Saturday 8 January: Resources poured into Covid while heart disease and cancer remain the big killers

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its comments facility (now reinstated, but we prefer ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

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

500 thoughts on “Saturday 8 January: Resources poured into Covid while heart disease and cancer remain the big killers”

  1. Morning all! I’m 81 today and Shirley Bassey is 85. Elvis would have been 87. Imagine!

    2. Happy birthday! I am 66 next month, and it is sobering to thing that anyone older than me is of retirement age, and that I must rely now entirely on the expertise of those younger than me, and often a lot younger than me.

      I remember encountering in my youth the grumpiness of old folk convinced that the world had gone to the dogs once left in the hands of people like me.

      1. Morning Jeremy and everyone. Happy Birthday rough – One over the Eighty is some achievement!

        Reading Nottl daily, and your last sentence Jeremy, one might be forgiven for thinking the grumpies may have had a point!

        Have a good day all – I’m off for a day of DIY……

      2. I just received a letter from HMRC inviting me to apply for my pension from April. Must apply for a bus pass too.

    6. There’s still a lot of life left in you yet!
      Happy Birthday and have a good’un.

    10. Happy birthday you old square, enjoy some cubed root, more powers to your elbow.
      Enjoy many more.

      (Edit pressed return too soon, sorry)

    11. Happy birthday RC. I thought the arrival of my three-score-and-ten a few months ago was more than enough! Have a very good day, and many more of them. And don’t overdo the clubbing this evening.

    19. Happy Birthday, roughcommon! And many more to come. Have a lovely day, sunshine all the way!

    1. Morning, Elsie. Do you know what it’s doing outside? I haven’t opened the blinds and I’ I’m too comfy on my recliner to get up and look.😎

      1. Not only are you a Silly Sausage, Korky, you are a very Lazy Silly Sausage too!. Lol.

        But to answer your question, it’s still dry out although the forecast is for rain all day

        1. Thank you. Sounds like rain now. I’ll stir when the first coffee has worked its way through my system.🙄

  12. Where’s the tumbril when one needs it?

    Revealed: Newly knighted millionaire former PM Tony Blair and his wife claimed almost £80,000 in taxpayer funds to cover the wages of staff at Lady Blair’s law firm
    Tony and Cherie Blair claimed almost £80,000 from the British furlough scheme
    That is despite the former Labour Prime Minister and his wife’s huge wealth
    A spokesman said they had £76,000 to cover staff wages at Lady Blair’s law firm
    Meanwhile Sir Tony’s wealth on its own is estimated at anything up to £50million
    It came as a petition to strip him of his knighthood passed one million signatures

    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/01/07/23/52675795-10380485-Tony_and_Cherie_Blair_pictured_together_claimed_almost_80_000_fr-m-74_1641598444585.jpg

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10380485/Blairs-claimed-80-000-taxpayer-funds-furlough-cash-despite-private-wealth.html

      1. I despise them, but if the rules allowed it, they are as entitled as any others. I am certain there are numerous examples of the very wealthy getting piles of leaves from Sunak’s magic money tree.

        1. Quite so. Hands up anyone who pays a penny more income tax than they are required to. I’m here all day.

  14. RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: There’s one rule for the woke, another for the rest of us. Colston statue vandals’ acquittal shows the world really HAS gone stark, staring mad
    *
    *
    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/01/06/22/52634853-10376803-image-a-62_1641506577963.jpg
    Who can forget Met officers skateboarding and dancing with XR demonstrators who brought London to a standstill, closing streets and bridges for days on end
    *
    *
    *
    Following this week’s verdict, no doubt Left-wing lawyers everywhere will be lining up to argue that others accused of criminal damage should be found not guilty because they were motivated by anti-racism.

    Will the idiot convicted of daubing ‘Racist’ on Winston Churchill’s statue in Parliament Square during the last round of BLM demos be entitled to have his conviction overturned on appeal?

    (If Churchill was such a racist, why were so many West Indians christened Winston?)

    Will it cease to be an offence for someone to swing from the Cenotaph in Whitehall, provided he claims that it is a legitimate protest against colonial wars?
    *
    *
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10376803/RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-world-really-gone-stark-staring-mad.html

  15. School that cancelled JK Rowling and replaces her with Kelly Holmes is ridiculed because of Olympic legend’s own controversial comments about transgender athletes
    Boswells School ditched JK Rowling as house name for Olympian Kelly Holmes
    Students and staff complained about her mocking term ‘people who menstruate’
    It has now emerged that Dame Kelly tackled a similar issue two years ago

    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/01/05/22/52593233-0-image-m-43_1641423191327.jpg

    The former middle-distance runner appeared to show solidarity towards her under-fire predecessor yesterday by describing her as a ‘brilliant, world-renowned author’.

    Her April 2019 tweet, posted during the South African Athletics Championships, said ‘have a trans category if need be but even better a trans games’ to avoid a ‘backlash and abuse… from spectators’.

    The Boswells School was lambasted online over the switch in role models, with one person commenting: ‘Seems like a weird decision given that Holmes has publicly stated the same views previously anyway.’

    Another said: ‘Cancel culture at its finest. Utterly moronic and once again we see women’s rights being eroded.’

    1. The school I taught in had 4 houses- they were named after local worthies who had contributed to the school in some way. Not just money either. The house I was in was named after the councilor who was the primary mover in getting the school built. She wanted a secondary school for girls and campaigned for it. Her name was Beatrice Wignall and the school was known locally as Wiggie’s School.

  16. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    Colston rumbles on. I think I read that the Attorney General is now involved, although it is hard to see how.

    SIR – Much has been said about the jury decision to acquit in the trial about the toppling of Colston’s statue in Bristol. The verdict went against the judge’s explanation of the evidence and the law. A retired judge, His Honour Nic Madge (Letters, January 7), says that jury decisions are sacrosanct.

    Each juror must have taken an oath to “faithfully try the defendant and give a true verdict according to the evidence”. The law was explained to them: that dislike of the statue was no justification for its damage. Is there no penalty for breaking this oath?

    David Hawkins
    Caerphilly, Glamorgan

    SIR – Wouldn’t it have been better if the police had done their job and prevented the removal and damage of public property in the first place?

    Jim Sproson
    Stockton-on-Tees, Co Durham

    SIR – My old Colston dishwasher is now deemed to be tainted by racism. So I plan to dispose of it in Bristol harbour and am looking for volunteers to help.

    Refreshments will be served.

    Peter Cheshire
    Limpsfield, Surrey

    The last of these has put a smile on my face!

  18. I am far more concerned about the vaccine than Covid. I hope people have learned not to trust politicians they do not have your interests at heart only their own. The odd ones that are ok you will always find on the back benches.

  19. Good morning all from a dark, damp & cold Derbyshire. 0°C just now on the yard thermometer and a light drizzle.

    1. Good morning to dark and damp Derbyshire from cold East Anglia.
      Derbyshire is very beautiful.

    2. Been pelting down for hours here, and blooming chilly. Very glad I got a good cycle ride in yesterday so I can lurk inside and catch up with correspondence with a clear conscience today.

  20. Welcome to the end of democracy. 8 January 2022.

    Wealth cannot rule on its own. Autocracy needs a proselytising class who can justify the rulers and salve the distressed souls of the lower orders. In medieval times, the Catholic Church served this role, essentially justifying the feudal order as the expression of divine will. Today’s version, a sort of clerisy or intelligentsia, is mostly not religious and consists of people from the upper bureaucracy, academia, and the culture and media industries.

    The new Nomenklatura with their Cultural Marxist Creed! Ironically only Russia offers the possibility of avoiding this fate!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/welcome-to-the-end-of-democracy

    1. Not just that, but once they extinguish the free middle classes, they will also turn off the tap of ingenuity that produced the industrial revolution. China, with a similar average IQ to the west, has never managed similar feats of invention; the difference is political freedom.
      The elites may be killing the goose that laid their golden eggs. They think they can manage the economy and run the population down gracefully. Go ahead and try, fools!

  21. Good morning from an Anglo Saxon Queen with blooded axe and pursed longbow.
    Happy New Year but it’ll be the same as the few previously no doubt .

    Its a cold murky day and I’m waiting for the husband to bring me a cup of tea and two rich tea biscuits.

