Wednesday 16 December: Britain is the odd country out in banning small gatherings at home

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its comments facility (now reinstated, but not as good as ours),
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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/12/16/lettersbritain-odd-country-banning-small-gatherings-home/

716 thoughts on “Wednesday 16 December: Britain is the odd country out in banning small gatherings at home”

  1. SIR – I never thought in my wildest nightmares I would hear that police had entered my local pub and placed a hand on a customer’s food to test its temperature, in an attempt to ensure there was no tarrying. This outrageous behaviour befits a police state.

    David Wirrich
    Torquay, Devon

    I’ve been in pubs where the food arrives cold at the table but I don’t need a rozzer to stick his finger in it.

      1. I dont think it would have counted in an application for a late licence.
        I dont know why they couldn’t just use those rules instead of bringing in new definitions.

  2. SIR – There is, in my view, no substitute for reading the proper, paper edition 
of The Daily Telegraph. However, scrolling through the online edition this morning, in order to ferret out the latest Brexit negotiations, I came across a piece written by Professor David Collins in April.

    He pointed out that there can be no “level playing field” while Germany and others benefit disproportionately from the distortion caused by an undervalued currency, effectively subsidising their exports to us.

    I have heard no recent mention of this massive “unfair” (to use the Commission president’s language) advantage enjoyed by the EU, which I hope Lord Frost and his team have taken into account.

    Sir Gerald Howarth
    Chelsworth, Suffolk

  3. Good morning, all a little humour to start the day:

    Drinking Beer Could Turn You Into A Woman.

    Beer contains female hormones! Yes, that’s right, FEMALE hormones!
    Last month, Montreal University and scientists released the results of a recent analysis that revealed the presence of female hormones in beer. Men should take a concerned look at their beer consumption. The theory is that beer contains female hormones (hops contain Phytoestrogens) and that by drinking enough beer, men turn into women.

    To test the theory,

    100 men each drank 8 schooners of beer within a one (1) hour period.

    It was then observed that 100% of the test subjects, yes, 100% of all these men:-

    1) Argued over nothing.

    2) Refused to apologize when obviously wrong.

    3) Gained weight.

    4) Talked excessively without making sense.

    5) Became overly emotional.

    6) Couldn’t drive.

    7) Failed to think rationally, and

    8) Had to sit down while urinating.

    No further testing was considered necessary!!

    Send this to the men you know, to warn them about drinking too much beer and women, to help their man!
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/86296201ce82fecca49e7decf7cdf3e181499e321bb7cac4c1f20a75877641fb.gif

    1. Morning, Tom.
      What’s a beer schooner? Someone gave me a sherry schooner of beer, I’d be mightily disappointed! 8 wouldn’t even wet my throat, let alone bring on any of the symptoms listed!

        1. Wasn’t that two sticks, if you lived in Brum back in the day? Stick used to be 1/3 pint, mostly reserved for charladies as I recall.
          Morning, JBF.

  4. SIR – I understand that schoolchildren are denied mobile devices in the classroom, presumably to secure their full attention to their studies.

    As a regular viewer of debates in the House of Commons, it appals me to see that most MPs who are physically attending are “heads down” into their phones or tablets while serious matters are being discussed.

    Why can’t the Speaker ban mobile devices – or are kindergarten rules different?

    Trevor Watts
    West Chiltington, West Sussex

    1. ‘Morning, Citroen, given the way they behave these days, the Commons gets more like a kindergarten of spoilt brats every day.

  5. Received this, this morning, and I’m sure others have:

    Elliot Colburn
    (Carshalton and Wallington) (Con)

    I beg to move,

    That this House has considered e-petition 323442, relating to vaccination for Covid-19.

    It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir David. The petition is entitled,

    “Prevent any restrictions on those who refuse a Covid-19 vaccination”.

    To date, more than 307,000 people have signed it, including 641 from my constituency. It states:

    “I want the Government to prevent any restrictions being placed on those who refuse to have any potential Covid-19 vaccine. This includes restrictions on travel, social events, such as concerts or sports. No restrictions whatsoever. You cannot force someone to have a vaccination, and should not be able to coerce them into it by way of restrictions. We have to the right to assess the risk ourselves as we have done in the past.”

    The Government’s reply states categorically:

    “There are currently no plans to place restrictions on those who refuse to have any potential Covid-19 vaccine.”

    Note the last line, “There are currently no plans to place restrictions on those who refuse to have any potential Covid-19 vaccine”

    Weasel words, as usual.

      1. Well said Anne – people need to stop denigrating weasels by comparing them to scumbag politicians!!

    2. That’s exactly what I noticed. But they didn’t vote on the petition at all, NoToNanny. If you read the transcript in full, what was proposed at the end (and voted for) was that the petition had been discussed. So, they all agreed that the discussion had been held but failed to vote on the petition – as is always the case in any petition.

    3. A couple of things that our vaccine businesses left in the drawer to gather dust.

      The Nuremberg Code
      The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential.
      The experiment should be such as to yield fruitful results for the good of society, unprocurable by other methods or means of study, and not random and unnecessary in nature.
      The experiment should be so designed and based on the results of animal experimentation and a knowledge of the natural history of the disease or other problem under study that the anticipated results will justify the performance of the experiment.
      The experiment should be so conducted as to avoid all unnecessary physical and mental suffering and injury.
      No experiment should be conducted where there is an a priori reason to believe that death or disabling injury will occur; except, perhaps, in those experiments where the experimental physicians also serve as subjects.
      The degree of risk to be taken should never exceed that determined by the humanitarian importance of the problem to be solved by the experiment.
      Proper preparations should be made and adequate facilities provided to protect the experimental subject against even remote possibilities of injury, disability, or death.
      The experiment should be conducted only by scientifically qualified persons. The highest degree of skill and care should be required through all stages of the experiment of those who conduct or engage in the experiment.
      During the course of the experiment the human subject should be at liberty to bring the experiment to an end if he has reached the physical or mental state where continuation of the experiment seems to him to be impossible.
      During the course of the experiment the scientist in charge must be prepared to terminate the experiment at any stage, if he has probable cause to believe, in the exercise of the good faith, superior skill and careful judgment required of him that a continuation of the experiment is likely to result in injury, disability, or death to the experimental subject.

      Declaration of Helsinki

      https://jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jama.2013.281053

  6. Could this be true? One can only hope so:

    Today, the electoral college votes will be sealed and sent by special carrier to Washington where they will remain sealed until January 6th when the House and Senate will come into a joint session to open the votes. The media is going to make you believe that it’s all over and Joe Biden is now officially president…

    On January 6th, Nancy Pelosi will sit down with the rest of the House members as she has no special power or authority over the hearing… Vice President Mike Pence will have all the authority as president of the Senate for that day and will accept or reject motions to decide the next steps by the assembly.
    Remember… Mike Pence is in full authority that day as written in the Constitution. The ballots will be certified today but that means nothing…

    The votes will be opened and at that point one House member could, and most likely will, raise their hand to object to the Vice President on the state of elector’s votes. That objection could cover fraud or any other reason, and with the seconding of that objection everything changes. Everything!!

    The House and Senate will divide for two hours (at least) to debate, then vote. The vote will be per Senator with the Vice President being the deciding vote if needed in the Senate, while the vote in the House will be only be ONE vote per delegation, per state, not per House member!!! The Republicans have 30 delegation votes compared to the Democrats 20 delegation votes.

    If this scenario runs true, President Trump gets re-elected.

    The Democrats, the media, social networks and globalists around the world will come unhinged and chaos will erupt. Bigly.

    President Trump is trying to do the right thing and go through the courts first, expose all the fraud, but we all knew that none of the courts, even the Supreme Court wanted to touch this issue with a 10-ft pole!

    This is why our forefathers were so brilliant because they knew something like this could happen someday. So, don’t listen to the media and all their deception and lies. All you have to do is read the Constitution and you know that the law, policies and procedures in the end are on our side.

    Tic Toc… Tic Toc… Looking forward to 4 more Trump Years!

    1. As with so many other claims seen here in recent weeks, this will come to nothing because it relies on Republicans voting en masse to ignore the Electoral College. this simply won’t happen.

      1. I’m perplexed about your stance here…

        What do you want ?

        Truth to prevail.. or lies to prevail ?

        If you are promoting Biden, then it’s obvious you are promoting lies.

        1. DNFTT, Polly – it only encourages it to make even more ludicrous statements.

          I’ve blocked it.

          1. NTN copied. Keeping the theme alive:

            Revert back to the 16 year plan re America (http://themillenniumreport.com/2019/02/the-16-year-plan-to-destroy-america/ ) all in order to focus on the new power hub of the globalists, China. The global communism advocated by the UN Agenda 2030 is also no coincidence.

            Trump got in the way of their plans.

            Gobalists believe they have ensured a win for Biden/Harris through industrial scale voter fraud. They overlook Trump’s strategic positioning key players in Military Intelligence [Flynn etc, CIA servers in Germany etc] and that he has the evidence. The current key is he has not yet spoken. That may come about in the court in Texas. This link also has some interesting points to note viz the “wider domain” https://uncoverdc.com/2020/12/15/the-plan-hasnt-changed-the-great-reset/

        3. I want the USA to remain a democracy. To imply that Trump isn’t engaged in a massive attempt at overturning democracy by spreading lies and disinformation, is delusional.

          1. You’re the one who is ”delusional”.

            Have you examined the statistical evidence which proves that Joe Biden did not win the election ?

            Have you researched the other evidence which proves the Democrats cheated on an epic scale in the swing states ?

            As this is so serious and contentious, why haven’t the swing states allowed stringent verification ?

            Because the swing states have something to hide !

          2. The Courts decide. Give it up, your path only leads to more strife and risks violence. Focus on 2024.

          3. Of course, you can’t answer my questions which means you’ve lost.

            As to the courts, the US judicial system is full of bias, blackmail and intimidation.

            That’s why they won’t even look at the evidence, let alone review it’s merits.

            Why isn’t verification permitted ?

            Because there’s a mountain of cheating to hide !

          4. It’s not my job to look at the so called evidence. It’s the job of the Courts to consider the evidence presented; they have and they remain unconvinced. You may as well rant on about there being evidence of life on Mars.

          5. It’s your job to look at the evidence as part of your argument.

            You make claims which cannot be substantiated and are so easily rebuffed that it’s becoming really funny !

          6. Good afternoon, Cochrane

            But if there was massive fraud (which may or may not be the case how can you or I know?) then it is almost too late – the USA is likely soon to be a DINO (Democracy In Name Only) which should make us all sore!

            A simple hypothesis: If the election was honest and adhered to the rules then, in my view, Biden must become president. If it was fraudulent he should not. Would you want Biden to have won by cheating if that finally emerged to be the case?

            A successful fraud will be able to cover its tracks and in this case it might prove to be unproveable.

          7. Hello Richard, at the risk of repeating myself, it is up to those alleging fraud to prove their case in Court. So far they have completely failed with dozens of Court cases and now seem to be relying on the Senate and Mike Pence refusing to confirm the Electoral College vote. It’s a very dangerous path that Trump is treading.

  7. Most child sexual abuse gangs made up of white men, Home Office report says. 16 December 2020.

    The majority of child sexual abuse gangs are made up of white men under the age of 30, an official paper has said.

    The Home Office paper into the “characteristics” of such gangs, first promised by the former home secretary Sajid Javid in 2018, says while some studies show a possible overrepresentation of black and Asian offenders, it is not possible to conclude this is representative of all grooming gangs.

    Morning everyone. This is not simply propaganda but a farrago of absolute lies and is far worse than the original offence of actively ignoring the plight of the white victims in that it seeks to absolve those responsible for this neglect by casting the guilt on an unrelated group. There have been no prosecutions of “white rape gangs” in numbers that in any way match those of Pakistani origin. To say “it is not possible to conclude this is representative of all grooming gangs.” is the purest mendacity since no one has ever suggested they were, any more than all murderers are men or all women innocent.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/dec/15/child-sexual-abuse-gangs-white-men-home-office-report

    1. Typical Graudian, twisting of its own headline without substantiation in the body of the text

      1. NTN aftn, Grauniad still can’t escape basic reality that the paper was founded from the profits of a cotton plantation that had slaves, and not surprisingly, not one woke writer resigned [post the usual limp wrist excuses]. They are where they are now, as you put it above. They’re all in woke self denial

    4. The public cannot place trust in any part of this government. Ministers lie to us on a daily basis.

    5. Has anyone ever carried out a cost/benefit analysis in respect of the UK deporting every muslim?

      1. Norway did, and discovered that once they deported the Muslim criminals the crime rate throughout the country dropped 31%

    6. Might it be that one variety of gang contains a very small number of men, 3 – 5 and another variety has 15-25, and that the small groups attack single victims only, before being caught, whereas the large gangs attack multiple victims time and time again?

      1. Morning Sos. This may or may not be. I have seen no evidence to suggest that such a system of offending exists. What we can be certain of by virtue of our own eyes is that the vast majority are Pakistani in origin if not reality!

        1. Since they are so keen on replicating their homeland practices, we should follow Pakistan’s example and chemically castrate them.
          Or would two bricks make them feel they were back in their own home village?

        2. Let us say, for sake of argument that there are 21 such gangs, 10 of the kind you describe and 11, the majority, white as the “research” claims.

          Using and skewing my figures, whites would have 55 members and Pakistani 150. As we see from the press reports there is potentially a considerable discrepancy and that shows in the available pictures of gang members.

          Then look at the absolute number of “whites” and absolute number of Pakistanis in the overall population and it becomes clear that the Home office has used statistics (as I have) to “prove” something that suits their narrative/objective.

          1. Politicians always bank on the fact that people do not fully understand percentages.

            For example: if VAT rises from 16% to 20% they will say it has increased by only 4%. The actual rise in tax from 16 to 20 is, in fact, a rise of 25%.

            (If 16 = 100% then a rise of 4 = 4/16 = 1/4 = 0.25 = 25%)

  12. Good morning from a Anglo Saxon Queen with sharp longbow and blooded axe .
    A dark morning but not too cold.

    2. ‘Morning, Ethel. Have you been sharpening the wrong bit? Is this why you are not having much success against those pesky Vikings?

