Sunday 22 August: America’s abject withdrawal from Afghanistan has given succour to the West’s enemies

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its comments facility (now reinstated, but not as good as ours),
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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/08/21/letters-americas-abject-withdrawal-afghanistan-has-given-succour/

778 thoughts on “Sunday 22 August: America’s abject withdrawal from Afghanistan has given succour to the West’s enemies”

  2. Tony Blair slams Joe Biden’s ‘imbecilic’ retreat from Afghanistan. 22 August 2021

    Tony Blair has launched a furious attack on Joe Biden’s “imbecilic” withdrawal from Afghanistan, as the airport at the centre of evacuation efforts was forced to shut on Saturday amid horrific scenes.

    In an extraordinary attack, the former prime minister, who took Britain into Afghanistan in 2001, said the “deep politicisation” of US foreign policy was “visibly atrophying” American influence, and claimed the debacle over the withdrawal risked Britain being relegated to the “second division” of global powers.

    Morning everyone. What Blair sees is the end of his dream of conquering the world for Neo-liberalism since its defeat abroad means its eventual decline at home. The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change is Kaput! Blair more than anyone has framed the West’s meddling as a noble enterprise for spreading Democracy and Freedom. That the Wars that he has engendered and encouraged have caused the deaths of tens of thousands of innocents and helped bring about the end of Western Civilisation will I’m sure not lose him a moments sleep!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/08/21/tony-blair-slams-joe-bidens-imbecilic-afghan-retreat/

    2. Tony Blair and Joe Biden’s greatest failing between them was the same. Not just these two, but pretty well every leader we’ve had for a very long time. All have compromised to business interest the concept of integrity as being core to any sustainable regime in the Western democratic mould. Without integrity, our culture is as rotten as theirs.

      Locals then ask themselves completely legitimately `”at least it’s our devil”. The Taliban is the devil in robes, but it’s their devil whom Afghans know well and understand… made in Arabia.

          3. I’ll bet Benny counted his fingers afterwards. (He would have removed the Papal ring beforehand).

        2. That poster was way ahead of its time! It’s only a pity most people didn’t take it seriously.

  4. the woke’s weekend dreamworld of delusion continues, not least the Chairman of the European Squirrel Initiative:

    SIR – The mission in Afghanistan was not to create a Jeffersonian democracy. It was to establish and support a pragmatic government that did not give sanctuary to terrorists determined to destroy the West. That was working quite well until President Joe Biden’s incompetent retreat handed the country over to our enemies, who will create a haven for Islamist militants.

    President Biden blames everyone but himself, and says he had no other option, due to the agreement Donald Trump signed with the Taliban. But the Taliban violated that agreement, so he didn’t need to honour it. He has reversed much of his predecessor’s work already – yet apparently he had no choice but to follow Trumpian policy on Afghanistan.

    In fact, Mr Trump promised a withdrawal based on conditions on the ground. President Biden rejected that. By announcing he was getting out no matter what, he gave the Taliban the green light.

    Rev Dr John Cameron
    St Andrews, Fife

    SIR – Given the results of Britain’s three historic incursions into Afghanistan, there was only one reason for our most recent intervention in 2003: to support our American allies after September 11.

    After the vast expense of British blood and treasure, it is callous and ungrateful of Joe Biden – following his ignominious, politically motivated scuttle – to suggest that we might remain mired in what has resulted from an essentially American initiative.

    Jacques Arnold
    Former Secretary, Conservative Backbench Committee on Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
    West Malling, Kent

    SIR – The criticism of Boris Johnson for withdrawing British troops from Afghanistan is unfair.

    After the Americans pulled the rug, none of their allies had any choice.

    James Kent
    Northallerton, North Yorkshire

    SIR – I hold no special affection for President Biden. However, British politicians – including many Conservatives – are making a serious mistake by publicly attacking the democratically elected leader of our closest and most reliable ally.

    Britain should remember the enormous sacrifices made by American forces in defence of liberty – not to mention America’s military spending – over many decades, sanctioned by presidents of both parties, and reflect on the fact that we need America more than it needs us.

    Philip Duly
    Haslemere, Surrey

    SIR – As Staff College students will know, there are three components of fighting power: physical (the means with which to fight), conceptual (the intellectual and procedural underpinning of how to fight), and moral (generating and sustaining the will to fight).

    In building a 300,000-strong Afghan national army, Britain and America have invested considerable effort in the first two, but evidently not enough in the vital third. Although the moral component might sound nebulous, it is real – and the consequences of its absence have been clear in this instance.

    Lieutenant Colonel Colin Danvers
    Poundbury, Dorset

    SIR – Allister Heath condenses the collapse of Western power and influence into a single question: “How can people who live in terror of ‘micro-aggressions’ find it in
    themselves to defeat real evils?”

    No country can take a forcible stand in defending its values when those values are under attack from within, by elites who denigrate the very traditions that make the expression of their opinions possible.

    Like Mr Heath, I feel we have reached a critical moment: the West has become gutless. It has created its own fifth column – one that has ensured that its enemies are now in the ascendant.

    Philip J Ashe
    Leeds, West Yorkshire

    Probate delays

    SIR – I was astounded to read the Courts and Tribunal Service state that “more than three quarters of probate applications took 5.3 weeks”.

    My mother died on March 21 and, by the time of your report, we still had not received probate, despite the website quoting a turnaround time of between four and eight weeks. We have now finally received the paperwork, almost five months on, after your reporter raised the case with the Ministry of Justice.

    My Mum left a will, had no property, and her estate was under the limit for inheritance tax (thanks to the ravages of care-home fees) so it couldn’t have been a simpler case.

    Before The Sunday Telegraph’s intervention, when I did eventually contact the service by telephone, after a 45-minute wait on hold I was told that staff were very busy working from home, and it could well be another five or six weeks before the case was processed.

    With such an appalling service, I am staggered that the Government thinks it could possibly be justified to increase the fee from £155 to £273.

    Isobel Woods
    Coventry, Warwickshire

    Better than a degree

    SIR – My father dissuaded me from applying to university (report, August 9) and instead steered me towards a four-year student apprenticeship sandwich course with a Yorkshire engineering company.

    This proved to be by far the best possible decision. A successful career followed, with periods spent in a wide range of departments and disciplines, and a year living in Germany.

    I cannot imagine that a university course would have afforded me such advantages.

    Rupert Wilson
    Shepley, West Yorkshire

    Golden boys

    SIR – David Riddick (Letters, August 15) states that Jim Fox won a team gold for Britain at the Montreal Olympics.

    Fox is always mentioned, but we should hear more about the rest of the team, made up of Andy Archibald, Danny Nightingale and my former neighbour, Adrian Parker.

    I believe it was in fact Adrian’s outstanding running that lifted the team from fifth position to the gold medal.

    Ken Worrall
    Crawley, West Sussex

    HS2 obstinacy

    SIR – I see that rail passenger traffic is only 60 per cent of what it used to be, and is not expected to fully recover.

    Why, then, are we still spending enormous amounts of money on a new railway line that struggled to look feasible even before the pandemic?

    Geoff Neden
    Diddlebury, Shropshire

    SIR – I invite HS2’s opponents to stand near the village of Winwick, just north of Warrington, and view the intersection of the M6 and M62.

    Note the traffic on both motorways, the speed (or lack of it) and the volume of freight. Walk north for two miles to Newton-le-Willows, where the Transpennine rail line crosses the West Coast mainline. Again, note the frequency of trains, and how freight must wait for faster trains to pass.

    HS2 is needed to add volume to the country’s infrastructure. More people may be working from home, but a washing machine delivered via broadband is still science fiction.

    Malcolm Geddis
    Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire

    Rolex ruse

    SIR – The “Rolex Rippers” (Letters, August 15) can be thwarted if, while driving, you wear the watch on your left wrist, away from the car window.

    Otherwise, do not wear one at all – or cover it at all times.

    John Christoffersen
    Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire

    SIR – I sympathise with Derek Freestone (Letters, August 15), whose Rolex was stolen, but cannot see the point of spending thousands of pounds on one of these watches.

    The time is whatever it is, no matter how expensive the means of telling it. I haven’t worn a watch of any kind for nearly 40 years but manage to be where I should be when I should be.

    Peter Clark
    Canterbury, Kent

    Encore, you say?

    SIR – There can be no better way to respond to calls for an encore than the approach taken by Hans von Bülow when he conducted Beethoven’s ninth symphony.

    After tumultuous applause, and to comply with the audience’s “heartfelt desire”, he played the entire symphony again, ensuring that nobody could leave, as he had ordered that all the auditorium’s exits should be locked.

    Jon Aldred
    Havant, Hampshire

    The kindest way to control grey squirrels

    SIR – Matt Ridley’s article on grey squirrels highlighted an important problem for our tree-planting ambitions, but also identified a practical solution.

    The Government plans to increase planting to 30,000 hectares a year by 2024, as part of its goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. This will have limited success unless steps are taken against the invasive North American grey squirrel, which destroys broadleaved trees, meaning that they capture relatively little carbon dioxide.

    However, there is now technology available to solve this problem using gene drive. Targeted populations can be successfully controlled by breeding infertility, with no risk to other species.

    Opinion polls carried out by the European Squirrel Initiative show that a significant majority of British people both recognise the damage caused by the grey squirrel to our native flora and fauna, and support the idea of non-lethal control, ultimately leading to eradication of the grey squirrel.

    The Government must act now to support this work, save our native red squirrels, and ensure the viability of planting trees for the future. It will also avoid millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money being wasted on grants.

    Graham Taylor
    Chairman, European Squirrel Initiative

    Stuart Goodall
    Chief Executive, Confor

    Graham Clark
    Senior Land Use Policy Adviser, CLA

    James Hepburne Scott
    Director, Forest Carbon

    How grassroots Tories can reclaim their party

    SIR – You published several letters (August 15) from lifelong Conservatives expressing their dissatisfaction with the present Government.

    As a lifelong Conservative myself, I agreed. However, voting for another party, or abstaining, at the next general election would result in something much worse.

    The only answer is for Conservatives to work within the party to achieve a change. The basis of our democracy is that the government represents and follows the feelings of a majority of the country. Those feelings must be made known, and not just through complaining letters. I urge my fellow Conservatives to be proactive rather than reactive.

    Martin Coomber
    London SW19

    SIR – John Hudson (Letters, August 15) accuses Conservative Party members of electing Boris Johnson as leader for “short-term gain”.

    He is wrong. They voted for someone they believed would achieve a working majority and keep Jeremy Corbyn out of Downing Street. Neither can be described as short-term gain, and both were achieved.

    Roger White
    Sherborne, Dorset

    1. A Rolex is not for telling the time, it is expensive jewellery to demonstrate your wealth.

      2. I agree it’s not for telling the time; mine is permanently 5 minutes fast. Every time I reset it, it gains five minutes (even though, when it’s tested, it keeps perfect time).

        1. Apparently, some people have some kind of magnetic field that disturbs watches…

      1. They weren’t going to inject kids – now they are – I agree with you. The answer wpn’t show up for years.

      2. “No risk to other species.” Hmmm. We’ve heard that before. What is wrong with old fashioned shooting? Quick, efficient, targeted, the only risk to other species is to other humans in the vicinity. As for “breeding infertility”, I’d like to see the statistics for how that will work.

          1. Exactly what I was thinking of. That is a new article about an approach that has been gestating for many years. It has not worked. The paradox is that for the approach to work the sterile mosquitoes have to breed. Creating hundreds of millions of sterile mosquitoes in the laboratory will not work. It’s the numbers.

        2. Too many of them for shooting, I’d have thought, plus people in towns would get upset.
          Greys are nasty aggressive little beasts. The cats ignore them, which speaks volumes, even the ones that will go for rats.

          1. Hmmm, difficult then, traps are indiscriminate. Give the Boy Scouts guns, I say. that’ll make men of them.

    3. Going to plant 30’000 hectares a year? And where are all the millions of new houses going to go? and where is all the extra food going to be grown.? Are we now Tardisland?

      1. Walter a number here think the government’s mis-management are creating Turdisland

  6. Tony Blair: Why We Must Not Abandon the People of Afghanistan – For Their Sakes and Ours. 21 August 2021.

    The 9/11 attack exploded into our consciousness because of its severity and horror. But the motivation for such an atrocity arose from an ideology many years in development. I will call it “Radical Islam” for want of a better term. As a research paper shortly to be published by my Institute shows, this ideology in different forms, and with varying degrees of extremism, has been almost 100 years in gestation.

    It is the turning of the religion of Islam into a political ideology and, of necessity, an exclusionary and extreme one because in a multi-faith and multicultural world, it holds there is only one true faith and we should all conform to it.

    In the West, we have sections of our own Muslim communities radicalised.

    Islamism is a long-term structural challenge because it is an ideology utterly inconsistent with modern societies based on tolerance and secular government.

    Three cheers. Tony Blair has discovered Radical Islam! Perhaps he should tell the Government! Perhaps his Institute could buy a boat to patrol the Channel!

    https://institute.global/tony-blair/tony-blair-why-we-must-not-abandon-people-afghanistan-their-sakes-and-ours

    2. Tony has a large portfolio of rental properties managed by his wife & stands to make a tidy profit from leasing them out to the government to house Rapeugees !

    3. As one of the originators of what has become a total shite sandwich, Tony Blair can FOXTROT OSCAR.

    4. There was a British slammer laydee on R4 this morning who lived in the safety of a Birmingham semi. She thought the Taliban were rather OK and that living under sharia was also part of her everyday life. There was also had a lady who had fled from Afghanistan to Canada and mentioned her family members that had been murdered and the general terrorism conducted by the Taliban, she was quite forceful to say the least. Our trusting Brit could just not see the evil delivered by the ideology where ever they get a foothold. I think that there is an illusory islam similar to champaign socialism.

