Sunday 13 November: How blinkered managers are driving experienced doctors away from the NHS

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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530 thoughts on “Sunday 13 November: How blinkered managers are driving experienced doctors away from the NHS”

  2. Good morrow, Gentlefolk, a story about Conversion:

    Conversations on Conversions

    A Catholic Priest, a Baptist Preacher and a Rabbi all served as Chaplains to the students of Northern Michigan University at Marquette in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. They would get together two or three times a week for coffee and to talk shop.

    One day, someone made the comment that preaching to people isn’t really all that hard, a real challenge would be to preach to a bear. One thing led to another, and they decided to do an experiment. They would all go out into the woods, find a bear, preach to it, and attempt to convert it to their religion.

    Seven days later, they all came together to discuss their experiences.

    Father Flannery, who had his arm in a sling, was on crutches, and had various bandages on his body and limbs, went first. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘I went into the woods to find me a bear. And when I found him, I began to read to him from the Catechism. Well, that bear wanted nothing to do with me and began to slap me around. I quickly grabbed my holy water, sprinkled him and, Holy Mary, Mother of God, he became as gentle as a lamb. The Bishop is coming out next week to give him first communion and confirmation.’

    Reverend Billy Bob spoke next. He was in a wheelchair, had one arm and both legs in casts, and had an IV drip. In his best fire-and-brimstone oratory, he exclaimed, ‘WELL, brothers, you KNOW that we Baptists don’t sprinkle! I went out and I FOUND me a bear. And then I began to read to my bear from God’s HOLY WORD! But that bear wanted nothing to do with me. So, I took HOLD of him and we began to wrestle. We wrestled down one hill, UP another and DOWN another until we came to a creek. So, I quickly DUNKED him and BAPTIZED his hairy soul. And just like you said, he became as gentle as a lamb. We spent the rest of the day praising Jesus… Hallelujah!

    The Priest and the Reverend both looked down at the Rabbi, who was lying in a hospital bed.

    He was in a body cast and traction with IVs and monitors running in and out of him. He was in really bad shape.

    The Rabbi looked up and said: “Looking back on it …circumcision may not have been the best way to start.“

  3. Rishi Sunak promises to call out Putin’s regime at G20. 13 November 2022.

    Meanwhile, back home, as Laura Kuenssberg writes, the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will continue preparing what is called the Autumn Statement, a budget in all but name, to be delivered on Thursday, just hours after the prime minister gets back home.

    Downing Street is seeking to frame both the summit and the Autumn Statement as responses to the same shock: the consequences of the war in Ukraine.

    A desperate global economic situation, as they describe it, with big domestic implications, that they seek to be trusted to grapple with, after the chaos of the Liz Truss administration.

    Yes they would like to blame Vlad but the reality is that what is happening is the result of twenty years of criminal mismanagement crowned by the catastrophic decisions made during the Covid “pandemic”. Like Nitric Acid on Fools Gold the War in Ukraine has simply exposed its true nature to view.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63610049

      1. They do seem to Janet. What there’s never mention of is the deliberate running down of energy generating capacity, price fixing, market rigging to force high prices for energy through deliberately rationing supply and heavily taxing conventional – real – energy sources while refusing new fuel extraction.

        This mess is entirely, totally and completely their own fault.

    2. With the MSM safely ensconced in the government’s and others’ pockets there is not a chance that the deliberate mismanagement of the UK will be exposed. Waking up to what is really happening appears to be a slow process for many people. Too many still hold that the rushed “vaccines” were a noble act of a government that cared.

      1. The bugler at our cenotaph this morning said that he’d had a heart attack last year the day before the service. I very nearly asked him if he was fully vaxed and had had a booster shortly before, but I refrained. I expect he had; he was in the Fire Service.

    3. Great, so Rishi is going to embarrass us on the world stage by balancing a biscuit on his nose for his masters!

    4. Chaos of the Truss adminsitration? When the globalists, put out at losing in a democratic election set about removing the chosen candidate and their policies in favour of their own man.

      Nothing Truss proposed was implemented. The responses were intentional and spiteful to reinforce the globalist line and ensure the plan continued. The last thing they wanted was for the nation to recover under a low tax, small state democratically elected government.

    1. The mist that formed yesterday afternoon has persisted and thickened here, also the patio is soaking wet indicating some rain overnight. Forecast is for sunny intervals, same as yesterday’s forecast that didn’t happen. I hope you get your sunshine, Johnny.

      2. It was sunny here in S. Cambs from 11.30 am yesterday, the clouds cleared and it was blue skies, sunshine, a still autumnal afternoon. As I drove over the county border into Bedfordshire I thought how timeless the views into the distance looked. The sunset was stunning.

      3. Its more overcast than forecast. and these people try and tell us what its going to be like in 100 years +. More con men.

        1. Mist dissipated here and slightly brighter but the Sun still hidden by cloud. As for the climate change nuts I think that they should change their brand of tea.

  5. 367721+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Blinkered managers read old boys network, same schools etc,etc.

    surely tis for the doctors to select a leader they respect and listen to and NOT ridicule 24/7 as in regards to a political posting.

    In short what is needed is a high skilled doctor / surgeon having the shout
    and not a political placement.

    Sunday 13 November: How blinkered managers are driving experienced doctors away from the NHS

    1. It’s a bit sad to say but very capable people are often the wrong ones to put in charge of those same very capable people.

      I know this from my own experience. I like plumbing in cables and building networks, fiddling with software and storage. I’m not very good at accounting, recruiting and promoting the business, let alone the legal side. That’s why I hired (who now hire me) people to do that for me.

      What’s needed is a manager type who interferes, proscribes and manages as little as possibleand facilitates in such a way that hinderances, blockers are removed and resources allocated sufficiently to predict and smooth out need. That isn’t a role to waste on a trained doctor.

      1. Had the youth sit down watching Blackadder goes forth last night. Even the Warqueen was watching by the last episode.

        1. That final scene reduces me to tears; every time I watch it, which must now run into double figures.

  7. Nigel Farage-led party could attract more than a quarter of voters, poll reveals

    More than a quarter of British voters would consider voting for a new party led by Nigel Farage.

    A new poll shows that 12 per cent of the public would be very interested in backing a new venture if it were launched next year, while 16 per cent would be quite interested.

    Mr Farage refused to rule out the possibility of creating a new party and said he had been “overwhelmed” by requests to do so from voters who have emailed him and approached him at the supermarket. .

    The two present Parties are no longer the servants of the British People, are in fact our enemies! It therefore follows that anyone else would be an improvement and since Nigel Farage is the only person with a National Profile and Standing he is the only one with a real chance of ushering in a new era.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/11/12/nigel-farage-led-party-would-attract-quarter-voters-poll-reveals/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

    2. The problem with Farage is he keeps walking away and never hangs around to see things to completion

    3. Yep, time to stop vote-splitting and join together with other small (otherwise vote – splitters) and give the sensible electorate a party worth voting for.

  9. In censoring the press, the police have dangerously overreached. 13 November 2022.

    The arrest of a reporter at a Just Stop Oil protest should alarm all who care about free thought and uncensored debate.

    When major parts of the country’s busiest motorway are forced to close by deliberate sabotage for four days running, that is a news story of national importance. If you were caught up in those closures – perhaps with tragic consequences like missing your father’s funeral as Tony Manbury did – and then read or heard nothing about them in the news media, you would think it bizarre or even sinister.

    You might begin to suspect that there was an active conspiracy to conceal a plot or an official embarrassment (which may not be far from the truth as it happens). For this kind of systematic, illegal disruption to be carried out in full public view without receiving any coverage should be inconceivable in an open society. But the Hertfordshire police were apparently prepared to think the unthinkable.

    While attending one of the sites of this lunatic delinquency on a busy section of the M25 last week, they formally arrested not only the Just Stop Oil brats but a broadcast journalist who was covering the incident.

