Friday 8 January: No need to stop GPs’ regular work – use all the volunteers and vaccinate in public places

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/2021/01/08/lettersno-need-stop-gps-regular-work-use-volunteers-vaccinate/

1,117 thoughts on “Friday 8 January: No need to stop GPs’ regular work – use all the volunteers and vaccinate in public places”

  1. President Trump should go. He should go now! 8 January 2021

    IMO President Trump did a lot of good things in his term until he was torpedoed by COVID-19 and the tangled skein of threads involved in the November 3rd election. This electoral circus will be puzzled over for a long time. I take note that Ossoff won in Georgia by just enough to avoid a re-count.

    Nevertheless, The president’s actions since November 3 have grown more and more erratic and have now culminated in what can only be called an incitement of mob violence directed at the Congress.

    People ask why the Capitol Police and other federal authorities were not better prepared to defend the Capitol complex against attack. Well, pilgrims, nobody expected the president of the US to whip up crowd anger and then to send the mob to the Capitol.

    I wrote some days ago that Trump’s rage and pain were serious factors to consider in a moment of political crisis. These things and his “one man show” mentality” overwhelmed him yesterday and in acting out his personal agony he did serious damage to the country. He is done. Stick a fork in him, maybe over-done.

    The Democrat leadership will not want to pursue him although his actions yesterday might make him criminally liable. The squaddies will howl for his blood, but Schumer, Pelosi, etc. are not going to want to do anything that rash.

    IMO he should leave the scene. A retreat to Mar a Lago is what should happen. He can let the clock run out there. He can resign and let Pence deal with the mess, but he should go.

    The populist revolt that he led is not dead. It is not anything like dead. The 75 million citizens who voted for him are still here. They still want the same things, but he should depart and let a new leadership of the Deplorable Smellies emerge. Pat Lang.

    Morning everyone. The view (sympathetic) from the United States.

    https://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2021/01/president-trump-should-go-he-should-go-now.html

  2. Funerals

    A prestigious cardiologist died, and was given a very elaborate funeral by the hospital where he had worked for most of his life…

    A huge heart – covered in flowers stood behind the casket during the service as all the doctors from the hospital sat in awe.

    Following the eulogy, the heart opened, and the casket rolled inside. The heart then closed, sealing the doctor in the beautiful heart forever.

    At that point, one of the mourners burst into almost helpless laughter.

    When all eyes stared at him, he said, ‘I’m so sorry, I was just thinking of my own funeral – I’m a gynaecologist!’

  5. ‘She’s been shot’: British photographer describes moment police downed rioter inside Capitol building. 8 January 2021

    A British photographer who was in the room when police shot dead a rioter inside the Capitol building says he is still processing the seismic events of Wednesday afternoon.

    There will be no demonstrations on behalf of Ms. Babbit an ex-US Air Force veteran who had taken no drugs or committed no crime prior to her death.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/01/07/shot-british-photographer-describes-moment-police-downed-rioter/

    1. Adam Gray described how he saw 35-year-old Ashli Babbitt laying on the floor as police tried to save her life.

      Maybe Adam should find a different calling.

    2. I was watching the live video at the time being taken by one of the protesters, shot at point blank range in cold blood, ironically with what looked like a trooper with a rifle standing right behind her just about to stop her getting in.
      The trooper appear to point his rifle at the security man to warn him off.

    3. Apparently It’s been ‘established’ that the rioters were a plant by Antifa and many of them had been seen and recognised at other recent disturbances.
      There was a bitchute video clip of this particular disturbance but it seems to have been removed from distribution.
      A friend sent it to me a couple of days ago but it looks like her website has been shut down. I’m getting unable to send email returns and no response.
      That’s not in keeping with her usual style.

      1. I wonder how much of that is fake news?
        I’ve seen one picture of a coloured protester described as an AntiFa activist, yet, according to another, he’d been prosecuted in his home state for organising a pro-Trump rally that had resulted in serious road traffic disruption.

        2. I’m just about to make post about the guardian reporting over the recent years.
          Look up top.

    4. ‘Morning, Minty. It was a sad and unnecessary death, but I would have thought that a former USAF servicewoman might have had more sense than to attempt to climb in to the chamber through a broken window with security staff on the other side, pistols drawn? If I had been one of a baying mob breaking into the House of Commons chamber I would not have expected to survive the experience, knowing that armed police are close by.

      1. I think Ms. Babbit had the right to think she would not be murdered for some minor misdemeanor.

      2. I think Ms. Babbit had the right to think she would not be murdered for some minor misdemeanor.

        1. Of course she has, but breaking into the seat of governent as part of a mob of what was said to be about 10,000 rioters is hardly ‘some minor misdemeanour’ in my view, and in such desperate circumstances to describe the actions of the security service as ‘murder’ is surely not sustainable. We will have to agree to disagree.

  7. Pa Salieu wins BBC Sound of 2021 poll for new music talent 8 January 2021.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/59b82f5124b6bc66705d5e37d6be09f3d459b7b19944c52effeff38525f35112.jpg

    Coventry rapper Pa Salieu has topped the BBC’s latest tastemaking Sound of… poll, which tips music artists destined for success each year.

    The 23-year-old of Gambian heritage released his debut mixtape in November, described as “fresh and inventive” by the Guardian’s head pop critic Alexis Petridis. Salieu is yet to reach the UK charts, but tracks such as Frontline and My Family have quickly become cult classics in the country’s rap scene.

    Quelle surprise!

    https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/07/pa-salieu-wins-bbc-sound-of-2021

    5. I expect he’ll get a chance to become a bbc announce. They appear to love the ethnic minority group sound. Of deliberately miss-pronouncing the English language.

    6. The very same BBC that has consistently refused to allow the British-born Alma Deutscher to play at the Proms, because hers is the wrong sort of music. She had her first commissioned work, a symphonic overture for a festival on the Isle of Wight, seven years ago, and in 2019, a sell-out concert at the Carnegie Hall in New York with a programme of entirely her own music, including another symphonic overture (inspired by the sounds of Viennese traffic), a violin concerto, a piano concerto, excerpts from her second opera ‘Cinderella’ (actually a vast improvement on the offering from Lloyd Webber), and other items, along with a running commentary from the composer. This was wilfully ignored by the critics, who clearly consider rap to be more “music” than the melodic romanticism of Alma Deutscher.

      She now has an album of her piano compositions coming out on 12th January, a companion volume to a CD released in 2019, which has gone completely unreported.

      I don’t know if Salieu is considered a “child” according to Home Office guidelines, but I would guess that this “newcomer” is older than Deutscher.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xB79aWL6O8
      https://www.halleonard.com/product/362533/from-my-book-of-melodies?fbclid=IwAR3bWgTkivqCsbuXydGuHKuaQI1xNHtzI__zG_Qyw0tDWTFKH40qJZbttFo

        1. Only half-Jewish. Her father was born in Tel Aviv, and is a respected Jewish Israeli scholar. Her mother though is English of Irish extraction, and is herself a scholar of pre-Norman poetry.

          Although she has to have a Jewish mother to be properly Jewish, she did recently celebrate Hanukkah for her old violin school, the Keshet Eilon, by opening their festival concert. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iR8ZwvK38I&ab_channel=KeshetEilon&fbclid=IwAR2LsBDXOSHOBqTUra9XqWgWBY0QmbAlr6bc4v7PZ30tIqrpeUlw4-jqzvI

  8. 328271+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,
    May one ask,The needlework keeps getting top billing has anyone on the side of the righteous NOT POLITICAL, got any figures on how many of the herd have been punctured against those refusing ?

    1. Morning Oggy. I’ve seen no figures on those refusing to be vaccinated and don’t really expect too! The Government barely has enough to inoculate those who wish it and can postpone any measures against the sceptics almost indefinitely!

      1. 328271+ up ticks,
        Morning AS,
        I did not think for a moment there would be, but merely bringing up the fact that there could be but
        wouldn’t be an honest % that is.

        That could very well work out to be too revealing and deny the ratchet another click in herd control.

  9. It has been Trump Vs The Establishment. They may have won this time but America will never be the same again as the left bring out their crazy ideas.

      1. 328271+ up ticks
        Morning Anne,
        Sad to say i’m athinking that we are being forced into running a prototype first.

  10. Good morning from an Anglo Saxon Queen with cleaned axe and longbow in handbag .

    A hard frost this morning . I’ll make some porridge with honey, cinnamon and banana’s.
    and wear my big fluffy dressing gown .

      1. Good morning Mr Viking ,
        chopped banana’s on the porridge with the honey and cinnamon.

          2. Have you ever considered that your namesake probably never even knew what a banana was?

          3. I’ve considered the early dark age food availabilities of Æthelfled and shall l put nuts and raspberries on my porridge tomorrow. Porridge ( of sorts ) was around .

          4. I attended a Zoom lecture on medieval diets recently, courtesy of U3AC. It was fascinating.

  11. Welcome to Colchester:

    Date: 07/01/2021 17:42 (GMT+00:00)

    Subject: Messages from the Safer Colchester Delivery Board

    Dear Coordinator and Fringe Member,

    I attended the Safer Colchester Delivery Board meeting today. Colchester Police and other members of the Board have asked me to distribute as widely as possible the below messages.

    These messages can be forwarded to all contacts regardless of whether they are members of Neighbourhood Watch. Please do this as quickly as possible.

    In the previous two lockdowns, Colchester Police have used verbal warnings to break up gatherings as these gatherings threaten to increase the transmission of the COVID virus to others. As of now, no verbal warnings will be given, only fixed penalty notices. Of particular concern are gatherings near to coffee shops, skate parks and children’s playgrounds. Additionally, town centre visitors, who are not visiting permitted establishments, will be asked to go home. The Police and Council think that after nearly a year the rules are pretty clear.

    It is a possibility that some parks, recreation areas, children’s play areas, and skate parks, will be closed. No one should gather in these places nor regather following a warning by the police.

    The Fire Service has identified an increased risk of fire in homes during the lockdowns. Some properties do not have smoke alarms and the advice is to obtain at least two and place one of these on each floor as near to the ceiling as possible. For example on top of a bookshelf. Many of the fires this year have been caused by phones and laptop computers left on beds whilst charging. Also the unattended cooking of food is a risk. Remember that some areas of Colchester, even in favourable traffic conditions, cannot be reached in less that 15 minutes.

    Incidents of Domestic Abuse in the Borough have risen over the past year. Some advice can be found on our web site at – https://colchesternhw.org.uk/personal-safety-and-security/

    In the last three months, 86 bicycle thefts have been reported. Many of these from the town centre. If you use a bicycle you have probably paid quite a lot for it and so it needs the protection of a suitable lock. D-locks are recommended and in the town centre, if you have an unsuitable lock, you may return to find a warning, but helpful, sticker has been attached.

    A new scam is being circulated and it looks very believable. It starts with a text, seemingly from the NHS, saying that you are now eligible for the new vaccine and to click on a link to apply. The link takes you to a website, which looks genuine and asks the user to complete a form asking for Name, Date of Birth, Address, Payment Card Details, and Proof of Address. As you can see this should ring alarm bells because, as we all know, the vaccine is free.

    Please follow this advice: do not click on any links in unknown texts – always check first; never give out personal details; with the approval of multiple vaccines, these types of scam are likely to continue as fraudsters look to take advantage of the rollout; cold calls regarding the vaccines are also beginning to take place. Please report any attempts to http://www.actionfraud.police.uk

    Clap for Heroes returns this evening. If you participate, do so and then please go inside and without mixing with your neighbours or passers-by.

    Please take care by protecting yourself and others.

    Grahame Stehle.

    Colchester District Neighbourhood Watch

      1. Since Colchester town centre has absolutely nothing to offer me, I haven’t been there for months.
        The last time Sonny Boy took us to a pub lunch there, it was such an unpleasant, sovietised experience that we decided our cash would stay in our pockets.

  12. Crowds attract the strangest folk, be it here or in the US. Douglas Murray. 8 January 2021.

    Likewise there are those who claim that if BLM or Antifa had attempted to push their way into the Capitol, the number of people shot by authorities would be far higher. In reality, BLM-Antifa protesters have been allowed to assail state and federal buildings with impunity over the last year. So that divisive claim does not hold. Most likely, law-enforcement were stunned by flag-waving Americans pushing their way forwards in such numbers and rightly reluctant to open fire on a crowd.

    In recent years, Britain has seen the fall-off of trust in our institutions but it is nothing compared to the distrust and hatred of Washington emanating from every corner of the US in recent years. People believe that Washington wants to take away everything they have: their money, their rights, their guns, their religion. Pushed to such a place, and encouraged to congregate, what did Trump imagine would happen?

    I’m not certain that is true. Brits are far less demonstrative then Americans and have vastly different attitudes. There is also the question of the elites in the UK where both parliamentary factions are united under a single doctrine and agree to the suppression by whatever means of any opposing opinion!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/01/07/crowds-attract-strangest-folk-us/

  13. As Rik would say, Awkward…

    /01/07/matt-hancock-arrives-gp-surgery-promote-vaccine-rollout-no/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-onward-journey

  14. Morning again

    SIR – I am 82 with a heart condition and my wife is 79. We are keen to get the vaccine.

    My local surgery has no information and no vaccine. It referred to me to Dorchester County Hospital, which told me that it provides vaccine based on input from our surgery, which would need to compile a list of vulnerable people, then submit the list to an unnamed government agency for its endorsement, before passing our names to the hospital. Or possibly not.

    Aren’t they a bit late in imposing this kind of civil-service opacity and systemic tardiness?

    Jim Kirby

    Hazelbury Bryan, Dorset

    SIR – Vaccination of the over-80s started in this area on December 15. As my mother, 91, with a heart condition, has not yet been invited to attend, I asked our GP surgery why this was.

    I was told that the first cohort of over-80s had been texted via the mobile numbers on their medical records and “this had worked well”.

    As my mother does not have a mobile, she will be “contacted by a receptionist on her home telephone number within the next few weeks”.

    Surely, priority should be by clinical need, not by a patient’s technology and ability to use it. I can’t see Boris Johnson’s target being met very soon.

    Patricia Patterson

    Woking, Surrey

  15. SIR – For 20 years while living in France my wife and I gave each other flu vaccinations every winter.

    The pre-loaded vaccine syringes were available across the counter at any pharmacy. The instructions to give the jab are well described on Google.

    Sir Victor Walker Bt

    Berry, New South Wales, Australia

    SIR – It is vitally important that we are all vaccinated against the coronavirus. Yet as some have a fear of the needle, it is highly irresponsible for television channels to keep showing close-ups of what makes many people squirm.

    Brian Christley

    Abergele, Conwy

    1. Similarly, Brian Christley, I find endless clips of people thrusting swabs up their hooters retch-making. Just stop it!

      ‘Morning, Epi.

  16. China and the virus

    SIR – Yet more difficulties confronting the World Health Organisation experts seeking to enter China must be deemed obstruction, some 12 months since evidence of coronavirus transmission was emerging but was suppressed.

    China continues to deny it was the source of coronavirus, so removing the opportunity to learn for “the 
next time”.

    Sadly, the WHO appears to have been disappointingly shy in acting with the necessary degree of rigour.

    The Chinese regime has much to make good. In allowing the country to exploit its dominance, we must be careful what we wish for with regard to commercial opportunities.

    Colonel Rob Davie (retd)

    Salisbury, Wiltshire

  17. Taxing experience

    SIR – My credentials for accessing the HMRC’s online portal for submitting my self-assessment tax return no longer work, despite multiple attempts to reset the password over Christmas.

    The online “web chat” help facility is permanently unavailable, while the technical helpline informs me that HMRC is very busy and cuts me off. The clock, meanwhile, ticks towards the submission deadline of January 31.

    Is this a tactic by HMRC to increase revenue with fines for late submission?

    Dr Millan Sachania

    Chertsey, Surrey

    1. Have you yet to realise, Dr S, that the public sector is under no obligation to provide a service during a pandemic because their continued existence is guaranteed by the poor sodding taxpayer?

      1. Indeed. I thought my six-month wait for my new licence was bad, but I met a friend the other day who complained of having been waiting a YEAR.

    2. Keep a record of the times you’ve attempted to contact them and that they’ve not answered.

      If they fine you, challenge it all the way to court. It’s their fault. Hell, they’ve had a year to sort this out.

  18. SIR – How ironic that the people who said they would “respect the result” of the biggest democratic vote in British history are now surprised that their disease has been exported to America.

    The world looked on horrified for three years as Tony Blair, Gina Miller, Sir Keir Starmer and John Bercow attempted to obstruct the democratic will of the British people – publicised and nourished by the obsessive daily media broadcasts from Parliament Square.

    Democracy only works when the losers concede.

    Anthony Vickery

    Poole, Dorset

    1. Well Tony, you neglect the one important fact that the referendum result in 2016 was not considered to be the result of fraud by the remainers and no investigation called for.
      In the US there were over 70 million votes for trump with enough doubts of the validity of the result for a serious investigation to be carried out which was ignored. Very brave to upset so many who carry assault weapons.
      Democracy only works when the electorate has faith in the process.

    2. Well Tony, you neglect the one important fact that the referendum result in 2016 was not considered to be the result of fraud by the remainers and no investigation called for.
      In the US there were over 70 million votes for trump with enough doubts of the validity of the result for a serious investigation to be carried out which was ignored. Very brave to upset so many who carry assault weapons.
      Democracy only works when the electorate has faith in the process.

    4. It was always obvious that a close result in the referendum would not be accepted by the losers or, as one leading campaigner put it: “In a 52-48 referendum this would be unfinished business by a long way”.

        1. I am, but he was by no means alone in thinking this, nor was such thinking confined to the Leave side. As long as those who think that it was unfinished business did not break the law, I do not think that it is anything that shouldn’t be tolerated in a liberal democracy.

          4. Because it would show that the man that so many of them revere was counselling action that they criticise Remainers for. You asked why I did not name Farage. Well, another reason is that when his name appears in print, it always seems to provoke someone to start a petty argument.

          7. I knew it wouldn’t take you long. You have a most unpleasantly sly manner. You subtle accusation of hypocrisy when quoting Farage is a typical example.

          8. My point was that in the referendum when both sides held passionate views, it was inevitable that some leaders of the losing side would wish to carry on the fight. I quoted Farage to exemplify that this was not a view confined to Remainers. I do not accuse Farage or, indeed, any Leaver of hypocrisy for holding the view that in a 52/48 referendum result they would fight on UNLESS they now criticise Remainers for doing exactly that.

          9. Nice wriggle but you raised the subject by offering the quote. People are bound to draw the conclusion.

            FWIW, I thought Farage was unwise to be drawn into saying that. He did so about a month before the vote and in the assumption that Remain would win – in short: “2:1, no argument, 52:48, unfinished business”.

            Of course, if you do ‘fight on’, there are different ways of doing it…

            Did you vote to leave?

      2. If the result is 50.000000001 you’ve still won. You’ve more votes than the other guy. The Left just didn’t like the result and had become used to getting their own way. When they didn’t, they threw a tantrum.

        A tantrum that last four years. Even now none of them have paid for that wasted time.

        Heck, I remember the day we won. I’d voted, went into work the next day, sat down and a chum messaged me. ‘Well, you’ve got what you wanted. Now what?’ I remember replying with ‘We did?’ lots of reading and then saying ‘It won’t matter. The Left will never let it stand.’

        Thankfully they were defeated and we have left the EU.

    1. Epoisse cheese is very wonderful, but its very very soft regardless of the date or even refrigeration. Its very nice on lightly toasted bread ( with a few olives or tomatoes ) But not within paninni rolls or a toasted sandwich as it’ll just become liquid . Its very lovely.

      1. Yes, I did put a few olives on with it!
        The use by date was the 17th of August last year, so it is two or three months more mature than the last one I had which was not so liquid.

    2. ‘Morning BoB. I had an Epoisses cheese in the fridge and, a few weeks ago, decided to open and eat it. Rather than have it straight from the fridge I decided to warm it gently in a moderate oven (as I have done with Camembert in the past). Big mistake! It turned into a runny, soupy mess and was impossible to eat as a cheese. Lesson learned! Nevertheless Epoisses is a wonderful cheese, one of France’s best.

      1. The trick is to take the cheese out of the fridge an hour or 2 before eating. Let it come up to room temperature (I’m tempted to say normal temperature & pressure) gradually.

        1. Of course, I would normally. However the decision was an impulsive one and I wanted the cheese NOW! The consistency of Epoisses at fridge temperature is fine, however the flavour is lacking.

      2. Morning, Harry.

        Vacherin Mont d’Or is a similar French [sorry: Swiss] cheese and just as wonderful if eaten at room temperature or baked.

