Thursday 25 March: An unwieldy, useless continuation of lockdown with millions vaccinated

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/03/25/lettersan-unwieldy-useless-continuation-lockdown-millions-vaccinated/

804 thoughts on “Thursday 25 March: An unwieldy, useless continuation of lockdown with millions vaccinated”

  2. Nicola Sturgeon has thrown down the guantlet to our PM. She is giving her nurses a 4% pay rise . Should boost her votes in May.

      1. Any facts as to the management and allocation of the Scottish budget to substantiate that, Bob? Or is it just another dig?
        We are either one nation or we are not. Which is it? You cannot criticise levels of expenditure in one place and then complain that that place wants to leave.
        How about levels of expenditure in London, Bob? Keep in mind big projects like Crossrail* and also that half the people in London are not British and never will be. You won’t find the names of their forebears on War Memorials, or on the lists of inventors of the Industrial Revolution and the modern age, or amongst the philosophers and thinkers of the Enightenment, will you?

        *Crossrail budget £20bn, Scottish budget £40bn (everything). Just saying.

        1. Who wants Crossrail? Who asked to have half the population of London to be changed? How many Scottish politicians supported dumping on London. Blair being one of the worst.

      2. Time to end the Barnett Formula (which was only supposed to be temporary – like income tax!), then there will be no such suspicions.

    2. Yo cs

      and the ambulance staff, paramedics, hos[ital porters, doctors, police, firemen, pathologists (oops just COVID), hospital catering staff etc?

      1. I don’t know the extent of Sturgeon’s largesse but it must put pressure on our PM to do likewise. I think his partner will be twisting his arm until he caves in again..

  4. The World has turned upside-down..

    Russia’s meddling media is standing in the way of protesters getting truncheoned and tasered by officers, a new report from Scotland’s police watchdog has said, warning that RT routinely reports on heavy handed crowd control.

    1. It must be very frustrating for our noble police officers having to use restraint and not being able to beat the shite out of folk especially the ones who patently deserve it….

  5. On the news this morning – Pubs wont be allowed to serve people that haven’t had the vaxx.
    Didn’t they say not long ago that people wouldn’t be allowed to go on holiday abroad without a vaxx or face a big fine.
    And guess what? they’ve had the vaxx and they still can’t go abroad on holiday without a big fine.
    Anyone now having the vaxx so they can go in a pub must be mad.

  6. China is weaponising wokeness. Spiked. 25 March 2021.

    It’s 2021 and the Chinese regime has started lecturing the US on racism and injustice. Yes, that’s the same Chinese regime that has put a million Uyghur Muslims in re-education camps.

    Beijing has released a new report on supposed human-rights violations in the US. It opens with a quote from George Floyd – ‘I can’t breathe!’ – and goes on to state that ‘racism exists in a comprehensive, systematic and continuous manner’ in the US. According to the Chinese government, ethnic minorities in America have been ‘devastated by racial discrimination’.

    Morning everyone. It’s not surprising that the Chinese have noticed that the West has abandoned truth and taken to BS! This needless to say saves them a lot of trouble, they no longer have to counter facts and reason but just spout the same Bull as goes around in the western MSM. One imagines that it causes them endless amusement to watch as it flounders trying to deal with the very same stuff that it propagates. The only real difference is that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) don’t really believe any of this! They are still anchored in the world of reality where historical and geopolitical truths still rule!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/03/25/china-is-weaponising-wokeness/

      1. I said that yesterday on GP, didn’t get many upvotes, they’re all too woke on there

        2. The ‘skipper’ does not do that: it is the Helmsperson

          The skipper/officer of the Watch is making sure all bits are working, including the direction and engine power

          7. I wasn’t going to argue with someone who only had 6 inches (150mm) to play with …..

            FILTH!!

            (Opps, wrong site!)

          8. That’s because “Skipper” was originally taken from the Dutch word “Schipper” for boatman or “scheepskapitein”.

            Pronounced with a hard guttural “Sch”.

        3. Here’s a photo of my favourite Lady Skipper navigating a tight passage….

          Would you care to rephrase that???

    2. There was mention of a blast of sand, and when you look at the shape of the vessel you can see how easy it would be to get blown about.

  8. UK stuck with BBC licence fee until 2038 after broadband rollout failure, say MPs. 25 March 2021.

    Britain is stuck with the licence fee until 2038 because the Government’s failure to roll out super-fast broadband has left no viable alternative, MPs have concluded.

    The Government’s pledge to deliver full-fibre broadband to every home by 2025 was downgraded to a target of just 85 per cent in November.

    A subscription-based, universal alternative to the licence fee would require all households to be online before the next BBC Charter is negotiated for 2028-38. That now appears all but impossible, according to a report by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee.

    This is pitiful stuff. We can’t hang anyone because we’ve run out of wood for the scaffold! The reality is that they are determined to keep the BBC in being for as long as possible. It is the primary arm of Woke propaganda in the UK!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/03/25/uk-stuck-bbc-licence-fee-2038-broadband-rollout-failure-say/

    3. My response on TVlicenceresistance.info

      The report highlighted that a ‘significant number of households’ did not have access to a broadband connection that would let them watch online TV services. ”

      Patronising tripe. Householders seemed to manage quite well with having STBs for the digital roll-out (at their own expense).

      I had a Sky dish and STB (Analogue) as long ago as 1994 so those without high speed broadband could have something similar. The technology has moved on exponentially so signals could be encrypted for transmission and a decrypt device (STB) could be installed by subscribers.

      I am on a family WhatsApp group which is encrypted end-to-end using the 3G/4G/5G networks so the lack of broadband provision is a red herring. Satellite dishes remain an alternative where broadband coverage is poor.

  9. Ain’t that the truth…
    SIR – By saying that “the reason we have the vaccine success is because of capitalism, because of greed” (report, March 24), the Prime Minister bypassed his brain-to-mouth filter again, but his reasoning is sound: capitalism delivers where socialism and state control fail.

    The company that made the Oxford vaccine is a sink-or-swim, market-fit venture which was there and ready – and thank God for that. Its expensive facilities and experienced scientists did not all appear overnight.

    There was a wry joke that East Germans used to make: the difference between the capitalist West and the socialist East is that if they need more bread in the West, someone bakes another loaf; in the East the government just slices the loaf more thinly. Today we might call that the Von der Leyen solution.

    Victor Launert
    Matlock Bath, Derbyshire

  11. Border Force will get powers to stop and redirect boats carrying migrants across Channel. 25 March 2021.

    Border Force officers are to get new Australian-style “turn-back” powers to stop and redirect boats carrying illegal migrants across the Channel.

    Border Force and the Navy have trialled technologies to turn back migrants including nets to disable propellers but the Home Office has yet to secure an agreement with the French to take them back amid disagreements over the safety risks of the approach.

    So they are going to turn them back to where?

    Don’t bother reading the rest of this bilge. Nothing is going to change!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03/24/border-force-will-get-powers-stop-redirect-boats-carrying-migrants/

    1. No new powers are required. A new attitude and concomitant action are required.

    2. For some time I have been arguing, as I did here yesterday, that we need a special snorkel force armed with sticks with sharp needles attached. Their job is to swim under the rubber dinghies before they reach British waters and puncture them.

  12. 330746+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,
    May one ask is the 6th May going to signal the next age of finally polishing of Great Britain via the polling booth ?

    The end can be finally achieved by the usual vote that has proved over the last three decades so successful in bringing us to heel as a nation.

    The lab/lib/con coalition endgame IMO is reset, replace, & rename
    the whole sorry state as Gotham ( the place of dangerously voting fools)

    https://twitter.com/danwootton/status/1374846691220815873

    1. 330746+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      Working out well for the political society dismantlers,
      the closing of John Lewis in Peterborough ect,permanently.

      Should free up a great deal of say, barrack space
      for potential incoming troops via the Dover invasion campaign.

        1. 330746+ up ticks,
          Morning HM,
          Agreed, also many peoples it was a day out on the coach heading to london, a shopping period, lunch, return evening coach.

          Ripples of reset showing through in no uncertain manner, a
          lab/lib/con vote WILL call for more of the same.

        1. It’s the painting commissioned by Blackadder of a Hun ravaging a nun in WWI, painted by young George.

  15. Exclusion rates five times higher for black Caribbean pupils in parts of England

    Exclusion rates for black Caribbean students in English schools are up to six times higher than those of their white peers in some local authorities, Guardian analysis has found, highlighting what experts have called an “incredible injustice” for schoolchildren from minority ethnic backgrounds.

    Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children were also excluded at much higher rates, with Roma children nine times more likely to be suspended in some areas. And exclusion rates for mixed-race white and black Caribbean students were more than four times higher than their white peers in several local authorities.

    Colour me surprised! One of the really (only?) smart decisions I made was not to take up the opportunity to be a teacher! No wonder they don’t want to go!

    https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/mar/24/exclusion-rates-black-caribbean-pupils-england

    1. Yo Minty

      Owzaabouta the little (and big) booggers behaving themselves

      That sort of statisitic, in which the child has an input, reminds me of the lad found guilty of murdering his parents, the pleading for clemency,

      because he was an orphan

    2. ‘Morning, Minty, perhaps part of the reason for this behaviour, that warrants exclusion (it used to be the cane) is that the miscreants have noted how mostly those in that grouping are treated leniently (with kid gloves) by those in authority?

      I’m picking my words very carefully here.

    3. I didn’t realise Roma and Traveller children attended school long enough to be excluded.

    4. When BAME and gypsy children misbehave does it mean that it is not their fault but the fault of their schools and teachers?

      I was lucky to have taught in independent schools where discipline did not have to be heavy handed but where pupils knew – and accepted – that there might be consequences if they misbehaved.

    1. Socialism has never worked anywhere: where it is practised moderately, it impoverishes the people; where it is practised thoroughly, it leads to the erosion of freedom, the gulag and genocide.

      We are in the end game!

      Morning Bob.

    2. This reminds me of J K Galbraith’s observation made in (I think) 1968, that India, where the public sector accounts for 6% of the economy, calls itself socialist, while America, where the figure is 30%, calls itself capitalist.

    3. Morning all. An excellent article. I wrote to our MP many months ago that we now have a socialist government!

  17. Morning all

    SIR – The public was led to believe that the lockdown policy would in some way lead to the elimination of the threat to health. Just two of the Prime Minister’s misleading claims were that his policy “would send coronavirus packing” and would put Covid-19 “back in its box”.

    But it has never been possible by deliberate action to eliminate Covid, eradicate it from the United Kingdom or effect overall control of infection. Though the Government now speaks of managing inevitable risk, this is woefully inadequate.

    The Government at last focused on the (elderly) vulnerable in the scheduling of vaccination. It thereby undertook a manageable task with probably positive results. To prolong lockdown and pursue vaccination of the remaining population is to undertake an unmanageable task with no result superior to naturally occurring infection.

    The Government must now abandon lockdown and dramatically revise its vaccination programme. To do this would require the Government to acknowledge that its policy (aimed, not at the vulnerable, but at the entire population) was a catastrophic mistake. Does the Government have the national interest sufficiently at heart to do this, given the inevitable political consequences?

    Professor David Campbell

    Lancaster University Law School, Lancaster

    SIR – At a press conference this week, the Prime Minister talked about “reclaiming our freedoms”. Dr Mary Ramsay from Public Health England says that requirements for masks and social distancing will “last for years”.

    Should the Prime Minister not be honest and talk about “getting to slightly fewer restrictions” rather than “reclaiming our freedoms”?

    T W Wood

    Wivenhoe, Essex

    SIR – The longing to travel overseas is not just about palm trees and parties; some of us haven’t seen our family and loved ones in ages. But it seems that vaccinations, and a negative test on leaving and on return, count for nothing. Without a government-sanctioned reason we risk a £5,000 fine and a criminal record for even attempting a trip abroad.