    3. Firstborn has a longbow, and he’s quite good with it. It’s only a 60lb draw bow; apparently those found on the Mary Rose were 120lb draw bows, and based on the 60lb bow makes all the veins in yer neck stand out when drawing, I’d hate to pull a 120lb bow for a living.

      1. They must require great strength, in reality a woman would not have been able to handle a longbow. You’d need arms like tree trunks .

  13. Russia is capable of killing thousands with a new chemical weapon attack on the streets of Britain warns Defence Secretary. 16 December 2020.

    Russia is capable of killing thousands with a second chemical weapon attack on the streets of Britain, the Defence Secretary has warned.

    He stressed that although the UK hopes to forge a relationship with Russia, tensions were raised after the Government ‘used a nerve agent on the streets of Britain’ two years ago.

    BELOW THE LINE.

    AngelGarba, Zurich, Switzerland, 5 hours ago

    One has to be British defence minister to believe that Skripals walked away from military grade weapon 6-8 times more potent than V gas.

    Amen to that Herr Garber!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9057631/Russia-capable-killing-tens-thousands-new-chemical-weapon-attack.html

  14. Thug Tommy Robinson is BANNED from all football matches home and abroad for four years after being filmed punching fan outside England match in Portugal. 16 December 2020.

    Thug Tommy Robinson has been banned from all football matches home and abroad for four years after being filmed punching a fan outside an England match in Portugal.

    The 38-year-old far-right extremist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was filmed punching an England fan to the ground in Portugal while the national team were playing in the Nations League finals in June last year.

    The footage was obtained by the Mirror, and was used by Bedfordshire police to bring a civil case against Yaxley-Lennon this week, according to the newspaper.

    Another set up!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9057763/Thug-Tommy-Robinson-BANNED-football-matches-home-abroad-four-years.html

    3. Stop Press

      Tommy accused of causing a BAME persons knuckles to bleed by continually smashing his face and body on them

      Life in UK 2020

  15. Just imagine the fuss this is going to cause…

    Black applicants significantly more likely to fail RAF selection tests than white counterparts

    Defence chiefs claim the tests have been proven not to be biased, and blamed the disparity on ‘underlying’ educational issues

    By Bill Gardner – 15 December 2020 • 9:39pm

    The Royal Air Force has admitted for the first time that black applicants are significantly more likely to fail its selection tests than their white counterparts.

    Documents seen by The Telegraph reveal that white and Asian applicants to the RAF consistently score up to 36 per cent higher than black candidates on tests of technical skills and spatial awareness.

    Defence chiefs have insisted the Airwoman and Airmen’s Selection Tests (ASTs) had been proven not to be biased against any ethnicity, and blamed the disparity on “underlying inequality” in education.

    “It is also important to recognise there can actually be true differences between groups,” the RAF added in a statement.

    The figures appear within documents released under freedom of information laws after the Ministry of Defence refused to publish them for five months.

    BIS Test of Spatial Aptitude 2015-2020
    Ethnicity declared / five-year average score

    Any Chinese Background 60.1

    Asian Indian 50.1

    Black African 40.6

    Black Caribbean 44.0

    Mixed Black Caribbean And White 51.4

    White British 55.4

    Their disclosure will raise significant questions about the potential barriers to entry facing young black people determined to join the UK’s armed forces. The RAF in particular has already accepted that it has a diversity problem, with fewer than three per cent of regulars identifying as BAME (black and minority ethnic).

    A senior source in the RAF said “no definitive answer” had been discovered as to why some ethnic groups outperform others on the aptitude tests. Defence chiefs have hired psychologists to examine the ASTs for signs of racial bias, the source added, but no evidence has ever been found that the exams taken by thousands of candidates every year are unfairly skewed toward any ethnicity.

    “The ASTs are very good at working out whether someone is right for the RAF. No more, no less,” the senior source told The Telegraph.

    “This is the military, and we need our people to be the best. If we can’t find evidence that the tests are unfair, then what can we do?”

    The documents show the results for the four main ASTs taken between 2015 and 2020, broken down by self-declared ethnicity. Each table reveals a significant and consistent gap between the marks scored by black applicants, and those achieved by their white and Asian counterparts.

    The numbers are scores rather than percentages, and the individual pass mark is decided by the type of role applied for.

    On the ‘BIS’ test, designed to test spatial awareness, including that of potential RAF gunners, candidates from a Black African background scored a five-year average of 40.6.

    However, White British applicants scored a five-year average of 55.4, more than 36 per cent higher. Those declaring a Mixed Black Caribbean and White ethnicity scored 51.4, candidates of Asian Indian ethnicity scored 50.1, while applicants from a Chinese background scored highest, with 60.1.

    The pattern is repeated in the three other main aptitude tests, including the ‘DIS’ test which examines suitability for “trades technical in nature”.

    Applicants from a Black African background scored a five-year average of 40.7 on the exam, while those of Black Carribean ethnicity achieved 44.8. White British candidates, meanwhile, scored much higher with 56.4. Candidates from a ‘White Gypsy or Irish Traveller’ background were among the highest scorers with an average of 59.8.

    The documents also reveal how few candidates from minority ethnic groups are applying to join the RAF, although the numbers are slightly increasing.

    Last year, only 53 people from a Black Caribbean background and 141 people identifying as Black African applied to join the air force, compared to 7,790 candidates declaring as white British.

    A RAF spokesman suggested that the disparity in test results between groups may partly be explained by the comparatively small sample size.

    “It is possible that the ethnic minority candidate groups may not be a fair representation of the ethnic minority general population,” the spokesman added.

    A spokesman for the RAF BAME Network said there was “more to be done” to break down “potential barriers to recruitment” faced by young black people wanting to join the RAF.

    An RAF spokesman said: “The RAF has a proud history of offering opportunities to anyone who has the ability to serve, no matter their background. Aptitude tests are designed to assess a candidates’ potential for the job they are applying for, with professional analysis confirming they are not biased.

    “These tests are just one tool used to assess a candidate’s suitability for a career in the RAF. As the percentage of BAME personnel in the RAF continues to increase, we are actively encouraging more individuals from BAME backgrounds to consider a career with us.”

    1. Funnily enough, those figures are turned on their head when it comes to running or bashing people. In boxing and athletics, black Afro-Caribbeans score the highest.

      Whites regain the initiative when it comes to riding a bike or swimming.

    2. Yes, we have to look carefully at schemes which need to be introduced and supported in order to ensure that our military can accept very sub-standard recruits.

      1. I don’t’ see what the problem is – just lower the standards so people who can’t make the grade otherwise get to fly very expensive and complex aircraft – after all, what could possibly go wrong?

        1. Couple that with allowing people who don’t make the grade to service said expensive and complex aircraft …

    3. I knew loads of blacks, Asians etc during my RAF service – all were great blokes especially those who worked on the great shiny metal bird that came from the sky

    6. “Black applicants significantly more likely to fail RAF selection tests than white counterparts.”

      Words have almost failed me, but I think “No shit, Sherlock” just about sums it up.

      ‘Morning, C1.

  16. SIR – I would like to add to the letter (December 14) from Captain Dr David Reindorp.

    There has been a lot of hysteria about the Royal Navy intercepting EU fishing boats, as though this were a new development. It is not. The Navy has been instrumental in protecting fisheries since Henry VIII.

    Aerial surveillance vastly improved detection. Initially, this was carried out by the Royal Air Force using four jet-engined Nimrod maritime aircraft, which were expensive and inefficient. They were superseded by a civilian company using light twin-engined turboprop aircraft, which relayed the details of every fishing boat in British waters. Patrol vessels were then able to board and arrest illegal fishing boats.

    As a British sea fisheries officer and an aerial surveillance pilot, I was instrumental in many such arrests. I often appeared as a witness in court, where massive fines and confiscations of gear and catch were administered.

    When Theresa May was home secretary, she cancelled all aerial surveillance. This must be reinstated to aid the much smaller number of vessels now allocated to the task, which will be the same after Brexit as it was before.

    Captain Philip A Nelson
    Southampton

    I thought the aerial surveillance cancelled by May had since been reinstated, but I bow to the appropriately named Capt Nelson’s superior knowledge.

  17. SIR – I see that some BA customers are still awaiting refunds for cancelled flights (Letters, December 11).

    I took out a county court claim and was refunded immediately, before judgment. It was well worth the £25.

    Alan McPherson
    Wantage, Oxfordshire

    He should have been refunded his fee of £25 as well if BA paid his claim in full…

  18. SIR – Why are we commissioning EDF Energy, which is owned by a French company, to build a nuclear power plant (Letters, December 15) when our own Rolls-Royce produces a reliable, efficient and low-risk small modular reactor?

    R P Gullett
    Bledlow Ridge, Buckinghamshire

    Small local nuclear reactors are excellent in reducing transmission losses, Mr Gullett. It is providing adequate protection for them that is the problem.

    1. EDF is owned by the French Government. The clue is in the name, Électricité de France S.A.
      But the French are our friends and neighbours, so that’s OK.

    2. Can you imagine the fuss if someone suggested placing a nuclear reactor in the neighbourhood?

  19. From the Tellygraff…Johnson may be about to commit political suicide. Now there’s a surprise:

    MPs have been primed to vote for a possible Brexit trade deal at the beginning of next week as hopes rise of a breakthrough in Brussels.

    Senior Government sources have confirmed that Boris Johnson is preparing to push back the Christmas recess should he secure an agreement with the EU by the weekend.

    The Telegraph has been told that plans being studied by Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Commons leader, involve MPs and peers being asked to sit on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday if there is a deal, with December 24 still under discussion.

    Ministers have ruled out sitting on Christmas Day for the first time since 1656, but have not ruled out asking MPs to return on Boxing Day, if it is deemed necessary to do so.

    Government whips also indicated to a number of Tory MPs that they could be required next week, leading to fevered speculation that a deal was imminent.

    “It appears to be an indication that the Government thinks it is likely that there will be a free trade agreement,” one said last night.

    However, both UK and EU sources have firmly denied suggestions of an imminent announcement, while a Government source said of the plans: “It’s entirely provisional. If there’s a deal then MPs would have to vote on it, but that does not in any way suggest that there’s been any movement in the negotiations.”

    It came as Liz Truss, the International Trade Secretary, signed off on a £5 billion rollover trade deal with Mexico, while Downing Street confirmed that Mr Johnson would attend the G7 summit in India in January.

    The trip is being billed as an attempt to deepen UK-India relations as the UK attempts to build closer trade ties with the Indo-Pacific after Brexit.

    The Telegraph understands that Lord Frost, the UK’s chief negotiator, has remained locked in discussions with his EU counterpart Michel Barnier over Brussels’s level playing field demand, which would seek to tie the UK to a common set of rules and standards.

    The issue of the level playing field was also discussed at length by Mr Johnson and ministers at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning.

    The EU had originally been pushing for the right to impose automatic “lightning tariffs” if Britain diverged in a way that created unfair competition for its businesses but is now said to be moving away from the proposals.

    Instead, talks on how an independent arbitrator might function and rule on disputes are believed to be progressing.

    However, the two sides are yet to bridge significant gaps on whether the EU should be allowed to take action if it deems there is a “risk” of its businesses being undercut, or whether a “threshold” of proof would be required first.

    “It’s about reciprocity and a fair system,” a source said.

    On Tuesday a senior Cabinet source said: “If we are now talking about an evidential threshold that’s a very promising sign.”

    In a bid to reassure Brexiteers on Tuesday night, Mr Johnson issued a message to the European Research Group of Tory MPs, which said: “Never fear folks we will vindicate the people in full or else, as I have said many times, we will start the new year [on World Trade Organisation] terms!”

    Separately, it emerged that Brussels had rejected British demands for “pay-as-you-go” access to EU programmes, including a €100 billion research fund and the Erasmus student exchange scheme, and insisted the UK commits to paying for membership over seven years.

    Under one scenario being looked at by senior Parliamentary officials, legislation to implement the treaty would be written over the weekend if a deal is struck by Friday.

    On Monday it would be put through the Commons, on Tuesday it would be pushed through the Lords and on Wednesday it would receive Royal Assent.

    However, if a breakthrough takes longer to materialise, officials are preparing for the possibility of pushing the timetable back 24 hours, with ratification on Christmas Eve.

    It remains unclear whether the full extent of plans will be confirmed when Mr Rees-Mogg sets out Parliamentary business on Thursday, with insiders making clear it would depend entirely on progress in the talks.

    It comes after Mr Rees-Mogg (see below) said on his ConservativeHome podcast he expected Parliament to approve any required legislation in six days, with deliberation lasting just 48 hours in the Commons and Lords.

    Even this could be “squeezed” if required, he said, adding: “You can really, really truncate the Parliamentary process if there is a will to do it.”

    His comments prompted widespread alarm among senior Tories, with Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, telling The Telegraph he feared a trade deal will now be “rammed through at speed”.

    “That would be a grave error,” he continued: “It is such an important bill that it must be properly scrutinised. Any attempt to rush it through will be resisted.”

    Echoing his concerns, Martin Howe QC, a leading barrister on EU law, writes in The Telegraph: “Negotiations in the EU have always ended up making our laws behind closed doors, which are then dumped fait accompli on our Parliament and our people without any right to object.

    “It would be a bitter irony if getting Brexit done turns out to involve more of the same.

    “This extended brinkmanship could deny adequate time for full scrutiny, but MPs and the public are too bruised by John Major’s ‘game, set and match’ at Maastricht, and Cameron’s non-renegotiation, to take anything negotiated with the EU on trust.

    “Those actual legal texts proved wildly different from what governments claimed to have achieved.”

    One BTL comment (many other similar comments are available):

    Wim Shine
    15 Dec 2020 8:40PM
    So Barnier was right, Mr Crisp was right.

    Boris has surrendered. Because you know damned well that the EU won’t budge on the LPF and fisheries. The deal will be rubber-stamped through without scrutiny. And the backbenchers do nothing. Ideally Boris should be removed.

