Thursday 4 November: What will it take for the Government to scrap all smart motorways?

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here.

546 thoughts on “Thursday 4 November: What will it take for the Government to scrap all smart motorways?”

      2. Shouldn’t have taught them to read and write. Them uppity nigra’s were fine while they was iggerant of such matters.

      3. I can’t tell if the Carter woman is a republican stirring up trouble or is actually serious.

        In either case, it is quite worrying – although I do believe the franchise should be earned through social contribution.

  6. SIR – Matthew Lesh (Comment, November 2) is right to warn us about the new danger to free speech posed by amendments to the Online Safety Bill, which will punish messages alleged to cause “psychological harm”.

    The really extraordinary aspect of what Nadine Dorries, the Culture Secretary, is proposing to introduce is that it will further cement in law the New Left’s capacity to dictate what can and cannot be communicated in Britain.

    This change has been proposed by the Law Commission for England and Wales, a body that openly adheres to both critical race and critical legal theory, as demonstrated by its 2020 consultation paper on hate crime laws, which, among other things, advocated making private conversations potentially subject to prosecution.

    It is extraordinary that a Government that claims to support free speech in higher education is now planning to give the Crown Prosecution Service and police free rein to proscribe potentially any perspective that challenges the illiberal “woke” zeitgeist.

    Marc Glendening
    Head of Cultural Affairs
    Institute of Economic Affairs
    London SW1

    It’s not extraordinary. The left hand of HMG seldom knows what the right hand is doing.

  8. 18-year-old charged with planning far-right terror attack. 4 November 2021.

    Luke Aaron Skelton from Washington, Sunderland has been charged with engaging in the preparation of an act of terrorism.

    Skelton was arrested during a “pre-planned, intelligence-led operation” on 28 October led by terror police.

    The charges relate to “extreme right-wing terrorism”, the Counter Terrorism Policing North East unit said.

    Don’t tell me. Let me guess. He’s white working class. He’s never had a girlfriend and definitely not a “boyfriend”. An “informant” from Hate not Hope has dobbed him in after getting him to download Pipe Bomb instructions and a map of Central London. He reads “far- Right” Blogs and subscribes to “Conspiracy Theories” and has several books on Nazi Germany with copies of Mein Kampff and the Anarchists Cookbook.

    Case closed!

    https://inews.co.uk/news/18-year-old-charged-planning-far-right-terror-attack-1283617

      1. Morning Bob. Not that I can recall. Even the ones attributed to them are single acts!

      2. Morning Bob. Not that I can recall. Even the ones attributed to them are single acts!

      5. I don’t think there are any “extreme right wing” organizations in the UK that have a membership of more than 10 people and we know very well that they are about as threatening as The Peoples Judean Front.

  9. The record haul with more coins than Sutton Hoo: Largest ever discovery of Anglo-Saxon gold cash in England is unearthed by detectorists
    Hoard of 131 coins from around 1,400 years ago was found in a Norfolk field
    When the hoard was buried, England was divided into Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
    The majority of the coins were discovered by an anonymous detectorist

    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/11/04/00/50033093-10163375-image-a-129_1635987436728.jpg
    A treasure inquest heard the haul was likely to have belonged to a travelling merchant who deliberately buried it

    I wonder…

  11. What will it take for the Government to scrap all smart motorways?

    The invention of some wonder drug that cures insanity, I expect

    1. I always drive in the middle lane on smart motorways, rather than on the inside “death trap” lane. And this allows the “boy racers” to overtake me on the outside lane without tailgating me. Common sense.

      1. On ‘Smart Motorways’ (A Dai Kotomy) you can also overtake on the inside, when speed limits are set

    2. The problem, will be given to

      Prof Ferguson
      Sage
      Thicko Van Dam
      Carrie on Carrie
      and the NHS Board
      Handcock

      To solve

      because of the exceptional job that they havedone with CONVID

    3. If one of them, or a family member, was killed then they would soon be declared dangerous and hard shoulders would be reinstated. It’s the same with the grooming gangs – not that I would wish such horror on anyone, but until an unfortunate girl from their own family or circle is directly affected, nothing will happen. Having said that, it seems uncontrolled invasion of the peas people will continue in spite of the Southend MP who was recently murdered.

  12. Ex-Nato head says Putin wanted to join alliance early on in his rule. 4 November 2021.

    George Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary who led Nato between 1999 and 2004, said Putin made it clear at their first meeting that he wanted Russia to be part of western Europe. “They wanted to be part of that secure, stable prosperous west that Russia was out of at the time,” he said.

    He told Frost it was hard for him to visualise Nato as an enemy. “Russia is part of the European culture. And I cannot imagine my own country in isolation from Europe and what we often call the civilised world.”

    Of course he did. Aside from the other mutual economic and political advantages it would have halved Russia’s defence budget at a stroke. The opposition to it came from a United States that regards the Russian Federation as a Global Competitor and their joining Nato would have created something even more powerful than the old Soviet Union. So Russia and Europe were set at Loggerheads with the results that we can all see. A Sino/Russian partnership and a fearful Europe.

    There is one bright spot in all this for Putin and Russia. They have escaped the monstrous fate that now faces the UK and Europe!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/04/ex-nato-head-says-putin-wanted-to-join-alliance-early-on-in-his-rule

  13. Only our enemies profit from the nihilistic campaign to make us feel ashamed of our past

    Now we are meant to feel guilty about the Industrial Revolution. Our common story is discredited again

    ROBERT TOMBS
    3 November 2021 • 9:30pm

    Apologising is something the British are rather prone to do. We are internationally known for saying, “Sorry”, when someone else bumps into us. This may be a deep cultural trait, a desire to avoid confrontation and embarrassment, and, literally, a dislike of seeming “pushy”. George Orwell thought it was a sign of the “gentleness” of our civilisation: nowhere was it “easier to shove people off the pavement”. I rather like this willingness to apologise, but there are those who regard it with suspicion as typical British hypocrisy, really meaning “I’m not sorry at all, I’m just being polite”.

    Perhaps this was the Prime Minister’s true intention when he was being apologetic about the UK being the origin of the Industrial Revolution this week, as part of his argument for us going further and faster in our efforts to tackle climate change than other countries. He could hardly say, “We British led the world in the most important development in human history since the Bronze Age, lifting the human race out of abject poverty, making modern civilisation possible, and bringing hope of betterment to every part of the globe, so now let us lead you to a post-carbon future without going back to a time when the average life expectancy was 35.” One can see why a bit of purely rhetorical apology might work better – “just being polite”.

    The problem is: what if his listeners really believe it? What if he really believes it himself? Another episode in our common story is discredited. We – or rather some vocal elements in our society – have become very fond of apology in recent years. They apologise for ancestral involvement in the horrors of the slave trade, and for any connection with slavery, however tenuous. They apologise for the empire, assumed to have been wholly bad in motive, action, and consequence. They accuse national heroes of a variety of bad deeds or just bad words.

    The tactics are transparent. First, a shamelessly partisan rewriting of history: hence, the British empire was all about violence and plunder; or the Industrial Revolution was only a bad thing. Second, ruthless decontextualisation: Winston Churchill may have said something that nowadays might be thought racist – so forget his crucial role in saving the world from genocidal totalitarianism.

    Third, systematic selectivity in choosing only British targets: stigmatise Hume and Huxley for their views on race, but not Marx and Engels; pick on Hogarth, but don’t worry about Poussin; condemn Britain for trading in slaves, but not Nigeria, Egypt, Turkey and all the rest. Thus you create a superficially factual account of the past, tailored to fit a certain set of prejudices, but one that is distorted. It has become a misleading commonplace that there is no historical truth, but only competing narratives serving ideological positions – so who can object to “my truth”?

    There are several reasons why we should object. One is simple intellectual rigour: it is mentally and morally unhealthy to acquiesce in systematic falsehood, like the subjects of Soviet Russia. We have in recent years gone down this road to an extent that most of us would never have thought possible: people are afraid to say what they really believe, even if those beliefs are widely shared.

    We also have a duty of honesty to other people: much of the rhetoric of anti-colonialism, for example, is a cynical cloak for appalling misgovernment in former colonies, whose politicians are only too happy to blame their failings on “colonialism” – a major reason why nothing good can be ascribed to imperial rulers. Why should we connive in this fraud?

    Another reason is in the broadest sense political: we aspire to live in a democracy where there is trust and solidarity between citizens, and this requires a sense of common belonging. As Burke observed, once this has gone, government can rely only on compulsion.

    A shared history is always and everywhere an underpinning of solidarity. It does not need to be whitewashed or mythologised: truth and regret about bad things that have happened is part of the story, as is a healthy degree of disagreement – in our case, some of our divisions go right back to the 17th century, when “Whig” and “Tory” emerged. But what we have not previously seen is a systematic attempt to trash the whole story. It seems significant that in recent weeks we have seen attacks on Drake, Nelson, Pitt and Churchill – none of them saints, but all revered for helping to save the country from invasion. Is this what motivates the attacks? Is the message that our national survival is worthless?

