Friday 18 March: Russia’s difficulties disguise the failure of the West to defend Ukraine

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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565 thoughts on “Friday 18 March: Russia’s difficulties disguise the failure of the West to defend Ukraine”

        1. I’ll box your ears, Herr Oberst, if you keep on casting aspersions like that. :-))

      1. If all else fails in politics try adultery!

        It worked for Boris Johnson and Truss hoped it would work for her!

  6. Biden is right: the crypto world needs to be controlled. 19 March 2022.

    Let’s talk fertiliser. Broadly speaking, and allowing for weather, the more you spread, the better your crops will be – and it’s thanks to nitrogen-based fertilisers that the planet is able to feed eight billion humans. But fertiliser prices more than doubled in the six months before the war, driven by the cost of gas used in manufacturing. And now supplies from Russia – which controls 30 to 40 per cent of world markets for ingredients such as ammonia, nitrogen and phosphorus – are impeded because western ships won’t take Russian cargoes and western ports won’t admit Russian ships.

    Combine all that with the interruption of grain exports from Ukraine and – even with good spring harvests elsewhere – expect bread prices to soar, poor populations to go hungry and unrest to erupt as it did in the Arab Spring. As for the UK, we import at least 60 per cent of the fertiliser we need, at the mercy of global prices: one reason (alongside a general lack of respect for farmers from both consumers and politicians) why our food security is as weak as our energy security.

    I suspect that it will eventually turn out that while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a miscalculation on their part, that the response to it by the West was an utter disaster. It has already destroyed the credibility of the dollar as the World’s Reserve Currency; the oil and gas embargo has jacked up prices to unprecedented levels and left us; as can be seen with Johnson’s visit to the Saudi’s, at the mercy of people who really do hate us! Despite the talk of sanctions it is we who have cut ourselves off from the cheapest raw materials on the planet. The destruction of the Russian economy will not benefit us in any way either since they will simply turn to China, India and the rest of the unaligned East.

    It is inconceivable that our forefathers would have taken such a course. Ukraine is in the nature of things an unimportant country that nine tenths of the population would have been unable to find on a map only four weeks ago. Now here we are threatening Nuclear War in its defence. This is the Stuff of Madness. The typical response of an emotional elite unable to comprehend the realities of Geopolitics. The attempt to glue net-zero to this fiasco just another symptom of their lack of grasp. We are entering Dark Times and when this is finished the world will be utterly changed and not for the better.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/biden-is-right-the-crypto-world-needs-to-be-controlled

  8. SIR – To stand by and watch murder committed day after day without doing all one can to resist evil is to be complicit in murder. Impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, now.

    Rev Jonathan Martin
    Poole, Dorset

    OK Bozo. We’ll put you in the cockpit of the RAF’s lead Sopwith Camel and you’ll be meeting St Peter sooner than you expected.

    1. I wonder where his outrage was at the attacks on the Donbas region that killed 14,000 over the past 8 years?

    2. Tell you what Rev, you stick to [or in the case of the CofE get back to] looking after Christianity and leave military issues to those who have some vague idea about them [which admittedly precludes most of our government] and the possible outcomes of such stupidity.

  10. SIR – The release is good news for all. But at what point did “a ransom demand that we shall not accept” become “a debt due and which we (the British Government) must honour”?

    Trevor Watts
    West Chiltington, West Sussex

    That happened soon after BoJo became PM having written a silly and injudicious article in the DT for ££ which had undermined HMG’s and Nazanin Z-R’s case. Gormless buffoon.

  11. Good morning all.
    Another clear start with a very light frost from the -1°C outside.

    May not be on for long, this PC is on it’s last legs. Currently doing a file backup of my photos & documents before doing a Windows reload.

  13. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    SIR – The release is good news for all. But at what point did “a ransom demand that we shall not accept” become “a debt due and which we (the British Government) must honour”?

    Trevor Watts
    West Chiltington, West Sussex

    SIR – The news of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori’s release from Iran is, of course, good news for them, their families and for the public in general.

    However, perhaps we should take with a healthy pinch of salt any future claims by the British Government that it “doesn’t negotiate with terrorists” and “doesn’t pay ransoms”.

    If it turns out that part of the hidden cost of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Mr Ashoori’s freedom should be the lifting of sanctions designed to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power, then I suspect several million Israelis (both Jew and Arab) and Palestinian residents of the Occupied Territories and Gaza, will sleep less well in 
their beds.

    Brian Gedalla
    London N3

  15. The NYT Now Admits The Biden Laptop – Falsely Called “Russian Disinformation” – Is Authentic
    Tyler Durden’s Photo
    BY TYLER DURDEN
    THURSDAY, MAR 17, 2022 – 06:45 PM
    Authored by Glenn Greenwald via greenwald.substack.com,

    One of the most successful disinformation campaigns in modern American electoral history occurred in the weeks prior to the 2020 presidential election. On October 14, 2020 — less than three weeks before Americans were set to vote — the nation’s oldest newspaper, The New York Post, began publishing a series of reports about the business dealings of the Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, in countries in which Biden, as Vice President, wielded considerable influence (including Ukraine and China) and would again if elected president.
    *
    *
    *
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/nyt-now-admits-biden-laptop-falsely-called-russian-disinformation-authentic

    1. Why are the politicians and the MSM remotely surprised that nobody believes a word they say and why do they expect us to do so?

      1. Trouble is, Richard, that there are too many, unthinking fools, who DO believe the fake news and lies.

  16. 351486 = up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Friday 18 March: Russia’s difficulties disguise the failure of the West to defend Ukraine

    Can we break that down a bit as in , the governing odious three party cartel lab/lib/con coalition have succeeded in their long running ( near four decades) failure to defend the United Kingdom.

    This has been as clearly seen ,orchestrated by the politico’s and given backing via the electorate majority over the near four decades time span.

    The electorate still has some paint remaining and one door less
    corner ( without a mosque on it ) beckons to complete handing over this Nation to parliamentary foreign bodies.

    1. At least two weeks ago, I read that Putin’s strategy was to surround the major cities of Ukraine and thus cut them off in order to minimise civilian casualties. According to what I read yesterday, so far only 1000 civilians have been killed as opposed to 14,000 killed by Ukrainians in the Donbass from indiscriminate shelling. In short, his troops are not “bogged down” they are doing exactly what they intended and, of course it is a slow process if that is their strategy.

      By the way, are people aware of the large Russian fleet of battleships and landing ships that are on the way to Odessa.

  17. SIR – Now that BBC arts criticism has descended to “Wow … amazing!” (Arts, March 17), can I just say how grateful I am to your critics for saving me from wasting countless hours watching hopeless films and television shows.

    Each time I ignore a review, I wish I had read a good book instead.

    Mark Solon
    London E1

    Why read them then? In my view such reviews are very subjective and usually not worth the paper they are printed on.

    1. Often written by people with no idea of what constitutes actual talent. Noticed this decades ago in my own field; sang in an Aida and one review marvelled at the acrobats in the Triumphal March and forgot to mention the singers 🙄

  18. How Putin’s phoney war on woke fooled the populist Right – and Left. 18 March 2022.

    For years now, he has been attacking what he calls the “new ethics” of the West. In a pre-Christmas phone in, he came to the defence of JK Rowling. Surely she’s right to call a woman a woman, Putin said: isn’t it absurd that “a man declares himself a woman and performs, say, in weightlifting! Women’s sports will cease to exist altogether!” Russia, he said, rejects all such nonsense. It will defend traditional Christian values on family and the nation state – values, he said, that are under attack from politically-correct ideology.

    TOP COMMENT BELOW THE LINE.

    Adam Hill.

    Whatever you say about Putin, as an objective observer of the West he is correct. The West is weak and its weakness, which is wokeness, is obvious to all.

    You don’t have to be a Putin supporter to see this.

    You can be against Putin and against the woke nonsense.

    Well at least he’s put up some sort of fight, as Mr Hill notes, which is more than you can say about the West’s leaders!

    One of the most interesting aspects of the present situation is that despite the dozens of propaganda articles dissing Putin it appears to have had; so far as I can discern, no effect on Intelligent Public Opinion. The people on the Spectators threads are largely unmoved in their views and I listen in vain for sounds of public disapprobation from my Bus Stop focus group who seem to be unaware that there is even a war going on! This is so remarkable that I resorted to prodding them yesterday, only to learn that none of them would admit to even watching the News! My own views are largely unchanged. Despite being possible collateral damage I have never regarded Vlad as a threat to either myself or the UK. I cannot say the same about Westminster who I am pretty certain are the enemies of us all !

