course of that war, alongside about 6 million British troops. Indian troops were involved in all geographical areas, and almost 10% of “our” war dead were Indian.

            Most of the African troops, a considerable number from the empires on both sides, were involved in the fighting in Africa rather than in Europe, though the French did bring some North Africans to fight in France. Like our own Indian troops they found the climate in winter difficult.

            The great majority were certainly white – but not 99%.

          3. A deliberate choice was made in London to leave British troops in India – because they feared that if they withdrew them all there might be another mutiny. There was a lot of anxiety about bring Indian troops to Europe and setting them to fight against white men – because that really wasn’t an idea that they wanted their Indian troops to think about. But since they simply needed more troops in Flanders they didn’t have much choice.

            I hadn’t realised until I was looking at some figures around the centenary celebrations just how many Indian troops were involved.

          4. A deliberate choice was made in London to leave British troops in India – because they feared that if they withdrew them all there might be another mutiny. There was a lot of anxiety about bring Indian troops to Europe and setting them to fight against white men – because that really wasn’t an idea that they wanted their Indian troops to think about. But since they simply needed more troops in Flanders they didn’t have much choice.

            I hadn’t realised until I was looking at some figures around the centenary celebrations just how many Indian troops were involved.

        3. ‘Morning, Sguest, “The National Army Museum suggested bias may have influenced the selection of the body whose remains were interred at Westminster Abbey.”

          This shews us that the ‘National Army Museum’ (whoever they are) is not fit for purpose, as they obviously don’t know or understand how the Unknown Soldier ‘s body was selected and know nothing of the deaths in the field of hundreds of unidentified, mainly white, soldiers.

      2. Well of course, Annie. Didn’t he write that play “Othello” portraying the Bleck Men as a horrible nasty person? He was clearly a White supremacist! (Sarc.)

  41. Morning, Campers.
    Every time I think we’ve reached peak stupidity, some officious numpty dreams up another corker:

    “School photographers have been told they cannot take pictures of siblings sitting together, even though they live with one another.

    While traditional school photographs are going ahead in most schools this term, many families have been disappointed to learn that only individual or class pictures will be permitted.

    Brothers and sisters who are in different year groups will not be allowed to have their picture taken with one another, due to the way children are being kept in bubbles.

    One school photographer said it was frustrating but schools were understandably prioritising keeping children safe and remaining open.

    He said: “It is a real shame. Sibling photographs are our bread and butter and they are something parents and grandparents really look forward to receiving.”

      1. Different engine I’m afraid. The double contacts look interesting, I wonder what they’re off?
        Who’s the manufacturer of the points?

        1. The box says ‘Commercial Ignition Company’. I think the points were for a Qualcast lawnmower engine c.1960 but I could be wrong.

          2. Long gone I’m afraid. I bought the mower in an auction as a non-runner and revived it. It was a cylinder mower and I sold it at least 15 years ago. I managed to find the new points for it but never needed to fit them.

  44. Did you know that Honduras has just signed the UN treaty to ban nuclear weapons?

    I bet that news will let you sleep tonight!

    2. Ban them from where, the world?
      Does that mean I’ll have to decommission my Pershing missile I’ve been keeping in the shed for when things really get bad?

    3. But did they sign up to the Chinese Belt and Road initiative? If yes, it could be more than a moot point one day soon…

  45. Just before I head up into the garden and just to keep Bill happy, some photos I took yesterday:-

    The 1st bit of wall, with surplus soil dumped to backfill and level off on the uphill side:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2d33d749bc27d9c192949af0bfcf971c9edab50c41b43135146946474a156cd4.jpg

    The planks are to help press the loose soil down and stop my boots sinking in.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fb5ce746029f9ab7ff01129531306b01231a2f46e4cf7796e77059e44d893883.jpg

    Shewing the next section being dug out;
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e57b31f49ce874f98220b380bb6c21744159ac7faf42ff8f22dd65af1e6c9dd4.jpg

    And a general view looking down the garden giving an idea of the gradient of the hill it is on!
    There is a 2nd terrace retaining wall partially completed to the right which is on my To Complete List.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d377d4bafcf0018a5de068fd27a2cd9459bd12dcfb241cd5c85c601a3d6a0b97.jpg

          1. Apparently, before Lennie Marshall, the previous owner, inherited the house from his mother, the garden was fairly well kept, producing vegetables and fruit.
            But then Lennie took over and didn’t bother at all.

            In my 29 years I’ve made occasional forays into getting it sorted, but trying to do it by myself was not practicable, especially with working away from home so much. Some parts have bramble runners nearly 1″ diameter!

  46. Disgusted to see the government think feeding my kids is not their responsibility!

    Sent from my iPhone 12.

