Sunday 3 July: The stupendous cost to the Treasury of generous public-sector pensions

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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432 thoughts on “ Sunday 3 July: The stupendous cost to the Treasury of generous public-sector pensions”

      1. 353800+ up ticks,

        Morning EB,

        One of my many failings is I suffer from a regular typing lisp, I did, unsuccessfully it seems delete.

      2. 353800 + up ticks,
        EB,
        I do believe that the H has something going with the G
        & i inadvertently caught them having a Sunday morning cuddle.

        1. Undoubtedly, ogga1. My comments were not in any way meant to be sarcastic.

        2. Undoubtedly, ogga1. My comments were not in any way meant to be sarcastic.

    2. Good morrow, Tom. Sorry, I didn’t see your comment “Happy Sunday” before posting a similar greeting myself.

        1. Yes, indeed! Let’s be happy. Here’s Ken Dodd…no, I’m not going to do that to everyone this damp, cold, windy, nearly sunny morning.

  5. Gas shortages threaten to spark another power struggle with Europe. 3 July 2022.

    Gas will stop flowing through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline running from Russia to Germany next week (July 11). While the planned maintenance might last only ten days, it marks an important moment in the escalating crisis rippling through Europe’s energy markets.

    As energy supplies increasingly tighten, officials around the Continent are preparing contingency plans. With Europe and Britain’s electricity markets increasingly interconnected by cables and pipelines trading power hour-by-hour, a looming power battle threatens.

    More than four months into the war on Ukraine, the once unthinkable threat of a complete shut-off of Russian gas supplies to Europe is being taken extremely seriously. In the last few weeks, Moscow has cut off European gas buyers who refused to pay in roubles and blamed lack of equipment for sending 40pc less through Nord Stream 1.

    I’ve got this really Great Idea! Let’s stop using Russian gas! That will really make those Russkies Squeal!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/07/02/gas-shortages-threaten-spark-another-power-struggle-europe/

    1. Why would it be unthinkable? Anybody with even half a brain would not rely on strategic gas supplies from a country who, until recently, was not our friend, and has only been friends lately because we gave them oodles of money. Now we’re pissed at them, they are taking their ball away and going to play elsewhere. Surprise – not.

      1. Would that country be Germany, the Ukraine or Russia? Anyway we started it. “Let’s impose every sanction we can think of on a key player in our economy,” is not really a very smart idea.

    2. We don’t really use Russian gas. We import from Norway and from the united arab emirates (LPG). The russians are however the big player on the global markets so if they cut production or decide to cut countries off it affects prices everywhere.

      1. All the more reason, surely; why we should increase local supplies from fracking?

        1. Fracking isn’t clean at all. It causes minor earthquakes, can pollute water supplies and leaks emissions like a coal fired power plant. We do have some new North Sea gasfields going live soon. We needed nuclear and we needed it 35 years ago, instead the Tories opted for gas.

          1. It’s vastly cleaner nd more rational than windmills or solar. If we never invest in it we’ll never get it.

            We need a mix of energy supplies – coal, gas and nuclear. The micro reactors Rolls Royce have discussed are available, as is molten salt. We just need a government that isn’t determined to drive us back to the Dark Ages to bring them on line.

          2. There’s only three coal plants left and they produce less than 2% of our yearly energy demands.

            Nuclear generates about 18% of our needs.

            The rest is split roughly 50:50 between gas and renewables now.

          3. And what about the almighty wood-pellet-burning Drax.

            Wasn’t that supposed to solve all the green problems – except the CO2 splurged out in getting it here, is reportedly worse than Ferrybridge ever was, it also sits on 300 years of unmined coal, hence its original siting.

          5. America is raking it in hand over fist and they are far more susceptable to earthquakes than Britain. The initial tests on fracking identified earth tremors in Lancashire at a fraction of 1 on the richter scale. Described as a fart in a bottle.

  6. Good morning all. A cool 6°C outside, dry but overcast with patches of blue.

      1. Well, the road looks pretty diverse.
        I assume Dundee doesn’t have mounted police.

      2. All Scotland cities are pretty diverse now. Glasgow is particularly diverse.

      1. What else is left? Alcohol prices have risen. There are frequent online offers by supermarkets of modest wines (Cote du Rhone, Argentine Malbec, etc, cheap but not rubbish). Buy Six and get x% discount. Small print “excludes Scotland”.

    4. I went to Dundee once! I’ve never felt the urge to repeat the experience!

      1. Me too, Minty. The last EAGLE Society get-together in 2019 before lockdown was held there. Wonderful statues of Desperate Dan and Minnie the Minx in the town of D.C. comics were to be seen, along with Dennis the Menace and Gnasher.

        1. Good morning, Auntie Elsie.

          Do ye ken, when I was a nipper reading the Beano, Dandy, Beezer and Topper, I never imagined that Desperate Dan, Biffo the Bear, Korky the Cat, Little Plum, Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx, Roger the Dodger, Beryl the Peril, Lord Snooty and his Chums and The Bash Street Kids all has Jock accents?

      2. judging by the lack of shadows, it appears to be populated by the living dead.

        1. Morning Alec. I am happy that your parents were able to move you to somewhere more salubrious!

    5. I went to Dundee once! I’ve never felt the urge to repeat the experience!

    6. Good moaning, Annie. What I say is “Let them eat (Dundee) cake!”

      1. Because the evil English are draining Scotland dry and nobody can afford food or clothes.

        1. Aye, the wee bairn will be far better off when bonny Scotland casts off the dread Barnett formula.

    8. My intuition leads me to suspect that some of those drugs deaths were not accidental.

    2. Morning, Bob; morning, all.

      Dawned sunny and clear here, too, after a welcome night of rain. Been for a good long swim and decided to stay here for a bit longer. Don’t have to find another site (none of the options available looked as pleasant as here) and can explore Suffolk and visit friends in Southwold just by car.

      Any recommendations very welcome. Pilgrimage to Aldeburgh already on the list, and I’m an English Heritage member.

