Wednesday 22 September: Boris Johnson is advertising carbon reduction with an energy crisis

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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706 thoughts on “Wednesday 22 September: Boris Johnson is advertising carbon reduction with an energy crisis”

  1. Melbourne riot police fire rubber pellets as Covid protests ‘hijacked by anti-vax and far-right groups’ 22 September 2021.

    Chaos reigned in Melbourne on Tuesday as a group of some 2,000 protesters, many wearing hi-vis jackets, defied stay-at-home orders to roam the city in “rolling confrontations” with police, injuring officers and damaging cars and property as they shut down parts of the city, including a major road bridge.

    More than 5,000 police officers were called in to respond on the second consecutive day of unrest, firing rubber pellets, smoke bombs and stinger grenades into the crowds. Sixty-two protesters were arrested and three officers were injured, police said.

    Morning everyone. One can only hope that this is the beginning of a revolution against what is an oppressive Fascist Tyranny!

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/melbourne-protests-covid-construction-vaccine-b1924527.html

    1. Just a thought: do these overly aggressive police officers live in the communities they are oppressing?

      1. Morning Korky. Police Officers in the US tend to group together for mutual protection! Australian police in my opinion tend to be even more unpleasant and probably do something similar!

        1. I wouldn’t be the least surprised that they form their own ‘safe’ havens when off duty. Their behaviour is beyond what I understand as ordinary policing; paramilitary is closer to home. They are a dutiful arm of an oppressive state.

    2. ‘Far right groups’ = Police.
      ‘Shut down parts of the city’ = Police.

      Shame more of them weren’t injured. Next time.

  3. The big questions from me to the buffoon are –

    Does Boris really believe in the green energy revolution or understand the consequences for ordinary people, jobs and standard of living?
    Has Boris just leapt onto the green climate change agenda because he thought it would make him popular and he could lead the charge while keeping all the decisions in house for the benefit of himself and his wealthy backers, much like he did with Brexit
    Or has Boris taken over the climate change mantle because he wants to destroy the UK for the benefit of globalism as part of the great reset?

    2. Morning, Bob3.

      Has Boris just leapt onto the green climate change agenda because he thought it would make him popular…

      If impoverishing people by forcing up the cost of energy and imposing expensive heat pumps on them; restricting travel by banning vehicles powered by fossil fuel; curtailing air travel except for the ‘elite’ few; reducing or banning completely the consumption of meat and dairy products are on his agenda to make him popular then I do not think very much thought went into the decision to compile that agenda.
      Reviewing both what he has done and what he plans to do I do not see that much original thought is involved in anything this man does. He is clearly following another’s agenda and he is unable, maybe a small mercy there at the moment, to even do that without turning his government of no-marks into U-turn central.

      What I can say is that acting the tousled haired, unkempt, prattling buffoon impressed sufficient people to vote his party into power. Now, the empty vessel has been revealed and the Country is suffering the vile consequences of the agenda he has agreed to follow.

      1. It is often the case that people with ‘good’ Oxbridge academic qualifications lack all practical common sense and seem to be very stupid.

        One of the causes of this is that some young people have had to acquire a certain level of tunnel vision in order to get good enough “A” level grades to get into Oxbridge and this has blunted the edges of their minds and taken away any vestiges of practicality they may have once had because they burnt out too soon.

        1. I didn’t go to university, so what’s my excuse to offer Mrs HJ when the subject comes up again??

          ‘Morning, Rastus.

        3. Some years after I left school, I met, accidentally while looking for a computer person for a project, the boy in my year who had won all the dux prizes going. (I had watched the presentations from the back of the upper balcony.) How dull he was. Eventually it dawned on me that those who got top grades and prizes were merely hard workers – everyone at the school had passed intelligence tests to get in. I scraped through exams and passed most of my time reading books, Dostoievsky, Fitzgerald, Arthur C.Clarke etc as well as French comics.

          1. The top chap in my year (beat me in virtually everything except art and French) was dull and dowdy. I’m sure he had a brilliant academic career, but he wasn’t fun to be with.

      1. Oops! You beat me to that remark by an hour. (I couldn’t sleep last night so have only just got up.)

      2. Oops! You beat me to that remark by an hour. (I couldn’t sleep last night so have only just got up.)

  5. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    First letter:

    SIR – The Prime Minister estimates that there is a “six out of 10” chance of getting other countries to sign up to financial and environmental targets ahead of November’s Cop26 climate change meeting.

    In reality, it must be zero out of 10. Does the Prime Minister seriously think any government would sign up to a policy that is causing an energy crisis in Britain? Carbon taxes are designed to eliminate coal and gas; renewables are useless when the wind doesn’t blow.

    This crisis is self-inflicted. In the past 10 years Britain has decommissioned reliable power stations producing half our peak energy needs, closed valuable gas storage facilities and now relies on other countries to provide substantial amounts of electricity.

    The Prime Minister should abandon the unattainable net-zero policies until we have a reliable source of electricity.

    All Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, can come up with is yet more renewables. These already add over £440 to everyone’s electricity bill just to pay for the billions in subsidies. Goodness knows what our bills will be when Ofgem increases the cap.

    David Watson
    Beccles, Suffolk

    Quite so, David Watson. We are fast becoming a beacon for conventional generation, a shining example of how an obsession with hugely expensive and predictably unreliable ‘renewables’ will inflict irrepairable damage on any country stupid enough to follow us. Those inflicting this upon us are utter bastards.

    1. Is Kwarteng really as stupid as the reply he came up with yesterday makes him appear? He’s an ambitious politician, most of whom I believe have few if any scruples, and he will follow any agenda that does not endanger his current job or the potential for advancement. From his perspective looking stupid in an interview is a small price to pay for holding on to what he has. Change the agenda and he will support that new agenda even if it is counter to what he supported before. Little wonder that the Country is in the state it is in.

    2. 339120+ up ticks,
      Morning HJ,
      We have multiple political Khazi’s within the overseers regime using chaff by the ton as the reset program goes
      forever forward, aided & abetted via the hard core party members.

  6. Yo All

    France is best viewed as a friend not an ally.

    Chris Penney Wellington, Somerset

    Correction

    France is best viewed as an enemy not friend

    ie Calais- Dover mini-ferry route

  7. Computers, unlike yesterday’s mechanical counting machines, can be programmed to use any number base.
    Why insist on tens, when we no longer count with our fingers?

    If you count ‘with your fingers’ the number base will be Eight, unless you are Dave Allen, when it will be Seven and a Half

    Today’s Peddy- Cure

    3. To be pedantic, computers use only binary and offshoots such as hexadecimal regardless of the programmes used to input numbers. Putting another way, Software such as Excel that uses the numbers is not the computer, whether hardware or operating system.

  8. Computers, unlike yesterday’s mechanical counting machines, can be programmed to use any number base.
    Why insist on tens, when we no longer count with our fingers?

    If you count ‘with your fingers’ the number base will be Eight, unless you are Dave Allen, when it will be Seven and a Half

    Today’s Peddy- Cure

  9. Novichok bottle that went missing in Salisbury ‘could have killed thousands’ 22 September 2021.

    Dean Haydon, the senior national coordinator for counterterrorism policing, said investigators had not established how the bottle was brought into the UK.

    “The amount of novichok in that bottle was quite significant, and could have killed hundreds if not thousands of people if it had come into wider circulation in the public,” he told a press conference.

    He said there was a “gap” in the investigation over where the two Russian GRU agents who carried out the attack discarded the bottle after using it to apply novichok to Mr Skripal’s front door.

    One doesn’t know whether to decry the mendacity of those carrying out this investigation or deplore their stupidity. The Bottle found by Charlie Rowley was still sealed in its packaging and whatever its previous provenance could not have been used in the supposed attack on the Skripals. Its contents moreover were still insufficient to kill Mr Rowley who was first exposed to it!

    These are of course just more lies to add to what is a mountain of disinformation and bare faced deception. There was no Russian attack on the Skripals!

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/novichok-bottle-missing-salisbury-b1923954.html

    1. Our own government is guilty of trying out various noxious substances on an unknowing public. Perhaps we should ask them how many hundreds if not thousands of people would or could be harmed.

    2. We all know you’re cheerleader in chief for Russia here, but this is going too far. There is a mountain of evidence that Russia was involved.

      3. Incontrovertible evidence? I have yet to see any. Perhaps you could point me in the right direction?

      4. I find it hard to believe that the Russians could be that incompetent. If the intention was to remind traitors that they would be dealt with, it certainly got the publicity, but it did not get the traitors. They have vanished.
        A more subtle approach would have been to shoot the Skripals in the street, or at home watching TV. No traces of perpetrators ever found. No links to Russia except the coincidence that the dead people were traitors to Russia. Warning enough, I’d say.

  10. Price Rises Over the Years

    One day, three generations of prostitutes were discussing the price of blowjobs over the years.

    The daughter said that, nowadays, blowjobs cost about £50. Mama claimed that back in her day they were only about £25.

    Then Grandma piped up and declared,
    “In my day, during the Depression, we were just happy to get something warm in our bellies!”

  11. Good morning to all from a beautifully bright & sunny Derbyshire. After the clear skies of last night it’s another drop to an autumnal 5°C.

          1. I’m just heading into Matlock and could detour via your location to say Hello.
            Keep your eyes open for a white Vauxhall Vivaro driven by a bearded old bugger!

          3. Well, you have described me, but a pedesrtian at present, soon to be a dray horse if Disco lingers longer in Wirksworth

            We are closed to ‘visitors’ here,at the moment

          4. It appears that I missed you by 15 minutes! If I’d known you needed to get to Wirskworth I’d have given you a lift!
            I left a note at reception.

  13. SIR – The Business Secretary says not to worry, the lights won’t go out this winter. Time to buy candles.

    Barry Tighe

    Woodford Green, Essex

    SIR – Who could possibly have thought that such a deeply un-Conservative policy as Theresa May’s price cap on domestic gas prices would have such huge unintended consequences?

    John Fishley

    London SE1

    SIR – In 1994, the Thatcher administration imposed VAT on electricity and gas bills at a rate of 8 per cent – an outrageous tax on cooking and keeping warm in chilly Britain.

    The Labour Party rightly opposed it and committed itself to abolish it. When it won the 1997 election, the VAT was reduced to 5 per cent, the most that could legally be done under EU law. We are now free of that obligation.

    The Government could alleviate the price problem by removing the remaining 5 per cent and transferring that loss to such non-essentials as tobacco and gambling. Alcohol should be left alone because various governments have done enough damage to the pub industry.

    Simon Bathurst Brown

    Camberley, Surrey

    SIR – Conflict prevails at the moment: do we ventilate or do we insulate?

    We are on the one hand urged to ventilate private and public buildings in order to fight the spread of the Covid-19 virus. On the other hand, a vocal group commands us to insulate our homes to fight global warming by reducing the use of fossil fuels.

    What are responsible citizens to do: save their neighbour or save their planet?

    Christine I Peel

    Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire

    2. …………and we desperately need more CO2 to keep our food industry in operation. An American Company which produces fertiliser on Tees-side is being financed by the UK taxpayer to come back into production to get the CO2 flowing again. The CO2 is a by-product.

        1. Bollocks. The Americans were being rigorously logical in shutting down production at those fertiliser plants when the spot and futures price for gas went into the stratosphere in recent months. The stupid illogical people are the UK government who formulated policies that guaranteed disaster. (e.g. shutting down the Rough gas storage, not enforcing minimum LNG storage at Milford Haven, effectively banning fracking,n and a whole host of other measures that should have been taken) They got wedded to Maggie’s mantra that “The market will always take care of itself” which ignores security of supply as being paramount.

          1. Hmm. What did I say that is incorrect?
            On Monday I posted this, “The manager of the UK CF Industries site will have sent his report to CF HQ in the US. The CF management accountant will have suggested closing down until gas prices come back down, and that’s what they have done, without notice.” A reasonable commercial response to market forces.
            I also said this in the same post, “What exactly does our government do, if it does not protect strategic industries, such as energy, food production, food imports and exports?
            I am quite prepared to have Nottlers beat me up in argument, although it would be nice if you had a handle as to which side I am on.
            If the UK government is paying CF to stay open, it is a bribe. Sure, it will be called a “subsidy” or similar, but as it was not a pre-arranged agreement as per wind farms, I have chosen the word “bribe” for dramatic effect.
            It wouldn’t hurt you to be polite would it?

          2. “It wouldn’t hurt you to be polite would it?”

            You’ll have to get used to that on this forum these days. I’ve been told both “bollocks” and “bullshit” to at least two of my comments in the past couple of weeks. It seems explosive insults are the metre of some regular commentators on this forum and they prefer that to reasoned discussion. Thankfully most on here have good manners and better social graces.