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2022/03/17/putins-phoney-war-woke-fooled-populist-right-left/

    1. Why do they think Putin’s criticism of Western weakness is phony?
      (well, obviously they don’t “think” at all, they just write Putin bad)

      The acid test will be to see what Putin does with Ukraine’s about to be launched social credit system, and whether he accepts the universal digital id for Russian people.

  19. SIR – I worked for some of the large telecommunications companies and ran my own small business for 18 years. The axing of landlines (Letters, March 17) comes about due to changes in technology: they are connected over copper wires to equipment that is more than 30 years old, and operating on principles fundamentally different from the way the internet works. So they are becoming expensive to operate and difficult to maintain.

    As with many things in life, telephone calls are moving to the internet and the ending of traditional telephone lines is the natural progression. New orders are now for internet connections only, with telephony provided over the internet if required. The target is to move all telephony to the internet by 2025.

    Perry Bebbington
    Kimberley, Nottinghamshire

    SIR – The existing public switched telephone network was designed to cope with electricity supply failures. Local telephone exchanges are fitted with stand-by generators, and in the event of an outage the generators switch in and there is no loss of service. That is why during the recent storms residents could still use their landlines.

    However, Ofcom’s solution when the new digital system is affected is as follows: “If you rely on your landline – for example, you don’t have a mobile phone, you’re unable to use a mobile phone or you don’t have mobile signal inside your home – your provider must make sure you are able to contact the emergency services during a power cut. This could be in the form of battery back-up so your landline will continue to work, or giving you a basic mobile phone to use in this situation.”

    Judging by the number of critical letters received by The Telegraph, Ofcom’s solution is, in practice, flawed.

    Peter Gallagher
    Retired BT engineer
    London W3

    And still no response from OFCOM. Head in sand makes it difficult to communicate, of course.

    1. Perry Bebbington misses the point. The problem is not how to create the most super-duper engineering systems; the point is to have happy customers.
      And the proposed solution is not making the customer happy!

      1. Quote so. It’s a bit like the energy suppliers trying to kid us that ‘smart’ meters are good for us, but in reality only the suppliers benefit.

  21. SIR – The most appropriate way of registering strong disapproval of people in public life who betray the public’s trust is to strip them of the honours bestowed upon them.

    Now that John Bercow has been shown to be a “serial bully” and a “serial liar” (report, March 9), should he not join the short list of serious offenders, which includes Jonathan Aitken and Chris Huhne, who have been removed from the Privy Council? This could be done easily by striking off his name.

    Infinitely more difficult is the withdrawal of a peerage. Though conferred by the Queen, an Act of Parliament is needed to rescind it. So Lord Ahmed, a former Labour peer who was jailed for five years last month for child sex offences, keeps his title.

    The Government informed me a few days ago that it has “no plans” to introduce legislation to remove it. This is a mistake. A Bill would pass rapidly through Parliament and could provide the powers to deal with other peers who commit grave crimes.

    Someone who is sent to prison can be expelled from the House of Lords. A title that has been so seriously tarnished should not be retained.

    Lord Lexden (Con)
    London SW1

    This is just tinkering around the edges. What we need is a wholesale clearout, to leave perhaps a maximum of 2-300 who can stay awake long enough to make a proper and meaningful contribution.

    Incidentally, having listened carefully to Jonathan Aitken when he spent an evening with our congregation, and having met him (briefly) before he was ordained, I am in no doubt at all that he has fully atoned for his crime. And it’s not often one can say that!

    1. Someone who is sent to prison can be expelled from the House of Lords. A title that has been so seriously tarnished should not be retained.

      Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare has, despite bloodcurdling threats, never been expelled from the House. This because he still harbours secrets that even at this distance in time would inflict serious damage on the Tory Party.

      1. It must be some threat if it can potentially cause more damage to the Tory party than Fataturk is already managing on his own [or rather with Carrion’s help].

        1. Morning Bleau. I forecast at the time that he would not be expelled. Though the truth would not bring down the Government now, it would still be unwelcome, so let sleeping dogs lie!

      2. It must be some threat if it can potentially cause more damage to the Tory party than Fataturk is already managing on his own [or rather with Carrion’s help].

      3. I think the sentence has to be over a year.
        Strangely, no politico has ever been gaoled for that length of time.

      4. I’m sorry, but I don’t remember the title. But some years ago I was reading a book that was about the House of Lords and the reforms that had taken place. It actually, and very persuasively, came to the conclusion that the old system of hereditary Lords was more democratic. The reason was that since one was entitled to sit by birth the vagaries of time had given it a far greater representation of the population at large than the House of Commons. Amongst the Lords, I remember reading, were a crofters wife, a bus driver, a taxi driver, and a man so poor that he held his trousers up with string! Then, of course there were the great landowners etc that we typically think of as Lords. There was also the added bonus that because the Lords were people for the most part, free to do as they pleased because most were not poor, they pursued so many interests amongst them that, it was said, no matter what the subject, an expert could be found to give a proper and informative explanation of the subject at hand, no matter how obscure. Those days are gone and now we have political appointees who were often useless in the House of Commons and are useless in the upper chamber. We have exchanged gold for dross in the name of reform, as is so often the case in politics.

        1. ‘Morning, Johnathan, the hreditaries have always had a vested interest in the LONG-term health of the Nation, as opposed to the Commons SHORT-term – when do I next stand for re-election – interest. Therefore they carefully consider Commons Bills and will modify, advise accordingly. They used be able to delay a bill for up to one year.

          1. That is a very good point Nanny and one I hadn’t thought of. But it seems to me that it is 100% valid as an observation.

            I also remember that the Prince of Wales and other members of the Royal Family had seats in the House of Lords which rather contradicts the idea that they should not have opinions. They lost their seats in the “reforms” but they didn’t lose the right to speak their minds. A fact that many people don’t seem to realize. Looking it up, the Prince of Wales took his seat in 1970. Well within our lifetimes. And, so I was reading, if he chose to put himself up for election to the Lords, he has every right to do that. He and the rest of the Princes simply chose not to. This is, to me, another symptom of the decay in our system.

            It is important to remember, I believe, that the monarch represents the people against parliament. Because in our system the government can easily become a tyranny. It is the function of the monarch to act as a break. But as the monarch loses power, so do the people. It is no coincidence to my mind that as the people lose power, so does their ultimate representative, the monarch. The system is being weakened and it is to no one benefit other than the corrupt politicians whose domination of the political system we have drifted into.

          2. I think that Her Majesty retains the right to prorogue Parliament if there is evidence of Tyranny and/or corruption.

            Both are very visible on a day-to-day basis. Somebody please advise Her Majesty to take action.

    2. ‘Morning, Hugh and sorry, while clearing out the Lords, make it hereditaries only and whittle the Commons down to 2-300, up their pay but stamp hard on expenses.

  23. Adults hosting Ukrainian refugee families with children must undergo ‘enhanced’ checks

    All British adults who host Ukrainian refugee families with children will have to undergo “enhanced” security checks, the Government will announce on Friday.

    The move follows warnings from charities that “light touch” checks on host families would not be sufficient to protect refugee children living for at least six months in the same house as sponsoring UK adults.

    The “enhanced” Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks are generally restricted to workers in jobs such as teaching and social services dealing with children and vulnerable adults.

    One suspects that this is a “cover story” to disguise the lack of enthusiasm for “Ukrainian” refugees!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/03/17/dont-remove-single-person-tax-credit-housing-refugees-councils/

    1. ‘Morning, Minty, “...to disguise the lack of enthusiasm for “Ukrainian” refugees!”

      For every Ukranian (of whatever colour) housed, there is one less space for a rubber dinghy jihadi.

      1. Sadly I think the new influx is “in addition to” rather than “instead of” – it’s just that the Ukrainian incomers get less of the taxpayer’s money!!

    3. At Allan Towers, we predicted this when the idea was first mooted.
      As would anyone who has tried to run a business and/or employ people in Blighty over the past 40 years.

  24. Have the Tories finally found their star to knock Labour off its anti-racism high horse?

    Kemi Badenoch, the equalities minister, showed the Opposition that it does not have a monopoly on tackling racial inequality

    MADELINE GRANT PARLIAMENTARY SKETCHWRITER
    17 March 2022 • 8:07pm

    Unveiling the Government’s plan for tackling race inequality was never going to be a cakewalk for Kemi Badenoch. When the Sewell Report was first published, Labour’s Clive Lewis, with his usual subtlety, had tweeted a photo of the Ku Klux Klan.

    The University of Nottingham had already stripped Dr Tony Sewell of his planned honorary degree – a penance they had failed to inflict on two former Chinese ambassadors or the jailbird ex-prime minister of Malaysia.

