Wednesday 28 July: Government coercion over Covid is inimical to Conservative values

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/07/27/letters-government-coercion-covid-inimical-conservative-values/

671 thoughts on “Wednesday 28 July: Government coercion over Covid is inimical to Conservative values”

  1. Nato didn’t fail in Afghanistan, but our politicians failed to back. 28 July 2021.

    We had to ensure that Afghanistan would not again shelter more conspiracies.

    We have now had 20 years without a single attack conceived in Afghanistan. Twenty years without malign Taliban influence. Twenty years allowing the Afghan people to taste elections and women and girls in education. Twenty years to build businesses, re-open markets, listen to music, play sports.

    Morning everyone. Yes. The conspiracies took place here instead. The bombings and the stabbings as well.

    While the young girls of Afghanistan were going to school their counterparts were being raped on the streets of the UK.

    We are so safe that Westminster is a fortress defended by the Elite Military Forces of the UK.

    Nothing for the rest of us course. We just need some more Diversity to put us right!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/07/27/nato-didnt-fail-afghanistan-politicians-failed-back-us/

  3. ‘Morning All

    The internet is swift……..

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/66a2203a812663ed7df8db7b4aba9c28932b18ea1338878a8ebedc02fadb8311.jpg

    Awkward……

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0c6858b14249fd09c06df1d80e5a48031efa895fc207aca05b0433fa9cfe575b.jpg

    First the Lateral Flow Test can’t tell the difference betwwen a virus and a mango

    Next the PCR test can’t tell the difference between Covid and the Flu

    (now about detecting different “variants”)

    Ahem

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5234cdf3b673d60b6c681ec44ed733a0ebe36a0de8c0c17dc555007210c92891.jpg

    2. Who could have imagined that the journey from ‘three weeks to flatten the curve’ last March would end in compulsory vaccination and medical ID? We have been led down a very dark path. How quickly supposedly free countries can sleep-walk into totalitarianism.

    3. The irony that firing a gun in space is vastly more dangerous to the firer than the fired at.

    1. Be fair. Most crack addicts do not have Hunter’s expertise in the energy sector to help rehabilitate them as productive members of the community.

      😁

      1. Hunter ain’t that bright if he doesn’t know to put a bit of tape over the camera on his lappy.

  8. Biden wants Putin to behave. So why not go after his money? 28 July 2021.

    Russia President Vladimir Putin is thought to be worth tens of billions of dollars, Kasparov notes. Researchers have pieced together his alleged assets by examining everything from Putin’s luxury watches to a palace he’s said to frequent to unusual money trails that lead to his inner circle.

    That secret wealth makes Putin uniquely vulnerable to U.S. sanctions, Kasparov argues. It’s time, he says, for the Biden administration to crack down on the billionaire loyalists who keep the Russian dictator in power and help hide his riches. The famed chess champ and Kremlin critic is not the only one pushing the idea: Activists working with imprisoned Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny have been circulating in Washington a list of 35 people linked to Putin whose assets they say America should freeze.

    Considerable effort has gone into researching Vlad’s wealth and there is not one shred of evidence for its existence. His wristwatches are the only reasonably suggestive sign of it and they might be (probably are) gifts from the oligarchs to their Master. The two houses that were floated as being owned by him proved to be just propaganda, the second hardly lasting a Day in the News. This doesn’t of course mean that he hasn’t stashed a few Roubles away for a Rainy Day but I suspect that it is a lot less than is attributed to him by his enemies. As to Biden cracking down. This subject is just too close to home. He and his son have had their mitts in the cookie jar too long to be pointing the finger at others and it is more than likely that if he did Vlad would reply in like fashion. He must for example know all the details about Hunter’s activities in Ukraine and Joe’s dealings with China.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/27/russian-critics-biden-putin-relationship-500818

      1. The “Russian Dissidents” will, of course, be totally impartial and have absolutely NO axe to grind!
        Of course. Right.

      1. Bu88er. I thought something was missing when I got out the garden shears yesterday.

    3. While I have no doubt that Russia is corrupt – doesn’t Uncle Sam have some honesty problems as well?

      1. He’s got a sickle and a trug…I’m not going to explain what he uses them for.

  13. SIR – At the start of the pandemic, Professor Neil Ferguson and Sage predicted 500,000 deaths. They have recently predicted 100,000 new daily infections and that rate doubling every nine days. Why? Because their modelling says so. Whatever happened to scientific evidence?

    From the start, professors Karol Sikora, Carl Heneghan and Sunetra Gupta have been beacons of common sense, but their advice has sadly been ignored in favour of Sage’s radical proposals, which have undermined the Government. Why do Boris Johnson and Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, still give it credence?

    Peter Yarnall
    Milnrow, Lancashire

    1. Suits their agenda, no doubt about that. Rationality has successfully evaded the current incumbent of No 10 and his lackeys in the Cabinet.

    2. Modelling would seem to be the scientific equivalent of clairvoyance. And about as reliable.

      Good morning everyone.

  14. Here she is!! Another Ian Tunnicliffe fan/nutter!!

    SIR – Ian Tunnicliffe (Letters, July 26) is right that Britain would reap many benefits from a proactive migration policy. Those men, women and children crossing by boat have shown tenacity to reach our country, but are treated as dangerous human flotsam and jetsam when they arrive.

    In the First World War, 250,000 Belgians were accepted by Britain – the largest displacement of refugees into this country. Hopefully they were treated in a more compassionate and ethical manner than are today’s refugees, who are also fleeing hideous wars and nightmarish regimes.

    Judith A Daniels
    Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

    1. I expect that most of the Belgians went home after the war. What ‘hideous wars and nightmarish regimes’ are these fighting age illegals fleeing in France? Good morning from Mrs Grumpy!

        1. I’m reading the DT website and working myself up into a right paddy! (Can I say that? Oh sod it…)

      2. And the Belgian refugees were European Christians and therefore more in tune with UK culture, unlike the ‘refugees’ crossing the Channel today, who I would guess are mostly Muslim.

    2. Judith A. Daniels. Address: 56 Winifred Road, Cobholm, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, NR31 0BL

      Go get her Bill !

    3. Where do you begin?
      Would it be worth opening up a people smuggling line from the Dutch coast to Great Yarmouth just to thoroughly p!ss off Judy?

    5. She was followed by this one:

      SIR – Migrants do not target Britain because they regard us as a “soft touch” (Letters, July 24). They do so because for the vast majority English is their second language, and therefore coming here means better chances of employment and integration.

      Fiona Rolt
      Towcester, Northamptonshire

      Towcester. Possibly a neighbour of William Barter, HS2 fanatic.

      1. ——To which the obvious answer is to ban the entry of people who do not speak English

    6. Is Ms Daniels thick? To compare the Belgians escaping Nazi Germany to the illegal gimmigrants leaving France is preposterous.

  15. SIR – You report (July 22) that the American president has agreed not to oppose the continued building of the giant undersea pipeline Nord Stream 2, which will deliver Russian gas to Germany and elsewhere.

    I had always thought that natural gas was “clean” energy, and it appears the United States, Europeans and Russia do too. Why, then, are we in Britain told that soon everyone will be “encouraged” – and later, presumably, ordered – to install expensive heat pumps or hydrogen-powered units in our homes, to replace our present efficient and cheap gas boilers? If billions are being spent on this pipeline, I can’t believe that it is a short-term measure. Everyone except the British is going to use gas for years to come.

    Robin Nonhebel
    Swanage, Dorset

    Because that repulsive numbskull bastardess Carrion says so and her pig-ignorant husband knows even less. May they both burn in hell.

      1. Of course, LessIsMore. If Citroen1 failed to hide it (s?)he would say the couple were Silly Sausages (© Elsie Bloodaxe).

    3. Hydrogen I wouldn’t mind. The problem is, getting it out is rather tricky.

      I don’t mind all these green initiatives, I would just like the Left fanatics to live in the world they want us to.

      1. Hydrogen is only a means to store & transport energy, not create it.
        Locally, we had a plant about the size of two 40′ shipping containers that created hydrogen by electrolysing water, compressed it, and used it to fuel cars.
        Until the plant blew up. That was a noticeable BANG!
        There is certainly energy in the stuff… 🙂

  16. Ministers always promise to cut crime but the public rarely feels any safer. 28 July 2021.

    It is the go-to initiative for any administration keen to change the political narrative in its favour. The fact that the need to keep relaunching crime-busting measures suggests that previous efforts have failed seems not to disconcert ministers in the slightest. This time, they say, we really mean business.

    We can safely dismiss any idea that Boris’s crime initiative will make any difference whatsoever except to the police who will have to carry out all this box ticking nonsense. We were certainly safer fifty years ago than we are now and the perigee of criminality in the UK was as far back as 1906. Crime is like education; both allow those in Government to pretend not only that they know something about either but that they are doing something useful. This latter is very important to the powers that be since a lack of activity might lead to the public concluding that most of what they do is not only useless but unnecessary. The promulgation of new laws that have led to the Legal Oppression of the innocent is a case in point. Most of these measures already exist in multiple forms and further legislation is simply Political Masturbation.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/07/27/ministers-always-promise-cut-crime-public-rarely-feels-safer/

    2. If prisons worked, we wouldn’t need more of them.

      Most crime is committed by the same people over and over again.

  17. Here’s how life will pan out under Boris Johnson’s Carrie Johnson’s (née Symonds) green utopia. Replies are generally not in favour – surprise, surprise.

    The plan:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/aabf739b2c944ecc1927fb2d46ca17752e587afc4eaf8ce6e369054aad0eec50.png

    A witty response:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/97333ac8c46616d583ad76455bde09c2984193e6447dde88562e47a0a20bd53a.png

    The government troll:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9255128f6fad0cbefb25a163088a87937adf26561d9f4fa9caa31b8f344176d7.png

    1. Look, be grateful the state didn’t say ‘The government will do all your shopping from an approved list which will be delivered when we tell you so. Deviation from that list will see you penalised both on your social credit rating, additional taxes and you will be denied NHS treatment.

      After all. That’s where they’re going.

    2. Great idea – just steal the shopping trolley to take your purchases home. Then dump it in the canal.

    3. I moved nearer to town so I could walk to the shops when driving was no longer an option.
      Now the bloody shops are moving …..OUT!

  19. UK Ethnic Minority Population Has Doubled to 13m, Over One-Fifth of General Pop: Report
    https://media.breitbart.com/media/2021/07/GettyImages-50906018-e1627368201647-640×481.jpg

    Mass migration has driven Britain’s foreign-born population to nine million and the ethnic minority population to 13 million in just 20 years, according to new figures from Migration Watch UK.