    Will our leaders ever take into account the broader, non-Covid risks and pain, or must the scientists’ love affair with lockdown always prevail?

    Gary Ward

    Hull, East Yorkshire

    SIR – Jane Shilling (Comment, March 22) gives an amusing view of outdoor dining in April, and says she’s not a fan.

    As one who has been very alone this last year, to be able to see lovely friends and have someone else cook for me is the best double gift imaginable.

    Happily, it’s too early for wasps, and, who knows, we may even have a lovely sunny day. We’ve already booked a table, and I shall turn up with a warm blanket and the biggest of smiles.

    Lesley-Jane Rogers

    Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire

  18. SIR – When will GPs return to offering a face-to-face service?

    Having booked a phone consultation with a specified doctor, I received a call from a GP I’d never heard of, who certainly didn’t know me. The upshot of our conversation was that this doctor did not think my swollen calf was in need of further investigation.

    That was in November last year. The problem has not gone away – and there are still no face-to-face consultations.

    Frankie Cable

    London W13

    1. Sounds dreadful. What about a DVT and the risk of pulmonary embolism? Can’t believe some of these reports.

      1. I do wonder if my 3 week persistent cough was jab related. I didn’t bother with the doctor; partly because I couldn’t face the palaver and partly because it was probably a virus and nowt could be done anyway.

    3. The response to that, Frankie, is to hobble off to A&E where you will eventually see a Doctor.

      1. Morning Phizzee. I’ve had to call an ambulance twice to get treatment for my out of control Diabetes 2!

      2. Call an ambulance.
        By sheer happenstance, we saved MB months – if not years – of hassle and ill health through by-passing the usual procedure.

  19. 330746+ up ticks,
    I would still like to know which MP has the franchise for the button to the chin child to adult tunics ( gray), having heard a lab/lib/con vote will get you a first issue free, on showing your certs. of course.

  20. Morning again

    SIR – I enjoyed your Leading Article on subatomic particles (“Fleas ad infinitum”, March 24).

    It reminded me of Bertrand Russell’s remark: “The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.”

    Michael Rogers

    Sevenoaks, Kent

  21. White House aide: “North Korea has just fired two ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, Mr President”.

    Joe Biden: “But there is no C in Japan”.

  22. Health Insurance

    You don’t have to be Catholic to appreciate this one!!

    A man suffered a serious heart attack while shopping in a store.

    The store clerk called 911 when they saw him collapse to the floor.

    The paramedics rushed the man to the nearest hospital where he had emergency open heart bypass surgery.

    He awakened from the surgery to find himself in the care of nuns at the Catholic Hospital.

    A nun was seated next to his bed holding a clipboard loaded with several forms, and a pen.

    She asked him how he was going to pay for his treatment.

    “Do you have health insurance?” she asked.

    He replied in a raspy voice, “No health insurance.”

    The nun asked, “Do you have money in the bank?”

    He replied, “No money in the bank.”

    Do you have a relative who could help you with the payments?” asked the irritated nun.

    He said, “I only have a spinster sister, and she is a nun.”

    The nun became agitated and announced loudly, “Nuns are not spinsters! Nuns are married to God.”

    The patient replied, “Perfect. Send the bill to my brother-in-law.”

    1. ‘Morning, Tom.

      Why do Yanks “shop in stores”? Why don’t they shop in shops like normal people do? Normal people also store things in stores.

      Noah Webster should have been kidnapped and locked up for his own (and the world’s) good before he demolished Standard English on an entire continent.

      [Good joke, nonetheless]

  23. Harry, prince of psychobabble. Spiked 25 March 2021.

    So what does that mean exactly? Harry tries to help us out. His goal, he tells us, will be to ‘lift up critical dialogues around mental health, build supportive and compassionate communities and foster an environment for honest and vulnerable conversations’. Translated, this seems to mean Harry will earn more than most of us can dream of to be a brand ambassador for a kind of uber-woke Facebook. He will attend company events and perhaps the odd meeting, but mainly do exactly what he does best: spout meaningless platitudes about mental health. After all, who else but Harry can teach us lessons that come from ‘transforming pain into purpose’? And who can truly put a price on being taught that ‘self-optimisation is not about fixing something that’s broken. It’s about becoming the best version of ourselves, with whatever life throws at us – someone who is ready for the next challenge and can meet setbacks with courage, confidence, and self-awareness.’

    He could write a book: Marriage as a Journey to Stupidity!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/03/24/harry-prince-of-psychobabble/

      3. We had one in our office. It was pre-computer age. An A4 paper typed in 3 columns, two of adjectives and one with nouns.
        Example: “synchronised responsive methodology”.
        What fun putting something like that in a memo…

        1. The pompous art critics use the same method to produce their musings of what is essentially a load of crap

      4. We had one in our office. It was pre-computer age. An A4 paper typed in 3 columns, two of adjectives and one with nouns.
        Example: “synchronised responsive methodology”.
        What fun putting something like that in a memo…

    2. Michael Deacon the DT. He seems much happier as a journalist since being released from Parliamentary duties.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2021/03/24/prince-harrys-transformation-californian-hippy-complete-pity/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

      “Prince Harry’s transformation into a Californian hippy is complete – pity no one knows what he’s on about

      The Duke has two new jobs, and I’ve no idea what they entail, but I’m sure he’ll be great at ‘revolutionising clients’ craftspersonship’

      24 March 2021 • 8:01pm

      Do you ever feel as if you’re losing touch with the modern world? As if everyone – or at least, everyone younger – is suddenly speaking some mysterious new language you don’t understand?

      That, at any rate, is how I felt on Wednesday, as I read about the Duke of Sussex’s two new jobs.

      Don’t get me wrong here. I wish the Duke all the very best. Now that, by his own account, he’s been “cut off financially” by the Royal Family, it’s wonderful that he’s found work, and will be bringing home an honest wage. Good for him. He’s got mouths to feed, bills to pay and a refuge for ex-battery chickens to support.

      All I’m saying is, for the life of me, I can’t make head nor tail of what he or his new employers are on about.

      First, the Duke will be working for BetterUp Inc, a Californian firm (est. 2013) that specialises in a kind of corporate life-coaching. Here’s how it describes itself: its aims, apparently, are to “help people become the best version of themselves”, “pioneer growth for the whole person”, and to “reframe how we think about human flourishing”. Its stated values, meanwhile, include “courage (dare often and greatly)”, “zest (what sets you apart makes us unique)”, and “craftspersonship”.

      What craftspersonship is, I’m afraid I’m not entirely sure. It sounds like a PC form of pottery, or gender-neutral knitting.

      The Duke, we learn, can look forward to joining “an authentic workplace where people bring their full selves to the table”. The chief executive is delighted to have hired him, because everyone at the firm is “energised by his model of inspiration and impact through action”.

      So what exactly will the Duke be doing in his new role? Again, I fear I’m at a loss. All I know is that his job title will be “Chief Impact Officer”, and that, in the Duke’s own words, he will be “driving advocacy and awareness for mental fitness”, and “guiding BetterUp’s social mission and impact to bring the science of peak performance and human potential into the hands of people worldwide”.

      Now, I have no doubt that the Duke will prove an excellent appointment. He will do everything in his power to help his new employer’s clients revolutionise their craftspersonship, and positively impact their human potential at scale. Every day, without fail, he will bring his full self to the table. No stinting. No half-measures. Clients and colleagues alike will enjoy unrivalled access to 100 per cent of the Duke’s self.

      Even so, I can’t help feeling that this story is yet more evidence of a growing cultural gulf between America and Britain. More than ever, we’re two nations divided by a common language.

      I thought as much a couple of weeks ago, when watching the Duke and his wife being interviewed, near their new Californian home, by Oprah Winfrey. All that talk about “speaking your truth”, “reaching out”, “what you’re sharing with us”, and the rest of it.

      As I wrote at the time, to Americans – or at least Californians – phrases like those sound perfectly normal. Most of us in Britain, however, are left either squirming or scratching our heads. To us, it’s baffling: the bombastic jargon of corporate press releases, melded improbably with the mushy blathering of self-help books. We don’t get it.

      The Duchess of Sussex, of course, spent her childhood in California, so she grew up speaking this kind of language. But now the Duke, it seems, is fluent in it, too. And to hear it from someone born into the Royal family may take some getting used to.

      After all, it has little in the way of historical precedent. Queen Victoria did not preach the benefits of holistic mindfulness. Mary I did not dedicate herself to building a diverse and inclusive culture. Henry VIII did not break with Rome so that he could expand a global community of thought leadership. Well, I suppose he sort of did, in a way. But he probably wouldn’t have put it in so many words.

      While I was still trying to get my head around the Duke’s first job, news broke that he’d got a second. He’s been asked to join the “Commission on Information Disorder”, which has been set up by the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC to tackle the rise of fake news.

      That seemed clear enough – at least, until I read the Duke’s statement about it. He declared that the problem required “a multi-stakeholder response from advocacy voices”, and promised to work on “a solution-oriented approach”.

      I’m afraid I’m not completely sure what that means, either. Still, congratulations to him on both of his new roles. At the very least, it’s clear that he wants to help people. And there can be no more noble aim.

      So the best of luck to him, in his mission to craft excellence, lift up critical dialogues and pioneer growth for the whole person. Let him dare often and greatly. May his self be forever full.”

  24. Emailed the following to my MP. I do not expect that he will do anything else but support Johnson – how I would relish being proved wrong – but I thought I should do something.

    Mr Quince,

    With the vote on the Coronavirus Act due your personal Rubicon moment is fast approaching, “alea iacta est” – the die is cast – will haunt you forever should you support a further period of the draconian measures your Prime Minister demands. It is time that the UK was restored to normality, not a “New Normal”, whatever that may mean, but the normality of 2019.

    Rumours abound that your Prime Minister is preparing further inroads into the damaging area of suspending, or worse, negating, people’s Human Rights e.g. mandatory injections for Care Workers and people without an injection certificate will be barred from pubs.

    As the people are now beginning to understand, once a right is taken by a Government it is very difficult to regain that right. Your Prime Minister appears to have forgotten that he was elected “to serve” the people and the nation, not rule it. You, and all MPs, are servants of the people, not our masters, never forget that.

    Do the right thing Mr Quince, step back from the abyss that your PM has dragged you and your party towards, by voting against this harsh and unnecessary Act.

      1. Very good.
        My impression is that Johnson doesn’t care simply because these issues are a direct consequence of what he has been planning. I cannot put into polite words the utter contempt I feel for Johnson and his supporters; those Tory MPs who are too thick to see what he is up too or those too timid to make a stand against a PM who has been exposed as a despot.

        1. 330746+ up ticks,
          Morning KtK,
          Mass uncontrolled immigration, ongoing is the link that makes lab/lib/con a coalition.
          The political rodent pack formed by
          bliar, major, brown, cameron, corbyn, may,
          lohnson, is still operational and in many cases still receiving support / votes via the polling booth.

  25. 330746+ up ticks,
    My options have really been cut down, what I would really like to see is a multitude of people’s writing to their ex MPs, for services rendered.

    Personally with the latest threat from the political overseers ( pubs) I am contemplating heading for the hills with a clutch of copper tubing and a couple of copper cylinders.

  26. One for tomorrow’s diary…

    Comments below the article seem to show that most Bristolians are in favour of the new draconian anti-protest laws. Even calls to provide vigilantes to support the police. The protesters appear more savvy than than the usual Antifa types and it seems possible they might throw in a few red herrings by spoofing up protests without actually going ahead just to tie up police resources. We don’t know if the Bristol lot is affiliated to a national organisation whereby similar events in other cities would prevent police reinforcements being deployed to Bristol. They certainly appear well organised and with a meeting time of 1600 hours they plan to take the protests into the hours of darkness when burning police vans looks more dramatic than during daylight.