    Britain has suffered far less than some of our closest friends. Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians are constantly told that their societies are founded on invasion, dispossession, even genocide: they must be made ashamed of what they are. In the United States, the “1619 Project” sets out to rewrite American history as essentially about slavery and racism. Ironically, it argues that the colonists rebelled against Britain in 1776 because Britain wanted to abolish slavery, just when we Brits are being told by our own “woke” propagandists that we were the pillars of global slavery. But truth and consistency mean nothing in the pursuit of – well, what is the aim exactly?

    We are often told that we must “confront our past”. We should certainly study and learn from it, which is quite different. But “confronting” it implies guilt. There may be cases where such confrontation is necessary, as in Germany after the Second World War, when the generation responsible had to face up to its actions, purge its political class, and change its ideas. But what would we be “confronting” in the history of 17th and 18th century slavery? Practically the whole world practised slavery. We should honour those in Britain who campaigned against it in the name of humanity, overcoming huge vested interests to harness the power of the state against the global trade.

    But this, of course, is not the “woke” version. Who profits from these nihilistic attacks on our past? As a society, they harm us, and we should reject them. If the West is indeed in decline, why would we undermine it to the profit of authoritarian states that despise democracy and reject Western values?

    Robert Tombs is the author of ‘The Sovereign Isle’ and co-founder of History Reclaimed

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/03/enemies-profit-nihilistic-campaign-make-us-feel-ashamed-past/

    1. ‘Morning Grizz. I’m wondering whether the Letters Editor is suffering from a shortage of good material today?

      1. ‘Morning Hugh.

        I’m trying hard to keep calm reading the DT this morning. One article on William Blake’s Sussex cottage mention’s that Lord Byron’s former home, Newstead Abbey, is in Derbyshire (it is still very much in Nottinghamshire); and another article breezily informs us that, “Tom French, 32, will manoevre 250 tonnes of mainly limestone in order to rebuild a 200-year-old dry stone wall at Embsay, near Skipton in the Yorkshire Dales.” Notwithstanding the fact that the word “manoeuvre” has a ‘u’ in it this side of the Atlantic, and there is no such thing as “mainly limestone” (although “bunter sandstone” exists), and I still prefer to talk of “250 tons” rather than its contrived metric country cousin. Apart from that, I’m rather calm and unwound.

        1. Good morning all, and Grizzly.
          The MSM expressions that get me going include ‘the area of x football fields’, ‘the length of x London buses; and ‘enough electricity to supply x,000 homes’. Why do editors assume that their readers failed their ‘O’ levels?

          1. Good afternoon, Tim.

            How many buses are there in a swimming pool? How many swimming pools are there in a football field? And how many football fields are there in a Wales (or a Luxembourg)?

            I would guess that editors presume that their readers failed their ‘O’ levels because they know that their reporters did.

          2. Shouldn’t that be a London bus? Apparently, no other city has suitable public transport vehicles for easy comparison.

          4. It’s not necessarily that, but to give people a concept of scale they can understand conoceptualise.

        3. Metric should be used exclusively for common understanding, but the rest I agree with entirely.

          1. The Yanks manage very well indeed using avoirdupois weights and imperial measurements. Time that we did too.

          2. They also don’t pronounce the H in herb, and replace the letter T with a D.

            Americans have nothing to teach us.

          3. In my experience, both military and civilian, Americans understand and use metric perfectly well.

          4. Indeed they do, John. I watch a lot of YouTube videos on woodworking (and various other topics). Their preference is standard old-fashioned non-metric, but they have no fear about using metric when it suits them (or the project demands it). Canadians, of course, are bilingual in both language and measuring. In my first job in engineering (way back in the late 60s), drawings for projects would come in either metric or imperial and swapping between them posed no problems for anyone whatsoever.

          5. Maybe I’m not common, but metric does nothing for me. When I hear a five furlong sprint being described as “1000 metres” I am incandescent.

          7. I always think of imperial being more human-related and people friendly, unlike the invented metric system.

  15. SIR – It will come as no surprise to Simon Heffer (Comment, November 2) that James Lees-Milne would not find employment in today’s National Trust.

    I was, for 10 years, a Trust general manager, and watched in embarrassed discomfort as the mansions and castles my colleagues and I took care of were relegated to the status of money trees as the Trust switched its focus from houses and collections to the countryside.

    This change coincided with an influx of senior managers from other nature conservation charities: the current director of land and nature, and at least two of the Trust’s regional directors, came from the RSPB; and the current director of operations and consultancy was formerly at the Woodland Trust.

    The public is loath to pay to visit the countryside, so other conservation charities are almost entirely dependent on government handouts, donations, legacies and the National Lottery. The Trust is, by comparison, wealthy, and has a unique blend of built heritage and nature. No surprise, then, that the former, with its retail and catering, is the cash cow that funds the latter. As long as five million members pay their annual subscription, the Trust’s leadership feels impervious to criticism.

    Any future Lees-Milnes would need a degree in beekeeping to find a place in today’s National Trust

    Alexander Gordon
    Llanyblodwel, Shropshire

    SIR – During lockdown my friends and I spent many happy hours walking in the beautiful grounds of Burghley House, near Stamford. They were open to the public throughout this period, with free parking, and provided local people with much-needed solace and exercise at a difficult time.

    Burghley House is privately owned and belongs to the Historic Houses association, which I have now joined following my resignation, after many years, from the National Trust. I would urge other disgruntled members to do the same.

    Christine Morris
    Chesterton, Cambridgeshire

    1. Well. I didn’t know that. I live not a million miles from Christine Morris. I shall take a look (at Burghley House, not Christine Morris) and consider her suggestion. We have kept up with our NT subscription in the hope that when all this madness is over – which seems like forever but in historical terms it is but a mere hiccup – that something will be left of our heritage for future generations to enjoy. Although I feel that shortly all of our country’s stately homes will be stuffed with ‘immigrants’ as a yah-boo to the indigenous; the reason they will offer is that the stately homes were built on the backs of slavery, thus it is ‘the right thing to do’ that the ‘climate change migrants’ now have the benefit.

  16. Good morning all. Dull & overcast today with 2½°C in the yard. Slightly up from slightly over the ½° at 3:30 when I was up doing mugs of tea.

  17. ‘Morning All

    #Hate Facts,Green,Covid and others

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/39323bed2d854b59198bd4aed86aa6652b6f2f09f4a121a7ddc871a880decaaa.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a72d68bcdc92651f3b099198bcde21237d93b53fb98eb2cbbdad130acd45237c.jpg

    https://twitter.com/puffnblow_at_GP/status/1456088433659678722?s=20

    https://www.azquotes.com/picture-quotes/quote-in-europe-where-climate-change-absolutism-is-at-its-strongest-the-quasi-religion-of-nigel-lawson-60-52-63.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fe7e2865fbf04f386ff8a66d7e071a3b776ccc89ca98e283d62b3823667965b5.png

    1. If we continue with the decomissioning and lack of energy building, wile forcing heat pump idiocy and electric vehicles, we are something like 1.6 gigajoules of energy short of average demand.

      That’s millions of homes without heat, light and mobility. It’s industry unable to function.

  19. Climate misinformation on Facebook ‘increasing substantially’, study says. 4 November 2021.

    The scale of climate misinformation on Facebook is “staggering” and “increasing quite substantially”, a new analysis of hundreds of thousands of posts has found.

    A report released on Thursday by the Real Facebook Oversight Board, an independent watchdog group, and environmental nonprofit Stop Funding Heat, analyzed a dataset of more than 195 Facebook pages and groups. Researchers found an estimated 818,000 posts downplaying or denying the climate crisis, which have received a combined 1.36m views every day.

    Climate Misinformation: i.e. They don’t believe it!

    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/nov/04/climate-misinformation-on-facebook-increasing-substantially-study-says

    1. “There is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so.”
      [Hamlet]
      Now they have decided that thinking at all is bad and thinking the wrong thing should be a criminal offence

      The more they tell me that the vaccine is a good thing, Brexit is a bad thing, and that Man-made global warming is destroying our planet the more cussed I become.

      Most of us here are sick and tired of being told that the accepted and compulsory opinion is fact when it is not.

    2. I read that they are still using the lie that 97% of scientists agree that climate change is solely caused by human activity. For people who like to pretend they “fact check” they should know that the report that came out with the 97% statistic was debunked and shown to be false long ago.

  20. 340873+ up ticks,

    Morning ALL,

    Thursday 4 November: What will it take for the Government to scrap all smart motorways?

    There are not nearly enough dead or seriously injured as of yet and besides let reality enter with, it will take a very serious scrap with the government to the point of annihilation first.

    Besides there will be little use of hard shoulders as with projects such as
    HS2, rapid movements in regards to troops in the near future is surely on their agenda.

    We are NOT persuing a scorched earth policy far from it, we are pursuing a build,build,build policy and the welcome is out via the
    instruction manual / oath taker in parliament & halal on the parliamentary canteen menu.

    FACT,
    Another 800 came to dinner yesterday.

