Wednesday 12 May: Having to work from home is bad for employees and customers too

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/05/11/letters-having-work-home-bad-employees-customers/

884 thoughts on “Wednesday 12 May: Having to work from home is bad for employees and customers too”

  2. The Tokyo Trial: a hollow victory for US imperialism. Spiked. 12 May 2021.
    .
    The Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, first and foremost, marked the political subordination of Japanese to American imperialism, formalising the doctrine of Japanese war guilt. In doing so, it sought to exonerate America and Britain for their colonial and racial exploits before and during the war – and for their use of atomic weapons at the end of it. Thanks in part to the Tokyo Trial, Japan remains a junior, non-nuclear partner to America today.

    Morning everyone. This is an odd piece; on the one hand it castigates the Allies for holding a Japanese War Crimes Trial and then asks; why others (Hirohito the Zaibatsu etc.) were not tried as well. It also attempts an equivalence (Racism) between Prosecuted and Prosecutors while depicting the trial itself as a sleight of hand to extend American Hegemony over Post War Japan.

    The trials in my view were perfectly justified. The Japanese military waged a series of Aggressive and Murderous Criminal Wars in Asia long before it brought itself to the attention of the United States with the attack on Pearl Harbour. The latter has suffered some considerable Hollywood Revisionism in the last few years, where it is portrayed as an engagement between honourable opponents instead of what it was, a treacherous assault on an unwary America. As to being the victim of American Imperialism; as the defeated party in a War of National Survival, they were lucky to have been treated as leniently (one might almost say rewarded) as they were. The Soviet Union would not have been so generous. What was the United States to do after the War? Give them all a pat on the back and tell them not to do it again? The only cause for regret is that so few of them were hanged!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/05/12/the-tokyo-trial-a-hollow-victory-for-us-imperialism/

    2. I couldn’t agree more. And as for the whingers who say how “cruel and wicked” it was to drop the A-Bombs ….. they stopped the Japs dead in their tracks and prevented millions of people from being killed – on all sides.

    5. Perhaps whoever cobbled this piece together should seek out a copy of ‘The Knights of Bushido’ by Lord Russell of Liverpool. That may put any ideas of ‘Imperialism’ into perspective.

      The use of atomic weapons, whilst horrific, was the only way to focus the attention of the Japanese to the realities of the situation they had put themselves into. It took two atomic weapons, with the threat of a third, before they reluctantly stopped fighting. All that after conventional bombing had wreaked havoc on Tokyo, apparently to no avail.

      As you suggest, Japan were dealt with benevolently, especially in comparison to the horrors they inflicted on those who opposed them over the previous 15 years.

      I’m unsure but I believe they have still not apologised for the carnage they caused over those years.

    6. Perhaps whoever cobbled this piece together should seek out a copy of ‘The Knights of Bushido’ by Lord Russell of Liverpool. That may put any ideas of ‘Imperialism’ into perspective.

      The use of atomic weapons, whilst horrific, was the only way to focus the attention of the Japanese to the realities of the situation they had put themselves into. It took two atomic weapons, with the threat of a third, before they reluctantly stopped fighting. All that after conventional bombing had wreaked havoc on Tokyo, apparently to no avail.

      As you suggest, Japan were dealt with benevolently, especially in comparison to the horrors they inflicted on those who opposed them over the previous 15 years.

      I’m unsure but I believe they have still not apologised for the carnage they caused over those years.

  5. Good morning, all. Blue skies – strong southerly breeze. The MR didn’t pass out during the night.

    1. Hoorah! I hope she takes full advantage of her ‘delicate state’ and veges out today. Can’t be too careful!

      1. She did. She had a long lie in until 7.30 – when over desire to see the cats overcame her!

        2. Spartie ‘visits’ us. That is, he scorches up the stairs and bounces onto my head while MB makes the tea. No alarm clock needed.

          1. ‘Afternoon, Anne, we have open-tread, highly polished staircase and Dotty once got onto the first step and then jumped down. We are only disturbed by her, barking from her bed down in the kitchen.

  6. Jo Cox’s sister considering standing for Labour in Batley and Spen. 12 May 2021.

    The sister of the murdered MP Jo Cox is considering standing for Labour in the Batley and Spen byelection.

    Labour is facing a huge test to cling on to the West Yorkshire constituency where Cox was killed by a far-right terrorist in June 2016. Her sister, Kim Leadbeater, has told friends she is considering running as the Labour candidate in what would be her first entry into politics.

    I would have thought one Cox, and not forgetting little Brendan who is probably lurking somewhere in the background waiting to stake his claim, more than sufficient. As to the absurdity of Mair, an inadequate social dropout, being a “far-right terrorist” this is hyperbole run mad!

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/may/12/jo-cox-sister-labour-batley-spen-byelection-kim-leadbeater

    1. The ‘far right terrorist’ was a classic case of ‘Don’t Care In the Community’.

  7. mng the usual damp squib of Eid here, helped by heavy rains all afternoon and roads turning into the usual spectacle of Wacky Races. the usual follows below:

    SIR – There may be benefits to both employers and employees of spending fewer days in the office (report, May 11), but what about customers?

    I have had odd phone calls with people working from home. One had to put me on hold to deal with her dog, which was barking so loudly we couldn’t hear each other. A second apologised for the crunching noises, explaining he was eating toast while finding my details on the computer. A third failed to make promised return calls and couldn’t understand simple details – the slurred speech was what really concerned me.

    Without colleagues around people will set their own standards and problems such as ill-health will be missed. And just how safe are our payment card details and personal records in these unsupervised hands?

    Barbara Harrison
    Beverley, East Yorkshire

    SIR – Why won’t local government offices open up to the public? Shops have all been open for a month and food stores never closed, yet our public servants are still hiding away. We continue to endure long-winded Covid phone messages when we ring the GP. Why can’t they see that their doors should now be flung open? Why are banks open for such short periods, and why do they still force customers to queue outdoors?

    Let’s be brave and get back to normal for the sake of our sanity. There is now no excuse to stay closed.

    Ken Ward
    Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire

    SIR – A worrying feature of the past year is the Government speaking about guidance as if it were law.

    It is nonsense for Boris Johnson to say that hugging is to be “allowed” from May 17 (report, May 11). It has never not been allowed, only advised against. Similar advice is given on our intake of fruit and vegetables, or on stopping smoking. In health matters we are entitled to use common sense and personal judgment.

    Sadly, many genuinely believe they will soon be “free” to hug loved ones for the first time in more than a year. In truth they have been free all along. The careless, or perhaps deliberate, conflation of legal rules and guidance by ministers should not be forgotten. Nor must it be allowed to be repeated.

    Nicholas Higgs
    London W1

    SIR – What kind of country are we living in where the Government tells us when and where we may hug our relatives and friends? Throughout the pandemic, the Government’s use of language has been dramatically insensitive, and indicative of worrying presumptions of power.

    Michael Oatley
    Nunney, Somerset

    SIR – Pleased as I am at being allowed to hug my grandchildren, I should be happier if I were permitted to watch them play cricket from the boundary. Could someone correct this absurdity?

    Richard Hardman
    Standford, Hampshire

    Hospice care for all

    SIR – My husband died at home (Letters, May 11) of lung cancer, pain-free and with dignity, in August 2020. Being able to stay at home was very important to him, especially given the difficulties of hospital care due to Covid-19 at that point.

    At no time did he or I feel that his treatment and care were less effective than anything he might have received in hospital. On the contrary, we were profoundly grateful for the wonderful care he received in his final days.

    His care team was led by his personal nurse from Phyllis Tuckwell (our local hospice) and brought together his GP, hospice care at home and district nurses to provide compassionate 24-hour care. The hospice also coordinated with the local authority to provide nursing aids, including a stair lift and a hospital bed, and helped him apply for benefits to which he was entitled. It organised carers from a local agency, who visited four times daily, and once near the end an overnight sitter was provided. All this was free at the point of access. This should be a nationwide model for palliative care at home.

    It is astonishing that hospices are still not fully funded by the NHS, and have to rely on donations and volunteers to continue their invaluable work. It is appalling that many people are dying on their own without this assistance, and that numbers are likely to grow. Surely, while the Government looks at how to deal with the growing need for social care, it is also time to incorporate the hospice movement fully into the NHS and fund it properly.

    Caroline Sinclair
    Aldershot, Hampshire

    Seeing the doctor

    SIR – I dispute Dr Nikki Kanani’s claim that patients always have the option to see a GP face to face (Letters, May 7).

    Last month I had an inflamed big toe for a few days. As I am diabetic, all the guidelines advised contacting a GP. I rang the surgery (not 10 miles from Dr Kanani’s practice), described my symptoms, and was offered an appointment in four days’ time. Then I was told to send in a photo of the toe, as this would not be a face-to-face meeting, but a telephone consultation.

    When I finally got the GP consultation, they couldn’t make a diagnosis from the photo, but arranged for me to see a practice nurse in person later that very day, and for me to give a tissue sample for testing. Four weeks later I’m still awaiting the test results.

    Keith Appleyard
    West Wickham, Kent

    SIR – I have great sympathy for doctors’ receptionists, for I once was one.

    Recently, needing to speak to a doctor, I started phoning at 8am and was put through after waiting over 40 minutes. I explained that before I spoke to a doctor I needed a blood test. Fine, I was told; ring back in the afternoon and make an appointment. If the result required a consultation then the surgery would contact me.

    With the results in, I was told that the doctor would like to speak to me, and that I needed to ring at 8am to be added to the doctor’s telephone list. I wasn’t able to do it there and then as “telephone appointments are only made on the same day”.

    Next morning at 8am…

    Penny Russell-Grant
    Colchester, Essex

    SIR – When I was a medical student in the 1960s, we were taught that an adequate consultation included not only a history, but also a physical examination. When did this change, and why is the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, suggesting that there should be more video consultations?

    Dr Bill Easson
    Buxton, Derbyshire

    Cut off from the UK

    SIR – Jacob Rees-Mogg (Comment, May 11) says that the State Opening of Parliament represents Parliament exercising the full power of its sovereignty once again.

    If only that were true. Here in Northern Ireland we are in the grip of a hostile, vindictive and belligerent European Union, which is determined to make us the price of Brexit, whatever the consequences. When will Parliament stand up to Brussels and restore Northern Ireland to its rightful place in the United Kingdom?

    Andrew Babington
    Belfast

    Casting wistful looks at other people’s wisteria

    SIR – The wisteria at Jesus College (report, May 6) must be blessed to have avoided recent frosts.

    Our 23-year-old specimen has had almost all its blossom buds destroyed, leaving us with only a small area (sheltered from the early morning sun) in bloom.

    Andrew Blake
    Marlborough, Wiltshire

    Where will destroying church monuments end?

    SIR – I read that the Church of England is now joining in with this unintelligent destruction of memorials (“Church tells parishes to review slavery links”, report, May 10).

    We are all sinners, so if wrongdoers’ memorials are removed, there would be none left at all.

    Frances M Berrill
    Hassocks, West Sussex

    SIR – Some of the monuments in my local church are to the Dukes of Norfolk in Tudor times – not saints, any of them. They are Grade I listed, however.

    When will people realise that you cannot change the past? Slavery has existed for millennia, and in all civilisations. Should we put an apologetic notice on the pyramids?

    What we can do is hunt out and eliminate modern slavery, which is everywhere, and happening now, all over this country and in the wider world. The present is something we can change, if we have the will.

    Linda Shelley
    Woodbridge, Suffolk

    SIR – In his recent efforts to cancel history, perhaps – given his family ties to India during the Empire and a personal role in the oil industry in Africa – the Archbishop of Canterbury could start with himself.

    After all, the Church of England has cancelled that truly Christian virtue – forgiveness.

    Matthew Burrows
    London SW18

    SIR – Just when and how did Church authorities assume control of the fabric of parish churches?

    Throughout most of English history, the people and their civic leaders built, furnished and maintained their churches in whatsoever manner they chose. Only the chancel was an area for ecclesiastical responsibility. What is the legal foundation for the “director of churches and cathedrals” ordering church councils to examine historic memorials for evidence of “contested heritage” (report, May 11)?

    The same question applies to diocesan officers who contrive to tell local churchgoers what they may and may not do with their churches, but pay little, if anything, towards the cost, and indeed demand a handsome contribution from the parishes each year towards their own expenses.

    Tom Bliss
    Sleaford, Lincolnshire

    Product placement

    SIR – It must be possible to produce a mobile app whereby one could find out where a product was manufactured (Letters, May 11) by typing in its make and model number. I would gladly pay a modest annual subscription to use it.

    Richard Clark
    Devizes, Wiltshire

    All that jazz

    SIR – I read The Pursuit of Love 60 years ago and was surprised how much of it I still found amusing in the new BBC adaptation – but how sad to miss the opportunity for some background music of the time.

    The younger generation won’t appreciate jazz unless they hear it.

    Virginia Newton
    Much Hadham, Hertfordshire

    SIR – For years I have campaigned against the seemingly unstoppable rise of background music (report, May 11), which, coupled with whispered dialogue, makes television programmes tiresome to watch. I cannot make out what the actors are saying above the din.

    The quality of a programme is determined by the acting, not the crashing chords which accompany it.

    Richard Statham
    Langport, Somerset

    Poignant pigeon

    SIR – “Die Taubenpost” was Franz Schubert’s last song, written shortly before his death in 1828.

    The words by Johann Gabriel Seidl tell of his sending his faithful carrier pigeon (Letters, May 10) out to his love a thousand times a day. Schubert’s poignant accompaniment is often played too fast.

    Fay Davies
    Llandysul, Cardiganshire

    1. 332679+ up ticks,
      Morning AWK,
      The coalition guilty of ” if it works to satisfaction then change it” it has been so for decades the electorate must be happy with such a set up as the polling booth shows.
      People power CAN work ( real UKIP eu elections, triggering the referendum) if the peoples choose to use & NOT abuse it.

      1. Ogga mng, it can if people understand under the current set up – there are no rules, hence frequent change and a coalescing supportive MSM. the issue is to play the game that there are no rules as 2016 Referendum spelt out and Trump winning the same year. It upset the command control planned method – hence where “we are” now. As always IFpeople switch on and accept they’ve been conditioned / programmed.

    2. “It is astonishing that hospices are still not fully funded by the NHS”
      Better not to have NHS funding – who pays the piper calls the tune, and the NHS hasn’t got a good tune to play. Hospices do well without the dead hand of a useless national bureaucracy to manage them, so let their funding model comtinue.

      1. I agree wholeheartedly. The last thing the hospices need is to be taken over by the crumbling bumbling NHS.

        Caroline should be very careful of what she wishes.

        Our local hospice has a volunteer CEO.

  8. Allison Pearson in the DT.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2021/05/11/joys-needless-death-should-cautionary-tale-gps-still-hiding/

    “Joy’s needless death should be a cautionary tale for GPs still hiding from patients

    Like the tragic story of Joy Stokes, scores of Planet Normal readers have been failed by the NHS when trying to see a doctor in lockdown

    Allison Pearson11 May 2021 • 7:00pm

    Every so often, I write a column that really hits a nerve. Last week, my inbox practically burst its banks, so flooded was it with readers’ tears. Several thousand ouches of recognition and bellows of frustration came from those who reacted angrily to the story of Joy Stokes, beloved wife, mother and grandmother, buried just a fortnight ago, a casualty of the NHS’s transition to telemedicine.