    5. Well done Tone – you win the “No sh!t Sherlock” award – next paper from his Institute – it seems the world might not be flat?

    6. “Why We Must Not Abandon the People of Afghanistan”. Which people? Maybe 100,000 people in Afghanistan are not muslims, and they keep quiet about it. There are no public Christian churches. The other 32,900,000 are muslims and are mostly indistinguishable. We may be sure that none of them like us.
      Islam has been “radical” and more since it was invented by mohammed. The Taliban are simply faithful sunni muslims of the Deobandi grouping.
      Not a problem unless they come here… ah, wait…
      “According to a 2007 report by Andrew Norfolk, published in The Times, about 600 of Britain’s nearly 1,500 mosques were under the control of “a hardline sect”, whose leading preacher loathed Western values, called on Muslims to “shed blood” for Allah and preached contempt for Jews, Christians and Hindus. The same investigative report further said that 17 of the country’s 26 Islamic seminaries follow the ultra-conservative Deobandi teachings which The Times said had given birth to the Taliban. According to The Times, almost 80% of all domestically trained Ulema were being trained in these hardline seminaries.”

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deobandi#In_the_United_Kingdom
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Afghanistan

    7. He should have a word with Erdogan who stated there is no such thing as “radical islam” there is only islam.

  7. Was looking forward to the Stravinsky Prom tonight on BBC4, hoping for a performance of “Petrushka” after the excellent “Firebird” the other week, but it’s not to be.

    1. Why not! Is it not Woke enough? Is Petrushka a symbol ot the White Patriarchy and Misogyny?

      1. ‘Morning, Minty.

        Quite the reverse, I should have thought: Petrushka is the one who gets rejected.

  8. Snippets of information slip out about what is happening in Australia but this eye opening interview is literally terrifying.
    If Johnson attempts to force these measures on the UK then the people must refuse to comply and face him and his cabal down.

    Australia Gripped By Tyranny

    2. 337051+ up ticks,
      Morning KtK,
      Agree totally, but regardless of Australia, we in the United Kingdom MUST do that anyway on johnson & co’s past actions.

      Dover alone is in your face treachery.

    5. If the authorities want everyone to stay in – they should – result would be to completely close the country down – see how happy the authorities are with being obeyed.

  10. 337051+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,
    If we consider Afghanistan to be the epicentre and every city in the west
    a satellite endangered by islamic ideology, then we would be much nearer the truth.

    The real trouble starts on the home front with a majority giving succour to the political enemas within parliament, the LAB/LIB/CON mass uncontrolled immigration ( ongoing ) paedophile umbrella coalition via the polling booth.

    I was under the leadership for a year of a GENUINE pro English / GB
    leader who warned of the dangers of islamic ideology rhetorically & in book form since 2005, wasn’t to be, treachery took a hand in the form of party nec / nige.

    Sunday 22 August: America’s abject withdrawal from Afghanistan has given succour to the West’s enemies

    The West’s enemies are showing out in a majority of the West/s parliaments.

  12. UK says Russia, China needed for ‘moderating influence’ over Taliban. 22 August 2021.

    Britain would have to turn to Russia and China to exercise a “moderating influence” over the Taliban, despite a mistrust between the UK and those governments, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said.

    “We’re going to have to bring in countries with a potentially moderating influence like Russia and China, however uncomfortable that is,” Raab told The Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

    We’re singing a different song here! After faking two attacks on Russian citizens and blaming Vlad for it personally I don’t see that going down too well myself. Beside which why should Russia help a hostile Police State that has created misery and anarchy in the Middle East for two decades maintain an aggressive Foreign Policy?

    https://www.reuters.com/world/uk-says-russia-china-needed-moderating-influence-over-taliban-2021-08-21/

    2. Not to mention any Chinese memories of Britain rubbing their noses in the dirt in the 19th century. Gunboat diplomacy, opium and not forgetting the sacking of the old Summer Palace, something still being taught to Chinese kids. If any country can hold a smouldering hate, it’s China. Revenge, a Chinese meal served cold and lasting many years.

  13. This mornings DT article by the DT foreign staff concerning our Ambassador in Afghanistan is worth a read. It shows that the old British spirit is still alive in some people.

    1. I was trying to imagine this delightful trio as babushkas, and yes I can picture them singing their songs shuffling along with their zimmer frames, reliving the beautiful times.

      ‘Something Understood’ is one of Radio Four’s gems that have sort-of survived the woke putsch. They’re only doing repeats now, since they reckon they have enough material in the archives. This morning, they had a rabbi on talking about the nature of successful marriage, how opposites can unite, and how to reconcile individual distance with intimate union. The old proverb about the oak and the cypress cannot thrive in each other’s shadow, and yet the landscape would poorer without both.

      Imagine these three, instead of dancing and singing and parading their perfect hair with a free spirit, were forced to cower, their beauty hidden under a heavy cloth, and under the protection of their husbands or their brothers. Would they be better people? And yet, as a man, I would joyously take one of them as a wife, muse and life companion and would find inspiration every moment in their song and their beauty. How would I reconcile the two objectives and make feasible such a happy marriage?

          2. Morning, Elfin.
            If you eant a cooler day, we have it. Sunny night led to light frost and a chilly start to the day.

          3. Light frost??
            Does autumn always start in mid August where you are?
            I think it may be starting with us too, but I am trying to ignore this for as long as possible. Not looking forward to winter this year.

          4. The proof (or otherwise) of this winter pudding will most definitely be in the consumption thereof this year.

          6. Yup, the first daay you can tell – the sun is shining, but has little heat in it; the air has suddenly gone soft, and the nights are much cooler. Happened about a week ago.
            Last night was a bit of a surprise, I admit. Maybe we’re in for a hard winter.

          7. I have the feeling the winter won’t be that hard. The air-flow from the south seems to be functioning just fine at the moment. Hope those aren’t famous last words!

  15. 337051+ up ticks,

    The man from the BOG, ex peace envoy speaketh,

    Dt,
    Tony Blair slams Joe Biden’s ‘imbecilic’ retreat from Afghanistan
    America shuts Kabul airport as Dominic Raab is forced to turn to China and Russia for help in Afghanistan

    With these types guarding our waistline (health) and coastline rest assured we DON’T need enemies.

    1. you can’t fault Charles Lynton’s optimism [and candour] of reducing what passes for, Western “democracy” to 2nd Division. It’s also unfortunate he declares the open hand / intent of “Corporate Foreign Policy”. Lynton’s way past “enemies” category, he’s now part of the “Most Wanted List”

      1. 337051+ up ticks,
        Morning AWK,
        Wonder he hasn’t been used more in promoting products as in ” It has a Teflon Tone finish”

  18. Good morning from a bright Derbyshire after the overnight rain. 11½°C outside with a dry day forecast.

  19. 337051+ up ticks,

    Exemptions ie face coverings,

    The first Bible mention of a face covering is in Genesis 24:65: “For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? … Spread the Bible far and wide and never “sheltered-in” the Truth where no one can hear. We should never put a mask on our salvation.1 May 2020

    What the Bible says about wearing masks | Religion – Marshall …

    451: Unavailable due to legal reasons

    Due to illegal reasons methinks.

  20. Councils are preparing to rent private homes and buy or even build additional properties due to a shortage of large houses needed to accommodate Afghan refugees, The Telegraph can disclose.

    Whitehall and local council sources said that the average size of families arriving in Britain as part of the country’s resettlement scheme was almost seven people, often including young children.

    One family that arrived in the last week is understood to have as many as 12 members.

    “To resettle them appropriately we need to find relatively large numbers of three, four, or even five bedroom houses, and those houses are in short supply for councils, or even in the private rented sector,” said a Whitehall source.

    Ministers and council leaders are now holding talks about a range of options to accommodate Afghan families, including local authorities renting private homes, purchasing additional properties, or even constructing buildings that could accommodate families in the longer term.

    Those arriving in Britain are immediately transferred to temporary accommodation such as quarantine hotels and military-owned properties designed to house the families of British personnel.

    Another option for housing Afghan migrants on a long-term basis includes retaining military accommodation that had been due to be sold off.

    The disclosure comes after Boris Johnson separately recognised the need to “boost capacity and overall housing supply” in Britain in a report on housing in which he said he wanted to see “a plan for a major scaling up of self-commissioned new homes – across all tenures”.

    According to the Government, some 2,000 people have already been “resettled” in the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP), which was launched on April 1 to offer refuge to Afghan interpreters and other staff who have worked with the UK in Afghanistan.

    “We urgently need more offers of support to welcome Afghan families”

    Ministers have also set out plans for a new Afghanistan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme which will resettle 5,000 Afghan nationals in its first year – with priority given to vulnerable people such as women and girls – rising to 20,000 in the long-term.

    Urgent discussions over how to house those coming to Britain are being held between the Local Government Association and the Ministry of Housing. Local authorities are being urged to come forward with offers of larger council-owned family homes or to help find private accommodation.

    One source involved in the talks said the Government wanted to avoid families spending “protracted periods in hotels”, and to ensure those being evacuated are “treated with dignity and respect”.

    On Friday, as the Government announced an extra £5 million for local councils to house Afghan refugees, Robert Jenrick, the Local Government Secretary, said: “There is already an enormous effort underway to support those arriving from Afghanistan with close to a third of councils already stepping up to support new arrivals.

    “However, we urgently need more offers of support to welcome Afghan families who have stood shoulder to shoulder with the UK, serving our troops and our country so bravely in recent years.

    “With this extra support in place, I’m calling on all councils who have not yet come forward, to contact us with a firm offer of support to help our Afghan friends and their families as they build a new life in safety here.”

    Those arriving in the country from Afghanistan are being offered Covid-19 vaccinations and health checks at quarantine hotels.

    On Saturday, the Home Office was accused of putting Afghan child refugees’ lives at risk by housing them in a hotel previously criticised as a danger to children and a fire risk. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/21/afghan-refugees-arrive-lack-space-councils-look-house-rented/?WT.mc_id=tmgliveapp_iosshare_AxppjNcT2DfX

    1. Urgent discussions over how to house those coming to Britain are being held between the Local Government Association and the Ministry of Housing. Local authorities are being urged to come forward with offers of larger council-owned family homes or to help find private accommodation.

      Morning Belle. When this doesn’t work they will start “sequestering” accomodation and evicting the owners!

    2. 337051+ up ticks,
      Morning TB,
      And so it came to pass that via the continue abuse of the
      polling booth we have illegals building for illegals working
      in the black, whilst the family tree samples the fruits of the indigenous herds welfare orchard, as in milking the herd.

      Who now is the true owner of granddads axe after we replaced the head & haft ?

    3. “Action this day!”

      Amazing how quickly the likes of Johnson, Jenrick and the LGA can move their collective arses when the subject, immigrants, is one of their pet causes. For years we have read stories of military veterans, many with mental illness caused by their time in service, being ignored by these same people. The veterans are not alone in being homeless but the government do not appear to have a level of concern for those currently on the streets. If housing can be rented in short order for immigrants where is the problem for doing the same for UK people?

    4. Guff! The Afghans who worked for us were betraying their country for money. They were paid. They were surely well aware of the risks to themselves and their families. Now they will bring those risks here, many times over. As for “20,000”, was that figure plucked from the air?

      1. Betraying their country?
        Or trying to save and protect their country from an oppressive regime?

        Would he claim those Germans who, for ideological reasons, worked against the German government during the ’30s and early ’40s were traitors to their country?

        1. Anyone who works for a foreign power against their countrymen is a traitor. (“Idealogical reasons” is often preposterous guff. Philby and McLean betrayed the UK for “idealogical reasons”.)
          If the labour Party invited foreign troops into this country to oppose the oppressive regime of the Tories would that not be a betrayal?

      1. Paid for by everyone else? Who Wouldn’t. ? Then, after us paying the rent on their new 5 bedroom house for enough years to qualify, they’ll be able to buy it at a discount – yippee.

    6. I have said for a while that those coming here with multiple kids will end up in better houses than we do – – with us paying for them to live there. Clearly I was right.

  21. A Tale of Two Philips.

    SIR – I hold no special affection for President Biden. However, British politicians – including many Conservatives – are making a serious mistake by publicly attacking the democratically elected leader of our closest and most reliable ally.

    Britain should remember the enormous sacrifices made by American forces in defence of liberty – not to mention America’s military spending – over many decades, sanctioned by presidents of both parties, and reflect on the fact that we need America more than it needs us.

    Philip Duly
    Haslemere, Surrey

    SIR – Allister Heath (Comment, August 18) condenses the collapse of Western power and influence into a single question: “How can people who live in terror of ‘micro-aggressions’ find it in themselves to defeat real evils?”

    No country can take a forcible stand in defending its values when those values are under attack from within, by elites who denigrate the very traditions that make the expression of their opinions possible.

    Like Mr Heath, I feel we have reached a critical moment: the West has become gutless. It has created its own fifth column – one that has ensured that its enemies are now in the ascendant.

    Philip J Ashe
    Leeds, West Yorkshire.

    Two diametrically opposed Philips writing on one topic. The first, who is somewhat of a teacher’s pet, gets published at least weekly no matter how trite, banal or idiotic his hot-aired opinions are.

    The second, a new boy, is like a breath of fresh air whose finger is on the pulse of public opinion. He is correct in all his assertions. The West has, indeed, become soft and gutless. Its enemies (who actively assisted in this transition) know this and will have no fear when they eventually take over (as surely they will).

