Tuesday 1 November: Doctors and nurses need better incentives to keep working in the NHS

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its comments facility (now reinstated, but we prefer ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here.

626 thoughts on “Tuesday 1 November: Doctors and nurses need better incentives to keep working in the NHS”

    1. Don’t bank on it…

      ‘Iran’s military has seized a foreign-flagged tanker on suspicion of illegal smuggling operations, state media announced Monday.’

          1. Should they do so, my farmer neighbour with his giant tractor would, I think, “resolve” the problem…!!

  4. Dull November brings the blast,
    Hark! The leaves are falling fast.

    The Months (Sara Coleridge)

    No sun — no moon!
    No morn — no noon —
    No dawn — no dusk — no proper time of day.
    No sky–no earthly view–
    No distance looking blue–
    No road–no street–no “t’other side this way”–
    No end to any Row–
    No indications where the Crescents go–
    No top to any steeple–
    No recognitions of familiar people–
    No courtesies for showing ’em–
    No knowing ’em!
    No traveling at all–no locomotion–
    No inkling of the way–no notion–
    “No go” by land or ocean–
    No mail–no post–
    No news from any foreign coast–
    No Park, no Ring, no afternoon gentility–
    No company–no nobility–
    No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
    No comfortable feel in any member —
    No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
    No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! —
    November!

    November (Thomas Hood)

        2. Bunch of moaning minnies! What about crunching through piles of copper-coloured leaves, crisp sunrises, mist stealing in over the meadows, warming fires in the grate and lighted shop windows in the evening??

          1. Shop windows? Our nearest shop window is five miles away!! Leaves are nice. Funny – yesterday, my handyman spent five hours sweeping the leaves up – after last night’s gale there are just as many again!

          3. At least, up here in t’ frozen North, we don’t have to get up early to see a sunrise! It happens well after 2nd coffee!

          4. What about moving to April? Everything warming up. More daylight. Each day getting brighter. garden filled with spring flowers. No rotting leaves covering the lawn. Birds singing (not coughing!) and preparing to nest. Easter eggs. Warm, wonderful April is the antidote to dull, damp, foggy, dark and manky November.

          5. 1.
            Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
            Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
            Conspiring with him how to load and bless
            With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
            To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
            And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
            To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
            With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
            And still more, later flowers for the bees,
            Until they think warm days will never cease,
            For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

            2.
            Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
            Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
            Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
            Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
            Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
            Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
            Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
            And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
            Steady thy laden head across a brook;
            Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
            Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

            3.
            Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
            Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
            While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
            And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
            Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
            Among the river sallows, borne aloft
            Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
            And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
            Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
            The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
            And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

      2. Good morning, Mrs Macfarlane, and welcome to my least favouritest month (as if you’d never guess). 😘

        1. I like the line ‘no comfortable feel in any member’! Hope it refers to the dross in Wasteminster!
          I don’t like Tuesdays! 😘

          1. I didn’t like Tuesdays on the few occasions of my life that I worked Monday–Friday (It was too long to the weekend). Thankfully I didn’t work the standard working week for most of my working life.

            November is in the coldest and darkest part of the year. When the cold hits now it is sudden, unwelcome and you really feel it (by January and February you are used to it). Also every day gets darker then the previous. Cold, damp, windy and miserable; thankfully it only lasts a month. December is not as bad since the daylight hours start lengthening just before Christmas. I love January to October, but I’m not too fond of November.

          2. December, we usually have snow, and that lightens things up a lot. Plus, you can play with snow – cold, rainy puddles aren’t worth playing with.

          8. So you’re saying (© Cathy Newman), Grizzly, that you don’t love Christmas? (“I love January to October”.) Well, at least that saves me one Christmas card! Lol.

          10. Drat and double drat, Sue Mac. You beat me to that joke by 2 hours. (Good morning, btw.)

        2. I like the line ‘no comfortable feel in any member’! Hope it refers to the dross in Wasteminster!
          I don’t like Tuesdays! 😘

        3. 22 years ago we spent the last 2 weeks of November in Perth, WA.
          Best November ever. Warm, sun, sea, cold wine outside pubs & bars, roos in the paddock, galahs in the trees, … Sigh…

    2. Morning all. I beg to differ. We have several salvias still flowering, also a couple of little hebes and a neurone bulb has opened at last. TBF I planted it too deep but it has flowered!

    3. Dear Mr Grizzly, Sir, I am not really interested in Mr Hood’s member. Lol. (Good morning, btw.)

        1. His puns were marvellously groan-inducing. I have posted two of his comic verses about faithless women at the top of yesterday’s Nottlers’ page.

    4. My word Grizzly

      I have just scrolled through and I am amazed ..

      I think I must have mind melded you and your poem ..

      There are many poems about November , strange how I chose the Thomas Hood one .

      1. The Months by Sara Coleridge — so beautiful, so real, so evocative — was my favourite poem when I was a child and I quickly memorised it. I still recite the verse of the pertinent month on the 1st of each of them.

  5. Well, I watched the first instalment of the “Rogue Heroes” play. Leaving aside the many military solecisms, the wrong vehicles and the appalling “music” – and forgetting about the facts and treating it as fiction – it wasn’t too bad!!

    2. ‘Morning, Bill. Yes, my thoughts too. It has certainly captured the ‘maverick’ nature of those brave and ‘let me at em’ types who achieved so much with so little. And more than a few continuity errors…one moment Lt Stirling was drinking at the bar wearing uniform plus his Sam Browne, then it vanished, then it reappeared. And whoever fitted their parachutes could not have seen one before the filming took place. However, it was generally better than I had expected, and I’m looking forward to watching episode 3 this evening.

      Stirling was a remarkable character, and perhaps his greatest wartime achievement was to destroy 37 Axis aircraft on the ground during just one night time raid. Unfortunately he was captured more than once in ’43 and was eventually incarcerated in Colditz after several escape attempts. Nonetheless the SAS was responsible for the destruction of hundreds of enemy aircraft, vehicles, supply dumps and communications. A truly remarkable soldier, as were his men.

      1. Not people whom (then) one would have wished to meet on a dark night!! I also thought the exchange about repacking the parachute was daft!

        One of my bugbears about “historical” films is the complete inability to get clothing – especially uniforms – right. I can understand using the “wrong” aircraft because the right one no longer exists. But uniforms just need people skilled with nedle and thread – and the ability to LOOK at a contemporary photograph. Grrr!!

        1. There’s plenty of re-enactment people about who could hire the film company the right clothing, and instruct on how it should be worn.

      1. No telly tax for a start! I only use mine to watch the racing I’ve recorded. Even then I whizz past the wokery.

    4. Ben MacIntyre’s paperback ,SAS Rogue Heroes, is available at half price £4.50 in Sainsbury’s. The print is a bit small. I must watch the ITV programme. The night they destroyed the 37 aircraft, they killed many airmen as they sat having a rest in their communal room. The SAS men had a guilty conscious about this slaughter.

      1. I read the book when it came out. It was a fair account of the formation of the LRDG and then the Regiment.

        His TV series is infuriating. Far too much of BM on camera driving a Jeep in the desert while “narrating”. Far, far too much “re-construction”; Far far far too much of BM walking into shot – “narrating” then walking out of shot. Stupid, pointless, maddening and unnecessary fussiness.

        Still – don’t let me put you off…..!!

