Wednesday 12 October: Putin must be left in no doubt about the West’s willingness to take action

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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495 thoughts on “Wednesday 12 October: Putin must be left in no doubt about the West’s willingness to take action”

    1. I have a Scream that one day this nation will wake up and live within its means: We hold this truth to be self-evident, that QE is creating inflation in proportion to the sums of money issued.

      (With apols to Dr King).

  8. Putin must be left in no doubt about the West’s willingness to take action. Letters. 12 october 2022.

    SIR – It appears that Vladimir Putin is taking his fight to children’s playgrounds (report, October 11). Are the Russian people really proud of their macho president?

    Dr Brian Wareing

    Only an idiot or a troll would make such an observation. Playgrounds are not targets since they serve no military purpose and it is the waste of expensive ordnance. The missile that struck it was either aimed at something that was stationed there or had been destabilised by ECM!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2022/10/12/letters-putin-must-left-no-doubt-wests-willingness-take-action/

    1. The photos that I have seen of the missile strikes on Kiev have shown mangled cars outside buildings that are completely intact?

        1. Forgive me but that just looks like Southampton on a Saturday night, only without the grand communist architecture.

    2. There was an image yesterday purporting to show a ‘bomb crater’ beside a playground. However, none of the playground equipment or any of the surrounding trees had a mark on them and weeds were already growing in the ‘new’ crater.

      #ScumMedia

  9. Putin must be left in no doubt about the West’s willingness to take action

    Yes, the West will use the war in Ukraine as a catalyst to accelerate the great reset program and it’s war on ordinary people.

  10. The world’s gone Dagenham (way past Barking)

    “The Clearpay website gives buyers the

    option to spread the cost of purchasing between £10 and £50 to use on

    the app and spread the cost across four equal payments.

    But critics have branded the ventures ‘a terrible idea’ and warned that vulnerable customers could fall further into debt.

    Dominic Arnall, chief executive of charity Just Like Us, said: ‘Even as a plot

    for a dystopian novel, food on hire purchase would be laughably

    ghoulish.’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11303093/Eat-pay-later-Takeaways-Deliveroo-bought-on.html

    1. It is up to the individual how they live. of course, a better, more rational approach would be to scrap VAT, business rates, corporation tax, energy taxes, fuel taxes and all the other stealth taxes that make food expensive. Folk seem to think that a carrot magicall appears from the ground to the shops but ignore the roundtrip it takes to be cleaned and packaged – often to other countries because it’s cheap to bag carrots in Poland than do it here.

      No one seems to consider the simple, stark reality that taxation on business makes goods expensive. When government calls for reducing business rates, there’s a howling from spiteful, ignorant lefties about how horrible this is and why ‘normal people need help, companies are rich nonsense’. Companies have your money, you useless fools! You’re forced to pay them so of course you’re worse off! Forcing companies ot pay higher taxes (including in employment) is precisely WHY everything is expensive.

      This is why people are poor. They’re thick.

  11. When the Cuba crisis came about in 1962, the situation was clear cut. There was one single point of contention. A focus that was separate from the Soviet Union. No Soviet missiles in Cuba.
    Comparing the mess in the Ukraine with 1962 is a nonsense. The West is not being threatened by Russia. it is the West threatening Russia. There is no clear cut exit option, as there was in 1962. It is really none of our business. The US has got away with stomping around in far away countries for half a century; Viet Nam, Nicaragua, Iraq, Afghanistan, none of which were anything to do with the US. None of these countries border the US and none of them had threatened or hurt US citizens, or even English speakers in general. The same is true of NATO. We should back off and keep quiet. “Lay low and say nuffin’.” as Uncle Remus might advise

  12. MPs call for menopause health checks at 45 and free HRT in England. 12 October 2022.

    Millions of women across the UK should be invited for an NHS health check at the age of 45 to discuss the menopause and HRT prescriptions should be free, MPs have said.

    The all-party parliamentary group on menopause (APPG) said on Tuesday that more needs to be done urgently to help women, including boosting support in the workplace, introducing fresh training on symptoms for health workers, and improving access to treatment.

    “We are beginning to feel the tide of change but the taboo around the menopause still prevails in all corners of society – in workplaces, within families and among friends, in education, and in the medical profession,” said Labour MP Carolyn Harris, the chair of the APPG.

    The National Health Service is on the edge of total collapse due to incompetence and mismanagement and these morons wish to add to it. The inhabitants of Westminster live in a private world of bottomless money pits where taxpayers fund their dreams without restriction. If you can think of it; you can have it!

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/oct/12/mps-call-for-menopause-health-checks-at-45-and-free-hrt-in-england

    2. 365930+ up ticks,

      Morning AS,
      With notapause but backed ALL the way by the electoral majority, the politicos cannot
      operate without some sort of legal looking backing.
      Now just a matter of time the gates are open
      Dover / Dungeness
      RULES OK.

    3. Breast cancer kills around 11,000 per year, and quite rightly women have their own screening programme (it also kills a few men too). Prostate cancer kills more – around 12,000 men per year – but they have no screening programme, despite many calls to do so. There is a lot of info on the interweb these days for the menopause, but apparently that still isn’t enough for the wimmin…

      Here’s a novel idea – how about some equality??

      Edit. ‘Morning, Minty.

      2. I understand the breast screening programme finishes for women over 70 (just when they are most likely to develop it, I would have thought).

    4. Breast cancer kills around 11,000 per year, and quite rightly women have their own screening programme (it also kills a few men too). Prostate cancer kills more – around 12,000 men per year – but they have no screening programme, despite many calls to do so. There is a lot of info on the interweb these days for the menopause, but apparently that still isn’t enough for the wimmin…

      Here’s a novel idea – how about some equality??

      Edit. ‘Morning, Minty.

    5. Am I the only person who feels profoundly uneasy at the industry that exists around medicating the menopause? Shouldn’t we rather be looking into the reasons why the menopause is apparently such a bigger problem in the West than in other parts of the world?

      1. Possibly because pro rata to total populations far fewer women in the undeveloped world have even reached that age?

        1. Possibly because pro rata to total populations far fewer women in the undeveloped world have even reached that age?

          With female infanticide/abortion making a significant contribution, as well as “accidents” or “suicides” in Indian kitchens by female daughters-in-law.

      2. Kerching. Every human ailment/deviation from the perceived ‘norm’ can be medicalised. Lotsa work and money for the medical priesthood; and who sets the ideal’ reading, whether it be blood pressure or hormone levels?

      3. It seems to me ironic that people worried about the end of a woman’s time of fertility are often the same people who clamour for more accessible abortion.

    2. “A leopard known as ‘Olimba’.”

      How does the leopard know that’s its name? Anthropomorphism in action.

    3. The surface of Mars has similar shapes, astronomers believe it proves the previous existence of water

  17. Good morning all.
    A dull cloudy start with 3°C outside, but at least it’s dry at the moment.
    If it stays dry I plan crushing another load of windfalls, if it rains it’ll be chutney making.

  18. Net zero puritans don’t want you to hear the truth. 12 October 2022.

    We are told to change lifestyles to reduce carbon emissions. Yet, this will only contribute 10 per cent to meeting climate change targets

    Will our lifestyles need to change radically to meet our net zero target? Must we abandon cars; give up flying; become vegetarians; turn our thermostats down; shun fast fashion and disposable goods? And could we persuade or compel people to adopt more frugal lifestyles? These are the crucial questions a Lords select committee set out to address in a report released today. The answer the committee discovered was surprising. So surprising that it decided to omit it from its report. Yes, you read that correctly.

    This is all for just bamboozling the peasants in the cause of the Great Reset. The changes will do nothing for emissions since India and China (and everyone else) will simply make up the shortfall. We will be wearing hair shirts while they are clothed in Gucci!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/12/net-zero-puritans-dont-want-hear-truth/

    1. Net Zero is a political scam. There is no substantive evidence that human activity has the slightest impact on climate. There are several articles on the topic, here is one from 2008.

      THE GLOBAL WARMING SCAM by Vincent Gray Climate Consultant 75
      Vincent R. Gray
      Published 2008
      Environmental Science
      The Global Warming Scam has been perpetrated in order to support the Environmentalist belief that the earth is being harmed by the emission of greenhouse gases from the combustion of fossil fuels. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was set up to provide evidence for this belief. They have published four major Reports which are widely considered to have proved it to be true. This paper examines the evidence in detail and shows that none of the evidence presented confirms a relationship between emissions of greenhouse gases and any harmful effect on the climate. It is the result of 18 years of scrutiny and comment on IPCC Reports and of a study of the scientific literature associated with it. In order to establish a relationship between human emissions of greenhouse gases and any influence on the climate, it is necessary to solve three problems To determine the average temperature of the earth and show that it is increasing To measure the concentrations of greenhouse gases everywhere in the atmosphere To reliably predict changes in future climate None of these problems has been solved. It is impossible to measure the average surface temperature of the earth, yet the IPCC scientists try to claim that it is possible to measure “anomalies” of this unknown quantity. An assessment of all the temperature data available, largely ignored by the IPCC, shows no evidence for overall warming, but the existence of cyclic behaviour. Recent warming was last recorded around 1950. An absence of warming for 10 years and a current downturn suggest that the cool part of the cycle is imminent. The chief greenhouse gas, water vapour, is irregularly distributed, with most of it over the tropics and very little over the poles. Yet the IPCC tries to pretend it is uniformly distributed, so that its “anomalies” can be treated as “feedback” to the global temperature models. Carbon dioxide is only measured in extremely restricted circumstances in order to pretend that it is “well-mixed”. No general measurements are reported and 90,000 early measurements which show great variability have been suppressed. Methane is mostly recycled plant material, unrelated to fossil fuels, yet it is used to penalise farmers for animal recycling, when the larger emissions from wetlands are exempt. Although weather cannot be predicted more than a week or so ahead, the claim is made that “climate” can be predicted 100 years ahead. The claim is based on the development of computer models based on the “flat earth” theory of the climate which assumes it is possible to model the climate from “balanced” average energy quantities This assumption is absurd since all the quantities have skewed distributions with no acceptable average. No resulting model has ever been tested for its ability to predict the future. This is even admitted as the model outputs are mere “projections”. Since the projections are far into the future, nobody living is able to check their validity. Since no model has been validated, they are “evaluated” based on “simulations”, which are mere correlations, often obtained by adjusting the many poorly characterized parameters to give a “fudged fit”. Several such attempts fail to agree with observations. Future “projections”, which combine the untested models and exaggerated “scenarios”,

      https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/THE-GLOBAL-WARMING-SCAM-by-Vincent-Gray-Climate-75-Gray/13e73ab15dbc1a499116bf967407748a1d185792

    2. Why should we be hammered back to the dark ages to suit an arrogant, egotistical, ignorant bunch of wasters who almost certainly won’t make the same sacrifices?

    3. My BTL Comment:

      More nonsense about C02 and how it’s killing the planet.
      C02 accounts for just 0.04% of the atmosphere with Nitrogen at 78% and Oxygen at 21%. Do the sums.

  20. ‘Morning, Peeps,

    What hugely successful careers. This chap packed so much into his life  I felt breathless just reading it!

    * * *

    Air Vice-Marshal Larry Lamb, RAF pilot who served in Borneo and was also a highly respected international rugby referee – obituary

    He kept ground forces supplied in Borneo in the 1960s, and besides his rugby activities he helped to get badminton into the Olympics

    ByTelegraph Obituaries10 October 2022 • 3:05pm

    Air Vice-Marshal  “Larry” Lamb, who has died aged 99, enjoyed two equally distinguished careers, as an RAF pilot and senior officer, and as an international rugby referee and sports administrator.

    In March 1965, at the height of the Confrontation with Indonesia, Lamb flew to Labuan in Borneo to take up the post of Deputy Air Commander Borneo. The campaign relied heavily on the use of helicopters and light aircraft to re-supply the ground forces operating in the jungle close to the Indonesian border. Heavier stores were air-dropped into clearances from larger transport aircraft.

    Lamb recognised that air transport, in all its forms, was his main priority, but he also had responsibility for air defence, coastal patrol and reconnaissance assets. With a 1,000-mile border between east Malaysia and Indonesia, it was essential to make the best use of the limited number of aircraft and helicopters available.

