Monday 7 February: The PM has set an appalling example – but who is ready to replace him?

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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605 thoughts on “Monday 7 February: The PM has set an appalling example – but who is ready to replace him?”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolk, first by virtue of another bad night.

    Heigh ho, much napping in the chair methinks.

    Have a good Monday.

    1. Morning, Tom.
      Know what you mean. Napping sounds good – today, I am fed up with dark – especially after such a lovely sunny yesterday.

      1. 06:40 here, Paul and as black as a witch’s t1t outside still.

        Please appear, climate-changing Sun.

        2. Morning NTN, Yesterday on the Costa Clyde it was stormy and wet. Today the wind has dropped but it’s still aquatic. Hope it’s brighter where you are, there’s nothing like a catnap in the sunlight.

      2. ‘Morning, Oberst. Pleased to hear you had a sunny day yesterday, always a tonic. Here on yer sarf coast we had a very stormy day, with a brief appearance of the sun pm. Took our hound for the usual trot along the beach, only to find large chunks of it missing. The Environment Agency only finished its periodic shingle-shifting last week and now nearly all of that has been destroyed.

        1. Nice to get a walk, but it must be really depressing to find that your hard work just last week is gone already… 🙁

          1. It can be a good time for fishing from the shore. Post storm upheaval leaves lots of sea creatures homeless and gets the fish on the feed.

          3. Shingle washed out to sea, eh?

            None of these “agency” wallahs have the faintest notion of the power of the sea.

    2. Ditto, Tom. I finally got up at 11 am, made a cuppa, phoned to cancel my afternoon cinema visit with the Wrinklies and a Quiz Night this evening with friends. And then I went back to bed. Still feeling exhausted (at 2 pm) so have decided to spend today in a lazy kind of way.

  3. Morning All.
    We need to get away from this moralistic example nonsense.
    He set a good example – we should ignore stupid rules.

    What he also did was accept to close down the country in order to corral everyone into taking a dodgy vaccine so that advisors could enrich their patrons and promote socialist ruin of a free nation.
    For that he and they should forfeit all their wordly goods and spend considerable time in prison.

      1. That would be a start. But there must be a real deterrent – just getting rid of bad actors opens the door to others who will be more cautious about getting caught and kicked off the gravy train.

  6. Emmanuel Macron says his negotiations with Putin ‘likely to prevent war’ in Ukraine
    The French president put his credibility on the line ahead of a visit to Moscow this week.

    I expect that this self-aggrandising little pipsqueak, will arrive in Moscow with his white flag unfurled, following French Military History.

  8. A letter for Rastus from the DT:
    Blighted degrees
    SIR – My son started his degree in September 2019. He had one normal term before the pandemic, after which all his learning took place online.

    He is now on a work placement in London. Fortunately it is paid, as he has still had to hand over £2,000 to the university for this academic year, even though he isn’t there. He had been doing the placement from home, despite forking out for a flat share in London so he could be in the office. Finally, he went in last week, six months into the placement and only for a couple of days a week.

    He has one more year at university, a debt of thousands and parents who have spent their savings helping him. Students deserve better.

    Sue King
    Sidmouth, Devon

    1. Sensible people would refuse to pay, since the university is clearly in breach of contract – if that wasn’t repealed by Bliar!

      1. The universities hook in kids who have no life experience for these dodgy deals! Teachers see nothing to criticise of course, but parents should be more suspicious.
        One of mine is studying on the Continent (free fees), and another is doing an OU course and a f/t job at the same time. Both hope to graduate without debt.

    3. I believe our number three son has only just finished paying off his student loan. He’s early thirties now.
      I wonder how many then students have absconded back to over seas since finishing their degrees

  9. Big Tech vs the working class. Spiked 7 February 2022.

    GoFundMe’s anti-working-class meddling in the distribution of funds is of a piece with the growing arrogance of Silicon Valley. These unaccountable millionaires and billionaires who control key sections of the World Wide Web have made patently clear their willingness to interfere in democratic life. We’ve had Twitter and Facebook censoring the then sitting president of the United States, Donald Trump. Spotify is currently under pressure to silence or at least reprimand anti-woke voices like Joe Rogan’s. Numerous social-media outlets strictly control what we can say about sex, gender, race, immigration and other issues, and will silence anyone who deviates from the ‘correct’ line. These companies exercise an enormous amount of control over the 21st-century public square, and they are unilaterally, and happily, punishing and expelling anyone who deviates from the moral diktats of the new ruling class.

    This along with the silencing of Trump and the suppression of traditional values simply confirms the alliance between Corporate and Political power. Pretty well all the leaders in the Anglosphere are Woke Stooges.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/02/06/big-tech-vs-the-working-class/

  10. Good morning all from a somewhat chillier Derbyshire. A dry start but with -3°C in the yard.

  12. Russia’s military build-up proves it is preparing to invade Ukraine, says Liz Truss. 7 February 2022.

    Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, said on Sunday it had become clear that Russia’s denials about invading Ukraine were false, as Washington warned Moscow’s army had nearly reached its full strength at the border.

    In a tweet on Sunday, Ms Truss said: “The depths of Russian attempts to subvert and threaten Ukraine are clear. Russia’s actions show their claims to have no plans to invade are false.

    TOP COMMENT BELOW THE LINE.

    Jack Flash1.

    The real ‘invasion’ that Truss and Doris are ignoring is taking place across the Channel.

    Now that is true!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/02/06/russias-military-build-up-proves-preparing-invade-ukraine-says/

    2. What is “full strength”? Every Russian soldier who can stand up? I’d be a bit more inclined to believe these lying bastards if they stopped coming with this vague threat stuff and actually gave some detail. Otherwise, it looks like classic distraction from domestic politics to me – with that blithering idiot in Washington, the runaway wuss playing with his buttplugs in Canada somewhere and the buffoon (is he still in Ukraine?) – never mind the delusional Micron pretending that anybody will listen to what he has to say.

  13. Morning all

    The PM has set an appalling example – but who is ready to replace him?

    SIR – I have been appalled by the very poor example set by Boris Johnson and many members of his Government in recent weeks.

    However, there are many worrying international developments that require our Government’s attention, and no obvious candidate to take over the reins as Prime Minister.

    We should draw a line under this mess and give Mr Johnson a chance to regroup. Punish him, if you insist, at the next general election – but don’t do it now.

    David Clarke

    Wickham Market, Suffolk

    SIR – As a former chair of my local Conservative branch, I say Mr Johnson doesn’t get it.

    He is a dead man walking in Britain, Europe and the world, even if he can’t see it. He should do the honourable thing and resign – but since he has no honour he must be kicked out, and most of his Cabinet should go too.

    Malcolm Allen

    Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire

    SIR – Nadine Dorries may well argue that the Prime Minister is supported by 97 per cent of MPs.

    She should understand, however, that he is no longer supported by 100 per cent of the hitherto lifelong Conservatives with whom I have spoken, all of whom previously voted for him.

    Charlie Bladon

    Cattistock, Dorset

    SIR – Mr Johnson has to go – not because he partied, not because of his relationship with the truth, but because he is not interested in government: he just wants applause.

    Michael Heaton

    Warminster, Wiltshire

    SIR – I see that Nick Gibb has decided this is his moment for 15 minutes of fame (“To restore trust we need to change the Prime Minister”, Commentary, February 5).

    He claims his constituents are outraged over the current furore. However, he should be aware that those who shout loudest do not necessarily represent the majority.

    In his constituency the majority voted for Brexit and he was one of the MPs attempting to block it. Now he is attempting to remove the man who finally delivered it.

    Simon Warde

    Bognor Regis, West Sussex

    SIR – The only way for Boris Johnson to save his premiership is to call an immediate vote of confidence.

    With a win, followed by radical policy changes, he could be set fair.

    Simon Turner

    Solihull

    SIR – I share Nigel Clegg’s disillusionment with the Tory party (Letters, February 6).

    However, I shall remain a member so I can vote in any leadership contest. I too supported Mr Johnson last time, but will think very carefully before casting my next vote.

    Bernard Clark

    Farnborough, Hampshire

      1. I don’t think it’s intended as BS, but it’s as korky suggests it’s arse coverage for yet another massive and monumental cockup. The ‘They’ aka the ‘useless ones’ are once again blaming everyone else for their ongoing fatal mistakes.

    2. Is that all they’ve got? As a cover story for “vaccine” induced problems that’s about as effective as a puff of smoke in a gale. In truth it’s an admission that something(s) is/are very wrong with the jab.

    3. Climate change is only caused by changes in that big yellow thing in the sky. CO² has 7/8 of 3/16th of sod-all to do with it.

      Let’s hope more people wake up to this and the Covid scam.

    5. Maybe not rotten fish, but a red herring… 😉
      Doesn’t the heat affect the Africans, the Aussies and quite a lot of China? Ad this is the first time they come across it? Puh, what crap.

    6. FFS Wadda lodda complete and utter crap these people are pumping out.
      But also of course only in those western cultures where people have been lined up for the slow rate slaughter and are now lining their kids up for short terms as well.

  15. The Queen’s constancy

    SIR – Charles Moore (Comment, February 5) speaks for us all in expressing gratitude for the Queen’s reign and her sense of destiny from the moment of her succession.

    These qualities have sustained her and us through good times and bad. I became a Queen’s Scout in 1963 and remain deeply proud to be so.

    John Pritchard

    Ingatestone, Essex

    SIR – I am sure that the majority of the nation welcomes the Queen’s decision that Camilla will be crowned Queen when Charles becomes king.

