An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its comments facility (now reinstated, but we prefer ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning. Persistent offenders will be banned.
Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here.
Morning everyone.
‘Morning, Peeps and Geoff,
Yet another warm sunny day forecast here, max 23°C, and still no sign of rain.
Today’s leading letter, and deservedly so:
SIR – Mindless groupthink on net-zero energy policy, with its cost repercussions and impact on security of supply, has sown the seeds of social unrest in Britain (“European energy key to keeping lights on this winter”, report, July 28).
The sooner we relax this idiotic policy, exploit our own hydrocarbon reserves – whether they be coal, oil or gas – and extend our nuclear generating capacity the better.
We have less than 1 per cent of the world’s population, so whatever we do to minimise emissions is mere virtue-signalling in the global context.
Politicians need to wake up to this reality now, and choose pragmatism over pointless idealism.
John Kellie
Woking, Surrey
Not only “pointless”, Mr Kellie, utterly ruinous too. Who’d have thought that the once-proud and sensible British would be walking into such an appalling act of self-harm?
You’re half way there, Mr Kellie. You still have to cotton on that social unrest is what they want, because social unrest will allow them to introduce “emergency” measures to enslave the population, exactly as was done in Sri Lanka.
You do realise don’t you, that all this malarkey is to cover up the death of fiat currency (Goodbye to the hopelessly over-printed fiat pound) and allow them to impose a system of slavery via a Central Bank Digital Currency with government permissions on it (as promoted on video by Sunak) and a Chinese style social credit system?
But it’s not you and me committing this appalling act of self harm, is it. Not directly. It is our inane, senseless, useless, insane, WEF dominated government doing it. We can all see on here what the consequences are, and the rest of the country must see too. But what the hell can we do About it?
At the moment I feel thoroughly disenfranchised and therefore powerless.
‘Morning, Peeps and Geoff,
Yet another warm sunny day forecast here, max 23°C, and still no sign of rain.
Today’s leading letter, and deservedly so:
SIR – Mindless groupthink on net-zero energy policy, with its cost repercussions and impact on security of supply, has sown the seeds of social unrest in Britain (“European energy key to keeping lights on this winter”, report, July 28).
The sooner we relax this idiotic policy, exploit our own hydrocarbon reserves – whether they be coal, oil or gas – and extend our nuclear generating capacity the better.
We have less than 1 per cent of the world’s population, so whatever we do to minimise emissions is mere virtue-signalling in the global context.
Politicians need to wake up to this reality now, and choose pragmatism over pointless idealism.
John Kellie
Woking, Surrey
Not only “pointless”, Mr Kellie, utterly ruinous too. Who’d have thought that the once-proud and sensible British would be walking into such an appalling act of self-harm?
‘Morning, Peeps and Geoff,
Yet another warm sunny day forecast here, max 23°C, and still no sign of rain.
Today’s leading letter, and deservedly so:
SIR – Mindless groupthink on net-zero energy policy, with its cost repercussions and impact on security of supply, has sown the seeds of social unrest in Britain (“European energy key to keeping lights on this winter”, report, July 28).
The sooner we relax this idiotic policy, exploit our own hydrocarbon reserves – whether they be coal, oil or gas – and extend our nuclear generating capacity the better.
We have less than 1 per cent of the world’s population, so whatever we do to minimise emissions is mere virtue-signalling in the global context.
Politicians need to wake up to this reality now, and choose pragmatism over pointless idealism.
John Kellie
Woking, Surrey
Not only “pointless”, Mr Kellie, utterly ruinous too. Who’d have thought that the once-proud and sensible British would be walking into such an appalling act of self-harm?
SIR – The problem with Rishi Sunak’s proposal to scrap VAT on energy bills is that there can be no guarantee that any trader (including energy companies) will pass on any reduction in rate to the consumer. The temptation will be to increase profits.
Income tax and National Insurance reductions would, however, bring immediate benefits for most households.
David Raynes
Bath, Somerset
Remember the 4p reduction in fuel duty? No, neither do I…
SIR – Our electricity supplier is EDF. The “green levy” accounts for 27 per cent of our bill. How reassuring it is, then, that while my husband and I are drawing on our savings to pay for our energy, the Drax power station received £891 million last year in “green subsidies” for denuding the planet of trees (report, July 28).
It’s good to know exactly what our money, taken from us in the tradition of neo-feudalism, is being spent on.
Alison Watson
Wincanton, Somerset
Quite so, Ms Watson, although all domestic energy supplies are subject to the greenie tax, not just EDF. And the subsidy-hungry Drax also requires all that wood to be shipped halfway across the world. Yet another fine example of eco-lunacy, greenwash, call it what you will.
I think Mrs Watson has the right phrase when she talks about feudalism. That’s what this is all about – the elimination of the tiresome bourgeoisie with their educations, philosophies and questions, and the re-imposition of a feudal system with a tiny upper class and a mass of half-starved peasantry.
Charles thinks it’s a great idea and is doing all he can to support and encourage it.
Quite.
(Off topic; I keep meaning to email you but am enjoyably sidetracked much of the time. I’ll get around to it!)
MB enjoyed your recital that Phil posted. It added a certain je ne sais quois to his morning coffee.
Then we will have to rise up and put them all to the sword.
SIR – Our electricity supplier is EDF. The “green levy” accounts for 27 per cent of our bill. How reassuring it is, then, that while my husband and I are drawing on our savings to pay for our energy, the Drax power station received £891 million last year in “green subsidies” for denuding the planet of trees (report, July 28).
It’s good to know exactly what our money, taken from us in the tradition of neo-feudalism, is being spent on.
Alison Watson
Wincanton, Somerset
Quite so, Ms Watson, although all domestic energy supplies are subject to the greenie tax, not just EDF. And the subsidy-hungry Drax also requires all that wood to be shipped halfway across the world. Yet another fine example of eco-lunacy, greenwash, call it what you will.
SIR – You mention the re-emergence of “chestfeeding” (report, July 27), which is now being promoted by the Royal College of Nursing. Surely this is being needlessly divisive. Men have breasts: men can get breast cancer.
There is an irony in the attempts by the woke to emphasise difference in the name of inclusivity.
Adam Massingham
Appledore Heath, Kent
The RCN has surely lost its mind, along with all the other pathetic and time-wasting wokery that now infests this country.
SIR – You mention the re-emergence of “chestfeeding” (report, July 27), which is now being promoted by the Royal College of Nursing. Surely this is being needlessly divisive. Men have breasts: men can get breast cancer.
There is an irony in the attempts by the woke to emphasise difference in the name of inclusivity.
Adam Massingham
Appledore Heath, Kent
The RCN has surely lost its mind, along with all the other pathetic and time-wasting wokery that now infests this country.
It’s like a stampede seen on those old western films – one organisation goes woke and panics others into doing the same, for fear of being seen as out-dated and reactionary.
Arsey N?
Morning folks
Wenger?
The chest and the breast are different parts of the anatomy. Chest feeding is as likely as buttock feeding, as it’s the breast that provides the milk, conveniently mounted on the chest for easy access and monitoring.
If even these medical bodies mangle their anatomy, would you even want to visit a GP, always assuming you can get an appointment? What other crap have they filled their heads with?
Deliberate lowered ‘ideal’ BP readings to keep the pill pushers in business.
The RCN went native in the 1970s when they boasted about getting registered as a trade union.
We will look back with horror at this mutilation of children done in the name of medicine. 29 July 2022.
Groupthink and a particular ideology about gender identity led to vulnerable people being given life-changing medication at Tavistock Clinic
Yes along with the mass rape of thousands of underage indigenous girls it will provide a guide in the history books to the decadence and moral vacuity that characterise the Elite Political Class.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/28/will-look-back-horror-mutilation-children-done-name-medicine/
I don’t think the service to teenagers has stopped, it’s just been distributed to regional centres. The Tavistock was becoming too notorious. I’d like to hope that the new places will be more ready to question trans political stuff, but I have my doubts.
As far as I can see, there are a lot of good professionals in the NHS who try to delay the onset of irreversible treatments when they suspect that the patient may change their mind, but there are also plenty of the politically motivated ones who won’t question anything, as well as external political groups who will spitefully do their best to wreck people’s careers for opposing their ideas.
The doctors who push these treatments are no different from Soviet psychiatrists who dosed perfectly sane political prisoners with strong psychotropic drugs – without the anti-convulsants to counteract the side effects.
They are on a par with African mothers who pin down their screaming daughters while they undergo FGM.
What about the doctors who give covid jabs to people who can’t possibly benefit from them, or the little helpers who ram swabs up people’s noses and sneer impatiently when the victim cries out?
They’re all just following orders, not that they see themselves in that way.
Yes, the past two years have shown a very nasty side to the British.
A little less of the crowing about “it couldn’t happen here” would be welcome.
As celebrated in the opening scenes of the Commonwealth Games.
We will look back with horror at this mutilation of children done in the name of medicine. 29 July 2022.
Groupthink and a particular ideology about gender identity led to vulnerable people being given life-changing medication at Tavistock Clinic
Yes along with the mass rape of thousands of underage indigenous girls it will provide a guide in the history books to the decadence and moral vacuity that characterise the Elite Political Class.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/28/will-look-back-horror-mutilation-children-done-name-medicine/
Good Morning Folks,
Another nice start here
Gang smuggled £104 million out of UK – before police dogs sniffed out their ruse
Criminal kingpin Mohammed Ali Bin Beyat Alfalasi jailed for nine years in biggest money laundering case to ever come before British courts
A kingpin of the biggest money laundering conspiracy ever smashed by British investigators smuggled £104 million out of the UK in suitcases sprayed with air fresheners.
Mohammed Ali Bin Beyat Alfalasi, 47, was on Thursday jailed for nine years for running a network of more than 30 cash mules who flew dirty cash to Dubai between April 2019 and October 2020.
Dozens of gangs across the UK – thought to predominantly be from the drug trade – paid Alfalasi to launder their cash in the United Arab Emirates before returning it.
His vast criminal enterprise began to unravel after sniffer dogs specially trained to detect wads of bank notes helped to catch one of his couriers, Tara Hanlon, 30, at Heathrow Airport in October 2020.
She was found to have almost £2 million of cash in vacuum-packed bags inside five suitcases as she tried to board a flight to Dubai. She was jailed for nearly three years in July 2021.
ADVERTISING
Weeks after Hanlon was arrested, another cash mule carrying £1.4 million in three suitcases was stopped as he tried to board a flight to Dubai at Heathrow.
Tara Hanlon cash
Some of the money found in the possession of Tara Hanlon when she was stopped at Heathow Airport in 2020 with almost £2 million of cash in vacuum-packed bags CREDIT: National Crime Agency
Hanlon was jailed for nearly three years after the wads of cash were discovered in five suitcases
Hanlon was jailed for nearly three years after the wads of cash were discovered in five suitcases CREDIT: National Crime Agency
Zdenek Kamaryt, a 38-year-old Czech national, was jailed for two years after pleading guilty to money laundering offences last March.
The smuggling gang had made a failed attempt to throw the sniffer dogs off the scent by spraying the money with either coffee or air-freshener.
Investigators from the National Crime Agency (NCA) were then able to use the evidence built up during the two cases to persuade authorities in Dubai to help them investigate the criminal network.
They were soon able to establish Alfalasi’s senior role in the conspiracy after finding his name on letters provided by a Dubai-registered company, Omnivore Gold Trading LLC, to cover the cash declarations made by the couriers upon arrival in Dubai.
His phone number and email address was also connected to the flight bookings he had made for the cash mules, who were found to be predominantly women.
Alfalasi arrested in Belgravia home
Alfalasi was eventually arrested at the lavish Belgravia home of his wife’s family in December 2021 when, to the surprise of police, he made a visit to the UK.