    To fully understand the topography and flying conditions, as well as liaising with ground force commanders, Lamb travelled extensively into the interior. During his time, he flew in no fewer than 16 different types of aircraft.

    Limited cross-border operations were sometimes authorised, and this posed a particular problem should there be a need for casualty evacuation. Lamb perfected a system of control using a second helicopter, which enabled a rescue helicopter to reach its objective safely.

    For his work in Borneo, Lamb was appointed CBE, the citation concluding that he had made “an outstanding contribution” not only to the successful conduct of operations against the Indonesians, but also to “Anglo-Malaysian understanding and mutual confidence”.

    George Colin Lamb, always known as “Larry”, was born at Hornby in Lancashire on July 23 1923 and educated at Lancaster Royal Grammar School. He joined the RAF in 1943 and trained as a pilot in Canada.

    Returning to England, he became a flying instructor at RAF College Cranwell, where he instructed on twin-engine aircraft before moving to a flying training school near Grantham. In 1947 he returned to Cranwell as deputy chief flying instructor, having attended the first course in flying on instruments at the Empire Flying School, and he became one of the RAF’s first examiners. That year he was awarded the AFC for his work developing techniques of teaching instrument-flying in a variety of aircraft.

    Having converted to the Hastings transport aircraft, Lamb began flying on the Berlin Air Lift carrying coal from Schleswigland airfield to the newly constructed Tegel airfield in Berlin. Flying two sorties each day until the blockade was lifted, Lamb continued to fly stores to Berlin after he had joined 47 Squadron as a flight commander.

    For the next two years he flew on worldwide routes before he was posted as a member of the Transport Command Examining Unit testing among others, pilots of the King’s Flight.
    After serving in the MoD he had a change of role, and in April 1958 took command of 87 Squadron, an all-weather fighter squadron flying the Javelin from Bruggen on Germany’s border with the Netherlands.

    After a further tour in MoD, this time as Director of Administrative Plans, Lamb was appointed Assistant Commandant at RAF College Cranwell. This was an appointment that he found stimulating, combining the training of young officers and plenty of sport, the latter a long-standing passion for the rugby- and cricket-playing group captain.

    On his return from Borneo in early 1967, Lamb joined a team to review the command structure of the RAF. Their findings included the creation of RAF Strike Command to replace Bomber and Fighter Commands, and the reorganisation of Transport Command.

    In April 1968 he was appointed as the first Air Commodore (Operations) at the new HQ Strike Command, responsible for the operational effectiveness of the bomber force, including the nuclear deterrent, the air defence of the UK and for operational training.
    In February 1970 Lamb assumed command of RAF Lyneham, the home of squadrons of Hercules, Britannia and Comets and one of the largest and busiest RAF stations. He had to organise Lyneham’s change from a strategic to a tactical transport base, and the transfer of squadrons into and out of the airfield. Despite the pressures of his appointment, Lamb endeavoured to remain in current flying practice and familiarise himself with the routes flown by his aircraft.

    In 1972, after completing the Royal College of Defence Studies course, he was appointed Director of Control (Operations) in the National Air Traffic Services – responsible for both the Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Defence (Air).

    Lamb moved into the maritime air arena in May 1974 when he was appointed Commander Southern Maritime Air Region with responsibility for Nimrod patrol aircraft and search-and-rescue helicopter operations. This was followed by his becoming chief of staff at HQ 18 (Maritime) Group. He took early retirement in April 1978, having recently been appointed CB.

    Throughout his RAF career, Lamb was also heavily involved in rugby. He served as the secretary of the RAF Rugby Union and was a well-respected referee. In 1964 he was appointed as one of the Rugby Football Union’s three representatives on the International Referees Panel. Over the next 10 years he was recognised as one of rugby’s leading referees, if not the leading referee.

    He controlled 14 major international matches, five Barbarian games, the University match and some 30 County Championship games. He was selected to represent the RAF on the RFU in 1972. He accompanied Wales on a tour of Canada and advised the Italian Rugby Federation. In 1974 he became president of the Devonport Services Rugby Football Club – the first airman to be so honoured.

    His two worlds occasionally came together, and he once flew himself to Sri Lanka to referee a game. “When I arrived, having flown a Comet across, there was a guard of honour and I had to take the salute, which was a bit embarrassing to be quite honest,” he recalled.

    He was chairman of the RFU Laws sub-committee and of the editorial board of the Union’s house journal, Rugby Post. He directed the RFU Congress for Affiliated and Overseas Unions held at Bisham Abbey in 1978 and was invited by the then Prince of Wales to sit on the Queen’s Jubilee Committee for Sport.

    Lamb was a prolific writer about rugby and was in great demand as an after-dinner speaker. His speech “In Praise of Welsh Rugby” given to the Welsh Brewers dinner in 1976, relayed in full by BBC Wales and reprinted by the great Welsh player Barry John in his 1976 Rugby Annual, was spoken of as a classic. He also presented a paper, “Violence in Sport”, to the Welsh Rugby Union Centenary Congress in 1979. He retired from the RFU committee in May 1985 after 13 years’ service.

    In October 1978 Lamb was offered the appointment as the first chief executive of the Badminton Association of England. Employing his familiar energetic and dynamic style, he created the National Badminton Centre at Milton Keynes, publicised the sport through extensive television and media coverage, and obtained the first million-pound sponsorship in the sport’s history. He assisted in getting the sport into the 1992 Olympic Games.

    In 1983 he was appointed as a full member of the Sports Council. He sat on the Policy and Planning Group, the Research and Information Policy Group and the Drug Abuse Advisory Group. He retired from the Council in 1989.

    In 1985 he had been invited by the Prince of Wales to be a member of the sports committee of the Princes Trust. He retired from the Badminton Association in 1989 to become full-time general secretary of the London Sports Medicine Institute.

    When Lamb finally retired he filled in his spare time by becoming chairman of the St George’s Day Club, raising more than £1 million for charities. He was also chairman of the British Berlin Airlift Association and RAF vice-president of the Combined Cadet Forces’ Association. He also found time to be the president of his old school association, the Old Lancastrians Club.

    Larry Lamb married Nancy Godsmark in 1945; the marriage was dissolved. He married secondly, in 1981, Maureen; she died in 2015. He is survived by two sons from his first marriage and a stepdaughter.

    Larry Lamb, born July 23 1923, died September 22 2022

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1bfccd4ec059f2ab2d386911c25f3908950a7a6881b07ea95d3b6680e67e632a.jpg

    A fine obituary, but one minor error – the ‘Empire Flying School’ was almost certainly the successful and much admired Empire Test Pilot’s School, formed in 1943, and at Bocombe Down since the late ’60s.

    3. I read the one on Waltraud Hollman first and was going to post it. Then I saw the Larry Lamb one and thought I can’t post both. I feel sorry for the Ozzie cricketer who also no doubt also achieved great things but overshadowed by the others.

      “ WALTRAUD HOLLMAN, who has died aged 101, was a great-grandmother living in Kent who in 2019 decided to tell her local newspaper, the Kentish Gazette, the story of how as a young accountant living in Berlin she took a risk that almost cost her life.
      She was born Waltraud Fischer on May 14 1921 and grew up in Charlottenburg, Berlin. During the 1930s, like other teenage German girls, she was forced to become a member of the Bund Deutscher Mädel, the girls’ wing of the Hitler Youth, and performed as a gymnast at the opening ceremony of the 1936 Berlin Olympics – although, she recalled, “I had to laugh at it, I didn’t take it all that seriously.”
      On Kristallnacht in November 1938 she was woken by a pandemonium in the street outside her home. Looking out, she saw members of the Sturmabteilung, the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party, smashing windows of Jewish shops. Subsequently she helped her parents to shelter a young Jewish mother and her child when the father of the family disappeared after breaking the 8pm curfew.
      “The trouble was that every time there was an air raid, we had to go in the cellar and we were afraid to take her,” she recalled. “Then one day she went out; we told her to be careful. She went out with the baby in the pram and we never saw her again.”
      Appalled by the persecutions, Waltraud became involved with friends in an anti-nazi group, and in late 1944, when it was becoming clear that Germany was losing the war, she met a member of the group: “He said to me: ‘Come on, help us. We have got to get rid of them.’”
      She agreed to distribute leaflets criticising Hitler and calling on her fellow countrymen to rise up and start a revolution to end the war: “I was told to hand the leaflets to as many people as possible, but it was so dangerous.” Anyone caught trying to undermine the regime could expect the firing squad or guillotine.
      It was not long before the authorities became aware of her activities, and one night in December 1944 members of the Gestapo burst into her home and arrested her for “sabotage”: “Someone split on me,” she recalled.
      Taken to a prison in Stendal, 78 miles from Berlin, she was thrown into a cell with six other women. There were two beds, and the other prisoners had to sleep on mattresses on the floor; the lavatory consisted of a bucket emptied once a day. “You had dinner, usually soup, which had maggots floating on it already,” Waltraud Hollman recalled, “but we were all hungry so we ate it… I was held there waiting for something to happen.”
      She was saved when American soldiers liberated the prison in April 1945. She and her fellow prisoners returned to Berlin, riding on the roof of a busy train.
      She found another job, but on May 19 1946, waiting to meet a friend to go to the cinema, she met Benjamin Hollman, a British soldier who had just arrived in Berlin having been demobbed the week before.
      They fell in love and Benjamin determined to take Waltraud with him back to Britain. During her time in prison she had contracted tuberculosis, so she failed the medical examination to leave the country, but after what she called “a little bit of fiddling” by the British authorities, she obtained a passport which allowed her to visit England for three weeks.
      She arrived on July 1 1948, and after a series of bureaucratic delays they married at Maidstone Registry Office on July 21 1948 – the day her visa was due to expire.
      They lived in Kent at various addresses before settling in the village of Staple, near Canterbury. At one point they ran a fish and chip shop in Sandwich. In her interview Waltraud Hollman confessed to a liking for pickled garlic, and doing crosswords and sudoku.
      Benjamin Hollman died in 2007 and she is survived by their son and daughter.”

    4. I read the one on Waltraud Hollman first and was going to post it. Then I saw the Larry Lamb one and thought I can’t post both. I feel sorry for the Ozzie cricketer who also no doubt also achieved great things but overshadowed by the others.

      “ WALTRAUD HOLLMAN, who has died aged 101, was a great-grandmother living in Kent who in 2019 decided to tell her local newspaper, the Kentish Gazette, the story of how as a young accountant living in Berlin she took a risk that almost cost her life.
      She was born Waltraud Fischer on May 14 1921 and grew up in Charlottenburg, Berlin. During the 1930s, like other teenage German girls, she was forced to become a member of the Bund Deutscher Mädel, the girls’ wing of the Hitler Youth, and performed as a gymnast at the opening ceremony of the 1936 Berlin Olympics – although, she recalled, “I had to laugh at it, I didn’t take it all that seriously.”
      On Kristallnacht in November 1938 she was woken by a pandemonium in the street outside her home. Looking out, she saw members of the Sturmabteilung, the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party, smashing windows of Jewish shops. Subsequently she helped her parents to shelter a young Jewish mother and her child when the father of the family disappeared after breaking the 8pm curfew.
      “The trouble was that every time there was an air raid, we had to go in the cellar and we were afraid to take her,” she recalled. “Then one day she went out; we told her to be careful. She went out with the baby in the pram and we never saw her again.”
      Appalled by the persecutions, Waltraud became involved with friends in an anti-nazi group, and in late 1944, when it was becoming clear that Germany was losing the war, she met a member of the group: “He said to me: ‘Come on, help us. We have got to get rid of them.’”
      She agreed to distribute leaflets criticising Hitler and calling on her fellow countrymen to rise up and start a revolution to end the war: “I was told to hand the leaflets to as many people as possible, but it was so dangerous.” Anyone caught trying to undermine the regime could expect the firing squad or guillotine.
      It was not long before the authorities became aware of her activities, and one night in December 1944 members of the Gestapo burst into her home and arrested her for “sabotage”: “Someone split on me,” she recalled.
      Taken to a prison in Stendal, 78 miles from Berlin, she was thrown into a cell with six other women. There were two beds, and the other prisoners had to sleep on mattresses on the floor; the lavatory consisted of a bucket emptied once a day. “You had dinner, usually soup, which had maggots floating on it already,” Waltraud Hollman recalled, “but we were all hungry so we ate it… I was held there waiting for something to happen.”
      She was saved when American soldiers liberated the prison in April 1945. She and her fellow prisoners returned to Berlin, riding on the roof of a busy train.
      She found another job, but on May 19 1946, waiting to meet a friend to go to the cinema, she met Benjamin Hollman, a British soldier who had just arrived in Berlin having been demobbed the week before.
      They fell in love and Benjamin determined to take Waltraud with him back to Britain. During her time in prison she had contracted tuberculosis, so she failed the medical examination to leave the country, but after what she called “a little bit of fiddling” by the British authorities, she obtained a passport which allowed her to visit England for three weeks.
      She arrived on July 1 1948, and after a series of bureaucratic delays they married at Maidstone Registry Office on July 21 1948 – the day her visa was due to expire.
      They lived in Kent at various addresses before settling in the village of Staple, near Canterbury. At one point they ran a fish and chip shop in Sandwich. In her interview Waltraud Hollman confessed to a liking for pickled garlic, and doing crosswords and sudoku.
      Benjamin Hollman died in 2007 and she is survived by their son and daughter.”

