Saturday 14 November: Old people should accept the vaccine in order to stay out of hospital

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/11/14/lettersold-people-should-accept-vaccine-order-stay-hospital/

928 thoughts on “Saturday 14 November: Old people should accept the vaccine in order to stay out of hospital”

  2. Violent extremism linked to failure of migrants to integrate, EU says. 14 November 2020.

    The rise of violent extremism in Europe has been linked to the failure of migrants to integrate, in a hard-debated joint declaration by EU governments on the recent terror attacks.

    The statement by EU home affairs ministers was described by Horst Seehofer, Germany’s interior minister, as a “great sign of solidarity” when delivered on Friday but it had been heavily watered down from a controversial initial draft.

    After a week of disagreements over the contents of the proposed declaration pushed by France, Austria and Germany, references to Islam were removed along with demands for newcomers to learn the languages of their new home and “earn a living for oneself”.

    Morning everyone. We see here the clash between reality and ideology. Having identified the root causes of the problem they all promptly chicken out. These people do not come here to integrate. They simply wish to drain as much out of the system as they can.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/13/violent-extremism-migrants-failure-to-integrate-eu

    1. ‘Morning, Minty, NoTTLers have been saying this, at least since 2016 and probably before and we realise that Islam is the worst offender, their elderly and burka-wearers don’t learn all but rudimentary English and they live on benefits provided by us.

      See, EU, there are some who are not afraid to say it as it is.

        1. My introduction came in 1991. I lived in an inner city area increasingly plastered with Islamist propaganda, including posters stuck to the side of a local supermarket promising to destroy Israel with atomic weapons. My Council however was worried about white extremism; Council House tenants were threatened with eviction for racism as defined by themselves. It was a broad definition. Subsequently, I learned from a reliable source that the area was one of the worst in the U.K. for under age white girls being trafficked by Moslem gangs. The Council is currently much exercised by outbreaks of Islamophobia.

    2. So the EU has discovered that violence is caused by migrants failing to integrate. And its response to this is…. to take in more migrants.

    3. What rubbish they write.
      The IRA were integrated, but that didn’t stop them blowing us up at regular intervals. The Islamists want power, nobody else wants them to have it, so it’s as simple as that.
      Strange how, now the IRA have some form of government, there’s much less boom-boom.

    4. I am astonished The Guardian printed this story. Of course it is in plain sight the reason for our present internal conflicts, one that has been pointed out by numerous individuals for many years, said individuals dismissed as far right or racists for their trouble. Contrasting the Moslem’s with other minorities who are integrating was no excuse. It was racism and that was career ending; remember Ray Honeyford anyone? There are no obstacles to integration that were not placed there by original Koranic teachings and later pseudo- multiculturalism. That would be bad enough but increasingly third and fourth generation Moslem’s are more actively hostile to the open and plural societies in which their predecessors came to live. Ever indicator as I have seen is the reverse of integration as between Moslem’s and the rest enabled by the useful stupidity of ideas about ‘communities’ and ‘cultural (i.e.non western European) values’. However, as much as the Moslem’s have demanded, the multiculturalists conceded from the start of their campaign to collapse and replace western civilisation.

  3. I have always thought that people in the public eye, with heavy responsibilities, who don’t respect themselves are unlikely to respect other people.

    This is why, if for no other reason, I am pleased that Cummings has gone. He was a disgraceful scruff who seemed quite happy to contribute to the inexorable decline in standards in the UK.

    1. Good morning. I have never understood why it is thought “cool” or clever to dress badly and be unshaven (and unwashed – I sometimes thought). I suppose such people are from the generation whose mothers were frightened to tell them to behave.

  4. Good morning, all – a wet day in prospect.

    With the Caliph of Londonistan’s edict that 40% of perlice thugs must be bames, perhaps, at last, we’ll see a “White Police Association” spring up. Or would that be racist?

      1. Well, there is a Black Assn, an Asian one – so there may well be a Chinese one – a chink of light, one might say.

    2. Aftn [from Kenya] – There is one that exists, they all reside in the Famous Colonial Dickhead Office.

      Here’s their latest appointment, another Viz character [Baxter Basics] promoted up the tree. Note portfolio pic of broom shoved up ‘arris portraying gender neutral pose [a basic requirment for White Police Associaion] appear to be able to roll sh!t up hill.

      https://www.gov.uk/government/news/change-of-her-majestys-ambassador-to-south-sudan-jonny-baxter

      basic entry requirment: pen pusher 3rd class, bean counting [minus abacus]. And nowhere near the “frontline”, thumbprint on form filling [green ink], collect airmiles, stock up on duty frees, remain in semi permanent quarantine to avoid making a decision

  5. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    Charles Moore on the Cummings debacle:

    Why did Dominic Cummings become the key figure in Boris Johnson’s administration? Because he was the one who could make decisions. And why has he had to leave that administration? For the same reason.

    It is said – and there is some truth in it – that Mr Cummings does not understand the difference between campaigning and governing; but what he did for Brexit was far more than just skilful campaigning. He got to the bottom of it, because he felt it himself. He understood that support for Leave sprang from a sense of dispossession among voters, and that conventional politicians were only adding to that sense. He captured that core feeling in the slogan “Take Back Control”. This won the referendum.

    Then the House of Commons under Theresa May came close to reversing the result. Mr Cummings understood that Boris Johnson was the only political leader unconventional enough to overcome this. He therefore devised a strategy for him which confronted the pretensions of rebel Conservative MPs (by taking away the whip) and incurred the wrath of the Supreme Court by proroguing Parliament. This made Boris seem, to many voters, the one man who would honour a promise: Get Brexit Done. It prevailed, winning the biggest Tory majority since 1987. This sensational sequence of events was achieved against the most bitter Establishment resistance in living memory.

    Since that election victory, Mr Cummings has been the adviser who decides. This is ultimately an impossible position, because advisers are supposed only to advise: politicians must decide. The resentment against such advisers quickly becomes too great, which is what nearly happened in May after Mr Cummings’s notorious family trip to Barnard Castle during the lockdown. It is what did finally happen on Thursday afternoon, when Mr Cummings resigned.

    So, in a way, it serves Mr Cummings right. He does not care for MPs, so he ignored them. He is impatient with the media, so he cut them off from the steady flow of accurate information. He refused the job of chief of staff, yet left no room for another to fill it, until at the very end he wanted the post to go to his closest lieutenant, Lee Cain. Not untypically, the Prime Minister first offered Mr Cain that job, and then changed his mind, allegedly under pressure from his fiancée, Carrie Symonds. Angry that Boris preferred the advice of his girlfriend to that of his adviser, Mr Cummings left. Many feel he has got his comeuppance.

    Yet, as one Cabinet minister put it yesterday: “This is dropping the pilot.” He was referring to the famous 1890 cartoon by Tenniel of rash Kaiser Wilhelm II getting rid of Bismarck. There is no other pilot visible.

    Another Cabinet minister puts a similar thought in a different way. Colleagues, he says, may be celebrating Mr Cummings’s departure because it will, as the maritime hymn puts it, “give for wild confusion, peace”, but “they’ll soon find that we need the waves”.

    Politicians who talk about the need for a gentler, more consensual style of government – always calling, as they do so, for “better presentation” – are the heirs of those whom Margaret Thatcher called Wets. They are conservative Conservatives, not much interested in the dispossessed whom Mr Cummings so successfully identified. They are certainly not the people to sustain the new coalition which won the 2016 referendum and then won the 2019 election for their party.

    There must be a danger here for the Prime Minister personally. We are constantly told how important it is to “speak truth to power”, but very few people in the presence of power seriously try. Dominic Cummings is one who does. This has been valuable to Mr Johnson, forcing him to stop play-acting and make up his mind, but it has also annoyed him. “I’m the boss,” he reportedly says, “and I’m fed up with hearing that Dom’s in charge.”

    In the absence of Mr Cummings, what sort of a boss will Boris be? It is fair to report that current expectations are alarmingly low. In addition to the usual hostility of unreconciled Remainers and the understandable anxieties of Covid-shocked, 2019-intake MPs, comes a new threat. The Vote Leave contingent, of whom Mr Cummings is the head, believe that he and Mr Cain and all of them have “had Boris’s back” for four years. Now they feel unwanted, and yesterday their two leading figures were pushed out of the door.

    And because Boris, with his irregular ways, is more like a mercurial monarch than a political executive in a democracy, they see the goings-on as a royal court in disarray. The drama needs the pen of Hilary Mantel, more than a standard political analyst. Carrie Symonds, with her intriguing for friends to be appointed and her angry reactions to decisions she does not like, is regarded as Anne Boleyn – attractive, dangerous. Boris, her Henry VIII, is seen as a man of whims and fancies, keen on power and capricious with it, recriminatory towards courtiers when things go wrong, craving comfort yet withholding trust.

    Some make less grand comparisons. “This is trailer-park government,” says one, and conjures up a vision of Boris and Carrie sitting in the Downing Street flat constantly reacting to the provocations of Twitter.

    Such talk is new. Boris??s colleagues and associates have always loved gossiping about their eccentric leader, but until now the tone has mostly been affectionate. Now it mostly isn’t. The change is marked. A few even say he won’t last much longer in office.

    At which point, the counter-argument needs to be entered. Never forget that Boris’s ambiguities are his weapons. He advances under smoke-screens or by using human shields. His apparent inability to make a decision and stick to it is often his way of getting through a situation. Perhaps he is not unhappy, for example, to reiterate his love of maximum human freedom all through Covid, while implementing severe restrictions proposed by others, rather as Mrs Thatcher always strongly supported the return of capital punishment without taking any serious steps to implement it. Perhaps, when offering the chief of staff job to Mr Cain, he was not sorry that Carrie should be seen to countermand it. Perhaps it suits him to keep everyone guessing all the time.

    With Boris, the nation must constantly confront the problem which caused Michael Gove to withdraw support for him at the last minute in the 2016 leadership race but then to restore that support when Boris stood in 2019: that a) he is alarmingly unsuited to high command but b) he has unique leadership capacities.

    Even as his formerly most loyal supporters vent their frustrations, they exhibit this half-belief in him. I notice they are curiously calm about the final stage of the Brexit negotiations. They believe that Boris will either get a deal in which the EU truly recognises Britain’s independent statehood, or settle for no deal at all. Some say that Boris is clearer on this than anyone else in the Cabinet. The ex-Vote Leave men who are key to the negotiations – Lord Frost and Oliver Lewis – stay in place.

    If these Brexit predictions are right – and if we do finally start to climb out of Covid in a few months’ time – the political landscape then could look like May compared with the current November. If they are wrong, Boris the emperor will be naked, and will have perilously few people left to declare he is wearing a fine set of clothes.

    1. If Boris didn’t like Cummings leading from the front, he’d better realise that we, the great unwashed, don’t like Carrie leading from behind.

      I don’t suppose that he has more than six months before he’ll be out on his ear.

    2. There’s got to be at least one book amongst all this. I suggest for a title; ‘Lockdown UK, the Cummings and Goings’.

    3. Boris ” is alarmingly unsuited to high command but he has unique leadership capacities.“

  6. Morning all

    Here are the vaccine letters…

    SIR – Some octogenarians (Letters, November 13) may not want preference for a Covid-19 vaccination, and may stand aside when the offer comes.

    I am 84 and hope to have some active years yet and to look after my wife. I will have a jab as soon as I can.

    The real point is that old people are much more likely to be taken to hospital. We really need to help NHS medical staff, who must be worn out already before winter has even started.

    James Henderson

    Appleton, Cheshire

    SIR – The first to get the vaccine should be health care workers in hospitals and homes, followed by younger people, either students or those going to work.

    The younger generation are the ones spreading Covid-19 either by working, travelling or socialising, not those of my generation who follow the rules and generally keep away from people.

    I am wary of having the vaccine yet, as it has not been tested long enough.

    Doreen Chambers

    New Malden, Surrey

    Advertisement

    SIR – I hope the question “Why are GPs to be paid £12.58 for every Covid vaccination they carry out?” (Letters, November 13) was asked in a spirit of inquiry, not condemnation.

    Talking to my daughter, a GP, I learn that an initial calculation reveals that £12.58 does not cover the cost of administering the vaccination. Much as they wish to participate, it will be a heavy financial burden on the practice.

    Wendy Thompson

    Thame, Oxfordshire

    SIR – As the GPs are to receive £12.58 for each vaccination, how much will the nurses who actually administer them receive?

    Tony Geller

    London NW4

    SIR – I hold no real hope of receiving a vaccine against coronavirus should one be available and effective.

    I am 66 and still waiting to receive my seasonal influenza vaccine, despite the programme starting earlier than normal. We are not allowed to contact our GP surgery about this, as we will be contacted when it is our turn.

    Christine Tomblin

    Nottingham

    SIR – Many buses in Carlisle have the windows closed (Letters, November 13), with heating going full blast. We avoid them like the plague they are.

    Patrick Tracey

    Carlisle

    SIR – One of the lessons from the successful management of Covid in many parts of Asia is that mass testing identifies asymptomatic carriers of Covid-19, who are then required to self-isolate.

    The voluntary nature of the proposed mass testing of students before they return home for Christmas is surely going to lead to a number of asymptomatic but Covid-positive students spreading the virus.

    Why not make these tests a legal requirement?

    Stephen Lord

    Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire

    1. And what else should be a legal requirement, Stephen Lord? Having a poorly tested vaccination? There is already far too much compulsion by the overbearing state as it is.

      1. Surely a vaccine that has not been thoroughly tested runs the risk of filling our hospitals, not emptying them?

        ‘Morning, Oberst.

        1. Morning, Hugh.
          Indeed. And the attitude problem – everybody must be compelled to do things (or not) under threat from the state. What kind of freedom is that?

      2. Surely a vaccine that has not been thoroughly tested runs the risk of filling our hospitals, not emptying them?

        ‘Morning, Oberst.

      3. Surely a vaccine that has not been thoroughly tested runs the risk of filling our hospitals, not emptying them?

        ‘Morning, Oberst.

      4. My thought exactly. We have too much nanny state and the so-called “Conservatives” show no sign of lessening it.

  7. And here are the chaos in Downing Street letters…

    SIR – Can someone please explain to me how the Prime Minister being forced to stand by and watch his key Brexit allies forced out of their jobs (report, November 13) is him “taking back control”?

    If – as many of us now fear – we end up with a fudged Brexit in name only, it will be the end of the Tories. The Conservatives were given a clear mandate at the last general election and have no excuse not to deliver on their promises.

    Frederick Hill

    Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire

    SIR – The time is never perfect for internal changes in a democratic country’s government.

    The United Kingdom (I am not sure if this title is still valid) is about to experience the full effect of Brexit, and considerable changes are now needed in the approach to the pandemic. A new team is required, putting Boris Johnson centre stage.

    Barrie Sullivan

    Plymouth, Devon

    SIR – I have wondered for some time now why Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s chief adviser, is always in the gunsights of the press, the civil service and many MPs. Could it be that they are uncomfortable and jealous because he is more astute than them in pointing out Whitehall’s failings? Could it also be down to their idea of punishment for his part in helping to win the Brexit referendum?

