Tuesday 27 December: Today’s celebrity ‘guest editors’ are an insult to hard-working BBC staff

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

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

512 thoughts on “Tuesday 27 December: Today’s celebrity ‘guest editors’ are an insult to hard-working BBC staff”

  3. Good Morning Folks,

    Clear skies this morning.

    I couldn’t have over indulged yesterday, clear head and all set for golf later

  4. Today’s celebrity ‘guest editors’ are an insult to hard-working BBC staff

    Celebrity now days means somebody with no talent that you have never heard of.

    1. They are, but I find it hard to get worked up about it. First world problems and all that. If your employer doesn’t appreciate you, leave and find one who does. Oh, wait a minute…

    2. ‘Hard working BBC staff’? That means no-one. The BBC only employ those who can speak down their nose and out of their *rse at the same time. Work is anathema to them. I know we have a lovely lady on here who is supposedly employed by them but I believe she is an agent of the fascist far right, ultra-extremist organisation that goes under the acronym Nottlers, or some such. I will make an exception.

  5. Morning all. Just having a look at today’s Terriblegraph and this caught my eye on page 9, concerning the authoress of Little Women:

    “… THE author of Little Women, the classic feminist novel, likely did not identify as a woman, it has been claimed.

    Louisa May Alcott wrote the semiautobiographical book in 1868 and it quickly gained popularity among young women of the period thanks to its depictions of non-traditional womanhood and realist style.

    The author’s own life, however, may have been even less traditional than those of her characters.

    Dr Gregory Eiselein, president of the Louisa May Alcott Society, has claimed the author was non-binary in an article for The New York Times. “I am certain that Alcott never fitted a binary sexgender model,” said Dr Eiselein, a professor at Kansas State University.

    He does not go as far as to suggest that Alcott was transgender, a claim made by Peyton Thomas, a trans man and novelist, in the same article…”

    I think we were better off when men had to work 6 miles underground in the coal mines and women were chained to the kitchen sink. At least we didn’t have time to gaze at our navels all day.

    1. It never seems to occur to these people that when someone doesn’t fit THEIR “binary sexgender model” that perhaps it’s the model that’s wrong rather than the person who is non-binary.

    2. What a load of verbose claptrap to say she might have been a lesbian.
      I know it will probably kill me but I am almost looking forward to the social collapse that these idiots have precipitated – at least I won’t have to put up with their drivel anymore.

      1. I’ve always assumed that Jo was the LMA character.
        Jo married a German professor about 20 years older than her.

      2. ‘Might have been’…. how they twist and turn to fit the political narrative and get those brownie points from their friends in academia.

  6. I must still have a full stomach from yesterday

    Wordle 556 6/6

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  7. 369325 + up ticks,

    Maybe someone like Alan Leggett ( perfect for ruffling a few bBc feathers) with his rap sheet maybe a full, well deserved, with a lisp, plucking.

    Tuesday 27 December: Today’s celebrity ‘guest editors’ are an insult to hard-working BBC staff

    1. Some guest editors that I would like to see…

      Gerald Celente (“…snivelling no-good little piece of shit politician…”)
      James Delingpole (“What we’d all like to know, Matt, is why DID your pub landlord get a government contract worth millions?)
      Neil Oliver (“Wud ye like to tell us what Klaus Schwab said to yu when yu were made a Global Young Leader, Mester Sunak?”)
      Lynette Zang (“Ya think the government cares about you? Ya think?”)

  9. Good morning all.
    Does anyone know about this?
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c4cd6694bc88c04f3f3a39abae38cca689936a8f2733c603843a79fcb68c9622.jpg
    The rate of movement appears to be speeding up.
    Terrible things are being hinted at by people who aren’t experts on t’internet. Apparently the magnetic south is advancing up the indian ocean. Would a reversal of the magnetic poles cause the ocean currents to change (and we would lose the gulf stream)?

    Someone on wallstreetsilver advanced the view that at least it couldn’t be blamed on humans – I suspect he under-estimates the high priests of marxism.

      2. The truly sad thing is, the EU and remoaners would probably say that.

        Due to the selfish actions of the Englosh leaving the great and glorious Union of wondrous subjugated regions, all hail the regions! We can no longer fight climate change and thus the planet’s axial tilt is changing.’

    3. All flippancy aside (structural hwite privilege etc) – it has flipped before hasn’t it?

      (Pun not intended but noted).

      2. I think it flips every 10 000 years, or so. It is due to flip again. I was amazed that the magnetic pole is not due to some solid bar of iron in the core but by the movement of maga flowing under the crust.

        OK. They didn’t teach that at Plod School nor when I did theology.

        I wonder what happens when it does.

        It might be food for thought that the last time it changed was just before history started.

          1. magMa
            I teach krav maga so my old fingers are used to that configuration.
            Its funny so I’ll leave it.

          2. No, but it’s his fault. That’s why the Democrats are expending so much administrative time and state power (you’d think such would be illegal) trying to do him in.

            What’s Biden afraid of?

          3. Losing his notes after asking a non-compliant journalist in the audience for a question? Lol.

        3. Reversal occurrences are statistically random. There have been at least 183 reversals over the last 83 million years (on average once every ~450,000 years). The latest, the Brunhes–Matuyama reversal, occurred 780,000 years ago. When it does start to change it usually takes about 7,000 years to turn completely.

          1. Ok – so its not sudden thing like flipping a switch?
            How do they know it happened – I mean, what changes in the material world does it provoke and would these be dangerous for us?

      1. OK, well I went to the effort of looking it up, and the results seem quite reassuring…
        https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012-poleReversal.html

        “Reversals are the rule, not the exception. Earth has settled in the last 20 million years into a pattern of a pole reversal about every 200,000 to 300,000 years, although it has been more than twice that long since the last reversal. A reversal happens over hundreds or thousands of years, and it is not exactly a clean back flip. Magnetic fields morph and push and pull at one another, with multiple poles emerging at odd latitudes throughout the process. Scientists estimate reversals have happened at least hundreds of times over the past three billion years. And while reversals have happened more frequently in “recent” years, when dinosaurs walked Earth a reversal was more likely to happen only about every one million years.

        Sediment cores taken from deep ocean floors can tell scientists about magnetic polarity shifts, providing a direct link between magnetic field activity and the fossil record. The Earth’s magnetic field determines the magnetization of lava as it is laid down on the ocean floor on either side of the Mid-Atlantic Rift where the North American and European continental plates are spreading apart. As the lava solidifies, it creates a record of the orientation of past magnetic fields much like a tape recorder records sound. The last time that Earth’s poles flipped in a major reversal was about 780,000 years ago, in what scientists call the Brunhes-Matuyama reversal. The fossil record shows no drastic changes in plant or animal life. Deep ocean sediment cores from this period also indicate no changes in glacial activity, based on the amount of oxygen isotopes in the cores. This is also proof that a polarity reversal would not affect the rotation axis of Earth, as the planet’s rotation axis tilt has a significant effect on climate and glaciation and any change would be evident in the glacial record.”

        It is a measure of the government’s duplicity over the last couple of years that when faced with a mundane, nothing-to-see-here report from a government agency, I automatically suspect they might be concealing something!!

    5. Yonks ago the poles were reversed, maybe it’s just the normal cycle – like climate change and global warming

    6. More worrying is that the Earth may lose its protection from solar wind radiation until it sorts itself out. We may end up with two heads apiece, and forget trying to get a signal on your mobile.