  21. Morning, all. Cloudy and calm in N Essex.

    Energy expert, Dave Walsh, puts into perspective what our elected representatives have done to break our countries via their moronic energy policies. The USA, UK, Germany and other European states are in a precarious state due to the “green political” maniacs deliberately ignoring the maths and physics of power generation. For example, his graphs and figures re solar capability in Germany are disturbing, and he mentions that the UK labours under a similar climate. Basically, solar energy as a major source of production to the grid is a none starter. Adequate baseload is essential for our ability to produce goods and maintain our standard of living.
    The Greens’ utopia is a figment of their imagination: they can go and live in a cave and forage for food, if that is their choice. However, IMHO the politicians feigning green credentials are working to another agenda and the green true believers have been the perfect ‘useful idiots’ for the politicians to exploit.

    Dave Walsh on the Disastrous Energy Situation

    Edit: correction to link.

    1. We had two solar panels on Mianda which in the summer Mediterranean sun gave us enough electrical power for our needs and – because the daylight hours were longer – these needs were considerably less than in spring, autumn and winter when the solar panels did not cut the mustard and we had to use a petrol generator or run the diesel engine.

      I am all in favour of green energy but I am not in favour of having it forced upon us before it is ready to replace oil and gas.

  22. OT – the news from Chateau Thomas is that we each have a cold.

    Interestingly, the first since December 2019 – when the MR’s developed into a very nasty ‘flu – which we now realise was early-onset Corvid. Of course as she has been triple-vaxxed, that cannot possibly happen again……

    No further bulletins will be isshooed.

      1. Amazon Prime have an offer on for today – discounts on a range of whiskies including single malts…..
        GWS!

      3. We had a seasonable cold or flu a couple of weeks ago so we hope that that’s it for this winter. It was not Covid but it was worse than the innocuous Covid we had in February. We put down the mildness of the Covid we had in February to the fact that we are both unjabbed as our much jabbed friends who got it at the same time as we suffered very much more.

  23. 365930+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Wednesday 12 October: Putin must be left in no doubt about the West’s willingness to take action

    Truth be told, Vladimir if approached in an apologetic manner would gladly join us.

    We are being manipulated big time by political pro’s in pinstripe one really must get it out of ones head that there is ” my MP” no such critter exits, your personal manipulator much nearer the truth or truthfully, the area MP.

    This will NOT be recognised by many until the
    selection process begins and the 3 am knock on the door awakens many to reality.
    You will have two choices either enter the RESET program or suffer individual enforced lock down with “your MP” unfurling true colour, the enforcer’s.

    When the time comes my only wish is ,those that helped to set up our present odious
    standing as a nation will be first to fall, hard.

    3. Remember Blair said that when Blunkett committed adultery with the the owner of The Spectator he had done nothing wrong. I found it strange that a man who wore his Christianity on his sleeve (as Blair did when he thought it suited him) should not be capable of distinguishing between an illegal act and an immoral one.

      The Pakistani rapists have violated a poor child and have done something which is both abhorrent and illegal. However they do not think that what they have done is immoral as infidel children are acceptable prey to these monsters.

      Castration is a suitable punishment but I fear that by British law it would be considered both illegal and immoral. Why do we pay hundreds of thousands of pounds in legal aid for them? Why do we not deport them and every single member of their families when they commit such crimes? Unless and until we do something strong and uncompromising the problem will continue.

      1. “Why do we pay hundreds of thousands of pounds in legal aid for them?”

        2 reasons, Richard:

        1. ECHR/ECJ,

        2. Human Rights Act.

        1. So why doesn’t Truss get UK out of the ECHR this week and without further delay?

          The answer is probably very murky and has something to do with the WEF. At the same time why is the NI Protocol still in existence?

  25. Morning all 🙂
    It looks like it’s going to be wet all day.
    Shame I’d planned to do some more work in the garden. I wonder did someone up there see me cleaning the car on Saturday. This always seems to happen.

      1. We had cloud and clear sky alternatively all day. Then it rained. I had to take doggo to have her nails clipped. 8 quid, I thought not bad. We also had a very long walk. She’s flat out now. Lovely to see.
        I searched the shrubs along the way for sloes. Not a single one to be seen good job I’ve got two kilograms in the freezer from two years ago. I just need some cheap gin, Asia I guess.

  27. SIR – Nicola Sturgeon, who seeks another Scottish independence referendum next year (report, October 11), has persistently failed to address how an independent Scotland would survive financially.

    The claim that “it’s Scotland’s oil” is no longer viable, while the Barnett formula (under which English taxpayers fund Scottish services) and the funding of Scottish pensions would no longer be available. Tourism and whisky exports would be a drop in the financial bucket, and membership of the EU would not be guaranteed.

    Scotland joined the Union in 1707 because it was bankrupt. If it gains independence, it will soon be bankrupt again – but England might not come to its assistance.

    Sandy Pratt
    Storrington, West Sussex

    England must not come to its assistance, and this needs to be made abundantly clear.

    1. That’s why Elsie McSelfie’s push for ‘independence’ includes gaining a seat on the Brussels/Strasbourg gravy train. She wants separation from Wesminstur but needs another taxpayer-funded teat to suck on.

        1. I’m feeling grot. Went to bed early and when i woke up it was 8.30. In the same damned evening !

  29. SIR – With Parliament resuming, can the Conservative Whips remind recalcitrant MPs that, if they continue with their tantrums, the party members – who support Liz Truss – will deselect them?

    If they claim that any departure from the status quo will result in a Labour government, they should also be reminded that they have been dishing up Blair-lite policies for the past 12 years, and Ms Truss is making necessary changes.

    Bryan Lack
    Banbury, Oxfordshire

    Deselection? Fat chance, Mr Lack!

  30. SIR – A year or so ago, a man from the electricity company came to install a smart meter. After looking, he said this was not possible because I have two electricity meters and a gas meter.

    I asked him to tell the company, but heard nothing. I emailed – but again no answer. How can I get this sorted out?

    Julia Plaistowe
    Chesham Bois, Buckinghamshire

    Question – why do you want it sorted out, Ms Plaistow? You are much better off with the mechanical meters, so leave well alone.

    1. In my experience, when the electricity company has made a mistake, it’s often better to let sleeping dogs lie. Is Ms Plaistowe absolutely sure that she’s being billed for both electricity meters, or just for one of them?

      I once did a stint answering the phone at the Gas Consumers’ Council, and we had one client for whom the gas company had no record of their meter….when the woman called to give a meter reading, the man on the other end of the phone told her to look under the sink, and see whether there was a bottle of Calor gas…if that had been me, and I had thought quickly enough, I would have gone back to the phone and said “you are quite right, it is Calor gas! Sorry to have troubled you!”

  31. Good morning all

    Damp morning , but patches of blue are an optomistic sign of a decent day ahead . Quite mild .

    The cricket campaign Stephen Fry should lead
    SIR – Stephen Fry, the new president of Marylebone Cricket Club, continues to defend the proposal – now shelved – to scrap the Eton v Harrow fixture at Lord’s in order to help cricket lose its “turgid image of snobbery and elitism” (report, September 10).

    Cricket does not have an “elitist” image. Mr Fry only has to tour the country on a summer weekend to see thousands of club and village sides engaged in fierce league competition.

    Instead of focusing on the removal of historic fixtures, he could lead a campaign to bring back cricket in state schools. Clubs only benefit youngsters whose parents have the enthusiasm, money and time to take them.

    The argument that Lord’s did not have room in its calendar for Eton v Harrow (and Oxford v Cambridge) as well as the new, broader competitions that Mr Fry advocates, always looked disingenuous. There is room for both.

    Graham Fish
    Hertford

    Stephen Fry is a prize twerp in everyday life .

    Having said that , cricket is played nearly everywhere where there are maintained sports fields and and sports pavillions.

    I think cricket teams and coaching are now a rarity in state schools .. The hairy woke lefty teaching brigade who fill children’s heads with nonsense , don’t encourage many types of competitive sport …

    1. Stephen Fry, seems to have dedicated his whole life to supporting eletism and snobbery. He plays his part as General Lord Melchett superbly.

      1. Can’t stand him. He’s one of those “celebrities” who wouldn’t exist without the BBC.

    2. Sold off the playing fields.

      Out of sight of the cameras, Fry is an appalling little snob and all-round twerp.

      1. As in the St Albans school Verulum.
        The playing field must have been sold off as a ‘brown field’ site.
        I expect the usual bungs from the developers took place.

    3. The independent school to which I went fields 4 Under 18 Rugby and Cricket teams, 2 Under 16 teams, 2 Under 15 teams and 2 Under 14 teams not to mention the teams fielded at prep school level on Saturdays and Wednesdays.

      Of course this means that all the masters have to get involved and when I was a schoolmaster I ran the Under 15s (Junior Colts) rugby team even though I did not pretend to be a particularly competent coach. I also organised the school’s Cross Country running teams and the school swimming teams. This of course meant that many Saturdays were taken up with games often travelling around the West of England in a bus going to away matches but my view was that it was all part of the job and if one didn’t like it one should go and teach in a state school. I did not run a cricket team but I occasionally played for the Masters’ Common Room XI which competed against local villages.

  32. Insurance renewal scam attempt. Last year, following a period of considerable stability, my car insurance renewal premiums went up considerably for no apparent reason so I shopped around. I found a firm called ‘Hastings Direct’, which seemed the most competitive and renewed with them. This year, their renewal is at a much higher level, but equally importantly, they claim I signed up for ‘automatic renewal’, which I most definitely did not. I have always been fully aware of the need to shop around for car insurance. So I went online and removed this ‘automatic renewal’ entry. Fortunately, the card I had used had expired, but no doubt, if it had not, they would have attempted a ‘change to the policy’ charge. Avoid Hastings Direct, and and others attempting the same dishonest trick.

    I can see from other reports on the internet that others are suffering from similar attempts.

    2. I’ve learnt from MB’s example. Go through an insurance broker. They are aware of the sneaky tricks that these companies play.

  33. It seems that Red Bull F1 and Verstappen [who, let’s be honest, only “won” the championship last year due to an incompetent race official] are in the dwang. The FIA have, after nearly a year of sifting evidence, concluded that they overspent the finance cap by a “minor” amount [possibly £1.8M – supposedly for catering costs??]. It seems also that they may have overspent again this year? Since Christian Horner is so quick to call for serious punishments for other teams, perhaps he should accept the same when it’s his team that have sinned? Personally I’d dock Red Bull points for last season and take away that dubious title, even if it means Hamilton gets it, but I very much doubt that it will happen – more likely a fine [presumably paid outside the cap] to the FIA?
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/63204082

    1. A few bribes will change hands – then it will all be forgotten.

      Anything to prevent Cur Loathesome winning again.

  34. “A real king of the jungle! Mike Tindall ‘signs up for this year’s I’m A Celebrity – becoming the first royal on a major reality show’ and leaving viewers wondering what family secrets he may spill”

    DM Story

    Will dwarfs, dwarves or porgs (People Of Restricted Growth) be provided or will he have to bring his own?