    For four months last year, the 69-year-old was fobbed off by GPs at her surgery. Without bothering to see her, they told Joy, variously, that the excruciating pain in her leg and hip was arthritis, that she should self-refer to a physio, that, dearie me, no, she could not have a scan, even when said physio emailed the surgery to say that Mrs Stokes must have an X-ray. Most unforgivably of all, after numerous frantic phone calls, the woman who had breast cancer back in 2006 was told that her case was not an emergency. This last observation, courtesy of Dr Receptionist, came when Joy, a former PE teacher, keen golfer and “fighter”, was in such agony she could no longer walk.

    In January, when Nick Stokes finally got his wife an actual, non-virtual appointment by turning up on the doorstep and demanding painkillers, the GP admitted he was shocked by the deterioration in Joy’s appearance. “Well, you should have seen her before, shouldn’t you?” snapped mild-mannered Nick. In an interview for this week’s Planet Normal podcast, Nick Stokes says that the lovely, caring oncology nurse at the hospital told him that his wife’s cancer would definitely have been “controllable” if only she’d got there earlier.

    Tragically, as your torrent of emails revealed, Joy is far from unique. Too many cancers, and other serious conditions, have gone undiagnosed as many GPs worked from home or barred patients from their Fort Knox surgeries. Jean wrote to me about her 64-year-old son. “Five months of unbearable pain, unable to walk, triage by bolshie receptionist, who has made multiple serious mistakes with his prescriptions, finally allowed an MRI scan which showed a fractured hip and spine due to advanced prostate cancer.” Jean’s boy is now at home awaiting treatment. “What a disgrace this is?” his mother wrote. “So many doctors seem to prefer technology rather than actually dealing with a living human being.

    This is the crux of the matter. Today, contactless is a form of payment, tomorrow it could be a way of life (and death). In 2019, the NHS Long Term Plan said that “in 10 years’ time, we expect the model of care to look markedly different. The NHS will offer a ‘digital-first’ option for most, allowing for longer and richer face-to-face consultations where patients want or need it”. Try telling that to the 84-year-old reader who was instructed to take a photo of the moles on her back. When she protested that she couldn’t, the receptionist told her to “do a selfie in a mirror”.

    As for those “richer and longer face-to-face consultations” the new digital triage would make time for, I tend to agree with John: “You’re more likely to meet Lord Lucan riding Shergar than get an appointment to see a GP.” With no apparent irony, that NHS Plan also commits the service to dramatically improving the UK’s woeful cancer survival rates by 2028, “partly by increasing the number of cancers diagnosed early from a half to three-quarters”. How the hell is that target going to be hit if GP consultations are on Zoom, symptoms go unspotted and patients like Joy Stokes aren’t physically examined?

    According to Macmillan Cancer Support, up to 50,000 people are walking around today with cancer which has not been diagnosed during lockdown. Perhaps, like Anthony, another reader, they were advised to do an eConsult, they listed their symptoms, they were told to make an appointment to see the doctor, they tried to book the appointment and were told to… do an eConsult. And gave up. “Joseph ‘Catch-22’ Heller would have been impressed by this no-win system,” says Anthony.

    Macmillan Cancer Care predicts that horrifying cancer figure could double to 100,000 by October if services are not fully restored. Yet, even now, when Covid deaths have tumbled to single figures and you have more chance of getting a bear hug from Prof Chris Whitty in a pub than of catching the virus, many GPs have still failed to open their doors. The level of official denial about this scandalous situation beggars belief. In a jaw-dropping letter to The Telegraph last week, Dr Nikki Kanani, medical director of primary care at NHS England, claimed that “GP appointments have been available throughout the pandemic. Appointments continued to be conducted in person.” Dr Kanani added that “video consultations […] allow a clinician to triage a patient to the right service”. Furthermore, “the majority of people reported receiving appropriate care and more people than not said they would be happy with future consultations taking place remotely”.

    I’m pleased to say that Dr Kanani’s letter was greeted with the raspberry-blowing incredulity it deserved. My informal poll of thousands of Telegraph readers reveals that, by and large, their appointments are not conducted in person. It is the devil’s own job to get a clinician to triage you to the right service. And more people than not are thoroughly hacked off with having to pay to go private (if they can afford it) because the virtual GP service doesn’t remotely meet the standard of healthcare they expect and deserve.

    Funny how dentists, physios and pharmacists continued to see patients throughout the pandemic, isn’t it? But, hey, they had a living to earn. GPs went on claiming their per-capita allowance regardless of whether the capitas, who pay their generous salaries through taxation, were allowed in the surgery. As many of you sourly observed, GPs seem to feel safe enough to vaccinate people in person when there is the incentive of £12-per-arm-jabbed.

    In fairness, I should say that plenty of people wrote to praise individual GPs and practices which endeavoured to provide high-quality care during lockdown. Kim in Wales found telephone appointments worked well. She managed to be referred to hospital consultants and saw “my fabulous GP face-to-face”.

    Helen, a GP in Lancashire, was upset that I painted such a negative picture. She and her colleagues have seen patients face-to-face every single day since last March. Two tents fill the staff car park so normal work can continue alongside vaccinations: “We never refuse to see anyone.”

    It was a heartwarming story of medicine as it should be. Sadly, it seems to be very far from the norm. I was amazed how many embarrassed doctors got in touch. “I know from decades of work that you can’t properly care for or diagnose or treat patients over the phone,” said Anne. “It certainly isn’t best for 80 per cent of consultations. How the GPs can NOT see patients is terrible. I have had to diagnose so many people recently and it’s been the old-fashioned way of actually seeing them! The doctors can’t just hide behind the ‘rules’ when people are desperate.”

    “I am ashamed, shocked and saddened by the behaviour of so very many of my colleagues,” said Ivan, a GP of 40 years’ experience. “Trouble is that this behaviour has been sanctioned and encouraged by our medical leaders so it is all OK.”

    Is it? In a speech on lessons the NHS can learn from the pandemic, Matt Hancock, Health Secretary, said that all GP appointments “should be done remotely by default, unless a patient needs to be seen in person”. However, there are signs that medics themselves are uneasy about accounts which link missed cases of deadly conditions with a lack of hands-on diagnosis.

    Prof Martin Marshall, Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners Council, warned last week that family doctors “must not default to telemedicine in the post-pandemic world”. The “unintended consequences” should be evaluated. “The use of remote consultations during the pandemic was necessary to protect staff and patients,” Prof Marshall said, “However, once safe, it is time to shift back to face-to-face appointments. Currently there are not enough face-to-face appointments, and this is dangerous.”

    I guess Joy Stokes is one of those “unintended consequences” of remote consultations. When she was dying, the cancer spreading through her like a forest fire, a senior GP at the practice paid a house call to the Stokes and apologised for failing them. Did Joy wish to make a formal complaint? She did not. Instead, she asked the doctor to use her as a cautionary tale to make sure that GPs never refused to see a patient again.

    I’m still reeling a bit from all your stories. It strikes me that they are about much more than individual pain and dismay, important though those things are. It’s about what kind of society we want to be. Banks have already disappeared into a maddening maze of Your Call is Important to Us. You can hang on a line for 40 minutes and never hear a human voice. The bobby on the beat, a reassuring feature of national life when I was a child, is now more mythical than the unicorn. No doubt, just like telemedicine, putting more distance between the police and the public was seen as an efficiency measure in its day. Result: a less safe country where, if you want a burglary solved, better do it yourself.

    We are about to make the same mistake with GPs. Policymakers who think remote consultation is a substitute for a healing touch don’t reflect how people feel. Feelings matter. We need more humanity, not less. In five years, when some adorable toddler dies of a curable disease because the one- and two-years-old hands-on baby checks were replaced by a parent filling in an online form, there will be a public outcry. Let that public outcry be now.

    Yesterday, Nick Stokes told me that their golden retriever is still searching the house for her mum. Neither of them can believe that Joy is gone. How much clearer do the unintended consequences of GPs not seeing patients need to be? Is distanced, digital triage safe? Not remotely.”

    1. The cowardly behaviour of GP’s during this pandemic farce more than justifies the getting rid of the NHS and some alternative system being created!

        2. GPs open for business here, but then most of their income is from consultation fees, only a small part paid by governemt to cover children & the aged.

      2. GPs have behaved badly. Not all but many who I no longer recognise as the doctors of my generation. The idea of sheltering from the dying was unheard of. The denial of treatment for a disease anathema and culpable negligence. Thousands have died because of wilful ignorance of simple safe drugs. Thousands died alone because of distant dim science.

      3. Good moaning all.

        I think the quickest way of GPs resuming proper consultations is to change their remuneration arrangement. Why they are paid according to list numbers I have never understood. If their livelihood depended upon seeing patients things would soon change. And they are treated tax wise as being self employed when they are nothing of the sort, they work for the NHS. Any other trader would be considered as “employed”.

        1. GPs here take a fee for consultation and consumables, govt pays for the young, old & chronically sick.

    2. The same applies to remote schooling. OK, it won’t kill you, but will make it difficult to soak up enough education to be useful – as well as enough socialising.

    3. Anyone else getting irritated by the governmental abuse of the verb “to offer”? I’m pretty certain it used not to mean “attempt to coerce”.

    4. I have a theory.

      The teachers that didn’t want schools to re-open were of the left wing persuasion.

      I wonder what the politics of the GP’s who refused to see patients were. Both sets knowing they would continue to be paid.

      1. Likely.
        Get paid anyway, amazing how the motivation to do the job drops off.

        1. In my area we have used E-consult and then been triaged by the receptionist.

          When i phoned the surgery direct they asked me why i hadn’t called 111. I told them that that service was over run and would like her to get my GP to call me. Which she did.

          After describing my symptoms she called me in straight away and against the rules brought the nurse in also. I was one of the lucky ones.

    5. Our bloated GP practice has now announced that even the e-consult can now only be filled in between 8 a.m. and midday. In the unlikely event of getting through on the phone, the Rottweiler on duty will do her level best to make you go away. I recently needed to book a routine blood test. Phone queue was ‘full’ each time I called so I went through the e-consult rigmarole in the hope of making contact. The next day, in response to my e-consult submission, I had an email telling me I had to phone them to book blood tests – I eventually succeeded in being able to join the phone queue – 3 days later.

      1. I went through the e-consult farce as well. It told me I needed to seek medical assistance – well, I never! Fancy that! Why the ‘eck was I bothering in the first place? – then it told me my details had not been sent to the practice and logged out!

      2. I went through the e-consult farce as well. It told me I needed to seek medical assistance – well, I never! Fancy that! Why the ‘eck was I bothering in the first place? – then it told me my details had not been sent to the practice and logged out!

    6. Our bloated GP practice has now announced that even the e-consult can now only be filled in between 8 a.m. and midday. In the unlikely event of getting through on the phone, the Rottweiler on duty will do her level best to make you go away. I recently needed to book a routine blood test. Phone queue was ‘full’ each time I called so I went through the e-consult rigmarole in the hope of making contact. The next day, in response to my e-consult submission, I had an email telling me I had to phone them to book blood tests – I eventually succeeded in being able to join the phone queue – 3 days later.

    2. So soon The Democrats are at it again. Why do people vote for them.???

      1. 332679+ up ticks,
        Morning JN,
        Same can truly be said of the
        lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled immigration, ongoing coalition.

  10. Much weeping and gnashing of teeth over on the Graun BTL. All to do with curtailing Mr Rashid’s enterprises by requiring voter ID at the polling booth. In my view it’s trivial because it fails to tackle postal voting fraud.

    Johnson the civil libertarian wants to have his voter ID card and eat it
    Marina Hyde
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/11/johnson-civil-libertarian-voter-id-card-fraud-tories

    Mandatory voter ID would dangerously undermine UK democracy
    Jess Garland
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/11/mandatory-voter-id-uk-democracy-electoral-system-vot

    1. From the Guardian one notes! Their opposition is probably that Labour voters do not have visual indentification because they threw it away when they landed on UK soil!

      1. Morning Minty. Of course they did. The key catchphrase du jour is ‘voter suppression’. My gawd the lefties dream up some codswallop.

  13. Good Moaning.
    Does anyone have contact with Damask Rose? It seems to be at least a week since she posted on NOTTL.
    Is she all right?

    1. Morning Anne. Well she upvoted me yesterday and I’m sure I saw one of her posts over the weekend!

      1. Thank goodness. I was worried as she seemed to have landlord problems in addition to her health troubles.

    2. She is ok, do not worry. I am sure she will be back shortly. It is a busy time for her.

    3. She is ok, do not worry. I am sure she will be back shortly. It is a busy time for her.

  14. Russian-speaking cyber gang threatens release of Washington police data. 12 May 2021.

    A Russian-speaking ransomware syndicate that stole data from the Washington DC police department says negotiations over payment have broken down and it will release sensitive information that could put lives at risk if more money is not offered.

    “Russian speaking.” Lol! Two weeks ago it would have been “Putin hacks Washington.” Even Joe has let them off the hook over the pipeline hack! I would dearly love to know what Vlad said to them over the Ukraine business. Whatever it was it scared the crap out of them!

    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/may/11/washington-police-hack-russian-speaking-babuk-gang

    1. TBH, Vlad scares the crap out of me, too – and that’s without him saying anything at all!

        2. He has a distinct Henry VII look to him.
          Mind you, he did take over from a crumbling regime, so possibly it indicates the same mind set.

        3. I recall him being introduced to a young gymnast, he had a very bashful look about him.

        4. I recall him being introduced to a young gymnast, he had a very bashful look about him.

    1. Petit Trianon in No.10 garden. Dilyn is practising on the rounding up sheep schtick.

    2. Petit Trianon in No.10 garden. Dilyn is practising on the rounding up sheep schtick.

    1. Charity stuff, doing good etc is harder than you might imagine, but most of that list passes the test. However, hanging out with an offender, and probable blackmailer, is a bit weird.

      1. mng tim, I’ve worked in real front line aid for 20 odd years [Somalia, south Sudan, Darfur]. It’s not that difficult to implement if the original approach / purpose doesn’t change to fit in with political ideaology. which it has done since the Millenium. As for Billy boy, it’s merely a tax dodging label to infiltrate at all levels and to seek command and control via W.H.O. / UNICEF and it’s use of Gavi. I’ve met many of his employees in the the Gates’ Foundation, you may as well sit with David Koresh and the Branch Davidians.

          1. that was my first impression when meeting the clowns from the Foundation, more so when pushed to provide specifics, it was like watching someone hit the collective “mute button” until they cobbled together some meaningless response that made no sense to anyone except themselves

      2. He was just giving him some IT tips – helping with updates, you know the sort of thing….

      3. Which brings to mind the question — why did Bill Gates give Bliar $22million?

      4. Andrew Carnegie did good with his fortune, as did many other American entrepreneurs of the late 19th/early 20th Centuries, but Bill Gates’s “do-gooding” smacks very heavily of buying influence to push his own adgendas.

  17. Good morning from a Anglo Saxon Queen with longbow and blooded axe

    A bright sunny day with a blue sky with a few fluffy clouds and a noisy red legged partridge in the garden.

