Sunday 20 November: This haphazard Tory Government clobbers young professionals and pays the well-off

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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818 thoughts on “Sunday 20 November: This haphazard Tory Government clobbers young professionals and pays the well-off”

  2. Morning everyone. I’ve just read Nan’s posts from yesterday and everyone’s response to them. I’ve seen the signs and hints of course but haven’t written anything to him, mostly and paradoxically, because I have been to the place he’s in. It’s a dark and lonely place and I thought some facile “buck up” nostrum from Yours Truly was hardly likely to help. The uncomfortable and unwelcome truth is that the only person who can get you out of it is yourself. I did this but it was a long and arduous process that left me a different person to the one before and it wasn’t an improvement either; something of the better part of me perished in that struggle. Obviously the support and good wishes of others is no hindrance in this process and so we must wish Tom well and I personally shall continue to do so.

    1. Morning, all.

      I’ve just read Tom’s posts from yesterday. He responded to my David Icke comment 15 hours ago in his usual clear manner, no inkling that he was feeling so low. I went out after that until past midnight. Nottlers’ comments of support and those directly helping Tom are clear evidence that this group of people are without doubt, the VERY BEST. I sincerely hope that everyone’s efforts yesterday help Tom come through his present predicament. So proud of you all.

      2. ‘Morning, Korky. Since I rarely pop in during the evenings I was blissfully unaware of Nanners’ troubles. Having now caught up now I take my hat off to those who responded and who undoubtedly made a difference. Like others on here I have twice visited the awful place in which he now finds himself (thanks to a bullying employer) and it wasn’t something I would ever like to repeat.

      3. ‘Morning, Korky. Since I rarely pop in during the evenings I was blissfully unaware of Nanners’ troubles. Having now caught up now I take my hat off to those who responded and who undoubtedly made a difference. Like others on here I have twice visited the awful place in which he now finds himself (thanks to a bullying employer) and it wasn’t something I would ever like to repeat.

    2. Well said, Minty (Good morning, btw), but I have found that CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) as well as appropriate SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors) have helped me immensely in the past and continue to do so.

    1. They do not care. The gimmigrants are vengeance for Brexit. The elderly an annoyance, the soldiers equally. Shades of Tommy this and Tommy that.

      All caused by state malice and policy.

  5. 368128+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    State of the nation currently,

    A child’s, a child,a child,

    Someone must die to trigger a reaction

    Michael Gove to crack down on mould-infested homes after toddler’s death
    Housing Secretary warns providers they are being put ‘on notice’ following death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak.

    The supporter / voters are certainly getting their moneys worth via the Hammer political house of horrors westminster.

      1. I agree with your point, but it looked more structural than fresh air and spot of bleach, although that might have helped.
        The family are Somalis; why are they here in taxpayer funded accommodation? THAT is the question.

      2. 368128+up ticks,

        Morning N,
        Granted most humbly, but I can see many of our “guests” coming from badly run down quarters / countries and would have no knowledge of baby killer spores.
        This case seemingly was reported to the authorities & one person I believe has been sacked.

    2. A child tragically dies and a senior politician reacts; IMO more for effect than for humanitarian reasons. Does that confirm my cynicism of politicians’ motives? I hope you find me guilty.
      Thousands die and even more thousands suffer life-changing disabilities post taking a jab or three or four of a novel gene therapy and the response? Silence, or some lame excuse such as particles in the air and the worst of all, from the medical profession, “We’re baffled.”
      A pox on them all!

    3. The only way they can check for mould infested homes is for representatives of the Government to inspect all housing

      at frequent intervals. Is that what Government wants?

  7. I hope the news from my Nottler colleagues this morningis good. It was quite an ordeal last evening but we did our best.

    1. Like a well-oiled machine, Nottlers swung into action. One of our own was in need, so we teamed up and got it done. Thank God, it was all rather stressful until we heard back from Sue and Tom.

  8. Rochdale housing boss fired after death of Awaab Ishak due to mould exposure. 20 November 2022.

    “The board has taken the decision to remove Gareth Swarbrick from his post as chief executive of RBH with immediate effect,” the landlord said in a statement. “We will now work to appoint an external interim chief executive.”

    The sacking came as tenants’ activists prepared to gather for a vigil at 2pm outside the Rochdale borough council offices, where they were planning to demand Swarbrick’s removal and urge a charge of corporate manslaughter to be brought against the landlord.

    On Tuesday a coroner found exposure to persistent black mould on the walls of the family’s rented home were a cause of the infant’s death in 2020 and that the landlord had repeatedly failed to fix it, blaming the mould on “family lifestyle”.

    I am I think probably the last person, (even by me) who would be expected to defend some Council Apparatchik but I have to say that I do so here. I have had Black Mould in my bathroom and instead of complaining filled a bucket with hot water, detergent and disinfectant and removed it. I now leave the window open after I’ve performed my daily ablutions and have had no recurrence. Was this too much for the tenant to attempt?

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/nov/19/awaab-ishak-death-boss-of-rochdale-housing-body-sacked

    1. Rochdale you say,only to be expected they have shown zero tolerance for failures by their officials just look at the bloodbath of firings over their Pakirape scandal
      Oh Wait………………
      ‘Morning Minty

    2. Rochdale you say,only to be expected they have shown zero tolerance for failures by their officials just look at the bloodbath of firings over their Pakirape scandal
      Oh Wait………………
      ‘Morning Minty

    4. I imagined the property was a multiple sub let for welfare fraud and was ignored by the state thanks to the magic word “ muslim”.

    5. ‘Morning, Minty. This simple, cheap and effective action has been discussed more than once in Janus Towers!

  9. Our PM promised £50million more to the Ukraine yesterday. To him that is peanuts.
    I also hope the PM hasn’t promised those hoteliers who are housing the invaders to pay for the return of the hotels in the condition they were in when SERCO took over. Randolph Churchill’s. SERCO must do the restorations, not the Taxpayers.

    1. Morning Scotty. It’s not his money! The problem is that he and his fellow travellers in Westminster think that they have the right to dish it out as they please!

        3. They don’t get that rich by giving it away!

          I wonder which company like FTX they will route the money over, to ensure that it gets correctly diverted to the actual intended recipients?

      2. I did wonder how he got the nickname ‘Dishy’ – I suspect it was his WEF chums tapping him for dosh….

        Morning Minty

        1. Stephen, the term “Dishy Rishi” was coined when he decided to subside pub and restaurant meals by 50% “to encourage the public to eat out more” in order to “help the pressurised sector”.

          PS – And the 50% discount was paid for from our taxes.

          1. And as soon as the scheme was announced I commented over a pint, that all the local kebab shops would be curning out the bogus receipts by the hundreds.

    2. 368128+ up ticks,

      Morning C,

      Gert & Albert need hip replacements

      but they are taking whistling lessons.

      They don’t know why and have some difficulty in understanding that funding foreign wars is of prime importance.

    3. A message to all NoTTLers: As you know, I have been really exasperated by the public’s (and especially the MSM’s) public castigation of our recent Prime Ministers before giving them the traditional 100 days’ grace to prove or disprove themselves. And it was sad to my mind that some – though not all – NoTTLers were not innocent of this unhappy trait. So I publicly told you all that I would not make any further comments on the current Government team before February the 2nd when the 100 days were up. HOWEVER, the punitive and non-aspirational October 17th mini-budget of Jeremy Hunt and the give-away decisions (to be paid for by the British public) at COP27 agreed to by Rishi Sunak has made me go back on my word. I cannot in all conscience support this current government in any way, shape or form.

      1. Well said, a reformed penitent, welcome back to the Church of Fcuk the Gov’t. It ain’t in it for our sakes.

        1. Good afternoon Tom. A pleasure to see you here again and hope you are feeling better today.
          Kindest regards from vw and me.

  11. ‘Morning, Peeps.  Early rain here is supposed to give way to full sun from around mid-morning. 

    A news item from GBN:

    Sir Keir Starmer would abolish the House of Lords and replace it with an elected chamber if he becomes prime minister. Aaron Chown

    The proposal would be part of a plan to “restore trust in politics”

    Carl BennettSENIOR DIGITAL PRODUCER

    PUBLISHED Sunday 20 November 2022 – 05:47

    Sir Keir Starmer would abolish the House of Lords and replace it with an elected chamber if he becomes prime minister.

    The proposal, reported by The Observer, would be part of a plan to “restore trust in politics” and would see Labour holding a consultation on the composition and size of a new chamber as well as more immediate reform of the current and often-criticised appointments process.

    Sir Keir Starmer would abolish the House of Lords and replace it with an elected chamber if he becomes prime minister. Aaron Chown

    There have long been warnings that membership of the House of Lords is becoming excessive while Boris Johnson courted controversy with some of his appointments to the unelected chamber, notably Lord Lebedev.

    The media mogul and son of an ex-KGB agent was given a life peerage in 2020 but has spoken just once on the floor of the House.

    More recently, Mr Johnson has faced accusations that he has proposed several Conservative MPs for peerages but told them to delay accepting them to prevent triggering by-elections.

    The Observer reports that Sir Keir, whose party has a considerable lead in the polls after weeks of political instability, told Labour peers that part of the reason for reform was the public “have lost faith in the ability of politicians and politics to bring about change”.

    Under his plans, the Lords replacement would be “truly representative” of the UK’s nations and regions while still retaining its role as the second chamber in relation to the Commons.

    * * *

    I applaud the suggestion that the H of L as it stands currently, should go.  It has been stuffed with failed politicians for far too long and its parasitic existence should end – as should the ‘arms race’ of ever more appointments by party leaders. 

    However, we do not deserve another botched reform along the lines of the last time when the Blair creature messed it up.  My preference would be for no more than, say, around 250 life peers, a proportion of whom would have to stand for election at regular intervals.  The size and cost of the H of L has been unsustainable for years now, and in view of the impoverishment now inflicted upon the rest of the population extravagences such as several hundred pounds per day just for turning up, and the fine dining heavily subsidised by the rest of us, must end.

    No longer should we be the most ridiculously over-represented people in the west.  It wouldn’t be so bad if the outcomes were better!

    What would others like to see by way of an upper chamber?

    1. The proposal would be part of a plan to “restore trust in politics”

      I think that we are long past that! Only the firing squad could restore it and there is no sign of that!

      2. Piano wire and existing lampposts would save the taxpayer the cost of the ammunition and wall repairs.

    3. Oi Starmer! No lists from party HQs, no party donors with deep pockets, ex-MPs barred in perpetuity from standing, no activists nor lobbyists, no ex-heads of Quangos. Any others?
      Truly representative, in my book, means independent free thinkers with no ties to the legacy parties. I’m sure Starmer wouldn’t want that.

    4. Listened to this interesting podcast from the Critic magazine on this very topic yesterday. Prof. Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart, episode 105 of Black’s History Week. If you haven’t discovered it, I think it’s very interesting albeit history at a bit of a gallop.

      https://audioboom.com/channels/5066911.rss

      1. I shan’t listen to it as, in my book, this accounts for 105 episodes of Black History:

        A Poem for Black History

        In the matter of racial comparisons
        The media shouts to the moon,
        About all the historic achievements
        Of the Redskin, Spic and the Coon.

        Yet strangely, when strolling museums,
        The white man’s creations stand thick;
        But all we can find of those others
        Is a blanket, a bowl and a stick.

        No telephones, timeclocks or engines,
        No lights that go on with a flick.
        No aeroplanes, rockets or radios.
        Just a blanket, a bowl and a stick.

        Not one Sioux Indian submarine,
        No African ice cream to lick,
        Not a single Mexican x-ray machine,
        It’s a blanket, a bowl and a stick.

        So, remember when history’s the subject,
        And revisionists are up to their tricks,
        The evidence tells quite another tale,
        Of a blanket, a bowl and a stick.

        A poem by A. Wyatt Mann

        1. 🙂 it caught me out at first – it’s a pun, I think. Professor Black is most definitely English, and very erudite.

    5. Morning all.

      There are 92 UK counties, 48 in England. I would like to see the number in the House of Lords reduced to, say, two per county. Satan bu..ered it up.

  12. I thought it was the tenants respsibility to keep rented flats and houses clean. The owner does the maintenence not the cleaning.?

    1. Good Lord, JN.
      What a quaint notion.
      Next you’ll be expecting them to behave like responsible adults.

      1. yes of course. If you treat people like children they will behave like children. at times you need to be cruel to be kind.

    2. Morning Johnny.

      I agree that tenants have the responsibility to look after the cleaning. However, some properties are so badly constructed that water ingress coupled inadequate heating makes it impossible to keep walls free of mould. Like a lot of these headline cases we are not necessarily made aware of all the facts.

  13. Good Moaning.
    Are you sitting comfortably?
    Then I’ll bu88er up your blood pressure.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/19/ministry-justice-officials-warned-talk-protecting-women-could/

    “Ministry of Justice officials warned that talk about ‘protecting women’ could be transphobic

    Thousands of staff received email for ‘transgender awareness week’ containing list of banned terms such as ‘gender critical’

    19 November 2022 • 8:00pm

    Staff at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) have been told they should not use the terms “gender critical” and “protecting women and girls” in order to be trans allies, The Telegraph can disclose.

    Thousands of officials were emailed for “transgender awareness week” and told it was “vital that we keep scaremongering and misinformation at bay”, with trans hate crimes up 56 per cent in a year.

    The email, marked “official sensitive” and sent this month through the HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) diversity and inclusion team, has been leaked to The Telegraph.

    In order to “be an active ally”, staff were given a glossary titled “recognising transphobic coded language”, which contained 35 everyday phrases that it claimed were “turning what would be considered overt discrimination into covert behaviour”.

    ‘List of coded language’

    The list of “coded language” includes the phrase “gender critical”, which is used to refer to campaigners who believe biological sex is binary and immutable.

