Tuesday 30 August: As energy bills soar, politicians still cling to their green delusions

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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439 thoughts on “Tuesday 30 August: As energy bills soar, politicians still cling to their green delusions”

  3. As energy bills soar, politicians still cling to their green delusions

    Boris Johnson’s favourite Greek God – Hypothermia

        1. He wants to go down as a hero and statesman, it would have been so easy, all he had to do was stick to his guns and not cave in to the WEF. His mistake was thinking that principles are just things for airing in Oxford Union debates.

          2. I don’t think it will proceed quite according to their plan. They are not that clever. One major weakness is that they think their comfortable world of advanced medicine, refined oil, advanced travel etc will carry on when everyone’s controlled under a social credit system.
            It won’t. People will get fed up, they won’t work efficiently (slaves never do), they won’t invent things.
            The West advanced further than any other civilisation in history due to our relatively high IQ and tradition of individual freedom. No other society had both those things.

          3. The question is: why did he cave in to the WEF? Is he ideologically on the same page? He has been critical of the WEF in the past:

            London Mayor Boris Johnson has described the World Economic Forum as a “a constellation of egos involved in orgies of adulation”.

            Also, he banned Cabinet members from attending Davos, FT article 12/2019.

            What changed? Smokescreen?

            To quote, almost, Johnson’s political idol: “(It)He is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma…”

          4. He’s weak, I think. Sometimes you hear his real opinions, sometimes the smokescreen of how he wants people to think about him, but when the chips are down, he does what the biggest bully in the room tells him to.

  4. ‘Morning All

    Get the cats and dogs out of the way before we get serious…..

    https://media.128ducks.com/file_store/cd5ba47696353355bd0aec2c86c1db0b42d0731650caadf8e337ed5a027bb7b8.gif

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    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/120b97a7745af708d962bed7fefd725007d6cf0af9e15d9920d8fd564e9f7207.gif

    Finally one for Dolly

    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e319cddba522b6b3502b73cad3b3bee1715783cb98e931fdc08af846ddead63d.jpg

  6. Now the serious business,I want them dead,arrested by a military tribunal,tried for crimes against humanity and on conviction taken out and shot,too many to list but you know who the key actors are……….

    “BREAKING NEWS: UK Government says vaccine not safe for pregnant or breastfeeding women”

    https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d76942_9ef6f4aae37f4aa1891cef64e4932c5f~mv2.png

    https://www.normanfenton.com/post/breaking-news-uk-government-says-vaccine-not-safe-for-pregnant-or-breastfeeding-women
    As the disaster that is the clotshot continues to unfold never forget,never forgive

    1. Rowing back on CV-19 decisions will shortly become an Olympic sport. However, not all of the advocates of CV-19 tyranny have received the message: the Mayor of Washington DC is demanding mandatory CV-19 inoculations for children 12 and over before the children can return to school. The mayor is African American and the majority of the children who will be affected are from her racial group. No racism there!

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/456b25c87fe3b8cd6c5e2a6237669016c4e6d615af24f07986766614b3b2e410.png

      1. Regardless of race, she is doing a stupid and wicked thing. Hopefully the citizens will rebel.

    2. So when it wasn’t tested, they assured us it was perfectly safe. They even said up til last month that pregnant women were a risk group who should definitely be vaxxed.
      Now some data is in that they can’t ignore, they’re telling us it isn’t any more!

      I had a conversation on TCW near the start of the vaxx fraud with a woman who was then pregnant with her first baby – she said she wasn’t going to have the vaxx, but she wasn’t sure if she was doing the right thing or not. I said I thought she was – hope she and her baby came through safely.

      1. Oh it was tested all right,Pfizer results were so catastrophic they hid them,no wonder they wanted the results hidden for 75 years
        THEY KNEW and did it anyway………

    3. The gov.uk site still appears to approve the shot in pregnant women, so not quite sure where this came from.

    4. Morning all.

      IMO this is exactly why BoreUs had Shitty and Unbalanced intoning about the experimental injectates. He can “claim” We followed the science and advice. Lying bar stewards the lot of them.

    5. Give us a ‘T’; give us an ‘H’; now an ‘A’; next an ‘L’; followed by ‘I’ ……….

      1. My mother had the good sense to decline the prescription she’d been given for thalidomide and, as a result, I have a healthy younger brother. Imagine if the drug had been mandatory ….

  7. 355510+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Tuesday 30 August: As energy bills soar, politicians still cling to their green delusions

    Tuesday 30 August: As energy bills soar, politicians still cling to their green s.cam agenda, much nearer the truth.

  8. It’s time woke politicians faced the consequences of their own beliefs. Douglas Murray. 30 August 2022.

    Perhaps politicians on the south coast of England could concentrate on instituting a similar policy here? Islington already has its fair share of problems, but why not bus all the latest arrivals into the borough on a daily basis? Let the left-wing politicians in our country who do not believe in borders bear the consequences of their own beliefs.

    Let them meet every morning the growing reality of a country in which thousands of people enter illegally each day. Let them see the poverty, the hopeless, the black-market underbelly, the criminal gangs and much more. Bring it home to them, and see how they like it when a problem they think of in the abstract becomes very, very real.

    Well it’s unusual to say the least to read an article hostile to mass immigration but even then I don’t think Douglas has fully grasped the nettle. He sees the danger but fails to comprehend its awful nature. The “politicians” he describes, to a man (or woman) refuse to acknowledge it; ostrich like they simply stick their head in the sand, and I assume hope and pray that it will all go away or that limitless numbers of hotel rooms will soon become available. That there must be a point beyond which it cannot go they dare not acknowledge! The nature of this refusal is based on; whether they admit it to themselves or not, the Woke values that they all possess. This denial of reality is total. The country itself is disintegrating around them and we are fast approaching the “Moment of Truth” where reality will make itself apparent. It will be an ugly debut.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/29/time-woke-politicians-faced-consequences-beliefs/

  9. Ever wonder why senior politicians all over the world were fawning over a 17 year old Greta??

    Swedish eco-activist Greta Thunberg (20) is a great-granddaughter of

    the notorious banker Lionel Walter Rothschild, son of the first Baron

    Rothschild. Previously, this fact has drawn the attention of journalists

    who researched the genealogical tree of the famous family.

    https://principia-scientific.com/what-a-coincidence-greta-thunberg-is-related-to-the-rothschild-clan/

    That would be this family……….

    https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/amv4pBo_700bwp.webp

  10. When the reaction to the covid pandemic in most countries throughout the world was obviously coordinated and they were working to some sort of plan, although some countries took it to a higher extreme than others, luckily as things went in England at least we were spared the worst of the lockdown dystopia.

    So why then now are politicians pretending that they were misled at nation state level by experts and the science, when it was never their decision to begin with.
    Why are they pretending that it was all done and dusted in our little pond, when they were just rubber stampers obeying orders?

  11. ‘Morning, Peeps. Fresh and dry again here…and the weather is much the same.

    Today’s leading letter:

    SIR – As I read your report on Boris Johnson’s plea for Britain not to give up on green energy, I checked the live grid data.

    Out of a total installed capacity of 25.5GW, wind was generating 4.4GW while gas was generating 15GW.

    Even as consumers face skyrocketing bills, we have the leader of a major political party (Ed Davey of the Lib Dems) crowing that it was he who stopped fracking by setting an absurd limit for seismic activity of 0.5 magnitude.

    I am afraid politicians have drunk too much green Kool-Aid and wilfully allowed the country to get into its present dire straits. They should hang their heads in shame.

    Ian Goddard
    Wickham, Hampshire

    I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when Johnson was pleading with us not to give up his greenie dream. The man has completely lost touch with reality as he continues to do his wife’s bidding.

    1. The most significant and dangerous problem with our government is they seem to have the impression that using rubber effing boats is an important green practice.

  12. ‘Morning, Peeps. Fresh and dry again here…and the weather is much the same.

    Today’s leading letter:

    SIR – As I read your report on Boris Johnson’s plea for Britain not to give up on green energy, I checked the live grid data.

    Out of a total installed capacity of 25.5GW, wind was generating 4.4GW while gas was generating 15GW.

    Even as consumers face skyrocketing bills, we have the leader of a major political party (Ed Davey of the Lib Dems) crowing that it was he who stopped fracking by setting an absurd limit for seismic activity of 0.5 magnitude.

    I am afraid politicians have drunk too much green Kool-Aid and wilfully allowed the country to get into its present dire straits. They should hang their heads in shame.

