Saturday 10 September: Tears of sadness for a Queen who brought joy to every corner of the globe

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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636 thoughts on “Saturday 10 September: Tears of sadness for a Queen who brought joy to every corner of the globe”

  1. Morning everyone.

    So far as I can tell neither the Telegraph nor the Independent have restricted access at the moment nor I suspect do any others. Making sure that nothing is impeding the establishment message?

    1. The comments on the Mail are heavily censored, I think. No chance for republicans to get their act together, or anyone to point out that a WEF King might be dangerous.

      1. Not heard anything yet from that little git the londun mayor.
        Perhaps we should be grateful for small mercies.

      2. Morning BB. I always go to the Mail Comments to uptick the anti-establishment views. Childish I know but the outrage from the government trolls tickles me!

      3. See Bob Moran’s cartoon which Rik posted above.

        Richard Sk thinks it is a tasteless cartoon to publish at this time but the point Bob Moran makes is worryingly possible. Has Truss signed up to the WEF and is she already a Davos Disciple?

  3. Well as I understand it we are in for a week of mainstream media mourning.

    The upshot is that we wont be hearing any project fear in that time.

  6. Good morning, everyone. Off to Lymington to play in the final of the Ringwood Shield. We won it last year.

      1. She is doing really well. She is more lively than yesterday. She is eating well. At the moment she is lying beside me quietly after greeting me effusively when I returned from bowls (we won the final). She would normally be attached to Mrs D but she comes to me for cuddles (I am a softie).

  7. Further thoughts. Rather than cancelling the proms, a programme of music from around the Commonwealth, sad and happy, might have been appropriate. From Fingal’s Cave to Waltzing Matilda.

    1. We had to turn off the ‘proms’ not for the first time. It sounded like a serious on going train crash.
      We prefer soothing music.

      1. If soothing music is what you are after, Eddy, try Classic FM. For now it is 99% soothing/nostalgic music, no ads and very few voices. Delightful!

  10. 355877+ up ticks

    Morning Each,

    I try not to do sadness but this occasion it is well warranted.,

    Facing reality the Queen gave, as our head of state her best shot, it was well appreciated and in return received a great deal of love and affection.

    The reign of King Charles is yet to unfold if it is in substance anywhere near
    the Queens then we should consider ourselves fortunate indeed.

    Good time to trigger the decent peoples RESET the political tripe is still
    in-house, waiting, the invasion is still very much underway and the same
    parties still receiving support without any move to construct any form of credible opposition.

    So in 1997 endeth a long period of peace, freedom and democracy openly threatened that situation has not changed only via the ballot booth got considerably worse in a very sinister,lethal manner.

        1. A history of the Afghanistan war has recently been shown on BBC.

          Despite the BBC’s great admiration for him, Tony Bliar comes out of it very badly.

      2. Morning 🐘
        He was elected because Heseltine and the other tory bad boys kicked Maggie out and shoved that idiot Major on us.
        Bliar saw and took advantage of the given opportunity lied about just about everything he could (setting a precedent) it was too easy for him.
        He should have been arrested put on trial and jailed for treason.
        Those in charge let us down very badly.

    1. Ha. I think you’ll find, like the bribery and modern day slavery acts, it only applies in the private sector…

      2. That is what one would expect, after all, the vaccines don’t protect you from the virus, therefore it must be the virus, therefore you must be vaccinated against the virus…

      3. Morning 🐘.
        Please excuse repetition (just a minute) but…..
        So far 100 percent of the NHS staff I have spoken to about the jabs causing Afib have agreed. Going back to the original cardiologist over a year ago.
        Most of our family caught covid at the end of our recent holiday in Cornwall. But it was no worse than a bad cold.

          1. Yeah but no but….. I had my cardiology appointment not long after we had returned home from the holiday. I had to show two negative tests. And one more before arrival It was very close indeed. Imagine having waited for over 18 months to have the appointment cancelled at the last minute 🙃 😒

    3. I must make sure my old mate Brucie sees that. When I spoke to him last week he was more concerned with the current cost of vegetables. They’ve had a lot of flooded farm land in the Eastern areas.
      And I wish I could reply to the covid booster chase up the NHS is badgering me about. I’ve already and rightly so told them to get stuffed. But no body seems to be at home…..

    1. The Queen clearly had some health condition for a while, but was still able to meet the two PMs on Tuesday. I would think her condition deteriorated quite suddenly.

      1. It happens in the 90s. Autumn coming on, many months before spring. The same thing happened to my own mother at a similar time of year.

      2. I think she deliberately kept herself going in order to carry out that last duty.
        Looking at her hand, and the distant look in her eyes … she knew.
        We have seen many terminally ill people hang in there until the people they really wished to see had visited.

      3. I hope it’s nothing to do with me talking to a neighbour who showed me the photo of her with the new PM and I said “It doesn’t look like she’s got long” Behind that smile she didn’t look well.

        1. That big bruise on her hand – from a cannula perhaps- and her legs and ankles looked blotchy and swollen. I guess it was heart disease in the end.

  13. ‘Morning, Peeps.  A sensible 13°C here and a damp garden will now allow me to undertake some belated planting.

    Never having looked at the New York Times I was interested in this broadside from the DT:

    The New York Times’ hatred of Britain has gone too far

    The paper’s animus against our country appears partly driven by its decision to recruit hard-Left journalists from the UK

    DOUGLAS MURRAY10 September 2022 • 6:00am

    At times of sorrow, you learn who your friends are. You can also learn who they are not. The outpouring of grief and affection for the late Queen is everywhere in America. On the news of her death, the President and Speaker of the House ordered flags on federal buildings to be lowered to half-mast. Television networks have sombre wall-to-wall coverage. And every living president has paid magnificent tribute to a monarch they admired, revered and clearly loved.

    But there are exceptions. One is the newspaper that used to be called the US “paper of record”: the New York Times.

    In the last six years, the NYT has developed a strange and intense loathing of Britain. There is no writer so obscure that they cannot be drafted in so long as they are going to bash Britain.

    In 2018, the paper brought in an author to claim (on the basis of a brief trip to Lancashire) that Britain was an austerity-reduced wasteland in the process of shutting down. It was filled with so many factual inaccuracies that it should ordinarily never have been published, or if published should have been withdrawn. But the paper of record did not mind. The author ended up saying that although his facts may be wrong his “perception” was correct.

    That same year, the paper ran a culinary review which claimed that the people of Britain until recently survived on boiled mutton and oatmeal. By December of 2018, the NYT was asking people to submit stories to the paper if they had “experienced a petty crime in London”. Given the crime rates – not least the murder rates – in New York, it seemed an odd obsession to have.

    But the fact is that ever since 2016 the NYT has seen our country as the enemy of its own brand of liberal internationalism. Its understanding of the UK is so paper-thin that it connected the Brexit vote with the election that same year of Donald Trump.

    In 2019 it recruited a little known novelist to write a piece titled “Britain is drowning itself in nostalgia”. The author claimed that the country was “poisoned” with “colonial arrogance” and “dreamy jingoism”. Another piece accused Britain of having a “racist heart”. Earlier this week, it used Liz Truss’s arrival in No 10 to attack both her and Margaret Thatcher. And it also published a bizarre new video from an unfunny satirist it has employed whose previous employer was Russia Today.

    And now, on the death of the Queen, how did the NYT choose to respond? By immediately going to a grievance studies professor to write a piece attacking her. The author – one Maya Jasanoff – said: “We should not romanticize her era” and claimed that “the Queen helped obscure a bloody history of decolonization whose proportions and legacies have yet to be adequately acknowledged”. Because, of course, within hours of the news of the death of the monarch, who does not want to bang on about decolonisation?

    Funnily enough, the NYT and a few other poisonous rags show their own ignorance at such moments. The Queen did not “obscure” anything. She was a benevolent presence during difficult times. The reverence that is felt for her in former colonies can be seen in the warmth of the tributes to her from those countries and across the world. If anyone wondered what the attitude towards her in former colonies really is, they can see it in the great success of the Commonwealth, an institution that owes its existence to her support.

    The NYT has an animus against Britain. It seems partly driven by the paper’s decision to recruit otherwise unemployable hard-Left journalists from Britain. But while it is incapable of saying anything pleasant about Britain, this says more about the paper than it ever could about the nation. The fact that the NYT cannot restrain itself from attacking the monarch within hours of her passing is evidence that hatred really can destroy institutions. Just as love and devotion – of the kind the Queen manifested throughout her life – is what is required to build them.

    This BTL appears to speak for the majority of posters:

    Leslie Kaye42 MIN AGO

    The Woke left have constructed a cartoon world narrative to fit their divisive and dangerous ideology.

    No country can be entirely proud of its history however the British Empire was essentially a trading organisation. It ended local wars, brought trade, education, jobs, roads and railways, rule of law, the institutions of democracy, the modern medicines and farming practices of the time, a religion preaching love and ended slavery on a third of the planet. That is not a bad history.

    There are no Commonwealth countries that were a better place to live before the Empire and a good few of them especially in Africa that are not a better place now.

    1. The NYT has been taken over by the Wokies. Even its Editor quit last year because she recieved no backing in tackling them!

      2. I suggest the takeover started earlier. After all, in 2012, the bBC DG Mark Thompson left the bBC and walked straight into a CEO position to help the NYT set up it’s digital edition. No doubt passing on ‘skills’ utilised by our taxpayer-funded state broadcaster, tricks of which we are all too familiar.

        1. It’s quite shocking that the DG of our national broadcaster clearly had such anti-British views. He then clearly took them across the pond to spread his poison to our American cousins.

    2. Reminds me of Dickens being taught to Soviet era children as an accurate portrait of C20 Britain.

      1. Our boxer, Rumpole, had a docked tail – as most boxers did thirty years ago. This happened soon after he was born and before he came to us.

        Corgis are another breed where the tails are docked and indeed the cartoon shows docked tails.

        I wonder what the Palace’s view on this matter are and were?

    3. I love Bob’s work he seems to have a hatred for our royals. That one of the Queen at the Jubilee time was very cruel. This is mistimed.

  16. Good morning all.
    A damp, dull Derbyshire this morning. Light rain at the moment, with 10½°C outside.

    1. Remember she was Queen long before Truss was born so from her perspective it’s a bit different from those of us who were here in an earlier time.

