Monday 30 January: How the Conservative Party can move on from the Zahawi debacle

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.

666 thoughts on “Monday 30 January: How the Conservative Party can move on from the Zahawi debacle

  1. Good Morrow, Gentlefolk. Here is today’s story:

    Almighty then…

    There was a small church in Texas that had a very big-busted organist. Her breasts were so huge that they inadvertently bounced and jiggled the entire time she played the organ. Unfortunately, she distracted most of the congregation considerably, both male and female.

    The very proper (and not nearly so blessed) church ladies were appalled. They insisted something had to be done about this or they would have to get another organist.

    So, one of the ladies approached her, very discreetly, and told her to mash up some green persimmons and rub them on the nipples of her breasts and maybe they would shrink in size. She warned her to not eat any of the green persimmons, “…because they are so sour they will
    make your mouth pucker up and you won’t be able to talk properly for a week!”

    The perky organist agreed to try rubbing the persimmons on her nipples.

    The following Sunday morning the minister got up in the pulpit and said….
    “Dew to thir cumsthanthis bewond my contwol, we will not haff a thermon
    tewday.

  2. How the Conservative Party can move on from the Zahawi debacle

    Select Bridgen for party chairman?

  3. Boris Johnson says Vladimir Putin threatened to kill him ‘with a missile’. 30 January 2023.

    After the then prime minister described the likely sanctions response to a Russian invasion of Ukraine, Putin replied: “Boris, I don’t want to hurt you, but with a missile, it would only take a minute,” Mr Johnson recalled.

    The revelations come in a new three-part documentary series titled Putin vs the West which is to be shown on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.

    The programmes, which start on Monday, chart how the West has struggled for over a decade to deal with Putin as he grew in power on the world stage.

    Sigh! There will be a three part documentary about the Channel Crossings and the government’s response to them the week after!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/30/boris-johnson-says-vladimir-putin-threatened-kill-missile/

      1. Morning Johnny. I think it’s a little creative. There seems to be some doubt about whether that is what he actually said! Relying on Boris’s truthfulness is problematic at the best of times. The content of these exchanges is supposed to be secret for obvious reasons. No one is going to engage in a frank discussion if they think it’s going to be on the front pages the next day. As always Vlad’s behaviour is impeccable compared to the rubbish that represents us!

      2. Yes, as Araminta says, “creative” is the word that sprang to my mind.
        Up there with the stories he told Marina for 25 years when he returned home with a lip sticked collar and smelling of a different scent.

  4. An overnight contribution from Nagsman

    Hi folks,

    As I was lying around, pondering the problems of the world, I realized that at my age I don’t really give a damn anymore. If walking is good for your health, the postman would be immortal.

    A whale swims all day, only eats small stuff, drinks water, but is still fat.

    A rabbit runs and hops and only lives 10 years, while a tortoise doesn’t run and does mostly nothing, yet it lives for 150 years!

    And you tell me to exercise?? I don’t think so.

    Just grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked, the good fortune to remember the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference.

    Now that I’m older here’s what I’ve discovered:

    1. I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.

    2. My wild oats are mostly enjoyed with prunes and all-bran.

    3. I finally got my head together, and now my body is falling apart.

    4. Funny, I don’t remember being absent-minded.

    5. Funny, I don’t remember being absent-minded.

    6. If all is not lost, then where the heck is it ?

    7. It was a whole lot easier to get older, than to get wiser.

    8. Some days, you’re the top dog, some days you’re the fire hydrant.

    9. I wish the buck really did stop here, I sure could use a few of them.

    10. Kids in the back seat cause accidents.

    11. Accidents in the back seat cause kids.

    12. It’s hard to make a comeback when you haven’t been anywhere.

    13. The world only beats a path to your door when you’re in the bathroom.

    14. If God wanted me to touch my toes, he’d have put them on my knees.

    15. When I’m finally holding all the right cards, everyone wants to play chess.

    16. It’s not hard to meet expenses . . . they’re everywhere.

    17. The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.

    18. These days, I spend a lot of time thinking about the hereafter . . .. I go somewhere to get something, and then wonder what I’m “here after”.