    1. Red legged partridges? Does Daddy know you have foreign invaders in your garden?

  18. Not sure I agree that working from home is bad for employees and customers it has its pro’s and con’s but it depends upon the businesses of course. It keeps the roads free, people can work at their own steam and with advanced technologies offices etc will be less and less needed.
    Choosing to work from home is different from having to work from home and there is less interaction as much is done by zoom which can be flaky.

    1. Human beings are social animals and need contact with other people.
      It’s a bit like the paperless society when everyone had PCs and no need to have offices.
      I don’t think it will happen except for a few people.

      1. Paperless office is great.

        Any problem or complaint, just press Delete on your computer and it all disappears.

        1. Wouldn’t be too sure about that. Deleted unfortunate emails have a habit of being recoverable, for example.

  21. Why a Covid public inquiry could prove useful for Boris. 12 May 2021.

    The Prime Minister said today there would be a ‘full proper public inquiry’ into the government’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis. This is highly significant, because a ‘full, proper public inquiry’ means one led by a judge and with witnesses represented by lawyers.

    I am also told – though Downing Street is refusing to comment on this – that the Cabinet will be asked by the Prime Minister to approve the terms of the inquiry on Wednesday morning, and there could be an announcement shortly afterwards.

    Such a public inquiry – like Leveson’s into hacking and Chilcot’s into the decision to go to war in Iraq – would take many years and might not report until after the next election.

    Yes I’m sure it would be too since it would certainly absolve him of any responsibility for the Covid Catastrophe. I have yet to see in my lifetime a public inquiry (ironically Peston has cited both Leveson and Chilcot) that hasn’t been rigged before a word was spoken!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-a-covid-inquiry-announcement-could-prove-useful-for-boris

    1. “Ministers and civil servants will be exempt from any questioning…..”

      You read it here frst.

        1. Goodness me, Korky. Whatever next? Ministers, lie?? Shurely shome mishtake…

    2. They issued the contract for the whitewash, to one of their mates whose only experience of paint is a Paint by Numbers picture completed when he was twelve, before making the announcement.

    3. Why don’t they just publish the report next week and then get on with the charade of an enquiry.

      1. They haven’t received enough whitewash yet. It’s due for delivery next week.

        1. Maybe, like cement, there’s a shortage of whitewash – is it imported from the EU?

      2. They haven’t received enough whitewash yet. It’s due for delivery next week.

      3. They haven’t received enough whitewash yet. It’s due for delivery next week.

    4. I wonder, who will be the COVID Dr Kelly

      lookout behind you medics, if you walk in the woods

      2. If you go down in the woods today
        You’re sure of a big surprise
        If you go down in the woods today
        You’d better go in disguise!

        If you go down to the woods today
        You’d better not walk alone.
        If you go down to the woods today
        You must take your mobile phone;
        For every spook that ever there was
        Is lurking there to kill you because
        Today’s the day you’re due to commit harakiri …..

    5. 12 years and £100 million (plus allowing for inflation) later and ….. tarrarrr !!!!! a very expensive bucket of whitewash.

  22. There has been a lot of stuff about how the Liebour Party is “finished”, “written off for a generation” etc etc.

    Well, I am old. I have heard all this before. It was “dead as a duck” after Kinnockio; It was “gone for good” after Brown…

    Political parties have their ups and owns. But (apart from fatuous ones like the old SDP and the Limp Dumbs) always reinvent themselves.

    Whatever we think and hope – the Liebour Party is STILL WITH US. To borrow a phrase from a well-known democratic politician, “They haven’t gone away.”

    1. However, the point about the reason why the Labour Party was founded has now gone is a valid point.
      It has become the party of the fat cat public employee and the trust funder with too much time and money on its hands; possibly the very people whose interests it used to represent have now cottoned on.

      1. The only thing that is surprising is that it took so long for them to cotton on.

    1. Hello Mr Silverback from 15 years ago or thereabouts. Collecting numbers are you ?

      1. 332679+ up ticks,
        Morning A,
        When the enemas started manipulating the agree tick I took to doing my own, they still owe me 30000.
        Same as my voting pattern I stuck with the real UKIP right up until the genuine leader Gerard Batten was taken down via treachery.
        Do NOT give the political bastards & minions any quarter whats so ever especially in the polling booth, or suffer the consequences.

    2. Hello Mr Silverback from 15 years ago or thereabouts. Collecting numbers are you ?

    3. 332679+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      “LetsDoLondon” in campaign is the real aim & truth of the matter.

      Are you getting the feeling via the polling booth that the voting enema is superior in number ?

      Bearing in mind the genuine sheep are completely innocent.

      Ps,
      Decades ago the replacements started repainting the black & white road sign poles to their liking, remember ?
      But then, years ago was a different Country.

    4. I assume the images are a pee take?

      As surely – SURELY – public money has not been wasted on this pointless exercise?

    1. The New New Liebour Party certainly WON’T want anyone from social classes D and E….

        1. Votes from common, white, bigoted people? Eugh ….. we’d rather lose elect ….. ah, hang on.

    2. Another labour DH who needs to be listed as such,…… AC now siting in a chair at ITV every morning winding up the British public with his self opinionated and very snidey comments. Peers Morgan should have sat it out.

    3. What is an ABC coalition?

      Management involves compromise and acting as a servant to those you manage. A political party is a series of principles that you stand by. It cannot be a coalition as then you end up rather ‘These are my principles…. if you don’t like them, I have others…’ and that isn’t a collective with a shared goal. It’s a mob.

      1. Anyone But Conservatives.
        It’s a common arrangement in councils with no overall control. However much the Greens, Labour, LibDems hate each other, they unite in the face of a common enemy.

        1. My local council in as many words. At the previous local election the Cons scraped in but the SNP and Lab formed a ‘coalition’ and now the town centre is like Beiruit. At the recent election, the SNP ‘gained’ the council by 170 votes. No word, thus far, if the ‘coalition will continue, or Lab were just useful idiots for the past 5 years.

          1. Generally I imagine most councils are run by idiots. Overpaid, featherbedded idiots regardless of their supposed party.

            As for Labour ruining things – that’s par for the course. It’s what they do.

          2. Generally I imagine most councils are run by idiots. Overpaid, featherbedded idiots regardless of their supposed party.

            As for Labour ruining things – that’s par for the course. It’s what they do.

    4. The RAF armourers had a similar song, allegedly…

      A, I’m an armourer
      B, I’m an armourer
      C, I’m an armourer too…

  25. In one of the newspapers this morning . An Asian/ Australian woman had a throat operation of which she recovered but her accent changed from Aussie to Irish, a very very rare occurrence allegedly. Freaks her out she said ” it’s not my voice “.
    All rather odd, I’m sure some might like to change their accents but nevertheless .

    1. “The rine in Spine styes minely on the pline?”
      To be sure, I’d be glad to be talking Oirish instead.

    2. People used to go to elocution lessons to learn to speak as I do!

      Now my voice is branded as too posh!

      Mind you the French quite like my very English accent when I speak French and English people in France find me far easier to understand than the natives.

      Caroline speaks four of her main languages (French, English, Spanish and Dutch) with no detectable foreign accent. Indeed people in each of these four countries take her for a native speaker. However, when she speaks Italian they say she has a Spanish accent and the Turks think she is German!

      2. I’m the same with my native accent – it’s why I enjoy speaking other languages, as foreigners don’t make assumptions about my wealth!

        I used to be taken for southern French when in Paris, but living in Germany buggered that up. Now the French assume I’m Belgian 🤣

  28. Good morning from a “slightly drier than last night” Derbyshire. Bright but cloudy with 5°C on the yard thermometer.

    I see the weather had one casualty last night:-

    Lightning kills boy, 9, on Blackpool football field

    ‘Heartbroken’ Spirit of Youth club offers support for victim’s family
    By
    Telegraph Reporters
    12 May 2021 • 4:49am

    A nine-year-old boy has been killed after being struck by lightning on a football field.

    Police were called to the scene in Blackpool, Lancashire, just after 5pm on Tuesday night to reports a child had been injured.

    Emergency services attended and the boy was taken to hospital but died a short time later.

    A Lancashire Police spokesman said: “Although enquiries are still ongoing, at this time we believe the boy had been struck by lightning.”

    The boy’s family have been informed and are being supported by officers, the spokesman said.

    Det Supt Nick Connaughton added: “This is a truly devastating incident and our thoughts are wholeheartedly with the family and friends of the young boy, who has passed away, at this very sad and distressing time.”

    Junior football club Spirit of Youth confirmed the freak accident occurred at their home ground.

    In a statement the club said they are “heartbroken” by the death of the boy, who they added was not taking part in a club training session.

    A club spokesman said: “It is with deepest regret that we have to report the news that the young boy who was struck by lightning earlier this evening has sadly passed away.

    “The tragic incident happened on our home ground at Common Edge playing fields but it was not during a club training session.

    “As a club, we are heartbroken and we offer our deepest condolences to the boy’s family.

    “Spirit of Youth is a family and we are entrenched in the local community, and we will give whatever support is required to both the family and to those that were with him at the time.

    “We would ask that people respect the privacy of the family at this most tragic of times.

    “Rest In Peace young man.”

    Road closures were put in place in the immediate area but were later lifted.

    Anybody with information about the incident, or who witnessed it and has not yet spoken to police, is asked to get in touch on 101, quoting log 1169 of May 11.

    1. This 6 June the invasion will be coming from the opposite direction – as is also true of 1 Jun, 2 Jun, 3 Jun, 4 Jun, % Jun, …. 7 Jun etc. etc.

  30. Animals to be formally recognised as sentient beings in UK law. 12 May 2021.

    Animals are to be formally recognised as sentient beings in UK law for the first time, in a victory for animal welfare campaigners, as the government set out a suite of animal welfare measures including halting most live animal exports and banning the import of hunting trophies.

    This I’m certain will be a considerable relief to Paddington, Pooh, Tigger et al.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/12/animals-to-be-formally-recognised-as-sentient-beings-in-uk-law

    1. 332679+ up ticks,
      Morning AS,
      Will that interfere any with the parliamentary canteen halal inclusive
      menu ?

      ” I can’t eat that it hasn’t had its throat cut”

    2. Around here the greatest problem with animal welfare is hare coursing by “travellers”

      I wonder whether that will be addressed by this bill, or will “travellers” still be a protected community?

      1. Dogs are communists by default. The share everything fairly and equally, and never bother if they don’t have enough as they can get it somewhere else.

        Cats, meanwhile, are capitalists.

      2. Dogs are communists by default. The share everything fairly and equally, and never bother if they don’t have enough as they can get it somewhere else.

        Cats, meanwhile, are capitalists.

  32. I see that despite the “assurance” by HMG, following the collapse of the prosecution of former soldiers, that there would be no more such cases, the Queen’s Speech was remarkably silent on the issue.

    The bastard BPAPM and his gang of brown-nosers have lied once again.

    1. There is an armed forces bill which talks about ‘strengthening the armed forces covenant’, and a ‘legacy’ bill about Northern Ireland.

      Might there be something in there?

      However, there were so many invasive, intrusive, statist bills pushed forward there’s no chance any could be properly considered. Of course, there’s no bill to reduce government waste and legislation.

      There is a comical bill to ‘set binding environmental targets’. It’s idiotic!

    2. Meanwhile, the MSM are bigging up an NI case dating back nearly 50 years.

    3. Good morning, Bill

      Below is a BTL comment under the DT article on the Queen’s Speech:

      The Queen’s Speech marked the beginning of Boris Johnson’s post-pandemic agenda. Now he must deliver
      If Johnson fails to make good on his promises to the new cohort of Tory voters, the next election will not be as easy to win as the last
      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/05/11/queens-speech-marked-beginning-boris-johnsons-post-pandemic/

      One or two things from the election promises that need sorting out first before making new promises that he will break:

      i) No border in the Irish Sea;
      ii) No role for the EU in Northern Ireland;
      iii) No further prosecution of NI military veterans;
      iv) Complete autonomy over British fishing waters;
      v) Rules for financial sector properly sorted out;
      vi) No role for EU courts in British legal affairs.

      I cannot understand Boris Johnson’s success in the recent elections when he is so reluctant to keep his word to the electorate and when his WA and the Brexit trade deal have been so very bad. And where does all his woke environmental nonsense come from?

      1. Richard, you know well as we all do that election promises are utter tosh.

        In fact, often when they’re spouted you can consider them the things the state will NOT do, rather than what it will.

      2. Richard, you know well as we all do that election promises are utter tosh.

        In fact, often when they’re spouted you can consider them the things the state will NOT do, rather than what it will.

      3. Richard, you know well as we all do that election promises are utter tosh.

        In fact, often when they’re spouted you can consider them the things the state will NOT do, rather than what it will.

  34. Excellent service!!
    I applied on-line for my passport renewal on Mon. 26th April.
    New passport arrived this morning!

    1. That’s my friend Mr Rashid’s excellent service. Several clones were issued at the same time to people currently residing in Calais.

      1. As i will never be near Calais or Britain again,they’re welcome to them.

        1. Just you wait until the Red Army drives all before it and you rush westwards!

          1. You’re one up on me there Bill.I didn’t know they had resurrected the Red Army.
            This place is a mine of (dis)information.

          2. I see no difference between the Red Army and Vlad’s millions in uniform.

    1. And that’s why I’m not getting jabbed. With any of the miracle vaccines.

      1. Virtually every tv advert break here has this “Get the jabs” on. And it shows those who have had it all happy and smiling. And now, after saying “You need TWO jabs for maximum protection” – they now want people to have a booster jab ( what for – 2 is sufficient isn’t it? – before winter – – why? has it become seasonal??? . . . .and today – get your jabe AND your flu jab together before winter- – wow – can’t wait for people to start reacting to that mix. Or are they trying to imply that Covid and flu are TOTALLY different? – – it looks more and more sinister every day.

    1. before even opening the link, having read your comments, the first image in my head was another one who’s swallowed a Space Hopper. On opening the link, i wasn’t surprised to see I was correct. She’ll need a 3 seat sofa not a chair in Hollyrood

    2. Diddums.
      Cutting back on the fried Mars bars would help to increase her bank balance and slim down her waist.

        1. Given Scottish voting patterns last week, we should be reinforcing the Antonine Wall.

          3. That would be unfair to Poles in Edinburgh and all the illegals from the subcontinent packed into Glasgow.

      3. Let him stay in the nice accommodation the US has found for him I say.

  38. Just checked the online bank account – seems I had a tax rebate overnight. a sum that’s actually noticeable! Yaay! I can afford a beer now…

    2. From what I remember of the prices in Norway you’re gonna need it Obs 😉🍺🍻 cheers.

    4. Once had a 2 week dry dock in Bergen, day shifts all round only so nights free to hit the bars. A small fortune was spent.

    5. Once had a 2 week dry dock in Bergen, day shifts all round only so nights free to hit the bars. A small fortune was spent.

  39. Morning all, a pleasant aspect approaches……… Big Sis’ birthday today and lunch in their garden all very sophisticated.
    Slayders.