    However, the document claims it is a “self-selected label to denote holding anti-trans views, it’s a term used to make anti-trans discrimination sound palatable or a respectable opinion” and warns staff to look out for social media accounts that hold this view.

    Also listed is “protect women’s spaces/protecting women and girls”, which it says “relies on equating trans women with being predatory men, to play on unfounded fears and convince people that supporting trans inclusion threatens their safety”.

    The dossier claims that this “dog-whistle” relies on “selective information” including the case of Karen White, a rapist jailed for life in 2018 after attacking women in female prisons, as well as five sexual assaults by trans prisoners in female prisons over a decade.

    Challenging words and phrases

    Civil servants are warned in an introduction to the glossary: “It is important to recognise these words and phrases, understand their context and educate those you hear using them about the reasons why their use can be deemed offensive or upsetting, as people may have unknowingly used a term without being familiar with its meaning.

    “Whilst passing uses of these phrases might not be considered misconduct, the importance of challenging their use cannot be overstated.

    “Doing so reduces hostility, intimidation and degradation within the workplace, and encourages all whom we work with such as colleagues and service users, to treat others with decency and respect.”

    The glossary was shared from the official justice.gov.uk email address of the “HMPPS pride in prisons and probation LGBTI+ staff support network”, which has 5,764 members, under the watch of a diversity lead who is paid £37,166.

    ‘Very aggressive and antagonistic’

    Some staff inside the Government have expressed disquiet. An MoJ staff member told The Telegraph: “When I first read the attachment in the email, I could not quite believe it – the worst thing was that I was unable to raise it safely at work for fear of being labelled a transphobe.

    “It came across as very aggressive and antagonistic towards anyone who believes in biological reality. I feel upset and powerless.”

    A second MoJ source told The Telegraph: “Nonsense like this undermines decent progress on creating a genuinely fair and respectful environment in prisons.”

    The list of words also flags “adult human female”, a phrase that it claims “manipulates people into supporting bigotry while creating hostility towards trans people and their allies”.

    The document goes on to say “same-sex attracted” is a “coded term refusing to recognise trans women as women and trans men as men” and aims “to cause division among the LGBT+ community, by claiming attraction is solely based on genitalia”.

    Sex ‘isn’t rigidly binary’

    It also takes objection to the campaigners stating “sex is real/immutable” because sex “isn’t rigidly binary as there are many variations”, including intersex.

    The list even says the word “transwoman”, which it claims is an attempt to “other trans people” by removing the space between adjective and noun in the term “trans woman”, thus “placing them in a separate category as a whole separate noun”.

    The leaked document has come under attack from women’s rights campaigners.

    Maya Forstater, executive director of the sex-based rights group Sex Matters, told The Telegraph: “It is chilling that an official MoJ staff group email is telling civil servants to view ordinary language as transphobic. This is likely to lead to harassment and bullying of anyone who challenges gender-ideology-based policies in prisons and the justice system.

    “It is telling staff that any critical thinking in regards to this ideology is offensive. This both creates a hostile environment for staff who don’t buy into gender ideology, and makes it impossible for them to speak clearly and honestly about prisoners, when undertaking risk assessments, and to protect prisoners.”

    ‘Not a corporate view’

    A Prison Service spokesman said: “This guidebook was published by a staff network, its content was not approved prior to being communicated and it is a network rather than a corporate HMPPS view.

    “Following its publication, HMPPS is reviewing the rules around internal communications to staff from network groups.”

    The prison population that identifies as transgender stood at 197 in England and Wales last year, a 21 per cent jump from 163 in 2019. These did not hold a gender recognition certificate, meaning their lived gender was not legally recognised, and the vast majority were men identifying as women.

    This has sparked calls for women’s prisons to be open only to those born female to ensure safety, although the MoJ says trans prisoners are managed with a robust risk assessment.”

    2. ‘Moaning, Annie. In these straitened times we should not be wasting vast sums on this crazy gender and diversity rubbish. We should expect line managers to be trained in, and responsible for, equality in the workplace. The teams of people being paid in this ‘industry’ should be gone, and gone for good. I wonder whether anyone has calculated the cost of this virtue-signalling carp?

      1. The word ‘Responsible’ carries with it the unsaid ‘Accountability’. Very few seem to understand that.

    3. Newspeak – control the language people use and you limit their ability to express differing opinions. 1984 has become reality.

    4. I am hoping that the fall out from the FTX scandal might finally start to unravel all this Woke stuff. There’s a two-page article in today’s paper which I thought was very good and it seems the “elites” in the US, who are pushing this stuff, are all in up to their necks with FTX. Maybe, just maybe, the intellectual pygmies in this country that have jumped onto the apron strings of this US nonsense, might be brought down by it as well (though I appreciate it will take a while for it to filter through the system).

      Like that Oster woman in the States who called for an amnesty re COVID, in five years inshallah lol all the civil servants and charity CEOs and QUANGO boards will be denying they were ever involved with this madness.

      Well, I can dream.

      1. Although I don’t understand the bitcoin phenomenon, I am wary of something that can’t be explained simply.
        Life’s difficult and complicated already; why add further embu88eration.

        1. Good morning Anne, and well done.
          As a rule, never invest in anything that you do not understand. Bitcoin is an amazingly clever concept, but it is a scheme.

          1. Morning, Tim, I appreciated your letter last evening and I shall reply more fully to all and sundry. In the meantime:

            “...but it is a scheme scam“.

  14. I warned there would be a price to pay over Covid. Now do you believe me? Peter Hitchens. 20 November 2022.

    The coming years of heavy taxes, along with the inflation and rising mortgage rates we face, are not caused by some unstoppable force of nature. Nor is the wild rise in energy prices.

    All these things are the direct result of government actions. They did not need to happen. I have warned against them all. And yet there is no political party, not even a minority group in Parliament, that has been remotely interested in such warnings. The whole House of Commons thinks in unison.

    On every subject where it could have been right, or even divided, it has been unanimously wrong.

    Perhaps those of you who have repeatedly ignored my advice that the Tory Party is not your friend, and our governments are not competent, will now finally begin to listen. And maybe those who now wave and fly the flag of Ukraine might also begin to wonder if they have been had (they have been).

    In the spring of 2020, I tried almost alone to warn that the Government was making a grave mistake about Covid, over-reacting wildly like a man who burns down his house to get rid of a wasps’ nest.

    I wrote here in May that year: ‘Think of Chancellor Rishi Sunak as a smiling salesman of payday loans, and you will begin to get the picture. But it will not be the cheery face of Mr Sunak that you see when the time comes for repayment, but the hard and relentless agents of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.’

    I pointed out: ‘Nobody has ever seen so much wild spending of non-existent money before in peacetime. Some idiots nowadays think you can do this without consequences… This is not fairy gold we are spending now on Mr Sunak’s furloughs and emergency loans. It is our future for many years to come.

    ‘We cannot know the exact details of what lies ahead, though I would not rule out a sudden raid on savings as well as severe local and national taxation, direct and indirect, and inflation of the currency.’

    Your savings, by the way, do not need to be raided. They are being gobbled up by inflation while you sleep.
    Even longer ago, on this page on April 5, 2008, I wrote: ‘I sometimes wonder if our leaders actually want to drive Russia into an angry, sullen isolation. Russians are proud and patriotic. They are as wounded by the loss of status and empire as we were in the Fifties.

    ‘Why rub their noses in it, week by week, by keeping Nato alive years after it should have been wound up and by threatening to extend it into Ukraine and Georgia? It is by doing things such as this that we created Vladimir Putin.’

    And I predicted: ‘The next European war will be fought with gas and oil and pipelines, and it is pretty clear that Russia controls more of these things than we do.’

    I could add the many times I have here warned against the supposedly ‘Conservative’ Government’s surrender to the Extinction Rebellion zealots, and the mad, irrevocable destruction by explosives of our coal-fired power stations. We did not even have the modesty and caution to mothball them in case it was a mistake. If we had kept them, they would now come in very handy indeed. Who could dare criticise us for doing so, as China and India build new ones every few weeks?

    Look, I was right over these major issues of national policy, and the entire political and media establishments were wrong, because we have handed over the running of the country to ignorant teenagers who know no history and lack the character to question or doubt.

    Do you think you might just possibly pay more attention to me in future?

    An “I told you so” from Mr Hitchens. He’s right of course though he’s not alone. You could have read all these things on Nottl over the same period. The internet is the Cassandra of the Modern Age and like its Homeric precursor is cursed, not only with the unbelief of those who read its pronouncements but the active hostility of those whose ambitions it thwarts. Nothing can be done about this it’s Human Nature. The Evildoers well ever seek Power while the Idle and Feckless will always choose the easier path!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-11447661/PETER-HITCHENS-warned-price-pay-Covid-believe-me.html

  15. Good morning. This letter shows the reality of LeftThink…

    Strangled London

    SIR – London is London because of trade – a place where people and
    companies could make money. As a tradesman I made my living out of
    London, meeting deadlines, moving men and materials around the city
    using trade vehicles. We were free to go about our business. Today, it
    is impossible to operate in that way because of road restrictions.

    London has been strangled by councils shutting, blocking and
    restricting the road network, and penalising people who use it. This has
    been carried out by people who have never run a business at the sharp
    end.

    Activity in London is still only at about half its pre-pandemic
    levels. The city has lost its bustle and vitality, and, of course, trade
    is down

    Ironically, if all the office personnel returned instead of working
    from home, London could not be serviced by trade vehicles: there could
    be no early morning, evening and working deliveries without punitive
    costs.

    As the councils meet in their buildings, do they not wonder how the
    chairs and desks they sit at got there, how the food in the canteens got
    there, how the buildings are serviced by a whole army of tradespeople?

    The road restrictions are nothing to do with clean air. I have been a
    Londoner all my life and the air is much better and cleaner now than it
    has ever been. I agree that vehicle exhaust emissions had to be reduced
    – and have been – but all these restrictions have strangled London and
    put up the cost of things enormously.

    Patrick Gosbee
    London SE9

    1. Similarly in Tunbridge Wells Phizzee.

      The Town Council’s long and determined attack on motorists has born fruit. Many shops have shut, even in the best shopping areas there are

      boarded-up shops. Many shoppers prefer the surrounding small towns, or else drive to the trading estate where parking is easy, and free.

    2. I was driving back from London on Friday, but hit a speed trap campaign in Regents Park. Years ago, i used to drive there often, but haven’t been back for a while. Then, the blanket speed limit was 30mph. I was flashed by an oncoming car, and then clocked the gaggle of coppers pointing speed guns at me, but too late I remembered they lowered the speed limit to 20mph in order to raise some money for Sadiq Khan’s “inclusivity” initiatives – i.e. more money for rich people. I looked around for any roadsigns, but they positioned themselves where there were none for several hundred yards, and then just the odd reminder roundel, with no other indication what the speed limit was. I tried to brake in time, but remember seeing one of the coppers writing something in his notebook. Rats! Why aren’t these people catching burglars?

      Edit – I had to go round Regents Park because the van I had hired was loaded with precious and heavy things and I didn’t want them smashed bouncing up and down on the speed bumps on Elsworthy Road.

      The new 30mph speed limit for mile after mile on the A40 Westway was an irritant to everyone, as I was constantly being undertaken by irritated drivers on a road designed to cruise at 40.

      1. Morning, Bob. The Telegraph tells us that the Ferraris qualified ahead of the McLarens of Hamilton and Russell. Time to get a reporter who has heard of F1.

  17. Good morning all.
    A cooler 2½°C this morning, but dry and looking rather bright outside!

  18. Good Morning Folks,

    Late on parade this morning, pouring with rain again.

    The leaves and the cutting back will have to wait another week

  19. Russia’s Shivulech volcano extremely active, threatens eruption – scientists. 20 November 2022.

    The Shiveluch volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East has become extremely active, threatening a powerful eruption, the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team said on Sunday.

    “A growth of the lava dome continues, a strong fumaroles activity, an incandescence of the lava dome, explosions, and hot avalanches accompanies this process,” the observatory said on its website.

    “Ash explosions up to 10-15 kilometres (9.32 miles) … could occur at any time. Ongoing activity could affect international and low-flying aircraft.”

    It is Sod’s Law that when things can’t possibly get any worse they invariably do so! A Super-Eruption would help the present trajectory to Economic and Social meltdown enormously! No doubt some reason will be found to lay this at Vlad’s door!

    https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/russias-shivulech-volcano-extremely-active-threatens-eruption-scientists-2022-11-20/

    3. I hope the Eco-Brat is up there blubbing and ranting to the volcano that it is stealing her future…

    4. “Fumaroles” = sound like an agreeable light bite before lunch! With a glass of Soave…!!

    7. “No doubt some reason will be found to lay this at Vlad’s door!”

      Especially if he drops a nuclear device into the volcano! What larks.

    8. “No doubt some reason will be found to lay this at Vlad’s door!”

      Especially if he drops a nuclear device into the volcano! What larks.

  20. Quelle surprise:

    Fury at plan for Swiss-style Brexit: Ministers ‘are considering closer ties with EU to enable frictionless flow of goods across borders – but NOT freedom of movement’
    Reports suggest the government is considering a Swiss approach to help trade
    But Tory Brexiteers are fuming and say it would be a ‘betrayal’ of Brexit freedoms
    The Chancellor said the single market and freedom of movement is off the table
    Jacob Rees-Mogg said such a Swiss-style deal would be ‘Brexit in name only’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11448055/Government-considering-putting-UK-road-Swiss-style-relationship-EU.html

      1. And if Johnson had wanted a proper Brexit he could have got it with an 80 seat majority in the HoC.

        Johnson’s acceptance of the Irish Protocol and the violation of EU fishing boats in UK waters show how prepared the odious Bonker was to betray those who voted for him. But I cannot forget that Farage betrayed us too by giving Johnson such an easy ride and getting no quid pro quo from him.