    1. “However, British politicians – including many Conservatives – are making a serious mistake by publicly attacking the democratically elected leader of our closest and most reliable ally.”
      Didn’t stop them all criticising and ridiculing President Trump – to the extent of flying a baby balloon – did it, you silly little man.

        1. BTL Comment currently with 14 likes and a response:-

          Robert Spowart
          22 Aug 2021 8:27AM
          “Democratically elected leader??”

          About time Philip Duly and his ilk woke up and looked at last years US elections with an open mind.

          Logical Paradox
          22 Aug 2021 8:31AM
          @Robert Spowart It’s as if all the media have been trained to drone robotically ” there is absolutely no evidence ….”. Yet if you look the is a mountain of evidence. It’s just been suppressed.

        2. and “reliable ally”? The one that made “sacrifices” in manpower, who were untrained canonfodder. and that over two World Wars we ended up paying $$$$ for, while in WWII, Germany got off scot free. Due to the Marshall plan. While the USA didn’t even enter WWII until it was bombed itself.

          That ally?

  23. Good morning all (looks out window; well, it’s actually a bit murky with just a smirr) just a quick dip before I go off to release some golf balls back into the wild.
    I see from Arminta Smade’s post that, finally, Blair has taken a financial hit. Perhaps he could be persuaded to take his legal fight to The Hague, and while he’s there…two court cases for the price of one!

  25. Medical students demand right to use sex work to fund their studies and want to be protected from expulsion
    Trainee doctors have called for the British Medical Association to work with universities to recognise and support students working in the sex industry
    Pandemic has forced student sex workers into risky situations claim trade union
    More than 90 per cent of students believe money and living cost is a motivation
    By SANCHEZ MANNING FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

    PUBLISHED: 22:03, 21 August 2021 | UPDATED: 23:27, 21 August 2021

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9915239/Medical-students-demand-right-use-sex-work-fund-studies.html?ito=push-notification&ci=Sz5gkcLrSA&si=26738248&ai=9915239

    1. I guess if they’re going to sell their souls, they might as well sell their bodies as well. What a disgustingly degenerate society we’ve become.

      1. And, when they want to marry and have a family, they will be used goods. They will find it difficult to get a partner of any worth, because, after all, who wants to be married to someone who gives it away to anybody for money? Not such a smart move IMHO.
        Edit: Let alone the physical damage due to STDs caught, and mental damage due to jumping the bones of any and everyTom, Dick or Harry.

        1. Agreed, the psychological after-effects are always downplayed. Mostly because the feminists can’t bear to admit that the proponents of the 60s sexual revolution lied to young women when they told them that the pill was the only thing stopping them from behaving like men.

          1. All the guys I know don’t sleep around, and in fact there was general horror expressed when one said he was planning on sleeping with a work colleague (f) as his wife was no longer very active in the bedroom department. Our disapproval was strongly expressed.
            It’s a myth that all men are just looking for a hole to poke it in – don’t listen to the bravado in the banter, that’s just talk. In reality, most men don’t.

        2. The girls think otherwise…

          I want to make a million dollars
          I want to live out by the sea
          Have a husband and some children
          Yeah, I guess I want a family           (Private Dancer – Tina Turner)

        3. ‘Morning, Paul, please leave me out of it and concentrate on the Dick called Harry.

          1. Sorry, wasn’t thinking when I posted… missed the pun on Dick, as well.
            More coffee needed.

        4. If they have any sense, they will move away from where they plied their trade, before they embark on marital relations.

      2. Students working in prostitution has long been a way of making ends meet and more than a few “massage parlours” gave them the chance to work.

        It’s a couple of decades ago but Woman’s Hour did a major piece on that very subject in Glasgow where one of the regular prostitutes they interviewed expressed rather eloquently that the difference between her colleagues and a student is that, after being out shopping, the regular girl will show off the clothing etc. she’s bought, whilst the student will show off the books she’s bought for her course!

    2. ‘Morning, Belle.

      Nothing new under the sun. There was a female dental student at Bristol in my day, who spent every spare minute of the day, sleeping on one of the benches in the Junior Common Room. Rumour had it that she worked all night. That was over 50 years ago.

      1. Of course , none of them will reveal their run in with Hepatitis etc , because that sort of thing is confidential .

        I am so amazed when watching some of the medical doc coms from A+Es on the TV , how many of them do look as if they been on the game , make up and tatoos and a rather tarty Sarah Gamp attitude!

  26. 337051+ up ticks,

    I do believe that burkas are going to be taking to the floor, in keeping with the parliamentary canteen menu’s.

    Top ballet schools ditching leotards to help transgender dancers
    Telegraph Dance Critic Mark Monaghan argues it’s crucial would-be dancers can see themselves – and be seen – in the most clinical light

    The sugar plum fairy will surely never be the same.

  27. Despite the savage lockdowns, infection record in New Zealand and Aus.
    Obviously, not locked down enough! When do the street executions begin?

    1. Quite soon, judging by a clip yesterday showing an Australian “policemen” drawing his gun…..

  28. I imagine you all discussed the very sensible measure by the Globe Theatre to explain that, at the end of Wokeo and Juliet, the actors were not actually dead (although, elsewhere, I read that their performances were so dire that it might have been better for the future if they had died)..

    I would have liked a similar warning about Tosca where Cavaradossi is SHOT, and Scarpia murdered on stage – and are NEVER SEEN AGAIN. And as for Aida, what that Radames and Aida WALLED UP –

    Where will it all end?

    1. Morning, Bill!

      There’ve been Toscas who’ve jumped off the roof of the Castel Sant Angelo only to bounce back up again as they hit the mattress on the other side of the stage!

      2. Good day, Our Susan.

        Indeed! One was quite badly injured!

        BTW, what are your views about this year’s Porms (sic)? You can prolly guess mine….

        1. Most of my friends are back in the RAH gallery for the Proms. I’m staying away and mostly ignoring the whole event on the grounds that I refuse to show proof of social credit score to gain entry. Apparently ticket sales have not been great. Combination of refuseniks and scaredy-cats.

    3. Mr. Sloane didn’t enjoy his entertainment, either.
      What a way to treat a homeless young man.

      1. And as for Act V of that Hamlet….

        A modern audience would have “men’al ‘elf ishoos”…

    1. I’ve said so many times that Politics = Religion.

      The two most powerful methods of mind control ever invented by man.

      1. Islam is a political system with a religion attached. Hence sharia law, ban on supporting non slamic government, those who leave the religion must be killed, explicit rules on what you are allowed to wear, eat etc, how people must be punished and so on.
        Christianity is a guide to making decisions. There are few hard and fast rules, and the ones there are, transcend cultures and local customs, and are mostly concerned with ensuring a healthy mind in a healthy body if you follow them. It’s all about your relationship with God (who you can think of as the eternal and unchanging standard of goodness in this context).
        Different churches may have applied laws at different times, but they are only loosely derived from the core texts.
        This is the fundamental difference between slam and Christianity.

        1. ALL religions have you on your knees in a place of worship. If that is not controlling you then I don’t know what is.

          1. You don’t have to be on your knees anywhere just to loosely follow the teachings of Christ.

          2. It is a mistake to confuse reflecting upon one’s sins with for example, a social credit system that forbids you privileges if you don’t abide by the latest jabs. The latter is controlling people, the former is Christians at a service.

          3. One thing is for certain: I am not confused. My perception of matters political and religious are is razor sharp.

          4. Hmm. “My perception of matters political and religious are is razor sharp”

          6. Dear Grizzly, I have the greatest respect for your acumen. I criticise your atheist notions, because I myself was once an atheist like you, and then I realised the limitations of this view, and the power and logic of Christianity.

          7. I don’t label myself as an ‘atheist’ (or a non-smoker or anything else with a negative connotation), that for others to do. I simply consider myself to be a free thinker and analyst (and a fresh-air breather).

          8. Not everybody kneels in church, Grizz. Of our congregation this morning, all bar one were sitting down rather than on their knees. Probably due to our age and the difficulty of getting up again (certainly that’s true in my case)!

          9. I don’t kneel anywhere, Conners. My knees are so knackered, after a lifetime of kneeling in different jobs, that I’m unable to do so anymore.

  30. Good morning from an Anglo Saxon Queen with blooded axe and pursed longbow with sharp arrows .

    So Tony Blair has given his opinion. The arch deceiver with his blood soaked hands who lead us into Middle Eastern wars with no exit plan has the audacity to speak, this country is flooded with those from such countries due to him . He replaced our English laws with the EUs Human Rights laws to protect them ( not us ). That wicked spawn of Satan dead eyed Tony Blair who said once that he has no regrets seems to think he is entitled to an opinion. Shameful.

    3. 337051+ up ticks,
      Morning A,
      AKA anthony charlie lynton, the BOG man, sad thing is he would still find a following.

    4. ‘Morning, Ethel.

      I was going to ask if I could borrow your axe to cut my hake fillets for tonight, but on 2nd thoughts, if you’ve bloodied it…

      1. Good morning Mr Viking. I’d wash it especially for you to cut your hake fillets 🙂
        We’ve salmon fillets tonight.

    5. and those are his ‘good points’

      Docnot forget the Appeal Laws tailored to keep the Bliar Witch risch and busy and keep UK topped up with terrorists

      1. When Blair announced he was going to sign the HRA I said that was one of the worst things he could do – MoH ripped into me. I told her every foreign scumbag would come here, live on benefits, and be unable to be deported. – in two years you’ll apologise. Two years later – she did.

        1. But Cherie needed her protection pin money.
          Matrix Chambers was her reward for staying schtum.

          1. Matrix Chambers was ready to go before the HRA had even gone through Parliament. Talk about corruption!

    1. Manages not to mention grooming gangs though, which is surely illustrative of the whole point; how our Taliban gives succour to the other one.

  33. Bullying Policy
    Our company does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, age, or religion; unless the religions are bizarre and unpopular and can be considered cults (and so may be freely discriminated against), or if you are a short, fat, bald, ugly guy (and can be picked on without restraint), or if you are a nerd, smoker, or single person.

    Stupid people may now also be discriminated against due to the failure of their lobbying efforts.

      1. Yes, but as much as the usual suspects complain, we built everything and we own everything, produce everything, make everything.

        When they destroy everything we have built, we simply refuse to rebuild it, and they live in the ruin.

        They hate us because we’re better than them.

    1. “This Government has its priorities all wrong, our citizens are their first priority. ” – -not any more. We are here to be taxed and exterminated, so the replacements can then destroy what we built.

      1. Well, the replacements won’t produce any tax. When the slammers have got their way, there won’t be anyone left to provide for them.

      2. On the upside, when we do eventually rebuild our society – the immigrants won’t, nor will the Left; they never build anything and those same gimmigrants want to rinse and repeat this time we say no, and tell them to shove off.

        Then, with better technology, more energy and fuel they find that their technicals don’t float, but drones don’t need to and we wipe them all out. Every tea towel wearing purpled haired one of them.

  35. Mask-wearers and New Zealand languish in a Covid prison, but the rest of us are finally free

    Rod Liddle
    Sunday August 22 2021, 12.01am, The Sunday Times

    I saw one of them the other day, one of the people who can’t give it up. High on the downs on a narrow path where you can walk for hours without seeing anyone, a middle-aged woman out for a hike, fully masked up. There was a look of panic in her eyes when she saw me, and she moved off the path into a clump of willow saplings and brambles, scattering the yellowhammers. I bet she was wearing sanitiser, too — even if it is now at least eight months since it was pretty comprehensively proved that your chances of acquiring Covid by touching a surface are in the region of nil. There are still bottles of sanitiser at the entrance to our supermarkets, of course, but they are a corporate genuflection to the frightened and deranged. A courtesy to the people who can’t give it up.

    There are far, far fewer of them than there were. We still have Covid with us; indeed more friends of mine have copped it recently than did so last year, when we were all petrified that we would die, or starve, or wouldn’t be able to wipe our bottoms. But we are also, paradoxically, post Covid. The psychological tilt of the country has changed, to a large extent because of a hugely successful vaccination policy, but also because of impatience and a certain fatalism or realism: your call.

    I may be wrong about this, but I do not think either our government or the mass of people would stomach another lockdown. I don’t think that even those wacko commies in alternative Sage would demand one, either. We have moved on. I think this is true no matter how large the spike in September and no matter how many people die — because there will be a spike and people will die. And undoubtedly a lockdown would reduce the immediate effect of the spike, so it is not the case that we are all “following the science”. It is simply that we now regard Covid as something to be lived with. It will take its toll — the very elderly, the morbidly obese, but also sometimes young, healthy people — and there is a realisation that it cannot be otherwise. Social distancing and masks are gradually being shrugged off. Nobody has offered to bump elbows with me since May. Worse, hugging is back. It’ll be London kisses next – mwha, mwah, darling. Covid had its good side, then.

    This time last year the UK was among the worst countries in the world for infection rates and death rates from the virus. The government was perhaps partly to blame, for its sluggishness, its mixed messages, its U-turns. But so too the nature of our country. We are more individualistic than communitarian (to our loss, in my opinion) and generally sceptical of forfeiting our rights for the benefit of society. We are also as a country towards the slacker end of the scale between what the psychologists call “loose” and “tight” countries, although we are perhaps hybrid in that we have communities that are very tight indeed, which is where the virus prospered (among families). The best country in the world back then was the mysterious socialist hermit kingdom of New Zealand, which apparently believed it could “beat” Covid and, at the time, seemed to be doing so.

    How things have changed. There was mass bedwetting in New Zealand last week because a single case of Covid had been found. The pious and hugely irritating prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, imposed an immediate level 4 lockdown, the most severe possible. This is after a year of the country effectively closing itself off to the rest of the world and nannying its population into isolation and quiescence.