    19. Funny, I don’t remember being absent-minded.

    20. HAVE I SENT THIS MESSAGE TO YOU BEFORE…….? or did I get it from you……?

  5. Morning all,

    Government and NHS finally decide to keep patients at home with an oximeter and thermometer.

    As you may have seen from my Avatar I’ve been doing that for yeats already.

      1. Introducing hi-tech solutions to modern day problems always carries unintended conequences.
        One of the problems of usiing an oximeter in a hospital setting is known as alarm fatigue – ill peoples’ monitoring alarms tend to go off inappropriately and when a real alarm goes off it’s tempting to just to cancel it.

        It’s the same with all modern vehicles when Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) can just be cancelled through the On Board Diagnostic port (OBD2) by roadside assistance or the dealer.

  6. Morning all,

    Government and NHS finally decide to keep patients at home with an oximeter and thermometer.

    As you may have seen from my Avatar I’ve been doing that for yeats already.

      1. 370488+ up ticks,

        Afternoon FA,
        Complete & utter, if it had a streak of treachery within would make a politician.

  7. Richard SK will be sad:

    We rejected the petition “Cancel Net Zero.” that you supported

    Petitions: UK Government and Parliament

    Dear Tom Hunn,

    Sorry, we can’t accept the petition you supported – “Cancel Net Zero.”.

    It included confidential, libellous, false, unproven or defamatory information, or a reference to a case where there are active legal proceedings.

    We cannot accept petitions that make false or unproven claims. This includes unsubstantiated claims that the UK’s move to net zero will do nothing but move emissions from the UK to other parts of the globe. We have published the following petition, which you might like to sign: A UK wide referendum on the forced introduction of the 2025/30/50 and EV rules: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/625673

    We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards:
    https://petition.parliament.uk/help#standards

    Thanks,
    The Petitions team
    UK Government and Parliament

    1. “…claims that the UK’s move to net zero will do nothing but move emissions from the UK to other parts of the globe.” – of course it will! Now all manufacturing has moved to China, who open new coal-fired power plant weekly, the CO2 will go with it!

      I guess at least someone read the application.

      1. And Mini moving manufacturing of the electric car over there.

        The state is stupid and mendacious.

    2. Well, their reply to you was a joke, but not the one we usually expect from you, Tom.

        1. Yes, but I got up late and forgot to click on oldest. And I am posting this to show that I haven’t eaten any green persimmons. Lol.

          1. If only the people going to university were like that. These days it’s hard to find a white person on a university website.

          2. Type of fruit.
            Also what my friend in GA calls her mother in law- behind her back. I think it is a bitter fruit.

    3. Have they explained which bit they consider under each component?

      What is confidential? What is libellous? What is unproven and defamatory? Quite obviously they just want to shut the debate down.

  8. Middle East on a knife-edge. 30 January 2023

    The visit to Israel by Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, has been planned for some months but is particularly timely given the upsurge of violence in recent days. This particular cycle began when Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) carried out an anti-terrorist operation on the West Bank in which nine people died.

    On Friday in Jerusalem, a jihadi gunman killed seven worshippers arriving at a synagogue for prayers at the start of the Jewish Sabbath, the deadliest attack in Israel for more than 10 years. In a separate incident an assailant shot at five people, leaving two critically injured. Rockets fired into Israel from Gaza prompted a response from the Israeli air force.

    It’s all going down the toilet! Time to get your Iodine tablets in!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2023/01/30/middle-east-knife-edge/

    1. Good morning, what came first? The timing of tbe planned visit, or the upsurge in violence?

  9. Lady Susan Hussey accompanies the King to church in return to royal fold

    The late Queen’s former lady-in-waiting given apparent vote of confidence in wake of ‘immensely distressing’ controversy

    By Neil Johnston, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
    29 January 2023 • 5:04pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/royal-family/2023/01/29/TELEMMGLPICT000323662614_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqkyrNkuNts8z1o5MEns8nsSqxjOYp6jQVimjLmvgWxxw.jpeg?imwidth=1280

    BTL:

    Daniel Lo Presti
    14 HRS AGO
    It was an “immensely distressing period”, for only one of the parties involved.
    The other clearly orchestrated it to her advantage.

