Saturday 2 January: What guarantee is there that enough Pfizer vaccine will be left to give all recipients a second dose?

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/01/02/letters-guarantee-enough-pfizer-vaccine-will-left-give-recipients/

1,001 thoughts on “Saturday 2 January: What guarantee is there that enough Pfizer vaccine will be left to give all recipients a second dose?”

  2. Emmanuel Macron says Brexit is result of ‘many lies and false promises’. 2 January 2021.

    Giving the speech from the Elysee Palace, Paris, he said: “The United Kingdom remains our neighbour but also our friend and ally. This choice of leaving Europe, this Brexit, was the child of European malaise and lots of lies and false promises.”

    Morning everyone. Yes and all of them came from the EU and its allies in the UK!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/01/01/emmanuel-macron-uses-new-years-message-say-brexit-born-many/

    1. Ted Heath told a few fibs too! (I’m not sure subsequent PMs were covered in Glory either)

      Morning Minty

        1. There’s a youtube video of Heath giving a speech on 2 Jan 1973 in which he clearly states the aims of the bureaucratic swamp into which he had consigned us. It almost makes Saggy May look patriotic.

      2. 328026+ up ticks,
        Morning S,
        I believe it is safe to say,
        b lier, brown, major, cameron, may,with johnson making headway
        at being the latest in the treachery stakes.

        1. Morning O. Here you go …J Ward’s latest missive:
          “Westminster is a political duopoly populated by mediocre bombasts and increasingly under the control of corporates and bureaucrats united in a desire for dictatorial technocracy. Everything – the voting system, bribery, gerrymandering, media attention, live broadcasts, lobbying and a dozen other obstacles – ensure that the Chamber is a closed shop to fresh ideas not dreamed up in bubbles, think tanks and Whitehall huddles. It is a sclerotic heart with an ageing brain divorced from the experience of real people.

          The aim should be to make it irrelevant by all peaceful means”

          https://therealslog.com/2021/01/01/the-real-virus-is-global-infection-of-national-politics/

          1. 328026+ up ticks,
            Morning S,
            That is similar to my daily mantra, old shaky could NOT have penned it better,

    2. 328026+up ticks,
      Morning AS
      Agreed,
      May I add only surpassed by the lab/lib/con coalition politico’s, their submissive allies,

    1. Morning Peddy. Dad dancing is all very well but I wouldn’t want to be in front of one that’s toting automatic weapons……

    2. Scary.
      The human shaped robots’ moves are very convincing, as though it is a woman or man in a suit

  4. A Desert Story

    A nun and a priest were crossing the Sahara Desert on a camel. On the third day out, the camel suddenly dropped dead without warning. After dusting themselves off, the Nun and the Priest surveyed their situation. After a long period of silence, the Priest spoke. ‘Well, Sister, this looks pretty grim.’
    ‘I know, Father. In fact, I don’t think it likely that we can survive more than a day or two.’

    ‘I agree,’ said the Priest. ‘Sister, since we are unlikely to make it out of here alive, would you do something for me?’
    ‘Anything, Father.’
    ‘I have never seen a woman’s breasts and I was wondering if I might see yours.’
    ‘Well, under the circumstances I don’t see that it would do any harm.’

    The Nun opened her habit and the Priest enjoyed the sight of her shapely breasts, commenting frequently on their beauty. ‘Sister, would you mind if I touched them?’…
    …she consented and he fondled them for several minutes.

    ‘Father, could I ask something of you?’
    ‘Yes, Sister?’
    ‘I have never seen a man’s penis. Could I see yours?’
    ‘I suppose that would be OK,’ the Priest replied lifting his robe.
    ‘Oh Father, may I touch it?’

    The priest consented and after a few minutes of fondling he was sporting a huge erection.

    ‘Sister, you know that if I insert my penis in the right place, it can Give Life.’
    ‘Is that true Father?’
    ‘Yes, it is, Sister.’

    ‘Oh Father, that’s wonderful … Stick it in the camel and let’s get the hell out of here!’

  5. 328026+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,

    Saturday 2 January: What guarantee is there that enough Pfizer vaccine will be left to give all recipients a second dose?

    What guarantee is there they will be around to receive a second dose, and NO compo.

    1. How much OAZ is there. Apparently we’re sending fifty million doses to India. Will they be paying us for them or will it be classed as furrin ade?

    2. How much OAZ is there. Apparently we’re sending fifty million doses to India. Will they be paying us for them or will it be classed as furrin ade?

      1. 328026+ up ticks,
        Morning SiadC,
        “how much OAZ is there” ? around November the 5 masses.
        I think you know the answer to the latter part of your post, as obarme said and rightfully so in this instance, the UK indigenous will be “back of the queue” that is, if they require the jab.

    3. Early reports from nurses here giving the OAZ is that there are a lot of people who DNA, thus doses going to waste.
      Staff who want the vaccine but haven’t yet had the call have been told to go to the site at 4.00pm each day and if there are spares, they get the dose that would have had to be thrown away.
      It fuels the urgency to make people pay a deposit for a doctor’s appt (refundable if you turn up). You never hear of people not turning up for dentists’ appts do you? They would be charged about £60 for the privilege.
      I haven’t tested the system yet as I’ve been WFH but might drop by later this week to see what the Bobby is.

      1. For those, like me, who had to look it up, OAZ= Oxford/Astro Zeneca and DNA, in this instance has nothing to do with genetic tracing but here it means Did Not Attend.

      2. There are certainly dental patients who DNA their appointments. The beloved Patricia Hewitt outlawed the charging of NHS dental patients for DNAs, & as far as I know, that has remained so to this day.

          2. No, it doesn’t, but private patients are usually more reliable. I had one private female who often DNA’d or turned up late & I warned her that next time I would charge her. “But I’m a private patient,” she said with a smug smirk. So the next time I charged her full whack. That wiped the smile off her face, but she remained my patient. I was good, y’see.
            In my first practice in Southampton I had 7,000 patients on my books, but a lot of DNAs. For a long time I wrestled with the idea of charging for DNAs; I was afraid of losing patients. But then I realised I could afford to lose a few; they’re not the sort of patients one wants anyway, when you think about it, so I started charging. The number of DNAs dropped to almost zero overnight.

        2. In Norway, you pay to see the gp, whether or not you turn up. Since the fee is about £60 for a 20 minute slot, there’s an incentive!

          1. I believe she and her soulsister Harriet were in favour of lowering the age of consent to 12.

            Yes I know I am slightly distorting the truth – but the MSM and the BBC do that all the time so why shouldn’t I? I believe these self-righteous harridans removed their support for the Paedophile Information Exchange when they learnt more about it but only one of them has apologised and still believes the age of sexual consent should be reduced to 12.

            I should imagine that the BBC’s support, Keir Starmer’s support, Piers Morgan’s support and Mayor Khan’s support for BLM implies that they also support the end of capitalism, defunding the police force, communism and the end of the conventional family which are the cornerstones of the political BLM’s core philosophy.

          2. Most are chancers who bend like reeds in the wind.
            They sense it doesn’t pay to think or hold principles.

          3. I think that if the BLM’s Starmer’s and Morgan’s wishes came to fruition, that would signal the end of the BBC as they think they know it.

            They would find themselves under a very selective government rule that might well result in re-education camps and possible (probable) death.

          4. That’s the one. She had a mock-friendly socialist way of peering over her glasses too.
            I’ll never forget the bitch, because it was a licence for patients to play fast & loose.

    4. Well, it does make sense to wait and see how many survive the first dose. No point wasting the vaccine!

  7. Apologies to any teachers on here, former or active, but bl**dy teachers.
    How come health care workers, shop workers postwomen and men and others can keep going but teachers can’t? Probably for the same reason that teachers are the only people that can’t get to work when it snows, I expect.
    Is it beyond their wit to realise that if schools close, parents have to stay home to look after their children thus exacerbating shortages in those key services that are trying to keep running?
    0/10. Must try harder.

    1. They are infected with a virus given to them by their Unions. I have nothing but admiration for shop workers and the guys and gals that run the tills. Coming into close contact with hundreds of people daily.

      1. I occasionally ask checkout staff if any of their colleagues have been hit by the virus and, so far, I’ve had negative responses.

        2. Two of my children are working in customer facing roles – one in a fast food takeaway, one in a busy shop. Neither of them are aware of colleagues having had the virus.

      2. The difference is that shopworkers depend on the revenue generated by the shop for their income. No shop – no money. Teachers get paid by the state. Maybe it’s time for Sunak to refuse to pay teachers who refuse to work.

        2. ‘Morning, HK. Such a suggestion has often been heard in Janus Towers. In the main the public sector has not had to worry where the next payday is coming from – and it certainly shows in some areas.

    2. Agree entirely. People are working hard, and the teachers’ bedwetting attitude only piles more work onto parents. I am grateful that my children are past the stage where I would have had to have given online lessons while trying to do a day’s work on my computer! Several people I know were juggling this impossible task during the spring lockdown.

    3. Modern teachers, like most modern parents, are simply not fit for purpose. They are a massive part of the reason why humanity is getting more and more stupid by the second.

      They are not fit to lace the boots of their teachers or their parents (or grandparents).

    4. As a former teacher (who did get into school when it snowed except on one occasion when I fell downstairs and sprained my ankle), I agree entirely. Education isn’t something that can be dropped and easily picked up again (particularly in modern languages); it needs continuity. It was noticeable that those pupils who had lots of time off failed to make progress. Working class children, particularly, are going to be severely disadvantaged by being sent home as their parents often don’t or can’t make sure they continue with learning.

      1. I think the fairest thing to do for all of last year’s pupils would be to hold them all back a year. The only classes that would be affected would be the first year of infant/prep schools across the land where the class sizes would be double (with two years’ intakes) but that would be fairly simple to manage – not much of complexity taught to four year olds.

  8. Ofcom’s misguided new hate speech definition. 1 January 2021.

    We might be welcoming in a new year, but it is likely to be another in which we need to defend our right to express legitimate political opinions. From today Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, has expanded its definition of hate speech to include:

    All forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or justify hatred based on intolerance on the grounds of disability, ethnicity, social origin, gender, sex, gender reassignment, nationality, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, colour, genetic features, language, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth or age.

    That is quite a list and provides potentially rich pickings for those who weaponise the taking of offence as a political tool. I would argue that it moves Ofcom well away from the worthy principle that they themselves declare, ‘To ensure that material likely to encourage or incite the commission of crime or to lead to disorder is not included in television or radio services or BBC ODPS [On Demand Programme Services].

    The author misses the point over this measure. It is not the function of an unelected bureaucracy to decide what is acceptable on Public Media.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/ofcom-s-misguided-new-hate-speech-definition

    1. “We leverage policy, legislation and political influence and build strong relationships with officials, politicians, NGOs and other actors”.

      1. From “The Open Society European Policy Institute (OSEPI) is the EU policy arm of the Open Society”.

    2. Good morning all.

      It was only a few days ago that I remember reading a court ruling that said people are entitled to give offence and even abuse. Ofcom needs to be challenged ASAP for this over the top change of meaning. It is obviously intended to warn that Ofcom will be censoring at the drop of a hat or at the first sign of somebody taking offence. More Wokery.

    3. Perhaps now we will see the end of words such as harridan, harpy, bitch, shrew used to describe women just because one disagrees with their point of view 🙂

  9. Ofcom’s misguided new hate speech definition. 1 January 2021.

    We might be welcoming in a new year, but it is likely to be another in which we need to defend our right to express legitimate political opinions. From today Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, has expanded its definition of hate speech to include:

    All forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or justify hatred based on intolerance on the grounds of disability, ethnicity, social origin, gender, sex, gender reassignment, nationality, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, colour, genetic features, language, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth or age.

    That is quite a list and provides potentially rich pickings for those who weaponise the taking of offence as a political tool. I would argue that it moves Ofcom well away from the worthy principle that they themselves declare, ‘To ensure that material likely to encourage or incite the commission of crime or to lead to disorder is not included in television or radio services or BBC ODPS [On Demand Programme Services].

    The author misses the point over this measure. It is not the function of an unelected bureaucracy to decide what is acceptable on Public Media.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/ofcom-s-misguided-new-hate-speech-definition

  11. Today’s DT Leader…yet another shambles by the fireplace salesman, who is so obviously out of his depth. Once again the teaching ‘profession’ wins the argument:

    Shutting London’s primary schools is a tragic U-turn

    The pressure to shut up shop was immense and came from the very people one would have hoped would put teaching first

    TELEGRAPH VIEW
    2 January 2021 • 6:00am

    In a thoroughly depressing, last-minute U-turn, the Education Secretary has 
decided that all primary schools in London, across all 32 boroughs, will remain closed until January 18 at the earliest. Councillors and teaching unions are apparently overjoyed with this outcome. What a deeply inappropriate reaction – and what a philosophy it betrays.

    There is nothing more important than ensuring children get a good education, and so much ground has already been lost during the pandemic – a personal and social tragedy that will doubtless widen the gap between rich and poor. Yet, despite everything we know about the low risk of this disease to children, professionals and politicians who profess to put their interests first have thrown everything they’ve got at closure. They actually regard this as a victory.

    It’s certainly embarrassing for Gavin Williamson, yet another example of the Government making a promise – spending vast political capital in the process – only to back down at the last minute. Parents will have planned their lives around the assumption that pupils were going back; the economy will take yet another beating.

    The narrative, just 48 hours before, with the approval of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, was that the country was finally moving towards the “light at the end of the tunnel”, but this feels like a step backwards. Mr Williamson was said to be opposed by health officials: his desire to keep schools open was well-intentioned, although critics pointed to inconsistencies in implementation. Wherever the demarcation line happened to fall, one might find one school open only a few minutes’ walk from another that had been forced to close, regardless of the comparable infection rates.

    Nevertheless, the pressure to shut up shop was immense and came from the very people one would have hoped would put teaching first. Unions urged their members not to return to work; council leaders told schools to defy the Government. In a press release, the leader of Greenwich council, Danny Thorpe, a teacher, said that he always wanted children to go back to school as soon as it was safe – yet described himself as “absolutely delighted” with this outcome.

    Those words will ring hollow with parents, children, and the teachers who did want to get on with their job. It is a deeply regrettable situation.

    One of the leading BTL comments:

    basil valentine
    2 Jan 2021 8:03AM
    Sadly it’s not a great surprise, but it is appalling nevertheless. When will this useless government finally find some backbone and stick to a position? Every time they u-turn the baying loonies immediately move on to the next pressure point – how have they not grasped this by now? The behaviour of teachers’ unions throughout has been a national embarrassment and one that should not be forgotten.

    2. 328026+ up ticks,
      Morning HJ,
      When will it be realised that useless governments are formed from useless treacherous political party’s.
      These party’s have found support over the last four decades with NO problem.

      Support that is for a political close shop who in turn have NO problem using other party’s material as if their own whilst denying other party’s a shout, in point of fact castigating them,still with the support of the voters.

      When you vote for a party you accept that party’s policies and accept it’s past pedigree, surely, do you not ?
      Seems to me a multitude of voters are suffering from a strong form of Stockholm
      syndrome inclusive of the bug known medically as
      canteatyourcakeandhaveittooitis.

    3. I have this sense of déjà vu.
      We are back to the battles against overweening unions; this time national and local civil service and, more immediately, the teachers.

        1. Thanks so much! You have no idea how much I have appreciated everyone’s birthday wishes.

        1. Thank you! I really don’t know how it came to this, one minute I was 22 and somehow as I wandered through the corridors of time I am at 74. I simply don’t know how this happened.

        1. Thank you, Obersleutnant – I have had a lovely day despite our being in tier 4 and Jan 2 being the traditional ‘slump’ day of the year! And, after days of damp gloom, the sun came out for the day!

      1. Thank you, NTN. I have had a lovely day, against all expectation. And I was reminding myself of that just yesterday, age is just a number, one day simply glides into the next.

    4. Thank you Sue! I have had a lovely day, the sun came out after days of gloom, our younger son came over for afternoon tea through the conservatory window (tier 4 regulations) and we are all meeting up with our elder son via Zoom this evening this evening for a birthday quiz. The kind birthday wishes from people here got the day off to a memorable start, they have made all the difference.

    1. ‘Morning, Anne, can’t/won’t read DM as they want me to turn off the AdBlocker.

      Apropos American Society, have they just banned the burning of witches and outlawed the use of the ducking-stool?

      1. “Author is ‘canceled’ and DROPPED by her agent after defending writer of Scarlet Letter

        A young adult author has been ‘canceled’ after she defended the writers of The Scarlett Letter and other classic novels on Twitter.

