Saturday 5 March: Europe’s democracies must see that they will be next if Ukraine falls to Russia’s dictator

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

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

700 thoughts on “Saturday 5 March: Europe’s democracies must see that they will be next if Ukraine falls to Russia’s dictator”

  3. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    SIR – It is with profound misgivings that I observe the calls for blanket economic sanctions against Russia. While there can be no moral justification for the invasion of Ukraine, the clamour to punish Russian citizens for the actions of their government does not reflect well on us, or our stated commitment to human rights.

    I fear that governments and businesses are acting without fully understanding the consequences for Russian civilians, businesses – and indeed global markets and supply chains – of the ostensibly bloodless weapon of economic sanctions.

    Dr Philip Whitehead
    Belfast

    All very well, Dr Whitehead, but what is your solution to the problem??

    1. Okay blanket sanctions sound good in theory, but I bet they all use duvets these days.

    2. I fear that governments and businesses are acting without fully understanding the consequences for Russian civilians…

      Well Dr Whitehead I recieved an email from Eon yesterday telling me that my Electricity Bill will be 30% higher in the coming year. I strongly suspect that Russians sitting on mountain of cheap energy will escape this!

    3. A BTL poster seems to agree:

      Trevor Anderson
      53 MIN AGO
      Dr Philip Whitehead, what utter nonsense when you state:
      “I fear that governments and businesses are acting without fully understanding the consequences for Russian civilians, businesses – and indeed global markets and supply chains – of the ostensibly bloodless weapon of economic sanctions.”
      You obviously think that life in Russia should carry on as normal while their mad dictator invades a sovereign state next door and murders the population. Using your warped emotional plea as an example, we shouldn’t have bombed Germany during WWII. The object of the exercise is to destroy the Russian economy thus limit its’ ability to wage war.
      Hopefully, this will lead to an uprising of the people that will enable the downfall of the lunatic in the Kremlin. That will never be easy, because we know that Russia is a police state and dissent against government is punished severely – and under newly produced laws could bring 15 years imprisonment.
      Boris stating yesterday that Putin should not be “Taken Out” is nonsense, as the chances of getting this guy to a war crimes trial is remote.
      Dr Whitehead, you state your weak, emotional case but offer no alternative solution to resolving this travesty, which if it continues, could lead to WWIII.

      1. And some further BTL posts for Dr Whitehead to think about:

        Perigo Minas
        6 HRS AGO
        … I fear that governments and businesses are acting without fully understanding the consequences for Russian civilians, businesses – and indeed global markets and supply chains – of the ostensibly bloodless weapon of economic sanctions.
        Dr Philip Whitehead

        We understand perfectly well. We hope an ordinary Russian civilian puts a bullet between Putin’s eyes.

        Steve Jones
        6 HRS AGO
        ………….I had no idea one could get a doctorate in appeasement.

  4. Morning Folks. Clearly insanity isn’t going out of fashion – I wonder how long it will be before a University initiates a new science – that of Bidenology?:

    “Many people don’t realise the biggest risk during global nuclear war is actually COVID.
    That’s why the US government’s disaster preparation website, ready.gov, has updated its guidance on how to best protect yourself in the event of a nuclear explosion.

    As soon as you realize that there’s been a nuclear explosion, you should go to the centre or basement of a concrete building; this will shield you from the bulk of the incoming nuclear fallout.
    However another danger lurks that’s almost as terrible as the nuclear blast and subsequent radiation poisoning: COVID-19!
    Therefore the US government says that, while in a nuclear bunker, you should also:

    “Try to maintain a distance of at least six feet between yourself and people who are not part of your household. If possible, wear a mask if you’re sheltering with people who are not a part of your household.”

    You’ll want to stay inside for at least 24 hours to allow the worst of the fallout to dissipate. As you huddle together with strangers seeking comfort during the nuclear apocalypse:
    “Continue to practice social distancing by wearing a mask and by keeping a distance of at least six feet between yourself and people who not part of your household.”
    The guidance does not recommend bringing items that may help reduce your radiation exposure, such as potassium iodide tablets.

    But ready.gov DOES recommend that you “try to bring items that can help protect yourself and your family from COVID-19, such as hand sanitiser that contains at least 60 percent alcohol, cleaning materials, and two masks per person.”

    But at least the guidance notes that “Hand sanitiser does not protect against fall out.”

    https://www.ready.gov/nuclear-explosion

    Sensible BTL Comment:
    ‘ Not everyone dies instantly during nuclear holocaust.
    It would really suck to have radiation poisoning and COVID-19.’

        1. Just checked the bully beef cans. Is it safe to open a tin with BB Date of July 1945?

    4. I read that insanity the other day. How stupid do they think people are? Sorry pal, you can’t shelter with us as we are already full at 6′ apart, and you might have the plague (which is now mild but that is irrelevant).

  5. Russia Ukraine. March 4, 2022 .

    So far the Russian military operation in Ukraine has been a reconnaissance in force preceded by the destruction of the supplies and headquarters of the Ukrainian Armed Forces by standoff weapons. The object being to suss out where the Ukrainian forces are, to surround them, to check existing Russian intelligence against reality and, at the same time, destroy known headquarters, air and naval assets, supplies and ammunition depots. And, perhaps, there was the hope that the speed and success (Russian/LDPR forces dominated an area of Ukraine about the size of the United Kingdom in the first week) would force an early end (aka recognition of reality).

    At the moment they are readying for the next phase. The long column that so obsessed the “experts” on CNN is the preparation for the next phase. And that is this: “You didn’t get the hint, so now we have to hit you”. The fact that the column has been sitting there indicates that the Russians know they have complete air superiority. Secondly it is a message to the Ukrainian armed forces that it’s over, give up. (And one should never forget that the Russians/Soviets have always been the best at strategic deception, so who knows what’s actually there versus what the images show?)

    As far as I can see they’ve created three cauldrons (encirclements). Probably the most important one is the one around Mariupol where the main concentration of Azov, the principal nazi force, is. Another is being established around the main concentration of the Ukrainian Armed Forces facing LDPR. And there appears to be another developing to the east of Kiev. A super cauldron of all three is visible. The nazis will be exterminated; the ordinary Ukrainian soldier will be allowed to go home. The nightmare question is how many ordinary Ukrainians will be free to choose.

    The dilemma for the Russians is city fighting. They do not want to have a Raqqa in which every building is destroyed, every person killed and solitudinem is declared to be pax. They know that at the end of the day there will still be Ukrainians and they will want them to be friends: Washington can create solitudes far away, but Moscow cannot create them nearby. This greatly complicates their problem when they try to clear the nazis out of Mariupol knowing that the nazis are using the city’s people as hostages. The same problem exists, to a lesser degree, in the other cities of Novorossiya. My guess is they will surround most cities and hope that Zelinsky & Co come to their senses. But I fear that the Mariupol battle will be horrible.

    There are some slight indications, on Day 8, that Ukrainian negotiators are realising that neutrality is something they have to agree to. I also see the realisation creeping up on the American side.

    The ultimate Russian aim is not visible. By this I mean the ultimate strategic aim; we know what the grand strategic aim is. Are the Russians planning to create a Novorossiya which will be independent or are they aiming to create a Novorossiya which will be a bargaining chip with rump Ukraine? I think the answer depends on what Zelinsky and Kiev (and the locals) decide. In about a week’s time, an independent Novorossiya will exist and Russia will continue to have the hammer.

    I would expect large-scale surrenders of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to begin in the next 24/48 hours (Chechen forces already claim one and have an impressive collection of “trophies” to prove it). A significant proportion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is now surrounded and, as is usual (vide Sun Tsu) the Russians have left them an exit.

    The impotence of the EU and NATO is clear to everyone (Well, OK, not anyone on CNN, or in the US Congress or in the halls of power in the West. But they are not the whole world). In this respect, I recommend watching Riyadh – Abdul Aziz was very good at seeing how the wind blew and one can assume his descendents are too.

    The 97, or whatever they were, fighter planes that were excitedly announced, are obviously not coming. The no fly zone can’t be “declared”. The Chechens have picked up a lot of MANPADs that NATO supplied. All that NATO support will get you is destruction when you fight the war it suckered you into and an extra special Christmas card when you’re defeated and ruined.

    We are seeing the collapse of post Cold War triumphalism, “end of history”, “unilateralism” and all the rest of it. Reality is biting, and biting hard. All you have to do is watch CNN’s parade of talking heads and “experts” speculating about how crazy Putin is: they don’t understand, therefore he must be nuts. For the West, as it has been, it’s over. The confusion, the bullshit, the boasting, the hysteria, the bans: the West has nothing left in the locker. Pour Russian vodka down the toilet, fire a singer and director, change the name of a drink or a salad, ban cats or trees, sanction a Russian plutocrat and steal his yacht, wear a blue and yellow t-shirt. Pathetic. And don’t, under any circumstances, allow a Russian outlet to tempt the sheeple with “disinformation”. Just like the USSR but stupider. And who thought stupider was even possible?

    Judo is about deception and using the opponent’s strength against him. Putin, the judoka, has judoed the West into suicide. Put your money in our banks, we can confiscate it; put your assets in our territory, we can steal them; use our money and we can cancel it; put your yacht in our harbour, we can pirate it; put your gold in our vault, we can grab it. That is a lesson that will resound around the world. A naked illustration that the “rules-based international order” is simply that we make the rules and order you to obey them. In 2 or 3 weeks everybody in the world who is on the potential Western hit list will have moved his assets out of the reach of the West. Xi will permit himself a small smile.

    As to Western sanctions against Russia, I think there’s a very simple answer to that: last week 1000 cubic metres of gas cost $1,000; today it’s over twice that. Next week it certainly won’t be cheaper. Ditto for aluminum, potash, titanium, wheat. Russian airlines lease their planes; now what? Russian rocket motors. What the people in the West do not understand is the ruble is the currency the Russians use inside the country but the price of oil and gas is the Russian currency outside the country. I am astounded at the stupidity: they’re cutting their own throats and destroying their own economies.

    Russia sits back and laughs: fly into space on your own broomstick.

    This is very probably what is happening and what is going to happen as opposed to the hysteria in the MSM with its Fake News and the impotent gobbledegook of our so called Leaders! When it is done Vlad will have achieved his life’s work to ensure Russia’s safety from a corrupt and decadent West and to restore it to its proper place in the world. He can die a happy man!

    PS. The reference to Sun Tsu (for those not au fait with military jargon) is that your enemies should be left a Golden Bridge to retreat over so as not to precipitate a fight to the death that may cause you also significant damage.

    https://turcopolier.com/russia-ukraine-2/

    2. Bright & sunny here with scattered cloud. Forecast to get cloudier with rain later tonight.

  8. SIR – The problems associated with BT’s removal of analogue landlines (Letters, March 3) surely come under Ofcom’s remit. Its website says: “We make sure people are able to use communications services, including broadband.”

    Clearly, many homes are in a mobile blackspot, which should be addressed before BT is allowed to switch them to the Digital Voice system. Even then, in prolonged power cuts, mobile phones will run out, leaving people without access to the emergency services.

    Perhaps a parliamentary petition should be set up, in the hope of having the matter debated in Parliament.

    Barbara Wicker
    Málaga, Spain

    SIR – Our telephone was recently made digital. Afterwards, aged 84 and 78, and not in the best of health, we were left with no telephone, WiFi or Lifeline alarm service for several days, and we have no mobile signal.

    Our daughter managed to sort it out but, during the recent storm, we were without power for more than seven hours and the same thing happened again. I feel that BT is failing in its duty of care to the elderly and vulnerable.

    Carolyn Hood-Cree
    Petham, Kent

    SIR – Chris Howe, BT’s Customer Care Change Director (Letters, February 28), says that in a power outage customers whose landlines have been “upgraded” to digital should use their mobile phones. He forgets that, in many rural areas, when power is lost from homes it is also lost from mobile phone masts.