  7. 366966+ up ticks,

    Students suffering ‘grief’ over climate change offered support sessions
    The University of East Anglia says living close to the eroding Norfolk coast can be hard as it employs mindfulness techniques for resilience

    How would they have handled the blitz or for that matter the real possibility of a coming civil war.

      1. More like: “Brainwashed students suffering ‘grief’…”

        Geology twinned with ongoing natural coastal erosion that has been with us since Pangaea were a lad.

        1. They need de-brainwashing, not grief counselling which will only make their mental confusion worse.

          1. The alternative to brainwashing is called ‘education’ and this is something they are clearly not receiving at UEA, despite the ridiculous fees they are paying for one.

        3. The UEA has form on climate nonsense. Their infamous CRU has been shot down more than Biggles.

          When I was a school boy, we were taught that Britain was slowly tilting with the west rising and the east sinking as the land recovered from the last Ice Age.

          As suggested, it’s not counselling that’s required but education.

          2. A fair comment but my point stands, the CRU has been shot down more often than Biggles.

      2. If children need assistance dealing with the weather than they’re too thick to be at university.

        Sadly though, they are all like this. Brainwashed, unthinking drones, fed a constant diet of tripe, lies and deceit without end to ensure the next generation accept ever higher taxes for nothing.

        It takes 30 years or more for these stupid children to start realising that the lie never ends. By then it is too late and they’re listening to their children spouting the same nonsense.

    2. UEA has form on deliberate doctoring of information about climate change.

      I wonder what Bill’s MR, an alumna of UEA, makes of it?

    3. Moreover, how would they handle the fact that the Norfolk coast has been eroding for a long, long time?

    1. And an additional “private jet-fest” will be happening before COP 27 as Chas has apparently invited them to “discussions” on the way there, as he can’t attend the actual bean feast in Egypt!

  10. Good morning all. A bright start with 6°C and very little wind outside after last night’s downpours.

    1. ‘Morning BoB! Was chatting with my friend whose daughter lives in Bonsall and she was telling me about their house. Apparently it’s covered in scaffolding at the moment! I believe it’s a listed building.

      1. Good morning Sue!
        I’ll have to have a wander round the village and see if I can spot it!

  13. I see Miss Braveheart is getting it in the neck for calling the flood of illegals what it is – an INVASION.

      2. She is a Buddhist . Her co – religionists in Burma do not allow Muslim invaders from Bangladesh ( Rohingya ) to threaten the host people’s ethnic / genetic interests.

    2. 150,000 illegals is an invasion. Mostly young men of fighting age. I do hope it will be the politicians who are slaughtered first.

      1. It would be interesting to discover why the government is so keen on importing illiterate young men of military age.

      2. Chatting recently with some people who knew the late David Amess. They said he was very kind, well liked and that he helped people all the time; a wonderful human being. I suspect that is why the mossies chose to kill him, as a warning.

  15. Doctors and nurses need better incentives to keep working in the NHS

    The best incentive would be to get rid of all the red tape paperwork and wokery.

  16. So over the years we have waved in

    Pakistani grooming gangs

    Black drug and gang culture

    Russian money launderers.

    But for some reason Albanian gangsters are a step too far.

    1. 366966+ up ticks,

      Morning B3,

      Unless they up the ante regarding the political overseers
      ( Kapos) they will remain in the spotlight.

    2. The political ‘class’ don’t like competition when it comes to ripping off the general public.

  17. Manston migrant exodus begins as thousands prepare for life outside ‘new Sangatte’ 1 november 2022.

    The exodus began on Monday night. Coaches carrying migrants started to leave the main processing centre for Channel asylum seekers, for dispersal to hotels and boarding houses across the UK..

    In Parliament, Suella Braverman announced that officials were buying up 1,800 “additional hotel bed spaces” in 13 “new hotels” to alleviate the overcrowding at a centre that is only supposed to process migrants in 48 hours, not keep them there for weeks at a time. It is claimed that some children and their families had been there for a month.

    To what purpose? The place will only fill up again. There is a finite amount of accommodation and for all practical purposes an infinite number of “asylum seekers”! Is this simple mathematical reality beyond the understanding of Government?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/01/manston-migrant-exodus-begins-thousands-prepare-life-outside/

    1. 366966+ up ticks,

      Morning AS,

      ” Is this simple mathematical reality beyond the understanding of Government?”

      Far from it, it is tailor made to fit in with the repress, replace, reset agenda, and the terrifying thing is the electorate majority are supporting it, and have done for years.

    3. The state has no interest in stopping the flood. It’s interest in in destroying this country.

    4. They are NOT “asylum seekers”, they have come from FRANCE. It is NOT a war-torn country. They are ILLEGAL economic migrants who will be a drain on our country. The taxpayer cannot afford it and neither can our security.

    1. ‘Morning Rik. All the shouting from the Opposition benches was just a cover for their lack of any viable alternative. It was beneath pathetic.

    2. Apart from the obvious, has anyone else noticed the chasm in attractiveness, intelligence and statesmanship between the quite cute Suella Braverman and the putridly grotesque Yvette Cooper-Bollocks?

      2. Someone was talking about the Mini Cooper car he used to have. I don’t think the Maxi Cooper will be such a good runner.

      3. Disregarding her patronising “I’m so much better than you” facial expressions and her passive-aggressive body language, Pixie Balls is not THAT bad looking.

    3. They all want massive uncontorlled gimmigrantion. It’s their voting block. They’re also all scum who hate this country and are just playing points for the gallery – themselves.

  21. ‘Morning, Peeps. Wet and blustery here, and a mild 15°C.

    Today’s leading letter:

    SIR – I have worked in the NHS for more than 20 years and, like many doctors and nurses, am striving to reduce my commitments, with a personal target of no more than one day of NHS work per week. This is despite the fact that I work as a GP in A&E in one of the best hospitals in the land, and certainly the most pleasant and well-resourced.

    Many patients need to attend A&E and many do not. The dividing line between the two groups is blurred, but I still have some sympathy for the latter group as they cannot access GP services in an acceptable time.

    It is often said that we don’t train enough doctors. We do. They’re quite sensibly working outside the NHS, or doing as little NHS work as they can get away with – retiring, semi-retiring, working abroad or moving into industries that pay a consultant’s salary or more.

    Many nurses would be better off and have a better standard of living on benefits than their present wages. To add insult to injury, the Government is contemplating uplifting benefits for non-productive members of society while penalising those who add significant value.

    Public services are funded on the back of a population that works full time – chiefly by taxing high earners within this group. These high earners are now the very people who are reducing their hours, as time off is not taxed.

    Taking the long-term perspective, the NHS as it stands is a pipe dream. Demand needs to be curtailed by introducing charges for all with no special cases; the concept of personal responsibility reintroduced; the tax base massively broadened; and meaningful incentives introduced that will retain British-trained staff in the NHS and prevent the plundering of developing countries to make up the shortfalls.

    The current situation is ludicrous. How bad does it have to be before something changes?

    Dr Alexander Barber
    London SW6

    Depressing, isn’t it? The whole place is crumbling before our eyes. Still, if it gets any worse at least the occupants of Manston will be asking for their boats back for a paddle back to civilisation.

    2. I am not sure the good doctor is right about taxes. I wish he was, but poor as I am I pay tax. Wrigley’s became very rich by selling chewing gum. It was cheap and everyone used it every day. Taxing lots of people a little works better than taxing a few people a lot. The rich can always avoid tax, the poor cannot afford to.