        The incident occurred when antiracist and anti-bias educator Lorena Germán wrote a tweet on November 30 advocating for more diversity among books that are taught in schools.

        In response, Jessica Cluess, who wrote the Kingdom of Fire series, called Germán an ‘idiot’ and said authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote works criticizing the very societies in which their novels took place.

        This led to Cluess’s agent dropping her after what he described as ‘condescending and personal attacks’ by his former client.

        Germán is perhaps best known for being one of the founders of the #DisruptTexts hashtag and website.

        The movement is meant to center more voices of color in literature and apply a critical lens to many texts written by white authors.

        ‘Did y’all know that many of the “classics” were written before the 50s?’ German wrote on Twitter on November 30.

        ‘Think of US society before then & the values that shaped this nation afterwards. THAT is what is in those books. That is why we gotta switch it up. It ain’t just about “being old.”‘

        The tweet received nearly 900 likes and more than 140 retweets.

        However, it was not well received by Cluess, who – in a series of now-deleted tweets – defended many classic authors.

        She referenced Nathaniel Hawthorne, who wrote The Scarlet Letter about Hester Prynne, a woman in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony who conceives a daughter after having an affair and is made to wear a red ‘A’ on her chest.

        Cluess said Hawthorne was not criticizing Hester for her ‘sin’ but the Puritan society for their judgement of her.

        ‘If you think Hawthorne was on the side of the judgmental Puritans in The Scarlet Letter then you are an absolute idiot and should not have the title of educator in your bio,’ she wrote.

        ‘If you think Upton Sinclair was on the side of the meat packing industry then you are a fool and should sit down and feel bad about yourself.’

        This in reference to Sinclair’s novel The Jungle, which portrayed the poor working conditions of immigrants in the US.

        Cluess continued: ‘Ah yes, remember Their Eyes Were Watching God, and other literature of the extraordinary Harlem Renaissance? I guess not. D**k.’

        This anti-intellectual, anti-curiosity bulls**t is poison and I will stand here and scream that it is sheer godd**n evil until my hair falls out. I do not care.’

        It was not long before Germán saw the tweets and responded to them.

        ‘What’s interesting to me is how I present a position on an academic point, and yet this 55%er decides to attack me personally over and over again. Sounds like I struck a confederate nerve,’ she wrote.

        Many people on Twitter soon began calling Cluess a racist and asking that her publisher, Random House Kids, drop her.

        The backlash led Cluess to delete her tweets just one day later and issue an apology.

        One day later, Cluess issued an apology to Germán and called her words ‘misguided, wrong, and deeply hurtful’

        Two days after the apology, her agent, Brooks Sherman, announced that he was dropping Cluess as a client due to her ‘racist’ tweets

        ‘I take full responsibility for my unproved anger against Lorena Germán and the impact of my words on her and all who read them,’ it read in part.

        ‘I want to acknowledge the pain I caused, and to apologize sincerely for it. My words were misguided, wrong, and deeply hurtful.’

        Just two days later, on December 3, her agent, Brooks Sherman, distanced himself from Cluess and dropped her as a client.

        ‘I hold myself to certain personal and professional standards for the values I support,’ he wrote on Twitter.

        ‘I no longer represent Jessica Cluess. Her tweets against Loren Germán earlier this week were racist and unacceptable.'”

        1. The publishing industry is riddled with political correctness, and is definitely on a purity spiral.
          My revenge is not to buy new books any more.
          I got fed up with novels that pushed political correctness at me. I’ll only buy second hand now, as I refuse to encourage it.

          2. She didn’t say anything illegal, yet they took it upon themselves to judge and punish her. No way am I supporting that kind of thing! I shall note the name of the publisher who does bring her book out.

        2. Thank you, Anne, I would posit that Cluess was wrong to apologise to Lorena Germán for what appears to be an accurate summation of the ‘work’ of Lorena Germán, a biased and bigoted woke person trying to curry favour with other ‘woke’ twits.

        1. Happy new year Bob – if the weather is still around zero here we are going to have problems on the roads.

  15. “Minding other peoples’ business and generally getting in the way is a gigantic job creation programme for ambitious third-raters. The great tragedy is that so many of them believe that theirs are the real jobs and it is for us to comply with their increasingly onerous and perverse demands; the greater tragedy is that so many of us do.”

    From my election flyer, December 2007. Of course, things have improved greatly after ten years of Conservative government.

  16. Got up a bit later this morning and like an idiot I put the tv on, within about five minutes I heard some of the most extreme covid project fear claptrap than I have heard since the start of it, hospitals overwhelmed, the new strain the most infectious ever, cases rising at the fastest rate since the start of the pandemic.
    They appear to be turning up the psychological warfare for some reason.
    I just wonder what is coming next.

    2. And apparently the London nightingale hospital is ready for the flood of screaming ambulances.

      1. What, they’ve re-equipped it in a couple of days? Only a few days ago, Richard Tice, the Reform Party chairman, finally got an admission from the NHS that the London Nightingale had been dismantled.

  17. SIR – That’s no more craic and no more hygge; no more dolce vita and no more savoir faire. I daresay there’ll still be quite a lot of Schadenfreude, though.

    David Fisher
    Manchester

    No shortage of hygge here, Dave lad. Lots of lagom too.

          1. Just nip over the border, Paul, we’ve got plenty. We tend to mix it with laissez-faire. 😂

          4. Not an exact translation, but close enough. We have frivilliarbeid that’s the Weegie version; Dugnad is more the gathering of people informally but with the same mind, to do something. Not as formal as volunteering, more just turning up and getting on with it. A bit like a gang of blokes stop their car & give yours a push when you broke down at the lights.

  20. I wonder if in the decades to come people will wonder how our great civilisation fell under the spell of the totalitarian globalist mass murdering great reset and green climate change regime, people wedded to a dogma worse than the mass murderers of the first part of the twentieth century.
    Will they put it all down to good people doing nothing until it was too late?

    1. Nothing lasts forever Bob. European Civilisation has run its course and now it’s over!

      1. It had run its course, Araminta, by 1900AD. It’s been in surreptitious decline ever since.

    2. What I really need to know , why are we cavilling in to bullies , this is our OWN home soil.

      When and how have those of us who believe we are patriots allow this great reset and distortion of our history , and quietly cringe when we hear the HawHaw pronouncements from our national broadcasting company who we all contribute money to.. in licence fees .

      Who are these people , and why are we being trodden on and ignored?

      1. 328026+ up ticks,
        Morning TB,
        “Us ” proven patriots”
        that were in the REAL UKIP did no such thing as allow it to happen, just the complete opposite.
        All the anti UK material was lab/lib/con input in the main, and theirs alone, repeatedly.

        One of the main reasons real UKIP was treacherously closed down.

    3. 328026+ up ticks,
      Morning B3,
      Unsolicited love given to lab/lib/con candidates repeatedly in the polling booth,
      given without thought of consequence.

    5. “For the world is changing: I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, and I smell it in the air. I do not think we shall meet again.”

  21. ‘Morning, all.

    Pfollowing reports that not enough doses of the Pfizer vaccine will be available to pfacilitate the roll-out of a pfollow-up dose to pfolk who have had the pfirst, Mr. Graham Lilley’s pfears (see today’s DT Letters) are well pfounded.

    Because of the pfailure of the DoH in its pforward planning, the chances of his receiving a pfurther dose are at best a pfolorn hope, in pfact it would seem that he is pfucked.
    :¬(

  22. A lovely day in North Narfurk. But a bittersweet one.

    Over the last 36 years I have built woodstores – lashed up out of gash timber and old pallets. The last one – four years ago – was the cause of “laddergate”. The two middle ones were disintegrating. I was “advised” by the MR not even to think about replacing them myself.

    A young neighbour is a builder. I felt very awkward asking him if he would be willing to do a lash up – and, to my surprise and delight – he said he would be only too happy. We have lots of gash timber and pallets – and I bought some plastic corrugated sheets

    Arrived the lad this morning with his Dad – and they have stripped out the old one, levelled the ground and, already, started the framework for the new double store.

    I could not have done better myself – and it would have taken me two days to do what they have done in three hours.

    Very happy – but sad at the same time. Anno effing domini, eh?

    1. Sun’s come out in the Old Mid Herts, the better half has gone to Waitrose to stock up, every where is so muddy we have had a lot of visitors to our village plodding about the country side, not taking the dog out yet. I’m i’m waiting for number one son to arrive with his newly requisitioned from his F i L
      lengths of Iroko, aka African teak. I have to cut them to size for him to use as necks, we are going to make a a few ‘cigar box’ Guitars this year. It should be worth while good fun. Old biscuit tins also make decent instruments.

    2. Sun’s come out in the Old Mid Herts, the better half has gone to Waitrose to stock up, every where is so muddy we have had a lot of visitors to our village plodding about the country side, not taking the dog out yet. I’m i’m waiting for number one son to arrive with his newly requisitioned from his F i L
      lengths of Iroko, aka African teak. I have to cut them to size for him to use as necks, we are going to make a a few ‘cigar box’ Guitars this year. It should be worth while good fun. Old biscuit tins also make decent instruments.

          3. Who Knows?
            The beer is cold and the lounge warm. TV is bleating away in the corner, and I’m rooted in the sofa. Could be worse.

          5. I know that’s what you meant!
            Just a-winding you up, Mr Viking! :-))
            I’m in a mood, btw, and just about to go and make pizza.

    3. Know what you mean, Bill. That moment when you realise “no more will I…” is upsetting and depressing.
      I sympathise. But anno Domini beats the alternative :-))

  24. Headline in The Grimes:

    “Half of Britons feel the BBC does not share their values”

    Only half?

    1. Good morning Bill and Carolyn and a Happy New Year to you both

      I wonder what the percentage would be amongst Nottlers. Does anyone here think the BBC shares our values?

      1. Only the licence fee I pay on behalf of my wife……(I can’t watch the TV these days….)

    2. Not only Al-Beeb. Tuned to LBC, first time for weeks, only to hear a debate on masking children and a mention of, “How can we get more people vaccinated?” CLICK.

  25. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    SIR – Having received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, I accept the scientific advice that protecting more people should be the priority over completing the protection of those like myself. My wife is 79 and I would prefer her to receive some protection before my own is enhanced.

    I do have one question. The two approved vaccines are not interchangeable. What guarantee is there that there will be enough doses of the Pfizer vaccine to complete immunisation if the planned second dose is now to be redeployed to give a first dose to others?

    Graham Lilley
    Edge, Gloucestershire

    I can see that the second injection may never happen, given the slow start and, yesterday, suggestions that after all the promises and the manufactured hype over the first few to be administered, the first deliveries of vaccine are well below what was expected.

    1. That suggestion has been strongly refuted by the manufacturers who are claiming that NHS incompetence is the real reason. I know who I believe..

      1. If the NHS is as incompetent as one thinks it is then the idea of a second vaccination becomes problematic i.e. how can those who took the Pfizer potion be certain that they receive the Pfizer second dose and not the Oxford/AZ, and vice-versa? Perhaps there’s a government app for recording that data? So reassuring.

        1. Yo Korky. I believe one is presented with a card which records all aspects of the vaccination, including your id, date/place of administration, type of vaccine and size of dose etc. This info is also recorded centrally for corroboration.

          3. Slightly off topic – we are told that after vaccination your arm might be sore. Watching the administration of the jabs on TV I’m not surprised. My dentist told me that the secret of injections is to give them as slow as possible. To inject 20 or 30cc of fluid in one second can cause tissue damage because it is opening up a space in the muscle rather than being assimilated. Any experts here who can confirm?

          5. From my experience, jab the needle in quickly, but then gradually squeeze in the fluid.
            When I had to inject myself with anti-coagulants, I was surprised how much improved the needles were from my day.

          7. Yes, that’s absolutely true. I wrote about 10 days ago that in a video clip on here the jab was being given far too quickly.

            There is an art to giving good, painless injections, including dental ones. I mastered it, but many don’t.

          10. …and potential compensation for unwanted side-effects against those that ‘needled’ you.

          11. Our neighbour had his vaccination.

            Much to his surprise he wasn’t given anything in writing, just a verbal briefing on what day he was to attend for his second jab.

          12. I’m astonished. At some point he may need to provide evidence of vaccination. If it were me I’d insist on documentary evidence.

          13. We are astonished too.

            Apart from anything else how does he prove it to the various airlines that refuse to fly you without a vaccination certificate?

          15. There’s also the fact that just telling people in their eighties and nineties when to return for their second jab is not a good idea

            ……they might forget.

  26. The suffocating NHS bureaucracy…

    SIR – It does seem ironic that, as we celebrate our freedom from EU red tape, we prevent retired doctors like myself from returning to work.

    I still wonder why I had to complete a course on “manual handling”. In my career, I have given many thousands of injections and I don’t think the weight of a syringe with vaccine is significant.

    And as we get people quickly into and out of the vaccination room, I’m unsure how I can use knowledge from the obligatory course on female genital mutilation to start a conversation.

    Dr Alan Ferris
    Potters Bar, Hertfordshire

  27. SIR – Under the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002, online retailers are required to provide email addresses so that customers can contact them “rapidly and communicate … in a direct and effective manner”.

    As a long-time user of email I’ve been frustrated by the gradual disappearance of email addresses from websites. The email address requirement is now supposedly monitored and enforced by the Competition and Markets Authority, but my contact with them (after struggling to find their email address and then get a reply) received an uninterested brush-off.

    I contacted an offending company directly, which, after a protracted dialogue, informed me that due to a challenge in a German court, this requirement had been rendered ineffective at a European level.

    Some companies refer to a web contact form as email, but it’s not the same thing and frustratingly provides no audit trail of communication.

    Now we have left the EU, can we assume that our law will again prevail?

    Chris Wood
    Leamington Spa, Warwickshire

    Chris Wood makes a good point. However, there is usually a solution in a website that lists the email addresses of CEOs (correct name escapes me for now).* Bang off an email to them and the response is usually quick and effective. And at the same time one can moan about the absence of an obviously useful facility, or the fact that it has been deliberately well hidden.

    *CEO Email – https://www.ceoemail.com

    1. The thing I find most annoying is that the web contact form drop down boxes never seem to cover the topic I need resolving.
      I find Trip Advisor to be the worst. I almost invariably end up have to go the telephone route.

      1. I think I will have to do this to get my printer and lap top to talk to each other.
        The Epson ‘service’ left me up in the air last night. I will try again today, but I suspect it will take a phone call to talk me through the process.
        My pet computer nerd is having to stay away because he has an elderly dependent mother and a son with MS.

        1. I have an Epson 245 which has a mind of its own.

          When it works well it is brilliant, but when it gets the huff it’s a pig to get it printing again.

          1. Mine is an XP-8600. The previous one was fine until it developed a fault. Amazon replaced it, but i’m having problems getting the two gizmos to talk to each other.
            It is ready and waiting and works fine as a photo copier, but obviously i need it to print from my laptop.
            Ho hum …. have another go today. If that doesn’t work, I have no more free time for such matters until Tuesday afternoon.

          2. I find that ‘Remove Device’ followed by ‘add a printer or scanner’ solves a lot of the problems. Especially when things get jammed in ‘Printing Queue’. I’m sure yours is a different problem if they won’t ‘talk’ to each other.

          3. I’ve unjammed the printing queue.
            It keeps telling me the printer isn’t connected, which is now statement of the blindingly obvious.
            I’ll try manually typing the printer into the ‘Add’ box in System Preferences. If that doesn’t work …. I’m stuffed and/or get shirty with Epson services.
            As I use a MacBook Pro, the accompanying disc is no use.

          4. Try the Epson website for manager software you could download and install.

            Can you make sure that your WiFi connection with the printer is working first?
            If you have a cable, try connecting the printer with the cable and see if it works. If that works, the problem could be the WiFi connection.

            There are only two components to this: the WiFi connection or cable, and the printer driver. One or the other isn’t working.

          5. Try the Epson website for manager software you could download and install.

            Can you make sure that your WiFi connection with the printer is working first?
            If you have a cable, try connecting the printer with the cable and see if it works. If that works, the problem could be the WiFi connection.

            There are only two components to this: the WiFi connection or cable, and the printer driver. One or the other isn’t working.

          6. It would seem that the WiFi connection is poor. (Laptop fine, though I do know of a problem area the far side of an humungous chimney breast) We have problems because the Victorians built substantial walls and had servants to walk long corridors.
            My pet computer nerd has suggested testing reception by moving the printer nearer to the router.
            If that works, then move it back to my playroom and see if the connection holds.
            I’ll try tomorrow, as I’ve had enough for today.