    During the recent storms, parts of Aberdeenshire had no internet or mobile signal for almost a week. Only those with analogue phone lines could communicate – vital when for days electricity and water were cut off, and roads were blocked by fallen trees.

    BT must halt switching rural phone lines to digital until phone masts have reliable back-up power sources.

    Ann Miles
    Crathie, Aberdeenshire

    Sooner or later someone is going to lose their life because they, or others around them, have not been able to call for help. Despite the recent series of letters, there is still a deafening silence from Ofcom. Furthermore, I can find no reference to this problem on their website. Ignoring it will not make it go away.

    1. Thank goodness I have a generator although I won’t be able to afford to run it the way petrol prices are going

    2. Mother’s house, only a few miles from the capital city of Wales, has no mobile signal, nor does it have reliable wired communication. Good, eh? And that’s before any storms…

  9. SIR – I was astounded to hear on Thursday of the honour bestowed on Gavin Williamson. In no other walk of life can you fail so miserably and be acclaimed so highly. Perhaps it was a good day to bury bad news.

    Simon Soutar
    Weybridge, Surrey

    You are not alone, Mr Soutar. Even in the bizarre, corrupt and twisted world of ‘honours’, this one is head and shoulders above all the others.

    Edit:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10579889/Gavin-Williamsons-knighthood-hard-justify-appears-corrupt-Downing-Street-admits.html

    1. Morning HJ, if I knew where all the bodies were I would soon be Sir VVOF.
      Competence has nothing to do with Williamson being honoured unless you count making good use of the knowledge he acquired in the whips office.

      1. Good morning VVOF

        Williamson is just another dishonourable undeserving little sneak .

        Awarded far too much above his paygrade.

      2. And he ran Johnson’s leadership campaign…another good reason NOT to receive an honour! It is obviously payback time.

        Edit: Good morning, Oldie (manners).

  11. ‘Morning All

    Visited an American site I steal memes from expecting a very gung ho “Bomb the Russians” vibe

    Nope,they’re even more cynical about government lies than we are!!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f6a0c7a608b392e7668a1113710d0826f6fcc8767d4832fe430b71106b2bec4e.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/506531497c7f4532b7040722a7358c0d9c9b51a10d142dbbd31d624de8fc25b9.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/93ede26f7fd96365f0ab6b38a5b3a00c07ce209b4786d7883d4df355d9ce93a1.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/60d085d6cb0b70840d13875fdad680d89bd9b67b6493c3cb5d379204ca1f3d2d.jpg

    My Favourite

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/799005a95d72ac2726947e86b03f08a0bf2215f52d8596286589c236168157d9.jpg

        2. Thank you, sos! Just a year until they pay me to stop! But who knows what might happen…

  14. I have received emails from ASDA and Morrisons advising that they won’t be selling any Russian produced Items. A wine trade magazine has said that Russian vodka will be withdrawn from sale. Ebay is raising funds for the Ukraine.
    I’ve received an email from a Scottish government agency urging me to stop trading with Russia. Full text in link.
    Are we not only becoming far too involved, but have lost all sense of what is rational?
    Note young Forbes statements in the letter;
    “We have all watched on in horror at the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia. This was an unprovoked and wholly unnecessary attack by the Putin regime on a peaceful, democratic nation…” and,
    “For any sanctions to be meaningful they will also have an impact on the countries and economies that are imposing them.”

    So no mention of the butchery in the Donbass over the last 8 years. However we here in Scotland, and the rest of the UK, are going to be punished, even more than we have been over the last two years, with huge increases in the price in energy, and of food (and vodka). We will see empty shelves.

    https://www.gov.scot/news/stop-trading-with-russia/

      1. Yes. The Russian intervention in the Ukraine is a raid, not a takeover. It is also demonstration that Russia will act with force if pushed too far.
        Yet we act as if the Ukraine is being seized to become part of Russia. That is not happening. If the Ukraine becomes part of Russia it will no longer function as a “buffer” State. Russia wants a “buffer” State.
        Russia is surely well aware of the 2014 coup and the US involvement, or management. Yet it is Russia that is accused of not respecting the Ukraine democracy.
        Why does not the slightest glimmer of this appear on any part of the BBC, despite the thousands of journalists, and its unbiased commitment to news and truth?. Where is “Panorama”?

        1. The Beeb reportage is solely concerned with refugees and ‘human interest’ stories.

      2. I have a nice photo of myself with the Vladivar Wodka Queen, also from Varrington. (I worked for the Agents.)

      3. Awful stuff, it’s like gasoline. If you want vodka, drink Stolichnaya or Wyborovka.

        2. I don’t like vodka.
          We were given some of the real Russian stuff when on a coach trip to Pushkin.
          I could feel it burning a path down my gullet.

          1. The trick is, I found, to have the shot of vodka, then follow it down with a glass of mineral water. Eases the burning, keeps you hydrated, and you can continue all night that way.

    3. When I left the wine & spirit trade 25 years ago the Scots consumed 33% of all the vodka in the U.K.
      Don’t know if things have changed.

      1. Maybe. I left the wines and spirits trade 38 years ago. I do think that it has become more generally popular. I think the comedy show with Joanna Lumley drinking Stolly (Stolichnaya)may have helped. I don’t have figures.

  15. Good morning from a bright & sunny Derbyshire. Still chilly though with 1°C outside.

  17. I know Gateway Pundit is often slagged off as a fake news conspiracy theorist site, but given the VERY one sided commentary we are being fed, the audio on this is interesting, especially in the light of the Hunter Biden Laptop Revelations:-

    FLASHBACK: Leaked Tape in 2014 Showed State Department’s Victoria Nuland Saying “F*** the EU” then Plotting Ukraine Coup Using Biden’s Help

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/03/flashback-leaked-tape-2014-showed-state-departments-victoria-newland-saying-f-eu-plotting-ukraine-coup-using-bidens-help/

  19. A post copied from Going Postal:-

    Rick • a minute ago
    I typed this some time ago. We need to take action on it.

    It’s the parasites.

    You expect to work for a living and enjoy the rewards. That’s the deal.

    But from the moment you earn your first wage the parasites attack.

    The government takes income tax and national insurance. The government also hovers over your every purchase with VAT, fuel duty, tobacco duty, alcohol levy, etc.

    The local council demands you pay for emptying your bin. And for some other services. Most of which you neither need nor want. And to support a local army of pointless parasitic bureaucrats, cronies and relatives from the ‘old country’.

    Utility companies want your money too. For a service that is becoming increasingly expensive and unreliable. And here also the government is taking it’s taxes. And imposing surcharges for ‘investment’ in sustainable renewable sources that are simply scams.

    Government launders the tax revenue to the parasites through QUANGOs, charities and the white elephant projects such as HS2.

    You work. They steal from you. Preventing you from having the life that your work has earned for you. It has never been this onerous and this blatant and it’s getting worse.

      1. Morning Sue, I hope you have a terrific Birthday and get all you desire. 🎂🍷

        2. Thank you Rik! Keep posting your little gems! They’re much appreciated!

    1. And the travel manifests of all the flights to Epstein’s Island must be published!

      This destroys any sincere belief in either the American or the British systems of justice.

      Is there any possible way back or is the civilised world finished for ever?

    2. Donations by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation to legacy media organisations might have something to do with that…

    1. 351232+ up ticks,

      Morning TB,

      Yes it is working out well for the lab/lib/con members /supporter / voters their consent has been given at every opportunity to vote.

      They have in point of fact done away with indigenous children’s play pens giving consent instead to government manipulation via, in the main, first generation foreigners.

      The majority of the electorate are denying their kids
      & their kids,kids ongoing a decent lifestyle in a country they can no longer call HOME.

    2. Yo Sue and a Happy 15th Birthday (the first 50 are just a practice

      and 364 Happy Unbirthdays

    3. Happy Birthday, Sue.
      And …. you have the whole weekend in which to whoop it up.

      1. Thank you Anne! I’ll need the extra day to recover from the whooping…

    4. Many happy returns, Sue!
      Are you crossing off the days until Pension Day now??

        3. MOH is in the same boat, Sue. It equate to thousands of quid denied. Talking of dirty rats, I trapped and dispatched one this morning.
          Will have a glass for your birthday at wine o’clock.

          6. It’s good to be home – bit chilly today in the cold wind –

            I’ve got a lot of photos to sort through so I’ve bought another hard disk to store them on but haven’t got far with sorting them. I keep getting distracted by Nottl and the current news. Lily just deleted what I wrote!

        2. Happy Birthday, Sue! Hope your day turns out better than you can wish for! :-D)

          1. Thank you, Obers! It’s a beautiful sunny day here, so the garden is a’ calling! Those edges wont do themselves, you know!

          2. It’s lovely here, too. Not a cloud. And – positive degrees C (not very many of them, though!)

          3. Ours was just into double figures! There was a magpie having a bath in Hectors water bowl, and the crocuses are wide open!

    8. Happy Birthday Sue! Pointing north and singing through the wind and rain 🙂

  25. I was thinking what was the motivation for these invading Russian soldiers – have they no conscience?

    Then it dawned on me that they actually enjoy the fighting, the smashing up of heritage and cities, the raping, looting and pillaging. It gives them an animal pleasure, and is precisely the same feeling one gets with a favourite hobby or sport. Like trainee gladiatorsm they would go to the gym regularly and take steroids and protein supplemets to get into peak condition

    I remember a while back those gang fights young Russian men arranged in the woods, where there were no Queensbury Rules. If you were still conscious, then you had to keep fighting with every sinew you had. Many ended up in intensive care, but only to be patched up, and already looking forward to the next bout. They rang rings round our own football hooligans

    Why should they have any feelings other than the excitement for the next fight? Why should they care about the carnage and suffering they bring about. Those weaklings unwilling or unable to fight do not deserve even pity. They are not people, but worms to be trodden underfoot. They do not count.

    I was thinking of all these Ukrainian widows. Many of them are very pretty. I am looking for a wife to share my home with. Yet, why would they cast a second glance to me? I cannot protect them from the thugs and rapists. Better to go for someone who can take them on, on their level, and hope that there is some ounce of compassion in there somewhere.

    Zelenskyy is a clever Jew. He is David taking on Goliath. I only hope his alternative weaponry is effective.

      2. You remind me of the landscaper who once informed the class of horticulture students that Chinese gardening started in the 19th century when the British arrived to pillage the place. I suggested that ‘I Ching’ was written 5000 years ago, and the Chinese have been gardening ever since.

        Ukraine, like Poland, has been invaded for millennia, and its current problems started centuries ago when half of it was in with Poland and Lithuania, and half of it in with Russia. For as long as they were united within the USSR, it was not an issue, but as soon as Poland and Lithuania joined NATO, and Russia did not, then suspicion within Ukraine itself was inevitable.

        I am disappointed with Liz Truss for not emphasising the benefits of neutrality in Ukraine, something Putin was pushing for too. Water under the bridge now though.

    2. I’m sorry but what you wrote is absolute drivel and about as far from the truth as you could get. You are obviously only watching the propaganda that you are fed and haven’t made one iota of an effort to find out what the real truth is, despite the fact that people have been posting plenty of evidence for Ukrainian duplicity and for the malicious intention of the West in the form of the EU, NATO and the USA.

      1. Steady on! Not everyone is as into current affairs as some of us are…Jeremy hasn’t been around a lot recently, so perhaps he has had other things on his mind.

        1. I’m sorry but frankly this incessant propaganda by the West infuriates me and the shallowness of individuals who, apparently, don’t find it odd at all. When has the West ever spoken with one voice without dissent? That in itself should make anyone with sufficient intelligence suspicious. The West didn’t even unite against the Nazi’s did they? The Americans would have never joined that war if they hadn’t been attacked. Why should Russia behave like some sort of supine imbecile when it is obvious that not only is it being encircled by NATO but that if NATO were to attack, Russia would have no time to answer of defend itself. It would be destroyed before it even got out of the gate. I really do not understand why people can’t see that or see the threat from an obviously belligerent West that lives in a false reality where it is still fighting a long dead USSR.