The NCA said they had uncovered more than 80 smuggling trips between London and Dubai over the 18-month period, involving both Alfalasi and his couriers, who carried around £104 million in criminal cash. It is the biggest money-laundering case to ever come before British courts.
Alfalasi pleaded guilty to removing criminal property and on Thursday was handed a sentence of nine years and seven months by Judge Simon Davis at Isleworth Crown Court.
Tara Hanlon
Tara Hanlon. Just weeks after she was arrested, another cash mule carrying £1.4 million in three suitcases was stopped as he tried to board a flight to Dubai at Heathrow CREDIT: Yui Mok
Ian Truby, a senior investigating officer at the NCA, said: “Cash is the lifeblood of organised crime groups which they reinvest into activities such as drug trafficking which fuel violence around the world.
“Disrupting the supply of illicit cash is a priority for the NCA and our partners.”
Each courier was said to have been paid between £3,000 to £8,000 per trip, depending on how much cash they were smuggling, with suitcases containing up to £500,000 in banknotes.
Investigators are still unsure exactly how the money was laundered once it arrived in the UAE, but it may have been used to acquire gold in Africa.
It is believed that several other senior figures in the conspiracy remain at large, including a woman called Michelle Clarke who British authorities are “actively seeking” for helping to recruit couriers in Dubai. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/28/kingpin-smuggled-104k-uk-suitcases-sprayed-air-freshener/
Really, one has to wonder whether any of the residents of places like Belgravia these days came by their money in an honest way!
He will be out in four years. I don’t see the point.
I doubt if he’ll be breaking rocks or sewing mail bags to pass the time.
SIR – Philip Johnston (Comment, July 27) wrote that it must be possible to move water around this country. It is indeed possible, as proved by the Victorians with their Thirlmere water scheme. In the late 19th century, the Thirlmere valley in the Lake District was flooded to make the Thirlmere reservoir but the clever bit was the water transportation. Conduits were built between Thirlmere and Manchester, with the water travelling the whole distance by gravity alone.
Instead of pouring money into white-elephant rail schemes, the Government should address the lack of water storage.
Peter Wickison
Beeford, East Yorkshire
Come along now, Peter Wickison; surely you realise that, these days, most politicians are only interested in vanity projects? I’m willing to bet that the vast sum of (borrowed) money we are spending on HS2 could indeed have provided a national water grid with plenty left over to run and maintain it for years to come. If the Victorians could manage it as long ago as 1894…
The difference is that the Victorians wanted to provide better conditions for people.
The World Economic Forum and related groups, who pull the strings of all our puppet politicians, want an excuse to impose rationing on our basic needs like water, food, electricity and petrol.
People need to wake up fast, because as the Sri Lankans have discovered, if you leave it until they have already reduced the production, it is pathetically easy for them to impose authoritarian measures – purely to ensure fair distribution of scarce resources and entirely for your own good, of course.
Then you burn their hoses, with the politicians in them.
Problem solved.
Harsh, but fair.
And if you burn the hoses then they can’t put the fires out!
Oh, U!
When HS2 is finished, the railway will use adapted wagons to carry drinkable water from the drought-hit South, to the rain sodden North.
As usual, the politicians will have a glimmer of an idea and then cock it up
Install a large water main or canal along the route. Far more benefit to everyone; not just a few fat cats who can afford the fare – on expenses.
The water for Glasgow comes by a 26 mile aqueduct from Loch Katrine 36 miles away, to a holding reservoir and thence by 10 miles of pipe to Glasgow and is entirely “gravity fed”. Construction was completed in 1859 and improvements and additions have been made since. It is a thing of wonder that it was constructed so that the correct slope could be maintained over that length of aqueduct, requiring a consistent gradient of about 1in 700. (Drop in level of about 200 feet over the entire length.)
Those Victorian chaps were clever and quick, started in 1855 with Act of Parliament, so four years to build, by hand. Still working.
Nowadays, can’t even get the public enquiry done in four years.
The pre-enquiry consultation takes longer than that, not to mention much of the funding.
And, oh, the objections. All must be heard, especially the loonies.
That’s impressive, HP, and without computers, lasers and so on. Perhaps just a slide rule.
Good morning all
Pretty golden clouds , patches of blue sky and a very parched yellowing lawn .
Good Morning. Gray, cold and raining. Normal for Scotland in July.
Still you’ve got Nichola to cheer you up / make your blood boil …..!
Morning HP.
Indeed…the Fishwife could be the answer to the forthcoming power cuts and the unaffordable heating!
‘Morning both.
“Bonfire of the Vanities”?
But will she be on top?
Apparently someone was accused of burning effigies of Foghorn Dreghorn at a village gala, but it turned out to be a baked potato stand.
Not a cloud in the sky up here Horace
Fair Isle?
SIR – An enormous amount of clean water is lost because of leaking flush valves on push-button lavatory cisterns. The symptom is a constant trickle into the pan.
Replacing them with traditional lever-operated cisterns with syphons would prevent this waste.
Joe Greaves
Fleckney, Leicestershire
I’ve been told that the lever-operated siphon type is incapable of providing the usually adequate very short flush of the button type, and it isn’t as adjustable as this type either. Besides, surely householders will be aware of a “constant trickle into the pan”? I was, and the replacement washer only cost me a pound or two and was easy to fit. If I can do it…
You need to double flush most of the time. The whole set up is a bad joke.The syphon system is by far the best.
We have the push-button cisterns, with a low-volume and a normal volume flush. Works perfectly, and you can easily use less water when its only liquids being flushed away. As opposed to cranking the handle to persuade enough water to rise over the top of the siphon and get the flush going at all.
Yes, we also have one of those, it’s called ‘the pump-action loo’.
‘Morning, Oberst.
Mother’s house has three, all needing pumped at a different frequency to get them to work, then with a sigh and a groan, they slowly dispense water of immense volume, rapidly filling the soakaway.
It could be the ball float is set too low. We had the same problem and our friendly non rip-off local plumber fixed the problem in less than a minute by bending the ballcock arm so more water was in the cistern, and the flush allowed the water to rise above the siphon bend.
During the drought in the 1970s, the mantra was, “If it’s yellow, let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down.“
At least the syphon flushes tended to flush in one go, unlike the button flushes that I’ve seen take up to four or five.
Morning, all Y’all!
23C and sunny promised for today and tomorrow, rain on Sunday.
Yo Ol
“rain on Sunday”, of course, it is our Village Carnival
About a thousand miles away – I suspect you won’t be in the same raincloud as us!
It’s our’s tomorrow.
Is Viktor Orban right about the Ukraine war? 29 july 2022.
Again, Orbán‘s rejection of moral absolutes isn’t unusual in Central Europe. While a sense of moral certainty on the war is shared by most governments – Hungary’s excepted – and the media, it doesn’t extend to the general public, which remains deeply divided. Surveys consistently show unease about the level of support being provided to the Ukrainian war effort and to refugees, a situation not helped by catastrophic mistrust of mainstream media reports. More than a third of Slovaks, for example, believe Russia’s invasion was deliberately provoked by the West.
That must have slipped by the editor. One of the few Golden Rules of the Globalists that we can discern is that no criticism of the integrity of the MSM is permitted.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/28/viktor-orban-right-ukraine-war/
White civil servants told Britain is racist in woke training video
The programme tells staff they must recognise their privilege, be an ally to ethnic minorities and never contradict them
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/07/28/white-civil-servants-told-britain-racist-woke-training-video/
The programme tells staff they must recognise their privilege, be an ally to ethnic minorities and never contradict them.
Morning Belle. This is of course the policy of the Political Elites! Mass rape, Batley Man, Murder; all to be glossed over in the cause of diversity!
Morning Minty
I am still really puzzled why indigenous Brits are labelled racists in their own country .
It is our country and anyone else who hasn’t a relative on the parish register going back at least 300 years , should keep their gobby mouths shut.
I read an article yesterday – apoligies, I have no link to the tweet – where some minority was overwrought about a law that states that public roads cannot be named after dead people unless they had lived in the UK for over 50 years. According to the whinees, this discriminated upon recent immigrants.
The Snivel Serpents need a complete sort out.
Full text for those too cack handed to use the ESC trick:-
Skin colour should be irrelevant- just get on and do your job.
Precisely, N. I used to pride myself on being completely colour-blind but thanks to all this wokery carp I’m in danger of waycism!
‘Morning, Hugh, I too have gone down that road and, as well as racist, I’m now an Islamophobe and a homophobe.
I’m sure I can find a few other groups to hate and vent my spleen on.
What a load of old bollards! Cost of production and time wasted watching it??
I’ve seen white privilege. In the treeless wastelands of council housing schemes. War heroes working endless overtime in factories to make ends meet. Privileged children able to play safely in empty streets, because nobody had a car. Healthy children, walking everywhere because buses were cheap, but not free.
Building guiders from old pram wheels, climbing trees, wandering loose as there was no TV. Latchkey kids with no supervision until parents came home from work. “Foreign” holidays in Blackpool B&Bs that locked their “guests” out from 10am to 5 pm. Children with a few shillings pocket money from delivering milk before dawn and newspapers after school. Privileged right enough!
https://www.scotsman.com/heritage-and-retro/heritage/scotland-in-the-1960s-a-decade-of-children-at-play-2975225
Ah but they were privileged Horace because they were white.
Yes, being innocent now proves guilt.
How racist.
It only works one way.
They say that no good deed goes unpunished.
While looking after a dog for a friend while they are on holiday the OH then falls over walking it and breaks her ankle.
Which feels a bit strange because I was only saying the other day while out and about in the car that i keep seeing lots of people out with walking sticks and with those boots on they give you for a broken ankle.
Now the OH has one.
Oh no Bob! My old man did his back in March! Best wishes to both of you for a swift healing!
Thanks, Sue
Ow! Poor OH – much sympathy! Bet that was sore… 🙁
Thanks Ob, she is making the most of it.
As long as you maintain her supply of peeled grapes you’ll be fine.
When HG did similarly I hired a wheelchair, because the use of crutches was damaging her shoulders.
I found it was an ideal solution and meant we could get around much more easily. If it ever happens again, heaven forfend, my first stop will be the wheelchair place!
Thanks for the advice.
‘Don’t feed seagulls because their poo pollutes the sea’, campaign claims
Ecologists have criticised taxpayer-funded signs put up at Scotland beaches warning of ‘poo pollution’
A tax-payer funded campaign urging beachgoers not to feed seagulls because their droppings “pollute sea water” has been heavily criticised by RSPB Scotland.
Keep Scotland Beautiful, an environmental charity, has put up signs along seven beaches claiming waste from seabirds contaminates bathing waters.
The posters form part of the charity’s My Beach Your Beach campaign which has received at least £237,965 from the Scottish Government since 2018.
But RSPB Scotland has challenged the charity’s messaging and argued that gulls’ waste, known as guano, is an important source of food for marine life such as phytoplankton, a type of microscopic algae. Herring gull populations have fallen by more than 50 per cent since 1970 and are struggling to survive alongside other seabirds owing to changes in their natural food supplies.
“Gulls need our help, or at least our tolerance. All the species breeding in the UK are of conservation concern with some in very serious trouble,” an RSPB Scotland spokeswoman told the BBC.
‘https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/28/dont-feed-seagulls-poo-pollutes-sea-campaign-claims/
They need a masive cull actually.
Keep Scotland Beautiful and all the other bluddy parasites? Couldn’t agree more, JN!
‘Morning, Johnny.
That certainly applies to the SNP and its wee pretendy parliament.
Cull the Gull.
