Saturday 6 November: The Oxford college, the Mosley money and the moral collapse of our universities

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

504 thoughts on “Saturday 6 November: The Oxford college, the Mosley money and the moral collapse of our universities”

        2. Thanks Elsie! What are you up to? We’ve got our granddaughter coming to stay! Nearly 3, going on 16!

          1. Well, Sue Mac, today I went for my ‘flu jab (first one for several years). Then I went shopping in Aldi which closes on November the 17th, re-locating the following day to a much larger store facing our enormous Sainsbury’s close to the A12. It is situated alongside an enormous brand new B&Q store which opened a few weeks ago. I took the opportunity to have a look around the B&Q. I also went to the local garden centre to buy some tulips for my raised side garden plots and a potted cyclamen to bring some colour to my living room. Then back home for a cup of coffee and a couple of mince pies before going into town by car and then bus to see some “wrinkles” who were manning/womanning a u3a stand and to give them some support. I then treated myself to an enormous club sandwich and a flat white coffee at the nearby “Sip and Tuck” coffee-and-cake-plus-meals shop.

            Also, I bought myself a metal 2021 poppy for my lapel; since the 1st of the month I have been re-watching the 1960s BBCtv documentary series THE GREAT WAR at a rate of 2 episodes (out of 26) per day. After finishing these on November the 13th, I shall spend Remembrance Sunday (the 14th) watching Peter Jackson’s colourised film THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD and a friend’s copy of the BBCtv docudrama 17 DAYS, about the days leading up to WWI, ending with the famous quote “The lights are going out all over Europe”. I hope to spend the rest of November watching the ITV 26-part series THE WORLD AT WAR, about WWII, at a rate of 2 parts per day.

            I returned home via the new B&Q and bought some felt for the roof of my garden shed. A much younger neighbour has taken pity on me and promised to replace the old felt roof which had blown away in the recent gales. And then I spent half an hour in the garden cutting back some flowers and topping up the raised beds with a compost mulch. Experiments with creating Favourites and Bookmarks (see yesterday’s NoTTLers’ site) will have to wait until another day.

            Well, Sue, Mac, you did ask me what I was up to today! I am now ready to relax, enjoy some reading & YouTubing and then have an early night. I hope that you enjoyed your day with your granddaughter.

          2. Well, Sue Mac, today I went for my ‘flu jab (first one for several years). Then I went shopping in Aldi which closes on November the 17th, re-locating the following day to a much larger store facing our enormous Sainsbury’s close to the A12. It is situated alongside an enormous brand new B&Q store which opened a few weeks ago. I took the opportunity to have a look around the B&Q. I also went to the local garden centre to buy some tulips for my raised side garden plots and a potted cyclamen to bring some colour to my living room. Then back home for a cup of coffee and a couple of mince pies before going into town by car and then bus to see some “wrinkles” who were manning/womanning a u3a stand and to give them some support. I then treated myself to an enormous club sandwich and a flat white coffee at the nearby “Sip and Tuck” coffee-and-cake-plus-meals shop.

            Also, I bought myself a metal 2021 poppy for my lapel; since the 1st of the month I have been re-watching the 1960s BBCtv documentary series THE GREAT WAR at a rate of 2 episodes (out of 26) per day. After finishing these on November the 13th, I shall spend Remembrance Sunday (the 14th) watching Peter Jackson’s colourised film THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD and a friend’s copy of the BBCtv docudrama 17 DAYS, about the days leading up to WWI, ending with the famous quote “The lights are going out all over Europe”. I hope to spend the rest of November watching the ITV 26-part series THE WORLD AT WAR, about WWII, at a rate of 2 parts per day.

            I returned home via the new B&Q and bought some felt for the roof of my garden shed. A much younger neighbour has taken pity on me and promised to replace the old felt roof which had blown away in the recent gales. And then I spent half an hour in the garden cutting back some flowers and topping up the raised beds with a compost mulch. Experiments with creating Favourites and Bookmarks (see yesterday’s NoTTLers’ site) will have to wait until another day.

            Well, Sue, Mac, you did ask me what I was up to today! I am now ready to relax, enjoy some reading & YouTubing and then have an early night. I hope that you enjoyed your day with your granddaughter.

  4. I was just thinking last night that more MP’s have died from Islamic terrorism than from covid in the last two years.
    Not bad since we were in a terrible global pandemic.
    Yet we hear next to nothing about the terrorism on the MSM while it is not stop about the plague.

  7. ‘Morning, Peeps,

    SIR – I was sad to see that two letter-writers (November 2) are resigning from the National Trust as a result of its abandonment of the basic principles of its wonderful founders.

    Having been members for about half a century, my wife and I long enjoyed our visits, but have become disenchanted with the current situation. But we do not intend to abandon our pleasures. What I am going to do is to cancel my gift-aid declaration, as I do not wish any more publicly funded money to be misused. I would recommend other members to register their displeasure in a similar manner in order to reduce the ability of the current woke management to waste our subscriptions on their political views.

    Ron Giddens
    Caterham, Surrey

    SIR – Sharon Pickford, the director of support and revenue of the National Trust (Letters, November 5), disputes Allison Pearson’s claims regarding the cancellation of direct debits.

    The director claims that new members are joining at a rate of one every 23 seconds. I calculate that this equates to 1,371,130 in a year.

    However the Trust’s own figures show that membership is now 5.37  million, down by about 580,000 from 5.95 million in 2019-20.

    John Orbell
    March, Cambridgeshire

    SIR – When I tried to cancel my National Trust membership I was told that I couldn’t leave half way through the year and must pay until March before leaving, forcing me to pay £42 for the remaining four months.

    Philip H Adwick
    Caunton, Nottinghamshire

    Well said, John Orbell; I just knew those figures were wonky. Joiners are only half the equation – if others are leaving via the exit in droves then the joining figure is meaningless. Smoke and mirrors from the NT? Why, of course; it’s just another badly run and uncaring corporate now.

    And Philip Adwick sounds as though he’s paying via DD. If so, why not just cancel it and send back your membership card?

    I like the idea from Ron Giddens, but why not go one better and join another organisation that has a reciprocal arrangement with the NT? We were members of the NT for Scotland for years, which was significantly cheaper until they realised what was going on and raised their membership charges!

    1. My first laugh of the day with these BTL comments about the NT letter from Philip Adwick:

      Phnom Penh
      6 Nov 2021 1:19AM
      Phiip H Adwick, maybe if you told the National Trust that your ancestors were slave traders and your payments are coming from your share of the resultant family fortune…

      Perigo Minas
      6 Nov 2021 7:50AM
      @Phnom Penh

      Or that your great great great grandfather is on record as being rude to an lesbian.

  8. The West is living through a period of radical uncertainty and has no clue how to respond. 6 November 2021.

    I floated before my dinner audience one thought about what may underlie the insecurity that is felt Left, Right and centre. It is that we now sense – even if we do not explicitly formulate it – that the dominance of the West as a political civilisation and economic entity may really be dying. If it is, that is the end not only of the post-war settlement, but of a phenomenon which has existed since the 18th century.

    It’s not dying. It’s committing suicide!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/05/west-living-period-radical-uncertainty-has-no-clue-respond/

    2. You’re right Araminta, but certainly we are being helped to commit suicide.

      Friends in the USA have told us that it has recently been revealed that a lot of Chinese money has been given to the BLM.

      Perhaps similar amounts are being given to other leftie organisations in this country?

      Bear in mind that CND stoutly denied for many years that it was paid for with Soviet money, yet within the last few years

      it has been revealed that the top management in CND were well aware exactly where their funds came from.

        1. Russian foreign policy doesn’t necessarily change because the system of government changes. The West got burned by that the first time.

          1. You only have to look at the figurehead of the Soviet Union…Uncle Joe.Born in Georgia.

          2. It is noticeable that dictators are usually born in a smaller country within the orbit of the country they go on to dominate.
            Napoleon – Corsica
            Stalin – Georgia
            Hilter – Austria

    3. “may” be dying?
      There is no “may” about it!
      We won’t get any kind of moral self-confidence, let alone moral authority back until we go back to Christianity – a religion that, although it originated in the eastern mediterranean was forged by and around our civilisation, culture and traditions.

          1. Stop being smugger than a smug thing in Smugland.
            (I can’t believe that I used to start work at 07.00.)

    2. SIR – As an 85-year-old retired Telegraph reporter, I smiled when I saw the picture of the dry-stone waller at work in the Yorkshire Dales (November 4).

      Working in the 1970s I recall a stern news editor’s memo to all staff, saying that our readers wanted more “hard political and industrial” stories and less “soft” material, adding by way of explanation: “No more dry-stone walling.”

      It comes to mind every time I see a dry-stone wall. Times change.

      Maurice Weaver
      Walton on Thames. Surrey

    4. When I was a child, at dusk, practically every telephone pole had a little owl surveying the scene.

  10. In Janus Towers they have been known as ‘dumb motorways’ ever since some lunatic decided to create them. As a former accident investigator it didn’t take more than a few seconds to realise what they were:

    SIR – Despite mounting evidence to the contrary, Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, continues to assert that “smart motorways are as safe or safer than conventional ones”.

    Does Mr Shapps take us all for idiots?

    David Vincent
    Cranbrook, Kent

    SIR – I was dismayed to read (Letters, November 4) the suggestion that drivers need to be more vigilant while on smart motorways, with the implication that there must be a change in driver behaviour.

    No amount of vigilance or behaviour would have saved me had I been on a smart motorway when, like Philip Johnston (Comment, November 3) and Eamonn Judge (Letters, November 4), I had a tyre blow out at speed.

    I cannot comprehend how anyone with an ounce of common sense would think that smart motorways are a good idea. If the Government cannot afford to widen motorways by building an extra lane, then they should be left as they are with a hard shoulder.

    Gillian Fearon
    Sherfield-on-Loddon, Hampshire

    SIR – The most irritating and frequent advertisement on Classic FM has to be the banal “Go Left” advice – on what to do if your car breaks down on a motorway. Surely no one would go right, into the fast lane. But to advise people to get off the road when there is no longer a hard shoulder or sufficient escape lay–bys is positively idiotic.

    If so-called smart motorways are to be reassessed, it is time this pathetic form of radio publicity, , about what can only be described as death-trap lanes, was shut down.

    Valerie Thompson
    West Horsley, Surrey

    1. The hard shoulder should never have been removed.We all know that, but not this government.

    2. Using the hard shoulder as an optional extra lane is common in Germany, and nobody complains about it. So what’s the difference?
      More people looking at the cameras?
      More lay bys to escape into?
      Fewer broken down cars?

  11. Good morning all. After yesterday’s frost, it’s a return to Autumn with a mild 5°C and a dull, overcast sky.
    Dry at the moment, but rain forecast this afternoon.

  12. Russian diplomat found dead outside Berlin embassy. 5 November 2021.

    A Russian diplomat was found dead last month outside the country’s embassy in the German capital, it has emerged.

    The man’s body was discovered on the pavement on 19 October by police guarding the Berlin compound, Der Spiegel website reported.

