Friday 4 February: If the Chancellor wants to reduce energy bills he should cut green levies

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

630 thoughts on “Friday 4 February: If the Chancellor wants to reduce energy bills he should cut green levies”

    4. I get that “offer” every bloody day! I’m happy to go on paying £26 a month for the “virtual newspaper” version of the DT (which I have done for nearly a decade now). That twenty six quid a month is around a third of what I would pay for the proper printed edition in a newsagency. (£72 for 4 weeks!).

  4. Fuel, glorious fuel!

    Is it worth the waiting for
    If we live ’till eighty-four
    Will we ever get our
    Fuel?
    Every day we say our prayers
    Will they hike the bill, be fair
    Can we get the same old
    Fuel?
    There’s not a loan
    Not a pound
    Can we find
    Can we beg
    Can we borrow or cadge
    But there’s nothing to stop us from getting a thrill
    When we close our eyes and imagine buying
    Fuel, glorious fuel

    What is it we dream about
    What brings on a sigh
    The boiler running flat out
    The stat
    turned right up
    High!

    Fuel, glorious fuel
    Don’t care what it cooks like
    Burned, underdone, crude
    Don’t care what the crooks like
    Just imagining profits growing fat
    Our senses go reeling
    The moment of knowing that
    Fucked
    Up
    Feeling

    Fuel, glorious fuel
    What wouldn’t we give for
    That extra bit more
    That’s all that we live for
    Why should we be fated to
    Do nothing but brood
    On fuel
    Magical fuel
    Wonderful fuel
    Marvellous fuel
    Fabulous fuel
    Beautiful fuel
    Glorious
    Fuel

    (With apols to Lionel Blair)

  6. If the Chancellor wants to reduce energy bills he should cut green levies

    Well it all looks to me like this crises with energy prices is just another mad self inflicted strategic part of the great reset agenda.

  7. Rishi Sunak tells Britons to brace for even higher energy costs in autumn. 4 February 2022.

    Under the Treasury plan, 28 million electricity customers will have £200 knocked off their bills in October, with the money repaid in £40 annual instalments over the next five years. Council tax payers in England in bands A to D will receive a rebate of £150 from their bills in April, which will not have to be paid back, while separate sums have been set aside for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to use as the devolved governments see fit.

    It’s important to understand that Sunak’s “measures” are simply political sleight of hand. He hasn’t relieved anyone of the increases, just put them off. You are still going to pay these increases but they will be in the future when the foofaraw has died down. Worse still further increases will come in the Autumn. This will of course make the poorest even poorer and speed their transition to true serfdom where perpetual poverty and debt will bind them more tightly to their servitude than the strongest chains.

    The only possibility of escape from this situation; as Oggy ceaselessly reminds us; is to elect new representatives. Will this happen? In a UK where the population are subjected to a Propaganda Machine that controls every Media Channel and incessantly gaslights them with the Hobgoblins of Fear it seems unlikely. The New Parties are not yet a threat to the Gobalist Elites but there seems little doubt that they will meet the same fate as UKIP and the EDL.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/feb/03/rishi-sunak-tells-britons-to-brace-for-even-higher-energy-costs-in-autumn

    1. “You are still going to pay these increases but they will be in the future when the foofaraw has died down.” I suspect it will be when another government has to deal with the mess. Mind you, if it’s Labour, they will have no idea as they are always wedded to more of the same.

    1. Been there, done that. Back in the 1990s, while visiting a dying relative in the Hebrides one winter, Mother and I had to wear our coats in bed in the ‘hotel’ It wasn’t normally open out of season, (Only the bar, which was the local pub, was heated). Heating off for the winter and wind howling through leaky windows! Felt frozen all night! Welcome to the coming life in our country run by obsessive, eco-lunatic politicians..

      1. At least our generation knows what it is like to be cold – single-glazed windows and ice on the inside, with only an open fire or a paraffin heater available, would terrify the snowflakes of today. The experience will stand us in good stead for when the eco-loons finally achieve their aim of impoverishing the population and destroying what was once a properous and reasonably happy country. Won’t be long now.

        1. Except we’re all now older and, after decades of comfortable warmth, would find the cold much harder to deal with.
          Hot water bottles, assuming we can afford the electricity to heat the water with our oh-so-efficient 🙂 heat pump systems, could make a come-back….. unless elf ‘n’ safety ban their use.

          3. I’ve just bought a new pair in Boots. They are also available in the local hardware store and other chemists. We here in the sticks are obviously set in our ways! 🙂

          4. There must be a funny reply to that but it’s too late to dig for the words!
            Bed socks will also become fashionable again. 🙂
            Goodnight Conway.

  11. Army plans diversity training day for soldiers as Ukraine tensions escalate. 4 February 2022.

    A training day for the Army on “culture and inclusion” will see a complete stop of non-essential work, as the situation in Ukraine intensifies.

    General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the Chief of the General Staff, has made it clear that he will no longer tolerate unacceptable behaviour or out-of-date practices.

    The British Army has for nearly four centuries had no other Credo than its Loyalty and Oath to the Crown and no allegiance to either Party or Parliament. Though it came into existence in 1707 its true roots are with the New Model Army. This; paradoxically for the time, followed Cromwell’s vision:

    The State, in choosing men to serve it, takes no notice of their opinions; if they be willing faithfully to serve it – that satisfies.

    This rendered it a formidable opponent since it had no other function than to fight. It inducted anyone into its ranks and did as it was ordered. It cared nothing for its opponents religion, beliefs or ideology. Foreigners, Catholics, Communists, Fascists; whatever, it was an equal opportunity killer. The adoption of a half-witted quasi-Marxist Doctrine probably signals its end both as a fighting force and Servant of the Monarchy!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/03/army-plans-diversity-training-day-soldiers-ukraine-tensions/

    3. Soldiers will now be issued with “Blank” ammunition

      We do not want them killing furriners

  12. Good morning all. Another dry morning with a meagre ½°C in the yard.

    I’ve got to meet someone at Stepson’s flat this morning at 09:30, so, knowing what it’s like getting into Derby at that time, will be leaving here by 08:30.

    A good start to the day. My mobile phone is buggered and so is the LED bulb in my sitting room.

    2. ‘Morning, BoB. You can still afford to run an LED bulb in your sitting room? There’s posh!!

    3. Yo B o B

      Back, in the late 1970’s, before SATNAV/GPS, I had the unluckiness to have to take a van to Derby.

      We got stuck in the one way system, unable to get out.

      We flagged down a taxi and sked him to guide us in theright direction

      He did so, with a laugh and did not charge us (The van was Blue and had the letters RN in the Reg No}

  13. Leading letter:

    Letters: If the Chancellor wants to reduce energy bills he should cut green levies

    Letters to the Editor
    4 February 2022 • 12:01am

    SIR – Rishi Sunak is lending money to energy firms so they can reduce our bills. How will they pay it back? By raising our prices in years to come or keeping them constant when wholesale prices fall.

    The Chancellor should not therefore be lauded for giving the public a benefit. He would do that only if he reduced the excessive green levies placed on prices to reduce consumption.

    Julian Gall
    Godalming, Surrey

    And so say all of us, shortly followed by “fat chance”.

  14. More common sense from DT readers:

    SIR – The best steps the Chancellor could take to cut the cost of living are the simplest: dropping VAT on fuel and the job-destroying carbon levy like red hot pokers. The latter move will reduce costs to industry, which would be good for customers.

    The Government should also promote the Cambo and Jackdaw oil and gas fields, in the interests of both domestic consumers and British industry. The jobs connected with these projects are crucial to the Government’s levelling-up agenda and to nurturing economic activity in the North.

    John Barstow
    Pulborough, West Sussex

    SIR – It seems utterly ridiculous that the Cambo project exploiting a British source of natural gas and oil fields off the Shetland Isles, with the thousands of job opportunities that it would create, has been cancelled before a viable nationwide green energy supply is readily available as an alternative. It is as crazy as turning up the heating and leaving the front door open.

    Is it now deemed politically correct that more than half our nation’s population will struggle to meet the predicted rise in energy prices in April, or that Britain should turn to Russia to buy more gas to meet its energy demands?

    Celia Rose
    Cold Ash, Berkshire

    1. The easiest way out of this Energy Crisis: Scrap Nett Zero

      It is equivalent to HMG borrowing money from backstreet money lenders

      You will never settle the bill and just get further and further into debt

      No fuel, no industry, no exports, no hope, no food

      1. Good morning OLT. Also, no more sick, old or disabled people – we’ll all have frozen to death.

  15. SIR – Earlier this week, I was shocked to be told by Octopus Energy that, from next month, my direct debit will rise from £38 a month to £118.

    This well-insulated, two-bedroom house, occupied by a single pensioner, is heated by a new air-source heat pump, which is supposed to be the “green” way forward for home heating.

    My advice to those thinking of installing one is “buyer beware”.

    Angela Lawrence
    Hickling, Norfolk

  16. Yesterday I wrote to my MP, to tell him that this household has dumped him until Johnson goes and sanity returns. Coincidentally these letters echo some of the content:

    SIR – The effects of Ed Miliband’s environmental and social levies have been substantially rising costs and lower dependability of supply. There has been no benefit whatsoever and they must be scrapped. We cannot afford this nonsense and never could.

    Hamish Hossick
    Dundee

    SIR – Following the announcement of massive hikes in energy prices, perhaps the anti-frackers will now reconsider their position.

    Jeremy Somers
    Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire

    Well said Messrs Hossick and Somers!

    1. As ever the only people who are effected by environmental and social levies are those who contributed to the economy. Today more than ever in the history of the UK we have more people who live entirely from government (working tax payer’s) coffers than in our entire history.
      But or course senior civil servants and political classes including Lords are in a position to claim all extras on their expenses.

  17. SIR – The threat by Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, to shut the Tube for “days on end” because of a £1.5 billion black hole in funding is an outrageous effort to cover his profligacy in his management of Transport for London.

    TfL employees enjoy exceptional benefits, such as final salary pension schemes and free travel for themselves and a family member, and in early 2021, the annual salary of a full-time Tube driver was more than £56,000, well above the British average.

    As self-appointed Chair of TfL, the Mayor of London must manage his budget – like the rest of us.

    Kevin Dowling
    Welbourn, Lincolnshire

    Manage his budget? This is a slippery socialist you are talking about, Mr Dowling. Khan khan’t, and never will. It amazes me that our capital city ever elected this lunatic.

    2. “Free” travel is a taxable perk, like company cars are. Not so magical after all. In any case, a few “free” tickets won’t make any noticeable difference to the black hole taht is TFL accounts. Management have lost control of spending, and now TFL are broke.

    3. A slippery muslim socialist at that. He thinks the kuffar should stump up the necessary jizya.

  18. Russia ‘planning propaganda video showing faked genocide’ to justify invasion of Ukraine. 4 February 2022.

    The US said on Thursday it had intelligence Russia was planning to release faked footage of an attack by Ukrainian forces on Russian speakers as pretext to launch an invasion.

    The video, which the US claimed would involve graphic images of the corpse-strewn aftermath of an explosion and footage of destroyed locations, was designed to spark outrage in Russia and justify a war, a spokesman for the Pentagon said.

    The real experts on False Flag operations are the West. Iraq, Libya, Syria and not forgetting the Skripals and Navalny. This is just more cheap propaganda! No comments allowed one notes.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/02/03/russia-planning-propaganda-video-showing-faked-genocide-justify/

    1. The West requires these false flag events to garner public support.

      Vlad doesn’t need to worry on that score.

      Good morning.

    2. Matt Lee of Associated Press challenged the White House spokesman to produce evidence – all he got was a fat raspberry

  19. Sound advice!

    SIR – If the SNP is seriously planning to spend £300,000 on chopping the bottoms off classroom doors in order to improve air flow and stop the spread of Covid, I do hope it will spare fire doors.

    These no doubt cost a great deal to install and are supposed to reduce the likelihood of conflagration – a much more serious problem than cold air coming through open windows.

    R G Mullins
    Bath, Somerset

    SIR – I can suggest an ingenious, low-cost and easily reversible alternative to chopping the bottoms off doors.

    Wedge them open a bit.

    Bob Hart
    Newark, Nottinghamshire

    1. Presumably the only thing that can be done about increased noise from outside that will result is for teacher to raise his or her voice …?

        1. Indeed. When I did my final show for my Fine Art degree I was allocated a young student. He should have been there for 08.30 for a briefing. He wasn’t. He still hadn’t arrived by 10.00, so I gave up and went to get some art supplies. When I came back, he was chatting to his girl friend in the next studio. He was most upset when I shouted at him! “You weren’t there,” he complained. “Of course I wasn’t; I’d been waiting for you for an hour and a half and I went to get on with something useful!” I gave him a poor report, but I doubt it made any difference – he probably complained about that as well.

  20. SIR – Now that cyclists have been given higher priority on the road by the updated Highway Code (Letters, February 3), they should be licensed with registration plates and have insurance, as motorists are required to.

    They should also be prosecuted if they contravene rules by, for example, cycling on pavements, ignoring traffic lights, endangering pedestrians or having no lights at night.

    Anthony Clark
    Kendal, Cumbria

    SIR – I am a retired driving instructor, with a clean licence for 50 years.

    When commentators refer to “right of way”, I wonder if they have actually read the Highway Code, which is explicit: “The rules in the Highway Code do not give you the right of way in any circumstance, but they advise you when you should give way to others. Always give way if it can help to avoid an incident.”

    Will Doran
    High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

    1. For many years I thought the law concerning bicycles requiring lights at night had changed as almost none had any!

    2. When I was clearing up this afternoon, a cyclist swerved round me on the footpath and carried on his merry way. He was less than six inches away from the cycle track!

    3. How many noticed that while Dr Cole was talking, Dr Peter McCullough was missing?

      This also identifies that, rather than a vaccination (normally a one-shot killer) the jab is modifying genes,

      And Best Beloved wonders why I won’t take it and she goes for her third jab – I worry – I don’t want to lose her.

  22. Fifty ops by the age of 22, just imagine that. Another true hero leaves us:

    Flight Lieutenant Peter Spindler, navigator whose wartime bombing operations slowed up the deadly V-1 and V-2 long-range weapons programme – obituary

    By the age of just 22 Spindler had flown 50 perilous operations and won two DFCs

    By
    Telegraph Obituaries
    3 February 2022 • 4:10pm

    Flight Lieutenant Peter Spindler, who has died aged 99, was a navigator in Bomber Command who flew operations in the Halifax and Lancaster bombers and was twice awarded the DFC.