      1. 355877+ up ticks,
        N,
        By the same token there are very daily explicit recordings to show the difference,
        then /now to make a judgement.

        We had then decent murderers haig the acid bath chap, gullible old ladies took a bath, blazing headline news,

        currently it would be taken as “norm”

        TIC.

      1. 355877+ up ticks,

        Morning BB2,
        I do tend to see it as staining the fabric of the Queens reign
        somewhat.

        Certainly questionable regarding these past 40 years.

        1. Same here, ogga. I do admire many aspects of her character, and her self-discipline in an era of letting it all hang out was inspirational – but her husband, son and grandson appear to be fully committed to undemocratic one world government by an elite – including themselves, naturally.

  18. Why even Vladimir Putin has paid tribute to the Queen. Mark Galleotti. 10 September 2022

    In part, this is because even propagandists sometimes know where to draw the line. Yet it also reflects the strange Anglophilia still strikingly present in Russia. In some ways, this manifests itself as a kind of Anglophobia, a continuing (and arguably quite heartening) belief that the United Kingdom remains Russia’s most subtle and devious foe, a view that even pre-dates the machinations of the nineteenth century’s ‘Great Game’ over Persia, India, and Afghanistan. I remember a conversation with a hardline Russian thinktanker who was holding forth over how Ukraine’s 2014 ‘Revolution of Dignity’ was all actually a CIA coup when he stopped and added, ‘but it was probably MI6’s idea in the first place.’ In this perfidious view, America has the money and the muscle, but Britain the brains.

    This denial of what is an absolute truth about the Revolution of Dignity (itself an Orwellism) confirms my view that Galeotti is a paid agent provocateur of the Intelligence Services. There can surely be no doubt in any serious person’s mind that the Maidan Revolutin was engineered by the CIA. How he reconciles himself to the purveying of Lies and Propaganda that may well lead to the deaths of millions I do not understand, but it is not at all unusual. Luke Harding in the Guardian. Con Coughlin at the Telegraph. Simpson at the BBC. Edward Lucas in the Times. All fulfil similar functions.

    This placing of prominent goverment shills in the MSM probably dates from the Vietnam War where the media were thought to be responsible for the American defeat. A self-serving conclusion if ever there were one. That it is a fallacy is belied by the results. Despite having almost complete control of the MSM the Wars waged since have all proved utter disasters; not simply for those unfortunates on the receiving end of our military technology but also for ourselves. The “soldiers” who debouch from their landing craft in the Channel everyday do not need weapons. They are the weapons!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-even-vladimir-putin-is-mourning-for-the-queen

    1. The Royal family has close connections with the Romanovs. And Putin appears to be intent on establishing a new dynasty. Are there parallels with Franco’s regeneration of the Spanish royal family?

  19. I think that the King put Brash and Trash gently but very firmly in their place.

    With the Cambridges being renamed, I can imagine Trash going berserk – telling Brash that, “The ONLY Princess of Wales is your mother, Hairy – how very dare that awful man do this to you…”

    Yet another nice tribute in France with the Tricolor being at half-mast over the Elysée.

      2. I wonder how much longer Harry will stick it out.

        With the death of his grandmother, Harry has never looked so alone

        Last to arrive at Balmoral and first to leave, the Duke’s separation from the Firm appears complete

        By Camilla Tominey, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
        10 September 2022 • 6:00am

        https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/royal-family/2022/09/09/TELEMMGLPICT000308589816_1_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqp2ZybuEUAsPqEOEA7eklbKXqiRrGtYI-K9GGca5TxuU.jpeg?imwidth=680
        Prince Harry cut a lonely and forlorn figure as he left Balmoral on Friday morning

        https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2022/09/10/death-grandmother-harry-has-never-looked-alone/

        2. I feel deeply sorry for him.
          Regardless of intellect, hot headedness etc… he is in the most terrible bind.
          The Black Widow Spider has neatly pushed out a couple of hostages/insurance policies to exert an even greater level of blackmail.

    2. I understood him to have said, they have chosen to make a life away from the establishment, so please stay away.

      1. That’s what I heard. No Royal bawbees for you, Harry, old mate. Not after your wife pissed all over your family and Grandmother.

    3. I liked they way that King Brian referred to the USA not by name but as ‘overseas’. Trash needs reminding that she is lucky to live in a former colony.

      A new word has temporarily entered the English language, ‘Quing’. The majority of the congregation in St Paul’s yesterday evening could be heard to be singing “God save our gracious Quing…etc.” as they corrected themselves in mid-word from “Queen” to “King.”

      Well done the French.

    4. They are all getting it wrong. The Union flag comes down to half staff at the death of the monarch. The following day it goes back to the top for King Charles then it comes down to half staff for the period of mourning. Sheesh!

      1. This is yer France, matey. Yesterday. Now just stand patiently in the queue to board. No shoving.

      2. Up for two days, Pip (Proclamation Day and PD + 1), so that the Proclamation can take place in several places.

  20. From NRK: There is a lot of concern about the Russian-occupied (since February) atomic powerplant at Zaporitchja in Ukraine, after rocket attacks on the electricity supplies from the electrical grid (the plant needs power for control and cooling – but the heating doesn’t go off if the reactor is shut down…).
    Question: Who would shoot at an atomic plant occupied by the Russians? Surely not the Russians… so who else might it be? And the MSM shills trumpet this as a dastardly act by the Russians – who, incidentally, know how to run atomic powerplant, and very likely sold this one to the Ukes.
    Bah! Nowt but lies.
    IAEA: Situasjonen ved Zaporizjzja-kraftverket stadig mer prekær Situasjonen ved det russisk-okkuperte atomkraftverket Zaporizjzja er stadig mer ustabil, melder IAEA-ekspertene på stedet. Kraftverket har ikke lenger strøm utenfra til driften og til å kjøle ned reaktorer og brukt brensel etter et rakettangrep mot et elektrisk anlegg i byen Enerhodar, sier ekspertene, og pågående kamper gjør det umulig å reparere kraftledningen.

    Det innebærer at driften og nedkjølingen er avhengig av den eneste av de seks reaktorene som fortsatt er i drift. Ukrainske myndigheter vurderer å stanse også den på grunn av kamper i nærheten, og da blir anlegget helt avhengig av dieselgeneratorer.

    Anlegget har nok dieselolje for ti dagers drift, men deretter blir det vanskelig å skaffe mer på grunn av kampene, og andre reserveløsninger fins ikke.

    – Dette er en uholdbar situasjon, og den er i ferd med å bli stadig mer prekær, sier IAEA-sjef Rafael Grossi og krever øyeblikkelig stans i kamphandlingene og innføring av en demilitarisert sone rundt kjernekraftverket for å hindre en strålingskatastrofe.

    Kraftverket ble okkupert av russiske styrker kort etter invasjonen av Ukraina i februar, og bekymringen har siden stadig økt etter hvert som kamphandlingene rundt kraftverket har økt. Begge parter skylder på hverandre for rakett- og artilleriangrep i området.

    2. From Google Translate:-

      IAEA: Situation at Zaporizhzhya power plant increasingly precarious The situation at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant is increasingly unstable, IAEA experts at the scene report. The power plant no longer has outside power to operate and to cool reactors and spent fuel after a rocket attack on an electrical plant in the city of Enerhodar, experts say, and ongoing fighting makes it impossible to repair the power line. This means that the operation and cooling are dependent on the only one of the six reactors still in operation. Ukrainian authorities are considering stopping it as well because of nearby fighting, and then the plant becomes completely dependent on diesel generators.

      The plant has enough diesel oil for ten days of operation, but then it becomes difficult to obtain more due to the fighting, and other backup solutions do not exist. “This is an untenable situation, and it is becoming increasingly precarious,” said IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities and the introduction of a demilitarized zone around the nuclear power plant to prevent a radiation disaster. The power plant was occupied by Russian forces shortly after the invasion of Ukraine in February, and concern has since steadily increased as fighting around the power plant has increased. Both sides blame each other for rocket and artillery attacks in the area.

  21. Oh well here I go into the kitchen, for bacon and egg sarnie in home baked bread.
    Don’t you feel sorry for me ? 🤩

    And daddies sauce Obs

    2. It’s amazing how sketches and cartoons speak deeper than photographs.
      That’s the third to make me well up.

  24. 355877+ up ticks,

    Now there’s a question that begs an answer,

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    9h
    The words that matter will be those of his Coronation Oath. Will they be the traditional ones, or will they be changed in line with our ‘modern, inclusive, multicultural society’?

    https://gettr.com/post/p1qb37zabee

    1. June 1953

      “Madam, is your Majesty willing to take the Oath?

      And the Queen answering,

      I am willing.

      The Archbishop shall minister these questions; and The Queen, having a book in her hands, shall answer each question severally as follows:

      Archbishop. Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the Peoples of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon, and of your Possessions and the other Territories to any of them belonging or pertaining, according to their respective laws and customs?

      Queen. I solemnly promise so to do.

      Archbishop. Will you to your power cause Law and Justice, in Mercy, to be executed in all your judgements?

      Queen. I will.

      Archbishop. Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel? Will you to the utmost of your power maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law? Will you maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof, as by law established in England? And will you preserve unto the Bishops and Clergy of England, and to the Churches there committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges, as by law do or shall appertain to them or any of them?

      Queen. All this I promise to do.

      Then the Queen arising out of her Chair, supported as before, the Sword of State being carried before her, shall go to the Altar, and make her solemn Oath in the sight of all the people to observe the premisses: laying her right hand upon the Holy Gospel in the great Bible (which was before carried in the procession and is now brought from the Altar by the Arch-bishop, and tendered to her as she kneels upon the steps), and saying these words:

      The things which I have here before promised, I will perform and keep. So help me God.

      Then the Queen shall kiss the Book and sign the Oath.

      The Queen having thus taken her Oath shall return again to her Chair, and the Bible shall be delivered to the Dean of Westminster.

    2. There will be some changes, due to the changes from the Empire to the Commonwealth, and the fact there are now no Possessions or Territories.

      I think otherwise he will follow his mother’s example and take the oath.