    1. ‘Morning Ethel. Good to see you back. Have you been over-indulging in murder and mayhem? Is there a new year’s resolution to reduce the wholesale slaughter of Vikings perhaps and you now have time on your hands?

      1. Good morning Hugh . The longbow and axe are safely in the handbag.
        Only during those dark ages of freedom was a Saxon Queen free to fight Viking invaders in her own land. But I might ride my horse to parliament later and aim the longbow at Boris .

        2. God speed your mission, although you may find the H of C even more deserted on a Saturday…

  22. So the Telegraph YET AGAIN closes an article to comments when those comments contradict Government Policy:-

    Intensive care doctor tells Sajid Javid: this is why I’m refusing the Covid vaccine
    Steve James, of King’s College Hospital, said Health Secretary didn’t seem to agree that he had immunity from being ‘antibody’ positive

    By
    Will Bolton
    7 January 2022 • 6:34pm

    A hospital consultant has told the Health Secretary he refused to be vaccinated because he has immunity from being “antibody” positive after exposure to the virus.

    Steve James, a consultant anaesthetist at King’s College Hospital in London, who has worked in the ICU since early 2020 treating Covid patients, told Sajid Javid why he did not believe in vaccination.

    The Health Secretary politely expressed his disagreement and urged the public to get boosted during his visit.

    Mr James told the PA news agency he did not believe Covid-19 was causing “very significant problems” for young people, adding that his patients in the ICU had been “extremely overweight” with multiple other co-morbidities.

    He said the Health Secretary did not seem to agree with him but had listened to his opinion.

    “I wouldn’t say he agreed with me,” he said. “I had the feeling he was listening.”

    In December, MPs approved mandatory vaccinations for NHS and social care staff by April this year.

    During the visit on Friday, the Health Secretary said he wanted to thank NHS workers across the country for “the amazing work they’ve been doing throughout this pandemic but particularly during these current challenging times”.

    ‘Rocky few weeks ahead’
    But Mr Javid also warned hospital admissions were rising and that the NHS was facing a “rocky few weeks ahead”.

    He said: “We are in a stronger position than we were last year thanks to the vaccinations and the testing, we have boosted more people in this country than in any other country in Europe, we’ve got more antivirals per head than any other country in Europe, we’re testing more people per head than any other country in Europe.”

    He added: “The best thing anyone can do if they haven’t already is get boosted or get your first or second jab if you haven’t had one.”

    During the visit he said the intensive care unit for Covid patients had an estimated 70 per cent of patients unvaccinated and that this was a “reminder to us all” of the importance of vaccination.

    Asked about his reported opposition to relaxing international travel testing rules, Mr Javid said: “I want to see more travel open up – I want to see it being made as easy as it possibly can be and it should always be a balance of caution and approach”, adding the approach announced this week was the “right balance”.

    On hospitals declaring critical incidents, he said there was a need for health services to “work together” due to the “workforce pressures” hospitals are facing.

    Comments
    The Telegraph values your comments but kindly requests all posts are on topic, constructive and respectful. Please review our commenting policy.

    The conversation is now closed

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/01/07/intensive-care-doctor-tells-sajid-javid-refusing-covid-vaccine/

    2. Javid the Bald consistently pushing for people to have an injection of a potion that demonstrably doesn’t work. Ignores the latest report from Denmark, the disasters that are happening in Israel and across much of Europe. The agenda is not about health, it’s about take this potion, for reasons he dare not explain. No one should believe a word he says, especially about figures of infections. He is useless, no self respecting Health Secretary would promote a product that has killed and maimed so many. A responsible HS would have have abandoned it long ago.

  23. ‘Morning again.

    After Charles Moore’s previous column, in which he gave support to the Blair creature’s knighthood, I was in two minds about posting this, but here goes anyway, because it looks as though he has recovered from his momentary lapse:

    COMMENT
    The case for the ‘Colston Four’ was not based on facts, but on political feelings

    If juries become auxiliaries of the sort of extremist politics that loves making trouble, they will no longer be pillars of our liberties

    CHARLES MOORE
    7 January 2022 • 9:30pm

    ABristol jury this week controversially acquitted the four accused of causing criminal damage to the statue of Edward Colston, the 17th-century slave trader. After the verdict, many people, from Jacob Rees-Mogg Leftwards, have reminded us that the jury system is a pillar of our liberties.

    It certainly is. But instead of repeating this as a piety, one must state why it is so. It is not because citizens are well-versed in law: we are not, and cannot be expected to be. Nor is it because citizens should deal out punishments: judges, not juries, decide the sentence.

    It is because our history teaches us that a semi-random selection of our fellows is capable of judging facts after hearing the arguments on both sides. Twelve such men and women are probably better at this than legal professionals, who are much remoter from ordinary people and likelier to become agents of state power.

    That, at least, is what we in Britain think. In countries such as France, where the state is more revered and juries have only a marginal existence, they think our system is strange.

    In a way, it is. I have never served on a jury, but I have talked to many who have. All of them tell me in general terms of imperfections – jurors too eager to reach a verdict in time for lunch, or who think they are engaged in detective work rather than deciding on the evidence presented, or who have such a horror of a particular crime (eg, paedophilia) that they too readily assume guilt.

    But my friends usually report that the system corrects itself as it goes along, because the more conscientious jurors get the others to focus. None of them says we should get rid of juries.

    Since juries matter so much, however, we need to ward off threats to them. The most obvious ones come from intimidation or corruption. In a very divided society, this is a big problem.

    In Northern Ireland 50 years ago, terrorists threatened jurors who might convict them, and a jury dominated by one of the two communities would often be unfair to an accused from the other. So judge-only “Diplock courts” were introduced in serious criminal cases. This was undesirable, but necessary. Diplock courts were abolished, except in exceptional circumstances, in 2007, when the Troubles had clearly died down.

    Such threats are not a constant problem in Britain today, thank goodness. But there is a growing tendency – the Colston statue case is a prime example – of court cases being used as political theatre. Little standing armies of protest, often loosely associated with Black Lives Matter or Extinction Rebellion, wander the country looking for trouble.

    If they are arrested, they deliberately contradict themselves. On the one hand, they proclaim their innocence of any crime. On the other, they proclaim their courage in defying the forces of law.

    If the matter comes to court, they turn up in considerable numbers with vigils, placards and (as happened this week) a good deal of noise in the public gallery. When interviewed by the media, they always claim they are enacting the will of “the people of Bristol” (or wherever).

    Note how unfair this is to those who actually do represent the people. Marvin Rees, the elected (and re-elected) Labour mayor of Bristol, is the most senior black person holding directly elected office anywhere in the United Kingdom. After the acquittal of the “Colston Four” (all of them white, two of them originally from out of town), Mr Rees said that Bristol was not the place “to indulge your own fantasies of being a revolutionary”. Unfortunately, it looks as if it is.

    The more the protesters spread the story, in court and in the street, that they speak for the community – with media and social media fanning such claims – the harder it becomes for a normal local citizen who finds him/herself on a jury to do the job properly.

    It is alarming to have that level of attention and potential anger directed at the decision of which you make up a twelfth. You would be brave not to worry about being called a racist if you arrived at the “wrong” verdict.

    Probably for that reason the judge, Peter Blair, directed the jury that the public excitement about the case was not relevant to their task. Their sole duty was to decide what were the facts.

    One has to go carefully here. No one but the jurors themselves knows what was said in their room, and it is right that we should not.

    The accused were undoubtedly present at the statue’s fall and enthusiastically participatory. One, Milo Ponsford, admitted turning up with 15-20 metres of rope, tying it round Colston, giving a signal that it was time to tug, joining in the pulling, jumping for joy on the fallen statue and messaging immediately afterwards: “Yeah, we pulled down the statue, ha, ha, ha.” But perhaps the jury felt the case that they had caused criminal damage had not been properly made out.

    What one can say, however, is that counsel for the defence and the accused themselves used the court not to persuade the jury about the facts, but for another purpose.

    True, they made half-hearted attempts at distinctions between being happy to pull down the statue and trying to cause it actual, positive harm, but their real message was that they had been “preventing further harm to the people of Bristol” (Ponsford), that the statue had been like “having a Hitler statue in front of a Holocaust survivor … if not worse” and constituted a “hate crime” (Sage Willoughby, another of the accused). Therefore, it was asserted, the jury needed to get on “the right side of history” (defence counsel).

