750 thoughts on “Tuesday 1 October: Britain must get out of the EU – and not be treated like a naughty child”

  1. Good Morning, all

    SIR – The outcome of the Supreme Court case is extraordinary and unexpected, not least because of the previous meticulous judgment to the contrary by an exceptionally distinguished Divisional Court consisting of the Lord Chief Justice (the head of the judiciary of England and Wales), the Master of the Rolls, and the President of the Queen’s Bench Division.

    Compelling criticism of the Supreme Court’s reasoning can also be found in Professor John Finnis QC’s paper, published by Policy Exchange.

    Lord Sumption, lately a member of the Supreme Court, agrees that the Attorney General’s advice, on the basis of which the Prime Minister acted, was “in line with the orthodox view of the law as it was before the Supreme Court pronounced” and says that he would have given the same advice.

    John Beveridge QC (Commentary, September 30) argues that the Supreme Court judgment has the appearance of reasoning backwards from a desired outcome. Lord Sumption seems to agree, saying: “What has happened is that in the face of a particularly disgraceful constitutional abuse the courts have now moved the boundaries.”

    If Lord Sumption is right, the implications are disturbing. The Supreme Court would, in reality, have changed the law with retrospective effect – having “moved the boundaries” after the prorogation. It is not easy to see how an action that was correctly understood to be lawful at the time it took place could be a “disgraceful constitutional abuse”.

    Reaction to the case has been strong and divided sharply, generally along political lines, indicating that the issues are, indeed, essentially political – territory where courts should not go.

    His Honour Charles Wide QC
    Glapthorn, Northamptonshire

    Spiderwoman beware – the 17.4 million see you for what you are.

    1. ‘morning Z,

      “The Supreme Court judgment has the appearance of reasoning backwards from a desired outcome.”

      I don’t think there was any reasoning at all. They had decided beforehand that they would rule that Boris’s action was illegal. It only took so long because they were scrambling around trying to phrase the decision as correct and justifiable. Two things that they have failed to do.

      1. But if her biting critique results in the death of democracy – I think Black Widow would be more appropriate….

    3. With an uncharacteristic display of modesty, I will repost my BTL comment from the DT. (Retired Sharks can snicker in the background if it makes them feel better.)

      “The Supreme Court was always a political project.

      I doubt Blair has the brains to realise that, in this matter as in many others, he was behaving like a destructive toddler. But plenty using him as a presentable front for their goals knew exactly what they were up to.

      Cherie the Republican for one.”

      1. Whispers in the ear. Bill doesn’t find it funny to be referred to in that way. He gets quite upset.

      2. Totally agree. Conservative Party must move to return to the pre-Bliar/EU arrangements. Wasn’t that the House of Lords for final appeal?? Oh dear, maybe a few more mods needed there too…

  2. SIR – If we don’t respect the result of a democratic referendum, then we are no longer a democracy. Are we really willing to make this sacrifice because of a perceived risk to the economy?

    Jane Dyson
    Bedlington, Northumberland

    The referendum wasn’t anything to do with the economy and any perception of short term risk thereto is far outweighed by the benefits in the medium to long term. Democracy has been trashed.

    1. Only remainers saw it as an economic argument. Those who wanted to leave saw it more as a “who runs Britain?” question.

  3. Open borders and social democracy don’t mix. Spiked. 30 September 2019.

    This open-borders cosmopolitanism will deliver a fatal blow to the party’s own aspiration to create a sustainable, all-encompassing, taxpayer-funded welfare state. If these policies were enacted, they would inevitably lead to increased immigration at a time when much of the British public – including traditional Labour voters in the party’s Leave-voting heartlands – want it to be reduced and managed.

    Morning everyone. Well I don’t believe that the Labour Party gives a damn what “traditional labour voters” think. They’ve ignored them for twenty years and they are after all white racist fascists! The real danger of this policy (open borders) is that it is like hanging a large sign on the White Cliffs of Dover saying “Get Your Free Stuff Here”. Such a policy if carried out would inevitably lead to a vast increase in immigration and then to the collapse of the NHS and the Welfare State, and after that the country’s economy. This series of events probably being punctuated by minor events like Crime Sprees, Malnutrition, Food Riots and low level Civil and Racial War.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2019/09/30/open-borders-and-social-democracy-dont-mix/

    1. New Labour never regarded its traditional vote in the North and the Midlands as “fascists”. They are bigots. Please know the difference. Tories are fascists.

    2. Uncontrolled immigration without massively increasing the infrastructure will not do anyone any good.

      1. With or without increased infrastructure provision uncontrolled immigration will not do anyone any good. The UK does not need any more bodies, it needs a more efficient economy to improve the lives of those already living here.

        1. It would be interesting if the EU could apply population density as the main criterion as to where immigrants should go.

          England and Holland are the most densely populated countries in Europe so they should be, to quote O’Bama, “at the back of the queue.”

          As Scotland is ten times less densely populated than England, no immigrants should come to England until Scotland has the same level of population density as England..

      2. ‘morning Rastus, if I may make a slight adjustment to your comment:

        “Uncontrolled immigration without massively increasing the infrastructure will has not done anyone any good.”

        Edited to add quotation mark.

    5. Socialists have never got their heads round the reality that you can afford the welfare state as we know it, or you can have open borders with unlimited immigration. You cannot have both.

  4. SIR – To all those women who had their legs touched by a man 20 years ago and are only now drawing it to our attention, I say: “Grow up!”

    Pamela Plumb
    London NW1

    Were I to try to squeeze Nagsman’s thighs next time I see her, I bet I wouldn’t have to wait 20 years to get her reaction.{:^))

      1. Only 30 more days to go now, Annie, until we see whether he is as good as his word or just a May Mark 2 merchant.

  5. What Britain Buys and Sells in a Day review – starvation rations here we come! Lucy Mangan.Mon 30 Sep 2019.

    It was explained that our climate means we will always depend on imports. That efficient logistics are vital to our economy. A few minutes’ delay on each lorry crossing our borders in the wake of new rules will soon translate into supply bottlenecks and increased prices. They didn’t touch on what would happen when no one is clear about a damn thing, which may of course be our situation this time next month.

    This three-part series will no doubt be dismissed by some as mere propaganda. But if so, God, how I would welcome some equally sights-and-statistics-based propaganda from the other side to redress the balance. Rebut anything thus, leavers, please. The fact that you cannot, will not do so is what has me most convinced that we are about to be trapped on starvation rations on an island that didn’t know how good it had it or how much silent effort went into making it so. Haven’t we all been shaken out of our complacency sufficiently now?

    Morning everyone. Aghhhh! We are going to starve to death! The horror of it all!

    Would it be too much to point out that during WW2 NOTHING crossed the English Channel but we are still here!

    https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/sep/30/what-britain-buys-and-sells-in-a-day-review-starvation-rations-here-we-come

    1. Morning Araminta.

      Before the end of the month, I reckon we should all stockpile as much as we can afford to and have space for. Not because there’ll be shortages per se, but because it’s almost certain that there’ll be panic buying. Also, it should help ease the transition and spike the remainer’s guns.

      P.S. This dropped through the letterbox yesterday:

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/180889bcd75a028473ebe0044fd9381807296d2ca5ef04c0918d8a461116236a.jpg

        1. Being the proud buyer of 54 toilet rolls (special offer) and umpteen cans of soup and other stuff, yes.

          It’ll only take a few Chinese whispers around the end of this month and many items will be over-bought and run out.

          Morning Storm.

          1. I do the same. I have a whole kitchen unit filled with tins of beans, tomatoes, soups and whatnot. Not panic buying but taking advantage of 50% off my fave items. Loo rolls stored in the attic….about a 1000.

          3. Haha…They can be. I cheat when it comes to things like Massaman because of the extensive ingredients list. Some of the kits are pretty good. *farts quietly…

    3. Of course, matters are being helped by building over swathes of good farmland.
      (Known locally as West Tey.)

      1. EAst Anglia has some of the best farmland and best climate in the UK for growing crops. It is madness to build on it

        Plenty of land in Scotland that is of little use for farming that can be built on

    4. Well it rather proved the opposite. It demonstrated that most of our fresh products rather than coming in via Dover came in via the London Gateway Container ports. IT also showed a very significant part of our food imports came in from non EU countries

      It did manage to get in that we exported potatoes to Ireland and British Wine to Europe

    5. The trouble is , we are not growing stuff for Britain, we are importing one hell of a lot of food.

      All our best ag quality land is being given over for mass housing and …. fields of maize for bio heating sources.

      1. I was annoyed that the shop where I bought my bacon didn’t have English bacon on the shelves. I chose Dutch over German – at least the Dutch were grateful for Operation Manna. I would have preferred to avoid buying EU produce altogether. I did buy South African and Australian wine.

    6. “A few minutes’ delay on each lorry crossing our borders in the wake of new rules will soon translate into supply bottlenecks and increased prices.”

      We must remember all those previous famines that we have suffered in the past after a few minutes delay caused by;

      French farmer’s strike/blockade
      Fire in the Channel Tunnel
      French fishermen’s strike/blockade
      Bad weather causing Ferries to be stuck in port
      French farmer’s strike/blockade
      Tunnel closed due to invasion by immigrants.
      French fishermen’s strike/blockade

      And then, of course, we could not afford to buy the food when it did arrive as the prices had increased so much.

      Then the French Farmers went on strike………………………

      1. ‘Morning, Hopon, For the French, going on strike is the second favourite National Sport, only outranked by playing ‘Boule’.

    7. “The fact that you [Leavers] cannot, will not do so [rebut Remainers’ scare stories] is what has me most convinced that we are about to be trapped on starvation rations”. No, Lucy, it’s not that we cannot nor will not refute your arguments – we do that all the time, on here at least. The problem is that the BBC, Sky and all the MSM newspapers refuse to carry any views of Leavers.

    8. We survived despite the best efforts of the Third Reich and their U boat wolf pack to sink all merchant shipping. Dig for victory!

    2. This shows that the Executive Complaints Unit is not independent and can be overruled by a single person – the director-general.

      “It was only ever in a limited way that there was found to be a breach of our guidelines. These are often finely balanced and difficult judgements.”

      Translates to:

      “Our rules only apply to those that disagree with us. You are too stupid to understand these judgements”.

      Bit like Remainers really.

      1. The Queen – after Boris ignores the Benn Act:

        “It was only ever in a limited way that Boris was found to be in breach of the Benn Act. These are often finely balanced and difficult judgements.”

  7. The Today programme is going to grill Boris around 7:30am – expect their usual balanced approach and count how many times he is interrupted.

    1. Johnson is on LBC with Nick Ferrari shortly. Doing the rounds but will we learn anything new?

    2. Don’t you mean the GSBC is going to grill Boris ?

      After all, every revolutionary captures the broadcast media first, so why would George be any different ?

    3. Mormingzxcv3 – I heard it was 8.10, the usual grilling time but I shall be listening at 7.30. I expect the kitchen sink will be thrown at Boris, especially his private life. He could walk out

      1. I doubt he would do that. Boris was a journalist and knows the score. Besides, he’s used to being ridiculed for getting into scrapes. Anything that Sarah Sands can demand to be thrown at him through the interviewer’s earpiece is nothing compared to the scolding he got when he spilt wine on that sofa.

          4. Makes it worth staying in Downing Street until William gets on the throne, and the missus gets to entertain the PM.

  8. William Hague in today’s DT

    The rule of law is integral to conservatism. The Tories should not be in a fight with it
    It has been an essential party value for centuries because it is at the heart of what it means to be free

    There is a difference between:

    The rule of law

    and

    Being ruled by lawyers

    which Mr Hague does not seem to understand.

    What a dolt that silly man is!

    3. He’s promoting the supreme court decision. Obviously he is biased.

      I doubt he says that though.

    4. BTL:

      Distinctly Unimpressed 30 Sep 2019 4:43PM
      “The decision to prorogue Parliament for five weeks was extremely unwise, bringing forth last week’s categoric and unanimous ruling by the justices of the Supreme Court that it was unlawful. While their judgment might have come as a surprise, it was hard to fault their reasoning, which will also constrain any future government of the far-Left. It sent a signal to the world that the rule of law in Britain can be relied upon.”

      What utter tripe little Willie. The decision to prorogue Parliament was perfectly within the power of the PM. The decision of the SC to call it unlawful was purely a political decision that it had no right to make.

      Rather than sniping away from the sidelines at your own party and the democratic decision to Leave the EU, you should be supporting Boris and fighting against the destruction of the UK’s constitution by appeasers of the Left.

    1. Spartacus’ bath day.
      Sssshhhh ….. I think I mentioned the ‘B’ word but got away with it.

  10. Saudi-led coalition denies Houthi claims of troop capture. Al Jazeerah. 10 hours ago

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2070b89e7435a1559106bacfe4cadf38e6225c7bcfab220dc6d491d352906f3a.png

    Coalition spokesman denounces rebels’ claim to have captured thousands of troops as a ‘farce’.

    Well someone is telling porkies and it’s not the Houtis!

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/09/saudi-led-coalition-denies-houthi-claims-troop-capture-190930193102187.html

  11. The GSBC !

    On 94-95 FM and digital, the latest GS news and propaganda around the clock…

    What’s not to like ?

  13. What is this life if, full of care,
    We have no time to stand and stare.
    No time to stand beneath the boughs
    And stare as long as sheep or cows.
    No time to see, when woods we pass,
    Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
    No time to see, in broad daylight,
    Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
    No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
    And watch her feet, how they can dance.
    No time to wait till her mouth can
    Enrich that smile her eyes began.
    A poor life this if, full of care,
    You mess it up – but just you dare!

    Welsh Poem with Swedish Ending.

    1. We had an anthology of poems in the prep school to which I went in the 1950’s and we learnt a poem by heart each week.

      I can still recite this one by Henry Davies but with his last line.