    The massive shift in demographics has come about as a result of the fact that “foreign migration has been running at about 300,000 per year for the past 20 years”
    *
    *
    *
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/07/27/uk-ethnic-minority-population-doubled-to-13m-over-one-fifth-general-pop-report/

    1. None of this it can be pointed out could have occurred without the active collaboration of the Elites!

    2. None of this it can be pointed out could have occurred without the active collaboration of the Elites!

    6. A lot of immigrants are great. Decent, law abiding, tax paying folk who are incredibly valuable and useful.

      And then there’s the dross Labour imported. The source of the problems we’ve suffered for the last 2 decades since the Labour terror.

  21. Good morning all.
    11°C in the yard on a damp morning.

    Easy day planned today.
    Run into Matlock to collect my repaired glasses then, weather permitting, a bit of a tidy up and I MIGHT get 1 mix of mortar done and 5 or 6 blocks laid.

    1. Not sure what anyone expected. He’s a hypocrite, like all authoritarians.

      However those clips have no context and have been edited in a specific order. There’s no timeline to reference when they were said.

      We all know the advice has been contradictory and deceitful but that’s politicians. They lie by default.

  23. Seems that Julian Assange has lost his Ecuadorian citizenship, having been awarded it by “an administrative error”, a court in Quito has decided.
    He’s still a guest at HMP Belmarsh for now, though.

    2. If the rain will give over for a while, back to roof building for me.
      Otherwise, painting indoors :-((

  25. Ref the very title – inimicable to Conservative values. We haven’t had a Conservative government for decades. The same big state, high tax, Left wing, tax and waste authoritarian idiocy has been in office for my entire lifetime.

    Government! If the state machine will not let you cut taxes and get off our backs, then you are NOT governing. If you WANT to soak our taxes to create a massive wealth gap, poverty and get the rich even richer, hike taxes and legislating our freedoms away then the entire system of government is flawed and must be abandoned as it does not serve the people, it serves itself.

  26. I meant to raise this, yesterday. I read an article (which, natch, I cannot now find) which dealt with the terrible behaviour in offices in the UK where people are bullied and harassed and humiliated and sexualised – so much so that there is “lots of crying all the time”.

    Now, I worked in offices from 1959 to 2008 and I can never recall anyone, at any time, of any gender crying. What has happened?

    1. The general wetness of the population has increased manyfold. Witness also hurty words becoming hate crime, the ever-increaseing numbers of “offended”.

  27. Apparently, making a strip with the bark you can get to put on your pots soil to slow down the weeds and drying out also prevents slugs crossing over – about 4-6″ wide stripe keeps them out!
    Might be useful for those wanting to actually harvest lettuce this summer… :-))

    2. I keep rereading what you wrote.

      Still don’t know what the hell you are on about.

      1. You know the bark chippings you can by in plastic sacks from garden centres to cover soil in the garden & pots and hinder weeks and loss of moisture from the soil? Make a 4-6″ wide trail of bark around lettuce patch. Try to be sure there are no slug-sized trails between the bark chippings. Check no slugs inside the bark trail.
        No slugs will cross, unless parachuted in.
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/52d400fa86675379551cdc1fc30778c9b7beff773beae4eba8ca3adf41ff0b9c.jpg

      1. The problem with home-grown food is that unless it’s unusual (eg trombetti), it is ripe at the same time as everybody else’s and the stuff is almost give-away in the shops.

        1. Ah ha ! The trick is to have a lot of what others don’t have…then trade.

          I get figs for my strawberries !

      2. Morning Anne.
        Was the apostrophe a reflex action after writing ‘greengrocers’?

    4. Morning, Paul. We keep ours in tubs in the conservatory next to a fly-screened open door during the day. They get sun and ventilation. At night they are moved outside to sit atop the garden table on the patio in the middle of the lawn. We’ve had no slug/insect damage all summer.

    5. Morning, Paul. We keep ours in tubs in the conservatory next to a fly-screened open door during the day. They get sun and ventilation. At night they are moved outside to sit atop the garden table on the patio in the middle of the lawn. We’ve had no slug/insect damage all summer.

  28. The MR reports that participants at the Olympic Games who are runners up are delighted with their silver medals – and do not immediately rip them off in a tantrum. Rather different from wendyball players and, I regret to say, rugby players who are runners up…..

    2. Unfortunately they have slightly amended de Coubertain’s message to

      “The most important thing in the Olympic Games football is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well how much money you can make

      1. Are there any two-letter combinations that stand for more negativity than FB?
        Facebook
        Football
        Fat b***ard

    3. Unfortunately they have slightly amended de Coubertain’s message to

      “The most important thing in the Olympic Games football is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well how much money you can make

    4. And Olympic silver medalists are on average less happy than the Gold and Bronze medalists.

    5. Simple solution – stop awarding runners up medals 🙂
      They can start with next year’s men’s footie world cup.

  29. 335951+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,

    Wednesday 28 July: Government coercion over Covid is inimical to Conservative values

    Then that shows “they” have an ALL round win, owing to the fact that the current political cartel are taking theses anti democracy actions via
    an (ino) in name only tory party.

    The coalition lab/lib/con deception works so well it has its own in-house
    built in felonious department with peoples participation, ie postal voting,
    hollow opposition within the house etc,etc.

    The politico’s in this instance have perfected over the last three decades the treacherous art of using the herd to bring the herd down
    in a repress, remold, reset, replace manner and with the herds consent
    100% obedience via orchestrated fear it is working / will work on many levels.

    IMO the DOVER invasion is with governance approval showing quite clearly there will be NO return on two fronts one , for the illegals, two for the coalition parties via the polling booth unless the peoples are up for full on suppression of their rights and will settle for a dictatorship.

  31. I’m seeing reports that “internet influencers” and “Podcasters” are being offered big money to convince the young to get the vaccine
    I wonder if they’re following their own advice or are they merely Judas Goats??
    On a brighter note I’m told that #Clotshot and #Jabottoir are trending
    I fear a dreadful Darwinian selection is in progress

    1. Maybe…?

      Young Britons Start to Ditch Masks After Deleting Covid App: Poll

      https://media.breitbart.com/media/2021/07/young-people-640×480.jpg

      Fewer than half of young people in the UK are wearing masks since ‘Freedom Day’, with the demographic having the sharpest decline in mask use out of all age groups.

      A YouGov poll published on Monday that while 58 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds were wearing masks in public places in the two weeks before the government mandate on wearing them on public transport and indoor public places ended, 46 per cent are still wearing them in those settings.
      *
      *
      *
      https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/07/27/young-britons-start-to-ditch-masks-after-deleting-covid-app-poll/

      1. 335951+ up ticks,
        Morning C,
        As one commented yesterday student
        jabby dodgers amass.

    2. I’m not sure I would call it a ‘Darwinian Selection’. Darwin’s theories supported survival of the fittest (strongest, brightest, most adaptable etc).

      In his seminal On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, Darwin clearly favours the stronger, fitter and more intelligent [I’ll wager the bit about “favoured races” in his book’s full title doesn’t sit well with some!].

      What is actually happening is that weaker, dimmer, and more clueless individuals are supplanting the fitter and brighter. This is being done with governmental assistance. The ongoing deliberate deterioration of educational standards is all part of the process. Darwin will be squirming in his grave to see how we are going against nature.

      1. Once civilisation breaks down to a certain level Darwin’s natural selection will kick back in again.

          1. All life on Earth goes way back. Our forbears wriggled around in the mud. Some of our species will survive unless something very cataclysmic occurs.

          2. To my mind, the species is retrograding quickly back towards that primordial soup from whence it once emerged. Amoebae have more intellect than the average Homo sapiens sapiens.

      2. The following is attributed to Darwin, though attribution is disputed. Nevertheless, it remains accurate:

        “Since the dawn of history the negro has owned the continent of Africa – rich beyond the dream of poet’s fancy, crunching acres of diamonds beneath his bare black feet. Yet he never picked one up from the dust until a white man showed to him its glittering light.
        “His land swarmed with powerful and docile animals, yet he never dreamed a harness, cart, or sled. A hunter by necessity, he never made an axe, spear, or arrowhead worth preserving beyond the moment of its use. He lived as an ox, content to graze for an hour. In a land of stone and timber he never sawed a foot of lumber, carved a block, or built a house save of broken sticks and mud.
        “With league on league of ocean strand and miles of inland seas, for four thousand years he watched their surface ripple under the wind, heard the thunder of the surf on his beach, the howl of the storm over his head, gazed on the dim blue horizon calling him to worlds that lie beyond, and yet he never dreamed a sail.”

      2. Trolley dollies seemed to become turbo charged after a couple of pints. I could not possibly comment.

  33. Good morning all

    Fresh blowy morning , patches of blue , 17c , I don’t mind that . If the rain holds off , things will dry on the line .

    Yesterday was a nothing day , although my calendar said it should have been a significant event .

        1. T’was our 36th on Monday.
          I bought the DT 2 boxes of Ferrero Rocher cut down to half price from Ashbourne Co-op.

          3. Ah Bob, you have a truly poetic soul!
            There is nothing to beat a wood heated house for comfort in my opinion.

        5. Well done!

          As you know I have a list of Nottlers’ birthdays. Perhaps you could do the same thing for the marriages and divorces people like to celebrate!
          Caroline and I got married only 33 years ago on 2nd April. Until Covid we always celebrated this when we had students with us on our Easter courses during the school holidays.

      1. The RNLI did answer my letter of complaint about their helping illegal immigrants but of course it did not address the main point. As I said in my reply to them yesterday:

        Saving lives at sea is one thing – getting involved in the illegal activity of people smuggling is another.

        Might I suggest that when saving these people’s lives the RNLI takes them back to France and deposits them on French beaches rather than actively helping them to get into Britain illegally?

        1. I liked the comment I read earlier in the week,(either here or on GP), where someone pointed out that as the passengers on these smugglers boats were paying passengers, that meant that the boats departing France came under EU rules for commercial craft regarding; H&S, insurance, seaworthiness etc.

          With most of our MPs sitting around twiddling their thumbs, perhaps one or two might think to use the EU rules against the smugglers, rather than topping up the funds for the Gendarmerie Christmas party?