    1. I suspect that Camilla bent Chuck’s ear. Very forcefully. Possibly both of them so he rotated like a ceiling fan.
      Apart from the gross insult to a genuine lady, I doubt the Queen Consort has much time for knee jerk reactions to ‘waycism’.
      It was at her soiree where the fragrant Marlene Headley pulled her scam, thereby completely obscuring the reason for the event.

    1. I spent some of my adolescence in Keyhaven because, when I was thirteen, my parents bought a cottage in Lymore Valley. After church of a Sunday my patents often used to drive to a car park just beyond Milford-on-Sea, to enjoy looking at the Needles.

  10. Good morning, my Nottler friends.

    I signed a petition about Net Zero from this forum.

    They don’t like it!

    Here is the response:

    Dear Richard Tracey,

    Sorry, we can’t accept the petition you supported – “Cancel Net Zero.”.

    It included confidential, libellous, false, unproven or defamatory information, or a reference to a case where there are active legal proceedings.

    We cannot accept petitions that make false or unproven claims. This includes unsubstantiated claims that the UK’s move to net zero will do nothing but move emissions from the UK to other parts of the globe. We have published the following petition, which you might like to sign: A UK wide referendum on the forced introduction of the 2025/30/50 and EV rules: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/625673

    We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards:
    https://petition.parliament.uk/help#standards

    Thanks,
    The Petitions team
    UK Government and Parliament

    1. Morning Richard. Is it my imagination or is there a hint of defensiveness there? An attempt to explain away the inexplicable? An oversensitivity to criticism?

    2. Big government needs to be reminded that just because it doesn’t like something doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

      I imagine that some dim Lefty saw it and kyboshed it with alacrity. Can’t let the public have a say!

  11. 370488 + up ticks,

    Monday 30 January: How the Conservative Party can move on from the Zahawi debacle

    Should read,

    Monday 30 January: How the Conservative Party will move on from the Zahawi debacle, well that will be in a very positive pro eu, war, repress, replace, RESET WEF manner, no going back now.

    Current members are now funding a nation killing political coalition.

  12. Iran’s network of UK ‘cultural institutions’ must be closed. 29 January 2023.

    The UK Government has finally decided to get tough in tackling aggressive Iranian terrorism carried out on British soil. But is Downing Street overlooking a network of extremist cultural institutions hiding in plain sight?

    If it weren’t so pathetic it would be funny. Sunni muslims have killed scores of people in the UK without the slightest action being taken against either their presence or entry into the UK!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/29/irans-network-uk-cultural-institutions-must-closed/

    1. The damned government is bringing the scum here! They shouldn’t be here to have to waste money policing them!

  13. How many folk here have heard of Morgoth? I don’t mean Tolkein’s creation, I mean the fellow who uses that moniker and blogs as Morgoth’s Review on YouTube, odysee and substack? He’s a working class dissident from the North East with limited formal education but he’s an auto-didact with a sharp mind.

    Here he expounds on the big problem with technocracy, you know, the sort of governance that the UN, the WEF, the Rockefellers, Soros, Gates, Fink, Gore and the Member for Davos and the Trilateral Commission otherwise known as Keir Starmer would love to impose on the rest of us.
    It’s well worth 19 minutes of your time.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPFqVBhGCQQ

    1. WEF = Communism

      Consider Covid, the poisonous jabs, and following that the CO2 climate scam

      1. The climate scam is the brain child of Maurice Strong, a Canadian communist who wormed his way up to a high position in the UN via Canadian government posts. He was also a criminal who had to flee to his beloved China where he lived out his days.

      2. The climate scam is the brain child of Maurice Strong, a Canadian communist who wormed his way up to a high position in the UN via Canadian government posts. He was also a criminal who had to flee to his beloved China where he lived out his days.