    Ian Goddard
    Wickham, Hampshire

    I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when Johnson was pleading with us not to give up his greenie dream. The man has completely lost touch with reality as he continues to do his wife’s bidding.

  13. 355510+ up ticks,

    Years of child abuse in the former years,

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    13h
    When hundreds of millions of people want someone to blame for the energy misery they are going to face this winter they will see the face of this psychologically impaired child.

    She has been used by the deeply evil people who control the World’s power & financial structures – & their imbecile puppets who masquerade as our ‘leaders’.

    previewImg
    This is what Greta Thunberg just told Davos

    Greta Thunberg says no one is listening to the numbers so she will keep repeating them.

    http://www.weforum.org

    https://gettr.com/post/p1ot0o98f70

  14. SIR – Some energy companies are telling customers that the electricity they are supplying is 100 per cent renewable. If this is true, why are they increasing the price to the customers? Their costs should not have risen. There is something to be explained here, either by the energy companies or Ofgem.

    Dr John Lloyd
    Darlington, Co Durham

    Because the whole thing is rigged and Ofgem prefers to look the other way?  This BTL poster may have the answer:

    Peter Cowan6 HRS AGO

    This may help to explain some of the reasons why cheaper renewable energy is being charged at the same price as gas generated electricity. Basically, the market is unfit for purpose

    https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2022/jan/opinion-renewables-are-cheaper-ever-so-why-are-household-energy-bills-only-going

    1. We covered this,the 100% renewable is a complete scam using bought in “Green Certificates” just like “Carbon Trading” I’ve forgotten what the damned thing are called but watch the bottom of the screen some of these con men have been forced to mention them in their ads (for about 3 seconds)

  15. A few “Awkwards”

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b2262f217e767b93ebe96af2d8a8cece5a88c46b6cafbaa9acf51a1b35821d3b.jpg

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    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3d4abf77ae4106617d61f11c4e570dd94062b3dc36075f0059b1a08bce97b100.jpg

    https://twitter.com/aussie_smitty/status/1563022577575989248

    1. I’d add to that that being vaccinated does NOT stop you passing the virus on to others as well. This idea that a vaccination is some sort of magic cloud of antivirals that follows you everywhere, zapping airborne particles is a complete nonsense.

    1. 355510+ up ticks,

      S,

      The offshore columns can be converted into accommodation apartments ( with AC) for illegals.

      Leave nuclear waste to the water companies to dump at coastal outlets the peoples can then have an endless supply of hot water after filtering out the shite.

      Vote lab/lib/con/ current ukip to support these schemes.

    2. Based solely on the scientific facts, nuclear waste. There’s hope to use it as a secondary fuel but I don’t know enough about that.

      Perhaps better to ask which will cost society more. Then the answer’s clear: windmills. The economic hinderance, the demented obsession with unreliables, the arrogance and ego, the putrid contracts for difference, the phenomenal costs lumbered on the tax payer all for monuments to folly.

  17. SIR – Your Leading Article is right to criticise the actions of both the civil servants who refuse to return to their offices, and Jacob Rees-Mogg in selling off redundant buildings.

    By removing the infrastructure, the Government is essentially giving carte blanche to civil servants to dictate their own working practices.

    In the likely event that Liz Truss becomes prime minister, she will have much to do – but mastery over the Civil Service and public sector has to be the number-one priority.

    Meanwhile, instead of selling off buildings, Mr Rees-Mogg should tell civil servants to return to work or be sacked for breach of contract.

    Dr Chris Topping
    Pilling, Lancashire

    I imagine that the prospect of flogging off chunks of Whitehall is more attractive than trying to bring an end to the wholesale shirking from home that currently prevails, and the rotten service that seems to go with it.

    1. Your Leading Article is right to criticise the actions of both the civil servants who refuse to return to their offices…

      Morning Hugh. If anything were required to illustrate the utter powerlessness of the Political Elites it is surely this! A Minister of State cannot even get his staff to sit at their desks! What chance stopping the Channel Invasion?

      1. It’s a tired drum but I, and many of the people I know – work from home. The difference is that most of what the civil service does doesn’t need to be done.

    2. Everybody will be going back in to work when the weather turns colder, as they won’t be able to afford to heat their own homes during the working day!

  18. Morning all 😃
    The green delusions are a convenient way for blaming everyone else and not taking responsibility for their myriad of ongoing mistakes. They are absolutely useless at everything. Except claiming expenses.

    1. While true, green gave them an opportunity to be utterly incompetent. Worse, it’s sheer mendacity has and will continue to cause incredible damage to the country. Bluntly, we’re offensively overtaxed, the majority is wasted and the state is utterly self obsessed.

    2. While true, green gave them an opportunity to be utterly incompetent. Worse, it’s sheer mendacity has and will continue to cause incredible damage to the country. Bluntly, we’re offensively overtaxed, the majority is wasted and the state is utterly self obsessed.

  20. SIR – Rishi Sunak’s suggestion – echoed by some of his Conservative colleagues – that scientists had too much power during the pandemic is outrageous.

    The scientists were endeavouring to protect the public from a deadly virus by advising the Government on the best possible course of action.

    I do not believe that without their guidance the Government would have pursued a more successful strategy.

    Sharon N M Aldridge
    Enfield, Middlesex

    I don’t know about ‘power’ as such, but permitting members of Sage to sound off in public almost daily was a serious mistake in my view.  Too many of them were simply trying to outdo each other with the doom and gloom, and this undoubtedly sent mixed messages and resulted in confusion and inconsistency.  Too many of the so-called experts were in love with the limelight and were determined to exploit the pandemic for their own benefit.  Ferguson was surely one of them.

    This BTL poster is spot on:

    Whipping boy 2 HRS AGO

    SHARON N M ALDRIDGE

    What was outrageous was that a government in an unacceptable state of blind panic over a moderate virus outbreak, turned to one – single – source for scientific opinion and refused to hold a serious, profound, analytical meeting, inviting other scientific points of view and judgments of which there were many. In addition to science, representation from commerce and industry, healthcare, education, the retail and hospitality sectors and a chancellor with a voice should have been present for consultation.

    Our nation is currently facing many major crises, several of them ushered in by insane lockdowns and restrictions.

    The fanciful predictions, or were they forecasts, of potential death rates issued by SAGE were wildly exaggerated. The ongoing aftermath of the extended farrago that helped cripple our industry and retail businesses, our children’s education and a mammoth problem in delayed health treatments are the legacies, the effects of which will run for years, perhaps a decade or more. All because a government lost its head, and its nerve. Momentous decisions that scarred the nation were taken in less time than would be used in the choice of a new car.

    1. “Deadly virus” – oh dear Sharon Aldridge, you really do rely on the BBC as your sole source of information, don’t you…

  21. Met police make payments to families of three Stephen Port victims. 30 August 2022.

    The Metropolitan police have made payments to families of three gay men who were killed by Stephen Port over investigatory “failings”.

    The force said on Monday that it had settled civil claims with the relatives of Anthony Walgate and Gabriel Kovari and the partner of Daniel Whitworth.

    Just a slight clarification here. Neither the Metropolitan Police nor any of its personnel have made any payments to anyone. That was the taxpayer!

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/aug/30/met-police-make-payments-to-families-of-three-stephen-port-victims

      1. If didn’t say how much Bob.
        I expect it was the Dopey Wokey department that probably cost us a few million.

  22. Met police make payments to families of three Stephen Port victims. 30 August 2022.

    The Metropolitan police have made payments to families of three gay men who were killed by Stephen Port over investigatory “failings”.

    The force said on Monday that it had settled civil claims with the relatives of Anthony Walgate and Gabriel Kovari and the partner of Daniel Whitworth.

    Just a slight clarification here. Neither the Metropolitan Police nor any of its personnel have made any payments to anyone. That was the taxpayer!

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/aug/30/met-police-make-payments-to-families-of-three-stephen-port-victims

  23. Good morning all!
    A bright and sunny start with 8°C outside.

    Had a bit of trouble persuading my main PC to boot up, looks like a dying hard drive so I’ve a bit of file backing up to do!

    2. Back it all up to an external hard drive and do the full back-up on there as well and include a system image.

  24. SIR – Camilla Tominey is right about Theresa May’s disastrous leadership.

    I was a serving officer when she began her flawed police reforms. She was unable to anticipate the consequences of her actions, and ignored wise counsel.

    In 2015, she allegedly dismissed the legitimate concerns of the Police Federation as “crying wolf”. Her budget cuts were directly responsible for the loss of more than 22,000 mainly experienced officers and the closure of over a third of police stations.