    He had apparently fallen from an upper floor, but it was unclear how, it added.

    Harry commented on this the other day so I decided to take a look at it, mostly because it’s 2 o’clock and I can’t sleep. The first thing to note is the date (19 October) that’s two weeks ago. So it’s a propaganda filler. The man, whose name is not given in this particular report, was a Kirill Zhalo, the son of an FSB General. He supposedly fell/jumped from a window in the Embassy and landed on the pavement outside. We know for certain that he was outside the grounds independently of the comments because the German Police found the body, and thus unless he could fly or levitate that the fall is a figment of imagination.

    What really happened? Well Embassies are covered by cameras both inside; and more importantly outside by host countries to monitor visitors, so it has certainly been recorded. That neither, the recording, or the perpetrator has been produced; the nature of the victim and that no investigation has been launched, plus that the death occurred on the very steps of the Embassy suggests that he was murdered by the German BND, probably in retaliation for a Chechen killing earlier in the year. That the Russians played no direct part in this has cut no ice with them because they suspect that at the very least they knew about it, and probably facilitated it, even if indirectly. Since it would be futile to respond to the Chechens; as they regard murder and threats with complete indifference, the Germans have killed a Russian with the hopes that they will rein in their ally on future occasions!

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-59175317

    1. I don’t know enough about it…………………………yet,but the story,as reported,makes no sense.

      1. It’s perfectly clear to me, Harry M. The Russians smeared their front door with Novichock, resulting in Kirill Zhallo getting contaminated as he slammed the door of the embassy shut whilst going out to do a little shopping for a small bottle of perfume. On his way back, just before entering the compound, he had a fit and fell down on the pavement. N’est-ce pas?

        :-))

  13. SIR – Kathleen Stock has resigned as a professor at Sussex University (report, November 4) after sustained bullying by trans activists, who, it seems, disliked her questioning the wisdom of allowing male-bodied people access to women-only spaces in environments such as prisons.

    Many women and young girls who have been assaulted or abused seek solace, respite and healing from women-only groups and facilities. The idea that men can have unfettered access to these groups by simply “self-identifying” as female is frankly ludicrous and wholly indefensible.

    Charles Jackson
    Newcastle upon Tyne

    No further comment necessary!

    1. Both our sons have daughters. Their comments on this pernicious nonsense are unprintable.

    2. 340989+ up ticks,

      Morning Anne,

      Two webs should be seared into the minds of decent people regarding the coalition lab/lib/con that being,acidic webbe & the web of paedophilia as rotherham & likes , ongoing, shows.

      If any remnants of these party’s are in evidence when next the herd vote & find support then society as we once knew & enjoyed has been destroyed totally.

      Democracy dictates that you get what you vote for, the truth of that is being witnessed currently in spades.

  14. SIR – When I tried to cancel my National Trust membership I was told that I couldn’t leave half way through the year and must pay until March before leaving, forcing me to pay £42 for the remaining four months.

    Philip H Adwick
    Caunton, Nottinghamshire

    Phnom Penh
    6 Nov 2021 1:19AM
    Philip H Adwick, maybe if you told the National Trust that your ancestors were slave traders and your payments are coming from your share of the resultant family fortune…

    1. Morning Citroen. They would probably refund all his membership fees! Then again, perhaps not!

    2. Philip H Adwick probably spread his payments for membership over the year. His own fault really.

    3. Just go to your bank and get it cancelled there and then.
      They vaporise the DD before your very eyes. Leave the recipient to scream; there’s nowt they can do about it.
      We have cancelled myriad ‘insurance’ policies that must have cost Elderly Chum more than the original item.

      1. Agreed but in our case “just go to your bank” isn’t that straightforward! RBS closed our local branch, but pointed out that there was a branch in Bakewell, or we could use the local NatWest – no surprise that both options closed soon afterwards! Next option was a dedicated point of contact for our account, but in Chesterfield – when he left out new contact turned out to be in Edinburgh – not exactly handy for a face to face chat, but then the bank much prefers online or app banking – much easier for them!

          1. I can, and indeed have, but the banks don’t make things easy! I’m quite happy about online banking but lots of people aren’t IT savvy and people like my 98 year old mother-in-law often have no such facility. The point I was making, was that saying “just go to your bank” isn’t so easy when the banks close all the local branches!

          2. Elderly Chum – and indeed, I, myself, in person – don’t do online banking.
            Next week, her niece and I are going to the bank to sort out yet another problem. (And check out the new bar cafe in town – just to see how it’s getting on, natch.)

  15. 340989+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,

    Saturday 6 November: The Oxford college, the Mosley money and the moral collapse of our universities, sorry, Country.

  16. One very hacked-off BTL poster – join the club!

    Kevin Bell
    6 Nov 2021 12:20AM
    What a shocking week for the country and Boris Johnson. His ridiculous ‘one minute to midnight’ speech to the global elite followed by the usual hypocrisy of taking a private jet to a personal appointment was bad enough. To then issue a three line whip to defend Owen Patterson only to U turn the next day and throw him under a bus, ruining his reputation, made matters worse.

    There are so many things going wrong. Examples being last weeks shockingly awful budget with large increases in government spending funded by tax rises – the actual reverse of what needs doing – the Smart Meter report, 20,000 illegal immigrants crossing the Channel and the unresolved Northern Ireland protocol. Van Tam and co still droning on about cancelling Xmas without Sajid Javed contradicting him.

    We are in a right mess. There is no leadership. Boris can’t provide it and none of his wretched Cabinet can either.

  17. Good Moaning.
    Up Betimes and waiting for Godot the plumber to rescue us from MB’s well meant efforts.
    (DON’T touch the cold tap!!!!)

    A cheery article to help you on your way:

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/04/labour-might-have-had-upper-hand-today-not-sentencing-claudia/

    “Labour might have had the upper hand — were it not for the sentencing of Claudia Webbe

    It’s difficult for Labour to maintain its morally superior stance with one of its own convicted of ambitions to be an acid-throwing thug

    4 November 2021 • 5:41pm

    The only thing we can say with any certainty about the shape of the next parliament is that it is unlikely to include anyone named Claudia Webbe.

    The Leicester East MP was found guilty last month of harassment following evidence that she made a number of phone calls to a female friend of her partner, threatened to release intimate photos of her and even use acid on her.

    Webbe intends to appeal her conviction, which comes with a ten-week sentence, suspended for two years, and 200 hours of community service.

    Winning such an appeal represents her only chance of remaining on the green benches of the House of Commons, where she has been since 2019. She was suspended from the Labour Party as soon as her conviction was confirmed and now sits as an independent but naturally could regain the whip – and her title of official Labour candidate at the next general election – only if the verdict is overturned.

    If she fails in that effort, she will then be subject to a recall petition in her constituency. One senior Labour MP this afternoon suggested that such a petition could attract the necessary ten per cent of electors required to trigger a by-election “in the space of an afternoon”. Which seems harsh, even if true.

    If Webbe’s appeal does indeed fail, we face the prospect of four by-elections, two to replace late MPs David Amess and James Brokenshire, one to replace Owen Paterson after his sudden and dramatic decision to come to his senses this afternoon, and a fourth (perhaps) in Leicester East.

    So, in summary: not parliament’s finest week.

    Webbe’s sentence comes at a very inconvenient time for her party, which had found itself, for once, with the upper hand over the government after ministers’ cack-handed attempt to rewrite standards rules in order to save Paterson’s skin, followed by the swiftest U-turn in either political history or light entertainment.

    But it will be ever so slightly more difficult for Labour to maintain its customary morally superior stance when one of its own stands convicted of having ambitions to be an acid-throwing thug. It remains to be seen what the public disapproves more of – MPs using their status and position to earn a few grand on the side, or MPs harassing and threatening life-changing injuries on people they don’t like.

    Of course, the natural response would be “A curse on both your houses”. And it’s true that both parties need desperately to look again at the processes used to select their candidates. Webbe secured the nomination for Leicester East after her predecessor, Keith Vaz, was forced to stand down after an embarrassing encounter with a washing machine salesman. Or something.

    Under Jeremy Corbyn, of whom Webbe was a strong supporter, there were many untried and untested candidates parachuted into nominally safe Labour seats in an attempt to shift the balance in the Parliamentary Labour Party in his favour. It’s early days yet but I think we might conclude that this experiment was ineffective and was accompanied by some drastically unforeseen and unexpected consequences. Even in the Labour Party, threatening constituents with acid is not considered a desirable campaigning tactic.

    Now, such hubris on the part of Corbyn has been shown for the folly that it was. True, all Labour leaders seek to parachute favoured sons (and daughters, but it’s usually sons) into safe seats as the nomination deadline approaches, but Corbyn’s regime paid far too little attention to the qualifications and reputations of such people, whereas those advanced by the patronage of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were at least well known in the upper levels of the party.

    A sensible starting point for Labour would be to start selecting candidates who were unlikely to go to jail. This would have the happy result of making it easier for constituents to contact them, for a start.

    Now, as government ministers are caught in a pincer movement by the opposition and the media, as they squirm in embarrassment about the totally unforced errors of the last 24 hours, they will be relieved to see the Webbe fiasco being extended as we wait for her appeal to be heard, probably in the next few weeks. Only after that matter is disposed of can a recall petition be opened in Leicester East.

    As if Keir Starmer’s embarrassment at these developments was not enough, there are rumours that Vaz himself fancies his chances of a return to the Commons in any subsequent by-election. That will not happen, obviously, for the leadership has the final say as to who is allowed onto a shortlist of candidates. The fact that the former chair of the Home Affairs select committee is even a power in Webbe’s constituency suggests that this particular soap opera is far from over.

    Parliament – or, more accurately, the House of Commons – has hardly covered itself in glory this week. And there’s more to come.”

    1. If you need a plumber around here, you have to go and grab one. Hasta la vista, plumbing supply warehouse shuts at noon.

  18. 340989+ up ticks,

    With remembrance day fast approaching and the peoples knowing the LEST WE FORGET reason for it’s being may one ask,
    what reason do the political overseers give for the invading hoards entering at DOVER, in short WHERE ARE OUR BLOODY ARCHERS ?

    Ps,
    No 7 o’clock on the radio please.

      1. I looked through the window when I got up and … yes … I can confirm … we have weather too.

        I cannot remember a single day of my life that was devoid of weather.

        1. Whether the weather be cold, or whether the weather be hot ….. IT’S ALL YOR FAULT!!!!

          1. As a schoolmaster one finds one is often in for a bad spell of whether.

            (I had a boy in one of my classes called Lamb so I called him Wether. He found out the reason and asked me to stop doing so which of course I did)

      2. Well … there are all these strange, brown leaf shaped objects on the lawn.
        This climate change is a serious problem.