    The verdict of the jury suggests that it took such words seriously. The trouble is that such words do not express facts. They are words of polemic and politics.

    Rhian Graham, another of the accused, told the court that it had been “poetic justice” when a black man had stood on the plinth from which Colston had been deposed. Perhaps, but it was not justice in the meaning of the word in a court of law.

    If juries are to mete out “poetic” justice, then they will no longer be pillars of our liberties. They will have become auxiliaries of the sort of extremist politics that loves making trouble and cannot win elections.

    I do have one smidgeon of sympathy with the accused, however. Jake Skuse, the fourth of them, noted in court that the police stood by during Colston’s deposition and did nothing. “How can I think it’s a crime?” he asked. He appeared to mean not only that he thought it the right thing to do, but also that the authorities were letting him do it.

    I fear Mr Skuse is right that there is now an element of official permission in attitudes to such protests, which is why the Government is tightening the legislation in reaction.

    This is permission not only in terms of policing, but in the attitude of the law itself. More than 20 years ago, the Macpherson report on the killing of Stephen Lawrence defined a racist incident as “any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person”. Such a definition, and the related concept of “hate crime”, elevated an individual’s feelings over evidential fact.

    This created a problem of which the Colston case is only the latest example – the criminal law turned into a political battlefield, with justice the loser.

    * * *

    No BTL comments allowed; perhaps the DT is treading too carefully?

  27. 343765+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Saturday 8 January: Resources poured into Covid while heart disease and cancer remain the big killer.

    Tis a political worldwide ( we know best) promotion for fools with herd manipulation high on the agenda ( one instance) the fat turk, the tory (ino) leader is supply his kinfolk in turkey with duvets finance whilst
    we have indigenous being found dead on a pavement mattress in HULL ENGLAND perhaps there is a tory (ino)
    party current member / voter,maybe in HULL, who could explain just what their endgame is, what are they trying to achieve ?

  29. Cat amongst the pigeons time? Redactions Я Us will come in to play, no doubt.

    INSTEAD OF FDA’S REQUESTED 500 PAGES PER MONTH, COURT ORDERS FDA TO PRODUCE PFIZER COVID-19 DATA AT RATE OF 55,000 PAGES PER MONTH!
    A great win for transparency that removes a stranglehold “health” authorities have had on data independent scientists need to offer solutions and address serious issues with the vaccine program.
    Aaron Siri
    Jan 6

    On behalf of a client, my firm requested that the FDA produce all the data submitted by Pfizer to license its Covid-19 vaccine. The FDA asked the Court for permission to only be required to produce at a rate of 500 pages per month, which would have taken over 75 years to produce all the documents.
    I am pleased to report that a federal judge soundly rejected the FDA’s request and ordered the FDA to produce all the data at a clip of 55,000 pages per month!

    This is a great win for transparency and removes one of the strangleholds federal “health” authorities have had on the data needed for independent scientists to offer solutions and address serious issues with the current vaccine program – issues which include waning immunity, variants evading vaccine immunity, and, as the CDC has confirmed, that the vaccines do not prevent transmission.

    No person should ever be coerced to engage in an unwanted medical procedure. And while it is bad enough the government violated this basic liberty right by mandating the Covid-19 vaccine, the government also wanted to hide the data by waiting to fully produce what it relied upon to license this product until almost every American alive today is dead. That form of governance is destructive to liberty and antithetical to the openness required in a democratic society.

    In ordering the release of the documents in a timely manner, the Judge recognized that the release of this data is of paramount public importance and should be one of the FDA’s highest priorities. He then aptly quoted James Madison as saying a “popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy” and John F. Kennedy as explaining that a “nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”

  30. I was doing a course on war time poets later in January but its been cancelled as the lecturer is seriously ill to do the course, even by zoom. I assume the poor chap has an actual illness instead of the national covid obsession that’s taken over the country. I hope the lecturer gets better and whatever is wrong with him is being treated and correctly, that its not thought of as lesser of importance because of covid .

  31. Good morning ,

    We are experiencing a real old fashioned SW blow , the front windows are dryish , but the back garden and patio and windows are being battered , noise coming down the chimney. dogs timidly ventured into the garden , dog towels now drying off!

    The lambs and their mothers are in the field near us , why don’t farmers provide shelter for them , hedgerows offer no protection do they?

  33. FYI
    FYI
    FYI
    Dear Friends,

    From the depth of our hearts, a belated thank you for signing the Great Barrington Declaration. With over 850,000 signatures, together we opened up the pandemic debate. While many governments continued with their failed lockdown and other restrictive policies, things have moved in the right direction. For example, most schools have re-opened, most countries prioritized older people for vaccination and Florida rejected restrictions in favor of focused protection without the negative consequences that lockdowners predicted.

    While occasionally censored, we have not been silenced. Since authoring the Declaration in October 2020, the three of us have actively advocated for focused protection through social media, op-eds and interviews on, for example, vaccine passports and natural immunity.

    We have also launched Collateral Global, a charity staffed with academics from across the world to document and disseminate information about the collateral damage of the restrictive measures so that we don’t repeat the mistakes of this pandemic and are able to inform future policy with evidence and analysis. Collateral Global is crowdfunding so that this work can be done to the highest possible standards. You are welcome to join us and help us in those efforts at http://www.collateralglobal.org, as well as follow us on Twitter, etc. We are also planning an initiative on scientific freedom soon.

    With enormous gratitude,

    Jay Bhattacharya Sunetra Gupta Martin Kulldorff

    Twitter: @gbdeclaration, @collateralglbl,
    @DrJBhattacharya, @SunetraGupta, @MartinKulldorff
    Facebook: GreatBarringtonDeclaration
    LinkedIn: Jay Bhattacharya, Martin Kulldorff

    PS: We are just three scientists, not an organization, but we may send you a couple of updates per year. If you would like to unsubscribe, follow the link here.

    Great Barrington Declaration LLC
    1621 Central Avenue
    Cheyenne, WY 82001, USA

  34. Legendary quotes on France

    When that little ponce Macron, standing over the graves of over 50,000 dead young ANZACS, puffs his little chest out belittling Australia’s Prime Minister have a read of these quotes..

    ‘France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country. France has usually been governed by prostitutes.’
    Mark Twain

    ‘I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me.’
    General George S. Patton

    ‘Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion.’
    Norman Schwartzkopf

    ‘We can stand here like the French, or we can do something about it.’
    Marge Simpson

    ‘As far as I’m concerned, war always means failure.’
    Jacques Chirac, President of France

    ‘The only time France wants us to go to war is when the German Army is sitting in Paris sipping coffee.’
    Regis Philbin

    ‘You know, the French remind me a little bit of an aging actress of the 1940s who was still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn’t have the face for it.’
    John McCain, U.S. Senator from Arizona

    ‘The last time the French asked for ‘more proof’ it came marching into Paris under a German flag.’
    David Letterman

    ‘War without France would be like … World War II.’
    Unknown

    ‘The favourite bumper sticker in Washington D.C. right now is one that says ‘First Iraq , then France .”
    Tom Brokaw

    ‘What do you expect from a culture and a nation that exerted more of its national will fighting against Disney World and Big Macs than the Nazis?’
    Dennis Miller

    ‘It is important to remember that the French have always been there when they needed us.’
    Alan Kent

    ‘They’ve taken their own precautions against al-Qaida. To prepare for an attack, each Frenchman is urged to keep duct tape, a white flag, and a three-day supply of mistresses in the house.’
    Argus Hamilton

    ‘Somebody was telling me about the French Army rifle that was being advertised on eBay the other day –the description was, ‘Never shot. Dropped once.”
    Rep. Roy Blunt, MO

    ‘The French will only agree to go to war when we’ve proven we’ve found truffles in Iraq ‘
    Dennis Miller

    ‘Do you know it only took Germany three days to conquer France in WWII? And that’s because it was raining.’
    John Xereas, Manager, DC Improv

    French Ban Fireworks at Euro Disney

    (AP), Paris , March 5, 2003

    The French Government announced today that it is imposing a ban on the use of fireworks at Euro Disney. The decision comes the day after a nightly fireworks display at the park, located just 30 miles outside of Paris, caused the soldiers at a nearby French Army garrison to surrender to a group of Czech tourists.