    2. And how many more of them have they “produced” since being here? The WoW { Wipe out Whitey} plan is in full force

  35. 335951+ up ticks,

    farage,
    Boris and Priti seem unable to get a grip on the migrant crisis. Time to bring in Tony Abbott

    If I remember right nige you were very pro johnson to the extent of helping to bring down the UKIP party under Gerard Batten adding your input to that of the treacherous party nec whilst standing DOWN brexit party candidates in favour of johnson

    Bearing in mind as a UKIP founder member G Batten was for
    controlled immigration.

  36. Stop The Bus

    A blonde was visiting Washington, DC. This was her first time to the city, so she wanted to see the Capitol Building. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find it, so she asked a police officer for directions.

    “Excuse me, officer,” the blonde said, “how do I get to the Capitol Building?”

    The officer said, “Wait here at this bus stop for the number 54 bus. It’ll take you right there.”

    The blonde thanked the officer and he drove off. Three hours later the police officer came back to the same area, and sure enough, the blonde was still waiting at the same bus stop. The officer got out of his car and said,

    “Excuse me, but to get to the Capitol Building, I said to wait here for the number 54 bus. That was three hours ago. Why are you still waiting?”

    The blonde said, “Don’t worry, officer, it won’t be long now. The 45th bus just went by!”

        1. Not like the blonde who was involved in a car accident just north of south end. Paramedics arrived at the scene no one badly inured in the rear end shunt. But there was blood on the legs of the blondes shorts.
          Where are you bleeding from asked the lady Para medic.
          Bleeding Romford says the young girl, we were only coming here for the day.

          1. I thought that “bleeding” was a Sheffield swear word. They use it so frequently there that the locals are known as “Bleeders”.

    2. A middle aged couple from Tel Aviv had landed at JFK they were in the cab to down town NYC.
      The driver struck up conversation, Were are you people from on this fine day ?
      The guy answered, oh we’ve come here for a family wedding, we flew in from Tel Aviv Israel.
      His wife being a bit hard of hearing says, what did he say ?
      The husband says, he asked us where we are from.
      Oh wow said the driver I worked in a kibbutz years ago not far from Tel Aviv.
      What did he say says the wife.
      He says he worked at a kibbutz near Tel Aviv.
      As a matter of fact says the driver, it was hard work, but i loved it, there were a lot of lovey girls there, but having said that i did have one of the worse sexual experiences ever in my whole life
      What did he say said the wife.
      The husband says………….. He said he thinks he’s met you.

    3. I told the one about squeezing the lemon dry to my colleague, who is being taxed all ways under the sun at the moment (serves him right for inheriting a house and trying to do it up to rent it out, how dare he try to provide for his old age himself, instead of trusting the Government!). He laughed a lot.

  39. On another topic , re the obits.

    I managed to double click on the Obits and read about Billy Lacey, one of the last marshmen of the Norfolk Broads – obituary

    Lacey worked alone trimming the reeds and tending the cattle, and liked not having ‘to worry about what other people were doing’

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2021/07/23/billy-lacey-one-last-marshmen-norfolk-broads-obituary/

    After reading about Bill Lacey ‘s useful life , I wonder what sort of a voice he had , it seems to me as if he had had a hard harsh life, but if he knew no better existence. His local knowledge will now be lost forever ..

    When you talk to countrypeople of a certain type , and now they are as rare as hens teath, their knowledge is deeper than stuff garnered from books .

    A water bailiff chatted to me about salmon and trout , and where they laid their eggs in certain parts of our chalk rivers , and how cattle are hopeless when grazing near the crumbly banks of rivers which can spoil the areas of the river preferred by fish.

    Our rivers aren’t so clear and maintained as they were even twenty years ago , rushes and reeds were maintained , and algae was scooped up and removed . Our streams and rivers have been neglected , no one seems to care anymore .

    1. We have lost our connection to the land, Belle, in more ways than one and I suspect that those ways are indeed interconnected.

      1. I think the connection to the land remains in some areas, the issue is there are no votes in rural areas so political policies are driven by urban and suburbanites. Hence urban/suburban thinking takes precedence, and such people have no concept of rural matters and woke human emotional thinking dominates.

      1. It has no guts to stand up to all this shite. The taliban have sent out their murdering scum around the world.
        Our politicians and the civil service are absolutely 8rse lickingly useless including the police.

        Don’t argue with me you’ll be arrested. Says the hero Met copper.

    2. But I have to remind the Ozzie reporter about this…………. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Sydney_riots

      Men of ‘middle eastern appearance’ They were Lebanese men sexually assaulting the local girls on the beach. One of the people on the front page of the news paper was a friend of our middle son, who himself had just come home from a year in Oz.

    3. Why is Sky News in the UK so very different from Sky News in Australia? Couldn’t we swap our Sky News for theirs?

      1. I wish. That would certainly put a rocket up the complacent establishments fundament!

  41. Interesting BTL post under the Tellygraff letters:

    “RE: Biles quitting and walking out on her team mates.

    In the 1976 Olympics, Princess Anne took a terrific fall on the cross-country phase of the 3-day event..

    The next day was the stadium jumping – for the team to be eligible for a medal, 3 of the 4 team members had to finish all 3 phases. One team member’s horse came up lame on cross-country and couldn’t do the stadium jumping. That left it to Anne and the other 2 team members. Anne rode the stadium jumping round — laid down a very good trip — and unfortunately it was in vain as to the medals as the last member of the team had to pull out on the stadium course leaving only 2 to complete the entire competition.

    What was not publicized but was known to us in the 3-day eventing world was that Princess Anne COULD NOT REMEMBER riding the stadium course after she did it as the fall the day before had left her so concussed that her memory was impaired for a few days. She felt terrible – headaches, blurred vision and she got on her horse and rode the course so the team had a shot of completing the competition and possibly being in the medals.”

          1. Later, when asked whether he would do what he did again, he replied frankly, “No, I would not.”

      4. A bit different to when David “Syd” Lawrence’s kneecap snapped whilst running in to bowl for England in a test at Wellington on 10/02/1992. His screams could be heard outside the stadium.

  42. Biden says Putin is in ‘real trouble’ because he is sitting on ‘an economy that has nuclear weapons and oil wells and nothing else’. 28 July 2021.

    When I was with Mr. Putin, who has a real problem,’ he said, speaking in calm and quiet tones. ‘He is sitting on top of an economy that has nuclear weapons and oil wealth and nothing else. Nothing else. Their economy is like the eight smallest in the world now – largest in the world. He knows he’s in real trouble – which makes him even more dangerous, in my opinion,’ he said.

    This from the purported leader of the country that has just bought a stack of Russian Rocket Engines for the Space Program and that is disappearing under a Mountain of Debt while Russia has none!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9832501/Biden-says-Putin-real-trouble-makes-dangerous.html

    1. Yo Minty

      A small fiddle

      Mister Puitin says Biden is in ‘real trouble’ because he is sitting on ‘an economy that has nuclear weapons and oil wells and nothing else’.

      29 Feb 2021.

    2. And in Tokyo winners of the rugby 7s Fiji taking the effin’ stoopid knee and blubbering all over the pitch. American Gymnast retired from the comp due to mental ‘elf issues. What ever next swimmers wetting the pants in the pool ?

      1. Murray pulling out of some of his events. It can not be too difficult to sort out the fit from the unfit before they are sent off to far off competitions.

        1. I expect he pulled on his Argentina shirt for the game against SA in the 7s.
          Mind you i was less that neutral, the SA players had weaponised razor wire half a metre long dreadlocks to shove on the faces of the Argies who won with only 5 players.

      2. I suspect that the Fijians will have been taking the knee thanking God.

        They tend to be devout Christians. Almost every player looks to the sky and give thanks after scoring.

        1. I was being a bit sarcy but ………You might have thought they would have realised it had a different meaning in the rest of the world, but they were a great team.

    5. I almost wish I had twitter (or whatever this one is) in order to ask – on a Freedom of Information application, how many MALE “People” had had babies in Scotland.

  44. https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-the-snp-fraud-allegations-matter

    Why the SNP fraud allegations matter

    Henry Hill

    “Why the SNP fraud allegations matter

    A common refrain from opponents of the Scottish National party is that ‘the SNP is not Scotland’. But it often seems they haven’t got the message, especially when Nationalist activists take it on themselves to stand guard on the border against the plague-ridden English.

    This week, the people who may really wish they’d done more to police the borders between themselves and the SNP are none other than grassroots separatists in the ‘Yes movement’.

    If you missed this story, the long and short of it is that a few years ago the SNP went on a fundraising drive. They secured hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations on the basis that the cash would go into a ring-fenced fighting fund to wage the next independence referendum.

    Cut to today and there is no sign of any such fund in the SNP’s accounts. The party is alleged to have spent it on other things, including office costs. Several of the party’s financial officers have previously resigned after the party allegedly refused to give them access to the books. Police Scotland are investigating fraud allegations. The SNP reject any claims that donations earmarked for a second independence referendum campaign were spent on legal fees and refurbishing the party’s headquarters, and disputed that financial officers were unable to access the information they needed.

    Those who accuse Sturgeon of pursuing ‘independence at all costs’ give the party too much credit

    This story is dangerous for the Scottish government though. Not just because of the potential prospect of criminal charges, but because it exposes the fundamental tension between the SNP as an institution and Scottish nationalism as a movement.

    Whilst the former has always been, and for now remains, the best vehicle for the hopes of the latter, the party nonetheless has its own institutional incentives — and they don’t always point towards independence.

    By securing a stranglehold on power in Edinburgh, it generates salaries, sinecures, and status for a huge number of SNP politicians and staffers, as well as granting huge influence over ‘civic Scotland’ that creates even more opportunities for power and spoils. They are understandably unwilling to jeopardise this.

    Those who accuse Sturgeon et al of pursuing ‘independence at all costs’ therefore give the party too much credit. The SNP might prioritise the breaking-up of the United Kingdom ahead of school performance or NHS waiting times — but not of keeping hold of power and its comforts.

    If the party really has sunk the referendum fund on shiny new offices, it would symbolise these priorities perfectly.

    However, the SNP owes its hegemonic position in Scottish politics in part to having effectively transformed the 2014 ‘Yes’ movement into electoral support, and since then Sturgeon has worked hard to hold her coalition together with the promise that a second vote is always just over the next horizon.

    Whilst Alex Salmond and his ‘Alba party’ didn’t manage to carve off the hardcore separatist vote as he might have hoped, the revelation that the SNP leadership really don’t think a referendum is likely anytime soon could dislodge more of their voters, as well as accelerating the conflict inside the party. It is telling that the complaints about the missing fund have come from other Nationalists.