  11. Ukraine aims for UN-backed peace summit in February. 27 December 2022.

    Russia can only be invited if it has faced a war crimes tribunal first, says foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba.

    Ukraine is aiming to hold a peace summit by the end of February – preferably at the United Nations with its secretary general, António Guterres, as a possible mediator – according to its foreign minister.

    But Dmytro Kuleba said that Russia could only be invited if the country faced a war crimes tribunal first.

    They are going to hold a Peace Summit with only one of the protagonists present? This isn’t really about Peace or an end to the War. Like Vlad’s offers to negotiate it’s a Public Relations exercise. Neither side is prepared to quit yet. Russia cannot break off hostilities without having some territorial or diplomatic gains to show for their losses. Ukraine is totally dependent on US support and they won’t allow them off the hook until Russia has at the very least sustained real damage economically or politically.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/26/ukraine-aims-for-un-backed-peace-summit-with-russia-in-february

    1. Yes, it looks like that – but the Ukes version looks to me so blatant a pr exercise that even the dimmest would see through it. What if Russia responds “OK by us, but Ukraine must go through a tribunal to examine in detail the events leading up to the war”
      Two can play that game.

      1. The root of the trouble lies in that coup d’etat when Yanokovich was deposed after he reversed a constitutional decision made by his predecessor.

        All over the world, there are changes of Government where policies are reversed, and usually bring bad feeling in their wake. The Labour/Conservative ding-dong in the 1970s that eventually let Margaret Thatcher loose on the Left is a case in point.

        I argued that Ukraine could have benefitted from a constitutional monarch, such as King Charles III, who could insist on strict neutrality until one side or the other could secure a 2/3 majority for their position. Ukraine could then be on good trading terms with both the EU and Russia and a threat to neither.

        There is one uneasy comparison to be made though. What was the constitutional mandate achieved for the UK to enter the EEC back in 1973, other than the rubber stamp referendum over two years later? What was the constitutional mandate for various treaties as the EEC evolved into the EC and then the EU, with ever greater union and ever greater incursions on our sovereignty that ironically Tony Benn foresaw back in the 1970s? What was the constitutional mandate for the UK to leave the EU in 2016, where electoral anomalies denied the only truly Brexit party any workable form of representation in Parliament?

        It may well be that the same sort of thing would have made Government impossible in Ukraine, and sometimes executive decisions must be taken.

    2. Both sides are behaving like petulant children. America worse than the rest. Russia was never going to gain anything. You simply cannot hold a country under force of arms unless it wants to be – like France under German occupation.

      Russia realises it’s lost. Now’s the time to get talking.

      The problem is, Ukraine is a lot like Ireland is to us or Catalonia to Spain. The Donbass region is Russian ethnically and politically. It wants to be part of Russia. The Western half is not, yet it won’t let it go.

      1. Keeping the Russians away from “peace” negotiations is typical of the idiocy the West has shown. There was no question of the Russians keeping the Ukraine under force for of arms – they were always going to keep the Russian-speaking areas and they still are going to.

        Initially they would have left the rest of the country battered but relatively intact.

        The fact that Johnson scuppered the peace Zelensky had accepted last April and will now mean that Ukraine will be left in absolute ruins.

        1. Russia needs a face-saving way out. Then it’s all over. Rub their noses in it, and it’ll get nasty.

          1. The other day Merkel admitted in Der Spiegel that Germany had signed the Minsk agreements to give Ukraine time to grow stronger – in other words that she hoodwinked Putin.
            They will never trust anything we say again.
            I think they will ensure their security in the hardest way possible. It is we who need a way out.
            The trouble is that Russia is a nation and we are run by interests that sit in national flag jerseys.

          4. The Russians trusted a German? Was it because Angie’s formative years were spent in the GDR?

          5. He might have imagined that they would not sacrifice their own economy on the altar of St Greta.
            Silly boy. He won’t be making that mistake again.

      2. Before the 24th February 2022, I would have agreed that at least those two provinces in the Donbas, and Crimea would have opted to become part of the Russian Federation, even though there was strong opposition there from ethnic Ukrainians and Tartars that would not go away.

        I question that today. Even the Russian speakers have been horribly brutalised by Russia, and may well prefer to throw in their lot with Zelenskyy rather than to face the reality of living amid Russian brutality as it unfolds. It is just the long distance missiles, the Chechnyan mercenaries and the Iranian drones, rather than any Russian people who know what is going on, that would support ceding of these provinces to Russia now.

        There is a lot of work for the Kremlin to do, winning over hearts and minds.

  12. Ok I am now at the letters and this one caught my eye. My first comment – they would say that, wouldn’t they? And two – I do not trust a word an “expert” such as these purport to be says. I hope those letter-writers that live in the ULEZ find it impossible to get a workman (or work woman, of course) to visit them. I’m certainly in favour of workmen jacking up their prices to include an additional charge to cover the ULEZ.

    “ – As health experts and professionals with many years’ combined experience studying the impact of air pollution on patients, we are in full support of extending the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) to cover the whole of London (report, December 25).

    Getting the most polluting vehicles off the roads, as well as providing financial support for those who need it to make this transition, is one of the most effective ways to reduce emissions from road transport and improve air quality. This is what the Ulez does.

    The UK has the highest death rate from lung conditions in Western Europe, and London’s toxic air is firmly at the heart of this crisis.

    Air pollution across the capital is still breaching legal limits and it far exceeds safer World Health Organisation guidelines. In 2019, toxic air contributed to more than 4,000 premature deaths in London. The highest number of premature deaths each year due to toxic air is in outer London boroughs such as Barnet, Bromley and Croydon, which the Ulez does not currently cover.

    Improving air quality will also help to reduce health inequities. Research has shown that children living in the most polluted areas of London develop smaller lungs, and an increasing body of evidence shows the link between breathing in toxic air and developing heart disease, lung disease and dementia.

    Bold action is needed to tackle the huge health burden of air pollution, and we commend the Mayor of London for taking this important step.

    Kevin Fenton President, Faculty of Public Health
    Sarah Woolnough Chief executive, Asthma and Lung UK
    Martin Machray NHS England, London
    Dr Josephine Sauvage Sustainability Network NHS England
    Professor Stephen Holgate Special adviser on air quality, Royal College of Physicians
    Professor Frank J Kelly Imperial College London and 17 others; see telegraph.co.uk”

    1. I’ll bet every one of the signatories is firmly latched onto the taxpayer teat.

      The closest to private enterprise will be the ones connected with academia, who sell gullible young people pieces of paper with the letters “BA” or “BSc” on them.

    2. Debris from tyres and brake dust poses as great if not greater hazard than exhaust emissions, but is not mentioned. A touch of “do good for publicity” as opposed to a properly researched position.

      Google this search query for several items on the topic “polluting effect of tyre debris and brake dust”.

    3. Tell you what then all signed folk – you can personally – no expensing it – the costs of those tradesmen. When you get over ten thousand bills a day you’ll swiftly change your mind.

      But of course, you don’t care. You just want to control people. Most of the problem London has is down to massive over population. The simple solution is to remove half of it. Well over half the population are welfare dependent, so that’s a good start. Move them back to where they came from. Problem solved.

  13. Good morning all! Entering the 3rd day of our festive family bonanza! More turkey anyone? We went down to the Borders yesterday and just past Motherwell on the M74 the snow started! And continued…until there was a white out at Lesmahagow! We passed 5 gritter/snowploughs going North! Not one going South! Nikeliar wants us all to stay here! Finally got to the farm and had a wonderful time with the family there. Came back up via Edinburgh and not a flake of snow! Scotland eh? 4 seasons in 2 hours! Everyone is piling back here today so I’d better go and put some more sprouts on! Have a good day!

