Monday 22 August: The sick have no choice but to visit A&E because GPs are inaccessible

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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468 thoughts on “Monday 22 August: The sick have no choice but to visit A&E because GPs are inaccessible”

  5. ‘Morning All

    Modern Life…….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/19ba3bef159bae6efffa0a5a9f70327e05e6fbf1145276b52eb81bdf78df61a0.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cc0eb869330c6573d12a77ca9d7449d4360eb2b1e0d33cff7e80347c18c8f392.jpg

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    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/300cd11c5af2a1b18d6b0a657fce648c4bbd3688138c322a17ba19b926064088.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1b4533560bac998ef9da749036aeb1bc86e1c58fe240829296471b15a93d04c5.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a0e042726100b7fdaccf75b6f817a7f2c079b742244797ef88ae1384e24aa948.jpg

  6. Some cats and dogs meant for last night…..

    https://twitter.com/Yoda4ever/status/1561419956780093445?s=20&t=3rdq15yuFnKmvXbqdKNobg

    https://twitter.com/PapaWegorz/status/1560563880153194496?t=BaVkKaTliGw8yAWf6NHznw&s=19

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d03a75c36f8b0345c88b8b3b299c29ee2ee3fb049175329f024086450e1f308e.jpg

    http://forgifs.com/gallery/d/380855-2/Cat-pool-scare.gif
    Edit forgot this one
    https://twitter.com/buitengebieden/status/1561348487773552640

    2. That last one- G & P – when babies – would do that. Run around the sitting room floor like mad then just keel over asleep!

  7. Europe’s new migrant crisis. 20 August 2022.

    The migrants will be arriving on a continent in the grip of its own economic crisis with millions of Europeans struggling to eat and heat. The era of political procrastination is over, and if the current crop of presidents and prime ministers aren’t prepared to defend their countries’ borders, electorates will likely turn to those who are.

    One would like to believe this but unfortunately experience tells us that it not so. What we will see instead is the further encouragement of these people to arrive and make themselves at home to the detriment of the indigenous population. The deployment of ludicrous and ineffective measures like Rwanda, let alone the Channel Farce only reinforce this view. There should surely be no doubt in any sensible person’s mind that all this is quite deliberate. Only with the complete destruction of the Old can the New World Order be!

    https://disqus.com/home/discussion/www-spectator-co-uk/europes_new_migrant_crisis/

      1. The “Ring” saga is about what is happening now, and has happened many times in the past. The Hobbits of the Shire are the Christian West, and the Orcs are muslims.

    2. 355292+ up tyick,

      Morning AS,

      Agreed with bells on, by the same token only with the complete destruction of the old lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled immigration / paedophile umbrella political knot weed coalition, can progress benefiting these
      Isles / people’s be made.

    3. If they’re struggling to afford heating they should head sarf not norf, shurely.

      2. Good morning, Tom. I had hoped to be first today, but had to ring my sister in New Zealand at 7am (6 pm NZ time). She has moved into a care home (of her choice) some three weeks ago and I wanted to see if she had settled in. Her son (my nephew) tells that 6 pm New Zealand time is the best time for me to ring her.

          1. And I wish they wouldn’t, Tom. It happens a lot to me in this country (the UK) and when I hear it (especially when, for example, I ask for an item in a restaurant or a shop) I feel my hackles rise. I want to say, “Why do you think I am worried? I’m not, I just asked you to get me something – would you please do so!”

  11. 355292+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Just received Sunday’s replies to my post, hence late on answering..

  13. Ex-Russian MP claims Russian partisans responsible for Moscow car bomb. 22 August 2022.

    A former member of Russia’s Duma who was expelled for anti-Kremlin activities has claimed that Russian partisans were allegedly behind a car bomb which blew up the daughter of one of Vladimir Putin’s close political allies on the outskirts of Moscow.

    Speaking in Kyiv, where he is based, Ilya Ponomarev alleged the explosion on Saturday evening was the work of the National Republican Army, which he claimed was an underground group working inside Russia and dedicated to overthrowing the Putin regime.

    Lol! This misdirection article is by Luke Harding. Mi6’s chief disinformation shill at the Guardian. Much sobbing and wailing at the time over the fake Skripal attack (even a book) but no sympathy here for an innocent woman almost certainly murdered by Zelensky and his cronies!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/21/ex-russian-mp-claims-russian-partisans-responsible-for-moscow-car-bomb

  14. Good Moaning.
    And speaking of moaning …..
    The BTL comments can be described as fruity.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/21/tesco-fire-selling-fruit-not-suitable-vegans/

    “Tesco under fire for selling fruit not suitable for vegans

    The wax often applied on fruit after harvesting contains shellac, a resin secreted by the female lac bug

    21 August 2022 • 9:00pm

    Britain’s biggest supermarket is looking for alternatives to the wax that is applied on some of its fruit after harvesting as it contains shellac, a resin secreted by the female lac bug on trees in the forests of India and Thailand.

    Tesco confirmed that its oranges are labelled non-vegan because of the post-harvest beeswax.

    It means consumers following a vegan diet are unable to use the zest from orange peel in their cooking. Some other citrus fruits including lemons and limes are also affected.

    Those looking for a strictly plant-based diet have to buy organic citrus fruits to avoid the wax.

    Beeswax is a common treatment for citrus fruit as it helps keep fruit fresher for longer.

    However, the growing popularity of plant-based diets means the supermarket is now working with growers to develop an alternative wax that avoids shellac.

    Although Tesco is changing its products, customers criticised the supermarket for being slow to act.

    A user named Amy wrote: “It’s not something I have ever thought about. I assumed fruit was always vegan.”

    Charmaine added: “Most (supermarkets) have taken action. Clearly Tesco has let its standards slide.”

    Restaurants have also had to warn vegan customers when listing citrus fruits on their menu.

    Jack Monroe, the author and anti-food poverty campaigner, questioned in December last year why a Pizza Express menu said a glass of Coca Cola would only be vegan if “served without lemon”.

    Ms Monroe tweeted: “Erm, what do Pizza Express do to their lemons to make them not suitable for vegans? Just noticed this and can’t for the life of me fathom wtf.”

    Pizza Express said: “The wax on waxed lemons contain shellac, which is derived from insects and therefore strictly not vegan.””

    1. They truly are pathetic, by that standard, all vegans should stop breathing, they are using air that will have been breathed or farted out by animals or insects.

      1. Nor should they drink water. Has anyone ever told you what fishies do whilst swimming around in the water? Disgusting and very non-vegan.

      2. That’s disgusting! Maybe it would help if they wore masks that filter out viruses?

    2. Why is everyone pandering to a tiny lunatic fringe?

      I guess it’s the same with BAME, BLM and LGBTQWERTY

      It certainly appears as though the lunatics have taken over the asylum and, if they’re offended, I’m glad and hope it makes them re-consider their twisted minds.

