Thursday 9 June: Let Boris Johnson actually do what was promised in the Tory manifesto

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

575 thoughts on “Thursday 9 June: Let Boris Johnson actually do what was promised in the Tory manifesto”

        1. Well, BoB I was 5 at the time, and my father made up new words to the song to celebrate our holiday to Silloth, where we stayed at the Skinburness Hotel! I can still recite the ‘new’ words! I do remember an awful lot of people visited he area for the Centenary!

  2. Good morning everyone ..

    Rain , mild greyskies..

    A minister told his congregation, “Next week I plan to preach about the sin of lying. To help you understand my sermon, I want you all to read Mark 17.”
    The following Sunday, as he prepared to deliver his sermon, the minister asked for a show of hands. He wanted to know how many had read Mark 17. Every hand went up. The minister smiled and said,
    “Mark has only sixteen chapters. I will now proceed with my sermon on the sin of lying.”
    We need a simple test like this for potential MPs, PMs etc

  3. Ukraine resistance blows up cafe used by Russian leaders. 9 June 2022.

    Ukrainian civilians living under Russian occupation have blown up a café close to the puppet government’s headquarters in the city of Kherson in what appears to be the first terror attack in occupied territories.

    At least four people were injured in the explosion targeting the shop frequented by Russian soldiers, amid growing signs of a resistance movement inside the swathes of Ukraine controlled by Moscow.

    I’m sure the owners were delighted!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/06/08/ukraine-resistance-targets-russian-leaders-first-terror-attack/

    1. We who correctly drink tea first thing in a morning are, by nature, calm and equable individuals.

          1. Exactly what MB does; apart from the occasional morning when I wake first, he rocks up the cuppa.

  5. Good morning all.
    A bright & sunny start with a clear sky and a cooler 7°C outside.

  6. The attacks on Western Civilisation aren’t slowing down…………

    Here,Aus,Canada NZ……..

    https://twitter.com/JamesMelville/status/1534428845234954241?s=20&t=pTIjgu3hFquOdN05LJOPbw

    https://twitter.com/joanybaby77/status/1534552737899237378?t=aHTnkSFClZAo3QFwZiEbiw&s=19

    https://twitter.com/fachisBEF/status/1534774137121644546?s=20&t=vO-LTrscCsb2ptqssRIswQ

    https://twitter.com/BernieSpofforth/status/1534606825806602240?s=20&t=tj8SnzQykyacwrX2E8sFZQ

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f0f74dcc96739298c94a7d561eba59ad8ccc438d884ed2c956a24d523d417081.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/417246ab0b19a98bd1757302e6fdf9309f5b174b023dcec3edd9bfce8aaa8e74.jpg

  7. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    A bright start here, but only until mid-morning apparently.

    Today’s leading letter:

    SIR – Conservative Party members received an email from Boris Johnson on Tuesday headed, “My plan to deliver”, addressed to his supposed supporters. It is a windy and imprecise laundry list of aims and platitudes out of which, one fears, will emanate many more measures not wanted by the supporters to whom he lays claim.

    A rule of thumb should be: if it was in the 2019 manifesto, do it, and quickly; if it was not in the manifesto, do not do it, or anything like it.

    If the Prime Minister cannot see his way clear to doing what he was elected to do, he should clear the way for someone else to.

    Bob Lyddon
    Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk

    Of course! (Next subject: the bleedin’ obvious?)

    1. Morning Johnny! Wishing you a very Happy Birthday! Hope it’s a good one and you have a great day! 🎂🍾

    4. Grattis på födelsedagen, John. Hope you find time for a pint of Harvey’s best bitter! 👍🏻

    5. Happy birthday Johnny 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊 🍷🥂have a great day!

  9. SIR – If Boris Johnson wants to leave behind any sort of positive legacy he must ensure that he is succeeded by Lord Frost, who is the only person on the Conservative horizon likely to complete Mr Johnson’s half-done and bungled Brexit.

    He must facilitate Lord Frost’s entry to the House of Commons as quickly as possible so that he is eligible to run in the elections for party leader.

    Mr Johnson must then tell his fellow MPs and the electorate that he has decided to stand down as PM because Brexit is more important to the country’s future than his own career and ambitions, and there are still several outstanding unfulfilled manifesto promises that only David Frost is capable of addressing.

    But does Boris Johnson have the courage, the honesty, the integrity, the humility and the decency to resign with dignity? If he does not, his legacy will be a shambles and Britain will be back in the EU.

    Richard Tracey
    Dinan, Côtes-d’Armor, France

    The author of this letter is familiar…can’t quite put my finger on it…

    1. Morning Hugh. It will be some know-all teacher, basking in the French countryside and stuffing his gob with truffles and pate de fois gras!

        1. I’m not an “ex-pat”. At no previous stage of my life has my name been Patrick.

          To be sure!

    2. Congratulations to M. Tracey for having the letter-of-the-day published. I sincerely hope that if Boris doesn’t read it (and assimilate it) then someone in the cabinet reads it to him.

    5. Plagiarise
      Let no one else’s work evade your eyes
      Remember why the good Lord made your eyes
      So don’t shade your eyes
      Just plagiarise ,plagiarise, plagiarise
      [Tom Lehrer]

      I think this bounder Tracey stole this from one of my posts on this forum yesterday!

  10. SIR – “Ban gas boilers to reach net zero, demands Boris Johnson’s infrastructure tsar” (report, June 7). It is precisely this sort of thing that angers and worries so many voters. Mr Johnson does not seem to grasp the damage it does to his supposedly Conservative government.

    Miranda Gudenian
    Honiton, Devon

    Quite right, Ms Gudenian. Apart from an utterly hopeless PM, I reckon ‘net zero’ is the main reason why this government will fail spectacularly at the next election. Meanwhile, the beer and popcorn are on order for the two by-elections coming up!

  11. SIR – “Ban gas boilers to reach net zero, demands Boris Johnson’s infrastructure tsar” (report, June 7). It is precisely this sort of thing that angers and worries so many voters. Mr Johnson does not seem to grasp the damage it does to his supposedly Conservative government.

    Miranda Gudenian
    Honiton, Devon

    Quite right, Ms Gudenian. Apart from an utterly hopeless PM, I reckon ‘net zero’ is the main reason why this government will fail spectacularly at the next election. Meanwhile, the beer and popcorn is on order for the two by-elections coming up!

  12. SIR – I have just heard a BBC newsreader say that someone’s death was caused by “recreational drugs” – not illegal drugs or dangerous drugs.

    C D Clubbe
    Deeside, Flintshire

    Did you seriously expect any other description in this particular case, C D Clubbe??

    2. Cambridge English Dictionary: Recreational

      connected with ways of enjoying yourself when you are not working:

      Dicing with death or severe harm by taking dangerous pharmaceutical concoctions is now seen as a form of enjoyment. If there is an upside to having these feeble minded people killing themselves it is that the gene pool is ever so slightly improved.

  13. SIR – The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) has applied its usual guerrilla tactics in calling a strike for three alternate days (June 21, 23 and 25). This will, in effect, paralyse the network for a week.

    Consequently, ministers should take the opportunity to confront such militancy by shutting the railways down for the full five days (June 21-25).

    This would enable customers to plan alternatives and minimise inconvenience while maximising the loss of income for those choosing to strike.

    Fraser Pithie
    Kenilworth, Warwickshire

    Better still, do a ‘Ronnie Reagan’ on them and get them to apply for their own jobs on OUR terms!

    1. A couple of BTL comments, although I would be surprised if the second of these is accurate:
      Angus Long
      6 HRS AGO
      What exactly does RMT chief Mick Lynch do for his £124,000 salary?
      Working conditions and pay at Network rail and the London underground is hardly oppressive and exploitive.
      Trainee drivers earn around £32,000, rising to around £55,000 to £59,999 once qualified. Rising to circa £60,000 to £65,000 for inspectors and trainer operators. They also have other benefits such as free London travel for themselves and partners.
      The reality is, rail drivers are not poorly paid for what they do given the average salary for doctors is about £46,000, airline pilots £48,000 and ferry pilots circa £35,500.
      It is my belief, the rail unions are seeking to use their positions for political exploitation and that is not what they are for. Frankly, the RMT should be grateful their drivers have still got a job given that technology now exists for driverless trains as aptly demonstrated by the Docklands Light Railway.

      Jimbo Jones
      2 HRS AGO
      You missed off the 45 days of holiday, 30 hour week, full pension at 55.

      * * *

      Lynch is reported to be a paid-up member of the Communist Party. Perhaps his members will knock some sense into him if the strike is extended.

    2. As one of my friends pointed out last night, because they are on strike one day, the trains will all be in the wrong place the next day, so although they aren’t “on strike” they are still disrupting travel.

      1. Precisely…who ch is why the employers should close the affected networks for the whole week, thus saving having to pay their strikers for effectively no service.

  14. Morning, all.

    Powerful stuff from the USA being reported in the War Room – Ultra liberal San Francisco District Attorney recalled by voters, the baleful influence of Soros plus ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on constitutional matters and law enforcement – a very interesting 15 minutes.