    But if the equalities minister was anticipating an onslaught, she gave no sign of it. She cheerily thanked the report’s authors and the officials supporting the Government’s race disparity unit and pledged to return to the House in 12 months to report on its progress.

    Replying for Labour was Taiwo Owatemi, the Coventry North West MP, armed with prim schoolmarmish tones and a seemingly endless litany of complaints.

    “I thought this statement would never come,” she lamented piteously. “But looking at the strategy line by line, sadly, matters only go from bad to worse.”

    The ‘but’ of the joke
    Like that old Woody Allen joke, the food was terrible, and the portions too small. The recommendations weren’t just wrong, they hadn’t gone far enough. Labour demanded mandatory ethnic pay gap reporting measures and, above all, some admission from the Government that Britain was institutionally racist.

    Ms Badenoch leant across the despatch box with a chummy grin on her face, though it proved deceptive. “I have a lot of time for her personally,” she said of Ms Owatemi.

    But then came the sucker punch, proving yet again the wisdom of the old saw that no part of a sentence preceding the word “but” means a tuppeny damn.

    “But…” she continued, “I think it is laughable to say that Labour is decisive on this. They had an internal inquiry into racism in their own party… which has still not reported three years later.”

    Ouch. For a moment, Ms Owatemi struggled to suppress that embarrassed smirk of the politician who knows they are on the run.

    All too often, MPs mumble their way through their speeches, eyes glued to their scripts like the English GCSE boy forced to read the part of Juliet against his will. But here was a rare mastery of the despatch box: razor-sharp responses and clever analogies.

    Some individuals may be racist, insisted Ms Badenoch, but society as a whole is not: “We see crime in our country every day, yet we do not say that this is an institutionally criminal country.”

    A game of political Whac-A-Mole
    After some more performative huffing and slapstick expressions of outrage, the opposition attempted to regroup. One by one, they stuck their heads above the parapet, only to be picked off with clinical precision.

    It was like watching a particularly savage game of Whac-A-Mole. Labour’s Tony Lloyd and Diana Johnson, and Christine Jardine of the Liberal Democrats all bobbed and crumbled in quick succession.

    A delighted looking Sir John Hayes swelled to his feet and congratulated Ms Badenoch on her “robust counter to the small minds…” – he practically salivated over these words – “…that have criticised the Sewell Report”.

    This produced more squawked objections from the opposition benches. But since Sir John has something of Emperor Palpatine’s gift for letting the hate flow through him, it merely spurred him on. “Small minds…” he salivated again, “…that can’t tell the difference between disadvantage, disparity and discrimination.” Soon, the Labour benches had gone from merely hooting to apoplectic.

    Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble
    Finally, it was Bell Ribeiro-Addy’s turn to venture into no-man’s land, once again urging the equalities minister to reflect on Britain’s self-evident institutional racism. She didn’t get very far.

    Ms Badenoch’s eyebrows tightened dangerously: “I know that there is nothing that we would say that would please the Labour Party because they believe that they own this topic. But they are not in government. We are.”

    Bubble after bubble burst, treasured orthodoxies crashed and burned. It was like witnessing some rare natural phenomenon: fire rainbows, volcanic lightning or a skiing-mad MP turning down the offer of a winter fact-finding trip to Klosters. Kemi Badenoch might just be the Tories’ greatest weapon.

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

    Richard Kenward
    11 HRS AGO
    Remember also the disgraceful treatment of Dr Tony Sewell and his team who have the courage to tell the truth. That being that this country is one of the least racist in the world.
    However I would say the constant bashing of white people and particularly white men is divisive and now creating an underlying racial tension. If you keep peddling the monstrous lie that white is bad and black is good (or a victim) expect in the near future some strong and robust kick back.

    Interference Fit
    10 HRS AGO
    Reply to Richard Kenward
    The excellent Tony Sewell has been disenfranchised by the left because this black man won’t play the divisive identity politics ruse demanded by thick white liberals.

    Steven Jones
    10 HRS AGO
    She knows that the lefts views on race and inequality do absolutely nothing to improve the situation, in fact they make it worse by making colour and race a persons defining characteristic.
    Good on her for trying to address the issue in a way which actually might do some good.

    1. I’m frankly appalled, but not surprised, at the two faced behaviour by Nottingham University – I wonder if Chinese funding plays a part in some of their awards while wokeness influences the withdrawal of Sewell’s honorary degree?

      1. Nottingham University (I’m one of their alumni) has a campus in China – nuff said.

    2. Using a black Conservative to play this kind of race-bating point scoring is frankly a shameful waste of time.

      2. Please elaborate. Are you suggesting that she is an Oreo, or what, being used by Conservatives.? Are you suggesting too that if you are Conservative you must be a racist and thus it is invalid for the Conservative Party to deal with the subject. Why is it “Shameful”. Why does it matter that she is black?

        1. It’s shameful that the Conservatives are going along with this whole theatre that a black woman’s views on race are worth more than a white man’s. Can’t you see, that as soon as you go along with that charade, you’ve already lost, because you’ve allowed the left to frame the argument on their terms?
          The whole Conservative party is culpable, because they are playing race game as the left wants it, instead of calling it out as nonsense.
          Kemi Badenoch is worth far more than being wheeled out to play the Tory race card.
          If the conservative party had had the courage to stand up for what is right years ago, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are now.

    3. If one was to compare Kemi Badenoch to her black Labour contemporaries you will quickly realise that she is not only vast more intelligent with a good sense of humour, but actually more than slightly better looking.

  28. Good Moaning.
    The NHS’s training manual is ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’.

    “The result of Annex B is that hospital trusts inform ward sisters and nurses that if there is a male, as a trans person, in a female ward, and a female patient or anyone complains, they must be told that it is not true – there is no male there,” she told the upper chamber.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/03/17/hospital-told-police-patient-not-raped-alleged-attacker-transgender/

    “Hospital told police patient was not raped because alleged attacker was transgender

    Assault was confirmed through CCTV and witnesses despite previous denials, Lords told, as debate on single-sex wards policy continues

    By Hayley Dixon, Special Correspondent17 March 2022 • 8:00pm

    A hospital told the police that a patient could not have been raped because her alleged attacker was trans, the House of Lords has heard.

    The attack took place a year ago and the woman reported it but when officers contacted the hospital, which has not been named, they were told “that there was no male in the hospital, therefore the rape could not have happened”.

    Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, who raised the issue during a debate on single-sex wards, continued: “They forgot that there was CCTV, nurses and observers.

    “None the less, it has taken nearly a year for the hospital to agree that there was a male on the ward and, yes, this rape happened.

    “During that year she has almost come to the edge of a nervous breakdown, because being disbelieved about being raped in hospital has been such an appalling shock. The hospital, with all its CCTV, has had to admit that the rape happened and that it was committed by a man.”

    Investigated by the police

    The legal definition of rape means that it can only be carried out by a physically intact man.

    The case is currently being investigated by the police.

    Lady Nicholson said that the case had arisen as a direct result of the NHS policy – known as Annex B – which allows patients to be placed on single-sex wards according to the gender with which they identify at the time.

    “The result of Annex B is that hospital trusts inform ward sisters and nurses that if there is a male, as a trans person, in a female ward, and a female patient or anyone complains, they must be told that it is not true – there is no male there,” she told the upper chamber.

    “I think it is completely wrong that the National Health Service should be instructing or allowing staff to mislead patients -to tell a straightforward lie. It is not acceptable.”

    She called for the policy to be withdrawn arguing that it “gives priority to trans people over women” and therefore threatens the “dignity, privacy and safety” of female patients.

    Lady Nicholson said that the policy undermines the provision of single-sex wards which were voted on by Parliament and “undermines” protections for women that “took at least 50 years to come through”.

    The former MP said that by adding the self-identification clause in the policy on eliminating mixed-sex accommodation: “Parliament has been ignored and bypassed and surreptitiously something far-reaching has been brought in that affects all families, all faiths, all identities and all levels of society. In place of sex-based rights, we are giving priority rights to one special section of society.”

    She said that she had not seen such “filleting of legislation anywhere before in Britain” and it was “cheating the public”.

    The policy is being reviewed by the NHS but as this newspaper revealed, one of those carrying out that review is a “trans advocate”.

    ‘Strengthening of trans rights’

    Before the consultation on the issue closed, Dr Michael Brady promised campaigners that the “commitment from the team leading on the review is supporting the maintenance/strengthening of trans rights in the update”.

    A coalition of women’s rights groups including doctors and nurses have written to the Health Secretary complaining that they were not consulted. Baroness Fox of Buckley said that the review is “not satisfactory” as it has “no public terms of reference” and is being “carried out in secret”.