    2. I’m sick of hearing the opinions of politicians, especially Reese Mogg.
      It’s all they do, give opinions and talk rubbish. If they actually did any more than talk, the country wouldn’t be in such a complete mess. But I expect they might lose their jobs and their sceptre lifestyles, if they actually got off their backsides and did something positive.
      ‘King useless all of them.

      1. To keep that company one would have to inhabit the filthiest sewer imaginable. Sewer rats!

  22. Got mixed feelings about the child that died from mould, I think it was a couple of years ago now.
    Obviously terrible for the parents and a waste of a young life.

    But when government and media make a big issue of something like this there is usually some ulterior motive, some new unpopular policy they want to introduce.

    Mayor Khan is all over the story of the young girl that is said to have died from air pollution and he is using her case as a reason to extend ULEZ to cover the whole of greater London.

    But for some reason nobody wants to talk about young people dying due to the Vaxx.

    Politicians are evil and even use the deaths of children to advance their causes when it suits them, that is all we need to know about them.

    1. Morning Bob. Yes they pick and choose these individual cases to promote their own causes! There is no scintilla of human feelings in the matter!

    3. Call me hard-hearted, but what I found utterly unbelievable was that the parents of the boy did absolutely NOTHING to attempt to prevent the mould etc. Some bleach, a scrubbing brush and a tin of paint….and the child would still be her (unless he had underlying fatal symptoms, of course).

      1. Morning Bill

        Me being cynical thinks … Did the child have a bed , how many children in the family , was the child neglected , did the father smoke Kif , what is the state of the rest of the flat, toilet, sinks , kitchen etc ..

        Why are they here in the UK.. Child deaths are common in Africa, cooking accidents , scalding, burns , bites , malaria , after effects of measles and chicken pox, lung diseases caught in smoke filled huts , scorpion stings , snake bites , starvation?

      2. The most repulsive aspect of this is that the foul Michael Gove is using the story to do some virtue signalling.

    4. My own feelings were they let the mould grow because they thought that it would further their selfish attempt to bring attention to their invented housing plight. That poor little child.
      That turd Kahnt is trying to extend his money grabbing exercise to include everything inside the M25. And call it London. All of what was Middlesex parts of Essex, Surrey, Hertfordshire, other home counties areas have part of the nasty little turds land grab.

    1. I am also struck by the apparent lack of parental responsibility. Surely most parents would simply roll their sleeves up and clean and air the place if they thought a child was at risk? As I understand it they just made complaint after complaint.

      1. I would guess it is what we have taught them. Everything will be provided, no need to do anything themselves in life at all.

      2. 368128+ up ticks,

        Morning VOM,

        Then neglect of both parties has cost a child their life, in today’s society it seems to matter not, just as long as ones
        chosen party is in power incidents are of no consequence.

  24. Good morrow, Gentlefolk and my sincere apologies for starting such a hare running last evening. You were all amazing in the way you rose to the challenge and rallied round to help me. The first I knew of it was a phone call from Pamela in Guildford. She is not a NoTTLer but reads us from time to time. I can only guess that that is where she found my number. Thank you Paul (Oberstleutnant), you were the next to call followed by Anne Allen and finally a very long call with Sue Macfarlane before the police arrived. I’m still shaking and bursting into tears every now and then with the memory of the horrors I’m currently living through but more, much, much more, the care and devotion of you – my only family nowadays. I cannot say more – just thank you all for being there.

    Now for today’s story:

    A Cup of Tea

    One day my Grandma was out shopping, and my Grandpa was in charge of me.
    I was maybe 2 ½ years old. Someone had given me a little ‘tea set’ as a gift, and it was one of my favourite toys.

    Grandpa was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when I brought him a little cup of ‘tea’, which was just water. After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my Grandma came home.

    My Grandpa made her wait in the living room to watch me bring him a cup of tea, because he thought it was ‘just the cutest thing he had ever seen!’ Grandma waited, and sure enough, here I came down the hall, with a cup of tea for Grandpa, and she watched as he drank it all.

    Then she said to Grandpa, (as only a Grandma would know), “Did it ever occur to you that the only place in the house that she can reach to get water, is the toilet?”

    1. Good morning Tom ,

      I hope you managed to sleep for a while and feel more positive this morning . You know you are surrounded mentally with warm thoughts and caring people .

      The Nottlers who responded to your terrible black moment were magnificent responding so quickly.

      I expect you have been in touch with these people , if you haven’t , I know they are very caring and good .

      https://www.ssafa.org.uk/get-help

      1. ‘Morning, Maggie, I hope my post here today lets everyone who did (and even those that didn’t) respond so generously last evening, know how grateful I am to have been encouraged to return from that dark abyss by their love and caring.

        That’s it. I’m about to burst into tears again. Love to all and thanks.

    4. It is good to hear that the services appeared; I suspect they may have appreciated something was seriously amiss from getting approached from many directions.

      KBO

    5. I’m sure we are all relieved to see you back from the abyss Tom and on form – things will get better mate

        1. I also appreciate your jokes. Of course, some are so old that they were first told in Latin but are still worth a chuckle. As a bonus, they can be retold at the pub far easier than reinterpreting a tiktok meme after a couple of beers.

          I’m glad support was readily provided yesterday and even happier that it is ongoing, as i’m sure you are aware.

    7. How good it is that you are here again today among friends who, though we may never meet, are – as you say – ‘family’.
      You can choose your friends but not your family!
      I sincerely hope that continued support from your fellow Nottlers will see you through your current situation.
      Your story will give us a laugh and shows you as a sound man! (I’m not the most articulate but you catch my drift.)
      God bless.

      3. Your exquisite freehand drawing skills make mine look like they were done by Congo the chimp (remember him?), Katy. This is an impetus for me to try harder. 😘

        1. Ah hell no – I was totally at sea, surrounded by artists who knew what they were doing, covered in charcoal dust… I came away vowing to practise more, too!

          Congo may have been before my time. 🙂

      4. Your exquisite freehand drawing skills make mine look like they were done by Congo the chimp (remember him?), Katy. This is an impetus for me to try harder. 😘

          1. Ah, remembered, ‘Liberty Bodice’.

            Well before my time, it’s stockings and suspenders that get me het up.

    10. Delighted to see you posting, Tom. We will keep on supporting you for as long as it takes (and each other). We all stumble and hiccup from time to time in our lives, I don’t think anyone escapes the tribulations that life throws at us. Don’t lose sight of the fact that the weather makes an enormous difference as to how we feel, yesterday was awful, dull, oppressive and dank. Today here the sun is shining, it does make such a difference. Draw a line under yesterday, push it down the river of life, turn your back on it and start a new day. xx🌷

      1. Someone, I cannot now remember who, quoted some Dylan Thomas. I have the whole in my Commonplace Book:

        Do not go gentle into that good night

        Do not go gentle into that good night,
        Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
        Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

        Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
        Because their words had forked no lightning they
        Do not go gentle into that good night.

        Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
        Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
        Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

        Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
        And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
        Do not go gentle into that good night.

        Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
        Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
        Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

        And you, my father, there on the sad height,
        Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
        Do not go gentle into that good night.
        Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
        Dylan Thomas – 1914-1953

    13. Rastus and I were in Jersey all day yesterday and only saw the running hare after things had settled down. You gave us quite a fright! But we are both so relieved to hear that you are feeling better today.

      Somebody said last night, after things had calmed down, how odd it was that he was feeling rather teary with relief (as I was, I admit) when he had never met you – and I think that reflects how many of us are feeling today. John Donne’s poem takes on a special meaning today…

      No man is an island entire of itself; every man
      is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
      if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
      is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
      well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
      own were; any man’s death diminishes me,
      because I am involved in mankind.
      And therefore never send to know for whom
      the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

    1. WhoTF does he think he is, or who does he believe he represents ?
      Not one single hardworking tax paying Brit, or anyone who has worked most of their lives and now can’t live off their measly state pensions.
      Normal political lack of any common sense.
      And Totally out of contact with reality.

      1. TCW nailed it yesterday with their piece describing Sunak and Hunt as civil servants for the global government.

        1. All of the government cabinet are an extention of the snivel service.
          For instance, how can a housing minister become transport minister overnight. They only know what they are told to do.

        2. No, that is unfair on the vast majority of Civil Servants. Most civil servants are qualified in some professional or technical capacity or entered via a competitive exam.
          Mr Sunak was appointed by fellow travellers, and I would hazard a guess that originally Central Office imposed him on the constituency selection committee.

    2. She may not mince her words but calling him an “unelected UK prime minister” is utter bollocks.

      He was elected by his constituents to serve his constituency, and then elected by fellow MPs to be PM.
      This is how it always has been.

      Halfwitted bints like Suzanne Seddon need to get a proper education before spouting such idiocy.

      1. That is unnecessarily rude.
        Sunak’s role as an MP is not in the question here. It is about his job as Prime Minister.
        The rules of the Conservative party stated clearly that the members choose between the final two candidates. What happened when they removed Truss and imposed the candidate that had been rejected by the membership in an election, was nothing less than a coup. If they rounded up enough yes-men to agree to it under pressure, that still doesn’t make Sunak an elected leader in any meaningful sense.

        1. I wasn’t being rude towards you; I was stating clear, unequivocal facts to her. I disagree with your interpretation of the rules. The two final candidates were Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson (Penny Mordaunt had withdraw nearlier). When one of those two final candidates (Johnson) pulled out at the last minute, that left the way clear, under the rules, for Sunak to be declared victor, since he had accrued most of the votes of the parliamentary Conservative party.. That is the way it has always been.

          1. Nobody voted for him.
            I was aware that your post wasn’t directed at me, but I still find it unnecessary.

          2. I have probably told this story here before.

            When I was a student in the 1960s I took a job as a roustabout (an unskilled worker) on an oil rig in the North Sea I worked alongside a large, aggressive foul-mouthed man whose previous job had been as a bouncer in a Soho strip club. One day a little bird flew onto the rig and this chap immediately identified it as belonging to a species of which I had never heard. I was very surprised that he had such knowledge and he confided in me that he had always been fascinated by birds and was compiling information and pictures and details for an encyclopaedia of birds which he was writing.

            He was shy about admitting this as it did nor fit in very well with his rough, tough image but one day when the two of us were alone in the four man bunk room which were our quarters he produced a trunk from under his bunk with folder after folder of very extensive notes, drawings and pictures of all sorts of birds with meticulous physical descriptions and accounts of their ways of life and habitats..

            I was a public school educated chap with “O” levels, “A” levels and studying Philosophy at university and yet this man who had left school at 14 with no academic qualifications was academically far superior to me. It was a lesson well worth learning.

            But if it is wrong to assume that people with no academic qualifications are stupid, it is just as wrong to go to the other extreme and say that people who are well qualified academically are stupid.

      2. The trouble is, George, that whereas Truss WAS elected by the then members of the Conservative Party in an open election, Sunak was NOT. So, by bending the rules, he is seen as being unelected to his present position.

        1. Yes Tom, I can see that point. I was specifically taking the woman to task for stating that Sunak was ‘unelected’ when clearly, as a serving MP, he could only have got to that position by winning an election.

          As for the (1922 Committee) bending the rules; they have previous convictions for this going way back. When Michael Howard was appointed leader, his only rival, David Davis, was ‘warned’ by them not to even bother opposing him. Andrea Leadsom was similarly badly treated (as Rastus points out, above).

          Elections involving the membership are a quite recent event. In a previous era elections among the membership were not even thought to be au fait. If they had been then, surely, RAB Butler would have beaten Harold Macmillan to the post of leader; just as Reginald Maudling (or Enoch Powell) would have beaten Ted Heath.

      3. Yes, but this ignores the fact that before being elected by his fellow MPS:

        i) The membership of the party had specifically rejected him;
        ii) The whole point of giving the ordinary membership the vote was to make the process seem more democratic.

        Twice now the Conservative Party MPs have dodged putting the vote to the party membership. A smear campaign was was staged against Andrea Leadsom and May’s election to the party leadership was not put to the party membership and it seems to me that Boris Johnson’s last minute withdrawal from the race when, according to the chairman of the 1922 Committee he had amassed for the required 100 votes, may well have been triggered by something pretty sinister.

        I think it is unwise to criticise people for not having had a proper education – it is a subjective judgement and it is what many woke people tell us when our views on matters such as Covid vaccinations, colonialism and illegal immigration differ from theirs. “Go and get educated,” they tell us.

        1. I think you mean “when their views…differ from the ones we have expressed”, don’t you, Richard. Or perhaps “our views… differ from the ones they have expressed”.

        2. “I think it is unwise to criticise people for not having had a proper education.”

          There is, perhaps, a touch of unintended bathos in that remark (about something I said) don’t you think, Rastus? After all, my level of rudimentary education (sec mod) could be considered by many as not being “proper” (or comprehensive enough).

          Some, even, may consider that my lowly level of education should perhaps be insufficient to warrant me a place as a contributor on a forum such as this. Who knows?

          1. I would not dream of criticising you for not having had a proper education – you clearly are very well educated. Who was it who said that each person received two educations – one he gets from others, the the other he gets from himself – and the latter is far more impoortant,

            I would not have the arrogance to voice the opinion that a person without formal qualifications cannot be just as knowledgeable as a person with formal qualifications. See my post below.

            However you must surely agree that just because a person does not agree with you that that person must be in need of education which is what woke people seem to do?

            I think we are entirely in agreement on this.

  26. A journey to the site of the Nord Stream explosions. 20 November 2022.

    Prosecutors in Sweden say explosions on a gas pipeline between Russia and Europe were the result of sabotage. The explosions in the Baltic Sea targeted pipelines carrying natural gas from Russia to Europe. Russia denies any involvement. Before the announcement, Katya Adler travelled to the site, and was separately told by Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg that the west could go to war if Russia attacked infrastructure providing critical energy supplies.