    Once the Police were charged with enforcing the laws against Thought Crime and its derivatives they became the arbiters of “Correct Thought” and a force of repression. Like their predecessors the Inquisition, KGB, Gestapo and the Stasi they seek to protect themselves first.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/12/censoring-press-police-forces-have-dangerously-overreached/

    1. The press cannot complain now the powers that be are coming for them.
      If they had been doing their job properly these last 30 years then we would never be living under this globalist coup.

      2. All because big state has become too big and weilds too much power. Union officials, diversity wonks, equalities regulation, crippling taxes, special favours and promotions for promoting the right message.

    2. Radio BBC Essex reported on the incidents, they could hardly ignore the many miles long tailbacks into both Essex and Kent on their regular traffic updates. As I only tuned in when driving I did not listen for long enough to hear how they treated the incidents over the whole four days.

    3. I don’t know if it was just an accident, but there’s prior with the removal of journalists filming border farce bringing the gimmigrants in.

      Sadly we’ve got to accept that the police forcee is now a political wing of the state, much like the NKVD, Gestapo or American operations promoting rendition without trial.

      Yes, there’s a lesser extent, but they no longer serve the public. Some groups are favoured – muslims, green fanatics, gimmigrants – anyone the state favours – and used against those dissenting from government control.

  10. In censoring the press, the police have dangerously overreached. 13 November 2022.

    The arrest of a reporter at a Just Stop Oil protest should alarm all who care about free thought and uncensored debate.

    When major parts of the country’s busiest motorway are forced to close by deliberate sabotage for four days running, that is a news story of national importance. If you were caught up in those closures – perhaps with tragic consequences like missing your father’s funeral as Tony Manbury did – and then read or heard nothing about them in the news media, you would think it bizarre or even sinister.

    You might begin to suspect that there was an active conspiracy to conceal a plot or an official embarrassment (which may not be far from the truth as it happens). For this kind of systematic, illegal disruption to be carried out in full public view without receiving any coverage should be inconceivable in an open society. But the Hertfordshire police were apparently prepared to think the unthinkable.

    While attending one of the sites of this lunatic delinquency on a busy section of the M25 last week, they formally arrested not only the Just Stop Oil brats but a broadcast journalist who was covering the incident.

    Once the Police were charged with enforcing the laws against Thought Crime and its derivatives they became the arbiters of “Correct Thought” and a force of repression. Like their predecessors the Inquisition, KGB, Gestapo and the Stasi they seek to protect themselves first.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/12/censoring-press-police-forces-have-dangerously-overreached/

      1. Sadly though, they do. And we do forget them. And we cheapen their sacrifice with a poppy on the front of a car.

        When you see BBC presenters wearing them while blithering on about climate change or Ukraine (goodies baddies, never nuanced truth), or demanding higher taxes to continue the expansion of the state, praising the invasion of this country by filth, hiding the crimes of muslims…

        That sticks in the craw because they hate this country and what it stands for.

      2. I have the GSM NI, NATO Medal (Former Yugoslavia) and Long Service and Undetected Crime Good Conduct.

  12. Good morning all

    Has been misty , but no Autumnal dew covered cobwebs in the garden .
    Mild , 14c, some blue sky and sunshine .
    Son no 1 got up very early for a 5k run , then he skedaddled off in his car to the gym.

    I feel exhausted hearing about his activity..it is bad enough having an over active spaniel , who knows every word you speak.

  13. Morning all, came across this gem, ex-RAF groundcrew will appreciate it more

    Three Cheers For The Man On The Ground
    RAF Wireless Mechanic LAC Eric Sykes (later BBC Comedian)

    Wherever you walk, you will hear people talk,
    of the men who go up in the air,
    of the daredevil way, they go into the fray;
    Facing death without turning a hair.

    They’ll raise a big cheer and buy lots of beer,
    for the pilot who’s come home on leave,
    but they don’t give a jigger, for a flight mech or rigger,
    with nothing but “props” on his sleeve.

    They just say “Nice day” – and then turn away,
    with never a mention of praise,
    for the poor bloody erk, who does all the work,
    and just orders his own beer – and pays!

    They’ve never been told, of the hours in the cold,
    that he spends sealing Germany’s fate,
    how he works on a kite, till all hours of the night,
    and then turns up next morning at eight.

    He gets no rake-off, for working ’til take-off,
    or helping the aircrew prepare,
    but whenever there’s trouble – it’s “Quick at the double”,
    the man on the ground must be there
    .
    Each flying crew, could confirm it as true,
    that they know what this man’s really worth,
    they know that he’s part of the RAF’s heart,
    even though he stays close to the earth.

    He doesn’t want glory, but please tell his story,
    spread a little of his fame around,
    He’s just one of a few – so give him his due,
    “Three Cheers for the man on the ground”

    2. My father was in the RAF, he never told us what he actually did. As a sergeant he was in Algeria, Egypt and on the island of Sicily. He was an organiser.
      I’ve got his service medals and his little blue book. His commanding officer wrote that he was extremely hard working and a credit to his team.

      1. The MR’s father simply told his family that he was “In the Tank Regiment”. Only in his last weeks did it come out that he was in the LRDG….

        1. My fathers elder brother was at El Alamein. After being wounded he was on his way back to the UK for treatment. When the hospital ship was bomb in the Channel. The family phrase was “Bloody Germans”. No survivors. My parents had a framed photograph of him and use to attach a poppy to it each November.

      2. My uncle was in the RAF; he was in charge of the kitchens at his station (Kenley, I think). Unfortunately, he died young (after the war) so I never really got to talk to him about where he served.

  14. I note – without surprise – that there is virtually NO mention anywhere of the disgusting mob of Albanian invaders blocking Westminster Bridge and Parliament Square yesterday.

    How dispiriting the “press” have become.

    1. Perhaps starving all protesters of the oxygen of publicity is the way forward for the PTB?

      After all, if they don’t publicise comment on these issues they won’t need to comment when “normal” people start protesting about the state of the State!

    2. Perhaps they’ll turn up at Whitehall later this morning.
      They are probably staying in a London hotel.

  15. Too many bad ‘bleeding burgers’ have hurt the plant-based industry, says Quorn chief.

    ‘Suddenly not everything was good, not everything was delicious, not all the textures worked’

    TOO many poor quality plant-based “bleeding burgers” are to blame for fading interest in meat alternatives, the boss of Quorn said, as growth in the industry comes to a near halt.

    Marco Bertacca, the chief executive of Britain’s leading meat alternative company, said the boom had run out of steam because too many products were launched that were “not delicious”. “The taste* is still fundamental when it comes to food,” he said.

    Sales of plant-based meat alternatives soared in recent years, growing by 40pc in 2020 and 14pc last year according to Kantar. It coincided with a boom in new businesses developing lab-grown proteins, with high-profile examples such as Beyond Meat and Impossible Burger in the United States.

    A flurry of fake meat companies launched their own so-called “bleeding burgers” – which use ingredients such as beetroot juice to replicate the blood in a burger.

    British start-up Moving Mountains argued it had created “an experience so akin to animal meat, it will convert even the most committed carnivores”. Others including Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat also have their own versions.

    However, interest in the sector from both customers and investors has rapidly cooled this year. Sales grew just 2.5pc in the eight months to the end of August, according to Kantar. Beyond Meat was recently forced to slash a fifth of its workforce and downgrade revenue forecasts in the face of slowing demand.

    After a period when “everybody was super enthusiastic, everybody was throwing products on the shelf, and then all of a sudden, it was the case that not everything was good, not everything was delicious, not all the textures worked”, Mr Bertacca said.

    “How many burgers do you currently see on a shelf? I think we need to stop trying to replicate what is already there.”

    The number of plant-based products on sale at Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons has almost doubled since the start of 2020, according to Assosia, a data company.

    Mr Bertacca said: “We need to find a way to steer the conversation away from a very superficial conversation about reproducing the meat process, and instead look at what is the nutritional value that you get when you eat what you eat.”