    The future fortunes of the monarchy very much lie in the hands of two women – Camilla and Kate.

    David Julier

    Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

    SIR – On February 6 1952 (Letters, February 6) I was a 16-year-old schoolgirl.

    The school occupied various buildings in a small market town, and I was running down a steep hill towards one of them, late for a lesson. A woman in a house I was passing threw open the window and shouted: “The King’s dead.” I stopped and she told me that the news had just been announced.

    When I reached the classroom the science master sarcastically asked me why I was late. “I’m sorry, Sir,” I said, “but someone stopped me to say the King is dead.”

    I have never seen anyone more at a loss for words. The news was soon confirmed by the headmaster, who called an assembly and told us that we would be New Elizabethans.

    Dr Daphne Pearson

    Monmouth

    SIR – On February 6 1952 I was seven years old and in a percussion class. At the end we sang the national anthem. It sounded strange singing “God save the Queen”.

    Bridget Stephens

    Sevenoaks, Kent

    SIR – I know exactly what I was doing that day. I had walked home from school, entered the house and found my mother in tears. “The King is dead,” she told me. It ruined my fifth birthday.

    Felicity Thomson

    Symington, Ayrshire

    SIR – I was 21 and in my last year at Hornsey School of Art.

    I was designing a book cover using the new pigments that emerged for the Festival of Britain in 1951 – brilliant lemon yellows, lime greens, oranges, reds and purples. The news shocked us all and the colour went out of the day.

    Shortly after my father bought a television so we could watch the coronation.

    Lucretia Williams

    Bedford

    1. Anyone remember the ‘New Elizabethan’ magazine that was initiated around that time? I think it was published by Collins. Somewhere I still have one of the annuals.

      1. Yes, jd, we were subscribed to it since the coronation to the mid-fifties, if my memory serves.

  16. Foolish politicians have made life easy for the enemies of the West. 7 February 2022.

    We urgently need a new generation of leaders to shake us out of our moral and economic complacency.

    The “West” is its own worst enemy or at least those who have held power for the last twenty years are. They are not foolish or misled. They have deliberately pursued policies that could have no other effect than that intended which was to usher in Marxist Polities by stealth. This is now coming to fruition with the installation of Authoritarian Governments who will rule by Lies, Fear and Intimidation.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/06/foolish-politicians-have-made-life-easy-enemies-west/

  17. Right that’s me off to Derby to open Stepson’s flat to allow workmen in to gut & replace his bathroom!

    See you all later.

  19. Macron hopes for ‘historic solution’ to Ukraine crisis ahead of Putin meeting. 7 February 2022.

    French president Emmanuel Macron believes he can deliver “a historic solution” to the Ukraine crisis ahead of his arrival in Moscow for talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

    After a flurry of diplomatic activity that included talks with US president Joe Biden this weekend and three phone calls with Putin, Macron will land in Moscow on Monday seeking a “de-escalation” of the tense standoff on Ukraine’s eastern borders.

    My guess here is that Macron is going to get a diplomatic poke in the eye that will make the Submarine Fiasco look like a playground spat. The US and UK have determined on war with Russia and are not going to allow some French Surrender Monkey to derail it. They’ll go along with it for now and then sink it with a False Flag operation in the Donbass. Buy your popcorn now!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/07/macron-hopes-for-historic-solution-to-ukraine-crisis-ahead-of-putin-meeting

    1. ‘Morning, Minty, “Macron hopes for ‘historic solution’ …”

      But then so did Napoleon and Hitler – wrong again.

    2. The obnoxious little squirt really does have a high opinion of his importance – sadly I fear that no one else shares his belief, especially Putin!
      [I wonder if Biden actually knows where Ukraine is – perhaps he does given Hunter’s “business deals” there?]

    3. Is Macron going to tell the Russians that NATO will withdraw and honour prior agreements? If not he is just grandstanding.

    4. France holds the EU presidency so the little scrote will be strutting for the EU without necessarily risking French troops on the front line.

    5. I wonder how long it will take Putin to mention the Wagner Brigade and Mali.

  21. Looks interesting and reasonably measured. Found this at https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/press/news-2021/misinformation-around-hms-defender-incident-makes-legal-aspects-more-difficult-to-evaluate
    Dr David Turns, Senior Lecturer in International Law in the Centre for Defence Management and Leadership at Cranfield University, comments on international legal issues in connection with the recent incident involving HMS Defender off the coast of the Crimea peninsula:

    “Although the UK Government has professed surprise at the speed and severity of Russia’s reaction, some sort of confrontation was surely predictable once it became known that the destroyer HMS Defender was being detached from the Royal Navy’s Carrier Strike Group in the Mediterranean Sea in order to conduct “its own set of missions” (of unspecified nature) in the Black Sea. The ‘HMS Defender Incident’ occurred on 23 June 2021 approximately 9 km off Cape Fiolent in Crimea, and may or may not have involved live warning fire and bombs being directed at the British warship by Russian air and sea forces, depending on whether one believes the British or Russian official accounts. While misinformation and mutual denials are only to be expected in such circumstances, they make the international legal aspects and their potential implications for UK defence and security more difficult to evaluate than was already the case.

    “The two nations’ narratives differ not only on the facts, but also as to the applicable legal framework; the only point they have in common was that Defender was briefly present, without prior authorisation of the littoral State, within the territorial waters off Crimea. The Secretary of State for Defence, in his statement to Parliament on 24 June, concentrated on Defender’s right of innocent passage under international maritime law. Briefly put, this allows ships of all States to pass freely and without prior authorisation through another State’s territorial sea in order to travel in a “continuous and expeditious” manner from one point to another. Defender was en route from Odessa to Batumi: a quick glance at a map of the Black Sea region clearly shows that such a route could reasonably be expected to pass by the vicinity of the south-western coast of Crimea. The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) does not explicitly specify that warships benefit from the right of innocent passage without prior notification or authorisation, although it might reasonably be inferred that they do from other treaty provisions, and a 1989 USA-USSR Joint Statement averred that such is the case.

    “The Russian MoD’s statement, on the other hand, although it does briefly describe Defender’s action as “a blatant violation” of UNCLOS, laid much greater emphasis on the allegation that the ship’s presence within the 12 km territorial sea was a violation of the national border. Article 19 of UNCLOS does specify that passage is not considered innocent if it is “prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal State”, one of the indicia of which is if a ship engages in “any act of propaganda aimed at affecting the defence or security of the coastal State”, and this may have been what the Russians were getting at.

    “At this point, the question of Crimea’s political status arises. Which is the “coastal State” whose defence or security might have been affected? Crimea has been under Russian effective control since 2014, a situation which international law considers to be one of illegal occupation; certainly, the UK “does not recognise any Russian claim to these waters”, and Defender was therefore transiting “through Ukrainian territorial waters”. Given this political context and what we now know about the UK MoD’s intention in deploying Defender to the Black Sea, in particular to that route between Odessa and Batumi, with its proximity to the major Russian naval base at Sevastopol, it would not have been unreasonable to expect a harsh Russian reaction which resorted to (in the Russian account) threats of force.

    “Those threats have since been repeated by the Russian Deputy Foreign Defence Minister and point to perhaps the real lesson of this incident: the risk of unintended escalation. Rules of Engagement (ROE) exist in part to prevent this sort of thing happening; the problem is that we do not know what Russia’s ROE are, and ignorance on this occasion seems to have prompted a certain incaution.

    China will doubtless have taken good note of what happened off Cape Fiolent; what will the Chinese reaction be when the Carrier Strike Group reaches the South China Sea and attempts to enter similarly disputed waters that China considers to be part of its national territory?”

    1. The Defender operation was a deliberate provocation. The UK government risking a ship and its crew in a macho demonstration designed to impress the US!”

      1. An attempt to repeat The Tonkin Gulf Incident. Hell, we’ve already got the ‘advisors’ in place, just like Vietnam.

    2. I served on the first NATO ship to enter the Black Sea, after the ‘Wall’ came down, back in the early 1980’s

      We were followed everywhere by a Russian Krivak Class frigate

      Life got a little bit more exciting, when we needed to Test Fly our helo, post Rotor Head change. The ‘Budgie’ was going up and down and this way and that, much to the consternation of the Russians.

      We then made an official visit to Constanta in Romania. Horse and Donkey drawn carts were still in use in the town

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krivak-class_frigate

      1. There are still a lot of horse drawn carts in the countryside. Makes sense really. The horse can multi-task.

          1. That too.
            They can pull a cart, plough a field, move your caravan. And you can race them. Plus you grow your own fuel.

          3. If you happen to live in the countryside and want to live like a gypsy then yes. Doesn’t work for cities though.

      2. Way back one of my nephews was serving on one of the cod war patrol boats, later he was a lieutenant navigator on a mine hunter in the gulf.
        He then moved onto HMS Manchester on a round the world trip just before he left the service.

  22. ‘Morning All

    Convoy!!

