Sunday 23 January:The real problem with the PM is his betrayal of Conservative values

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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748 thoughts on “Sunday 23 January:The real problem with the PM is his betrayal of Conservative values”

  3. Good morning to all and Happy Birthday to Rose. I echo the sentiments of both Minty and King Stephen.

    1. And that is the country that thinks it has the moral authority to dictate to other countries, including Russia.

  5. Confusion over UK claim that Putin plans coup in Ukraine. 23 Januarry 2022.

    “It is bad we’ve got ourselves into a situation now where our ability to respond to what Putin is doing is damaged by wounds inflicted on ourselves politically over a period of years going back to 2003,” said David Clark, a former special adviser to the Foreign Office.

    “This is not a government that’s well placed to take a lead on this issue, either in terms of domestic opinion, or frankly, in terms of wider western unity given the context of Brexit,” he added.

    “The current immediate domestic context is of a government in trouble, a government with a track record, frankly, of engineering sensational news interventions in order to distract and deflect from their own difficulties.”

    Much as one appreciates Vlad’s steely eyed geo-political realism; as compared to the Wests leaders quasi-Marxist fantasies, it is still difficult to believe that he’s been unaffected by the personal attacks on him over the last decade, Navalny, Salisbury etc. these must all have given him a view of the West leaders that lies at odds with their pretensions. He’s also met them all personally so to a man of such perception their cowardice, hypocrisy and corruption must be readily apparent. He knows with whom he deals! This latest story is a good example. The Americans forecast it last week and the Ukraine Government at the beginning of December. This one reads more like hysteria. It even has Mi6 in there, the authors of the famous Dodgy Dossier!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/22/confusion-over-uk-claim-that-putin-plans-coup-in-ukraine

    1. February 4th might be a good day for invading the Ukraine. It is a Saint’s Day. The day of Holy Great Prince George (Yuri) of Vladimir, who died in a battle with the Tatars in 1238.

    2. ” He’s also met them all personally so to a man of such perception their
      cowardice, hypocrisy and corruption must be readily apparent. He knows
      with whom he deals!”

      That would have been when he was posing as an embassy chauffeur in the 1970s one assumes,

    1. Meanwhile in the Socialist Republic of Nippystan, we still wait on Elsie McSelfie producing the data on which she based her restrictions. Holding of breath is not recommended.

  7. A Happy Birthday to Damask Rose. I hope you have a great day, and many more of them.

  9. BBC makes ‘woke cuts’ to archives, including Dad’s Army. 23 January 2022.

    A spokesman for the BBC said: “Listeners enjoy a huge number of old comedies from the archives on 4 Extra and on occasion we edit some episodes so they’re suitable for broadcast today, including removing racially offensive language and stereotypes from decades ago, as the vast majority of our audience would expect.”

    They would? And what leads him to believe such a thing? This is of course at the very core of 1984. The rewriting or expunging of the past. Ironically it is in fact Winston Smiths occupation at the Ministry of Truth.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/22/bbc-makes-woke-cuts-archives-including-dads-army/

    1. The modern equivalent of book-burning! I can’t be alone in my resentment over this woefully damaging censorship of programmes that I and my parents’ generation have helped pay for, all in the name of rampant wokery. They really are beyond the pale.

      ‘Morning Minty.

    2. A BTLer agrees:

      Matthew Biddlecombe
      4 HRS AGO
      Elsewhere in the Sunday Telegraph today, I see that employees at the BBC have been spending their time purging old TV and radio programmes of woke. Thank goodness, then, that I have the boxed DVD sets of “Fawlty Towers”, “Men Behaving Badly” and “Dad’s Army”, all purchased before these over-sensitive wokes got their hands on them.
      I’m also doubly grateful that I have every episode of “Round the Horne” remastered and on CD, for I shudder to think how much of an episode of any of those would be left after a visitation from the censors!

      * * *

      I still have my boxed set of It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, and now that I have posted this I expect the Woke Police will be removing my front door from its hinges any moment…

      1. As a film and Disney fan I just wished I had a DVD copy of “Song Of The South”. I am tired of only being able to watch the (wonderful) clip of the Oscar-winning Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah on YouTube. I realise that it is a little patronising towards blacks people of colour in the plantation days of the Deep South, but surely a simple pre-film warning would suffice, as it apparently is deemed necessary for Red Indians Native Americans in front of Peter Pan.

    3. But they have formally increased the space for storing their maritime equipment.
      A whole load of old W ⚓ ‘s
      And some if not most,…….very stupid.

    4. How do they know? They haven’t asked them.

      They stopped public commentary on the quality of BBC broadcasting in the days of James Purnell, and rely on their own carefully-selected Focus groups, their training in such matters and of course prejudice.

    5. Presumably the audience who would expect it are the only ones left listening to the useless woke Beeb. Anybody who wouldn’t want the expurgated version would have turned their backs on the effluent output ages ago.

  10. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    SIR – We voted Conservative at the last election but seem to have ended up with Labour.

    Boris Johnson used to talk about small-state, low-tax conservatism. Is it really the same Boris Johnson in Number 10 today?

    Having told the French president to “prenez un grip”, he should do the same himself.

    David French
    Dému, Gers, France

    It’s far worse than that, Mr French; he’s turned into a fanatical eco-warrior. Add to that the fact that he’s a long way out of touch and without both principles and integrity, you can understand why he is in deep do-dos and the party is disintegrating before our very eyes.

    1. The problem is that Carrie Antionette has taken his advice on gripping, and has Boris firmly by the balls. Unfortunately, we are all feeling the pain of her unelected eco-loon ‘manifesto’.

    2. A BTL comment with which, I suspect, most Nottlrs will agree:

      Carolyn Bates
      2 HRS AGO
      I see we are back to a majority of Boris Johnson dissenters today.
      Hardly surprising is it, when every day it seems there are yet more damaging revelations, with the latest being that the Met is to speak to twelve MPs with complaints of intimidation and even alleged blackmailing by the Prime Minister and his Whips. Now that is a sentence I never thought I would write when I voted for him two years ago, with such high hopes.
      Sadly, I feel let down by the man who promised so much yet delivered so little, with even Brexit left unfinished. This was not how it was meant to be, because he pledged to give us a true Conservative administration, only to disappoint with his bizarre Net Zero, high taxes, and record borrowing and spending.
      That the Prime Minister removed restrictions this week was to be welcomed, but I am under no illusion as to why this action was taken so suddenly; it was done in an attempt to curry favour with his backbenchers and the public alike, as he desperately fought to save himself politically. He would not have done this otherwise, particularly as it has been reported that Sage members are furious as they believe he has done the wrong thing, but then they would wouldn’t they. What it does show however, is that the restrictions could have, and should have, been lifted months ago, as soon as Omicron was identified as a highly transmissible yet harmless, variant.
      The Prime Minister will face possibly the worst week in his tenure now with Sue Gray’s report expected, on top of the Met investigations. Whether he can survive this is anyone’s guess but one thing I do know, he will never win another election, as he has undoubtedly lost the support of the country.

      * * *

      Try to look on the bright side, Carolyn – if there is any justice then this week could see Bunter getting his comeuppance.