    Sturgeon and other senior SNP members undoubtedly want independence. But if they conclude they can’t win it, one can see them settling for a future in which they are simply the party of government in devolved Scotland: manufacturing grievances, deflecting blame, spending fiscal transfers, and distributing spoils.

    There are much less comfortable forms of failure — just ask the Catalans. The true believers amongst the separatist grassroots, which presumably still includes plenty of SNP activists, would happily hazard them for one more doomed charge. Their party evidently will not.

    The question is, what happens when Sturgeon can no longer string her activists on? Can the SNP effect a pivot to becoming a Fianna Fáil-style machine party if the movement on which it has built its success schisms? And will the First Minister, who by the next Holyrood election will have been in post over a decade, really fancy fighting those battles if she isn’t going to deliver independence?”

  45. Vote Labour. We are the party of traditional pervert values.

    More than 700 child abuse victims in the care of a notorious

    hard-Left council were ‘pawns in a toxic power game’ local leaders were

    having with Margaret Thatcher’s Government in the 1980s, a damning

    inquiry has found. Frequent and vicious abuse by paedophiles was allowed

    to go on while the leaders of Lambeth Council in South London were more

    focused on opposing the ruling Conservatives – with the children

    treated as ‘worthless’, it said. While nationally-known Labour leaders

    such as Ted Knight (left) and Linda Bellos (centre) postured against the

    Government and condemned racism, social workers treated children with

    ‘callous disregard’ and allowed paedophiles free rein. Between 1986 and

    1988 the council’s leader was gay rights and anti-racism activist Miss

    Bellos, 70, who now runs an equality consultancy. The radical feminist

    succeeded Mr Knight, who died aged 86 in March last year. The report

    released yesterday said Lambeth Council was dominated by ‘politicised

    behaviour and turmoil’ during the 1980s and that the authority sought to

    ‘take on the Government’ to the detriment of local services. Joan

    Twelves (right) was Lambeth Council’s leader from 1989 to 1991. The

    inquiry into Lambeth Council, held in the summer of 2020, examined five

    facilities – Angell Road, South Vale Assessment Centre, the Shirley Oaks

    complex (bottom right), Ivy House and Monkton Street – dating back to

    the 1960s.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9834029/Far-left-firebrands-led-Lambeth-Council-time-child-abuse-scandal.html

        1. And more arrive by dinghy every month – helped by the RNLI – wonder what they would think if one of their relatives became a victim of those they saved?

    2. A lot of nasty things going on from lefties back in those days. Here is an article detailing PeterTatchell’s endorsement of a pro-paedophilia book, and his desperate attempts to backtrack:-
      Peter Tatchell: Children have sexual desires at an early age
      The prominent gay rights campaigner contributed to and wrote a review of an anthology he later disowned as a ‘pro-paedophilia’ book
      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/07/27/peter-tatchell-children-have-sexual-desires-early-age/

      Peter Tatchell has argued that “children have sexual desires at an early age” as he praised the “courage” of those selling what he later described as a “pro-paedophilia” book, The Telegraph can reveal.

      In a review of a 1986 collection of essays compiled by Warren Middleton, former vice-chairman of the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), Mr Tatchell, a gay rights campaigner, said that children should be “educated” so that they can decide when they want to have sex.

      Mr Tatchell had even written a chapter for Middleton’s anthology – Radical perspectives on Childhood Sexuality, Intergenerational Sex, and the Social Oppression of Children and Young People – but has since attempted to distance himself, claiming that he was “conned” into contributing to “that vile book”.

      2. Were Harriet Harman and Patricia Hewitt tricked into seeming to support the PIE confusing it with the PLO as many of the latter possibly used the ideas of the former as lifestyle guidance?

      1. 335951+ up ticks,
        G,
        Is that a riddle wrapped in a tortilla with sexual connotations ?

    2. I suspect most of the everyday indigenous people in this country could prove that their own lying government are acting against their interests.

      As they have arrived from a safe country, which they all have done If the arrivals are screened on arrival it would be quite legitimate to turn them back immediately.

    3. Well I recommend every one to watch this it’s no good being in denial about any of what she says. The ongoing facts speak for themselves.

      1. 335951+ up ticks,
        Afternoon RE,
        Thanks for supporting the post, Gerard Batten was also
        a renowned truthsayer not least of all on the dangers of islamic ideology, rhetorically & in book form.

        Rebuilding a credible party whos success could NOT be tolerated by such as the party’s own nec & farage hence treachery was triggered.

      1. 335951+ up ticks
        Evening BOC via Bob,
        The very same peoples that disagree with her would also disagree with Gerard Batten
        yet another far right racist, and his successful run rebuilding UKIP he & party could NOT be allowed to continue, treachery dictated so.

        The likes of Batten,Waters etc,etc,they are far right as in being SO far right.

        1. But in reality, are they so “Far Right” or has the Political Stage moved so far to the Left that once ideas and policies once part of the mainstream are now left isolated on what appears to be The Right?

    1. I wonder if they’ll take them down when the garçons en bleu slap €45,000 fines on them….

    2. Shirley the wolf-whistles these two harridan viragos heard were directed elsewhere?

      The one on the left resembles an apprentice toothless bearded hag [©Michael Philip Jagger].

      1. If ‘Jumping Jack’ saw either of these harridans, he’d be off in a flash!

    3. I’ve always favoured the ‘freedom from’ approach to life. You should be ‘free from’ other people’s behaviour rather than you have the freedom to behave as you like. That places the onus on personal responsibility rather than authoritarian control.

    4. Stop moaning and stop making silly things up. Go to Rochdale and other places in the UK if you really feel this way, whistling is harmless, the things that took place in these and many other towns in the UK was not harmless but treated as such by our weak and pathetic questionable authorities.

    5. Looking at their plain & sad faces I’m surprised that they get wolf whistled & not booed & hissed ! Still there is no accounting for bad taste in Brighton where the LGBTQ Coastal HQ is located.

    6. It may be that they don’t really get whistled at, Belle, they are jealous of others. And therefore want it stopoed.

    8. Should not wolf-whistling be made illegal too? After all, it’s an implicit suggestion that the female involved is unattractive and thus ‘hurtful’.

    9. Ah, Brighton, that explains it! Mind you, I’m surprised wolf whistling at women is a problem there?

  50. 335951+ up ticks,
    Have the governance party lab/lib/con coalition asked their supporter / voters for voluntary funding for a reverse Dunkirk in an anti UK keep treachery coming campaign yet ?

    The coalition aiding & abetting trouble to escape from a place of freedom.

    English Channel Crisis: 2,000 Migrants Gather on the Beaches of France

    2. Good afternoon, Hatman.

      What does the sign on yellow frontage of the shop on the right mean?

      3. Ebpocetb is big chain of mobile phone shops. Who knows what it would translate into, that needs a Russian speaker.

    3. Have to say that ‘Russian Peasants’ look a lot different to when I was there in 1991!

        1. Visiting the in-laws for the first time. They spoke no English and my knowledge of Russian (about six words) didn’t make for great conversation!

          1. I once worked with an American from the the US Naval Research Lab, who travelled the world. He claimed he could speak 50+ languages. When pressed, he admitted he only knew the phrase “Please direct me to the nearest bar”. I should point out that US navy ships are ‘dry’.

          1. Not the silicon inflated half melons !!! And when the lips are done as well – – -uuuuuuuuuuurgh.

  53. The DT reporting that Electric cars could cause blackouts if drivers don’t charge them at night. No wonder the government is determined to have power [no pun] over the National Grid. The Government’s Climate policy is a disastrous fo lly.

    1. There goes your off peak electricity discount.
      Plug a few million cars in and they will be charging extra.

          1. I like your style.

            Just looked from you to me (no chuckling at the back). If you started walking now you could be with me in 43 hours.

  55. And the rain has started.
    Lots of thunder round Ashbourne area, none here yet.

      1. Well, that puts paid to your concreting today, BoB. Take a well-deserved break and put your feet up, my man!

          1. I meant for you to go indoors to put your feet up, BoB, I would hate you to get wet in the rain.

            :-))

    1. I suppose COVID test swabs have to traverse the Metropolitan and Central lines.

  59. Illinois just passed a law to provide infertility treatments for same sex couples. I wonder what their success rate will be when treating two men, no matter what they call themselves.

    Yes, Illinois is democrat!

    2. Public Health England wants us to start collecting details of people sexual partners in the three months prior to coming to clinic and record them as same sex or opposite sex. It isn’t clear whether they mean anatomically or by self identity (I know. I am trying to hold my opinions in check)

      Trouble is, if you have someone identifying as bi-gender or pan-gender what is its opposite sex??

      Questions have been asked, answers were there none.

      2. “…what is their opposite sex?” Depends on the day of the week, I shouldn’t wonder.

        1. My son attended one year of school in the UK to get GCSEs. There were five trans people in the class, and one of them decided each day whether to identify as male or female (I’m not making this up).
          During the year, an English teacher was sacked for not going along with the nonsense. After that, the class had no English teacher, and most of them failed English GCSE.

          1. What happened on physical education ?? did they shower with whichever they decided on a particular day?

    3. Public Health England wants us to start collecting details of people sexual partners in the three months prior to coming to clinic and record them as same sex or opposite sex. It isn’t clear whether they mean anatomically or by self identity (I know. I am trying to hold my opinions in check)

      Trouble is, if you have someone identifying as bi-gender or pan-gender what is its opposite sex??

      Questions have been asked, answers were there none.

    1. Bollocks of load a what.

      [Rearrange the words into some form of sentence that even a mincing southern poofter would understand]

  61. The Daily Human Stupidity.

    “There is nothing more annoying than somebody who is really thick but who believes with absolute conviction that he is more intelligent than you.”

    Karl Wiggins.

    1. “Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.” ― Mark Twain

      1. Nipped to the little shop earlier – irate man outside clearly “discussing” the deaths of xx amount of people dying within 28 days of a positive test. The irate man was shouting that they “all died of Covid” – no the line does NOT say what they died of – it is a cleverly worded con, came the reply. – -show me where it says they died of covid and i’ll give you a grand – – the man’s money was safe. Still at it as I drove off.

  62. I have just skimmed through the latest “Oldie” which arrived half an hour ago.

    I thought there was something more than usually agreeable about it. Then the penny dropped.

    Not a single bame to be seen anywhere.

    1. Can you imagine the carbon footprint of covid ??? millions of people making cups of tea during the constant lectures.

  65. 335951+ up ticks,
    Now the sure to follow cut in peoples funding is truthfully explained by the decent indigenous who see, on a daily basis, the rnli actively aiding & abetting the countries political overseers install their repress,reset,replace campaign.