      3. I think you’re right. The Left since Hitler have never given up their dream of world domination and have set about infiltrating and undermining everything good and decent in the world.

        However as people resist it they require weapons to enforce their rule – economic, social, political. Their attempt to force a command economy on the world is doomed, as it always is, and their fascist authoritarianism will fail as well.

        Here’s hoping when there are millions dead from famine, poverty and conflict, and we do finally defeat them again that this time we cut the head off the snake and march Schwab up to the gallows along with every other wef attendee, just long enough for him to see his grand vision come to an end in fire.

    2. Technocracy means being in charge without the need for pesky elections and accountability.

      1. Not sure we’re governed by technocrats. Civil servants know nothing, and MPs are utter morons who have no ability whatsoever.

        I think we’re just a bureaucracy, run by statists.

    1. I’ve noticed a few articles that are critical of the Davos shower. I’m not sure whether these were part of a deflection tactic to try and make Davos look a little less threatening and more benign in the sense that what Schwab’s adherents are proposing is not all bad for humanity or not.
      Whether Davos or Big Pharma is in the ascendency the threat to humanity remains immense.
      The Rumble video I posted above is evidence of Big Pharma’s malign intentions.

      1. The treatment of Lady Susan Hussey and the decision not to give the Duke of Edinburgh’s title to Prince Edward – who had actively worked to promote the DoE Award Scheme – shows what an extremely petty and spiteful little man the King is and how very poor his judgement is. And he is now cosying up to the worst Archbishop of Canterbury since the reign of Henry Vlll in order to persuade him to act as a go-between between him and his second son and he still being beastly to his other brother, Andrew.

        I wonder if his sister, Anne, has the same contempt for him as many of his subjects do. She needs to take a hunting crop to him!

  14. 370488+ up ticks,

    May one ask,

    If the islamic take over of london finally takes place will it really bring to life the old adage “raining cats and dogs ” or will cats have a reprieve .

    If the same voting pattern is going to be adhered to these questions must be asked.

    Falling dogs can seriously maim or kill.

    1. This morning, aside from the usual poke in the ribs and comment that she’d woken up in a King Kong movie, I looked in on Junior still asleep to see him and Mongo completely dead to the world, wrapped around one another snoring away.

      An ear did flap up but didn’t go very far.

  15. Good morning all. A bright and clear start with 1½°C outside.

    Can the Conservative-in-name-only Party move on from the Zahawi debacle?
    Elect 3rd World politicians get 3rd World standards of probity.

    1. As has been suggested, it’s a smart move on Zahawi’s part. ‘Punished’ for tax avoidance issues whilst the greater crime of foisting untested/unproven mRNA vaccines on the general populace gets swept under the carpet.

      Pay backdated taxes or Nuremberg 2.0?…hold on, I’ll get my cheque book.

  16. Morning, all. Dry, sunny and a light breeze this morning.

    The link is to an unedited Rumble podcast hosted by one Tommy Carrigan(?) but the guests are Dr Peter McCullough and Steve Hirsch discussing the the Project Veritas takedown of the Pfizer director, the “vaccine’s” impact on airline pilots etc. Being uncut leaves the content so much less sterile; it’s the ‘fly on the wall’ scenario.
    It’s 1 hour 35 minutes long and I’ve watched 31 minutes and found it not only very informative but entertaining despite the seriousness of the subject matter covered.

    Rumble – McCullough and Hirsch Unedited

      1. Mugabe became extremely rich after he let China help themselves to all the minerals in Zimbabwe.

    1. My dear fellow, it is not the availability of materials that’s the problem. It’s an abundance of government.

      1. I can never and will never understand why we need nearly two thousand people each day in Westminster. Who are rewarded handsomely for destroying and effing up our lives, our wellbeing and the future of our country.
        Why ?

        1. Empire building. The bigger the state is, the more important the people running it feel, the more damage it does, the more it can make sure it is needed.

          Waste begets waste.

    2. While agreeing about the natural resources and globalists, I do believe that the Earth’s population is far far too large.