    3. Jack Monroe has had her head so far up her own fanny for so long that she can’t help but talk a load of piss.

  16. Good morning all. Still at Dr. Daughter’s but decided to head home today.Looks a bit dull & damp outside.
    The van at the Border on Deadwater Fell
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6715bd6da13bfbbf92da978c323a77d088e465de6ce39bbdce1570a0393832b4.jpg

    Deadwater Fell Station. Beyond the gate in the background is Wee Krankieland;
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3872e23c52b2a9d53f71d01c05f4c23de7b317c761ae3ae48fe0a46824eb7758.jpg

    Another view:-
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    Deadwater Burn flowing down to join the River North Tyne;
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/47f63820b2fe6c97e3dfd73c46844292a63defeac1fadd7e2c33b9a2c07b951f.jpg

    A view across Kielderwater;
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b9dc0fb5e3360307c9c6f811a84ed64fa3dc69f6d95f53dea7a6ded8f334a82c.jpg

    And there are bird choppers on Sweethope Crags:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8a3e9cb4adb3d4fafcaeeae30c4e2aec6c6ab9d353ded93b6d98ed6a62a9f98e.jpg

  19. Morning all,
    In a piece about Oldies,
    “Official figures published last week showed that there has been a record rise in the number of over-65s in employment this quarter. ”

    Erm, could that be because the retirement age was raised to 66y?

    1. ‘Morning, Stormy, I guess those ‘officials’ all have a degree in stating the bleedin’ obvious.

  20. It will take more than a new PM to save Britain from this doom spiral. 22 August 2022.

    The financial crash, pandemic and energy crunch exposed our weaknesses, but the crises will keep coming. Geopolitical reality will keep testing us, and our social and economic weaknesses will mean we will keep falling short. No politician, and no political party, is yet brave enough to admit it, but we are in a dangerous spiral. We need nothing less than a reimagined conception of state, society and market – and a plan to arrest decline.

    There’s no “arresting” this! We are on the highway to hell and there’s no stopping it! No Liz Truss, no Sunak is going to make any difference. They are in fact the problem! They are a part of the Political Elite that have brought this about!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/21/will-take-new-pm-save-britain-doom-spiral/

    1. They are a part of the Political Elite that have brought this about!

      Therefore, it will be in their best interests to keep us on the managed, but accelerating, decline that is their modus operandi. Making changes for the better would expose what their predecessors have been up to. The majority of our political class are all in this together. How the thick end of 650 elected representatives over decades have been of a mind-set that is either inimical to the wellbeing of the Country or too dim to see the outcomes of what they have supported, would make a good story-line for a book on conspiracies.

      1. Morning Korky. Very often it is the people at the top; the instigators of it all, who are the last people to see that the game is up. Think Adolf and Causescu. etc.

    2. There is a solution staring us in the face, its not going to be easy, but promoting a settlement in Ukraine would be a start.

  22. ‘Morning, Peeps. Fresh, sunny start to the day, max temp said to be a modest but very pleasant 20° later on.

    SIR – Tobias Ellwood, the chairman of the Commons defence committee, said: “The Navy is being sucked into an operation they should never have been involved with” (“Royal Navy backs out of migrant patrols”, report, August 16).

    Surely the same applies to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, which during peak holiday season should be saving lives at sea, not providing a taxi service to those who voluntarily set out in unseaworthy vessels in the world’s busiest shipping lane.

    Last year Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, paid £55 million to help French border patrols prevent illegal migration. What is this achieving?

    Geoff Pringle
    Long Sutton, Somerset

    Never mind, Geoff Pringle, the flow will soon be reversed when this country joins the Thirld World! Not long now…

  23. Haven’t been getting notifications for a while, now they won’t go away for some reason.

  24. Lots of letters about the collapsing No Hope Service, although we all know by now that we are on our own. This one made me smile:

    SIR – When I worked in the NHS we thought we were being ironic when we said it would work fine without patients. Clearly, we were predicting the future.

    Elizabeth Ross
    Isle of Arran, Buteshire

    1. Good morning Hugh and everyone.
      That belief helped to inspire Fawlty Towers. John Cleese stated that the concept was based on an hotel in or near Torquay where the Pythons once stayed. The proprietor used to say that his business would function perfectly if it weren’t for the guests.

      1. Many bad teachers would have been good teachers were it not for having to have pupils to teach.

          2. I comes down to grip.

            A good friend of mine who taught in a prestigious academic school had great difficulty maintaining discipline – his classes in the lower school were completely shambolic and could be heard from miles away.

            However his Sixth Form classes were very successful because he had great enthusiasm for and a deep knowledge of his subject and the “A” level results from his classes were nearly always the best in the school. I always thought he would have been happier as a don than as a schoolmaster.

            I shall never forget Mrs Moore who taught Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry at the prep school to which I went. She was small, bespectacled and grey-haired but she had a will of iron and complete control over her classes. She never had to punish anybody because just one disapproving look from her reduced any pupil to a state of deep, guilty shame. As a result virtually everybody she taught sailed through the Common Entrance with 100% or marks in the 90%s.

    2. Good morning Hugh and everyone.
      That belief helped to inspire Fawlty Towers. John Cleese stated that the concept was based on an hotel in or near Torquay where the Pythons once stayed. The proprietor used to say that his business would function perfectly if it weren’t for the guests.

  25. SIR – When arriving at a restaurant recently, I was asked for my name. “Amazing” was the reply when I gave it. I was then asked if I had any allergies. “No,” I said. “Amazing” was the response. Really?

    Dr David L Hearn
    Yateley, Hampshire

    When we were house-hunting a couple of years’ ago an estate agent called to put us on their database. She asked for our postcode, and when I gave it she said “Amazing”! The same word followed similar answers. We were on hands-free in the car at the time, and the explosion of badly-suppressed giggling and guffaws must have created the impression that the young lady at the other end had called a couple of lunatics. By the time she rang off we were wiping away the tears.

      3. ‘Morning, Grizz. Two heads are better than one when it comes to tackling the really important stuff!

    1. What astonishes me continually is that despite causing the energy problem, despite the chaos in our economy, despite the idiocy of green policy – some people *still* demand government take it over.

      1. 355313+ up ticks,

        Morning W,
        “The government” AKA the “party ” MUST win the number ten key regardless of consequence, that is a Country / people killer.

  27. SIR – In advance of the Media Bill being presented to Parliament, we want to stress that there are vital measures needed to secure the future of British broadcasting and allow it to prosper.

    We are proud of the role public service broadcasters play as the bedrock of great British content – in drama, sport, comedy, documentaries, national and local news. We bring communities together for moments of national pride and commemoration. We commission 30,000 hours a year of original British content, from all nations and regions, for all tastes, in Welsh, Gaelic and English, and reach 90 per cent of British adults weekly.

    In 2019, before the Covid pandemic, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport estimated that the creative industries contributed £116  billion to the British economy – more than the aerospace, automotive, life sciences, oil and gas sectors combined. Last year, the sector bounced back almost to pre-pandemic levels, contributing over £100  billion.

    However, Britain’s media legislation hasn’t been updated since 2003. Urgent changes are required. In particular, there is a need to ensure that services like iPlayer, ITVX, All 4, My5, STV Player and S4C Clic are always available and easy to find for audiences across all major television platforms. This will allow us to continue to fund the high-quality content that audiences expect.

    To inspire the next generation of Lionesses we need major sporting events to be available to all – free of charge, not hidden behind a paywall. We need to enable viewers to watch their favourites, such as the Fifa World Cup and Olympic and Paralympic Games, both live and on demand.