    She said that the fact that Dr Brady is the NHS “LGBT adviser might make him rather the opposite of impartial”.

    Referring to The Telegraph article, she added: “I want the Government to take this seriously and recognise that when somebody says that there are no plans to reduce the existing rights of transgender people, what women hear – if I can translate it – is that women-only wards are not guaranteed at all.

    “I want the Government to be honest with us about what they believe they are arguing for. I also want them to take us away from having to discover these things in newspapers and, instead, assure us that a new review will be set up that is independent and fully resourced.”

    Lady Nicholson’s proposals were opposed by Lord Etherton QC, who argued that the current policy was “entirely appropriate and consistent with the anti-discrimination law in the Equality Act”.”

    1. Good morning Anne.

      When one is admitted to a ward for treatment , one should feel secure and safe … not only from other patients but also from predatory staff.

      1. Correction:-
        “Nobody with a penis man should be treated on a women’s ward.”

        A man pretending to be a woman is still a man.

        1. Except they appear to be treated as a woman if they say they are. If they have male parts they are not women.

          1. Even if they are castrated and surgically mutilated to imitate women, if they are born with a set of bollocks, they are STILL male.

    4. Good lord. I would say that’s shocking, but I appear to have mislaid my capacity to be shocked over the last couple of years.

  30. Good morning dear all.

    Gorgeous sunshine , clear blue sky, the sound of a pheasant chakking in the next field , fog cleared after 7am , 5c.. chilly, no frost .

    Just the way I like it .

    2. £20,000, nearly £650 a night.
      That must be fake news, surely?
      If that is true we are utterly lost.

    4. Good morning, Maggiebelle

      Can this really be true – if it is we are truly finished as a nation? Have you any other sources to back this up.

    5. The Grand Scarborough has been welcoming guests since 1 Aug 2005.

      Should be interesting, it already has 200 Afghan Lodgers

      Look it up 64 GBP for double room, a night

    6. And apparently each person costs the UK tax payers 250 pounds each day to keep. There are at least 30 thousand of them.
      7.5 million each day. And for what a vain stupid and useless political attempts to become self-righteous.
      Now we understand why we can’t get hospital appointments and all the costs of everything in the UK are rising so rapidly. It’s just another massive Eff up by our political classes.

    7. Shirley £350 per month? Oh wait, that’s people who [might] be fleeing a real conflict!

    2. I’d have thought that the main male participants would have been reversed. But what do I know?

  36. Russia Today has its licence to broadcast in UK revoked with immediate effect by watchdog Ofcom. 18 March 2022.

    The media regulator cited the fact the channel was funded by a state which has recently invaded a neighbouring country but RT said the decision showed Ofcom was “nothing more than a tool of government”.

    Hmmm! Compared to the BBC they’re the Fount of Truth. They even got their last comment right!

    https://news.sky.com/story/russia-today-has-its-licence-to-broadcast-in-uk-revoked-with-immediate-effect-by-watchdog-ofcom-12569028

    1. The treatment of Russian individuals has turned Britain into a barbaric and uncivilised country. I am becoming ashamed of my nationality.

      (Funnily enough many Russians are ashamed of what Putin has done but my moronic British compatriots are treating them no better than the ones who are not.)

      1. I wonder how any Ukrainian refugees who are ethnically, linguistically and culturally Russian will be treated?

        A damned sight worse than Ukrainians who are ethnically, linguistically and culturally Iraqi, Syrian, Nigerian or any other freeloaders pretending to be Ukrainian; I have no doubt.

      2. Me too, Rastus.

        https://twitter.com/thekublakhan/status/1504367793575243778?s=20&t=1urnBOGiux7-n6LaDZDZmQ

        And this. It is 50 minutes long but well worth watching. I posted it late last night in response to a comment from Corri. After watching it I had an uneasy night’s sleep, it is shocking and disturbing. The only question I have to ask is ‘what kept Putin so long?’ He would seem to be a model of restraint. I am ashamed of my government, Johnson is the worst thing to happen to this country in a very long time.

        https://twitter.com/nancyskies/status/1503806444990312456?s=20&t=R4-IQhvjL9GgdJcRW7TpQg

        1. I have noticed in the Telegraph letters that you have the usual hysterics and war crazed commentators. But the other side is starting to become vocal and it is quite surprising how many people are not having any of it concerning the propaganda version of events. So there is some hope that the truth will come out. It does anyway, eventually, unfortunately it is often to late when it does.

          The theatre that was bombed yesterday was bombed by the Azov Battalion, the Neo-Nazi’s that don’t exist because we must pretend the Ukrainians are the good guys. And, as I said the other day, what RT has to say, tends to be true, It just takes, for obvious reasons, a while for their reports to filter out to the West and be confirmed by others. I honestly trust what they say more than the MSM in this country. I have noticed, and I’m sure that others can confirm what I’m saying, they report what the West is doing as well as what Russia is doing in a balanced way. And often when the Russians claim something they are careful to use the word “alleged” or variations of it.

          1. The usual con tricks from the supine media and the Leftwaffe. Those they favour ‘state’ things, those they do not favour ‘claim’ things. It’s so transparent, yet the script keeps being repeated. It is little wonder that viewing figures/readership numbers are in freefall.

          2. They are also dim. It is common sense that you don’t attack someone like Russel Brand or Joe Rogan who are in the same business as you. Between them they have a viewership of 15 million per podcast. The Telegraph musters, according to Wikipedia, a readership of 281,025 per edition. Which is pathetic in comparison.

          3. Russia has been dropping leaflets to tell people to clear areas because they will be conducting military operations there shortly I don’t know how much notice is given. The Ukrainans are preventing them from leaving in order to provide them (Ukraine) with human shields and no doubt propaganda material. In one area they had blown up a bridge and people were having to escape over a (very) makeshift bridge. There was a sense of desperation, one had a feeling they knew what was about to happen. I’m sorry – I don’t have the references now as it was several days ago since I read this and I don’t keep everything.

          4. I think, Mum, that you are doing a super job in identifying the actuality of what is happening.

            May I suggest that you keep a record of the links to these stories?

            It’s what I’ve done for a while now, covering a whole gamut of political wrong-doing and malfeasance.

            Who knows how useful they may be in the future.

          5. The problem is I don’t always realise the significance of what I am reading apart from the fact that it is interesting to me at that moment. Then later my memory is prompted by a comment and remember things from what I have read. I have loads of stuff I have saved anyway but not yet presented for Nottler viewing! Storage, organisation and categorisation would be easier if I used a laptop and not an iPad on which facilities are limited.

          6. Ah, yes, laptops are good for that and, together with an external hard drive or two, allow you to back up and to be sure that you’ve got a good record of those things that matter to you.

            My friend ‘Ask Leo’ is constantly saying, to engrain it in people’s heads, “If it’s only in one place, it isn’t backed up.”

        2. I noticed that the film was posted on youtube recently, though it says it is from 2015. Do we have any proof that it’s seven years old?
          I watched part of it, and it is disturbing.

          1. There is also ‘Ukraine on Fire’ which dates back to 2016, a documentary by Oliver Stone which I have heard is excellent (and disturbing), and fills you in on the background of what is happening. I have not got around to watching it yet, there is so much out there. It is slowly being taken down but I understand it can be found on Rumble and/or Odyssey although you may need to use a different browser from the usual. Duckduckgo is now compromised, I think it was taken over by google not so long ago, and it is removing items ‘they’ don’t want us to watch.

          2. ‘Afternoon, Mum, to me – and I’m sure to you – the fact that they take down, so that they think you will not see, says that they are frightened of having their lies discovered – even though we find it elsewhere.

            This is the New World Order/Great Reset that we, the great unwashed, must stand up and fight against.

          3. We can do this peacefully only by non-compliance – getting the word out there. They know that, they can succeed with their plans only with our permission, our compliance, which is why they have stuff removed from our sight. I do what I can to disseminate information.

            I was in despair at the hairdressers yesterday, my hairdresser told me that she understood what was going on politically and then proceeded to spout the ‘Russian man bad’ media version, everything Ukraine the sun shines out from. I decided not to get into an argument with her at that point, but I will be ready next time.

    3. Can someone please explain to me how freedom of speech and democracy works in the UK. I am rather confused about it. Not only RT but all sorts of people seem to get silenced and our politicians are impervious to public opinion and think they are there to tell us what to do.

      I see that Russell Brand hit back at the Telegraph last night. Apparently he has over 4 million viewers. I confess I have never watched him, he always gave me the creeps but, from now on, I will watch him. And he wasn’t the only online critic of the Telegraph for their hit job yesterday. Saw at least one other outfit having a go at the rag. Idiots at the Telegraph put their foot right into a hornets nest with that article. Serves them absolutely right. I think the MSM really has little idea of how unimportant they are now a days thanks to the internet.