    Shame on You!!

    https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1490495832390615048?s=20&t=O8-pAUzrAv__DQgXMbwWFA

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c9120d693ba55bd61c046b19a4a6ac59081ab8dbf1fca1b3e64b93844a14846c.jpg

    https://i.imgflip.com/647mm0.jpg

    https://twitter.com/ezralevant/status/1490466555414687745?s=20&t=EfVyRr4Ij_Uus8cWWbXDuQ

    The Good Guys

    https://twitter.com/TheRealKeean/status/1489725040853598209?s=20&t=iKzpEIKxQ05vJQrSzL-dCw

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9fc319feb81d31a748a5c2f8a61acaf8baf298e350c987666f1712bb8c292823.jpg

    https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1490335124042440713?s=20&t=-NYnz70KUH1n3-UcQpO9xA

    https://twitter.com/Dustinpenner25/status/1490209019629162496?s=20&t=-NYnz70KUH1n3-UcQpO9xA

    1. You should post each separately, then:
      a) you get many more upticks 😀
      b) we get to comment each with reduced complexity and confusion.

    1. Top picture Dr Malone……..that is exactly what happened to me. Because of the complications suffered from the two jabs, I asked my ‘Doctor’ if he thought I should get the booster, he said probably better if you don’t. Three months later I ask him again he tells me it “It’s entirely up to you”. Thanks a lot Doc. How’s yer sore arse from sitting on the fence ?

      1. My doctor has treated Caroline and me for over 20 years. I trust her judgement on the Covid vaccines far more than I trust the propaganda that spews out of politicians and the MSM.

        Françoise is an intelligent and independent-minded woman who is as much loved and respected in our community as she is reviled.

        1. Our previous GP was a decent guy with a great sense of humour.
          He took early retirement. Not sure if he bought a boat and went travelling. We bumped into him a long time ago at the London boat show. His replacement does not appear to listen. It’s very annoying he’s from a northern European country and has a very strong accent making it difficult to understand him sometimes.
          My family have been telling me to go for a private consultation. But I don’t see why I should. I paid into the system for 53 years. And I doubt if I would get me anywhere to be honest Richard.
          I’m convinced that the NHS is being wound down and the order generation are paying the price.
          What’s even more annoying is people who have never paid a penny into the system are immediately entitled to free treatment on arrival in the UK.

    2. Phil needs to read the Gospels. Bob is repeating what Christ taught. He called sinners to repentance and forgave on condition they, “Go. And sin no more”.

      1. I have discussed this matter with our former Catholic parish priest who was a lovely, sincere man – but his views were rather milder than mine.

    3. I have been saying for years that forgiveness without a penitent forgivee is a meaningless gesture.

      1. I wonder if they are aware that it will be their wives and daughters raped and murdered too.

      2. I enjoyed the white (liberal?) woman on TV this morning who said indignantly “the State invited these people from overseas to come to this

        country, so now it’s multicultural”

        Tony Blair invited the Third World, but I don’t remember much clamour in the streets for the idea.

  27. More information that there is something seriously wrong with going down the “vaccine” route. Israel is an outlier even compared to Johnson’s UK disaster. The health official who continues to advertise on radio the push for 12 – 15 yo children to have a second jab should be ashamed of herself. The evidence is clear that these jabs are not working, the figures do not lie.

    Del Bigtree Puts World Figures in Perspective

  29. Apropos the thee/thou/you thread yesterday, I have learned ye lesson – and the MR has explained it again. She confirms (having taught the matter for 40 years) that the plural YOU tricky!

    The concept must be completely unintelligible to today’s schoolchildren who are NOT learning a foreign language.

    Incidentally, I was taught at school that a male should never “tutoyer” a French female unless he had been to bed with her!

    In later years I always used “vous” to a woman unless and until she used the informal “tu” to me.

    French speakers may smile at this true story. That old fascist, adulterous collaborator Mitterand was once asked by a chap he had known for 40 years, whether, after all this time, they might “tutoyer” each other. “Si vous le voulez,” the lizard replied.

    I’ll get me baguette.

  30. Good morning. This examination of Mr Global’s intentions by Thinking Slow which they published last year was I think too early in the unravelling perhaps for many people to absorb, but it certainly deserves our attention. It is based on the writings of the delightful Schwab and the existing Microsoft Corporation patents, so not in any way fanciful. The sooner we get these people before a criminal court the better.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FnpnF7FN4Q

    1. “The length of the river ran through marshland until the 1990s, when the
      surrounding land was tarmacked to make way for a leisure and shopping
      complex and for housing”

      More unwanted development to accommodate the incomers.

  32. 335032+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Monday 7 February: The PM has set an appalling example – but who is ready to replace him?

    Should read “who is ready to replace him & party” unless we want to continue to ground cesspit.

    The whole 650 want changing they are currently interacting playing
    attack / defence all contained within the three party coalition, with the,
    in the main, stupefied electorates support & majority vote.

    They, lab/lib/con mass party controlled illegal immigration (ongoing)
    mass openly covert DOVER daily potential foreign troop intake campaign, paedophilia concealment etc,etc.

    We are lacking an opposition, the herd up until now, and in regards to a
    patriotic fringe party coming through as an alternative has been seen as a threat to the majority vote via the lab/lib/con close shop coalition, an
    upsetting NO NO regardless of odious consequences.

    Party before Country voting mode kills, maims,mentally cripples children, etc,etc, that is the TRUE manifesto of the lab/lib/con coalition & has been openly these past four decades.

  33. How utterly delightful is this? Only the Brits could come up with something like this!

    Lt. Colonel Robert Maclaren retired from the British Army in 2001 after a long fulfilling career. On the day that he retired he received a letter from the Personnel Department of the Ministry of Defence setting out details of his pension and, in particular, the tax-free ‘lump sum’ award, (based upon completed years of service), that he would receive in addition to his monthly pension.

    The letter read,

    “Dear Lt. Colonel Maclaren,

    We write to confirm that you retired from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards on 1st March 2001 at the rank of Lt Colonel, having been commissioned into the British Army at Edinburgh Castle as a 2nd Lieutenant on 1st February 1366. Accordingly your lump sum payment, based on years served, has been calculated as £68,500. You will receive a cheque for this amount in due course.

    Yours sincerely,

    Army Paymaster”

    Col Maclaren replied;

    “Dear Paymaster,

    Thank you for your recent letter confirming that I served as an officer in the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards between 1st February 1366 and 1st March 2001 – a total period of 635 years and 1 month. I note however that you have calculated my lump sum to be £68, 500, which seems to be considerably less than it should be bearing in mind my length of service since I received my commission from King Edward III.

    By my calculation, allowing for interest payments and currency fluctuations, my lump sum should actually be £6, 427, 586, 619. 47p. I look forward to receiving a cheque for this amount in due course.

    Yours sincerely,

    Robert Maclaren (Lt Col Retd)”

    A month passed by and then in early April, a stout manilla envelope from the Ministry of Defence in Edinburgh dropped through Col Maclaren’s letter box, it read:

    “Dear Lt Colonel Maclaren,

    We have reviewed the circumstances of your case as outlined in your recent letter to us dated 8th March inst. We do indeed confirm that you were commissioned into the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards by King Edward III at Edinburgh Castle on 1st February 1366, and that you served continuously for the following 635 years and 1 month. We have re-calculated your pension and have pleasure in confirming that the lump sum payment due to you is indeed £6, 427, 586, 619. 47p.

    However, We also note that according to our records you are the only surviving officer who had command responsibility during the following campaigns and battles;

    The Wars of the Roses 1455 -1485 (Including the battles of Bosworth Field, Barnet and Towton)
    The Civil War 1642 -1651 (Including the battles Edge Hill, Naseby and the conquest of Ireland)
    The Napoleonic War 1803 – 1815 (including the battle of Waterloo and the Peninsular War)
    The Crimean War (1853 – 1856) (including the battle of Sevastopol and the Charge of the Light Brigade)
    The Boer War (1899 -1902).

    We would therefore wish to know what happened to the following, which do not appear to have been returned to Stores by you on completion of operations:

    9765 Cannon
    26,785 Swords
    12,889 Pikes
    127,345 Rifles (with bayonets)
    28,987 horses (fully kitted)
    Three complete marching bands with instruments and banners.

    We have calculated the total cost of these items and they amount to £6,427,518.119.47p. We have therefore subtracted this sum from your lump sum, leaving a residual amount of £68,500, for which you will receive a cheque in due course.

    Yours sincerely . . . .”

    Blooming wonderful humorous wit !

    1. Part of the ongoing agenda.
      And no prizes for guessing who hasn’t been having the deadly jabs ?
      And then they came for the kids……………

    2. Part of the ongoing agenda.
      And no prizes for guessing who hasn’t been having the deadly jabs ?
      And then they came for the kids……………

    3. Hey Phizzee best of luck for tomorrow. What time is the limo arriving just so I can picture you travelling in style? Of course I’m sure you always do travel in style but this is really special 😂😂😂

      1. Thank you.

        Just the covid drive through tomorrow. Then isolate until Friday for the op at 8am.

        1. Oh my mistake. Good luck anyway. Will think of you on Friday (but it’s a bit early in the morning)!

          1. Thanks again

            I have to leave my splendid isolation to have a test for something i do not have but may contract by going for it. :@(

          2. Unbelievably stupid! And the tests are useless. And they’ve never isolated this particular virus in the first place! It’s a load of old cobblers.

      1. Someone on Spotify who does a podcast – whatever that is. He interviewed Dr Robert Malone – that’s why they’re after his blood.

      2. Joe Rogan has the temerity to invite a variety of guests onto his podcast – none of whom appear on the bBC rolodex of favoured opinion makers – and allows them to explain their position in a full and convivial manner, thereby exposing the pros and cons of their arguments.

        The supine legacy meeja do not approve of such balanced and informative techniques and are in full voice against him.

        Edit; I have not listened to his – or indeed any other – podcast, but I admire his integrity.