    Now Ardern has said that lockdowns will remain the device for “beating” Covid in perpetuity. It is a country in which the people are in effect forbidden to travel and where families haven’t seen their overseas relatives for 18 months and have no prospect of doing so.

    Under Ardern, New Zealand can never open up, because the virus cannot be “beaten”. So convinced was the arrogant Ardern by her strategy in “banishing” Covid that only one in five Kiwis has received a vaccine — and so, when the virus hits, it will kill. As a consequence her popularity is plunging (and has been since June), but more importantly the country is trapped in a psychological state from which it cannot possibly extricate itself.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Fsundaytimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Fe6e81b46-028e-11ec-b566-244966c549e3.jpg?crop=1500%2C1000%2C0%2C0&resize=1022

    Let’s all pack a bag and join Geronimo
    Alpacas are not among my favourite animals. They have a look on their faces that seems one part arrogance to two parts stupidity, similar to the expressions of X Factor contestants. But given a choice between an alpaca and the environment minister, George Eustice, I know which side I’m on.

    There is something medieval about the government’s determination to kill Geronimo the alpaca: “We must slay the tainted beast! Slay it now!” Regardless of the public outcry and of the science. Of the llamas and alpacas culled last year, only 20 per cent tested positive for TB in post-mortems. But, alive, this stupid-looking beast poses a danger to Eustice and the government’s horrendous policy of mass slaughter — more than 140,000 badgers killed needlessly in eight years.

    They want him dead, sharpish. But there’s a human shield around Geronimo and I may join it.

    The world is not thy friend
    Romeo and Juliet at the Globe — and the producers have very kindly advised the audience to contact mental health charities if they feel “affected” by any of the scenes.

    This trigger warning has provoked hilarity, but perhaps there is a point. The production does not shy away from addressing what the producers call our “current societal struggles”. It almost certainly contains the famous line by Juliet: “Romeo, Romeo, mask up and put on some hand sanitiser and I’ll do you on the balcony, bruv.” After this kind of travesty we might all need the Samaritans.

    Great big softies down at the MoD
    A magnificent performance by the chief of the defence staff, General Sir Nick Carter, on Sky News. The Taliban, Sir Nick said, want nothing more than an “Afghanistan that is inclusive for all”. At that moment Taliban fighters were busy murdering six Hazara men by slicing off their muscles and strangling them with their own scarves.

    Sir Nick described the Taliban as “country boys who live by a code of honour”, as if they were members of the Chipping Sodbury 1st Boy Scouts troop. “And they love wildlife,” he added. “When we were fighting them, they would often lay down their guns to rescue butterflies caught in the crossfire.” OK, he may not have said that last bit. The general was famous in Afghanistan for his principled decision never to visit the front line.

    1. A surprisingly naive piece from Rod Liddle about lockdowns.
      Doesn’t he know that we’ve now moved on from terrify-everyone-with-lockdowns-and-masks to privileges-for-obedient-citizens-and-punishment-for-refuseniks?

    3. He has the “Chief of the Defence Staff” to perfection.

      A completely useless idiot.

    2. I seem to recall that the keypad was in the handle and the 1, 2 and 3 related to the service required once the call was answered.

      I didn’t try one out but one sometimes saw them along coastal paths many years ago.

      2. I knew a number of Frenchmen (“men” because they were male) who were enthusiastic tennis plays into their 40s – and can now barely walk. They have all had new knees and hips but now wish that they had been less enthusiastic.

        1. OH is still playing tennis two or three times a week – apart from the torn shoulder two years ago, he’s still able to play and doesn’t have arthritis.

        1. I should hope not.

          The sooner children learn that life is hard and unforgiving, the better.

    3. Poor child! Ours are getting instruction in Transphobia and Gay Rights at this age!

  39. Rain setting in – just killed 50 caterpillars on the greens – and half a dozen slugs embedded in the curly kale.

    Glad I am not in a tent….”enjoying” the long, hot summer….

    1. Nice sunny morning here today – we had the rain yesterday though it was fairly steady and not heavy.

  40. Leotards ditched to help trans ballet dancers

    Performing arts schools have drawn up guidelines to give sensitive support to transitioning students.

    ‘We’re moving away from the binaryspecific. It enables people to feel much more comfortable’

    SOME of Britain’s top ballet schools are preparing to do away with leotards and tights to be more inclusive of transgender performers.

    A group of sister schools teaching ballet and contemporary dance have pledged to support the transition of transgender students who may be selfconscious about their bodies.

    Loose-fitting clothing should be promoted in classes over traditional skintight leotards and tights, according to inclusivity protocols.

    The guidelines have been adopted by the London Contemporary Dance School, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, the Rambert School and the Central School of Ballet. Their protocols state: “Form-fitting clothing may force trans people to use unhealthy methods to conceal their bodies such as binding or tucking.

    “It is important for trans people to not feel self-conscious during training.”

    Six schools affiliated with the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama have adopted the protocols, including the National Centre for Circus Arts and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

    But it is “dance subjects, and particularly ballet’’ that have been highlighted due to their potentially “very gendered” approach and traditions.

    “This presents difficulties for the inclusions of those who are non-binary, genderfluid and gender non-conforming,” the guidelines say.

    “Similarly, ballet training in particular presents specific challenges in supporting students who are transitioning.”

    As well as addressing the practical problems of costume, which in ballet has a tradition of tight-fitting clothing dating back at least to the early 19th century, dressing spaces will be opened up to transgender students.

    Protocols state: “A trans person should have access to single sex areas – such as changing rooms and toilets – according to whichever they feel most comfortable with.” Language associated with dance, which often has particular gender roles associated with different forms, will also be made more inclusive.

    Too right too. Who the hell wants the lines of a nice smooth leotard ruined by a man bulge? We can’t have dead giveaways, can we?

    1. What about the male dancers with pronounced bulges? And big muscles? Are there trans who are female but think they are male? Most seem to be men who think they are female.

          1. The invasion is clearly going to plan. Softly softly catchee country.. Just keep turning up bit by bit – or 600 a go – no guns, no soldiers, – and the buildings ( except churches ) left intact for the invaders to walk into.

        2. Why are they not walking on the pavement?

          More importantly, when will we stop paying their welfare?

  42. All this Global warming stuff and conversion to Heat Pumps – –
    Comment in the Telegraph from our Energy Minister . .
    Mr Kwarteng said:

    “I do have … a gas boiler … but I’m in a position where because I earn a certain amount of money, I can afford that transition to a Heat Pump” . .

    Alright for some then . . . . !!

    4. How splendid for you, Mr Wanqueur. Just bear in mind that that “certain amount of money” can disappear just like that when you are kicked out of Parliament.

      Oh, by the way – please DO post photographs of the work being done to install your heat pump…..

      1. Don’t forget that if they are a sitting MP and lose when they stand for re-election, they get a nice golden handshake.

    2. Just the ticket for the Beatles’ Rita!

      But I am not sure that Michael Caine would want to educate her.

  56. We cannot afford the luxury of a woke president

    Calvin Robinson

    ‘Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” It is hard to see the rise of wokeness as embodying anything other than the third stage of author and former US Marine G Michael Hopf ’s cyclical understanding of history.

    Take the example of micro-aggressions. These, we are told in the pseudoscientific language of critical race theory, include “indirect, subtle or unintentional discrimination”. Examples cited in the past have included telling a black person you like their hair, complimenting a foreign language speaker on the quality of their English or even suggesting the most qualified person should be given a certain job.

    How would you even begin to explain such a thing to an Afghan woman passing her baby to a soldier over a fence in the hope of securing for them a better life, or to the inmate of a Xinjiang reeducation camp?

    Only a society as decadent as the modern West – freed from most basic wants, relieved of existential external threats and with a surfeit of time and energy – could have dreamt up the modern woke canon with its array of largely non-problems, imagined slights and hysterical, free speechdenying reaction to any opposition. With little to worry about, we started manufacturing problems and, seeing no enemies on our borders, we went looking for them within.

    I would never deny that this has sprung from a good place. Many among the woke Left have good intentions and there are undeniably still problems with bigotry and prejudice that demand to be addressed, even if their efforts to create a more equal society are more likely to entrench division. It is not wrong in times of wealth and plenty to seek new ways to advance society.

    Observing events around the world, however, I fear we are entering the fourth stage of Hopf ’s cycle; that hard times are coming, enabled by a woke West that is not equal to the task of overcoming them.

    The chief culprit has been President Joe Biden. His administration, with the gratingly right-on Kamala Harris at his side, has been a wokefest from the start, whether it was rescinding Trump’s ban on critical race theoryinspired implicit bias training for federal employees on his first day, signing ill-thoughtthrough executive orders on trans rights, or jumping on every other virtuesignalling bandwagon he could find.

    His commitment to these Left-wing shibboleths has won him not only the faltering support of the Democrats’ influential young radicals, but that of America’s media establishment, which has covered shamelessly for a president who should have spent more time worrying about his role as commander-in-chief and his obligations to the people of Afghanistan than trying to rival Justin Trudeau or Jacinda Ardern for “wokest world leader”.

    Events in Afghanistan have exposed what truly matters and how inconsequential much of identity politics really is. Wokeism developed as a luxury, and it is a luxury that our society can no longer afford.

    Calvin Robinson for prime minister is what I say.

      1. Yep.

        UK academic sues university after losing role in critical race theory row
        Aysha Khanom claims discrimination after Leeds Beckett accused her of using ‘racist language’ in tweets

        …On 14 February the Race Trust, which was founded by Khanom, posted a tweet, tagging Robinson and asking: “Does it not shame you that most people see you as a house negro?” Khanom said she did not post the tweet but accepted responsibility for it…After a barrage of critical responses, which she says were fomented by rightwing trolls, she personally used the term “coconut” when responding to someone about the earlier tweet…

        https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/16/uk-academic-sues-university-losing-role-critical-race-theory-row-leeds-beckett

      2. Yep.

        UK academic sues university after losing role in critical race theory row
        Aysha Khanom claims discrimination after Leeds Beckett accused her of using ‘racist language’ in tweets

        …On 14 February the Race Trust, which was founded by Khanom, posted a tweet, tagging Robinson and asking: “Does it not shame you that most people see you as a house negro?” Khanom said she did not post the tweet but accepted responsibility for it…After a barrage of critical responses, which she says were fomented by rightwing trolls, she personally used the term “coconut” when responding to someone about the earlier tweet…

        https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/16/uk-academic-sues-university-losing-role-critical-race-theory-row-leeds-beckett

      3. Yep.

        UK academic sues university after losing role in critical race theory row
        Aysha Khanom claims discrimination after Leeds Beckett accused her of using ‘racist language’ in tweets

        …On 14 February the Race Trust, which was founded by Khanom, posted a tweet, tagging Robinson and asking: “Does it not shame you that most people see you as a house negro?” Khanom said she did not post the tweet but accepted responsibility for it…After a barrage of critical responses, which she says were fomented by rightwing trolls, she personally used the term “coconut” when responding to someone about the earlier tweet…

        https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/16/uk-academic-sues-university-losing-role-critical-race-theory-row-leeds-beckett

    2. Calvin Robinson is one of the few very sensible regular panellists on Dan Wootton’s GB News programme and he has just been given his own programme which I have not yet seen. However there are two quite particularly appalling panellists on Dan Wooton’s show: Rebecca Reid and Becca Hutson – who make me want to switch channels as soon as they appear. Indeed, last week Rod Liddle was so incensed by Rebecca Reid’s blindness about Islam that he called her stupid in a most ill-tempered discussion!

  57. Sweden’s experiment of avoiding lockdown pays off

    ‘I guess I’m a typical Swede: not worried unless the authorities tell me to be worried’ ‘Their response relied on the intricacies of Swedish culture … if the UK had adopted this, it would have been a disaster’

    In a lot of countries that would mean one thing: lockdown. But not in Sweden. Instead, at Sorgenfri school in central Malmö, the only visible anti-Covid measure is a ban on parents entering the school building.

    “I’m not worried at all,” says Elin Brusewitz, 35, as her son played with his skateboard beside her. “We were fine during the last outbreaks. I guess I’m a typical Swede: not worried unless the authorities tell me to be worried.”

    Sweden’s decision to eschew lockdown and leave pubs, restaurants, shopping centres and primary schools open generated furious discussion internationally.

    Millions of people across the world have been confined to their homes. But for some 10 million Swedes, the 18 months since the first local Covid-19 case was registered last February have been largely unremarkable.

    Two thirds of people are not worried about the consequences of the pandemic for them and their family, according to the most recent opinion survey carried out in mid-June.

    There is broad support for the government’s choices. Just a quarter felt the authorities should have given public health greater priority over the economy. Anders Tegnell, the state epidemiologist who was the architect of Sweden’s strategy, was last week voted “most important Swede of the year” by the readers of Sweden’s leading supermarket magazine.

    That is not to say the virus has not taken its toll – nearly 15,000 people have died, a rate of around 1,450 per million of population. But that death rate is lower than the average for the EU as a whole (1,683), and well below those of France, Spain, Italy and Britain.

    Some now concede Sweden has not become the cautionary tale many predicted.

    “Many times I would have thought that the situation would have gone a different way, but it worked for Sweden,” said Samir Bhatt, professor of Public Health at the University of Copenhagen, and one of the team at Imperial College who pushed the UK’s lockdown strategy.

    “They achieved infection control; they managed to keep infections relatively low and they didn’t have any health care collapse.”

    The real benefits of Sweden’s radical policy, however, can be seen in the economy, the psychological impact and in schools.