  38. Morning all. Another beautiful day in West Sussex, not a cloud in the sky and I hope everyone has a wonderful day. Read the Telegraph letters to which my reaction is that it is time for another cat video. Horrible, I know, it is the BBC, my apologies.. So here you are, the tiniest feline in the world. Terminal cuteness.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86cTIoMv2U

    1. Well, that’s the second thing I’ve learnt today.
      A useful Russian word and a cat that I didn’t even know existed.

      1. When the letters are crap and nonsense, I will post a cat video and after that I will start on dogs. The only two sane beings in our lives, if you ask me!

  39. The Grimes today has a big spread about the disaster known as the DVLA. Shitts has “ordered an urgent enquiry”.

    Shitts has known about this shambles for 18 months and has done SFA about it. Shitts ought to be sacked.

    1. Detecting incoming missiles is relatively easy (unless our military satellites have been knobbled beforehand of course). Destroying missiles in flight is the difficult bit…

    2. I do hope that the missile detection system works better than their battlefield radios.

  43. Blundering Biden says ‘I may be Irish but I am not stupid’ before calling Putin a ‘murderous dictator and pure thug’ in St Patrick’s Day speech

    President Biden spoke at the traditional St. Patrick’s Day luncheon in the Capitol on Thursday
    He started with a joke saying ‘I may be Irish but I am not stupid’, then turned to upping his attacks on Putin
    Biden called the Russian leader a ‘murderous dictator, a pure thug who is waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine’
    In the wide-ranging speech he also discussed China, democracy, his family and his Irish heritage
    He shared favorite sayings from his mother, his father, and his grandparents
    Biden is reported to only be about five-eighths Irish, but is known for playing up his Irish heritage
    Biden’s latest war of words are the most direct at the Russian leader in the 21 days since the invasion
    The Kremlin has also upped the ante on the West by warning the U.S. may need to be ‘put in its place’
    Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi read a poem by U2 frontman Bono comparing Ireland and Ukraine
    By GEOFF EARLE, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10624537/Biden-jokes-Irish-not-stupid-St-Patricks-Day-lunch-speech.html

    2. ‘I may be Irish but I am not stupid’

      Isn’t that a contradictory statement?

    3. Ah, hence the jokes on Twitter about Bonio the Irish Poet! I get it now.

      Good morning!

    4. Biden is straying close to Troubled Waters.

      For many Merkins, the Cathollc Irish are the almost Godlike and could never be the butt of jokes, emanating
      from An Englishmen, A Welshman and An Irishman…….etc

      Over there it would be A …..man. A ,,,,,,,,,man and a Pole.

      I wonder if it is still the same, with Poland being next door to Ukraine

    5. Di diddly diddly……….well good Bye Den.
      And a Bonio poem,………. not William Butler Yeats. Dose tick as a piol ‘o’ planks in the WH probably don’t even realise he was Irish.

  45. You’re never too old to learn!
    I sent the Orwellian NHS article to friends and family.
    I’ve now learnt a new word. Reply from much travelled chum:
    “The Russians have a word for this which is very topical at the moment, the romanised is Vranyo. It means “I lie, you know I lie and I know that you know.” Very good for the Ukraine situation and all UK politicals, NGA’s and civil servants.”

  46. 351486+ up ticks,

    Tell me do lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled immigration party supporter/member / voters really understand what they have created and
    achieved with their continuing support / vote ?

    1. One of the names mentioned worked for a US police department, but someone with an almost identical name has virtually no presence on the web. So he could be a sp**k. Edit: could have been.

  50. Nigel Farage is only half right on ‘net zero, net stupid’
    Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has given oil and gas a new lease of life – but only a relatively temporary one
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/03/18/nigel-farage-half-right-net-zero-net-stupid/ Jeremy Warner

    BTL

    I would like to see Nigel Farage actively involved with Richard Tice in the Reform Party and for a good number of backbench Conservative MPs to resign from their seats (as Carswell and Reckless did) and present themselves as Reform Party candidates in the resulting by-elections.

    People often applaud the backbenchers for keeping control over Johnson but now – with the imminent energy crisis – it is high time that the net zero policy be overturned and this will not happen while Johnson has a majority of nearly 80.

    1. Is the big guy tightening the tie on the morons neck? And, they should have left him there for the entirety of the game to suffer the possibility of a ball hitting his useless body.

    3. How many things does this idiot possess which are made from by-products of oil and which he couldn’t do without? – shoot all these twats

  52. Well, I do not see that anyone has mentioned this. There is a pretty extensive account in thr Daily Mail of the return of the Zaghari woman to the UK. There are hundreds of large worshipful photographs. However the detail in the actual report is interesting and it is possible that it was written by a competent journalist.
    My analysis;
    Zaghari, together with Mr Ashouri ,flew into RAF Brize Norton on a jet chartered from Titan Airways. The cost of the charter may have been around £450,000 ignoring VAT, coffee and snacks. around £225,000 each, one way.
    Had they returned on a scheduled commercial flight, in First Class, the cost would have been around £8,000 each, including snacks, (Return tickets). Tickets for the Tube from Heathrow would have been extra.
    All from taxpayer’s money, I suppose.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10621599/Nazanin-HOME-Freed-Iranian-prisoner-touches-RAF-Brize-Norton.html
    https://www.paramountbusinessjets.com/aircraft/boeing-777-300.html
    https://www.skyscanner.net/transport/flights/lond/ika/220329/220412/?adults=1&adultsv2=1&cabinclass=first&children=0&childrenv2=&destinationentityid=27542826&inboundaltsenabled=false&infants=0&originentityid=27544008&outboundaltsenabled=false&ref=home&rtn=1&stops=!direct,!twoPlusStops

    1. Good morning Horace and everyone.
      Not always easy to hide a team of medical personnel and er, other people from the Foreign Office on a commercial flight.
      Nor would it be easy to prevent journalists and photographers from approaching the Iranians, even in First Class.

      1. Hmmm This suggests to me that Ms Zaghari may possibly, although one could not possible claim it to be true, actually working for our idiot chums in MI6 in training Iranians in subversion? No, of course not.

        1. Sending in a female, normal.
          Sending a mother with her young child as cover, bizarre.
          But not all decision makers have children.
          There is no reason to believe that her husband would have the faintest idea.

  54. Morning Campers! Gorgeous weather and looks as though it may stay that way for a few days. Sunny, mild and blue skies.
    Now to tackle the mess in the kitchen which looks as though something exploded overnight. I’ve been up for ages but just enjoying being lazy and wallowing in the fact that we don’t have to go anywhere today! Praise de lawd and pass de biskits.

  55. Might have got it in three if I’d paid attention in row two.

    Wordle 272 4/6

    🟨🟨⬜⬜🟩
    🟨⬜🟨🟨⬜
    ⬜🟩🟨🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  56. 351486+ up ticks,

    NSS criticises non-stun slaughter carve out in animal welfare billhttps://www.secularism.org.uk › news › 2022/03 › nss-…
    1 day ago — The NSS has criticised the government for enshrining religious exemptions from animal welfare laws in a bill meant to protect animals.

    Could we not for those that want selective
    parts of halal kept in play for those peoples have half a dozen teeth extracted with NO anaesthetic as a taste of suffering.

    By the by halal is active on the parliamentary canteen menu.

    1. I say that below. I have known it for approximately two weeks that is the strategy. So, again, you have demonstrated that what RT says is the truth. Even though it take a long while for the truth to become known in the West.

  58. I don’t know if you will be able to access this link without a VPN but I will try posting it anyway
    http://en.kremlin.ru/catalog/keywords/128/events/67996

    Vladimir Putin: “I want ordinary people in Western countries to hear me. You are being persistently told that your current difficulties are result of Russia’s hostile actions & that you have to pay for efforts to counter alleged Russian threat from your pockets. All of that is a lie

    2. The illegitimate freezing of some of the currency reserves of the Bank of Russia marks the end of the reliability of so-called first-class assets. In fact, the US and the EU have defaulted on their obligations to Russia. Now everybody knows that financial reserves can simply be stolen. And many countries in the immediate future may begin – I am sure this is what will happen – to convert their paper and digital assets into real reserves of raw materials, land, food, gold and other real assets which will only result in more shortages in these markets. Vladimir Putin.

      Yes. As also individuals private property and assets!

  61. I have a serious question. What is a reasonable charge in the UK for someone to do gardening and light work for you per hour in the UK. In Sussex to be precise because prices are probably less up North.