        2. Curiously, Vacherin Mont d’Or doesn’t feature in my book of French Cheeses. There is however “Mont d’Or du Lyonnais”, which I’m guessing is the same thing.

          5. Given the general French protectionism of their AoC and similar approaches in other European countries of their regional produce I am sure there will be a French version with a subset name to differentiate it.

            Our local fresh produce supermarket sells a bewildering range of cheeses from all over the world, some of them are so similar it would take a super-taster to be able to identity some of them as being different. I am always surprised by how many are seasonal with a window of only a few months when they are available, yet when kept in the fridge will remain excellent well past their use by dates.

          6. The French version is mentioned in the text of my book (above). It states that it is simply called Mont d’Or and is made with raw milk.

          7. I’m fairly sure that the ones sold here are labelled ” Mont ‘Or” on top of their pot but with further explanation on the side of the wrapping.

            Quite a number of cheeses are labelled similarly, for example I’ve had a few labelled as Roquefort; it isn’t always clear whether it is a subset or a particular producer.

          8. Probably a bit like the various ‘cheddars’ produced around the world. There is no substitute, in my book, for a proper decent farmhouse Somerset cheddar. The fact that countless pastiche variations, manufactured by the ‘cheddaring process’, around the world tends to diminish the brand.

            Even worse is the abomination, here in Sweden, know as hushallsost (‘household cheese’) which is found in huge quantities in every shop. It is a bland, taste-free ‘cheddar’-derivative, that Swedes lap up by the ton. I’ve never bought it nor shall I start!

          9. Real Cheddar is extortionately expensive in France.

            My harder cheese of choice here is a mature Cantal, many people swear by Comte, but it isn’t to my taste.

          15. The Swiss version is definitely raw cow’s milk. For that reason I would suggest that the French and Swiss versions, though sharing a similar name, are very different cheeses.

          16. We have found a farm quite near us which sells proper double cream – not sterilised, not pasteurised and not soured as crème fraîche is.

          18. I do notice, though, that your Mont d’Or du Lyonnaise is made with goats’ cheese (according to the text of your clip).

      3. If it turned into a soupy mess, why didn’t you go the whole hog and make a cheese soup?

  22. SIR — The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs proposes to cull ring-necked parakeets, as they allegedly threaten native species (Letters, January 5).

    Parakeets are the Freddie Mercurys of the avian world: extrovert, colourful and in-your-face. Slaughtering them so that a few dull natives can proliferate sums up the myopic Defra vision.

    John A Tallis
    Husbands Bosworth, Leicestershire

    And, by the same token, Johnny boy, you are the clown, the misguided useless idiot of the human world.

    Let us take your advice at face value. Leave the rose-ringed parakeets (the BTO’s preferred name) alone and let them spread throughout the country. Who cares if they wipe out all the dull, boring native species such as: house sparrows, tree sparrows, robins, wrens, dunnocks, blue tits, great tits, coal tits, marsh tits, willow tits, chaffinches, bramblings, greenfinches, willow warblers, wood warblers, chiffchaffs, redstarts and countless other small songbirds that bore the pants off us daily with their refusal to emulate Freddie Mercury?

    1. ‘Morning, George, a BLT comment on that letter:

      jim pimk
      8 Jan 2021 1:35AM
      To the guy with the pro-parakeet letter……..just WATCH it pal.

      Up here in Suffolk we have a 12 bore deterrent for ’em.

      1. To which the resident Leftie responded:-

        Am Faochagach
        8 Jan 2021 7:26AM
        Unless you have a licence from Natural England issued for the purpose., you will be breaking the law if you use your 12 bore on a parakeet.

        Flag1LikeReply

        Peter Hollander
        8 Jan 2021 8:22AM
        @Am Faochagach Fact check: is the alien parakeet a protected species? If so, please provide relevant legislation link.

        Flag5UnlikeReply

        Michael Duffy
        8 Jan 2021 8:54AM
        Am is, of course, talking total nonsense. Ring-necked parakeets are covered by GL40.

        FlagLike
        Reply

      2. ‘Morning, Tom.

        We’re going to need a helluva lot of 12-bores. [BTW, when did anyone ever go ‘UP’ to Suffolk?]

        1. I suppose that it’s a term derived from text on paper. We all read down the page; and maps have North to the top so people got used to saying that going anywhere North of them was going “up”. Since more people live South of Suffolk than North of it, going “up” to Suffolk became the norm. As someone from the South Coast, going almost anywhere was going “up” to them.

          1. I seem to remember reading somewhere that one always went up to London, regardless of from where one was travelling (along with ‘never brown in town’).

          2. I have a vague recollection of that, I think it was something about always going up to the Capital City.

          3. It stems from the early railways. Lines from London were ‘down’ and towards London were ‘up’. Since British trains run on the left, the “up” side of a line is on the left when proceeding in the “up” direction. On most of the network, “up” is the direction towards London. Wiki

          3. Well, wherever I may be in the British Isles, I will invariably go DOWN to London, since you can’t get any lower than there.

        3. We have large flocks of them in Mid Herts. They strip berries, peck developing fruit and decimate bird feeding stations in minutes.
          Red ringed parakeets.

    2. I’ve just posted that BTL as “a comment on it from a NOTTL poster”

      There are a couple of other comments:-

      John Langdale
      8 Jan 2021 7:58AM
      John A Tallis’s letter regarding parakeets is so far wide of the mark I find it scarcely credible that anybody who cares at all about the countryside and nature can think in this way.

      In the local park on the North Western edge of Greater London near to where I live and where I was walking almost daily for exercise last Spring and Summer during lockdown, the quantity and diversity of the bird life has suffered an appalling reduction over the course of the last ten to fifteen years.

      This is a place that was once a home to a wide variety of species; two species of Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, Treecreepers, Willow warblers and Chiffchaffs, Chaffinches, Greenfinches and Bullfinches, Spotted Flycatchers, Little Owls and others. On walk after walk last year the only birds visible were Magpies, Crows, Woodpigeons, Starlings, a few blackbirds and of course the ubiquitous Ring-Necked ( now there’s an idea!) Parakeets.

      Thankfully for now it was still possible to hear the beautiful song of the blackbirds and a Song Thrush in between the harsh screeching of the parakeets but I wonder for how much longer.

      If the attitude of people towards the bird life of this country now is that the birds I have named, and which have given me so much pleasure over the years, constitute “ a few dull natives” then I truly despair for the future of our once beautiful and precious countryside.

      Flag31UnlikeReply

      sausage dog
      8 Jan 2021 8:08AM
      @ John

      Indeed. J.A.T.’s letter is utterly moronic.

      Flag14Like Reply

      Bernard Jones
      8 Jan 2021 8:39AM
      @sausage dog

      Agreed. Good comment, John.

      Flag1Like
      Reply

    4. ‘Morning, Grizz. I’m willing to bet that John Tallis also considers that the cute and cuddly grey tree-rat should be protected? These destructive little sods damaged two of my four beech trees to the point where felling was necessary – which is why I have ‘felled’ several dozen of their chums in an attempt to save what is left of our lovely trees.

      1. ‘Morning, Hugh.

        Human meddling in introducing non-native species (plant and animal) has always led to disaster. When will they ever learn?

        1. May suggest a slight amendment to your comment, Grizz?

          Meddling, by introducing non-native species (plant, animal but especially human) has always led to disaster.
          ;¬)

          1. The effing stuff is trying to take over my borders. The more I dig it out, the more it seems to proliferate 🙁 I’ve tried weedkiller to no avail.

    5. Oh dear , another twerp who hasn’t listened to the dawn chorus , and gloried over songs of rising larks, or the mournful song of a thrush, or the chatter of starlings and sparrows

      I wonder whether he is related to Thomas Tallis , who created some beautiful music , I doubt it .. he hasn’t got the ear.

    1. And the police wonder why – on the other hand they’re blundering into homes having a go at people after being shopped by their neighbours – the public do this.

      Frankly, I don’t care. The police can have a sit down and a stop. However, so can I.

  25. We obviously have to accept that Biden will be the next POTUS, and, trying to be magnanimous, offer him congratulations!

    However, it will be interesting to see how American voters like a dose of socialism over the next four years. But if Biden doesn’t last that long and Harris takes over, it will be interesting to see how they like a dose of Marxism.

    It will also be interesting to see what happens in many parts of the world, especially in the Middle East were the most dangerous country of all, Iran, is already rubbing its hands with glee.

    Biden wouldn’t have won if it hadn’t been for the coronavirus. The Dems were very good at blaming Trump for the virus, including blaming him personally for all the deaths, as if the US was the only country suffering.

    Also, Biden wouldn’t have won if the vast majority of the MSM and the social media weren’t anti-Trump, even to the point of censoring news about Trump. If some of them might have reported the truth and nothing but the truth, they certainly didn’t report the whole truth, especially about Trump’s successes of which there were many, whatever people think of Trump’s character. Five minutes watching CNN at any time since the 2016 election would confirm this!

    All I can say is that I hope I am wrong and that Biden will bring peace, prosperity and reconciliation to the US and the rest of the world. My hat is sitting on my desk ready to be eaten!

    2. The individual US States have more autonomy than the 27 countries that comprise the EU.
      I wonder how many will decide to go it alone – or link up with like minded states and create a new country?
      A reversal of the Civil War.

        1. Morning, Alec.
          Yes, thank you very much. They are just what I wanted.
          They arrived yesterday evening. This is the second time small parcels have arrived after dark; the PO seems to be delivering parcels at the end of the day.
          All I need now is permission from Witless and Unbalanced to hold a soiree where I can float graciously around with a platter of horses’ doofers.
          “Another cheesy pineapple, Ange?”

          1. Glad you got them eventually, they were posted 1st class last Monday – I guess the weather held them up

          2. Morning Spikey.

            I received your Christmas card (from the Highlands) within four days of you posting it. Yesterday I received one from Toots (in London), nearly six weeks after he posted it!

          3. Morning Grizz, Yours was one of the first I got, I didn’t see the date of posting though. Got one from Harry yesterday but don’t know when he posted it as it wasn’t franked

          4. Frost is known to play havoc with the post, but also with the tills in supermarkets.

            A year ago I encountered a checkout lady who was processing the previous customer’s goods very slowly while yacking away 19 to he dozen. I called out, “Is the frost outside making the till go slow?” She got the hint & speeded up. When it was my turn, she was distinctly frosty – can’t think why.

          5. Cheese cube, pineapple chunk AND a small pickled onion. Unbeatable for texture, flavour and contrast.

          7. 🥑 Sorry. I forgot that southerners only like avocado.

            Avocado, Tristram? No thanks, I already have one, Rupert!

      1. Of course he is a cheat and a fraud, ably assisted by his wayward son, Hunter, about whom little has been said in the MSM. I didn’t mention it because the subject has been mentioned ad nauseam in recent weeks.

        Hopefully this will be investigated properly when things have calmed down a bit. If clear evidence is found perhaps he will be impeached.

    4. What was I saying about the MSM? Here is a headline today: “Political Director (Rick Klein) Of ABC News Talks About ‘Cleansing’ America Of Trump Supporters”. All 75 million of them?

      No wonder Biden “won” with such outrageous Hitleresque diatribes in what was previously a respected news source.

      1. Yesterday, our Geoffrey was advocating a sort of ‘de-nastification’ of the US. 70 million people were obviously just wrong and must be re educated. Long live Pol Pot.

    5. I don’t think there is anywhere in the world who has managed to deal with the virus even remotely effectively. Trump is in crowded company here!

      I do think though that, regardless of the virus, Trump made some serious mistakes in his presidency that outweighed his achievements just enough for the Democrats to bring on a candidate that doesn’t frighten the horses too much. If they wanted socialism, they’d have picked Bernie Sanders.

      What the virus did do though was to give the Trump campaign too much confidence in their support, based on turnout on the day. The big difference between Trump’s and Biden’s approach to the virus was that Biden urged his supporters to stay at home and self-isolate, in line with advice in many other countries, including the UK. Trump, however, always believed that the virus was best dealt with through good general health, vitamins, antivirals and herd immunity. He believed that the economic, and probably also the medical cost of locking down far outweighed the threat posed by the virus.

      We can argue until the cows jump over the moon who is right – history will be the final judge. What this did mean though was most Biden supporters would not want to be around polling stations on the day, and would have cast their vote by post. Most Trump supporters though would have been delighted to show their colours around the polling stations on the day, and it was they who would be counted in any exit poll.

  26. It is impossible for Biden to be President of the United States because he’s a fraud and an imposter.

    1. Playing Devil’s advocate, he’s neither. He was -allegedly – democratically elected by the people of america.

      The honesty of that election considering the four years of media abuse, relentless assault on his government and blinkered bias of the state should be factored in but neither side ran on a platform of achievements and policy so all that’s left is ‘vote for me, I’m not the other guy’.

        1. While all answers are responses, not all responses are answers.

          You need to clarify what is ‘rubbish’ as part of your disagreement.

          2. There is no proof of that assertion.

            The obvious would have been to re-run it, with oversight but they didn’t. As a result, the US has a president who by all legal means – is now democratically elected.

          3. Complete rubbish.

            Of course there’s proof. Just check out on Twitter President Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Election Wizard and Sidney Powell… and follow the evidence and links they provide.

            Which side are you on anyway?

            Sounds like you’re a closet Dem or just don’t like America.

    2. I don’t think that being a fraud and an imposter is any obstacle to one’s becoming US President, Polly. After all, Baroque O’ Banana managed it.

      1. Wasn’t Reagan a Hollywood actor? Surely that profession, above all others, makes a living for being what one is not.

      2. 328271+up ticks,
        Morning DM,
        It certainly isn’t in becoming a UK
        PM, as major, the wretch cameron ,
        treacherous treaser, johnson, have proved, in point of fact it could prove an asset.

  27. Good morning all

    Another frosty morning here. All quiet and still, although the birds are feeding , family of longtailed tits have appeared and are pecking at the frozen fat balls.

    Not that it matters , but I submitted a letter to the DT on Sunday night ..

    Sir

    Daffodils are flowering here now in these Dorsetty parts before any signs of snowdrops appearing.

    Does this count as one of the first pointless letters to the DT of 2021?
    ……………………………………………………………………………………………..

    No sign of my letter, but I expect a few of you have noticed daffodils flowering long before the snowdrops appearing ?

    I have just reposted this today .

    1. Not this year. I have primroses on the verge of opening but they will stay shut till the weather gets milder. Snowdrops didn’t survive here- I planted some years ago but they disappeared.

      1. I’ve been in this house for over 20 years. After four attempts at persuading snowdrops to live in my garden I’ve given up.

        There are many gardens not far away where they flourish, but not in this street.

        1. Our soil is limestone – not sure if that’s what they don’t like, but there are some patches of them not far away.

          1. I don’t know what the problem is, I just know that they come up barren and then simply disappear.

            I’ve had problems in the past (in more than one garden) with mice eating crocus corms, but I don’t think that they are keen on snowdrops.

          2. On the other hand, I have a clump of little blueish white star-like flowers which flower reliably every spring. They are in a stony patch on top of a wall, and have been there for 25 years since we dug them up from J’s aunt’s garden. They must be happy here.

          4. Yes – very much like those – the leaves appear long before the flowers. What are they called?

          5. Ipheion uniflorum

            https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/9182/Ipheion-uniflorum/Details

            There are named varieties which are more blue, or pink but I think the starry white ones are the prettiest. From my limited experience they are not fussy except that they don’t like to stand in water – which is probably why they are happy on top of a wall. Sadly we get too much winter rain and even in containers I can’t keep them for more than a couple of years.

          7. That’s the one. Yes I hope they stay, but if they have been around for a long term there’s probably nothing to worry about.

          8. I tried to post a picture – but it didn’t seem to work.

            Hopefully these will be back again – they’ve been there a long time.

    2. Morning Belle and everyone.

      We’ve had primroses flowering for at least a month now and I planted Some cyclamen that are also flowering. I really should feed the cyclamen to keep them producing new flowers but tbh can’t be asked. Everything is such a fag. (Oops, sorry mods, is that allowed?).

        1. We cooked the ham yesterday and is is so good. Bought some tomatoes from Morocco, very good.

          I used to stay with an aunt and uncle in Derbyshire – Thorpe Cloud Farm. and we had ham & eggs for breakfast every day.

    4. I have hellebores starting to flower, but the rest of the garden is dormant. Just a few green shoots from the bulbs. I am a long way from the Gulf Stream 🙂

    2. A businessman got into an elevator. When he got in, there was a blonde already inside and she greeted him by saying, “TGIF”

      He smiled at her and replied, “SHIT”

      She looked at him, puzzled, and said, “TGIF” again.

      He acknowledged her remark again by answering, “SHIT.”

      The blond was trying to be friendly, so she smiled her biggest smile and said as sweetly as possibly “TGIF” another time.

      The man smiled back to her and once again replied with a quizzical expression, “SHIT.”

      The blond finally decided to explain things, and this time she said, “TGIF, Thank God It’s Friday, get it?”

      The man answered, “Sorry, Honey, It’s Thursday.”

  29. TV is on , and ‘Homes under the hammer’ auction rooms always seems to be full of Asians and Africans who buy up properties to do up.

    How do people like that have so much spare cash floating around , and how can they afford to renovate them ?

        1. We had an ex-Ugandan Asian nurse in the Southampton practice, who was very conscientious. Her father was an assembly line worker at the local Ford factory. He was buying up & doing up houses back then – early ’80s.

          1. That would be the Ford Transit factory, now moved to Turkey with help from the EU. Yes, really.

          4. When gearing myself up for doing the Pennine Way I used to tab to & from work with a couple of gallons of water in my rucksack.
            I doubt if I’ve ever been as fit!

          5. Swaythling, a couple of miles down the road on the other side of Eastleigh Airfield.
            I or jogged cycled past it en route to the Loco Works enough times!

          6. And with the agreement of Gordon Brown.
            All to ease and facilitate Turkey’s entry into the EU.

          8. At the time, yes, but with hindsight I wonder why I was so bloody shocked & surprised.

    2. 328271+ up ticks,
      Morning TB,
      Via the polling booth and the lab/lib/con
      cash converters coalition party.

    4. To be generous I would say that the Asians ( not Pakistanis ) are 24/7 hard working and astute businessmen usually with an extended family behind them ( think Ugandan Asians) . Africans – if Nigerian they do have a track record for extracting large amounts cash from the gullible and our communal purse, as for the rest I’ve no idea.

      1. Our local shopkeeper is Sri Lankan. He’s well regarded and hard working. The shop is open all hours.

      1. 328271+ up ticks,
        Morning NtN,
        I believe the others are in the process of breaking step on approaching a bridge.

    2. In between all the words, the bluster, and the rhetoric, what legal point is he making?

      It seems there is an Affidavit presented in an Italian court. What was on that sworn statement? Was it verifiable proof that corrupt officials were converting Trump votes into Biden votes? If this was the case, then the sooner this fresh evidence was presented to the Supreme Court, the better. Why wasn’t it done as soon as it was allegedly witnessed?

      If it was to say that Trump’s rally was hijacked by lunatics, then I have to ask if anyone knows of any public protest or demonstration in London that has not attracted amateur revolutionaries such as the Socialist Workers, who seem to turn up at every such event with their banners. If they are lucky, the real nutters are not there either, but then it is the job of the rally stewards to keep down such troublemakers, many of whom are agents provocateurs brought in to discredit the campaign.

      1. Have we reached the stage when it is is no longer going to change things even if it is proved conclusively that the election was stolen? The Democrats won – but if they cheated they have probably got away with it.

        Unlike Ben Johnson who won the Olympic 100 metres gold medal but then had it taken away Biden is there until he collapses dead from sheer senility or from a coup from within his own party.

        2. Yes. It is one of the limitations of democracy, one of its imperfections, that at some stage one must accept the result at the stage where it is at and make an appointment. All the checks and balances open under the US constitution were done, and there is nothing much more they could do before having to make a formal declaration.

          There were grave doubts about the 2000 Presidential election, which was considerably closer than the 2020 one. Everything hung on a few hundred hanging chads in Florida, and the casting vote of the brother of one of the candidates. Many people must have felt that Al Gore was cheated of the presidency, yet the man himself, in his capacity as outgoing Vice-President, made the formal declaration at the Capitol confirming George W Bush as the next President.

          In Britain, there is this little matter of the 1951 General Election. At no time, before or since, including Attlee’s 1945 landslide and Blair’s 1997 landslide, has the Labour Party polled more votes, and in fact their popular vote was greater than that of the Conservatives. Yet the Prime Minister appointed was the elderly Conservative leader, well past his prime. It was this man who now appears on the back of the fiver, not Attlee.