          8. Do you have them connected by a cable?
            If yes, then it is probably a simple driver problem. Your computer hasn’t got the correct driver for the printer, or it doesn’t recognise the printer’s on-board driver because it’s too old.

            Most of my drivers were messed up recently by a Windows 10 upgrade.
            Go to the website of the printer manufacturer, type in the model/name, and search for “downloads”. If you can download the drivers, all well and good. I had to download some manager software that I didn’t want, but the drivers came along with it.
            Top tip: if you uninstall manager software, the drivers are usually left behind on your computer.

          9. No, it’s wireless.
            The printer is new and the laptop is a newish replacement for the one that died last Spring.
            It coped perfectly well with the previous printer of exactly the same type. Unfortunately, that developed a glitch and Amazon replaced it. That is the printer I am now trying to hitch up to my laptop. I have removed printers from the list, but am now trying to put on the new one and get the laptop to recognise it.
            Just off to walk the dog and do some baking before I tackle it again. I need a break!

      2. If there isn’t an ‘Other’ category I use ‘Complaint’ as my first choice, or just select one at random if not.

    3. Email addresses are probably hidden because of electronic scraping them off websites and bombarding them with spam.

  28. Repeat posting from late last night when most Nottlers had gone to bed!

    Saturday 2nd January, 2021

    poppiesmum

    HAVE A MARVELLOUS BIRTHDAY

    and

    VERY MANY HAPPY RETURNS

    With best wishes from Caroline and Richard

    An excellent day for a partial palindrome?

    (Born ’47 – score 74)

      1. Thank you, Grizzly. I am inspired by your trifle the other day… I am feeling trifle-ish for those lovely flavours and textures….. so when we have walked the dog I will set to and compose the necessary. Best made the day before so that the flavours blend where they meet – but no matter, we shall be eating it tomorrow as well!

          1. Thank you! I am now too stuffed to eat trifle, it has been put away until tomorrow now. Our younger son came round this afternoon and as we are both in tier 4 he would not come inside (he is worried he might give us ‘the virus’, not that he might catch something from us) so we chatted through the open conservatory window. We gave him a blanket and a hot water bottle, he was well wrapped up anyway, a table by the window on the other side and we had afternoon tea. We are having a Zoom session (birthday quiz) at 8.00 pm with him and his little family and our elder son and his wife. I had no great expectations of today but it has turned out to be lovely and the good wishes of the people on here got the day off to a really good start. They made all the difference.

        2. Thank you, poppiesmum. My trifle was delicious. I normally make a raspberry jelly (from raspberries, water and sugar, boiled, strained and then gelatine added). This time I made a lime jelly, with raspberries in it, for two reasons.
          1. Lime, vanilla (in the custard) and raspberry are my three favourite sweet flavours so I wanted them all together.
          2. I didn’t want to waste too many of my frozen stock of raspberries.

          I hope you enjoy your delicious trifle as much as I enjoyed mine.

          Grattis på fodelsedagen! 🥂

    3. Happy birthday Poppiesmum

      🎈🍹💐
      We are 1947 babies .. the weather was atrocious !

      How our parents coped, goodness only knows.

      The winter of 1946–47 was a harsh European winter noted for its impact in the United Kingdom. … Beginning on 23 January 1947, the UK experienced several cold spells that brought large drifts of snow to the country, blocking roads and railways, which caused problems transporting coal to the electric power stations.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_of_1946%E2%80%9347_in_the_United_Kingdom#:~:text=The%20winter%20of%201946%E2%80%9347,impact%20in%20the%20United%20Kingdom.&text=Beginning%20on%2023%20January%201947,to%20the%20electric%20power%20stations.

      1. Thank you, Belle. Yes the winter weather of 1947 was just awful, I entered the world just before it really got going. I have often wondered how parents managed. And this is not the best time in our history for birthday (and other) celebrations. But – it’s being so cheerful wot keeps me going! That is why I nottle!

        1. Nottler is a life saver ..

          I can’t believe how we suddenly reached our seventies .. The clock is on fast forward ..

          I hope the sun is shining today for you , whereabouts in the country are you?

          Chilly blue sky in these Dorsetty parts . Moh is playing golf, so I best get some housework organised and sorted .

          Stay positive PM x

          1. Hello Belle, I am just south of Cambridge, almost on the border with Hertfordshire, referred to in these parts as South Cambs. http://www.barringtoncambs.com/barrington-today.asp
            I started the day with no great expectation but in the end it was a lovely day, our younger son came round and we had afternoon tea through the window of the conservatory, he was well wrapped up and we gave him a thick fleece blanket and a hot water bottle. He is in tier 4 (as are we) and worried he might give us ‘the virus’. (We are not concerned about it.) So what started off as a cloudy, somewhat diffident day turned into delightful, sunny day and in no small measure thanks to the thoughtful birthday wishes of the people here. We are having a Zoom birthday quiz with our elder son and his wife, and our younger son and his wife later this evening.

          2. What a gorgeous village pm, so unspoilt , unlike ours .

            Wool has practically doubled in the past 20 years or so .

            So pleased your special day turned out for the best.

      1. Thank you! I’m away shortly to give the dog her walk. How quickly birthdays come round now.

      1. Thank you, Duncan – now coming to the end of a lovely day that commenced with no great expectations on my part – but thanks to the good wishes of people on here, and our younger son visiting this afternoon and an unconventional afternoon tea through the conservatory window (we are both tier 4 and he is worried he might give us ‘the virus’ – we are not worried at all) – presents from his family, a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of champagne. We are having a Zoom birthday quiz at 8.00 pm with the rest of the family as well this evening, our elder son lives in Wiltshire and is too far away for a casual visit. The kind thoughts of people here made all the difference and set me up for the day.

  29. Now, here’s a thought provoking source of information. I think anyone who has seen slime-ball Hancock laughing/smirking in the House and elsewhere now knows why.
    The Cambridgeshire figure is interesting as it chimes with the mass test of a reported 9,000 university students being tested and all were found to be negative – a few retests for false positives were required.

    Below edited for spacing, link HTML and highlighting only.

    We are told by various Government puppets and the MSM propaganda machine of the scary totals every day. This information is on the UK Government website right in plain sight. See here:

    Notifiable Diseases Weekly Reports for 2020

    Notifiable diseases: weekly reports for 2020.

    Analysis of data for statutory notifications of infectious diseases (NOIDS) in England and Wales in 2020.

    This will shock you.

    Click the link above, then open each weekly report to see the Covid weekly infections, not cases, not deaths. It is the law that these statistics must be given to Public Health England.
    This is the statement on the site: Registered Medical Practitioner in England and Wales have a statutory duty to notify a Proper Officer of the local authority, often the CCDC (Consultant in Communicable Disease Control), of suspected cases of certain infectious diseases.

    The first Infection was reported in week 10, so we have now had 41 weeks. In black and white these are the true facts. The total number of people that have had a Covid infection in England and Wales is……

    13,844

    Now living in Lincolnshire I checked out how many have been infected, the total is 47, I live in an area called South Holland, infections for the area in 41 weeks? FIVE. Now we are being told Peterborough is the epicenter of infections, well Peterborough has had a total of 4 in 41 weeks, in fact, that is the whole of Cambridgeshire, just FOUR.
    Norfolk and Suffolk have been put in tier 4, but there have had a grand total of ZERO infections between them.

    Let’s move on to Wales

    In 41 weeks a total of ZERO Infections have been reported. I found this strange considering the dictatorship like restrictions they have. So I visited NHS Wales, thinking they must be on their website, NO, nothing.

    First Minister of Wales Drakeford (photo, right) has taken the Welsh business community to the edge of destruction, over obfuscated figures, driving insane policy decisions masquerading as law, whilst passing on the cost to businesses.

    We are being lied to, it’s there is Black and White. Check it out for yourselves, find the town city or county you live in and see how many you can find.

    Notifiable Diseases Weekly Reports for 2020

    Decide for yourselves which course of action to take.

    Full article at:

    Principia Scientific

  30. I was requested yesterday to put up the Nottlers’ Birthday list again.

    As I am an extremely erratic keyboard operator much of what I post is littered with typos and careless errors please let me know if there are any mistakes or omissions in the following:

    Here is the list: (Any updates please let me know – I don’t seem to have you on the list)

    02 January – 1947: Poppiesmum
    07 January – **** : Lady of the Lake
    08 January – 1941: Rough Common
    10 January – 1960 : hopon
    16 January – 1941 : Legal Beagle
    18 January – **** : Stormy
    23 January – 1951 : Damask Rose
    27 January – 1948 : Citroen 1
    11 February- 1964 : Phizzee
    22 February- 1951 : Grizzly
    24 February- 1941 : Sguest
    28 February- 1956 :Jeremy Morfey
    29 February- **** : Ped
    05 March—– 1957 : Sue MacFarlane
    08 March—– **** : Geoff Graham
    26 March—– 1962 : Caroline Tracey
    27 March—– 1947 : Maggiebelle
    27 March—– 1941 : Fallick Alec
    19 April——- **** : Devonian in Kent
    26 April——- **** : Harry Kobeans
    24 May——– 1944 : NoToNanny
    08 June——– **** : Still Bleau
    09 June——- 1947 : Johnny Norfolk
    09 June——– 1947 : Horace Pendleton
    23 June——– **** : Oberstleutnant
    25 June——– 1952 : corimmobile
    01 July——— 1946 : Rastus C Tastey
    12 July——— **** : David Wainwright
    18 July——— **** : lacoste
    19 July——— **** : Ndovu
    26 July——— 1936 : Delboy
    29 July———- 1944 : Lewis Duckworth
    30 July———- 1946 : Alf the Great
    01 August—— 1950 : Datz
    03 August—— 1954 : molamola
    10 August—— 1967 : ourmaninmunich
    18 August—— **** : ashesthandust
    19 August——-1951 : Hugh Janus
    04 September- 1948 : Joseph B Fox
    07 September- **** : Araminta Smade
    11 September- 1947 : peddytheviking
    12 September- **** : Ready Eddy
    13 September- **** : Anne Allan
    15 September- **** : veryveryveryoldfella
    26 September- **** : Feargal the Cat
    30 September 1944 : One Last Try
    07 October—– 1960 : Bob 3
    11 October—– 1944 : Hardcastle Craggs
    25 October—– 1955 : Sue Edison
    01 December– 1956 : Sean Stanley-Adams
    06 December– 1943 : Duncan Mac
    10 December– **** : Aethelfled
    16 December– **** : Plum-Tart
    21 December– 1945 : Elsie Bloodaxe

    (E&OE)

    1. My accountant, splendid chap that he is, had never come across “E&OE” until I used it.

      2. I learnt it from my father when I was still snapping whippers. He was not an accountant but an odious upholder of the repulsive British Empire in a part of Africa. He was dearly loved by everyone who had the privilege of knowing him.

    2. Hi Rastus, it’s RoughCommon and to update your list my DoB is 8 January 1941.
      So I’ll be 80 on Elvis Presley’s 86th birthday next week (imagine him at 86!) and Shirley Bassey’s 84th (wow!) and Stephen Hawking’s 79th (if he had survived). Great company. Ready for vaccination as long as I can get the Oxford/AstraZeneca version.

      2. I failed my exams when I tried to be a competent copy typist. I have amended your entry but you had better check it

    5. You had me on your original list, but perhaps I have been purged or otherwise out of favour! It is 24.2,41

    6. You have still not corrected your incorrect spelling of ashesthandust (‘ashes than dust’) Rastus. [Not “ashes and dust!”]

      1. Thank you Grizzly

        Even though my sons were fluent and accurate readers at the age of 4 at the age of 74 I am still struggling

        1. I have always been an excellent speller, Rastus, invariably top of the class at school. However, these days I am a more than useless typo-creator. ☹️

  32. Yesterday I felt optimistic about the possibility of a Happy New Year because of the hope that the vaccines will result in a general defeat of the coronavirus.

    But there is another virus at large, far more dangerous than the coronavirus. I refer to the inexorable rise of socialism, morphing into outright Marxism.

    For example, we had the spectacle of the ‘mayor’ of London promoting BLM with a New Year display which used fireworks and drones to light up the night sky with the clenched fist symbol of Black Lives Matter, with the support of the BBC. Anyone who cares to research the origins, promoters and the financing of BLM will know that it has little to do with black lives and everything to do with a Marxist agenda.

    Then we have the real possibility of a Democratic government in the US. Someone commented that the party of John F. Kennedy is now the party of Lee Harvey Oswald.

    For example, Nancy Pelosi is already proposing to ban gender terms, as if we need any more of this nonsense. Her proposals include the creation of the “Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth,” which would require Congress to “honor all gender identities by changing pronouns and familial relationships in the House rules to be gender neutral.”

    In clause 8(c)(3) of rule XXIII, gendered terms, such as “father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, half sister, grandson, or granddaughter” will be removed.

    In their place, terms such as “parent, child, sibling, parent’s sibling, first cousin, sibling’s child, spouse, parent-in-law, child-in-law, sibling-in-law, stepparent, stepchild, stepsibling, half-sibling, or grandchild” will be used, instead.

    The problem with Pelosi’s proposals is that they will inevitably infect the whole western world, especially the UK where the BBC and the Guardian are no doubt already rubbing their hands with glee.

    An octogenarian friend told me that he is glad that he is old because he won’t live to see the elimination of the very civilisation that millions died to defend in two world wars.

    1. As long as Pelosi doesn’t ban sex terms, she may mess around with her nouns till the cows come home.

      1. Agreed, George, there seems to be a problem that causes all these ‘woke’, and some unwoke, to shy away from using the real meaning of sex and reverting to a grammatical construct instead.

    2. Some comfort may be gained by the observation that the old Soviet Union and Mao’s China tried all these fantasies under far more Draconian sanctions and none of them worked!

  33. Good morning all from a bright & frosty Derbyshire. -3½°C on the yard thermometer.

    A late start after having to go out to the van & switch the 4 way flashers off!
    The DT & I woke up needing to pump bilges and as I was getting settled back to sleep I noticed a light was flashing outside.
    3rd time it’s happened in the past couple of weeks and it looks as if the 4 way switch is faulty.
    As we were already awake, I did mugs of tea for us and we were sat up for an hour reading as we drank them.

    1. That temperature would certainly put off most ” flashers “. Guess it’s the Northern toughness.

      Good morning BoB.

  34. My son appeared on his i.pad last night with a dinosaur head which moved blinked. and put its tongue out. It changed into various other creatures. It seems to be a new electronic creation in the USA which his University graduated daughters introduced to him. Our youth are being distracted by these trivialities.

  35. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/98a9e99bbb8554b391cb09b347afaceea7f1022534f482270cd1308a012777da.png I hope Brexit doesn’t make the British even more insular and “we know best”.

    Every year, without fail, the UK experiences a patch of bad, icy, and snowy weather. Sometimes it lasts for a short period, sometimes longer. Whatever comes and however it manifests itself, you can bet your bottom farthing that there will be losses of life on the road, and countless examples of vehicles skidding into ditches, other vehicles, and trees; all causing death, serious injury, much misery and incredible expense and inconvenience.

    Yet whenever I propose that the fitting of proper winter tyres on cars will prevent much (if not most) of this carnage and misery, I am shot down by those “who know better”. It is a terminally stupid country that does not see the sense in enacting this simple and life-saving expedient.

    Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

    1. When I lived in Germay the winter tyres were very similar to our all purpose tyres. It was their summr tyres that were different to ours them being slicks. in mountain areas they used studs and chains.So when you compare England and Germany it is not winter tyres but summer slicks that we do not change to.

      1. I believe there are at least two grades of winter tyre – European, and Nordic. Based mostly on the expected lower temperatures, and how often one might drive on ice & snow (forgetting studded tyres).

    2. With you, Grizz. UK seems to be unable to adopt solutions that have been proven elsewhere to work. At one point, there was a scheme where farmers were paid by the council a small stpend to keep a snowplough and plough the lanes if it snowed. Apparently, that’s been cancelled years ago on the basis that it was never going to snow again… but not reinstated by the dumbasses that run the place. Result: total chaos when it snows…

      1. There are parts of the UK where this would make sense, but not everywhere. Living here in Surrey and half-way up a steep hill, there have been exactly two days in the past 8 years when winter tyres would have been a benefit. Looking further back our last winter with significant snowfall that lasted more than one or two days was the winter of 2008/09. The idea of buying a second set of tyres for the three cars in my family, simply doesn’t meet my personal cost benefit assessment.

