Friday 10 December: After two years of Government inaction, the NHS is closer to collapse

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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784 thoughts on “Friday 10 December: After two years of Government inaction, the NHS is closer to collapse”

  5. RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: It’s my party and I’ll lie if I want to… You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to conclude the Covid curbs rushed out this week were cobbled together to distract attention from Boris Johnson’s woes

    Can we be absolutely sure that Carrie Antoinette really has had a baby? Or is it just another of Boris’s diversionary tactics?

    After all, who would put it past the Prime Minister to nip into Hamleys and buy a Cabbage Patch doll, which could then be paraded for the cameras.

    Given that the media always pixelates the photos, most of us would be none the wiser.
    *
    *
    *
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10294237/RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-party-Ill-lie-want-to.html

  6. ‘I thought I was going to die’: otters attack British man in Singapore park. 10 December 2021.

    A man attacked by a pack of otters in a Singapore park has said that he thought he was going to die during the ordeal.

    Graham George Spencer, a British citizen living in Singapore, said he was chased, pinned down and bitten “26 times in 10 seconds” by a family of otters while out for an early morning walk in the botanic gardens.

    Man eating otters! How Otterly dreadful! (Snigger.)

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/10/i-thought-i-was-going-to-die-otters-attack-british-man-in-singapore-park

      3. Years ago, that book was on the CSE Lit list. It was known to us, the teachers, as TTBO….Tarka the Bloody Otter.

    2. The only ‘warm-water’ (no kettle jokes) otter I’ve ever seen was at Loyang Offshore Supply Base in Singapore. I was amazed to see it calmly emerge from the water and trot up a muddy slipway and slip between 2 parked lorries and just disappearing.

  8. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    SIR – I find it chilling that the Government has, without much real debate, secured for itself the powers to expand or restrict our basic freedoms on a whim whenever it so chooses.

    It has done virtually nothing to improve NHS capacity or performance since it dismantled the Nightingale facilities, and is now so terrified of the (always) apocalyptic predictions from its puppet masters in Sage that it cannot wait three weeks to see if omicron translates into hospitalisations or deaths. So far the signs look as though it will not.

    Yet the Government’s chosen route is to treat liberty as if it were an unimportant trinket to be taken away or granted at its will. Maybe it needed a distraction after this week’s headlines.

    I will never vote for this Government again, although goodness knows where I will find any competent replacement.

    Mark Treasure
    Horley, Surrey

    Well said, Mr Treasure. The trick is to deal with the waste and inefficiences in the NHS, instead of pouring yet more money into it, much of which will go the same way as before. The NHS is huge, but no organisation is incapable of reform; it just requires careful assessment and a steely determination to make it work properly. Successive governments should have had the guts to grasp the nettle, and to hell with accusations of ‘privatisation’ along the way. We are now paying a terrible price for this neglect.

    1. Morning Hugh. The NHS have had a “Collection Point” at the exit to the car park in our local Morrison’s all week. The individual concerned always rattles his bucket at me to remind me of my obligations while I steadfastly ignore him!

      1. Hi Minty. NHS ‘Collection point’ sounds very dodgy. Not some ‘enterprising’ individual using their ‘initiative” is it?

      2. When the collector next rattles the bucket, remind him that this is illegal. He can proffer it, but not shake it (I collect for the RAF Association Wings Appeal).

  9. SIR – At an estimated £8 billion for the hospitality industry alone, this is the most expensive dead cat in history.

    Maria McGee
    Culmore, Co Londonderry

  10. SIR – Boris Johnson describes the new Covid measures as “proportionate and responsible”.

    A cursory examination of the facts reveals that hospitalisations are down, deaths are down and, by Wednesday, the were 568 reported cases of omicron in the United Kingdom. The World Health Organisation reports zero deaths from this new variant.

    Professor Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer, states that “informal data” from South Africa suggest hospitalisations “up around about 300 per cent”. The South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases reported a rise in daily admissions of 374 people on December 8.

    So the Covid measures are not “proportionate and responsible”. They are a disguised vaccination push, or a political “dead cat” distraction, or show that No 10 has an alarming mutation report that it is not willing to share with the public.

    Alan Nowers
    Irvine, California, United States</i.

    1. So the Covid measures are not “proportionate and responsible”. They are a disguised vaccination push, or a political “dead cat” distraction, or show that No 10 has an alarming mutation report that it is not willing to share with the public.

      Yes Mr Nowers. There is nothing in the Omicron Virus or its effects that warrants anything even remotely approaching the measures instituted by the UK Government.

    2. So the Covid measures are not “proportionate and responsible”. They are a disguised vaccination push, or a political “dead cat” distraction, or show that No 10 has an alarming mutation report that it is not willing to share with the public.

      Yes Mr Nowers. There is nothing in the Omicron Virus or its effects that warrants anything even remotely approaching the measures instituted by the UK Government.

    3. BTL:

      Camlock Trelawney
      6 HRS AGO
      The Omicron variant was first reported in this country on the 26th November, many days after the first examples of the variant surfaced in South Africa. No deaths have been reported (and if there had been deaths I have no doubt they would have been reported).
      There has been enough time to assess the risk of Omicron and the conclusion is obvious, that it is not a real threat. The scientists still commenting that it is too early to tell are being disingenuous, protecting themselves from criticism for their overcautious approach.
      The precautionary principle can be applied when its consequences are not harmful, but the restrictions being applied in the name of Omicron ARE harmful.
      Stay at Home. Protect the NHS. Die of Cancer.

  11. SIR – It was hard to believe it possible to be any angrier with this Government. But I am now.

    This Government is not trying to protect me, but is slowly trying to destroy me. Nudges, restrictions, impositions, hypocrisy, suppression of evidence – all lead us to a dark place.

    It is about time that MPs stopped supporting these impositions on our lives and let us return to normality. I will not accept any further restrictions.

    Alan Billingsley
    Whitworth, Lancashire

    You are not alone – as you will see from the red-hot BTL comments:

    Michael Simpson
    6 HRS AGO
    The anger is rising amongst Telegraph readers and rightly so. Absolutely agree with the comment that this shambolic government ‘has done virtually nothing to improve NHS capacity or performance’ in the nearly two years of the Pandemic. That is shameful.
    What is worse even than that is the collapse of GP practice and health care in general. Miss-diagnosis and late diagnosis is causing great suffering. I have three friends who will likely die much earlier as a result. It’s unforgivable because it was so avoidable. The insane obsession with the risk posed by Covid19 and its various mutations may lead to hundreds of thousands of early deaths.
    On top of that, the government have now adopted economically suicidal approaches to the Covid19 risks, effectively sacrificing the hospitality and travel industries on a hunch that Omicron MIGHT lead to a high number of deaths (I think there are still zero proven deaths in the entire world as I write).
    The only solution now is a change in political leadership and a radical change in policy. We must now live with this virus and allow the economy to thrive again.
    Tory MPs must get shot of Boris immediately. There is no time to lose.

    Camlock Trelawney
    6 HRS AGO
    The Omicron variant was first reported in this country on the 26th November, many days after the first examples of the variant surfaced in South Africa. No deaths have been reported (and if there had been deaths I have no doubt they would have been reported).
    There has been enough time to assess the risk of Omicron and the conclusion is obvious, that it is not a real threat. The scientists still commenting that it is too early to tell are being disingenuous, protecting themselves from criticism for their overcautious approach.
    The precautionary principle can be applied when its consequences are not harmful, but the restrictions being applied in the name of Omicron ARE harmful.
    Stay at Home. Protect the NHS. Die of Cancer.

    Chester Drawers
    21 MIN AGO
    It is not just Covid that has turned so many of we loyal Tory voters against the party, and Johnson in particular. No government in the world has come out of Covid well, but for me and many others it is Johnson’s insane pursuit of all things green – while other countries simply pay lip service to the climate scare – his dogged insistence on splurging cash on HS2, his London centric policies, his inability to stop the rubber dinghy ferry operation, his inability to stand up to the EU over Northern Ireland and his inability to face up to the real threats that China and Russia present. Phew – quite a list!
    It is for all these reasons that unless Johnson is replaced by a real Tory, not a Liberal Socialist in the Johnson mould, that I and millions of others will note vote Conservative. If we’re going to have to suffer socialism, let’s have the real thing, not Johnson’s ersatz version.

  12. And now for something completely different:

    SIR – Beer may cost more per litre than petrol (Letters, December 7), but my local bicycle shop sells fancy chain oil at five times the price of single-malt Scotch.

    Rob Churchill
    Worthing, West Sussex

    SIR – My golden retriever can spend her pocket money on Woofs cubes at £45 a kilogram, while I buy fillet steak for £40 a kilogram.

    For a festive change there are pigs in blankets for dogs at £40 a kilogram, while I pay £16 a kilogram for mine.

    She won’t share her treats so I don’t share mine. She doesn’t think this is fair.

    Iain Gibson
    Reading, Berkshire

    SIR – With printer ink at £1,890 per litre, I am sending this letter by email.

    Jonathan Mann
    Gunnislake, Cornwall

    1. Quality dog treats can be horrendously expensive. I regularly buy large cuts of braising steak (it doesn’t look very appealing) when on offer for about £5 per Kg. I cut it into strips then slow roast it on a low heat in the oven. Cut up into small pieces it makes wonderful treats for Oscar.

          1. I’m still having trouble with the little porker. If i just give her what the Vet recommends she just stares at her bowl. Then stares at me. The vet told me 55gms of her diet biscuits a day.

  13. SIR – At school in the 1960s I struggled with maths and was not allowed to take my maths O-level.

    I have had difficulty with numbers all my life, and even now have to check and double-check whenever numbers are involved – writing down telephone numbers, times and dates. Adding up a bill is a nightmare. I have no problem with letters, words, writing and reading (Features, December 7).

    I am now too old to be formally diagnosed. When I was at school I was just someone who was a bit “thick” at maths. Without an O-level, I was never able to go to university, which has affected my life chances.

    The condition is called dyscalculia and there must be thousands of children who have it, but it is rarely mentioned.

    It should be investigated in the same way as dyslexia.

    Susan Gregan
    London NW5

    Me too, Ms Gregan. However, I fear it is a little too late in my case to do anything about it…

      1. No ‘O’ level Maths for me. The best they expected me to achieve was CSE Maths – and I turned in a breathtaking Grade 4.

      2. I passed O-level Maths, English & French a year early. The Maths was a miracle, because I hated it.

    3. Odd, I don’t have any maths qualifications either but got into university. I actually did OK teaching maths in USA at primary level when I substituted for a while. I took the book home the night before and studied it. My son who is a whizz at maths was a big help.

    4. And me, although I was allowed to take Maths O Level (and just scraped through because Trig was on the arithmetic paper and you got marks for working out).

  14. SIR – At school in the 1960s I struggled with maths and was not allowed to take my maths O-level.

    I have had difficulty with numbers all my life, and even now have to check and double-check whenever numbers are involved – writing down telephone numbers, times and dates. Adding up a bill is a nightmare. I have no problem with letters, words, writing and reading (Features, December 7).

    I am now too old to be formally diagnosed. When I was at school I was just someone who was a bit “thick” at maths. Without an O-level, I was never able to go to university, which has affected my life chances.

    The condition is called dyscalculia and there must be thousands of children who have it, but it is rarely mentioned.

    It should be investigated in the same way as dyslexia.

    Susan Gregan
    London NW5

    Me too, Ms Gregan. However, I fear it is a little too late in my case to do anything about it…

  15. A little something to reduce the government-induced blood pressure:

    SIR – Presumably Boris Johnson will next be in trouble for allowing No 10 staff to go to work when they should have been having a party.