  25. New Met chief boosts ‘line of duty’ unit to root out prejudice and corruption. 10 September 2022.

    Mark Rowley starts on Monday and will launch a 100-day plan to turn Britain’s biggest force around after it became mired in repeated crises and was humiliatingly judged to be so poor it was placed into special measures by the official inspectorate.

    He replaces Cressida Dick, who was ousted in February with the Met facing demands from government and the London mayor to radically reform and drop its defensiveness.

    Rowley aims to increase the proportion of crimes the Met solves and boost the number of officers in local neighbourhoods to build relations. He is seeking to lift public confidence, which crashed in the last five years under Dick.

    The big drive against prejudiced and corrupt officers will see a boost of more than 30% in the number of investigators in the Met’s own “line of duty unit”, known as the directorate of professional standards (DPS).

    One assumes that there will be the correct number of persons with breasts and ethnic minorities among them. This is simply a distraction. This organisation is riddled with Cultural Marxist doctrine and believers. The only way to save it is to shut it down and build an entirely new one free of Wokism. Whether even this is any longer possible is a moot point.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/10/new-met-chief-boosts-line-of-duty-unit-to-root-out-prejudice-and-corruption-mark-rowley

    1. They clearly did nothing to root out people like Wayne Cousins until he actually murdered poor Sarah. They knew he was a pervert.

      1. What about a new “unit” to root out CRIME….?

        Sorry – it’s the tablets; they make me say silly things…..

        1. For the police to begin its real job of rooting out crime, it must first root out the corruption within its own ranks.
          And that means not only criminal corruption, but political corruption where every senior position has been taken over by Common Purpose apparatchiks.

    3. Morning, all;

      What is needed is real leadership and the de-politicisation of the Met. That probably holds good for all police services forces. Prancing pride promoting police personnel must be eradicated and all of those rainbow vehicles resprayed and made to look like effective police cars. Sadly, hoping for real improvement will be a lost cause similar to the hope that the cessation of the Channel invasion will start under Truss’s government.

      1. Morning Korky. They’ve spent twenty years Wokifying all UK governmental institutions, and which are all now unfit for purpose. They dare not even admit this to themselves so the possibility of rectifying the situation, slim in itself, is almost impossible. Only total collapse, can,as in the Soviet Union, offer the possibility of renewal!

    4. That’s all this country (does not) need at this time and place in our history and current situation.
      Another Dopey Wokey copper in charge.

  27. Those familiar with my rants will know that I do not have any time for Untrussworthy.

    However, I have a smidgeon of sympathy for her. In her wildest dreams, she could not have imagine what would hit her on Day Three. She seems to have coped so far.

    1. Even Nigel Farage, who was deeply cynical about both Prince Charles (as he was) and Adultera Truss, thinks they both coped pretty well.

    3. I did wonder as I watched the service of thanksgiving in St Paul’s yesterday, how much time any of the people having to make a statement had time to prepare/write it. Prince Charles could have been preparing for the occasion for longer than others, knowing that sooner or later he would have to make such a speech, but who else knew whether they would be inoffice or not. I was started off in my ponderings wondering if the choir had just rehearsed everything in the morning as they would for a normal evensong.

  28. Technical question. With a website called “12ft ladder”, one can see some parts of the DT otherwise excluded for want of a subscription. Though often NOT the current day. However, one still cannot see the BTL comments.

    Does anyone know a way round this?

        1. I fell off a step-ladder last week while trimming a tall hedge. Surprisingly, no damage done, apart from banging my head on the ground and grazing it – I landed on my back. My children immediately ordered me never to climb a ladder again. I will ignore their instructions (it wasn’t my age, it was being careless and the ladder is a bit rickety – the step-ladder will be replaced).

          3. The gardener at Sandringham was using a ladder like that when he was trimming a hedge. I need to save up and get one so I can reach the top of mine and trim it.

  29. Of course the sad death of The Queen has led to a change in the royal pecking order. Prince Harry and Migraine’s children are now entitled to call themselves Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

    It will be interesting to see which is more important to Migraine : her desire to rubbish, insult and attack the Royal Family or her avaricious lust to exploit the new titles of her children!

    1. The Black Widow Spider will want to have her cake and eat it.
      I think she may find her father-in-law less sympathetic to the idea.
      We get the impression that Charles III Has Had Enough.

          1. I think that it is a key moment for her. If she restarts her vicious attacks too soon after the death of our Queen, so much loved both in UK and the US, she will find she will be finished.

          2. I think she is finished now! She threw away every bit of sympathy she may have garnered, and is left looking like the gold-digging trollop she is.

          1. Kate stayed at home so she could be with the children; great-granny had died and it was their first day at a new school.
            Good timing and good taste.
            And also meant the BWS could be barred for a reason that could not be attributed to “racism”. Not that that will stop her.

      2. When they are old enough Meagain will be hawking them around europe going after the old money and castles.

  30. Good Moaning.
    And yes, I am going to moan.
    We are fed up with companies that don’t answer emails (do they WANT the effing business????) and solicitors who seem determined to throw legalistic caltrops under our feet.
    Ho hum – back to the packing cases.

      1. The other side’s; no surprise and we realise they have to be thorough – but still bloody irritating.

    2. I feel your pain – trying to sort out my late mother-in-law’s estate has been a nightmare of jobworths demanding ever more detail – almost always it’s the small amounts that require most input! Doom on them all.

    3. I feel your pain – trying to sort out my late mother-in-law’s estate has been a nightmare of jobworths demanding ever more detail – almost always it’s the small amounts that require most input! Doom on them all.

    5. I don’t have it available but there is a website where company directors are listed. Get stuck in.
      I hope your move runs smoothly.

    6. “Caltrop”….?

      What a fantastic new word for me to add to my vocabulary? I will henceforth employ it al every opportunity!

      Thanks Anne. x

    7. ‘Morning, Anne, our beech tree is shedding beech-mast all over the place and they are like many, mini caltrops, especially on conctrete, the steps and the ramp

    2. One omission: John Major.

      Perhaps he had an Old Times’ Sake Reunion session with Ms Currie and did not get there in time for the photo.

      (Starmer and Millipede only dream of joining the wrecking crew so I don’t know why they are in the picture.)

        1. You may be right – he certainly deserves to be there as he did so much to undo the good that Thatcher had done.

        2. You may be right – he certainly deserves to be there as he did so much to undo the good that Thatcher had done.

      3. John Major was there, looking old, and baggy about the face. His suit was baggy as well and may have seen better days before he bought it from a charity shop.
        Why do these politicians not dress carefully? We have had a string of poorly turned out politicians.
        Oh, and David Cameron had his hands in his pockets, standing in the Throne Room.

  32. A masked machete gang storming an 18th birthday party in a church, a brawl between 100 youths, and a straight-A student’s life bleeding away in the road… Paul Bracchi investigates the brutal murder of Shea Gordon, 17, on the streets of lawless London

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11198511/PAUL-BRACCHI-investigates-brutal-murder-Shea-Gordon-17-streets-lawless-London.html#newcomment

    BTL Comment

    After the brutal murder of Julius Caesar in Shakespeare’s play Antony warns of a time when violence becomes such a normal part of life that we just accept it:

    “Blood and destruction shall be so in use
    And dreadful objects so familiar
    That mothers shall but smile when they behold
    Their infants quarter’d with the hands of war;
    All pity choked with custom of fell deeds”

    1. As Basil Faulty said “Don’t mention the war”! …….”I think I got away with it.”
      But nobody seems to have the commonsense or commitment to do anything about it. Since stop and search was deemed as racist. The knife crime had increased. The answer is obvious but our Wokey police are not interested.
      They are do nothing diddlers.

  34. “We do have, I think, a potentially game-changing opportunity to drive forward the partnerships between government, business and private sector finance that are absolutely vital if we are to win the battle to combat climate change and biodiversity loss,” Charles said.

    “Unless we can actually unlock private sector resource, innovation and finance, with the public sector setting a framework of incentives and regulation, we just don’t stand a chance of solving the existential crises…”

    https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uks-prince-charles-meets-ceos-campaign-more-sustainable-economy-2021-06-10/

    This is an explicitly anti-democratic call to policies being set by an unelected elite by our new head of state.
    I understand why people are saying they want to wait and see, but my view is that we’ve seen enough, and Charles is a political extremist who will use his position behind the scenes to steer Britain in the direction that he explicitly describes above.

    1. This was before he became head of state – I think he will have to shut up now – they all know his views.

        1. In his speech he said that he would no longer have so much time for the ‘charities and issues that mean so much to me’. I think he will follow his mother’s example and keep quiet – everyone knows what he thinks and he doesn’t need to spell it out.

          Biodiversity loss is one thing – but climate change is not the cause of its demise.

          1. Biodiversity loss is hastened by the building of lots of housing on former farmland together with the felling of trees and the grubbing up of hedgerows.

      2. It was in 2021, and in 2022, he gave a speech at the WEF.
        I do not believe for a moment that he will give up his activism – he will merely tone down its public face.

  37. EXCLUSIVE: Royal beekeeper has informed the Queen’s bees that the Queen has died and King Charles is their new boss in bizarre tradition dating back centuries
    Royal beekeeper John Chapple has notified the palace hive of the Queen’s death
    He told the bees that King Charles is their new boss and urged them to be good
    The centuries-old traditon is rooted in superstition about honey production
    Full coverage: Click here to see all our coverage of the Queen’s passing

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11199259/Royal-beekeeper-informed-Queens-bees-HM-died-King-Charles-new-boss.html

    1. I thought that piece came over as being written by some sneering little smartypants with no respect for tradition!
      That’s why I can’t take the media seriously when they talk about anything being “Great British…”
      They have no respect for or understanding of what made Britain great.

      1. In fact, BB2, Great Britain is a geographical concept, that identifies the mainland and the surrounding islands as opposed to The British Isles which, much to their chagrin, includes the island of Ireland.

    5. That tradition is intended to make you go and check on your bees pretty regularly, but not so often taht it pisses them off and they swarm and bugger off to live somewhere else.

  38. I’m not sure if any Nottlers follow the Vuelta, but if you are trying to watch the highlights on Quest you need the patience of a saint. One day this week the coverage just didn’t happen, another night it was scheduled from 1900 to 2000 but vanished with no warning at 1930 in favour of an unrelated programme and last night it was only scheduled to 1930 which left no time for comment or a look at the next day’s route. Truly awful, and some of the commentary is dire too!