      1. Lavenham is nice (or it was ages ago) and so was Kersey. I haven’t been for decades, though.

      2. Hello, atd. You might like Kentwell Hall at Long Melford. Before the lockdown era they used to do Tudor re-enactments, which were great fun, for a week in July, I don’t know if they still do them. Even if they don’t, it is still worth a visit. https://www.kentwell.co.uk/

  9. The stupendous cost to the Treasury of generous public-sector pensions

    Massive inflation will help?

    1. Yes vw,.

      Very few objections from the tax paying public, so they must be happy with the situation.

    2. Morning all. That made me laugh out loud! Er – where does the Treasury get its money from? Hmmm. Ah yes. FROM THE PUBLIC!

    4. I don’t mind the high pensions. What i do mind is the incompetence. The lack of punishment for failure. When an MoD project goes horrifically overbudget, no one gets the sack. The same incompetents plough on regardless. Pub sec alaries also used to be demonstrably lower as well, now they’re dreadful things, of six figures. They think they’re grand directors and managers when really all they do is go to meetings. That ignores that their Honours are doled out like sweets.

      No product, no risk, no responsibility for failure. It all adds up to a recipe for disaster. The entire system of government must change so that civil servants are held directly accountable and their pay reflect the security and lack of risk in their jobs.

    1. Happy Feast of St Thomas, Elsie. That’s Doubting Thomas, so being questioning is okay, it seems.

  11. Euro is on track to slump to parity against dollar within weeks, according to leading investment bank. 3 July 2022.

    Just over a year ago, a euro bought $1.22. Now analysts at Nomura expect it to be worth no more than a dollar by the end of next month.

    It hit new lows of $1.04 on Friday. But it could sink even further given the high dependence of Germany – Europe’s largest economy – on Russian energy and trade.

    Analysts fear that Vladimir Putin may use the planned maintenance shutdown of the vital NordStream 1 pipeline in mid-July to turn off gas supplies to Germany altogether.

    ‘If Russia cuts off gas supplies to Germany it could be the biggest economic hit in modern history outside of Covid-19 and the global financial crisis,’ said Nomura strategist Jordan Rochester. The Bundesbank reckons this would wipe up to 5 per cent, or £175billion, off the size of the German economy.

    Along with the Pound methinks. Momentous times possums!

    https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-10976355/Euro-track-slump-parity-against-dollar-weeks.html

    1. All part of the great reset really.
      To use the slump to align all our economies and currencies.
      All the easier for achieving one world paperless currency controlled by world government.

        1. Maybe whatever is left of our savings after we have paid the electricity and gas and heating oil bills, bought some food*, paid our mortgages at the new higher interest rates and put petrol on the car.

          3. They aren’t doing too well with petrol prices in my neck of the woods; petrol was at 177.9ppl and diesel 185.9ppl this morning when I went past on my way to church. Both, incidentally, cheaper than when I last filled up 🙁

    2. As I suggested a week or two ago – this is a deliberate plan to get the pound, the euro and the dollar at parity so that the currencies can be merged into one.

      Might I suggest that this is the principal reason why Johnson is so committed to ensuring that the British economy goes into dramatic decline. He has refused to take advantage of the freedoms afforded by Brexit because if he had done so the pound would have surged in value and made the three currency parity programme more difficult to achieve.

    3. The state simply doesn’t care. The stable currencies, the ones tied to gold, without massively indebted, Left wing demented socialist economies are all doing well. It’s qquite simple what needs to be done, but big fat state refuses to do it.

      Also note that those countries that don’t have big, oppressive, wasteful governments because the people can stop government at any time.

      The simple truth is, small, controlled, constrained states are better run, not indebted, low tax. Shred the state, bring it to heel. Cut taxes.

  12. 353800+up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Sunday 3 July: The stupendous cost to the Treasury of generous public-sector pensions.

    The majority of the voting herd downright refuse to face facts a majority one being that, in todays political climate
    once an MP dons the pinstripe armour of the lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled immigration (before your very eyes, ongoing) paedophile umbrella ( ditto) and “make your bones” in deceit & treachery you obtain the politically prised Teflon coat,

    Same goes for current supporting employees ( soldiers)
    of the political overseers as proved in the odious findings via the Jay report regarding rotherham.

    To the herd majority short term mindset it is far easier to support / vote following great granddads line of party support / voting closing the eyes to the fact that in his day honesty & integrity in politics was much in evidence.

    The tory ( ino) name of today is the fallout from much political rape / abuse from the manipulating overseers
    in pursuit of reset, backed again & again by a majority electorate steeped in stupidity, pretending to pursue
    common sense, but their voting mode clearly shows
    up their idiocy.

    The one saving grace the tory (ino) party has is that lab is worse & lib dems are an open eu asset party, but the toxic trio ARE a coalition.

  14. Gibraltar tests the water with sale of an oligarch’s superyacht. 3 July 2022.

    Within weeks, the Russian oligarch’s prized asset will become the first yacht offered up at auction since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. It comes after Pumpyansky was hit with sanctions by both the European Union and Britain in March, as part of an effort to crack down on those with close ties to Putin.

    The yachting industry has been speculating for months about how the first auction triggered by the conflict will play out, and the sale of the Axioma will be a key test of how many buyers will pay for an asset once owned by a Russian oligarch.

    BELOW THE LINE.

    Joe Moss. 7 HRS AGO

    This is very dodgy in legal terms however distasteful the owner might be. The owner is prevented from repaying the loan but then is dispossessed because he isn’t paying the loan? And who does the balance of the money after the claims have been paid gone to?

    On the other hand if the argument being made, as I have heard before, is that the money was stolen from the Russian people then doesn’t that mean it should be returned to the Russian people? Otherwise basically it’s trading in stolen goods.