    David Burke
    Chobham, Surrey

    Ho ho ho…

    SIR – Last year Boris Johnson announced that we could go out but we couldn’t go out out. This year he has just announced that we can go out out but we can’t go out to work.

    I am already looking forward to next year’s announcement.

    Charlotte MacKay
    Shaftesbury, Dorset

  16. The list so far of alleged Covid rule-breaking parties at Westminster. 10 December 2021.

    11 Downing Street.

    Not being formally investigated by Case is a gathering reported to have taken place in the flat used by Boris Johnson and his family on 13 November – also during England’s second lockdown.

    The Mail On Sunday said a “victory party” took place after Cummings left Downing Street carrying his belongings in a cardboard box. Tensions between Cummings and Carrie Johnson were well known, but her allies denied to the same newspaper that there was any kind of “boisterous celebration”.

    It’s amazing how often these little items slip out later on a completely unrelated matter and confirm your suspicions of the time. Clearly Cummins was ousted in a bedroom coup!

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/dec/09/a-look-at-alleged-covid-rule-breaking-parties-across-westminster

    1. That celebration was known about and revealed in the press on the 14th. One of the ‘celebrants’ was Allegra Stratton!

  17. SIR – I have voted Conservative almost all my life. Watching Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday left me in dismay.

    Any military commander, leader of industry or chief executive whose organisation was consistently such a shambles would be dismissed. Claiming ignorance of a particular situation would not be an excuse. Passing the buck downwards is merely dishonourable.

    It is absurd that Boris Johnson has only just asked the Cabinet Secretary to investigate the claims of a party at Downing Street. Why didn’t he demand an immediate and detailed account last week? If he doesn’t yet know the facts, his judgment and leadership are severely wanting.

    He bears responsibility for the ethos and behaviour of his team. It clear that No 10 under Mr Johnson is not fit for purpose. In not accepting this responsibility, he tars all those who continue to support him with the same dishonourable brush.

    Maj Gen the Rev Morgan Llewellyn
    Crickhowell, Brecknockshire

    That, Sir, is some title.

  18. SIR – I have been a Tory voter all my adult life and am disappointed at the goings on in Downing Street.

    My husband was in a care home last year. Our daughters were not allowed to visit their father and I was not allowed to see him at Christmas.

    He died in February. I was not allowed to be with him. We had been married for 61 years.

    How do you think I will vote in the next general election?

    Norma Heather
    Yateley, Hampshire

    SIR – If there was a Downing Street party last Christmas, I wonder how Boris Johnson will face the Queen at his next audience with her.

    It was dreadful to see her sitting on her own at the funeral of her husband, but we would expect nothing else from her as she unfailingly does the right thing.

    She has the right to expect that her Government should do the same.

    Janet Hart
    Newark, Nottinghamshire

    Norma Heather’s letter is heart-breaking, as was the Queens isolation at the D of E’s funeral.

  19. Know Your Scents

    Two blonde girls walk into a department store. They walk up to the perfume counter and pick up a sample bottle.

    Sharon sprays it on her wrist and smells it, “That’s quite nice, don’t you think, Tracy”

    “Yeah. What’s it called Sharon?”

    “Viens a moi.”

    “Viens a moi? What the fuck does that mean?”

    At this stage the store clerk offers some help. “Viens a moi, ladies, is French for ‘come to me.'”

    Sharon takes another sniff and offers her arm to Tracy again saying, “That doesn’t smell like come to me. Does that smell like come to you?“

  20. Biden to focus on elections, media as democracy summit wraps. 10 December 2021.

    President Joe Biden is looking to close his two-day virtual Summit for Democracy on Friday by shining a spotlight on the importance of election integrity, countering authoritarian regimes and bolstering independent media.

    Democracy Summit! Lol! You couldn’t make it up!

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/joe-biden-moscow-poland-washington-democracy-b1973398.html

  21. Headline in today’s DT:

    Scottish households face ‘eye-watering’ council tax hikes

    The Scottish budget revealed there will be no freeze or cap on rises to council tax for the first time since the SNP came to power in 2007

    As we all know from the Brown/Bliar era, a social paradise don’t come cheap!

    BTL:

    Robert Russell
    9 HRS AGO
    It doesn`t pay to be a worker in Scotland ; as more and more are beginning to realise. I reckon it`s just as the SNP want it as their core support is in areas of highest unemployment.
    Guess if you can`t beat them , join them , quite an attractive package if I may say so : no more rental / mortgage costs , building maintenance / renovation costs , council tax , national insurance , income tax , pension costs , work travelling costs. £25.00 per week for each child for school meals (even when not actually at school ) , another £20 per week per child soon to be added to that and the more children you have , all for the better. No worries about saving for a pension. Free food for the taking , just by turning up at the many food banks.
    Do the calculation yourself , for say a couple with four children. You might be surprised to find out that you would need to be in a job close to the super tax bracket in Scotland (£43,633) to fund a comparable income / expenditure.
    Anyways ,great while it lasts and the UK continues to fund it all ; although I reckon a lot of people will be in for a big shock if they ever achieve their desired break away from the UK.

    Sally Roberts
    9 HRS AGO
    Oh you have no idea. You will have missed the giveaways promised in May to get Sturgeon back in – free bikes, free laptops, free childcare, free sanitary products some of which have come to pass many of which did not. Check out the SNP manifesto from 2021 to see just how many.

    * * *

    While I’m about it, I couldn’t resist a re-run of this old favourite:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4e6857ddf2255b82d0b65895be7dd24d9ab82f2b7743a485fc137251e58806c6.jpg

  22. I have tried to give the Government the benefit of the doubt, that great and subtle things were afoot and all would become clear eventually but I have reached the end of my tolerance, I honestly wanted and though it would happen that :-

    First :- Mrs May would be our next Maggie but even as she disappeared down the rabbit hole of prevarication and hyperbole I clung to the hope that it was all a clever ruse to make sure “Brexit meant Brexit” and she would emerge victorious on the other side astride a Challenger 2 , kitten heels buffed ready to take on the countries woes. Instead we had a Humpty Dumpty who miraculously survived the fall and even walked away unscathed muttering ““When I use a soundbite, in rather a scornful tone, it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’

    Then:- Boris would be a sort of Poundland Claudius , sitting in the wings quietly acting the clown while absorbing the complex interplay of politics and characters, seeking wise council from the knowledgable and assembling a tranche of wise and timely actions to restore our country to a more equitable state. Instead all we have is a priapic Poundland clown.

    Bah! Humbug.

    ‘morning all

    1. Your first and biggest mistake was “I have tried to give the Government the benefit of the doubt”. That’s 5 years of May/Johnson and co lying to your face. ‘Morning.

      1. If I have a failing at all 8^) I will admit to always thinking the best of people from the outset then let them prove otherwise, perhaps this is why I’ve developed into such a weary pessimist . I should have learnt by now.

      2. 11 years. Call Me Dave (with his sidekick, Gideon, The Power Stance Man) being the first of the gang to delight us with the revelation that the former Conservative Party was now Continuity New Labour..

  23. Good morning from a bright, dry but chilly Derbyshire. A tad below 0°C when I got the milk in just not, not QUITE cold enough for a frost to form up the bit of garden I can see from the stairs window.

    BTL Comment:-

    Robert Spowart
    JUST NOW
    Message Actions
    The NHS being close to collapse has sod all to do with the Wuhan Virus or lack of funding and EVERYHING to do with the way every meaningful reorganisation of the system has effectively been blocked by the REMFs and Vested Interests.

  24. Good morning all.

    Windy fine weather .

    Moh and I are still remembering the time last year when we were stopped by the police and given a real bollocking for being out in our car 4 miles from home , after we had given the dogs a good gallop on heathland, after doing some shopping .
    We were cautioned and NOT issued with a fine because we are local .

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIsnIt1p978

    1. Really issued with a caution? In England a caution is recorded as a conviction, I think. (If only we had access to a lawyer?)

      1. We were blue lighted , and spoken to severely, so I guess it was a verbal caution , no paperwork , nothing in the post and no fine , but we were warned next time we would be .

        We have a couple of village shops , a butcher and baker , they were limiting customers into the shop , queues ettc, so we used a local farm shop , out of the village .

        The copper wasn’t local , but we were , and we had a legitimate excuse to out , yet we were bullied.

        2. Who remember the drone footage from Derbyshire police of the couple walking their dog on Curbar Edge with the implication they were breaking the guidelines?

          The couple lived in Curbar less than a mile away!!!

    1. ‘Morning, Bill. I watched part 2 of Costa Concordia last night. It was very good, but I had to disagree with the suggestion that the Captain was not alone in creating the disaster. The decision to carry out a close sail-by of the island was his, allegedly to impress his lover who was not even listed as a passenger. When the brown stuff was about to hit the air-conditioning he bombarded the helmsman with a rapid stream of steering corrections and then blamed him/her afterwards for the final correction that was not apparently carried out properly.

      I have seen a few ships’ bridges in my time, and not surprisingly they were all fitted with depth instrumentation – and some with alarms. Was it turned off or not working?

      The most revealing evidence of an utterly incompetent and cowardly Captain was his decision to leave the bridge early on following the order to abandon, and to avail himself of a place on a lifeboat. He said afterwards that he fell into the craft, but a video clip shows him getting in normally.

      I reckon he got off lightly with his jail term!

      1. Haven’t see part 2 yet, so will watch with greater interest. I did wonder how many of the “officers” on the bridge, once they discovered that no one was in charge, slipped away, changed into civvies and mingled with the passengers…

  27. 342664+ up ticks

    Morning Each,

    Friday 10 December: After two years of Government inaction, the NHS is closer to collapse

    Getta way, you don’t say,
    We have between 500/1000 a day potential patients / troops hitting the beach on a daily basis, this mass uncontrolled immigration has been
    continuing for decades supported , given consent via the polling booth by dangerous political doughNUTS.

    Will these lab /lib/con coalition supporters acknowledge the fact that
    in view of their combined continuing pursuit of getting “their” section of the odious coalition into number ten,NO evil consequences are ever recognised.

    The combined efforts of the coalition supporters has been a resounding success in the nigh on destruction of a nation.

    1. I see one Richard Tastey has commented.

      A couple more BTL Comments:-

      George Taylor
      20 MIN AGO
      We, the UK population, ruled by a minority (43% at the ballot box) with a dictatorial 80 seat majority in the House of Commons, are going to get a Catholic German lead Brexiteer to oversee our Civil Service appointments?
      What is this world coming to?
      Farage has a German wife.
      Why all this hatred of Europe, especially by these people – a bizarre fixation with separation from cultures they were born into, or married into?
      17.41 million were allowed to rip the seriously decent rights of European citizenship, that took us 2500 years to get, from the more than 50 million that did not vote for Brexit.
      We “took back control” to give it a load of small minded short sighted brexit obsessed twits – who are going to put a German Catholic in charge of our civil service appointments?
      I am half Danish, by the way. My Danish grandfather died in a concentration camp near Hamburg.
      I like Germans … most of the ones I’ve met …
      Just pointing out some of the bizarre aspects of our current politics …
      I am a committed European – the EU is first and foremost an anti war outfit. Rather important in these increasingly dangerous times.
      Boris’s total incompetence drives me nuts.
      As does the lack of intellgent Tory MPs – the Brexit mafia fired all the good ones.
      The genius of the Brexiteers?
      The world is rapidly deteriorating under these people. Who have near dictatorial of our system … an 80 seat majority!
      Do something DECENT with your absolute control!

      REPLY2 REPLIES 1FLAG

      AL Andrew Lewis
      3 MIN AGO
      Reply to George Taylor
      I don’t know one brexiteer that hates Europe. But the EU is a different matter entirely.