  20. In today’s DT. Those Nottlrs with a sense of the ridiculous will not be disappointed (no BTL comments allowed):

    UK has ‘real problems’ with burning wood for electricity, admits Zac Goldsmith

    Environment minister acknowledges environmental concerns that large-scale use of biomass is harming forests and producing carbon emissions

    By
    Emma Gatten,
    ENVIRONMENT EDITOR and
    Olivia Rudgard,
    ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT
    6 November 2021 • 6:00am
    Britain will continue to burn the equivalent of 25 million trees a year, despite environmental pledges. Illustration of trees ripped down in front of an industrial factory

    There are “real problems” with the burning of wood pellets for energy, an environment minister has admitted, after the Telegraph revealed Britain will continue to burn the equivalent of 25 million trees a year, despite a pledge to end the destruction of forests.

    Zac Goldsmith, minister of state for Pacific and the environment, said there were “real problems which need to be addressed” with large-scale biomass, which provides around 12 per cent of Britain’s electricity, mainly from wood pellets shipped in from the US and Europe.

    The industry receives green subsidies worth more than £2 million a day because it is classed as renewable and carbon neutral, despite concerns from scientists and environmentalists that it is harming forests and producing carbon emissions.

    Lord Goldsmith said it was right to “raise very good questions” about the future of biomass.

    He added: “I don’t think those problems were properly fully understood when the infrastructure, which is now there, was first developed.”

    The biomass industry says it only uses wood pellets in accordance with the strictest sustainability criteria.

    The Government this week released a “biomass strategy”, which commits it to reviewing the regulations around the sustainability of the industry.

    The strategy was originally expected to include plans of how much biomass the UK would use to get to net zero but was scaled back amid growing concern over the policy.

    The strategy says it will identify gaps in its sustainability criteria, and “consider where environmental and social aspects … could be strengthened in line with the most up to date scientific evidence.”

    Earlier this week, the Daily Telegraph revealed serious concerns about the wood going into pellet mills that supply Drax, the UK’s biggest biomass energy supplier.

    Drax is in the process of converting its six coal units to burn solely biomass, and intends to move into carbon capture and storage with further subsidies in the future.

    The new biomass strategy also addresses concerns over air pollution from wood burning plants.

    It says: “Air quality impacts of biomass use, especially in emerging areas, need to be better understood and mitigation measures developed to ensure we do not compromise our ability to meet statutory air quality ceilings.”

    British biomass plants are one of Europe’s biggest contributors of fine particulate matter pollution PM10, say analysts, which has been linked to respiratory disease, heart attacks and strokes.

    European scientists have called on the UK and EU to end the classification of biomass as carbon neutral, and say the burning of wood will increase global warming for decades to centuries.

    The classification relies on the wood that is burned being replaced in new trees, but scientists argue there will be a short-term “carbon debt” while they regrow that will contribute to destructive global warming in coming decades.

    Lord Goldsmith spoke at the launch of a £500 million government funding programme to protect rainforests and make sure that food and consumer products do not fund destruction of forests and other environmentally damaging practices.

    As part of the pledge the UK’s five major supermarkets, Co-op, M&S, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose, are aiming to halve the environmental footprint of the average shopping basket, in an agreement with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

    The nature charity said it would be assessing the companies on metrics including the amount of meat they sell, with the aim of 50 per cent of their protein coming from plant-based rather than animal products.

    1. Our era will certainly be seen as one of the maddest in history by future generations, and probably held up as an example of why science should not be treated as a religion.
      Fancy wasting all this energy (ha ha) agonising about a trace gas that promotes plant growth.

      1. Notable that politicians don’t seem able to do anything about the invasion of vermin from Africa, nor the drains, nor collect bins on time, nor reforming welfare but they can solve a planet wide issue mostly affected by a large ball of burning gas.

        Truly astonishing.

  21. Yo All

    I found this as a BTL comment

    When I was at Infant, then Junior, school, in the late 1940’s, early 1950’s, the men who taught us had not long been back from fighting in WWII and
    the ladies had lived through the Blitz and made life as normal as possible during that time.

    Education progressed, with ability based Comprehensive schools, Technical Colleges, Grammar Schools and pupils educationally progressed and we were taught proper values.

    From the 1970’s onwards, all those values slipped away, speeded up by Blairite policies

    The country is now reaping what it sowed.

    The most racially abused people in UK are

    White,

    English speaking

    With Christian values,

    Have worked, or are still working, their whole life

    Tax and National Insurance contributers

      1. It’s OK to be white.
        I didn’t have a choice but would have chosen to be, given a choice.

        2. Built everything, run everything, pay for everythin, get abused, insulted and kicked while vermin infest our property.

          OK to be white? It’s time we pushed back and reminded the world why we rule it.

      2. Let’s be perfectly honest the only reason so many people want to come and live in white western societies is because the countries were well ordered and tidy, had good social structures, decent morals standards and high employment. But……………well, what else is there to say i wonder.

    2. Yep. When we’re gone, who will the state rob? Mor eimportantly who will pay for everything, build everything, create the art, run the theatres, build the prisons to house every other group?

    3. I remember at least two very bad tempered teachers at my schools middle aged and women, they may have possibly lost relatives in ww2, but became but too handy with their punishment routines. Slipper and ruler.

        1. Imagine being dragged out in front of the class and wacked across the calves several times with a ruler at 5 years of age, for not being able to conform with the educational structure…..that being able to write a figure 8, but found guilty of putting one circle on top of another which actually looked better. Miss effing Bishop at Dollis primary NW7………. frustrated spinster.
          Junior school Miss Williams’ verbally instigated spitting and punches in the back and there was Mr Thorpe’s size eleven slipper. The head was handy with his cane as well.

          1. The art master at my grammar school used to bend us over (only if we were naughty!) and bring the edge of a ruler down on the stretched skin – you didn’t stop breathing in for about 5 minutes

  22. 340989+ up ticks,

    Dt,

    The disease of hypocrisy has become endemic
    From Cop26 to the House of Commons, elites can’t break the habit of signalling their virtue while behaving appallingly

    Been the same for decades owing to the fact that in the main the electorate have a strong crack like addiction to supporting / voting for
    those politico’s suffering from virtuous hypocrisy who have NO intentions of breaking the link to such a lucrative lifestyle.

    1. We are living in a rural village , We used to be blessed with many garden visitors .. our seed feeders had to be replenished sometimes twice a day.

      My near neighbours and I had a conversation the other day about the lack of birds in our gardens recently, nothing , not even a blue tit, only a solitary robin.

      We reached the conclusion rightly or wrongly that many homes in the area own cats , good feral hunters of rats mice ….. and birds .. We also have 6 magpies that cause quite a noise on our roof tops , and a pair of sparrow hawks that treat our bird feeders as a live food source .

      We have several large milking herds in the area who never leave the dairy , and we can some times smell the stinkiest odour from their slurry ponds .

      Beacuse the dairy herds are confined under cover, cow pats are a rarity , and even when I disturb the grazing beef cattle poo which is evident on our near heath land , there are no insects in the cow pats … nothing , so probably the lack of insects and grubs has contributed to the demise of none seed eating birds .

      1. Hallo Belle. On ‘Notes from the Sticks’ on CW, a couple of Sundays ago we were all remarking on the same thing. So it is not just your area but a nationwide phenomena. But it is not just birds, it’s butterflies too. So it isn’t just cats, although I have no doubt they contribute.

        1. We have a national census on butterflies here. You are asked to report sightings to a website of location, date and type.

        2. It’s right across the board. Numbers of all insects are down. On sunny days I used to watch dragon flies darting after their prey all over the garden, although I have no water features. On warm evenings I used to watch dozens of bats swooping around at roof-top height, while I enjoyed my nightcap on the terrace. All gone now.

      2. I think you might find the problem is self perpetuating TB, our neighbours have a bird feeder and a few friends also have them, but they have all seen rats and nice in their gardens obviously mice are less of a problem than Rats. But the spilled feed seems to attract them. We have plenty of black birds in our garden but we don’t see any thrushes, starlings or even Sparrows of either kind. Robins, Wrens and other smaller species are frequent visitors.
        But we live on the edge of farmland. Plenty of bloody wood pigeons, and the occasional flock of Red ringed parakeets, although not seen this year.

      3. Sorry to hear it, Belle, but we’re not seeing that lack of birds here in east Cornwall. I have a large ‘squirrel proof’ feeder that gets emptied once a day, by birds only. Sunflower hearts and suet pellet mix. There’s still enough bugs around the garden for the insect eaters too with wagtails, wrens etc. The butterfly numbers were very variable this year though. I thought those late frosts were the culprit but who knows. Still seeing red admirals when it’s not raining here and not freezing.

        1. Perhaps we are all worrying unecessarily , but if a few of us have observed the lack of numbers , I reckon the farming techniques are up the creek and rather severe . Spraying the oil seed rape early on in the year, too much maize for bio and animal feed , and not enough set aside?

  24. ‘Morning All

    Start with a Laff

    A young woman was taking golf lessons and had just started playing her
    first round of golf when she suffered a bee sting. Her pain was so
    intense that she decided to return to the clubhouse for medical
    assistance. The golf pro saw her heading back and said “You are back
    early, what’s wrong?” “I was stung by a bee!” she said. “Where?” he
    asked. “Between the first and second hole”. she replied. He nodded and
    said “Your stance is far too wide”.

    2. Good morning Delboy

      Chilly morning here in these Purbecky parts , going to put off doing some gardening , brrrr.

      I expect the dogs will have their exercise whilst we are wrapped up warm agaainst the elments.

    3. Good morning Delboy

      Chilly morning here in these Purbecky parts , going to put off doing some gardening , brrrr.

      I expect the dogs will have their exercise whilst we are wrapped up warm agaainst the elments.

  27. The news networks have been going through the social media posts of
    the truck driver who beat the demonrat and made some shocking
    discoveries……….

    These include
    Mohamed was a paedophile and islam is a death cult.

    He likened those who fail to speak out against mandatory jabs and
    vaccine passes to those who failed when Jews were segregated and forced
    to wear yellow stars.
    And most shockingly of all, he claimed Jan 6th
    was not an insurrection but an unauthorised entry to the capitol by
    undocumented federal employees.
    That’s why he won you Dimbos!!
    PS can we borrow him when you’ve done with him??

  29. We had a very pleasant evening last night , French evening , meal and some music . Many couples dressed for the occasion, berets, striped tops , long aprons , all the Allo Allo embelishments , and strings of onions , garlic and French flags .

    The early music in the evening was delightful , but sadly during the meal , a crooner with a similar repertoire to Andy Williams / Val Doonican and that ilk made me feel quite annoyed , we are all so British and old fashioned .. a French singer would have recieved my applause .. anyway the companions we were with were good fun and the world was put to rights.

      1. We are great fans of Charles Trenet.

        After supper when we have our students with us I get out my guitar and we get the students to sing French songs led by Caroline. The students love Boum (Caroline makes a good doe in the woods noise) and La Mer with its key changes is fun – particularly as, since the Mr Bean on holiday in France film, everyone knows it.

      2. I sang that at the French Institute in Edinburgh. The occasion was a dinner and AngloFrench ceilidh to celebrate 750 years of the Auld Alliance.
        The singing was not as good as M. Trenet, of course, but my accoutrements – tea-cosy on head -were maybe more interesting.
        Oh, dear. I’ve just remembered how long ago that was – 1995.