    In short decent indigenous peoples are PIG sick & pissed of with the likes of funding what they consider to be treacherous failures as in the
    media, bbc, lab/lib/con politico’s / parties joined now by the RNLi.

    https://twitter.com/DavidPoulden/status/1420364329765982209

    1. These are people deliberately putting their lives to reach the Promised Land. Why doesn’t the RNLI return them to France where they would be safe?

    2. Would they be proud if/when the “saved” go on to commit murder or rape nere to ensure they cannot be deported??? which then gets their whole family here to freeload as well?

      2. 335951+ up ticks,
        Afternoon W,
        I put them in the same category as those that support / vote for mass uncontrolled immigration parties after these party’s involvement in rotherham,rochdale etc,etc
        and the JAY revealment,the attitude seemingly is ” not my child” other side of town, out of sight out of mind when voting,three monkeys rule OK.

        The RNLI is working in collusion with the political overseers and the political overseers are certainly NOT
        working for the benefit of the indigenous peoples.

      1. They don’t stink as bad as they used to but i put that down to more ventilation than soap.

  67. Mark Galeotti
    Why Joe Biden’s Russia-bashing is a tactical mistake
    28 July 2021, 12:28pm

    You might not think that Geoff Norcott, the self-proclaimed conservative comedian, has something to contribute to western relations with Russia, but you’d be wrong. And it’s a shame that President Biden doesn’t seem to have read Where Did I Go Right? (Norcott’s account of his estrangement from his leftist roots), because time and time again, he illuminates the way that progressives’ enthusiasm for demonising their opponents only entrenches them.

    Take Remainers characterising Brexiteers as racist xenophobes or gullible victims of obvious lies or Hillary Clinton’s claim that half of Donald Trump’s supporters were ‘deplorables… racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic – you name it’? Neither example won many friends across the aisle.

    It seems to apply especially to rhetoric about Russia. In public remarks at the National Counterterrorism Centre on Tuesday, Biden described the country as having ‘an economy that has nuclear weapons and oil wells and nothing else. Nothing else.’ In this, he was echoing his predecessor President Obama’s comments in 2016 that Russia’s ‘economy doesn’t produce anything that anybody wants to buy, except oil and gas and arms.’

    Neither of these statements is really true, of course, but it will annoy the Russians. Considering everything the Kremlin has done, this may not seem to be a particularly salient concern. But it should be.

    First of all, it’s bad analysis. Presumably Biden, aware of the continued anti-Russian sentiment in his Democratic party and concerns about his recent decision to acquiesce to the completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, wanted to throw his base some red meat.

    However, if he actually believes this, then perhaps it is unsurprising that the Kremlin has so often managed to outmanoeuvre the world’s last ostensible superpower. While Russia is still over-dependent on hydrocarbons, its service sector actually accounts for the largest share of its GDP, and there are all kinds of bright spots, including software and IT (it’s not all hackers and ransomware).

    Even in military terms, Russia has demonstrated its capacity to project its forces into Syria against everyone’s expectations, and it has sustained that commitment. While the conflict there has not been won for Damascus yet, the imminent likelihood of it being lost has passed. More to the point, Moscow has as a result affirmed that it is again a serious player in the Middle East – and one willing and able to act in defiance of Washington’s wishes.

    This is all well known to the USA government’s extensive, well-funded and highly expert intelligence analysts. But the problem – and this applies as much to Russia as to America – is in getting that expertise into policy. A single compelling soundbite, a media-savvy lobbying campaign, a well-connected think tank with an axe to grind: if these come to dominate the public conversation, the debates in Congress and the White House orthodoxy, then they can be more influential than any wonkish position paper.

    Besides it’s bad policy. Analysis of Kremlin actions based on interests is all very well, but especially within authoritarian systems it’s the attitudes of the boss and his cronies that really matter. Psychology is one of the under-rated components of geopolitics.

    When dealing with a 68-year-old President Putin, clearly consumed by thoughts of his legacy and surrounded by like-minded old men bitterly regretting the loss of Russia’s superpower status, belittling them is perhaps not the best way to get them to play nice.

    It also alienates ordinary Russians. Many instinctively mistrust the toxic propaganda of the government. But even if they are no fans of the regime, they are patriots. Understandably, they react badly to Russia-bashing from western politicians looking for a quick headline.

    If anything, this is actually creating a backlash, a sense that if the West insists on considering all Russians thuggish barbarians – vodka bottle in one hand, Kalashnikov in the other, out to hack, poison, invade and cheat at every opportunity – then that’s what they’ll be. Think of it as the ‘Millwall syndrome,’ after the football club’s fans defiantly adopted the chant ‘No one likes us, we don’t care!’

    It’s not that Russia ought to be given a pass – far from it. When the Kremlin demonstrates aggression or perfidy, this needs to be called out. But over-heated rhetoric encourages woolly-thinking at home, and a backlash in Russia. By all means let us make sure we carry a big stick – then we can also speak softly.

    Mark Galeotti is the author of We Need to Talk About Putin and A Short History of Russia

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-joe-biden-s-russia-bashing-is-a-tactical-mistake

  69. Copied for RE.

    I have just this minute had a reply from my Local MP regarding my email about immigration and housing.
    he tells me …..As follows……

    The united kingdom has a proud record of helping those fleeing persecution, oppression or tyranny from around the world.

    A key objective of the Nationalities and Borders bill is to deter and prevent illegal entry into our country. By cracking down on illegal immigration we can prioritise those in genuine need. This will help prevent people making dangerous and unnecessary journeys to the UK through the potentially fatal means in small boats or aeroplanes for example. It also aims to halt the business model of criminal trafficking networks and protect those who are in danger of being trafficked.

    The government plan to increase the number of homes will combat the housing shortage.
    Home ownership is one of the most fundamental Conservative values; people are happier, more secure and more rooted in their communities when they own their own home – and know that they can pass it on to future generations, affordable housing helps people fulfill their dream of homeownership, reduce high rents in the private rented sector and prevent those struggling from being homeless.
    Yours sincerely..

    Really ???

    My original…..I think he left a few of the fundamentals untouched.

    Dear Right Honourable Bim Afolomi MP

    Thank you for your previous communication.

    Would it be at all possible for the current government to please explain to the general public why there have been many, many thousands of illegal migrants allowed to land in the UK. I would imagine as genuine migrants might have, none of them have ever submitted one known application for legal residency or have no known way of self support what so ever between any the ten thousand plus arrivals. They have no verifiable Identity, only verbal explanations of where they have come from and what they might offer the country for the privilege of getting on the free housing ladder and their feet under the benefits tables. And British tax payers (as you know there is no such thing as government money) like the many Brits who have had their earnings severely cut and are expected with out any consultation whatsoever to support the illegal arrivals. This will cost the British tax payers well above10 million pounds per year. Remembering your election promises, the Conservative party promised to stop all illegal migrants from entering the country and promised to return them to their countries of origin. The EU *Schengen agreement was arrived at to make sure the migrants stayed with in the EU borders or of the country they landed in. The only people who are benefitting from this debacle are UK ‘human rights’ lawyers filling their bank accounts and now weighing down the many band wagons with the lucrative fake support, only to take advantage of the British tax payer funding them selves by the back door. It has to stop Minister and most people expected it never to continue under the conservative government. The ‘lump under the proverbial carpet’ is certainly beginning to cause many, many future problems certainly stopping the exit door from opening.

    And of course there is the added and much discussed Carbon emissions problem, as people move from warmer climates to parts of northern Europe, their carbon footprints would immediately exceed all and any previous expectations. Adding to the know daily well publicised problems we all ready have in the UK. Building more homes on green belt and ‘brown field’ sites destroying long established wild life habitat will never be the answer, but only the continuing long term problem. As you will notice from the recent and ongoing construction of even more dwellings in the centre of Wheathampstead. WHY ? On going Corporate greed is the only satisfaction gained by this continuous form of over construction from (Pilling in this case) ground works up to the roof tiling, as you probably well know, it is one of the least carbon friendly activities on the planet. Electric vehicles by 2050 cutting off gas supplies in 2030 and expensive over rated ground source heat are not the answer, I think you people in government already know this. For the survival of the human race this migration and building boom has to stop. The British isles has to focus on realty and become self sufficient.

    Buying in cattle from Australia is not the answer it is and established fact the the Chinese have fallen out with the previous Australian cattle suppliers and have now been allowed to clear millions of acres of south American rain forest in order to increase their supplies of cheap beef. How does this help the planet ???

    Thanking you in anticipation and eagerly awaiting your explanation.

    Me

    Now a very disappointed hovering conservative voter, like many other people I know.

    *An intergovernmental agreement on the relaxation of border controls between participating European countries, first signed in Schengen, Luxembourg, in June 1985 by France, West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. A revised version of the agreement was incorporated into the European Union in 1999 and widened to include non-EU members of a similar Nordic union.

    Foot note;- Are we really paying millions to the french government ? They are stealing the lively hoods of our fishing families. And do you know if they ever paid the fine when they set up a self imposed ban on banned the
    Import of British beef after the all clear from BSE ?

    1. Typical wazzock MP – just spouts what Central Office pumps out.

      These wanqueurs NEVER read what a constituent says. Never.

    2. Reply again to him in PIDGIN English ..

      Say to him , Hey , you no listen to my letter , bruvver.

      Hey, all dem houses built on dem green fields , whadya goin to eat when dem chickens have nowhere to to get der corn from.

      1. I’ve met him a couple of times, he’s a decent sort of bloke TB and he is well educated. I think he’s just got in with the wrong bunch. I would imagine as the old saying goes in House of cards Francis Urquhart “Everyone has their price Mattie” See my reply to Ogga.
        I have a friend locally whose daughter in law works in one of MPs offices at Westmonster, he wont tell me who she works for, but he told me her boss hardly ever writes his own letters, or even speeches.

        1. It doesn’t matter how nice he is , he isn’t connecting with his constituents , nor is he concerned about their worries .. he is not English . He has no idea how passionately we feel about our country, and what our parents fought for .

          None of them are decent , they wear their Portcullis badge as if it is something from a different planet .. These people are similar to the much hated Klingons ..

          I assumed BREXIT was going to be the start of our own Federation , warding off all incomers who mean trouble and ill will towards us.

          Bah to all that .