      REPLY 1 FLAG

      RS Robert Spowart
      JUST NOW
      Reply to George Taylor – view message
      Message Actions
      “the EU is first and foremost an anti war outfit”
      Are you sure about that? The EU backed and very premature recognition of Croatian Independence by Germany led directly to the the Yugoslav Civil War and the EU’s current and continual actions of poking of the Russian Bear with several sharp sticks is likely to lead to even worse conflict.
      Time to take off the rose tinted glasses I’m afraid.

      REPLY 0

      1. “the EU is first and foremost an anti war outfit”?? Not forgetting Baroness Ashton’s efforts at starting WWIII!

      2. Most Brexiters love Europe but hate the EU. On the other hand Remainers love the EU but hate Europeans.

        1. Yes. It’s presumably the reason they don’t just move to their beloved Death Star and leave the rest of us in peace.

      1. A truly Happy Birthday, Æthelflæd, as a diversion from these otherwise dark days.

        Go out and have a party, dear lady.

          1. Yes Ethel, a day off from your usual pursuit of murder and mayhem is definitely in order. Enjoy your non-violent day!

    1. The only people who want covid passports are the ones who are committed to replacing the pound with a government/BoE controlled digital currency.
      These people are quite prepared to override democracy.

  33. Good morning from a Saxon Queen with blooded axe and pursed longbow .

    A very windy day, Thor is blowing across the heavens .

      1. Thank you. I’ll be having lunch in a very old country pub
        with a thatched roof , very low ceilings , uneven floors and a huge open fire .

        1. Why do you think it burned?
          Still, with all your experience blowing them out shouldn’t be a problem, have a great day.

      3. Happy Birthday, Aethelfled. Now get that longbow and axe out of your handbag and get thee down to Parliament Square on 18 December and celebrate your birthday month in style.

        Have a great day!

        1. Thank you, I will. I think I might have to get the longbow out and go to parliament Square . X

    3. The Camels are comin, Oho! Oho!
      The Camels are comin, Oho! Oho!
      The Camels are comin to bonnie Lochleven,
      The Camels are comin, Oho! Oho!

    4. If one believes the story, the wise men came from the East and Bactrian camels were certainly being used on the silk roads by the time of Christ’s birth, so why not? It’s a story after all.

    6. Does this make the Cathedral into a theatre and therefore subject to the new restrictions with mask wearing etc?

  37. Good Moaning.
    Well, I never thought the time would arrive when I looked forward to a dull day of catching up on ironing, card writing and a spot of baking. Oh and – be still my beating heart – polishing up the handle of the big front door….
    Just think, I could be organising an illegal Christmas bash. Such Fun!!!

  38. BBC Radio 4 News – A Government spokesman declined to be interviewed this morning and a substitute Labour spokesman was interviewed. He was well spoken and clear in his comments. When asked if the Labour Party would oppose our PM’s new Covid restrictions on Monday he said the party would support the decisions of the medical and scientific advisers but he did not trust Boris Johnson. He was then badgered to vote against the PM in the likely chance that the PM could lose the vote. He held his ground. He then went on to praise the integrity of the Civil Servants.
    The interviewer finished off by reminding listeners that the North Shropshire bye-election is coming up and a full list of candidates is available on the BBC site.
    In my opinion the BBC was not balanced in this interview and the Labour spokesman was a bit misguided on his choice of people to trust.
    The Conservatives will regret not accepting the request for an interview on this programme.

  40. Freddy Gray
    Jussie Smollett and the rise of American hate hoaxing
    He faked a racist attack because he wanted attention
    10 December 2021, 7:45am

    So Jussie Smollett, the world’s most notorious hate hoaxer, has at last been found guilty of lying to the police.

    Smollett, you may remember, was the actor who wanted to get even more famous so badly that he hired two brothers to put on ski masks and pretend to be Trump-supporting racists who spotted him in public. They then fake attacked him with bleach and a noose that they just happened to be carrying around, as racists do. The US vice president and most media outlets breathlessly accepted Smollett’s account.

    But it was all rubbish — and the story fits into a bizarre new trend. In September, some racist graffiti was found at Parkway North and Parkway Central schools in the Midwest American state of Missouri. Somebody had scrawled ‘HOPE ALL BLACK PEOPLE DIE’ and the n-word across the bathrooms.

    A protest erupted. Students ‘boycotted’ classes to show their disgust. But then the sense of outrage suddenly fell flat after it emerged that the person who had scrawled the racist graffiti was in fact black. It was, then, another hate hoax — a prank, effectively, at the expense of America’s preoccupation with racism, or perhaps more bizarrely an insane stunt in search for victimhood. (Or just an elaborate attempt to bunk off school.)

    These hoaxes keep happening — they’re so common now that they barely make a bleep on America’s national news radar let alone abroad. In 2017, racist messages at the US Air Force Academy turned out to be the work of a black cadet. It also happened in South Carolina, when a black individual taped a ‘no blacks allowed’ sign outside a university building.

    In April, at Michigan’s Albion College, some racist scrawlings appeared in a residential hallway. The slogans, which included ‘ALBION IS RACIST’ and ‘WE DO EXIST KKK’ seemed unlikely to be the outpourings of an actual racist, but the graffiti was naturally assumed to be the work of some alt-right neo-Klan fan — until it turned out that a black student was responsible.

    After such hate ‘crimes’ are found to be bogus, you might expect the relevant authorities to be relieved that their institutions are not places where people are bullied for the colour of their skin. But that would be a sane response and American academia is totally mad. Now the institutional leaders insist that these incidents, though fake, nonetheless serve as teachable moments about injustice in America. In other words, even if white students didn’t draw the offensive graffiti, they are still responsible for historic racism and must disavow it.

    ‘The student responsible is not white,’ said Parkway’s superintendent Dr Keith Marty, ‘however this does not diminish the hurt it caused or the negative impact it has had on our entire community.’

    Doesn’t it? Should it not diminish the ‘negative impact’ somewhat?

    ‘I want to tell the thousands of students who participated on behalf of themselves and their fellow classmates,’ added Dr Marty. ‘I am proud of you for supporting one another and we heard you loud and clear.’

    The Albion School went further after its hate hoax. ‘We know the acts of racism that have occurred this week are not about one particular person or one particular incident… We know that there is a significant history of racial pain and trauma on campus and we are taking action to repair our community.’

    In 2015, activists at the University of Delaware demanded millions of dollars for their pet causes after some hysterics confused old paper lanterns with nooses. Even after the truth came out, the school still capitulated — because the mere impression of racism is as bad as racism, apparently.

    Smollett’s stunt was perhaps the most spectacular — a demented bid for publicity. But it sort of worked, for a time anyway. That’s why hate hoaxing is on the rise. It spreads almost virally.

    Again and again, we see the same response to fake hate from America’s hyper-progressive enclaves. This attack or abuse might not have been actually real, they say, but the incident speaks to a deeper, almost religious belief that racism lurks everywhere and itches to get out. It’s a form of moral theatre in which participants must willingly suspend their disbelief.

    The awkward truth is that in modern America, as in other parts of the developed world, the demand for ‘acts of racism’ greatly exceeds the supply. So people like Smollett have to manufacture their own.

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

    Sir Paul Condom • 2 hours ago
    True oppression: the advantages of being cast as a victim of racism are so great that people will fake it.

    The demand for racism is quite literally higher than the supply.

    Dada Dada • 2 hours ago • edited
    I missed ‘Michelle Obama’, ‘Nancy Pelosi’, ‘Joe Biden’ and ‘Kamala Harris’ in this article.

    They were all fanning the flames and instigating race wars.
    Here are some tweets when the story broke:

    Joe Biden, 1/29/19

    ‘What has happened to Jussie Smollett must never be tolerated in this country. We must stand up and demand that we no longer give this hate safe harbour; that homophobia and racism have n place on our streets or in our hearts. We are with you Jussie.’

    Bernie Sanders, 1/29/19

    ‘The racist and homophobic attack on Jussie Smollett is a horrific instance on the surging hostility towards minorities around the country. We must come together to eradicate all forms of bigotry and violence’

    Kamala Harris, 1/29/19

    ‘Jussie Smollett is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know. I’m praying for his quick recovery. This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or colour of their skin. We must confront hate’

    Just a few examples.

    1. I wonder if the students protesting at Albion College are aware that Albion means England in Latin.

      Hmm, thought not.

    3. Blimey, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry! They say that the more unsavoury aspects of American culture will usually reach us in about ten years…

  41. In all of the fuss over a series of parties by those in power, why is the media not saying that their behaviour clearly shows that they think Covid is of no danger to them, their families and their grannies yet they preach fear at us, order us around, limit our lives and load us with even more National Debt for our kids to pay off?

    1. Because they have accepted large sums of money from the Gates foundation and other similar organisations.

      1. I don’t like conspiracy theories; however, the only other answer is arrogant stupidity.
        Neither is a palatable thought.

        1. The large sums of money is not a conspiracy theory – it’s easy enough to check up. The Gates foundation’s donations are public – I think it was 250 million to media organisations in the UK last year? (off the top of my head). The Open Society contributions are also traceable. With some publications, eg the Economist and FT, the fawning over Bill Gates and George Soros makes their affiliations clear.

      1. The fuss has been about an arrogant and selfish ‘rules don’t apply to me’, not about their foisting rules on us that they know are complete cr@p.

  42. 342664+ up ticks,

    Are they, the lab/lib/con coalition politico’s going to bring out a dictated
    panic chart for home use, morning news / instructions for the day,
    “Go to panic level three” until otherwise instructed.

    A mild case of overreacting? Why it may be too early to panic over real impact of omicron

  44. When she was young, the MR went on holiday to Madeira 0 years ago. The highlight of her trip was afternoon tea at Reid’s Hotel.

    She noticed that there was a telly prog about the hotel and, naturally, wanted to watch it. I recorded it. The “show” (as these things are now called) was presented by an unfunny white journalist and a black cook.

    Could any NoTTLer explain to me what is funny or interesting about a scribbler pretending to be a waiter and tour guide and a (very good, I believe) cook pretending to be a maintenance worker, washing out the swimming pool and changing light bulbs and pretending to be a chambermaid?

    The hotel certainly knows how to rip people off. A picnic arranged on a rug in the garden is €160 EACH……!!

    I have refused to record any more of this dross.

    1. Good morning.

      If you are talking about Giles Coren and Monica Galetti, i quite enjoy those programs. The reason they become temporary members of staff is to give us a look behind the scenes. You get to see the establishment from an employee’s viewpoint.

      1. Neither of them is remotely competent in the play-acting; nor can they read an autocue when on screen; nor read their lines for commentary. Appalling waste of licence payers money.

        And the ghastly Coren boy is so far from funny that it is unmeasurable. And don’t get me started on his awful wife, who makes Carrion seem modest and retiring.

        1. I quite like his wife Victoria, too.

          Did you know she is a Poker Championship winner? Interesting lady IMO.

          Edit. Not his wife. Must be a sister.

      2. But they are quite cringemaking.
        I know posh hotels exist, and as a believer in capitalism I should rejoice in their existence.
        But those programmes do tend to bring out my inner Mme. Defarge.

        1. Not as cringemaking as Gregg Wally & Cherry Healey in the ‘Inside the Factory’ series.

          Monica G did a walk in N. Yorkshire a few evenings ago. That was enjoyable & showed a different side to her.

    2. I visited Porto Santo, Islas Desertas and Funchal in Madeira in 1984 when I made my Atlantic crossing in Raua.

      We took a bus to the top of the mountain and it was terrifying as the side of the bus was over the precipice on the many hairpin bends. You must ask Carolyn if she made that bus trip.