        1. Clever you , and I expect you were entertainingly wonderful .

          We should all do things like that.

          I once sang Blue Bayou, sadly badly , but I delivered , and they laughed and clapped .. years and years ago .

          1. Thank you. We do all need to step outside of ourselves sometimes, if only to see what it’s like.

    2. ‘Morning, Belle.

      If you had stayed at home, you could have watched Charles Aznavoice grinding away ‘She’ on BBC4.

  30. Brian Hicks moans that Barclays Bank tells him that withdrawals of cash under £300 has to be done via the ATM outside. Well the way round that is if he wants £100 to withdraw £300 then make a deposit of say £200 leaving him with £100. If he hasn’t the brains to see that then he is indeed a Hick

    2. No member of any political party represented in Westminster is prepared to admit the basic truth that the Mayor of Calais uttered:

      “Britain’s problem is entirely due to the fact that illegal immigrants are treated far too well in Britain which is why they want to go there.”

      She is understandably pissed off that Calais is infested with these people who have no more interest in being in Calais than a person at Clapham Junction waiting for a train to take him somewhere else but in the meantime is happy to vandalise the station or urinate, vomit or defecate all over it.

      I was born in the Sudan to British parents and my father worked for the British government and so I have British nationality and can live in Britain if I choose to do so. I suppose that I could apply for Sudanese nationality and settle there – but I think I shall not take up that option.

      1. Better still, apply for Sudanese nationality and live in Britain. You should be entitled to a sea view room at a seaside hotel, all meals included.

  32. Contraception

    The largest condom factory in the States burned down. President Biden was awakened at 4 am by the telephone.

    “Sorry to bother you at this hour, Sir, but there is an emergency! I’ve just received word that the Durex factory in Washington has burned to the ground. It is estimated that the entire USA supply of condoms will be used up by the end of the week.”

    Biden,” Oh damn! The economy will never be able to cope with all those unwanted babies. We’ll be ruined. We’ll have to ship some in from Mexico.”

    Telephone voice says, “Bad idea… The Mexicans will have a field day with this one. We’ll be a laughing stock. What about the UK?”

    Biden, “Okay, I’ll call Boris and tell him we need five million condoms, ten inches long and three inches thick. That way, they’ll continue to respect us as Americans.”

    Three days later, a delighted President Biden ran out to open the first of the 10,000 boxes that had just arrived. He found it full of condoms, 10 inches long and 3 inches thick, exactly as requested…

    … each stamped with a Union Jack and written on each:

    Made in England. SIZE: Small

    1. Many a true word, is spoken in jest

      “I just found out, during the Cold War, there was a real, actual, real researched plan in which the Americans
      would drop extra-large condoms labeled ‘medium’ all over the Soviet army so that they would think that all American men had
      huge penises and they would feel inferior and quit.”

      No way would Boden-BadforUS remember it

      https://nttl.blog/saturday-6-november-the-oxford-college-the-mosley-money-and-the-moral-collapse-of-our-universities/

  33. Tory chiefs fear anti-sleaze backlash in Owen Paterson by-election
    Rival parties will hope to exploit the lobbying scandal, amid speculation that the former MP could still receive a peerage

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/11/05/tory-chiefs-fear-anti-sleaze-backlash-owen-paterson-by-election/

    BTL Comment

    The details of what exactly Paterson did or did not do right or wrong have been lost in a fog.

    As far as I can see Paterson was not treated even remotely fairly by the vindictively nasty Bryant and Stone who refused to speak to him or examine the evidence he presented. Someone like the Speaker should have asked for the vote to be postponed until this clear injustice in Paterson’s treatment was addressed.

    Did Paterson declare his financial interests to the HoC openly and honestly? Did he try to lobby for the companies which paid him in a way that was against the rules?

    Can we be sure of Paterson’s guilt any more than we can be sure of his innocence until he has had the chance to present his case in front of impartial assessors?

    1. “Matilda Johnson told such Dreadful Lies,
      It made one Gasp and Stretch one’s Eyes;”

      It doesn’t end well.
      Quite frankly, I’ve given up even pretending to believe that the British government or media tell the truth.

  34. £190 a night x 365 = £69,350 PER ILLEGAL

    Average State Pension

    52 weeks @ £160 per week = £8,320
    These numbers grind my gears more than usual,I’ve been in my sheltered studio just under three years,as I am on a low income I get housing benefit.
    I had never had a council tax bill,stupidly I assumed no system would be mad enough to pay me benefits with one hand and tax me with the other (same dept)
    So the bills that dropped through my letter box for £5,500 this week came as a bit of a shock………
    I’ve appealed of course so we shall see,if denied they can kiss my arse and send me to prison my studio isn’t much bigger than a cell and the cell comes with free heating(I never use my storage heating terrified of the bill)Free TV 3 squares a day free optical and dental care and access to a doctor after all it’ll only cost them £50,000 a year to keep me there.
    I may be generous and offer to pay the arrears at £5 a month………..

      1. Better to black up and appear on a beach with a small rubber boat most hotel rooms are far larger than my studio,I would miss doing my own cooking but hey ho I suppose I could cook on an open fire on the balcony

    2. Universal credit and Pension credit is supposed to cover things like that – but how come they never sent you a bill? KBO Rik.

      1. My tiny private pension takes me £3 a week over the pension credit limit as for the bills? Gawd knows sheer bloody incompetence springs to mind

    4. These invading rubber boat freeloaders and thousands of useless others. Are paid more than the basic pension after a minimum of 30 years at work paying taxes and NI.

  36. Phew. Watergeddon solved. MB was on the right track, but didn’t have the right grippy tool thing for the final twist.
    New taps are now a priority as a deadly combination of prolonged use and very hard water have done them no favours.

    1. The cold tap in our en suite is the worst – it eats washers. They seldom last more than few weeks. The bathroom taps have been replaced several times – and the bathroom is only used if we have visitors.

      2. It sounds as though your tap is not suitable for higher-pressure. If an isolator valve is fitted on the cold feed to the tap, turn it so that the flow is reduced.

  37. We have had flickering lights for three weeks or so. Very long flickers, getting worse. Also of course affects anything else electrical we have on at the same time. Sometimes the wifi disappears, or the oven cuts out. Last night it was particularly bad. We thought it was due to the effect of solar flares, this happened for a couple of summers in France, it affected the wifi greatly. Now we think we definitely have a problem, not solar flares. Our next door neighbours have been away in France for a month, they returned on Thursday. No flickering for them. So it is not solar flares. We will call an electrician out on Monday. He will probably turn up in six months’ time if we are lucky.

    This morning we awoke to find that the boiler had broken down. I suppose it is just possible that the two are connected.

    1. Happy days, PM – I hope your electrician can sort it out.

      Meanwhile, we have tiles dropping off our roof………… have got the number now of a nice young roofer so hopefully we can get that done.

      1. It us so difficult to get anyone out to do anything in this part of the world. Perhaps it is the same everywhere.

        Does this mean a complete new roof for you or is it a repair job?

        1. On a plus point, if they are busy, with a good reputation people need them.

          If they can come tomorrow, why

        4. I have been lucky several times with work done to Mother’s house. Google was indeed my friend, finding an excellent plumber, electrician and fencer, and has turned up a professional looking cleaning company who just suppled a quote supported by pictures, for a thorough job, and bringing their own cleaning gear & vacuums. I concentrated on small, local traders, and after finding their number, called and explained the situation.
          It actually strengthened my faith in humanity – at least, in S Wales.

    2. Yo pm

      I suppose it is just possible that the two are connected….. Electrically….. sorry

    3. If everything is affected it might be the main fuse.Possibly 60A.
      Anyone can change a fuse.

      1. Thank you. After your suggestion we have tried that, it is still flickering gently from time to time, not sufficiently to interfere with the wifi or oven at the moment. Last week it was completely stable for three or four days. It is very intermittent.

    4. Sorry to hear that. We had our current home fully refurbished before we moved in, and found very good local contractors. We treated them well and have contacts for all trades. A good electrician shoud find the problem quickly.

      1. We had the place rewired when we moved in 40 years ago… and other works done. We are on the end of the circuit that goes round the green. We live in a village that didn’t have mains water until 1953, the village pump is still in situ.

  38. No new spammers for a few minutes – keep an eye out for them, please, as I’m going out for a while.

      1. Silly name – a few words followed by lotsa numbers. – flag – “spam” – block.

      1. Golly. I’ve been ruminating on the intelligence of animals recently. Sometimes I think that some of them are a lot smarter than they let on.
        Also, I think that the “scientific” approach to animals starts from the assumption of very low base.

  39. Former Conservative Prime Minister Sir John Major has criticised the government’s handling of Owen Paterson’s case as shameful and wrong.

    In a BBC interview, he said the actions of Boris Johnson’s government had trashed the reputation of Parliament and was damaging at home and overseas.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59188972

      2. I entirely agree, but on this occasion the odious Major is right – Boris has made a complete bollox of this and damaged what little reputation the Tory party had remaining.

        1. Boris is only interested in Boris. He has no humanity towards the British people. A con man.

  40. On the subject of equality and BLMers kneeling, here is an idea

    At the start of sporting events, if the teams want to/have to, ‘bend the knee’

    owsabouta

    On to the Left knee for BLM Black Lives Matter

    On to the Right Knee for ALM All Lives Matter

    I cannot see how the BLMers could complain

    3. 340989+ up ticks,

      Morning OLT,
      Good thinking, could only be improved imho by ALL concerned with a rousing rendering of the Hokey
      Cokey.

    4. And after the knee taking a North Country Brass Band – backed up by the West Ham barber’s shop combo – should burst into a stirring version of Knees Up Mother Brown while Pan’s People are coaxed out of retirement to perform the dance in as provocative a way as they can.

  41. Good Morning to all. Cold outside and in the house. Overcast day.

    Thought I would post this to start the day. Scathing remarks by Mark Steyn on a listeners obsequious comments and with Douglas Murray an entertaining and informative 12 minutes all round.

    Douglas Murray joins Mark Steyn for Talking Pints
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueIlOeerhwg

    1. The EU is completely evil.

      It would be good if the likes of Dominic Grieve, Ken Clarke, Lord Adonis (who the f-… is he anyway?) Hilary Benn and the rest of them would admit it.

      1. I completely agree with you Rastus. I was never for joining the EU in the first place. Common Market yes, but what that evolved into no. If you care to look at the modern world, the two greatest evils originated on the continent and I believe that is no co-incidence. It is because the idea of the individual and the idea of Common Law, are alien to them. Their systems are governed by authoritarianism to which the concept of freedom, as a fundamental right, are alien to them. They can, therefore, do nothing other than veer toward totalitarianism.

        1. Good morning, Jonathan

          The MSM never got to grips with the fact that the EU replaced the concept of Habeas Corpus with Corpus Juris and did not ever understood the significance of it.

          “It is no secret that the European Union has reserved itself the right to primacy over the legal systems of its individual member states, however it is known to a much lesser extent that the EU’s Corpus Juris plan was to be implemented in a manner that would eventually overthrow the UK’s common law system and consequently sabotage the rights and freedoms of British citizens.”