          3. It became part of France just before he was born – otherwise he’d have been Italian.

          6. He’s the reason the french had to pretend to like frogs legs, snails and other bits of left overs like animal intestines and ducks gizzards.
            As they marched his army took all the food they could from from the locals and left them with nothing.

      2. Brill.
        ‘War without France would be like … World War II.’
        Unknown.

        French Army rifle advertised on eBay –
        Pristine condition in it’s original wrapper…..

        Rep. Roy Blunt, MO

        1. Our old neighbour a then retried Head Master, was once in Paris he was discussing the architecture with a local and when the Local started to derided the architecture of our capital compare to that of Paris Old John replied, “Well as you may remember, Paris was never bombed was it” ?

  35. 343765+ up ticks,

    One must ask WHY they would do the decent indigenous people of the United Kingdom such a favour ?

    UK BORDER FORCE THREATENS STRIKE OVER PLAN TO MAKE THEM ENFORCE BORDER

    2. Shocking that they’re asked to do that, next they’ll be telling the NHS that they must provide a health service.

    1. We haven’t seen him here recently – we hope all is well. Anyone got any news about him?

          5. We went to the Elvis exhibition at the Millennium dome extension a few years ago, the only thing I couldn’t find was any Blue sued shoes.
            Not that I would have stepped on them……….

    2. Happy Birthday, Rough Common, have a lovely day, wherever you are! I hope the sun is shining for you! (It certainly isn’t here, in the East).

      1. Good morning, Poppiesmum

        Your post reminds me of one of Jake Thackray’s brilliant songs which shows his ability to place high comedy and tragedy side by side. His song Personal Column is a good example of this. This line in the Agony Column of a news paper hits you hard when juxtaposed with surgical supports:

        Happy Birthday darling Sheila from your Mummy and Your Daddy – wherever you are

        [if this link does not work then google – Personal Column Jake Thackray – and you will find it and be able to play it.]

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_fgJElYqNY

        1. Made me laugh – I used to like listening to Jake Thackeray. That one reminded me of the pleas at the end of the bbc news broadcasts years ago “would David Smith, last heard from twenty years ago, please contact John Smith, who is dangerously ill.” As a child, I used to worry about these missing people and wonder if contact had been made.

          I found this interesting. https://thequietus.com/articles/29603-jake-thackray

    3. Happy Birthday Rough Common ,

      I expect you are residing in a nice warm part of the world , because here is cold miserable and very wet .

      Wherever you are , enjoy your special day .

  38. Three white men sentenced to life in prison for Ahmaud Arbery’s murder. 8 January 2022.

    A judge in Georgia sentenced Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan to life in prison on Friday for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was running through their mostly white neighborhood in February 2020 when they chased him down and killed him.

    No doubt we shall see headlines saying “Three Brown Men Gaoled for Rape” in the near future.

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/07/ahmaud-arbery-murder-three-men-sentenced-life-in-prison

    1. The interesting point is that this is headline news in the UK. Why? Three blokes jailed for a murder committed over 3000 miles from the UK. Who cares?
      How about some headlines and in depth journalism on the murders being committed in the UK?

  39. Laff

    The EU says it’s not omicron unless it comes from the Omicrônne region of France. Otherwise it’s just sparkling covid.

        1. I don’t pop my cork for everyone I meet……….
          I believe it’s Dame Shirley’s Birthday today. On BBC 4 last night there was a lovely programme about her life.
          But filmed nearly 30 years ago.

    3. 🙂 That should p!ss on Micron’s chips.
      Change the name to the more accurate Omnicon – based on the fact that far too many people have taken in by the latest scamdemic.

  40. ‘Keep your subs away from our communication cables’: New head of the armed forces Admiral Sir Tony Radakin warns Russia that severing crucial lines will be seen as act of war as tensions continue to rise.

    Admiral Sir Anthony Radakin reportedly said any Russian attempt to sever communication cables would be seen as an act of war
    The head of armed forces also warned of a serious rise in submarine activity
    And Liz Truss yesterday called on Russia to end ‘malign activity’ towards Ukraine.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10380825/Sir-Tony-Radakin-warns-Russia-attempts-sever-communication-cables-seen-act-war.html?ito=push-notification&ci=RkI0Xl-WAw&cri=NS0twm1S8V&si=26738248&ai=10380825

    1. As I’ve mentioned before, I suspect Radakin will be an even bigger disaster than Carter!

      1. If they’re as efficient as Network Rail, Essex County Council, Colchester Borough Council and sundry contractors in discovering pipes and cables under a road junction, we can rest easy.
        However, I have horrible feeling the Russians may have learnt from the Chernobyl fustercluck are not that disorganised.

    3. Admirals should look for calm waters, not storms. (Chinese proverb.) We have a Diplomatic Service who could politely ask the Russians not to damage our property as they will be asked to pay for any damage.
      An “act of war” is not really defined anywhere any more, but when an admiral says it, it sounds like a threat to use nuclear weapons.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casus_belli

      1. 343765+ up ticks,
        Afternoon W,
        You surely must be aware it is not the size that counts ….

  42. Yo All

    Council pays £4m to pub landlord after 20-year feud

    Geoff Monks lost his home, health and business and ended up in prison as a council pursued him over food poisoning allegations.

    In the latest twist in this protracted case, Mr Monks’s legal team, Laytons ETL Global, issued a statement claiming the guest he ejected
    from his pub was at the time involved in a sexual relationship with Roger Heath, the council’s chief executive responsible for the “final
    decision to prosecute” the landlord.

    A just result

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/07/council-pays-4m-pub-landlord-20-year-feud/

    2. 20 years it’s taken that poor chap to get some justice. Even longer if we take into account how long it will be before the jobsworths pay for their spiteful actions.

        1. Give ’em ten years……to find their fellow Mason didn’t do anything remotely illegal….

      1. I doubt it. We all know that if you’re in the establishment you’re untouchable and get away with anything.

    5. This story is so bizarre. It seems incredible that it could have happened or that it went on so long.

      1. One good thing I must say about Stephen Nolan : he makes me look relatively slim.

        1. This effect is well known to women; nobody wants to be the girl about whom everyone else thinks “well, at least I’m not as fat as her.” Sad but true.

        1. There was a woman in the pub yesterday that had my fingers itching for a harpoon. (MH would now ask if he could get me a saucer of milk.)

      3. Still pushing the line that people who have not taken the potion are a health threat. Where is their peer reviewed evidence or does the opinion of severely obese radio hacks trump the scientists?

      4. This is the same Stephen Nolan who ran dementedly around a Belfast petrol station forecourt angrily confronting the unmasked. He’s just a fat, loud-mouthed yob.

      5. Much though I hate to spoil a good rant, Nolan has lost 8 stone in weight since then by changing his diet! I still don’t like the cretin, but fair’s fair!

    2. So the government just sits back and says that the tennis authority do not set the rules, their letter is meaningless.

      In other words they say Game, set and match – pi$$ off.

    1. Good morning, ogga and thank you for posting this

      This is a very interesting video which I recommend Nottlers to look at.

      I see that a chap called Robert Stapleford has down voted your post. I would be interested to hear what it is in the video to which he objects.

      1. He seems to do it quite often, Rastus! His profile is the ghastly “Deal with it!”😎

        1. 343765+up ticks,

          Afternoon SM,
          It has lost any meaning when it sides with the paedophile, no worries from me.

        2. Yes. By all means disagree, but say why. Otherwise it’s pointless and should be ignored.

      2. 343765+ up ticks,

        Morning R,
        The question is was it staged to pave the way for
        the treacherous political pillocks to take to the pill trail, there’s untapped wonga there.

        Months ago I did say pills as a better option, the taker would have some personal control, once the “jab”is in it cannot be retrieved, only in many cases , suffered.

    2. I confess that when I saw this (and a slightly longer version) last night I was flabbergasted. How was it aired on Sky, I wondered. As the man says after this video, how come?

      1. 343765+ up ticks,

        Morning M,
        Maybe the doctors oath
        should be brought into play when needed, sworn on both bible / Koran when making such an important statement.
        “to the best of my knowledge & supported by my training ” etc,etc.

      2. Was it a spur of the moment that back-fired? A misjudgment? Are ‘they’ so out of touch that Javid expected the standing-around staff to leap in and agree with him? Or was he paving the way for the new tablet/capsule medication we understand is on the horizon?