      1. Gawd. I remember that bus trip.
        MB saw me go white and sweaty and bravely changed seats.
        The driver looked a sensible, unflappable middle aged chap, but I kept wondering if he might have had a row with his wife over breakfast.

      2. Gawd. I remember that bus trip.
        MB saw me go white and sweaty and bravely changed seats.
        The driver looked a sensible, unflappable middle aged chap, but I kept wondering if he might have had a row with his wife over breakfast.

  46. Currently watching this week’s edition of The Highwire. IMO the orders have gone out to double-down and go hard on the people. We have our own example with Panic Johnson bringing Plan B online: it was always on the cards but his ‘health’ reasons for doing so are so threadbare that he has exposed his strategy. Control and more restrictions are the order of the day and his lie that his actions of last July were irreversible has been laid bare. His incompetence is beyond belief.
    If he is ousted then it will be because those organising this power grab have decided he must go, not the people of this Country. The organisers will have a suitable candidate to do their bidding. However, the successor will have a more difficult job because Johnson has made such a botch of it. If anyone thinks that a change of PM will mean a change in the authoritarian direction of travel then disappointment awaits. How, I wonder, would the majority of people react to a member of the new-British community, should the successor come from that demographic, in attempting to take away their rights and freedoms?

    1. Judging by the masked sheep in ASDA, they’ll comply.
      From British Bulldog to British Bellwether in two generations.

      1. This area does appear to be ‘mask central’ but there have been reports that other areas are not so keen. In over two hours yesterday I went in and out of five shops and saw about five others unmasked. However, no challenges, no evil glances nor frantic backing away into shelves of produce. Are many people merely complying as opposed to believing this time around? Will there come a moment of realisation that they’re being duped? A change of leader may be the catalyst.

        1. Good morning all. So many people seem to wear a mask”because others do”. I can’t understand their reasoning. Do they not think of the future? Do they not think at all?

          2. I know quite a few who had been triple jabbed and still caught Covid, admittedly not particularly badly, and that was before the Omicron version appeared.

          3. It is quite simple. They have been told to do so – and, as sheep – dd what they are told. (Though, of course, sheep DON’T…!!!)

          4. We had mulled wine in the carol service interval tonight. The masked chap in the pew in front of me refused a glass of wine offered to him by the chap next to him and insisted on leaning over to take one from the tray. Ditto the mince pies. When I cleared the glasses away at the end, he looked at me as though I was mad picking a glass up without PPE and latex gloves!

          5. Living dangerously! I had to chuckle at that story, but it is very sad, and I know people who think the same way.

    2. Yes the velvet glove of democracy is getting increasingly threadbare.
      Nobody asked for Britcoin either, but it is said to be ready to launch.

  50. Is the worm beginning to turn?

    At least on GBNews last night people were saying:

    If the jabs don’t stop you getting Covid; if the jabs don’t stop you passing on Covid and if there are known as well as unknown immediate as well as long term dangers in having the jabs then aren’t the vaccines gene therapies duds?

    Have any of these points been raised on either the BBC or ITV?

    1. The ‘vaccine’ is not a dud. They are a substantial help towards reducing the effects of the virus. They are far from perfect, but the issues are not the vaccines themselves but how common sense and reality have been ignored in their application.

    2. The medicos are claiming that the jabs prevent serious illness and hospitalisation and that this will ‘save the NHS’.

      The same people used this message years ago when hoping to flog vaccines for SARS, Swine Flu and the promise of a vaccine for AIDS.

      That anyone believes a word of their lies leaves me cold. This Covid lark has nothing whatever to do with public health. People are dying and suffering serious injuries from these jabs.

    6. How wrong we were about Andrew Neil.

      Has he had a brain tumour?

      Thank goodness he has nothing to do with GBNews any more.

    7. How wrong we were about Andrew Neil.

      Has he had a brain tumour?

      Thank goodness he has nothing to do with GBNews any more.

  52. #CovidSinisterClownWorld

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/25cdbbc66cab0b39b78bbe3b4212b0fa24af4c6179621dfe42bdd16c22408f3d.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/73d32016b33a6047bef80c94c8f3803971bfb23f77e7f07ea836d71b5a8fd933.jpg

    https://twitter.com/MichelleDewbs/status/1469116695080062976?s=20

    https://i.imgflip.com/5x7sn2.jpg

    https://twitter.com/Kukicat7/status/1469054088784629760?t=SkTZ8knQe21Bd8qFUQC0Zg&s=19

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b40866933164e8d7d8b82a410597e9242271833d1f325086044e68cdbe3d8335.png

  56. Well, that was fun. Our rapid trip to town., The MR wanted to picked up the LF tests she had ordered. Arrived. None in stock.

    Last week the Garden Centre e-mailed me to say that water softener salt was available in 25 kg bags. I went in just now and asked for two. The child behind the till said she had never heard of them. She asked another child who rang a third child who said that they had not had salt bags for years and “I must have been misinformed”.

    45 minutes of my ever-shortening life completely wasted.

    1. Oh dear me Bill

      I love reading about your Norfolk adventures , and your conversations with the uninformed !

      Did you ever meet writer and satirist William Donaldson, the chap who wrote the hilarious Henry Root letters , years ago .. the books were an excellent read .

      I detect a similar dry wit in your writing , your frustration with simple tasks which many of us have experienced in our own lives.

    2. Morning uncle, Bill. But four minutes of living 🤗
      How much do you pay for a bag of salt tablets ? When we first had our water softener installed nearly 30 years ago it was under 2 quid a bag for tablets, now it’s over 7 quid !!
      Using the old adage that there is always someone worse off than one’s self. Our eldest has the choice a new water softener supplied and installed at a grand, or the 15 year old one bodged up and a chance taken at 400 quid ??
      And today Via DPD I have just received a resin restorer kit, something that might have saved our eldest a lot of money.

      1. The garden centre said that the (apparently non-existent) bags were £10.99 for 25 kg. Ernest Doe – the other supplier in the town charges £16.00 plus vat per bag.

        When I came here in 1984 they were £3.50 a bag.

        1. Hydro Soft Tablets just over 13.00 in Wickes. I’m sure i only paid about 7 quid a bag for it.

    1. Who the earth is Alice? (At least that was the gist of what people sang when they joined in the chorus!)

  60. US wins Assange extradition appeal

    The High Court’s ruling is not final since it can be appealed. Assange’s fiancee, Stella Moris, called the decision “a grave miscarriage of justice.” The case has been remitted to the Westminster Magistrates Court.

    The Assange team can appeal all they want.In the end,the UK puppets will obey their US master.

    1. Morning Anne

      I have lingered too long on here , enjoying the Nottler experience .
      I am just waiting for the beep from the washing machine , then braving the crisp wind , to hang everything out on the line .

      Thatcherism was originally built upon four components: commitment to free enterprise; British nationalism; a plan to strengthen the state by improving efficiency; and a belief in traditional Victorian values especially hard work and civic responsibility.

      Agree or not?

  62. Radical new laws will stop young people from EVER buying cigarettes as nation goes ‘smoke-free’. 10 December 2021.

    New Zealand is banning young people from ever being allowed to buy cigarettes in a rolling scheme that aims to make the entire country smoke-free.

    People aged 14 and under in 2027 will never be allowed to purchase cigarettes in their lifetime in the Pacific country of five million, under Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s radical new laws.

    Each year the age limit will be increased until it is illegal for the entire nation.

    I stopped smoking; after several failed attempts, when I was twenty eight. I’ve never had one since! This was a personal choice. It was doing me no good health wise and I thought it better to stop. This said I don’t decry others smoking because that would be foisting my own views on others at best and hypocrisy at worse.

    What we have here is something completely different, the tyranny of the Cultural Marxist Social Engineers who cannot abide the thought that others should be doing something that they disapprove of!

    It doesn’t end here of course. Alcohol, Hate Thoughts, all and anything that these Zealots disapprove of. It would be a Marxist Heaven worthy of Hell!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10291649/Radical-new-laws-stop-young-people-buying-cigarettes-New-Zealand-goes-smoke-free.html

    2. In a shop in 65 years’ time – “So, you want to buy cigarettes. Can you prove you’re over 80?”

    3. They haven’t really thought this through, have they. Older people will give younger people cigarettes.

      2. Caroline’s mother, who smoked 60 cigarettes a day – used to give Christo and Henry cigarettes when they were little. It put them off smoking for life.

        She died at the age of 86 with Asperger’s but never had a trace of cancer.

    4. 342664+ up ticks,
      Morning AS,
      Will these political overseers banded youngsters still be expected to protect the political overseer banners
      if a hostile invasion inclusive of political dead took place ?

    6. Effectively the lawmakers will still be allowed to smoke, but young voters won’t be allowed to smoke. The logical next step in NZ Land would be to exclude all young cancer patients from treatment, just in case they had broken the law by smoking.

  63. Morning all. Slept for about 10 hours last night, of course I had to arise and use the amenities, (one does) but felling much better. I was remined with my morning tea that it is the tenth today i had to then Disconnected the old dish washer, now waiting for the new one to arrive. Any time between 7am and 7pm.

    Just askin’ ………..
    Is it just me, or does any one find it very strange that the MSM appear to be quite deliberately failing to address the rather huge elephant, now mammoth in the room. That being, there are now about 5 million people who are refusing to have the jab and as some one observed this morning on the slimy Vine TV prog, you can’t have a democracy unless you include the idiots (your opinion in a democratic society matey) but it is a well known fact that there are areas such as Newham in London where the spread on the latest variant is rife, is this the most obvious part of the outstanding problem with people not having the jabs ? And there have been previous showings of other parts of the UK where it focused on non jabbers. That then the majority of the communities where the jabs are being refused were then members of the islamic faith. And is it just a coincidence that there are now almost 4 million muslims in the UK ? I wonder how the spread of the virus is going in the islamic communities in other parts of the world. I wouldn’t trust journalism to address this situation they would probably find a way to twist it,………. as usual.

    1. I suspect some major reasons are cultural and impossible to eradicate. A Muslim friend recently confided to me that his in-laws won’t be jabbed as the vaccines are developed only by Kaffirs and that ‘it is the will of Allah’ whether or not they catch Covid and die.

      2. perhaps you can tell them not to visit the doctor, take public transport, have electricity or gas, since those were also developed by Kaffirs – it is the will of Allah whether they live or freeze to death.

  64. We have had a wonderful lady who comes to the house twice a week to clean up after us. Thirty three years – so far. Since the plague she wears a mask. She STILL wears a mask. I said that she need not. She replied tat she felt better because she was “protecting us” and, anyway, “This is the way life is going to be for the future.”

    One weeps.

    3. If that is the way life is going to be for the future, then in the words of the musical – “Stop the world, I want to get off”.

          1. Oeuf du curé: good in parts – but not as good as Eddie Cochran’s version.

            Many of us were very enthusiastic fans when we were at boarding school in the early 1960s. Cross country running was obligatory and we took inspiration from Eddie Cochran’s Shorty:

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvzZlajPVAo

    2. To be pedantic, he claimed that it was a commuting accident, his employer’s insurer covering him for commuting. It wouldn’t apply in the U.K., where insurers do not cover commuting.

  66. Quangocrats are taking away our freedoms with Covid guise.
    FREDERICK FORSYTH
    https://www.express.co.uk/comment/columnists/frederick-forsyth/1534203/quangocrats-remove-freedoms-coronavirus-guise
    EVERY week, it seems, but more likely every month, just as we think our brilliant scientists have mastered Covid, we learn of the miraculous discovery of a new and even more lethal variant.
    Omicron, we are told, can and will wipe us all out if …. Well the “if” is easy.