  21. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    Excellent article about the many attempts to re-write our history

    COMMENT
    Only our enemies profit from the nihilistic campaign to make us feel ashamed of our past

    Now we are meant to feel guilty about the Industrial Revolution. Our common story is discredited again

    ROBERT TOMBS

    Edit: This article was posted earlier by C1, so to save the irritation of seeing it twice I have deleted it here but retained the leading BTL comments:

    * * *

    John Bell
    3 Nov 2021 10:24PM
    The article summarises very well why we should be proud of our nation. It also provides a concise description of the assault now being mounted upon the foundations of the nation.

    It does not explain (and this is not a criticism because I can’t explain it either) WHY so many of our people appear to hate our country, nor how the haters have come to occupy almost all positions of authority and influence.

    Tony Green
    3 Nov 2021 10:26PM
    By all means study our past and learn from it. But to condemn those of another time who had different attitudes, values and beliefs to ours and then to determine that we in consequence are somehow culpable is arrant nonsense.

    As for imperialism and attacking Great Britain, which major nation wasn’t involved in it? Even puny Belgium controlled vast areas of Africa. Continuously denigrating the UK for its empire is rather tiresome and trite.

    Singapore was a colony. It is thriving. Why don’t other former imperial possessions emulate their success? After all, it’s hardly as if independence was granted yesterday to swathes of the globe who lay their current woes at the door of former imperial masters.

    We have much to be proud of and I am indeed proud of our history. Yes we made mistakes. Who hasn’t? But the good outweighs the bad by a considerable margin. Frankly, those who constantly denigrate our country are the useful idiots that Lenin so disparagingly spoke of.

    Michael Staples
    3 Nov 2021 10:23PM
    Tombs’s point about the misgovernment of some of our former colonial possessions is apt, particularly in Africa, where it is difficult to discern whether people are in any way better off under their corrupt venal rulers half a century after the British left. We have nothing to feel guilty about.

    James Tannock
    3 Nov 2021 10:19PM
    I am proud of Britain’s history. Every nation has good and bad in its past. Few nations have been more active in the world than Britain, and as a result there is more to criticise. We shouldn’t denigrate our ancestors for acting in ways, or expressing views, that were the norm in their lifetime. It is not fair, honest or reasonable. Many of the most prominent critics of British history are the decolonisation activists, who know more about critical theory than history. Critical theory is much overrated!

    1. 60 years of ‘freedom’ and most Effrickan countries still – apparently – have buffalo p!ssing in their drinking water.

    2. It’s funny, that before the influx of foreigners we were a rich, proud nation that had trading lanes around the world and built most of it.

      Now we’re overrun with gimmigrants, we’re told to feel bad about our fantastic heritage, history and culture – all to appease people who’ve never built anything, never earned anything, who haven’t fought for that country, who live in luxury gifted them by others those wallowing wasters now complain about.

      For everyone of these whinging wasters we should offer the choice – shut it, or leave.

      1. Quite right, Wibb. If I hated this country as much as some, I would find somewhere else to live.

    1. Ah, but remember the phrase – YOU will own nothing and you WILL be happy.

      Not we, you. You WILL be – you’ll have no choice, because they will have taken all choice from us.

  25. 340873+ up ticks,

    Taken too bigger bite from the fear cherry have we javid ?

    NHS staff will not have to be vaccinated this winter
    Mandatory jabs not expected until spring, despite Christmas lockdown fears and concerns over faltering boosters programme

    The mayday 9 month delay and the following consequences post referendum should be a lesson well learnt, but by those still holding a lab/lib/con membership card ,I fear not.

    The political fear loaf is only staying inflated via peoples adhering strictly to the overseers menu.

    1. In other words work your arse off “saving the NHS” all winter and we’ll sack you in April
      Gee Thanks
      ‘Morning Ogga

      1. Morning all. Is it more likely that the NHS can’t afford to have so many sacked from their jobs this winter so they’re leaving it til spring? After all, we are in the business of “saving” the NHS still. (Sod the rest of us).

  27. Nicked,scary but I fear accurate comment…..

    The Covid scamdemic was as a test. It was to test if we had the stomach for
    revolt, or were weakly compliant. It could be ramped up or down
    accordingly.

    They needed to know before they initiated the full on
    authoritarian climate measures, which once initiated cannot be stopped.
    Will they get away with their new fascism or will they be hanging from
    lampposts?

    Unfortunately we failed the test, and the climate fascism has been initiated.

  30. 340873+ up ticks,

    Want to fight back against wokery? Cancel lab/lib/con membership direct debit today

    1. But even he starts off with confirming he wants to save the planet… It’s little to do with us, though mass sterilisation of the third world would make the earth more pleasant.

    2. But even he starts off with confirming he wants to save the planet… It’s little to do with us, though mass sterilisation of the third world would make the earth more pleasant.

    2. ModFlight One has already been scrambled Ground Control
      One scammer shot down already,patrolling for more

  35. 340873+ up ticks,

    Give that ferry captain a governmental position of power ie patels job,

    Dt,
    Channel ferry stops to rescue migrants on sinking boat and return them to Calais
    Crew throw rope to 13 people in distress ‘whose boat had run out of fuel’, as another migrant dies attempting to reach UK

  36. I see that the EUSSR is continuing the punishment of the UK by demanding that everyone daring to enter any of the 27 countries is finger-printed.

    Starts in May 2022.

    Time for reciprocal action. No EU ID cards accepted; passports only. One queue only for EU visitors. £50 “vignette” for visitors’ cars.

    1. Also they must have proof of medical insurance so they can’t waltz into the “hard-pressed” NHS and get treatment for free. All driving licences to be accompanied by English translation, and notarised accordingly in country of issue.

    2. I took the precaution of getting a Resident’s Permit before Brexit took place. But after Brexit the French authorities decided that permits issued to British people needed to be updated and so yesterday we went to Saint-Brieuc where I had to have the fingerprints of each of the fingers on both of my hands recorded on the special machines they have at the Prefecture.

      The danger of retaliating to a mean-spirited little twerp Like Macron is that one descends to his abysmally low level by resorting to tit for tat.

      1. Imagine a Eurotunnel trainload of 700 people each having to supply their fingerprints. To say nothing of 1,000 on a ferry.

        All cross-Channel movement will cease. Fight force with force.

          2. The Cassandra Crossing.

            A thrilling disaster film featuring an all-star cast. When a potentially deadly virus is unleashed on a transcontinental train by terrorists, the infected.

            Shown recently on TV…..

          4. I gave up on the book, so have no interest in watching the film!
            The book was one of the biggest loads of crap I’ve ever tried reading. The author had little idea of railway operation.

          5. It’s not about railways though. Sort of like being annoyed at a Bridge too Far because it’s not about bridges!

          6. Railways are a major part of the story and when the author can’t get that right, then I lose interest.

  37. It’s unsafe to turn an emergency breakdown lane on a motorway into another traffic lane.
    That is when motorists need a hard shoulder to cry on.

    1. Was on one of those smart motor ways. Suddeny my lane 1 practically stopped. All other lanes whizzing along.

      Turned out some bloke was changing a tyre.

      One day someone will be killed, and, by the virtue of fast moving large metal boxes in close proximity inevitably multiple vehicles – and people – will be destroyed.

      1. Changing a wheel on a hard shoulder is scary enough, as I had to do once in Germany. I’d hate to be faced with it on a traffic lane.

  38. ITV have just shown the new John Lewis Christmas advert. It shows a white alien woman and a (guess what) black kid getting soppily friendly to a musical background of ‘We’ll always be together’ by Giorgio Moroni.
    Prepare for it to be rammed down your throat on a nightly basis until the Christmas lockdown gets here.

        1. I think you’ll find that you need to pay for a TV licence to watch BBC in any form. However, you can watch other TV channels on Catch-Up free of charge.

    2. Morning Iffy. The few television progarmmes that I watch, I record. I then edit out the ad’s etc.

  39. ‘morning all , grumpy Datz here – I followed an ad for the National Theatre at Home, they’re offering by sub or single rental a substantial catalogue of past or present productions to stream. I have to say I though this a good idea, time for a bit of culture without leaving the comfort of my armchair – looking at the cast I found very few IC1 males in lead or subordinate roles. A few years back I might have raised an eyebrow a tad and enjoyed them anyway but now this seriously pi**es me off, a black Salieri/Romeo? I , through malign activists have become an IC3ist/phobe

      1. I used to go to RSC productions when they had a permanent London base but I’ve seen them just once at Stratford. It was Cymbeline with the ancient Brit king played by a black woman. Made no sense whatsoever. Both Shakespeare and Geoffrey of Monmouth (the originator of the story) spinning in their graves.

        1. When I was in the 6th Form, I saw at least a dozen Shakespeare productions at Stratford. My best friend’s parents moved from Poole to Kingswinford & from there it was just a hop to Stratford. We used to pay 4/- to stand at he back of the stalls & lean on a brass rail, but we saw & heard everything.

  40. Politics latest news: New sleaze watchdog has no credibility after Owen Paterson vote, claims Parliament’s standards chairman
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/11/04/cop26-nhs-owen-paterson-commons-watchdog-boycott-hpv/

    BTL Comment

    To be honest I have always liked Owen Paterson and I have always despised Chris Bryant – and Kathryn Stone is just the sort of nasty nit-picking, mean-spirited person I loathe and so I find it difficult to be objective.