          1. Over that 8 year period, we have bought, run and disposed of three cars, only one of which was actually used on those two days when winter tyres would have been useful. Winter tyres for the other two cars would have been as frequently used as a swimming pool in my garden.

          2. Winter tyres don’t just give you better traction in snow; they are also more effective (and, consequently, much safer) on wet and frosty roads. If you are willing to run the gauntlet with your life (and the lives of other road users) by putting your faith in the false economy of not buying tyres that are suitable for winter use, then that is your funeral.

            As a family that can afford to have three cars, surely you can afford two sets of tyres for each car. After all it is much, much, more expensive replacing a car written off in a (preventable) winter collision than it is to buy extra tyres.

            I’ll stick with common sense, thank you.

          3. It’s very unlikely to be false economy though Grizz. The same argument can be made for a whole host of things that make life ever so slightly safer, which is where the cost benefit assessment comes in. Yes I could afford three sets of tyres and maybe I could afford a swimming pool and I can definitely afford to buy more insurance than I hold, but I have better things to spend my money on. You might be proven correct at some point, but based on my and my families driving experiences over the decades, owning two set of tyres isn’t worth the expense for someone living in the south east of England.

          4. I was going to suggest winter tyres to Dorset-dwelling teacher friend, but whilst that wpuld help her get about, others without said tyres would undoubtedly have blocked the roads already, and come sliding uncontrollbaly down the hill into her car. So, not so much help, really. Maybe better as a part of “herd Immunity” strategy.

      2. It certainly wasn’t cancelled everywhere. Small (mostly agricultural contractors rather than farmers) still have snow clearing contracts with many councils, in addition to contracts for cutting roadside hedges and verges and for clearing fallen trees after gales.

        I can say this with certainty of Shropshire and Powys – since I regularly handle the relevant invoices. There’s a very small retainer and payment per mile for the ploughing.

      3. I was thinking about that a few days ago as we drove along hedgeless roads. I thought the quid pro quo for removing hedges was keeping the roads clear after snowfalls.

      4. I remember riving up to Forres in the north of Scotland from Chesterfield (a nine-hour drive) on Dec 27, some time in the mid-1990s. It was cold but fine. I stayed in a B&B overnight and woke to a very sharp frost. The roads were drivable since gritters had been out all night.

        On my way back south, it started snowing a blizzard. Driving presented me with no problems since there were countless snow-ploughs on the roads at all times. I then crossed back over the border into England!

        Not a snow-plough in sight, anywhere. The drive across the A66 from Penrith to Scotch Corner was the most traumatic ever. The whole road was littered with cars that had run off the road into a ditch. I drove steadily and safely and … eventually … made it home without mishap.

    3. Morning Grizzly, and all Nottlers.

      We live in Woking and very rarely have snow. However we have plenty of rain and for many years have had winter weather tyres fitted on any car we’ve had, they’re particularly suitable for rain. And use them all year round. Don’t like snow much, they keep forecasting snow here but we haven’t had any, thank goodness

        1. I thought a snowman had a carrot for a nose, not snow.

          Two snowmen in a field. One says to the other “Can you smell carrots?”

    5. Quite so, Grizz. What really makes me cringe is the response of the media to even the lightest snowfall. It’s embarrassing!

    7. New York had a massive snowstorm about 2 week ago. I have noticed over the years that when they get it – we tend to get it about two and a half to three weeks later. We will soon find out.

    8. We have, for a number of years, checked which tyres should be used in winter. We have chosen, as southern softies, to fit all weather tyres with the emphasis on good wet weather traction as we get little snow. These tyres have good traction in snow as well.

      As the tyres are the only part of the car in touch with the road I can’t understand who buy tyres on price alone.

  36. At last… I think this has struck a chord………………

    ”One of the most intriquing parts of the story is what exactly happened in relation to the 31% sale of QinetiQ in 2002? This turns out to have been the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, and a number of other defense assets, repackaged together and renamed.

    Why did Mr Blair sell it at all, and why did he make a gift of the deal to Carlyle Group by selling at a very low price, and then giving QinetiQ a very lucrative defense contract on top on the day of sale ?

    The ”Daily Mail” was very disapproving, and while they noted that Mr Major was ”European Chairman” of Carlyle, they didn’t notice that ”coincidentally” Mr Soros was a $100,000,000 investor in a Carlyle ”buy out” fund from early 1994. Money which likely came from the Bank of England scandal of 1992.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-377208/A-scandal-sells-taxpayer-short.html

    What an interesting circle !

    If the deal is ”sweetheart” and is as bad as it looks, what does it say about the participants, and what does it say about the events of 1992?”

    Polly

  37. A small gesture, but I’m proud of it.
    I needed some more cocktail sticks (yes, yes, Grizz, I’m a snooty southerner – live with it). The disposable ones I liked were obviously made in China.
    I went onto Etsy and found 2 sets of 1950s cocktail/hors d’oeuvres forks both supplied by small British businesses. I have ordered them. They are washable and reusable time after time.
    Initially they will cost me more, but I have them for good and I’ve supported British businesses.

    3. I have 14 of these forks, they are unused and you are welcome to them . I can send them to you if you get your address to me

      2. Elsie, Korky, Bill T and Graham all have my address. Possibly Garlands and Nduvu as well.
        I think I’m coming over all Hyacinth Bucket.
        All we need now is permission from Witless and Unbalanced to hold a soiree.

          1. Thank you. I would like to make a donation. Do you have a charity I could send something to? (The FA Beer Fund would do.)

          4. Ta ever so.
            For weeks before Christmas I couldn’t get to our local post offices. The queues were horrendous; a situation made worse by one closing down during the summer.

    4. Well done! My contribution is buying disposable gob rags (that I need to wear in the office) that are locally made, rather then in China. I’m checking the origin of everything now.

      2. I refused to buy any Christmas tat made in China this year – I would have loved some more lights for the garden but I decided I would make do with what we have already. I noticed that the Christmas tat departments in garden centres were also smaller.

    5. Despite exhortation by MiL to buy new domestic appliances (micro, kettle) for my mother through Amazon, a quick call to her local white goods retailer got exactly what was wanted, and they were delivered, unpacked and installed within a couple of hours – in the case of the micro, the driver was stopped to add to his deliveries whilst I was on the phone to the shop! And the appliance price was very like Amazon’s price – I have no problem paying for the delivery etc, as it takes somebody’s time up, and more importantly, supports a local business.
      The same went for the grocer. When nobody else would deliver to her in the spring, Valley View of Dinas Powys stepped up, delivery no charge, and payment from me on international bank transfer. We sent them a bottle of expensive champagne (through Morrisons) to say thank you!

      1. We have a very good small electrical business nearby – has been a Colchester business for as long as I can remember, so at least back to the 1950s. They will mend anything and also supply reconditioned as well as new white goods.
        I bought a reconditioned hoover version of a dyson from them for £55. Years later, in a Victorian pile with a fair amount of dog hair, it is still going strong.
        They are always my first port of call.

    7. I thought you were a snooty southerner with more than a modicum of northern blood (Jock?) in your veins, Nursey? 😂

          2. His smile was considered very seductive by middle aged ladies.

            Eat your heart out Winnie Atwell!

          3. I must have missed out on being middle aged. People I considered creepy when I was young I still consider creepy now.
            Like the USA, I’ve gone from youth to age with no stage in-between.

    8. Good for you Anne, this may feel like a small gesture, but if 67m people make small gestures on a regular basis, it would make a massive difference.

    1. There are many wealthy people who are overweight and that’s always been the case. Some people learn self-restraint and some don’t. These days the “poor” tend to have equal access to more food than is good for them!

      It’s like noting that Europeans tend to have fewer children now and imagining that if you give other races the same lifestyle, they too will reduce their breeding activities. All that actually happens is that they’re no longer affected by high rates of infant mortality.

      1. My paternal grandparents had eleven children all of whom survived infancy. My grandfather, a GP, died in his 40’s and was survived by all his children – the first to die was their eldest son killed in the trenches in The Great War; only one of them got to his nineties and most of them, including my father died in their 80’s. On the other hand, there was one infant death on my mother’s side – but of the seven of my maternal grandparents’ progeny my mother (97) and one of her sisters (92) and her brother (91) got to their 90’s.

        1. My late FiL was one of 12 children, my late MiL one of 14. They married after the war and had three children.

      2. Believe one of the best population controls is the education of girls – typically, well-educated women don’t breed prolifically, thua limiting the birth rate. One of the reasons it’s so important to educate girls in Africa and India.

        1. Education, and healthcare. Where there are high rates of infant mortality then contraception will never find favour. Where educated women have a reasonable chance of raising their children to adulthood, it becomes much more popular. Education of men is a good plan too.

        3. Well to do Indians have similar birth rates to Europeans, I’ve heard. The birth rate of Indians in the UK is similar to ours, I think.

    5. Excessive amounts of calories shoveled into one’s gob might be a contributory factor, I’ve heard.

    2. The clenched fist holding a dagger just epitomises Khan’s stabby, stabby black London. What a loser.

  41. Oh Lordy!

    I was just trying to catch up [starting from oldest first]
    when I was assaulted by a virago of self righteous
    claptrap ,,,, I need to have another lie down.
    I may catch up later.

    2. Good morning, G and a happy new Independent year.

      Is that “claptrap for the NHS” by any chance? {:¬}}

      1. A very Happy New Year to you, Carolyn,
        and your two boys: Gus and Pickles;
        I am delighted they are bringing you both
        so much joy.
        The claptrap was not referring to the NHS,
        [though the management IS claptrap!]
        I was referring to the diatribe to Obs about
        Postal Voting,… Does the writer think the
        people who need to use this form of voting
        are so ignorant they are unaware of the rules?
        Why does the poster persistently treat others
        as if they require continual instruction on how
        to live their lives!! … First rant of the year!!!

        1. I noticed a couple of posts earlier (I read newest first) and guessed who would have caused the upset.

  42. Good Morning all, I see a hopeful glimpse of what may become in the next 4 years, the gummint have at last looked at the pik*y vermin problem and look to do something about it, not enough in my book having suffered an infestation of these sub-human thugs . Predictably the hand-wringers and bleeding heart morons are outraged oblivious to the staggering hypocrisy evinced in this sort of statement:-

    ” Abbie Kirkby, advice and policy manager at FFT, said the proposed laws would make the lives of Gypsies and Travellers a misery”

    Ha bloody ha

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/01/01/travellers-will-barred-returning-illegal-sites-year/

    1. ‘Afternoon, Datz, “…the proposed laws would make the lives of Gypsies and Travellers a misery”

      A small return for the misery they have inflicted on many. Bring it on and send ’em back to RoI and Romania.

      1. and (mainly) Ireland – who had the foresight to send them here in the first place

      2. They are parasites and they come every year in their stolen caravans and shit all over our cricket pitches and bowling greens. They fly tip, rob and steal. They intimidate. They extort.

        When they have a funeral no expense is spared. Fleets of very expensive cars. The Revenue should take a good hard look at them. Barring that, deny them entry onto the mainland.

    2. ‘Afternoon, Datz, “…the proposed laws would make the lives of Gypsies and Travellers a misery”

      A small return for the misery they have inflicted on many. Bring it on and send ’em back to RoI and Romania.

        1. Rural crime is particularly frightening as houses can be quite isolated. I wish they would clamp down on the perpetrators.

      4. They might be scared these days; however, I never had any trouble rounding up a gang of street urchins, armed with catapults, and turned a convenient blind eye whilst they used pikey caravans for target practice.

        Next day, no pikeys.

        The Ways and Means Act always served me well, way back in the days of Common Sense UK.

        1. If you saw some of the latest programs of Police Interceptors and Traffic Cops here in the UK you would be astounded at what happens. Groups of RoP will instantly surround any cop car stopping one of their own. Video on their phones enables to identify the cops later on. Threats are blatantly made to the cops face while the RoP KNOW they are being videod by the Police. The response – NOTHING. The threats include threatening ( rape/kill ) the officers families. Again – NOTHING. You would die of shame now. THIS is the Britain our leaders are creating.

    4. From the article

      It follows widespread complaints from MPs and residents about trespassing, noise and anti-social behaviour. It is estimated there are some 23,000 traveller caravans in England, of which 14 per cent are parked on unauthorised sites . of which 85% are stolen

    5. Excellent!
      Since many of these are Irish, will they have to get a visa to stay in the UK?

      1. Ah, well. Prior to our entering the EU, all Irish people enjoyed the privilege of living in the UK, voting, and free education and heath care, as well as there being no requirement for passport or visa. There is no change to this.
        I’d change it completely, as a simple reward to the Hindoo and Coveney who acted as EU catspaws to disrupt Brexit.

        1. But don’t you need a passport now to go to Norn Iron? Or am I confuserated now?

          1. I believe that you always did if you went by air – since airlines tend to make their own rules on such matters.

          2. You have to show a form for ID to get on a plane these days (I rmember when you could just board, like a bus, with a coloured bit of plastic that showed you had checked-in), and since there’s no ID card in the UK, a passport is the only picture-ID most people have.
            I’ve boarded flights to Denmark using by (Weegie) drivers licence before.

          3. Our driving licences have a photo and are accepted as ID. When I still had my paper licence I had to take my passport to RAF Cosford when I visited. Now the DL suffices. Ditto getting into Westminster Abbey for the BoB service.

          4. The last time my mother visited me they accepted her “blue badge” for disabled parking as photo ID for a flight from Aberdeen to Manchester.

    6. Start by making trespass a criminal offence – trouble with that is the b*stards will come to Scotland where there is no law of trespass….but there is a law of Nuisance

      1. Serious question. iI a Law of Nuisance was made a criminal offence in Scotland how long would it be before Wee Crankie had to be locked up?

  43. I have just received my first down-vote of 2021 which means that my post yesterday saying that the Nottler down-voters had made a new year’s resolution to stop down-voting was false news!

    Of course teenagers who are tormented on line are sometimes driven to suicide – but most of us here are adult and are not affected in this way and can feel sorry for the sad, inadequate people who try to gather a few crumbs of comfort for themselves by trying to be beastly to others who communicate on the same social media.

    1. See if you can guess who Richard. Not a guest down vote if you look off line it spells it out.
      Many Thanks for posting my best wishes over a week ago.

      1. People who down vote get pleasure from doing it.
        By commenting you are doubling their gratification; ignore them.

        1. It’s a sort of psychological – even masochistic – masturbation for them from which they hope they will get some sort of satisfaction and relief from the lack of fulfilment and enjoyment elsewhere in their pitiful and empty lives.

          But of course you are right – but they do need to be aware that they are heaping pity as well as contempt upon themselves rather than on the people they try to attack.

    3. Afternoon Rastus, some things are inevitable, the sun setting in the west, the downvoter displaying petulance, some with their continued tirades against Farage and Trump and some of us who really don’t give two monkeys and continue to enjoy the humour, wit, music, recipes and outright joy this forum gives.
      I know which category I like to think I am in.

      1. Who cares about down – or up-votes?
        Personal attacks, with or without abuse, are different, as Geoff puts up every day at the top. We can certainly do without those.

      2. Good afternoon vvof

        I am sure we would get on rather well together if went off for a drink or two together in a decent pub.

        2. Good afternoon Rastus, I’m sure we would but are we lucky enough to find a decent pub that is open these days?

    4. Here we go again.

      As I have written before, a simple down vote is nothing compared the the vitriolic attacks made on those that don’t follow the soros / Gates conspiracy . There are several late night posters who appear to take great delight in attacking anyone that does not share their views.

      A bit of adult behaviour from all would ease the tensions.

      To quote one message aimed at me Do not try to denigrate me personally or any other posters on here who have seen through the corruption. We could eat you alive if you wish to pursue that path. This is not a threat but a promise. Is that more acceptable than a downvote?

      1. Some of those who collect downvotes say they don’t care, but they squeal like stuck pigs every time they get one.

          2. And most of them are very well aware that if one does use a cogent and factual argument, one will merely be abused.

          5. Perhaps. It’s certainly becoming tiresome. I don’t do either and I’m not bothered by downvotes but I do think there are some cases where a reply is required. I don’t hold with the argument that because it’s not necessary to explain why you agree with someone that you don’t have to explain why you disagree – downvoting is a different matter.

            Constant downvoting is little more than heckling: “That’s roobish, that is.”

        1. They only cause agro because some people seem to get upset when they get one, when the downvote is simply a function of this platform.

          2. One thing that surprises me about this forum is that there are a handful of people, yourself included, who think they can decide who can post here and who is to be ‘tolerated’. Maybe you should show some tolerance of views other than your own.