    1. I have just engaged the services of a gardener. £22 per hour per person. That’s in Hampshire.

    2. We, long standing customers, pay £20 per hour but new customers pay more. We’re in Surrey.

      1. That sounds a bit over the top. It seems to me that most people do it, money in their pockets, rather than pay VAT etc.

    4. We have a properly qualified gardener, RHS to be exact, he comes once every two weeks for two hours at a time. He is excellent. We pay him £20 per hour, Surrey. He’s Hungarian. Sounds as if you need what I would call a jobbing gardener, who’s paid in cash.

      1. Yes, I have all the knowledge I need on gardening and then some. I actually need someone to do the physical stuff for me, digging, planting, plus repairing the greenhouses etc. Because I am incapable of that sort of work for at least the next 3 to 6 months. So I sort of need a jack of all trades, I suppose. So what sort of person do I actually ask for?

        2. Our Ernest does digging and planting hand moving plants around if needed but don’t think he does repairs. You may need 2 different people. Can you place an ad in a local shop? Or try Gumtree online.

    1. Woody Allen “When I was little boy, I wanted a dog desperately, and we had no money. I was a
      tiny kid, and my parents couldn’t get me a dog, ’cause we just didn’t have
      the money, so they got me, instead of a dog – they told me it was a dog – they
      got me an ant. And I didn’t know any better, y’know, I thought it was a dog,
      I was a dumb kid. Called it ‘Spot’. I trained it, y’know. Coming home late
      one night, Sheldon Finklestein tried to bully me. Spot was with me. And I
      said “Kill!”, and Sheldon stepped on my dog.”

      1. That’s not a bad bod.

        I was at a raucus garden party once when this 70 year old lady said give us a kiss me handsome. I obliged and the dirty baggage rammed her tongue down my throat ! :@(

  71. ooh…

    I’m off to see my gay friend later who has some interesting birds in the thicket.

    He keeps a young chicken but there are also wild breeds there and I can’t wait to see his woodcock, pullet and swallow.

    Credit: H Lyttleton from I’m sorry I haven’t a clue.

  72. Good day. It does seem to me extraordinary that so many still swallow the Gates-promoted narrative on climate to the point of hobbling their economies, while becoming more and more aware of the wickedness of the Virus Fraud and the deaths that are now gathering pace among the victims of the injectates.

    This piece on the Grand Solar Minimum is well worth considering, especially if we can find time to turn off the lying media’s war-distraction shrillness.

    https://electroverse.net/grand-solar-minimum-101-the-future-looks-cold/

        1. Mr Soros may have been a young teenage collaborator but not a member of the actual Party or the ZZ. Personally I am impressed by Mr Zelensky, but with obvious reservations.

  74. This is the end of free speech online. Spiked. 18 March 2022.

    That’s because the bill will allow the government to define what is harmful, rather than Big Tech. But that does not stop this from being censorship. Besides, the responsibility still lies with Big Tech to enact the censorship – and the bill could hardly be more clear that the way for platforms to deal with harmful content is to censor it. This is state censorship, outsourced to a private company.

    Politicians have always hated the internet of course. It exposes their lies and corruption too often. It was the same with printing when it first appeared. Soon we will be living in a completely fictitious world dreamed up by the Ministry of Truth. You will have no way of knowing or finding out what is real and what is not. I don’t think that even Goebbels, Dzerzhinsky or Beria envisaged such a system.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/03/18/this-is-the-end-of-free-speech-online/

    3. Clarke and Dawe would have had a field day with all this.
      PS. Just incase you’ve not heard of them: they were political satirists on Australian TV.

  79. P&O reputation is now officially shit.

    British tax payers paid £10 million for furloughed staff and £150 million to sustain critical infrastructure. At the same time P&O paid their shareholders dividend of £250 million. Bastards. Some of those taxpayers that supported the business were their own employees. Bastards.

      1. Just imagine if it had been blm or extinction rebels. The Police would have protected them. Bastards all.

    2. Enjoy your new, heavily bearded, Syrian Ukrainian boys.
      Phizzee is looking after your £360’s…

      1. They must realise what they are doing to the dollar and the euro.
        I can only think of two possible reasons
        – Putin won’t cooperate with the Great Reset (China is already on board), so they want to bring him down whatever the cost or
        – the dollar is going to collapse in about five minutes from now anyway, so they are just trying to pretend it was all down to Russia
        Either of these gives them an engineered economic armageddon in which to solidify their power.

        The third scenario (they are stupid and arrogant enough not to realise that they’ve just killed all trust in the west and set us up for economic collapse), I can’t believe. The bankers behind this thing are supposed to be some of the cleverest men in the world, right?

        1. Putin certainly wont cooperate with the Great Reset. He is to much of a Russian Nationalist and a sincere Christian for that. He believes that Russia is the third Rome, after the fall of Byzantium, so it must be defended at all costs. He hasn’t built 30,000 Churches and Cathedrals as propaganda, that is absurd, he is sincere and serious, he rules in his mind, Holy Mother Russia. I think that is why the West has gone after him. It is the same reason that the EU has gone after Poland and the other East European states that wont cooperate. Of course the difference between them and Russia is the wealth of Russia. Untold wealth to plunder for the likes of Gates, Schwab etc. They need Russia to capitulate because it is for traditional values that the elite in the West cannot tolerate. It isn’t just they want to plunder it, they want to erase its nature because it acts as a rebuke to their lack of values and the emptiness of their world view. Take Russia over and they will soon empty the Churches and reduce Russia to the same materialistic garbage that the West has become. Likewise Poland and the rest.

        2. To me, the greatest result will be the collapse of the Euro – not supported by any country – which, in turn will lead to the implosion and destruction of the EU.

          For Russia – one enemy out of the game.

          Collapse of the US Dollar – similar fate – and another one bites the dust.

          So long as Bloody Boris doesn’t, or isn’t allowed to, get ideas above his station, the pound could return as the world-wide currency of choice.

          Keep a tight rein on the Buffoon!

          1. Well, Nanny, he is so useless that we can forget Singapore on Thames which is how we would become the currency of choice. A compact efficient economy open to the world and self reliant on energy. No way will he do that or make any efforts toward it. Pigs will fly first.

          2. Well, Nanny, he is so useless that we can forget Singapore on Thames which is how we would become the currency of choice. A compact efficient economy open to the world and self reliant on energy. No way will he do that or make any efforts toward it. Pigs will fly first.

    2. In other words, the west is busy killing itself without a shot fired in anger at the West, by Russia.

      Clowns to the left of me, clowns to the right. Stuck in the middle with you (stupid 3 + Johnson, Turdeau, Macron, Arden, et al.)

    3. Very clever. The West has tied itself up and netted itself, and is in the process of presenting itself to Putin on a platter. Cutting its nose off to spite its face. Or, it can back down….. A win-win situation for Putin, no matter what. Master of strategy.

      An interesting article in many ways. Thank you.

      1. A correction if I may:-

        In many companies, organisations etc the amount that you are paid, rightly or wrongly, may depend on your gender SEX.

        Don’t play the bastards’ game.

        1. Thank you Bob, I’m glad to see someone shew respect for our beautiful, if mongrel, language.

          I think that, over the years, we have taken words from other languages which are close in meaning to an English phrase, word, saying and adapted it into the language.

          One of the most recent is Schadenfreude meaning joy in another’s discomfort.

          2. As is ‘backpfeifengesicht’ – A face badly in need of a fist.

            I know a few to whom that could apply.

    1. Gets right to the heart of the matter, the destruction of the family unit.
      After being brought up with the BBC, I still can’t get used to the idea of someone speaking that much truth on a radio or TV channel.

      1. A Poser

        In many companies, organisations etc the amount that you are paid, rightly or wrongly, may depend on your gender.

        I propose that all men, who declare themselves women, have a drop 20%drop in pay,
        so they can see and live with the struggle that real females have had to live with for years

      1. Edit for accuracy re Navy
        I wonder whether it would have risen as high in the Navy US Public Health Service, if it had presented as a man.

        1. Good point. I don’t know what rank it was before it decided to pretend to be a woman.

          1. Probably the USN equivalent of what used to be known as a “passed over Major”.
            EDIT
            I have been corrected, it wasn’t in the Navy, it merely gets called an Admiral.

        2. NOT Navy [even the USN isn’t that deranged]! Dr Rachel [sic] Levine, 63, is now an admiral of the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.

    3. Candace Owens is common sense personified. I hope she gets to be president of the US one day – if the US ever regains its senses.