    While over here our supine Tory MPs do not have the strength of will to get shot of their disastrous leader and elect someone untainted by the WEF/NWO/Green reprobates to pull the UK out of the morass that Cameron, May, Johnson et. all have dumped us into.

    Steve Bannon’s War Room

  15. SIR – Let me, following the example of Tim Stanley (“Airport chaos shows the decline of UK service”, Comment, June 6), give a couple of examples of excellent service.

    First comes the Bridge Theatre, which refunded ticket money quickly and cheerfully, and secondly Brasserie Zédel which, when I had an accident last summer, not only allowed me to rebook my restaurant table for a later date but also refunded the cost of the show I could not attend.

    Such service encourages return visits.

    Mary Moore
    Croydon, Surrey

    And here is my own example – about three weeks ago we booked seats for a Royal Philharmonic concert at the De La Warr Pavilion. In the interim Covid came a-knockin’ and found us at home. The theatre has a very clear ‘no refunds’ policy, but when I contacted them they immediately offered them in full, no questions asked. They also wished us a speedy recovery. Full marks!

      4. Many Thanks, and Congratulations to Johnny Norfolk!
        “Grow old along with me!
        The best is yet to be,
        The last of life, for which the first was made:
        Our times are in His hand
        Who saith “A whole I planned,
        Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!””

    4. Autumn 1946 – everything rationed; cold; dank; nights drawing in. Not much on resumed telly service …..
      Happy birthday to the twins.

        2. Happy, Happy Birthday, Horace, may you have a lighter day in the midst of the doom and gloom.

      1. People will say, oh, nobody has the absolute right to private property in any country, and the government can buy it from you for strategic reasons…but why is he talking about this the very week after they made handguns illegal in Canada?

        1. True. But the Russian mind set, whether under Communism or Tsarism, seems to be a constant.

    1. Nobody will be held responsible. They’ll probably get an inflation busting pay rise and carry on with their shoddy woke lives feeling very proud of themselves.
      The speed of the sinking of the U.K. gets worse by the day.

  20. 353081+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Thursday 9 June: Let Boris Johnson actually do what was promised in the Tory manifesto

    That would surely mean that the tubby treacherous turk will politically live on to guide the tory’s ( ino) party along the road to repress reset, replace meaning uninterrupted more of the same.

    If the majority element of the electorate were real;y serious in rectifying the country’s odious stance they would promptly quit the class of treacherous idiocy they are attending and en masse join a pro British fringe party.

    Personally I see ANNE Marie Waters & her anti muslim take-over stance along with Tommy Robinson as a very much needed national asset many of the herd view them as dangerous boat rockers out to upset the herd / muslim integration, the majority electorate want to settle for the short term ” gettalong with” treacherous policy gained by a lab/lib/con vote, a long term head loser if ever, if not for the voter but most certainly for their kids.

  21. Can anyone say “Sub-Prime”……

    Benefits income could be used to get mortgages under plans being unveiled by Boris Johnson to relaunch his premiership.

    In the wake of the Tory confidence vote meltdown, the PM is making a major

    speech in Lancashire vowing to revive Margaret Thatcher’s housing

    revolution for low-income families.

    He will announce moves to extend the ‘Right to Buy’, which helped millions

    purchase their council properties at huge discounts in the 1980s and

    1990s, to housing association tenants.

    He has also drawn up proposals to help families on Universal Credit get on

    the property ladder. One idea is to allow benefits to be counted as

    income when applying for a mortgage – which would require a change in

    the law, but could open up the dream of home ownership to millions more.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10898599/Tenants-benefits-offered-new-package-help-buy-homes.html
    Alongside bonds backed by car loans it seems we have learned nothing from the 2008 bank crashes

        1. Isn’t it a good idea to remove all that facial make-up before having a bath?

    2. Oh dear. Is this a knee jerk reaction? The latter, especially in the political sphere to burnish a tarnished reputation, is never a good idea. It’s the equivalent of the military adage, do not reinforce failure. Better to stick to what was promised and what the voters supported, then, when the policies have succeeded and the Country is back on its feet financially, the government can splash out on the goodies. I admit to being a little sarcastic in my final sentence.

    3. So where will people who fall over in debt and mortgage crises go when they default on their responsibilities .

      Housing associations are valuable to those who need a comfortable home , rent and help with council tax etc …

      What the hell is Boris thinking of .. more rabbit hutch homes will be built under the banner of affordable , more valuable land realseased , yet around these parts housing association tenants own larger newer cars , have their own businesses, clear off on holiday , probably have help from all quarters , but the homes are liveable and cared for by the housing associations , unlike us who have to maintain our own homes and drive around in old jallopys
      and just about manage .

      I just don’t under stand their back of note pad scribblings.. new idea for the day mentality .

      1. Shades of Obunion who initated the banking crisis in 2008 with his sub-prime mortgaage scam.

    4. Nobody who qualifies for Universal Credit can afford to buy a house at today’s prices. It’s just asking for defaults.

  22. From today’s DT:

    Gas drilling in Surrey countryside gets government approval – live updates

    By James Warrington

    9 JUNE 2022 • 8:31AM

    The Government has given the green light for gas drilling to start in the Surrey Hills countryside after it was twice rejected by the local Tory-run council.

    The decision, announced by housing minister Stuart Andrew, allows UK Oil & Gas to explore a site at Loxley near Dunsfold for three years.

    It comes despite opposition from Waverley Borough Council, which described the ruling as “the worst possible outcome” and warned of “irreversible harm” to the environment.

    The move was also opposed by Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative MP for South West Surrey. Michael Gove, the Levelling Up Secretary, recused himself from a decision on the project as his constituency is in a nearby part of Surrey.

    UK Oil & Gas, which welcomed the decision, has estimated that the site could hold 43bn cubic metres of gas, and the drilling will allow it to determine the extent of the reserves.

    * * *

    Better late than never, I suppose…

    1. 43bn cubic metres of gas is over half of the UK’s current yearly consumption, we need more of this exploration.

      1. He’s another who is a stranger to the truth. The only place he’d lead us to is a form of purgatory prepared by others.

  25. UK food supply ‘vulnerable’ after fertiliser factory closes permanently

    Farmers warn of ‘resilience issue’ as soaring gas prices leave UK with just one plant producing fertilisers

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/06/08/uk-food-supply-vulnerable-fertiliser-factory-closes-permanently/

    BTL

    Well……as a chemical engineer these past thirty years
    and apparently being the destroyer of worlds because arguing we were
    hitting critical limits with fuel, fertiliser, steel, plastics, glass
    etc etc industries was apostasy against the religion of environment.

    “Thankfully, we have a gold plated civil service and
    politial class stuffed with Liberal arts graduates who have been
    steering us to the green promised land these past decades and have it
    all in hand.”
    Sounds about right……..

    1. At my old church we were told one Sunday morning that someone from the World Wildlife Fund was going to give an address on environmentalism. A short way into his lecture on veganism, I smelled a rat and looked him up on my phone (not something I’d normally do in church). He’s an investment banker with a degree in Arabic.

      Edit: I should add that the banker (sic) in question is also a WEF member.

    2. Closing a fertiliser factory at the start of an impending food crisis is the very definition of insanity.

    3. Not all arts graduates are that dim. Many can think logically outside their speciality.
      However, they do seem to avoid joining the ranks of snivel serpents.

  26. Further to earlier posts about the rail strike…from today’s DT:

    Revealed: How the salaries of striking railways workers are steaming ahead

    Ahead of crippling walkouts, figures show that staff earn £13,000 more than nurses and are paid 70 per cent above the national average

    By
    Robert Mendick,
    CHIEF REPORTER
    9 June 2022 • 6:00am

    Railway workers earn wages 70 per cent above the national average, including £13,000 more than nurses, transport chiefs said on Wednesday night amid growing fury at the first national train strike in almost 30 years.

    The Government questioned the motives of Britain’s most militant union in calling an all-out strike after less than two weeks of negotiations over pay and job cuts.

    A senior Number 10 source pointed out that almost a third of all people working on the railways paid tax at the higher rate, meaning they earn more than £50,000.

    Figures released by the Department for Transport (DfT) showed that last year, the median salary of railway workers was £44,000, about 60 per cent above the national average of £26,000.

    By comparison, nurses earned £31,000, teachers were paid £37,000 and care workers just £17,000. Police officers at the rank of sergeant and below earned £42,000.

    Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, accused the hard-Left RMT of “jumping the gun” by announcing strikes on June 21, 23 and 25, with each 24-hour walkout spilling over into the next day to maximise disruption.

    Mick Lynch, the RMT’s general secretary, said that his members had been “treated appallingly” and, in the face of “a cost of living crisis”, had no choice but to “shut down the railway system”.

    However, Whitehall insiders have accused the union of barely entering negotiations and choosing to strike after less than two weeks of talks that began at the end of May.