          1. He gets around 11 million viewers per episode. That means a lot of advertising revenue etc for Spotify so they’re trying to compromise by keeping him but deleting offending episodes where he interviews the wrong people. Appeasing the mob ends up hurting everyone of course.

          2. The problem the mob have is that they think they’re the ones who wil be in control when they get their way. Of course, it’ll be someone far, far worse than them.

  37. Today’s Groaners

    1. Q: What do you get when you cross a fish and an elephant?
    A: Swimming trunks.

    2.Q: What do cats eat for breakfast?
    A: Mice Krispies.

    3. Contest in a girl’s college: : write a short story which contains religion, sex and mystery.
    Winner’s story: “Oh god, I am pregnant, I wonder who did it.”

    4.Five out of six people agree that Russian Roulette is safe.

    5. An Amish husband, wife and son travel to the city on vacation.

    They visit a shopping mall and while the mother is shopping, the father and son are standing in awe in front of a lift, (having no idea what it is)

    As they watch, an elderly lady walks through the strange silver doors and they close.

    The father and son watch as the numbers go up, and then back down.
    When the doors open, a beautiful young woman walks out.
    The father leans over and whispers to the son, “Son, go get your mother!”

  40. “Do not restrict our right to freedom of expression online.

    We believe the Government’s draft Online Safety Bill poses one

    of the greatest threats to free speech of any law in the UK in living

    memory. We are calling on the Government to remove provisions within the

    Bill which specifically target lawful expression.”

    But who defines ‘lawful’…

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/601932

    3. They don’t care. There will be no discussion, only rejection. In a democracy we couldsimply refuse them their bill. If they want to monitor the Muslims for their rape gangs and terrorism then they shouldn’t have let them into the country in the first place.

    5. I admire your stance but remind me again, how many signed the petition regarding Blair being awarded an honour and what has changed as a result of that petition?
      Only votes hit the bar stewards where it hurts.

  41. “Do not restrict our right to freedom of expression online.

    We believe the Government’s draft Online Safety Bill poses one

    of the greatest threats to free speech of any law in the UK in living

    memory. We are calling on the Government to remove provisions within the

    Bill which specifically target lawful expression.”

    But who defines ‘lawful’…

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/601932

    2. “Duck” – Midlands word showing endearment, as in “Me dook” – my love.
      Fond memories of my Great-Aunt Hilda – nearest person I ever got to being my Grandmother.

      1. All along the back water
        Through the rushes tall,
        Ducks are a-dabbling,
        Up tails all!

        Ducks’ tails, drakes’ tails,
        Yellow feet a-quiver,
        Yellow bills all out of sight,
        Busy in the river!

        Ducks’ DItty by Kenneth Graeme.

  43. If this is true – IF – it is quite an interesting story.

    Top hardline Russian general warns Putin NOT to invade Ukraine and accuses him of a ‘criminal policy of provoking a war’ in rare outbreak of internal dissent as Emmanuel Macron flies to Moscow for talks

    Either “retired 78 year old” Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov is a very brave man – soon to be the victim of a tragic accident – or he is airing a Kremlin line – which could just indicate that all is not well as far as Mr Putin’s future is concerned.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10484417/Top-hardline-Russian-general-warns-Putin-NOT-invade-Ukraine-accuses-criminal-policy.html

    3. Ivanov is a long-time political enemy of Putin. A staunch communist (even now) he was sacked by Vlad during the latter’s first administration. He did once try to stand against him in a Presidential Election but never made it past first base!

      1. A number of my chums in Laure were staunch communists. Property owning, nice pension, two cars….but still peasants at heart.

          1. Tut tut – not Toy Boy.

            Funny that had it not been for his ENGLISH great-grandfather, he’s not be here….

  44. Politicians who criticised AstraZeneca vaccine ‘probably killed hundreds of thousands’, says Oxford scientist
    French president Emmanuel Macron previously claimed the Covid jab did not “work as expected” in older age groups
    Poppie Platt: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/07/politicians-criticised-astrazeneca-covid-jab-probably-killed/

    This article is all about responding to the odious Macron’s constant attacks on the UK.

    My BTL has elicited a certain amount of response which indicates that far too many DT readers seem to have completely closed minds.

    I live in France. I am 75 years old and overweight and have other ‘medical issues.’
    However my GP, who has treated me for over 20 years, advised me not to be vaccinated as she deemed that the risks in my case of the vaccination were graver than the risks of getting Covid 19 as long as I took zinc, Vitamin C and Vitamin D.
    Last week I contracted Covid 19: I had one uncomfortable night with aching joints and I was incredibly tired for two days and spent most of the time sleeping.
    As far as all politicians are concerned it is clear that FOLLOW THE SCIENCE has been replaced with the mantra from which Big Pharma has benefited: FOLLOW THE MONEY

    Hilaire Belloc’s lines about the Microbe strike me as relevant:

    The Microbe is so very small
    You cannot make him out at all,
    But many sanguine people hope
    To see him through a microscope.
    His jointed tongue that lies beneath
    A hundred curious rows of teeth;
    His seven tufted tails with lots
    Of lovely pink and purple spots,
    On each of which a pattern stands,
    Composed of forty separate bands;
    His eyebrows of a tender green;
    All these have never yet been seen–
    But Scientists, who ought to know,
    Assure us that they must be so …
    Oh! let us never, never doubt
    What nobody is sure about!

    1. Although Macron meant harm to the UK’s chances of success with a ‘leading vaccine’ he has probably inadvertently saved many in France and the rest of the EU from the ‘clot shots’. I was coerced into having two for travel reasons – I’ve had no ill effects but I do take vit D & C. I think I’ve dodged a bullet there and my upcoming trip will probably be my last as I refused the booster and don’t want to risk any more jabs.

      Sadly however, he’s forcing his people to have the Pfizer jabs which seem to cause even more problems.

      1. “He wrote a long time before electron microscopy.”
        Yes,and HB continued to write for several years after the invention of the electron microscope in Germany during the 1930s.

    3. Given the death statistics for AZ compared to those for Pfizer, it is clear that in fact, lives were probably saved for that reason alone. They should stop saying “scientist” and say what it really is “vaccine gene therapy salesman.”

  45. Project Fear Runs and Runs.

    Just cycled to next village to buy eggs from self-service farm shed. I held the MR’s bike while she did the biz. Car drew up – obviously same intention. Driver and passenger STAYED IN CAR until we were on our bikes to depart…..

    Never ending….(sighs…..)

    4. I suppose the consolation is that you do not have to mingle with very stupid people.

      I heard recently (maybe here?) of a family who would not play scrabble together during lockdown because it would mean touching the same letters as each other.

    1. https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/5cde9e72-3090-413f-b9fe-d492da7713d3/dehe634-54a00742-47f0-48b3-b2fb-541b3db4516a.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzVjZGU5ZTcyLTMwOTAtNDEzZi1iOWZlLWQ0OTJkYTc3MTNkM1wvZGVoZTYzNC01NGEwMDc0Mi00N2YwLTQ4YjMtYjJmYi01NDFiM2RiNDUxNmEuanBnIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.3TkqRrJc92m5GyZ2nHufQ2IPRj8H1lib2l1l_jAp-1E

    2. 335032+ up ticks,

      Afternoon Rik,

      Could it be that coin has been accepted to push the product in the hope that the product. not tested by time
      will keep the maim / kill factor low so as NOT to trigger
      a thinking process among the herd.

      A thinking herd is a major danger to the lab/lib/con coalition.

    3. Bugger- I am about to go and remake the bed and sort out the devilish duvet. If you don’t hear from me…..

  48. Off topic:
    Thank you ‘Lotl’ for recommending Sharon Kay Penman books: our library has at least 5 🙂.
    I can book them out for as long as I like, unless a request comes in for one. It seems over 70’s are maybe thought of as slow readers.

          1. Diversity !
            Although the bottle of Malt and a couple of Guinness in the carrier bag attached to the zimmer frame should have warned them.

  49. It has been a very busy morning here despite the power cut last night ..

    Power bods arrived with chain saws to cut off branches of trees at 2000hrs before the power could be reconnected .. that happened at about 1am .

    Overhead cables are blighted by tree branches , and the landowners cannot be reached to ask to chop the blooming things down .

    Power cut one Christmas years ago one of the huge fir trees caught fire , and Christmas cooking was abandoned . We were lucky because we had what was to be our last Christmas meal with MIL in her nursing home .. we gave a hand with feeding others as well as her .

    The trip to the tip today was tiring , but we managed .

    5. Can you believe that sort of thing is happening here in the UK.

      We are living under mob rule , life is becoming very frightening , yes even here in what was peaceful tranquil Dorset.

      1. Yes. Afraid so.
        The 3rd and 4th worlds have all left their shitholes and gone to live in the UK, bringing their shit with them.

        1. Dare I also say , that a white underclass has also arisen quite rapidly , and they are very noticeable since Covid clamed down ..

          The larger the car , the bigger the yob , and one would think that age would mellow some , but no , not at all .

    1. Good God, they don’t want to kill off half the Ottawa Police – they’re already well outnumbered by the protesters.

      1. Don’t want to push them over into active rebellion, I should think. Their mandatory vaxxes will come next week, after they’ve done the government’s dirty work for them – if they are such mugs.