    Yes Joe. No matter how you dress it up, this is still thieving! This war is simply being used as means of enriching the Elites!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/07/02/gibraltar-tests-water-sale-oligarchs-superyacht/

    1. I’m wondering how long it will be before Allan Towers is confiscated because I’m a ‘covid-sceptic’.

      2. We’re covid-sceptics but not anti vaccination. We’ll be in the same boat as you.

  15. Gibraltar tests the water with sale of an oligarch’s superyacht. 3 July 2022.

    Within weeks, the Russian oligarch’s prized asset will become the first yacht offered up at auction since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. It comes after Pumpyansky was hit with sanctions by both the European Union and Britain in March, as part of an effort to crack down on those with close ties to Putin.

    The yachting industry has been speculating for months about how the first auction triggered by the conflict will play out, and the sale of the Axioma will be a key test of how many buyers will pay for an asset once owned by a Russian oligarch.

    BELOW THE LINE.

    Joe Moss. 7 HRS AGO

    This is very dodgy in legal terms however distasteful the owner might be. The owner is prevented from repaying the loan but then is dispossessed because he isn’t paying the loan? And who does the balance of the money after the claims have been paid gone to?

    On the other hand if the argument being made, as I have heard before, is that the money was stolen from the Russian people then doesn’t that mean it should be returned to the Russian people? Otherwise basically it’s trading in stolen goods.

    Yes Joe. No matter how you dress it up this is still thieving! This war is simply being used as means of enriching the Elites!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/07/02/gibraltar-tests-water-sale-oligarchs-superyacht/

    1. Good morning, ogga

      Who is this person called:

      discus_E9pgG….

      who systematically down votes all your posts?

      Has Jennifer SP reincarnated herself/himself/theirself into an itself?

      2. 353835+ up ticks,

        Morning R,
        Who knows, it doe not bother me & as Wibbles say’s anyone that down votes a good morning greeting needs a serious neck up check up.

        Could be looked at as introducing tics in a manner meant to cause damage,
        on par with giving fleas to your dog

        Could be construed as online stalking
        but to be honest if it saves someones eyesight doomed from playing with themselves, let it continue.

    2. Any parents who get their babies injected with the Covid gene therapy should be imprisoned for gross child abuse.

    1. Would it be a conspiracy theory to suggest that this was not in any way the deliberate intention of the PTB?

    2. Well, Kim the younger of North Korea said covid was caused by aliens. So not so batty after all.

    1. The most beautiful music imaginable is made when some one chucks that sort of bird into a skip and it hits a rapper already chucked in there!

        1. I flew the last Jaguar out of Laarbruch in Jan 89, piped out of its hide by a suitable piper. I shall dig out the photo sometime.

    3. Why were bagpipe players never shot by the Germans? Because it is impossible to block both ears and hold a rifle at the same time.

  22. Youth is no longer the best time of life
    Rather than testing their powers, young people are encouraged to view every aspect of their lives through the prism of mental health

    Zoë Strimpel: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/03/youth-no-longer-best-time-life/

    What was it that William Wordsworth said in ‘The Prelude’ :

    Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive
    But to be young was very heaven.

    Wordsworth was referring to the French Revolution but the Terror which followed it made him change his mind.

    I greatly enjoyed my life when I was young but I am glad that I am not young any more!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RZEj7t1EaA

    1. That’s something I regularly think when I see the way things are going. I shan’t have to put up with it for too long.

      1. That’s because it weakens England and is further assault for our denying them their way over the EU project.

    2. Give them independence. However, set out the terms to be so financially crippling, so crushingly expensive and, of course, forbid any MSP from joining an EU post, ever.

      Sturgeon will change her mind then. That waste of skin is using Scotland as a platform to get the EU gravy train, just as Blair and mandelscum do.

    1. When one of my nephews was at boarding school in his first year, one of the older boys gave him some plants to ‘keep and look after’ in his green house over the holidays…………..
      They’re doing well now 😎🤩🌿

        1. His appalling behaviour is disgraceful and he aims to put his opponents off with it. The umpire should automatically give a game to the other player as soon as he starts playing up.

          He is so fond of cheating that I wouldn’t be surprised if he decided next year to declare that he is a woman so that he cam win the Ladies’ event.

      3. He really needs to be kick out of tennis he’s an absolutely disgusting and sadistic lunatic.
        After last nights on court battle, Henman predicted there will be fines. What that will do to stop his rampant nasty behaviour, is absolutely nothing.

    2. Andy Murray is “upset” and “angry” on hearing his mum Judy had been
      sexually assaulted at an Awards Dinner. He said.. ” I will be having a
      few choice words with this man. I’m not scared of him or his guide dog.”

      1. Similar thoughts crossed my mind.
        She doesn’t exactly radiate ‘come hither’.

  27. Mob-style killings shock Netherlands into fighting descent into ‘narco state’. 3 July 2022.

    The mayors of Amsterdam and Rotterdam are warning of a “culture of crime and violence that is gradually acquiring Italian traits”, with record amounts of intercepted drugs at the port of Rotterdam, extreme violence that often kills the wrong target, and €15bn to €30bn a year laundered into property, cannabis “coffee shops”, tourism and bars. Allegations that the country, better known for its tolerance and fiscal frugality, has the characteristics of a “narco state 2.0” are now being taken extremely seriously.

    No doubt the work of former indigenous tulip growers!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/03/mob-style-killings-shock-netherlands-into-fighting-descent-into-narco-state

    2. Odd… what’s happened to the Netherlands in recent times to cause that sort of chaos?

  29. Brave New World……

    Is there no way to stop the secret brainwashing of the next generation?
    By PETER HITCHENS FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10976505/PETER-HITCHENS-no-way-stop-secret-brainwashing-generation.html

    I will always remember the day they took away the history books. My small boarding school, on a rain-lashed Devon hilltop, had until that day taught us about the glory and grandeur of English history. It was a story of courage, freedom and the defeat of foreign threats.

    But these volumes, their pages soft from use, their illustrations in wistful black and white, were no longer acceptable. They were gathered up and carted off. Instead, we were given glossy, brightly-coloured replacements with larger print and supposedly exciting photographs of a brave new world.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10976505/PETER-HITCHENS-no-way-stop-secret-brainwashing-generation.html

    Read it and weep……

    1. 353835+ up ticks,

      Morning P,
      There are three surefired ways and they are MASS boycott regarding supporting / voting for the lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled immigration (ongoing with bells on, alarm bells that is ) paedophile umbrella ( ditto)
      COALITION PARTY.