    Goodbye Brexit, welcome to EU-colony

    1. BELOW THE LINE.

      Heimdallr, Liverpool, United Kingdom, 2 minutes ago.

      More rubbish to continue with the Russia ‘bogeyman’ narrative’. Russia is no longer the Soviet Union and has no imperialist ambitions. Unlike China whose economy is racing ahead thanks to the UN sanctioned increased use of fossil fuels and the world mega capitalists encouraging investment in that country. If you are still wondering why ‘capitalists’ are working cheek by jowl with ‘communist china- it is because that country is a model of a controlled population supplying cheap labour. The proof of this is the vast amount of Western businesses sourcing production there. But don’t worry that same control is being facilitated right here, right now and under the very noses of a population who are actually crying out for it.

      Morning Anne. The Comments are not “moderated” and 77 Brigade aren’t out of bed yet so most of the BTL comments are hostile!

  21. 327500,
    Morning Each,
    Would have saved ourselves a lot of grief if this was recognised by many of the ovis three decades ago.

    The referendum vote proved that beyond doubt, the trouble arose when
    the cry went up “job done leave it to the tory’s” triggering treachery & regular trips to the wire led by moggy with another one due.

    https://twitter.com/AgainBraine/status/1339004898013310976

  22. Good morning all.

    The rest of last night’s bread & butter pudding for breakfast. Cold, gooey & scrumptious.

  24. Got to laugh………..

    ”The Mystery of Lord Mandelson’s Finances”……..

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7883304/The-mystery-of-Lord-Mandelsons-finances.html

    If I had to choose one media piece to illustrate UK political history since 1990, it would be this. Most important aspects are here in one form or another.. including Mr Soros!

    ”The mystery of Lord Mandelson’s finances”

    ”Peter Mandelson is about to publish his political memoirs, but they are unlikely to tell the full story of the politician’s business dealings. Andrew Gilligan and Adrian Gatton investigate.

    By Andrewgilligan 11 July 2010 • 10:00 am

    Land Registry records show that in 2006 Peter Mandelson bought the villa near Regent’s Park for £2.5 million, including stamp duty. CREDIT: Photo: OLI SCARFF
    The man in the velvet smoking-jacket and black cravat, holding a giant storybook on his lap, looks straight at the camera, shifting slightly in his leather armchair.

    “Once upon a time,” he says, confidentially, “there was a kingdom, and for many years it was ruled by two powerful kings. But they wouldn’t have been in power without a third man.

    “They called him the Prince of Darkness,” he says, adding with a smirk: “Don’t know why.”

    Peter Mandelson’s TV advert for his about-to-be-published memoirs may be a magnificent new landmark in ex-ministerial camp.

    But from the king of spin, it would probably be unwise to expect full disclosure.

    An investigation has uncovered several alleged aspects of the Mandelson story which seem most unlikely to feature in the pages of this week’s authorised version.

    It is a tale of a rich friend, inside information, allegations – denied – of a dubious oil connection and the apparent concealment of financial interests in breach of Parliamentary rules.

    It starts in one of London’s most expensive streets, at the heart of the Nash terraces around Regent’s Park. On it lies a beautiful peach-stucco villa, and a long-standing mystery.

    There is no puzzle about the owner of the house: Lord Mandelson. There is no secret about its value: Land Registry records show that in 2006 he bought the place for £2.5 million, including stamp duty.

    The mystery has always been how he could possibly have afforded it.

    The price was around 16 times his then-income as a European Commissioner, a mortgage which, even in pre-credit crunch days, no lender would have contemplated.

    Sources close to the then Mr Mandelson suggested at the time that he used a bequest from his late mother, Mary, and sold his shares in an advertising agency.

    But probate files show he received only £452,000 from his mother’s estate; a search at Companies House disclosed he sold the shares a year after buying the house; and Land Registry records of his previous property dealings in London and his former constituency of Hartlepool show that he could have amassed no more than around £1.15 million in equity to put towards the purchase.

    Added together, all that would still have left Mr Mandelson at least £1 million short. He did take out a mortgage – reportedly for £750,000 – to cover most of the gap.

    But in a 2009 interview he let slip that he had paid it off completely after just one year.

    The normal place to look for politicians’ earnings is the declarations of interests they are obliged, under the rules, to make.

    Mr Mandelson’s declarations list only modestly-paid work for newspapers and magazines, and a number of speaking engagements.

    The Telegraph has been told, however, that Mr Mandelson had at least one paid interest which he has not declared, or not declared fully. The most important, it is alleged, was with a company called Medley Global Advisors (MGA), founded by Richard Medley, the former chief adviser to the financier George Soros.

    Mr Medley, an American, met Mr Mandelson in 1993/4 when they both attended the “global transatlantic young leaders’ programme” of the Aspen Institute, a think-tank.

    “We’ve been good friends since the early nineties,” said Mr Medley from New York last night. “He was here at my house probably three weeks ago, and he and I have met many times.”

    But according to nearly a dozen current or former employees of MGA, spoken to by The Sunday Telegraph, the relationship was more than personal.

    Mr Mandelson, they say, was paid by the company, whose job is to provide “inside information” for its clients, principally hedge funds – information they can act on before it becomes public.

    Mr Mandelson, according to the MGA sources, delivered “intelligence” on the plans of the British Government.

    “It was on economic policy, fiscal policy, what they were planning with Europe – and what the Bank of England were telling them internally,” said one source.

    That much, if usually from people at lower levels, was the firm’s bread and butter – they had, according to Mr Medley, hundreds of “consultants,” including journalists, academics and policy-makers, on the books – and there is no evidence that Mr Mandelson disclosed official secrets, or information acquired in his on-off role as a minister.

    But the atmosphere of secrecy rang alarm bells in the company. Mr Mandelson, said one MGA source, was referred to internally by a code word.

    “What distressed me about it was that he was very cagey,” the person said. “It was the behaviour of a man who wanted to hide what he was doing.

    “One time I was in the office he came in and did a conference call,” where clients were invited to call in to speak to him.

    “He was absolutely paranoid about knowing who was on the call. He wanted all the names of the people who had been invited to call in.

    “Richard would tell us: ‘Peter’s very sensitive about this and you’ve got to be very sensitive about this.’ I was truly disgusted – it just felt wrong.”

    The company was based in New York and London. Another MGA source said: “He said he didn’t want to talk to any British employees, presumably because he was worried his relationship with the company would get out.”

    Mr Mandelson’s relationship with the company, the sources said, extended over a number of years, and he was paid over at least two years.

    Some of the sources with access to the records say that there is documentation relating to discussions and meetings with him in March, June and July 1999, three in June 2001, and two in February and June 2002.

    Mr Mandelson, who twice had to resign from office, was not in government on any of those dates. He served as a minister from May 1997 to December 1998, and again from October 1999 to January 2001.

    However, some of the sources say his relationship, though not necessarily the payments, continued during his periods of ministerial office.

    Even if he was only paid while a backbench MP, Mr Mandelson would have been obliged to record any payments in the Commons’ register of members’ interests.

    However, Mr Mandelson’s register entry shows no payments from MGA, apart from a single one-off fee for a “speaking engagement” in New York on 30 January 2002. The amount was not disclosed.

    “His relationship was much more extensive than that,” said an MGA source.

    Another, who had access to the company’s financial records, said: “I can confirm he was paid. I cannot remember the specific amounts, but the normal fee to consultants was one to two thousand dollars a month.”

    Mr Medley, who sold MGA in 2005 and now runs another business, said last night: “I am absolutely not saying I didn’t pay him, I’m just saying I can’t remember.”

    After also initially saying that Lord Mandelson “could not remember” any payment from MGA, his spokesman issued a statement last night saying: “Peter has known Richard Medley and his family for nearly twenty years.

    “He has seen and spoken to him on countless occasions during that time at home, on the phone and in his office. But he has never acted as a paid consultant to Richard or his company.”

    The Sunday Telegraph investigation has also raised questions about whether Mr Mandelson had an undeclared relationship with Friedhelm Eronat, a secretive millionaire oil-industry fixer then based in London.

    Mr Eronat’s former company, Cliveden Group, was awarded a concession to drill for oil in the Darfur region of Sudan.

    He was also named by US federal prosecutors as an alleged conduit for bribes in the 1990s between Mobil Oil and the then prime minister of Kazakhstan, Nurlan Balgimbayev. Eronat was never prosecuted for any alleged offence.

    In 2005, Cliveden’s former chairman, Peter Felter, took Mr Eronat to an employment tribunal in London. The alleged link with Mr Mandelson, hitherto undisclosed, emerged in the context of those tribunal proceedings.

    Dr Felter stated during the case that Mr Mandelson had been hired by Mr Eronat in part because of his “very good contacts” with another oil firm, BP.

    “Eronat told me we’ve got Peter Mandelson as a consultant,” Dr Felter said, in remarks not reported at the time. “He was hired while he was out of office, later in 2001 or the beginning of 2002.”

    Dr Felter also stated at the time that Mr Mandelson was paid, though he did not know how much. “Eronat took pride in having this connection,” he said.

    The employment tribunal was settled. Dr Felter, who has now signed a confidentiality agreement as part of the settlement, yesterday refused to comment further.

    It is not clear what, if anything, Mr Mandelson did for Mr Eronat. There is no suggestion that he was involved in the Sudan or Kazakhstan deals.

    At around the time Mr Mandelson was hired, Mr Eronat, an American, renounced his citizenship to avoid being caught by a US ban on its nationals doing business with the Sudan regime. He subsequently acquired a British passport.

    Lord Mandelson insisted last night that the reason he had not declared a relationship was that he had no relationship to declare.

    “He has never acted as a consultant to Friedhelm Eronat and has no knowledge of the man in question,” his spokesman said.

    There is one last, potentially very lucrative, paid interest which Mr Mandelson did declare: his work for the French business “fixer,” Alain Minc.

    Minc’s firm, AM Conseil, employs only three staff. But in the last year Mr Mandelson declares a relationship with it, 2004, the company turned over £5.5 million.

    According to Mr Minc’s biographer, Stephane Marchand, Mr Minc charges up to £150,000 per consultation to favoured clients and “earns his money selling intelligence and influence”.

    It has never been clear what Mr Mandelson, who does not speak French, did for AM Conseil, or how much he earned.

    But both Mr Minc and Mr Mandelson, as a Euro-commissioner, spoke out strongly in favour of the hugely controversial takeover of the French steelmaker, Arcelor.

    The successful bidder was Lakshmi Mittal, a friend of Mr Mandelson’s and a major donor to the Labour Party. Also involved in the deal was Nat Rothschild, a close Mandelson friend on whose yacht the former business secretary has famously sailed.

    Yesterday, in an interview to promote his memoirs, Lord Mandelson defended himself against the charge that he was too keen on the company of rich people.

    “Do you know what I say to that?” he said. “Good for me. I mean, I’m not going to be governed by Labour Party political correctness about who I should meet or talk to or where I should spend my time.”

    With its disclosures about Messrs Brown, Blair and Campbell, the Mandelson book may be working Westminster into a lather over the settling of political scores.

    But the former business secretary knows some rather more obscure power-brokers, too, and the story of his money is just as interesting as the story of his politics.”

      1. 327500+ up ticks,
        Morning N,
        There were peoples saying make johnson PM he makes us laugh, this laughing business is proving to be treacherous.

    2. We know all that – if not in detail.
      Even at the time I was sorry that I could not be surprised, let alone outraged.
      Blighty has regressed to the C15.

    3. So-called socialists are always the most corrupt financially and obsessed with their own personal wealth both in Brtiain and in the United States. Look at Blair, Kinnock, Mandelson and Biden, Obama and the Kennedys..

      As people who follow my posts may know (and probably be bored rigid) I used to write satirical songs which, Like Edward Lear’s Owl I sang to a small guitar. Here is a couplet from the song I wrote about Blair at the turn of the century:

      Glib and oil Mandy’s lies and mortgage I could not excuse
      Twice I sacked the sleazy bugger – though his spittle shone my shoes.

      2. Fantastic red (and yellow and orange) sunset here tonight. Shepherd’s hut on fire somewhere, no doubt 🙂

    1. 327500+ up ticks,
      Morning R,
      We have had ample opportunity to leave early post
      referendum in an honorable manner but NO it had to be done ( as we have been) via the pretendee tory party with full backing from the ovis.

      This has been on the cards since the nine moths delay.

      The johnson chap has shown his true colours now openly via two doors, that being the brexitexit door his party has been won’t to use, & the Dover entry door his party oversees, welcoming overseas “guest’s”.

      As long as the lab/lib/cons good reputation is still
      intact, bloody idiots.

    4. I’ve left it a bit late to get my frozen Christmas betrayal, since I haven’t really got room in my freezer for one, and sitting around in my fridge for ten days is not recommended, according to the safety instructions on the label.

      Do you think they would have sold out of them by the time I get to the shop?

      1. If you must have tasteless gobble-dey gobble – a crown roast is the most economical but, as posted yesterday, we have opted for a five rib and a rack of lamb with a seperate loin of pork to give us roast dinners throughout most of the year. Judicious use of the carving knife and the freezer.

    5. ‘There is a path to agreement now’, Ursula von der Leyen claims.
      We’re, to put it bluntly, f***** then.

  28. Morning all.
    Oh dear we are in dire need of a complete overhaul of our judiciary system.

    The manslaughter sentences handed to PC Andrew Harper’s killers will not be increased after the Court of Appeal dismissed challenges by the Attorney General and the trio.

    Henry Long, 19, was sentenced to 16 years and 18-year-olds Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers were handed 13 years in July over the death of the Thames Valley Police traffic officer.

    The Attorney General had sought to have the sentences increased, arguing they were “unduly lenient”.

    PC Harper, 28, was caught in a strap attached to the back of a car driven by Long and dragged to his death down a winding country road as the trio fled the scene of a quad bike theft in Berkshire on the night of August 15, 2019.