  44. Ex-Prime Minister John Major BLASTS Boris Johnson’s ‘shameful, wrong, unworthy’ regime over Owen Paterson corruption row and says Government is acting as if they think ‘we are the masters’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10171909/Ex-Prime-Minister-John-Major-BLASTS-Boris-Johnsons-shameful-wrong-unworthy-regime.html?login#readerCommentsCommand-message-field

    It is still not clear to me whether Owen Paterson is innocent or guilty. But it is perfectly clear to me that both John Major and Boris Johnson are completely repulsive sub-human beings.

    I wonder if the fragrant Edwina – who loves a bit of publicity and attention – will enter the fray and promote her soon to be published article in Cosmopolitan about how to seduce even the most despicably boring and treacherous of prime ministers.

      2. I have no wish to spoil your breakfast but can you imagine the table-top slithering of a jellyfish and a sea slug? Horrible, horrible.

    2. He was always prone to eggsageration. He was given free rein to spout his nonsense on Radio 4 this morning. His left wing sympathy was greatly appreciated by the slimy Nick whatever-his-name-is Robinson.

      1. Wasn’t he the turncoat who signed the Maastricht Treaty?

        John Major had negotiated a treaty which allowed the European Union to develop…..

        1. Yes. I always associate Major with the Maastricht Treaty. In my mind they are as closely linked as Bonnie and Clyde.

        2. I remember my late Uncle shouting at the telly about the Maastricht treaty. I was unaware at the time what it would mean.

        3. He’s also complaining about Boris proroguing Parliament, which is yet another example of his utter hypocrisy!

  45. Garibaldi Lineker is taking in a SECOND refugee after welcoming man from Balochistan into his £4m Surrey home last year. Dreary Fail

    Hasn’t he got enough servants already? It would be better for all if he emigrated to Bollockistan and took his entourage with him.

    2. When I went to meetings, with the MOD, I used to interupt speakers and ask them to say in full, what Acronyms that they have just used meant.

      Most times, you could see the look of gratitude, on the faces of the a lot of people, who were too scared to ask, in case it affected their status

      The we played “Bullshyt Bingo’ when the Acronyms and other .’management words’ were used

  49. Ross Clark
    ‘Climategate’ still matters – but not how the BBC thinks it does
    6 November 2021, 6:00am

    It is 12 years now since a tranche of emails were scraped from the server of the University of East Anglia in what became know as Climategate. An East Anglia climate server was hacked, and the documents were pored over. The story won’t go away, not least because the BBC has just put out two programmes on the subject: a TV drama called the Trick, and a Radio 4 documentary called ‘The Hack That Changed the World’. Both try to establish the same narrative: that the scientists whose emails were leaked were victims of a crime — a massive data theft — and that these brilliant, honest people were then unfairly dragged through the mire as their integrity was questioned, when the world should really have been asking: who are the evil hackers and why are they trying to discredit climate science?

    That the emails were ‘stolen’ is a fair enough description of what happened. Whether the BBC would use the same term had someone hacked into the computers of, say, an oil company and disclosed emails about what it knew about carbon emissions and climate change is quite another matter. I suspect that it might then prefer to view the story as one of legitimate public interest I certainly don’t recall the BBC covering the MPs’ expenses scandal – which happened in the same year as Climategate — as a mere data theft story.

    It matters because in treating Climategate as pure data theft story, you bury what it revealed about the practices of some climate scientists. It is true that some sceptics over-egged the scandal, wrongly claiming that the infamous words ‘hide the decline’ suggested that scientists knew global temperatures were falling, and were attempting to cover this up. It is also true that the scientists whose emails were leaked were cleared of scientific fraud in an investigation. Yet that doesn’t detract from serious questions over the science which was revealed by leak.

    The ‘decline’ in ‘hide the decline’ in fact referred to an apparent fall in global temperatures from the 1960s onwards, as measured by the proxy of tree ring data. Tree rings, among other data, have been used to try to establish historic temperature record for the period prior to around 1900, for which we don’t have reliable, standardised temperature observations from thermometers. Trees grow faster when the weather is warmer, goes the theory, and therefore the thickness of tree rings can be used to tell us something about past global temperatures. Tree ring data, along with data from lake sediments, ice cores and so on was used to construct Michael Mann’s infamous ‘hockey stick’ graph which appeared to show fairly flat global temperatures throughout the past millennium until fossil fuel-burning led to a sharp jump.

    But there is a problem. While temperature records and tree ring data seem to agree with the thermometer record for a period prior to 1960, they diverge after that date: tree ring data appear to show that global temperatures fell when the thermometer record shows the opposite. What do you do when faced with that realisation? The answer, in the case of the Climategate scientists, was to try to adjust the data so that the tree ring data agreed with the temperature data.

    You don’t have to be a climate scientist to find your jaw dropping at this stage. In fact, it perhaps helps not to be a climate scientist, brought up on some of the methods which have become embedded in the science, to see the objections to doing this. Surely, if tree ring data diverges from thermometer data for several decades in which both are available, it should lead you to an inevitable conclusion: that tree ring data is not a good proxy for global temperatures. If it can’t tell you what temperatures have done in the past half century, it probably isn’t providing an accurate record about what was happening in the 1400s either.

    That is why sceptics are right to be sceptical about the hockey stick graph and other graphs which purport to show trends in global temperatures spanning two eras: one in which we didn’t have accurate data from thermometers and one in which we did. To gather proxy data – some of which you know to be pretty useless – and to splice it in with real observational data doesn’t to me conform to high standards of objectivity which I expect from scientists.

    That is not to question, of course, that global temperatures – as measured from thermometers – have risen over the past century. No, Climategate didn’t ‘disprove’ global warming or show that it was a scam. What is did confirm is that climate scientists are using highly questionable methods to construct a record of historic temperatures. Moreover, it showed the lengths to which some climate scientists would go to try to silence colleagues with whom they disagreed – in one case threatening to try to remove an editor from an academic journal. Theft or no theft, Climategate revealed important matters of public interest – especially given the extent to which we are now being asked to adjust our lifestyles to reduce carbon emissions – and the BBC is quite wrong to try to dismiss the public interest side and present it merely as some dark and dastardly crime.

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

    phillip0 • 6 hours ago • edited
    The BBC is into the climate change scam – its reporters and analysts continually lie about it.

    At the time, a lot of us independent scientists examined the emails in great detail. There was widespread belief that the emails were not stolen but were released by an insider at the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit (CRU) who was very concerned at the rampant corruption within the small coterie of “climate scientists” who controlled the climate change narrative and the IPPC reports. It was no wonder at the time that Phil Jones considered suicide when the emails showed how widespread corruption within “climate science” (including the CRU, NASA-GISS and other university and research organisations) had become.

    There were several inquiries held and I tried to get onto one of them. But the establishment made sure that all inquiries were well under control and the result was a thorough white-wash of the widespread corruption within “climate science”.

    Nothing has changed – except that the corruption is now more widespread and the establishment has a much tighter grip on the narrative!

    I suggest that anybody who really wants to know what was going on in “climate science” at the time should read the two books by Andrew Montford: ‘The Hockey Stick Illusion’ and ‘Hiding the Decline’.

    An excellent analysis of the climategate emails is given in ‘Climategate Analysis’ by John P. Costella, SPPI – December 10, 2009. It is well worth a read!

    1. Michael Mann, one of the originator’s of the Hockey Stick Theory, sued Mark Steyn who maintained it was a fraud. After several years in court, the judge ordered Michael Mann to produce his methodology as proof for the Hockey Stick. Michael Mann refused on the grounds that the method had a “copywrite”. The case against Mark Steyn was thus dismissed.

      You can conclude what you like about that but I say it was because the theory was fraudulent in the first place and that Mann could not produce a valid methodology because his contention had nothing to do with science. Nor, for the periods covered by the “Hockey Stick” does in have anything to do with what we know to be historical fact. In creating the Hockey Stick, Mann tried to erase history in order to create consistency in his corrupt theory.

    2. Good article, thanks for posting, C1. I avoided both programmes because I knew, instinctively, what line the BBC would take in both cases (not a difficult prediction, I’ll admit).

    3. I listened to most of The Hack etc., waiting for the smoking gun that proved that the scientists were right and that the hackers had distorted the truth. Still waiting.

  50. It will very shortly be Armistice Day. Simon Heffer in the DT today referred to a poet of whom I had never heard who was, of course, killed in the Great War. This is one of his poems:

    “I saw a man this morning”
    BY PATRICK SHAW-STEWART

    I saw a man this morning
    Who did not wish to die
    I ask, and cannot answer,
    If otherwise wish I.

    Fair broke the day this morning
    Against the Dardanelles;
    The breeze blew soft, the morn’s cheeks
    Were cold as cold sea-shells.

    But other shells are waiting
    Across the Aegean sea,
    Shrapnel and high explosive,
    Shells and hells for me.

    O hell of ships and cities,
    Hell of men like me,
    Fatal second Helen,
    Why must I follow thee?

    Achilles came to Troyland
    And I to Chersonese:
    He turned from wrath to battle,
    And I from three days’ peace.

    Was it so hard, Achilles,
    So very hard to die?
    Thou knewest and I know not—
    So much the happier I.

    I will go back this morning
    From Imbros over the sea;
    Stand in the trench, Achilles,
    Flame-capped, and shout for me.

    3. To mitigate the charge of “cannon fodder”, I propose that ALL potential leaders (MPs, clergy and whatever) should be compelled to do a minimum of five years’ military service (front line, not officer class) before being accepted as a candidate.

        1. Which is why, Jules, my father, as a Private in The Queen’s Westminster in WWI, was commissioned in the field in August 1915.

          He survived with only one Blighty wound and was soon back in the field as a Lieutenant in The Suffolk Regiment.

      2. One thing that they should learn from Orficers (Northern Ireland Veteran Witch Hunts excepted) is that :

        YOU CANNOT HAVE AUTHORITY WITHOUT RESPONSIBILITY

        1. I remember that when I was younger it was explained to me that the difference between a traffic warden and a doctor was the the former had authority but no responsibility while the latter had responsibility without authority.

        2. Slight modification, OLT as one doesn’t go without the other.
          “YOU CANNOT HAVE AUTHORITY WITHOUT RESPONSIBILITY” AND ACCOUNTABILITY.

    4. That is a tender poem , an educated poem .. a fearful anxietyy about death .

      There have been warnings around these parts , which are military and many have settled here in retirement about the effect of fireworks on those with PTSD.
      Sudden close bangs and explosions in back gardens are different to firing on the ranges .

      It is easy to understand why .

      Several villages close by including ours have thatched cottages , and another reason to be cautious , not forgetting household pets and horses etc.

  51. It will very shortly be Armistice Day. Simon Heffer in the DT today referred to a poet of whom I had never heard who was, of course, killed in the Great War. This is one of his poems:

    “I saw a man this morning”
    BY PATRICK SHAW-STEWART

    I saw a man this morning
    Who did not wish to die
    I ask, and cannot answer,
    If otherwise wish I.