          3. Is that aimed at you directly though, or at a specific term used? As if I have done that, I apologise.

          4. I’ve no problem with your comments, Wibbling. I was speaking of others who are as direct as you (which I applaud) but far ruder.

          5. I think Citroen was referring to the general ‘the UK is open for business, as clearly the economy is intentionally being shut down.

            I don’t think it was directed.

          6. “The UK is open for business” has been a mantra used by successive government. A cover for graft, corruption and predation by foreigners.

      1. As did the Victorians. The sorts of clothes we wear these days would only have been considered fit for colonial service in the mid 19th century!

    4. The VAT could be scrapped entirely, especially as there’s a 20% tax slapped on top of it. A classic example of double taxation.

      All to pay for things we don’t want, need or have.

  14. SIR – France demands compensation from Australia for a cancelled submarine contract.

    France supplied Exocet missiles to the Argentines before the Falklands war and French technicians helped Argentina use them to sink our ships.

    Unfortunately, we did not kick out the French ambassador.

    Chris James

    Abergele, Caernarfonshire

  15. Morning all

    SIR – Has there ever been a more demonstrable act of “white privilege” than the climate protests on the M25? Mostly old and retired, there isn’t a different-coloured face to be seen. Just what they think they are achieving by causing mayhem for everyday people has been lost on the majority.

    Paul Caruana

    Truro, Cornwall

    SIR – The Government and police must take firmer action against the eco-anarchists. Protest is one thing, but the wilful obstruction of law-abiding people going about their business is unacceptable. They must be forcibly removed, fined or imprisoned.

    Malcolm Allen

    Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire

    1. I would suggest the police turn up late and let a few furious motorists rip these insolent individuals from the tarmac and guide them down to nettles brambles and discarded nappies.

      1. I am surprised a few angry motorists didn’t band together and do exactly that. It would take only 20 to 30; four to six to carry them off and throw them into the nettles, the rest to keep their mates at bay until it was their turn (at some point they would be off) and a few more to push them back in when they had disentangled themselves. We are not organised, we have been sliced and diced as a nation.

        1. I think the protesters inform the police before blocking the road, probably because they know what motorists will do to them before their police protectors arrive.

    3. 1. They don’t give a toss about getting supporters, only into harassing the government to give them what they want and getting attention.
      2. They are less interested in their ‘cause’ than either hurting people they envy or hate for being better than them (whether in looks, intelligence, ability, life chances or the like) or giving their life purpose because they are inadequate, damaged or needy.

    4. If you trespass on the Railway lines you face a £1000 fine. The same should be the penalty for trespassers on our motorways. The police have every right to come down hard on these misguided demonstrators.

    5. They are all aging lefties .

      The type who have hijacked the Tolpuddle Martyrs cause , the type of people who have the protest DNA in their blood , the anti nuclear brigade , the tree people ,Swampy and Co, the Battle of the Beanfield types , and those who wear white poppies ..

      All easily identified , especially when they haunt the isles of healthfood shops, selecting their flavoured teas and mung beans !

      2. All Boris Johnson says is “it’s a jolly good vaccine” just as he described his disastrous EU WA as ‘oven-ready‘ and ‘fantastic‘. He never engages in serious or sensible debate.

        Why do people think this man is clever? He strikes me as a person who can only think and speak in slogans and clichés.

        1. He has a reputation for not being interested in detail therefore he cannot have the facts at hand for reasoned argument.

          I reported to senior managers who did not know the detail that I was involved with but they would call people like me in to brief them before they attended meetings. Those managers were clever enough to ask the right questions to arm themselves with sufficient detail before attending the meeting. I doubt that they retained much of the detail post the meeting but that wasn’t their job. If Johnson is too lazy or uninterested to be adequately briefed before opening his mouth then what is he doing being PM?

    3. Boris Johnson’s weak, sycophantic and pathetic behaviour should make any self-respecting Briton squirm with shame and embarrassment.

    4. The pair seem to have persuaded China to agree to stop building more Coal fired power stations but only in foreign countries if I understood BBC Radio 4 news this morning.

    5. Our PM took the train to Washington from New York. Does that mean he did not use his special plane to travel to the USA

    3. ‘plantain with raspberry salt; smoked jollof rice and crab custard; and tuna belly with raw okra and red-pepper soup’.

      Fuck off !… says a Chef.

    4. Morning OLT

      No one who hasn’t travelled to and lived in Nigeria has any knwledge of what these people eat .

      They eat everything , and I mean everything . They have decimated every creature that has a heart and lungs . Their wildlife is zilch .

      Illegal chimpanzee meat is being served at weddings and sold on market stalls in the UK, it has been claimed.

      In the past month a ton of the animal’s flesh – known as bush meat – was confiscated at customs as it came into the UK from West Africa, leading primate scientist Dr Ben Garrod said.

      The meat can cause serious diseases as chimps are genetically similar to humans and it is often packaged in unsanitary environments.

      Western chimpanzees are on the critically endangered species list due to threats to their environment and because their meat is considered a delicacy.

      “It’s rife, it’s in all major cities across Europe and the US,” the University of East Anglia professor told The Sunday Telegraph.

      “We have seen bush meat confiscated in the UK in checkpoints at borders and in markets.

      “It’s often brought to the country for specific celebrations like a wedding or a Christening.”

      World renowned chimpanzee expert Dr Jane Goodall urged the government to take action and to introduce DNA testing at the border.

      She suggested that Interpol should up its efforts to stop the meat being taken across borders and suggested dogs could be trained to detect the product.

      It can sell for as much as five times the price of prime cuts of beef or pork.

      The issue of illegal meat being imported into European countries is not a new one.

      During a 17 day period in 2010, 134 passengers from 29 flights were searched coming into Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.

      Almost half were found to be carrying fish or meat from livestock or wild animals including crocodiles, primates and porcupines.

      In 2011 chimpanzee meat was found in the West Midlands during a trading standards raid.

      A spokesperson for the government said: “As well as working with enforcement and intelligence partners in the UK and international, Border Force continues to invest in training and equipment to ensure that we do all we can to intercept illegal foodstuffs and cracks down on smugglers.”

      (I steer clear of all foreign restaurants these days , In fact I have not had a meal not cooked by me for years )

      1. “…unsanitary environments.” Do they have any sanitary environments anywhere at all in Nigeria?

    5. Do they leave the heating on all the time?

      As seafood and beef is not a good combination of smells.

  19. A BTL Comment before I get dressed and head into Matlock:-

    Robert Spowart
    22 Sep 2021 8:12AM
    A query.

    CO2 is a plant food in that they extract from the atmosphere and, using solar radiation in the form of light, synthesised into glucose which is then used as a building block in the growing plant.

    If atmospheric CO2 levels are reduced, as the hysterics are wanting, what happens to plant growth?

      1. The British Sugar Corporation went into tomato production some years ago using their CO2 by-product to enhance growth.They now supply a lot of UK supermarkets.

      2. I wasn’t aware of that until I read an article about a new massive greenhouse development for growing tomatoes, cucumbers etc was being built just outside of Ipswich. What say the Greens about that?!

        1. It’s built, up and running, Korky.

          The owner wanted to heat it with warmth from a nearby PCB incinerator – council, he say “No!”.

          2. No that’s going to be part of the Eastern Gate Industrial Park with not one solar panel on the flat rooves.

            If you know Lorraine Way, from the Somersham turn, down to the junction to Pound Lane, the site is on the left.

          3. Not that familiar with Ipswich and the surrounding area other than Martlesham where I had some work responsibilities and since retiring one or two good pub/restaurants out that way e.g. Levington Ship, Newbourne Fox and the Butt and Oyster.

    4. Wow! That sunlight has a lot to answer for, turning carbon dioxide into a building block of the food chain. Perhaps if sunlight can be reduced, say, by scattering extremely fine dust into the upper atmosphere, less food will be available and as a result the population will decrease and a smaller population will release less carbon dioxide and as a result food production will decrease and as a result the population will decrease and…
      I have read that the proposal to increase the Earth’s albedo i.e. reflecting more sunlight back into space, by using fine dust in the atmosphere has been mooted by climate change/globalist adherents. What COULD go wrong?

      1. While increasing the Earth’s albedo they could also add lots of potassium bromide to the water supply to reduce human libido.

        1. I swear that was added to our tea when I was an RAF apprentice – I think it’s beginning to wear off

      2. Great Idea. Bill Gates is actually working on it. Funny how people have heard of the Dark Ages but don’t realise that they were exactly that?

      1. I’ve not seen the Sahara, but parts of the desert in Saudi turn into a fantastic display of greenery and flowers after one of the very infrequent desert rainstorms. Lasts about 24 hours then they all die.

    6. 339120+ up ticks,
      Morning Bob,
      If the electorate wish in majority to adhere to the same lab/lib/con/green voting pattern, then they MUST learn to live with the anti growth covert policy …… the CULL.

    7. A friend of ours has an aquarium and produces his own CO2 using a bottle of water with sugar and yeast with a tube attached to aerate the water.

      2. Why does he not had ginger and make ginger beer at the same time?
        I made ginger beer and bottled it in those fancy flip-top bottles such as are used by Grolsch. After allowing to to mature or whatever for a few weeks, I took a bottle into the garden, in case of spillage. I opened it and there was an explosion of foam and top flew across the garden taking the wire clips with it. Tasted OK, but too dangerous.

    8. I can tell you that. It withers and dies. It is already happening but people are not aware of it because they see the environment around them and take it for granted that it is normal. As you probably know, plants put into a greenhouse that is pumped full of Co2 get three times or so larger than they are “normally”. I put quotation marks around, normally, because the size of plants in an enriched Co2 atmosphere are their normal size according to how they evolved, in a Co2 enriched atmosphere. So the plants we see and regard as “normal” are stunted and not there normal size at all. We are heading toward a serious crisis in which plants will begin to die off due to Co2 starvation. Simply put, there is not enough Co2 in the atmosphere. Co2 is not a cause of global warming, that is unscientific nonsense with nothing to back it up. Co2 is a natural and essential building block of life and the less we have of it, the worse it will get. The knock on effect of a lack of Co2 will be mass starvation, not only of plants but all life on the planet.

      1. “…Co2 is a natural and essential building block of life…”

        Not ‘a’ but ‘the’. All life on Earth is based on CO2 and photosynthetic organisms.

    1. You know…I’m looking forward to the muslim takeover. At least we won’t have to put up with more ‘effing nonsense like this.

    2. Good morning OLT

      Why is the DT so pathetically limp-wristed that it will allow no comments under this article?

      All people who are ‘distressed’ by the existence of Christianity should not live in a country with an established church and a Christian culture just as it is not a very good idea for Christians to live in countries where there are no churches and owning a Bible is a criminal offence.

      1. It’s afraid. It is afraid of the kick back from the aggressive, toxic groups who would attack them.

      1. 339120+ up ticks,
        Morning NtN,
        I do believe they could be the flying squad, a mobile unit that were in the United Kingdom in the rotherham area
        that Oz cop trying to block the camera.

    4. There is clearly something wrong, as this isn’t law enforcement, it’s oppression. It’s the state wanting it’s own way regardless of common sense.

      1. Ah, that must be it…thank goodness we have a scientist amongst our Nottlrs. Either that or the sea is retreating before a tsunami arrives…

        1. Downside is that really low tides make it easier for gimmegrants to arrive: lower fuel bills, shorter crossing time.

        1. Ah, the good old days, when men shaved and wore ties. (Young chap on the right is attempting to grow a beard.)

          1. Jacob and Esau?

            Grizzly takes after Esau but I take after Jacob as far as hairiness is concerned.

            I must admit my beard was not a great success even though Rumpole liked it. I think it is something in the genes. My elder son has just started a beard and I think it is a mistake – his younger brother at the age of 25 only needs to shave once a week. The Tasteys have evolved a long way from monkeys..

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9d0de24ffaff974e6315dc881b3d56146e7bf21b5c68be48163c360de2c410d9.jpg

          2. The name Jacob means he grasps the heel which is a Hebrew idiom for deceptive behaviour.

            In Genesis, Esau returned to his brother, Jacob, being famished from the fields. He begged his twin brother to give him some “red pottage” (paralleling his nickname, Hebrew: אדום‎, adom, meaning “red”). Jacob offered to give Esau a bowl of stew in exchange for his birthright (the right to be recognised as firstborn) and Esau agreed.

            It seems that Esau’s only ‘crime’ was to have married two foreign women (Hittites). Jacob, being both avaricious and envious (two deadly sins, perchance), coveted Esau’s birthright, so bought it from his starving brother for a dish of stew!