    2. Ottawa police are not federal employees.

      Not that it matters much, the politicians are in step from the municipal level all the way up to federal

    1. I got a weird upvote from someone with a similar name this morning. I just ignored it, but perhaps you can block?

  55. All six Royal Navy destroyers in port amid heightened tensions with Russia. 7 February 2022.

    All six of the Royal Navy’s state-of-the-art Type 45 destroyers are currently docked in port, at a time of heightened tensions with Russia

    The guided-missile destroyers have been plagued by engine issues since they were launched, with ships in the class now undergoing a Power Improvement Project (PIP).

    The Royal Navy was one of the great Fighting Forces of history; was being the operative word!

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/royal-navy-russia-pip-ministry-of-defence-mod-b2009369.html

        3. Shirley it’s…
          “Har fleag, har fleag har fleag onward
          Into the er rode the 600          “??
          Alfred, Lord Moleswoth

    3. Last i heard the Daring class HMS Defender was anchored at Bahrain.

      Admittedly these ships have been suffering major propulsion problems. Mostly because they are not designed for warmer waters.

      That is the MOD in a nutshell.

  56. All six Royal Navy destroyers in port amid heightened tensions with Russia. 7 February 2022.

    All six of the Royal Navy’s state-of-the-art Type 45 destroyers are currently docked in port, at a time of heightened tensions with Russia

    The guided-missile destroyers have been plagued by engine issues since they were launched, with ships in the class now undergoing a Power Improvement Project (PIP).

    The Royal Navy was one of the great Fighting Forces of history; was being the operative word!

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/royal-navy-russia-pip-ministry-of-defence-mod-b2009369.html

      1. But, but, but, out of her own toothy gob, she’s the only one who’ll tell you the TRUTH.

        Instant sign of a liar.

    3. Do her teeth fit properly? Going further, are they in fact her own teeth?? Why am I thinking of that scene in Alien?

        1. True – BUT she was elected. By a load of mad people, no doubt. But still elected.

          Carrion is an unelected (and unwanted) nobody – running the Tory party.

  59. Written by a man far more in sympathy with the common people than is Bojo:

    For all the sound and fury over ‘partygate’, I believe the Conservative Party faces far more serious problems. Is it to be a Social Democratic Party successor to Tony Blair’s New Labour? Or will it return to being a proper right-of-centre political organisation which Margaret Thatcher would recognise? I have no idea if these are the sorts of questions which keep Boris Johnson up at night, but they certainly should.

    There is no disputing that ‘partygate’ is a scandal. The idea that the people who introduced draconian lockdown rules and then breached them on the very premises where they were conceived – in Downing Street – has sparked fury among millions of people who obeyed those rules at huge personal cost.

    What I find worse, however, are Boris Johnson’s contortions as he avoids answering the questions. ‘Partygate’ has exposed him as a leader who is not in control of Number Ten; as a man with little authority; and, in the eyes of many, as a serial liar.

    These are potentially disastrous charges for any prime minister to face, but it is just possible that Johnson will survive. After all, voters and Tory MPs have known for a long time that his approach to life is chaotic. What is more hazardous for him are the betrayals of policies that traditional Conservative voters, and new Tory voters in Red Wall seats, hold dear: these include illegal immigration, Britain’s relationship with Communist China, and high taxation.

    For years, Johnson has appeared to present himself as a small state, free market Eurosceptic. Yet the truth is somewhat different. He is, and always has been, a metropolitan Liberal. He is as much a member of the elite as is Tony Blair. Witness Johnson’s total commitment to net zero.

    This key plank of his premiership is very popular in central London. It is reviled elsewhere. Likewise, his laissez-faire attitude to illegal immigration. The wealthy burghers of Notting Hill and Islington appear to have no strong feelings about the Channel crisis and Johnson was never bothered by illegal immigration when he was Mayor of London.

    Indeed, he used to talk about amnesties. But in those parts of the country where illegal immigrants are housed and fed at taxpayers’ expense, the public is genuinely worried about where this situation will end up and what effect it will have on their communities. They feel abandoned.
    On China, Johnson is a self-confessed Sinophile, and the recent appointment of Guto Harri as his spin doctor is very revealing. Harri was an ardent Remainer who worked for the BBC for 18 years. He has also worked in a senior post for a lobbying firm called Hawthorn, which counted the controversial Chinese technology giant Huawei among its clients.

    Incidentally, in 2021, Harri also worked as a presenter for GB News. He once chose to take the knee on air, which led to a boycott by viewers. It is no wonder he and Johnson get on as well now as they did when Harri worked for Johnson in City Hall. But are his priorities really the same as those with a traditional outlook on life?

    Some people believe that Johnson’s potential successor is based in offices at Number 11 Downing Street. Perhaps they need to think again. As Chancellor, Rishi Sunak has point-blank refused to honour the Brexit promise to cut the 5 per cent VAT rate on fuel. More seriously, he has not lifted a finger to remove or simplify thousands of burdensome EU rules.

    A former Goldman Sachs banker, he appears to have little, if any, understanding of how small businesses work and what sort of strains they face every day. And Sunak’s energy policy has quite rightly led to prominent Conservative MPs like Steve Baker asking whether the Tories are pursuing socialist policies.

    Furthermore, Brexit may look like it has been completed, but it has not been. As a pro-Brexit Chancellor, Sunak should feel wretched about that. It doesn’t end there. In April, Sunak will introduce a National Insurance hike. This tax increase will, I believe, sink Sunak’s popularity. And rightly so.

    When all is said and done, Britain, under Boris Johnson, has drifted back to the era of David Cameron’s coalition government, when social democracy ruled the day. What is remarkable is that this has happened when Johnson has an 80-seat majority. Nobody who voted Conservative in 2019 voted for a failure to curb illegal immigration, higher taxes and continuing EU red rape. But this is what they got.

    Many Conservative MPs are worried about putting in letters of no-confidence to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, because they fear the unknown. They have no idea what will come next. In a sense, they have a point. But they should take courage. For, when it happens, the next Conservative leadership contest may well be their last chance to save the party.

    A decade or so ago, the Tories were forced onto the Brexit agenda by the UKIP insurgency and some very determined backbench Conservative MPs. If Johnson stays in post, Reform UK or another party will easily reach the levels that UKIP did. This time, however, the stakes are higher.

    There will be no referendum and no other means of buying them off. And because there is no chance of a right-of-centre insurgent party ever trusting the Conservatives again, the result of all of this could be that the Conservatives lose a huge number of seats at the next election. If they continue on their current course, they deserve to do so.

    It is not just the Prime Minister’s reputation that is going down the pan, it is the Conservative Party’s reputation, too. MPs need to realise that if they stick with Johnson, they will lose their seats, and the differences between their party and Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party will become even narrower. The Tories appear to be completely out of touch. A new leader who is a genuine Conservative is urgently required. Otherwise, almost 200 years after its foundation, the Conservative Party could be doomed.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/07/partygate-scandal-fundamental-reasons-boris-johnson-must-go/

    1. “Nobody who voted Conservative in 2019 voted for a failure to curb illegal immigration, higher taxes and continuing EU red rape.” Bloody EU, raping and pillaging again.

    2. Read it and weep:
      https://www.takimag.com/article/the-total-failure-of-conservatism/

      In the 1980s and into the 1990s, it was common to hear conservatives say that all of the ideas are on the right. By that they meant that debate over public policy was driven by the flow of ideas from conservatism. This was not entirely wrong. By the mid-1980s the American right had abandoned the idea of rolling back the managerial state and instead was focused on making it work more efficiently.

      That evolution of the American right into the accounting department of the managerial state is why conservatism failed to conserve anything. It is fair to say that the conservative movement is the biggest failure in political history. Despite tens of billions in financing, they managed to lose every fight. This failure brought the wrecking ball known as Donald Trump and the resulting crack-up on the right.

      1. I cannot understand why so many ‘right-minded’ people love to vilify Trump.

        To me, his biggest saving grace was that he wasn’t a politician!.

        2. I agree with that second part, his problem was that he wasted a huge opportunity by not following through on the rhetoric.
          I accept that he was hamstrung at every point by the MSM but he could have done a lot more.

    3. The Tories appear to be completely out of touch.

      The entire Political Class have abandoned their base. Nigel Farage who wrote this piece is probably the only man in the UK who retains some links to the electorate.

      1. 335032+ up ticls,

        Afternoon AS,

        Is that the same nige that prior to the 2019 GE
        described me and 29999 plus other UKIP members vile, knuckle dragging drunks & the new BNP adding his input to the current uKiP
        treacherous nec.

        Then he took up marching to a johnson tune
        would that be the same farage ?

        1. Have you any practical suggestions as to what the British people can do to ensure that Boris Johnson’s bodged Brexit can be sorted out?

          Whether or not Farage is likeable, treacherous or even competent is, to me, less important that whether his oratorical talents can be used to galvanise a drive to get a proper Brexit done. I despise Gove very deeply – but if he could get Article 16 revoked and give justice to our fisherfolk I would support him.

          1. 335032+ up ticks,

            Evening R,
            I trust nige a tad less than I do the electorate his words describing the UKIP party under Gerard Batten leadership we were vile,knuckle dragging drunks, the new BNP.
            That is not hearsay that is his words.
            Tell me what is the best tool a con man has, his line of patter.
            People came through the referendum on the winning side, people power backing
            UKIPs design & triggering of the referendum only to say “no need of UKIP now leave it to the tory’s” then returned straight off to supporting lab/lib/con the very coalition that were rotten to the core
            pro eu assets.