    At the end of the first wave last year, the IMF predicted that Sweden’s economy would contract by 7 per cent in 2020. The actual figure of 2.8 per cent was significantly lower than the EU average of 6 per cent and the UK’s 9.8 per cent. Sweden’s economy has also bounced back faster than others in Europe and is estimated to grow by 4.6 per cent this year.

    The government avoided splashing out on costly financial-support packages, spending just $22billion (£16billion) – 4.2 per cent of its GDP – on wage subsidies and other measures.

    As a result, in 2020, Sweden recorded the second smallest budget deficit in the EU after Denmark, and its national debt has come through the crisis almost unscathed.

    “The public finances have been hit relatively lightly,” Urban Hansson Brusewitz, of Sweden’s National Institute of Economic Research.

    The psychological toll of the pandemic also appears to have been less dramatic, with a continued decline in those seeking treatment for anxiety and depression, particularly among children and young adults.

    A large part of this is likely to be down to the decision to keep primary and lower secondary schools open. Even in upper secondary schools, only children who test positive or have been formally contact-traced are asked to stay home. Entire schools and classes were quarantined very rarely and only in exceptional circumstances if advised by a local infectious disease doctor. That is a marked contrast to the UK, where as many as a million children were sent home from school during the “pingdemic”.

    “We are very happy that we kept our schools open. I think that is very important,” explained Sara Byfors at the Public Health Agency.

    An analysis of national grades published last month found no evidence that the pandemic had negatively affected children’s educational attainment.

    “The fact that grades have stayed stable suggests that both teachers and pupils have handled this tough pandemic year well,” said the agency’s general director, Peter Fredriksson. “No group of pupils seems to have been affected more negatively than any other.” Ms Byfors said the worst impact appeared to have been on the few people who did have to quarantine.

    “We know that it had a big effect on the elderly that were isolated, and we also know that a lot of children were affected if they were in the higher grades that had to have distance learning,” she said.

    However, Dr Bhatt, the University of Copenhagen professor, is keen to point out that for all of its successes, Sweden had more Covid fatalities than its Nordic neighbours that took a more interventionist approach.

    The death rate was between three and four times that of Denmark, and nearly 10 times those of Finland and Norway – suggesting Swedes died who did not need to.

    Dr Bhatt does not think Britain could have copied Sweden’s policies and got the same results.

    With about 23 people per square kilometre, Sweden has about a tenth of the population density of the UK, while about half of Swedish households comprise just one person. In a paper published last week in the science journal Nature, Dr Bhatt, with the former government adviser Prof Neil Ferguson and other researchers, estimated that if the UK had adopted Sweden’s policies, its death rate would have been between two and four times higher.

    “What Sweden did was a pandemic response that involved large numbers of interventions, a considerable amount of reliance on population behaviour and population adherence, and a reliance on the intricacies of what makes Swedish culture Swedish culture,” Dr Bhatt said.

    “If the UK had adopted what Sweden did, I have no doubt that it would have had an absolute disaster.”

    For residents of Malmö, the gamble has paid off. Zaina Vujcics is a podiatrist who runs a small business close to Sorgenfri school that was able to stay open
    throughout the pandemic. She is adamant: “Sweden has had the best coronavirus policy. I am so happy to be living in Sweden.”

    https://www.scb.se/en/About-us/news-and-press-releases/statistics-sweden-to-publish-preliminary-statistics-on-deaths-in-sweden/

    Nearly 15,000 people have died in Sweden “of” Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic 21 months ago.

    In 2018 there were more than 92,000 deaths in Sweden due to influenza alone.
    In 2019 there were fewer than 89,000 deaths in Sweden due to influenza alone.

    Yet life carried on as normal.

    1. While the population per square mile is lower, 87% of Swedes live in urban areas, as opposed to 84% of Britons.
      When will this country ever get a competent government? And before the usual Lib/Lab/Con mantra is spouted, that is the usual stuff on offer.

      1. Never. The voting system is against it. No “new” party has eve succeeded. We are stuffed.

        Wivno was damp yesterday!

          3. In their day both UKIP and the Brexit Party won the most seats in the European Parliament but sadly this was never repeated in general elections. I suppose that this indicates how uncommitted and uninterested most British people are to things outside Britain.

        2. You came as far south as Wivenhoe without popping in to see Annie and I? Shame on you, sir!

    2. He was probably offered a lift for the flight home.
      The question is, how did he travel to the polo match?

    3. The sad thing is that he is too stupid even to begin to understand just how absurd his pseudo-moral, condescending witterings are.

      1. Thick as mince doesn’t even begin to describe him. Thick as prince might be more apt.

    1. No that means two 5 bed detached houses for my husband his parents my parents and our 12 children.

  60. Afghanistan has laid bare the hypocrisy of the anti-war brigade
    Obsessed by imperialism, the Left ignores the suffering at the hands of the Taliban and sees only the ‘arrogance’ of the West
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2021/08/22/afghanistan-has-laid-bare-hypocrisy-anti-war-brigade/

    Good morning my friends. I know I have posted this before but Zoe Strimpel’s article in today’s Telegraph has prompted me to make this BTL comment:

    My father was a very civilised , humane, compassionate and humorous man with a first class degree in Classics from Cambridge where he had rowed in the Lady Margaret Boat and played rugby for his college. He wrote poetry, produced beautiful water colours had a wonderful way with words and was a very loving husband and father. Indeed, he was just the type of man that the woke despise as he was the governor of the Northern Province of the Sudan which had flourished under colonial rule.

    Since the British left the Sudan there have been endless civil wars, genocide, famine, plague, complete collapse of the infrastructure and partition.

    “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.”
    [W.B. Yeats]

  62. 337051+ up ticks,
    One to ponder if given another opportunity to vote and on entering the polling booth is, how far are we away or how close are we, due to the continuing voting pattern to replicating & triggering Tiananmen Square Beijing Mk 2 in the United Kingdom ?.

          2. Not quite Bill, it’s the same in any western society, civilisation, we all come to realise that the political classes including the ‘civil service’ are habitual and pathological liars. Let’s compare Borros although he reads a lot of his pre-empted replies from a card, his party lied through their teeth at run up to the last election. They promised to stop immigration. Cameron lied through his teeth whilst he allowed plane loads to land here from the middle east and be quickly dispersed. We are still suffering the problems that the Bliar himself fostered ans still enjoys the product of. I don’t even want to mention Mayhem the hapless Major or Daft Vader they are all from the same mold of liars.

          3. You’re far too polite the average ozzie wouldn’t call them that. No wonder the gun owner ship took a serious hit a few years ago.

          4. Check out the lady who now runs QLD although born in Oz is of german decent. She is using the Australian army to police her dreams of out right governance.

          6. I worked for a German in Port Elizabeth……… once.
            6 of us shared a large apartment. His business partner a very tall astute and friendly Bavarian packed his bags and drove off in the middle of the night.
            The little chap loved to tell everyone what to do and how to do it. One day he stood in front of me dishing out instructions and I noticed a length of string on the work table/bench. I took hold of it (not what you might think 🤩) and pulled it along the flat surface. Then I push it in the opposite direction and asked him what he had seen. He shook his head and couldn’t answer I explained the obvious, if you push, things become crumpled, when you lead they follow in a straight line. He stormed off. I went back to JHB for Christmas with a girlfriend and her family. I decide to stay in JHB and the little bastard refused to send my baggage back to me. I had to send the police round to the apartment to deal with him.

  63. Having demonstrated once again that the UK is no more than the lapdog of the US, our government continue in their folly. Having been forced to leave Afghanistan in defeat for the fourth time the government turn to displacement activity. “Let’s bring the poor Afghans here”, they cry! Brilliant idea! For this is a bandwagon upon which all may jump. The Labour Party, the Greens, the lefties, the weirdos, the compassionate, the silly, all loudly and universally supported by the MSM (which is ignoring all the other things that we, and the government, should be considering*).

    * Brexit failures, Covid failures, police failures, employment planning failures. The stories about businesses being unable to recruit staff because all the Europeans gave gone home should be investigated in depth. Over 5 million EU citizens have been given right of abode here since March 2019, and another 100,000 are still in the pipeline. So they did not all go home, did they?

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/newslondon/eu-citizens-waiting-months-for-residency-applications-to-be-processed/ar-AALyzwE

      1. Working Ellie ………….wokeing from home.
        What I find particularly ridiculous about these people is one minute they are blabbing on about climate change and carbon footprint. Next they are running out to hug the problem that is causing it. i.e. Mass unfettered and continuous immigration. We do not need any more people in this country. it’s one of the most over populated on the planet.

        1. Not Scotland. If only we could put them there – and more importantly, keep them there.

          1. I’m not so keen on that notion. It is an idea that has been relentlessly driven forward by the last four First Ministers, and Ms Sturgeon is more enthusiastic about it than all the previous First Ministers combined.

    2. “Let’s bring the poor Afghans here”, they cry! Brilliant idea! – – A charity chap on the radio earlier sounded like he wanted EVERY person in Afghanistan to have AUTOMATIC right to come as a refugee !! – – ??? All 40 million?? increase the population by 50% ??? – and of course – wanted more govt funding – – or in plain English – WE have to see our taxes , whether we want it or not – to import another whole country of a culture that openly hates us.
      What are we?? – the worlds biggest – and best for freebies – “refugee” camp – – it damn well seems so – no tents here ( only for Brit homeless – hotels for anyone else ).

    2. So, he plans for only electricity from windmills and solar panels to separate H₂ and O from H₂O which creates another fuel to burn. Renewable energy sources are not always reliable, so how can that industry be reliable and work 24/7?

      2. Now if we used giant airships for transport then they could be used to store green hydrogen whilst the windmills were working. There are occasions of course when they could be blown up out of all proportion. 💥😱

      3. The argument is hydrogen can be manufactured and stored so it can potentially even out peaks in demand, like the old gasometers did with ‘town gas’, which was 60% hydrogen. Whether it can be stored and distributed safely is another matter obviously.

    3. “Blue” hydrogen? Who’da thunk it?

      Hydrogen is the most basic (one atom is made up of: one electron, one proton), and most plentiful, element in the universe. Who knew there could be so many variations on the most basic … thing … in existence?

    1. And as we saw on TV this past week, the mass debaters all 680 of them,………….the lines of Chocolate tea pots, who needs that many ?

  66. Just finished a nice cooked brunch. Treacle black bacon, eggs from Daisy ( the hen 3 doors up ) brown portobello mushrooms, tomatoes and toast all washed down with very fine Italian coffee. It’ll set me up for the day until dinner this evening .

      1. 🙂 I make a very good cold venison picnic too .
        In fact cooking game is a favourite ( and brunches).

    1. As confirmed apparently by these studies. ( I must confess I haven’t read the entire list of articles)
      1. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.18.21257385v1.full-text
      2. https://swprs.org/face-masks-evidence/
      3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29395560/
      4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32590322/
      5. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15340662/
      6. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26579222/
      7. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31159777/
      8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4420971/
      9. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.01.20049528v1
      10. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.30.20047217v2
      11. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2006372
      12. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2749214
      13. https://www.cmaj.ca/content/188/8/567
      14. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5779801/
      15. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19216002/
      16. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4420971/
      17. https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/65/11/1934/4068747
      18. https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/bio/23/2/23_61/_pdf/-char/en
      19. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01658736
      20. https://www.journalofhospitalinfection.com/article/0195-6701(91)90148-2/pdf90148-2/pdf)
      21. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2493952/pdf/annrcse01509-0009.pdf
      22. https://web.archive.org/web/20200717141836/https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/04/commentary-masks-all-covid-19-not-based-sound-data
      23. https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25776/rapid-expert-consultation-on-the-effectiveness-of-fabric-masks-for-the-covid-19-pandemic-april-8-2020
      24. https://www.nap.edu/read/25776/chapter/1#6

  68. Three men sought by police in Birmingham Gay Village attack probe. 22 August 2021.

    Police have released details of three men they want to speak to over an attack against two gay men in Birmingham.

    The victims, identified only as Rob and Patrick, were outside the Missing Bar in Birmingham’s Gay Village on 15 August, when they were shouted at and then attacked with bottles.

    Patrick was knocked unconscious during the attack while Rob, his partner, suffered from several deep cuts.

    Police have said that they are looking to speak to Sohail Khan, 24, Mosin Mahmood, 31 and Ishaaq Ayaz, 21, who are all from Birmingham, in relation to the assault.

    One contrasts this with the indifference to the Mass Rape of White Girls in Rotherham et al. Nevertherless I hope Owen Jones and his pals have read this since it is a harbinger of what is to come and not restricted to gays either. Casual violence as exhibited against the Jewish Gentleman as shown on these threads yesterday will soon become the norm. Girls will not be able to walk the streets without conforming to Islamic Dress protocols without the risk of assault. Whole neighbourhoods and then cities will become NO GO areas for Kuffars. From there we will progress to demonstrations and insurrections. The surrender of the UK Government will be somewhat of a relief!

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/birmingham-gay-village-attack-men-sought-b1906706.html

    1. So the police are not able to trace these men? Or are the police unwilling to carry out raids at 4 o’clock in the morning in muslim ‘no-go” areas?
      Which is it?

  69. Three men sought by police in Birmingham Gay Village attack probe. 22 August 2021.

    Police have released details of three men they want to speak to over an attack against two gay men in Birmingham.

    The victims, identified only as Rob and Patrick, were outside the Missing Bar in Birmingham’s Gay Village on 15 August, when they were shouted at and then attacked with bottles.

    Patrick was knocked unconscious during the attack while Rob, his partner, suffered from several deep cuts.