    5. ‘Afternoon, Richard, I too have received a down-vote for daring to question the voting system in order to make it as fair as it used to be, with the added exception of requiring photo ID before one receives a ballot paper.

      The petulant child doesn’t want fairness.

    7. In my view it is simply rude and mannerless to keep downvoting someone who has clearly said they don’t like it. It’s effectively saying “my right to downvote is more important than how you feel about it”
      That said, I hope you can ignore this small expression of ill will. It is a tiny drop of misery in a beautiful world.

    2. Funnily enough one poised on the book shelf above a Dickens novel…….. A tale of Two Kitties ?

  45. There’s a darker side to English businesses citing Magna Carta to defy lockdown. Hussein Kesvani. January 2021.

    This story made headlines because of the particular form her rebellion took. Quinn cited a specific article from an early version of the Magna Carta to claim that she was well within her rights to keep her store open – and had displayed a copy of a document saying as much in her shop window. In 1215, the clauses gave permission to 25 wealthy barons to dissent and rebel if they believed the crown was acting unjustly. Today, the document is considered by most lawyers to be an “ornament, not an instrument”, and while the document is historically significant, it is legally useless. Still, this hasn’t stopped other English businesses, including a bookshop and a soft-play centre, citing the medieval document in the belief that by doing so they are exempt from government restrictions.

    Why have some small business owners tried to safeguard their livelihoods with an antiquated 13th-century treatise? A simple answer is that social media platforms, in particular Facebook, are to blame for allowing the easy spread of misinformation regarding the law. In November, Full Fact traced a number of viral Facebook posts claiming that article 61 of Magna Carta gave British citizens legal permission to defy the government. In October, a number of videos showing business owners citing Magna Carta to police officers were being shared across social media platforms, with hashtags such as #knowyourrights and #donotconsent.

    Who says Magna Carta is an antiquated 13th-century treatise?. A Muslim who draws his legal legitimacy from the bleatings of an obscure sixth century prophet? “Most” lawyers may say what they will but the MC is the foundation of all the freedoms and jurisprudence of the Western World. It cannot simply be ignored because the government of the day (how often has that happened?) decides they don’t like it!

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/02/english-magna-carta-lockdown-covid-laws-online

    1. I knew Magna Carta had been amended and reissued several times: I thought the last time was 1225 as a young Henry III tried to cope with powerful barons. I was surprised to find this nugget; the first time Magna Carta was a actually approved by Parliament.
      I wonder which version these desperate business owners were using? Do the basic principles of the 1297 version still hold sway as it had parliamentary approval?

      “This version, from 1297, is of historical interest because the king at the time, Edward I, allowed it to be confirmed in Parliament, meaning it was copied into the statute rolls and became law.

      From that point, if a king wanted to change Magna Carta, he would change statute law, requiring the consent of Parliament, rather than reissuing the document.”

    2. …legal legitimacy from the bleatings of an obscure sixth century pædophile prophet?
      A touch more accurate, if you’ll forgive my butting in.

    3. I knew Magna Carta had been amended and reissued several times: I thought the last time was 1225 as a young Henry III tried to cope with powerful barons. I was surprised to find this nugget; the first time Magna Carta was actually approved by Parliament.
      I wonder which version these desperate business owners were using? Do the basic principles of the 1297 version still hold sway as it had parliamentary approval?

      “This version, from 1297, is of historical interest because the king at the time, Edward I, allowed it to be confirmed in Parliament, meaning it was copied into the statute rolls and became law.

      From that point, if a king wanted to change Magna Carta, he would change statute law, requiring the consent of Parliament, rather than reissuing the document.”

      1. And it has largely been written out of statute law in the form in which it was written – quite apart from the fact that a modest tradesperson would never have been protected by it… it applied only to those of the rank of baron and above.

        1. I am reading a book about Henry III at the moment.
          He was darn lucky that the barons didn’t revolt before the 1250s. Although not as capricious as his father, he really didn’t seem to think things through and favoured or dropped supporters at will.
          He hadn’t realised that times had changed and high handed Norman French behaviour would no longer be tolerated, especially by nobles who had lost their overseas holdings and relied heavily on their English lands for their income and status.
          A long reign and a time of transition. A chewy read – the details on church building went on a bit – but there is an awful inevitability about events.

          1. King John did a lot of good things as well as some pretty bad ones and he had a very rough upbringing as the youngest of Henry II’s five fighting sons. Henry III suffered the worst fate that could befall a King in such times – succeeding to the throne as an infant or young child. Very few who came to the throne as children made much of a fist of it.

          2. I suspect John has been given the Richard III treatment. Probably not a particularly nice man – the Angevins were a pretty capricious bunch – but he upset the Church and the monks wrote the history.
            His brother – the Lionheart – was a disastrous King of England. During his 10 year reign, he barely visited this country and when he did it was to screw money out of his subjects

          3. Granted that Richard, a magnificent soldier from a very early age, was a terrible King, you can’t really say that John was a good one in a lot of ways, and his early adventures in Ireland (long before he was King) were the beginning of English tyranny in that country – for which he deserves whatever history throws at him.

            Having said that, he certainly wasn’t all bad, though he was also pretty keen on screwing money out of his subjects – if not for the same purposes.

    5. …legal legitimacy from the bleatings of an obscure sixth century pædophile prophet?
      A touch more accurate, if you’ll forgive my butting in.

      1. King John, who was forced to sign Magna Carta, married Isabelle (or Isabella, spellings vary) of Angoulême in 1200 when she was 12 or 13.

        Henry VII’s mother, Margaret Beaufort an ancestress of our own Queen, bore him as a thirteen or fourteen year old widow, that was in 1485.

        Such marriages were fairly common in “civilised” Christian Europe long after the sixth century.

        One may not wish to give credence to the writings of any prophet, but his marriage should have nothing to do with, such things were extremely common.

        Magna Carta has no legal standing. Statute has erased much of it – and in any case it never applied to anyone below the rank of baron.

        1. Oh dear, have you never heard of ‘Morganatic Marriages’?

          Both John, ‘Lackland’ and Isabella of Angoulême are in my family tree and I have no leanings toward paedophilia but, for one to marry a six-year-old and consummate the marriage when the bride is just nine, has slightly more than a smack of paedophilia to me.

          We all have our own values, some more bizarre than others.

          1. Clearly you like big words, but don’t bother to understand them. The marriage of John and Isabella was not “Morganatic”, Henry III was their son and John’s heir.

            Look up Morganatic Marriage – do – and you fill find that it is:

            a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents one spouse’s position or privileges being passed on to the other spouse and/or any children born of the marriage.

            The very opposite of a monarch’s highly political marriage such as that between John and Isabella.

            No one has suggested that you have any “leanings” at all; but there is no doubt that King John (who was 34 at the time of his marriage) would be regarded today as every bit as much of a “paedophile” (a complete irrelevant word in the circumstances) as would the prophet.

  46. Blair’s henchman has given the Ockers the benefit of his opinion on Brexit and Boris. In another age, Australia would have been made for him.

    With the worst possible PM at the worst possible time, Britain’s got no chance of a happy new year

    https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/with-the-worst-possible-pm-at-the-worst-possible-time-britain-s-got-no-chance-of-a-happy-new-year-20201229-p56qqv.html

    TBF, he’s not entirely off-target with Johnson but the rest of it could have been written by Clarke or Heseltine.

    1. The photo of him at the top of the article makes him look as though he is eating sour grapes – literally.

        3. We had a wasp-chewer in St Ives U3A Current Affairs. He looked nasty & was nasty, a leftie to the core.

          I drove him out of one meeting by reading out a transcript of D. Abbott’s famous maths speech.

    2. That is a truly nasty peice of writing. I won’t call it journalism because it really isn’t. Campbell doesn’t do irony does he? To say that Boris doesn’t let facts get in the way of his agenda is mind-blowing! Dodgy dossier anyone?
      The rest of the article is just a very unpleasant personal attack, and sums up the lack of self-awareness of this deeply disturbed man.

      1. It’s about as journalistic as his early scribblings as a pom writer, in other words- rubbish.

    3. I read something earlier where it spoke of Heseltine interferences as he is encouraging people to rail against the completed Brexit.
      Only people who have no prior knowledge as to the type of nasty person Clampbellend is, would allow him the oxygen of heckling dissent.
      He was recently seen on TV ‘pouring his heart out’. Mr Pouty said he suffered from mental health issues. We all ready know, perhaps that’s being reminded of the deadly mistakes you and Toneless made in Iraq.

        1. 🤣😃😄Excellent Obs, something that really pisses me off is,……… that even retired tax payers like my self still have to pay protection money for the ex PM. “Thing’s can only get better”. There is only one sure way.
          Happy new year, i hope you were safe from the land slide what a terrible thing to happen.

          1. When you think that 2020 couldn’t get worse…
            Fortunately for us, it was the other side of Oslo. No fun. Looks like the 9 missing are likely dead; one lady & her dog out for a walk called her husband, and the call was suddenly broken. They haven’t found her yet. Heartbreaking.

          2. Heartbreaking indeed.
            So many tragedies seem to have happened on the run up to or during the Festive Season.

  47. 328026+ up ticks,
    The imam might have something to say about that “nige”

    The issue you have been body swerving for years ie the dangers of islamic ideology is making a very serious encroachment within parliament with the instruction manual oath taker resting between the dispatch boxes and halal on the parliamentary menu, in more ways than one.

    breitbart,

    Farage: My Next Campaign Will Be to End Britain’s Dependence on China

      3. 328026+ up ticks,
        Afternoon FA,
        In point of fact his input along with the party UKip Nec put down the only credible voice/voices
        warning of islamic ideology, ie Gerard Batten & co. castigating them as far right racist.

        As in a prior post he is on par with Andy Capp & labour exchanges on the issue.

        1. Afternoon Ogga, too many people in high places are Islamic sympathisers or scared of opening their gobs for fear of being labelled racist – as if Islam is a race

          1. 328026+up ticks,
            FA,
            This is going to be the next big very serious issue
            as it is gaining strength daily, I only mention
            G Batten in so far as he was warning of the dangers back in 2005, if he is a racist then so am I.

            The murder of soldier Rigby RIP was a sure as allah makes terrorist a warning sign for the future.

            Giving it the three monkey mode is asking for
            trouble in spades.

  48. 10 days ago and during the end of last year, i couldn’t log in,………. today same pass word same ID and bingo ???
    How does that happen ???
    Happy New Year all (well most). 😉

    1. I found Nottl on my phone the other day…….but every time I move off the page I have to click on D for Disqus to log in again. Don’t have to do that here on my laptopp.

      1. I’m think my problem occurred after my PC (Microsoft) decided to upgrade, it seems to have a mind of it’s own since it happened. I’m not a techy, but when number one son arrives later i’ll get him to sort a few things out.
        One thing that is really annoying is the screen is completely taken up by the page i am using and i cant get the size to return to the original, therefore i can’t reduce the page to the bottom tabs or margins. I daren’t close this down now 🙄😏 it could mean another week off air.

        1. You could try using the ctrl key with the plus or minus signs to enlarge and reduce the size in your browser.

    2. Happy New Year

      I see you got my message. Keep cheerful and keep up playing the guitar!

      1. Yes Richard thanks very much, i did reply to you and thank you again much appreciated. But yesterday i was typing a reply to an old friend and i had just finished the email and it vanished.

        1. Good day, Ready Eddy.

          Nice to read you!
          With best wishes to you and your Family
          for the New Year.
          With reference to a disappeared e-mail,
          that has happened to me recently, on
          more than one occasion; frustrating
          doesn’t really describe my feelings! : -))

          1. Thank you so much, very kind. 🤩🌼
            The email reply format had changed as well, but i’m going to get in touch with a local Tech company next week they can look into all this remotely.
            But better things occurred, to relive me of my frustration and having to type it all up again, I rang my friend on his mobile and we had a 40 minute chat.
            They have family but had to stay put and home alone over Christmas. Their two daughters both had covid, one and her hubby are teachers at senior schools, the other daughter a London lawyer.

    2. The dissolution of the party as a bunch of idiots with no value who bankrupt the country every time?

      Brown is finally going to publicly tell the truth – that he’s an incompetent, malignant fool who forced the banks to collapse?

      Blair to be publicly disembowled? Mandelson to be tried and executed?

    1. 328026+ up ticks,
      HJ,
      Who ?

      Who ever said that last month is surely guilty of blatant plagiarism.

      2. Oh dear. When searching for something Amazon returns lots of possibilities. I choose one or two I like and then search for the supplier directly, in order to cut out Amazon.
        I am now attempting not to buy anything made in China. This frequently requires an enquiry to the vendor, ” where is your Chip Pan manufactured?”
        Buying very second hand items is an option. I suspect that India could be missing an opportunity.

  52. Just got some house work done. Went to switch on the Vileda Robot and found Dolly had done a pooh on top of it. I knew she didn’t like it because she always barks when i use it. But i didn’t think she would resort to sabotage. 🙁

    1. 328026+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      Ogga,
      Could this be replicated in oils and hung
      as the treacherous subject should be, in the corridors of power as a health & safety warning under the title,
      …………..The viperish screech.

    2. Tennyson’s poems such as The Charge of the Light Brigade and Ulysses are often quoted in a rather heroic and jingoistic manner. The Lady of Shallot portrays more sentiment and the last four lines do not naturally come to mind when l see the photo Gerald Batten has posted of our former leader.

      But Lancelot mused a little space;
      He said, “She has a lovely face;
      God in his mercy lend her grace,
      The Lady of Shalott.”

      1. The Charge of the Light Brigade,

        ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
        I
        Half a league, half a league,
        Half a league onward,
        All in the valley of Death
        Rode the six hundred.
        “Forward, the Light Brigade!
        Charge for the guns!” he said.
        Into the valley of Death
        Rode the six hundred.

        II
        “Forward, the Light Brigade!”
        Was there a man dismayed?
        Not though the soldier knew
        Someone had blundered.
        Theirs not to make reply,
        Theirs not to reason why,
        Theirs but to do and die.
        Into the valley of Death
        Rode the six hundred.

        III
        Cannon to right of them,
        Cannon to left of them,
        Cannon in front of them
        Volleyed and thundered;
        Stormed at with shot and shell,
        Boldly they rode and well,
        Into the jaws of Death,
        Into the mouth of hell
        Rode the six hundred.

        IV
        Flashed all their sabres bare,
        Flashed as they turned in air
        Sabring the gunners there,
        Charging an army, while
        All the world wondered.
        Plunged in the battery-smoke
        Right through the line they broke;
        Cossack and Russian
        Reeled from the sabre stroke
        Shattered and sundered.
        Then they rode back, but not
        Not the six hundred.

        V
        Cannon to right of them,
        Cannon to left of them,
        Cannon behind them
        Volleyed and thundered;
        Stormed at with shot and shell,
        While horse and hero fell.
        They that had fought so well
        Came through the jaws of Death,
        Back from the mouth of hell,
        All that was left of them,
        Left of six hundred.

        VI
        When can their glory fade?
        O the wild charge they made!
        All the world wondered.
        Honour the charge they made!
        Honour the Light Brigade,
        Noble six hundred!

        Jingoistic? Never!

        2. It celebrates heroism – the fact that it was futile and a mistake makes it none the less heroic; even futile heroism, dare I say it, – can make one feel proud to be British.

          Bathos perhaps, but what other nation celebrates failure like the British do?

          The old saying ‘if a thing’s worth doing it’s worth doing well‘ is one with which we are all familiar. The other side of the question is that ‘if a thing is worth doing it’s worth doing badly” which means one should not abandon trying to do a worthwhile thing even if one is not any good at all at doing it.

    3. I still [unfortunately] remember those two appalling attempts
      to show us her dancing skills!! : -)))

  54. I wonder if there are any plans to dump VAT and replace with purchase tax that is fare more easy to run and costs so much less.

    1. The “great” thing about VAT is that the administration and complexity falls on the company, not the government. So, why would they care if it’s complex and difficult? Not their problem.

    2. Doubt it. Most countries have VAT at wildly different rates. It is an extortionate 25% here in Sweden.

    3. My gardener would love to dump it. When his business grew and his turnover exceeded the VAT threshold he had to start charging VAT, which immediately lost him about 20% of his clientele and income.

    4. The “great” thing about VAT is that the administration and complexity falls on the company, not the government. So, why would they care if it’s complex and difficult? Not their problem.

      1. It’s not terribly complex, or very difficult. It takes a little bit of time and a bit of attention to detail. That’s all.

