495 thoughts on “Saturday 7 September: Boris Johnson cannot be forced into surrendering the Brexit cause”

      1. Switching off without logging off (due to computer freeze) is called Svensk knappen – “the Swedish button” over here.
        Morning, Geoff.

  2. Morning everyone. My birthday today! 73! Who would ever have thought it? There was a time when I thought I wouldn’t make it to thirty! And that’s pretty much the news so far!

    15. Happy Birthday.

      1946 was a vintage year.

      (Have you a photo of the birthday girl to show us?)

    16. Good morning and congratulations, Minty! I always imagined you to be a bright and feisty 30-something-year-old. But it seems you have just reached my own age. Well done!

  3. Good Morning, all

    This letter should be read by all 16,141,241 Remainers

    SIR – What country in its right mind would want to leave the world’s largest trading block and risk financial ruin by going it alone without a deal?

    What country, attempting to hold together a union of disparate political entities, would risk that union when many of its inhabitants do not support the break-up in the first place?

    What country’s leaders would be prepared to take a reckless leap into the unknown in the illusory hope of a brighter, more prosperous future, free from outside interference?

    The answer, of course, is the United States in 1776. They must have been insane.

    Nicholas Young
    London W13

    Gotcha!!! {:^))

  4. Morning all!

    The PM should offer to carry out additional customs checks at the Irish Sea

    In last weekend’s Sunday Telegraph Michel Barnier claimed that the sole objective of the backstop was “simply to have an insurance policy in place that guarantees that the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland remains fully open, and that the status quo of cross-border exchanges on the island of Ireland is maintained”. Yesterday the EU put out a claim that the UK had offered nothing new in the negotiations.

    The best way to break the deadlock would be to offer to carry out additional customs checks at the Irish Sea instead of at the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. Such checks could be carried out without threatening the constitutional status of Northern Ireland as part of the UK.
    The problem arises because the Belfast Agreement accepts that there should be an all-Ireland economy. People from the north have got used to going on shopping trips to Dublin and people south of the border equally enjoy going shopping in Belfast. Farmers have become accustomed to sending their produce across the border without any formalities. We agreed to this arrangement and accepted a North-South Ministerial Council and regular Anglo-Irish inter-government meetings, which give the Irish Government a role in policy making north of the border.

    Theresa May’s Government was unable to offer checks at the Irish Sea because she needed the votes of the DUP for her majority. But Boris no longer has a majority and so is no longer beholden to the DUP. His weakness can be turned into a strength.
    Under the Belfast Agreement we accepted that Northern Ireland would remain part of the UK until a referendum decided otherwise. Additional customs checks at the Irish Sea will not change the status of Northern Ireland one jot. Nothing changes without a referendum.
    The DUP regards additional checks as the first step on a slippery slope to a united Ireland. But there are already special checks that are not carried out in the rest of the UK. For instance, when live animals, such as cattle, sheep and pigs, arrive from Scotland they are checked at the port of Larne for disease before being allowed to remain. The whole island of Ireland is treated as a single unit for animal health and disease prevention. Mr Barnier has already accepted that this system could be extended to cover other food products.
    There is a continuing problem of smuggling in cigarettes, pharmaceuticals, alcohol and fuel. Diesel fuel, for example, is dyed green in the republic and red north of the border to discourage smuggling. In an ongoing battle of wits, some smugglers learnt how to remove the dyes and so a different chemical had to be used. There is a vast amount of counterfeiting of goods such as pharmaceuticals, luxury clothing, handbags, watches and much more. The EU has legitimate concerns that we could easily overcome.
    There are already additional immigration checks between Northern Ireland and the mainland. There is a common travel area between the Republic and the UK, which has existed in various forms since the separation of the Republic from the UK in the 1920s. The exact arrangements have changed over time and, in the face of a heightened terrorist threat, additional checks were made at ports in Northern Ireland in 2006. No one thought that they undermined the Belfast Agreement.
    Moreover, it has long been recognised that the ferry from Belfast to the west of Scotland has been a common route for illegal immigrants and in 2010 additional controls were introduced. The additional checks, known as Operation Gull, led to a 77% increase in detections of illegal immigrants in the first year to December 2011. These changes were sensible precautions that did not threaten the status of Northern Ireland as part of the UK.
    Parliament is dominated by reactionary Remainers who have shown no scruples in their efforts to undermine Brexit. We must break the deadlock in the negotiations and the simplest way would be to accept additional checks at the ports and airports of Northern Ireland. If we don’t we could still be in the EU in a year’s time, and possibly forever.

    David Green is Director of Civitas

  5. SIR – If Parliament is binding the Prime Minister to request an extension of Brexit, perhaps he could make the request, but then offer Malta £1 billion to veto any extension.

    It would be much cheaper than another three months’ membership, but would be a significant amount of money for the Maltese economy.

    Richard Tweed
    Croydon, Surrey

    DOH!! Why do you think we are sending Phizzee off on his summer hols?

    1. I changed my mind. I’m going to use that £1 billion and buy Gozo. Then turn it into a rest home for elderly Nottlers.

    2. £1 billion is cheap at the price. We gave £43 billion in bonuses to the Remainer bankers in 2017. Much of that is coming out of the money I put aside for my old age, which they fix the interest on at some 2% below inflation, 15% returns on PFI though, passed on by cutting the grant to the councils, who then slap it on Council Tax. I don’t see VAT or public sector borrowing going down any time soon.

      The bankers gratefully trash the pound every time there is a whiff of a No Deal Brexit.

  7. One thing that struck me about the death of Robert Mugabe is where he died.

    If he had so much confidence in the superiority of Africa and of Africans, why was it that he could not find a hospital anywhere on that continent to treat his condition?

    1. ‘Morning, JM. Another thing that struck me is the willingness of the BBC to interview so many pro-Mugabe types since the murdering tyrant croaked. I even heard one of them describe him as ‘an icon’ for Heaven’s sake! Pity they didn’t shine more light on him when he was starving and murdering. How he escaped the ‘ooman roits lot I shall never know.

      1. Morning, HJ.

        How he escaped the ‘ooman roits lot I shall never know.

        That would be the UN ‘ooman roits lot, then? Well, he was a despotic black African psychopath: all boxes ticked to get a free pass. Al-Beeb love the Mugabe type but hate the likes of Trump who attempt to protect their countries from invasion. Up is down, left is right etc.

      2. Well, in some quarters we now have a day called ‘Mandela Day’, how long before we are asked to celebrate ‘Mugabe Day’?

    3. Its kos the smart frican mediks an that hav cum to britin to cure kanser an do brane surjery for whitey

  8. Morning all

    SIR – I was dismayed to read that “Boris Johnson refused to rule out resigning as Prime Minister” (report, September 6). Since he has taken office he has done a fantastic job and turned round Conservative Party fortunes.

    I say this as a Brexit Party supporter who will now vote Conservative. With him at the helm, the country has a chance. When the election comes, as it must, party and country need him. Even Nigel Farage and his party appear to be warming and their support will be decisive in an election.

    There is no other MP in the House with his charisma, vision and ability to galvanise voters. Without him, Brexit will be lost and the country thrown into disarray.

    Like his great hero, he faces a very difficult period, but he must embrace the spirit of Churchill and never surrender, even if mendacious MPs force his hand into an extension.

    The public will know it was not his doing and his army will have the chance to speak soon.

    Nick Hazelton
    Wimborne, Dorset

    1. There is no other MP in the House with his sense of humour, either. He winds up the permanently-offended snowflakes a treat!

      ‘Morning, Epi.

  9. SIR – Fight on, Boris Johnson. You are a candle of hope shining in the darkness.

    Richard Hollier
    Chigwell, Essex

  10. Morning again

    SIR – Ipso guidance is not “rules”, the “rulebook” or part of the Editors’ Code that we uphold (Will Heaven, “Islamophobia rules threaten free speech”, Comment, September 6). Rather it focuses on key questions that journalists could ask themselves when writing about Islam. Journalists at The Telegraph may not feel the need for such guidance, but the majority of publications regulated by Ipso are local papers, often produced with a small, less experienced staff who may value such assistance.

    Mr Heaven also alleges the guidance is being drafted by a “secret committee”. It is not. We are taking views from a variety of sources, which, of course, include people from Muslim organisations, but also include newspaper editors and journalists. The proposed guidance is drafted by Ipso staff and only Ipso staff.

    As your Leading Article says, “Journalists must be free to report the truth and commentators to provide analysis that reflects their conscience, rooted in the facts.” Ipso is a staunch defender of freedom of expression and has no intention of placing restrictions on it beyond the Editors’ Code.

    There is, however, a danger that journalists do not exercise full freedom of expression for fear of breaching the Editors’ Code. Ipso guidance is designed to help journalists to be confident in what they are writing; far from stifling journalism and freedom of expression, it is intended to enhance it.

    Matt Tee
    Chief Executive, Ipso
    London EC4

    SIR – Your Leading Article (September 6) opposes any attempt to limit free speech. Those who saw the film The Post will recall the scene in which a Supreme Court judge, responding to the release of extracts of the Pentagon Papers by the Washington Post, explains that the press is there to defend the governed, not the government.

    Roger J Arthur
    Storrington, West Sussex

    1. …explains that the press is there to defend the governed, not the government.

      Unfortunately the press has now become the Government!

    2. How is it that “Islam”is the only subject for which “guidance” is needed when being written about?

      Good morning all. KBO all you Brexit supporters. This in or out must surely be coming to crunch time.

    3. One of the key questions journalists should ask themselves about islam is “am I telling the truth or being politically correct?”

    1. I don’t know where Boris is going with his “negotiations” but I am not sure he will deliver a clean Brexit. He needs to be more specific about his intentions on Brexit before he gets my full support. The EU will not budge so any extension to Article 50 is a costly and wasteful event for the UK and a bonus to the EU.

  12. Fake news: BBC and tech firms join forces to fight disinformation

    Ah the BBC that in my view specializes in fake news and spinning the hews wants to fight fake news. Well in my view it is not very good at dealing with it in its own organization

  13. Good morning, all. A day of leisure awaits me.

    I shall avoid anything to do with politics. Very good Part 2 of the beeboid docu on China. Neat the way China “lends” money to strategically placed countries to build ports etc. Then the poxy country can’t meet the payments. “Not to worry,” says China, “We’ll take a 99 year lease and use it ourselves…”

    1. They’ve been doing that for decades. The Chinks openly despise the Africans whom they regard as dummies. Looking at the UN’s world map of IQ, they are correct – but not waycist of course.