          In February 1974 and again in 2010, an incumbent prime minister failed to garner enough political support from minor parties to stay in office, despite it being a hung parliament, so out he went.

          The most shocking example of electoral malpractice in recent times where the villains got away with it was during the 2015 General Election, concerning Thanet South, where the minor party UKIP had put up its leader Nigel Farage. The Conservative campaign brought in a battle bus and central campaign support not declared on election expenses, since it came direct from Conservative Central Office. This was in violation of election rules, but by the time a verdict had been reached, there was another general election, the resignation of Nigel Farage from the leadership and the collapse of a party that attracted nearly 4 million votes in 2015, and shamefully just one flaky MP.

          I actually put the chaos of the parliamentary anarchy in 2019, and the main cause for Boris Johnson’s election victory in that year, down to the inadequate way these 4 million voting intentions were represented in Parliament during crucial debates on which UKIP had a direct mandate from the people to speak up.

          I do not think the British can lecture the Americans about the advanced old age of its Head of State!

          1. The Scottish Independence referendum was rigged. Many ballot papers were photocopies.

      2. 328271+ up ticks
        Morning JM,
        The reason could very well be he is collecting data ( takes time ) to construct an A bomb consisting of proven genuine facts, enough to blow off the rear exits of the treachery merchants.

          1. 328271+ up ticks,
            JM,
            Horses for courses, in this instance he has flushed his internal enemas and has a much clearer idea who he is fighting.
            Knowing your covert enemies is surely an asset.

  31. Re-posted from late last night.

    8th January 2021

    Rough Common

    Happy Birthday

    and

    Many Happy Returns

    We haven’t seen much of you recently but we hope you’ll make more visits this year!

    With best wishes,

    Caroline and Richard

    1. G’day Grizz
      And it certainly is a bit of a wrench when it seems our own long established culture is adopting Americanisms and its silly spelling.

      1. I’m the calmest dude you’ll ever come across, Billy.

        As dozens of barristers have discovered when sequentially failing to ruffle me in court.

  34. The mother of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal who was poisoned with Novichok in Salisbury has died aged 92 of Covid without ever seeing her son fully recover. 8 January 2021.

    The mother of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal has died aged 92 in a Russian hospital after contracting Covid-19.

    Elena Skripal’s death was announced by Viktoria Skripal, 48, Sergei’s niece, who was the pensioner’s main carer.

    She died in a hospital in Yaroslavl, her home city, where she had been receiving oxygen after she was admitted on 30 December with a high fever and coronavirus symptoms.

    This is Sergei’s Mum who neither he nor his daughter have contacted since the Salisbury Pantomime. Her death will no doubt prompt a sudden effusion of fake goodbye messages from Mi6. It’s worth noting how sensitive the Secret Intelligence Service is to this innocuous announcement. The comments section has been pre-moderated and so far only one has gotten through!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9123017/Mother-ex-Russian-spy-Sergei-Skripal-died-aged-92-Covid-without-seeing-son-fully-recover.html#comments

    1. I’ve been to Yaroslav; it is famous for its ceramic tiles – particularly those in the blue/green range.

      2. 328271+ up ticks,
        Anne,
        Should go down well with the johnson / pillow whispering squeeze then.

    2. Loved by all
      Beacon of happiness
      Would not harm a soul
      Cares for all pets
      etc

      Or is that for 15 year old terrorists in UK

    2. Sorry to say that the video is banned in the UK, so I can’t see whether the assertion is true or not. Not sure (hopefully not) if it’s BitChute going the same way as YT, but it could be because the content is graphic (violence, presumably?).

      1. I’ll get in touch with the person who sent it to me she was off line since i had received it.

          1. The link is fine – you just need to appear to be from somewhere other than here in the UK, hence the use of a VPN.

  37. Stowaways arrested for hijacking oil tanker off Isle of Wight face no prosecution. 8 january 2021.

    Seven men detained by special forces after the suspected hijacking of an oil tanker off the Isle of Wight will face no further criminal prosecution, police have announced.

    The men, all from Nigeria, were detained by the British Special Boat Service (SBS) after an incident on board the Nave Andromeda on Sunday October 25.

    Now, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has decided there is insufficient evidence to continue the case or to charge the other five men detained.

    Well! Who would ever have guessed that would happen?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/01/08/stowaways-arrested-hijacking-oil-tanker-isle-wight-face-no-prosecution/

      1. As he himself would say ‘I didn’t do it. It’s the other guy who gave you the choice.’

    4. One of the problems is that under international law an asylum seeker is allowed to break certain laws in order to obtain asylum, for example by destroying documents or illegally stowing away on a vehicle or ship. The issue here is whether the people are legitimate asylum seekers or economic migrants, in which case one would have thought the get-out clauses shouldn’t apply. However, we are dealing with a Left-leaning judiciary and CPS.

    5. Clearly crime DOES pay – especially if your a foreigner arriving here. They must be laughing their heads off – family contacted, bags being packed, houses ( fully furnished with new stuff by us of course) already being chosen, probably on one of the hundreds of brand new estates being built everywhere, bank accounts set up for their taxpayer funded lives. NHS registered etc etc. Wonder if any of the men have multiple wives as allowed by their religion, with multiple kids by each.

    3. Good morning, Geoffrey

      If it were proved conclusively and beyond all doubt that mass electoral fraud had happened and that Trump had undoubtedly won the election how would you react?

      I like to think that if I were convinced that the Democrats had won completely honestly and that no fraud had occurred then I hope that I would accept the result, be happy that the right man and the right party had won.

      I do not care for Trump. I do not care for Biden. The world has come to a sorry pass when the best that the US can offer the electorate is this pair of senile candidates.

      1. Good morning, Richard.

        Trump tried on numerous occasions to get the courts to tell him that he had won. Some of the judges were Trump appointees. None of them agreed with him. Biden won by a large margin. As to alleged senility, that is a different point.

        1. No, that’s not true. He asked them to look into potential voter fraud. They refused as they disagreed that the evidence presented had merit.

          It’s funny that 0.4 is a large margin when it suits, but 4% is narrow and cause to re-run the vote when it doesn’t, isn’t it?

          2. One thing is certain. Both Britain and the US needs to have a voting system and a counting system that is trusted by both sides or else misery will result.

            The five year delay in Brexit and the attempts to overturn the popular vote have done irreparable damage to people’s belief in politicians’ integrity. I certainly do not trust Johnson, Starmer or Davey. Do you?

          3. “I certainly do not trust Johnson, Starmer or Davey. Do you?”

            Based on his record, I would not trust Johnson as far as I could throw him. I believe that Davey made a contribution to the coalition government but he does not impress now. So, by a process of elimination and having never voted Labour in my life, I have come to the view that Sir Keir Starmer has the best chance of getting us out of the mess that we are in. I might add that I attribute the mess that we are in as being in good part due to Brexit which, in good part, was due to the persistent efforts of Nigel Farage (spelling just to please you!) – who seems to have disappeared from view. And of course I’m aware that there are contributors on ‘ere who have successively supported Nigel Farage, Diane James, Paul Nuttall, Henry Bolton, Gerard Batten, Richard Braine and, I suppose, Freddy Vachha.

    4. You don’t consider that desperately biased?

      Do you not expect better than juvenile petulance from such a paper as The Times? Where is their depiction of Hilary in there with him?

      Dislike the man all you want, but he did good things for America.

      1. Good afternoon wibbling.

        Are you on the Nottler Birthday list under the name of wibbling? Please update me.

    5. Fortunately there is more than one side to this story, no matter how hard the MSM try to spin it.
      For democracy to work, the system must be shown to be above reproach and this is something the Democrats has failed to do.
      I notice there appears to be little public acknowledgment to the issues raised in the attached speech made in Congress.
      Not everyone is as convinced as The Times it seems.
      https://youtu.be/60TLCfN1mWM

    1. Not unless you have cricket box to keep the frost off yer bits………i’ll get me pump.

    2. Had a surprisingly pleasant walk with Spartie.
      It is dull and cold but, thank goodness, no wind.
      He met doggie chums and seemed to enjoy the whole time out.

  43. National Grid asking power generators to give them more power between 16.00 and 1900 this evening. This does not mean blackouts , it is to increase their power margin. Reuters.

    1. A few days ago I noticed the light in the corner of the room dimmed slightly. I also noticed the screen on my laptop dimmed at the same time. Clearly power supply problems. Within 3-4 hours the lamp dimmed slightly another twice. It never seems to have come back up.

      1. The problem is Walter if the electricity cuts out so will gas fired CH and hot water boilers.

          3. We have an electric oven but we have a bottled gas hob. We also have oil powered central heating but the water is circulated around the system by electricity. Most of France’s electricity comes from nuclear energy but our supply comes from the tide operated barrage generator at the mouth of the Rance between Dinard and St Malo.

            I am glad that we have two woodburning stoves and plenty of logs.

          4. And in hte UK some bright spark has ruled that gas supply to new homes will stop in the near future. All electric. Chaos awaits. Can’t supply enough now. All electric cars needing charging. And millions more immigrants all wanting yet more electricity.

          7. The Covid shutdowns are deliberate so we can get used to being shut down. By the time electric cars are compulsory we shall not need them as we shall all be almost permanently confined to our homes and not going anywhere.

            Some animals that are transported in cages are most reluctant to make a run for freedom when the doors are opened. A properly conditioned population will be the same.

        2. We have an oil-fired boiler to supply central heating but it requires electricity to run. Fortunately we have a wood burner in the sitting room and a gas hob supplied by Calor gas in the kitchen.

          No electricity means no lights (we have candles) no Internet and no recharging facilities for phones or laptops. So, if we have power cuts, it’s off to bed with a book by candle-light, taking tea or coffee with us even if it’s just 10:00!

          1. It is 22 years since the great ice storm hit the eastern US and Canada, three weeks in winter without power was not the most pleasant experience. It was quite a shock when army personnel turned up at the door to check that we were OK.

            One issue was that freezers lost power, we had many a strange meal as neighbours scooped the closest to thawing items out of the not so icy boxes and joined us for pot luck meals.

            Phones did still work, that was before cordless and void. Many interesting conversations ensued with work colleagues in the far east as we tried to explain why the office was closed.

          4. My multi-fuel Rayburn requires electricity to run the pump to distribute water round the radiators (to keep it running without the water boiling we’d need to keep taking hot baths!). I do have camping gaz stoves as well as the Rayburn oven for cooking and lots of candles and lanterns for lighting. I even have a hurricane lamp and an oil lamp, plus wind-up torches.

        3. The cold weather is testing National Grid. The NG has done well so far in keeping us supplied but demand keeps rising.

    2. I have just been reading that a new town is proposed in east Hertfordshire close to the Harlow in Essex borders.
      It’s been presented as a wonderful place to live with new schools shops and lots of job opportunities.
      https://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/news/hertfordshire-news/update-herts-garden-town-project-4150747
      Barnet (now under the control of the London mayor) council effed up big time allowing thousands of new development over 20 years on ‘brown field sites’ there is now a gross shortage of power in the area and there was proposal to build a 50 mega watt GAS FIRED Power Station in a green belt valley.
      Try getting the interest of the greens or any one else who purports to be green and they do not want to talk about these sort of anomalies.

      1. Boris intends to get rid of the gas power stations as part of his environmental manifesto promises.

        1. I think I read recently he’s inviting china the come and build a new nuclear power station ???

          1. All it needs is a reason to distract from bad news and Macron could easily wave a green finger at the UK and reduce electricity supplies under some guise of needing more power at home, then it could be back to the rolling electricity cuts of 50 years ago.

            Who said that globalism was a good thing?

          2. Macron could easily wave a green finger at the UK and reduce electricity supplies under some guise of needing more power at home
            Don’t give them any ideas please……..

          4. The Sunday Times reported that Barnier had already made that threat when negotiating on behalf of France

        3. our ontario liberals did that in the last provincial election, they even shut down the manufacture of two new plants and moved the plants from liberal to conservative ridings – at great expense to the taxpayer of course.
          They lost the election and we have a nice spring new plant about twenty miles down the road from us. Win win as they say.

      2. Maybe in fifty years the new town, like Harlow will be seen as a great place to live. Heavens above, even Harold Hill us now desirable.

          3. back when it was an uninspiring nothingness, we loved in Brentwood and Harlow was definitely loved down on.

            I was certainly amazed to see estate agents lauding the place as highly desirable

          4. We’ve had far too much building development in England over the past 30years. It soon became pretty obvious why the population was growing. Turn up and get everything for doing absolutely nothing. But our infrastructure has never kept pace. Most if not all of the roads are dangerously pot holed. And now that we are out of the EU I’m sure that there will be many regrets over the development of green belt and agricultural land. Obviously as the population continues to rise the land on our island shrinks.
            One of my uncles lived in Winnipeg, have a couple of friends near Toronto. Both originally from London. One went to the same junior school as I did in Mill Hill NW7.
            It’s a small world amongst western cultures.

          5. Small world it is. Two members at our golf club were chatting after a game and the conversation turned to where are you from?

            Lancashire
            Where in Lancashire?
            Blackpool.
            Where in Blackpool?
            …

            It turns out they were at the primary school together. One of them dug out the old school photo and there they bothered.

            I started work in 1968. A few years ago in TorontoI, bumped into a man that had started work with me on the same day.

          6. Fantastic.
            Around 20 years ago, one of my nieces was in a bar in Alice Springs.
            Her and her friends started chatting to the people on the next table. One guy said oh English eh, where about
            do you come from ?
            Oh she said a little village in Hertfordshire near St Albans. Oh he said but where what’s if called ?
            When she told him he laughed and replied you don’t know Paul ****** do you?
            Yes she replied he’s my uncle.
            He was a chap called Martin who had been my apprentice about six years earlier.
            One of my friends in Toronto was a nurse and lives in Mississaguaw. Sp ?

  44. Good morning, all. A misty start – the frost forecast overnight is only just forming now that it is getting light.

    Not much happening, I see.

  45. Sadiq Khan has declared a “major incident” in London due to rising Corona virus cases threatening to overwhelm hospitals. Sky News

      1. The Standard article describes a difficult situation in which I suspect the Lockdown rules will have little effect. They need more hospital space and more skilled staff and perhaps more care taken by the Londoners to keep themselves as safe as possible.

        1. couldn’t they just ship the excess patients up to solihul? They apparently have an empty hospital (see Reddy Eddy item above) and its only about a hundred miles or so and if they have covid, visitors are not allowed anyway.

    3. Maybe he shouldn’t have spent millions on a BLM-themed socialist fireworks display. I wouldn’t trust Sky News one inch.

      2. Council tax hikes about 0 should be subject to all the so called executives facing the sackand demanding that they explain what they’re spending our money on, then a vote is held firstly on whether we reject the increase, accept a lesser amount or demand a rate cut. The second vote is whether we keep the official and then on the salary they will be paid.

    5. Let me guess.

      By declaring a major incident does that mean elections can be postponed again?

  46. Morning all

    SIR – I was not surprised to read (report, January 7) that GPs have been instructed to “stand down” from routine care so that they can concentrate on Covid vaccination.

    But GPs are a valuable commodity and should not be used to administer vaccines at the expense of their commitment to overall patient care. Almost anyone can be trained in minutes to administer intramuscular injections safely, if there is the will.

    There are thousands of retired doctors, nurses and other health professionals eager and able to help in this important enterprise. Why these generous offers have not been seized upon I cannot imagine. In this state of emergency it is inexcusable to neglect this competent resource.

    The whole process could be arranged so that GP services are not further disrupted, thus avoiding the excess deaths that this would cause.

    Immunisation could be performed away from GP surgeries, in public buildings such as community centres and church halls. Whether GPs are involved administratively should depend on local arrangements.

    Lawrence Girdwood

    York

    ADVERTISING

    SIR – We are three doctors who have a vaccine fridge and frequently administer all manner of vaccinations. Our practice is very quiet at present, due to the restrictions. We would administer the vaccinations at cost. We have patients over the age of 80 who, though eligible, are not registered with the NHS. One is 93, with heart failure.

    The problem is that we are a private practice. We are not allowed to give patients the coronavirus vaccine, and, as healthcare workers outside the NHS, are struggling to get it for ourselves.

    When will this discrimination end?

    Dr Andrew McIver

    London SW3

    1. SIR – We are in a fight against the virus. It is simple. Normal life is under wraps until we at least get protection for the vulnerable. Two million vaccinations a week must be a minimum.

      My wife is a GP involved in vaccinations. She has been informed that there may not be enough available this weekend to fulfil plans. Why?

      Why are deliveries not being made 24/7? Why is the NHS not enabling thousands of capable volunteers to help? Why does it not accept support from industry, and all pharmacies?

      Martyn Bennett

      Bodenham, Herefordshire

    1. Tastey and tasteless typos are my speciality as our friend peddy is well aware!

  48. I received this comment last night from a frequent poster, mods can see who it is by looking at the deleted posts on the admin page. My intent is tho ban this person but maybe other mods feel otherwise.

    I would rather not respond to your post and would be grateful if you would block me. If you do not block me I will give you both barrels

    I now realise that for some inexplicable reason you are a mod. Your views are anathema to me

    In addition another poster was upset by personal comments addressed their way.

    This continues personal attacks on anyone not sharing his views.

    2. He’s a great guy. Leave him alone.

      He contributes far more to this site than you do.

      2. Thank you Polly. Some folk do not like the opposing argument and love to make cheap shots at my character. It is unfashionable to be pro-Trump.

        As Trump remarked on his election victory in 2016: “Now we will find who our true friends are”.

    3. I think banning is a last resort – blocking and deletion of abusive posts is sufficient in my view.
      Especially as said poster is not usually abusive except late at night.

      1. The time of day is irrelevant, Ndovu. He is unnecessarily rude, threatening and abusive.

    4. ” 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.”

      Pretty clear, I’d say. Ban him.

        1. No. I support open dialogue and debate, not rudeness, threats and total intolerance of anyone who might have a different view or opinion from one’s own.

          1. Oh right… then you’d better request the banning of the site’s alleged ”favorite poster”!

            Maybe after your purge, you’ll be one of the very few left ?

          2. I don’t know who you mean by ‘the site’s alleged favourite poster’, but whoever it is will have become popular through good natured, thoughtful and interesting postings that don’t attract the attention of moderators.

    5. There are dissenting views, and they are allowed. I know that particular person does express them forcefully and not necessarily politely. I would prefer to just delete offending posts, rather than a ban.

    6. Why do they insist on you blocking them?

      Ignoring that blocking someone is pathetic and cowardly – yes, I’ve done it on occasion, and regretted it – why do they want you to block them? Why do they not present a coherent response to confront your argument?

      Why do they not want to respond? One can only assume that they have no response and seek to hide under a rock.

      1. It takes all sorts, Wibble – some people might use this forum as their only social contact at present, and others as a board for sounding off. Although we have all been chatting here for years quite amicably usually, some might see an unseen poster as fair game. The only ones I’ve banned are the spammers.

        1. likewise. The occasional evening banning the spammers is enjoyable but banning a regular is not something that I would take lightly.

        2. Well said. I abhor banning people, where do you stop.

          If there’s someone I don’t particularly like then I ignore their comments except if they make a comment I agree with then I’ll give an upvote. I don’t downvote I would explain that I disagree.

        1. That would be better – as a mod you can’t just go blocking people or you can’t really perform as a mod. The only time I blocked someone it was temporary.

          1. I am far too irresponsible ever to be selected as a mod and I wouldn’t have been much of a rocker either because, even if I have black leather jacket, I have never had a motorbike.

          2. I never had either! Mainly one needs patience but most people here don’t require much modding.

    7. I didn’t see the exchange last night but I know of whom you are speaking and while I admit he can get a wee bit ‘intense’ and over-sensitive to criticism, I do not believe he should be banned. I’ve learned a lot from his posts on his specialist subject – a subject of which I know very little – and I’ve found those posts both interesting and educational.

      Thanks to Geoff, NoTTL was founded as a free-speech forum – one of the few such forums that remain to us (apart from Parler) – but it depends absolutely on folk being grown-up enough to handle the occasional bad-tempered exchange without blubbing about it like outraged schoolgirls.

      To suggest banning this chap is a complete over-reaction on your part but not an unexpected one, since I’ve watched you for a long time growing more and more self-righteous and censorious, and keen to use your moderating powers. As I know from personal experience, no other moderator uses the “delete button” with such gusto.

      Here’s my counter-proposal. You should resign as a moderator – a position that I believe you are entirely unfit to hold – and join the rest of us mortals. Then, you can either grow a spine and join the mêlée or take yourself off to somewhere your delicate sensibilities can better handle.

      2. I tend to find that those quickest to complain to the moderators about abuse are those who also set out to disrupt the forum and take a delight in baiting certain individuals and then wonder why the object of their baiting bites back.