    2. Morning Plum ,

      When I was a child , historical stuff surrounded us , old buildings , stocks, market crosses , our lovely churches , old barns , cart horses , old fashioned pub signs , historical street names , castles, old trees , chimney pots , roof styles, houses , cottages etc and different sorts of celebrations in the church and local traditions .

      Modern children are seeng rows of boring red brick characterless homes , concrete shopping malls , and a souless society that is verging on the edge of madness.

      Modern children are confronted by shrill voiced lady teachers who have a few tattoos ..

      Britain is not shallow loud America or the rest of the colonies , we share a heart with Europe , and sadly even their history is being trashed .

      1. Milk floats, Pony & Trap, steam rollers.

        In Bungay, we had a Butter Cross and on one of the pillars were two lockable bands with different size holes for wrists to go through – it was a whipping post.

        Should be brought back and used on these young tearaways. The humiliation would deter and prevent reocurrence.

      2. We were discussing past times with elder son this morning.
        We got onto smoking, and realised that everyone was much nicer and chilled out (and had a sense of humour) when 80% of adults were puffing away.

    3. Peter Hitchings was at Mount House near Tavistock where my nephew was at prep school. It was rated at the time as one of the best prep schools in the country.

      Mr Wortham was an outstanding headmaster there and I was tempted to go and teach there myself but teaching “A” level English Literature was more interesting than the prospect of teaching pre-pubescent boys. Having said that our own children were completely delightful as young children – less so as adolescents!

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e19eba3dbf0f402c692dec19ee7f751c581a9016b785c5fc1717f57d38ecee22.jpg

      1. Heh, I was a complete monster as a child. However, my mother is a screaming narcissist who made every one of our lives miserable. I didn’t bow to it due to my being too stubborn.

        1. I was a severe disappointment to my mother. I didn’t want anything to do with the sort of job or future she envisaged for me.

    4. I did. Aske’s used to be one of “the” schools in south London. The boys’ school moved to the country somewhere.
      There has always been some sort of indoctrination in schools, especially religious based institutions. My school was a C of E grammar and for the first three years we were subjected to C of E doctrine. I was always in the Head’s office for repeatedly refusing to learn the Catechism.
      However, what is going on now in schools and colleges is beyond the pale.

      1. Never South London Ann.

        It started in the East end, moved to Cricklewood, then finally to Elstree near Aldenham country park where it has been since around the time I was born.

        1. I beg to differ. I went to Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham Boys’ School. Hatcham being the old name for New Cross (South London). It is still there although the prats in charge have decided to drop the historical association with Robert Aske because he had shares in the Royal Africa Company. There are I think seven Haberdashers’ Schools. Despite the vandalism perpetrated by Labour in the abolition of grammar schools it has since been very popular for many years with over 2000 applications per year with a significant proportion from the BME communities despite the Robert Aske connection.

          1. One of our good friends was a science teacher at Haberdashers in Hertfordshire but i think it was only the boys school at the time around 30 years ago.

          2. Just checking (in full pedant mode). You correctly positioned the apostrophes in Haberdashers’ and Aske’s, but you forgot the apostrophe in Boys’. Tut tut, Old Boy. 😉

            [I attended Brimington County Secondary Boys’ School, so I know these things! 👍🏻]

          5. That’s not mentioned on either the boy’s site or the girl’s site.

            Both state Hoxton, vacated 1898, boys to Hampstead (Cricklewood actually) and girls to Acton. Boys moved to Aldenham in 1961 and the girls in 1972.

            The original school was set up in 4 almshouses 2 in hoxton and 2 in new cross.

            I couldn’t find any info much on the south London site and what happened to it after the early 1800’s.

          6. I was on a school ski trip in Switzerland c. 1982 and the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham Boys’ school was in the same accommodation. We thought they were dead posh, because we were from Wolverhampton.

          7. 1982 was three years after the school became a comprehensive being merged with Samual Pepys School. I worked with a chap who was there at the time of the merger he told me it didn’t take long for standards to drop….

            Interesting you thought the group was ‘dead posh’ In my time nearly 20 years earlier, most of the children were from ordinary backgrounds.

        2. Hmm, pretty certain that the girls’ school was in south London….we used to see them at bus stops.

          1. The girls are now with the boys at Aldenham. Before that they were at Acton for the majority of the 20th century. They were at New Cross ( surrey docks area) in the 19th century. How old did you say you was 🙂

          2. I’ve just been looking it up- I am a very young 68 and I am certain I recall seeing the Aske’s lot around. There were several girls’ schools in the area,; Mary Datchelor, Prendergast, Alleyn’s, Aske’s, St. Saviour’s and St. Olave’s (mine) and others.
            I knew the schools had moved out of London as did the boys’ school associated with my school; the girls’ school is still at the junction of the Old and New Kent roads.

    5. Apart from the obvious i often wonder who exactly are the THEY and what on earth are they trying to achieve. When will it stop if ever when they have destroyed al the Norman castles and Saxon churches and other fine buildings that are hundreds of years old. What we really need is a revolution before all historical and other seasonal anniversaries are wiped out all together. There seems to be and increasing ready made acceptance of other historical events and anniversaries from any where else on the planet that have little or no meaning to our culture. But more often than not less importance is based on the events that are solidly set in the bedrock of our nation. It’s almost seems as they now worship such trivia that the wokies and the THEY’s are embarrassed by such long standing success.

  30. Wordle done…

    Wordle 379 4/6

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

  31. Morning all 😃
    I think that headline needs adjustments.
    Neither the government nor the treasury has money of their own, everything that passes through their evil greedy hands has been (stolen) as in diverted from the British taxpayers and the rest of the public.

  32. I heard that someone I know (but not too well)
    and see fairly often has ‘long covid’ does anyone know what that is or means. He looks well enough and appears to be living a normal life.