            I don’t know what aspect of Esau you see in me but, looking at the story, I’d say that Esau has much better character than Jacob.

          3. Good afternoon, Grizzy

            I was referring to the excellence of your beard.

            And Jacob, the smooth man, deceived his father by covering his hands with goats’ hair to make his father think he was his hairy elder brother, Esau.

            Do you remember the sermon delivered by Alan Bennett in Beyond the Fringe?

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOsYN—eGk

          4. I also remember another version of this where the Alan Bennet vicar is at a railway station and he goes into an entrance that he should not have gone into.

            “An employee of the railway company spoke loudly at me and said:
            ‘Where do you think you’re going?’ ……….. At least that was the gist of what he said…..”

          5. Good afternoon, Rastus. Alan Bennett is, indeed, a comic genius.

            I have had a love/hate relationship with my beard for the duration of my post-pubescent life. The problem is: I have a very tender skin, but a very wiry whisker — a marriage made in hell!

            The beards I have grown, mainly out of necessity (sometimes out of indolence), have usually been to avoid the tyranny of the wet shave. I have always found that dry shaving (with a Philishave or similar) is inefficient and I’m left feeling “unshaven”. Wet shaving still results in a bloodbath; hence my many prolonged periods of life in hirsute mode.

            Now that I am in my later years, without the need to rise at a ridiculous hour to prepare for work, I have reverted to dry shaving. The only problem with having a beard, for me, is the constant itchiness and perpetual feeling of being “unclean” that it gives me.

          6. I seem to suffer from the same hisute problem, George, and, yes, electric razors are bloody useless but, I start by using one to remove the top layer (that’s all it does) and then follow through the next morning with a wet shave (using Harry’s excellent products) and it is then smooth as a baby’s bum with little or no ‘dragging’.

        1. 339120+ up ticks,
          Morning LD,
          Treachery most certainly is as is stupidity
          among the majority of the electorate, one could / would not survive without the other.

    2. I wonder how much it has cost in fuel and all the other etcetera’s for him to fly across the Atlantic to metaphorically lick that old mans *rse.
      Boris you are as thick as you know what.

    3. Below that post is : ‘Mandie Morrisey
      @Msndie
      ·1h
      Replying to @IAmLaTrappe
      I’m British , and no British MP or our prime minister Boris wear those ridiculous masks in Parliament. This mask wearing would have been requested by Biden      ‘
      Nonsense, most of the opposition wear masks and some Conservatives too.

    4. Below that post is : ‘Mandie Morrisey
      @Msndie
      ·1h
      Replying to @IAmLaTrappe
      I’m British , and no British MP or our prime minister Boris wear those ridiculous masks in Parliament. This mask wearing would have been requested by Biden      ‘
      Nonsense, most of the opposition wear masks and some Conservatives too.

    5. The ridiculousness of this is illustrated by the fact that your chances of getting Covid outdoors is almost zero. But, lets face it, the likes of Bojo take us for fools. Biden, on the other hand, is a fool and a senile one at that.

  28. Injunction granted against protesters blocking M25, amid warning of prison sentence. 22 September 2021.

    National Highways has been granted an injunction against protesters who have been blocking sections of the M25.

    The injunction will come into effect later today and means anyone breaching the order could face a prison sentence, the transport secretary has said.

    Are we going to have injunctions against burglars next? Bill Bloggs is hereby ordered to refrain from Breaking and Entering, 6 Paradise View, Blessington on June 16 2021. Any contravention of this order may result in a fine or imprisonment, whichever is the least penalty.

    https://news.sky.com/story/injunction-granted-against-protesters-blocking-m25-amid-warning-of-prison-sentence-12414206

    1. ……….. anyone breaching the order could face a prison sentence,

      Could often means but won’t when the chips are down.

      1. Even so. Laws have been broken, police have been complicit. New laws are announced in order to kick the can down the road, instead of acting immediately and forcefully using existing laws.
        In Scotland, there is a crime known as “breach of the peace” which covers almost anything, and has been used on protestors blocking streets. Including also, possibly, feeding sausage rolls to police horses.

        https://crime.scot/breach-of-the-peace/

        1. There is (or used to be) similar in England.
          “Conduct whereby a breach of the peace might be occasioned”

        2. “New laws are announced”
          Which won’t be enforced against the eco-loons just as the current laws aren’t but oh boy just watch draconian penalties swing into action
          agin Freedom or Clotshot protests
          ‘Morning Horace

    2. Someone who breaks an injunction could face massive costs awarded against them, apart from the minor risk of imprisonment, IIRC. Bill Thomas could explain.

      1. Bill was not a criminal lawyer (debatable perhaps 😂) and breach would be a criminal offence.

      2. They go bankrupt – avoid the costs and spend another week at OUR expense in an agreeable open prison.

        Or crowdfund and raise zillions from like-minded eco-freaks.

    1. Why are they allowed to ‘sign on’ for JSA?

      They are not allowed to work so why are they being paid to look for work?

      1. 339120+ up ticks,
        P,
        Cosmetically acceptable,
        Some sort of salve for the lab/lib/con/ green
        worker / members, a kind of three monkey ointment.

    2. And the stupid ignorant government are building new homes all over for all the ‘human detritus’ that has arrived on our shores. I wonder if they have a choice for installed ground source heat pumps, or solar panels. Or a chain saw and log splitter supplied with each new home.

  32. Is the US starting to fall apart?

    “US demands Russia boost natural gas deliveries to Europe through Ukraine”

    1. Who would have thought that relying on your enemy for your gas supplies might cause a problem. The laughter in the Kremlin must be resounding throughout Russia.

      1. Yep..your enemy has a brand new pipeline ready to go with cheaper gas (no transit fees).
        All Europe has to do is give the go-ahead.
        We’re lucky in Finland as we have our own gas and oil pipeline to Russia.No problems.
        Oh..where should Europe get its gas and oil from (at a comparable price)?

        1. Under ground. There’s loads of it.

          What’s standing in the way? A bunch of Left wing green fanatics.

          I present two options:
          1. Send the greens the bill that would otherwise be lumped on everyone else. We get cheap gas, they pay for their demands.
          2. We frakk ignoring the green lobby.

  34. Whatever happened to this fellow?

    Corruption rife in the Pakistani community, says minister

    Corruption in parts of Pakistani community is growing problem that politicians have underestimated, Government’s chief legal adviser says

    By Benedict Brogan • 22 November 2013 • 9:41pm

    Corruption in parts of the Pakistani community is “endemic” and a growing problem that politicians have underestimated, the Government’s chief legal adviser has said.

    Dominic Grieve QC, the Attorney General, said ministers should “wake up” to the threat of corruption in public life, which he attributed to “minority communities” that operate a “favour culture”.

    In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Grieve praised the integration of minorities into British life, and pointed out that corruption can also be found in the “white Anglo-Saxon” community. But he said that the growth of corruption was “because we have minority communities in this country which come from backgrounds where corruption is endemic. It is something we as politicians have to wake to up to”.

    Mr Grieve said he was referring to “mainly the Pakistani community” but added that other minority communities had similar problems.

    His remarks could affect Britain’s relations with Pakistan. In 2010 David Cameron refused to apologise after he accused the country of “exporting terror”.

    Ministers are aware that high-profile stories involving child abuse, Islamist extremism, slavery and corruption in the Pakistani community are being used by far-Right agitators such as the English Defence League to stir sectarianism.

    Mr Grieve, the MP for Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, has a sizeable South Asian community in his constituency. “I can see many of them have come because of the opportunities that they get. But they also come from societies where they have been brought up to believe you can only get certain things through a favour culture,” he said. “One of the things you have to make absolutely clear is that that is not the case and it’s not acceptable.”

    He said electoral corruption in particular had increased. He identified Slough, Berks, as an example of where abuses had occurred. In 2008 a Tory councillor, Eshaq Khan, was found guilty of fraud involving postal ballots. Earlier this year the Electoral Commission announced it was considering introducing ballot box identity checks in Tower Hamlets, east London, in an effort to stamp out electoral fraud in areas with large South Asian communities.

    Asked if he was referring to the Pakistani community, Mr Grieve said: “Yes, it’s mainly the Pakistani community, not the Indian community. I wouldn’t draw it down to one. I’d be wary of saying it’s just a Pakistani problem.” He added: “I happen to be very optimistic about the future of the UK. We have managed integration of minority communities better than most countries in Europe.”

    Tory ministers have avoided singling out particular communities over political corruption. However, in 2010, Baroness Warsi claimed the Tories lost three seats at the general election as a result of voter fraud within the Asian community.

    Mr Grieve also said the Government was considering how to deal with the expected influx of Bulgarian and Romanian migrants when movement controls are lifted in January. He acknowledged that “the volume of immigrants may pose serious infrastructure issues”.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10469448/Corruption-rife-in-the-Pakistani-community-says-minister.html

    2. As the yanks say “Who Knew” !
      It was pretty obvious that’s exactly how Kahnt retained his fake position as mayor.

    4. …and even in 2013, no mention of Muslim encouragement of terrorism and failure to even begin to integrate.

    5. Well durh! Whodathunkit! That’s how they operate at home, it’s what they’ll do here. Such as Zahawi’s wife suddenly becoming a protective medical equipment supplier as soon as the NHS suddenly, amazingly needed yep, you guessed it, protective equipment.

      As for managed integration – hogwash. You’ve ignored their prejudices. You’ve ignored and hidden, usually by endorsing their proclivities. That isn’t integration, it’s endorsement of corruption, fraud, theft, rape and paedophilia.

    6. Oh my goodness me. He’ll be for the chop/demotion/fatwa very soon. He is to be admired (by the public) for uttering this truth. But, fear not, nothing will be done about it!

    8. Not surprising. From 2006:-

      Secret report brands Muslim police corrupt
      Fury over internal Met study which says Asians need special training
      Sandra Laville and Hugh Muir
      The Guardian, Saturday 10 June 2006
      A secret high-level Metropolitan police report has concluded that Muslim officers are more likely to become corrupt than white officers because of their cultural and family backgrounds.
      The document, which has been seen by the Guardian, has caused outrage among ethnic minorities within the force, who have labelled it racist and proof that there is a gulf in understanding between the police force and the wider Muslim community. The document was written as an attempt to investigate why complaints of misconduct and corruption against Asian officers are 10 times higher than against their white colleagues.

      The main conclusions of the study, commissioned by the Directorate of Professional Standards and written by an Asian detective chief inspector, stated: “Asian officers and in particular Pakistani Muslim officers are under greater pressure from the family, the extended family … and their community against that of their white colleagues to engage in activity that might lead to misconduct or criminality.”

      It recommended that Asian officers needed special anti-corruption training and is now being considered by a working party of senior staff.

      The report argued that British Pakistanis live in a cash culture in which “assisting your extended family is considered a duty” and in an environment in which large amounts of money are loaned between relatives and friends.

      The leaking of the report comes at a time when the Met needs the cooperation and trust of the Muslim community more than ever and as the force tries to contain the fallout from last week’s anti-terrorist raid in Forest Gate in which a man was shot. The first version was considered so inflammatory when it was shown to representatives from the staff associations for black, Hindu, Sikh and Muslim officers, that it had to be toned down. There are 31,000 officers in the Met – 7%, or 2,170, are black and minority ethnic; among these an estimated 300 are Muslim.

      One Muslim officer with the Met said: “It is like saying black officers are more likely to be muggers. Today it is Muslim officers who are treated as the Uncle Toms. How can they say to the Muslim community ‘trust us’, when they don’t even trust their own Muslim officers.”

      Ahmanrahman Jafar, vice-chairman of the legal affairs committee of the Muslim Council of Britain, said it was shortsighted of the Met to be alienating its Muslim officers at such a sensitive time.

      “We’ve got about 1,000 wrongful anti-terrorist arrests since 9/11 and I believe that if Muslim officers were involved in looking through that intelligence and understanding the context, we would have far greater efficiency in the police force and a far greater prosecution rate,” he said. To support its conclusions, the report gives examples of cases in which Pakistani Muslim officers have been accused of corruption and misconduct. According to its critics, the report gives insufficient weight to the motivation of those who made the complaints or issues of institutional racism.

      Superintendent Dal Babu, chairman of the Association of Muslim Officers, said the report had racist undertones. “We are gravely concerned about its contents and the message it sends to recruits and potential recruits,” he said.

      George Rhoden, chair of the Metropolitan Black Police Association added. “We have made it clear that we disagreed totally with the conclusions … the whole thing needs to be researched in a much more comprehensive way.”
      https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/jun/10/race.topstories3

  35. Extraordinarily heavy dew this morning – lingering, too. It looks as though it rained hard – but there was not a drop from the skies.