      3. so you see last nights post as acceptable?

        How many months since I deleted one of your posts yet you mentioned it a few days ago and you call me thin skinned?

  49. Reading the DT piece (below, posed by Peddy) about the idiot Halfcock turning up at a GPs surgery in London to “see the vaccine “roll-out” in action…” only to find that the surgery didn’t have any supplies: I wondered (a) why his PR people hadn’t discovered that before the wazzock left the office to waste the GPs time, and (b) whether they set it up deliberately to make him look an even bigger clown than usual.

    Answers on a 5/- postal order (payable to “Cash”….

    2. Well, I wouldn’t want Hancock in the surgery if I were stupid enough to have the jab, gloating over its ‘success’. He thinks the British public exists for his exploitation.

    1. I noticed that too !

      Just pressing esc as the page begins to load prevents the paywall closing.

      1. Sadly, my PC (despite it being 9+ years old) is too quick at loading for that method to work. On Firefox, I did find that the ‘Toggle reader view/F9 button’ worked, but luckily my 2014 tablet is slow enough for the X (cancel loading page) to work via my wifi. Unfortunately, the tablet is usless for use with forums, so I have to use my PC instead.

        1. In Firefox, you can go to github.com and download an add-on which bypasses numerous paywalls very successfully.

        2. Good Grief. I’d forgotten about toggles.
          I thought they disappeared the same time as ‘off black’ screens and 3D lurid green print.

          1. I’d never used it before – I was just curious about what the button was (not F9, but the one at the end of the website address bar [that looks like a piece of paper with text on it]), clicked it when looking at an article behind the paywall and voila! All the text in the article appeared.

            Let’s hope that the DT IT people don’t cotton onto this.

          1. I managed to hit the x on the DM when it objected to the adblocker, but they seem to have stopped bothering – perhaps they lost too many readers.

          2. Ditto – I can read all their articles ‘fine’ (such as they are!) with my ad-blocker ad-ons working. The only annoyance are the popup videos from the DM, though they aren’t ads. And their commenting system is terrible though.

        2. you need a slow internet connection to be successful, you have to hit esc after the text starts loading but before it gets to the subscription check at the end of the page.

          It’s much easier with a tablet instead of a real pc.

    2. The Telegraph BTL section is becoming more and more ‘unfit for purpose’ as so many topics are ‘out of bounds.’

      1. Especially the COVID ‘global health security’ section, sponsored, maybe even completely funded ($3.4M) by Bill Gates. I wonder if anyone or organisation contributes to the US ‘News’ desk?

  53. M. Albert Roux.

    Thank you, sir, for (along with your dear, late brother, Michel) single-handedly tranforming the culinary culture of an abject food desert (the UK) from the worst in the world to the best.

    In a 1962 BBC lecture, Bernard Levin famously condemned the entire British culinary scene as: “Disgusting. There are other words that might be pressed into service,” he conceded. “Lazy, inefficient, dishonest, dirty, complacent, exorbitant, but disgusting just about sums it up.”

    I can never forget having to run the daily gauntlet of the vile sulphuric stench of over-boiled cabbage puthering from the windows of the kitchens at my primary school. That was one of the omnipresent odours of my childhood, a reminiscence of a dreadful time when the daily preparation of food and nourishment was seen as drudgery and not an art.

    Cafés and restaurants in the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s were beyond clueless. This gormless ineptitude with food was mirrored in homes, schools and works’ canteens. Albert Roux saw, in this, an opportunity to educate … and educate he did.

    The transformation did not come overnight — there was still much kicking and squealing from a nation that, in a large part, incongruously stuck to a ‘tradition’ of overcooking everything. Leaching all the texture, flavour, juiciness, nourishment and delight from a whole pantry of foodstuffs was an inalienable British right! They’d be buggered if some upstart Frog was going to cross the Channel and tell them how to cook.

    Thankfully, the tenacity of the Brothers Roux held up, and a revolution took place within the UK culinary industry that is still thriving today. Without their prescient intervention, we would still be eating dried cardboard and calling it ‘roast beef’.

    I never met the Roux brothers, but my brother worked for M.Albert Roux in the 1990s. I still have a cookery book and a personal menu both signed by him, personally to me, and encouraging me to continue to enjoy good food.

    Bonsoir, Monsieur, and thank you for the food.

      1. The literary output of Elizabeth David cannot be understated. Unfortunately not many people read (or had access to) her books in the early days, consequently the influence she had on British cooking and eating habits was quite meagre. David’s books were published in the early 1950s but most English people were still eating rubbish by the late 1960s.

        In the case of the Roux Brothers, they opened restaurants and trained up whole brigades of English chefs, providing food that could be smelt, tasted, savoured and enjoyed. For that reason, their influence is immeasurably greater than that of Elizabeth David.

    2. Agree there. My mother would give us roast beef that was dry as card. To this day I’m still chewing the boiled cabbage.

    3. Morning Grizzly.

      Well done , I thoroughly enjoyed your dissection of early British food .

      I haven’t heard the expression ‘Puthering’ for many decades , Dad was very fond of that word.

      The first time I heard him use that word with great expression was when he walked into my great aunts kitchen as she was boiling up rabbit carcases in a huge pan , it was a cold day and she hadn’t opened the kitchen window and the smell of the pot bubbling away and the steamed up windows was chokingly horrible .. although I have to say , the pie that followed afterwards for lunch was creamily delicious .

      1. Morning, Maggie, and thanks.

        Puthering was one of mum’s favourite words. She had a very arcane vocabulary, some words of which I’ve never heard uttered by anyone else.

        1. As I said, I have never heard that word repeated by anyone else either, although I do use it when the smoke blows back down the chimney , and I will exclaim ,’ What a puther ‘… the words we gain from our parents are being lost !

          1. My late mother-n-law still used the word ‘clout’ for cloth.
            The only other time I’d heard the word used in that sense was Oliver Cromwell’s description of the decaying Spanish empire; “A Colossus stuffed with clouts.”

          2. There’s also the sense of clothing – ‘Ne’er cast a clout till May is out’.

          3. And the ‘May’ in that saying refers to mayblossom (hawthorn flowers) and not the month.

          4. Here we generally see the very first of the May blossom at the very end of April, and the very last of it at the beginning of June… so that blossom and month are normally coincidental.

          5. I always wondered why I couldn’t bash up my little brother until June.
            It’s like ‘without a city wall’. There are certain things that children just accept as being mad adult stuff and leave alone.

  54. NHS Test and Trace consultants on £163k

    NHS Test and Trace is employing 2,300 management consultants on pay that on average exceeds Boris Johnson’s salary.

    The £22 billion programme is as big as a medium-sized Whitehall department and there are more management consultants working on it than there are civil servants in the Treasury.

    Since the start of the pandemic the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has spent £375 million on private consultancy services for NHS Test and Trace. This equates to an average of £163,000 a consultant. The prime minister has a salary of about £150,000.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/nhs-test-and-trace-consultants-on-163k-bt5lctn5r

    2. And that they’ve worked for far less than a year. How long has test and trace been active? 6 months?

      1. They’ve already fitted in well into the Civil Service way of wasting money like billio.

    3. New Jersey brought in consultants from IBM to help enter data into their unemployment benefit system. A few of the highly paid IT consultants were a touch miffed about all of their years of training being wasted that way.

      I doubt that the state got much of a cut in rates for that.

    5. In my experience of dealing with management consultants over the years, most of them are completely useless (as well as costing more money than is ever saved) and are employed by larger firms to be scapegoats for bad top management when ordinary staff get laid off. I was once on the wrong end of such people when they fired 10% of my firms workforce because we ‘weren’t busy’ over a six month lull period after 9/11. 6 months later, after we all got jobs elsewhere, they started rehiring again (which cost them more than keeping us on). The firm never recovered from the loss in reputation in the industry.

      My dad also fell foul of such people – he was very experienced (different firm/sector to mine) and he and many were offered redundancy under the guise of early retirement. They lots many top notch staff who brought in and kept a load of great clients, the firm shrank, the cycle repeated again and eventually the firm was bought out by a foreign rival for a fraction of what it was worth 5 years prior to that starting (and was doing well). All because the top bosses wanted to cut costs in order to ‘look good’ to shareholders.

      Most management consultants know Jack about the sectors of the businesses or organisations they work for.

          1. And I wonder, being biblical for a moment, if Carrie’s price was above Ruby’s.

    7. In my experience of dealing with management consultants over the years, most of them are completely useless (as well as costing more money than is ever saved) and are employed by larger firms to be scapegoats for bad top management when ordinary staff get laid off. I was once on the wrong end of such people when they fired 10% of my firms workforce because we ‘weren’t busy’ over a six month lull period after 9/11. 6 months later, after we all got jobs elsewhere, they started rehiring again (which cost them more than keeping us on). The firm never recovered from the loss in reputation in the industry.

      My dad also fell foul of such people – he was very experienced (different firm/sector to mine) and he and many were offered redundancy under the guise of early retirement. They lots many top notch staff who brought in and kept a load of great clients, the firm shrank, the cycle repeated again and eventually the firm was bought out by a foreign rival for a fraction of what it was worth 5 years prior to that starting (and was doing well). All because the top bosses wanted to cut costs in order to ‘look good’ to shareholders.

      Most management consultants know Jack about the sectors of the businesses or organisations they work for.

    1. It’s sad but a risk the police take when they go to work in any country. Four of the rioters died as well. America is a violent society.

      1. No-one deserved to die, but the rioters choose to go there to riot. He was doing his job. Big difference.

        1. Funny how you never put up similar posts when BLM and Antifa went on the rampage and wrecked police stations and looted stores.

          1. I did. I consider BLM to be open racists, and Antifa to be fascists.

            While the media grumbles about the effective militia front put up a few months ago to guard the Capitol against their mobs, I feel the main criticism is that the same guard were not called out against any such threat of attack from whatever source.

            Trump’s rallying call to his supporters to move in on the Capitol may have been intended as a peaceful orderly protest to persuade senators to think again before rubberstamping Biden’s presidency, as is the right of any political movement in a free democracy, but this should have brought out the guards even if was the President who was playing the Militant Imam here.

          6. No, the point is that despite the totally unacceptable violence seen in Washington, you seek to avoid the subject. that makes you the hypocrite not me.

          9. Because the USA is a democracy and political violence is not acceptable in a democracy.

        2. This isn’t that simple as saying ‘they chose to go there’. Yes, they did – but what other choice was left to them to be heard?

          The US election was marred by discrepancy and deceit. Imagine a nationwide tower hamlets situation. The result wasn’t trusted. You’ve a state machine headed by loathsome characters such as Pelosi who has spat nothing but derision on Trump and the office but more, on his supporters.

          When you are clearly ignored, openly mocked, treated unfairly and considered an annoyance – despite being the back bone, ribcage, hips and dura mater of the country body politic; what choice do you have?

          The US government seems to be split in two: those who understand the views of the electorate (about 5 people) and those who see them as a cash cow to be used, abused and ignored while robbing them blind to feather their own already overstuffed nests.

          No one set out for the police officer to die. The black looting mob shot a Trump supporter. They hailed that as ‘taking out the trash’. Note the difference?

          1. All politicians are clearly ignored, openly mocked, treated unfairly and considered an annoyance. They thrive on it, and it’s why they choose this thankless profession. The royals though didn’t even get to choose.

          2. While true, my thinking of the disparaged group was more Trump’s supporters – middle class blue collar america that he so resonated with.

    2. Good morning, Cochrane

      I have no idea whether the the US election was stolen or not. Have you?

      However, I do know that just as Trump supporters will never accept that Biden won fair and square, Biden supporters will never accept that he didn’t.

      What happens now? Peace or civil war? Who knows.

      If conclusive and completely irrefutable evidence was produced by either side would the other side ever accept it?

      How a fool-proof and fraud-proof system of voting which everyone can see is fair can be set up I do not know – but neither, so it seems, does anyone else.

      2. Morning, neither of us can know with 100% certainty that the election was fair or not, no-one can, but I base my view on the evidence with is a total lack of evidence, from Trump’s supporters, of the fraud some of them claim. Endless repeated claims on social media are not evidence. I suspect the US will actually move on fairly quickly from this because the events of Wednesday have shown the average Republican that their party had been highjacked by some who are prepared to tear up everything to keep Trump in power. I honestly can’t see a majority of Republicans supporting Trump’s diehard faction.

      1. And the excuses roll in. 100% predictable, the only debate in my mind, was which of you would post first.

          2. Any wonder reading all your comments. Some people think for themselves most just resd the MSM and repeat what they have told you what to think. I have to say you belong to the later.

  57. We had our last home-grown tomato yesterday at lunch. From what I feared would be a zero crop, we had a magnificent yield – thanks mainly to the MR going to every plant and pollinating it with an electric toothbrush. I have had success many times in the past – but never fresh tomatoes in January.

      3. The explanation may (tongue firmly in cheek) be in the breeding.

        Charles Austin x Iceberg

        1. Thanks, I wasn’t aware of that. Iceberg is one of my favourite roses (especially since it is white: favouring the Yorkist element in my genes!) :•)

          1. My mother loved roses but a garden facing north and east in Aberdeenshire is not the easiest place to have a rose garden. Iceberg was a variety which did well for her for many years.

    3. I hope you saved some of the seeds Bill.
      When my older sister and hubby moved to a new home a few years back they found they could get hold of recycled human waste from their local waste treatment works. I borrowed a transit truck and delivered the thick fibre form of waste to their rear garden, BiL broke it down and dug it in . That summer they had more tomato plants growing than you could poke a stick at.
      I had a good crop last year green house and outside tubs. Still got soup in the freezer.

      1. In Edo (Tokyo) in the 19th century the market gardeners outside the city purchased the night soil. It always struck me as one of the most non-Western facets of Japanese life at that time.

      2. That was the noticeable thing during the war (Dig for Victory) when night soil was used as fertiliser. Tomatoes abounded.

  58. Am I alone in thinking there is a remarkable similarity between Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris and British Home Secretary Priti Patel? Both of them are bossy Indian women of a certain age who really irritate those working with them, but have a reputation for cutting through the crap?

      2. She did nothing about stopping the invasion, then to deflect the criticism, appointed Dan – who has done exactly the same. Now we are paying two people to not bother about stopping it.

    2. Sometimes these items are so unbelievable that they have to be checked and rechecked.

      Really? What about if a group of kids built a snowman, would they get a double fine if they don’t put a mask on snowperson?

  60. A BLM

    IR – Please would someone explain why a country with apparently nothing to hide refuses to co-operate?

    Elizabeth Prior London SW10

    As a reminder to the world, why is COVID-19, not just called The China Flu
    The world had no qualms about calling an ealier pandemic The Spanish Flu

    1. 328271+ up ticks,
      Morning OLT,
      Political reasons way above lizzies station
      please remind Liz that ours is not to reason why ours is but…

      Get down on one knee in submissive mode
      & repent Liz.

  62. Another BLM

    Extrovert parakeets

    SIR – The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs proposes to cull ring-necked parakeets,
    as they allegedly threaten native species (Letters, January 5).

    A process which seems to be working with the BLM influence on our British way of life

  63. This week’s Spectator just arrived.

    Sycophantic “interview” with Halfcock. Along the lines of, “Thank you Minister – is there anything else you’d like to tell us?”

    A smug “Diary” by the egregious Marxist (millionaire, philanderer) Marr

    I think the magazine has been got at by Carrion via her “bestest friends” who work there or are living with people who work there.

    One more week like this one, and I shall cancel my subscription after 40 years.

    1. And here’s me thinking that the Spectator was a conservative magazine. Oh wait, it’s owned by the Barcaly Bros, who own the Telegraph. Doesn’t bode well for Andrew Neil’s new TV news service, does it? They sound like just variations on the current DT theme. That’s why I unsubbed from the DT after almost 20 years.

      The only way they’ll listen and change their tune is to be hit in the wallet. Best of luck finding an alternative source of decent news coverage and professional commentary – I have yet to find one, 6 months on.

      1. In the US I am hoping that fox news will reinvent itself. For the past few years they have just followed Trumps attacks on anyone not agreeing with him but forgotten to report other news.

        Maybe now that the two have fallen out of love, fox could become a decent alternate to cnn.

        1. The problem with the modern (post 1990) TV news media is that they are two categories – the partisan (of either political strand) or the milktoast fence-sitter that won’t go near anything deemed controvercial, which means the hard-hitting REAL journalism looking into the bad things that happen that most normies (most of the public) don’t see never get reported on, especially as one ‘false’ move these days, offending one side (mainly the Left/Establishment) gets them cancelled, as TalkRadio almost did the other day.

          The annoying thing over here was that, prior to Comcast taking them over, Sky News (apart from Kay Burley and Adam Boulton) were quite even-handed in their news reporting. What news organisations regularly fail to understand is that the vast majority of ordinary people want proper straight-laced news separate from (politicised) commentary. Nor do we want to be told what we ‘need to know’ and what we don’t.

          1. Totally agree. One of the most worrying developments has been the supposed ‘fact checkers’.

            Watching the BBC coverage on Brexit from Parliament Green with constant referrals to our ‘fact checkers’ was nauseating back then but it has spread like a virus.

            The self censorship of Facebook and Twitter where some algorithm qualified any pro-Trump commentary with a standard message contesting it in red was equally shocking.

            Years ago my local was the Free Press in Cambridge. I yearn for a return to a free press.

      2. Try “The Critic”.

        https://thecritic.co.uk/

        Our Susan recommended it. I subscribed for five issues – and have so far had three – all of which contained interesting material – long, scholarly articles and some fine NON-WOKE comment. Infinitely preferable to the Spectator and the Staggers.

      1. So true! People who deny global heating should be locked up. That snow is just weather, not climate!

  65. Just been chatting to our lovely postman.
    Apparently 2 staff at the depot have the Bat Clap – which means that over 80 contacts have to be off as well.

    1. Was he still in shorts? They must be made of something unnatural the way they walk round in zreo degrees wearing shorts.

      1. It’s his week off, so he was dressed normally.
        I agree, I don’t know how they wear shorts in this weather.

        1. Our scout leaders always told us that bare, wet legs dry far faster than soggy trousers.

  66. Just to show that it can be worse than in the UK.

    Our fearless leader has announced that inmates in Federal prisons will get given priority in vaccinations. It appears that his priority is mass murderers before granny.

    Following in everyone’s footsteps, Canada now demands a negative nose probe no more than three days before flying into Canada. There are quite a few vacationers stranded in the US because they cannot get results in less than five days.

    Hawaii announced that despite the no travel mandate, over 10,000 Canadians flew down to the islands for Christmas. So mush for the powers repeatedly saying that people would heed the advice.

      2. just trying to emulate Rastus and get pPeddy going. Yes it is quite appropriate for this time of year.

    2. Maybe he is thinking of letting them all out? I mean, what could be worse than a load of hardened criminals on the loose with COVID? 🙂

      1. Why the one who raped and murdered his nieces and many other young women deserves anything is beyond me.

          1. most of us are with you on that.
            His wife who took part in the atrocities confessed and wax a witness against him, she has been out for years

          2. There are time when I think:
            “Yes thanks for shopping him”
            and on the day of their release a nasty accident might be in order.

    3. I see they took their dog sled teams with them.
      (I see that it hasn’t gone unnoticed further down)

  67. Good article from Brendan O’Neill in Spiked:-

    ‘The Remoaner doth protest too much. Yesterday, for hours, some of the chief agitators in the anti-Brexit lobby railed against the suggestion that their four-year effort to trash a democratic vote has anything in common with the pro-Trump mob’s four-hour effort to block a democratic vote at the Capitol Building in Washington, DC yesterday. ‘How very dare you!’, they cried at anyone who raised the possibility that, violence and dress sense to one side, our very own Remoaners are not that different from the morons who breached the Capitol. Their defensive cries of innocence give them away. They know there is truth – a whole lot of truth – in this comparison.

    It was a senior Welsh Conservative politician who forced Remainers to deny that their war on democracy is anything like the Capitol invaders’ war on democracy. Andrew RT Davies, a former leader of the Welsh Conservatives, tweeted a response to Keir Starmer’s denunciation of the Capitol Building mob. Davies said: ‘To be honest I’m not sure you’re in the strongest position right now given you campaigned to overturn democracy and the will of the British people.’ He didn’t stop there. He then fired off a tweet to a Welsh Labour politician that said: ‘The scenes in Washington are a disgrace as I’ve said and all stem from politicians – like your good self – who refuse to accept the results of democratic election.’

    Full article – https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/01/08/yes-remainers-did-declare-war-on-british-democracy/

    1. Are those EU demonstrations outside parliament much different to the Pussy hat demonstrations in Washington four years ago, or this weeks mob scenes?