            They the people were still for supporting / voting post JAY report when the report revealed that their kids were pakistani playthings, then consolidated that with the 2019 GE,when nige danced to the tory (ino) party’s marching tune.
            Prior to the 2019 GE the fishermen of blighty were a lost cause, the peoples knew that,didn’t make no difference at the polling station.
            My choice is Anne Marie Waters should be given serious backing.

    1. That’s a sight now missing from motorways; glistening brown tape flapping in the shrubs and grass.

  62. SNP councillor: ‘Prosecute Jimmy Carr’s audience’. 7 February 2021.

    When people talk about the Holocaust, they talk about the tragedy and horror of 6 million Jewish lives being lost to the Nazi war machine. But they never mention the thousands of Gypsies that were killed by the Nazis. No one ever wants to talk about that, because no one ever wants to talk about the positives.

    The above is Jimmy Carr’s “joke” that has provoked much anguish among the Wokeys. I have to confess that I don’t like Carr though this is not due to any high-mindedness on my part, more a sort of visceral Hate at First Sight. I’ve always thought that he is rather Precious, a Poseur. This said I’m not greatly offended by the joke in itself. I think it more distasteful than vile or offensive.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/snp-councillor-prosecute-jimmy-carr-s-audience-

    1. The sort of person that buys a ticket to watch Jimmy Carr knows damn well what they are in for. Same with Roy Chubby Brown. It is always edgy.

      The people who should be prosecuted, if any, are the one’s that took offense on other’s behalf and spread it everywhere like muck spreading.

      As we all know Left Wing comedians are rarely funny.

          1. Never, fortunately. I didn’t mean that his “comedy” was funny. Just him. (Funny peculiar, by the way)

    3. Jimmy Carr is despicable the man who joked about soldiers who lost limbs in Afghanistan and Iraq.
      I have never found him in the least funny and avoid him at all costs.

    4. I did wonder why such outrage. You’re right, it’s not in good taste, and like everything else comic that Carr does, not funny either.

  63. Nicked

    “We live in an age of conspiracies. They are far more successful
    and well-managed conspiracies than the conspiracies of history. Perhaps
    the improvement in efficiency is one of the benefits which we owe to the
    technological revolution. At any rate, the age of the old-fashioned
    conspirator is no more. He no longer gathers with his fellows in tiny
    groups, admitted by password to huddle round a dark lantern in a dingy
    garret. Today the conspirators sit in the seats of the mighty, at the
    desks of Ministers and editors; they live in the blaze of continual
    publicity; their weapons are the organs of opinion themselves…”

    is the opening to Enoch Powell’s speech in Chippenham on 11th of May 1968.Enoch was right.
    Enoch is right.

        2. I just might need one. There also might be a few bodies under the overgrown vegetable patch too.

  64. Politicians who criticised AstraZeneca vaccine ‘probably killed hundreds of thousands’

    Oxford professor Sir John Bell says claims by leaders including Emmanuel Macron ‘damaged reputation of jab’ around the world

    By Poppie Platt and Joe Pinkstone,
    SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT
    7 February 2022 • 7:58am

    Scientists and politicians who expressed critical views of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine “probably killed hundreds of thousands of people”, an Oxford professor has said.

    Prof Sir John Bell said comments from leaders including Emmanuel Macron, the French president, had “damaged the reputation of the jab” around the world, resulting in fewer people accepting it.

    Speaking to the BBC Two programme AstraZeneca: A Vaccine for the World?, which will be broadcast at 9pm on Tuesday, Prof Bell said: “I think bad behaviour from scientists and politicians has probably killed hundreds of thousands of people – and that they cannot be proud of.”

    Ryan Wain, the executive director of the Tony Blair Institute, who has written a paper on the importance of the AstraZeneca jab, said: “Reputation-damaging decisions hampered the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine early in the pandemic, and the price was paid in lives lost.

    “Leaders around the world have a duty to cut through the noise and look closely at the facts and data. When they do so, they’ll find a safe, durable, readily available, low-cost and effective vaccine – even against the omicron variant. It should be the cornerstone of the global vaccination effort.”

    Mr Macron was an outspoken critic and integral to the European Union’s decision to halt the vaccine’s rollout shortly after authorising it. He had claimed the jab “doesn’t work as expected” and appeared to be “quasi-ineffective” in the over-65s.

    Other EU countries, including Germany, Spain and Italy, also temporarily suspended use of the AstraZeneca vaccine last year when it was linked to a tiny risk of blood clots. The EU would later perform a U-turn and it is now the world’s single biggest distributor of the British-made vaccine, according to OurWorldInData.

    Most European nations returned to using the AstraZeneca vaccine in some capacity, but others, like Sweden and Denmark, have not. The US has never approved the jab.

    Blood clot concerns also led to the jab no longer being used in under-40s in the UK, and it is only given as a booster if a person is likely to have a bad reaction to an mRNA alternative.

    But the AstraZeneca vaccine has been heralded for its rollout in less wealthy countries as part of the Covax programme.
    Data show that it is now the most widely-distributed vaccine in the world, with almost 2.6 million doses given out in 170 different countries. More Pfizer doses have been given, but in fewer nations.

    Figures from Airfinity, a health analytics company, show that 74 per cent of AstraZeneca doses were given in low or low-middle income countries.

    Scientists have suggested the UK’s widespread use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, and its early rollout to elderly and vulnerable people, could be responsible for the relatively low death toll from omicron compared to countries in Europe.

    Dr Clive Dix, former chairman of the Vaccine Task Force, told The Telegraph that he believed the AstraZeneca jabs offered more robust, long-term protection against severe disease and death than RNA-based alternatives made by Pfizer and Moderna.

  65. Apols if already posted.

    “Partygate is a scandal. But there are more fundamental reasons why Boris Johnson must go

    What is more hazardous for him are the betrayals of policies that Conservative voters hold dear

    NIGEL FARAGE

    7 February 2022 • 1:21pm

    For all the sound and fury over ‘partygate’, I believe the Conservative Party faces far more serious problems. Is it to be a Social Democratic Party successor to Tony Blair’s New Labour? Or will it return to being a proper right-of-centre political organisation which Margaret Thatcher would recognise? I have no idea if these are the sorts of questions which keep Boris Johnson up at night, but they certainly should.

    There is no disputing that ‘partygate’ is a scandal. The idea that the people who introduced draconian lockdown rules and then breached them on the very premises where they were conceived – in Downing Street – has sparked fury among millions of people who obeyed those rules at huge personal cost.

    What I find worse, however, are Boris Johnson’s contortions as he avoids answering the questions. ‘Partygate’ has exposed him as a leader who is not in control of Number Ten; as a man with little authority; and, in the eyes of many, as a serial liar.

    These are potentially disastrous charges for any prime minister to face, but it is just possible that Johnson will survive. After all, voters and Tory MPs have known for a long time that his approach to life is chaotic. What is more hazardous for him are the betrayals of policies that traditional Conservative voters, and new Tory voters in Red Wall seats, hold dear: these include illegal immigration, Britain’s relationship with Communist China, and high taxation.

    For years, Johnson has appeared to present himself as a small state, free market Eurosceptic. Yet the truth is somewhat different. He is, and always has been, a metropolitan Liberal. He is as much a member of the elite as is Tony Blair. Witness Johnson’s total commitment to net zero.

    This key plank of his premiership is very popular in central London. It is reviled elsewhere. Likewise, his laissez-faire attitude to illegal immigration. The wealthy burghers of Notting Hill and Islington appear to have no strong feelings about the Channel crisis and Johnson was never bothered by illegal immigration when he was Mayor of London.

    Indeed, he used to talk about amnesties. But in those parts of the country where illegal immigrants are housed and fed at taxpayers’ expense, the public is genuinely worried about where this situation will end up and what effect it will have on their communities. They feel abandoned.

    On China, Johnson is a self-confessed Sinophile, and the recent appointment of Guto Harri as his spin doctor is very revealing. Harri was an ardent Remainer who worked for the BBC for 18 years. He has also worked in a senior post for a lobbying firm called Hawthorn, which counted the controversial Chinese technology giant Huawei among its clients.

    Incidentally, in 2021, Harri also worked as a presenter for GB News. He once chose to take the knee on air, which led to a boycott by viewers. It is no wonder he and Johnson get on as well now as they did when Harri worked for Johnson in City Hall. But are his priorities really the same as those with a traditional outlook on life?

    Some people believe that Johnson’s potential successor is based in offices at Number 11 Downing Street. Perhaps they need to think again. As Chancellor, Rishi Sunak has point-blank refused to honour the Brexit promise to cut the 5 per cent VAT rate on fuel. More seriously, he has not lifted a finger to remove or simplify thousands of burdensome EU rules.

    A former Goldman Sachs banker, he appears to have little, if any, understanding of how small businesses work and what sort of strains they face every day. And Sunak’s energy policy has quite rightly led to prominent Conservative MPs like Steve Baker asking whether the Tories are pursuing socialist policies.

    Furthermore, Brexit may look like it has been completed, but it has not been. As a pro-Brexit Chancellor, Sunak should feel wretched about that. It doesn’t end there. In April, Sunak will introduce a National Insurance hike. This tax increase will, I believe, sink Sunak’s popularity. And rightly so.

    When all is said and done, Britain, under Boris Johnson, has drifted back to the era of David Cameron’s coalition government, when social democracy ruled the day. What is remarkable is that this has happened when Johnson has an 80-seat majority. Nobody who voted Conservative in 2019 voted for a failure to curb illegal immigration, higher taxes and continuing EU red rape. But this is what they got.