    1. The Tour of Britain final stage was cancelled, ironically because the reign ended and the son appeared.

    2. You do. I’m not sure that the broadcasters treat it as being of much importance. The studio “discussion” is to be avoided as inane and no use to understanding or following the race.
      I keep reminding myself that TV programmes are primarily billboards on which to hang adverts.

    3. Fear not, I’m in Spain atm and tried to watch a bit on telly yesterday during la siesta – terrible coverage

  39. The Entente Cordiale continues.

    The French BFMTV carried the whole Privy Council meeting and the Proclamation live…..

    Untrussworthy should grasp this opportunity to re-establish a better relationship with our neighbour.

    1. Truss could tell them that if they don’t stop mucking us about she will put 100% tariffs on all imported French products. We are one of their larger markets after all. Oh and say bof to them every time they whinge.

      1. Better still – she could have one Border Farce booth for furriners and ten for British passport holders. Oh, and say that ID cards are not acceptable and they’ll need visas, too.

        1. Don’t they do that to us already? I know the visas are coming next year if you want to enter France from outside the EU.

          Truss needs to play hardball with them and stop pretending the French government are our friends. They are not !

          1. Yes – do keep up. I am saying that WE should impose our rules on the EUSSR and its people wanting to come to the UK.

    1. What did we do to be governed by such dimwits? It always goes the same way – one stupid decision after all, all seemingly for the right reasons, but combining together to force an inflexible, unworkable agenda that should be abandoned.

    2. China and India buy it, process it, and sell it on to “the West”. Is the USA proposing to confiscate all gold reserves held in US safe-keeping, confiscate steal assets and sanction the whole of the EU and the UK?

      1. Not sure they know what they’re doing.
        Unless the plan is just to crash the US economy to make way for Biden Bucks (executive order already signed…)

    1. Yes, the Coldstream Guards have done well since 1670, just over 350 years if my arithmetic is correct.

      1. Te regiment in which I would have done my National Service – had it not been abolished 16 days before I would have been called up!

        1. MB also missed National Service by a whisker.
          He was rather peed off; his mother was very possessive of her only child and it would have given him the chance to leave home without the usual dramatics (including fake suicides).

        1. Nah! Not for the NCOs and Other Ranks, More likely a 5 minute bollocking and half an hour being beasted round the square.

  42. Just a thought:
    Charles could do Harry an enormous favour and remove all his titles and those of Meghan, and the children. There might be a temporary outpouring of sympathy/accusations of racism but once the furore died down Meghan would probably lose all interest in the three of them and he might get custody in the event of a divorce.

    She’ll get riches beyond the dreams of avarice and he’ll get happiness, the opportunity to return and the chance to rehabilitate within the UK.

    The King could ameliorate some problems by doing similarly with all bar those in direct line of succession.

    Judging by the recent body-language, I don’t see the marriage lasting, even for the sake of the children who are merely a weapon in her arsenal. Reverting them all to ordinary citizens would make them less attractive to sponsors etc.

  43. BBC coverage was all right in parts. However, Sophie Raworth, amongst others, does not seem to know the difference between the Mayor of London, and the Lord Mayor of (the City of) London. Oh, and it is “St James’s Palace”.

    1. It is quite grammatically correct when identifying possession by one whose name ends in s, e.g., Jesus’ disciples and, of course, St James’ Palace and Charles’ accession.

          1. Language changes over time. And certain usages are honoured. Quirks, even. We are an eccentric bunch, we British.

  46. Yay … Yay … and thrice Yay …..
    The dining chairs have gone to a good home.
    Via Freecycle, they have gone to a chap who was furnishing his flat after a marriage break-up.
    It was never about the money, it was about waste; sheer bloody waste of good quality furniture because some blasted computer and its po-faced bureaucratic operative said “no”.
    On the one hand we are lectured for daring to exist – let alone consume any goods; on the other hand, every bloody obstruction possible is put in the way to stop frugality actually happening!!!
    (End of Rant.)

    1. Some of he freeglers are a bit odd. I was giving away a 5ft high fridge as stated in the ad. Chap arrives with small hatchback and says, oh it looks a bit big for the car. Fortunately my neighbour wants it.

      1. I went on freecycle and i saw someone locally wanted some paving slabs. I had some left over and said they could have them. They asked me to bring them round. On Nelly your not! Rearrange as appropriate. Bloody cheek.

    2. We actually managed to sell the dining room furniture but resorted to giving away barely used bedroom furniture.

      We haven’t thrown away too much good stuff yet but we have a wall made from boxes of books that could well be a gift too far.

      Even so, I am now on a first name basis with the guardians of our local tip / recycling centre.

    3. I put a fridge in the paper advertising it as free – no answers so I stuck it in the front garden with a tag of £10 on it. The next morning it had gone

    3. This has jogged my memory. Yesterday afternoon on BBC Essex the female presenter was waffling and said “…King George III”, instead of King Charles III. After this gaffe and some music she waffled again and correctly mentioned King Charles III but compounded her earlier gaffe by stating that he was accompanied by the Queen. His wife, Camilla is Queen Consort. How far the once mighty BBC has fallen.

      1. These bloody journalists don’t know when to stop. It’s all about them, all the time.
        Some peaceful silence and purposeful reflection would be a treat.

      3. IIRC, Charles some years ago mentioned in a TV interview about not using Charles III as his regnal title because of its unfortunate connotations, but possibly use George instead. Hence the presenter might have been inadvertently correct. As it turns out Charles seems to have changed his mind or at least forgotten that interview.

      9. 355877+ up ticks,

        KtK,
        Could a “penis of politico’s” strike a chord, not that I have tried playing the piano with it.

  49. Joe Biden planning to attend Queen’s funeral – but Vladimir Putin not expected after sending note to King Charles. 10 September 2022.

    The death of Queen Elizabeth II has sparked an outpouring of tributes from around the globe, and while details of her funeral are yet to be announced, some world leaders have already announced whether they plan to attend.

    Well I’m doubly disappointed there. Vlad strutting round like a fox in a henhouse would have been a treat to see. Biden? Will even he know he’s there?

    https://news.sky.com/story/joe-biden-planning-to-attend-queens-funeral-but-vladimir-putin-not-expected-after-sending-note-to-king-charles-12693970

    1. I wonder what the carbon footprint will be for all the toing’s and froing’s of “the great and the good”?

        1. Nor do private helicopters. We often have them flying over our house making the journey from Luton to London. The wealthy are innocent in their own eyes.

      1. I have found it very difficult to understand how Liz Truss met the Queen and stood opposite her to acknowledge, speak and shake hands with her. HMQ was frail and her hands were recognisably bruised. But for the dear old lady to go away and lay down and die the very next day…… To me it really doesn’t seem possible.

        1. I think she has had a serious health issue for some time which was, quite rightly, private. She hung on as long as she could and worked to the very end.
          Re the mobility issue….in recent months she has always been pictured standing. I suspect that if she sat down she had difficulty in standing up again, without help, which would have offended her dignity.

          3. Because she always wore flesh coloured stockings, I’d noticed for several years that her legs didn’t have a healthy look to them. But she was in her 90s, so hardly surprising.
            Both MB and I remarked on her distant look when she met LT; we’ve seen that look on too many people – there but not there, if you get my meaning. They are already signing out.

          4. Probably a broken heart. Her constant grieving for Philip was readily apparent. I’m surprised she lasted so long.

          9. I understand that since that appalling photo of Princess Margaret in a wheelchair, the Queen adamantly refused to be shown in one.
            Very understandable; it would signal a crippled monarchy.

        2. I think the PM may have been briefed on the increasingly frail state of the late Queen before she met her and realised that appointing her as PM would be Her Majesty’s last public duty.

          3. It is a relief to me that that person is no longer PM. Truss handled the last few days with tact and decorum.

        3. I wonder if the Queen was already bedridden when she received Truss. It wouldn’t make for good photos and the pic issued was definitely photoshopped. It wasn’t even done well.

          1. I didn’t notice the meeting had been photo shopped Sue. I’m sure you are right.
            But something didn’t seem seem right somehow.
            It it seems it wasn’t.
            I had so much respect for that lady.
            Except for the period when she had the over exaggerated accent. 🤔

    2. There’s a lot of hope for Truss but until there’s a real change of attitude away from socialist borrow and waste and toward just not taking and wasting it in the first place I don’t hold much hope.

      Until contracts for difference are unravelled – and their creators removed from government – we’re still stuck with a rigged markey.

      1. There must have been George VI era coins and notes still in circulation when we were young? Having been born in the mid 50s, my memory of it is very vague.

        2. There were Queen Victoria coins still in circulation right up to decimalisation and, before the new, smaller 5 & 10 pence coins, GKVI shillings & florins were also common.

          3. My mother used to put silver Joeys in the Christmas Pudding when I was a child. At the end of the meal she bought them back for a tanner so we thought we had made a good deal and she could use them again the following year.

          5. No, half crowns were taken out of circulation in the run up to decimalisation and demonetised on 1 January 1970.

          1. I had a bun florin (it had a portrait of Queen Victoria as a young woman on it) as a child. I carefully put it away in my sock drawer, but my mother rifled my drawers, found it and spent it 🙁 No wonder my mother and I didn’t get on.

        1. Might be legal tender but I have been caught out several times by my bank selling me sterling notes that are no longer in circulation.

          Nothing beats arriving at Heathrow and being told that I must take it to my bank to exchange it for new money.

          1. I went to France for the first time in 1965 and I had Scottish bank notes. Useless in England (I passed through en route to Dover) but happily accepted in France.

          2. I have been buggered about by banks in UK with travel vouchers. Stopped getting them and switched to cash- easier.

      3. New banknotes will be needed shortly anyway, an extra zero will need to be added to them all to cater for inflation.

        2. Our least politically active, least interested in politics, most financially unaware person piped up with ‘receptionist salaries havne’t really changed.’

          What we’re paid for what we earn is hilariously behind the cost of living.

    3. Some of the naysayers over here are already saying that the monarch does not have to appear on our currency.

      It’s a bloody disgraceful anti monarchist shitshow at the moment, led by Trudeaus lapdog media outlet the cbc.