    1. Strange how when it was first ‘discovered’ in southern Africa is was described by clinicians (not experts) and medics as no worse than a common cold.
      It would not surprise me if these variants were being ramped up in labs and spread deliberately. I was sure that some of the animal diseases we have had on our Island were dumped here to be spread by people of serious disrepute.

    2. I suggested earlier that the bastards were doubling-down as per orders. Are they afraid that the plan isn’t quite going to timetable? I know that sounds extreme but the last 20 months haven’t exactly been benign.

    3. The electorate is very, very angry. Not just at the government, the Conservative party or even parliament but at the establishment itself. They are out to get them any way that they can.

      1. 342664+ up ticks,

        Afternoon JOH,
        The electorate have shown their anger through rhetoric though NEVER converted words into actions
        via the polling booth, but once , the referendum a resounding success, sadly they returned to the old voting pattern as if in doing penance for voting OUT.

        I repeat ,the lab/lib/con coalition political hierarchy thought all their eids had come at once seeing the return of voters after they had been willing brussels rubber stamping assets for decades.

        1. I know what you are saying but consider this. The people have only two ways of removing them. One is through the ballot box which they have tried. The other is through the use of force or as I like to put it “by any means necessary”. We are talking revolution here. That’s the outcome that I would prefer to avoid.

          1. 342664+up ticks,
            Afternoon Joh,

            ” The people have only two ways of removing them. One is through the ballot box which they have tried”

            They have tried via the ballot booth, themselves governed by misguided allegiance to either one of the toxic trio, lab/lib/con, a close shop coalition.

            The lab/lib/con are a mass uncontrolled immigration
            ( ongoing)paedophile umbrella (ongoing) coalition,
            have been for decades, never lacking support from the electorate.

            All the while these type politico’s / party’s are in power with NO opposition neither child or country is safe, both being open to rape & abuse.

          2. Whilst I agree, I think it may come to that – I’d could almost be persuaded that the armed forces, and maybe the more discerning plod, may also be a trifle disaffected.

  68. First woke then blind obedience. Carol service, directive to alter the words of carols to delete references to “men” and replace them with “we” or “all”. Next a meeting to consider if the service should be cancelled. But, apparently the new variant isn’t infectious on Chritsmas Day as those services will go ahead. It is almost time to give up, but that is what they want. If the PTB decide to cancel the carol service a group of the choir will sing the service outside the church.

      2. This the same Grieve who put his travelling back and forth to Brussels to fight Brexit on expenses?

        That vomited excrement Grieve? He should be kicked out as a traitor.

    3. The only thing I find relevant to this mans’ spite is his name. Perhaps he needs to change his name from Dominic the Ian.
      I’m mainly a tory but I really didn’t expect as PM Johnson to be so much of a useless ponce. He has changed his tune even the orchestra, since he was “Lets do it”. London Mayor. I doubt if he would be able to hold down a job in any part of the real world. His qualifications are now almost none existent.

      1. Johnson has always changed his tune with his audience, whoever shouts loudest or whatever group he’s trying to please for popularity. His bluster carried him through as Mayor of London but the bigger stage of PM has exposed him as an Eton Mr Bean.

        Edited immediately as autocorrect gave me Elton not Eton.

    4. I laughed when he started by saying that the government has no regard for the rule of law as IMO the opposite is true – it loves making laws and enforcing them to rule over us.

    5. This man needs to understand that he is part of the problem. The Conservative party and their electorate are happy to be shot of him. Unfortunately he was just the tip of the iceberg and it is now becoming apparent that the problem is endemic in the establishment. Now is the time to get rid of the entire sorry lot of them before the people decide to get rid of the party.

      Some people are hiding behind the fact that Labour wouldn’t have done better. That’s true and they would probably have done worse. The people are minded to get rid of them as well given a half opportunity.

      They should take that as a warning and a very serious one.

    6. We would grieve even more if this dismally nasty piece of excrement ever got back into public office.

      I do not entirely disagree with Oscar Wilde’s view that judging aperson by his face can be the best way of judging a person even if Shakespare’s King Duncan disagreed*. One look at his grubbily foul face was enough for me to make up my mind that Dominic Grieve is a wrong’un.

      * There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face.

    7. We would grieve even more if this dismally nasty piece of excrement ever got back into public office.

      I do not entirely disagree with Oscar Wilde’s view that judging aperson by his face can be the best way of judging a person even if Shakespare’s King Duncan disagreed*. One look at his grubbily foul face was enough for me to make up my mind that Dominic Grieve is a wrong’un.

      * There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face.

  70. 342664+ up ticks,
    It does beg the question “what type of person supports / votes for party’s that contain the political likes of anthony charlie lynton the bog man, Bow street court, vas the foreign rent boys ( you bring the drugs)
    employer,” and now, PM Boris Encouraged Tory Activists to ‘Exchange Bodily Fluids’ Just Two Months Ago, encouraging daisy chains to be constructed as the way to go.

    When one up the toga is called for by a party leader then you know the moral standards have slipped beyond saving.

    1. I think that was a Freudian slip on the part of Boris – he had spotted a woman that he fancied. It was a most inappropriate thing to say, and it says a lot about the atmosphere at the top of the Conservative Party at the moment.

    2. I think that was a Freudian slip on the part of Boris – he had spotted a woman that he fancied. It was a most inappropriate thing to say, and it says a lot about the atmosphere at the top of the Conservative Party at the moment.

  71. Surely it isn’t government inaction that has caused the problem but government action? The NHS is inefficient and inflexible. It simply doesn’t work because it does not face the market.

    1. Ironically, it took over private hospitals ‘for Covid’ then practically ignored their new resource.

      1. And guaranteed that private patients couldn’t get their operations either. They are trying to kill us.

  72. I can’t reply to anyone’s comments at the moment – I keep getting “Your comment could not be saved” or “You have already made this comment” (refreshing confirms that I have not, but somehow disqus thinks I have).

    Edit: I discovered that if I make a small change to the text, I can post it after getting the above message.

          1. We had this argument a few weeks ago. I think they are unnecessary, except in a very small number of cases, eg we’re/were.
            I dont like em.

  73. Well it’s a nice sunny morning out there! A biting cold wind as well. Just hung out the washing, done a sortie round the garden – replanted the mini cyclamen in pots for the umpteenth time after the deer’s latest forage for the second time this week.

      1. He eats the flowers………waits till they recover then comes round again. He puls them out of the pots as well. He has a liking for geranium flowers as well – comes round regularly during the summer and especially likes pink ones, though other colours go as well.

        We do like to see him but I get fed up with replanting the ravaged plants.

          1. I don’t think he ate the naturalised outdoor ones that have spread under the apple tree – they did really well this year. He’s very fussy and seems to prefer the ones on offer in pots.

            I do have to thank him for our last holiday in Kenya, though! OH didn’t want to go away again and hates flying. We were not communicating too well at Christmas 2019 as I wanted to go and he didn’t. But Mr Roedeer spent all day on New Year’s Day in the garden, just relaxing, and got us talking again. I took advantage of this and booked a last minute trip for February 2020. We got home just before the lockdown in March. Haven’t spent a night away from home since then apart from OH’s hospital trips.

          2. With hindsight, it was particularly lucky that you managed that trip! Let us hope the sunny uplands of freedom are somewhere in our near future again.

    1. Did Neil have a hand in sacking Bob? Given his vitriolic piece in the Mail today, he certainly would sack Bob, and all the rest of us heretics too!

      2. Just published this comment under the Mail article:

        “Andrew Neil, we thought you were the the great white hope when you started GB News, dedicated to the truth and freedom. Now this. How much were you paid to become a turncoat?“

    1. You’ve got to hand it to the luvvies, they have surpassed themselves with this one.

      I note there is no award for people who identify as cats or vampires though. Bigots!

    1. They aren’t telling us about Plan D yet, which is where we need a covid pass to get into non-essential shops
      (already reality in Italy, Germany and Austria).

    2. Has he literally flipped or is he working his way to a forced exit before the excrement hits the fan. Something’s afoot and it isn’t a third of a yard.

        1. If he is ousted where do you think he will flee to? Frankly, I can’t see him and quite a few others living undisturbed in the UK after what they’ve put the people through. I imagine that Johnson, as with Blair, will have a life-long security detail but the rest?

  77. Military helio just flew over on its way to Portland. I expect it is the Captain of Big Lizzie going for his meeting without coffee.

  82. A very disgruntled Theodore Dalrymple with some pertinent comments regarding the State in the UK, the NHS and state bureaucracy and the country as a whole.

    https://www.takimag.com/article/beneath-the-surface/

    eg:

    In France, taxes are higher than in England, but at least something of value is returned to the population; in Britain, very little is, indeed quite a lot of what it returns is of negative value. The country’s infrastructure is crumbling, its educational system leaves many children ignorant and unprepared for anything, its health service is horrible, and everyone (except the government, which is the servant of the bureaucracy) knows that no matter how much is spent on these things, they will never improve.

    1. That’s shocking – and he’s right about the discrimination. I hope he can take the school to the cleaners.

    2. Sue the bastards, the school, the headmaster, the education authority – I’m sure you’ll get crowdfunding to do it. JFDI!

    3. That is disgraceful! It seems that nowadays, teachers of all levels have forgotten why they are there- to teach the children!!!

    4. Heard about this an hour or so ago. Bob has already been cancelled by the effing DT. I’ve already ordered one of his sweatshirts. He deserves our support.

      1. “He deserves our support.”
        I’ll send him me jockstrap. Should I wash it first?
        ;-))

  86. 342664+ up ticks,

    My one ask,

    Are the electorate planning on supporting the other 23,DEFGH…… already in the pipeline ….waiting.

    1. Children will die.
      Remember the big research paper from LMU Munich; not one healthy child aged 5-11 died of covid until now in Germany. Not one.

          2. Not quite eugenics or genocide but a few Venn diagrams might illustrate where and what it is and what overlaps what!?

    3. The fact the regulators even need to assess the suitability of the products suggests there must be doubts. Worrying for the parents if these become compulsory, and if not given/taken whether any sanctions are on the cards.

      1. Don’t worry, Australia has already set up internment concentration re-education caps.
        The kiddiwinks will be sent to them for their own safety.

  89. The vaccine works. So why are we behaving as if it doesn’t?
    We were one of the first countries to roll out the vaccine. Yet a year on, we’re hardly seeing any societal benefit from it

    TOM HARRIS : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/12/10/vaccine-works-behaving-doesnt/

    I have just placed this BTL comment:

    I call the Vaccine BORIS because it is now proving to be a dud which has not delivered on any of the promises,

    Have you been Borised, Double Borised, Booster Borised and happy to be Borised and buggered about for the rest of your life?

    If the jabs don’t stop you getting Covid; if the jabs don’t stop you passing on Covid; if there are known – as well as unknown – immediate and long term dangers in having the jabs; if small businesses cannot yet recover and ‘get back to normal’; if we still are told to work at home; if we still have to wear face nappies then aren’t the vaccines, or more accurately gene therapies, complete failures?

    3. Brilliant, Rastus.

      I hope it knocked him back on his ‘arris.

      I’ve got me coat on…🤡

  90. Just on the phone to colleague in Germany. I don’t think he likes Windows 11…
    “Diese scheiße windows 11, mein Laufwerke sind weg. Die bringen mir ins Grab!
    Da stimmt nix mehr, aber null. Alles ist weg!

      1. Windows 10 has been working OK for me, but my computer is too old for Win11. They say they have modified it so that it can run on older machines, and I am worried they will try to update mine automatically! I don’t trust the modifications.