    With his departure from No 10, I assume things will soon revert to “normal”, with inept civil servants blocking the wishes of the elected Government and leaving the majority of the country overlooked by the London elite.

    Gill Broadbent

    Wimborne, Dorset

    SIR – This Government is certainly proving to be a match for Dad’s Army in terms of entertainment value.

    Peter H York

    Daventry, Northamptonshire

    1. More like a newer version of the Woodentops, Mr York. I will not see Dad’s Army defamed!

      ‘Morning, Epi.

    2. Whatever anyone thinks of Cummings, the old adage “don’t change horses in midstream” springs to mind, with the Brexit negotiations not yet completed.

    3. To “experience the full effect of Brexit” we would need some people in Westminster who were willing to ditch lots of burdensome regulations and slim down the state. I don’t see anybody there willing to do that.

  8. SIR—Why do so many people arriving at government buildings, Downing Street included, turn up clutching takeaway coffees? Should we have a whip-round to provide some kettles?

    Vincent Hearne
    Chinon, Indre-et-loire, France

    You don’t use kettles (and packets of brown powder) to make coffee; all you get is a disgusting sludge. They buy takeaway coffees because they don’t have a proper espresso machine in-house.

    1. Because it is trendy, Mr Hearne. They are also the people who frequently complain about how hard up they are ….

    2. Agreed, Grizz, and good morning.
      The “best” of instant coffee tastes like licking out an old pub ash-tray (remember those?) – stale fag-ash. Ugh.

    3. I love my bean to cup machine – I just have to remember to put myself on mute if I make myself a cup during an online meeting!
      When I visit my colleagues in Munich all the kitchen areas have bean to cup machines funded and maintained by the employees.
      In the UK office I have to make do with a Nespresso (Pro) machine or buy one from the on site barista.

      1. Thinking about the possibility of upgrading from my humble grinder and cafetiere I googled “bean to cup” machines
        HOW MUCH!!! I nearly had a heart attack the first models were from 600/1000 quid !!
        Further research gives a price range from £80 to £1700 the usual confusopoly all purporting to do the same job
        Any NoTTL advice for an old luddite??

        1. ‘Morning, Rik. Earlier this year my offspring bought me a Magimix Nespresso machine for my birthday. It takes those little pods, available in all good supermarkets. Results are very good.

        2. I have a Delonghi ETAM 29.51X according to the paperwork – it was around the £300 mark which seemed more reasonable. I have had it since August last year and no complaints so far.

        3. Morning, Rik. For what it’s worth, I had a Gaggia bean-to-cup machine around 14 years ago. I was working 60 miles away at the time, and I worked out that it paid for itself in Costa lattes not bought at the local petrol station at the outset of each journey. I replaced it with an integrated Siemens machine (ex-display, from ebay – cost £300ish as opposed to the current new equivalent around £2k). I’m leaving it behind, and frankly won’t miss it. It was a demanding machine, constantly barking orders. “Empty trays / Trays missing (when they weren’t) / Add beans / Add water / Clean / Descale / Change filter”. And the coffee was merely OK. I’ve decided I prefer Kenco Millicano instant…

        4. Grinder and percolator. Grinder and vacuum jug.

          https://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=AwrExl_Nua9fmWIA2RiJzbkF;_ylu=c2VjA3NyBHNsawNpbWcEb2lkA2IyZjczNzlmNGI0NTE0ZjRmYTkxMzQ1OTgzNDZjMTZhBGdwb3MDNwRpdANiaW5n?back=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dsantos%2Bcoffee%2Bmachine%26fr%3Daaplw%26fr2%3Dpiv-web%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D7&w=1280&h=720&imgurl=i.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FdsY3Mj9BEn0%2Fmaxresdefault.jpg&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DdsY3Mj9BEn0&size=48.8KB&p=santos+coffee+machine&oid=b2f7379f4b4514f4fa9134598346c16a&fr2=piv-web&fr=aaplw&tt=Original+Santos+Coffee+Maker+-+YouTube&b=0&ni=21&no=7&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=j27Y6ih3130t&sigb=xrnrhvL2zUF2&sigi=HpDR.uSYi3UP&sigt=bz4Ojuy84HXy&.crumb=YG2BFHKaPU2&fr=aaplw&fr2=piv-web

    4. ‘Morning, Grizz. The same applies to all those silly bottles of water. Anyone would think that No10 was devoid of mains water and taps…

          1. The tap water where I live is so pure, it’s not even chlorinated unless there’s been too much rain. It’s one of the best tap waters in Europe.

      4. It isn’t as though temperatures are regularly high here in Blighty, yet people go around clutching their litres of water as though they are about to die of thirst if they don’t slurp every few minutes.

      1. Ahem! Would God intend that you drink instant tea too? The only way to drink tea is to mash the leaves properly with boiling water (100ºC). Similarly the only way to drink coffee is to infuse the grounds with hot water (92ºC) at a pressure of 15 bars.

        No one drinks instant tea, a beverage that has been messed about in a factory to extract the essences from the leaves before drying them. Since instant coffee is manufactured by a similar process, who on earth would choose to drink the muck?

        2. I have just specified the espresso machines for a coffee bar in Cambridge. They are manufactured in Seattle by Slayder. These are the best machines on the market.

  9. ‘Morning All

    “Older people more likely to break lockdown rules than young, ONS finds

    Experts suggest difference could be due to people aged 50-69 attempting to maintain their family unit amid restrictions”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/11/13/older-people-likely-break-lockdown-rules-young-ons-study-finds/
    Possibly because we had an education the taught us HOW to think not WHAT to think and we can see straight through the scientifically illiterate garbage the government has been spouting…………
    Fluck them and their rules

    1. Or perhaps there’s different reason, Rik. Haven’t you seen all those photos and videos of grey- and white-haired people clinging to their zimmer frames as they rave, overturn statues and loot shops when they should be indoors pining over the lack of hugs from their grandchildren?

      2. You is rite. Of a Saturday Nite, Colchester High Street is a seething mass of stroppy crumblies bopping away.

  10. The Roosevelt series on PBSAmerica is more and more interesting.

    One just wonders where the people who were like FDR – strong, courageous, full of ideas etc etc – are these days. Certainly none in the parliaments in the west.

  12. 326389+ up ticks,
    Morning each,

    “November: Old people should accept the vaccine in order to stay out of hospital”

    AKA,aiding & abetting,

    Along with eat the halal sh!te as the parliamentary menu
    displays,take welcome prayer mats to Dover etc,etc, in other words show submission in appeasement to the political shower of treacherous pin stripe clad sh!te, idiots have deemed fit via the ballot booth to have the shout AGAIN in governing these Isles.

          1. & Portsmouth. Seen on a loo wall in Portsmouth Tech…

            It’s no use standing on the seat,
            Portsmouh crabs can jump 6 feet.

          2. Well, Peddy if we’re going down that route:

            Seen on a lavatory wall in Cardiff,

            Australians are the living proof that
            Aborigines f*cked kangaroos.

    2. First snows of the year last night. But then, we are up-country, and higher up than usual, so no real surprise. Have had the winter tyres on the cars this last two weeks, so prepared.

    3. Damp & foggy in Derbyshire.
      The weather I mean, not me!

      Just heading to the Wirral to pick up an e-bay purchase and have a couple of nights B&B.

    2. The Kraken.

      Below the thunders of the upper deep,
      Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,
      His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
      The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
      About his shadowy sides; above him swell
      Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
      And far away into the sickly light,
      From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
      Unnumbered and enormous polypi
      Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
      There hath he lain for ages, and will lie
      Battening upon huge sea worms in his sleep,
      Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
      Then once by man and angels to be seen,
      In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.

      Alfred Lord Tennyson.

      2. The author of ‘The Kraken Wakes’, John Wyndham, was at Blundell’s – but a bit before my time! So of course was Geoffrey Willans the author of the Down with Skool and other stories about Nigel Molesworth. This may explain why I make so many typos for Peddy’s delight so that he can seize on them and cast nasturtiums at me!

    1. “It discriminates against white people”. Not necessarily. If 40% of the applicants are BAME, this isn’t discrimination (i.e. the Met is actively encouraging applications from ethnic groups). If 40% of the officers actually appointed are BAME, it could be discrimination, if white applicants are rejected purely because of their race.

      1. Um, in theory. However discrimination in favour of non-whites has been practised for years by every HR department in the country. Any policy which says, “we aim to have x % of workers, board members etc to be black, brown or from Mars” is discriminatory. Any recruitment or selection process that includes consideration of aspects that are not material to performance are discriminatory.

          1. 326389+ up ticks,
            Morning Anne,
            That could very well be dick ( head) after receiving the jab & awaiting a new oversize helmet.

        2. If the aim is to appoint 40% BAME recruits regardless of ability, then that is discrimination (sometimes referred to as ‘positive discrimination’). If the aim is to encourage more BAME applicants, that is not discrimination. However, if 40% of applicants are BAME and less than 40% of appointed applicants are BAME, then you will have people crying ‘racism!’.

          1. As I said, in theory. Anyone that imagines that in any given work pool 40% of the best workers are BAMEs is delusional.
            Of course there are exceptions, a high proportion of successful professional athletes, boxers and drug dealers are black. Indians excel at computer programming and similar and related areas, as well as business.

          3. Greg Clarke, the FA Chairman, was pilloried for making similar remarks, and was forced to resign!

          4. We have to make all these comments now. In a couple of years – less in Scotland- they will be illegal and will carry an automatic prison sentence.

          5. The bit I didn’t understand was when people complained about his saying that being gay was a choice.

            It is. No one is born gay. Suggesting they are is silly and removes agency from the individual.

      2. 326389+ up ticks,
        Afternoon A,
        The way I see it is adhering to the same voting pattern in the future will bring forth a multitude of magical things, that is BLACK magical things.

  16. Good morning my friends

    I suppose the polite way of describing Carrie Symonds would be to say she is a Trojan Horse put into Downing Street to destroy the very heart of Boris Johnson’s government at its core. Knowing Boris Johnson’s affection for the Classics, this is an ironically appropriate metaphor.

    Recently there have been hideous stories in the MSM of undercover policemen who, while doing their ‘surveillance’, formed sexual relationships with the women they were ‘observing’, and deceived them into engagement which in some cases led to pregnancy and offspring.

    I cannot help seeing a parallel with Ms Symonds’s behaviour. Boris Johnson’s sexual intemperance was well known and so he was an easy and vulnerable target for a young woman who could use her ‘charms’ to seduce him for her own ulterior political motives. She has been successful beyond her wildest dreams – not only has she moved into Downing Street and exercised control over the prime minister’s thoughts and actions but she has also given birth to Wilfred who, poor little chap, is undoubtedly a bargaining chip to be used when the occasion arises.

    Is Britain falling apart as a result of male sexual intemperance, gullibility and weakness?

    Not only has the prime minister been seduced and undone – but so has Prince Harry who is high in the order of royal succession.

    The pawns in these Machiavellian games are of course the babies, Archie and Wilfred.

    1. If Boris sacked Cummings because Cummings said silly things about his wife then:

      Cummings is an unprofessional idiot.

      Symonds has far too much influence over political policy
      Boris is either part of or working in a playgroup of petty, silly people all forcing their own agenda.

      1. I am agnostic on this man’s record but Mr Cummings said he was leaving ‘at the end of the year’ in January. He was right to get out quickly. It never is a good idea to hang around. Boris should resign next Spring or sooner.

    2. Prince Harry is no where in the ‘order of royal succession’. He or his wife may not have realised it yet.

      1. ‘whore’ – ‘tart’ – ‘courtesan’ – ‘harlot’ are all suitably pejorative terms which are not entirely appropriate in that they do not fully convey the Machiavellian nature of the woman. The nearest of these is ‘harlot’ – Stanley Baldwin described the harlot as having ‘power without responsibility throughout the ages.’

        My feeble joke yesterday, which very few people up-voted was that we are being governed by donkeys: Hee (Boris) and Haw (Carrie)

        (Like many sad people I enjoy my own jokes rather more than other people enjoy them!)

        1. no worries and thanks. Yday was daughter’s graduation here [virtual one] so missed most of precluding posts. Given the subsequent “liquid nutrition” event that followed, and watching rugby this am, still in “catch-up” mode. Correct re Stanley Baldwin. Thanks for rapid response

        2. Morning Richard ,

          Do please continue with your wonderful wordsmithery .. I am certain we all feel the same , and up votes or not , your comments are appreciated .

          Strange how minxes of a certain type find their way into a man’s trousers, and eventually cause utter ruin .

          Boris was rumbled long ago , he is an empty vessel I am afraid .

          I enjoy your jokes .. even though I sometimes forget to up tick .

        4. <Stanley Baldwin Quote: “The papers conducted by Lord Rothermere and Lord Beaverbrook are not newspapers in the ordinary acceptance of the term. They are engines of propaganda for the constantly-changing policies, desires, personal wishes, and personal likes and dislikes of two men? What the proprietorship of those papers is aiming at is power, and power without responsibility – the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages.”

          Footnote: 1931 Speech,18 Mar. Speech, Rudyard Kipling, Baldwin’s cousin, is alleged to be the original author of this famous phrase. Harold Macmillan claimed that the Duke of Devonshire (his father-in-law) responded ‘Good God, that’s done it, he’s lost us the tarts.’

          Nothing changes. The MSM are just as egocentric and avaricious as their predecessors. I love the response by the Duke of Devonshire.

          One of Macmillan’s quotes:

          “As usual the Liberals offer a mixture of sound and original ideas. Unfortunately none of the sound ideas is original and none of the original ideas is sound.” That applies to all the parties nowadays.

          (Amended)

  18. Phew. Though it is a dreary day – the good news is that the kittens are back in rude health – racing round the house. Last evening I was quite worried, especially when Pickles showed no interest in eating. All’s well etc

  19. Well just back from a rather wet walk around a National Trust property and I’m sure many will be pleased to hear that there was no sign of any rainbow lanyards and no mention of slavery or colonialism. In fact the information boards remain as they have been for several years.

      1. When they protested against the Brexit victory, we didn’t riot, loot and mob, did we?

        Do the Left hate democracy when it doesn’t go their way in either event?

        1. Of course they do. Two of the nastiest Lefties you can imagine stormed screeching out of a Current Affairs meeting of St Ives U3A, when I insisted on reading out a transcript of D. Abbott’s famous first mathematical aberration speech.

          1. Did they call you a racist bigot first? Sorry, that should have been “racist, misogynist bigot” 🙂

    2. Maybe they have spotted the loss of members and their financial projections now show that they don’t have the money to proceed with bamefecation.

      1. “Maybe they have spotted the loss of member…”, the most recent annual report (which covers the pre-Covid period) shows a steady increase in membership (and visits) in recent years, “despite” the outrage over rainbow lanyards. Maybe most people are perfectly happy with what the NT is doing.

        1. Maybe. Or maybe everyone has just given up? There are so many things wrong that even struggling to rectify one item on a huge list is a full time life’s work against a determined, self-righteous, self-entitled, self-perpetuating, gang of SJWs no matter in what you are involved?

        2. ..or maybe they’re not. We’re all NT members because we like the houses etc but we all think the manangement are a load of wishy washy conniving dopes!