      1. Is anyone saying they are pro-monarchist, but draw the line at a WEF member?
        At least you’re having the debate.

    4. Why do coins have to be changed? When I were nobbut a sprog I had farthings, ha’pennies, pennies, threepenny bits, tanners, bobs, florins and half-crowns in my pocket (and money box) from the reigns of Victoria, Edward VII, George V, George VI and Elizabeth II. They were all still legal tender.

          1. OK, I rephrase, the DESIGN of the new coinage, minted to be put into circulation for next year will be redesigned to shew the new king’s head.
            Coinage currently in circulation will remain legal tender as it is now.

      2. Thery will not be changed only new issues ( all exsisting stock will be issued) Post boxes will not be changed only new and replacements.

          11. There can’t be many of that type left in the country.
            So many old postboxes and telephone booths have been removed in the last few years. Replced (if at all) by lifeless functional constructions.

      3. You had all that did you? Not such a poor Northerner after all. I had no use for a money box. Or pockets come to that. :@(

      1. I hope you’re wrong, if King Charles can build on her legacy, encourage the Commonwealth and stay away from the political aspects, there is hope yet.

  54. Sir Lindsay Hoyle has just sworn the Oath of Allegiance.

    Thank heavens that John Bercow has long since toddled off.

    I enjoyed watching the Witch of the North affixing her monica to The Proclamation at St James’s Palace this morning.

      2. Witch of the North = Sturgeon N.

        MONICA, MONIKER, monicker, monnicker, monekeer, monniker, monekeur, monneker, monoger, monekur, monocker. Not, as one might be forgiven for thinking, the cry of a president in ecstasy, but slang variants for a name or nickname.

  55. Trawling through the internet the other day to locate the Oath of allegiance to the Crown that all new police constables have to swear, I discovered this:

    “I do solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm that I will well and truly serve the Queen in the office of constable, with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality, upholding fundamental human rights and according equal respect to all people; and that I will, to the best of my power, cause the peace to be kept and preserved and prevent all offences against people and property; and that while I continue to hold the said office I will, to the best of my skill and knowledge, discharge all the duties thereof faithfully according to law.”

    I was consequently puzzled since, although I recognised much of it, a lot of it didn’t ring true. I was later put out of my misery by a former police colleague who explained that this version of the Oath was only implemented in 2002. The old Oath, which I swore back in 1973, commenced with the recruited constable having to state his name and place of serving:

    “I, Alan George Barstow of Derbyshire Constabulary, do solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm that I will well and truly serve Our Sovereign Lady the Queen in the office of constable, without favour or affection, malice or ill will; and that I will, to the best of my power, cause the peace to be kept and preserved, and prevent all offences against the persons and properties of Her Majesty’s subjects; and that while I continue to hold the said office I will, to the best of my skill and knowledge, discharge all the duties thereof faithfully according to law.”

    This former Oath, which had served a good purpose since 1829, made no mention of ‘woke’ rubbish such as “upholding fundamental human rights”. I prefer the original, which are precisely the words I would use if I had to go through it again.

  56. The fall of Los Angeles. Spiked. 10 September 2022.

    For much of the 20th century, Los Angeles symbolised the future. Over the course of the century, the population grew 40-fold to nearly four million people.

    But now, for the first time in its history, the population of Los Angeles is in decline, falling by 204,000 between July 2020 and July 2021. LA was once a magnet for investors. But recently many of the area’s corporate linchpins – including aerospace giant Northrop Grumman, Occidental Petroleum and Hilton Hotels – have left, taking with them high-paying jobs and philanthropic resources.

    Worse still, conditions in LA today are bordering on the medieval. Anyone visiting some of the most famous districts of urban Los Angeles – notably downtown, Hollywood and Venice Beach – sees clear signs of destitution, including sprawling homeless encampments, vast numbers of people living in vehicles and rampant crime. Last year, a UN official compared conditions on LA’s Skid Row, a poor downtown neighbourhood, to those of Syrian refugee camps. Smash-and-grab thefts at local 7-Elevens and the persistent theft of goods from railyards suggest this is a city that has lost control to the modern version of lawless highwaymen.

    The Golden State no longer. This is the inevitable result of importing vast numbers of Third World Immigrants with no skills or interest in the country’s future. Like the UK’s Channel Hoppers they have moved to simply sponge off the system. You can always accommodate small numbers but when they pass a certain threshold it becomes unsustainable. This is what the UK will look like in ten years.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/09/10/the-fall-of-los-angeles/

    2. Democrat/Left wing policies haven’t helped, Cops won’t turn up for less than $1000 of shoplifting no matter how much solid evidence you have of the crime. Drugstores have to put everything in security boxes or their shelves get emptied. They were castigated for doing that. Already seeping in here too.

      They stopped prosecuting vagrants and now all the parks are full of tents, needles, muggers and prostitutes.

      MAD MAX.

        2. How much polio, TB and other infectious African, Middle and Far Eastern diseases, are being imported by the illegals and infecting the indigenous population, with an NHS that’s not fit for purpose but will treat the illegals first and bugger the indigenous, who’ve paid all their lives, while the illegals contribute nothing but sickness and death.

          1. In the main, most of these nasties are coming out of Pakistan.
            The chances are that they are arriving legally.
            Ghastly thought, innit?

          2. And not just illegals bringing things in. eg Monkey pox or relatives legally and/or tourists visiting family or touring in such places and returning with rare diseases.

    3. The worst of it is as they flee disfunctional Kalifornia that THEY voted into existence they take the same virtue signalling voting (Demonrat) patterns with them and tip the balance in other states spreading failure and lunacy as they go!!

      1. Have you read O-Zone by Paul Theroux? We are already seeing the armed and protected enclaves. Protecting them from the idiotic results of policies they have implemented.

      2. Like people arriving in the UK fleeing from Middle East Misery but intent of bringing it with them.

    5. When I visited LA back in 1980, there was nary a white Yank to be seen. It seems that half the population was black and the other half was Mexican. All the women (of both races) had weird-looking, rusty-coloured, henna-dyed frizzy hair!

        1. ♬”All aboard a westbound Seven forty seven …”♬

          I travelled by McDonnell-Douglas DC10 [courtesy of Freddie Laker].

          1. My first trans-Atlantic flight was in a Lockheed Super-Constellation in 1957, my last (probably) in a 747.

    3. Maybe they didn’t understand ‘a minute’s silence’ and thought they should applaud. Nothing wrong with singing the National Anthem.

        1. It seems to be everywhere these days. I think it started with Diana Spencer’s funeral – when thousands clapped the hearse. I thought that very peculiar at the time. It has even invaded the House of Commons, though the Speaker is doing his best to stop it.

          2. We are always being urged in church to “give a round of applause” to somebody or other for various reasons. It sits ill with me.

  58. Wordle 448 4/6

    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
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    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Daily Quordle 229
    7️⃣8️⃣
    5️⃣9️⃣
    quordle.com
    🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
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    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟩 🟨🟨⬜⬜🟨
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    ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Eagle Two for me today …

      Wordle 448 2/6
      🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
      I liked the winning word 🙂

  59. Eldest daughter, who has just split with her boyfriend, is on Tinder. I don’t like it, but all the young people go there these days.
    She has just stumbled across a profile of a man who claims to be looking to date fat feminists. Blue hair is not specified.
    She’s freaked out by the number of weirdos in the area, and neither of us can understand the number of millennial and Gen Z men who write “Coffee” under the Hobbies section.

      1. Careful is her middle name.
        She recently matched with a harmless looking young man who suggested that they meet at a local beauty spot that is a bit out of the way for a date. She declined and deleted him (rule nr 1, only meet in a crowded place). Then she told her friend, who said she had been on a date with the same guy, also over tinder, two years ago, and he had confessed to being into odd fetishes. Tinder has the advantage of being local – turns out that friend’s current boyfriend was at school with Weird Guy, and said that he was a bit odd at school.
        Bullet successfully dodged…

          1. Another friend in the city who is in her thirties has far worse stories to tell! She has now sworn off internet dating altogether. Might suggest the dog-walking idea to her!

          2. Of course, a dog may be a two edged sword. Knowing how much a puppy (or even a rescue dog) costs – having one may be thought to be a sign of wealth!!

          3. Another friend in the city who is in her thirties has far worse stories to tell! She has now sworn off internet dating altogether. Might suggest the dog-walking idea to her!

        1. I also have met two, one I married and, after 13 years, met another and we had a good relationship for 5 years. I’m now looking for number 3.

      2. Never tried it, never wanted to try it.

        In my day resorting to a dating agency or marriage bureau was an admission of failure. Although I did not meet Caroline until I was 40 I never had any trouble in finding girlfriends but was never tempted to marry any of them and they were never tempted to marry me!

    4. Tell her to get a dog. Walking it twice (or more) a day, she’ll soon meet someone IN THE FLESH who is nice.

    5. When I was – briefly – single in the early 1990s, I met a couple of women through answering small ads in respectable newspapers/magazines.

      Two things surprised me. First, they were after immediate sex – which (believe it or not) I did not find attractive. Secondly, they were amazed that I had supplied my correct age. They said that all the blokes they met lied about their age.

      Fortunately, further investigation was unnecessary because the MR replied to my first letter! That I was immensely lucky is show by her continued presence after 30 years.

        1. I wonder if he found those respectable newspapers/magazines left behind in respectable telephone boxes?

      2. That’s the equivalent of winning the lottery for you both!
        Mind you, I am not one to talk – I met my dearly beloved when he came over to scold me because he thought I was intending to push into a petrol station queue ahead of him (it was a misunderstanding)

  60. – King Charles appears to be doing a fine job so far, under the circumstances.

    He looks like he has even reigned in his ears

  61. I know that Mrs Parker-Bowles is the “Queen Consort” – but I suspect that in no time at all she’ll be called everywhere (quite wrongly) “Queen Camilla”.

    1. Now that a woman can succeed to the throne, why not change the rules?

      Charles should undertake root and branch reform of the whole thing and use the opportunity to extract all the rotten ones.

      2. “Now that a woman can succeed to the throne, why not change the rules?”

        I’m confused. Matilda, Mary I, Elizabeth I, Mary II, Anne, Victoria, Elizabeth II? I’m guessing you meant something else.