    Clearly the way that Owew Paterson was treated was unfair and the enquiry was determined from the outset to bring him down – but the answer to the central questions are not entirely clear: Did Paterson or did he not break the rules? Did he or did he not try to deceive Parliament and conceal what he had done for personal gain?

    As soon as I decide that someone in politics is one of the good guys – as I did with Owen Paterson, Jacob Rees Mogg and Steve Baker – I find that my faith was misplaced.

    As Nottlers who read my posts know I try to use memorable quotations from the great poets to point out how relevant their observations still are to modern events – like the Melancholy Jacques’ justice who is full of wise saws and modern instances. But now I descend to bathos by quoting not from the great writers of the past but from the lyrics of a song I wrote at the age of 19 when I was about to leave a job in London to go to university in Norwich.

    And I’m trying to say something – but I don’t know what to say
    And I’m trying to find some idols who have not got feet of clay
    And I wish I were original and gained and earned respect
    And I wish my mind were real and not a pseudo-intellect.

    Has Owen Paterson got feet of clay – and has my judgment let me down?

    2. I remember watching Rees-Mogg reading out the green nonsense waffle and the man never once raised his head. He clearly didn’t believe any of it.

      Yet he spouted it. I do not trust MPs. They are unaccountable, uncontrolled, corrupt beasts given opportunities most of us will never see for enrichment and troughing and few have the decency to say no.

      Heck, the wife gets invivted through her bank to ‘dinners’ for discussions with treasury wonks. An MP should not be judged by his peers, but by his masters – us. If we find he has acted for his own interests, we should remove him. Same as we would any thieving employee.

  41. Motivation

    A popular motivational speaker was entertaining his audience. He said, ‘The best years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman who wasn’t my wife!’ The audience was in silence and shock. The speaker added, ‘… And that woman was my mother!’ Laughter and applause.

    A week later, a top manager trained by the motivational speaker tried to crack this very effective joke at home. He was a bit tipsy after a drink, and he said loudly, ‘The greatest years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman who was not my wife!’

    His wife went red with shock and rage.

    Standing there for 20 seconds trying to recall the second half of the
    joke, the manager finally blurted out ‘… And I can’t remember who she was!’

    Moral of the story: Don’t copy if you can’t paste properly!

    1. Got accused of being a racist for expecting people living in this country to speak English.

      I don’t see how respect the nation you’ve made your home is wrong.

      1. I live in France and I can speak French. But I must admit that I cannot speak Turkish even though our bioatMianda is in Marmaris. However, Caroline is learning the language.

        1. When I pootled about in Poland I made an effort to learn the language. I was rubbish and I imagine the Poles wished I’d kept to English, but for the majority, that I was trying is more important than my ability.

          It’s courtesy and respect not to treat a nation like a doss house.

          1. I gave up on Polish too & most of what I learnt I’ve forgotten. It’s a very complicated language.

          2. Same for me in Germany, France and Sweden, Wibbles.

            It can certainly eases the path if the indigenous population sees that you are trying with their language – except in Paris, “Parlez-vous Anglais?” “NON” (sneer).

          3. On my last visit to Paris, all the locals were charming, even a gendarme. If I take my time, I can recall a modicum of French.

          4. ‘Evening, Peddy, even with my ‘tres mauvais francais’ I find that I can get by, in much the same way that my Plattdeutsch is understood from Berlin to Bavaria. Swedish gets me by in Stockholm, Hagalund and Norrköping.

    3. I don’t want to appear sexist so I shall shout Absolute Ovaries rather than Absolute Bollocks.

  43. I know absolutely nothing about the Owen Paterson affair.

    However, I do know that the Commons has a history of disliking the decisions of the independent Standards Commissioner. They did for my friend Elizabeth Filkin – one of the most honest and decent people you could meet.

    1. I was going to ask if someone could enlighten me re Owen Paterson, I don’t know what is going on. It is something that I have not been following. I am bemused.

        1. Thank you. I will read it later, I have to take the dog for a walk then a horrible dental appt this afternoon – a tooth not causing trouble but may well do in the future, so this is pre -emptive.

    2. I was going to ask if someone could enlighten me re Owen Paterson, I don’t know what is going on. It is something that I have not been following. I am bemused.

    3. Apparently lobbied on behalf of his company. He argues it was safety related.

      Yet why is Paterson villified when we have scum like Gummer who has massive investments in windmills and sits on the climate change board.

      Or Zahawe, who suddenly became a seller of hospital PPE.

      They’re ALL bent and on the take. Finding an honest man in government is like panning for gold in the Tigris.

      1. As far as I understand it, he was not lobbying at all. He brought to the attention of the government faults with the milk supply that had been discovered by the company he worked for. In short what he was doing was pointing out a danger and that somehow got twisted into him being accused of putting pressure on the government on behalf of the company he worked for. He denied any wrong doing and has said, repeatedly, he would do exactly the same thing again because it was a matter of alerting the government to a health risk because the milk supply was contaminated.

        1. As I have repeatedly said, I have always liked Owen Paterson so it is hard to be objective in this case. I think it all hinges on the fact that he accepted money from the company and whether this was declared openly and honestly from the outset.

        1. A Gumboil is an ulcer which causes a pain in the mouth – but probably a more likely to be a pain in our friend Hugh’s nether region.

      3. Exactly. There are people in Parliament who have done far worse than Owen and not been fingered for it.

    4. Farage interviewed him on GBN the other day. I came away from that convinced he was not guilty. The ISC decided he was guilty without interviewing a single witness in his defence, there were 17 of them. Reading about this affair, I get the impression that the ISC is not interested in fact but interested in taking Tory scalps. As Paterson claimed, he had bee deprived of natural justice because, apparently, the ISC had decided he was guilty from the very start and was not going to listen to any evidence to the contrary.

    5. Poor old Elizabeth was far too good at her job Bill.
      And now it looks like the habitual and pathological lying bustards in the commons are changing he law to try and protect a crook.
      All started by B liar himself more ‘D’ Notices than a stick could be poked at and didn’t he ‘revise’ the treason act ?

        1. But they kicked o her our Johnny, you know what that means in our parliament. Too good at your job.
          Did you see the original British version of House of Cards ?

    6. Paterson has not at all been failry treated. He submited 11 emailaddresses and their phone numbers of people who would confirm his version of events, and not one was contacted or called to give evidence. it is a total stitch up job by people who made up their minds without any investigation at all.

  44. Good Moaning.
    Cold, grey and I’m tuning up my tonsils to visit to Elderly Chum.
    Aye Must Speak Verreeeeee Clearly ……..

    2. Morning anneallan. Same here, a very uninviting day with the lights on to fend off the gloom.

    3. Good moaning and good luck. It’s a stunningly glorious day in Cornwall (for a change), cold but warming up, and I’m off fishing in 20 minutes. We be aiming for bass.

  47. Morning all just a quickie before I go out again……….a man charged with the abduction of that poor little 4 year old in WA. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-04/cleo-smith-charges-laid-against-carnarvon-man/100592332
    But it’s absolutely disgustingly hypocritical so far and why and how our MSM have not shown a physical identification of the man Terrence Daryll Kelly. When 100% of the time they can’t wait to get a person of colour on to our TV screens at every given opportunity, this man is a ‘native’ Australian and he his very dark coloured, he apparently has received head injuries whilst he has been in jail, but it has been suggested the injuries could have been self inflicted as he is known to be mentally unstable.

    1. Actually, he was beaten up by his cell mate. The mother of said cell mate is proud of her son. The creep is now in hospital due to his injuries.

  48. SIR – Matthew Lesh (is right to warn us about the new danger to free speech posed by
    amendments to the Online Safety Bill, which will punish messages alleged
    to cause “psychological harm”.

    My main query, is how many ‘Non-White Brits’ have been prosecuted for comments that cause “psychological harm”. to us Natives

    Seemingly, there are 40,000 incomers on our Terror warch list. Why are they not arrested and charged.

    The murderer of the Sir David Amiss was known to the Security Services, therefore, must have belonged to an anti Brit Terror Group

    Imams can preach whatever hatred they want in their Mosques

    Remeberance Day Parades can be disrupted by Islamic supporters

    Like LGBTERT ism, Global Warming ism, Must be vaxxed ism, BLT, the laws are stacked against the majority, in favour of ‘settlers from Foriegn Parts.

    Who is going to give us our country back, when we are perpetually in the underdogs

  49. Just imagine the outrage if a ‘right-winger’ had said these things. How odd that the broadcasters don’t seem to have featured him.

    And anyway, he’s got it back to front. It is climate change policies that will lead to the shortage of food.

    Extinction Rebellion founder’s repugnant rant: ‘Climate crisis will lead to gang rape’

    Campaigners for women’s safety hit out at Roger Hallam, who wrote of sex attacks on ‘your mother, sister and girlfriend’ in 2019 pamphlet

    By Mason Boycott-Owen • 3 November 2021 • 4:00pm

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f67281e0ce51877380372efaa9a9444bb83fa1a9d728a99a2555f7dd56a31f2d.png
    Roger Hallam • CREDIT: Andres Pantoja/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

    The co-founder of Extinction Rebellion claimed the climate crisis would lead to the gang rape of “your mother, sister and girlfriend” in a self-published pamphlet written while he was in prison in 2019.