      2. Well, the truth will out in due course.

        I see a slight difference between duplicity or even malicious intent and actually firing cruise missiles into cities.

        It is similar to the paedophile, who may fantasise and watch naughty images, but would never act on these fantasies, lest they harm the object of their desire, or attract the unwelcome attention of Plod.

        It is the difference between the wanker and the rapist.

        1. The targets are military. One thing you are not aware of is that the Ukrainians have taken a leaf out of Hamas’s play book and are locating military targets amongst civilians. They have also been using their citizens as human shields by refusing to allow them to leave the city, even though the Russians have guaranteed safe passage. Zelenskyy is an actor by trade, he knows how to play to the audience and play the victim.

          1. All the more reason not to have set foot in the place.

            I don’t think you are right in any case. Those who are opting to leave are among the million or more fleeing to countries on the western borders. Many are opting to stay and fight, which is also their decision. As for “safe passage”, how can they trust the soldiers firing on their cities or telling folk back home there is no war or invasion, when clearly there is?

            The English have a two-fingered salute for such occasions, which roughly means that they can stuff their manhoods. Its origin was in the Battle of Agincourt where the enemy was informed that their English foe still had their fingers intact enough to work the longbows. Churchill used a version of it to signal Victory, but everyone knew what he really meant.
            When I attended a haka workshop at a Womad festival, we learnt that the little clacking devices, comprising two balls on a string and used by Maori women to greet hostile visitors, actually referred to what they intended doing to a sensitive part of their anatomies if they disembarked uninvited.

          2. Are you aware that those who are “fleeing” are able to do so because the Russians have given them safe passage?
            Watch this and then tell me that this is all Russia’s fault and that they are the “Evil Empire”.

            What the Media Is HIDING About Ukraine/Russia

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

    3. It is a raid, to emasculate the Ukraine military, take out the Nazi-emulators, and give warning to the West – “Don’t Mess with Bill”.
      “the smashing up of heritage and cities, the raping, looting and pillaging.“. Russians don’t smash up their own heritage, which is why the Winter Palace still stands overlooking the Neva. They won’t deliberately damage the Ukraine heritage either, for the same reasons (it’s Russian).

      1. I hope you are right.

        If you are, then the worst that can happen to Russia is for the West to sulk for a while before treating the Bear with a little more respect.

        It might take those living in those flats or running businesses whose premises were wrecked a little longer to forgive.

      2. Raping, looting, pillaging and smashing up of heritage sounds more islamic than Russian.

  26. DPR Head: Up to 200 People Buried Under Rubble as Azov Militants Blow Up Building in Mariupol

    This comes just minutes before the evacuation of civilians from Mariupol was about to begin in accordance with an agreement reached between Moscow and Kiev during talks earlier this week.
    Ukrainian militants from the “Azov” battalion set off an earlier planted explosive device causing the building at 15/20 Meotida Boulevard in Mariupol to collapse. The latter has resulted in up to 200 people, including children who were hiding in the basement, being buried under the rubble, the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic Denis Pushilin said.
    “The Mariupol administration has declared a corridor towards Zaporozhye…According to our information, it is extremely unsafe there. So it is extremely problematic for us to bear responsibility because nationalist battalions are there and provocations have already been committed. Just a few minutes ago, the Azov militants activated explosive devices set up earlier, which has resulted in the collapse of the house at 15/20 Meotida Boulevard. Up to 200 people remained in the basement at the time, mostly women and children. Therefore, it is extremely problematic for us to bear responsibility for that corridor”, Pushilin said.
    Earlier, the Russian Defence Ministry announced a ceasefire starting from 07:00 GMT to let civilians evacuate from Mariupol and Volnovakha. Up to 200,000 people were expected to be evacuated from Mariupol after 12:00 local time, according to Ukraine’s deputy prime minister.
    “We have been waiting for a message from the International Red Cross Committee. Today, on March 5, we agreed on the establishment of the humanitarian corridor from 09:00 Ukrainian time (07:00 GMT) in two directions: Mariupol and Volnovakha…As of now, routes will be operated in the following directions: Mariupol, Nikolskoye, Rozovka, Bilmak, Pologi, Orekhov, Zaporozhye. This is the first direction. We are planning to evacuate about 200,000 people. The next direction is Volnovakha, Valeryanovka, Novoandreevka, Kyrylovka, Pokrovsk, Zaporozhye. Through here, we are planning to evacuate over 15,000 people,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minster Iryna Vereshchuk said in a video address.
    The humanitarian corridors and exit routes were agreed upon with Kiev following the second round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Belarus earlier this week.
    Russia has repeatedly emphasised that Ukrainian nationalists have been preventing civilians, including women and children, as well as foreign citizens, from leaving the areas affected by the fighting and have been using them as human shields.

    2. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azov_Battalion
      Azov Special Operations Detachment (Ukrainian: Окремий загін спеціального призначення «Азов», romanized: Okremyi zahin spetsialnoho pryznachennia “Azov”), often known as Azov Detachment, Azov Regiment (Ukrainian: Полк Азов, romanized: Polk Azov), or Azov Battalion (until September 2014), is a right-wing extremist[1] and neo-Nazi[2][3][4] unit of the National Guard of Ukraine,[5][6][7] based in Mariupol, in the Azov Sea coastal region.[8] It has been fighting Russian separatist forces in the Donbas War. Azov initially formed as a volunteer militia in May 2014.[9] It saw its first combat experience recapturing Mariupol from pro-Russian separatists in June 2014.[5] On 12 November 2014, Azov was incorporated into the National Guard of Ukraine, and since then all members are contract soldiers serving in the National Guard.[10]

      In 2014, the regiment gained attention after allegations of torture and war crimes, as well as neo-Nazi sympathies and usage of associated symbols by the regiment, as seen in their logo featuring the Wolfsangel, one of the original symbols used by the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich. Representatives of the Azov Battalion say the symbol is an abbreviation for the slogan Ідея Нації (Ukrainian for “National Idea”) and deny connection with Nazism.[11] In 2014, a spokesman for the regiment said around 10–20% of the unit were neo-Nazis.[12] In 2018, a provision in an appropriations bill passed by the United States Congress blocked military aid to Azov on the grounds of its white supremacist ideology; in 2015, a similar ban on aid to the group had been overturned by Congress.[2][3] Members of the regiment come from 22 countries and are of various backgrounds.[13][14]

      In 2017, the size of the regiment was estimated at more than 2,500 members.[15] The unit’s first commander was far-right nationalist Andriy Biletsky, who led the neo-Nazi Social-National Assembly and Patriot of Ukraine.[16][17] In its early days, Azov was a special police company of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, led by Volodymyr Shpara, the leader of the Vasylkiv, Kyiv, branch of Patriot of Ukraine and Right Sector.[18][19][20]

      In 2016, veterans of the regiment and members of a non-governmental organization named “Azov Civil Corps” created the political party National Corps.[21]

      1. There’s some bollox written there – the Nazis were and are not Far-Right, for example.

  28. National Trust surveyor on trial for ‘swindling charity out of £1.7m’

    Roger Bryant is alleged to have submitted bogus invoices for repair work, then paid the money into bank accounts of his sons.

    I this any different to the National (Mis)Trust swindling 1,000,000.00 of pounds out their members by posing as a charity that protected and preserved our heritage, buildings and artifacts

    Signed Disgruntled ex member

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/03/04/national-trust-surveyor-trial-swindling-charity-17m/

    2. I assumed that his bogus invoices were to meet the cost of changing all the labels in every NT property to make them truly diverse.

  29. An interview with an American doctor who is persuaded by reams of data that marriage delivers the best outcome for raising children.
    The data on same sex partnerships as a background for raising children does not look so good.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wzqjsmNhs0&ab_channel=CoalitionForMarriage

    edit: around 32 minutes there are the most fascinating analysis of childrens’ maths grades by marriage status of the families, and by religious attendance. No wonder liberals hate this data.

    1. How terribly old fashioned. I do hope he is rapidly cancelled and hounded off sochul meeja.

  30. Putin has said that Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians are ‘one people – brothers.’ May I respectfully suggest to Putin apologists that his treatment of his ‘brothers’ – using Belarusians to maim and kill Ukrainians and, with Russians, to make orphans of Ukrainian children is pretty perverse. I am at a loss as to how and why anybody of sound mind can continue to support the monster and his murderous actions. (Picture is courtesy of The Daily Mirror).

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/065baed84d3920a074f3d8f14e9b418eadfa41240cfcea91892cbe85f7157efa.jpg

      1. Those of a blinkered and feeble intellectual capacity prefer to see things in black and white.

    2. When Bush and Blair and Cameron and all the supporters of similar attacks in Iraq, Libya and elsewhere have been tried and the AZOV battalion have too, I might agree, because Putin will be able to demonstrate what he was attempting to remove.

    3. Sounds a bit like our Government, in reverse

      We send our Forces out to fight Terrorists

      If and when they shoot someone, they sit back and wait to be prosecuted, as long as 40 years in some cases

    4. There can be no moral justification in accusing Putin of doing what Bush, Blair and countless western leaders have already done in other countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria etc.,

      Our politicians lack all credibility and there in lies the essence of the problem we have with Putin. It will take the interposition of a statesman to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Regrettably we do not have any, just hypocritical grifters with snouts in the globalist coffers.

  31. This is an extract from an article on Russia Today- the information is interesting about dealing with censorship generally…

    ” If you’ve faced difficulties accessing RT’s content due to those restrictions, here are some steps you can take to bypass them.

    1. If you’re reading RT on your smartphone, you can use our Android app, which can be downloaded via this link.
    (i.e. a dedicated app that delivers data rather than accessing it via the browser)

    2. On your PC, you can use the Tor browser, which can be downloaded here. RT’s website address in Tor remains the same: http://www.rt.com. If Tor doesn’t work for you, or is unavailable via regular means, you can resolve this issue by sending an empty email to gettor@torproject.com and you will be sent the necessary link.

    3. Another way of circumventing restrictions is to use the Psiphon censorship-bypass tool, which can be downloaded for Windows, Android, and other systems. Alternatively, you can use a VPN service of your choice. (Windows download here, direct Android download here, and other options here).

    4. You can also stay in touch with RT through Telegram by subscribing to RT’s soon-to-be-reborn channel there. “

  32. I’m back from town! Just in passing I went to M&S for some fish. When it came to pay there were no cashiers so I had to go to self-service. I don’t have any problems with these now. I’ve sussed them! Nevertheless just after I had refused the offer of a receipt a new window opened that asked me if I would like to add a pound to my bill that could be sent to their Help Ukraine account. I refused this generous offer as well! This is by way of saying keep your eyes open!

    1. I had a spam mail yesterday offering to let me contribute via bitcoin – I ignored the generous offer but I can’t help but wonder how much of this largesse will actually get to Ukraine, and who might actually benefit if it does?

      1. Morning Bleau. Bearing in mind with whom we are dealing very little one imagines!

      2. Funny how you can misread things – I thought you said you had a sperm whale.

      3. We’ve just donated spare bedding and towels to a local centre. Probably heading for Calais as I write };-O, but I certainly would never consider giving cash.
        Far too easily embezzled in fees and the like.

        1. Forty (?) years ago there were horrendous earthquakes in Italy.
          As ever, mountains of blankets and other supplies were sent to the afflicted region. The Mafia found another nice little earner.

      4. The BBC had a Mr Said on the radio this morning who said that his appeal for Ukraine had collected £55million, and that he was going

        to drive to the Poland/Ukraine border to distribute it.