    2. Apparently, according to a report on the countryside prepared for Michael Gove, for our non-white population the countryside is an irrelevance. They have no wish to stare at sheep and cows …. although I think that report contains no reference to night-time visitors who save lots of sheep from a harrowing lengthy journey to a slaughterhouse.

  14. Naga Munchetty: BBC reverses decision to censure presenter. Mon 30 Sep 2019.

    Tony Hall, the BBC director general, emailed all staff on Monday to say he had reviewed the decision following internal and external protests. He said that, on reflection, the BBC’s complaints unit had made the wrong call when they ruled against Munchetty, one of the BBC’s most prominent minority ethnic journalists, for expressing a personal response to the US president’s statement in July that four American congresswomen of colour should “go home”.

    This decision has consequences far beyond Nagger Munchetty and her remark. It has opened the door to undisguised partiality on the part of news presenters and their programmes Now one could say that it has simply ended the hypocrisy of the present system where it is disguised with interruptions and hostile questions for one subject and an easy ride for others, but it is worse than that since what we will now have is open propaganda which will be swallowed by some but rejected by others. It will thus generate and exacerbate present divisions and tensions.

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/sep/30/naga-munchetty-bbc-reverses-decision-to-censure-presenter

    2. Not much of a complaints unit when he can just step in an unilaterally overrule it but that the BBC all over

      2. Why buy a dog and bark yourself? I wonder what the annual cost of the complaints unit is, and when it will now be disbanded?

        ‘Morning, BJ.

    3. All 11 persona’s of Tony Hall all unilaterally agreed that the complaints unit decision was wrong and as such its decision is overturned. It is as if the complaints unit produced a blank piece of paper. It is as if it never happened

      1. Why do the BBC always fail to quote the second part of what Trump said:

        “… then come back and tell us how we could do things better”

        If anyone is a racist it is this niagger woman.

          1. 1. “There is no such thing as society.”
            2. “And, you know, there’s no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours.”

        2. The truth doesn’t suit their narative, so they ignore it.

          Selectve quoting allows them to determine how the content – and whho said it – is presented

    4. It’s undisguised already.
      Even those who don’t obsess over the news are becoming aware of it.
      “Thighgate” is the latest example.

    6. “… one of the BBC’s most prominent minority ethnic journalists…”

      On the rare occasion that I have seen her I regarded her as one of the BBC’s outstanding lightweights. I can now add to that “selective mis-quoter”, just like so many of her lefty colleagues.

      ‘Morning, Minty.

    7. Change.org today sent me a petition to sign. The petition is to ask the BBC to reverse its decision to mention that Naga Munxxx had broken impartiality guidelines.
      Too late, the whole notion of even mentioning it to her has been quashed by Lord Hall who is high up in the BBC. This is because she is coloured. It really is that simple. If a coloured person says that someone was once a bit rude to them they are excused for life for anything they say about anyone else. They can even lie about what the President of the United States said.
      Imagine, if you can, that you could ever be in a position to say, “that someone was rude to me, a white person and now I can be as rude as I like about anybody, even if I am lying”.
      (Telling partial truths is, of course, the worst, most deceitful and damaging kind of lying.)
      Of course that the BBC has de facto condoned Nagas misrepresentations about the words said by the US President hardly suggests that they can be trusted about anything at all.
      We must now assume that everything that a coloured employee of the BBC says may well be completely untrue, but that is OK because they are a coloured person. Lying by coloureds is now officially condoned by the BBC. This also means that nothing the BBC can be regarded as true and complete and a faithful and objective presentation of facts. But I suppose that we already knew that.

      1. You should read Douglas Murray’s new book “The Madness Of Crowds” – he goes to town of this aspect of race and politics.

      2. Here is the text of the petition. Well-worded and persuasive?
        The really interesting thing is that the petition claims that BAME population of the UK is 15% of the total. In real numbers that would be around 10m. So this country, this white Anglo-Saxon/Celtic Western Christian country of ours now has a population of non-whites equal to the entire population of Sweden.

        “The BBC should reverse their Naga Munchetty judgement.
        Marvyn Harrison – Founder of Dope Black Dads started this petition to BBC and it now has 16,259 signatures.
        On Wednesday 25th September the BBC’s Editorial Complaints Unit officially found that BBC Breakfast’s presenter Naga Munchetty had breached the corporation’s impartiality guidelines by offering a personal opinion on President Donald Trump’s retort to four congresswoman of colour to “go back” to the “places from which they came”.
        In a discussion with her co-host she said every time she, as a woman of colour, had been told to “go back to where she came from” these comments had been “embedded with racism.”
        The Editorial Complaints Unit’s decision is wrong, and has three implications.
        First, the decision suggests a serious lack of diversity in the organisation. It demonstrates that even with a limited increase in diversity in certain areas it does not seem to have been matched with a similar increase in inclusion.
        Second, the decision, if not handled properly, could have a seriously negative effect on BAME (Black Asian & Minority Ethnic) staff working in the organisation.
        Third, if the most senior levels of management do not respond publicly to the decision, it may well have a seriously negative effect on the BBC’s reputation and credibility vis-a-vis large parts of its audience for years to come.
        The BBC’s editorial guidelines do not give you hard and fast rules. It gives you a helpful framework to think through editorial decisions. And as a framework it is literally second to none.
        Furthermore, as a woman of colour, it could be argued that Naga was not just expressing a personal opinion but was providing a “professional judgement, rooted in evidence”, it was precisely why her white co-host asked her opinion and how it made her feel.
        What should the BBC do?
        Surprisingly I think the BBC could use the ECU’s decision as an opportunity to build trust as well as strengthen its diversity and inclusion.
        All – senior members of the BBC should make their position clear and come out internally in support of Naga.
        I also suggest senior management goes further, so as to ensure public credibility. Ideally, the most senior levels of BBC should make a public statement about the ECU’s decision, and use this as an opportunity to reiterate the importance of diversity and inclusion at all points of the organisation.
        We are from today setting a specific target that by 2022 15% of the ECU’s staff should come from a BAME background, 50% should be women and 18% should be disabled to accurately reflect British society as a whole, and we also commit to ensure other aspects of diversity from regionality to sexuality are also accurately represented.”

        Note: The underlining and italics are mine.

    8. The BBC has always had partial presenters. Just this morning Nick Robinson spent a lot of time talking about why the Right are so horrible and areresponsible for the awful language being used these days.

      Oh the irony. The organisation leading the assault on democracy desperately trying to rubbish their opponents by blaming them for the poor language, while being utterly oblivious to the fact they’re doing that exact thing in their own presentation about it!

  15. Harland and Wolff: Belfast shipyard bought by UK firm

    Belfast’s Harland and Wolff shipyard has been sold, saving it from closure.
    The yard, best known for building the Titanic, has been bought by Infrastrata, a London-based energy firm.
    Harland and Wolff was put into administration in August following the collapse of its Norwegian parent company.
    That move put about 120 jobs at risk.

    2. Morning DB

      Tipping down here.. 8 wet paws to dry off!

      Despite the fact that it is raining heavily , the colours in the garden look so vivid, and the grass and leaves looks greener than green .. how on earth is that.. it is as if there is a light filter on a camera.

      1. Very wet up here but the rain has paused at the moment.
        Brailsford Ploughing Match tomorrow, had a look at their website and it still going ahead but the conditions are very poor.

          1. This was the Shed the week before last, on the 18th when I’d almost completed the frame:-
            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c4b97bb1cb9150b635a25e0d7b810e30fd5866a0c3dc4727ea8d7b7c4fc46a45.jpg

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e57732459316ca40d7c8edce002dbe21b9b44218591c9218b54a246cc02dbaa6.jpg

            I’ve now got the boards for the roof panels on and sheathed the roof & from with plastic tarpaulins and have started on the T&G cladding for the sides.
            Pension money is running low so I’ve had to delay getting the T&G for the rear wall panel.

            Once I’ve got the big shed finished, I plan dismantling the small one and relocating it elsewhere.

          3. Cut it to length myself, but about 2/3 of the framework is 4×2 from recycled shuttering.

      2. Quality of light Belle. Or alternatively you accidentally ate a Hashish Brownie.

        Good morning.

  17. Boris is resisting being goaded by Dan, the man of no colour, into saying something that can be misinterpreted

    1. The claim by this journalist that he touched her in my view seems fake. In reports she gave great detail as to how exactly he touched her and also claimed another woman sitting next to Boris was also touched but is unable to identify this woman nor is she even able to give even an approximate date this is claimed to have taken place nor at which event this took place

  18. Battery Powered Buses

    The economics look hopeless. If they are not economic in London they will be hopelessly economic elsewhere. On the cost below almost no bus services would be operating outside of London as there is no chance of the economics working

    TfL introduced battery powered bus ob Route 43 which operates from Holloway garage in North London. To do so they had to take the roof off of a part of the garage then pile drive to a great depth and then install a new transformer and rebuild around it and install several miles of overhead cable

    UK Power networks had to dig up 2Km of Archway road in order to run a new power cable to the garage. Who know how much all that costs it has to be hundred of thousands of pounds

    Each bus takes about two and a half hours to fully charge and then has a range of between 150 and 200 miles, enough for a typical day’s operation on routes 43 and 134. The charging process must be quite labour intensive swapping buses round every few hours.

    Bearing in mind all this, it’s not surprising to read Ian Foster, Metroline’s Group Engineering Director, explaining in the trade press that once infrastructure costs are factored in electric buses are “nowhere near commercially viable”.

    All the more so when looking at the purchase price of a new electric bus compared to a Euro 6 diesel alternative. Electric single decks are currently priced around £340K versus £165K for a typical diesel equivalent, so bearing in mind a diesel double decker is £230K, the price for an electric double decker must be coming in at least approaching £400K if not more.

        1. Politician tend to jump onto bandwagons without looking at costs and probabilities

          At those cost it would finish of bus services in most of the UK. Most areas outside of London and the very large cities and tons barely have bus service now.

      2. The politicians see to be not interested in them even though th economics are far better. With modern trolleys buses and batteries you need to have overhead wiring only in the busy sections. Here could be fast charging points at the outer terminus.. If you can have the return path in the road that simplifies the overhead wiring and makes it easy to engage and disengage the trolley from the overhead wire. If really becomes a Pantagraph the same as on the railways

        If you look at the battery charging times for the battery powered buses it is simply not feasible well at least without a large number of charging point in the garage and they would still have to keep moving the buses around and the grid would need further upgrades to cope with the load

          1. Trams though are very very expensive and inflexible and dont mix well with other road traffic and pedestrians. Trolleys bus with modern battery can run considerable distances off line so c routes can be changes easily they can divert around road works etc. The return path for as trolley bus could be a metal strip set in the road and laser guidance could ensure it remains in contact with it

    1. It is pretty normal for that to happen. It was an Iceberg that had broken away and in an area where one would not be expected that sunk the Titanic

          1. That song used to get the local baker through the day:

            Somewhere over the rainbow, weigh a pie.

        1. A good question, Belle. If it’s a glacier breaking off at its front end, then it’s fresh water. Salt water ice might have a decent size horizontally but just won’t be that thick. That Antarctic one will be old accumulated precipitation, so fresh water.

  21. LBC reporting that Johnson is planning to demand that the EU does not grant an extension to Article 50 and therefore there will be a choice, his renegotiated deal or no deal. David Davis MP believes this is an elegant plan, however, a following item gave the EU’s position on Johnson’s idea to deal with the Backstop i.e. customs posts on each side of the border; a non-starter. A second interviewee, an international trade expert, was not as impressed as Davis and held the opinion that No 10 were putting a number of ideas together hoping that one would be workable.

    1. as someone mentioned recently, the EU already has a leaky border in French Guiana, specifically with Brazil.

      “French nationals could enter Brazil visa-free for up to 3 months,
      whereas Brazilian nationals had to obtain a visa to enter French Guiana,
      a requirement which was justified by the French government on the
      grounds of high levels of illegal immigration by Brazilians working as
      gold panners in French Guiana. In 2014, the Brazilian and French
      governments reached an agreement allowing residents of Oiapoque in
      Brazil and Saint-Georges-de-l’Oyapock in French Guiana to apply for a
      local border crossing card (‘carte de frontalier’), enabling them to
      visit each other’s city visa-free for up to 72 hours (but not further
      inland). The local border crossing card has a maximum validity of 2
      years and contains a biometric chip; it can be used to cross the border
      without having to present a Brazilian passport.”

      There is your answer; the EU issues biometric cards to neighbouring countries.

    1. ‘Morning, Mags, I asked that question last evening and Best Beloved, who has a daughter living in Doha, married to a banker, yes I said banker, explains that, because of the heat, the vast majority go to work around 06:30 and finish about 15:00.

      In order to rise and be at work, many westerners (the few left there) will go to bed early.

  23. EU brings in ‘right to repair’ rules for appliances

    From 2021, firms will have to supply spare parts for machines for up to 10 years. The rules apply to lighting, washing machines, dishwashers and fridges.

    In general spare parts are already available for up to 10 years . Not sure that a Washing Machine will last 10 years though. Generally once they get more than 5 years old anything other than a minor repair is not worth it

    1. Spare parts are already available. I’ve just had the chap repair the boiler. A new hydraulic block would be a snip at £400 (+ eurotax of VAT).

      A new Worcester Bosch boiler, of the same make as the one in there, is £1200. A controller board? £300.

      Supply parts by all means, but don’t pretend the suppliers won’t make the cost of them so extortionate that the cheaper option is simply to replace the entire thing.

      1. Maybe the market will step in to supply “aftermarket” parts as they do for cars?

        1. You can imagine that though – you install ‘aftermarket’ part.

          Boiler explodes/floods/no hot water/leaks.

          House destroyed property damaged. Try to claim on insurance: shove off, your fault.