      I doubt that some will ever accept that the US election result was anywhere near reasonable and it is unlikely that vested interests will allow a real investigation into their whole election process because that would look at the dirty tricks by all politicians and their playmates.

  68. At least one bright headmaster is ensuring that during the closure of schools, pupils are receiving quality on-line teaching. His solution is to require all teachers to work a full day from their individual classrooms where they have IT and learning materials. Helpfully it also removes the Union’s objection to Teachers’ privacy being compromised by having to provide on-line lessons from their homes. That’s what I call a win-win.

    1. Let’s hope many others follow his lead and that those teachers who refuse are docked pay.

      Williamson should take the lead in encouraging it.

      1. Too much common sense.

        If nothing else I would think that seeing the the teachers in a classroom setting would give some sense of normalcy.

        I might try floating that idea with our local school board, see how the concept goes down.

      2. Mr W gives the impression that he couldn’t find his own backside even using both hands….

      1. I’ve limited knowledge but I don’t think working alone in a Classroom counts as overcrowding…

    3. Where is this tyrant? – I need to alert the Grauniad so that they can arrange to picket the school. And disseminate hate stuff on twotter etc.

        1. My first son, Christo, was at school for two years in Holt in North Norfolk. He had a rather pleasant English teacher who committed matrimony with one of our most revered friends on this forum!

      1. The breach of the Capitol was a staged event. Antifa had on instruction infiltrated the peaceful Trump assembly. The shooting was faked.

        The crowds of disenchanted Trump supporters numbered more than 500,000 and the event was otherwise peaceful.

        1. We shall see,the police have identified many of those that invaded congress.

          DC is democrat so if they really are lefty agitators, we can expect very lenient charges if any.

          No I will not block you.

          1. There’s a whole world of difference between most of the people who ‘invaded’ (they ARE Americans, so its just as much their Capitol building as anyone else’s, especially the poiliticians who work there) the building as some who deliberately tried to start violence and casue damage. I’ve seen footage of one such likely Antifa operative getting booed and pulled off by MAGA supporters whilst he was trying to smash windows. One prominent Antifa person has already been confirmed amongst the arrested.

            Nothing set on fire. Yes, many idiots being berks, but not in the same league as the Antifa/BLM riots (still going on in Portland), which the MSM tried to cover up. I think that a good number of those ordinary people who got inside were just increadibly frustrated people (hence no guns/weapons, just flags, placeards and loudhailers) who genuinely believed the election was stolen, and their opinions were being silenced by the MSm and especially big tech – as has already been proven.

          2. I agree. In light of the events of the last year nothing surprises me anymore.

            The denial and concealment of the activities of Democrats whose cities have been torched by BLM and Antifa is staggering, as is the denial that the presidential election was rigged in favour of Obama’s stooge Biden.

            The most admirable aspect of the Capitol building was that it was accessible to all. You could roll up and meet your Senator or Congressman within its walls.

            Pelosi probably realised that President Trump has the dirt on her nefarious activities and cannot wait ten days to be rid of him. Hence the moves to try to impeach him, hasty or what?

          3. More likely any that are antifas will just not be reported on, and they will look for people that are genuine trump followers who went along for the ride, and paint them as the ringleaders in the press.
            Easy peasy for a professional newspaper or tv station. Who’s going to listen to all the silly old conspiracy theorists saying it wasn’t like that?

          4. Well they have certainly started with a Trump supporter, a west Virginia lawmaker was charged today.

            The fbi have posted pictures of the crowd asking for help identifying them but you are right, they could always be selective.

        2. You have an advanced form of Pollyitis now.

          It’s like you’re living in your own little ‘Matrix’ world.

          1. Nothing will convince them otherwise.

            Even though the FBI have posted pictures of the lead agitators and are promising to prosecute, you know that the deniers will say fake , fixed, media bias or some such diversion.

    2. Trumps video last night was totally out of character, yes he was obviously reading from a script but it looked like he was being forced into it.

      Why say that he abandoned them when a much easier explanation is available.

  70. Iain Dale in ConHome:

    “There has been a lot of controversy over the power of social media companies, with Youtube deleting the account of talkRadio and then reinstating it, no doubt after an intervention by Rupert Murdoch.

    Then Twitter censored Trump’s tweets and latter banned him from the platform for 12 hours. Facebook and Instagram have banned him until after inauguration. Instinctively I am wholly against this sort of behaviour.

    The social media companies continually maintain they are not publishers, but platforms. If so, then they shouldn’t behave like publishers. In the UK, it is up to the broadcasting regulator to determine whether a broadcaster has transgressed the rules.

    I wholly deprecate the stance taken by some of the station’s presenters on lockdown and other aspects of the Covid crisis, but do I think that they should be banned from adopting what maybe a controversial position? No, I do not. Do I think it’s the role of social media companies to censor what an American President says, however objectionable it is? No I do not.

    Because if they do, they have to adopt the same rule for everyone. Have they ever once tried to censor anything President Xi has said? No they haven’t. I rest my case.”

    https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2021/01/iain-dale-the-social-media-companies-claim-that-they-arent-publishers-but-their-ban-on-the-president-proves-that-they-are.html

    1. I hope that you’re raising this on the comments sections of the DT. Seems like a number of anti-Trump, pro-Bdien trolls are about, popping up out of nowhere just on articles about the events of Wednesday, etc.

      1. If you don’t recognise the voter names it is sometimes an indication that you are about be followed and get spammed replies.

    2. Fortunately for the Spectator “management”, when I was killed off by Discurse, I was longer persona grata BTL.

      Pity – because I have some pithy things to say – especially recently.

    3. O’Brien sounds like a nasty piece of work to me. Imagine if someone of the Right had made similar claims time and again – they would been sacked and cancelled at the behest of the Left. He just continues his (IMHO) smug, sanctimonious clap-trap and is paid handsomely for it.

  72. First trip booked for Jan 2021, going to Iceland.

    Fingers crossed if that goes well looking at Tesco in Feb and Asda in March.

  73. Captain Cook sailed the world and made some wondrous journeys. Until he
    got to Hawaii. The tribes came out and shouted: “Alloa !!!”

    Taking that to mean the Polynesian welcome of ‘Aloha” he stepped ashore
    with confidence.

    Little did he know that they were Scottish football fans, who then ate
    him.

  74. Anyone wishing to show their appreciation for Amazon delivery drivers are asked to clap at their homes tomorrow anytime between 9am and 6pm.

  75. Don’t go to the pub. Don’t meet up with your friends. Don’t come home with an infection.

    Honestly, Boris Johnson is starting to sound like my girlfriend.

      1. You had better get lacoste to swallow an alarm clock like Hook’s nemesis, so you’ll know he’s coming.

        as it were…

  76. Staff at St Thomas’ have reported Boris Johnson is looking bloated,
    sweaty, generally disheveled and talking incoherently. A Spokesperson
    said..
    “It’s encouraging to see him look like his old self again.”

          1. I am on day 8 – only 23 days to go. It seems to be getting harder, rather than easier 🙁

  77. ISIS: We are reluctantly furloughing all suicide bombers, due to insufficient crowd sizes.

  78. Another Spekkie article:

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-I-was-sacked-from-eton

    “Why I was sacked from Eton

    Will Knowland

    Why I was sacked from Eton

    One of the things I’ll miss about teaching at Eton is the ever-present threat of an ironic riposte from one of the boys. ‘Cheer up,’ I told one who looked un-enthused by Milton in my first week at the school, nine years ago. ‘Two hundred years ago, you’d have been down a mine!’ ‘Sir,’ he replied deadpan, ‘we’d have owned the mines.’ The class erupted in self–deprecating laughter. I’d arrived.

    It was the boys themselves who suggested and named the YouTube channel Knowland Knows, which has since got me summarily dismissed. The axe fell swiftly after I asked why a video entitled ‘The Patriarchy Paradox’ (originally intended as half of a debate on the new gender orthodoxies at the College, which never saw the light of day) should be deleted from this public platform. The reason given was the presence of an Eton disclaimer on the channel, originally added at the College’s own request.

    I’ve since been called everything from a free-speech martyr to a misogynist. While the video has received views equivalent to more than 100 times the size of the Eton student body, it was the boys themselves who first came to my defence, with a compelling open letter saying they felt ‘morally bound not to be bystanders in what appears to be an instance of institutional bullying’. They boldly claimed that ‘young men and their views are formed in the meeting and conflict of ideas’, and correctly pinpointed free speech as the principle at stake — otherwise why was it so essential the video should come down?

    My disciplinary process was only the latest in a series of lustrations turning Eton into a monoculture

    They had already sensed the need to resist a drastic narrowing of debate in the schoolroom, which has reportedly led them to set up private debating groups to test viewpoints forbidden in class. Their wit seems to have inoculated them against being wholly ventriloquised by the new regime blighting the school. ‘But sir’ — deadpan again — ‘I thought the College was meant to be diverse?’

    My disciplinary process was only the latest in a series of lustrations turning Eton into a stifling monoculture. One master — since cleared of all wrongdoing without being reinstated — found himself facing the very disciplinary procedures the fairness and viability of which he had initially questioned. When justice dies, irony soon follows.

    Yet, as Lenin knew, ‘the educational value of courts is tremendous’. At my hearing, two of the three ‘senior teachers’ specified as disciplinary panellists by the College’s constitution were the headmaster’s new appointments to his inner circle, and the third was his own deputy. The College had lawyers present (at one point attempting to replace a fellow with an external QC) while I did not. A colleague’s character–witness statement was significantly altered, being restored to its original only after she protested in writing. Only in response to pressure did the school provide an external note-taker.

    ‘A lie,’ as James Callaghan said, ‘can be halfway round the world before the truth has got its boots on.’ And so it was that the Provost — once described as ‘apt to mislead’ in the pages of the Scott inquiry — tried to quell the public outpouring of disquiet around my case by suggesting the video had breached the Equality Act. But neither the College’s initial legal advice nor my dismissal letter claimed anything of the sort.

    It was not new legislation I’d transgressed, just a new religion with an old-time zeal to suppress dissent and punish heresy. The College’s ‘approach to equality and diversity’ — which it finally claimed I had breached — has never been explained to staff, making it impossible to follow. The boy who wrote to me afterwards saying he wished more could have been done to defend my case needn’t have felt so bad.

    Victor Klemperer wrote in The Language of the Third Reich that ‘words are like tiny doses of arsenic, swallowed unnoticed, and then after a while the toxic reaction sets in’. And so ‘diversity’ demands conformity; ‘inclusion’ is only for those already in the group; ‘tolerance’ cannot bear tradition; and ‘lived experience’ counts for some, not for others.

    With the headmaster threatening to refer me to the Teaching Regulation Agency, potentially banning me from the classroom for life, at least I can be grateful to Covid for boosting demand for my online tutoring. While not making such threats or pursuing tendentious Prevent referrals, he offers empty platitudes about free speech thriving at Eton. Maybe so: just don’t expect to keep your livelihood afterwards.”

    1. While I have some sympathy with his beef against the process that did for him, I am beginning to find his endless moans, er, tedious.

      There is a legal route he can pursue for damages for breach of contract.

      1. Au contraire, my learned friend. In the circumstances he describes, I would join him in, loudly and longly, decrying the modern system that falsely engineered his dismissal. If you find his moans ‘tedious’ you would find mine ear-shattering.

        1. It is just that he keeps on writing the same article in the same words and posting it hither and yon.

          He feels strongly. So would I. But I’d take Eton to the cleaners via the courts.

          1. After a while sitting on the fence, I sided with Charles Moore; assistant masters should respect the headmaster. Mr Knowland may well have a case for wrongful dismissal, but he is just a tad too tiresome. (like moi sometimes)

    3. I do not think I would have been very happy working for this headmaster. In my career in teaching I worked for four different headmasters none of whom was particularly inspirational.

      However in my first job I was a house tutor to a housemaster with tremendous personality, humour and sheer presence. He had the ability not only to enthuse, inspire and motivate schoolboys – he also had the ability to terrify them – if it became necessary – with just the curl of his lip or the steely glint in his eye. But he was always entirely fair and all the boys trusted and respected him unquestioningly. If ever he made a mistake he was the first to admit it. He despised bullshit.

      He went on to be a headmaster of a prep school in the North of England where the school needed at least 100 pupils to be viable – but when he arrived it had only 90. Within five years the number of pupils had risen to 250 and he had managed to have a new sports hall built out of fee income rather than by having to launch an appeal.

      When I was at Allhallows there was a change of headmaster. If only they had appointed the man for whom I had worked as house tutor the place would still be flourishing rather than having closed ten years after Caroline and I had left it. Unfortunately I failed to convince him to apply for the job.

      2. The housemaster in your first job sounds a little like Major —- de Coverly, the character in Joseph Heller’s “Catch 22”.

        He could accomplish whatever he needed “without uttering a word, by the sheer force of his solemn, domineering visage and the peremptory gestures of his wrinkled finger.”

        1. He read the lesson at our wedding: I Corinthians xiii

          He also reminded me of Hamlet comparing his father with Hyperion with an eye like Mars. P.G Wodehouse deliciously misquoted this when referring to a forceful aunt who had an eye like Ma’s !

    4. What a stitch-up. It’s beyond appalling; it’s a sign that the war is nearly over, and we have lost every battle up til now.
      However, I don’t think it’s a healthy attitude for a schoolboy to feel so entitled that he retorts “we would have owned the mines.” A little modesty would be more becoming.

    5. I sincerely hope that some top echelon of education—somewhere more open and less anally-retentive than Eton—soon finds this estimable fellow a long-lasting and well-remunerated sinecure.

    2. I never really have seen this man much on television news programmes. I never realised just what a biased and bigoted man he is. It was certainly amusing seeing him completely exposed and defeated by this woman.

    3. The male version of Kay Burley. He is soooo full of himself, isn’t he? Great when he gets taken down a peg or three…

  80. The World Health Organisation has stated that animals can’t get Corona virus and that all dogs in quarantine should be released.

    WHO let the dogs out.

    1. Judging by how many people I see out when I’m walking my dog, most people around here have embraced the exercise lark (a lot of them are not regular dog walkers, although I see them, too).

      1. Here’s an idea to keep you out of mischief.

        Collect as many well behaved dogs as you can from friends and relatives and rent them out to people who don’t have a dog for walking.
        The dogs, not the friends and relatives

        Charge the dog walkers.

        Hell’s teeth, if professional dog walkers can make money out of walking dogs, why shouldn’t you make money out of people who would like to walk dogs?

        1. I wouldn’t inflict that on the dogs, sos. So many people have NO idea how to treat a dog.

        2. That’s not a bad idea, in fact they are starting to do something like that in Quebec where they have just introduced an 8PM curfew.

          Sorry officer, I was just taking the dog for a late night pee break is supposedly enough to stop the harassment.

        1. Indeed. I am escaping as often as I can. I am even thinking of getting MOH’s bicycle out of the garage and overhauled so I can escape farther. I am allowed to walk the dog for animal welfare reasons and I shall then go for my once-a-day exercise.

  83. Police break up 600-strong ‘fetish party’ in Berlin for breaking coronavirus rules.

    To be fair though, most of them were wearing masks.

        2. True. I have attended a fetish party. Under the arches on the South Bank. Got to try everything once.

  84. Utterly freezing today, the Dark Ages Queen has no idea how she’d have survived in her rightful
    period ( but would have dealt with the plague, red crosses on doors etc )

    Shall make luncheon. Shall either be tomatoes, basil and mozzarella on toasted sourdough
    bread or Branston beans on granary toast ( always Branston beans as they are better then Heinz ) . I’ll see what the husband prefers. One day I’ll be able to go to the cozy local pub with its huge open fire and wooden beams for a steak and kidney pudding with chunky chips
    and apple crumble for pudding.

    1. Not wishing to be controversial but they do look ‘glammed up’ just a bit over dressed for a country walk. And why would any one drive 5 miles with a cup of something ??
      Perhaps it was a photo opportunity aka a warning to drive home the supposed offence.

      1. The BBC arrived very quickly if they took that photo before the police harassed them. No, the outdoor picture is obviously not of them at the reservoir that day.

        1. Do you think the big butch tough cops might have dragged them to the ground and cuffed them both ?

        1. Designer wellies, but posh clothing and lots of makeup.
          6 inch heels would have left them stranded. ………oh i’m such a biatch. 😉

      1. Something of an understatement? The Derbyshire police seem determined to continue to lose public support – the report suggests they’ve over reacted [again] and treated guidance as law?

          1. From the BBC report, which stresses that the guidance [which the police are trying to enforce] is not actually contained in the written law: “Human rights barrister Adam Wagner said: “There is no law against
            travelling to exercise. The guidance is not legally binding and the police have no power to enforce it unless it is reflected in the lockdown regulations which in this case it is not.”            “

          2. From the BBC report, which stresses that the guidance [which the police are trying to enforce] is not actually contained in the written law: “Human rights barrister Adam Wagner said: “There is no law against
            travelling to exercise. The guidance is not legally binding and the police have no power to enforce it unless it is reflected in the lockdown regulations which in this case it is not.”            “

    3. If they had to drive 5 miles to shop no one would bat an eyelid. Some policemen have their own interpretation of laws and need further lessons or dismissal.

        1. I wonder if they were there on instructions from the Chief Constable or a less senior officer. If so these senior officers should be back out on the beat. Our government is treating us like criminals . My freedom has never been taken from me in such a manner in over 60 years of adult life.

        2. don’t the power then have the ability to start increasing penalties and move towards serious charges?

          Isn’t that how Tommy Robinson is done? Get up to contempt of court and the harassment takes on its own life.

    4. The police behaviour is appalling. The women have every right to drive there for exercise. They should not pay any fine.

      1. Not according to the stupid rules, unfortunately. Common sense has no place in this government.

        1. Don’t pay the fine and go to court to challenge it. They might get to their case somewhere around 2030 with the current backlog.

    5. I remember T-B being harrassed for driving to exercise her dogs on the heath. They seem to think everyone should only walk round the block from home.

    6. I know that I am a dumb colonial but are people supposed to walk around crowded streets for exercise? Especially if they live in a city, walking in a country park instead of dodging cars and pot holes seems to be a good idea.

      1. And driving yourselves there in a car is also a good idea, especially if it’s a bubble car.

  86. 328271+ up ticks,
    May one ask, who exactly are the “remainer’s” it is pretty clear that real UKIP were the only pro GB genuine Brexitexitteers so since they were closed down for being that, and for once more being on the rise, who may I ask is
    genuinely fighting the English / GB corner ?

    Lest we forget rotherham,
    Rise of the Rejoiners: Labour MP Admits Majority of Party Lawmakers ‘Desperate to Rejoin’ EU

    1. Operation Cygnet told the NHS it was unprepared for a pandemic. Did they do anything about it? Did they heck. The government trashed the economy and locked everybody down (while still leaving the borders open, of course) instead.

      1. Nonsense. The NHS has worked miracles to add critical care bed capacity; you insult thousands of people with your claims. But, the problem is thousands of staff isolating because we test so many people.

        1. As I understand it, from someone who works on the front-line, another problem is that for decades the presumption has been that very, very few people need to be in hospital for more than 14 and more and more don’t have overnight stays at all. All the “sums” have been done on that basis.

          As fewer of the victims of SARS-CoV-2 are dying within a day or two of being admitted and far more are being kept alive and recovering but are requiring hospital treatment for 5 or 6 weeks (or sometimes even longer) the pressure on beds is increasing.

          1. Absolutely correct. Length of stay in hospital is higher for Covid patients than the average emergency admission, so the problem is also about discharges not matching admissions, hence bed occupancy rising. A solution is using the Nightingales for ‘stepping down’ Covid patients as quickly as possible rather than using them for intensive care. This is also better because step down beds require fewer staff.

          2. But they still need staff, and those don’t seem to be available. I’m sure that those in the busiest hospitals would be delighted to be able to move their rehab patients out… but it appears that they have to send staff with them if they do, which makes the solution more of a problem.

          3. That was the issue with the Nightingales in Wave 1, but there are plenty of potential staff e.g 675,000 registered nurses in the UK of whom only about half actually work in the NHS. Many of them work part-time and could be asked to do more shifts; many could be encouraged back into frontline nursing e.g. a friend who is a nurse, but who works in IT. I tend not to believe everything I read about recent retirees being ignored when they volunteer to return, but the NHS does need to make sure it is facilitating a rapid increase in clinical staff numbers.

          4. Some won’t want to go back, some can’t because they have current health problems of their own, and those with young children may very well not want more shifts, but I get your drift.

            On the other hand it is clear that hospitals are getting desperate and there is no sign of those Nightingales springing (or even plodding) into action – so what is the hold up?