        2. Indeed, I was referring to recent changes.
          The rules of succession have changed so that if a girl is the firstborn she succeeds, even if she has a younger brother.

    2. The Queen Mother when she was George VI’s queen was always known as Queen Elizabeth.
      There is nothing wrong with referring to Camilla as Queen Camilla.

        1. Both Charley boy and his first wife were adulterous – and yet Charles was only adulterous with the woman he subsequently married while his wife had several lovers. The public forgave her but took a very long time to accept Camilla.

          1. Camilla deserves to be known as Queen Camilla. She has brought stability and happiness to Charles.

          2. It’s the fact that she did it while he was married to someone else that raised people’s eyebrows…! (For which I blame Charles.)

          3. Personally, I don’t give a toss. There are even rumours that HM had an affair with Lord Porchester- and also rumoured to be Andrew’s father.
            It is what is happening now that matters.
            Many members of the Royal Family have had affairs & etc. The trouble is now that there is 24 hour media and nothing is private.
            I want to see Queen Camilla.

          4. That’s exactly what I was thinking today. It’s a pity Charles wasn’t able to marry Camilla in the first place.

        2. Are you sure, Bill, I understand from the plans released, that at Charles’ coronation she will be sat beside him. Is it possible that she may also be crowned but with a lesser crown?

          2. Yes, indeed. The Monarch’s Consort always has a smaller crown. I thought it was understood that Camilla would be crowned as Consort. And so she should be.

    3. “Mrs Parker-Bowles”.

      That’s very careless of you Bill – and you a somewhat laddered lawyer!

      Camilla divorced from Andrew Parker Bowles in 1995.

  62. Wills & Katharine plus Harry & Meagain have emerged from Windsor Castle to look at the flowers on the lo ng walk.

          1. I think most of us have a pretty good idea of what Kate thinks of her sister-in-law but I am sure that she realises that she must be careful not to say too much.

          2. To be fair, Meghan is appropriately dressed and seems to be lacking that “look at meeee” smirk that did so much to make her unpopular. She hasn’t put a foot wrong today.
            I understand why they are wary, who knows what will come out on Oprah next time the Sussexes need money.

          3. Lips firmly zipped.
            Even a comment on the weather would be deliberately twisted.
            (“I mentioned dark clouds, but I think I got away with it.”)

    2. It has got to the stage where the brothers would be far better off having nothing more to do with each other.

      Some people of my acquaintance have not seen their brothers or sisters for decades and are quite content with the state of affairs.

      1. My husband’s sister cut us out of her life years ago. When her son got married she behaved perfectly normally for a day. We haven’t heard from her since. Still, her son and daughter are perfectly normal and friendly and we are having a family get-together next month.

        Life is less stressful without her. It upset him deeply at first but he got used to it. She sent a couple of very unpleasant letters, but at least we don’t get those any more.

      2. I last saw my brother at our mother’s funeral. I haven’t seen my OH’s sister since the early eighties. It doesn’t bother me.

      3. I’ve consciously avoided my older brother twice after spotting him at the other end of a supermarket aisle.

    1. These things are being pushed/pumped more and more. The old adage, don’t invest more than you can afford to lose, comes to mind.

      1. It’s more complicated than that – it seems that some cryptos like XRP and perhaps bitcoin are intended to form part of the post-cash landscape, and one of the suggestions in this video is that they are already trying to freeze the little guys out. I think there will be at least one more huge crypto crash soon.
        I’m still trying to understand the big picture.

        1. It might well be the case, but I’m guessing the big picture is that the authorities are extremely wary of the whole crypto scene being a gigantic Ponzi scheme.

          I thought it was a good video; clear, relatively concise, and thought provoking.

          1. I’m trying to learn enough to tell the difference between the ponzi schemes (which are certainly many) and the ones that are attracting genuine investors.
            The authorities are involved with the development of tokens as part of the financial future.
            At the moment, I wouldn’t touch alt coins or stable coins.
            Bitcoin, Ethereum or security tokens that are already planned for specific purposes seem to be the safest ones.

          2. Same advice, don’t invest more than you can afford to lose; to which I would add: take profits, don’t be greedy and never invest in something you don’t understand unless you accept you could be taken to the cleaners.

          3. The latter is why I am mugging up on cryptos to see what is worth it…

            Some crypto disadvantages:
            Bitcoin isn’t money, so if you buy some BTC that was stolen from someone else, they could claim it back. Does paying a ransom to hackers count as being stolen? Something tells me it will.
            If you buy some BTC that has criminal transactions in its recent history, how are you going to prove to the police that you aren’t one of the criminals?
            To get round the above, you can pay a premium for newly discovered BTCs.

          4. Good luck.

            I suspect you’re going to need it; but on the plus side, if you become the “go to” expert, you could make a mint (ho ho)

            or a hole in your pocket (ho ho ho)

          7. Technically, it would be barter if you buy stuff with it as it doesn’t have the legal status of money. Some estate agents accept bitcoin, as do some bullion dealers.
            Otherwise you’re stuck with converting it back to fiat.
            Or you could keep it to pay the ransom when your computer gets hacked and the files encrypted 🙂

          8. This is where theft becomes pointless – the money is identifiable and traceable. Rob someone of a thousand bitcoin and… it’s worthless without the owner permitting it.

            However, crime will change – it already has as money has become less valuable.

          9. Investors? They are speculators. They aren’t investing in anything. Buying bitcoins and selling bitcoins creates virtually no jobs, it just alters the value of bitcoin. It’s just people creating bubbles hoping to ride the expansion and quit before deflation.

          10. I think this is rather an unreasonable view, because you are taking a very immature market which attracted a lot of speculators, and saying that that’s how it will always be.
            Actually, it creates a lot of jobs. Manufacture of graphics cards or whatever they are using nowadays; electricity generation; bitcoin vetting; bitcoin miners/processers; bitcoin hardware wallet manufacturers are just a few examples. But saying that people with money have a moral obligation to use it to create jobs is not really fair or desirable, in my opinion. If you want rich people to have that much power over our lives, then they are likely also to decide at some point that they should take control over how many of us there are on the planet, and which areas must stay poor in order to maximise the returns on their investment.

            Bitcoin price is manipulated by futures and derivatives just like commodities, so the current bitcoin price is as fake as a commodity price.
            Bitcoin’s advocates want it to become a store of wealth like gold or silver. If that happens, then opportunities for making an income out of it by leasing it out will be similar to those for precious metals.
            Tokens like XRP that will be used for specific exchanges could also be leased out by their owners, though billions of XRPs can be generated, so it’s not clear how that will develop.
            Monero’s advocates see it as a genuinely off-grid currency because of its security features, which probably means the elite will try to ban it at some point. Good luck with that.
            If you think it is undesirable for people to own stores of wealth, then you are in the company of the elites, who also do everything they can to discourage it.

          11. Nvidia and AMD didn’t take on reams of people to make graphics cards. Most of that process is automated. Supply never kept up with demand which is why 2016 top of the range cards are so bloody expensive. Electric companies don’t necessarily need more staff to produce more electricity. They produce what they can and buy the rest on global markets. Bitcoin vetting is done by bitcoin miners which is all done by computing power. Besides only fools these days use GFX card rigs. For bitcoin especially antminers or another ASIC are where it’s at.
            The idea of investment is that it is a two way street. Money is provided in the hope of a decent return. The recipient therefore should use it to increase productive capacity to produce more or higher value items, or for research likely to lead to said production. This is the whole basis for capitalism and why it is stated to be the best economic system, because it matches those with capital with those that need capital.
            You can store wealth in anything that’s scarce and durable. Crypto wallets are their weak point. While blockchains are almost unhackable, wallets are not. They also tend to be unrecoverable should you lose your key. Quite a few people have crypto they actually cant even access themselves because for one reason or another they’ve lost the keys to their wallets. Criminals make good money from crypto by using botnets. Stealing other people’s power and computing power to mine cryptocurrencies is a fairly easy thing to do in malware world.
            Monero is the number 1 cryptocurrency to buy and sell drugs in as it is supposedly completely untraceable. However more dealers accept cash than monero.

          12. A store of wealth is also a perfectly valid place to park one’s money. You don’t buy it to get rich, you buy it to save some of your wealth during hard times.
            Same principle as a savings account.
            It’s not just R&D, more electronics have been manufactured and sold as a result of btc mining!
            Your last point is likely to put me off Monero, I am not interested in crime.

          13. Nvidia employee count…
            https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/NVDA/nvidia/number-of-employees#:~:text=NVIDIA%20total%20number%20of%20employees,a%203.75%25%20increase%20from%202019.

            It increased a lot in 2021. Not because of GFX cards, but because it bought ARM and started into AI markets.
            GFX mining heyday was 2015 to 2018 then ASICs took over such as …
            https://buybitcoinworldwide.com/mining/hardware/

            Nvidia have actually not been doing so well lately.

            Monero is totally anonymous and for that reason is favoured by criminal elements from drug dealers to hit men. It’s as untraceable as cash.

            If you bought bitcoin in 2020 or 2021 your store of value has lost a lot of money. 48k to 18k per coin. Just lol.

          14. I’m trying to learn enough to figure out how cryptos are going to develop and whether they are worth buying, but it isn’t nice of you to laugh about possible losses that you are guessing I might have made.

          15. I hope you are too sensible for that but some imbeciles have certainly made big losses or sitting on big losses hoping BTC will spike upwards again.

            Cryptos were good when mining wasn’t expensive, coins were cheap then took off in value as more and more jumped onto the ship. Now they are mostly rubbish. Even a top of the range ASIC takes 2-3 years to farm a single bitcoin. Sounds not too terrible until you consider the electricity costs.

            I wish I had bought BTC when I had the chance at about a fiver a coin. TBH I felt they were a bit of a joke and wouldn’t really increase in value all that much. I was wrong bigtime. I know a couple of people that did and are now so comfortable they live a life of leisure. Missed the boat now.

          16. Reading up on cryptos, there seems to be a widespread opinion that “they” will let bitcoin slump to under 10K in order to shake off the last of the speculators, and then it will steadily rise and be used as a store of wealth.
            Still a gamble for the ordinary investor. At the moment, there are far better things to invest in to protect one’s wealth.
            But the hodlers may still have the last laugh.