    On the night of August 17 1943, Bomber Command sent a large force of heavy bombers to attack the German research and testing establishment at Peenemunde on the Baltic Coast, where the V-1 and V-2 rockets and missiles were being tested. Spindler and his Halifax crew of 51 Squadron were flying their 12th operation when they headed out over Denmark to the Baltic, before setting course for the target under the direction of a master bomber of the Pathfinder Force.

    The Halifax squadrons were the first of 560 bombers to attack, from the unusually low height of 7,000 ft. The initial “marking” was too far south, but the master bomber gave corrections and Spindler and his crew dropped their bombs on their briefed target, before returning safely to their base in Yorkshire.

    The raid was successful, and it was estimated that the V-2 development programme had been delayed by at least six weeks. Losses among the later-arriving bombers was high, with 40 being lost.

    Peter Harold Spindler was born on November 2 1922 at Reading and was educated at Reading Grammar School. Too young to join the RAF to fly, he spent a year serving with the Wantage Home Guard, becoming a lance corporal. He joined the RAF in June 1941 and trained as a navigator in Canada under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.

    Returning to Great Britain a year later, he converted to the twin-engine Whitley bomber. His unit was attached to Coastal Command for six weeks and Spindler flew five anti-submarine patrol over the Atlantic.

    He then transferred to the Halifax, and in June 1943 joined 51 Squadron based at Snaith in Yorkshire. Spindler and his all-sergeant crew had arrived on the squadron at the height of the Battle of the Ruhr.

    On their first operational sortie, the crew had attacked the target at Mülheim when they were intercepted by a German night fighter, which the two gunners managed to beat off. Over the next few weeks they bombed other major industrial cities.

    On August 12 they took off to attack Milan. An engine failed and the Halifax was unable to climb above the Alps, so the bombs had to be jettisoned before the aircraft flew back to base on three engines.

    After the Peenemunde attack, Spindler and his crew flew on the first raid of the preliminary phase of the Battle of Berlin, returning to the “Big City” a week later. In October he was commissioned, before completing his first tour of 27 operations with an attack against the rail marshalling yards at Cannes. A few weeks later, he was awarded the DFC.

    After a period as an instructor, Spindler returned to operations in December 1944, this time on the Lancaster with 550 Squadron based in Lincolnshire. He flew with the Australian flight commander Edgar Pickles.

    At the time, Bomber Command was concentrating on attacks against the German railway system and the synthetic oil plants. Spindler’s first target was the railyards at Koblenz. On Christmas Eve he attacked the marshalling yards at Cologne and on New Year’s Eve the target was the rail complex at Osterfeld.

    The synthetic oil plants at Leuna, Politz and Lutzkendorf were attacked, and in mid-February Bomber Command turned its attention to the cities in the east of Germany as Soviet forces closed in. Spindler’s crew flew on the raids in February that destroyed Dresden and Chemnitz and, a few days later, Pforzheim was the target.

    With the war drawing to a close, Spindler dropped bombs on the Blohm &  Voss shipyard in Hamburg, and on April 18 he flew on the raid that destroyed the island fortress of Heligoland after the civilian population had been evacuated. It was his 50th operation.

    Still only 22, he was awarded a Bar to his DFC. The citation concluded: “At all times he has shown courage, skill, and devotion to duty and has set an example to all.”

    He left 550 Squadron in May 1945 and spent the next 12 months as an instructor at bomber training units before completing a specialist navigation course. He was released from the RAF in June 1946.

    Spindler identified as his most memorable operations the raid on Peenemunde; his first trip to Berlin, when 55 aircraft were lost; the attack on Dresden; and the February 1945 operation to Pforzheim, when the master bomber was awarded the Victoria Cross.

    He studied accountancy and rose to senior posts as company secretary and chief accountant at a number of large firms. In 1956 he was elected a Fellow of the Corporation of Certified Secretaries. From 1975 he was self-employed, and gave financial advice to charities including the Woking Branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

    From his school days he was a keen cyclist and for many years was a member of the Cyclists Touring Club. His first bicycle, a Hercules Roadster, cost him nearly £4.

    In 2012 he was reunited with his Australian pilot, Edgar Pickles, who returned to Britain again in 2018: the two friends pored through scrapbooks of the time they had flown together 72 years earlier.

    In 1951 Peter Spindler married his wife Jean; she died of multiple sclerosis in 1970; their son survives him.

    Flt Lt Peter Spindler, born November 2 1922, died December 10 2021

  24. New variant Covid? Pah!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10473495/New-HIV-strain-Netherlands-Highly-infectious-variant-makes-people-ill-twice-quick.html

    A new super-mutant HIV strain that makes infected individuals ill twice as fast as current versions of the virus has been detected in the Netherlands.
    The new mutant — called the VB variant — has infected at least 109 people, according to a study by Oxford University.
    The strain damages the immune system and weakens a person’s ability to fight everyday infections and disease faster than previous versions of the virus.

      1. This time independent experts have said it’s nothing to worry about, so obviously you’ll be right.

    4. It has been recommended, though I can’t remember by which scientist/doctor, that people who’ve been injected with the spike protein version of the Pfizer should get tested for AIDS.

      Good morning! Lousy windy wet weather here in West London.

  25. Harry’s woke guide to business: Duke tells firms they should ‘give everyone time to focus on themselves. 4 February 2022.

    Later, the Duke spoke about being taught ‘lessons from the universe’, saying: ‘Life is about learning right? If you’re in your 20s, your 30s, your 40s, and even your 50s and you think you’ve got it sorted then bad stuff is going to happen.

    ‘But when bad things happen I think, “There’s a lesson here, I’m being schooled by the universe, there is something for me to learn.”

    ‘Next time it happens, I’m going to be more resilient and can see a way around it to achieve the ultimate goal.’

    As the session came to a close, Harry went on to reveal how he sees his BetterUp coach, who act as a mental health mentor for individuals and businesses, every week.

    Must be down to his last million!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10473235/Prince-Harry-appears-virtual-summit-employer-mental-health-start-Better-Up.html

    3. ‘Morning, Minty, he just might realise, when in his dotage, that you learn something new everyday and that you’re never too old to learn.

  26. Today’s DT Leader is spot on…

    Britain’s energy crisis is self-inflicted
    It has been a 30-year shambles, with successive governments failing to exploit shale gas and nuclear energy

    TELEGRAPH VIEW
    4 February 2022 • 6:00am

    On what has been dubbed Black Thursday, the consequences of incessant governmental interference in the energy market were mercilessly exposed when average household gas and electricity bills rose by more than 50 per cent. The price cap first proposed by Labour and introduced by Theresa May’s administration, will be raised in April to take account of the rise in world gas prices.

    Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, announced a range of measures costing £9  billion to help cushion the financial blow which he blamed on forces beyond the control of the Government. But while he is right to say wholesale gas prices are not set by ministers, domestic policy is – and what we are witnessing is the result of three decades of abysmal failure to develop a coherent energy strategy.

    Nor is it good enough to blame Russia for “weaponising” its gas supplies, even if that is true. Had this country invested over the years in new nuclear plants and shale it would be in a far better position to withstand such shocks.

    All parties are to blame for this parlous state of affairs. The Conservatives abandoned the nuclear programme proposed by the Thatcher government in a “dash for gas”; Labour intervened in the market on environmental grounds, loading costs on to energy production that were carried forward by the Coalition government. Legislation supporting this approach was backed by most Tory MPs 12 years ago and has been reinforced by the current Government’s carbon reduction targets. Around 20 per cent of energy bills is now accounted for by social and green levies.

    The big political question is whether the country is prepared to pay for net zero now that people can see the implications of a policy that will do nothing to combat global climate change for as long as the world’s biggest CO2 producers refuse to change their own practices.

    Moreover, the energy price rise is feeding inflation, which rose to 5.2 per cent last month and is expected to peak at 7 per cent in the spring, prompting the Bank of England to raise interest rates to 0.5 per cent.

    Yet Mr Sunak’s package will go only some way to ameliorate the financial impact. For most households it is worth £350, whereas average energy bills are going up by £700. It will be paid by way of a discount on energy bills in October and a council tax rebate. At the same time, National Insurance Contributions are about to rise by 1.25 per cent for employees and employers, while tax thresholds are being frozen. As the Tory MP Peter Bone asked in the Commons yesterday, in what way is it a Conservative approach to raise taxes and then give the money back to selected groups through subsidies and handouts?

    The Chancellor ruled out removing VAT on energy, which the UK is now in a position to do since leaving the EU. It would cut £250 from the average bill overnight but Mr Sunak said it would disproportionately benefit the better-off.

    Such dramatic interventionism would be unnecessary had successive governments not handled energy policy so badly. It has been a 30-year shambles, the ramifications of which will be felt for decades to come – and mistakes continue to be made. Why, for instance, are we not following the EU in designating natural gas as a “sustainable” energy source to boost investment in its use as a transition to low carbon?

    The craven failure to exploit vast quantities of shale; the neglect of the nuclear programme; the deliberate refusal to give the go-ahead to continued oil and gas exploration in the North Sea while importing both from abroad; all have conspired to create the mess in which the Government now finds itself. Loaning billions to energy companies so that they do not pass on the full costs to their customers but recoup them when wholesale prices fall assumes they will fall. If they don’t, the taxpayer is liable for the cost, so will pay in the end anyway.

    Ministers invite us to believe that they are grappling with circumstances over which they have no control and yet Government policies are at the root of our problems, whether it be the stampede to net zero, the Climate Change Act, the energy price cap, the botched regulation of suppliers or the failure to take critical decisions when they were needed. This is not a crisis visited upon us by outside forces. It is home grown. The fault and the solution lies with our own politicians.

    * * *

    Bravo, a round of applause!

    1. Morning all, rain this morning in Norf Zummerzet.
      Nice to see the DT has caught up with us at last.
      Now let’s see how many leader articles they continue to publish which exposes the farcical green agenda the Government has no intention of abandoning.
      Sunak is being true to form for all Chancellors, give with one hand whilst slyly taking with the other hand hoping we do not notice and if he ends up as PM the UK is well and truly f***d

    2. Just to be picky – £250 saving by removing VAT? VAT on domestic energy bills is 5%, so that would be an annual bill of £5,000.

    3. “Had this country invested over the years in new nuclear plants …” my first proper job after graduating in 1988 was safety case work for Sizewell B and Hinkley Point C. I left that employer inn 1990, and Hinkley C is still nowhere near completed. That’s 32 years ago!
      No wonder energy in the UK is a mess.

    4. “Mr Sunak said it would disproportionately benefit the better-off” – I have a “joke” saved in my home PC about a number of blokes who go drinking together, and they get a percentage rebate for being good customers. I’m sure you know it.

    5. The Conservatives abandoned the nuclear programme proposed by the Thatcher government in a “dash for gas”…

      It’s rare to see ‘dash for gas’ mentioned in the media today. A shame then that the above misrepresents what happened. It was Thatcher herself who, late in 1989, pulled the plug on new nuclear power stations. It was John Major’s ‘Conservatives’ who ‘dashed for gas’ and Heseltine who implemented it.

      1. A bit like Brown and Blair’s dash for diesel, now the most reviled substance on the planet!

    1. Thanks for that, Horace! I read it yesterday and then couldn’t remember where I’d seen it!
      Ooops! Good morning to you!

          1. We’ve had a lovely day (after torrential rain overnight led to the roads being flooded). Sunshine all the way and mild. The only annoying thing was it started off calm, but as soon as I started cutting the hedge, the wind got up. It’s no fun chasing clippings.

  29. Reckless, Trumpian leadership is losing Johnson allies. It should lose him his job. 4 February 2022.

    In writing about politics you can either try to explain what you think is happening or you can say what you think should happen. Right now, there is a complete convergence between the two. Boris Johnson’s premiership is on the slide, irreversibly so. The question is not whether Johnson will go. It is when and how – and what will come after.

    Trumpian Leadership? Lol!. There is nothing remotely Trump-like about Johnson. More like a Blairite. He possesses no Conservative instincts whatsoever. He’s a Neo-liberal American lackey. He has done nothing to further the policies he was elected to implement and much to sideline and prevent them. I Wish him gone but have no hope for anything better!

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/04/boris-johnson-resignations-munira-mirza-tobias-ellwood

  30. The Free Speech Union

    Welcome to the Free Speech Union’s weekly newsletter, our round-up of the free speech news of the week. As with all our work, this newsletter depends on the support of our members and donors, so if you’re not already a paying member please sign up today or encourage a friend to join and help us turn the tide against cancel culture.

    Seven-year-olds to be taught they are not “racially innocent” under Brighton Council plans

    Brighton and Hove City Council has been accused of indoctrination over its plans to embed “anti-racism” in its schools. Under the plan, children as young as seven would be told that they are not “racially innocent”. All teachers would have to undergo “anti-racism” training, and slides seen by the Telegraph teach trainee teachers that children as young as three “learn to attach value to skin colour; white at the top of the hierarchy and black at the bottom”. Former Minister for Education Sir John Hayes called on the Government to introduce guidance forbidding such divisive lessons about race in schools, and new guidance is expected soon. The Council is spending £100,000 on the project, which was launched following the death of George Floyd.

    Tom Leonard reviewed Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America by John McWhorter in the Daily Mail. He noted: “McWhorter writes mainly about the US, but many of his points are readily applicable to the UK, where only three months ago the Department for Education had to warn schools not to teach the concept of ‘white privilege’ as fact.”

    Captain Tom tweet prosecution should never have happened

    Joseph Kelly was found guilty under the Communications Act for sending a “grossly offensive” message about Captain Sir Tom Moore, a decision that has attracted widespread criticism. The FSU has called for the section of the Act under which Kelly was charged and convicted to be repealed.

    Sending a mean tweet shouldn’t be a crime, said Stephen Daisley in the Spectator and Madeline Grant in the Telegraph. In Spiked, Ian O’Doherty said free speech is for idiots like Kelly, too.

    Online trolls could face two years in prison if their messages are deemed “likely to cause harm”, the Government has said. Ministers are planning to repeal some communications offences and replace them with a new offence based on likely psychological harm in the Online Harms Bill.

    Spotify “content warnings” are “not enough”, claim censorious artists trying to remove Joe Rogan’s podcast

    The campaign to get Joe Rogan’s podcast removed from Spotify continued this week. Harry and Meghan have expressed “concerns” to Spotify about Rogan’s podcast, and Joni Mitchell joined Neil Young in having her music removed from the platform while the podcast remains on it. Although Spotify hasn’t yet complied, our founder Toby Young warned in the Spectator that the company’s “track record on free speech isn’t great”, and that many other podcasts have been removed from the platform during the pandemic. Likewise, Stephen Armstrong wrote that the pandemic had been a nightmare for free speech. Spotify has announced it will apply “content warnings” to podcasts discussing the pandemic, a decision decried by Ella Whelan in the Telegraph. The White House has urged Spotify to go further and the comedian Stewart Lee has added his voice to those calling for Rogan to be no-platformed.