      1. He’s not. The Laffer curve proves this. Lefties squeal such doesn’t exist, but… Switzerland, Singapore, Luxembourg, Texas…

    3. While in A&E I saw a woman so drunk she couldn’t stand up. She’d got herself into that mess. Another bloke had swallowed a load of drugs and was screaming obscenities at everyone, staff, police (who surrounded him). Another bloke was completely off his trolley and either mad, or drunk again.

      One woman didn’t speak any English at all and the doctor waited while her friend interpreter came back – even then her English was broken and confusing. She had a cold. It was 7 when she was first seen and 11 before she was discharged. She didn’t need to be there. The druggie shouldn’t have been treated but gagged and kicked into a cell. The drunk should have been forced to vomit and kicked out.

      AS for taxation. You cannot dig your way out of a hole, nor can you lift yourself out a bucket by the handles. High taxes are being applied. They clearly don’t work. They create horrific inequality and poverty allowing the well off to avoid tax and the low paid to be hammered by regressive taxes. The people with spending power just get poorer and poorer, creating real unemployment which results in lower tax revenue – as we are seeing.

      One thing mentioned is that welfarists are better off than nurses. Yes, often they are. Often these are the self same ethnics we were told who would work in the NHS. The solution is simple: scrap them. Stop paying people to breed. However, that requires political will that does not exist because the state wants everyone dependent on the state. That way it grows in power.

      The problem, Dr Barber, is an easy fix, but one that big government will not countenance. If you want a real, long term solution, it doesn’t come by robbing the earner, but by removing your boss. And your bosses boss. And so on, for thirty or forty steps until the entire department of health has gone.

    4. I would remind the good doctor that many of those whom he wishes to see pay have already paid a small fortune into the NHS. He needs to concentrate on ensuring that only those who have paid into the system benefit from it.

        1. Will you two please stop using the “V” word? I saw far too much of that with the wrinklies’ FILM CLUB yesterday when we watched TRIANGLE OF SADNESS.

    2. A short glimps of the realities of war, often hidden.
      But it seems that the mentally that drove these terrible murders and destruction is still underlying today.

    3. A wonderful series, Rik-Redux. But, at the risk of sounding like Peddy, I must tell you (or Prof. McDonough?) that it is Laurence Olivier and Carl Davis.

      1. I reserve the right to decide if it is good, so far after reading the continued attacks by the scum MSM on Bravermen, I think not.

    1. No, let us find those involved and charge them with crimes. Send them to prison for a long time.

      1. 366966+ up ticks,

        Morning HP,

        ALL to be found at the main hub,hive, nest, that being the
        Palace of Westminster.

    2. No. Because these were crimes against committed against humanity. Forgiveness is not for us to dispense. Forgiveness is for the Lord.

      2. And requires repentence; “those who truly repent and are heartily sorry for their misdoings …”

    3. No. Because these were crimes against committed against humanity. Forgiveness is not for us to dispense. Forgiveness is for the Lord.

    4. Why do you want an amnesty? Are you so pathetically weak you won’t admit you were wrong? Is your ego so dementedly fragile that only oblivion can salve it? Are you trying to shrug off the guilt you feel at your own stupidity?

    5. No, let us expose those who were warned of the lessons of Nuremberg but who blithely used coercion against the populace to inflict their untested ‘vaccines’.

      Ignorance is no excuse, especially when so many pointed out the errors…before being sent to the social media naughty step.

      The politicians, civil service, their compliant behavioural ‘experts’ and the supine media need stringing up for their crimes.

  25. Good Morning. All Saints Day. I hope to join them, but not very soon. The weather is not very good. It is wet. The field at the back has a wee lake this morning. A huge lake used to appear in the past, but a lot of work was done on installing drainage.

    2. Just be grateful the developers haven’t moved in and started building a few hundred new homes. 😉

  27. 366966+ up ticks,

    ALL the while Batten was putting a spotlioght on morally wrong mass immigration lab/lib/con coalition was flooding the country triggered by a morally corrupt PM and given consent by the electorate majority, we now suffer the consequences of recent past treachery.

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    12h
    It is indeed an ‘invasion’, as I said years ago in the European Parliament.

    But when is an MP going to admit that it is an invasion sanctioned by the Tory Govnt under May when she signed up to the UN Compact on Managed Migration in late 2018? That Compact effectively made illegal immigration legal.

    It is the reason why the Govnt refuses to defend our borders.
    Hearts of Oak
    @HeartsofOak
    ·
    12h
    Suella Braverman claims Britain’s asylum system is ‘broken’ and says illegal migration ‘out of control’
    Mrs Braverman prompts new row by describing Channel migrant crisis as an ‘invasion’ on South Coast.
    #uk

    #invasion

    Suella Braverman claims Britain’s asylum system is ‘broken’
    Suella Braverman claims Britain’s asylum system is ‘broken’

    The Home Secretary delivered a stark assessment to the House of Commons of her department’s failings as she battles to save her job.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk

  29. I see the oaf Snuak is blaming an unimplemented budget for his globalist masters’ wish to continue to ruin the economy?

    It’s astonishing the lies they tell. What’s even MORE astonishing is that people believe them.

  30. Littlejohn on fine form,worth a read………

    “I’ve been at this game for more than 50

    years, almost 35 as a columnist. Yet I have never known a time when the

    political class have been further removed from the rest of us who pay

    their wages.

    I’d like to end on a

    positive note. But some things just don’t change. There is no light at

    the end of the tunnel, just a broken-down HS2 train after running out of

    public money.

    We are all going to Hell in a handcart.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-11374649/RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-Ive-never-known-political-class-touch-people.html

      1. They say that the company there is more interesting than that of those who have gone to the other place!

  31. Off to Derby today to sort some things out with Stepson.
    I will be honest, I’m getting a bit fed up with those dealing with him making decisions and not passing the full details on to me which has led to me wrongly assuring Derby City housing benefits office that he is expected to go back to his flat.

    1. Good morning Bob and everyone.

      IIRC there is an official way that you or your wife could be designated as your stepson’s carer. When a myriad of forms have been completed, you should eventually be ‘in the loop’. I know a mental health specialist (socially, at least that’s what I tell people) who might be familiar with the procedures, but it will all be on Goggle somewhere.

  32. Morning, all. Clear then cloudy followed by clear… you get the picture. Breezy.
    Stumbled on these.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b388b4fc6874b427702624bfd51f0953311a9299650bcbe07e3a7ccef1f072ec.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/65e0e853a7f95c479d19951ced7685a8237494c704f3381875c71cc20bc7ab80.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/727c8ffdefc396c136131810c6b660976a52053815b51bdbf1286fb2f89a4f7a.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/215c13e730d31e453d03509bcf4ed63d8fb594b91304e988a84560a29a4b59ec.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fc87db16a78b25940f3535c8dcf66b16659463bff5d8db05abb8685d0ddb5e26.png

  33. Morning all 🙂
    Bright and very breezy turning chilly.
    Forecast is a storm set to ‘smash’ the UK. Oh dear.
    The garbos have just taken my half full green bin of leaf collection away. We are now being charge an extra £50.00 per annum for the privilege of having our Green waste removed.
    That’s the limps for you.
    After processing its sold on as compost. So people pay to put it all back into their gardens 🤔

    2. My flag pole snapped in the night. Pots blown over.

      When they started charging for green waste i started dumping it over the back fence. The only thing there is a disused railway line which is heavily overgrown.