      1. This one wasn’t well there is no mention of his (no fixed abode) annual movements. But you never know eh.

        Police said Damien Price, 30, had already attacked and reversed into a couple after seeing red in a row over a one-way system at a branch of Sainsbury’s in Pinhoe, Exeter
        He then drove into Sergeant Alex Howden as he tried to stop the suspect fleeing the busy car park – sending him flying into the air and breaking his leg.
        Price was pulled from his vehicle and detained by members of the public before he was arrested on March 12 this year.
        He also bit another officer on the arm while in the back of a police car.
        Much of the incident was caught on camera – with shocking dashcam footage released by Devon and Cornwall Police to highlight the dangers faced by officers.
        Price, of Russet Avenue, Exeter, admitted two counts of dangerous driving and causing Sgt Howden grievous bodily harm.
        He pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm to a man and the attempted bodily harm of a woman. Both victims, who are husband and wife, are aged in their 60s.
        Price also admitted biting Pc Nicholas Weston twice on the bicep.
        He was jailed for six-and-a-half years by a judge at Exeter Crown Court. Price will also serve five years on licence and be banned from driving for 10 years.

        Price had entered the car park in his Ford Fiesta when he encountered a Nissan heading in the wrong direction on the one-way system outside the store.

        He shouted out of his window at the couple in the car and refused to move to allow them to pass, only for the vehicle to manoeuvre around him.
        An enraged Price then reversed at speed, got out of his car, took the keys from the ignition of the Nissan and threw them away.
        He then punched the man in the face through the driver’s-side window before getting back into his Fiesta and driving off.
        Price the stopped and reversed at speed into the couple’s car – knocking the husband and wife, who had exited their vehicle, to the floor. Both suffered cuts and bruises.
        He then sped around the car park and came to a halt near recycling bins as members of the public tried to stop him leaving.
        Sgt Howden was heading back to the force’s HQ when initial reports of a hit-and-run in the Sainsbury’s car park came.
        He was the closest unit and within minutes of arriving at the scene was lying injured on the ground.
        Sgt Howden had asked Price for his keys before the offender started his engine and drove off.
        Price picked up speed, hit a shopping trolley and then smashed into the officer as he motioned for the driver to stop.

        Sgt Howden suffered a broken leg, a head injury and bruising. His recovery is expected to take more than a year.

        2. Nasty little shit, Eddy, should be locked up and the keys thrown away as he did to the Nissan.

          We are desperately in need of some rough justice being meted out, regardless of skin colour, culture, religion and/or lack of a permanent address, with deportation at the end of sentence (to be served in full) if not indigenous white hooligan.

          Maybe a public birching on the way to prison pour discourage les autres..

  29. Another try at cheering us all up.
    A man met a beautiful blonde lady, fell in love at first sight and decided he wanted to marry her, right away.

    She said” But we don’t know anything about each other.”

    He said “That’s alright, we’ll learn about each other as we go along.”

    So she consented and they got married and off they went on honeymoon to a very nice Greek island.

    One morning they were laid by the pool when he suddenly got up off his sunbed, climbed up to the top of the 10 metre diving board and did a two and a half tuck, followed by three rotations in the pike position , at which point he straightened out and cut perfectly into the water like a knife.
    After a few more demonstrations, he came back and laid down.

    She said”That was incredible !”

    He said ” I used to be an Olympic diving Champion. You see, I told you that we would learn about each other as we went along.”
    So immediately she got up, jumped in the pool and started doing lengths.

    After seventy five lengths she climbed out of the pool, laid down and was hardly out of breath.

    He said “That was incredible! Were you an Olympic endurance swimmer ?”

    ” No” she said ” I was a prostitute in Liverpool but I worked both sides of The Mersey.”

    2. Are you sure the setting was in Greece? Thomas Babington Macaulay’s book was entitled The Lays Of Ancient Rome.

  30. Many articles recently about head injuries and concussion in rugby –

    An article in the Telegraph relates tales of the ” images of the free-flowing game of the 1970s, when back lines seemed to have acres of space to attack, breaking through defensive lines with a simple swing of the hips and dancing footwork.”

    The rule changes in modern game and has resulted in these head injuries etc

    When I started playing, I was told in no uncertain tones, by an older, experienced second row forward, on his way down from the first team,
    that on no occassion should I go head first into a maul – surest way ever to get a head injury
    The rule changes to the game have made injuries inevitable –
    Rugby League don’t have the same ptoblem. I know – no scrums, playing the ball etc, but it is a running and passing game!

    1. Eventually the ‘woke sports gods’ will turn it into hard hat and armour ballet similar to american football.

          1. DSTV here in Africa is getting into this mode [and it’s driving people up the wall], pointless ads during any international taking place except if it involves South Africa [rugby / cricket], India [Test, ODI, T20 and IPL]. Started earlier this year during 6 Nations then followed into Eng v WI / Eng v Pak, Tour De France.

    1. It seems so bloody obvious, Stephen, why does Government in general and Handcockup in particular ignore what is staring us ALL in the face?

      We don’t need the useless vaccine and the Drosten PCR test has been proven to be a thesis written by a non-doctor and panned in a peer review.

      Yet still they persist.

      I shall try writing again to my MP, Doctor Dan Poulter, on this subject. His response should be interesting and, upon it, will depend my vote at the next GE, if I’m spared.

      1. Afternoon Tom

        Our MPs don’t mind that we don’t matter .

        Our protests are useless unless a few of us have massive social status and have masses of acronyms to use as a weight / or public influence .

        Ours are just voices in the wilderness.

        1. I honestly think, Mags, that by ignoring us and good sense, that the Powers That Be are storing up a massive backlash, led by violence against them. Theirs will be the voices crying in a wilderness of their own making.

          I just wish I could lead the revolution, bloody as it may be.

    3. Given the Germans don’t seem to have be very happy with us right now and have been more than (schnelle) snappy in developing this vaccine. And of course marketing it from the frozen depths of unknown expectations, i’ll be a waiting until all of our political classes have been jabbed and then go for the Oxford.

  33. SIR – Newsreaders might stop referring to exponential growth, which most people interpret as meaning going through the roof. They could instead talk about acceleration, which is generally understood.

    Compound interest is a good example of exponential growth, but at the present Bank of England base rate of 0.1 per cent it would take 10 years for a deposit of £100 to grow to £101.

    David Miller
    Tunbridge Wells, Kent

    Fair point, David Miller. Unfortunately the use of the phrase is designed to suggest that they have important scientific knowledge to impart. We all know this to be a fallacy.

  34. SIR – Both Roger Bootle and Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (Business, December 14) set out succinctly why we should not fear being clear of the European Union.

    European politicians and commentators are saying constantly that Britain will suffer far more than the EU, but it is clear to most people that this is untrue. So, why doesn’t our Government simply walk away?

    Boris Johnson should hold his nerve and do what the country wants, or he is finished.

    T Neil Cook
    Goostrey, Cheshire

    You are witnessing the final death throes Project Fear, Mr Cook.

  37. From the Tellygraff…Johnson may be about to commit political suicide. Now there’s a surprise:

    MPs have been primed to vote for a possible Brexit trade deal at the beginning of next week as hopes rise of a breakthrough in Brussels.

    Senior Government sources have confirmed that Boris Johnson is preparing to push back the Christmas recess should he secure an agreement with the EU by the weekend.

    The Telegraph has been told that plans being studied by Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Commons leader, involve MPs and peers being asked to sit on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday if there is a deal, with December 24 still under discussion.

    Ministers have ruled out sitting on Christmas Day for the first time since 1656, but have not ruled out asking MPs to return on Boxing Day, if it is deemed necessary to do so.

    Government whips also indicated to a number of Tory MPs that they could be required next week, leading to fevered speculation that a deal was imminent.

    “It appears to be an indication that the Government thinks it is likely that there will be a free trade agreement,” one said last night.

    However, both UK and EU sources have firmly denied suggestions of an imminent announcement, while a Government source said of the plans: “It’s entirely provisional. If there’s a deal then MPs would have to vote on it, but that does not in any way suggest that there’s been any movement in the negotiations.”

    It came as Liz Truss, the International Trade Secretary, signed off on a £5 billion rollover trade deal with Mexico, while Downing Street confirmed that Mr Johnson would attend the G7 summit in India in January.

    The trip is being billed as an attempt to deepen UK-India relations as the UK attempts to build closer trade ties with the Indo-Pacific after Brexit.

    The Telegraph understands that Lord Frost, the UK’s chief negotiator, has remained locked in discussions with his EU counterpart Michel Barnier over Brussels’s level playing field demand, which would seek to tie the UK to a common set of rules and standards.

    The issue of the level playing field was also discussed at length by Mr Johnson and ministers at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning.

    The EU had originally been pushing for the right to impose automatic “lightning tariffs” if Britain diverged in a way that created unfair competition for its businesses but is now said to be moving away from the proposals.

    Instead, talks on how an independent arbitrator might function and rule on disputes are believed to be progressing.

    However, the two sides are yet to bridge significant gaps on whether the EU should be allowed to take action if it deems there is a “risk” of its businesses being undercut, or whether a “threshold” of proof would be required first.

    “It’s about reciprocity and a fair system,” a source said.

    On Tuesday a senior Cabinet source said: “If we are now talking about an evidential threshold that’s a very promising sign.”

    In a bid to reassure Brexiteers on Tuesday night, Mr Johnson issued a message to the European Research Group of Tory MPs, which said: “Never fear folks we will vindicate the people in full or else, as I have said many times, we will start the new year [on World Trade Organisation] terms!”

    Separately, it emerged that Brussels had rejected British demands for “pay-as-you-go” access to EU programmes, including a €100 billion research fund and the Erasmus student exchange scheme, and insisted the UK commits to paying for membership over seven years.

    Under one scenario being looked at by senior Parliamentary officials, legislation to implement the treaty would be written over the weekend if a deal is struck by Friday.

    On Monday it would be put through the Commons, on Tuesday it would be pushed through the Lords and on Wednesday it would receive Royal Assent.

    However, if a breakthrough takes longer to materialise, officials are preparing for the possibility of pushing the timetable back 24 hours, with ratification on Christmas Eve.

    It remains unclear whether the full extent of plans will be confirmed when Mr Rees-Mogg sets out Parliamentary business on Thursday, with insiders making clear it would depend entirely on progress in the talks.

    It comes after Mr Rees-Mogg (see below) said on his ConservativeHome podcast he expected Parliament to approve any required legislation in six days, with deliberation lasting just 48 hours in the Commons and Lords.

    Even this could be “squeezed” if required, he said, adding: “You can really, really truncate the Parliamentary process if there is a will to do it.”

    His comments prompted widespread alarm among senior Tories, with Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, telling The Telegraph he feared a trade deal will now be “rammed through at speed”.

    “That would be a grave error,” he continued: “It is such an important bill that it must be properly scrutinised. Any attempt to rush it through will be resisted.”

    Echoing his concerns, Martin Howe QC, a leading barrister on EU law, writes in The Telegraph: “Negotiations in the EU have always ended up making our laws behind closed doors, which are then dumped fait accompli on our Parliament and our people without any right to object.

    “It would be a bitter irony if getting Brexit done turns out to involve more of the same.

    “This extended brinkmanship could deny adequate time for full scrutiny, but MPs and the public are too bruised by John Major’s ‘game, set and match’ at Maastricht, and Cameron’s non-renegotiation, to take anything negotiated with the EU on trust.

    “Those actual legal texts proved wildly different from what governments claimed to have achieved.”

    One BTL comment (many other similar comments are available):

    Wim Shine
    15 Dec 2020 8:40PM
    So Barnier was right, Mr Crisp was right.

    Boris has surrendered. Because you know damned well that the EU won’t budge on the LPF and fisheries. The deal will be rubber-stamped through without scrutiny. And the backbenchers do nothing. Ideally Boris should be removed.

    Goodbye Brexit, welcome to EU-colony

    1. “…. Ideally Boris should be removed.”

      Ideally Boris should receive the punishment historically meted out to traitors.

      1. He was open and clear about what was in his WA wasn’t he?

        Didn’t he plead with the BBC to allow him to be interviewed live on TV by Andrew Neil so that he could explain honestly and candidly that there were no nasty bits in it.

  38. Thatcher would never have backed sanctions against delinquent China. 16 December 2020.

    If we were to apply western standards of human rights, and of free and fair competition, universally to all countries, then we would end up trading with no one at all beyond a small clique of like-minded democracies. To judge by the “level playing field” demands of the EU in Brexit negotiations, even that might be open to question.

    In a perfect world, maybe not, but on the whole, we do not ban countries simply because their regimes don’t share the same liberal values as our own; only when a country poses a real and present threat would we choose to impose economic sanctions.

    This would all have been very well thirty years ago when Thatcher was Prime Minister and the UK was indeed a liberal democracy but this is no longer true. The UK is a quasi-Marxist Police State that emulates many of the activities and policies of the PRC. The differences between the UK and China are ones of degree not kind.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/12/15/thatcher-would-never-have-backed-sanctions-against-delinquent/

    1. It’s all right for you, sarcasm is unknown on this side of the Atlantic. Classic sarcastic lines are often met by blank stares.

      2. Are you sure, Richard?

        Or perhaps it is not so much sarcasm
        as irony … Just a cotton picking minute there!!

        Edited …..

        1. I have a collection of lynx and links links (Chains, cats, helicopter, cuff and golf) from the days when Jill Backson was reluctant to quote his/her/its sources and I wanted to taunt him/her/it into doing so.

      3. I cannot cope with all this witticism,
        it is too much fpr my poor brain to
        assimilate!… 🙂

  40. Good morning all. Late on parade. Grey skies – and likely to continue all day. Tomorrow should be sunny – but that said that about today…

    I see the fireplace salesman is being slaughtered in The Grimes. So he’ll remain in his job….

    1. Tenth grey day on the trot, here. Sun hasn’t attempted to peep out since the sixth.

      At least there has been no: rain, thunder, hail, sleet, snow, fog, frost, wind, hurricane or tempest. Just unremitting grey.

  41. Earlier this morning (far too far back) Hugh Janus commented on a letter:

    SIR – Pig Lane in St Ives was renamed (Letters, December 15) at its southern end after the local police station was situated there.