    In an interview with a rail magazine, Mr Lynch accused the Government of using Covid as “a smokescreen” to force through “permanent changes to working practices and conditions” and that he was fighting for his “members’ lifestyles”.

    The Government accused the RMT of trying to cling on to outdated so-called Spanish practices that include a system for voluntary working on Sundays, dating back to 1919, and demands to keep ticket offices at stations at similar levels to 30 years ago.

    Insiders pointed out that fewer than one in seven tickets are now bought at offices and closures are needed to reduce costs.

    During the pandemic, taxpayers bailed out the railways with £16 billion worth of subsidies to keep trains running – roughly £600 per household. Officials believe “long-term inefficiencies and outdated practices” have led to “spiralling costs” and that the railway industry is in dramatic need of reform.

    The RMT has been accused of timing the strikes to maximise disruption, with tens of thousands of revellers heading to the Glastonbury Festival on June 23 as well as other summer concerts and sporting events.

    However, inside Government, there is a belief that with so many white-collar workers no longer commuting to the office, the impact of the strike may not be so dramatic. The Civil Contingencies Secretariat, which prepares for national emergencies, is quietly “optimistic” even in worst-case scenarios, according to sources familiar with its planning.

    Four power stations, including Drax in North Yorkshire, rely on freight train delivery for biomass fuel and are believed to have stockpiled supplies. Most power plants in the UK run off gas, nuclear or wind energy and are not dependent on rail supply lines.

    Ministers believe train services on modernised stretches that require the fewest signallers can be kept running, but older stretches will face complete closure on strike days.

    A DfT spokesman said: “Unions should be around the table, helping to work out a fair deal for staff, passengers and taxpayers, instead of holding damaging strikes which will disrupt services and endanger the essential movement of freight.

    “Meanwhile, we are working with the rail industry to ensure any disruption is kept to a minimum, and Network Rail is carrying out its own contingency planning.”

    The RMT said that the earnings of railway workers cited by the DfT is “unrepresentative” because “it’s based on a skewed sample” that includes train drivers who largely belong to Aslef, a different union.

    The RMT said that most railway workers, including its members, earned a median salary of £33,000. It also disputed claims of Spanish practices.

    An RMT spokesman said: “The union doesn’t recognise many of these claims. We have a set of agreements with the companies’ covering terms, conditions and working practices which are collectively bargained.

    “It is a wholly unfair suggestion to say the union is blocking modernisation. The railways have moved through enormous changes from coal to electrification and now to embracing the digital revolution.

    “We want to work with the companies to achieve these changes. But it must not be to the detriment to our members with compulsory redundancies and a continuing pay freeze.”

  27. Working class people should aim ‘lower’ than Oxbridge, social mobility tsar to say
    Katharine Birbalsingh vows to tackle uncomfortable truths head-on in new role
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/06/09/working-class-people-should-aim-lower-oxbridge-social-mobility/

    I have great admiration for this woman who has proved that wokery in education is a total disaster. I do not agree with everything she says but what she is doing for children from humble backgrounds is outstanding. Going to Oxbridge is not everything but there is nothing wrong with aiming high..

    Caroline turned down Oxford to go to Bath and, frankly, she is a remarkably talented linguist who, to be frank, is better at languages than any of our Oxbridge educated friends!

    A BTL under this article. (I wonder who posted it!)

    One of my former pupils did not get good enough “A” level grades to get into Oxbridge and so he went to Keele to study Law and French.

    He took a sabbatical year when at university and sailed with me across the Atlantic visiting the Windward Islands, the Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Azores, the Canaries, and Madeira.

    He did not get a Ist class degree but he managed to be the only non-Oxbridge graduate to be appointed in his year to one of the top London firms of Solicitors.

    He was the first of his year’s intake to be made a partner.

    He was voted young solicitor of the year by the Law Society.

    He ended up as a senior partner and one of the best paid lawyers in the country.

    I did not go to Oxbridge as many of my family members did but I take great delight in the fact that many of my pupils have had very successful lives and quite a few of them even went to Oxbridge!

    1. No box-ticker could possibly keep up with the course that I did at Oxford in the late 80s. A working class or minority person who EARNED their place there could keep up of course, but when the university says that they are recruiting based on targets, then it’s clear that the targets are more important than the talent, though they will deny it of course.
      I strongly suspect that the course content has been watered down in order to keep the results looking good.

      Little anecdote about something I heard from Germany:
      My children attended at daffy, chaotic, disorganised, free, alternative private school. Their kids historically scrape through the Abitur with poor marks, and usually 2 or 3 will drop out in the course of the exams, because they didn’t pass the first or second round of exams (the system in Germany is slightly different from A levels).
      Last year and this year, the whole school system was extremely disrupted by covid. I heard from our school, that they have had the best two Abitur years in the school’s history in 2021 and 2022.
      What does this mean?
      I suspect that it means that the exams have surreptitiously been made easier so that the state schools don’t look bad, because if they kept to the usual standard, many of the kids would have dropped out, and that would embarrass the government and the education office who pushed all this nonsense.
      However, the kids from our school are used to chaos – the school teaches them to be self-reliant, make their own decision and solve problems. Therefore, my theory is that they were much less affected by school closures, vaccines (I know many at the school are anti-vaxx, so I bet most of the class wasn’t vaxxed!), etc. – so they did correspondingly better in the (easier!) exams.

      1. Thirty years ago, a maths professor told me that she spent the first year taking her students through work that used to be part of the A level course.

        1. The final membership exams I took 1975/77 over 2 years, are now a 3 year degree course!

        2. Caroline shows our students the course books she wrote in the early 1990s when we started running our French courses – they are staggered by how much more difficult they are than the ones she writes today. Caroline’s assessment is that the students who managed to get C grades in the early 1990s would now get A* grades.

          This Easter we had a girl with us from one of the most prestigious schools in Britain. Because of Covid she was assessed by her own teachers and she was given the top GCSE grade in French but she could not even conjugate avoir in the present tense.

          1. Conjugating avoir in the present tense was the second verb I was taught in French back in 1960, the first being être. There’s a good chance I could manage both today. Memories.

          2. If you are going to use the perfect tense avoir and être in the present are essential.

      3. I almost keeled over walking the dog this morning. Tripped on a rocky path going downhill and almost crashed face down, while admonishing Oscar for nibbling pony poo.

        1. I should have done a Masters but wanted out…so did teacher training instead and enjoyed teaching – so not a regret.

          1. I didn’t do my PGCE at a university (and I took other qualifications at colleges).

  28. Unwanted dogs ‘could be put down’ under Nicola Sturgeon’s fox hunting curbs
    Campaigners warn that animals will ‘inevitably’ be euthanised en masse because of plans to limit hunt packs to two
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/06/08/former-hunting-dogs-will-have-put-can-no-longer-work/

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f64464b184dd7485bc816cd582897157ea063f4d8a96e90af46e230dc08a70c3.jpg

    “Let the hounds live – with the exception of one particular bitch!”

    This was my BTL which was immediately taken down by the automatic DT censor.

    What other words for animals which denote the animal’s sex are not acceptable? Cock gets censored immediately but why not hen, vixen, bull, cow, ewe, buck, tom, doe, nanny and billy?

  29. Unwanted dogs ‘could be put down’ under Nicola Sturgeon’s fox hunting curbs
    Campaigners warn that animals will ‘inevitably’ be euthanised en masse because of plans to limit hunt packs to two
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/06/08/former-hunting-dogs-will-have-put-can-no-longer-work/

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f64464b184dd7485bc816cd582897157ea063f4d8a96e90af46e230dc08a70c3.jpg

    Let the hounds live – with the exception of one particular bitch!

    This was my BTL which was immediately taken down by the automatic DT censor.

    What other words for animals which denote the animal’s sex are not acceptable? Cock gets censored immediately but why not hen, vixen, bull, cow, ewe, buck, tom, doe, nanny and billy?

    1. This has been doing the rounds on the internet for a few weeks now (you will be aware!), since the US government made some noises that they take aliens from outer space seriously.
      They are clearly carried away by the success of the covid brainwashing campaign.

      1. 353081+ up ticks,

        Morning BB2,

        The only space the lab/lib/con political hierarchy
        are interesting in abusing on a regular basis is betwixt the ears of lab/lib/con member / voters.

      2. The flock loves being frightened to death…. such a thrill. It must be collectively addicted to adrenaline by now.

    2. With the amount of crap that gets transmitted on Earth and into space I’d not be surprised if the message was, “Keep the bloody noise down!”

    3. Your call is important to us. However we are experiencing an unprecedented volume of calls. You are 8,978,4332 in the queue. Cue bingly bongly music.

    4. Don’t flippin’ tell the govenrment. They’ll start giving them money and a hotel as well!

  31. All words, no action. Nothing will happen to stop this menace. It’s more than 33 years since the Satanic Verses book-burning riots. The political establishment has spent that time looking the other way.