Yo T_B
Grey Sqirrels = Tree Rats
Seagulls = Sea Rats
Pigeons = Flying Rats
Yo T_B
Grey Sqirrels = Tree Rats
Seagulls = Sea Rats
Pigeons = Flying Rats
Tw@ter comment made!
https://twitter.com/BeardedBob7282/status/1552907718176002048
That’s why I don’t drink water. Fish & seagulls carp in it. Much better to have it cleaned by passing it through a brewery first.
Yeah, but if you drink Foster’s or Bud…
Fish poo is a better class of excrement.
So, when seagulls forage and eat dead fish and crabs, their poo doesn’t pollute the sea? Does that mean that they poo in a special plaice after eating foraged food, or the poo isn’t noxious (oh, yes it effing is!), or what? Was this devised by 4-year-olds?
Just as long as they don’t start stealing chips, it will all be all right.
What next, whales seals and dolphins to be fitted with nappies??
Curiously , this year the gulls that I usually see over the house and estuary seem to have been mainly replaced by nasty raptors. I think they’re harriers. I used to see one or two hovering over the land south of my house, but this year there I’ve seen more than half a dozen at a time. And they’ve developed courage so I see them swooping over the gardens of nearby houses when they spot something that takes their fancy.
Sparrowhawks possibly? They are partial to hunting near gardens.
Like immigrants, they all look the same to me…
Clucking Bell.
If the wind’s in the right (wrong?) direction you SMELL the Bass Rock from the shores of North Berwick.
But presumably that’s the right sort of guano.
Herring gull populations have fallen by more than 50 per cent since 1970
Coincident with the huge decline in the fishing industry.
Good morning, everyone.
Good Morning Delboy
Morning to you, Bob.
Good morning DB
Is your dearly beloved improving , Covid after effects take a long time to vanish .
I would say “Yes” as her oxygen level is up and she took the Springer for a short walk this morning. She will test herself tomorrow. The problem is that she does far too much at our Bowls Club. She was run down and contracted shingles which further dragged her down and then she got Covid.
She is a gorgeous woman but she looks after me more than she looks after herself.
Morning, Delboy!
“ SIR – Our electricity supplier is EDF. The “green levy” accounts for 27 per cent of our bill. How reassuring it is, then, that while my husband and I are drawing on our savings to pay for our energy, the Drax power station received £891million last year in “green subsidies” for denuding the planet of trees (report, July 28). It’s good to know exactly what our money, taken from us in the tradition of neo-feudalism, is being spent on.”
What annoys me is that we have no choice on these levies. They are added to our bill whether we want them or not. If the eco-loons want “green energy”, let them pay for it. I don’t want to.
That same Drax (Ferrybridge) Power Station was sited where it is because it sits over 300 yearsworth of coal.
Government policy has gone totally barmy.
Morning, Tom.
Where are you?
‘Morning, Anne, still in Suffolk but heading north, via Wetherby on Sunday.
Ferrybridge is further inland.
What’s the one next to the A1M?
I remember Ferrybridge it had massive cooling towers. Are they still there? Does it still operate?
That is Ferrybridge. Now reduced, I believe, to a gas fired station instead of the now demolished coal plant.
Between there & Drax was the also now demolished Eggington that was probably one of the most efficient coal stations in the country with what ought to have been another 20 to 25y of use left.
“ SIR – Our electricity supplier is EDF. The “green levy” accounts for 27 per cent of our bill. How reassuring it is, then, that while my husband and I are drawing on our savings to pay for our energy, the Drax power station received £891million last year in “green subsidies” for denuding the planet of trees (report, July 28). It’s good to know exactly what our money, taken from us in the tradition of neo-feudalism, is being spent on.”
What annoys me is that we have no choice on these levies. They are added to our bill whether we want them or not. If the eco-loons want “green energy”, let them pay for it. I don’t want to.
Good morning all. A dull and slightly damp 11°C today.
Cloudless with sun crackin’ the flags – it’s going to be a swelter
https://scontent.flhr10-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/296535300_474139064715428_7475679100613262153_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p526x296&_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=ddcpS1ac5fYAX92l8g6&tn=9zUluHhGl150X9SD&_nc_ht=scontent.flhr10-2.fna&oh=00_AT_1dlQ_paOUj9Ab4IAAVhklyYMswSKJaXzPd3IaQXC-dw&oe=62E78CEA
Good morning, all. The same.
Same as what, Bill?
Morning, BTW!
Bloody yesterday and the day before and the day before….
Dry – no rain not a sniff of rain no rain forecast.
At least the sun’s shining today after days of heavy cloud.
Good morning all. The Telegraph leading on the closure of the Tavistock Centre:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/28/nhs-faces-crackdown-giving-puberty-blockers-children-tavistock/
I find it incredible that we wouldn’t let a child get a tattoo, but we are happy to encourage them to question their gender and take life-altering puberty blockers. We are allowing our children to be sacrificed on the altar of a sick ideology, which would have drag queens shoving themselves in the faces of toddlers.
We have to start fighting back against this trans ideology, which threatens the rights and safety of women and children.
We ought to fight back against that repulsive body graffiti that stupid idiots inject with coloured ink into their skin.
They are repulsive but at least they do it to themselves.
In many cases, it’s the taxpayer who finances it.
Tattoos have their use – you can tell whether a person is an idiot before deciding whether or not to engage him/her in conversation.
There are reports that the NHS could be banned from giving puberty blockers to children.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/28/nhs-faces-crackdown-giving-puberty-blockers-children-tavistock/
The ruble is soaring and Putin is stronger than ever – our sanctions have backfired. 29 July 2022.
The reality of sanctions on Russia is that they invite retaliation. Putin is free to freeze Europe this winter. He has slashed supply from major pipelines such as Nord Stream 1 by up to 80%. World oil prices have surged and eastern Europe’s flow of wheat and other foodstuffs to Africa and Asia has been all but suspended.
Britain’s domestic gas bills face tripling inside a year. The chief beneficiary is none other than Russia, whose energy exports to Asia have soared, driving its balance of payments into unprecedented surplus. The rouble is one of the world’s strongest currencies this year, having strengthened since January by nearly 50%. Moscow’s overseas assets have been frozen and its oligarchs have relocated their yachts, but there is no sign that Putin cares. He has no electorate to worry him.
All the wars waged by the western Neoliberals over the last twenty years have ended in catastrophic strategic defeats. They have led to a devastated and hostile Middle East and the Islamisation of Europe. One should expect nothing different with Ukraine. The real difference is that Vlad has spent the last twenty years preparing for it!
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/29/putin-ruble-west-sanctions-russia-europe
Why cannot our leaders do the same? They don’t have any worrying electorate either? (Well, our PM certainly doesn’t.)
And now for some common sense…from today’s DT:
COMMENT
We must never surrender our right to drive freely
Driving has allowed us to express ourselves and avert socialist planners. No wonder they want to kill it
DAVID FROST 29 July 2022 • 6:00am
One of the pleasures of the vinyl record era was getting the new album by your favourite band on release day and rushing home to listen to it. I did just that on Feb 12 1981 when I bought Moving Pictures by the great Canadian band Rush. My favourite track – still well worth a listen – was Red Barchetta. It describes a world in which, with private cars banned, the narrator has to sneak off every Sunday for an illegal drive in his secretly held eponymous Italian sports car.
Great track, but not plausible, I thought. Who can imagine a world in which private cars are banned? Even in the Soviet Union, if you can get one, they don’t stop you driving it around. No government is going to take people’s cars away from them.
Well, Western governments haven’t quite done that, it is true. But there are advocates for car bans in some large cities, and one day some feeble Red-Green mayor somewhere in Europe will surely give in to it. Meanwhile, our leaders are doing everything short of it.
For a start, the best currently viable technology for cars – the internal combustion engine plus battery – is being withdrawn from the market in just eight years. We are told that by then electric cars will be better and cheaper. It is hard to be confident of that, or that we will have the electricity to power them.
The comedy road trip of Jack Rear (in The Daily Telegraph of 25 July) shows that going any distance in an electric car is more like a coach journey in Jane Austen’s England than anything we are used to. Just as you had to work out where you could change horses and where you had to stay overnight, so now you must establish where the chargers are, whether your car will make it to them, and what you do while waiting. And at least Jane could sustain herself in a coaching inn rather than having to sit in a Tesco car park.
No one had to mandate the replacement of horses by cars. The technology was self-evidently superior. If the same is true of electric cars, then people will choose them anyway. If it isn’t, then the ban will be deeply regressive and hugely unpopular.
But this is not just about technology. It is about human flourishing. The bicycle first allowed people to move from where they lived. The car hugely expanded it. The van and delivery lorry got goods all around the country and the car gave people access to this huge choice. People could go out whatever the weather. They could buy enough food for a week and free up time for things they preferred doing. The disabled, the old, or just those seeking a day out somewhere different, all could get to where they needed to go.
There is obviously no substitute for the car outside urban areas. But, even in big cities, public transport will never do everything we need. It runs where the planners want it and when the transport unions allow it. Not everyone wants to travel to the city centre or along a tube line. Only the private car, under autonomous control, can take you where you want to go. Too many of our modern rulers would rather you didn’t.
That’s why they like low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs). Their hidden agenda is to make car use painful and complicated, not just within LTNs but beyond them. And indeed LTNs do not displace traffic – they kill it. Car use falls (though congestion often still increases). People who could get to the shops, to family, or friends nearby, no longer can. Even in modern London, not everyone is a hipster urbanite on their bike. Instead, horizons permanently shrink, and life gets more complicated, harder – and costlier.
In our planners’ minds, the car can only survive on certain terms. Cars must be super-safe, plodding, ugly boxes like armoured troop carriers. There must be GPS-linked speed limiters and road pricing so the government knows where you are and can control when you go out. Really, they would rather you didn’t own a car at all but hired it by the hour instead.
Yet cars are so much more than that. They are about a way of life that seems to be disappearing fast.
Cars are about freedom – going where you want and no one saying you can’t. That’s why they are associated with growing up. One of the most depressing signs today is that many young people can’t drive and don’t want to.
Cars should also be about beauty. They represent the society that made them. Communist East Germany produced the Trabant. Communist China produces Politburo-style boxes. Western civilisation produced the VW Beetle and the Mini, the Ferrari Testarossa and the E-type Jag – symbols of achievement, of individualism, of power.
And cars are about excitement. The Fiat 500 nipping around the streets of Florence. The elation of burning down the Autoroute du Midi with the Alps in the distance. The sense of anticipation of heading along the urban freeway, the towers of New York or Chicago before you, as the signs flash by and the off-ramps flicker past.
We’ll miss it when it is gone. And that time is closer than you think.
* * *
Some BTL comments:
Andy RoadKing1 HR AGO
Last summer my 23 year old and 20 year old daughters passed their driving test first time and both bought cheap second hand small diesel cars that have changed their work and their lives. Buses, taxis and bicycles are not a viable means of transport 90% of the time in a small hilly Devon market town.
While the Net Zero Nutters are busy banning diesel and petrol cars, clever engineers and scientists here and in other countries will be busy cleaning the emissions from these engines (and inventing practical alternatives) to the point they will be even more environmentally friendly than Betamax electric cars.
Net Zero is pseudo science that will deliver poverty to the masses in the UK
Fallen Star1 HR AGO
Following on from heat pumps fiasco we now have the unaffordable and impractical electric cars. Another piece of technology that is clearly inferior to what it is replacing and is dependent on a power grid that is struggling to meet demand now. If the aim of government is to make cars and house heating unaffordable for the poor/low paid I can’t think of a better set of policies that would do it.
Dan Lee39 MIN AGO
Every single word is true. Over my life, my cars and motorbikes have given me a freedom that cannot be achieved any other way, now in my later years the green inspired apparatchiks want to take that freedom away. The effect is to make me despise all eco initiatives ( the phrase, ‘net zero’ makes my flesh creep.) and all environmentalist, they really are watermelons, green veneer hiding the red heart of a marxist.