    One to watch in case it manifests across the country egged on by the recent coverage in the MSM.

    Third Kill the Bill protest in Bristol planned this week
    It will be the third protest against the bill in under a week

    https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/third-kill-bill-protest-planned-5220575

    1. Comments below the article seem to show that most Bristolians are in favour of the new draconian anti-protest laws.

      How fortunate that the demonstrations came at a time to reinforce support for the Bill!

      Morning Honda.

      1. Morning!

        Good point. AP’s don’t usually hurt the police like what happened on Sunday or maybe they are stepping up a gear with the injured considered collateral damage. Interesting times at the very least.

      2. I just put the following comment on the Bristol article to see what reaction there might be although the article may be dropping off the radar somewhat….

        “Don’t suppose agent provocateurs are at play here in order turn the locals against those protesting against the new laws that will restrict EVERYBODY from using the freedom to protest?”

        1. Should have read further down before posting. It has happened before in this Blessed Plot.

          1. The secret is to study all the videos that can be found for clues….

            An example was carefully watching the riots In Ukraine which led to war. Protests remained peaceful for around 100 days before shots were fired. Certain groups of “non military” types were all wearing the same boot issue. Then watching the French yellow vests showed very obvious AP activity.

      2. Remember the 2nd Saturday of the BLM protests where it was reported on various social media sites that men dressed as football thugs came out of police vans and pretended to attack those in uniform.

    3. There’s a lot of supposition here. A few comments doesn’t represent the collective of Bristol. I imagine a vast majority don’t want this bill – or wouldn’t, given the option.

      There’s no enough information on what the bill would give the police powers wise. It’s typically loose, flabby leglese that are very broad and will be abused.

      The Hard Left fascist antifa are a mob, yes, and organised. As for making it look good – why not do it later on, at 5? What happens if the press just don’t bother covering it, or are blocked by the police themselves? Their usual aim is to avoid being identified because Lefties are pathetic cowards – that hasn’t happened this time around.

  27. This is an amazing dialogue with Dr Gad Saad- the author of “The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense.” He’s a psychologist but is known for applying evolutionary psychology to marketing and consumer behaviour. I liked a quote he made towards the end- “Progressivism is akin to Sharia.”
    He was born in the Lebanon but had to escape the civil war as it was clear, his family had been targeted to be murdered. This is over an hour long but begins at 1:50.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHKlFJKnKg0

    1. Hey, Dean. That progressivism gig took us from the Hicksville of primordial soup to Social Media zombieland, Dude.

      It looks like the mass return road trip back to that big soup tureen has started, Bro.

      1. Hey Beatnik, Dr Gad Saad kicks those space cadet “speak your own truth” bozos out into orbit of the planet Dimwit and tells it like it is. He reckons these total zeroes are like cancer cells, proliferating then overwhelming and killing the host, so you’ve got to eradicate them fast, Dude.

    2. ‘Morning, BoB.

      Always suspicious of German motives in the Balkans – and anywhere else – I believe that the German recognition of Croatia’s independence was motivated entirely by spite. During WW2, fascist Croatia, led by Ante Pavelić, was a client state of Germany and it supported and fought for the Nazis. The brutality of the Croat Ustaše was notorious and they committed some of the worst war crimes of the period. The vast majority of the partisan forces that opposed them were Serbs.

      Recognising Croatian independence was Germany’s revenge on Serbia, which dominated post-war Yugoslavia and which Germany wanted destroyed.

      1. Yet Serbians are regarded as the bad guys.

        I’ve read so many articles recently that I cannot remember where it came from but one columnist, writing about of the expansion of the EU into the east, was thankful that Serbia hadn’t joined.

        Serbians, of course, have long memories of the menace from the east.

  29. ‘Morning All

    #CovidClownWorld

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ExRzqjOWEAUlX83?format=jpg&name=small

    https://twitter.com/BangoBilly/status/1374843106533765123?s=20

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/499a4d23c93e8bfb2150482c693e3fe9d0887235da3e55e8537db0c6f64463b8.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/917e4c1be5ccc09037479f1d6e268b8ce39dd13917cea773578f6c54186dd7cc.jpg

    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e48627216f40542ade01235bf516f3541d0ccb3dfcba2a1b88c9497edfade94e.png

  32. Good Moaning.
    Well, we need Damask Rose’s Italian language skills; what’s the Eytie for ‘Vaccinegate”?
    The BTL comments in the Tellygraff on this latest EU farce a re clicking up at a rate of knots. By and large, they are hilarious and make me realise that not all Brits are face nappy wearing fearties.

  33. Good Moaning.
    Well, we need Damask Rose’s Italian language skills; what’s the Eytie for ‘Vaccinegate”?
    The BTL comments in the Tellygraff on this latest EU farce a re clicking up at a rate of knots. By and large, they are hilarious and make me realise that not all Brits are face nappy wearing fearties.

    3. A little owl sat in an oak
      The more he sat the less he spoke
      The less he spoke the more he heard
      I wish more folk were like that bird.

      1. 330746+ up ticks,
        Morning S,
        Starting if you dare, ( Who dares wins) the ongoing lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled immigration / paedophile umbrella coalition group.

      2. I’ve never contributed a single farthing to Billy Goats’ largesse: none of his Microsoft-as-shit refuse ever passes over my threshold.

    2. What has been the effect on the climate of the ash in the atmosphere from countless volcanic eruptions – absolutely zilch. Gates is a self important and dangerous individual.

    3. It just confirms, Mags, that the man is a megalomaniac.

      Like a rabid dog, he needs putting down.

      1. Good morning Anne,

        I love it. Thank you for posting that – I wonder what the correct woke opinion of it would be?

      2. It was all going so very wrong, just as planned. Then Catastrophe! Success! struck them down.
        Perhaps the number one comedy film of all time (in my list anyway).

        1. I love it. I’ve seen it on the stage as well.
          Imagine anything as funny being produced today.
          The work of Jews who could remember WWII; some had probably fought in it and very possibly lost relatives who were trapped in Europe.

      1. Yes, while living in Banff, Banffshire, NE Scotland. It also didn’t rise until 10:00

    7. The sun does control the climate. It is almost 90% of the affecting entity.

      What does he think controls climate? Oh dear life, he’s not a greeniac, is he?

      1. In a serious scientific programme on the BBC, the genuine expert pointed

        out that the last Ice Age was twenty thousand years ago, and the next one will be in sixty thousand years’ time.

        To me, that means that the world will continue warming for at least the next twenty thousand years, bringing glacial melt and rising

        sea levels before starting the cooling process.

        The mumbo jumbo spouted by the warmists ( mostly watermelons!) claiming that if we stop all production of energy we will slide back into

        an happy age of global non warming is absolute nonsense, we’ll just all starve.

        Time for politicians, and Bill Gates, to start planning for a warm, wet future!

  36. Bish, bash, bosh. Don’t mess with China.
    H&M has been banned from Chinese e-commerce sites. This is a response to H&M ceasing to use cotton from Xinjiang, allegedly made by forced labour (Uighur muslims etc).

    2. – The company Xinjiang Wuika Times says it is closing an H&M (Hennes & Mauritz AB) store at one of its malls because the Swedish fashion retailer had stopped sourcing cotton from Xinjiang Province.

  37. That was a bit loud!
    Ten minutes ago, up the garden shifting a 10″ dia. ash I dropped yesterday and heard a load noise approaching from the Cromford direction.
    Looked up and two flights, each of 5 Hawk Trainers, went roaring directly overhead.

    Looks like the Red Arrows are doing their stuff somewhere today!

    4. Back in the day. When i use to go shooting wild pigs on a sheep station in Northern NSW Bill one of the other guys dogs, would flush the porkers out of the scrub, one day the dog, Buster chased a large red and followed into the pond the Roo held Buster down and the dog drowned.
      Explanatory note…We shot the pigs at the request of the sheep station owner because the wild boar like porkers, attracted by the after birth, would kill and eat the new born lambs if they didn’t get up and stand along side their mothers PDQ.

  39. European Union Communique.

    Good Moaning.

    in the past few days, the European Union has realised that possibly not all of its 500 million thickos citizens have managed to keep pace with the democratic changes that have been taking place throughout the 28 member states.

    We have therefore decided to render our organisation more accessible by changing the EU anthem from the elitist “Ode to Joy” to one more recognisable to all, regardless of ethnicity, gender or religious affiliation.

    Love and kisses

    Ursula Fonda Lyin’

    xxx

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMCLrbSSi7k

    2. Ah! The series depicting post-Armageddon survivors in survival suits with faulty communication devices, hence the limited number of sounds they can utter and the way they fall over due to the electric shocks they receive when their video screens are activated.
      Also featured an autonomous decontamination unit to clean up any contamination.

  40. …..whaddya think NoTTlers……?

    Just had a pre-booked telephone call from Dr. re ongoing Achilles tendon…..

    She suggested I joined a walking group…

    2. Stop dragging your heels Plum. (I’d be inclined to check out Doctor’s advice as I understood tendons take quite a while to heal…)

  41. …..whaddya think NoTTlers……?

    Just had a pre-booked telephone call from Dr. re ongoing Achilles tendon…..

    She suggested I joined a walking group…

  42. Merkel’s hypocritical pipeline pact with Putin undermines the Western alliance. 25 march 2021.

    What lies behind this infatuation with Russian gas is deep angst over energy security, made worse by Chancellor Merkel’s rush to phase out German nuclear power after Fukushima. The neighbouring Dutch gas fields are near depletion. Norway’s fields are running low.

    But while it is possible to make an alarmist case, there is no shortage of gas. The US has swung in decade from major importer to mega exporter, bursting on the world scene with liquefied natural gas (LNG) from cheap shale.

    This has ended the era of gas pipeline supremacy. LNG can go anywhere. It trades like crude and it has destroyed Russia’s pricing power in Europe. Gazprom had to cut its prices to Lithuania by 23pc days after the country opened its ‘Independence’ LNG terminal.

    “The US has swung in decade from major importer to mega exporter, bursting on the world scene with liquefied natural gas (LNG) from cheap shale.”

    Yes it has except that it is not cheaper than Russian pipeline gas which is why they wish to shut down the Nord Stream 2 so they can sell it!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/03/25/merkels-hypocritical-pipeline-pact-putin-undermines-western/

    1. Morning all just waiting for the connection for another old buddies funeral. Limited numbers meant I couldn’t attend the third one this year. All none covid.

      Well lets face the facts the forgers are going to be having a field day.
      It’s been well know for years you can get passports, examination pass certificates, driving licences you name it fake ID etc etc for years.

    2. I thought minority groups could expect the state to,protect them from discrimination

      1. Minority groups like straight white males, you mean? Or English people if you’re north of the border.

    3. Funnily the BBC has allowed comments and the “Boris is a moron” group seem to be ahead! Here’s a BTL I liked: “If the vaccine I’ve been given is so effective, as I’ve been repeatedly assured, then why should I worry about bumping into an unvaccinated person in the pub?”

      2. Been saying similar all along…

        The non vaccinated would only be a threat if the vaccine didn’t work.

        1. As would the vaccinated to the unvaccinated. More so if some of the theories are correct.

          1. Spreading fear in both directions or they really do want population reduction on a large scale.

      3. At last! It’s beginning to sink in through what I thought were impermeable shallows!

    4. Funnily the BBC has allowed comments and the “Boris is a moron” group seem to be ahead! Here’s a BTL I liked: “If the vaccine I’ve been given is so effective, as I’ve been repeatedly assured, then why should I worry about bumping into an unvaccinated person in the pub?”