    Stand up to ‘religious mobs’ who forced Cineworld to cancel film, politicians told

    Warning of ‘slippery slope’ as protesters use ‘intimidation and fear’ to make cinema chain pull screenings of The Lady of Heaven

    By Charles Hymas, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR and Craig Simpson ARTS CORRESPONDENT • 8 June 2022 • 10:43pm

    Appeasing “religious mobs” will undermine social cohesion, a government adviser has warned in the wake of Islamic protests about a film.

    Dame Sara Khan, the Government’s independent adviser on social cohesion and resilience, criticised politicians’ failure to stand up to protests that have forced Cineworld to cancel all UK screenings of a film about the daughter of the Prophet Mohammed. In an exclusive article for The Telegraph, Dame Sara said it would be easy to criticise Cineworld when questions should be asked about “what support and help did they receive from local and central government, their local MPs and even the police”.

    Cineworld said it had pulled The Lady of Heaven “to ensure the safety of our staff and customers”. More than 120,000 people signed a petition opposing its screening, while the Bolton Council of Mosques called the film “blasphemous”. Dame Sara warned that failing to stand up to the protests was a “dangerous slippery slope” that would mean anybody offended by anything could potentially try to shut down all kinds of lawful activities through the use of “intimidation and fear”.

    Citing previous cases where a teacher and playwright had been silenced by bullying, she said: “Over the years, leadership from local MPs, local authorities and central government in standing up and firmly defending our democratic values has unfortunately been lacking. I have seen how local authorities and MPs have tried to appease religious mobs or sit on the fence, so to speak, in the hope that such protests will disperse – and often they have, in the short-term. But this is a failure of leadership and, in the long-term, has only galvanised religious fundamentalists, who now know that by engaging in such behaviour their unreasonable demands will be met. And in the long-term, all this will do will undermine social cohesion in our country and result in a gradual erosion of our democratic values and principles.”

    Dame Sara said that despite claims the protests were “peaceful”, there was video evidence of inflammatory sectarian anti-Shia chants being screamed out across megaphones and protesters threatening “repercussions” if the film was not pulled.

    The film was labelled as ‘blasphemous’, but Dame Sara Khan said the protests showed the danger of demonstrators using ‘intimidation and fear’ to get what they want. She said that Cineworld’s move “wasn’t out of choice – they were bullied and intimidated to make such a decision. Out of fear. This is a dangerous slippery slope”.

    She added: “When offence is subjective, anybody who is offended by anything could potentially, through the use of intimidation and fear, attempt to shut down all kinds of lawful activity in our country. It’s easy to criticise Cineworld for their response, but questions need to be asked: what support and help did they receive from local and central government, their local MPs and even the police?”

    Malik Shlibak, executive producer of The Lady of Heaven, blamed a radical group “trying to cause sectarian division” for the protests and cinemas were “crumbling to the pressure”. He added: “They are trying to say that only their interpretation is correct, and that everyone should be aligned with that. They are like spoiled children who want it their way.”

    He also criticised the police for failing to keep the protesters away from public entrances. “The protesters should have been put to one side,” he said, adding that it is the police’s duty “to ensure public safety and ensure no disruption to usual public affairs”.

    His comments came as Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, said he was “very concerned about the growing cancel culture” in the UK. “There’s people out there who think they have a right not to be offended and of course, no one has that right,” he said.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/06/08/stand-religious-mobs-forced-cineworld-cancel-film-politicians/

    1. Anyone recall ‘Life of Brian’ causing a stir and being banned in some places.

  32. Let’s hear it for steam powered phones.
    Last night I tried to renew my parking permit via the interwebby. What with the convoluted shenanigans of the company itself and then the bloody bank, I decided life was too short. (The air turning blue was a bit of a clue.)
    This morning I spoke to a human being – a nice young man – job done.

    1. My children don’t understand why I regard the purchase of anything on the internet to be a major task that puts me under enormous stress and requires around half a day to complete and get over!

      1. It’s not always the case, but there are times when the ‘sod it’ factor comes into play and the relatively old ways are the most efficient.
        It would seem that banks are deliberately making matters even more frustrating.

        1. I hate giving out my bank or card details to online retailers – I read too much security news about theft of people’s details from companies’ databases!

          1. I tend to use PayPal for payments to online sellers, saves giving out my
            card details to various places. PayPal usually require verification
            codes sent to my phone.

          2. Verification by text message is stronger than not having it, but not infallible, as fraudsters can also spoof your SIM.
            I used to have PayPal, but they were one of the first financial companies to start rationing finance according to your political activity, which is why I closed my account with them. I hope they will get a competitor, but nothing has appeared yet. Cryptos are the best alternative system at the moment, but not widely enough accepted in the west.

          3. I don’t tell them my political activity…….. and the amounts i spend are usually quite small.

          4. I found the idea of them making judgements on what the money was being transferred for unacceptable and quite sinister really. But I am aware that my boycott damages me more than it damages them! Still, at least I don’t have to be annoyed by them every time I make a transation.
            I’ve compromised by having a pre-loaded cc, so that even if someone nicks my details, they would be very lucky to get more than a small amount.

  34. I’m shocked, shocked I tell yer…

    UK loses court challenge against EU order to recover millions in state aid

    BRUSSELS, June 8 (Reuters) – Britain on Wednesday lost its court challenge against an EU order to recover millions of euros from the London Stock Exchange and other multinationals that benefited from an illegal exemption in a UK tax scheme.

    The Luxembourg-based General Court rejected the UK arguments and backed the European Commission’s 2019 decision issued prior to Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union.

    https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-loses-court-challenge-against-eu-order-recover-millions-state-aid-2022-06-08/

    2. Why are still accepting penalties from this bunch of shysters, operating under a corrupt ‘Napoleonic’ rule of law?

    1. That vacuous idiot-sheet doesn’t even know the title he held in the justice department. It refers to him being “The Director of Public Prosecution” (singular: just one prosecution!). The post he held was The Director of Public Prosecutions, but you can’t expect the clownish editor or reporters at Bunty comic to know that!

      2. It might be as a result of predictive text as that mistake was in a picture caption, in the body of the text it is plural.

        1. That could well be the case; however, it doesn’t excuse the picture editor who published it.

    2. That vacuous idiot-sheet doesn’t even know the title he held in the justice department. It refers to him being “The Director of Public Prosecution” (singular: just one prosecution!). The post he held was The Director of Public Prosecutions, but you can’t expect the clownish editor or reporters at Bunty comic to know that!

    3. Little banner below:
      “Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.”

    2. “a new nightmare for the President”?

      Biden would struggle to find his arse with both hands. He prolly (c)BT doesn’t remember who Hunter is.,

  40. Sue Edison put this link on last night.
    https://disq.us/url?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmobile.twitter.com%2FDesmondSwayne%2Fstatus%2F1534567546745135104%3APnMnEVTEd9KPxkmzjMufnJmvxqM&cuid=5852343
    That is only one job withdrawn.
    This big question is: How many are still in the department and if that was the Deputy’s job who is Chief and how much is he being paid.
    If Javed is serious then he should be questioned as to how many are in that department and how much is it costing the taxpayers. If these vaccine passes are not going to be used then the whole department can be fired.
    Weasel words again and another one continuing to lie to Parliament and the nation.

    1. Alf, the Twitter link you posted has a tweet that indicates that there is a second job advertised in this field.

      As Ndovu suggests below, Johnson is mortally wounded as PM and it’s only a matter of time before an attempt to replace him with another WEF infiltrator/sleeper arises. IMO if Johnson tried to bring back “vaccine” passports in any shape or form he would be confronted by mass outrage but the politicians prepared to betray and control the people by such digital mechanisms may be thinking that another face, untainted by Johnson’s shenanigans, could slide the measure into law without too much trouble. That would explain why the WEF supporters in the Cabinet want to retain these posts, irrespective of what Javid the Bald attempted to say yesterday.
      I’ll take my tin-foil hat off immediately after I post this comment.

      1. I fear you’re correct.
        It’s only taken his socialist government less than two and a half years to wreck the country and perhaps he’s aiming to complete the job on the 7th anniversary of the Brexit vote.
        A plague on him and all his friends .

    2. Sorry, John, but they’ll be used. Monkeypox has rather fallen flat, but our elites are certain to scare the bejasus out of us before the year end. I still see masked sheep, in the streets of Guildford, Aldershot and elsewhere.

      The end game is social credit, CCP style.

      1. It will end in tears whatever happens Geoff but it will be us, the minority, who will shed most because the others will be led like sheep to the slaughter.

  41. Good morning. I am seeing a number of clerical suggestions that our problems will be solved by return to the established church. While I agree with much of the analysis of such suggestions I regret that I do not agree that the cure for the decline and fall of our civilization that threatens is to be cured by evangelism of a man-made belief system whichever it may be.

    What is needed I think is a universal recognition of individual personal responsibility, and by extension the reasons for that. That there is a natural law and a
    common golden thread that links belief systems everywhere is a truism. Corruption starts when two people get together to impose on a third, and that is Solzhenitsyn’s thread of evil running through every heart. It means that tyranny can grow anywhere if we allow it. We see it in our democracy just as clearly as we would have in Nazi Germany.