    Roger Hallam, who is believed to be involved in organising Insulate Britain protests, wrote that, in the aftermath of sustained climate change, “a gang of boys will break into your house demanding food”.

    “They will see your mother, your sister, your girlfriend and they will gang rape her on the kitchen table,” he wrote. “They will force you to watch, laughing at you. At the end they will accuse you of enjoying it.”

    Mr Hallam said the piece was written as advice for young people who “face annihilation”. He wrote it while incarcerated in HMP Wormwood Scrubs for six weeks for planning to fly drones at Heathrow in protest at plans to expand the airport.

    Farah Nazeer, the chief executive of Women’s Aid, said: “Seeing this threatening language is shocking, especially considering the current situation women and girls are facing. We know women do not currently feel safe in their homes or on the streets.

    “Language like this feeds the culture of sexism and misogyny which underpins violence against women and girls. Violence against women should not be used as a threat.

    “It is triggering to survivors of abuse, offensive to suggest as a consequence of someone’s actions, and normalises sexist, violent behaviours which we urgently need to see an end to. We hope to see a retraction of these comments and an understanding of their inappropriateness.”

    Mr Hallam was kicked out of Extinction Rebellion in 2020 over comments he made about the Holocaust. He reportedly said there was nothing “unique” about the murder of six million Jews and called it “just another —kery in human history”.

    XR said at the time: “Roger violates the principles of XR, who do not tolerate anti-Semitism, and is no longer welcome.”

    In January this year, the group said: “Roger may publicly state a desire for open, honest mediation, but he has a track record of further exacerbating conflicts rather than working to resolve them.”

    Since leaving Extinction Rebellion, Mr Hallam, a former organic farmer, has become involved in Insulate Britain but is not believed to have been on the roads like many of its activists.

    Earlier this year, he was asked whether he would have moved for a woman who was stopped by protesters from going to see her unwell mother in hospital. Speaking on the London Economic podcast Unbreak the Planet, he said not only would he not move for the woman but he would also block an ambulance even if there was a patient inside who could die as a result.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/03/extinction-rebellion-co-founder-claimed-climate-crisis-will/

    2. Tell you what it will lead to when there isn’t enough power – murder. Yours, most likely. We’re sick and tired of being forced to pay through the nose for your idiotic agenda.

    2. One cannot help noticing that the Police Mob are not good at social distancing.

      Typical hypocrites.

  51. Re Poppiesmum visit to dentist….

    If it’s NHS leave well alone poppy!

    My NHS £60 filling fell out several weeks ago. It was replaced composite £20… and fell out soon after. Yesterday ….third time lucky…we’ll see?

    NHS dentists now carry out private treatment ……..
    Why bother with NHS patients.
    I might add… As I was waiting a lady came out after treatment and paid b*gger all……………………….On benefits!

    2. It’s not nhs, Plum, it’s an arm and a leg….. almost £400 for a filling, it will take an hour as it’s a white filling and has to be built up in layers. It is pre-emptive, not causing any trouble at the moment but it might… so it’s real grudge money. On x-ray it appeared there was a small gap between the bottom of the filling and the tooth which might lead to a problem in the future. It is the not knowing what is going to happen in the future, what ‘they’ have in store for us, so I thought I’d better get it done. What worries me now is what is in those little anaesthetic vials, which pharma have they come from??

      1. I made an appointment back in June to have my regular dental check-up tomorrow but it’s now postponed, as my dentist gave birth to a baby boy on Tuesday. She was double Pfizered back in January so good to hear that mother and baby are both well. She’s married and already has a daughter. Her aunt, who’s also a dentist, did a large tricky white filling for me during her niece’s last maternity leave!

      2. My dentist sold up to BUPA a couple of years ago and retired……….. I now pay £22 per month for hygenist and dental checkups. Missed out last year so only one appointment with each in December. The hygenist or her children had covid in the summer so my clean up was delayed till August this time. She now has an assistant and lots of PPE for which they charge an extra fiver on exit. Fortunately I very seldom have any other treatment.

      2. Writing in sarf Engerlend dialect, Grizz. Carstle, Grarss, barth, you know the kind of thing.

  53. We all have our comfort zones, and discussing meteorology I am well out of mine, but this piece in Electroverse takes an aproach to things that I read with fascination. It’s plain that we shall soon see if the guy is on the money or not. In the meantime a few pairs of thermals and some seeds may be a small but wise speculation!

    https://electroverse.net/record-cold-and-snowy-december-similar-to-1989-the-mother-of-all-crashes-just-months-away/

      1. Out of your comfort zone too – it is probably wise to reserve a little headspace for what we cannot be sure of.

        1. Looks like the wee packages swallowed by drug mules and later poo-ed out and the contents snorted.
          Not for me.

        1. Of course, ivermectin is also an anti viral and often prescribed to humans as well.

          I hadn’t read the post right.

          1. Ivermectin is anti-parasitic, not antiviral. It’s only given to humans that have worm infestation or topically for head lice. It’s mostly used on animals.

  55. 340873+ up ticks,

    Start this about 5 minutes in, another REAL UKIP fruitcake, on honest reflection they could have done a very great deal of honest rectification
    in regards to the current treachery dealt out by the lab/lib/con coalition and current supporting member / voters.

    https://youtu.be/Oi7ZFlCKoj0

      1. Not to say detached from reality. As I’ve said before, if Billy Goats is trying to reduce the world’s population and enforce some kind of eugenics, he’s making a very poor job of it. Circumspice

  57. Boris does a screeching U-TURN on lobbying scandal: PM humiliatingly DROPS attempt to save Owen Paterson from 30-day suspension following massive outcry… 24 hours after Tories were ordered to vote FOR it

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10164343/PM-accused-colossal-misjudgement-Owen-Paterson-row.html

    It needs shouting out loud:

    NOBODY SHOULD TRUST BORIS JOHNSON EVER AGAIN

    Whatever the rights and wrongs of the case it is undeniable that Owen Paterson has been disgracefully treated and the prime mister has now twisted the knife.

    Johnson is a nasty, fat, indecisive weak slug. I can’t say much kinder than that!

    1. I think Paterson deserves a medal for protecting the public, I would rather have him than the ones that sell the country down the river then get lucrative payments on the corporate lecture circuits, now that should be banned.

      1. If he had been doing his job he would have said we need test milk, this is why, now find some companies that can and invite tenders. Instead he puts forward a marketing speech for the company that pays him more than being an MP pays him. The second company he lobbied for pays him £1000 per hour. Nice work if you can get it. I have to work 120 hours to earn 1k.
        He broke the rules, he needs to pay the price for his indiscretion.

    3. Paterson is as guilty as sin. He’s admitted it and said he’d do it again. Boris should have told him to foxtrot oscar for 30 days but instead in his usual buffoon way he makes himself look a right twat again.

      1. Good afetrnoon, Thayaric

        What exactly did Owen Paterson do wrong? What exactly is he guilty of doing or not doing? Didn’t he declare his interests as he was required to do? And when he found out that something was a cancer risk to the people did he not then blow the whistle?

        His case, as I see it, was that he provided all the evidence he was required to provide but he was never interviewed and none of the evidence he provided was examined properly. He was adjudged guilty without having had the chance to defend himself and this – he argues – is not justice.

        1. He lobbied directly for two companies that pay him which is clearly against the rules. It’s much like insider trading. He may well have had good intentions, but he broke the rules and he knew it.
          He should have said there’s a problem with milk it seems. The problem we think is such and such. We need to find some companies that can test the milk for us. Instead he goes in and says hey I know a bloke that can do this, he’s my employer, use him. The company makes millions. No other companies got a look in.

  58. Boris does a screeching U-TURN on lobbying scandal: PM humiliatingly DROPS attempt to save Owen Paterson from 30-day suspension following massive outcry… 24 hours after Tories were ordered to vote FOR it

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10164343/PM-accused-colossal-misjudgement-Owen-Paterson-row.html

    It needs shouting out loud:

    NOBODY SHOULD TRUST BORIS JOHNSON EVER AGAIN

    Whatever the rights and wrongs of the case it is undeniable that Owen Paterson has been disgracefully treated and the prime mister has now twisted the knife.

    Johnson is a nasty, fat, indecisive weak slug. I can’t say much kinder than that!

      1. Hmm, Is Welby a Gaia follower, Sue?

        Even if not openly, his actions to undermine the C of E and thence Christianity are highly suspect.

        1. The church I used to attend pre-Covid, celebrated “Climate Sunday” on 5 September. The CofE is well and truly infested with Gaia worship, though not at St Barts, Smithfield. So glad I made that move.

          1. I’m not looking forward to attending the Remembrance Sunday service at my local with the vicarette. I have studiously avoided her lefty sermons up until now, but I’m laying a wreath, so I’m honour bound to march to church with the rest of the wreath-laying party.

          1. Ah, there we have it! ‘Weiß die Geier’ is a reply to a difficult question. Could be translated as ‘Heaven knows’.

    1. My response, on Twatter:

      A classic example of Big Pharma brainwashing children to partake in the clinical TRIAL of their EXPERIMENTAL vaccine.