    Wonderful Prog on last night BBC 4 all about Bletchley Park must have missed it the first time round and more of the real code breakers, two of whom were never honoured and still their secrets are kept …well secret. qonpmatcdlz 😎

      1. My big sis used to run an up market catering company. But i think they are buying it in today.

    1. he’s merely stating the obvious which the majority of people knew before. Aside him looking to put some distance between himself now and his former self, he’s virtue signalling the intent of creating a one party State that he wants to be part of and a role in it

    2. We can’t find any explanation in his article where the US$22 million reportedly given to him by Bill Gates went.

      Anyone know?

      2. I expect that Blair Hall in Bucks and the London residences are all well equipped and well kept. But the UK tax payers still have to fork out millions for his protection !!!
        Did you ever see the film The Ghost Writer ?

        1. A cautionary tale for ghost writers, and a warning, “Look both ways before crossing the road!”.

          1. I could never really make out if it was a true story it wouldn’t have surprised me if it had been.

  43. ‘Morning All
    You have to laff at all the froufrou about voter ID,it’s a distraction,look a squirrel,until Postal Voting is abolished for the masses and restricted to a few special cases rampant electoral fraud will only increase

  44. Good morning all Nottlers, the good news is that I survived the nights rocket attacks & the bad news is that I survived the nights rocket attacks. As predicted by me on NTTL yesterday, Hamas launched multiple rocket attacks on Israel during the night. The sirens went here at 3:05AM this morning followed by about a dozen booms, some very near me, and the sirens went off again at 3:10AM for round two of incoming rockets & interceptions by the Iron dome. Three Israelis were killed overnight in rocket barrages, bringing the death toll in Israel to five & another Israeli man was killed this morning by an anti-tank missile fired from Gaza at a Kibbutz along the Gaza border. Last night was like a fireworks display, a deadly one! I expect that it will restart again later today be repeated in the early hours of the morning if Hamas keeps to their regular tactics, IMO only a ground incursion by the IDF & the physical elimination of the entire top leadership of Hamas will bring about a ceasefire of some sorts. Once again today do not expect any UK media outlet to present anything but a pro-Palestinian viewpoint.
    This is the moment the Iron Dome intercepted a barrage of rockets over Tel Aviv and central Israel
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTo1UOnao4A

    If you cant see the 1st video this is another one:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d_h5uqnYOI

      1. Good morning Anne, correct & from the homes of Hamas members using their families as human shields. Several UN run clinics & schools are also Hamas arms storage dumps knowing that we wont hit a school or clinic full of people, so they store rockets there & collect them for firing from other locations. Gaza’s main hospital built by the British during the Mandate & completely refurbished & extended by Israel after 1967 was taken over by Hamas after we withdrew from the Gaza strip & Hamas built a tunnel network & command centre for its leaders under it knowing full well that we will not bomb a large hospital, thus their leaders operate with near impunity during times of war whilst the general population is exposed to the dangers of our air strikes accidently hitting civilians when Hamas launch rockets from their neighborhoods using the captive civilian residents as human shields.

        1. Is a solution to just leave, and give them what they want?

          These are primitive, tribal cowards. They’ll just kill one another and solve the problem for us. When they’ve all gone, we can move back!

          1. This is our land stretching back well over 6000 years, the Arabs are invaders from the deserts of Arabia, we will allow any other people to force us off our land again.

          2. Weren’t the Palestinians descended from the Philistines? Bit irrelevant when a bunch of nutters are trying to kill you.

          3. No connection whatsoever – the Philistines were sea people from the Mediterranean region of Greece or Crete & the Arabs are from Arabia

          4. No connection whatsoever – the Philistines were sea people from the Mediterranean region of Greece or Crete & the Arabs are from Arabia

          5. Weren’t the Palestinians descended from the Philistines? Bit irrelevant when a bunch of nutters are trying to kill you.

          6. Weren’t the Palestinians descended from the Philistines? Bit irrelevant when a bunch of nutters are trying to kill you.

        2. I suspect the UN are fully aware of how their schools and medical facilities are being used but, unsurprisingly, turn a blind eye over such despicable behaviour.

          1. Happy Wednesday MiB , the UN is Arab , Black, Muslim & Communist dominated & so their agency in Gaza UNWRA ( United Nations Works Relief Agency ) which only serves the Fakestinians is staffed mainly by local Fakestinians who are all Hamas appointees & foreign staff as window dressing, all of whom are hand picked Anti-Semite Socialists .

      1. Good morning Paul, they are but a lot of the rockets are now made in Gaza from materials paid for by the UN & EU and in particular cement for building homes supplied by the UN is also used for building Hamas tunnels & underground bunkers, ditto for steel used in construction of homes, schools & clinics is also diverted into rocket body manufacture & nitrate based fertilizer used by farmers is used also for explosive belts & rocket warheads. Despite the peace treaty with Egypt much military hardware still flows into Gaza via tunnels from the Egyptian Sinai thanks to corrupt Egyptian officials & officers, the sources of these mostly Iranian, Russian , Pakistani, Chinese & North Korean made weapons are from Libya overland through Egypt & from Iranian owned neutral flagged ships docking in Syria or docking in Libya. When we get the info we do our best to intercept these ships at sea & since the establishment of a peace treaty between Israel & Sudan thanks to Trump, the flow of Iranian weapons to the Sudan & thence through Egypt has more or less ceased.

      2. ISIS ran around in 4×4 trucks fitted with big guns on the rear truckbed. The supply of these trucks was never interrupted. Yet it is a piece of cake to trace the supply of these from factory to final owner. My supposition is that there was never any intention to stop ISIS receiving supplies.

    3. Glad to see you’re still with us, Hatman. I hope the IAF gives the bastards hell.

      1. Morning Duncan, we do with precision missiles but as you know Hamas surrounds their operatives with human shield & so about 50% of the IAF’s missions are aborted if drone & satellite photos show large concentrations of civilians around a target.

    4. I hope that our Police and military are studying this carefully so that it doesn’t come as a great surprise when troubles break out in this country.

      1. It surprises me that the large community of 500,000 Fakestinians in the UK have not yet built Kassam rockets to fire at Jewish & Christian targets.

        1. Tell it not in Gath, but many of them are probably glad to be well away from the hounds of Hamas.

    5. I hope that our Police and military are studying this carefully so that it doesn’t come as a great surprise when troubles break out in this country.

    6. I hope that our Police and military are studying this carefully so that it doesn’t come as a great surprise when troubles break out in this country.

  46. A while ago we were taken on to pen test a businesses application. It’s not bad. However, the lead fellow started getting cocky. Now, I know he’s a single male who lives alone. Therefore, we did what all utterly unethical folks do. We stung him with a very attractive young woman (who I know well – we’ve worked together before) a compromising position involving a pink feather boa and while he was otherwise engaged, cloned his phone, nicked his ID card, emptied his office – including all his passwords from his password vault.

    Cockiness duly humbled, pay collected, man embarrassed and taught a lesson.

    To his credit he was very contrite and we shook on it afterward.

    Next adventure is to chainsaw half a load balanced set up.

      1. The humans make it boring. If I could just play with cable and wire I’d be happy, but these annoying people get in the way.

  47. Today is the first day of my smoking cessation program. I have a two week course of Champix. By day ten i should have stopped. Then an eight week course to hammer it home.

    Side effects are nausea and dizziness. No change there then !
    Other side effects are vivid dreams where you wake up and don’t know where or who you are. Again, no change there then. :@(

    2. I smoked an average of 25 a day from age 13 to 33. I then went to see a hypnotist who taught me how to relax and spoke to me in a calming voice explaining the terrible things that nicotine does to one’s body. This was implanted in my subconscious. He also gave me a music cassette recording of his voice repeating the same story. He taught me how to put myself into a relaxed state whilst lying down in a quiet room and listening to the tape. I only needed to play it once before I no longer had any desire, whatsoever, to smoke. I have now been a fresh-air breather for over 37 years.

      You can do it, Philip.

      1. Thank you and well done.

        This newish medicine is better than patches as it switches off the relevant receptors in the brain. After a few days the ciggie tastes awful and you put it out.

        Don’t think Hypno would work on me.

        1. It will work if you want it to work. There’s no magic involved nor any mumbo-jumbo. You are completely aware at all times what is happening but the relaxed state he/she teaches you to attain is blissfully relaxing. I wholeheartedly recommend it but you have to be really wanting to give up smoking. Without a strong determination to quit then it will fail.

          1. Not sure i could suspend my disbelief long enough.

            I’ll stick with me druggie blue blanket.

          2. How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? One. (But the light bulb has to want to change.)

        2. I believe a change in habits is needed, too, such as doing something different when you would normally light up – instead of a ciggie, a coffee after a meal, for example.
          I started with a cigar with my after-work beer in Netherlands, and when returned to the UK, no after-work beer due to needing to drive, and so the cigar stopped, too.

          1. I understand but one thing i would need to change is to not sit at my desk. No Nottle ! Enough to drive me back to the fag packet !

        1. Hey, Dean. I don’t do no truckin’, Hombre. I’m a rails man; caboose for style. We Bos don’t trust no tarmac.

          2. Way to go, Dean. Now we’re hot lickin’ and finger pickin’ on the ole handcart, Dude.

          3. Hey Beatnik, just ride that blues train Dude- and don’t get too crazy and loose- or they’ll have to lock your arse up back in the old caboose!

      3. Between the ages of 27 and 41 I smoked cigarettes in alternate years.

        If I was going out on New Year’s eve I gave away whatever cigarettes I had left upon me to somebody else before a non-smoking year; if I was about to enter a smoking year I took a packet of cigarettes with me so that I could light up at midnight. I had the probably mistaken belief that if I never allowed the bad effects of smoking to built up for more than a year at a time it would save me from cigarette-related illnesses. However I gave up cigarette smoking for good in 1988, the year Caroline and I got married. I took up a pipe and I smoke just one pipe a day in the library after my evening meal.
        I only smoke when I am at home and never take it with when I visit friends or am on the boat. I do not inhale my pipe and it is not addictive so I am not tormented by cravings for tobacco. But when I smoked cigarettes I used to buy a pack of 200 cigarettes once a week – I virtually never ran out and I was often smoking the last cigarette on my way to buy the next pack.

        1. Even if you do not inhale, tobacco smoke—which is carcinogenic—can cause cancer of the tongue. Both my younger brother (who died two years ago from lung cancer) and an old friend (who died twelve years ago) were treated for cancer of the tongue, a number of years ago, which they both contracted as a direct result of smoking.

        2. Even if you do not inhale, tobacco smoke—which is carcinogenic—can cause cancer of the tongue. Both my younger brother (who died two years ago from lung cancer) and an old friend (who died twelve years ago) were treated for cancer of the tongue, a number of years ago, which they both contracted as a direct result of smoking.

    3. I stopped in my early 30’s , it was hard and it took the best part of a year to be free of the addition. I did it on willpower alone, hmm and industrial quantities of Fox’s Glacier Fruits.

      1. OH stopped in his 20s & has never smoked since. I tried it at 10 and never took it up.

        1. I smoked from 11 to 27 – every day – 20/30 a day from 16 onwards. 23 October 1968 I stopped. Just like that. Never smoked since – despite some desire in the first months.

          1. MB did that; decided one day he wasn’t enjoying it – and just stopped.
            I tried it, decided a) it was over-rated and b) I was damned if I was giving the government any more of my money.

    5. Back in the mid 60s my first cigarette of the day was after dinner. Most of my mates smoked but I only smoked on social occasions.
      I literally chucked a packet of around 12 cigarettes on an open fire watched them burn and very touch one again.
      Neither of my two sisters smoked, I believe it was because my parents (father smoked a pipe) both smoked and filled the house with their fumes and the paint yellowed very rapidly. As happened in pubs.

      1. My uncle did that – he’d been doing some job which involved some smelly glue – tiling I think – he chucked the fags on the fire and never smoked again. He lived to 85.

        1. I was naughty I use to take my M in Laws’ ciggies out of her packet and make small pin holes around the printing below the filter tips. She did manage to stopped eventually. We lived with them for two years after returning from Oz and she was considerate of her very young grand children.

    6. Go for it Phizzee, it’s never too late to stop.

      My mother went from ~20/30 a day to zero. She decided to stop having been diagnosed with COPD.
      She stopped overnight when she was in her mid sixties having been encouraged to smoke by her parents when in her early teens. The COPD killed her eventually, in her mid 80’s, so she got probably a decade more than she might.

      Very best of luck.

      1. Thank you. Sorry about your mum but mid 80’s isn’t too bad if her quality of life had improved.

          2. I think getting Covid is the answer, given the average age of death of Covid sufferers.

      2. My mother smoked all her adult life until the last few months when she stopped – she had cut down quite a bit to about five per day. She came to stay at Easter and seemed well enough, but by June she was poorly and she died in September. She just made it to 80.
        Not sure if the smoking or not smoking made any difference. She had pancreatic cancer so so smoking may have been the cause.

        1. I look at it from the perspective of “what was their life expectancy on the day they were born?”

          Even a child born today would not expect to live to my mother’s age.

          1. Years ago I found a site that “told you your age when you die” – it didn’t want personal details, just height, weight and current age in years No D.o.B. – I put these in and a date popped up on the screen – – over a decade earlier than the date it was then !!!!!! – – Seems to fit generally with the doctor telling me, 30 years ago, after giving me a full medical – “You should be DEAD “. I’m still here – he isn’t.

    7. Credit to you. Having helped someone else off an addiction it is incredibly difficult to break.

  48. You have probably never heard of Bizzie Lizzie’s Fish & Chips in Skipton but they were amongst the best in Britain and won a national award or two. The founder, Jean ‘Lizze’ Ritson, who supported some nearby youth football teams and a cancer charity, has died. I didn’t know her but anyone who promotes youth sport and local charities deserves some recognition. RIP Lass. You made many people happy.

  49. Ardern isn’t as lovely as she’d have you believe

    The Prime Minister of New Zealand is fawned over worldwide for her empathetic manner. But increasingly, her actions stink.

    DOUGLAS MURRAY

    From the moment she entered office in 2017, the international coverage of Jacinda Ardern has been nothing short of slavering. Ardern is a female political leader at a time when sections of the press still talk about this like women politicians are unicorns. A year later she added to that advantage by giving birth while in office, which was reported on as though giving birth while holding down a job is unheard of. Coverage has continued in the same vein ever since, helped by the fact that her more important public statements are delivered with lashings of forced empathy. But those of us who are allergic to such bogus forms of communication and who judge people by their actions rather than their capabilities at emoting are noticing that increasingly, Ardern’s behaviour stinks.

    Last month her oh-so-progressive government made an unprecedented step. It refused to join a Five-Eyes statement which was critical of the Chinese Communist Party. The Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network (the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) is the world’s most successful and important intelligence-sharing partnership. In being a member of it New Zealand is at an extraordinary advantage – an advantage that far outweighs the miniscule resources it actually puts into intelligence or other defence capabilities.

    But the refusal was not an oversight by the Ardern government. Rather it was a part of a disgraceful and pro-totalitarian political turn. Ardern’s foreign affairs minister Nanaia Mahuta said that New Zealand now has a preference for moving on from the Five Eyes alliance and looking for new ‘multilateral opportunities’. Except no such better opportunities exist for such a small and isolated power. What is going on is that sweet, lovely Jacinda Ardern and her government are in the process of seeking as much Chinese investment as possible to boost their economy, and doing everything that the CCP wants to ensure that the investment roars in.