    We can’t outsource the solution whether to God or other men. We are learning that right now the hard way as the price of the last seventy years originally paid with the blood of our fathers is now being pressed on us by psychopathic evil that we ourselves have allowed to grow in our midst.

    Prosecutions are now needed, and a heavy price paid by those who have killed and injured so many of us and who now attempt to take war to a global level for no reason other than their own self-aggrandisement.

      1. That’s what I tell myself every time I switch on the LED candle bulbs in my chandelier. They do eventually become bright, but initially they are dimmer than a Toc H lamp!

    3. I was once persuaded – having the only company car on site with a tow bar – to drag a cherry picker from one end of a WWII hangar at RAF Feltwell, to the same end, but outside, rather than inside. No worries, except my 1.2 Vauxhall Nova weighed considerably less than the cherry picker, and the contact between the front wheels and the ground was somewhat tenuous…

        1. Prolly before my time, Alec. The hasngar we wer working on was being converted to a Medical Materiel Store for the Yanks. Also as hospital if needed. Shame the yank MPs felt it was appropriate to steal equipment and tools from the site…

        2. Those Thor missiles were down to 2 minutes (with no recall or destruct) in October 1962.

          1. Yes, Cuban missile crisis – I was in Germany at the time on QRA with bombed up Canberras

  43. Well I’ve just turned Boris off. I listened to most of it because I was getting some fish ready for dinner. This man is a fool and a liar.

      1. Afternoon Bob. It was a parody of reality!

        We have the best Civil Service in the world!

      2. Afternoon Bob. It was a parody of reality!

        We have the best Civil Service in the world!

      1. Unlike Jeremy *unt, I actually live in Surrey. They can drill away as far as I’m concerned. In my back garden if necessary. At least Gove (also in Surrey) recused himself, for what it’s worth.

    6. Maybe he’d prefer a wind farm – or several acres of prime farmland smothered in solar panels?

  46. Boris Johnson gives housing association renters the right to buy. 9 June 2022.

    Mapping out his policy vision for the coming months, Mr Johnson will say: “Over the next few weeks, the government will be setting out reforms to help people cut costs in every area of household expenditure, from food to energy to childcare to transport and housing.

    “As we continue to deal with the Covid aftershocks, and the inflationary impact of the war in Ukraine, our strategy is clear.

    “We will continue to use our fiscal firepower to help the country through tough times – and concentrating our help where we should, on those who need it most.

    “We will continue with the agenda on which this government was elected, to unite and level up across the country, building the productivity of the UK with generational investments in infrastructure, skills and technology.

    “We will continue to support the NHS and to clear the Covid backlogs, and to fund all other vital public services.

    “At the same time we will use this moment to accelerate the reforming mission of the Government, to cut the costs that Government imposes on businesses and people up and down the country.

    “With more affordable energy, childcare, transport, and housing we will protect households, boost productivity and, above all, increase the rate of growth of the UK.”

    Words without meaning! The rattling of an empty can!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/06/09/boris-johnson-housing-buy-let-overhaul-speech-reset-leadership/

    1. It must be bewildering for Boris that nobody believes him any more. Lying and blustering has got him so far in the past!

      1. Yes. Afternoon BB. It might of course be my imagination but I seem to detect in him a realisation that this is so. There’s a quality of quiet desperation in his utterances; as if he doesn’t expect them to be believed!

        1. He will now quit rather than learn how to be honest and do what he promised!

      2. Yes. Afternoon BB. It might of course be my imagination but I seem to detect in him a realisation that this is so. There’s a quality of quiet desperation in his utterances; as if he doesn’t expect them to be believed!

    3. What an absolute load of Tommy rot! What’s the Klaus Schwab motto, you will own nothing and be happy, so why try to “help” people to “buy” their houses?

      This government is beyond contempt.

    4. “As we continue to deal with the Covid aftershocks, and the inflationary impact of the war in Ukraine, our strategy is clear.”

      Poor attempt at blaming outside influences for his own failures. The Covid aftershocks manifested themselves after the WEF’s/Globalists’ agenda was followed i.e. lockdowns, WFH, pissing millions and billions up the wall to people and companies that in some cases delivered nothing much in return. Spending billions on “vaccines” that are now known to be useless, and worse,creating major health problems around the World.
      The ongoing Ukraine war is a globalist strategy: affecting food and fertiliser exports to the World and creating famine conditions. It also affects oil and gas exports from Russia and has turned Russia to look at alliances with CCP controlled China.

      Johnson is weak and quite useless; if he had followed the pandemic plan, brought in some of the fine minds available instead of turning to SAGE and the scientific bureaucrats, he could have made a much better job of dealing with the Covid problem. He didn’t because the globalists are guiding this shit-show; look at Javid’s wriggling last evening under Swayne’s straightforward question. Covid is the mechanism to get everyone jabbed with who knows what and then use that jab to control everyone. He’s made his bed and now he has to lie in it.

  47. In 2032 an Irish man and a Scots man walk into a bar. The barman says
    “Wait a minute I know how this works, where’s the English man?”
    The Irish man says “Sure they’re all Muslims now and they don’t drink.”

    1. I’m not sure if I heard this correctly yesterday the slammers are complaining about a new film showing the daughter of mohamad, apparently they have threatened to burn the cinema in order to stop it.
      Another step forward in their adgenda.
      Has anyone taken positive action over this ? Or was it logged as Another ‘nothing to see’ move on.

      1. Sunnis didn’t like the film made by a Shia. Cinemas showing it in Sheffield and Birmingham were the subject of the biggest protests. The cinema chain withdrew it.

      2. Though a low percentage of the population they are approaching horde status and can shut things down as they please.

        1. That seems to be their plan Phiz.
          Everywhere they go or are, they are destined to cause as much trouble as they can get away with.
          Remember that it took more than 300 years to get them out of Spain.

          1. I suppose Isabel and Ferdinand had might as their right and just kicked the bastards out.

            I fear that something similar to Kyrstalnacht and the Final Solution may be our only hope of cleansing this fair country of the filth that pervades.

            Hopefully the REAL threat, may be sufficient to have them scurrying to the ferries, though we must be sure that we have sufficiently strong armed forces to back up the threat, and take on the ‘Caliphate Army’.

          2. Once their numbers are sufficient they take over. As we have seen in Batley and now Vue Cinemas. If i were a Jew i would be leaving.

  48. Moderna’s new Covid vaccine is five times better than the original. 9 June 2022.

    Moderna’s new omicron Covid vaccine is five times better at boosting antibodies than its original jab, results show, raising hopes that it would be needed just once a year.

    The US firm said early clinical trials showed that the next-generation jab produced 9,500 units of antibody in vaccinated individuals compared to a maximum of 1,800 units with an original booster jab.

    The vaccine includes protection against both the original Wuhan strain and the omicron variant, but experts are hopeful that the newer jabs will also be helpful in protecting against new variants that might emerge.

    TOP COMMENT BELOW THE LINE.

    Nick Powell.

    5 times more or less chance of killing you for a medical intervention you don’t need? What are they measuring it against, the last set of trial data that was fudged and hidden from everyone? Would you buy a used car from these charlatans?

    No!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/06/08/modernas-new-covid-vaccine-five-times-better-original/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

    2. I’m with Nick Powell. They can all fk off. I’ve had enough of the pharma industry trying to push treatments that I don’t need on me.

  49. Afternoon all.
    If Johnson had done what the pre election manifesto told us he wouldn’t have been in trouble.
    Just got off Thurlestone beach in time for lunch it’s started to rain again.

  50. 35308+ up ticks,

    Health & safety warning when supermarket shopping, on this occasion
    ALDI , true love was leaving via paying the shopping bill cashier, on going through the exit the alarm was triggered and a verbal warning uchtoung
    stop or we fire.

    The alarm activated a giant ogre strengh through joy type said to true love “got gin in there have you” true loves response was a shocked mild sounding no, it turned out to be the meat joint on the receipt with it’s rustlers will be prosecuted stamp on the label some innocents will fall foul as has happened but ALDIs take on the issue is WHO GIVES A SHIT seemingly.

    Maybe one must take the family solicitor when shopping or meat ESPECIALLY in ALDIs.

    1. Horrid experience. They say that the ones who stop and mildly protest their innocence are immediately recognised as non shoplifters, if it’s any comfort.

    1. Par 4 for me too
      Wordle 355 4/6

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

    2. Bogey Five for me.
      Wordle 355 5/6

      🟨⬜🟩⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜
      ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
      ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
      Two bad choices again …

    3. 5 today. Wordle 355 5/6

      🟨⬛⬛⬛🟨
      🟨🟨⬛⬛⬛
      ⬛🟩🟩⬛🟨
      ⬛🟩🟩🟩⬛
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    4. A floppy 5.