    1. I’m not a medical chap but post viral effects have been associated with all sorts of viral illnesses, so nothing new. ME is thought to be caused by long term viral fatigue and research into long covid may help those who suffer from this condition. Alternatively, it can be viewed as shirking! Plenty on Google.

    2. I suspect it comes from the aftermath of being ill, that followed the lockdowns so nobody got much exercise and so are in bad shape before getting covid.
      Also, it’s another name to scare people.

      1. Well when i see him he shows no signs of and left over side effects. Perhaps he’s just playing truant from work. Come to think of it perhaps a lot of people are right now.

        1. My discipline lead at work, a man vaxxed up to the eyeballs, is recovering from covid. Went back to work too soon, despite advise, and has had a relapse – and a dose of novivirus to boot, so sicker than a dog.

          1. I don’t remember any one mentioning this chap had Covid (married with two young children) although he must have, unless his home Testing was faulty.

          2. There is mounting evidence that people who are jabbed up to the eyeballs are more susceptible to having more frequent bouts of covid and have difficulty clearing the infection.

          3. There is mounting evidence that people who are jabbed up to the eyeballs are more susceptible to having more frequent bouts of covid and have difficulty clearing the infection.

    3. A ‘post viral syndrome’ is quite a frequent follower of a viral infection , but of course, like everything else to do with covid has been blown out of all proportion. It does seem to take some people a long time to recover. Someone I know fairly well said yesterday she still feels exhausted and lacking in energy but she is working full time.

      1. After I had glandular fever, for about two years afterwards, I had days where I could only do what I HAD to do, rather than what I WANTED to do. I recognised those days as soon as I woke up and adjusted my plans accordingly.
        Gradually those days became less severe and less frequent.

        1. I had the same. It lasted fifteen years. It was diagnosed as PVFS/ME.

          Personally I believe it was Lymes Disease which at the time we couldn’t really tell as the only test was Western Blot which gives false negatives and false positives and is about as useful as no test at all.

          I’ve had sporadic neurological problems since then. Trigeminal neuralgia. Sciatica as a fairly young man. I had half of my body go completely numb which they put down to a ‘spinal infection’ after a MRI scan.

          The thing with Lymes is it comes from ticks and often those ticks carry up to 4 other diseases, all of which I think are known to cross the blood-brain barrier.

          That’s the best explanation I could think of for my glandular fever (which wasn’t epstein-barr caused) along with trigeminal neuralgia and symptoms of meningitis too.

  33. China now seems to own Sri Lanka.
    https://www.aftenposten.no/verden/i/1O2yXQ/sri-lanka-gikk-i-luksusfellen-naa-slipper-ikke-borgermesteren-inn-i-byens-havn
    SL built up a debt to China for $1,1 billion, to build a lovely new container port at Hambantota, just outside Colombo. Problem is, they couldn’t service the loan, and now the port has been reposessed by the Chinese, who have locked everybody they don’t approve of, including the Mayor, out. Nobody knows what’s going on in there any more. Seems they were promised that the port would generate growth for the whole region, but now only cruise ships arrive daily to refuel.
    Add to this that the president of Sri Lanka has decreed no artificial fertiliser, so Sri Lankan crops can all be vegan has resulted in all the crops dying off – so, tea, rice and wheat, because they are genetically modified to require artificial fertiliser or they don’t grow, and the poor buggers in SL are seriously between a rock and a hard place.
    Don’t hear too much about this, but is it planned? The crops are so controlled that you have to buy fertiliser that you didn’t bfore; China’s development loans come with strings that tie you to a savage crocodile just waiting, eyes and nostrils above the water, to eat you.

    1. The fertiliser thing is not new. It is the Monsanto way of doing business. They treat the seed and sell the seeds, and the seeds, once planted, need Monsanto treatments to thrive.
      There was a lot of trouble with small farmers in India. They could not afford the seed/fertiliser costs on their small farms. Many, many committed suicide.
      But they were just poor peasants…

      1. Yet the president banned the import of the fertiliser!
        Stupid, or what?
        Monsanto are “just doing business”.

    2. China gains a potential naval base not too far from India, a win win situation.

      1. The ‘Middle Kingdom’ has always played the long game, so ‘strategically’ you may have a point.
        I bet India is not a happy budgie.

    3. China has bought Sri Lanka , just as they did most of Africa, with the Belt and Road scheme.

        2. I hope so 😋
          I know you meant it ‘tongue in cheek’ but Indian/Ceylon tea is like over mashed dish water for my taste.

          1. You are not buying it from the right place try Wilkinsons of Norwich. Loose leaf brewed for 5 mins.

          2. I buy tea from https://www.taylorsofharrogate.com/
            But have had tea from plantations in both India & Ceylon. Both direct from plantation family members, trying to convince me their tea is the best.
            It’s strong for my taste, China teas just work with my taste buds.
            Especially on the second or third brew (same leaves) in a terracotta tea pot.

          3. I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Assam man (from the Brahmaputra in Bangladesh). “English Breakfast Tea” uses Ceylon and Kenya as fillers but the flavour and strength comes from the Assam component.

          4. They just clash with my taste buds, the same way I hate the taste of sprouts and some lettuce, It seems to be a chemical reaction in the mouth for some people.

        1. Price?

          They borrowed, can’t repay, got foreclosed. What’s the issue?

          Do think China should build everyone a port and not ask for the money for building it. Oh you can’t pay, no worries, have this port on us. Yeah right.

          I daresay if they pay what’s owed they’ll get their port back.

          1. I assume that their daft behaviour meant that they didn’t read the terms and conditions on the loans… and now they realise the true price isn’t rainbows and bunny rabbits.

          2. The port is 80% owned by the chinese. Sri Lanka badly needed staff that knew the job, and investment. China provided all.

            I know you all think Belt and Road is some sort of programme to take over the world but it isn’t it’s just China doing what the West does, investing in other countries for a profit.

            When you run continual trade surpluses for 40+ years you build up quite a bit of foreign currency. They’re just spending some.