    3. Morning RE

      Our neighbours use the green waste bins .. they don’t have the amount of stuff that we have to get rid of .

      We bag everything that is too difficult to compost , hedge cutting etc , and take the bags to the tip , where it will still be composted .

      1. We don’t have a green waste collection here – like you we bag up the bigger stuff and take it to the tip for recycling. Small stuff and kitchen waste goes in the compost bin. .

      2. We have a share system in our road.
        If you have too much green waste, a request is made on the FB page.
        We have two large compost containers at the end of our garden. Grass cuttings and kitchen waste often leaves. It’s great for growing veg or the green house.

    4. I take the green waste away from the house where my mother’s flat is. I pile it up somewhere I want to build up, and it rots down in its own time ready for the next load.

    5. County in its infinite “wisdom” (more Norman than sensible) has changed the collection day AND given us two consecutive grey bin collections, meaning the green bin won’t get emptied for three weeks. At this time of year, there’s virtually nothing in my grey bin (the Rayburn isn’t lit to fill it with ash), but my green bins are over-flowing. Still, they aren’t YET charging us for emptying them (although that’s in the pipeline).

  36. Good morning all

    Wow that was some storm , a real battering lashing gale , the noise was incredible last night .

    Can you believe that the sun is now shining through clouds that could have been painted by JMW Turner.. patches of blue , still gusty , but not the Eternal Father gale that lasted nearly 12 hours from 5pm to 6am this morning .

    The trees are still in full leaf , although there is a flurry of leaves on the drive way..

    1. I’ll have to nip out and see if there are any pears left on the tree I forgot to pick.

  38. I don’t know if it is the case but if they are not, the very first thing the authorities should be doing with the invasion forces is to photograph them, take their finger prints and undertake a DNA test.

    1. Morning Sos, but that would indicate that the authorities have a desire to expel at least some of the invaders. Not going to happen.

      1. When some of them commit the inevitable crimes at least the authorities will have some idea which ones they are looking for.

        If they have no papers or other ID they can be given the choice, go back where you came from, or we’ll send you to the closest DNA match and if that happens to be Afghanistan, Niger or Somalia, tough.

        1. But it is all part of the plan – the more criminal the immigrants the more quickly the Great Reset will be achieved.

          2. All the more reason to impose draconian measures and employ (foreign) police to take control.

      1. Edward I, Francis Drake and Winston Churchill (among others) took no prisoners. An invasion of a country has always, historically, been considered an insurgency and has invariably been dealt with, at source, by declaring war on the invasion force.

          2. Hasn’t the word uppity become very unwoke because of its use to describe an ethnic minority with the ambition to improve his or her lot?

          3. Actually R.C.T, I have no idea, I try avoiding all this ‘woke’ crap. I just continue using words I’m familiar with and if they are no longer deemed acceptable, tough.
            Ps.
            Just out of curiosity Rastus, I went looking and it seems to have been used when referring to non-reflectives, so yes you’re probably right.

    4. They weren’t doing these necessary tests when I checked on here if these obvious tests were being done and results put on a database. The Home Office Civil Servants have been badly instructed by their masters. I suppose a difficulty would be not knowing the names of the INVADERS but they could give them a number plus an ID card until they sorted that out. Tattoos and ear tags would be unacceptable.

      1. Why would tattoos be unacceptable in a world where people get the most hideous tattoos voluntarily? They could be offerred the choice of tattoo or tags.

    5. Yes, but this would be totally unnecessary unless you had any plans at all to keep track of them and deport them. Our PTB do not want to solve the problem : they are under strict instructions from Schwab at the WEF who want more and more illegal immigrants to come to Britain. When the numbers get high enough then law, order and society will collapse and this will make imposing the Great Reset and the New World Order far more easy to achieve.

  39. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6909da464f6b5879caa5dd378e341cce5315d4ecbce11891de0cafd8513dc9c6.png Does anyone else think as I do [I doubt it!]?

    I have aways thought of the “reverse” side of a coin (the “tails” side) as being the front side of the coin. This means that I have always thought of the “obverse” side (the “heads” side) as being the back of the coin. This is despite accepted convention telling me that I am wrong. Those fronts of coins have always appeared more attractive to me than their backs.

    1. Ursa Major, good morning.

      Do you get into many arguments when you toss for it and you call Heads and you opponent calls Tails and you both maintain vigorously that you have won?

      Sounds like a potential bear pit to me!

      1. Indeed it is, Rastaman (Good Morning, BTW).

        I always feel more of an Ursus arctos horribilis than an “Ursa major”.

      1. Bugger! I’ve always been a habitual caller of “Tails!” in a tossed coin. For no other reason than I’ve always found the tails side of a coin prettier than the heads side.

  40. Good morrow, Gentlefolk. Today’s funny is more a homily:

    Five Rules To Remember In Life

    1. Money cannot buy happiness, but it’s more comfortable to cry in a Mercedes than on a bicycle.

    2. Forgive your enemy, but remember the ass-hole’s name.

    3. If you help someone when they’re in trouble, they will remember you when they’re in trouble again.

    4. Many people are alive only because it’s illegal to shoot them.

    5. Alcohol does not solve any problems, but then neither does milk.

  41. Surge in smart meters remotely switched to more expensive ‘pay-as-you-go’ plans. 1 November 2022.

    More than 150,000 homes with smart meters were remotely switched to more expensive prepayment plans by their energy supplier last year.

    In the last five years, cases of providers installing traditional prepayment meters under warrant halved, but the number of smart meters switched over remotely has increased five-fold, according to figures from regulator Ofgem.

    Surprise. Surprise. There were endless warnings online about this happening when people were being conned into it!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/surge-smart-meters-remotely-switched-expensive-pay-as-you-go/

    1. And the people on pre-payment plans are paying extra and they are the people least able to afford it.

    2. As I read and submit the readings to our supplier I suggested that they paid me for supply the readings. They suggested that we had a smart meter. No thanks.

      1. You need to be Chris Bonnington to reach my meter, but I’m saying nothing because the last thing I want is a smart meter!

  42. No sun – no moon!
    No morn – no noon –
    No dawn – no dusk – no proper time of day –
    No sky – no earthly view –
    No distance looking blue –
    No road – no street – no ‘t’other side the way’ –
    No end to any Row –
    No indications where the Crescents go –
    No top to any steeple –
    No recognitions of familiar people –
    No courtesies for showing ’em –
    No knowing ’em –
    No travelling at all – no locomotion,
    No inkling of the way – no notion –
    ‘No go’ – by land or ocean –
    No mail – no post –
    No news from any foreign coast –
    No Park – no Ring – no afternoon gentility –
    No company – no nobility –
    No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
    No comfortable feel in any member –
    No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
    No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, –
    November!

    Thomas Hood .

    This poem reminds me of the Vale of Selby… and the fog .. Moh started his early flying training at RAF Church Fenton .. where the fog was the thickest we had ever seen.. it was grim .. having said that .. he first flew solo after nine hours .. on November the fifth .

    2. As a boy I used to love Thomas Hood’s groan-inducing puns in his misogynistic comic verses such as Faithless Nelly Gray and Faithless Sally Brown.

      Ben Battle was a soldier betrayed by his love and Young Ben was a sailor who was equally badly treated.