    Neighbourhood policing teams – at the forefront of tackling antisocial behaviour, preventing knife crime and obtaining intelligence – were decimated. Roads policing teams were reduced. The efficiency of air, dog and mounted support was reduced. The introduction of a 28-day bail limit has resulted in thousands of suspects being released under investigation without restrictions. The formation of the College of Policing and the introduction of Police and Crime Commissioners were costly initiatives that have failed to support policing.

    Before 2010, crime was falling. This was the result of a properly resourced and supported police force. Mrs May destroyed this and, more than 10 years on, Britain is a less safe place.

    Clifford Baxter
    Wareham, Dorset

    Ah yes, the ‘strong and stable’ May…another fine choice of PM considering her incompetence and, notably, her disappearing act every time the brown stuff hit the fan…

    2. And continuously they all get away with their terrible behaviour.
      That’s why this once well run organised and prosperous country is now an absolute disaster.

    3. Yet why? May wasn’t that capable. We ascribe competence to Ministers on the assumption they know what they’re doing. They don’t. These are career politicians. They’ve no skills, no utility, no value. Therefore the conclusion is that the Home office intentionally ran down police numbers for a reason. I imagine because it was told to cut costs and instantly weaponised that for its own benefit.

      To blame May is to ascribe competence to a goat.

    4. Saggy May was a disaster – her only ‘success’ was in kicking the inquiry that might have put her father in an awkward position well down the road – but I’m sure the imposition a Police and Crime Commissioners was yet another Blair abomination.

  25. SIR – For people with sash windows (Letters, August 25), a further way of eliminating draughts and ensuring warm rooms is to hang heavy curtains with warm linings. The building will retain its character both inside and out and no work will be required.

    Professor Margaret MacKeith
    Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire

    Simples, eh?  Except that heavy curtains with thermal linings are not cheap, as Mrs HJ and I can testify following our house move 18 months ago.  Fortunately she is very handy with a sewing machine, but the cost of the fabric is still considerable.  Besides, if they are drawn all day to keep out the cold, we would then need the lights on, too…

    This BTL poster puts it well:

    Margaret Robinson 19 MIN AGO

    Professor Margaret MacKeith follows many other comfortably off people telling us what we should/must do to help ourselves and stay warm.

    We must install heat pumps, solar panels, inches of insulation – the permutations are endless. Prof. MacKeith’s recommendation is to hang heavy, lined curtains if we have draughty sash windows.

    What every one of these oh so clever people never take into account is that there are millions of people in this country who would never in a million years be able to afford any of these things and are being pushed into ruination by terrifying energy prices and net zero policies.

    Incidentally, when we redecorated our living room a few years ago, we hung new, heavy curtains, as recommended by the Prof., at the patio doors and the bay window. The cost was almost £800 and they are nothing special. Neither do they keep the room warmer than before.

    These people need a proper wake up call. Perhaps live a year with a pensioner or a poor family and see what their lives are really like.

    1. Blankets cost a few pounds at car boot sales or charity shops, and can be used to line curtains bought at same. Admittedly the effect is not quite so good…

      1. Why should people be forced to wear a blanket in their own home? OK, someone poncing about in a bikini with the heating on 27 is an idiot, but that should be their choice. There should be no standing charges, no taxes, no levies on energy whatsoever. You pay for what you use and nothing else.

        This carnage of Left wing statist green is only going to end when MPs are forced to change – and that’s only going to happen when they’re watching the lever that removes the trapdoor beneath them.

        1. Because the standard of living that we’ve enjoyed during the petro-dollar era was never really earned by us – it was an illusion, and now comes the day of reckoning. 99% of the population can’t afford to live like kings.

    2. The political class are desperate to get on the green gravy train. I’m just waiting for Boris to suddenly find himself the owner of a new house – previously owned by Zac Goldsmith and for Goldsmith to publish record profits for his windmill investments the next week.

      These people are thieves. Evil beyond measure.

    3. Just finished listening to Spiked’s Thursday podcast which was very interesting. 111 Why fossil fuels are the future with Alex Epstein. “ Alex Epstein – author of Fossil Future – joins Brendan O’Neill to discuss the propaganda war on fossil fuels, the misanthropy of the green movement and why human flourishing must be at the heart of energy policy.”

      https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-brendan-oneill-show/id1436524071?i=1000577314829

    4. Just finished listening to Spiked’s Thursday podcast which was very interesting. 111 Why fossil fuels are the future with Alex Epstein. “ Alex Epstein – author of Fossil Future – joins Brendan O’Neill to discuss the propaganda war on fossil fuels, the misanthropy of the green movement and why human flourishing must be at the heart of energy policy.”

      https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-brendan-oneill-show/id1436524071?i=1000577314829

  26. I hear that the weekend diversity fest has ended with the usual finale. Violence and death. Wouldn’t be a good carnival without it, of course.

      1. The cynic in me says “In other news Rading and Leeds festival make great strides towards their diversity targets”

      2. The Reading one started in those gentler days when John Gee, manager of the Marquee, thought it would be a jolly summer jape. A sort of rock and jazz Glyndebourne.

      3. The Reading one started in those gentler days when John Gee, manager of the Marquee, thought it would be a jolly summer jape. A sort of rock and jazz Glyndebourne.

    1. Criminals. I forget but apparently they’ll be subject to ‘criminal records checks’. By virtue of breaking into the country they are, by default, all criminals and should be treated as such.

      Get rid of them. They’ve no right to be here, they’ve broken international law. Pile them into a hulk and sail it away – permanently. If they won’t let us dock then leave it in international waters.

      1. ‘Morning, Wibb. Even with Albanian rozzers at Dover I struggle to understand how these invaders are going to be correctly identified, given that many think it’s a good idea to ditch their documents before arrival. I wonder why they would want to do that…

        1. None of them have any right to be here. They’ve not applied, they’re not refugees, they’re not asylum seekers, they’re just welfare gimmigrants.

          We cannot sustain 1 million wasters a year. The lot of them, and the 20 million Blair forced in must be removed.

    3. 355510+ up ticks,

      Morning Bob,

      “Who are they” members of the politico’s protection squad becoming active in the hear future.

  28. From humble beginnings…a very fine sailor leaves us:

    Lt-Cdr Dougie Barlow, joined the Navy in 1944 as a Boy 2nd Class and rose up through the ranks – obituary

    He was once grasped the Queen Mother’s arm to save her from plummeting into the sea

    ByTelegraph Obituaries 29 August 2022 • 8:58pm

    Lieutenant-Commander Dougie Barlow, who has died aged 93, once saved Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother from a dunking.

    In September 1975 he was harbourmaster at the shore establishment HMS Vernon (now Gunwharf Keys), when while landing in a barge from the Royal Yacht, the Queen Mother stumbled and dropped her handbag.

    Barlow quickly intervened, grabbing the Queen Mother by her arm to stop her falling, while another officer reached down flat on his face into the water to retrieve the handbag. Barlow simultaneously gave directions for the barge to swing its stern out to prevent the officer’s arm being crushed.

    “The Queen Mum seemed quite startled,” he recalled. “She’d lost her composure and by the time she’d regained it, it was all over, but her handbag was a bit soggy.” The incident was not reported at the time, but it was captured in a photograph which Barlow treasured.

    The son of a lorry-driver, Douglas Arthur Barlow was born on November 16 1928 at Dartford, Kent. In 1943, aged 14, Barlow joined the Shaftesbury Homes Training Ship Arethusa (formerly the barque Peking) on the River Medway, where owing to the threat of German bombing, he and the other boys were evacuated to the Tides Reach Hotel at South Sands in Salcombe.

    Barlow joined the Navy in 1944 as a Boy 2nd Class and trained at HMS St George on the Isle of Man, in the same class as the future National Car Parks entrepreneur Don (Sir Donald) Gosling.

    In 1945 Barlow was drafted in the troopship Ranee to Sydney, Australia, where he joined the battleship Anson and subsequently served in two other battleships, King George V and Duke Of York before qualifying as a radar plotter.

    After near continuous service at sea and while serving in the cruiser “Shiny” Sheffield in 1953-55, he was persuaded by a fellow petty officer, John Parry (father of the present Rear-Admiral Chris Parry), to study for promotion to officer – “an act,” he recalled, “for which I was ever grateful.”

    Having spent time as an instructor at Victoria Barracks, Southsea, Barlow joined the cruiser Newfoundland, when during the Suez Crisis she shelled and sank the Egyptian frigate Domiat (ex-HMS Nith).