      2. I have just received my QR code from Curl Canada that I am supposed to use when entering a curling facility.

        Its only a matter of time until I get the mandatory tattoo.

  47. After criticism over the reliability of Covid-19 death statistics, here’s one that’s 100 percent accurate.

    Statistically, more MPs have died wearing stockings and suspenders whilst sucking an orange, hanging in a wardrobe, with a bin bag on their heads and the lead of a Russell Hobbs kettle round their neck than through Coronavirus.

    1. Front bench

      ” The two of you white
      Two of us not
      Another few years
      We’ll have the lot”

    1. Kier Starmer doesn’t understand or care about the working class. I dispute even the term, to be honest, but in reality Starmer thinks of Labour as people like him: rich, well off, metropolitan intellectuals, usually public sector types or Lefty journalists.

      He, like all the ‘modern’ Left take their voter base for granted as if ‘well of course they’ll vote for us. Why wouldn’t they?’ in some sort of self righteous indignation that people would think differently to him is unthinkable.

      He’s been shown how wrong that ideology is with the electroal landslide. To win those people back – well, I don’t honestly think he can. He hasn’t the integrity of someone like John Prescott who, while a blithering fool was actually gneuine. Labour won’t win the next election. Boris will lose it. The Left, however, will leap at this as vindication of their ideology despite it’s utter rejection.

      1. Labour and Conservative are now redundant terms. Both parties are in fact populated by Liberals in the ideological sense. Boris and Starmer are mirror images.

  51. Can anyone help with my Firefox settings.

    I used to be able to call up all my cookies, and manage them in buik on one screen. I also had a little toggle where I could delete the cookie upon leaving the site, or set a time limit on their expiry. It was all under Preferences > Privacy.

    Then one day, some update removed all that, and only allowed me either to delete my entire history, or remove the cookies manually one by sodding one. I have thousands of the things, and I do not know which ones are essential to make things work, rather than the ones that are there to trick me into accepting malware or spyware.

    What makes it worse, is that if I delete one of the trick cookies, and I visit a site, such as anything to do with Google, and it puts up a screen-blocking cookie informing me that I will agree to accepting their cookies if i am to remove the popup. My popup blocker does not work with these.

    I had a similar experience when “upgrading” my mother’s Ipad, which has iOS, and only shows five emails per page, and they all have to be managed individually, rather than batch-managed, as was possible before. She never reads email now because she is overwhelmed by spam, and there is no easy way to deal with it. For this reason, I refused to upgrade my mac from OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) because all their Mail apps after this have the iOS system.

    Facebook is now “upgrading” their user interface in order to simplify the options as regards receiving and sending content they choose, and which is beneficial to their commercial interests. If I do not comply, they autoredirect me to a version that has most of the functionality removed. It is like going back to Win 3.1, which was also my impression of Windows 8 and after. The only customisation allowed is cosmetic – actually disabling malware is no longer allowed.

    So my immediate concern with Firefox is getting back the toggle whereby I can list my cookies, batch process them, and adjust the longevity settings. Any ideas?

    1. As regards managing expiry of individual cookies, I don’t think you can.

      You can delete them, but the excrement that is most web pages will simply dump them back.

      One option is to browse in private mode which would delete them automatically. It’s been my experience that GDPR has just been an annoyance rather than effective. Most companies just say ‘you agree to our cookies’ or else simply block you from using their site or break it completely.

      Yahoo and Verizon have an especially insulting approach whereby you have to individually reject the over 1000 vomit sites they abuse your system with.

      There may be an extension you could use to manage cookies specifically? You don’t mention your pop-up blocker but I use ublock and well – here’s my list: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8bbf7b44e1d7f35c65f06f1c3823519a099cb54787ada57b1ffaa91126fc1941.png

      1. ‘Morning, Wibb, JM at al.

        I always browse in ‘private’ (or ‘incognito’ for Android) and rarely have a problem. That, and a regular sweep with CCleaner, seems to keep me out of trouble.

    2. Two solutions, Jeremy, install Ccleaner, use it and then install SUPERAntispyware and run that.

      Ccleaner allows you to select which cookies to keep and SUPERAntispyware cleans out all those tracking cookies that tell advertisers which sites you visit.

    3. I think I found the answer. In Preferences > Privacy, I need to set the ‘Use Custom Settings for History’ toggle to bring up the cookie management dialogue. In Firefox lingo therefore cookies = history.

    4. “For this reason, I refused to upgrade my mac from OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) because all their Mail apps after this have the iOS system…”

      I have used Macs and upgrades regularly since my first iMac (running OS 8·6) in 1999. My second Mac — an iBook (in 2004) — ran OS X 10·3 (Panther) and I’ve had every upgrade since then on two subsequent iMacs.

      What is common to my experience is that I have never used Apple’s ‘Mail’ App. I only use Gmail for my emails and, consequently, do not experience any email problems.