      1. 370488+ up ticks,

        Afternoon M,

        I do believe there is a natural culling procedure in play for all species.

  17. ‘Morning All

    I know NoTTLers are always looking for new authors to read so may I commend some of the old authors of my young teenage years they stand up surprisingly well

    Harry Harrison Deathworld

    Clifford D Simak Way Station

    Eric Frank Russell The Great Explosion

    Starters for sci-fi lovers

    Meanwhile some Laffs

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c0a47c10f793d931c61ed4cee54a42909aa479277c5f3e7e62b4c93f3b826c68.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ed8974bfd7ed8c15cc033c40697f01c344ab91f4423dfaaea26aef52f24e9f58.jpg

    1. I’ll chime in here – Stuart MacBride, the Logan McCrae series. Yes, the chapters are short, in that Harry Dresden fashion making them easy books to read, but they’re also very good. It’s rare I do this but on reading the first 3 I bought the rest to date.

      I also recommend Harry Dresden, although Jim Butcher, the author would probably argue they jumped the shark when Harry rode through Chicago on a dinosaur skeleton. It was still good to read though.

    2. Harry Harrison, blimey, a long time since I read his books. “Make Room, Make Room!”, “Bill, the Galactic Hero”…

      1. I’m in the process of rereading HH’s Stainless Steel Rat novels – great fun they are too 🙂

        1. …and I’m re-reading The Morland Dynasty by Cynthia Harrod Eagles.

          It begins in 1434 and chronicles the history of this family in 35 books, each one, not only deals with the family but the historical events of the time.

          I an currently on Book 31 dealing with WWI in and around 1916.

          Riveting reading.

  18. I see the Slimy one is refusing to go quietly. Shows no contrition and blames the press.

    Ain’t that just typical of his sort??

    1. The slimy one? From a cast of thousands not seen since the days of Cecil B Demille.

    1. The prisoners one is funny. It’s beyond serious, it’s now simply comical. That a UN fellow steps in to cite war crimes legislation to stop Sturgeon’s ideological crusade against sanity is equally hilarious.

      As for scientists struggling, no, they’re not scientists, they’re gravy train troughers. A scientist would say ‘that doesn’t suit my theory, therefore my theory is wrong.

      As for Mr Bellamy, the intent was not to spend the taxes stolen in the name of green on ‘green’, but to pocket them for some other unnecessary, wasteful and useless government nonsense.

      If climate change were anything but fiction government would be changing house building regulations and ending the invasion of useless eaters. Although how it squares the insanity and sheer spite of crippling immigration as revenge with climate change is beyond me. Oh, yes. It pretends that it’s our fault.

    1. Would this be by the ‘dictator’ Putin? The man Russia elected? It’s funny how quickly the press promote the evils of other imposed stooges, complaining about fraud, corruption, election rigging and what not yet ignore that our lot do exactly the same.

      As for Boris being threatened, who cares. Nuke the sod. Just make sure to take the rest of the vomited excrement with him.

  19. Yo All

    Is it not strange, that the people in headlines in the papers, referring to the sacking of ‘ a “person in government’, none have English names

    1. Christopher Chope, who is castigated in the media as he won’t allow a slack handful of members to introduce laws to the House late on Friday afternoons? He has the temerity to suggest that if the new laws are important, they should be fully debated. How dreadfully old fashioned.

      1. Like the 90 minutes spent on debating Net Zero? It might as well have been 90 seconds for all the good it did. Never in the field of British politics has so much damage been done to so many by so few.

        1. Alas, my MP is now a Lib Dim. There were some awards of funding to local associations made by Freedom Fibre and she is in every photograph. As far as I can see her contribution to the awards was a big fat ZERO, but she’s milking the publicity for all she is worth.

  20. Good Moaning.
    The Allan Towers keep fit regime continues all this week.
    One … two … three …… lift that box of books.
    Four … five … six … now the blanket chest.
    Hold it … mind the bannisters …..