          3. XRP, XLM, ALGO, XDC and IOTA are cryptocurrencies ostensibly created by different companies, but in reality owned by them.
            Ripple is the company behind XRP, they are a WEF partner.

            XRP I think is supposed to be the gold-backed token, for international exchange, perhaps? in the WEF’s country group, when the scheme is complete.
            XLM is silver, XDC is copper, ALGO is palladium and IOTA is iridium.
            This is roughly analogous to the BRICS commodity backed international currency. And it’s been under development for some years now – all these financial developments away from the dollar have been in the pipeline since at least 2008 – the crash they papered over with massive fiat printing.

            You can buy XRPs at the moment for a few cents – if you can find a platform that sells them.
            These currencies may answer the question “what are the rich going to use when they’ve pushed the peasants onto CBDCs?”
            For example, what currency will dividends be paid in? will it depend on one’s social credit rating or status as an accredited investor?
            But this isn’t really clear to me yet.

            There is a guy on Twit who produces diagrams about various systems that are being standardised at the moment, and how they fit together. His handle is @XX_1133_1221_11

            I don’t know to what extent the above plans have been derailed by the BRICS commodity-backed currency. If BRICS turns out to be using the above tokens, we’re fked and the world really is ruled by a guy with a white cat in Buck HouseSwitzerland.
            If there are two genuinely competing systems, things could get interesting.

          4. Thank you, BB2, the first part was clear but then I lost it. I’ll just keep withdrawing worthless cash, rather than use the debit card. But that’s only viable for local trade.

    2. Crypto currencies represent not only a spelling impossibility, but also a massive threat to government control. Money (moved off the gold standard) has become basically fictional. it exists only because of the shared lie we all accept: that the numbers in our accounts mean something. Without that delusion money is pointless.

      Crypto is linked *to* something. It cannot be created at whim. It also cannot be controlled by government, devalued, inflated, debased. Those indebted, useless governments relying on incredible levels of debt to fund ever more socialist progroms are petrified of Crypto.

        1. No… but it’s become a medium of exchange. A chum practically lives off the stuff. He’s paid in bitcoin. Works wherever he is that week.

          I honestly think we need to move away from a local currency to a global one, but a global one tied to a value. One governments cannot control, that has a consistent value – buy a house in the wilds of Italy and it’s 20,000 bitcoin. Buy the same in Hampshire and it’s 200,000.

          Avoid all national taxes entirely, permanently and forever. Force governments to recognise where value in the economy comes from and to exist solely on the income from by developing those value creators.

          I am, very likely wrong but at the moment, with the crushing oppression of taxation sending inflation soaring, appalling management of national finances, an insane agenda permitted only because of a state machine flooded with cash – which pretends it isn’t because the monies has been wasted.

          1. …and that cash, they’re flooded in, Wibbles, is only because they print money as the Weimar Republic did in the 1920s and look what that led to – Adolf fcuking Hitler and all the misery from 1933 to 1945, and beyond.

            Why oh why, can they not learn from history?

          3. Your plan would cause a depression and spread it across the entire globe.

            There’s a good reason money isn’t linked to precious metals any more.

            Crypto can be created almost at whim if you have enough computing power at your disposal. Hello global botnets.

            Governments like the UK don’t need income. They are currency creators not currency users. We are not taxed to provide services. We are taxed so that people need pounds, so they work for pounds and sell goods and services for pounds. We are also taxed to alter behaviour. Sin taxes, fuel duty, pollution fines are all good examples of that. And finally we are taxed so that there’s only a little of the created currency left in the economy rather than all of it. We do this for the effect on inflation.

            Taxation is not responsible for current levels of inflation. Remember taxation destroys money, it makes the money supply smaller and so it is anti-inflationary. Your favoured global free markets are responsible for inflation.

  65. Been this afternoon to a prommers event organised by some of the arena regulars.

    There is a large QEII jubilee memorial stone at the back of the Royal Albert Hall where the steps lead down to the Royal College of Music so we gathered there and the bunches of carnations that had been intended to provide buttonholes for the musicians on the Last Night were arranged around the stone.

    We formed a circle and sang Jerusalem, God Save the King and Auld Lang Syne. One of the ladies was accompanied by a very excitable Labrador pup and it was hard to tell whether he objected to our singing or was trying to join in but his tail was wagging vigorously throughout so the latter is not wholly implausible!

    All in all, the season was brought properly to a close.

  66. That’s me for this day. Absolutely fascinating to see history being made live on TV this morning.

    Later picked 3 lb of raspberries and lifted the remaining potatoes. A smaller crop than usual, but, given that we didn’t water them at all, not at all bad.

    Have a jolly evening NOT watching the Last Night of the Porms…..at last there will be no EUSSR flags in profusion.

    A demain.

    1. Avoid R3 in the next couple of hours – your unfavourite diva Lesley Garrett will be in the studio, getting things off her chest.

        1. I’m more thinking what’ll happen to the school trip Junior was on. I assume the school will cancel it

      2. On the other hand we cancelled part of a social event next week because of the rail strike [which hadn’t been announced when we made the arrangements] – that has, of course, now been postponed but too late for our plans!

  68. Breaking News – When President Biden was asked what he thought about the new King of Great Britain

    He looked amazed and said that he thought it must have been the Chinese as he hasn’t pressed any launch buttons yet

    5. One for BoB to meme up on twitter.

      It’s a pity you couldn’t have put that one up at the Edinburgh Fringe, it would have won the best joke competition by an Edinburgh Mile.

  69. Monarchy brings beauty and meaning to a world otherwise dominated by ‘rationality’ and zealotry

    It is in the nature of humans to need a point of unity, even in something judged ‘irrational’. That is truer now than it ever has been

    JULIET SAMUEL • 9 September 2022 • 8:30pm

    They do not understand it – and why should they? While millions around the world mourn our late Queen, certain perplexed foreign observers and those peculiar creatures, the British anti-monarchists, look at us with bemusement or scorn. They cannot understand what all of it means; they cannot share our pride or grief. The best of them stay silent. The worst carp and criticise.

    While the late Queen lived, the British monarchy needed no explanation. We did not have to wonder why we held on to its traditions or whether its stability was assured. In her hands, it was obviously safe and strong.

    The question-mark was about what would come after her. Could the “outdated” practice of inheritance, given such a prestigious stage, withstand the modern dogma of “logic” and “fairness”? Can a royal dynasty carried on by ordinary humans, flawed as they must be, sustain itself amid this age’s tide of vitriol and angst? How can we explain why our monarchy is not merely “relevant”, as the TV presenters might put it, but necessary and good?

    On the face of it, the modern challenge to monarchy is formidable. We live in the post-war era when Europe’s empires have crumbled and with it their claim to superiority, when past legacies of racism and genocide have discredited notions of genealogy, when immigration has begun to produce a new population in Europe, which draws on dozens of other traditions, when religion is in decline in our country, and when modern communications have given revolutionaries and revisionists the tools to tear down old hierarchies.

    The hyper-rationalist republicans see constitutional monarchy as a vestige of despotism and superstition. They cringe at the country’s fascination with royal outfits and palaces. They obsess over the supposed “class divide” between us and them, and deploy phrases they think are incendiary, like “privileged” and “out of touch”.

    Some of them display such a burning need to discredit this “illogical” system of constitutional monarchy that they make strange claims, like the statement by the US website Politico that a woman who had travelled to 100 countries and hosted 113 state visits from foreign leaders was someone who “knew a lot about the things she had inherited and not much about anything else”. But it is the purveyors of these silly critiques who are out of touch.

    Of course, going by pure logic, we should not “want” or “need” a monarchy. To explain it, we must acknowledge the legitimacy of unfashionable ideas.

    One such idea is the notion that nations need ceremony, richness, beauty and stories that, as Walter Bagehot put it, “sweeten politics”. The activities of a monarchy take place in gilt and red velvet, leather and fur, on scrolls and parchment, by candle or firelight; its dramas are the relatable rivalries of a family and a court and its rituals still contain something of the ancient about them.

    The practices of modern government take place against grey, sans serif backdrops, among petty, quibbling suits whose habitat is that of interminable PDFs, flickering screens, LED lighting and scrolling Twitter feeds. A monarchy keeps in our lives the beauty of allegory and symbolism – the lion and the unicorn, the rose and the thistle – and allows us to turn away at least momentarily from the ghastliness of office carpets, call centres and traffic jams, a world nobody ever wanted or consented to.

    The crown performs, too, the invaluable function of denying our politicians access to the coveted status of a throne or head of state. There can be few things healthier than to put a cap on the ambition of political power.

    By allowing parliament and government to possess all rights over policy, but withholding from them the right to be revered or celebrated as national symbols, the monarch protects the country’s identity while exposing our political classes to the full glare of scrutiny.

    A constitutional monarchy keeps real political power in its place by limiting its prestige and subjecting it to moral authority. Whether or not any individual politician actually respects the Crown, he or she is certainly cowed by the country’s regard for it.

    In contrast to the everyday power struggles, the monarchy provides the country with an uncontentious symbol. It performs the function of the sacred in the most ancient societies, not because the queen or king can ever possibly be perfect or even close to it, but because they are not engaged in the dirty struggle for supremacy. They are not “players” in the game. It has always been a cardinal sin for any politician to risk the prospect of “dragging the Queen into it”.

    Bagehot, when he wrote about this particular quality of the Crown, suggested that it was especially necessary for “the vacant many” to look up to the monarchy because, unlike “the inquiring few”, they were “unable to comprehend the idea of a constitution”.

    But he was wrong that such a symbol was needed only for “the mass”. It is in the nature of all humans to need a point of unity, and it is almost always found in an idea that is irrational, which appeals to our instinct and is not constantly subject to critiques from inquiring minds.

    This is even truer today, when the overwhelming complexity of globalised society is such that even the cleverest among us cannot comprehend it all. We need common points of culture and admiration to connect to our fellow humans and to provide a thread back to a shared past. Our mutual affection for the late Queen provided a shared experience and made all of us heirs to our history, good and bad.