        Is Mr Said a Polish or Ukrainian name?

      5. Colonel Tom Foundation; and hundreds of others set up during a rush of emotion.

    2. Yo Minty

      I Always ask

      For Staff Discount
      Use Staff Canteen
      To go to Staff Chrimbo Party (and any others
      Staff Parking

    3. I was ambushed with requests to help Ukrainian children in the supermarket as well.

      1. Always ‘help the children’, emotional blackmail. if we knew that every single penny donated would provide relief for those affected, it would be a different story.

    4. My phone service supplier is offering free calls and texts to the Ukraine, in order that we may contact friends and family there. (Free, presumably to be added to our bills at a later date by a general tariff increase.)
      Be that as it may, does anyone have the phone number of President Zelensky?

  33. These are the people that Putin is after. These are the people committing rape and pillage. These are the people supported by the EU and Nato.

    Human rights violations and war crimes

    Reports published by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) have connected the Azov Battalion to war crimes such as mass looting, unlawful detention, and torture.[80][81]

    An OHCHR report from March 2016 stated that the organisation had

    “collected detailed information about the conduct of hostilities by

    Ukrainian armed forces and the Azov regiment in and around Shyrokyne

    (31km east of Mariupol), from the summer of 2014 to date. Mass looting

    of civilian homes was documented, as well as targeting of civilian areas

    between September 2014 and February 2015.”[80]

    Another OHCHR report documented an instance of rape and torture,

    writing: “A man with a mental disability was subject to cruel treatment,

    rape and other forms of sexual violence by 8 to 10 members of the

    ‘Azov’ and ‘Donbas’ (another Ukrainian battalion) battalions in

    August–September 2014. The victim’s health subsequently deteriorated and

    he was hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital.”[81] A report from January 2015 stated that a Donetsk Republic supporter was detained and tortured with electricity and waterboarding, which resulted in his confessing spying for pro-Russian militants.[81]

    Ideology

    Neo-Nazism

    Emblem featuring a Wolfsangel and Black Sun, two symbols associated with Nazism

    The Azov Battalion has been described as a far-right militia[32] with connections to neo-Nazism, with members wearing neo-Nazi and SS symbols and regalia and expressing neo-Nazi views.[82][83] The group’s insignia features the Wolfsangel[51][84][83][85][86] and the Black Sun,[84][87][88] two neo-Nazi symbols.

    Azov soldiers have been observed wearing Nazi-associated symbols on their uniforms.[89] In 2014, the German ZDF television network showed images of Azov fighters wearing helmets with swastika symbols and “the SS runes of Hitler’s infamous black-uniformed elite corps”.[90]

    In 2015, Marcin Ogdowski, a Polish war correspondent, gained access to

    one of Azov’s bases located in the former holiday resort Majak; Azov fighters showed to him Nazi tattoos as well as Nazi emblems on their uniforms.[91]

    Shaun Walker wrote in The Guardian

    that “many of [Azov’s] members have links with neo-Nazi groups, and

    even those who laughed off the idea that they are neo-Nazis did not give

    the most convincing denials”, citing swastika tattoos among the

    fighters and one who claimed to be a “national socialist”.[83] According to The Daily Beast, some of the group’s members are “neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and avowed anti-Semites”,[55]

    and “numerous swastika tattoos of different members and their tendency

    to go into battle with swastikas or SS insignias drawn on their helmets

    make it very difficult for other members of the group to plausibly deny

    any neo-Nazi affiliations.”[92]

    Lev Golinkin wrote in The Nation that “Post-Maidan Ukraine is the world’s only nation to have a neo-Nazi formation in its armed forces.”[93] Michael Colborne of Foreign Policy

    called it “a dangerous neo-Nazi-friendly extremist movement” with

    “global ambitions”, citing similarities between the group’s ideology and

    symbolism and that of the 2019 Christchurch mosque shooter, along with efforts by the group to recruit American right-wing extremists.[56]

    A spokesman for the unit has said “only 10–20%” of its recruits

    are neo-Nazis, with one commander attributing neo-Nazi ideology to

    misguided youth.[59] Members of the unit have stated that the inverted Wolfsangel, rather than connected to Nazism, represents the Ukrainian words for “united nation”[83][45] or “national idea” (Ukrainian: Ідея Nації, Ideya Natsii).[83][86][a]

    British political scientist Richard Sakwa writes that Azov’s founding member Andryi Biletsky, leader of the neo-Nazi Social-National Assembly

    (SNA) made statements about a “historic mission” to lead the “white

    races of the world in a final crusade for their survival … a crusade

    against the Semite-led Untermenschen”, an ideology he traces to the National Integralism of 1920s and 1930s.[94] Political scientist Ivan Katchanovski has compared the group’s ideology to that of Patriot of Ukraine,

    saying: “The SNA/PU [Patriot of Ukraine] advocates a neo-Nazi ideology

    along with ultranationalism and racism. The same applies to … members

    of the Azov battalion and many football ultras and others who serve in

    this formation.”[95]

    In June 2015, the Canadian defence minister declared that

    Canadian forces would not provide training or support to Azov Battalion.[96] In 2018, the U.S. House of Representatives

    also passed a provision blocking any training of Azov members by

    American forces, citing its neo-Nazi connections. The House had

    previously passed amendments banning support of Azov between 2014 and

    2017, but due to pressure from The Pentagon, the amendments were quietly lifted.[3][97][98] This was protested by the Simon Wiesenthal Center which stated that lifting the ban highlighted the danger of Holocaust distortion in Ukraine.[98]

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azov_Battalion#Human_rights_violations_and_war_crimes

    1. The modern Germans are so riddled with guilt that they may start to rearm, realize who they are, come to their senses and riddled with angst have a nervous breakdown and quietly drop the idea.

      1. If there is one thing that motivates the Germans, it is fear of the Russians.

        1. Even after being run by the KGB for all those years?

          Ot, is it, because they are back to ru(i)nning their own lives now

        2. And taking more land in the east. Do not trust them as history all the way back to Roman times tells us.

          1. The Silesians in Germany probably do want to go home, but apart from that, they don’t want anything to do with the Slavs.

          3. You might as well say that the British are yearning to conquer Africa, India and the US, and many anti-British people do say exactly that.

    2. It is strange, that Life went to “Hell in a Handcart” once Jimmy Krankie’s twin sister stopped running Germany

    3. Is NetZero dead in the water, or are they just carrying on with the destructive policies quietly?
      When is fracking going to start?
      When will a government have the guts to announce a new nuclear power station?
      When will the electric car fraud be over?
      When will the carbon credits fraud cease?

      I see no signs that any WEF policy is dead in the water; on the contrary, they are doubling down on them.
      Food rationing soon 🙂 dig out those ration books, NOTTLers!

    1. Gene therapy :

      If it looks like a fraud, if it smells like a fraud and if it tastes like a fraud and if they tell you you must not say it is a fraud and you are reprehensible if you do so then it probably is a fraud.

      1. What Katy Did. “I shall be an autocrat, that’s my trade and the good Lord will forgive me, that’s his”.

      2. Only trouble with that is it is false with regard to Ukraine. I posted this history a little while ago, “History of Russia (PARTS 1-5) – Rurik to Revolution.” Rurik died in 879, and you will note that all the way up to the revolution, where the documentary leave off, there is not a single reference to Ukraine because it simply didn’t exist. What Catherine conquered was the land of the Russ which was under Polish rule at the time. Rurik ruled from Novgorod and, after his death the capital was moved to Kiev but it was still Russ, not Ukraine.

        Pity that Catherine was not enlightened enough, after the conquest of Crimea, of making common cause with the Bulgarians, Greeks and other in the immediate vicinity and retake Constantinople. As it is the poor Ecumenical Patriarch, the senior Patriarch in the Orthodox Church and the oldest of all Churches in Christendom, has been left high and dry and is being slowly cut off from existence as the Turks deliberately destroy his church via the confiscation of property, murder of priests and the systematic persecution of Christians.

          1. I don’t know to be honest. I know a lot about her from reading history but I have never read a biography of her. But good question, I will ask my Aunt next time I speak to her, she’s Russian and very well informed on history.

          2. You might want to watch this though. It isn’t about Catherine but she does feature in this history of the Romanovs. I found it fascinating. 6+ hours of history. Catherine starts off the second part of the series.
            The Romanovs. The Real History of the Russian Dynasty. Episodes 1-4. StarMediaEN

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46DEVQ8UacA&t=9638s
            The Romanovs. The Real History of the Russian Dynasty. Episodes 5-8. StarMediaEN

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

          3. Don’t know, but she was definitely a large lady; I saw one of her dresses in a museum in Moscow.

        2. Christians are always being persecuted. Once it was lions and now it’s a bear.

      3. “In a matter of weeks, Russian President Vladimir Putin has gone from showcasing his nation’s culture and athletics at the Winter Olympics in Sochi to sending troops into Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. The Games captured the world’s imagination but European and North American leaders have condemned the invasion of the Crimea, comparing Putin’s actions to Soviet or Czarist style military aggression.”

        I couldn’t be arsed to read any more of this drivel after that first paragraph. If the clown writing it isn’t aware that the recent winter Olympics were held in China, not Sochi, then I’ll not waste my time reading any further.

        1. I only read the headline because it’s the same old story but then NATO wasn’t to blame.
          And anyway it’s always someone else’s fault!

    2. He’s a lot younger than I expected. There’s such mature wisdom in the cartoons. Glad I watched last night. Have been tuning in less frequently of late, as they’ve been joining in with the horribly biased warmongering. Perhaps Ofcom insists?

  38. Being a retired and essentially lazy person, I’ve seen this link before, possibly here, but never clicked on it. It’s 37minutes of accurate analysis of Putin and Russia by David Starkey. I would urge any waverers to watch it. It would be nice to think the government would too, but they are lost I fear:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he25Rl0fE1c&t=71

    2. He’s absolutely right about all he speaks on with such frankness and honesty in this. Especially the collapse of ours and generally western society.
      In a far briefer version and far less academic less knowledgeable, this is basically similar to what I have been trying to explain to friends and family. But it lessons any popularity you might have. The mass brain washing of the UK by it’s home made MSM is killing off peoples possibility of alternative views. Perhaps this is the begging of the end of sense and sensibility.
      I’ll say it again, our political classes have effed up everything they have come into contact with. Certainly millions of lives.
      And Your clock needs a wind DS.

    3. Watched it t’other day and then put it up on a couple of Tw@ter posts.

    4. Will send this to my MP. Don’t expect much to happen but unless we write to our MPs they’ll have no idea we have a view.

    5. Interesting lecture.
      However, if taken to its logical conclusion, no new countries should ever evolve. And yes, I think the west showed hubris in 1990 and aggravated the situation.
      Putin may not like it, but states have chopped and changed their borders and identities since a couple of cave dwelling families decided to band together.
      That is why I would be saddened but accept it if Scotland drifted off.

  39. No need to check your calendars; you’re too early – it really is 5th. March.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/complete-embarrassment-shock-turning-red-pushed-disney-comfort/

    ‘Complete embarrassment and shock’: how Turning Red pushed Disney out of its comfort zone

    Pixar’s latest film is one of the studio’s best – and, in tackling menstruation, its bravest. So why has it been pulled from cinemas?

    5 March 2022 • 5:00am

    “Turning Red dramatises the difficulties of adolescence

    A little over four years ago, Domee Shi was summoned by Bob Iger, Disney’s then-chief executive, to explain exactly how she was planning to spend around $200 million of the company’s cash. This would be a daunting moment for any aspiring film-maker at Pixar, but it was triply so for Shi, a then-30-year-old relative newcomer who was about to become the first woman to single-handedly direct one of the studio’s features – and whose big idea was considerably more risqué than ­talking toys.