      2. If i remember correctly the buildings now run by the national trust were taken over because the then owners could not afford the upkeep and the much needed renovations of both the extensive gardens and the buildings.
        It seems the the present national trust ‘management’ is heading down the same path and is in danger of returning the public sponsored buildings and land back to how they were before the administration took over way back when. The National Trust was formally constituted on January 12th, 1895. The vision of three pioneers – Octavia Hill, the housing reformer, Sir Robert Hunter, solicitor of the Commons Preservation Society, and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, a Lake District clergyman, the Trust was vested with the power to ‘promote the permanent preservation for the benefit of the Nation of lands and tenements (including buildings) of beauty or historic interest’. The idea of the new organisation had first occurred to Hunter and Hill ten years earlier when, working in London and still in their forties, they were closely in touch with other leading social reformers. The three shared an intense love of nature and a belief in its healing power which, in the case of Hill and Rawnsley had been fostered by their relationship with John Ruskin.

      3. If i remember correctly the buildings now run by the national trust were taken over because the then owners could not afford the upkeep and the much needed renovations of both the extensive gardens and the buildings.
        It seems the the present national trust ‘management’ is heading down the same path and is in danger of returning the public sponsored buildings and land back to how they were before the administration took over way back when. The National Trust was formally constituted on January 12th, 1895. The vision of three pioneers – Octavia Hill, the housing reformer, Sir Robert Hunter, solicitor of the Commons Preservation Society, and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, a Lake District clergyman, the Trust was vested with the power to ‘promote the permanent preservation for the benefit of the Nation of lands and tenements (including buildings) of beauty or historic interest’. The idea of the new organisation had first occurred to Hunter and Hill ten years earlier when, working in London and still in their forties, they were closely in touch with other leading social reformers. The three shared an intense love of nature and a belief in its healing power which, in the case of Hill and Rawnsley had been fostered by their relationship with John Ruskin.

  20. I am suffering extreme ennui from reading day after day letters from people each with a different opinion on lockdown a vaccine, Brexit, climate change, HS2 – issues that have, and will run and run.
    As the ex Mr Cup used to say, “Opinions are like a*seholes – everybody has one”

    3. Luckily politicians long held beliefs change on a weekly basis so during an election campaign they should be able to appeal to the majority.

  21. 326389+ up ticks,
    breitbart,
    Top UK Politician: Workplaces, Social Venues, May Ban Britons Without Vaccination Certificates.

    May one ask,
    If there was a General Election on the 19/11/2020 and bearing in mind the last three decades of complete political sh!te endured by the peoples, would the same polling pattern take place adding more orchestrated hardship to the
    fear & punish campaign.

    Party before Country & common sense via the polling booth KILLS stone dead, FACT.

      1. NOTA (None Of The Above)would get my vote.

        This ought to be a voting option on the slip and when NOTA gets more votes than any other candidate nobody should be returned to office.

        The trouble with abstaining or spoiling your ballot is that it will not change things – some anal orifice will still get elected whether you vote for him or not.

        1. Peter Hitchens suggested that. Of course, TPTB would run a mile from implementing it, as it would show them up!

  23. Bloody Hell……

    “When good science is suppressed by the medical-political complex, people die

    Politicians

    and governments are suppressing science. They do so in the public

    interest, they say, to accelerate availability of diagnostics and

    treatments. They do so to support innovation, to bring products to

    market at unprecedented speed. Both of these reasons are partly

    plausible; the greatest deceptions are founded in a grain of truth. But

    the underlying behaviour is troubling.

    Science is being

    suppressed for political and financial gain. Covid-19 has unleashed

    state corruption on a grand scale, and it is harmful to public health.1

    Politicians and industry are responsible for this opportunistic

    embezzlement. So too are scientists and health experts. The pandemic has

    revealed how the medical-political complex can be manipulated in an

    emergency—a time when it is even more important to safeguard science.

    The UK’s pandemic response provides at least four examples of suppression

    of science or scientists. First, the membership, research, and

    deliberations of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE)

    were initially secret until a press leak forced transparency.2

    The leak revealed inappropriate involvement of government advisers in

    SAGE, while exposing under-representation from public health, clinical

    care, women, and ethnic minorities. Indeed, the government was also

    recently ordered to release a 2016 report on deficiencies in pandemic

    preparedness, Operation Cygnus, following a verdict from the Information

    Commissioner’s Office.34”

    https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4425
    A damning indictment from the BMJ

  24. ‘Morning again.

    Allison Pearson has, unusually, got it wrong in my opinion. Some good points, but her ‘gender diversity’ is surely wide of the mark. Just pick the best people for the job, how hard can it be?:

    There is a photograph, taken during the pandemic, of the inner circle at Number 10. The Prime Minister appears grave and anxious. Beside him were his right-hand men, the consigliere Dominic Cummings (in his trademark fleece) and Lee Cain, the director of communications, who looks like one of the bullet-headed Mitchell brothers from EastEnders. In the middle, dominating the room, stands Professor Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, who is flushed and gesturing furiously at a sheet of statistics. Behind Whitty is Health Secretary Matt Hancock, arms crossed and shellshocked as though he just saw the ghost of his own career.

    My first thought on seeing the picture of that Big Boys’ Club was: they’re not social distancing! The draconian rules which that select group imposed on the British people clearly didn’t apply to them. It explains maybe why they all got Covid.

    Secondly, there isn’t a single female face in the room. That isn’t just a question of token gender diversity. It really really mattered during the past eight months when edicts handed down by the Big Boys’ Club provoked mums around the country to shout at the TV.

    “You must go to work if you can,” declared Boris. And the women of Britain bellowed back: “But the schools are still closed, you fool! How are we supposed to go to work?” Has Boris ever had to sort childcare for his multiple offspring? Silly question.

    Women not only deserved a representative at the top table; a female perspective was downright essential to save the men from making idiots of themselves, which they did with embarrassing frequency.

    Throughout the crisis, it is mainly women who have witnessed, first-hand, the devastating effect of Government policies on real people. Women who shouldered the burden of caring. Women who corralled reluctant kids round the kitchen table for home-schooling.

    To mothers fell the task of comforting dejected teenagers who had their exams and other milestones stolen from them. It was mums who hit the phones after the A-level debacle to find a university place for tearful sons and daughters. (Mums I know confidently predicted back in March that grading exams using an algorithm based on previous years’ school performance would cause chaos and unfairness.)

    It was good old Mum who spent hours talking students off the metaphorical ledge when her offspring arrived to find uni was about as much fun as a Covid-safe Colditz. And it is warrior daughters who have formed pressure groups to relieve the devastating isolation of elderly men and women in care homes.

    When Professor Whitty and other SAGE scientists told the Big Boys’ Club that people could see only one person outside their household would a woman have laughed and pointed out that no one who was travelling to visit their parents would agree to see just mum but not dad?

    Would a woman have explained to the guys that bolting the gates of children’s playgrounds during lockdown while allowing golf clubs to stay open was not a good look? Would a woman, who has to plan the family Christmas, have argued strongly against the nutty Rule of Six, which is almost calculated to upset as many relatives as possible? You bet she would. The chaps didn’t have a clue.

    I have only met Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain once, at a meeting where I was the sole female present. Cain seemed like a toff’s idea of a clever working-class person. He struck me as neither especially bright nor over-burdened with people skills. Probably cultivating a glowering mystique to hide his inadequacies. Cummings has a laser-like intensity that befits a legendary Svengali, but you wouldn’t trust him to mind a dachshund while you popped to the shop. Their combined emotional intelligence would struggle to make it into double figures. (This explains why, instead of apologising for his trip to Barnard Castle, Cummings delivered a dissertation on Why What I Did Wrong was Within the Rules. Public trust in the Government has never recovered.)

    Undoubtedly, such types have a key part to play in a tunnel-visioned team with one eye on goal, as they proved while steering Vote Leave to victory. What they lack is the common sense and broader human sympathy which our current national crisis also demands. The collateral damage caused by the second lockdown, which was championed by Cummings and Cain, could well end up destroying the Prime Minister they helped to create. As the two men prepared to depart, rumours that their central role in Boris’s life will be taken by “softer” women are already causing consternation. What, seriously? Allow a bunch of silly girls to sneak into the photograph of the Big Boys’ Club?

    Let’s face it, they could hardly do worse.

    Leading BT comment:

    Susan Whittle
    13 Nov 2020 7:46PM

    Sorry Alison. Can’t go along with this. We need the best people for the job…..

    And that doesn’t necessarily mean we have to have a quota of women. I spent most of my working life in a male environment and was never patronised because I was as good if not better than any of them. We appear to have as many lightweight women in politics as there are men so please spare us the sisterhood claims. The women are not necessarily any better and a large majority of them seem to be more concerned with their appearance than anything else. It’s a pity we don’t have more women like Merkel. She’s got her priorities right.

    1. The UK was a world power when it operated a meritocracy. It has deteriorated into a third-world nonentity since merit was supplanted by diversity.

    2. The UK was a world power when it operated a meritocracy. It has deteriorated into a third-world nonentity since merit was supplanted by diversity.

    3. The UK was a world power when it operated a meritocracy. It has deteriorated into a third-world nonentity since merit was supplanted by diversity.

    4. “It’s a pity we don’t have more women like Merkel”!!!!!!!!!
      Help,help Allison’s been kidnapped and brainwashed
      Meanwhile the female(unelected) influence on our PM seems to be driving us to greeniac disaster!!

          2. ‘Morning Anne, ‘morning all!

            And Bozo has gone to seed, mentally and physically. I wonder what kind of plant the little Wilf will turn out to be.

    6. Comments have been closed.
      It was a ghastly article.
      If we are reduced to being governed by three unelected witches, then the case for gynarchy falls flat on its face.

    7. Not another whinge about women having worse during the panpanic! Apart from more men dying, of course…

  25. Oh dear, ref last evening, once more after dark the usual suspects raise the creaking lids of their confinements and arrive on the scene to inject their adverse malevolent opinions into the jugular of this once pleasant forum. That’s three I’ve blocked now with probably at least two others to be considered. Quite possibly judging by the haranguing attitudes, this could well be some sort of conspired arrangement. Rearranged this expression into a well known phrase or saying you nasty (other spellings are available) people ……..and Life A Get.
    Personally i am so sick with the way this country is descending into anarchic chaos both socially and politically i have a fear that as usual our political classes are going to eff up once more everything they lay their metaphorical hands on.
    The Bottom most post today No ToNanny reminds me of a pleasant place to be. Tasmania it would be a change from the mania we have in our midst.
    If not this place where our friends have a beach front (at the end of their garden) escape. I yearn to return, maybe next year.

    1. Afternoon, Eddy. Agreed, wholeheartedly, in every respect.

      One billion upticks. Did I just say only one billion? Shame on me!

      1. If you get the chance Grizz take a look at Phillip Island It’s an absolute paradise. The holiday ‘Shack’ they own is wonderful, it’s about two hours drive from where they live SE Melbourne. We sat one evening and watched the little penguins come ashore. And there is a golf course less than half a mile from where their 5 bedroom 3 bathroom ‘Shack’ is.
        A three way share with others, they currently have it on the market, it’s the only reason i play the National lottery. Fingers crossed.

        1. I remember watching a film about the Little Penguins on Philip Island a couple of years back. What I liked most was the lack of humans on the island.

        2. Shame Australia and NZ have decided to makes themselves a prison camp and cut themselves off from the rest of the world. If they ever open up again they’ll get the virus just the same.

          1. They rely very heavily on tourism and it’s a wonderful country to visit.
            My own impression of they way they reacted was their obsession for trying to apply detailed analysis of everything and blind panic.
            I remember seeing a notice and a waste bin on the border with Victoria and SA with a reminder to thrown your apples or the cores in to the bin before you crossed. ??? Fruit fly can’t read. And just imagine how the rabbits, rats, mice, foxes, Brumbies, camels etc. and especially Cane Toads feel. It’s quite laughable how the Australians don’t like ‘cock ups’ but have committed so many themselves. Perhaps it’s part of their psychic make up. But it’s still a great place to be. And they absolutely hate losing at any cost.

          2. Yes but is goes both ways Ellie, they are also very good at keeping the wrong people out. Unlike our useless political classes.

          1. Last week, I sent a sheet of useful information to a new colleague, a Young Person not long out of University.
            He replied “Thank you blackbox, that’s amazing!”

            No, child, it is not “amazing.” It is normal, and don’t annoy me with your exaggeration.

    2. I think tempers get frayed after a few drinks in the evening – we’re all feeling a bit down at the moment, probably some more than others.

      1. I don’t block anyone. They make their own hole and frequently jump into them. Que sera sera.

          1. Dull? How can you say that when Côte has brought back mail-order Lobster Frites?

            https://cdn.exponea.com/cote-restaurants1/e/.eJwlzFEKwjAMANC79FskaZO03WUkzRI2cAhufol3d-L_472Tvfbjsfnzts5pSmw0aAaumCMLAFKxAQPTJfkfhIaSj-zRRdgxnAA0_8Cm6_226L6cztystK4kxNylMM9CWKwiSWs1as0KIjGjFbfO0aipDm4Fs4TB-R17mlCACwmXfu2ZKuPnC79DMIY.tsuGkhg0GKahc85RFAUpBlJ6Qx4?xnpe_tifc=4Io8b.YZbIs_xDsNx.xlbjpZhfEWVjQsVuU_O9BsEkUZbsS74.U1RkilafeWaG8.adJSbIE.OkoZ4IBLxDeN4D1DxzTT&utm_source=exponea&utm_campaign=CAH_Nov20_News2_%28%20pantry%29&utm_medium=email

          2. Have they? I don’t think we’d be too interested in those. We’re not such gourmets as you are.

      1. We were rather hoping to make it there next year on route from Perth to Melbourne.
        I remember when Dr David Bellamy who persuaded the Tassie government not to destroy all the Huon pines in a Hydro electric proposal. They insulated the peoples homes instead. I very much like to go and see the ancient woodlands.

  26. “The EU has threatened to cut off “top-up access” to European electricity
    and gas pipelines in the case of a no-deal Brexit, raising the risk of
    supply squeeze during peak winter demand and potentially a halt to
    flows in an extreme scenario….”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/11/13/eu-hints-brexit-energy-blockade-power-blackouts-hollow-threat/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr
    Sheer bloody genius,not only mothball the coal plants but tear them down,fracking? enough reserves to make us energy independent for 100 years but noooooooooo

    But hey windmills and solar,expensive and unreliable for any base load
    I hope those responsible for our energy polices freeze in hell!!
    Edit
    You really couldn’t make it up……………..
    Where will France be getting the surplus power they’re selling us??
    That will be the 4 COAL FIRED plants they’ve just recommissioned………..
    https://www.thegwpf.com/france-restarts-coal-power-plants-to-keep-the-lights-on/
    But hey all that nasty CO2 will stay in France for sure,won’t it??

      1. 326389+ up ticks,
        Morning D,
        The very same could surely be said about the lab/lib/con governance party’s.