* * *
‘Watermelons’…very good!
In support of the above… My Mother would not give up her car whilst she was still living at home, as it represented freedom to come and go as she wished, in a place with no buses, and a decent taxi ride away from anywhere – even when she could no longer drive, she still kept her little car, as a representation of hope. The sad thing was, it never went anywhere and sat forlorn in the garage with flat battery, flat tyres, and terminal rust.
I offered to set up and pay for a taxi account in the local town so she could ring & ride whenever she wanted – including going out to lunch and being able to have a glass or two of wine with the meal, or go shopping with a bloke to carry her bags into the house, but she stubbornly stuck to her car and rejected the offer.
Now, she reckons my eldest son has borrowed her car, and she wants it back. That’s her old Singer she’s referring to, her first car some 70 or so years ago…
My father – who died in 1994 – stated years before his death, that the day he couldn’t drive would be the day he left in box.
“Cars must be super-safe, plodding, ugly boxes like armoured troop carriers.”. That has been the approach up until now. Volvos built like tanks, steel and crumple zones, airbags and safety straps. “Drive reckless, drive safe!”.
My approach would be to build cars of softwood and paper, like model aeroplanes. A slight crash would wreck it. So, slow safe driving would be the result even with V8 engines.
And a sharp spike in the middle of the steering wheel instead of an airbag?
Now you are just being silly! Although that would apply to taxis.
Whilst driving around central Londindustan 20 years ago in my old style Mini Cooper – the one where the ‘crumple zone’ was the engine block – I used to enjoy cutting up taxis.
The state wants to eradicate the car precisely because it is a symbol of mobility and freedom. If you can take away people’s ability to go anywhere and do anything then you can control them.
Interesting then that that only a few days ago the WEF called for the banning of all “wasteful” private cars.
Of course, they’ll still swan about in great big limos. This is the problem with big government. It gets to a point when it is so big, it sets about it’s own agenda rather than merely serving the public. The state needs radical cuts and huge reductions in income – say cutting it by 70-80%. Prevent this sort of gormless mania getting traction in the first place.
The Elite will certainly need their limos to attend important meetings, therefore in no way could the Elite’s transport
be defined as “wasteful”.
Bus lanes and Zil lanes only. Coming to a road near you
“…on Feb 12 1981 when I bought Moving Pictures by the great Canadian band Rush.”
Respect, man!
354715+ up ticks,
Morning Each,
Friday 29 July: Irrational energy policies are paving the way for social unrest in Britain Friday 29 July: Irrational energy policies are paving the way for social unrest in Britain.
That has to be the understatement of the decade along with ALL the other odious issues ( the building blocks of replace ,reset ), the only shortage that should have shown up years ago to my way of thinking has been in PIKES.
Another selection campaign is in progress currently which could have consequences as long lasting as the 1940 one, the herd is being kettled
into selecting one out of two candidates put forward by the political overseers, the lab/lib/con coalitions way of choice.
A very common denominator showing the current state of this nation,
an alledged fatal stabbing of a nine year old girl in Boston Lincolnshire.
,
No doubt we’ll find that the girl killed is a muslim.
I walked past a bunch of them the other day. Sundaese muslims. All yabbering away in foreign dressed in burqas looking utterly stupid. What was truly sad was to see a poor, deformed little boy in a wheel chair. All because of their inbreeding.
The only reason they have to keep the cripple is an uplift in benefits.
But that poor lad, a victim of culture rather than medicine.
One less rapist/bomber.
The Police Inspector on Sky News was very careful not to mention the colour of the perpetrators.
Strange because when they are white that fact is repeated endlessly by the MSM.
£400 in energy bill discounts offered to households in instalments. 29 July 2022.
All households in England, Scotland and Wales will receive £400 in energy bill discounts from October, the Government has announced.
The support will be issued in six instalments over six months to some 29 million households.
Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “People across the country are understandably worried about the global rise in energy costs, and the pressure this is placing on everyday bills.
They are eking it out to spread the gratitude over as long a period as possible. I’m not certain this will work because it looks as though a miserable £400 weighed against the coming energy storm will be seen more as an insult than help!
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/energy-bill-discount-how-to-get-payments-when-october-2022-kwasi-kwarteng-b1015434.html
Six instalments will be so small as to be unnoticeable.
£66.66667
Hmm…. 666?
Partly it’s to ensure folk don’t spend it all at once. After all, if people earn their own money the state must control what they spend it on, and when. This £400 is barely 2 months of our new bill. 2 months. And it’s my bloody money in the first place! Did they not consider a sensible option? Was ‘let’s scrap energy taxes, green taxes, make those wanting a smart meter pay for them, scrap the standing charge and only have folk pay for what they use, have wind mill owners exist with no subsidy and them pay for the grid upgrades?
That way energy companies can offer alternative value aside from just price – as everyone would pay the same cost per KWh, and green would survive – or fail – on it’s own merit, with some people paying £20 per kwh for electricity for 2 hours a month at 3 am and those not stupid would buy traditional, reliable energy sources.
We could call this miraculous idea a… oh, what’s the word… oh yes! A market! Privatised costs, privatised profits instead of privatised profits and socialised debt. But hey. The gormless keep blaming the energy companies because the state runs a campaign to tell them to.
Like using a teaspoon to bale out the Titanic.
Let us sit upon the ground and speak of the death of common sense.
We pay over the odds for energy; the government hands back a bit of it. During this unnecessary movement, the snivel service creams off a goodly wedge while dosh travels from mug back to mug.
£400 in energy bill discounts offered to households in instalments. 29 July 2022.
All households in England, Scotland and Wales will receive £400 in energy bill discounts from October, the Government has announced.
The support will be issued in six instalments over six months to some 29 million households.
Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “People across the country are understandably worried about the global rise in energy costs, and the pressure this is placing on everyday bills.
They are eking it out to spread the gratitude over as long a period as possible. I’m not certain this will work because it looks as though a miserable £400 weighed against the coming energy storm will be seen more as an insult than help!
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/energy-bill-discount-how-to-get-payments-when-october-2022-kwasi-kwarteng-b1015434.html
The attempt to silence Mark Steyn of GBN:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/media/2022/jul/28/gb-news-faces-ofcom-investigation-host-mark-steyn-covid-booster-claims
Only the Grauniad seems to be covering the story…now there’s a surprise. And try to keep your breakfast down when it refers to ‘impartiality’ !
I liked the way they changed their definition of Ivermectin from ‘horse tranquiliser’ to ‘anti parasitic’.
Can we scatter it along the Kent beaches?
With repeat prescriptions.
Sorry Hugh, what story? The thumbnail isn’t loading. Would you be able to provide a link?
Ah, found it. This especially, as you said; made me laugh: “… Ahead of GB News’ launch last year there had been questions about how Ofcom would regulate a television news channel that was overtly political in its outlook…”
The guardian is a Left wing, big state, high tax communist rag so chock full of spin, lies and deceit that it doesn’t know the truth from it’s own perverse narrative.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/jul/28/gb-news-faces-ofcom-investigation-host-mark-steyn-covid-booster-claims.
354715+ + up ticks,
Makes one shudder to think a good part of my working life was in their hands,
https://twitter.com/miss_anthrop75/status/1552804171677683713?s=20&t=qMzH8hST4jmQ1hHeqkif0A
Reminds me of
Chermany, circa early 1940’s,
Convid track and Trace
No cash, use a card
etc
Ausweis bitte.
Nein, Ansells Bitter, mein Herr
http://www.wiganbeer.co.uk/product/ansells-bitter/
354715+ up ticks,
Morning OLT,
My thoughts also, in comparison today there are far to many similarities , the electoral majority will be voting in the likes of Munich beer halls next.
Just put it on my phone………
Just paid for my online shopping, thanks Dean
But he found it almost impossible to pay cash for any of his purchases. 👋
666
Dad of 7. I’d bet he’s not working, has a low IQ, is utterly welfare dependent and a prime target to remove from society.
The truth behind Spain’s ‘new’ rule for UK travellers – and what it means for your holiday
They must be able to show evidence that they have enough money – £85 a day – to support themselves during their visit.
Perhaps we should introduce this requirement for the Doveristas Boat People
The rules have always been there, it is a Schengen Border code requirement
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/advice/latest-post-brexit-travel-bombshell-storm-sangria-jug/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr
This is aimed at yoofs who arrive en masse in places like Magaluf and cause much trouble. Frankly, I don’t blame the Spanish for trying to clean up their resorts.
Caroline’s grandmother’s cleaner said to Caroline’s mother: “It’s our turn now; your class have had your day.”
That’s all very well but the Magaloof Yoof Yobs are hardly a good example of fine British gentlemanliness and the Dutch yobs are not much better.
I hope Grandmothers response was ‘You’re fired !’.
Australia are pretty good at border control. At their airports.
But they are having their problems with illegal migrants. Obviously the huge coast line is inviting.
We could , and we should, but big government wants the illegal here. It’s their revenge for Brexit. I’d bet as soon as there’s a flicker about getting back in the boats would stop, full stop. You can almost imagine a mandarin calling the french equivalent and saying ‘it worked Michel, we’ll enforce our border now.’
Perhaps Britons should just claim asylum in Spain, saying they’ve lost their documents but they’re fleeing war in Syria.
Morning all 😃
Not just irrational energy policies, just about everything dished out from Westminster and Whitehall these days. Lies, lies and more damn lies. Still no mention of the invasion during the recent leadership debate. It is not politics it is Such disingenuous unethical bull shite.
Meanwhile they keep arriving…..by arrangement.
The state wants them to keep coming here out of spite, so the vermin tide of enemy combatants will keep pouring in. The only thing that will stop Whitehall from forcing these scum on us is having to put up with them themselves and be punished for their crimes equally.
And by the same token the government and media lecture us on climate change.
It is indeed strange, Eddy, that all these dramas are appearing to monopolise the attention of the populace.
Could these just be a smokescreen for what the Elite are really in the process of organising?
The New World Order is coming into being and nobody is noticing.
Perhaps as an affected minority we should organise a letter of protest and send it to some one high up in government. Its worth a try.
There are many erudite Nottlers who could get together and write to the people who are causing all these problems.
All this reminds me of the theme’s behind the James Bond films.
The nasty psychopaths behind the worlds most obvious problems.
Where’s Bond…..James Bond, when we need him ?
There’s nothing irrational about our energy policies. They are perfectly rational. The state is looking to get on to the green trough, to fly around the world whinging about climate change. Mandarins are looking for 7 figure jobs after their stint ruining this country. They’re greedy, vicious and mendacious.
Their intent is to make energy so utterly unaffordable that people use less of it – thus meeting their goals and securing that lecture circuit offer. They don’t care how many people suffer – that’s irrelevant. Theirs is a higher calling – ideology (greed). Same as the Stalinist soviets, Nazi Germany, Pot’s China the result is what matters. Not the havoc they cause along the way. After all, it’s all in a righteous cause.
Turn Harrods into a GUM store.
I’ve been in GUM in Moscow. Depressing place for buying goods (but quite an impressive building as I recall).
The latest creepy nonsense appears to be the normalising of cannabalism and selling body parts, references to which are sneaking in across the mainstream media.
Too depressing to hunt them out and link them, but keep your eyes peeled…I mean…oh never mind.
I’ve seen them – I think this is an attempt to normalise that which is about to be exposed at some point in the future, getting us used to the idea so that when it and the perpetrators are exposed we simply shrug our shoulders.
Or to get us used to the long, cold, hungry winter ahead…!
Seriously, I don’t know why they are doing it, but it is creepy and unpleasant, like the rest of their evil nonsense.