      2. We don’t want the Bonker – but do we want Truss, Rishi, Hunt or Gove?

        The only acceptable answer must come from the backbenches or elsewhere.

        1. Lord Frost was very good on Mark Steyn last week, but he would have to ditch the peerage of course. He knows his stuff and can construct sentences without all the blather and “err-ing”. A very different individual from the current, and hopeless, character. He actually sounds like a Conservative, which is what so many are crying out for.

  11. Good morning all, it’s darker than a Kalahari bushman’s jockstrap out there but the forecast is for light winds, clear skies and about 40F. Ideal for lobbing golf balls into the gorse in a couple of hours.

    Edit; Happy birthday Rose.

  12. Good morning all.
    Looks like being a dull and grey start this morning, but still dry and with a less chilly 2°C above freezing, lacking in frost!

    Whilst getting a start made on cutting the logs stacked outside the house, a very thick cloud cover came over and I was half expecting slow!

  13. SIR – Please allow me to put the woke guilt about the British Empire and the “evils” of colonialism into context.

    The invasion in 55 BC and subsequent colonisation of Britain was the best thing that ever happened to this country. Before the Romans arrived, people here were hunter gatherers clad in skins, with social discipline enforced according to the will of the strongest.

    When I drive along Ermine Street and the Fosse Way, I salute what the Romans bequeathed to us. Even more so during my career as an English lawyer, when I learnt the value of the rule of law as a concept – originally brought here during 450 or so years of Roman colonisation. Oh, and the Romans brought us Christianity as well. Not everyone’s cup of tea, I grant, but the bedrock of British culture.

    All that the Romans brought to us as beneficiaries of Pax Romana, we then brought to many parts of the globe as Pax Britannica. We were treading in worthy footsteps.

    The Rev His Honour Peter Morrell
    Nassington, Northamptonshire

    Notwithstanding that I thought the Roman invasion took place in AD43, he makes a good point.

    1. Notwithstanding that I thought the Roman invasion took place in AD43, he makes a good point.

      Morning Hugh. The Rev. is a little confused between Caesar’s raid and the Claudine invasion!

    2. Morning, Hugh.

      I remember being told in school (yes, my memory stretches a bit!) that Julius Caesar first invaded in 55BC, then went home and came back the following year, in 54BC, when he stayed. How the hell he knew how to count down years backwards is another story!

      1. To the tune of Men of Harlech:

        “Romans came across the Channel
        All dressed up in tin and flannel;
        Half a pint of woad per man’ll
        Send ’em back again ……”

      2. Don’t worry, national renewable energy input still quite high. Those US forests don’t exist anymore but their wood pellets ease our green consciences.

    3. So seek for further amusement, Uncle Bill, and pay and go into the zoo, where’s there’s lions and tigers and elephants – and old ale and sandwiches too. (But if you take young Albert, insist that he leaves his stick with the ‘orse’s ‘ead ‘andle back at the landlady’s.)

  15. SIR – Wind turbines are more than just a blot on the landscape, bad as that is.

    They kill birds, bats and insects. The materials of which they are made are largely impossible to recycle. They also fail to do their job, leaving countries needing fossil-fuel back-up.

    Solar farms, meanwhile, are built on land that should be used to grow food crops. Again, their energy production is intermittent, especially further north.

    With these and other arguments against renewable energy, I am puzzled by the attitude of the supposed green lobby towards the question of energy supplies.

    Where is power supposed to come from when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow (or blows too hard) if coal, oil and gas have been done away with?

    Margaret Robinson
    London SE9

    Here’s to you, Margaret Robinson, but unfortunately the government isn’t listening!

    1. Well said Mrs Robinson
      All that aside, when it’s very windy they have to be turned off because they could be seriously damaged. And then of course to hold them all in place thousands of tons of cement and ballast has to be used. And that’s not very green at all.
      Jesus’s loves you more than you will know.

        1. or the electricity used periodically to turn the blades to avoid flat-spotting the bearings

    2. If we put all this productive arable land down to growing brussels sprouts and baked beans, there would be plenty of energetic wind coming from where the sun don’t shine.

  16. Good morning all! Dark and gloomy here!
    Happy Birthday to Damask Rose! Have a great day and enjoy it!🎂🍾🎉

  17. SIR – Some weeks ago I read that the City of London Corporation was funding the purchase of 131 acres of farmable land near Spetisbury, in Dorset, for a solar energy farm, with the electricity earmarked for the City of London. Many people in Dorset are unhappy about this.

    You now report (January 16) that 2,792 acres of arable land on the border between Suffolk and Cambridgeshire may be purchased, compulsorily, in the push for a solar farm, specifically connected to Burwell National Grid.

    Before we desecrate England’s green and pleasant land for the benefit of large cities, we should pause and reflect. How do these plans sit with initiatives to rewild the countryside, plant more trees and reduce air miles? Did the recent outpourings at Cop26 mean nothing at all?

    Dr Graham Bowden
    Lymington, Hampshire

    Sorry, Dr Bowden; this government doesn’t ‘do’ “pause and reflect” because, thanks to short-termism, we are just getting deeper and deeper into a situation where there is no strategic thinking about the need for an energy policy that seeks to completely eradicate fossil fuels. We are already facing hideous price increases – and unfortunatrly this is only the start.

    1. 334549+ up ticks,

      Morning HJ,

      May one ask, why do we suffer thus, much is self inflicted, sealed with a kiss X

  19. The mystery of Canada’s indigenous mass graves. 22 January 2022.

    The anthropologist, Sarah Beaulieu, scanned the orchard using ground-penetrating radar. She found 215 areas which showed soil disturbance that could be indicative of graves (or other excavations). Later on she revised the number down to 200 because stones, metal content and roots indicated other possible causes. However, she admitted nothing could be concluded until excavations and forensic investigation were carried out.

    Yet no excavations were carried out. And none are planned, according to a devastatingly thorough review of the event written by professor of history Jacques Rouillard for the Dorchester Review. He has pointed out that there is no compelling evidence yet that the deaths of indigenous children were covered up by the authorities, or that their remains were not returned home.

    Another Fake Story about the Evil Whites propagated by the MSM and endorsed by our so-called leaders!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-mystery-of-canada-s-indigenous-mass-graves

    1. How strange that only white misdeeds inflicted on non-whites are dragged up, disinterred, and roundly condemned (usually out of context) whereas lots of other bad stuff is ignored.

    2. Mine’s not only green, it’s bloody decaff too. The old guts seem to get more and more sensitive.

      1. 334549+ up ticks,

        Morning KtK,

        As with the concentration camp findings locals were made to view, so it should be with GREEN top rankers, taken to site and told EXPLAIN.

    1. And they will refuse to tell us what is in the vaccines gene therapy for over fifty years.

      We need reminding over and over again that thalidomide was much longer researched and tested than the current gene therapy has been and that it was freely available for ten years before it was banned for causing deformities in the children born to women taking it.