    5. Pretty certain they’re just throwing the idea out to get the younger generations to panic and take the vaccination.

      2. Yes, their turn is coming up soon…. it was holidays and travel being dangled as a carrot for the elderly, pubs ‘n’ clubs for the young. And ‘they’ know that many of these will never re-open.

    6. No. I’m more likely to die by suicide or poisoning from my wife’s cooking than from Covid. Of my pub mates, one’s died naturally and one committed suicide since pubs closed. And according to this government’s Eat Out To Help Out scheme, No hospitalisations or deaths were traced to cafes, pubs and restaurants, which means the government is deceitful and cowardly or the virus is extremely clever.

    3. Well duh….green is a threat to all industry. To ALL productive human activity.

      What this likely means is the state will use ‘subsidy’ or some form of sweet heart deal so they don’t pay quite the same high prices – all paid for by the tax payer, of course.

      The end result is a tax payer supported industry. One that’s expensive, inefficient and reliant on subsidy because of government policy. In effect, we’ll be billed twice, another massive lead ball added for a malicious policy when simply by scrapping the green idiocy the whole economy is freed up.

      Again, it is entirely the opposite approach to what should be.

  45. Back from the market. At last there were two more stalls – flowers and plants which brightened the place a bit.

    Sun still shining….

    1. Went to my usual Layer Marney Meats; delighted to find that they expanding into fish, cheese and scrummy sundries should all should be in place by early summer.
      That will give us a posh one stop shop on our side of town.

    1. He’d have to be an old fart to have used an SLR, phased out IIRC in 1987. She looks young enough to be his daughter. At least she knew what they were and preferred a weapon to a camera. And give me the SA80 A3 or L86 every day (I’ve fired more rounds of SLR and SA80 than I care to remember).

      2. But No mention of tats (tattoos) pumped up lips, piercings, coloured spikey hair and growly vowels Bill.
        I wonder if sanity will ever return to our once pleasant culture.

      1. Queens actually.

        I used to teach at Allhallows (1977 – 89) and took rugby and cross country running teams to play against King’s, Queen’s and Taunton School. I also played rugby and swam against these schools when I was a boy at Blundell’s (1960 – 64).

          1. Yes what a shame. It had a fantastic position looking south over Lyme Bay and was set in hundreds of acres of land. The school was founded in Honiton in the 16th century and moved to Rousdon, just to the West of Lyme Regis, before World War 2.

            A lovely place but incompetently run. Caroline and I saw that it was doomed and we threw caution to the wind and left ten years before it finally closed to set up our own business in France in 1989 – the year after we married. https://tracey-frenchcourses.weebly.com/

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c584e2cbd25b49dbe85ad283e31d009ae081da03eb7d1053cc0bcd637ee30b25.jpg

        2. I worked on new dormitories and sports changing/shower rooms at Queen’s College Taunton mid seventies. I timed my site visits to coincide with Somerset games on the County Ground. I took coffee in the County Stores.

          It was at Queen’s College that I saw a can of baked beans the size of an oil drum. The original stone buildings were almost identical to those of Kingswood School in Lansdown Bath. I assumed these were Methodist schools and the same architect responsible for both.

          The Taunton County Hall by Emmanuel Vincent Harris is a fine building as is that in Bristol by College Green, the backdrop to recent protests.

    3. They wouldn’t have much of a problem recruiting now Richard, ………ooohh i’m such a biatch 🤣

    4. I used to work with some ‘hefty’ lasses you would not want to get on the wrong side of.

        1. I don’t think he’s ever tried to bring politics or race into any of his observations.
          As other presenters do.

  49. According to Sky News, the plane belonged to 736 Naval Squadron based at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose.

    A Royal Air Force Hawk T1 jet has crashed in Cornwall, Sky News reported citing military sources. Both crew members ejected from the aircraft and survived, Sky News reports.

    1. Emergency services are currently in the St Martins area of #Helston following reports of a plane crash.

      1. Teenage “journalists” do not know that the Armed Forces of the Crown come in different sorts.

        See, for example, how they refer to private soldiers as “officers”.

  50. Going back to a statement made by Johnson a few days ago but never elaborated on….

    The need for population reduction by the year 2030.

    What did he mean and how will it be achieved?

    3. 330746+up ticks,
      Morning H,
      Did hear a whisper that noncompliance of the reset rules
      neutering is going to be mandatory.

      Bricks, and a be aware of thumb location warning.

    4. I don’t remember that being officially agreed….yet another thing that’s sneaked in without anyone’s consent. Bet the only countries signed up to that are countries where the Gates foundation and the Open Society are active.

    5. Return the illegals in this country. They’re the most prolific breeders. There, sorted – simple innit?

    6. Easy – make living so incredibly expensive through tax hikes, high inflation, debt and a massive state machine that the vast majority cannot have more than one child while the welfare classes slob about churning out brats that the decent people have to pay for.

      Despite Muslims outbreeding the white population about 7:1 they are utterly welfare dependent – that’s why they have so many children.

      However, the state likes a big population because by default such cannot be easily educated, is disparate, isolated and easier to control. GDP also looks better as more people means that looks better.

      It’s all a tissue of lies and tosh, but that’s government statistics.

  51. The firm working to dislodge the container ship that’s blocking traffic in the Suez Canal has warned that “it might take weeks” to free the tanker, comparing it to trying to remove “an enormous beached whale.”
    The vessel, ‘Ever Given’, operated by Taiwan-based firm Evergreen, became lodged diagonally in the canal on Tuesday morning after losing control and running aground amid high winds, bringing traffic through one of the world’s busiest shipping channels to a halt.

    The CEO of Boskalis, a dredging firm that is working to try and free the ship, warned on Thursday that it “can’t exclude [that] it might take weeks,” as they may have to reduce the weight of the vessel, removing containers, oil and water, as well as using tug boats and clearing sand and mud from around it.

      1. The bulbous bow extends about 10 feet beyond the bow below the waterline.
        That is well and truly stuck.

        1. Today’s glaring example of the unstoppable, exponential, daily increase in the stupidity of the human species.

          1. Umm… it’s a multi hundred ton cargo carrier with some of the most sophisticated engineering and tooling around, carrying goods across the planet through an engineering marvel.

            It’s stuck because mother nature is a lot bigger than a boat.

          2. You can produce as many “technological marvels” as you wish. My money’s always on the planet.

      2. Pitch the cannon and water casks over the side and wait ’til the next spring tide, aaarrgghhh!

        2. Hardly any tides there to play with. Wonder if it was beached on purpose to disrupt trade which is already being disrupted around Europe?

          6. I had an email from a wholesaler who sells mostly Chinese made products stating that he has no stocks because of delays from that part of the world.

      3. Issue a traveling permit to our favourite protected community to allow them to do, what they do. The cargo will soon be offloaded, getting it back might be an issue though.

    2. I used to be part owner of a yacht building business at Suez, a stone’s throw from the entrance to the canal. At this time of year there are sometimes sudden, extremely violent, storms strong enough to ground even a huge vessel.

      Some years ago, such a storm nearly destroyed one of our yachts. Every yacht in the port was grounded and 7 yachts in dry dock were completely destroyed by fire during the storm, which took place at night.

      The worst thing was that no one could collect insurance because it was regarded as an “Act of God’. (How can one insure against God’s will)?!

      1. Despite weighing 13tons, I know that a strong wind will easily push my narrowboat across a canal. I appreciate container ships weigh tens of thousands of tons but the stacked containers will act like a sail in a strong crosswind so to me it isn’t surprising the vessel ran aground.

        1. High sides are a big problem.
          I worked up an inspection procedure for what was called a “heavy docking” (ie, a crash of the ship into the unloading quay) of LNG ships in Milford Haven – they have a similarly high side as that container ship, and easily blow sideways. Problem is, when the gust comes, the narrow waterway means they can’t speed up quickly enough to regain any kind of directional control before hitting the side..

      2. Me being boring again, but where were the Suez Canal pilots ?

        How often is the Canal dredged?

        1956… Suez crisis .. I was a child, living with my parents in the Canal Zone, father and about 400 British ex-pats who were working in Egypt for an Anglo Egyptian engineering company, were taken prisoner for 3 months after their wives and children were evacuated back to the UK
        I, my sister, mother, and many other English families were given 24 hours to be evacuated .. we all escaped by flying boat from the Bitter Lakes either to Malta or Cyprus by the RAF, cannot remember too much. The tensions were terrible, I was 9 years old, and my sister was five. All we had was a suitcase.
        When things were quiet in Egypt, we used to watch the ships sailing through the Suez Canal, we used to spend weekends by the bitter lakes. Months later the Suez Canal was blocked by sunk shipping when fighting broke out.
        All the 400 British ex-pats including my father were eventually released after being interned in Cairo 3 months later. Dad arrived back in Britain just a few days before Christmas 1956. It was all a diplomatic nightmare.

          1. From my experience of working with Egyptian companies, I expect very little from that country.

          3. The EU rules on dredging caused the flooding in the Somerset Levels a few years ago.

            Owen Paterson was one of the few competent ministers at the time but when he pointed this out that piece of amorphous excrement, David Cameron, sacked him to appoint Adultera Truss in his place.

        2. A friend of mine was evacuated here with her family and other members of the Italian community in Egypt. She was born in Alexandria. I remember the crisis, although I was only eight at the time. It must have been a very frightening time for you, not knowing if you’d see your father again.

          1. Hi J, there were lots of Italians in Egypt , my parents knew quite a few
            Even though she was born in Alexandria , I wonder where she lived . We lived in Moascar , near Ismailia . On the perimeter of an active airfield!!

    3. I wonder just how much stuff for the UK goes north along the canal on a daily basis.

    4. Everyone wanted a ban on Chinese goods. Now to see what the impact of such a ban would be.

      1. Vietnamese and Indian made goods presumably come the same way. Fewer Chinese goods can only be a source of celebration. Short term pain, long term happiness if we find alternative suppliers!

        Japanese owned company, Taiwan-based….hmmmm…..

        1. We basically don’t buy anything now except boxes of wine, food – and building timber. Bank account fattening almost as much as I am.

    5. Quite intriguing to discover that a Panama-registered container ship is blocking the Suez canal!

      1. Flag of convenience. Mainly, cheaper qualifications for the personnel on board.

  52. Reference to my earlier post.
    I’m off to prepare a wee dram ( Scottish parents) now to send the old boy on his way……….I say that but he’s actually a year younger.
    We were once 7 good buddies but sadly now down to 4.

    3. I’m sorry about that, Eddy.
      Have the same sad task in a week’s time, for BiL.

      1. All very sad as one mate pointed out it’s something to do with our age……
        Strangely enough and in concurrence with three other fellow friends we all knew each other well until marriage and of course grew up together. The eulogy didn’t seem to capture the character person we all knew. But perhaps it might be because he has 4 teenage/early twenties granddaughters and two 45 plus year old daughters a lovely wife and just the one son.
        Perhaps that is why none of his old mates were invited to the service. 😏

  53. BREAKING NEWS

    The man who invented predictive text has died.

    His funfair’s next monkey.

    May he rust in piss. RPI

    1. 330746+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      …just like the flu vaccine.

      Surely increased health awareness and the promotion of Vitamin D for the whole population would be healthier and more economical? There are many options based on the knowledge we now have of whom might be affected…
      [2/3]
      …more – obesity and underlying health conditions, for instance.

      I urge you, please, to consider the consequences of forced vaccination.

      Thank you.

      Yours sincerely,

      [3/3]

      1. As MPs never seem to consider the consequences of anything they do (or don’t do), I’m sceptical. IMO most MPs have loved getting paid vast sums for doing next to nothing (or even nothing). It’s the “I’m all right, Jack” syndrome that the political class suffers so badly from.

        ed. keeping things as they currently are allows MPs to stash money abroad, without working for it.