    Many Conservative MPs are worried about putting in letters of no-confidence to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, because they fear the unknown. They have no idea what will come next. In a sense, they have a point. But they should take courage. For, when it happens, the next Conservative leadership contest may well be their last chance to save the party.

    A decade or so ago, the Tories were forced onto the Brexit agenda by the UKIP insurgency and some very determined backbench Conservative MPs. If Johnson stays in post, Reform UK or another party will easily reach the levels that UKIP did. This time, however, the stakes are higher.

    There will be no referendum and no other means of buying them off. And because there is no chance of a right-of-centre insurgent party ever trusting the Conservatives again, the result of all of this could be that the Conservatives lose a huge number of seats at the next election. If they continue on their current course, they deserve to do so.

    It is not just the Prime Minister’s reputation that is going down the pan, it is the Conservative Party’s reputation, too. MPs need to realise that if they stick with Johnson, they will lose their seats, and the differences between their party and Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party will become even narrower. The Tories appear to be completely out of touch. A new leader who is a genuine Conservative is urgently required. Otherwise, almost 200 years after its foundation, the Conservative Party could be doomed.”

    1. Why oh why did you, Nigel Farage, give in to Boris Johnson at the 2019 general election and agree not to stand Brexit Party candidates in seats already held by Conservative remainers? You got no quid pro quo from Johnson and you had him by the testicles. Why did you let go when should have squeezed?

      The consequences of this surrender to Johnson are:

      i) The Parliamentary Conservative Party is still stuffed with remainers;
      ii) The EU is still calling the shots in Northern Ireland and Johnson hasn’t got the commitment to Brexit necessary to invoke Article 16 of the Protocol;
      iii) Our fisherfolk have been betrayed;
      iv) Too much EU legislation has not been removed;
      v) The advantages of Brexit are not being properly exploited;
      vi) Plots are already afoot to take the UK back into the EU if they can get rid of Johnson because he will be replaced by a remainer.

      It is time, Mr Farage, to wake up to the fact that you and your lifelong work to achieve Brexit has been betrayed.

      What are you going to do about it?

    2. We can already see what effect it’s having on our communities here in (relatively) homogeneous rural Shropshire. Tinted faces are becoming more and more common.

    1. Now I’m depressed. Can nobody see money without helping themselves? Does nobody own any shame these days?

          4. Indeed.
            I suspect he had a positive view of a decent society, not the disparate selection of thieving scunners and gimmegrants that it is now.

        2. So did i. I only contribute to smaller worthier causes. Like yours. You still haven’t told me which Church i bought!

    2. A quarter spent on waste. A quarter of given money for a man doing a good thing.

      It’s disgusting.

  67. It is going to rain. My knee aches – which it does when it is going to rain.

    I propose that henceforth we refer to Boris as TUB. That utter [bbeeeeep]

          4. That was the price of a cinema ticket at my local Odeon when I was young. 2/- in the stalls, 2/6 in the circle.

    2. “Oi, Mannie, pass the salt!”
      “What was that Vlad, you’re so far away I can’t hear you”.

    4. “Well Macron, this table represents the icy wasteland that consumed Napoleon. And you’re not even fit to lick batshit from Napoleon’s tomb in Paris.

    2. “Free travel would help asylum seekers familiarise themselves with their new surroundings…”

      Surely they can find the location of the nearest hardware store on the internet?

        1. That’s the one.

          My suspicion is about promoting or the opposite of whoever is chucking money at them.

    2. Honestly I defy anyone to be able to tell the difference between spoof and reality in the era of pregnant men.

      3. Our first house had wallpaper that matched the curtains perfectly when we moved in. Weird, it was: “Where’s the window gone?” when the curtains were pulled.

          2. That is recommended to sellers as nearly every buyer changes the decor anyway. I once bought a house with purple walls and orange ceiling in the main bedroom. I could find no signs of how or where the mirrors where fixed on the ceiling but I was sure they were once there.
            It took a fair few number of coats of paint to get it more or less to our taste in decor.

      2. It’s been accused of being nostalgia for Britain’s imperial past – with some justification, if you look at the decorations. I’d say it looks more like an Indian restaurant circa 1975. Not what I would use to advertise my skills as an interior designer.

      4. Lucy Lytle studied Egyptology at University College London.

        My wife studied interior design at Kingston Polytechnic in the seventies and has worked with many distinguished designers such as Kennedy Sumner, Conran, Kinnersley Kent, Fitch, HMKM and The Nest.

        My wife says the design is confused and incompetent, far too busy and oppressive. Also, that by calling her practice Soane, Lytle insults the memory of the great architect Sir John Soane, architect of the Bank of England, Dulwich College and many fine buildings.

  74. Night All

    “They won’t be able to walk down the street”

    https://twitter.com/LSW12612672511/status/1490741116735561733?s=20&t=7QqP0o3XLxWBk84_7quhjA

    and some Laffs

    https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff96ceb9f-1058-4929-a4c8-c4f6e9034db2_500x751.jpeg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f0571d9a7da096f279851b6177ccaa8a603b3508f66e5f9d8681f84e772a0b34.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b6d5611eb8914bd83b09ab91a770bef12773afe1e43152c8eab66726cbc97f2f.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/38375395aef06a18ccad41e62ca241e3eff09d0fa89eeb663cd4a22be458c8e2.jpg

          2. Mary to the mountain went
            Had an affair with a fountain pen
            The pen did break and the ink ran wild
            Mary gave birth to a blue black child
            They called the baby Stevens
            Because that was the name of the ink.

  75. Evening, all. Just a quick dash in before I disappear (in a poof (sic) of smoke) to a meeting later. It isn’t a question of who is ready to replace him, more who is there who would be good for the country as his replacement?

      1. I am no longer the Chairman of the Parish Council 🙂 I was quite happy to stand down and let somebody else get on with it (dealing with endless planning and greenery) while I got my life back!

  76. Wine o’clock has just struck – so I am off. Must get out the ingredients to make a loaf tomorrow.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

    PS What on earth persuaded some Tristram that re-making “The Ipcress File” would be a good idea?

    2. Seems to me 90% of new films are shoddy remakes of what were much better originals.There are very few exceptions.
      Deit in ‘films’.
      Bugger, Edit.

      1. I would say that Brannagh’s version of Henry V is better than Olivier’s because he makes Henry V real where as Olivier turns him into a caricature.
        Having said that, I much prefer the Albert Finney version of Murder on the Orient Express to the Brannagh film.

    3. Seems to me 90% of new films are shoddy remakes of what were much better originals.There are very few exceptions.
      Deit in ‘films’.
      Bugger, Edit.

    4. Good question.
      Apart from boring old £sd, it could easily be unacceptable and risky for one’s career to write any film script about present dangers that feature any foreigner or person of foreign ancestry. (about a third of the Cabinet, just for starters)

  77. Well that was two hours wasted.
    Got to stepson’s flat at 9am ready for the workers to arrive and begin ripping the bathroom out.
    2h later, with parking time running out, I departed with nothing happening.
    The contractor’s site manager was there, but there appeared to have been no communication between the SAHA block manager and him regarding getting quickly ripped into stepsons flat.

    Not a total waste though as I did a couple of jobs within the flat and got his knackered table ready for the tip.
    Then took him his cancer-stick supply and then to Belper to pick up a fridge and couple of small tables for him.

    Felt knackered after getting home and having a bite to eat so got my head down for an hour.

        1. I replied to Alf, on the subject of Fred Dibnah, who, regretfully, is late.
          Mr Galway, I hope, most certainly isn’t late.

  79. The Ipcress File goes woke!
    Remake of Cold War spy thriller will turn a minor character into a new female lead and introduce a black CIA agent to ‘explore themes of class, racism and sex’…..

    “Not many people know that….”…..Harry Palmer

      1. Played so beautifully and relaxedly. Very soothing, so it is. Can feel the stress leaving on every note!

        1. I’m halfway through an album on YT and I love it. As you say, so soothing and such lovely music.

        1. I wish. I could play the cello, I mean. Haven’t had a celloist or even a fiddler for some time which is a shame.

          3. On my way back this afternoon – heard Jacqueline du Pre playing the first movement of Boccherini on R3 in the car. With the English Chamber Orchestra and Daniel Barenboim.

          9. I suppose so, Paul. Truth is, since my ‘extreme chiropody’, the absence of feet has made things difficult. I’ve just sorted my organ music, and around 5% is “manuals only”. The hymns yesterday morning were sufficiently familiar to be able to play them without looking at the music, so I cheated and played most of the pedal notes, whilst looking at said pedals. Some of the pedal notes were correct… Cue Eric Morecambe.

            Incidentally, when I was Director of Music at St Alban, Hindhead, we had a Soprano in the choir, previously known as Sheila Armstrong. As it happens (nothing to do with James Savile) she was in the studio when Eric, Ernie and Andre recorded that sketch for Radio 2.

          10. One of my Father’s hidden talents was playing the organ – including in Durham Cathedral. Wish I’d been there, but this must have been late 1940s. His musicality has jumped a generation, as I am totally incompetent yet both boys are highly talented.
            For them, it’s normal, for me a thing of wonder…

          11. I love Durham Cathedral. Some decades ago, I went on a visit organised by “Choir & Organ Magazine“. With a few friends. After a tour of Harrison & Harrison’s organ works, we attended the Cathedral, and had a talk by James Lancelot. Time to explore the City, then Choir Practice – followed by Evensong.