  65. I’m surprised there’s no discussion about today’s MPC meeting.

    The bank rate has been held at 0.1%.

    The vote was 7-2.

        2. I don’t think so, Elsie but thanks for trying. No answer from Thayaric despite 10 hours passing.

      4. The great and the good, warrior poets and philosophers all, rock up to the Bank of England once a month to foretell the future. After casting a chicken’s entrails and examining them at length, they pronounce on whether all is well with the world, or whether we are all doomed, or a bit of both.
        Truth to tell, they usually disagree with each other but then if you put just one of these people alone in a room, he would probably have an argument with himself.
        Anyway, to ward off demons they have the power to raise or lower base interest rates and occasionally do. When they first started doing this, the gathering was known as the Magical Philosopher’s Circus. In recent years, much to the chagrin of most members, it is now more commonly referred to as the Monetary Policy Committee.

        1. The result is always going to be the same. Suppress interest rates, let inflation destroy the state’s offensive borrowing – and the currency, and the value of your income making you poorer all for the benefit of big fat state’s disgusting waste of money on things we do not need, want or use.

        4. Thank you, Iffy, at least you give a chance to understand the other, meaningless comment, that speaks in abbreviations, expecting all to know.

  66. Owen Paterson has just resigned with immediate effect. So, another by-election coming up.

    5. Clucking bell. The ignorance!

      Being vaccinated does not mean you cannot pass on the disease! Is she stupid? Thick? A complete moron? You’re going to be on a plane. There is NO fresh air, it’s all recirculated. Whatever the bloke 10 seats away has, you now have. Shut up, grow up, educate yourself you stupid, dumb bitch!

    1. Johnny, although we’ve had Halloween and Bonfire night is tomorrow there are still ten days until Remembrance Sunday. So can I suggest that you leave the crackers until those events are over and we are closer to Christmas. Also, you might like to buy a tie as a Christmas present for Mr Barenboim.

      :-))

    2. Hang on. Either I don’t understand that comment, or the world is truly and utterly insane.

  71. Well, the repulsive Chris Bryant and Kathryn Stone have got what they want.

    When will they get rid of Boris Johnson. He is certainly one of the most repulsive sub-human beings ever to infest Downing Street. If Bryant and Stone don’t do it then maybe the Conservative Party will show a rare piece of initiative and do it themselves.

    If only Owen Paterson had not resigned he could have come back after his suspension and run as a stalking horse to challenge Boris Johnson who now has no integrity or credibility left at all.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10164343/PM-accused-colossal-misjudgement-Owen-Paterson-row.html

    Owen Paterson QUITS as an MP after Boris cuts him adrift by dropping bid to save him from 30-day lobbying suspension – as furious Tories compare PM to the Grand Old Duke of York
    PM accused of ‘colossal misjudgement’ in Owen Paterson row
    Owen Paterson today dramatically resigned after Boris Johnson executed an extraordinary U-turn on his decision to block his punishment for lobbying. The former minister declared he is resigning as MP for North Shropshire, saying: ‘I will remain a public servant but outside the cruel world of politics.’ It came hours after Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg announced the government has dropped plans for a retrospective overhaul of sleaze rules after a huge backlash at the ‘politically-motivated’ decision. The move meant that a motion on suspending Mr Paterson for 30 days for lobbying rule breaches – as was recommended by the cross-party standards committee – was set to be brought before the House again. The whirlwind reversal came less than 24 hours aft

    1. That fat barsteward must be dizzy after so many U-Turns! Why anyone would ever trust him is beyond me.

    3. I can understand why he resigned, but it’s a great shame that he did. The ‘Conservative’ Party (clutches his sides in ill-suppressed mirth) has just taken another tilt to the left.
      Not much further to go now…

      1. Owen Paterson sincerely believed in Brexit and was more than capable of giving clear, well-reasoned explanations of why he had come to that conclusion.

        This is entirely different from Johnson who adopted a pro-Brexit position for reasons of political expediency and he did not have any serious belief either way in Remain or Leave.

        Those who have followed my posts over the years will vouch for the fact that I always wanted Owen Paterson to lead the Conservative Party ever since Scumbag Scrotum Cameron sacked him from being environment minister at the time of the flooding of the Somerset Levels when Mr Paterson was the only competent minister in Cameron’s absolute shower of a government.

        If Bonker is a term generally applied to male fornicators then is Bonkess the term for women? Johnson must fall soon. Will the Bonkess Adultera Truss follow in his footsteps?

  72. Well, not many NoTTLers, surely, wish to leave the UK State a large bequest upon their departure for a better place …. :

    How you can shield £975,000 from inheritance tax with this little-known trick
    You can even do it retrospectively

    By
    Harry Brennan
    4 November 2021 • 9:34am
    Thousands of people could be needlessly paying large inheritance tax (IHT) bills each year as a once widely-used tax loophole has been all but forgotten.

    Everyone has a personal IHT allowance – the nil-rate band – of £325,000, above which their estate pays 40pc tax. There is also an additional allowance for passing a family home to direct descendants worth £175,000. Married couples and civil partners can combine their allowances, allowing many to pass on up to £1m tax-free.

    However, there are ways individuals can get almost the same amount of protection too.

    Before spouses were able to combine their tax breaks, many used IHT-exempt discretionary trusts instead. Often referred to as “nil-rate band trusts”, they allowed people to ring fence up to £325,000 to pass on to their spouse free of tax on their death.

    The transfer of allowances has meant this practice has more or less died out. However, widowed spouses who remarry can still use it to give themselves an additional IHT allowance of £325,000, shielding even more from the taxman.

    Faye Silver of Raymond James, the wealth manager, said this would benefit people who had lost their partner but who could still remarry.

    How the inheritance tax trick works
    Margaret is married to Peter. Peter dies and some years later she marries John. There are no children involved, so the family home allowance does not apply.

    Peter’s death leaves Margaret with his full basic allowance, giving her £650,000 of IHT protection. She puts the £650,000 into a discretionary trust for John. On her death, John can add this to his own £325,000 allowance.

    John also ringfences his own allowance through a trust, so Margaret can add his £325,000 to her allowance if he were to die first. Now the surviving spouse will pass on £975,000 tax-free.

    What is more, beneficiaries can use this tactic retrospectively. By using a legal document known as a deed of variation up to two years after death, families can alter a will to be more tax efficient.

    Rachael Griffin of Quilter, another wealth manager, said such “little-known quirks in the tax system” were increasingly important as booming house prices push the death tax take to record highs.

    “Navigating the tax system shouldn’t be akin to finding a needle in a haystack. People are entitled to use allowances, even if few people have heard of them,” she said.

    For more advice, read how to reduce your inheritance tax bill

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tax/inheritance/inheritance-tax-loophole-trick-how-save-money-2021

    1. We could be far more straightforward and scrap the blasted tax entirely. The state does not automatically have a right to destroy half of your income earned over your lifetime. A lifetime spent paying tax on tax on tax on tax on tax for every single thing they buy.

  73. CONDITIONS ‘EXTREMELY SAFE’ IN LA PALMA AFTER VOLCANO ERUPTION, SAYS TOURISM MINISTER 4 NOVEMBER 2021.

    The situation on the Canary Island of La Palma is “extremely safe” following the major eruption of its Cumbre Vieja volcano, according to the island’s tourism minister, Yaiza Castilla.

    Of course it is! I can remember building sandcastles on Skegness Beach while the Tsunami’s rolled in!

    https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/la-palma-safe-volcano-eruption-b1950517.html#comments-area

    1. Lewis – – they are NOT going to stop ANY of them – – their families WILL be arriving for THEIR free lives VERY soon.

  75. I look forward to Commissar Stone investigating with the same enthusiasm as she has shown in the Paterson case all those senior MPs involved in Test & Trace and PPE…

    Here’s a scenario. Over the next few days, the true nature of the Parliamentary Standards Committee (its personnel and policies) is revealed and there is a mass resignation in disgust of a large number of 2019 ‘new wave’ Tory MPs. They commit to stand again as Independent Conservatives, campaigning for the upholding of the manifesto on which they stood, notably dealing properly with the EU and immigration and the reform and strengthening the police. Enough do so to reduce Johnson’s majority to single figures.

      1. Halfcock? Unfortunately, it was the wrong half … (given his indication. at the moment of resignation, that he was resigning to spend more time with his family)

  76. https://eugyppius.substack.com/p/stupid-and-evil-in-equal-measures

    Very soon, millions of children will be vaccinated against a virus that
    is less dangerous to them than influenza. These useless vaccinations
    will kill some of them, and they will not save any lives. As outrages
    go, this one is very far up there. It is also the latest in a long line:
    Many countries have for months observed a sustained trend of elevated
    mortality in younger demographics, almost surely the result of
    vaccine-induced myocarditis. It is now plain that the press will
    downplay indefinitely widespread economic and supply chain chaos,
    following months of unprecedented and totally pointless closures.
    Suddenly millions of people cannot leave their supposedly open,
    democratic countries, or engage in economic activity, without submitting
    to medical treatments they don’t want. On top of all this comes months
    of media hysteria and repeated population-wide house arrests—all to box
    in a virus that, as pandemics go, clocks in at merely somewhat-bad.