          That said, having called my insurer to ask them about water damage from my property to my neighbour their reply was you should know so we won’t repair your home, we will repair the damage to hers, we won’t trace the leak from your house (which made no sense) and we won’t sort out the damage that’s causing the leak.

          In the end, it was a new bathroom at my cost. The insurer did nothing, paid out for nothing – and doubled my premium. I asked why, they said ‘you asked about water damage.’ I said, yes, I aske dif I was covered and what you would do to resolve it. You said you wouldn’t do anything. Why am I paying more when you said you wouldn’t do anything? The assistant, to their credit was a bit confused. So I left that supplier. It turns out that none of them really cover home insurance for water, fire, gas, damage – anything.

          Insurance is a con.

        2. These people are jolly handy. I’ve had obscure parts for ageing fridges and so on.. from them.

          https://www.espares.co.uk/?&mkwid=sR697mhVB&pcrid=326013726606&kword=espares&match=e&plid=&pdv=c&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8svsBRDqARIsAHKVyqGxKa0m0yuk6GKp5qudr89oiqC21DL_ZNRSlwZLV6ATwJPnPkt7ChMaAiIzEALw_wcB

          We are also lucky to have a good repair shop not far away from us that also sells good reconditioned household equipment. Our latest vacuum cleaner came from there; £55 for a cyclone type Hoover. We’ve had it a good couple of years already. Big Victorian house and dog hair – no probs.

          1. Yes. We get our vacuum bags from them as well as odds and ends. We have a Miele cat and Dog vacuum cleaner. Replaces a long line of duds including Hoover, Electrolux and Dyson.

    2. Oh, more holy humbug from fiscally-privileged foreigners.
      So that means another barrier to entry for smaller producers, and higher costs for consumers, and less choice. Yes, washing machines are repairable but the labour costs are high, because there are a lot of screws and bolts etc, and a huge range of parts. One visit to inspect, another to install the new part; too heavy for the householder to deliver to a repair centre in a nearby town.
      Forget refrigerators, because the main failure is loss of pressure and the leak could occur within the insulation.

  24. ‘Morning All

    All kicking off in Holland

    “The demonstration is directed against the forced reduction of livestock

    and for a clearer agricultural policy in the long term. “We farmers take

    action for our work, our passion. In recent years, politicians, media

    and activists have sketched a negative image about farmers, ”says

    organization Agractie through its site. For farmers, the size is full

    and they no longer want to be portrayed as environmental polluters and

    animal abuse traders. “The unreliability of the government and

    authorities is a reason for us to give a dissent.”

    https://twitter.com/GeLeHesjesNL/status/1178922045830307840

    1. So vote to leave the EU, then. After all, your farming industry is controlled utterly by the CAP.

      Remember Blair trying to renegotiate that? Aside from that he never intended to, any changes promised were swiftly abandoned and reverted.

      The CAP and CFP exist to control food production and distribution. Where have we heard that before? Oh look! Stalin’s communist Russia.

        1. Comically, the EU pays some farmers here *not* to grow food.

          It’s a command economy writ large!

  25. Before I hum casually and pretend that I’m not trapping a small dog and carting him off to meet shampoo and water, here is an article from Brexit Central:

    The coming election will see the establishment pitted against the people – and the people will win

    Andrew Kennedy

    Andrew Kennedy ran the Vote Leave Campaign in Kent and is a freelance political consultant. Visit his website here. He is also a Conservative Councillor in Kent.

    “On 9th April 2019 I encountered a political first, which after 40 years of active campaigning is increasingly rare. That evening, while canvassing for support in Eccles, a small working-class village in the otherwise prosperous and leafy council ward I represent in Kent, I encountered loathing and hatred.
    At door after door (I think eleven consecutive properties), they left me in no doubt that they hated who I was and everything I stood for. I have encountered anger before, which of us has not? During the Poll Tax, the ERM debacle and MPs’ expenses they hated what we had done. But this was different.
    Now they hated “us” for who we were and what we represented. It didn’t matter whether you were a Thatcherite Brexiteer like me or a patrician elitist Remoaner, we were all as bad as each other. We were “them” and we were out to do them over. And what’s worse, every one of those angry, betrayed and hostile people was a former Conservative pledge. And who can blame them?
    We promised (and delivered) a referendum but the leadership of the party they trusted called them “little Englanders”. Their Chancellor referred to them as “naïve”. And they endured lie after lie including the emergency budget, the moving of the Sangatte border to Dover, an immediate economic collapse, mass unemployment, civil unrest and destruction of living standards.
    Yet still they kept their faith both in their country’s ability to govern itself and more importantly in the democratic system. After all, in the propaganda sheet sent by the government to every household at a cost of £9 million, the Prime Minister clearly stated: “This is your decision, the government will implement what you decide.”
    Then came the long list of “betrayals”. The leaving date that never was, the Chequers Deal which was for most a case of Brexit in Name Only, the next leaving date that came and went, and for many the final betrayal being the broken promises about “we shall not field candidates in the EU elections”.
    The anger I encountered on the doorsteps of Eccles that evening was not directed at me personally or even at the Conservative Party, it was directed at a ruling elite.
    Those from all parties who gave people the right to speak then refused to listen to what they said. In a country where we have our coalitions inside political parties, this anger – from both sides – could reshape those coalitions as never before.
    The big question is if this realignment be for one election only or in the longer term. What is clear is that the anger cuts across both sides of the debate, but it is real and won’t go away any time soon.
    If Brexiteers were angry pre-2016, they are angrier now. Three years later we are still shackled to the corpse of a politically and morally bankrupt customs union, but we now have seen that it is not just the EU establishment who are determined to thwart our ambitions, but much of the elite British ruling class, too; from a majority of Members of both Houses of Parliament, the CBI, the Civil Service and now, in the eyes of many, the judiciary.
    It reflects the absolute absurdity of the situation when the Liberal Democrats and George Galloway seem principled when compared with the ruling elites.
    What saddens me most, however, apart from the inability of our parliamentarians to deliver what they promised, is the collateral damage they are doing to the democratic process.
    I am fortunate to have cut my political teeth in politics in the 1980s – a time when ideological differences were as strong and fierce (both within parties and our nation) as they are today, but when those entrusted to govern managed to do so with more grace and style that most this shower have between them.
    If you wish to see an example, you could do no better than to invest three quarters of an hour and watch the Panorama debate between Tony Benn and Roy Jenkins during the 1975 EEC referendum: two parliamentarians as far apart personally, politically and emotionally as any today, but who managed to debate with mutual respect and without soundbites or personal rancour.
    I care little about the contorted red-faced harridans and sanctimonious puffballs bringing ridicule on themselves, but when their antics start to ridicule Parliament and undermine faith in democracy, then we should all be concerned. It is a pitiful reflection on the quality of many who enter Parliament that they either cannot see, or do not care, about the wider and deeper implications of their behaviour.
    The next election will not be fought on traditional party lines. It will be fought on the battleground of “us versus them”, the people versus the establishment – an election between the national interest against their self-interest. And the people will win.
    Why? Because we will be fighting with our hearts and souls for our beliefs; they will be fighting simply to defend their privilege. The Conservatives must stand unequivocally on the side of the hard-working majority; those who do what’s right, play by the rules and pay their fair share. Bring it on.”

    (The paragraphing is mine. The piece was reproduced as one indigestible lump.)

    1. I agree, but:

      The Lib Dems do not seem prinicpled. They are arrogant cowards who have stated that our vote does not count and they want to see our rights abolished – all for their own future careers.

      The rancour comes from the Left. Not the centre. It is the Left desperately, faanatically trying to smear their enemies because they know that the person trying to take us out of their retirement home is succeeding, so they’re trying everything they can to demolish him, to turn the people against him. Fear rules them. Greed, avarice, ego and hate controls their actions. They’ve nothing left.

      The danger, of course, is that we won’t win. The rich, establishment has our money behind it. It has the time it wants to do what it wants. It’s not going to give up because for people like Grieve this is millions of pounds in his pocket – stolen from us. He’s not going to simply let that go without using every dirty trick he can, every effort to over turn our will for his own troughing.

      No, they’ll keep fighting us. That’s why we shouldn’t bother fighting. We should simply remove the scum. As soon as they start to dissent, as soon as it’s obvious their power crazed venom takes precedence over our will, get rid of them. A few reminders of what happens to failed servants will help remind the rest of their duty.

      1. In the time that Clegg and the Lib/Dems were in coalition with Cameron they did untold damage. The worst being the Fixed Term Parliament Act which is now crucifying politics.

        1. It did expose the hollowness of political promises.

          The we’ll ban tuition fees was an obvious stunt. Cameron doubled them.

          I’m sick of the lot of them, to be honest Richard. At the moment we have servants and sewage. There’s far too much sewage in the system and the pipes are clogged full and nothing is working as it should.

    2. “Those from all parties who gave people the right to speak…”
      No one gave the people the right to speak. They took it.

  26. CATHOLIC COFFEE MORNING IN ROME

    Four Catholic men and a Catholic woman were having coffee in St. Peter’s Square.

    The first Catholic man tells his friends, “My son is a priest. When he walks into a room, everyone calls him ‘Father’.”

    The second Catholic man chirps, “My son is a Bishop. When he walks into a room people call him ‘Your Grace’.”

    The third Catholic gent says, “My son is a Cardinal. When he enters a room everyone bows their head and says ‘Your Eminence’.”

    The fourth Catholic man says very proudly, “My son is the Pope. When he walks into a room people call him ‘Your Holiness’.”

    Since the lone Catholic woman was sipping her coffee in silence, the four men give her a subtle, “Well…?”

    She proudly replies, “I have a daughter,

    SLIM, TALL, 38D BREASTS, 24″ WAIST and 36” HIPS

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f363c99656993c0216d7bcfac7ed0f5afe0c71ce23dc0968454cd0ee01e13c09.jpg .

    When she walks into a room, people say, “Jesus Christ”

    1. This means that from today our Military is now under the control of the EU Defence Force thanks to Theresa May. How will that immediately manifest itself and does it mean our milltary has no allegiance to the Queen?

  29. Boris came out quite well in his interview with Nick Robinson and subdued him by talking over Robinson particularly at the end when the questions got personal. There is a hint that Boris is producing a deal which may not be squeaky clean and his confidence in getting out on 31 October is wavering. Laura Kuensberg came on straight afterwards to tarnish some of Boris’s comments

    1. ‘Morning, Clyde. We are not allowed to merely listen to an interview; immediately afterwards we have to have the likes of Koonsburg to tell us what to think. Apparently we are unable to understand what has been said. Pathetic.

      1. Morning Hugh – The BBC also have the irritating “fact checker” who comes on if there is a suspect fact to correct usually to the detriment of Leave. The BBC are in Remain hyperdrive at the moment which to be fair they promised to be.

  31. Damn!
    An update on Brailsford, it’s been cancelled.
    Still, I might nip to the sawmill at Tansley & get the £50 worth of T&G I need for the shed rear panel and to finish the sides off.
    Also need some wriggly tin to clad the roof, but that will have to late until next pension day.

    1. Just to be a knowall, and for other Nottlers, I recommend pressure-treated T&G for the shed.

  32. Some musings on a GNU,how easy would it be to pass bills giving 16/17 year old and every foreign resident the vote??
    After all it’s far easier and less risky to fix the electorate than it is to fiddle ballot boxes

    1. Which reminded me.
      I’m not sure whether the poem rhymed in German; maybe Peddy can help us out. Bertolt Brecht’s

      “The Solution

      After the uprising of the 17th June
      The Secretary of the Writers Union
      Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee
      Stating that the people
      Had forfeited the confidence of the government
      And could win it back only
      By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier
      In that case for the government
      To dissolve the people
      And elect another.”

      1. Cheers Anne
        I knew there was some kind of classical reference to what I was trying to say,but the filing cabinets of my mind remained resolutely rusted shut
        I was too lazy to look it up.

  33. morning all, the BBC are really digging into Boris’s past life. They will scrape the bottom of any barrel they can find, however tenuous, however far in the past the events were and with no thought of how the victims may feel having everything splashed about the national news.

    “Inquiry hears of abuse at Boris Johnson’s school”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-49882978

    1. “Sexual touching” at school. But, but…isn’t that what these same people are now promoting in state primary schools?

        1. Do you mean that parents were paying all that money at private schools and the teachers weren’t being helpful during such a vital lesson?

      2. Compulsory masturbation classes in Worcestershire. Replaces Friday afternoon spelling bee.

    2. “I’ve watched you, Britain, through the clocks;
      Self-poised upon that EU box
      And, little Butterfly! indeed
      I know not if you sleep or feed.
      How motionless!–not frozen seas
      More motionless! and then
      What joy awaits you, when the breeze
      Hath found you out among the trees,
      And calls you forth again!”

      (with apologies to William Wordsworth)

    1. With the cancellation of tomorrows Brailsford Ploughing Match, I can afford the T&G needed for the back wall of the New Shed, plus a few bits needed for one of the side sections.
      When I phoned up and asked the EFFECTIVE height of the T&G I was wrongly advised 115mm. It turned out to be 110mm as 5mm is taken up by the tongue to after screwing on 20 boards, I was several boards short.

  39. Still swelteringly hot – over 30 degrees.

    We are busy preparing Mianda for the winter in Marmaris while we return to Europe tomorrow. More students with us later in the month.

    The highlight of the holiday was having Henry and his girlfriend, Jessica, with us. They have moved to a postgraduate flat in Lancaster University which is very smart. Jess is studying for a Ph.D while Henry is doing an external M.Sc in computer science and data analysis at York University while working on the development of software programmes for carehomes.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cb862a84976d6008e0d2f12a6cc03b188d31fe83828d39391e5ff381f3996452.jpg

    1. Tut, tut – why isn’t the boy at work?

      I trust he hasn’t put his hand on the lady’s thigh… It might come back to haunt him in 2039.