    Key elements of the Government’s proposed Media Bill will support public service broadcasters to provide consumers with trusted, impartial news and to stimulate investment in the creative economy. Recent events, like the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee reminded us of the importance of public service broadcasting. We urge the Government to deliver these key proposals to secure a successful future in a thriving British media and digital ecology.

    Tim Davie
    Director-general, BBC
    Carolyn McCall
    CEO, ITV plc
    Maria Kyriacou
    President, Paramount UK, Australia, Canada and Israel
    Simon Pitts
    CEO, STV
    Siân Doyle
    CEO, S4C

    I’m surprised that this blatant piece of PR got past the Letters Editor. Apart from forgetting to add “We walk on water, too” he has also overlooked one or two obviously minor points such as bias and the licence fee!

    1. …impartial news…

      Hhhmmmm, I’ll ponder on that piece of propaganda.

      Morning, Hugh J and all Nottlers.

    2. The BTL posters don’t seem to like this letter very much…

      Karl Plummer
      7 HRS AGO
      Awww, Auntie Beeb telling us they are too good to be done away with. If you are that good viewers, will pay for the content, but if you keep pumping out government messages of terror, transistor week, black history month and all the other woke trash that is disgorged from the sewers from Broadcasting House you had better be prepared to cut your budget.

      J E Cook
      6 MIN AGO
      Oh dear, Roger. Did you not get the message.
      The BBC is never wrong.
      Well that is the response I get every time I send in some form of feedback or complaint.

      Cuthbert Thomasson
      2 HRS AGO
      The self serving letter from the dg of the bbc et al cannot go unchallanged,
      What evidence is there for any of their claims to indispensablity ?
      To whom, in fact are they so good or important they couldn’t manage life without their bountiful charity ?
      What public good do they represent, that is not better served by free enterprise and choice ?
      Who can suppose the bbc impartial, or even well intended, when it is so obviously fanatical, partisan, bigoted, barbarically anti-British and endlessly obsessivly subversive of conservative government ?
      Who trusts bbc ‘ news’ ?
      Or subscribes to their dysfunctional model doomsday gods ?
      shares their barbarian beliefs they can control climate change by mass human sacrifice ?
      (but not of communists, natch, only climate apocalypse cult parasitised democracies)
      and venerates their joyless anti-British credo of dismal woke Climate Apocalypse Net Zero make believe?
      You’d have to belong to the cult.
      Or, as a mock conservative minister,
      be as crazed as them.
      Blind to reason,
      In denial of the joyful, life affirming tenets of British civilisation.
      A Greta-idolizing Oracle of bbc-guardian carbon-primitivism, in short.
      Still, what a curiously obscure letter from the industry moguls hellbent on spreading the religion of backwards carbon- fear.
      Or what they willfully misrepresent as ‘ public service broadcasting’.
      But no doubt the mock conservatives take their missives as the gospels of net zero gods.
      And so, their future is as assured as are we doomed,
      to continue to be obliged to be their mindless little serfs.

      2. The BBC never mentions that it’s pensions are heavily invested in green industry, does it? Funny that.

        1. …and when the green energy collapses as ‘not fit for purpose’, what then? No Beeb Pensions? Oh, goody.

    3. Trusted and impartial. The BBC will be presenting the truth about climate change? About demographic crime? How will it be able to present it’s ideology on Israel?

      The BBC lies by omission repeatedly, consistently.

    5. “…in Welsh, Gaelic and English…”

      Interesting that they are put in that order…

    6. Nor the fact that BBC News is done on the cheap, no doubt to save the budget for rock concerts and “comedy” and similar. They seem to have lost the Six Nations, and the Golf Open.
      If you click on a link on the BBC News website you re sent to a local newspaper paysite. What’s the point, except being cheap? What do their thousands of “journalists” do?

    7. It gets better.
      There’s an article by Esther Rancid; enhancing her Beeboid pension, presumably.

    8. Don’t worry, Davie; I don’t watch your biased rubbish although, unfortunately, I’m forced to pay for it.

  28. SIR – When arriving at a restaurant recently, I was asked for my name. “Amazing” was the reply when I gave it. I was then asked if I had any allergies. “No,” I said. “Amazing” was the response. Really?

    Dr David L Hearn
    Yateley, Hampshire.

    A paucity of vocabulary —de rigueur among today’s ingenues — is a clear symptom of a poor education, an elevated level of stupidity, and a pathological devotion to an increasingly idiotic patois imported from the streets of Detroit et al.

    1. Surely it’s the other’s brain processing the weird name and that being at the front of the mind?

    2. One of my (many) bugbears is when I am asked my name. I reply “Thomas” – and the wazzock says, “Hi, Thomas….” Grrrrrrr

      1. I don’t doubt it!

        Caroline gets v. pissed off when she is addressed by her surname rather than her Christian name.

        I remember one of my contemporaries at prep school – where we addressed each other by surnames and never by Christian names – had the surname Jane. We all felt sorry for the fact that we all had to address him by a girl’s name. Of course in those days my surname was not a girl’s Christian name but I was occasionally called Spencer after the film actor.

          1. Funnily enough Dick was not a word in common use in those days but John Thomas, Willy and Cock were.

          2. I wonder if a transgender woman would call her penis Thomasina, Wilhelmena or Hen?

          1. But in truth, Sue, the correct surname is ‘Tracey’…

            …and what a ‘common’ girl’s name that is, these days – almost perjoritive.

        4. One of the pupils in my music class was called James Bate. (Sometimes called the Young Master.). Throughout the school the teachers called the boys by their surname and the girls by their Christian name. I was therefore addressed as “Pendleton” or worse, “You, boy!”

          1. I was often pissed off but never because I was called Tracey because, at the time, nobody thought that Tracey was a girl’s name.

            As I said above I was occasionally called Spencer after the film actor and that did not bother me. As I have no older or younger brothers I never had Major, Minor or Minimus attached to my name. My father on the other hand was number 6 in a family of 11 and number 3 of the boys so he was called Tertius Tracey at school and his brothers called him Tertius for the rest of their lives.

    3. I love it when someone asks a question and they answer ‘no problem’ and I reply ‘and what if there is?’.
      They look at you with glazed eyes. Quite funny.

    4. When we’re asked about allergies, we point out that we are from the wrong generation.
      You either ate or died.

    1. MI5 are watching *us* to ensure ‘community harmony’ (silencing of dissenting voices).

  30. SIR – I recently took my two grandsons, aged five and nine, to the cinema.

    I wonder why the volume at cinemas is kept so loud. In a generation of health and safety, why are we doing this to children’s hearing? I wear hearing aids so was able to turn them off throughout the film and still hear very well.

    Do we want this generation of children to be deaf even before the time their elderly grandparents needed hearing aids?

    Susan Critchley
    Liskeard, Cornwall

    We stopped cinema visits a long time ago for this very reason. Besides, most films eventually turn up on Netflix or Amazon…

    1. Yet when the live broadcasts from the ROH were in the cinema, the sound was fine. One film I went to with my neighbour was so loud, she went and asked them to turn it down.

    2. I always find Cinema sound appallingly balanced. the bass is far too loud and speech lost in a blurry murmur. But, the last time I went was some 10 years ago and I resented paying £15 a ticket.

      1. The prices seem to have come down since Covid – on the rare occasions I now go to the fliks, I pay between £5-£10 and normally towards the £5 mark.