      1. They have also planted a rabid communist hard-liner as a lecturer at the LSE. She told us how wonderfully strong China was….

    2. Morning Bill! I’m off to your part of the world tomorrow. If I find myself in Laure, I’ll look out for trombetti. Have that five bob postal order handy!

      1. Alas, we are 300 miles away on the Cote d’Azur. But don’t worry, the largest Cave Cooperative in the south of France awaits your custom…..

  14. Oh good – it looks as if Trash is going to bugger orff and leave these shores once the minimum term has been served….

    ‘I want to break the internet’: What Meghan Markle ‘told PR firm’ amid claims she ‘cares more about publicity in the US than her reputation in the UK’
    *Meghan Markle looking to create a team which isn’t ‘bogged down’ by tradition
    *The Duchess wants to build a team to help her and Harry work on projects
    *Said to be trying to get maximum coverage in the U.S media rather than the UK

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7437373/I-want-break-internet-Meghan-Markle-told-PR-firm.html

    She declined HM’s invitation to Balmoral coz she wanted to watch her pal Serena in the US Open.

    Are we in ActIII, Scene1?

      1. Indeed. Had he bothered to read NoTTL, he would never have become engaged to Black Trash, let alone married.

        1. Good morning Bill

          Markle just does nor possess the style or manners or class of Emma Thynn.. who seems to be delightful, charming , well balanced and hardworking in every possible way .

          https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-7436809/Viscountess-Weymouth-Emma-Thynn-says-pray-day-race-Strictly-not-issue.html

          Emma Thynn, Viscountess Weymouth, is perhaps not the most famous celebrity on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing, but who among the hoofers is more fascinating? Or can practise their ballroom steps in ballroom-sized rooms and prepare to amaze in a maze?

          The 33-year-old daughter of an English socialite and a Nigerian oil baron is married to Ceawlin, Viscount Weymouth, heir to one of the most spectacular stately homes in Britain.

          The couple live with their two sons, John, four, and Henry, two, amid the Elizabethan splendour of Longleat house in Wiltshire, surrounded by a collection of hedge mazes and the world-famous safari park.

          2. Indeed. It is the fabulous Emma Thynn that warmed me to our royals marrying into Commonwealth half-castes.

            It is not her race, which I hadn’t even noticed when Harry announced his engagement, but rather that she was a somewhat hard-nosed mean-spirited representative of the politically correct champagne feminist Hollywood class that bothered me about Meghan,

            The way she treats her father hits me particularly personally.

      2. Indeed. Had he bothered to read NoTTL, he would never have become engaged to Black Trash, let alone married.

    2. Good morning Bill

      May I remind you that you threw in the towel in the last test match. That was before the Stokes innings and the remarkable victory for England.

      The lawyer is a pessimist; the schoolmaster is an optimist. I wonder if this is a normal state of affairs.

  16. Kay Burley, RemmainSkyNews nailed:

    ,i>it was only when I moved into the public eye that I began to understand how our broadcasters can skew the Brexit debate, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways.

    Yesterday I took part in a Sky News discussion alongside the pro-EU campaigner Femi Oluwole and anchor Kay Burley, that fell very much into the latter category.

    The interview started out quite normally; I was challenged on my argument against a second referendum, which was that having one would neither provide a conclusion nor prevent any number of further “confirmatory ballots”, “People’s votes” or whatever arcane term the Remainers are using these days. I then made a throwaway comment implying that Burley would also be pleased to see a second referendum, and didn’t think much of it. Many Leavers view Burley’s tendency to editorialise and interrupt panellists – and often make her own opinions clear on Twitter later – as so blatant that it needs no explanation. Her recent interview with the Brexiteer journalist Ella Whelan – when she ordered her to “Stop it!” – was a prime example. But so thin skinned is Burley about criticism that she couldn’t help seizing upon my remarks.

    She replied “you literally have no idea how I voted”, offering the claim that she didn’t vote in the EU referendum as proof of her impartiality. Besides being an illogical defence in itself, it begs further questions. It transpires that back in 2016, she told everyone to go out and vote, even adding the #Ivoted hashtag for good measure (Burley has since deleted the tweet).

    Tellingly, Burley made a show of touching Oluwole’s arm, saying “should I tell her I didn’t vote or not?” – which in my opinion was an open alignment with the Remain-supporting panelist. Her remarks proved my argument that she is not impartial, seconds after I made it.

    Earlier this week, I gave a speech in Doncaster for the Brexit Party, encouraging young adults to have the confidence to stand up for themselves and to question authority – including the media.

    Burley is not alone in betraying political bias – her colleague Adam Boulton, for example, recently accused Tory Brexiteers of being “far-right extremists” – and of course no one would argue that presenters can’t hold any private views. The trouble is that when broadcasters are caught betraying their own opinions, it usually goes in the same direction – against Brexit. And the growing importance of Twitter in the media profession provides a fertile platform for journalists’ private views to be exposed. All of this is harming the public trust.

    We need genuine impartiality on our screens to create the bedrock of a healthy democracy – a clean slate on which people can form their own opinions through genuine facts, shared dispassionately by presenters who will not abuse their positions of power to showcase personal views.

    Rebuilding faith in politics will not only require a clearout of this rotten Parliament, which believes it is above democracy, but a shake up of our broadcast media to be more representative of majority opinion. A genuinely diverse cohort of journalists – in both background and political views – might do a better job of looking outside the Westminster bubble and the internal psychodrama of the Conservative Party, and towards the massive realignment of politics that is taking place in the real world.

    In the meantime, instead of being so concerned with my choice of attire in that interview, I suggest her time might be better spent considering why so many viewers believe that she is biased.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/09/06/sky-news-scrap-kay-burley-revealed-anti-brexit-media-bias-harming/?li_source=LI&li_medium=li-recommendation-widget

    1. Bravo, Brexiteer lady. Burley and Bunter are as bad as each other, the Queen and King of bias.

  17. So, some self-satisfied smug former Chief Constable of Durham was on some BBC show this morning complaining that the police should not involve themselves in politics. He was referring to the picture of the Prime Minister that had policemen in it.
    We do not hear many Chief Constables complaining about their officers wearing rainbow ribbons and nail varnish, and prancing in the street to celebrate sexual perversion, do we?

  18. I bought a Ben Elton paperback in Sainsbury’s at half price. The book “Identity Crisis” is a satire on modern life. I have read a few paragraphs and am not sure I am going to like it . A murder detective appears to be the core of the story. Presented with a male corpse on its back at the morgue he is surprised when the female pathologist describes the corpse as female because the victim was transgender. His bosses threaten discipline when they hear about this. The story then diverts to the producers of a soap programme, Love Island, whoare terrified about scenes in their previous programmes and possible litigations over such things as improper kissings etc. They realise they could be prosecuted with massive penalties. Another diversion is a B&B couple who turn away a gay couple. The book has potential and I may end up appreciating the humour.

      1. He wrote some very popular and funny scripts for successful TV programmes and his earlier books were funny. I am just struggling with this recent one.

        1. Yes, but his fake cockney/estuary accent was pathetic. And of course, he moved to the southern hemisphere, to escape anything else. Wimp. Good writer, but rubbish person. A bit like some people think of J. Archer.

      1. Morning, Maggie.

        It still exists but for how much longer? Colour me paranoid, but I believe it’s the EU’s intention to sideline NATO and eventually replace it with a European Army, Navy and Air Force, controlled by the EU Politburo.

        1. Didn’t I read somewhere that the Americans and Canadians are pulling out of Europe, and wait for it , so are lots of British regiments ..

          Now , i wonder whether we are now witnessing absolute panic amongst EU states , and the possibility of rogue nations resuming their previous nasty conflicts?

          1. Indeed, but the clique that run the “European Project” will welcome this and use it as an excuse to speed-up the integration of national armed forces.

            A while ago, I posted a photo of C Coy from my old battalion (3 Para) being deployed to Bosnia to take part in Exercise ‘Quick Response’ as part of ‘EUROFOR’. This exercise paid particular attention to dealing with civilian disorder. Those British soldiers were wearing the EU ‘Flag’ on the sleeve just above the usual battalion DZ Flash.

            This EU Army will be a useful tool for the Kommission to control civil dissent in any individual member country and a national army will never be deployed on its own territory, lest the troops feel empathy with the dissenters.

            Thus you might find Belgian soldiers deployed to Greece to quell protests, French troops to Italy ……. and of course the Germans could take care of Eastern Europe. After all, they have the experience.

          4. As long as the rogue nations do their conflict between themselves, as far as I am concerned, let them get on with it. And we don’t get involved. Let them stew.

        2. Yes, anything to get away from the USA – forgetting of course the sheer size and hitting power of Uncle Sam’s military.

    3. A country that cannot defend its borders is not a country. It is a province of a larger state that CAN defend its borders.

      I read something a year ago about a group campaigning for there to be no borders anywhere in the world. No passports, no visa’s, no checks etc. That would hand the world on a plate to the globalists and their islamic minions.

      1. Well, it’s clear that at the very least, those Remoaners who have been appointed to the Privy Council are in breach of the Oath they swore on appointment.

        “I will to my uttermost bear Faith and Allegiance to the Queen’s Majesty; and will assist and defend all civil and temporal Jurisdictions, Preeminences, and Authorities, granted to Her Majesty and annexed to the Crown by Acts of Parliament, or otherwise, against all Foreign Princes, Persons, Prelates, States, or Potentates.”

        .

          1. Unfortunately Her Majesty is rather soft on these things “oh get on with it” will not do, Your Majesty. You are where you are for a reason. You swore an Oath to the people of this country on your Coronation.

            You have broken that oath already – it is no use having your useless offspring and grand-offspring making “Hello” news. As a subject, I feel you are letting us down; please redress that. If you feel you can’t then please abdicate in favour of someone you think can do what is necessary for the people of this country.

            You owe it to us.