          1. Pity he didn’t say that to require vaccination was the act of a fascist state, and that he would have no truck with it.

          2. These evil politicians need standing up to and given the heave ho. We need far more of the masses to stand up to them given that they have all been conned into taking vaccine that does not work, that never had its trial for long term effects. It MUST be your free choice to decide what the state can inject you with. This doctor must not be sacked.

          3. Of course, Spamhead Jibjab, with all his medical training and background in first-hand medical knowledge, gleaned from working at the coal-face, allows him to disagree, after all, he IS the goto guru.

    1. Exit the Euro – into a national digital currency….nice little trap set and sprung.

      1. …and that, with the demise of the Euro will cause many nation states to renege and cause the much-awaited demise of the EU itself.

        Bring it on!

        1. No point exchanging the EU for a digital currency slavery though – nothing will change.

          2. It won’t be national currency in the sense that we understood it in the past if it’s completely controlled by central banks though.

          4. Worth mentioning:

            When we bought our house in Brittany in 1988 we paid 600,000 French Francs for it. There were 12.5 French Francs to the pound so in sterling it cost us a bit more than £50,000 after commissions and fees..

            Since then the pound has fallen against the currency used in France, now called the euro, by about 40%.

            So are we deluding ourselves by saying that the pound is better than the European currencies when it has performed so very much worse than the French Franc or Euro over the last 33 years?

    1. Barcelona has a history of socialism and social democracy etc. Remember the Spanish Civil War.

        1. George Orwell, Ernest Hemingway and Laurie Lee were all inspired to write about the Spanish Civil War.

    2. No doubt these will be great books, well researched and full of conviction.

      And will be completely absurd, unworkable tripe that require the suppression of the human condition, the destruction of markets and the impoverishment of millions.

      1. 343765+ up ticks,
        Afternoon W,
        If the price & thickness are right then it could be employed beneath the short leg under bed next to the floral guzunder.

  48. While some may still want to play Left/Right schoolyard stuff it is profoundly to be hoped that they will, of whichever tribe, all rapidly understand that the reality of Global totalitarianism is nearer and nearer, fed among other things by the idiocy of debased party hatreds that Globalism has encouraged for decades. That totalitarianism is a greater threat to us and our children than any bug, existent or non-existent.
    Dr Robert Malone states it succinctly here:

    https://www.tarableu.com/robert-malone-a-sober-and-courageous-assessment-think-global-act-local/

    1. 343765+ up ticks,

      Afternoon JWE,
      Agree wholeheartedly, with bells on.

      Regarding the lab/lib/con close shop “vote in to keep out” party first regardless of consequence voting pattern has kept us in the political shite bog especially these last four decades.

  49. While some may still want to play Left/Right schoolyard stuff it is profoundly to be hoped that they will, of whichever tribe, all rapidly understand that the reality of Global totalitarianism is nearer and nearer, fed among other things by the idiocy of debased party hatreds that Globalism has encouraged for decades. That totalitarianism is a greater threat to us and our children than any bug, existent or non-existent.
    Dr Robert Malone states it succinctly here:

    https://www.tarableu.com/robert-malone-a-sober-and-courageous-assessment-think-global-act-local/

  50. ‘Queen would be asked to help pay off Prince Andrew’s accuser if sex abuse case settled
    Monarch has been funding Duke of York’s legal fees and could be called on to contribute if he makes a deal to keep case from going to trial’

    If the Queen has some spare money then we should reduce this year’s Civil List payment. Whatever route it takes to get there that is our money and I take a very dim view of the thought of it being used to pay off a sex offender’s accuser.

    It should go to trial and let the truth be told, not hidden behind some grubby little deal.

    2. If Prince Andrew did not have illegal sex with this woman then he should not pay her one penny. If he pays hers off while still professing that he is innocent then he will have lost all credibility and all integrity.

    3. Be careful, Iffy, until you have a sight of her audited accounts. When you do, check the income tax she pays on the income from her properties and the civil list. You might detect a discrepancy.

      And that’s without the revenue that she and the Royal Family generate for the country from millions of visitors.

    4. “… let the truth be told …”. Come off it, The truth will never be revealed. There are far too many wealthy and slob-like other people involved. Prince Andrew has had sex with a young woman, just as many other men would have if offered the chance. In the U.K. her age would not have been a problem. She seemed to come back for seconds and thirds from what I’ve read although, to be fair, I haven’t read everything I’m not that interested.

    5. It may not come from the Civil List, which is granted by the government for the upkeep of state buildings and the performance of state duties, as I understand it. HM does have income of her own from private property and it would probably come from that.

  52. Liberal parents who let their children smoke cannabis are warned that the drug is causing up to a THIRD of psychosis cases in London and strong ‘skunk’ can cause schizophrenia-like symptoms
    Sir Robin Murray has sounded the alarm over the use of highly-potent ‘skunk’
    Expert said drug is behind 30 per cent of his psychosis patients in south London
    King’s College London professor runs clinic dedicated to psychosis caused by cannabis
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10381531/Liberal-parents-let-kids-smoke-cannabis-warned-induce-schizophrenia-like-psychosis.html?login#readerCommentsCommand-message-field

    BTL

    The cannabis people smoked in the 1960s was relatively harmless and not addictive. But new types such as skunk, polecat, and white weasel are very dangerous and can mess with your mind. I don’t know if readers of the DM ever read novels but I do recommend Sebastian Faulks’s book entitled ‘A Week in December’ which gives a good account of the stronger forms of the drug!

      1. Not my bag, man. Some of my friends at university were potheads but none of them became addicted.

        A very sad case however involves a chap with whom I briefly shared a house in London in the early 1970s, His son was said to have been an extremely talented actor and when he started puffing the weed his father thought it would be hypocritical to say much about it. Needless to say the boy moved on to harder stuff and ended up with a serious addiction. He is now in his mid 40s and has never held down a job in his life and has had to spend much time in The Priory.

        1. Read the last words as “… had to spend muct time in the Tory Party.” – makes sense and explains a lot.

    2. Canada legalized pot several years ago and it is now available from pit shops on most high streets. No one is raising concerns about mental health issues caused by cannabis.

      There again, maybe it explains Trudeau.

      1. The cannabis industry is huge and very well established in the mainstream media – even in countries where cannabis is illegal. I heard this from a medical media contact.
        So in other words, any mental health problems caused by cannabis are unlikely to make headlines. I can’t believe they aren’t widespread, because I remember people talking about them anecdotally in the 80s.

  53. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/76086dbcbd62478b415719536a3fb6bcd973d106e49bbc10492dbf47d67a598c.png

    “The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest; but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.” – John F. Kennedy

    Electric Batteries Are Not Zero Emissions Power Sources By Bruce Haedrich

    When I saw the title of this lecture, especially with the picture of the scantily clad model, I couldn’t resist attending. The packed auditorium was abuzz with questions about the address; nobody seemed to know what to expect. The only hint was a large aluminum block sitting on a sturdy table on the stage. When the crowd settled down, a scholarly-looking man walked out and put his hand on the shiny block, “Good evening,” he said, “I am here to introduce NMC532-X,” and he patted the block, “we call him NM for short,” and the man smiled proudly.

    “NM is a typical electric vehicle (EV) car battery in every way except one; we programmed him to send signals of the internal movements of his electrons when charging, discharging, and in several other conditions. We wanted to know what it feels like to be a battery. We don’t know how it happened, but NM began to talk after we downloaded the program.

    Despite this ability, we put him in a car for a year and then asked him if he’d like to do presentations about batteries. He readily agreed on the condition he could say whatever he wanted. We thought that was fine, and so, without further ado, I’ll turn the floor over to NM,” the man turned and walked off the stage..

    “Good evening,” NM said. He had a slightly affected accent, and when he spoke, he lit up in different colors. “That cheeky woman on the marquee was my idea,” he said. “Were she not there, along with ‘naked’ in the title, I’d likely be speaking to an empty auditorium! I also had them add ‘shocking’ because it’s a favorite word amongst us batteries.” He flashed a light blue color as he laughed. “Sorry,” NM giggled then continued, “three days ago, at the start of my last lecture, three people walked out. I suppose they were disappointed there would be no dancing girls.

    But here is what I noticed about them. One was wearing a battery-powered hearing aid, one tapped on his battery-powered cell phone as he left, and a third got into his car, which would not start without a battery. So, I’d like you to think about your day for a moment; how many batteries do you rely on?”