        1. 330746+ up ticks,
          Afternoon HL,
          I do believe that Mr Braine being an Ex UKIP leader recognises the
          true lab/lib/con coalitions worth and sees them for what they truly are.

          It is my belief that writing to “my Mp ” currently after decades of
          political kowtowing , submissive rubber stamping to brussels,by these same Mps & parties has shown collusion, this is not a new
          thing just cropped up it has been the order of things via the ballot booth for decades.

          Many of these present Mps / parties would on the 24/6/2016 prefered to have their grandparents / parents thoroughly beaten than have their “remain” vote thoroughly beaten and lifestyles threatened.

          IN my book we are in the midst of a not so secret civil war if it was not this flu variant then the overseers would have found yet another Archduke Ferdinand to trigger the start of the
          reset, replace campaign.

  55. A pig in a poke? From ZH

    Now, the Times of London is reporting that Cameron is facing an official investigation into whether he violated lobbying “sleaze laws” that he himself brought in during his stint as PM over the lobbying effort mentioned above.

    David Cameron is being formally investigated over a possible breach of lobbying sleaze laws that he brought in when he was prime minister.

    Treasury figures allege that he directly lobbied the chancellor to secure multimillion-pound Covid loans for Greensill, a finance firm he was advising. Cameron also approached the Bank of England in an attempt to secure Greensill’s participation in the loans programme.

    Such interventions may fall foul of legislation that forbids third parties to directly lobby ministers or senior officials without declaring themselves on the government’s official register of lobbyists. Failure to register can lead to a £7,500 civil penalty or, in severe cases, criminal prosecution.

    A spokesman for Harry Rich, the registrar who polices the lobbying rules, confirmed that Rich and the office were launching an official investigation.

    “The registrar is investigating whether David Cameron has engaged in unregistered consultant lobbying,” he said. Cameron is expected to say he was an employee of Greensill and his actions were outside the scope of the law.

    During yesterday’s appearance before the Commons Liaison Committee, PM Boris Johnson faced questions from opposition lawmakers about whether Cameron’s lobbying effort stretched all the way to No. 10. So far, there’s no evidence that it did, though Cameron reportedly lobbied people close to the PM. But if that should change, BoJo could quickly become ensnared in the burgeoning scandal.

    1. (Sigh) How many times to I have to tell you that laws are for little people?
      £7,5000 will barely cover the cost of repainting Cameron’s shepherd’s hut.

    1. Beer is served either from a cellared cask via a beer-engine (‘hand-pump’ for the uninitiated); or from a bottle.

      The vile liquid contained in tin cans is NOT beer!

  58. We normal mortals simply have no idea what goes on in the background.

    Tough talk on energy issues doesn’t stop the US from purchasing a record share of Russian crude in 2020. American refineries reportedly loaded 538,000 barrels of Russian crude and oil products daily, breaking a decade-old record.
    According to the data tracked by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the US has bought the most Russian crude since 2011, when the import volumes or Russian oil totaled 624,000 barrels per day (bpd).

    In 2020, Russia became the third-largest oil supplier to the US, outpacing Saudi Arabia, world’s biggest exporter, according to Bloomberg calculations based on customs and EIA data. Russia’s share of American oil exports currently stands at a record-high seven percent.

        1. Look up whale oil in WW2. Your king has enough work to do policing posts in Greater Goingpostalia without coming to another manor to police posts here…….

          3. Is this a private chat or can Nottlers join in? If not, take your arguments elsewhere.

      1. It’s what they do as a matter of course, isn’t it? All cultures are equal now….

    3. I thought that convicted six offenders were not allowed to hang around outside schools.

  62. The lifelong effects of being a child in the British Raj. 25 March 2021.

    I belong to a dying breed. Well, not a breed exactly, but a dwindling number who witnessed a world and a way of life that will never be repeated: we are the last babies of the British Raj. In my view the doyen of our group was the writer Charles Allen whose many books, starting with Plain Tales from the Raj, are almost all about the India he left at eight years old. He and I were on the same ship coming ‘home’ in 1948: the SS Franconia. So were more than a thousand other British men, woman and children, from typists and missionaries to engineers and soldiers, sailing away from India for the last time, leaving behind the graves of perhaps two million other Brits.

    A little memoir of the Raj which provokes those same feelings I have of an England that is also gone forever! This isn’t simply nostalgia but the memory of better days and better people.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-lifelong-effects-of-being-a-child-in-the-british-raj

    1. When I think of my father, a former colonial administrator in the Sudan, I cannot think of a single person in politics today who can match him for his intellect, humanity, sound judgement, generosity, compassion, good humour, wit and integrity. Added to which he was a talented painter, raconteur and poet who rowed and played rugby for his college at Cambridge and was a keen sailor of racing dinghies.

      And yet the sheer filth of today would brand him as despicable, unwoke and unacceptable.

        1. Before he was banned, a few Breitbart regulars thought ogga was a Tory plant.
          I didn’t think so, still don’t, but I could see where they were coming from. Any thoughts.
          Cameron’s “swivel-eyed loons?”

          1. ogga1 is harmless, I don’t see how he could manage to get banned; unless they couldn’t fathom what he was driving at and assumed it was rude.
            I don’t see many politicians on any part of the spectrum who aren’t “s-els”.

          2. I was surprised to learn he had been banned. Still am.
            I can only conclude that enough regulars were flagging his comments for Breitbart to act.

            ETA: LBC’s O’Brien has a particular down on “hard-line Brexiteer Steve Baker.”
            Baker, and a few others will do for me. At worst, best of a bad bunch.

          3. Given his missionary zeal, I wouldn’t mind betting that in 600 years time he’ll be made St.Ogga of England having finally succeeded in driving the snakes out of politics….

  64. TEST.
    (Just seeing if GG has banned me yet :-))

    If not, NTN from last week, ETA=”Edit To Add” Shows why I’ve edited my original comment.
    Required on some fora.

    ETA: One for peddy. Is the plural of forum Forums or Fora.?

        1. Most posters here don’t need much censorship – unlike the gun-toting Yanks on Breitbart…….

          1. You’re not missing Baggie & his crew then?

            ” – unlike the gun-toting Yanks on Breitbart…….”

            “Bob Loblaw • 7 days ago
            Are there even any British people left in the UK?
            3•Reply•Share

            Jack S Bob Loblaw • 7 days ago
            Are there any white-Europeans left in what used to be America?
            4•Edit•Reply•Share”

            Bidet/Harris/Obama/Clinton are proving a godsend to we Brits. Like shooting fish in a barrel -:)

          2. I don’t often go there………. by the way it should be “to us Brits”………

          5. Um, in English the preposition ‘to’ takes the accusative, like all prepositions.

          7. Ah, but if you were going ad forum (to the forum) it would still be accusative as ad meaning ‘towards’ takes the accusative 🙂

    3. Forums is the norm in English. If you speak Latin then you’ll need to decline it (Fora, Fororum, Foris etc) . . . . I knew my Grammar School education would come in useful.

          1. My old Latin teacher at RSD,Sam Ginn would be turning in his grave at my blank expression trying to understand your post.

          2. Occasionally Disqus plays up. I’ve noticed it mostly happens when Duncan is posting and results in his words automatically being translated into Latin even though Geoff hasn’t ordered the Latin Plug in. In the hope that Disqus gets the message I use an online translator and reply. In this instance I wrote: “Bloody Hell! Not again!”

  65. Smack forehead time on the Bbc lunchtime news. A report on a project to restore bogs because they apparently absorb CO2 constantly, also claimed that trees only store carbon ‘when they are alive’, whilst ignoring the fact that bogs emit methane, which is far more potent Greenhouse gas.

      1. My daffs aren’t out yet (the large ones, I mean; the tête à tête have been flowering a while and the firebird, or whatever they are called – small with orange trumpets – are just starting to bloom).

        1. Jetfire? Mine are in pots and fairly sheltered – they’re looking tired now. I have a few of the large ones out.

  68. 330746+ up ticks,
    breitbart,
    Papers for a Pint: Boris Says Vaccine Certificates Shouldn’t Be ‘Alien’ Concept

    FACT,
    There has NEVER,ever been such a mass of pinstripe ensheathed political @rseholes as in parliament currently, the only greater number are those that continue to put them, and keep them there.

    1. We reluctant Tory voters have enough problems as it is.
      Voting for the lunatic fringe parties, and your hero Batten, will never happen.
      Check out the SWP & SLP supporters forums. They’re as braindead as you Batten fans.

    2. Doubt it. Other than a few politicians/selected scientists finishing up considerably wealthier.

  70. An analysis of lockdown, usefulness and effects:
    https://www.coronababble.com/post/why-we-must-never-lockdown-again?postId=605b4d04a36319001575ca19

    Consequences of speaking out:
    https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2021/03/temporary-blog-closure/

    View on the Hamilton outcome: (James Hamilton is either a crook, a coward or n idiot, according to the Rev Campbell)
    https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/independent-report/2021/03/independent-report-by-james-hamilton-on-the-first-ministers-self-referral-under-the-scottish-ministerial-code/documents/the-independent-report-by-james-hamilton-on-the-first-ministers-self-referral-under-the-scottish-ministerial-code/the-independent-report-by-james-hamilton-on-the-first-ministers-self-referral-under-the-scottish-ministerial-code/govscot%3Adocument/Referral%2B-%2Breport%2B-%2B%2Bredacted%2Bversion.pdf

    None of this is going away soon.

  71. Either the images were part of the course material in which case the teacher should have been backed to the hilt not stabbed in the back or they weren’t and the silly sod has a death wish

    “A teacher has been suspended after showing pupils an “inappropriate”

    cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad, sparking protests outside the school.

    Videos

    posted on social media show dozens of people standing in front of

    Batley Grammar School, with some calling for the teacher to be sacked.

    In a statement the school said it apologised “unequivocally” and had withdrawn the lesson involved.

    It said the member of staff had been suspended pending an investigation.

    Head teacher Gary Kibble said: “The school unequivocally apologises for

    using a totally inappropriate resource in a recent lesson. The member of

    staff has also given their most sincere apologies.

    “We have immediately withdrawn teaching on this part of the course and we

    are reviewing how we go forward with the support of all the communities

    represented in our school.

    “It is important for children to learn about faiths and beliefs, but this must be done in a sensitive way.”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-56524850
    75% Effnics at the school,the invasion continues apace

    1. And how do the politicians think the Muslims would react to all the children being taught that all religions and none are to be treated as equal?

      Mass protests again would be my expectation.

    3. Hmm, “”It is important for children to learn about faiths and beliefs…”

      But, maybe not ideologies – is the school teaching Marxist/Leninism?

    4. Hmm, “”It is important for children to learn about faiths and beliefs…”

      But, maybe not ideologies – is the school teaching Marxist/Leninism?

      1. Few months ago, Count Dankula was to be our next PM.
        According to a few loons on the fringes of the right.
        Seems they’ve fallen back on Condell.

        ETA: No offence Rik. Just reality.

      1. Some of the loons on the Far-Left sound almost as reasonable.
        For the few who want to take them seriously.

        1. Tell us what was wrong with what he is saying.

          Or are we to take it that you approve of what is happening with respect to free speech and freedom to hold and express contrary opinions to those approved by the Woke Twitterati.

  75. Merkel’s hypocritical pipeline pact with Putin undermines the Western alliance. 25 march 2021.

    BELOW THE LINE

    John Marks 25 Mar 2021 2:20PM.

    This is rubbish and simply further drives Russia into the arms of China which, unlike Russia, is determined upon world expansion.
    Germany has abandoned nukes and gone green so, for a high-tech society, they need reliable, affordable fuel. You can’t rely on the Americans, with their readiness to sanction anyone for anything.