Reposted from late last night
Friday 29th July, 2022
Lewis Duckworth
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f89924acd2ee2dea67cc5188f67a3727cd527e6487147c01804c5ba3d56fcf4f.png
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e281877e66f9640965428cfaf7612b736a56b10f037dc7830d6ff3f7e0f8aba9.png
and many more joyous returns to add to the 78 runs using the Lewis Duckworth method!
With very best wishes,
Caroline and Rastus
Many happy returns, Lewis!
One Happy Birthday Lewis and of course 384 Happy Unbirthdays
Now THAT’S a leap year.
My ‘puter is noomerically Dai Slexit
Is he living on another planet?
Have a great day enjoying yourself Lewis.
Happy Birthday, Lewis!
Happy Birthday, Lewis.
Good timing; you can now spread it out over the weekend as well.
Happy Birthday !
Happy Birthday Lewis.
Happy Birthday, Lewis!
Happy birthday LD, I hope you have a good weekend planned to celebrate.
Have a great day Lewis 🥂🍻cheers.
I think that he said he was going to Poland for a while. Hope he sees our greetings.
Happy birthday, Lewis.
I messaged him on Twitter to have a look in here.
Happy Birthday, LD. Enjoy your weekend.
Happy Birthday Lewis!
Happy Birthday Lewis!
Happy Birthday, Lewis! Have a good day! 🍾🎉
22 yards on the cricket pitch and 22 years to your century, keep running!
Many happy returns, Lewis!
Wishing Lewis a very happy birthday.
And of course the media is still ignoring the most obvious and IMHO the real reason for energy price hikes and probably all price hikes.
We are being forced to subsidise around 100 thousand illegal immigrants who have turned up in our country unannounced. It’s been estimated that it is costing the UK around 22 billion a year. And to avoid talking about any of this climate change ladies football and now the commonwealth games is heavily promoted and prioritised.
The government is now taking up possible one off payments of 400 pounds, per household to help put. It’s a drop in the ocean and designed to put further on the back burner, the real issue. Its pretty obvious that as usual they have effed up and don’t have a clue how to put it right. Again.
Israel bans cash payments over 1700 dollars
https://themedialine.org/by-region/israel-bans-use-of-large-sums-of-cash/
The prison doors are closing.
‘Morning All
House been burgled??
Car been stolen??
Here’s your crime number for your insurance,now bugger off we’ve got “offensive” facebook posts to police…………
https://twitter.com/RitaPanahi/status/1552809105542197248?s=20&t=KWNC8ViCfFWbPd_CqzURww
Lozza Fox films the action
https://twitter.com/lozzafox/status/1552705286007316481?s=21
Stazi/Political Police indeed………
Edit I think the “offensive” post was the new LGBT flag as a Swastika meme
I just get “the media could not be played”
The juxtaposition of four qwerty flags was extremely funny…
Yes the old joke comes to mind.
Phone call to the police. Burglar breaking into my shed what shall I do?
We will record the event and give you a crime number. Meanwhile gather as much visual evidence as possible.
Frustrated House holder rings back after 10 minutes of nothing happening. It’s okay (he jokes) I borrowed a shot gun from my neighbour and caught and stopped the robbers loading my lawnmower on a truck. Within 5 minutes a SWAT team arrived sirens screaming lights blazing. PUT THE GUN DOWN GET ON THE FLOOR HANDS BEHIND YOUR BACK !!!
Whoops 🤭
Never mind,It’ll give him time to polish his Public Library reading performances
https://twitter.com/DaveAtherton20/status/1552602706065465345?s=20&t=vCRZvHoxzC2rXJ8dmwznpA
I wonder, if ‘it’ was one of those Queens, who went in full costume, to a school to read fairy tales to the infants
I suppose IT takes ‘Pride’ in ITS actions. So does the BBC as it promotes the grotesque at every opportunity.
https://twitter.com/BurnsideNotTosh/status/1552727284146229253
Don’t believe a word of it.
I’m trying to post a teletubbie picture but can’t because “you have to be logged in to upload an image” – I am logged in you stupid Disqus!!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d91ebd6899ab45d8c622f7a5fe519fda295d6ed72d12a1236ef7dfdf02b9256c.jpg
Different browser and new log in!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d91ebd6899ab45d8c622f7a5fe519fda295d6ed72d12a1236ef7dfdf02b9256c.jpg
Different browser and new log in!
https://twitter.com/DonnaPrissyrn1/status/1552743624496087040
Stop testing…
Take the Stop Oil protesters at their word. No more oil derivatives, no more test kits.
This is the Council meeting that saw ASBO’s issued by Manchester Police to several people including Samantha’s mother for god’s sake
https://twitter.com/DanVoWMedia/status/1544059007232380928?s=20&t=ENs1CGyNr0g84-PlERDUKg
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5c9c7cbad4f24974d5ee014cb880b6b1d61fd003b64cb8dc7be1b1abab264ec7.jpg
The smug smirk on the face of the responder when he had finished was absolutely sickening.
Nicely balanced article by Melanie Phillips.
It is noticeable that the twerp involved is basically American.
https://melaniephillips.substack.com/p/israel-tvs-shallow-irresponsible?utm_source=email
Who in his right mind would WANT to go there?
Nobody – that’s why Muslims go.
Why poke a hornets’ nest with a stick?
Precisely.
Given that MP is Jewish – very vocally Jewish – I thought this article showed intellectual heft.
OT – a new word to hate. “Pop”
As in:
“Pop in for a test drive”
“Pop this form in the post”
“Pop your cloths on the chair”
Are those Pick of the Pops?
I’ll get me coat…
I’m sure I learnt pop in that context from my mother and she was born in the early years of George V’s reign so the habit has been around a while. Poppet was also a term beloved of that generation.
Maybe – but it has gotten (sic – UGH) much worse.
That’s another pet hate…..
And gotten goes back even further. Used in 17th century English. Doubtless one of those words that had crossed the Altlantic before it went out of use in the UK.
It’s back. My (otherwise sensationally clever) grand-daughter uses it…. I give her a look…!
Have you forgotten what it’s like to be young?
He was born old, it’s why he’s ill-begotten.
Very true. I was born aged 25.
It’s t’internet. They spend all night on Discord chatting with friends in the US.
Interesting. In fact my GD does not do that. I think there are some Yanlks at her school – and, possibly, a few teachers. Nor does she use her mobile phone more than once a week.
All my children’s recent classes have WhatsApp groups to exchange homework details etc. They are constantly on some messaging service or other.
“Talking” on a mobile phone seems to be terribly out of date, although, confusingly, they sometimes send each other little voice messages.
I am delighted that my GD is so old-fashioned! Actually, it can be a bind – because if I e-mail her – she may not see it for several days!
We’ve just had a ‘discussion’ with grandchildren over the pronunciation of ‘router’.
Our son was lumped in with his parents as a speaker of old fashioned English.
US banking codes being Routing Numbers and not Sort Codes, I’ve learant to pronouce it as they do – as in rowdy and not route – since in this case it’s a peculiarly American usage.
I’ve given up trying to stop my children from saying “gotten.” One of them looks likely to settle across the Atlantic, anyway…
A poppet is also a doll used in folk lore and witchcraft to cast spells on other people.
My friend John who taught English in my department at Allhallows ran a bookshop during the lunch hour at the foot of the marble staircase in the Main Building so that pupils could order the books they wanted.
John had a very aristocratic sounding and loud voice and his comment to a boy called Dmitri Morgan resounded throughout the building: “No, Morgan, your order for the Pop-Up Kama Sutra has not yet arrived!”
I’ll just go and pop the kettle on whilst I think about that….
Pop a tea bag in for me 🙂
Just popping in ….. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2fc96a634f2836963880794975071d14048828f1e58c342c37ab54066dc158d5.jpg
Ah, one of my favourite creatures!
Boris was in Pop.
Just completed my Local Election Postal voting form
At the end
If you are non-binary, transgender or have variations of sex characteristics, also known as intersex, the answer you give can be
different from what is on your birth certificate. If you’re not sure how to answer, use the sex registered on your official documents, such
as passport or driving licence, or whichever sex you consider yourself to be.
If your gender is not the same as the sex recorded on your birth certificate when you were born (for example, if you are non-binary or
transgender, or both), tick “No”. If you would like to record that you have variations of sex characteristics, also known as intersex, you can
use this write-in box. If you would like to, you can also write-in your gender identity. If you answered no, please enter the term you use to
describe your gender. This is also voluntary, so you can leave it blank if you prefer.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I wonder how many people actually complete that section…..
I’d tell them to mind their own bluddy business.
I think I’d write across it in black felt tip,……….. TOP SECRET.
I did, but then it took me Two Hours to clean the ‘puter screen
Rather like the multi language documents from government or the NHS. One or two paragraphs in English then twenty or so pages of slammerspeak, hieroglyphics and whatever. Waste of taxpayers’ money all in the name of multiculturism brought in by that c..t Blair.
I suspect if you told them to ‘Do One’ they would have too many options.
I identify as FOAD.
What a waste of money and time.
I found this most informative and useful…..so much so, that I went and told it to the Marines.
The fairies at the bottom of our garden LOL’d.
Ted Cruz in the USA last week said that his pronouns were “Kiss My Ass.”
Ever seen a pic of Cruz? I wouldn’t kiss his face never mind his ass!
He does come out with good stuff from time to time.
Just looked at ours- none of that BS.
Someone has spent hours coming up with that load of garbage. Don’t laugh – it has been paid for by you council tax-payers.
And translated into 36 different languages too probably!
Obits?
What an utter load of nonsense. Wonder if they’ve thought about official records in future?
“With busloads of migrants arriving from Texas to the nation’s capital, DC has reportedly reached a “tipping point” after just 4,000 of them, causing Mayor Muriel Bowser to request that the DC National Guard be activated “indefinitely” to help with the situation“
They are lucky, only four thousand.
“Refugees welcome here”.
Four thousand buses?
In due course – if the Governor of Texas has his way!
Saw this today and it made me laugh….
Dad: I told you to keep your hands to yourself.
Son: I did.
Dad: Then why is your sister crying?
Son: I kicked her.
Kid logic eh?
Hmmm…that has been too close to our home life for me to laugh…
https://twitter.com/bobscartoons/status/1552975947627905024
Fury at Joe Lycett for ‘pushing his own politics’ during BBC’s coverage of the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony after he told viewers: ‘I’m going to do something the Government doesn’t always do and welcome foreigners’
The Birmingham-born comedian angered viewers with his comments last night
He aimed a jibe at the Government over its controversial immigration policies
People on social media were not impressed, calling it ‘dumb virtue signalling’ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11061173/Joe-Lycett-slammed-mixing-sport-politics-Commonwealth-Games-opening-ceremony.html
We are all fools to trust in the state pension system. 29 July 2022.
For most of us, the state pension is the bedrock of retirement. But a catalogue of errors and the endless threat of political tinkering have laid bare just how unrel-iable it now is.
The modern state pension dates back to 1908, when those aged over 70 were paid around 25p a week to ensure they stayed out of poverty. It has since evolved into a quasi-contributory pension, where your National Insurance record dictates how much you get out. Or so you thought.
The problem is, nothing about the state pension is cast-iron guaranteed. It is a benefit that can be taken away or adjusted by a government as easily as any other. But it is still expected, on the basis that they have earned it, by those who have paid in over their career on the assumption that it will pay them a wage in retirement.
I’m not a fool because I never volunteered to join! I was only at work two weeks and knew I didn’t want to contribute but no one asked me! They just said here you are along with the BBC licence fee it’s all yours. I’ve watched it over the years as it has been manipulated and devalued at the whim of Westminster. It is quite simply the archetypal Ponzi scheme. As long as others are being roped in it will keep going until it finally collapses.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/pensions-retirement/news/fools-trust-state-pension-system/
I don’t think any of us volunteered to join! The NI contributions were just taken whether we wanted them to or not.
