Saturday 5 February: Government meddling with the market means we shall suffer higher energy bills for longer

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

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

526 thoughts on “Saturday 5 February: Government meddling with the market means we shall suffer higher energy bills for longer”

  4. Britain’s energy crisis is self-inflicted. 5 February 2022.

    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.

    It’s much worse than this of course. Over the last twenty years the various governments of the UK, in thrall to the tenets of Cultural Marxism and Multiculturalism have destroyed the foundations of what was once one of the most stable and natural democracies that has ever existed. It is now just a decadent third world Police State with all its appurtenances; Thought Crime, Censorship, Propaganda and Corruption; both Financial and Moral on a massive scale.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2022/02/04/britains-energy-crisis-self-inflicted/

    1. True, but energy underpins a modern economy. The zleaotry of the green fanatics has done nothing but harm to the economy and thus the nation.

      The nutcase left are desperate to enforce their demented socialism in the absurd idea it is ‘fair’ and government will thank them for the hellhole they’re wanting to create. The cabinet need to be taken outside, flogged, collared and chained.

      1. Cheap energy is essential to a thriving economy, and always has been. There must be some in the orbit of the government who understand this, one would think.

    1. Obviously time to start the round ups and deportations……..hello political creatures that have thrust this culture on to us. Anyone of you listening or taking notice ?

    2. Interesting article. However, it says, “(France),a country which itself has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe (an estimated 5.7 million).”
      The UK has a muslim population that is now well North of 6m, possibly 8m. and growing hourly.

  7. The supposed Russian plot smells of baked beans on toast. 4 February 2022.

    We have written here several times that the UK for largely unaccountable reasons has been engaged for some 20 years in constructing a network of psyops, information ops and intelligence people that rivals anything in the world.

    This ever-growing capability has been reflected in such activities as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the White Helmets film company fraud upon the public, and the Skripal affair.

    Now we have the belief put forth by the Pentagon and WH that the Russians are going to stage an attack on themselves by Russians disguised as Ukrainians complete with appropriate uniforms, equipment, dead bodies lying around, the works. This reeks of a “splendid” British project. Passed to the gullible colonials in Washington it would have exactly the appeal imagined in trying to get Biden and company to act.

    Colonel Lang is being disingenuous here. The reasons for these UK activities are obvious; to remain a player on the world stage, to stay in Washington’s good books and of course Mi6 receives generous financial support from the US which allows them to finance domestic operations like 77 Brigade. One of the most important things to realise is that none of the activities mentioned here were intended to fool the Russians; they know perfectly well what really happened in Salisbury and Douma. These are instead frauds on the British Public designed to neutralise domestic opposition. They also conceal some of the ugliest episodes ever in UK Foreign Policy. The brutal murders of innocent civilians in Syria by the White Helmets ( now safely ensconced in the UK) is a particularly egregious example and the final silencing of Sergei and Yulia Skripals of whom so long as they lived there was always the risk that they might emerge and embarrass the Political Establishment.

    https://turcopolier.com/the-supposed-russian-plot-smells-of-baked-beans-on-toast/

  8. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    This little gem, from yesterday’s DT, made me smile:

    Gung-ho Harry is gone – and he’s been replaced by the Prince of Woo Woo

    The Duke of Sussex is banging the personal meditation drum in order to flog his latest new virtuous venture – and he’s very serious about it

    JUDITH WOODS
    4 February 2022 • 2:29pm

    A friend of mine has a thrilling story about Prince Harry. Or at least she had; I’m not sure she can dine out on it any more as, between you and me, his missus seems weirdly litigious for someone living her best life quite so conspicuously. Still. Here goes.

    My friend. My age. Which is to say in her 40s back then. The Duke of Sussex was in his 20s, aka peak-partying prince period.

    Being considerably classier than I am, said friend was having an insanely civilised post-work drink at the Royals’ favourite hotel hangout, The Goring, which is just over the wall from Buck House.

    Anyway, she popped off to the loo. And as she reached the powder room, her phone pinged: “OMG guess who was checking you out as you walked past?”

    Then (ladies, ladies do calm down, please, or I shan’t continue) as she returned, he Checked Her Out Again.

    Smelling salts! Scissor off my corsetry! Yes, yes, a cup of sugary tea!

    Now, if you are wondering “Really? Is that it?” then you are clearly a lamentably woke and humourless millennial who has never been wolfishly eyed up by a handsome prince of the realm half your age.

    Those of us old enough to hum along with “I’ve danced with a man, who’s danced with a girl, who’s danced with the Prince of Wales…” understand the pulse-quickening delight of being noticed, not as an older woman, but simply as a woman. Twice.

    Nothing else happened (save for her world tilting on its axis) but seeing the fluttery response from anyone who ever heard the story, it was just one more reason to be besotted with dashing, daring, devil-may-care Harry.

    But too much has happened for such amusingly frothy tales to retain any currency.

    Gung-ho Harry is gone. Wild Harry has wed. Vegas Harry hasn’t just put his clothes back on, he’s swapped them for yoga pants, bare feet and a daily meditation regime worthy of the Dalai Lama.

    WooWoo Harry, 37, now sets aside 45 minutes a day for, y’know, white space. Inner work. Self care.

    Speaking at an online conference for new mental health consultancy BetterUp, he revealed that “as a father, husband and someone starting a business”, he “knows he needs to meditate every day.

    “Mental fitness is the pinnacle, it’s what you’re aiming for,” he added. “The road towards that can be really bumpy…”

    Careful, Dear Readers – if you don’t stop rolling your eyes, Meghan will send you off for an early gong bath.

    Now here’s the thing that might surprise you; I meditate. In fact, I learnt virtually the self same meditation that 40-year-old Meghan has practised for years. It has different names; her (and now presumably his) technique is called vedic meditation.

    Mine is known as transcendental meditation and it really is bloody brilliant. It relaxes my body, soothes my spirit and I would thoroughly recommend it.

    But here’s the thing; as a mother, a wife and full-time employee, I can barely cobble together 45 minutes a week, much less 45 minutes every day to “work” on myself.

    And when I do find a wormhole in the space-time continuum, I don’t bang on about it like I’ve discovered a whole new dimension. In fact (although this is against the rules) I do it lying down and usually segue straight into a restorative little snooze.

    Harry would not approve, not least because he’s banging the personal meditation drum in order to flog his latest new virtuous venture – and nodding off al desko probably isn’t the sales pitch he’s aiming for.

    He’s just a prince, standing in front of a Zoom screen asking to be taken seriously. And “seriously” is the byword here.

    To those of us on this side of the Atlantic, there is something agonisingly earnest about the Californian celebrity culture with its solipsistic emphasis on self love, self improvement and self actualisation, whatever that means.

    Fine for Meghan. These are her people. But Harry wasn’t born into wheatgrass smoothies and virtue signalling any more than she was born into draughty country piles and jaunty sarcasm.

    And so when he goes on about meditation and spouts things like: “I allot half an hour or 45 minutes in the morning when one kid has gone to school and the other is having a nap; there’s a break in our programme,” our response isn’t “Well done you”.

    Our first thought is: “Wait? You have a programme? Meghan sets you a joint programme? We’re firing up your old Apache helicopter and bringing you home, son! Blink twice if you can reach the perimeter fence before sunrise.”

    But of course he’s not coming back; he’s been converted to clean living in his £10 million Montecito comfort zone. We’d wish him well, if only this twinkle-free version of Harry didn’t make us feel quite so uncomfortable.

    * * *

    I have yet to look at the BTLs, but they should be worth the effort…

    1. Edit – the leading BTL sets the tone for the rest:

      Carpe Jugulum
      12 HRS AGO
      I would struggle to think of a more intellectually stunted pair of self-absorbed flyweights than these two.
      Take away Harry’s connection to the Royal Family and you have a mediocre actress and a none too bright and purposeless drone whining about his ‘mental issues’.
      I wonder if he ever reads these threads. Out of curiosity I looked for a supportive comment within 250 posted to a previous Harry/Meghan story today. There wasn’t one.