    Writing for UnHerd, Ben Sixsmith criticised those whose “instinctive response to hearing opinions they disagree with is to want them silenced”. Also writing for UnHerd, Jarryd Bartle said the calls to boycott Spotify over the podcast were a troubling case study in the new breed of online activism that centres around “the urge to censor”. Don’t boycott Neil Young in revenge, argued Darragh McManus – and Ross Clark in the Spectator agreed. “The day we banish people from spouting unpopular opinions, even nutty ideas, is the day that we submit to being ruled by a tyranny of officially sanctioned experts,” he wrote. Winston Marshall wrote about the new age of artist-driven censorship.

    Medics speak out against bullying tactics in trans debate

    Former nurse Rachel Meade risks losing her job after having expressed her concern for women’s safety if men are able to access women-only spaces under gender self-identification proposals. She’s crowdfunding to challenge the decision of Social Work England to sanction her. Please do support her if you can.

    Despite an open letter from 719 nurses and midwives calling on the Nursing and Midwives Council to disaffiliate from Stonewall, the regulator has refused to do so. Concerns have again been raised about the public health implications of replacing words such as mum with birth giver. Writing in the Telegraph, Suzanne Moore argued against the continuing elimination of words like mother and breastfeeding.

    The EHRC is right to warn about the dangers of an overly broad ban on conversion therapy, argued Julie Bindel in the Spectator. The FSU has submitted its response to the government’s consultation on banning conversion therapy and took a similar line to Julie – under the proposals, it could be unlawful for a clinician to refer a child presenting with gender dysphoria to a psychotherapist, which cannot be right.

    Police clamp down on opposition to trans ideology

    Congratulations to barrister Sarah Phillimore, who has succeeded after 453 days in getting the police to delete a “non-crime hate incident” recorded against her name for tweets critical of trans ideology and organised religion. We are continuing to assist FSU members in doing the same and will shortly publish an FAQs on our website advising people how to get NCHIs recorded against their names removed.

    A mother of three was questioned under caution for having raised safeguarding concerns to Girlguiding UK about the role of Girl Guide Commissioner Monica Sulley, a transwoman who had previously posed online with a rifle and posted pictures to social media dressed as a dominatrix.

    Meanwhile, a charity founder had the police turn up at her house to “ascertain her thinking” after her charity posted a statement cutting ties with the “trans-inclusive” Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre. Joana Cherry MP said the police’s actions were “the stuff of totalitarianism”. A formal complaint has been made by Fair Play for Women about the police’s actions. Brendan O’Neill said that Orwell tropes are overused, but the actions of the police in this case really were like those of the thought police. Jo Bartosch wrote in Spiked that the police seem more interested in silencing gender-critical views than stopping violent crime.

    Women refuse to be silenced by trans activists

    Labour MP Rosie Duffield has said she might be forced to quit over the abuse she has received for speaking out in the trans debate. Last year she was unable to attend the party’s conference over safety concerns. She said: “It is obsessive harassment. Neither the Labour Party nor the former or current leader or the whips’ office have done anything at all to stop it, to offer me any support, help or legal assistance.” The MP was praised by Joanna Williams in Spiked for her commitment to continue arguing for women’s sex-based rights. Joan Smith asked why Keir Starmer won’t speak up to defend Duffield.

    Natalie Bird, the Lib Dem candidate expelled from the party for having worn a T-shirt bearing the phrase “woman: adult human female” asked in the Critic what’s so controversial about the statement.

    University of Bristol student Rosario Sánchez will be in court this month to sue the University for victimisation, indirect sex discrimination, and sexual harassment for its failure to protect her from being harassed by militant trans activists who have been targeting her.

    Institutional capture in woke British Library and Civil Service

    Staff at the British Library are to be asked to wear “pronoun badges”.

    Civil servants are undertaking training on trans and intersex inclusion during working time, reported Guido Fawkes.

    Cancel culture

    Author Kate Clanchy has a new publisher. She has been taken on by Swift Press after Pan Macmillan severed relations with her following a row about politically incorrect language in her most recent book. Clanchy told the Sunday Times the experience of being targeted by a Twitchfork mob pushed her to the edge. Melanie Phillips lambasted the literary world for betraying her and failing to defend artistic freedom.

    Kenan Malik urged Guardian readers to remember that freedom of speech has protected the powerless throughout history. Juliet Samuel said the case of UUP leader Doug Beattie was a rare example of forgiveness amid the cancel culture frenzy. Davina McCall spoke of her fear of being cancelled. Cancel culture has no rhyme or reason, argued Michael Deacon, questioning why some artists were seemingly too big to be erased while others were singled out for punishment.

    Sir Tom Devine: “racist gang” smear was defamation

    Sir Tom Devine has received legal advice that he was defamed by Sir Geoff Palmer, who described him as being part of a “racist gang”. Sir Tom does not, however, intend to sue. He also said that the two universities he is affiliated with didn’t do enough in response to the completely baseless accusation. We wrote to the University of Edinburgh raising Sir Tom’s case and urging the institution to act. Our letter and the Vice-Chancellor’s response can be read here. Meanwhile, Sir Geoff has criticised plans to rename Linlithgow pub The Black Bitch. Its owners fear the name has racist connotations, even though the name refers to a dog.

    Oliver Twist is the latest classic to be given a trigger warning by a university. Jacob Rees-Mogg said students at Royal Holloway should grow up.

    America

    FIRE has released its rankings of the 10 worst universities for free speech. Pano Kanelos, President of the new non-woke University of Austin, spoke to the Wall Street Journal about his mission to remake higher education in America. Meanwhile, Georgetown students are demanding Ilya Shapiro be fired for tweets criticising Biden’s decision to limit his choice of Supreme Court Justice to black women.

    There has been a surge in book-banning campaigns in libraries across America, the Times reported, as parents campaign against schools displaying texts on gender identity.

    Whoopi Goldberg was suspended for two weeks by ABC for her comments about the Holocaust and subsequent botched apology. Read a blog post by the CEO of the US Free Speech Union Benjamin Schwarz about why she should not have been suspended.

    Islamic blasphemy laws

    Journalist Ophélie Meunier is living under police protection following the release of a documentary she made about the impact of radical Islam in France.

    Wasiq Wasiq wrote for Spiked about the case of Aneeqa Ateeq, the Pakistani woman sentenced to death for supposedly “blasphemous” WhatsApp messages.

    Forthcoming lecture: free speech from Socrates to social media

    Join us in London for a live public lecture, discussion, and book launch on 17 March. Jacob Mchangama will be introducing his new book, Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media. Jacon is an author and lawyer, as well as the founder and director of Justitia, a Copenhagen-based think tank focusing on human rights, freedom of speech and the rule of law.

    Following a short lecture, Jacob will be joined in conversation by Dr Joanna Williams, writer and director of Cieo, and Toby Young. The panel will be chaired by Baroness Fox, director of the Academy of Ideas.

    The discussion will be followed by a wine reception, hosted by Basic Books. Tickets are £10 /£5, with special rates for FSU members who use this link or enter the promo code FSUmember. Please book early, as we anticipate selling out. Founder members should email events@freespeechunion.org in the next seven days if they would like a complimentary ticket.

    You can watch our recent Speakeasy with free speech warrior Harry Miller here.

    We’re hiring!

    If you’d like to get involved in our work, we currently have three new posts available. Join our communications team as our Director of Digital Content and Marketing, or as our Communications Officer. We’re also seeking a Director of Data and Impact to help expand our membership base. We’re keen to fill the positions quickly, so will begin the interview process on a rolling basis.

    Sharing the newsletter

    As with all our work, this newsletter depends on the support of our members and donors, so if you’re not already a paying member please sign up today or encourage a friend to join.

    You can share our newsletter on social media with the buttons below to help us spread the word. If someone has shared this newsletter with you and you’d like to join the FSU, you can find our website here.

    Best wishes,

  31. The Free Speech Union

    Welcome to the Free Speech Union’s weekly newsletter, our round-up of the free speech news of the week. As with all our work, this newsletter depends on the support of our members and donors, so if you’re not already a paying member please sign up today or encourage a friend to join and help us turn the tide against cancel culture.

    Seven-year-olds to be taught they are not “racially innocent” under Brighton Council plans

    Brighton and Hove City Council has been accused of indoctrination over its plans to embed “anti-racism” in its schools. Under the plan, children as young as seven would be told that they are not “racially innocent”. All teachers would have to undergo “anti-racism” training, and slides seen by the Telegraph teach trainee teachers that children as young as three “learn to attach value to skin colour; white at the top of the hierarchy and black at the bottom”. Former Minister for Education Sir John Hayes called on the Government to introduce guidance forbidding such divisive lessons about race in schools, and new guidance is expected soon. The Council is spending £100,000 on the project, which was launched following the death of George Floyd.

    Tom Leonard reviewed Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America by John McWhorter in the Daily Mail. He noted: “McWhorter writes mainly about the US, but many of his points are readily applicable to the UK, where only three months ago the Department for Education had to warn schools not to teach the concept of ‘white privilege’ as fact.”

    Captain Tom tweet prosecution should never have happened

    Joseph Kelly was found guilty under the Communications Act for sending a “grossly offensive” message about Captain Sir Tom Moore, a decision that has attracted widespread criticism. The FSU has called for the section of the Act under which Kelly was charged and convicted to be repealed.

    Sending a mean tweet shouldn’t be a crime, said Stephen Daisley in the Spectator and Madeline Grant in the Telegraph. In Spiked, Ian O’Doherty said free speech is for idiots like Kelly, too.

    Online trolls could face two years in prison if their messages are deemed “likely to cause harm”, the Government has said. Ministers are planning to repeal some communications offences and replace them with a new offence based on likely psychological harm in the Online Harms Bill.

    Spotify “content warnings” are “not enough”, claim censorious artists trying to remove Joe Rogan’s podcast

    The campaign to get Joe Rogan’s podcast removed from Spotify continued this week. Harry and Meghan have expressed “concerns” to Spotify about Rogan’s podcast, and Joni Mitchell joined Neil Young in having her music removed from the platform while the podcast remains on it. Although Spotify hasn’t yet complied, our founder Toby Young warned in the Spectator that the company’s “track record on free speech isn’t great”, and that many other podcasts have been removed from the platform during the pandemic. Likewise, Stephen Armstrong wrote that the pandemic had been a nightmare for free speech. Spotify has announced it will apply “content warnings” to podcasts discussing the pandemic, a decision decried by Ella Whelan in the Telegraph. The White House has urged Spotify to go further and the comedian Stewart Lee has added his voice to those calling for Rogan to be no-platformed.

    Writing for UnHerd, Ben Sixsmith criticised those whose “instinctive response to hearing opinions they disagree with is to want them silenced”. Also writing for UnHerd, Jarryd Bartle said the calls to boycott Spotify over the podcast were a troubling case study in the new breed of online activism that centres around “the urge to censor”. Don’t boycott Neil Young in revenge, argued Darragh McManus – and Ross Clark in the Spectator agreed. “The day we banish people from spouting unpopular opinions, even nutty ideas, is the day that we submit to being ruled by a tyranny of officially sanctioned experts,” he wrote. Winston Marshall wrote about the new age of artist-driven censorship.

    Medics speak out against bullying tactics in trans debate

    Former nurse Rachel Meade risks losing her job after having expressed her concern for women’s safety if men are able to access women-only spaces under gender self-identification proposals. She’s crowdfunding to challenge the decision of Social Work England to sanction her. Please do support her if you can.

    Despite an open letter from 719 nurses and midwives calling on the Nursing and Midwives Council to disaffiliate from Stonewall, the regulator has refused to do so. Concerns have again been raised about the public health implications of replacing words such as mum with birth giver. Writing in the Telegraph, Suzanne Moore argued against the continuing elimination of words like mother and breastfeeding.

    The EHRC is right to warn about the dangers of an overly broad ban on conversion therapy, argued Julie Bindel in the Spectator. The FSU has submitted its response to the government’s consultation on banning conversion therapy and took a similar line to Julie – under the proposals, it could be unlawful for a clinician to refer a child presenting with gender dysphoria to a psychotherapist, which cannot be right.

    Police clamp down on opposition to trans ideology

    Congratulations to barrister Sarah Phillimore, who has succeeded after 453 days in getting the police to delete a “non-crime hate incident” recorded against her name for tweets critical of trans ideology and organised religion. We are continuing to assist FSU members in doing the same and will shortly publish an FAQs on our website advising people how to get NCHIs recorded against their names removed.

    A mother of three was questioned under caution for having raised safeguarding concerns to Girlguiding UK about the role of Girl Guide Commissioner Monica Sulley, a transwoman who had previously posed online with a rifle and posted pictures to social media dressed as a dominatrix.

    Meanwhile, a charity founder had the police turn up at her house to “ascertain her thinking” after her charity posted a statement cutting ties with the “trans-inclusive” Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre. Joana Cherry MP said the police’s actions were “the stuff of totalitarianism”. A formal complaint has been made by Fair Play for Women about the police’s actions. Brendan O’Neill said that Orwell tropes are overused, but the actions of the police in this case really were like those of the thought police. Jo Bartosch wrote in Spiked that the police seem more interested in silencing gender-critical views than stopping violent crime.

    Women refuse to be silenced by trans activists

    Labour MP Rosie Duffield has said she might be forced to quit over the abuse she has received for speaking out in the trans debate. Last year she was unable to attend the party’s conference over safety concerns. She said: “It is obsessive harassment. Neither the Labour Party nor the former or current leader or the whips’ office have done anything at all to stop it, to offer me any support, help or legal assistance.” The MP was praised by Joanna Williams in Spiked for her commitment to continue arguing for women’s sex-based rights. Joan Smith asked why Keir Starmer won’t speak up to defend Duffield.

    Natalie Bird, the Lib Dem candidate expelled from the party for having worn a T-shirt bearing the phrase “woman: adult human female” asked in the Critic what’s so controversial about the statement.

    University of Bristol student Rosario Sánchez will be in court this month to sue the University for victimisation, indirect sex discrimination, and sexual harassment for its failure to protect her from being harassed by militant trans activists who have been targeting her.