However, I am fairly grateful these days for the pension I receive. Before I retired I was able to pay for three missed years in the 1970s. It cost me about £600 per year, which I received back (and more) in arrears, along with the 10% which it went up for the rest of my days.
I had six years to make up for which i did with the threat of peanuts if i hadn’t paid in for 40 years. But only around 3 years after paying the extra they cut the period from 40 years to 30 years………..I paid in the for nothing and there was no sign of and never has been of a refund.
I tried to get some sort of compensation but was totally ignored by the ‘i’m all right jack’ civil service
Yes – the upgraded pension which came in in 2016 left those of us who reached pension age prior to that as second class pensioners. The number of years used to be 44 for men and 39 for women, then it went down to 30, then up to 35 for the new pension. But I reached pension age in 2008, so it was in my interest to pay up. I was still working at the time.
The WASPI women who missed out on pensions at 60 forgot that we had to pay up or retire on very llittle if we had taken time out for child-rearing. They get a lot more now than I do.
I was definitely ripped off. But there is no redress with civil servants. It’s similar to FOAD.
With that in mind and recent rumblings re OAPs prescriptions. I believe if i had to pay for my prescriptions, my basic state pension i worked for 53 years to be allowed to receive would be more than wiped out.
You can buy a yearly certificate of exemption. About £110. I have had to by them for the last three years.
I always worked on the assumption that there will be no state pension when I retire, and made appropriate investments to take care of that.
We are all fools to trust in the state pension system. 29 July 2022.
For most of us, the state pension is the bedrock of retirement. But a catalogue of errors and the endless threat of political tinkering have laid bare just how unrel-iable it now is.
The modern state pension dates back to 1908, when those aged over 70 were paid around 25p a week to ensure they stayed out of poverty. It has since evolved into a quasi-contributory pension, where your National Insurance record dictates how much you get out. Or so you thought.
The problem is, nothing about the state pension is cast-iron guaranteed. It is a benefit that can be taken away or adjusted by a government as easily as any other. But it is still expected, on the basis that they have earned it, by those who have paid in over their career on the assumption that it will pay them a wage in retirement.
I’m not a fool because I never volunteered to join! I was only at work two weeks and knew I didn’t want to contribute but no one asked me! They just said here you are along with the BBC licence fee it’s all yours. I’ve watched it over the years as it has been manipulated and devalued at the whim of Westminster. It is quite simply the archetypal Ponzi scheme. As long as others are being roped in it will keep going until it finally collapses.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/pensions-retirement/news/fools-trust-state-pension-system/
Good day. For anybody who has not yet come across Cliff High I really recommend considering his approach, which is, I think profoundly engaging.
https://tarableu.substack.com/p/cliff-high?sd=pf,
354715+ up ticks,
Not Safe: UK Health Service Shuts Down Tavistock, Infamous for Child Trans Treatments,
Face more REAL FACTS courtesy of the l;ab/lib/con mass uncontrolled
immigration / paedophile umbrella coalition party & current member /voters.it is no longer a safe country for children & the elderly that is an, in your face, undeniable FACT.
How Germany’s energy-saving measures will affect ordinary people. 29 July 2022.
Nation ‘united by anxiety’ as authorities cut off hot water and switch off lights
Local authorities in Hanover are planning to cut off the hot water in public buildings, swimming pools, sports halls and gyms, reported The Guardian. Municipal buildings will only be heated between October and March, at no more than 20C (68F) room temperature. Mobile air conditioning units and fan heaters are banned.
Other measures include switching off public fountains and ceasing to illuminate major buildings at night. All lamps will be converted to LED, and motion detectors will be used instead of permanent lighting in toilet facilities, car parks and corridors.
In Berlin, the German capital, about 200 historic monuments and municipal buildings, including the Memorial Church on Breitscheidplatz and the Jewish Museum, have been “shrouded in darkness” this week, with the city switched off spotlights to save electricity, said The Guardian.
Munich has announced it will switch off spotlights on its town hall and only have cold running water at municipal offices. Meanwhile, Nuremberg is closing three of its four city-run indoor swimming pools and will shut outdoor lidos from 25 September.
The Germans are obviously taking this seriously!
https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/world-news/957499/how-germany-energy-saving-measures-will-affect-ordinary-people
“…cold running water…”
Would it not be an idea to turn the tap off?
“Standing among savage scenery, the hotel offers stupendous revelations. There is a French widow in every bedroom, affording delightful prospects.”
Why on earth are Europeans still playing these stupid games with the US. European living standards are being dragged down to maintain US hegemony and keep the Biden/Pelosi laundry business afloat.
Because they have swallowed the lie that it’s all Putin’s fault.
But only whitey can be obsessed with skin colour; no racism amongst any other race. No, Sirree …..
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10766607/Experts-warn-women-not-use-lightening-cream-vaginas.html
At first I assumed they were bleaching pubic hair , but no… I read the article again and realised it was proper fanny bleach .
I am horribly ignorant but I assumed all fanny parts were pink, but what on earth do I know , I mean if their mouths are pink inside , everywhere else could be also .
I have just had a learning curve and must thank God I am pink all over !
You must have seen a few body parts in your nursing career?
Not black ones !
Pink all over? You’re Spam.
😂😂
Gammon.
Don’t ham it up.
We were invited to a party a few years ago a friend my Wife worked with and her African husband, there were quite a few other blic guests and two more from her work place who had never met the husband previously. I was amazed how indifferent they all were towards each other. I thought possible tribalism.
Some Lord (of colour) is now saying that Sunak must be voted in as PM, to show that we are not racist. Give them a inch…
354715+ up ticks,
Gerard Batten
@gjb2021
·
5h
When politicians seek high office they sometimes have a small outbreak of common sense, only to forget all about it after they get elected.
If a politician had the courage to speak the truth on many issues they would get massive suppprt from ordinary people – they would however have to weather a storm of furious proportions from the MSM
Gerard Batten
@gjb2021
·
5h
When politicians seek high office they sometimes have a small outbreak of common sense, only to forget all about it after they get elected.
If a politician had the courage to speak the truth on many issues they would get massive suppprt from ordinary people – they would however have to weather a storm of furious proportions from the MSM.
previewImg
Children shouldn’t be allowed to make ‘irreversible’ gender changes, says Truss — LBC
apple.news
https://gettr.com/post/p1k7m3vac78
Yesterday in the debate, Truss said that children shouldn’t be allowed to make irreversible gender change decisions.
Well children are not making these irreversible gender changes, adults are making the decisions and doing the surgery.
She is not known as Untrussworthy for nothing, Bob.
NHS
Envy of the world you say?
Here, I had to wait three days to see my GP, because it wasn’t urgent. I saw her yesterday afternoon. I need blood tests, a urine test and multiple x-rays.
I called in to the blood and urine place on the way home, they offered an appointment for first thing this morning, but that wasn’t convenient, so they offered tomorrow morning instead. I will have the results tomorrow afternoon. She also gave me prescriptions which I was able to collect from the pharmacy on the way home.
I went to the x-ray department at the hospital this afternoon, I was offered Monday afternoon for the works: I will almost certainly be given an interpretation then and there and the films will be given to me to take to the GP.
In my view the NHS is a joke by comparison.
As a matter of interest, how much do you have to pay in health insurance? Is it topped up by a government scheme?
That is a very interesting question, Anne. I’ll be intrigued by what sos is willing to reveal.
When the MR worked in Monaco, we lived in France. I left the NHS and joined the French system. Everyone we knew (French) had mutual insurance to meet the difference between the French system.
The French system is that one pays up front the GP, pharmacy, tests, scans, x-rays,specialist etc etc – and claim a proportion back from the system.
Because of my advanced age (I was 68 when we went there) insurance was very expensive – €300 a month. I decided to take a gamble and just use the system. Although I was in hospital twice and had several blood tests, scans and x-rays – the total that I forked out was far LESS than what 2 years insurance premium would have been!
All too many of my friends and relations are now digging into savings to pay for private treatment. Dentists, opticians and physiotherapists have now become unavoidable health costs for many of us. Most of us have paid for private surgical processes; my friend with recurring unitary infections has become so desperate that she is ‘going private’ because she is so tired of constant delays by the NHS.
Some of my social circle have paid taxes for 50 or 60 years; others are still working and paying income tax on top of other other government imposts.
I suspect we are spending more on health care than our equivalents in countries not blessed by ‘our’ NHS.
We are low spenders on healthcare according to international comparisons.
The French have spent 2-3% of GDP more than us for over 40 years. It’s no surprise they have world-leading care.
About the only place more money hasn’t translated into better care is USA, but the lawyers and hospital owners over there do very nicely for themselves out of the health budget.
We take out a joint insurance policy, something called a “mutuelle” which costs roughly £150 pcm. It’s quite expensive due to our ages and the specific benefits, eg the policy is geared to provide private rooms etc as well as paying virtually all our regular treatments prescriptions etc, without us forking out and reclaiming.
It, and the French system between them, gives us healthcare that even if one did everything privately in the UK is far better, and more importantly far faster and much, much more proactive
We are also in the French Carte Vitale system, which would cover most day to day stuff easily.
Oddly enough, but unsurprisingly, the French charge the NHS for our CV treatments under something called the S1. It is a reciprocal arrangement, but I would bet a fair amount that the NHS is nowhere near as efficient claiming back for French people treated in the UK.
A joke, you say? A very bad one too.
Similar to my own experience of French healthcare. The NHS in its current form is not fit for purpose.
Someone has to pay for those poor administrators to ensure that the NHS is not racist.
Someone has to pay for those poor administrators to ensure that the NHS is not racist.
When I was working in Bavaria an old injury to my neck/spine was causing me some trouble, so I went to a local doctor who specialised in such things. He asked to see my last MRI scan results and was genuinely appalled when I said I’d never had one. He offered to book one for me – I expected a wait of a few weeks at least, but in fact ended up with a scan the next Tuesday – results explained [in English!] and copies provided for me and my local doctor! Brilliant service.
When I was working in Bavaria an old injury to my neck/spine was causing me some trouble, so I went to a local doctor who specialised in such things. He asked to see my last MRI scan results and was genuinely appalled when I said I’d never had one. He offered to book one for me – I expected a wait of a few weeks at least, but in fact ended up with a scan the next Tuesday – results explained [in English!] and copies provided for me and my local doctor! Brilliant service.
Thoughtful and interesting blog piece. The writer makes an excellent point, that local contacts are one of the best and most subversive things we can forge.
https://miriaf.co.uk/a-modern-horror-story/
I have listened to pieces by Archbishop Vigano on this very same point, urging people to start small communities to push back against the great reset.
It’s a big movement on the continent – we should all do it!
Lovelock – from hero to villain for ‘denying’ the religion of AGW.
If robots took over we are doomed,robots wouldn’t like rust
Bye,bye Oxygen………….
I think by the end of the century we all might be a wee bit deadish.
Why would robots be made from steel, or other oxidising metal?
Lovelock – from hero to villain for ‘denying’ the religion of AGW.
Oooph …. I read this article with a lump in my throat. We just didn’t realise what we were being given; the power to imagine and empathise.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/narnia-borrowers-why-still-enchanted-1950s-childrens-literature/
“From Narnia to The Borrowers: why we are still enchanted by 1950s children’s literature
It was the decade that took children’s fiction seriously. No wonder its classics are still at the heart of our youngsters’ imaginations
29 July 2022 • 7:00am
“Do you really mean, sir, that there could be other worlds…just round the corner, just like that?” asks Peter in the first few chapters of CS Lewis’s imperishable masterpiece The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. “Nothing is more probable,” the Professor replies, polishing his spectacles. In a few casual words, the snow-crested fantasia of Narnia, first discovered by Lucy beyond the mothballed coats at the back of the old cupboard, has become in the mind of the reader not a fanciful product of a child’s imagination, but a bewitching, alarming parallel reality that demands to be reckoned with.