    The sector has struggled because many products are more expensive than meat items. However, Mr Bertacca said that while there was a “perception that plant based is more expensive, that is not always the case”.

    Quorn’s plant-based “chicken pieces” are cheaper than regular chicken in supermarkets, he said.

    “We’re starting to see some initial indications that people are taking notice of that,” he said.

    Why can’t vegetarians and vegans simply eat (and enjoy) vegetables? If they are so against eating animal products why do they clamour to eat “pretend meat” concocted in a Frankenstein factory? Many such foods once promoted as “heathy” (margarine is a prime example) are now known to be life-threatening. Linda McCartney made a fortune making, selling (and eating) her weird pseudo-meat products. She still died very young from cancer, probably caused by her unfathomable lifestyle.

    *Also, why do people conflate the words “taste” and “flavour”, they are not synonyms? Taste is a sense which detects flavour, which is an attribute foods possess. Foods have a flavour which is discerned by the sense of taste.

          1. Mmmm faggots (not necessarily Brains).

            Last time I had them was about 10 years ago when I was visiting Bridgenorth, in a chip pie in Low Town.

          2. Had faggots in gravy t’other week and still have three in the freezer that I picked up from the Pie Shop in Wenlock Edge.

          3. Bridgnorth (no E) is an interesting town; it has the funicular railway linking High Town and Low Town and the Severn Valley Steam Railway. It also has regular floods 🙂

      1. In our local supermarket, they have this political “Nutri Score” on processed foods. The vegan junk gets an “A” while organic pork sausages get the lowest score “E.”
        Teenagers fall for this BS in droves!

        1. Have you seen the list of ingredients on these veggie monstrosities?
          The pork sausages have the ingredients: Pork meat. Herbs.

          1. My pork sausages are: twice-minced pork shoulder; salt (2% of the weight of the meat); pepper (0·2% of the weight of the meat); sage (0·2% of the weight of the meat). All mixed together and squeezed into hog intestines with my posh new sausage-filler.

          4. Always thought of that as an undignified end for s pig.
            Murdered, cut up, ground up, then rammed up it’s own arse.
            Tasty, though, Grizz! Firstborn’s first pigs taste wonderful – dark meat (nowt like one can buy in supermarkets).

      3. I know, John. I’ve driven past it many times. Good ol’ Norfolk boys wouldn’t be seen dead (or alive) eating such crap.

      1. They are hoping to convert people away from healthy meat towards over-processed, tasteless muck.

        When we don’t respond to this carrot, they will bring the stick out…

    5. There are some excellent vegetarian meals around, with plwnty of flavour, but don’t pretend to be meat. Indian curries, for example, designed to ne made from vegetables, and excellent with it.
      Why you would want vegetable bacon burger (whatever that is), I can’t fathom.

      1. Exactly. I thoroughly enjoy a plate of roasted vegetables or a baked potato with cheese or sour cream.
        They do not need to look like pimped up bacon.

    6. Quorn is a fungi, in it’s normal state it’s a block of wobbly marble. It looks as appetising as a bowl of sick.

    7. When deliveries to supermarkets dried up and the shelves emptied the veggie sections were still full.

      1. There’s the rub. They don’t want the real thing (for whatever “reason” they have in their muddled heads) but they do want an ersatz, plastic version … of something they don’t want! I could never get into the heads of such numpties in a thousand years. Logic is evidently not their strong point.

  16. Morning all 😊
    Super grey today.
    Later we will be able to watch on TV the very people who have wreck our once safe and fair country.
    They’ll be at the cenotaph faking a forlorn look. After spending more than 30 years bringing the UK to its knees.
    Cheer up you’ve been more than successful.

      1. I think he’s the most hated person in the country. He set the precedent for lying cheating garbage in politics.

  17. Good morning all.
    Rather foggy outside with 6°C on the thermometer.

    My right ankle it a nice shade of purple and my knee looks a bit swollen. A bit awkward getting downstairs, but I managed it!

      1. Without my reading glasses I read that as “ice pick” – and I thought, “That’s a bit extreme”….

    5. Rest, ice compression elevation. Especially compression to support the limb.

      The key here is rest. Keep forcing the injury and you’ll properly damage the limb.

  19. Liz Truss’s mini budget being blamed by the Government for the state of the economy. The party is at war with itself which is a bad sign.

    3. The only potential advantage of the party being at war with itself is that it might bring about the total destruction of the sordid remains of what is left of the Conservative Party and something better might emerge.

  20. FTX is an American story, but the whole world’s financial structure is so interlinked, and so unstable at the moment that a nudge anywhere in the world could bring the whole tottering edifice crashing down.
    So, here’s the latest episode….
    https://www.reddit.com/r/Wallstreetsilver/comments/ytekyp/ukraine_used_ftx_to_raise_funds_the_scheme_might/
    FTX may have been used for laundering money to Ukraine – billions pledged to Ukraine by Biden, which were graciously accepted by Ukraine as FTX crypto tokens….FTX then made a donation to the Democrats.

  21. This would be truly disgusting at any time of the year, but over the lead up to Remembrance Sunday, it’s doubly disgusting. Why would somebody ‘fleeing’ alleged problems in his own country have that country’s flag to hand and used to desecrate a great statesman’s commemorative statue? There’s a strong stench of planned action hanging around these disturbances.

    https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1591433374190780416

    1. Police took immediate action to taser and arrest the perpetrators, confiscate the flag and restore order….
      (Then I woke up)

      1. Multiply tasered I hope. Until the batteries ran out. Bah, just ruddy burn them. Leave their screaming human candles to flare, then throw the flag over them to put them out.

      2. The police have their hands tied. If they arrest people who block roads and demonstrate practiced indifference.
        They’ll have to arrest those who kneel and block our roads.
        And there will be mass riots.

    2. find whoever did it, put them and a thousand others into a shipping container and drop it at 4,000 feet.

  22. Bonjour tout le monde,

    Un petit oiseau ce matin

    Wordle 512 3/6

    ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜
    ⬜🟨🟩🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Bonjour Stormy; Pareil ici!

      Wordle 512 3/6
      ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩
      ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  23. As the sky begins to lighten, I observe that – in 75 years or so of attending these events – it is often dry on Remembrance Sunday.

    Curious, that. It is almost as if God was on our side. Briefly.

    1. If we is, could he make it a bit more obvious? Lightning, rough tides, the odd burst of nuclear fire?

  24. ‘When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,

    For Your Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today.’

    Active Patriot
    @ActivePatriotUK
    ·
    22m
    972 MIGRANTS in 22 BOATS crossed the channel into ENGLAND yesterday

    Over 40,000 MIGRANTS have now crossed the channel into ENGLAND from FRANCE in SMALL-BOATS this year

      2. I remarked on the 11th that my family is a “thankful” family; we didn’t lose anyone in either World War.

          1. Probably not all that many. We were lucky because both my father and his elder brother were in protected industries (steel and coal mining respectively) and my father, although he volunteered, was declared unfit. Their youngest brother served in the army but came home. Grandfather was in farming. My mother’s brother served in the air force on ground duties and her other brother was too young. As we lived in a rural area, bombing was not the problem it was in the big cities.

        2. My Uncle Robbie, my Dad’s youngest brother, was one of those evacuated from Dunkirk, but he later died of Tb, possibly infected during the evacuation.

    1. Ironic given their role in facilitating the invasion when so many died to stop us being taken over by foreigners.

      1. Nothing at all, I’m watching all those in Whitehall who are determined to destroy us. The politicians parade walking out to the Cenotaph shows they are all as bad as each other.
        The old cry vote for us or get Labour will not work anymore for a great many, slowly the truth is being revealed.

    4. She is an abominable moron. The utter tripe those fools spout, none of it challenged, not a word from the biased media to interrogate and expose their idiocy. It’s all letting them spout tripe, unopposed.