      1. Ah, but Phizz, maybe now we can keep Christmas rumblings untila t least Hallowe’en and Guy Fawkes night have passed.
        (It would be the law if I were the MFIC)

        1. Well you can pretty much say that Hallowe’en and Guy Fawkes have been cancelled here in Wales; since we are supposed to be staying at home all the time. I suppose that backyard bonfires will be possible – except in all the places where councils have already put a stop to garden bonfires.

          It’s because of the run up to Christmas that sales of “non-essentials” have been banned… supposedly to stop the supermarkets from stealing a march on all the small shops which have been closed for the next two weeks. In effect it just means that more shopping than ever will be done online.

          1. Anyone with even half a brain, let alone one the size of a planet, could foresee that happening. Be careful with backyard bonfires; one bonfire that got out of hand in Telford burned the house down!

          2. I won’t be having a bonfire, I don’t really think that many people will. I was just making the point that for Welsh children this year there will be neither Hallowe’en celebrations, nor Guy Fawkes ones. The notice was up in the village shop on Friday cancelling arrangements for the usual 5th November event.

        2. I’m not keen on trick or treaters and they don’t tend to appreciate my chocolate coated dog-ends. I’m also not keen on the unregulated sale of fireworks as these are used on demonstrations and at other times unrelated to Guy Fawkes night.

          But they are squeezing all the fun out of life by diktat. Not good.

          *what is MFIC ? or am i being more of a plank than usual?

      2. Ah, but Phizz, maybe now we can keep Christmas rumblings untila t least Hallowe’en and Guy Fawkes night have passed.
        (It would be the law if I were the MFIC)

    2. As I pointed out earlier. The motion to restrict supermarket sales was brought to the Senedd by Russell George the Tory MS for Montgomeryshire.

      1. All very amusing, but if they had said ‘urgent’ essentials people might not have been so quick to ridicule.

        1. Despite the fact that we are all still supposed to be working, they started out by saying that stationery was non-essential. They had back-tracked on that one by yesterday lunch-time. They were caught on the hop by Russell George’s motion and simply didn’t stop to think it through at all.

          1. “… didn’t stop to think it through at all.”
            that’s government all through.

          4. “People told to prepare to come in and out of lockdowns until a vaccine is found” – since there won’t be an effective vaccine, that’s a lot of lockdown.
            Man’s a buffoon. Patience with this crap is thinning – they even firebombed the “Infectious Disease Institute” in Germany, here people are getting irritated with it.

  55. BREAKING NEWS: With Donald Trump being quite elderly and the Presidential candidate suffering from Dementia the Corporations of the world would like to assure everyone that they will continue running America as usual.

    * For the benefit of RichardFUWD2 that too was irony.

    1. ‘ello ‘ello ‘ello – The Trolley police:
      Kettles and bedding on shelves after ‘power mad’ First Minister Mark Drakeford bans sale of ‘non-essential’ items and English police patrol border.

    3. You couldn’t make any of this up could you ?
      The lunatics have certainly taken over the asylum.

  60. Nicked from elsewhere…

    Marcus Rashford net worth £65 million.

    Yearly salary £10:4 million.
    Per minute £20
    Per hour £1,187
    Per Day £28,493
    Per Week £200,000
    Per Month £866,666

    If you really want to help kids having school dinners, look at the premier league mate because currently there are 559 players with an average wage of £240,000 per week, and if you all donated 1% of your weekly wage that would be £2,400 multiplied by the 559 players, would generate £1,341,600 PER WEEK!

    That’s nearly £70 million each year.
    Now look at that and ask yourself who should you be asking for funding…..

    2. They wouldn’t get to virtue signal and embarrass the government in that way.

      If they were to do as you suggest then it would be vulgar to announce it.

      A bit too difficult for your average overpaid footballer to compute.

      1. No need for the government to be embarrassed if they were a bit more nimble. Whatever happened to ‘rebuttal units’?

        1. The Government are always playing catch-up. Chasing their own tails as they U turn after U turn.

          The fact of the matter is we have the most generous benefits in Europe and there is no need for any child to go hungry even in a family of low income.

          1. You have a problem with this statement Jennifer?

            Why don’t you put your view rather than being the only person on Nottle that downvotes anyone.

    4. I wonder if he gets paid for his other job? Besides celebrated/worshipped Bag-of-wind-kicker ( 90 minutes a week needing a break after 45 ) – he also is now a govt advisor as well.

  61. Major incident underway after oil tanker ‘seized by hijackers’ off Isle of Wight. 25 October 2020.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/33397e6788c66eb7281f3df795691a5289cb4340c85a6ede239b9edd4dc03f65.jpg

    A major incident is underway off the south coast of the Isle of Wight with an oil tanker reported to be the subject of an attempted hijacking.