      Wordle 355 5/6

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

    5. Down in 3.

      Wordle 355 3/6

      🟩🟨🟨⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. I like that. My dad painted a lot of seascapes and I have one on my wall over my desk. He did a great job with the sea, waves etc.

      1. I realise that it’s now 4 years (2018) since I was walking near any sea …. and that was walking Tynemouth pier in August 2018, when I was in the closing stages of selling my late-mother’s bungalow in Cramlington.

        1. Ah, Cramlington – wasn’t there an airfield there post WW1? Maybe it’s an airport now.

      2. William Thomas Nichols Boyce (1857 – 1911)
        William Thomas Nichol Boyce was a marine and landscape painter in oil and watercolour. Originally from Norfolk he moved to South Shields in 1872. He was a joiner and a draper before becoming a full time artist. Boyce exhibited at the South Shields Art Club and the Bewick Art Club, Newcastle, and at the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle from 1905 until his death. Boyce’s sons were all artistically gifted: Albert Ernest Boyce, Herbert Walter Boyce and Norman Septimus Boyce.

        https://jamesalder.co.uk/w-t-n-boyce/

        1. Thank you, Lewis, though, to me, the style is very reminiscent of Turner.

  58. Just got back from the vets……..Lily passed some blood this morning – she’s elderly but she’s not ready to leave us just yet.
    We tried valiantly to get her into two different cat carriers with only our blood drawn – then OH thought of the laundry basket! So we took her in that. Vet diagnosed cystitis and so she’s had an anti-inflammatory and an antibiotic, and hopefully she’ll be with us for a while longer – judging by the show of strength she put up. She’s a lovely cat.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/20937a0ee40520d51e4308ef36c7da38821fc10ef2b7595fd09d68862d1a8522.jpg

    1. Gorgeous girl , lovely colours , so pleased she has rallied , the next thing of course is how difficult is it to give a cat medication?

      1. That requires some humour, Maggie:

        How to Give a Cat a Pill

        1. Pick up cat and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby.

        Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat’s mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As the cat opens its mouth, pop pill in.

        Allow cat to close mouth and swallow.

        2. Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa.

        Cradle cat in left arm and repeat process.

        3. Retrieve cat from bedroom, and throw soggy pill away.

        4. Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm, holding rear paws tightly with left hand.

        Force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger. Hold mouth shut for a count of ten.

        5. Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl and cat from top of wardrobe.

        Call spouse in from the garden.

        6. Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees, hold front and rear paws.

        Ignore low growls emitted by cat. Get spouse to hold head firmly with one hand while forcing wooden ruler into mouth. Drop pill down ruler and rub cat’s throat vigorously.

        7. Retrieve cat from curtain rail.

        Get another pill from foil wrap. Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains. Carefully sweep shattered figurines and vases from hearth and set to one side for gluing later.

        8. Wrap cat in large towel and get spouse to lie on cat with head just visible from below armpit.

        Put pill in end of drinking straw, force mouth open with pencil and blow down drinking straw

        9. Check label to make sure pill not harmful to humans and drink one beer to take taste away. Apply Elastoplast to spouse’s forearm and remove blood from carpet with cold water and soap.

        10. Retrieve cat from neighbour’s shed.

        Get another pill. Open another beer. Place cat in cupboard, and close door onto neck, to leave head showing. Force mouth open with dessert spoon. Flick pill down throat with elastic band.

        11. Fetch screwdriver from garage and put cupboard door back on hinges. Drink beer. Fetch bottle of scotch. Pour shot, drink.

        Apply cold compress to cheek and check records for date of last tetanus shot. Apply whisky compress to cheek to disinfect. Toss back another shot. Throw tee-shirt away and fetch new one from bedroom.

        12. Call fire service to retrieve the damn cat from the top of the tree across the road. Apologise to neighbour who crashed into fence while swerving to avoid cat. Take the last pill from its foil wrap.

        13. Using heavy-duty pruning gloves from shed, tie the little *&#%^’s front paws to rear paws with garden twine and bind tightly to leg of dining table. Push pill into mouth followed by large piece of fillet steak. Be rough about it. Hold head vertically and pour two pints of water down throat to wash pill down.

        14. Consume remainder of scotch. Get spouse to drive you to A & E. Sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm and removes pill remnants from right eye. Call furniture shop on way home to order new table.

        15. Arrange for RSPCA to collect mutant cat from hell and call local pet shop to see if they have any hamsters.

        How To Give A Dog A Pill

        1. Wrap it in bacon.

        2. Toss it in the air.

        3. All done!

          3. My first three dogs used to take pills in a sandwich, although the setter had a habit of eating the sandwich and spitting the pill out. Oscar has a liquid I put on his food. As he’s such a gannet, he never even notices.

        2. Yup, spot on.
          With our two bruisers, there would be an extra step: Retrieve your head from under sofa, and scrape cat poo out of neck before reattaching…

        3. I can’t stop laughing. My Maine Coon cat knew when he was going to the vet. It was a two person job to get him in his carrying box. One to entice with a piece of cheese and the other to grab him as he came to get it. It was never injury free; and yet we love the little buggers.

          1. My reaction with the cat carry box, was to stand it with cage end up, pick up the cat and drop it in, letting gravity do most of the work and then prising her claws off the rim, before slamming the cage door shut and fastening it.

        4. I sent that to our vet practice. The laughs were interspersed with thoughtful moments!

      2. She had the meds by injection given by the vet and we don’t have to give her any more, just keep an eye on her.

    3. What a pretty girl! So pleased she should be back to her old self soon! Fighting fit, obviously!

      1. She’s a sweetie. She calmed down once she was in the laundry basket and seemed quite relaxed when we got back home.

    1. Fighting fire with fire. Ginge and Cringe like to do the poor bit with handing out bags of groceries.

      1. On the occasions I’ve seen it, it is generally done inside with full photo crew on hand to record every moment.

        1. My usual response to BI sellers is “No, thanks”.

          Had I been in Lunnon troday, and encountered this seller, would my response have been a hate crime? Let’s be honest, the Royal Family is prolly ((c)BT) the smallest minority we have…

    3. Apparently Megain and Hazard flew home in a private jet. More ginger than green eh.

          1. Given the timing most people might have assumed it was someone else; after all, they should have been attending Jubilee functions,
            shouldn’t they?

  61. Had a letter today from my dear friend in GA. She has been aware of all the stuff we are dealing with and I had told her, when she shamed me by having a Jubilee tea mug, that I hadn’t got round to getting a souvenir yet. In the mail today came a lovely Jubilee book mark as she knows I am a bookworm and a lovely note, which ends with God Save the Queen.
    I burst into tears- she is the best and I am so lucky in my friends.

    1. The London Mint are giving away Platinum Jubilee coins. £2.50 P&P Also one of Diana.

      1. I have quite a few coins of various ages that I need to get valued. One day there will be time for this other stuff. Medals also. Need to research them.

    2. I had my hardly used Diamond Jubilee tea towel in use this week, but I haven’t bought any other souvenir yet.

      1. I printed 150 Jubilee Orders of Service for our two larger churches, on rather better paper than normal, in case anyone wished to keep them as a souvenir. Sadly, 50 would have been too many. And despite much checking, there was one typo. I think I’ll put the rest on eBay. Or offer them as heating fuel…

      1. She is a star, Paul. I never had a sister but she is close. I shall email soon and thank her; I have the bookmark propped on the mantel in the frame of our wedding photo.

        1. Simple little gift… so much joy!
          There’s a lesson there for all of us!

  62. Ukraine’s soldiers face 200 daily casualties with desertion on the rise. 8 June 2022.

    Cases of desertion are growing every week in the Ukrainian army, according to a leaked intelligence report, as up to 200 of its outgunned soldiers are being killed every day in the eastern Donbas region.

    Kyiv’s troops are outnumbered 20 to one in artillery and 40 to one in ammunition by the Kremlin’s forces in the area, the leaked Ukrainian intelligence report reveals.

    Well if this has been allowed to sneak out into the MSM they must be near to collapse! No figures for Ukrainian casualties have ever been released so my guess is that they are pretty bad!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/06/09/ukraines-soldiers-face-200-daily-casualties-desertion-rise/

    1. Aftenposten yesterday ran a story that the casualty figures for Ukrainians are being held secret to avoid mass desertion and collapse of their resistance. It’s a real challenge to see Russia being open about these things in comparison to others.

  66. I know nothing. However, given that the UK government presumably knew that they were going to impose sanctions on Russia, might they not have given it more thought?
    For example, they knew they were going to impose sanctions on oil and that would put up the price of oil. There would then be consequential increases in the prices of vehicle fuels. Why then did the UK government not buy oil futures prior to imposing sanctions?
    Ditto, gas, wheat, sunflower oil, and so forth?

    1. They don’t want the plebs to have private vehicles. Or heating. Or food. They want rid of us.

    3. That is what the sanctions are all about. To punish/harm us. TPTB know that Russia can trade elsewhere.

    4. Because they didn’t care. They have no love for this country or the indigenous.

    2. Yes Plum ,

      Although we don’t have any money , I have always found men with money smell rather nice .