      (I have posted the texts of both of these at the top of yesterday’s page so as not to take up too much space on the today’s site)

  43. OT but Alan has just returned from walking Hector. He met John, the local sweetie wife, who told him all about his neighbour (62) who had her Convid shot last Thursday and died on Friday! He’d met her after the clot shot and she’d said she was feeling awful!
    Can’t imagine how her family feel!

      1. It brings it home to you quite forcefully when she was younger than I am. Then you consider the number of fit, young and healthy teenagers and sportsmen who have literally dropped down dead, and have gone unremarked in the MSM. I’m glad I resisted the BS, but worry for my old man and family members who didn’t.

    4. I heard somebody say this morning, “I got back from holiday and felt fine – until I went for my booster”! FFS, woman, put two and two together and don’t have any more!

  44. Oilman came. Just sorted out second mortgage……. 85p a litre……

    Jeeze – opened a new account at Nationwide paying 5%. Took an AGE to get my bank to transfer MY money to MY new account. Loads intrusive questions “to protect your security”.

    Still it’s done. At last.

    1. They’re hilariously slow these days. Banking is still very much archaic in software terms. All the fraud protection is an attempt to shift the responsibility on to you, the customer away from the bank.

    2. Very cheap.
      Approximately £1.17 when we last bought some;
      Thank goodness we haven’t needed to put the heating on yet.

      1. Indeed – I was shocked at the cost of CH fuel in France years ago.

        We have so far avoided CH (thanks to the AGA and stove) – the last time it was switched on was March 2021. And I hope to avoid it for some time.

        1. I’ve been using my oil central heating because it’s too warm outside to have the Rayburn lit (it would be at least 25 degrees C indoors if it were).

  45. That Priti Awful is saying that Braveheart has brought the Home Office “into disrepute” is despicable.

    Awful promised on Day One as Home Sec – three years and more ago – that she would stop the cross-Channel flood overnight. Just the first of her lies.

    1. By accident she, bravey, has achieved far more in a week than promises promises Petty achieved in all the time she in the cabinet.
      But with the cabinet known as the T Jones syndrome it is rife. But it happens everyday.

    2. You have to take on the civil servants to get anything done.All they want is No Change = Quiet Life.

    1. I would prefer targeted bombing (to avoid the Spitfire and Hurricane museum and the RAF Manston museum).

    1. He says he will use the time to promote his dyslexia campaign and absolutely nothing to do with the huge wad of cash I’m a celebratory will pay him.

    3. But for all the wrong reasons. He should be investigated for the midazolam scandal that killed care home residents and as it is, he gets to bow out over trivial nonsence and live very well on his ill-gotten gains.

      1. If said testicles are still attached to a live Kangaroo I might just watch. Better still to even the odds live Kangaroo should be encouraged to kick Hancock in the testicles….

        1. I kept thinking about his poor children. What must they think? And what can their Mother say to them?

          2. Maybe – but one has to try to keep up the pretence that their father is still “there for them” – even if the bastard cares neither a jot nor a tittle.

  54. Bruce Everiss

    Ascended Master

    29m
    “…

    I received this from our constituency secretary:

    “I would challenge each and every one of us to ask why are we in this Party? Is it because the rest of the parties are so unimaginably awful that this is the only sensible choice, or is it because we have deeply held principle-led views that are looking for a home – or do we not really know?

    In truth our internal struggles aren’t that different from Labour who wrestle between the Socialist grass-roots and the emergence of Big-Government New-Labour. Similarly the Lib Dems have a Progressive Liberal agenda but many members clinging to the purist Classical-Liberal ideals.

    There is a popular myth that we are all fighting over the middle ground and what this has led to (unfortunately) is very little discernible difference between New-Labour, Progressive Lib-Dem, and One-Nation Conservatives. This merging around the centre at the Parliamentary-level means that realistic political choice has evaporated at the ballot-box and this will spawn extremism in my humble opinion.”
    …”

    From:

    https://order-order.com/2022/11/01/new-hoyle-report-finds-no-evidence-of-bullying-during-fracking-vote-only-member-told-off-is-chris-bryant/

    The problem is the political centre, the group you all want to vote for you needs you to stand for something in order to adopt a stance. If you stand for nothing except ‘vote for me’ then what’s the point of you?

    Normal people are, by nature conservative. They want to look after themselves, work, have a family, pay their bills and go off on holiday twice a year. They want the welfare state to be a safety net for them should things go wrong, but don’t agree it should be a sofa for the waster. They want to be proud of their country and it’s standing in the world but don’t want to be ruled by another country.

    The problem the political class has is that it shares absolutely none of those prinicples or values whatsoever.

  55. It appears that the energy companies, and now the banks, are likely to be subject to a windfall tax. There are several angles to this, it is not a simple equation. Profits fund pension funds so taxing profits squeezes pensions, and these pension funds are not solely the premise of rich, several unions and personal pension plans have their funds invested in energy and banks. Added to which unless these tax raids are accompanied by government spending cuts, all the tax grab does is fill a current hole in the government balance sheet and just pushes the inevitable reckoning out in time. So where is the plan which addresses the wider issue?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/11/01/ftse-100-markets-live-news-tax-rises-twitter-musk-bp/

  57. 366966+up ticks,

    Live Rishi Sunak latest: NHS will be ‘prioritised’ in return for reform, says No 10

    Seems like the only choice peoples will have is from, three in number, their moving date when the house compulsory order comes through under the “you can get three family’s in there” law.

    Reform = repress, replace,reset.

    Remember your vote counts and keeps the likes of sunak & ilk in positions of power they have no moral right to be in

    1. It appears that Bolsonaro’s people won heavily in the states’ legislatures but he, Bolsonaro, supposedly lost the presidential election. The process is reminiscent of what happened with Trump.

      Bannon’s War Room explores the election.

      Brazilian Election Discussion

  59. 366966+ up ticks,

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    2h
    King Charles III has allied himself with a cause that could bring down the Monarchy.

    When the lunacy of Net Zero really bites, with energy & food shortages, increasing restrictions on private road & air travel & personal freedoms, & the dismantling of civilised society as we have come to know it, people will want someone to blame.

    The Monarchy has survived because it did not ally itself publicly with political causes – Charles has nailed his colours to Klaus Schwab’s mast.

    2. I thought that today when I was reading a tribute to HM. Woke, interfering Charlie boy may well be the last monarch. After all, if he isn’t going to do pageantry (low key coronation), why pay for him when we could get an equally interfering President at slightly lower cost?

    3. Charles is one of the co-conspirators. Maxima of the Netherlands is in it up to her neck as well – she has appeared with one of the scoundrels extolling the alleged benefits of a CBDC for the Netherlands – apparently it would help poor people, if you believe that claptrap.

    1. Yes; I keep getting the same notifications as if they are new, although I’ve already read them.

  62. FUBAR

    NHS advertises £700,000’s worth of diversity officer roles in just a month! Outrage as ‘precious’ cash is used to hire equality and wellbeing positions – despite op waiting list sitting at record high of 7million
    NHS posted 16 ‘diversity’ job roles at trusts in England and Wales in October
    In total, the positions have a combined annual salary of more than £700,000
    The same cash could pay for six GPs, 19 nurses or 20 paramedics

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11376619/NHS-advertises-700-000s-worth-diversity-officer-roles-just-month.html

  63. There have been reports of people with scabies in the Manston immigration clearing centre.
    Whilst there have been criticisms of the lack of adequate sleeping facilities at this site it must be remembered that this is not an accommodation centre and the use of mattresses and blankets was neither intended nor advisable in the event of the presence of contagious infestations.