    Promoted in 1958 to Sub Lieutenant (Special Duties) (Boatswain), Barlow was remembered by the governors of TS Arethusa and presented him with his sword. He served in the frigate Starling (Captain “Johnny” Walker’s wartime command), a Commander Dougie Barlow, who has died aged 93, once saved Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother from a dunking.

    In September 1975 he was harbourmaster at the shore establishment HMS Vernon (now Gunwharf Keys), when while landing in a barge from the Royal Yacht, the Queen Mother stumbled and dropped her handbag.

    Barlow quickly intervened, grabbing the Queen Mother by her arm to stop her falling, while another officer reached down flat on his face into the water to retrieve the handbag. Barlow simultaneously gave directions for the barge to swing its stern out to prevent the officer’s arm being crushed.

    “The Queen Mum seemed quite startled,” he recalled. “She’d lost her composure and by the time she’d regained it, it was all over, but her handbag was a bit soggy.” The incident was not reported at the time, but it was captured in a photograph which Barlow treasured.

    The son of a lorry-driver, Douglas Arthur Barlow was born on November 16 1928 at Dartford, Kent. In 1943, aged 14, Barlow joined the Shaftesbury Homes Training Ship Arethusa (formerly the barque Peking) on the River Medway, where owing to the threat of German bombing, he and the other boys were evacuated to the Tides Reach Hotel at South Sands in Salcombe.

    Barlow joined the Navy in 1944 as a Boy 2nd Class and trained at HMS St George on the Isle of Man, in the same class as the future National Car Parks entrepreneur Don (Sir Donald) Gosling.

    In 1945 Barlow was drafted in the troopship Ranee to Sydney, Australia, where he joined the battleship Anson and subsequently served in two other battleships, King George V and Duke Of York before qualifying as a radar plotter.

    After near continuous service at sea and while serving in the cruiser “Shiny” Sheffield in 1953-55, he was persuaded by a fellow petty officer, John Parry (father of the present Rear-Admiral Chris Parry), to study for promotion to officer – “an act,” he recalled, “for which I was ever grateful.”

    Having spent time as an instructor at Victoria Barracks, Southsea, Barlow joined the cruiser Newfoundland, when during the Suez Crisis she shelled and sank the Egyptian frigate Domiat (ex-HMS Nith).

    Promoted in 1958 to Sub Lieutenant (Special Duties) (Boatswain), Barlow was remembered by the governors of TS Arethusa and presented him with his sword. He served in the frigate Starling (Captain “Johnnynd in one of the Navy’s last coal-fired ships, the salvage tender Barnard.

    More service at sea brought him to be the dock control officer of the landing ship Fearless, 1971-73: more simply he was known by the ship’s company as “top bloke”.

    In 1982 he became Assistant Area Staff Officer Sea Cadets and in retirement he continued his interest in youth training, instructing sea cadets in sail on two races to the Baltic and two to the Canaries, and he sailed to Australia in the sail training vessel Aztec Lady for the Tall Ships Race and the 1998 bicentennial celebrations in Australia.

    Barlow reminisced that “for me sailing is a passion. I’d hate to be away from the sea, it’s a good playground, the attraction is the subtle differences that each day brings. There is always a challenge.”

    He was a raconteur who won friends and influence through his fabulous memory for names and faces and their backgrounds.

    Barlow married, first, in 1949, Hazel Abraham; they divorced in 1965, and on his 85th birthday he married his long-time companion Jill Smith, a former dancing instructor. “Jill’s a natural sailor but,” he rued. “I’m not a natural dancer.” She survives him with two daughters of the first marriage.

    On his 90th birthday, Gosling put a large cheque behind the bar.

    Lt-Cdr Dougie Barlow, born November 16 1928, died July 29 2022

    Swiss Steve 2 HRS AGO

    One of those, like his compatriot Gosling, who made it from humble beginnings in Britain. Social mobility was alive, as usual with luck, talent and tenacity.

    Grahamu Howat1 HR AGO

    “He was once grasped” ?

    A pity that the DT can’t even be bothered to error check a Naval Officer’s obituary before printing.

    1. 355510+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      So in point of fact you had every chance of dying for your Country ( these Isles currently so easily given into foreign hands) before you could vote.

      1. Dulce etc decorum est pro patria mori…sed melius est alterum bastardis morire pro suo

        1. 355510 + up ticks,

          Morning SiadC,

          No danger of that happening via the lab/lib/con/current ukip coalition party, more likely they would die fighting against the patriotic element of the United Kingdom.

    2. I’m surprised the independent didn’t call them all racists and xenophobes for defending our borders from a foreign invasion force.

    1. And it’s all his blasted fault! He didn’t need to force the useless green agenda, especially at a point when the economy was so horribly fragile. It’s as if they choose to make the worst possible decisions at the worst possible time.

      They’re stupid. The entire edifice of government is incompetent.

      1. Oh he did wibbers, he’s following orders.
        Proof of that is, we have no obligation to take even one single person who turn up unannounced, from any other countries.
        There was never and has been not a word of discussion during this ongoing invasion. It is treason and it absolutely stinks.

  33. And next…….there will be dozens if not hundreds of British pubs closing as their costs rise dramatically and the customers can’t afford to buy the drinks and the food.
    I’d say the pre planned anti British way of life adgenda is working fairly effectively.

    2. Johnson and his shower of a Cabinet attempted to break the hospitality industry during the lockdowns and then by insisting on stupid rules and masking when the lockdowns had to be eased. Now, they are going after those businesses via the manufactured energy and food crises: their aim is to destroy society as we have known it. Their future for the people is to be framed in widespread destitution.

  34. For crying out loud, when are these people/journalists going to wake up to what the CV-19 scam was all about. They are attempting to row back and point fingers at others but are being deliberately obtuse when it comes to the real purpose of the government’s actions/reactions: DISRUPTION of the normal everyday lives of the people and small businesses. Similar steps were taken just about everywhere in the Western World: just try joining the dots you moronic lackeys.

    https://twitter.com/lensiseethrough/status/1564510026722598916

    1. You misunderstand strategy. The UK’s defence strategy is to remain closely allied to the USA.
      Ergo, when the Yanks fight, so do the Brits. Harold Wilson kept the UK out of Vietnam, but that was an exception.

    2. Schools are in a mess because of the department for education and local councils. Education is a mess generally because of the Left wing ethos rather than thinking of the child first and only. Education is a mess because of class sizes of 30+ – brought on by gimmigration. Education is a mess because of endless welfare allowing the uneducated, low achievers to breed.

      Now, the guardian is a big state, Left wing big tax, high welfare promoting, climate change obsessed rag. Given it is a promoter of the problem, when will they admit that actually, they’re attitude is to blame?

      1. “Blame?” Kudos,surely? It is what they wanted to achieve. Now they have. They do not think like us.

      2. Education is in a mess because yer soshies have gradually handed classroom control from teachers to pupils

        1. Also, and this began when I was teaching in CT- teachers used to have the support of their principal and the parents. It gradually changed and the children started to get the support of senior staff and parents.
          A friend of mine was summoned to the office after disciplining a kid in the lunchroom. She basically told him to do his share of clearing up the table and then to sit down until dismissed.
          Kid complained to parents and friend had to explain her actions. Totally wrong. And this was at the elementary level.

      3. I had 33 girls in my English Language class in 1977- all white and British, except for one girl recently arrived from Hong Kong. She was third in the class in no time at all.

        1. A boy arrived from Germany at Allhallows in the Fifth Form without a word of English. At the end of the school year he passed 7 “O” levels including A grades in both English Language and English Literature. He went on to get three very good “A” levels but his problem was that he wanted to stay in England and go to university but his father wanted him to return to Germany.

      4. There were 36 girls in my third year class at my girls’ grammar school in the 1960s, including six Carols, five Annes and four Marys.

      5. There were 32 pupils in my senior school class.
        The teachers – in both junior and senior school – kept control without ‘teaching assistants’.

        2. I bet they all spoke English as their mother tongue and there weren’t too many with “learning and behavioural difficulties” there, either.

      6. My (bog standard) secondary school had forms of 42. I wasn’t particularly academic but loved shorthand and typing. I got 2 GCEs, French and English, obviously never went to University but was employed, other than when I had our two children, in well paid secretarial jobs. No teaching assistants, just a teacher for each lesson. And we all faced the front. None of this sitting at inward looking tables so the pupils couldn’t all look at the teacher.

  35. One of the best ever BTL comments under the DT article about the repulsive Duchess of Sussex:

    It’s like a car crash on the other side of the motorway – you just can’t help slowing down to look, but feel disgusted with yourself for doing so.

    1. “Sell at once: you are not for all markets.”