    1. Morning Sue. Thank God for Global Warming. Imagine how bad it would have been without it!

      1. I know, Minty! We were sooo lucky! Of course the enormous wind farm just south of Lesmahagow wasn’t ‘switched on’ at all!!

      1. Don’t tell anyone, but I left some at the farm for Fuzzy and Speedy, the chickens! Emma was a bit uncertain about giving them the bacon, but the chestnuts went down a treat!

    3. Morning Sue,
      I wonder if we are getting the edge of the American snow storms and if it will get worse for us.
      Portland was not affected by the storm but my granddaughters flight to Texas was cancelled. I hope to see them on my i-pad Wednesday or Thursday when they have a flight booked.

      1. Well, since I got up about 6am, the ice has thawed, the snow covering cleared and now it’s ‘flumping’! My darling mother came up with that after a couple of brandies! Very descriptive! The temperature is 1c

    1. Ah Stapleford, that odious toad.

      Some simple, basic facts: there should be no homeless people in this country. Not one. There is more than enough money to house and clothe such people, the state simply prefers to waste it on six figure trougher salaries for council officers.

      Tell me that a council wonk is worth 250,000 when their income is force backed, fixed, with no product, no risk, no promotion necessary, no competitors, no oversight. Someone?

      In addition, aside from disgusting mismanagement of public money, the simple fact is we are grossly overcrowded. Some of the recent immigrants are great. The vast majority are simply not necessary – such as the 70% Muslim unemployed. Labour imported them to create and enforce a voting block – nothing else.

      The state has forced a demented genocide on us economically, socially and culturally. What it forget is that it’s sitting on the branch it is busy sawing off. Oh, it’ll keep taxing the host, but ever less money will come in. Wasters will continue to complain about ‘da wich’ and Amazon paying their ‘fair share’ (why should they when taxes are NOT fair?) but such morons cannot be helped. They are not sufficiently bright to join 1 and 1 to get 2.

      We need reform. More, we need Reform. In fact, I’d go further. Shut down the entire political nonsense. Impose a system that gets things done, that strangles defra, that closes business, that abolishes the home office, that forces th epolice to police, that reforms health, that disbands culture and media, that brings the BBC to heel permanently, that forces the vampiric wokers into the open, that exposes the hypocrisy of the joilers, that roots out corruption, fraud and theft, that permanently unchains us from the hated eu and cuts taxes to send this country forward, rather than adding crud to the millstone of debt, waste and tax that is the public sector.

      In addition, deport every single illegal immigrant, imposes a stronger, more brutal justice system and boots the boy jones, jolyon, chakrabalti and those daft bints trying to hold the country hostage off a tall building.

    2. Rather you’d want to know which race discrimination law it violates.

      As my Nigerian neuro surgeon chum said in a pithy reply ‘

      ‘beeeeeeping beeeeepers’

    3. So employ the best person for the job then report that you’ve taken on a black one-legged trans-lesbian. Wots not to luv.

  20. Note that the EU corruption (I would say scandal, but fraud, theft, corruption are as common as excrment amongst eurocrats) has vanished. No further reporting whatsoever.

      1. You are correct, which is why ex-Commissioner Clegg should have declared an interest when he was doom-mongering on TV about the [invented] dire effects of leaving the EU.

        1. Ah, but there you have the hypocrisy as the Lefty has to argue either for child mining OR the fiction of climate change.

          Sometimes you can see the doublethink play out in their minds. Yet, Lefties are spectacularly good at holding two contradictory opinions at the same time. Hypocrisy is native to them, after all.

      3. There’s a good meme out there. It shows a coal train- wagons brimming with lovely coal and it is captioned:

        Fuel For Electric Cars

        That’s the truth- the whole Net Zero/Climate Catastrophe bandwagon runs on increased use of coal and oil and always will- while renewables make people choose between eating and heating. I ask people who are “true believers” to Google something like “Sahara desert, rivers, savannah”. The result tells them that 5,000 years ago, the Sahara desert was grassland with rivers that flowed to the Atlantic but “climate is dynamic” and it is now desert. It’s funny that nobody mentions reality and climate history.

    2. Ah, but that misses the point – the devastation required to make unreliables is all confined to other countries, so it doesn’t affect our carbon footprint until it’s actually here, when it’s all positive, therefore it’s fine!!

  22. Good Moaning.
    A snippet of information that we learnt yesterday.
    The friend who fed us v.v. well yesterday had a hip replacement in September. The operation was carried out by the NHS but in a private hospital. As C was asked the usual questions – allergies etc. – she remarked that the information was already in her notes. Apparently the NHS does not share that information with the private sector.
    Now – possibly this only applies to some Trusts or the staff may have misunderstood the situation, but it is worth keeping that factor in mind.

    1. Its my experience that they don’t tell each other anything either. You’ll get asked the same thing countless times by different people. None of them will have your records of previous operations or visits. I don’t quite know why they insist on this lack of information.

    2. She’s recovered well then. We have a friend who has been waiting for ages for hers to be done – last September she could still walk quite well, now she is hobbling in agony. She found she’s only just reached the waiting list for the waiting list.

    3. The problem with private hospitals is they have no emergency cover.
      If a patient has underlying health issues. The private sector can’t operate.
      I’ve been shunned for knee surgery twice.
      And most of the surgeon’s who work in the NHS run lucrative private practices alongside their NHS work.
      Hence the massive backlogs.

      1. I know it’s 24 years ago but when I had an anterior resection for cancer my surgeon came in to see me every morning at about 7am before going off to do his NHS stint and saw me every evening between 7 and 7.30 having finished his NHS list. I must admit that was B4 Blair and Brown decided to pay Consultants and GPs more for doing less. We must, also, not forget that then nurses nursed with experienced nurses to learn how look after patients. Now they have to have a degree and, I understand, don’t like the nitty gritty and have care assistants to empty the bed pans etc.
        Blame the politicians and NHS mis-managers.
        One last thought, it is fairly general that comments are ‘aren’t nurse’s wonderful but are Consultants evil’ it doesn’t seem right does it. Without the consultants the nurses wouldn’t have much to do.

      2. Hi Eddy. Do hope your recent problems are under control. As for the massive backlogs – these have been around to my knowledgesince at least the late 90s. I was a secretary, radiology department, in a private hospital and the then Labour government contracted with private hospitals to carry out multiple X-rays on NHS patients “to clear the backlog”.

        1. Thanks for the kind thoughts.
          I’ve been of the opinion for years governments have been trying to ‘fade out’ the NHS.

  23. Morning all 😉 😊
    A successful fun family day yesterday. I must admit I had to pop upstairs for a bit of a rest.
    But all went well. And our wonderful family managed to put all the furniture back into its original places. Before they left for their respective homes. Just youngest and his lady staying over. They can take doggo for a walk on this cold and frosty morning. Porridge becons.
    Slayders.
    Totally agree about the tiresome ‘celebrities’. Our usual comments are WHOTF Are they anyway. And what have they ever done to be recognised ?
    Titchmarsh seems to select some decent people for his TV programme. But none of them seem to trying to make and particular points.
    They just ‘pop in’ for a chat.

    1. Ogga, Chris. Browning’s book turned out differently from what he expected, IIRC. Presumably you know about the social psychologist Stanley Milgram.