    Can someone explain dew to me? It is a real puzzle.

    2. Atmospheric moisture as it is heavier that air it has to end up somewhere Bill. You need to swish it orrff.
      We had a guy in the Sunday Swindle at MH golf club whose name was Dew, everyone had a nick name his was morning precipitation.
      Better than Thrush as one was known as.

    3. ‘Dew is the moisture that forms as a result of condensation. Condensation is the process a material undergoes as it changes from a gas to a liquid. Dew is the result of water changing from a vapour to a liquid.

      Dew forms as temperatures drop and objects cool down. If the object becomes cool enough, the air around the object will also cool. Colder air is less able to hold water vapour than warm air. This forces water vapour in the air around cooling objects to condense. When condensation happens, small water droplets form—dew.

      The temperature at which dew forms is called the dew point. The dew point varies widely, depending on location, weather, and time of day.‘
      https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/dew/

      1. We have this same problem in our gym hall. When the expensive air conditioning option was rejected, I asked what was taken out – yep, a heat exchanger. It’s all very well cooling a given space, but if you don’t exhaust the heat generated by 20+ hot moving people, you’ll just get water – or in our case, a slippery floor. But hey ho.

  36. BBC Radio 4: This Union: Two Kingdoms – (un)Cementing the Union Episode 2 of 3

    Allan Little presents the epic story of Scotland’s union with England, how it has endured so long and why the union might now unravel.

    Another half hour of Scots Nat propaganda. There is a continuous stream of anti-British, anti-English programmes on BBC radio and TV – and those who subsides it are the English targets themselves.

      1. …And are still paying them for the privilege of giving them jobs. Their education system was superior and they used it to escape Scotchland and earn a living elsewhere and, like the Oirish, moan about the evil English who have enslaved them.

  37. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/414883036ac63baf00dd0c89ea81085368a617aba388eee601329ac6d7005609.png What a lot of British drinkers do not understand, Richard, or fail to grasp (especially most of those from the south) are two important facts:

    1. The ‘head’ (froth) on top of a pint of beer comprises around 5% beer and 95% air.
    2. It is an essential adjunct to a tasty pint, giving the drink a better mouth ‘feel’.

    The second fact is acknowledged by not just northerners, continentals and yourself (from Somerset) but by all drinkers of milk stout (especially Guinness) which, without the requisite frothy head is undrinkable. Beer without that head has an insipid mouth feel but, trying to educate those who eschew it, is like attempting to plait rice.

    1. The head is the natural CO2 that is in the beer while it is in the cask. Pulling the beer through a tight sparkler thrashes out the CO2. Thus, the CO2 is now in the head and not the beer. The beer has been made flat. If your definition of ‘mouthfeel’ is that little hint of sparkle that is the CO2, then that is either in the head if there is one or the beer if there is not. It makes little difference.

      Of course, if the beer has been too long in the cask, its CO2 will be gone and it will be flat anyway.

      1. I’ve been drinking real ale with a head in northern pubs for over 50 years and have seldom drunk a ‘flat’ pint. I have, though, drunk many pints of over-gassy ‘beer’ from kegs, lagers and some real ale that hasn’t been looked after properly by dubious landlords.

        1. And I’ve drunk countless pints without a head, either direct from the cask or from a handpump without a sparkler, that have been anything but flat.

          The head is a matter of personal taste, the brewer’s methods and the cellarman’s skills.

    2. Which is why, George, I like Affligem – a Belgian beer at 6% ABV – that produces a good head as well, in fact I generally wait 5 minutes before drinking to let some of that 95% moderate to the 5%.

      Although brought up on Mild (age 14) and Bitter later, I find that nowadays, English beers lay very heavily on my stomach and even after a couple of Affligem, I generally switch to whisky and water. Cheers.

    3. I don’t want to drink a pint of beer through a mouthful of soap suds. Southern drinkers have a different opinion to Northerners – that’s why brewers cater for their local market. There is no right or wrong in the matter of the head on a pint of beer as you imply.

          1. One of the tastiest pints I ever bought was in a Sussex pub on the South Downs. Harvey’s excellent [nay: exquisite] bitter was served to me (and to every local who asked for one) with a creamy head. It was one of the most delicious beer moments of my life. You can get much further south than Sussex.

          2. Harvey’s is a bit on the hoppy side for me. Young’s was my local brewer when I lived in Battersea, but it is not the same after the Youngs sold out and brewing moved to Bedford. There was very little head on a pint of Young’s Special – and quite right too.

          3. I remember drinking and enjoying Youngs in Norwich in 1981. As you say, it deteriorated rapidly since being sold on.

  38. Politics latest news: Joe Biden ‘wrong’ on Northern Ireland protocol, says George Eustice, the Environment Secretary.
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/09/22/boris-johnson-climate-speech-us-trade-deal-energy-crisis/

    BTL

    Whether or not you like Donald Trump is not relevant – it is becoming more and more clear that Britain would have been far better off if he had been given a second presidential term.

    Britain’s decline is very much due to the fact that British politicians seem to be completely blind to what is in the country’s best interests.

    1. 339120+ up ticks,
      Morning R,
      Double that up with Gerard Batten getting a second term
      as “genuine UKIP” leader and you would have a worldwide winning double.

    2. 339120+ up ticks,
      R,
      The majority of the electorate ARE politically completely
      blind, the politico’s are running a successful reset, replace campaign as the decent peoples of the nation CAN clearly see.

    3. Trump was given a second term, Rastus. It’s just that the election was corrupted with “phantom” votes.

      1. Many dead hands ticked the voting slips.

        Are you up to date with the progress of the examination into voting irregularities at the 2020 US election?

        1. No, but I believe that some progress is being made in one or two States. For a long time after the election in November last year, Trump-haters kept repeating the lie that Trump had no evidence of election malfeasance. But the reality was that no court was willing to accept a trial – at which evidence could have been presented – and so the belief grew (repeatedly alleged by the MSM) that no such evidence existed. Trump’s complaints about election fraud were characterised as “sour grapes” from the candidate “who lost fair and square”. I still have my betting slip proving that I placed a £20 bet on Trump winning the 2020 election.

  39. Excellent! https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/m25-protests-insulate-britain-activist-liam-norton-gmb-susannah-reid-richard-madeley-b956626.html
    An Insulate Britain activist has stormed off Good Morning Britain after being given a grilling by presenters Richard Madeley and Susannah Reid over the M25 protests. Liam Norton was questioned over the group’s tactics on Wednesday morning, following days of sit-down protests which have caused chaos for thousands of motorists. In heart-stopping scenes on Tuesday morning, activists ran in front of lorries after slipping past a small number of police who attempted to drag them back to the hard shoulder near J10 in Woking.
    Reid landed some early blows in the debate ridiculing Mr Norton, who has reportedly not insulated his own home because it costs “tens of thousands” to carry out and millions of other people cannot afford it.

    Reid said: “Is this the case? You’re saying you would risk your life for Insulate Britain but you not going insulate your own home? Sorry if it sounds patronising but it seems that completely sabotages your cause.”

    According to reports, energy efficiency stats show his London home is single-glazed, has no cavity wall insulation and uses gas central heating. Reid asked him again if he was prepared to lose his life during the stunts to raise awareness about having UK’s homes insulated by 2030. Mr Norton responded: “People are going to lose their lives if nothing is done.”
    He was asked whether he was willing to risk the lives of one of his protesters if they were hit by a motorist. “It’s terrible isn’t it?” he said. But the interview boiled over when the guest compared the Insulate Britain movement to Winston Churchill’s stand against fascism and Adolf Hitler.
    “Do you know how many MPs supported Churchill in 1937?”, Mr Norton asked the panel.
    “I don’t care,” Madeley replies.
    Norton continued: “Six MPs and Churchill was right wasn’t he but only six supported him.”
    The GMB guest host hit back: “You’re comparing yourself to Churchill? That is the most twisted parallel I think I have ever heard.”
    But the Insulate Britain activist stuck to his guns, saying: “I’m putting myself in a historical situation where the public aren’t always with you but you are still right. And we’re right now. We’re talking about the destruction of our economy and the destruction of our health service.”
    Mr Norton then angrily stormed off the set ranting about the “state of things” as Madeley laughed at him.
    Panellist Dawn Neesom then made her own comparison by comparing Insulate Britain to terrorists.
    Following the interview, justice minister Chris Philp called Mr Norton an “idiot” on Twitter.
    “One of the idiots organising the dangerous, disruptive and pollution-causing blockades of the M25 demanding insulation … hasn’t even bothered to insulate his own home,” he wrote.
    “He’s only interested in causing disruption to law-abiding citizens and drawing attention to himself.”
    The TV altercation came just as a judge granted an injunction against M25 protesters meaning activists will face possible imprisonment.
    The Transport Secretary said the injunction will come into effect later on Wednesday. The government sought the move to stop environmental activists from shutting down the M25 after five days of protests causing massive tailbacks.

    Writing for the Daily Mail alongside Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, Ms Patel said the Home Office is working with National Highways to take legal action against the Insulate Britain group in a bid to “ensure they cannot keep disrupting and endangering people’s lives”.

          2. She is eight years older than her husband – but age difference does not have to be a problem.

            The younger of my two elder sisters married a man 12 years younger than herself and was happily married for 30 years until her death. She had two children by him to add to the four she had by her first husband but the children by her first husband found it difficult to accept husband No2 and this can often be difficult. There is also a large age difference between Caroline and me (16 years) and even though I was 40 and she was 24 when we started our relationship it was the first and only marriage for us both and we did not have the complication of having children other than the two boys we have together.

          3. My niece married a man 12 years her junior. The marriage appears to be happier than her first one.

          4. My elder sister and her boyfriend were 20 years old when they had a shot gun wedding in 1956. They have just celebrated their 65th anniversary. To match them I shall have to live until I am 106 but Caroline will still be a mere girl of 90 then..

  40. BBC Radio 4: We now have half an hour of the funniest comedian ever. Ricky Gervais is a vegetarian, an atheist and a humanist. Gervais is a fervent supporter of gay rights and has praised the introduction of same-sex marriage in England and Wales as “a victory for all of us”. Gervais named an Asian black bear, also known as a moonbear, Derek after the protagonist from his series Derek. Gervais endorsed Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in the 2017 general election. He tweeted, “OK. I’m not telling you how to vote, but this is a fact. The only vote that will keep Theresa May out is a vote for Jeremy Corbyn”. As of January 2021 he was followed by 14.5 million fans whom he calls ‘Twonks’.

    Is Gervais the funniest man ever? I have only heard him once or twice in passing and he sounded like a moron. How many Nttlers are ‘Twonks’? Come on, own up. It won’t go any further than us.

        1. I am of the opinion that Gervais is one of them – one of those he was taking the.. extracting the urine from.

      2. I’ve never warmed to Gervais. I watched half an episode of his “acclaimed comedy” The Office then switched off.

        1. You managed to watch for that long?? I’m astounded! IMHO he is the epitome of smug, self satisfaction. Incredibly unfunny but wouldn’t know that!

  41. I’ve just seen a fascinating feature about a hobbyist composter. I love England when it can produce benign eccentrics like this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/science-environment-58587691?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

    In the early 1990s, I had a girlfriend whose brother was called John Cossham. He was a doctor, and about the same age as the fellow in this report. When I knew him, he lived in a house he palnted in bright colours named ‘Colourbox’ and his wife was born on the very same day he was. I wonder if he is the same person?

    1. 339120+ up ticks,
      Afternoon N,
      Could be said to be dim lit for dimwits regarding the voting pattern, past / ongoing.

    1. Are you certain it’s the same strength? My hydrogen peroxide is still available, but only at 1/3 the former strength.

      1. sos. This is the same brand I use, I get it from ebay. I don’t know what you mean by “same strength” because this is very powerful stuff, more than adequate for anything you are planning to do with it.

        1. The last time I looked, when it was being discussed recently, Kilrock don’t advertise it on their website.

          I wonder whether it might be old stock being sold off, rather like glyphosphate weedkiller isn’t generally available but one can sometimes find it.

          When one looks closely at labels it is often the case that the absolute strength/concentration has been reduced for health and safety reasons.

          Kilrock make excellent products.

          1. According to the blurb on the bottle, I just looked, it is Hydrochloric Acid 32%. It isn’t old stock unless they have an enormous stock of it because I have been buying it for years from ebay.