      (As Rosalind says to the plain but cruel rustic Phoebe who scorns the love of the honest and virtuous woodman Silvius in the Forest of Arden)

      Migraine’s looks, such as they are, are likely to go off pretty quickly so – to continue the rural imagery – she must make hay when the sun shines. Of course these things are entirely subjective but to my taste she is not at all sexually attractive and would not be highly placed on my 0 – 10 scorecard.

    2. Markle is making hay while the sun shines. A narcissist desperate for a source of supply no doubt legions of idiots will flock to her banner thinking to emulate how she has behaved.

      Such people are broken beyond repair, unable to understand that her behaviour is repellent.

    3. The daily mail is certainly feasting on the latest non news from the couple that want to live a private life.

  37. The picture on the front of today’s DT of the howitzer being handled by Ukrainians reminds me of the story told about Winston Churchill.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e5e06ddb80e829724eb02e5be2e53998fb1f55f39bf0fed84e75381a2d27d9ce.jpg

    During The War it was essential to protect these shells from moisture and the best covering then available was latex rubber and the only company skilled at working with this was Durex.

    Churchill was always keen to demoralise the Germans so, in case they fell into enemy hands, he insisted that the crates full of enormous condoms were stamped:

    MADE IN BRITAIN : MEDIUM

  38. On reading this horror show: https://twitter.com/RichardJMurphy/status/1564508496892133378

    I see someone thinks that progressive taxes – taking more from people earning more – is a fundamental tenet of democracy. Now, remind me. The word democracy comes from ‘the people hold the power’ right? Therefore, it is not for the state to take away the people’s power.

    Thus proving that progressive taxation is simply theft and not remotely ‘democratic’. I wonder how these Lefties actually manage to think. Not only is taxation a percentage, but Taxation must solely for the provision of essential services. It is NOT the government’s money to spend as it wishes, it’s not to ‘make things fair’. Life isn’t fair. If people are getting a different start in life then examine why – the solution will not be to give those people other people’s money, it will be to point out that uneducated single parents who don’t speak English are to blame and that the state is responsible for that situation by paying them money to breed.

    The failure to understand these basic facts is evidence of how broken society is. The refusal to acknowledge them is a form of arrogance so staggering that such people cannot be permitted to vote.

    1. They are wonderful creatures but as an arachnophobe they scare the living daylights out of me!

  41. An article on divorce in the DT today prompted this BTL comment :

    Men should just find a woman they don’t like and buy them a house. It’s cheaper than divorce in the long run and less restricting.

      1. Good morning Spikey

        It could have been said by many.

        Feminism will only have triumphed when as many men receive over-generous compensation after divorce as women do!

        1. I divorced my first husband 30 years ago. When we bought the house, I paid the deposit, and I paid my share of the mortgage. When we settled our affairs on divorce, I offered him £15,000 and he accepted. I remortgaged the house as it was then mine. During the two years of separation, he paid me £100 per month towards the living expenses of our younger son. It barely paid for his food. I also continued to pay for my ex’s life insurance policy. I don’t consider that I owe him anything, nor he me.

        2. I think the difference is, Rastus, that any reasonable woman who considers herself a feminist merely would like, in the business world, the same salary, opportunities and consideration for promotion as a man. That’s all. The term feminist has been hi jacked and turned into a dirty word unfortunately.

  42. Putin slashes gas supplies to France as energy crisis deepens – live updates. 30 August 2022.

    Putin has slashed gas flows to France, adding to fears of an energy crisis across Europe this winter.

    Kremlin-controlled Gazprom has informed French utility Engie that it is reducing gas deliveries from today due to a disagreement on the application of some contracts.

    Engie has reduced its reliance on Russian energy since the start of the war and said it had measures in place to reduce the impact of a cut to suppliers from Gazprom.

    But the move piles further pressure on European gas flows that are already under strain after Putin cut capacity through the key Nord Stream pipeline.

    To some extent Ukraine has become a sideshow. The Home Front, if I may call it that, is engaged in a struggle to see which economies collapse first! Russia by virtue of its Raw Materials might well win this one as well. The US of course, will be, apart from the Dollar, largely unaffected but Mainland Europe may suffer catastrophic damage!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/08/30/ftse-100-markets-live-news-uk-economy-energy-europe-strike/

  43. My suggestion that I made last week has been ignored by the PTB.

    All those who arrive illegally on the South Coast of Britain without any documentation saying who they are or where they come from should automatically be assumed to be Albanians and sent to Albania within 48 hours of arriving.

      1. But hasn’t the UK an agreement with Albania which it has not got with France?

        1. Agreements are irrelevant whilst the taxpayer is providing HR lawyers and an appeals process before we get anywhere near a return ticket.

          1. Agreed, KP; scrap our membership of both ECHR and ECJ, then repeal the Human Rights Act.

            Might as well re-instate the Treason Law. That should scare not only the MPs but a few shyster lawyers as well.

          2. Agreed, KP; scrap our membership of both ECHR and ECJ, then repeal the Human Rights Act.

            Might as well re-instate the Treason Law. That should scare not only the MPs but a few shyster lawyers as well.

          3. Agreed, KP; scrap our membership of both ECHR and ECJ, then repeal the Human Rights Act.

            Might as well re-instate the Treason Law. That should scare not only the MPs but a few shyster lawyers as well.

  44. Doctors warn of rise in nerve damage linked to nitrous oxide
    Medics have described increase in neurological injuries resulting from laughing gas as an epidemic

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/aug/30/doctors-warn-of-rise-in-nerve-damage-linked-to-nitrous-oxide

    If idiots want to experiment , leave them be, Darwinism at work, don’t you think .

    No NHS treatment , in fact I believe that illegal drug users shouldn’t weigh the NHS down .

    They are not the Tax Payers problem , are they.

    The same applies to alcoholics and other habit abusers.

    3. They should get the treatment that they’ve paid for – it shouldn’t be rationed on those grounds. But Darwinism in action, absolutely.

    4. They should get the treatment that they’ve paid for – it shouldn’t be rationed on those grounds. But Darwinism in action, absolutely.

    5. Joseph raises a good point. I’ve had many injuries from martial arts in my time and even now my leg’s pretty much stuffed, my shoulder dislocates easy and so on. I also know a coke user who got clean and the difficulties she went through. I support her a bit to ensure she doesn’t relapse.

      If we proclaim the NHS is only there to help the fit, mobile and safe then it’s not much point having it. If the question is ‘you choose how to live, you should pay for that’ that I’d agree with.

    1. I sympathise with their intent but I don’t believe it is the right approach. Bluntly, I think the state machine will simply say ‘tough’. It has refused to undo the damage it’s done so why would it care about a couple of hundred thousand households who stop paying? It wants the cash from green taxes. It wants the green agenda.

      1. I agree. These are the very same people who will meekly start using the CBDC when it’s touted as the answer to all their problems. Frankly, they are just useful idiots.

  46. Wordle 437 6/6

    ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
    🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
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    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Daily Quordle 218
    5️⃣4️⃣
    8️⃣6️⃣
    quordle.com
    🟨🟩⬜⬜⬜ 🟨🟩⬜⬜🟩
    ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
    ⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

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

    1. Par 4 today.
      Wordle 437 4/6

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

  48. A third of Pakistan is under water..
    Please send what you can.
    I’ve sent some piranha fish.

    1. Yeah , piranha fish, with a liking for priapic dicks !

      Sorry to sound so crude .

      I suppose the Pakistan government spend more money on fighter jets than on flood defences.

    2. Some Pakistani mayor of some UK town was begging the UK goverment to send aid as there are so many Pakistanis living in the UK.
      Will we be seeing an influx of millions of “refugees” from Pakistan over the next six months?

      Stupid question,really?

      1. They can send their own money. After all, it’s come directly from the UK government.

    3. Pakistan floods are ‘a monsoon on steroids’, warns UN chief

      Many factors contribute to flooding, but a warming atmosphere caused by climate change makes extreme rainfall more likely. The world has already warmed by about 1.2C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions.

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-62722117

      The quoted paragraph is cut and pasted into just about every BBC website weather-related story.

      3. Funny that the Monsoon is an expected event and has been for hundreds of years (if not thousands) and long before CO² became the bete noir (scam) that it is today. Ditch the climate change argument, it’s a wash out, like the monsoon. It might just clean a few dirty Pakis.

  49. Afternoon possums. I’ve just received notification by Snail Mail of my Council Tax Energy Rebate. This is a one off payment of £150 with an additional £27 for being in the lower bands. It does not have to be repaid. It can be claimed at any Post Office on production of two forms of identification but oddly if I do not claim it before September 9 it will be added as a credit to my Council Tax account. I’m tempted by the latter but a Bird in the Hand is worth a truckload of promises.