    Police have said that they are looking to speak to Sohail Khan, 24, Mosin Mahmood, 31 and Ishaaq Ayaz, 21, who are all from Birmingham, in relation to the assault.

    One contrasts this with the indifference to the Mass Rape of White Girls in Rotherham et al. Nevertherless I hope Owen Jones and his pals have read this since it is a harbinger of what is to come and not restricted to gays either. Casual violence as exhibited against the Jewish Gentleman as shown on these threads yesterday will soon become the norm. Girls will not be able to walk the streets without conforming to Islamic Dress protocols without the risk of assault. Whole neighbourhoods and then cities will become NO GO areas for Kuffars. From there we will progress to demonstrations and insurrections. The surrender of the UK Government will be a relief!

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/birmingham-gay-village-attack-men-sought-b1906706.html

        1. I have an early 1970s Readers Digest box set of almost everything he sang, I wasn’t so keen on him when he started dressing in silly tassely shiny clothing and making films.
          We went to see a musical in London a few years ago called the Million Dollar Quartet
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Million_Dollar_Quartet_(musical) Based on the early Sun Records studio.
          There were a lot of elderly people in the theatre that evening and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

          1. Presley’s voiced peaked to perfection in 1968/69. His seminal albums were From Elvis in Memphis and Memphis to Vegas/Vegas to Memphis, both recorded in the same session in two days in early 1969.

            Prior to then his voice was still quite raw. Afterwards, in the silly romper-suit era prior to his early death, his voice got weaker by the month, mostly caused by his idiotic diet and dependence on chemical stimulants.

          4. I sold an early Sun record Elvis to a boy I fancied at school.
            A whole shilling – that he ‘forgot’.

          5. What would have been worth now Anne ?
            Likewise, I gave away all my Beatles albums when I first went to live abroad, some of them in good condition would have been worth a lot of money now.

    6. She’s right.

      You know the worst bit? Twenty years ago I wouldn’t have countenanced it. Now? It is necessary. More improtantly, government must be brought to heel and whenever it refuses to do what we demand the senior civil servants are removed. If the MP continues to disobey, well, they are removed and I don’t think a few weeks in stocks would be inappropriate.

  71. Nicked #HateFacts…….

    “Can you imagine any indigenous Brits in their right minds going on
    holiday to Afghanistan? No, me neither. That is why this talk of
    “British Nationals” trapped in Afghanistan is just so much crap. These
    are bogus asylum seekers on benefit funded trips to Afghanistan seeing
    just how many other freeloaders they can get into soft touch Britain.”

    1. There is news of a Canadian woman who is also trapped in Afghanistan. She had flown out there to get married and now cannot leave. I have to wonder how Canadian she really is – is this an arranged marriage?

      One thing is for certain, with Trudeau in charge, her chance of an evacuation flight are not high.

      1. I’d go for the arranged bit – a way of getting the groom – and the rest of the family? – into Canada – or isn’t Canada as stupid as the UK?

    2. The Beeb interviewed a young ‘British’ male who had gone out to AfGaff to get married.
      (Pause for thought)

    3. Might well be charidee workers and people working for the UK government, civilians attached to the military, and so on. Why they took so long to leave I don’t know – either stupidity or idiot employers. We had an evacuation plan from Libya in case of necessity, and a Corporate security guy who kept a close eye on the situation through liaising with the Utenriksdepartement about Libya.
      So, if the shit hit the airconditioning, we were ready to leave. In the case of the Stan, a deal for the west’s forces to pull out would have been the go signal, not wait until the world falls apart.

    1. Britain’s offer to Afghan refugees is not ‘generous’. It’s blindly inhumane.

      Let’s try and rephrase this……….The British Goverment’s offer to Afghan Refugees is not generous. It’s blindly inhumane in reference to what the British people want.

      1. For goodness sake, man. We’re only here to be taxed and blown up. Do get your priorities right.

        1. I am just remembering that it took Spain 400 years to get rid of the muslims. Oh well we warned them.

    2. It would be better for them to be re-settled in Scotland – in the mountainous, uninhabitable parts (of which there are many). They’d all feel properly at home.

    3. Yoo-hoo ……. Vlad. If time’s hanging a bit heavy on your hands, pop over and sort out Blighty. Pretty please.

    5. I agree. It is inhumane. The Guardian should pay for all gimmigrants in Dover and imported from Afghan. Then Owen Jones should be encouraged – at gunpoint – to host 20 of them. Toynbee’s second home should be sold and gimmigrants housed there – with all proceeds going to Help for Heroes – but she will pay for them.

      This is appropriate. As the Left fifth column are the ones complaining, it is right that they stand up and pay the costs. Anything else would be, well, hypocrisy!

    6. Given it’s the Grauniad, you’d expect a bit of fantasy, but the line in italics is deluded, even for them.

  73. Group behind GB News advertising boycott accused of breaching company laws

    Stop Funding Hate is registered as a Community Interest Company, but these organisations must not be formed ‘for political purposes’

    By Edward Malnick SUNDAY POLITICAL EDITOR
    21 August 2021 • 7:00pm

    The campaign group behind the advertising boycott of GB News has been accused of breaching company laws by engaging in “political activity”

    In a letter to Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, ten Conservative MPs called for an investigation into Stop Funding Hate, which they said advocates a “cancel culture” by pressuring firms into pulling advertisements from the new broadcaster and several tabloid newspapers.

    The group’s website criticises GB News’s “anti-woke direction”.

    Stop Funding Hate is registered as a Community Interest Company (CIC), a type of firm intended to “benefit the community”.

    The structure is designed to make it easier for groups to attract charitable donations, but CICs must not be formed “for political purposes” and any political activities “should be closely related to the non-political community benefit activities which they are set up to carry out”.

    In the letter to Mr Kwarteng, the Tory backbenchers, led by Brendan Clarke Smith, state: “We are concerned that since 2017 the campaign group Stop Funding Hate has been exploiting the prestige that is afforded by CIC status, and the privileged access that CICs have to many grants of taxpayers money, for overtly political means.”

    Legal obligations
    In June, it emerged that The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust had given £50,000 to Stop Funding Hate. The charity said the sum was a “a restricted grant” for a project “to encourage responsible media through an ethical advertising code”.

    It also said it takes “great care with our grant-making and we carry out detailed due diligence and monitoring”.

    A spokesman for the Department of Business said: “We expect all Community Interest Companies to act in accordance with their legal obligations, and are clear that they should not be formed for political purposes, or have engagement in political activities among their main objectives.

    “Decisions about whether a company meets the criteria to become – and continue to be – a Community Interest Company lie with the independent regulator who can investigate complaints and take action if necessary.”

    ‘Incidental to activities’
    Official guidance states that a CIC may “engage in political activities if its engagement in them can reasonably be considered as incidental to activities which a reasonable person might consider are carried on for the benefit of the community, and which are not themselves incidental to political activities.

    “For example, a CIC that uses a community centre for activities, which benefit local people, may be able to lobby local government for a grant to improve the facilities available in the building.”

    Stop Funding Hate describes itself as a “community-driven campaign” whose “supporter community includes people from across UK society, united by a shared commitment to overcoming hatred and challenging all forms of discrimination”.

    The campaign was launched “amid a surge of anti-migrant and anti-Muslim headlines” and its goal is “to make hate unprofitable”.

    Cancel culture
    But, in their letter to Mr Kwarteng, a version of which was also sent to Louise Smyth, the Regulator of Community Interest Companies, the MPs state: “As it continued to whip up a cancel culture, and pressures brands into boycotting news outlets, we believe it is important to reassess whether Stop Funding Hate is the sort of organisation that represents the best of Britain’s charitable sector.”

    They add: “Whilst it is not clear to us, nor to our constituents … whose interest an attack on media plurality is meant to be serving, what we are certain of is that its current tactics are against the spirit and the letter of CIC legislation surrounding political activity.

    “Rather than advocate on behalf of a group in society Stop Funding Hate is doing the exact inverse of what CICs are permitted to do. It is proactively advocating against a group in society, namely the hundreds of thousands of people who tune into GB News every day, and the 60 per cent of the population who do not want to see brands engage in cancel culture of boycotts of TV stations.”

    Stop Funding Hate did not respond to requests for comment.

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

    Thomas Mein
    21 Aug 2021 7:31PM
    I think it is about time to stop following the Blair/Brown line and to stop using taxpayers hard earned money to fund these mega corporations that self decide to call themselves charities.

    If people wish to fund these businesses then let them self donate but stop this waste of taxpayers money without their consent.

    Fay Kendall
    22 Aug 2021 11:22AM
    The Common Purpose UK is a dubious organisation given charitable status by Gordon Brown in 2010.

    Its turnover is £12million. It pays no tax. It oversees ‘courses’ for all public sector employees (and a lot of private ones).

    It remains cloaked in mystery and hidden from view because its sister organisation is the Media Standards Trust which allows NO public scrutiny on what it’s up to.

    Its members call themselves ‘graduates’ in order not to have to publicly declare a ‘membership interest’ status.

    The Common Purpose second and third-rate ‘graduates’ are crawling in every public institution.

    ‘Stop Funding Hate’ is an offshoot of this knotweed society-destroyer.

    Until charitable status is rescinded from The Common Purpose UK itself all the offshoots (like SFH) will continue to sprout and spread the poison.

    1. The sooner Draab and all the other charlatans pretending to be a “government” join Halfcock in the wilderness, the better

  75. Putin: we don’t want Afghan militants in Russia. 22 August 2021.

    President Vladimir Putin on Sunday rejected the idea of sending people evacuation from Afghanistan to countries near Russia, saying he did not want “militants showing up here under cover of refugees”, Russian news agencies reported.

    Putin criticised an idea of some Western countries to relocate refugees from Afghanistan to neighbouring Central Asian countries while their visas to the United States and Europe are being processed.

    “Does that mean that they can be sent without visas to those countries, to our neighbours, while they themselves (the West) don’t want to take them without visas?”

    “Why is there such a humiliating approach to solving the problem?” he said.

    Don’t you just love him?

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-conflict-russia-putin/putin-we-dont-want-afghan-militants-in-russia-idUSKBN2FN07H

      1. The flaw in left wing dogma is the assumption that bad culture is the product of poverty. The reality is that bad culture produces poverty.

    2. Has he a spot of spare time to nip over to the Kent beaches?
      The bracing air could restore some colour to his cheeks.

  77. Biden must go! 22 August 2021.

    Joe Biden is unfit to be President of the United States. It was obvious when he was running for office that he lacks the physical stamina and mental acuity for the job. It has become increasingly obvious since January that the part-time President has either hidden from the media or stumbled through the kind of scripted press conferences that Americans rightly used to deride as the hallmark of banana republics.

    It’s that simple. The buck really does stop with the President. The world has always seen Biden’s incapacity, and now the American people can see it too. He carries direct responsibility for a disaster so undeniable that even a partisan media can no longer deny it. He can neither speak truthfully nor accurately. Not so much the emperor with no clothes, as Lear’s fool on the heath, naked and shivering as the kingdom comes to the ‘great confusion’.

    Yes! Strange! Everyone but the Democratic Party and the MSM could see this before the election! The problem is who to replace him with. Kamala Harris the Marxist Candidate? Not really an improvement is it? The best course is probably to cancel the election and restore Trump to office but barring that let’s have a military takeover.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-buck-stops-with-biden

    4. Obviously didn’t learn from the fiasco of the Danes killing all the farmed mink.

  79. 337051+ up ticks,
    That could prove to be a collectors item, that is an interview about the dangers of islamic ideology betwixt charlie lynton / nigel farage on
    GB news.

  82. To make your day even worse:

    “‘We should give them a chance’: UK Sharia Council scholar says the Taliban have ‘grown up’ and ‘every Muslim I know’ is celebrating their return as she accuses Western media of ‘misrepresenting’ their views on women’s rights”

    Says Khola Hasan, from the UK’s Islamic Sharia Council,….

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9916147/We-chance-UK-Sharia-Council-scholar-insists-Taliban-grown-up.html

    1. Good afternoon, Bill

      ‘….. the Taliban have ‘grown up and every Muslim I know’ is celebrating their return

      A terribly horrible but probably completely true statement. Should this not give our politicians cause to think carefully before allowing more and more Muslims to enter Britain?

      1. I don’t think “allowing” them is the term i’d use Richard. NOTHING is being done to stop them – 600 in one day is not incompetence – it is blatantly deliberate. I assume there is a threat that the govt haven’t told us about. The UK equivalent of 9/11 perhaps ? Poison the water supply?

        2. I see Pretty Useless is saying we should take care of those who are most in need. Wake up, you useless bint! The people who are most in need are those indigenous Christians who are about to have their culture, not to mention their lives, put in jeopardy by your deliberate open doors policy.

        1. What about illegal immigrants in the channel

          As I suggested last week – how about a scheme that for every genuine Afghan refugee we allow in we expel 10 illegal immigrants.

    2. She clearly doesn’t know many in Afghanistan then. Clinging onto the side of a plane doesn’t sound like celebrating to me.

    4. A UK Islamic Sharia Council scholar has claimed that the Taliban have ‘grown up’ and British Muslims are ‘celebrating’ the return of the jihadi group to power.

      I’m sure that they are! I can remember the singing and dancing when the Twin Towers were hit! Quickly erased of course!

    7. ‘Grown up’…?

      What, they were just behaving like naughty children when they were burning people alive and pushing people off tall buildings? Chopping off heads just for a bit of light entertainment?

      They are murderous lying cowards. Carpet bomb the ‘effing lot of them.

      Good afternoon, your worship.

      1. Don’t know how these infidel magicians do it – – they saw a woman in half – no screaming, no blood – and she’s ok afterwards. We do the same, lots of screaming and blood, and they die.