      1. He is. He had his first day in his new job yesterday.

        I do not understand computers but apparently the programmes he is working with are aimed at helping staff.

        1. Excellent – I thought the snap was taken this morning.

          I don’t understand them either. I expect he is one of the chaps who builds in, “The computer says no”…{:¬))

          1. They flew back to Stansted on a Thomas Cook flight 2 days before the company crashed. Since then they have started their new work and moved house. Jess will probably be teaching some undergraduates Maths as well as doing her research.

    2. Morning Richard..

      Lovely photo.

      Why expensive software for care homes , when most staff are on minimum wage and are usually Eastern European and Philippines, because indigenous Brits cannot cope with their own negative empathy levels.

    1. Practical science: the Mormons and the Seventh Day Adventists have much in common: no alcohol, tea or coffee, non-smoking, etc. But the former are omnivores, while the latter are almost all vegetarians. Yet they have virtually identical cancer rates.

    2. Hi Rik,

      “Public Health England officials told BBC News they had no intention of reviewing their advice on limiting meat intake.”

      Another Quango (that we pay for ) that ‘knows best’ and is agenda driven rather than science driven. Surely if a responsible study such as this one produces new results then it is the duty of PHE to look at it and adjust their recommendations to the nation.

      Is the truth more like the PHE is under the influence of the green/vegan lobby?

  41. Morning Each,
    Thought provoking item on BB, the “nige” on immigration & the labs open
    border policy.
    He knew as leader of UKIP time & again their controlled immigration policy
    and being the only party that run with that against the lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled immigration coalition party.
    Yet he resigned ( to get his life back ) after he witnessed Gerard Batten rebuilding UKIP he promptly decried the UKIP membership and started another party.
    Does it not seem a tad rich that he brings it into play now ? whatever next
    could he be sidestepping PC/Appeasement and be about to tackle the islamic ideology issue ?
    This is not an anti Brexit group post, far from it ,but the run of leaders
    currently leaves a great deal to be desired.

    1. Support for UKIP was going down the pan before The Brexit Party was thought of. Nigel spotted an opportunity, and took it. I write as a UKIP activist of twenty years’ standing, now Brexit Party supporter.

      1. Rather strange how UKIP membership slumped in the aftermath of NF standing down from the leadership, largely because of the problems caused by his immediate successors, then started going up again when Batten took up the chair.
        But consider this, the real invective against UKIP only began when they took up cudgels against those member of the Labour Party who had facilitated the massed rape and sexual exploitation of hundreds of young girls.
        I wonder why?

      2. Morning J,
        After the “nige” rant denigrating the very membership ( me inclusive) that helped build his image via a political platform.
        He saw the potential of UKIP as it began to rise
        once more under the Gerard Batten leadership.
        What really got up his nasal passage was the personal adviser link between Batten / Robinson.
        Check out his own use of martyn heale ex national front activist, in the past.
        Maybe he excluded you for some reason when he was in insult mode.
        IMHO on reflection the “nige” was a tory coxswain when leading UKIP, pro PC / Appeasement is his real bag.
        `This is not an anti Brexit group post.

        1. After NF left UKIP, it’s suicidal stance against islam ( a Globalist control tool ) led it directly into the ambush set by the Globalist controlled MSM. NF’s evasion of islam ( a Globalist control tool ) by distancing himself & tBP from UKIP’s suicidal stance has been fully vindicated as the correct tactic.

          1. Listen up,
            As for “UKIPs suicidal stance” against islamic ideology after the treatment
            of Fusilier Lee Rigby that odious MURDER alone condones UKIPs stance.
            The two reasons that anyone distance themselves from the issue can be put down as PC / Appeasement, as in don’t rock the boat.
            Who else but you fully vindicated the islamic issue as being the correct tactic.
            Apologies for having used Fusilier Lee Rigby
            maybe seen by some for political gain, if it has offended, it was not my intention.

          4. Yes @ogga1:disqus, your disgusting conflation is a fact.

            PS I’m not very surprised at you doubling down on your small minded disgusting cognitive dissonance either.

          5. Don’t break of diplomatic’s yet, we have not
            broached the mass paedophilia link to islamic ideology yet & in turn the link to PC/Appeasement, don’t rock the boat.

    1. These politicians can’t avoid a camera in their faces. He should just have ignored her and walked past

  44. A little old man shuffled slowly into an ice cream parlor and pulled himself slowly, painfully, up onto a stool… After catching his breath, he ordered a banana split.

    The waitress asked kindly, ‘Crushed nuts?’

    ‘No,’ he replied, ‘Arthritis.’

    2. As I have said before the following should join the Brexit Party if Johnson tries to betray us:

      Owen Paterson
      Steve Baker
      Mark Francois
      John Redwood
      Bill Cash
      Richard Drax
      Kate Hoey
      Frank Field
      Esther McVey

      for starters. Any other suggestions?

  47. The latest house viewers “loved the house” but couldn’t buy it because the 300 year old beams “showed signs of woodworm”.

    Despite evidence from the surveyor that all the wood is clean as a whistle….

    Wazzocks.

      1. It is entirely superficial. The beams are 12 to 18 inches thick – and the centres are quite untouched.

    2. Morning Bill,

      You could film your house viewings for “Escape to the Country”. Those pathetic excuses for viewing without buying are to be heard in every episode.

      1. Eeek!

        Good afternoon, Our Susan.

        If people don’t wish to buy the house, fair enough. I just do not want to know what they didn’t like – as though I could change those things and they’d rush back…

        Sorry – getting a bit rantish. I’ll go and have a beer!

        1. It a TV program. Lot of silence does not make good TV. Even if they dont like it it gives the homes a lot of exposure and someone watching might want to buy it

    3. Rather than just say ‘it’s not for us’ or ‘we don’t like it’ people will fabricate all manner of reasons why they can’t buy.

  48. The Supreme Tony Political Court

    Working backwards from the desired result to provide the perfect decision for you.

    Please call 📞Supreme Tony for details.

    1. Exactly. How are we to know anything about our new rulers? Are they all centrists re. politics in general and re. Leave/Remain? My guess is they’re all closet Blairites, Remainiacs, and pretty Woke.

  50. Our Liberal elites appear to be getting emboldened, they have made a law cancelling Brexit, they are now openly conspiring with the EU and billionaire globalists against us, they have their fascist mainstream media character assassinating anyone that stands in their way, while there is nobody in authority that can stand up to them, not the Queen or the Prime Minister, even remainers must now be feeling a bit uneasy about how they have so easily taken control of the country, there will be no winners in staying in the EU, they have set in motion a downward slope where one day they will come for their remain supporters as well when they finally wake up to what is happening and we are powerless and friendless like the people of Hong Kong, that is our future under EU rule.

    1. Morning B,
      May one dare to say, and I DO, there is always UKIP.

      24/6/2016 ” leave it to the tories” was never a UKIP option,they called for total severance then not negotiations for three plus years.
      Surrender is another NO/NO option.

  51. Morning, Campers.
    Altogether now …..

    🎶

    We’re all going on a Saudi holiday,
    No more drinking for a week or two,
    Not much laughter on a Saudi holiday,
    Here’s a list of things …
    Things you just can’t do.
    Women have to wear a headscarf,
    Men aren’t allowed to wear shorts,
    If they catch you taking photos,
    You’ll end up before the courts.
    Sharia law on a Saudi vacation,
    Women ought to take a chaperone,
    Homosexuals face decapitation,
    So you’re better off staying home.

    🎶

      1. No, you haven’t. It was a side panel to this article.

        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-7522559/Welcome-Greater-Mexico-RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-Tories-nasty-reception-Left-Manchester.html

        “Welcome to Greater Mexico: RICHARD LITTLEJOHN on Tories’ nasty reception from the Left in Manchester

        Has Manchester been taken over by Mexican drugs barons? Or the rulers of Gilead in The Handmaid’s Tale?

        When I saw that banner strung across a bridge, complete with dangling mock corpses, to mark the start of the Tory conference, I thought immediately of the kind of savage, ritual punishment meted out by the Sinaloa Cartel.

        Others said it reminded them of The Wall used to display the dead bodies of undesirables, apostates and attempted escapees in the TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel.

        Yet this wasn’t a scene from The Handmaid’s Tale, or even the Netflix drug wars drama Narcos.

        The banner was on public display in a so-called civilised democracy as the governing party assembled for its annual conference.

        It read: ‘130,000 KILLED UNDER TORY RULE TIME TO LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD.’

        A photo of the banner was posted approvingly on social media by the local branch of Momentum, with the caption: ‘Good morning @Conservatives. Welcome to Manchester.’

        Even allowing for the hyperbole and hysteria which passes for political debate these days, accusing the Tories of genocide is a bridge too far.

        As for ‘TIME TO LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD’, I’m assuming that whoever was responsible for this inane piece of agitprop theatre isn’t actually calling for the slaughter of 130,000 members of the Conservative Party.

        I’m certainly not going to stoop to the level of those sensitive souls who demand that the police prosecute anyone who uses language which they deem ‘offensive’.

        The most absurd example came at the weekend when some imbecile reported Nigel Farage for ‘hate crime’ after he said the Brexit Party would ‘take a knife’ to Whitehall bureaucracy.

        Anyone who seriously believes such a colourful expression is a deliberate attempt to incite violence belongs in a room with rubber walls.

        Fortunately, for once, the Old Bill saw sense and declined to investigate.

        But this won’t stop the Left continuing to try to use every means possible, including the criminal law, to close down legitimate debate.

        What is always striking is how they foam at the mouth over allegedly ‘incendiary’ language used by their opponents, yet seem to believe that the normal rules of civilised discourse don’t apply to them.

        I won’t revisit every last cough and spit of last week’s demeaning shouting match in the Commons, which has been well aired elsewhere — to the exclusion of pretty much anything else on the pro-Remain broadcast media.

        Watching shroud-waving Labour harpies trying to equate Boris Johnson’s ‘humbug’ remark with a crime against humanity was a profoundly depressing experience, even by the subterranean standards of today’s political class.

        Far more depressing was seeing so-called ‘Conservatives’ cowering before the onslaught. So top marks to Boris for standing his ground.

        For years, Tories have allowed the Left to dictate the terms of engagement.

        It started back when Mother Theresa gormlessly saddled her own party with the label ‘The Nasty Party’ and has gone rapidly downhill ever since.

        But in my time covering politics, the true nastiness has always come from the Left.

        Can you imagine, for instance, Labour delegates arriving in Brighton for their annual conference being greeted with banners accusing them of mass murder and calling for reprisals on an industrial scale?

        I can’t ever remember Labour conferences being picketed by thuggish Young Conservatives screaming ‘Labour Scum!’ Yet this has become commonplace, even acceptable, behaviour on the Left. And it isn’t just Tories who have to run the gauntlet of this vile hatred.

        At last year’s Labour conference in Liverpool, the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg and even the Labour, now Lib Dem, MP Luciana Berger had to have bodyguards to accompany them everywhere.

        Demonisation has replaced disagreement. And what was once confined to the internet has now spilled over on to the streets —even to the floor of the Chamber of the House of Commons.

        Female Labour politicians absurdly pretending to be oppressed Gilead wives in the face of mild Tory criticism were more than happy to go along with the sick ghouls dancing on Mrs Thatcher’s grave and singing ‘Ding, dong, the Witch is dead’.

        Sadly, some self-righteous women MPs think they can screech like fishwives in the Chamber and then act like shrinking violets when somebody returns their serve.

        Because they self-define as ‘good’ people — and by extension consider their opponents to be the epitome of evil — they believe that whatever they say, however untrue and disgusting, is without consequence.

        Yet at the same time they are convinced that they themselves should be immune from criticism they consider ‘inappropriate’.

        Labour MPs behave like football hooligans in the House, while their shadow chancellor thinks it’s amusing to talk about ‘lynching’ a female Conservative MP.

        Meanwhile, Momentum’s anti-Semitic gangsters drive moderate MPs like Luciana Berger from the party and are now targeting for deselection another Jewish woman MP, Margaret Hodge.

        So is it any wonder that a handful of nutters feel they have licence to string up mock corpses and banners calling for the death of 130,000 Conservatives?

        ———————————-

        Saudi Arabia has launched a new visa programme to attract tourists.

        You can just imagine the Magaluf crowd in downtown Riyadh, battling it out with the Saudi religious police. They’d be lucky to come home with both hands.

        And as for anyone trying to drive an old London bus across the Arabian desert, forget it.

        2. A useful reminder of the “kinder, gentler, approach to politics” and life in store for us if ever Corbyn – McDonnell – Milne got their hands on the levers of power. Particularly vulnerable groups: taxpayers, people with property and financial assets, and Jews.

        3. Why would BBC journalists need bodyguards at a Labour conference?

          The BBC is the propaganda wing of Labour!

    3. Actually they are now trying to attract tourists. Woman visitors are now only required to dress modestly, men can wear shorts. Probably a no no for woman

  52. DT free service is back.

    Mind your language: politicians who talk in clickbait are asking for trouble

    CELIA WALDEN

    Nigel Farage has been investigated by police after vowing to “take the knife to the pen-pushers in Whitehall” once the UK leaves the EU, it emerged on Sunday.

    However, despite an official complaint – filed by the Northern Ireland MEP Naomi Long, who felt that Farage’s remarks made at a rally in Newport, South Wales last week were an “incitement to violence against staff in the Civil Service” – the police have decided not to pursue the matter, “since this was a clear-cut case of over-excitement: the kind that would have had our parents sighing and mouthing ‘OE’ to one another back in the day”, read a statement issued by the force.

    “And, let’s face it, in these excitable times bouts of verbal excess could happen to anyone. Indeed, they seem to be happening to everyone.”

    Now, those quotes may be made up – and they certainly are… by me – but the syndrome is real. And ‘hyperbole’ doesn’t do the curious form of linguistic inflation that’s in evidence well beyond the confines of Parliament justice.