          1. I understand what you mean, I believe his mother might be English, i know his wife is and his kids are light skinned.
            The Tories tried to shoe horn him in in a London constituency a few years ago but Peter Lilley resigned they took the opportunity to plant him into a very safe seat, he initially lost quite a lot of tory support at elections. Unfortunately it seems to have resulted in the Limps taking St Albans. Another fine mess, they have started charging us to have our green waste collected.
            But i am afraid we will be the last generation that will have known what is was like to have had parents dedicated to re-storing the towns and cities after the germans wrecked most of the country.
            After Thatcher, and the useless Heseltine puppet Major, Blair purposely set out and did more underlying damage to the UK than hitler. Cameron and Mayhem carried on with it. Boris has found another way to do more damage this time with hand waving. They all come from the same mould. Enjoy what we have left of our lives and that’s it. It’s a crying shame TB but there is not much we can do about it. Everything is stacked up against us. We have three sons and their wives children and partners we love them all to bits, still awaiting the third marriage, all have good secure and well paid jobs. We owe nothing to any one. What more could we ask for ??
            I guess it was one of the points he made, but this island is too small for all the constant building but he avoided my point about carbon foot prints, which can not be denied. The migrants all come from far larger places than here and like the young lady from Hartlepool said in her video and I’ve been saying for years they should put their own houses in order. But they are far too lazy and see coming here as an opportunity not to be missed. I hate what is happening to my country.
            I think brexit was a blind they went along with it for the time being, but when ‘we’ are all out of the way there will be another vote and that will be the end of Britain. I believe it will become an off shore holding place for the people the EU need. They can’t wait to rub our noses in everything they want to.

          3. It doesn’t always work out Bill but one hopes and as a life long Tottenham (interest fading) supporter and a staunch pessimist I am seldom disappointed.

          4. Ah – my late boy felt the same. “Next season, just you wait and see” was his annual comment!!

  70. And remember, kids, if at first you don’t succeed then sky-diving is probably not for you.

  71. Pfizer make the smoking cessation drug Champix. They have stopped making it. There is a worldwide shortage. I am now smoking again.

    Probably more money in bogus vaccines.

      1. I don’t like gum. I do have an alternative drug that is commonly used across Europe. Not here though because Pfizer had the market sewn up.

        Trouble with this one is it make me throw up.

        2. Whats the attraction? Nicotine, or all the action with hands and so on?
          Maybe you could try chewing baccy if its the nicotine you need.

          1. I might try that next year. I’ve only been smoking for 64 years so i’m OK for a while longer.

          2. I have a vape which has nicotine which is better than all the carp you get in cigarettes.

          3. I smoked cigars for a while, mid 90’s. It started one evening in Roermond, I had just come back to the hotel from the works, shower, nice dinner, and sitting outside a bar with a beer, a cigar seemed the right thing. Asked the barman what did he have, and he said “Fat one? Thin one? Short? Long?” ( He maybe could supply girls with the same response), so I had a medium-sized one. Perfect! And, about 2 1/2 years later, just lost the taste for them.

          7. Indeed.
            Plus stained teeth… but no clouds of smoke that can drive mosquitoes away!

        1. Around 50 years ago I looked at my packet of Embassy with about 15 left inside. And said to my self I don’t need this any more, chucked them on the open fire. Never touched one since.

    4. That is what I used much, no very much, to my surprise it was easy with no craving or urges at all. It has been over 10 years now without a smoke.
      I would suggest a trawl of the interwebby or do a heist on the very last stock of Champix in the country. No doubt you can obtain machetes, knives and sawn off shotguns from your friendly Methodist in Khan country.

      1. I’m about to start cytisine. Brand name of Tabex. that really does make me feel ill/weird but if it works……

  72. And, after a short period of lovely sunshine, we’ve just had a 2nd thunderstorm pass over.

  73. This is what this area is going to have to put up with over the next five days or so .. the upheaval on our little roads coupled with tourists for the beaches etc is going to be a great bit of palavar.

    Look at the price of the tickets, who said this country is broke?
    https://www.campbestival.net/tickets/buy-tickets

    https://twitter.com/CampBestival

    I hope the noise at night won’t be too heavy , but the traffic will be hell.

    All supermarket shelves are well, you know quite bare .. Complicated by staycation tourists , locals and people travelling down from other areas, like they did in the 1st lock down , to stock up on food and loo rolls.

    Hey ho , and my goodness the wind is so strong , really strong and clean ,

    4. Hey ho TB,
      Time for a rant: an adult ticket for Camp Bestival costs £230, but deduct VAT and that would be about £191.66 for the organisers. That includes 4 nights camping and 3 full days of music and entertainment, about 36 hours. AFAIK parking, lavatories and security are included, with smarter facilities available if you wish to spend more £££. Deduct £40 for the right to camp, and the (mainly) live music works out at around £4.21 per hour.
      The youngsters who have a good time are statistically likely to return to Dorset as tourists when they are older.
      Bestival offers short term employment to local youths, and opportunities for catering firms and assorted hippies.
      Rob da Bank hails from somewhere like Warsash or Netley, and he is a family man.

  74. OT – my 14 year old grand-daughter has mailed me to report on baby-sitting (for three very young cousins)

    “It was really nice but utterly exhausting, the children just don’t run out of energy!”

    That made me smile…and remember!

  75. Everything is so screwed up that I have a sneaking suspicion that these two DT reports are connected

    Coronavirus latest news: Government could have replaced isolation with tests from January, says Oxford’s Sir John Bell

    Astronomers see back of a black hole for first time, proving Albert Einstein was right

      3. Because it is emitting light. You can figure out if that is rude or not!

    1. ““This Olympic Games, I wanted it to be for myself but I came in and I felt like I was still doing it for other people. It hurts my heart that doing what I love has been kind of taken away from me to please other people.”

      Oh, how sad.

    2. I wonder if all the hand-wringing is to take all the publicity from the winners.

    3. Biles accepted a silver medal for the team placement, she then told the team that she was dropping out. “Having cake and eating it” comes to mind. The US team management are expressing great sympathy for her. A competent and strong leadership would have set her home immediately and drafted in a replacement.

  78. I am off – the brilliant sun is shining right into the office – so I’ll be force to have a glass to clear my head.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain (market day).

        1. Who? Me?

          I may be stupid but i still have my FilmStar looks. (Bela Lugosi in character).

  79. Bloody damn bugger and blast… !

    Put my Waitrose order in as usual and forgot the effing road is closed !

    Too late to amend or cancel.

  80. It’s all about communication.
    About a fortnight ago, MB reacted badly to a pill change. The pharmacist was very helpful; he advised MB to see the GP and promised to ring in a couple of days to see how MB got on. Pharmacist did exactly as promised. Pharmacists have come out of this farrago with their reputations enhanced.
    Meanwhile, MB nipped to the surgery and had to be very firm with the receptionist who, with bad grace, finally arranged for a GP to ring MB at home.
    This eventually happened, but the GP seemed obsessed with Covid rather than heart conditions. Anyway, MB was given permission to revert to the medication that had suited him.
    Today, he had an appointment with his cardiac nurse. Nobody had bothered to inform her that MB had been poorly and she only knew something had been wrong from his blood test results. They have now had a chat and CN has her own records.
    MB and I have some knowledge and can be very firm; in these situations, how does anyone less confident fare?

    1. They don’t.

      Pharmacists have been brilliant and shamed the majority of GP’s.

      About time we let them prescribe.

      I am under two Consultants and have spoken on the phone to at least 8 different Doctors and they have all had full view of my medical records even though i opted out of NHS digital records for sale to the highest bidder.

      Hope it all works out well for him. He should purchase a huge bouquet of flowers for the next time he goes to the surgery and smile widely at the Dragon. When she smiles back just say…’ I just wanted you to know i have bought these for my wife and what do you think?’

    2. Very similar to my experiences in hospital. If I ever have to go in again, I shall be much more vigilant.

      1. It is such basic communication. FGS, they have computers, emails, phones, letters ….. aaarrrggghhhhh …….
        What notes – if any – are they making?

      1. I have to admit that – at my most optimistic – I thought he had ‘plateaued’. I wasn’t always that optimistic.

    4. Got a letter asking me to phone the surgery – to make a telephone appt – for at least two weeks ahead. I haven’t bothered. Those at Dover have ambulances, crews etc WAITING for them as they land. and they haven’t paid a penny in. Govt priorities?

        1. God knows – they only have to bring up my records – just like a normal appt.
          Had a good conversation earlier when hospital phoned about further checks from being took in recently. She ended up admitting the continued importation of NHS using, non paying immigrants taking up multiple appt times through translators was causing havoc and cost problems.

    5. I challenged my GP’s treatment of me by reporting my adverse reaction (AR) to the MHRA.
      They told me that he had declined to respond to them about my AR report.
      He told me that that was the end of our doctor/patient relationship.
      After that I found that consulting with the pharmacist about my presciptions was an important step in confirming any doubts I had about the appropriateness of a doctor’s choice of drugs.

      The pharmacist did say that a particular prescription change by a cardiology registrar was questionable particlarly as it involved a change in drug class and moreover it was not based on any medical test.
      I found that being registered on the systm1 health database I had been granted permission to reverse the presciption on my computer. I reverted the prescription and have been on it ever since with no comebacks.

  81. After the storm and rain drove me inside I’ve spent some time looking at what’s happening across the pond. There is a concerted effort to get people jabbed asap. In NY there’s some hyperbolic bollocks about forcing people into cars, driving them to the jabberwocky centre and getting the needle into as many arms as possible. In addition, there are quite a few mentions of mandating the jab.

    This escalation appears in the US, some European states and the UK. Why now, one should ask? Alongside the rush to get the jab into people asap is the news that double jabbed people are falling ill and a number are dying. Are these events related?

    Is the jab causing problems? If so, are the PTB having a panic attack because the effect, ADE, is appearing too early? Something has to be driving the sudden rush for all to be jabbed across a number of countries. This co-ordinated push raises suspicions that something is not going quite to plan. Cue a ‘raging’ Johnson in the UK as an example.

    1. The Land of the Free is rather good a jabbing instruments into people.
      For many years, lobotomies were a cure-all for any ailment above the neck.

    2. I think it’s likely to be that they fear people will rebel at another round of lockdowns in the autumn, so they want to get vaxx passes in place, which can clearly only be done when a large majority is vaxxed.
      Even the most unsuspicious sheep are likely to start getting angry if they’ve been jabbed and don’t get a reward for it.

        3. You’ll need the booster soon for your vax pass…. then another in six months time. Then, like all drug pushers, they will be demanding that for it.