        1. Most small businesses start from someone having a talent. Like cake decorating or flower arranging. It is a big headache for people to suddenly have to put on a business head to which artistic people don’t have a leaning towards. Then they have to employ accountants and book keepers at extortionate rates which take a chunk of their profits.

          1. Surely they should price their wares accordingly to incorporate the costs of running said business. Profits are then just that – the bit left after you have paid everyone.

          2. True. It is when they tip over the threshold that problems can begin if they are not prepared.

            …and don’t call me Shirley.

          3. Gets worse in Norway. Let’s follow the cakes theme…
            There’s sugar duty, marzipan duty and chocolate duty, all chargeable and recoverable on cakes. All at different levels… and you have to decide if it is a chocolate cake or not – I guess dependent on the amount of chocolate on the icing or in the sponge, to be able to get the duty right.
            And if the cake doesn’t sell, you can claim all this back – hopefully, you remembered that it’s a chocolate cake…
            Firstborn can claim back the sukkeravgift charged on the sugar he feeds to his bees when setting them up for winter, but you gotta have the receipts, fill out the (online) form, and wait.
            And all these duties and taxes are at different rates, too!
            It pays to be a bit structured.

          8. All small businesses need someone with a “business head” and by the time they reach the VAT threshold of £85K annual turnover they need an accountant for plenty of other reasons. The biggest reason for the failure of small businesses is that the “artistic” think that admin is something they can ignore… no one can. However bright your idea, you need to be getting the numbers right, long before you have that kind of turnover. No one has to be a voluntary registration, and it probably isn’t of benefit to businesses trading with the general public, as opposed to those who provide extremely necessary services to other businesses at very reasonable rates.

            Our duty levels are less complicated, though I gets a bit more tricky with caravan parks. You can claim back on bad debts, but it shouldn’t be a problem as you should have the original invoice anyway and you simply claim back what you paid, or the appropriate proportion of it in the event of part payment.

            You have to keep invoices for tax purposes anyway, so keeping them for VAT should never be a problem. Here, unless you have made an obvious error or claimed an enormous amount in comparison to your normal claim, you can expect to get the refund in 6 or 7 days. It has become considerably quicker since all the returns went online.

            We’ve had some wobbly bits in 2020 with the possibility of deferring the spring payment until March 2021 and a lowered rate for hospitality and leisure (but not alcohol), but it’s still perfectly workable to anyone who can do arithmetic and takes the time to pay attention.

          10. That’s very low. Here you can run a one person business without doing VAT for years if you choose. Lots of small businesses never reach the threshold. Which is one reason for my saying that it isn’t desperately onerous. If you are turning over £85,000, you can afford a book-keeper.

          11. Depends on your profit margins.

            In IT for instance the profit margins are incredibly slim. On a full PC system including monitor sold for say £1000 the profit generated is barely £50 gross. There’s almost no mark-up on parts. There’s no mark up at all on software. You can add a small fee for building and preloading the system but charge too much and you’ll never sell the equipment, people will go to a mass producer like Dell instead.

            That VAT threshold gets hit quick selling items at 1k each. Overall yearly profits after occupation and employee and admin costs taken care of are like a minimum wage income for one person if you are lucky.

            The tax system seems designed to hurt small businesses selling high value items for very little profit but that is exactly what the IT hardware industry is in general.

          13. Or even take a course and buy an accounting software to help sort it out yourself.

          14. Indeed, that involves time which may be better spent on core activities. If the business keeps you busy it’s often a false economy to do it yourself – especially if you have a spouse and children and do the books in the time you would do better spending with them. But you should, at the very least, be able to understand whether doing it yourself or hiring help is the better option.

          15. One should always have some idea what it is that your employees and cntractors are doing – otherwise, how do you know they are doing it right? or even what you asked them to do? You don’t necessarily have to do it yourself.

          16. But quite a few of my clients rely on me to keep them abreast with rule changes. Sometimes the level of trust given is positively frightening.

          18. Nuts (and dried fruit) sold for baking are zero-rated. Nuts, etc, sold for snacking are VATable. Buy your snacking fruit and nuts in the bakery section!

        1. Firstborn deals with the VAT for his business (MVA – MerVerdiAvgift – literally More Value Duty) and has a good routine for it. Still occupies time, but since he’s claiming, he sees the worth in it!

          1. You don’t “get jumped on” if you get anything wrong. Mistakes up to the value of £10,000 worth of VAT can be put right simply by amending the next return after you discover the mistake – up to 3 years later.

            You will be in trouble if you cheat, but mistakes are accepted as long as they are rectified.

            It’s worth it even if you are paying when your clients are all businesses – they can reclaim and you can offset the VAT on your own inputs. I’ve been a voluntary registration for 25 years.

        2. Tell me about it! When I was still working I had quite a battle with HMRC who tried to take me to court over ‘unpaid’ VAT. They even threatened to send in the baliffs (which of course they cannot do without a court order) and to wind up my company. Phone calls and letters never produced a response either, just more threats. In the end I made a formal complaint about their conduct to my MP. Within 10 days I had a grovelling apology from HMRC, explaning that for some obscure reason my payment was in a suspense account of theirs (no reason given). That was the one and only occasion I had to cross swords with them, and it wasted a lot of my time.

          1. Government doesn’t readily accept it makes mistakes, and tends toward a non-discussion nuclear solution.
            FiL had long, acrimonious discussions with HMRC some years ago, over unpaid (apparently) tax on directors fees. They reackoned he owed £10,000, he reconed differently. When it got to almost the doors of the court, it turned out that they owed him almost the same sum.
            No apology over time-wasting, inability to add up & subtract, and bullying. He got his rebate.

          2. In a previous life, about 45 years ago, I was Head Cashier at various Inland Revenue (as it was then) Collection Offices. If you were doing that job you held, after training, A Deputed Collector warrant. It looked a bit like a blue passport, and it authorised you to take distraint proceedings without any need for a court order. You had to be accompanied by a professional bailiff (for property valuations, advice etc etc), and there was a very disciplined verification process with both your own office (to make sure the bill hadn’t been paid etc) and the local Inspector (to confirm that the bill was correct etc) before your visit but no need to go to court.

            The process may have changed in the intervening years but that’s how it used to work.

          3. VAT was nothing to do with the Inland Revenue until relatively recently (April 2005). Prior to that it was HM Customs and Excise who ran VAT and they didn’t need bailiffs, court orders or anything else if they had a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity (usually smuggling). They also had the power to turn people out of their homes/offices and seize paperwork without a warrant. But it was a power very seldom used in relation to the VAT collection duties — though it did happen. Having been involved with VAT throughout the last 40 years I’ve heard a few horror stories… but they were, and are, few.

  55. Builder lad has finished the job. Seven hours start to finish.

    Much neater than I would have done. And additional design feature that I would have completely overlooked.

    Really impressed and pleased. (Not often you hear me say that…)

      1. Yes good idea – it will be good for Bill to celebrate the fact that he hasn’t had another unexpected descent down a ladder!

        1. Didn’t know you had discussed money. Saved you a headache and backache so well worth it.

          1. It would have taken me a day simply to demolish the old one. And then at least a week of swearing and personal injury (leading ladders aside!). 14 man hours plus a few quid for the materials we lacked – worth every penny.

            It was the MR’s idea to ask the lad – and she is well chuffed.

      1. Three separate compartments. I would only have realised too late, when the next vast pile of logs needed stacking!

          1. Spring is sprung
            De grass is riz
            I wonder where Bill Thomas is?

            He’s off his ladder
            And what is sadder

            A bounce on the bonce
            Has made him madder.

    1. Risotto, with the scraps of a bacon joint, a handful of slightly over-ripe tomatoes and plenty of parmesan.

    1. In an unguarded moment the BBC Radio Five Live’s Jane Garvey remembers how the BBC greeted Labour’s 1997 victory with champagne. Listen here. And courtesy of Biased BBC, here is the transcript:

      “Ah, well – I had been up for most of the night but I was doing this Five Live breakfast programme with our colleague at the time – it was a bloke called Peter Allen so – I had to get a bit of sleep, and I do remember I walked back into – we were broadcasting then from Broadcasting House in the centre of London – all very upmarket in those days – and the corridors of Broadcasting House were strewn with empty champagne bottles – I will always remember that (Allen laughs) – er – not that the BBC were celebrating in any way shape or form (Allen, laughing – ‘no, no, no, not at all’) – and actually – I think it’s fair to say that in the intervening years the BBC, if it was ever in love with Labour has probably fallen out of love with Labour, or learned to fall back in, or basically just learned to be in the middle somewhere which is how it should be – um – but there was always this suggestion that the BBC was full of pinkoes who couldn’t wait for Labour to get back into power – that may have been the case, who knows ? but as I say I think there’ve been a few problems along the way – wish I hadn’t started this now…”

          1. Second Son has started to make gin & tonic. He’s new to it – it tends to be tonic & gin! Problem is, it’s my gin, and about £40 a bottle… :-((
            Hic!

      1. A bit like the Proms with all those EU flags. The Proms were never about them. They were about us.

    3. And it would have been even lower if people had known about the clenched fist salute in advance!

      1. Who proposed the clenched fist display?
        Who sanctioned the clenched fist display?
        What did it cost?
        Who paid for the clenched fist display?

        1. I am sure I read somewhere[?] that
          the Mayor and the BBC dreamed it
          up together, the cost was £1,500,000.

        2. er….I don’t know?
          But I’m guessing the answer to the last question is “taxpayers” 🙁

    4. Sad to say but Boris and Nut nuts are not going to defund or do anything else to significantly curtail the BBC anytime soon. They and their pals are too wedded to appearing on it and rubbing shoulders with those sort of people.

      1. Totally agree, it’s down to the licence payers to defund them by becoming ex-licence payers.

      2. As long as the Bbc keep pushing the Government’s COVID and climate change messages they are safe. Give it four years and see how Farage’s Party does.

    5. What a dichotomy for the BBC. All those that would and have conscientiously paid the fee over many years because they were law abiding and thought it good value are now turning their backs on it.

    1. Saw it a good few years ago – I thought it was meh at best. Tonight I watched my recording from last night of Guardians of the Galaxy (which I saw at the cinema back in 2014) – I needed some fun and the ‘good’ guys winning for a change.

      1. Ha ha , poor Wilson.

        I wonder what any of us would have done in a situation like that.

        The sand would have burnt my feet , and try de husking a coconut , it is bad enough getting into the shell!

  59. Grease is ‘racist, rapey, homophobic and slut-shaming’ and should never be shown on TV again, say woke snowflakes
    The hit 70’s musical Grease has become the latest target of ‘woke’ critics
    Outraged viewers hit out on Twitter after the movie was screened on BBC1
    Youngsters took to social media to label it ‘rapey’, ‘overly white’ and misogynist
    By KATIE HIND SHOWBUSINESS EDITOR FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

    PUBLISHED: 22:02, 2 January 2021 | UPDATED: 22:02, 2 January 2021

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9106979/Grease-racist-rapey-homophobic-slut-shaming-say-woke-snowflakes.html

    1. I watched it for old time’s sake & enjoyed it again. The only drawback was that the BBC transmitted it with reduced sound, a nasty trait which they have adopted recently.

    2. I wouldn’t accuse Grease of being any of those things, but it certainly wasn’t in the same league as all the best musicals from the golden age between the 1940s and 1960s.

      1. I always saw it as a happy bouncy boy meets girl musical , Travola was slick and flexible and Olivia was the nice girl who decided she liked leather!

  60. Did any one else watch the programmes about Monaco ?
    My word what a terribly snotty, snobby, show yer cleavage and wiggle yer arse, ostentatious place it is. All those so misnamed ‘yachts’ in the harbour many costing hundreds of millions each. The streets full of the most expensive fuel guzzling cars on the planet, the owners can’t even park them.
    I once read that to fill the fuel tanks with diesel it can cost well over 10,000 pounds. Nobody who lives there pays tax ! The carbon footprint of the that place must be massively obscene.

    2. A rule of thumb which usually works is that the nouveau riches have yachts while those who love sailing have boats.

      3. The brother of my best mate has a four way share in a large sailing boat, south coast somewhere. They usually go off and sail around the IoW each year. If I remember correctly you have sailed the Atlantic Richard.
        When we were in Adelaide we were invited to a champagne evening on board one of the Sydney Hobart yachts, but on the evening of the event the wind was too severe for us land lubbers, it was cancelled. I worked with a really nice guy from Sweden in QLD and he lived on his yacht (Elfin Dancer) with his wife and child they invited us to sail around the islands for Christmas 1979 but we came back to the UK for Christmas. I heard they sailed back to Sweden in the yacht. Another time on holiday his ex captain of a naval vessel my nephew served with, ran a day trip sailing set up from Pool in Dorset, whilst there on holiday I booked to go on that, but the wind was too ferocious on that occasion. Oh well, it might be kismet eh. Thinking back i had also arranged to go on day sailing with the afore mentioned neighbour, but he had to go into hospital for a heart bypass. Oh well……….

    3. There are two sides to Monaco – that which you so accurately describe – and the other part which is just like a small French town – markets, local shops, normal people – a very peaceful place to be (seriously).

      1. They did rather focus on the rich and famous and royalty too much and when they were speaking to the local people it was clear they had to spend a lot of money to rent tiny apartments. And because everything was so expensive a lot of the shop staff traveled into and out of Monaco daily. Something else that was rather disturbing Bill, the police had the authority to stop people in rather ordinary cars and send them out of the principality unless they had good reason to be there. One of the servants mentioned that some of the rich people she had known were horrible. I think we all realise you don’t become that wealthy by being nice. Look at Dragons Den !!!

        1. There is also a dress code. You are not allowed (as a man) to go topless. The police stand at the harbour gate and turn back any cruise passengers who are improperly dressed!

          2. A few years ago on a holiday in Cyprus, four of us drove ip to the Troodos mountains and visited the Kykkos Monastery, they lend holiday makers clothing to cover bare limbs. We did look rather amusing.

          3. I once walked from the RAF camp in Troodos down the Chrome River to Kakopetria and then thumbed my way back to Trudos after a couple of beers in Bambos’s Bar!

          4. We had hired a 4×4 with an open top, one of the routes we took was along a dried up river. When got back to our apartment in Paphos I took my sun glasses off and I looked like I’d been driving a tank in north Africa. Dirt all over my face except around the eyes.

        2. The Sultana and I visited Monaco. Some long years ago. We’d got a cheap flight offer in February and went for a long weekend. We hired a small car. We drove into Monaco and went up the hill to the palace. There were police on the road. They saluted us. (I was wearing a light suit, and wearing a tie.). We zipped across the square where they were changing the guard, or something, and left.
          It was all very whistle stop, but fun.

  61. Evening, all. Quite snowy here; a light sprinkling early in the morning, then just as I arrived at the stables it started gently. By the time I’d finished my lesson, there was about an inch and a half. It stopped, but started again as I got home. Coolio (the Connemara) didn’t like it one bit! He did, however, settle down when he realised he could stay away from the white stuff at the other end of the arena from the door and did some nice work; good transitions without hollowing. We are making progress.

    1. When you write about lessons, is it the horse receiving lessons or are you also learning new skills.

      Apologies if I am asking a known expert in his arena, I am just curious.

      1. There are no stupid questions if you don’t know the answer. It’s a bit of both. I am getting shouted at to improve, or at least correct, my position (keep your heels down, don’t drop your hands, shoulders back, etc, etc) while I am (in theory) getting the horse to work in a better outline (not poking his nose, for example) to build up his top line (the muscles along his back) and getting him to work in self carriage (ie, not relying on the rider to hold his head up). We also work on suppleness because he’s quite stiff (as am I). That’s because he’s a riding school horse and only gets to do dressage generally twice a week when I ride him and I only ride twice a week, which is about the only exercise I get (although I have made a resolution this year to get fit and lose weight – I was horrified when I got on the scales and saw just how many lockdown lbs I had piled on). I do more or less get to choose what I do and what we work on, though.

        1. Thanks for that clarification.

          Horse riding was never something that I had the opportunity to try when I was young, it is only when I was an adult and realised how big a horse is.

          Dressage must be mighty tough for both participants.