      Katharine Eyre
      1 MIN AGO
      He’s turned into a cringeworthy woke bore with zero self awareness.
      I apologies to America. Glad you took Meghan back but getting Harry too on the ricochet? Ouch.

    2. Edit – the leading BTL sets the tone for the rest:

      Carpe Jugulum
      12 HRS AGO
      I would struggle to think of a more intellectually stunted pair of self-absorbed flyweights than these two.
      Take away Harry’s connection to the Royal Family and you have a mediocre actress and a none too bright and purposeless drone whining about his ‘mental issues’.
      I wonder if he ever reads these threads. Out of curiosity I looked for a supportive comment within 250 posted to a previous Harry/Meghan story today. There wasn’t one.

      Katharine Eyre
      1 MIN AGO
      He’s turned into a cringeworthy woke bore with zero self awareness.
      I apologies to America. Glad you took Meghan back but getting Harry too on the ricochet? Ouch.

    3. I visited Betterup.com. It reads like a cult, like Scientology. No mention of money that i could easily find but you can be sure it will cost you your shirt if not your soul.

      If Harry and Meg truly believed in improving people’s lives they would have asked for donations and made it free to everyone.

      Instead they take other people’s ideas and make them their own. Repackaged at a higher price.

      Anyone with an internet connection can learn Vedic meditation for free. It does have it’s uses and is beneficial.

      As for all the other shit they are offering it is just New Age Hippy without the mind expanding drugs sold to Corporates.

      For the individual you just end up telling them everything about yourself. Just like Scientology.

        1. I think she is just clever enough to position herself among the executive.

          Just spout nonsense three mornings a week. Kerching.

      2. They don’t believe any such thing. All they want is other people’s money taking a massive chunk for themselves.

    2. Morning all.
      We had a 10 minute snow flurry yesterday. But more snow has now been forecast for next week.
      All the usual excuses for failures will listed to chose from.

    1. Good morning, enjoy your trip.

      So go downtown
      Things will be great when you’re
      Downtown
      No finer place for sure
      Downtown
      Everything’s waiting for you (downtown, downtown

      Apologies to Petula Clark.

    3. So you are saying (© Cathy Newman) that you have now changed your name to Petula Clark? Lol.

  11. Morning all

    Government meddling with the market means we shall suffer higher energy bills for longer

    SIR – I am flummoxed. The Government manipulates the energy market by applying caps to bills – out of political expediency – and is itself surprised that the market then fails.

    So it is now intervening in the market again in the unwarranted expectation that the market will fix itself. Apart from the lunacy of a Conservative Government applying communist centralised market planning, the Chancellor and the Prime Minister have completely lost the plot if they think that the latest wheeze in offering loans to energy companies will turn out anything better than a catastrophic failure.

    Consumers will now face higher energy bills for a lot longer than if the Government had not decided to bail out energy companies.

    Andrew Keith

    Godstone, Surrey

    SIR – All the country will soon be on loans or handouts. What is this supposedly Conservative Government thinking of? These are panic moves, lacking in any consideration or thought. It is too ridiculous for words.

    Why should Vladimir Putin worry about sanctions, when all he has to do is turn off the gas?

    Wendy Munday

    Oswestry, Shropshire

    SIR – We appear addicted to spending taxpayers’ hard-earned money.

    It’s a Conservative Government and this socialist trend must stop – now. Our job is to create an infrastructure free of the state, not shackled to it.

    We should resolve the Northern Ireland Protocol once and for all, and take advantage of the benefits we have gained by leaving the EU. We should lower taxes, cut red tape, scrap the quangos, overhaul the NHS and stop setting targets impossible to reach.

    The direction of travel is clear. We must have the heart and resolve to take it.

    Richard Drax MP (Con)

    London SW1

    SIR – My monthly energy bill will more than double in April from what I paid in October 2021.

    I am a retired person living on a moderate pension in a band E property in the South, where property prices are high. The Chancellor’s package will not benefit me one iota. There will be no relief on my council tax, and the £200 energy bill rebate will be clawed back over five years. Where is the help for middle-income families?

    Arun Agarwal

    Henfield, West Sussex

    SIR – As OAPs, my wife and I receive a fuel allowance of £200, unsolicited, which fortunately we don’t need. So I put it towards my ski pass.

    Would it not be better for the Government to give the £200 to those poor people who really deserve it?

    Richard Beaugie

    Shadoxhurst, Kent

    SIR – So on the one hand the Government is making energy bills unaffordable by loading them with green taxes and VAT, while on the other hand the state will pass small amounts back by way of grants and loans to help us pay those taxes. And the architect of this Kafkaesque madness thinks he’s a free-market Conservative.

    Meanwhile, ministers are still collectively obsessed with net zero at all costs, which is largely responsible for this mess in the first place. It’s time for a clear-out of the green socialists currently running the Government to make way for true Conservatives … if there are any left in the party.

    Neil Bailey

    Stockport, Cheshire

    SIR – With huge rises in energy costs amid a worldwide power shortage, where do we stand in the vainglorious rush towards electric heat pumps, a return to electric immersion-heated water and the rollout of expensive electric vehicles?

    I have yet to meet anyone who isn’t utterly perplexed by all this.

    David Empringham

    Ashorne, Warwickshire

    SIR – The political class as a whole has imposed the eye-watering price increases in energy on the rest of us. Since passing the Climate Change Act in 2008, the House of Commons has been led by the nose by the zealots of the Climate Change Committee as though it were a fount of all wisdom.

    The public has not been consulted on the desirable speed of measures to mitigate climate change, nor whether measures of adaptation might serve us better.

    Nuclear power and fracking have been howled down by a vocal minority, and no supporter of those resources can turn to his MP for help, as all parties toe the net-zero line. Unless we collectively make it clear that we do not share their wish for a drift to energy poverty, we deserve our higher bills.

    Dr A E Hanwell

    Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

    SIR – Allister Heath (“Boris’s betrayal of his revolutionary Brexit mandate is now almost total”, Comment, February 3) perfectly sums up why for me, a lifelong Tory voter, it will not be Downing Street parties that cause me to withdraw my future support, but the PM’s utter abandonment of nearly every hard-fought Tory principle and promise made in the run-up to his election success.

    The most worrying aspect in Mr Heath’s criticism is the apparent near absence of any grown-up, experienced, non-London, non-liberal voice to represent the wants and desires of the average constituent.

    He is right in asserting that we should not be trying to make the country more like London. This is blinkered thinking and the height of folly, all too common it seems among the PM’s coterie.

    Get back to Tory basics or lose my vote and probably the next election. Mr Heath’s hopes – that, for the Eurosceptics and the free-marketeers who have been vanquished, there is a way back – may not, I fear, come true.

    Edwina Askew

    Ashtead, Surrey

    SIR – The Daily Telegraph used to have a columnist called Boris Johnson, who espoused rational Conservative views eloquently argued and consistently sensible. Whatever happened to him? I miss him.

    Simon Hubbard

    Brownhills, Staffordshire

    1. Well Mr Beaugie, although I myself am not a tremendous fan of charities when so many executives earn far too much, I think you could always donate your £200 to Help The Aged or another cause you consider suitable.
      If you are waiting for the government to do something smart, you could be waiting a long time

        2. A worthy cause I’m sure. I first thought of Help The Aged because it is relevant to the age criteria of his £200 he mentioned, but there are many ways to donate his money if he wished.

      2. In any case, no Government will involve itself in means-testing, because the costs involved exceed the “savings” by a larger sum. Most people know that.

        2. Then it shouldn’t make the payments.

          It should simply scrap the tax. If the intent is solely to take as much as possible for an ideological purpose then that ideology is a failure by default.