    But more seriously, is it now a good time for members of the royal family to proletarialise themselves?

      1. Me too. Anything with ‘celebrity’ in the title, or described as ‘reality tv’ we avoid like the plague!

        1. Especially when “celebrity” seems to be so overused – I’ve never heard of many of them, but then again I never watch soaps.

        2. Morning Hugh. It’s frightening how little I watch of mainstream TV. I record shows that I like; usually from the pre Woke era, and fast forward over the ads with their ethnic brainwashing program!

          1. We watch very little these days – but OH likes the sport, so we still pay the wretched levy.

          2. Don’t pay the licence fee – tell them you don’t need one because you don’t watch live TV. if the goons come to your door just shut it in their faces, they have no powers, they can’t come in unless you invite them and never converse with them they are salesmen trying to sell you a licence for which they get commission. I’ve been 2 years without a licence and not even received a threatening letter from them.

          3. After about a dozen threatening letters a chap arrived at my door and asked why I didn’t have a licence. I told him why. We had a pleasant five minute chat about rugby and he left. No more threatening letters.

          4. After about a dozen threatening letters a chap arrived at my door and asked why I didn’t have a licence. I told him why. We had a pleasant five minute chat about rugby and he left. No more threatening letters.

          8. True and nobody is going to travel to me on the chance of catching me viewing tv , which I rarely do anyway, and as I’ve said you just close the door on them . Anyone who has been fined has let them in and admitted watching tv or been tricked into it. Plus there are NO tv detector vans. If everyone stopped paying the licence fee it would prompt the BBC to stop relying on a definite amount of money £3.7 billion/year from taxpayers and be responsible for raising their operating costs by advertising or subscription like all the other media companies. Most of what you watch is available for free on catch-up channels or streaming services.

        3. Morning Hugh. It’s frightening how little I watch of mainstream TV. I record shows that I like; usually from the pre Woke era, and fast forward over the ads with their ethnic brainwashing program!

        4. I stopped watching that sort of programme when I couldn’t recognise any of the celebrities.

    2. Good morning Richard ,

      Is Tindall financially hard up?

      He is risking so much , I expect Strictly come dancing isn’t his thing , but I’m a Celebrity will be a jolly down under with the family?

      I guess he has so many bills , horses for courses and that sort of thing .

        1. On the few occasions I have seen him interviewed, he has come across very well.
          I’m surprised he’s been so silly, I doubt he needs the money or the publicity.

    4. Two reasons for not watching the programme – 1) It doesn’t interest me. 2) The Royal Family doesn’t interest me.

    5. I gave up the ‘pleasures’ of livestream broadcasting a few years ago. Basically, I didn’t trust any of the news/current affairs programmes, nor any documentaries – even Attenborough’s wildlife documentaries were fudged to fit the agenda. The dramas were a wokefest of nonsense and the ‘reality’ tv shows had tighter scripts than the soap operas.

      Other than not being able to visit my local to watch the Six Nations in the early days of the scamdemic, I haven’t missed it one bit.

    2. The ‘desperate’ people are the indigenous and the long term settled and integrated immigrants. We’re stuck with “conservative” politicians who promise an end to overcrowding this island and who deliver only lies and more illegals. We’re also stuck with labour politicians who are hell-bent on destroying the UK by an open door, all welcome policy. The current financial crisis should, if these morons had a functioning brain cell between the lot of them, inform them that the UK is broke, busted, insolvent… How are we, the taxpayers, going to pay for all this largesse?

      1. “How are we, the taxpayers, going to pay for all this largesse?”

        WE won’t because there will be insufficient tax to support anything. WE will all be out of work.

  37. EV>Settings

    As I get to grips with driving an EV I am making some notes of issues that arise when moving to an electric vehicle after after having spent over 60 years driving all sorts of vehicles – but all had gear sticks.

    One of the Hyundai Kona reviewers criticised the number of warning bongs which is alarming when you don’t know where to look on the driver’s display screens to find out what to do about it. That’s why I had the sales guy disable them all when I picked up the EV.

    I don’t know about other EVs but the Kona is bristling with electronic sensors – almost enough for the car to drive itseff. Indeed some reviewer drivers show how they can take their hands off the wheel whilst drving on motorways as the car steers itself in the lane on bends and automatically varies the cruise control (smart cruise) to keep up with the traffic flow.

    This image shown the driver assist facilites available from the front and rear cameras, the forward and rear proximity clusters and the front and back radar sensors:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5c94f42b2b3622ee3afb829003fabef459888e05ebc197b30c025a044ebc1d99.jpg

    1. Far too much information.

      “What were you doing at the time of the collision?”
      “Reading the safety advice….”

      1. I had a fair amount of essential controls on my Mazda which has now been traded in and gone to auction:

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0adb42704b2e051a4651808bc282dc8a3a9b14278b94c23e6ba9eb5f81a182f0.jpg

        But the Kona is on another level.

        I did all I could to save the Mazda but it was beyond the competence of both the AA and the Mazda dealer to properly diagnose the DTCs and sort the presence of the engine warning light which must not be present during an MOT.

    2. I have to admit that I’m having difficulty in getting back to a particular desired Kona’s Home screen display because I’m pressing the wrong icon buttons. I’m now adopting a formal icon selection sequence notation that will help getting to a desired screen.

      From the Home screen you must press first Settings followed by Vehicle:

      i.e. Home>Settings>Vehicle will result in this screen:

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5c94f42b2b3622ee3afb829003fabef459888e05ebc197b30c025a044ebc1d99.jpg

      The notation follows the familiar sub-folder tree navigation system used in computing.

  38. It seems I’ve made a mistake with the weather. Now not a cloud in the sky.
    I’ll have to have a word with Carol.
    Must get on.

  39. Good Moaning.
    Totally unconnected with being nuked or ruined.
    How on earth do people eat a whole portion of fish and chips?
    Yesterday evening, MB got his usual one portion for the two of us.
    Neither could finish our half portion of chips and I barely touch the batter at the best of times.

    1. In August eldest grandson came up for a weekend. We went out for fish ‘n chips. We ordered 2½ portions for the three of us.

      We ate what we could there and then. Brought the rest home and had TWO extra meals for three from it…..

      1. MB brings back what appears to be a battered whale and half a field of fried potatoes.
        I don’t know if that is the normal practice at the chippie or whether he’s a favoured customer.

        1. I was amazed at the portion size. There were a lot of very fat people – who appeared to have no difficulty in emptying their plates….

    2. They are simply following the lead of the Yanks (who else?) in their endeavour to turn the whole population into hippopotamuses.

      BTW: You didn’t tell me if you got the recipe I gave you t’other day!

    3. Good morning Anne

      I alwas ask for a pensioners portion/ childs portion.. but my goodness that in itself is very generous .

      We rarely buy fish and chips , but when we do it is usually bought in Weymouth or Swanage .Such lovely fresh fish .

      We then drive to a quiet spot with a view of the sea .. and enjoy eating our meal in the car .

      How on earth do the sea birds and rooks and crows know we are there chomping our meal?

    4. A good crispy batter is often the best part!
      And no, that is not to say that I do not enjoy the fish too!

    5. Fish and chips from the chippy costs around a fiver, Annie. If you buy battered fish from the supermarket you can usually get a box of four battered fish for around half that price. (Alternatively, the next time you send YB off to buy a single portion of fish and chips let me know and I’ll come round and polish off the leftovers! Lol.)

      2. Thinking about that, normally MB has curry sauce for his chips; he didn’t get that either.
        Like mushy peas, can give the rest a swerve.

    7. Younger people eat a lot more. We can only eat smaller portions these days. Can’t remember the last time we bought fish and chips but last week we had a pizza and it did us for lunch for the next two days. Waste not want not!

    9. I treated myself to fish and chips when I got back from Kent. I shared it with the dogs because the fish was HUGE and there were far too many chips.

  40. King Charles III may bring new approach to ‘Defender of the Faith’

    (Published a month ago) https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/13/king-charles-religion-faith/

    In the book, Charles took issue with “empiricism,” the view that since science cannot prove the existence of God, God must not exist. That kind of thinking, he wrote, “elbows the soul out of the picture.”

    In an increasingly multicultural nation with a full rainbow of faiths, Charles has long expressed interest in and support for all forms of belief, particularly Islam and Judaism.

    “He has given us a lot of confidence,” said Zara Mohammed, head of the Muslim Council of Britain, the largest group representing the U.K.’s approximately 3 million Muslims. “We regard him as an admirer of Islam and a friend of British Muslims. It’s brilliant to see how he grasps how the U.K. has changed. He sees a more holistic picture and the power of all faiths and diverse communities working together.”

    2. Faith would be redundant if the existence in God could be conclusively proved because if it could there would be no point in denying it.

      There is a difference between a theory and a theorem. The former is a hypothesis which cannot be proved – like man-made climate change – whereas a theorem like that of Pythagoras about hypotenuses and triangles can be demonstrably proved.

      I do not believe in man-made climate change – but I would be as stupid as our current king if I denied the truth of Pythagoras’s Theorem.

    3. “the view that since science cannot prove the existence of God, God must not exist” – that sounds like Dawkins. I bought one of his books a while ago in the hope of getting some reasoned argument, but the whole hardback could be condensed into”Science cannot prove God exists, therefore God does not exist.”
      That’s why it’s called “Faith”, dumbass.
      Likewise, science cannot prove that God does not exist. Does that mean that God does exist?

    4. We don’t have “a rainbow of faiths” we have an Established (Christian) Church. Time its Governor woke up to that fact and started promoting it.

  42. I don’t know whether it is just me, but I simply cannot take Charlie Boy seriously as “King”. The Queen was an example to me for most of my life. She epitomised what being Head of State meant. Chas is just a dabbling playboy with ever-changeable daft ideas filling the void where his brain ought to be.

    1. He has two main problems: he is exceptionally thick and he is exceptionally boring.

        1. Agree, I have gone right off William and Kate.
          She was pictured in the Mail earlier this week, gurning away in front of some qwerty soup sign. She and William will support anything that destroys a decent and orderly life if they’re told it’s necessary, presumably for Charles’s depopulation ambitions. They and their family aren’t going to be eating bugs and waiting for the bus, naturally.

        1. I went one better than that, Bill. When I was ‘sounded out’ for recognition (if that’s the right word) for 39 years uniformed service I told them in very basic language that I wanted nothing to do with a system that has become so abused and notable for its excesses. Besides, it was a lot of fun and hugely satisfying, and I didn’t need rewarding for all of that! My wish prevailed.

    3. Sadly, Willum will be no better. Woke causes, meltal ‘elf, bit like his nutty bro really. Just got a cool bit*h! Yo ho…

    4. Yes, I think he’s a minnow in comparison with his mother. It is of course early days, and I am happy to give him credit for the Princes Trust. Beyond that, however, he has a great deal to do, the first of which is to shut up about the global warming scam.

      1. Some people on here keep saying we must all give Truss a chance. How about we extend the same courtesy to the King? I think too many people underestimate him. He’s had a long apprenticeship and I am sure it will pay off.

      2. To be frank, Her Majesty is a very hard act to follow, if not impossible. So, Charls is going to be compared unfavourably for quite a while yet.

    5. I was talking about this to someone who knows him personally and who says he is a thoroughly decent person.
      I am concerned about his loyalty to the WEF and his desire to be a world player, but I’d reserve judgement for now.

      1. Which is the real Charles though? The “thoroughly decent person” (I have heard this from other sources) or the man who regularly consorts with international criminals and terrorists, sought out the company of several paedophiles and appointed a man who wants to reduce the population as his economic adviser?

    6. I still find it strange when, in the BCP, we pray for his Sovereign Majesty, King Charles. It doesn’t seem right, somehow. The other day he had a winner: owner The King, breeder The Queen.

  43. Here is the article in The Critic by Michael Henderson slamming beeboid Radio 3:

    “There is no point in sugaring the pill: Radio 3 has a death wish. A station which exists to serve high culture, without apology or embarrassment, is drowning in a puddle of self-willed mediocrity. There should be a clear-out, bag and baggage, and a fresh start under new stewardship.