    And really, it’s embarrassing that you still trot out the Skripal pantomime as anything to do with Russia. We know it was to hide the sources of Steele’s dodgy dossier and was, essentially, a botched MI6 job.

    We need to bury the hatchet with Russia and both Russia and the UK need to help the EU abandon its mind-boggling undemocratic bureaucracy.

    The truth is out there! Lol. Even if it’s only in the comments! There’s even a little 77 Brigade Troll to keep it company!

    Simon Allen25 Mar 2021 2:26PM.

    @John Marks How is the weather in Moscow John?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/03/25/merkels-hypocritical-pipeline-pact-putin-undermines-western/

    1. Germany will gravitate towards Russia and China; it is practically a given now. German business is chucking money at Russia. But unlike the EU states Russia remains in control and Germany knows Russia will shutdown German interference if they try too hard. That is not to say they will switch the gas off. The USSR never did that to the FDR and Russia won’t do it to Germany. I would feel easier if we bought our gas from the Russian than buying it from the Gulf TBH.

      Germany (and France) always acts in Germany’s own interest. Note how it got the EU to attack Hungary over the latter procuring vaccine from Russia and then did the same itself. Underpinning the EU’s funding has given them great leverage. Our problem with the EU is that our ‘government’ was always to eager to follow the rules and always too eager to take punishments if the EU said we should be punished. We believe it was a community. German (and France) see the EU as a tool. I remember during the Ukraine how we Great Britain, 5th largest economy with Europe’s best military and a P5 state, trooped in with the likes of Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium to briefed by Germany and France.

      Russia isn’t our friend. But it has done us less harm than our allies have since WW2.

      1. Russia is of course our natural geopolitical ally since both of us in the normal order of things would fear the unification (Napoleon. Hitler. EU. etc.) of Europe under a tyranny. This truth has been stood on its head by the United States which sees Russia as a rival to its own global interests and thus distorts this natural equation for its own ends.

        1. It is has always been Russia or Great Britain that has put the Western European powers back in their box when they have become uppity. They tried to destroy Russia in the 1990s. And now Russia is doing all it can to distance itself from Western ‘systems’ and is more stable than some on our side would like us to know. Sadly because of their huge nuclear arsenal they are easy to paint as the opposition by the US Neocons; a US with hundreds of bases everywhere, a huge navy, and a ‘defence’ budget more than the rest of the world put together. A US that has just seen a coup. It won’t change until the US changes.

          (Our other natural ally is Japan which is another archipelago on the other side of the world island.)

          2. Back then in his world Germany was seen as the start of the East. Our geopolitical situation would be more stable now if Germany reunification hadn’t happened and East Germany with Austria joined what we know now as the Visegrád Group states as a ‘neutral bloc’ in the centre of Europe free from influence of both West and East. And if Russia had been treated with the respect she deserved too; we all won the Cold War as we are here to tell the tale and aren’t nuclear shadows. The post Cold War era has just shown again that Germany cannot do foreign relations. West Germany and France would have been better balanced.

      2. ‘Afternoon, Henty V, ” I would feel easier if we bought our gas from the Russian than buying it from the Gulf TBH.”

        I would feel easier if we unlocked our own shale gas, went ahead with the Cumbrian coal mine, stopped imported wood pellets from the WEST coast of America and reverted Drax back to coal, thus utilising the 300 years worth buried not too far from it.

        No, I’m no greenie, I understand that the change in our climate has not a lot to do with human interference and more to do with the activity of the Sun and that the Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere is no more than a trace element.

        1. “I would feel easier if we unlocked our own shale gas, went ahead with the Cumbrian coal mine…”

          Well away from your home I’m guessing NTN. Just saying.

          1. Ah, another way of saying, “I cry bullshit,” Jack?

            When you see the way that Solar Energy Companies are surrounding our little rural village (There’s no coal, nor shale gas – that I know of in Suffolk) you might begin to understand how these pure profit seekers are trying to ruin the food-producing part of the UK, you might just begin to understand.

          2. Actually, we could draw shale gas from under the North Sea. It would require operating platforms at sea. however, it would remove thr need for unacceptable land operation sunder houses etc.
            Extraction from under the sea is more expensive of course, at least in terms of the set up. That is why Jim Ratcliffe has been leaning heavily on the Sottish government to get a licence to frack in West Lothian.

        2. I am an advance all fronts sort of person. We would be fracking. We would be burning coal. We would be building nuclear kettles. We would be championing home and local generation too. If it were up to me…….

          The wood pellet thing is just stupid. I can’t believe anybody signed us up to that. Um. Well I can……sadly.

          It never ever gets mentioned that CO2 is only .048% of the atmosphere and if anything we are short of it! All the plants die at .03%

          1. Thank you, Henry V, I can only hope that Jack S (who may be American) could begin to understand how Green policies will eventually cause starvation and death – might not be a bad thing with the current VAST overpopulation of the planet but thankfully, at 76 years, I probably won’t see it my lifetime but I have Children, Grandchildren and Great grandchildren who will have to survive this nonsense.

          2. Like all Leftists the Greens are only green in name only. There class consumes more than any other. Their time will come.

          9. No response to that, J, so I’ll take it that he is from idiotsville, Buttfock County, Stupidland.

          2. Merkel’s alma mater and inspiration. Why she was allowed to get to the heights she did after re-unification is beyond comprehension.

          3. Margaret Thatcher was always opposed to the re-unification of Germany.
            While I’m glad for my Potsdam born friends, overall, I think MT had a point.

    2. Germany will gravitate towards Russia and China; it is practically a given now. German business is chucking money at Russia. But unlike the EU states Russia remains in control and Germany knows Russia will shutdown German interference if they try too hard. That is not to say they will switch the gas off. The USSR never did that to the FDR and Russia won’t do it to Germany. I would feel easier if we bought our gas from the Russian than buying it from the Gulf TBH.

      Germany (and France) always acts in Germany’s own interest. Note how it got the EU to attack Hungary over the latter procuring vaccine from Russia and then did the same itself. Underpinning the EU’s funding has given them great leverage. Our problem with the EU is that our ‘government’ was always to eager to follow the rules and always too eager to take punishments if the EU said we should be punished. We believe it was a community. German (and France) see the EU as a tool. I remember during the Ukraine how we Great Britain, 5th largest economy with Europe’s best military and a P5 state, trooped in with the likes of Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium to briefed by Germany and France.

      Russia isn’t our friend. But it has done us less harm than our allies have since WW2.

  76. At 6.15 UK time, Sleepy Joe is due to hold his first press conference.

    Yesterday, somebody shouted out to Biden “how are you getting ready for your press conference” and he said: “what press conference?”

    We ought not to laugh because he is clearly unfit in many ways to be POTUS. But I was trying to think of a comedian who most closely resembles him. How about Stan Laurel?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bcc146dfaf4d310e408f9f7816d3c55e3475198437fff341d378a5d9b7edafdb.jpg

      1. I don’t buy that, purely because if I were cloning/making a hologram/substituting an actor, I would ensure that the fake Biden was at least compos mentis.

      1. Clones are the age of the body from which they were taken.
        Dolly the Sheep had arthritis.

        1. Good afternoon, Grizzly

          I hope this signifies that it is time for another group of Grizzly hatted avatars?

          3. See my reply above, Hl, ’twas accidental due to my not concentrating…… age-related attention deficit disorder…..

          5. It seems to have worked – the downvote disappeared. You should try it some time!

      2. I’m sure he has those elasticated slip-ons so he doesn’t have to worry about laces.

      1. The Beeb decided Brand wanting to throw a glass of acid in Farage’s face was comedy. Say no more.

    7. Like Boris, a puppet. It’s the people pulling his strings most of us are worried about.

      1. I have never liked pubs. Partly because I am one of those people who can never get served (eve when holding a tenner out). Partly because I didn’t enjoy the residual smell of stale beer, stale food, and (once) tobacco).

        So this new edict will simply be another reason for avoiding a pub.

          3. Not due until the anniversary on his Birthday in June whereupon the BoE will be flying the Rainbow Flag…..

  78. Just in from the garden. We are plagued with rabbits – and many years ago I made frames which I covered with wire netting (curse, spit, fetch plaster). This year we decided to go mad and buy plastic netting. Much easier to use, no blood, little swearing. All done and dusted – without any help. The MR came to help me put the frame back – only to find that I had covered the short sides and not the long. There was a LOT of swearing – but I managed to sort it out by, in effect, cutting and pasting. Wasted an extra hour, of course, during which it rained.

    As I said yesterday, I just wish I was half-way competent with my hands… (sighs…too late now).

    1. Can’t be any worse than my FiL . When he was called up to join the army they put him in front of a disassembled bicycle pump. 40 minutes later the pump was still in pieces so they sent him into Military Intelligence….

  79. Presenter Simon McCoy quits BBC to join Andrew Neil’s GB News. 25 March 2021.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4a9b1506e7b09973f808ca15eb079dc9ece0256723ffd955e05447c48abc961b.jpg

    Simon McCoy has announced he is leaving his anchor role on BBC News after almost 18 years.

    The presenter’s departure was confirmed on Thursday morning, after colleagues wished him well on social media.

    Andrew Neil, chairman of GB News, announced on Twitter on Thursday afternoon that Mr McCoy will be joining the television news channel due to launch this year.

    Not exactly good news! I always thought he was something of a plonker!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03/25/presenter-simon-mccoy-quits-bbc-join-andrew-neils-gb-news/

  80. https://twitter.com/euphrosene/status/1375111954382127105

    ‘Some of you will tell your parents’: How grammar school RE teacher ‘warned pupils he would show Prophet Muhammad cartoon in class on blasphemy’ – sparking fury from Muslim parents and earning him a suspension
    Batley Grammar School in West Yorkshire delayed opening and told pupils to stay at home amid chaotic scene
    Headteacher Gary Kibble has since apologised for the ‘inappropriate’ resource and promised to investigate
    Parents began gathering at 7.30am and could be heard chanting with demonstration going on until 2.30pm
    School was founded by a reverend in 1612 and minority ethnic groups make up almost three-quarters of pupils
    ** Are you a parent of a child at Batley Grammar School? Please email: tips@dailymail.com **

    A teacher suspended after allegedly showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad during a religious education lesson is said to have accepted pupils would tell their parents about it before displaying the images.

    Dozens of furious Muslim parents protested outside the historic Batley Grammar School in West Yorkshire today which had to delay its opening and told pupils to stay at home amid chaotic scenes at its gates.

    Headteacher Gary Kibble ‘sincerely apologised for the great offence to the community’ and a local Islamic charity claimed the suffering of Rohingya Muslims would ‘only increase if we allow this kind of behaviour’.

    Parents discussing what happened have also claimed on Facebook that the teacher predicted he would face a controversial reaction to showing the image by accepting some students will ‘tell your parents about this’.

    Mothers and fathers began gathering from 7.30am this morning outside the co-educational free school and could be heard chanting – with about 20 to 30 pupils also milling around at the gates, one of whom gave a speech.

    By lunchtime, the crowd remained outside the school – which was founded in 1612 by a Christian, the Reverend William Lee – and police began threatening protesters with Covid fines as a road was shut in both directions.

    A West Yorkshire Police officer at the gates then read out a further apology from Mr Kibble, but this provoked more fury from those gathered, who called on the school to sack the teacher and claimed he was a ‘danger’.

    It took until 2.30pm for the demonstration to be cleared by police, who made no arrests and issued no fixed penalty notices. MailOnline has asked the school a series of questions, including about what images were shown.

    Mufti Mohammed Amin Pandor, a local Muslim scholar, told the crowd that the teacher had been suspended, which was later confirmed by the school, where almost three-quarters of pupils are from minority ethnic groups.