          3. I’m not sure I all think China is on course for world domination. Don’t generalise, just because I post here, as do you, doesn’t mean I believe everything that is posted here.
            My OP was on the theme of reckless behaviour by SL government that’s come back to bite them in the arse, since they likely didn’t believe that the Chinese would be so mean as to enforce the terms of the deal.

          4. To be fair it was that or no port at all. It was good for Sri Lanka, it brought more shipping, more jobs, more money to the state and it was good for China being a port along the route to Europe.

          5. And now the population is on the verge of starving. Meanwhile, suitcases of cash are leaving the country.

          6. Not really caused by the Chinese asserting control over the port they own and built though. Fancy buying seeds from Monsanto and not the accompanying fertilizers.

          7. Indeed. Maybe a triumph of hope/desperation over economic projections – they didn’t get the expected income after the investment, likely not helped by lots of pandemic buggering up the shipping.
            Bit like my Mother not realising what compound interest means on a loan – that quickly becomes much greater than the original sum borrowed.

          8. The port was profitable but not greatly so but it’s still a work in progress.

    4. The seeds are probably supplied by Monsanto – instead of the seeds the farmers have always used, which are suited to the climate and soil.

    5. Yet another example of governmental idiocy. They created a mess that was inevitable, an idiot would have seen the flaws. The arrogance of government and the utter disinterest in the cost are the watchwords of incompetent, stupid officialdom.

    6. Another country that was glad to get rid of the exploitive, colonialist Brits?

  34. Deadly blasts hit Russian border city. 3 July 2022.

    At least three people have died in explosions in the Russian city of Belgorod, near the border with Ukraine, said regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

    The blasts partially destroyed 11 apartment buildings and at least 39 private residential buildings, he said.

    Air defence systems were activated by the blasts, he added.

    N.B. Belgorod is twenty five miles from the border!

    This of course is the danger. The war spreading! The Ukrainians who are losing at present would like nothing more than for NATO to become involved!

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62025541

    2. What would the Yanks do if Vladimir Ras-Putin nuked Kiev (pronounced Keef by the BBC, but not excluding any of the other 150 different gender pronunciations)? And who would clean up the brown stains inside Boris’ pants?

      1. Is Keef twinned with a town called Mick?

        I note that RT still pronounce it “key-ev”.

      2. Pretty little girlie in charge in Finland isn’t going to be the one who dies in a muddy puddle, with their guts around their ankles and their hair on fire, so she can, frankly, fcuk right off.

        1. That implies the the Finnish population would not be finished! 🤔
          (…pregnant pause…)

          3. If them Russians come marching down my street … I’ll be waiting for them.

            With a hot pan of borscht (and a sign saying: “25 roubles a dish, Ivan!”).

  35. Deadly blasts hit Russian border city. 3 July 2022.

    At least three people have died in explosions in the Russian city of Belgorod, near the border with Ukraine, said regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

    The blasts partially destroyed 11 apartment buildings and at least 39 private residential buildings, he said.

    Air defence systems were activated by the blasts, he added.

    N.B. Belgorod is twenty five miles from the border!

    This of course is the danger. The war spreading! The Ukrainians who are losing at present would like nothing more than for NATO to become involved!

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62025541

  36. Schools, hospitals, shops and offices must have separate single-sex toilets, Government will confirm this week, after minister warned some children are ‘avoiding’ using gender neutral lavatories D Fail (Sun)

    Bloody Hell, something sensible being ‘proposed’ by Parliament. Minister of State for Levelling Up Communities and Minister of State for Equalities, Olukemi Olufunto Badenoch (née Adegoke), is leading proposals to prevent non-residential buildings from being built with ‘universal’ toilets as part of efforts to halt the ‘forced sharing of spaces’. (What on earth is a Minister for Levelling Up?)

    1. She’s actually a very sensible person and one of the better tory ministers.

        1. No – but if you hear her speak you can tell she is actually quite sensible, unlike most of the others.

      2. Badenoch is a Scots nickname….Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, was nicknamed The Wolf of Badenoch because of his reputed cruelty.
        When youth hostelling in Aviemore, we used to go to a bar called The Wolf of Badenoch. Great fun.

    2. Minister of leveling up,…………. supplied with a garden rake and in charge of spreading their collective sillier by the day ideas and the collective dung.

      1. Oh a reporter just happened to be there with a camera at that particular moment in time 😂

        1. I often carry a camera when I go into a toilet but I do use a small aperture to avoid over exposure.

    4. It really is absurd. Stop pandering to these people. The massive cost of this utterly pointless nonsense is just going to further drive business down.

      I’ll add an addendum: when the trans weirdo at my old place started using the ladies they complained – vociferously – at not onnly the state he left it in, but that he used it at all.

    5. ‘universal’ toilets

      It would never be allowed in yer France……….

    6. What on earth is a Minister for Levelling Up
      aka a Minister for Evil plug-ins.

    7. A job for a luvvie. Why have we got so many non-natives in power? There was also a rumour that Rishi and Bojo were united on making tax cuts. My immediate thought was, “where are they going to put the other taxes to make up the shortfall?” Mind you, I doubt it will actually happen or, if it does, it will be along the lines of Gordon Brown’s removing the 20p tax and making everyone pay 22p in the pound.

      1. Tax cuts? We just demanded that and got tax rises instead. We begged for the NI tax rise not to go through, the plea fell on deaf ears. Just a promise that 1p will come off income tax probably in two years as that’s the election year. That’ll be worth a massive 92 quid per year to me, or 7.50 per month. I doubt I’d even notice that.

  37. Wow! I’ve never been a fan of pop music, so Morrisey has, by and large passed me by.
    However, this one hits the nail on the head:-
    https://youtu.be/CpVcvwjT9cU

    Bonfire of teenagers
    Which is so high it made North West sky
    Oh you shoulda seen her leave for the arena
    And the way she turned and waved and smiled
    Goodbye goodbye

    And the silly people sing don’t look back in anger
    And the morons sing and sway
    Don’t look back in anger
    I can assure you I will look back in anger ’till the day I die.