    A few preliminary questions.

    Why does Tom Service, the butler at Waffling Hall, waffle so much? Is he paid by the word? Why does Kate Molleson speak like a little girl? Why does she think listeners need to be given notes, coated in quasi-academic jargon, seconds after the music has evaporated?

    Why does Georgia Mann treat Essential Classics as an audition for Blue Peter? Why does she breathe so heavily, like a nurse ready to administer an enema?

    Why does Sarah Walker continue to pronounce Beethoven’s surname incorrectly? (It’s one word, not two, Sarah, and you ignore the ‘h’). Why does she talk so much about herself? Not many people want to hear how her cat escaped through the loft.

    Why does Katie Derham burst into peals of unnecessary laughter in almost every sentence? Why can she not say “orchestra”? Why is everything “incredible” or “amazing”? Why does Tom McKinney, their man in the north, pronounce Sir John Barbirolli as “Barbiroley”? Why do the continuity announcers so frequently stress the wrong words (“doing a Myrie”)? Can they not read a script? Why do so many presenters affect faux-northern and prolier-than-thou voices? And why does Ian “I’m from Bairsnsley” MacMillan keep turning up like a bad penny?

    At 9.15am on 1 September, Georgia Mann invited listeners “to tell us how you like to party”. At an hour when Radio 3 stalwarts were spreading marmalade on their toast and filling in the first line of the crossword, she was togged up as if for an all-nighter at Wigan Casino.

    The following evening, she introduced a (ragged) performance of Beethoven’s ninth symphony at the Proms. This offered a chance to describe Chineke!, the orcheshtra (Katie Amazing) of non-white musicians, as an ensemble notable for “an energy associated with pop concerts”.

    Hey, kids, this classical music rocks! Consider the Proms, part of the BBC’s fiefdom. Each summer it chucks in one more concert linked to a well-known television show, and adds a few more performers from the world of popular entertainment.

    This summer’s “Sarpong Special” was a tribute to Aretha Franklin, a gifted if overwrought singer, whose best moments came in the Sixties. In time there will surely be a Limmie and Family Cookin’ Prom: “he’s a walkin’ miracle … woo-oo …” One for groovy Georgia.

    Speaking on BBC4 at last year’s Proms, Tom Waffles suggested the idea of genius was rooted in outdated notions (racist, sexist, “classist”, etc …) about dead white European men. Yet that tradition remains a historical fact, beyond argument, and underlines the whole purpose of Radio 3.

    If folk at the BBC don’t understand that purpose, and clearly they don’t, they should be dismissed; as Bobby Robson once said, the tooter the sweeter. What’s happening is (for once the word is merited) tragic.

    Simon Armitage’s fortnight-long assessment on Radio 4, Larkin Revisited, was only a partial success. The part that worked belonged to the immortal Philip, whose poetry will always survive attempts to belittle him. The other part, when Armitage invited guests to explain how the poems worked, was vin ordinaire.

    The omnipresent MacMillan docked Larkin a point for using the word “louts” in Going, Going. Twerp. It’s a wonderful word. Joelle Taylor, whose butch lesbian subculture rhymes, C+nto & Othered Poems, recently won her the TS Eliot Prize, thought Larkin’s world was too “narrow”. A pop journalist with straw in his hair misunderstood Love Songs in Age so completely that a doctor ought to have checked his pulse.

    The main problem was Armitage, who makes Eeyore sound like Dr Pangloss. He presented the poems out of curiosity rather than love, so the tone was flat. “You’re talking about one of the supreme poets in our language,” you wanted to shout. “Who cares about the adolescent effluence of a dunce who thinks Larkin would be “‘no-platformed’ at a Poetry Slam?’”

    So the final score read: Armitage 0, Larkin 10. That’s not a bad result for the lad. Few poets living or dead would get past that chap.”

    1. A diversity orchestra has been accused of “woke nonsense” after refusing to play the National Anthem.

      The Chineke! Orchestra did not play God Save the King at a performance in Switzerland during the period of mourning for the Queen, at the direction of its founder and artistic director Chi-chi Nwanoku.

      In an email seen by the Mail on Sunday Ms Nwanoku, 66, wrote “The Chineke! Orchestra is full of musicians who are not from the UK and many who are the direct result of their ancestors being enslaved. We will not be playing the National Anthem in Lucerne.”

      The orchestra had been invited to play at the prestigious Lucerne Festival, in central Switzerland, just a few days after the late Queen’s death in September.

      A 62-strong group of young musicians, it was founded in 2015 as the first professional orchestra in Europe to be mostly made up of people who are black or from other ethnically diverse groups.

      It has previously played at the Proms and has received hundreds of thousands of pounds in funding from Arts Council

      England.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/09/orchestra-refused-play-national-anthem-accused-woke-nonsense/

      Organisers and the orchestra’s young players had suggested opening the performance with the national anthem but this suggestion was rejected by Ms Nwanoku, who was given a CBE in the Queen’s birthday honours earlier this year for services to music and diversity. She was also awarded an MBE in 2001 and an OBE in 2017.

      She added: “I would be extremely uncomfortable imposing it on people who a) are not British and b) who are not nationalistic and c) the list goes on. It does not mean we are not sad that the Queen has died.”

      Ms Nwanoku MUST return her honours ..

      I feel very uncomfortable that people like that are awarded honours .. why, because they only turn around and spit in your eye. They are born with the Judas streak .

      1. Too many honours, none of which are probably justified. This has made them complacent, they believe that they are above all that nonsense with the National Anthem. Fine…they should immediately lose any further taxpayer funding.

    2. They have have certainly f*cked up the BBC – did they do it to show their empathy – or lack of it – for Philip Larkin?

  45. Higher interest rates are not transitory, they are here to stay
    A world of sustained rates will mark the restoration of a kind of sanity after the aberrations of recent times

    DT: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/10/12/higher-interest-rates-not-transitory-stay/

    BTL

    Interest rates have been far too low for far too long and this has completely wrecked the housing market causing absurd inflation. Interst rates should have risen steadily over the years instead of remaining so low.

    The average earnings in Britain are about £35,000 pa which, of course means a great many people earn less than that. However the average property price is now over £250,000 – over seven times higher than average annual earnings.

    Politicians must be financially incompetent to have allowed this absurd state of affairs to come about.

    1. Interest rates were forced down to reduce government borrowing and allow the state to waste with abandon. Only when that waste is removed will sanity be restored. Problem is, it’s some 1.5bn a day. That’s only a billion less than is raised in tax. It means about 40% cuts in state spending. Yes, all the jokes about di-worse-ity nonsense and climate change would help, but it means real and nasty cuts to state spending on welfare.

      Frankly, government only has itself to blame. Well, it has Brown to blame. He gave lower paid people more money from the incomes of the higher earners. In so doing he allowed himself to keep taxes high on one group while rewarding another. He also massively expanded welfare and flooded the country with the welfare dependent. Bluntly, he broke the market in so many places it’s limped along, crippled and struggling on state waste (debt) ever since.

      Undoing that carnage will take decades of hard, painful reductions because, well, someone has got to pay for it, and it can’t be the people *already* paying for it.

      Cue Thayaric telling me I’m wrong and that we can continue to print money and inflate the currency because the government is not a household and shouldn’t be run that way, that tax is for spending on things, not essential services. I did read on those rational points. Turns out at the macro and micro economic level… they’re not not valid.

  46. Car Salesman: Thank you for choosing the brand new model, if you fill out these forms we can put you on the waiting list.

    Customer: How long is the wait?

    Car Salesman: Oh it’s not too bad. Only three years.

    Customer: So I can expect delivery on this date in three years?

    Car Salesman: exactly sir

    Customer: morning or afternoon?

    Car Salesman: Why does that matter?

    Customer: I have a GP appointment in the morning.

    1. I thought : wasn’t this joke pre-fixed ‘in Soviet Russia’ and then I realised no, the same applies here thanks to the anti market, Left wing stupidity of the statist morons ruining this country.

  47. Net zero puritans don’t want you to hear the truth
    We are told to change lifestyles to reduce carbon emissions. Yet, this will only contribute 10 per cent to meeting climate change targets

    Peter Lilley : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/12/net-zero-puritans-dont-want-hear-truth/

    BTL

    I am all in favour of green energy but I am not in favour of having it forced upon us before it is ready to replace fossil fuels and before it can be provided at a cost that is affordable and does not need to be subsidised.

    We don’t eat fruit until it is ripe; we do not say we are doctors before we have completed our medical training; we do not go to sea until our boat is shipshape and seaworthy; we should not marry until we are old enough to take on the responsibility – so WHY are we having green energy imposed on us so soon?

    Remember Sir Francis Drake’s prayer saying that however well you begin a job it is the finishing of it properly that yields the true glory. The supply of green energy has not been finished yet – it is not ready and we are not ready for it.

    A world powered by renewables would be marvellous but It must not be like a premature ejaculation and come too soon!

    1. All this “opposition” to net zero starts from the assumption that the carbon fraud is true.

        1. Trump was quite right.

          Both Boris Johnson’s new wife and father were eager for him to pursue the ‘green agenda’ and he was not strong enough to resist them

    2. I agree with Peter Lilley.

      The UK Government has been pushing technology too fast in the persuit of ‘free renewable’ energy.
      This energy now costs the same as any other fossil derived energy and windmill owners are complaning about possibly losing the windfall profits they are making as well the Government payments for their excess energy that they can’t deliver.

      Premature ejaculation can lead to stress, anxiety, erectile dysfunction and problems with your interpersonal relationships so it’s important to seek help.

      https://www.healthymale.org.au/mens-health/premature-ejaculation

    3. If the population were a tenth the size, if we had no industry, if we had an efficient, well managed, uncongested transport network, if we all lived in large, thick walled homes made from double walled stone covered in solar panels with battery backup then wind might be an option.

      As it is, it isn’t.

      What shows it’s nonsense is that big government is not changing planning rules to have these big, thick walled buildings with significant gardens built. nor is it mandating solar panels nor reducing the population. Thus, ‘climate change’ is just a scam to move money from the worker to the state, which it wastes wrecking the energy market.

      1. Is it mandatory to have double-glazing for newbuild housing in the UK? When we last looked at a house, it had nasty, cheap, softwood single-glazed windows (such soft wood, you could sink your thumbnail into it!).

        1. I think you can have whatever materials you like (outside of planning).

          However, it makes sense for anyone sensible to get double glazing. Thing is, most of the weather is damp and cool, which means we need our homes to breathe.

    4. Mr Lilley should remove his rose (or should it be green) tinted spectacles and look at the full life “green-ness” of so called renewable energy. He will then see the true costs.

    5. He was our local MP I met him a couple of times. He was a decent down to earth chap.
      But there’s one huge lump under the proverbial carpet, if the obession is counting heads for carbon footprint and emissions. Why have this government allowed thousands of people into the UK. And why are the government hell bent on destroying green belt and agricultural land to house thousands of new families. If you look at how other countries are managing and applying solutions as we apear to be. We are wasting our time with this self inflicted martyrdom.
      Now farmers are planning not to plough fields between planting. Because they say it releases carbon into the atmosphere. But conversely our government still believe its carbon natural to build all over the countryside.