  31. Another letter involving obvious self-promotion! There is surely a world of difference between auto-landing aircraft and the infinite number of variables when it comes to self-driving cars! Note also that we are apparently funding this outfit:

    SIR – Edmund King, the president of the AA, correctly identifies the fundamental challenge being the big leap from assisted-driving to self-driving (“Self-driving cars could be on UK roads next year”, report, August 19).

    The aviation industry made this leap almost 60 years ago with the introduction of auto-land, identifying the exact point at which the pilot should relinquish control to a simple but extremely assured system for the last few critical feet where human intervention would be dangerous. From this pivot-point, the technical, regulatory and operational cases were built.

    At the heart of this engineering feat is a simple sensor – the radar altimeter – which detects the height of the aircraft. Support comes from a basic infrastructure of terrestrial radio signals which has remained unchanged in over 60 years. Only such a simple system has the required level of assurance. Satellites and communications links play no part.

    Britain led the world in auto-land and still leads in the system and sensor expertise needed to make this self-driving leap. The National Quantum Technologies Programme is investing public money in such technology, not just to enable Britain to benefit from an intelligent transport network but also to play a part in developing and manufacturing the technology for this significant global market.

    Sceptics should read of the many amazing feats of navigation in the animal kingdom reliant on sensors alone – David Barrie’s Incredible Journeys tells the story well.

    Roger McKinlay
    Challenge Director, Quantum Technologies, UK Research and Innovation
    Past President, Royal Institute of Navigation
    Great Bookham, Surrey

    1. SIR – According to Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, it seems we may get driverless cars on the road next year. I wonder how long it will be before we get driverless trains.

      Hugh Lancaster
      Milton Lilbourne, Wiltshire

      Anything involving Mr Shatts is surely destined to end up in death and destruction if Dumb Motorways are any guide!

      1. ‘Smart’ motorways were an effort for the department for transport to be cheap and cut costs. A bodge rather than meeting demand. It’s all about controlling behaviour rather than meeting demand, although, of course, the state rigs it to control demand. We really didn’t need 20 million more welfare mouths to feed, did we?

          1. Up here we have passing places joined by a dirt track (with potholes and sharp edges)

          2. The three single-track roads, in and out of Flowton – the village I lived in, in Mid-Suffolk, had some passing place made by the council but the majority were made by the motoring residents.

          4. The route from Redesmouth to Morpeth via Sweethaugh has a stretch of single track road with passing places.
            On one bit I had a white modern sports car drive past one of them towards me. So I pulled partially off the road to give him space to pass, provided he moved off the road to the same extent. There was a lovely graunching noise as his nearside wheels went into a dip and the underside of the car scraped along the road edge.
            Silly tw@ ought to have pulled in at the passing place!

          5. Exactly, BoB, the etiquette, is whoever is nearest a passing place, moves into it, even if they have to reverse.

          6. The road to Walsingham is single track with passing places. I wasn’t looking forward to having to reverse the campervan, but I was lucky.

        1. Yep, I’ve sent mine off for an address change – I can only wonder if and when it’s returned.

          4. Nah – send it to one of the millions of illegal economic migrants – to help him get a job.

    2. Self driving cars will come about, but gradually. We already have self parking, lane departure assist, cruise control, lane departure warnings. The really big next step is having cars talk to one another in a network to understand who is going where and allow the most efficient traffic control.

      Of course, some moron will still want to cross 3 lanes of traffic t the last second to get their junction.

      1. I have most of these things on my car and never use them. I used to use cruise control when I wanted to keep to the speed limit going through long stretches of road works.I would never go in a self drive vechicle unless it on tracks.ie DLR.

        1. It’s like all the gizmos on washing machines; just extra stuff to go expensively wrong.

    5. Well, a piece of string with a weight on the end could be attached to the dashboard and dangled below the car. When the car became too low the weight would bounce on the ground and so cause the string to vibrate. This would, in turn, ring a bell near the driver.
      Just a first step in development of the self-driving car, but I do think that it shows the way.

    6. As far as I’m aware, autoland does not take you round the holding pattern in a stack until you’re lined up on finals. Self driving cars using this system would need to go in straight lines only!

  33. If it’s not we’re using too much water, it’s we’re using too much energy. Now we’re using too much healthcare.

    Behind each of these problems is an obvious issue: over population. Behind that is a catastrophic and intentional mismanagement of resources. Both are deliberate, spiteful and engineered.

    Given that the state is wasting money hand over fist, spending some billion and a half over the 2 and a half billion raised in tax every single day, if the money isn’t going on services, what are they wasting it on?

    The state is overmanned, inefficient and disgustingly expensive. Welfare is ludicrous with pensions not ring fenced away from the state. There’s a limit on pension contributions – a limit on the thing you’d want people to be saving into. The entire edifice of government is malicious, arrogant and incompetent, designed to punish the worker and saver manipulatively out of some socialist nonsense of ‘fairness’.

    1. Good morning, Wibbling

      “There’s a limit on pension contributions – a limit on the thing you’d want people to be saving into.”

      My nephew, a GP, worked out that his pension would be worse if he continued to work. So he retired at the age of 58 even though he was very fit both mentally and physically. And of course many other doctors made the same calculation and retired at a time when the shortage of doctors was becoming grave.

      David Cameron and Gideon Osborne were almost in the same league as Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

    3. The daughter of one of my friends has a lump on her face which is getting bigger. She can’t get any treatment other than ointment (for which she has to pay) and was told if it bothers her when she goes out, to put a plaster on it! As her mother said, bitterly, the NHS will fall over itself to make a man pretend to be a woman, but her daughter can’t get the treament she requires.

  37. Blair’s fingerprints on something evil yet again, apparently.

    Tony Blair knew of flaw with Post Office’s Horizon IT system but went ahead anyway, report claims
    For 15 years thousands of postmasters were accused of thieving from their tills
    Tony Blair gave the order to build the ‘flawed’ system at the heart of the scandal
    More than 700 postmasters were wrongfully convicted, with some going to jail

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11132861/Tony-Blair-knew-flaw-Post-Offices-Horizon-went-ahead-report-claims.html

    1. When interviewed no journalist (sic) will question him about it as they might be clintonised.

    2. Who is going to get the most lavish welcome party when he, or she, dies and goes to HELL?

      a) Klaus Schwab
      b) Bill Gates
      c) Anthony Fauci
      d) Tony Blair
      e) Theresa May
      f) Other contenders?

    4. What I’ve yet to find out is, given that the PO is still using Horizon (I believe), is whether or not the kinks have finally been ironed out and, if so, who picked up the tab for doing so?

  38. We recently had a student with us from a prominent English independent school and this student was very much involved in this Diversity and Inclusion project at school. A little bit of research revealed that most public schools are now doing their best to outwoke each other.

    We are rather shocked by this and we wonder what parents who pay the school fees think about it.

    We would be interested to hear what our Nottler friends think.

    Celebrating Diversity & Inclusion

    During Pride month in June, our pupils and staff showed support for the LGBTQ+ community in a rainbow-themed dress up day, fundraising for Just Like Us, a charity supporting LGBT+ young people.