    He paused for a full minute which gave us time to count our batteries. Then he went on, “Now, it is not elementary to ask, ‘what is a battery?’ I think Tesla said it best when they called us Energy Storage Systems. That’s important. We do not make electricity – we store electricity produced elsewhere, primarily by coal, uranium, natural gas-powered plants, or diesel-fueled generators. So, to say an EV is a zero-emission vehicle is not at all valid. Also, since forty percent of the electricity generated in the U.S. is from coal-fired plants, it follows that forty percent of the EVs on the road are coal-powered, n’est-ce pas?”

    He flashed blue again. “Einstein’s formula, E=MC2, tells us it takes the same amount of energy to move a five-thousand-pound gasoline-driven automobile a mile as it does an electric one. The only question again is what produces the power? To reiterate, it does not come from the battery; the battery is only the storage device, like a gas tank in a car.”

    He lit up red when he said that, and I sensed he was smiling. Then he continued in blue and orange. “Mr. Elkay introduced me as NMC532. If I were the battery from your computer mouse, Elkay would introduce me as double-A, if from your cell phone as CR2032, and so on. We batteries all have the same name depending on our design. By the way, the ‘X’ in my name stands for ‘experimental..’

    There are two orders of batteries, rechargeable, and single use. The most common single-use batteries are A, AA, AAA, C, D. 9V, and lantern types. Those dry-cell species use zinc, manganese, lithium, silver oxide, or zinc and carbon to store electricity chemically. Please note they all contain toxic, heavy metals. Rechargeable batteries only differ in their internal materials, usually lithium-ion, nickel-metal oxide, and nickel-cadmium.

    The United States uses three billion of these two battery types a year, and most are not recycled; they end up in landfills. California is the only state which requires all batteries be recycled. If you throw your small, used batteries in the trash, here is what happens to them.

    All batteries are self-discharging. That means even when not in use, they leak tiny amounts of energy. You have likely ruined a flashlight or two from an old, ruptured battery. When a battery runs down and can no longer power a toy or light, you think of it as dead; well, it is not. It continues to leak small amounts of electricity. As the chemicals inside it run out, pressure builds inside the battery’s metal casing, and eventually, it cracks. The metals left inside then ooze out. The ooze in your ruined flashlight is toxic, and so is the ooze that will inevitably leak from every battery in a landfill. All batteries eventually rupture; it just takes rechargeable batteries longer to end up in the landfill.

    In addition to dry cell batteries, there are also wet cell ones used in automobiles, boats, and motorcycles. The good thing about those is, ninety percent of them are recycled. Unfortunately, we do not yet know how to recycle batteries like me or care to dispose of single-use ones properly.

    But that is not half of it. For those of you excited about electric cars and a green revolution, I want you to take a closer look at batteries and windmills and solar panels. These three technologies share what we call environmentally destructive embedded costs.”

    NM got redder as he spoke. “Everything manufactured has two costs associated with it, embedded costs and operating costs. I will explain embedded costs using a can of baked beans as my subject.

    In this scenario, baked beans are on sale, so you jump in your car and head for the grocery store. Sure enough, there they are on the shelf for $1.75 a can. As you head to the checkout, you begin to think about the embedded costs in the can of beans.

    The first cost is the diesel fuel the farmer used to plow the field, till the ground, harvest the beans, and transport them to the food processor. Not only is his diesel fuel an embedded cost, so are the costs to build the tractors, combines, and trucks. In addition, the farmer might use a nitrogen fertilizer made from natural gas.

    Next is the energy costs of cooking the beans, heating the building, transporting the workers, and paying for the vast amounts of electricity used to run the plant. The steel can holding the beans is also an embedded cost. Making the steel can requires mining taconite, shipping it by boat, extracting the iron, placing it in a coal-fired blast furnace, and adding carbon. Then it’s back on another truck to take the beans to the grocery store. Finally, add in the cost of the gasoline for your car.

    But wait – can you guess one of the highest but rarely acknowledged embedded costs?” NM said, then gave us about thirty seconds to make our guesses. Then he flashed his lights and said, “It’s the depreciation on the 5000-pound car you used to transport one pound of canned beans!”

    NM took on a golden glow, and I thought he might have winked. He said, “But that can of beans is nothing compared to me! I am hundreds of times more complicated. My embedded costs not only come in the form of energy use; they come as environmental destruction, pollution, disease, child labor, and the inability to be recycled.”

    He paused, “I weigh one thousand pounds, and as you see, I am about the size of a travel trunk.” NM’s lights showed he was serious. “I contain twenty-five pounds of lithium, sixty pounds of nickel, 44 pounds of manganese, 30 pounds cobalt, 200 pounds of copper, and 400 pounds of aluminum, steel, and plastic. Inside me are 6,831 individual lithium-ion cells.

    It should concern you that all those toxic components come from mining. For instance, to manufacture each auto battery like me, you must process 25,000 pounds of brine for the lithium, 30,000 pounds of ore for the cobalt, 5,000 pounds of ore for the nickel, and 25,000 pounds of ore for copper. All told, you dig up 500,000 pounds of the earth’s crust for just – one – battery.”

    He let that one sink in, then added, “I mentioned disease and child labor a moment ago. Here’s why. Sixty-eight percent of the world’s cobalt, a significant part of a battery, comes from the Congo. Their mines have no pollution controls, and they employ children who die from handling this toxic material. Should we factor in these diseased kids as part of the cost of driving an electric car?” NM’s red and orange light made it look like he was on fire.

    “Finally,” he said, “I’d like to leave you with these thoughts. California is building the largest battery in the world near San Francisco, and they intend to power it from solar panels and windmills. They claim this is the ultimate in being ‘green,’ but it is not! This construction project is creating an environmental disaster. Let me tell you why.

    The main problem with solar arrays is the chemicals needed to process silicate into the silicon used in the panels. To make pure enough silicon requires processing it with hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrogen fluoride, trichloroethane, and acetone. In addition, they also need gallium, arsenide, copper-indium-gallium-diselenide, and cadmium-telluride, which also are highly toxic. Silicon dust is a hazard to the workers, and the panels cannot be recycled.

    Windmills are the ultimate in embedded costs and environmental destruction. Each weighs 1688 tons (the equivalent of 23 houses) and contains 1300 tons of concrete, 295 tons of steel, 48 tons of iron, 24 tons of fiberglass, and the hard to extract rare earths neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium. Each blade weighs 81,000 pounds and will last 15 to 20 years, at which time it must be replaced. We cannot recycle used blades. Sadly, both solar arrays and windmills kill birds, bats, sea life, and migratory insects.

    NM lights dimmed, and he quietly said, “There may be a place for these technologies, but you must look beyond the myth of zero emissions. I predict EVs and windmills will be abandoned once the embedded environmental costs of making and replacing them become apparent. I’m trying to do my part with these lectures.

    Thank you for your attention, good night, and good luck.” NM’s lights went out, and he was quiet, like a regular battery.

    2. Energy equivalent of the NHS “Free at the point of use”.
      Hydrogen is in the same bag, except less poisonous. It’s still an energy transfer system, and requires electricity or other fuel to create.

      1. …and they want you to buy cars fitted with those whopping great banks of Li-ion cells. No wonder it took firemen many hours and thousands of gallons of water to put out a fire in one of Musk’s Tesla cars,

      2. That fire is possibly nature telling the human species, “You’re not as clever as you fucking think you are!”

    4. That’s not even counting the emission of hydrogen, carbon dioxide and methane after eating the tin of beans.

    5. I caught an ad for the Spiderman film or rather, it was for the electric car featured in it. I had to laugh when it said, “and then it went quiet” – of course it did, it had run out of charge!

  54. Moving closer to a totalitarian state, the Canadian federal health minister has been airing his opinion that mandatory vaccinations will be introduced. It needs approval of the provinces though and Alberta very quickly came back with “Up yours”.

    At the moment (lockdowns permitting) if you are not vaccinated you cannot take a train or flight, cannot go to a restaurant, bar or sports event and you cannot visit someone in hospital.

    Even if you ignore the legality of such a draconian ensure, what do they expect to achieve by this? With all of those restrictions, if they ain’t vaxed now, being told they must isn’t going to persuade them.