    It is a cynical and immoral policy because Ardern knows that Chinese investment always comes with strings attached: Australia welcomed it in the 2000s, only to spend the last decade desperately trying to disentangle themselves from the boa-constrictor that is the CCP when it moves into any foreign market.

    Earlier this week she gave a speech in which she tried to claw back some of her moral capital by insisting that she had raised questions about the CCP’s human rights record in private. And she said that she really was worried about how to ‘reconcile’ New Zealand and Chinese Communist Party attitudes towards human rights.

    Well, here’s a tip. It can’t be done. You’re either in favour of forced labour camps, neo-colonialism and forced abortions on women who are nine months pregnant, or you’re not. Ardern perhaps hopes that we’ll glide over these awkward facts. And the international press might well. On Wednesday, the New Zealand Prime Minister announced with wonderful timing that she and her partner have set a ‘summer wedding’ date. So yay. Sweet Ardern is back. Pity she sold her country.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/08/ardern-isnt-lovely-have-believe

    1. It’s the teeth and the mangled vowels which get me, quite apart from the left-wing wokery.

    3. She seems to favour people of a certain religious belief who have slipped under the southern hemisphere radar and are now gaining strength, as is the obvious effect of the global plan, over her own inhabitants. Can’t quite manage to distinguish her ars* from the proverbial elbow. And a big mistake as will transpire.

      1. I’m banned from her Twitter feed for pointing out that it was hypocritcal of her to brand the Sultan of Brunei as homophobic, ignoring the fact that his attitude is simply standard moslem fare.

        2. Rather smacks of the confusion these people have. On the one hand, they suck up to these people and pander to them, yet when it’s pointed out that this conflicts with their other fervent beliefs their solution isn’t to attempt to reconcile the conflict. No, it’s to attack the person pointing out their doublethink.

          It must be hard being a politician. You’re lying to your electorate to make them vote for you. You lie to your party for their support but worst of all, you lie to yourself. More than that, the only person you could be honest with you aren’t because it’s easier to score points than solve problems.

          It is a monumental degree of abject hypocrisy.

          1. Arden reportedly has an eye on a top job at the UN; which, with the ensuing financial awards for life, should quell any spasms of conscience.

          2. Yes, activity without achievement, apathy rewarded with promotion, as long as you say the right things to the right people it’s the ideal old politicians home.

      2. Dunedin supermarket attack.
        A 42-year-old man appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday where his lawyer confirmed there were no formal mental-health reports sought.
        The man, who was of no fixed abode according to court documents, faces four charges of attempted murder.
        Counsel John Westgate entered no plea on behalf of his client and asked for name suppression to be granted until the next appearance before the High Court in June.
        Judge Peter Rollo granted the order and remanded the man in custody.

        https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/supermarket-staff-return-scene-attack-blessing

          1. No. What interests me a little, is that stories appear and disappear without one ever knowing the ending.

    4. It’s short-sighted madness. NZ was removed from five eyes intelligence sources in 1986, following the ‘Rainbow Warrior’ escapade. It took them years to regain a foothold, just for this Blair clone to give all away to the Chinese. A return to the ‘club’ may be harder to establish following this course of action.

      Rumours that she, and/or her government, bribe the supine meeja are surely just speculation?

  50. Good morning all,

    Showery day here , just been for more blood tests and B/P check , still raised so it has to be monitored .

    The 2nd Vaccine acted as a very strong anti viral . Side effects can take perhaps more than a week to subside so I have been informed , hence my bad reaction .

    Have to dash now, dodging showers, dogs need a gallop, Moh playing golf , and it is his 75th b/day tomorrow , so have things to do .

    Poor Israel, poor world , poor old UK … Saw mention of 186 migrants that arrived by boat yesterday .

    Politicians are avoiding contentious issues .

    Toodle pip for now x

    1. 332679+ up ticks,
      Morning TB,
      ” Poor UK” it was self administered via the polling booth, the peoples consent was given time & time again, tis STILL going on regardless of odious consequence.

  51. 332679+ up ticks,
    Courtesy of the lab/lib/con coalition supported & voted for via the polling booth it looks like they will achieve their aim shipping them to DOVER.
    The real UKIP always called for controlled immigration but many in the herd were told that the real UKIP was far right racist, and in lieu of brains they “chose” to believe it.

    France Needs a 3-5 Year Ban on Immigration, Says EU Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier

  52. Jeeeze probably the wrong form of address…… but the BBC are really going out of their pathetic woke little way by trying to suggest the problems in the ‘muddle east’ are perpetrated solely by Israel. I suppose Hamas obtained their rockets they fire from school playgrounds and housing estates, from the local supermarket !
    And of course go the whole Hog BBC and don’t mention the real cause behind the shootings in Russia.

          1. I’ll leave for the MSM Harry every body seems to believe everything they say. Mosquego now.
            Bis sisters Birthday drinks and Lunch in 45 minutes. I hope it doesn’t rain.

      1. 8/12 = 75%?

        Maths not your strong point, our Susan?

        Good morning (just) btw.

          1. Hi, Bill. Glad the MR survived the jab. Had my second on Monday – all fine.

            What did you think of the new Inside No 9?

          2. Thanks, John. She is still a bit under the weather and her arm hurts.

            Inside No 9. Some funny lines; some inside jokes (lost on me because I never watch things such as “Fleabag” or “Miranda Hart”), and excellent timing – but I must say we were both completely mystified.

            Hope it gets better!

          3. We couldn’t stop laughing. I paused it a few times to explain some of the more obscure English references to the pretty one.
            Maybe you should watch it again with a grandchild, who could grok you the modern stuff and to whom you could explicate the classical allusions!

        2. OK, 9/12 is 75%. Or 8/10. So I actually got 66.6%, which is more scary. Been relying on mechanical calculators for too long. Brain addled. (New Windows 10 machine isn’t checking my spelling in Disqus either, so that’s likely up the creek too!)

          1. Considering that Microsoft consider American English to be ‘English’ and put absolutely no effort into translating into the correct terms, I wouldn’t trust it at all.

      2. 7/12 – reckon I know more about Covid-19 than is good for me …

        ….. I’ll go and lie down.
        :¬(

    1. I heard on CNBC that many Tesla drivers have been honking and waving at car drivers queueing for petrol.

      Perhaps this is a payback for the absolute catastrophe which hit EV drivers in Texas in February.

    2. This is only a teaser, the real fun starts tonight.

      The Michigan Governor is threatening to shut the pipeline from Alberta tonight and that will cut off the supply to many north eastern refineries. If they think that they have supply problems today, just wait a few hours. We are about to see what life will be like if the Greenies win.

      The funny thing is that woke Trudeau is having to defend a pipeline by resorting to a treaty signed by his father and Biden.

    1. Until we load them on to a cargo plane and kick them out, nothing will change.

      1. Just shown on the news – the flood at Lampedusa. Invasion – no other words describe it.

    1. Can you send me a reminder in five and a half years please Phizz.

      Hope you’re well.

      1. Right you are Sir.

        ***makes note. Chucks in waste bin…

        I still get stabbing pains in my leg that make me say OW! but it is not as bad as it was and the angio is within the next four weeks. Hopefully.

    2. There will be no one left to claim after the WHO euthanasia programme kicks in.

      1. Wrong there Grizz millions of 30 year old Muslim migrants will be making claims, after all they successfully claimed asylum aged 20 by claiming to be 13 year olds

        1. Bugger, Pud! Maybe if we parachuted them all into the Sahara, where they belong, we might save some cash?

  58. Sorry for the tardiness – I’ve been fighting computers all morning – and it’s time to use some old ones:

    An awful crop of ‘Dad’ jokes

    When chemists die, they barium.

    Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.

    I know a guy who’s addicted to brake fluid. He says he can stop any time.

    How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it.

    I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me.

    This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I’d never met herbivore.

    I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. I just can’t put it down.

    I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words.

    They told me I had type-A blood, but it was a Type-O.

    PMS jokes aren’t funny; period.

    Why were the Indians in America first? They had reservations.

    I didn’t like my beard at first. Then it grew on me.

    Did you hear about the cross-eyed teacher who lost her job because she couldn’t control her pupils?

    When you get a bladder infection urine trouble.

    Broken pencils are pointless.

    I tried to catch some fog, but I mist.

    What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary? A thesaurus.

    England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool.

    I used to be a banker, but then I lost interest.

    I dropped out of communism class because of lousy Marx.

    All the toilets in London’s police stations have been stolen. The police have nothing to go on.

    I got a job at a bakery because I kneaded dough.

    Haunted French pancakes give me the crepes.

    Velcro what a rip off!

    A cartoonist was found dead in his home. Details are sketchy.

    Venison for dinner again? Oh deer!

    Be kind to your dentist. He has fillings, too.

  59. Parliamentlive.tv…
    Mr Speaker,is it entirely fair that the Prime Minister never gets a chance to virtue-signal by wearing his mask while the other sheep in the chamber do?

    1. Honestly, if *anyone* thought this wasn’t inevitable, I’ve a bridge to sell them.

      1. Seems to me there are many out there who have just given up thinking at all. They are still sh1t scared and believe everything they are told.

          1. Lots of trolls BTL. As I said, stopped thinking.

            We had a camera fitted to our “new” car today as we’d been used to one on our 11 registered Passat. When we picked the car up the girl in reception asked if we’d had our injections. Think she was rather go smacked when we said no and weren’t planning to. She is the first person who was of the same opinion about the injections. She said she was asthmatic, so at probably more risk than ordinarily, and explained she had done her research and it wasn’t for her. She also has turned down flu vaccinations. It was hard to tell her age but I’d guess less than 30. It was refreshing to hear someone with the same opinion.

          2. Lots of trolls BTL. As I said, stopped thinking.

            We had a camera fitted to our “new” car today as we’d been used to one on our 11 registered Passat. When we picked the car up the girl in reception asked if we’d had our injections. Think she was rather go smacked when we said no and weren’t planning to. She is the first person who was of the same opinion about the injections. She said she was asthmatic, so at probably more risk than ordinarily, and explained she had done her research and it wasn’t for her. She also has turned down flu vaccinations. It was hard to tell her age but I’d guess less than 30. It was refreshing to hear someone with the same opinion.

      2. Seems to me there are many out there who have just given up thinking at all. They are still sh1t scared and believe everything they are told.

    2. Honestly, if *anyone* thought this wasn’t inevitable, I’ve a bridge to sell them.

  62. Dominic Raab accuses Russia of ‘sheltering’ criminal cyber gangs who are using attacks to ‘steal, sabotage and ransack’ the West and ‘want to undermine the very foundations of our democracy’ as oil pipeline hack cripples US. 12 May 2021.

    Dominic Raab accused Russia of sheltering criminal cyber gangs who are working to undermine Western democracy today.
    The Foreign Secretary lasted out at Vladimir Putin’s autocratic regime and Communist China as he revealed the level of threats facing the UK and its allies.

    BELOW THE LINE..

    Ravfox, Penzance, United Kingdom, 15 minutes ago

    Russia is in an undeclared war against the West. Not because of anything we have done, but because we stand as a beacon of liberty, tolerance and the rule of law. He doesn’t want his people to see this – hence his near total control of the media in Russia. But enough gets known through the Web and he wants to undermine the West to remove its shining beacon.

    Lol!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9569913/Russia-China-using-cyber-attacks-steal-sabotage-ransack-West-Dominic-Raab-warns.html#comments

    3. Isaiah 5:20 vae qui dicitis malum bonum et bonum malum ponentes tenebras lucem et lucem tenebras ponentes amarum in dulce et dulce in amarum.

    4. Isaiah 5:20 vae qui dicitis malum bonum et bonum malum ponentes tenebras lucem et lucem tenebras ponentes amarum in dulce et dulce in amarum.

    6. I suppose Raab had nothing to say about Turkey sheltering and arming Jihadi terrorists and murderers of the innocent. Thought not.

    7. I suppose Raab had nothing to say about Turkey sheltering and arming Jihadi terrorists and murderers of the innocent. Thought not.

    8. …. “because we stand as a beacon of liberty, tolerance and the rule of law.”
      There, there. Nurse will be along with your tablets before suppertime.

  63. Dominic Raab accuses Russia of ‘sheltering’ criminal cyber gangs who are using attacks to ‘steal, sabotage and ransack’ the West and ‘want to undermine the very foundations of our democracy’ as oil pipeline hack cripples US. 12 May 2021.

    Dominic Raab accused Russia of sheltering criminal cyber gangs who are working to undermine Western democracy today.
    The Foreign Secretary lasted out at Vladimir Putin’s autocratic regime and Communist China as he revealed the level of threats facing the UK and its allies.

    BELOW THE LINE..

    Ravfox, Penzance, United Kingdom, 15 minutes ago

    Russia is in an undeclared war against the West. Not because of anything we have done, but because we stand as a beacon of liberty, tolerance and the rule of law. He doesn’t want his people to see this – hence his near total control of the media in Russia. But enough gets known through the Web and he wants to undermine the West to remove its shining beacon.

    Lol!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9569913/Russia-China-using-cyber-attacks-steal-sabotage-ransack-West-Dominic-Raab-warns.html#comments

  64. Breaking News – The biggest victims of the covid pandemic are the common cold and the flu, totally unheard of since March 2020,

    1. After opening the windows to let COVID out we all got cold and in flew enza!

  65. More laughs from the NHS…….

    Just collected two prescriptions from our caring health service.
    They were not the items I requested….

    .I could cry.

    3. Sorry to hear that Plum….please don’t cry…..same thing happened to me 10 days ago.

      [Perhaps you were pushing your luck trying to get two cases of sherry {:^))

      1. If gluten-free sh**/stuff can be prescribed, I see no reason why sherry shouldn’t be – it will do far more good!

      2. If gluten-free sh**/stuff can be prescribed, I see no reason why sherry shouldn’t be – it will do far more good!

    4. Sorry to hear that Plum….please don’t cry…..same thing happened to me 10 days ago.

      [Perhaps you were pushing your luck trying to get two cases of sherry {:^))

  66. Hamas have announced that they will be launching more rocket attacks on central Israel at 18:00 hours in Israel. They have been firing non stop at towns down south all morning using short range rockets & wish to fire more medium / long range rockets at us in the Tel Aviv district but since its still Rama-ding-dong they are only breaking their fast after 19:00 hours and need to have some more blood thirsty fun before feeding & molesting their goats after they eat their supper.

    1. Impressive hit success rate by the Iron Dome so far. There must be some flux of ‘incoming’ at which it could be overwhelmed.

      1. The success rate varies between 85 – 90% depending on weather, topography, proximity & radar functionality plus of course the sheer volume of fire at any particular target given that only about 8 or 9 Iron Dome batteries are covering the country from south to the centre at any given time with 2-3 covering the northern border with Lebanon & Syria in case Hezbollah begins firing

      2. The success rate varies between 85 – 90% depending on weather, topography, proximity & radar functionality plus of course the sheer volume of fire at any particular target given that only about 8 or 9 Iron Dome batteries are covering the country from south to the centre at any given time with 2-3 covering the northern border with Lebanon & Syria in case Hezbollah begins firing

    2. Impressive hit success rate by the Iron Dome so far. There must be some flux of ‘incoming’ at which it could be overwhelmed.