    2. “SIR – We appear addicted to spending taxpayers’ hard-earned money.”

      We, are not. The state is. It doens’t seem to understand how money is created or how the economy works. A bunch of detached, ignorant, arrogant career politicians have done nothing useful. They think only of themselves and what they want. They begin to think they matter, that they’re the centre of the universe and that they can solve the nation’s problems.

      They can’t. The state makes everything worse.

    3. Neil Bailey has spotted the flaws in the government’s plans, as have most of NTTL-world but sadly Fataturk and his cohorts aren’t paying any attention! On the plus side the biathlon mixed relay in Beijing was a superb race, so it’s not a totally bad day!

      1. Maybe he does a Hyacinth Bucket.
        Beau-jie; sort of classy without going the full French Foreign Legion.

    5. “As OAPs, my wife and I receive a fuel allowance of £200, unsolicited, which fortunately we don’t need. So I put it towards my ski pass. Would it not be better for the Government to give the £200 to those poor people who really deserve it?”

      No, Richard Beaugie, it would be better if the government didn’t whack swingeing taxes on energy prices in the first place.

  12. A day to remember

    SIR – How many of your readers remember what they were doing on the day of the Queen’s accession to the throne (Letters, February 4)?

    I was at Perth Academy, and we had been taken to see the film Where no Vultures Fly, which a teacher thought was a documentary about East Africa and would be good for us.

    When we came out of the cinema, the newspaper vendors’ bills read: “The King is Dead”.

    William Tait

    Edinburgh

    1. On 6th February 1952 I was 8 years old and at school in Ditchingham Primary School (Ditchingham is a small Norfolk village) when the school janitor put his head around the class-room door to say, “The King has passed.”

      I wondered what the King was doing in Ditchingham.

      1. The younger of my two brothers was 8 on that day.
        In 1958 on that day was the Manchester United Munich air crash.

      2. I was three and a bit. I can’t remember anybody telling me the King was dead and I’d become an Elizabethan instead of a Georgian 🙂

    2. I was at school – a building I pass every time I take Spartie on one of his regular walks.
      We were all rather excited.
      Q. “Have you heard the latest?”
      A. “The King’s dead.”
      We were too young to appreciate other dimensions to the news.
      (Historical note: one of our teachers was Margaret Robert’s landlady.)

      1. I was in Tripoli in Libya. I remember my mother telling me that the king was dead and I burst spontaneously into tears. I was only 5½ at the time.

  13. As a Thomas’ rival, I agree wholeheartedly.

    Barts must be Barts

    SIR – In the 1960s my mother was treated at Barts (Letters, February 4) for myeloma by Professor Gordon Hamilton-Fairlie, who was murdered by an IRA bomb while she was his patient.

    Through his expertise she gained an extra 10 years of life. Many other people have also benefited from his experimentation with treatments for various forms of cancer.

    Barts will always be Barts, and should remain as Barts.

    Phyllis Jones

    Oakley, Bedfordshire

    SIR – As a Barts graduate, my concern at rebranding its medical school with the name of Queen Mary University is that Queen Mary herself may be “cancelled” due to her links with our imperialistic past.

    A more suitable name would Rahere, after the monk who founded Barts hospital in 1123, as he has no record of politically incorrect behaviour.

    Dr Robert Hugh Jones

    Cardiff

    1. Good morning!

      Legend has it that Prior Rahere had been Court Jester to King Henry I, before going on a pilgrimage to Rome and being told by St Bartholomew in a dream that he must found a priory and hospital for the poor of the City of London. I’ll bet his sense of humour wasn’t very woke?

      1. Henry I was very unusual for mediaeval monarch as he was literate.
        As the youngest son, it wasn’t expected that he would become king of even second choice England.
        His brother’s hunting ‘accident’ in the New Forest changed matters.
        Allegedly, our foot measurement is based on his foot size.

    2. The next Lefty who demands any part of this country be changed, renamed or otherwise altereed to suit themselves should be whipped, flogged, flayed, slapped and kicked hard enough that they fly.

      Then we deport them and drop them from 10,000 feet up.

        1. I think if a few of these demented fools were properly punished the whole lot of twitter whingers would swiftly shut up.

      2. Well, that’s the Lefties sorted out. What about the insurgents?
        And the serial builders of countless mosques?

  14. Another Good morning to one and all!
    ½°C on the yard thermometer, damp after last nights rain & hailstones and looking a bit overcast.

    And well said Peter Wareing:-

    Peter Wareing
    16 MIN AGO
    “Sorry to read that Prince Harry has suffered from burnout.”
    Living with Megain would burnout anyone. I’m surprised he has lasted this long.

    1. All joking aside, I find it very sad that a funny young man with some good ideas has been turned into a broken zombie.
      I think ‘evil’ is the word I’m looking for.
      If MeGain’s family hadn’t gone so over the top and American, we would have heeded their warnings.

  15. 334974+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Saturday 5 February: Government meddling with the market means we shall suffer higher energy bills for longer

    Are the herd beginning to get a strong wiff of political treacherous shite
    in the air, that this is the final stages of a softening up campaign the mallabelization of the herd near complete.

    Fact,
    easily influenced; pliable.
    “they are as malleable and easily led as sheep” ( proven fact sheep are completely innocent).

    The question is WHY is this lab/lib/con mass party controlled illegal immigration DOVER campaign, paedophile umbrella, coalition still being given succour via the polling booth ?

    1. Good morning, ogga1. For the same reason that Winston Churchill called the voting masses “the sheeple”. (No offence to sheep intended.)

    1. Yo All

      Shirley, we have a ‘cabinet’ to decide the way ahead of UK in the world

      How have we turned into a Dick Tator Ship under The (very manipulative and clever) Buffoon Johnson

      1. 334974+ up ticks,

        Morning OLT,

        “How have we turned into a Dick Tator Ship under The (very manipulative and clever) Buffoon Johnson”

        By knocking back credible fringe party’s in the pursuit of the keys to number ten
        regardless of lab/lib/con party’s recent past odious actions.

        How to successfully lose a Nation, put party welfare before Country & children’s welfare.

    2. The state does not care. They slap their bills on expenses. They’ve intentionally made energy expensive.

      Often I wonder if it’s all part of the revenge over Brexit. The green twaddle was all from the EU, as was taxation and gimmigration. Thus they force all of those on us.

      Frankly, Boris and the nut nut should be kicked outside, let them keep underwear, but no food, fuel, and given a jug of excrement.

      That’s the future they want for us, it’s right that they live it first.

    3. They’ve had 20 years to think about this.
      I love the smell of electoral wipe-out in the morning.

  18. Went to Morrisons at 7.45. Most people bagged up. Apart from the man ahead of me at the checkout.

    He made up for his courage by taking an age to pack his purchases and then a further age by paying in cash. Each note was taken out of his wallet singly, checked, checked again – and then all five were re-checked before handing them to the cashier who checked each note, singly, into a machine. Amazing!

    Still, Colin the tree man is attacking the hedge. Rather him than me – it s just 2ºC now.

    1. He is obviously of the Phizzee school of b*ggeration at the till! It is howling a gale and sleeting here! I fear for the Calcutta Cup match!

      2. ‘Morning, Sue, just spoken to my daughter in Tasmania – temp 23 and sun just setting at 21:06.

        Sorry about the Calcutta Cup but I don’t watch England Rugby any more, in protest at all this kneeling for a dead criminal dug-dealer

        1. Normally I shop at a massively large new local branch of Aldi which opened recently opposite the equally large Sainsbury’s. Sainsbury’s used to be visited by me for items not stocked in Aldi, such as pickled walnuts, but no longer – they now have a large set of shelf space dedicated to Halal products.

          5. This morning, while I was walking Oscar, I was passed by a Sainsbury’s home delivery van. The slogan on the side read, “Live well for less”. Less than what? Less than shopping at Harrods?