    It was due to dock in Southampton earlier today, according to Sky News but has now laid anchor.

    There are unconfirmed reports the vessel has been taken over by stowaways who had hidden on board.

    Hmmmm. That’s long trip to remain hidden!

    https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-major-incident-underway-after-22903155

    1. With the need for water – food – and somewhere for their smelly “waste” to go – then I think the crew knew they were there. Crew might have even helped them in return for ££s.

    4. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/25/isle-wight-tanker-police-surround-vessel-amid-concerns-has-hijacked/
      Police are dealing with an incident on board an oil tanker off the Isle of Wight amid concern that stowaways may have attempted to hijack the vessel.
      The Liberian-flagged Nave Andromeda left port in Lagos, Nigeria just over two weeks ago and was meant to arrive in Southampton on Sunday morning.
      It is understood a distress call was made, and coastguard and police helicopters were circling the ship on Sunday afternoon.
      A five nautical mile restriction zone has been placed around the vessel.
      Hampshire Police confirmed: “We are aware and dealing with an ongoing incident on board a vessel which is situated south of the Isle of Wight.”
      Sources told the Telegraph that the ship dropped anchor off the coast of the Isle of Wight despite being told not to by the Coastguard.
      “The stowaways appear to be in charge,” they said.
      “I suspect that the Marine Counter Terrorism unit will now be involved and that there is some serious planning going on.
      “They will need to know exactly who is on the vessel and what is on the vessel.”
      It is understood that an emergency COBRA meeting will take place on Sunday afternoon, with senior figures from the military and the Government.
      The Crude Oil Tanker was built in 2011 and is 228 metres long. At full capacity, it can carry 42,338 tonnes.
      According to online listings, it is owned by Navios Tankers Management Inc, a Greek company, who could not be reached for comment.
      This is a breaking story, more updates to follow

  62. Back from outing. Gorgeous sunny day – slightly marred by 30 mph winds…

    I had overlooked that (a) it was Sunday, (b) it is half term, (c) no one can leave England…..so the roads were busy and the West Norfolk coast heaving with people! Two of the three churches were shut (despite their websites saying otherwise…GRRR) but one of them provided us with a seat in the south facing churchyard where we picnicked. The third church was open – a gem – Sedgeford – AND it had a loo!!!!!!!!!!!!

    The RSPB carpark was full to bursting and the path to the viewing point well served wt notices about Covid…(GRRR) No one was wearing a mask – but everyone stood aside when passing – just in case!!!

    Still we got out, enjoyed the sights and felt – briefly – normal.

      2. It is going to be twinned with another toilet in France – for future charity walks between them – It will be called . . Two Loos – – Le Trek.

  63. We’re not long back from a trip to Littlehampton. Had a short walk along the promenade before being drenched by a downpour. Had two chats one with a couple our age who are of similar opinions as we, on here, are and a young couple with their 4 year old son. He was with us but she, a teacher, was against but in a nice way.

    Cook is about to serve a cottage pie with cauliflower, broccoli and sprouts. Yum.

    1. Sounds nice. I hope you all had gloves, masks and visors on. Also that you were 50 feet away from each other ( new rules) and had the use of two tin cans and a piece of string to protect Granny.

      1. No Phizz we didn’t these were sensible people even the young woman who thought COVID was serious. She was a former deputy head at a primary school and gave up the job to care for her son. A lot of brownie points to her for that. We also confessed that as we were a granny and gramps we were not about to die because she spoke to us. A good humoured interchange of thoughts.

        1. The Lady must be reasonably intelligent to get to that position but many people have been undermined and made frightened by this ridiculous propaganda campaign.

          Littlehampton is nice.

    2. Cauliflower, broccoli AND sprouts? Must by shares in brassica farms.
      Don’t light any naked flames in the house first thing tomorrow morning.

  67. As we have slipped back into winter time and the light fast fading, something to cheer us up,
    Only 56 days, 16 hours and approx 57 minutes until the winter solstice.

    2. I must be peculiar (don’t answer that!). but I was quite cheered by the early darkness. It felt cosy to be behind closed curtains with warming winter food. another week or so and I’ll be lighting the Rayburn.

      1. And it was light in the morning – I don’t mind dark nights but my body clock is firmly of the opinion that it can’t be “getting up time” if it’s dark.

        1. I am NOT a morning person. I struggle at the best of times; getting up in what appears to be the middle of the night goes very much against the grain.

          3. I too have never been a morning person, Con – albeit I have worked at very odd times over my life.

      2. I much prefer the warmer months and lighter nights although I can understand enjoying warming winter food, homemade beef stew being served this evening by Mrs VVOF.