          5. I believe the tactic has changed and that the beds and equipment from the Nightingales has been dispersed to local hospitals where it can be used in areas such as converted operating theatres, thereby removing the need to transfer hospital staff. The Nightingales were a bit of a PR stunt based on what China did, when in reality the first wave was contained because all hospitals created surge capacity.

          6. Granted that there was a big publicity stunt, granted that the first wave was managed. But it does begin to look as though quite a number of hospitals are no longer managing, notwithstanding that they have got beds not just in operating theatres and anaesthetic rooms but in sluices and broom cupboards – and patients are still arriving faster than they are departing (which is good if they depart alive, but it doesn’t solve the problem of where to put them in the meantime). Somewhere about now would seem to be the point at which overflow facilities are actually needed.

    2. Oddly enough, looking at quite a few of the BBC’s own death rate figures for my region show no increase over the average at this time of year. The only time that was was the first ‘wave’ in April.

      1. We used to call this behaviour ‘cooking the books’.

        When this scam is over I wish to see a thorough investigation into how the Johnson government was able to throw billions at the proverbial black hole named ‘Test and Trace’, the incompetence around providing appropriate PPE, the insistence on lockdowns which have caused more harm to health than good (those ‘saved’) and the immeasurable harm to our economy.

        I cannot at present fathom the depths of depravity to which politicians have sunk concerning the prescription of untested vaccines and the associated threats to our civil
        liberties throughout and continuing ad infinitum.

    3. It’s really rather simple. We test more people per capita, than any comparable nation = we get more positives. We then tell them and their household to isolate for 10 days (I’m isolating at the moment because my daughter tested positive on NYE – we’re all fine with no symptoms). When this is applied to NHS staff, the result is 10% of staff are currently sick/ isolating.

      1. I’m very glad that you and yours are OK.

        If the NHS/Government concentrated the tests on those who were at the front line and left everyone else to get it/get over it/ get on with it, all those who were positive & a-symptomatic would pass it on to those who get it, recover and become immune. The vast majority of those who get it actually survive.
        We are killing the economy, the NHS (because it’s isolating people who won’t die of it but can’t treat those who have it ) for what?
        To save a lot of elderly bastards, like me, so they can live a few more months/years than they might otherwise do.

        If we take the war scenario, the generals (ministers) need to say it is better to sacrifice the few to save the many.

        1. The elderly and vulnerable are the ones who should be staying at home, most younger people should be getting on with life. All this testing of healthy people is pointless.

          1. Thank you.

            I’m a right bastard, and I’m first to admit it, but I don’t ever want people on this forum to be harmed, however much I disagree with their viewpoints.

        3. Testing is utterly pointless, as I said right from the start. If you are ill, stay at home. I think the tests, besides not being meant for the purpose they’re used for, are a waste of money and effort.

          1. Not as far as the government is concerned; they provide lots of “cases” to hammer home the message that we should be terrified and stay locked in our homes.

          4. It is reasonably reliable, at least the genetic test is. No test for a virus will be 100% perfect. Testing lets us find those most likely to transmit the virus. The asymptomatic cases.

  90. Evening, all. Why do people not do their job properly – or at least, completely? I took the dog to the vets for his MoT and jabs, handed him over (he was NOT keen to go with the vet on his own – I had to accompany them to the door and gently shoo my dog inside!) and shortly afterwards he was brought back. The vet handed me his vaccination record and like an idiot I didn’t think to check it had been filled in. I only found out when I got home that it hadn’t. At the fourth time of asking I got to speak to the receptionist, who said next time I was passing (bearing in mind I live 9 miles away) I could drop it in for completion during the next week or so. I said I wouldn’t be passing, but I’d be coming. Oh, you can’t do that, she told me; only if you’re going past to shop. Then I WILL be going shopping and will call in. I wouldn’t have needed to if they had filled the !%&@ record in. I don’t even have an itemised bill, just a receipt for the total amount, so I have NO proof that the dog has been vaccinated at all, because unlike other years I wasn’t there to see it. On the plus side, the vet did say the dog was “amazing” 🙂

    1. “.. the vet did say the dog was ‘amazing’. ”

      Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he ?

          1. I took it to mean that he was healthy (apart from the usual wear and tear associated with old age).

  91. More hypocrisy from the Police:

    https://summit.news/2021/01/08/women-interrogated-fined-by-covid-police-for-going-on-a-walk/
    https://summit.news/2021/01/08/covid-police-quiz-couple-with-pushchair-because-they-were-in-a-town-centre/
    https://summit.news/2021/01/08/police-embarrassed-over-tweet-complaining-of-2-reports-of-snowballs-being-thrown-in-violation-of-lockdown/
    https://summit.news/2021/01/08/lockdown-police-caught-on-camera-violating-their-own-lockdown-rules/

    I bet criminals are absolutely loving this, especially as coppers are also outside hospitals stopping people doing journalists work filming empty corridors and wards.

    1. In respect of the third link, West Mercia Police have rowed back a bit from the tone of the initial tweet and it has since been deleted from the Broseley & Much Wenlock Safer Neighbourhood Team Twitter page. A clarifying statement was then posted on the West Mercia Police website.

      https://twitter.com/WenlockCops/status/1347587584109776896?s=20

      https://twitter.com/WenlockCops/status/1347587587528159240?s=20

      Statement from Superintendent Mo Lansdale

      In the community

      16:25 08/01/2021

      Superintendent for the Shropshire area, Mo Lansdale, said: “This morning one of our local teams tweeted about a number of incidents where snowballs were being thrown at the homes of elderly and vulnerable residents at gone 11pm.

      “We fully appreciate that from their initial tweet it is difficult to get the full picture, and context can be tricky to gain in just 280 characters. They followed up with a tweet with more detail a few hours later and we’ve deleted the original post, to avoid any confusion.

      “In relation to last night’s incidents we are speaking to a number of people to identify who the three individuals involved were. At this time, no one has been spoken to or issued with an FPN.

      “The pandemic is stressful enough for people, particularly those that are more vulnerable, without them being made to feel worse and isolated in their own homes as a result of disgraceful anti-social behaviour.

      “We will not tolerate the targeting of vulnerable people and there are a number of powers available to us to protect people. One such power could be the FPN under the Covid-19 regulations as, I think we can all agree, frightening vulnerable people is not a reasonable excuse to have left your home.”

      Issued by AN, Corporate Communications

      https://www.westmercia.police.uk/news/west-mercia/news/2021/january/statement-from-superintendent-mo-lansdale/

      1. So where are all those people who didn’t get heart surgery or cancer treatment? I have yet to see any TV or newspaper report show anything other than either stock footage of loads of ambulances show up at specific hospitals (not uncommon at this time of year) or pre-arranged ‘tours’ around COVID wards only.

        I didn’t say hospitals are empty, but large parts of them are seriously under-utilised because the incompetents running them haven’t got their act together in 9+ months.

        1. Many of these people who didn’t get heart or cancer treatment are probably now so weakened that they are succumbing to the new variant of the Covid virus thus adding to the high number of Covid deaths.

        2. Here’s an idea, why don’t you pop down to your local hospital and volunteer to run it, after all you seem to know best.

          Alternatively you could pay attention to my posts given I work in healthcare. Today I have done 2 calls with St George’s, Tooting, one with a mental health trust in Wiltshire and one with Worcestershire’s community health provider; two other calls were cancelled because the attendees were too busy treating Covid patients. All these hospitals are very worried about the number of Covid patients they are seeing in this wave, but hey keep believing that ‘it’s all propaganda/ stock footage/ norm for the winter’ I

          1. How can you do two calls at completely different parts of the country? Besides, in my job as an engineeer, I was regularly working for hospitals and saw how poorly they were (and are) run by management. I saw of a LOT of mismanagement from behind the scenes.

            Perhaps you should not just believe everything you’re told by people with a vested interest in keep things as they currently are, especially as regards our freedoms. I only changed my opinion when I saw things FOR MYSELF.

          2. How can you do two calls at completely different parts of the country? Besides, in my job as an engineeer, I was regularly working for hospitals and saw how poorly they were (and are) run by management. I saw of a LOT of mismanagement from behind the scenes.

            Perhaps you should not just believe everything you’re told by people with a vested interest in keep things as they currently are, especially as regards our freedoms. I only changed my opinion when I saw things FOR MYSELF.

          3. How can you do two calls at completely different parts of the country? Besides, in my job as an engineeer, I was regularly working for hospitals and saw how poorly they were (and are) run by management. I saw of a LOT of mismanagement from behind the scenes.

            Perhaps you should not just believe everything you’re told by people with a vested interest in keep things as they currently are, especially as regards our freedoms. I only changed my opinion when I saw things FOR MYSELF.

          4. “How can you do two calls at completely different parts of the country?” Technology. We have Teams.

          5. Doesn’t sound like you’re someone on the front line IN a hospital, so again, you’ve likely heard accounts second or third hand. Logistics, perhaps?

          6. Firsthand actually. You were an engineer; personally I wouldn’t come on to this site and pontificate about engineering, so what is it about healthcare that makes you think you know better than people like me who’ve spent their entire careers in healthcare?


          7. As a general rule, I think one should win an argument on facts, not on “I’ve spent my entire career in healthcare/the food industry/whatever.”

          8. As a general rule, I think one should win an argument on facts, not on “I’ve spent my entire career in healthcare/the food industry/whatever.”

          9. Agreed,
            But to be fair, the one who works there is more likely to have better information.

            But equally, the one on the coal face can be too close, where an outsider can stand back and see a different picture

          10. Agreed. So let’s see the information if it’s publicly available. Not “I’m an expert, so believe me”

          11. Exactly my point. Having a fresh perspective from an outsider (but who works in that environment enough to know a good deal and that can compare it to others they work in [which I have]) is often very useful.

            It may be of little consolation to Cochrane, but in my experience of working for various public sector clients over the years, the NHS isn’t the worst. That accolade, in my view, goes first to the Parliamentary Estates Directorate (in charge of the Houses of Parliament and other related buildings in the vicinity), then the MoD, then the NHS, closely followed by the Home Office. IMHO, the PED was so bad to work with that I vowed to refuse any project with them that was offered to me again.

          13. Never had the ‘pleasure’ (or otherwise) working for them. Education Dept/schools/unis could be variable – some quite good, some terrible, similar with local councils, where having it ‘Tory-run’ is no guarantee of it being run well (councillors don’t run them, council workers and the managers do, like government departments). Sir Humphrey and his equivalents at each level. Politicians often have a very peripheral effect for most of the time.

          14. I was the architect of Richmond House in Whitehall, now listed Grade II* by English Heritage, unusual for a C20 building.

            Throughout that project I was obstructed by the DoE Property Services Agency, a bunch of incompetents, who objected to private practice involvement in what they considered to be their exclusive ‘work’.

            In the event the PSA were granted a small part of the development and made a complete mess of that and thereby compromised the whole design by so doing.

            I reckon that project took at least five years from my life. I have no truck with anyone attempting to defend the utterly useless civil service and their minions.

            As you stated, related direct experience should take precedence above mere conjecture.

          15. So what facts do you want? Do you want me to cut and paste the table of hospitals which have more than 50% of their beds occupied by Covid patients? I can if that’s the type of fact you want because it disproves the ’empty hospitals’ claim. I don’t quite understand how my 30+ year career doesn’t make me an expert in healthcare, however perhaps you are also someone who no longer believes in listening to experts.

          16. I don’t listen to people purely because they tell me they are experts, no. And yes, hard data is the only argument that persuades me. I am also an engineer, I am hard-wired to believe only stuff that I’ve tested myself, or that comes from a trusted source.

            Not selective data.
            Not data taken out of context.
            Not a blitz of data to blind people with.
            Persuading other people who are sceptical is not a trivial task. But scolding them for not believing experts is not a constructive way to go about it.
            Neither is posting insults at people who dare to mention that you might post facts instead.

          17. You could perhaps stop assigning seasonal flu admissions for the elderly with Covid. Just a thought or has seasonal flu been all but eliminated by the almost compulsory wearing of paper masks?

          18. That’s actually irrelevant when it comes to total admissions and bed occupancy. However, there is a view that mask wearing and social distancing has reduced flu rates and although I don’t believe the research has been done to prove the hypothesis, it makes sense that a transmittable reduces because of these actions.

          19. You don’t need to be a doctor or nurse to see how things are run in a hospital. Being an ‘outsider’ but still working in a hospital environment with and talking to many staff members gives a great insight into problems. It meant that I had no preconceived ideas and agenda, meaning each discovery wasn’t clouded by years of working one way or for one type of organisation.

            For example, I was amazed at the level of internal politics in hospitals, with clinicians and managers often working against one another just because of egos and inter-departmental rivalries. This often meant that vast amounts of time, effort and money were wasted on worthless exercises or things that were ‘good’ for one department was ‘bad’ for another. In addition, staff viewed sick leave as defacto extra holidays, many admitting this openly and joking about it.

            Bad practices were covered up, whistleblowers blackballed – even ones who raised serious issues about patient care. The edfault appeared to be ‘keep it to yourself’, something that happens far less in the private sector. I’m not saying everyone working in the NHS is like that, but the problem is that the unions and many apologists for the NHS’ many faults think that everyone in are saints, when there are at least as much (and probably far more, given how hard it is to sack incompetent staff – they often get moves around in the public sector) as in the rest of society.

          20. Your views mirror my own observations as a patient at times in both West Suffolk and Addenbrookes and then previously the Royal United Hospital in Bath and St Marrtin’s Hospital also in Bath where relatives died.

            I have the greatest respect for clinical staff. I have little respect for the managers.

            On one occasion I was unfortunate to be eating a lunch in The Bull in Cavendish, a local hostelry which once served great meals. On an adjacent table were a group of mouthy Health Trust executives, Oxford from memory, who ordered almost everything on the menu and consumed each dish like gannets.

            After these truly awful exhibitionist people had finished the fattest woman got up and the chair in which she was seated (an ample Windsor Smokers’ Bow) got up wIth her.

          21. Before we retired, my wife inspected care homes, at the request of local GPs and NHS trusts, who were farming patients out, and unfortunately she was responsible for some closures.

            Her tales of how elderly patients were treated would make your blood boil.

            These were private sector.

          22. There’s plenty of that going on still.

            Look profit margins in care are ridiculously low. Councils won’t pay a decent rate. Private residents are getting fewer and fewer because a lot of people nowadays pass their wealth on long before death so if they need care the government pays. Most of the big corporate homes run understaffed deliberately for extra profits. They have to keep those share prices as high as possible. The smaller family run homes struggle because they don’t have huge numbers of beds so losing just one or two residents and not filling the bed quickly puts the whole home at jeopardy of failure.

            Staff work long hours and are very definitely underpaid.

            I start work at 7.30pm. I work alone. I have 16 residents in my care, 13 of which are doubly incontinent, 4 are bedbound, 15 are suffering from dementia, 4 have diabetes. I first do a round of coffees/teas with biscuits or cake. Then i start getting any that need it ready for or into bed. They need full body washes. I peel the spuds for the dinner tomorrow. at 11pm I go around the house and check everyone’s pad and change those that need changing. Every 2 hours i have to go around and make sure no one has died. pad rounds also occur at 3am and 7am. I officially finish at 8am, i’m paid until 8am but it’s usually 9.30am before i can get out of the building. i do 2 hours of ironing sheets, pillow cases, quilt covers and table cloths every night. There’s always at least 6 loads of laundry to do. I have to clean all communal areas, lounge, dining room, laundry room, kitchen, and all hallways. I have to sanitise anything that can be touched. shelves, hand rails, door knobs, bannisters, etc. I have to cook for myself and feed myself at some point during the night. Answer all alarms. Mop kitchen and communal toilet and shower room floors. Keep computerised records. Respond to buzzers and emergencies. I have to wear full PPE and change all the PPE between residents. I work alone so i have to get the door, all phone calls etc. I have to check first aid boxes are properly stocked. Give drugs out and make sure records updated. Make sure care records are updated. Write two hourly reports on every resident. In the morning I’m supposed to change every pad, get 3 people washed and dressed and give out breakfasts for any that are up. Officially I have between 7am and 8am to do that. I can’t even change all pads in an hour. I am literally on my feet the whole time. I barely get time to eat or go to the toilet. I earn 9 quid an hour.

          24. That’s an average night shift, no one playing up, no one on a sugar rush, no one had too much to drink, no one having an ‘episode’, no norovirus, no covid, no accidents. Things can get so much worse.

          25. Sadly, modern medicine has advanced enough that most of the mechanics of the body can keep going well into their 80s and beyond, albeit with quite a bit of intervention from helpers and pills. The brain, on the other hand…one of the things I think makes a HUGE difference is the quality of a person’s life outside of the workplace – both during their childhood, working life and especially retirement.

            Keeping the brain active and occupied – meeting friends, family, former colleagues, doing activities outside of the home, keeping as fit and healthy as possible makes a HUGE difference to the quality of life and when someone’s mental health (dementia etc) starts to go and to the degree/swiftness.

            An elderly relative of mine was, until the pandemic broke, very active, both physically and mentally, but has suffered immensely during the lockdown periods and due to the ongoing closures of many leisure facilities, as well as many of his friends, family and former colleagues not being able to meet due to lockdown or shielding even when things were wound back in the summer. As such, his mental state has rapidly deteriorated from just being a bit forgetful to quite bad (I won’t give the details) – just in the space of a few months, and that’s him living at home with his wife who is otherwise in good health for her age.

            I shudder to think what those effectively locked up in nursing homes are going through, especially with many homes not able to cope/set up at the best of times, and yet left to effectively fend for themselves for much of the pandemic. As a country we’ve spent untold £Bns and yet surely some emergency measures could have been introduced to help nursing homes, including reallocating hospital staff when non-COVID work was cancelled to work in nursing homes and not have staff flitting from one home to another, plus better organisation generally so untested or COVID+ elderly patients don’t get discharged back into care homes. All that money wasted on dodgy PPE or track & trace that didn’t work, poor management from NHS England and the devolved equivalents.

            When (hopefully) this is all over, I agree that how we view (both government and ourselves) later life and care needs to be looked at with a fine toothcomb. I think if things generally had been managed better – including everyone taking better care of themselves when younger (I cannot escape blame myself on that last one), then we’d be in a far better position as regards COVID deaths and hospitalisations, whatever other agendas were going on behind the scenes.

            I must admit that the times I worked on care home or mental rehab projects as an engineer were quite sobering and not very pleasant – not because they were always poorly run, but because I thought this could well be me in X years, and that wasn’t the sort of life I wanted.

          26. Your views mirror my own observations as a patient at times in both West Suffolk and Addenbrookes and then previously the Royal United Hospital in Bath and St Marrtin’s Hospital also in Bath where relatives died.

            I have the greatest respect for clinical staff. I have little respect for the managers.

            On one occasion I was unfortunate to be eating a lunch in The Bull in Cavendish, a local hostelry which once served great meals. On an adjacent table were a group of mouthy Health Trust executives, Oxford from memory, who ordered almost everything on the menu and consumed each dish like gannets.

            After these truly awful exhibitionist people had finished the fattest woman got up and the chair in which she was seated (an ample Windsor Smokers’ Bow) got up wIth her.

          27. Has The Bull stopped serving food?
            I used to stop there often after a day fishing the Stour or Glemsford pits.
            They did a lovely steak and ale pie.

          28. Much of which I recognise, but my objection is to the rubbish you are spreading about hospitals being empty. I could write a thesis on how the NHS could be improved, but that’s for the post-pandemic world and what i see on this forum, is Covid denial.

          29. I’m not denying COVID, but am concerned it is being over-egged (especially as we don’t have any actual evidence being presented to the public, just ‘figures’ and third-hand ‘accounts’) and used as cover for other agendas. What about all those tiktok videos during the first wave of hospital staff at work, in full garb doing meticulously choreographed dance routines? I don’t recall I ever having that much time on my hands at my workplaces.

            I’d be happy to say I’m wrong, if only I and others could see actual proof across the board – and such that is verified by skeptics but who are themselves experts in their field. Rather like the lady arrested for filming empty corridors and wards in her local hospital, would it not have been far better to show (with patients faces etc blurred out for privacy) a response video showing the hospital very much open for business outside of the COVID ICU ward and used reasonably near normal?

            One of the issues as regards management is the poor level of hygenine in hospitals and laxadasical attitude of a minority of staff towards it, including, I’m sad to say, cleaners themselves. It may well be that cleaning contracts are often let on the lowest bid, but managers could get better firms/more and better staff – paying more in the process, by not wasting copious amounts of money elsewhere – including in the area I worked in – building design/refurbishment projects.