    Judith Barnes
    St Ives, Huntingdonshire

    “Yer fuzz has no sense of humour.”

    Yer modern-day excuse for fuzz has no humour, certainly, Hugh. However, it wasn’t always the case.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5fd99c0d2b88ac638d127b75a5490a8ce81b2d806e0ec92421a590db05682023.jpg This is a genuine photograph of the panda car that I used to drive, way back in the mid-1970s, entering the narrow passageway, off Low Pavement, Chesterfield, that lead directly into the back yard of New Beetwell Street Police Station, where I was stationed.

    Notice the advertising on the wall adjacent R.P. Davidson’s “cheese factor” and delicatessen. 🐷

  42. 327500+ up ticks,
    breitbart,
    Regarding paedophilia.

    Patel said the suffering of the young victims was “one of the biggest stains on our country’s conscience” who were “let down by the state in the name of political correctness.”

    Surely that should read in any of the lab/lib/con coalition party’s conscience.

    Not everyone was supporting / voting for mass uncontrolled immigration
    party’s especially after the JAY report.

  43. Sky News and the Independent now reporting that the EU President UvdL is saying that there is now a path to an agreement but still problems with fishing.
    Boris now wants all his MPs on standby to vote on a treaty that is going to be written over a weekend. I suspect it was written some time ago. When it gets to the EU27 the French will veto it. Will Boris extend the Transition period to allow the EU to look at the Treaty at their leisure? He has said dogmatically that he won’t. There is no way this Treaty can be approved by 31 December 2020. Boris should walk away and negotiate as necessary as a sovereign nation free of any EU shackles. That is what Cameron said we were voting for in 2016 before he ran away.

    2. 327500+ up ticks,
      Morning C,
      The wretch cameron did not so much as run away as surrender, his part of the semi re-entry, damage control
      regarding brussels, successfully achieved.

      The placement mayday in the pipeline …….

  44. Look around,look around………

    “It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions
    than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price
    for being wrong.”

    ― Thomas Sowell

    2. That has just become my favourite statement on the political ills of the modern world.

      Saved for future use. Thanks, Rik.

  45. Black applicants significantly more likely to fail RAF selection tests than white counterparts

    Defence chiefs claim the tests have been proven not to be biased, and blamed the disparity on ‘underlying’ educational i

    Blair Edukashun, Edukashun, Edukashu
    So the system was dumbed down and everyone could go to University, for degrees in knowing you tables, by rote, up to 10 x 10. Coronation Street,
    personal hygene etc

    Boris Defence, Degate, Dedoor.
    In the name of defence, de gate and de door will be open to anyone of colour: to join the Services, regardless of aptitude, knowledges, educatioon, suitability.
    There, symptom fixed
    The Defect is lack of education, the B:M silver spoon, adaptability etc

    All services are served by people of every ethnicity, wh for the most part, live and work together well.

    If BLM are to be force fed into the system, the numbers should not exceed their % representation of the population, if standards have been reduced

    2. Morning OLT!

      Reputable research concludes that edukashun can effect IQ by at least 10 points but it can’t turn a born idiot into a genius. The bell curve and all that.

      1. ‘Afternoon, Sue, I remember some researcher being castigated in the 60s for proving that black IQ was quite a bit lower than the rest of the (non-black) population.

        Time proves the theory to be true.

  46. I’m surprised it took the French fisheryobs this long to threaten a blockade!

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/12/15/euro-fishermen-threaten-blockade-ports-no-deal-ends-their-fishing-claims/

    A leading comment:

    “ If we are deprived of our fishing grounds, ”

    They are not your fishing grounds. British territorial and economic waters are OUR fishing grounds. Foreigners have zero rights to fish there. Looks like quite a lot of you are going to have to scrap your fishing boats and find yourselves jobs in the French equivalent of Tesco, just like thousands of our fishermen were forced to by the EU’s CAP. Get used to it.

        1. I think he qualifies for the Ninth Circle of the Inferno, reserved for those guilty of treachery.

    2. Comment from Labour Leave:

      It began with the removal of the Vote Leave team and the increased prominence of more metropolitan, BBC-friendly figures in Boris’ circle.

      Next, we learnt the UK had dropped its fishing demand from 80% to 60%, and rumours of 50% being a bargain – of our own fish.

      Then came the climbdown on the Internal Market Bill concerning Northern Ireland.

      This week we learnt it’s not the principle of the level playing field that is the issue but the dispute mechanism.

      Yet to accept the principle of the LPF is to largely negate the entire purpose of Brexit – to set our own laws without being subject

      to legally enforceable punishment from the bullies in Brussels.

    3. I’m looking forward to the MSM, Guardian and BBC people greeting their eyes out at the sight of French fishing boats being cut up with chain saws. I know I did when that happened in Peterhead, Buckie, Banff, Fraserburgh et al in 1983 and 1993.
      I’m looking forward to it. It will be the one confirmation that Brexit is real.

  47. Memes building up drop a batch off…….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3ad9c7f97d61da2b0cc85de4b9cce7c702fe8781f63f4a5e7d27e0fd5170c969.jpg

    https://gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/060/664/641/original/c4760a2d63b8813c.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4cb80f1759b325c42c63fb4cddff2165987c92d0fe8aef2177da1d4c4de7c2bd.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/305c236e36c1c54e94273281b8e401415f57ce12aaab683ffed64d4b4acea155.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dd8208d479bf2b1ab128244899258a959225b7bc708a35c3b87bae318487ebd7.png

  48. SIR – Pig Lane in St Ives was renamed (Letters, December 15) at its southern end after the local police station was situated there.

    Judith Barnes
    St Ives, Huntingdonshire

    Yer fuzz has no sense of humour.

    2. I seem to remember a while ago that a new road on which a police station was built was named ‘Letsby Avenue’.

  49. Good Moaning.
    Remind me again about the advantages of ‘bumps at the front’ promotions.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/12/15/exclusive-test-trace-chaos-made-lose-seek-psychiatrist-help/

    Exclusive: Test and Trace chaos made me ‘lose it’ and seek psychiatrist help

    Sarah-Jane Marsh, who served as director of testing at Test and Trace, said the rollout led her to feel that she ‘couldn’t make decisions’

    15 December 2020 • 9:30pm

    It has been branded a “scandalous” white elephant that has failed to get a grip on coronavirus despite costing £22bn of taxpayers’ money.

    Now a senior NHS official who helped develop the beleaguered Test and Trace programme has revealed for the first time the turmoil at the heart of Dido Harding’s leadership team.

    Sarah-Jane Marsh, who served as director of testing at Test and Trace, has said the chaotic rollout led her to “lose it”, feel that she “couldn’t make decisions”, and even to seek psychiatric help from an NHS colleague.

    The problems seemed so insurmountable that she once crashed her car and carried on driving without stopping or thinking, she said.

    Ms Marsh, once the youngest ever NHS chief executive, was handpicked to join Dido Harding’s leadership team in May, before being replaced six weeks ago by a former boss of Sainsbury’s.

    During her tenure, Test and Trace was beset by problems including in September when the national testing system collapsed, with long queues outside testing centres and people having to travel hundreds of miles for their appointment.

    The Government’s Sage committee later said Test and Trace was having only a “marginal impact” on the disease.

    Speaking to the health podcast Next Generation GP, Ms Marsh confessed that she had been consumed by “dark moments” during her time in the role.

    “I found a place where I lost it, which has never happened to me before,” she said.

    “I’ve got several examples in my mind of where I literally thought I couldn’t go on. I’ve got nothing left. I’ve got nothing new to offer. And the pressure kept coming – the answers needed to be found. It was partly losing perspective, or just having so much crammed into your head that you just feel like you can’t make decisions or that you’re operating on autopilot.

    “It was like ‘Just make it stop.’ But all you can do is go forward. My director of laboratories, and supplies and innovation, is actually a psychiatrist by background. So we had little things offline, and sometimes we just looked at each other and had a little cry.”

    The pressure became so intense over the summer that Ms Marsh said she felt she was losing grip on reality.

    “I had a little crash, although it wasn’t serious, with an object, not another car, but I just carried on driving,” she said. “And I thought, well, that’s not normal. Because it didn’t impact me at all.”

    Ms Marsh, who has two young children, also claimed that she left Test and Trace partly due to overwhelming “mum guilt” and once had to cut off a call with Matt Hancock to go and pick up her son from school. Mr Hancock was “very, very nice about it”, she said. She added that she had regularly sought help and advice from her husband Sir David Nicholson, the former chief executive of the NHS.

    Since leaving Test and Trace at the end of October, Ms Marsh has returned to her job as chief executive of Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital. She appealed to the media and the public to recognise the “human faces” in the NHS and government trying to make Test and Trace work, saying many of them “didn’t volunteer” for the job.

    “There are human faces behind all of this. And many people have been asked to do it, they didn’t necessarily, you know, volunteer themselves for it. And you just think there needs to be a bit more kindness in the world.

    “When I left Test and Trace, Dido asked me to do a little leaving speech. All I could scramble to in my mind was: “The most important thing for any leader is to be kind.”

    “If we can be kind people will be more likely to be kind back to us. And then everything just seems to work better. I just really believe in kindness.”

    1. KIND?? KIND?? The most important thing is to get the effing job done, to time and with the right level of quality.
      Jesus, if this is an example of the level that British management is at, no wonder the country is fucked up.

      1. 🙂
        You read my mind.
        Feminisation of our culture is proving to be a disaster.
        With Sarah-Jane and her ilk in charge, we’d still be cowering in the tree canopy because there were nasty big cats on the ground and they might not be kind to Ug Junior who’s allergic to grass pollen.

    4. Ms Marsh, once the youngest ever NHS chief executive…

      …her husband Sir David Nicholson, the former chief executive of the NHS.

      …was handpicked to join Dido Harding’s leadership team in May

      …Ms Marsh has returned to her job as chief executive of Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

      ?

    5. How can they spend that much money in so short a time, and yet get absolutely nothing back??
      22 billion in 9 months is 2,5 billion a month, on average! That’s some money!

      1. Friends in high places. Plus bumps at the front.
        All she needed to do was tan a bit more heavily and chop off a leg to render herself unsackable.

  51. The Government is masterminding a sell-out to Brussels – and Brexiteers are in on it

    The PM has checkmated the UK by making mass concessions via the Withdrawal Agreement and failing to prepare thoroughly for No Deal

    ALEXANDRA PHILLIPS
    BEN HABIB
    16 December 2020 • 1:30pm

    ‘Act in haste and repent at leisure” goes the old adage. When it comes to a thousand-page international treaty on your country’s ability to self-govern, one would argue that remorse lasts in perpetuity.

    With news today that MPs may work until Christmas Eve to pass a deal with the EU, or, worse still, may not vote until next year and “retrospectively correct” domestic law to recognise an agreement, we can safely say due scrutiny of whatever Boris brings back is for the birds. That is extremely ominous indeed.

    Cast your minds back to the Withdrawal Agreement – the dreaded rehash of Theresa May’s subjugation that Johnson himself called “vassalage” – and you may remember that it was first revealed on October 17 2019, a luxurious three months before it actually became statute. An entire election campaign to get Johnson, and the Brexiteer family favourites, back in office was built around how fantastic this deal supposedly was. The Withdrawal Agreement Act was passed before Christmas by an ebullient Boris and put into statute on January 23, with freshly elected Brexiteers hardly able to recant their campaign compliance.

    The same legislation (in particular the appended Political Declaration) outlines the very framework of the future deal we await today. Brexiteer MPs claiming not to know what horrors lie in store are thus rather absurd.

    Wind the clock forward half a year and one time ERG Chair Steve Baker confessed in The Critic that he had no idea there would be a border down the Irish Sea. It’s one thing to miss small print, but accidentally annexing a constituent country to a foreign power is a monumental mistake. This precipitated the utter farce of having to draw up the Internal Markets Bill and breaking the international law enshrined in the Withdrawal Agreement to protect UK food supply chains – legislation only apparently needed in the event of No Deal and now alarmingly dropped.

    In giving up the contentious elements of the IMB designed to mitigate the worst scenarios emanating from the highly controversial Northern Irish Protocol, Michael Gove has essentially conceded that Belfast will be left in the Customs Union, despite repeated assurances that the UK would depart from the EU intact.

    To agitate now over the devilish detail of a coming deal is rather too little, too late. The damage was done last year, with the Withdrawal Agreement – readily extolled as hustings took place up and down the country – granting the Conservative Party major leverage over backbenchers and prospective parliamentarians. Hitherto pivotal voices joined in chorus to approve the oven-ready deal, such as that of Brexit-backing QC Martin Howe, who happened to vie to be the Conservative candidate, albeit unsuccessfully, in the seat of Beaconsfield vacated by Dominic Grieve.

    Howe today has rightly decried not having access to the draft legal texts, enabling any forthcoming treaty to be dumped as a fait accompli. But Howe should know what the deal will look like, having counselled Brexiteers into backing the Withdrawal Agreement and the Political Declaration during the election. All the unconscionable concessions are those being wrestled over today: paragraph 77 of the Political Declaration outlines a level playing field, paragraph 73 fixed fishing quotas and paragraph 131 the EU’s own Courts of Justice as arbiter of future disputes. For anyone to have asserted that a simple free trade agreement could somehow emerge from such a text was bizarre.

    We are now facing a situation where, as deadlines loom, the Commons may be forced to amend retrospectively domestic law to accommodate a dreadful deal, a move that Leader of the House and famed Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg admits would be hugely controversial and legally contentious, yet is seemingly happy to enable.

    Boris has checkmated the UK by legally enshrining mass concessions via the Withdrawal Agreement and failing to prepare thoroughly for a No Deal outcome.

    Yet he was aided and abetted by the very politicians now fearing a great sell-out to Brussels, who were complicit in cheerleading the oven-ready deal that spells out much of what is to come.

    The writing may not be in statute yet. But it is clearly on the wall.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/12/16/government-masterminding-sell-out-brussels-brexiteers/

    1. Jacob Rees Mogg is a typical product of the current members of the political class who were educated at Eton – completely useless when it comes to the crunch.