      2. An act of war. But we cannot blame the E.U. – Axis Powers over this. We spinelessly gave into the earlier ‘Extinction Rebellion’ of the anti-nuclear power mob and latterly the privatised power industry (foreign owned) who saw no big profits coming from nuclear – the reverse in fact. Power ought, like ‘natural resources’ like farming since the Second World War, be viewed as a vital national interest bar none. Relying on foreigners for your defence and vital sovereign interests: What could go wrong? Wouldn’t peoples saved from totalitarianism be forever grateful?

        1. Couldn’t agree with you more, the utter lack of capacity planning and perverse destruction of existing power plants without replacing them has been one of my pet rants for many years ( in my earlier life I was a power and lighting planner for a national organisation so I have some understanding of what is involved). It’s difficult to decide whether the anti nuclear/anti fracking movement are just naive or driven by another agenda, the latter I fear as you cannot apply Hanlon’s razor indefinitely .

    2. 326389+ up ticks,
      Morning Rik,
      They won’t freeze in a nice little villa
      in the global warm belt after using the political Odessa line with previous placed wonga awaiting.

  27. Is the tide finally turning against the nihilist alt-right who’ve caused so much chaos across the UK and US, and to a lesser extent, the west more generally? With Cummings kicked out, Trump’s defeat and the EU taking action against Hungary and Poland, the forces of common sense and reasonable conservatism/ liberalism are back in control. Those who ignore science, howl at the PTB, MSM, NWO, liberals and anyone not sharing their conspiracy driven ideas, are dying out. I look forward to the UK reaching a new trade deal with the EU, to the US taking back its rightful place in the WHO and likeminded countries collaborating once again. Thank God.

        1. I can’t do anything about it.

          But when the alternative wrecks your country, I hope you’re well prepared to lose everyhing to the real nihilists.

          1. My country, (the one I live in, but you don’t) was built on liberal democracy. A return of that political creed and the renouncing of Cummings and the electoral oblivion of Farage, are wonderful.

          2. That would be the liberal democracy that distances itself ever further from the people and treats them with increasing contempt. It’s telling that you use the acronym NWO in your opening provocation. Anyone who supports what the ‘NWO’ is becoming is an enemy of real democracy.

          5. You forgot, the liberal democracy that denies the most decisive vote – to leave the EU.
            Hmm…

          6. Our country, which I choose not to live in at the moment, was built on anything but liberal democracy. Liberal democracy is what is busy dismantling that country.

            Read your history.

          7. We barely have anything resembling a democracy we have an elected dictatorship. MPs don’t vote for their constituents they vote the party line mostly.
            The last thing we need is more bloody liberalism. Libertarianism yes, but not more liberalism. We need to revoke economic liberalisation that has been a disaster for working people and has only favoured those with capital.

          8. No it wasn’t.

            Britain was mainly built on divine right and might is right, mixed in with a little bit of democracy for a few peeps sometimes.

            Universal suffrage has existed only for about 100 years, and it is during this period that Britain has been on a long slippery slope sliding ever downwards……..

          9. Less than a 100 years. Universal suffrage did not appear in Northern Ireland until 1959, if memory serves. Also, I’m not sure that the Liberals were all that liberal 100 years ago. As for being a democracy, I’m not sure about that either, if all we get to do is vote for who rules us with no say in how.
            So, yes, your second sentence is bang on.

        2. I can’t do anything about it.

          But when the alternative wrecks your country, I hope you’re well prepared to lose everyhing to the real nihilists.

    2. Now, you’re just fishing, plain as a pike-staff! Resubmit after 10pm, when everyone has had a glass of something, if you want a real punch-up.

      1. Simple enough question, but I’ll rephrase it; with Trump and Cummings gone, will the world return to normal?

        1. No, it will continue to descend into a socialist quagmire, orchestrated by globalists. The cancer is too widespread in government and NGOs to be eliminated. Many will be happy with this state of affairs, only time will tell if it produces a better world.

          2. I was born into a varied and protected economy. You can be whatever you want to be. Then in the eighties we opened our markets to the rest of the world and said hey no need to be here to sell to us, we’ll buy from whatever low income country you set up in. From that moment on if you weren’t going into banking, law, accountancy or politics you were fairly screwed.

      1. Amazing your comment appears with an instant upvote. Now that’s weird. You are Minty and I claim my prize.

      1. Jeez, why is it the nihilistic right with their desire to wreck everything, can’t tolerate differing opinions?

          3. You forgot to add the defining comma after ‘again’. It makes your text unreadably illogical.

        2. You have never done tolerance. Someone bites back and you go off on one. Don’t know why you bother.

    6. I must own up to the forum for being partially responsible for this drivel from the Arch Controversialist. We had a bit of a ding-dong yesterday evening after most of the forum had long passed on by (does that sound familiar?). It was about Simon Heffer’s piece on the National Trust’s silly venture into politics. It continued this morning with this:
      “I also take pleasure in the recent election results in the US because it’s another sign that the world is returning to normal and the utter chaos unleashed by people like you, has almost run its course. You’re dying out; thank God.”

      I dared him to post it publicly. You decide if he’s watered down the insult with an edit typical of his slyness.

      2. You are dying out Billy. The younger are far more tolerant, they don’t worry about rainbow lanyards or mixed race couples on the telly. They listen to scientists and can spot the fraudulent climate change deniers a mile off, and although they will live far longer than the elderly deniers, they are prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to halt climate change. The young aren’t claiming that Trump won, nor are they using words like “face nappies”, nor claiming the world is controlled by an elderly Jew. They are getting on with their lives. They are better educated than previous generations, they are better travelled, they are more tolerant. The future is theirs, not yours.

        1. Seriously? The younger are far more tolerant?? Do you live in a cave? They try desperately to shut down anything that they don’t like to hear, no-platforming, statue-toppling, BLM, book-burning?

          1. Sue, don’t be silly. A tiny minority of young people indulge in that rubbish. Don’t make the mistake of thinking student politics represents the views of the young. It doesn’t by a country mile.

          2. Haha! Do you have children? Student politics have their place – they toughen them up for proper thinking, but don’t tell me that 30ish year olds have a complete view of anything!

          3. I have 4 children. 3 currently at Uni and one who graduated a few years ago. None, like the majority of their peers, was remotely interested in student politics.

          4. It’s the minority of their peers who I would be worried about. Educated, but without a brain to question what they have been told.

          8. But it’s true. Please return to your waterlogged view of the world and just hope the bridge doesn’t fall on you.

        2. “they are prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to halt climate change.” Halting climate change is an impossibility.

          2. Then those willing to make sacrifices to stop it are stupid, Why doesn’t he say that “they are mistakenly prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to halt climate change.” Doesn’t sound so good?

          3. Maybe he wanted to present the facts without bias & leave it to the reader to draw his own conclusions.

            Btw, you’re missing a ‘?’.

          8. Exactly! We know the climate has been changing for millennia but not because of puny man. A senior UN figure has said this is nothing to do with climate but to transfer wealth from the rich to the poor. Of course, the very reverse is happening.

        3. One of the most delusional posts you’ve ever made on here. Clearly you aren’t in touch with youth!
          There will always be impressionable fools who will lap up your favourite themes, but very many of them see through it.

          Remember, that people who support your agenda have been the driving force in the west broadly since the war, and the youth of today are living with the consequences of that. They are not all stupid!

          1. Do you have chidlren Ndovu? I have 4, three at Uni and none have been brainwashed by anyone/ anything. Remarkably they tend to be slightly right of centre in their political views. They also think judging people by their sexual orientation or skin colour, is stupid.

          2. They also think judging people by their sexual orientation or skin colour, is stupid.

            “Skin colour” if you pardon the pun is a red herring. You’re talking about race but trying to dodge it using insipid liberal terminology.

            They also think judging people by their sexual orientation or skin colour, is stupid.

            True. Then, one day, they will need to grow out of that. That is unless they manage to swing it to live in some nice tolerant white enclave somewhere, then they’ll be able to keep those pretensions intact.

            Of course we’re free to judge each person as an individual but at the same time we don’t live in some individual bubble. We live in a society where group behaviour is extremely important regarding crime, education, health, economy, housing and a ton of other stuff. Pretending that doesn’t matter at the macro level is an act of mind boggling stupidity. Or deliberate sabotage.

          3. They also think judging people by their sexual orientation or skin colour, is stupid.

            “Skin colour” if you pardon the pun is a red herring. You’re talking about race but trying to dodge it using insipid liberal terminology.

            They also think judging people by their sexual orientation or skin colour, is stupid.

            True. Then, one day, they will need to grow out of that. That is unless they manage to swing it to live in some nice tolerant white enclave somewhere, then they’ll be able to keep those pretensions intact.

            Of course we’re free to judge each person as an individual but at the same time we don’t live in some individual bubble. We live in a society where group behaviour is extremely important regarding crime, education, health, economy, housing and a ton of other stuff. Pretending that doesn’t matter at the macro level is an act of mind boggling stupidity. Or deliberate sabotage.

          4. They also think judging people by their sexual orientation or skin colour, is stupid.

            “Skin colour” if you pardon the pun is a red herring. You’re talking about race but trying to dodge it using insipid liberal terminology.

            They also think judging people by their sexual orientation or skin colour, is stupid.

            True. Then, one day, they will need to grow out of that. That is unless they manage to swing it to live in some nice tolerant white enclave somewhere, then they’ll be able to keep those pretensions intact.

            Of course we’re free to judge each person as an individual but at the same time we don’t live in some individual bubble. We live in a society where group behaviour is extremely important regarding crime, education, health, economy, housing and a ton of other stuff. Pretending that doesn’t matter at the macro level is an act of mind boggling stupidity. Or deliberate sabotage.

        5. Conceit, insult, arrogance, hubris. You presume to know the attitudes and abilities of entire generations and assume that each is uniform in its opinions. In your desperation to shore up your position you resort to using the term ‘denier’, as though examining questionable assertions and bad policies is to argue that water flows uphill.

          It is a paragraph that demonstrates your deep intolerance of other people’s views even as you claim that that is their vice.

          4. Cochrane only comes here to cause trouble. He has been here under many aliases. One hopes he will soon bu99er off again.

          5. Del, I never left, I may have stopped posting, but I’ve looked in nearly every day for four years. I do so for two reasons, firstly here are some interesting comments and links and secondly, I believe it is important to read what your political opponents are saying and this site is a great insight into the thoughts of the alt-right.

          6. I don’t think you would know alt-right if it bit you on the butt. I stumbled across an alt-right website by mistake once – it was very, very far from NOTTL!

            But that is the hubris of the centre and left in politics, to spring instantly to the “far right” smear – you are not the only person who comes on here and does that.

          7. that is the hubris of the centre and left in politics, to spring instantly to the “far right” smear

            That smear is also used by much of the ‘right’ as well. The left only punch right. And so do the right!

            The fact that “far right” is a smear but “far left” isn’t tells us everything we need to know about who has a choke hold on public discourse.

          8. Most of the Conservative party are centrists nowadays, so I included them in my post. They claim to be Conservatives, but trot out the “far right” tag when face with real conservative values.

          10. this site is a great insight into the thoughts of the alt-right

            It seems you’re going into straw man territory. This site is certainly not alt-right though some people here may be (somewhat on the quiet). Whereas I am or would be characterised as such. So if you actually want some insights check out my friends/followers. In fact go and chat with some of them.

        6. There is already more convincing statistical evidence for Democrat election fraud in the election two weeks ago than there is for global warming, er, climate change, sorry, I mean the climate emergency in the last twenty years.

          they are prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to halt climate change

          What, sterilise the populations of Asia and Africa? Based!

        7. There is already more convincing statistical evidence for Democrat election fraud in the election two weeks ago than there is for global warming, er, climate change, sorry, I mean the climate emergency in the last twenty years.

          they are prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to halt climate change

          What, sterilise the populations of Asia and Africa? Based!

    7. You mean the alt-right which stopped all the wars and made friends with North Korea ?

      Sounds a pretty good alt-right… I think we need more of it.

      1. Personally I don’t think we should make friends with commie dictators who kill their political opponents and cause starvation in their countries. But, if you want to be mates with Kim, it’s up to you I guess.

        1. Kim’s already been talking about re-unification with South Korea but of course world peace obviously isn’t your kind of thing.

    8. the nihilist alt-right

      Bullsh1t. It’s the total opposite.

      Nihilism is the endless dreary left/liberal propaganda served up 24/7 by the media/political complex. Where the arena only allows designated straw man arguments to battle it out.

      1. Amazing, almost every reply to me that you’ve ever made comes in overnight with the same upvoters. There’s a conspiracy to dwell on.

        1. Yes, it’s a feature of Disqus, just like it is on Twitter. You can ‘follow’ people and read their comments, get a feel for where they’re coming from.

          People follow me, and I follow them. They seem to generally like and agree with me, trust my comments and upvote them. I do the same for them. As I’m sure you’ll appreciate – the collective will generally overcome the atomised individual. I’ve said to you before, you could always go and talk to the people who upvote me, they’re merely a click away.

          If you don’t like this set up then feel free to take up your arguments with Disqus and maybe Twitter too. Perhaps the dumbed down comment systems now installed at the Daily Telegraph or Mirror Group titles would be more to your liking?

  28. ‘Morning again.

    How’s this for a sensational headline which is completely misleading? The aircraft had in fact accumulated 38 hours since restoration, not 20 minutes. And it most certainly wasn’t “wrecked” in the incident – the undercarriage collapsed resulting in damage to the underside of the fuselage and a bent prop.

    I know not who Lizzie Roberts is, but I am certain that she should not be trusted to write about aviation matters.
    With rubbish like this I’m sure the Daily Fail could find a job for her!

    From the DT:

    Hurricane fighter plane which cost £2m to restore ‘wrecked’ after 20 minute flight

    A neurosurgeon from Cambridgeshire spent two years restoring the classic fighter plane after it was shot down in WWII

    By
    Lizzie Roberts
    13 November 2020 • 6:00pm

    It took 78 years and £2 million in restoration costs to return the World War Two Hurricane fighter to the skies, but only a 20 minute flight to wreck it.

    The plane, which flew during the Battle of Britain, was only in service for four days before it was shot down over Kent by a German Messerschmitt Bf109 on September 28 1940.

    Landing in a bog near Canterbury, it lay undiscovered for decades until the 1990s when it was excavated by a group of metal detectorists.

    It wasn’t until August 2018, following a two year restoration costing £2 million, that it flew again and has since clocked up around 34 hours of flying time.

    But more bad luck struck the iconic plane on June 1 of this year after a 20 minute maintenance flight, when its undercarriage collapsed as it landed at Duxford Airfield, Cambridgeshire.

    A report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) partly blamed the accident on the unidentified pilot for failing to properly control the aircraft.

    It also found that an 11mph crosswind had helped cause the 350mph aircraft to “bounce” and veer to the right on the hard grass runway, putting pressure on the undercarriage.

    The 60-year-old pilot walked away unhurt from the stricken plane before it was sprayed with foam by the airfield’s firefighters to prevent a blaze.

    The plane is now undergoing restoration once again, with hopes it will be up and flying again by next year, according to Andrew Wenman, of Hawker Restorations which carried out the original restoration works, and retained ownership of 25 per cent of the plane.