          2. I bought hydrogen peroxide from the same supplier for many years and the manufacturer suddenly stopped making/selling the 34.9 and now it’s only available in 12. (Unless it might be available to the professional market.) I’ve also experienced similar problems with other products.
            It might be worthwhile getting a stock in, if you use a lot, just in case.

          3. I use it mostly for limescale which is a chronic problem in this part of West Sussex. So much so that if you wipe down stainless steel with plain water it makes a murky residue.

      1. Like many highly paid union leaders, he believes he is entitled to keep it once it has been allocated and to Hell with people is genuine need.

          2. Baroness Uddin lived in a housing association flat while keeping an empty flat in Maidstone she never visited in 7 years. Reckoned to have claimed at least £100k in allowances etc before she was exposed. Kerching!

    2. Laughably, the idiots claim that insulation is needed because houses are damp when damp is frequently caused by insulation applied post-build.

  50. Steerpike
    Seven awful Indyref predictions seven years on
    21 September 2021, 4:00pm
    *
    *
    *
    *************************************************************

    Jolly Radical • 20 hours ago
    One thing that hasn’t changed is Nicola’s super injunction . . .

  52. More bullshit for the cameras and gullible media. Incoherent Biden and bumbling Johnson talking through masks, they may as well be speaking Martian. This pair are so transparent it beggars belief that they think the public believes their, ‘look at us doing what you really ought to be doing to save spreading disease,’ when as soon as out of shot the masks will be discarded.

    https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1440428778937720840

    2. Neither of these buffoons have had the jab so they are virtue signalling.

      They both want the rest of us fully jabbed because the unvaccinated represent an obvious control group by which the jab effectiveness and adverse reactions will inevitably be compared viz. when the shit hits the fan and the jabbed start dropping.

  54. Biden’s credibility is in tatter. 22 September 2021.

    In the wake of the monumental Afghanistan disaster and its huge global fallout, Biden has a huge credibility problem that will be impossible to fix during his presidency.

    After just eight months in office, Biden already looks like a lame duck, his administration beset by a massive southern border crisis of its own making, out-of-control government spending with a national debt approaching a staggering $30 trillion, a worsening Covid pandemic, and a foreign policy disaster of epic proportions in south Asia. The only thing Biden has going for him is his vice president, Kamala Harris, comes across as even more incompetent and unpopular than he is.

    In nearly 20 years in Washington, I have watched countless UN addresses broadcast live on American television screens, from four different presidents. Biden’s was quite possibly the worst in terms of sheer hypocrisy and a complete lack of substance. I suspect America’s enemies were delighted by Biden’s remarks, and US allies were mightily unimpressed.

    I never thought that he had any credibility to tatterise!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/09/22/bidens-credibility-tatters/

      2. What a stumbling, incoherent pile of dog poo.

        And he claims (or pelosi does) that people actually, overwhelmingly voted for him.

    2. Even so I predict that Boris Johnson will not have the testicular strength to go against Biden’s orders and scrap the NI Protocol. To entrust the sacred duty of manager of the prime ministerial scrotum to a young trollop s one thing but to give the castrating knife to a senile old idiot is even worse

      When the chips are down Johnson is craven and even his bluster is getting more insipid by the day.

      As a matter of interest – does any Nottler disagree and think that Johnson will succeed in ridding the UK of the EU’s obstructive machinations in N. Ireland?

      1. I suspect that the best way to sort it out will be to make Eire squeal so loudly to the EU that if they don’t retract there will be Eirexit.

      2. I suspect Boris is relieved that there is a US President who is even weaker, more venal and more hypocritical than himself – now he can blame everything on Biden!

      1. 339120+ up ticks,
        Afternoon DB,
        Horses for courses, never put yourself down, we the decent peoples are paying others to do that.

    1. It will only end when Aussies retaliate with REAL guns. And they will.

      Shades of Enoch Powell’s rivers of blood.

    2. First – while I have every sympathy with people who are objecting to the Australian government’s (and states’) policy on the plague, I do NOT think it is appropriate to protest at the War Memorial. Remember how cross we were when a lot of tossers protested at the Cenotaph, swung from flags, sprayed it. Not the right place for political protest.

      Secondly – the text suggests that the perlice were using live ammunition. They were not. They were doing what was done in N Ireland – rubber bullets (or similar).

      1. Yes, whilst cleaning the bathroom I realised I hadn’t mentioned the rubber bullets. I was returning to make a mention of that. But they are hardly soft and can and do make terrible injuries.

        I agree the war memorial is not the right place for a demonstration even if the protestors are protesting that their birthrights to freedom have being removed under cover of a virus.

        The protestors are unarmed, they are scarcely chucking petrol bombs at the so-called police (as in NI). But it will escalate. I am shocked by this present escalation.

          1. I saw a woman who had been caught by a rubber bullet smack in the middle of her forehead. It made a terrible mess of her face. Had it been her eye, she would have been blinded in that eye. It seems to me that rubber bullets are just less likely to kill and enter the body to the extent that live rounds are able to do so. I will check out your tweet.

          3. Baton rounds are really nasty if aimed at the body. They should be aimed to bounce off the road and bang into the legs.

          4. Tw@tters said the photo was taken in Argentina rather than Australia but it’s still a good illustration of the damge they can do.

    3. Rubber bullets can cause fatal injuries. When the authorities start using them, it is time to hit back forcefully.

      Edit. With an army that size, I could conquer the world, not just cripple women., assuming that.they were real men and not the sort that shoots unarmed women in the back. Oh, I see the flaw.

      2. An apocryphal story was told about Rachael Heyhoe-Flint who, when asked if there was a feminine equivalent of the box, replied “A manhole cover.”

        When told of this story, she replied, “I didn’t say that … but I wish I had.”

    5. Batter is a flour mixture with liquid and other ingredients like sugar, salt and leavening. Batter is most often used for pancakes, light cakes, and as a coating for fried foods.

      Can you imagine Len Hutton being called a batter , or Don Bradman, Colin Cowdrey or Ian Botham ..

      The MCC are bonkers

    1. If all those athletes could be tested now for the appropriate Covid antibodies would it show if they had contracted Covid and if so, which variant?

    2. I believe the US team gathered at Fort Detrick before they went to Wuhan…..coincidence?
      A lot of them never took part in any events and the “team” finished well down the field in 35th place just below Finland.
      Namibia and Tunisia finished above them.

      1. It is equally likely that any top flight sportsman in the West would be able to make a decent living on the professional circuit and wouldn’t join the military.

          2. A lot of the top-flight skiers from France,Italy,Austria join the Border Guards precisely so they get their training paid for.

          4. You’re trying hard to get off the original subject.Some of the competitions were parachuting,open-water swimming,orienteering.

          5. So what? It’s a joke event.
            You’re trying to make out that the Yanks sent a team of “lepers” to pass on a virus and then suggesting that the fact they came well down the medal tables proves your case.
            Basically it’s bullshit.

            And I’ll answer the skiing aspect, which you raised.

            None.

          6. France all top cross-country skiers are given nominal positions as border guards.
            Look it up dear boy.

      1. Rubber bullets, if not picked up and used as dildos can give you nasty injuries in other places. Up Oz Stazi’s fundaments might be a good idea.

  63. David Isaac, lawyer, the Provost of Worcester College since July this year and previously chair of Stonewall, is understood to have ordered an investigation into the hosting of a Christian conference at the beginning of this month. Students said the event was ‘Islamophobic’ for discussing ‘the nature of Islam’… and his husband couldn’t stop weeping at the anti LGBT possibility of having Christians in the college.

    This ‘thing’ has his fingers (and chairs) in many top charities and campaigned for the abolition of Section 28 and the introduction of Civil Partnerships.

    The slime infests every aspect and level of education and government in the UK. What to do?

    1. Chain him to a wall and read the Bible – both Old and New testements until he cries for ‘No more’ and then repeat, ad infinitum.

  64. Gammon, remoaner, Karen and snowflake are among the words added to Ofcom’s list of offensive terms
    The communications regulator added several words to a list of offensive terms
    It is the first time that politically-charged labels have been included on the list
    Among the entries are ‘karen’, ‘libtard’, ‘snowflake’ and ‘gammon’
    Ofcom says it is important to follow linguistic trends and the development of language online, particularly on social media, to monitor what may be offensive
    But the move may well be seen as stoking the ‘woke’ movement and an infringement on free speech

    What words have been added to Ofcom’s ‘offensive’ list?
    Karen: A pejorative term for an obnoxious, angry, entitled, and often racist middle-aged white woman

    Gammon: A term referring to the colour of a person’s flushed face when expressing their strong opinions, associated particularly with right-wing brexiteers

    Libtard: A word used to describe people on the political left who are perceived to be easily offended, ‘woke’ and overly politically correct

    Snowflake: Someone perceived as too sensitive, easily offended and outraged

    Feminazi: A term used to describe an outspoken and radical feminist

    Boomer: An insult for baby boomers who are perceived to be out of touch and dismissive of younger generations

    Remoaner: Someone against Brexit perceived to be constantly complaining about it

    Terf: A ‘trans-exclusionary radical feminist’ – used to describe people who reject the assertion that trans women are women and are opposed to trans-rights legislation

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10015349/Gammon-remoaner-Karen-snowflake-words-added-Ofcoms-list-offensive-terms.html

    3. Strange that! The BBC this afternoon were celebrating terms such as Gammon – whities in general because they have the skin colour of a pig, and Karen, but I didn’t hear the reason because of the accents and garbled speech of the guests and presenters.

    6. “Karen” and “gammon” are the worst on that list because one insults women called Karen, and the other belittles a group to the status of being something that can be eaten by everyone else, or alternatively something unclean. Boomer, Remoaner, Terf are factual. Snowflake is whimsical.

      Banning “Feminazi” is opening a huge and very dangerous can of censorship worms. “Hitler” and “Nazi” have a long history of being used as insults in British English, as had “Napoleon” in earlier times.

    1. We are shooting for the NHS between Thursday 23rd and Saturday 25th September and have a variety of requirements.

      On Friday 24th (afternoon call time) we are looking for men and women aged 18-80 to be hospital patients.

      Payments are £120 for a 10 hour day including 1 hour for lunch.

      Please apply ASAP.

      Payment is subject to Talent Talks commission, this being 15% for subscribed Talent Talks members.

      DETA https://www.talenttalks.co.uk/audition/24488/

      1. All the time those beds are occupied by actors real people who are ill are not being treated.

        They should be exposed then horse whipped.

        1. Phizzee ,

          I was wondering just the same , and pretendy patients are being paid £120 for the day.. I feel so angry , we really are being taken for a ride , conned infact .. I wish some one could explain .

          I bet it is all for a party political advert.. or is it … or are they trying to recruit medical staff …

      2. Getting the propaganda for November and December ready. Who says the NHS can’t prepare adequately for the winter?

      1. Obama stated categorically that Britain would be at the back of the queue and Biden has Obama’s hand up his arse controlling him.

        1. People never listen. That message was sent in cleartext. Why delude themselves? Same with the EU, they’ve always been clear what its about.

        2. And Boris the Brain Dead clearly backed Jurassic Joe over Dynamic Donald in the presidential elections.

    2. We might have done.
      Except the Democrats stole the election for their puppet candidate, Joe Biden.

    3. And we won’t be able to get rid of the NI Protocol because big, bold, brave Boris is terrified of a senile old idiot.

      So the EU will be in effective control of a part of the UK until the next presidential election at least.

      Is there anything that the Bonking Buffoon has not managed to cock up completely?

  67. ‘ As one insider put it: “The US legal team thinks the best thing is to get into the ins and outs of what she’s actually accused him (Prince Andrew) of – and pick the claims apart one by one.” – DT.

    Ooh, matron! This should be fun…

  68. And there you have it…

    Russia is fully compliant with its gas supply obligations to Europe, Germany’s energy ministry’s spokeswoman Suzanne Ungrad said Wednesday, dismissing claims Moscow is pressuring the EU to speed up Nord Stream 2’s commissioning.
    “According to our information, Russia is fulfilling the existing supply agreements… We do not know about the deliberate disregard of the existing contracts,” Ungrad stated, as cited by RIA Novosti.

    She stressed that the department is monitoring the situation with gas prices, but believes that the market should be the one to respond.

    “We do not see the need for the state to intervene in the situation,” Ungrad said, noting that many factors influence gas prices, including “difficult winter, economic changes, increased demand for gas, the situation in Asia, fires in Siberia.”

  69. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/diary-of-an-afghan-family-in-the-uk-the-home-office-doesnt-seem-to-care/ar-AAOGZTq?ocid=st
    Diary of an Afghan family in the UK: ‘The Home Office doesn’t seem to care’

    After four weeks in a hotel in Canterbury, my family and I were relocated to Perth in Scotland last week, with just three days’ notice. It’s not where we wanted to live in the UK but we had no other option – we needed to settle, and at least it is away from the dangers of Afghanistan.