  48. Life in the Australian Army…
    Text of a letter from a kid from Eromanga to Mum and Dad. (For Those of
    you not in the know, Eromanga is a small town, west of Quilpie in the
    far south west of Queensland )
    Dear Mum & Dad,
    I am well. Hope youse are too. Tell me big brothers Doug and Phil that
    the Army is better than workin’ on the farm – tell them to get in bloody
    quick smart before the jobs are all gone! I wuz a bit slow in settling
    down at first, because ya don’t hafta get outta bed until 6am. But I
    like sleeping in now, cuz all ya gotta do before brekky is make ya bed
    and shine ya boots and clean ya uniform. No bloody cows to milk, no
    calves to feed, no feed to stack – nothin’!! Ya haz gotta shower though,
    but its not so bad, coz there’s lotsa hot water and even a light to see
    what ya doing!
    At brekky ya get cereal, fruit and eggs but there’s no kangaroo steaks
    or possum stew like wot Mum makes. You don’t get fed again until noon
    and by that time all the city boys are buggered because we’ve been on a
    ‘route march’ – geez its only just like walking to the windmill in the
    back paddock!!
    This one will kill me brothers Doug and Phil with laughter. I keep
    getting medals for shootin’ – dunno why. The bullseye is as big as a
    bloody possum’s bum and it don’t move and it’s not firing back at ya
    like the Johnsons did when our big scrubber bull got into their prize
    cows before the Ekka last year! All ya gotta do is make yourself
    comfortable and hit the target – it’s a piece of piss!! You don’t even
    load your own cartridges, they comes in little boxes, and ya don’t have
    to steady yourself against the rollbar of the roo shooting truck when
    you reload!
    Sometimes ya gotta wrestle with the city boys and I gotta be real
    careful coz they break easy – it’s not like fighting with Doug and Phil
    and Jack and Boori and Steve and Muzza all at once like we do at home
    after the muster.
    Turns out I’m not a bad boxer either and it looks like I’m the best the
    platoon’s got, and I’ve only been beaten by this one bloke from the
    Engineers – he’s 6 foot 5 and 15 stone and three pick handles across the
    shoulders and as ya know I’m only 5 foot 7 and eight stone wringin’
    wet, but I fought him till the other blokes carried me off to the
    boozer.
    I can’t complain about the Army – tell the boys to get in quick before
    word gets around how bloody good it is.
    Your loving daughter,
    Sheila

  49. I got another autumn booster letter this morning, with a glossy leaflet – how much is all this junk mail costing us? It’s not even any good for the printer as the letter and the rubbish languages were on both sides of the paper.

      1. No – only one and a bit. They must have missed some of them. Perhaps they think these foreigners don’t live in our area.

  50. https://12ft.io/proxy?ref=&q=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/11/public-spending-control-nobody-prepared-tackle/

    The problem the article skirts is that there are no consequences for failure. Why have those managers who signed off the spending been sacked? Why has the minister in charge – Sunak – not been reprimanded? Offers were made of those companies that were genuine. Yes, it would have slowed down the response but only by a few days. Any longer and yet again we have incompetence. Same with the climate change idiots – why have we a department focussed on government waste? The state fiddles endlessly in the economy and is rubbish at it. The same things over and over again – incompetence, fraud, failure, laziness, disinterest – because it’s not their money.

    Make it their money and watch standards improve.

    4. What a stupid woman, Ardern is, getting herself all exited about a gas that composes a mere 0.04% of the atmosphere and is essential for plant life.

    1. I could not have put it better. I would add that people like permanence and beauty.

      I have now retired and in process of winding up my small practice. Coincidentally I received today some email waffle from ARB (Architects Registration Board) advising me that they are charged with ensuring all architects undertake compulsory CPD which they will police.

      An organisation which was ARCUK (Architects Registration Council of the UK) and charged an annual fee of £7.00 morfed into ARB when architects sought protection of title. The annual fee is now about £150.00 and you are expected to fork out to attend various CPD seminars.

      In a long and productive career in architecture you may be assured that my knowledge on all matters was gained from working in practice on a wide variety of projects, both large and small, both new build and conservation of old buildings and from personal motivation and enquiry. I accumulated about ten thousand books on architecture, history, art and sculpture plus many texts on social history and politics.

      In short you have to learn from practice, from visiting foundries, metalworkers, steel fabricators, joiners, aluminium and composite window fabricators, stone quarries, mines and masonry works, lead workers and timber suppliers to name a few of the essential disciplines. You need a knowledge of craftwork and the nature and art of craftsmanship and the nature of design. A bit of theory does not go amiss either.

      Regrettably these eternal values are now all but lost on the modern architect with the increasingly dire and contrived results we witness day by day.

  54. ‘I’m trying to get a baby to hospital’: Frustrated man pleads with eco mob blocking road to let him pass so he can get an infant to doctors – as Met chief says officers CAN’T break up protests because they aren’t causing ‘serious disruption’

    Just Stop Oil activists in London’s Knightsbridge cause fire engine responding to an emergency to be blocked
    Ambulance had to reverse and find another route as environmental group take to the capital’s streets again

    Demonstration at junction of Knightsbridge and Brompton Road began at 10am and involved 32 activists
    Yesterday marked 11th consecutive day of demonstrations that have resulted in more than 300 arrests so far
    Were you impacted by the Knightsbridge protests yesterday? E-mail: dan.sales@mailonline.co.uk

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11306529/Frustrated-man-pleads-eco-mob-let-pass-baby-hospital.html

    1. Obviously arrested then freed to create more chaos.
      I’d love to see them try it up here

        1. I’ll bet nobody checks their expenses claims. They’re all lying cheating thieving bastards.

          2. I see that 23 perlice people (must be neutral) TWENTY THREE – stood and watched six of these urban terrorists block the highway. And did NOTHING.

          3. ‘King useless.

            I spent 5 hours in a cab driving around Hatfield looking for an old geezer. Where were you 😕
            300 quid it cost me plus a 40 quid tip. 🤔

        1. The Police would have cleared the street in seconds if that was the case. Which highlights their actual motives.

    3. Those Police need to grow a pair.

      With campaigners regularly arrested for blocking roads, it is essential
      everyone knows about these changes and what they mean. The maximum
      penalty for highway obstruction was previously a fine but now it is
      an imprisonable offence, with a possible sentence of up to six months in
      prison.22 Jul 2022

      Everything you need to know about the law change to … – Netpol

    4. I always thought planning and causing obstructions in public places are and always have been arrestable offences.

    1. Mystery Hour Question

      Is it possible for a person to commit a citizen’s arrest against a police officer?
      Saheed, Cambridge

      Answer

      ** Definitive **
      Name: Alex, Richmond
      Qualification: Ex-policeman

      Answer: A person can arrest any other person committing what they call
      an arrestable offence. But only a police officer can arrest someone on
      reasonable suspicion of an arrestable offence. If he doesn’t see it, but
      thinks someone did it, then they can arrest them. If you see a police
      officer do something illegal, you can arrest them. But you’d be taking
      your life into your own hands as the chances are, the policeman would
      have a professional explanation for what happened

      1. Is it illegal to stand by and watch the King’s highway being closed to traffic by protesters?
        What happens if someone dies in an ambulance or misses an appointment for cancer treatment?

          1. Does the same apply to doctors and nurses deliberately ignoring someone having a heart attack?

          2. You are conflating two different scenarios that have no relationship to one another. You already know the answer to your third question (in the second of your posts) so it is rhetorical (Hippocratic Oath and all that).

            As for your first question, to whom is the ‘illegality’, that you mention, aimed at? If it is to the police, then the answer is that any police officer who neglects to perform his duty may be open to a disciplinary charge, but not to legal action in this scenario. Having said that, what passes for police action and its consequences, in this day and age, is beyond my comprehension.

    2. Serious answer. Yes, of course he can; however, there is a caveat.

      For any citizen to arrest anyone (police officer included), without warrant, the offender must be seen, by the arrester, to be actively committing —or having just committed — an arrestable offence (as defined by The Criminal Law Act, 1967). Anything outside this remit is not acceptable and anyone arresting an individual for any other reason leaves him/herself open to a charge of false arrest and imprisonment.

      Only a constable has the power to arrest someone, without warrant, who is about to commit an arrestable offence; or who has committed an arrestable offence at sometime in the past and the constable has a reasonable suspicion, that the offender he is about to arrest for it has indeed committed it. All four specific scenarios are catered for in the Act.

      A constable is a citizen, and therefore has to follow the law like any other citizen. This means that he can be arrested in the same way as any other citizen.

      1. Thanks Grizz I knew you’d come up with the goods. I was thinking of someone arresting a policeman for allowing a crime to take place (blocking the highway is a crime) or actively facilitating it.

        1. You are welcome, my friend.

          The problem in this scenario is that they are not committing a ‘crime’ by definition. They are committing a road traffic offence which does not have the powers to deal with it as a crime does. Semantics, I know, but here is a distinct legal definition as to what constitutes a crime and what does not.

          Anyone attempting to arrest a policeman for permitting a road traffic offence to take place (or not taking action to stop/prevent it) would find him/herself having huge problems. They would most likely be arrested themselves for obstructing or assaulting a police officer, and that is just for starters.

          2. If someone accidentally disturbed a wasp nest or better still a hornet nest amongst a group of climate gluer protesters would they be guilty of a criminal offence?

          3. No. They would be knighted (or elevated to The Lords).

            Seriously, an accident is a statutory defence against a charge of criminal activity.

          4. Addendum:

            Criminal offences

            There are a wide range of criminal offences. They include what are deemed to be really serious offences including: offences of violence such as murder and manslaughter, grievous and actual bodily harm, sexual offences, and offences against children.

            Dishonesty offences include fraud and theft and offences against property include arson and criminal damage.

            There are crimes against justice, such as perjury, or giving false evidence under oath, and perverting the course of justice.

            Serious Road Traffic offences that are regarded as crimes include: speeding, drink driving, careless or dangerous driving.

            There are countless other offences that transgress against the provisions of various Acts of Parliament that are not deemed to be criminal behaviour.

            These include: parking offences, motor vehicle document offences, and other non-motoring offences such as licensing offences.

            From Moriarty’s Police Law:

            Crime: Stephen’s Criminal Law defines a crime as an act of disobedience of the law forbidden under pain of punishment. Punishment in this criminal sense may be death or loss of liberty or (and) money penalty. There is however another kind of disobedience of law called a “civil injury”, which is a wrongful act injuring some person or persons but which does not disturb the community in general. Eminent lawyers have framed definitions of the word “crime”, designed to show the difference between a crime and a civil injury, but the difficulty is that both are breaches of law, and for some wrongful acts (such as assault) both civil and criminal remedies are available.

            Generally speaking, a crime affects the interest of the community at large, while the effect of a civil injury is usually restricted to the injured person or persons. The criminal law is intended to secure public peace and order. The object of criminal proceedings is punishment, and the offender is punished as a warning to persons in general not to commit crime, but in civil proceedings the persons whose rights have been interfered with take action to obtain for themselves compensation or damages.

            The practical test as to whether a particular act is a crime is whether it is punishable by the criminal law; therefore any conduct punishable by the criminal law is a crime.

            A crime consists of some wrongful act or conduct together with some guilty or blameable condition of mind. The criminal law does not punish illegal thoughts; it waits until an unlawful thought is evidenced by some action or by neglect to take action. If an act, which by law should have been done, is not done, it is called an omission.

            The guilty or blameable state of mind which is necessary to constitute a crime is known as mens rea, or the offender’s mind. When a person of his own free will does an act he is said to do it wilfully. If an act is not freely willed by the doer, it is said to be involuntary.

  56. 365930+ u[p ticks,

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb20212h
    Open border & indiscriminate immigration policies have let in the criminal scum of the Earth. Anyone who tries to point this out is denounced as ‘racist’ by the MSM.

    This is being done to create vast pools of cheap labour & to destroy national identities & loyalties. The Tory Govnt is 100% behind this Globalist policy & couldn’t care less about the consequences for its own citizens.

    Woman, 86, killed & husband left critical after they were hog-tied by burglar — The Sun
    Woman, 86, killed & husband left critical after they were hog-tied by burglar — The Sun

    A CHARITY worker was killed and her husband left fighting for his life after they were hog-tied by a burglar who wanted their savings, a

    https://gettr.com/post/p1tzjljf3bb

    1. It’s astonishing that government can see nothing when there’s something, and something when there’s nothing – as their ideology dictates.

  58. True event .. as repeated to me yesterday by one off the nearly ninety year old veterans .

    One of them lives in a really nice semi bungalow reserved for elderly people .. one bedroom , living room , wet room, kitchen ,loads of storage space , airing cupboard , front and back garden .. in a rural village . Really delightful and with peace and quiet , usually and about 12 other residents in the other semi bungalows ..

    Have I painted a good picture…?

    The housing is owned by social housing company… The base/offices are in our nearest town .

    The anxiety conveyed to my ears, was that the next door tenant was using the property to store goods , and there were lots of comings and goings , but the tenant wasn’t living there , and the other OAP residents were concerned and suspicious .

    I visited the social housing group to report this and speak to some one .. Guess what.. Due to Covid restrictions , the offices were closed so please phone blah or email.. Notice on the door said that people were not in the building !