        2. I was at Twickenham for the England v South Africa Autumn International in November 2021. When some of the England players went down on one knee, I booed. Interestingly, none of the South African players knelt.

        3. And the beeb have got rid of the only competent commentator who isn’t whining or biased! We’re stuck with gobby-on-a-stick Logan and the dreadful Davies and Butler!

      3. Blowing a gale. Sleet expected. Normal rugby playing weather. I’ve “played” in matches where the posts at either end were invisible from the centre spot because of the blizzard.

    2. Gah, such people are infurating. The same sort who stand there for ages looking for their purse – as it’s usually a woman.

      The strange confusion that they might have to pay for their shopping. Then there’s ten vouchers, all expired.

      1. I get most annoyed with the ones who take forever at the one remaining self checkout that takes cash, then pay by card.

        2. The same people who wait until they reach the broken white line at the roundabout before looking to their right.

      3. In France, we discovered that everyone in the queue has vouchers. Probably government issued. It is an interminable, heart-sinking wait.

  19. 334974+ up ticks,

    May one say,
    Surely the electorate majority have not got the brass neck to whinge about higher energy bills, the DOVER invasion, the ” foreign guest’s ” hotel bills when they have been supporting more of the same for decades, do they NOT realise you cannot serve two masters as in the party / Country.

    1. Yes, plod will. He will be encouraged and rewarded. The state protects its own, especially when it wants power over others.

      What we’ve seen over these last few yearss is its unrelenting brutality, thuggery and the extent it will go to force oppression. This is why government must be utterly controlled by the public. Collar and chain the lot. Hold a gun to their heads every damned day.

    2. Don’t assume, check and think. You may get this very wrong. Why was she there, on a bridge over a fast road, and why was he taking her? Was she, for example, a suicide risk or been dropping stones on cars? Why was she not co-operating?

      1. 334974+ up ticks,

        Morning D,
        I think the take down via truncheon of
        Mr Ian Tomlinson after a good session of
        checking & thinking has left me viewing the police with 20/20 vision.

      2. Tying a banner along the outside of the bridge which says something like, “Freedom Convoy”.

  22. ‘Morning All

    Convoy!!

    The Bastards

    GoFundMe steals the funds

    https://twitter.com/richardzussman/status/1489741141163446273?s=20&t=qD75Qjte2krN3zy13vpLqw

    The police chief makes thereats to his own officers

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/02/04/ottawa-police-chief-promises-to-end-freedom-protest-deploys-150-additional-officers-and-closes-transit-arteries-to-isolate-protestors/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ottawa-police-chief-promises-to-end-freedom-protest-deploys-150-additional-officers-and-closes-transit-arteries-to-isolate-protestors

    The Heroes

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c4dcf2a242b31ce46836d8bb637dbf685fce9069ffe080bc1ceb8e28b342cd4c.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a62974195f159ce3f56b2344342a6251f52047c22991dea7a1ba42118e9dc8c1.jpg

    https://twitter.com/beingrealmac/status/1489723690807873544?s=20&t=qD75Qjte2krN3zy13vpLqw

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5952da96234551742ee2a4532cd1453305ebdd1afe4acf20fd9e22c11867fc1a.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ff54336d162278dbcf680436aeedc50b882e13bbcdca65a7a1555990db5c7eb9.jpg

    1. Obviously, that’ll be the end of GoFundMe as it has lost all credibility and trust, having turned into GoFuckYou.

    2. Hang on. Gofundme decided that they wanted to steal funds from a group who have committed no crime except to resist the state machine.

      Methinks they’re finished as a company. No one should ever use them again. Political machination and theft.

      1. Report them for theft. The money is not theirs to dispose of as they wish.
        Edit: or fraud.

      2. Report them for theft. The money is not theirs to dispose of as they wish.
        Edit: or fraud.

      3. They cream off a percentage anyway. The approved charity will be their owners’ bank balances.

    3. That police chief should listen to himself. Why did he go into policing, was it to help people or be the tool of authoritarian governments?

        1. Good Moaning, Olaf’s Relict.
          Fingers crossed for the weather so I can take small dog for a Hilly Fields walk.
          It can be a bit bleak, so I hope there’s no wind – especially from the north or east.

          1. Which reminds me? Is a north-easterly wind one which arrives from the north-east or one which blows towards the north-east?

      1. I liked the bit where the driver kicked the tractor. That is a man who seriously doesn’t understand how the world works. Probably had non-violent parents.

      1. Whine, like all the clickbait-chasing, churnalistic lowlifes, is a weather vane merely posting for attention in the vague hope he’ll appear relevant.

  26. #CovidClownWorld

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e8bed2c1081bb0df261696bcd77797c052bbd767aff485c38f2b153629ecf217.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f4ac7b21105732ff39dd07cde8058baa93169388cfb451385b7691e4a3452c63.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e643d348a24e49d565e219a84d25c4ad3c98205d60f0e06d6fe7c967d82a1dcb.jpg

    https://twitter.com/CatholicArena/status/1489509256218959872?s=20&t=qD75Qjte2krN3zy13vpLqw

    Awkward………..

    https://twitter.com/matthewdmarsden/status/1489635853366349832?s=20&t=bAcS-ZLTHE6gycQCrZueAA

    3. If the forces of civil authority are interrupting Catholic services, it is time for armed resistance.

    1. Fake news. A new “deadly” variant will be discovered. And Toy Boy Trudeau will send the army to arrest Alberta’s premier.

      1. It will it be a fictitious army, with deployment orders sent from his current bunker location.

    1. We shouldn’t and don’t have to get used to it. It is all their malicious doing.

      Asa corrollary, then they’ll have to get used to being cold – because we’ll cut off their heating and pensionless. Oh, and no cushy after office jobs as any troughing will see them hanged.

      These scum need to be taught a lesson. They make our lives difficult, we make theirs horrific.

    1. Lovely photo, possibly taken near the Embankment. Web reveals
      that the scooter had a petrol engine and that the owner & rider was Lady Norman, wife of a politician. An aristo, her elder son married a Miss Boot, so they were well heeled.

  31. Good morning, my friends

    Two victims of Covid are back from the Valley of the Shadow of Death. (We both tested positive yesterday when the delightful nurse came to visit us)

    Caroline had a slight cold on Monday which she threw off in 24 hours.

    I had a rough night on Wednesday with no respiratory problems but I had flu-like stiff joints and felt unbelievably tired so I spent Thursday and Friday drinking orange juice, reading P.G. Wodehouse and taking Vitamin C, Vitamin D, zinc and paracetamol and sleeping. And now I am downstairs in my office Nottling and feeling if not full, at least half-full, de haricots.

    Being overweight, 75 and unvaccinated I should have snuffed it. The odd thing is that many of our friends in this part of the world have gone down with Covid and the vaccinated have suffered far worse than the unvaccinated. I wonder why?

    1. As The Man put it:

      “Sleep that knits up the raveled sleeve of care,
      The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,
      Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
      Chief nourisher in life’s feast.”

      1. Sorry Sir, would ‘The Man’ happen to be one of Mr Mulliner’s multitudinous relations?

        1. No – one of my other literary heroes, Shakespeare, who gave these lines to a rather wicked Scottish monarch.

          P.G. Wodehouse, like Lewis Carrol’s narrator in The Hunting of the Snark, was fond of quotations and borrowed Edward Young’s description of sleep as being tired nature’s sweet restorer.

          1. I had a suspicion!
            Another author who can create a warm sense of wellbeing is the late James Herriot; although by profession a vet, I read recently on Wiki that he was already a keen writer in his youth. Wiki says “in the early 1960s he began analysing the books of successful authors that he enjoyed reading, such as P. G. Wodehouse and Conan Doyle, to understand different writing styles.”