      1. 369333+ upticks,

        Evening T5,

        Stanley Milgram.

        Not my line but an interesting read, the
        willing high percentage does show in many cases the beast is not far below the surface.

  26. Good morning all.
    Not quite -1°C outside but at least it’s not raining.
    A bit of a panicked start to the day, the DT misread the Christmas milk order sheet last week and thought there was a delivery today so guess who had to have a quick dash to Wirksworth Co-op just now!

    1. Couldn’t you keep a cow on your less-than-level garden, BoB? Lol. (Good morning, btw.)

  27. Breakfast in Wetherspoons. It’s like Soviet times – there’s a shortage of eggs, and potatoes for hash browns. The eggs are substituted by, amongst other, hash browns.
    Shortages everywhere, including trains and working public ‘services’. Expecting queues for petrol next.

    3. “Hash browns” (in reality a bastardised Swiss rösti) have never been part of a proper British breakfast, therefore they will not be missed.

      2. Not keen on hash browns, but fried potatoes are a wonderful addition to eggs, bacon and black pud!

        1. During our little jaunt in Sarajevo (IFOR) in 95-96, our chefs used to make fried potatoes for breakfast. Lovely with fried eggs.

      3. Our NATO cookhouse dining facility in Maastricht had mostly US and UK customers so the food reflected that. The chefs made hash browns for breakfast, made from freshly shredded potatoes and cooked on a griddle. They were fine.
        The Germans have something similar called Reibekuchen.

        1. The owner of the downtown LA hotel, that I stayed in back in 1980, had kitchen staff to cook the food; but his treasured pile of seasoned grated spuds were his pride and joy. He would tenderly caress and pamper them for, seemingly, hours until he was satisfied with their ‘doneness’. They were really just a huge rösti, but they tested delicious.

    1. Germany’s Energy Suicide? Nothing here about the Americans blowing up the Baltic Pipeline!

      1. One assumes, that the Germans now take their orders from Washington- as everybody else is expected to do.

    2. I thought this- the top comment was interesting:
      Being from Germany, I can totally confirm that our energy suicide is indeed a reality. Working as independent product developers, we could see a spike of qualified engineers from manufacturing companies suddenly applying for jobs in 2nd-tier companies, as well as an increasing number of projects across various industries being “postponed” or cancelled altogether (starting around 2015). When I shared my observation together with my suspicion that we are in fact seeing a hidden war against manufacturing started by those in power in Berlin and Brussels with an official from the German unemployment agency, the reply was “as a private person, I can confirm your observation” … the German energy suicide is not an unintended consequence, it’s a deliberate strategy to destroy specific parts of our economy, to re-distribute wealth and to make large parts of the population heavily dependent on the mercy of a “green” but de-facto socialist state.

      1. This is Achnasheen an hour ago 😘https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/18caf141c5f6dce1c355596034c2b094fef6a0579d384560de9b376f75e60d6f.jpg

    4. The next stage will be to allow women out for fifteen minutes; the Jewish population will be allowed out for one whole hour, but only when the shops are closed and it’s raining.

  34. Why 2023 will be another ‘year of Boris Johnson’
    In the year ahead, the former prime minister is set to push his case for being the best-placed Tory to win the next election

    Ben Riley-Smith : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/12/27/boris-johnson-will-make-political-comeback-2023/

    Another BTL from Percival Wrattstrangler.

    With or without Johnson the Conservative Party is finished.

    If Johnson really wants to be prime minister again he must drop his absurd green agenda and convince the voters that he will resign within six months if he has not sent all illegal immigrants back whence they came, scrapped the NI Protocol, left the ECHR, restored British fishermen’s exclusive rights to fish in British waters and formed a new right wing party if The Reform Party refuses to have anything to do with him.

      2. I think Mr Wrattstrangler is right about the Conservative Party being finished. But I think it is unrealistic and naïf to think that Johnson would ever implement such commitments even if his wife allowed him to make them in the first place. Johnson failed to honour virtually all his election pledges in 2019 so I doubt if he would be trusted again.

    1. Excellent. A friend has his own method of dealing with unwanted calls: after the preamble he asks the paid nuisance ‘Did I ask you to call me?’.

    2. …if it shows the public it is on their side…

      Whilst a180 degrees turn in policy is not unknown within the political sphere, and especially amongst the rogues within the current Tory party, and as this particular turn would involve creating benefit for the people there is literally no chance of this event happening. Whatever has prompted Dim Theresa to present such a forlorn hope to real Conservatives? I think I answered my own question when I used the word Dim

  38. Something nice….this year is the 100th anniversary of the publication of The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. Such a sweet and gentle tale and highly recommended for those with young grandchildren. You just never know what might happen….

    1. Wouldn’t it be fun to spend the entire day talking about Margery Williams Bianco and children’s literature, and the overlap beyween magic and science fiction? Somewhere I have an old copy of the Velveteen Rabbit, and I see from wiki that her last book was ‘Forward Commandos!’.
      Are you familiar with a film called ‘The Last Mimzy’?

      1. I can bleat on about children’s lit for hours 😉
        Yes, I have a vague memory of the film.

      2. “the overlap between magic and science fiction?”

        That would have been called the “Sword and Sorcery” genre back in the 60s and 70s.

  39. The idiot, Theresa May, was interviewed on Radio 4 this morning. It is unusual for the BBC to have a comedy programme so early in the day.
    Every Tory Prime Minister for the past fifty years, from Gay-boy Heath to Riski Sunpak, was selected because they were thought to be easily manipulated by the back-room boys – muppets, in other words. The one exception was Thatcher, they got her wrong, she had more b*lls than the rest of them put together. I would love to know the names of the present ‘grandees’ who have their hands (and perhaps something else) up the backside of those on the front bench. Any suggestions?

    2. Those back-room muppets (puppet-masters) were getting it wrong way before ‘Hello Sailor’ Heath.

      They chose the ineffectual Macmillan when RAB Butler was the stand-out candidate; and they selected Alec Douglas-Home when Reginald Maudling had far stronger credentials. The thought of those two becoming PM (as well as Enoch Powell as an alternative) gave those string-pullers conniptions!

    2. Brexit hasn’t even been tried. Every single policy we’re lumbered with is to remain aligned with the EU. He can’t be that bright if he doens’t know this.

        1. He is a “scientist” who is a great one for following the science – which is, of course, settled…..

    6. When brexit has been fullly completeed taking us back to how we were befiore we joined. Give it five years then look at it. We must never re join.

      1. I agree completely, but we will never be given the choice. It’ll be by stealth, in ways people don’t understand. For example, they’ll say ‘we must rejoin the single market’ and no one will realise that means complete subservience to the EU, but the sale will be the other way around.

    7. As bad as Daft Dickie Dawkins who thought the decision on the Brussels dictatorship was too difficult for the people and should have been for a panel of experts to make.

      1. Yes, of course it should. He meant people like him. Who would have refused us exit.

        Lefties are very, very big on controlling what other people can do and say.

    8. Well, Verhofstad’s opinion of a “con” is right, the UK hasn’t left.
      I’m coming to a conclusion that the only solution to getting quit these traitors and backsliders is a coup d’etat, short-term dictatorship, with many walls pockmarked by bullet-holes, and a complete restart that doesn’t involve any of the existing crew.

    9. “Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt mocked Britain’s and called leaving the EU a ‘con’.

      That’s better, if you’ll excuse my French.