    My brother is still out there as an officer in the former Afghan army and was badly injured after being shot by the Taliban three weeks ago. He is OK now, but we are worried for him and our other family and friends who are still out there. We want to help them evacuate too.

    My wife Lida, our three sons and I have been in Perth for a week now and have been given a three-bedroom flat in a very commercial area in a downtown part of the city. We are happy and grateful to have a home but we don’t have much space and can’t keep our bikes here. We hoped to be near to parks and professional areas. Instead we are in a noisy part of town with bars and nightclubs playing music until 4am – we are struggling to sleep.

    I actually feel very sorry for them , because I met 3 very pleasant elderly Englishmen ( widowers ) who came down to have a caravan holiday in Dorset .

    All they wanted was peace and quiet … they lived near Tower Hamlets , they said the constant noise of Afro music thumping, rows and bustups in neighbouring flats and filth in the streets , plus vandalised cars , including their own cars , was unbearable , as were the sirens .

    Poor old chaps , stuck somewhere where they were brought up , now no longer resembling the Britain they once loved and knew .

    1. The music til 4am is not even the worst part – the other residents are. Plus of course the drunks, the drug dealers and the amateur and professional prostitutes and their clients.

        5. What an amateur lacks in professionalism she more than makes up for in enthusiasm.

          And she’s probably cheaper.

          Edit: or so I’m told.

          1. “You don’t look at their faces
            You don’t look a them at all
            You keep your mind on the money
            Keeping your eyes on the wall”.

      2. We lived on the Isle of Dogs in the early 80s. Reggae parties, SPG raids… and SWMBO became friends with a Kray!

        1. I lived at the Pallisades on Canary Wharf in the 90’s. Major haul of drugs found in the underground car park.

    3. “…We had no other option – we needed to settle”

      No other option? What about Pakistan, Ceylon, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, Iran, Iraq……(other slammer countries are available)

    4. Tell your pals in Tower Hamlets that fire-bombs are good for quelling the nose and getting the current incumbents to know that they are to be resettled on St Kilda.

  70. There was a bit of a tailback on the Via Gellia an hour or so ago.
    I had a walk down to see what the problem was to find that a car heading down towards Cromford apparently thought a 7½ ton flatbed wasn’t going round Slinter Corner fast enough and tried to shunt it down the road.
    Obviously the car came off worst.
    Driver apparently ok other than seat belt rash and brown stains on his now wet underpants!

      1. 10 minute drive away.
        Up the Via Gellia, turn left at Rider Point, straight over at Hopton arch crossroads and drop down the back road to Hopton.

  71. Aren’t these people brave and wonderful….?

    Schools are accused of ‘brainwashing’ students as children as young as 12 take part in mock trial of Tory MP Richard Drax for ‘benefitting from slavery’ relating to his ancestors
    Teachers were today slammed for bringing fictional claims against Richard Drax
    They tried to pin slavery ‘charges’ against the ex-British Army officer in their trial
    The fake prosecutor accused the MP of ‘benefitting from the proceeds of slavery’
    But education experts have blasted the schools for ‘brainwashing’ their students
    *
    *
    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/09/22/13/48241937-10016531-image-a-55_1632312323886.jpg
    The event was organised by human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith (pictured, smirking as he pretended to be a judge)

    *
    *
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10016531/School-accused-brainwashing-students-young-12-mock-trial-Tory-MP.html#newcomment

      1. Unmitigated libel and slander. Sue ALL the participants, students and all – they were put up to it.

        1. No, King Stephen, it means Electronic Diagnostic Facility – or perhaps Elsie’s Daft Friends!

    2. Yes, MB and I are having to sit tight.
      It’s a shame (to put it politely) as we find them a good company.

      1. I was fixed till next spring, now I will be fleeced till next year. If you didnt see, Ofgem suggests taking a pic of yr meter readings.

  74. Decades-old US ban on British lamb to be lifted, says Boris Johnson. 22 September 2021.

    British lamb exports to the US will soon resume after a ban stretching back more than 20 years to the Mad Cow Disease epidemic, Boris Johnson has said.

    But haggis will not be included in the removal of restrictions, as offal products are treated separately from red meat.

    Washington last year lifted a ban on beef from the UK, and president Joe Biden indicated in talks with the prime minister at the White House on Tuesday that lamb is likely also to benefit from the relaxation.

    God it’s pathetic! He just threw Johnson a bone so he would have something to brag about. There’s real contempt there!

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-us-trade-lamb-b1924859.html

  75. Decades-old US ban on British lamb to be lifted, says Boris Johnson. 22 September 2021.

    British lamb exports to the US will soon resume after a ban stretching back more than 20 years to the Mad Cow Disease epidemic, Boris Johnson has said.

    But haggis will not be included in the removal of restrictions, as offal products are treated separately from red meat.

    Washington last year lifted a ban on beef from the UK, and president Joe Biden indicated in talks with the prime minister at the White House on Tuesday that lamb is likely also to benefit from the relaxation.

    God it’s pathetic! He just threw Johnson a bone so he would have something to brag about. There’s real contempt there!

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-us-trade-lamb-b1924859.html

    1. They still haven’t been able to get over the last three thrashing we gave them. 😏🏹🗡⚔💪🏽

  80. Stephen Toope embodied all that is rotten about our universities

    On his watch Cambridge suppressed debate and academic freedom, and kow-towed to China

    MADELINE GRANT

    PARLIAMENTARY SKETCHWRITER

    22 September 2021 • 7:00am

    “Canada’s PC princeling Justin Trudeau might have missed out on a majority this week, but his country may be about to get even woker. Professor Stephen Toope has announced that he will be ending his disastrous reign as Cambridge vice-chancellor two years early. Toope, a Canadian human rights lawyer, says he plans to return home for more quality time with his family after the traumas of the pandemic.

    One Cambridge university councillor hailed the vice-chancellor’s contributions to student life; his commitment to zero carbon and “sustainability”, his efforts to make the institution more “transparent and robust in its processes”. In truth, Toope should be remembered for tarnishing Cambridge’s moral and intellectual credibility; suppressing debate and academic freedom.

    On his watch, Cambridge kowtowed to China and rebuffed all criticism. Far from promoting transparency, inquiring journalists have found it remarkably difficult to extract answers from Toope, or Cambridge itself, about any of it. His tenure embodied much of what is wrong with British universities – so, despite his welcome departure, the rot goes deeper.

    Toope was a keen advocate of the sinister bullying which often masquerades as social justice nowadays, especially on campuses. One particularly totalitarian initiative would have encouraged students and faculty members to inform on each other, and report “microaggressions” anonymously. Though he was forced to backtrack on the scheme, it gives a telling insight into the mindset.

    Even more damningly, he played an important role in one of the great scandals of recent decades – China’s growing influence in British universities. His tenure began, appropriately enough, with a chummy tête-à-tête with the then-Chinese ambassador. Jesus College, Cambridge, has deep financial ties with China, which have expanded under Toope’s tenure – including a £200,000 grant from the Chinese government in 2018 for its “Global Issues Dialogue Centre”, plus £155,000 from Huawei. Toope himself wrote the foreword to a Huawei-sponsored white paper published by the college, praising China’s role in “forging a new governance system”.

    Professor Peter Nolan, who runs the centre, was recently caught warning, in chillingly pragmatic terms, against debating on campus the situation of Uighur Muslims. He insisted that discussing their plight would not help “mutual understanding” between Britain and China. Perhaps not, but then again, nor do genocides.

    Not all universities achieve this level of shamelessness, but it certainly reveals a deeper problem. Nine UK universities depend on Chinese students for more than a fifth of their tuition fee income – which leaves them vulnerable to potential sanctions. According to an alarming report by the think tank Civitas, more than a fifth of research in many high-impact science and technology subjects involves collaboration with China. Specific donations are common too: Oxford University recently renamed its 120-year-old Wykeham professorship in exchange for a £700,000 donation from Tencent, the Chinese software company. Tencent, which has also made “generous” donations to Cambridge’s engineering department, is closely linked to the Chinese Communist Party; its WeChat app forms a cornerstone of the Chinese surveillance state. On current trajectory, how long until Jesus College is renamed “Xi-sus”?

    All of this, of course, sits uneasily alongside the clamours for “decolonisation” (Toope, naturally, spearheaded Cambridge’s efforts on this front), “Rhodes Must Fall” and the worthy platitudes we’ve come to expect from university leaders. Louise Richardson, the vice-chancellor of Oxford University, recently confessed to being “embarrassed to have educated Michael Gove”. Speaking for myself, I feel rather more embarrassed about my alma mater’s continuing ties with the world’s pre-eminent totalitarian regime. But cancel culture and statue-toppling are comparatively easy – demonstrating “virtue” without having to do anything. Reversing China’s financial stranglehold on our universities will be far more difficult.

    Cambridge reflects not just a growing dependence on tainted money, but another common type of greed and tone-deafness too. During the pandemic, like many universities, Cambridge continued to charge students at the same rate while offering remote-only teaching and a diminished experience. It’s far from over – in a recent survey of Russell Group universities, 20 out of 24 said some proportion of undergraduate teaching would remain online. While students suffer, alongside mass lay-offs of rank-and-file staff, vice-chancellors and other senior managers continue to make the most of the gravy train.

    Suppression of free speech, an increasingly rotten deal for students, capitulation to China and a grotesque misplaced sanctimony, university authorities have been getting away with it for far too long. From now on, we cannot just be tough on Toope, but tough on the causes of Toopism.”

    2. BTL:

      Conte di Faraglione
      22 Sep 2021 10:07AM
      The problem is that the same people who hired Toope are still in post, which means his replacement will be cut from the same cloth.

      Who hired him? How do we replace them, is the key question.

    3. He and his ilk have ensured that, after nearly 50 years of donating, I doubt I will give another penny.

        1. Mind you, the US was generally years behind in payments. I seem to remember that the UN threatened them with court action some time last century.

  84. That’s me gone for this gorgeous day – EXCEPT for the dew which is STILL there.

    Market tomorrow.

    A demain

    1. I hope it’s the pigs that you are driving to market tomorrow, Bill, and not Pickle and Gus.

      :-))

      1. Link saved as it reminded me of my youth when a local farmer, Antony Creasey used to sing this in The Fleece in Bungay.

  85. Words …. well, ones fit to repeat, fail me. I am just so angry that I cannot actually type anything.

    “Boris Johnson told reporters at the UN in New York last night that the government is ‘working very hard to find a way through’ but the chaos demonstrated the need to move to ‘clean, green sources of energy’. He compared the economic recovery after Covid to a ‘big thaw’ when pipes had been frozen.”

    1. He’s right. The money is leaking all over the floor and flooding the property. It will run out soon and nothing useful will have been done with it – besides filling a few more mates’ pockets.

      1. He knows that if he follows orders, the financial reward will be big, and that’s all he cares about.

      2. Dicking around with sodding green policies is at the root of this farrago.
        We’ve had 20 years of this cr@p – all political parties have had a hand in this farce.

    5. He’s always been a complete buffoon.

      The trouble with these people is they all think they are highly intelligent highly talented individuals when really most of them are decidedly average and have no clue what they are doing, and live a comfortable life because nepotism is rife in these circles.

      What economic recovery Boris? There isn’t an economic recovery and nor will there be while you tax the life out of everyone. Sure there’s loads of jobs out there, if you want 20 hours at 9-10 quid a week. Not so many that let you buy a house though are there?

  88. September is set to be the new record month for migrant crossings, with 3,413 making the journey so far, Home Office data has revealed.

    The record is currently 3,509, set in July, but observers in Dover believe that number might have been surpassed today.

    Around 80 have arrived so far today in Dover Marina, Kent with a Border Force catamaran Hurricane docking around 9.30am with about 50 people on board.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10017453/September-set-new-record-month-migrant-landings.html

    I guess EVERYONE coming ashore says they are an Afghan?

    4. If they don’t, they are unbelievably stupid.
      Anyone who doesn’t claim they are an Afghan should be sent straight to Kabul.

  90. Just watching an interview with a potential surrogate mother.
    Judging by her mouth, I assume she’s hoping to spawn a school of baby trout.

  91. 20:21 today the sun crosses the equator heading south and we are into the start of Autumn.
    Is there any chance at all it could take the fat useless buffoon with it.
    Dear God, watching him waffle in interviews is cringeworthy!