            The number of times I was told the project was to be rejigged/redone – not because designs were poor, but because X dept manager wanted a bigger office or dept than Y dept manager, or someone in charge left and the replacement 9 times out of 10 threw out their prdecessors’ plans by default to make them ‘look in charge’. As a result, most projects cost at least twice as much as they needed to – thats several £Ms wasted per year, every year, and for no extra benefit to patients or staff.

            One project my firm was brought in on was to put right (design-wise) another firm’s poor design of a specialist heating system – whilst you can blame the other firm, they were NOT specialists in that design (which they should’ve been – its very complex), and yet they were chosen by hospital top brass (but against the advice from facilities management) because they were the cheapest bid. It eventually cost the hospital over £1.5M to put it right, with the facility originally designed 3 years late (it was sitting around doing nothing for two). I don’t think they got all that money back by suing the previous consultants though, plus they had to keep very old existing facilities going during that time – which was very difficult.

            I’m not here to do every NHS worker down, but you have to realise its problems aren’t all money related or down to bad policies by government ministers. Plus there are a number of other agendas currently at work to do with the pandemic response that I and others have touched upon previously. I take the time to look things up, do research and weigh information for their authenticity – it’s what I did in my job on a daily basis for a good number of years. It’s why I think I’m quite good at spotting BS or seeing if something on the periphery is more important than it’s being portrayed and worthy of a more thorough investigation.

          30. Me too. I have studied hospital design for the reason that, now I have a bit of spare time, I could not fathom why hospitals are by design so inhospitable and frankly very ugly and inhuman buildings.

            I believe that Hospitals should be welcoming places and conducive to recovery of ill patients. Instead we have truly awful office block constructions borrowed from the very worst examples from the sixties. There are no views to the outside which means that every ward depends upon prominent signage because, without external references, you are otherwise disorientated.

            I then found that about a half dozen architectural practices are regularly commissioned to design such monstrosities, in other words it is a closed shop to innovation and more informed design. I have to reference Einstein again, the verse about repeating the error and hoping it will all sort itself the next time around.

            The NHS is a mess. It needs urgent reform but that is unlikely when we are being exhorted to clap for the wretched institution and when a million or so blind to reality but good natured folk will do the clapping.

          31. Here’s an idea.
            Why don’t you step back from the coal-face, look at it without your work hat on, and ask why it’s so overwhelmed, given that it is constantly being paraded as the best in the world?

          32. It is not the best in the world. It may have been in the 1940s. It is mediocre. But that does not mean that the NHS hasn’t moved heaven and earth to scale up fir Covid.

          33. I have total respect for the poor sods on the front line.

            I have none whatsoever for their political masters and very little for back office management.

          34. The problem is not hospital managers, it is NHS England and the assorted CCGs, PHE and so on.

          35. Well, I’ve come across my fair share of bad hospital departmental managers in my time, but agree that the worst are those above them running the show. To many chiefs and not enough proverbial indians. Unfortunately that bureacratic way of doing theings got a lot worse during Blairs time in office, but was never rolled back by the Tories subsequntly, probably because they always were afraid of accusations of ‘cuts’ from Labour and the media.

            The other point I made ealier about lower ranked staff on the front lines not coming foward (often due to the negative consequnces for their careers [which I fully understand – I saw bullying like that in action and it wasn’t pleasant]) with complaints/suggestions etc means that those in charge have continued to ‘get awy with it’ for many decades, possibly since the late 1960s.

            Even though they did struiggle and lately have been again, I think that the way the Germans run their medical system – in a far more co-operative, efficient way, both between public and private sector (with no animosity between them on an ideological level as there is here in the UK) and between clinic staff and managers is worth more than a second look, as would be looking worldwide for good ideas. Best practice is often not diseminated around in the NHS (and public sector in general), probably because management is often wary of doing so out of fear its an admission of prior failure or just laziness/incompetency on their part.

            One thing I learned very rapidly as a young engineer was learning from mistakes, in not being too proud to say ‘I don’t know’ or asking for help and to share good practice/ideas with colleagues as widely as possible.

            Serious events like the pandemic have brough bad practices/mistakes to the fore in all walks of life, but everyone needs to learn from them so they aren’t repeated. One the regular criticisms here (and in the DT) of the NHS, Civil Service and government/politicians is that this doesn’t happen anywhere near as often, rapidly or as comprehensive as it should, with making up excuses and moving the blame onto others seemingly more important. The media, especially over the last decade, does have a crucial role in this, and I think they’ve failed (also why we regularly criticise the output of the DT amongst other papers and TV News channels).

          36. I agree. I think we need to switch to a German-style health system, although we need to acknowledge that also means a 20% or so increase in funding.

          37. Amazing how quickly you plucked that figure out of thin air – almost as though you knew it by heart. I somehow doubt even if that figure is accurate (especially if German healthcare spending includes private and ours only NHS), the Unions would stop there, because its never enough.

            Of course what going down the German route would do is open the can of proverbial worms in the NHS’s wasteful spending and bad practices, because it would be running directly alongside private provision, which would like show itself (in the main) to be far superior in value for money terms.

            It’s why, as I personally discovered when working on public sector projects for a reasonable time, so many people who previously only worked in a private sector environment are so aghast at the terrible way the Public Sector is run and why few staff do anything to raise issues or improve things – at least without asking for loads of money first.

          38. I used to think it was mediocre, but then I experienced a country with a good healthcare system, and now my worst nightmare is being stuck in the UK with no alternative to the NHS (and for many things, there is no realistic alternative).

          39. The best health service in the world is often proclaimed to be that of Cuba. I have a sinking feeling that we will shortly overtake Cuba.

            And not just in our illustrious health care system.

        3. About ten years ago I had DVT. The paramedic who attended following my wife’s call, after I had collapsed and regained consciousness, gave me oxygen and suggested I drink 3 litres of water every day. She thought I had some bowel infection because I had collapsed in the loo.

          After two weeks had passed I was out of puff and my leg was so sensitive to touch that I was persuaded by my wife to go to the doctor’s surgery. I was asked to roll up my trouser legs and the doctor noted that my left leg below the knee was considerably larger than my right leg. My doctor referred me immediately to West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds. My wife was asked to drive me there immediately following the consultation.

          It was just before Christmas and on arrival the place was heaving with all sorts of people, ranging from drunks who had passed out on the street to heavy smokers in wheelchairs (one kept going out for a fag every twenty minutes) with amputated legs.

          Eventually I was assigned to a ward. This was following a wait in Emergency Admissions of about four hours.

          A ward had been opened especially for me and one other chap who had suffered a mini-stroke. The following morning I awoke and we were visited by a ‘cockney’ tea boy, probably hailing from the New Town of Haverhill (actually a mediaeval town and later a silk town) before half of the East End of London was evacuated there.

          The tea boy dispensed his gifts of tea and either porridge or else cornflakes. He then asked the two of us “what are you two in for then?” I explained that I had DVT and my mate in the next bed that he was in for a mini-stroke. The tea boy asked again “but what are you in for?” It transpired that the ward we were in was reserved for prisoners from Highpoint.

          It is amazing that even in the most dire situations there is always room for humour.

          1. As an aside, the WSH was originally constructed to the same plan as Frimley Park. A retired consultant friend told me that he once went to BSE on a fact-finding mission, and gained access through a window. Both hospitals have since evolved in different directions. I have to admit that I’m grateful to Frimley Park. It’s connection with the military clearly helps to raise standards. Now I’m nearer Guildford, the Royal Surrey is the nearest horse spittle. It doesn’t have a great reputation. The general consensus hereabouts is that – if one is unfortunate enough to be in an ambulance, ask them to turn left rather than right.

        4. Just a few days before Christmas a dear old life long friend of mine died from treatable cancer.
          And sadly I’m not allowed to go to her funeral and bid her farewell.
          Guess who’s not clapping.

          1. Please have a don’t clap for us as well. Missing the funeral just makes everything worse

          2. I heard on Tuesday that a dear friend whom I’ve known since childhood died before Christmas – they had a large family so the funeral numbers allowed were all taken up by family. But my friend said that she and all their adult children were allowed to sit with him for a couple of hours so they were able to say their goodbyes as he slipped away. He was 85, and had been having dialysis three days a week for some time, and had found that exhausting.

            I’m not clapping either, but I do think the staff are doing their jobs as best they can, and still managing to be human. At A&E the other night, all were professional and efficient – busy but not rushed off their feet.

          3. What really annoys me Ellie is how GPs have made themselves unavailable to patients.
            While front line staff are taking it all on the chin.

          4. Yes – OH had a telephone call back from a GP at our surgery the other day and got a prescription sent to the pharmacy to collect. He’s still in pain today but the surgery is closed for the weekend.

          5. The problem is Ellie the only option is A&E.
            Or minor injuries.
            I had to go to my local Spire this week, to see an othopaedic consultant. I couldn’t believe how packed the carpark was.
            But very well organised inside.
            Management perhaps ?

          6. Husband had his shoulder op at the Bristol Spire in October 2019. The surgeon there did a good job. But I think they were all contracted to the NHS during the spring phase of the pandemic.

    4. The arrogant cretin filming that fourth video was nothing more than a self-important WANKER.

    6. Chief Constable Livingstone of Police Scotland has appeared on the News, saying that there will be an investigation. He seemed a bit panicky.
      From the video as shown above it looks if there was no sign of a “party” and police seem to have provoked the violence. Police acting on tip-offs seldom goes well. Police murdered Mr Stanley in London after a tip-off from a drunk in a pub.

      Now is the time to get back at your neighbours. It’s very French. Report your neighbours via the special instant action phone line* and the Germans Resistance police will duff them up for you.

      https://planetradio.co.uk/northsound/local/news/chief-constable-satisfied-with-police-response-seen-in-viral-video/
      * There is no special instant action Police Scotland phone line for murder, rape, assault, or burglary. Funny that.

  92. I’m hoping it’ll be warmer tomorrow, it’s just far too chilly for a Saxon Queen .
    She also falls asleep earlier when it’s cold and dark. Hot chocolate and then sleep,

    1. That is following the natural and age-old pattern of our ancestors for January, Aethel. Early to bed – to sleep, perchance to dream – early to rise.

      1. If you woz a bloke you’d understand…
        early to bed early to rise.
        once at each end….

      2. Another motto dispensed to me by Jamie Shadbolt, the head of a large wood veneer supplier at one of his famed suppers was “early to bed and up with the cock”.

        He was quoting a German visitor to his works. Peddy will understand the word construction I feel sure.

          1. What would we all do without you… ?

            Have you considered castors so you get to your computer sooner? 🙁

    2. We just had a discussion about lighting a fire tonight or leaving it until the weekend.

      Since we cannot go anywhere or do anything, does it matter what day of the week it is? Isn’t minus five good enough reason?

    1. Didn’t they also complain about Grease being sexist, misogynistic and other woke causes?
      The beeb will just tell you that they have it right with a balanced audience.

    2. Good afternoon, Maggiebelle

      Don’t hold your breath.

      Boris will not keep his word about the BBC or anything else unless Carrie tells him to do so. He is completely uxorious and under the thumb,

      1. I think she got the idea from Nutmeg in trying to become the next Lady Macbeth. God help us all.

  94. Apparently the new variation of Covid is SOOO clever it can go from computer to computer via the internet – and even worse – -is NOT caught by anti-virus programs.

  96. Interestingly…. the reason for Nancy Pelosi’s anquish is because her laptop was removed from her office during the incursion which may well carry details of the election steal !

    It is now said to be in the possession of President Trump’s investigatory team……….

  97. The price of freedom is now NHS capacity

    It is the performance of the health service, not vaccine rollout, that will determine the lifting of restrictions

    JULIET SAMUEL

    Back in 2012, I was a reporter covering the fallout from the last big disaster to befall this country: the financial crisis. Four years after its mega bailout, the chief executive of RBS, Stephen Hester, explained that the bank had chosen to double its losses but that this was “a good thing” because it meant recognising the consequences of poor decisions in the past much faster before.

    “It’s a slight Alice in Wonderland world,” he admitted. Effectively, the bank’s profits were “a budget for making losses”.

    I thought back to this topsy-turvy world recently because it struck me that our Covid strategy suffers from a similar level of perversity. On Thursday, Boris Johnson even used the same concept, when he stated that schools had exceeded the “overall budget of risk”. He didn’t go into the intriguing question of how this “budget” is set.

    In theory, the Government has set out five tests that determine this “budget” and indicate when to introduce lockdown measures across the country. In reality, though, only one of these tests matters: is the surge of disease about to overwhelm the NHS? Are hospitals three weeks from “collapse”, as they are saying of London? If the answer is yes, it’s lockdown time. In other words, our society’s acceptable “budget for losses”, or deaths, is determined by the availability of hospital beds.

    This may sound obvious, if we assume that an available hospital bed for a Covid patient saves a life, as it seems to have done for the Prime Minister. But in fact, this doesn’t follow. Though hospital treatment clearly saves some lives, the “budget” is not actually set by this factor. It is set by how full NHS wards get. The two are not the same.

    This is clear when you realise that, throughout the pandemic, deaths at home have remained at well above normal levels without sparking much of a groan from Sage or anyone else. If you die quietly at home, you are not a political problem. The same was clearly thought of care homes in the spring, underlying the disastrous decision to discharge contagious, elderly Covid patients into care homes so as to free up hospital beds. Likewise with deaths from needlessly cancelled operations, which we also saw in the spring, when hospital occupancy sank well below normal levels due to postponed non-Covid activity.

    All of these factors tell us that the ultimate measure of success was never deaths, but beds. Actual deaths – not to mention children’s educations, unemployment, the solvency of businesses up and down the land and government debt – must all bow down before the totem of “our NHS”.

    In political terms, there is some cold logic to this. No one wants to live in a society in which you dial “999” and find there’s no help coming. The security of knowing someone would answer that call has been part of the basic scenery of our lives since we were children. So the Government has judged that its greatest danger lies not in the actual death figures – though they don’t help – but in the possibility of ghastly scenes at hospitals.

    Despite its efforts, however, it looks set to fail. Although headline figures show that bed occupancy is, in percentage terms, about average for the time of year, that disguises two factors. First, the overall figures usually don’t include intensive care beds, where pressure is now highest. Secondly, hospitals have rejigged themselves to create many more intensive care beds than normal, but without a lot of extra staff to service them. So the day of the great “overwhelming” is now looming in the South East.

    What will we learn if and when it comes to pass? Probably, we will learn that there isn’t a line beyond which the system “collapses”, but more of a steady slide towards poorer and poorer outcomes as staff grow exhausted and beds run out, which will then be eased when transmission slows down.

    Accounts from doctors on the inside suggest some hospitals are already rationing intensive care beds according to patients’ prospects, just as they have always rationed organ transplants, IVF, mental health treatments and expensive drugs, so we are, in a sense, already well “over budget”.

    Thankfully, there is a windfall headed our way, in the form of the Covid vaccines. In seven weeks, if all goes to plan, the vast majority of the demographics most likely to die of this disease will be largely immune. That should be more than enough to end the lockdown.

    The Government is keen to attach long lists of conditionals to this promise, however. Asked about it, Boris would only say that in the spring, “very much I hope there will be the chance – to look at some relaxations of restrictions”.

    The factor to watch is not actually the rollout of the vaccine programme, but the hospitalisation rate and the performance of the NHS. The race is not between death and vaccinations, but between vaccinations and beds.

    Organised societies have always had to make trade-offs about the value of human life. What’s so odd about the British approach, however, is that we have replaced the sanctity of human life with the sanctity of the health system. If the NHS had double the capacity, the policy would no doubt be to tolerate twice the death rate. This tells us something about the perceived role of Government. It isn’t there to save lives, as such, but to look like it might be able to save lives. “Our NHS” is an emotional rallying cry not because it is a brilliantly effective system (God knows it’s not) or even because many of its staff work very hard, but because it is a structure we rely upon to hide our vulnerability. It is about the ideal, rather than the grim reality.

    The problem with an ideal is that it easily eludes a cost-benefit analysis. Against it, you must raise other ideals: universal education, for example, or freedom. Covid policy tells us that none of these ideals currently have the same power as the promise of a hospital bed staffed by a caring nurse. If the reality falls, the Government gets the blame.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/01/08/price-freedom-now-nhs-capacity/

  98. For no reason other than to show sympathy with what the writer had to put up with:

    “Although I was ten minutes early, Vernon was there ahead of me, framed in the ancient chapel doorway, chatting up what is by general agreement the prettiest of the nunnery’s seven sisters. Vernon is a great bear of a man, raised in poverty in the Appalachian mountains, now wealthy, whose speaking voice is Jack Nicholson’s. A new friend, Vernon excites me because having endured real poverty he fiercely repudiates the glorification of anything that might be categorised under the heading of low life and calls me to order if I err in that direction conversationally.

    Vernon had brought the nuns three bottles of his homemade olive oil in a carrier bag. I bowled up as he was handing them over. Framed by the ancient chapel door, the sloppily dressed giant and the tiny nun in the huge starched wimple, a supermarket carrier bag suspended between, made a striking composition. When I drew level, Vernon introduced me to the nun. I’d never met a real nun before. The nun’s face, showcased in the perfect oval of the wimple, turned to mine. From 18 inches away, her youthful prettiness, gentleness and radiant saintliness so wildly exceeded every stereotype in my imaginative arsenal that I laughed at her. Vernon looked faint and pale with desire. The sister took her leave with smiling grace and passed inside to prepare for Vespers. Vernon shook his face as though he’d walked through a spider’s web and we followed the nun inside.

    The chapel interior is dark and austere. A few rows of pews, then tall, park-sized railings separating the holy from the public area. But it is the acoustics one notices first on entering. You can literally hear a pin drop. The lifting of the door latch rings out like a gunshot. And when the nuns begin to sing, their soaring, piercing voices make you look for a microphone.

    The present Benedictine nuns have been recently imported from Argentina to replace the previous community of terribly old French pied-noir refugees from an Algerian nunnery. While we feared for their loudly creaking joints, we regular attenders loved those old French nuns too. However we do also feel as though The Mousetrap has finally been taken off and replaced with something brisker.

    As is most often the case, Vernon and I comprised the entire congregation so we sat in the front pew, close to the railings. A bell tolled, then the seven sisters filed in from the wings as though on muffled castors and made for their stalls — three on the right, four on the left — forming two facing rows of starched, inclined wimples. Then they were off. No preamble. Just seven female voices, startling in their purity and piercing accuracy, filling the darkness and the astonished mind.

    Vernon and I were away with the fairies when two shots rang out. That heavy door latch had been lifted and dropped. Two young adults and two small boys came down the aisle and filed into the other front pew. The woman crossed herself before sitting. A prosperous family, I’d say, judging by the quality of their coats, footwear and haircuts and by the majesty of their self-possession.

    The boys took less than half a minute to decide that the nuns and their singing were not worth their or their parents’ attention. They started a rival choir that was deliberately, almost Satanically, discordant. This discomposed the parents not at all. They smiled indulgently at them and then tried to entice Vernon and me to smile indulgently at them also. Glancing sideways, I could see Vernon’s eyes fixed firmly to the front and bulging ominously. Suffer the little children to come unto me, I kept telling myself.

    Abandoning their choir, the two boys next competed to see who could shout random words the loudest. Then they used the pews and their parents as climbing frames. Then they ran circuits of the chapel, whooping. The parents continued to smile lovingly at their princelings and furtively at us, under the very mistaken impression that Vernon and I were appreciating the boys’ performance as much as they were.

    Now Vernon stood up. As the nuns’ voices, with soaring descant harmonies, praised God, he marched across the chapel floor and stood pop-eyed before the parents and for a moment I thought he was going to start throwing uppercuts. But instead of that, thank goodness, he put his two great thumbs in the parents’ faces and gave them and their children a massive thumbs-down. Then he marched out of the chapel.

    I followed him outside and caught up with him. He was apoplectic. It wasn’t so much the boys’ behaviour that had enraged him as the exhibitionism of the parents, he said. But mainly it that father’s floppy hair. It was the hair that tipped him over, he said. Funnily enough, Vernon, I said, it was that father’s hair that had annoyed me the most, too.”

    Jeremy Clarke – Spectator (He is at present in the South of France).

    2. “The present Benedictine nuns have been recently imported from Argentina to replace the previous community of terribly old French pied-noir refugees from an Algerian nunnery”. If anyone is wondering about the appellation “French pied-noir” it’s because French settlers in Algérie, being Europeans, wore shoes, hence “black feet” (pieds noirs). When l’Algérie n’était plus française these Europeans returned to France.

    3. “The present Benedictine nuns have been recently imported from Argentina to replace the previous community of terribly old French pied-noir refugees from an Algerian nunnery”. If anyone is wondering about the appellation “French pied-noir” it’s because French settlers in Algérie, being Europeans, wore shoes, hence “black feet” (pieds noirs). When l’Algérie n’était plus française these Europeans returned to France.