  26. #CovidClownWorld

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/29278e370e3e1109d7a2422c73d30aaf24b4d9e1f742a4dd91a71a207c094552.jpg

    https://twitter.com/70s_70sgirl/status/1484857170109865989?s=21

    https://twitter.com/Funky_Cat11/status/1484965425356099592?s=20

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/caf79828e22e5331929be81ac3fb868401cfcafd72a5bdc39d88b0726973d55d.png

    https://twitter.com/Sobieski1905/status/1485050834954108928

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fb2dacc47bb2432eb5a208a4fa8312f60d6d76c2f3b640be7c8c9acae9dad427.jpg

    1. Great response from 70sgirl. I’m afraid the covid die-hards will never admit that they were lied to – they’ll blame us until their dying day for not complying.

      That BBC-with-covid placard is pure genius!

      1. Makes me think of those lines from Twelfth Night:

        She never told her love,
        But let concealment, like a worm i’ the bud,
        Feed on her damask cheek; she pin’d in thought,
        And with a green and yellow melancholy
        She sat like patience on a monument, Smiling at grief

  29. When I first saw this on another blog I did a double take and had to check it wasn’t fake news……

    Nope

    “Wokery beyond parody because university slaps a TRIGGER warning on

    George Orwell’s 1984 as it contains ‘explicit material’ which some

    students may find ‘offensive and upsetting’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10430597/University-slaps-trigger-warning-George-Orwells-Nineteen-Eighty-Four.html
    These Leftards don’t do irony do they………..

    2. I now can understand why “A” levels have been so very degraded over the last 40 years. They want more stupid people to go into further education – indeed Blair told us that was his aim.

      Caroline writes a new course book each year for our “A” level French courses. The exercises in the first book she produced in 1990 are now far too difficult for our current students. Caroline now estimates that students who are now getting A grades would have been lucky to get a C grade when we started our business.

      The intention of the state is clearly to get more and more stupid people into further education and then cripple them with unrepayable debts at obscene usurious rates of interest. The wokery in ‘universities’ and the hysteria stirred up over Covid and the compliance with its oppressive restrictions shows just how successful the Great Dumbing Down has been.

        1. Good morning and thank you, JF.

          If we all stood against this ‘woke’ introduction of Americanism into our beautiful language.

        3. A mark and a grade are not precisely the same thing. A ‘mark’ generally is the score you get in a particular piece of work whereas a ‘grade’ refers to the result of an exam. Indeed you might say that if a person gets over 75 marks out of a possible 100 in an exam he/she will be awarded an A grade.

          When I was at university in the 1960s the marking of essays was done on a system based on the Greek alphabet: α, β. γ. δ …. Ω. An exceptionally good essay could be given an α ++ while an exceptionally bad one could be given a δ –. There were other subtle distinctions on the way such as the αβ and the βα or even a mark such as β+?+. I once produced a Philosophy essay which the professor said was absolutely useless but it made one point brilliantly so he gave it an αΩ.

          1. Wrong. Certainly up to 1962, O, A and S levels were given marks out of 100… Though doubt the services were allowed to deteriorate after I’d finished school… All the important people had left by then you see.

          2. I think it varied by differing exam boards. I did O levels in 1964 and there were grades 1 – 9, 1 being the top grade. Since then they have gone through alphabet grades and now reverse order numbers.

    3. ‘Morning, Rik.

      The leftards are worried that some students might be bright enough to recognise what’s happening.

      2. When they read about historical revisionism, the destruction of monuments, the erosion of language and the desperation for social control the sane and truly awake might look at the book and at society and start to realise just how evil the Left are.

  30. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-60096735
    Call to delay compulsory Covid vaccines for NHS staff
    Edit: “A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said front line staff looked after the most vulnerable people in society, who could face serious health consequences if exposed to the virus.”
    Except that the vaxx just reduces the symptoms, not the ability to be infected or pass on the infection. So, that statement is crap, in fact, lies, too.

    1. Who *is* this Robert Stapleford guy and what did you do to him?

      Technically it *is* hundreds. It’s also ‘dozens’. Many, many dozens and multiple hundreds.

      The BBC does not lie. It just does not tell the truth.

      2. 334549+ up ticks,

        Afternoon W,
        “It” is a truth dodger a lab/lib/con member / voter who realises the truth
        after decades of input, someone has to pay, no worries.

        The Broken Biscuit Co. AKA PUC Paedophile Umbrella CO.

  32. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10430559/PETER-HITCHENS-Labours-hero-nurse-stopped-man-seeing-dying-wife.html

    Labours-hero-nurse-stopped-man-seeing-dying-wife.

    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/01/22/23/53252819-10430559-image-a-22_1642894059584.jpg

    I feel sorry for ‘Jenny’, because she was deluded by fear propaganda and did not really know what she was doing. But I still think that what she did was terribly wrong.

    If I had prevented a husband from seeing his dying wife ‘for the greater good of everyone else’, while the poor man begged and shouted for mercy, I might now keep quiet about it.

    Even more, I might feel a deep sense of regret and shame that my self-righteous officiousness had so utterly blinded me to the simple human necessity for kindness above all.

    God knows we are all capable of appalling cruelty, but it is never worse than when we think we are doing it for a good reason. This is why all Utopias end with the idealists arresting and then killing those who will not conform to the new paradise.

    Imagine the outcry if someone from the intelligence services said all the channel crossing dinghys should be sunk and the occupants drowned, because the security services are certain some will be jihadists, but they can’t tell which, so killing them all to prevent the few is for the greater good of everyone else...

    2. Hitchens has some sensible words about Putin, today, as well. Of course he spent years in Russia.

      1. Ukraine is not Czechoslovakia. Putin is not Hitler or Stalin. He has no ideology, racial or social. He has been complaining for years, using every peaceful means, against the expansion of Nato into Eastern Europe. He has asked, quite reasonably, who it is aimed at.

        Morning Ndovu. This is the secret of Vlad’s unpopularity with the Wests’ quasi-Marxist leaders. He has not signed up for membership of the Globalist Coalition. He is an old-fashioned Nation State Patriot!

  34. Aftenposten have started to be a bit skeptical to the whole vaccine farrago.
    https://www.aftenposten.no/norge/i/QyK3K4/over-50000-meldinger-om-mulige-bivirkninger-av-vaksinen-bare-halvpar
    Here, they show a pie chart of analysis of reporetd side-effects in Norway.
    About 50% (25 544) not analysed (ikke behandlet)
    Majority of the rest (21 628) – not serious (ikke alvorlig)
    2 430 hospitalised (sykehusinnleggelse)
    2 383 “Other Serious” (annet alvorlig) – whatever that means
    248 died (dødsfall)
    So… of a population of nearly 5.5 million, over 4 million have had 2 or more doses, and 248 died from the vaccine. 1 412 died of the virus – so, being vaccinated gives you 20% fatality rate when compared with covid itself. Hmm…

    1. Brilliant odds – bet on yourself dying – the family will mourn all the way to the bank.

    1. I am sick and tired of being labelled an “anti-vaxxer”. It is a deliberate calumny. I am NOT anti vaccinations per se. I AM against compulsory vaccination of all and sundry with what is still an experimental potion, one size fits all, where new side effects are manifesting themselves almost weekly.