        1. I inherited a W10 laptop. It drives me to distraction! I can’t do half the things with it I do with my PC or even my old Win7 laptops.

  91. A few weeks back there was a discussion thread about the relatively mild autumn we had been experiencing and the fact that deciduous trees were hanging on to most of their leaves. At the time I said in my experience all the leaves would be down by 10th December. Looking around today, here at my latitude, there are virtually no leaves left on the deciduous trees.

          1. It was suggested a year or two ago that the Jay should be regarded as the national bird of Britain. For without the Jay Britain perhaps would not have had so many oaks to fell to build ships for our Navy and allow our forebears to conker the World.

          9. The acorns that fell from the oaks in CT were enormous. It’s no wonder the squirrels were built like weight lifters.

          10. In passing, der Eichel is also the German word for the glans of the penis. Drop that into a cocktail party conversation.

      2. Same here in Mid-Suffolk, Bill, plus a few others, including a very tall weeping willow in the churchyard.

        1. Here in the Surrey Hills, the Beech leaves are hanging on. Friend Dianne commented on it – apparently it’s different in Devon where she now lives.

          1. We are North Essex close to Suffolk border viz. River Stour a mile or two from Clare.

            Our oak has retained smaller leaves but it shed enormous amounts during the storms of the past fortnight. The Copper Beech was stripped of leaves and seeds by the high winds.

    3. The gales did for most of the remnants of foliage round here. One day the trees were pretty well covered, the next, you couldn’t see the paths for fallen leaves.

  92. People looking to relocate to Russia should first study the country’s customs and language before making the move, President Vladimir Putin has said while addressing concerns about the cultural impact of migration.
    Speaking on Thursday during a meeting of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, the Russian leader said, “We need to make sure that people who would like to come to work here prepare for this trip to our country and for work here [while] in their homelands.”

    According to Putin, this includes learning the Russian language, the country’s laws and the customs of its people, as well ensuring that they know their rights. The Russian president said that this issue should be worked on in collaboration with representatives from the Commonwealth of Independent States – an organization of other former Soviet republics.

    Putin’s remarks come shortly after the head of Russia’s Human Rights Council, Valery Fadeev, sent a letter to the mayor of Moscow, Sergey Sobyanin, asking him to consider investigating complaints from local residents regarding signs in Uzbek and Tajik in Prokshino and Lesoparkovaya metro stations in the city’s south. The decision came in response to the relocation of the United Migration Center of the Moscow region to Sakharovo.

        1. Old schoolfriend of mine married a Danish guy and worked there – her Danish was fluent enough for her to work in the drawing office of a company that made catalysts – I would imagine pretty technical stuff. She’s retired now, but still living there.

    3. I’m hopeless at learning languages but do I get any indulgence for having had Russian grandparents?

      1. I know it may seem like it,but actually,i don’t work for the Russian State.
        Check at your local embassy.

  93. If and when they decide to introduce vaccine passports, remind Johnson of this:-

    “I want to make it clear that I will in no circumstances carry one and even were I compelled to do so, I would take it out and destroy it on the spot were I ever asked to produce it. It is a plastic poll tax that will do nothing to assist the struggle against terrorists and will hugely expand the powers of the state over the individual”.

    Boris Johnson – 19th October 2005

    3. When one bothers to examine a lot of these fact checks it often turns out that when a claim is pronounced “partially false”, the actual claim made may be 80%+ correct. One seldom sees a woke/climate/jab claim, let alone a “Trump was right”, recorded as mostly correct, they are inevitable put out as false/partially false, no matter if there was any truth in the claims.

        1. “preliminary information” was that he died “from a medical issue”.
          They wont be in too much of a hurry about the cause if he’s recently had the booster,

  96. I have vaguely followed the woman jockey v male jockey dispute – where judgment was given yesterday. Findings proved: male jockey suspended for 18 months for “bullying” and other things.

    At last an independent finding that the industry was tainted with nastines. . But no – within minutes the jockeys’ trade union and individual jockeys reacted:

    “The PJA does not accept the disciplinary panel’s findings in relation to the culture within and collective behaviour of the jump jockeys’ weighing room,” a statement read. “It is grossly inaccurate and wholly unfair.”

    Yet ANOTHER case where the losers don’t accept a verdict. Getting a touch boring, n’est-ce pas?

    4. Bryony suffered isolation because she broke “the code of the weighing room” by going to the authorities. They will close ranks, unfortunately.

      1. Exactly so – and her future career will be very unpleasant.

        She clearly lacks a sense of humour. I imagine all lady NoTTLers would larf their heads off if a man deliberately exposed himself to them. (sarc)

        Just a bit of banter. Man up, girl…. Sort of thing. (more sarc)

        It makes me sick.

        1. She has tremendous talent. You don’t win the races she does, as a female, without being better than the men. That’s what some of them can’t take.

  97. Putin says conflict in eastern Ukraine ‘looks like GENOCIDE’ and condemns ‘Russophobia’

    Vladimir Putin says fighting between Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces along the border ‘looks like genocide’, ramping up tensions amid fears he will invade.

    Putin, answering a question about threats against Russians living overseas, denounced what he called ‘Russophobia’ saying it is a ‘first step towards genocide’.

    He then pointed to the war simmering in Ukraine’s Donbass region, on Russia’s border, saying: ‘You and I know what is happening… It certainly looks like genocide.’

    Looks like a Casus Belli and Vlad has decided to roll! Two or three days maybe. Hold your breaths. Starting wars is a Piece of Cake. Ending them, something else entirely!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10296135/Ukraine-border-tensions-Putin-says-conflict-eastern-Ukraine-looks-like-GENOCIDE.html

    2. More like a Casus Bellendi.

      Isn’t the Orthodox Christmas a week later than the Western one? So whilst Europe is tucking into the Christmas Pudding, Vlad might be tempted to ‘Slight’ the Ukraine?

          5. Ancient history, Conners. I was only five, after all. But that single event greatly influenced what followed. He was a safety officer for John Laing Construction, and almost certainly the next chief safety officer for the group. So he would have worked in Mill Hill, and I would have grown up in Norf Lunnon, rather than Carlisle. I might never have been encouraged to have piano lessons by a neighbour, nor have joined the choir at my local church, subsequently becoming organist there fifty years ago. My education, chosen career, etc., would likely all have been totally different. Perish the thought – I could have been Prime Minster by now… 😲 And… I might not have created NoTTL…

          7. It’s also the day that Katherine of Aragon died. Many years before that of course.
            A long time ago but when it’s a loved one it doesn’t always get easier.

  98. Putin says conflict in eastern Ukraine ‘looks like GENOCIDE’ and condemns ‘Russophobia’

    Vladimir Putin says fighting between Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces along the border ‘looks like genocide’, ramping up tensions amid fears he will invade.

    Putin, answering a question about threats against Russians living overseas, denounced what he called ‘Russophobia’ saying it is a ‘first step towards genocide’.

    He then pointed to the war simmering in Ukraine’s Donbass region, on Russia’s border, saying: ‘You and I know what is happening… It certainly looks like genocide.’

    Looks like a Casus Belli and Vlad has decided to roll! Two or three days maybe. Hold your breaths. Starting wars is a Piece of Cake. Ending them, something else entirely!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10296135/Ukraine-border-tensions-Putin-says-conflict-eastern-Ukraine-looks-like-GENOCIDE.html

    2. Don’t forget your black marker pen when you are out and about. A little black square here and there could cause chaos.

  100. Good afternoon all. I’ve just watched The Cassandra Crossing on Film 4. Burt Lancaster represented UK gov, and Martin Sheen represented us.
    After the train 🚂 crashed Sheen died but a few of us survived. Don’t let the boogers get us down!!

    2. Care medicines for Covid-19 Preparedness are “End of LIfe” medicines?!
      Wow, they are not even trying to hide it!
      When I think that they have banned HCQ and Ivermectin…!
      The people responsible for this need to hang. After a fair trial, naturally.

  103. The Institut Pasteur in Lille, Nord, has stopped working on its clinical trial of an anti-Covid suppository treatment due to issues with recruiting volunteers.
    The Institut (IPL)’s clinical trial was authorised by the drug safety authority l’Agence nationale de sécurité du médicament et des produits de santé (ANSM) to take place after June 10, 2021, for the testing of an anti-Covid suppository named Clofoctol.
    But on December 9, the IPL decided to stop the trial after encountering issues with recruiting volunteers.

    President Macron was quoted as saying:
    “Well bugger me.”

  104. 342664+ up ticks,

    breitbart,

    BoJo’s Ex-Chief Advisor Says His Liberal Wife Wants to ‘Control the Country Via Him’

    Believable, AKA rule via Dicktatorship,we the decent peoples have to suffer every treacherous cock up the pillow whisperer & the fat turk make.

  105. Afternoon everybody.

    Good news on the son front. Grandson called to say that d-i-l had been able to see son through the window and gave the staff a photo of the 3 of them to look at. There were a few tears on his part. He has been seen today and yesterday by a psychologist to help with his anxiety, none of which he’s had today, and the sore on his nose from the CPAP machine is being treated with anti-biotics. He is slowly by steadily making good progress. Alf and I are so relieved and thankful to the hospital. And to all you for your good wishes and prayers. He is not out of the woods yet by a long way, had some physiotherapy yesterday, which I think he will need a lot of. Apparently he can’t remember going into hospital.

    Fingers still firmly crossed.

    10. You can get soft liners for CPAP masks which make them more bearable but I don’t suppose the NHS can afford them.

  106. Whilst also biding my time, I have been going through a 12 inch high stack of paper work on a shelf in the ‘study’ / office.
    It’s quite incredible what I have found. Some of it dates back to more than 39 years, two years after we came back from Oz, just before we bought our second house in the UK. It brings back many memories and my good lady has just remined me of the day we moved into where we are now, just over 30 years ago. And we sat down to a meal of take away fish and chips early evening in the make shift dining room and her father wasn’t present. We had left him sitting the garden shed where we had moved from !! It was only ten minutes drive away. He just thought it was funny.

  107. In the 1990s and the early 2000s, the Russian government was warming with CIA workers, and they eventually had to be “cleaned out” and sent back to the US, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed on Thursday.
    Speaking to a meeting of the Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, Putin used the example of Americans within the Russian government to show how foreign countries attempt to interfere in the country’s internal affairs.

    “In the early 2000s, I had already cleaned everyone out, but in the mid-1990s, we had, as it later turned out, cadres of the US Central Intelligence Agency sitting as advisers and even official employees of the Russian government,” Putin explained.

    “They were later prosecuted in the United States for violating US law and taking part in privatization while they were CIA employees working for us,” the president claimed.

    Boris Yeltsin had entourage of ‘hundreds’ of CIA agents who instructed him how to run Russia, claims former parliamentary speaker
    According to Putin, some American specialists were stationed at Russian nuclear weapons facilities and even sat at a desk with a US flag.
    “They lived and worked there. They didn’t need such subtle instruments of interference in our political life because they controlled everything anyway,” he continued.

    This isn’t the first time that Putin has accused America of interfering with Russia’s internal affairs, especially in the immediate aftermath following the fall of the Soviet Union and the privatization of government-owned assets. In 2013, the president claimed that CIA officers worked in the entourage of Anatoly Chubais, the deputy prime minister who oversaw the privatization process. He later went on to become Kremlin chief of staff.

    Earlier this year, Ruslan Khasbulatov, the former chairman of Russia’s parliament, claimed that the first Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, was surrounded by “hundreds” of CIA agents who told him what to do throughout his tenure as leader. Khasbulatov even claimed that Yeltsin would send security officials and heads of departments to the US so the Americans could “examine them” and “give conclusions.”