    From the dinner party table and the school gates to the streets, where the mildest of flare-ups seems to go from nought-to-60 quicker than a Bugatti, the language we’re choosing to employ isn’t just disproportionately strong and designed for maximum impact rather than accuracy, but devoid of either subtlety or nuance.

    Remind you of anything? A digital forum, perhaps, where, as Fraser Nelson wrote in this paper after last week’s disgraceful Commons’ scenes, a surprising number of otherwise sensible politicians are lured “down a road of madness, inviting them to become the worst versions of themselves”?

    This is social media language, isn’t it?

    Inspired by a virtual world in which opinions are obliterated by the egos driving them, this is about imposing your gigantic, spoon-faced, loud-mouthed image alongside every issue. This is “selfie-speak”.

    As any child who has just discovered swearing will tell you, it’s not hard to silence a room and get every face in it turned towards yours. You can literally eff and blind your way into public consciousness, like Labour MP Neil Coyle, who told my husband to “go f— yourself” when he lambasted MPs for using their murdered colleague Jo Cox in a “viciously tribal Brexit war”.

    You can invoke the Nazis whimsically and constantly and brand every unwelcome thought “fascist”. You can reduce one of the most complex national debates in our political history to simplistic trigger terms such as “surrender” and “betrayal”, like our Prime Minister did last week.

    Not that the genteel Left are immune to the allure of selfie-speak. Last year, former shadow international development secretary Kate Osamor told another newspaper’s reporter, when asked for a comment: “I should have come down here with a bat and smashed your face in.”

    And back in 2015, Labour MP Jess Phillips – who has criticised the PM’s inflammatory rhetoric and likes to play on the sweet, hard-baked, tell-it-like-it-isn’t-actually Brummie lass persona – said she’d happily knife Jeremy Corbyn “in the front, not the back”. In an interview at the weekend, Phillips conceded that she could “behave myself better”. But, then again, “Parliament is theatre”.

    The trouble with theatre is that it can all too quickly fall into farce. And when the public is depending on you to ensure that the current Brexit production doesn’t run on as long as The Mousetrap, another analogy might have been preferable. But in basically saying “come on, we all like to show off”, Phillips was at least being honest: unfiltered.

    Which is the compliment du jour. It’s what selfie-speakers such as comedian Jo Brand hope they’re going to be called when they make jokes about throwing battery acid at politicians, and what the Left-wing protesters who last month chanted “People often ask us what it is that makes us tick – it’s Boris Johnson’s head upon a stick, stick, stick ” probably call themselves.

    The school mum who “confronts” (read: “verbally abuses”) teachers at the school gates is doubtless praised by her circle for her “lack of filter”, as presumably are the surprising number of men and women I know who have taken to using the C-word to describe people in conversation – when I’ve always felt that a good, heartfelt “twat” will suffice.

    But “measured” gets drowned out, alongside decorum and civility. So instead it’s: “Ha! Made you look!” It’s talking in clickbait, with every look and click elevating your real-life ‘follower’ count and stoking your ego, and language meanwhile being devalued to nothing.

    Which might work out well. Because once it’s all worthless, the narcissists will have to find another currency – and with the level of discourse what it is, I’m thinking a handful of angry red face emojis complete with grawlixes (the graphic for bleeping out a word) would do the job just fine.

    1. “Honest”, “plain speaking”, “no-nonsense”, “doesn’t suffer fools gladly” are often euphemisms for blood rude.

    2. ” I’ve always felt that a good, heartfelt “twat” will suffice.”. There you go Ms Walden, you are in the gutter with the rest of the foul-mouthed and vile. Daddy must be so proud of you.

    1. Please stop it. I thought you meant the Lib Dems.
      Those American Democrats are clones of our Labour Party.
      Both to be consigned to the basement at the next elections, hopefully.

      1. Oh, come on. The Dems are nothing like your Labour party. Politically, in today’s Britain they would be on a par with the Tories, not Labour. As an example, only the extreme left of the party even support anything like a healthcare system. And the wealth distribution in the US is much more unbalanced than Britain, due to too many tax cuts for the highest earners. You can work out where the Republican party sits – off the map to the right, in British terms.

        Anyway, it won’t happen as described, as most of the Democratic party would not support it for a start.

  54. BBC report, 31st October 2019 –
    ” Brexit has now been achieved and Boris Johnson has confirmed
    that the hard border problem in Ireland is now a thing of the past.
    Trade agreements have been made with Europe, the U.S.A., and multiple new
    countries. The newly independent United Kingdom is now full speed ahead
    for years of prosperity,
    But the plans have been overshadowed by allegations that Mr Johnson
    squeezed the thigh of a journalist under a table at a lunch in 1999.”

    1. There appears to be inconsistencies in the reports as to whether it was her left or right thigh

  55. Armed police rush to Parliament after man with lighter ‘pours petrol on himself’

    Armed police rushed to Parliament today after a man with a lighter doused himself in a liquid which one MP said appeared to be petrol.
    MP Huw Merriman said on Tuesday morning that a man who was next to him at the Old Carriage Gates “appeared to have poured what smells like petrol on himself”.

    Scotland Yard said the man had a lighter and was sprayed with a fire extinguisher before being detained.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d3bbe6cfbb62122b2e4ff39899c48ccba501d69dfb57684e8bc510d2cebed18c.jpg

    2. That police officer needs sacking, as he clearly didn’t do the mandatory H&S risk assessment before applying some good old fashioned common sense.

  56. Is there really nothing else the national press and media can talk about except Boris’s having squeezed some tart’s thigh, twenty years ago.

    Had he squeezed Angela Merkel’s thigh at a recent meeting, or even more worryingly, that of Macron, then that would be newsworthy.

    1. Whilst the Media are doing their best to present it as a fact the Police have not yet even decided if there is anything to investigate

    3. Macron wouldn’t have made a fuss though. He would have just whispered…’see me out the back of the palace at neuf heures et demi’.

    1. No-one claims that ‘CO2 is a pollutant’, apart from ignoramuses who deliberately conflate AGW and pollution.

  58. John Lewis axes third of top jobs in restructuring

    A third of senior management jobs will be axed at the John Lewis Partnership as the company streamlines its structure from February next year.
    The partnership is merging the managements of its High Street department stores and Waitrose grocery chain into a single team.
    John Lewis has been struggling in a tough retail climate.
    The restructuring aims to save £100m, through the loss of about 75 of its current 225 senior head office roles.

    1. They are expensive and their fashion clothing lines are rubbish. (For all those out there about to make fun of clothing lines, you know wot I mean)

  59. I suppose the stabbings at the Finnish Mall will turn out to be a Norwegian lone wolf Methodist with mental health issues??

  60. Greggs stockpiles pork for sausage rolls ahead of Brexit

    As far as I know most Pork is UK sourced and were not Greggs making a big thing about how many so called Vegan Sausage Rolls it sells

    “We are preparing for the potential impact of the UK’s departure from the European Union by building stocks of key ingredients,” the firm said.

    Around 20% of a Greggs sausage roll is made from pork.

      1. Around 20% of a Greggs sausage roll is made from pork.

        Pork = Pig
        I imagine that sausage rolls contain much more Pig than Pork.

        3. The pig farmers claim that the pig is the most efficient animal to farm as 100% of it gets used.

          1. From what a butcher told me years ago I think that the Chinese probably taught us that.

          3. I remember back in the ’60’s, a Chinese restaurant in Brum being done for using cat meat in their Chicken Chow Mein. Got caught when someone saw the pelts outside their back door.

      2. Funny. What i like about Greggs is they still use lard in their pastry which is why it actually tastes of something. I suppose they took it out of their vegan products to please the people with no tastebuds.

      3. Greggs have accused Boris of Squeezing one of there sausage rolls at a store in Scotland in 1995. He had not obtained prior consent from the sausage roll . The Matter has now been referred to Police Scotland

  64. High tides and strong winds destroy bungalow next to Orfordness Lighthouse

    It is down to coastal erosion. The Lighthouse and Bungalow used to be a long way back from the sea

    Orfordness Lighthouse’s bungalow has collapsed after being battered by strong winds and high tides.

    It’s not the first time that the bungalow has been undermined with the trust having done work to try and carry out remedial work to shore up the shingle underneath.
    However, there is no longer any beach in front of the lighthouse, so this work is no longer feasible.

    Picture is from 2016

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c79eb1ece2d2a83b306a0ed6d3d0d7bb23489a9ec1759861a5ec8b083989a3d6.jpg

    1. I remember being told as a boy that some parts of the east coast were eroding at the rate of a yard a year. That was ages before ACC had been invented

      2. The East coast is very slowly, but inexorable sinking. As William S. said – Dunwich as an example. We lived in that area in the late 1940’s, and as a child I remember being taken to Shingle Street (there used to be a cafe of sorts there) and Orfordness. A pretty bleak area at the time, and the water was always cold!

        1. That glacial (or isostatic) rebound was the reason they built the Thames Barrier, but if you ask anybody now why it’s there they’ll tell you its about global warming and rising sea levels, because that’s what the children who work for the media have told them.

          We were all properly informed at that time that it was defence against sinking land, rather than rising water. They didn’t want a repeat of the storm surge in 1953 coming and getting London as the ground sank.

          1. AIUI, the Thames Barrier has more often been used to keep the river in than to keep the sea out.

      3. And other parts of it are building. Longshore drift.

        I posted about this same thing in a reply to some alarmism by Bill a few days ago in more detail.

        1. The Lightship in Gosport is now a restaurant. Though you need a passcode to get in the Marina. Bad for business i would say.

          1. I think we still have one down in the Hythe area of the town. Scouts or Sea Cadets use it. Not the best place for a restaurant, although there are a couple, as the sewage works is just up the river bank.

    3. …to shore up the shingle…

      Bill, that’s a classic, I’m committing it to memory for use at a later date.

    4. In ’72 I was part of an exercise to get AVTUR from an RFA tanker lying off Orford Ness to RAF Woodbridge and RAF Bentwaters with a pipeline running from Shinglestreet.
      Went back to the area once in ’89, it hadn’t changed much.

  68. I repeat from late last night:

    Q: Who is the highest paid employee at the ‘Daily Telegraph’?

    A: Matt ….

    {Robinson} (yes, he gets paid more than the editor)

    1. Foster gets all his bonuses straight from Brussels in brown envelopes left in the loo on the Eurostar express.

  71. Spotted this advert at the top of the page. I hope the writers pay more attention to wording in the actual wills.

    “Your Will Witten From Just £19.99
    Legacy Wills”

    2. My Will was written up by the Co-op Wills service. I was disappointed they stopped doing green shield stamps.

  72. BREAKING NEWS

    Journalist accuses Nicola Sturgeon of inappropriate touching at the SNP Conference in 1999.

    We were seated at a buffet lunch and suddenly I felt Nicola’s hand between my legs. She put her hand up my kilt, grabbed my wedding tackle and said “Hello, big boy!”, said Paul McCock, political correspondent of the Stornoway Gazette.

      1. She asked if there was anything worn under his kilt.
        No, was the reply – perfect working order!

  73. Good afternoon all.

    Another lawyer ,…
    A comely redhead was thrilled to have obtained a divorce, and was and dazzled by the skill and virtuosity of her lawyer, not to mention his healthy income and good looks.
    In fact, she realized, she had fallen head-over-heals in love with him, even though he was a married man.
    “Oh, Sam,” she sobbed at the conclusion of the trial, “isn’t there some way we can be together, the way we were meant to be?”
    Taking her by the shoulders, Sam proceeded to scold her, “Snatched drinks in grimy bars on the edge of town, lying on the phone, hurried meetings in
    sordid motels rooms – is that really what you want for us?”
    “No, no…” she sobbed, heartsick.
    “Oh, well” said the lawyer. “It was just a suggestion.”

      1. Gosh you will be done for harassment dont you remember what happened to the last person that said that

  77. Reports coming in of a Disturbance inside the Conservative Part Conference Secure Zone. The police have been called

      1. Sir Jeffrey Clifton Brow who according to reports is being held by the police. Whether arrested or not I dont know

  78. Saudi Arabia Drops Dress Code for Foreign Women in Tourism Push

    Saudi Arabia will drop its strict dress code for foreign women as it seeks for the first time to lure holidaymakers and the spending that could help develop the kingdom’s economy away from its reliance on oil.

    Foreign women won’t have to wear an abaya, the flowing cloak that’s been mandatory attire for decades, though they’ll be instructed to wear “modest clothing,” said Ahmed Al-Khateeb, chairman of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage and a key adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

    On Saturday, the government will open applications for online tourist visas for citizens of 49 countries, while others can apply at embassies and consulates overseas, Al-Khateeb told Bloomberg TV in Riyadh.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-26/saudi-arabia-opens-to-foreign-tourists-and-their-foreign-ways

    2. What I don’t understand about all this is that “foreign women” used to only be required to dress modestly – legs, arms and hair to be covered, no tight clothing. Had a friend who was there on a nursing contract for years.

      1. I vaguely remember a case years back, maybe 30 or so, when some one was murdered when she was pushed off a balcony, or something like that. All over the papers at the time. Anyone remember it ?

          1. Trying to remember it. I had a bridge partner at the time who had worked in Saudi who told me a lot about what went on over there/

          2. I spent 2.5 years in Saudi in the early 70s – nothing to recommend about the Eastern Province except the pay was good & tax-free.

    3. Presumably, Saudi men will be required to wear eye masks and carry ice packs in their trousers.

  79. Latest news from the Conservative party conference about the disturbance their is that Sir Geoffrey Clifton Brown MP for the Cotswolds has been held by the police

        1. Just before Priti Patel’s speech about getting tough on crime, I believe. Timing is everything.

          1. Now Confirmed he has been arrested. Conservative Party to Issue A statement Shortly

          2. The party call for capital
            punishment forthwith because he has a cast iron exit plan for this Friday.

          3. This MP could be very useful in any final negotiations in Brussels … he might bring a fresh approach

          5. Don’t forget to get him some steel caps from Sports Direct (and some WorkSocks).

        2. Afternoon SE,
          I believe that a security mans chin was approached
          by a set of knuckles, serious business this touching, if he made a connection then it will stay on his record for years.