    8. I agree entirely. She should be sent to Afghan as our ambassador.

      This ‘sharia council’. It must not receive a penny in tax payer funding. Nor should any other Muslim institution.

    1. If these people want this county to be like the one they left, why did they leave?

      We should refuse this nonsense, demand absolute integration – refusal being met with deportation.

      2. We should just adopt the way countries like Saudi Arabia behave, with regard to immigrants: Slavery, misognany, no religious freedom etc

      3. They want the country and infrastructure- then they will turn it into the ****hole they come from. They are incapable of living in, building, or making a decent country. The problem is THEM. They want the infrastructure, water, sewage system, roads, etc etc. They are here for what WE have built. Without us, once we have been eradicated, they will be lost. Of course, the fact there will be none of us, will be our fault – not their’s – nothing ever is.

      4. Make Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, etc acceptable but ISLAM illegal. They do that the other way round in Saudi!

      5. I’ve just suffered the muslim woman who happened to win an amateur race show (it was formerly known as ITV Racing). They spent more time on interviewing her, getting her to choose the best turned out, talking about her family, showing “behind the scenes” pieces she’d been in than they did showing the horses and analysing the races. Meanwhile she was wrapped up with a rag round her head and had the nerve to have the union flag on her sleeve. I wonder if the gushing commentator (yes, you, Olly Bell) realises that she despises kuffars and thinks they are lower than cattle.

    2. This report is from 2018.

      Blackburn Rovers open new multi-faith room at ground

      https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/16412722.blackburn-rovers-open-new-multi-faith-room-ground/

      New signings on their first day at Anytown FC looking for the ‘multi-faith room’…
      First player: “Where is the musalla?”
      Club official: “Down the corridor, turn right at the blue door, through the…Oh, it’s much easier if I show you!”
      Second player: “Where is the chapel?”
      Club official: “Oh. You’re the bible-bashing t**t, are you? Find it yourself.”

    3. This report is from 2018.

      Blackburn Rovers open new multi-faith room at ground

      https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/16412722.blackburn-rovers-open-new-multi-faith-room-ground/

      New signings on their first day at Anytown FC looking for the ‘multi-faith room’…
      First player: “Where is the musalla?”
      Club official: “Down the corridor, turn right at the blue door, through the…Oh, it’s much easier if I show you!”
      Second player: “Where is the chapel?”
      Club official: “Oh. You’re the bible-bashing t**t, are you? Find it yourself.”

  86. “SIR – Matt Ridley’s article on grey squirrels highlighted an important problem for our tree-planting ambitions, but also identified a practical solution.

    The Government plans to increase planting to 30,000 hectares a year by 2024, as part of its goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. This will have limited success unless steps are taken against the invasive North American grey squirrel, which destroys broadleaved trees, meaning that they capture relatively little carbon dioxide.

    However, there is now technology available to solve this problem using gene drive. Targeted populations can be successfully controlled by breeding infertility, with no risk to other species.

    Opinion polls carried out by the European Squirrel Initiative show that a significant majority of British people both recognise the damage caused by the grey squirrel to our native flora and fauna, and support the idea of non-lethal control, ultimately leading to eradication of the grey squirrel.

    The Government must act now to support this work, save our native red squirrels, and ensure the viability of planting trees for the future. It will also avoid millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money being wasted on grants.

    Graham Taylor
    Chairman, European Squirrel Initiative”     (That’s a larf in itself)

    I suggest we invite squirrels to come for a vaccination...

    2. Red v. Grey = racist/colourist. Both are delightful.

      Graham Taylor
      Chairman, European Squirrel Initiative
      He’s nuts….

      1. I’ve never seen a red in the UK in the wild. Saw loads when I was in France a few years back.

        1. They are still around in Northumberland, parts of Wales and also the Isle of Wight and Brownsea Island. Probably in Scotland as well.

    4. We have no grey squirrels here.

      We have two families of reds – one which lives in a walnut tree to the north of our house and another which lives in another walnut tree to the south.

  88. In case any NOTTLer would like to vent their feelings about useless face masks, here’s an email from Smile Free campaign

    “On 19 July, the legal requirement to wear a face mask in community settings such as shops was lifted in England.

    We know that prior to this, disabled people were amongst those routinely harassed in public for not wearing face coverings…

    …and we are keen to learn how supermarkets have responded to the removal of the legal mask requirement.

    >>> Please vote here now to tell us how welcoming your supermarket has been since 19 July (takes just a few seconds)…
    (the link is https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSegwrAB26V8OsNn67ZNYFXkSQWQ8sDMgMJ6etUuEFD73O9Nug/viewform )

    Please rate ANY supermarket you have personal experience of, by end WEDNESDAY 25 August. Thank you!”

    1. I was in Matalan recently and all the customers were wearing face nappies. Except me. I had a peek in FarmFoods next door and no one was wearing one. Don’t know what that says about the demographic.

      1. Last week the MR had to go to the dentist. I called in five minutes later to let her know where I was parked. One of the harridans on the “reception” said – “Where is your face covering*?” I replied, “It’s OK – I’m exempt.” “Oh,” she said…looking baffled!!

        * I notice quite a few Full Covidians talk about “face coverings” rather than masks. Funny that!

        1. Indeed. I imagine Taliban dentists will now be posing the same question to women in Afghanistan.

          1. Not – apparently – in medical places.

            “However, Public Health England’s infection prevention control guidelines and hospital visiting guidance are set to remain in place for all staff and visitors.

            That means NHS visitor guidance will stay in place across all health services including hospitals, GP practices, dental practices, optometrists and pharmacies to ensure patients and staff are protected.

            Staff, patients and visitors will also be expected to continue to follow social distancing rules when visiting any care setting as well as using face coverings, mask and other personal protection equipment.”

          3. You are dead right. The Govt’s website now says:

            “You are no longer legally required to wear a face covering in any setting. Therefore you do not need to rely on an exemption if you need one.”

            But you are “advised” etc etc etc

            So the Full Covidians will wear one 24/7 – and cross the road if a normal, unmasked person walks towards them…..

          5. I walked in to ASDA Pharmacy without a mask. Getting treatment in a hospital situation might be more difficult but i didn’t take one to the Acute Medical Unit and no one said anything.

            I expect they are more aware of the exemptions unlike Dental receptionists.

          6. When I went to the dental practice last week for an appointment with the hygenist – they still have a locked door and let you in at their convenience – I was handed a mask as I walked in. Upstairs with the hygenist – she said “You can take it off now” – she would have had trouble cleaning my teeth if I’d kept it on. It’s purely a charade.

            I didn’t wear one when I went to the optician’s last month, but we have complied when visiting the hospital for appointments.

          7. I was handed one when I went to see MOH (for the last time, as it turned out, although I wasn’t to know that); I said, “I’m exempt” and the bloke put it back in the drawer. MOH didn’t know me without a mask, with would have been completely ridiculous.

    2. I never wore a mask and I use Tesco and M & S. for those interested, M & S fruit is far superiour to Tesco and not that much more expensive. Anyway, back to masks. All I had to say was that I suffered from COPD and that was that. Tesco was especially good about it and gave me a “lanyard” or whatever it’s called green with sunflowers off their own bat simply out of consideration for me. Used to chuck that on in situations where I wasn’t sure and it was like a magic ‘get out of jail free’ card.

      1. I complied and wore the hated masks until I decided I’d had enough.
        I’ve never been challenged in the local Morrisons where I do most of my shopping. Even so, most people in there are still wearing the damned things. People have been conditioned, and scared witless that they will die if they don’t wear one – or worse still, that they will be killing someone else.

        1. In our Morrisons virtually none of the staff wear them.

          Most of the customers do still – though I have noticed more rebels (aka sane people).

          1. About half and half of the staff, but most of the customers still wear them, even though we don’t have to.

          2. I regard them in the same way as the morbidly obese and people with tattoos. Each to their own – just don’t expect me to do the same.

        2. Saw somebody yesterday driving a car while wearing a mask. You just can’t help some people.

      2. Once I realised I could download an exemption card I stopped wearing a face covering (actually a bandana – I wouldn’t wear a mask as such).

    3. As one acute observer pointed out – why would anyone want to wear a warm moist petri dish covering?

      1. Fear and ignorance. For a minority, a sense they’re helping others, but in the majority? Plain ignorance in thinking a mask protects them.

    1. Perhaps the authorities are making sure he has a positive Covid test before releasing the body?

      1. Maybe the Ozzies were tougher nuts to crack – the emotional manipulation seems to have done the trick with the compliant British population.

    3. Time is ripe to weed out all those Common Purpose cretins who have infiltrated the police and the Home Office.

      Give them a few months of reflection perched atop Rockall.

    6. I thought that was a photoshopped joke at first glance.

      They have a point though – that car is definitely a hate crime. Where can I report it?

      1. Joseph William Mallard Turner?

        He’d be Turner-ing in his grave if he could see the rubbish that lot pass off as art…

  98. 337051+ up ticks,
    Along the same lines as standing down your candidates in a General Election, I would say,

    Joe Biden’s chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal has ‘given a huge boost to militant Islam’ says former ambassador
    Mr Biden is preparing to address the nation for the third time in a week, in an attempt to quell the growing chorus of criticism

      2. 337051+ up ticks,
        Afternoon A,
        The sad thing is among the multitude of seven in the mass gathering only four have working hearing appliances.

  99. I don’t know where to start with this, the sentiment may be fine but I would have serious doubts about the credibility the organiser given his grasp of simple English, the fund is standing at £21k as I type.

    https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-are-own-first?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=p_cp%20share-sheet&fbclid=IwAR0voXQL1YdpMq-08MMwHSXABc7bFrUCG6N59aQkNm1r_6vmnpf78x3l4Uo
    https://www.facebook.com/manbehavingdadly/posts/4559375017408518

    1. In a few weeks time

      “Police investigate mysterious disappearance of GoFundMe organiser and many thousands of pounds…”

      3. Hah. I did that quite successfully and Plod couldn’t find his own arse with both hands tied behind his back.

    2. I cease to be surprised by the ignorance and illiteracy of my fellow Britons.

      It’s almost as if tens of thousands of pounds spent on educating them was entirely pointless.

      1. I’m not entirely convinced that the organiser of this fund is of this country or even planet, if you read into the explanation there seems to be a rant against Jeremy Corben, while this is reasonable on every level I’m wondering if the organiser is even in this century.

      2. I’m not entirely convinced that the organiser of this fund is of this country or even planet, if you read into the explanation there seems to be a rant against Jeremy Corben, while this is reasonable on every level I’m wondering if the organiser is even in this century.

    3. It is clearly a thick, wishy-washy, bleeding-heart do-gooder. On a quilting group, I noticed they were asking members to make quilts for Afghan ‘refugees’ to show the ‘vulnerable’ adults and children that they are welcome and cared about. Not in my name they aren’t.

      1. And now someone in the next village is asking people to knit or crochet blankets, mittens and other items. She has even hired the village hall for an afternoon so must be expecting quite a few to turn up.

      2. First world thoughts. And exploiting Afghan refugees to virtue signal their fuzzy sentiment.

        1. One son’s ex grandmother is a liebour voting, very churchy, do-gooder Christian type who thinks slammers should be welcomed as they are ‘just ordinary people like us.’ She is one of those who can’t explain why the slammer ‘community’ does not widely condemn the crimes of grooming and terr or acts committed in the name of their cult.
          In-laws to another family member are Jewish. The elderly father welcomes slammer ‘migrants’/refugees, raises funds for them and works in goodness knows what other ways.
          Both are very genuine in their beliefs but so naïve, and refuse to acknowledge the dangers posed by these stone age groups. They will be completely shocked if/when the truth hits them.

          1. I simply do not understand these people. I don’t know where their brains are, do they have any? No sense of history, even recent history, and of how the world really works. There are so many out there who say “if we’re nice to them, they will be nice back to us… that’s all you have to do, be nice to them.” They have no insight, they do not see that their ‘niceness’ is viewed by those from a different culture as weakness to be exploited; they do not understand that islam is a political theocracy masquerading as a religion intent on world conquest and domination. They think they are ‘like us’ and as such will be grateful for the largesse we throw at them. They accept it but they are not grateful. They are not like us. They are from a different culture with many different life priorities and experiences which has shaped their minds.

          2. Oh, you have expressed that so well, and echoed my thoughts. Definitely the ‘if we are nice to them ….’ deluded fools.
            Their ‘culture’ is never, and never will be, compatible with civilised countries.
            I can partly see where the Jewish person’s thinking comes from. His grandparents escaped from either Russia or very eastern Europe a hundred years ago and they made very successful new lives for themselves in Canada. But, unlike the moslum migrants (legal or not), they were decent, law-abiding people who worked hard and made the effort to fully integrate. They did not intend harm, mayhem and takeover.

          3. So few people understand that islam means submission and that lying is not just not unacceptable, it’s encouraged. They think they have the same values as us and they definitely do NOT.

  100. I don’t know where to start with this, the sentiment may be fine but I would have serious doubts about the credibility the organiser given his grasp of simple English, the fund is standing at £21k as I type.

    https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-are-own-first?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=p_cp%20share-sheet&fbclid=IwAR0voXQL1YdpMq-08MMwHSXABc7bFrUCG6N59aQkNm1r_6vmnpf78x3l4Uo
    https://www.facebook.com/manbehavingdadly/posts/4559375017408518

      2. HMG is really being extremely stupid. Again. They are almost certainly right about the tests that have been done, and the potential risk that this ugly animal carries.