    1. A boy from one of the leading public schools in Britain recently came on a French course with us. Both he and two of his friends at the same school had had their second Covid jab and all three ended up in hospital with myocarditis.

      It must have been only a coincidence as usually the MSM is very happy to promote this sort of story as it concerns a school from which several UK prime ministers have been educated so I do wonder why they kept so quiet?

      2. My beautiful statuesque Polish friend has myocarditis, thought to have been caused by the vaccine. She’s quite poorly with it. Only just turned 40, not pleased.

        1. It seems to affect young people – these vaccines really shouldn’t be given to anybody under 60, and then only the old and frail and those with underlying conditions.

          So sorry to hear about your friend.

    2. A boy from one of the leading public schools in Britain recently came on a French course with us. Both he and two of his friends at the same school had had their second Covid jab and all three ended up in hospital with myocarditis.

      It must have been only a coincidence as usually the MSM is very happy to promote this sort of story as it concerns a school from which several UK prime ministers have been educated so I do wonder why they kept so quiet?

  77. Equal justice for all under the law
    Claudia Webbe suspended sentence………..
    Imagine Tommy threatened an acid attack,he’d get banged up for 5 years!!

    2. Johnson, the complete charlatan, is happily overseeing the total destruction of the concept of equality before the law.

      1. Indeed. The plod would only have to do it once – and the tossers would stop their malarkey.

  79. 340872+ up ticks,

    Halal no doubt,
    Boris Took Private Jet from Climate Summit to London for Dinner at Private Members Club:

  80. Ruddy silly. Additionally one of the Dorms at Wellington College is named after Picton.

    Huw Edwards ‘being spoken to’ by BBC after he objected to ‘censorship’ of historic painting

    Newsreader could be taken to task over impartiality after he criticised ‘decolonising’ gallery for removing portrait of Sir Thomas Picton

    By Craig Simpson
    4 November 2021 • 4:03pm
    *
    *
    https://twitter.com/thehuwedwards/status/1455869247104724992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1455869247104724992%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fnews%2F2021%2F11%2F04%2Fhuw-edwards-spoken-bbc-objected-censorship-historic-painting%2F
    *
    *
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2021/11/04/TELEMMGLPICT000276523272_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq6MNt3J8_0ma75FeQqlxiZGuZGFl5pTc0phNEGUdsEZ4.jpeg?imwidth=680
    *
    *
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/04/huw-edwards-spoken-bbc-objected-censorship-historic-painting/

      1. Yep! Never agreed with Huw on anything before, but in this case I’m impressed with him! Funny how the Beeb can have words with him, but not the ghastly Packham, nor their loony-toon ‘science’ editor!

          1. Far too important. The Welsh git is just a newsreader and can be slapped about. Could be that he is looking to get out of the beeboid empire. I seem to recall some gossip about him looking for a job at GBNews (or similar).

  82. So…there will now be two by-elections. Wouldn’t it be nice if two honest, decent candidates stood as Independent Conservatives?

    Won’t happen, of course. Two unknown scumbags will be parachuted in.

    1. 3 I think, Bill. Amess, Brokenshire and Paterson?

      And yes, Independent Conservatives would be refreshing.

      1. Of course. Forgot about Brokenshit (who behaved dreadfully to my late friend Roger Scruton).

          1. Roger gave an interview to some rag and they published it (on Twitter i think) which said the exact opposite of his views and was sacked by text by Brokenshire from a voluntary/unpaid government position. Brokenshire didn’t even bother to check the facts.

          5. By firing him – BY E-MAIL – from a govt job without speaking to him – simply because some ministerial flucker had told him about a vile (and deliberately lying) article in the New Statesman which crucified Scruton.

            Having read that rag since 1954 and been a subscriber for 30 years – I cancelled overnight.

      3. Free and fair elections without fraudulent postal votes and dodgy counting would be especially refreshing but it ain’t gonna happen?

        2. Yo Sue, are you talking about Leicester East, the Vaz ‘ o rentboy / Acid drop Webbe seat?

    2. Can we have a Photofit of them

      1 BLT ooops BLM (bacon forbidden)
      2 LGBTWERT
      3 Disability
      4 Not British Born
      5 Female
      6 Four kids each with a different father
      7 ECO stupid
      8 XR trained
      9 Insulation Trained
      10 Can barely (I do not mean without clothes) Spikka da Ingleessh

      Please add more

    1. That headline doesn’t make any sense; it needs translation into the Queen’s English, Oberst …

    1. Steerpike
      Claudia Webbe given suspended jail sentence
      4 November 2021, 4:00pm

      Well there we are then. Claudia Webbe, the MP for Leicester East, has this afternoon been sentenced to a suspended 10-week jail sentence and 200 hours’ community service for threatening to throw acid at a friend of her boyfriend and send naked pictures of the victim to her family.

      Webbe, who was convicted of harassment last month, now faces a recall petition if her appeal against the verdict is not successful. Given her fellow MPs in Westminster seem so keen at present to close loopholes for misbehaving colleagues, Mr S wonders if they will consider the case of those who are convicted in a criminal court but get to remain in Parliament at taxpayers’ expense, on the basis of an appeal. Unlike Owen Paterson, Webbe has shown no sign of resigning any time soon…

      Elected as a Labour MP in 2019, she managed to have the whip removed within nine months of entering Parliament. With the party set to begin reselecting MPs next week ahead of a presumed 2023 election, Steerpike suggests Webbe’s chances of standing again on a Labour platform are, er, slim, to say the least, with sources claiming she has now been expelled as a party member.

      She is of course the seventh elected Labour MP to be handed a jail sentence, suspended or otherwise, in the past 10 years, following in the footsteps of Eric Illsley, David Chaytor, Jim Devine, Denis MacShane, Elliot Morley (all expenses-related) and Fiona Onasanya (perverting the course of justice.)

      Speaking in court today Webbe’s victim said: ‘My self confidence has plummeted, I have anxiety attacks, I have almost become a hermit. I have fallen into huge debt, I desperately wanted to move away from the area Ms Webbe said she knew I lived in.’

      True to form, Webbe spent the last few hours before the verdict was delivered blocking people who criticised her on Twitter, with her barrister making a last ditch effort to ask the judge to ‘please consider my clients suffering as a black woman and the abuse she encounters.’

      In light of the appalling treatment which Webbe dispensed to her victim, Mr S agrees she would indeed know all about encountering abuse. So much for socialist solidarity eh?

      ***********************************************************
      Jingleballix • 2 hours ago • edited
      If she was a white super-market worker, she’d be in chokey tonight.

      Blindsideflanker • 2 hours ago
      Well I am shocked I tell you I am shocked…not .

      She even slandered the court and legal system by claiming a Black person couldn’t get justice in a White court, and they even let that slip.

      The Watcher • 2 minutes ago
      She is of course the seventh elected Labour MP to be handed a jail sentence, suspended or otherwise, in the past 10 years, following in the footsteps of Eric Illsley, David Chaytor, Jim Devine, Denis MacShane, Elliot Morley (all expenses-related) and Fiona Onasanya (perverting the course of justice.)

      There’s a few more on the Labour naughty list though isn’t there? The list below might not be allowed to stay up for long, so please do feel free to copy & paste before it get’s deleted by the Speccie mods

      2011 – David Chaytor, Labour MP for Bury North. Pleaded guilty to £20k of false accounting. Sentenced to 18 months
      2011 – Eric Illsey, Labour MP for Barnsley Central. Pleaded guilty to 3 counts of false accounting amounting to £14k. Sentenced to 1 year.
      2011 – Elliot Morley, Labour MP for Scunthorpe until 2010. Found guilty for filing £30k of fraudulent mortgage claims. Sentenced to 16 months.2012 -Eric Joyce, Labour MP for Falkirk. Arrested for assaulting a Conservative MP in a House of Commons bar. He resigned as a result. In 2020 he was found guilty of downloading a video + images of child sexual abuse, including the abuse of a 12 month old baby. Police also found evidence of 2,000 files of CSA images dating back to 2014. Sentenced to 8month suspended sentence & 150 hour community service & rehabilitation order.
      2012 – Margaret Moran, Labour MP for Luton South. Found guilty of falsifying Parliamentary expenses of £53k – the highest amount during the Parliamentary expenses scandal. Sentenced to a 2 year supervision & treatment order.
      2012 – Dennis MacShane, Labour MP for Rotherham until 2012. Pleaded guilty to charges of £13k false expenses claims. Sentenced to 3 months
      2018-20 – Kate Osama, Labour MP for Edmonton & Shadow Secretary of State for International Development under Jeremy Corbyn. The House of Commons Commission for Standards found her guilty of 2 breaches of Parliamentary rules – 1 for assaulting a Times journalist and 1 for misusing House of Commons stationery.
      2019 – Fiona Onasanga, Labour MP for Peterborough until 2018. Found guilty of perverting the course of justice. Sentenced to 3 months
      2020 – Baron Ahmed Nazir, former MP and Labour peer. Expelled from House of Lords for breach of House’s code of conduct following sexual assault allegations from 2017. The 1st time a HofL peer had ever been expelled
      2021 – Jared O’Mara, former Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam. Has been charged with 7 counts of fraud by false representation and 1 count under the Proceeds of Crime Act. He is accused of submitting fraudulent invoices to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority totalling over £28k. Case ongoing

      2021 – Claudia Webbe, former Labour MP for Leicester East. Found guilty of harassment of her boyfriend’s former partner. Sentenced to 10 weeks suspended sentence and 200 hours community service.