  24. It’s been said that the Brexit Party doesn’t have a member in Parliament. However, since our parliament has now shifted to Brussels, that’s changed and the Brexit Party needs to start shouting very loudly.

    On the subject of yet another delay to the proceedings, what do the traitorous loonies hope to achieve? A better bad deal? More uncertainty for our businesses? What?

    My generation has been extremely fortunate in not needing a ‘Churchill moment’. I think we need one now

    1. Except that the Brexit Party was elected to a parliament in Strasbourg, which has no power. It is a talking shop, no more. The real power – the Council of Ministers (but only if they arrive at a consensus) and the Commission (which requires none, sets the agenda, enforces the rules and punishes the dissidents – is in Brussels, where the Brexit Party has no presence, same as in Westminster, Washington or Beijing.

      1. Strasbourg is only one of the three extremely expensive parliaments the EU has. None of them has the remotest connection with democracy.

    1. Interesting to see how Parliament, without a functional electoral mandate, can force a Prime Minister to go against his conscience because of a vote. It took them a week,

      Meanwhile, a public referendum, which did carry a functional electoral mandate (in fact if you count the 2015 General Election that did put this in the winning party’s manifesto, unlike the Equal Marriage Act 2014 which carried no such thing, it carried two), takes over three years, and was extended first for a fortnight, then for six months, and now for another three months and who knows how much longer.

      It seems that there is one Law for Parliament and one Law for us plebs.

      I was 16 years old when we joined the EEC; I was 19 when allowed to vote on it, and not allowed another one until I was 60.

      I no longer have any confidence in the electoral process of this nation. That is the treason.

      1. “I was 16 years old when we joined the EEC; I was 19 when allowed to vote on it, and not allowed another one until I was 60.”

        So was I on all three counts, though in 1975, I voted remain. I was conned.

    1. Single figures predicted here for tonight. Leaf colour change time… Just been taking cuttings of my pelargoniums.

    1. One person’s fake news is another person’s truth.

      Since little that the BBC tells us is true or unbiased it is clearly a most vociferous source of fake news.

    1. A 7 year old girl discussing Brexit to her class and feeling scared for the future… There is no level of brainwashing that the left will avoid in order to pass on their mental poison to the next generation.

      Assuming that this comment is true (the Remainers tell lies by default) then that poor girl is going to have years of fear and mental damage before she sees those lies for what they are. If she breaks free of them at all. Socialism is evil.

      1. Since when was global Davos directives from the richest elites on the planet at all “Socialist”? Or it socialism in name only?

        1. The Davos rich elites require a mechanism to spread their propaganda. Cultural Marxist/Socialist/Liberal Democrat ideas are the perfect conduits to direct the lies to the targets i.e. the young, the gullible and the plain stupid. Catching them young when they’re impressionable is the best method.

    2. At the rate things are going, her generation will have the vote before long. I don’t trust any teacher these days to discuss politics in general, and Brexit in particular, impartially. Def not to be trusted.

  29. Lets put lie to various doctors etc trying to claim people will die if we leave the EU because they will not be able to get their drugs, It is total and a complete lie
    The EU have no intention at all of stopping shipments of drugs or of delaying them

    What they are doing is picking up on contingency measure that have been but in place should there be some initial teething problems with the new process. The contingency being to hold a higher level of buffer stocks for the first few months and to be able to air freight drugs in if need be. The chances of this being needed is almost zero but it is there as a contingency. It is only sensible to plan for the worst case scenario

    We have though the media and NHS staff and trying to claim there will be massive delays etc. IT is just pure scaremongering of the worst kind. They are trying to terrify people wo are dependent on drugs that they will not be able to get them if we leave the EU. It will not happen

    1. Well said. We are not going to war with Europe, I am sure that the Europeans wish to continue to sell us their products. With a bit of goodwill and commonsense on both sides there doesn’t need to be an economic meltdown.

      1. Indeed, the port managers on the continent are confident they can ensure a steady throughput of freight traffic, with a smooth customs operation in place and a goodly supply of ink for their rubber stamps.

        The problem, they say, is with the British ports. The British managers have no incentive to manage anything properly, but still max out their renumeration packages.

        1. Jean-Marc Puissesseau is my favourite frenchman. “C’est la bullsh**.” Love it!

          “The British authorities have been doing a great deal to prepare. People say they are asleep but I can assure you that they are highly professional and they are ready,” said Jean-Marc Puissesseau, president of Port Boulogne Calais.

          “There are certain individuals in the UK who are whipping up this catastrophism for their own reasons. This has provoked a lot of concern but basically ‘c’est la bullsh**’. Nothing is going to happen the day after Brexit,” he told The Telegraph.

          https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2019/08/11/no-deal-lorry-mayhem-dover-calais-cest-la-bullsh-replies-french/

      3. “With a bit of goodwill and common sense on both sides“- sadly, that’s where the problem lies!

        1. Indeed. If both parties had enterered into this process with a spirit of goodwill and intention to minimise disruption then we would not have had the pain of the last three years. But the EU is not acting in good faith, Brexit has to be seen to be a painful and expensive failure ‘pour encourager les autres’ and under Theresa May we had a government which never really wanted to leave.

    2. It will be an opportunity for suppliers to increase the price of drugs to the NHS, I shouldn’t wonder, if these baseless rumours continue.

  30. Dear Tech Support,

    Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend to Husband and noticed a distinct slowdown in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend.

    In addition, Husband uninstalled many other valuable programmes, such as Romance and Personal Attention and then installed undesirable programs such as Cricket, Football, Golfing and Continuous TV. Conversation no longer runs, and Housecleaning simply crashes the system. I’ve tried running Nagging to fix these problems, but to no avail.

    What can I do?

    Signed, Desperate

    ……………………………………………………………………………………….

    Dear Desperate,

    First keep in mind, Boyfriend is an Entertainment Package, while Husband is an Operating System.

    Please enter the command: ‘http: I Thought You Loved Me.html’ and try to download Tears.

    Don’t forget to install the Guilt update.

    If that application works as designed, Husband should then automatically run the applications Jewellery and Flowers, but remember…

    …over-use of the above application can cause Husband to default to Grumpy Silence, Garden Shed or Beer.

    Beer is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.

    Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources). Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband.

    In summary, Husband is a great system, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. It also tends to work better running one
    task at a time. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance.

    We recommend Food and Hot Lingerie.

    Good Luck,

    Tech Support

    1. LOL – someone asked what “meme’s” were the other other day – that must be an example of one of the oldest modern ones. I first saw a version of that comment 30 years ago(!) It is nice to see they have updated some of the terms. It does show that some comments never die, they just go on and on. 🙂

  33. Army chiefs REVERSE ‘zero tolerance policy on drugs’ to give soldiers who test positive for banned substances a second chance
    Defence Secretary Ben Wallace behind ‘second chance’ policy on drug taking
    Memo sent to officers says army chiefs should asses if it is uncharacteristic
    Former defence secretary Gavin Williamson brought in hardline drug approach
    Previous soldiers who tested positive for banned substances were suspended

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7437885/Army-chiefs-REVERSE-zero-tolerance-policy-drugs-soldiers-second-chance.html

    Heaven forfend.. They have tank exercises here and shooting practise, and everything else..

    What next?

    5. Ridiculous idea.
      I certainly wouldn’t want to be on the ranges with someone who had pot in their system. Next you know, they’ll be allowing soldiers to drink beer on guard duty.

    2. In the words of John Harington:

      Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
      Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason.

      How can we make sure that the traitors Grieve, Hammond, May, Bercow and their allies are defeated, that their treason does not prosper and that suffer the just consequences of their treachery?

  36. Held in secret?? What are they trying to hide now??

    Inquests into the terrorist attack

    at Manchester Arena could be converted into a public inquiry as the

    government attempts to ensure that significant evidence is heard in

    secret.

    Sir John Saunders, the coroner, was told yesterday that

    Priti Patel, the home secretary, will allow him to convert the inquest

    hearing into a public inquiry so that he can consider sensitive material

    behind closed doors.

    The inquests, due to take place next April,

    will look into whether the attack after a concert in May 2017 could

    have been prevented and examine the response of emergency services.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/manchester-terror-attacks-evidence-could-be-examined-in-secret-dl8djv29x

    1. Well, well, well. Seal the files for 100 years mayhap? By which time they will be buried in the deepest vaults in Brussels.

  37. Here’s hoping Delboy is feeling much better.

    Please don’t spoil his cricket highlights by giving anything away, on the off chance that he looks in today.

    1. England will have to do something almost as unlikely as Headingley for any revelation on here to spoil his viewing!

        2. Are they still called johnies?

          I remember an innocent request during a maths lesson at school when a boy called Beale asked his friend called Carter: “May I borrow your rubber, Johnie?”

          Neither Beale nor Carter could understand why the class – and the maths teacher – collapsed in laughter.

      1. This is a commonality to all decadent civilisations. The problem is people think it is a cause when it is just a symptom of the malaise beneath.

  39. Good morning from a Saxon Queen last morning in sunny Devon
    before riding her trusty steed back to East Anglia.
    Not been taking much notice of politics of news but
    assume it’s all the usual rats fighting in sacks and chaos .

      1. Good evening Mr Viking, just got back from walking and
        a nice lunch. It can be like that on sites now. which is why
        the Saxon Queen spent a lot of time on the Disqus free sites
        discussing, literature, art ,history, maps, food and philosophy .
        They were very individual and a break from the usual
        political discussions, I think those sites will be missed,
        I was quite often amongst the cobwebs on them but was okay
        with that.

  40. Apparently Johnson called the Babbling Poltroon “a girly swot”….. Got that right, then!

        1. Irrelevant but the chap who rote the molesworth skool sagas (Geoffrey Willans) was at Blundell’s where a boy called Molesworth was in the same class as I was. One of my contemporaries at school specialised in copying Ronald Searle’s drawings.

      3. Lead item on the so-called ‘news’ yesterday evening, so that must have been one hell of a crime…

        All part of the meeja’s Operation Get Johnson, no doubt.

        ‘Morning, Beagle and Citroen.

  41. ” The sounding of EU leaders over an extension has angered Tory Brexiters.
    The Conservative MP and former cabinet minister David Jones said:
    “Senior EU figures gave private assurances to British MPs, as a
    consequence of which they supported the surrender bill. This confirms
    the level of EU interference in our internal affairs and makes the need
    for Brexit all the more pressing.”