    The * (Leading public school) community is proudly diverse and literally cosmopolitan, with students of over 40 nationalities travelling here to study every year. To help celebrate this fact and further support pupils from traditionally marginalised groups in society, * has embarked on a diversity and inclusion project. There are many strands to this, but amongst the most important has been the establishment this year of pupil Diversity and Inclusion Champions within each House to encourage student voice and representation.

    Academic Heads of Celebrating Diversity & Inclusion During Pride month in June, our pupils and staff showed support for the LGBTQ+ community in a rainbow-themed dress up day, fundraising for Just Like Us, a charity supporting LGBT+ young people. Assistant Head (Pastoral) Department have conducted curriculum reviews and updates, to ensure that the historical treatment of marginalised groups is understood, and that their vibrant contemporary contribution to society is highlighted in context.

    These and many other elements of the project have been informed and underpinned by an annual survey of attitudes and behaviours in our school, based on the work of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, that aims to give a barometer of our progress with this crucial issue.

    xxxx, Assistant Head (Pastoral)

      1. What does Carolyn think about this?

        (Incidentally, when you first visited us you wrote in our Visitors’ Book a phrase borrowed from the Michelin Guide: “Le Grand Osier mérite le détour.” We hope you will bear this in mind in the future when you come to France!)

        1. She shares the general view that schools have no business peddling this sort of rubbish.

    2. They’d do better to concentrate on teaching the subjects the parents pay them to teach.

    3. What a ghastly load of twaddle! Do they understand what education is about? Filling young minds with the latest fad is not the way forward!

      1. We find it very sinister.

        And the fact that the traditional, well-reputed schools are boasting about their wokeness and desire to brainwash their pupils is deeply disturbing.

    4. Don’t drag NoTTLers into this debate. They have no pride and will rain on your parade.

      1. I very much doubt if there are any Nottlers who would agree with this nonsense. As I have said below, I should imagine most people agree with me that it is very disturbing and very sinister brainwashing.

        Pride’s a Sin even if Buggery and Sodomy are not and are perhaps only in a subsection under Lust in the list of the Deadly Seven!

    5. Are these schools a recruiting ground for the BBC, the church, civil service and of course top notch universities and senior admin ares of the joint armed services and NHS?

      Just asking 🤣🤣

    6. If a pupil refused to participate for cultural, religious, or because they are too intelligent, or just plain bolshie, would they be “marginalised“? If so, would the school then support them?

      See” Stalky & Co”, and “Fifth Form at St Dominic’s” for clues to the milieu.

    8. The drip drip of cultural marxism. I am afraid that the cancer is established within society and laws have been enacted to prevent any opposition.

    1. Dunno. Don’t use twitter and the label has been cropped where someone has added a marker.

    1. 355313+ up ticks,,

      O2O,

      Twas the lab/lib/con/ ukip joint effort from their
      stardust sprinkled turd department.

    1. Today’s Triggernometry podcast was interesting on this point from an American perspective. I’ve not come across the interviewee before – Coleman Hughes – but at one point they discuss the appalling racist politics implemented in the US with regard to discrimination against white farmers etc. i am not sure how this is supposed to make up for any discriminatory policies in the past, but if their existence then led to grievance, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that reimplementing them against a different class of people now will lead to huge issues later down the line…

  43. A giggle to lift the spirits… Just on radio. Vet shoots man in gorilla suit with tranquiliser at zoo in Tenerife. It was an exercise to deal with an escaped animal, the vet had not been told… 🤣

    1. Funny yes but it could have been lethal. Given the dose required to tranq a gorilla as opposed to a man.

      1. Indeed, the dose was for a gorilla apparently. Undertakers will usually ask the bereaved how they would like the body dressed; silly to waste a new suit…

      2. I’m just waiting for the first man to wake up screaming after he’s insisted he’s a woman and gets anaesthetic suitable for a woman.

    1. Stopped sending the RNLI cash some time ago. It’s just another branch of anti-UK government now.

      1. They were going to get all my worldly goods. Not any longer. It’s all going to the local hospice now.

      3. No doubt the Home office is pouring money in to them. There’s also twisted people who think we should take on the entire third world because ‘everyone should have what we do’.

        Oddly, he didn’t understand when i said ‘So why don’t you and yours live over there?’

    2. Stopped sending the RNLI cash some time ago. It’s just another branch of anti-UK government now.

    3. My reply, Maggie:

      “RNLI needs to stop acting as a ferry for people who knowingly and willingly put themselves in danger.

      RNLI is there to rescue any sailor who finds themselves unable to help themselves at sea. NOT true of gimmegrunts. There was no compunction for them to embark, only greed.“

    4. I received a begging letter from the RNLI a few days ago. I sent it back in their envelope with the message “you won’t get a penny while you assist illegal entry” scrawled on it.

  46. OT

    The other day I e-mailed a stately home to correct something a spokeswoman had said on telly.

    Today I was thanked by a woman who described herself as a “Visitor Experience Assistant”.

    What one would have called a clerk in the old days, I suppose.

    2. If it’s the NT that will be the woman put there to make your visitor experience as unpleasant as possible.

    1. Yes, there was a time when the Middle East produced some of the best science, engineering and mathematics. Then islam arrived.

      2. I thought such things still flourished in the first flowering of Islam, only coming to a screeching halt when they went in a more radical direction of not questioning anything Allah created? Bit hazy on Islamic history, mind – could be way out here.

    1. Not sure the 2nd law actually says that! The CofG is over the edge, so the bottle will fall.

  49. While most people seem to be worried about “global warming” to the point of hysteria, I am not. I am rather more worried about a Little Ice Age.
    Apart from the incomprehensible scientific stuff, that I do not understand, the swallows seem to be preparing to depart. They usually stay until mid-September.

    https://electroverse.co/little-ice-age-causes/

    1. Its certainly going to feel like an ice age this winter. I think the old trick of staying in a cheap Spanish hotel over winter will appeal to many. I see the purveyors of verbal terror are up to £6k for power bills.

    2. I have also been aware of the swallows gathering as if preparing for departure. Maybe a lack of insects due to the dry August.

    3. Maybe they have electronic passports and know how long it will take them to get through passport control.

  50. Another slap in the face for ‘Sleepy Joe’, not that he’d notice without being prompted. Will ‘he’, aka his minders, attempt a lockdown over the mid-term election period? The portents aren’t looking too good for Biden and if he loses both the Senate and the House his already lame-duck presidency will be completely impotent. Of course, he (they) may well try the fraudulent route again but with his popularity in the toilet a second resounding victory will look sooooo suspicious.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/44e9eb5a2c8760e028ec71ab515fc545096866954c0e98982a10e95c0e261b97.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0496cd625eda1c0751dd8e8c0bd334e361569eb7cca01f64808249d30b002ab1.png

  51. I just told the wife that the barristers were going on strike.

    She’s apoplectic at the thought of no Costa skinny lattes for the foreseeable future

  52. Goodness me what a result. Just off to watch internal club ladies’ bowls competition so early wordle:

    Wordle 429 2/6

    ⬛🟩⬛⬛🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. 😊 Well done!

      Wordle 429 3/6

      ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨
      🟨🟨🟩🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Lipped out for a bogey 5

        Wordle 429 5/6

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

    2. I thought I was going to do well, but only got a par 4 after all.
      Wordle 429 4/6

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

    3. Well done, vw; an Eagle Two!
      Mine’s a Birdie Three.

      Wordle 429 3/6
      🟨⬜🟩🟨⬜
      ⬜⬜🟩🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  53. Computer says, “Rain to stop” but the pavements out in Wood Lane look completely dry. Phone says a 50% possibility of rain at 3 pm. The Oracle of Delphi would do better.