    1. Any chance of a moratorium on photographs of the Swedish muppet? Or, if we must have them, pixelate her gurning face?

    2. The climate is a damn sight more settled than the science. If the climate had remained as it was for most of planet Earth’s existence, we wouldn’t be here at all.

  82. ”

    Dover could lose £1bn worth of trade a week under no deal, Tory fringe told ”
    Looks like we’d better stay in, after all.

    1. Unlikely to be true but even if it were it is not actually that significant. Dover does about a £130B of trade a year so £1B is less than 1%

    2. Aliens from the Crab Nebula could land after a no deal and wipe out the human race.
      Scary isn’t it?

      2. One cow said to the other : ” I wish they’d give us something decent to eat, and not just tell us to go and chew the could “.

    3. How? Is that trade that is done in Dover in expensive High Street shops? Or is it the value of good at passing through Dover?
      Will that trade passing through not just enter or leave the country by another route?
      If the contention is that we in the UK will lose trade, should that not be specified in some detail, as regards, sources, products, volume, value?

  83. About 20 MPSs on the benches in the HoC as the Agriculure Bill is being discussed. John Redwood there but only a hand ful of Conservatives on the benches.

      1. Come a cold spell from December to March 2,000MW might be missed as the country falls into darkness.
        The powers that be have not woken up to High Pressure = cold weather & no wind and the windmills will be as useful as a chocolate teapot.

  85. Soldier used Army money to fund £17,000 ‘jollies and holidays’ for her loved ones, court martial hears. 30 SEPTEMBER 2019.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3571a64735c88f0a257ac5823c7476e22b73ea501dfdd20f5b4174481c996f54.jpg

    A soldier employed to arrange official Army travel fraudulently spent £17,000 of MoD money on flights for her family and friends to enjoy “jollies and holidays”, court martial heard on Monday.

    Corporal Audrey Urbina, 32, is accused of abusing her Army access so she could have “her own personal free travel agency” to fly “where she liked”.

    Over a period of 17 months, Cpl Urbina allegedly booked dozens of flights for her close family and friends to glamorous destinations including New York, Belize, Guatemala City, Miami and Frankfurt.

    ‘Nuff seen?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/30/female-soldier-responsible-arranging-army-travel-fraudulently/

    3. Wouldn’t her family and close friends have stood out a bit in their holiday clothes on the Hercules?

    4. Looks a bit like Brash’s Trash. I wonder whether she will be lauding this “woman of colour”?

      1. She was in a trusted position. Always comes out in the audit though. It’s why bar managers rarely go on holiday.

        1. When I was working, managers would get a monthly summary of all employee expenses, and be required to sign off on them. Never mind that we had also signed off on the individual expense claims. Our in house auditor said it was a better way to show up any pattern of abuse, plus (correctly) stating that managers were often too harried to go into employee expense accounts in detail.

          1. When I was quite new in my job, one of the managers spent half an hour on the phone to me, quibbling over my mileage. She reduced my bill by about 2p. The cost in both our time and phone call was much more than that.

          2. I’ve been charged for a sandwich when I filled in the wrong column once. It wasn’t fun.

      1. Does the Army not have annual audits? This vibrant person got away with her fraud for 17 months….

        1. It does, by the NAO. Either these were very well disguised, the auditor was asleep or incompetent.

    8. I’m sure that the MoD like the BBC will quash the complaint because of her colour.

      BTW with her hat in that position, she should up on a fizzer (Form 252) for being improperly dressed.

    1. He just can’t help himself, can he? His display of contempt for people who voted Leave shows him up as someone who knows better than ‘common people’.

      1. He’s got his hand in the EU till like many others. Criticise the EU in any public way, and no more generous life style.

    2. The UK has shaped bugger all over there. Every time we tried to do something they took no notice and did what they were going to do anyway.

    3. Afternoon Rik,
      I do believe his mum / dad were done at the Nuremberg
      trials for their input during the 1940s whilst residing in Berlin.

        1. Afternoon Jack,
          Take little notice of me on this issue “I believe.”
          Other instances being I believed that the electorate would have shown more sense on the 25/6/2016, look what happened there.
          But he does deserve a toe print on his pin stripe clad @rse for his anti Semitic stance.

      2. He was a Colonel born in the 1870s and died in the 1950’s. He was Speaker in 1943 0nwards

    5. Pity he didn’t knock on my 53 year son’s front door.

      He is a virulent LEAVER – and this Illib Undem would have had it in spades…!

    6. The EU is not a partnership. It’s a dictatorship.

      A partnership has both sides working together for a common goal. The EU is a thug, a bully and a crook. It robs our homes and then demands we repaint – wit hour own money while stealign the furniture to give to another house down the road.

  87. By and large, although mildly amusing, I think Henry Deedes is Quentin Letts Lite.
    However, I do relish this word portrait from the Conservative conference.
    …… “Hammond, of course, is going through a teenage phase with his party at the moment over Brexit, skulking around Westminster with this shirt hanging out and generally causing a bit of a strop.”

  89. That’s me for the night. It may rain – but they have been saying that since 2 pm.

    A demain.

    1. Thunder and lightning have just started over here, Bill. Enjoy your evening, and a peaceful and restful night.

      3. It has been slightly damp here all day. Thunderstorms & heavy rain were forecast.

      1. Thanks all! Nothing but praise for the hospital staff and facilities. He was given a nerve blocking local anaesthetic along with the general and it hasn’t worn off yet – so no pain.

        3. Glad he was able to get it fixed. One of my friends did that and left it too long to get it repaired because he went to his GP and not A&E.

          1. We have a “minor injuries” A&E here – he went and left as the wait was four hours. He went back in the evening – we waited an hour and a half and he was seen just before they closed at 11pm and told to go to his GP.

            Thanks to the GP, who referred him to the chiropractor, he got an MRI scan (he paid) then an appt with the consultant (also privately) – the consultant said he’d do the op via the NHS if we went back to the GP. He did an immediate referral so we ended up getting the private hospital facility on the NHS. Cutting out the loop seemed to work if you’re prepared to pay for a private consultation.

  92. Senior Conservative MP sent home from party conference following bust-up in VIP lounge
    Christopher Hope Harry Yorke Amy Jones Danielle Sheridan
    1 OCTOBER 2019 • 3:05PM

    Blah, blah, blah…….

    BTL:

    Carolyn Thomas-Coxhead 1 Oct 2019 5:02PM
    “Don’t you know who I am?”

    “Just ask the nurse – she’ll tell you.”

    (Bill Thomas)

  93. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0f4ae1da10ab813991158108124185168bc4899fceb14a18e5131a99c346f8cd.jpg

    Starbucks c. 1720.

    An article from Unherd:

    Drinking in the madness of social media

    Gareth Roberts is a screenwriter and novelist, best known for his work on Doctor Who.
    October 1, 2019

    “It’s time for some time travel. You’re walking down a London thoroughfare in about 1700. From a building nearby you can hear laughter, both derisive and uproarious, mixed with shouting, hacking coughs, swearing and occasional weeping. You push open the heavy oak door and enter. It’s crowded, people squashed together on long wooden benches set out on jagged floorboards. Everyone is talking, everyone is drinking — but there is no alcohol. The air is heavy with the scents of tobacco smoke, sweat and coffee grounds.

    Only, wait a moment. Has there been a glitch in the space-time continuum? Because under that periwig over there, eyes wide, gesturing wildly with her pipe, isn’t that Carole Cadwalladr? What about those two raggamuffins who just burst in breathlessly, greeted by a massed cry of “What news have you?” and shouting the latest on Walpole and the Act of Settlement, then rushing out again; they may be a little besmirched and ragged, but aren’t they Beth Rigby and Laura Kuenssberg?

    Ranting in opposite corners, jabbing their fingers accusingly across the room at each other, that must be Kevin Maguire and Rod Liddle. And the urchin with his nose pressed up against the window, stamping his foot and raving that everything and everybody inside is awful and simultaneously demanding to be let in: yes, it’s little Owen Jones.

    It strikes me that the era of the London coffee house and our own times are linked — both were/are milieus formed out of unique cultural and technological circumstances. Both are characterised by novelties in the means of communication and consumption that reorganised the public sphere with disconcerting rapidity and sent everything and indeed everybody up in the air, leading to howls of outrage, denunciation, and calls for regulation. Both are very, very shouty.

    The London coffee houses were the result of a blend of innovations. As trade boomed, coffee and a taste for it were imported. The first house opened in 1652, serving up what was described as a “bitter Mohammedan gruel” — 15 years later there were almost a hundred, by the close of the century an estimated six times that number. At the same time, cheap mass printing became possible, with the first examples of what we would recognise to be newspapers being produced, and sold, much more cheaply.

    In 1711 The Spectator launched, with a stated aim to include women among its readers and bring ‘philosophy out of closets and libraries, schools, and colleges, to dwell in clubs and assemblies, at tea-tables and coffee–houses’ — hence the name of the Spectator’s modern-day gossipy blog. All the newspapers fed into and fed from the opinions of the coffee house in a perfect symbiotic relationship.

    Education became more widespread as the middle class expanded and got more prosperous. And suddenly, everybody had an opinion and somewhere to read it, speak it or counterblast someone else’s. The low price of admission — a one-off, one-penny entrance fee — meant almost anyone could enter and discuss politics freely. In 1726, the visiting Swiss nobleman César de Saussure wrote, in a tone of scandalised amusement, that “workmen habitually begin the day by going to coffee-rooms to read the latest news”.

    Unsurprisingly, these changes sparked an opposing uproar, with concerns about seditious behaviour and inflammatory language (you can see where this is going). King Charles II attempted to close down the coffee houses by royal proclamation in 1675, and at about the same time came the notorious ‘Women’s Petition’ against the “excessive use of that newfangled, abominable, heathenish liquor called coffee“. Both were unsuccessful.

    After a rocky couple of decades, the coffee houses lost their shock value and became an established part of London life — no longer actively contentious, though never entirely respectable. What did for them in the end was another shift in technology and consumption: the arrival of tea, which unlike coffee you could prepare yourself and drink at home, as well as more substantial and reliable newspapers.

    I think that right now in 2019 we’re at a comparable stage to those times, possibly more akin to the earlier, outraged petitioning and royally-proclaiming phase of the coffee house era.

    It’s astonishing to think that widespread internet access in the Western world only occurred 20 years ago. The apparent ubiquitousness of Twitter in our public discourse (apparent, as only 24% of the UK population use it at all, a figure worth remembering) is even more recent. We are newbies to all this, taken very much by surprise.

    I can’t think of a scenario from 20th-century science fiction — and frankly I’ve watched and read rather a lot of that — that came anywhere close to an accurate prediction of Twitter or social media in general. It’s rather sweet to see again episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine from the Nineties on Netflix, made just a few years before this explosion, in which the characters share information by walking to each other’s workplaces and handing each other iPads. They live in a permanently fraught state of contentious politicking but — incredibly to our eyes — they never worry, or have to worry, about gossip, rumours and fake news, despite being surrounded by computers. The social media revolution, like the coffee houses, caught everybody napping.

    The world has never been more peaceful, prosperous and tolerant, and yet we obsess about race, gender and inequality like never before. Everything is related in exactly the same tone of urgency and importance, which makes it impossible to substantiate what is actually urgent or important. In an impossibly crowded and loud public sphere everything, of necessity, has to be loud or sentimental to claim attention.

    The attention paid by sinking legacy media outlets to mini-controversies on Twitter is fascinating — the so-called ‘Black Ariel’ effect, whereby a handful of tweets, or even a single tweet, is drummed up in an online headline as a major outrage, causing more clicks, more heat, more emotion. Much ado about literally nothing at all.

    You don’t have to squint very hard to see the perukes on everybody’s heads, and there’s a distinct whiff of ground arabica beans.

    But the coffee houses became a normal part of the scene and faded away. At the moment, in the heat of the Twitter uproar, we can’t imagine the same thing will happen — or how — to the current mode of our public sphere, but it almost undoubtedly will. Censorship is one possibility. Even today Chinese politicians don’t have to worry about people tweeting mean things about them on Twitter, as the Party went boldly on past the point where Charles II retreated, and blocked the whole damn thing in 2009.

    My hope is that, just as with the coffee houses, we’ll find a way to acclimatise and muddle through. The current calls for more civility in discourse from public figures, often made hilariously by the very worst offenders on this count, are to my thinking on a hiding to nothing. All that has changed really is that people can now say to your virtual face the kind of thing they were shouting at your face on their television screen in 2006.

    Perhaps a younger generation of politicians and public figures who have never known different, who can’t remember a time when people didn’t have an outlet to be rude or horrible to them directly, will just shrug and ignore that. When you get past a certain level of renown maybe turning off your notifications from people you don’t know is the best idea.

    Meanwhile there’s some joy to be taken from the madness, maybe. Maybe there’s some amusement to be had from the great pompous asses of the day, the Bercows, Linekers and Graylings. We look at Hogarth’s coffee house scenes, and we don’t see the sturm und drang that surrounded that period. Perhaps people in the 24th century will look at depictions of 2019 and feel affection and a certain nostalgia for a lost age of rollicking, spluttering and pretended outrage.”

    4. “My hope is that, just as with the coffee houses, we’ll find a way to acclimatise and muddle through.”
      Delusional.
      As noted earlier this country now has a non-British population greater than the entire population of Sweden. Millions of them are quite keen on seeing us killed. That is somewhat different to quarrelling with your peers and others over pamphlets.