      He was the one who popularised the phrase about the vassal state and yet he now is keen to go ahead with Britain being no more than a vassal state. You, Rees Mogg, are the slimy embodiment of John Milton’s description of Satan’s words: Semblance of worth – not substance.

      The moment Gove went to Brussels and Bill Cash’s amendment was removed I knew that the game was over and that Boris Johnson was surely going to capitulate. I posted this opinion straight away on this site and it gives me no pleasure to look as if I was so completely right.

      Bleed, poor country, bleed.

      1. Yet I recall, a year or so ago, that it was the widely-held opinion here that Rees-Mogg was to be the saviour of the country and the conservatives. Clearly not, then.

        1. I used to refer to Grease Smugg on this site as CLAYFOOT when I discovered that he was an idol with feet of clay. The end of his credibility came when he capitulated and voted in favour of Mrs May’s evil WA.

          Boris Johnson also voted for this same WA and since then I have not trusted him either. No wonder Johnson was so reluctant to have the contents of his own WA properly exposed before the election as, we now know, his WA was just the same as May’s but at least Bill Cash put a redeeming safeguard which Gove and Johnson have pathetically squandered and thrown away.

          1. 327500+ up ticks,
            Evening R,
            Many of us knew treachery was afoot on
            hearing “we have won, leave it to the tories” then they went back to
            supporting / voting for the very same peoples that on the 23/6/2016 were passionate pro eu rubber stampers.

            The nine month delay confirmed the fears of the real Brexitexit party, the genuine UKIP.

        2. Rees-Mogg has moved a lot of his own money out of the UK. He is only interested in being the saviour of the Rees-Moggs, and has never been interested in anything else.

        3. 327500+ up ticks,
          O,
          Not by ogga1 for sure, he was the peoples tour guide taking us to the wire
          again & again playing
          opposition ./ defence of mayday erring covertly being more on the defensive side.

    2. 327500+ up ticks,
      Evening C,
      they have ALL been complete & utter treacherous @rseholes since the knife went into Maggie.

      In dress code the major was the sh!t on the shirt tail after
      polishing of a curry, the wretch cameron left a lot to be desired on his approach to pig husbandry, & may would have put kim philby totally in the shade regarding treachery.
      The johnson Pm is a prisoner of the pillow whisper and of no benefit to a nation that is on a war footing.

      Well those that said post 24/6/2016 ” job done leave it to the tories” after 4 1/2 years ongoing are they satisfied ?

        1. At this stage of the game they have done everything, except line up and have the jab in public. Even if just to try and set an example.
          I’t all vey well dishing it out to the elderly and infirm. Just wait until they try it on the more compos mentis of the population and the fit and able. There’s definitely a reason why our politicians etc are note going through this process and boasting about it.

    2. This reminds me of the delightful absurdity in Evelyn Waugh’s Vile Bodies where ‘the younger set’ attend a party in a captive dirigible.

      Of course this works well metaphorically for our prime minister who is often full of little more than hot air or helium.

    1. Oh, good! Just when recent circumstances have demonstrated that we do not need to travel around the world in our fetid millions. (PS. As aeroplane emissions are maybe the largest worry of the greenie carbonistas the reduction is a Good Thing?)

      1. It’s nothing to do with air travel – there is still enough money in the public borrowing pot left over from Covid and HS2. The contractors and consultants need to get at it before it’s spent on public libraries.

          1. …surely to be followed by the owners of LGW, bearing in mind the closure for now of south terminal and the tiny number of flights from/to north terminal. Spare some sympathy for the boss who was on a promise of a £1m bonus if he could persuade the gummint to authorise the building of a second runway, poor chap.

        2. Another gravy train for the ‘right’ people and running into an airport, no less. How very amusing, NOT.

    2. That was kind of the Supreme Court! Just what we need when air travel is running at a fraction of its pre-Covid levels, and is likely to remain there for the forseeable.

    4. With the recent comment from our leaders that anyone caught at sea leaving the safety of Europe to get here will lose their right to asylum claims – – -Flying the rest of Africa and Asia into the UK by-passes that idea. Could also fit in with the housing plan to build over 3 million houses in North and Midlands in the next decade. Agenda 21 rolls on.

      1. Best Beloved made a sensible suggestion. Any immigrant granted asylum who subsequently goes ‘home’ on holiday, automatically loses their asylum status, are refused re-entry and put on the next plane ‘home.’

      2. The projection of new homes being planned in our village has now increased from 470 homes to 800.

        I hate politicians and mealy mouth councils that were once solid County Councils .

        1. I hate politicians and mealy mouth councils that were one solid County Councils .
          And you can bet your boots TB that there would have been financial inducements in these dealings.
          My belief is that once housing minister G Shapps might well have been involved in this proposal http://www.save-symondshyde.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Symondshyde-annual.report-2017.pdf ………..he doesn’t even live in the area so it wont affect him.
          The same has happened not far from where we live 1300 up to now 1500 all on greenbelt and agricultural land. And i was told by two chaps i met out walking the dog this week, to include a ‘travellers site’.
          But in reality it’s corporate greed that is destroying out country and the planet.

          1. Morning Eddy

            Oh yes , we know about cash handouts to councils who are being paid to take the overspill from the home counties and migtants and also children who need to be adopted or fostered .

            This government is clueless, as have been previous governments .
            They are a hoist to their own petard .

            https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9058977/Romeo-jet-skier-28-jailed-riding-Irish-Sea-SWIM.html

            This young romantic chap was imprisoned for 4 weeks , yet the illegals who cross the Channel are put up in 4 star hotels and hosted by the tax payer.

          2. I heard his story on the radio yesterday.
            They were more than a bit unfair to him. Brave lad .

          4. Quite innovative of him Bob, shame he was punished. I doubt if many more would try it, but i suspect that’s the aim of the public b*ll*cking he got.

        2. 470 to 800? Nearly doubling the size, which alters it completely. You can bet most of the new people will NOT be of the same culture/outlook, thereby destroying why you enjoy living there. You have my sympathy.

    6. That was kind of the Supreme Court! Just what we need when air travel is running at a fraction of its pre-Covid levels, and is likely to remain there for the forseeable.

      1. Boris and Priti, FFS, restore the Law Lords as the final court of appeal and disband the Supremely political court jesters.

    7. Wadda joke our judiciary are now. And that will lead to a thumbs up for the proposed expansion at Luton, more pollution to be endured. It’s been thought it’s caused a lot of the ash (Chalara) dieback in the surrounding areas. And whilst ‘jet setters’ pop off on their drunken binges and ‘hollie jollies’.
      And of course this will cause further problems as a lot of the once local people who saw the expansion as the threat it is, moved out and left empty houses.The houses were quickly filled with Call me Dave, Cameron Transport flight passengers from the middle east later turned into packed and free coach trips from south of England RAF bases to the Heathrow area. Where the Call me Dave Cameron (using tax payers money) transported passengers and were housed at tax payers expense. These homes will obviously be demolished and further building will take place around the country, as usual on agricultural and green belt land. And nearly every day we hear plea’s on TV progs the like’s of Country File etc, from supposedly green minded people who are concerned for our country, mainly England, at the rate of rapidly rising carbon emissions.
      And when you contact all these greenies pointing out the decimation of our country side to housing, they ignore you.
      This country as we knew and grew up in, is finished.

  55. Finally! The sewer repair project has advanced sufficiently that we can put bog paper down the pan again!
    Yaay! At last!

    3. In days of old when nights were bold
      Before paper was invented
      They’d wiped their *rse with a tuft of grass
      And walk away contented.

      1. What I want to know is when all public/ cinema / school loos had IZAL sheets , what happened to it , because it was very coarse unforgiving paper, in the sewerage system.

      2. Bidet, a constant jet of water, a sponge and soft soap followed by a clean dry towel and talcum is the cleanest solution.

      3. What I want to know is when all public/ cinema / school loos had IZAL sheets , what happened to it , because it was very coarse unforgiving paper, in the sewerage system.

        1. There was less of the other rubbish going down then. Nobody wanted to use more sheets of that stuff, and wet wipes hadn’t been invented.

        2. I always wanted to meet the person, with the most tedious job in the world

          He carefully printed by hand, ‘GOVERNMENT PROPERTY’ onto every sheet (pun?) of every roll of loo paper used by
          all employed by the ‘Queen’ ie Service folk, snivel serpents etc

    6. I trust you’ve been storing all the outpourings of the last few weeks, ready to deliver to the down stream neighbour who caused it.

  56. Aftn all, usual catch up post obligatory kenya power walkabout all morning for those in north end of Nairobi. Kenya Govt [MPs etc] trying to stop people from going to their homes up or down country. Everyone’s ignored them, all buses are fully booked between today and next Thursday.

    Kenya lunchtime news had the unfortunate privilege of being “live” asking members gathered at bus stations and were given the simple answer “there’s no need for any lockdown given there’s never been any virus, the Govt’s just trying to grab any money they can around BBI” [sic].

    Building Bridges Initiative [BBI] is Kenya variant of build Back Better and all politicos have been told by wananchi from Uhuru down the ladder = don’t even think of trying it.

    Let’s see what gems have been posted today and take it as a given, if I again disappear, Kenya Power’s taking a long lunch

    9. Happy Birthday dear Plum – we can all raise our glasses high for a birthday toast at 8.00 pm with a favourite tipple. Many happy returns of your day.

    19. Not that postman Alf mentioned yesterday?

      Happy Birthday Plum, hope you’re having a good one. Best wishes from us both.

  60. UvdL the EU president on BBC Radio 4 saying “we are on a narrow path. We are so close but so far apart” . [ I paraphrase] Encouraging news. The UK side is more on the so far apart wave length.

      2. Sorry Garlands. I was saving my finger as it is a long name. She is the EU president who has apparently seduced Boris into agreeing her evil intent.

        1. Ahhhh, I get you!

          I always think of her as the
          ‘ totty without a thought,’!!

          Ps, I do hope this does not offend you!!

        1. She was at uni. with Boris, according to some newspapers.

          That’s why she speaks such excellent English

          1. She was never at university with Johnson. Apart from anything else she is almost 6 years his senior.

            She spent a year at the LSE (78/79) while Johnson was still at Eton. By the time he went to Oxford she was studying medicine in Hannover

  61. Heathrow Airport third runway can go ahead, Supreme Court rules

    Ping a magic moment

    If we connect HS2 to Heathrow, we will have a White Elephant with a very very long trunk

    1. By the time they get around to building this runway, the current lack of travel will be a dim and distant memory, even crossrail will be operational.

      Unfortunately by then, no one will travel through Heathrow, Schiphol will have become the default European gateway and there with be decent speed rail connections to most of the UK.

      1. When the five day Christmas break was first mooted I looked into air travel between here and the old folks. Since the Aberdeen/Manchester route was previously by the now defunct Flybe I thought it might be difficult. There is one return trip per day with Loganair. The next option is a KLM flight, with a 10 hour stopover in Schiphol. The BA option has an even longer stopover at LHR – and is considerably more expensive.

        I’m spending Christmas in Wales.

      2. I live in Birmingham and when I go overseas for work, i’ts a short ride to the airport and a brief hop to Paris, Amsterdam or Frankfurt and all points beyond. Heathrow is at the bottom of my considerations for air travel.

        Schiphol has six runways with another under consideration, along with another terminal. Many domestic charter flights will be moved to Lelystad airport, about 30 miles away. Lelystad was reclaimed from the water only 50 years ago. Maybe our major infrastructure projects should be farmed out to the Dutch.

        1. When I fly abroad, I use Manchester. Even when all Hell broke loose and everyone was allowed only hold luggage, my flight to Canada was only delayed 30 minutes.

    2. Unkind to elephants!

      With aviation smashed and most planes grounded – what need is there for another runway?

      1. There is a great need Ndovu.

        Contractors need lucrative contracts.

        Politicians need generous political contributions.

        Planners need brown envelopes.

        Yes, there is great need!

          1. Ah, in the ’70s, Kemble was a satellite to Little Rissington (Central Flying School). The Reds were based there. I understand from a friend who went back to look that most of the buildings are still there.

      1. Is there any particular reason why HS2 or Eurotunnel should go near Heathrow? What’s the evidence of large numbers of people wanting to connect between Heathrow and either or the other two? Has Old Holborn considered the cost of relocating London’s main airport and the whole gambit of supporting industry in the area?

        2. You only need to go near the stations at gGatwick or Heathrow to see that many people travel by public transport to/from the airport. I do not know if this translates into a demand for long distance connections or not but there are frequent trains from Gatwick to Peterborough.

        1. When I was a child far fewer people had crossed the channel for their holidays and those who had done so liked to boast about it by putting a smart enamel GB badge on their car which proudly proclaimed that they had

          Gonna Broad.

          I was naive enough to believe that this was the truth!

      3. Why all the hot air and ripping of garments about “three runways at Heathrow”. I remember when it had six!

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d061010432cb3eff61701a44192b83329ab89787abe8b5cbffe4eba06f39cda4.jpg In the 1950s, Heathrow had six runways, arranged in three pairs at different angles in the shape of a hexagram with the permanent passenger terminal in the middle and the older terminal along the north edge of the field; two of its runways would always be within 30° of the wind direction. As the required length for runways has grown, Heathrow now has only two parallel runways running east–west. These are extended versions of the two east–west runways from the original hexagram. From the air, almost all of the original runways can still be seen, incorporated into the present system of taxiways.

        1. Yes, Grizzly,

          and I remember when the ‘lounge’ was within a tin shed!

          I think we are all beginning to realise what is going on!!

          and:

          ‘it ain’t pretty!’

          it ain’t pretty.’

          8. It wasn’t even a village. More a farm with a small hamlet attached.
            Fascinating when you look at the area on an immediate post war 1″ OS Sixth Series map.

            6th Series map of Farnborough also shews the location of Laffan’s Plain as mentioned in the RE Corps Song.