            Some years later, my Mum was in Newcastle General, about to shuffle off. I went to Durham with my cousin, lit a candle, and prayed hard. ‘Twas answered…

            I had lessons in Carlisle Cathedral, with an assistant organist who would eventually be convicted as a kiddyfiddler. Thankfully, I wasn’t his sort. Phew…

            I’ve played for services at Carlisle and St Edmundsbury Cathedrals, but – mostly – I’m a humble village organist…

          12. One of my Father’s hidden talents was playing the organ – including in Durham Cathedral. Wish I’d been there, but this must have been late 1940s. His musicality has jumped a generation, as I am totally incompetent yet both boys are highly talented.
            For them, it’s normal, for me a thing of wonder…

          14. The very same, Bob. Something happened which ended her professional singing. I never asked.

            I attended an ‘area rehearsal’ for the Guildford Diocesan Choirs Festival some years ago. With my modest choir. Andrew Millington led the proceedings. As we were soon to have a Confirmation service, I had a conversation afterwards with AM. He had spotted SA, amongst several hundred choristers. No hiding place…

          15. At a school concert in CT, primary school, the band was playing and also the jazz band, my son was in both. The principals had agreed to take part and the deputy, who was an accomplished pianist, played a tambourine. The male principal played the triangle. The band teacher introduced them and then asked the kids, ” What does Mr. C….Play?” The kids all roared back, “The radio!”

        1. Is that a new gender – It’s difficult keeping up these days – just ask Mr Thomas…..

  81. A 44-year-old man nicknamed “The Eunuch Maker” has been arrested amid claims he carried out dozens of castrations on men in his north London basement flat and broadcast the procedures on pay-per-view television.

    Six other men aged from their 30s to their 60s were also arrested after police raided the run-down property in the Finsbury Park area last December.

    The castrations are believed to be part of the genital nullification, or “Nullo”, movement which has grown in popularity among those who do not wish to identify as male or female.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/07/eunuch-maker-arrested-castrating-men-live-television/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

    OMG!!!!!

          4. Chuckle, poor Stephen- he came back last night and everyone was quothing… and now we are changing Ns for Ms. Poor lad.

    6. Must be true that some mens brains are not in their skull but halfway down their bodies and these idiots have had brain surgery on their nether regions.
      Bloody idiots.

      3. Castration (in horses) is carried out with the horse standing, using local anaesthetics. They soon get over it 🙂

    9. I’m all in favour of this.

      Anything that stops these freaks from breeding must be a good thing.

    10. Thy used to use two bricks bashed together to castrate men. I said that would be just far to painful, and they said no, if you make sure you do not put your thumbs in the way.

  82. In some cases homes that replace their traditional gas boiler with the low-emission alternative face having their energy performance certificate (EPC) downgraded because at present electricity is more expensive than gas per kilowatt.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/epc-ratings-reviewed-to-stop-penalising-heat-pumps-c3fls8t6t

    So how can a heat pump that creates 3kW of energy output by using 1kW electricity input be more efficient than a condensing gas boiler that works around 99% energy efficiency?

    Well it’s because heat pumps are sort of 300% electrically efficient whereas gas boilers can’t produce more energy output than what is fed in.

    Heat pumps are NOT 300% efficient. They have a 3:1 or 300% Coefficient of Performance meaning they MOVE 3 times as much energy as is put in. They do not create energy. (Quora)

    As far as EPCs are concerned it all depends on how the EPC software is to be fiddled to accept the Coefficient of Performance (CoP) of heat pumps to make them seem appropriate for gas boiler replacement.

    I think fiddling the EPC software to reflect the gross disparity between gas and electricity prices can only give rise to putting an extra premium on energy costs purely on a Government Net Zero agenda.

  85. Things are finally looking up (as in up yours!)

    Just hours after Spotify CEO Daniel Ek affirmed he will keep the company’s cash-cow (to placate shareholders, rejecting demands from the mob to cancel the world’s most successful podcast), but was careful to rebuke Joe Rogan (to placate SJWs and ranting staff who are ‘triggered’), Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski has sent a letter to The Joe Rogan Experience, offering the podcaster $100 million over four years to bring his ‘free speech’ discussions to an uncensored platform.

    Dear Joe,

    We stand with you, your guests, and your legion of fans in desire for real conversation. So we’d like to offer you 100 million reasons to make the world a better place.

    How about you bring all your shows to Rumble, both old and new, with no censorship, for 100 million bucks over four years?

    This is our chance to save the world.

    And yes, this is totally legit.

    1. I hope he does so.
      It would be lovely to see the Spotify share price crash and really hurt the woke where it matters, in their pockets.

    3. I am never sure about the death penalty. The facts in the case must be absolute- so no ambiguity. There have been too many capital punishments for people who were later pardoned.
      Now, of course, there are exceptions. I do believe that proven acts of terrorism should receive the ultimate sentence. I never used to believe that violence should answer violence but times have changed.
      This world has changed and not for the better. I do know that if anybody hurt or killed anyone I loved…
      PS – I did read that article…
      The world is full of sick people so it seems.

    4. I am never sure about the death penalty. The facts in the case must be absolute- so no ambiguity. There have been too many capital punishments for people who were later pardoned.
      Now, of course, there are exceptions. I do believe that proven acts of terrorism should receive the ultimate sentence. I never used to believe that violence should answer violence but times have changed.
      This world has changed and not for the better. I do know that if anybody hurt or killed anyone I loved…
      PS – I did read that article…
      The world is full of sick people so it seems.

    5. Hopefully and due to the lack of commitment by the Judiciary, he might get his comeuppance in jail.

    1. Ms Phillips, 40, earns £81,932 a year as an MP, which is the the basic annual salary of a Member of Parliament and puts all MPs in the top 5% of earners in the UK.

      Ms Phillips said: “Obviously I think it’s a lot of money. I believe it’s the standard fee. I didn’t negotiate it.

      “The shoot is about three hours, but as a presenter you are there all day running through, rehearsing with the autocue. I’m not sure this was because I am a novice or it is standard.’

      However, one source questioned the filming timeframe, saying: “Twelve hours is the most hilarious bit. None of them work on the script. They just get handed it.

      “Scriptwriters start writing Monday lunchtime and finish on Thursday night. Normal recording time is about two to two-and-a-half hours.”

      I wonder how much she is donating to food-banks and other charities …

      https://www.gbnews.uk/news/jess-phillips-earned-15k-for-three-hours-of-hosting-have-i-got-news-for-you/221318

      1. Absolutely nothing to do with winning support for continuing the Licence fee extortion…..

      2. “I didn’t negotiate it”
        Nothing to do with me. What’s that you say? They paid me? I had no idea!

      3. Ms Phillips, 40, earns £81,932 a year as an MP
        But at least half as much as that again in expenses.
        That’s why Elizabeth Filkin was removed from her job as expenses monitor.

          1. Morning Bob.
            There’s really only a few reasons people go into politics, it’s usually because they are lazy, their staff do most of the work, could never hold a responsible (too antagonistic) job down, are attracted by the financial gains and gold plated bomb proof pensions. And almost never are any sacked.

  90. The Conservative Party – defence of the Realm, small government, low taxes, innovation and self-improvement – has vanished.

    Who can pick up the entrails and make them flourish???

    I foresee a line of numpties beginning with Sunak and Gove …

        1. OK, Oggy, so who would you lay the blame on? There have been so many governments in the last few years that have f**d everything up. They are all complicit. All of them, all of them.
          And don’t give me any UKip BS- they were just as barmy.
          There is no sanity in this country right now.

          1. 335032+ up ticks,
            Evening Lotl,
            The majority of the electorate especially since the major era.
            They are a COALITION, interchangeable
            the supporter / voters could SEE the yearly downward trend the country was taken but their “party” came first.
            Gerard Batten leadership of UKIP for a year was a proven success that is why he / party was taken out.

            “They was just as barmy” some barmy maybe but never ever treacherous, you forget they gave you the referendum, post victory lab/lib/con coalition have done their best to destroy it.

          3. Which is why I blocked him. Not open to discussion, and very dull with the repetition.

    3. We need:

      A brutal endgame with the EU – burn all the legal red tapes in Brussels and the Hague;

      Restoration of Northern Ireland’s United Kingdom integrity;

      Restoration of the UK Fishing Industry.

      An end to mass illegal immigration from France – organised and financed by criminal gangs – and farcically facilitated by ‘Border Force’ and the RNLI.

  91. A bad driver kills another man and injures his wife. The killer is fined £4000. This level of trivial punishment for the most appalling devastation cause by bad, stupid, drunken, lawless, insane or foreign drivers is a hangover from the time when only the very well-off, those and such as those, could afford cars (and chauffeurs). Naturally there was, back then, no question of long prison sentences for running over and killing a mere peasant.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-60259491

  93. Just before I turn in, I’ve been looking at Google Earth and where we use to live at Christies Beach SA.
    The camera van only traveled along the coast road about this time last year and what was open country side much further east (of Port Norlunga) with a beach. Is now well developed with some superb new homes. It makes me feel very sad indeed to think what we might have had. I know they have had trouble with over zealous politicians but to see people walking along the extremely long Esplanade Road in the bright sunshine along side the sea shore brought an imaginative lump to my throat.
    So it’s good night from me and it’s good night from Mr Lump.

  95. For those who like the Lee Child/Jack Reacher stories, but have detested Jimmy Krankie playing him in the films, Amazon Prime
    now has a Jack Reacher Season/Series (it started on Feb 4) with a man of stature playing the part.

    Just watched three episodes, I find it good: but then, what do I know?

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