    Institutional capture in woke British Library and Civil Service

    Staff at the British Library are to be asked to wear “pronoun badges”.

    Civil servants are undertaking training on trans and intersex inclusion during working time, reported Guido Fawkes.

    Cancel culture

    Author Kate Clanchy has a new publisher. She has been taken on by Swift Press after Pan Macmillan severed relations with her following a row about politically incorrect language in her most recent book. Clanchy told the Sunday Times the experience of being targeted by a Twitchfork mob pushed her to the edge. Melanie Phillips lambasted the literary world for betraying her and failing to defend artistic freedom.

    Kenan Malik urged Guardian readers to remember that freedom of speech has protected the powerless throughout history. Juliet Samuel said the case of UUP leader Doug Beattie was a rare example of forgiveness amid the cancel culture frenzy. Davina McCall spoke of her fear of being cancelled. Cancel culture has no rhyme or reason, argued Michael Deacon, questioning why some artists were seemingly too big to be erased while others were singled out for punishment.

    Sir Tom Devine: “racist gang” smear was defamation

    Sir Tom Devine has received legal advice that he was defamed by Sir Geoff Palmer, who described him as being part of a “racist gang”. Sir Tom does not, however, intend to sue. He also said that the two universities he is affiliated with didn’t do enough in response to the completely baseless accusation. We wrote to the University of Edinburgh raising Sir Tom’s case and urging the institution to act. Our letter and the Vice-Chancellor’s response can be read here. Meanwhile, Sir Geoff has criticised plans to rename Linlithgow pub The Black Bitch. Its owners fear the name has racist connotations, even though the name refers to a dog.

    Oliver Twist is the latest classic to be given a trigger warning by a university. Jacob Rees-Mogg said students at Royal Holloway should grow up.

    America

    FIRE has released its rankings of the 10 worst universities for free speech. Pano Kanelos, President of the new non-woke University of Austin, spoke to the Wall Street Journal about his mission to remake higher education in America. Meanwhile, Georgetown students are demanding Ilya Shapiro be fired for tweets criticising Biden’s decision to limit his choice of Supreme Court Justice to black women.

    There has been a surge in book-banning campaigns in libraries across America, the Times reported, as parents campaign against schools displaying texts on gender identity.

    Whoopi Goldberg was suspended for two weeks by ABC for her comments about the Holocaust and subsequent botched apology. Read a blog post by the CEO of the US Free Speech Union Benjamin Schwarz about why she should not have been suspended.

    Islamic blasphemy laws

    Journalist Ophélie Meunier is living under police protection following the release of a documentary she made about the impact of radical Islam in France.

    Wasiq Wasiq wrote for Spiked about the case of Aneeqa Ateeq, the Pakistani woman sentenced to death for supposedly “blasphemous” WhatsApp messages.

    Forthcoming lecture: free speech from Socrates to social media

    Join us in London for a live public lecture, discussion, and book launch on 17 March. Jacob Mchangama will be introducing his new book, Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media. Jacon is an author and lawyer, as well as the founder and director of Justitia, a Copenhagen-based think tank focusing on human rights, freedom of speech and the rule of law.

    Following a short lecture, Jacob will be joined in conversation by Dr Joanna Williams, writer and director of Cieo, and Toby Young. The panel will be chaired by Baroness Fox, director of the Academy of Ideas.

    The discussion will be followed by a wine reception, hosted by Basic Books. Tickets are £10 /£5, with special rates for FSU members who use this link or enter the promo code FSUmember. Please book early, as we anticipate selling out. Founder members should email events@freespeechunion.org in the next seven days if they would like a complimentary ticket.

    You can watch our recent Speakeasy with free speech warrior Harry Miller here.

    We’re hiring!

    If you’d like to get involved in our work, we currently have three new posts available. Join our communications team as our Director of Digital Content and Marketing, or as our Communications Officer. We’re also seeking a Director of Data and Impact to help expand our membership base. We’re keen to fill the positions quickly, so will begin the interview process on a rolling basis.

    Sharing the newsletter

    As with all our work, this newsletter depends on the support of our members and donors, so if you’re not already a paying member please sign up today or encourage a friend to join.

    You can share our newsletter on social media with the buttons below to help us spread the word. If someone has shared this newsletter with you and you’d like to join the FSU, you can find our website here.

    Best wishes,

  32. 334936+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Friday 4 February: If the Chancellor wants to reduce energy bills he should cut green levies,

    That is always assuming that the chancellor WANTS to reduce energy bills
    and kick the insane green issues into touch, what in heavens name would give one that idea ?

    To me it is all part & parcel of the pandemic scam inflating / relabeling, in the main, flu.

    Tis IMO a continuing softening up of the main herd making them more malleable ( if possible) for future events.

    They, the political overseers are funding foreign tribes overseas whilst
    giving assorted foreign tribes succour on the home front in 5 star hotels
    next no doubt the channel tunnel will be given over 3 days a week to bringing in MORE potential troops / assorted felons/ etc,etc.

    My question is WHY are the electoral loons still instilling trust in the
    lab/lib/con very pro eu coalition ?

    1. Morning all.
      I remember a lovely clip of some people on a zoom call and they were trying to make out the screen shot had frozen and the cat jumped up on to the desk. 🤣

  35. Good morning all,

    The bad weather has raced through so very quickly, hints of blue sky and sunshine , clouds racing through at the rate of knots .

    1. That would make more sense if they actually were asylum seekers.

      They are not: they are an invasion force that we should be dealing with — properly — as insurgents. Where are Drake and Churchill when you need them?

      Good morning, Maggie.

    2. A Fiddle IF i MAY

      Priti Patel spends almost £5 million a day OF OUR TAX MONEY on hotel bills for asylum seekers

  38. There is an interesting parallel between Sunak’s proposals for dealing with the energy price hike and the lockdown. The lockdown was to “flatten the curve”, Sunaks “loans” to the energy sector are also to “flatten the curve” of sudden energy price rises. The big problem with Sunak’s proposal is that it has a massive payback cost, all he is doing is pushing the cost to the right. He can’t fund this loan so he will have to borrow so the payback will cost not only the principal loan, but the incurred interest charges. These are subject to the variable of inflation over which Sunak, despite what he thinks, has little control hence he has an open ended commitment. The loans are to the energy companies, not the consumer so they will take their cut. In the end the consumer will end up paying more. Sunak should be focussing on cost reduction, not funding higher prices. Blobby and Sunak should be tasking the Energy Minister with finding solutions, quickly. The most obvious start is to cast the “net zero” objective into the bin. I don’t hold my breath of any such thinking.

  39. Richard Tice sums up one predicament created by the recent Tory governments and brought to a head under Johnson, their complete lack of sense in doing the right and sensible thing with their green driven energy (lack of) policy. Driven by a green mania this government is insensitive to the energy needs of both the people and the industry that the Country requires.

    https://twitter.com/TiceRichard/status/1489205719819857925

    1. A few ponderings

      Does Johnson have to pay for his own, as opposed to business (HMG) usage, of electricity, gas, telephone, TV licence for living in Downing Street?

      If not, why not:

      No10 is the equivalent of a Married Quarter , the few of which have been rented by a some Nottlers

      I had to pay rent and all household expenses, Johnson should do the same, either directly, or as a Taxed Benefit: the same applies to food (even for the pets), and drink etc.consumed by the family.in daily living.

      At present his divorced from reality (as well as a number of wives) on the true cost of living. This also applies to all Members of HoL and HoC.

      It needs to be looked at

      1. I believe £30,000 p.a. is allocated for maintenance of the PM’s flat.
        Whether that includes the usual running costs like heating lighting, water etc…. I don’t know.
        Maybe it’s just for repairs and … ahem … redecorating.

        1. When Carrie first appeared on the scene, we were told that she was an astute political operator who had helped the Conservatives to election victory. I do not think that getting expensive wallpaper that they could not afford, while putting draconian regulations on the country, was very astute. More like greedy, shallow, pretentious etc.

          1. There seems to be a well-concealed reason as to why she was hoofed out of CCHQ.
            Having met some CCHQ apparatchiks, I’d say she’d have to be spectacularly useless.

  40. ‘Morning All

    This little quote sums up EXACTLY where we are be it Immigration,Covid,Greenscam etc etc

    “I can’t help noticing that the government can do anything it wants,
    e.g. place the entire population under house arrest, because there is no
    limit to government power, but cannot do anything we want because its
    hands are tied by international agreements.”.

    1. Quote from Richard Jones on the other channel……….

      “I was trying to be diplomatic but basically governments of all kinds and
      in all flavours everywhere have simply used Covid as a test of the
      limits of their power over the people they govern.”

      And my response
      Ndovu Mod Richard Jones • 16 hours ago

      And they have found that whatever they come up with, whether lockdowns,
      covid passes or dodgy vaccines – the vast majority of the public will
      comply. Thus they know they can get away with most things – even
      manslaughterr of the old and harms to the young.

      1. Richard is a joy to read, he is so knowledgeable but I have stopped commenting on the site some time ago.

        1. Yes – you are missed – I stay there because I’ve learnt so much from Richard and some of the others like Jack and Difford are knowledgable too. Lessi has deserted as he found Robin too dogmatic.

          1. Yes I suppose dogmatic is a fair description, I admire the fact he continued the forum when truth left but it is not for me. Occasionally I have a look to see what Richard thinks about something or other, invariably I find myself nodding in agreement.

          2. Robin does a good job keeping the forum going – my role as mod is just to zap the spammers and I don’t tread on his toes – but I disagree with most of his comments. Richard is what keeps me there.

    1. Morning Rix,
      I’m not holding my breath for my DiL and son to mention the planned trucker protests in Toronto this weekend. She is a fan of Turdeau, and he has been indoctrinated. They will hear the protests from their apartment, and the marches a couple of weeks ago went right past …. but no mention from them.
      Both fully signed up to the scamdemic narrative, including subjecting their then-3 year old to numerous Convid ‘tests’ in the first couple of months or so of kindergarten before Christmas. Every tiny sniffle, every tiniest raised temperature (they check the kids’ temperatures every morning!) saw them off to the testing centre. The older child was already anxious before convid, now neurotic about ‘germs’.

      1. A friend of mine has to work really hard to counter the fear put into her primary school age children by the teachers. It is really not funny when a child gets a positive test, and genuinely believes she is going to die! What the schools are doing is criminal.

        1. The frequent ‘routine’ testing of schoolchildren must stop. What is the point of testing for testing’s sake? None – other than keeping up the fear factor and getting a decent number of fake ‘positives’ to maintain the pretence of high ‘case’ numbers (the majority of whom are not even remotely unwell). That these ‘tests’ are so widely discredited and inaccurate makes the nonsense even worse.
          Head teachers who, in spite of mask mandates being dropped, are still demanding teenagers wear masks need to be held to account. Last year, when secondary school pupils had to be masked while primary children never did (unlike my 3 year old muzzled grandchild in Canada) there was zero difference in proportion of children sent home. Other than a visual reminder to be scared, what was the point?
          Masks, repeated testing, jabs for young children – it is a form of child cruelty, doing untold psychological damage to children.
          As for the unknown potential damage to young children getting the jabs, all for a ‘disease’ that holds no risk to otherwise fit, healthy young bodies.
          Rantlet over!

  46. https://www.gbnews.uk/news/priti-patel-spends-almost-5-million-a-day-on-hotel-bills-for-asylum-seekers/219425

    Home Secretary Priti Patel has been forced to admit that spending has totalled £4.7million every day on housing asylum seekers in hotels.

    The Home Office has issued a correction to the figure given by Tricia Hayes to the Home Affairs Committee.

    The senior civil servant told MPs that the Home Office were spending £1.2 million a day on housing asylum seekers.

    Later, however, the Government admitted that this number related only to Afghan refugees and accommodating asylum seekers from other countries actually costs an additional £3.5 million a day.

    In Wednesday’s committee session, Priti Patel admitted the policy was “thoroughly inadequate.”

    It costs £127 per person per day to house an asylum seeker in a hotel however the Home Secretary has highlighted that, due to infrastructure problems, there is a difficulty in finding permanent accommodation.

    Priti Patel said local councils are “absolutely struggling” to house Afghan refugees.

    A Home Office spokesman said there are currently 25,000 thousand refugees in hotel accommodation and a further 12,000 afghan refugees in bridging accommodation.

    A spokesman said: “The use of hotels is unacceptable. It is a short-term solution to the global migration crisis and we are working hard to find appropriate dispersed accommodation for migrants, asylum seekers and Afghan refugees as soon as possible.

    “We would urge local authorities to do all they can to help house people permanently.

    “Our New Plan for Immigration, which is going through Parliament now, will fix the broken asylum system, enabling us to remove those with no right to be here more quickly.”

    1. local councils are “absolutely struggling” to house Afghan refugees – yes, because the country is full up – et they want ever more to come.
      Raving, they are, positively Romford.

    2. Um, stupid, obvious question, I know, but, why are the indigenous folk of the UK responsible for fixing the “global migration crisis “?

    2. Pretty good assessment of recent happening.

      But Mr with the almost ‘unpronounceable’ name is absolutely correct. There are millions of people in the same boat.
      And no matter who we have in government, they simple Downtgivarfurk about the average person on the street that is forced into supporting them financially and somewhat in moral terms until of course the election is over done and dusted.

    3. i did.

      SWMBO told me off for swearing

      Have an urgent appointment at dentist (Doctor’s NFI) to un twist my tongue

    1. In the post linked above, Batten draws attention to the recent high court ruling that the government doesn’t have to make public information about how many children have died shortly after being jabbed.

      Here’s a link to the article referenced in the tweet:
      https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-02-03-uk-court-buries-data-children-have-died-covid-vaccines.html

      By a strange coincidence, the German government have just made the same decision, which I saw referenced on an independent German language website today
      https://reitschuster.de/post/bundesregierung-laesst-jugendliche-impfgeschaedigte-buchstaeblich-im-stich/

        4. So do I, Belle. Even more so about our energy problem which is completely unnecessary, and Sunak’s ‘kind’ enforced loan from which we cannot opt-out. Is it even legal? It smacks of racketeering. Now that the precedent has been set, they can ‘loan’ us as much as they like, and attach that debt to our name. The next enforced ‘loan’ will be for the alterations to our properties that we have to make to comply with the climate change scam. Having said ‘even more so about our energy problem’ I am really just as concerned about the the health of the nation both physically and mentally.

          Difficult times. These have occurred, one way or another, throughout our history.

          1. Yes. As long as we live in an era of mass communication, we need to fight totalitarianism once or twice every century as far as I can see.
            We must never forget that, or allow our descendants to forget it.