      1. Which reminds me. Took family out walking yesterday. Ozzie a bit timid, still terrified in the car but was ok as I held him.

        Mongo bobbing about like a giant bull as usual.

        Now, the Warqueen decides to go on a canoe and promptly loses her oar (she’s actually quite a good canoeist, it was some hefty wind). Lo and behold there’s a huge deep ‘Woof! a train arriving movement of air, a slap of tail and Mongo’s in the water and towing her back to shore. A couple paddling nearby jumped when he belted past, the woman squealed. It was very funny. They thought he was a bear or something.

        We even got Ozzie to play for a little bit but it was a very windy day and even on the little lake the waves pulled a lot, so I kept his harness on but he was fussed and played with all day and seemed less cowed on the way home, poking his head up from the footwell.

        1. Good to know, Wibbles, Mongo is a well-trained water-rescue dog and hopefully he can imbibe a sense of calm to Ozzie.

          Good luck to you all and KBO.

    2. My phone declared it was sunny all day (can’t get rid of the weather thing any more than I can nobble the unwanted ‘assistant’). Needless to say, it’s been piddling down since dawn 🤣

    1. But the BBC tells us that climate change caused the Titanic to sink? Either climate change or Putin.

          4. If that’s what turn you on, Bill. I was given to believe that it was liberty bodices with, dare I mention it, rubber buttons!

            There I’ve said it – how good is the Ambulance service in Fulmodeston?

  56. Important speech from Putin. Nowhere to be seen in the media, despite their ducking and weaving:

    Excerpts from Putin’s address (introductory and closing comments excluded):

    Putin’s Address to participants and guests of the 10th Moscow Conference on International Security August 16, 2022

    source: http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/69166

    Ladies and gentlemen, the situation in the world is changing dynamically and the outlines of a multipolar world order are taking shape. An increasing number of
    countries and peoples are choosing a path of free and sovereign development based on their own distinct identity, traditions and values.

    These objective processes are being opposed by the Western globalist elites, who provoke chaos, fanning long-standing and new conflicts and pursuing the so-called containment policy, which in fact amounts to the subversion of any alternative, sovereign development options. Thus, they are doing all they can to keep hold onto the hegemony and power that are slipping from their hands; they are attempting to retain countries and peoples in the grip of what is essentially a neocolonial order. Their hegemony means stagnation for the rest of the world and for the entire civilisation; it means obscurantism, cancellation of culture, and
    neoliberal totalitarianism.

    They are using all expedients. The United States and its vassals grossly interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign states by staging provocations, organising coups, or inciting civil wars. By threats, blackmail, and pressure, they are trying to force independent states to submit to their will and follow rules that are alien to them. This is being done with just one aim in view, which is to preserve their domination, the centuries-old model that enables them to sponge on everything in the world. But a model of this sort can only be retained by force.

    This is why the collective West – the so-called collective West – is deliberately undermining the European security system and knocking together ever new military alliances. NATO is crawling east and building up its military infrastructure. Among other things, it is deploying missile defence systems and enhancing the strike capabilities of its offensive forces. This is hypocritically attributed to the need to strengthen security in Europe, but in fact quite the opposite is taking
    place. Moreover, the proposals on mutual security measures, which Russia put forward last December, were once again disregarded.

    They need conflicts to retain their hegemony. It is for this reason that they have destined the Ukrainian people to being used as cannon fodder. They have implemented the anti-Russia project and connived at the dissemination of the neo-Nazi ideology. They looked the other way when residents of Donbass were killed in their thousands and continued to pour weapons, including heavy weapons, for use by the Kiev regime,something that they persist in doing now.

    Under these circumstances, we have taken the decision to conduct a special military operation in Ukraine, a decision which is in full conformity with the Charter of the United Nations. It has been clearly spelled out that the aims of this operation are to ensure the security of Russia and its citizens and protect the residents of Donbass from genocide.

    The situation in Ukraine shows that the United States is attempting to draw out this conflict. It acts in the same way elsewhere, fomenting the conflict potential in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. As is common knowledge, the US has recently made another deliberate attempt to fuel the flames and stir up trouble in the Asia-Pacific. The US escapade towards Taiwan is not just a voyage by an irresponsible politician, but part of the purpose-oriented and deliberate US strategy designed to destabilise the situation and sow chaos in the region and the world. It is a brazen demonstration of disrespect for other countries and their
    own international commitments. We regard this as a thoroughly planned provocation.

    It is clear that by taking these actions the Western globalist elites are attempting, among other things, to divert the attention of their own citizens from pressing socioeconomic problems, such as plummeting living standards, unemployment, poverty, and deindustrialisation. They want to shift the blame for their own failures to other countries, namely Russia and China, which are defending their point of view and designing a sovereign development policy without submitting to the diktat of the supranational elites.

    We also see that the collective West is striving to expand its bloc-based system to the Asia-Pacific region, like it did with NATO in
    Europe. To this end, they are creating aggressive military-political unions such as AUKUS and others.

    It is obvious that it is only possible to reduce tensions in the world, overcome military-political threats and risks, improve trust between countries and ensure their sustainable development through a radical strengthening of the contemporary system of a multipolar world.

    I reiterate that the era of the unipolar world is becoming a thing of the past. No matter how strongly the beneficiaries of the current globalist model cling to the familiar state of affairs, it is doomed. The historic geopolitical changes are going in a totally different direction.

    I want to emphasise that the multipolar world, based on international law and more just relations, opens up new opportunities for counteracting common threats, such as regional conflicts and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and cybercrime. All these challenges are global, and therefore it would be impossible to overcome them without combining the efforts and potentials of all states.

    As before, Russia will actively and assertively participate in such coordinated joint efforts; together with its allies, partners and fellow thinkers, it will improve the existing mechanisms of international security and create new ones, as well as consistently strengthen the national armed forces and other security structures by providing them with advanced weapons and military equipment. Russia will secure its national interests, as well as the protection of its allies, and take other steps towards building a more democratic world where the rights of all peoples and cultural and civilisational diversity are guaranteed.

    We need to restore respect for international law, for its fundamental norms and principles. And, of course, it is important to promote such
    universal and commonly acknowledged agencies as the United Nations and other international dialogue platforms. The UN Security Council and the
    General Assembly, as it was intended initially, are supposed to serve as effective tools to reduce international tensions and prevent conflicts, as well as facilitate the provision of reliable security and wellbeing of countries and peoples.

  57. A belated good day 🙂 to all.
    Thanks to all who sent good wishes and I’m glad to inform you all that I arrived on the dot of 8 o’clock this morning 🌄 and was home after the cardioversion by 12:30.
    I’ve obeying orders since, as in resting.
    The team at Lister were excellent we even had a few laughs and jokes. Especially when I asked the team if they’d done this before? Just before the mild anesthetic.
    And first attempt worked for me and for two other people I was aware of in the department.
    I have to take it easy for two days and it could be ‘oyster time’ from now on.
    After 18months of turmoil, what a strange and wonderful feeling it is to feel normal again. And have the old ticker quietly doing it’s job
    again.
    Cheers 🍻 👏 all and thanks again 👍

    1. I am so glad to hear that Eddy!! Relieved it went well and will cross my fingers for a total recovery. Will toast your health later;-))

    11. Good onya, Troop. We (many) were rooting for ya and you’ve done the biz. Well done.

      Be well.