      1. There are probably 650 people on the road where I live. If it had this record I’d move.

    1. Sorry, Wibbling, I can’t let that pass. Because he’s ‘a MAN!’ he raped her? Is that what you’re saying?

      1. Nope, what he’s saying is he was able to rape her because he was really a man and had the equipment.

      1. Hello, Mrs Macfarlane. What little rhyme did you use in the old days when the live was red, the neutral was black and the earth was green? 😉

        1. Ah, Mr Grizzly! I was going to say I was too young to wield a screwdriver in those days but unfortunately I do remember both my grandparents houses having two-pin round Bakelite plugs with plaited cords! Eh pet! Them were the days!
          To answer your question, it was obvious! Red was live and black wasn’t!

    2. SWMBO can change a clutch*… just saying.
      * – part of a vehicle drivetrain, not a wee handbag.

          9. Just finished cardboard pizza, but thanks for the offer!
            Cold curry the next breakfast is excellent! With strong coffee. Yum!

    5. Used to be able to do it in seconds – can’t remember when the last time I had to do so was.

    6. My Dad was colour blind so he taught my older brothers to wire plugs up when they were young.

  91. That’s me gone. AGA man came – excellent chap; arrives on time; does the job – and goes. I got him to show the MR how to light the beast. One day, I won’t be around and she needs to know these things. AGA man was an exemplary instructor. I would have ended up shouting!! Rained most of the arvo.

    Drink in hand – mixed veg casserole plus sausages to come. Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

          1. Okay if you make your own. The ones in supermarkets use really cheap sausages and i find the bacon too salty.

          2. Seems a strange thing to buy. Doesn’t take much to make – just wrap a sausage in a rasher of bacon. Bake. Eat. My favourite pork-based food, although schweinshaxe comes close.

          5. I tend to make everything from scratch. Particularly if cooking for guests but i have come across these little monstrosities in the past.

          7. I will work my way through their stock but i have a couple of pounds of sausages from my last butcher.

          2. I told a LIE. They were venison sossages – from a deer shot by my elder son. Stunningly good. And the sossages were good, too…!!

          3. Envy… 🙂
            !stborn has venison and moose sausages at his place, all made by himself from creatures he murdered. Fantastic, they are, so rich, tasty, and you don’t need to eat many to be full!

          4. I miss my constant supply of venison when we lived in Norfolk. There are so many wild dear in Norfolk, even the small breeds were so good and tender. Shot localy and butchered in the field.

        2. Just dig out the credit card and watch others do the work.

          We are half way through having the house painted, much easier than trying to do it ourselves.

          1. We bought an airless paint sprayer. Poke the suction schnozz in the paint bucket, pull the trigger and whirr – everything white. Sped up the work enormously. Then rented a cherrypicker – another improvement in productivity.

          2. I tried one of those power rollers that pumps paint from the tin up to the roller head. Bloody had work, it did the job quickly but I had to keep up with it.

          3. I agree. I had all the interiors painted while i was away on holiday. And every 6 months i pay someone to clean my oven.

          4. A team from your area cleaned my double oven 2 months ago .. 14 year old Neff.. They were brilliant , the ovens are as good as new , even the wire shelves and even the grill pan . I was so shocked and delighted with the guys presented me with a pair of clean beautiful ovens .

            All the cooking during lock down , more cooking than usual , and the cooker lights looked terrible , and cleaning it myself was always hard and horrible , scrubbing away, etc .. but the chaps who did mine were here for nearly a couple of hours .. I wish they had tackled my huge stainless steel extractor unit ..

            If anyone wants their contact details , I will oblige .

    3. I lit the Rayburn today – house is lovely and toasty warm now. Had a shepherd’s pie with various veg and a glass of red (not counting the sherry beforehand and the port after).

  92. Many a late evening now, I switch on the YouTube channel, do a Search for Orchestral Music … last night I searched for Honeck (I heard he was a good conductor, and heard two pieces which were old favourites (it was nearly 1:30 and I confess I fell asleep during the Strauss … I will try again tonight):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyeR-gPakWo

    1. I heard the Pittsburgh Symphony a few times in their home venue, the Heinz Hall, back in the day when lepers could travel.

          1. You leave me out of this, Bill, even if I was called Adolf at Primary School in the 50s – the war wasn’t that long ago, then.

    4. Ah! The permanently offended looking for a payout! Can you imagine what the Pakistan cricket team call the English or the Aussies? Banter it was – no more nor less!

      1. Sue – – exactly the same – what do they call us – – when they walk past speaking their language – – while enjoying our taxes, funding their lives, here.

        1. Batty is exactly right! We actually put up with their whining and never confront them. That poor Batley teacher is still in hiding and we’re pandering to a money-grabbing muslim!

  95. Evening, all. My conservatory is pretty much complete (finishing touches to be done later in the month) and Oscar is on anti-biotics.

    1. What’s the problem with Oscar?
      Nice to get the conservatory work done, though.
      We have had less exciting stuff finished – soakaway tanks… 🙁

      1. Last week I thought he had a UTI, but the vet said it was unlikely (he was acting very aggressively and peeing everywhere – and I do mean EVERYWHERE). She thought he had arthritis in his back legs, so prescribed Loxicam. I took a urine sample in (what a palaver to collect it!) and it turns out his urine is a) diluted (I did mention it was raining when I took it) and b) alkaline when it should be acidic. Hence the vet thinks he may have an infection after all, so has prescribed a short course (5 days) of antibiotics. Half a tablet, twice a day. He is extremely high maintenance!

        1. Poor old Oscar. Urinary infections are no fun (I guess, like any infection). Hope the pills are effective.
          If you weren’t maintaining him, you’d only be wasting time staring at the goggle box, enjoying yourself, or any number of frivolous activities… ;-))

          1. I don’t watch TV (apart from the racing); it’s bad for my blood pressure. I enjoy myself here. The worrying thing (I’m trying not to think about it), is that the vet said if the antibiotics don’t work, we need to take a blood test to check his kidneys and liver. It was kidney failure which did for Charlie. I hope history isn’t going to repeat itself.

          5. #metoo.
            Sorted with surgery, aged 6.
            Left me with the iinability to see through both eyes at once, so no stereoscopic vision, and I can switch (like a tv director) from one eye to the other at will.

          6. I have monovision. One eye is corrected for distance, the other for reading. Works well 99.9% of the time.

          7. Similar here. One eye v short-sighted, the other can barely focus past end of me nose. Specs help.

          11. Just a thought.

            Is there a home remedy for a dog with a urinary tract infection?
            For help with preventing and treating UTIs in dogs, try adding a cranberry supplement to your dog’s diet.
            Cranberries can help prevent bacteria from adhering to the lining of
            the bladder, reducing the chance your pet will get an infection.

            Home Remedy for UTIs in Dogs

          12. I don’t have a source of cranberries, Phizzee, although I understand that cranberry drinks work for humans. Oscar would probably lap it up; he’s a gannet in terrier clothing.

          13. D-mannose. You can buy it without a prescription. It is the most delicious medicine you will ever take, as it is just brown sugar. It works really well.
            Not sure if it would be OK for dogs.

          15. …and, I believe, Connors, that despite his sometimes anti-social behaviour, he has brought some joy into your life. KBO the pair of you.

          16. He is definitely a joy, albeit somewhat tempered (or even bad-tempered!) by his attempts to remove my toes from my feet and my fingers from my hand! To be fair, he does respond to – “don’t you dare! Leave my feet alone!” I just wish it weren’t necessary to keep saying it! I do think he’s come a long way in those five months. We went to our favourite cafe this morning and after he’d eaten his flapjack and had a good drink, he settled down and chilled out. He’s asleep beside me now.

  96. Piers Morgan tweeted: “RIP Lionel Blair, 92. A wonderful all-round entertainer & lovely man. Sad news.”

    Another one bites the dust. ..He was one of those easy going pleasant entertainers who has been around for ever .

  98. Good night all.

    A ribeye with one of Elsie’s jacket potatoes, Crozes-Hermitage 2018, Cave de Tain.
    A chilled, fresh mango.

    1. Something very strange is afoot. Yorkshire have been accommodating of Rafique. Ballance was by all accounts his best friend at Yorkshire.

      I suppose the policy of Yorkshire to recruit Yorkshire men to their team is the target. Otherwise I feel Rafique is a tool of other interests for the reason that he was obviously embraced and given every opportunity to play for both Yorkshire and England.

    2. Paki clown, typical of that ilk, the great offended.

      I aim to keep offending them until they leave MY country.

    1. When I was teaching in Manchester some years ago, we did a show with the girls called The Dracula Spectacular. One of the characters was called Nick Necrophilia. Can you imagine trying to get away with that nowadays? It was a great show and very funny; the girls loved it.

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