    1. Don’t fret yourself OLT the UK’s Muslim & Black population will gladly take on the task with a gusto of populating the UK, just make sure you continue working hard & paying tax to keep them on welfare & child benefits !

    2. Don’t fret yourself OLT the UK’s Muslim & Black population will gladly take on the task with a gusto of populating the UK, just make sure you continue working hard & paying tax to keep them on welfare & child benefits !

  70. I know that NoTTLers are keen to remain at the cutting edge of all emerging world news but this item may have slipped through the net, look you…

    Graduate becomes ‘world’s first openly non-binary city mayor’ – and Wales’ youngest ever – after they’re unanimously elected in Bangor at just 22
    Bangor University graduate Owen J Hurcum came out as non-binary in 2019
    This week, they were elected to be mayor of Bangor in Gwynedd, North Wales
    On Twitter, Owen said they were ‘beyond humbled’ to be the ‘first ever openly non-binary mayor of any city anywhere’
    The 22-year-old had feared their community would ostracise them for being non-binary but instead they were unanimously elected into office to serve

    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/05/11/15/42849710-9566769-image-a-54_1620743682669.jpg

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9566769/Non-binary-graduate-Wales-youngest-city-mayor-22.html

    1. This week, they were elected to be mayor of Bangor in Gwynedd, North Wales

      How many of them are there? Do they job-share?

        1. No, just a common-or-garden nutcase (and I do have personal experience of schizophrenia affecting a very close family member).

    2. I’m sure this must be a joke…but I’m not laughing. Did I miss something?

    3. I’m sure this must be a joke…but I’m not laughing. Did I miss something?

      3. How are things, Mr. Hat? Quietening down or winding up for a new launch? Stay safe! X

        1. Hi Sue, non-stop rocket firing on our towns down south, over 1000 rockets in 2 days and the threat of renewed attacks on Tel Aviv & the centre of the country at 6pm locally. Our TV is showing live pictures of IDF 155mm self propelled artillery being positioned near the Gaza border in readiness for an eventual ground offensive & in doing so sending a message to Hamas.

          3. Time to bomb Gaza to dust and hang the consequences.

            Threaten Iran with the same, only nuclear if they try to interfere.

      4. How are things, Mr. Hat? Quietening down or winding up for a new launch? Stay safe! X

      5. How are things, Mr. Hat? Quietening down or winding up for a new launch? Stay safe! X

    9. I’ve decided to come out as “non-decimal”.

      From now on my preferred pronoun is Avoirdupois.

    10. I’ve decided to come out as “non-decimal”.

      From now on my preferred pronoun is Avoirdupois.

        1. I identify as a porcine quadruped and my pronouns are Pinky and Perky.

    15. Self-selection of preferred pronouns creates a problematic minefield. Hurcum uses the plural form in the third person, favouring they/them over he/him or she/her but opts for the singular form in the first, using ‘I/me/my’ instead of ‘we/us/our’.

    16. Self-selection of preferred pronouns creates a problematic minefield. Hurcum uses the plural form in the third person, favouring they/them over he/him or she/her but opts for the singular form in the first, using ‘I/me/my’ instead of ‘we/us/our’.

    17. OMG. What is that? And why is it that the majority has to fit in with its idea of well, whatever!

    18. OMG. What is that? And why is it that the majority has to fit in with its idea of well, whatever!

        2. Feeble joke:

          A man had a dog which had the remarkable ability to talk in human language so his owner took him to a theatrical agent to see if there were any commercial possibilities.

          Agent : What does your dog do?
          Dog Owner: He talks. Come on Bonzo let’s show him what we can do. How do I feel after a night on the booze?
          Bonzo: Rough!
          Dog Owner: And what is it that a person wears round his or her neck in an Elizabethan costume drama?
          Bonzo: Ruff.
          Dog Owner: And what is on top of a house?
          Bonzo: Roof.
          Dog Owner : And what were the goats pursued by the trolls in the Norwegian fairly tale called?
          Bonzo: Gruff.
          Agent: Get out. You and your dog a charlatans who are wasting my time!

          As they leave the threatrical agent’s office:

          Bonzo: I say, old chap I think you could have shown off my talking abilities to rather better advantage.

          (In my defence I thought it was quite funny when Les Dawson told it!)

        3. Feeble joke:

          A man had a dog which had the remarkable ability to talk in human language so his owner took him to a theatrical agent to see if there were any commercial possibilities.

          Agent : What does your dog do?
          Dog Owner: He talks. Come on Bonzo let’s show him what we can do. How do I feel after a night on the booze?
          Bonzo: Rough!
          Dog Owner: And what is it that a person wears round his or her neck in an Elizabethan costume drama?
          Bonzo: Ruff.
          Dog Owner: And what is on top of a house?
          Bonzo: Roof.
          Dog Owner : And what were the goats pursued by the trolls in the Norwegian fairly tale called?
          Bonzo: Gruff.
          Agent: Get out. You and your dog a charlatans who are wasting my time!

          As they leave the threatrical agent’s office:

          Bonzo: I say, old chap I think you could have shown off my talking abilities to rather better advantage.

          (In my defence I thought it was quite funny when Les Dawson told it!)

        4. Feeble joke:

          A man had a dog which had the remarkable ability to talk in human language so his owner took him to a theatrical agent to see if there were any commercial possibilities.

          Agent : What does your dog do?
          Dog Owner: He talks. Come on Bonzo let’s show him what we can do. How do I feel after a night on the booze?
          Bonzo: Rough!
          Dog Owner: And what is it that a person wears round his or her neck in an Elizabethan costume drama?
          Bonzo: Ruff.
          Dog Owner: And what is on top of a house?
          Bonzo: Roof.
          Dog Owner : And what were the goats pursued by the trolls in the Norwegian fairly tale called?
          Bonzo: Gruff.
          Agent: Get out. You and your dog a charlatans who are wasting my time!

          As they leave the threatrical agent’s office:

          Bonzo: I say, old chap I think you could have shown off my talking abilities to rather better advantage.

          (In my defence I thought it was quite funny when Les Dawson told it!)

    23. Grizz is correct in his prediction of human intelligence. Its not nutters like this chap that I despair, its that people actually vote for them. Non binary, I guess he doesn’t know his ar*e from his elbow then.

    24. Grizz is correct in his prediction of human intelligence. Its not nutters like this chap that I despair, its that people actually vote for them. Non binary, I guess he doesn’t know his ar*e from his elbow then.

    25. Grizz is correct in his prediction of human intelligence. Its not nutters like this chap that I despair, its that people actually vote for them. Non binary, I guess he doesn’t know his ar*e from his elbow then.

      1. …yo ho ho and a bottle of rum,… so to speak

        In the name of unholy God, how do we end up with this sort of farcical nonsense as Mayor of Bangor but but an evil racist as Mayor of London?????

      2. …yo ho ho and a bottle of rum,… so to speak

        In the name of unholy God, how do we end up with this sort of farcical nonsense as Mayor of Bangor but but an evil racist as Mayor of London?????

      3. …yo ho ho and a bottle of rum,… so to speak

        In the name of unholy God, how do we end up with this sort of farcical nonsense as Mayor of Bangor but but an evil racist as Mayor of London?????

    30. Ye gods! Thank goodness it was far away Bangor near the coast and not Bangor is y coed.

    31. Ye gods! Thank goodness it was far away Bangor near the coast and not Bangor is y coed.

  72. Tony Blair is right: Labour is too woke to win elections. Spiked. 12 May 2021.

    But in the wake of Labour’s drubbing in last week’s elections, Blair has identified a key problem with Labour: the party is far too woke. Writing in the New Statesman, the former prime minister says the party’s ‘cultural message… is being defined by the “woke” left’ – which is a huge gift to the right.

    ‘People do not like their country, their flag or their history being disrespected’, according to Blair. Not because they are mindlessly nationalistic, or believe that ‘everything their country has done’ is good. But rather because most people understand that it is unwise to ‘impose the thinking of today on the practices of yesterday’, he argues.

    And this Repellent Rodent has just realised this? What prompted this awakening? It wouldn’t by any chance be the loss of Hartlepool? Blair’s only interest in these matters is to see if he can somehow wangle a way in for himself!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/05/12/tony-blair-is-right-labour-is-too-woke-to-win-elections/

    1. ‘Tony Blair is right: Labour is too woke to win elections.’

      True. We don’t want them to win just put up a strong opposition.

    2. ‘Tony Blair is right: Labour is too woke to win elections.’

      True. We don’t want them to win just put up a strong opposition.

          1. The poor woman got flustered because she saw three solutions straight away and got confused as to which one to give.

            7 + 5 = 12
            12 x 25 = 300
            or
            5 – 1 = 6
            6 x 5 = 30
            30 x 10 = 300
            or
            25 + 5 = 30
            30 x 10 = 300

    9. 8/10.

      I got the “Jesus” one wrong because I wasn’t aware of the special rule for Bible characters and I got the “Men” one wrong because I thought it was being used adjectivally, not possessively.

    1. Tut, tut! Not until May 17th.

      And a man and a woman kissing? Disgraceful display of heteronormative behaviour. Pull that statue down!

  78. Alleged victim accusing Court of Appeal judge’s widow Lady Lavinia Nourse, 77, of sexually abusing him in the 1980s tells court he ‘realised the shame wasn’t mine to bear’ and said she ‘screwed me up’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9570177/Alleged-victim-Lady-Lavinia-Nourse-77-tells-court-realised-shame-wasnt-bear.html

    I have no idea as to whether or not the allegations are true or false but is there not a strong case to make that such allegations must be stated openly within a shorter period than over 30 years?

    2. 332670+ up ticks,
      Afternoon R,
      I should coco, 30 minutes would be more applicable.

    3. 332670+ up ticks,
      Afternoon R,
      I should coco, 30 minutes would be more applicable.

    4. 332670+ up ticks,
      Afternoon R,
      I should coco, 30 minutes would be more applicable.

    5. Firstly, the widow of Sir Martin Nourse is Lady Nourse, not Lady Lavinia; even the ragbag of hacks on the Daily Mail should be aware of that schoolboy howler.

      Secondly, it is disgraceful that reporting restrictions have not been imposed to hide the fact that the boy in her bed was possibly her own *** or a close friend of the family.

      Thirdly, under her maiden name Lady N appears in a novel as “Lady Lavinia Malim – a judge’s widow who had recently taken residence in the village and had been causing even more trouble than usual”, so let’s hope that none of the jury have ever read anything by Lady Archer’s husband. As both the Archers and the Nourses were residents of Grantchester, I assume that the mention was a joke, but would a juror know that?

  79. Wait for the next development. Rainbow coloured chalk? Trannie chalk figure?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/12/rebel-baron-undressed-cerne-abbas-giant-get-rise-oliver-cromwell/

    “Rebel baron undressed the Cerne Abbas giant to get a rise out of Oliver Cromwell

    Hillside figure wore trousers for 700 years, says National Trust, before they were removed and a phallus added as parody of Civil War leader

    12 May 2021 • 6:04am

    The origins of the Cerne Abbas giant have long been cloaked in mystery, and its vast anatomy has long caused shock by being cloaked in nothing at all.

    But the National Trust has revealed that the hill figure is Saxon and actually had trousers for 700 years before a phallus was added in the 17th century as a possible parody of Oliver Cromwell, made on the orders of a disgruntled baron.

    Before then, the club-wielding nude wore trousers, according to National Trust senior archaeologist Martin Papworth, who told The Telegraph: “For a long period he may not have been phallic at all.”

    The phallus was added during the 17th century – a time that supports a theory that the culprit was statesman Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles, owner of the Dorset hillside.

    An MP, he was forced into exile for opposing Cromwell, and it has been theorised that he ordered the giant to be created in its entirety as a parody of “England’s Hercules”.

    New dating has now revealed he may simply have added the giant’s vast erection.

    Mr Papworth said: “He was a politician, and he was not a great buddy of Cromwell.

    “It may have been Holles that did it, it may have been planned as a political statement carved in the landscape.”

    The findings from the archaeologists have dispelled a number of other theories over the origins of the giant, including whether it was originally prehistoric, Celtic, or from the Civil War era.

    The evidence suggests the 180ft tall figure initially sported a belt across the section now dominated by the 36ft erection, after first being etched around the 10th century AD.

    “LiDar (3D laser scanning) shows… he may originally have had trousers which were replaced by the phallus in the 17th century”, said Mr Papworth.

    The phallus caused outrage among Victorians who censored images of the giant, and bishops in the 20th century supported proposals to remove the erection which was nevertheless enlarged by locals during restoration work in 1908.

    Archaeologists now believe the original non-phallic design could explain why monks at the nearby Cerne Abbey tolerated the giant image for so long after its creation in the newly established date range between 700 and 1100 AD.

    The area was Christianised by the time the giant was made, but as it is unrelated to Christian imagery it may indicate that Dorset remained a “pocket of paganism”, and the chalk artwork may depict the Saxon deity Heil.

    It had been previously theorised that the hill figure was a prehistoric fertility symbol, a Roman homage to Hercules, or propaganda for William of Orange, but geoarchaeologist Mike Allen said that dating has revealed “everyone was wrong”.

    Further evidence supports the fact the phallus was added during the period Baron Holles owned the land on which the giant was etched.

    In 1774 a Rev John Hutchins wrote that the giant had been cut on the orders of the pro-Restoration aristocrat who was initially forced to flee to France while Cromwell was in power.

    The giant’s outline of the figure would likely have been visible in low light despite being neglected and becoming overgrown during the medieval, Tudor, and early Stuart periods, and locals would likely have been aware of the figure before it was recut.

    The land passed from Holles’ family to the Pitt-Rivers dynasty, which owned the giant until it was gifted to the National Trust in 1920.

    The Trust has worked with the University of Gloucestershire, Allen Environmental Archaeology and the Pratt Bequest to dig trenches in the giant’s elbows and feet in order to abstain soil samples and establish the true age of the figure.

    Mr Papworth said: “We have nudged our understanding a little closer to the truth but he still retains many of his secrets.”

      1. The Royal Mail is banning White Envelopes & from now on Black Mail will get priority ( but not as high priority as postal ballots from East London )

  80. Wait for the next development. Rainbow coloured chalk? Trannie chalk figure?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/12/rebel-baron-undressed-cerne-abbas-giant-get-rise-oliver-cromwell/

    “Rebel baron undressed the Cerne Abbas giant to get a rise out of Oliver Cromwell

    Hillside figure wore trousers for 700 years, says National Trust, before they were removed and a phallus added as parody of Civil War leader

    12 May 2021 • 6:04am

    The origins of the Cerne Abbas giant have long been cloaked in mystery, and its vast anatomy has long caused shock by being cloaked in nothing at all.

    But the National Trust has revealed that the hill figure is Saxon and actually had trousers for 700 years before a phallus was added in the 17th century as a possible parody of Oliver Cromwell, made on the orders of a disgruntled baron.

    Before then, the club-wielding nude wore trousers, according to National Trust senior archaeologist Martin Papworth, who told The Telegraph: “For a long period he may not have been phallic at all.”