        1. Just remember that if the sun now sets at four, it always did. We just called it five o’clock – it never was in reality.

  68. ‘Professor Lockdown’ warns ‘people WILL catch the virus and die’ if they are allowed to mix on Christmas Day.

    Oh well. Grandma couldn’t afford the TV license anyway.

      1. Hopefully he will be one of them.

        And on that cheery note.. Have a good evening. Adieu mon ami.

          2. No doubt, Bill.

            I try to keep him ‘reined in’ …………..
            but he is an elusive little rascal!! :-))

            Good evening to you and the MR.

          1. We’ll be closed down for being sexist, racist, LGBQTWXYZist long before we’re dead from Covid..

          1. No, he should have to live until he is very old. In a closed space full of the smell of burning animals….

            Death is too good for that (think of your own expletive)!

          3. I’m not often vindictive, but he did so much harm then – UK farming is still paying for that disaster – and he is so determined to do even more now….

            Words don’t often fail me either; but …

        2. We really don’t need reminding Anne. Easter Monday 2001 I had to drive past 9 pyres (and that’s only counting the ones by the roadside, not the ones in the distance); there was one in the field about 50 yards from the house where I was working that day – and their buildings were eerily empty.

          If I never smell mutton roasting in a blanket of wet wool again – it will be much too soon and I think that everyone in areas like this would agree. Wet wool takes a lot of burning, April sheep have full fleeces and a lot of the fires smouldered for days whilst the reek hung down the valleys and sickened everyone. At least the dairy cows (4 local herds were slaughtered on Easter morning) burned quickly – even though they were healthy and there was no reason at all to have killed them.

          1. One of my cousins still has to use bottled water because the ‘funeral pyres’ were on a hill that slopes down to his well.

          2. It was a very wet spring here in Wales so there was a lot of run-off.

            Early in March they slaughtered 2,000 sheep on a farm near here, and buried them. Six weeks later they started resurfacing when the river began to rise again… and they had to bring in a mobile incinerator. Burying them in the first place will have been an unpleasant task, but the thought of moving them from the ground to the incinerator 6 weeks later simply beggars belief.

          3. That just fires my memory of films from WWII Poland.
            Blair and Co. got off far more lightly than they deserved. I don’t remember much effective opposition from the Opposition, either.

          4. William Hague was Tory “leader” in spring 2001. Couldn’t lead a dog which knew the way home.

    4. ‘people WILL catch the virus and die’ if they are allowed to mix on Christmas Day…..

      Oh, my aching sides. Bless, they are trying so hard.

      1. People catch a far, far, far more deadly disease every day; and die.

        Have done for centuries.

        It’s called Malaria.

          1. Lots and lots more deadly than pure Covid.

            Covid is seldom more than a catalyst for something that was going to kill anyway, give or take a few months.

    5. Does that mean we’ll be alright every day other than Christmas day? Why is anybody even talking to/interviewing this man?

      1. Boris will “Save the day” for xmas so he comes out as a hero. Meanwhile the news that he has signed us away to the EU will be released about 4am.

    6. The government must know that if any restriction is imposed over Christmas, it will be largely ignored. Therefore a face-saving announcement will be made just before the festival, making it appear that the government is actually giving us something.

      1. Gosh, that virus is clever. It will know to shut down at 5.0 pm on 24th. December and reappear 09.00 on 27th.
        It will probably be hung over and irritable – so watch out.

    1. I counted 40+ – all to get taxpayer funded houses, NHS, cash, etc etc – Families to follow, kids to school, translate for/feed
      – – well rewarded for their actions. No need to work or learn the language – the goodies just keep coming. I reckon well over a £1m each year cost to us – and that is just the instant financial side.

    2. I was there all week and week-ends, Plum.

      I hated and detested it, some of the teaching
      nuns were nothing less than sadistic bastards.

      2. When I was at school in Canada we had a nun who carried a wooden ruler with a metal edge.

        She took great delight in rapping knuckles with the metal side and cared not a jot when she drew blood.

        One might hanker after the good old days, but some of it wasn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

        1. Our ‘Mother Felicity’ was Dinner Monitor,
          she carried a similar ruler which came
          down, sharp edge, on one’s wrist should
          the wrist happen to be on the table!

          ‘M.F. was also our Maths teacher, she
          delighted in hauling me up to the black-
          board to explain some mathematical theorem.
          It is only recently that I realised why…..
          she was jealous of me, I don’t know how but
          somehow I have a talent for mental arithmetic;
          I once beat her at a compound interest discussion,
          I was eleven at the time!!

        2. Our ‘Mother Felicity’ was Dinner Monitor,
          she carried a similar ruler which came
          down, sharp edge, on one’s wrist should
          the wrist happen to be on the table!