    Her proposal centred on Meilin Lee, a 13-year-old growing up in early-noughties Toronto, who wakes one morning to find that at moments of high emotion she now transforms into a giant red panda. Mei’s coming to terms with her smelly, hairy, bulgy alter ego was, of course, a sly allegory for a teenage girl’s changes during adolescence. But rather than presenting it as such, with a subtle wink to older viewers, Shi was determined to get into the cringey specifics. This would be a film, she explained, that would break taboos around female puberty. There would be toe-­curlingly awkward mother-­daughter conversations about menstruation – even, in a bold first for the medium, digitally animated sanitary pads.

    “So,” Iger said after a pause. “It’s a period piece.”

    And an unexpectedly timely one, at that. Turning Red, which launches on Disney+ next week in more or less exactly the form Shi originally pitched, isn’t just one of the most brilliant – and perhaps the most daring – of Pixar’s 25 features to date. Its tale of youthful turmoil is also curiously attuned to the revered animation house’s own current growing pains. When Shi joined Pixar in 2011 – initially on a three-month graduate placement – their recent merger with Disney had led to a spell of creative cross-pollination. The home of Monsters Inc and WALL-E was putting the finishing touches to Brave, their own princess musical, while Disney Animation was doing the same to Wreck-It Ralph, a conspicuously Pixar-esque caper about a video-game baddie reconnecting with his sensitive side.

    But 11 years on, the two studios’ paths have once again diverged. Under Frozen director Jennifer Lee, Disney Animation has gone big on beauty, spectacle and proven talent: think Encanto, with its Lin-Manuel Miranda musical numbers and Oscar-winning directorial pedigree, or the forthcoming Strange World, about a family of explorers on a spectacular quest.

    Meanwhile, Pixar, now led by Pete Docter, director of Inside Out and Up, has tacked towards more reflective, unorthodox stories – some from artists and animators who’d yet to be trusted with a feature of their own. Soul, Docter’s own most recent film, was about a middle-aged jazz pianist wrestling with life’s inherent meaninglessness. And like the two that followed it – the gentle beachside escapade Luca, and now Turning Red – it had its cinema release cancelled at the last minute, and was abruptly shunted onto the Disney+ streaming service instead.

    Pixar’s next film, the Toy Story spin-off Lightyear, is widely expected to herald the studio’s return to cinemas this summer. But those three cancellations in 14 months – while Disney Animation’s Encanto opened in cinemas as planned – have naturally sparked speculation that internal politics were to blame.

    The decision was made “at a ­company-wide, umbrella level”, explains Lindsey Collins, Turning Red’s producer and a Pixar veteran of 25 years, who’s in London with Shi ahead of their film’s worldwide launch. “And given where Covid was in January, it was just one of those things.

    “When we found out, I asked Domee, ‘Are you bummed?’ Because this wasn’t something we had decided ourselves. But she had the healthiest perspective of all of us. She was like, ‘Well, the movies that meant the most to me growing up were the ones I could watch over and over again at home on VHS.’ ”

    “That was the format that built all my fondest memories of animation,” Shi ­continues. “Just watching it at home, rewinding to my favourite parts, pausing and trying to sketch Aladdin’s beautiful face. But, yeah. I had mixed feelings.”

    Iger, the Disney chief executive who had commissioned the film – and who once called the acquisition of Pixar his “proudest decision” – stepped down in early 2020, just before the international launch of Disney+. Did the late shift to streaming feel like a corporate rap on the knuckles from the new regime, who might look less kindly on creatively risky projects?

    Shi looks pained. “It feels like, right now, films have to be seen as an event to be in cinemas,” she says. “But I have hope that all kinds of movies will still get to be seen in theatres. You just don’t know what the market or the future holds.”

    Shi’s own cinematic debut came in 2018, when her short film Bao – about a sentient dumpling who gets eaten by its overprotective mother – was picked by Docter to play before screenings of Incredibles 2.

    Shi won an Oscar for her animated short film Bao, about a sentient dumpling

    “When I shared the idea with Pete, I didn’t even see the short being made at Pixar,” Shi recalls. “But he was always into the shocking ending – how different and quirky it was. He’s always been appreciative and supportive of all of us weird kids, maybe because he was a weird kid himself. I’m sure that Enrico [Casarosa, the director of Luca] feels the same way. It’s kind of great to have a champion in your corner when you’re pitching your stuff to, like, Disney.”

    Towards the end of a decade in which almost two-thirds of Pixar’s films had been sequels, Bao was a welcome blast of originality and cheek, and seemed to herald the arrival of an exciting new voice.

    This was all on Docter’s orders. Shi was one of a number of animators the newly promoted Pixar chief had earmarked as directors-in-waiting: Collins explains that the studio is currently in the process of getting “about six pretty exciting and impressive first-timers to the starting line” on features that have yet to be announced. Shi’s first job at the studio was on the Inside Out story team: she came up with the Imaginary Boyfriend Machine, which sits in Riley’s subconscious, pumping out tousle-haired Harry Styles lookalikes.

    It was arguably the first notable flicker of human sexual attraction in a Pixar film – and in Turning Red, much more was to follow. When work began on the film, Shi and Collins assembled an all-female leadership team – a first in the ­traditionally male-dominated world of studio animation – which Collins says encouraged a frankness around the film’s intimate themes. Mei openly drools over her fav­ourite boyband, 4*Town, and stashes amorous doodles of the teenage corner-shop assistant beneath her mattress.

    “We just wanted to be as honest as possible about what a teenage girl goes through,” Shi says. “She gets her period and gets horribly embarrassed. She goes down lusty drawing spirals under her bed. She sweatily ogles and objectifies boys with her friends.” (Like Mei, Shi is a mid-noughties Toronto kid: she was born in Chongqing, in the southwest of China, and emigrated to Canada with her parents when she was two years old.) “And the fact we were able to just sit around, this group of women, trading ­stories about all of these things in this completely matter-of-fact way really helped.”

    Would Turning Red have been possible with a mixed-sex core team? Collins is unsure. “Having been at Pixar for 25 years, sometimes I was the only woman in the room, or maybe one of two. And when you’re in a minority, you naturally shy away from raising subjects that might be too uncomfortable for the others. And this was…”

    “…definitely uncomfortable,” Shi laughs. “Even as we were building this stuff into the film, I kept wondering how male audiences were going to react. And when we showed it to Pete and Jim [Morris, the studio’s president], we got the reaction that we wanted, which was complete embarrassment and shock.”

    “And to their credit, neither of them questioned it,” Collins grins. “Though imagine how awkward it would have been for them if they had.”

    Both are clear that a film with Turning Red’s content simply couldn’t have been made before now. “Ten or 15 years ago, it wouldn’t have even been pitched,” Collins says. “We just didn’t have the kind of film-makers in-house who would have dared.”

    The shift, Shi believes, is due to two factors. One is the growing popularity in the West of Japanese anime, with its abundance of flawed and complex young female leads. (She credits the films of Studio Ghibli as a formative influence.) The other is the internet, where aspiring artists can share their work online and access valuable resources regardless of their sex. “These classic pencil tests from Bambi and The Jungle Book were suddenly just sitting on YouTube, ready to be studied,” she says. “And you can see the ripple effect in animation schools. Enrolment is over 50 per cent female now, which a decade ago was not the case.”

    “This is the tipping point moment,” Collins glows. “In fact, Domee is the tipping point.” At this, Pixar’s bright young hope looks at her shoes. “I mean, I also just enjoy shocking people,” she responds. “So maybe I’m just a little bit of a troll.”

    1. Yuk. Has she been cancelled by the men in frocks and girlies with beards yet, for suggesting that only females turn red?

    2. Sigh. Not old enough to realise that just because you can do something, it’s not necessarily a good idea to do it.

      1. I remember my grocer once saying to a lethargic Saturday junior …”And don’t you sit on the bacon slicer you’ll get behind in the orders.”

    1. Javid the Bald lookalike finally admits that THEY know; are becoming twitchy (See my earlier post re Walensky) but nevertheless keep promoting the crap. Hiding the bodies isn’t an option even if inquests and post-mortems are banned/rigged. People will learn of those dying and there will be no mechanism that will stop people talking about their experiences.

      1. They are very reluctant indeed to carry out post mortem examinations in France of people who die soon after the Covid jabs. The trouble is that the more they fail to do pms the more suspicious everybody is becoming.

  44. I haven’t checked Burnside’s maths but a quick glance and it doesn’t look too far off. Of course, instead of windmills, the government could cover over another few 10,000 of acres of prime farm land with solar panels just at the moment the threat of food shortages arises. Sums up the illogicality and futility of Johnson’s not-thought- through plans.

    https://twitter.com/BurnsideNotTosh/status/1499793100734087170

    1. I suspect he’s made the same error that many people do – taking a figure from Gridwatch for the electricity generated by wind turbines and calling it power. His 9% is the %age of the demand for electricity that is provided by wind turbines at a particular moment. As a %age of total power usage at that moment it will be a much smaller proportion.

      Annually, electricity provides us with about one fifth of our power and wind is about one fifth of that i.e. around 4%

      1. There was a really interesting Program on TV the other night about the building of the First Severn crossing opened in 1966. It has 18 thousand miles of steel cable used in the suspension part of the construction.

          2. Try and watch the programme Bob is so interesting and wait until you see how the tarmac was spread. Then Queenie arrives to open it.

    3. Reality, mathematics and common sense have nothing to do with the green zealots.

  45. Just back from a cancer-stick run for stepson who’s still in the local mental health unit.
    Wasn’t able to see him as he was in a group therapy session, whatever that is!

    1. You sit in a circle of other patients and a mediator and if you wish to discuss your problems you can.

    2. It’s where you learn it is all someone else’s fault and thus have permission to feel aggrieved for the rest of your life. Reference, Prince Harry of California and his wife Meagain.

    3. I’ve run them.
      On one notable occasion, we had a ghastly female patient who could endlessly spout the right jargon. Gawd was she self-obsessed or what! And boring as well.
      One of the male patients chucked himself on the floor and threw a tantrum.
      I had to carry on as if nothing was happening – when all the time my sympathies were with friendo writhing on floor in the middle of the circled chairs.

      2. Sounds like the Goldie Hawn part in “Death becomes her”, an excellent and, despite the title, very amusing film.

        1. 🙂
          I would have failed my finals.
          I was still a student and being judged by the ward charge nurse and a psychologist.

  47. Vladimir Putin is using the nuclear card to threaten Nato – but it must not back down. Con Coughlin.5 March 2022.

    With Putin using the nuclear card to threaten Nato, it is almost as though he is looking to recreate the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, when the US and the Soviet Union came to the brink of nuclear war.

    On that occasion, Moscow was forced to back down. Nato must do the same again now by demonstrating that it will not tolerate any attempt by the Kremlin to undermine European security.

    TOP COMMENTS BELOW THE LINE.

    Colin Nolan.
    Anyone else feel a bit concerned about the amount of posturing and virtue signalling by politicians and the media ? One false move by either side and it is WW3 with nukes.

    John Dawkins.
    The posturing is dangerous and reflects their feeling of impotence in the face of this crisis.

    John Dawkins.
    Most of our politicians have big egos and will hate how weak they look to their electorates. All they can do is spout aggressive hot air, hoping we don’t notice their impotence.

    Coughlin’s words are nothing more nor less than a call for Nuclear Armageddon. Unfortunately this time he is not alone. We are seeing something akin to the crisis of 1914 where the Stupid are Leading the Blind. We will be lucky to get out of this in one piece.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/03/04/vladimir-putin-using-nuclear-card-threaten-nato-must-not-back/

        2. He is just living up to his name

          Con: persuade (someone) to do or believe something by lying to them.

  50. Afternoon all.

    The panic buying has begun if our visit to Sainsburys is anything to go by. It was heaving. Also queues for petrol have reappeared. Armageddon anyone?