      1. As anyone who has taken an interest will know, the Withdrawal Agreement (even without the backstop) binds the United Kingdom much more closely to the European Union than we are at the moment. They will have almost complete control over our country, our borders will stay open, the EU will decide how much we pay them each year and will bring in new laws that we will be powerless to resist.

        They will also keep “extending” the transition period for as many years as they like because “they are close to a deal and too much work has already been done to throw it all away” they will say. 15 more years and 3 more elections and people might finally realise that these people will not let us leave as long as they are in Parliament.

        The European Union will never agree to ANY deal during this fake transition period, because no deal that could be reached would give them such massive control over the United Kingdom as they have with the W/A. They will cripple this country economically and socially, as well as speeding up the current flow of invaders / new pro-EU voters.

        As more than one political professor has said in the past few months: “The only countries in history that have ever agreed to anything as bad as this deal are those who have just been defeated in a war.”

        1. That is how the EU sees us leaving.

          It cannot understand why we want to, and seeks to punish us for doing so.

        2. Johnson knows this and I am coming to the conclusion that all the spending promises, Patel’s tough talk today and the upbeat talk about what the UK will be able to do after we’ve left is mere verbiage projecting smoke and mirrors. If it is to be May v2.0 then all bets are off as to how Johnson will able to survive. He will appear to the Tory membership and Leavers across the Country as the reincarnation of May with a male appendage coupled with the same old lies, misdirection and worthless pledges. He could prove me wrong but the scales of doubt are tilting more towards Johnson as a fraud and a charlatan.

          1. It may be well beyond Boris’ control.
            There might be a secret EU protocol which could be breached/harmed by a no-treaty Brexit. It could be something so delicate that even politicians are excluded. Defence technology or internal security co-operation, no idea.

    2. Should Boris go for “the cold cup of sick that is the WA”, he will destroy himself – and the Conservative Party.

      1. A tricky one in my view. Given Boris has no majority and the tricks the other parties will get up to it is a difficult call. Does he go with a modified May type deal which he can potentially pull out of later or modify or does he risk the other patties taking control and the risks that might bring.

    3. Listening to Farage on LBC, nothing on this from either him or his callers (18:25) but Iain Dale has just mentioned it (18:45). Dale ends his comment by, “Is it true?” Farage has just this minute reported that Dale’s information has been confirmed. Caution, they are recommending the option of offering a time limit, they have not decided and in addition we do not know the conditions.
      I have been wary of Johnson and my doubts are hardening against him. If he comes up with a warmed up May WA then he will, in my opinion, be revealed as a fraud. He informed the Tory MPs that the WA was dead to get elected leader, what are Redwood, Jenkyn, Baker, Francois et al going to think of this man if he lied to them. His duplicity could irrevocably split the Tories apart.

  96. Mum hits out at Legoland after disabled son left ‘humiliated’ by being told to walk

    She just seems to want to get publicity. It is made clear on their web site that most ridess are not accessible to the disabled

    A mother is calling on Legoland to change its disabled policy after her son was made to get up out of his wheelchair twice and walk before he was allowed on the rides.
    Sebby Brett, from Gloucestershire, was visiting the theme park in Windsor with his family as a treat following four operations in 12 months.

    The five-year-old suffers from an undiagnosed medical condition, similar to cerebral palsy, which left him unable to walk even short distances without help.

    However, his mother, Joanna, said the family were left “humiliated” after her son was told he could not board the Ninjago ride unless he could prove he could walk in case of an evacuation.
    A spokesman for the park apologised for any distress caused to the family, but said the policy was “necessary”.

    Which rides and attractions can I remain in my wheelchair?
    The Hill Train
    Aero Nomad
    LEGO® Star Wars™ Miniland Model Display
    LEGO Studios 4DLEGO® Reef
    Miniland
    LEGOLAND Express – returning spring 2019
    The PlayStation gaming zone.
    Splash Safari – please note you will get wet in this area.

    https://support.legoland.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360014412032-Are-there-any-extra-restrictions-I-should-be-aware-of-when-accessing-rides-if-I-have-a-mobility-impairment-

    1. For a young kid this is upsetting. Some rides do need mobility – what could be done though? Make all rides wheelchair friendly?

      We have come a long way from when a chap asked me if ‘the mongoloid’ could sit down on a roller coaster – my brother certainly could quite comfortably, as he told the fellow.

  97. Curious I went looking for the name of the “Finnish Man” who perpertrated the latest stabbing atrocity,needless to say the MSM reveals nothing
    I did discover the identity of the 2017 attacker aaaand it’s a Morrocan Moslem

  98. This is a rather silly article that I have only just seen. I was alarmed by the underlined assertion because I am not Julius Caesar and post here it merely so that all can appreciate that you are in the presence of true genius…..

    The loss of the Common Entrance exam is a dark day for British education
    HARRY MOUNT – 1 OCTOBER 2019 • 7:00AM

    A friend of mine says he only passed his Oxford Finals in History because of our top prep school and the Ladybird guide to William the Conqueror he read there. I’m sure he’s right.

    I still have the exam papers I sat to get into Westminster School in 1984 – and they’re bloody difficult. My physics paper asks, “Giving references to Newton’s First and Second Laws where appropriate, explain why drivers should wear seatbelts.” I couldn’t answer that today. I could then.

    How tragic, then, to say farewell to Common Entrance, the exam that has prepared thousands of 12- and 13-year-old schoolboys for entrance to Britain’s public schools. Introduced in 1904 to select boys for places such as Eton, Harrow and Westminster, it’s Britain’s oldest school exam but now scheduled to be phased out in around 18 months.

    The whole reason for preparatory schools like mine was that they literally prepared you for Common Entrance; once the exam goes, dozens of those schools are bound to close.

    Part of the reason for scrapping the exam is that public schools are taking more children from state primaries at the age of 11 – a thoroughly good thing. Another reason – not such a good thing – is that some of those public schools are revising their timetables to bring in more arts, sports and drama lessons to create a less stressful schedule – in other words, an easier one.

    The loss of Common Entrance marks another moment of decline in the educational calibre of this dumbed-down country. It was a ferociously rigorous exam, testing you on up to 11 subjects, including the really brain-crunching ones: maths, science, history and classics. Yet for all the rigour that Common Entrance entailed, it was also marvellously flexible.

    More academic schools demanded higher percentage points for entry. Westminster, among the most academic, insisted on 65 per cent or more to get in – and that was in the pre-grade inflation days, when 65 per cent was tough to get.

    One boy I tutor in Latin recently got 100 per cent in one of his GCSE papers. Now, he’s a bright boy – but even Julius Caesar wouldn’t have got 100 per cent in his Latin Common Entrance exam back in the old days.

    Knowledge-based education has now tragically gone out of fashion but, at my prep school, North Bridge House in Regent’s Park, north London, I learnt about the periodic table in chemistry, algebra in maths, the ablative absolute in Latin and the passive, imperative and infinitive in Greek.

    Progressive educationalists say all this fact-learning is a waste of time. Far from it. It’s only from the basis of a firm foundation of facts that we are able to start drawing original conclusions and thinking for ourselves. Without knowledge, thought is a vague, woolly process.

    It will also be a loss if everyone is made to go to secondary school at 11. Those precious years from 11 to 13 are just before you emerge into adolescence; the last moment when you can dutifully stuff your obedient mind full of facts. A couple more years before secondary school can work wonders for some children.

    What dim times we live in; what dull customs we follow. Or, to say the same thing in Cicero’s Latin, which I learnt at prep school, “O tempora, o mores!”

    Harry Mount is author of How England Made the English

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

    I’ll have you know that aged 12 in 1960, I got 100% in my Latin Common Entrance exam at Farleigh House and Mr Cornwall, the Latin master, took me out to tea because I was the first of his pupils to do so.

    After the next two years of careful nurturing in the top Latin set at Ampleforth being taught by a ghastly Yorkshireman, Mr Tollemache, I achieved the precise minimum of 40% needed to be awarded an ‘O’ level.

    Every skule has some reelly crappy teechers (and disinterested rebellious pupils)

        1. Her greetest ooth was but by Saint Loye
          and she was cleped Madam Eglantine.

          (Or something like that)

          3. From Wiki: “She wears a brooch bearing the Virgilian motto ‘Amor vincit omnia’ (love conquers all)—a dubious maxim for a nun”

          4. It’s been over 50 years, but I still remember the introduction to The Prioress’s Tale and your motto pressed the button;

            Excuse my spelling. As I said, it’s been a long time.

            ‘There was also a nonne, a prioresse
            that in her smilynge was full simple and coye
            her greetest ooth was but by Saint Loye
            and she was cleped Madame Eglantine’

            It would be knavish of me if I was to pretend to know much more, though, or even a great deal more about any of my books of that O Level year. The exam board (Oxford) played a blinder.

            Their selection for our poetry book was Chaucer’s Prologue, which didn’t even rhyme and wasn’t in recognisable English. I remember that bit about the nun and some of the raunchier parts of The Miller’s Tale.

            Our Shakespeare was The Tempest – not too bad, Prospero, Miranda, Caliban and that sprite Ariel (Where the bee sucks, there suck I) and the plot was copied from the Sci-fi film ‘Forbidden Planet’.

            It was the novel that was the killer. H G Wells was that year’s author and some sadist had inflicted Kips on us. Good red-blooded lads from pit families and here was a book about somebody getting a job in a bloody woman’s hat shop. Our English teacher, thinking he was doing us a favour, handed out our copies at the end of the previous summer term, so we could read it and get a head start for the following year. I did as instructed and read it from start to finish during the holiday – and never again – dull, dull, dull. I drifted through the year listening to our English teacher droning on about this lad Kips and his misadventures.

            I learnt two things from that book. One was that there was a character called Chester Coote, who stood out solely on account of his unusual name, and that an ‘Emporium’ was some kind of fancy shop, a bit like the Co-op, but dustier.

            Come the exam I could hardly answer a question on Kips. Another class in the same year had been given a different Wells. They had The Time Machine. I could have answered more questions on their paper than I could on mine – I’d already read their book, having borrowed it from the library in the past.

            I failed English Lit.

            I blame three people. The person who chose Kips for us; our English teacher for letting us take it home for the summer and most of all that little sod Kips.

          5. Sorry about the fail. I took A level English Lit and came top in the mocks but sadly peaked too early and merely passed the actual exam. The S level English paper was a nightmare taken several weeks after A levels had finished I abandoned it halfway through…

          7. I managed 97% in the A level maths mock exams. The teachers comment was “could do better”, which my mother took as my not trying hard enough.

      2. Love conquers all. I recall having to construct that phrase in Trajan as part of my Art A Level
        Course. That and the more demanding

        OTTORINO RESPIGHI
        THE FOUNTAINS OF ROME

        The difficulty was the proximity of the two T’s, the I preceding the N and the I following the H. Ask any calligrapher.

      2. By the third year at City of Bath Technical School I thought I might prove something and actually bothered to swot. The headmaster the late F T Naylor wrote “Top of the Form” at the bottom of my school report. I was first or thereabouts in every subject and played cricket for the school team.

        My dad was suitably impressed and asked my mother to give me five shillings from the house purse.

        I was chuffed and celebrated with a bar of Five Boys chocolate and a bottle of Corona.

        Unfortunately I was not given my school report when I left for University.

    3. That happened to me and maths (or arithmetic, as it was called in junior school). We had our Common Entrance to get from junior to senior school. I got 100% in my Common entrance and the whole class was taken out on a picnic trip. Next year, in seniors, I had a completely different teacher – as far as I was concerned she was useless – I got 40% in the exam that year. Same school – and nobody thought to ask any questions…I eventually only just passed my O Level with a lot of outside tutoring.

    4. I had to sit two entrance exams for a place in private school. I remember having to stay behind after lessons at primary school to prepare for the exams. I was the only pupil from my school not going to the local comp.. I seem to recall I got 85% in maths and 60% in English. I never was very interested in Eng Lit. I’m still not what you’d call much of a reader, unless you count reading encyclopaediae.

    5. I went to a “minor” public school which even then (1950’s) accepted entrance at 11+ time if you passed both the 11+ and their own entrance exam. And of course Common Entrance Exam pupils at 13 or so. Took O’s 4 years later, and A’s 2 years after that. Pretty normal in those days. I think a lot today would certainly struggle with the old “double maths” curriculum for A level – 2 exams, one for Pure and one for Applied, plus Physics. 3 hours apiece if I recall. Gave me enough maths to deal with an engineering degree course anyway.

      1. Entirely agree. If memory serves me right, when I came to do ‘A;’ levels it was two 3 hour papers in each of Pure Maths, Applied Maths, and Physics. I also did a three hour ‘S’ level paper in each. Like you, I did an engineering degree and was usually able to ‘work things out from first principles’ unlike many colleagues, because of that grounding.

        My middle daughter inherited the ‘maths gene’ (which came from my father; a couple of his forebears were distinguished seamen and navigators) and, aged 25 became head of Maths at (the Catholic) Cardinal Vaughan Comprehensive in Holland Park. They came top of the league tables year after year because the Headmaster told the Department of Education to get stuffed. Even so, she reckoned that the ‘A’ level exams were dire as compared to when she sat them. Eventually the lefties in the Education Department of the Diocese of Westminster got the upper hand, ruined the place and the daughter quit.

        Nowadays, for Engineering, Physics, and even Maths students at UK universities the first month or two are spent on ‘Remedial Maths’ just to get them up to speed.

        1. I’ve often wondered why the Russell Group for example, does not set its own entrance exams to make sure it only gets those with the nouse to finish their degree in the requisite time. It’s not as if they are short on applicants.

      2. I went to a state grammar school and took my O Levels in four years, with A levels two years later. I think that today’s pupils would have a melt down at our workload.