  33. Boris Johnson must quit over ‘partygate’, says former minister Nick Gibb
    Writing for The Telegraph, Tory MP says that ‘to restore trust we need to change the Prime Minister’ as he submits no confidence letter
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/02/04/ex-minister-nick-gibb-calls-boris-johnson-quit-partygate/

    I know nothing about Nick Gibb – but looking at his photo he looks a right little tick.

    BTL

    All those in the Conservative Parliamentary Party who supported Remain want Boris gone – and if he goes Brexit will go with him and if Brexit goes so will the ‘Red Wall’ and if the Red Wall goes the Tories will very soon be out of power.

    At the time of the general election I said that Nigel Farage made a severe error of judgement in standing down his Brexit Party candidates in seats held by Conservative remainers.

    The day of reckoning is at hand – how long before we are back in the EU with even worse terms than we had before?

          1. Oddly these fellows never seem able to understand how the economy works when they get into office.

          1. He was an education “minister” who knew sod all about schools, exams, children etc etc

    2. No, not enough, I don’t want this nonsense. I don’t want the blob to impose the same big state globalist bunch of fools as they want. No more nonsense. Slap a metal collar on them and we hold the reigns.

      Referism, recall and direct democracy. They demand net zero, we tell them to get fracking. They hike taxes, we reduce them. They want to give money to the NHS, we make the NHS work harder. Pretty soon they’ll be apoplectic with rage, the guardian will scream and the public will win. It is not for them to tell us how they will make us poorer. It is for them to serve on their damned knees if we want it.

      1. “A right little tick” indeed!

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1264c02fbd5c147d72cea1ca7ac5284c6188fe3d31bb41eb4049f7a8bf9f0b93.png

        …and here is a part of his comment to the DT “My constituents are furious about the double standards – imposing harsh and, to my mind, necessary restrictions as we and the world sought to defend ourselves against this new and deadly virus, while at the same time flagrantly disregarding those rules within the fortress of Downing Street…”

        1. Reminds me of the chap who played Claude Erskine-Brown in the televised series of Rumpole of The Bailey in which Leo McKern took the eponymous part and Patricia Hodge ‘The Portia of the Chambers’ played the long-suffering Mrs Erskine-Brown.

    3. All these MPs that nobody has ever heard of keep popping out of the woodwork for their five minutes of fame!

    2. Can anything shake them awake?
      Since the covid scam, I have now become convinced that about 10-15% of the population actively hate freedom.

      1. If you read Twatter, which I occasionally do, you might well consider revising that percentage upwards!

    3. Also not a fan of Carr.

      Left wing Dopey Wokies are looking for votes. Although the T.C. caravaners don’t vote and also don’t pay taxes and never will.
      Realities are not always amusing and the ‘traveling community’ are mainly disrespectful law breaking flytipping nusciences.
      I wonder how much time Mz Doris spends tracking the income of these social outcasts.

    4. The political class love censorship. They like silencing those they disagree with, but they let the complicit off.

      The state is too big, has too much money.

  38. Looking for a film to entertain last evening I found stored on my TV box, The Ghost Writer. I’ve seen it previously but this time after recent revelations I paid much more attention.
    I realise Her majesty is quite busy at the moment. But I really and most respectfully recommend that she puts her feet up and watches this film. I feel quite sure that she will have a change of plan over the knight hood of Blair.
    Although in the part fiction story line, he actually received a form of justice.

    1. I’ve read the book, but not seen the film.
      I suspect Robert Harris wrote it at a time of disillusionment with Blair.

  39. New “vaccine” coming to market and Dr Jane Ruby’s analysis is worth a look. Dr Ruby reveals that the ‘spike protein’ is still at the centre of the serum’s design. If it’s the same ‘spike’ as in the current serums what is the point? The ‘virus’ carrying that ‘spike’ is long gone. Ponders…

    Novavax “Vaccine” Coming to Market

    1. This new vaccine involves injecting the spike proteins directly into your blood instead of stimulating your body to make them.
      That technique (injecting directly into the blood) was used in this research:
      https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-020-00771-8
      which demonstrated that the spike protein can cross the blood-brain barrier in mice.

      Something to bear in mind if you’re thinking of getting yourself injected with it. On the positive side, it seems that the spikes break down fairly quickly. That could make it better than the mRNA ones, which carry on manufacturing the things for some weeks. It was recently proven (by that team of German pathologists) that someone who died four months after their jab had the spike protein in their blood. Not clear whether it was from the jab or a subsequent infection.

  40. New “vaccine” coming to market and Dr Jane Ruby’s analysis is worth a look. Dr Ruby reveals that the ‘spike protein’ is still at the centre of the serum’s design. If it’s the same ‘spike’ as in the current serums what is the point? The ‘virus’ carrying that ‘spike’ is long gone. Ponders…

    Novavax “Vaccine” Coming to Market

  42. Many of us have Digital Thermometers at home and use them regularli(ish) to monitor our body temperatures.

    I am surprised that the SAGE etc has not had them chipped to show everyone has a temperature of 37.8 deg C ie , Convid dooooooom

    1. Oh my goodness! I must be patient zero as my body temperature is pretty usually around 38 and a bit.

    2. I’ve just measured my sub-lingual temperature at 35.0 degC.
      My wrist HR/SpO2/temp watch measures 36.5 degC.

      The latter says my body temperature should be between 36.0 and 37.0 degC.

      NHS says body temp should not exceed 37.8 degC ‘cos you might have COVID.

      Should I use a laser temp pointy thing and if so what should I point at?

  43. 334974+ up ticks,

    Add to that the foreign paedophile rape & abuse count countrywide makes running the gauntlet of childhood, thanks to lab/lib/con coalition input, a highly dangerous procedure.

    breitbart,
    Cost of Lockdown: Record Number of Children Seek Severe Mental Health Treatment in Britain

    2. On BBC TV this morning (where else) ? they had a couple of resident ‘covid experts’ they seem like nice people well presented and they do a lot of talking and answering viewers questions.
      But some how today the impression given, was of a well rehearsed answers session and slightly more emphasis on the little known facts. Too many words were flowing out of their mouths too many different links to the different variants of covid and still more than obvious from all this, the vaccines are not actually vaccines because it’s pretty obvious they don’t work, but no mention of that. So much so with the latest innovations, I was expecting some foam to be flowing as well.
      Perhaps the BBC studio crew were (to use an old 60s expression) ‘creaming their jeans’ over all this.

    3. You ain’t see nothing yet. Just wait until some pesky westerner is ahead of a Chinese athlete in Beijing, those tests will be so effective . . .

  46. Come on it’s Saturday who cares………..

    I was standing at the bar at the Legion post one night minding my own business
    when this FAT ugly chick came up behind me grabbed my behind and said
    “You’re kinda cute. You gotta phone number?
    I said, “Yeah you gotta pen?”
    She said, “Yeah I got a pen”.
    I said, “You better get back in it before the farmer misses you.”
    Cost me 6 stitches…but,
    When you’re over seventy………….who cares?
    **********

    I went to the drug store and told the clerk …”Give me 3 packets of condoms please”
    Lady Clerk: “Do you need a paper bag with that sir?”;
    I said “Nah… She’s purty good lookin’…”
    When you’re over seventy………….who cares?
    **********

    I was talking to a young woman at the Legion last night.
    She said, “If you lost a few pounds had a shave and got your hair cut you’d look all right.”;
    I said, “If I did that I’d be talking to your friends over there instead of you.”;
    Cost me a fat lip, but… When you’re over seventy…………who cares?
    **********

    I was telling a woman in the Club about my ability to guess what day a woman was born just by feeling her breasts.
    “Really” she said, “Go on then.. try.”
    After about thirty seconds of fondling she began to lose patience and said, “Come on what day was I born?”
    I said, “Yesterday.”
    Cost me a kick in the groin, but…
    When you’re over seventy…………..who cares?
    *********

    I got caught taking a pee in the swimming pool today. The lifeguard shouted at me so loud, I nearly fell in.
    When you’re over seventy………….who cares?
    **********

    I went to our Legion last night and saw a BIG woman dancing on a table.
    I said, “Good legs.”
    The girl giggled and said, “Do you really think so?”
    I said, “Definitely! Most tables would have collapsed by now.”
    When you’re over seventy………….who cares?
    **********

    I probably sent this to you before.
    When you’re over seventy…………who cares?