          9. Much of the road structure around the A4 is there, the big roundabout leading to the tunnel is clearly visible at the top of the picture.

        3. The runway (05-23) pointing NE-SW was closed when they built Terminal 4 at the southerly end.
          The NW-SE runway was closed to extend Terminal 3 to accommodate 747s – so, in the late1960s-early 1970s.
          That was the problem with the design of having the terminals surrounded with runways – no space to expand. I’m sure Corim can elaborate on the problem.

        4. You usd to be able to drive in at Hatton Cross and drive across the taxiway, traffic lights permitting.

        6. As a small lad In the very early 50s Grizz, I went with my father and one of his brothers to LHR to meet their brother who had flown in from Canada for Christmas. I remember a large corrugated Nissan hut for the customs and we parked the car almost next to it to collect him.
          Later in life i actually worked there helping to install joinery in one of the then new restaurants. And one day, low and behold, all of the Rolling Stones walked past within 3 feet of me. And we also did some work in the Control tower.

  62. Drakeford et al exaggerating and getting caught out by the published statistics. The problem in Wales must be, as everywhere else, that the sheeple listen to what’s being broadcast as news and believing the government’s line rather than doing some research of their own – there are several people on the internet analysing the government’s own stats and putting them into easy to understand formats. The liars and charlatans must be overwhelmed by the stupidity of the majority of people.
    In Colchester this afternoon and I couldn’t believe the number of people walking around fully masked in the breezy fresh air.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e1c380137ce3d1703fe30d53c8bc30551d54fe94d961d8ac264dae0b8d007949.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/529dedc72aa70b08ddb6939b7756a0361e9968d30844392b6370179d5f698a67.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9331b5d7bb23c7a949b1524597b869fb5c4455099c965b130d8006c62880230d.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3e7e144ec791eeb4f785ff1bdf85f0468c8d3604005adbcf3cd1b64db7829867.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1e011f60d97e55cf3c98a072989b2249730707369eb9735c9c61a0c32a2e77bc.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/db20269820c36a9515721cef1741cca3a5f0df74858296a64a8be72d2d5983f2.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f78f276173390fbf0627f95e531cc376c5357316978d283a1d8e9af4bc5ff013.png

    Be interesting to know what amplification rate the PCR tests in Wales are running at. To boost ‘positives’ (most of which will be false positives) of a low initial viral load all they have to do is move up a few points e.g. moving from 40 (that is 2 raised to the 40th power > 1 trillion) to 45 > 32 trillion times the initial swab content.

    1. In Merthyr the mass testing is using the Lateral Flow test which tells you if you are infectious.

        2. It’s the same mass testing as in Liverpool and I’m sure there are other places doing it.
          It shows viral load unlike the PCR test that was not designed for finding the virus.
          And it doesn’t hurt. You need to remember to stick the swab down your throat and then up your nose, you should be ok. Result within the hour.

          2. The PCR test was devised for research purposes only. The inventor said it should not be used for clinical assessment.

          4. Well done, J.

            It doesn’t show does it? unless
            I am missing something!!

            Too many is surely better than
            none! :-))

          5. I’ve noticed sometimes they don’t show up straightaway. He’s in the list now, anyway – just looked and it says “an hour ago”.

        1. All the so-called leaders are, to use a hackneyed phrase, singing from the same hymn sheet. Therefore a connection exists and it isn’t, “The science.”

          1. It’s because they can! They must have absolutely zero self-awareness of how ridiculous they appear!

  63. Pottered round town, did a spot of shopping and had lunch.
    I feel so sorry for the assistants in the shops that are closing down; apart from wearing compulsory face nappies, they are looking at a bleak 2021, but you wouldn’t have known it from their demeanour.
    They are the ones needing public recognition.

    1. It must be depressing for them, especially while they see illegals getting put in hotels at the same time. Clearly shows whose side the govt is on.

    3. Went riding and then stocked up on dog food (got to have the essentials, after all). Had a phone call from the Rector (who is retiring next year) and a pleasant chat with him.

  64. That’s me for the day.

    Horizontal branch of Holm Oak suspended from ceiling instead of a tree – OUT OF REACH.
    They loved playing with it before we were able to hang it in place!

    Have a cheerful evening sticking pins in effigies…

    A demain.

    1. Manipulated photographs. Her hair is exactly the same in both, and that’s not possible if she went away, changed, and came back.
      Edit: Spelling

      1. The shirt is interesting – although the colour changes everything else about it remains the same.

  67. Lloyd Evans
    Why does Ian Blackford get a free pass at PMQs?
    16 December 2020, 4:58pm

    The Speaker was busy at PMQs. He jumped in at the start and told Michael Fabricant, the orange-haired member for Lichfield, to stop rambling and get to the point. He admonished an SNP member for addressing the Prime Minister as ‘you.’ Convention dictates that ‘you’ in the Commons means the Speaker himself. ‘You keep saying ‘you’. I’m not responsible for any of this,’ Lindsay Hoyle said.

    And he jokingly called Boris, ‘Father Christmas,’ after a Tory suggested that the PM was like Santa for school kids. So there seemed to be a semblance of seasonal cheer in the chamber. And then Sir Keir Starmer stood up and read out a list of apocalyptic tidings like a town-crier during the Black Death. ‘Infection rates are rising,’ he moaned, ‘in some areas up by SEVENTY per cent.’ He quoted the British Medical Journal which no longer affects neutrality and uses the tone of a Momentum press-release. ‘The government is about to blunder into a major error that will cost many lives’. This was a reference to next week’s truncated Yule-tide revels.

    Boris wanted to know Sir Keir’s alternative plan. ‘Cancel Christmas?’ he suggested. ‘I think that’s what he’s driving at.’ He accused the Labour leader of ignoring the heroic efforts of the country as it ‘comes together’ to defeat the virus. ‘He’s a one-club golfer,’ said Boris, confirming that his gag-writing efforts for the year are over already.

    Ian Blackford stood up and embarked on a lengthy preamble to an even lengthier question. Where was the Speaker when he was needed? He’s keen to terminate gabblers like Michael Fabricant but he invariably allows Blackford to pump out enough gas to fill a bouncy castle. Today’s theme from the SNP was fiscal treachery and the ‘extreme Tory Brexit.’

    Blackford, who has quite a stomach for figures, relied on a whole series of whoppers. He quoted a study claiming that Brexit has already cost Scotland £4bn. Another confederacy of pessimists predicts that every Scottish citizen will lose £1,600 as a result of Brexit. Then came the big one.

    Bloomberg Economics reckons that the UK’s bill for Brexit will be £200bn. Blackford demanded that Boris spend the rest of the afternoon writing a detailed assessment of Brexit’s impact on Scotland’s economy. Boris laughed this off and told him that Britain would ‘prosper mightily’ outside the EU. Blackford’s two queries took up five minutes of Commons time. Someone should put a hole in his bellows.

    A better question came from the SNP’s Ronnie Cowan. He asked about the failure of drug policy in Scotland and the establishment of ‘consumption rooms’, that is, nice, squeaky-clean places where addicts can take drugs in the presence of clinicians wearing mauve scrubs.

    Boris repeated a common error and suggested that these safe spaces might encourage the use of narcotics – as if being a heroin-addict is like being a movie-star, and that everyone would do it given the chance. That view is disputed. However, he wasn’t about to add ‘funding junkies’ to his roster of achievements. He passed it back to the SNP. ‘The vast panoply of powers needed to tackle drugs and drug-crime is already vested in the devolved assembly,’ he said. ‘The failures he talks about are very much down to him.’ In other words, the SNP is turning Scotland to smack.

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

    BTL:

    Lamia • an hour ago
    “A better question came from the SNP’s Ronnie Cowan. He asked about the failure of drug policy in Scotland.”

    Incredible. Health is an SNP ‘competence’ – and they blame their failures on the UK government.

    Presumably, to become an SNP candidate you have to pass exams in ‘bare-faced hypocrisy’ and ‘blaming the English’.

    Jingleballix • an hour ago • edited
    Michael Fabricant, the orange-haired member for Lichfield

    You mean orange-wigged…..

    ……and you forgot Angela Rayner, dressed as she was – as spotted by Guido – in Doc Martens, ‘Bet Lynch’ leggings and other accoutrements that made her resemble a scruffy librarian at Essex University.

    Why does Angela Rayner get a pass? What was it she fish-wived in the house last month?

    2. I have to say that when I was at Essex University (1967-71 and 1983-84) none of the librarians was particularly scruffy. Have standards dropped?

      1. If I hadn’t fluffed my A levels I might have been at Essex University from 66 – 69. Life took a different turn.

  68. Off topic.

    The joy of very old relatives. (90+)

    Every time one telephones, all that is reported is a round of disasters, deaths and deteriorations.

    This evening’s call/collection:

    Double incontinence, can’t be sent home from hospital.
    Deaths x 2.
    Broken wrist.
    Amputation.
    New hospitalisation.
    Tena pant leakage, (not the double incontinence)

    Covid restrictions prevent any visits.

    It gets to the point when I start to giggle.

    I know I shouldn’t, I know it will happen to me. But when it becomes the same thing every day, happening to different people, one has to conclude life’s a bitch when you are older than most of the people you know.

    1. Good God, what a litany of woe
      :-((
      From my end: Mother (91) still wondering when her parents will be home after visiting her aunt, whose husband is apparently in hospital…

      1. Quite!

        The strange thing about this one was that it was only one call.

        HG does a round of these calls; some daily, some weekly, some when a relative mentions a mutual friend; the similarities are actually poignant, they experience the other’s lives but have lost track of each other.

        In this case, the old lady is as fit as the Queen.

        1. My experience of female relatives is that they like to share their illnesses and those of friends, acquaintances, and anybody else they heard of. MiL, mother, SWMBO, SiL, you name it, they’re all at it. Very depressing. Both lads leave the room when this topic comes up, telling the rellie why they are going!

          1. Every card we have had this Christmas has had comments about my near death experience in February/March.

            HG sent our cards out early, so people got them before they sent theirs. I wish I had read her template and censored it.

            Why did she think anyone would be interested? I’m still alive; it was nearly a year ago. Who cares?

            Why do wimmin not let it rest?

          4. It’s nice when someone asks “How’s it going with you?”, but to endlessly go on about it, and rehash other’s misfortune, sometimes with glee, is excessive – however much she cares. My mother does it – even bringing up teenage acne “Have you had many more spots since you were 18? Were’nt they awful then? What did they call you, pizza-face?”

          5. I remember those conversations. All about ‘blood pressure’ and gout, diabetes and strokes. I got the impression that the whole adult world suffered from some illness or another, that it was a qualification for adulthood.

          6. My childhood was just me and my mum, with occasional visits to the rellies. I don’t remember a great deal of health talk. Mum had good health until her final illness.

    2. Just remember folks, no pleasure foregone is worth an extra five years in a nursing home in Weston-super-mare….(Would it be indelicate given the topic of this particular thread to say: “Bottoms up!”?)

    3. Eventually…….they’ll all be gone and the only old rellies will be you. We’ve got none left now.

        1. I’m the youngest of mine, prolly ‘cos my Mum had me at 43. The first of my cousins shuffled off this summer, aged 80. Meanwhile, I’ve just heard that Joyce (D), a friend of my Mum / Mum of a school friend who I’ve lost touch with, has died, aged 94. Not a bad innings. But the other Joyce (Q) on my Christmas card list is a former neighbour / girlfriend’s Mum. She was 100 this summer. Still lives at home, totally compos mentis – I’ve already had her Xmas card. She’s fitter than I am (well – she has more feet). So, one never knows how many years are left…

          1. So, you’re saying that Joyce Q is two foot taller than you, you mean, Geoff? Just to be clear… ;-))

          2. So, you’re saying that Joyce Q is two foot taller than you, you mean, Geoff? Just to be clear… ;-))

          3. Your observations sum up the luck of that draw.

            As I often write: “if I live to be as old as I look” I’ll have done well.

            Actually, I’ll have done very well!

          4. “As old as I look”. Well, I’ve been 21 three times now. But that doesn’t stop Jeff Bezos insisting on Photo ID if I order booze from Amazon Fresh…

          5. I worked with a number of lovely ladies who were decades older than they looked. I used to chide them, telling them they need to look their age, and how it wasn’t fair for others.

          6. I think Jeff Bezos runs an absolutely
            brilliant company … I may despise him
            but I cannot deny his competence.

            I wonder if he would like to be in charge
            of UK?

          10. I think I look my age (74) but my wife looks ten years younger than her chronological age. As I am sixteen years older than she is many people think Caroline is my daughter rather than my wife.

  70. First winter storm of the season has arrived, up to a foot of snow forecast before it moves out….we shall have to see how accurate the weather people are!!

    1. We had a torrential downpour this morning (and then heavy rain for the rest of the day). The main road was flooded, so I didn’t risk going the back way to the stables (the road was flooded there a couple of weeks ago and nearly so last week and that was without the prodigious amount of rain today). I had to put up with the wait at the traffic lights while they “fix” the bridge again (that’s been going on for months) so I went a very circuitous route on the way back to avoid the bridge and the floods. Ah, the joys of living in the country!

  72. We’ve devised a good way of having relatives over for Christmas: place a large computer screen at the end of the table and they can join in via Skype. We can even play charades and other visual games! We call it the Boris Solution.

  73. Michael Deacon’s latest column in the DT. Usually, I disagree with the guy, but on this occasion….

    ‘When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex “stepped back” from senior royal duties in January, the world was agog to see what they would do next. And now we’re finding out. Harry and Meghan have just signed a deal with Spotify to produce their very own podcasts together.

    The couple have whetted our appetites by releasing a brief promotional trailer. In it, they begin by giving us a glimpse of their lighter side (“Say it! I think it sounds really nice with your accent!”) – but then, more seriously, they pledge to “bring forward different perspectives and voices that perhaps you haven’t heard before” in order to help the people of the world “find common ground”. Because when that happens, intones Harry solemnly, “Change really is possible.”