      3. 334936+ up ticks,
        Afternoon PM,
        Since the Thatcher era, our present condition as a nation was the only outcome,the electorate put party before country every time this is the endgame result.

        The electorate knew what the political top rankers were like long before they got top spot.

    3. By my reckoning and personal experiences you’ll probably find a lot of the people who are spoken about as waiting for certain types of treatment on the NHS could well be suffering from reactions to the covid injections.

      1. 334936+ up ticks,

        Afternoon RE,

        They built “nightingale hospitals” then took them down unused, scare tactics, why not a prefabricated covid ISOLATION hospital independent of regular hospitals
        in every town instead of contaminating EVERY hospital ?

        All covid cases could then be monitored &
        data collated easily, then again was that
        was what was needed via the overseers, I
        think not.

    1. Insurance Co’s have deep pockets their lawyers are going to go for Big Pharma wholesale
      Fraud vitiates Immunity……..
      I have read elsewhere Pharma co’s will be bankrupted over this

        1. Vaccine deaths can be from all kinds of things, heart attack, stroke etc.
          When someone has a life insurance and it hasn’t run out yet, and the person dies, the insurance company pays out the whole amount that they would have saved if they’d lived.
          Bit of a problem if the death rate goes up among younger people!
          That’s just one example.
          The health insurance companies in Europe won’t be happy with a sudden increase in the number of chronically sick younger people.
          etc.

          1. Thank you – of course, Big Pharma cannot be prosecuted, since their untested ‘vaccine’, better known as gene therapy has been granted immunity by the World Globalists.

          2. all childhood vaccines had that already in the usa from 86, and chances of suing for those injuries were always slim everywhere.

            but people went with it and called me all sorts of things.

          3. A few years ago there was a big Hoo Haa by Big Pharma when an Australian doctor found a simple and effective and cheap cure for stomach ulcers. Big pharma spent quite a long time and effort denigrating this chap as there own expensive fix had been undermined.
            No change in their aggressive attitudes.
            Now Prof, Barry Marshall.
            https://www.bing.com/search?q=helicobacter+pylori+in+peptic+ulceration+and+gastritis&filters=ufn%3a%22helicobacter+pylori+in+peptic+ulceration+and+gastritis%22+sid%3a%22e1fb59c9-f08f-4569-057b-dca3967e021b%22+gsexp%3a%221de3555d-146f-0b45-0f8d-d5bc3737bab9_bXNvL2Jvb2suYXV0aG9yLndvcmtzX3dyaXR0ZW58VHJ1ZQ..%22&FORM=SNAPST

    1. Yes, and is now lumped on taxation. Deflection continues, people keep blaming the companies rather than the government’s *moronic* green agenda

    2. Not really fixed at all is it? We went back to Scottish Power last summer on a fixed rate tariff – and it’s now gone up by £40 per month.

      1. Advice was if you were nearing the end of your deal to stay put. You could end up paying a lot more in the long run by switching.

        1. We were with Bristol Energy for a year or two and their deal came to an end last summer so we went back to SP. I have a feeling Bristol is one of the companies that has gone under since then.

  56. Ref my brother’s funeral. Eldest surviving cousin mails me this morning. Despite being a farmer’s grand-daughter, daughter and widow – and being one of the most sensible people I have ever known – she has gone 150% Full Covidian: For example:

    “Is it unwise for you to travel down for the 15th or are you planning to?”

    She’ll be the one in triple masks – sitting on her own…..

      1. No – her own. Tests herself every day “Just in case”. Nuts. Her late husband would have explained it to her…..

        1. I read a very interesting account of someone’s covid experience recently. She got a giant headache, with wavy vision etc – so went to the hospital for scans, tests etc. Got covid tested there, negative.
          Sent home “just a migrane” – did another covid test – negative.
          Started to get fluey symptoms in following days – did another covid test – still negative
          After about a week, headache came back – did another covid test – faint positive.
          PCR test was then positive.

          1. ‘Afternoon, BB2, The moral seems to be, “Keep testing until you get the desired result!”

          2. The “carrot” is the certificate saying you’ve had covid, that entitles you to the benefits enjoyed by the vaccinated (it was from the EU).
            I do not think I would go along with that, as it merely perpetuates the scam, but it might be valuable at some point in the future to prove that one has had covid, so I’d probably want that proof.

          3. I’ve just gone through the rigmarole of uploading my proof of two AZ shots on the Global Haven website to get a Vax pass to be let in to Kenya. It really is all about surveillance. Still got to have a negative test result and upload that. Oh for the days when all you needed was a passport and a visa.

  57. Nearly everyone masked in Sainsburys today. I know they have all been frightened but I juist cannot beleive just how pathetic they all are.

    1. Tesco’s no longer demanding it, so I stopped wearing it – as did lots of other people.

      1. I haven’t worn mine since last summer – when Freedom Day was delayed by a month. I complied before then, reluctantly. Then I thought they could sod off. I’ve never been challenged since then.

      3. We have never worn them we exempted ourselves and wore the lanyard, hated that as well.

    2. Likewise when I popped into the one in Bath (although I did notice that some staff were going au naturel around the face!)

  58. Jozef Daria appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on January 20 charged with causing unnecessary suffering of an animal.

    The 36-year-old confirmed to the court that he had killed his pet dog.

    Jozef Daria from Rotherham has been banned from owning or keeping animals for five years after killing his Chihuahua, called Lily.

    South Yorkshire Police were called to Broom Valley Road to investigate after being notified that Daria had been seen in his garden with blood on his hands while holding a carrier bag.

    Officers conducted a search on Friday, October 15 at Daria’s home and garden.

    A spokesman confirmed that they had “found a dead Chihuahua in a carrier bag concealed behind a bush.”

    “When questioned, Daria stated that he had killed the dog as part of a religious ritual he was doing that afternoon. A knife was recovered from his home that had been used to cut the dog’s neck.

    “Working in partnership with the RSPCA, Rotherham neighbourhood officers ensured Daria’s other two dogs were seized for their own safety.”

    Daria has been sentenced to a two-year community order, 25 days of rehabilitation, 90 days of alcohol abstinence and ordered to pay court costs of £95. https://www.gbnews.uk/man-found-with-bloodstained-hands-after-killing-pet-dog-in-religious-ritual/219809

    Deport him, because it will be a child or a woman next

    4. By the rationale of that court, in five years time he will be once again deemed fit to own or keep an animal. How do they work that out?

      1. I was wondering that. Will he be rehabilitated, sent to psychic therapy? Why was he not barred for life from pet-owning?

    5. No, don’t deport him.

      Let me beat him to death. No, sorry That’s wrong.

      Nearly to death. Then I’ll hang adrenaline and do it again, day after day until his bones are powder.

    6. No, don’t deport him.

      Let me beat him to death. No, sorry That’s wrong.

      Nearly to death. Then I’ll hang adrenaline and do it again, day after day until his bones are powder.

    7. The assumption is that he is a Muslim; Mud slimes hate dogs.

      Why then have three – future ‘religious rituals’?

  61. Being dim doesn’t stop you from making unfeasible amounts of money.
    Obviously WG didn’t realise her stage name suggested Jewish origins.

    “Saying she had now learned that “Hitler and the Nazis considered Jews to be an inferior race,”

    She’s had 66 years to learn this fact. Reminds me of Roger Dupree in ‘The Producers’ who was most put out to discover the Germans lost WWII.

    https://melaniephillips.substack.com/p/whoops-whoopi-the-holocaust-was-all?r=8t4ty&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

      1. The Producers was written in the mid-1960s. At that stage, it seemed that the Germans had lost.

        1. Ah, thank you, Bill.

          I didn’t follow the link as I’ve no idea who Melanie Phillips might be.

          2. I did follow that link – writes for the Graudian and the Grimes and the front of her podium records ‘Honest Reporting’.

            Who’d a thunk it?

      2. In her Wiki entry, she mentions that the Whoopi name was adopted because she used to fart on stage, because there was insufficient time for bathroom breaks.

    4. WG a Democrat supporter and Trump hater.

      To use a phrase the Left like to throw around…’Go educate yourself’.

      She’s as bad as Susan Sarandon and that Fonda woman.

    5. I’m with Whoopi on this one. Jewish people often claim that their identity is both a religion and an ethnicity, very useful.
      Tragically there are not so many people in the MSM who are willing to speak up for the gypsies, the gays, the physically and mentally disabled, the Soviet soldiers and civilians and God alone knows how many other forgotten victims of the Germans and the rest of the Axis before during and after WWII.

      The dilemma is that if you believe or accept that mankind is composed of different races, you are a ‘racist’. In anthropology, a particular group of people can be described as a ‘population’, thus avoiding the ‘r’ concept.

  62. Since the demise of Mrs Thatcher in 1990, on a logarithmic scale each successive prime minister has been incrementally worse than its predecessor.

    By the standard of ever-decreasing returns; you can bet your life’s savings that whoever (or whatever) succeeds the resent incumbent will be exponentially worse than he is. Prime ministers? A progressively stupider population gets what it deserves.

    1. And of course what we have to remember Grizz is she became our first lady PM after the disaster (with Wilson and Callaghan in between) of Heath. Who Heath himself with his habitual and pathological lying, started the demise of our country with his signing up not for a Common market which is what many of us voted for and not being tied in and run by the brussels mafia for the next 48 years. And still it continues.

      1. Without a doubt; however, I was alluding to the progressive and unstoppable stupidity of the species in general.

  63. https://stevekirsch.substack.com/p/uk-government-report-reveals-that?r=z2izz&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

    From Steve Kirsch

    Click the image below to read the story.

    The key part are the stats on all-cause mortality which I’ve always said is the elephant in the room:

    10–14-year-olds,
    on the other hand, run the risk of dying almost by a factor of ten
    following the first dose while the second dose brings a 51.8 times
    greater risk of death than if they had remained un-jabbed.

    I’ve applied to speak at the upcoming FDA and CDC meetings and would like to use this in my oral testimony.

  64. One for the blood pressure.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/04/man-exploited-slave-kept-40-years-given-18-month-suspended-sentence/

    Man who exploited slave kept in shed for 40 years given 18-month suspended sentence

    Peter Swailes Jr, 56, ‘used and abused’ a man who was made to live in a horse box and disused shed

    By Telegraph Reporters 4 February 2022 • 11:48am

    “Man who exploited slave kept in shed for 40 years given 18-month suspended sentence

    A man who exploited a vulnerable victim who was found living in a squalid shed has walked free from court.

    On Friday, Peter Swailes Jr, 56, was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court to a nine-month jail term, suspended for 18 months.

    The victim had been “used and abused” for 40 years by the defendant’s father Peter Swailes Snr, the court heard.

    He was made to live in a horse box, a disused caravan and more recently in a shed on a residential site in Carlisle.

    The Crown accepted the defendant’s guilty plea last month to conspiracy to arrange or facilitate the travel of another with a view to exploitation on the basis he was unaware of the victim’s living conditions.

    Peter Swailes, 80, who died last year, had denied the offence”

      1. Having looked at the pictures, how could the neighbours been been unaware? Shades of Fritzl!
        Edit:grammar

    3. Interesting to compare this sentence to the one handed out to the dog killer (discussed about two hours ago).

  65. Why has the government (aka Boris) not become concerned about the NI border? Trouble in Ireland is more likely to occur sooner than trouble in the Ukraine and is closer to home as NI is still in the Union.
    Is it possible that the Americans will make good their threat to send peace-keepers to NI? (Which was what speedily brought about the Good Friday Agreement.)

    1. If it means the border in Northern Ireland will come into being, sounds good to me, Then we can drop the ridiculous border in the Irish sea rubbish.

      1. …and the double win makes it beholden on the EU to put in a sieve-like (hard) border in order to check imports into the EUseless.

        You pay for it and man it – we will watch the sieve-holes for illegal gimme grunts and immediately turn ’em round.

  67. Look at the date carefully.

    The Government had planned this years ago .

    JANUARY 8, 201912:46 PM UPDATED 3 YEARS AGO
    Serco, Mears win £2.9 billion refugee housing contracts in Britain
    By Tanishaa Nadkar

    3 MIN READ

    (Reuters) – Serco and Mears have won contracts totalling 2.9 billion pounds from the British government to provide accommodation and support for asylum seekers, lifting shares in both outsourcing firms.

    Valued at 1.9 billion pounds for Serco and 1 billion pounds for Mears, the 10-year contracts were awarded by Britain’s Home Office Visas and Immigration department under the Asylum Accommodation and Support Services Contract (AASC).

    Shares in Serco were up 6.5 percent at 108.8 pence at 1253 GMT on Tuesday, while Mears rose 6.2 percent to 360 pence on news of the new contracts, which sources told Reuters last month had attracted few private sector bids.

    The British government is awarding contracts worth a total of 4 billion pounds to house asylum seekers, the sources said, but last year’s collapse of Carillion has dampened appetite for riskier projects.

    Serco bid for parts of the AASC contract despite having hundreds of millions of pounds in losses in 2016 from its predecessor, when refugee arrivals and costs outstripped budgets baked into fixed contract terms.

    “The hope is that … the risk/rewards on this contract are much more attractive. The structure of the new contract is very different and does not have volume risk and the same level of penalties,” Liberum analysts said.

    Annual revenue from the new contract is expected to be about 150 million pounds for Serco in 2020, compared to about 70 million pounds in 2018 on the previous version of the contract.

    “In 2020 and thereafter we expect the AASC contracts to be materially positive to both profitability and cash flow”, Serco said in a statement.

    Mears, which specialises in social care and housing services, is the only newcomer to the asylum contract since 2012, the sources told Reuters.

    Serco has won the contract for the North West of England and the Midlands and East of England regions, where about 20,000 asylum seekers are living.

    Mears has been awarded contracts for Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber.

    Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru; editing by Jason Neely and Alexander Smith

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

    1. Of course they did, it is still evident today with Covid Marshalls being employed on contracts.
      Don’t expect me to shed any tears for any of them when they are kicked out on their arse!

  68. I had my walk into town this morning now the rain has cleared leaving bright sunshine but with a cold wind.
    Noticeably fewer face nappies in evidence this week compared to last but there are still a sizeable number who exhibits fear of the virus by walking down the pavement on their own in a fresh northerly breeze with their face nappy firmly in place.

      1. Somebody did say to me in their defence that it kept the cold air out of their lungs. I hadn’t accosted him, but my look must have said more than I intended.

    2. We passed a middle-aged woman walking towards us on our windswept village green en route to the post office. She hoisted the end of her scarf to her mouth whilst she passed us, keeping it in place with her hand until we were 5 metres past (we turned to look).