    6. Dumbing down: the proof

      https://www.spectator.co.uk/2004/11/dumbing-down-the-proof/

      27th November 2004

      FOOTNOTE:
      The Daily Telegraph featured this. It quoted the then headmaster of King Edward School: “I’m sure we would all have difficulty completing the paper. It’s very challenging. If I were to be critical, I would say that it’s heavy on factual knowledge and mechanical exercise and low on analysis and the creative side.”

      1. That’s a Headmaster is it? What was his special academic achievement? Social studies? Political science? Public lavatory maintenance (managerial of course)?

  99. Many MSM images depict Boris in the likeness of Benny Hill.

    Whilst Benny Hill is famed for his acting role as a womanising idiot it should be remembered that he was unwittingly required to be detained by the police pending his call-up for three-and-a-half years of service in the European theatre of war in defence of the Realm.

    Because Benny was now of ‘call-up’ age he was expecting to get his papers enlisting him into the war effort. However, because of his wandering life-style these never seemed to catch up with him. Then, in November 1942, the fourth night into “Send Him Victorious” at Cardiff’s New Theatre, the military police turned up and arrested him. He spent four miserable nights at Cardiff police istation before being marched off to Lincoln Barracks and put to scrubbing floors in the detention room. The next three-and-a-half years were spent in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers where he served in France, Holland, Belgium and finally, Germany.

    https://televisionheaven.co.uk/biographies/benny-hill

      1. So do half a dozen of his commie friends after fukking her and then parading the jungle queen naked in front of them.

    2. “unable to obtain secure enough vehicles”. Says it all, really. The place is unsafe, so armoured up Range Rovers are needed.

    4. Unable to locally obtain secure vehicles? Rubbish!

      Last time that I was there, many SA vehicles were armoured and secured so that the almost affluent could keep the peasants at bay. I hadn’t heard that security had improved so much that normal cars could be used nowadays.

  103. John Ward writes:

    “I write tonight with something of a sense of terror.
    I have come to the conclusion over the last 5-10 years that the US Democrats and UK Labour suffer from one illness producing two sets of symptoms:
    1. An inability to discern the difference between shit and sugar.
    2. An inability to think about consequences.

    Neoliberals and bankers do know the difference and do recognise the consequences, but gated communities help them sleep at night. As always (given my views on the well-intentioned) I fear Leftlibs considerably more than Neolibs.

    I’ll tell you why: without a mass market of Useful Idiots, Neoliberalism would never get off the ground.

    For example, in the UK at the moment, Liberals & Labour are leading the charge for a Government of National Unity, but can’t see the funny side of Swinson saying she must be PM, and Corbyn saying he must be. The idiot Hilary Benn’s Act has forced Johnson not to leave the European Union with no deal, forced him to ask the EU for an extension, and forbidden him to call an Election. He does not, however, have any plan to deal with the impasse beyond holding an election. So who is going to call it if Johnson has been removed, and Swinson and Corbyn are going 10 rounds for the leadership.”

      1. How proud she must be,I truly hope with her identity revealed someone gives her a taste of her own medicine
        The whining would be deafening

        1. The orange vest is a woman?!?!? I thought those were man boobs and designer stubble.

        2. She is very hirsuit. Perhaps lay off the hormones for a bit or invest in a ladyshave. Better still…a flamethrower. ‘Sez to the next unwashed twat in the next squat….How do i activate this?’ ‘Oh it’s easy sweetie you just point and press the clicky thingy…………arrrggghhhh…… Grenfell the Sequel. :o(

      2. It does show the level of intelligence of these people. “I will wear an extremely distinctive ORANGE top, but that will be okay because I will also have a balaclava.” Neglecting the vital importance of not wandering about the area before or after covering your face.

  106. ‘Black Holes’ are some of the most supreme and powerful phenomena in the universe; how long before their nomenclature will be challenged by our absurdly political, new-fangled Supreme Court ?

    1. Why stop at ‘Black Holes’? Dark energy and dark matter, with the former currently being marked out as the eventual destroyer of the Universe, have connotations that can invoke bad thoughts in people with narrow minds.

          1. Now there is the difference. We can’t spot dark matter until it opens it’s gob and shows it’s teeth…..er. Did i get that the right way round?

  107. What are we meant to think when a senior Cabinet member makes statements like this? It implies that we will leave the EU and be in a position to do as Raab clearly states here. However, if Johnson is merely reheating May’s catastrophic deal then none of what Raab says can happen. May tried that ploy but legal experts showed that she was either completely out of her depth in understanding what she’d signed up to or was blatantly lying. Perhaps Raab is another projector of smoke and mirrors and trying to deflect the truth from what’s really being planned?

    https://twitter.com/Conservatives/status/1178748697661845505

    1. “Masters of our own destiny”.

      That’s so great !

      Sounds just like Ed’s “No loss of independence or sovereignty” which worked out really well.

      Ummmmm………..

      Oh.

      1. I didn’t know anything about perversions, until they started advertising them. I didn’t know anything about normal sex, either, when I was a kid.

        1. A time of innocence being denied to my grandchildren by the perverts being cheered on by the PTB to promote their lifestyle.

    2. Other than perhaps for a medical examination I’m at a complete loss to understand why anyone, irrespective of proclivity, would want to put their hand up someone else’s backside or indeed why anyone would want such an intrusion?

      1. You can’t say that, it makes you a “hater”.

        But that’s what some of these people do apparently. And they expect the rest of us to treat them as if they were normal.

    3. Unbelievable. The parents should all be up in arms. They should bring a prosecution against the CC.

    4. “Hands up all those pupils wishing to make a fist of the LGBT practical test”

      1. Perhaps he did a TomCruise and threw himself out the sunroof and held on by his finger nails. We don’t know !

  112. The Countryfile row. Below are a couple of quotes from the programme. Unpack Mr Daines confused nonsense if you can.

    Nick Daines, consultant for Prevent, the Home Office ‘anti-radicalisation’ scheme:
    “They [Generation Identity] are accepting of other cultures but they like to see separate ethno-states where difference are celebrated and acknowledged but not integrated. It could be a gateway to more hardcore, extreme groups.”

    He also gave us an anecdote (dangerous, these, as Enoch Powell discovered) about an isolated farm worker who wanted to spray pig’s blood on a mosque.

    Roger Griffin, Emeritus Professor in modern history at Oxford Poly and an expert on ‘far-right extremists’:
    “British Revival…shows the old fascist concern with the decadence of the modern age, urban violence and multiculturalism.”

    He also managed to get in an implicit reference to Blut und Boden so that he could link it all to the Nazis (who didn’t ‘invent’ the idea).

    Ifs and coulds and maybes abound. It is fair to say that Generation Identity look like a bunch of numpties but rather less frightening than Labour supporters peacefully picketing coke depots, print works, coal mines and Tory Party conferences.

    This is, of course, from the same BBC that earlier this year produced the radio series ‘Fatwa’ in which the ancient wool-spinners of Savile Town, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, spoke of the awakening of their Moslem identity following the Salman Rushdie affair. Nothing dangerous there (once all the white people were driven out).

    From 8:20 to 19:40.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0008zsx/countryfile-lake-district

  113. Alison Pearson

    “An allegation by a female journalist that Boris Johnson squeezed her thigh at a Spectator magazine

    lunch in 1999 has “cast a pall over the Conservative party conference”,

    critics claim. Humbug! To choose a word of mild exasperation completely

    at random. The media class, grooming each other like gorillas on

    expenses in the fancy London Lounge here in Manchester, may like to

    claim that “Gropegate” has harmed the Prime Minister. Normal people

    couldn’t give a monkey’s.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/politics/normal-people-couldnt-give-monkeys-gropegate-still-backing/
    Spot on

    3. Very murky transparency.
      Only €3.5 million. Not a problem not as serious as a man who allegedly touched a woman’s leg.
      MSM won’t bother asking Jo Swinson about that. Just not a story.
      A plague on all their houses.

    4. No wonder Swinson is so strong for Revoke. She hasn’t been giving this any
      unnecessary transparency has she. About time the Commons introduced Party Leaders’ Questions and we saw accountability stretching across all the parties.

  117. Evening, all. Just been at a lively council planning meeting – the chairman was arrogant, the public was furious and there was very nearly a brawl!

    2. Sounds a bit like proceedings at Braintree District Council. There I witnessed the leader, Graham Butland, a Freemason, attempt to push through a development proposal by a fellow brother Nigel McCrea, the latter attempting to build ‘executive’ homes on an agricultural field behind my listed home.

      The two of them had conspired to move the village development boundary to facilitate the development and completely ignored the boundary of the conservation area which hitherto coincided with the village development boundary.

      I mention this because over four years or more, as I resisted the proposals, I was subjected to any number of accusations and abuses from McCrea. This extended to his unwarranted objection to my completely innocuous satellite dish, invisible from the main road, and complaints about my re-thatching which was carried out in strict accordance with Historic England advice and cost me in excess of £50,000.00.

      Accordingly I had to remove the satellite dish or otherwise risk prosecution.

      1. I don’t think you could accuse this woman chairman of Freemasonry – although I do know there are women Freemasons.

        1. They have realised they need to be able to survive. Womens lodges are much like the Womens Institute in Saud. Powerless, ineffectual and ignored.

        2. I am sorry to say that I object to Freemasonry as I have experienced its effects in my professional career. This has not been limited to the blatant shenanigans at Braintree District Council, but extends over my lifetime.

          In my profession, I have witnessed at first hand the preference given to Freemasons in every aspect of my work as an architect. This corrupt virus has caused immense divisions in our society. We see it to this day in the decision of the Supreme Court, operating from a building the decoration and layout of which just screams Freemasonry.

          1. Yes, I know you object to Freemasonry. It would be surprising if buildings, which traditionally have relied on masons, didn’t have decorations redolent of Freemasonry, although it must be borne in mind that modern day Freemasons are not operative, but speculative, masons.

          2. I am sorry but I have to say Freemasonry in my view is corrupted. I have witnessed too many examples of its corrosive effects in my professional career.

        3. Well, I was once approached to join the Freemasons. But I didn’t want to be called Elsie the Maisonette.

          :-))

          2. Rolls On Floor Laughing C??? U??? F***ing (presumably) L??? Any clues, Phizzee? (Please don’t do a Polly and tell me to work it out myself.)

          4. I shall tell on you, Phizzee, and ask those nice Misters Stig and MLE to ban you for rude postings.

            :-))

      2. I was tempted to take the piss a bit but i can understand your situation.

        Satellite dish? What the hell are you watching? :o)

        1. Effing Freesat. I never subscribed to Sky although the objectors claimed that I did. There are some truly nasty people at large in the most innocent of locations.

          Unfortunately a couple of those bastards live opposite me in an otherwise quiet and contented village.

          1. I’m probably wrong but wasn’t freesat available in a box you attach in doors? If you are going to make a stand especially against local councillors/freemasons then you need your own support network…no matter how lovely the village is/was.

          3. I remember Squarials. Can’t imagine why anyone would stick such a protuberance on a listed building but there ya go…….

    1. You just slide that hand and a litlle bit further and you just might need to cook me breakfast you sweet little thang you…

    2. I wonder how the MP’s declaration of interest is worded. I would have though she should have declared her husbands interest but depends on how it is worded

  123. The Clock is Ticking for Brexit

    Depending on how the FTPA is interpreted decides how long the remainers have left. If we assume that at the end of the 14 days Labour can have a go at forming a government that gives them just over 2 weeks to try to block Brexit but Boris may be able to get in 1 5 day proroguing of Parliament for the Queens Speech which takes it to 1 week

    If the FTPA act is interpreted as meaning at the end of 14 days if the Government has not managed to form a new government and we then go to a general election the Remainers are already out of time

  124. Jesseye Norman has died. She was given a few seconds on BBC News. She was probably the best singer of her generation. I cherish her recordings of Mahler and Richard Strauss.

    I reckon our priorities are truly skewed and that judgement applies particularly to the BBC, an organisation which lost the plot twenty years ago.

      1. Geoffrey Parsons was a truly great accompanist. I think he was an Australian. I have so many of his recordings accompanying singers such as Thomas Allen and others.

        I mourn all of these great musicians.

    2. Come now…BoJo’s (alleged) grope 20 years ago at some drunken bash is far more important. Incidentally, I watched JR-M being interviewed by Guru-Murthy on Ch4 News. Policy didn’t really interest him at all – he wanted the low-down on BoJo’s fumble. JR-M told him, very politely, to get lost.

      1. I put it down to my Spectrum but when confronted with such an inane trap i spring it on them. …..Never ask me to lunch !…I have at least six Nottlers who would confirm this…… :o(

    4. I think the media were more interested in Placido Domingo being thrown out of the Met because he put his arm round a girl umpteen years ago.

    5. Yes, how often I’ve listened to her singing Strauss’s ‘Four Last Songs’. Quite unforgettable.

      1. We heard her singing “Amazing Grace” when we were on the way into Bristol yesterday morning. they said they’d be playing more throughout the day.

        Wonderful voice.

  126. Further to my comment about the WA this comment is interesting

    “For those who have not followed through on what is happening:
    The
    Supreme Court ruling that prevented Boris from proroguing parliament
    means there will be no new session of parliament, which means the
    Withdrawal Agreement cannot be resubmitted in anything like its current
    form. As the EU will not agree to substantive changes the inevitable
    will happen at the end of the month. Remainers have snookered themselves
    completely.”

    4. I don’t normally comment on this matter but i have been saying to myself since the result of the referendum it won’t happen.

      I dearly hope i am mistaken but the signs say otherwise…. If i’m wrong i owe you a drink. If you are wrong you owe me £39 billion… :o)

  128. Ooh ooh ooh.. ♫ i’m in the money..doo doo doo do do dooo doo do do doo ♫ 5X25 on NS & I. :o)

      1. So.. © CathyNewman. You have in aggregate achieved more or less than Phizzee? :o)

        Well done Bob…

        Wanders off nonchalantly…………….Whistles…

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