    3. They want to be able to say the jabs worked and saw off the pandemic – when in actual fact it’s dying away naturally.

      1. If the reduction in immunity is actually a thing, then other illnesses may well kick up later.

        1. Many independent scientists/doctors are very concerned that the ‘spike protein’s’ actions will overwhelm the body’s natural immune system. Doesn’t sound a good idea to a lay person like me. The experts within the government seem to be OK with that. Let’s wait and see.

      2. From what I’ve been reading the “Delta” variant, whatever that is, is causing concern. As for dying out it’s likely the original infection died out last Summer and the fear was kept alive by misattribution of influenza last Winter. Added fuel to that idea is the CDC’s scrapping of PCR testing as they now admit it cannot discriminate between SARS-02 and influenza. The ‘gold standard’ test has been found to be based on iron pyrites.

    4. They seem to want to get this done before the end of September, I have seen 28 September mentioned. The desperation is now palpable – Gove hurling insults – insults never persuade people to do anything they don’t want to do, but what it will do is encourage division in the country so that we do not come together as a united front.

      1. Before the incoming respiratory disease season? Fears of ADE in those with the potion with little or no “infection” in the control group i.e. those who have declined the potion is a possible driver for their panic.

        Here’s a worrying interview.

        Stew Peters talks to ex-Pfizer employee

        1. Thank you – I’ll watch it later today. I agree about the ADE, it is very, very concerning, but I feel there may be something else panicking them as well. Trump? The complete exposure of the election fraud?

          I know you’ve not had the injection, Korky, but this may help others:

          Here’s what I have gleaned from the internet to assist over winter (for anyone, injected or otherwise) but please, anyone interested, do your own research first using the list below as a guide, I have to be careful with supplements, for instance Vit B6 makes me feel much worse.

          Vit D – reports of people taking up to 15,000 IU daily! – we shall be increasing our daily dose of 1,500 to 4,000 over the winter months.
          Vit C + zinc
          Quercetin 500 mgms (Quercetin is a substance found in apple skins, said to have a similar action to HCL – Hydroxychloroqin. You can make your own HCL – it involves the peel of organic grapefruit and lemons simmered in water for three hours – instructions can be found on the web).

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

          For those who have had the injection:

          NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine) – this seems to be a wonder supplement, a remedy for all sorts of problems – the US FDA is getting it removed from shelves and wants it re-classified as a drug…. I wonder why??) – it is said to remove the poisons of the injection from the blood. It has been around for years and years in health good shops, it is not something new.

          Niacin – especially Flush Niacin, taken with NAC is said to be amazing…! However. I would take care with Flush Niacin as it expands the blood capillaries, thus I suppose allowing the NAC to do its job well. But Niacin without the flush effect got a good write up.

          Pine Needle tea – contains suramin. Antidote to toxins in the injection. Buy online.

          Dandelion leaf tea – purifies the blood, liver and kidneys. Buy online, or make your own….!

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

          I cannot stress sufficiently that anyone interested should do their own research on the web, the above list is simply something to go on. Another course of action would be to take the list to a herbalist or naturopath and take things from there.

          This man on Twitter seems to know his stuff. Worth a look.
          Dmitry Kats
          https://twitter.com/nia3in

  82. Just been mentioned on beeb radio news about lifeboatmen being abused on social media for rescuing the migrants.

    1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-57999224

      The head of the RNLI has defended lifeboat crews who help rescue migrants at sea, after it emerged some were being heckled by the public.

      The charity’s chief executive Mark Dowie spoke out as record numbers of migrants cross the English Channel.

      He said he recognised the migrant crisis was a “polarising issue”, but lifeboat crews carry out “humanitarian work of the highest order”.

      The Home Office said the RNLI carried out “vital work” protecting lives.

      Rescue teams which are called into the Channel from Kent and Sussex have told the BBC they are faced with desperate situations, including “terrified” and suffering children.

      Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) chief executive Mark Dowie at the RNLI College in Poole, Dorset.
      IMAGE COPYRIGHTPA MEDIA
      image captionRoyal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) chief executive Mark Dowie at the RNLI College in Poole, Dorset.
      Mr Dowie said: “All decent people will see this as humanitarian work of the highest order.

      “Our crews should not have to put up with some of the abuse they received.”

      A London RNLI crew hit out on social media at the weekend after volunteers were verbally assaulted.

      Another volunteer, who did not wish to be named, said on one occasion when bringing rescued migrants ashore his team were confronted with an “angry mob” who shouted “go back to France”.

      “It’s one of the most upsetting things I’ve ever seen,” the crew member said.

      “I can’t imagine what those families felt like, coming ashore to that after the night they’d had.”

      A dinghy full of migrants being rescued by the RNLI in the English Channel.
      IMAGE COPYRIGHTRNLI
      image captionA dinghy full of migrants being rescued by the RNLI in the English Channel
      Another lifeboat volunteer said beachgoers once hurled abuse at a group of rescued migrant women and children, and “some drunken yob threw a beer can at them”.

      Mr Dowie said RNLI volunteers simply wanted to prevent people dying at sea.

      He said: “Our volunteers get out of bed in the middle of the night, leave their employment, leave their families, and go out and do this because they believe in doing the right thing.”

      He said it was a “very frightening environment”.

      The migrants’ dinghies are often overloaded and inadequate for such a “perilous” journey, and people suffer exposure, dehydration, sunstroke and sea sickness, he added.

      The frightening thing for us are the boat loads of virile fit , well clothed and equipped single Muslim men .

      1. “Rescue them” – from something they decided to do themselves?? – – so we are saving idiots??? – who are supposed to be intelligent doctors surgeons etc? They are going to be nothing but a dangerous financial burden on the rest of us. For as long as they live. Thank God i am old

          1. And our homeless are where? I honestly wonder about the intelligence of those who want open borders to accept ANY amount. Can’t they see that 2 continents CANNOT pile into one island and expect the islanders to pay for them, house them, treat them etc etc, while those coming sit and laugh. I think the people on here are the last few with any common sense.

          2. I have always said that we can have the welfare state we have OR we can have unlimited immigration. We can NOT have both.

          3. Notable that if you suggest those demanding open borders pay for them they immediately complain that it is a ‘human right’ and we should all pay. When you ask ‘why’ they don’t really know.

            At that point they usually become vicious and violent as reality intrudes on their mindset. However, I remain sure the state is forcing this invasion of criminals as deliberate malice revenge for brexit.

      3. “Our crews should not have to put up with some of the abuse they received.”

        And we shouldn’t have to put up with our country being invaded!

      4. Sorry, Belle.
        Didn’t see yours before I posted the same a few minutes ago.
        🙁

      5. They risk the journey, they should suffer the consequences. Unless they can prove they are from the UK then tow them back to France. Stop bringing the effluent here.

    2. Oh dear, how sad. Never mind. If they didn’t pick ’em up and bring ’em in, they wouldn’t get a piece of people’s mind, would they?

  83. Apropos the Marble Arch Mound – discussed here yesterday – I’ve been thinking about it. Although it’s been widely mocked by the public and condemned as a waste of money, I’m not so sure they’re right. Here’s the thing. Since the weather’s fine in London, perhaps Sad Dick Khan could be persuaded to undertake a triumphant tour of the area in an open top car, the more easily to wave to the public

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/37408f04f01142ccd6a573b46f5ceb342eb3cc8825dd346560f3bf2c124c4928.jpg

    It could prove to be £2,000,000 well-spent. After all, grassy knolls do have their uses.

  85. Have any of you heard of this attack on a Catholic priest in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh, on Monday morning?

    https://fr.aleteia.org/2021/07/28/ecosse-un-pretre-attaque-dans-une-cathedrale/

    There is an English (twitter) account of the attack in the article, for those of you who don’t understand French.

    I can’t find any reference to it in the Torygraph, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it wasn’t reported elsewhere. I suppose they thought it wasn’t newsworthy because the priest didn’t get hurt (much) – but just imagine the outcry if that had been a non-Christian religious leader!

    2. Yo Caroline

      I hadn’t heard a whisper about it until your mention. Might I suggest that you send ‘your link’ plus anything else you might know to Charles Moore c/o DT. He’s a convert and hence more fanatical and righteous (than the old fart cynics such as myself)

    3. Hmm, a man with a glass bottle, in Glasgow. Not too many liquids in glass bottles these days except olive oil and alcohol. I see your point though.

  86. An official ‘Covid memorial’ would be arrogant and grotesque

    Reports of another Boris Johnson-Thomas Heatherwick project reek of high-handedness. Who asked for such a state-sponsored ego trip?

    NINA POWER

    How can we do justice to the memory of the dead? We all mourn in our own way when someone we know dies – but capturing, in public, the horror of mass death is an extremely difficult task. It becomes even harder to appropriately commemorate the deaths of those who died as a consequence of ineptitude, particularly when those deaths are part of an on-going nightmarish present. This is the situation into which designer Thomas Heatherwick has been dragged, as – according to reports this week – Boris Johnson has decided there should be a “national Covid memorial” at St Paul’s Cathedral.

    A memorial to victims of the pandemic already exists – the Covid Memorial Wall on the Albert Embankment opposite the Houses of Parliament, on which are drawn 150,000 hearts with names, stories, photographs and flowers. This is not an “official” memorial: campaigners were involved in its creation, but there is an organic, spontaneous quality to it, with individual names added in by the public. The wall smacks not only of people’s need to memorialise the dead, but also of their loss of faith in official pieties.

    Newly-released documents show that Heatherwick, the designer responsible for the Olympic Cauldron, the New Routemaster bus and the (cancelled) Garden Bridge project, met in March with Cabinet Officer Chloe Smith to discuss “Covid-19 commemoration”. He may not be the most appropriate person to discuss such things. His projects are often grossly hyperbolic – the Garden Bridge ended up a black-hole of millions of pounds of wasted taxpayer money – while some have even proved dangerous. The Manchester sculpture B of the Bang, designed to commemorate the 2002 Commonwealth Games, was made of metal spikes that detached themselves, while the New York structure Vessel has been the site of several suicides.

    Do we even need a state-sponsored sculpture to those who’ve died in the pandemic? What about those who died as a consequence of lockdown? How will they be remembered, beyond those who knew them? It’s hard to imagine a state-led design going down well with the families of those for whom it would ostensibly be made, and some have already spoken out against any official memorial. Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice noted in April that Johnson only visited the Covid Memorial Wall belatedly and “under cover of darkness”, despite the group having invited him to meet them there.