    As well they might do! We are not going to War then if we destroy Russian infrastructure? I caught a part of this broadcast on the BBC News yesterday and it was pretty obvious from the nuances and insinuations of Ms Adler that it is a part of the lead up to Sweden declaring that they have found Vlad’s fingerprints (or their equivalent) on the pipes. This is what we have come to! The West’s Polities are now so totally corrupt that they cannot even tell the truth to their own people.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-63636181

  27. Morning all 😊
    More of the same in weather and politics.
    Grey, storms, thunder and lightning including massive down pours and more floods.
    Things aren’t what they use to be. Or going well.

  28. Give me strength! Thanks to Con27 we are going to give money to a fund to save the third world from the global warming scam that was the fault of us and other first world countries. Just when you thought this madness couldn’t get any worse…

    It’s a good job we have so much spare cash to squander on this lunacy!

      2. No wonder people seems to hate the Qataris, from al beeb, (my bold italics)

        Qatar being awarded the World Cup in 2010 understandably raised eyebrows, not only from an ethical point of view but also from a football one, with the country having only a short football heritage.
        They did not play their first official match until 1970, when they lost 2-1 to neighbours Bahrain, and have a small pool of players – the country has a population of 2.9 million but only around 300,000 of those are Qataris.
        “Qatar has a strict requirement that even if you are born in the country but your parents aren’t Qatari you have no rights to citizenship,” John McManus, social anthropologist and author of Inside Qatar, told BBC Sport.
        “Part of the reason for that is in order to keep the benefits that come with citizenship so generous – the 11% of Qatar nationals get free education, a well-paid job and lots of other big perks. More people getting citizenship would mean that would have to be spread out more.”

        https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/63490589

        1. Qatar has a strict requirement that even if you are born in the country but your parents aren’t Qatari you have no rights to citizenship,” John McManus, social anthropologist and author of Inside Qatar, told BBC Sport.

          Interesting , very interesting .. even more so is “Part of the reason for that is in order to keep the benefits that come with citizenship so generous – the 11% of Qatar nationals get free education, a well-paid job and lots of other big perks. More people getting citizenship would mean that would have to be spread out more.”

          3. Good Morning, Lovely Veracity,

            It could never happen here!

            I cannot recall where you were born but I was born in the Sudan. However, my parents and my parents’ parents as far back as several centuries ago were born in England apart from the case of an errant great, great, great grandmother on the distaff side who was unwise enough to be born in Wales. By the Qatari rule I would have received no British birthrights.

            Apparently it was Cecil Rhodes who said:

            Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life.

            Of course along with everything that reeks of colonialism even the words of past colonialists must be swept away. This explains why the government and the MSM are so determined to punish the English for the fact that many of them are English!

    2. It seems Bevan was delighted that they named a disease for him ‘ Aneurism’.

      He looked it up only to discover that the definition was “A bloody clot that ought to be removed immediately.”

    1. Morning Korky.
      If anyone requires psychiatric intervention, it is Turdeau. And not just medication but sectioning. Any Canadians who still vote for this wannabe-despot might need the medication.
      I think he is (or seriously thinking about) bringing back mask mandates again. Not that a significant number ever stopped in even in the streets or indoor places in Toronto this summer. I hope to goodness masks are not mandated in schools again, even my then-3 year old grandchild had to be muzzled in kindergarten last autumn. The teaching assistant was even wearing one in the playground this September!

      As I am determined not to take any more Convid jabs, I may be refused entry next summer. I only had the first 3 in order to visit the grandchildren this year.

      1. Give it a week or two, they are building the fear level. We are at masks highly recommended and people are starting to wear masks in public again.

        It is not just those that voted for him, what about all of the MPs who say nothing about his excesses.

        1. No idea if it was just a central Toronto speciality, but a significant number there never stopped, evenin high summer.
          I have no doubt that son and dil will be eager to comply with all ‘recommendations’ – and will slang us off if restrictions are not soon reintroduced here.

    2. Replying to
      @DrEliDavid
      It’s the medics who want to jab everyone who should be put on psychiatric medications

      1. No, they are on bonuses!

        There are still many who refused vaccinations that cannot return to work.

    3. And as we also know, in Canada mental illness will be a valid ground for euthanasia…they are a very small step away from gas chambers if this ridiculous suggestion is taken seriously.

  31. I do not have access to rugby on telly – but I gather that yer England had another World Cup winning performance yesterday….(sarc).

    1. Literally 10 minute wonders I’m told. I have yet to see it but will get round to viewing it sooner rather than later.
      Today meanwhile I am off to see the Barbarians play, no not the HoC!

      1. You’ll see some downing (but not the street) in the game and perhaps some tackle out. 😊 enjoy 😉

      2. The England team only came to life after Bill’s MR’s least favourite English pupil had come onto the field.

        But it shows the state of our country when we are ecstatic about getting a draw!

        1. I was really saddened to see Smith kick the ball into touch, ending the game as a draw whereas, given the ABs were down a man, they could have attempted to score a winning point. I call it cowardly.

      3. “Finicky French ref kept breaking up the game”

        As usual. Don’t watch these days. Too much knee-bending.

  33. Both the Queen and Prince Philip wanted their youngest son Edward to eventually inherit the the Duke of Edinburgh title. This is unlikely to happen due to King Charles wishing to slim down the monarchy and not wanting Edwards son James getting the title.
    Edward ( and his wife Sophie ) are hard working and were very close to both Edwards parents. Edward also is part of the slimmed down monarchy. Edward is the only child of the Queen and Prince Philip not to cause and controversy, nor been divorced .
    How petty and spiteful of King Charles – why doesn’t he remove the Duke and Duchess titles from his treacherous son and that Markle woman instead of treating his brother so shoddily .

    2. King Charles is not just one of the most boring men in the world – he is nasty with it.

      The masses and the MSM may turn viciously on Prince Andrew but why does the spiteful and inadequate Charles – who really wants to be an insertable sanitary towel – want to do so too?

    3. His experience in the Royal Marines (and I respect him for having the balls to say it wasn’t for him) and his “It’s a Royal Knock out” were certainly controversial.

    4. Titles are fast becoming an encumbrance. Edward’s son James needs a career, not another title.

    5. Moh and I watched the unbearable Strictly Come Dancing , held in Blackpool.

      We heard via the net that the King will be welcoming Strictly to the ballroom at Buck Palace next year .. rumour or what , no idea 😉🙄

    6. Can’t he just give Edward a title that doesn’t descend to his children?
      I agree that creating ever more hereditary Dukes is counterproductive – but does this mean that Archie will one day be Duke of Sussex?
      I really doubt that that will shape his character in any positive way.

      Charles should understand that loyalty should be rewarded in a measured and appropriate way. At the moment, he’s got the two spoilt and entitled members of the family having been rewarded, while passing over the loyal brother.
      But I really doubt that Charles understands much about the nature of loyalty, as he himself shows none to other people.

      1. Charles has requested that his sister and brother Edward be made ‘Councillors of state’ to ensure that Andrew and Harry are never called upon to deputise for him.

  34. Tories want to cut taxes before next election, says Nadhim Zahawi
    Party chairman speaks out after Conservative MPs attack Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement, dubbing it the ‘economics of a madhouse’
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/11/19/tories-want-cut-taxes-next-election-says-nadhim-zahawi/

    BTL

    You are mugged.

    The mugger steals £1,000 from you.

    The mugger then gives you back £50 and expects you to be grateful for the fact that he has given you £50 of your own money back.

    If you are taken in by this then both you and the mugger should mugger off.

    We surely can’t be far away from great civil unrest!

    Henry V told us to imitate the action of the tiger. Charles III would prefer us to imitate the action of the woodlouse but cut down on our consumption of all organic sustenance including wood.

      1. You mean it should be “deliberate”, Joseph? Lol. I myself did spot the one hundred and eleventh Charles, but as this has been pointed out several times in the past, it seemed churlish to keep on repeating it.

      2. Indeed I have done, Joey. It is the use of the nonsensicla terms “mugged” and “mugger”, neither of which exist in law.

        The correct term “robbery” already exists in law and it fully covers what those who prefer slang refer to a “mugging”.

        “Theft”, “robbery” and “burglary” are not synonyms. Each has a specific meaning for a specific crime.

  35. Holders France are ROCKED on eve of the tournament, Karim Benzema is OUT of the World Cup: after suffering thigh injury in training.

    Dropped his wallet on his thigh as he was practicing paying Kwatari escorts and has gone all limp. Can’t play with the boys now. Don’t you just feel for him?

    1. Naturally, I’m mortified, nay devastated.

      Sorry…who??

      I heard on the wireless this morning that some over-blown practitioner of the footie is being paid £600,000 PER WEEK (with apologies for shouting). I listened for the phrase ‘fat cat’ in vain.

    2. When I was a boy at Blundell’s my best friend, Joe, a young Etonian who subsequently became the best man at our marriage, used to send me in the post seaside postcards produced by artists such as Donald McGill which the school barber used to sell the young Etonians along with Durex.. As our mail was collected and put on a window sill each morning by my rather censorious housemaster I wonder what he made of this one?

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6cabb2e2b19b5c5d11e45b0eddd43add2d4a803b95e169a871bcba9833920eef.jpg

      1. Donald McGill, one of the finest exponents of the ‘dooble entondre’. His sense of humour always appealed to me, and still does whenever I see examples of his work. In today’s wokery this probably makes me a very bad person, but WTF? Is this the face of a worried man??

        1. One of his memorable ones is a chap asking a blond who is buried up to her neck in sand on a seaside beach:

          Him: “What’s in it for me if I dig you out?”
          Her: “Sand Mister!”

          1. Ah yes – I remember it well.

            But when I first heard this one it concerned a sheik who came across a young woman sinking in the desert who asked her what was in it for him if he rescued her.

        2. I had a card showing an embarrassed red-faced man in golfing atire, washing his hands. And notice above the sinks saying Members are requested not to clean their balls with the brushes.
          I pinned it to the notice board at the club.

    2. The solution is to suggest that Africans put their ‘own houses in order’.
      If you look at most African town’s and cities on Google earth you’ll see what a mess they live in. What does it take to tidy up the streets. Certainly they didn’t learn anything at all from the whiates (south African accent) who ran the country and left it in an immaculate condition.
      JHB once a bustling metropolis, is now an absolute wreck.

      1. I prefer the old term, ‘Jo’burg’ otherwise people may think you’re talking about Julia Hartley-Brewery.

      2. When we give them aid we stop their own markets developing, which stops infrastructure investment and so the cycle of failure continues. Let them burn or grow on their own.

        1. Thye are too effing lazy to make things better for themselves. It’s much easy to moan and blame Honkey.
          If we sent them materials for building, they’d sell it all and Burn the timber.

      3. Try some of the reserves round here.
        The first nations mob cry how honkey (North American accent) has ruined the environment but then do nothing to ocean up their world.

        1. Indeed – good to see you this morning, Tom. I hope you’re feeling a bit more positive about life today.

      2. Welcome back, Tom. Good to see you again. (I haven’t yet read all of today’s posts, so I’m hoping I’ll find a good joke to set me up for the day.)

  37. Russian TV stars bite their tongues to feed Putin’s propaganda machine. 20 November 2022.

    After the Ukraine war broke out, liberal-minded presenters had to repeat propaganda or lose their jobs in Russia.

    When Vladimir Putin sent tanks across the border in February, countless Ukrainians pleaded with families and friends in Russia to do something to stop the invasion – or at least speak out against it.

    Instead, all they got back were boiler-plate phrases about “Ukrainian Nazis” and a “puppet government in Kyiv”.

    Ukrainians were stunned – but Russia watchers were not. It was the result of a years-long campaign of highly targeted and xenophobic propaganda orchestrated almost entirely by Russian state TV – and in some cases it proved more powerful than family ties.

    Groan! You would think that any country with the BBC as its state sponsored mouthpiece would try to avoid any mention of propaganda in the MSM.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/11/19/inside-russias-tv-propaganda-machine-whatever-government-says/

  38. In a moment of weakness I thought I would look at ‘news’ on the Daily Fail website, but all I got for the first seven items was the World Cup. Silly me, I should have known better. Besides, the word ‘news’ is an oxymoron in the case of the Fail.

  39. Off shortly to the launderette.

    Pile of dog drying towels , bed linen etc .. too expensive to use my dryer, and if I were to be using my own new replacement Bosch washing machine , I would need at least four loads , which would take all day to wash.. and expensive as well.

    1. Are you not too pleased with your new machine? It’s fine and sunny here – good drying day outside.
      Is your new machine very slow? I use only one program on mine – and that’s the shortest cycle.

        1. It’s not too windy here today but there is a breeze. I guess we’re higher up here and the westerly prevailing wind blows down the valley below like a wind- tunnel.

          I used to have a washer-dryer but when it packed up after I retired we replaced it with just a washer so I have no dryer.

          1. No , Pip, I used 3 machines , 2 deep washing machines and a dryer for the dog towels that I washed last night at home .

            The washing machines cost £5.50 each . The dryer £1.50 to get big towels dry , The washing took 35 mts each on hot wash for 2 kingsize duvet covers and sheets and 6 pillow cases.. I spent £2.50 drying the linen in one big machine ..

            I had a stash of £1 coins and 50p pieces..

            From what I can remember , I don’t think the prices have risen all that much .

            It was easier to have a blitz , I needed Moh to find a parking space in town whilst I did the deed .

            I never know when Moh is available to give me a hand .

          3. I had some heavy drying to do with the dog towels , thick old bath towels , 5 of them , which were nigh on impossible to dry on the line or indoors , not had the c/h on re radiators .