    There is about this the air of grudging institutional benevolence.

      1. Afternoon Ndovu. I avoid Direct Debits like the Plague. The short window of ten days to cash this amount would suggest that the Council would prefer to keep the money to themselves!

  50. Apparently Saudi Arabia is planning to build a nuclear power station. This is hailed by idiots as proof that the Saudis are embracing a green agenda. Am I being overly cynical to suspect that they want some home-grown expertise with all things radioactive so that they don’t have to engage in any more devil’s pacts with big powers for their defence?

    1. Always wondered what was hiding in that big black box they parade around each year.

      1. I get that you’re not actually asking, but…the ka’bah originally housed the pagan idols. The crescent symbol of Hubal, the moon god, is placed on top. Kubal seems to be their equivalent to Zeus or Jupiter – king of the gods. Allah just means “the god” of course.

        1. The Islamic religion means that everyone does certain things only once a VIP has “seen” the moon.

  51. Got a feeling that the whole country is going to come to a standstill this Winter as businesses and public services realise that they cannot survive with the high energy prices.

          1. They’ll be in Hotels, whacking the heating up all the time on the taxpayer. Always money for the gimmigrants!

      2. 355510+ up ticks,

        Afternoon AS,

        Doesn’t take a lot of believing that the voting pattern will be the last to fold its tents., on job completion.

    1. Like an rubbish strewn street in any African country… one difference , there are herds of goats who eat the detritus .

      We have let this country of ours slip into the hands of blinking heathens .

      In fact our beaches are also attractive to a certain race of people , and the mess the leave behind is unbelievable .

      Bit similar to Whitey at Glastonbury .

          1. Too much like hard work. Plus, a tent is “only” £25 so why should Tarquin and Jacinta care?

          3. Indeed. My youngest went last year and left behind a very very old tent of mine (i went apoplectic). He went again this year and had to buy himself a tent using money he had had to earn himself and i noticed he had brought it back this time.

            He also said he was done with Reading. He is 17.

            (Idiots setting fire to stuff, throwing tins at people etc)

        2. Appalling. Unbelievable. And I’ll bet a lot of them insist on “green” policies. Load of hypocrites and disgusting people.

      2. That’s one of the cleaner bits, one mustn’t let the nation see what an utter shithole is left after the crapfest in the worst parts

    3. I saw the heaving masses from the train as it went through Ladbroke Grove on my way to and from church on Sunday. Stayed pretty well clear though it does spill over into Shepherds Bush and there were drunken revellers still out when I got home from the RAH last night (Bach B Minor Mass – soloists disappointing though the choir were good).
      https://twitter.com/Ray_Norshine/status/1564549070424875014

  55. Markle is a fantasist and a narcissist. She makes Walter Mitty seem like a rank amateur. I wish she would get it into her thick skull that 95% of the people in the UK alone simply don’t care.
    I’m starting to think Harry would be better off to cut and run.

    1. Probably far too late for Harry to regain any credibility, Ann.

      Like the Duke of Windsor (Edward VIII) He’s been sleeping with the enemy.

      1. I don’t really care about Harry either although he could have filled a useful role. They are both toxic right now.

    2. I feel that all this is being made public so that we are in sympathy for Harry when he finally breaks free.

          1. My life in the gilded cage and how i threw it all away for a two bit actress.
            Or
            Meg’s a good shag.

      1. And moving to California so that in the event of a divorce, she will get half of everything…

  56. As the country tumbles into a bottomless recession, Truss and Sunak should be dispensed with and Zelensky appointed.
    It would cut out the middlemen driving us to ruin.

    1. And yet resolving the mess really isn’t difficult. Painful, and folk stand to lose out but not difficult. Best example is when the HoC hauled Google in over it’s tax affairs and was told ‘Well, you write the rules.’ They didn’t like that. They expected people to ignore all the loopholes, incompetence and stupidity and just pay the upfront amount. It came as a shock to realise that they were responsible.

      Which I think sums up the state. You must pay more tax. You must work harder. You must retire later. You must pay more. You must use less energy. You must recycle. You cannot park here. You cannot save money. You must spend money and really, it’s not up to us at all. All the problems start and end with the state machine.

      1. “You must pay more tax”

        Because the state persists with the illusion that tax is for paying for services. It isn’t but they’ll never be honest about why we are taxed.

        “You must work harder”

        Because politicians believe we are lazy, that’s why our productivity is bad. In actual fact productivity comes from investment.

        “You must retire later”

        Relatively fair now most live into the eighties. The one downside is ill health seems to happen about the same time it always did, we’ve just become better at managing it.

        “You must pay more”

        The private sector exists to make profits. Most things are provided by the private sector now including many government services.

        “You must use less energy”

        Forty years without a decent energy policy so what do you expect?

        “You must recycle”

        Sensible where possible. Many people live in flats though where recycling is a very real pain in the backside.

        “You cannot park here”

        Mostly councils trying to increase income from fines.

        “You cannot save money.”

        You can but there’s literally no point. Savings are dead money. Money not used for investment or consumption. Largely ends up forming part of a bank’s reserves in their account at the BoE.

        ” You must spend money”

        We have to pay each other to do each other’s laundry. Or pay someone to look after our kids while we go to work looking after somebody else’s kids. No spending, no wages.

        Most of these problems come from neoliberalism. Of course you blame the state rather than the prevailing economic system because you’ve voted for that over the years.

    2. At least in a bottomless recession there won’t be such a rush on toilet paper! 🤔

    1. “That’s all right on paper but we should now consider its former roll.”

      A Blue Peter spokesman.

  58. Following the COVID-19 pandemic and the unprecedented 40 degC heatwave the Government’s Planning Inpectorate has realised that UK homes should have more air changes to avoid them getting too viral and stuffy.
    This means that from 2022 we are moving to new builds and extended homes with extra mechanically assisted ventilation holes in double glazimg and free flowing air draft gaps under all internal doors.

    This video by the Building Inspectorate spells out how big the holes in your double glazing should be and many centimetres you need to saw off the bottom of your internal doors:

    https://youtu.be/l9x7J1_L8ck

    So is the Governnent zero VAT incentive on insulation rather pointless for people trying to make their homes more energy efficient?

    Do you remember the old animal draught excluders?

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bits-Pieces-Excluder-Window-Breeze/dp/B07HFDZT7H/ref=asc_df_B07HFDZT7H/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312374080263&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2190889024336350117&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=t&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006826&hvtargid=pla-576741130925&psc=1

      1. ‘If you mean draught excluders, so do I. If you mean the real thing, I’d run a mile (herpetophobes R us!).

        1. Not the real thing. A boy in my class at school was fiddlimg in his (flip-top) desk and the lady teacher asked what he was doing. She discoverd that he has brought his “pet” snake into school. A visit to the rector followed.

          1. When I was teaching, because I didn’t have my own dedicated language room, I sometimes ended up in the biology lab. It was very disconcerting when the garter snake was swaying and licking its lips as I showed the animals flash cards!

    2. Meagain isn’t getting it all her own way. An Australian presenter called her a tosser. The Mandela family are furious with her too.

      1. Don’t we all? And that must have been foremost on Harry’s pea-brain, driven by his dick.

        A Noble’s advice to his son, “By all means screw an actress but never, ever, marry her.”

      2. Certainly not an E. It may be the face that sank a thousand ships, her magic seems to have worked on the PoW. (HMS).

      3. Certainly not an E. It may be the face that sank a thousand ships, her magic seems to have worked on the PoW. (HMS).

    4. Many Tellygraff BTL comments have made that allusion.
      Yank glossies don’t do irony.

    1. No chance. The Federal government and its agencies under Obama (and his puppet Biden) is irredeemably corrupt.

      The whole lot of them need a clear out and the FBI should be shut down entirely.

  61. HMS Prince of Wales ‘faces long spell in dry dock’ after breaking down. 30 august 2022.

    Warship remains anchored off south-east coast of the Isle Wight after it broke down as it headed for the US

    Cars breakdown. Humans breakdown. Ships sink, founder, turn turtle or run aground. There is clearly something seriously amiss here that the PTB do not want to tell us! My guess is that it’s a piece of jerry built junk that would be condemned anywhere else!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/29/hms-prince-wales-faces-long-spell-dry-dock-breaking/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

    1. Imagine if all the Atlantic convoy escort ships were made up from the modern navy craft, what an awful situation..

        1. I suspect he was holed many times at his prep school and at Gordonstoun. They don’t like to talk about it though. His dad would have been livid.