    Bonfire of teenagers
    Which is so high it made North West sky
    And oh you shoulda seen her leave for the arena only to be
    Vaporised
    Vaporised
    And all the silly people say
    Don’t look back in anger
    All the morons sing and sway
    Don’t look back in anger
    I can assure you I will look back in anger ’till the day I die

    Go easy on the killer
    Go easy on the killer
    Go easy on the killer
    Go easy on the killer
    Easy on, go easy on the killer
    Go easy on, go easy on the killer

  39. Afternoon, all. The lead letter writer seems to think the Treasury is paying these pensions. It’s the PBT where T = Taxpayer that picks up the tab.

  40. A bientôt, mes amis (I’m back on the PC today). I’m off to evensong at a tiny ancient chapel tonight (no heating or lighting) so I’m off to look out my warmest decent clothes. May be back later.

    1. Sounds like a wonderful experience.
      I’m no longer religious but appreciate the sense of calm that one can get.
      Visit as many as I can and sit in silence absorbed in the historical ambiance of these places.
      Will sometimes sit at the back on a Sunday and listen, if I know it’s likely to be the traditional service and not a happy clapping type modern version.

      2. This was BCP. It is known as St Chad’s Alone-in-the-field and it literally is! You access it up a single track road which leads to a field gateway. You go through that and there it is, all alone in the field! In August they have a rush-bearing ceremony where the old rushes are cleared out and fresh ones put in for the next year.

        1. I looked for more information about its history, it’s now on my list of churches that I must visit.
          Thank you.

          1. It’s 17th century, a rebuild of an original timber church. The hearse (kept in a room next to it) is interesting, too.

  41. Well I’ve just watched the three o’clock BBC News. Sydney; Australia is under threat of flooding. This is not the fault of the weather but of Global Warming. No equivocation. No doubts. I’ll keep an eye open to see if this is now the BBC Policy.

    1. Not sure when someone will point out to the eco loons that climate changes over thousands of years, anything observed over the last 100 years or so is nothing but natural variations from the mean. Much is placed on extremes recorded “since records began”, about the last 100 years. Thus ignoring the other 4.9 billion years that the planet has changed and evolved. There is really not hope as the young are taught these dodgy facts as gospel.

      1. The eco loons don’t care – their minds are made up, the science is settled and they don’t want to be confused by facts that don’t fit the narrative!!

      2. Yes, as I posted the other day, if the historical data disagrees with the “settled science’ they delete the data.

  42. Wordle 379 5/6

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

    1. Nicely diverse, similar to the UK population as dictated by Aunty and the ads. No surprises but the greens are always stuck to the surface.

  43. After wrangling with Linux for far too long to print off a document, I’m finally preparing to send back the shoes I ordered that didn’t fit. It seems a size 12 is not, actually a size 12 in every shoe.

    Why this (the process of returning goods) is made so difficult I don’t know.

    1. Most goods are now made in nations that have smaller sizes. Just ask the WarQueen.

      1. There came a day when she no longer fitted a ‘medium’, whatever that is. That was a very, very difficult day.

        And I’ll have to dash off to Tesco at 8 to get her dry cleaning before she notices (although, with a vertiable room of clothes I don’t know how).

      1. Where does he get his shoes from? I am stuck buying the same ones every time – go into town and people look at you like you’re some sort of mutant, or they rip you off something rotten.

        1. Last pair of sandals came from Asda, believe it or not. He likes them; they’re comfortable and weren’t expensive. We are not over endowed with cash:-(

  44. Pleased with today’s
    Wordle 379 3/6

    🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜🟨⬜🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  45. Double bogey 6 for me

    Wordle 379 6/6

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

    2. Well done sweetie ! … x
      Par Four for me

      Wordle 379 4/6
      ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
      🟨🟨⬜🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. And me.

        Wordle 379 4/6

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

    4. Me too.
      Wordle 379 3/6

      🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Too small in circumference to be 600 years old.
      Who’s stood next to a Baobab tree in Africa, wider that three young men with their arms outstretched. Over 18 ft wide.

    4. Shoulda Grab it while you could Bore-us. That’s something else that you forget to mention.
      Plonker.

  49. OT

    After Wimbledon, I watched the Silverstone F1; it was sensational for several unpredictable reasons.

    1. I’m just waiting for sos to come along and tell us it’s all about the car!🙄

        1. Just a bit! I was making a very early dinner, but heard the shouting and had to rush through to watch! Our S-I-L was there as a guest of the hated Red Bull! Oh! How we larfed!

  51. Shooting in Copenhagen shopping centre. Several injured.
    Looks like it’s going to be an interesting summer…

    1. BTW, it’s the oil, not the gears, that needs changed.
      Just to be specific.

    2. Yep I’ve mentioned this a few times.
      But there must be money in it as well because nobody gives one.

    3. On top of that the rich landowners get paid for leasing their land to the owners of these monsters whilst the poor pay 5% VAT on the expensive electricity they produce. Another scam.

  53. Feargal Sharkey warns London is ‘perilously close’ to running out of drinking water
    And WTF does Feargal Sharkey know about civil engineering and water supply? Fuck all.

    2. Last time I looked there was a bloody great river running through the centre of it (although how long it will remain H2o and not O negative is anyone’s guess. (Other flavours of blood are available…)

      1. Fortunately, he didn’t mention climate nonsense, just population explosion! Hmmm! Wonder why that is?

        1. The thing is (I haven’t read the article) that cleaning up rivers and stopping raw sewage going into them is something actually achievable.

          1. Sure it’s achievable, if only someone would pay for the clean-up plant. And a functioning sewage works.

          2. Hey, we can afford to send billions towards the Ukraine in a truly phony war, why not a fraction of that to enforce our water providers to stop f*****g up our rivers. I bet it doesn’t happen in Norway.

          3. No, it doesn’t.
            People expect things to be done properly and to keep the environment clean. Otherwise, you go to jail.