  40. I see that some eco-freak gate-crashed a meal that St David of Attenborough was having in a “Michelin starred” restaurant. Fish. I hope it was a vegan fish caught thoughtfully. (The story was in yesterday’s Fail).

    There is a funny side to the world’s greatest climate change expert being got at by a fellow eco-freak.

    However – the thing which made me most happy was the way the local plod dealt with the eco-freak. None of the Met and pats on the shoulder and offers of drinks. Dragged the daft bint out of the resto and dumped her unceremoniously in the street before shoving her in a perlice vehicle…..

    1. There are two different tales.

      David A, where the eco zealot got proper treatment
      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11449217/Eco-hypocrite-arrested-confronting-Sir-David-Attenborough-drove-18-year-old-4×4-81-000-miles.html

      Ramsey’s Michelin restaurant, where they closed and the eco zealots do not appear to have been charged:
      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11448197/Gordon-Ramsays-Chelsea-restaurant-forced-close-climate-change-activists-tables.html

      1. If I had booked a table Ramsay’s restaurant, and one of these activists had been sitting in my seat, I would have politely asked him to move, then dragged him out if he refused.

          2. There was certainly a case where a woman used her car to nudge one of them who was prosecuted.

          3. Yes, she pleaded guilty to dangerous driving. If she had got out of the car and dragged the protester out of the way, I don’t think any action would have been taken. Mind you, the protester would probably have gone back and sat in front of her car before she could drive away. Personally, I don’t think she should have pleaded guilty. She would have received a great deal of financial backing to pay for her defence in court.

      2. Quite. Difference = Ramsay’s place is in London = Met Farce. St Attenburgh = Dorset = real perlice…

      4. Typical Eco-zealots with NO understanding. Give me time with them in their prison-cell and I’ll put ’em straight.

    2. Extradite Grizzly from Sweden and make him chief of police and when he is pursuing his constabulary duties once more things will change for the better?

    3. Plod wouldn’t have been interested if it were just ordinary folk. Don’t you know Attenburger is a national treasure!

  42. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/82fa00706d59dc30c10e2c2f6ed3fecdfa53d7054fc4fc6cefbc076acffd7510.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a0a9cccc40e93c4babd9e49fc1293e3fbb3e02b4c18a0575326d4dab325c33d9.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/777aa7ea6df11bf687f54412b30e6fb49d6289b16b15e7e401d2a3bc8d8f3d78.jpg Got an nice even foot-deep layer of snow here, with more forecast today and overnight. The amusing think is that Swedes do not have to put on their winter tyres until the first of December at the latest. We have has a similar ‘renegade’ snowfall for each of the four previous Novembers, yet no one in government has brought forward the “winter-tyre” decision.

    Equally curiously is the fact that winter tyres have to remain on until half way through April!

      1. There’s no escape from it, Araminta. Every November it lulls us into a false sense of security … and then it sends loads of snow to wind us up. Too late though, all the walruses and polar bears in my garden are now extinct!

    3. Only six feet of snow in Buffalo in the past few days,. That’s global warming for you!

      That is only a 300 km drive and south of us. We had maybe three or four inches of snow.

  43. Every week I have the same dilemma on a Sunday.

    sit in the armchair, read the paper, do the crosswords with a little doze or go out and tidy the garden.

  44. For Sunday brunch we’ve just had some very nice kippers with a poached egg, accompanied by buttered toast and coffee. My poached egg wasn’t quite as soft as it should’ve been but still nice .
    Unless we have a roast lunch on a Sunday we do have a brunch, which is normally bacon, eggs and mushrooms or scrambled eggs and smoked salmon. Rarely do we have kippers, don’t know why.

    1. And, are all the curtains closed and all the doors of the rooms especially upstairs and not being used closed ?

    1. In the same way as such things as conscription are only ever voluntary. If you refuse, they take away your rights and might even imprison you.

  47. I have just heard on the radio news that our governments in the civilised world are going to contribute masses of money to the poorer countries because we have caused climate change. What a load of bolero. Climate change if it exists, has been caused mainly by people leaving their home countries where their carbon footprints are zero. To countries like the UK where they have new homes built for them and use gas electricity heating and burn fuel in their cars to take their kids to school and back twice a day.
    And now our idiot governments want us to live in virtual poverty to support them while they are growing into freely supplied life changing advantages.

    You couldn’t make it up could you
    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/charlene-white-says-matt-hancock-ruined-i-m-a-celeb-for-her-as-she-feared-losing-job/ar-AA14jaJ8?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=448f5ca6d5584bfca86c8c71b4e185b4

    1. Why should giving Third world plutocrats more money to buy more Mercedes reduce global warming.

      I obviously don’t understand the science.

      2. And of course we already spend 13 billion on forgien aid. And they are queueing up to move in here.

    1. Lucky she wasn’t in wherever the Wendyball comp is. She’d be flogged and then beheaded.

    4. She made the mistake of being a white protester.
      Had she been black, I doubt they would have done anything other than warn her not to do it again.

  52. Now here is a first – and one for Our Susan, in particular. Can’t wait for my copy to arrive:

    The Inclusive Bible – The First Egalitarian Translation – PRIESTS FOR EQUALITY

    Sample. he Seventh Commandment, ‘Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery’, now reads:

    “Do not injure your life-partnership”

    3. Barmy buggers.

      Matthew 8:12
      “But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

      2. I am only sorry I can’t put you right, Our Susan, with the new inclusive version.

        Interestingly, this carp is only available to BUY – not read online!

    1. That probably wouldn’t register on the Bill G payments as it’s such a small amount. Petty cash to him.

  55. I confess to being bewildered and startled to find 47 Disqus comments in my in-box, this morning but going through them, I realised that they were the comments made on NTTL last night. Most of which are now catalogued in a WORD doc.x.

    Several times I had to stop, finding myself overcome by tears.

    I don’t know how I can thank you all enough for being there and pulling me back from the brink.

    I hope I have made my gratitude clear, particularly to those who cared enough to interrupt me on the ‘phone.

    The suicide would have been slow and taken at least 4 days, as I found out in Australia. Stop taking the warfarin and then you will have a massive heart attack but this time, do nothing, do not call for help but just fade away into nothingness.

    Sorry, but it’s still an option. A slow version of the decanter of whisky and a revolver.

    In the meantime, I shall just KBO. Fear not.

    3. Good afternoon NtN,
      Anti-coagulants such as warfarin help to prevent blood clots; stop taking the warfarin and you could suffer a stroke which could leave you alive but disabled.
      My humble suggestion is that you quickly find something to cheer yourself up, and then ask a mental health professional or even an experienced pharmacist to review your medication.

      For example, warfarin can make people feel cold, especially at night: do you have a fluffy hot water bottle?

          2. Agree. Warfarin costs pennies apparently.
            56 Rivaroxaban are about £100 but no visits to doctor/nurse sometimes weekly therefore very cost effective.

        2. Seconded. The consultant at Addenbrookes switched me from Warfarin to Apixaban when I was admitted and undergoing tests for suspected heart issues and eventually diagnosed with late onset asthma.

          With Apixaban you need blood tests at six monthly intervals compared to Warfarin where testing is often much more frequent.

          1. Recently I have had a few bruises on my arms and back my hands were I’ve knocked them on something. Door handles seem to be the main culprits.
            But at least you know your still alive. 😉

    4. Please look for the positive and reject the negative. Fight for your life at all times .

    5. Please look for the positive and reject the negative. Fight for your life at all times .

    6. Are you getting enough Vit D3, Tom? You may find that your blood supply is low. I have always found the months of November and December difficult until I started taking it, I would be tired, lacking in energy and overwhelmed by a sense of sadness and nostagia for what, I don’t really know. I have been much better since I started taking it (thank you, ‘covid’, for that tip!). We take 4,000 IU vit D3+Vit K2 – you need the K2 to ensure the Vit D3 goes to your bones and not your arteries, and you can buy it as an all-in-one. Vit D is the only vitamin that is used by every cell in the body.

      Also thiamine (vit B1). A health writer on Twitter writes:

      “Lynne D M Noble
      I am getting lots of great feedback on how thiamine has suddenly transformed an elder from sitting in a chair to suddenly engaging in the world. It is like the awakening.”

      “Some feedback on 3 days of thiamin from numerous sources
      no longer needs afternoon nap
      slept better and longer
      brain fog gone
      started engaging in activity
      less irritable
      interested in things again
      depression has gone
      This is 3 days – full effect in 2-3 months.”

      When we get older we don’t absorb nutrients from our diet as well as we did in our younger days. Alcohol and diuretics can also reduce the ability to absorb this from our diet.

      https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Thiamin-Consumer/

      From Google: “Thiamine helps to turn food into energy to keep the nervous system healthy.”

      1. I take vit D twice a day, and magnesium for cramp, but not Vit K as I’m on warfarin and that thins the blood too much, thus negating the warfarin that prevents clotting.

    1. As they in Oz he’s not wrong.
      Many years ago many farms were in the outback and they had their own way of saving water and were careful using..
      They simply dug great big holes in the ground close to where the largest puddles formed after a down pour. It still works, because they are practical people. As I have stated many many times. Politicians without fail, eff up every single thing they come into contact with.
      They want us to stop using liquid fueled cars by 2030. Have any of them every considered how people in the many countries in every other areas of the world get around? No only those people, (the martyrs of climate change)

      who live in their own back yards.

    1. YOU could argue that the tax rises should only apply to those in public sector jobs who lost no income at all during the lockdowns; YOU could argue that it is now time for those who got generous furlough payments to pay these payments back; YOU could argue that those who were self-employed and worked in small businesses and received no financial help whose incomes were shredded and who lost their livelihoods entirely should be compensated.

      YOU could argue many things – But will YOU?

      1. I wonder if circumcised men are equally keen for their sons to have their foreskins removed?

    3. And if her children get complications/adverse effects years down the line, who are they going to sue?

    4. Not sure if that’s a parody account – several replies assume it is. Why would anybody want to push this crap on their kids?

    1. I’ll send that to my mp. Over a year ago he replied to my question regarding the invasion, saying the UK has a proud record when it comes to helping people escaping persecution
      oppression or tyranny. And he goes on to explain the purpose of the Borders Bill. Which he said is designed to deter and prevent illegal immigration into this country. Really?

  63. 2 volcanoes rumble into action in Russia’s far-east. 20 November 2022.

    Towering clouds of ash and glowing lava are spewing from two volcanoes on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula and scientists say major eruptions could be on the way.

    The peninsula, which extends into the Pacific Ocean about 6,600 kilometers (4,000 miles) east of Moscow, is one of the world’s most concentrated areas of geothermal activity, with about 30 active volcanoes.

    Oooh er! It’s two now! If these go off together with any reasonable amount of power it’s going to make the Global Warming prognostications look pretty sick. Any major volcanic eruption (unlike forty years of industrial Co2) has a measurable impact, i.e, colder Winters and Summers, crop failures and in some cases acid rain.

    https://apnews.com/article/science-world-news-moscow-pacific-ocean-volcanoes-c112599a5675810c74cd6e95ba8baa3b

  64. Breaking News:
    Yoko Ono is going into the jungle to advise the contestants on bush tucker survival techniques…
    She’s an expert, as she managed to live off one Beatle for nearly 40 years!

  65. I’ve just had the Prostate examination and just as my Doctor was about to insert his fingers he said ‘just relax James take deep breaths and try not to get an erection!’ I answered “My name is not James”
    He said ‘I know but mine is !!!!

    3. Sounds as though the doctor conducts prostate examinations by putting both hands on the patient’s shoulders to comfort him.

  66. Q – What do lions get for their lunch at the zoo?
    A – Half an hour, the same as the elephants.

  67. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/26ae4f9562f64ce85f9f456c852b7354faca6938fd983e6185b3a286a8b77a25.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d72db30ab32e555b5df4f0dfd865003e681635d6173c88d73fccb503371d9c23.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a45c7a6e145d37defcaad2019391eeac13582522d8c31d74d232425d831229fb.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4dc7554c1c8734e0353f41573e05d11a11120b8da1ddd937a2a2d9b88eadd304.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/804b3dbc10fc8a99ddc9f9bf9ce390f940f63608d1899b3c84eb03aea3eed318.jpg

    1. Mansfield has a prominent entry in The Book of Crap Towns. A fact I often mention to friends who live there.

      1. I worked there for a while, The Metal Box Company and I always said that if God were to give the world an enema, Mansfield is where he’d insert the tube.

  68. British boy, 14, is ‘shot dead’ while on holiday with his mother in Pakistan

    A 14-year-old British boy has been ‘murdered’ on holiday in Pakistan with his mum.

    Adil Khan, 14, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, was reportedly shot dead while travelling with his mother to visit relatives.

    Though the nature of his death has not yet been confirmed, police are said to have made two arrests.

    The 14-year-old, from the predominantly Asian Manningham area of Bradford, was previously at the centre of a missing persons inquiry in Pakistan in 2019 but was found safe and well.

    Khan’s passing was reported at 11.59pm on Saturday, November 19, by Janaza Announcements.

    A post said: ‘A 14-year-old boy has been murdered In Pakistan while on Holiday. Adil Khan, AGE 14 has sadly passed away.’

    News of Adil’s shocking passing at such a young age prompted an outpouring of grief on social media.

    Shabana Hussain said: ‘May Allah grant him the highest ranks in Jannatul firdous and give immense strength to the family during this devastating and difficult time.’

    Sarah Etienne commented: ‘Can’t believe I find myself commenting on a poor child’s janaza announcement….again!!! These children haven’t had the chance to live yet and they’ve been taken away.

    ‘What on earth could he have done so wrong to be ”murdered”? heartbreaking news…yet again! RIP young man. Condolences and prayers to the family and friends.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11449681/British-boy-14-shot-dead-holiday-mother-Pakistan.html?ito=windows-widget-push-notification&ci=550634

    WHY was he out of school?