    2. …and let’s hope that the increasing heat, gives rise to lots of burns and heat-exhaustion to the Aussie Riot squads.

      Burn, you bastards, burn.

      Revel in the joy of losing the respect of, at least, the English-speaking world.

      1. I hope that Aussies never forget the riot squads actions and they are reviled by the people for the rest of their lives.
        They deserve more than contempt but stringing the bastards up by their balls is probably just too much to hope for.

  92. The cancer backlog scandal is so much worse than you think

    At the start of the pandemic I said that lockdown could end up killing more people than Covid – I wish I had been wrong

    ALLISON PEARSON

    Even in these surreal times, there are still things that are beyond belief. A GP emailed me last night to say that he had spoken on the phone to a woman with a cough who wanted to book a face-to-face appointment ASAP to get a worrying, persistent pain checked out. She had a negative lateral flow test. The GP was away today so he asked the surgery’s receptionist to book the woman in with a colleague. “Sorry, Doctor X will not see anyone with a cough,” came the reply.

    “How are doctors not going to see people with a cough in WINTER?” asks the GP. “It’s crazy! It makes me so mad.”

    Last week, ministers confirmed that the infection fatality rate of Covid is now just 0.096 per cent. The pandemic of panic should be well and truly over. It is fantastic news. Older and more vulnerable people can top up their immunity with a booster in the next few months while everyone else gets on with their lives. GPs should resume the in-person appointments which the Royal College of GPs has tried to maintain they have been doing all along, when we know that’s simply not true.

    So recalcitrant has the profession been, so resistant to public dismay and campaigns by newspapers like this one, so lacking in compassion for patients who have suffered, and even died, for want of an appointment, that the Prime Minister himself had to weigh in. A No 10 spokesman said that every patient had the right to a face-to-face appointment. The “Poor me!” fit of the vapours from the British Medical Association is already starting.

    We have undoubtedly become a more anxious people, our sense of proportion as haywire as a compass in the Bermuda Triangle, our fear stoked on a daily basis by a broadcast media which feasts greedily on any nugget of bad news while ignoring the bigger picture.

    Take the scandalised reports over the weekend which suggested that some of the professional dancers on Strictly were causing problems by refusing to get vaccinated. As we now know, his or her double-jabbed colleagues can still catch the virus and transmit it. Yet, still, we maintain the pernicious pretence that such people are lepers to be ostracised. The only people we could, with some justification, call irresponsible are those in high-risk groups who refuse to get jabbed, running the risk of severe illness and hospitalisation.

    Meanwhile, the consequences of our corona obsession become starker by the day. A report by University College London said that the pandemic is likely to have caused an extra 10,000 cancer deaths. A lack of emergency referrals by GPs since the first lockdown is a major factor with researchers claiming that neglect is likely to have resulted in 40,000 late diagnoses. We are already seeing the calamitous effects of delay. One radiographer tells me there is a mood of depression and helplessness in her oncology unit. “Normally, we would be scanning people and finding Stage 1 and Stage 2 cancers, then recommending a course of treatment. Now, we are seeing people coming in with Stage 4 and there’s not a lot that can be done, except palliative care. Many are younger people. It’s desperate.”

    Younger people like Jessica Brady. A beautiful York University graduate, 27-year-old Jessica first complained of abdominal pain last summer. Despite the pandemic being largely under control by then, Jess was repeatedly denied an in-person appointment with a GP. Without any physical examination or testing, she was diagnosed, via a virtual appointment, with a kidney infection and prescribed antibiotics. As her symptoms worsened, Jess, who struggled to navigate the surgery’s byzantine consultation procedures, was given more antibiotics, steroids and an inhaler by four different GPs.

    Her mother, Andrea Brady, told the House of Commons’ health and social care committee last week that multiple doctors didn’t put the jigsaw pieces together until five months later, by which time cancer had raced through the young woman’s body like a forest fire. Jessica was only finally seen in person when she bombarded her local surgery with more than 20 calls and a GP suggested she needed a gastroscopy. Had that procedure happened a few months earlier, her cancer might have been contained.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6ebe3e368f0b664641ef19b3b6c0361ffc468926257ffcadaba4fb6d58d40c85.jpg
    Jessica Brady might still be here with her mother, Andrea, if she’d been seen sooner

    “Jess was a very gentle, sweet person,” her mum recalled, “but she really did attribute her late diagnosis to the slow reaction of her GP surgery… She needed a face-to-face appointment really early on, with people making notes.” Even after seeing a GP in person, it was not until she sought private health care that she was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer of the lungs, bones, spine and liver. Three weeks later, Jessica Brady was dead.

    Responding to Jessica’s case, Dr Richard Roope, clinical adviser for cancer at the Royal College of General Practitioners, told MPs: “In general practice we talk about learning events and this is the mother of all learning events… We are there to help our patients and to enable access to the best treatment and diagnostics in a timely fashion and I think we can do things better than what has happened. And I think the narrative that we’ve heard is in a way a manifestation of essentially demand outstripping supply. That all GPs could do more if we had more time and if there was more GPs we could give more time to each patient.”

    What a morally bankrupt, shamelessly buck-passing response. How dare Dr Roope, and the Royal College, describe the death of a wonderful young woman as “the mother of all learning events”. Andrea Brady, the only mother that matters here, knows full well that her beloved child lost her life too soon because GPs persisted with a system of virtual triage, fervently advanced by Matt Hancock, which failed to pick up key symptoms. It is not, as Dr Roope shamelessly claimed, a question of “demand outstripping supply”. It is a question of GPs, who before the pandemic saw 80 per cent of patients in person and now see only 57 per cent, putting their own comfort and safety above the wellbeing of a precious young woman.

    Too many GPs are part of a pandemic phenomenon which has been called ERM or Elite Risk Minimisation. While district nurses, paramedics, pharmacists, physios and general practice nurses have soldiered on like the poor bloody infantry, never ceasing to see patients in person, the officer class has preferred to keep a safe distance. It’s an attitude which, as Health Secretary Sajid Javid said, was understandable at the start of lockdown when we were dealing with an unknown virus, but which is now totally inexcusable.

    Funny how private GPs are managing to provide a record number of face-to-face consultations, isn’t it? Spire, which charges £90 for a 30-minute appointment, reports an 81 per cent increase increase in “self-pay patients” since 2019. You can’t listen to a heart over the phone, as one private doctor pointed out, and listening to the human heart in the fullest sense is what medicine used to be all about. Besides, a hundred quid looks like a bargain if it picks up your cancer early.

    I’m told that the situation may be even more dire than University College London predicted. Professor Gordon Wishart, one of the UK’s leading cancer experts, reckons 10,000 excess cancer deaths is a very low estimate. “I think it will be closer to 25,000 deaths over the next five years,” he says. Professor Wishart points to The Lancet Oncology paper published last year. “Delays in in diagnosis in NHS England suggested a 10 per cent increase in excess deaths from lung, bowel and breast cancer over the next five years. However, we then had a second lockdown [when more patients will not have seen a GP] and there are still significant delays to accessing NHS screenings and other cancer services.”

    Let that sink in. A lack of access to face-to-face appointments, coupled with a fear of coming forward to burden the NHS, could be responsible for the unnecessary deaths from cancer of 25,000 men, women and children. To that sad toll, you can add tens of thousands of future fatalities from stroke, diabetes and heart failure. Back at the start of the pandemic, I said that lockdown could end up killing more people than Covid. I wish I had been wrong.

    The stage is now set for a battle between doctors’ trade unions on the one hand and patients and the Government on the other. Will GPs continue to ignore the letter from NHS England, brought about by a Telegraph campaign, which told them they must all ensure they are offering face-to-face appointments? As the Covid risk diminishes for the vaccinated majority of the population, will GPs insist that they must be “safe” when that means sticking with phone and online consultations which are clearly less safe for the sick people who depend on them?

    I agree that we need thousands more GPs to bring us into line with primary-care provision in other countries. Doctors’ lists should be a lot shorter to guarantee a good standard of care. The public would have been deeply sympathetic to their cause, but we are haemorrhaging faith in people who were once held in such high regard. A severe case of Elite Risk Minimisation has led to a loss of feeling in the caring profession which, increasingly, seems to care only for itself. A GP who declares that they won’t see any patient with a cough has lost sight of what it means to be a doctor. For God’s sake, get yourself a box of tissues and some Strepsils. Physicians, heal yourselves!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2021/09/21/cancer-backlog-scandal-much-worse-think/

    Of course, there is another reason why it was so hard to get a GP appointment even before the madness started, not mentioned by AP but referred to in the comments. You don’t need me to explain the figures.

    1951 – 50.3
    1961 – 52.8 – +2.5
    1971 – 55.9 – +3.1
    1981 – 56.3 – +0.4
    1991 – 57.4 – +1.1
    2001 – 59.1 – +1.7
    2011 – 63.2 – +4.1
    2021 – 68.2 – +5.0

    2021 is a UN estimate. A more probable figure is 70+.

    1. “The only people we could, with some justification, call irresponsible are those in high-risk groups who refuse to get jabbed, running the risk of severe illness and hospitalisation.”

      How about the people who deliberately covered up evidence that hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin work to reduce deaths from covid by 75% (https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/my-front-row-view-of-the-covid-drug-corruption-scandal/), so that they could promote experimental vaccines which earlier this year were said to have made one company alone (Pfizer) 27.5 billion dollars?

      Wouldn’t you call that just a little bit irresponsible?

      1. I was recommended to take a daily minimum of 5,000 iu of Vitamin D3 to boost the immune system and a double dose for one month at the start of winter.

      2. I’m glad to say, BB2, that being unjabbed, I’m nobodies property.

        A free agent, allowed to waft among the jabbed with impunity, inasmuch that I am no more likely to spread deadly disease than the sheepish jabbed.

    2. Pay GPs according to the number of patients seen rather than the number on their list. You might see all the avoidance tactics disappear overnight.

      1. Gordon Brown gave the BMA their fixed income component of a head count stipend. Extras were then added. The BMA negotiators couldn’t believe it – far more than they had ever dreamed of or would have dared to ask for. They’ll never give it up now….Scweams and scweams from them and Labour of ‘attacking the NHS’ and our saintly doctors if anyone tries to touch it.

        1. They need to be squeezed until the pips squeak.
          Once the money dries up the scamdemic will be finished overnight.

          Everyone back to work.
          Some hope.

          1. Or they will think sod working this hard and unrewarding job and take early retirement or swap jobs to something far less stressful.

            Start valuing medical staff or they will stop valuing you. maybe that’s where we are now after ten years of having their income cut and business costs increased.

          2. I have always valued people who work hard in whatever their chosen profession. It matters not whether they are medical staff or not. Over the years I have received outstanding service and care from medical staff and sometimes, including recently, awful and substandard care. This most recent episode could have cost me my sight but my health is my responsibility and I sought advice from Specsavers who diagnosed a serious problem.
            When I complained about the substandard treatment I had received from A&E they replied with a catalogue of lies as to the examinations I was alleged to have received. It is unforgivable. It was not a mistake on their part but a total fabrication. Am I supposed to, in your eyes, value the doctor who did no examination as well as value the senior staff who responded to my complaint? I think not.
            I did however value the diagnosis of the optician, who had her diagnosis checked by a colleague. She phoned through to they Eye Clinic saying I should be seen that day. That referral was ignored for 2 days during which tim an outstanding emergency eye doctor at another hospital saw me within and hour and referred me to St. Thomas’s the following morning who, confirming the Specsavers diagnosis, operated on my eye that afternoon. I value the doctor at the Toyal Surrey who understood the urgency of my problem and those medical staff at St Thomas’s who operated so swiftly to save my sight.
            The NHS can be brilliant but it can also be dire and dangerous. It is in serious need need of reform and it is the public who pay for the NHS who need to be valued by them.
            I also value all the staff in all the supermarkets who went to work every day during this manufactured scamdemic and did not claim some special treatment. The NHS should stop being proclaimed as a Sacred Vow by politicians and media alike. It should be judged on performance and any shortfalls should be addressed and not covered up.
            Respect is earned, not given freely brcause people work for the NHS.

    3. I had a phone call today to say that the face-to-face consultation I was supposed to have about my hip tomorrow would now be a telephone job because the consultant was self-isolating. I was minded to turn it down as a waste of time, but they assured me I could be referred to a face-to-face from the telephone consultation, so I said, “go ahead”. Otherwise, no doubt I would lose my place in the queue or simply disappear off the radar. It’s six months since the original injury that aggravated the problem. It will have healed itself by the time it gets seen to (if it ever does). The pain isn’t anything like as crippling now as it was in April, but it’s still constant.