    There is something very treasonous about this.

    1. I’ve never had (updated ) twenty-three upvotes before, and it’s not even ” all my own work “. It must have struck a chord.

  44. Heaven save us all and Boris

    Boris Johnson could go to prison if he refuses to delay Brexit, former Director of Public Prosecutions Lord MacDonald says
    Anti-No Deal law should receive Royal Assent on Monday after debate this week
    Johnson has he would not entertain seeking another deadline extension to Brexit
    Last night, he indicated that he would rather defy the law than agree extension
    But today, Lord MacDonald, 66, said he could end up going to jail if he does so
    And former Tory MP Dominic Grieve said the Prime Minister ‘can’t ignore the law’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7438281/Boris-Johnson-prison-refuses-delay-Brexit-Lord-MacDonald-says.html

    1. ” Boris Johnson could go to prison “.
      Another ” could ” or ” might ” or ” perhaps ” from Project Fear ?
      A Greta Thorburg of Brexit – ” The Planet may die from Global Warming. Or Boris might swing.

      Or pigs may fly ?

    2. This is sheer madness.

      There really could be politicians’ blood running flowing in the gutters. We have had enough of the filthy swine.

    3. I’m sure it won’t happen, Maggie, but if Boris were to be gaoled, I think the sight of a British Prime Minister going to prison for trying to deliver the democratically expressed will of the British people would be the proverbial last straw that broke the back of the Remoaner camel.

      I fear that serious civil disorder would be inevitable.

    5. Grieve’s a right one to talk – there is a definite possibility that extending the deadline in March was illegal, but that doesn’t seem to worry him! The man is a disgrace.

    6. There is no ‘law’ to break. Unless and until Boris presents the Bill to the Queen for signing and it gets onto the Statute Book, he cannot be jailed simply because he has broken no laws. On the issue of disobeying the instructions of Parliament, which would come under Contempt of Parliament, that is a purely Parliamentary matter, not a criminal or even a civil offence. The only recourse Parliament has is to collapse the Government via a VONC and force a General Election, which is exactly what Boris wants. He’s got them by the proverbial curlies.

      1. Does the Bill tell Johnson to make an unconditional request for an extension or could he say:
        “I wish for an extension to 31 Januay subject to…….”

        for example:
        “….the withdrawal of the withdrawal agreement and the political declaration and starting again”?

        1. Boris could argue that the rebel parliamentarians cannot agree on anything to take to the EU negotiations, that further delay is wasting time and money for the UK, that a significant number of the Remain MPs want to stop Brexit and have been colluding without authority with the EU and that he promised the people that he would take the UK out of the EU on 31 October 2019.He has every right to turn down the Bill and to deal with the consequences. Boris has the people behind him. He will not go to jail.

    7. We must hope that he goes to Brussels, makes impossible demands, upsets them, returns without an extension and then sits it out.

    8. If it doesn’t receive Royal Assent we can breathe a sigh of relief for the moment. Over to you, your Majesty. Remember your Coronation Oath.

    1. This is all about what suits THEM. Tusk means ” How dare they leave the EU without doing so in a way that suits up. We are the Masters and we are in control. How dare yuo think otherwise ? “

    1. This collusion has been going on since 2016 when many of the Remain MPs said they would stop us exiting the EU. It would be good if we could find clips of these MPs declaring that intention. Ken Clark and others have been going to and fro to Brussels to hatch plots with the EU to undermine Brexit. Blair has been lurking in Brussels colluding with the top team doing similar harm. I doubt records of these meetings were ever presented to the Brexit negotiators. As far as I know,Theresa May did nothing to stop these saboteurs and allowed them free rein. These people will not stop until Brexit is finally stopped. Why Bercow allows them to bring forward votes to amend Brexit is a matter for investigation. He is openly colluding with the saboteurs.

    1. Ah yes, Glenn Miliband*, who made something of a name for himself as a trombonist before disappearing in the ’40s. Then in the ’70s, there was a Steve Miliband, who came out with such timeless hits as “Abracadabra (I wanna reach out an’ grab ya)” and “Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma”.

      And of course in this century, we have been entertained by those masters of stand-up comedy, that Miliband of brothers, Ed and Dave Miliband.

      They’re a very talented family.

      *Update – he’s still missing.

  51. “For months, Ipso has been working on a new project: an ‘informal working
    group’ to guide journalists on what should and shouldn’t be said about
    Islam and Muslims. Drafts of this guidance have been leaked to Policy
    Exchange by someone concerned about where it might lead, and it is
    examined in a new study by the thinktank called Eroding the Free Press. I
    can disclose it here for the first time.”

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/09/revealed-the-press-regulators-leaked-guidelines-on-islamophobia/
    Free Press on a slippery slope
    Edit More on this from Trevor Phillips
    What is exceptionally disappointing is the surrender of those who should know better — including Ipso, the press regulator — to some of these regressive trends. Of course, it is vital for writers to hear the views of everyone involved in a story, if they are willing to share them. However, this has never meant assuming that all members of an ethnic or religious group share the same perspective. And still less should it lead to editors putting a veto in the hands of self-appointed community spokespeople, or ‘media monitors’ — in effect a religious thought police, which might not seem out of place in Turkey or Saudi Arabia, but which should have no function in the UK.
    https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/09/the-press-regulator-must-not-turn-into-a-religious-thought-police/

    1. Few have the guts to question Islam which by its very nature cannot conform to our cultural norms of behaviour. Were it’s adherents white we would hound it from us for its hatred of women, murderous contempt for homosexuality and cruel instincts towards Jews.

    2. “The Muslim Council of Britain has tried to set up its own press watchdog: the academic-sounding ‘Centre for Media Monitoring’, which draws up dossiers on journalists and newspapers it finds guilty of incorrect reporting and opinions. There’s quite a lot of them: in the final three months of last year, it found, 59 per cent of all newspaper articles about Muslims associated them with negative behaviour. Terrorism was the most common theme.”

      We are obviously being attacked on several fronts now and have been for years. It is absolutely no surprise at all that the majority of reports about islam are negative, as the cult cannot co-exist with any other culture in any country without trying to beat it into submission. I am surprised that the media were even allowed to report those negative stories at all. It is normally only when the death rate is too big to ignore that it reaches the airwaves.

      “[IPSO says:] Journalists are urged to ‘be aware that their content can have an impact… on how minority communities are treated’. They are told that ‘inaccuracies and insensitivities’ can ‘damage communities’ and that ‘unbalanced coverage can work to increase tension between communities’.

      What about how the majority of the community are treated? The vast numbers of people who do not want to see several islamic taxis waiting outside of school gates for the girls to come out at the end of the day? What about the feelings of those parents who are not happy about 1,600 of their daughters being raped or abused by these invaders? If that was just one place, then the numbers must be in the tens of thousands across the country over the past 20 years.

      Any attempts to suppress telling the truth about islam must be stamped on harder than their young men stamp on those vulnerable people in the cities who encounter their packs late at night.

  53. This is not the score from Old Trafford – merely a cheering statistic for anyone who doesn’t much care for David Warner

    Stuart Broad to David Warner in this series – 93 balls, 32 runs, six dismissals.

  54. Film on Freeview just now. Brexit! Brexit! Brexit! A deadline of October was mentioned.

      1. But in a leap year on 29th February the UK can use the Is!amic custom of saying to the EU I divorce thee three times.

        Brexit done!

      1. The Grimes has always been virulently anti-brexit. BTL comments are ad hominem, vile and vomit-inducing.

      1. Agreed.

        But there simply no longer appears to be a Ken Barrington type who is prepared to bat for the first two days…

    2. There is a film on Twitter showing an African man in South Africa set on fire (presumably having had petrol poured over him) he is writhing in agony and the crowd simply watch him burn with one or two assaulting him whilst he is burning – savagery knows no bounds….

  61. Another very pleasant hour on the beach – nice swim, too.

    However, it being Saturday, all sorts of oiky, tattooed people – the men with shaven heads, the women chewing gum with their mouths open.

    How different from weekday mornings, when the unofficial Plage Mala Club assembles. French, Italian and, er, two English people. We natter in a range of languages. One of the Italian ladies taught Religious Studies at Oxford University for 30 years – so (the cow!) speaks fluent, English, French and Italian – and, of course, speaks Latin as well as Oor Duncan…

    It is a very agreeable “amicale”.

      1. Only where appropriate. Last month, I overheard one of our French friends in Laure telling some newcomers (also French) that, “Bill et Carolyn sont tellement sympa…”

    1. But his appalling family and their descendants will inherit the billions he stole and invested carefully elsewhere…

      And millions will continue in grinding poverty with the replacement Mugabe in “power”.

  66. OT – last Monday, while we were away, the estate agents insisted on us arranging to have the house opened up because of a “very keen potential buyer”. So our long suffering neighbour did the needful.

    The wazzocks told the agents that they liked the house very much but because it did not have air-conditioning (cost = about £2,000) they were not interested.

    I ask you….

      1. We just sold a house in Coton Cambridge. We felt obliged to knock the price down by £10k having received the obligatory ‘asbestos survey report’ in order to ensure the sale. This device is of course one of the better most effective rip-offs to be exploited by potential buyers.

        From my professional experience I can state categorically that these ‘asbestos removal companies’ are some of the worst exploiters of vulnerable people. They beat the plastic windows brigade into a cocked hat. Both are a blight on our housing stock and moreover on our civilisation.

      2. Tell me about it – it was my bread and butter for 35 years.

        I even got fooled when I sold my OWN house in Clapham.

        Very plausible woman came and viewed; made an offer; we shook hands; she gave me her solicitors’ details. I sent off the contract etc. Having heard nothing,I phoned them – “Oh, she has made offers on six houses but has yet to make up her mind..”

        Edit – and that was in 1984….

  67. That is me for this sunny Saturday. More sun tomorrow,so they say.

    Have a jolly evening planning your prison visits to Mr Johnson. (I see, incidentally, that the ERG are talking to Mr Farage about an electoral pact….at least SOMEONE is…)

    A demain – DV.