    Muslims make up 41 per cent of the population in Batley, a historic market and mill town in the Kirkless region which was the constituency of Labour MP Jo Cox who was murdered by a far-Right extremist in June 2016.

    Today’s protest comes five months after history teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded on the street near his school in a Paris suburb by an Islamic extremist last October after showing Prophet Muhammad cartoons to his students.

    The killing shocked the country and led to a fresh debate about freedom of speech and the integration of France’s large Muslim population. It also brought back memories of a wave of Islamist violence that started with the Charlie Hebdo massacre, sparked by the same cartoons in the satirical magazine in 2015 when gunmen killed 12 people.

    The latest RE syllabus for the Calderdale, Kirklees and Leeds region, valid from 2019 to 2024, states that pupils should be able to ‘give reasons why visual representation of God and the prophets is forbidden – haram – in Islam’ by the end of key stage two – but does not specifically state whether teachers should show any of these images.

    National guidance from the Department for Education also does not specifically address cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, but says RE must be taught according to ‘either the locally agreed syllabus or in accordance with the school’s designated religion or religious denomination, or in certain cases the trust deed relating to the school.

    Alumni from the school, which serves Halal-approved food in the canteen, include Innocent Smoothies founder Richard Reed, Ginetta Cars owner Lawrence Tomlinson and prominent 18th century theologian Joseph Priestley

    Mr Kibble wrote in a letter to parents: ‘The school would like to thank the parents who contacted us on Monday, March 22 highlighting concerns with a resource used in an RS [religious studies] lesson that day.

    ‘Upon investigation, it was clear that the resource used in the lesson was completely inappropriate and had the capacity to cause great offence to members of our school community for which we would like to offer a sincere and full apology.’

    He added that the school had taken ‘immediate action’ to investigate what had happened, including the removal of the resource from materials and the suspension of that lesson content from the scheme of work.

    Mr Kibble continued: ‘As an additional precaution, we will undertake a formal review of the RS curriculum to ensure no other resource or statement is inappropriate and take appropriate action as needed.’

    The headteacher, who is thought to have been in his role at the school for three years, also told how staff were now investigating the matter ‘using formal processes and we are grateful for the support of the local authority’.

    With parents gathering outside the school, it sent them all a text message to say: ‘Due to the disturbance outside of school, if your child has not already set off please keep them at home as school will be starting at 10am.’

    Etc etc .. please look at the photos .. one should weep at what we have all lost.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9401527/Furious-parents-protest-Prophet-Muhammad-cartoon-shown-class.html

    2. 1) “Muslims make up 41 per cent of the population in Batley…” Most Brits never heard of Batley.
      2) What do you plan on doing about it?

      EDIT: Formatting. Time of the day:-)

      1. Are most British people so ignorant they have never heard of the town of Batley? What has happened to education in this country?

    3. 1) “Muslims make up 41 per cent of the population in Batley…” Most Brits never heard of Batley.
      2) What do you plan on doing about it?

      EDIT: Formatting. Time of the day:-)

          1. “gesundheit” means” bless you”. Used when a person sneezes. It was how the police caught one of the villains in the film The taking of Pelham 123. . The policeman was leaving the villain’s house the man sneezed and the policeman recognised the sneeze and went back in.
            Gesundheit was the last word spoken at the end of the film,. Another excellent film I got free from the Daily Telegraph

          2. Absolutely brilliant response to my connection of Pelham, I knew about the puppets.

            Many thanks.

            I knew what the word meant, not the connection.

            I must double check my large number of DVD’s to see if it’s in there

  82. More joined-up government Covid thinking: I’ve just received a letter from the ONS telling me that I’ll be receiving a letter inviting me to take part in a Covid survey. The letter is clearly needless and a complete waste of time, effort and money. Perhaps it’s just a cynical way of appearing to have double the survey numbers by saying “x letters have been sent out inviting people to take the survey”.

    1. Does opening up and then closing down again a couple of months thereafter count as it not being extended?

          1. Plus they haven’t had to expel an elected MEP for expenses fraud.
            No names no pack drill Janice Atkinson 🙂

      2. One of George Segal’s best films was A Touch of Class in which he starred with Dan Hodge’s mum.

  84. What is it with the loons on the fringes of the Right…

    “GREETINGS FROM SLAVELANDIA • 16 minutes ago
    They voted for Bozo the looney Left albino in 2019; it now turns out they got a loony Left Hitler.
    •Reply•Share

    Jack S GREETINGS FROM SLAVELANDIA • a few seconds from now
    The alternative was Nigel and his fan club, remember?
    Reply•Share ›”

    3. “…the extraordinary capability that NHS Test & Trace has built, which Dido Harding has led so effectively over the last 9 months…”

      No further comment required.

        1. Haha..and a Minister of The Crown with a QE2 plate hanging on the wall..
          Somebody’s ‘avin a laff.

  86. Covid restrictions [ ie Lockdown] to remain for another 6 months. Large majority.

    2. What a relief. I was greatly worried that freedom and liberty might be unfettered.

  87. HAPPY HOUR
    I spent a happy hour this afternoon listening to the dulcet tones of our
    resident blackbird.
    After devouring the remains of a fat ball he proceeded to the bird bath.
    Ablutions over he flew to the top of a camelia bush and sang his heart out.

    Often when life is total shit something comes along to lift our spirits
    and give us strength to carry on.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4jQw2u8uu0

  89. Great news – the Met Office say that the coming cold spell “could bring snow”. Cheerful bastards, aren’t they? I wonder if one of Witless’s family is in charge…

    1. Glad to see the use of the vernacular – present idiotic times call for its widespread use!

  90. Latest Breitbart headline…

    In the latest example of #KillTheBIll unrest in the United Kingdom…” ???

    They wonder why we don’t take them seriously.

    1. Have to ask TB, does searching out this stuff improve your day or make you more paranoid?

        1. Bill had a great sense of humour when he chose to use it. He’s NTTLer’s loss 🙂

          2. “Discussion on EADT 3 comments

            Climate change could damage National Trust’s Suffolk coast | East Anglian Daily Times
            Bill Jackson
            Bill Jackson 20 days ago
            The National Trust are simply wrong. It is down to coastal erosion and has nothing at all to do with climate change. Lack of sea defences and the non maintainance of them also plays a big part
            ReplyView in discussion”

            He was better on NTTL 🙂

      2. For many NoTTLers, this forum is a lifestyle, a hobby. Something to keep them occupied for much of the day.

        For me, and a few others, it is something I dip in and out of in between sessions of enjoying my main hobbies.

        1. From memory, back in the days of Disqus channels, some 5000+ NTTL followers did the same.
          Probably still do.

      3. Interesting that you don’t respond to the content – which you defacto disagree with, (proven by your avoidance) – and so attack the poster.

        Deflection, personal attacks… LEF-TY!

        1. I thought it was a legitimate question wibbling. Then again. I’m centre-right 🙂

          ETA: “…which you defacto disagree with…”
          Where in my comment did I suggest that?

      4. What a twerpy thing to say to me , I don’t search things out , but if something catches my eye , I am onto it .

        I had a dear old aunt who was a patient in a nursing home in Batley about 45 years ago . I am shocked to the core seeing how the strength of Yorkshire has metamorphosed into an annex of Southern Asia !

        1. OH’s family were Yorkshire people through & through. The rot started when they let the first lot in.

        2. You didn’t answer my question TB.
          There’s enough doom & gloom on MSM without spreading it on the forums.
          Some of us look in in the hope of reading some good news, some light at the end of the tunnel.

          2. The only light at the end of the tunnel, Jack S, is the headlight of a fast approaching Boris Train.

  92. A light moment….

    Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad
    Philosophy is wondering if a Bloody Mary counts as a smoothie

      1. Enlightenment is a Classic Canadian Caesar !

        This cocktail consists of vodka, clamato juice, spices and a few secret ingredients, similar to a Bloody Mary, but so much better!

        The glass is rimmed with celery salt and garnished with a stalk of celery – and a chunk of fresh lime …

        1. Nottle, one of the best bars for unusual and obscure information.

          Perhaps we could invent a nottockatail.?

          First suggestion: Bitters, with a twist of lemon, gin and “it”.

          3. Nah, been there, seen it, drunk it, even tried it…

            We need something original.

            Grizzle piss with Phizzee wine, for example.
            Or Organist’s orgasm with Reduced Rik

  93. 330746+ up ticks,
    When the muslim population reaches 51% in batley will they declare themselves an independent state and play a major part in parliament ?

    Thanks to the regular input over decades of the lab/lib/con coalition the stage is set, the oath taking instruction manual in place & halal fodder on the parliamentary canteen menu, awaiting.

    https://twitter.com/LeaveEUOfficial/status/1375126926331891719

    1. 330746+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      How about FGM, underage brides, etc,etc is that taken as norm now Og, no telling, seemingly whoever has the best manifesto from the coalition gets the shout.

      1. 2010 your then hero Nigel, reading through UKIP’s newly published manifesto, declared it a ‘load of rubbish’ and dumped it in the bin.
        You Kippers still worshipped him.

    2. I think teaching that one culture in this country is a regressive, savage, barbaric group who don’t share our values or social mores a rather good teaching experience.

      Rather than apologising and suspending the teacher, tell the foreigners to go away, grow up and if they don’t like it, go somewhere else.

      1. Trouble is most of the pupils in that school were born here so they’re no longer foreigners. But the education system is perpetuating their foreignness.

        1. I’ll go with the Duke of Wellington on that,”being born in a stable does not make one a horse”. (His response to being accused of being Irish.)

  94. That’s me for the day. Bloody sun shining right in my eyes – as it drizzles! Curious effect.

    I shall spend the evening pondering on how I can offend as many slammers in Batley as possible. What a coward the head is.

    A demain.

    1. Tell them you were a Muslim but converted to Jedi, as it was much more realistic and believable.

  95. A BAe Hawk T1A XX186 of 736 NAS Royal Navy crashed near St. Martin, 5 miles south south-east of Helston, Cornwall after a suspected engine power loss. Both pilots ejected safely, and were airlifted to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth for checks and treatments. Early reports state that the crew may have sustained minor (“but not life threatening”) injuries.

    https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/249115

      2. Ah, Culdrose. Back in the late 70’s/early 80’s I was still living at home in Carlisle. One lunchtime I decided to head for home from the North to the South of the city, but my car was blocked in (I was working on a Laing housing site). So I borrowed the Transit crewbus. As I got out, there was a noise which made me think I’d forgotten to pull the knob to turn off the diesel engine. Wrong. Looked up, and there was a Sea King hovering overhead.

        A few days later, my ‘not quite girlfriend’ from a few doors up the road (we dated occasionally) appeared with an aerial photo of a Laing Transit parked outside Mum’s house. Bang to rights. She was the youngest of three. Middle sister was engaged to a Fleet Air Arm pilot, based at Culdrose. Apparently, they’d rebuilt his engine, and told him to fly it for some time to run it in…

        1. Yo Boss

          One of my jobs was doing ‘half life reworks’ on Gnome engines, which are the ones in the Sea King.

          In the ‘shop’ at the same time, we were working on the RR Spey Engines fitted to the F$-K Phantom

          A bit different in size shape, power, but it was fun

    1. “Only if it was blown by Joe, our resident Amazonian tribesman.”

      But if it was, you’d better drink up, you’ve only got 10 minutes to live…

  99. What did we Brits do before Bidet…

    “Jack S bubba60609 • 27 minutes ago
    At least Boris can climb a flight of stairs without falling on his ar*e.
    2 •Edit•Reply•Share”

        2. That’s when I realised he was an utter twat, after that he went down in my estimation.

          2. Not for me. NOTA was my choice. I would have voted for the Brexit Party (was that the name in the 2019 GE?), but SE Cornwall didn’t have a candidate.