    I was walking along the beach one sunny afternoon and thought I could see a mermaid siting on a distant rock .
    As I approached my suspicions were confirmed.
    She had beautiful hair and I asked if any one had ever stroked her golden locks.
    “No” she replied so i said “do you mind if I do”?
    So I did.
    She had fabulous perky breast and I said “Has any one ever admired and fondled you beautiful breasts” ?
    She said, “I don’t think so”. I said “Do you mind if I do then”. ? She said “Okay”.
    After about an hour I asked her if she had ever been …you know…….. fucked
    She replied “No i don’t think I have”.
    “Well” I said, “you have now the tides gorn out”.
    Let’s face it when you’re over 70 who cares………..

    Annon and on and on…………..
    —————————-

  47. Good day all. Over four years ago I decided to forego the ‘pleasures’ of livestream broadcasts and I haven’t missed it one bit, until the lockdowns – imposed on hospitality by Elsie McSelfie – were enacted and I was unable to visit my local to watch the 6 Nations rugby matches for the past two championships.

    There are no such barriers this year, so if anyone wants me I shall be at the end of the bar from 14.00 onwards. It’s a tad breezy and damp out so I may have to get the bus down, rather than walk the mile to the pub. Such is life.

    1. No pubs where I live, Feargal. I’ll still be watching all 15 matches though. Cheers! 🍺

        1. I don’t think i can make it today i’ve got a 2 year olds birthday gathering ……he probably wont even remember it, there might be a beer or several available.

          Have a good one, as usually happens in Rugby the best team wins. I do hope Scotland has stopped kicking the ball into touch so often ………. i’ll get me gumshield……..😄

  48. Good day all. Over four years ago I decided to forego the ‘pleasures’ of livestream broadcasts and I haven’t missed it one bit, until the lockdowns – imposed on hospitality by Elsie McSelfie – were enacted and I was unable to visit my local to watch the 6 Nations rugby matches for the past two championships.

    There are no such barriers this year, so if anyone wants me I shall be at the end of the bar from 14.00 onwards. It’s a tad breezy and damp out so I may have to get the bus down, rather than walk the mile to the pub. Such is life.

  49. Phew!
    A walk to Cromford & back to post an E-bay parcel, then shift the 9 bags of soil I filled t’other day up the garden.
    That’s 49 bags waiting until I get the next bit of terrace wall done.

    Rather annoying that, had I not been fanny farting about with Stepson, I’d have probably done a couple of mortar mixes over the past couple of weeks.

    1. Nah – it has been too cold, Robert.

      I DO hope that you have a sequence of “before and after” snaps to share with us….

  50. Telegraph headline:
    “Five years in prison for using the web as a ‘weapon’ of abuse
    Internet trolls who harass people online will be jailed, promises Nadine Dorries” (female member of the Westminster Gang of Trolls)

    1. Obviously the powerful around the world talk to each other, your lit just following one of Trudeaus ideas here. As our village idiot doesn’t have original thoughts, direction is coming from elsewhere.

  54. Most people in this the country are going to be sorely squeezed by huge increases in the costs of living, including all fuels, electricity, food and clothing. This is a direct result of cumulative failures of successive governments to address energy security.
    It is worse than that as the squeeze will result in a concomitant huge drop in disposable income. Sales in hospitality, entertainment, restaurants and bars, travel and holidays, sales of clothing, will all feel the pinch.
    Yes, despite this crushing blow to the people in general and the overall economy some of the big boys won’t be too bothered. No UK government has gone after Amazon to pay tax. Amazon shifts its taxable income to Europe via transfer pricing. Amazon received a huge warehouse free of charge from the Scottish government. Amazon employees at this warehouse live in tents and caravans and claim Social Security payments because the wages paid by Amazon are miserable. So every day that Amazon operates it is subsidised by the Scottish government and, by extension, all UK taxpayers across the country.
    Why, why, why?

    1. ‘This is a direct result of cumulative failures of successive governments to address energy security.‘
      It appears to be a deliberate unwritten policy to drag us down to a 3rd world status.

      1. I think we have reached that third world status but the sheeple won’t be told.

        Corruption, state funded police to fulfil every dictatorial whim, grinding the populations’ noses into the ground, five-year plans. Does it all sound familiar?

        Rise up, rise up and take back what is ours. Were I 20 years younger, I would happily lead, along with a container full of step-ladders and piano-wire.

        Let’s shew the French how it should be done.

  55. Boris Johnson has support of 97pc of Tory MPs, insists Nadine Dorries
    Culture Secretary says there is an ‘absolutely minority’ of Tory MPs who oppose the PM despite mounting calls for his resignation
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/02/05/boris-johnson-has-support-97pc-tory-mps-insists-nadine-dorries/

    I agree with some of the points made in this BTL comment:

    My worry is more for Brexit than for Johnson. If Johnson falls then there are, at the moment, apparently no contenders who would a push ahead to make sure Britain gains the full advantages of Brexit.

    Johnson may be a bit dim – but it must be beginning to dawn on him that if he does not push ahead with eliminating EU influence in N Ireland by getting rid of the Protocol along and with the ECJ and ECHR’s influence and ridding us of damaging EU regulations then he will be lost along with Brexit.

    If Boris is deposed then JRM should throw his cap into the ring and if he fails to win then he should lead a mass defection of Brexit supporters in the Conservative Party to the Reform Party.

    3. Boris cares nothing for Brexit. It was a means to an end (and not worth fighting for once the end was achieved). JRM is a Party man through and through (I’ve met him).

  58. Steve Baker plots his next move. 5 February 2022.

    Theresa May meanwhile continues to cash in post-premiership by registering £127,000 for nine hours work preparing and delivering a speech for a Florida lecture series – the equivalent of almost £4 a second. How ironic for a PM whose most memorable speaking engagement was when she lost her voice at the 2017 Tory conference. It seems though that the good people of southern America are desperate to hear her oratorical prowess, even if her biography on the official website is, er, a little coy about the many failings of her premiership. Talk about the burning injustices, eh?

    This system is as corrupt as anything you could find in Equatorial Africa. Certainly worse than British Colonial India and only just below that of present day Mexico or Haiti under Papa Doc. It is different only in its gentility. Westminster condones it because even those who are not benefiting hope that one day opportunity will come their way and they too can cash in!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/steve-baker-plots-his-next-move

  63. Can any knowledgeable rugby fans help me here?

    I’m watching the Wales vs Ireland match. There’s been a debate for a long time over putting the ball straight into scrums, but what I see in this match is ridiculous. The scrum half is putting both hands inside the scrum then rolling the ball straight to the back of his own pack. This was done once right under the nose of the ref. Have the rules such as hands outside the scrum and put in straight changed or are players now taking the piss and refs ignoring the rules?

    1. The law is completely ignored.

      I think it is a deliberate ploy to do away with hookers – and then the scrum itself. Any stoppage would conclude with a free kick or a line out. Elf ‘n safety, innit?

      1. Every scrum has been boring: ball straight to the back then back in open play immediately. Perhaps that’ll change when players get tired, but if it doesn’t you may well be right over doing away with the scrum.

        1. There has been a recent campaign highlighting “the dangers” of scrummaging. Brain damage, paralysis etc etc.

          3. I remember providing food and drink for a rugby bash in a Birmingham hotel. The Bar area became a bit warm and so they tried to open the sash window. The upper window to the sash housed the extractor fan. Not for long though.