  69. BTL from today’s John Redwood’s Diary, The Art of the Deal. Libertarian replying to Martin in Cardiff, an ardent and constantly whingeing Remainer troll.

    Martin in Cardiff
    Posted September 7, 2019 at 6:37 am | Permalink
    Every single version of not being in the European Union is worse by a long way than being in it.

    There is no possible deal with it that is remotely as good as the one that we already have, and no deal at all would be catastrophic until new agreements were in place.

    libertarian
    Posted September 7, 2019 at 8:02 am | Permalink
    Marty

    If you had ever run a business , especially one that traded internationally you would know you are talking total drivel

    1) The Customs Union INFLATES prices, outside prices come down

    2) There is nothing very useful about the single market in goods ( technology removed the barriers)

    3) A lot of people feel that controlling immigration from the EU is needed

    4) We need more FTA’s with countries that the EU does not have agreements with

    On Thursday 29th August , I googled a supplier of equipment that I needed for a project. I found a company in China, I went to their website and found contact details. We exchange emails , negotiated a price and signed a contract .

    On Wednesday 4th September I received a text message

    Your consignment from ***** in China has now cleared customs and is in our delivery network for delivery Thursday 5th September between 08:00 -13:00. Here is your tracking info *****

    Frictionless global trade using advanced digital technology

    The EU is for people still living in the 1950’s oh and Marxists who would like to live in 1917

  73. Here’s Douglas Murray with a well researched and well deserved thumping of the odious James O’Brien. It is a long read but rewarding to those who believe that public schools such as Ampleforth can produce execrable deranged sh!ts such as O’Brien as well as charmingly deranged heroes such as Bill & David Stirling and Lord (Shimi) Lovat. I’m sure this is also true of the seemingly countless schools that Rastus has been associated with.

    James O’Brien and the Carl Beech witch-hunt
    Douglas Murray – 7 September 2019 – 10:23 AM

    There is an awful lot going on at present. But there is something that happened recently that I should like to return to. Not least because I get the sense that so many people involved would like everyone else to forget about it.

    I refer to the appalling case of Carl Beech – the convicted liar, fraudster and paedophile who made unfounded claims against numerous public figures and was sentenced in July to 18 years in prison. Beech’s crimes were not harmless. They included the most disgusting lies made against two D-Day veterans. Heroes of this country. The wife of one of those men – Lord Bramall – went to her grave without knowing that her husband would be fully vindicated and his accuser imprisoned. Another of Beech’s victims was the former MP Harvey Proctor who was fired from his work and made homeless on the basis of Beech’s allegations. At one point Proctor – now in his seventies – was reduced to living in a shed.

    At the time the Beech allegations came out there was a real witch-hunt in Westminster. The atmosphere was unmistakable. Those pushing the lies were praised for their bravery, while those even raising an eyebrow were treated as though they perhaps had some particular reason for wanting to protect powerful paedophiles.

    As I wrote at the time, Tom Watson MP attempted to make himself the witch-finder general and used Parliamentary privilege to spread the most despicable lies. In a febrile atmosphere The Spectator was the first publication to call ‘bullshit’ on the whole thing, with Rod Liddle, myself and others taking the view that however low our opinion of our politicians might be, we did not think it likely that they occasionally gathered in private, with other public figures, to rape and murder children. Everything about the claims made by the man then known as ‘Nick’ (who we now know to be Carl Beech) failed the most basic sniff-test. Everything about it was off.

    Well, we all make mistakes of course. And we all get things wrong. But jumping into that witch-hunt several years ago was a pretty big mistake. It ruined lives. And it was entirely possible to avoid.

    Among the politicians who have still not been held to account for their outrageous behaviour at that time is Tom Watson. But I should like to focus for a moment on the journalist who more than any other pushed these lies and libels. I refer to the radio talkshow host James O’Brien.

    Perhaps I should say at the outset that I do not know James O’Brien and have no special animus against him. On the few occasions I have got into a cab and the driver has been listening to his show I have asked for it to be turned off. I am not a huge fan of talk radio and am particularly not a fan of shows where the presenter invites people to call in only for him to then berate them for not agreeing with him.

    In any case, after Carl Beech went to prison in July, O’Brien tweeted the following:

    ‘Hate the Carl Beech story. We gave his allegations against dead politicians a lot of coverage on the show & it turns out he was bullshitting everyone. But from Rotherham to Westminster to the BBC, telling abuse survivors that they’ll be believed still seems the right thing to do.’

    It’s an interesting tone, that. Nothing about Lady Bramall. Nothing about Harvey Proctor, or the victims and families of the victims of Carl Beech’s lies. Instead the message appears to be in equal thirds: ‘Poor me for having been misled by an obvious and palpable fraudster’; ‘Could have happened to anyone’ (it didn’t); and then that same move that Tom Watson made after the Beech conviction: ‘Sorry, not sorry, but real sexual abuse victims will suffer if you criticise me too much.’

    But I return to this not because O’Brien was typical, but because he was in this case exceptional. Exceptional in the attention and promotion he gave to Beech’s allegations and exceptional in the way in which he whipped up these false allegations. The intermediary between Beech and O’Brien was the then editor of the now-defunct organisation Exaro. This ‘journalism’ organisation was the entity that most pushed Carl Beech’s claims. And the head of that organisation – Mark Watts – would himself credit O’Brien as being outstanding among his peers in being willing to give airtime to Beech’s claims. Indeed he was.

    Here are some examples of how O’Brien whipped this all along. In November 2014 O’Brien used his LBC show to play a recording of ‘Nick’ (aka Carl Beech, speaking through a voice distorter). O’Brien says he ‘He sounds, albeit with a distorted voice, Mark Watts, he sounds quite together which, of course, in the context of abusees, of survivors, is quite rare’. This raises the question of how many times O’Brien had previously interviewed known abuse survivors, how often he had listened to people who were erroneously claiming to be abuse survivors and what made him qualified to make any such judgement. But Mark Watts agreed with O’Brien’s psychological assessment and stressed that at Exaro:

    ‘Our view is he’s absolutely to be taken seriously, despite the extraordinary things, this extraordinary story he tells, and that’s our view. We’ve obviously done a lot of work over many, many months – if you like, a due diligence exercise. And I can I think I’m not revealing too much to say that the police share our view.’

    Later in the same conversation, Watts holds forth on the credibility of one particular detail of Beech’s testimony. ‘It’s just another extraordinary detail’. O’Brien agrees:

    ‘Although, of course it does add weight to the to these suspicions – they’re becoming much more than suspicions – of high-level conspiracy. The higher the level of the criminal, the higher the level of the conspiracy it goes.’

    O’Brien promises that much of the detail of the allegations is not suitable for broadcast because it is so appalling. But he promises that people can hear more on the Exaro website. Along with making a set of other claims, alleging financial bribes and establishment cover-up, O’Brien cannot help lavishing praise on his guest:

    ‘My guest, Mark Watts, whose organisation Exaro News have been, I think I can say, schooling some of the better-established media organisations in how to pursue this sort of story.’

    O’Brien presents himself as bewildered that other people are not joining him in his own credulous journey. He says:

    James O’Brien: There’s a sense, this overused phrase in the modern world, of ‘the mainstream media’, but but it does… does it surprise you that that the momentum still, it still sort of needs injections of of enthusiasm from outside? It still isn’t dominating front pages or securing splashes, so to speak?

    Mark Watts: Well, yeah, that’s right. Of course, it has had a lot of attention. But it clearly should be getting more because this, I mean, I’ve been in this studio before and said to you in my view, this is Britain’s biggest political post-war scandal.

    James O’Brien: And every time you come in, it’s got bigger.

    Mark Watts: Exactly.

    James O’Brien: And we will continue to do so Mark Watts. Well, I hope you will continue to visit us and share the fruits of your sterling, sterling work. I really do. Exaro News is the website you need to visit to find out more about what they’re doing and indeed to hear more from the absolutely heartbreaking encounter with Nick. You’re listening to James O’Brien on LBC.

    O’Brien is back at it in January 2015, telling his listeners:

    ‘It gives me a great deal of satisfaction to see many other areas of the media now devoting something like the amount of attention that should have been devoted to these accusations and allegations from the very start.’

    Watts is on again, once again assuring O’Brien that the police are on his side, and agree about the credibility of his source. For O’Brien it is all the irresistible scoop of a lifetime:

    ‘David Cameron has agreed to open the records of the Conservative whip’s office to let investigators hunt for evidence of historic child abuse because if I think if I had to pinpoint the sense or the kicking off point for many of us thinking “Crikey maybe this is actually one of those stories that sounds like a conspiracy theory but turns out not to be…”’

    Or perhaps it is one of those cases that sounds like a conspiracy because it is. If that thought occurs to O’Brien he does not let it detain him.

    Instead, O’Brien gives Watts an opportunity to dilate on the claims of other people accused of crimes against children. On one occasion O’Brien expresses a suspicion that a paedophile conviction had perhaps deliberately been arranged for 23 December so that it got lost in ‘the news agenda’ that was ‘focused on the festivities rather than perhaps the sentencing’. This was ‘all a bit convenient’ according to O’Brien, who reins himself in only slightly by saying that this ‘may, I don’t know, be a conspiracy too far.’

    But the idea of any conspiracy being too far-fetched soon disappears. At one point, O’Brien talks about the bravery of a child-abuse survivor coming forward given ‘the risks that he clearly runs’ at the hands of ‘people who would rather he stopped’.

    Who are these people? Are they generals? Politicians? Former Prime Ministers? Controllers of the BBC and other ‘mainstream media’? O’Brien does not say.

    But gosh does he feel contempt for the ‘mainstream media’ for letting these high-level paedophiles get away with it all. Take this exchange, when O’Brien reads out a text from a listener which says:

    James O’Brien: ‘‘With all the manpower and facilities at the disposal of organisations like the BBC and Sky why has it taken a relative minnow to expose this evil in the establishment? Surely this speaks volumes about the mainstream media.” Could briefly answer that, if you want – you’re the minnow.

    Mark Watts: Well it’s a very good question and you know this scandal raises questions about a lot of institutions in Britain. Basically every institution you can imagine – central government, the Home Office… local government, the police, the criminal justice system and, yes, the media. It raises big questions about each and every one of them.