          3. Perhaps that’s the way forward?

            The NOTA party.

            We promise to do the opposite of everything the others propose.

          5. UKIP played that card in the run-up to the 2014 EU elections.
            Came back to bite them sooner than most expected.
            The first of endless hits to UKIP’s credibility.

          6. Ukip got nearly 4,000,000 votes in the 2015 general election, forcing tosser Cameron to agree to the referendum.

          7. LIb-Dem backlash. UKIP were the main beneficiaries. Green Party were the others. 2017 UKIP vote was how many?

          8. Does it matter?

            That result was sufficient to get us out of the EU. (after a fashion)

            If for nothing else, I am grateful to Farage, UKIP, et al.

          9. Nigel won us the referendum almost single-handed. 17.4 million of us won it.
            As a party leader he’s been 10 wasted years.
            Voters gave him his chance and he blew it. His ego got in the way.

          10. I’ve never voted Lib-Dem. 2017 was when we still believed the government, which ran on a Brexit ticket, would do as they promised, silly us. Many believed Ukip’s job was done. We are conned far too easily.

          12. I feel that if he’d had a candidate in every seat there was the chance of a Labour victory.

          13. If he was a second-hand car salesman Nigel could stick a RR badge on a Reliant Robin and his few fans would buy it.
            Fortunately the majority of us aren’t as easily fooled.

          14. He is no longer the coming man He is a spent force and the embodiment of coitus interruptus.

            He withdrew from UKIP too soon after the referendum;

            He withdrew from fielding Brexit Party candidates in Conservative held seats;

            And he withdrew his objections to the profound shortcomings of the disastrous deal far too soon.

          15. The man’s a quitter. His partys are all about him, so when someone else gets some attention, he quits.

          16. ” NOTA was my choice…”

            More like you and Labour’s 10 million+ voters would have put Corbyn in No.10. That’s the reality.
            Abbott as Home Secretary. Realy?

          17. “Abbott as Home Secretary. Realy?”

            I suspect that even she can spell “really”.

          20. Tough titty if we had them in, maybe it would have taught the country a lesson. Could they have trashed the economy any worse than Boris and the Conservative government did with Covid-19. Not that we knew (maybe some did) it was just around the corner. I swore I’d vote with my principles, and that’s what I did.

          23. 330746+ up ticks,
            Evening M,
            The way a proven coalition works, labs turn next, no one loses a chair as the
            roundabout rotates under people power
            the politico’s just love the ongoing voting pattern.
            If only people’s power would unite once more as they did under the UKIP banner
            the four million was a sure sign of unity.

            Currently the 6th May calls for an
            en masse nota vota.

          24. Voters gave you clowns your chance and you blew it.
            MEPs. councillors, MP. You Kippers rid yourselves of almost all of them.
            Voters won’t waste their votes on UKIP again.

          26. Nor did Somerton & Frome, hence I did not vote at the last GE.
            However I note that my MP was one of only 35 Conservative MPs who voted against the extension of the virus act with a further 20 abstaining. As I wrote previously, I consider this is just pure political staged theatre, a rebellion carefully choreographed to fail.
            Here is his comments on the January National Lockdown vote, “I myself have very serious reservations about them. In making my vote, I wanted to register that disquiet with the Government’s approach, while knowing I had a certain degree of freedom to do so, given the certainty of the measures passing”.
            A no risk rebel, I need say no more.

          1. Blair’s Scottish devolution legislation has been a disaster; it should be repealed in toto.

  101. Guys it’s nearly 20:00 you’d better make the most of the next 45 minutes:

    “Scientist Says Plastic Pollution is Shrinking Penises, Will Make Most Men Infertile by 2045”

    In a new book called Count Down, Dr Shanna Swan writes that humanity is facing an “existential crisis” due to phthalates, a chemical used in the plastic manufacturing process which disrupts the endocrine system.

    A growing number of babies are being born with small penises as a result of phthalate syndrome, something that has been observed in rats when they are exposed to the chemical in tests.

    Human babies are being exposed to the chemical in the womb, causing a shorter anogenital distance which correlates to penis size.

    “Phathalates mimic the hormone oestrogen and thus disrupt the natural production of hormones in the human body, which researchers have linked to interference in sexual development in infants and behaviours in adults,” reports Sky News.

    The chemical, which is used to make plastics more flexible, is being transmitted to humans via toys, food and other items.

    https://summit.news/2021/03/24/scientist-says-plastic-pollution-is-shrinking-penises-will-make-most-men-infertile-by-2045/

    1. BTL Comment on ZH:

      SQUIRREL BAIT
      17 minutes ago
      “As long as my hands are shrinking at the same or greater rate I’m good”.

    2. Is that 2045 GMT or BST, as Mrs VVOF says, these little things makes a difference.

    3. You’d better take up competitive sport again.

      Think of the penis envy from the youngsters in the shower…

      You could hold your head up high.

      As it were…

  102. Former British ambassador found in contempt of court over Alex Salmond blog posts
    Craig Murray published information during Alex Salmond’s sexual assault trial which could have identified four of the women complainants.

    1. What a surprise! The judiciary are as corrupt as the disgusting politicians.

      2. One person has already been imprisoned for helping to identify the female companions.

  103. Luxury rail operator offers new summer day-trips to great British seaside resorts
    The journeys, spaced throughout the season, will take in the resorts of Broadstairs, Margate and Whitstable.
    The Great British Seaside day trips on the Belmond British Pullman will start and end at London’s Victoria Station and be bookended by a three-course brunch and three-course dinner and a welcoming glass of bellini. From £360 per person. To book, visit belmond.com or call 0845 077 2222.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/activity-and-adventure/luxury-rail-operator-offers-new-summer-day-trips-great-british/

    Do you want to read that again , slowly?

      1. 330746+ up ticks,
        Evening N,
        By the same token so was mass paedophilia shown in the JAY report, the flu issue was not even on the horizon then, hardly made a ripple in the voting pattern.
        One thing for sure with a lab/lib/con coalition vote
        you will never be without an odious daily worry.

    2. This is deeply, deeply disturbing. I never thought to see this in my lifetime. Young immune systems will be destroyed. Where are the legal eagles to speak out to prevent this betrayal of humanity? Have all our rights, and those of whom cannot speak for themselves, been thrown out of the window?

      1. 330746+ up ticks,
        Evening PM,
        Even when those that could speak out were not listened to by the government employees, police,
        council members as in rotherham for 16 plus years, their rights went out the window on the altar of integration & the good name of the party.

        Those used & abused children will suffer mentally for life.
        The politico’s that were around regarding that odious issue are still in play within the mass uncontrolled immigration, ongoing coalition, & still finding supporters.

      2. History repeating itself. It is a consequence of our choiceless election of evil distrustful politicians, the medicalisation and expropriation of health and growing reliance on untested drugs.

        Trillions in profits go to already sickeningly wealthy globalists and exploitative drug companies. We the people are expendable, mere commodities and the children are about to become transgenic mice.

      2. 330746+ up ticks,
        Evening Anne,
        Just that did pass though my mind but that is bordering on the oppositions fear tactics, then again that was facts in yesteryears
        also then ignored by many for the good of the party.

    4. They ain’t getting their filthy hands on our 6 month old son, says 70 year old SWMBO

    1. It’s YouGove…. it uses samples of population that are nearest to the Government’s desired result. YouGov knows where to find them, probably has them on ‘speed dial’.

      1. why did you vote down my innocent comment about Grizzly’s photo? That’s not at all like you.

        2. Sorry, Hl, I didn’t realise that I had downvoted it…. mea culpa – it must have happened whilst I was scrolling or inadvertently touched the screen – ah, I remember, I enlarged the screen on my iPad to get a better view of the straw boater! That must have been when it happened. I will amend if I can find it…. I seldom deliberately downvote. 99.999% will be accidental.

          1. A most unlikely person downvoted me a couple of weeks ago. I am sure it was a mistake.

            Even under severe provocation I have never downvoted anyone!

          2. Oh…. was it me? That is the problem with iPads, an accidental touch or brush of the finger on the screen….. it is so easy to do. If it was me I’m truly sorry.

          3. I thought something like that would be the case; it’s so out of character for you!

    2. A rather different response on Talkradio earlier on this evening! OK it’s James Whale but it was 91% against pub passports!

      1. or

        YouGov is known for getting giving the “answer” that the PTB want, says Mrs May

    5. It depends how the question was framed, e.g. “If the only way of going to the pub or cinema is to have a vaccine passport would you be in favour of them?”

      1. Up and down, OLT. I am taking MOH to a local day centre for a bit of respite (for me) tomorrow. This week I actually might get a bit of a chance to chill; last week it was a mad dash to do a massive shop, get to the bank to sort things out, change the bedding and do two washes before it was time for collection!

  107. Our freedoms are being taken away from us, on purpose

    It does not suit the PTB, that us oldies go back to the time after WWII, when we had real problems with health:
    Rationing, War wounded, shells of houses , bomb sites, little money, a change in society with women having ran the munitions factorie etc

    We were/are resilient: that is not wanted now, for the World Order to succeed

    We are a pain to the Wokers

    2. Ay-up, OLT, some of us were born while it was going on.

      But I agree with your sentiments. How long before these idiots wake up to the fact that our Fathers/ Mothers/ Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles fought bloody wars to allow them to be where they are today?

      Wake up, you little shits, I too have been on the front-line against the forces of evil.

  108. I need to restart the machine so I’ll drop all these off

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d8f70d11f6b6ccb148102949416a4d07e7c0c8707c4d317c3cbe1c9c483dfcae.jpg

    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/665d7ce3811f0220972f129b9fbb19b76c0729f653266148a191bf78c7fd8566.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9c480b0032c903aa80018bc2b72d707edaef6e2f943e6c5028158f2d05e50729.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1225983c7b5d9913c6f27f420c1130719d544ee9a158778b8ab3b81f685a6bfb.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/95aa849a006edfa9b0d33a9d94c15a5284c8e8c0adf18d47f35efe349ac66391.gif

  110. Whatever happened to Katty Kay and Christian Fraser regaling us with anti Trump propaganda daily on BBC News. It started with ‘100 days’ and went on for four years!

    Whatever happened to Jon Sopel, an Obama lickspittle reporting anti-Trump blurb during Trump’s presidency? Trump famously described the wretch Sopel as “another beauty”.

    I see no criticism or questioning of the dolt Biden. Yup, Biden is reluctant to give any direct press briefings and is seemingly hiding in his basement still, as he was during the Presidential campaign which he decidedly lost by a margin of approximately 12 million votes.

    Where the f**k is the BBC coverage? Are we still paying the non existent Katty Kay, Christian Fraser and Jon Sopel or what?

    We need to defund the biased BBC immediately.

  112. Friday 26th March 2021

    My Beautiful Darling Caroline

    A Very Happy Birthday

    and many, many more.

    With my very fondest love,

    Rastus

    I know that the first cake I have ever baked (with a little bit of supervision!) will not be as good as your delicious cakes but let us hope it proves edible!

    1. May I join you, Rastus, in wishing your lovely Caroline the happiest of birthdays. Have a wonderful day together.

    3. Many, many happy returns, Caroline, you are probably the only thing that keeps Richard sane!

      This I know, from talks with my own Best Beloved.

    2. ‘Morning BoB,

      The first one’s face, with the caption Smarter in seconds is ultimate irony. It would take centuries, no, millenia, to make the owner of that mouth smart!

      1. Heyup Lass!
        I think that even with the sound turned off, that group make themselves look a prime argument against veganism.

          1. I think it a prime example of the Reverse Eugenics experiment the West has been running for the past century.

Comments are closed.