  41. Ye Gods! Or should that be Ye Goods?

    “Two months after terminating its sneaker partnership with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, German sportswear company Adidas has been holding the bag of more than a half billion dollars worth of Yeezys, a new report from the Financial Times revealed.

    Current and former executives confirmed unsold Yeezy shoes in Adidas warehouses are worth $530 million in potential revenue. They said Adidas is trying to find ways to sell the shoes under its own brand to avoid a massive impairment charge. “

    1. I don’t understand buying brand names from ‘celebrities’. It’s idiotic. The product is the same, made in the same country by the same workers.

      Only a dribbling berk pays another £50 for someone else’s name on them.

  42. 369333+ up ticks,

    He is treacherous but now there is a super treacherous level one can sink to and join the bog man b liar & super treacherous treasa, johnson has not got it, he may stand a chance if he got shot of the current wife.

    Why 2023 will be another ‘year of Boris Johnson’
    In the year ahead, the former prime minister is set to push his case for being the best-placed Tory to win the next election

  43. Terribly sad, but interesting, especially in the light of Gates’ last pandemic exercise, which simulated a virus that kills children more.
    https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/49/9/1405/301441

    “The high case-fatality rate—especially among young adults—during the 1918–1919 influenza pandemic is incompletely understood. Although late deaths showed bacterial pneumonia, early deaths exhibited extremely “wet,” sometimes hemorrhagic lungs. The hypothesis presented herein is that aspirin contributed to the incidence and severity of viral pathology, bacterial infection, and death, because physicians of the day were unaware…”

    Experts were as lethal back then as they are now, it seems. I shall be very suspicious when the next pandemic rolls around.

    1. I have been suspicious of all government diktats about medicines ever since I took statins. If the government recommends it steer well clear if it.

      2. I came across a study on statins that showed there was no difference in life expectancy between those who took them and those who didn’t.

        1. Yes. Last year my doctor said “she was obliged to ask me to take statins because my age and profile indicated I had a 50% chance of having a heart attack” to which I replied “that means I have 50% chance of not having one” she agreed. I asked what my cholesterol level was and she said it’s marvellous at 3.5. End of conversation.

    2. My mother always disputed the received wisdom that psoriasis is hereditary. My youngest brother and I have it and recent research now suggests that it may be a side effect of the polio vaccines. Safe and effective. Leeching was once The Science.

      1. As is scoliosis apparently – a side effect of the vaccines, that is. Read ‘Dr Mary’s Monkey’ for more info on the polio Salk vaccine. Poppiesdad says it is gripping, I’ve not yet read it. I am beginning to suspect that vaccines are responsible for a lot of our illnesses.

        1. A doctor in the US kept a record comparing heath outcomes for all the children who had had all childhood vaccines with those who had rejected them in his practice. The vaccinated were always turning up with some infection or other, but he barely saw the unvaccinated. I think when he tried to publicise the date he had his license revoked. Sorry I don’t have a link. It was some time ago I read/heard about it.

      2. Sue, do you know the best treatment for it? A friend is said to have it, but the doctor prescribed stuff is not working.

        1. Did the doctor prescribe Vitamin D cream? When I have the dry scabby patches, aqueous cream is helpful but big breakouts look superficially like chickenpox, though there are significant differences. Those episodes are stress and food triggered. Calamine lotion calms it and sitting still for a couple of hours after a meal is essential. Where calamine doesn’t help, Vit D cream is prescribed. Almond oil used to help with the scalp but the dry red patches there seem to have gone with age.

          2. I haven’t, no. The daughter of one of my work colleagues has psoriasis and suffered a major outbreak covering 95% of her body after the covid jab. Another reason not to take it.

        2. A friend had a trip to the Dead Sea. Sunlight & salt water seems to have had a good effect.

        3. I am prescribed Dovobet cream which seems to work, though I only have very small flare ups, usually around the knees and elbows. Also Epimax liquid paraffin.

      3. I had my first ever bout of psoriasis eight years ago at the age of 58. Nobody in the family had ever had it.

    3. Richard Collier’s ‘The Plague of the Spanish Lady’ recounts an anecdote about a boarding house in the USA where the proprietor fed her inmates with vast quantities of boiled onions, and none of said inmates died of the ‘flu. Apparently that is due to sulphur compounds, but the point is that a healthy diet and lifestyle is a powerful weapon against illness; ALL medication produces side effects.
      A local dad was offered the opportunity to install mains drainage to his cottage back in the 1950s, and he replied “Dunno, no turd of mine has ever done me any harm.”.

    4. My grandfather’s younger brother died of pneumonia on 10th October 1918 in a field hospital in France, having gone right through the war since 1914. He was 32.

    5. I’ve just finished listening to an interview – link below – of former Prof Denis Rancourt in part of which he claims that the ‘Spanish Flu’ is incorrectly named: he states that recently tested lung tissue samples from victims indicate that bacterial pneumonia was the illness causing death, not an influenza infection. With anti-biotics decades away it is not surprising that a respiratory bacterial illness would cause much death.
      Whole interview about excess deaths and the causes during the CV-19 era is well worth an hour’s listening.

      Denis Rancourt – What Really Killed Millions

    6. I think the rehearsal for the next pandemic has lready been undertaken and it is due to take place in 2025.

    2. Dry ice was used in cloud seeding as a low temperature was needed to cause the chemical reaction with other ingredients such as silver iodide. I don’t know if dry ice is still the cooling agent but I’m sure we all know the chemical formula for dry ice.

  45. 102 children, 12 wives and 568 grandchildren: Ugandan farmer finally decides to stop adding to his family. Because his sixteen houses in Wigan are overcrowded and the council won’t give him another? Miserable Tory b***ards!

    1. With 568 grandkids, “decides to stop adding to his family“, I think he’s a trifle too late to shut the stable door.

      1. Should have been gelded years ago. They actually live in Uganda but will be coming over when the weather improves.

      1. The stud in question says he’s stopped breeding because he can no longer afford to support them all!
        If he can support that family why can’t our gimmegrants support theirs?

        1. A different Q is why if the gimmigrants haven’t improved their own country do we think they’ll contribute to ours?

          2. But that question is premised on the basis that gimmigrants think they’ll contribute to our country. They think no such thing.

  48. Breaking news:

    Downing Street announces that 92% of recipients of honours on 1 January 2023 will not be white. “This List underlines the enormous contribution made to the United Kingdom by BAMEs to whom the minority, imperialists should be eternally grateful.”

      1. Quite. They are collectors – and did ask if we knew anyone in the village who could do the cleaning….

      2. Yep, my essential tremor would love those. However, it wouldn’t matter. Beast would be up there and knock them all off in a flash. If he didn’t, Mongo’d sniff them and bash them to pieces.

          1. Then he must be an angel, rather than a larrge bear like blob of fur and attack tail.

            The cat, however, is binding it’s time. False sense of security and all that.

          5. People tend to give names to their pets that are redolent of their background: hence, a well-educated couple would call their dog “Sorbonne” or “MIT”.

            For that very same reason my mongrel is named “Workhouse”.

          10. Oh dear – I knew making a joke would be a mistake……………………………………..

          14. I know I have said it before, but so what.
            Relative of a friend once had a cute spaniel called Guess.
            When people admired the dog, they would of course ask its name, leading to an amusing few moments.

          15. One of my friends used to have a dog called Askim – similar response when people asked his name 🙂

          16. Yup, my parents once hired a holiday caravan called Why Worry. One of my brothers asked, “Mum, what’s this caravan called”?

          17. A friend once had a cat he called Trex. When I asked why he said, ‘When I can’t find him I shout, “Where’s that cooking fat?”.’