    But despite the respect the monarch commands – and in defiance of those who wrongly see the monarchy as a vestige of despotism – our constitutional monarchy also helps to protect us from tyranny. In theory, the Crown wields all sorts of powers and prerogatives. In practice, of course, Queen Elizabeth could not dissolve parliament on a whim, declare war or pick a prime minister.

    Some of these powers could of course be deployed by a prime minister with enough political backing, but ministers do not own them in any absolute sense. To use them, they must contend with a thicket of precedent, legal argument, norms and doubts. This is not a machinery of government fit for a despot.

    Even more than this, the philosophical impurity of a constitutional monarchy – transition by inheritance in a country attached to democracy – makes a mockery of absolutist ideologies. No one can claim that our system owes its legitimacy and functionality to some perfect, hyper-rational scheme of government dreamed up by revolutionaries.

    It has no singular founding principle or text, which neatly divides up human society into classes or races or genders.

    It is not pure and artificial, but organic and mysterious, like an old root structure. It is hard for zealots to co-opt. This is of course by no means the only way to subject would-be tyrants to limitations. But it is our way.

    Of course, none of these advantages could have been sustained if it weren’t for the late Queen’s sense of duty and shrewd judgment. She was able to understand how and when the monarchy needed to change.

    It could not forever look down upon “the mass”, shut out cameras or turn its back on emotional outpourings. Nor could it survive by embracing the gloss of celebrity or the zealotry of moral campaigners. In magazines and fashion pages, observers often like to celebrate the “glamour” of the modern monarchy. But glamour is the wrong word. Glamour is the enchantment wielded by the Medusa or the fetish, which diminishes others to the level of mere ordinariness.

    What Queen Elizabeth II had was dignity. She was respected not because she was an intellectual, a saint or a great charmer. She did not strive for raw power or try to prick our consciences or present herself as morally superior.

    She was simply a person of commitment who performed the arduous role allotted to her, no matter the personal cost. Because she did so, she has passed down to us a treasured institution, giving us all of the advantages and splendour that a constitutional monarchy can bestow upon its people.

    However “irrational” it may appear to those poor souls who find it alien or uncomfortable, it is an inheritance to be proud of and one worth preserving.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/09/09/monarchy-brings-beauty-meaning-world-otherwise-dominated-rationality/

    1. They will deliberately not mention the elephant in the room, which is Charles’s political agenda.

    2. Often amongst the republicans you find that they’re deeply Left wing, egotistical and, as always imagine that they’ll be the ones in the role of president.

      Monarchy is a symbol. It is duty, dignity, suffering, representation. You never get a day off. Never have a holiday. You’re a permanent servant to your country. This is what the repubicans reject. They don’t understand the sacrifice. They see only the pomp, the conservative values, the structure – never the duty.

    3. “The practices of modern government take place against grey, sans serif backdrops, among petty, quibbling suits whose habitat is that of interminable PDFs, flickering screens, LED lighting and scrolling Twitter feeds. A monarchy keeps in our lives the beauty of allegory and symbolism – the lion and the unicorn, the rose and the thistle – and allows us to turn away at least momentarily from the ghastliness of office carpets, call centres and traffic jams, a world nobody ever wanted or consented to.”
      Aymen, Sister.

    4. An excellent essay.

      “when religion is in decline in our country”

      I’m not sure that’s correct, as I fear the next 20 years will show.

    5. BTL:

      Timothy Thorp
      Juliet this is absolutely wonderful. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. God save us from rationalist zealots and absolutists. God preserve our sense of beauty and ceremony…..and I would add sanctity and mystery. God preserve our instinct……and I would add Imagination, Intuition, Inspiration, and Insight. And long live our love of “philosophical impurity”….. what an inspired phrase! Thank you again, and Cheers! Tim.

      David Dixon
      The only republicans I’ve met are left wingers. The opposite of rational.

      P Haynes
      You say:- “Of course, going by pure logic, we should not “want” or “need” a monarchy.” (Nor I suppose any religions) but this is not so Juliet there are entirely logical reasons for wanting a monarchy. A queen or king who is above politics. Would you really want a Tony Blair or Cameron President disliked/hated by at least half the population cutting the ribbons? Then there is the huge commercial and soft power advantages of the Monarchy.

      A shame King Charles (on climate alarmism, quack medicine etc. has such deluded, unscientific and hugely hypocritical views and has not sensibly choses keep his mouth shut on these political topics as his mum did.

      There are a few naysayers, some of whose attempts at what they apparently consider rational and considered thought come across as mere intellectual pomposity.

      Rationalism brought us metric weights and measures, Stalin’s Holodomor and Mao’s murderous cultural revolution. So much for thinking straight. Rationalism gives us absolutism.

    6. BTL:

      Timothy Thorp
      Juliet this is absolutely wonderful. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. God save us from rationalist zealots and absolutists. God preserve our sense of beauty and ceremony…..and I would add sanctity and mystery. God preserve our instinct……and I would add Imagination, Intuition, Inspiration, and Insight. And long live our love of “philosophical impurity”….. what an inspired phrase! Thank you again, and Cheers! Tim.

      David Dixon
      The only republicans I’ve met are left wingers. The opposite of rational.

      P Haynes
      You say:- “Of course, going by pure logic, we should not “want” or “need” a monarchy.” (Nor I suppose any religions) but this is not so Juliet there are entirely logical reasons for wanting a monarchy. A queen or king who is above politics. Would you really want a Tony Blair or Cameron President disliked/hated by at least half the population cutting the ribbons? Then there is the huge commercial and soft power advantages of the Monarchy.

      A shame King Charles (on climate alarmism, quack medicine etc. has such deluded, unscientific and hugely hypocritical views and has not sensibly choses keep his mouth shut on these political topics as his mum did.

      There are a few naysayers, some of whom appear to mistake rational and considered thought for mere intellectual pomposity.

      Rationalism brought us metric weights and measures, Stalin’s Holodomor and Mao’s murderous cultural revolution. So much for thinking straight. Rationalism gives us absolutism.

  70. Evening, all. I keep thinking today is Sunday because there’s no racing! Mind you, these days, not even Sunday is special.

  71. It should be the Last Night of the Proms….I am heading to You Tube for some of the good stuff and I will toast our late Queen and new King.
    Might be back later.

  73. As I haven’t played much over the past 12 years I’m watching the PGA golf on bbc4 from Wentworth. Just trying to get the gist of it.
    I’m Playing a 4 ball with my three sons tomorrow.
    My old playing handicap was 12, now it’s an arthritic knee, old age and old balls. A buggy and positive thinking helps. And looking forward to the family lunch/dinner later.
    I hope I don’t doze orrff after.
    BD 🎂🍻Monday.
    So I’m off for an early night soon.

    I might even wear a pink shirt, it’s not doing Rory any harm.

    2. Enjoy playing around and in case we miss it, enjoy the birthday; if you beat your age you’ll have dun gud.

  74. According to the MSM the Russians were being beaten at every stage of the war for months.
    Now we are told

    Successful Ukrainian offensive in Kharkiv has ‘taken Russia by surprise’, says UK
    Ukrainian troops have advanced 50km (31 miles) along a narrow front line and have retaken or surrounded several towns

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/ukrainian-offensive-kharkiv-russia-surpise-retreat-war-donbas-putin-zelensky-b1024713.html

    If the Russians had been being beaten so badly how did they capture all the towns that are being “liberated”?

  75. Maybe the Proms was a mistake…. I chose the end stuff from 2012 season which is good, no EU flags but I broke up again at the end when God Save the Queen was sung.
    Perhaps it is because I have not known another monarch but this has really affected me.

    1. The fact that it has had such an effect upon you shows how good she was at her job.
      I feel similarly.

      1. Our Queen will be hugely missed, her death is still such a shock .

        She gave a wholesome kind sincere identity to Britain , especially to a renewed postwar modern Britain . She had a charming handsome husband , and they were the best of their breed , they had total far reaching pedigrees and mental stability ..

        No matter what , we have all been blessed , irregardless of our own hardships and uncertainties.

    2. I watched the excerpt from the cricket that wax posted earlier. A minute of silence followed by the anthems.

      Hearing the national anthem with God save Our King really made it sink home.

      Likewise, never known life under another monarch.

  77. Goodnight, Gentlefolks, NoTTLers all. Until the morning’s light (and later – it’s Sunday innit).

  78. Well that’s me off to bed.
    Just spent the past hour & a half getting cross with the Saturday crosswords and listening to some music on Youtube.

    Good night all.

  83. Harry and his wife appear to have been taken back into the Royal Family. At Windsor they came out with William and his wife to inspect the flowers deposited at the gate into Windsor Castle . The crowd cheered them after they recovered from the shock of seeing the couples working together.

    1. That was merely a distraction performance. Charles made it quite clear, in his recent speech to the nation, that the Sussex lot are no longer part and parcel of the slimmed down Royals. Their future is abroad viz. the USA.

    2. They pitched up to show us they were still around. Willum has the grace, quite rightly, to allow H&M to go along with them. Your actions show your honourable character, not the other side’s…

    3. It would not be possible to cheer William and Kathryn (is that the right spelling?) and not ginge and cringe if they were all together. The last two don’t deserve it on their own.

  84. A comment on American Thinker with which I fully concur:

    Richard Kozlovich
    11 hours ago
    European leaders have looked down their noses at America forever, even after America saved Europe twice and created their current economic system at great financial cost to restructure Europe after the war and great financial cost of defend them ever since.

    Arrogant, self righteous and ignorant, Europe as we know it is already doomed, and it seems to me the collapse of the EU is most assuredly certain with all their insane regulations and worst of all, their embrace of the most fraudulent scientific scare mongering the world has ever known, anthropogenic global warming.

    That’s an economic loser, alternative energy is a loser and totally incapable of providing the energy necessary to run an advanced society, and their immigration policy has turned the demographics upside down catering to immigrants who practice a religion that’s antithetical to everything western civilization stands for or represents, and absolutely refuse to integrate, demanding these EU nations capitulate to their demands.

    What could possibly go wrong?

    1. Europe tries to be a socialist paradise with a bit of capitalism to keep the show on the road. Unfortunately for them, and us, Vlad has blown a hole in the theory, and we are screwe*d this winter.

      1. Morning Paul. No – had stack of printing to do for today’s services. Ran out of steam last night, so got up early to finish the collating, stapling and folding.

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