      1. I laugh at them for their actions but pity them for living their lives in such fear in equal measures.
        SAGE, Johnson and the rest have a lot to answer for.

  69. 334936+ up ticks,

    Warning: UK Govt Plan to Cover Up Illegal Migrant Numbers in 2022 Will Allow Arrivals to Soar Unchecked,

    It is my belief by visually checking on the bus & down town the mask wearers were still very numerous.

    If a covert party an offshoot of the lab/lib/con named ( submit & appease) was in the running I believe it would win hands down.

  71. I kid thee not…..Among the 400 BTL comments, there are some taking the side of the Romanian…

    Romanian hurt trying to stab his wife sues NHS

    Dorinel Cojanu was jailed for attempted murder after he stabbed his former wife with an eight-inch blade in their Watford home

    By India McTaggart 4 February 2022 • 6:00am

    A man who cut his hand as he tried to murder his wife has won £17,500 after he sued the NHS for “criminal negligence” when treating his injuries.

    Dorinel Cojanu, 36, was jailed for 11 years in 2015 for attempted murder after he stabbed his former wife Daniela with an eight-inch blade in the kitchen of their family home in Watford while drunk.

    She was treated in hospital for almost four months and was left with permanent scars after suffering severe injuries from the blade passing through a lung and into her liver.

    Cojanu, originally from Romania, attacked her with such force that he was left with deep cuts on two fingers of his right hand, which doctors declared required immediate surgery.

    However, due to security concerns his reconstructive surgery scheduled at the Royal Free Hospital in North London was cancelled and the appointment was not rescheduled elsewhere in the necessary timeframe.

    He launched a compensation claim against the NHS after he was jailed in Bedford prison and argued that the failure of doctors to treat him soon after he entered jail had left him with life-changing injuries.

    He demanded total compensation of £125,000 and claimed that the restricted use of his right hand from not undergoing surgery prevented him from working as a manual labourer.

    Cojanu only served five years of his sentence, and his compensation figure included paying for his surgery in Romania and aftercare.

    He was awarded £8,500 at a hearing in May 2021 by judge Mr Recorder Gibbons, who rejected most of the claim on the grounds that Cojanu had been dishonest over how he incurred his injury and his loss of earnings.

    The 36-year-old had claimed that it was Daniela who had attacked him during what he described as an “altercation” and that he sustained the injury as he tried to defend himself.

    After appealing the decision at the High Court, Cojanu’s compensation was increased to £17,500 as the judge ruled that his dishonesty about how he became injured was not relevant to his civil claim against the NHS.

    In his judgement, Mr Justice Ritchie said: “It matters not whether he had suffered the injury opening a tin of beans, in gang warfare or whilst attempting to murder his wife.”

    Cojanu’s lawyers had argued in their claim that he should have received surgery within 10 days of sustaining the injury to his right hand but that this was cancelled by NHS staff at Bedford.

    He was deported back to Romania in June 2020 following his release.

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

    Mary Jones
    5 HRS AGO
    So we gave him a 5 year holiday with 3 meals a day and £17,000 for spending money. We really are the maddest country in the world. Mr. Justice Ritchie should hang his head in shame.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/04/romanian-hurt-trying-stab-wife-sues-nhs/#comment

    1. WTF……..??? i very much doubt if the AH ever actually paid in as much as a brass farthing for the use of the NHS.

    2. Deportation doesn’t mean that much these days given the ‘Calais Taxi’ service. Expect we’ll never know just how many have returned that way.

    3. Tell him to come and collect the money in cash personally from the NHS in the UK.

      What’s that you say? He’s been deported and is not allowed to re-enter the country? Shame.

    4. Let’s hope he has permanently lost the use of his right hand.
      I doubt Romania’s great on supporting dossers.

  76. Oh good – going from strength to strength

    Lord Hogan-Howe who oversaw Met’s bungled VIP child sex inquiry when he was force’s leader wants to be next head of Britain’s FBI
    Lord Hogan-Howe was in charge of Met when officers raided homes of leading Establishment figures as part of the force’s disastrous VIP paedophile ring probe
    Hogan-Howe has applied for £223,000-a-year director general role at NCA
    The former head of the Met Police appears to be a leading candidate for the role

    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/02/04/00/48348019-10474893-In_his_previous_job_at_Scotland_Yard_Mr_Rodhouse_was_gold_comman-a-37_1643935450618.jpg

    1. Lord Hogan-Howe who oversaw Met’s bungled VIP child sex inquiry when he was force’s leader wants to be next head of Britain’s FBI.

      He should be at home there! The NCA appears to be as incompetent as its American counterpart!

    2. Lord Hogan-Howe who oversaw Met’s bungled VIP child sex inquiry when he was force’s leader wants to be next head of Britain’s FBI.

      He should be at home there! The NCA appears to be as incompetent as its American counterpart!

  78. Netflix may expand its service to China.

    So finally, kids in China will be able to watch shows.

    On the devices they made.

  79. It now appears that Sir Keir had no personal responsibility in failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile for his misdemeanors but nonetheless addressed the issues arising from them.

    I would suggest that Boris Johnson likewise could not have had any personal responsibility for all the goings on at No 10 but nonetheless had been addressing the potentially far worse consequences of Brexit and tne COVID virus – neither of which he started.

    Furthermore it was disgraceful that members of both parties should weaponise the consequential suffering of their contituents to create a political hole for the Prime Minister who has left the UK in a much better situation than it otherwise would have been.

    Good luck to any prospective candidate for the post.

    “Sir Keir did more than any other director of public prosecutions to advance the rights of victims.

    “No DPP can control every decision. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was much better under his leadership.

    “Weaponising their suffering to get out of a political hole is disgraceful.”

    https://news.sky.com/story/jimmy-saviles-victims-call-on-boris-johnson-to-withdraw-sir-keir-starmer-accusations-12530517

    1. But wasn’t it then Home Secretary Jackie Smith who decided “it was a lifestyle choice” that these girls made and that, consequently, most authorities who were made aware of the situation just ignored it?

      1. Most authorities were already aware that the income from a significant community benefactor was more important than criminalising such a national treasure.

    2. The man in charge has not only the responsibility for his actions and those who he commands but also has ACCOUNTABILITY.

      1. Does that mean that the woman on top would not be held accountable for what happened to those underneath her?

    3. Penetratingly chilly . Bill

      Walked the dogs earlier , and was glad to get back in the car in time to listen to the Archers.

      Was 10c, now 8c here at home outside , sun is shining brightly , woofity breeze coming down the chimney . Can feel it around my knees. No heating on, but a pleasant 19c indoors .

      Did some gardening yesterday , just weeding , then refilled the bird feeders.

  81. First look at Daniel Craig and A-list ensemble in Knives Out 2. 4 February 2022.

    Back in August, Army of the Dead actor Bautista explained why Knives Out 2 is going to top the original.

    “I really think it’s going to be as good, if not better, than the first one. I’m always afraid to say that because I don’t want anybody to get offended saying that we’re going to be better, but I really do think this.

    “I think the characters are just so much more colourful,” he said. “I think people are really going to dig this. The characters are just so great. They’re so different.”

    On the recommendation of sundry authorities; not least Wikipedia, I bought the DVD of Knives Out1. It is dreadfully contrived and there is not the remotest possibility; in contravention of all whodunit protocols, of figuring out for yourself who the villain is. Contrast this with a movie called Arctic, about the survivors of a plane crash, that was on Film4 the very same night. It has only two protagonists and probably cost one hundredth of KO1 but is unremittingly bleak and powerful. I’m not going to watch either one of them again but for completely different reasons!

    First look at Daniel Craig and A-list ensemble in Knives Out 2 (msn.com)

  82. MY NAME IS GRIZZLY AND I AM A RACIST!

    Humans, in common with all other animal species, are hard-wired by nature to look after themselves, their family, their friends, their tribe and their territory. That is an irrebuttable presumption of fact that cannot be challenged.

    Every human (and every animal) will fight (to the death, if needed) to defend itself against attack by anyone or anything that threatens it. It will naturally do the same to protect those close and dear to it: e.g. its family, its home, its food sources, its shelter, its community, its country. This has been the case since animals first evolved, and it will continue to go on until they are wiped out by whatever means.

    “Multiculturalism” does not exist in nature. Leopards do not shack-up with lions. Chimpanzees do not co-habit with gorillas. Sparrowhawks do not cosy-up to chaffinches. Conger eels do not share a bed with trout.

    It is completely unnatural to even think that the population of a sovereign nation will be happy to co-exist with an ever-increasing horde of people of a different race, politics, religion, habits and an ingrained lawlessness and lack of criminal awareness. We are being forced to exist in a state that is completely and utterly against the laws of nature. Something has to give: it is inevitable.

    As a direct result of my views [sorry: “knowledge of the natural world”] I am deemed to be a ‘racist’ by those of an inferior intellect, i.e. the Left. This is where they show their idiocy. I do not hate people of other countries, race, religion, politics or habits per se; in fact I get along well with a number of them. What I hate is the fact that politicians are trying to make me, and my kind, go against nature and accept an ever-growing number of lawless and indolent individuals in our midst that, directly and indirectly, threaten me, my family, my friends, my tribe and my country. If ‘racist’ describes me, in their feeble minds, then ‘racist’ I am happy to be.

    3. I don’t have a problem with educated and integrated ethnics. I do have a problem with Paki Slammers.

      1. I have a problem with some of the “educated and integrated ethnics” – Priti Awful; Fishi Rishi; the one at Education; the Spamhead Slammer…..

    4. IMHO……..
      I have worked with people from all over the world at different stages. Except for Russians (just One) and south Asians as in Chinese/Japanese/Koreans. Everything was fine as we had a common goal. But our culture is now being stripped bare to the bones. I would stick my neck out and suggest that many people who have come to the UK especially, have because they see a certain weakness to be exploited. And once the wedge of exploitation has been inserted it is continually driven home. We have come a long way from cave dwelling but i suspect Eventually It will tip the balance and our culture will no longer exist.
      But as you now point out Grizz there are people who are trying to change our culture for their own means and ideology. This stands out like a sore thumb.
      If people come to northern Europe to work and behave, because they believe it’s a better place to be and to raise their families so be it, but there are obvious limits our political classes don’t seem to recognise. As in please do not try and make this nation your own, our history is too strong and ingrained and has served our culture for thousands of years. If you don’t like it here and it doesn’t suit your purposes, the door is open, go back to your precious roots. And stop bashing other indigenous people over the head with your racist sticks.

    5. Well said, Grizz. “Racist” is usually the all-embracing insult from thicko lefties who are stuck for anything else. That’s inevitable, of course, when their shoe size is greater than their IQ…

  84. Supper tonight. Poisson et frites avec purée de pois.

    Followed by…

    Confiture roulée et creme Anglais.

        1. We had a pensioners portion of fish and chips a couple of weeks ago , amazingly for the price , the portions were huge, haddock was so fresh ,as if it had been just landed and of course mushy peas which were just as I like them , NOT watery . Slice of lemon , ‘cos I am not keen on vinegar , the only thing was the chips were just a bit thin and soggy ..

          Never mind , the fish was delicious , and the batter a light batter , might have been an ale mixture .. Moh and I enjoyed our meal , and we had a pot of tea and a roll and butter .. just like the old days .. we enjoyed watching the seagulls and terns diving into the harbour .

          5. Look! You can pretend all you want to be a northerner; you haven’t got the stuff! 🤣

            Frozen peas mashed with a potato masher are not “mushy peas”.

            Yeah!

    4. I shall be making fish and chips later. My meals are somewhat out today, owing to the fact I a) got up late and b) spent lunchtime tackling the hedge.

    1. How can robbing the South of their money possibly make the North better off? What has it been spent on? What tangible difference has it made? Who is better off for it? Where are the receipts?

      What ‘levelling’ has been achieved? How is this measured?

      You don’t know, do you? You’ve just got a slug of other people’s money to spend on things you want. Cluck off. Cut taxes. Create real wealth by letting people keep their own blasted money.

  89. Over to you NoTTlers – Re-name this street…

    A RESIDENTIAL street called Black Boy Lane will be renamed – a decision the council says will “fight against inequality.”
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/37512fa7694fbf62a96285bcf01fb8032bca1f2e4818fb7ed3a563a62e42f7e0.jpg

    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1560367/Black-Boy-Lane-name-change-La-Rose-Lane-Haringey-north-London

    There is also a Blackboy Hill in Bristol……adjacent to Whiteladies Road near the downs…

    1. Niggerland.

      Negro Place

      Stabbers Street

      Heck, my nan lives on Blackheath road! What a racist!

      I’ve a can of spray paint in my garage titled ‘negro’. It’s made by a Spanish company called Vallejo. Because Negro is Spanish for black.
      Am I a waycist? Please. Stop the fricken’ world. I want to get OFF!

        1. Named after the order of Dominican Friars that lived there. They wore a black cloak, for want of a better word, over their white habits.
          This current hysteria about removing the word ‘black’ from everything is daft. People should know their history and if they don’t – then do some research.

          1. Likewise Grey Friars and White Friars.
            Two reasons to rename Blackfriars – 1. It offends BAME people. 2. It offends Non-Christians (especially members of the RoP).

          3. Frankly, my dear Aeneas, I don’t give a damn. If they don’t like it, tough titty as me dear old Granny used to say 😉
            I am not a practicing Christian but I know my history and it is the history of our country and it should stay as it is.

        2. Dumb Woman’s Lane (Rye). How’s that for sexism? Many years ago now a set up a photo with Mrs HJ standing just forward and to one side of the road nameplate while I pretended to take a photo of the surroundings. When the photos came back from the processor she (fortunately) fell about laughing.

    3. In what way will it fight against inequality to remove a name that refers to a black person from the map?

      1. Maybe it doesn’t refer to a black person. One of Charles II’s nicknames was The Black Boy because of his swarthy complexion and the black periwig he wore. Most of the pubs named the Black Boy are named after the Merry Monarch.

        1. Very likely not, but in their warped minds it does, so why do they want to take it off??

          They should call it “Tom Sowell Lane” but they have probably never heard of him, and would go for “George Floyd St” because of course, a drug taking career criminal and layabout is the ultimate “Black Person” to them!

      2. Good decision! It is those who live there who should be listened to, not a bunch of BLM loons and the permanently offended with time on their hands. But I’m willing to bet that those who don’t like the name won’t be giving up just yet. (I am slightly biased, due to many happy childhood holidays there, and we still visit whenever possible.)