          ‘M.F. was also our Maths teacher, she
          delighted in hauling me up to the black-
          board to explain some mathematical theorem.
          It is only recently that I realised why…..
          she was jealous of me, I don’t know how but
          somehow I have a talent for mental arithmetic;
          I once beat her at a compound interest discussion,
          I was eleven at the time!!

        1. I was taught by nuns (and lay teachers) in my primary school. I remember them as being kindly elderly women.

        2. I was taught by nuns (and lay teachers) in my primary school. I remember them as being kindly elderly women.

        3. I spent two years at a convent primary school. The Sacred Heart nuns were all university graduates with teaching diplomas. They were disciplined, fair and reasonable.

          I received an invaluable introduction to Greek and Roman history, art and architecture as well as international geography with much pictorial content.

          When I travelled much later in life, I had a feeling of Déjà Vu when I visited European cities, landscapes, North America, the prairies & etc.

      4. I once had a girlfriend who was sent away to board at a convent school at the age of six. She said that the nuns were cruel and sadistic.

        2. Try the pluperfect, ‘had been’ instead of ‘was’. Otherwise people might misunderstand the reference to your little girlfriend. 🙂

    3. School was six days a week.

      Sundays were even worse.
      Church followed by Crusaders, homework; or if I was very lucky church youth club football or rugby against other church youth clubs.

      Church youth club in the evening, then more homework.

          3. I was hoping to keep it simple.

            Was the French match you mentioned yesterday a “friendly”?

      2. We had two Masses plus Benediction,
        letter writing home, gymbo dancing after
        the usual grey inedible lunch … but not
        before we had the three abreast three
        mile walks somewhere along the Ouse
        Valley.

        5. Garlands , I have heard some terrible stories about convent schools .

          What was it in the nun’s mindset to be so sadistic.

          Mind you , a state primary school that I attended for a short while in Surrey , where my parents had a small house , which they used to let out when they were in bleeding Africa, was a bad experience .. bad tempered elderly teachers , who must have had very bad wartime experiences.

          We were all terrified of the male grumpy teacher who used to patrol the desk aisles with his ruler, he would just rap our fingers if we sprawled , or held our pens incorrectly, or closed our desk lids noisily ..

          There was one boy who wore leg calipers , after contracting polio as a small boy .. and Mr Garnham seemed to enjoy bringing the lad to the front of the class and whacking his backside with the blackboard ruler. We were a class of 11 year olds .. boys and girls , and when young P was called out to the front, we just used to burst into tears . One of the girls was a deaf as a post and wore hearing aids , the monster used to shout in her ear , his teeth were tocacco stained from pipe use, and he really was very frightening .

          One thing in his favour was he loved good music , and played us music on rainy days , including Peter and the Wolf and Saen Sans Carnival of the animals etc and of course many other sit up and listen/ quote by rote lessons.

        6. Garlands , I have heard some terrible stories about convent schools .

          What was it in the nun’s mindset to be so sadistic.

          Mind you , a state primary school that I attended for a short while in Surrey , where my parents had a small house , which they used to let out when they were in bleeding Africa, was a bad experience .. bad tempered elderly teachers , who must have had very bad wartime experiences.

          We were all terrified of the male grumpy teacher who used to patrol the desk aisles with his ruler, he would just rap our fingers if we sprawled , or held our pens incorrectly, or closed our desk lids noisily ..

          There was one boy who wore leg calipers , after contracting polio as a small boy .. and Mr Garnham seemed to enjoy bringing the lad to the front of the class and whacking his backside with the blackboard ruler. We were a class of 11 year olds .. boys and girls , and when young P was called out to the front, we just used to burst into tears . One of the girls was a deaf as a post and wore hearing aids , the monster used to shout in her ear , his teeth were tocacco stained from pipe use, and he really was very frightening .

          One thing in his favour was he loved good music , and played us music on rainy days , including Peter and the Wolf and Saen Sans Carnival of the animals etc and of course many other sit up and listen/ quote by rote lessons.

      3. Every Sunday morning all the boarders at St Christopher’s, my horrible prep school in North Road, Bath, had to walk in crocodiles to and from Bath Abbey for matins. On return from the Abbey we had to write our weekly letters home before lunch and these were censored by the school’s secretary in order to see if any rebellious spirits were telling too much truth about the place. We then had another service – evensong – in the evening.

        1. This wasn’t even at boarding school, my mother was a total fanatic as far as church was concerned.

          She lost her faith when one of her grandchildren was born with terrible disabilities.

    4. With the endless (and pointless) quarantine – I often forget what day of the week it is. Hence my surprise at all the traffic today….

        1. I remember all the various schools I attended overseas in Africa

          Boarding school later on here in the UK provided security , safety and routine ,

          B/school life was strict , but I had the opportunity to learn confidently away from the critical eye of my parents and younger siblings .. who were in Africa , and I had tender care during some breaks with elderly aunts and uncles who lived in North Yorkshire.