  27. The Observer view on negotiating with Vladimir Putin: it’s too soon. 13 november 2022.

    Ukraine is in a strong position after retaking Kherson but the west must resist the urge to push for a settlement with Russia.

    The Americans used to refuse to negotiate with the North Vietnamese (among others) reasoning that once they had achieved pre-eminence on the battlefield it would simply be a matter of setting the terms to their surrender. This came back with terrible force later when the NV reciprocated and kept them dangling on the hook, unable either to win or sever their involvement. I’m pretty sure that Russia is preparing to fight a long war of attrition in its new territories and bleed the Ukies dry!

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/13/the-observer-view-on-it-being-too-soon-to-start-negotiating-with-vladimir-putin

  28. Fox News reporting that a Boeing B17 Flying Fortress and Bell P63 King Cobra collided and crashed at “The Wings over Dallas” Air Show yesterday. 6 volunteer airmen have probably been killed in the crash

  30. About to watch the British Memorial ceremony on the TV.

    The French have a bank holiday and have their observations on November 11th.

  31. Many doctors, including my nephew, retired before they were sixty because George Osborne’s raid on the pensions made it uneconomical to continue working.
    And now the current government is imposing another pension fund raid : I can only assume that the purpose of this is to reduce the number of doctors still further and completely destroy what remains of the NHS.

    I think one would be very naive indeed to think that Sunak and Hunt are not determined to destroy Britain and give the ruins to Klaus Schwab to see what he can reset using the detritus.

    1. Well Gordon Brown destroyed the private sector ones 15 years earlier and I will never forgive him that. At least the doctors pensions are risk-free.

  34. There are over 9 ,000 veterans gathered together at the Cenotaph this morning .

    How can we bow our heads and lay wreaths and sing hymns .. This country has betrayed the memory of brave men and women .

    40,000+ blighters have invaded us so far this year, nearly 1,000 invaded us yesterday. Fights are breaking out in the hotels where they are being accommodated

    If I dare be so vulgar .. Here be the truth.. https://twitter.com/Justice_forum/status/1591495695999307777

    Will we end up in a situation similar to Bosnia was in the ’90’s. We just well might .

    1. Since they are all in one place it would be an ideal time to arrest them and deport them back to Albania! Then I woke up!

    3. I can’t even watch. The sight of the very people who are betraying us going through charade is more than I can take.

      1. I had intended not to watch this year for that very reason. But it drew me in, as it always does. I thought what a motley crew past and present leaders were, such little people with disgusting values, not fit to shine the shoes of those who have gone before, and those who serve and have served presently. On the scale of Remembrance these people don’t exist. And what was wrong with Gordon Brown, he couldn’t keep still, stroking back his hair, shifting his weight from one leg to another, lifting himself up on to his toes, putting his hand into his inner jacket pocket, hands to the front, hands to the back…. I have to say Tony Blair was exemplary. I hate to say this.

    1. Only a council would consider selling revenue generating assets. I’d bet they never consider cutting waste on unnecessary and pointless nonsense.

        1. And declaring “climate change emergencies” on which they will spend a small fortune training (read brain-washing) people.

    1. Flip flops? In Australia they call them ‘thongs’. They are won with budgie-smugglers and sunnies.

  39. More than 40,000 migrants have crossed the Channel to the UK so far this year, official government figures reveal with 972 arriving on 22 boats yesterday
    40,885 migrants have crossed the English Channel into the UK so far this year
    The latest Home Office data comes as 972 people made the crossing yesterday
    The arrivals on Saturday were the first so far in November
    Almost 7,000 people arrived in the UK in October, many vulnerable refugees
    The Home Office deported 350 people in the same month, many criminals https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11422489/More-40-000-migrants-crossed-English-Channel-UK-far-year.html

    1. Until they are turned back at gunpoint nothing will change.

      Stop paying the bloody frogs to do something they should already be doing. They won’t do it, they don’t want to do it. Neither do our own spiteful officials.

      They are evil.

    2. The rectorette (I apologise for previously downgrading her to a vicarette) wrote in the Parish Magazine that the NHS was “poorly resourced”. No it isn’t, it just has too many freeloaders getting (often priority) access to treatment.

      1. She is the sort who would claim that the CofE (with its billions) is “poorly resourced..”

  40. Good Moaning – just about.
    Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll muck up your blood pressure.

    My Bill’s ward contains the statutory nutter/demented patient.

    Last night, said patient went absolutely gangbusters, turning over tables, shouting swearing and generally ranting and raving. 4 hospital heavies plus the staff spent around 2 hours ‘reasoning’ with him. Eventually, they decided to worry about the other patients and their safety.

    So ….. they removed all the other patients and left Nutjob with the ward to himself.

    Let’s hear for 8 hours of healing sleep.

    1. What is wrong with giving nutter a jab of sleeping juice?

      I trust that Bill will soon be home among the relatively sane. He – of all people!! – should know that you never sleep in hospital. Well not until about 5 am – only to be woken at 6 by a jolly nurse….

      KBO – both of you.

      1. Precisely what would have happened in our day.
        In these times of feely-touchy ineffectuality, MB and I would be struck off.

      1. A mega intra-muscular jab and a side room works wonders.
        But no doubt Nutjob’s human rights come first, rather than the right of 20+ frail men in need of uninterrupted sleep.
        (The psychiatric unit is just the other side of the hospital car park.)

    4. Many, many, many years ago, when I was working as a nursing auxiliary on a psychiatric ward, a male patient did, or should I say tried to do, similarly.

      The charge nurse (muscles in his spit) soaked a towel, whipped it around the patient’s throat, mouth and nose and squeezed.
      Patient suddenly became docile as a lamb before mint sauce. He was put to bed and nary a tweet for the night
      I doubt the charge nurse would survive a day in the current environment

    5. While I recovered from ‘extreme chiropody’, there was at least one statutory nutter in the ward, particularly the one who – on average three times a night – attempted to leave by not-in-use “these are alarmed” doors. A former Rector observed that – upon his induction to each new parish, the Good Lord unfailingly issued him with his nutter. This has been true in 40-odd years as an organist. Except for the current parish. Which begs the question – where is our nutter? Perhaps it’s the Rector or the Organist?

  41. 367721+ up ticks,

    See the paedophile umbrella lab/lib/con/ukip coalition are planning fostering foreign children, £52 K a year per child what more could any self respecting PIE member ask for.

    May one ask will each fostering carry a health warning otherwise a foster could parent very well end up with a hernia brought about by trying to wind over their shoulder, in reality, a 35 year old juvenile.

    That 2019 General Election result really excelled itself in producing top grade political shite, this party shares a coalition seal of office resembling the cloven hoof.

    Wonder who’s footing the bill

    1. At least she’s not competing with other female presenters in………my high heels are higher than yours.

    3. I dldn’t see many kilted Scotsmen or heard the bagpipes.. Maybe I turned off too soon. The SNP leader in the HoC didn’t look well in a kilt and Gordon Brown looked a lot thinner.

    1. On the one hand, thanks for the links to the info.

      On the other….I now need to have a large glass of wine to lower my blood pressure

  44. Just been reading the interview with Ian Rankin (Rebus novels, to those who don’t recognise the name).
    Which reminded me …. on Friday I got through nearly an entire Rebus book. As MB was finally whisked off to a ward, I checked the title – it was “Exit Music”. Luckily, during the interminable hours in the consulting room, MB did not once put on his glasses!

  45. Question of the day.

    If a manageress is a female.
    And a princess is a female.
    And a conductress is a female.
    And an actress is a female.
    Why is a marquess a male?

    Shouldn’t he be a “marque”?

        1. a European title of nobility, ranking in modern times immediately below a duke and above a count, or earl. Etymologically the word marquess or margrave denoted a count or earl holding a march, or mark, that is, a frontier district; but this original significance has long been lost.

          marquess | title – Encyclopedia Britannica

          1. I am aware of all that, Philip, since I have studied the ranks of nobility. I was just musing that it seems odd that a male title is given an -ess suffix.