      1. You ought to see the rest of the house. A pal who was invited there told us it was like an over-filled, up-market antique shop!

        3. Took a look at Mother’s house today, the one we sold for her to pay for her care home.
          Oh, dear. Poor house, it’s heart.breaking.
          Some of the windows have been removed, leaving open holes. There’s a skip in fornt, where the lighter contents have blown all over the garden.
          The remains of the kitchen are in the conservatory, same with the expensive fitted bedroom.
          There’s no builders sign, the whole place looks abandoned.
          And Mother & I loved living there. Looks like it’s likely to be trashed and either left to squatters or to “go on fire”, or just be one of these wrecked houses you see dotted about the place.
          Oh, crap.

          1. God, that’s awful. I know I couldn’t go back to see any of the houses I previously lived in- especially south London.

          2. took the wind out of my sails, I have to say. After a visit to Mother that took 4 hours travel yesterday, hotel overnight, and a while today, plus 3 hours back.
            Sigh

          5. So sad, Paul, my heart goes out to you. Yes, one might say it’s just bricks and mortar but it is invested in your memories. Never worth going back, old troop. KBO.

          6. In the sales process, there were a lot of expectations over the renovations – the buyer was so eager to get going..
            Mother & Father moved in 1977. That’s the place I left, and cleared last summer. I like it.
            But yes, one needs to let go and move on.
            Sigh

  50. HoC Speaker Lindsay Hoyle says political turmoil has ‘damaged democracy…we’re still struggling to recover from Brexit…the Tory leadership troubles made us a laughing stock…get people to respect democracy.’

    Too damn right, Mr H! Had the political establishment establishment ‘respected democracy’ after June 23rd 2016, none of the nonsense that followed would have happened!

    1. Yes, but the state does not like or respect democracy. It far and away prefers that we hav eno say and just do as we’re told. When we don’t, such as off shoring and leaving the workforce, it sets about trying to force us back in through spin.

    2. If his titles would be removed his book would no longer be valid. He wouldn’t in line, thus wouldn’t be spare.

      As it is, the child is a prat, spoiled beyond measure who is being led about by a narcissist.

  52. 2 boxes of match makers and after eights. The warqueen is going strong tonight. We have run out of ferroro roche, no doubt she’s buying some more on the internet.

  53. That’s me gone for another day. Raining now. Will watch “The Detectorists” tonight. The tall, lanky one is the spitting image of my late son…!! Even he tended to agree…

    Have a spiffing evening eating leftovers….again.

    A demain.

    2. Watching it now, with mini intervals. This post-covid thing is weird; even leftovers have no flavour.
      Three years without a whiff of chinovirus, and it has to hit me when I should be out buying stuff in the sales and enjoying the fine weather.
      PS I enjoyed your recent self portrait; it depicted a gentleman who is clearly and quietly satisfied with his beautiful young wife, healthy cats, trim figure and comfortable home.

      1. Thanks for the hat-tip, Tim. I’ve just scrolled back through Bill’s posts and found the photo which he posted on Christmas Eve. A lovely photo, and well worth using to make Christmas cards for next year.

    1. Thank you. I’m glad he likes Gt St Barts so much but there are two mistakes in the article. The building dates from 1123, which is the 12th century not the 11th and it’s only at Evensong on the third Thursday of every month that the choir is “largely amateur”. The regular choir is professional. Occasionally the director of music brings his student choir from Royal Holloway College but that’s on special occasions only. Otherwise, it’s a nice piece!

      1. Nice.
        I had a festive cheese and onion sandwich. Wonderful!
        Just the right size and taste.

  56. Evening, all. Been a delight to have nothing to do and nowhere to go today! I gave the dogs a much longer walk than usual and took my time – ah, bliss!

    1. Yay! Me too – wordle that is, I don’t drive!
      Wordle 556 3/6

      ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
      🟩⬜🟨⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. I dredged a Double-Bogey Six!

        Wordle 556 6/6
        ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
        ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜
        ⬜⬜🟨🟩⬜
        🟨⬜⬜🟩🟩
        ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
        🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

          3. Have a large wedge of Stilton in the fridge for new year…
            Mind you, if I eat anymore in the next day or so, I shall explode!

    2. Bogie for me.
      Wordle 556 5/6

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

  58. Huge relief! Had not heard from my son over Xmas which is unusual and I was worried because of the storm. I checked the NC papers and his area had many power outages. They did lose power for a few hours on 23rd but the reason for radio silence was he that he had food poisoning from something they ate on 24th. He is OK now but a bit tender.
    He brought me to tears because he said how much he loved Christmases when he was younger ; how I did the house and etc.
    I am so glad they are safe and OK- food poisoning is not fun but, thank god, they are not buried in a snow covered car somewhere.
    Now I can relax and only worry about MH.

    2. I felt awful when I saw an article about a young woman of 22 who froze to death, or was asphyxiated, in her car near Buffalo in the USA. One survival technique is to rip up the upholstery so you can pad your clothes with the foam. Line the windows with paper from a road map or newspaper. When the snow stops, it should be possible to get some fuel from the engine and light a beacon.
      And just never ever drive in a harsh winter climate without a hat, coat and blanket, plus a few snacks.

      2. Buffalo always has harsh winters because of lake effect snow. The north and mid west of US are prepared for heavy snow etc. The south is not- hence my worry. This storm was nasty and I have experienced some horrible ones when in CT. Nothing like that however.
        And more snow is forecast.
        One year in CT the last named winter storm began with Q. Can you imagine how much snow there was?
        And no-one will believe me when I say I miss CT….great little state.

        1. There are always exceptions of course but why would anyone be out driving in the type of snow we had at the weekend. You couldn’t see where the roads started or ended and there were many deep drifts because of the high winds.

          If Buffalo was the same, the weather was so bad that snow clearing equipment was pulled off the road. It didn’t matter if you had snow tyres and all whrel drive, going anywhere in a normal vehicle was impossible.

          1. You and I know that but some people won’t be told. When I was teaching in GA there was an ice storm overnight and the roads were like glass. The stupid superintendent of schools did not close the schools; there was no power and the cafe staff used all the bread they had to make PBJ sarnies for the kids. (Peanut butter and jelly- which is grape jam.)
            Quite a few school buses came a cropper with kids on board. Luckily no injuries.
            My assistant and I did Library on Legs- went round the classrooms and read stories to give the teachers a break.
            The school superintendent took a lot of flack for that and rightly so.

  59. Watching The Dam Busters.

    I hadn’t appreciated that Roy Rogers was one of the cast with his horse.

  60. A couple of absolutely delightful moments during the past couple of days. The first was on Christmas morning when our grandson (not yet 2&1/2 unwrapped one of these and donned the hard hat, eye protectors and ear defenders….without any prompting!
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/10ec7d737e435e4f25a023ee692060c5c76668e5d422a361c65247d9ba292295.png

    The second was a walk on Boxing day with all the family as night fell around the grounds of Stourhead which had been lit especially for the event. It was rather magical: Just one shot as an example:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dc1db72f447b4f19efbfa055466d0207484e30890209e8cfde81a72d63396e1b.jpg

    1. Well spotted Corim. Deserves to be viewed by every Nottler (especially the bit from 9 minutes onwards!)

    2. In addition it appears 20% of the Chinese population have Covid and the numbers are heading towards 50% and according to the Beeb “Covid in China: People rush to book travel as borders finally reopen” What on earth can the Chinese authorities be thinking?