          4. In between Thirsk and Northallerton, and Guiseley near Leeds .

            My great aunt was a district midwife in Guiseley , she would be probably be 130 years old now!

            My other aunt, my father’s twin sister, was wonderful and she died 7 years ago . I was very lucky.

          8. For such a small place as I knew it , and as my great aunt, district midwife , had delivered practically every one decades ago . and I mean decades ago , how amazing that a few on here have connections with Guiseley!

          9. Interestingly, I saw the parish register copies that my mother made, and there were some families with whom my family never married – they just weren’t on our family tree, although they were in the same small area at the same time.
            I met a man at university with the name of one of these families, who was also from that area, and although he ticked every box on the list of desirable young men, there was utterly no chemistry between us!

        2. I remember all the various schools I attended overseas in Africa

          Boarding school later on here in the UK provided security , safety and routine ,

          B/school life was strict , but I had the opportunity to learn confidently away from the critical eye of my parents and younger siblings .. who were in Africa , and I had tender care during some breaks with elderly aunts and uncles who lived in North Yorkshire.

      1. Bit of a rebel Belle…couldn’t take any form of
        injustice and would often speak out making myself unpopular with teachers…
        Experience taught me to keep my head down … say nothing!

        1. I made my poor English teacher’s life a misery.
          If you’re reading this, Casey O’Hanrohan, I apologise deeply. I was a shit.

        1. He was into girls’ gymslips faster than you can say Barracuda.
          lacoste would have been proud…

    7. ‘Rainy days and Mondays always get me down’ but Sundays were, are and always will be in a league of their own.

    8. No, I like Sundays. Before mask wearing became compulsory I used to enjoy going to church, then Sunday lunch and a gentle afternoon relaxing. Now I have a lie-in, but the rest of the routine is much the same. I don’t do loneliness – sometimes I’d like to have the opportunity to be alone!

  71. Watching The Yorkshire Dales and The Lakes on Together TV and an elderly farmer has made the quote “You should measure you life in laughter”. A great quote and we should all start by laughing at every stupid restriction announced by the government. Ridicule them. People hate being ridiculed.

    1. Too true. If you don’t larf, you weep. Larfing is better.

      Incidentally, I realised while on our outing that NONE of the people who visit the house regularly – postman, handyman, sweep, AGA man, plumber, builder, tree bloke and our beloved Maureen (32 years with us as house superintendent) wear face clothes.

      1. We have a painter coming tomorrow and will not expect him to wear a mask. Unnecessary and a danger to health.
        Your trip today sounds interesting. In one of my former lives I remember going to The Lord Nelson at Burnham Thorpe. Is that close to you? Used to sell him Wood’s 100 rum which he turned into Nelson’s Blood and sold it worldwide. Can’t remember his surname but his his Christian name was Les.

        2. The Burnhams are closish. We don’t go to pubs much. Drink driving and all that.

          I noticed today that quite a lot were closed though some had big signs saying they were open.

          This bollox must be devastating for the pub trade.

          1. Our local is doing quite well carrying on with the 20% off food on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We’ve been a couple of times and it’s full. Food is always excellent as are the staff. A local gem.

          2. That damned Murrell woman made exactly that observation and didn’t care.
            It will be worth it to stop the virus in her view.
            I hope she catches it, it makes very ill, and they cannot work out how or why she got it.

  72. The Saxon Queen noticed that it was dark by 5pm.. merely 5pm.

    We had the roast lunch and have been watching Agatha Christie’s who killed Roger Ackroid.
    Shall now have a pot of Assam Tea with chocolate fudge cake and watch another Agatha
    Christie. I must say regardless of all the murders it’s awfully peaceful and traditionally English.

      1. Yes thank you Mr Viking, I did have a look inside and there wasn’t
        anything, but thank you, there might have been a plastic bag
        and I wouldn’t have been aware .

    1. I note that Tony Angel replied to you, please give him my best wishes if you communicate elsewhere.

      1. Will do Sos ,

        We follow each other on Twitter, Totus also follows me ,

        Tony Angel is due to have a major heart operation , the full works I think, but the Virus seems to be delaying all operations everywhere.

          2. Many thanks, he’s a good bloke and used to post some fascinating things.

            I miss his contributions

        2. Do tell Tony we miss him (particularly his unique knowledge) and wish him all the best for his op. He must keep us posted, via you as necessary.

  74. BBC reporting that Brexit talks to continue until Wednesday and thereafter in Brussels. Boris is being led by the nose.

  75. Thought for the evening.

    “Don’t kill granny”

    A grandfather writes:

    “So, it’s ok to kill grandpa is it?”