      1. Biden will be pleased when the White House and The Capitol are heaps of smouldering nuclear waste.

    1. No Brits, but a number of European countries have the F16. It would take 6 months or so to train Ukes.

  21. There was a rescue in the Channel of Illegal immigrants yesterday. A French vessel returned with some to Calais where they were dealt with by emergency services. [Daily Mail] Were these illegals put on RNLI or Border Force boats and taken to the UK?

    1. Oh dear, the ‘They’ have turned illegal trafficking into a drama now. There’s an opportunity for a new TV series.

  22. Morning all 😉 😊
    David Bellamy was right.
    Climate change will be here again all this coming week.
    It’s a Good job we planted lots of lovely trees in his memory. Not sarc.

  23. Lent and Easter cancelled by university in drive to remove Christian term names

    London School of Economics accused of ‘virtue-signalling nonsense’ for scrapping references to the traditional Church calendar.

    Each and every penny of State funding MUST be witheld from this place

    If they cannor accept that we are ‘nominally’ a Christian country, then they cannot accept the GB Pound

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/29/lent-easter-cancelled-university-drive-remove-christian-term/

      1. School is from Greek skholē “spare time, leisure, rest, ease; idleness. Most appropriate nowadays.

    1. The LSE has been behaving like a brattish 6th. Former since at least the 1960s.
      (And the London Stock Exchange can be a bit silly as well.)

    2. I remember in the 60s, LSE was always the butt of jokes.

      It was rumoured that, in the toilets, there was a note above the toilet roll which read, “Sociology Degrees, please tear off.

  24. Lent and Easter cancelled by university in drive to remove Christian term names

    London School of Economics accused of ‘virtue-signalling nonsense’ for scrapping references to the traditional Church calendar.

    Each and every penny of State funding MUST be witheld from this place

    If they cannor accept that we are ‘nominally’ a Christian country, then they cannot accept the GB Pound

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/29/lent-easter-cancelled-university-drive-remove-christian-term/

  25. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    Let’s start the day with this uplifting obituary for someone who repeatedly risked everything for the freedoms we enjoy today.  What an amazing generation they were:

    Lieutenant Jim Booth, naval officer who reconnoitred Sword Beach on the eve of D-Day – obituary

    When the operation was delayed by bad weather, his midget submarine had to stay submerged on the seabed off Normandy

    ByTelegraph Obituaries 29 January 2023 • 3:34pm

    Lieutenant Jim Booth, who has died aged 101, was believed to be the last surviving member of the Combined Operations Pilotage Parties, a secret navy formed in the war to reconnoitre enemy beaches.

    On Friday, June 2 1944, he embarked in the midget submarine X23 commanded by Lieutenant George Honour. Two days later, as part of Operation Gambit, X23 bottomed off the coast of Normandy. Through the periscope, Honour and his crew watched the Germans playing football on the sand, unaware of what awaited them over the horizon.

    X23’s crew of four was augmented by a two-man team from COPP No 9 commanded by Lieutenant LG Lyne. Their task was to mark the eastern end of Sword beach, using lights, flags and wireless. They had the honour, with X20, of being the first ships to arrive in the assault area, only to receive the coded message, “Trouble in Scarborough”, telling them that Operation Neptune, the Allied landings in northern France, was delayed by 24 hours by bad weather.

    X23 lay helpless on the bottom, fixed by her anchor to prevent her drifting from her carefully checked position; it was smelly and dirty, and they were sustained by tea and baked beans warmed over an electric ring in a pan they called the “gluepot”, taking it in half-hour turns to warm up by lying in a sleeping bag over the submarine’s batteries.

    Although everyone was trained in each other’s tasks, Booth’s particular task was to row inshore and set up the inner end of a navigational transit, but the weather forced the cancellation of this part of the operation. Instead, at 0507 on the morning of June 6, after spending 64 of the last 76 hours submerged, X23 surfaced to hoist an 18ft telescopic mast to begin flashing a predawn light to seaward and broadcasting a wireless beacon tapped out in Morse for minesweepers escorting the landing forces approaching Sword and Juno beaches.