This week Sally Cookson’s magnificent stage adaptation of Lewis’s first Narnia book returns to London just in time for the summer holidays. The story, published in 1950, remains evergreen, combining weighty philosophical and religious ideas with the apparatus of a fairy tale (wicked snow witches, talking animals, an enchanted realm plunged into eternal winter).
In other words, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is that rare children’s book – a story which not only takes a children’s imaginative view of the world seriously, but their intellectual and emotional responses to it, too. The timing of its publication is not a coincidence. The 1950s, known as the start of the Second Golden Age in children’s literature (the first stretched from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 1865 to the Edwardian fiction of E Nesbit and JM Barrie) marked the moment when children’s stories grew up. Gone are the hearty adventure stories of Arthur Ransome and the quaint anthropomorphic absurdism of AA Milne.
In come Philippa Pearce’s Tom’s Midnight Garden (1958), an unsettlingly strange fable about displacement, mortality and historical connection that remains perhaps the best-loved British children’s book of all time. Rosemary Sutcliff’s The Eagle of the Ninth series (1954), a superlative collection of historical novels set during the time of the Roman Empire that grapple with profound questions about empire, identity and nationhood. Mary Norton’s The Borrowers (1952), a deceptively sweet-flavoured fairy story about an imperilled species of tiny people. The restless explorations of faith that continued with Lewis’s subsequent Narnia Chronicles.
“Many of the novels of the Second Golden Age, particularly the fantasy novel, were talking to the psychological dimension of childhood,” says Dr Lucy Pearson, lecturer in children’s literature at Newcastle University. “They are not instructional in an overt way but they are interested in grappling with things that are difficult to tackle head on.” All remain lodestones of children’s literature – stories we return to again and again.
Part of the reason why the 1950s produced so many outstanding books is sociological. Pearson points to the rise of progressive and child-centred education, the new interest in child psychology and development, and the desire to rebuild through children, particularly via schools and libraries, that followed in the wake of the Second World War. What’s more, publishing itself supported and perpetuated that investment. Editors with expertise, many of them women, were hired by major publishing houses with dedicated briefs to develop children’s literature.
The most influential would be Kay Webb who took over Puffin in 1961. Puffin was notionally a paperback imprint, but Webb published original fiction too; more importantly, she enshrined the idea of children’s fiction as accessible to children of all economic backgrounds. “By championing the paperback as a viable financial proposition she was able to get more books into the hands of children,” says Pearson. “She believed more children should be able to own books.”
At the same time the Second World War and with it, the spectre of nuclear conflict, had ushered in what the writer Amanda Craig has called “a new, global moral consciousness” within children’s literature. The seismic ruptures of the recent past can be felt most spectacularly in those blasted war-ravaged heaths and epic struggles between good and evil in Narnia and Tolkien’s Middle Earth (the Lord of the Rings trilogy was published in 1954).
More specifically, the writers of the period were acutely interested in how a child might understand their position within a newly fractured history. The country house with the wild, mysterious garden that offers refuge and restoration in equal measure had been a staple of children’s literature since Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden (1901) but it became a renewed symbol of constancy and continuity after the war in stories such as Tom’s Midnight Garden and Lucy Boston’s Green Knowe books (1954-1978), in which a magic garden and a magic house respectively become a time slip portal into the past. In his garden, Tom encounters Hatty, a child from Victorian England who – spoiler alert – is eventually revealed to be the younger self of his uncle’s ancient landlady, Mrs Bartholomew. The children of Green Knowe variously encounter the spirits of the house’s former inhabitants.
“A lot of these books have a connection with a historic past that’s facilitated through the country house,” says Pearson. “They also very typically feature a connection between a child and an older person. In the 1960s you’ll see stories about a younger generation rejecting the older generation and the idea that children can build something better [the subversive tales of Roald Dahl spring to mind]. But in the 1950s many of these books are interested primarily in healing that gulf between children and older people and in the importance of carrying on these traditions.”
Moreover, post empire, questions of identity and nationhood themselves were coming to the fore. “Take Sutcliff’s The Lantern Bearers, which is about a boy who, growing up during the Roman occupation of Britain, believes himself to be Roman but who also doesn’t want to leave the land in which he grew up. It’s a very different sort of book, but it too is very interested in landscape and what it is to be British. And it’s particularly interested in how that identity might become complicated.”
What defines all these books in the end is the way they help a child understand their place in a world that is bigger than they are. The importance of faith and tradition, the complexity of history, the psychological ruptures of war – all are huge themes, and the writers of the 1950s encouraged their childish readers to embrace their complexity. It’s hard not to compare it to the scene today – full of some excellent books for children, yes, but also heavily freighted with concerns about causing offence, in thrall to sensitivity readers, and driven often by didactic messaging at the expense of imaginative ambiguity.
What’s more, it’s hard not to think that children’s literature itself is increasingly devalued. Libraries are no longer a central part of childhood. Qualified children’s librarians are virtually an extinct species. Few primary schools these days have dedicated librarians. “An awful lot of books are published for children, yet you go into a bookshop or supermarket and it’s the same four or five dominate. There is less opportunity for the more unusual books to stick around for children to find them. No one is pushing them into their hands.”
Thank goodness, then, that we have these works from the 1950s: rich, provocative and strangely timeless.
Five classic books from the Golden Age
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
CS Lewis’s irresistible introduction to Narnia, published in 1950, perfectly balances mythical characters – the White Witch, Mr Tumnus, Aslan – with wartime evacuation and accessible Christian allegory.
Tom’s Midnight Garden
Another displaced child features in Philippa Pearce’s 1958 yarn. While staying with his uncle and aunt, Tom befriends a mysterious girl in a time-travelling garden. The twist ending is spine-tingling.
The Eagle of the Ninth
Rosemary Sutcliff takes us back to Roman Britain in her 1954 novel. The intrepid Marcus Flavius Aquila ventures beyond Hadrian’s Wall to find out what really happened to his father’s missing legion.
The Borrowers
A charming fairy tale explanation for why we’re always losing small items, Mary Norton’s 1952 book acquaints us with the miniature Clock family, who “borrow” from humans in order to survive.
The Children of Green Knowe
Lucy M Boston’s series, which began in 1954, centres on a magical manor house. Young Tolly has a very interactive history lesson as the spirits of his ancestors appear and share their stories.”
Do children still read? I spent most of my childhood with my nose in a book. My mother was a reader – her mother said she would only notice if the house was on fire when the pages of her book curled up.
We had no books at home. It wasn’t until i was 10 that i found out my primary school had a library Albeit a small one. I only discovered this when i asked a girl in my class what she was doing and she told me it was her morning to be librarian.
My primary school was a small, village one. (Now long since closed) There was no library as such, but a collection of books was received from the County library each term. I would read everything I could get my hands on! My mother was a member of Boots library and so I was a junior member. When Boots closed their library we went to the town one. I can’t remember a time when I couldn’t read.
What’s more, it’s hard not to think that children’s literature itself is increasingly devalued.
Childhood itself has been devalued.
Of all the books mentioned, the only ones that I enjoyed as a child were the Narnia series. The others definitely came under the heading of “books that grown ups expected you to like.”
I preferred more straightforward stuff, for which I was duly shamed.
I enjoyed Rosemary Sutcliffe.
I think I read some of her other stuff but can’t remember what.
I enjoyed Tom’s Midnight Garden.
I also read The Guardians. Which turns out to actually be happening. From Wiki…
The Guardians is a young-adult science fiction novel written by John Christopher and published by Hamilton in 1970.
Set in the year 2052, it depicts an authoritarian England divided into two distinct societies: the modern, overpopulated “Conurbs” and the aristocratic, rarefied “County”. Crowded city districts and all-pervasive technology make up the Conurbs while manors and rolling countrysides
typical of 19th-century England make up the County. The story follows a
young Conurban orphan named Rob as he experiences life in both worlds,
uncovering truths and choosing sides in the process.
Christopher (Sam Youd) and The Guardians won the annual Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize from The Guardian newspaper, coincidentally, which is judged by a panel of British children’s writers.[2] In 1976 he won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in category youth fiction for the German-language edition, Die Wächter.
In 1986 the German TV station ARD broadcast a film adaptation under that title.[3]
I did too.
The Eagle of the Ninth
I do not like golf, so I putt that one down
A bit rough.
As we sailed around the Med we read the twelve novels in the series of the Swallows and Amazons and still quiz each other about them.
For example:
i) For what were they searching in the hills in Pigeon Post and what did they actually find?
ii) Who was the artistic sensitive member of the Walker family?
iii) What is the pejorative term used to describe ill bred tourists on the Norfolk Broads?
iv) Who was the Mastodon?
v) In which novel does Uncle Jim’s schooner appear in a drawing at anchor in St Mawes?
Devoured them all, sitting on the law with rheumatic fever, aged 7. Bought them all for my eldest daughter and she still has them.
The other thing to notice about Swallows and Amazons is the gentle moralising and adherence to good manners, except for the Hullabaloos.
I was more of a Biggles lad, me.
Yes, I liked Biggles Flies Undone….
Gobbled it up, did you?
Er… apparently, there was much criticism because no women featured in the stories, it was just men… that would fit right in these days.
That isn’t true, though. There was Stella Carstairs, the Principessa and Jeanette Ducoste for a start. If they wanted women in WEJ’s stories they should have read Worralls.
#Me Too.
As we sailed around the Med we read the twelve novels in the series of the Swallows and Amazons and still quiz each other about them.
For example:
i) For what were they searching in the hills in Pigeon Post and what did they actually find?
ii) Who was the artistic sensitive member of the Walker family?
iii) What is the pejorative term used to describe ill bred tourists on the Norfolk Broads?
iv) Who was the Mastodon?
v) In which novel does Uncle Jim’s schooner appear in a drawing at anchor in St Mawes?
The Secret Garden and The Little Princess are two of my all time favourites. There is so much wonderful children’s lit out there.
I wonder what exalted Cabinet post little Corporal Wallace was offered by Untrussworthy – to be so adulatory…..
He waited until the result was clear!
You old cynic!!
My glasses are good but my brain is wonky. I read adultery…
Did you get a First sue?
No, I failed miserably.
She was good at that, too, of course.
I have been calling her
Adultera Truss
since she was given the safe seat at Swaffham in return for sleeping with her then mentor, Mark Field MP. This affair broke up Field’s marriage but Truss’s cuckolded spouse ‘forgave’ her and they are still together.
The Special Relationship…
Sir Christopher Meyer, former British ambassador to the United States, has died. He was famous for his catchphrase:
Who do you want Britain to fight now, Mr President?
I shall miss him; he was invariably well-informed, inciteful, amusing and charming.
A son from a poor family wins five million pounds on the lottery. He
goes home and gives his dad five hundred quid. The old man looks at the
cash and says, “thanks, son, this money will mean a lot to me. We’ve
never had much in this family, we’ve always been poor. You know, I
couldn’t even afford to marry your mother.””What!” exclaims the son,
“you mean I”m…….well…….a bastard?”” Yep,” replies his dad, “and a
foooking tight one at that.”
Warning: just had a scam phone call (ghostly voice) claiming that someone had twice tried to pay for a purchase and draw money out of my account this morning (£300 and £1,000 respectively). The usual “press X to be put through to an assistant”.