          1. Dressage requires a lot of training – it actually is the French word for training. The horse needs to be fit and well muscled so as to carry his weight (as well as the rider’s) on his haunches; to perform the movements, the horse needs to be light on the forehand – “uphill” as it’s sometimes called. The rider needs to be fit – which is where I fall down usually 🙂

  62. I see teachers are demanding that schools close because ‘teachers have died of COVID’, without giving the relevant background, i.e. did they catch it at school, in Tesco’s or at a family get-together? Are their death rates higher than in other professions, and did the ones who died have underlying health issues? Lies, damned lies and statistics…

    1. I heard one of their union reps banging on about teachers having died from Covid-19 and I had the same thoughts as you. The same rep banged on about working in a safe environment and offered the analogous situation that a builder would not work in a building that was unsafe. That same rep did not seem to be keen on the analogous situation that tens of thousands of people who failed to turn up for work would also fail to get any pay.

      1. Perhaps soldiers should refuse to work on battlefields when there are incoming rounds.

    2. Teachers of today and logic.

      Close all care homes because some care staff have been infected with a flu like virus.

      Throw them all out on the streets i say !

    3. I was unaware that teachers have either the background to make such determinations, nor access to the facts either. You’re right – there’s NO WAY they could know which teachers (and where’s the proven stats to say actually how many teachers have died [I thought they were always concerned for the children – apparently not]) died from infections caught in schools.

      This is once again the teaching unions flexing their muscles to get their members off work (like many doctors and nurses, esp. GPs/dentists are) on FULL PAY and then blame government ministers for the ensuing crisis of young people growing up with litle to no education, despite them spending £Bns on pay and school services.

      2. If anybody mentions the NHS and what a good job they are doing to me, they are likely to be sent away with a flea in their ear; MOH told me this morning that there were no more hearing aid batteries. Saturday, of all days. No point in going to the surgery, they would only send me to the hospital, even if they were open (which they aren’t). I therefore went direct to the hospital, whence I had got the last lot. Doors locked, no one around, reception (which I could see through the doors) empty. Opening hours? Mon-Fri, 9-5. Woe betide anyone who has a minor injury at 17.01 on a Friday. It’s going to be a fun weekend using sign language.

        1. Hearing aid batteries in my nearest hospital are issued by volunteers (usually no younger than me) so I would not complain if the door was locked. Your hospital may have a different system.

          1. My hospital has an audiology department. Under recent conditions, one has to request the batteries from the receptionist on presentation of a booklet.

          1. No idea. It’s an NHS one – MOH actually has two, but only wears one. There’s no point in doing that – although thank you for the suggestion – as I can go to the hospital on Monday when they are open between the hours of 9 and 5 and get them for nothing. If I ordered them on line they probably wouldn’t get here until after Monday anyway.

      3. 328026+ up ticks,
        Evening EA,
        These peoples are know in society
        so treat like with like, multi trade
        withhold their services where teachers are concerned.

        Or any others following in the teachers footsteps.

        The authorities will only submit, getting in some training for the next foreign overseers coming on line.

        1. The really impressive responses to the Covid-19 crisis have been from supermarkets and delivery services.

          1. my thoughts entirely, they are probably after a full year of stay at home, no n work.

            Apologies to Rastus, I know there are some caring teachers out there but this cry for special treatment is beyond reasonable.

          2. It seems to depend on who pays…
            In Rastus’ case, he gets paid if he has pupils. In the case of state employed teachers, well…
            I hope Rastus and Caroline’s business survives – I’ve been wanting to join one of their courses myself!

        3. At least the Post Office is now privately owned, as if it were still in government hands, they all be out on strike by now. Saying that, amazing how there have been soooo many problems with the post this Christmas period, and yet very little in comparison at the properly private delivery firms and depots run by the giant online retailers or the supermarkets.

          A local postie apparently has so much time on his hands that he regularly takes out the Postman Pat van to visit his daughter, and yet ordinary deliveries are cancelled or severely delayed all the time. One item I ordered that came via the post took a MONTH to arrive; my parents just received a Christmas card from a now deceased distant relative (who sadly died on Christmas day), but where the card was posted well before Christmas.

    1. The no longer need the EU now they have found they can unite (control) us under the banner of health and fear of pandemic.

      1. Other countries may decide, after a period of checking that the sky hasn’t fallen in after our departure, to start their own votes and proceedings next year. It would be interesting to see, if another country’s people vote Leave, how long it takes their gummant to enact their wish.

    3. Lots of inertia. It’ll take a while – look how long it took from 23-06-16 to yesterday, and that’s just one country!

      1. Is it like Jenga? Remove one piece, and, however clever you are the edifice is weakened even if it doesn’t immediately collapse?

          1. Possibly, although I wouldn’t place a bet on any country leaving let alone, the whole EU collapsing anytime soon. Satisfaction with the EU has risen across member states in recent years and there are no political parties across the EU, with any hope of gaining power, that advocate leaving.

          3. Actually she was one of the examples I was thinking of when I posted (Marine, the AfD and the Five Star Movement). Given a straight choice, the French rejected both Marine and her father in presidential elections, both by a considerable margin.

          4. Agreed. Whilst there’s an amount of grumbling, I don’t see any country that peed off that it wants to leave. The UK was a special case – culturally, too different to fit the European Union mindset, so best out of it.

          5. Totally agree. Most other EU countries’ economies are far more integrated with other member states than the UK’s; eastern European states will continue to be net beneficiaries even without UK money and most southern European nations need FOM for their unemployed. Logically the Irish should follow us, but our shared history prevents that.

          6. The Irish also have had some huge handouts from the EEC/EC/EU as well, so I guess there’s a lot of goodwill still there.

          7. Unless the EU decides to shaft them by removing their ability to drop their corporation tax rates (in the interests of “harmonisation”, of course). The Tiger might just turn on its keeper in that case.

      2. You say that, but their spending remains double their income – they spend next years budget this financial year every year (it’s truly astonishing waste) and yet have lost a third of their income. By law (ha!) they can’t spend more than they bring in and while they don’t bother with such annoyances they simply haven’t the capital they had before.

        1. Indeed, but massive edifices don’t just turn to dust in a blink of an eye: they start to sway, crumble and topple. See how long it took the Soviet Union to unravel, for example, once it got started.

        1. Like that massive vanity project, the Strasbourg Parliament. It seems to be permanently under construction – probably deliberately so.

  64. My eldest son took ten seconds to fix the problem, i’m rather glad i kept them all out the world of construction. …… Mind you i did fit his new kitchen for him two years ago. But it took me longer then Ten seconds.
    Go to go and socialise.

  65. Oh great. Spartie has marmalised his Christmas present. I though the room had been hit by a snowstorm.
    Note to self: remember that the little tyke won’t stop until he’s removed the squeaker from a toy.

      1. I have had to re-stitch Dolly’s duck toy a few times, but it’s not because she is after the squeaker it’s because she is rather rapine with it.

  66. There is often criticism about downvoting in this forum but I submit that downvoting should be encouraged every bit as much as upvoting. If this forum is to serve as place where various subjects can be discussed and the pros and cons presented, any voting must surely be equitable and objective if it is to be of any value. If someone posts the view that mixed bathing for the unemployed should be banned, and this results in 15 or 20 upvotes, then it will probably convince the poster that his or her view enjoys widespread support. But what if there are many others who are opposed to a ban or are neutral about it? Wouldn’t we all be better informed if we could see to what extent we were in the majority or not? Without downvoting being as common as upvoting, this forum could easily become an echo chamber for strident views that are known to be held by others.

    1. You nearly have your wish; you have five upvotes and four downvotes – pretty much parity 🙂 I don’t much mind people downvoting, but I prefer that they argue their case and say what they disagree with.

    3. For the most part it already is an echo chamber. But then we were birthed from what was then a Tory newspaper so we would come from a similar demographic anyway.

      People wish to have their views challenged rather than just getting a downvote. Then all others can decide who they feel is right.

      A particular poster downvotes everything Rastus says and that can only be spite.

          2. Two worlds collide. Fun to see from several light years away but problematical up close and personal.

      3. Perhaps, but no-one seems to object to upvotes or always expects the reason for it to be presented.

          2. As Sos said. An upvote can have several meanings. Something as simple as an acknowledgement that you have read it or an agreement with it. A downvote has a different significance.

        2. Upvotes cover a number of uses, down votes less so; particularly when it turns into a tit-for-tat, and yes I know upvotes can be similar.

          I tend to up vote to acknowledge a reply that needs no more, when a post makes me smile, when I agree but don’t wish to explain why I agree, etc.

    4. I think if people wish to downvote it would be good if they actually presented their counter argument at least explaining their vote

        1. Then there are ironic upvotes and sympathy upvotes. And just to be polite upvotes. I just gave LessIsMore a downvote as attempted humour.

          1. A little dickie bird has told me that we might be organising a rave luncheon sometime soon. Be nice to get to know each other better. Don’t bring Alf ! 🙂

          3. A little dickie bird has told me that we might be organising a rave luncheon sometime soon. Be nice to get to know each other better. Don’t bring Alf ! 🙂

          4. Hiya Phizzee I was going to say I won’t bring Alf if you don’t bring Dolly but … 😅😅😅 you may think me cruel!

    6. I think it is more appropriate for someone who strongly disagrees with an opinion to state their reasons why in a response comment rather than just downvote. At least then people can make up their own minds as to whether the person doing so is trolling (as some do) or not.

      When the DT changed over from using Disqus to their own (inferior) in-house comments system, the up/downvoting system was done away with in favour of just ‘Likes’, meaning the only way of disagreeing was by saying so or using the inappropriate ‘report’ function, which could get posts or entire threads deleted, and is down to the whim of the mods (who are useless).

      I think it is far better to guage the opinion of readers (here and on the DT) to see the amount of up and down votes AND comments, and the nature of the replies. DT trolls such as Am F regularly get ‘more business’ from unsuspecting newbie readers because Am F’s deliberately inflamatory comments don’t get downvoted and many longer-term readers now just stay away from pointless arguments where the ‘other side’ just wants to argue and not discuss anything in a meaningful way. Ironically, Am F has on many occasions tried to report me and other readers to the mods for calling them out and advising newbies to stay away.

      I saw another troll on the Letters Page over the last day – one called Charles Hinton, who normally operates on US Politics articles as the resident Orange Man Bad troll. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them actually work for the DT as a kind of pushback to readers, many of whom have turned on the paper during the last 4 years and especially over the past year or so. Sadly now quite a common occurrance in other sections of the media, including enterainment where employees of production companies and their shills in the media. The Hard Left has infiltrated many organisations.

      1. I concur that if you disagree strongly with a post, a downvote should be accompanied by a robust reason why. But in normal face-to-face discussions between a group of people, there can be mild disagreement of the point being made or disapproval of the way it has been made. In normal discussions, these can be expressed by a nod or shake of the head, facial expressions, body language and so on. Clearly, we can’t do that in an on-line forum and an upvote or downvote becomes a rather blunt tool. However, it is the only tool we have and, in my view, we should use them (up and downvotes) as best we can, accepting that there will be abuse and trusting to the mods to correct this, or do away with them although I am far from certain that this is possible with Disqus.

        I also concur with your comments about Daily Telegraph – oh, how the mighty are fallen!

      2. We have two choices.

        We can try and shut them out. Which is doubtful. Or we can bring them into the fold. All else is chaos.

        1. The Oxygen of truth is the best way of either changing people’s minds or at the very least showing up poor aguments devoid of facts or that downright lie. Deliberate campaigns by individuals to troll people should be punished, though I’d much prefer as many others both downvote and call out (in replies) such behaviour to effectively shame those individuals into mending their ways or leaving.

          1. I won’t ask a leading question about how we are to do that like a troll but most on here are too polite and will just end up blocking.

      3. I scroll past the Fagash set-to’s; they are monotonous.
        Years ago, the DT had a troll called Fabiansolutions who stirred things up; it was rumoured to be an in-house staffer called Kate Day.

        1. I remember Fabiansolutions (having had more than a few ‘discussions’ with the former during {if I recall] the 2017 election year) and the accusations of who they really were.

          She liked, if I remember correctly, to virtue-signal her love of all things black and Islam using the phrase ‘brothers and sisters’ and ‘peace be upon them’ a lot. I wonder what became of her, as she departed the scene soon after that election.

          Also quite a lot of annoying little so-and-so’s from Momentum during 2019 who joined just to troll4Corbyn. One memorable trollski who love all things Soviet/Russian and Putin called ‘Stephen Putt’ was around until the new paywall settings dropped most freebie trolls about 9-10 months ago.

          You can always tell when Fagash gets annoyed when beaten because they threaten to report that person to the mods for being some ‘ist’, ‘phobe’ or (laughably) trolling, especially when you warn others of what ‘he’ is and not to engage them.

    7. Your last sentence hits the nail on the head; that is exactly what it has become.

      2. Not too surprising, when dissenters from the popular opinion are called trolls and otherwise vilified rather than argued with.

        1. It is very dependent on how the dissent is presented.

          Stig, who I venture to suggest is one of the more popular posters here, regularly makes dissenting posts.
          How the counter argument is presented has a strong bearing on the response.

          1. Stig is always polite and reasonable and never unpleasant when he makes a dissenting post. That is the difference between him and some others.

          4. I second that.

            Stig often makes a post that sobers the thought process without being offensive.

    8. You might observe that many of us don’t collect votes of any kind. Downvotes are welcome, at least someone read your post.

    9. I see little value in either – it’s the replies that are most welcome. I’ll admit, it does my ego good to see people agree with my thinking (such as it is)!

    10. What does it matter when Disqus has eliminated many upvotes? They took out 25,000 of my upvotes a few months ago but I see that some frequent commenters here have had all their upvotes taken away!

      But I do think that those who choose to downvote, despite the instructions at the top of the page “Differing opinions are encouraged”, should explain why.

    11. I’d give an upvote for mixed nude bathing.

      As my upvotes are now several,hundred thousand negative -bothers me neither a jot nor a tittle.

      1. Hmm… problem is, those thet really should keep their clothes on (as they really need ironing) rip them off at the first opportunity, whereas those who look much better unclothed are almost never seen that way.
        EDIT: SWMBO reminds me of Englischer Garten in München, spring 1993. Picknicking, sitting on the grass, wondering what that weird brown/mahogany thing was over there… on standing up, we realised it was a naked male buttock & thigh, attached to Methuselah’s grandfather… thank God we’d finished eating! A new mug of weissbier helped erase the picture from my eyeballs.

        1. They are good at keeping the balls up.

          The first time I saw beach VB I thought they were naked.

          2. Correct me if i’m wrong and have the wrong Richard but your post earlier about it being a promise and not a threat was unacceptable. No Mod should have to put up with that.

            P.S Hope it wasn’t me. 🙁

          4. Much worse on other sites i believe but i get your point. I tend to avoid evenings for the most obvious reasons to which i also have been a guilty party. 🙁

            We appreciate you…….mostly. 🙂

          6. Oh I know others are worse but mostly people are nice here with one or two exceptions. But it’s standard trolling to complain about the moderation.

          7. Not wasn’t you and I am intentionally not naming the offender.

            Keep the jokes coming.

          8. Those of us who read it, amongst a welter of similar comments, are unlikely to forget it in a hurry.

          9. There does seem to be a gratuitous lack of body covering… not complaining, you understand, just noting.

        2. You do know you could have launched into your list
          of favourite spectator sports without the leading first
          post?
          We wouldn’t have minded or been offended!! :-))

    12. I’ve been through this whole argument on Stack Overflow (where I no longer post).
      People downvote posts into oblivion, sometimes because they simply didn’t take time to try and understand a post on a subject with which they aren’t familiar. Then when the poor poster complains, they justify themselves with relish by saying self-righteously that they are upholding quality on the site – which is sometimes true and sometimes not.

      Because you said you are in favour of downvoting for disagreement, I downvoted your post in that spirit – however, I normally downvote as an expression of annoyance with some complete fool. I think downvoting as a simple measure of disagreement is a little idealistic – it is a negative action that can and will be used to indicate contempt.

      I don’t think discussions on this website have to reach a conclusion – and I don’t particularly notice how many upvotes my posts get.

      1. Just to be clear, I do not believe that it is necessary to explain a downvote every time. It could mean mild disagreement of a point or disapproval of the way in which it has been put but any strong disagreement or objection should be supported by comments.

        1. I don’t think I will start using them though, because I know myself, and it wouldn’t be mild disagreement, it would be accompanied by an unspoken insult in most cases!

          1. I do not intentionally downvote because I know that it offends some people but I often wonder if a particular viewpoint is as widespread as it upvotes suggest.

    13. I see your votes shooting up and down. I think it goes back to when downvoting was anonymous.

      1. I am on an iPad and, as far as I can determine, I can see up or down voters only be entering a vote myself. I downvoted myself to see who my challengers were and then upvoted myself to remove the downvote. I mention this just in case I am accused of self-congratulation.