    Okay , I over reacted .. and visited the closed police station .. and used their outside phone .. yes … that is what the police want you to do .. Button 2 was for non emergencies .. a chap answered and said please email the police with your concerns …

    Do you know what , we are all doomed .. you cannot find answers or help from anwhere , and not even the local MP answers letters .

  59. Active Patriot
    @ActivePatriotUK
    News coming in..

    ‘THE COUNTY HOTEL’

    A large and popular hotel in the centre of HAVERFORDWEST a ‘Small Welsh Town’ is to be taken over by the HOME OFFICE for

    “REFUGEES & ASYLUM SEEKERS”.

    36-42 MIGRANTS are expected there in the next few days

    1. I hope the locals object as they did at the army camp near Tenby about 2 1/2 years ago when all this stupid government illegal people smuggling nonsense started.

  61. A vegan pensioner who refused to tackle a mice infestation because it would violate her ethical beliefs has been fined by a court.

    Margaret Manzoni “considered the mice her pets” and “said they would not go to her neighbours because she looked after them”, according to Tendring District Council.

    Details of the case were heard at Colchester Magistrates’ Court this month, Manzoni was told that while the court “respected her beliefs as an ethical vegan, others saw mice as vermin”, the council said.

    Manzoni, 73, of St Osyth village in Essex, had already been warned by the council earlier this year about the mice infestation at her mid-terrace home, and the “overpowering smell” which forced some of her neighbours to move out.

    However, after failing to comply with the previous order made in April, the local authority prosecuted the pensioner for a second time, taking further legal action as a “real last resort”.

    The court heard that Manzoni was told that while the court “respected her beliefs as an ethical vegan, others saw mice as vermin” and that the “impact of the infestation on neighbours meant inaction was not appropriate”, according to the authority.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/12/vegan-who-refused-tackle-mice-infestation-against-ethical-beliefs/

    It gets worse!

    2. Ms Manzoni would consider me a murderer then. When mice got through a crack in the wall behind my kitchen cupboards late one night, I called a pest control company straight away and one of their guys came and put little trays of poison all around my flat for the little b*ggers to take back to their nest. Then, that job done, I called Wickes and the new kitchen fitters sealed up all the holes.

      1. Firstborn uses techotraps – no poison, because of megakitten.
        These traps are THE BUZ!

      2. When Mother was still at home, she welcomed the mice, and would talk to them as pets. Cost a fortune to get the furry little buggers “evicted”.

          1. Sadly, that is exactly why they are ‘petted’.
            I blame Beatrix Potter. She never mentioned that Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca did far more damage by being permanently incontinent.

  65. Oh heck. Introduced MB to Freecycle and now he’s hooked.
    Wonderful site, as it stops wastage; fewer items wantonly binned at the tip.

  66. Freddy Gray
    Meghan Markle’s podcast is about the word ‘crazy.’ And it’s barking mad
    Things get ‘heavy’ in the latest episode of Archetypes
    11 October 2022, 7:41pm
    *
    *
    *
    **************************************************

    Lord Snooty • 21 hours ago
    Gives a whole new meaning to “Fanny by Gaslight”

  67. Radio 4 has just been enjoying a good laugh at the expense of Truss over her claim that there will be no public spending cuts to pay for the tax cuts. Asked if she would cut public spending, she said she wouldn’t but would “make sure we spend public money well” to reduce debt. No 10 later said ‘global challenges’ the UK was facing meant the government “would have to make difficult decisions on public spending.”

    Of course, for most of her critics (indeed, most of the population) spending cuts means reductions in services. It shouldn’t. She must make the point that greater efficiency can make up some of the savings. John Longworth makes this point below. There’s also a vast quango state that needs a chain-sawing.

    Telegraph readers know how to solve Truss’s economic troubles – does our expert agree?

    John Longworth reacts to suggestions from readers on how the Chancellor can plug the £60bn black hole in the public purse

    JOHN LONGWORTH • 11 October 2022 • 5:20pm

    As The Telegraph reported recently, the Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, faces a £60bn “black hole” in public finances as borrowing costs soar again, and is “battling” to make cuts. We put suggestions in the comments from Telegraph readers to John Longworth – Chairman of the Independent Business Network of family businesses and former Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce – for his reaction.

    Shrink the public sector

    “Every time I come into contact with the public sector I am shocked by the bloat.

    “I’ve just spent a few days as a visitor at a local hospital. I was amazed by the number of what appeared to be white-collar employees wandering around carrying files, carrying coffee cups, chatting in corridors, having conversations on mobile phones etc. I have visited hospitals in France and Scandinavia and not seen the same behaviour.

    “The public sector has spent the last three decades inventing all manner of new administrative jobs. Yet when you require any of the services it is meant to provide, you enter a world of service denial.”

    JL: There is no need to cut spending in order to get growth. Trussonomics works by creating growth and prosperity from which taxes are generated to pay down debt and support public services.

    Cutting too much, too early will work against growth. However, there is no question that efficiencies can and should be made by shifting spending from administration to service provision. The public sector has grown considerably since 2016 and service levels have palpably dropped. There should be a shift away from admin to Police, Defence, infrastructure and care. This will also free up public servants to work in the private sector where there is a labour shortage.

    Years ago, I was tasked with increasing NHS efficiency as an experiment in the largest Trust in the country. They had no idea what anything cost and had spent around a million pounds employing management consultancies to produce reports which the administrators had no capability or capacity to implement. The NHS is second rate, not fit for purpose requires root and branch reform.

    Scrap HS2

    “HS2 should have been scrapped years ago. Speaking as a Brummie, I see no particular benefit in getting to London any quicker. I used to commute regularly from Birmingham to London. It’s a journey easily manageable on existing infrastructure.”

    “HS2 should be ditched with immediate effect. A waste of our money, benefitting very few. It is an environmental disaster as well and given the push for green initiatives, I am surprised anyone could support this project.”

    “Whatever the argument is for HS2, the fact is the country can’t afford it and never could. We don’t have an adequate water supply or energy security which is a much higher priority.”

    JL: HS2 was primarily a project to deal with capacity, however there were alternative ways to deal with this.

    It’s costs have ballooned and it has become a project to expand the London commuter belt rather than level up the regions. It will do nothing for the North. If the Government have to make cuts in public spending, HS2 is an obvious candidate. Most of the money has not yet been spent and therefore would not impede economic growth.

    Some could be reallocated to digital connectivity and to cross-Pennine road and rail. Those costs already incurred are mainly land assets which can be sold on freeing up land and construction capacity to build much needed houses.

    Slash foreign aid

    “I can never understand why we give aid to countries with space programmes, nuclear weapon programmes, and huge military forces. If these countries can afford all of this they can afford to feed and care for their populations themselves, it is their choice that they do not.”

    “Only UK citizens should benefit from UK taxpayer’s money. The only exception to this should be natural disasters or unusual events like Ukraine.”

    JL: One of the greatest scandals of government policy in recent decades has been the blind commitment to overseas aid spending. The dubious impact on so called “soft power” does not warrant this gross abuse of taxpayers money.

    Private charitable giving is entirely laudable, but for government to steal the money of hard working families in order to give it away is morally indefensible unless it benefits the UK (via trade for example) or as a bulwark to our enemies. This is especially so in a cost-of-living crisis, where virtue signalling by our political class is being put ahead of the needs of people in Hull, Salford, Wolverhampton and the very many places around the country where people are struggling.

    The UK pays out a higher proportion of GDP in aid than most, and if cuts are to be found in public spending, overseas aid is an obvious target. Overseas aid should be linked to direct benefits as well as natural disasters. Rather like the parable of the fish and the fishing rod it is, in any event, a far more effective means of helping people, giving them the ability to trade than to provide charity. Globalisation has its down sides, but has lifted billions out of starvation and absolute poverty.

    Benefits Changes

    “How can it be morally justified that benefits rise in step with inflation when the private sector – which funds both the public sector wages and the benefits – wage rises will not reach anything like inflation?”

    “Able-bodied people on benefits should never receive more money than those who work. There is no incentive to work. Benefits for the able-bodied unemployed ought to be a safety net, not a good living wage.”

    JL: As above, there is no need to cut public spending in order to achieve growth in the economy; in fact, too deep cuts, too early may damage growth. Work and enterprise should be encouraged via tax cuts and the minimum wage so that people who work benefit more than those who choose not to. Certainly those who choose not to should never be better off than those who work.

    Control illegal immigration/economic migration

    “If anyone asks why the Government cannot help them financially to counter the high inflation environment we live in – the Government’s inability to tackle the mass Channel crossings is your answer. Billions being spent on supporting people who shouldn’t be here. The Government has no guts or interest in its own people.”

    JL: Legal migration has benefits for the economy provided it increases productivity or fills vital gaps. Illegal migrants are merely a cost which is too high. The Government is being impeded in dealing with this by our legal obligations under the European Convention of Human Rights and the court. We should withdraw from both, but many in our well-heeled political class disagree.
    ________________________________________

    In addition to the above, when looking for potential cuts in public spending, I would add that the Government should cut all spending artificially supporting renewable energy sources.

    This spending is soaking taxpayers and causing energy costs to be artificially high – the primary source of the cost-of-living crisis. It is also driving out investment in fossil fuel production and making fossil fuel costs artificially high as we become dependent on imports and destroying energy security. The public are being fooled – Government have chosen the most expensive route to net zero and undermined our security in the process.

    In any event we will only ever cut global emissions by 1 per cent while continuing to export jobs to China, India and others who continue to use coal fired energy. This is not only the height of stupidity but also of hypocrisy from virtue-signalling politicians.

    When it comes to cutting Whitehall anyone in business knows it is entirely possible to cut fat without reducing service, in fact a leaner organisation can often be more productive. A cut of 5 per cent must be entirely possible but should be targeted at administration.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/11/telegraph-readers-know-how-solve-trusss-economic-troubles/

      1. Black Holes Matter…or should that be Black Ho’s Matter I get so confused these days….

  69. That’s me for this dreary day. I had quite forgotten how debilitating a cold can be. I hope the Lemsip stuff will help me feel brighter tomorrow. I know I am under the weather when the thought of a glass of wine makes me shudder….

    Anyway – have a nice evening.

    A demain – if I survive.

    1. You too, Bill? Mine lasted almost a couple of weeks and I’ve generously passed it on to Alf. Ridiculously debilitating. Get well soon.

    2. You’ll feel much better after a glass of hot whisky, lemon juice cloves and honey, Bill …

    4. Just in case you don’t make it until morning I thought we might start a Pre-Obit so you can at least expire knowing what we think of you:
      I think the general consensus is that we’d rather you didn’t expire overnight as Nottl wouldn’t be quite the same without your positive contributions and deadly puns!
      Bill’s a good egg is perhaps the highest praise we might bestow bearing in mind we are predominately reserved English folk, reserved that is apart from a couple of pushy nurses and the odd ex-librarian!
      Tears will be shed of that I’m certain. Whether they be of grief or laughter I know not. The Truth is following any official notification, given previous form, most here will expect you popping back an hour or two later. As usual your reappearance will be welcomed.
      Others may wish to add their own sentiments or indeed sediments…..

      1. I don’t wish him to go either. Unless i’m in his Will of course, then it’s hurry up and get a move on !

    5. Just in case you don’t making it until morning I thought we might start a Pre-Obit so you can at least expire knowing what we think of you:
      I think the general consensus is that we’d rather you didn’t expire overnight as Nottl wouldn’t be quite the same without your positive contributions and deadly puns!
      Bill’s a good egg is perhaps the highest praise we might bestow bearing in mind we are predominately reserved English folk, reserved that is apart from a couple of pushy nurses and the odd ex-librarian!
      Tears will be shed of that I’m certain. Whether they be of grief or laughter I know not. The Truth is following any official notification, given previous form, most here will expect you popping back an hour or two later. As usual your reappearance will be welcomed.
      Others may wish to add their own sentiments or indeed sediments…..

  71. Not tackling immigration is why the Conservatives will be wiped out at the next election
    On Sunday 1,065 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats to enter the UK illegally. This year at least 35,000 have made that crossing

    Nigel Farage : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/12/not-tackling-immigration-why-conservatives-will-wiped-next-election/

    BTL

    Imagine a person saying that he or she has given up with his or her attempt to give up smoking when he or she has never smoked in his or her life! It would be nonsense.