          3. That is the correct answer:
            On the evening of the Coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838, the Prime Minister Lord Melbourne explained to her why (from her journals):

            I spoke to [Lord Melbourne] about the numbers of Peers present at the Coronation, & he said it was quite unprecedented. I observed that there were very few Viscounts, to which he replied, “There are very few Viscounts,” that they were an old sort of title & not really English; that they came from Vice-Comites; that Dukes & Barons were the only real English titles; – that Marquises were likewise not English, & that people were mere made Marquises, when it was not wished that they should be made Dukes..

          12. marquis (n.)also marquess, c. 1300, marchis, title of nobility, from Old French marchis, marcheis, marquis, etymologically “a prefect of the marches, ruler of a border area,” from Old French marche “frontier,” from Medieval Latin marca “frontier, frontier territory” (see march (n.1)). Originally the ruler of border territories in various European regions (compare Italian marchese, Spanish marqués, and see margrave); later a mere title of rank, below duke and above earl or count. Related: Marquisate.

          13. Because it isn’t a marker of sex.. Ann Bolyn was created Marquess (not Marchioness) of Pembroke.

          16. What I find quite extraordinary about mediaeval life is that those who DID climb knew only too well the possible (often likely) consequences – a painful and humiliating death. But that didn’t deter them!

          17. If you’ll pardon my saying so, Bill, it’s a bit like climbing ladders; you know you might fall, but you hope you won’t!

        2. Lost somewhere in the mists of time. Go search – Burke’s Peerage might be the place to start.

    2. George Orwell’s Newspeak was an attempt to reduce the number of words in the language. Maybe we should have bulless, foxess, buckess, dogess and boyess to get rid of the words cow, vixen, doe, bitch and girl.

      1. On the continent he’s a Marquis, but in the UK he’s a Marquess.

        A bit like the way a continental Count is an Earl in the UK.

  46. Afternoon All
    Musings from the dark side
    Watching the parade especially the elderly gentlemen in bowlers and tightly furled umbrellas I couldn’t help thinking of “The Chillian Club” by George Shipway
    Look the book up.you’ll catch my drift…….

    1. One thing that I have just discovered about remembrance day in Canada..

      At 11AM on the11th, every CN train comes to a halt for a minutes silence followed by a long blast on the whistle before they resume their journey.

      Not all is bad at the grass roots level in Canada. In the meantime village idiot Trudeau skipped Remembrance day for some conference in Cambodia where we expect that he will be giving away more taxpayers money..

  47. MARRYING A CHESTERFIELD GIRL

    Three friends married women from different areas.

    The first man married a Portsmouth girl. He told her that she was to do the dishes and house cleaning. It took a couple of days, but on the third day he came home to see a clean house and dishes washed and put away.

    The second man married a London girl. He gave his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes and the cooking. The first day he didn’t see any results but the next day he saw it was better. By the third day he saw his house was clean, the dishes were done, and there was a huge dinner on the table.

    The third man married a girl from Chesterfield. He ordered her to keep the house clean, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed, and hot meals on the table every day. The first day he didn’t see anything, the second day he didn’t see anything either, but by the third day, some of the swelling had gone down, he could see a little out of his left eye and his arm was healed enough that he could make himself a sandwich and load the dishwasher. He still has some difficulty when he urinates.

  48. Our democratic system in Britain is completely broken and more and more people are clamouring for an alternative to the current major parties in Parliament. People feel the there are too many small parties such as UKIP, the Reform Party and the Reclaim Party and what is needed is a united party run by a strong and charismatic leader. Nigel Farage is a suggested leader – he is certainly charismatic but he is not strong and he is undeniably vain. He is not a team player and he tends to fall out with all those with whom he works. However he is an outstanding orator and is proving to be an excellent journalist.

    Remember the conspirators in Julius Caesar trying to decide who should join them? They reject Cicero because, as Brutus warns, Cicero only wants to be involved in affairs which he has started and he is a leader and a philosopher and not a follower.

    And Farage lost his nerve at the time of the last general election by not standing up to Johnson. He agreed to withdraw Brexit Party candidates from opposing sitting Conservative remainer MPs and got no quid pro quo – absolutely nothing in return. The consequence : a completely bungled Brexit, the EU still in Northern Ireland, EU fishing boats still ravaging British fishing waters and the House of Commons still stuffed with Conservative Party remainers.

    1. I agree, but I don’t believe it’s a question of party lines. The state is too big, too expensive and too wasteful. It’s dominance over the political system is absurd and detrimental.Minister behave like utter sewage toward one another and the public and get away with it. Policies are passed that are so miserably destructive one wonders if they were written while high, or just laughing at the public.

      I believe we need referism, recall and direct democracy. Only when they cannot spend, cannot pass law do we control them. When they misbehave we sack them. If they have passed laws that are detrimental to the public good, those laws are removed.

      That is a democracy. It’s one we need now. That way you could put Blair in with Brown – they’d be paralysed – which is as it should be. These people are our staff, for goodness sake. They behave like petty rulers.

      1. “I believe we need referism, recall and direct democracy.” You may believe it, Wibbles, but…

        … can you see any of the current parties voting for it? I can’t.

        2. Precisely, they’ll never permit it themselves, which is why it must be forced on them. Oh, they’ll complain and shout, then we hang them. They keep whinging and another bunch swing.

          Keep going until they get the message. Then hang another lot for the hell of it.

        1. They don’t have referism per se, but certainly recall and direct democracy. Most of their MPs are part time simply because they’re not needed. They donn’t bleat and whine about pay.

      3. UKIP had both recall and local referenda in its manifesto. The problem is, it’s very hard to get people to do any research about policies before they vote (and getting any positive coverage from the MSM is into the realms of fantasy).

    2. 367721+ up ticks,

      Afternoon R

      I really am sure you are looking for a rerun of these last three plus decades

      By his own tongue he condemns himself..

      HE BACKSTABS THE VERY PEOPLE THAT WORKED HARD TO GIVE HIM A PLATFORM AT THE SAME TIME AS COMBATING ABUSE FROM LAB / LIB / CON
      VOTERS, THEY WOULD NOT ENTERTAIN THE TRUTH THEN & WE ARE NOW SUFFERING THE ODIOUS CONSEQUENCES .

      https://youtu.be/Fc7iuUHk3Yk

      1. Nigel should know very well that I am none of those things. He was happy enough to thank me for the work I did campaigning for him.

          1. Thing is though ogga, covid was a game changer. The old framework has changed. The resistance now encompasses ex-greens and generally anyone who questions the government. There is more awareness of that.
            In the mainstream bubble, the overton window has also shifted to the left, so that you’re practically a tattooed skinhead and knuckle-dragging thug if you say that a woman is an adult human female.
            So if Farage has two brain cells to rub together, and IF he comes back into politics, it would not surprise me if he has adapted to the changing circumstances.
            I still do not trust him to do the right thing – but I’d back a party that he led, even if only because it wouldn’t be LibLabCon. But what it would end up as is anyone’s guess.

          4. 367721+ up ticks,

            Evening BB2 ,
            I do beg to differ BB2 go through the way the Batten year as leader played out to the treacherous take down via the party nec (still in power)/ and farage batting for the tory (ino) party, and the turkish delight, then the standing down of candidates in a pro johnson move.

            Good people went to the wall because of him.

            Health & safety warning if he ever leads another party make bloody sure he’s at the front.

            He has softened somewhat , once he described us members as “VILE”

            By the by Why the party name change?

            Also I do view the best tool of a con man is rhetoric and he has it in spades.

    1. Pub cricket it may be but silencing the two noisy sub-continental tribes in winning it is worthy enough.

  51. T. Eliot, top bard, notes putrid tang emanating, is sad; I’d assign it a name: gnat dirt upset on drab pot toilet.

  52. Afternoon, all. Been to lay a wreath to remember those who died for our freedom. It will probably be the last time I do it on behalf of this organisation as we’re none of us getting any younger and it’s hard to get people to fill the offices, so after nearly half a century it looks as though it might fold.