    James O’Brien: I hope that constitutes an answer. I really do… “It’s horrendous that you are the only news outlet to be championing this investigation, I salute you.”

    O’Brien’s saluting continues in March 2015, when O’Brien once again gives Watts an opportunity to perpetuate his tales:

    James O’Brien: Just if you would and you don’t have to of course share your thoughts on the conversation we were having just before you joined us about the Home Affairs Select Committee and their call for anonymity to be extended to people accused of sex crimes in the same week in which it’s become increasingly likely that MPs past or present or both may well find themselves accused of the sex crimes you’ve been investigating. Is it to you a complete coincidence this?

    Mark Watts: Well it’s certainly a coincidence, and journalistic nous tells you not to believe in accidental coincidences. It raises enormous questions indeed. Of course parliamentarians, MPs and Lords, former MPs and so on are under the spotlight on this story. And it is remarkably convenient that this argument has been reheated.

    Watts claims that there is an ‘anti-victim prejudice’:

    Mark Watts: What we’re doing really, we at Exaro is we’re gradually and slowly, bit by bit as you say, banging the hammer against the dam, exposing the truth. And part of that is trying to force the system to work, try and make the criminal justice system do what we all outside of it might think it’s supposed to be doing. And I think it’s important to realise that in the same ways there are journalists who try their best despite you know much of the… much of the institutional problems of mainstream media. The same applies elsewhere it applies in the police.

    And we get this nugget about the threat that anyone telling the truth within ‘the establishment’ is now likely to be under:

    Mark Watts: They [former police/special branch officers] are worried about being prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act.

    James O’Brien: Losing their pension. Losing their…

    Mark Watts: Losing their liberty losing their, you know, losing everything basically but their lives perhaps, or maybe even that.

    O’Brien has no problem with this. To be clear, his guest is claiming that the murderous establishment paedophile network at the heart of the UK establishment is so great that if a special branch officer were to blow the whistle on it, then they could well be murdered. This is febrile stuff. And O’Brien happily whips it along. When Watts suggests that the police were involved all along in covering all this up O’Brien simply responds admiringly:

    ‘It’s like a Pandora’s box.’

    O’Brien seems filled with admiration, and delight, that finally people are ‘waking up.’

    ‘If you’re just waking up, as hopefully the prime minister is, who described it not that long ago as a conspiracy theory, everything you needed to avoid making an idiotic intervention like that can be found at the Exaronews.com website.’

    In the interview, O’Brien praises Watts and Exaro for ‘Just chipping away at the carapace of denial and obfuscation surrounding allegations of so-called VIP child sex-abuse now for the best part of two years. We’ve had the privilege of catching up with Mark on a relatively regular basis and we enjoy that privilege once again today.’

    Watts is back in May 2015, O’Brien introduces him:

    ‘We turn our attention next to a story that thankfully no longer feels as though it’s, this is one of the few areas where it’s getting the attention it deserves. And if I feel like that, having discussed it with you at length over the course of the last 18 months, goodness knows how Mark Watts feels – the editor of Exaro News – who at one point seemed to be the only people paddling upstream against the accusations of conspiracy theories and false allegations when investigating child sex abuse at the very highest levels of our society. Mark is kind enough to break off from his investigations and join us on a fairly regular basis to discuss developments.’

    Once again O’Brien and his guest pretend that allegations against a high-level public figure are being deliberately hidden from public view by being placed in the news cycle at a time that ensures the story gets lost. Something which would require cooperation and complicity at the highest levels. Sure enough, O’Brien accuses the then Director of Public Prosecutions – Alison Saunders – of making a decision that a judge should have taken. According to O’Brien this is unprecedented. Laying out what he – James O’Brien – insists is the normal procedure in such cases he then says that on such occasions a judge would decide:

    ‘But not, not on this occasion.’

    He proceeds to claim that:

    ‘Again there seems to be a whiff of, well, at the very best obfuscation and avoidance, Mark. I mean words like “cover-up” spring to mind. Words like “conspiracy” spring to mind, but certainly the absence of transparency is clear.’

    In August Watts and O’Brien are back at it. Berating the ‘silence from the mainstream media’ and once again showing that the words ‘cover-up’ and ‘conspiracy’ just keep cropping up in their minds:

    James O’Brien: It’s the first time perhaps that clarity has emerged on on… because I’ve spent a lot of time when you’re not here asking people why or how these cover-ups, if that turns out to be the case, could occur. And of course the answer’s always been because it potentially goes so high. So in terms of why would anybody now not want to shine a light into this because if it was being undertaken by such prominent people then it’s not just a question of covering up the alleged crimes, it’s the covering-up of the cover-up of course which explains why in the modern world people would be reluctant for the truth to come out. Because you know someone who covered up in the 1970s in a department that was still there in the 1980s ended up being a mentor to someone there in the 1990s, they’re still there now. It would take such epic effort to keep a lid on a scandal like this that it does implicate for want of a better word, an or the establishment.

    Mark Watts: Basically what we are witnessing here is the wheels coming off the British establishment.

    O’Brien seems disappointed that the case against the late Prime Minister Edward Heath appears not to be going anywhere. But Mark Watts insists that:

    ‘It goes very, very high, clearly, and it’s very, very extensive in terms of the number of people in positions of power who are part of this. And it is an extraordinary cover-up that has been sustained on this.’

    O’Brien expresses his irritation that Norman Tebbit has cast doubt on the accusations against his old nemesis Edward Heath. But O’Brien simply sees this as more evidence of ‘powerful people closing ranks’ and ‘putting people off coming forward.’ Deepening the conspiracy, O’Brien suggests that in ‘strange corners of the media’ there are attempts to ‘apply a brake of sorts’ to the stories propagated by Carl Beech, Exaro and indeed James O’Brien of LBC. Mark Watts continues to say:

    ‘Well I think at root here there are people in the establishment who realise the wheels are coming off and they really want to stop this process of the discovery of the truth of what’s gone on. I mean bear in mind that just look at Exaro. There is overwhelming evidence that serious crimes were covered up by the state, perpetrated by people in positions of power. There is no doubt about that. And of course there are people whose interests are served by stopping that, by deterring further witnesses from coming forward for example…

    The fact is I am absolutely sure that the public is in a different place here. The public wants the truth and it has to be said the media overall has failed to deliver it for decades.’

    But James O’Brien reckons that he, Exaro and Carl Beech have managed to change all that.

    ‘What you stumbled upon was a cogent, cohesive victim, prepared to go on the record and make complaints.’

    Mark Watts is delighted:

    ‘Well I think one of the things about this scandal as more and more emerges as inevitably it will because I think the dam is broken. One of the parts of the establishment quite frankly that will be in the dock is the mainstream media because it collectively failed to uncover this at the time, although I know that there were journalists here and there, even very senior journalists who were making some attempts to do that. But overwhelmingly there was a failure and more recently, as I say, when Exaro came on the scene and as we started to uncover evidence we found there was resistance still in a lot of mainstream media outlets.’

    O’Brien invites his guest ‘to speculate’ on why this might be. But for O’Brien the problem with getting Carl Beech’s allegations out there is one part huge establishment cover-up and conspiracy and one part human error. At one point O’Brien allows himself to expound upon his own grand-scale view of things:

    ‘We’re a fickle species, us humans. We are easily distracted and while it’s clear that feelings on this issue run very, very deep, people hoping that they go away still have a dog in the race. I mean there’s still a kind of a chance of things grinding to a standstill especially when you see parts of the establishment now engaging in this narrative of witch-hunt, narrative of smearing the reputation of a man who’s not here to defend himself which is effectively saying to accusers “Shut up and know your place”.’

    Later O’Brien and Watts attack the people who might claim that people like ‘Nick’ are simply seeking attention, or compensation, or otherwise making it all up.

    James O’Brien: You know I could get the phones to ring on that. People ringing in to tell me they think that these people are looking for compensation, they’re just seeking attention, they’re just looking for…

    Mark Watts: They may think that…

    James O’Brien: It’s a bizarre place to arrive at though. It’s a strange thought to have when you’re studying these sort of stories when you’re looking at these sort of issues and prominent newspaper journalists still columnists still end some of their coverage of this by saying ‘and Jimmy Saville is still dead’ as if that means that the children he raped don’t deserve to have their stories heard.

    Mark Watts: Well I mean if you’re the kind of journalist that thinks that the truth of this should be left hidden well I mean quite frankly you’re an idiot. Why on earth are you a journalist?

    James O’Brien: I’m not going to argue with you. I am however going to have to call time on the conversation, Mark Watts. Once again I feel we could have carried on for days. But you’ll be back. You’re one of the very tiredest men in journalism at the moment I think. The sleep of the just.’

    It goes on. But this is just a taster of what James O’Brien used his LBC show to promote over the course of many months.

    He promoted claims that the British ‘establishment’, from former Prime Ministers and ministers to the Director of Public Prosecutions, the legal profession, the police and the entirety of the British media were involved in a conspiracy to cover up the rape and murder of children. Along the way he expressed more than contempt for the ‘mainstream media’ who were not willing (like him) to believe Carl Beech’s lies wholesale. He did not simply express contempt for the media. He accused them of being part of the cover-up.

    As I mentioned, this would ordinarily require more than a slight ‘sorry, not-sorry, but in any case everyone else fell for it too’ apology. Most of the media was wary of promoting Carl Beech’s lies because they sensed that they didn’t stack up. O’Brien had no such qualms and dived straight in, pushing and promoting the conspiracy-theories, lies and libels which the month before last finally saw Carl Beech sent to prison. Perhaps the sole happy outcome of this whole sorry affair is that while Beech serves out his sentence, his most prominent megaphone in the British media can be giving lectures on subjects including ‘How to be right’ and ‘How to expose falsehoods’.

    *********************************************************************************************************

    BTL:

    ant • 3 hours ago • edited
    One can only imagine O’Brien has something on the Tabor family at Global when the combination of this scandal – and a mainstream media scandal it is – the plummeting ratings, and the sheer bile he doles out on a regular basis to LBC co-presenters seems not to inhibit his employment. His show was a must-miss long before Brexit, simply because of the ugly blend of smugness, aggression, bullying and creepiness that characterises his delivery. Notwithstanding the account above, O’Brien has been dedicated to driving down the standard of discourse and whipping up the animosity that characterises debate around Brexit. A genuinely nasty piece of work and ugly on many levels, a comeuppance is long overdue.