    Fair broke the day this morning
    Against the Dardanelles;
    The breeze blew soft, the morn’s cheeks
    Were cold as cold sea-shells.

    But other shells are waiting
    Across the Aegean sea,
    Shrapnel and high explosive,
    Shells and hells for me.

    O hell of ships and cities,
    Hell of men like me,
    Fatal second Helen,
    Why must I follow thee?

    Achilles came to Troyland
    And I to Chersonese:
    He turned from wrath to battle,
    And I from three days’ peace.

    Was it so hard, Achilles,
    So very hard to die?
    Thou knewest and I know not—
    So much the happier I.

    I will go back this morning
    From Imbros over the sea;
    Stand in the trench, Achilles,
    Flame-capped, and shout for me.

  52. Five months after the idiot decreed that the Canadian flag should be flown at half mast, we will now be allowed to raise the flag in time to lower it on Remembrance day.

    Some First nations chiefs have insisted that a condition of their approval to raise the flag is their orange rag be flown alongside the Maple leaf, we shall see if Trudeau goes along with that stupidity.

      1. A so called flag adopted by the woke mob as a sign of respect for first nations children who were abused in residential schools.

        The mania surrounding the abuse is matching the hysteria over climate change/ emergency , hence Trudeau lowering the flag for five months.

  53. Several people wounded in knife attack on German train. 6 November 2021.

    Several people have been wounded in a knife attack on a high-speed train in the German state of Bavaria, local police have said, adding that the alleged perpetrator has been arrested.

    “According to preliminary information, several people were injured,” police in Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz said in a statement, assuring that “there is now no more danger”.

    The Bild newspaper said at least three people had been hurt, two of them seriously. A police spokesperson said that none of their lives were in danger.

    No guessing folks!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/06/several-people-wounded-knife-attack-germany-train

        1. A* student.
          Kept himself to himself/always said ‘Guten Morgan’; or possibly, in Bavaria “Gruss Gott”.

          1. ‘Morning, Anne.

            An A* student would have said ‘Guten Morgen’ and ‘Grüß Gott’. The response to the latter is (jokingly) ‘Wenn ich ihn sehe’.

          2. Brain fart. Is the (from memory) scharfes S still used?
            I thought it had faded away like the old style double S on Anchovy Effence.

          3. No, it still exists & with good reason. Is some words it has been replaced by ‘ss’, e.g. daß has become the abomination dass.
            Confusing to many; one of my students once wrote ‘dass Mädchen’ for ‘das Mädchen’.

        2. Forgot he had a knife in his pocket as he left the house and later on the train tried to hide it, and absolutely no body would help him out………..

    1. There was an “accident” in the pub car park last night. We all sat (on the back deck) and watched in disbelief as two cars reversed into each other. Neither driver can have looked in their mirrors.

      1. Harry Potter books and films were very popular in the USA. I often saw a car in NC with a bumper sticker that said, “My other car is a Nimbus 2000.”

  60. Greta: “There’s no planet Blah!”
    Brian Cox:”But the universe is so vast that there’s bound to be at least three of them!”
    David Attenborough: “Indeed, I’ve been to more places on planet A than most other people have had hot dinners and I’ve seen herds of them – they’re all here!”

    1. If there is another planet, youre the moron who will prevent mankind getting there.

      She’s a brattish child who needs a slap and to be told to shut up.

  61. ‘Weed out’ police misogyny and racism with phone checks, says UK watchdog. 6 November 2021.

    Random phone searches for police officers should be carried out to check for inappropriate jokes and racist, sexist and homophobic slurs, the chief inspector of constabulary has said.

    Sir Tom Winsor said trawling WhatsApp and social media could act as a deterrent, much in the same way that the random drug testing of police officers does. Sir Tom also spoke of his revulsion over officers taking photographs of the murdered sisters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry before sharing them in a group message with colleagues.

    This of course is real Totalitarian State stuff. Watching the Watchers and checking their commitment to the State Ideology. Thank God in his Heaven that I am seventy five!

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/06/weed-out-police-misogyny-and-racism-with-phone-checks-says-uk-watchdog

    1. #MeToo, Minty, at 77 I can almost welcome shuffling of this mortal coil but you and me are exactly the ones they want to be rid off – we’re too critical and know the truth.

      1. Our children had books. when they wanted to know something a trail around the library was required. One book would refer to another. They had to think and plan, record, and understand.
        The children of today tap a question into their phones. Back comes an answer. The answer is accepted. Therein lies the problem. Technical devices, phones, laptops and TVs have become unquestioned oracles.

    2. What a revolting concept, and so obviously caused by the refusal of our government to force integration, protect our borders and keep out the alien.

      The Left are also responsible. They wanted this situation to root out those they hate and control what people can think as well as say. They don’t know where that leads as invariably, it’s the Left who are shown up as the poison.

  62. Pitiful Cop26 coverage shows our broadcasters prefer moralising to journalism. 6 November 2021.

    I gave up watching television news for most of last week. For somebody who makes a living as a journalist and has lived and breathed politics since late adolescence, that is quite something. This decision was not determined by boredom or anger (although both those things came into it) but by a sense of utter pointlessness.

    The broadcast content was not “news” at all. That is to say, it was not an account of things that had happened – actual incidents or facts, or even official responses to real events. What it consisted of, in its relentless entirety, was theorising, prediction and dire warning of impending catastrophe from a conference dedicated to speculation about the future.

    I’ve pretty much given it up altogether; still it’s nice to know that Janet Daley has finally figured out that all is not as it should be on the airwaves! The truth is that UK TV is wall to wall propaganda. Its so called News, Drama, Adverts are all vehicles for Woke Indoctrination. It makes the old Soviet Union look like Ayn Rand on steroids! You’re better out of it!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/06/pitiful-cop26-coverage-shows-broadcasters-prefer-moralising/

    1. Haven’t watched, in fact actively avoid, tv and radio “news” since the Brexit crapfest. The bits I catch are still trying to create panic over everything, Covid and cop-out 26 the latest.

      1. Luckily, I cannot watch the (im) Proper Gander Channels,as the BBC decided that I am unfit to have a free Licence

          1. bbbbbuttt that would be Dai S Honest.

            I could never watch TV without a Licence

            Action Stations, Action Stations, Action Stations

            Airborne Porcine Squadron incoming, repeat

            Airborne Porcine Squadron incoming

            Man (and lady now of course) all anti aircraft weapons and missiles

    2. I gave up the ‘pleasures’ of livestream tv just over three years ago. Ironically, it was my new bBC tv tax landing on my doormat that made me realise that I had barely watched livestream for about 10 months.

      I don’t like ‘reality tv’ on any topic (I’m convinced each and every show, from the modern day ‘Opportunity Knocks’ to naming the new pet on ‘Blue Peter’, is fixed by committee long before any film or memory card is placed in a camera); the documentaries, newz and current affairs programmes have long failed to deliver a balanced view on any subject matter (often by omission); any soaps or drama series are festooned by examples of wokeness.

      My viewing was restricted to the occasional film, which I now view through on-demand services, and the odd football/rugby match. The biggest loss was not being able to visit my locked down local pub to view last years 6 Nations but hopefully such draconian measurers are behind us following the muppet show at Copulate26 (We’re at a minute to midnight! P.S. Copulate 27 is already planned).

      I grab my ‘news’ primarily from this site, Going Postal and TCW and the helpful links provided allow a rounded approach to any subject matter.

      As I don’t want to play the bBC tv tax game of populating their non-sales data base with my details, I get ever more cod-legal threatening letters from their local ‘enforcement division’. However; I’m not a customer, their data base is not the Census and their commissioned salesmen shall not pass.

    3. Minty; you omitted a large part of Janet Daly’s article without indication that you have made ‘your’ extract.

      Pitiful Cop26 coverage shows our broadcasters prefer moralising to journalism
      This virtuous certainty of climate-change catastrophe needs the challenge of proper democratic debate

      JANET DALEY
      6 November 2021 • 1:00pm

      Herewith, the rest of hers:

      Some, or even most, of this hypothesising may have been soundly based but that was impossible for a lay person to judge because there was no time given for substantive argument or the presentation of evidence. The assumption was that the propositions being put forward – and the conclusions to which they led – were irrefutable and that the time for providing proof or engaging in disputation was over.

      Maybe so. But what was being proposed as the only possible solution to this problem (the diagnosis of which was beyond debate) were policies whose consequences would once have been unthinkable. Nothing less than a return to the sort of difference between the living standards of the rich and the poor which has not been seen for generations: an immediate future where only the well-off are likely to be able to heat their homes to the comfortable levels now taken for granted, and only the wealthy will be able to afford fresh meat.

      It is truly shocking – and a testimony to the peculiar grip of this narrative on political discourse – that almost no questions have been raised on this point by the Left which is, if anything, less inclined to express reservations about a programme which will certainly affect the quality of working class lives very seriously. (Could the official Left actually believe that ordinary people are all anti-capitalist ideologues who will happily sacrifice their own prosperity for the sake of taking down the corporate carbon emitters?)

      My point here is that even assuming that the analysis of the current situation which dominated the Cop26 proceedings (and the news coverage of them) is unassailable and beyond dispute, the response to this problem must still be a matter for political discussion, and in democratic countries that means public examination by the media. Is Net Zero the only option? Can we consider whether adaptation to climate change, rather than the attempted elimination of it, might be possible? What precisely would be the cost in quality of life for current populations, many of whom have only just escaped from hereditary disadvantage, of the solutions being proposed?

      That was perhaps what was most disturbing about the “news” coverage of last week’s proceedings. Even if you accept without reservation the prognostication that was being repeated endlessly on the conference platform, you might have welcomed some possible ideas for alternative ways of dealing with it. Perhaps there was some such discussion and I missed it, given that I gave up and switched off – but somehow that seems unlikely given the tumultuous unanimity of the coverage I did see.

      What seemed positively sinister, as opposed to just annoying, about this conception of what constitutes “news” was that its purveyors seemed comfortable (positively delighted, in fact) with their role as messengers of moral certainty. There was absolutely no doubt that this consensus on the only virtuous path must replace normal expectations of political disagreement or democratic accountability – even though it raised the prospect of dramatic limitations on life choices for the least privileged, and what are currently considered to be everyone’s rights in a free market society.

      It was quite clear that this was, in fact, the whole point of this organised project that was being called “news”: to present a very contentious set of policies which elected governments should have been required to justify, in a way that could not be challenged. At particularly awful, self-congratulatory moments, it was like listening to the state broadcasts of North Korea, with one dear leader after another stepping up to the podium to harangue the audience in the same uncompromising, coercive terms – while the mob of supposed “protesters” outside demanded even greater (and quicker) deprivations.

      This phenomenon is not new, of course. The control of a news agenda and the manipulation of public opinion with morally loaded messaging has been around for a long time and is thought to be justified, even in free societies, by dangerous circumstances. It happens traditionally in wartime and more recently, it has been a feature of the government’s management of Covid. We know now that the use of fear and moral inquisition attached to a doom narrative can compel people to give up their freedoms with very little resistance.