    What a treat. I can’t wait to find out what the first episode is like. For the time being, I suppose we’ll just have to imagine…

    [Sound of swivel-chair squeaking, microphones being accidentally knocked over, etc, in attempt to make multi-million-dollar celebrity podcast sound endearingly amateurish]

    Harry: “Hey, guys! Er, is this thing on?

    Meghan: “It is! We’re rolling! Hey, everybody! Welcome to our very first podcast! My name’s Meghan!”

    Harry: “And my name’s Harry! We’re the podcast world’s hottest new comedy double act! Of course, I’m very much the straight man!”

    Meghan: “Ha, ha!”

    Harry: “Ha, ha!”

    Meghan: “Ha, ha!”

    Harry: “Although of course in all seriousness I do absolutely appreciate that, in so many areas of our society, straight men are still significantly over-represented, and I’m 100 per cent committed to bringing about change. So while it may be traditional for a double act to feature a straight man, I want to make clear that it’s every bit as valid for it to feature a gay man, or a trans man, or a gender-fluid man, or a gender-queer man, or a non-binary man or indeed any other kind of man. Or even a woman. That’s something that Meg has helped me to learn over the past few years and, because of that, I feel I’ve really started to grow, not just as a person, but as a human being.”

    Meghan: “Thank you, Harry. That was so nourishing.”

    Harry: “Anyway! On with the show! I say, Meg, what’s that you’re drinking?”

    Meghan: “This? Why, Harry, this is a sample of the incredible new range of wellness-promoting ‘super-lattes’ I’ve just invested in! Perhaps you’ve read about them! They’ve been created by this inspiring new woman-led, mission-driven coffee start-up in California, and I’m so humbled to be able to support their holistic approach to self-care! Each cup is sourced from the most ethically sustainable organic ingredients – including adaptogenic herbs, chia seeds, monk fruit, rainbows, and unpasteurised unicorn milk!”

    Harry: “Sounds scrummy. May I try some?”

    Meghan: “Sure! Have a sip!”

    Harry: “Mmm, gosh. Crikey. You really can taste those delicious adaptogenic herbs. They’re just so incredibly… adaptogenic. Why, this stuff makes me feel like a new man! Or woman. Equally valid.”

    Meghan: “So what we really want to share with you guys at home today is all our exciting plans for this podcast! We can’t wait to tell you about them. We’re just so proud – and, at the same time, so humbled.”

    Harry: “Equally proud and humbled. Proud, but in a really humble way.”

    Meghan: “So in every episode, Harry and I are going to be sharing our passion for meeting people, and letting them tell us their stories. Stories of sadness. Stories of injustice. Stories of inequality. Stories of ordinary people. For us, listening to them is such a privilege.”

    Harry: “Incredible privilege.”

    Meghan: “Amazing privilege.”

    Harry: “The greatest privilege.”

    Meghan: “It truly is.”

    Harry: “Which is why, as people who are 100 per cent committed to fighting privilege wherever we find it, we’ve taken the decision to step back from the podcast. Sadly, it will now never be aired.”

    Meghan: “We know this will be painful news for many people. But we believe we’re doing the right thing.’

    No comments allowed. Of course.

    1. “The world was agog to see what they would do next”? Does this person live in total isolation? The world as experienced by me (and a fair few others) doesn’t give a monkey’s about what they will do next. We just hope they will fade away into oblivion.

    1. Well the globalists have just got away with the biggest theft of all in the US, so why should they hold back now? They know nothing will happen to them when they cheat.

    1. American Intelligence agencies are forbidden from spying on their own people where telephone and Internet is concerned without a warrant.

      So we in the UK do it for them.

      This arrangement is reciprocal.

      1. The article makes it clear that the organisations doing it are private companies and not British intelligence agencies which are bound by very strict rules.

      2. Phizzee mng, sorry not picking comment, Kenya Power went again for “a long afternoon”. Agree re generic “repicprocal arrangements”, this was extant bk in mid 90s when I was in MoD. Now am sure it’s moved more into commercial sphere with obligatory mil int in the wings and not the other way round.

          3. So you condemn upwards of 80 million patriotic Americans who wish to preserve the Constitution and not have their country run by foreigners? You must have an agenda or else you are deranged.

      2. It is everywhere, and no court has examined it up til now, neither has any Democrat appeared concerned about explaining things like the vertical steps in Biden votes on election night, or the bellweather counties mainly voting for Trump.

      3. Corrimobile, below is a copy of a comment I posted to him a couple of weeks ago, no response back. To my mind his moral compass is bust and is not worthy of further interaction.

        You consider the possibility of a fail attempt of voter fraud in a state that Trump won as irrelevant, is that what you are saying. If so I can only think that you seem to be lacking integrity somewhat.

        1. Enough evidence to convince McConnell to tell his senators to behave but I guess that you have a more difficult audience here.

  77. Evening, all. The government seems to have lost the plot entirely (assuming they ever had it in the first place).

  80. Advice please.
    We live in a Tier 3 area ( East Anglia) the mother in law who is in her late 80s lives in
    Bath which is a Tier 1 area, she lives in accommodation that provides carers if needed .
    Her other son lives in Wiltshire and is part of her bubble as he lives closer .

    We don’t have much of a relationship with the husband’s brother or his family, it’s based around their mother and when she’s gone I doubt there will be any contact, she knows this but still wants a family gathering for the sake of it. We said that Bath isn’t that far away and that we can visit her when things settle down, she didn’t seem interested in that. She said that ” she’ll hang on to the Spring ” ( emotional blackmail she does too )
    but the husband doesn’t see that . We have said we will call the senior carers at her accomadation and explain the situation with us here in Tier 3, and ask her advice, we ‘d not want to risk her health just because of a few days at Christmas .it’s a tricky situation and
    everything has been put on my husband’s shoulders .

    1. This time next year, one or other of your group/family may be dead whatever happens, irrespective of Covid.

      There comes the point where one decides:

      Carpe diem.
      When the day passes you can’t get it back,

    2. I think Bath is in Tier 2, but Bristol is in Tier 3.

      If you’re in Tier 3 you’ll need to explain that it’s not a good idea, and it’s also quite a long way to drive.

      1. It’s difficult because she’s very elderly and not in good health but she does dramatize and always seems to recover when seeing the relatives in Wiltshire
        but we’d not want to put her at risk or temp fate . Bath is a 2 and a half hour trip one way, a long way but can be done in a day unlike Somerset where she used to be . We could visit in January or March (or earlier if she seems poorly-)
        but she seems to want a Christmas gathering r3gardkess

        1. So you’ll be spending five hours on the road………but then you’d never forgive yourselves if she did die before you saw her again.

          1. We are going to have a word with Claire whose the chief carer and takes care of all the residents to get a picture of how the mother in law is and then will decide .

    3. Sounds as though she thinks she’ll not see another Christmas. Perhaps you’ll just have to bite he bullet and go.

      1. The other son ( husband’s brother) was meant to be in Scotland this Christmas and would be still going if it wasn’t for Nicola Sturgeon, he wasnt planning on seeing his mother .The mother in law has been saying every year is her last for the past 4 years, but she is more poorly then she was.

        1. He probably sees her a lot more often you or your husband.
          Perhaps he feels he’s taken on more of the rsponsibility, because he lives nearer.

  81. As you may be aware, I’ve only been logging in intermittently over the past few weeks. From time to time there seemed to be a frenetic amount of activity from the House Trolls. Has this stopped. Have they got bored with poking a stick in the cage or just banned? For the avoidance of doubt I’ve no wish to have intercourse with said trolls.

    3. I’m still here occasionally, just.

      Comment numbers have dropped off despite the fact that we are faced with two of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated viz. the ‘election’ of China Joe Biden in the USA and the worldwide fake pandemic intended to subjugate us and make us dependant on dodgy and downright dangerous vaccines.

          2. That’s looking increasingly likely as an outcome. It’s no surprise to me. Anger, yes, but not surprise.

          3. Not to me either. What a complete waste of time. Not only the pretence of Brexit but Boris Johnson is a waste of time. Winning an 80 seat victory in the GE seemed so good at the time but the advantage has just been frittered away. It is so disappointing to really realise it’s just not going to happen when it could so easily have had he been a conviction politician.

          4. It is doubly annoying for me because I campaigned for a good UKIP candidate in a neighbouring constituency. She was the only leaver on the ticket, but she lost her deposit. They could have had at least one sincere, dyed-in-the-wool leaver in Parliament to try to keep them honest. Instead they elected a remainer who claimed to be signed up to leaving (just like the previous one they were so fed up with). You can’t fix stupid, it seems.

          5. It’s a great pity Conway, we had the makings of a good Brexit and, considering all Tory MPs “signed up” to supporting Brexit either Johnson thinks his bread is buttered on the other side or, well, he’s never been a conviction politician has he. It could have been so good. I was very sorry that UKIP didn’t do a lot better and pretty disgusted that Nigel Farage, after having given us the referendum, then stood down some of his candidates in the GE. We’re quite likely to be far worse off from next year onwards than we would have been staying in the EU.

          6. Actually, I don’t believe that. It’s what the remainers in Westminster (and that’s pretty much all of them, regardless of what they campaigned on) want people to believe. Nothing could be worse than staying in the EU (who want to punish us for our temerity, even if we manage to scrape free and can mitigate the effects of it – just think what they’ll do if we are still in their clutches). There is good news ( https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/business/2020/12/17/bae-systems-to-recruit-record-1250-new-apprentices-and-graduates/ ), but it doesn’t get much coverage. There is even good news tempered by the inevitable “no deal Brexit” potential (and that’s all it is – potential) disaster: https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/uk-news/2020/12/17/bank-holds-rates-at-01-amid-eleventh-hour-brexit-deal-talks/

          7. That is good news Conway. I’d be quite happy with a “no deal” Brexit or WTO terms rather. I just want us to be out of the EU clutches.

        2. He tends to work with two at a time.
          Corimmobile thinks in three dimensions but pen to paper in two.

          1. I’m here for debate Sue. Try it, you may even enjoy it. Going get out of your comfort zone and argue your case.

          4. (cough)
            from my point of view, it is you who is usually wrong. And if I want debate, I’ll go to (another website), not here!
            Here is the place for jokes and polite disagreement. At least that is how I understand it.

          7. So ell me what I’m wrong about Blackbox? Am I wrong to support the US courts and Electoral College? Am I wrong to argue that we should be prepared for No deal and to leave NATO? Am I wrong to want a points based immigration system? Am I wrong to argue that Covid isn’t “just the flu”? What exactly am I “usually wrong about”?

            BLACKBOX are you there? Let’s try some more; was I wrong to recommend Chilean and Georgian wine? What am I usually wrong about? Simple question.

          9. Laughable. This thread started with Sue referring to me as a troll, the one above started with Delboy’s rude reply. yet I’m the problem in your world! Open your eyes.

          10. They are open, thanks.

            If you were a bit more pleasant to people, they might be more inclined to accept you.

            But then everyone is out of step, except you.

          12. As cunning as ever, Cochers. To show how reasonable you claim to be, you carefully select a couple of ideas with which few on here would disagree. In reality, your usual tactics are to play the innocent, come across all nicey-nicey and then play wounded when, bored by the repetition, even the least argumentative members finally lose patience and tell you to **** off. Your German schoolboy immigrant scientist picture of a couple of weeks ago was a case in point. That’s trolling.

            Your Remembrance Week meltdowns, in which you blamed Trump, Orban, Duda and the ‘alt-right’ [sic] for ‘the chaos’ of recent times, were memorable moments. No reasonableness there, eh? They give me a little chuckle whenever I feel a bit down. They remind us all of what really lies behind your false claims of tolerance.

          15. Good evening, William.

            The RAF were very busy today!
            Or was it just a change in the wind
            direction?

          17. They were very busy, with many
            impressive manoeuvres etc. they
            were flying further south than usual
            so I had a splendid view from my
            back garden.

          18. Yes.
            Yes to the latter.
            Isn’t that what everyone wants?
            Everyone knows that, but the government’s response is still disproportionate, sometimes irrational and full of lies.
            Yes, especially if you’re buying the muck exported to Britain. Everyone knows the British can’t tell the difference between good and bad wine, so they send us the bad stuff.

            Now having spent about a minute thinking about these contentious things, I’m off to work to give my pore brane an Olympic workout with an uncommented protocol module written in C-style C++, apparently by a gibbering ape with a typewriter, who is lucky that I don’t know his address and don’t own a meat cleaver.
            When I get home, I will be $$$ richer, but TOO BLEEDIN KNACKERED to want to argue! Sorry!

            PS You clearly need a more challenging job….

          19. Oh dear, Sweetie!

            We may have different
            and never agreeing views,
            but surely we can accept each
            other’s views without sarcasm
            and whinge?

          20. As I have said before, you know absolutely nothing about me or my “comfort zone” so I suggest you find someone else to “debate” with.

          22. Yes, I’m very happy and willing to debate. Unfortunately most of my posts are met by a childlike accusation of trolling which makes debate difficult. Of course if you wanted this site to prosper and attract rather than repel potential contributors, in your role as a Mod, you’d sanction those who attack people with views at variance from the norm here, but you fail to do so and then you wonder why the comment count is reducing!

          23. I just view you as a trouble maker. Your attitude to people is very poor in my opinion. The way you refer to Trump supporters is just one example You do not know when to leave things alone if they are going nowhere. Its a pity as there is more to life than making trouble.

            .It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreling.

            Proverbs 6: 16-19.

          24. You may criticise and decry my
            comments as often as you wish.

            I do not
            ‘wonder why the comment count is reducing’
            … I know why!!!

          1. I don’t since I don’t chuck the accusation around every time I see a post I disagree with.

    6. Unfortunately No!!

      We believe in free speech, therefore we
      allow the views of others…….
      However much we despise their creed!

    7. There is a really good saying- Never trouble trouble until trouble troubles you. I think it might be rephrased. Never troll a troll until a troll trolls you.

    8. Nobody’s been banned lately. We put up with the trolls, or block them.
      There are only a couple of regular stick pokers, they come and go.

    2. “Ce n’est pas possible” (final words of the clip) means “It’s not possible” and NOT “FFS”.

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