    WarmApplePie • 3 hours ago
    Out of everything I’ve just read, I think what I find most repulsive of all is that O’Brian has the gall to invoke the name or Rotherham in his own defence. Could you just imagine if he had spent the same amount of time and energy in bringing that particular story to light and standing up for the true victims instead of a fake one? Because the horrifying truth is that the British ‘establishment’, from former Prime Ministers and ministers to the Director of Public Prosecutions, the legal profession, the police and the entirety of the British media really were (and are) involved in a conspiracy to cover up the rape, torture and murder of children. It has gone on, and continues, on an industrial scale up and down the map; but because the perpetrators have brown skin instead of white, vile creatures such as O’Brian couldn’t care any less.

  74. A lot of talk in news tonight of Boris possibly being a martyr to Brexit by not abiding by the Benn law of requiring the PM to ask for an extension of Article 50 beyond 31st October 2019 which he has vowed not to do.

    I haven’t heard any comment tonight yet that the Benn bill only becomes an Act of Parliament after the Queen’s assent.
    AFAIK the Queen must abide by her Prime Minister’s advice should he advise her not to give her assent.

    In that case, Boris must be voluntarily exposing himself to serving time at Her Majesty’s pleasure should he refrain from advising her not to give assent to the Benn bill.

    1. Corbyn on the ITV news saying that the Bill is law. No it isn’t – not yet. It doesn’t become law until the Royal Assent is given. So Corbyn’s ejaculation on the subject is premature.

        1. I’m sure Diane Abbott would be able to provide you with further information, if you’re really that interested.

          1. I’m sure she’d be able to provide me with all sorts of things. Whether I’d want them is a different matter. Obviously.

    3. Why? If it hasn’t received Royal Assent then it isn’t a law and if it isn’t a law then he can’t have broken it. QED.

  76. Just to keep the eye in – 100 bird sporting shoot tomorrow at Little Forhill Farm, Lea End Lane. Hopwood, Birmingham, B38 9EB. 9:30 am.
    £30 non members,.
    Just turn up.

        1. Do you use over & under or side-by-side? I have a 12g s/s, Firstborn (being a redneck) a pump-action Remington, & Secondborn o/u.

          1. Beretta 12 gauge 691 Vittoria (Multichoke) O/U.
            But I have my Grandfathers London Sporting Park ‘Watts” 12 bore sidelock ejector, S/S (about 1920 and still in proof). A rather different thing to shoot.
            I’m an odd beast being left handed but right eye dominant, so I see “across” the gun. Makes life a bit more difficult.

          2. The Watts sounds wonderful! My s/s is French, and when I picked it up idly in the shop, just mounted perfectly first time… Lovely workmanship & wood, too.
            Secondborn has real talent, without effort or thinking, he just shatters clays. Once, he even shot the shattered clay to dust…sigh

          3. Me too! Completely cack-handed. Golf and cricket bat right handed. Bowling left-handed. Pistol left-handed. Writing left-handed but I can write mirror-image with the right hand. Beer drinking – ambidextrous!

          4. I can testify to that last sentence, only I am the other way round (right handed and left eye dominant). I use an over and under if I am to have the remotest chance of hitting anything 🙂

    1. Someone claims that ‘Right wingers getting it wrong yet again. The civil contingencies act can’t be used to prevent brexit being extended’.

      So, by that argument, a ‘no deal Brexit’ isn’t a problem then. Doh!

  80. Evening, all. Surgery yesterday, home this evening. Fit, healthy and in full flow. Thank you for all your kind thoughts.

  82. Interesting points from Tom Luongo over on ZH:

    “For a Tory loyalist like Boris Johnson this is the Trifecta. Secure Brexit, even if it’s just in name only via a tweak to May’s Horrific Treaty(tm), ensure a Tory victory at the next election whenever it happens and split Labour if not kill it outright.
    And that is the worry for those that believe in sovereignty and human dignity. Because Johnson could win this fight completely in the next few days and then betray Brexit at the 11th hour.
    He simply refuses to offer the bill to the Queen, which is within his Prerogative as he is in charge of treaty negotiations not Parliament, prorogues Parliament with the bill pending. It expires along with all the others outstanding.
    The clock restarts when they come back on October 14th. At that point there isn’t time for a General Election so reintroducing the bill would be pointless because Johnson can then run out the clock.

    Parliament would then have to take whatever Johnson offers when he comes back from Brussels.
    And that’s where this whole drama comes to its conclusion.
    Will Boris Johnson keep his word to the British people and take them out without a deal which is what he has campaigned on or will he blackmail Parliament and the British people with Mrs. May’s Treaty of Surrender tweaked slightly on the Irish backstop?”
    If he does the former he’ll be a hero and will change the face of the world.
    If he does the latter he’ll be a the Goat that Betrayed Britain.
    Choose wisely Boris. Nigel is watching.”

  85. Yet another example of the rapid decline of the Telegraph into sensationalist rubbish:

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/06/savoy-hotel-doorman-caught-cctv-kicking-homeless-man-repeatedly/

    ”

    Savoy Hotel doorman caught on CCTV kicking homeless man repeatedly in the head”

    Except that he was NOT a Savoy Hotel doorman, but a security guard employed by one of the guests for a ‘private party’. It is of course sad that such low calibre guests are now able to hold parties there, but that this just another example of London’s decline into squalor.

    1. The thing is, they set the headline in hot metal, and then, when they discovered what had actually happened, it was too late and too expensive to re-set the Monotype…and the typesetter had gone hoe, anyway….

      I’ll get me font…..

    1. Barbarians. We must send all of those in OUR country back to THEIR shithole countries. They won’t integrate and want to force us to change to their primitive way of life. No thank you.

  89. Just to say, I haven’t been around very much for a few days. I broke my ankle last Wednesday evening whilst walking our little dog on the village green. My ankle went over, there was nothing there to stand on and I ended up on my back looking at the sky. A jogger whisked past…. ‘you all right?’ ‘Yes’ said I, ‘my ankle just gave way’ I was still on my back like an upturned leatherjacket. To cut a boring story short, I was at Addenbrooke’s A&E at 3.30 a.m. – I couldn’t sleep because of the pain, but I thought I had only sprained the ankle. Not so. I now have the dubious honour of being in possession of one of these huge boot thingies and a pair of crutches for 6-8 weeks. And….. we are booked to go to Cornwall next week. The dog – Poppie – takes a dim view of the boot what on earth is that? and the crutches, and from time to time turns to give me long, thoughtful looks.

    Night-night, dear peeps – everything is all a bit much. I suspect we are being set up for a removed Irish back-stop and guess what? Job done to the grateful relief of an unknowing British public. Vassalage here we come.

      1. Thank you. I think that once the novelty of having to keep my foot and leg up wears off I will be desperate…. it is already getting tedious!

    3. Ouch,
      You have been through the mill.. how painful and what a nuisance.

      Hope your pain is easier now , and you still manage to get to Cornwall!

      We are all in a mess , Amber Rudd has gone , and quit the Tory party .. imploding politics .. The augean stable is having a clear out

      1. Thank you, and we have every intention of keeping to our plans.

        The thing is, these people resign, quit, leave, depart, but 18 months later they return or are brought back in some way. What a racket it all is.

    4. Sorry to hear this. ‘Little dog’, ‘village green’, it all sounds so innocuous! I’m sure Cornwall will be fine, you’ll get lots of help and sympathy!

      As for Brexit, I think Boris might have a trick up his sleeve. Watch this space…..

      Amber Rudd? Good riddance. Too close to her nasty brother.

      1. Thank you! Even cricket is played on our village green, it is 22 acres and rambles through the village, a little like Hutton-le-Hole in North Yorkshire. I wasn’t doing anything untoward, and suddenly that was it. We are still going away come what may,

        The utterly detestable Rudd has gone, I do wonder about Boris though. It will either be removal of the backstop, in which case we will have been played for fools or yes, he has an ace to play that he is keeping under wraps. I do not see him giving up so easily. He also seems to have a nasty brother.

    5. Commiserations re yer broken ankle, pm. Look on the bright side: yer ankle will mend.

      However, the Westminster shenanigans will not mend – unless we stamp on – and exterminate parasites like Grieve and Co.. …

      1. Thank you – I’m just in for a few tedious weeks which I know is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

        In the end it will be up to us, the people, to rid ourselves of the Westminster worms in ways we have not seen, I suspect, for several hundred years. I fear that what we are seeing is theatre for the ultimate benefit of the detestable parasites.

    6. Oh dear, bad luck. Not a nice thing to happen.
      KBO and I hope you still have an enjoyable holiday.

    7. Broke my foot in 2007 and hated restrictions brought about by using crutches, so when suffered leg fracture in 2017 looked around for possible alternatives and settled on ‘i-walk’: https://iwalk-free.com

      which completely revolutionised the situation. It is a kind of ‘peg-leg’, with support so the part in plaster rests at 90 degrees. It has a curved ‘foot’ which mimics the action of a real one when walking. When using it one can walk without crutches – instruction video shows user walking a dog (pretty obedient hound required I reckon), pushing supermarket trolley and simply walking around with both hands free.

      It does, though, require a passable sense of balance and – ideally – the affected leg not to be the stronger one. It also only works if injury is below the knee. It is all-but-impossible to sit down with it on but can be removed in seconds with quick-release tabs. Could put it on in about 30 seconds, which resulted in some pretty frantic activity when doorbell rang! However, the advantage of not having to hobble around on crutches for many weeks and having hands free is huge. It ranks as one of the best things I ever bought.

      1. Thanks so much for this information – my apologies for not replying sooner but I decided to try out the crutches yesterday – it was such a lovely September day and I felt in need of some fresh air. Well – I wore myself out and fell asleep for the rest of the afternoon. Those things are so uncomfortable! and I have been asleep on and off today as well. And not only are the crutches uncomfortable, my wrists, elbows, shoulders and upper back are feeling the strain too today. The boot thing – it is horrible – feels like I am accompanied by a ball and chain at all times. I have to wear it in bed. I will look into the information – the ankle affected though is my ‘leading’ leg, I did not realise how right-legged I was. I have been very accident prone this year, I am not the mountain goat I used to think I was!