      1. If all black people were like Candace Owens there would no longer be any racism.

        1. She is married to an Englishman, George Farmer. A Brexiter. Sensible woman. She is actually the Hon. Candace Farmer.

        2. Oh well, as no one’s bothered to answer, it’s Rob Halford of Judas Priest before he dropped the silks and flares for studded leatherwear – and long before he came out.

          1. Sorry, but I have heard of Judas Priest but have never listened to him so I wouldn’t know Rob Halford from Adam or eve, as the case my be.

          3. He certainly, er, changed in the late 70s to a leather-bound look that was more Village People than heavy metal. And we later found out why…

    5. They really don’t have a clue about how normal people think. Is this selection supposed to be accepted by the majority? All it does for me is to reaffirm what a crap newspaper USA Today is.

    6. For my small brane, the really funny thing is that this transvestite is in charge of HEALTH!!!!!!!!!!

  83. There’s a programme on BBC1 at 4.30 called Bridge of Lies.
    Do you think this is a documentary self analysis?

          5. Quite happy with mine thanks.
            No comb needed.
            Dry before I get out of the shower.

          6. Savings on shampoo and conditioner too.

            🎵 Always look on the bright side of life…… do doo de do de do de doo 🎵 :@)

          8. Every cloud has a silver lining. Though the next one might be full of caesium and strontium. :@(

          9. A cheery thought, especially as we are on the flight path from the Russian north down to New York and Washington.
            Somehow I don’t see the Americans holding off destroying a Russian missiles until it crosses the border.

          13. A Trump with the charisma of Reagan to attract the middle of the road conservatives. The democrats would be so far out of power that even Pelosi and Sanders might see retirement as an option.

  85. From an article in RT:
    ““Considering such irritability from Mr. Biden, his fatigue, sometimes forgetfulness, which leads to aggressive statements, we will not give sharp assessments so as not to cause more aggression,” he concluded. Peskov added that being a thoughtful and wise leader, Vladimir Putin never responds to personal insults.

    On Thursday, speaking at the annual lunch dedicated to Ireland’s St. Patrick’s Day, President Biden referred to the Russian head of state as a “murderous dictator” and “a pure thug,” accusing him of waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine. Just a day earlier, the American leader called President Putin a “war criminal” in response to a journalist’s question.”

    It’s so embarrassing that our dim leaders keep giving the Chinese and the Russians the opportunity to play the adults. Of course Xi and Putin probably are the real leaders of their countries, whereas the real leaders of our countries are the shadowy globalists pulling Johnson’s and Biden’s strings.

    1. Pulling Johnson’s and Biden’s strings: Metaphorically and for Biden, literally

    2. …. “being a thoughtful and wise leader, Vladimir Putin never responds to personal insults.”
      Call me a wimp, but I’m not putting that comment to the test.

    3. Precisely.

      The Russians can see that Biden has dementia and that his irritability is a sign of its advance. Biden is unfit to be President so we must assume that Obama and his retreads in the Biden regime are running affairs. Either way none of the US political elite are a touch on Putin who is both cleverer, more astute and capable of running his foreign policy in the interests of his country.

    4. Precisely.

      The Russians can see that Biden has dementia and that his irritability is a sign of its advance. Biden is unfit to be President so we must assume that Obama and his retreads in the Biden regime are running affairs. Either way none of the US political elite are a touch on Putin who is both cleverer, more astute and capable of running his foreign policy in the interests of his country.

        3. I played a Chinaman in a primary school play; my name was Hi Tee. My opening line: My name is Hi Tee, a poor but honest fisherman…
          How is it that I can remember that but not where I put my door keys?

          6. We have all of Larson’s cartoons in book form, such a delight especially when needing something cheerful to dip into!

          10. #metoo! I played Chang in the Willow Pattern story at primary. I really didn’t have a clue what was going on. Koong Shee (I had to look that up), was very pretty though, so I think it set me on my wicked way with the girls.

          11. Our next door neighbour at the time was active in amateur dramatics and had lots of costumes. My mother made me what was supposedly a Chinaman’s suit and the neighbour provided a coolie hat.

      2. No…supper. I will probably eat it in bed. Curry doesn’t half muck up the sheets though. I will bin them before my cleaner arrives… :@(

    2. Did you make the Naan as well?? i rate my currys but my attempts at Indian breads have been pathetic

      1. I have. The oven is just heating up. The dough was difficult to handle but i have just stuffed them with raisins, coconut and almond paste. I will throw them onto the red hot tray and pray.

        Strange isn’t it that uneducated Indians can knock them out by their thousands and we still struggle.

      2. Um….provided i put the naan at the bottom of the bowl and slop the curry over it it’s………………fine ! :@(

  88. HAPPY HOUR – A dream within a dream

    They Are Not Long – Ernest Dowson

    Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat incohare longam.

    They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,
    Love and desire and hate;
    I think they have no portion in us after
    We pass the gate.

    They are not long, the days of wine and roses,
    Out of a misty dream
    Our path emerges for a while, then closes
    Within a dream.

    1. “Time like an ever-rolling stream…..”

      It is the one verse of that hymn that I can never sing.

  89. Just got an email from P&O Cruises to assure me that P&O Cruises has been part of Carnival Corporation plc for over 20 years and has no connection to P&O Ferries. Understandably keen to disassociate themselves.

    2. They have a point Sue. The first thing I did when I heard about P&O Ferries was to check on P&O which I believed belonged to Carnival. It turns out that P&O Cruises were hived off to Carnival a long time ago.

      P&O itself now belongs to DP (Dubai Ports) World and that includes P&O Ferries. However P&O Ferries appears to have been subject to some sort of ownership chicanery stemming from financial difficulties encountered by DP World back in 2009. They were only repurchased from Dubai World (essentially the government) some two-three years ago.

    2. Patel is mistaken if she really believes admitting Ukrainians into our country is a worthy cause. Just as wrong as allowing the ferrying of hundreds of thousands of African charlatans into England on a daily basis.

      Anyone with even the most basic knowledge of Ukraine will have connected Ukraine and Zelensky to Hunter Biden, the Biden Crime Family and its bribery and corruption. This was proven as the same conspirators impeached President Trump on false and ultimately disproved accusations of Russian collusion in the 2016 US Presidential election.

      We have local elections in May. I urge everyone to send the utterly misguided and useless non-Tory party a very clear message. Vote independent or Reform Party. Show the buggers!

    3. There’s hundreds of miles between us. Their neighbours should be doing more. Why must we house the entire planet?

    1. Every day, in every way, I hope that such virtue signalling morons suffer similarly; or better still, worse.

      Whose side are the PTB be on? Who do they really protect?
      Certainly not yours or you:
      The Sunday Times has hit out at a ruling by press regulator IPSO against an article by writer Lynn Barber about putting up a refugee in her home.
      The Independent Press Standards Organisation has said Barber’s first-hand account breached refugee Mohammed Ahmed’s privacy because she did not ask for his consent before it was published in the paper’s magazine.
      Read the full article if you need an emetic.
      https://pressgazette.co.uk/lynn-barber-article-breached-refugees-privacy-after-it-was-published-in-sunday-times-magazine-without-his-consent/

      Absolutely disgraceful

        1. Certainly, but allegedly he was shown the draft and that set him off.
          If what he claimed was true why the Hell was he in the UK in any case?

    2. Certainly not Lyn Barber. At the time of original publication I commented how he’d played her ‘like a violin’ and why she would want to try again in the future was beyond me.

    3. Daft bint. Take in a British soldier who has been abandoned instead…not some scheming little shit.

    4. Anyone who’s had male Arab/Muslim students will tell you the same thing.
      Produce a meal for 7.0 pm – they roll in at 11.00pm and expect you produce a fresh meal.
      It was a Muslim who woke us at 3.00 am by puking all over the landing because he was dead drunk.
      Girlie friends have had Muslim students expecting washing, ironing etc…. to be done.

  93. That’s me gone – really. Lovely sunny day with virtually no breeze. Very pleasant working outside.

    I may or may not look in tomorrow as we are having an outing.

    Have a jolly evening – playing nicely.

    A dimanche.

    1. Sadly, such is the stupidity of many people that such a measure is eminently sensible.

      1. Hello Bob, did you sort your computer out? Mine threw a wobbler this afternoon and it took me ages to sign in.
        Duh, course you sorted it- you’re here.
        Brain is like oatmeal these days- too much to think about.

        3. Evening Ann. Easiest way of fixing a computer is to pull the plug. That often works. What caused it to refuse sign in, what transgression were you guilty of?

          1. Transgression? Well, it certainly heard a lot of bad language! It’s done it before but not for ages. All seems to be well now.
            Anyway, I got some jobs done and did some reading so not a waste of time.