      1. Sign of the times, I’m afraid. I belong to a number of organisations with ageing membership and we are struggling because youngsters just don’t want to commit.

        1. They have no shared community values – National Service; Military careers; Scouts and Guides even. So they have no concept of the duty owed by members of such groups to each other and those who were members but have died.

          1. Actually, the Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Guides and other youth organisations were very well represented at the service this morning. Unfortunately, they seem to have removed God from their oaths – not inclusive, you see.

          3. That is something. But – for example. Soldier neighbour, who was very smartly turned out this morning – her son was an Army cadet and very proof it – until 19. Then packed it in. Now 25, nice young man, but has nothing to do with today, church, village life etc etc….

          4. That’s probably because even if you spell it backwards it’s too offensive for them to cope with.

          5. Too many people of working age have emigrated.
            I looked up my old school years ago (Friends Reunited – tells you how long ago that was!) and was quite shocked at how many of them were living abroad.
            Nobody’s local any more.

  53. I think the most rewarding aspect of the Thurrock DC story (see below, passim) is that despite losing £655 MILLION not one person (apart from the “leader” who resigned) will lose his job. Not ONE.

    One would have thought it would have been a splendid opportunity to get rid of 90% of the idle and obstructive and delusional pen-pushers…..

    I’ll go and have a lie down.

    1. What! Do you expect them to be treated as if they were in private industry?

      A few MBEs in order for that lot.

    2. Yep. There is absolutely no accountability. No concept that the current bunch are fundamentally incompetent.

      Council income is force backed, fixed and has no risks, no product, no storage needs, no advertising costs (because there are no competitors) and guaranteed.

      Therefore, those people spending it are, at best barely middle managers. They pay themselves 6 figure salaries when they’re not worth 30K. That’s why they’re incompetent – they have no concept of restraint because there are no consequences of failure.

    3. “16 September 2022
      By Jessica Hill

      Thurrock Council’s chief executive has been put
      on extended leave while its finance director is understood to have been
      suspended, sources have told LGC. Thurrock is under increasing pressure
      to explain decisions it made which led to the council owing almost £1bn
      to other councils…”
      Director of Finance Sean Clark had been suspended earlier.

      Spare a thought for the (approximately 53) landowners who will be anxiously examining the leases that were granted.

      1. October 2008: Local authorities around the country had more than a billion pounds invested in Icelandic banks.
        I’m sure most of us remember that period of fiscal crisis, but local councils are profligate with other people’s money: nothing changes.

  54. With reference to today’s headline. IMHO todays problem has been and was deliberately set up by the current government. It was the government that installed around 6 regional NHS directors on salaries of around 250 thousand each. This was before covid. It’s therefore perfectly possible they just might have known what was coming.
    Call me and old septic (sarc) but, I
    have unfortunately have reached a stage in my life where I find it very difficult to trust peoplein public life.
    Especially people who have any thing to do with politics.

    1. Of all the people that died across the globe how many of them were politicians or their families?
      This was agreed and planned. Just as the next one is.

      1. I’ll bet There’s not one of those bastds that had the same jabs as the public.
        And today it was announced the new tax burdens on working people will be…. 50 k earnings…. 40 % tax. And it gets worse. All set up to cover the cost of government f*ck ups.
        You can bet that the snivel service and our garbage political classes won’t be effected.

  55. Suicide bomber kills slammers in Istanbul…..allegedly.

    The betting is – EITHER – mentally deranged, known to the authorities (ie slammer) OR foam-flecked, right-wing extremist.

    Laydees and Gennelmen = Place your bets

    1. I’ll put £100 on the nose it’s a slammer. £200 on being brainwashed by the Satanic verses. £300 on it being a Paki shit and 2 pence on it being a right wing extremist.

      3. It’ll be called as a ‘Right wing extremist radicalised by Hitler material’ (ignoring that Hitler was a raging Lefty, as all fascists are). After a couple of weeks when the next one goes off, they’ll admit it was a pakistani muslim.

    2. I’ll have a couple of quid on an electric vehicle carrying half a ton of palm oil and nigari seaweed extract.

    3. It was a Christmas market and the muslim wanted to kill Christians, tourists and whitey.

      I don’t know this, but it’s sadly common. So much for not affecting our way of life as giant concrete barriers are shoved into pedestrian zones.

      1. I suspect it was a Kurd…. Almost certainly, we’ll only know what the despot Erdogan wants us to know.

    1. She said she was going to take a break for a little while over the next few days a week or so ago.

        1. I got the impression that Lottie was feeling ground down by circumstance. The lady needs to be here so we can offer friendship and support. Same with Plum.

          1. Her break also may have something to do with the US mid-terms as well, Phizzee, and our discussions thereof.

          3. I have heard this but rumours abound. Good news if true, and a heartfelt good riddance to Pelosi.

  57. utterly off topic:

    That was fun: the village oldies’ lunch for the over 70’s and their partners. A surprising number have toy-boys or younger wives!.

    Aperitifs
    Noodle and local bacon soup
    Sea bass with lobster sauce
    White wine
    Steak with pepper sauce, gratinée potatoes, haricot beans
    Red wine
    Two local cheeses and salads
    More red wine
    Raspberry coulis, fresh red fruits and mousse
    A local fizz
    coffee and cognac

    All courtesy of the commune
    All the locals on the various committees mingled, talking to everyone and yer French were more than happy to talk and joke in Franglais and we even had a few serious discussions about how life here is changing and regarding the Armistice celebration on Friday and how the amalgamation of communes has changed things.

    It’s a hard life here…

      2. It was fun.

        As to a younger one, I’ve been trying to train this one for 50+ years, I don’t think I have the necessary skill to try with another.

        She’s much less patient, she gave up trying to train me years ago…

      1. Even in rural Norfolk, where I guess communities are closer knit, (euphemism for in-bred) I don’t suppose they do similarly.

        1. I know of nowhere in the UK where communities provide a free gutbash for OAPs.

          Yer French do do somethings right.

          3. Free – everything provided by raising money in the community or people donating food
            Murrell isn’t involve thankfully

          4. Ah. ,In yer France, it is on the local rates.

            Sorry about Mrs M – I’m sure she’d be a delightful guest speaker…..

          7. Free – everything provided by raising money in the community or people donating food
            Murrell isn’t involve thankfully

        2. Even here where we are definitely “close knit” aka all related to each other (apart from incomers like me), we don’t do anything of the kind.

        3. If you want to see interbreeding, check out Wisbech, (Cambs). Otherwise it could be construed to be ‘hate’ speech.

      3. I miss France so much, I miss that time, when we had no knowledge of ‘covid’ and what was in store. I think I’ll go and get a G&T, it will blunt the edges, I am feeling sad and nostalgic tonight. November sunsets tend to do that for me.

        2. Since I no longer have anyone to look after the dogs (and I don’t want to put them in kennels), my visits to France appear to be at an end, alas. I miss the lifestyle (and the wine) and my friends.

      1. It certainly was.

        I suspect that Plum might have enjoyed such an event, particularly as the commune retains its tennis courts, which locals use all year around.

    1. Not heard of this, just found the podcast, looks interesting and will give it a go – thanks

      1. I don’t usually watch Jerm Warfare regularly, but this is a very good episode. There are more good podcasters than I have time to listen to them!

        My daughter listens to a lot of Count Dankula – he is now married to the long-suffering girlfriend whose pug he taught to do a N salute, and they have a daughter. He does a history series, where he researches quirky, little known characters and stories – it’s very good.

  59. What’s the difference between erotica and pornography?

    Erotica is stroking your lover’s bum with a feather. 


    Pornography is when you use the whole chicken.