      2. Thankfully, he is not yet HM (although I could have missed Operation London Bridge as I don’t listen to the news). He’s still HRH.

      1. There were problems during sea trials with water flooding a compartment put down to defective drive shaft seals. The latest problem is said to be a defective drive or propeller shaft.

        The ship was constructed by a consortium. John Browns on the Clyde would have made a proper job in days gone by as would have our warship specialists, long gone, on the Tyne.

  62. I think we missed the obituary of Stella Jayne Edwards who died aged 103, the oldest UK Aircraft Auxilary pilot . It was in the DT on 23 August. She flew most single engined RAF aircraft with great skill. Bonny picture and worth reading. She was a heroine.

    3. Lived there for a year, Mum, and was glad to get out. Not least because of the Parisien attitude – bumptious twerps, the lot of ’em.

  65. Another £480 chunk of the ridiculous car tax supplement to come this month: 2 years to go before it reverts to whatever the tax will be then.. Another Sunak con trick…

    1. Well done. 4 for me today.
      Wordle 437 4/6

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

      1. Daily Quordle 218

        3️⃣5️⃣
        7️⃣8️⃣

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

    2. Well done, Bob.
      Par Four for me today.

      Wordle 437 4/6
      ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
      ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
      🟨🟩⬜🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. A two fluke for me too. Quordle started well but then tailed off
      Wordle 437 2/6

      ⬜🟨🟨🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      Daily Quordle 218
      2️⃣3️⃣
      5️⃣8️⃣
      quordle.com
      🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩 🟩⬜🟨⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩⬜🟨⬜
      ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

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

  67. They just can’t help it! Radio 4 Kitchen Cabinet talking about salt accused the British of killing millions of Indians/Pakis by imposing a salt tax even though it had been ended in Britain. Where’s my sack-cloth and ashes?

      1. Know thine enemy – Besides, Radio 4 Long wave is the only English speaking station I can receive in my place in France.

        3. Do you get freesat?
          There are numerous radio channels available, mostly al beeb but there are others.

          2. You should be within the Sky foorprint from their moved satellite footprint. I know we lost it in Spain, when it moved and that must have been about 7 years ago.

          3. A dish and a smart TV and you don’t even need a “box”. Reception might not be prefect but we get all we would wish for and it’s free.

            Have you tried via the internet? Our speeds are too slow really so I don’t use it much; I use a VPN to get around country restrictions if necessary.

    2. I demand reparation for the (probably) English crusaders killed in the building of two shafts underneath the Cairo fortress leading down to the Nile to provide water for the garrison above. (Just saw the end of a programme on Ancient Invisible Cities. Water was drawn up by a horizontal wheel at the bottom of the first shaft. The deeper shaft went down 90 metres apparently. Quite fascinating the bit that I saw. Just sat down for a rest after washing the kitchen floor.

    1. More evil, sprouting in America, along with Soros, Schwab and Gates.

      Can’t we put up a hit squad to take ’em all out, at once?

  70. The lazy workmen of the UK…..we have had a few jobs done here of late; the household stuff is done by contractors hired by the management. All of them have turned up on time or early, done the job properly and well and departed. No cost to us.
    Our elderly washing machine clapped out and we were given the name of a local store which we called. We were quoted a price for a gently used washer and the price included delivery, installation and the removal of the old one.
    Today was the day between 10-1. Phone rang at 8. 30- would we mind if they came between 9-10? Not at all. 9.20 they were here, two lovely blokes, All done an dusted within half an hour. Machine running now ( I had to go out earlier.) It is so quiet.
    All these men and women were British and white and efficient.
    I can’t fault them.

    1. When we had part of our roof retiled last winter, the roofer was a lovely guy called Andy – and the scaffolding team did a great job and it was amazing to watch them as they chucked up the next bit to the guy up the top and he whizzed it in place. Andy was here for a couple of weeks and OH made use of the scaffolding to get up on the gable end and install new nest holes for the swifts.

    3. Had excellent service, prompt, cheap and good quality, from all the small local contractors I used to sort Mother’s house problems. All were top blokes & blokesses.

    4. I cant believe how quiet our new washing machine is. Can’t hear it running it’s so quiet. We bought a Samsung for about 500 quid. Triple A energy rating. Bought it from AO.com, they installed it in our utility room when they delivered it. It takes a long time however for that quietness. A main wash on 30-60 ECO the wash they say wash almost everything on takes over 3 hours for a full load. Our old washing machine took about 45 mins for a 40 degree wash and sounded like a Stomp concert.

      1. Ours is a Bosch and over 10 years old now – the 40 degree wash that I use most takes just over an hour but there is a button to speed it up. Don’t know what it’s like for power usage. It’s not silent but not excessively noisy.

        1. We’re lucky in that area, the RAFA home has two washers and two driers and it’s FREE!

      2. There must be different settings that take it down from three hours. My machine, about five years old, does a wash in 35min.

        1. Probably but it doesn’t have a typical 40 degree wash. I think you can program one from a phone app. Not even looked at that. We put it on overnight anyway. The program is called 30-60 ECO and supposedly the program to use for general washing of clothes. It ‘weighs’ the load, decides if small, medium or full load and has three different timings something like 1,2,3 hours. The stuff comes out impeccably clean. I didn’t even know samsung made washing machines until a couple of months ago. Very happy with it.

        2. OK looking deeper your 35 min wash does so in 35 mins because it uses a lot of energy inefficient agitation. Mine takes 3 hours because it replaces that with energy efficient soaking. I suppose that makes sense and probably a large contributor to its quietness.

  71. I was supposed to start work today.

    My agency has placed me with fedex at huntingdon which is 2 hours each way by public transport my house to fedex door. I got there and they wouldn’t let me work because I didn’t have steel toe-cap boots. Agency never mentioned them. Another wasted day for no earnings. Had to spend 70 quid tonight to buy boots for tomorrow.

    She said scanning of small packages on the phone. The fedex guy says packages up to 100 kilos which is just shy of sixteen stone. I looked up lifting weight limits and would you believe there isn’t one!

      1. That one fell through as it was withdrawn two hours after Andrew Bailey came out and said ‘Sorry the UK will be in recession for at least 5 quarters’.

          1. Yeah interview on I think a Monday evening about 8pm, Got told at 8am the next day they found me very impressive and i could start the following Monday. On the Friday was the MPC meeting. Randomly on Sunday, the day before I was due to start work I checked my emails, something I rarely do unless expecting something, and noticed an email came on the friday 2 hours after the MPC meeting saying sorry recruitment been placed on hold by the executives, many apologies.

            Because of the job situation and my wife’s money disappearing quickly we haven’t stopped arguing at all. It’s been a nightmare but I’ve probably applied for over 100 jobs since being here.

    3. Two hours each way, I don’t envy you that Thay. I should make a complaint to the agency about the boots – doesn’t the company provide them? They should at least be tax deductible.

      1. Sad thing is it’s a twenty-five minute drive and they have ample parking. I miss my car.

    4. There may not be weight limits per se but there are very strict guidelines regarding training and risk assessments and there are recommendations re weight and how to move objects.

    5. That reminds me of when I was training to be an engineering draughtsman back in the late 1980s. The private company that employed me applied for financial assistance from a government-approved training agency. On the first occasion a woman from that agency attended our office to interview me; she asked me all manner of questions about me and my background, which I gave her. She then asked me if there was any equipment that they could provide me with to help in my training. I suggested drawing equipment: technical pens and pencils as well as other sundry items. She hummed and ha’ed for a while before asking me if I’d like some wellies! I reminded her that I worked in a nice waterproof office, which she countered with, “What about when you go out on site and it’s a rainy day?”

      After struggling to keep my face straight I informed her that I would not be required to go out on site, and that some nice technical pens and pencils would be a boon to assist my drawing. She continued on the theme of wellies for some time before disappearing. A few days later a pair of wellies, size 10, appeared. I never got any pens or other items of drawing equipment. I bought a set of Rotring technical pens and pencils from my own pocket!

  72. ‘Notting Hill Carnival should move to HYDE PARK’: Ex-top cops warn festival creates ‘perfect storm’ for violence and should be in a private venue so it is easier to contain – as one reveller is murdered, six stabbed, 209 arrested and 74 officers assaulted
    Ex-Met chief Roy Ramm has said that Notting Hill Carnival always ‘degenerates’ into violence on its final day
    The former commander has told of how ‘drug sellers and gangs’ use event to turn up and ‘mark their territory’
    Met Police Federation chair Ken Marsh also says officers ‘dread’ policing it because of the violence each year
    He has demanded that the carnival is moved to a private venue such as Hyde Park to make policing easier
    Their comments come as a video has emerged of reveller being punched in the face during a brawl at event

    Let’s face it, the damned thing should be stopped.
    Can you imagine the damage that could would be done to Hyde Park?