      3. I don’t know about the Chinese but our media are telling us that the health “experts” are expecting new, virulent covid strains to develop in China, therefore we must be careful, wear masks, yada and bloody yada!

      4. I do suspect the Chinese are about to spread another virus across the world. They are like yellow ants infesting every academic institution and spying for their country.

      5. I do suspect the Chinese are about to spread another virus across the world. They are like yellow ants infesting every academic institution and spying for their country.

    3. “Mr. Sunak refused to disclose whether he will profit from a surge in the share price of Moderna.” Of course he will just as his father-in-law’s company Infosys will benefit from Sunak’s taking us into a Central Bank Digital Currency as soon as he can. Billions and billions and billions to be made. It’s a win-win-win-win situation all round. Whatever happened to ‘conflict of interest’? It’s fading into the sunset along with the Nuremberg Code of Ethics.

      1. Fear not. We have their number. Many millions of folk are waking up to the monstrous activities of the likes of Sunak. Nuremberg 2 awaits the lot of them, murderous bastards “only obeying orders” will not wash.

  62. Goodnight, all. Oscar has had a reversion this evening to his former, agressive self. He was barking, threatening, guarding his dish (but not eating and he dropped a biscuit I gave him). Now, he’s quiet, has eaten something and has come to me for a cuddle. He’s seeing the vet next week for his jabs, so I’ll have to mention that to her. Let’s hope it was just temporary stomach ache and nothing more serious.

    1. As you have done for a long time, Conners: Softly, softly, catchee monkey.
      And endless love, which seems to be your speciality.
      KBO, mate.

    3. He could be bored, tired, frightened – a host of things. More important is he came back later for a fuss, so he isn’t frightened of you and knows you’re safe for him to go to.

      1. I put it down to food guarding (he’s awful about that) because he hadn’t finished the food in his dish. Once he’d emptied the dish, all was fine. He is odd. He can threaten to tear me in pieces then he’ll come and say, “sorry, I forgot. Can I have a fuss?” Of course, he gets one.

    4. Is the gale-force wind outside upsetting him? Sounds and crashes and bangs and flappings that perhaps we can’t hear – children are always naughtier/wilder when the weather is windy.

      2. The gale up their tail? Horses are the same. I think it was a food guarding issue, because he went back to normal as soon as he’d finally finished the food in his dish and he’s been fine today because he ate up straight away. He slept through the night as well. Who knows what goes on in their minds?

  63. Goodnight and God bless, GentleNoTTLefolk. I’ve had a bad day, so you’ll have to wait until the morn’s morn for the story.

      1. Very much appreciated, Mum. I’ve had a v lonely Christmas and am near to tears with longing for what might have been.

        Thank you – and others – for caring.

        1. Christmas really is just another day, Tom, and many will see that it starts the breakdown of their relationships, the day holds a mirror up to their expectations which are not met; families fighting and saying hurtful things to each other, in-laws getting on the out-laws nerves. I find it difficult because son’s wife’s mother has been ensconced for a couple of days when we arrive, whereas we, who live only 20 miles away, are invited round for the meal. I just find it difficult, it makes me feel that we are not part of the family but just visiting. Which in reality we are….. it is the same with every family occasion. We turn up for three hours or so, the in-laws are there for several days, because they live oop north. And today was to be our family day, but it was not to be. I realise it’s trivial and petty but I can’t help the way I feel. And our son’s wife frequently goes to visit her parents at the weekend in Harrogate and stays for several days. They have a much warmer, more physical relationship with our grandchildren. It’s just the way it is and I accept that now, but I found it very difficult for several years, and still do at times.

          1. I understand, Mum, ‘cos for me Christmas was just another day as well and I spent most of it bed, escaping my thoughts by just sleeping. I can empathise with the family relationships on all sides – my first wife was Irish and we were married for 37 years, so one mingled with a huge family without necessarily feeling part of it. Then I was married for 13 years to a Swedish woman, who had no real family to speak of except a son and a daughter.

            Of course that days sleeping, played pop with any chance of sleeping through the night and I did much the same yesterday (Tuesday) so I catch up by writing the sequel to my autobiography. It’s more a journal than the formal story of the earlier work. Now sipping beef tea and waiting to call the surgery at 08:00 , in 3½ hours.

  65. Well, today was a grey day. Here is my tale of woe. I was tired through having to get ready for our two sons, wives and our two grandchildren visiting today, one son&wife staying for a couple of days. I was also awake and prowling downstairs for 3 hours during the early hours of this morn, 2.30-5.30 am. Yesterday I made two Delia Smith’s squidgy chocolate logs, one vegan (ugh) one normal. It is a sponge base covered in a chocolate mousse, this covered in whipped cream, rolled into a log. Bedroom to get ready, dog to walk. 6.00 pm yesterday the phone rang….our younger son “we’re not well, we are fluey, we’re going to have to cancel tomorrow only J (elder grandson) is ok” This is the (sort of) vegan family. They had all only just been ill before Christmas; the parents are vaxxed. As well as the chocolate logs, we also had half a side of salmon defrosting. 9.30 am this morning, elder son phones to say that he and his wife won’t be coming, he is also fluey, his wife is just starting to come down with it, he has an ear infection and hip pain as well. Both of them are vaxxed too. So we have two squidgy chocolate logs to consume and half a side of salmon. In fairness I took the vegan (ugh)/squidgy choc log over to theirs early afternoon whilst collecting the elder, only-well-member-of-the-family grandchild to give the parents some peace and a chance to nap. This has not been a good Christmas.

        1. No calories in free food, I am told! Evening.. Was in the pub in Llanharry earlier. If you are passing by Pontyclun, pse call in.

    2. Christmas is over rated and over hyped, especially these days. This year, after 3 years of nonsense, people seemed to go crazy. Totally irrational behaviour for one day of the year.
      Put it behind you and tell the family to host next year…or ignore the whole rigmarole;-))

      1. Well, our younger son did do Christmas Day to which we were invited, as were the inlaws, but our younger son’s wife’s father had to return home Christmas morning before we arrived as he had been ill (sick) the previous day – he hadn’t been out on the town, he’s 70 and suffers from rheumatoid arthritis. Family are blaming his medication for this. Mother-in-law stayed for the turkeyfest, father-in-law was driven home oop north by their youngest son.

        I have been examining how I felt about all this, disappointment but I have decided I am ultimately relieved that I didn’t have to get out and scramble into my party dress once again.

        1. I used to put a posh frock on for Xmas evening….now I stay in my jeans and woolly sweater.

          1. It’s the only chance I get to wear a posh frock, such is our social life! – and not all that posh really, it has to be something that is multifunctional. I love jeans and woolly sweaters.

          2. I wore my Spitfire Christmas sweater 🙂 It’s the only festive clothing I own (apart from a Father Christmas suit).

        2. That’s a bit sad, Poppiesmum. Can you show us your dress? I’m convinced you look like a million dollars, and it’s a shame to miss out on some dressing up and pizzazz!

      2. My two sons divide their time over Christmas so I do Christmas Day and then they go to their father’s on Boxing Day. They might be back tomorrow. Then Thursday is the younger one’s birthday. It makes for a quiet break for us, especially as OH is convalescing.

      3. It has got crazier. I avoid live radio and TV and won’t venture to the shops from the beginning of October.

    3. Oh dear PM.,

      So sorry to hear about the family trauma and all your excellent yummy preparations , that is how things go .