    Very peculiar ..

    1. Reported missing in 2019 and shot dead in 2022? Poor boy, it can’t have been his fault but I can’t help wondering what is behind this story.

      1. I had some terrible thoughts .. either an arranged marriage or an organ donor, something really nasty must have been in store for him, maybe even a Sharia punishment perhaps..

  69. Well I unglued my backside from the armchair and did a couple of hours out the garden, need a glass of wine now, or two

  70. I have always thought that the World Cup Trophy looked like an inverted scrotum.

    The original inverted mono-testicular trophy should surely be replaced with something that is more binary and the right way up.

    Here is the suggested replacement:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/924d834ae67d3acedfc078340faef06e0ad5f6bc30e77f0e9493e96e62957083.jpg :

    and here is the one they are still using:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/05ea2ed1ef88762f71bd69d874ce044797238bd0d26982ff2295a0db4a4f5225.jpg

        1. I was corrected on that last week – Rommel and Himmler were mono-testicular but gonadically speaking Goebbels was completely insufficient.

    5. The way the NHS waiting lists are heading, the thing had better book in now for a total knee replacement.

      1. I have been assured he is not a ‘Teacup’ but i’m not so sure :@(
        His Kennel name is Henry but i wanted him to be Harry. (not a Royal connection) The connection is Harry and Dolly Rawlings. From the TV series ‘Widows’. Gangsters !

        When i get up in the morning they Mob me !…Licked toes…hopping around…fighting for my attentions. Trying to trip me up as i try to climb over the furniture to safety.

        After they have had breakfast they then stampede from room to room chewing each others ears and causing utter mayhem……………….Then the postman rings the doorbell.

        Help me !

      1. The Tracey family comes from Devon and I went to school in Tiverton; however at the turn of the 20th century my mother’s family, the Bowen-Cookes, built The Thatched House in St Mawes and this became the family home in which I grew up when we returned from Africa.

      1. 1¼ hours on the high speed trimaran ferry and we were spending the day with a former pupil, his new wife and his father.

        They are already beginning to play silly buggers at the ferry terminal at St Malo : I had to produce my resident’s permit as well as my passport when leaving and entering France but Caroline, being Dutch and of an EU nationality, only had to produce her passport.

        1. I am amazed you were allowed to import dairy products into yer France. Didn’t PAF grill you??

          2. You mean to suggest that they didn’t do the decent thing and declare it? Shocking. Perfide Albion indeed!!

          5. When we were in France our younger son brought us a huge pork pie. It was enormous. He heaved it out of the top of his rucksack in the manner of one trying to extract a severed head (apologies for the image that this may have brought to mind). I wondered how he had managed to get past the inspection for hand luggage. “Oh, I just got bored with waiting and strode straight past them whilst they were dealing with someone else” was the reply. Such is youth. Oh, and the pork pie was delicious.

    6. Always jam first with a dollop of cream on top. The Devonshire way, even if upsets those from Cornwall. I intend to visit every tea shop in England and try them .
      The scones must be warm, the cream always clotted and jam – homemade.. yummy .

    8. Neither for me.

      Only yesterday I baked some plain scones and provided blackcurrant jam and cream (for the ladies). For us chaps I baked some fruit scones that we spread thickly with just butter (my preference).

      I asked the girl with dulcet tone,
      To order me a buttered scone.
      The silly girl has been and gone,
      And ordered me a buttered scone.

    9. Pour some good double cream into a baking tray, then leave it overnight in the oven on the lowest setting. In the morning you will have delicious home-made clotted cream.

    2. Brilliant, thank you. I can see my evening will pan out very differently to how I envisaged it!

    2. And whose lights were at red? The driver on the main road, or the one entering the main road from the left? The stationary car whose driver filmed the car crash suggests that the driver on the main road was at fault.

  77. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11449321/Victoria-Beckham-shows-tiny-waist-black-ensemble-shopping-trip-daughter-Harper.html?login#readerCommentsCommand-message-field

    In an article in the DM about Victoria Beckham I came across this BTL comment:

    Some people call it body graffiti, some people call it tattoos and others call it corporeal art – but whatever you call it isn’t it high time that, as an act of solidary for and empathy with her husband, Victoria Beckham should get her body and face inked and have some diamond-encrusted studs and rings adorning her nose?

    Do DM posters have a sense of irony and this poster was taking the piss – or does he sincerely believe he is giving sound advice to the Qatar money gobbler’s wife?

  79. Off topic.

    Just sampled the last bottle of the Beaujolais nouveau which I bought.

    The first bottle was excellent, the next two were OK, nothing more, the first taste of this one was absolutely foul, yet bizarrely it improved considerably after that first sip!

    1. You need to give your taste buds a chance. I hope you are not drinking three bottles on your own. You’ll get a big strawberry nose !

    5. Beware of intoxicants.
      I remember seeing that sign In a pub years ago. But they made a typo/spelling mistake.

    7. We have been unable to get the nouveau this year, for some reason Maryland state has imported very little. We usually get some bottles for Thanksgiving but looks like we are out of luck this year, breaking a long held tradition.

    1. If that was the place where Lord of the Rings happens thousands of years later, what became of all the humans of colour in the Rings of Power?

      2. Your post is garbled to me. Rings of Power is a prequel. It aint Tolkein but it is watchable in its own right.

      1. BBC 1 at 1pm is the one to avoid, although the absurd, pointless and embarrassing gesture will be a bit before then.

    2. So do I. I never thought that I would have said that, but I don’t think they represent me or our country anymore.

    3. FIFA has banned political symbols. This includes the ‘onelove’ armband that Harry Kane and England propose to wear in defiance of FIFA’s rule. The answer is simple – give Kane a yellow card any time he starts the match with the armband – it’s the same principle as booking a player who rips off his shirt after scoring a goal. Everybody’s happy – FIFA for applying the rules, Kane because he prefers virtue-signalling to playing football.

      I suspect Kane might get a bit peeved when he’s banned for the next match after receiving two yellow cards.

  82. That’s me gone for this dreary, chilly unwelcoming day. More of the same tomorrow. Grrr.

    Have a jolly evening

    A demain.

        1. 3 portions of Chicken Dhansak and 3 portions of Beef Madras cooked and ready for the freezer sigh no rice or breads allowed thanks to diabeties but will serve with green veg
          I batch cook at weekends for the cheap ‘leccy

          2. Pretty fed up and very bored. Chap in the opposite bed shouting about football. Hoping the cardiologist will come round in the morning and tell him when and where he’s going to have his op.

          3. I know he doesn’t know me but I am sending him my best wishes anyway- and to you. It is worrying when one’s OH is in hospital- especially nowadays. Good luck.

          4. Thankyou. It is a worry. It’s all happened fairly suddenly, but I can’t help wishing he hadn’t had the bloody jabs. Of course, we’ll never know. He’s always been very fit and active and not overweight.

          5. Those bloody jabs! We have now had 6 texts over the last 2 weeks each. I delete them. After over 18 months I am still getting the dreaded spots. The NHS can get stuffed.

          6. I was lucky and had no known reactions to the two AZ jabs. He had Pfizer early in 2021 and was persuaded to have a booster last winter. He hasn’t had any more since then. But there are many reports of heart disease now.

            I haven’t had one of the bullying texts for over a week now. I had them on three days running at the beginning of November and one last week. I’ve ignored tham all, and the ones for the flu jab, and the letters and emails.

            On Friday evening my neighbour invited me round for dinner, and the conversation eventually turned to the jabs. She’s an ex-nurse and has had them all. She and her chap were both ill with covid last Christmas and New Year. I don’t think she believed me when I said they clearly don’t work and instead they make you more likely to catch the wretched bug. I told her I’m not having any more jabs of any kind now.

          10. I’ve just eaten fish, chips and peas (without the chips) followed by a delicious damson crumble (thanks to Korky for the damsons) and am about to settle down to watching THE AFRICAN QUEEN with Bogart, Hepburn and Robert Morley. Will pop in later to wish everyone a “Good Night”.

          11. That film will have to be re-made as both the leads were white – can’t have that, especially as the title is ‘The African Queen’.

          13. But, but, but… I thought they were travelling down the River Niger, weren’t they? Lol.

          15. It amused me to see a houseboat moored in a San Francisco bay that was named “A Friggin’ Queen“X

            Apparently there was a mass turnout of homosexuals to view Queen Elizabeth when she visited.

            Apparently they all wanted to know what a ‘Real’ Queen looked like.

          16. Great, watched it about a week ago. Loved the way they went from shy strangers to old married couple in about 3 days.

          17. How is that dear man of yours, Ndovu? Not been about much today as our youngest grandson was baptised this morning and it was a wonderful and joyous occasion with a marvellous engaging minister!
            Ooops! Yet again the Notreadundery!

          18. That’s wonderful!

            He’s ok but very bored, waiting to hear when he will get the treatment he needs to get his life back. He’s not used to inactivity.

          19. And it’s terrible how quickly you become institutionalised and forget there is a world outside!

          27. He needs an aortic valve replacement – the cardiologist told him his condition is critical. They will take him to Bristol or Oxford to have it done.

          33. It was indeed! Unfortunately just before we were leaving for church Andrew fell on the front step while posing for photos and made a large and bloody dent in his forehead! All over his new outfit and daughters cream jacket! Oh what larks! Anyway a couple of steristrips and some Calpol plus a clean shirt, new jacket and lipstick in his very blond hair, we made it 5 minutes late!

  83. Nice little par four here

    Wordle 519 4/6

    ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
    ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩
    ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Crappy 5 for me.
      Wordle 519 5/6

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

    2. Double bloody bogey for me!
      Wordle 519 6/6

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

  84. The NHS religion is dying as the health service’s failures become too terrible to ignore

    The contrast between the adaptability of the supermarkets and the waste of the public sector is shocking

    ZOE STRIMPEL • 19 November 2022 • 7:00pm

    Things are not looking or feeling so good in Blighty right now. They are depressed and depressing, breaking and broken, dreary and grey. Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement heralds a future of eternally higher taxes and the sluggish atmosphere of state dependency and desultoriness that goes with them. Inflation is soaring and everything seems to be working not quite as it should do.

    Well, not quite everything. Even if food in general is becoming more expensive, the market has never looked like a better mechanism for delivering what people want, when they want it. Sure, there is the odd shortage – at the moment of eggs, thanks to the ravages of avian flu. Yes, there can be frustrations over, say, cancelled online deliveries, as even retailers’ supply chains suffer from problems attracting and retaining staff.

    But, in general, supermarkets remain a wonder of the capitalist world. As we saw when much of the rest of the economy shut down during the pandemic, they are incredibly good at getting stuff in. They are nimble, resourceful and flexible.

    If only the same could be said about the NHS.

    Not so long ago, people would say that the health service was the “envy of the world”. Not any longer. It increasingly manages to combine the worst of old-world bureaucracy with the worst of new-world technological confusion and malfunctioning. And the results are no longer endearing, and they certainly aren’t a source of pride: they’re lethal, terrifying, and unacceptable at a time when we are being rinsed by even higher taxes.

    A report last week from the Institute for Fiscal Studies made for sobering reading. Despite receiving billions more from taxpayers, the NHS in England is carrying out fewer appointments and operations than before the pandemic. There is a waiting list of 7.1 million patients that looks set only to keep on lengthening. It just gets grimmer and grimmer, the inefficiencies and failures compounded by an ageing population, kept alive in part by what was once good care for all.

    More money is going ever-less far – and the pandemic is no longer an excuse; in fact, the pandemic resulted in an increase in funding that is yielding less for patients. Between January and September 2019, the NHS performed 12.4 million treatments, such as cataract removals and hernia operations. This year, such operations were down 5 per cent – yet the NHS’s budget had increased from £123.7 billion in 2019-20 to £151.8  billion in 2022-23.

    The situation is getting harder and harder to defend, because so many lives – and so many loved ones – are being put at risk.

    The consequences of the health service’s failure are also now cascading outwards. I rang my trusty old dermatologist the other day about a new mole (I’d never get the regular checkups my complexion demands on the NHS, so have long paid for this) and was told the wait would be until Christmas. It was the first time it’s been more than two weeks to get an appointment, because, the medical secretary explained, the waits on the NHS are so bad now that a whole new wave of people, worried that they might have a melanoma, have decided to go private.

    Indeed, the number of people relying on private healthcare while also paying for the NHS is clearly on the rise. In a survey of 3,466 adults, YouGov found that 31 per cent of people found it hard to access healthcare during the pandemic and that, of those, 12 per cent went private. About 13 per cent of Britons now have medical insurance. The IPPR think tank found that the proportion of GDP spent on private healthcare has risen from 0.54 per cent in 1980 to 2.33 per cent in 2020.

    And no wonder. The IFS last week confirmed what those who aren’t entirely blinded by the now-deadly founding religion of the NHS already know: it doesn’t need more money, which it now only knows how to squander. It needs reform.

    Perhaps we are at the point at which it might actually happen. It’s clear that a two-tier system is already in full swing, with more and more people willing, indeed forced, to pay for private healthcare, simply so that they can live in the minimum degree of relief, safety and security commensurate with life in a developed nation.

    Sooner or later, something will have to give. And it won’t be so terrible. On the contrary. Look at the way things work otherwise in the 21st century thanks to free markets. This isn’t the 1970s, where the health service’s then-mild shoddiness was only in line with the inefficiency and waits and erratic service of everything else.

    Now, from phone companies to supermarkets, people are used to a high standard of customer service, and of having companies quickly adapt to their needs. While hospitals effectively shut their doors to non-Covid patients during the pandemic, it was hard not to admire how our supermarkets nimbly managed, correcting shortages with swiftness and froideur, and keeping us well stocked and well fed despite unprecedented obstacles and uncertainty.