  58. Snippet from the lunchtime Spekkie:

    “Liz Truss’s appointment as prime minister could give the Tories a double-figure bounce in the polls, according to leaked internal Labour analysis.

    Tory voters prefer Boris Johnson to Rishi Sunak and Truss combined, according to polling for the Times.”

      1. “Rishi Sunak and Truss combined…”
        A damned good kick between the pockets kills two birds with one stone.
        What’s not to like?

  59. Good afternoon all.
    Back home now, 3h exactly from Dr. Daughter’s in Fenham to Bonsall.

      1. Apart from a couple of snarl ups on the A1, a good clear run!
        But why do people dribble along until they are right up the back end of a slower vehicle then, when they pull out to overtake, continue to dribble along, 65mph passing an HGV struggling to maintain 60mph uphill, blocking the carriageway to faster traffic?
        And no, I do not mean an HGV passing another HGV!

  60. Japan considers missiles upgrade to counter threat from China

    by our Foreign Staff.

    JAPAN is considering the deployment of more than 1,000 long-range cruise missiles to counter growing regional threats from China, local newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported, in a first for the traditionally “pacifist” country.

    The country plans to upgrade its surface-to-ship missiles to extend their range from 100km (62 miles) to about 1,000km, which would be enough to reach Chinese coastal areas as well as North Korea, the newspaper reported citing unnamed sources.

    Upgrades would also need to be made to allow Japan’s existing ships and aircraft to be able to fire the new missiles, which could hit land-based targets, the newspaper reported.

    The missiles would be deployed in and around the southwestern Kyushu region and on the small islands that dot Japan’s southwestern waters near Taiwan, Yomiuri reported.

    Japanese officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the issue. The plan is part of Japan’s attempt to narrow the missile capacity gap with China, while also addressing threats from North Korea, the newspaper said.

    Japan’s military is not officially recognised under the country’s post-war constitution and defence spending is limited to funding nominally defensive capabilities.

    Japan is famed for its “pacifist” constitution, which vows to “renounce war as the sovereign right of the nation”, and has adopted an exclusively defenceoriented policy.

    However, recent geopolitical tensions, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s increasingly aggressive stance over Taiwan, have prompted growing calls in the country to review defence programmes.

    Fumio Kishida, the Japanese prime minister, has vowed to significantly boost defence spending, which has been kept close to about 1 per cent of GDP.

    Local media also reported that Japan’s defence ministry is likely to request 5.5trillion yen (£33.9billion) for the next fiscal year, up slightly from the 5.18 trillion yen requested for the current fiscal year.

    But the ministry was also expected to ask approval for a list of unpriced items, including the development cost to upgrade the long-range cruise missiles, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said.

    It comes as Mr Kishida tested positive for Covid-19, his office said yesterday, a week before the leader was expected to attend a conference on African development in Tunisia.

    DT Editor: Just ask your “Foreign Staff” how long they think that Japan has been a “traditionally ‘pacifist’ country”. Then tell them to obtain an education before publishing bilge like this.

      1. I thought that their current”self defence only” position was part of the terms of surrender at the end of WW2 and was imposed by the Allies. If so, Japan cannot change that,

          1. Not in its form but in its application (or lack of). Like the EU are doing with the various agreements we have with them, by turning everything on N. Ireland, and breaching completely unrelated agreements. Quite apart from the fact that there is provision in the N.Ireland agreement itself for any party to take action in certain circumstances. As we all know (including Brussels).

          7. Trying to be a responsible person takes its toll. Lottie should do what i have done and get an electric chair. Then scatter those who are not quick on their crutches !

          9. People here have no idea what I am facing and coping with- and I am not saying anything. If I want a few tipples, then I will have them.
            I don’t judge people here so why should anyone judge me?

          10. One of the joys of Nottle is that there is always someone who is worse off than one is, in some way or other.
            It makes one appreciate the good aspects of one’s life.

          11. You will remain strong. You will build on your life positive experiences. You will continue to be and fuck everyone else !

          13. No judgement on this site. We have a club member with a really sad situation, brain tumour inoperable, had eye surgery that made things worse, etc. etc. nothing more can be done for him so he is just living his life as he sees fit, bowling with badly impaired sight, boating and all sorts. He’s been given a year so he’s really determined to do as much as he can whenever he w ants. You in fact we all should do the same. Take care of yourself and your husband.

          16. Very well, Ann, I told Shirley (ann) that there was a change of menu, as I didn’t trust (or know) my new cooker so I went with the Multi-cooker I know, put the lardons into olive oil and butter,sliced the chicken breasts, after seasoning them with salt, pepper, basil and thyme and lightly fried them while I chopped the vegetables, Onions, leeks, carrots and peppers. I wished for mushrooms but had none.

            Put them all into the multi-cooker and added a can of chicken soup and frozen spinach (4 lumps) and let them get on with it at 140°C + 20°C but basically low, long and slow cooking for an hour having chucked about 2 tsp of Very Lazy Garlic in to enhance the flavours.

            After re-heating for 20 -30 minutes, we tried it and Shirley (Ann) declared it very good, recommending that I should open a restaurant – and that from just one, off the cuff, recipe. I was very chuffed and with no hint, from either side of romance, so I think the verdict must have been honest.

          17. The only time I did that – when my last wife threw me out – I told the woman on the phone the whole story and her only comment was:
            “I think she needs a good slap”….

            That made me laugh out loud (for the first time in several weeks) – and from then on I was an optimist. (sort of!)

          18. You should look at that episode from the perspective of your ex doing the best thing she ever did for you, as it turned out!

          19. For the last 30 years I have! Where would I be without the MR?

            And all the things that I would never have done were it not for her.

            I know that I am a very fortunate man.

        1. There was a VERY good documentary (in four parts) on PBSAmerica a couple of weeks back – about the appalling, militarist Japanese regime in the 1930s-40s.

          Ghastly people – a nightmare to oppose.

        2. I understand, Bleau.

          Wikipedia doesn’t know that WWII started on 3rd Sept 1939.
          22 months after Nanjing.

      1. I think they are well aware of the past and recognise that China has had its eye on Japan since Kublai Khan, and the kamikaze “divine wind” saved them centuries ago

      2. Some might argue that having fupt a large proportion of the population it’s in their blood….

      3. I seem to recall (from a VERY distant past) that that was one of the points of conferences (in general)! Chance of a bit of nookie. So I was told…!

      1. 355313+ up ticks,

        Evening KP,

        The thing one must admire is that the tax payers are taking on the cost of the pineapples.

  62. The Getting of Wisdom:

    I’ve learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pi55ing everyone off is a piece of cake.

    If you find yourself feeling useless, remember it took 20 years, trillions of dollars, and four presidents to replace the Taliban with the Taliban.

    I’m responsible for what I say, not what you understand.

    Common sense is like deodorant. The people who need it the most never use it.

    My tolerance for idiots is extremely low these days. I used to have some immunity built up, but obviously, there’s a new strain out there.