      I shared a lift with some one famous years ago , he was as ugly and as common as hell, but my goodness he smelt expensive , his shoes , clothes and scrubbed up look emitted certain signals ..

      I have would loved to have known what his body cologne was ..

      Moh refuses to wear anything like that , so I buy nice laundry conditioners instead for the washing machine .

      2. Someone putting that much effort into what they wear is compensating for something else.

        What is ugly, though?

    4. In the meantime there’s been a disruption in the French countryside a cheese making factory has exploded and there is de-brie all over the place. 🤔🧀🥐🫕🥮

    1. It might be suggested that benefits are too high if they can buy a house on benefits.

      Why would anyone work any more?

      1. That’s the fundamental problem. Welfare enforces a culture of dependency when quite literally working does not pay.

        1. It is not going to help with overpriced houses when everyone can afford to buy.

          1. When you can trough another one off someone else, chances are he’s thinking welfare is like expenses.

            Why can the state not think ‘let’s stop making welfare the goal and instead make it the exception, by removing all the barriers we put in the way to people wanting to achieve on their own’

            As it is, the youngest (and biggest), poorest households are welfare ones. The smallest, oldest households are not. All the state does is take from the worker and give it, forcibly to the waster, enforcing an underclass.

    2. I don’t understand how he can NOT think this is deeply, utterly unfair. Welfare is not only not the recipients money, it is unearned. It shows how deeply rooted they think that all money is theirs to spend as they want to.

      1. Most people on welfare are working. Welfare acts as a top up to low wages. This has been going on for 50 years with Family Income supplement, Income supplement, Income Support, Family Credit, Working Families Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit and finally Universal Credit. I’d say people working are earning their money even if it does come partially from the government.

      1. As a person he’s gone through a horrible amount and has perhaps the hardest PMship I can imagine.

        He inherited infighting, a combatitive, arrogant Commons. He fought an immediate legal challenge against an anti democratic, obnoxious europhile who wanted to overturn the very basis of democracy.

        He’s had the blob facing him down every step of the way.

        He’s had an authoritarian dictatorship get one over on him because the rest of the Commons, Lords and state want to keep the UK chained.

        He’s married, had two very young children, lost his mother and has seen a war. Through cumulative action the currency is now worthless and we’re facing hyperinflation. Taxes are sky high because his chancellor didn’t say no to the Treasury. His Home Secretary has been stymied by the blob over gimmigration.

        Frankly, if it had been me I’d have declared martial law and nuked every other country, starting with France and finishing with this one.

        1. I’m a bit lost there, wibbles, you have sympathy for Johnson’s situation? I thought he was the ‘blob’.

          1. I think he deserves every brickbat thrown at him. He’s a lying deceiver of the first water and we need rid of him and his bitch, tout suite.

    5. The hunt for Red wall votes?

      Middlesbrough, TS1, £54,978
      Bradford, BD1, £58,673
      Sunderland, SR1, £65,478
      Grimsby, DN31, £71,105
      Shildon, DL4, £73,637
      Middlesbrough, TS3, £80,958
      Peterlee, SR8 £85,274
      Stanley, DH9, £91,391
      Lancashire, BB11, £91,516
      Liverpool, L20, £91,793
      Keighley, BD21, £91,833
      Birkenhead, CH41, £91,885
      Kingston upon Hull, HU9, £92,755
      Sunderland, SR5, £93,222
      Ferryhill, DL17, £95,380
      Blackpool, FY1, £95,526
      Hull, HU3, £97,043
      Grimsby, DN32, £97,652
      Liverpool, L5, £97,744
      Seaton Carew, £100,603

        1. Lowest average UK house prices by town, I’m not sure about the spurious level of accuracy.

    6. It looks as if he’s trying a version of Maggie Thatcher. But this time he’s using tax payer’s hard earn compulsory contributions to ply votes from anyone who can’t be bothered to work.

    7. They are utter idiots who can’t see that things have changed. The currency’s about to collapse, whether people realise it or not. They can’t deliver on a promise to make people home owners in the same way that the Cons could in the 80s.

        1. He’s probably paving the way.That is a dodgy family,they left
          America under a cloud.

    10. He doesn’t think. He just spouts sh1t he thinks people want to hear and so will secure him votes. He’s actually worse than Cameron and I thought he was an utter moron.

    1. I have a set of photos my grandmother took of the completion of the Tyne Bridge in 1927/28! If I’m clever I’ll post them!

  70. No wonder I was impressed … it was the architecture (as soon as I left Central Station):

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/154f451f10a896991b6a8939049e921722eb38c12cc89150af2a5b1dc69a3fe4.jpg

    Description
    “The building on the corner was designed by John Johnstone for the Newcastle and Gateshead Gas Company in 1884-6. The style is described as French-Renaissance with a very ornate roof-line which features multiple spires. The building was later the home of Wengers department store and a Yates Wine Lodge.” Photo by Andrew Curtis, 2010, and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence.

    2. I worked on a Carluccio’s restaurant in a building on Grey Street (Grainger Town) and replaced a modern shop front with a more sympathetic one.

      When preparing the Heritage Statement my enquiries caused me to do some historical research on the building. The building had originally been designed as a News Room, whereby within a triangular site was contained a massive semi-circular space where the masters of industry would congregate to literally obtain the latest news.

      The corner of the building with which we were concerned had been subject to a fire and I found accounts and illustrations of this in the local library archive.

      Needless to say a fine building had been extensively altered over the years and an arcade inserted in Art Nouveau style with faience decorations, itself a fine thing. As to the beautiful plaster ceilings and wall decorations, these had been hacked about and covered over by contractors employed by National Westminster Bank.

      Over my long career I have surveyed a number of very fine buildings, built by architects and craftsmen of the finest but wrecked by bloody banks. It is a real battle to restore these buildings after the banks’ wrecking balls and other stupid but generally less harmful cosmetic interventions.

    2. The cancer of woke is far too well established for it to be banished by a few ministers. Note how the home office staff have a group taking legal action against the Rwanda deportations.

      3. The trade unions looked all powerful in 1979, but Thatcher and Tebbit were determined. It would be a huge battle, but could be won by a genuinely conservative government – which this bunch of WEF shills is not.

    3. Dozens of diversity wonks taken on just as the NHS got a huge cash injection. It was the most obvious example of waste imagineable and demonstrated so completely why the NHS is not fit for purpose.

      1. I’m towish ahead of you …..well van rougeery. King weather in Devon is shite.
        My family call me rainman every (and I mean everywhere) where we go on holiday it rains. 100% record.
        For example in 1979 we were driving back from Northern Queensland to Victoria. Coonabarran had railway tracks and water tanks parked in the main street. It hadn’t rained for three years. Guess what…….

        1. The Donald (Duck) Cloud effect – everywhere one goes, there’s a small raincloud precipitating on your head.
          I have it too – even rained on me well down in the Libyan desert… beat that!

          1. I’m just a little black raincloud
            Hovering under the honey tree,
            I’m only a little black rain cloud
            Pay no attention to little me……

        2. You should have spent your moolah in Cornwall…..lovely weather just enough rain to keep the roses happy.

          3. 😅🤣 not yet hinit but wattcchin bbcee highpleyarr.
            I’m going to sleep now. Night 😴

    2. Why are they called A Capella when they have piano accompaniment? I always understood a capella to indicate the singer would be unaccompanied.

    1. Both had been living in Ukraine for some time and had joined the military at least four years ago – one of them has become a Ukrainian citizen and his wife is Ukrainian. Neither could be described as a ‘mercenary’.

      2. ” Neither could be described as a ‘mercenary’.”

        Unless you’re a Russian judge and recognise that this is ‘tokenism’.

        1. If they are mercenaries, so then are Gurkhas and members of the French Foreign Legion.

      2. It strikes me as a silly tactic on the part of the Russians; why surrender if you’re going to be killed anyway?

    3. Hopefully Sos. At least they didn’t remove ancient pottery in that f*cking shit hole Iran.

    1. Play with him!

      However I suspect you loved having him her about and practically leapt at the opportunity.

        1. Oooh.. Send her back. Get a prop’er dog. (Somerset accent optional).

          I would also mention that Junior and Mongo have been running about 6 metres, in opposite directions, then turning around nd repeating, for no apparent reason for the last hour.

          I can’t remember a time that was that simple nor that much fun.

        2. Oooh.. Send her back. Get a prop’er dog. (Somerset accent optional).

          I would also mention that Junior and Mongo have been running about 6 metres, in opposite directions, then turning around nd repeating, for no apparent reason for the last hour.

          I can’t remember a time that was that simple nor that much fun.

          3. Very good but you won’t ever see me with a gun in my hands- even with a silencer. Just drop an encyclopedia on their foot;-)

    3. Gawd, she looks like my daughter’s yellow lab we look after occasionally. Terrorises my Oscar by trying to lick his chops all the time. Otherwise she’s lovely.