        1. So who on earth still shops in Sainsbury’s? So far to the left, I wonder they don’t fall over. Disgusting organisation.

  51. 351232+ up ticks,

    Are the herd paying to much attention to the Ukraine / Russian war at the cost of an IN DEPTH inquiry into the injuries & deaths caused by
    covid 19. ?

  53. This is Russia’s war just as much as Putin’s. 5 March 2022.

    It may well be true that thanks to blanket censorship and brutal suppression ‘most Russians’ – as they keep telling us – are Putin’s ‘dupes and hostages’. But so what? The Russians support Putin and his war in their tens of millions because it is their war.

    Russians have never been patriotic but always nationalistic – especially when communist, as the rebel left-winger George Orwell blasphemously showed in his 1946 essay ‘Notes on Nationalism’ – and thus intent not on defending their culture and country but on imposing it.

    This is a particularly nasty article even by comparison with the lies that are being told in the rest of the MSM. It attempts to demonise the Russian People much like Nazi Germany did to the Jews prior to the Holocaust.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/this-is-russia-s-war-just-as-much-as-putin-s

    1. Very worrying – and is already encouraging people to attack Russians.
      We don’t know how it looks to them, and it’s not fair to attack individuals, or force them into a position of having to condemn or defend their own government. Very inappropriate in the workplace, for example.

      1. We have seen the same propaganda with captured Russian troops. The first lot had clearly been beaten up.

      2. Hmm, reading that, BB2, makes me think you work in HR. You don’t understand the niceties nastiness of war.

    1. The medical emergency, to the extent it ever existed, is long since over. There is absolutely no justification for these emergency declarations.

      Strange how Nottlers knew that last year!

  56. Euphrosene Labon aka Wise El
    @euphrosene
    Vodka is dumped, chicken kiev is renamed but halal never is despite regular acts of Islamic terrorism against us while, sad though it is, we are not directly involved in the R-U war.

    1. My friend in GA, USA says that Chicken Kiev is still that but that bars are pouring Russian vodka down the drain- her husband disapproves of this…

        2. “I’ve cancelled my weekly delivery of caviar from Fortnum & Mason….and replaced it with daily one.”

        3. Have some lava bread, it looks and tastes the same(ish)

          Laverbread (Welsh: bara lafwr or bara lawr) is a traditional Welsh delicacy made from laver seaweed.
          To make laverbread, the seaweed is boiled for several hours, then minced or pureed.

          The gelatinous paste that results can then be sold as it is, or rolled in oatmeal; it is sometimes coated with oatmeal prior to frying.

          3. You don’t need to tel me about lavabread OLT. Been eating it since I were nobbut a lass

          1. Well, it was just for show. It all went straight in the bathroom- got to give the Jones’ something to keep up with with which to keep up up with which to keep.

        6. I considered starting a black market in Russian Vodka and Caviar. I could buy Chelsea FC !

    2. Please forward any Vodka, that you feel like dumping, to Mr Rashid

      He will send it to me!

    3. Vodka (and lager) is drunk by people who were not properly weaned.

      Grown-ups drink single malt and cask-conditioned bitter.

  58. You couldn’t make it up……
    Co-op clears Russian vodka from its shelves
    THE Co-op says it will stop selling Russian vodka as Lego and H&M joined the growing list of firms quitting their operations in Putin’s country.

  59. Russia should ‘go away and shut up’, says UK defence secretary
    This article is more than 3 years old
    Gavin Williamson was asked how Moscow should respond to spy expulsions after Salisbury attack

    Ewen MacAskill Defence correspondent
    Thu 15 Mar 2018 12.28 GMT

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/mar/15/russia-ripping-up-the-international-rule-book-says-defence-secretary

    It’s hard to believe Boris Johnson will really crack down on Putin’s cronies, when he’s just knighted one of his own
    Fri 4 Mar 2022 14.23 GMT

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/04/no-10-sir-gavin-williamson-knighthood-boris-johnson-putin-cronies

  60. Anita Anand (she of R4’s Any Answers) always sounds as though she feels she is so superior and condescending towards the shows callers shouldn’t attempt to talk ‘street’.
    She just introduced calls about the war in the East as “When Ukraine jumps, Putin says ‘How high?””

    Knob

    1. Not only superior and condescending – but bored with the views of “little people”.

      1. Not only superior and condescending – but bored with the views of “little people”.

        Who might have actually thought tings through instead of following the BBC agenda and protocol.

        1. That’s the very reason why the Bbc doesn’t bother with the views of the “little people”!

  61. Thoughts from the kitchen sink, No.67
    The word democracy has been bandied about quite a lot recently. Should it not mean that the people decide important things? We are not a democracy. The last time we asked the government to carry out the majority wishes of the people, they did not. Nor do the political parties of the UK ever implement the policies in their manifestos.The American idea of democracy is that a country should do what the USA tells it.

    1. The nearest to true democracy is the direct democracy of Switzerland. Everything else is just a sham to keep wages down and asset prices high so the already wealthy can get even wealthier. That’s pretty much the way every major western nation has been run for 40 years or more.

        1. Anyone who doesn’t sing from the same hymn sheet apparently.
          Good evening Geoffrey.

    2. …and the Russians are not our people – our family – human beings? Or do you see that differently Geoffrey, with your one-sided woolly outlook?

    3. The latest atrocity, the explosive demolition of an apartment block, trapping hundreds in the basement, was instigated by Ukrainian militia against their own people.

        1. I don’t believe so. It is though exactly what the Azov Nazi’s would do to innocents to escalate the situation. Note how it is headline news.

  63. Met Police rising to the occasion.

    The Met Police said on Friday it had launched an investigation in support of the ICC and urged people with ‘direct evidence of war crimes in Ukraine from 21 November 2013 to present.’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10578653/Will-sending-Putin-questionnaire-Met-Police-critics-scorn-forces-probe-war-crimes.html

    ‘Will you be sending Putin a questionnaire?’: Met Police critics react with scorn to news that force is launching probe into war crimes in Ukraine
    London’s Metropolitan Police launched probe of possible war crimes in Ukraine
    Critics reacted with scorn, asking if the force would send Putin a questionnaire
    It comes after PM Boris Johnson was sent a questionnaire about parties at No10
    Force ridiculed over its failure to investigate the alleged events during lockdown

    To be fair here, they are actually acknowledging that there might have been a coup and that war crimes could predate the current conflict as well.

    1. The Met to investigate War Crimes – don’t make me laugh. In Sad Dick’s London crime rises unabated by the Met Police Farce inactions.

    2. The Met can’t even monitor their own coppers! What a lot of pathetic, posturing pri**s. (Purely for alliterative purposes you understand.)

    3. It is because of war crimes, committed by Ukrainian militia, that Putin was obliged to intercede in Ukraine.

      Not sure what these events have to do with our police service. There are pressing matters requiring police investigation at home viz. Covid generated corruption in the awarding of PPE and other contracts to fraudsters and friends of Johnson and Hancock, fraudulent contracts for ineffective but dangerous ‘vaccines’, investigations into ‘vaccine’ injuries now long overdue, Partygate, honours for political favours as opposed to merit and much else.

      1. I think that was a suitable excuse, the real reason was encroachment by EU and NATO, and looking at how the Ukrainian President has operated he was correct.

        1. It occurred to me to look up at how fast a hypersonic nuclear warhead would take to hit Moscow if it was launched from Ukraine. Given that if Ukraine was a member of NATO and thus entitled to have such weapons on its soil that is a pertinent question, I think you would agree. Anyway, the answer is 5 minutes, giving the Russians no time to respond in a rational way, so one assumes they would just hit the button or, if what their electronics were telling them was in error, which did happen during the cold war, as some of you know, disaster would still strike and we would all be done for. So if Ukraine joined NATO you can see it would be game, set and match and Russia as a truly independent country would be finished. And people on here still think they are the villains when it is obvious who the belligerents are and obvious what the intent is. If this is not the intent of the West, then why do they not tell Russia that Ukraine will not be a member of NATO or the EU and will remain neutral, something they know very well would satisfy Putin.

          1. Whilst I agree with your analysis, launching such a thing from pretty much any NATO state in Europe would only differ by seconds in its time to Moscow.

          2. True but the Russian obviously regard Ukraine as the line in the sand that NATO shall not cross. I have no doubt that there is an element of irrationality in that because of their perception of Ukraine not really being a foreign country. I think the West knows that and has deliberately played on that. It’s almost as if the West was saying, ‘lets rub it in their faces and humiliate them’ but they miscalculated the reaction. I honestly think that the West actually thought they would get away with it. And I think in his hatred for Russia and, in that, a convenient tool for the West, Zelenskyy thought he could get away with it as well.

        2. Russia perceives NATO as an offensive operation because it permits the arming of its adjoining countries with nuclear weapons.

          As others have noted the UK no longer retains significant armed forces or necessary equipment to be taken seriously. No amount of embarrassing and strident bombast by the head girl pretending to be Foreign Secretary or the ignorant infantile utterances of the recently knighted dolt cuts it with Putin.

          Putin has the armed forces, the weapons and the monetary resources to carry a threat. We do not and neither do Germany, France or Italy.

          Without American funding NATO would be no more as other countries have never made appropriate contributions for the promised protection they have enjoyed. Trump knew this and stated the fact. When push comes to shove you need armed forces and weapons; reliance on supposed international treaties has been found wanting yet again.

    1. Sadly most commentary that I’ve seen reckons that Paul Pelosi did nothing wrong [although I suspect they would say that] and had to exercise his options before they time expired. I suspect that whatever the actual truth she’ll get away with it, just like other well known American families!

    2. But she has been doing that for years and any reasonably well informed person knows that. So what makes me curious is why now?

      1. I have noticed of late that Nancy Pelosi is acting strangely, at one instance she is babbling incoherently as though on drugs or alcohol, at the next making strange hand gesticulations and enthusiastically clapping the utter rubbish espoused by Biden.

        Some in the Democrat elite might be jockeying to succeed the deranged old bat.

  67. As Geoffrey Woollard is becoming even more hysterical in his posts and quoting the BBC and at the same time disregarding anything that contradicts his set concrete view of the world………………..Cocktail lounge beckons. I shall insist on Russian Vodka !

    1. Hi Pip! I was given the advice to ignore him yesterday so that is what I’m doing. Perhaps he will get bored and P off if we all ignore him.

      1. Hamlet’s last words:

        The rest is silence.

        You are right – he is best ignored.

    2. Some years ago he left Nottlers in a huff saying how rude and nasty everyone was to him. I know I always tried to be polite to him and I felt sorry that an old man had been upset. Indeed I voiced the opinion that we should not drive decent people away from our forum just because we disagreed with them and that we should always try to remain polite.

      I am afraid I have lost all sympathy for him. He spouts ill thought-out ideas and is extremely offensive to other Nottlers. He admits that he wants to annoy and provoke us but he does not do so in a spirit of cheerful fun – he does it in a spirit of small-minded and petty spitefulness.

      1. He is a classic Remainiac. Simply refuses to concede that there may be another side to any question.

        I loathe what Putin is doing – but I can understand why. Ukraine is not guilt free. Thus, Woollard would label me a “Putin apologist”.

        1. I’ve blocked him. I may relent at some point but for the time being it’s best to remove the temptation to either respond or downvote.

  68. Well folks, I am going to brave the body strewn aisles of Asda – must be done as we need some goodies. Plus, for once, the weather is benign. Wish me luck…..

  70. I remember my parents quoting some of the lines in this over 40 years ago. I can certainly identify with most of it and I expect some of my Nottler friends can too:

    Just a line to say I’m living,
    That I’m not amongst the dead,
    Though I’m getting more forgetful,
    And mixed up in the head.

    I’ve got used to my arthritis,
    To my dentures I’m resigned,
    I can cope with my bifocals,
    But Lord I miss my mind.