      Keep clear of all the lurgies , Moh has a terrible cough, really rasping , I dug out some old antibiotics lurking in a drawer, risky but effective , he has had several very bad nights , no sleep .. so we shall see . Dog is improving , thank goodness , VET bill was huge but all the pills are hidden in nice meaty treats .

      You could give Poppy some salmon , you know , she will enjoy that .. You could buy / make some pastry and wrap your fish in that , bung it in the oven , and have a different treat .

      My son had an accident on the platform at London bridge station , slid on ice , fell down stairs fractured his foot and ankle , and as the were waiting for the bruising to go down before operating, have found he has also fractured his fibula.. all this happened 2 weeks ago , and why this wasn’t picked up initially on xrays is appalling .. because he was examined this morning and told the bad news about his leg .

      He lives in Worthing , and travel is so difficult at the moment .

      Also my coal delivery has not arrived .. we ordered it on December the 8th , all paid for !

      We have just watched on our TV, Top Gun , Maverick .. Tom Cruise latest film . Very entertaining , he is rather cute .. The chaps here enjoyed it also .. they love big aircraft noise ..and action .

      All the best plans are sometimes sent askew , so please relax and enjoy the cake 🍰

        1. I hope so , but to have discovered today he had also broken his leg has not gone down terribly well..

          I am shocked , his fibula, below the knee.. as well as his ankle bones and foot bones .. which will be plated and screwed .

      4. First of all, I am so glad Jack has rallied, Belle. Poppie has been off her food yesterday and today, having really enjoyed and wolfed down her turkey dinner on Christmas Day. It worries me so. I will try her with some salmon. Vet bills are enormous, we were into the £2000 plus area, on the first afternoon after she collapsed – x-rays, scans, an afternoon’s hospitalisation, nursing care – in the end I had to say to myself “it’s just numbers, just hand over the card and don’t get emotionally involved with it” – we don’t have insurance because it was never valid from the UK when we were in France, and vet bills and products in France were only half the cost they are here. Our vet is skilled at talking one into further tests… it’s not that he works at persuading you, he simply says something like “now I’d just like to check the creatinine/cortisol/whatever levels this time,” and before you know it, another £200+ is added to the bill.

        The cough is really bad with this virus, it would wake me up during the night and I would come downstairs so Charles (and Poppie) could get some peace. The tickle in my throat was frantic. Alf the Great’s tip of a teaspoon of neat honey really helped my sore throat and cough. I hope your antibiotics do the trick and shorten the duration. My lurgy attack started on 9 December, Date of Completion yet to be finalised.

        I do hope you have an alternative method of keeping warm. So sorry about your son, it is unforgivable that the fractured fibula has only just been discovered, and after two weeks. This would never have happened once upon a time, the nhs is truly collapsing around our ears.

      5. Yes, Maggie, Christmas can be a real turn-off. High expectations and they come to naught.

        “Man proposes; God disposes.”

      6. Glad Jack is doing well. Sorry about your son’s leg. I like salmon with the skin sliced off, lightly seasoned with salt, pepper, olive oil and dill, then grilled, turning halfway through. With boiled new potatoes and salad in the summer, with nice homemade chips in the winter. Your coal merchant needs shooting, Belle.

        1. I wrap the salmon with the dill in a thin sheet of puff pastry. Bake. Served with a dollop of hollandaise.

          1. Salmon Wellington?
            We had Beef Wellington on Boxing Day with son, dil and grandson. All agreed it was the best beef we’d ever had. Fillet bought from Morrisons.

          2. Yes. I like to make them in individual portions. Mini Wellingtons. Make them and freeze them. Then they are ready for a nice supper with no hassle.

            Morrisons is good quality. We had leg of lamb on boxing day cooked and served by friends. A joy it was.

    4. Ah, bugger, Poppiesmum. I’m sorry about that, after all your efforts and hopes. That’s a real bummer. Doesn’t help the disappointment, though. 🙁
      Have a Norwegian hug from Devon! Hope that helps!

    7. The vaxxes seem to make people more susceptible to illness. Igor’s post of a couple of days ago throws some light on the reasons for that.
      I’m so glad I didn’t have any boosters. I was lucky to have no reactions to the AZ jabs which have also caused a lot of harm.

      1. No boosters here either but MH’s stent blocked, red spots on my arms still appearing and swollen foot. All after the two AZ jabs. No info from X-rays at end of Nov.

        1. I dodged a bullet there with the AZ jabs but can’t help wondering if the heart troubles were caused or exascerated by the three Pfizer jabs.

      2. I think Christmas is the time of year when there’s too much hugging and kissing and get togethers. It’s just asking for infection rates to soar, and I don’t just mean Covid.

        1. I disagree mola. You can never have too much hugging and kissing and get together. Infection and viruses are all around us all the time and if we hadn’t been imprisoned for 2 years+ our immune systems would have coped as usual. And don’t forget illness is not unusual at all at this time of year.

      3. Victor Borge was way ahead of his time. Is this the driving force behind these experimental injections?

        My father invented a cure for which there was no disease and unfortunately my mother caught it and died of it.

        Victor Borge

    8. I’m so sad to hear your obvious disappointment, Mum.

      Take heart in that your current problems have far out-weighed mine, and I know that you are strong enough to overcome the seeming lack of commitment. I know the feeling.

      Go on, girl, overcome it and have as good a day as is possible, despite the outrageous slings and arrows of fortune.

      As you say, we are here to bolster you in any way we can.

      1. I was just trying to say in my ham-fisted way, Tom, that you are not by yourself in this, that Christmas is not all its cooked up to be and we have to get through the day as best we can (and in my case with as good a grace as I can muster).

        2. Bless you, pm! What a huge disappointment for you especially when you’re all geared up for a treat. Take care and thinking of you. 💐

          1. Oh, thank you, Sue. I realise of course that these things happen, and of course that they cannot help being ill. My main worry is our vaxxed sons and their families, the breast-fed younger child which our treacherous nhs said was perfectly ok. Those are my main worries… but they go spinning off like the sparks from a catherine wheel to grab and burn whatever else they can land upon. Such is the nature of an anxious person😘

          2. The joys of children who will always be your children, no matter how old they are, and then they become mothers, and then it goes on! And being anxious is not so uncommon as you might think! 3 o’clock in the morning is the worst time! Everything goes through your head!

          3. 3.00 am most definitely is… I have been on the prowl around the house several times this week with thoughts whirling around my head, unable to return to sleep. It is strange how they dissipate during the daylight hours, like will-o’-the-wisps in a mist.

          4. It’s like trying to remember a dream. When you wake you can see everything clearly then as you try to remember it the pictures just disappear and you can’t catch them!

    9. There are an awful lot of, I have to say flu-like (although not as bad a a true flu) symptoms, doing the rounds currently. At least you can spoil the only healthy grandchild with salmon and chocolate logs.

    10. Buggeration !

      Almost all of my guests had symptoms too. We went ahead anyway, though on the second day one was bedridden until 2 o’clock.

      You can refreeze salmon once cooked. Best option is to then make a salmon and broccoli quiche.

      1. Thanks Phizzee. I wasn’t sure about the refreezing. The salmon and broccoli quiche is a good idea.

    11. Oh goodness what a disappointment for you, so sorry. And after all your preparation. Maybe New Year?

    12. Not a good day by the sound of it.
      If you need any assistance getting that salmon eaten give me a yell!

    13. Oh dear – and difficult to freeze. Make the logs into ice creams…

      Christmas chez nous has not been the best ever, either. Never mind, onwards and upwards…

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