    Health is more complicated and more emotional than retail, but that doesn’t change the fact that infrastructurally, culturally, financially, technologically, economically, managerially and professionally the NHS is broken. Just one of those crisis areas would be enough to sink a private organisation.

    We need a universal health-care system. We can’t have people dying or scared or in ill health because they can’t afford to get treatment. But we need a different system to the one we have now. The NHS will never “go private” – at least not in my lifetime – but it will soon have no choice but to try to be more like a private company. And more people might support that than the NHS’s propagandists like to think.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/19/nhs-religion-dying-health-services-failures-become-terrible/

    BTL
    Julie Smith
    I wonder how long the migrant who was from the Manston camp, who died, waited in the ambulance before being taken into the hospital for treatment?

    I waited for over 5 hours when I was taken and only because the paramedics decided to take me to A+E because they thought it might speed things up a little, did I get out of the ambulance. I could have been there for up to 13 hours, they told me.

    If the NHS which is paid for by the British, continues to treat those who come here from outside the UK for free, how will it ever succeed?

    I have recently received a letter from the NHS inviting me to take a covid test, along with many texts and e-mails, and the letter was translated into 27 different languages and needed 2 sheets of paper to achieve this. What an utter waste of money. Then of course they provide interpreters and there are the inclusion and diversity managers which seem to be on the increase. If money is thrown at the NHS it will catch it and spend it on nonsense like this and never improve.

    I should be sorry that the migrant died, but, many indigenous people have died too, unable to get an ambulance or even have their calls answered, so my thoughts are for them, hard as that may seem.

    1. Supermarkets work, because if you can’t get it at Tesco, you can likely get it, and probably cheaper, at Aldi.
      Can’t do that with the NHS, so it has no incentive to improve.
      When did the most useless hospital go bust? Never.

  85. Britain was founded on racism, say almost half of young people in poll

    Research also found that 38 per cent of 18-24 year-olds favoured removing Churchill’s statue from Parliament Square over his racial views

    By Will Hazell • 20 November 2022 • 12:21am

    Almost half of young people believe Britain was founded on racism and continues to be “structurally racist” today, research has found.

    The revelation has prompted concerns that children are being taught contested ideas as fact in the classroom, with six in 10 school leavers saying they had been taught concepts associated with “critical race theory”.

    The research was carried out by Eric Kaufmann, an academic at Birkbeck, University of London, for the Policy Exchange think-tank.

    According to polling by YouGov, 18 to 24 is the only age group that believes schools should “teach students that Britain was founded on racism and remains structurally racist today”.

    The age group supported the statement by a 42-25 majority, whereas UK adults as a whole rejected it by 53 per cent to 24 per cent.

    Fifty-nine per cent of school leavers, meanwhile, said they were taught, or had heard from an adult at school, at least one of three concepts linked to critical race theory – an academic approach to race developed in the US, which opponents decry as woke ideology. The three concepts were “white privilege”, “systemic racism” and “unconscious bias”.

    When asked whether they had encountered the concept of “patriarchy” at school or the idea that there are many genders, 65 per cent of school leavers said they had been taught about at least one of the two ideas.

    Young people appear to be less attached to free speech, with 29 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds saying that JK Rowling should be dropped by her publishers because of her views toward transgender people, compared with 10 per cent of all adults and 3 per cent of those over 50.

    An equal proportion of young people (38 per cent) agreed and disagreed with the idea of removing Winston Churchill’s statue from Parliament Square because he held racist views. Among adults as a whole, 68 per cent disagreed with moving the statue compared to just 12 per cent who agreed.

    In general, the research suggests that while the public as a whole generally reject woke views by a two to one ratio, among young people the balance is closer to parity.

    Sir John Hayes, the chairman of the Common Sense Group of Conservative MPs, told The Telegraph: “It’s sad but unsurprising that so many young people, befuddled and bemused by militant propaganda, have bought some of the lies peddled by extremists.”

    He added: “As a matter of urgency government must make absolutely clear to educators at all levels that spreading this kind of information is incompatible to providing a broad and balanced education and that if they do so they will be seen to have failed the young people in their charge and be regarded and treated accordingly.”

    Jonathan Gullis, a Tory MP and former teacher, said that “a minority of teachers” were using the classroom to push “their own woke agenda rather than focusing on delivering the world class education our young people deserve”.

    He said this was a “clear breach” of teaching standards as well as guidance published by the Department for Education earlier this year reaffirming the duty of schools to refrain from promoting “partisan political views”.

    “It is dangerous and divisive to push such ideas upon young people and it simply doesn’t reflect reality,” he added.

    Commenting on the report, Dr Samir Shah, a member of the Government’s Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, said: “Views which remain on the fringe in society as a whole, are held by a significant number, or even a majority, by voters in this age category.

    “But what makes the survey disturbing is that these new attitudes challenge the very foundations of liberal thought: free speech, tolerance, debate, and democracy.”

    She said that views “taking hold” among young people “run against many Enlightenment values”, leading to a “world in which nuance and tolerance is being replaced by intolerance and a fear of speaking one’s mind”.

    Policy Exchange said the Government should update Ofsted guidance to ensure the political impartiality advice is “systematically enforced” and provide parents and teachers with reporting routes to flag breaches.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/19/teach-britain-founded-racism-say-almost-half-young-people-poll/

    2. Just an observation. In many schools today the indigenous population is becoming a minority….

    3. A generation of dumbos. But it’s the generation before them – their teachers – who are responsible.

    4. Give it time, when the huge increase in the number of gimmegrants results in a huge increase in rapes and assaults on the “pretty girls” in that age group and an increase in stabbing of the young men they might begin to wake up.

      But then again, it will still be the fault of evil whitey for not spraying them with money.

  86. Grizzly has kindly informed me to sharpen my Saxon Queens axe and long bow just incase a skirmish between Devonshire and Cornish people occurs over the correct way to have Jam and clotted cream on a scone. I’d presume it’s Jam first and then cream , least of all the jam stops the cream from running off the scone. I shall have a practice tomorrow afternoon to prove the point , I don’t mind:-)

        1. Back home. I collected him on Friday.
          He has spent the weekend in bed; probably needs the sleep as every ward has its inevitable nutter which means a constant disruptive atmosphere.

          2. Anne knows how to deal with belligerent patients. A particular look should have the desired effect. If not…a thorough bed bath with a rough sponge !

    4. Funny how this jam / clotted cream debate never fails to rouse people!

      As I am only a bl**dy foreigner, I can do what I like: clotted cream first, and thick. Jam on top. Eat with fingers so if the jam slips off, as it inevitably does, because I heap it on, I have a good excuse to lick my fingers.

      In the absence of clotted cream, butter. Lots. Jam can be anything red or dark purple. Raspberry is lovely, but I make a particularly good plum and cardamom jam which is yummy.

      1. Yorkshire and Lancashire had the Wars of the Roses….Nottle can have the Jam and Cream Wars 😉

      2. One of the best high teas I’ve ever consumed wasn’t in England .
        Hofje Zonder Zorgen – Haarlem . My husband worked near there for a few years. The most wonderful warm scones – warm, soft and light, crunchy on the outside, clotted cream and thick jam . I didn’t eat much in the way of English food and preferred coffee whilst there but I was partial to the cream teas. Wonderful.

      3. I’ve been a foreigner for so long now… do what suits you, and tell anyone who objects to bugger off.

      4. I can see why Rastus is so in love with you.

        ” I can do what I like: clotted cream first, and thick. Jam on top.
        Eat with fingers so if the jam slips off, as it inevitably does, because
        I heap it on, I have a good excuse to lick my fingers.”

        No borders!

    5. You could always whip the cream with the jam and have a husband sandwich…..Turn the lights out… um.

        1. New week, new disease…. next week….

          I understood that diptheria had arrived in Cornwall of all places.

    3. And meanwhile after working for only around 18 years each in the UK husband and wife’s in commonwealth countries are paid 2,000 pounds a month more than a person who has worked and paid into the system for 53 years. Some thing wrong there.
      And I wonder how many staff are working in the pension department. They have as much of a clue what they are doing as the politicians.

      1. I’m ok thanks, M, he has a bed and reading matter but doesn’t like being stuck there, being inactive.

        1. Put the pressure on. The least time inside will be better for him. Keep chasing them up. Go into over nag mode !

    2. We are here for you too if you need us. I have ghastly times yet to come but soldiering on is the only way.

        1. I did manage to acquire a rather nice motorised chair which i can zoom around in when needed. I don’t need it to traverse my bungalow but it is handy for scaring the unsuspecting in ASDA !

          4. Make sure you do. It is a feel good film. Even Mrs Bloodaxe approves !

            Seriously though. It is a good film.

          5. Once, a while back; a delightful lady in one of those electric wheel chairs made a solid beeline for my leg.

            I imagine it had much the same effect as driving into a wall.

      2. Thankyou – it’s good to know you are all friends here. I hope they can do something for your problems.

        1. Just regular problems with age and system failures for me. More to come i’m sure. I hope your husbands situation improves soon. We all have our time and time is to be spent.

          I think the worst thing in later life is despair.

          1. As we saw with Tom the other night. Thankfully he seemed in better spirits yesterday, thanks to certain Nottlers.

        1. Because the brain-deads who like to think of themselves as “kind” and “nice” bully the rest of us into silence.

  94. ‘Night All

    More than a dozen powerful explosions have been recorded near a huge
    Russian-occupied nuclear power plant in south Ukraine since Saturday
    evening.

    The head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, made
    an urgent appeal for a stop to the fighting at the Zaporizhzhia plant,
    Europe’s biggest.

    “Whoever is behind this, it must stop immediately,” he said. “You’re playing with fire!”
    Those pesky Russkis shelling themselves again…………
    So the Polish false flag attack didn’t work now we’ll have a nuclear disaster…..

          1. I think if you visited you would have a different view of his mien. Especially if you were paying cash !

  96. Young jazz musician of the year..

    Oh dear , a young chap called Porret , looks like a young James Hewitt, playing guitar .. groovy .. abstract and he is lost in his music .. oh dear

  97. Clap for the NHS….

    “There was a 20 percent jump in the number of over 65-year-olds being diagnosed with common sexually transmitted diseases in England between 2017 and 2019, according to a report released by the Local Government Association (LGA) on Tuesday, with figures rising from 2,280 to 2,748.”

    1. I saw that.

      Oldies think that because they are the age they are , they won’t become pregnant , because they believe French letters are just for contraception .. or they will fire blanks or something like that… .. Oh dear .. what a shock to end up in an STI clinic

    4. I am sure that increase is not caused by …..let us call them normal people. These will be people who are not content and go out dogging or worse and don’t care about taking precautions. There are many clubs in our cities which thrive on debauchery. I have been to some of them.

        1. Under the arches in South London. I went to see. Then after one drink i left. Fisting is not my thing. Both men and women mixed. I prefer a tickle…with a feather…

          2. I don’t think they were there. Though the fur coat is suspect.

            I did find it a bit over the top so i tried another place called ‘
            the Block’….You had to be in full leather to get entry.

            No problem….. being a biker at the time.

            I went to the Bar and ordered a strawberry daiquiri as i always do in such places. This is no word of a lie but the person at the Bar next to me was Gaultier. He actually said to me ‘you smell nice’. And i responded with ‘yes…it’s yours’ and the fat frog said…’yes…I know’.

            Then…. peoples clothes seemed to begin to melt away…as did I.

          5. You know….if we were as young as we aren’t…we couldn’t have been something. O Tempura…we’re fried !

  98. Today would have been the wedding anniversary of our late Queen and Prince Philip- 1947.
    I remember because it is my son’s birthday today.

  99. Tablet (normal) time. Goodnight and God bless. My thanks to you all for your support during this difficult time.

    1. We don’t go far Tom. Hang in there and remember you have friends. These people were very supportive of me when I had some tough times and I am sure will be again in the future.
      Sleep well.

        2. “Is anybody there?” said the Traveller,
          Knocking on the moonlit door,
          And his horse in the silence champed the grasses
          Of the forest’s ferny floor……”
          And etc

          The Listeners- Walter de la Mare.

          1. I remember reading that one at primary school. Our teacher, Mrs Ralph, was quite keen on poetry. A lot of them were in my copy of The Golden Treasury.

          2. “Slowly, silently now the moon
            Walks the night in her silver shoon;
            This way and that, she peers and sees
            Sliver fruit upon silver trees….”

            I can recall the whole thing but won’t bore folk. Also de la Mare.

  100. Not off to bed yet but shutting down.
    Hospital appointment at 10 am tomorrow.
    Check on the 14 year old metal joint. Seems to be playing up.

  101. That’s me. Work tomorrow, and snow forecast – deep joy, all those BMWs who don’t seem to think that winter tyres are useful for them…

  102. What we wished we’d known about buying a new-build house
    Four months after moving into their new home, one couple are still dealing with an ever-growing list of construction faults

    Michael Gove has just announced plans to hold builders to account in a bid to stop new houses being so astoundingly shoddy. It can’t come soon enough. We were lucky, my wife and I, to be in a position to buy a house, seeing as just a short while after we did, mortgages became harder to get than Nobel prizes. We’re grateful for that. Now, with that proviso out of the way, it’s time to have a good old moan about the new-build we find ourselves in.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/buy/what-wished-known-buying-new-build-house/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

    Hang on a second Gove, you have been in power for 12 years, yet have ignored sustainable development .. thus allowing many housing estates to look like souless suffocating cruel squeezed in tight red brick monstrosities which have become Petri dishes for criminal activity.

    Once upon a time homes had space and decent gardens, they created solid foundations for a good family life, now it appears to me that many newly built modern homes have cramped tiny rooms etc, and no space for a car outside , and no space for a pram / pushchaiir/ wheelchair or whatever.