          8. Sure it’s achievable, if only someone would pay for the clean-up plant. And a functioning sewage works.

          9. Quite right, it just needs privatised water companies to invest. They choose not to, preferring instead to dump overflow sewage into our rivers, aided and abetted by the department of the environment.

      2. Don’t foget all the poo pumped in by the water board’s sewage works – lovely jubbley!

    7. He’s a trout fisherman, and conservationist and bailiffs the Amwell water on the Lea which is dead man’s shoes to get into. Never liked his music much but he’s a decent chap and knows his stuff on this subject.

        2. It’s an excellent album from the long historical epic Telegraph road, onto one of my fave DS songs Private Investigations then the upbeat Industrial Disease.
          Only 5 songs and the title track maybe the weakest of them.

    2. ♬“42, quarante-deux, Rue le St Jacques,
      All our girls are — ‘ow you say? — good in the sack!”      ♬

          1. From my Journal (Posted a year or two ago!)

            “Arriving at Rugby, we moored just below bridge 58 (most if not all bridges are numbered for ease of reference when navigating the inland waterways). At bridge 58 there is a footpath leading from the canal to the centre of Rugby. It is notable for a number of features. The first being a Tesco Superstore, a handy shop for hungry or thirsty boaters just a few minutes’ walk from the canal. A little further on there is a stream where the locals have been playing “pooh Sticks” a game in which two sticks are dropped simultaneously from the upstream side of the bridge to see which one emerges first from under the bridge on the downstream side. Only the locals seem not to have quite got the hang of the game in a couple of regards. Firstly, the game is supposed to be played with sticks and not supermarket trolleys, so handily supplied by the aforementioned Tesco’s. Secondly, it is customary to throw the sticks into the water on the upstream side of the bridge. Of the eight trolleys lying forlornly on their sides in the stream only one local appears to have got it right by throwing the trolley in on the upstream side of the bridge. As empty trolleys are incapable of floating, it is clear that some locals do not understand the rules of the game. Equally I may have completely misjudged the situation. It could be that the tradition of ignoring rules is still alive in Rugby. After all it was Webb Ellis who ignored the rules of football picked up the ball at started the game of Rugby. Or perhaps those that hurled the trolleys into the stream were merely testing Newton’s Law of Gravitation, which as Professor Cox explains in his book “Forces of Nature” tends to generate spherical objects, just like the hypothesis I’m putting forward here.”

  56. Once more this weekend my VIRGIN MEDIA WiFi is not working 😕 I shall take my leave good night all.
    And still they insist it’s my fault.

  58. Just a quiche, Adam is going to be in trouble after Coutry File this evening. Four times he said the word Bitch when talking about Border Collies and a new sheep dog.
    Dopey Wokies out there will be barking mad.

      1. I used to watch it when it was a quaint cult sort of programme on a Sunday evening when no-one else seemed to know about it, when it was completely unpoliticised. At some point someone at the bbc said ‘Hmmmmm! We can use this for the agenda!’ and they gave it a makeover and that was that. Climate change +++, diversity+++ and it became something we no longer recognised. So we switched off. In fact, I couldn’t tell you when we last had the tv on.

    2. It should be called Townies Country File. ( not as it is but how we would like it to be.)

  59. F1 again.

    Of course, if Hamilton wins, it’s always the driver and not the car.

    2022
    Constructors’ standings:
    1&2 Red Bull
    3&4 Ferrari
    5&6 Mercedes

    Drivers’ standings:

    Well I’ll be damned, /sarc
    exactly the same.
    And where grazeth the GOAT?
    6th, even though his team mate crashed out today for nul points!

    1. Oh bloody hell! I wish I hadn’t looked at that- I hate snakes. Thanks Poppie- I gotta sleep tonight ;-)))
      I never knew my hair could stand on end….

      1. So that’s what it is. It looks pre-historic. Straight out of a horror movie.

  62. Hi sleepy people ,

    Have arrived home with Moh after an afternoon /evening Summer party… glorious weather , slight breeze , an amazing band playing everything from Stones, Eagles etc etc , delicious food , Thai .. because the host’s wife is Thai .. lovely home , huge garden , dancing on the verandah , practically everyone had had Covid .. and jabbed x4 times . 🙄

    Had great fun when the band then launched into the Proclaimers song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbNlMtqrYS0, because everyone did the conga / sit move /stand run / dance etc .. things got very lively .

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egMWlD3fLJ8 Born to be wild was another great energy release …

    Lots of Stones music and other stuff.. The band was local and their vocalists were terrific .. , no neighbours to worry about , quite a remote location .

    The food was really some of the tastiest Thai I have ever eaten .. fussy eater that I am, with a sea theme , mussels and squid ginger and noodles and all sorts of different vegetables .

    I had a strong Pimms, Moh indulged with some nice red wine , I was driving , so then I drank water for the next few hours ..

    I am sure many of the bods there were potential Nottlers !!!

    Feel good factor … great , and enjoyed some excellent company.

    3. Glad you had a wonderful time. Music sound great and varied and to my taste.

      Just an observation – if everyone had had Covid an 4 jabs and boosters doesn’t everyone realise these experimental injections don’t work or am I missing something. Wasn’t it Einstein who said doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome is a sign of madness?

      1. Morning Alf

        That was my observation as well.. funny really.

        There were probably 40 of us including the band ..

        We last saw each other last Autumn … at a previous do

        All of us who caught Covid , developed it this Spring untill fairly recently .. strange eh?

        75% … varied age group, 50’s 60’s upwards , all active happy people of all sizes!!

        Some bods even said they had caught Covid twice !.

        1. Hello Belle
          We haven’t had any of these injections and haven’t had a cold or sniffle since we started taking Vit D3 30 months ago on the advice of two consultant.
          Prescribed for me not by government diktat.

  63. Have a fairly early start, so hoping for sleep- not sure after all these spider/snake stories….
    Good luck to Paul for tomorrow and I hope it goes well.
    Sweet dreams to you all – unless you’ve read the snake and spider comments……hahahaha.

Comments are closed.