    Saying that our politicians have given up in their attempts to stop illegal immigration implies that they actually were doing something and then abandoned it. The truth is that they have never even started to address the issue and deserve to be thrown out of office – not that it will make a scrap of difference because neither Labour nor the Lib/Dems are remotely interested in dealing with the problem either.

    .

    1. Yes, although the Conservatives always led their voters to believe and have some hope that they would do something about immigration.

  72. Can’t remember where I read this, but in a discussion of the evils/idiocies of woke and how Blair opened the gates for woke forces to march through our institutions, someone – in the context of dreading how woke a Labour gov would be, observed that the Conservatives, since 2010, have been “diet woke”.

  73. Evening, all. I feel fairly certain that Putin is left in no doubt about the West’s inability to take action. On a personal note, Coolio and I did a dressage test (only a Novice) and he performed well, despite being stiff (he’d had a week off because he’d lost a shoe). He was a bit tight and resisted the commands to slow down (particularly at the end!) but he did all the movements in the right order at the right markers, so I count that a success 🙂 That included a four-loop serpentine in trot and a walk to canter transition onto a circle. Extra Polos were forthcoming 🙂

      1. Yes. He gets one before we work (to put him in the right frame of mind) and then two afterwards if he’s worked well (to be fair, he usually does).

  74. So the choice at the next election will be vote Conservative under the belief that they will do what the promise, but get globalist rule instead.
    or vote Labour under the belief that they will do what they promise and get globalist rule instead but with a lot more nastiness.

    How is that for democracy.

    1. It isn’t but it’s been that way for a long time. They present you with a chimpanzee, a gorilla and an orangutan then say, well you voted for an ape. In Iran they have three hardline Islamists on the ballot paper. To prove that the people want hardline Islam. Our system is only marginally more subtle.

    2. No wonder fire arms were taken away from British residents. Easy to get hold of if your from Albania.

  75. Children wrapped in blankets are carried to safety in Kent as number of migrants crossing the English Channel this year passes 35,600 – with nearly 400 making the trip yesterday

    Children were carried to safety as English Channel crossings continued today
    Migrants taken to Dungeness beach in Kent after making journey in small boats
    Several youngers seen being helped ashore from a placed lifeboat by crew
    It comes as 374 migrants crossed the English Channel by small boat on Tuesday
    Total figure for the year so far is more than 35,600 people, according to the MoD
    By ELLY BLAKE FOR MAILONLINE

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11306731/Channel-crossings-374-migrants-detected-small-boats-yesterday-bringing-years-total-past-35-600.html

    More seen here in these rural areas , no idea where they are being accommodated.

        1. And when you really think about it that’s exactly what it’s all about. Spreading that disgusting excuse for a religion around the world.
          Sadly these people see kindness as weakness to be fully exploited in as many ways as possible.

  76. I am sure I cannot be the only one not getting my head round this….
    The nurse in Chester who allegedly murdered all those babies- I don’t get it at all.
    Why go through all the schooling, training, exams etc if that is what you are going to end up doing? Yes, she has yet to be found guilty but it all seems to odd to me.
    If the accusations are true, she must be a very disturbed young woman and I truly feel for her parents and the parents of all those lost babies.

      1. But what and why? Can’t be money because if she ends up in prison it won’t do her much good.

        1. Making herself important. I have had the misfortune to come across a couple of people who do really weird stuff that you can’t possibly understand, just to make themselves important. Can’t stand that sort of thing.

          1. I’m reminded of all these people gluing themselves to bridges and works of art.
            They are prepared to kill far more people if their ideology were to become mainstream.
            oh it has.

    2. There was Beverley Alliot. She was a child killer, they said she had Mauchaulen Syndrome by Proxy. There are sometimes very evil people in the world- they don’t all have illnesses, we don’t like to think of pure evil existing these days .

        1. So did I. There was a case of that in the US a few years back where some children in the same family were becoming very sick, spending lots of time in hospital. The mother made herself busy in the hospital as the ‘ loving ‘ mother getting lots of sympathy – she turned was making her children sick for attention. This nurse is supposedly poisoning the babies/ murdering them – she’s not making them sick and rescuing them making herself the heroic figure- they don’t survive. Maybe it’s more like as Belle has just said – Harold Shipman type – pure evil.

      4. I would not go that far. Don’t forget, Shipman was my GP for 3+ years 🙁
        My feeling is that she is a very disturbed young woman and maybe suffered from issues that weren’t obvious.
        My comment was that I cannot get my head around it; she has yet to be found guilty but it is disturbing. As were the deaths of little Arthur, Star and the other little guy whose name I have forgotten.
        All I wondered was if anyone else was as perplexed by the case as I am.

    4. I wish I hadn’t mentioned it now- everyone has to go for the worst case scenario.
      No wonder I am commenting less.

    5. Perhaps she didn’t realise she had these murderous urges until she was involved with the job, some sort of overwhelming ocd impulse that she found impossible to resist, didn’t want to resist because she got some sort of momentary relief like self-harmers? Just awful and terrible for the parents.

    1. If Labour win the next General Election, they will spend their entire 5-year term blaming everything that goes wrong on ‘The Tories’ – cf. Sturgeon blaming ‘The Too-reez’.

    2. If Labour win the next General Election, they will spend their entire 5-year term blaming everything that goes wrong on ‘The Tories’ – cf. Sturgeon blaming ‘The Too-reez’.

  79. I’ve not been on much today, been a bit busy.
    After going up the “garden” to hang the washing out and get started crushing the fallen apples, I was quickly back in again when it began raining, so instead have made another batch of chutney.
    A little hotter than the last lot, I put some curry powder in as well as some grated ginger root!

    12½ jars!

  80. Between The Wars
    This welfare reform helped a great deal during the period after the 1st World War when the country went through an economic slump followed by the Depression. In a time of mass unemployment, welfare was state or voluntary-based and was usually means-tested. The ruling classes were frightened by the communist revolt in countries like Russia and felt that the welfare reform would reduce the risk of mass social unrest in the UK. The end of an era occurred in 1929 when the workhouses were officially abolished and replaced by Public Assistance Institutions under the control of local authorities.

    The Beveridge Report
    Key People
    Charles Booth – cashfloat
    William Beveridge was a British economist, progressive and social reformer. A qualified barrister, he left the law to focus on social and administrative reform, joining the Civil Service in 1908.
    In 1941 the Labour MP and Minister without Portfolio in the war coalition government, Arthur Greenwood, was put in charge of an inter-departmental committee to consider Britain’s social insurance system and what kind of Britain they envisaged after the war. In the context of the war, it was seen as a ‘reward’ for everyone’s sacrifices. From these beginnings, the Beveridge Report was born. In the report it said:

    “Organisation of social insurance should be treated as one part only of a comprehensive policy of social progress. Social insurance fully developed may provide income security, it is an attack upon Want. Want is one only of 5 giants on the road of reconstruction: the others are Disease, Ignorance, Squalor, and Idleness.”

    Officially called the ‘Report on Social Insurance & Allied Services’, the Beveridge Report recommended a national, compulsory, flat-rate insurance scheme which would be able to provide benefits for the sick, unemployed, retired or widowed and specified a minimum standard ‘below which no one should be allowed to fall’. Beveridge himself was opposed to means-tested benefits as he believed they created high marginal tax rates for the poor. Unemployment benefit was also set at the subsistence level and was set at six months to prevent abuse; the theory being that any longer in normal times is unnecessary, and after this period the unemployed would find work or retrain.

    (The state) “…should not stifle incentive, opportunity, responsibility; in establishing a national minimum, it should leave room and encouragement for voluntary action by each individual to provide more than that minimum for himself and for his family.”
    Beveridge Report, 1942

    https://www.cashfloat.co.uk/blog/money-saving/welfare-reform-uk/

    1. We should all be crying our hearts out .

      At the rate the country is going down the drain , we will end up just like Zimbabwe or Venezuala.

      ITV news is appalling now , as were the BBC at 6pm .

      Labourite Peston is like a ghastly doom monger .

  89. Rodka
    @OhBrokenBritain
    ·
    12h
    The Bank account of Britain is empty, we are living on an overdraft, and we still waste £millions daily on those who arrive here illegally. We don’t have a government, we have a herd of headless sheep!
    @Conservatives

    @GBNEWS

    @TalkTV

    1. We have a government comprising grifters led by a boughten junior WEF devotee Prime Minister.

      Mass immigration is their policy and always has been. They care not a jot for the rest of us and by design have been steadily wrecking our economy.

      1. At least my pathetic excuse for a PM doesn’t pretend to be conservative. Not that it helps lessen the damage Trudeau is doing to the country.

        Small signs of hope. Alberta just selected a new conservative leader who is really right of centre. The lefty media are having fits.

        1. It seems to me that we have arrived at a a point in time where many are awakened to the evil influences and motivations of their national leaders.

          Biden (and his version of the Green New Deal or Great Reset) is exposed as an incompetent fool, Trudeau, Ahern, Hutte, the Australian chap and our very own Liz Truss can be seen to be WEF stooges as were Merkel, her successors and Ursula Fond of Lying.

          The Covid scam is being exposed daily despite endless social media and press censorship. Likewise the mask mandates, social distancing, lockdowns and faux vaccine impositions.

          This was never science but a softening up of the people to accept government central control over our lives. The perpetrators are exposed and well known to us and will have to pay a heavy price for the damage they have caused and continue to cause to our society.

          The supposed Green New Deal and the pipe dream of Net Zero is equally preposterous. Its stupid adherents are morons with neither understanding nor knowledge of the way our world (we know) works in practice. Climate changes and has changed for millions of years. These changes have very little if anything to do with our human activities.

          We live at present in the Age of Ignorance.

    1. Having a vaccination to prevent other people catching a virus is exactly the same as me going for a jog every day to help you lose weight!

        1. Bugger, Korky. I’ll put some more effort in. If I go for a long bike ride instead, will that help?🤣

          1. Thanks for the offer.🤣
            I enjoyed cycling but gave up here a few years ago as I found too many vehicle drivers were either inconsiderate or a real threat to life and limb.

      2. Thanks for that bit of information, N. I watched him doing that some weeks ago and he admitted that he had to be careful not to overstep the mark. Made for painful watching/listening and so I won’t repeat the experience.

        1. He still manages to get the message across – by use of the written sheets from “trusted sources”. he’s become quite a master at not quite saying what he thinks and knows to be true.

  91. LittleBoats 🇬🇧NI🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿En
    @LittleBoats2020
    ·
    9h
    Wokes, if you think mass immigration & forced diversity is good 4 us explain these traits

    Pakistani rape gangs

    E European beggars, pickpockets, sex traffickers, Big Issue hijackers & ATM crime

    Nigerian & Albanian drug gangs

    Muslim terror attacks

    Will u ever put Britons 1st?

  92. Eenin’ all.
    Finally managed to log in. Wiffy bin playing up all day and so I’ve been on the ‘phone to.Virgin Meeja for hours

    Water pouring through kitchen ceiling from flat upstairs yesterday, water cut off for four days last week. What next?

  94. Goodnight and God bless, Gentlefolk. I was in bed by 22:00 but couldn’t sleep, so up and make a cup of tea, check NoTTlers – nothing new – so finish tea and back to bed and read myslf asleep – hopefully.

  95. Good night, everyone. My stomach was much settled today. By this evening I even got my appetite back.

  96. Sir David Jason’s revelation about his post-COVID experience:

    https://www.breakingnews.ie/entertainment/sir-david-jason-collapsed-during-seriously-bad-covid-bout-1376502.html

    underlines the ongoing concerns about the side effects of exposure to the virus:

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/oct/12/long-covid-who-tedros-adhanom-ghebreyesus

    Son-in-law only recently experienced similar symptoms to David Jason after getting out of bed and collapsing on the floor with daughter trying to deal with his convulsions. Fortunately paramedics attended and they called an ambulance to get him to hospital. However he was soon discharged from hospital and now seems to have recovered from that episode but whilst he was there two negative lateral flow tests were followed by a positive PCR test.

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