      1. We are not told the truth of Ukraine. I said right from the start that if when the military operations ceased in Ukraine, that the objective had been achieved, that it would be touted by the Western media as a rout by Russia.

  61. That’s me for this Remembrance Sunday – the 78th that I can actually recall. And as good a service this morning as ever. Outdoors. In the churchyard and road. All passing cars slowed (and stopped at 11 am). The new vicarette was busy with Fakenham – her main church. But our devoted Deacon – wife of farmer/haulier – came up trumps as she always does. Our former soldiers did their stuff, too.

    Have a reflective evening – I’ll prolly fast forward the events at the Cenotaph – just to remind myself that The Queen is no longer with us. I expect I am out of order, but, to me, Mrs Parker Bowles is NOT and never will be “the Queen”.

    Will be up early tomorrow. Car has to go to repair shop. In August, the wall of a French underground carpark backed slowly and gently into the nearside wing…..

    A demain.

  62. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7d3810101c98e24075ccc7fdadc81b508da108e61fe850d3ed6796a1ef4ee6f7.png
    Are you serious? After leaving the drive-through today I took my sandwich out of the bag and I see THIS!

    Seriously?

    Oh not today, not today!

    I went back to the restaurant, waked INSIDE (already fuming), asked to speak to the manager and then threw the sandwich on the counter.

    I asked him for an explanation. He looked confused, so I pointed at the writing on the sandwich and demanded that he tell me why someone felt the need to write that on my sandwich.

    He looked at me askew, then answered: “Because you ordered a BLT with CHEESE.”

    To which I replied,“Oh!”

  64. Up-date from the CGH battlefront.
    The Demented One is now regularly doped up and a belated hush has descended on the ward.
    I suspect others beside MB were somewhat vocal about the kid glove methods (“We’re not allowed to touch him”).

    4. At my last five night stay in Addenbrookes we had a nutter. He would wander the ward at night and for some reason sit on my bed while I was showering. He would eat a sandwich in the messiest possible fashion leaving crumbs and contents all over the place.

      One evening a possee of hospital nurses persuaded him to sit in a wheelchair for his return by ambulance to the mental hospital (Cherry Hinton or Fulbourn if still going).

      1. Gosh, that brought back memories.

        HG started her training at old Addenbrookes in the city, but spent most of her time working, and was in residence at new Addenbrookes and also worked at Fulbourn, Papworth, and many other specialist units in the area.
        At the time it was one of the best training centres in the UK.

        1. Our little grandson has hopefully been saved by the staff at Addenbrooks. He was diagnosed with leukemia late February this year. They’ve been wonderful. His hair is growing back now.

          3. More chemo tomorrow. That and Steroids send him a bit loopy for a day or two.
            But he’s getting there.
            Poor parents have been through the loop and back a few times.

          6. Yes Anne, it could be another two years before he’s in the clear.
            But he’s quite a happy chatty little chappy, most of the time. But some of the medication has an effect on his character.

        2. My wife Carol was born in Old Addenbrookes and her father treated in Papworth for Tuberculosis after serving on MTBs and Fleet Mine Sweeper during WWII.

          Papworth has now moved (from Papworth) to the Addenbrookes site in a new hospital wing. The whole place is a giant building site with new multi-storey parking and road infrastructure.

          Addenbrookes remains a great teaching hospital.

          2. Pleased to read it remains good.
            The physio school moved to Norwich some years ago, long after HG finished.
            When she was there, there were four residential blocks and the hospital. Every time we moved to and from Cambridge it seemed to get bigger and bigger, I suspect it is now to HG’s time what the new site was to the original; (which I believe may now be part of the mathematics faculty).
            It is now well over 40 years since we lived in Cambridge and over 50 since she qualified.

      2. That’s part of the problem with the Britain of today. All the Victorian mental hospitals have been closed and the land built over.

        1. I do wonder about the legal position of the hospital if the patient injures other patients because the staff were standing around being ‘reasonable” / “obeying orders”.

  65. 367721+ up ticks,

    Surely a vote winner if ever,

    scottishdailyexpress
    Outrage as scientist backs gas chamber ‘death pod’ scheme for Scotland
    Australian former doctor Philip Nitschke – known as ‘Dr Death’ due to his campaigning for assisted suicide – has created the ‘do-it-yourself’ death pods

    I believe it has background rhetoric of radio two Jeremy vine show.

      1. 367721+ upticks,

        Evening B3,
        You may well ask,I believe it is for peoples dislike of needles but love Jeremy vine.

      1. 367721+ up ticks,

        Evening M,
        That’s the beauty of it , it’s a home electric kit,

        You’re gone when the bill turns up

          2. About 5 years ago he had an 8ft high brick wall built around his Buckinghamshire country mansion.
            As an ex pm He still has 24/7/365 armed protection as well.

    7. Apparently the gas chambers are OK if the victims are gassed one at a time, and they’ve signed a form first. Bit of PR works wonders.

        1. She’s ok at the moment, Alec; if you didn’t know, at this moment you would just think that she is a fairly old dog but with still a fair bit of life left in her – she plays with her stuffed squeaky toys in the evening, kicking them between her legs and she has started playing with her very large ping-pong type ball again, kicking it around the room and inviting us to join in. She snoozes a lot, a walk in the morning and lots of visits to the garden (those pesky diuretics) in the evening. As soon as she hears the fridge door open she is there, wagging her tail, saying ‘what’s for lunch, then?’ It is one day at a time at the moment, we know the situation could change suddenly (but it may not) at any time. We have another appt at the vet end Nov/early Dec to assess the situation. We asked the vet when we saw him almost two weeks ago if she would still be here at Christmas, he thought long and hard and then he said he thought she would. This has a bearing on our Christmas plans, first and foremost we need to consider our furry family member at this stage in her life and do what is best for her, I suspect if she is still with us a quiet Christmas will be on the cards. I cannot bear to think otherwise.

        1. When the Nazis came for the communists,
          I remained silent;
          I was not a communist.

          When they locked up the social democrats,
          I remained silent;
          I was not a social democrat.

          When they came for the trade unionists,
          I did not speak out;
          I was not a trade unionist.

          When they came for the Jews,
          I remained silent;
          I was not a Jew.

          When they came for me,
          there was no one left to speak out.

          Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller (14 January 1892 – 6 March 1984) was a Protestant pastor and social activist.

  67. Just had my first Kimchi.
    Lovely!
    Crunchy pickled vegetables with not-powerful vinegar, flavoured with chilli and lots of ginger! Stupendous!

      1. Got this one fro an Asian grocer, under the bus station in Sandvika… don’t know how standard the recipe is.

      2. WHAT?!?!?, Grizzly. Surely you can Google a recipe and make your own (a la mushy peas which you make yourself)? Lol.

      3. WHAT?!?!?, Grizzly. Surely you can Google a recipe and make your own (a la mushy peas which you make yourself)? Lol.

    2. Bah!!!
      You’ve had “western Kimchi”
      If you had had the real McCoy you would not be writing about it until tomorrow!

      That said, it is delicious.

        1. I wasn’t taking the mickey, apologies if you thought so.

          One of the joys of having worked, albeit briefly, in the far east was tasting dishes outside the normal run of restaurants.

          The stuff that I ate took one’s breath away and cleared sinuses like there was no tomorrow, the after-taste lasted for what seemed like days.

          I’ve never eaten those strange Scandinavian pickled rancid fish dishes, but from their descriptions my immediate thought was:

          “aha, Kimchi”!

          1. No worries, Sos.
            😉
            I’m not a fan of the pickled fish, either. Ugh. Looks like a lab sample of guts preserved in formalin. Bleagh!
            But I’m familiar with food of flavour – SWMBO can’t eat this Kimchi, too strong for her, but spot on for me. I love the way the veg is crunchy, as well as chillied and gingered… looking forward to early-morning farts for corroboration!
            I also like salt ammoniac liquorice, especially as flavoured vodka, something the rest of the family shout at me for. 🙁 but ’tis good!