      1. #MeToo – I’ve had all the jabs necessary for travel – including grudgingly the two AZ shots. I’m not having a booster and my forthcoming trip to Kenya may be my last if “fully vaxxed” will be updated to include annual boosters.

        1. Silly question that I may have asked you previously: might you be going anywhere near Lake Victoria, western Kenya, Samia district?

          1. No – not this time. We walked by the shore of Lake Victoria a few years ago on a trip to Uganda.

    1. Anne ,
      The moving articulate article you have provided is so beautifully written .

      I feel quite choked up with my own emotion and anger reading about the cold casual inhuman uncaring NHS structure that is unbending and dismissive .

      Everyone MUST read your link .

      What else can I say, the article says it all .

    2. Very poignant and moving. My mother died alone in hospital in 1989 – she went in for tests and came out dead a week later. The last time i saw her, the day before she died, she was full of plans for the forthcoming concert season in Cheltenham, having bought her ticket. The nurse who phoned to say she’d gone was quite apologetic.

        1. I felt very guilty that I hadn’t done more. Her GP sent her for an endoscopy, which showed a hiatus hernia, which she’d probably had for years. She was unable to keep any food down and became very weak. She’d survived on complan and soup for a couple of months. It took my ex causing a scene in the surgery for them to arrange 15 minutes a day for a carer to come.

          She was unable to eat the hospital food, they didn’t help her with food or drink. She died in agony and the PM showed she had pancreatic cancer. When we went to see her in the chapel of rest, they hadn’t wiped the blood off her face. That unerasable memory haunts me still.

          1. Good God. That’s awful, I’m so sorry.
            I was the only one to see my Father after he died – nobody else could. He looked more than mildly pissed off, but otherwise was clean & dressed in pyjamas & dressing-gown.

          2. Good God. That’s awful, I’m so sorry.
            I was the only one to see my Father after he died – nobody else could. He looked more than mildly pissed off, but otherwise was clean & dressed in pyjamas & dressing-gown.

          3. OMG

            What heartless nurses, and they didn’t even do the basics for her when she died.. No tenderness no Christianity , no respect, no nothing .

            A dear friend of mine , a couple of years older than me , had a stroke , the treatment she didn’t recieve brought a sharp rebuke from me .. She could talk , but her left hand side was wasted, and she was left to fend for herself with one arm and leg , dumped and forgotten in the loo for two hours , things like that , oh yes meal times in the day room , they forgot to help her eat, cut her food up, brush her teeth, hair , basics , like washing her little bits .

            Modern nurses have no compassion , they are just technicians , fully conversant with all the gadgets, but the don’t like touching patients apart from jabbing and monitoring , and talking over their patients as if they are just NHS numbers and imprisoned in noisy bedded wards.

          4. Mum was in a geriatric ward with three other old dears who clearly had dementia. She spent her last full day of life watching the old lady opposite tearing up tissues. Mum was a highly intelligent, articulate woman. I managed to speak to one of the nurses to ask what the next step would be, after the tests, to get her some help and rehab. No doctor ever came near while I was there.

            Here she is in happier times – the last photo before she was ill.

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2ead60fa6215d4e8698c2c85318ba92d120ec3845ab8010764aaee9ce2f21fb7.jpg

          6. I did some work on that photo to remove the unwanted ex-friend who made the break-up of my first marriage much more painful than it needed to be.

          7. So very sorry.

            My mother went through the windscreen They cleared the blood away but the damage was quite severe. On the viewing her they had placed a net gauze over her face. You could still see though. Also she had lost her dentures. They didn’t bother to pack her mouth out with cotton wool.

            I decided that would be the last time i ever did a viewing.

            You are right that the memory stays for ever but we have to get on with living. Finding enjoyment and consolation among friends.

          8. Absolutely – and life has generally been good in the following years.

            The only other viewing of a body I have been to was at the undertakers after OH’s father died – he looked calm and peaceful.

    3. Very poignant and moving. My mother died alone in hospital in 1989 – she went in for tests and came out dead a week later. The last time i saw her, the day before she died, she was full of plans for the forthcoming concert season in Cheltenham, having bought her ticket. The nurse who phoned to say she’d gone was quite apologetic.

    4. Very moving and the stuff about track and trace made my blood boil. Obviously I wish that my parents hadn’t died so young but thank god they were spared all this cruel and unnecessary treatment.

    1. 334549 + up ticks,

      O2O,
      The cons were not long in catching up / overtaking, ongoing via dover, they are a coalition.

        1. Awards should be given for offending the perpetually offended. In fact, it could become an Olympic sport.

    2. Rewriting history again…….. they never seem to worry about who rounded up and sold the slaves to whitey, do they?

      1. Absolutely Ellie. I’ve mentioned it several times before, after the Romans it was the muslims who propagated slavery especially young white children. The excellent Blood and Gold TV series by Simon Sebag Montefiore emphasis the disgusting way they treated thousands of captured children. Captured by the often over elated ‘Barbary Pirates’. They had up to 6 thousand of these youngsters stored for the use of, in the cave system close to the palace. After use, throwing many of them to the pride of lions they had at the Alhambra Palace.
        This could be one of the archives the bbc Dopey Wokey brigade might destroy. Too many nagging facts and realities for them to manage.

    3. The mill workers and their children were treated no better than slaves. Why the fuss about darkies? No fuss about white children crawling under looms to fix broken threads…

      4. That, and pushing children up chimneys and sending them down the pit doesn’t fit in with the woke ‘narrative’.

    4. Grizzly,
      Congratulations on the publication of your latest dispatch from the Land of Belts & Braces worn with sensible top coats and appropriate footwear for inclement weather (followed by plenty of summer nudity in order to compensate).

      Richard Arkwright was within the circle of intellectuals known as the Lunar Society.

      Apart from being aware of their correspondence, I have no idea as to how well Sir Richard knew one fellow member, Erasmus Darwin; nevertheless, that Mr Darwin was an Abolitionist and I would imagine that he shared his views within his circle of friends and acquaintances.

  40. Anyone tell me what “pansexual” means?

    Some Limp Dumb female “MP” claims that she is the first….

  42. 334549+ up ticks,

    You would think issues of this nature plus the mass paedophilic rape & abuse of 1400 /1600 children would give cause for the voters to reflect on their voting pattern and their part in condoning “their” party’s actions, decades on decade.

    Instead it seems to urge them on to greater efforts concerning getting “their” party installed in number 10.