  108. Can any Nottler explain to me how cases of the new variant of the kung fu flu are detected? So far over 800 have been identified. Are there specialist labs working 24/7 culturing various body fluids / examining swabs to somehow identify this specific iteration amongst all the others? the logistics involved in checking 1000s of samples must be awesome and somehow I can’t see the NHS dealing with it that well, it just doesn’t sit well with me. TIA.

    1. As a viral pathogen isn’t a living organism as such, I don’t think it’s possible to grow a culture as you would with bacteria? The gene sequences for SARS-CoV-2 seem to be computer modelled.

        1. Nobody walks in London, even a few hundred yards! The best I’ve seen anybody manage is a shambling amble.

    2. Forgive my cynicsm, but these casualties seem to increase when they’re on strike.

      Almost as if there’s a forced link between striking and injuries.

    3. You’ll like the Moscow Metro.By 2023 there will be 293 stations and 530 Km of track.
      Three days ago 9 new stations were opened.

  110. The mad Cummings is spot on – for once:

    “Dominic Cummings says Boris ‘got a wrong’un pregnant’ and Carrie ‘wants to control the UK via him’ in scathing attack on PM’s wife – hours after she gave birth – blaming her for ‘inevitable disaster’ her husband is facing”

    2. Is he the brave, bold, presenter that hid behind women when protestors appeared on the stage?

  113. 342664+ up ticks,

    Just watching on Yesterday auschwich, one survivor said I could understand the round up of Jews in france by germans but Not by the french authorities & still could not understand 60 years later.

    Children and all , many within 2 hours, dead.

    We could very well see the horrific replay in repress, reset.

    Auschwitz should be shown in every school in the United Kingdom
    after morning assembly, every morning, because as sure as God made little green apples we are back on that rail track to auschwitz.

    2. I know it was a regular viewing when I was a kid. ‘All Our Yesterdays’ was one programme, but there were lots of documentaries showing the holocaust. And yes, it should be compulsory viewing in schools, alongside ‘transgender issues’ of course.

  114. That’s me for this curiously irritating day. Tomorrow will start frosty and rain in the afternoon. We have a church fund-raising even in the morning. Notwithstanding all the bollox from No 10 yesterday – ALL the stall-holders who had agreed to come weeks ago (including one who is very cautiously panicky about the plague) will be there. Next week looksto be very mild – for the time of year. Which will be nice.

    So I will greet you

    A demain

  118. Evening, all. It’s no wonder the NHS is closer to collapse; there are too many chiefs and not enough indians, plus the demand for services is growing and far outstripping the capability of a system designed in the forties for a stable population to cope with. They never learned any lessons from Operation Cygnet and the PTB’s answer to everything is “chuck money at it”.

    1. Thought for the day.
      The NHS will treat you for problems that existed when it was founded and could be treated at the time.
      Everything else, you pay.

  119. Jeezus H Kristos.
    The BBC News at 6.
    The experts are foaming at the mouth over Omicron, straight jackets would be in order.

    This after a report saying that effectively it’s harmless.

  121. Mike Nesmith of The Monkees has died aged 78.
    That’s sad. :-(( RIP, Mike.
    My youth dies out at ever increasing rate.

    1. Caught the last train to Clarkesville.
      One of the earlier made for TV type of groups, but I must admit that I liked their music.

    2. RIP
      The Monkees… a manufactured pop group who yearned to be the Beatles.

      Not a fan……however another part of my youth hits the dust.

    3. I think either his mother of grandmother invented/was heiress to the Tippex fortune.
      Do you remember typewriters, carbon paper and Tippex?

        2. We still use the term White Out on CAD drawings where lazy draughtsmen place a white fill over areas which need detail correction and simply draw on top of the white fill.

          It is a devil of a job to disassemble the CAD drawings when received from other ‘designers’.

      2. Oh yes! Tippex was awful but then the strips of correction stuff arrived…what a joy! Oops! Probably showing my age!

      3. Oh yes! Tippex was awful but then the strips of correction stuff arrived…what a joy! Oops! Probably showing my age!

      4. There was tape you could use in a typewriter to retype and white-out the character. Much superior.
        Do you remember the bleach fluid that preceded Tipp-ex, that bleached away the ink, and left the paper soggy so it tore easily?

      5. I remember our secretaries would apply the stuff impasto to type over their many typing errors. They even obtained a yellow Tippex for use on my Architect’s Instructions.

    1. My daughter is making plans to flee if this comes in.
      It’s by no means certain yet.
      If Germany votes against in January, I should think a large part of Austria will decamp next door. There are still a lot of unknowns.

  124. Boris should not dare follow the EU down the path of mandatory jabs

    Never has something so unconservative been proposed by a Conservative prime minister

    NIGEL FARAGE

    The European Union is limbering up to force its member states to impose mandatory anti-Covid vaccinations on their citizens. Germany and Austria have opened the batting, so to speak, by laying the ground for compulsory jabs from 2022. Now the omicron variant has brought this style of policy into the European mainstream, with the sentiment being driven to a large degree by Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission.

    I am fundamentally opposed to any state dictating to its people what medical procedures they must have. Although I have had the Covid vaccination myself, I recognise that some people might have valid reasons for being reticent to do the same.

    Certain groups might reject a jab on religious or cultural grounds. Women who are trying to get pregnant might feel it is not right for them at the moment. Other people are simply incredibly wary of putting into their body any substance which they are not sure about. And what about those in the world who have a fear of needles?

    It is horrifying to think that politicians could override the judgments and wishes of others over such a serious and deeply personal matter. Until now, it has seemed that Boris Johnson, for all his faults, instinctively agreed with the principle that people have the right to refuse. But something changed on Wednesday, when he suggested that we have a “national debate” on mandatory jabs.

    I can only describe a sense of despair when I heard this. Why would he move to the EU’s increasingly authoritarian position? At no time in the history of the Conservative Party has something so unconservative been proposed.

    In some EU nations a two-tier “jabbed versus jabbed-not” system is already in place. This means that some law-abiding taxpayers are being denied their natural right to enter certain public buildings and are instead living under lockdown. In Italy, those who are unvaccinated cannot go to the cinema or the theatre. This is highly discriminatory and very dangerous, it represents the erosion of basic liberties in Western Europe.

    Yet Mrs von der Leyen seemingly backs all of it. She has been cracking the whip and demanding that the EU’s 27 member states roll out booster jabs. When asked if she backed the Greek government imposing a €100 (£85) monthly fine on those aged 60 and over who do not take up the offer of a jab, she said the lack of vaccines administered in some areas of the EU meant mandatory vaccination had to be considered.

    Let us remember that Mrs von der Leyen was, until her elevation two years ago, entirely unknown outside of her native Germany, where she served as defence minister for five years. Her credentials as a fanatical federalist were sufficient to see her becoming the most powerful politician in the EU through little more than a cosy stitch-up overseen by France and Germany.

    I’d suggest that she may also want to declare a potential conflict of interests, since her husband is the medical director of an American biotech company which specialises in cell therapy development and has worked on a vaccine platform targeting Covid. If the partner of an economic policy-maker worked at an investment bank, we would expect that to be discussed.

    It is clear that the EU has chosen to double down on its worst instincts at this stage of the pandemic, urging restrictions on citizens who did not directly elect the bureaucrats sitting in Brussels. We have escaped the immediate danger by leaving the bloc, but we must now make sure that Boris Johnson does not follow their approach anyway.

    Indeed, with the Prime Minister’s inability to give honest answers and wanton disregard for our liberties, he may be nearer the end than many think.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/12/10/boris-should-not-dare-follow-eu-path-mandatory-jabs/

    Certain groups might reject a jab on religious or cultural grounds.

    And not a word will be said about their non-compliance.

    1. It is not a belief system that I like, but as a population they would survive without a single doctor, let alone pills and potions.

    2. It is not a belief system that I like, but as a population they would survive without a single doctor, let alone pills and potions.

    3. Some Christians don’t want to take a jab that was developed using cells grown on a line that originated from an aborted baby.

    3. On the farm, ev’ry Friday
      On the farm, it’s rabbit pie day
      So ev’ry Friday that ever comes along
      I get up early and sing this little song
      Fart, rabbit, fart, rabbit, fart, fart, fart
      Fart, rabbit, fart, rabbit, fart, fart, fart
      Fart, fart, fart, fart goes the rabbit’s bum
      Fart, rabbit, fart, rabbit, fart, fart, fart
      Fart, rabbit, fart, rabbit, fart, fart, fart
      Don’t give the farmer his fun, fun, fun
      He’ll get by without his rabbit pie
      So fart, rabbit, fart, fart, fart!

  126. A breach of trust with the British public

    After getting jabbed and complying with a series of bizarre regulations, people rightly expected freedom

    TELEGRAPH VIEW

    A year ago this week, the UK became the first country in the world to administer an approved Covid vaccine to a member of the public. Margaret Keenan received a Pfizer jab in a hospital in Coventry, becoming the first of millions of British people to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

    The country still owes an enormous debt of gratitude to Dame Kate Bingham, the original head of the Government’s vaccines taskforce, who gave us a vital headstart by circumventing the public sector bureaucracy to secure doses ahead of our competitors. Britain will be forever grateful, too, to scientists and innovators such as Dame Sarah Gilbert, who defied the pessimists who thought a jab could not be developed and manufactured in such a short period of time.

    However, the vaccination programme would have got nowhere without the enthusiasm of the public. For a great many people, having a jab was in their own interests. Even against the new omicron variant, the early evidence suggests that, with a booster, they substantially reduce the risk of being hospitalised or dying from the virus. Others had one because they judged it to be the socially responsible thing to do. Covid poses very little risk to the health of younger age groups, for example, yet vaccination reduces the rate at which the virus spreads throughout the population.

    Above all, the jab was our route out of lockdown. Ministers made an explicit contract with the public: get inoculated and your freedoms would return. The planned and “irreversible” reopening of society before the summer was even postponed for a month in order, in part, to ensure that more people could be vaccinated.

    This week, they broke that contract. The Government’s decision to implement Plan B of the Covid winter plan – an incoherent and illogical mixture of measures – is not just a disproportionate response to the new variant. It is a breach of the promise made to the public: that if people did the right thing and had the vaccine, life could return to normal.

    It is true that a great deal remains unknown about the omicron variant. It may be possible that, as some scientists fear, millions of people could become infected in a short period of time and put unsustainable pressure on the NHS. But such estimates have been shown to be disastrously wrong before. What we do know is that, in South Africa, where the variant was first identified, its effects are said to be “mild” and there have been relatively few hospitalisations.

    In any case, a more transmissible new variant was an eventuality that the Government ought to have been prepared for, not least by putting much greater efforts into expanding NHS capacity and radically increasing the speed of the Covid booster programme. Neither was done, with ministers unwilling or incapable of learning anything from Dame Kate’s successes in securing vaccines in the first place.

    It cannot be right that, once again, the public is being expected to pay the price for the deficiencies of the state and its agencies. Some will contend that the new restrictions are minor and that they do not matter because they can be quickly withdrawn if fears about the omicron variant prove unfounded. Yet even if the measures are lifted soon after the Christmas holidays, the Government will have conceded a fundamental point: that vaccines did not buy us back our liberties. Our freedoms remain subject to the whims of ministers and their advisers, liable to be withdrawn any time they feel like it.

    Considerable attention has been paid this week to the apparent hypocrisy of government aides who seemingly held parties in Downing Street while the rest of the country was banned from socialising last Christmas. This has been described as a catastrophic breach of trust between the people and its rulers, one so serious that it has raised questions about the longevity of the Government itself.