    Dispersal of immigrants with contagious infestations from Manston to hotels presents an even bigger issue for environmental health officials and medical professionals due to the isecticidal treatment needed for both the individuals and their living quarters.

    I think this should be borne in mind by the Government when considering an immigrant relocation strategy.

    Here is some background:

    https://www.healthline.com/health/how-long-can-scabies-live-in-a-mattress

    1. There have also been reports of diptheria. They should keep these people well away from other people.

    2. I don’t mind them having scabies, it’s the fat ones with babies that bother me – far too many of them.

    3. I had a begging letter from Crisis in the post this morning. I threw it straight in the fire – why should I dish out more cash when the govt is wasting my taxes on illegal (and diseased) immigrants?

  64. “Just GIVE UP! Eco mob make half-hearted attempt to climb Downing Street gates before being swiftly pulled down by armed cops… as they begin 32nd day of protests in a row after month of chaos in October” (D Mail)

    Funny how yer plod can move rapidly when it suits them….

    2. How dare the police interfere with their legitimate right to protest!
      Isn’t that what they’re always telling us when it’s OUR right of way being blocked?

  66. Gosh, we have had a tremendous quantity of rain in various heavy downpours in the last 24 hours …. I reckon it won’t be too long before the News will be full of flood warnings.

      1. I got a bit of a surprise in the garden yesterday when I went to get washing off the line. Went round the fence and found a pile of snow! Then I twigged that Grandpa had defrosted the freezer in the garage!

        1. The sky here now is the colour that, if I was in the US, I would be checking the weather to see if a tornado warning was in effect. Very strange colour and light.

          3. On evenings of broken cloud, there is very brief spell at sunset when the light takes on a peculiar, eerie green hue.

    2. It’s very windy here but only one shower earlier on. We’ve just come back from a walk and it stayed dry while we were out.

    3. Too late! We had ours yesterday (flood warning, that is). Today it’s “flood news”. A Bridgnorth garden centre has had its Christmas tat display flooded. That would be Bridgnorth on the River Severn which regularly floods.

  67. Migos rapper Takeoff has been shot dead ‘over a game of dice’ in front of his uncle and bandmate Quavo outside of a bowling alley in Texas. The 28-year-old, who is a member of the hip hop trio, was shot as a group gathered outside of the 810 Billiards & Bowling Houston at 2.30am this morning. Dreary Fail
    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/11/01/14/64071351-0-image-m-29_1667311955719.jpg
    Oh dear, so sad! Couldn’t possibly happen here in ‘tranquil’ Blighty.

  69. The mad councillors of Oxford who want to turn what they regard as their personal fiefdom into a carless ‘15-minute city‘ will no doubt be cheered by the news that Notwork Rail intend to cut the place in two for a year. Anyone who knows Oxford will be familiar with the Botley Road, the only main road leading west out of the centre and which when closed means a 3-4 mile diversion through the clogged roads and out on to the ringroad. Major works at Oxford’s miserably inadequate railway station are the excuse. The project is only 90 years overdue.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-63458851

    1. Will there be any shops left in the city centre by the time they’ve finished? The life is already getting sucked out of it by the Westgate centre. Nobody’s going to want to go there now!

  70. The mad councillors of Oxford who want to turn what they regard as their personal fiefdom into a carless ‘15-minute city‘ will no doubt be cheered by the news that Notwork Rail intend to cut the place in two for a year. Anyone who knows Oxford will be familiar with the Botley Road, the only main road leading west out of the centre and which when closed means a 3-4 mile diversion through the clogged roads and out on to the ringroad. Major works at Oxford’s miserably inadequate railway station are the excuse. The project is only 90 years overdue.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-63458851

    1. Had a short but intense shower here an hour or so ago. 8 tons of rain on my patch, that’s about 5 tons on a standard football field. My little stream is merely damp.

  72. From the Speccie’s lunchtime briefing

    More than 40% of Britons want social distancing back and one in five want the rule of six, according to YouGov polling. Only half of 18- to 24-year-olds said they would have another Covid booster jab.

      1. As often as not the answer that you would select is not an available option and you cannot go to the next page of questions until you have ticked one of the boxes.

      2. I agree Mr Thomas,

        Question 1 would you prefer a) social distancing or b) a fatal dose of an incurable disease.

        This being a pollster is as easy as pie.

  73. Afternoon, all. I’ve had to come in from the garden because it’s started to rain quite hard and there isn’t much light, either, despite the time of day. As for the headline, I hope they aren’t going to suggest that money is the incentive they need. There’s enough wonga being spent on the EnnHaitchEss to float the QE2.

      1. One of our neighbours had to use sand bags to avoid their driveway flooding this morning. We had a huge downpour.

  74. Dreadful storm last night, the husband wandered around the garden early this morning rescuing plants .

    Ps.. I’m not sure the notification boxes are working with d1squs . Could some kind soul post me a hello so I’d know.

          1. I’ve had similar problems recently.
            If i open a link then close it the Nottlers page closes down. And I have to login again.

          2. Ah – perhaps that’s what just happened here – the whole window and all the tabs disappeared. Had to go back to basics and set it all up again through the capcha etc.

          3. I was wondering if it’s because I will not accept cookies.
            I hate the idea of people tracking what I do on line. Not that I’ve done anything I would be ashamed of.

          4. I only allow the basic cookies and none of the tracking ones. I always say no to all of them.

  75. Suella Braverman has played a blinder. Unlikely as it seems, she’s the new Enoch Powell. 1 November 2022.

    Whether she realised it or not (and it’s perfectly possible that she had no idea what she was doing) when Suella Braverman uttered the word “invasion” in the House of Commons she saved her political career. She played a blinder. I noticed she looked down at her notes as she was igniting the bombshell, as if activating a pre-meditated defensive line, but that may be fanciful.

    It worked for her, though. She outraged the opposition, a substantial portion of her own party, some of her fellow ministers and of course decent people everywhere. Disaster? No. It has made her less – rather than more – liable to be sacked by Sunak.

    She has cemented her reputation as the hard woman of the hard right, uniquely willing to speak the language of the voters; and to be speaking up for those deeply fearful of the arrival of so many asylum seekers by these irregular routes.

    Braverman, despite everything, is now basically unsackable – whether we like it or not. It’s bad for a civilised society, and bad for desperate refugees looking for safety, but from that purely selfish point of view, she did very nicely out of her defiant, inflammatory, reckless afternoon performance in parliament. It would take incontrovertible evidence, probably from a Home Office whistleblower, that she explicitly lied to the Commons for her to be crowbarred out of her job.

    Much as I would wish it I’m afraid it’s not true.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/braverman-enoch-powell-invasion-migrants-b2215010.html

      1. Considering that this is only Brazil’s third game ever, I think that they have also played extremely well.

          1. Only Yanks play: Basket-case Ball; American Throwball; Rounders: and ICE-hockey.

            Only Yanks want to play the rubbish: i.e. two-minutes of action followed by three hours of “time-outs”, which corresponds with their attention spans. No good teaching them real sports, they haven’t got the capacity to understand the laws.

            Also, calling hockey “field hockey” and calling ice-hockey “hockey” shows just how retarded they are.