    ALL three of the coalition are, concerning the United Kingdom running
    a covert scorched earth orchestrated agenda, in preparation forthcoming
    of the reset, replacement program that with the majority vote is daily successfully, steadily, moving forward.

    https://twitter.com/Sam54542076/status/1484907431176060930

    1. Now imagine if the state didn’t have the money to house these utterly unwelcome, criminal illegal gimmigrants.

      1. The state doesn’t have any money except our tax receipts and the fake money from Rishi’s Magic Money Tree.

        1. That’s rather my poorly made point. The state must be starved of our money – mine especially.

  43. Good morning. I’m a bit puzzled that a post from yesterday seems to have vanished – I hope that Nottlers were not outraged by it – seems unlikely. It was the transcription of the final part of Jordan Peterson’s “DIE must Die” video piece quoting Putin on the phenomenon of Woke in the west. I thought it extraordinarily on point ,particularly given the fun with Biden’s gallop to war. I have now posted on Blue Tara here for anyone who cares to read it and there’s a link to the video.

    https://www.tarableu.com/die-must-die/

  44. 334549+ up ticks,

    That’s rich,
    We have had them types these last near 40 years,

    breitbart,

    Ukraine: London Accuses Putin of Trying to Install a Puppet Regime in Kiev

    1. Offering no proof, the Foreign Office named several former Ukrainian politicians it believes to be in contact with “Russian intelligence services” – including former MP Evgeniy Murayev, dubbed a “potential candidate” to replace Ukraine’s current Western-backed President Volodymyr Zelensky. Murayev, 45, was a member of the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, between 2012 and 2019, but his Opposition Bloc party failed to pass the 5% threshold in the latest parliamentary election.

      “You’ve made my evening. The British Foreign Office seems confused,” Murayev told The Observer, explaining that he has been under Russia’s own sanctions since 2018. In a separate statement to Strana news, Murayev further mocked the claim by saying: “How the UK secret services and the Foreign Office square [the sanctions] with Russia supposedly wanting to make me the head of an occupation government – that’s a question for Mr. Bean.”

  45. When people decide to become doctors are they fully aware that this will require them come into close contact with sick people some of whom may be contagious? Are they asked if they know this when they apply to medical school?

        1. And our curling club has perfect ice at the moment, thanks to the ot a lockdown restrictions, I have not had a single member on the ice for a month now.

          1. Why have they stopped people from doing a healthy outdoor sport? Or is it indoors? Hardly a hotbed of viral transmission either way.

          2. Indoors. We have 32 people in an arena about 60 feet wide by 140 long, not all clustered around like kiddies football games either.

            The dimwits actually banned golf last year. Their excuse was that although being on the course presented no risk, most players would stop off for a wobbly pop or two after the game.

            We did try an outdoor game a few years ago, it was minus twenty and the wind was so strong that it moved the rocks. I am not as tough as our forefathers.

          3. In 2010, after a long spell of freezing weather, they held a Bonspiel on the Lake of Mentieth, near Callander. Of course, good old Health and Safety got involved and wouldn’t sanction it, but 20,000 people turned up anyway! We had the business at the time, and had gone up for a Christmas party night at Aberfoyle. We got over the Kings Pass in the Land Rover, and then met the traffic on their way to the Lake! It was absolutely mad! Sunny, clear and freezing with thousands of people! It took us about 3 hours to get home – all of 15 miles! And we passed Dougie Vipond in his car!

  46. Please see below for death registrations for 2020 and 2021 (provisional) that were due to COVID-19 and were recorded without any pre-existing conditions, England and Wales.

    Official ONS figures for deaths from Covid without underlying causes showing 17,371 in total. Perhaps putting tier5inmate’s figures in perspective.

    2020: 9400 (0-64: 1549 / 65 and over: 7851)

    2021 Q1: 6483 (0-64: 1560/ 65 and over: 4923)

    2021 Q2: 346 (0-64: 153/ 65 and over: 193)

    2021 Q3: 1142 (0-64: 512/ 65 and over: 630
    https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/deathsfromcovid19withnootherunderlyingcauses?s=08

  47. Are schoolchildren still told about the Black Hole of Calcutta? (Thoughts from the kitchen sink, No.97)

  48. Day 7without a dishwasher and we have had 1 plate broken in two, one bowl dropped and smashed, a saucepan dented, 4 dirty knives, one bent fork and a lot of arguments.

    1. Haven’t you ordered another one?!!!! Ours went up the creek just a few weeks ago, simply failed to clean anything. Ordered replacement through ao.com and it was delivered and installed the next day including taking away the old one. A bit of grumbling by the fitter about the shortness of the cable but he had spares on his van and fitted one to make pulling it out much easier. Relief all round!

      1. I never thought I needed a dishwasher but one came with this house. We’re now on the second replacement. Wouldn’t be without it!

        2. MOH wasn’t convinced until we had a house warming party when we moved in here. At 03.00 we just shoved everything in the dishwasher, set it to run and went to bed. One immediate convert!

      2. Try getting any appliance over here and you would be lucky if it was delivered within three months – we waited six months for our new fridge.

        Maybe wobbling wibbling needs to buy some paper plates, they would bounce!

        1. If he’s smashing all those plates, maybe he is “wobbling”. Sorry Richard, couldn’t resist;-)

          3. I have taken to proof reading everything these days- it’s so easy to make a typo and my eyesight is not getting any better.

      3. Try getting any appliance over here and you would be lucky if it was delivered within three months – we waited six months for our new fridge.

        Maybe wobbling wibbling needs to buy some paper plates, they would bounce!

      4. What a strange thing! Our dishwasher has started making an awful noise in the last fortnight, so bad then we can hear it grumbling from our bedroom! Have spent a while looking for a replacement, then I log in here to find that we’re not alone!

        2. Just don’t leave your front door open- all these dishwashers might make a run for it, like the robot vacuum cleaner. “Appliances for Freedom!”

          1. Oh that was so funny! I know you said you’d laughed out loud, and so did I! When the report said that it had been found under a hedge…!

          1. Alan is a pretty good engineer – cars, washers, electronics etc, and I’m fairly capable, but to be honest white goods nowadays are designed to fail, and are increasingly difficult to work on.

    2. Never had the slightest wish to use – let alone own – a dishwasher.

      Huge waste of money, electricity and water.

      Just saying.

        1. The flat we rented in Cap d’Ail had one. At the end of our two years’ stay, we told the owner we had never used it. She was gobsmacked!

          2. There were table settings – the whole kit, as well as the caboodle – for 32!!!

            Mme Plisson is a traiteur in Paris. The sort that does wedding receptions for a snip – a mere €350 a head – plus booze.

        1. I have watched my son and d-in-l scraping plates and “preparing” stuff to put in the washing up machine. I could have done the whole thing in the time they took!

          2. Does that mean it disposes of all the fat, gravy, left-overs, bones and other detritus left on plates?

            Some machine that!

          5. No no no, that’s a mug’s game. I prepare nothing, just bung it in. If it’s not washed properly, I just put it back for a second run.

          7. I don’t care as long as (a) it did not decorate the drainer for long and (b) I did not have to stand at the sink washing it.
            I have never installed hot water at our kitchen sink, because I have no intention of ever doing any washing up there!

          9. Funny you should say that, we actually do have a well with a pump in the garden. It seems to be broken though, as I’ve never managed to draw water with it. We also have a well in the cellar, which provided the original water supply to the house!
            When we had the drainage pipes replaced a few years ago, the contractor inadvertently discovered the old septic tank – it had been covered over with wood, and earth and grass had grown over it – he fell through the wood with his mini-digger! (fortunately he was able to get it out)

          12. Friends of my mothers had no running water in their cottage in the fifties. As I recall, I used to have to tip water into the top of the pump to prime it and then pump the handle vigorously to get it to flow.

          13. I guessed that might be necessary, and I did try it, but as I say, the only water that came back was what I tipped in. Perhaps I should have another go, and get someone to pump the handle while I tip more in.