    2. I am going to put on my pedant hat. A house is built, it is not a home until a family lives in it. All those adverts some years ago “Barrett Homes” and etc. They do it in the US too. “Homes for sale.” No, they are houses for sale.
      The house we live in became our home when we moved in; before that it was an empty house.
      Edit for not typing well.

      1. That is true. I remember the house that the Fonz lived in above the garage. Most of those type of houses defaulted in the massive repackaging scandal where they caused the financial meltdown in 2009.

        1. I was in Georgia then- I certainly had no problems and nor did any of my friends. There were indeed people who were house rich but couldn’t afford basic furniture.

          1. Coming soon to houses over here.
            Contracts signed months ago when people believed that interest rates would stay low forever but it is a different story now with interest rates going up. Many young couples are becoming house poor rather than losing hefty deposits and penalties.

          2. Even the ones on fixed rate mortgages aren’t necessarily safe. Lynette Zhang has warned about this several times in the US. When the US moves from the LIBOR interest rate to one based in the US next year, apparently all these fixed rate contracts are up for negotiation, and she fears they will be set to a much higher rate.

          3. Can’t afford furniture then buy used. It is amazing what you can get on Facebook marketplace for a few hundred dollars.

            It makes this weeks ten thousand dollar dining room set less than a good investment.

        1. It became your home when you and Mrs. R moved in- and when you made it your own.
          I hope you are both happy there and not missing your former home.

          1. It was pure joy yesterday watching staff (the caretaker) clear snow from the paths and roadway. I do not miss my snowblower!

            You are right of course, it is almost home but renovations in the next few weeks wil finish the transformation.

    2. I hope it’s not real but wouldn’t be surprised. It is bad enough that we have to pay for their interpreters but no public signage should ever be in any language other than English (maybe dubbed with Welsh in Wales and Gaelic in the Scottish highlands). If the residents there do not speak English, then tough – if no interpreters or multi-lingual leaflets were provided (free to them) they would soon learn.
      They must be living on our taxes, even after years living here.

      1. That should be true for deportation hearings. If they don’t make the effort to learn English and tell the court why they should stay, send them back.

        2. On the other hand many English people live in France and never learn how to speak French.

          1. More fool them. How can somebody make the most of where they live if they don’t learn the language.

          2. It’s the same in Munich. There’s a big group of British professionals in the city who use English-speaking doctors, dentists, tax advisers, notaries etc and never learn German at all. If you go into the organic supermarkets in the middle of the morning, they are full of Home Counties bankers’ wives.
            I used to work with one of these expats (they are never immigrants!), and he complained that Aldi was full of Russians! I was getting irritated at his attitude, so I said, oh, foreigners like us, then?
            Another couple put their children in an English speaking kindergarten, and then when their eldest was school age, moved back to Blighty because “she couldn’t cope with German in the school,” thus depriving their children of the privilege of learning a second language.
            Mad!
            They are embarrassing.

      2. In France your documents are in French and you have to pay for your own translators.

        We still can learn quite a lot from the French!

  105. It’s probably not news to TB but…

    National Trust under fire over plans to demolish Britain’s oldest beach café

    Much-loved café to be bulldozed because of Trust’s policy to “live with” erosion rather than try to defend against it

    By Telegraph Reporters • 20 November 2022 • 5:00pm

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/90844c781a1641150d8c82b605f6f549ad10dbd5708adad04eee72a0275fd54b.jpg
    The National Trust has come under fire over plans to demolish Britain’s oldest beach cafe.

    For 114 years the popular and successful café has overlooked Middle Beach in Studland, Dorset, where Enid Blyton used to regularly go on holiday. But it is now facing closure as part of the National Trust’s controversial ‘managed retreat’ policy on coastal erosion. Despite the building currently standing about 60ft back and 20 feet above the shoreline, the conservation body insists it will be vulnerable. Because the Trust’s policy is to “live with” erosion rather than try to defend against it, the café is set to be bulldozed, leading to ten job losses.

    Paul Brown, who has run the café with his two sisters since 1989, was told he will lose his business on Jan 2, a decision which has proven unpopular in the community. More than 1,000 people, including some card-carrying National Trust members, had signed a petition calling for the café to be saved but to no avail. They believe the Trust should have spent about £15,000 to bolster the gabion sea defences there rather than demolish the café.

    Andrew Parsons, a local parish councillor and retired civil engineer, claimed what the Trust is doing is against its constitution. He said: “This is not what the National Trust should be doing. The Trust is meant to conserve buildings of historical value, not to autocratically decide to demolish them for reasons that are far from clear. That’s not what people join the National Trust for. I am a civil engineer and it is complete and utter rubbish that the café will fall into the sea. It will not do that in a million years. The café is between 20 metres to 30 metres away from the sea and there is a concrete ramp in between.

    “The National Trust has acted very badly indeed. They are pursuing an agenda which is at odds with the wishes of the local community and their own remit. Who knows what their ultimate aim is. There is no local support for demolishing the cafe. It will be a very foolish act of vandalism when it happens.”

    The Trust has submitted a planning application to Dorset Council to put up a mobile catering unit further back in the car park at Middle Beach as a temporary alternative to the café. Mr Brown declined to tender for the new unit and will be out of work when his lease for the café expires on Jan 2.

    The 58-year-old said: “The National Trust has decided that the time has come to get rid of the café. That’s the end of it. That’s 10 jobs all gone. I am sad to say goodbye, but I can’t fight nature and I definitely can’t fight the National Trust. We’ve tried – there have been petitions – but it hasn’t worked. In the long term, the Trust is not wrong but it is also not right either.”

    A spokesman for the National Trust said: “The coastal erosion at Middle Beach has reached the point whereby the current facilities are now on the cliff edge and will shortly become unsafe, so this move is about ensuring continuity of café and toilet facilities for visitors.”

    Julie Peters, Studland project manager for the National Trust, said: “Our café tenant has provided an amazing offer for visitors over the years. His lease is shortly due to come to an end and he has decided not to put in a tender for a new offer, which we hope to have in place early in the new year. Sadly climate change is having a visible impact on the coastline at this location and even the presence of the current sea defences has failed to prevent change over the last few years. At high tide, there is often very little beach at all. However, at Middle Beach, the issues are not solely due to sea level rise, but also from the changing weather patterns of drought and then torrential rain, which has caused significant cliff erosion.”

    Tracey Churcher, general manager of the National Trust at Purbeck, said: “Whilst we are unable to prevent the impacts of climate change, we are working in a pragmatic way to continue to provide the facilities that our visitors have come to expect. The best way to do this is to move the facilities to an alternative location before the erosion creates safety issues and sadly we are now close to that point.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/20/national-trust-fire-plans-demolish-britains-oldest-beach-cafe

    3. Do Tracey Churcher and Julie Peters think that there was no erosion of the cliffs before the industrial revolution, as they blame it on “climate change”?
      Perhaps they should question their religious beliefs about “climate change.”

      1. To attribute “climate change” to justify unpopular and possibly unnecessary actions in the face of a lack of scientific evidence requires an act of faith usually reserved for religions. Ergo, “climate change” has become a religion of sorts, an aggressive and controlling entity that demands obedience and immense tithes to enrich its ‘canonical’ leaders.

  106. It’s probably not news to TB but…

    National Trust under fire over plans to demolish Britain’s oldest beach café

    Much-loved café to be bulldozed because of Trust’s policy to “live with” erosion rather than try to defend against it

    By Telegraph Reporters • 20 November 2022 • 5:00pm

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/90844c781a1641150d8c82b605f6f549ad10dbd5708adad04eee72a0275fd54b.jpg
    The National Trust has come under fire over plans to demolish Britain’s oldest beach cafe.

    For 114 years the popular and successful café has overlooked Middle Beach in Studland, Dorset, where Enid Blyton used to regularly go on holiday. But it is now facing closure as part of the National Trust’s controversial ‘managed retreat’ policy on coastal erosion. Despite the building currently standing about 60ft back and 20 feet above the shoreline, the conservation body insists it will be vulnerable. Because the Trust’s policy is to “live with” erosion rather than try to defend against it, the café is set to be bulldozed, leading to ten job losses.

    Paul Brown, who has run the café with his two sisters since 1989, was told he will lose his business on Jan 2, a decision which has proven unpopular in the community. More than 1,000 people, including some card-carrying National Trust members, had signed a petition calling for the café to be saved but to no avail. They believe the Trust should have spent about £15,000 to bolster the gabion sea defences there rather than demolish the café.

    Andrew Parsons, a local parish councillor and retired civil engineer, claimed what the Trust is doing is against its constitution. He said: “This is not what the National Trust should be doing. The Trust is meant to conserve buildings of historical value, not to autocratically decide to demolish them for reasons that are far from clear. That’s not what people join the National Trust for. I am a civil engineer and it is complete and utter rubbish that the café will fall into the sea. It will not do that in a million years. The café is between 20 metres to 30 metres away from the sea and there is a concrete ramp in between.

    “The National Trust has acted very badly indeed. They are pursuing an agenda which is at odds with the wishes of the local community and their own remit. Who knows what their ultimate aim is. There is no local support for demolishing the cafe. It will be a very foolish act of vandalism when it happens.”

    The Trust has submitted a planning application to Dorset Council to put up a mobile catering unit further back in the car park at Middle Beach as a temporary alternative to the café. Mr Brown declined to tender for the new unit and will be out of work when his lease for the café expires on Jan 2.

    The 58-year-old said: “The National Trust has decided that the time has come to get rid of the café. That’s the end of it. That’s 10 jobs all gone. I am sad to say goodbye, but I can’t fight nature and I definitely can’t fight the National Trust. We’ve tried – there have been petitions – but it hasn’t worked. In the long term, the Trust is not wrong but it is also not right either.”

    A spokesman for the National Trust said: “The coastal erosion at Middle Beach has reached the point whereby the current facilities are now on the cliff edge and will shortly become unsafe, so this move is about ensuring continuity of café and toilet facilities for visitors.”

    Julie Peters, Studland project manager for the National Trust, said: “Our café tenant has provided an amazing offer for visitors over the years. His lease is shortly due to come to an end and he has decided not to put in a tender for a new offer, which we hope to have in place early in the new year. Sadly climate change is having a visible impact on the coastline at this location and even the presence of the current sea defences has failed to prevent change over the last few years. At high tide, there is often very little beach at all. However, at Middle Beach, the issues are not solely due to sea level rise, but also from the changing weather patterns of drought and then torrential rain, which has caused significant cliff erosion.”

    Tracey Churcher, general manager of the National Trust at Purbeck, said: “Whilst we are unable to prevent the impacts of climate change, we are working in a pragmatic way to continue to provide the facilities that our visitors have come to expect. The best way to do this is to move the facilities to an alternative location before the erosion creates safety issues and sadly we are now close to that point.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/20/national-trust-fire-plans-demolish-britains-oldest-beach-cafe

  111. Good night, everyone.I really enjoyed THE AFRICAN QUEEN. The only other time I had seen it was in the early 1960s in black & white on TV.

  112. When the fat clown Boris Johnson was deposed by his faithful conservative cabinet and colleagues his parting shot to his unfortunate successor was certain advice viz. to address climate change and support Ukraine.

    In that moment my already low opinion of Boris the Fraud plummeted yet further.

    Climate change is a total scam promoted by fake science in much the same way that the Covid scam was promoted. If we ignore that wretch Attenborough in favour of real science and observation we find that Arctic ice is growing in extent, that species of Penguins allegedly under threat are in fact multiplying, that supposedly dead coral reefs are in fact thriving and in good health.

    Likewise we witness the absurdity of the Ukrainian puppet Zelensky, appointed by Klaus Schwab and his repulsive mafia, firing air defence missiles into Poland in order to provoke WWIII, publishing fake photoshopped images of devastation where none exists, firing missiles at its own infrastructure and installations to frame Russia, demanding monies to fight his war with Russia (having committed genocide against Ukrainian Russians trapped in the Eastern provinces of Ukraine), laundering billions of donated U.S. dollars and re-donating back to the Biden crime family and Washington Democrats to fund their equally corrupt mid term election fraud, and rebuffing every opportunity to negotiate peace with Russia.

    In recent days we have watched the utterly demeaning and disgraceful spectacle of the two latest Klaus Schwab puppets, Black Face Trudeau (son of Castro) and Rich Sunak, making a stupidly staged video of their call to ‘Vlodymir’ where they intone support for their stooge ‘mate’ (Trudeau in a ridiculous Faux Russian accent) and promise yet more of the wealth of Canada and the UK to this layabout and his corrupt and tyrannical regime.

    I sincerely hope and pray to God that these globalist puppets meet their comeuppance. It cannot come soon enough for me.

    1. Indeed, it is very hard to see crime going unpunished and evil flourishing at the highest level.

  114. Many think me mad with The Great Reset agenda but every single thing western govt’s have done in the last 2 years or so is designed to destroy the middle class and a good proxy for ‘middle class’ is ‘SME’. Small business owners constitute the most independent thinking people in society and in the new world the gov’t needs only dependent non-thinkers in order to control them more easily.

    When you remove the middle class, you have Feudalism. In our case a technocratic feudalism where we have a simplistic society, those vanishingly few people who’ll own everything and the vast majority that own nothing. You will own nothing and you WILL be happy (or we’ll persecute you until you accept your place). Have you noticed how businesses have been edging towards more subscription-based commercial models? That’s how you live without owning anything (staples like food, energy & shelter never mind luxuries like a car) and boy are you then at the mercy of those who do own those things.

    So, no surprise here as rabid globalists and former WEF ‘young leaders’, Sunak & Hunt are just following the playbook which started in 2019. A script I would add that Liz Truss would not countenance and if you think I’m a fan of Truss you’d be wrong, I can assure she’s just one out of hundreds of fake conservatives currently in power, God help us.

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