          2. At the risk of appearing controversial…..from what I read (I no longer watch it*) 80 minute Rugby matches can now last getting on for two hours what with stoppages, TMO, five minute scrum resets…..players arguing, doctors and physios endlessly invading the pitch…. Oh and a 20 minute “half-time”.

            *Too much thuggery, petulance, (and that is just the squit Farrell) kneeling….etc etc

          3. Last year I watched a rugby match featuring that wonderful Welsh side of the 1970s. They were playing proper rugby. All scrums were square with straight put-ins to the hookers (and they were quickly taken and never reset). Line-outs were similarly quick and straight. Play was quick and smooth and there was much more running and passing with very few “box kicks” (I’m still trying to locate that “box”). All in all it was full of skill and excitement. What happened to the modern game?

          2. Possibly, I gleaned from the commentary that had the cup been played when originally scheduled she would not have qualified, I may have misheard.

    3. 366966 + up ticks,

      Afternoon AS,

      What we really most keep in mind is that actions speak louder than words, I’m still waiting.

    4. Written by another MSM scum writer, the first clue was” and of course decent people everywhere” This journalist probably is incapable of recognising a decent non woke person. If they are for continued uncontrolled illegal migrants invading our country then of course according to this writer they must be “decent”. The rest of us rejoice that there is one Minister who speaks for all of us who sees this never ending tide of illegal immigrants as an invasion of our country, never mind the financial burden it places on us, the taxpayer.

    5. Ignoring the factual inaccuracies of the blather, it’s the attempt to smear any opposition that’s funny now. ‘Decent people everywhere’.If you’re not one of us, you’re one of them! It’s Lefty division again.

      no one is ‘fearful’ of criminal gimmigrants – well, the drug peddling, murderer, rapists are a problem but the Left don’t care about that. They’ve no right to be here and should be removed. It’s as simple as that.

      Ah, here we go – uniquely willing to speak the language of the voters… those poor pathetic fools who are allowed a vote. Why can’t we just do away with them so *we* can take over? We’re sooo much better. We’re the good people.

      They really are vicious little Nazi’s. The sad thing is, they can’t see how evil they are.

  76. Regarding the suspension of Matt Hancock as an MP for taking part in the Celebrity bug eating show (does anyone still watch the crap) a once in a lifetime chance to force the git to eat a bug with venom more poisonous than the injectates he mandated on the many of us.

    1. We Gave up watching the garbage not long after it started.
      As we have so many other programmes on TV.

      1. I like Youtube. So much free material, and many good broadcast series – such as Foyle’s War.

        1. I love Foyle’s War.
          Wonderful acting and believable stories.
          We use Netflix quite often. We’ve been watching an American series recently. The Watcher. We have viewed it as ‘Black Humour’.

          1. Michael Kitchen’s nickname on the set was Kitchen Foyle. (I’ve posted this in the past.)

          4. … and I was at the back, as usual.
            🙁
            Sigh…
            Guess I’d better stick with Miss Pearce.

      2. I don’t know why anyone watches that Celebrity nonsense, it’s so fake and cruel to insects. I saw part of one series years ago and didn’t like it.

    1. Indeed. I reminded the rectorette yesterday that at the time when they were needed most, the churches were SHUT.

      1. And i expect she said, “And rightly so – one had to “stay safe”….”

        To give our otherwise limp dumb PCC credit – the church remained open throughout the plague and resumed services long before Welmeaning intended.

        1. Too true. She pointed out (as though it were a regretful but unavoidable necessity) that the grieving relatives of an 18 yr old who died suddenly had to be stopped from putting flowers on the coffin! “I can’t allow it,” she said. Fortunately, I was too dumbfounded to say what I thought.

          1. This is the true harm of women priests – middle aged good little girls who can’t say boo to a goose and are certainly incapable of an independent thought.

          3. I never went that far. I just hoped that they would do the job adequately without banging on about being women.

          4. In my experience, women who don’t put being a woman to the forefront of their thinking are relatively rare beings. Somewhere along the line they don’t seem to be able to help it.

          9. Your excellent training/conditioning…..

            (Don’t for God’s sake let her see that…!!!)

          13. I’m a woman but I don’t keep harping on about it. I was born female – didn’t have choice on that.

          16. Quite sure – I have the required XX chromosomes and the usual bits that come with those – it was not “assigned at birth” either, but part and parcel of the fertilised egg that I developed from. I have no intention of changing into something else.

          17. I didn’t say there weren’t any, just that they were relatively rare. Somewhere along the line being a mother (if they’ve had children) will make an appearance, for instance.

          19. Errm, not sure about that. I don’t talk to women as if they’re a woman, I talk to them as an individual.

          21. Depends. We have a woman Deacon – farmer/haulier’s wife. No nonsense. Likes BCP and proper Bible. Also – during the interregnum an excellent lady priest who came to do Communion and was exactly what one hoped to find in a vicar.

            Now we have a new woman priest. The MR is optimistic. I remain to be convinced (you’ll be amazed to learn!!)

          22. The rectorette thinks that having four BCP services (among three churches) in a week is TOO MANY and they will have to be cut. She thinks they aren’t inclusive. I pointed out that people should be educated to appreciate the language – she put that one in the “too difficult” tray. I am giving it until Easter and then, in August (when the choir take a holiday) I suspect I shall be voting with my feet.

          23. We had the “BCP puts people off” argument in the past. My response was that IF the church had a lot of new people one Sunday who never came again – there might be something in it.

            But we don’t. New people arrive at the rate of two or three a YEAR and stay because they LIKE the services that are available, well, most of them. Not the sodding “leaflet” ones, of course.

          24. That was my thought; she’ll alienate the regulars and attract a few that will turn up occasionally and then fall by the wayside. She’ll find it hard to replace the people who do the flowers, read, lead services, help out with preparation and above all, put in regular, gift aided, collection money. I laboured the point that changes need to have people on board to implement. I got the impression that changes were coming whether we liked it or not. Hmm.

          25. Like a pub landlord who alienates the regulars, with their irritating habits of drinking a half of mild an hour, but provide a steady, not spectacular, income.
            Piss them off, they leave, and bugger me, so does their money. Hooda thunkit?

          26. Directive from HQ.

            I recall the marvellous retired Canon who lived a few doors down. During an interregnum (one of many) in 1995, the MR and I wished to marry in church. Each of us had been divorced twice. Enquired from HQ – “Bishop says Quite impossible” Told Canon John. “Booger* the Bishop – I’d enjoy doing your marriage….”

            * He was from t’North…

          31. There may be isolated good examples (I haven’t personally met one), but as a whole, they change the concept of God’s love from a father’s love to a mother’s love. They forgive everything, even when the person has not come near repentance, and they peddle the idea that being a Christian requires one to be the ultimate doormat.
            I didn’t see any reason not to have women priests when the legislation was passed, but now, having seen the damage they’ve wreaked en masse, I’d take it back.

      2. This was a disgrace and didn’t the Arsehole of Canterbury flee to his house in France to get away from the stress of his job which he was failing to do.

        That man is a one word advertisement for Atheism. Richard Dawkins ought to recruit him for propaganda purposes.

  79. My usual Bogey Five!

    Wordle 500 5/6
    ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
    ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
    ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
    ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Par, but a silly word.
      Wordle 500 4/6

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

  80. I’m back! Somehow managed to close everything and then had to navigate through the stupid traffic lights and bikes to prove I’m not a robot……..

    Notifications still stuck I see.

  81. Qatar, wadda loada bolero, according to C5 TV news if a player hugs another player for scoring a goal they could be arrested.