    The phallus was added during the 17th century – a time that supports a theory that the culprit was statesman Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles, owner of the Dorset hillside.

    An MP, he was forced into exile for opposing Cromwell, and it has been theorised that he ordered the giant to be created in its entirety as a parody of “England’s Hercules”.

    New dating has now revealed he may simply have added the giant’s vast erection.

    Mr Papworth said: “He was a politician, and he was not a great buddy of Cromwell.

    “It may have been Holles that did it, it may have been planned as a political statement carved in the landscape.”

    The findings from the archaeologists have dispelled a number of other theories over the origins of the giant, including whether it was originally prehistoric, Celtic, or from the Civil War era.

    The evidence suggests the 180ft tall figure initially sported a belt across the section now dominated by the 36ft erection, after first being etched around the 10th century AD.

    “LiDar (3D laser scanning) shows… he may originally have had trousers which were replaced by the phallus in the 17th century”, said Mr Papworth.

    The phallus caused outrage among Victorians who censored images of the giant, and bishops in the 20th century supported proposals to remove the erection which was nevertheless enlarged by locals during restoration work in 1908.

    Archaeologists now believe the original non-phallic design could explain why monks at the nearby Cerne Abbey tolerated the giant image for so long after its creation in the newly established date range between 700 and 1100 AD.

    The area was Christianised by the time the giant was made, but as it is unrelated to Christian imagery it may indicate that Dorset remained a “pocket of paganism”, and the chalk artwork may depict the Saxon deity Heil.

    It had been previously theorised that the hill figure was a prehistoric fertility symbol, a Roman homage to Hercules, or propaganda for William of Orange, but geoarchaeologist Mike Allen said that dating has revealed “everyone was wrong”.

    Further evidence supports the fact the phallus was added during the period Baron Holles owned the land on which the giant was etched.

    In 1774 a Rev John Hutchins wrote that the giant had been cut on the orders of the pro-Restoration aristocrat who was initially forced to flee to France while Cromwell was in power.

    The giant’s outline of the figure would likely have been visible in low light despite being neglected and becoming overgrown during the medieval, Tudor, and early Stuart periods, and locals would likely have been aware of the figure before it was recut.

    The land passed from Holles’ family to the Pitt-Rivers dynasty, which owned the giant until it was gifted to the National Trust in 1920.

    The Trust has worked with the University of Gloucestershire, Allen Environmental Archaeology and the Pratt Bequest to dig trenches in the giant’s elbows and feet in order to abstain soil samples and establish the true age of the figure.

    Mr Papworth said: “We have nudged our understanding a little closer to the truth but he still retains many of his secrets.”

    1. …. a national Covid-19 memorial

      Do they think anyone is going to forget The South Sea Bubble of the modern world

      Would it not be better, perhaps, to have a memorial for those who were Murdered, by COVID, for the good
      of Global Power/Big Pharma/Soros and for the UK daring to leave the EU

      1. Murdered through not getting seen by a qualified doctor and thereby not getting referred to hospital for the necessary consultant appointments and tests. I suspect a significant proportion of the alleged deaths ‘with covid’ were really deaths from other causes anyway – hence the average age of death where covid is mentioned is something like 82.

      1. All good, so far but a little embellishment required, “…figure of a person of colour wearing a rainbow mask…“

  83. Signing off. It managed not to rain. Trevor the Painter has done all the ladderwork stuff on the dormer windows (which makes me run away and hide). Half way through. He is one of those workmen (if that word is allowed) whom it is a pleasure to have around.

    Now to watch another talk from Rome. Then the market tomorrow. We are half way through a French film called “The Guardians” (“Les Gardiennes”) Farm life in the Great War. Brilliant. Not unlike some French farm life 100 years later. Apart from the electricity and a tractor.

    A demain.

      1. Ultimately, apart from the inevitable international condemnation, what amazes me is that Israel doesn’t say:
        “OK, you’ve decided you cannot live in peace, time to leave”

        And then expel every Muslim fro what Israel regards as its own territory.

        I am not for an instant suggesting that that is what they should do, but I have to admit that if it was gypos living on my land and they were robbing me blind it is what I would do, had I the force of arms to do so.

      2. I’d guess that Hamas aren’t spending £40 000 a rocket – and Israel are shooting two missiles to each Hamas. Yhe economics are poor… so I guess a land war it is, then.

        1. I’d guess that Hamas aren’t spending a penny a rocket.

          Iran is paying for them.

  89. Utterly off topic.

    Every year, some orchid-like leaves appear and the frost kills the plant. I’ve long wondered what the flowers might be like if the leaves really are an orchid.

    Today, in one of the more sheltered parts, I found two orchids. Another new species for us.

    1. No doubt about it sos, Japanese knotweed …. and may you long flourish in its munificence. {:^))

        1. Japanese Knotweed is edible you know!
          from wiki

          The young stems are edible as a spring vegetable, with a flavour similar to rhubarb. In some locations, semi-cultivating Japanese knotweed for food has been used as a means of controlling knotweed populations that invade sensitive wetland areas and drive out the native vegetation. It is eaten in Japan as sansai or wild foraged vegetable.

          1. Each to their own.

            Mint is my bane here; and yet guests in the cottage rave about being able to take it straight from the meadow and cook with with it. Not merely as a sauce but as a salad and even in one case as a dish in its own right.

            Weird!

          2. A few sprigs of mint in a cold glass of Pimms is something to look forward to when the weather is warmer.

          3. Each to their own.

            Mint is my bane here; and yet guests in the cottage rave about being able to take it straight from the meadow and cook with with it. Not merely as a sauce but as a salad and even in one case as a dish in its own right.

            Weird!

        2. Japanese Knotweed is edible you know!
          from wiki

          The young stems are edible as a spring vegetable, with a flavour similar to rhubarb. In some locations, semi-cultivating Japanese knotweed for food has been used as a means of controlling knotweed populations that invade sensitive wetland areas and drive out the native vegetation. It is eaten in Japan as sansai or wild foraged vegetable.

    2. No doubt about it sos, Japanese knotweed …. and may you long flourish in its munificence. {:^))

    3. No doubt about it sos, Japanese knotweed …. and may you long flourish in its munificence. {:^))

  90. Utterly off topic.

    Every year, some orchid-like leaves appear and the frost kills the plant. I’ve long wondered what the flowers might be like if the leaves really are an orchid.

    Today, in one of the more sheltered parts, I found two orchids. Another new species for us.

  91. Utterly off topic.

    Every year, some orchid-like leaves appear and the frost kills the plant. I’ve long wondered what the flowers might be like if the leaves really are an orchid.

    Today, in one of the more sheltered parts, I found two orchids. Another new species for us.

      1. Yo sos

        And so many Anglo Saxon names.

        They will be predominant type names before long

      1. Plenty.
        We still keep in touch with friends there and we moved away forty years ago.

      2. Plenty.
        We still keep in touch with friends there and we moved away forty years ago.

      1. Biden will shut down fracking pdq – and is already building offshore windfarms.

        I guess Americans should re-learn their horse-riding skills …

        Coincidentally, Bill Gates has become the biggest farmer in North America …

          1. Probably grazing land to control the beef supply i.e. no beef nutured on his land. Climate change, y’know. Hence the promotion of veganism. Also has the delightful effect of weakening the population so that they have only the energy to do as they’re told, no energy to protest.

          2. Sorry, Mum, I just cannot understand this rising tide of veganism. It’s almost like some evangelical religion and is certainly NOT something I shall embrace but rather fight it, tooth and red, bloody nail.

          3. Me as well… did I give the impression I was in favour of veganism? Nature created us as omnivores, it is for the snowflakes to come to terms with it. Our young have had too easy a life, food available everywhere. I think that may well be about to change. I regard veganism as some form of mental illness along the lines of anorexia.

          4. Probably grazing land to control the beef supply i.e. no beef nutured on his land. Climate change, y’know. Hence the promotion of veganism. Also has the delightful effect of weakening the population so that they have only the energy to do as they’re told, no energy to protest.

          5. Probably grazing land to control the beef supply i.e. no beef nutured on his land. Climate change, y’know. Hence the promotion of veganism. Also has the delightful effect of weakening the population so that they have only the energy to do as they’re told, no energy to protest.

        3. Bill Gates is not the “biggest farmer” in North America, he just owns most farms. He probably couldn’t tell a bull from a heifer.

        4. Bill Gates is not the “biggest farmer” in North America, he just owns most farms. He probably couldn’t tell a bull from a heifer.

      2. Biden will shut down fracking pdq – and is already building offshore windfarms.

        I guess Americans should re-learn their horse-riding skills …

        Coincidentally, Bill Gates has become the biggest farmer in North America …

      3. They’re going to screw that up as soon as possible. As I have bored many people on this blog, I lived for 27 years on ‘Wall Street’ and the City dealing with global energy. Totally out manoeuvered.

      4. They’re going to screw that up as soon as possible. As I have bored many people on this blog, I lived for 27 years on ‘Wall Street’ and the City dealing with global energy. Totally out manoeuvered.

      5. They’re going to screw that up as soon as possible. As I have bored many people on this blog, I lived for 27 years on ‘Wall Street’ and the City dealing with global energy. Totally out manoeuvered.

    7. I can remember petrol when it was 4 Shilling 11 pence Three farthings a Gallon

          4. So long ago, can’t remember. Was in my Dad’s Volvo 144, so after 1969.

          8. So long ago, can’t remember. Was in my Dad’s Volvo 144, so after 1969.

          9. So long ago, can’t remember. Was in my Dad’s Volvo 144, so after 1969.

      10. I could completely refill my Triumph Herald for about 3 quid, in the ’60s

      11. I could completely refill my Triumph Herald for about 3 quid, in the ’60s

        1. I just filled my Disco 4 up.

          It cost almost SIX times the cost of my first car

          Fifteen quid, for a 1947 Austin 8 in 1963.

        2. I just filled my Disco 4 up.

          It cost almost SIX times the cost of my first car

          Fifteen quid, for a 1947 Austin 8 in 1963.

        3. I just filled my Disco 4 up.

          It cost almost SIX times the cost of my first car

          Fifteen quid, for a 1947 Austin 8 in 1963.

      12. I remember spending one shilling & 6 pence of my weekly half a crown pocket money in Woolworths – 1 shilling for an Airfix model kit & 6 pence on toffees & chocolates in Woolies Pick N Mix. Them’s were the days!

        1. Today I went into town and bought three plain freshly baked scones at our High Street Marks and Spencer. Although each one was priced 75p I only paid 25p or just over 8p each since I had an M&S voucher for £2 on me. Mind you, 8p each is 1/8d each in old money. :-))
          And now it’s 2 am so “Goodnight, all”.

        2. Today I went into town and bought three plain freshly baked scones at our High Street Marks and Spencer. Although each one was priced 75p I only paid 25p or just over 8p each since I had an M&S voucher for £2 on me. Mind you, 8p each is 1/8d each in old money. :-))
          And now it’s 2 am so “Goodnight, all”.

      13. I remember spending one shilling & 6 pence of my weekly half a crown pocket money in Woolworths – 1 shilling for an Airfix model kit & 6 pence on toffees & chocolates in Woolies Pick N Mix. Them’s were the days!

      14. When I started driving in 1964 I could drive from Lymington to London and back in my mother’s old Morris Minor for under 30/- in petrol. (This was the one with the same body as the later Morris Minor 1000 but with a split windscreen).

      15. My earliest petrol price memory is 36p per gallon, prob about ’74/’75

    8. I can remember petrol when it was 4 Shilling 11 pence Three farthings a Gallon

    9. I can remember petrol when it was 4 Shilling 11 pence Three farthings a Gallon

    10. At least they are now fighting for a cause – several cases of fisticuffs at gasstations in the Carolinas.

  100. 332679+ up Ticks,
    Yet another nine monther type delaying tactic that work so well, the inquiry into the covid handling Mr johnson
    said it will be in depth & under oath, that is the worrying part,

    ” under oath” may one ask which form of oath taking material will be used ?

    Using the koran gives plenty of scope for porkies to
    descend into the lugholes of non believers.

    IMO,
    Inquiry needed ASAP.

    1. It takes nine months to order the many pots of whitewash that will be needed.

    2. It takes nine months to order the many pots of whitewash that will be needed.

    3. More and more people, atheists that is, swear an oath on no holy book.

  101. 332679+ up Ticks,
    Yet another nine monther type delaying tactic that work so well, the inquiry into the covid handling Mr johnson
    said it will be in depth & under oath, that is the worrying part,

    ” under oath” may one ask which form of oath taking material will be used ?

    Using the koran gives plenty of scope for porkies to
    descend into the lugholes of non believers.

    IMO,
    Inquiry needed ASAP.

    1. I heard this joke at a respectable black tie Granite Guild dinner at the RAC Club mid-eighties.

      A couple decided to allow each other to determine the inscription on each other’s tombstones (granite of course).

      He wrote : ‘Here lies my wife, cold as ever’. She wrote: ‘Here lies my husband, stiff at last’.

    2. I heard this joke at a respectable black tie Granite Guild dinner at the RAC Club mid-eighties.

      A couple decided to allow each other to determine the inscription on each other’s tombstones (granite of course).

      He wrote : ‘Here lies my wife, cold as ever’. She wrote: ‘Here lies my husband, stiff at last’.

  104. 332679+ up ticks,
    May one ask, what does the team in Bow street say ?

    breitbart,
    Tony Blair: ‘Our Teams Are Embedded in Governments Around the World’

  105. Evening, all. For me, too many distractions when attending Zoom meetings from home.

    1. It’s like that at work, Conners. Zoom or TEAMS meetings several hours a day.

  109. Labour’s going South because it despises Northerners

    Sir Keir Starmer’s party has an outdated view of the North, looking disdainfully at attitudes most people think are just common sense

    ALLISON PEARSON

    In the Northern Song, the genius Victoria Wood assembled a list of clichés that people down South trotted out about Wood’s part of the country. “Tripe, clogs, going to the dogs, Wigan and Blackpool Pier/Brass bands, butties in yer ‘ands, whippets and next door’s mam.”

    Wood was sending up a condescending, outdated view of the North, which still seems to be official Labour Party policy. Before his deafening defeat in the Hartlepool by-election, Sir Keir Starmer was filmed locally packing boxes in a food bank. It was marginally better than the lame stunt where, to get at Boris, he clutched a roll of wallpaper in John Lewis and managed to look as if he had had just been handed a Sidewinder missile.

    Still, the food bank visit came across as pious virtue signalling. Metropolitan Labour does love a victim, but working-class people in Hartlepool don’t want to be portrayed as charity cases. They want to own their own home, have a nice car and be able to afford two cracking holidays a year.

    They like Boris because he tells them things are looking up and they think he’s funny. The notion of “avin’ a laff” is alien to Sir Keir whose voice is too weak for a leader. It has an inbuilt quaver, which makes him sound hesitant and miserable – a reedy oboe to Boris’s ebullient trombone.

    Naturally, Labour MPs will swoon in horror at Priti Patel’s new legislation, featured in yesterday’s Queen’s Speech, which says immigrants who arrive illegally will never be offered permanent status. Hartlepool will bloody love it.