      So what have the politicians and the activists who seek to influence them learned from this? That if you induce precisely the right mix of anxiety and guilt, you can get populations to do what you want, without any democratic process or martial force required. Occasional problems may arise when the doom imperatives contradict one another: at just the point when climate campaigners are demanding that we live in super-insulated, draft-proof homes, the NHS is telling us that we must open windows to disperse Covid particles. That’s the trouble with politics (and news coverage) that is based on constructed narratives rather than actual life. It just assumes that governing is all about what people can be persuaded to believe at any given moment.

      Tim Davie, the Director General of the BBC announced last week that climate change wasn’t a political issue anymore. So presumably the life-changing ramifications of coping with it don’t rate much airtime. I understand why politicians in power like crises: they make opposition parties appear irrelevant if they support government measures and irresponsible if they oppose them. Shouldn’t that be enough to arouse some journalistic suspicion?

  63. 340989+ up ticks,

    Peoples saying the PM will lose votes then an ex PM decrying the current PM, both these political characters with a history on no control over the trouser worm let alone patriotically controlling a country.

    Losing votes mean that the peoples are up for putting this political tripe back into power, surely not.

    Can anyone tell me do any of these voters still giving succour to the United Kingdoms political enema’s lab/lib/con, still think they retain even a shred of self respect after voting for them again.

      1. On the one hand, I have a strong feeling he has been done over,. On the other hand, I knew a family where the Dad was an MP, and they were incredibly careful to avoid anything that might be construed by the press as dirty dealings.

    2. The only thing one can say in favour of Johnson was that he never pretended to be anything other than a foul adulterous fornicator who was proud rather than ashamed of his debauchery.
      Major, on the other hand, pretended to have a good firm marriage while fornicating with a work-place colleague. If anything, Major is sub-human and he fills me with even more disgust as the equally sub-human being as Johnson

    1. A waste of money, by all accounts, as ‘a certain sector of the immigrant population’ gets them for free, in Rotherham, Rochdale et al

      1. 340989+ up ticks,
        Evening W,
        ” The state is forcing it on us ” what again,again,& again, this has been going on for decades & the mass uncontrolled
        immigration / paedophile umbrella lab/lib/con coalition still has a full compliment of supporter / voters.

  65. Now that is unexpected.
    Prelim comments from Rail Accident Investigation Branch suggest that the Salisbury collision may have been a SPAD, possibly due to poor adhesion from leaf debris on the track.

    The impact of the collision caused the front two coaches of train 1L53 and the rear two coaches of train 1F30 to derail. Both trains continued some distance into Fisherton tunnel following the collision, before they came to a stop. Thirteen passengers and one member of railway staff required treatment in hospital as a result of the accident, which also caused significant damage to the trains and railway infrastructure involved.

    https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/image_data/file/134478/Figure_2.jpg

    RAIB’s preliminary examination has found that the movement of train 1F30 across the junction was being protected from trains approaching on the Down Main line by signal SY31, which was at danger (displaying a red aspect). Train 1L53 passed this signal, while it was at danger, by around 200 metres, immediately prior to the collision occurring.

    Preliminary analysis of data downloaded from the On Train Data Recorder (OTDR) fitted to train 1L53 shows that the driver initially applied service braking to slow the train on approach to the caution signal before signal SY31. Around 12 seconds after service braking started, the driver made an emergency brake demand. As the train approached signal SY31, and with the emergency brake still being demanded by the driver, a second emergency brake demand was made by the train protection and warning system (TPWS). These emergency brake demands did not prevent the train from reaching the junction, where the collision occurred. OTDR analysis indicates that wheel slide was present both when the driver applied service braking and after emergency braking was demanded. This was almost certainly a result of low adhesion between the train’s wheels and the rails.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/collision-between-passenger-trains-at-salisbury-tunnel-junction

    2. BoB, I thought that a SPAD was a SPecial ADvisor to an MP. Or were you calling a SPADE a SPAD?

  66. They’ve escaped from the CRAP26 loony bin …

    Exclusive Video: COP26 Crazies! Climate Activists Call for ‘End of Capitalism,’ ‘Black Liberation,’ Abolition of Police

    Climate activists demanded an end to capitalism, “black liberation”, and the abolition of police at a demonstration outside the United Nations COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland.

    Gathering in George Square in central Glasgow on Saturday, an array of climate activists, including those from indigenous communities in South America, Asia, and Africa, came together to denounce Western imperialism and the alleged racism inherent in climate change.

    Edinburgh University medical student and climate activist Mikaela Loach said that the UK government’s decision to go forward with oil exploration projects was “worse than hypocrisy”, saying that “it is violence”.

    “These are last resort times,” she said demanding “audacious” action to confront the government.

    “We must demand an end to capitalism. We must demand an end to white supremacy. We must demand black liberation. We must abolish prisons and the police,” she proclaimed.

    “Our demands should not be toned down or palatable. They should worry, disrupt, and challenge the status quo,” Loach said.

    Loach announced in May that she would be suing the British government’s Oil and Gas Authority in order to stop public subsidies for fossil fuel energy companies.

    The climate activist alongside fellow campaigners, Scottish National Party (SNP) activist Kairin van Sweeden and Extinction Rebellion activist Jeremy Cox will appear before the High Court in December, where they will argue that the subsidies do not fall in line with Boris Johnson’s net-zero emissions pledge.

    https://twitter.com/BreitbartLondon/status/1434463852003954688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1434463852003954688%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Feurope%2F2021%2F11%2F06%2Fexclusive-video-cop26-crazies-climate-activists-call-end-capitalism-black-liberation-abolition-police%2F
    https://twitter.com/BreitbartLondon/status/1302161436333006849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1302161436333006849%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Feurope%2F2021%2F11%2F06%2Fexclusive-video-cop26-crazies-climate-activists-call-end-capitalism-black-liberation-abolition-police%2F

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/11/06/exclusive-video-cop26-crazies-climate-activists-call

    1. Edinburgh University medical student and climate activist Mikaela Loach let’s hope she never qualifies, or if she does that I never have cause to see her professionally!

    2. Edinburgh University medical student and climate activist Mikaela Loach let’s hope she never qualifies, or if she does that I never have cause to see her professionally!

    3. So, if capitalism ends, dare one assume they will not use products of capitalism such as shoes, clothes, not live in houses built by companies, not use cars (even electric ones), not want medical care, not eat or drink? There are no words capable of describing the mentality of these mental deficients.

    5. Let me guess – all the antis wanting to end ‘White Supremacy’ are thick blacks studying ‘Ologies’ at Uni?

    6. I wonder what would happen to anyone who tried to hold a demonstration against vaccine passports in Glasgow?
      Funny how all the demonstrations just happen to agree with the WEF’s agenda, isn’t it.

    7. Go on then, head off to a nice socialist nation. When you find they haven’t got any bog roll you can pontificate about how important it is they go green.

      Oh.. and you won’t likely have a working internet connection either. Go on, cluck off!

  67. So that is why ‘good’ blood pressure and cholesterol readings have been so drastically reduced. Nowadays, an 80 year old is expected to pop pills until the readings reach that of a fit 25 year old.
    James le Fanu in the DT on Blair’s Faustian pact with GPs:
    “In exchange, they (GPs) would have to demonstrate their “increased productivity”, specifically a substantial part of their income would be dependent on their success in increasing, for example, the proportion of their patients taking medication to lower their blood pressure or cholesterol levels.”

    1. It is why GP’s and Consultants never suggest something other than painkillers or antibiotics. They would never suggest Yoga for back pain.

      They now get paid extra for each person on their books that gives up smoking regardless of whether they had anything to do with it or not.

    2. It’s why I steer clear of the GP. I don’t want to be popping pills for the rest of my life. Though I have to say, our surgery has never pestered me to take statins or blood pressure pills. I only contact them when I need to. We’ve had good service from our GP.

    3. I am a pill free freak.

      I do not have any tablets or medicines prescribed

      On the Orders of a Higher Authority than the GMC/NHS Combined (SWMBO), I take one Vitamin D tablet daily

        2. I’ve found that turmeric is good for warding off the vague aches and pains that accompany being ‘mature’.

    4. How very annoying. If the doctor says “your blood pressure is too high” you want to be able to trust them, not be suspicious that the goalposts have been changed as an excuse to push pills at you.
      I shall have to check everything the doctor says now.
      Though not from my current doctor actually – she is very alternative and full of common sense. I trust her to prescribe drugs wisely.

      1. When I was training, the expected systolic B/P reading was 100 + your age.
        The diastolic was more important because that showed if the heart was resting properly; so about the 80 that is still recommended.

        1. Dear Anne, I only understand about half of that!
          What is systolic blood pressure reading?
          What does diastolic mean?

          1. e.g. 140/80.
            Systolic is the higher reading that shows the pressure when your heart is beating.
            Diastolic is the lower reading that shows the pressure when your heart rests between beats.

  69. That’s me for the day. The MR did car park duty at the GP and, as a reward, received her THIRD Phizer plague jab and a ‘flu one. So I am expecting her to be unwell for the next day or so.

    Also, it is officially Jig-Saw time and we start in half an hour!.

    A demain.

    1. Come on Matt, water depths are measured in Fathoms

      (sits back, awaiting “fathom it out” jokes)

          2. Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra in High Society….What a Swell Party This Is. Great song.

      7. Full fathom five thy father lies,
        Of his bones were coral made
        Those are pearls that were his eyes…..

        The Tempest (by an up and coming new boy called Willie the Shake.)

        1. “Here’s to the feet wot have walked the plank;
          ⁠Yo ho! for the dead man’s throttle.
          And here’s to the corpses afloat in the tank;
          And the dead man’s teeth in the bottle.

          “For a pound of gunshot tied to his feet,
          And a ragged bit of sail for a winding sheet;
          Then the signal goes with a bang and a flash.
          And overboard you go with a horrible splash.

          “And all that isn’t swallowed by the sharks outside,
          Stands up again upon its feet upon the running tide;
          And it keeps a bowin’ gently, and a lookin’ with surprise
          At each little crab a scramblin’ from the sockets of its eyes.”

          In memory of Dr Christopher Syn DD – vicar of Dymchurch

          1. They have correctly identified that coercion to take a medical treatment is authoritarian and unacceptable in a democracy. This coercion is happening because unvaccinated people have to get a mandatory test before things like doctors’ or therapists’ appointments or work training, which means that some people (eg parents of young children) have to get several tests a week, at a cost of about 15 pounds, which in practice means they have to get vaccinated in order to participate in normal life because they can’t afford the cost of the tests.

      1. Oh the irony of an ‘anonymous mask’ made decorative to express the ego of the wearer. Cripes kid. You’ve not understood. It’s NOT ABOUT YOU!