          14. Err, when my washer dumps out it uses 8 litres of water for the wash, the 4 for the rinse.

            Also… what the hell did I do!

          1. If you don’t have (or need) one, the lack of the chore of cleaning it means you can do something else more worthwhile with your time.

    4. I’m the dishwasher (and dryer) in my house. I am quicker and more efficient than any machine.

      2. Repeat (to go with your repeat): Tests have shewn that a dishwasher is more efficient than washing-up.

        1. I wasn’t tested. I wasn’t tested.

          Regardless of any tests, nothing anyone else says will ever persuade me to spend (waste) money on a dishwasher.

          Did you notice how I correctly (in the context) used the English word ‘persuade’ instead of the rapidly encroaching American idiocy ‘convince’?

          1. I used to share this point of view until I got a dishwasher. It is now my favourite piece of electrical equipment. I’d even rather keep it over the washing machine, because washing up would take more time than washing clothes by hand.

    1. I am the dishwasher (and dryer) in my house. I am quicker and more efficient than any machine.

        1. I haven’t a clue! I posted my reply on the dishwasher thread (below) but the idiotic Disqus software (must be a Billy Goats effort) posted it elsewhere!

          I’ll now attempt to move it!

    2. Solar Panels are the last thing wanted, William, they take up food-growing arable land, when we currently import 39% of our food and the land, after 40 years of being shaded, becomes compacted and useless – ripe for development.

  50. “Sunday Telegraph print supplement Stella is closing following audience research with its subscribers that has led to a revamp of its weekend print package.”

    Death to the vapid and patronising. A small step on the road to sanity?
    I suggested this development years ago in survey the DT sent to me.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUZEtVbJT5c

    1. I cannot ever see a gov minister telling someone she is fired because she is a slammer. She doesn’t seem interested in making a formal complaint. I simply do not believe the bint.

      1. I agree, it sounds extremely implausible. I suppose she does not understand that simple good manners in the workplace would have precluded that being said.

  52. Moh and son had kippers for breakfast this morning .. I sprayed airfreshener in the rooms afterwards

    Moh and I went out with the dogs at midday , when we returned home the stink of kipper was very noticeable in the house , and Moh burped nonestop when we were out for our walk .

    How on earth can I get rid of the smell?

    1. Whenever I cook fishy or stinky foods I have to do so in my workshop (I have a deep-fat fryer, a gas BBQ, and a gas ring in there). That way the kitchen and dining room always remains stink-free. Also the stink in the workshop dissipates after a day-or-so, especially if I leave the large double doors open.

    4. I think vinegar works, Belle! White vinegar in a pan,heat it on the stove and let it steam a bit!

    8. Cut some onions in halves and dot around where the smells are. You won’t smell raw onion for long and they will absorb the other smells.

      If you put them on the worktop wipe with vinegar. Check tea towels.

      Lock Husband and Son in garden shed.

      1. Yes and mine on my father’s side , aunts and uncles .. generations of them . The things my grandfather and great grandfather designed and had built , like viaducts and tunnels , so I have been told , other military installations .

    3. Initially a big driver was textile mills and then import of brides and grooms from the sub-continent. They are also very pro large families.

    6. Top: Bradford Horton Park mosque, built on the site of Horton Park railway station and adjacent to Park Avenue cricket and (formerly) football stadium.

    7. Evening TB.
      Whatever that was, it seems to have disappeared. Presumably the twit police decided some rag head might be offended and censored it.

      1. I was having a conversation about weddings with a photographer the other day. He said that the shortest wedding he’d ever come across didn’t survive getting out of the church! The couple fell out at the door, went their separate ways and the guests went to the reception!

        1. I used to do wedding photography and I had a couple who fell out at the reception – big fight between families followed with police being called. I never got paid although I kept their deposit

    4. There is said to be a rule that girls who put it about before the wedding have buttoned up wedding dresses, while those who have never slept around tend to have lower necklines on their wedding dress. Or in the case of the virginal lass above, chestlines.

      1. Are these the same people that mutter from the back of the church ‘it will never last’ ? :@)

          1. In 1968, I ran up the ‘down’ escalator in Marble Arch (big one) on a Saturday night; it must have been a bet … ?

  59. Oh, how sad.

    “Backlash as major events are cancelled across New Zealand after Jacinda Ardern announces tough Covid rules and delays her own wedding because of NINE Omicron cases”

    I was just, sooooooo looking forward to going to that weeding (sic)

    2. There’s at least one man in New Zealand who’s breathing a sigh of relief.

    1. When they are good they are very good. They are bad too often though. Given the millions in damages the NHS pays out every year. That figure is rising.

      The reason for getting rid of Matrons was because they were powerful figures with authority. They were even capable of scaring the Doctors.

      An organisation like the NHS cannot have power pooling in areas they do not have full control over.

      2. Matrons?

        They were the ‘Sargent Majors’ of the NHS; as in the British Army, they ran the whole show …

        1. My elder son was born in Tidworth Military Hospital – it was dire, and we kept the same sheets throughout, even having to take them from one ward to another.

  62. HAPPY HOURS – Road Rage…

    Drivers to give way to cyclists…
    Controversial Highway Code overhaul that tells cyclists to pedal in the middle of the road takes effect in DAYS amid warning new rules will lead to spike in road rage incidents.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html

    Time for cyclists to pay road tax….and FFS get a bell…..

    2. And what about us pedestrians? Are we supposed to leap out the way or into a nearby hedge to give them right of way? Cyclists are a bloody menace round here and the cycle lanes cause congestion and hold up emergency vehicles.

      3. They are a nightmare in Cambridge. After a while driving among them I just no longer saw them, too many of them, they were accounted for and blanked out.

  63. “A familiar theme tune is playing in my ears as I step out of my front door and start running. It is a cold, frosty day in Cambridge but as I make my way towards Midsummer Common and the River Cam, I am transported to a much warmer climate. A desert island, where I know I will find exactly eight tracks of music, the Bible, the complete works of Shakespeare and an incongruous luxury.

    I am, of course, listening to Desert Island Discs, which will celebrate its 80th anniversary next weekend. First broadcast on 29 January 1942, it is the jewel in BBC Radio 4’s crown, to the extent that being on it is “kind of like getting a people’s knighthood”, observes the Observer’s radio critic, Miranda Sawyer. “There is no better radio show,” she says. “And I think, because it’s been for so long, there’s a status attached to getting picked – like, if you get asked to be on Desert Island Discs, that means somehow that you’ve made it.”

    There are now more than 2,300 episodes of the show available online from the BBC archive. The oldest available dates back to 1951, when Roy Plomley interviewed the actress Margaret Lockwood and the famous theme tune was heralded by squawking seagulls and the crash of waves.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/jan/23/its-a-show-about-love-desert-island-discs-celebrates-80-years-on-air

    Desert Island discs.. some times I get very annoyed by the guest , in fact more so these days , because I have never heard of half of them , and they reduce the impact of the prog .

    We would have to remember our favourite music , because there would be nothing to recharge the battery?