    Sometimes I can’t remember,
    When I’m standing by the stairs,
    If I should be going up for something,
    Or have I just come down from there?

    And before the fridge so often,
    My mind is full of doubt,
    Now did I just put some food away,
    Or come to take some out?

    If it’s not my turn to write dear,
    I hope you won’t get sore,
    I may think I have written,
    And don’t want to be a bore.

    So remember I do love you,
    And wish that you lived near,
    And now it’s time to mail this,
    And to say goodbye my dear.

    At last I stand beside the mailbox,
    And my face – it sure is red,
    Instead of posting this to you –
    I’ve opened it instead!

    1. My mum would love this – in fact she probably had a copy. Right up her street, as the saying goes.

  71. This is an analysis of the Ukraine situation by Scott Ritter that I nicked off the comment section of TCW. No surprises, but pretty depressing with regard to the near future.
    Near the end, he says that a Chinese ambassador said that “China would probably go to war with the US over Taiwan” and he points out that Russia will have been aware of that when they made their pre-Ukraine agreement.
    Throwing Russia into the arms of China was about the most stupid thing that the West could have done.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNtxriq0O0A&t=3204s&ab_channel=MilenkoNedelkovski

      1. As they say in the Southampton stands
        “Ah well, some you lose, some you draw”

    2. There’s a sad degree of irony that Putin saw a weak, limited and dependent West and took advantage of it.

      Perhaps there’s an opportunity to learn from this and get off our knees and back into competing in the world with a low tax, small state, limited economy, independent energy supplies and a strong military.

      The Left have made us weak – just as we were before Hitler’s invasion of Poland (notably with Russia’s help back then as well)

        1. I’ve humped heavy boxes up and down stairs all day long. I’m tired and peed off, I’ve run out of space and not eating properly due to, I think, the stress of it all.

          For me, I think I’m doing quite well!

          1. Exactly two years ago, the MR and I were in that situation. Emptying a house after 38 years; filling boxes for the removers; trying to dispose of useful stuff to charities etc – then the effing plague struck and we couldn’t go to the bin without a piece of paper signed and dated. I am 99.9% certain that my illness i July/Aug 2020 was due to the effects of stress and anxiety.

            I did find that a large glass of something alcoholic helped – if that is a useful tip…

          2. Well taken Bill, and sorry to hear that. I was determined not to use the move as a chance to ‘get rid of stuff’ I’ve treasured (cough, kept cough) but when I began packing things I hadn’t read for years it just seemed silly.

            The war queen is trying to empty her office of everything not essential. She’s managed a pen.

          3. The better news is that the NHS (clap) did save my life. (Of course others may wish that they had been less successful!!)

            KBO.

          4. It’s hateful; I lost two stone in weight the last two years mainly because of stress and anxiety. Or so I thought at the time…

          6. I rescheduled until 8th because I was so exhausted and MH had had a dreadful night. Planning a quiet weekend to gather strength. Gawd, what a bloody wimp I sound;-))

          7. Not at all. We are pathetically grateful for the carp weather as it gives us an excuse to veg out.

          8. No, you don’t, not at all. It’s bally difficult getting through a day soemtimes.

          1. I have told you about selfies. Just because you have a snap of yourself in Land Army outfit…..

      2. Normally I do; however, on this occasion I omitted the lemon for a teaspoonful of my home-made vanilla essence.

        [I placed five split vanilla pods into a small bottle of vodka just over a year ago. It is now sensational and much cheaper than the inferior bought stuff.]

    3. I really miss a caraway seed cake; haven’t had one for – oh – over 40 years!

      1. Thanks for reminding me. I obtained some caraway seeds at the end of last year [I used some to flavour some home-made snaps (aquavit)]. I’ll now use the rest to make a cake.

        2. I really love Simnel cake , and I haven’t tasted a decent one since I was a girl .

          There used to be a Dutch or German cafe in Swanage , the owners made some really unusual and delicious cakes , one in particular was a poppyseed cake .. light and unusual and very morish . Sadly the cafe closed and they went back to Europe .

          1. Before the children were born, we visited Swanage on a camping holiday with friends and most afternoons we would go to a German cafe for the most delicious chocolate cake….I suspect it was what we now call Black Forest cake, I wonder if that was the same place? How long ago was it there, can you recall?

      2. It is almost picnic season again, and time to get out the tartan cloth and pass round the ginger beer. No picnic is complete without a cake in a cake tin, and seed cake fits the bill for being light yet capable of travelling without coming to grief. This delightfully understated cake would probably have disappeared for good had it not been for St John, Clerkenwell’s enduring restaurant and bakery, which has it on the menu for a mid-morning nibble with a glass of Madeira.

        The recipe
        Cream 120g each of butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in 3 large eggs, then, when well mixed, add 1 tsp caraway seeds, 170g self-raising flour, 50g ground almonds and 2 tbsp milk. Scrape into a paper-lined loaf tin (20cm x 9cm x 7cm measured across the base) with a rubber spatula and bake for an hour at 160C/gas mark 3.

        The trick
        Cast aside all thoughts of generosity or the more the merrier. A pleasing seed cake is about how few seeds you add rather than how many. A pinch or two is all you need to flavour an entire cake. Caraway seeds are particularly pervasive, and too many will introduce a medicinal, musty quality to your baking.

        The twist
        Whatever embellishment you bring to this recipe will change its nature and therefore its name. It is something to be left alone. But seed cake is a very fine base for a trifle, the sponge having just the right texture for soaking up sherry or Madeira, and is firm enough to carry syllabub, fruit and cream on its shoulders. If you must gild this lily, then a gossamer-thin trickle of lemon icing running cutely down the sides is probably as far as you could go without being disrespectful.

        Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk or visit theguardian.com/profile/nigelslater for all his recipes in one place

        1. Thanks for that, Maggie, I’ll save it.

          When I used my caraway seeds to flavour my snaps (Swedish for schnapps) I noticed a familiar flavour from my childhood. I was astounded to remember it was the flavour of Nurse Harvey’s Mixture (gripe water) from my — and my four siblings’ — infancy. Gripe water is flavoured with caraway seeds, I never knew that!

          3. Neither, Paul. I just use Caraway seeds whole. Cumin seeds, on the other hand, though related, are quite different. I always toast and grind them when I use them in curries and dhals.

      3. I believe Ms Doris Day sang:
        ‘A beautiful sky, a wonderful day
        Seed caraway, Seed caraway, Seed caraway…’

      1. My mummy wouldn’t let me eat outside the house (apart from ice cream at the seaside).
        I may be pushy, but I ain’t common.

        3. Same here. Eating in the street was strictly verboten. I still can’t do it today, unless I’m sitting in a park, or as you say, at the seaside with an ice cream.

          1. I have never felt inclined to eat in the street! I still don’t!

            I never drink ‘coffee house’ coffee – nor carry it in the street.

            I have a (half litre) cafetierre of Tesco ‘French inspired’ ground coffee about midday …

  76. 10 boxes moved today and my storage unit is full. Certainly it’s getting harder to move stuff in without cutting myself to ribbons.

    Annoyingly – because it was never intended to be full time – I have only 25 square feet. 100 square feet costs only twice as much. We’re struggling to pack more (as we’re got to live here and do maintenance) without moving it out either on the same day or near as.

    I’ll admit, it’s getting to me a bit. The whole plan of buying somewhere and doing it up was always daft, as neither of us have the time or the ability.Finding out there’s a host of things we can’t do (because of the nature of the walls), coupled with the moron in Downing Street’s policies) we will have difficulty selling in the time it’d take us to do the work. It’s just annoying me, and all we’re doing is packing.

  77. HAPPY HOUR – Feeling anxious and losing sleep NoTTlers?

    You’re not alone. Science says this ancient herb could help… https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7e4d8f875678a74db8b39a2ca76811d2e4650adc6b76c3582556c2e20df5fef6.jpg

    Known as the ‘prince of herbs’, ashwagandha has been prized as a treatment for general health and wellbeing in the traditional Indian practice of Ayurveda for thousands of years.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10552045/Feeling-anxious-losing-sleep-Science-says-thisancient-herb-help.html

    Thanks ….I’ll stick with the sherry…..

    5. Prosecco / brandy cocktails with spicy prawns from Thailand or Vietnam for starters.
      Later, Hardy’s Crest Shiraz with dinner …

    1. Umm… a virus that triggers the immune response to attack another ailment is sort of the ideal for cancers.

      The research sounds dubious, but it’s been going on for some time.

  79. Gawd know when this filmed, but MB has a Tina Turner concert on the box.
    Wowsers!!! Fun …. I can just about remember that.

      1. We saw her in Ipswich.
        Just seen the credits – it was a concert in Barcelona.
        Edit: Spartie is absolutely riveted.

      2. I managed to see a concert for free at Wembly Arena c1991/2 – flatmate’s boyfriend worked for the security team and needed extra stewards 😀

  80. “You’re Simply The Best …….!!!!!”

    (‘Scuse me, I’m gettin’ a bit carried away.)

  81. Wine o’clock has just struck. So I am away. Miserable day – rain and cold wind all day. Cats furious. Started new puzzle – “The Rosetta Stone” – a nightmare. I don’t read Greek, Arabic or hieroglyphs… It’ll take ages!

    Have a spiffing evening being relaxed.

    A demain.

      1. Multi-talented – though the pieces tend to get blood-stained if they tackle the puzzle after hunting.

  82. I joked about the body strewn aisles of Asda….got there and there was a manager keeping out a small group of lads, about 14 I would guess, who were trying to get into the store and were kicking a football around. They must have previous as when the centre security guy turned up, they greeted him by name. Not that it really matters but they were not white.
    Then, when I was waiting for my cab a security alert went off….Please evacuate this area- blah, blah. The fear thingy has been overdone because no-one paid any attention. ‘Cept me because I thought they might shut off the parking lot and my cab wouldn’t reach me. All is well.

    1. My nearest supermarket is an Asda. It is a magnet for the great unwashed. There is a traveller caravan site less than a mile from it so you can imagine how that helps.

      I’ll only shop in Asda when I need things in tins or jars. The fresh stuff doesn’t last more than two days before turning.

      I find the whole shop a tease – every shelf reminds you of what you might have bought if you’d gone to a decent shop

      1. Try Morrisons – if there is one. Over the last two years, we have been very agreeably surprised.

        1. There aren’t any Morrissons round ‘ere. I’ve only ever been in two – one in Banbury, which was excellent, and the other in Swindon, which was dreadful. I was surprised at the inconsistency.

          1. As I have said many times, Bill takes more encores than Dame Edna;-))

            Sorry Bill;-)

      2. I’ve had good luck with most things in our local and it’s our closest supermarket too. Sainsbury’s has gone right off so we don’t go there anymore.

        1. Sainsbury’s has by far and away the best fresh fruit juice aisle. Aisle (see what I did there?) make a trip just to get some of their mixed apple and pear juice.

        2. We’ve just converted all our Avios to Nectar and will shop mostly at Sainsbury’s until they’re gone.

      3. Asda is good for baking stuff. Their own brand flour is excellent.
        And their posh sausages are v. good.

    2. I once asked a member of staff stacking trolleys what ASDA stood for. Without a missing a beat he answered:

      Another Shit Day Ahead

      1. All the staff in our local are very nice and helpful. I always do my best to be polite and cheerful- even if I don’t feel like it.

        1. This chap was perfectly pleasant. He just obviously did not think much of his employer.

          It drove me to go and look it up: Associated Dairies. Who’d of thunk it?

          2. Maybe – but it seems to have started as a milkman.

            And Tesco was named after Mr. Cohen’s wife, Tessie.

            Sainsbury’s is just boring.

          3. Super-rich brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa
            own Asda, but also own thousands of petrol stations through their
            company, EG Group, along with investment firm TDR Capital. EG Group owns
            6,000 forecourts, as well as various fast food brands in Europe and the
            US.