    It’s not my age that bothers me; it’s the side effects.

    I’m not saying I’m old and worn out, but I make sure I’m nowhere near the kerb on recycling day.

    As I watch this generation try and rewrite our history, I’m sure of one thing: It will be misspelt and have no punctuation.

    As I’ve gotten older, people think I’ve become lazy. The truth is I’m just being more energy-efficient.

    Turns out that being a “senior” is mostly just googling how to do stuff.

    I want to be 18 again and ruin my life differently. I have new ideas.

    God promised men that good and obedient wives would be found in all corners of the world. Then he made the earth round. . . and laughed and laughed and laughed.

    I’m on two diets. I wasn’t getting enough food on one.

    I put my scales in the bathroom corner and that’s where the little liar will stay until it apologises.

    My mind is like an internet browser. At least 19 open tabs, 3 of them are frozen, and I have no clue where the music is coming from.

    Hard to believe I once had a phone attached to a wall, and when it rang, I picked it up without knowing who was calling.

    Apparently RSVPing to a wedding invitation “Maybe next time” isn’t the correct response.

    She says I keep pushing her buttons. If that were true, I would have found mute by now.

    Sometimes the Universe puts you in the same situation again to see if you’re still a dumbass.

    There is no such thing as a grouchy old person. The truth is that once you get old, you stop being polite and start being honest.

    1. One gets a certain age and wonders why speaking one’s thoughts as apposed to being polite was such a problem.
      I only wish I’d realised that sooner.
      If all else fails, a middle finger in the air (as our cousins across the big pond would do) works a treat.

  63. That’s me for today. The promised rain never came – of course. And the next “promised” lot will miss us by ten miles. Still, picked yet another pound of raspberries and the MR made four pounds of tomata. Cats slept all day. Lots of planning for the Brittany trip. Sounds an amazing place.

    Have a jolly evening

    A demain.

  64. It has drizzled all day here .

    20c Temp .. dark sky though .

    We went to Weymouth .. Moh needed a concrete mix from B+Q

    We also had a huge fright .. shocking driving from an inconsiderate aggressive motorist .. making an outrageous about turn .

    I have a meeting this evening ..usual monthly lower tier local government thing .

    What do you think of this?

    https://twitter.com/SueEOs/status/1561747718518751232

      1. Loose slabs on the path .. The ants have been very busy .. such industrious little things , but my goodness they cause so much damage .

          2. We’ve lots of cats in and out of the garden, many of them feral, they aren’t interested in moles, much easier pickings available.

    2. Every single on of them MUST be removed and deported permanently. Get rid of them.

      If they won’t go willingly, use force. If the state stands in the way then pile the criminal gimmigrants in with those Home office staff. See how they like it.

      1. What a good idea – I wonder that no one in the higher echelons has thought of it.

        Oh, wait a minute…

    1. It makes me wonder whether my collection of original signed Christian Adams cartoon caption competition pictures might be worth something.
      Stig owns a few too.

          1. Many years ago MoH was working for the Norwich Union when Lowry died. Her boss announced that he had one of his paintings in his attic!.
            Another chap I worked with managed to save up enough pennies to acquire a Miró…..

          2. A friend of HG’s father owned Lowry’s last oil painting.
            HG and I spent the first night of our marriage in their home sleeping (eventually) with that picture on the wall above the bed..

  68. Just kissed out on quordle. I knew what the 4th word was but took too many lines to find the 3rd. Blast. Tomorrow …

    1. Tomorrow’s wordle…
      Wordle 430 6/6

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

      and tomorrow’s quordle.

      Done at 00.45 that’s why they are tomorrow’s 🙂

      Daily Quordle 211
      5️⃣8️⃣
      9️⃣4️⃣
      quordle.com
      🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩⬜⬜🟨⬜
      ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
      ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟨⬜🟨🟨
      ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      🟩🟨⬜⬜🟨 ⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
      ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
      ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
      🟩🟨⬜🟨⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
      ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
      ⬜🟨🟨🟩⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

    1. It is very poignant. We are slaves still, we’ve just replaced the oars with a keyboard.

      It doesn’t need to be like this. The world could be so much better but there are groups who simply don’t want it to be. They would lose out if folk had choices, fredoms and private wealth.

  71. Evening, all. One side effect of everyone having to go to A&E to be seen is that ambulances can’t unload and therefore aren’t available when they are needed – hence four plus hours waiting time around here.

  72. BBC Countryfile does sometimes perform a useful public service, even if not always intentionally. Last night, on the subject of grey squirrels, the damage they are doing to woodlands and proposals to control them, the viewer was introduced to Natalia Duran, who runs a sanctuary. She thinks they have as much right to be here as any animal.

    She says: “There is a huge prejudice against introduced species in this country – native good; alien bad.”

    “Nature is what is out there, not what we think should be out there. It changes all the time.”

    [On proposals for genetic control] “Interfering with nature is massively prone to the law of unintended consequences.”

    Too right, missus. Grey squirrels, mink, signal crayfish, muntjac deer, cane toads, mitten crabs, zebra mussels, rabbits (in Oz), the list goes on and on.

    Dear Natalie, do you see the flaw in the introduction of non-native species?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001bf3g/countryfile-surrey-hills

    Wind forward to about 20:30. She’s on for less than two minutes so I think even the BBC realised she was a bit of a nut.

    1. “Dear Natalie, do you see the flaw in the introduction of non-native species?”

      Now start counting the ‘non-native’ gimmegrunts.

      A good idea?

      How many are you housing?

      How many WILL you house and protect?

  73. Just watching 24 hours in A&E, St. George’s London. Blik man brought in, been stabbed, says he was trying to stop a fight at a night club. He’s the father of a year old daughter. What the hell was he doing at a night club? Hysterical so he was. Why are bliks so much more excitable than whites? We don’t scream or shout or create a fuss. And we’ve seen quite a few of these programmes. He won’t stop shouting. I have no sympathy and feel very sorry for the staff having to try and treat him.

  74. Migrant Channel crossings may have hit record number this year
    August could beat the all-time monthly highest total of crossings, as Border Force staff ‘face increasing violence’

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/22/migrant-channel-crossings-may-have-hit-record-number-year/?utm_content=telegraph&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR2HJfgaYu3UBRMMvxjb1IInjlVqCls5ONQtLl38FvfBwv0pBQF5nj2ySak#Echobox=1661199309-1

    Migrant arrivals in small boats are set to hit the highest number this year as 1,000 crossed the Channel on Monday, according to Border Force sources.

    Up to 25 boats are believed to have been intercepted by Border Force and Navy vessels with nearly 1,000 migrants having been brought to shore by the evening.
    If confirmed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Tuesday, it will smash the record so far this year of 696 on August 1 and could come close to the highest daily total of 1,185 who reached the UK in 33 boats in November last year.

    It would make August a record month for this year with around 6,000 migrants crossing the Channel. It raises the prospect that August could beat the all-time monthly highest total of 6,878 in November last year.

  75. Good night, Gentlefolk, had a woderful dinner with a close companion (no romance) and I wish both her and you, God’s blessing.

    1. Good companionship becomes more and more important as one gets older…glad you had a nice time.

    3. I think there’s a little pinprick in London, in Peckham, specifically that’s bubbling away at crimson.

      That’s me.

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