    2. Desert Island discs with Roy Plomley along with Hundred Best Tunes by Alan Keith, are two programmes I alway remember.
      Ho yes, the accumulator battery that needed to be taken into the shop for exchange/recharge and jack frost on the widows first thing in the morning during the winter months.
      Memories.

        2. Also Benny Green (jazz saxophonist) and presenter on Radio 2 on Sundays at 3pm.

          Frank Sinatra and Benny Green died in the same week as my Mum in June 1998.

          1. Yes , I remember Benny Green.
            I used to listen to the radio alot when Moh was away .

            Radio 4 is rather irritating sometimes, I will switch channels as and when .

            Daddy died in South Africa during The 1995 Rugby World Cup period , his death was anticipated , I flew over to be with him , all I could hear were the excitement and Swing low Sweet Chariot chanting , and strangely enough , the drone of a German wartime aircraft , because so many antique cars and aircraft survive so well in the high thin dry atmosphere of J’burg area.

            Funny how different sounds affect us emotionally

        1. Actually can’t remember ever using one, but have an image in my mind of one so maybe I did. It would have been when I was knee high to a grass hopper & living in deepest darkest Wales.

    1. I’ve got to hand it to those two cats of yours – it’s quite a feat being able to complete a jigsaw puzzle.

    2. Who is the one on the bottom right?
      Any of the others as Prime Minister would be a catastrophe. Oh wait, one of them is….

  66. That’s me for today. Grey and damp throughout. Still, cut the raspberries down to the ground. Maybe sunny tomorrow. One lives in hopes…

    Have a jolly evening – we are half way through yet another poor (but much lauded) film – “Munich”. It was a disappointing novel, too. Couldn’t understand why Harris had to invent a “link” character. The story is interesting enough without falsity.

    Anyway – à demain.

  67. Back to the washing-up thread. When I wash up by hand, I only use a fraction of the water that a damn machine routinely wastes.

    So there.

    2. Households with dish washers stink; the owners become immune to unsavoury smells – visitors don’t …!

    3. I value my time more than the pennies I pay for water.
      And I get paid a darn sight more per hour than the extra water costs, so it’s more cost effective to sling the things into the dishwasher and log into my work.

      1. When i had my bathroom ripped out and remodeled i asked about different types of showers. The salesman asked me if my water supply was metered. I said no.

        He suggested their largest shower head which feels like you are standing under a waterfall.

        I see no reason to ration the water i pay for when the water company not only wastes so much but at the same time pollutes our rivers and beaches with effluent. I’m greener than them.

        1. Yup, no meter for us. They’re the ones who need to make their pipes less prone to leakage.

      2. I’ve just washed up all the supper dishes, cutlery, pots and pans. I did it standing up and got some extra exercise. It took ten minutes out of my day.

        Listening to some people on here, they would install a lift or escalator in their house instead of a staircase, if they could, to save them the ‘time and effort’ of walking up and down stairs.

          1. I’m not standing still and, as my GP tells me, standing and moving is certainly an excellent form of exercise.

        3. To be honest, if I lived on my own I wouldn’t use a dishwasher. Three of us, and two of the buggers are slack as hell when it comes to the kitchen. I nag them to put the stuff in the machine, but I think they mess it up on purpose. I’m the only one who empties the dishwasher, which is definitely more exercise than standing at the sink handwashing.

          2. Oh that’s easy – they remove only the plates they want to use, leaving everything else in there – and then at a certain point, they virtuously fill the empty spaces and start it again (“I didn’t know we were emptying it”)

          5. Ha! I suspect my old man used to stack it so badly that I had to ask him not to do it any more! So I’ve ended up both stacking and emptying it! I can get twice as much stuff in AND it all gets clean!

      1. I fear he may be right about the water. I just looked it up and it seems that machines use average about 4 gallons, whereas you’d use 2 or 3 gallons when washing up by hand (first soapy basin, second soapy basin for a full load of washing up, rinsing bowl).

        1. I use my washing machine almost every day too. I’m not about to go down to the river and beat the laundry on shit covered rocks.

          1. Shouldn’t be much if the hot water supply is logically arranged.
            I have the feeling that those water usage statistics are written by dishwasher manufacturers, and assume that hand washers are washing under running water.

          2. Good point, unless they have some sort of heating device close to the sink. Certainly here it takes a lot of cold water lost before it’s hot enough to properly wash my hands (I wonder how much more energy has been used since we entered the plague years?).

          3. I also often use that pre-hot water to ‘soak’ items that have difficult ‘cooked on’ debris.

          4. Good.
            But you still use the water.
            In spring, summer and autumn we tend to use it to water pot plants or top up the bird baths.

    5. Very, very doubtful.
      It may have been the case years ago, but a modern dishwasher will use a fraction of the water you use by hand.
      Taking into account the power needed by the DW vs your water heater for the sink you might be unpleasantly surprised.
      Just google: “What uses less water dishwasher or by hand?” or any wording that suits your particular taste in searches.
      Then try “which uses more power dishwashing by hand or by dishwasher”

      1. The ‘power’ that I exert by doing my dishwashing by hand is all part of my exercise and fitness régime. I feel much better by doing many things that machines can also do, and I’ve already shed three stone since my ongoing fitness plan commenced.

        I also sleep much better.

        1. That’s certainly a plus. But to be honest I don’t think I use all that many more calories doing the hand wash than when using the machine.
          We do it by hand where appropriate and by machine when more convenient. If I’m on my own I don’t use the machine. We only acquired a machine when the family arrived, it was a boon.
          If I lived on my own I don’t think I would bother, if I did it would be only twice a week or thereabouts, but I’ve got sufficient crockery and cutlery etc not to need to wash up more frequently.

          1. Firstborn loads his machine as he goes, and runs it when full – about once a week. A rinse or two in the meanwhile.
            Neither of us use the machine to wash pans and jugs. They take too much space. Plates, cups, glasses and cutlery only, and not the sharp knives, either. The detergent is too aggressive and wrecks the sharp edges.

          4. Yup, my sharp knives are sacrosanct and ovenware just doesn’t work in the dishwasher unless soaked for a while so might as well hand finish them.

          6. Why?
            The DW door has an effective seal and unless you are one of those lucky/unlucky people who is a “super-smeller” I doubt you would notice.

          7. “an effective seal” is an admission of guilt!

            I would prefer to have smelly, rotten food remnants washed down the sink …

          8. I rinse off any food remnants before I put the dishes in the dishwasher. Alternatively, Oscar could do a prewash 🙂

          9. They do, after the washer cycle has finished.

            However, given as yew is an alligator with attitude, I’ll defer to your first hand and close up knowledge of smelly rotten food.
            };-))

      2. We can get two days’ worth of breakfast, lunch and dinner pots and crocks and dishes in the dishwasher so we feel it is reasonably economical. When we first got one, back in 2006, we scarcely used it the first year, then came Christmas, family and we never looked back. Washing up at the sink gave me backache – I do have a back problem but working at the sink is the only time it really manifests itself, it must be just at the wrong height for me.

    6. MoH completely fills the bowl to wash just a few small items, keeps the hot tap running all the time too. Most dishes and cutlery go in the dishwasher but there are always a few items that aren’t dishwasher proof. He is also guilty of never switching off a light when he leaves a room.