        1. Indeed so, but what would you expect; everyone who upvotes to write “agreed” or “indeed” or “quite” or I agree?
          And again, I appreciate similar can be stated about down votes.

          1. No, I don’t think that every upvote needs to be amplified or explained – I am simply suggesting that the same should be true of downvotes.

          2. The problem we have with JSP, who is really the individual under discussion here, rather than the principle, is that the downvotes tend to follow specific individuals who have offended her in some shape or form.
            When a completely “bland” comment gets a down vote, as far as I can tell merely out of spite, I’m unsurprised people want an explanation.

          3. I agree that some downvote (but without saying why), often after a previous comment from the person being downvoted effectively showed them up in some way, often not done deliberately / directly. It would be nice to know their reason(s). The tone of the DT comments areas dropped considerably after Disqus was dropped in favour of their current system, as IMHO it actively enables trolling.

            Things got so bad in th year before the 2019 General Election that I stopped commenting on many articles because it just wasn’t worth the bother, some with the majority of ‘comments’ eminating from trolls, with quite a few likely being salaried ones working for Opposition parties/political groups (e.g. Momentum) and a good number for hostile foreign governments/organisations (many obviously Russian and some Chinese state operatives, plus some from the EU commission during the Brexit process).

            Sadly, I think there (still) are some from both the DT themselves (countering critcism of the paper’s coverage of events this past year or so) and even from the Civil Service as part of propaganda campaign over COVID, The Great Reset, etc, etc.

            We could find some of them find their way here (some may already be here), given we are an ‘alt’ discussion service to the DT Letters Page and other DT articles, but have still some people who subscribe to the DT who can bring the forum’s opinions back to the DT comments sections and influence debate there, albeit in a lesser way than directly commenting as we used to when subscribing.

          4. I must be careful here.
            I trolled Igonikon Jack mercilessly, because I became very annoyed by his constant denigration of all things British.

        2. Upvoted, because I agree with you. At least, the reply doesn’t often mention any upvote, even though one might have been given.

        3. Why do they have to be? As I pointed out elsewhere, disagreeing with a point of view is a different action and invokes different emotions. Some form of qualification ought to be offered, as least in some cases, or it just appears to be little more then heckling.

          1. I sometimes upvote opposing arguments, simply because I think both posters have put their cases well.

          2. They don’t have to be – I thought that my posts had made this clear. I was simply suggesting that what is true of upvotes should logically be true of downvotes. Ref your last sentence, do you think that upvotes should have some form of qualification offered in case they appear to be little more than hear, hearing?

    1. All very interesting stuff. The question I have is this:

      If this woman is speaking the truth about a topic that greatly concerns us all (and the future of the species), why was it filmed (apparently) in the corner of a noisy greasy-spoon café?

      2. 328026+ up ticks,
        G,
        So are you saying that a very expensive studio at New Broadcasting House BBc would be a better setting like the decor supports the truth ?

        Personally I don’t give a damn if being the truth it is reported from the outside karzi down the garden.

        By the same token the question I have is if the peoples are so greatly concerned about the future of the species, why do they keep following the same close shop voting pattern that, after clearly showing failure over the last three decades, they insist on doing repeatedly.

        1. I didn’t say anything of the sort. Stop putting your vacuous words into my far more intelligent mouth.

        2. I didn’t say anything of the sort. Stop putting your vacuous words into my far more intelligent mouth.

          1. 328026+ up ticks,
            G,
            Your superiority slip is dragging on the deck check it out,
            my question was ” so are you saying” (as in a request) that to me is not quite the same as “you are saying” is it ?

    2. Mixture of things I know to be true, and things I cannot believe to be true.
      I think the main danger of 5G is that it will enable a spy system similar to that described in 1984. Actually, it could make 1984 look like amateurs – a tiny transmitter in your body could send accurate data in real time about your body to IoT receivers. All for your own good of course!

      EMR poisoning is usually associated with a far higher power than is used in mobile phone systems. EMR is all around us all the time of course. There is a slight question mark hanging over repeated exposure to carrier frequencies, but no concrete evidence. GSM and UMTS don’t seem to have caused long term effects, but each successive system uses different carrier frequencies, so that is not absolutely conclusive. I read up on the research periodically, as I used to work in this field, and sat next to a base station that we were using for tests at one point.

      Edit: One thing is sure; Charles is a fool to get mixed up with the WEF and their Great Reset nonsense. He can’t see that he is nothing more than a useful idiot.

  70. Apropos the current virus have just watched the film Unlocked on Prime Video.
    Has similarities to what is going on now.

    2. Good evening, Alf.

      Have you watched ‘V for Vengeance,’
      A friend has recommended it because it has many
      similarities to current events….even mentioning 2020.
      Apparently the film was made in 2005.
      [No, I haven’t watched it.]

      Edited.

      1. Evening Garlands
        No haven’t watched that but have heard of it but will try to find it.

      2. V for Vendetta starring the excellent John Hurt. Brilliant film.

        In a futuristic, totalitarian Britain, a freedom fighter known simply as V, uses terrorist tactics to fight the oppressive society. Evey aids him in his mission to bring down the government.

    3. Alf, I got the name wrong.
      Thankfully Plum has corrected me,
      it should be:
      ‘V for Vendetta.’

          2. I am teasing! My friend had already
            explained the whole plot to me,
            I would not have looked had I not
            known. He was surprised by the
            similarities of fiction v. fact; hence
            the storyline telling.

          1. Yes there are loads of places in Bath! (Photo was taken a while back prior to Lock down….)

          6. Very smart. I have a ladder (to the luton) in my campervan. Does that count in the stairs stakes?

  72. OT, on Jan 01, betting advertisements were made illegal in Norway. TV is so much nicer! The online betting organisations are pursuing this through the EU courts as being some form of restrictions on trade.

  74. Watched Dunkirk (2017) tonight on iPlayer:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000qqtl

    The award winning soundtrack features a ticking watch throughout virtually the whole movie which adds to the suspense of the film. An amazing production costing $150m which acording to the veterans of the evacuation realistically portrayed the events that took place – except for the cinema sound track level which they said was louder than the real event.

    The director included the strains of Elgar’s Nimrod in the sound track, an arrangement I have included here by Jonathan Scott that he played at a deserted Albert Hall at the BBC Proms last year:

    https://youtu.be/AF5q-T2JR2g

    1. I know I’ve got access to that film. Do you recommend it? My reservations are about nice clean smart uniforms etc, that I’ve seen in clips.

      1. I thought it was a poor film which didn’t display the reality of the event as described in books, pictures and films made at the time. I was given the DVD Dunkirk and have only watched it once.

    2. TBH I was bored when I saw it at the cinema. Rather like 1917 (which I gave up watching after 25 minutes the other day [AmPr]) – visually great, but just tedious. Saving Private Ryan was far better. Similarly, I was disappointed with the film Spiderman: Homecoming when it was on a couple of weeks ago just before Christmas, and gave up after about the same time. The film series with Tobey Maguire was far superior.

      I’m just glad I bought loads of my fave films on DVD over the last couple of years (many for peanuts at charity shops) and asked for and got many great TV series box sets for Christmas, given there won’t likely be much new or good TV/films on for some time to come.

      1. HBO’s Band of Brothers (6 DVD’s) took pains to reflect the realities of war. I quite liked the fact that at the end of each episode there was a short commentary from the GIs who actually lived through the events portrayed.

  75. Lord Haw Haw – aka William Joyce – was captured by British forces in northern Germany just as the war ended, tried, and eventually hanged for treason on 3 January 1946.

    Perhaps the Mayor of Greater London – and the Governor of the BBC – should suffer a similar fate – for the treasonable display of the ‘Iron Fist’ in lights over London on Hogmanay 2020 …

  76. Parakeets face massive cull…

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9104197/Parakeets-face-massive-cull-Government-considers-shooting-grey-squirrels-sky.html

    In 2014, experts from the University of Kent warned parakeets pose ‘an urgent economic, societal and environmental problem, as they are a main cause of global biodiversity loss’.

    Prof Chris Thomas of York University disagrees. Interview at 43:30 in today’s ‘Today’ programme:
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000qxc6

    1. Parakeets face massive cull

      Its strange how some invasive species can be dealt with harshly – while others are positively encouraged.

      I saw a large flock quite recently, I knew there were supposed to be some round here in [redacted] but it was a shock to see a mob of enriching diversity. . . . . bright green birds.

    2. Being saying that for years – far better to cull a few thousand now than to be faced with the need to cull a million or more in a decade or two. The Ring Neck Parakeets are incredibly destructive attacking fruit trees long before the fruit is anywhere near ripe and totally dominating the bird feeders to the detriment of the native bird population.

      1. All that unripe fruit will cause a headache to fruit growers if the parrots eat ’em all.

    3. 30,000 to 50,000, I’m pretty sure that’s cobblers. That sounds more like their numbers in the London area of 20 years ago.

    4. Parakeets? They trophy hunt, pollute the seas, cut down the trees, concrete over the environment?
      Nah, must be the Galahs, much more likely!

  77. Over Christmas we had an email form our good friends in Perth the temperature was 39 c (these are shade temps) on Christmas day……….. 32 c on New years eve for the (no restrictions) family BBQ. Wish we’d been there. But I would have had to have used more ice for my Vesper Martini. My word it was powerful stuff.
    Just before the season of good will whilst watching a TV prog reporters from WA, on Cottesloe beach were letting a line of poms holding placards with their names on waving to rellies in the UK. And then standing on the walkway on Sydney harbour bridge doing the same, this time chatting with the people. I thought that was a lovely thing to do.
    Australia,……….. not just time wise but always more than one step ahead.

    1. I’m glad you identified that it was Perth WA, Australia and not Perth, Scotland, UK.

      1. I made that mistake once with a visitor. I said you don’t sound Australian. What an idiot !

        1. At least with flying all but banned, we did not have a family turning up in Sydney nova scotia this year instead of Sydney nsw. Those cheap tickets are just what you did not want.

  78. New year, nothing changes.

    With overseas travel a no no for canadians, there are now two provincial ministers and a provincial MP who have been caught traveling to warm places for christmas. Naturally they naturally trotted out the celeb excuse Oh I am sorry, I had a lapse of judgement .

    Credit to our provincial premier who heard the excuse and then fired the guy.

    1. Was one of these the one who tried to film a Zoom conference call with a fake background of a local (back home) park via a green screen or suchlike whilst in the Caribbean? I think some politico from California tried the same some while back and was similarly found out.

    3. Richard can you please tell them to sort things out PDQ? I’m due to travel to Canada in May (Flights & accommodation booked & paid for prior to WuHoo Flu!)

      1. Good luck. We have top socialist Trudeau at the helm (well we think he is there).

        The powers are hoping to vaccinate about 3 million (10%) by Easter, so we could well still be stuck in lockdown / restrictions by May.

        They are bringing in mandatory covid tests and quarantine next week. The speed that they work at, the measures might still be in effect.

      2. Got a small rubber dinghy handy? Surely that’s the way to get in with no hindrance!

        1. No need for a dingy, just fly to the states and walk across the border. Our refugeesscrounge don’t even need to get their feet wet.

          1. Nah, you can be dropped off just out of sight of the coast – at night, that’d be less than half a mile. I’m sure there’s contractors currently operating in the Channel who you can hire?

        3. Rubber dinghy?
          Hell’s teeth he’s got a barge.
          All he needs is a three mile long barge pole and he’s away…

          5. That looks like our family trip on the Broads crossing the bloody Great Yarmouth (Biscay) Maelstrom.

          6. Just the Bristol Channel into a Force 4 Headwind. The Gloucester Pilot said ‘If I’d known it was going to be this lumpy we wouldn’t have set out, but we can’t turn back…..’

  80. I already knew we were talking silly money but I have just read that Jeff Bezos makes about $321 million a day
    (That’s $13.4 million an hour, $222,884 a minute, and $3,715 a second)

    1. I am happy to say that I managed to negotiate Christmas with closed shops without making Amazon one penny richer!

    1. 328026+ up ticks,
      Afternoon M,
      Be different this imperial year, last year was a metric 10 monther.

    2. Probably the longest, dullest year ever; depressing and even for me, the least social person on the planet, lacking in social contact. TG that 2020 is over.

        1. It shot by for me too. The only thing I can point to is that I did a lot more art than I’ve managed in recent years.

          1. I drank a lot more wine. We also managed more fishing charter trips as the skipper was only taking people he knew well.

          3. There are bluefin tuna off the SW coast, and if you have the tackle you can land a fish of over 500lb. Then release it of course.

          4. Since we moved to Cornwall in ’04 I’ve been mainly sea fishing. From the shore, lure fishing for bass. From a boat, lure fishing and live baiting for pollack, cod, bass and whatever else we can catch.

          5. Interesting. We are promising ourselves a holiday on the coast, and I think bass fishing will probably be included in the itinerary.

          6. Got to be done. One of the best fighting, and eating, fish around. If you’re in the SW let me know where and when you’re going. There’s a bit of a local bass news and location thing goes on here. You have to read between the lines though.

          8. I think there was a sameness to every day and I got used to lots of reading, cooking and wine o’clocks at 1730. They all merged together into the longest day, but individually they passed quickly.

          9. It’s why we need holidays and away days so we have something to talk about. Perhaps that is the intention.

          10. I confess that the days weren’t unpleasant. Makes me feel a bit of a routiney bloke.

          11. Mine neither except for visiting favourite restaurants at least once a month. Better in the Summer though.

          13. The summer was bearable because I spent a lot of time in the garden. Once the nights drew in and I was stuck indoors it became a chore to get up in a morning.

          16. Figurative landscape paintings in oil, and mixed media anatomy studies that try to show the human as a delicate, vulnerable machine and a soul at the same time.

          17. Just don’t mention the word ‘black’.
            Don’t know if you remember the Paul Whitehouse sketches.

          18. I’ve never watched TV a lot, so I assume they are something from the TV!
            My anatomy studies are actually studies of the strength and creativity of European men. Trying to inject a little pride and rationality into this era of public blaming, shaming, breast-beating and mea culpas.

        2. Yes – it’s gone quickly, though individual days have sometimes dragged. Yesterday was tedious, and it seemed ages before it got late. I while away the time on here instead of doing something useful.

          Also drinking more wine than before.

          I miss the activities of normal life – lunch with friends; concerts, table tennis, hedgehog stall at events locally.

          2. ‘I while away the time on here instead of doing something useful.’

            You are being useful, J, remember the trolling just before Christmas,
            the every day reading of posts and trying to divert too strong words
            into more gentle ones!

            Good evening.

    3. GOD, no! Just about every day has lasted an eternity. Collectively, they formed a year of endless nothingness. Thank god for whisky and painting.

  82. I had the misfortune to catch a radio news bulletin. The beeboids were wetting themselves trying to find evidence of “chaos” at the ports. None was forthcoming.

    1. I has the misfortune of hearing a couple of minutes of Jess Gillan (Saxophonist ) interviewing another young thing at lunch time on Radio 3. Her third question was “Do you have an animal spirit?” I didn’t wait for the answer…

      1. My animal spirits include White Horse, Copper Dog, Monkey Shoulder and The Famous Grouse.

      2. Oh dear…I don’t know which is more sad; that this kind of drivel is spoken on the radio, or that I know what it means.

        1. She’s a good musician but I think they gave her that slot to make R3 more “relevant” for young people.

    2. Rather like the ‘crisis’ at hospitals that appears to be 2x as bad as the week before, which already was ‘already at the tipping point’ and ‘close to collapse’, and yet…empty wards at otherwise quiet hospitals. ‘We must lockdown even more’ say local NHS officials, otherwise [enter doom-laden result here]. Meanwhile, staff conduct intricate dance routines on TikTok.

  83. That’s me for Day Two. A very satisfactory one.

    Have a jolly evening – glasses to the fore. Log stacking tomorrow!

    A demain

  84. All this chat about upvoting and downvoting and the meaning of. Just to stir the pot some more. The people who never wish happy birthday or commiserate with someone who has had misfortune tend to be the same people. Just sayin’.

    ………….

    à bientôt

  85. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9105595/Nearly-half-Britons-think-BBC-fails-represent-values.html?ito=social-twitter_dailymailUK

    Nearly half of Britons think the BBC fails to represent their values including a majority in the North of England, survey finds
    Survey found 48 per cent said BBC does not adequately represent their views
    Figure rose to 51 per cent in the north of England and 47 per cent in Scotland
    YouGov survey also found only four per cent of Britons think BBC’s values have become more like theirs

Comments are closed.