    Commenting on the incident, Mr Wenman told The Telegraph: “I was very grateful no one was hurt… It’s obviously heartbreaking for it to happen, we’ve just restored it and released it, we want it to be up in the sky doing its thing.”

    The restoration was led by neurosurgeon Peter Kirkpatrick, a qualified pilot and a neurosurgeon at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. In January he revealed that he hoped to fly the Hurricane at air shows.

    Edit: I think it is reasonable to assume that the ‘unnamed pilot’ was this chap:

    https://cavendishmedical.com/clients/interview-with-mr-peter-kirkpatrick/

    Let us hope that his neurosurgery patients have better luck!

    1. “It took 78 years…to restore the Hurricane fighter to the skies.”
      No, it was 78 years since it crashed in the war, it was excavated in the 90s, so any restoration could only have started since then. HJ is too kind, Ms Roberts should not even be trusted to write until she has learnt how to.

    1. She often has that slightly vacant open-mouthed look. Her Nanny obviously failed to teach her to keep her mouth shut. At all times.

      1. She looks remarkably like one of Prince Andrew’s daughters. Can’t remember which one and I don’t really care enough to look her up.

      2. Visit Oz. You’ll soon learn to keep your mouth shut – the flies just zoom straight in”

          9. It’s no too late, if she wants it corrected. Maybe she doesn’t, some people don’t.

            I once made a set of dentures to give a patient a requested buck-tooth look. The set he was wearing gave him a ‘normal’ appearance (Angle’s class 1) & his wife had never liked them. I met their request & gave him the bunny look (an Angle’s class 2 div 1) When she saw them, his wife wept with joy, turned to me & said, “Thank you, thank you, you’ve given me back the man I fell in love with.”
            Moral: always listen to the patient & respect their wishes.

          10. Straightening does give some people an artificial look, like the Osmonds. I had a crowded mouth and the orthodonist told my mother to take me away as I was uncooperative as I made a face when he said I should have a brace. Our dentist removed four premolars and they straightened out.

            My elder son wore a brace for a year or two, the younger one didn’t – he has a slight crossover in front. We agreed that that was how he was and he still has it, much the same as his father.

          11. It’s sometimes possible to get an acceptable result by removing “4 fours (1st premolars)” without using a brace. Patient cooperation is a very important issue. When we were of that age wearing a brace meant at least a year or longer* with a series of contraptions in one’s mouth & not everyone can tolerate that. If a kid won’t wear a brace, or wears it irregularly there’s no point in starting the treatment.

            * Nowadays tooth movements are achieved much more quickly by using fixed appliances & Invisalign (which you can Google) uses ‘invisible appliances.

          12. My mum said “If she has to wear a brace she’ll wear it” but he refused to treat me. I don’t regret that.

          13. I had a similar problem as a child. I had four teeth (one each side at the back, top and bottom) removed and was given lip exercises to do. My teeth are now straight (and I still don’t have dentures).

          14. It worked for me. I don’t have any dentures and few fillings. I missed my hygenist appointment in the summer as it was cancelled, so my teeth are in need of descaling. The next appointment was booked for next month so I hope it will go ahead, even though it’s 20 minutes of torture.

            I was sorry to read just now that you were the target of bile last night. You- who never has a bad word to say to anybody, and whose life cannot be an easy one to cope with. I’m not usually here for the late-night fights, but I read them in the morning. Some people just never see anyone else’s point of view, do they?

          15. Thank you, but that’s life, Jules. I feel, in a way, sorry for Jennifer, largely because after I lost the love of my life when I was 22, I know how clinging on to it (not getting over it) can cause bitterness, unhappiness, depression, misery, envy of others’ happiness, touchiness and generally stop one from enjoying life to the full. It took me a long time to realise what I was doing to myself. Once I came to terms with my loss (got over it, in other words), I was able to move on and I hope I became a better person. It was a valuable lesson; it’s very hard when you are young to cope with sudden, unexpected loss, particularly when passions are so intense at that age. Now, I am witnessing a slow, inexorable decline in MOH. The end is inevitable and it’s painful, but I will still get over it because not to do so will be so self destructive. I just wanted to pass on some of my experience (and I didn’t want Phizzee to open an old wound – I’m sure he didn’t do so intentionally). You cannot, however, help those who will not help themselves.

          16. No – she’s lonely and bitter, but I do feel a bit sorry for her. You have a better attitude to life than she has.
            I try not to ignore her, but I only engage in any conversation when the subject is anodyne.

          17. Perhaps it’s me, but she seems to turn any subject, no matter how anodyne, into a lecture if she’s in the mood. Best avoid is my reaction.

          18. Mine too – I dislike confrontation, and I try to avoid being sharp with her. Sometimes it’s difficult to shut my tongue – I did ask her the other week if she’d had an irony bypass, but it fell on stony ground.

    2. Carrie Symomds is Boris’ partern. She is not an elected official. Not a member of the party of government. She has no business being involved in government business.

      If she is getting involved then that must stop.

      If Cummings was speaking unprofessionally about her he’s a berk

      It sounds as if the whole place is a giant toddler party, just with bigger toddlers and instead of party bags, they go home with red briefcases.

  30. 326389+ up ticks,
    This campaign has been building for years awaiting a trigger
    and a suitable moment, the suitable moment came on the
    24/25 / 6 / 2016 with the gullible voicing “we have won leave it to the tory’s”

    The controlling trigger was tailored made, inclusive of minor fear elements when added together making for a major fear,
    ie, chinks, bats, etc,etc.
    There is no doubt that, if the governance party’s put it out that treading on pavement lines gave you covis so stay indoors they would be believed.

    https://twitter.com/GerardBattenUK/status/1327588637710692352

    1. I thought that it was the pilot’s wallet that stopped him being sucked out (actually wrong size bolts). A true incident, no less. I imagine the photos are mock ups as no one had cameras in those days and the shot from above features a different window.

  35. I hear that Glove is to return to Education – and the fireplace salesman “side-lined”.

    And Carrion is to be Foreign Secretary….by being given a seat in the overcrowded House of Peers… (only joking – at the moment…)

    1. Here you are, Rudy………. please note the second half………………

      Malloch Brown was appointed chairman of global affairs for FTI Consulting in September 2010.[43] Consultancy appointments to oil companies Vitol and SouthWest Energy Ltd (both approved by the relevant parliamentary committee) were reported in 2010.[44]

      He was a member of The Guardian’s global development advisory panel. Malloch Brown contributed to the panel beside U2’s Bono, the Center for Economic and Policy Research’s Ha-Joon Chang and Mark Weisbrot, Paul Collier and others.[45]

      His book The Unfinished Global Revolution came out early 2011 on Penguin Press.[46][47]

      Malloch Brown became chairman of the board of directors of SGO Corporation Limited, a holding company whose primary asset is the election technology and voting machine manufacturer Smartmatic, in 2014.[48][49] Citing Malloch Brown’s former and present relationship with politicians in the Philippines as well as his role in Smartmatic, the IBON Foundation, a non-profit research organization based in the Philippines, criticized him as being “a foreigner who made a career out of influencing elections”.[17]

      He has served as Chair of the Royal African Society,[50] among other non-governmental and private sector roles, such as membership of the Executive Committee of the International Crisis Group.

      Association with George Soros
      Malloch Brown has been closely associated with billionaire speculator George Soros. Working for Refugees International, he was part of the Soros Advisory Committee on Bosnia in 1993–94, formed by Soros. He has since kept cordial relations with Soros, and rented an apartment owned by Soros while working in New York on UN assignments.[51] While serving as United Nations Development Programme Administrator, Malloch Brown spoke beside Soros in 2002 suggesting that United Nations and Soros’s Open Society Institute, as well as other organizations, work together to fund humanitarian functions.[52]

      In May 2007, Soros’s Quantum Fund announced the appointment of Malloch Brown as vice-president.[53] In September 2007, The Observer reported that he had resigned this position on becoming a government minister in the UK.[54] Also in May 2007, Malloch Brown was named vice-chairman of Soros Fund Management and the Open Society Institute, two other important Soros organisations.[55]

      In 2013 Malloch Brown and FTI Consulting came to a legal settlement with Israeli mining billionaire Beny Steinmetz, who had sued them claiming Malloch Brown had given confidential information to Soros which led to a smear campaign against Steinmetz’s mining company. The out-of-court settlement of €90,000 plus costs was without any determination of liability.[56]

      Malloch Brown is a member of the Executive Committee of the International Crisis Group,[57] and played a key role in its foundation in 1993–5. In July 2014 he became Co-Chair of the Board of Trustees.[58]

  37. Good morning all! We are back from our lockdown-breaking trip up the West coast! And two fingers to the fishwife! The weather was plentiful, but it was a joy to get away! Just to brighten your day here are a couple of photos (plus fat finger)! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/64753b639013980d952b5800a60ce0ca492ad4bacd73fd0eaaea657f0acc3c39.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e097ccbef0d39f6c8443dc534126eff12b5803e48214b6f4e33daa77fde72b79.jpg
    If you expand the 2nd one some sailors may recognise where we were staying! The other one is the end of the Crinan Canal just for Stephenroi!

      1. Pretty much! And the wind…..! Macrihannish beach was great for clearing the tubes! Doglet loved the breakers!

        2. Many years ago, I was on Balmedie beach, a tad north of Aberdeen, where the wind was trying to strip the sand away (as it does, often). Made a magic kiting venue – no trees to be in the way, strong, steady wind… lovely! I used to fly a big triple-decker back then, and it lifted me off my feet.
          Happy days…

    2. “Plentiful weather” – rather a poetic description, Sue.
      Does that mean “hissing down”?

      1. Not so much “down” as horizontal! So much for the Gulf Stream! Oops! North Atlantic Drift….!

          3. I’m reading Para Handy tales again, at the moment and being up there on Loch Fyne was chust sublime! Saw the Vital Spark at Inveraray which was a bit sad. It’s up for sale! Crowd fund £110,000

          4. I have a copy. They are good. I saw the boat for sale on website. Our successive Scottish governments have been criminal in their neglect and destruction of our heritage and culture, not least in respect of our built environment and factories and machinery.
            Probably because there are fewer bribes in preservation compared to a new shopping centre or housing estate.
            The St James Square was demolished to make way for the shopping centre, instead of being renovated. I don’t understand how Edinburgh still qualifies as a World Heritage site.

          5. As ever, the ignorant are in charge. Look at the Royal High School which would have made a first class Parliament building. Instead,we get an overhyped, over budget vanity project which is rapidly falling into disrepair. “Just because we can”. Well, how about saving something really worthwhile? £110,000? Not so much, eh?

    4. Should have travelled further north Sue – the scenery is even better (and you could have had a cuppa at mine)

      1. We came down via Oban to Ardfern because of the Rest and be thankful. It would have been even more stunning if the rain hadn’t been so persistent! I hadn’t realised you lived so far north!

          1. Oh lucky man! We had a couple of holidays at Badachro! 1963 was so hot we couldn’t walk on the sand in bare feet!

          2. I was in Badachro yesterday on a recovery, Nice little harbour there but as I remember the nearest decent sand is at Red Point or Gairloch. I’ve lived here 27 years and I wouldn’t move for anything

          3. It was Red Point beach! I was 6 and it was the year of the Great Train robbery and Kennedy’s assassination! What made you go there? It’s such a beautiful area.
            The Rest and be Thankful was a convoy system yesterday using the Old Military (Wades) Road! Quite an experience and a helicopter transporting huge rocks and equipment to the repair squad.

          4. Still nice there although it gets crowded with tourists, the single track road to Redpoint is bad for vehicles and I’m down there a lot changing wheels or recovering the cars if they don’t have a spare. Bout time you visited again and called for a cuppa (and I have a spare room)

  38. Just watched the England ladies beat the French bints at rugby, good match and nice to see no spitting from the ladies. Mind you I wouldn’t want to tackle any of them

    1. What was good about the game for me was that there was far more running rugby, not the constant one pass, crash, one pass, crash; interspersed with scrums followed by kick and chase.

      1. If I had one criticism it was too much kicking which always gives the ball to the opponent, possession is paramount. The English pack could have done better in the first half considering their 80Kg advantage

        1. Try telling that to the tosser Ben Youngs…. Giving away possession has been his “strength” for 100 matches. Wanqueur.

  39. Afternoon all. It seems that Boris has suckumed to Carrie. And now Brexit becomes FuchIt ? …

    1. We can’t be far off the “Due to Covid we’re expanding the transition period by three years” moment!

        1. He’s not that stupid. Rejoining means accepting an economic straitjacket that will be the death of the UK economy. We’d have to join the Eurozone.

          2. We’ll see in 4 years time if their manifesto commits to rejoining the EU and accepting the Euro. That’ll be the end of the UK. We’ll lose the only economic advantage we currently have, our sovereign fiat currency.
            Besides readmittance has to be unanimous. We’d be unlikely to see that without several years of polls showing huge support for the EU. The last thing the EU wants is to readmit a country that will exit after another five or ten years.

          3. The EUSSR would take us back like a shot – if only for the penalties to rejoin and the vast sums of money we pay in.

          4. No it would not.

            Every single country must agree. France now almost certainly won’t.

            The EU will want to be sure in means in for good and not in then out again a few years later. They will want to see maybe 70% support for the EU before agreeing to let us back in and if we went back in there’d be no more opt outs, it’ll be if you’re in then you’re in the Eurozone too, and Schengen. A worse situation than ever.

            We do have some very stupid politicians but not enough of them who would give up Sterling in favour of the Euro.

          5. Which would be the death of the UK economy.

            Hell, the only hope the economy has is being *out* of the EU and all it’s tentacles entirely.

          7. Are you SURE he isn’t that stupid? After five years it would be a case of “nothing to do with me, guv” and he’d be off to a nice, well remunerated sinecure with ultra low taxes.

          8. Well our national debt will be transferred into Euro debt, a currency we have no control over and can’t print at will. Taxes will go back to paying for services like under the Gold Standard. We won’t be able to meet the Maastricht criteria for a long time. Remember debt has to be under 40% of GDP. We’ll lose the ability to run strong deficits when they are needed, meaning unemployment and underemployment will rise with no hope of them ever coming down again especially with new automation and AI techniques coming shortly.
            You might all hate Gordon Brown but one thing he did do was stop Blair doing this to us!

          9. I agree, it was the only good thing Gordon did for us, but I suspect that if Blair had been anti joining the euro we would have been in 🙁 I also agree with all the negatives you postulate (I voted to leave, remember), but to the gold-plated PTB these things are nothing, a mere bagatelle. They care not one jot for this country, they are globalists, attached to no particular country.

  40. Is it me?
    I seem to be noticing the word “reset” occurring quite frequently. I never really noticed the word util thr last few months, and only in connection with the “Great Reset”.
    There is psychological thing that happens, which is that once you notice something, perhaps the name of a singer, and thereafter you notice references. The name is not appearing or occurring more often, it is just that you have “tuned in”.
    Call me H. “Paranoid “Pendleton but the apparent increased use of the word may be deliberate in order to accustom us to it? (“Psychological Warfare, Chapter 3”).