        However, the self-obsessed owner wants them to do another test. Rather than spends thousands on legal fees and get – another – shocking press, the minister – George Useless – should simply have said, “Fine, we’ll do one at our expense – your vet can observe etc etc…”

        Then, if the result was what the govt predicted, the animal is painlessly destroyed. If it isn’t – it lives.

        Simples.

        1. That requires a tiny bit of thought, Bill, something absent from government for many years.

          1. Why on earth not? Another year, and everyone will have completely forgotten New Zealand…

          3. Eaten each other you mean? Chuck another politician on the barbie, Sheila. We got beer to drink and it’s gettin’ warm…

      1. Or even isolating it like they did with people. It’s not as if the owner is Irish and will put it in Tesco Lasagne.

  103. That’s me gone for another day. Sort of sunny now. They SAY it will be a nice sunny week. But they SAID it would take weeks for the Taliban to reach Kabul…

    Have a spiffing evening burning your face masks.

    A demain

    1. Don’t waste the opportunity…Burn your bra and corset at the same time. You know it makes sense.

  104. Slow cooked leg of lamb Shwarma marinaded for 24 hours. Focaccia flatties stuffed with rocket, pickled cucumber, tomato and Zhoug. The ragheads are at least good for something.

    1. Dull cheese salad here, made with ingredients bast their “best before” date – but I can’t bear to throw them out, I hate the waste.

        1. I cleared the fridge of post-dated stuff earlier (Tomorrow is Bin Day). Pride of place went to half a tub of coleslaw, ‘use by’ 8 Jul 2021. Not to mention some furry onions and carrots…

        2. Lettuce gets a bit floppy. Beetroot was a combination of soft & tough. Onion was OK, cucumber was rather soft. Cheese dry and dull. All masked by slathering in Thousand Island dressing.
          Not sure if they ever had BB dates, but they were definitely past their prime.
          Fresh plums for dessert were heavenly!

      3. Since we seem to be comparing menus, it was chicken chow mein here with egg fried rice and the remains of yesterday’s Chilean Merlot.

    2. We had lamb shoulder, roasted veggies, new potatoes fresh from the garden, runner beans…….. starter was smoked salmon & the remains of last night’s prawns. With a bottle of “All out” Merlot – we didn’t finish that.

    3. You ruined it with the damned vile rocket! What’s wrong with watercress? You’ve got oceans of the stuff in ‘Ampshire!

  105. Biden retires to his basement in Delaware, Harris scoots off to Vietnam. Both should be arrested and tried for treason.

    Where are Whitty, Vallance and Van Tam? My guess is South America for plastic surgery and to hide in an attempt to swerve around an impending Nuremberg 2.

    I read that Romania has closed its ‘vaccination’ centres. Apparently there is no uptake for the experimental shots.

    How history repeats itself. A Rockerfeller and another Gates monster were the prime movers in injecting the poison which caused the erroneously named Spanish Flu into US soldiers in WWI. Most died then from bacterial pneumonia, a combination of poison and masking.

  107. ‘Night All

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/25277dab41ea4e8382ea5cdd9556a8ca763fe51a56f587a0f6a98cc255c69c67.jpg

    https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/082/664/137/original/1987591f96f8ed6e.png

    Ain’t that the truth files………..

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6235524f6c521c45a804efd44d0f0e5e7763c8510c94ae4c769c16c5be50bbf1.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/53ccfb4719db3afdf198a009d73d3673987a33f66235a5e68e384aa0c2264771.jpg

    https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/082/642/946/original/cdf2dc304fce9f17.jpeg

    Finally,a shocker

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/becc41a852e618a3b2b77066dedb9b7c3c148391abaea3779f45c7f8788445be.jpg

  108. Evening, all. On my way back from church I overheard two blokes talking about what a shambles Afghanistan was; their general consensus of opinion was that “they will all be over here” and “we don’t want them” (those who worked for us excepted) because “we’re a small island” and are full. Nottlers. we are not alone!

    1. Correct – don’t forget we are also about to be joined by 50,000+ Hong Kongers…

  109. Hells Bells:-

    Rescue dogs shot dead by NSW council due to COVID-19 restrictions
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/rescue-dogs-shot-dead-by-nsw-council-due-to-covid-19-restrictions-20210821-p58ksh.html

    Apparently they were shot to prevent volunteers from going to the rescue shelter to feed them.

    Bourke Shire Council, in the state’s north-west, killed the dogs to prevent volunteers at a Cobar-based animal shelter from travelling to pick up the animals last week, according to council’s watchdog, the Office of Local Government.

    1. The COVID numbers for Australia are:
      44,000 positive tests and 961 deaths for a population of 25,5 million. That’s a survival rate of 99.996%.
      Yet the daft buggers are wetting themselves, almost continually.
      For comparison, the survival rate for the UK is 99,768%, Sweden is 99.857% and Norway 99,985%.

    2. The COVID numbers for Australia are:
      44,000 positive tests and 961 deaths for a population of 25,5 million. That’s a survival rate of 99.996%.
      Yet the daft buggers are wetting themselves, almost continually.
      For comparison, the survival rate for the UK is 99,768%, Sweden is 99.857% and Norway 99,985%.

    4. If I were an Australian my biggest worry would be their politicians, they all seem to have become demented. Now they are shooting anti-lockdown demonstrators with rubber bullets! I can’t imagine that when and if elections are held there again many of them will remain in office.

    6. That should be berk shire council. They deserve the same treatment they meted out to those dogs. The taliban will be doing the same to the Nowzad dogs in Kabul if they get to find them. Pen (an ex-marine) is trying to save them. I don’t hold out much hope.

    7. One can only hope, BoB, that at least one of those callous arseholes dies for want of a rescue dog.

  110. Boris’s G7 meeting should not consider the matter of Joe Biden’s departure, merely the means thereof …

      1. If that was was put to a poll today – and assuming Americans view international news – I wouldn’t be surprised if many voters changed heir mind.

    3. Boris should call off his G7 meeting. He is already exposed as a superfluous charlatan, fraud and black guard. He has no morals and no ethics. I hope and anticipate that this fat Turk monster will rot in hell.

  111. Catastrophic flooding struck the small towns of Waverly and McEwen Tennessee,Saturday 21st August, where as much as 17 inches of rain fell over a 24-hour period. Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis reports ten dead and 40 missing after the flash floods

    1. Clucking bell. Utter savages. The sort of person who should be rapidly returned to the foreign land she came from before they start breeding and adding more useless dross to the country.

  126. On this day in 1485 – Lancastrian forces under Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, defeated Yorkist forces under Richard III of England at the Battle of Bosworth Field, decisively ending the Wars of the Roses.

    On the outskirts of Bosworth there is a sign which reads: ‘Danger of Death’ if only Richard had paid attention….

  127. Evening all. Went for a walk around a small lake today and, along the way, came upon a small marquee with 3 people in it, one wearing a mask, another with one round her chin, the other maskless.

    “Would you like some free testing kits?” One of them chirped. Whatever for, says I and, with that, Alf entered a discussion with a medical student (who was very intelligent according to one of her companions) and the young man occasionally chipping in. The third one just took a back seat. I tried to say why would I need to take a test to see if I had a virus when I wasn’t feeling unwell? I had to walk away in the end, not able to keep calm as Alf does. How much are these tests costing us just to hand out willy nilly? Never mind all the blasted notices everywhere about “keeping safe” and so many millions have had the jabs, why not you?

    1. I don’t fancy these planned finger-prick tests for antibodies. No way will I have one.

    2. You my dear are invited to afternoon tea. We will have tea and cake and use Alf as shield against idiocy. Lucky he is so big because there is a lot of it…

  129. Goodnight all Nottlers. Bedtime music: Two Sleepy People – Tatiana Eva-Marie & Terry Waldo. Two Sleepy People” is a song by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics by Frank Loesser. It was written for the film “The Big Broadcast of 1938” and performed by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross.. Filmed by Matthew Farrell for Turtle Bay Records. Vocals – Tatiana Eva-Marie, Piano – Terry Waldo, Trumpet – Mike Davis, Clarinet – Ricky Alexander, Trombone – Jim Fryer, Guitar – Nick Russo, Bass – Brian Nalepka, Drums – Jay Lepley
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BqR6WE57iA

    1. Absolutely beautiful, Hat. I simply had no idea that “Two Sleepy People” was written by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics by Frank Loesser – both of whom are two of my favourite song writers. And I love the way that Hoagy’s “Stardust” was incorporated into the performance (from 3:06 until 3:12).

  133. Morning to the early / restless ones up and about. Decent thread, something different:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/095f5449a8e34622facc9a675fc7fe439ff9345de817b36d3cc30b29351425c4.jpg

    This photo has been making the rounds and about someone called A Mighty Girl who wrote this about it! —

    In April 1945, a few days before the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, three freight trains were each packed with 2,500 Jewish prisoners in an effort to transport them to death camps further east before Allied troops arrived. Many of these prisoners had come from the special ‘Exchange Camp’ within Bergen-Belsen, where groups of Jews were kept who were considered suitable for possible ‘exchange’ for Germans interned abroad; the exchange prisoners were allowed to wear their own clothing and, initially, were better treated than other concentration camp prisoners. But, as the war’s end neared, these prisoners were swept up in the Nazis’ attempts to hide evidence of their crimes by ‘liquidating’ many concentration camps and killing as many of the remaining prisoners as possible.

    After a six-day journey, the train pictured here stopped suddenly near the German village of Farsleben where artillery fire between the Allied forces and Germans could be heard all around. With American troops advancing, the train’s SS guards fled during the night. One survivor, Aliza Vitis-Shomron,
    recalled the moment when American troops arrived: “People burst out of the carriages. Suddenly someone shouted: ‘The Americans are coming!’ To our great surprise, a tank came slowly down the hill opposite, followed by another one. I ran toward the tank, laughing hysterically. It stopped. I embraced the wheels, kissed the iron plates. We had won the war.”

    Major Clarence L. Benjamin was in a jeep leading the small task force of two light tanks that first encountered the train filled Jews from Hungary, Holland, Poland, Greece and Slovakia, many of them sick and starving. It was Major Benjamin who took this now famous photograph of a mother and her young daughter moments after liberation. The woman pictured was later identified as being a 35-year-old Jewish woman from the Hungarian town of Makó and her 5-year-old daughter, who was 77 as of 2017 but did not wish to be named publicly. It has been called ‘one of the most powerful photographs of the 20th century.’

    This incredible story, along with more moving first-hand testimonies from both survivors and liberators and over 70 iconic WWII liberation photos, has been shared by author Matt Rozell in his excellent book “A Train Near Magdeburg” at https://amzn.to/3uoY5rj

    For teens, there is also a new Young Readers Edition of “A Train Near Magdeburg” for ages 13 and up at https://amzn.to/3fEKVT4

    For books that explore the challenges many Jewish people faced rebuilding their lives after the war, we recommend “The Search” for ages 10 and up (https://www.amightygirl.com…, “What the Night Sings” for ages 14 and up (https://www.amightygirl.com…, and “They Went Left” for ages 14 and up (https://www.amightygirl.com…

    For many books for children and teens about the experience of girls and women in the Holocaust, visit our blog post “60 Mighty Girl Books About The Holocaust” at https://www.amightygirl.com…

    For adult readers, we’ve shared many books about women living through WWII and the Holocaust in our blog post, “Telling Her Story: 35 Books for Adult Readers About Women Heroes of WWII,” at https://www.amightygirl.com…

    And for books for tweens and teens about the experience of girls living under authoritarian regimes, visit our blog post “The Fragility of Freedom: Mighty Girl Books About Life Under Authoritarianism” at https://www.amightygirl.com…

    1. ‘As soon as we received Ms Barton’s complaint in July we apologised for the distress caused and thoroughly investigated at a store level.

      ‘We swiftly offered Ms Barton a full refund which she accepted at the time.

      ‘We have reminded our store team of the correct process to avoid any future issues of this nature.’

      It makes it sound as if nuts and bolts are an alternative menu! It is of course deliberate. If it were the act of an individual acting out of Malice or Spite she/he would have been fired with possible criminal charges. Since according to this report it has not happened we can only conclude that it was an ethnic that has carried it out and Domino Pizza’s are too afraid to act!.

      Morning Angie.

      1. Morning Minty,

        I must admit that I haven’t seen nuts an bolts as big as that in a pair of glasses!

    1. Morning, AWK.
      All good, I hope.
      Sunny here, 10C, feeling really autumnal. First proper dew on the cars this season. But, opened a new bag of coffee, so all’s well!

      1. mng Obl, not too bad here, finally real Spring [ie; decent warm weather]. Sorted coffee out 1 hour ago, now to get the “not so wee one” up and mobile ready for work

    2. Morning, AWK.
      All good, I hope.
      Sunny here, 10C, feeling really autumnal. First proper dew on the cars this season. But, opened a new bag of coffee, so all’s well!

    3. You can see that her mentor Blair is wishing he was still PM, because he can’t keep out of commenting on government. He would have relished suspending Parliament. Why can’t more people see how authoritarian these people are?

      1. Morning, BB2.
        That’s why they go into politics – the irresistable urge to tell others what to do, to be in charge.
        And that’s why they should all be locked up.

        1. Good morning.
          More people should go into politics for the same reasons as Thatcher and Tebbit – because a big mess needs sorting out.

    1. Good for them! It would be too much to hope that heads might roll in Britain over decisions like banning treatments except the jab, refusing to take care home residents into hospital and dumping corona patients in the care homes, etc.

      1. mng bb2, I posted about 1 hour ago [link below] re Notice served on UK “Vaccinators” / Mgmt etc under Nuremberg Code. Should all this line up, then there’ll be a very long list of guilty people

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