        1. Of course, “Swanage” is problematic. Swans are mainly white (I know there are black ones in Australia) – so the first syllable must, by extension, be offensive to people of color (sic).

          Perhaps Blackage would be more appropriate?

    5. https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/08/cd/bf/91/saracens-head-hotel.jpg
      The Saracen’s Head, Southwell, Nottinghamshire

      I wasted some of my misspent youth propping up the bar in this fine emporium. Suspect that Our Grizzly might have done the same (when off duty, of course)

      Southwell Minster just across the road is well worth a visit.

      https://www.southwellminster.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Southwell-Minster-e1583919383399.jpg

      https://www.englishcathedrals.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screenshot-2020-09-22-at-09.44.31.jpg

      1. ‘The Leaves of Southwell’ is a small book of photographs of the foliage carvings of the Chapter House at Southwell Minster.

        The author was Nikolaus Pevsner, a German, who went on to prepare ‘The Buildings of England’ series.

        Some person stole my copy from the office in South Kensington in the seventies.

        2. There is a large circular room inside with padded cushions on the stone seats. It is where, on occasions, all the Bishops in the country meet for a confab: their titles are on plaques above each seat.

          3. Spot on, Grizz

            I remember when my father took me to see it for the first time. I was mesmerised. An little known hidden gem. I have taken my (US based) son to see it but none of my 3 (UK based daughters) because I’m a misogynist. {:^)).
            https://c8.alamy.com/comp/D4RP13/the-chapter-house-in-southwell-minster-containing-the-famous-leaves-D4RP13.jpg
            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/089ea0b5d68808dc78b1df6b9cef12b561de9e917dac98f792ac09dfc4bb10ef.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ba31be0675ab3915498bc3bb874fde57dd035cbb01b4b895e2d2ed47b807dadc.jpg

        3. There is a large circular room inside with padded cushions on the stone seats. It is where, on occasions, all the Bishops in the country meet for a confab: their titles are on plaques above each seat.

      4. The Saracen’s Head looks fantastic. The Bar and Restaurant look great too.

        Not sure about the saggy leather in the Bramley room. I do like the old style furniture elsewhere.

        Prices look excellent.

        I do wish these places would use table linen.

        When are you taking me for Sunday lunch?

        2. It’s ages since I went anywhere near the place….I might be returning there in April because I’ll be escorting a friend who wants to visit her granddaughter at a nearby university (assuming that there are lectures/tutorials for the wee lass to attend)….Alas, you’re not really presentable enough to gain entry to The Saracen’s because you have that leering look as if you might goose one or more of the serving wenches, of which there are plenty, this being Robin Hood country.

      5. Hi, C1. I’ve been to Southwell (or “Suth’ll” as some call it) on a number of occasions. I’ve visited the Minster but I don’t recall popping into the Saracen’s Head pub (though I wish I had now). I’ve been to the garden where the first Bramley Seedling was discovered.

        There is a wonderful pub and restaurant by the same name at Wolterton in North Norfolk that I visited a few times when I lived there. I bet Billy knows it.

        https://www.saracenshead-norfolk.co.uk

        They are a funny lot in Notts when it comes to place names; nearly as bad as the Norfolk crowd. Rainworth is pronounced “Renn’orth” and Blidworth is pronounced “Blidd’orth”.

        1. I (and my family and friends who lived within 6 miles of there) always pronounced it “Suthell.” However, the Grizzly, a Derbyshire lad born umpteen miles way, as always deeming himself to be the all knowing arbiter in such matters, has asserted on this blog that it has to be pronounced “South-well”. Yer pays yer tuppence and takes yer choice.

          (P.S. The racecourse used to be distinctly crappy but I don’t know how it is these days)

          1. It isn’t too bad. I’ve visited worse. If I’ve got the right racecourse (I’ve been to so many!) it still has the line on the wall where it was flooded a few years ago!

    9. Ah, I know Whiteladies Road in Clifton. It is of course the location of BBC Bristol. 8 or 9 bus from Temple Meads. Haven’t been for a few years but then of course most people have been hiding at home during the shit show. One of the sights of Clifton, apart from the bridge, is the mansions along the river front, which I’ve always assumed were built from fortunes made in the infamous trade. Just never had any desire to tear them down!

      1. There are miles of tunnels under the Redcliffe area where the excavated material was used to make green glass bottles and beads. The green beads were highly prized by the Africans who sold their people into slavery.

        The tunnels are opened, I believe once a year, for viewings. The entrance is near St Mary Redcliffe.

        Buried in the rock below Clifton Suspension Bridge is a disused abandoned furnicular railway. It was built in Victorian times to deliver tourists from the riverside to the Fort Observatory high above in Clifton.

      2. There are miles of tunnels under the Redcliffe area where the excavated material was used to make green glass bottles and beads. The green beads were highly prized by the Africans who sold their people into slavery.

        The tunnels are opened, I believe once a year, for viewings. The entrance is near St Mary Redcliffe.

        Buried in the rock below Clifton Suspension Bridge is a disused abandoned furnicular railway. It was built in Victorian times to deliver tourists from the riverside to the Fort Observatory high above in Clifton.

          2. There was a pub in Hawkhurst called the Black Pig, with the frontage completely black. Nice pub too. It generated a trickle of complaints for some years – and then it was closed and returned to domestic use. Sadly the black paint is no more.

          3. My local when I lived in Lancs was called The Gallows because it was on the site where the gibbet was in earlier times. Bet that’s been changed so it doesn’t upset some sensitive types.

    13. Here in E Sussex we have the village of Blackboys, complete with the Blackboys Inn. No doubt the whole lot will be engulfed in fire when the New Puritans realise and get stuck in.

    16. Since less than 40% of the population in Haringay is classified as white UK ethnic, maybe they should just call it One of the Lads Lane.

  90. “UKRAINE CRISIS
    Ukrainian troops rehearse tactics amid Chernobyl ruins”

    They’ll be all lit up….just like the fleet in 1937!!

        1. Of course you wouldn’t….because it breeds, you know, it breeds….and we wouldn’t want the pushy one to get downwind of that….she might retaliate!

    3. If they ask nicely, I am sure that Kim Wrong Un will fire a few north Korean missiles their way to make the rest of Ukraine match Chernobyl

  91. Evening, all. My local rag had an article on how the government should help with the “cost of living crisis”. My first thought was, it was the govt that created it in the first place! Getting rid of the green levies would be a good start. On a personal note, I have just cut my hedge (only one side, though, and not the whole 40′ length; I’ve left about a yard on the other side of the gate because I was too knackered). The damned wind got up after I’d started and the bluddy holly blew everywhere and made clearing up a nightmare. At the end, I was so tired I did the gardening equivalent of sweeping it all under the carpet; I swept it inside my gate so I could clear it up at my leisure, without cyclists swerving around me although there is a cycle path right alongside the pavement. It took me four hours (including giving people directions and chatting to a neighbour who was walking his dog) and from my dining room window I can’t see that I’ve done anything at all! That’s because I only did the public footpath side. I crawled in and boiled some ready-made spinach and ricotta tortellini with a tomato and smoked bacon sauce (it took me all of three minutes!) so I could open a bottle of Sarf Effrican Cabernet Sauvignon. Holly is light and blows away at the least breath of wind; not only that, it sticks to everything and when it gets inside your shirt it is extremely irritating! It gives me holly prickle, a rash. I would not have been doing it, but I booked someone to cut it for me last August. It’s now February and he hasn’t turned up to do it. It will soon be March and then it will be too late because the birds will be nesting. If I don’t do it, the Council will be sending me nasty letters threatening to do it and charge me if I don’t do it. I can do without that!

        1. The last yard I did the gardening equivalent of “sweeping it under the carpet”; I swept all the clippings through the gate onto my property. Then I could dispose of them at my leisure. It took three full large green bags and one previously empty green bin! If it had been done in August, as I had tried to arrange, it wouldn’t have produced such a lot of clippings when it was done again in February!

      2. Unfortunately, it isn’t entirely done; I have to do the yard beyond the gate and the inside of the hedge, including the top (which is too high for me to reach from the footpath, but is just about doable from the raised bed inside. I’ll leave that for another day (before the first of March).

    2. Let them do it, then when they send you the bill, send them a higher one for not cutting it earlier.

          1. My guess is that he’s got something going on and, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a new kitty cat. Your life is not your own when you have a new baby animal;-)

          3. One of the regulars keeps in touch (poppiesmum?) and has posted updates.
            It appears he’s having IT issues.

  93. That’s me for this day of rain, sun and coldness.

    Tomorrow, up betimes (© S Pepys Esq) as Colin the tree man is coming at 8.30 to take 8 feet off the top of the hedge along the drive. He claims to be bringing a chipper with him – so lunch should be OK…!! I’ll get cook to look out some fish.

    It is one of those leylandii hedges that I have, over 38 years, striven to keep down but which just keep on growing. The neighbours are VERY pleased!

    Have a jolly evening; keep warm

    A demain – briefly.

    1. A senior Met Office forecaster today ridiculed Rishi Sunak’s claims that Britain had endured a ‘colder than usual winter’ after the Chancellor said the conditions were partially to blame for the record increase in energy costs.

      Mr Sunak had written in a newspaper that ‘we have had a colder than usual winter so we have used up more of our own stores of gas here at home’, saying this was partly behind the rise along with China pushing up global prices.

      But Met Office meteorologist Marco Petagna tweeted: ‘Colder than usual winter???!!!!!… UK mean temperature (5.3C) = 1.1C above normal for December. UK mean temperature (4.7C) = 0.8C above normal for January.’

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10476913/Met-Office-denies-Rishi-Sunaks-claims-colder-usual-winter.html

      3. Where the heck has he been? London is at least 2 degrees C warmer than the rest of the country and here it was 11.5 degrees C today (and it’s been like that several days this year).

    2. A timely reminder that the law in England is established by legal precedent and not the will of Parliament as set out in the Government’s human rights bill consultation:

      https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/human-rights-act-reform-a-modern-bill-of-rights/human-rights-act-reform-a-modern-bill-of-rights-consultation

      In his closing speech to the jury, Michael Rawlinson, defending, gave the origin of the saying, referring back to the judge Sir Edward Coke’s comments which set legal precedents in 1604.

      1. I responded (by email) and told them to ditch it. We should return to the primacy of Common Law – it’s the best defence against the power of the state.

  96. To survive as PM, I reckon Boris should;

    Tackle our imminent energy crisis:
    Abandon [Milliband] zero carbon nonsense;
    Reinstate the burning of EEC Red Tape;
    Develop new nuclear power stations urgently;
    Reinstate Fracking development;
    Use existing North Sea oil and gas reserves during international shortages;
    Reopen any viable coal reserves;
    Abandon VAT on domestic fuel.
    ALSO:
    Abandon planned NI increases.
    Reform NHS management;
    Review our Strategic Defence budget;
    Fix the NI – EEC problem: ditch the protocol.
    Fix our fisheries policy: kick the EEC into touch.

    Carrie won’t like it; you’ve got a choice …

    More later, perhaps …

    3. I agree with all that, but I question Reinstate the burning of EEC Red Tape. I must have missed when that started! They have been signing up for more.

    4. Scrap child benefit over 5 years. Same for housing benefit.

      Scrap council tax and VAT.

      Reinstate a local sales tax set at 10%, with any increase open immediately to referendum. Give that to councils,

      At a stroke, the primary power of the state is cut off, councils are dependent on creating sales revenue (which will stop parking charges dead) and the market hammers the state into oblivion.

      It’s a clean, simple knock out blow.

      1. Give councils more discretion over what they spend their money on as well. Currently, much of the spend is mandated by government.

    6. And scrap the absurd policy of subsidising billionaire landowners to permit windmills on their land: they take no risks in development and running costs; they are paid whether or not the windmills are functioning – and are funded by some 35% of ordinary householders energy bills. .You couldn’t make it up …

    1. Oh to have a proper sword when such a thing happens.
      I’m fairly sure that there are a few Nottlers who could skewer either of those brats, if confronted.
      An epée to the throat, a cross-slash with a sabre, or even a gentle á pointe with a foil to the eye.
      Conway certainly could.

  100. Follow up to my post the other day about the silly woman who came into my library and wanted me to pull all the HP books off the shelves….
    In Tennessee, in which a school board banned the book Maus about the Holocaust recently- get this;
    A Tennessee pastor has led a book burning mainly of HP and Twilight books. And I quote, ” I ain’t messing with witchcraft… I ain’t messing with demons….I’ll call ’em all out in the name of Jesus Christ.”
    Yes, he’s someone I would turn to for religious guidance. It’s FICTION people.

      1. I meant the books, Sos, maybe I wasn’t clear, only excuse is a bowl of homemade chilli which made my eyes water;-)

        1. I knew you did, my comment re “sadly” the truth, is that there are toads out there who are a parody of themselves. That Tennessee pastor is one.

          1. Sorry- I guessed that but it appalls me- there is a scene in one of the Indiana Jones movies where a book burning is going on… I spent many years in the US, as you know and I loved CT. But the south is another country and they hate anything that is perceived as anti- religion. If any of these numpties read the HP books, they would know that good always wins. Can’t speak about Twilight as I’ve never read any.
            Librarians never used to ban books. even in the deep south; guess all this is changing now 🙁

          3. I shall this evening. Friday is the evening when my Lit and History talks come on and also, a new Neil Oliver podcast. But I will read.

          4. Re your experience in America , one of the most memorable books I read as a late teenager was Of Mice and Men by JS.

            After reading the recent DM article about modern slavery , the poor chap who was used as slave labour for 40 years by members of the travelling fraternity , how on earth will that poor man learn to get back into a more modern life after being abused for so many years.

          5. I think it has to be interpreted as to when it was written. Neither of the two men are very intelligent and they stick together. Racial bits come in and Lennie has already been in trouble for “mishandling” of a woman. Then he rapes the wife of the ranch owner.
            Steinbeck wrote about troubled times in the evolving US….East of Eden, Grapes of Wrath for example.
            Mice and Men has a different end as Lennie’s friend George, shoots him, knowing it will be more merciful than being lynched by a mob.
            As to recent case here- I have no idea; I could posit Stockholm Syndrome but not sure that is apt.
            I kind of like Steinbeck but his books really can’t be applicable now and in this country because he was writing about what he knew which was, basically, depression era US and the dust bowl.
            Gawd, I don’t half go on- sorry 🙁

          6. What is done is done , but old stories morph into new stories, and I just thought of the misery of the poor wretch who was mishandled, yet whose fate was dismissed by the judge as not worthy of a decent sentence for the wretch who enslaved him .