      1. Sorry to hear that, Conway. Constant pain is very wearing and really gets you down. Every action is an effort, and before I had my hip replaced even simple things like getting dressed, or going to the loo, were a nightmare. The absolute joy of waking up from the op and having no pain, was amazing! OK the morphine may have been a factor!

        1. About the only time I’m not in pain is when I’m riding. Whether it’s the position my hip is in, the movement or the fact I’m concentrating hard on what I’m doing, I don’t know. Getting on is difficult, so is getting off, but once I’m on, I’m fine!

          1. Interesting.

            As the bishop said to the actress?
            Seriously though, is there a way you can set up a similar situation/position off horseback that will allow you to do gentle stretching and other exercises to improve the flexibility?

          2. Not unless I buy a mechanical horse (and they a) cost a fortune and b) need a fair amount of room to be housed).

    4. Most immigration is working aged immigration. A working aged person uses very little health services. The largest consumers of healthcare are the elderly by a long long way. The last figures i saw, showed that about 800 per year is spent on the working aged whereas 7500 per year is spent on over 75s. Your population figures miss an important statistic. The number of GPs. That has gone up, and gone up faster than the population. I well remember back in the seventies a GP visit being a more than a half day affair. We’d be sat in the waiting room for hours waiting to be seen.

      1. So, Thayaric, you conclude that, as Denmark has advocated, working aged immigrants should have no benefits unless and until that they can prove that they are in remuniaritive employment for at least 37.5 hours per 7 day week.

        Right?

        1. I believe that the benefit system has to be available to everyone living here. I also believe in all honesty that we have to move to a proper citizens income very soon. The benefits system has always been a nightmare because of the need to make sure people using it ‘deserve’ to use it, and no one gets a penny more than the ‘government decided amount they need to live on’. Means testing is hugely wasteful and expensive and the marginal tax rates of benefit withdrawal are eye-watering often exceeding 80% which is quite a disincentive to work more hours or change jobs for a slightly higher salary. The system traps people in dead end low paid work and slams doors in the faces of anyone that tries to better themselves to move out of the benefits trap.
          Benefits are 100% a direct economic stimulus. It would be better for the economy to give the highest benefits possible rather than the stingiest. These people don’t stash their money offshore, or invest with it in China and Panama, they spend it in their local shops and on local services. Instead we take every penny we can off these people, making them ever so poor, so poor they can no longer consume anything but food and energy and we subsidise the already wealthy as a rising tide will lift all boats, these are the people that create jobs ( and also they are the people that move money offshore and make foreign investments while spending little and using every avenue available to minimise their tax bills). Have the last ten years of doing that had a good economic effect or a poor one? Let’s see. Moreorless flat wages in real terms for a decade, with falling wages for many too. House prices up massively over the decade. 35% or more inflation over the decade. A complete lack of growth. Economically speaking it’s been a Japan style lost decade. Yet the Tories were bequeathed a growing economy just two years after a once in a century global banking crisis which they subsequently destroyed by blindly following ideology that was only applicable to Gold Standard economies.

          3. I have a pension that I worked for from age 15½ to 65 – it is no benefit – it is bought and paid for through MY efforts and no benefits while I worked and paid tax – more than the grifters on tax credits and those ramping up the child numbers purely to claim MORE benefits.

            A whole-sale overhaul of the benefits system is required.

          4. Yes a wholesale overhaul is required.

            In ten years perhaps 40% of current jobs could be done by computerised machinery and software. We are not going to be able to turn the average person into a computer programmer, a robotic scientist, or similar type jobs. More and more people will have to earn a living in completely new ways like becoming an influencer or a gaming streamer.

            We need a robust welfare system. One that will provide an existence level of money that is never withdrawn, one that will stop people falling through gaps, and one that removes all disincentives to taking more hours or a better paid job. The ideal welfare system is a universal non-withdrawable citizens income. Automation will force this on us eventually.

            No your pension is a benefit. You view it as something you bought and paid for. It isn’t. You haven’t. Your money was destroyed. You are now given newly created money each week of the amount the current administration is willing to pay. They could say tomorrow the state pension is unaffordable and so they’ve decided to end it. If that happens you don’t have a contract showing you are entitled to payments until death. Like the rest of us you’ll just have to live with the problem. How are those WASPI women doing at getting their five years of pension back. It’s going well isn’t it?

      2. Spin away all you like. If the population increases in 20 years by more than it had increased in the previous 50, what do you expect to happen to public service provision? It will be overloaded, even in your world where, apparently, nobody young is ever ill and the immigrant isn’t old. The governments of the last 24 years based projections on the previous 50 years’ growth but increased the population at a rate more than twice that.

        And yes, there has been an increase in the number of GPs in the last 15-20 years but a large proportion of them are women who have taken time off to have children and then work part-time when they return; in other words, a much smaller real increase in hours worked.

        Stop making excuses for mass immigration and its dreadful effects on the country.

        1. Who’s making excuses for immigration?

          I dislike it as much as anybody.

          I also never said working aged people don’t get ill.

          It’s not immigration causing pressure on the health service, it’s a lack of funding and vastly increased longevity that’s done that. There’s also been a strong move from reactive medicine to preventative medicine too which has added heaps to the workloads of GPs.

          I’m betting even with mothering part-time GPs that there’s more GP hours worked today per 100k people than there was back in the seventies and eighties. If Andy is still around here maybe he’ll have actual stats.

          1. Your first sentence dismissed recent immigration as a pressure on GP provision. Don’t spin it.

            “I also never said working aged people don’t get ill.”

            And learn to understand how rhetoric is used. Your response is positively babyish.

          2. This is the same across the world, not something that only happens here. We have the most spent on us between 0 and 5, and between 60 and death. Childhood development is closely monitored and towards the end of life our bodies start failing us, cancer, hear disease, and dementia are commonplace.
            When you were born you were expected to live until about 68. You were expected to retire at 65, take a state pension for 3 years and say goodbye to the world. Medical advances mean that 3 years has been extended to 17 years. The body still deteriorates as it ever did but people don’t die so much now. People live longer with early stage cancers, or they are more treatable. Diabetes treatment is better. Blood pressure, heart disease and associated diseases aren’t the death sentence they once were. Unfortunately with increasing amounts of people getting very old, so is the cost of keeping them and keeping them alive.
            Immigration puts pressure on all sorts of services but one where it is seen the least is healthcare mainly because most immigrants are working aged.

          4. Probably the same place you learnt to ad hominem attack posters rather than dissect arguments. Some people deserve to be talked down to.

      3. I read that the human imports sanctioned by Mad Merkel cost the Germans millions in the provision of health services both to cure a number of maladies and in dental treatment to sort their rotting teeth and gum disease.

        1. Maybe. But ‘millions’ is nothing when the health service is given roughly 20% of a trillion each year.

          2. No actually you’re not, you’re just led to believe you are. Services are not funded with recycled taxes, in actual fact taxes are funded by spending. You pay the taxes demanded of you by government to :-

            1) Create domestic demand for the pound so we don’t sell our labour for barter or foreign currencies. You can only pay UK taxes in pounds, so you need to find some way of getting your hands on pounds, so you work for pounds.

            2) Dampen aggregate demand. If demand exceeds supply inflation takes off. If supply exceeds demand there’s downward pressure on prices and wage levels instead keeping a lid on inflation. Taxes remove excess money from the economy and destroy it.

            3)Alter behaviours. The so-called sin taxes. Taxes are used to produce incentives and disincentives.

            The only tax you pay that get’s recycled and spent again is local taxation. The NHS is funded by central government money creation.

          3. As ever, you are determined to split hairs whilst reciting your usual hogwash. As ever I regret responding to your post. I must do better in the future.

          4. The hogwash is taxes pay for services. It’s right up there with ‘banks are intermediaries between savers and borrowers’.

            Still you go on believing in 100 year old proven false economic theory if it makes you happy.

    1. Is the problem with seeing everything in black and white that you get attracted to sites like Nottle?

    3. I’d like to see more about that!
      The super-rich seem to see ordinary people as cattle or insects anyway.

      1. I was reminded of insects when I saw the poor elderly woman who was pushed over in Melbourne last week, and was then sprayed with pepper spray. It was reminiscent of an insect being sprayed by determined police, as if she were a scorpion that must be annihilated. And it took two of them to give her a good spraying. And they succeeded, she died in hospital over the weekend.

        I understand the army is out in Melbourne tonight. Demonstrations at the weekend with restricted fly-zones so aerial photographs can’t be taken.

        1. Nothing to stop putting up drones to photograph. Polizei would have to find the operator in a dense crowd.

        2. The Australian politicians have all been indoctrinated by attendance at Davos and the various ‘young world leader’ indoctrination camps organised by Klaus Schwab.

          Our very own Fataturk and his henchmen, which include the temporarily fallen Matt Hancock, are near perfect examples of this evil creed. The Fat Bastard’s missus has graduated from the Rockefeller School of indoctrination which explains her influence over Blobby.

          I hope that these freaks will be brought to justice eventually and hanged.

        3. I’m not expecting worldwide protests and kids spraying “I can’t breathe” on walls after the death somehow.

    4. I tend to believe that this is very unlikely.
      Unless, of course, Gates, Soros et al have won, Game Set and Match.

      1. One does not know what is waiting further down the line, or how this may be used and manipulated to suit an agenda. It is a truly terrible thing to lose the sovereignty over one’s own body.

        1. It is also a truly dreadful thing, Mum that the US judiciary are able to come to that conclusion.

          I trust that, since they too wil probably own to being vaccinated, that they also become PROPERTY.

          Time to consign them to the LOST PROPERTY of history and stop the ignominity of ‘Voting ‘ for a Judge, a Sheriff or a Dog Catcher.

          All, without exception should be put in office on the judgement and recommendations of their peers and not at the whim of the public who can be bought, bribed or coerced into voting for their pals or on the basis of their ‘political’ promises.

          A seriously flawed US Government and Judiciary..

          1. We supposed have your suggested system here, NtN, and we’ve ended up with a Dick in charge.

  95. Evening, all. Busy day today; church parade in the morning after walking Oscar, riding lesson in the afternoon (elementary dressage test). I was shattered by the end of it!

  96. I have been looking at some figures from the BBC website on Covid coronavirus.
    If my sums are correct the following summary reflects the position worldwide.
    The total number of cases corresponds to 2.9% of world population.
    The number of deaths that have resulted from Covid-19 corresponds to 0.06% of the world population.

    Not exactly Bubonic Plague, the Black Death or even Spanish ‘flu, is it?

    I cannot post link as I cannot find it again (post prandial blurring, possibly.)

      1. Yes, thanks. Those are the figures for infections and deaths. I saw them elsewhere but they are the same. World population from wikipedia is 7.8 billion (milliards to Grizzly).

        1. I kept away from most statistics as being unreliable – India, China, most of Africa, for example.

      2. Considering they’ve probably tested everyone in hospital who looked as though they might expire for any reason, that’s a bloomin miracle!

    3. You are missing one important statistic.

      Percentage of population retaining a sense of proportion / common sense. This percentage must have dipped to be effectively zero

      Apparently world wide covid deaths have now passed Spanish flu deaths – at least from a CNN perspective.

      1. If the proportion of sense in the population dips below even 50%, then it could hardly be called common.

      2. 2019: 152 murders in London.
        2020: 123 murders in London.
        2021: 95 murders in London to date.

        1. And when one considers the fact that London hospitals are saving stabbing victims many of who would have certainly died only a few years ago, those figures are truly dreadful.

      3. It makes one wonder what the proportion of dark-skinned faces would be shown in a list of perpetrators.

  98. Just seen the franglais spouted by BPAPM – I didn’t imagine that he could sink any lower. How wrong I was.

    TTFN

    1. I think he is like Cameron in that respect – for years, he will carry on pulling more rabbits out of the hat to lower our opinion of him even further.

  99. I think that’s me for today. Totalled, after a session of tree branch chopping, so time for a zed.
    Boing! went Zebedee…

  101. Good night all.

    Fried fillet of halibut with a lemon, caper & butter sauce & Pellkatoffeln.
    Then a custard tart.

    3. Where I live alone in beautiful rural Worcestershire, my home is full of old person waiting to die. Of course I am terminally depressed. It’s quite normal.

  104. Goodnight, Gentlefolk, and God bless, up early in the Morning light as Best Beloved has to see her dentist, followed my INR at Bildeston Health centre so probably v late on parade in the Morn’s morn.

  106. Another stupid o’clock good morning to my fellow insomniacs.
    Woke up to pump bilges and couldn’t get back to sleep again so sat here for a short while before trying again.

    Scudding clouds outside passing in front of the moon.

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