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54941846

    2. I think it’s just another buzz word which will go out of fashion as quickly as it came in.

  41. Earlier, someone mentioned The Tontons Macoutes, who were a ubiquitous presence at the polls in the Haiti 1961 election in which Papa Doc Duvalier’s official vote count was an “outrageous” and fraudulent 1,320,748 to 0. He was elected on a populist and black nationalist platform. I presume they drifted to the US Democratic Party after the ‘Doc’ died.

  42. President Donald J Trump undoubtedly won the 2020 election !

    As the amazing investigative journalist Corey Lynn tells us in relation to Pennsylvania……………

    ”PA Election Analysis: HUGE Anomalies & Indisputable Data”

    ”The astronomical amount of votes that were likely flipped from Trump to Biden is staggering when factoring in all of the ground games that were played in addition to the multi-layered combination of hardware, software, algorithms, and firmware generally known as the Hammer, Scorecard, Dominion and other transfer points. But make no mistake, the bulk of the steal came from the latter.”

    Please scroll………..

    https://www.coreysdigs.com/u-s/pa-election-analysis-huge-anomalies-indisputable-data/

    1. Per the DT today: “US election: Officials say ballot was ‘most secure in US history’ ”

      Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they.? It doesn’t say much for previous elections, though!

  43. A long read (if I can cut ‘n paste it) about the famed vaccine:

    “After a difficult nine months, we are naturally all sick of lockdowns and other Covid restrictions. Everyone misses parts of their pre-coronavirus lives, from seeing friends and family, to pubs and restaurants, to the theatre and concerts and, yes, even our workplaces. It was therefore no surprise that this week’s news of a vaccine breakthrough was widely applauded. It is human nature, after all, to cling on to things that give us hope. Hope that was encouraged by leading scientists such as Sir John Bell. After the Pfizer news broke, the Oxford professor was asked on BBC radio whether we would be returning to normal by spring. His response? ‘Yes, yes, yes.’ This was a When Harry Met Sally moment that proved to be music to the ears of millions of Britons.

    However, as a microbiologist who has worked on vaccine discovery, I struggle to see how, despite this very welcome leap, we can possibly be back to normal by spring.

    For starters, what quantity of vaccine is needed to return life to normal? Well, ‘we don’t know’, according to Matt Hancock. He is right to be cautious, because we still don’t know how effective the vaccine will be for its initial target demographic: care-home residents and staff. All we know so far is that it can protect some people for seven days after the second ‘shot’. There is no evidence yet of long-term immunity.

    It is unlikely to fall at the safety hurdle, but there are major questions over how it will be delivered. We need to be ready for the very real possibility that it could throw up surprises, such as how it might be tolerated by the elderly. Because this particular type of vaccine (of which we know relatively little) has never been licensed before, we cannot simply assume it will be ready to be rolled out in a matter of weeks, as is being breathlessly reported in much of the media. The challenges that will shortly become apparent won’t be insurmountable, but they will be time-consuming and will very probably slow the rollout.

    There is a strand of wishful thinking that coronavirus is an issue only for the old. The refrain that we can ‘shield those at risk and return to our normal lives’ will only get louder as we approach the Christmas season. But even if we vaccinate the elderly in care homes, the stark fact remains that millions of us remain at risk. Just look at the data on those who died in April: proportionately, the death of someone in England and Wales in the 45-64 age group is more likely to be due to Covid-19 than the death of someone aged 85 and over.

    In the UK, more than half a million of us have undiagnosed diabetes and five million are unaware of our high blood pressure. Why does this matter? Because these significantly elevate the risk of complications if you catch Covid-19. We also have a considerable overweight population, many of whom suffer from both aforementioned conditions: some 63 per cent of our adult population are believed to be overweight. Boris Johnson, for instance, pointed to his weight as a factor in his near-death experience with the virus. (‘Don’t be a fatty in your fifties,’ he warned.)

    To be blunt: walking among us are millions of working-age adults, living productive lives, who are at real risk from Covid-19. The Office for National Statistics calculated that in England and Wales when the epidemic was gathering momentum from late February to lockdown on 23 March, the coronavirus infected 3,839 working-age adults whom it then killed in the weeks that followed.

    A sizable number of Britons are inclined to reject any vaccine when it is ready to be fully rolled out. Talk of speedy development unnerves some people, while others believe it is pointless because the virus does not threaten them. One study from King’s College London this summer showed that only 53 per cent of Britons would be ‘certain’ or ‘very likely’ to get vaccinated.

    Pfizer’s press release states the vaccine leads to a 90 per cent reduction in the disease. Another big question remains unanswered: does the vaccine stop you becoming infected by the virus in the first place or just from becoming sick when you do? The former is needed to confer herd immunity, something particularly useful to care-home and healthcare workers, as it would prevent them from passing on the virus to those they care for. But if it just represses symptoms, there will be no protection for other people. It is worth remembering that in the Oxford trials, they found that in monkeys the vaccine only elicited protection against the symptoms, as opposed to stopping asymptomatic carriage of the virus.

    Vaccine trials can — and regularly do — fall at the final fence. I once worked on a project to identify potential vaccines for the MRSA ‘superbug’. A major pharmaceutical company took forward one of the candidates and it all went well until it was discovered that the vaccine (which had been intended to reduce the risk of post-surgical infection) increased the likelihood of death by a factor of five. It should not be forgotten that no Covid vaccine has actually completed its trials yet, let alone provided any data on longevity of protection.

    Of course the Pfizer vaccine is a big conceptual leap and it should be applauded. We now know that it is possible to generate protection against Covid-19. Given the scale of economic damage wrought by this disease, that’s been humanity’s biggest endeavour for the best part of a year; at no point was it ever a certainty. But we must not kid ourselves into thinking that it is a short-term silver bullet and life will return to normal any day now. We will probably need to maintain social distancing and mask-wearing, and carry out mass testing, for much of next year. The vaccine announcement is good news, but we must not blow it out of proportion. We are still some distance away from the end of this crisis.”

    Dr Simon Clarke
    Simon Clarke is associate professor in cellular microbiology at Reading University.     From the Spectator this week.

    1. “To be blunt: walking among us are millions of working-age adults, living productive lives, who are at real risk from Covid-19.” – – And those same millions, and millions more – – – are at risk of being stabbed, raped etc by the flood of third worlders who are being waved in to live off our taxes. Once they have wiped us out – – whose taxes are they going to live off?

    2. Interesting but asymptomatic transmission is still a logical fallacy. Airborne droplets are a symptom. Breathing does not, of itself, transmit disease.

      1. Good evening, Our Susan. There you have me. My pore brane can’t cope with (nor understands) ” asymptomatic transmission”…{:¬((

      2. buy shares in companies that make dry ice. There is quite a shortage already and demand will only increase when they ship the vaccine.

        1. Liquid N is what is used for transporting semen at roughly similar (or rather lower) temperatures.

          The suggestion below that it isn’t suitable for handling by the NHS is belied by the fact that both Liquid N storage vessels and the products stored in them have been handled on farms for decades. If the horny handed sons of the soil can cope I see no reason whatsoever why competent nurses can’t do so.

          1. That certainly puts it in perspective, all we hear is how difficult it will be because it needs to be colder than other vaccines.

          2. We’ve been keeping bull semen in liquid N storage vessels since the 1950s. Since the late 70s / early 80s almost every dairy farm in the country had its own storage and did its own insemination; and kept records of which bull was used on which cow on what date.

            We also have to account for all medicine use on farms – drug, batch number, expiry date, when given, withdrawal periods for meat and milk, when the meat and milk can be sold again, individual animal treated – the lot. Those regulations have been in place for somewhere between 25 and 30 years (I can’t remember the exact date but it was not long after I left Yorkshire and that was in 1988).

            So the “they’ll never be able to remember when it came out of the freezer” argument suggests that there’s a lot less recording of human medicines than there is of animal ones. And no one is going to convince me of that.
            .
            The “oh no we can’t” brigade (wherever and whoever they are) belong in the pantomime.

        2. That’s one way of taking CO2 out of the atmosphere. Oh wait, it eventually evaporates…

          1. Yup. Looks to be impossible for something so unstable to be handled and administered by the NHS and would be better suited to a clinical laboratory setting.

      4. It does. I assume after a short time outside of that the virus – as that’s what it is – degrades.

        However – if I may – could it be the need to keep the vaccine at a lower temperature is actually because once it gets to room temperature it becomes active and damaging?

      1. I found one of my key “this bloke doesn’t know what he’s talking about” signals in his assertion that he knows how many people haven’t been diagnosed with diabetes or high blood pressure. By definition if they haven’t been diagnosed than we have no idea of numbers – just none.

      2. Lately? I have read it every week since 1954 – and I have seriously considered cancelling my sub. I also read the Staggers from the same date – and scrapped it after its grindingly obsessive opposition to leaving the EUSSR – and the way it slagged off Corbynliner before he was elected leader of the Liebour shower – then fawned over him (and his henchfolk).

        And it is plain that staff at the Speccie have several oars in the “Sink Johnson” boat. They should stick to being woke …..

        You might like to try The Critic – that Our Susan recommended. Parts of it were very good (based on one issue only) – though some articles pissed me off – “Wonderful value for a London hotel at £475 a night – breakfast extra”. Give me a break…

        1. The Speccie still has a few sceptical items, but – under Fraser Nelson – it has gone seriously downhill and leftwards. My subscription is hanging in the balance. As is my DT subs. I cancelled it a few months ago, but reinstated it, realising – where else does one go for news?

    5. Dr Clarke won’t have to worry about his salary, income or pension though. His children will still eat, he will still fill his car up.

      Many millions of others won’t.

      Logically if masks worked, the rate wouldn’t have climbed as it did. Lock up only works while people are locked up. Distancing equally is ineffective and pointless. The number of cases rose dramatically… when we started looking for them.

      With this vaccine offering only 90% resistance – whatever that means – with a mortality rate of 0.7 then it’s pointless. That rate hasn’t risen, either. It’s remained, comfortably at that level. The age of those dying is also similar to flu. With the same co-morbidities.

      Given that we do not live forever this seeming presumption that we stay trapped indoors, wearing pointless masks and being kept apart for another year is stupid. To suddenly say ‘no, all gone, no worries!’ after that is idiotic. If we can do it then, why can we not do so now?

    6. maybe the vaccine can “save the nhs” if it is given to care home residents and the elderly.

      If numbers are to be believed (doubtful in these parts), vaccinating anyone over 65 will protect those most at risk. If the key objective is to keep nhs admissions down, this targeted treatment will reduce the virus to very low numbers.

      Not good if you are in the 0.001% of younger people that catches covid and dies, but you will drift off knowing that you did not stretch the nhs. What better parting thoughts can you have?

      Edit:
      I suppose that these vaccine trials have included oldies, not just fit youngsters. Hasn’t it?

        2. Mrs Melrose Ape had great difficulty keeping her angels – especially Chastity – in order.

          You would get on so well with our Henry’s godfather, David Whittle, who was the director of music in an independent school and a brilliant musician. In addition to which he is a great enthusiast of the Waugh family’s writing.

          For his doctoral thesis he wrote a biography of Bruce Montgommery who not only wrote film scores but also detective fiction under the nom-de-plume of Edmund Crispin. In the course of his research he met both Kingsley Amis who was a very close friend of Philip Larkin

          His thesis has been published as a biography of Bruce Montgommery.

          1. … he met BOTH Kingsley Amis who was a very close friend of Philip Larkin [.] Both KA and whom, Rastus?

    2. There was a lovely little restaurant by the sea on the island of Gozo. When the tide came in the diners did get wet feet. Nobody seemed to care.

        2. Er…not quite. Normally it’s not a problem as the tide only rises a few inches around the islands but there was a bit of chop to the water. Stormy at sea.

      2. It might haveseemed natural to the locals but I can imagine many panicky thoughts amongst tourists dining there for the first time.

        1. It was my first time there too. I laughed. I tend to wear deck shoes when in the Med so it didn’t matter to me.

  45. The National Trust isn’t always woke… sometimes it’s fast asleep….

    The NT owns Overbecks close to Salcombe in South Devon which is a superb Edwardian house high up on the cliffs and surrounded by a magnificent sub tropical garden which is open to the public.

    The property was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1937 by Otto Von Overbeck on condition that it should be used as a ”public park, museum and hostel for the benefit of youth”..

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overbeck%27s

    In consequence of the terms of the bequest, the NT leased half the house to the Youth Hostels Association for over 60 years but in 2014 increased the rent to a level making it uneconomic to the YHA who had to close the extremely popular hostel as a result.

    Now the half of the house which was a wonderful youth hostel and enjoyed by so many individuals lies empty and forlorn, and partly used for storage of furniture.

    When the hostel was open, there was conflict between the requirements of the YHA and NT in relation to car parking and use of the dining room for visitors, and the NT didn’t like YHA visitors enjoying the garden.

    So, although they deny it, it looks that the NT disposed of the YHA for the reasons given above.

    If they did not, then why not reduce the rent to the YHA and entice them back… or even under the NT banner, open their own youth hostel for the benefit of youth just like Otto Overbeck wanted and which forms part of his bequest.

    Either way, it’s about time that the National Trust awoke and complied with Otto Overbeck’s wishes and reopened Salcombe Youth Hostel !

    1. Now that is awkward, the Prime Minister’s girlfriend having her fingers in the Clinton globalist pie.

          3. My wife follows Instagram and is constantly showing me posts by her followers. As you say nothing much can be concealed in this modern Age. Biden was tied up in knots the other day by a clever woman journalist who questioned him over a historic sexual abuse allegation made against him 27 years ago.

            His body movements and the blink rates of his eyes were then analysed and discussed by four independent experts in the field. They concluded that whilst obviously coached in dissembling he was now past it and gave the game away. They concluded that Biden was a shifty liar.

          4. “…Biden was a shifty liar.” – but then, he is a politician, so what does one expect?

          5. “…so what does one expect?”
            The wise words of the Sheriff in Inverness when he dismissed a case against a man who had been brought to Court by the policeman whom he had called a “bastard”.

      1. The Clinton Foundation and companies like Pew are funded by Soros and Gates and have climate change near the top of their agenda to save the planet. Their devotees are often fanatical and very dangerous.

  47. I hate this time of year. It is twenty to wine and it feels like midnight.

    I’ll leave you to have a jolly evening playing nicely (and politely).

    A demain

  50. OK, I give up.

    Why is the BBC News spending 5 minutes plugging an ITV programme?

    “I’m cerebrally challenged” or some such…

    1. I’ve no idea whether it’s relevant but BBC Studios is a production house for hire these days so does actually make programmes for ITV.

      1. Interesting.
        That might well explain it, but also that would surely be a conflict of interest, so why wasn’t it declared?
        No need to answer, I can guess.
        };-O

  51. I posted this in reply to Rastus’ comment about the shenanigans currently unrolling at 10 Downing Street. I repost it here for the latecomers, like myself.

    Stanley Baldwin Quote: “The papers conducted by Lord Rothermere and Lord Beaverbrook are not newspapers in the ordinary acceptance of the term. They are engines of propaganda for the constantly-changing policies, desires, personal wishes, and personal likes and dislikes of two men? What the proprietorship of those papers is aiming at is power, and power without responsibility – the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages.”