    That is not the only reason why Labour is finished, but it’s a big part of it. That disdainful puckering of the brow at attitudes that most normal people think are just common sense.

    Other Northern constituencies could fall like skittles if the PM springs an early general election. There’s a betting slip’s width between Ed Miliband and defeat in Doncaster North (majority 2,370) and Yvette Cooper had better sign up for Strictly like husband Ed Balls, with a majority of just 1,276 in Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford. Imagine Yvette doing the Argentine tango with Giovanni.

    Hmm, maybe not. I can’t see any way back for the Labour Party. It despises the very people it came into existence to protect.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2021/05/12/labours-going-south-despises-northerners/

    1. That is because the effete Southerners believe that there will always be an INGland.

      The home of INGs,

      Ignorant Northern Gits.

      1. Sorry, Sos but that post justifies one’s thoughts about Northerners, which I don’t believe many Southern English, effete or not, subscribe to.

        Sounds more like a victim’s cry.

        1. I’m married to a Northern lass, I use the expression to bait her, and I find that many Northerners also rise to the bait!

        2. I’m married to a Northern lass, I use the expression to bait her, and I find that many Northerners also rise to the bait!

      2. Sorry, Sos but that post justifies one’s thoughts about Northerners, which I don’t believe many Southern English, effete or not, subscribe to.

        Sounds more like a victim’s cry.

      3. Sorry, Sos but that post justifies one’s thoughts about Northerners, which I don’t believe many Southern English, effete or not, subscribe to.

        Sounds more like a victim’s cry.

      4. The England Rugby Union team are dropping the nickname, Saxons,as it might offend…..

        1. Too many people are too quick to take offence where none is intended.

          Too few people will give offence where plenty is needed…

        2. Too many people are too quick to take offence where none is intended.

          Too few people will give offence where plenty is needed…

        3. The Scots have been calling English people ‘Sassenachs’ (derived from ‘Saxons’) for centuries. Should they be told to stop, as it is offensive?

          3. ‘Sasannach’ is a proper Gaelic word, meaning ‘Englishman’. Are those who take offence going to stop me speaking my native language.

            I think not. It’s been tried before – without success!
            :¬)

        4. The Scots have been calling English people ‘Sassenachs’ (derived from ‘Saxons’) for centuries. Should they be told to stop, as it is offensive?

      5. The England Rugby Union team are dropping the nickname, Saxons,as it might offend…..

      6. The England Rugby Union team are dropping the nickname, Saxons,as it might offend…..

    2. That is because the effete Southerners believe that there will always be an INGland.

      The home of INGs,

      Ignorant Northern Gits.

    3. That is because the effete Southerners believe that there will always be an INGland.

      The home of INGs,

      Ignorant Northern Gits.

  110. Labour’s going South because it despises Northerners

    Sir Keir Starmer’s party has an outdated view of the North, looking disdainfully at attitudes most people think are just common sense

    ALLISON PEARSON

    In the Northern Song, the genius Victoria Wood assembled a list of clichés that people down South trotted out about Wood’s part of the country. “Tripe, clogs, going to the dogs, Wigan and Blackpool Pier/Brass bands, butties in yer ‘ands, whippets and next door’s mam.”

    Wood was sending up a condescending, outdated view of the North, which still seems to be official Labour Party policy. Before his deafening defeat in the Hartlepool by-election, Sir Keir Starmer was filmed locally packing boxes in a food bank. It was marginally better than the lame stunt where, to get at Boris, he clutched a roll of wallpaper in John Lewis and managed to look as if he had had just been handed a Sidewinder missile.

    Still, the food bank visit came across as pious virtue signalling. Metropolitan Labour does love a victim, but working-class people in Hartlepool don’t want to be portrayed as charity cases. They want to own their own home, have a nice car and be able to afford two cracking holidays a year.

    They like Boris because he tells them things are looking up and they think he’s funny. The notion of “avin’ a laff” is alien to Sir Keir whose voice is too weak for a leader. It has an inbuilt quaver, which makes him sound hesitant and miserable – a reedy oboe to Boris’s ebullient trombone.

    Naturally, Labour MPs will swoon in horror at Priti Patel’s new legislation, featured in yesterday’s Queen’s Speech, which says immigrants who arrive illegally will never be offered permanent status. Hartlepool will bloody love it.

    That is not the only reason why Labour is finished, but it’s a big part of it. That disdainful puckering of the brow at attitudes that most normal people think are just common sense.

    Other Northern constituencies could fall like skittles if the PM springs an early general election. There’s a betting slip’s width between Ed Miliband and defeat in Doncaster North (majority 2,370) and Yvette Cooper had better sign up for Strictly like husband Ed Balls, with a majority of just 1,276 in Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford. Imagine Yvette doing the Argentine tango with Giovanni.

    Hmm, maybe not. I can’t see any way back for the Labour Party. It despises the very people it came into existence to protect.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2021/05/12/labours-going-south-despises-northerners/

  111. Labour’s going South because it despises Northerners

    Sir Keir Starmer’s party has an outdated view of the North, looking disdainfully at attitudes most people think are just common sense

    ALLISON PEARSON

    In the Northern Song, the genius Victoria Wood assembled a list of clichés that people down South trotted out about Wood’s part of the country. “Tripe, clogs, going to the dogs, Wigan and Blackpool Pier/Brass bands, butties in yer ‘ands, whippets and next door’s mam.”

    Wood was sending up a condescending, outdated view of the North, which still seems to be official Labour Party policy. Before his deafening defeat in the Hartlepool by-election, Sir Keir Starmer was filmed locally packing boxes in a food bank. It was marginally better than the lame stunt where, to get at Boris, he clutched a roll of wallpaper in John Lewis and managed to look as if he had had just been handed a Sidewinder missile.

    Still, the food bank visit came across as pious virtue signalling. Metropolitan Labour does love a victim, but working-class people in Hartlepool don’t want to be portrayed as charity cases. They want to own their own home, have a nice car and be able to afford two cracking holidays a year.

    They like Boris because he tells them things are looking up and they think he’s funny. The notion of “avin’ a laff” is alien to Sir Keir whose voice is too weak for a leader. It has an inbuilt quaver, which makes him sound hesitant and miserable – a reedy oboe to Boris’s ebullient trombone.

    Naturally, Labour MPs will swoon in horror at Priti Patel’s new legislation, featured in yesterday’s Queen’s Speech, which says immigrants who arrive illegally will never be offered permanent status. Hartlepool will bloody love it.

    That is not the only reason why Labour is finished, but it’s a big part of it. That disdainful puckering of the brow at attitudes that most normal people think are just common sense.

    Other Northern constituencies could fall like skittles if the PM springs an early general election. There’s a betting slip’s width between Ed Miliband and defeat in Doncaster North (majority 2,370) and Yvette Cooper had better sign up for Strictly like husband Ed Balls, with a majority of just 1,276 in Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford. Imagine Yvette doing the Argentine tango with Giovanni.

    Hmm, maybe not. I can’t see any way back for the Labour Party. It despises the very people it came into existence to protect.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2021/05/12/labours-going-south-despises-northerners/

    1. come on Mr Hat

      You really must stop showing these attacks

      How can the Biased Broadcasting Company and the rest of the MSM keep up their portrayal of Hamas being attacked for no reason
      when they see these pictures

    2. come on Mr Hat

      You really must stop showing these attacks

      How can the Biased Broadcasting Company and the rest of the MSM keep up their portrayal of Hamas being attacked for no reason
      when they see these pictures

    3. There is an article in a Canadian newspaper today that actually looks into the way that the Palestinians are using civilians as human shields and indiscriminately aiming rockets into Israel.

      1. Beeb didn’t mention that. They concentrated on the casualties when the tower block was hit.

  114. It’s been a bad computer day so I’m away to veg out in front of the box with a dram or two of the right stuff, slainte.

    1. It’s not what they fear – it’s just what they are hoping for and want: another excuse to extend their restrictions upon us.

  121. Well, yes, Prof, but how did we even get here?

    The Freedom of Speech Bill is a huge step towards saving the soul of university education

    The Government is right to champion free expression at a time when everyday censorship on campus is rife

    ERIC KAUFMANN

    The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill, announced in the Queen’s Speech yesterday, is a long overdue piece of legislation, and the Government deserves credit for seeing it through. At stake is a question of values: is freedom of expression or protection from subjectively-defined psychological harm a higher value in our society?

    If we elevate empathy for the feelings of the most sensitive member of historically marginalized race, gender and sexual-identity groups – as interpreted by radical activists – over our right to speak, we will have turned our backs on a centuries-old principle which anchors English tradition and the Enlightenment.

    The new progressive ideology which places designated identity groups as sacred totems which cannot be offended is an ideology I call Left-modernism, known as wokeness, and the university is its epicentre. And yet, even there, my survey research suggests that a slight majority of academics and around half the student body still value free speech over the emotional safety of totemic identity groups. All the more reason why it is vital that the Government supports them by making it very clear that society as a whole values the former over the latter.

    The Bill establishes the position of Academic Freedom Champion, an office tasked with proactively applying the law and ensuring that universities promote academic freedom. This is a huge step, because while academic freedom protections are largely present in law, they are often sacrificed by universities in practice when they collide with progressive concerns around emotional safety.

    It is not enough to have laws on the books and make speeches. Academics and students who hold dissenting views on hot button issues that touch on race, sexuality and gender – such as gender-critical feminists – know that one student complaint or activist Twitter mob can tie them up in an investigation which can result in expulsion or suspension, making their life a living hell. The process is the punishment, even if they are ultimately exonerated, and the activists know it. Cutting this process off at the knees is vital to stop the chilling effect that leads to self-censorship in teaching, research and commentary. This Bill begins the process of tackling the iceberg of self-censorship that lies, invisible, beneath the surface of no-platformings.

    Make no mistake, the everyday censorship of views, not no-platforming, is the big problem on campus and the lack of clear protection against cancel culture contributes to it. Everyday censorship afflicts hundreds of thousands of academics and students and impairs the truth-seeking mission of the university. No-platforming, which has taken off since 2018, is only the visible symptom of this much deeper problem.

    On the trans issue, Black Lives Matter, immigration, gender differences, the causes of crime, Empire and British history, even Brexit, self-censorship is rampant. For instance, in surveys I undertook as part of two Policy Exchange reports I co-authored in November 2019 and August 2020, which informed the Bill, we found that fewer than four in 10 Brexit-supporting students and two in 10 Brexit-supporting social science and humanities academics said they would be comfortable expressing their views to peers. Half of conservative academics in these disciplines said they self-censored in research, discussion and teaching. Each episode of cancellation creates a powerful chilling effect, hence the urgent need to address it.

    The Bill draws on many of the recommendations in our reports. It recognises that the university’s highest value is the search for truth, not the subjectively-defined emotional safety of students – that can be addressed through counselling.

    Proactive regulation, with the power to levy fines, will incentivise universities not to bow to internal student and faculty activists, sometimes backed up by Twitter mobs or open letters. Dissidents such as conservatives or gender-critical feminists will know that the Academic Freedom Champion, to whom they can turn even if their university is hostile, will have their back. Student unions, who are funded by universities, will no longer be able to claim they are independent of it, and therefore be permitted to establish partisan rules that restrict the rights of political minorities to invite speakers.

    When an institution violates the rights of individuals, governments must limit institutional autonomy to protect individual liberty. Southern American universities once restricted the rights of black students, so the federal government had to intervene. So, too, with government intervention into British schools captured by Islamists.

    At stake is nothing less than the future of the university, and with it the question of whether free speech or emotional safety is our highest value.

    Eric Kaufmann is professor of politics at Birkbeck College, University of London and a senior fellow at Policy Exchange

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/12/freedom-speech-bill-bid-save-soul-university-education/

    1. This censorship is happening here as well. A Professor at Mount Allison University has been suspended after students complained.

      Her crime ? She denied that Canada is systemically racist and compared how good her life is when compared to her native Lebanon.

    2. This censorship is happening here as well. A Professor at Mount Allison University has been suspended after students complained.

      Her crime ? She denied that Canada is systemically racist and compared how good her life is when compared to her native Lebanon.

  124. Boy dies when struck by lightning playing football. The club says that he was a ‘shining light’. Not the best of words, I would suggest.

  125. 332679+ up ticks,

    Dt,
    What the Covid public inquiry will likely look at.

    Possible politico Odessa lines.

      1. Not very scared nor very safe, we have no shelter in my block , or public shelter near us & so we shelter in the stairwell or like right now just sit in our lounge, watch the live TV coverage & hope for the best!

          2. Hells bells, you are really being targeted, saw that on the news .

            Where are Hamas getting their weapons from , and how will these tensions be resolved ?

          3. Send Tony Blair, the ME peace envoy. Oh hang on, he has been milking that one with no success for a while .

    1. haven’t got time to click on the link, but apart from the appalling tragedy, why keep so much cash?

  129. Woke soldiers ‘moan’ about a lack of plant-based options in the Armed Forces and ‘having to buy their own vegan Doc Martens’ because they ‘refuse to wear commissioned cow-hide boots’
    Vegan Society say they have received several complaints from serving officers
    Soldiers buying ‘vegan leather’ Doc Martens over standard issue cow-hide boots
    Charity claims numbers wanting plant-based diet and lifestyle is increasing
    By WILLIAM COLE FOR MAILONLINE

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9570595/Soldiers-moan-lack-plant-based-options-Armed-Forces.html

    1. I don’t think the military life is really the life for them, do you?

    2. It reminds me of the uprising by colonial forces in India during the Raj, when bullets were laced with pig fat or beef fat, upsetting both Muslim and Hindu factions within the British colonial militia. If they’d used sheep fat or goose fat, there would never have been any bother!

      It is a military decision though. Would the military objective be achieved better by taking a “take it or leave it” approach to Vegans in the ranks, or giving them the option to acquire alternatives themselves to salve their consciences, with even a subsidy given as a gesture of goodwill, if this is agreeable to their colleagues?

      I remember the British army got round the inadequacy of standard issue boots in the Falklands by nicking them off the Argentinians, whose boots were splendid.

    2. Do you have a bag packed with essentials , just in case , you know what I mean, important stuff?
      Hope you manage to get some sleep .
      Good night Mahba ,
      I hope the fraught situation calms down .

  132. Good night all Nottlers, I am too tired now to think straight , rockets hit a town to the south of Tel Aviv & one to the North but no hits in Tel Aviv right now

    1. Goodnight, Hat. Your NoTTler family is praying for your safety, along with an end to all of this.

    2. Hope the IDF go in with the real stuff, not merely the stand-off 155mm, and hit them hard

      1. I wish the BBC would stop calling them “Arabs” stirring up yet more racial hatred.

        Many Palestinians are descendants of the old non-Jewish semites, such as Hittites and Philistines, and many others are descended from Mediterranean traders, rather than Bedouins, Furthermore, if these rockets are being supplied from Iran, they’re not Arabs either.

        It is an old-fashioned land dispute. Two sets of neighbours scrapping over the same piece of ground. Many boundary disputes can get very nasty, and this is no exception. Someone needs to knock some heads together!

  134. A bit quiet on the the Middle East Peace Envoy and Palestinian Sympathiser fronts – perhaps they’re working from home.

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