          4. I know there’ve been campaigns for donkeys’ years over scrums and, more recently, on brain damage. Authorities have brought in changes, most recently on having hookers have a foot forward on setting in order to reduce their neck loads. However, IMO if authorities want to reduce the time packs push against each other and the attendant risk of scrums’ collapsing then they should change the rules.

    2. Both, probably, Dale, that and knee-bending are reasons why I no longer watch six-nations rugby. Getting as bad as Wendyball and, like them, working for a business rather than partaking in sport.

      No more, play, up, play up and play the game – it’s all about crushing the opposition.

  64. Ukrainians ‘will be rounded up in internment camps as part of Putin’s invasion plan which will also see Kremlin puppets put in power, according to intelligence report’. 5 February 2022.

    Details of Russia’s plan to overthrow the Ukrainian government after a full-scale invasion of the country have been detailed in the German media.

    The report, originating from a foreign secret service source, outlines President Vladimir Putin’s three-step plan to bring Ukraine under a new ‘union state’ including Russia and Belarus, with Moscow as the centre of control.

    Perhaps the most concerning detail of the report is the Kremlin’s ‘Step Three’, which according to Bild would see Ukrainian activists rounded up and put into camps once a pro-Russian government had been installed.

    This is appalling! It’s propaganda for the mentally retarded. The “source” is probably the UK which produces most of this guff. We used to be admired for the subtlety of our propaganda, we are the inventors of the Man who Never Was, the Black Propaganda of Sefton Delmer in WW2 and this is all we can produce?

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10479699/Ukrainians-rounded-internment-camps-Putins-invasion-plan.html

    1. Putin will be removing a puppet government and re-installing democracy for Ukrainians. I wonder how many activists are actually Ukrainian.

      What would normally be happening is Ukrainians in other countries vox popped for their opinions. Is the BBC doing this?

    2. Come on, Duranty, the Russian empire and the USSR have been confined to the dustbin of history. Ukraine is now an independent nation and the majority of Ukrainians want to keep it that way. They don’t want a return to the bad old days. Putin’s interference has been a disaster for all Ukrainians, wasting blood and treasure and bringing misery to all sides. He and the EU should keep out of the Ukraine and allow the Ukrainians to determine their own future, which is what Russia agreed to do in return for the Ukraine’s giving up their nukes.

      1. …the Russian empire and the USSR have been confined to the dustbin of history.

        They certainly have and no one, least of all Putin, wants them back. This however does not mean Russia is going to stand for Ukraine becoming a springboard for NATO aggression and with the installation of US missiles targeting Moscow. As to Ukraine giving up their Nukes they were never theirs to forgo. They had physical possession but the warheads were electronically controlled by Russia and thus valueless.

        1. A bit like ours really. The Americans have our launch codes. Anyone would think the cold war never ended.

  65. Oh crumbs.
    While recovering from walking Spartie – climbing a slope into a headwind underlined how I’d fallen into a winter fitness slump – I watched the Dook of Montecito (formerly known as Prince Harry). I enjoyed the frozen face of his interviewer; it was certainly more interesting than the rambling lecture. It was so bad that the Mrs Dalloway type stream of consciousness seems positively sparkling.
    MeGain has absolutely broken him; it was like a tour of the old Bedlam Hospital.
    When things go wrong, the Royal Family will have an horrendous problem on their hands.

    2. I know what you mean, Anne.

      I went to visit my then Sister-in-law in Bedlam and wasn’t unduly surprised when a nurse told us that the Rosaleen we knew wasn’t there anymore.

    3. The RF could always install him in an attic and lock the door. Wouldn’t be the first time.

      When traveling uphill in a headwind with Spartie get yourself a skateboard and a longer lead and shout ‘Mush’.

    4. You can tour the old Bedlam easily enough. The central core of the one before the existing building, the wings having been knocked down, is now the IWM London.

          5. Shame on you.
            Never block.
            Let others judge the comment on its merit or otherwise.
            If you believe in free speech let the speech be free.

          7. Possibly so, and if you feel that way move on by when you note who has posted, but always give yourself the opportunity to see what is being said.
            By blocking, all you have done is closed your ears.

    5. You can tour the old Bedlam easily enough. The central core of the one before the existing building, the wings having been knocked down, is now the IWM London.

    6. Afternoon Anne .

      It looks to me as if your aptly named Dook of Montecito has been indulging in something very whacky .. his eyes look ghastly and empty , no sparkle .

      I reckon he is done in , well and truly.

      1. Possibly because I have two sons and a teenage grandson, his appearance really worries me.
        I know our sons – by virtue of their age – have been through some rough periods and it has been their school, university and work friends who have got them through such times.
        What one son describes as “having a few beers and talking bollox”. Harry appears to have nobody like that, and I’m afraid he will crack … very seriously.

        1. He is already “cracked” – completely bonkers and under the influence of a very malign woman.

          1. I’m afraid it’ll come to worse than churning out word salads.
            She will dump him and drain him – financially and emotionally – because of the children.

    7. I wish someone would tell both of them how ridiculous they are appearing to the rest of the world. I have yet to hear anything positive about them, either here in the US or UK.

      1. Anyone except the hangers who defend them get cancelled and sued. They don’t want to hear any truth but theirs.

          1. Very kind of you to ask. I have my date for the procedure. 8am February 11th. Happens to be my Birthday. :@(

            Be good to get it over with though.

          3. The Consultant did explain what they were going to do. Also worst case scenario being amputation. So yes.

            They are going in my right thigh, hopping over the abdomen clearing the way and then down into my right thigh. He said that when they inflate the balloons they would go further to scoop out the goo. Then they have to go further down to my knee for more scooping. His words.

            Ice cream anyone?

    1. Scruffy with a defensive posture. He looks like the kid that didn’t get invited to go on the Sunday school trip.

    2. 334974+ up ticks,

      Afternoon P,

      Examples like Batten / Braine / Waters or of their ilk would prove to be a Countrywide saving asset straight off.

      Proven United Kingdom patriots, their policies voiced IN PARLIAMENT would without doubt pierce the lab/lib/con close shop coalition, then you would witness the rodents scatter.

      1. Hi ogga1,
        Sadly I don’t give a toss anymore. I cannot believe what has
        happened to my lovely country in such a short time….

        1. 334974+ up ticks,
          P,
          Rest assured it was not of my doing or of my associates within the real UKIP party,
          far from it.

          Look more to the majority voter within the electorate there was / is where the treacherous fault lies.

    1. Honestly, I wouldn’t want that much; it’s fun to dream though. Too much money is as much of a worry as too little.

        1. Yes, true- Golden Retriever Rescue for one. I would like a small bungalow but am OK where I am right now.

        2. I’d buy a big field, plant loads of trees, with a river type lake thing and give Mongo somwhere to splash about safely.

    4. I’d buy all the remaining pieces of unused land hereabouts and tie them up legally so they couldn’t be developed for at least a thousand years.
      At the very least, I’d make it so awkward to overturn the trust (?) that fly-by-night developers would go elsewhere.

  70. Well, that was a stroke of luck. Colin the Tree Bloke arrived at 8.15 – and has just left. Nine hours = £150. Pretty good value, I’d say. The hedge is now half its former self! He’ll be back next Saturday to finish it off – and fell three trees.

    I have known him for 35 years – and still think of him as “Young Colin”. He mentioned in passing that he retired last month!! Takes his OAP but is re-employed by the Council on a four day week….

    It is great to know trustworthy and highly competent tradesmen.

    3. The closest I have ever been to getting killed was cutting down a tree.

      To put this in context – I used to be a fireman, I am a police officer and I live in Peckham.

      Trees are dangerous. Well worth the money for a decent professional.

          3. Quelque chose comme ca.
            I am more an eau de vie kind of guy. The rough as nails type you get around Carcassonne.