    Footnote: 1931 Speech,18 Mar. Rudyard Kipling, Baldwin’s cousin, is alleged to be the original author of this famous phrase. Harold Macmillan claimed that the Duke of Devonshire (his father-in-law) responded ‘Good God, that’s done it, he’s lost us the tarts.’

    Nothing changes. The MSM are just as egocentric and avaricious as their predecessors. I love the response by the Duke of Devonshire.

    One of Macmillan’s quotes:

    “As usual the Liberals offer a mixture of sound and original ideas. Unfortunately none of the sound ideas is original and none of the original ideas is sound.” That applies to all the parties nowadays.

  52. Cochrane:
    “Blimey Billy Boy, a quick check of your history shows that you rarely reply to anyone but me. Proof, if proof is needed that you’re actually the pro-Putin Disloyal Barmaid.”

    Mad, quite mad.

    2. You’re obsessed by me. You reply to few others and have made two posts about me already today.

        1. You are quite correct. I’ve never really ‘gone away’ and regularly looked in when not posting, and it’s obvious that personal attacks on you and others whose views are not shared by the majority, have got worse and more frequent.

        2. The only surprise for me is that Lottie didn’t upvote you. Have you noticed the posts from people on here who do actually have a connection to the land? I haven’t seen any comments from you about at least three posters here who run, breed and train horses.

      2. Obsessed? Really?

        Let’s go back to yesterday. You made a tit of yourself in responding to the Simon Heffer article. Instead of owning up to your mistake, you scrabbled about trying to save face. This morning you returned to your vomit and continued to embarrass yourself. You got the response you deserved. And not just from me.

      1. I’ve been about most of today and so far have resisted calling out the obvious troll and his outrageous comments. I tend to uptick those who respond to him out of habit and need a drink perhaps.

    4. He has been cancelled several times – with good reason. Prince Nut Nuts (see how up to the minute I am?)

  53. My local Tesco has blocked off – and patrols – the upstairs bit where the electricals and bed linen – oh, and children’s clothes are.

    The state has dictated I cannot buy junior a coat, nor a bed sheet.

    What sort of total nutters are ruining this country with their petty, arrogant fundamentally *STUPID* arbitrary decisions?

    2. I’m certain that supermarkets can sell, so-called, non-essentials. So if they’ve stopped the sales of them it’s on their own initiative.

      1. Apparently not in Wales – to protect the small retailer, apparently. At their request.

        1. They’re all open again now – since last Monday. Cardiff city centre was, apparently, mobbed. But I haven’t felt the need to buy more than milk, bread and veg as yet.

          1. My son today brought us some much needed supplies from ASDA that we can’t get locally out in the sticks of Radnorshire.

          2. I’d have to go to England to find an Asda – and we’re not supposed to be doing that. But we have Morrisons and Tesco and Aldi and a small Sainsburys all fairly local (within 10 miles or so); and we still have a shop/Post Office/filling station in the village. So I don’t have too many problems. I do have to go to England too, because I work on both sides of the border (and live within 5 miles of it) and I’ve got a permitted medical appointment there this week. So basically I’ve had 2 weeks of Welsh lockdown and now my movements are still ruled by the 4 weeks of English lockdown – I do wish that London would condescend (just now and again) to speak to Cardiff.

        2. There’s lovely. Wouldn’t it have been easier to let the smaller retailers open as well, bach?

      2. If ‘non-essentials’ are on (say) a different floor, they’re not allowed to sell them. Think of yer large Tesco, with clothing / electricals / etc upstairs…

      4. An acquaintance went to a nearby garden centre yesterday.

        A heavily PPE’d girl at the door said ‘You know you are only allowed to buy essentials?’

        Acquaintance ‘Oh, what do you sell that is classed as essential?’

        Girl ‘Well, everything, but don’t spend too long buying it.’

        What is this country turning into?

        1. Saw afriend the other day who works in the garden centre cafe – I asked her if she’s been furloughed again, and she said no – she’s working in the Christmas tat section. She thought it was wrong they are still open, while all the small shops have to close.

        2. I hope, it is turning from a country where everyone obeys the rules into a country where everyone ignores them and tries to go under the radar. This characteristic is needed when living in a dictatorship.

          1. The rules on road safety. The rules on food hygiene. The rules on animal welfare. The rules about cruelty to children.

            Going to ignore them all are you … because that’s what you just wrote. You can’t pick and choose. Rules – or no rules at all.

          2. Of course we can pick and choose – just like the government has chosen which shops have to close and which stay open.

          3. No, we can’t. If the population once throws the rule book out of the window then anarchy is the only result. Under the radar will apply to every crook out.

            The government can choose, and should choose a whole lot better, but individuals can’t. It’s the first step to complete breakdown.

          5. And just, exactly, who is qualified to decide which regulation is “petty”? Flout one and someone will flout all – and you’ve opened the door to a completely lawless free-for-all. The consequences can only be disastrous.

            I want to see it done differently as much as you do, but it can’t be done that way.

          7. More than that I think. There seem to be rules, regulations and laws. Laws should be obeyed but rules and regulations may not be laws.
            The police are the ones who decide which laws they will apply to different groups doing the same thing. If the police can choose which laws to apply in some cases and not others it is not surprising that the public should also do the same.
            I quite like the saying that says Rules are for the guidance of wise men an the adherence of fools or words to that effect.
            Edit. that not thar.

          8. More than that I think. There seem to be rules, regulations and laws. Laws should be obeyed but rules and regulations may not be laws.
            The police are the ones who decide which laws they will apply to different groups doing the same thing. If the police can choose which laws to apply in some cases and not others it is not surprising that the public should also do the same.
            I quite like the saying that says Rules are for the guidance of wise men an the adherence of fools or words to that effect.
            Edit. that not thar.

          10. You have none. It doesn’t work like that. A free for all is a free for all – and that is exactly where your proposal leads – nowhere else.

          11. Everything has a context.
            And in this case, the context is that I’m not writing an exam, neither am I negotiating a legal contract, or posting on a hostile website where I expect my comment to be jumped on and attacked by political opponents with nothing better to do.
            Therefore, the context is normal conversation, and I do not add extra clauses to rule out every possible absurdity that can be dreamed up by someone determined to criticise. I have a reasonable expectation that common sense will apply.

          12. Common sense does, indeed, apply. It says that your comment invites a free for all, and mine is the answer to that invitation.

          13. Other answers have also dealt with this point. This state of not obeying all rules slavishly applies in most countries across the world, and they are not anarchies. Therefore I don’t accept your assertion.

            I think it is a particularly British problem, that we don’t have that automatic getting-round-stupid-rules mentality that prevails in other countries – so, when faced with stupid rules, we come off badly because we think they must all be obeyed.

          14. You don’t have to “accept” my statement of fact. That’s your prerogative. But no, it’s not like that anywhere that isn’t anarchic. It’s not a British problem… it’s how civilisation works.

          15. Well actually, yes it is like that in the majority of countries. Italy is not an anarchy. Spain is not an anarchy. France is not an anarchy. Etcetera.

      5. If ‘non-essentials’ are on (say) a different floor, they’re not allowed to sell them. Think of yer large Tesco, with clothing / electricals / etc upstairs…

    3. My local M&S has closed its upper floor but seems to’ve put a selection of goods from there – bed linen, men’s and kids clothes – on the ground floor.

    11. Do you have a Labour Council? Ours is Conservative and our Sainsbury’s is still selling everything including clothing.

  54. Give yourselves a heartwarming view on Channel 5 or Channel 5+1 a bit later.
    Our Yorkshire Farm: 5 years on. 9 children and all contribute to the running of the farm. Amazing.
    With parents and children like this there will always be hope and, boy, don’t we need a lot of that.
    Should be compulsory viewing in all schools.

    1. Saw this yesterday, Alf. Their maturity and motivation is wonderful to watch. What a great credit they are to their parents.

          1. Luckily we can all have our own opinions. Some get uppity about it but life’s too short for that.
            Live and let live.

          2. Quite amazing how some here are curmudgeonly and are dismissive of the family. Perhaps they would prefer to see families in benefits. Perhaps they need to look in the mirror and reflect on what they said. It was definitely not fiction when a six year old was shown how to deliver a lamb. Can’t please some people.

          4. I am certainly smug and satisfied and i haven’t had to rely on any type of benefits. Do your UNI children pay for their education themselves or have you funded them? How have you been able to do that?

          5. They have loans like almost every other student. They’re all adults so applying for and ultimately, I trust, paying back their loans is part of growing up. I would never see any of them go bankrupt if I could prevent it, but they’re over 18.

      1. Wouldn’t be you if you weren’t contrary. I think it’s marvellous that the children know about life and will be doers when they grow up and not spongers. I thought you would admire that.

        1. It sounds as though they will be doers as their parents appear to be – probably end up with their own TV programs though!

          1. The programme was more than about the number of children for me. It showed how they could all help and they certainly appeared to be loved by their parents and each other.

          2. Maybe they’re Catholics, Bill – or it could be that there just isn’t a lot else to do in the long dark winters in the hills 🙂

  57. Early life and education

    Symonds was born on 17 March 1988 to Matthew Symonds, co-founder of The Independent, and Josephine Mcaffee (née Lawrence), a lawyer working for that newspaper.[2][3] Her paternal grandfather was John Beavan, Baron Ardwick (at one time editor of the Daily Herald and later, during the 1970s, a Labour Party MEP), and her paternal grandmother was Anne Symonds, a BBC World Service journalist.[4][5]

    Symonds grew up in South West London, and between 1999 and 2006 attended Godolphin and Latymer School, an independent day school for girls. She went on to the University of Warwick, where she studied art history and theatre studies, completing her degree in 2009.[6]

    Career and political activism

    In 2009, Symonds joined the Conservative Party as a press officer.[7] She worked at Conservative Campaign Headquarters,[8] and later campaigned for Boris Johnson in the 2010 London Conservative Party mayoral selection. She has also worked for Conservative MPs Sajid Javid (as a media special adviser) and John Whittingdale.[9]

    Symonds became the Conservative Party’s head of communications in 2018,[10] but left the position later that year,[2] taking up a job in public relations for the Oceana project.[11][9] It was reported that she was asked to leave her post as director of communications after sources claimed party chiefs had said her performance was poor, and questions were raised over significant unjustified expenses claims.[12] These accusations were, however, rejected by other sources as being a smear campaign based around rumours allegedly spread by Johnson’s political strategist, Lynton Crosby.[13][14]

    John Worboys case
    In 2007, aged 19, Symonds was driven home from a King’s Road nightclub by taxi-driver John Worboys, who in 2009 was convicted of multiple sexual assaults on his passengers. She later recalled Worboys offering her champagne and vodka, which she believed was spiked and, after returning home, “vomiting and laughing hysterically before passing out until 3pm the next day”.

    Symonds was one of fourteen women who testified against Worboys at his trial. She subsequently told The Telegraph that he was “a sad, wicked man who is a danger to society. I feel so angry that he pleaded not guilty and made us go through the pain of giving evidence in court”.[17]

    Symonds was the youngest of Worboys’ victims, and waived her anonymity to talk about her experiences and, later, to campaign against his early release.

    She has been described as a “passionate animal rights defender”[15] and is a patron of the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation

    Symonds was previously in a long-term relationship with British political journalist Harry Cole.[2

    1. “Symonds was born on 17 March 1988 to Matthew Symonds, co-founder of The Independent.”

      The Independent? She has had her brain rinsed out by her father.

      It’s worth repeating what the late Auberon Waugh said about that left-wing rag:

      “The newspaper caters for the same congregation of embittered female social workers, uneducable teachers, unemployable arts graduates and redundant health administrators as the Guardian, with a slightly stronger pitch towards the “gay community.”

      I wonder how many Tory votes Symonds has already put in jeopardy. Boris must be mad to bring her into Downing Street!

    2. My niece, Susie, was head girl of Godolphin and Latymer School in 1974 before going on to Oxford. At that time it was a highly selective state school at which were also the daughters of Shirley Williams – a keen advocate of comprehensive schools in the Labour government. These poor girls had to leave G&L as it was not a comprehensive school and their mother was worried that having her daughters at such a school would make people think she was a hypocrite – as if people would think such a thing!

      Rather than being forced into becoming a comprehensive school G&L decided to become independent and it has flourished. We have had several girls from the school on our French courses over the years along with pupils of both St Paul’s Boys’ and St Pauls’ Girls which are nearby. We have also had the children of teachers at these schools on our courses.

      It is so frustrating wanting to get our courses up and running again for next year but not knowing if we shall be stopped from doing so by Covid rules and enforced quarantines. We had built up such a good reputation and all our courses were always fully booked. Caroline is still in her 50’s and is far too young, intellectually alert and enthusiastic to give up teaching French just yet.

      1. You should go ahead with your programme for Easter and hope you can run them with students actually attending. Otherwise go for virtual teaching again. But don’t stop them.

        1. The MR teaches a course in Oxford and at Cambridge to final year school children. This year’s courses were cancelled. The first one, in April 2021 will be online. It is hope the June one will be live – but it all depends on whether parents (most of the children are from overseas) are willing to risk their precious babies travelling in these “dangerous times”.

          1. All of our students come from overseas – as they have to cross the Channel from England and Scotland to get to us!

            We ran our Easter courses on line at Easter but we managed to run five weeks of actual courses in July and August but with greatly reduced numbers. If we have to run more on-line courses we shall do so but Caroline does not enjoy it very much.

            Our love to Carolyn and the kittens. I posted a photo of our cat, Chaucer, on top of the red car you used to have when you visited Le Grand Osier in 1989!

        1. Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
          Is the immediate jewel of their souls:
          Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing;
          ‘Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands:
          But he that filches from me my good name
          Robs me of that which not enriches him
          And makes me poor indeed.

          [Othello]

        1. We have had under 2000 euros in total made up of a refund of social charges of 1,300 euros and a government hand-out of 600 euros.

  60. Did somebody upset Andrew Lockwood? He’s closed his account. We all wished him a happy birthday and he seemed happy to be here.

  61. More Countries Line Up for Russia’s Sputnik V Coronavirus Vaccine. 14 November 2020.

    More than 50 countries have requested to buy or localize production of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine as the race for a safe and effective vaccine that could end the deadly pandemic heats up across the globe.

    In recent weeks, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) that is marketing Sputnik V has announced plans to sell: 100 million doses to India, 50 million to Brazil, 35 million to Uzbekistan and 32 million to Mexico, as well as 25 million to Nepal and Egypt each.

    Looks like Vlad’s cornering the market here!

    https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/11/13/more-countries-line-up-for-russias-sputnik-v-coronavirus-vaccine-a72042

  63. Afternoon toon

    All the stories have been told

    Of kings and days of old,

    But there’s no England now.

    All the wars that were won and lost

    Somehow don’t seem to matter very much anymore.

    All the lies we were told,

    All the lies of the people running round,

    They’re castles have burned.

    Now I see change,

    But inside we’re the same as we ever were.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsLhNxzwK1Y

    2. Boris will employ the military soon for these demonstrations. The police can’t control them. The protesters may have more respect for the military.

    3. The bit I don’t get is… why are they suddenly out in force and fighting when if it were a bunch of black wasters they all run away?