    4. Very good.

      I was awakened by Nuns singing at 7.AM every morning when holidaying in Malta. St Ursula’s was just the other side of the road. Quite magical really.

        1. The Catholic church over the road from me rings some blasted bell at 7 am. Occasionally I manage to sleep through it.

          1. Just thank your lucky stars it hasn’t been turned into a mosque – yet. You probably wouldn’t manage to sleep through muezzin.

  99. Jules – I have just flagged what look like spammers. I might be wrong – but I thought better safe than sorry.

    2. Thanks, Bill. There have been a few this afternoon. My problem is that – by the time I get an email from Discurse – another mod has beaten me to it.

      In other news, I’ve just posted a reply to Am F below the Letters page, beginning with the word BoIIocks*. And passed moderation…

      *Two upper case ‘eyes’ are indistinguishable from two lower case ‘ells’…

        1. Not at all. But Am Faochagach is a crashing lefty bore. Given the denial of comments on any articles of interest in the DT lately, my subscription is looking increasingly likely to be cancelled. The Speccie is not far behind.

          1. I don’t know why people still respond to him, it would and does make so much sense to me to just ignore his contrarian responses, after all if I see dog poo on the pavement I don’t then tread in it and then complain bitterly about the pavement/poo/sole interface being a tory plot/p

          5. Is amF a lefty? He seems to take a contrary view on anything posted, no matter the subject.

            Who was the other one Yves Binoche or something like that. At least you could sometimes have a conversation with Yves.

          6. I’ve no idea, I don’t frequent that site. I was referring to the fact that Datz said he wouldn’t step in dog muck and then complain it was all the Tories’ fault. It is typical of the lefty not to take personal responsibility and then blame the Tories for what happened to them 🙂

          8. I will take your word for it, I just skip past them nowadays, it can make the dt letters a much quicker read.

          9. I totally agree, but today I’ve had a few pops at him. I managed to get “boIIocks” past the mods. I was rather hoping to be banned, since I’m just about to end the subscription.

          10. I’m reminded of a story about my Dad, who shuffled off this mortal coil 58 years ago yesterday. It was before my time, so the details are hazy, but someone fashioned a lump of brown mastic into the shape of a dog turd, and left it in a prominent position. After several folk had sensibly avoided stepping on it, Dad picked it up, sniffed it, and put it in his pocket…

          11. I hope you give Am F a good send off when you leave. He (assuming it is a bloke) was so royally p*ss** at me outing him throughout the day as a troll and what to do about it that he wet his trossachs and ran, squealing to the mods. He especially hates it if you imitate him by including his name in every sentence and don’t give reasons why you think he’s full of carp.

      2. I very rarely look BTL on the DT. It is too much for my pore brane. And that A Allan chap is always pontificating!

      3. Sadly Am F is often technically correct, and in Scotland he/she is probably the life and soul of the Party.

      4. I don’t get emails from Disqus – but if they’ve been flagged they appear in spam or deleted.

          1. I turned off the emails very early on and never wanted to start them again. When I set up this account a year ago I used a new email address and it is not used for anything else and unmonitored. I seem to have lost access to my other account.

    3. Sorry – I was otherwise engaged – but I don’t see anything in the spam box or the deleted box. Has anyone dealt with them? Ah yes – I see they’ve been done. Sorry I missed them.

    2. Even more importantly, she wants the person who deleted her hairstyling appointments to put them back. As an update (just watched Tim Pool’s video on this) – wouldn’t it be something if hard evidence was found on said laptop of Dems’ cheating at the election, including collusion with the MSM and big tech to help? Somehow, I think they are more scared of that than any national security information going missing.

      I bet there’s a much higher chance in it reaching Project Veritas than the Chinese or the Russians.

  101. That’s me for this very gloomy, foggy day – and the weather was no better.

    It is said that it will be sunny tomorrow – we’ll see.

    A demain.

    1. Have just seen a wevva presenter issue a “yellow ice warning”. I’ve heard of “yellow snow” that should not be eaten, but “yellow ice” is a new one on me…

  102. On the news tonight is the report of a death whilst sleeping of a very fit young man who had symptoms of coughing and a tight chest.

    It is worth noting that people with very high levels of fitness experience such low heart rate levels arising from their heart’s efficiency that it is known that such individuals may have to be woken up during sleep to avoid heart failure through unsurvivable bradycardia. Any additional health conditions are likely to further compromise the survivability of such a condition.

    Could this be the reason why very fit people die suddenly?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-55584649

    4. I saw that. My first thought was: “define ‘very fit'”. My second thought was, is the COVID virus turning into a form that is starting to preferentially target the young, like the Spanish Flu did?

    5. Erythropoietin was used by cyclists to improve performance. It turned their blood to syrup and they had to be regularly woken up at night to avoid their blood ceasing to circulate. Many died.

    1. Government reports say that UK generating capacity is about 70GW (everyone believes government statistics don’t they!) Only running at about 60% capacity then.

      So no need to worry, leave that for a few years when they force electric heating and cars onto you.

    2. “At this moment that’s a fact jack,coal saving our arses”

      Uh???

      Coal these days meets roughly 5% of overall electricity demand. Most of our power comes from burning natural gas.

  104. The gloves are off now……………

    Twitter has suspended the President of the United States, Donald J Trump !

    1. I am reading that this contravenes the first amendment, the right to freedom of speech. The gauntlet has certainly been thrown down. Whereto-for now, I wonder?

      1. No it doesn’t. No-one has taken away Trump’s right to free speech. One platform has banned him; it’s actually no different from me being banned from this forum.

        1. Trump is President of the most powerful country in the world, if only for a few more days. Jack Dorsey is an American citizen and whatever his personal political preferences, he has no right to try to silence the man who is still the elected leader of his country.

          BTW, your analogy fails. The last time I looked, you’re not banned from this forum. Be glad that NoTTL is not run by a neo-fascist like Dorsey!
          ;¬)

          1. Twitter are well within their rights.

            A business isn’t compelled to accept custom from all. Trump’s presidential status doesn’t mean he’s entitled to use Twitter. It’s a private sector business, it can refuse anyone it wants to, particularly those who seek to incite violence and civil disobedience and want to subvert democracy.

          2. If Twitter follows an editorial policy, as mandated by Dorsey, it can no longer claim to be a platform for discussion, it becomes a publisher and as such liable for legal consequences, should anybody choose to sue for defamation or any other tort.

            Section 230, which – as things stand – protects Twitter, Facebook, Youtube etc. from such legal actions must be repealed and it’s not just Trump that says so. Even feckin’ Biden wants it reformed.

          3. Editorial policy or not, if you put it out to the public then you bear some responsibility for what is placed on your server / site. Newspapers control comments already, why shouldn’t these guys do the same. Must be big money involved if they persuaded congress to leave them alone.

            What that does to the likes of Twitter or Facebook would be interesting to see. Does everything have to be viewed and approved before posting? That would be an awful big increase in jobs for censors especially if many countries had the same policy.

        2. He should have left Twitter before now, in my opinion. By staying, he was according it an importance it doesn’t deserve.
          This is important, because UK government policy seems to be very much influenced by a small handful of Twitter activists. People need to wake up and realise that Twitter does not represent public opinion.

          1. Yes and not helped my many newspaper journalists basing their stories on a quick trawl of Twitter.

      2. How?
        Surely Twitter has every right to decide who can use its service. With freedom of speech comes some responsibility to act reasonably.

        There are many other outlets for Trump to use that would be more amenable to what he is saying.

        1. He is, after all, only the almost-time-expired President of the United States… not some sort of god-head and he really doesn’t matter anymore; though he has yet to realise it.

          1. They will not impeach him so it looks like they are trying to freeze him out. No Twitter and no facebook cuts off most of his direct communications ability.

            What a sad way to end, his drain the swamp attack on the embedded old guard was and is still needed, it will not happen now.

          3. How much damage has Trump done to the GOP?

            Are we looking at Democrat presidents for the conceivable future because of Trump?

          4. I don’t really care about how much damage he has done to the GOP – political parties must take responsibility for their actions. I do worry about the amount of damage he has done to the US of A though – and particularly those residents who are least able to help themselves and whose lives he has made much harder… in the main.

          5. How much damage has Trump done to the GOP?

            Hopefully he’s helped damage it, some the swamp creatures who lurk in the party have certainly been exposed in the last few days. Really though the GOP needs to be utterly destroyed so that a genuine party can replace it.

            Are we looking at Democrat presidents for the conceivable future because of Trump?

            No, we’re looking at Democrat presidents for the conceivable future because of Democrat corruption coupled with the mass-immigration of the 3rd world – part and parcel of the same thing really. Trump may have slowed that a fraction but OTOH their desperation to destroy him made them pull out all the stops this time.

            Remember it’s not really Trump they (the globalist/left) hate, its the deplorable white people who voted for him. They clearly despise those people. Those white people are looking for direction and leadership and he was all that was available. Whereas various morons and trolls (and the media) claim that Trump created something rather than latching onto the zeitgeist.

          7. No. Because of the election fraud, we are looking at Dems and Republicans swapping the Presidency between them as they have always done, but the difference now is that the Republicans will have to promise not to rock the boat (refusing to sign the UN Migration Pact, refusing to go along with the CO2 fraud), or they know what will happen to them. Effectively opposition to the globalists’ great reset is finished.

          9. That is the biggest downside, Trumps promise to clean up Washington failed, the establishment won’t let anyone else get that close.

      3. He has the right to freedom of speech, but that doesn’t include the right to have a Twitter account or use their service.

    2. Twitter is just a cess-pit for lefty loonies to agree with each other. He shouldn’t pander by posting there (though I know a few people on here do sterling work challenging left wing idiocy).

    1. His first appearance on television was as a fresh-faced young bloke on a Keith Floyd show. Floyd kept calling him ‘Dick’. After a while Stein replied, “It’s ‘Rick’, actually, old chap.”

      1. Floyd is a legend. Drinking all night in Bars frequented by ladies of the night and taxi drivers. Much like the BBC nowadays.

        1. His restaurant was in Bedminster Bristol, not far from the WD & HO Wills factory where their famous Woodbines were made.

          The Wills’ tower is the focal point of the University of Bristol, funded by the Wills company. I am amazed that BLM have targeted Colston and not made the connection between the Wills family and its Virginia plantations.

          Perhaps they use Wills’ tobacco in their spliffs.

        2. His restaurant was in Bedminster Bristol, not far from the WD & HO Wills factory where their famous Woodbines were made.

          The Wills’ tower is the focal point of the University of Bristol, funded by the Wills company. I am amazed that BLM have targeted Colston and not made the connection between the Wills family and its Virginia plantations.

          Perhaps they use Wills’ tobacco in their spliffs.

        4. His restaurant was in Bedminster Bristol, not far from the WD & HO Wills factory where their famous Woodbines were made.

          The Wills’ tower is the focal point of the University of Bristol, funded by the Wills company. I am amazed that BLM have targeted Colston and not made the connection between the Wills family and its Virginia plantations.

          Perhaps they use Wills’ tobacco in their spliffs.

    2. His first appearance on television was as a fresh-faced young bloke on a Keith Floyd show. Floyd kept calling him ‘Dick’. After a while Stein replied, “It’s ‘Rick’, actually, old chap.”

      1. Not too much cooking in this series but you know Rick…he can’t help himself. Some interesting history attached to the county.

        I’m surprised you are not keen. In most fishy recipes there tend to be few ingredients.

        Better than the one pan wonder Nigel Slater… 🙂

        Other than that. Cookery progs are about the only thing left that i watch on the Beeb.

        1. I enjoy both RS and NS.
          We did an NS recipe for Christmas with a few minor tweaks and it was superb.

          1. I watched a short series of Nigel Slater in the middle east. His greasy hair and dandruff was most evident. Put me off.

            At least Rick Stein recipes don’t need tweaking.

            That said. I’m glad you enjoyed your fry up. 🙂

          2. I’ve only ever watched his UK series, and enjoyed them.

            The fry up was day 4, when I did a duck fried rice. It was my ad hoc recipe rather than a standard and even my greatest food critic, HG, enjoyed it.

            My view is that unless one is an anal retentive, most recipes should reflect what is available in the cupboard/fridge

            We cook with what we have, unless we are looking at it with a very specific meal in mind, in which case we shop accordingly.

            HG taught all the boys to cook on the “make do with what’s there” school and they’ve turned into very good cooks.

  106. At Firstborn’s farm for the weekend. -15C just now, and 2 foot of snow. Proper winter!

      1. In Sweden, if the daytime temperature rose from -15C to anything above -5C, it became distinctly uncomfortable.

      1. I enjoyed five winters in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Minus 40C = Minus 40F ! The Red River and the Assinaboine freeze from October to March, providing the options of commuting by ski or by skates! Usually sunny in the cold ….

        1. When my brother was in rural Manitoba he used to say that it was quite pleasant down to about -25C just as long as it wasn’t windy. But when the children were small they had to make sure they didn’t take their mittens off as -25 was too cold for small fingers. The school buses kept running down to -38C, except during storms.

          1. Yes indeed, JSP, wind can turn from ‘pleasant’ to dangerous very quickly.
            Another, rarer phenomenon, is the ‘Ice storm’; it can cause destruction of mature trees by instantaneous & massive ice formation causing gravitational collapse … However, surviving trees provide a glittering wintry spectacle.

          2. As the farm was wholly arable and pretty much nothing grows in Manitoba in winter he was able (with the exception of seeing the children on and off the bus) to choose his times for going out of doors. Grain hauling to the elevator was his biggest winter activity but even that didn’t happen if it was stormy. The children, of course, only played outside when it was pleasant.

    4. Just back from daughters farm and it was -14c when we left at 5.30pm! Crystal clear skies and Orion lying on his side!

          3. That was the line Bill Clinton’s stole from the Beatles and applied it to his relationship with Monica Lewinski!

        2. Airports have lounges ! Normal people have sitting rooms ! And you call us Southerners poncey?

          🙂

          1. It’s me living room. I only said ‘lounge’ so that them what have ‘lunch’ understood! OK?

            It’s not a ‘lounge’, a ‘sitting room’, a ‘parlour’, a ‘drawing room’, a ‘best room’, a ‘vardagsrum‘, a ‘finrum‘ or an ‘allrum‘. It’s a living room.

          5. It’s me living room. I only said ‘lounge’ so that them what have ‘lunch’ understood! OK?

            It’s not a ‘lounge’, a ‘sitting room’, a ‘parlour’, a ‘drawing room’, a ‘best room’, a ‘vardagsrum‘, a ‘finrum‘ or an ‘allrum‘. It’s a living room.

    2. You need help. Call this number immediately. 01765 232 847 Gnome/Dwarf addiction hotline. Stay away from stuffed toys !

  109. Ben Garrison, America’s favorite cartoonist, just suspended by Twitter…. and the amazing ”Praying Medic”, General Flynn and Sidney Powell.

  111. It’s a Twitter and Facebook purge………….

    Over half a million Trump supporters gone !

    1. Hit them in the pocket. It is the only way.

      Yup, the bastards are so rich that they will survive for a while but when their treasonous activities are fully exposed their wealth will be confiscated and they will be thrown into gaol for ‘re-education’ by Bubba. They had better not drop the soap in the shower.

      I cannot wait!

    2. Hit them in the pocket. It is the only way.

      Yup, the bastards are so rich that they will survive for a while but when their treasonous activities are fully exposed their wealth will be confiscated and they will be thrown into gaol for ‘re-education’ by Bubba. They had better not drop the soap in the shower.

      I cannot wait!

      1. Not that I am particularly bothered by the downvoter as I generally post on iPhone, but could someone share the identity of the downvoter?

        One needs to know the enemy.

        I have made a short list of those who side with the suspect mod and who purport to consider my posts offensive. I will no longer respond to them nor uptick their comments in future.

  113. 327271+ up ticks,
    Thinking allowed I wonder if President Trump is playing a kind of rain man campaign as in showering about the threat
    of revealing treacherous type actions, to see what treacherous type worms it brings to the surface.

    Just a thought, because currently nothing is as it seems.

    1. Thinking is not allowed at the DT!

      Not a single article on the subject of events in the US allows BTL comments – not even the article by Charles Moore.

      The Comments facility has become so pre-censored that it is now a complete, hypocritical scam.

  114. I’m hearing that President Trump will be pulling a rabbit out of a hat……………………….

      1. Don’t be cruel. Polly has been ahead of the game despite the ridicule from
        others on this forum.

        There is a very strong possibility that President Trump will turn heads when the Italian job is revealed to the Supreme Court.

        I have a particular interest in American politics for the reason that I have several ancestors there. In the sixties I had a pen friend in Fort Worth. I still have some marvellous books he would send me at Christmas. ‘The Face of Texas’ remains a ‘go to’ for historical context.

          1. To put it simply, the SC is frit. The complete system is riddled through and through with corruption. Individuals may be OK, but they are kept in place by the system.

          2. They have. He’s going to need a very big rabbit out of a very big hat to avoid his second impeachment. And the subsequent prosecution for incitement to riot. I do wish Polly and Corrie would not comment on things they obviously know nothing about.

            Signed,

            Jack, a US Citizen.

        2. No, I am not being cruel, sarcastic…. neither am I ridiculing her. I sincerely hope it is good news and something comes of it. My comment had no malicious intent. I frequently uptick Polly.

        3. As much as I would like to see a rabbit appear and dare I say it, a real and through examination of what transpired in the US elections, events has shown us that the politicians and fixers over there do not want such actions.
          After 8 or 12 years of Marxist rule of Biden, Harris and perhaps AOC, there may be a desire for change if there is anything left worth changing.

          1. Although I disagree with you about Trump, I do think the Republican party needs to move on and focus on the next mid-term elections. How do they rebuild? If Biden is a disaster, they should have a great chance of taking back control of Congress in 2022.

          2. I don’t think it needs a disaster, just a lack lustre performance from Biden could well be enough to turn the tide.
            Does the party have the ability to rebuild if it means dropping the Trump clan?

          3. I think they will have great difficulty in rebuilding, the majority of the 75 million voters consider they have been sold out by the Republican Party or at least its leaders.
            I note you fail to mention what I consider the Democrats failure in this debacle, their utter indifference in any attempt to heal the wounds by not calling and cooperating in a full and thorough investigation to the many irregularities which occurred.

          4. The Republicans went straight to Court and their multiple allegations were thrown out; how can the Dems co-operate with investigating claims the Courts decided were nonsense? What we have here is an epidemic of false claims spread on social media sites.

          5. Again you miss the point, to have an effective Presidency which brings the country together, the Democrats should have pushed for a full and frank investigation to lay to rest any doubts or suspicions about fraud.
            They could have done it as a joint endeavour with the Republicans, they did not need permission from the courts, indeed they should have made the offer long before it went to the courts.
            You can keep typing away putting your views on forums such as these but it is not us that need to be convinced, it is all those millions in the US who do not accept your viewpoint.
            Of course if fraud was widespread then it is not in the Democrats interests to expose it, the methods will be very useful in 2022 and 2024. Their silence is deafening.

          6. I completely disagree. It is a basic legal principle that the accusers need to prove their case.

          7. As a result of following the legal principle you mention, Biden & Co will have a lovely time trying to bring the US together.
            I’ll just sit back and enjoy the show.

    2. Just to make it clear, Polly, I was not being sarcastic with my comment below, I am sincerely hoping that this is the beginning of the end and I, for one, am grateful for your posts.

    1. Good night Peddy

      I am sure you will not mind me pointing out to you that nowadays several dental filling materials are available. Teeth can be filled with gold; porcelain; silver amalgam (which consists of mercury mixed with silver, tin, zinc, and copper); or tooth-coloured, plastic, and materials called composite resin fillings.

      (Please don’t take offence – not everybody appreciates my attempts at humour!)

      1. I don’t take offence. At least you got the facts right &, apart from an unnecessary comma (after tooth-coloured), you presented them without mistakes.

  118. Night All

    Sign off with these

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e5e6aeb698840bf3b9766af6b70f3e17bcdd4e0407e97fda56c94a3447aca244.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e2719fb4449f2b54acc6e9e59907fd94acbbe1063fd4396eb9065fdcfb6e3e6f.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a9f61f1ad4107ca8927e99d68e8cd1b7dbb54d7703bc458e48cd6b20115542b5.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/350b31d0c96c4fc80fc96981c0e38e1842e5a043b20e14063e2bf33f68187aef.jpg

    And finally

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3e4d7a419edf1d71c4adcfeffb10f884e7f212564a67ad65a827f221720d7b41.jpg

Comments are closed.