  73. HAPPY HOUR – For the powerful privileged few….

    Toxic trainers that prove the young can’t just blame us ‘oldies’ for ruining the world.
    JOHN HUMPHRYS
    After a week of pretty relentless coverage from Glasgow, no one could blame you for wanting to Cop-out for a spell.But let me test your patience with one intriguing statistic that may have escaped your attention.
    Everyone knows by now that air travel is immensely damaging to our precious atmosphere because of the amount of carbon spewed out by planes.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10170879/JOHN-HUMPHRYS-Toxic-trainers-prove-young-blame-oldies-ruining-world.html

    1. I dispute that ‘carbon’ is damaging to the atmosphere. Some carbon composites are extremely destructive though – the human variety.

    3. John Humphrys has labelled himself a climate ignoramus.

      CO2 in the atmosphere amounts to 0.04% of the total, with Nitrogen and Oxygen the two highest.

      Humphrys – along with many – thick shits.

      1. He took the BBC’s shilling for too many years for me ever to take anything he says seriously. I don’t even click on his DM articles.

  75. I understand that in a democracy, or even a country that might once have been a democracy it is acceptable for citizens and their children to protest on the streets.
    Tell me why is it acceptable for foreigners to come to this country for the express purpose of demonstrating and making a nuisance of themselves on our streets? Why are they not turned back at the border by our “Border Force”?
    What happened to questions like, “What is the purpose of your visit to the UK?”, “Do you have enough money for your stay?”…

    1. In broad terms, I agree with you Horace. But to me it is not acceptable for children to be taken by their parents on protest marches. Children, by definition, are not mature enough to fully understand the issues.

        1. 18 is an adult, Still Bleau. If she wants to go around showing her ignorance by bleating “Blah, Blah, Blah!” then that’s fine by me. Just as long as she doesn’t expect me to pay her any attention.

      2. I’ve noticed on the freedom marches that doggies do seem to enjoy a nice 4 mile trek from Hyde Park to Clapham Common though!

      3. I agree, it is a very bad idea. Some of the children protesting in Glasgow are not from around here, but arrived especially to protest.

    2. No one dares to ask them this imprtant question .

      Why do you want to enter the UK .

      Are you a kiddy fiddler , do you require young virgins , will you be a UK resident or a 6 monthly visitor . What doe you want the UK to do for you , do you hate Christians .

  76. I’m not off to bed yet, but I am about to disappear from this site until tomorrow. So I will bid you all a good night and plenty of restful sleep.

    1. There’s nothing worserer than someone who cannot take/understand a joke – just ‘cos he’s a Paki.

      1. But kiddiwinks brought up in that period didn’t suffer from allergies or food intolerances.
        Heck, I survived the boiled cod every Friday.

          1. See my post above. Pliny records intolerance to cows’ milk, and it was also known in Elizabethan times that some people couldn’t have it. Agatha Christie mentions in one of her books that “the villagers” prefer goats milk “because they think it’s better for their children” – a belief that was regarded as uneducated and swept away in the tide of twentieth century “Science.”

          2. At school, my best friend was intolerant to brassicas – they made him throw up.
            School bullied him mercilessly to eat the stuff – I remember him staring glumly at a plate of cabbage as we left the dining hall at lunchtime, and was still there staring at it at dinnertime.
            That kind of behaviour was abuse, pure and simple.
            Strangely, adults were and are allowed to not like foods (see Belle’s øist above), but not children. Children must be bullied instead.

          3. I am Sprout intolerant

            I even have socks, that are printed with “I hate Sprouts”

            On that subject you Grandparent Notlers should be loading them into your pressure cookers for
            your Great, Great Grandkids to eat in the year 2045

          4. For next year Trick or Treat, dip (raw) sprouts in melted chocolate & allow to harden… give to those who ring the doorbell…

          7. I have cooked Sprats and enjoyed them

            Peel and slice
            Fry them in Buter and Orange Juice, till tender
            Serve

            DO NOT LET THEM NEAR SAUCEPANS

          8. I love sprouts, too. I cannot understand the national disgust at this winter vegetable, and why. The nation has too much food, and of the wrong type. There would be no veganism if every meal meant survival.

          9. Marx or one of his friends remarked that the world would be a better place if adults were forced to eat spinach (instead of children being forced to eat the stuff).

          1. I take one every morning from October through to April.
            Now cod liver oil from a teaspoon …. THAT is cruel and unnatural punishment.
            My mother actually kept 2 teaspoons for administering cod liver oil because the taste even permeated the metal.

          3. I thought it was delicious. Something called Radio Malt and Virol. Death to teeth. As was Rosehip Syrup.

          5. A tall-ish brown square-ish sort of jar; the label was framed by two ears of barley, one either side.

          8. My spoonful of CLO was followed by a spoonful of malt (which I liked) to take the taste away.

          12. The absolute killer was California Syrup of Figs. Once a week, whether needed or not.

          14. I had cod liver oil capsules and Haliborange but I don’t think I had malt. I do remember the welfare orange juice and rose hip syrup.

          15. I had cod liver oil capsules and Haliborange but I don’t think I had malt. I do remember the welfare orange juice and rose hip syrup.

          16. I took cod liver oil capsules one winter only. Even lemon flavoured, every belch reeked of freaking cod liver oil – and I never had so many colds in one season all my life. Never again. Evil stuff.

          17. We were given it at primary school, most of us developed the knack of hiding the capsule under the tongue and later, spitting it out. Ghastly things.

          18. At Prep school, kids were given it on a spoon by Matron, and malt (strange long “sup-with-the-devil” spoon, and Haliborange tablets. What a cocktail! I was spared all three.

        3. Not anaphylactic ones perhaps, but an allergy to undigested lactose runs in my family, and is known to have ruined people’s health since the nineteenth century.

  83. 340989+ up ticks,

    Seems like the marching season could be coming into being again, up to the top oh the hill ….

    Brexit Leader Farage: Pushing for Referendum on Green Taxes ’Could Be My Latest Campaign’

    …..

  84. Two people smugglers, including a young pilot from Birmingham, have been jailed after they brought migrants to the UK on light aircraft and in vans fitted with hidden compartments.

    Sangar Khalid Mohammed, 32, and Billy Hems, 24, both admitted conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration, with Mohammed also admitting drugs supply.

    They were jailed for seven and a half years, and two and a half years respectively, on Friday at Worcester Crown Court.

    Mohammed ran a hand car wash near Herefordshire beauty spot Symonds Yat but police officers discovered it was actually a front for a major people smuggling operation.

    Behind the scenes, Mohammed was charging desperate people a small fortune – £12,000 per person – to bring them from France.

    Meanwhile, Light aircraft pilot Hems, from Rye Croft in Hollywood, was recruited to drop migrants at rural UK airfields on under-the-radar dawn flights and sneak them into the country in secret ‘hides’ on board vans.

    Judge Jackson told the pair: ‘Both of you were involved in a conspiracy to bring immigrants illegally in to this country. It involved two successful migrations, one by plane driven by Mr Hems and another in a van.

    ‘This was a conspiracy to bring migrants in by a variety of different methods of transport – by plane, by vehicle, by boat.’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10171347/Two-people-smugglers-jailed-charging-migrants-12-000-UK-light-aircraft-vans.html

      2. Waste of a bullet.

        Flog them, then dump the remains in a lime pit.

        If the state isn’t going to get rid of the gimmigrants, let’s open a pit and get them mining coal.

    2. “Desperate” migrants that could afford to pay 12K.
      Cynical me says that they have done a Cost/Benefit(s) analysis before they come here.

    3. What about Boarder Farce and the RNLI, going to France to collect them & bring them in? No jail there, I see.

      1. A while ago, I suggested that France could widen their canals a littles, pick up imigrants in the Med and bring them to UK,
        via the canals, then we would be the first country that they set foo t in

        Mr Micron told me that would stop his bribes from people smugglers: it was a good idea, but the Euro won, in his pocket won

  85. Good night all.

    Poussin & chunks of sweet potato roasted with oil & spices, served on a bed of rocket. Home made lemonade.
    Luscious, plump blueberries with a custard tart.

    1. My speed read took that as possum and I wondered which spices would improve the flavor of roadkill.

      1. Possums are notoriously difficult to get into an oven because one never knows if they are really dead, or just pretending.

  86. People might rubbish British cooking and cuisine, but my Polish wife has become very attached to so many British foods. Let me list some: Fish & Chips; Scampi & Chips; Steak & Kidney Pie; Cottage Pie’ Scotch Egg; Craft/Bottled Beers; and she really loves so many Chutneys and Pickles … sometimes the latter items disappear so quickly … finally, I should mention Brown Sauce.

    1. In ‘mush’ the same way, as we have become used to foreign foods

      Frog’s Legs, well you would never eat a whole Micron
      Curry, unless Major is (edit) NOT still ‘eating’ her
      Tapas, if you watch Strictly etc

    2. In ‘mush’ the same way, as we have become used to foreign foods

      Frog’s Legs, well you would never eat a whole Micron
      Curry, unless Major is still ‘eating’ her
      Tapas, if you watch Strictly etc

    3. I love British foods. Forget your French Fancies, give me a Fat Rascal anytime. Actually, I love French and Italian as well, but that is where I draw the line.

  87. People might rubbish British cooking and cuisine, but my Polish wife has become very attached to so many British foods. Let me list some: Fish & Chips; Scampi & Chips; Steak & Kidney Pie; Cottage Pie’ Scotch Egg; Craft/Bottled Beers; and she really loves so many Chutneys and Pickles … sometimes the latter items disappear so quickly … finally, I should mention Brown Sauce.

  88. morale collapse of our lives

    The people who post on here, have had reponsible jobs, whether that is

    Being a gardener
    Waiting on table
    Wearing a ‘military’ uniform
    Designing things, from toilet seats to computer programmes
    Health, hospital, medical, toothwright care
    looking after other people etc

    You name it, someone on here has done it (in Spades)

    We look at UK and feel sorry, for those coming behind us: we must not

    What we must realise, it is going to be their choices, whether Britain is to stay as an entity, or whether its splits from Krankieland+ IRAland,
    becomes a Caliphate, goes back into the EU, or just sinks under the rising Tides, promised by COP26

    I know what I want, but it is up to our descendents

    We had WWII, Ration Books, school dinners, The Beatles, Stones, James Bond, Fitba World Cup etc

    They have an invasion of enemy troops,( in smallboats), Convid, LGBTEism, BLMism, Blairite schooling

    I am glad, that I am 27 (well +50)

    Spread the word, the 5th Column has been at work for years

    1. Do not forget teachers and educators, Tryers. I taught back in the days when education was important and respected. I would love to go back into it but am too old and I would last about ten minutes before being shown the door.
      If you are 27 then I am 17 ;-))

    1. Seriously Oggy, what can we do? I have emailed my MP 3 times about a lot of this shit and I have only had one response. They don’t give a damn. And what’s worse, they don’t care about the indigenous of this land at all.

      1. 341016+ up ticks,

        Morning Lotl,
        The majority of the herd are seriously addicted to voting lab/lib/con as their grandparents did
        but do NOT realise that the quality of their vote has changed.

        Today they vote for ghost party’s, party’s that had integrity but are now long past, many cannot compare today with yesteryear having not experienced it so are open to political treachery / manipulation.

        Personal view, build on a fringe party
        en masse.

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