          7. I don’t know enough about this to comment fairly. It seems the old father was the culprit and the son claimed he didn’t know- he must have done.

      1. Only the non-believers like me and others. People are religious in CT and go to church on Sundays but they don’t bang on about it. No-one ever asked me in 22 years in CT if I went to church. It’s the first bloody thing they ask you in the south. Rude and intrusive and none of their damn business.

        1. Check out Nazi Germany from 1933 – 1945.

          They started with book-burning…

          …we all know where it ended.

          2. …and maybe, we are the ones who will burn in their idea of a right-wing hell. A pity they don’t know of the hell, of their own making, for which they are all destined.

    3. So is the Bible, and that and the koran are the most destructive and evil books man has ever written.

      1. One man did throw a Bible and a copy of Fahrenheit 451 into the flames. Ray Bradbury and his book burning book. I did not read that he threw in a koran. Islam is not as prevalent in the US.

    2. Worse is the systematic abuse of children by the Muslim Pakistani’s around the country. These paedophiles need to be rounded up and fed into a wood chipper.

    1. Nothing to do with truckers, It’s just Kenney reacting to a lack of confidence from his caucus.

      In the meantime the army have told politicians to stick it, they will not get involved moving truckers from Ottawa.

      The bought media are sinking to new lows in their attempts to vilify the protest and show how ordinary citizens are suffering. The blessed CBC (think left of BBC ) actually reported how three brave women had shown their disapproval of the protests – they actually gave a thumbs down to someone. Oh the horror and bravery. . .

  104. Our liberty rests on whether Sage will admit to its horrendous lockdown mistakes

    New research suggesting that shutdowns made little difference to mortality is likely to fall on deaf ears

    FRASER NELSON

    We haven’t heard much from Sir Patrick Vallance recently. A few weeks ago he wrote an article extolling the reliability of SAGE modellers. They speak “scientific truth to power,” he said. He angrily rejected rumours of any negativity bias. Dozens of scenarios had been calculated for omicron deaths, he said, with a huge range of variables. What I’d love to ask him is why, if there was no bias, did every single one of these scenarios end up overstating the threat? Why were they wrong, so wildly wrong? Again?

    This isn’t about parading Sir Patrick around Trafalgar Square with a placard of incorrect SAGE graphs around his neck. The important question is whether he even thinks there was a problem, whether SAGE is capable of error correction – and what he thinks about the fact that the country was very nearly locked down on what turned out to be seriously duff advice. Given that it could happen again, and at any time, are lessons being learned? Or are our scientific advisers still in collective denial?

    In an era where all our lives are decided by the quality of epidemic modelling, the ability to scrutinise advice is vital. But SAGE models are compiled within a wall of secrecy, protected from scrutiny. Their full figures are never published, nor is the code for them released. This makes error correction far less likely and constitutes a massive flaw in our democracy. “The scary thing is that Vallance has had more power than any of us,” says one Cabinet member.

    But what if the error goes far deeper? What if lockdown itself was also built on a premise that turns out to be false? At the time, it was a huge, untested experiment. And two years on, the results are in – from countries, states and regions all over the world. One of the leading universities in the United States, Johns Hopkins, in Maryland, has just collated the data and its conclusion is startling: “We find no evidence that lockdowns, school closures, border closures, and limiting gatherings have had a noticeable effect on Covid-19 mortality.” In other words: an abject failure.

    If true, this would be devastating. It would suggest that much of the pain lockdowns caused – the children denied education, ruined businesses, mental health issues, the undiagnosed cancers – was avoidable. And for what? The Johns Hopkins study finds that overall, lockdowns reduced Covid mortality by just 0.2 per cent. “Lockdown policies are ill-founded,” it concluded, “and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.”

    This isn’t to say that people should (or would) have carried on as normal without lockdowns. The great flaw in the theory was the failure to realise that, even without stay-at-home orders, behaviour adjusts. People hunker down. Mobile phone data now shows that Brits were doing this, even more than Swedes, before the lockdown order was given (†). The big post-Covid question is whether, in a high-information democracy, lockdowns are needless because people can be trusted to judge the risk, see the news unfold and act independently.

    Might this new study find its way to Sir Patrick’s inbox? And might there be a committee somewhere in Whitehall carefully looking at this evidence to see if it is right? You can bet not. This is about politics, not science, and that has been the case for some time. A government that imposed three lockdowns – with huge financial and human cost – will have no interest in studies saying it made a calamitous error. Nor will Labour be saying so, given that Sir Keir Starmer was even more keen on lockdowns than the Tories.

    At some point, politicians become so wedded to policies that they can never allow themselves to believe they were errors. Tony Blair will never accept that the Iraq war was a mistake, just as Margaret Thatcher never disowned the poll tax. But both had strong opponents, providing robust democratic challenge. This time, lockdown – in spite of its lack of scientific evidence – was backed by Left and Right, Holyrood, Westminster, Cardiff Bay. It is precisely in such consensus that the biggest mistakes in politics are most likely because there is no challenge, no inquiry, no one to identify mistakes.

    This matters because there will, soon, be a new Covid variant. Genomic sequencing means we’ll start to detect new pathogens that might have gone unnoticed even a decade ago. If so, we’ll face the same questions: what to do? Can the healthcare system cope? The risk is that, having cried wolf so many times, SAGE would not be believed even if its models were right. Track record matters. A recent Swedish book about the country’s refusal to lock down uncovered emails from health officials saying – in effect – that since Imperial’s Professor Neil Ferguson and his team got swine flu so badly wrong, their figures for Sweden’s Covid deaths would probably be incorrect too. (So it was to prove.)

    Given Ferguson’s record, it was never clear why so much store was placed on his original suggestion that lockdown could potentially reduce Covid deaths by up to 98 per cent. At the time, even Sir Patrick and Sir Chris Whitty didn’t buy it. Both rejected lockdown – then realised, to their horror, that they risked being accused of causing an extra 20,000 deaths by failing to do so a week earlier. Even this figure came from Ferguson, and has since been debunked.

    It’s not much of an exaggeration to say that our liberty, collectively, depends on Sir Patrick (or his successor) putting together a team capable of providing better epidemiological modelling.

    A new group should be created, senior to SAGE, that would check everything given then add in economic and social effects, to judge the overall effect of lockdowns. And ask basic questions: do these models assume people would not change their behaviour anyway? If not, why miss out such a basic point?

    Denmark’s models got omicron right because they did adjust for behaviour. One bank, JP Morgan, got Britain’s omicron forecasts right because it used South African data. Britain has plenty of scientists who could have done the same – but they don’t seem to be in the right place. Next time, they should be.

    The lessons on how to handle the next pandemic are all there: we just need a government capable of learning them.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/03/lockdown-establishment-will-never-accept-disastrous-policy-failed/

    † And why did they do that? Because they had already had the fear of God put into them by media propaganda.

    1. And what it always boils down to is:
      I’m the politician making the decision.
      Do I opt for “safe” knowing I will get the blame if millions die, or do I opt for carry on regardless.?
      I know which way 999/1000 will jump.

    2. 334936+ up ticks,

      Evening WS,
      ALL in all a political terror exercise that in the main has had a successful conclusion,and WILL be used again.

      1. This is why we need politicians who follow the wishes of their constituents and not some bogus and dubious agenda.

      1. As I confirmed today by all the face nappies worn by people walking down the pavements in my local town.

    5. Vallance has got out well before the shit finally hits the fan. He has secured a lucrative and respectable job as director of the Geological Institute (or whatever it is now called) in South Kensington.

      The bastard should actually be in gaol for his advocacy of crimes against humanity. Either way he has a knighthood (as does his comrade in disinformation, Whitty) has made millions from his stakes in Glaxo Smith Kline and Astra Zeneca and doubtless other Pharma crooks, and has been gifted a serene path to respectability in old age.

      1. A never ending carousel of high paid sinecures for these people. Even if Boris were to resign in disgrace it would only be minutes before he was offered a high paid two mornings a week job.

  105. Our liberty rests on whether Sage will admit to its horrendous lockdown mistakes

    New research suggesting that shutdowns made little difference to mortality is likely to fall on deaf ears

    FRASER NELSON

    We haven’t heard much from Sir Patrick Vallance recently. A few weeks ago he wrote an article extolling the reliability of SAGE modellers. They speak “scientific truth to power,” he said. He angrily rejected rumours of any negativity bias. Dozens of scenarios had been calculated for omicron deaths, he said, with a huge range of variables. What I’d love to ask him is why, if there was no bias, did every single one of these scenarios end up overstating the threat? Why were they wrong, so wildly wrong? Again?

    This isn’t about parading Sir Patrick around Trafalgar Square with a placard of incorrect SAGE graphs around his neck. The important question is whether he even thinks there was a problem, whether SAGE is capable of error correction – and what he thinks about the fact that the country was very nearly locked down on what turned out to be seriously duff advice. Given that it could happen again, and at any time, are lessons being learned? Or are our scientific advisers still in collective denial?

    In an era where all our lives are decided by the quality of epidemic modelling, the ability to scrutinise advice is vital. But SAGE models are compiled within a wall of secrecy, protected from scrutiny. Their full figures are never published, nor is the code for them released. This makes error correction far less likely and constitutes a massive flaw in our democracy. “The scary thing is that Vallance has had more power than any of us,” says one Cabinet member.

    But what if the error goes far deeper? What if lockdown itself was also built on a premise that turns out to be false? At the time, it was a huge, untested experiment. And two years on, the results are in – from countries, states and regions all over the world. One of the leading universities in the United States, Johns Hopkins, in Maryland, has just collated the data and its conclusion is startling: “We find no evidence that lockdowns, school closures, border closures, and limiting gatherings have had a noticeable effect on Covid-19 mortality.” In other words: an abject failure.

    If true, this would be devastating. It would suggest that much of the pain lockdowns caused – the children denied education, ruined businesses, mental health issues, the undiagnosed cancers – was avoidable. And for what? The Johns Hopkins study finds that overall, lockdowns reduced Covid mortality by just 0.2 per cent. “Lockdown policies are ill-founded,” it concluded, “and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.”

    This isn’t to say that people should (or would) have carried on as normal without lockdowns. The great flaw in the theory was the failure to realise that, even without stay-at-home orders, behaviour adjusts. People hunker down. Mobile phone data now shows that Brits were doing this, even more than Swedes, before the lockdown order was given (†). The big post-Covid question is whether, in a high-information democracy, lockdowns are needless because people can be trusted to judge the risk, see the news unfold and act independently.

    Might this new study find its way to Sir Patrick’s inbox? And might there be a committee somewhere in Whitehall carefully looking at this evidence to see if it is right? You can bet not. This is about politics, not science, and that has been the case for some time. A government that imposed three lockdowns – with huge financial and human cost – will have no interest in studies saying it made a calamitous error. Nor will Labour be saying so, given that Sir Keir Starmer was even more keen on lockdowns than the Tories.

    At some point, politicians become so wedded to policies that they can never allow themselves to believe they were errors. Tony Blair will never accept that the Iraq war was a mistake, just as Margaret Thatcher never disowned the poll tax. But both had strong opponents, providing robust democratic challenge. This time, lockdown – in spite of its lack of scientific evidence – was backed by Left and Right, Holyrood, Westminster, Cardiff Bay. It is precisely in such consensus that the biggest mistakes in politics are most likely because there is no challenge, no inquiry, no one to identify mistakes.

    This matters because there will, soon, be a new Covid variant. Genomic sequencing means we’ll start to detect new pathogens that might have gone unnoticed even a decade ago. If so, we’ll face the same questions: what to do? Can the healthcare system cope? The risk is that, having cried wolf so many times, SAGE would not be believed even if its models were right. Track record matters. A recent Swedish book about the country’s refusal to lock down uncovered emails from health officials saying – in effect – that since Imperial’s Professor Neil Ferguson and his team got swine flu so badly wrong, their figures for Sweden’s Covid deaths would probably be incorrect too. (So it was to prove.)

    Given Ferguson’s record, it was never clear why so much store was placed on his original suggestion that lockdown could potentially reduce Covid deaths by up to 98 per cent. At the time, even Sir Patrick and Sir Chris Whitty didn’t buy it. Both rejected lockdown – then realised, to their horror, that they risked being accused of causing an extra 20,000 deaths by failing to do so a week earlier. Even this figure came from Ferguson, and has since been debunked.

    It’s not much of an exaggeration to say that our liberty, collectively, depends on Sir Patrick (or his successor) putting together a team capable of providing better epidemiological modelling.

    A new group should be created, senior to SAGE, that would check everything given then add in economic and social effects, to judge the overall effect of lockdowns. And ask basic questions: do these models assume people would not change their behaviour anyway? If not, why miss out such a basic point?

    Denmark’s models got omicron right because they did adjust for behaviour. One bank, JP Morgan, got Britain’s omicron forecasts right because it used South African data. Britain has plenty of scientists who could have done the same – but they don’t seem to be in the right place. Next time, they should be.

    The lessons on how to handle the next pandemic are all there: we just need a government capable of learning them.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/03/lockdown-establishment-will-never-accept-disastrous-policy-failed/

    † And why did they do that? Because they had already had the fear of God put into them by media propaganda.

  107. Good night, everyone. Now off to watch THE HANDMAIDEN (2017), the second Asian film in my DVD collection.

  108. If the PM wants to reduce energy bills – and it doesn’t – then it should get fracking to increase supply. There is no alternative. The green levy is deliberately intended to make energy expensive to force down what people use.

    1. You are half right in the fact he wants the amount of usage to decrease, but you are wrong if you think for a moment he will deviant from the green ideology (s)he has chosen and increase supply.

    2. There is an alternative, which is to reduce the population….which is why I don’t want a mandatory vaccine from a government whose policies are implicitly aimed at a reduced population.

  109. Goodnight, everyone. I’m off to soak in a nice, hot, muscle relaxing bath after my exertions this afternoon.

  111. Right now listening to Bach Concerto in A minor, I love the sound of harpsichords. 1065.

    1. There’s no better one than Brandenburg 5 – especially when the harpsichord really gets going at the end of the first movement.

      1. Got a whole lot now – have my ear plugs in and it’s all Bach harpsichords, there is nothing better; unless it’s Vivaldi’s violin concertos.

        1. So you’re saying, M’Lady, (© Cathy Newman) that you no longer take a bath? (Only joking!)

    2. My favourite musical instrument is the violin – it has the propensity to talk to one.

      I can play the bagpipes (Flooers of the Forest) but, being a gentleman, I don’t.

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