    2. Those players who make the sign of the cross before coming on the field will get their heads chopped off.

    4. Then some bastinado at the local nick, hopefully. Argue with the ref and left foot sliced off.

    5. Well, look at the anger over the looting mob kneeling. Poncy folk forget that other cultures are different to ours and expect to get away with the same farce they do here.

  82. Invasion she called it, Invasion it is.
    For sake of our culture and social structure please stop this invasion. Today.

  83. 366966+ up ticks,

    They’re NUTS,

    Teachers’ Union President Randi Weingarten Backs Call for ‘Amnesty’ on COVID Policies

    2. I looked her up and discover she’s an American Democrat with a wife. She’s president of the US Teachers Federation.

      1. Wordle 500 5/6

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

        2. What a refreshing change to have time to read the credits! Mind you, how did he manage to open the carriage door from the inside? My recollection is of having to let down the window with the strap and reach through to the outside to turn the handle.

          1. Depends on the rollingstock and the company that built them. Though I’m not sure if an internal handle like that one would have been used in a real carriage.

          4. Yes, but the film was made in 1949 and what film company hasn’t moved locations for monetary reasons?

        3. Wow, what an incredible film. I’ve not heard of it before. The battle scenes at the end were real food for thought in today’s snowflake age.

          Now to my homework.

          1. I’m halfway through it. Watched it many years ago. Real WWII footage for the aerial combat. Youtube is a wonderful source of very watchable films.
            Good luck with the homework.

          2. Watched Episode 1 of Foyle’s War – saved in my bookmarks for others – highly entertaining and episodes I’ve never seen. For once I have to say, “Well done, YouTube.”

    4. Me too.
      Wordle 500 5/6

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

  86. Right – that’s me for this blustery and slightly damp day. Better tomorrow, allegedly. Ladder work calls.

    Have a spiffing evening sorting out the invasion.

    A demain.

  88. They seem to have fixed the notifications problem now – much quicker than last time it went wrong.

  89. Rishi Sunak has said the UK is a “compassionate” country, after the home secretary was criticised for saying southern England was facing an “invasion” of illegal migrants.

    Suella Braverman was accused of using inflammatory language by refugee charities and opposition parties.

    But some Tory MPs and the ex-leader of UKIP said she was right to speak out.

    Downing Street did not comment on whether the prime minister would also describe the situation as an invasion.

    But Mr Sunak’s official spokesman said: “The home secretary was seeking to express the sheer scale of the challenge that faces the country, with people, including a significant proportion of economic migrants, seeking to make this journey.”

    How many migrants cross the Channel in small boats?
    Why are there problems at Manston migrant centre?
    Ministers are under pressure to tackle the growing numbers crossing the Channel in small boats.

    Ms Braverman has been criticised for overcrowding at the Manston migrant processing centre in Kent, which has reportedly led to outbreaks of disease and violence.

    The prime minister’s official spokesman said Rishi Sunak told his cabinet at a meeting on Tuesday that the UK would “always be a compassionate, welcoming country”.

    Earlier, Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick told the BBC politicians must be careful with their language when talking about this issue.

    Charities criticised the use of the word “invasion”, with the Refugee Council saying the language was “appalling, wrong and dangerous”.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63475511

    Rishi Sunak has said the UK is a “compassionate” country
    Rishi Sunak has said the UK is a “compassionate” country
    Rishi Sunak has said the UK is a “compassionate” country
    Rishi Sunak has said the UK is a “compassionate” country
    Rishi Sunak has said the UK is a “compassionate” country
    Rishi Sunak has said the UK is a “compassionate” country
    Rishi Sunak has said the UK is a “compassionate” country
    Rishi Sunak has said the UK is a “compassionate” country
    Rishi Sunak has said the UK is a “compassionate” country

    compassionate
    (kəmpæʃənət IPA Pronunciation Guide)
    ADJECTIVE [usually ADJECTIVE noun]
    If you describe someone or something as compassionate, you mean that they feel or show pity, sympathy, and understanding for people who are suffering.

    Who is suffering?
    We are .. We are being put upon and misread .. and our patience is being tried to the limit.

    1. That’s exactly the bull shite my MP wrote back to me more than18months ago.
      None of these people needed to come to the UK as ‘refugees’. It’s all a disgusting set up and a complete and utter pack of lies. Everyone of them were safe and secure where they were in France. And anyone of the other European countries they travelled though. My mo was noticeably the very first person in the queue to congratulate Sunak.
      The kind and honest gard working people of the UK have been subjected to treason. And by their own government. Kindness has been seen as weakness to be taken advantage of.

      1. Your last sentence is exactly how muslims feel; kindness is a weakness to be taken advantage of.

    1. Wadda loada utter bolero.
      There’s no other race or connected religion to a race on the planet, that hates more people than islam does.

      1. Here’s a challenge.

        Can anyone post here a quotation from any part of the Qu’ran or any hadith that contains the word ‘love’?

        Then once I am flooded with responses, I might ask the same question about any Christian texts.

        1. As for the second, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart … thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Faith, hope and love there be and the greatest of these is love.

          1. The point I was making.

            Since Christianity pre-dates Islam by several centuries, and that Muslim scriptures dip freely into Christian texts (including the Lord’s Prayer, which is identical to the opening stanzas of the Qu’ran), consider Jesus a prophet and write more about his mother than the New Testament does, then why couldn’t they have lifted these passages for inclusion in the Qu’ran?

        2. “If ye be kind to women, god is well acquainted with what you do.”
          No mention of love but my memory of what Jean Paget says to a Malay headman, muslim, in A Town Like Alice.

    3. British Muslims are victims perpetraitors (sic) of the highest proportion of religiously motivated hate crime.

    4. We need a ‘Woke Virtue Signalling Bullshit Awareness Month’.
      These people are destroying our country.

  92. Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man wealthy healthy and wise. I know it’s only just after 9:30 but I’ll give it a go.
    Good night all.

    1. Not to forget the guys who went ashore on D-Day. Suffering beforehand as they knew they might die and the courage to go ahead anyway.
      We must not forget.

  94. Nigel reveals why Suella Braverman has so many enemies and it’s not because she owned up to making a technical mistake when emailing, letting immigrants sleep in a daytime clearance centre or using a highly appropriate word to describe the manner of the latter’s arrival:

    https://youtu.be/aoDpGJl-eOw

    1. Why didn’t Nigel Farage help Johnson purge the Conservative Party of remainers and wets at the time of the 2019 general election by refusing to stand down his Brexit Party candidates in seats held by remainer Conservative MPs. He got no quid pro quo from Johnson who was left with far too may remainers in his party and it is these very remainers who are now doing their very best to get UK back into the EU.

      The inescapable truth of the matter is that when it came to the crunch Farage did not have the necessary courage to put real pressure on Johnson. And just look where we are now!

      All mouth and trousers.

      1. And get a coalition in! That was the reason. Tell me of a person who is more passionate about English freedom.

  96. Right, I am off. Been pretty busy today in stages. Made a yummy beef stew and there’s enough for tomorrow. Rotten weather most of the day.
    My dad would have been 103 today. Happy birthday Dad. Died 40 years ago- almost.
    Try to behave yourselves.

  99. Regarding the election in Brazil, US President Biden says the win came “following free, fair and credible elections”.

    From this statement alone we might safely assume that the election was fraudulent.

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