    It pales into comparison beside the breach of trust over Covid, however. After countless months of complying with every bizarre rule and making tremendous sacrifices on behalf of the greater good, people were told that the vaccines would give them their lives back. It was a false promise that will not be forgotten.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/12/10/breach-trust-british-public/

    2. What rubbish. The vaccines are anything but and a complete con designed by ‘scientists’ with interests in Pharma companies. The vaccines do not work as promised and the supposed benefits dwindle by the day as more and more adverse reactions occur in the vaccinated.

      1. Now then, C, you’ve done it again and gone off at a tangent. Vaccines have been relatively successful but you won’t get many arguments on here about the wrongness of pinning almost everything on them, as the government did. We know the limitations of them but, as Stephenroi writes, the suggestible public were sold a false prospectus. More fool them, we might say, but they will, or at least should, be angry about that.

      1. Margaret Keenan was an aged actress and as such will have received saline solution.

        We are dealing with propaganda organised on a global scale and rehearsed for a decade and more.

    4. I’ve just come back from a lovely carol service in church. A fair few weren’t masked and although some started off masked, seeing others naked seemed to embolden them. We need to stay strong and say NO! I said, loudly as only I with 25 years at the chalkface can, “I’m declaring this place No 10 and I’m going to party like there’s no tomorrow!”.

  127. A heart warming story that proves children can learn:

    “San Francisco Suspends Cannabis Tax to Help Businesses Compete With Drug Dealers

    Taxes and regulations have made legal marijuana so expensive in California that the illegal trade has continued… and flourished.

    Now, San Francisco city supervisors have unanimously approved an ordinance to suspend the city’s cannabis tax.

    San Francisco Supervisor Rafael Mandelman confirmed that the tax suspension was necessary in order to help the legal marijuana dispensaries compete on a more even playing field with the illegal drug dealers.

    This is a shocking display of economic literacy for San Francisco.
    Apparently these progressives can learn… but only when it comes to their pet projects, like drugs.

    1. Having spent some time in SF recently, and having known the place since 1976 and visited almost annually, it is quite clear that the underlying problem is drug abuse. However, it seems that the authorities don’t want to recognise the facts and are trying solutions that accommodate the legalised drug position. What we used to know as cannabis has given way to ‘skunk’ which is, apparently, a seriously damaging experience and this is reflected in the state of the street-based homeless. Other more powerful narcotics are in evidence, compounding the already appalling situation with homeless drug dependent wasters.

      1. Yo, Harry. Apropos nothing at all, I notice that there’s now a BTL commenter at the Tellygraf by the name of Max France. Perchance, are you related?

          4. Thanks for asking milady and lovely to hear from you. Very well thanks, I’ve been very busy with a house move and associated stuff. How are you? Last time I read you on here you were kicking Nottl into touch!

            How are you?

          5. To employ an example of lotites…I have been better as I suspect most of us have been.
            Are you still in France or have you returned to Blighty?

          6. I’ve bought a 250 year old farmhouse in Norfolk and am contemplating a change of scenery/lifestyle/cuisine.

          9. How wonderful! I am happy for you and your family. You do realise you will be in the same county as Bill;-)))

          13. I’d really like to go to Suffolk to the seaside town that bears my maiden name. Not sure I will make it though…

          16. It’s a nice place and worth a visit if you get the chance. A couple of decent pubs, a small hotel and a very good and unpretentious fish restaurant called ‘The Butley Orford Oysterage’. Formica tables, quarry-tile floor and, if you like fish, a great place to eat. There’s also a small smokehouse which produces world-class kippers.

          17. My brother and his wife went there and he called to make a reservation at a restaurant- don’t know if it’s the one you mention. When he was asked what name for the booking and he told the lady, she thought he was pulling her leg.
            There’s also an Orford near Warrington, Cheshire and, funnily enough, one in Canada but I can’t remember exactly where.

          18. I’d really like to go to Suffolk to the seaside town that bears my maiden name. Not sure I will make it though…

    2. Really?

      They could have just looked north to see the number of pot sales on the reserves and how they are undercutting the official suppliers. Apparently much better quality and more varieties available as well.

      We drove through the local Mohawk reserve this afternoon, I counted 21 pot shops in just a few kilometres – but I might have missed a few!

        2. Sorry to hear that, BB2. I had to scrap a C-class Merc estate, three years ago. Still a nice car, but needed work which would have been impossible, having just lost a couple of legs below the knee. Suspension issues (the car, not me), but it had 240k miles on the clock, so paying a garage to do the work would have been far more than it was worth. Besides, DVLA are missing in action, so I’ve not had a valid licence for several years.

          1. “To lose one leg Mr. Graham may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness..”

            (with apols to Mr Wilde & Mr G!)

          2. Quite so. The right one should have been my “good” one. But a few days before the left “bad one” was due for the chop, the right one presented with osteomyelitis. MRSA to be precise. So I went for a BOGOF deal, and have few regrets.

          5. Good move as one gets older that tasks becomes more difficult. I’m not looking forward to visiting a Chiropodist….

          6. I have a lovely young lady who comes out from Ipswich every 3 months and does both Best Beloved’s and my feet, cut nails, remove hard skin and massage in oil. All for £50.

            A bargain as I now cannot reach my feet with out constant back pain in the process.

          7. Were they lost in a handbag? Cue Dame Edith Evans- and I can do that voice quite well ;-))

          9. On a recent trip to see a diabetes specialist nurse, I was invited to remove my shoes and socks while she checked for neuropathy. “You’re a bit late” was my response.

    2. That is sad indeed. Beautiful boat and there seems to be such a pessimistic view of the grounding. What a shame.

    2. They’ll have to dredge up some more deaths from somewhere. Whatever you do – avoid hospitals!!

      2. Good advice. I concur, with the exception of the eye clinic. Because I quite like to be able to see, if only with my good eye. It’s over two years since I attended Roehampton, but the prostheses still work, so that’s OK.

        1. True story. MiL became the Secretary to a Community Health Council in the West of England. One day she received a complaint that because of NHS cutbacks, a patient had received his two new leg prostheses that were several inches shorter than his olde ones. She investigated this claim and discovered that as he had aged the patient’s stature had shrunk and his new legs had been designed to match his shrunken frame!

          1. My first post-op visit to Roehampton: “How tall were you?” “Slightly less than six feet” “Then you’ll be shorter”. “Did I say six feet? I meant seven”

            The first legs were noticeably shorter. I couldn’t reach the top shelves of the kitchen cupboards. The current ones more or less restore me to my full height. Inspector Gadget legs would be better…

          4. My grandfather on my father’s side was a drayman in Newport. The story has it that he and his mate drank a crate of beer and crashed the steam roller. The steam roller trapped his leg and after extrication his leg was set and wrapped in rabbit skin.

            Thereafter his injured leg was shorter than his good leg and he walked with a limp. I met him but once only as a child. He smoked a clay pipe and blew smoke in my eyes.

            He had fourteen children, 3 boys of whom the eldest was my father born 1910 and the rest with just three exceptions, witches.

      1. Look at the dramatic growth in cases in Wales! It must have gone up about twenty percent, that wil be the excuse to use utmost caution.

  131. Fish Friday. That means kippers. Whoopie! with lotsa butta & black peppa.
    Grapes, grapes & more grapes.
    Dark chocolate.

    Good night all.

    2. No, but it is a nice family photo which, I am sure, will please many people. I am not religious and if I received a card like that from family, it would delight me.

      1. I am a Christian and might have hoped for something better or at least attuned to the Christian festival. That is just me.

        The message from William the Woke could have been despatched at any time during the year as a mere holiday photograph.

        1. They have to be inclusive for all the non- Christians in this country who now probably outnumber the Christians.

        2. I was brought up as a Christian; I went to a CofE primary school and a Cof E Grammar school. I simply cannot do religion anymore. In 2014 I came over to see my terminally sick brother and went to Westminster Abbey, which has always been my favourite place in London. It was complete and utter chaos. Large groups of small children who could have had no comprehension about where they were and what they were being told…plus Japanese tourist groups who stopped dead and if you were behind them you had to stop also. It was a nightmare.
          I do not object to religion at all but I cannot believe any more. I wish you well in your beliefs.

          2. I lost mine when I was 17 and my mother didn’t speak to me for weeks. So I have been faithless for 50 years. Does that make me a bad person? I don’t think so; just because I don’t pray for someone, doesn’t mean I don’t care. Prayers are thoughts after all and vice versa. By praying, one is communicating with their god. When I keep someone in my thoughts, I feel as though I am going straight to the source and skipping the “exchange”.
            edit as I made myself out to be younger than wot I is:-(

          3. You are a good person and like me full of doubt.

            I know you are highly literate and would ask you to read ‘Mere Christianity’ by C S Lewis,

            Also ‘A Gradual Awakening ‘ by Stephen Levine,

            Then ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ by Victor E Frankl and the ‘Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas’ by Machado de Assis (published in England as Epitaph of a Small Winner, I have the original Penguin paperback now falling to bits and replaced by a hardback copy.).

          4. Thanks for that list, Corrie. I may read a title or two. I have read the Victor Frankl book but it was a long time ago.

          5. You are a good person and like me full of doubt.

            I know you are highly literate and would ask you to read ‘Mere Christianity’ by C S Lewis,

            Also ‘A Gradual Awakening ‘ by Stephen Levine,

            Then ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ by Victor E Frankl and the ‘Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas’ by Machado de Assis (published in England as Epitaph of a Small Winner, I have the original Penguin paperback now falling to bits and replaced by a hardback copy.).

          6. I fully understand your position. I have always had my doubts about Christianity as practised.

            I suppose old age and deeper learning have caused me to reassess the arguments for and against my faith.

            I make no apologies and remain your sincere friend.

    3. Where are the troops of Midian when most you need to smite them?

      Christian, dost thou see them on the holy ground,
      How the troops of Midian prowl and prowl around?
      Christian, up and smite them, counting gain but loss;
      Smite them by the merit of the holy cross.

      1. I do believe PG Wodehouse used that in one of the Blandings Castle books. To keep an eye on who might be after the Empress of Blandings.
        “Troops of Midian prowl and prowl around.”

  138. An early good morning to all.
    Up to pump bilges and realised I’d not left the paper money & tokens outside for the paper delivery bloke.
    As the DT was awake too, I did the logical thing and made a couple of mugs of tea!

  139. Hmm.
    An interesting read from Larry P. Arnn, President of Hillsdale College:-

    The following is adapted from a speech delivered at a Hillsdale College reception in Overland Park, Kansas, on November 18, 2021.

    Here are two questions pertinent to our times: (1) How would you reduce the greatest free republic in history to despotism in a short time? and (2) How would you stop that from happening? The answer to the first question has been provided in these last two disastrous years. The answer to the second has begun to emerge in recent months. Both are worthy of study.

    Reducing a Great Republic to Despotism

    To establish despotism in a nation like ours, you might begin, if you were smart, by building a bureaucracy of great complexity that commands a large percentage of the resources of the nation. You might give it rule-making powers, distributed across many agencies and centers inside the cabinet departments of government, as well as in 20 or more “independent” agencies—meaning independent of elected officials, and thus independent of the people.

    This much has been done. It would require a doctoral thesis to list all the ways that rules are made in our federal government today, which would make for boring reading. The truth is that very few people not directly involved know how all this works. Although civics education is practically banned in America, most people still know what the Congress is and how its members are elected. But how many know how the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) came to be, under what authority it operates, and who is its head? Here is a clue: it is not Anthony Fauci.

    The rest is here:-
    https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/the-way-out/

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