I returned the phone to its cradle. I then phoned Lloyds Bank; the lass told me that they had had loads of calls today about this particular call. Nothing had happened and I was safe.
Nothing says there’s a pandemic like dancing nurses on tiktok
Nothing says there’s a climate crisis than world leaders flying into a meeting to discuss said crisis in their private jets
Nothing says there’s a war like a Vogue photoshoot and an appearance at Glastonbury.
The CommonWoke Games…
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Watching wood warp
Alas poor Vardy. “Poor” being the operative word. Vardy is a gift that just keeps on giving.
“Rebekah Vardy may still appeal against today’s bombshell Wagatha Christie ruling, MailOnline has learned, as she declared herself ‘devastated’ after losing her £3 million libel case to Coleen Rooney – and branded the decision ‘unjust’ and ‘wrong’.
Sources close to Rebekah said that ‘nothing has been ruled out’ and that lawyers were still ‘combing over’ the 75-page judgment as they searched for possible grounds to take Coleen back to court. ”
An elderly lawyer writes: “Stop while you are losing, pet.”
She sounds like Meagain.
Even dimmer, though – which makes it more fun…!!
An elderly lawyer writes:
It were you and I claim my 5/- Postal Order
Curses! Discovered…
Bet the Daily Mail was on the phone begging her to appeal. Probably funding it too!
What would they have to write about if this case were over?
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That wouldn’t surprise me at all – typical plod thinking.
https://static.standard.co.uk/2022/07/29/12/ADAMS20220729.jpg?width=1024&auto=webp&quality=50&crop=968%3A645%2Csmart
Infected blood scandal victims ‘should be paid at least £100,000 each’
At least £100,000 should be paid to all infected blood victims and bereaved partners across the UK, the chairman of the inquiry into the issue has said.
About 2,400 people died in what has been labelled the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, unless of course you know different
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/29/infected-blood-scandal-victims-should-paid-least-100000/
It would have been NHS management that procured those diseased products from U.S prisons and drug addicts. Make them pay.
Then they tried to cover it up, and to resist paying out anything. Thos involved should be tried for criminal negligence.
No chance…..🤔
So it isn’t just Pakistani Muslims.
America is gaining from left-driven diversity too.
https://www.takimag.com/article/actually-our-culture-is-better/
That’s me for this tedious day of cloudy and sudden heat. And cloud. And chilliness. Watered the veg. The beech wood looks like the end of September.
I shall be busy tomorrow on washing up duty at the church fête – an event which took me by surprise! I thought there were at least three weeks to go…
Have a jolly evening.
A demain – sort of…
Don’t forget to wear yerr rubber gloves.
‘Night All
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Looks like Grandpa’s money went tits up
Brilliant thanks.
Double plus on the last one.
And then there is this:
Do these wankers compain that the Nigerian team doesn’t have any mulattoes or whites in it? No? To avoid that whilst moaning about an all-white team is racist, surely?
It shouldn’t surprise people with even the flimsiest grasp of evolutionary biology to find that the native population of cool cloudy Northern Europe have evolved with pale skin as a matter of survival but for the waycism everywhere numbskulls, their bonkers ideology is reality.
If only everything invented and developed by pale, male, stale individuals over the last 300 years ,and all the off-shoots, could suddenly disappear for even 48 hours.
The world as we know it would collapse, completely and utterly!
“A blanket, a cup and a stick”.
A bowl. A cup is more complicated; it requires a handle.
It’s all this negative publicity about ‘Privileged Whites’ that makes us more racist than we ever were.
I think it is intended to be divisive. To give them further excuse to cry racism. It keeps the industry going.
It’s worked for me.
In a word, no. When ethnics learn they are merely guests and behave as such then they can be considered. Until then, some are just an infestation.
I did not see many white people in the snap of the top Home Office civil servants when led by the jerk offended by Priti Patel’s ‘bullying’.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-62352152
A nine-year-old girl who died after being stabbed in a Lincolnshire street has been named by police.
Lilia Valutyte was found on Fountain Lane in Boston on Thursday at 18:20 BST with what officers believe was a stab wound, said Lincolnshire Police.
A murder inquiry began and on Friday the force said two people had been arrested in connection with her death.
Ch Supt Kate Anderson said: “Our thoughts continue to be with Lilia’s family and friends”.
Poor wee lass – only made it to nine, and some bastard off her. It’s enough to make a grown man cry, so it is. In fact, it did.
Arrests made, no description. Guess the perpetrator,
It seems she was Latvian.
No description says it all
Lithuanian?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11062773/Pictured-innocent-Lithuanian-schoolgirl-nine-stabbed-death-Lincolnshire-street.html
I knew it was Baltic – they’re easy to forget.
Beautiful child.
And yet you remain anti the death penalty.
Indeed.
It’s too final, there are so many who were fitted up.
100 years in clink would be fine by me – or left to the father and brothers.
When the penalty was abolished we were promised categorically that “life” would mean until they died in prison.
That has been reneged.
For every 1 hanged in error I would suggest that 100 or more have been killed by released killers.
If there is the slightest doubt, 100 years in prison, but where it is absolutely cut and dried, kill the perpetrator. Why should the taxpayers support them in prison?
We shouldn’t. They should be chained to a wall just too far off the ground and given the absolute minimum to live on.
Although my personal favourite is flogging followed by a chain gang digging a new reservoir – rinse, repeat.
That is obscene.
I would certainly leave a rope in their cell so they can kill themselves
There is no mention of ‘life means life’ in Hansard, so that promise would have been made outside Parliament, where it would have had the weight of a Party manifesto pledge, i.e. none. As for convicted killers killing again after being released, the number of victims is currently around 110, IIRC. Not sure how many people have been hanged in error – Timothy John Evans is the obvious example, although I discount Ruth Ellis and Derek Bentley, as they were sentenced on the law as it stood.
I am sure you will be correct, my recollection was that proponents for abolition were stating that it would be the case for certain murders; but I would still argue that even one death caused by a released murderer is too many where the original case against them is forensically certain.
I have always been in two minds about capital punishment. It is not an easy topic. Basically I would say I am against it but I can also say that if some bastard maimed or killed anyone I hold dear I would want them dead. But I would want it to be clear and without any doubt that the person(s) was guilty.
I still don’t really know…
Yes. It is wrong for the state to take a life. Flogging, however, after a third offence should be a given.
And the old methods, like the village stocks.
Yup. Just wrap a rock in cabbage leaves and throw that.
Great, tell that to the family of a murderer on parole’s victim.
It defies belief that some b***ard could stab a 9 year old. What is wrong with these people?
They’re indulged, spoiled, abusive scum. Thousands more of them arrive every day, paid for and enforced by the state.
Let’s be honest. If the killers wer ewhite the press would be publishing this everywere along with the ‘far right’ nonsense. It’s either blacks or, given the area, pakistani muslims. Chances are they approached the child wanting to rape her, she said no so to force her they drew a knife and by accident in trying to get her into a car killed the poor girl.
Seems to be an ‘Eastern European’ problem in this case. Albanian, Romanian, Bulgarian? Lots of delightful muzzies.
Why was she out on her own after 6pm i would like to know.
Diversity strength!
How come they only believe it was a stab wound? Usually, stab wounds are obvious.
A follow-up to the two DT stories about white wickedness…
Last night, as a service to Nottland, I sat bravely through three hours of ITV’s recent detective drama, DI Ray. It was a one-off in four parts, typical fare for the channel in recent years: plodding, wooden, clichéd, full of stereotypes.
The basic scenario: Muslim boy dates Hindu girl, is murdered and the girl’s family is blamed, the reasoning being that the families were allegedly involved in a dispute over their businesses. Ray, female Hindu, is appointed to lead the investigation because it is a ‘Culturally Sensitive Homicide’. Her boss is a white female DCI; the Superintendent is a white male. Ray is romantically involved with a white detective on another team.
It’s eventually revealed that the crime is not the result of a war between the two families but something much bigger and nastier: a drug and people smuggling racket [fifteen Vietnamese suffocate in a shipping container]. The link to the murder is that the Muslim family’s business is failing and the dead boy got involved to earn some cash to prop it up. Naturally, the really bad criminals are white people and, for good measure, the romantically involved male detective is corrupt and part of the crime.
Ray is suspended for some of her actions which put her life in danger, and for being a bit bolshy and not showing respect to her white superiors. Superintendent: “I was under pressure to appoint you due to the ethnic needs of the case but, as a result, we put you in position where you were out of your depth. You simply weren’t ready.” Ray: “I know – and you know – what this is really about.”
The moral: ethnic minorities are exploited and ultimately corrupted by the white nation. Broadly (and TBF, there were one or two exceptions on each side), the Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs were jolly decent sorts and their strong family units a contrast to the whites who were thick, uncultured and amoral (although Ray, was of course, having it away with the corrupt white detective).
The BBC would have been proud of it.
We got friendly with a couple of Sikhs when we were in N. London. They were so nice and when we told them we were moving south, they put their hands over their hearts and said, “We will keep you here.”
Our mate Ashish, in our local little shop is a Hindu. You couldn’t find a nicer, more hardworking bloke. We don’t get up to his shop as much as we used to as we moved but, we when do go there, his face lights up with pleasure.
Your sacrifice is appreciated. Thank you for reminding me why I threw the TV out.
A very belated Good
morningafternoonevening, everyone. And an early Good Night, everyone too. I had a very lazy day today.Gosh, that was quick! – like an express train whistling through Peterborough station… Night night, Elsie
Blink and you miss Elsie! Sleep well, pet!
Shame we haven’t actually left.
Morning! Just catching up with yesterday. Didn’t I see that we are to pay EU £42.5bn? What for, I’d like to know.
Can’t keep going any longer. Going to bed and hopefully to sleep.
Goodnight Y’all.
Good night! Sleep well!
https://twitter.com/PeterDClack/status/1552776467591081984
Right, that’s the Shostakovich 5th symphony finished so I’m off to bed.
Good night all.
Evening, all. Went racing today and nearly got wiped out by some idiot in a large white van who pulled up at the junction to my right and then waited until I was almost on him (the limit is 50mph) before deciding to crawl out. Slam on brakes, swear loudly and blow horn! Said driver then proceeded to do about 60 after the speed limit changed to 40. It did not put me in a good mood (not helped by all the queues and general lack of awareness of people). In the end, I left after the fifth race (of eight) , came home (after queuing to fill up with petrol) and watched the racing from Goodwood. I am becoming grumpier by the day.
Oh dear. Not a good day then!
Hope today is better for you.
Thanks, Bob. It did rather put a dampener on the day. Today isn’t much better. When I got up this morning the washing machine (I run it on Economy 7 overnight) was flashing like a Christmas tree. Every single light was blinking. What has happened to it, I’ve no idea, but by dint of switching the power off (rather than the machine) I did get it to let go of the door to enable me to get the clothes out. Then I had to bale out the dirty water and drip the clothes dry (of course it was raining, so I couldn’t put them out). Some time next week I shall be shopping for another machine. I think this one is only about 3 years old, which is a bummer. I need a lucky break!
Oh bugger. Not good.
Goodnight all and God Bless
I was hoping Lewis might have appeared and allowed me to wish him a Happy Birthday.
He didn’t reply to my message on Twitter either.
Saturday 30th July 2022
Alf the Great
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and may 76 of these lead the Big Parade on your special day!
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and very many glorious returns!
Very best wishes,
Caroline and Rastus
Thank you Richard and Caroline.
Happy Birthday, A-t-G!
Saturday 30th July 2022
Alf the Great
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and may 76 of these lead the Big Parade on your special day!
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and very many glorious returns!
Very best wishes,
Caroline and Rastus
Goodnight, everyone – and a happy birthday to Alf the Great.
Good morning all – Saturday’s new page is here.
Thank you!