            We had some at Les Saptes that had stayed in the cellar for so long it had turned slightly pink. They used it to make the punch at my brother’s wedding. I was as hallucinogenic as it was inebriating.

          5. Remi?
            Alternative spelling with a Y as the brandy – and the rat(atouille).
            My skipper is Scandi, though. A worthy, intelligent chap.

      2. Windfall trees are the worst. There’s so much tension in them, you have to be really careful.

        1. Mine needed to fall down a narrow alley.
          I cut the wedge, but the counter cut was not quite right and instead of falling into the wedge it slipped backwards off the stump, landed vertical on the ground and then fell towards me. I tripped on a branch I hadn’t cleared and the trunk landed exactly where I fell. Thank God I was in a fork in that branch and the trunk stopped on the fork just after I pulled my knees to my chest . The jagged stumps of the branches I had taken off the previous day stopped literally inches from my chest.
          My brother saw it happen and all that was visible was my arm still holding the chainsaw and shaking. He thought I was dead. In fact I was shaking with laughter.

          My grandmother, who’s tree it was, was completely oblivious. She made us jacket potatoes with salt and butter. Still the smell and taste of being alive, for me.

          1. In the 1960s a client of mine was up a tree with a chain saw, sitting on a branch. The chain caught on something, jerked and cut into his thigh. He bled to death three minutes later, still sitting on the branch.

            I have never touched a chain saw since.

          2. It is a scary bit of equipment. I was in the LFB at the time. Thought I was indistructable. I am more careful nowadays.

          3. One of my gym instructors is a do anything person who will happily womanhandle a chainsaw

            She was in Toronto last week, fell over on an icy pavement and broke her shoulder.

        1. Assassins usually have as deep a relationship and long a decision making process over the method and means of death as they do with their target.

      1. If
        Rudyard Kipling

        If you can keep your head when all about you
        Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
        If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
        But make allowance for their doubting too;
        If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
        Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
        Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
        And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

        MOR
        https://www.poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/if/

        1. Emily Dickinson:

          We dream, it is good we are dreaming-
          It would hurt us were we awake.
          But since it is playing- kill us
          And we are playing- shriek.

          Written after the US Civil War which, I guess haunted her. Nowadays, I understand her feelings more than I did when I first read this.

          1. ….. And you read your Emily Dickinson,
            And I my Robert Frost,
            And we note our place with bookmarkers
            That measure what we’ve lost.
            Like a poem poorly written
            We are verses out of rhythm,
            Couplets out of rhyme,
            In syncopated time
            And the dangling conversation
            And the superficial sighs,
            Are the borders of our lives.
            S&G.

          2. I have been acquainted with the night;
            I have walked out in rain and back in rain,
            I have outwalked the furthest city light.
            I have looked down the saddest city lane
            I have passed by the watchman on his beat..
            And dropped my eyes
            Unwilling to explain.

            Sorry, I can’t remember the rest. 🙁

          3. …. I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
            When far away an interrupted cry
            Came over houses from another street,
            But not to call me back or say good-bye;
            And further still at an unearthly height,
            One luminary clock against the sky
            Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
            I have been one acquainted with the night.

          5. Talking of dates in history, just finished the ‘White Ship’ and now reading about king John.
            Can you recommend anything about Henry II? our library seems very vague when I ask what they have.

          6. I am no expert on Henry II but there is one that I have read, Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine: Founding an Empire.
            By Matthew Lewis, if I remember right but please don’t take my word for it.

          7. Many thanks, I will ask them tomorrow.
            Our library is very good at finding books, as long as I can give them specifics.

          8. Personally, I think Eleanor of Aquitaine is far more interesting; boy did she have guts which is why Henry II shut her away for so long. A most interesting lady.

          9. Yes it all seemed to go pear shaped after Henry I. Matilda should have been Queen, we would not have needed to wait for Elizabeth I.

          10. If you want good fiction about that era- may I recommend When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman… which is about that era. Good it is.

          12. …. I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
            When far away an interrupted cry
            Came over houses from another street,
            But not to call me back or say good-bye;
            And further still at an unearthly height,
            One luminary clock against the sky
            Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
            I have been one acquainted with the night.

        2. It was not part of their blood,
          It came to them very late
          With long arrears to make good,
          When the English began to hate.
          They were not easily moved,
          They were icy-willing to wait
          Till every count should be proved,
          Ere the English began to hate.
          Their voices were even and low, Their eyes were level and straight.
          There was neither sign nor show, When the English began to hate.
          It was not preached to the crowd, It was not taught by the State.
          No man spoke it aloud,
          When the English began to hate.
          It was not suddenly bred,
          It will not swiftly abate,
          Through the chill years ahead,
          When Time shall count from the date
          That the English began to hate.

          Kipling.

  72. That’s me gone for the day. Very successful – watching other people work.

    Have a jolly evening

    A demain

    1. Good night, Bill. And good night to all on here. Tonight’s film for me is the wonderful JEAN DE FLORETEE (1986), and tomorrow I shall watch its sequel MANAN DES SOURCES.

  74. Last post. Promise

    A scrum that lasts over 5 minutes – that’s what is killing rugger. Pah!

    1. Fly-Halves unzipped.

      England Eddie George deserved to lose that match.

      I look at Ireland’s discipline and ability to finish the movements vs England’s.
      THAT is all down to the coaching.

  76. ‘Night All

    Watched the rugby with a scots fellow resident,much beer taken I’m going to bed

    with shrieks of triumph ringing in my ears…………

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ceec8bef5beca03157720df8efc88412d280b20563d9b240ea369c3160899acb.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/38312554c3d7f82bea3373c8c1583d937339823fc6e2832046ad5a10b8d0f377.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a7caf8e59161807ca45a4f27a916133dec8567e393f737edc24e4775e712e0ca.gif

  77. Re Nottlers giving away the results.

    1. Knowing that it’s likely to happen, don’t look at Nottle.
    2. If you’re really that keen, why aren’t you watching the game?
    3. The wrong side/player/driver/ won. It’s always that way.

    2. The latest football result from the Dinan Regional Football League:

      Vicomté-sur-Rance 2 – 5 Pleudihen-sur-Rance

  78. 334974+ up ticks,

    May one ask,

    Do the money mills ( wind turbines ) still kickback revenue to their landlords ? or are their assets frozen as many an elderly person will be.

    1. After Enabling Violent, Far-Left Extremists, GoFundMe ‘Steals’ Millions From Freedom Convoy Fundraisers

      Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) tweeted: “It is a fraud for @gofundme to commandeer $9M in donations sent to support truckers and give it to causes of their own choosing,” adding “I will work with @AGAshleyMoody to investigate these deceptive practices — these donors should be given a refund.”

  81. Ok I confess. I bought a pack of face masks earlier today and actually wore one.

    But then again so would you had you seen the dust and filth that had accumulated in the loft. I’ll finish cleaning it tomorrow!

    1. I always wear a dust mask when I’m dealing with the ash and shovelling coal doing the Rayburn.

  84. Evening, all. It isn’t just the meddling in the market, it’s the swingeing taxes (VAT and green) that push up energy prices.

          2. It doesn’t matter where it was, but in the first place, I’m afraid I’m not touchy feely (in arab countries children die all the time – like women, they’re worthless; it’s part of their culture) and secondly, I reserve the right to joke about anything. Life’s too short to be miserable.

    1. It must be wonderful to be able to coax such music from the instrument under your hands and feet.

    3. Obviously the plague does not deactivate whilst sitting playing the organ as does when you sit in a pub or restaurant.

    1. 334974+ up ticks,

      Was it hearsay, allegedly Georges brother in some sort of roadside shooting.

      1. Mug of tea at 3:30, Coffee an hour later, second coffee a few minutes ago!

        Edited to add: Morning Minty and anyone else waiting for Dawn to arrive!

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