    Other countries have begun to think about how to mark the past 18th months. In Italy, architect Angelo Renna has rather beautifully proposed planting 35,000 cypress trees in the San Siro stadium in Milan (otherwise scheduled for demolition). The Latin American architecture firm Gómez Platero have proposed a World Memorial to the Pandemic, to be installed off the coast of Uruguay, which would consist of a pedestrian walkway to a ring-shaped path with the sea visible underneath, a kind of contemplative natural pilgrimage.

    But public monuments, plaques and commemorative sculptures that seek to publicly mourn the dead are often contentious. In 2013, concerns were raised that the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, with its thousands of stark concrete blocks, was being used as a backdrop by users of the gay dating app Grindr. Here in London, plans for a new Holocaust memorial in Victoria Tower Gardens have hit opposition in the form of objections to its propriety, scale and location (in this newspaper, Charles Moore described it as “high-handed” and thus low on “popular support”).

    Before any hastily-proffered government offering, we should take a collective step back and ask, in the first place, what duty we have to the dead themselves. In a recent lecture entitled ‘What We Owe to the Dead, Alas!’, one of our greatest living moral philosophers, Alasdair MacIntyre, now 92, argued that what we owe them, “first and most of all, is truthfulness”. “We can no longer speak the truth to them,” MacIntyre says, “but we are required to speak the truth about them”.

    With MacIntyre’s exhortation in mind, any public attempt to memorialise those that have died during the pandemic must begin by uncovering and telling the truth of how all of this came to be. All the lies must be uncovered, the ineptitude, the unnecessary suffering, the terrible mistakes, the failings of those who’re supposed to lead us. It begins to look very much as though no fitting memorial could ever be imposed from “above”.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/art/architecture/official-covid-memorial-would-arrogant-grotesque/

    1. Erect a .monument and in 50 or so years a new batch of Wokists will find reasons to knock it down

    2. If there must be something, a plaque would suffice, not some gazumping statue or obelisk.

      OTOH, the leftards have something in storage that could be sanded down and re-engraved. Ask them where the Edstone is.

    1. Love gazpacho, but have yet to make some this summer. Will wait and see what the farmer’s market have this weekend.

      2. Never got to like it, JillTL.
        Maybe the few times I had it were the Chef’s off days?

        1. Really need ripe, meaty toms for this, have a suspicion that his nibs adds a splash of vodka……to each his own!

      1. Royal Doulton China of course!! (the one with blue forget me nots ala Mrs Bouquet)……..

    2. Some RNLI bigwig said about the heckling “This has got to stop”. I thought to myself – “It would stop if you refused to act as a taxi service for illegal immigrants”.

    4. The problem here is that the RNLI gets called to rescue at sea situations, a sinking vessel or whatever. They are normally summoned by an SOS radio call at at sea or a 999 call if it’s fairly close and inshore. They are very good at it. Who is telling the RNLI where these vessels with illegal immigrants are and declaring their status as “in imminent danger?

      1. The immigrants, when they have pushed off from the shore line. Trouble is, that the RNIL are complicit in the scam. Everyone knows what’s going on but no one will admit it.

        1. I posted my exchanges with RNLI here yesterday. I have been a Shoreline member for 50 years.

          My point was that I pay my sub for the RNLI to save lives at sea – not to aid and abet the illegal activities of immigrants hoping to get to Britain by providing them with a free ferry service. If they do pick up these people the RNLI should take them back to France and leave them on the the beaches near Calais. Why don’t they?

          1. I assume Richard that once they are on a British boat – they become “our” responsibility. PP’s latest “laws” said absolutely NOTHING about sending them back – only stopping the asylum claim – which means the HR lawyers will step straight in and say they aren’t being treated correctly – and the same farce rolls on – i.e. – the destruction of white England.

  90. Is anybody else irritated by this new buzz expression ‘I mean’ suddenly being used by nearly every sportsperson at the start of an interview? It’s used to a lesser extent (so far) in other fields, but I first noticed it at the summer tennis venues, mainly by foreign players, but now the Brits are adopting it.

    1. Heard a few start every reply with . . .yeah/no . . . .and another who started every reply with a VERY loud ERRRRRRRR.

    3. So, I mean, you don’t like it?
      Probably a series of sounds just to check that the brain is worrking.

    4. Could it be an automatic ‘presumption of misunderstanding’ of the interviewer by the interviewee?

      1. No, I don’t think so. It is the norm in German to open a conversation, or even a reply, with ‘ich meine dass, ‘ Many sports people can get by in several languages, so it may have been carried over from there.

  91. Councillors in Newmarket pass no confidence vote in Matt Hancock.
    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/matt-hancock-no-convidence-vote-newmarket-b948010.html

    Councillors in the racing town of Newmarket have passed a vote of no confidence in their local MP, former health secretary Matt Hancock. Mayor of Newmarket Michael Jefferys, who is a member of the Labour Party used his casting vote to pass the motion at a meeting of Newmarket Town Council this week, with five voting for, five against and four abstentions.
    The passed resolution states that West Suffolk MP Mr Hancock has “neglected the best interests of his constituents” and, as health secretary, “demonstrated hypocrisy and hubris in the pursuit of his own interests”. The Conservative MP resigned from the Cabinet last month after footage was published of him kissing an aide in his departmental office, in breach of coronavirus rules.
    Mr Jefferys said he has been “dismayed” at Mr Hancock’s performance as an MP and as health secretary, adding: “For someone in such a responsible position to then behave in the way that he has is for me the last straw.”

    1. Mr Handcock wasn’t available for comment as he is on a one month business trip to The Bahamas with his aide”

  95. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/journalists-won-t-be-treated-like-spies-in-official-secrets-act-overhaul-insists-johnson-bbw92v8w7
    Journalists won’t be treated like spies in Official Secrets Act overhaul, insists Boris JohnsonBoris Johnson has signalled a softening of plans to treat journalists like foreign spies under the Official Secrets Act.

    Fears were raised that a Home Office consultation on updating the 1989 Act could lead to reporters who are given leaked documents being prosecuted in the same way as those who leak classified information or who commit espionage offences.
    Offenders would face up to 14 years in jail if the proposals are introduced.
    Campaigners and veteran journalists, including the BBC’s world affairs editor John Simpson, warned that the move could deter investigative reporters from pursuing stories that may embarrass the government.
    Critics warned that the move may have stifled stories such as The Sun’s report on Matt Hancock’s affair with his aide, which broke… (and I can’t copy any more)
    And, if you believe that, you need your bumps felt. Remember the pensioner removed from Labour conference for heckling under anti-terrorism legislation?

  96. And now on the beeb radio news a teary man – from lifeboat lot i assume saying the harrowing scenes he has seen as they “rescue” the freeloading invasion force – ok the last bit was mine.

    3. Boris – I say, someone has put the handle of this umbrella on the wrong side, unless it’s an Australian model.

  98. Evening, all. We haven’t had a remotely conservative government for decades. On a personal note, the Connemara attempted half pass (advanced dressage movement) today and managed a few steps successfully. He also had me in fits of laughter because he couldn’t manage to walk along (rather than over) a pole. MOH has been transferred to a care home and will be in quarantine for two weeks while the assessment takes place. That gives me a breathing space.

    2. Dear Oscar.
      Tell Conway to make the most of the time, you never know what’s just over the horizon.
      Good luck.

    2. I think it is terrible that they arrested him – cleatly an immigrant surgeon on his way to save someones life at da lokull ospital bro.

          1. Free house and benefits. If he needs to appeal expulsion, you pay for the lawyers.

          2. It certainly won’t bother him – we’ll be paying for it anyway. but it shows what sort of scum are now living here – to even think of carrying that on a bus.

    3. Barely dressed savage.

      Look, we’ve got to stop being nice and treating these creatures as humans. Someone who can’t understand how to dress, who carries such a weapon about is a third world savage and should be treated as such.

  100. Off topic.
    Just in from a “Covid certified” evening, in accordance with French preferred requirements.
    The organisers had telephoned people who had booked, requesting masks and certificates.
    When we arrived all we had to do was confirm that we had booked and read the requirements, no hassle at all. Nobody, apart from our hosts, wore masks.

    A superb evening, dozens of young families with children playing and dancing, a proper family evening out.

    Absolutely splendid.

    1. They are still turning the screw over here.

      School kids are now the latest target. If a case / contact is found at school, any kid that is double jabbed carries on as normal but must isolate at home if they don’t have the pinpricks.

      1. This is going to be the policy in Germany from September, I read. Not sure they would get away with it in the UK. Of course, the viruses will be circulating round the school from the jabbed, ensuring that the non-jabbed will miss school, because teachers aren’t going to do double the work of setting work for the kids at home.
        A way of eliminating non vaccinated kids from education by the back door.

      2. This is going to be the policy in Germany from September, I read. Not sure they would get away with it in the UK. Of course, the viruses will be circulating round the school from the jabbed, ensuring that the non-jabbed will miss school, because teachers aren’t going to do double the work of setting work for the kids at home.
        A way of eliminating non vaccinated kids from education by the back door.

      1. Quite, Biden’s such a senile, demented moron that he thinks they’re cheering for him.

  104. I read today that real men don’t eat quiche
    Well that cheered me up as i have always been a slow eater

  105. Just watched “Darkest Hour” on BBC I-Player. I didn’t recognise any of the actors but it was very watchable. It showed a different side to Winston Churchill as he built confidence in his decision to wage war on Germany.

    1. Gary Oldman is arguably the most talented and versatile British actor of this era. His range is astounding.

    2. It was Chamberlin who declared war. Churchill wasn’t part of that decision.

      1. You are of course correct Oberst, Chamberlain gave Adolph Hitler the ultimatum that if Germany invaded Poland we would be at war. But the war cabinet were dithering. WC decided to continue the war. If the film is correct King George VI supported his decision.

  110. Does talking about mental health help or hinder athletes?
    Simone Biles joins a growing number of sports stars openly discussing the pressures of performing
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/mind/does-talking-mental-health-help-hinder-athletes/

    Go to the san in any boarding school and you will find that the majority of people in there are there because of sporting injuries. So you could argue that competitive sport, if taken too seriously, is bad for both physical and mental health!

    1. If she found it so stressful, she could have stopped.
      I have had enough of sports people going on about the ‘pressure’ they are under and the ‘sacrifices’ they have had to make to reach the top.
      No. They were not sacrifices, they were choices. A sacrifice is when you give something up for the benefit of someone else.

      1. Keith Miller, the great Australian cricketer: “Pressure? In Test cricket? Pressure is flying a Mosquito with a Messerschmitt up your arse!”

      2. Indeed. Going all the way to the Olympics and then withdrawing because of “mental health” is pathetic. She could have given the spot to someone tougher.

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