    This grandpa would happily die if it saved his grandchildren from the economic wastelands that the idiots in charge are preparing for them.

    1. Still waiting for the call to Grandpaship. Telephone fully charged, ring volume high…

      1. Make the most of it.

        Covid has prevented me from seeing mine for 18 months and no end in sight.

          4. Yup.
            Wish either lad would hurry up a bit – one feels the sands of time running through one’s fingers.

  76. Our roasted guinea fowl was delicious, I named him Andre before eating him ( as always
    name game birds before eating them). Very dark meat on the legs which were longer
    than, chicken legs. I’m now finishing off my glass of Spanish wine and toasting the defeat of
    of the Spaniards under another Queen.

  77. Why the furore about students having to cope with remote learning? Since 1969, over two million students have studied at the Open University in this way, until relatively recently without all the bells and whistles of things like Zoom, MST, websites and email.

      1. Only during the summer schools. I’d arrive on the first day and discovered that most people had arrived the previous evening which had then been devoted to “pairing up”.

    2. I did MBA through the OU, back in mid 1990s. Worked well, as I was all over Europe with work.

    3. There used to be a massive amount of OU delivery on the BBC; mostly in the small hours of the morning.

      Some subjects are very dependent upon practical work – much more than can be done in the OU “summer fortnight”.

      It would have made sense to let the much smaller number of students who need to do the hands on stuff go back to campuses and keep all the others at a distance – but they would, as Stig points out, need to have been very clear about that beforehand.

      Sorry, I can’t seem to control disqus this weekend, it keeps posting things before I’ve finished typing them.

    4. I’ve always been impressed by the OU’s materials and the dedication of students to obtain their degrees.

      1. Having done my MPhil part time, I am really impressed by anyone who obtains a degree by distance learning while holding down a job or looking after a family.

  78. Police have requested military assistance to deal with an incident off the coast of the Isle of Wight where reports say seven ‘Nigerian stowaways’ aboard an oil tanker were violent towards the crew.

    A mayday call was made at around 9am today as crew members reportedly sought shelter in a safe room on the Liberian-registered oil tanker, named the Nave Andromeda, which was due to arrive at Southampton at 10.30am.

    Military assistance has now been requested to deal with the incident, and the lights on the ship, which had previously been illuminated, can no longer be seen, according to recent reports.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8877459/Police-rush-oil-tanker-Isle-Wight-stowaways-discovered.html?ito=push-notification&ci=44220&si=7271111

      2. Apparently, the owners have said that it is “Definitely not a hi-jack”….

        Insurance claim? A cynic asks….

    1. Beautiful typically English mid-autumnal landscape. Stunning when enlarged to whole screen.

      2. …and from the outset they said they would overlook sub-letting. That must surely have been the green light to let it rip in other social housing.

  82. That’s me for tonight.
    Tomorrow, the sewers at home are to be dug up – digger already delivered. Who knows, might be able to have a shit n a shower at home in a few days! YAAY!
    Godnight, gentles all.

  83. English police patrol border…WTF
    Cars and lorries drive into Wales as THREE police forces claim to be patrolling border as country goes into lockdown and First Minister Mark Drakeford bans sale of ‘non-essential’ items in supermarkets

          1. They have been making a very determined effort to make sure that no one gets out of Wales, or into Wales, for half-term.

            I’m hoping that things will ease up a bit from here on, I’m supposed to be working in Shropshire one day this week!

    5. They have been blockading the road to Oswestry, so I’ve been told. Unless you go there via Shrewsbury (a heck of a long way round) you have to go via Wales.

  84. 325867+ up ticks,
    The priti one has succeeded again in getting seven new party members
    safely aboard the welfare ship, families to follow in their wake.

  86. Evening, all. The NHS knew it was unprepared for a pandemic when they ran exercise Cygnet. Did they do anything about it? Of course not. Those who should have sorted it just sat back and kept taking their large salaries.

  88. I am off now – we have been marking the clock change by starting earlier – this evening with a glass of Raventós i Blanc de Nit 2015. A superb Catalan cava.

    A demain.

  90. 325867+ up ticks,
    The priti one is in a tizzie, called a cobblers meeting to discuss where to house the stowaways that are currently aboard the Andromeda it is putting a great strain on the lady.

    They should settle in OK, the ones that hijacked a plane years ago seem to be settled in.

      1. It’s gross and a power grab to change the Western world according to the undemocratic will of a handful of billionaires.

        One of those billionaires, Gates, wants to inject his vaccine into your bloodstream.

  93. BBC News –
    The government’s decision not to extend free school meals for children in England into the half-term holiday.
    “I can’t afford to feed my kids…” said a vastly overweight mother!

        1. The Pied Piper. When he finished the last pie, he abducted the children & filled his larder with them.

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