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11159883/Notting-Hill-Carnage-Thug-punches-woman-face-shocking-video-carnival.html

          1. How about Rwanda then? I hear that the UK government has plenty of unused seats on the flights out there (deportation class)

        1. WE need a Police Force, not a Police Service. The change of name pointed to what we have now.

    3. Imagine the reaction if anything similar happened at Great Snoring Church Fayre.
      Councils – parish, borough, county – Plod, H&S, events insurers plus assorted desk pilots and prod noses would make sure the event never occurred again.

    1. So far, I have managed to exist without listening to a single word this stupid woman has uttered.

      1. I’ve just read that Beyonce called her a diva in her podcast. Cue startled expression from Cringe and Beyonce backtracked and tried to imply ‘diva’ was a compliment.

        FFS

    2. I know how you feel. My principal laptop over the last few years died a few months ago. I bought a replacement from HP, which lasted for around a week. I’m still awaiting a satisfactory resolution. Besides, the absence of a number pad was an unwelcome surprise. Meanwhile, I bought a “renewed” version from Amazon. Renewed my hairy a$$e. It was still locked to the previous user. After a few exchanges via email, I got it working again. Until yesterday, when it said it didn’t have a hard drive. That was resolved by restarting, but it doesn’t help the stress levels…,

      Thankfully, I have alternatives, if needed…

  76. Some Nottlers will know of my extreme scepticism about professional cycle racing – two days ago in the Vuelta Evenepoul pulled out a spectacular lead on a tough climb against the best in the world – a performance variously described as “fantastic”, “amazing”, “unbelievable” etc. Today he beat two of the best time trialists in the world by 48 seconds!! That seems to be pretty much beyond belief, but apparently this is all achieved by legal means? Now, about that bridge I have to sell…

    1. I was one of those who was foolish enough to believe Armstrong was straight, boy was I suckered.

    4. It is not just cycle racing but just about every international sport. It was always so and remains so. Linford Christie went from a ten stone weakling to a muscle bound athlete in a couple of years and many others showed similar musculature which was not natural development in any shape or form.

  78. BBC East Midlands Today

    This is a recycling depot at Calverton in Nottinghamshire. The white waste is thousands of packages containing surplus PPE equipment. The company acquired it in good faith in the hope that it could be reused but a row has blown up over over restrictions on its reuse and the company has dumped it in the open. That has upset the Environment Agency which says it is ‘investigating an illegal storage and treatment operation’ and that it was ‘monitoring the site to ensure the safe removal of material and compliance with existing permits’. The recycling company apparently ‘bought the material with public money’ which seems to be a roundabout way of saying that someone in government paid them to take it off their hands. The Dept of Health said it is always ‘actively pursuing options to sell, donate, repurpose and recycle all our excess stock in the most cost effective way’.

    The report says there are at least 70 similar sites in the country.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d3c49b876ad5462a3ae7f9f403d88c575d68bc9d1b2de531e88db92938327f22.jpg

      1. Maybe the stuff has elastic ties so they can wind up a few windmills.

        Canada beat you to it again. Over here the emergency PPE stocks were thrown out in 2019, someone had not bothered to rotate stock so it was all stale dated.

  79. BBC East Midlands Today

    This is a recycling depot at Calverton in Nottinghamshire. The white waste is thousands of packages containing surplus PPE equipment. The company apparently acquired it in good faith in the hope that it could be reused but a row has blown up over over restrictions on its reuse and the company has dumped it in the open. That has upset the Environment Agency which says it is ‘investigating an illegal storage and treatment operation’ and that it was ‘monitoring the site to ensure the safe removal of material and compliance with existing permits’. The recycling company apparently ‘bought the material with public money’ which seems to be a roundabout way of saying that someone in government paid them to take it off their hands. The Dept of Health said it is always ‘actively pursuing options to sell, donate, repurpose and recycle all our excess stock in the most cost effective way’.

    The report says there are at least 70 similar sites in the country.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d3c49b876ad5462a3ae7f9f403d88c575d68bc9d1b2de531e88db92938327f22.jpg

    1. It’s wicked. But underlines the importance of looking out for one’s own interests and not trusting authority.

    2. I’ve declined any boosters. I’m beginning to worry that I may be one of the last survivors on Earth. Not sure I want the responsibility…

          1. Tell me about it. I haven’t disclosed much of our status here re AZ aftermath. I don’t really want to but I can email you if you wish.

      2. Caroline and I will still be there to keep you company – we have both had Covid very mildly but have never had a single Covid jab. Vitamin D, Vitamin C and Zinc and the wood sawing season will soon be with us to keep me fit.

    3. Stop exercising, that is the solution to the problem.

      At least our doctor is retiring, not dead yet.

  81. Nurse, the screens! I have gone mad. Just heard that wind turbines can be turned into gummy bears and we can eat them.
    I have eaten some wine gums today- or have I? Maybe they are recycled turbines.
    Oh help. Everything is madness.

      1. I’m fine- it’s just when you think you have heard it all, you hear something more insane. I am calmly (?) sipping my Pinot and reflecting on a long but fairly well spent day. New washer and the grocery shop done. Am worn out but don’t want to go to bed too early.
        How are you, little Bro’?
        Bought a sage plant today to add to our little herb garden. Going to spend as much time in the sun tomorrow as I can.

        1. Yo, Ann. I’m fine, thanks. I put the Waitrose growing Basil pot in the garden waste bin this morning. It (together with Mozzarella, tomatoes and home made bread) has served me well. But nothing lasts for ever…Just had my retinopaty screening. All stable, no injections in the last six months. Next appointment in two months…

    3. I saw this on GB News too. I think it was meant to be a joke even if it is not April 1st.

  82. I’m watching “The Queen”.

    It makes me realise just how much I hate Blair and the wrecking crew.

    2. I just saw a photo on the internet of firewood for sale in a hardware store in Germany at 349 euros per cubic metre. Just for comparison, the same ster in the same shop last year was 129 euros…

      2. When we arrived in France in 1989 we bought a cord of oak firewood delivered to our house for 1,000 French Francs.

        A cord = about 3.6 cubic metres

        1,000 French Francs = € 152

        Thus a cubic metre cost 152 divided by 3.6 = 3.6 divided by 1.52 = €42

        So firewood has gone up by 8.3 times in 33 years – Fortunately I coppice and saw our own firewood by hand and have enough to last indefinitely. and it keeps me fit.

    1. One wonders how it would be received if “SAGE” did for the jibjab what they did for Covid.
      Imagine those sour faced morons standing at their lecterns telling the public that the jabs are quite likely to kill more of them that the disease itself.

      1. The obvious lesson of the destructive Covid episode in our lives is that so called medical experts should never be given a platform, a lectern even, to spout their dishonest and disingenuous bullshit under the guise of government authority.

        These medicos should remain in their respective institutions, preferably restricted from referring mad and interested advice to our corrupt politicians. None of their advice was remotely based on science and their ‘nudge’ unit was taken from Orwell or Kafka if you prefer.

        Notwithstanding that the ‘sour faced morons’ were allowed to damage our lives with their nonsensical advice but the real culprits who should bear responsibility for the fiasco of the past two years are Boris Johnson and his crap government. All are boughten stuff, paid by WEF, Soros and Gates.

    4. Whilst attending the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada in 1993 in Toronto, I met Gorbachev in The Royal York Hotel* Victoria – and kissed him on both cheeks …

      *correction

      1. I was wearing a Royal Alfred Yacht Club tie – scarlet tie with a gold motif – a fouled anchor – designed to confuse …

  87. I wanted to stay up but am too tired . Sleep beckons.
    Now I have to worry about potholes in the roads which are because of the war in the Ukraine. Not the councils in England it seems….
    Sleep well y’all.

    1. 355510 + up ticks,

      Morning PM,

      If we could achieve and witness something like that everyday there would be little to fear on this planet.

  89. I’ve just come back from the cinema (Top Gun Maverick – v good)
    I’m not sure how long it is since I went to the cinema, but it was to see Mama Mia – must be ten years

    1. We paid Apple for the Top Gun Maverick film £13.99 but given the complete absence of anything worth watching on other channels we found the film excellent and well crafted. Purchasing means that we can watch again at our leisure.

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