    1. Perhaps they should ask if these draconian measures are doing any good. Same question, France and Italy.

    2. I saw something early this morning that Ontario is considering adding convid jabs to the list of mandatory ones needed for attending school. Shocked that even 5 year olds can get the jab and that those as young as 3 in JK needed masks from last September. Shocking that a government of any supposedly civilised country would even consider mandating experimental jabs for children when long-term risks are completely unknown. What decent country would gamble with the safety of its children, especially for a disease that is known to be of no danger to otherwise healthy youngsters.
      Not having a pop at Canada – I wouldn’t be surprised to see such draconian rules here or any other civilised country. Australia or New Zealand could be likely candidates.

      1. Totally agree, it’s got to be statistically (I know, damned statistics) more dangerous for a healthy child to be jabbed than not.

        1. My little grandchild got the 2nd jab just over 5 weeks from the first. Not only are they jabbing at such a young age, I was shocked to be told the 2nd jab was given after only 5 weeks!

      2. There are quite a few childhood vaccinations that are already mandatory, they are just extending the list.

        However, at the moment it is possible to use religious, ethical or medical reasons to avoid vaccinations and if there is an outbreak of a disease that a child has not been vaccinated against, the kid is sent home.

    3. I saw something early this morning that Ontario is considering adding convid jabs to the list of mandatory ones needed for attending school. Shocked that even 5 year olds can get the jab and that those as young as 3 in JK needed masks from last September. Shocking that a government of any supposedly civilised country would even consider mandating experimental jabs for children when long-term risks are completely unknown. What decent country would gamble with the safety of its children, especially for a disease that is known to be of no danger to otherwise healthy youngsters.
      Not having a pop at Canada – I wouldn’t be surprised to see such draconian rules here or any other civilised country. Australia or New Zealand could be likely candidates.

    2. I think he meant Fred Perry. Apparently Fred has been exhumed and given a few shots of Covid Gene Therapy and is as good as ever he was.

      1. Welcome dearest. Got a honking cold though. I’m going to apply for furlough payments though as i have had to move from my chair to the bed.

    2. I know it is irrational to judge people solely by their appearance – the trouble is that one’s first impressions are so often right. The moment I first saw Squallid Jawdrip I found him physically repulsive and each time I see him my revulsion grows stronger

      3. Ask him how many miles in length it is from the South coast to the tip of Scotland , then ask him how many arable acres are available to feed over 70 million people !

        1. Answer

          Land. The agricultural area used is 23.07 million acres (9.34 million hectares), about 70% of the land area of England. 36% of the agricultural land is croppable (arable), or 25% of the total land area.

          The total agricultural area in the UK is around 17.6 million hectares, with an additional 3.2 million hectares covered by woodland and forests. The agricultural area, excluding woodland, accounts for 72% of the total area of land.

          RESEARCH ARTICLE
          Current agricultural land use in the UK
          17 JANUARY 2019
          CURRENT LAND USE
          The total agricultural area in the UK is around 17.6 million hectares, with an additional 3.2 million hectares covered by woodland and forests. The agricultural area, excluding woodland, accounts for 72% of the total area of land

          The total agricultural area in the UK is around 17.6 million hectares, with an additional 3.2 million hectares covered by woodland and forests. The agricultural area, excluding woodland, accounts for 72% of the total area of land.

          The agricultural area has declined by around 26,000 hectares per year over the past 20 years. Reasons for this include transport infrastructure, building, woodland expansion (which has more than doubled over the past 20 years), nonagricultural use (golf courses, minerals, etc.) and some has been lost to the sea.

          Cereals make up 60% of the arable land, of which 54% is wheat. The grassland is utilised by: 1.6 million dairy cows plus followers with an average herd size of around 140 cows; 1.4 million breeding beef cattle plus followers (average herd is 80 cows); and 15 million breeding sheep (average flock is 275 ewes).

          There are around 192,000 farms in the UK. Only 20% of these are over 250 acres. The larger farms cover three quarters of the farmland. Around 50% of all holdings are under 50 acres, with many farms being family-run units. Soil type, topography, and climate determine the type of enterprise that is suitable for a particular farm.

          The current structure of agriculture in the UK is diverse, but it has changed significantly over the past 30 years. UK agriculture is on the cusp of an era of significant reform – what changes will the next 30 years bring? We also look at how land use might look in 2050 here.

          https://www.savills.co.uk/research_articles/229130/274017-0

          1. One wonders, Maggie, why we, who are supposedly outside the EU, still measure land in Hectares rather than our own, understandable, acres?

          2. Moresterer pertinent. why is Convid, safe distance 2 metres, and not Two yards

            Metric measures of distance may be used without prosecution, unlike pounds and ounces, but the ‘Imperial Units’ are the legal units of distance and should be used when laws are made

          3. Agreed, OLT. Wouldn’t it be fun if we reverted to £SD and watch the howls amongst the ‘woke’ who suddenly found that they had to actually think – while we oldies just laughed?

          4. It annoys me intensely when I see signs to places measured in metres. I feel like going up to them and crossing out m and replacing it with yds.

    8. Someone, somewhere, decided that this cow was a fit and proper person to be a teacher.

      No wonder the species is in an accelerating decline.

      1. There are quite a few teachers and former teachers on this forum. But as you must know just as well as I do that there are brilliant teachers and terrible teachers just as there are tremendous policemen just as there are very grubby, nasty ones.

        2. If you read my post again, you will see that I wasn’t having a pop at teachers (I’ve taught myself, in many disciplines, on a one-to-one tutor basis). I was having a pop at those who appointed that woman to be a teacher.

    9. Stupid woman. What’s wrong with the roof rack? All that fresh air would have done him the power of good.

    1. One or two of the completely misnamed ‘Superstar Panels’ that Dan Wootton and Mark Dolan have on their shows are unbelievably awful and put the bollocks into hyperbollicks. For example: Benjamin Butterworth, Amy Nickel, Rebecca Reid and Rebecca Hutson are irredeemably bad but, on the other hand Calvin Robinson is excellent as are some of the other panellists.

  64. Listening to Any Answers……..Covid…to jab or not to jab?

    BBC stooge cuts short anti-vaxxers ……not in line with Gov. policy.
    Who’d have thunk it…?

    3. Judging by the slogans on the fencing, I expect that is somewhere in Asia , probably China .

      I hope those gorgeous dogs aren’t on display before they are eaten?

    1. Just watched an episode of the Outer Limits. Apart from the Special Effects it was pretty much superior to anything you get nowadays!

  67. Still think Epstein committed suicide?

    https://www.takimag.com/article/the-great-epstein-cover-up-part-1/

    And on the same issue,

    In a world exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Carolyn Andriano says Miss Roberts texted her from London in March 2001 to say she was going for dinner with Andrew, Maxwell and Epstein.
    Miss Roberts is alleged to have shown the picture to Mrs Andriano back in Florida, saying of the prince: ‘I got to sleep with him.’
    Mrs Andriano, 35, gave harrowing testimony against Maxwell at her trial last month. Four of the five guilty verdicts against her were underpinned by the evidence of the married mother of five, including the most serious charge of sex trafficking a minor which carries a maximum 40-year jail term.
    Today Mrs Andriano bravely waives her legal right to anonymity to tell the full story about her horrific ordeal in Epstein’s ‘House of Sin’ in Palm Beach, Florida – when she was aged 14 to 17 – and her then friendship with Miss Roberts, who she says, recruited her into Epstein and 60-year-old Maxwell’s sexual abuse ‘pyramid scheme’.

    That suggests to me that Virginia Roberts should be on trial too, as a procurer of underage girls, AND that if she was shagged by Andrew she was a willing accomplice.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10380313/Victim-waives-claims-Virginia-Giuffre-told-slept-Duke-York-London.html

    1. The quaint expression which our parents’ generation used to use:

      “…. that girl is no better than she should be!”

      1. ***I hated it so much i could only manage 3 times a week for a year. Then after i had children and money was a bit tight i asked him if i could do it again. It’s all Virginia’s fault. Bursts into tears…

    2. The quaint expression which our parents’ generation used to use:

      “…. that girl is no better than she should be!”

    3. This seems to me to be an increasingly big scam. This Mrs. Andriano was a stripper, escort and drug addict. She claims she was recruited by Roberts and also says that Roberts did not seem upset by sleeping with P Andrew- “in fact she thought it was quite cool.”
      It has joined the topics of which I do not believe one word.