    8. Take care that you don’t damage/strain your shoulders using the crutches.
      HG did similarly last year, strained her shoulders and was in pain there too.

      I would recommend trying to borrow or hire a wheelchair. It was an absolute God-send for getting around.

      1. Thank you. Yes, I have noticed that with the crutches; I went for a little toddle yesterday (I got caught by the village’s resident Hyacinth Bouquet, but that is another story) and felt the strain on my arms and elbows. I was worn out when I got back (but it was a beautiful early September day) and fell asleep for the rest of the afternoon.. My back, shoulders, arms and wrists feel very stiff today. And this boot thing is very uncomfortable, it feels as if I am accompanied by a ball and chain on my hobbles.

        We are off to Cornwall next week, I am determined that nothing will prevent us. I will look into wheelchair hire. It has been an accident-prone year for me. I have to realise I am not a mountain goat any more.

        1. Good luck and I stress that a wheelchair might serve you better in the long run.
          Tough on the pusher, but much better for you.
          Enjoy Cornwall, we loved it as a family.

  91. Good evening, all. I hope to goodness the schemers fail in their efforts to destroy what’s left of democracy in this country.

  92. Just back from the beer and going off to bed,
    leaving beautiful Devon tomorrow. Good night .

      2. Thank you it was for a week and I am returning home today.
        It’s so peaceful and beautiful down here, I saw a little
        cottage nr the river Dart in some woodlands and thought
        It’d be lovely to live there but maybe I am seeing it
        in that light during the summer, the lanes are quite
        horrendous to drive.

        1. “The other man’s grass is always greener”, Ethul. As I approached retirement I decided that I wanted to retire to Spain (I even found a lovely little village in Andalucia called Zahara de la Sierra). But, after much reflection, I decided to stay put where I am.

          1. You are probably right, sometimes you look at things through
            a rose tinted sunny holiday glow but the reality of everyday
            life might not be quite as expected, especially when
            one has to reflect upon retirement.
            In an ideal world and if one was wealthy enough maybe
            a holiday home in such places would be the answer, but alas!

          2. My plan (after a number of refinements) was to retire in the UK for 12 months to see what retirement was like in this country. Then to sub-let my home and use the resultant income to live for 12 months in a rented property in Spain so that I could get a fair comparison (apples with apples and not apples with pears).

            If I preferred the UK I could then return, but if I decided to stay in Spain I would use all my savings to pay for a deposit on a Spanish house and use the UK income from sub-letting my UK house to pay off the Spanish mortgage. After 10 years or so I would own two properties and could then return to the UK for holidays between lettings. If health problems arose I could return to the UK for NHS healthcare, selling the Spanish property if necessary.

            Shortly after retiring I embarked on a three month round the world tour which included various South American countries and New Zealand. At every place I visited I decided to change my plans and choose a different “retirement” country (the one I was in at the time and with which I had temporarily fallen in love with.) By the time my tour ended I had decided it made a lot more sense to stay in the UK and just enjoy holidays in the various countries I had visited and fallen in love with. I am now sure that this, the final decision, was the right one.

          3. What a wonderful time you must have had, how
            amazing, I love the idea that you were traveling to
            all these countries and fell in love with them all
            and could’ve have changed your plans and retired
            to one of them, there must be a lesson in there
            somewhere about all countries having something
            wonderful but you cannot live in them all.
            I am sure you made the right choice, this country
            Is a pain in many ways but it’s probably one of
            the best to be after retirement and you can still
            visit the countries you fell in love with.
            I’ve not travelled abroad much myself, things happened
            and I wasn’t able too but my husband has done so
            with his job working for the European finance department
            of a American company, he did a lot of travelling .
            I must visit Greece one day I have always wanted too.
            Would liked to have visited Egypt and seen the pyramids
            but the world is to dangerous now for the such.
            I just hope Europe doesn’t make travel difficult, on purpose :

  93. Amber Rudd has resigned!!The Remainer Queen to Philip Hammond’s Prince of Darkness has gone. Oh frabjous day!

    https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1175218/amber-rudd-resigns-tories-conservative-party-boris-johnson-brexit-news-no-deal

    With the arch-Remainers purged, Boris just needs to do the decent thing and have a pact with Farage and we will see a pro-Brexit Conservative Party absolutely smash the liberal remainers.

    Hold onto your hats people, it’s going to be a helluva ride!

    2. Rudd was always a Remainer. I suppose Boris offered the bitch a position in government in order to appease her. It might have been better to discern that Amber Rudd is an untrustworthy Harridan, best confined to the dustbin of our parliamentary history.

      Amber Rudd is a particularly nasty piece of work as is now evident for all to see.

    3. “Boris just needs to do the decent thing and have a pact with Farage …”

      For reasons unknown, Dominic Cummings will never agree …

      1. Unfortunately, Cummings regards Farage as a two-bit barrow boy. The resolution of this is with Boris. Otherwise Cummings’ opinion must be overruled.

        Nowt so queer as folk……

        1. I think that is a good description of Farage, in a way.
          No reason why he shouldn’t be part of the game, though. After all, he started it.

    4. I feel I should say something memorable at this moment with regard to Rudd resigning both as a member of Government and the Conservative whip, I know,

      Don’t let the door hit your a*se on the way out. 😂

        1. Evening. Just back from our wedding anniversary meal. I like Italian waiters. Unlike our politicians, they shout and get things done.

    2. Back early from the music at the pub. Up at sparrow’s fart in the morning for fishing. Hoping foreign boats haven’t cleaned out the fish from the English Channel. ‘Night.

      1. Having a very nice evening with Albin Lee Meldau. The Weight is Gone. The Purgatory Sessions. Beautiful song if you’re feeling like I am.

        PS Oh well, good night all.

    3. Sssh. I’m in the kitchen finishing off a bowl off of dock egg custard.Well when I say bowl I meaning serving bowl. With the ladle, all the muscats gone.Only the port left and there’s not much of that left.
      I may be a bit tiddly.
      I’m going to be in trouble.

        1. Hi David. Well, this is my last post here tonight. Now off to bed. Good night to all NoTTLers.

        2. How dare you Mr Walker?!?!? Are you suggesting that I take illegal drugs? Oh, you wrote “Hi” not “High”. Oops, I was going to call you a Silly Sausage, but it seems that title is more appropriate to me.

          :-))

          2. David, I am not at all a fan of sport, but sometimes watch a match or two of the World Cup.

  95. Had a very nice lunch in a pub on the River Dart,
    and didn’t need to drive as was traveling up and down
    by boat. Those who live here have a wonderful life,
    quite enchanting. About to get ready for the villiage
    pubs beer festival, Greek food and music and then
    finish packing for home.

    1. I thought you had already left for home. I love Greek food & music.

      My first visit to Rhodes was a villa holiday in Lindos (before there were any hotels). The local taverna had a juke box on which one record was played more than any other. Couldn’t understand a word, but it became an ear-worm. I can still hear it now after 45 years.

      1. Tomorrow morning we’ll leave the cottage for home,
        very narrow lanes around here that are no more then
        path ways. Looking forward to the Greek food as it’s a
        favourite. This beer festival and Greek food Is for
        3 nights in the villiage pub, but You’d never know it,
        the villiage is still as quiet as a mouse.
        Would love to visit Greece one day too.

    2. I know Dartmouth well, charming town. I saw David Dimbleby on his boat and blew him
      a kiss from the harbour which he returned. This was about 40 odd years ago….

          1. Dimbleby has always been a BBC stooge as far as I can remember. His father was none such and presented the news in an altogether dispassionate way.

            Back in the day I enjoyed a pint or two with the occasional Dimbleby and Bamber Gasgoine in the Cricketers pub on Richmond Green.

      2. I had the worst crab salad in my life at The Carved Angel. Otherwise a good meal, but that crab (only brown meat) put me off for life.

        1. We used to hang out at a local bistro the main attraction being officers from Dartmouth Naval College.Nearly married an Aussie…………lucky escape!

      3. I became acquainted with Dartmouth while my son was at the Naval College. It’s a lovely town.

      4. Dartmouth Is very charming and beautiful,
        this whole area it .
        I am sure David Dìmbleby blushed like a tomato,
        he looks as if he’d blush .

  102. No prizes for correctly guessing who might have specified the terms of this Act to which the EU has apparently already given it’s agreement !

    As Conservative Woman tells us……………

    ”This rogue Act is surely without precedent in British history. The UK PM is told to ask Brussels for an extension to the end of January or to whatever date Brussels might dictate, and the Act tells the PM he must accept that date, and any conditions they might impose in granting this pointless, Brexit-breaking extension. To quote Guido Fawkes’s blog: ‘Following remain MPs’ 29-vote victory at the 2nd reading this afternoon, MPs have now passed anti-No Deal legislation; forcing the PM not only to ask for an extension but accept any terms the EU proposed.’

    When you read the four pages of this ransom demand, you can see that the EU is given the executive power over the UK to tell it to accept any terms and obligations it decides. Power runs from Brussels to the UK with the PM as a mere go-between, not the elected bearer of executive power of a sovereign nation state. Whatever Brussels decides ‘must’ be accepted by the UK – see section 3.1 and 3.2.”

    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/this-rogue-surrender-act-must-be-thrown-out/

      2. Could it have any connection to ”billions spent to undermine the nation state” ?

        Not forgetting who is said to have written the terms of the 2009 US fiscal expansion program. A pattern of behavior which looks remarkably similar to what might have happened here.

      1. Good Morning, Phizzee, Hertslass sent me an e-mail address but all I got was “Delivery Status Notification (Failure)” when I tried using the e-mail Hertslass provided.

  104. Good luck with this. As well as going along on crutches at about 1 MPH and getting totally knackered in the process, there was also the problem of what to do when I got to wherever I was going as all four limbs were tied up just moving around. To make a cup of tea had to have strategically-placed chair in the kitchen I could hold onto the back of.- no fun at all! Also had to crawl upstairs, whereas I could walk up them (albeit clinging onto banister), with the i-walk, which was slightly more dignified. Can’t recall if it was offered with money-back guarantee if not suitable, but maybe worth a punt if it is.

Comments are closed.