          2. Do you know the trick of not turning it off but pressing restart? Apparently if there is a fault, turning it off will not correct that but restart clears the cache before it powers up again so bugs are cleared. Theoretically, that is.

          3. Couldn’t even do that. Somehow I sorted it but please don’t ask how- am not tech minded 🙁

    3. The delivery guys now always ask for name and D.O.B. Obvs someone is collecting that info.

    4. I would hope that it’s a jokey way of warning people about how very sharp they are.

    1. I have two that have flowered………:@(
      It is why i have given up and called in the pro’s.

    4. We still have snowdrops. Slightly the worse for wear, but hanging on. Daffodils are sprouting, and some, not ours, are showing flowers.

    6. Our’s have just about given up the ghost.
      But the daffodils are in abundance this year.
      East Riding of Yorkshire has not had much warmth for months – where is this global warming I keep hearing about since being back in the UK?

      1. Lots of daffs out here and some crocuses. Mini daffs too which are so pretty and I’d never seen them before.
        Weather has been lovely here with blue sky, sun and mild temps.

        1. After living in Cyprus and then Oman for more than 30 years, I’d forgotten how bloody awful UK weather is.
          No wonder Brits are so miserable, what with the weather and taxes.

          3. I didn’t want to come back but my better half was adamant that we should be in UK for our retirement. I think even she is beginning to think it may have been a mistake.
            Oman was a safe, warm and friendly country. There are not many places left that one can leave home/car unlocked and not have things stolen or walk around the streets of the capital city at night and feel safe. .

          4. The small CT town I lived in was like that- never locked my car and only locked the doors of the house at night.

          5. When I first came back to UK I was always forgetting to lock the car. Fortunately nothing was stolen, but my ear was bent by my wife: my response was “so what you’re telling me is, the UK is full of thieving bastards” I had that look! and then silence for a few hours.

          7. I agree, it’s a different country!! and even after 3 years, I still can’t quite assimilate the changes I see.

          8. I’ve been back almost 7 years and it’s not what it was….and then all the recent nonsense over the last 2 years.
            We just have to get on with it, I guess.

          9. Look after family and ones self and ignore the rest has become my dictum.
            As for the last two years, FUBAR !!

          10. That’s exactly how we feel. Things are tough for us right now and we must focus on each other. Coming here is, sometimes, a little light relief but we must, and have to, put ourselves first.

        2. Mini daffs are one of my favourite flowers.
          They’re little and kick @rse – the small dogs of the flower world. They will just appear, regardless of the weather and will Jolly Well Bloom ….. so there!

        1. I was out in the garden with the twins yesterday, looking at the new green shoots and daffodils and things (just before they shot off in different directions!) and discovered that all 3 new clematis I planted last year have actually made it through the winter!

          1. That’s good. I’m pleased to say that all my clematis (I have quite a collection) seem to have made it, too. I bought a couple more a few days ago, so much get those in tomorrow.

      3. My daffodils are just coming out, such a welcome sight after winter! Most other bulbs get eaten by the local wildlife so I have learnt to stay with the daffs.

    10. Hi Grizz! Ours are just coming to the end of their blooming and are dying back, along with the mass of crocusessss! The daffs are fantastic this year and even the aubretia is getting going! It’s to be 16 degrees tomorrow!

    11. Yo, Grizz. I’ve a few crocuses in the garden, which are doing nicely. Haven’t seen a single snowdrop this year, but I’ll explore Seale churchyard on Sunday, where they usually thrive. What I will say is that all the daffodils around here are in full bloom. It feels early for those, but ‘a meringue’?

    12. My snowdrops are coming to the end, but the crocuses are doing fine. The grape hyacinths are starting to show, too, along with the full-size hyacinths.

          3. Read that as “…taking four pints…” and thought “I’m in! Where’s mine?”

          4. I am slurping wine Paul. Face OK but really painfully itching. MH is doing quite well; he ate several sarnies last night and had toast, 2 scrambled eggs and smoked salmon for brunch. He’s been told he has to eat to build up his strength.
            One day, maybe we can all buy each other pints, somewhere.
            Hic;-))

          6. And he’s just had a mini Battenberg, custard and choc chips. He has to eat high fat and low salt.

          8. No, what the doctor told us yesterday. They took 10 litres of fluid off him…he had no room for food before. Now he can eat.
            And I will make sure he does.

    1. Does Adams really think that Putin is so daft – check your facts you fool, we’re not all brainwashed idiots.

      1. Cartoonists prepare the cartoon to fit the narrative of the article being published.
        The cartoon doesn’t necessarily reflect the views of the artist; even BoB, who I think is a superb cartoonist, did similarly.

        1. When it is copied and published here, without the article, small wonder I get heated.

          1. I, like many other Nottlers, put up a particular cartoonist’s work regularly.

            You on the other hand, seldom post original items but persist in posting snide comments to posts put up by others.
            Small wonder I get heated.

    1. Excuse me while I puke. After years of the government making energy companies out to be the devil incarnate.

    3. I don’t suppose that someone has a nice big homing beacon to stick on top of the lorry.

    4. For some weird reason, the upper classes seem to have fallen for the Ukraine thing. Someone I knew slightly was driving a lorry down to Poland too. Sorry, why should I donate money so that you can ponce around enjoying yourself with a big lorry? Take a lorry to Toronto to save honest people from being forcibly jabbed against their will, I might respect that.

    6. Look for……Too Many White Christian Faces in Britain….D.Cameron.
      It’s a video….

    7. Good grief. That Cameron arsehole is about the last person to lecture the rest of us about foreign aid.

      There are no Ukrainian refugees, only poor Russian speakers fleeing those areas targeted by Zelensky and his Nazi batallion. The Russians meanwhile are bending over backwards in order to
      minimise social hardship and civilian casualties.

      I find it astonishing that a press, who were not previously unaware of Ukrainian atrocities in Donbas and adjoining Russian speaking areas, are now unwilling to report on the realities of the current conflict.

      Despite what other puppetry might opine, Russia has the upper hand. Russia has mega resources, plenty of money in their own sovereign funds, a well equipped and trained army, airforce and navy, and the will to seek justice for its people.

  101. Absolutely gorgeous night out there. Huge, brilliant moon, lots of pale blue light on the snow and making shadows through the trees… trid a photo or two, but phone camera can’t cope. You’ll have to imagine it… but it’s very romantic in a chilly kind of way.

    1. The equinox is Sunday, yet here we had equal times of sunset-sunrise yesterday and this morning at 7:02pm and am

  105. The British MSM seems to be ignoring the lorry drivers’ continuing industrial action in Spain, which is something to do with hydrocarbon fuel prices.
    A high percentage of HGV drivers are involved, possibly because any strike breakers risk accidental tyre damage or windscreen chips. The Madrid government is blaming an extremist minority (far right wing?).
    Supermarket shelves are bare, 23,000 police are out in force, fresh food is rotting before it can be processed and delivered. No need to panic because that could never ever happen in the UK.
    There is no need to stock up on essentials before supplies run out.

        1. Touche!

          Posts published on Zero Hedge do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of WilliamBanzai7.

          Images posted by WilliamBanzai7 are news satire reflecting inconvenient truths and should not be confused with mindless mainstream media propaganda reflecting “company” policy.

          “In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”–George Orwell

          Contributor posts published on Zero Hedge do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Zero Hedge, and are not selected, edited or screened by Zero Hedge editors.

    2. The sniffing catches the revolting bastard to a “T” and the Obama is excellent, who is the cartoonist?

          1. I Understand he is. He comments quite often BTL. Given his proficiency it did occur to me that he may not be an individual? Who knows these days?

  108. Evening, all. If “the West”, in other words, the EU and NATO, had not meddled in the first place, the Ukraine wouldn’t be in the state it is.

    1. For those who have been even just vaguely aware of events over the past 20y, that is obvious.

  109. I’ve just discovered that today is “National Sleep Day”! Enjoy your zeds, folks!

  111. Today, I have been identifying as a penguin and am wearing my penguin sweater. I have eaten some fish, seriously, and will be heading up to bed soon.
    I think it’s easier being a penguin, so long as something bigger doesn’t get you….

      1. Yep, I know but I am a land locked penguin.
        Look Tryers, if other folk can claim they are men/women when they bloody aren’t- why can’t I claim to be a penguin?
        You know, and everyone on here, knows I am taking the piss but it just shows how stupid it all is.

        BTW- I still keep you and your son in my thoughts; I have never forgotten that.

        1. Thanks

          Here, I hope is a safe and respected place, to air one’s views, share things, partake of the Urine and be a Biscuit

        2. Good on yer, M’Lady. I self-identify as a camel from time to time. Because all this transgerderism gives me the hump!

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