      1. I now think that many powerful men have been pandered to (literally) by Epstein and Maxwell and that many of the women were not the virginal snow-whites they are being made out to be. That doesn’t excuse the men, but evil people are getting away with murder, both literally and figuratively.

        2. Years ago, I read a biography of Errol Flynn. He had been accused of statuary rape of a 16 year old. Flynn said that he had thought the girl was at least 18 because of her clothes, make up etc and that it had been consensual.
          It went to court and the prosecution dressed the girl in a sweet frock, ankle socks and did her hair in pigtails and no make up so she looked about 13.
          Then, as now, things are not always as they appear.

          1. I remember the Jerry Lee Lewis furore when he rocked up in Blighty with his 13 year old third wife who also happened to be his cousin.
            We were of the age where we thought it was all rather exciting; I suspect actually experiencing that culture would have snapped us back to boring reality.

          2. The age of consent varies from state to state… I think it’s lower in the south and midwest but am not sure.

      2. Another case, Lotl, of American ‘Justice’ in action – making it the laughing-stock of the world.

  68. How the west was won on BBC 2 now.

    How the west was lost continues on BBC News for the past 2 years and continuing.

  70. Apropos that doctor telling the spamhead slammer where to get off – I imagine that that was the first time he had ever heard spoken out loud, in public, any view other than that espoused by Witless, Unbalanced and the Vietnamese One.

  71. 343765+ up ticks,

    Would have to spend time at Bletchley Park to work this conundrum out

    Strong rumour is the next tory ( ino) candidate for leadership, & with the fat turks blessing is a large white rabbit.

    The far turks squeeze the green queen has said that Mr Rab bit will find favour with the current tory (ino) party member / voters.

    https://twitter.com/ksorbs/status/1479268926471168001

  72. HAPPY HOUR – not!

    After waiting all day on Thursday for a booked phone call
    from the NHS nurse at my local surgery………ZILCH!
    I phoned early yesterday Friday, to enquire….no explanation given but
    told a doctor would phone later….
    I eventually rec. said phone call at 4.30pm and given a prescription
    electronically to local chemists.
    Today Saturday …
    Trotted off to Boots early am. to collect said item only to be told
    by the pharmacist Laxido (yeah Nottlers ….you guessed) is no longer
    available……

        1. My grandmother used sennakot and sherry! And knelt on the floor to play patience at 87 years old. She was as regular as clockwork!

    6. I was promised a phone call on a Friday morning and got it at 9pm Sunday night. The very young Chinese lady apologised and said she had to take her two young children to A & E on the Saturday.

      Try Prunes.

      2. Useless things, I may as well have shoved them up my arris – and they tasted awful!

    10. Try eating one of Elsie’s rhubarb crumbles 🙂 Seriously, rhubarb is good for your condition.

  75. That’s me for this miserable, dark, rain-filled day. They say it’ll be sunny tomorrow. But then they said that, with one last heave, the plague would be over and done with a year ago….. Cats are livid – they blame us (me) for the weather. I have tried to explain…..

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

  76. Was Prince Philip to thank for blocking Tony Blair’s knighthood for so long?
    The Telegraph’s weekly Peterborough diary column offers an unparalleled insight into what’s really going on at Westminster and beyond

    Christopher Hope : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/01/07/prince-philip-thank-blocking-tony-blairs-knighthood-long/

    I can’t say I disagree with this BTL comment:

    The foul, excremental allies of the repulsive Blair waited until the Duke of Edinburgh had died and then pounced and bullied his widow, the poor old woman of 95, into capitulating and honouring one of the most unscrupulously evil men in recent history.

  78. ‘Night All

    Cats.,.,…

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/55a521146a71642d7a0c5ba2aba5df4169ae09d7b430c6b1d6a9107e731944ab.jpg

    Dogs on the other hand will

    https://media.glamour.com/photos/569634ff16d0dc3747ef0157/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/entertainment-blogs-obsessed-2012-04-10-0410_texts-from-dog-1_ob.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d084b00f0bbd55f7fe3b2248d02560b2c1ab9751459d43b7c026b42f7e5bc071.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b00e528bae409e23c38800aa1982105fd2675a489407326b388fb4bd043b765b.jpg

    Dolly

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/620b041c85f3d84b79e62ae1f7aad4d4ec42a2ef29a8687f401e7a0ca55fd256.jpg

  81. 343765+ up ticks,

    Fact,
    and has been openly so for the last three plus decades, but who is supporting it again & again in the guise of being Brexiteers in the real UKIP mold.

    The electorate played their part as in the lab/lib/con close shop coalition voting tactically to keep decency at bay decrying fringe parties whilst themselves heaping more treachery on the shoulders of a once decent nation.

    That cannot be denied one only has to look at the state of the Country today.

    https://twitter.com/RichardWellings/status/1479772021659742211

    1. How would it cut costs to have the green folly funded directly from the Treasury rather than via electricity bills?
      Blue socialist hypocrites.

    2. Why would you want to live so long? Think of the level of decrepitude, and the overcrowding!

    5. ‘Expert claims supercentenarians could live to the age of 180 by end of the century‘
      Wouldn’t you have to be be 102 years old today to achieve that?

    6. I don’t think anybody except Bezos, Soros, Clinton’s, Faceache owner, Wikipedia, the Pharma companies would want to live that long, not under their totalitarian rule. I certainly wouldn’t.

    1. I would be very wary of this one.
      4,000 people in one weekend?
      Two12 hour days.
      That’s 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds.
      ie one every 20 or so seconds.
      Really??
      How long between patients, I wonder, what with clearing up, paperwork, changeovers, break times etc…
      Must be a big practice with a Hell of a lot of staff.

      1. Even IF ONLY one-tenth true (one every 3 minutes), it’s 300 pounds an hour to be shared out … and I presume there’s some additional payments for some of the others taking part. That’s really good when your basic list and payments therefrom are already secure/

        1. “Too good to miss out on, eh what?
          Pip, pip, tally ho old chap. Let’s go lance ’em!”

      1. Well, Sos, my post was 4 hours ago, just before I sat down to watch MIRAGE (1965) which was a film noir mystery/thriller. It starred Gregory Peck and was directed by Edward Dmytryck, filmed in black and white. I enjoyed it. And now I am really off to bed, so I will once again wish everyone a very good night.

  87. Oh, sounds like we’ll be taking the blame then.
    “Pakistan: Many dead as heavy snow traps drivers in their vehicles.
    At least 21 people have died after heavy snow trapped them in their vehicles in northern Pakistan.
    As many as 1,000 vehicles became stranded as would-be tourists reportedly rushed to view the winter snowfall in the hilltop town of Murree.
    Murree was built by the British in the 19th century as a medical base for its colonial troops.”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-59920215

    2. It just demonstrates how thick and stupid some people are – particularly those that let religious ideology over-rule any semblance of common sense.

      A bit like we are becoming, in welcoming them to these shores to continue practicing their lunacy and murderous jihad.

  90. Evening, all. We have been pointing out for some time that the lockdowns and panic over Covid have caused more deaths than they have saved lives. On the weather front, it has been horrendously wet here today. The roads have flooded and when I drove to the stables I could barely see where I was going despite my headlights being on and my wipers on fast! With any luck, the Dee will flood and the first meeting of the season at Bangor is y coed will be off so Drakeford won’t have caused me to miss anything.

  93. Beeb news tonight was back in full horror mode with Rita intoning sadly that the UK had reached the milestone of 150,000 covid deaths before any other European country. What about all the other deaths from untreated cancers, heart attacks etc?

    1. It only counts if it’s bloody covid! I would imagine that deaths in the future from cancer, cardiac issues and other serious matters will be sky high. This government and its dubious advisers have a lot to answer for.

    2. They are trying to get back control, to whip the faithful back into line, they can feel things are crumbling. Remind them of the fear of DEATH!! That’ll do it. Perhaps. One day it won’t.

    1. Thanks, I missed most of that as I was in and out the kitchen sorting dinner. A brave man and Wow!

    2. Dr Yeadon was quite restrained there. I think as he’s been vilified for his forthright views he didn’t want to cause trouble for GB News.

  97. Once again, that’s me for today, Goodnight and God bless one and all – I hope to see you all again in the morning, if we’re spared.

Comments are closed.