    1. You mean Tanita ‘I want to be Joan Armatrading’ Tikaram?
      That Tanita Tikaram?

        1. D’ya know what, Grizz? Neither did I. I’ve just realised I was thinking of Tracy Chapman 😳 .

    2. I “inherited” a sister after her parents died and we were her only living relatives.
      She played oboe for the UK NYO and practised in the early morning.
      The first time I heard her I was woken by it and set off to berate her.
      I didn’t get down the corridor before I was entranced.
      A wonderful sound indeed.

          3. It’s not my favourite instrument, but when my “sister” played it, it was wonderful.
            The music with the pictures was good.
            Thank you.

  85. Different rules for the corps d’elite and the hoi polloi.
    Yer Rooskies are being banned from elite sporting competitions, meanwhile, at Covent Garden…

    “Earlier, The Royal Ballet’s Russian principal Vadim Muntagirov had announced in his Instagram feed that he was dedicating his performance as Siegfried to the people of Ukraine, adding he was praying for peace.”

  86. Another irritating title from the graf:
    It should read: Russia has realised that if Ukraine falls to Europe it is next.

      1. … true but it is run by people who could not give a flying fornication about what the people need – as we saw with Brexit, CoViD etc. Its apparatchiks draw their big salaries with benefits whether we queue for bread or not.
        And it was set up by the US for the US, so I really do not think it will take any decisions for any other interest.

        1. Europe will buy from America at exorbitant cost and go cold and they will say “Thank you sir, may I have another.”

        1. Punctuation famously changes the meaning:

          “Eats shoots and leaves …”
          “Eats, shoots and leaves …”

          11. Punctuation famously changes the meaning:

            A wordle?

            that that is is that that is not is not is that not so

            That, that is ,is. That, that is not, is not. Is that not so?

          12. In an exam John whereas Mary had had had had had had had had had had had the examiner’s approval.

            In an exam, John, whereas Mary had had “had” had, had “had had”. “Had had” had had the examiner’s approval.

          13. Or,

            In an exam,

            Mary, had had “had.”

            Had Had, had “had had.”

            Had Had, with “had had,” had had the examiner’s approval.

    3. I have not seen the ‘graph title’, nor have a reference, LIM.

      Your suggested title is ambiguous …

  88. I don’t think that B-52 bombers are normally stationed in the UK. I may be corrected. However B-52s have been “on exercise” here in the last week. Apparently, they have been spotted in Europe near the border of the Ukraine. This is, of course yet another provocation of Russia.
    If the West were to be destroyed in a nuclear war, devastated from the Urals to Limerick, would that not simply bring forward the plans of the NWO? Putting it another way, is that what is now planned by the puppeteers?

    1. WHO knows (see what I did there?), the stupid bastards of the NWO think that they will survive it, little realising that their wealth will be useless and that only the most vicious, hardest robbers, who can feed their followers, will triumph. And offering private jet flights and money won’t get them anywhere. They will be slaughtered.

    2. No, there would be nothing left for a NWO to control!
      Destruction would not be confined to only the west.

    3. A brace of B-52s (nuclear armed?) were ‘buzzing’ ‘ the western border of Ukraine, earlier today (Sat 5 March).

      Following a dangerous attack, Russia now controls the key Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

      Mr Putin stated (Friday 4 Mach): “Western sanctions on Russia were akin to a declaration of war.”

      Will historians ever agree on the date of the outbreak of WWIII?

      1. There were two of them cruising a safe distance from the Ukranian border for many hours yesterday. Flightradar also reports a unmanned reconnaissance plane on a continuous circuit in the same area.

        Are they really there? As pointed out yesterday, it is strange for military aircraft to be advertising their presence.

  89. I emailed Neil Oliver’s show tonight about a misspelling…English teachers never give up;-) Any of you also notice, assuming you were watching.
    He didn’t read it… grrr.

      1. Broach instead of brooch which is an ornament worn on clothing. Broach means something entirely different.

        1. Indeed.
          Broach can be a verb as well as a noun.
          Complicated stuff, English! :-D)

          3. It just bloody annoys me and MH when people are paid to write or post stuff that hasn’t been proof read or checked for facts. Of course, you can’t let facts get in the way of a good story.
            I always try to proof read everything I post here and elsewhere but we are human and, as such, make errors.

          4. I have trouble with my iPad as E comes out as 3 and T as 5 some times. Only since one of the updates.

          5. Not talking about the folk here, Grumps, but the people who should know what to do. They are paid for it FFS. I am always correcting myself and, if you change keyboards, yikes. For example, I have corrected “typos” in this post alone several times.
            And no, the Pinot didn’t have any effect……Hic what was I saying?

          6. Solved my problem with Settings > General > Keyboard > Enable Key Flicks = “Off”.

          7. My worst typos come when I’m typing on a foreign (French or Czech) keyboard. The layouts are different and I touch type 🙁

          8. I think that it was a Dutch keyboard that really caught me out. I was editing some code and couldn’t find some needed special characters.

            Looks good when you are charging $5,000 a day and you cannot even type.

          9. If you have this problem as well, here’s how to correct it.
            Settings > General > Keyboard > Enable Key Flicks = “Off”.

          10. Do they even have prof readers and sub editors any more? Bash it into the keyboard and allow the software to fix spelling and syntax errors and you will get text that is good enough for most people.

            To think that father in law was chief sub on a national newspaper, he would be horrified by today’s standards.

            I suppose that I should be the last one to comment with my frequent autocorrect errors!

          11. We all make typos- but it is unforgivable when it comes down to teaching English and wot is writ in the papers these days. I confess to being somewhat out of practice and I have been teaching in the US for many years- but I do know what is correct and I was known as the spelling guru in all the schools I have taught in.

          12. I would imagine that spelling guru is not what they called you behind your back,

            One of my managers was obsessed with spellin. I could load a report with a few well placed spelling errors, he would find them and then not bother with questioning the content.

          13. When one is an English teacher and librarian it doesn’t quite work that way. I know it does in your area of work as it did in my ex’s and MH’s former employment.

          15. Good to see, LotL, somebody using commas in the right places and indeed, punctuation.

          16. Thanks Tom, if may be so familiar? Poor punctuation has always annoyed me- spelling also but I do take into account on sites such as this that there may be other issues that create poor spellings & etc.
            I am struggling myself these days to keep up, which worries me somewhat as I am only 68 ::-(

          17. Familiar here is good, as I see NoTTLers as one big family.

            I believe Ann is the correct name for you and LotL just a soubriquet, if I may return familiarity

          18. So you’re saying (© Cathy Newman), Herr Oberst, that you are planning to join the Klu Klux Klan? Lol.

          19. Broach? What a helmsmen shouldn’t do …

            Better to broach a subject – or a drink?

    2. I always think The word “swathe” is mis-spelled. And lots of other words, too numerous to mention. But swath looks so wrong to me.

      1. Swath and it’s short syllable pronunciation is American.

        We cut a delightful swathe (with a long a) through fields of corn with a sycthe.

        1. Yes. Every time I’ve seen it recently it’s been the American spelling but, she says, jumping on the latest bandwagon, it offends me! 😂😂😂 How do they pronounce swath? Doesn’t make sense.

    1. Wonder why they painted the underside in green cammo – or was it supposed to be like battleship dazzle paint?

      1. We have a small sparrow sized bird that appears to be upside down,

        The Junko is dark grey on top, white underneath. This strange mix means that it can be clearly seen when it is walking around on the snow and equally visible from underneath when seen against Grey clouds.

          2. That’s Rolls-Royce colours, to whom it now belongs.

            I don’t know if they still do it but it used to fly every Thursday, around lunchtime from Filton (Bristol).

          5. I was saddened to see that Filton airfield has been closed and is now being built over. Why the Foxtrot it was never used as Bristol Airport I don’t know!

      1. Websaw it on its last flight as it passed over the Borders. We had gone to Swinton Mill to wait for it and it passed overhead. Wonderful.

      2. As I have said before, when I was a lowly 19 yearr old apprentice at RNAS Lossiemouth, in the early ’60’s,

        a V bomber was ‘dispersed,’ there over nighy
        My task, as part of ‘The Duty Watch’ was to guard it, overnight, 2 hours on 2 hours off: I was well armed, with a pick handle.
        It was not stolen, I still value the letter the Queen sent for my bravery, in fact, all the Watch reeived one

    5. I was in the Cold War Hangar at RAF Museum Cosford this morning – the V bombers were big beasts!

    6. We stopped work at RAF St Athan when they were taking off and had a fag break just to watch ’em. Like an earth tremor.

        1. I was at the training centre. Went to Coningsby after that, Phantoms with 6 Squadron.

  92. That was a very pleasant evening.
    Lawrence of Arabia followed by The Inn of the Sixth Happiness.
    Two films I enjoy again and again.

    1. I saw Gladys Aylwood (?) in person once at a Girls Brigade Jamboree at the Albert Hall. Was up in the gods but she came onto the stage and got a standing ovation. She really was a little lady but with a huge heart.

      1. Gladys May Aylward, 1902 – 1970. Passed away a few weeks short of her 68th birthday.

        1. So I did get her surname sort of right. I feel it was a living link with history.
          Thanks Tim.

    2. Recently watched LoA, but The Inn of the 6th Happiness not for 40 years. Will have a look..

  93. Evening, all. Am I the only one to be sick of the sound of “Ukraine”? They were all over it on the racing this afternoon – the BHA has renamed a race about donating to it, any blue and yellow colours got a Ukraine mention. I’m finding it a right turn off.

    1. We don don’t hear much about covid any more though do we?

      Edited to fix typo ‘cos some English teacher is having a go about spelling.

          1. He should have been. He has more right to it than the EU (and O’Barmy) getting the Peace Prize!

    2. Tempting to add the Russian Imperial flag – the one with the eagles – to my Facebook profile. D’you think I’d get away with it?

        1. No. Only on-air “talent” and even then chiefly because if there is anything considered untoward, someone is bound to find and weaponise it.

      2. Most Facebook experts wouldn’t recognize it but it would just take one before woke wrath came down.

    3. Which is why I have my headphones in and am listening to Bach! Enough is enough.

    4. At the hairdressers yesterday, when I went to pay by credit card, I was asked if I wanted to add £1 towards the Ukraine fund!

      1. Do they really? Or do they just know that nasty N@zi Putin is knocking poor plucky Ukraine about and it’s somewhere near the USSR (I know that no longer exists, but do the general public)?

      2. Glad you wrote “a larger proportion”, AA. Sleepy Joe thinks it is in Iran (see his State of the Nation speech).

      1. My thought exactly. At church this morning one of the choir (a leftie remainer who’d been on a “vigil” for the Ukraine) was going on about how we should give half the collection to Ukraine “because what they need is money, not food and clothing”. After I’d pointed out that people who put money on the plate give it for the upkeep of the church (if they had a regular giving envelope) and to use that for other purposes was misleading because people should know what they were donating to, my thought was that money is easily misappropriated.

          1. Thank you. I was incensed, to be honest. I make a donation to help keep the church going, not to have some virtue-signaller take half of it to give away abroad. I have the government to do that with my taxes! The assumption seems to be (spelled out by Matt Chapman on Saturday in the Opening Show) that there is not one person who would object to all the hysteria (my words, not his!) about the Ukraine. He’d lose his bet, because I, for one, object strongly.

  94. A brief flying visit, I’ve been busy most of the day setting up the new laptop and catching up on the book, accounts and medication.

    So I shall bid you all Goodnight and may God bless you, one and all.

  95. If you haven’t listened to this- well worth a listen. The John Wilson Orchestra at the Proms. Kiss me Kate but especially the Brush up your Shakespeare performed by Michael Jibson and James Doherty. Quite simply superb.

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