  68. Last post. Really.

    This “debate” about washing up machines – is just like the 2016 referendum.

    No one who has one is going to say it is a hulking, expensive waste of space, water, electricity and money and they can’t wait to get rid of it.

    No one who does not have one is going to wish they had.

    Let’s talk about something else – perleese. Tomorrow.

  69. Evening, all. The problem is, the Conservatives generally have not been conservative for decades. I joined UKIP in 2011 and I said then that the Conservative Party had left me.

      1. The real Labour party probably ceased to exist just after the second world war. “Wislon” revived it, but as a vehicle for soft socialism.
        It was dying and then under Kinnock it failed and got taken over by Blair. He created a government that was a parasite of the first water. That parasite now lives in every area of British politics, the civil service, education and health care, the institutions, the armed forces etc et bluddy cetera.
        The worst part is that that parasite now lives in the heart of the Conservative party.

    2. I didn’t feel as if the Tory party were real when we had the coalition Cameron and Clegg .

      They were very middle of the road , and didn’t seem to apply any familiar Conservative principles to anything.

      1. I don’t think they have been a Conservative party for a long time. Ask yourself how many Blair/Brown polieies follies have they revoked since being the party in power.
        None would be my first guess.

      1. Methinks it is Boris and his weak Tories who need some 20/20 hindsight, if only to see the damaged they’ve inflicted (allowed to be inflicted) on our Sovereign Land.

  71. Compulsory Covid jabs for NHS workers could be axed after protests across UK
    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/compulsory-covid-jabs-for-nhs-workers-delayed-six-months-protests-b978249.html
    Mandatory Covid jabs for NHS staff could be pushed back by six months amid nationwide protests over the measure, it has been reported.

    The Government requires all front-line workers including porters, cleaners and receptionists to be double-jabbed by April 1.

    This means unvaccinated NHS staff will have to have their first jab by February 3 to comply with the rules, or face redeployment or dismissal.

    It has now emerged that Boris Johnson could delay the move after several MPs expressed disagreement with it.

    The Prime Minister is reportedly considering “kicking it down the road” to avoid a potential Tory revolt, the Telegraph reported.

      1. I agree, M’Lady, but just be grateful that he is now starting to do all the right things – even if for the wrong reasons.

      2. I agree, M’Lady, but just be grateful that he is now starting to do all the right things – even if for the wrong reasons.

      3. Is he going to make good the damage he caused with all the care home workers that has been cast aside because of his policy. No of course not, they are little danger to him continuing as our “glorious leader”.

        1. I think he only cares right now about appeasing his silly wife. Don’t think he can cope anymore and, to be honest, I don’t really think he wants to. He is way out of his depth and sinking deeper by the day.

      3. I suspect that that is deliberate.
        It makes him look broader in the shoulder.
        It makes him look tougher.
        It defines his physique and masculinity.
        It makes him look a total prat.

        1. Well, I’ve been quite busy today doing various jobs, including making mince pies (none available in supermarkets since shortly after Boxing Day). They turned out not at all well, the pastry is a bit like cardboard. Next time I shall substitute butter for margarine and lard. And so I have only seen the first and last page of NoTTLers’ posts. So may I congratulate you, Grizzly, on your letter to the Telegraph being published today.

          1. Re mince pies- Asda had plenty on Friday. We had a few of their minces over Xmas and very nice they were too. I used to make my own but it’s more cost effective nowadays to just buy half a dozen.

          3. I used to in US and I will again if the need arises. I had a wonderful mince pie pastry recipe which I left behind.

          4. Thanks, M’Lady. I am off to the cinema tomorrow with 16 other “wrinklies” to watch BELFAST, so will drive there via Asda and see what I can find in the mince pie range.

          5. Please let us know, Elsie of your take on BELFAST as Best Beloved is much desirious of watching it.

          6. Good morning, Tom, will do. A sign of interest is that no fewer than 17 of us plan to attend, the highest number since pre-Covid days. For the past couple of years this has seldom been more than half a dozen. In the past numbers tended to range from 15 to 30.

          7. Much prefer the perennial hot cross buns as tea-cakes, especially when lightly toasted and slathered with butter.

          8. Thanks, Auntie Elsie. You may have forgotten my warnings about using that disgustingly poisonous Frankenstein food, margarine. Butter and lard are nourishing and tasty and will not kill you, despite what the idiots say. Margarine and all other trans fats will kill you. Bin it!

          9. Too late, mate, I’ve just finished the last of the 24 I baked. I shall no doubt regret this when I weigh myself on Saturday morning.

  74. An historic speech at the Washington March by RFK Jnr to end a weekend that has seen worldwide fury with the Virus peddlers gathering strength.

    https://celiafarber.substack.com/p/robert-f-kennedy-jr-delivers-historic?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo2MTcyNTczNiwicG9zdF9pZCI6NDc1ODQ4ODgsIl8iOiJqejcrRiIsImlhdCI6MTY0Mjk3NjAyNSwiZXhwIjoxNjQyOTc5NjI1LCJpc3MiOiJwdWItMjU3NzQyIiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.Jhy12QOvAuL2rmOzLoFlCZ0LDIXS8gu8tdhnytbJtYM

    1. OT – Just for a precedential laugh 😁

      This historic Kennedy speech may not be on YouTube but there are some humorous tales from a president (later than Kennedy) who likes to tell farmer jokes rather than pharma ones (only a couple of minutes longer):

      https://youtu.be/Pgs-LaWyUJI

      Night all.

        2. Let’s look at that again, Richard, “No, she stays with bricked up behind her wallpaper.”

    3. The fact of the matter is, he could have probably ridden out the storm of partygate with a few choice dismissals of his staff and advisors if he had delivered a true Brexit and not turned to net zero and all the other policies unbecoming for what is supposed to be a Conservative PM.
      I have no sympathy for him, he has shown us all he is not a person fit for such a position. The fact that there is not a single MP considered to be a suitable front runner to replace him is no reason to keep him as PM.

  78. Crikey. Just checked the dying embers of the second T20 match England versus West Indies.

    We were in a match winning position until the last few overs when the Windies smashed six after six and in the last over a ‘Lancastrian’ managed to bowl loose balls and wides, thereby almost gifting the match to the West Indies. We won by a single run having been in charge for most of the match.

    It is difficult to believe that corruption has not arrived in our cricket from Pakistan. Totally inexplicable otherwise.

    1. I watched, but I think it was plain and simple ineptness from some inexperienced bowlers alongside some cracking young WI tail end batsmen. We have truly got a depleted T20 team, allegedly due to the Ashes for some reason. The Windies too have lost some seasoned players. It was not pleasant to watch the last 2 or 3 overs though. I’ve been watching on an illegal streaming channel, so I find it difficult to complain about.

      1. Illegal streaming channel- ditto MH.
        We are now listening to Radio Caroline- before bed. Walker Bros right now- sheer joy.

          1. Nowadays the station transmits from a farmhouse deep in the wilds of Brittany, mainly to French A-level students.

  79. Once again, since Best Beloved is getting belligerent, I’ll say a final goodnight (good morning) and God bless you.

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