  65. Good night all.

    Slow-roasted pork with super crackling, braised red endive, potato gratin. Baked Granny Smith with honey & brandy forming a thick jelly around the base.

        1. Sounds like you are trying too hard. A Sunday lunch maybe, but to to do it for one is an indulgence. Even narcissistic. A bit like Pedantry,
          the quality of being too interested in formal rules and small details that are not important.

          🙂

          1. He doesn’t have much choice but to cook for one. He enjoys it so why not? I know I wouldn’t bother.

    1. I caught an advert for “Black Friday” today – Black Friday? It’s Black Every Day of the Week!

    2. Reminds me of the girl guide taking my party around Durham Castle and referring to a chair ‘designed by Gremlin Gibbons’, In fact it was a mock Tudor chair and Edwardian.

  68. Evening, all. The headline is a non-sequitur if ever there was one; having the vaccine is no guarantee of staying out of hospital – falls and other diseases can easily put people in hospital and then chances are they would go down with something nasty (the only childhood illness I ever suffered was contracted when I went into hospital and they are nothing like as hygienic these days).

    1. My 87-year old MiL is currently in hospital with a severe recurrent chest infection. The medics swear blind she has COVID, even though she has a normal temperature and no cough. At one point they moved her to a ‘hot’ ward, where there are patients who probably do have COVID. After SIX tests which were negative they moved her back to a normal ward, much to the relief her two daughters. And now they still can’t visit her, ‘just in case’.

      1. Sorry to hear about your MiL, A_A. I hope they manage to get to the bottom of it before they do any serious damage. They are all Covid-frantic and want to diagnose it everywhere.

        1. I paid a fee for a site consultation with a planning officer at St Edmundsbury, on behalf of a client, because the council advertised that they would not permit office consultations but would meet potential applicants on site. Now the designated officer does not wish to meet on site citing Corona virus concerns.

          I believe the fear of dread has been installed in all of the public sector (allegedly working from home) and this is assisting the gradual destruction of our economy.

          Meanwhile the rest of us, the generators of our economic wealth, are supposed to be confined to our homes. What a perfectly stupid leader we elected in Boris Johnson and his unutterably dense cabinet.

          These idiots will now pay a very heavy price at the first opportunity we have to unseat them.

          Edit: Cripes I attracted an instantaneous downvote for simply recording a practical event. I suppose the witch was lying in wait and is particularly angry tonight. Someone else must have upset her. I am not to blame. Mea culpa.

          1. The trouble is, corim, what is there to replace them? Just more of the same, I fear. The electors of Eddisbury had a chance to vote for someone different, but they chose exactly the same as their previously discredited MP who had so infuriated them. A different face, but exactly the same credentials. It destroyed my faith in the electorate, to be honest.

          2. I am so sorry to read that. At times like these where an assortment of boughten fools are trying to influence us, I believe we need to stand firm and resist.

            We must not give in to underhand practices nor to malicious bullying which has become prevalent nationwide and even on this forum.

      2. Go on the internet and research antibiotics for chest infections. Buy them and administer them yourself. The NHS doesn’t bother themselves with people that age.

  69. Just started watching ‘From here to Eternity’, getting my glass topped up. What a cracking film.

    2. Some years ago a wag once stuck a small label next to the Audiology Department on the local hospital’s map in main reception, with an arrow pointing to one of the other departments: ‘From Hear to Maternity’.

  70. Watching TV it looks like lots of adverts, set in homes, for all sorts of thing are now all very colourful and upbeat, happy-clappy, joy-joy. Happy families doing a variety of exciting stay at home things. Being in lockdown at home, in a bubble with no visitors is wonderful.
    This seems to be a very clear message. Is the Government subsiding these adverts?

        1. that brings the ads down to the level of the programs.

          It must annoy the entertainment industry when viewers are more interested in the ads than in their programming.

          1. When my father was living with me he used to go to bed about 10.30 pm., when a good programme/film would be starting. He used to sit though the last ads after the News, then as the film was starting make a big tamasha of going to bed, thus spoiling the start for me.

        1. nor do we – it’s more thn 10 years old and has no internet, just a recording box separate. anything wit ads that we want to watch gets recorded. We can’t use iplayer as the internet connection is too slow.

      3. I have to admit, even when I was much younger, it never occurred to me that the adverts were anything to do with me.
        Some were genuinely funny, but I’d be hard pushed to remember what they were advertising (which was, apparently, quite problem for companies).

        1. We have a few of those just now. Quite good, but no idea what they are for, and can never remember once the ad is over, either.

          1. There’s a DUNELM advert on TV – I have no idea at all what it is trying to sell.

            There’s another with a woman with a distorted face which ends up with a mixed race lesbian couple in bed together – goodness knows what that is meant to be about.

          2. There’s a DUNELM advert on TV – I have no idea at all what it is trying to sell.

            There’s another with a woman with a distorted face which ends up with a mixed race lesbian couple in bed together – goodness knows what that is meant to be about.

    2. If we can be bothered to watch, we play ‘spot the white person’.
      Bonus points for clocking a white man unless it’s a funeral advert.

        1. spot the black voices on Radio 4

          And on TV continuity, documentaries and TV adverts.

          The correct term is: OBVO for Obligatory Black Voice Over.

          Particularly for anything related to new gadgets, cars, software. Nothing screams technological excellence like the blessing of a person of African origin.

        2. Endless focus on minor issues. Wgere’s the focus on tackling crime, or is that so last century?

          1. That proved to be in conflict with Left wing big state, massive immigration, inequality politics – such as ignoring black mugging and knife crime in favour of hammering those white people questioning if a vicious rapist wearing a dress should actually be allowed into a women’s shelter.

    3. Is the Government subsiding these adverts?
      Well as i explained to one of our sons and his now furloughed wife……….as tax payers you are going to pay for all of this its the only money the bloody government have the produce nothing except misery whilst helping themselves to large enviable salaries, gold plated expense accounts and bomb proof pensions.

    4. Is the Government subsiding these adverts?
      Well as i explained to one of our sons and his now furloughed wife……….as tax payers you are going to pay for all of this its the only money the bloody government have the produce nothing except misery whilst helping themselves to large enviable salaries, gold plated expense accounts and bomb proof pensions.

    6. And the parents are based on mixes of race ? ( pure guess) – and the kids are what skin colour? . . . .Brainwashing.

        1. Miscegenation is the new homosexuality

          In TV land; being homosexual is the most exalted state to which any human being could possibly hope to aspire to. That is until a year or so back when being a tranny surpassed it.

          We can see that white privilege is still rampant because almost all gays (and indeed trannies) on-screen are white males. White men certainly have the role of whiny, effeminate, inept losers also completely sewn up. Well, apart from a few Asians who are honourary whites in this context.

          By comparison black men are usually condemned by the soft bigotry of low expectations to play the contemptible niche part of masculine, dependable husbands, fathers, leaders of men. Generally depicted in a solidly middle class environment with a white woman to match.

          It would seem that historically opposing tribes/armies/football hooligans etc would call the masculinity of their enemies into question while boasting of their own. Both as an insult to those enemies and to bolster their own self-confidence. If this general principle still applies then we can infer that our broadcast media (all media really outside of the internet) is in the hands of an enemy group.

        2. Miscegenation is the new homosexuality

          In TV land; being homosexual is the most exalted state to which any human being could possibly hope to aspire to. That is until a year or so back when being a tranny surpassed it.

          We can see that white privilege is still rampant because almost all gays (and indeed trannies) on-screen are white males. White men certainly have the role of whiny, effeminate, inept losers also completely sewn up. Well, apart from a few Asians who are honourary whites in this context.

          By comparison black men are usually condemned by the soft bigotry of low expectations to play the contemptible niche part of masculine, dependable husbands, fathers, leaders of men. Generally depicted in a solidly middle class environment with a white woman to match.

          It would seem that historically opposing tribes/armies/football hooligans etc would call the masculinity of their enemies into question while boasting of their own. Both as an insult to those enemies and to bolster their own self-confidence. If this general principle still applies then we can infer that our broadcast media (all media really outside of the internet) is in the hands of an enemy group.

  71. Divisive politics can’t win in the long run. It is becoming clear that Biden’s win was due to the massive increase in turnout with previously marginalised communities being energised to vote, not least because it was the one way they could fight the bigotry of the alt-right stirred up by Trump. The fascinating maps below show how the Native American community in Arizona helped to flip the state.

    https://twitter.com/DiinSilversmith/status/1324752536121716736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1324752536121716736%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.independent.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworld%2Famericas%2Fus-election-2020%2Farizona-native-american-navajo-nation-biden-election-2020-b1723066.html

    1. Er, Biden didn’t win. Donald Trump won.

      There was a vast amount of pro Biden fraud as the statistical evidence demonstrates.

        1. As you clearly demonstrate over and over and over again !

          Most of your posts are wrong or badly founded.

          You have no valid evidence to demonstrate the election was free and fair, and it certainly was not.

          1. Pretty sure that the various officials involved have been saying that it was free and fair. However, it’s up to Trump to prove that it wasn’t because he is the one making the claims. Almost two weeks down the line and the world is still waiting.

          2. The ”various officials” are in on the plot. They are the enablers.

            The statistical evidence is overwhelming in favor of Trump.

            All you’ve got is the word of ”various officials”.

            Your case couldn’t be weaker.

            Anyway, for a fraud as complex as this, it will take time for it to be unravelled. It cannot be done in just days.

          3. “…a fraud as complex as this, it will take time for it to be unravelled. It cannot be done in just days.” Already spinning why Trump won’t delvier any actual evidence! A big reason people see through your claims is that what you keep claiming will happen “next week”, never actually happens.

          4. Problem for you, sweets, at this early stage is that you have no argument against the statistical evidence… and consequently idle sneers is all you have.

          5. The statistics tell us that Biden won. As I pointed out last last night, had Trump not run such a divisive presidency, the various minorities such as Native Americans, may have voted for him in significant numbers. As it was the Dems managed to get their vote out, hence the record turnout which was enough to swing some of the states Trump flipped last time around.

          6. Oh c’mon…. the bellwether counties voted more for Trump this time than they ever have before.

            Did you read the other analysis I posted yesterday ?

          7. Yes, I did read it and bellwether counties are irrelevant when the turnout goes through the roof.

          8. You mean the turnout in the exact counties where it matters, but not in any of the counties where it doesn’t matter.

            That’s very odd isn’t it ?

            Looks like it was a fake ”win”……….

            It was a fake ”win” !

    2. Divisive politics can’t win in the long run. It is becoming clear that Biden’s win was due to the massive increase in turnout with previously marginalised communities

      Bring the lulz!!!!!

      The election is a clear indication of divisive politics. A process that has been gathering pace for 50 years. I say 50 years because thats the last time a majority of white voters (real Americans) voted Democrat. Ever since then they have trended Republican in every single presidential election. Meanwhile all other main ethnic groups in the US – blacks, asians, jews, hispanics, arabs etc have voted majority Democrat and ALWAYS have.

      So there is a clear fault line in US politics – non-whites vs whites. The Democrats can only win by suppressing the white vote or swinging a few percent to the left. In 20 years or so the Dems won’t even need to do that because mass immigration (legal and illegal) and disparate birth rates will give them the numerical advantage to crush the hated white demographic, even if every white person votes Republican.

      We’ll be getting a similar deal here too of course but it will take longer because whites are a larger percentage of the UK population than of the US. I believe Labour are already dependent on non-white voters to win many seats.

      These marginalised minorities – why do they keep moving to the US to be marginalised I wonder? If that was me, I would stay at home. Is it because they don’t like where they come from? Which means are you saying countries full of africans or amerindians are sh1tholes? Oh dear. Or are you saying they are moving to the US on the promise of being allowed to share in the spoils of looting a white nation?

      You do realise that once hated whitey has been sidelined your beloved coalition of the marginalised will turn on each other and create some new variation of the South African rainbow paradise or perhaps Brazil or, a real long shot – maybe a caste system like India.

  72. Boris on climate change

    February 2006 (on climate change): “Humanity has largely lost its fear of hellfire, and yet we still hunger for a structure, a point, an eschatology, a moral counterbalance to our growing prosperity. All that is brilliantly supplied by climate change. Like all the best religions, fear of climate change satisfies our need for guilt, and self-disgust, and that eternal human sense that technological progress must be punished by the gods.”

  73. May 2016 (writing in The Sun about Barack Obama and the “missing” bust of Winston Churchill in the White House): “Some said it was a snub to Britain. Some said it was a symbol of the part-Kenyan president’s ancestral dislike of the British empire – of which Churchill had been such a fervent defender.”

    4. Thank you for posting

      The close harmony vocals of the Hollies were certainly the best in the business in the 60’s

        1. Saw Crosby Stills & Nash in Glasgow 5 years ago. The sound was wonderful and they weren’t allowed to leave the stage! The staff kept putting the lights up but they stayed on the stage! Brilliant concert! Graham Nash was a bit of a k**b though!

  75. March 2006 (column in The Telegraph): “All around us, in our courts, in the oppressive liberty-destroying Bills being rushed through Parliament, we see the disasters of multiculturalism, the system by which too many Muslims have been allowed to grow up in this country with no sense of loyalty to its institutions, and with a sense of complete apartness

  76. Boris’s memory must have dimmed and his mindset altered because the punchiness and wordiness of past quotes have not been actioned during his premiership

      1. 326389+ up ticks,
        More to the point does
        Liz know ?
        The train robbers got 30 year for robbing the Queens mail, rescinding the Queens oaths
        without her say so should carry the same.

  80. Been a good evening, didn’t see any fights tonight, at least not too many. The old films are the best. Good book on the go too. Sleep tight, all.

      1. If you’d had help in mind, you wouldn’t have been so tactless, so arrogant, so dismissive or so thoroughly unkind.

          2. You are right but i can’t stay silent when someone who never says a bad word about anyone is attacked in this way.

            I’ll shut up now.

          4. One reason to bugger off early – the (alcohol-fuelled?) squabbling. Very dull.
            Morning, Grizz!

          5. Morning, Paul.

            Sometimes its is difficult to distinguish between the behaviour of spoilt children and cantankerous, curmudgeonly geriatrics who have entered their second childhood.

    1. Goodnight Conners. Me too. There are several who seem intent on annoying us when the moon is out. I give up with them. They are really not worth the candle.

        2. 326389+ up ticks,
          Evening PM,
          I know it would be inconceivable to many but
          ….. we are NOT obligated
          to accept “their” rulings and put the party before the Country.
          There I have said it.

          1. Journey’s End is a wonderful piece of writing. But it’s not exactly cheerful Saturday evening viewing. Appropriate to the season though.

          3. When you’re feeling strong Plum. I had read the text as a schoolgirl, but the drama takes the emotion up a gear.

  84. September 2005 (in Telegraph comment): “China is becoming in our imaginations the fashionable new dread, the incubator of strange diseases, a vast polluted landscape of Victorian factories where coolies sit in expectorating rows, nourished on nothing but rice and the spleens of pangolins, producing whirling typhoons of cheap bras and lingerie that race across the seas and reduce the native industries of the West to matchwood.”

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