    2. Gorgeous house! So spacious and gracious. Maybe I should rush out an buy a lotto ticket.

      1. Rooms with space, in all dimensions. Huge lounge, tiny snug, study, dining room, conservatory, 4 decent bedrooms.
        It’s sad to see it go, but nobody lives there and that’s not good for a house.
        Oh, yes, and new CH oil tank fitted this spring.

          1. 16 viewings booked already. Maybe too cheap? Who knows. Sale by auction around 22 June.

          3. Never been used, Geoff. Prices just kept rising after it was installed, and by then we were beginning the sale process, so someone else can pay. The old tank was sufficinetly buggered that the tanker wouldn’t deliver, so it needed changed.

    3. Sounds good apart from the Welsh bit, probably have to share it with some dinghy people

      1. Many are the ones they moved in with in 1977… especially the orange pattern hallway & stairs carpet.
        The polite word is “retro” ;-))
        Under that orange carpet are lovely red and black quarry tiles, just crying out to be revealed and relaid on a heated base.

        1. So much space, Paul! A real family home. Your poor old mum must have been rattling around like a pea in a colander there.

          1. Indeed.
            When they moved in, there was Grandfather, 2 parents and me.
            I was away at school, then went to University; Grandpa died in 1983, and then my Father died in 1997.

          2. So many family memories in there, Paul. Very sad for you. Wonderful sized rooms and lightness everywhere!

          3. Complicated by that we are selling the place Mother loved, before she is dead. That feels bad, but there’s no other sensible choice – she can’t live alone, nor can she pay care home or live-in nurses without selling the house. Catch-22.

          4. What will happen to everything inside? Will you need to clear it and is your poor Mother able to tell you what she wants to keep?

          5. Mother is away with the fairies. She’s waiting for her parents to collect her, doesn’t know where she is, and doesn’t remember her home. Doesn’t know who i am. Doesn’t know the house is to be sold.

          6. I’m so sorry Paul. Being far away doesn’t help, but even if you were in the next village it would be the same.

          7. Astonishes me how rude some people can be about a house. Decor etc can be altered…I think it’s a nice looking house that has tons of potential.

          8. It hasn’t had much done in years, except some essential maintenance and electrical work. Removing the woodchip paper and repainting, replaced carpets, would make one hell of a difference.

          9. What would put me off is the rendering (you never know what’s underneath and it needs regular painting) and the staircase. It will, however, make someone a lovely, spacious house – it just isn’t my taste.

        2. The 1875 cottage I bought in North Norfolk in 2001 had been “modernised” by previous owners. When I removed a plasterboard ceiling and plastic pretend wood from the walls, I discovered oak beams and a brick inglenook fireplace beneath. I put a lot of effort into restoring it to its former glory.

          1. Lovely! Why would anyone hide oak beams and a lovely fireplace?
            In restoring Firstborn’s house downstairs, we stripped off the 1/4″ pattened 1970s ply cladding on the walls to reveal vertical pine panelling planks, each one hand-made with hand-planed pattern (we found the tiny planes as well). That must be about 100+ years old, and is simple and lovely, now revealed in all it’s glory and painted in an antique Wedgwood blue. Behind the panelling is hand-worked log walls, held together with huge hand-smithed nails. Upstairs is log walls, no panelling.
            I love that style – it has an air of cosyness about it.
            The house dates from about 1750. Older than the USA!

          2. Almost everything in Europe and particularly Britain, is older than the USA.

            Small wonder they flock over here to see it.

          3. I took a party of French to see the iron bridge in Ironbridge and pointed out that France was still a monarchy when it was installed.

          4. The town next to me in CT had houses that dated back to the 17th C. Original clapboard and etc. Wonky rooves but well maintained. Mostly privately owned; in my small town we had the Tavern on the Green which George Washington was reputed to have spent a night or two in- bit like Liz I – if she’d slept everywhere she was supposed to…..
            Also there were other old houses, by US standards, and one had a slave hole and had been a stop on the Underground Railroad.
            Much of the US’s ancient history has been lost but there is other stuff and it should be recognised.
            Yes, I will grant you that the US recent history is nothing like as old as ours but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
            Look up Mystery Hill and L’Ainse aux Meadows which is a Viking site dating back over a 1000 years- in Newfoundland but they did make it a bit further south if Mystery Hill is to be believed.

          7. Oh my goodness! My father used to shout at the TV when Barry came on! Not just that he wore a tie when he was ‘working’ but that he was so pompous!

          9. One of my classmates was surnamed Bucknell – obviously we nicknamed him Barry 🙂

        3. When I moved into my house I discovered that the previous occupants had hidden a Minton tiled floor under hideous carpet.

        1. Flat roof is awful. You can hear the seagulls clomping about on it.
          But a decent sized room – 14′ x 24′ if I recall.

          1. It ruins the character of the original house – and the neighbourhood !!!
            Bad taste …

          2. The neighbourhood is trees, fields, sheep & horses. Not sure they care.

    5. What a lovely cosy family home . OB

      I love the Elephant occassional table and also the Ebony African heads.

      Who organised the sale and tidied things up .. it looks and feels so busy and comfortable .. When was the last time you were there , and what about all the interesting books etc?

      1. Last visit was Boxing day 2019. Tidy, because I hired a firm of cleaners to get it ready for sale.
        Sadly, the books will go to a second-hand dealer or charity shop. As will everything else except the elefant table, a folding Bedouin table, teddies, and a few pictures.

    7. Might give Rhian a call and ask for a private viewing. Bet she has some fine elevations…

    1. And what is forced on us by this insignificance? Debt, waste and inefficiency. No matter how much we try, someone else stands in the way of happiness.

      We should, by now be out there. It has been 60 years since we went to the moon. Junior should be looking to buy a house up there, in that unknowable immensity, having the opportunity to reach out to those stars but should we ever get there there will be an intergalactic DVLA getting in the way, trying to tax us.

      1. No matter when you are born, there will always be those who are intent on getting rich and powerful on your efforts and lucre, and not giving a damn about you.

        Bollocks to the ephemeral globalists and politicians; they’ll all be dead soon anyway. If I can find any way to make their lives miserable, then I shall put all my effort into doing so.

        1. As long as someone remembers you, Mola, you are still alive- even if it is only in someone’s mind. I have lost 3 very dear friends, 4 wonderful animals- and others. As long as I recall them and think about them, to me, they are still alive. Look how many times Issy has been mentioned here since his sad passing….he is not forgotten.
          I think that may be what eternity is…. people remembering others when they have moved on.
          Gawd blimey- just ‘ark at me…;-))

          1. “You’re not really dead until everyone who knew you is dead too.”

            ‘Ark at me also … bit of navel gazing this evening x

          2. I think all the BS we have had to deal with of late- all of us- has made us more introspective. I have always loved music but I find myself absolutely wallowing in it now; and also much loved books.
            Anyway, when I am dead I shall come back and haunt those who have annoyed me- Phizzee you have been warned ;-))

    3. Survived until 2m40s then gave up the will to live because of his monotonal rant, not that he was wrong. I prefer the putting ourselves into perspective in the universe and just panning out and the Earth vanishing into the distance until galaxies also appear as specks of light and also fade away. We are as nothing in the cosmos. Let’s enjoy ourselves as well as we can.

    1. Its part of the cultural marxism that has invaded the most vulnerable, through education. Woke is now in the DNA of our society and will replicate at will. Thoughts off-message will be eliminated by defence mechanism known as cancel culture.

    4. I’m currently reading Douglas Murray’s latest book, The War On The West. It is very illuminating about why this is all happening.

  79. Evening, all. Who does the letter writer think is stopping Bojo from doing what was promised in the Con manifesto? In my view, he never had the least intention of actually carrying out anything that was promised in order to get into power.

    1. Seems like home owners have become BI sellers. A bit like ripped jeans, making a fashion Statement out of signs of poverty.

    2. Yes, because they are self-employed – according to a Leftie judge some years ago – and hence entitled to Housing Benefit.

    3. I stopped believing in the Big Issue many years ago,Belle, when our next door neighbour was selling it. He was living with his girlfriend, who was getting housing benefit as a single mother for a flat that was owned by her family. All his income, including what he got for selling stuff he nicked from our garden, went on drugs. Last I heard, he had been carted off to rehab – on the NHS, of course. Their baby was born with a defomity that required surgery shortly after birth. Drug related? who knows?
      Not exactly the deserving poor – they were neither deserving nor poor!

    4. Why bother. They seem do be muslim here and probably don’t pay any rent ‘cos the get housing allowance and every other benefit courtesy of those of us who pay tax.

  84. I think this it for me- not been fun today- all sorts and a trip to the shops for MH to pick up his prescriptions and I went round Sainsbury’s- only saw a handful in masks and two of those were outside!
    Tomorrow I am going to make tomato and basil soup which MH loves. Bought a basil plant last week.
    Thank you for listening to me and supporting me. It helps.
    Good night Y’all.

      1. Gosh, he had a much shorter career than Bing Crosby or Joseph Cotten …

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