          2. I completely agree about rancid fish, but anything in the ginger, pickled, crunchy line; I love.

            One of life’s little pleasures, years ago, was the large pickled onions that used to sit in a jar on the bar of ‘old school’ pubs. One or two of those, plus some crisps where the salt came in a blue twist, washed down with a pint of mild and bitter, was delicious.

            I don’t think I’ve ever had salt ammoniac liquorice but as an open goal for liquorice I’m sure I would hoover it up.

          3. Love fierce pickled onions, me. All dark brown, with vinegar like chemical effluent… superb!
            Salmiakki is the potion – maybe you can get it locally or through the post. Recommended! In this household, it means no other bugger will nick my booze or “sweeties”!

    4. I had kimchi on a job in Nigeria where there were many Korean workers. To say it was robust would be an understatement.

  69. Well, very much a nothing day today, other than me going back to bed for a couple of hours to catch up on a bit of lost sleep.

    I’ve been hobbling round with a crutch to avoid putting too much weight on my right leg and the knee & ankle have eased off as the day progressed.

    A couple of Tw@ter comments on the US elections in response to the cheated candidate Kari Lake:-
    https://twitter.com/BeardedBob7282/status/1591870972738826242

      1. I read it on the DT’s website a couple of years ago, haven’t bothered to look up the other ones. IIRC, the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation also publishes records of its payments.

    2. His supporters would claim that it is the philanthropic support of a free press.
      My view is that it is an insidious takeover to destroy a free press.

  72. That’s me for tonight. Work tomorrow, with an asshole of an Iranian.
    Need my strength, so I’m hitting the hay.
    Play nicely!

  73. Phew! I’m back in after being locked out of everything since this morning. Gmail accounts – the whole lot. Nothing was working.

  74. Well, I didn’t get round to wishing you a “Good Morning” today. But a very Good Night to all NoTTLers. Sleep well – if you are able.

  75. Goodnight all, it has been a shocking day today, I am quite shocked to discover just how much contempt and disgust I feel towards our leaders for what they are doing to our country.
    No scratch that, I am shocked to discover how much hatred I have towards our leaders for what they are doing to our country.
    The service at the Cenotaph must have stirred emotions normally kept deep inside of me.

    1. It stirred us up as well, I felt quite unwell actually.

      When we saw all the veterans marching , I believe there were just over 9,000 men and women , then I thought about the 7,000 who arrived on our shores courtesy of the RNLI and border agency in October alone , and over 900 yesterday, and 40,000 so far this year, Moh said the UK was operating in a parallel world .

      We didn’t vote for the migrant invaders nor did we vote for the recent Middle Eastern wars ..

      1. Numbers bother me too. When I was born, there were 2.8 billion people in the world, and we had a functioning nation, albeit one beset itself by political miscalculation as Eden messed up in Suez. Now there are 8 billion people. What have we got to show for all the extra 5.2 billion people since I was born?

        Yesterday was a sad occasion in the village. I have been watching the WW2 veterans die off, and there are none left now. Just a couple of Falklands veterans, who are now well in their sixties. `During lockdown we lost Ann Porter and Shirley Tasker, both key lynchpins of the Royal British Legion and who did much of the organising over the years. At the Remembrance Service, the Vicar announced the closure of the Royal British Legion in the village, and the formal handing over of the ceremonial banner to the Church to be kept there in perpetuity.

      2. 367751+ up ticks,

        Morning TB,

        But the electorate MUST accept what they receive
        full well knowing the pedigree of the [arty (INO)

        These odious actions now have accumulated over the last three plus decades.

    4. I can’t bear to watch it, with all those criminals standing there pretending they care about our war dead and injured.

  77. I have been watching the US election in Arizona. As with Pennsylvania and Nevada the voting has been rigged by Democrats in the most blatant and arrogant fashion.

    The problems arise from a preponderance of mail-in ballots and ballot harvesting where ballots are collected and dropped in great numbers with no means of verification viz. that the voters are who it is claimed they are and therefore without ID.

    In essence we are witnessing a repeat of the electoral fraud we saw in the 2020 Presidential election where President Trump was defrauded of over 10 million votes by similar shenanigans.

    The very notion that Americans would vote for those advocating for the imbecilic Biden is pure fantasy. American elections remain so obviously utterly corrupt to their shame.

    1. Like me, Cori, you find it impossible to sleep. By that post’s timing you must have posted it around 02:45. Too many afternoon naps? Me too. Sleep well old troop.

    2. As I said before the election, once they saw how easy it was last time they will do it again and again.

      The West cannot rid itself of these people by democratic means.

      1. The cabal running the Democrat party are mostly pretty old though. Obama’s one of the youngest. At some point, they will all pop their clogs or have to retire. Will they try to foist their children (Hunter Biden, anyone??) on the country, or will their backers try to recruit outsiders?
        I’m not so sure that they will be able to keep this crime syndicate going much longer.
        The USA will have to go through a CBDC before they throw off their oppressers – and the chances of them really throwing them off is very small, as most people are unaware of the multi-billionaires pulling the strings.
        The likes of Soros and Gates are just tools for the shadowy bankers and European royals. It’s Soros and Gates who will end up in jail or hanging from lamp posts if the people get angry, not them. Look at the way the Gettys emerged from the shadows recently with the revelation that they’re funding XR.

    3. The (Un)Democratic party are playing games with the Maricopa County ballots in Arizona. The votes are in but are being counted very slowly with batches being released each day. Currently, the batches from the Democratic areas are being released first and it therefore appears that Hobbs is winning: some commentators believe this is being done in an attempt to sow dissent within the Republican hierarchy. Those same commentators hold that when the Maricopa Republican vote is counted Lake will be declared the winner.

      1. Are they dragging it out until Tuesday when trump is suppose to be declaring whether he will stand in 2024?

    5. Comment made on another site:-

      Bob of Bonsall • 8 minutes ago
      From a UK observer:
      Over here we do NOT use voting machines, we use pencil or pen and paper which are then counted by hand.
      We do NOT start counting votes until after the polls have closed.
      We do NOT release running totals of votes counted.
      Results are declared on the night.

      Looking at the total incompetence shewn by several American election authorities, is it surprising when doubts are expressed about the election results’ veracity?
      It is almost as if their maladministration is designed to be a smoke screen to allow them to commit fraud in plain sight.

      Perhaps if you were to emulate our practices you might avoid the furore we have seen with this election?

      But then again, that might not provide the results the aforesaid election authorities want.

      1. Elections are still rigged in Britain though, via “sophisticated postal voting campaigns” (c) the Labour Party, if I remember correctly.

        1. Morning BB. The centralised “selection process” is the means by which the Conservative Party has been suborned.

        2. Morning BB. The centralised “selection process” is the means by which the Conservative Party has been suborned.

        3. Vote harvesting in Care Homes comes to mind, as well as the postal frauds from certain sections of the community.

          1. Particularly the latter. Plus, they are a greater and greater proportion of our population as time goes on.

  78. I have been watching the US election in Arizona. As with Pennsylvania and Nevada the voting has been rigged by Democrats in the most blatant and arrogant fashion.

    The problems arise from a preponderance of mail-in ballots and ballot harvesting where ballots are collected and dropped in great numbers with no means of verification viz. that the voters are who it is claimed they are and therefore without ID.

    In essence we are witnessing a repeat of the electoral fraud we saw in the 2020 Presidential election where President Trump was defrauded of over 10 million votes by similar shenanigans.

    The very notion that Americans would vote for those advocating for the imbecilic Biden is pure fantasy. American elections remain so obviously utterly corrupt to their shame.

  80. 367751+ up ticks,

    May one say,

    Seeing as the lab/lib/con /ukip coalition party & current supporters have succeeded in making the United kingdoms fishing fleet dysfunctional get them at their usual catch rates to patrol the English Channel there by employing British workers in a very patriotic manner.

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