    At dawn Booth was awed to see the seas covered by Allied craft, and watched in admiration as amphibious tanks swam ashore and troops waded up the beaches. Their job done, by midday on D-Day the crew of X23 and COPP9 were so exhausted that Booth, when ordered, could not lift the anchor: instead, he cut the cable.

    Lyne and Booth spent the following night in the headquarters ship Largs before returning to Portsmouth in a destroyer. Lyne was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, while Booth was Mentioned in Despatches. Later he received the Croix de Guerre for “outstanding gallantry on D-Day”.

    Lord Mountbatten, who as Chief of Combined Operations and as Supreme Allied Commander in South East Asia had intimate knowledge of the work of COPP, wrote that “None of the great amphibious operations of the last war could have been carried out, with such efficiency and skill, without the vital information that COPPs provided”.

    James Charles Macauley Booth was born on July 9 1921 in London, where his father was a retired businessman. He was educated at Eton, where he was a “wetbob” and was awarded an organ scholarship. When war broke out he had just started his first term reading Medicine at Cambridge when he volunteered for service. His sister was a FANY (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry) who transferred to the SOE ; his uncle was Cecil Spring-Rice, who wrote the words of I Vow to Thee, My Country.

    Booth’s talent was spotted while under training at Skegness when a sailor was needed to play golf with a visiting admiral, and he volunteered. He served only five months on the lower deck in the minesweeper Hussar, service which was brought to an end when she was bombed on May 15 1940 off the Dutch coast; though severely damaged, she returned under her own way to harbour.

    He served briefly in the new cruiser Kenya among many survivors of Exeter who had fought at the Battle of the River Plate. Sent to HMS King Alfred at Hove, after a five-week course he became a midshipman RNVR. He served in the coal-burning, anti-submarine trawlers Turquoise and Pict in the North Sea and of the west coast of Africa (1941-43), but became bored and volunteered for “anything more exciting”.

    Failed on medical grounds for human-torpedoes (his hearing had been damaged loading 4-inch guns Kenya), he joined COPP and practised underwater beach reconnaissance surveys during the winter of 1943-44 in Loch Striven.

    After D-Day Booth prepared for operations in the Channel Islands, but was sent to Ceylon to train for the British landings in Burma and Malaya. Working behind enemy lines, Booth, who had been issued with a commando knife, eventually had to use it: his party was fired on by the Japanese army.

    He told an interviewer from the Imperial War Museum: “We now knew where their base was, so we sneaked up overnight and eliminated them. There were about ten of them. We weren’t really supposed to do that [aggressive operations] and our commanding officer didn’t put that in his report, but it was the right thing to do.”

    In August 1945 Booth received his one and only injury when he broke his ankle during parachute training in northern India. He sheepishly admitted that a late night in the bar had addled his co-ordination. The next day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

    Post-war, Booth accepted a permanent commission in the Navy and spent the next four years clearing German mines in the Aegean Sea and eastern Mediterranean and magnetic mines in the Thames estuary. However, he was invalided in 1949 after a routine x-ray showed a shadow on his chest.

    Booth attended agricultural college and became a sheep farmer on Dartmoor for 30 years. He retired to Taunton, where he played the organ at several churches in the town and at Taunton School.

    A lover of steam trains, he was a sprightly figure who in his nineties once cycled many miles to watch his grandson play cricket. At a celebration of the 70th anniversary of VJ-Day in 2015, in a marquee outside Westminster Abbey, the 94-year-old Booth danced with the Duchess of Cornwall.

    Two years later he was attacked at home by a burglar and suffered multiple skull fractures. “Worse things happen at sea,” he commented. He was awarded the British Empire Medal in the following New Year’s Honours for service to the community.

    In 1951 he married Berry Evans, a Wren whom he had met on a blind date while in Malta. She predeceased him, and he is survived by their four children.

    Jim Booth, born July 9 1921, died December 18 2022 https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7eee820365ba9a6e4120bc5ac0094d4b620acb2cb8c29b16fc54b886dca5f444.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/00903bda4a283d640b187d84d3b13eee12386ed00a26387938ec0d4a9934b69e.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b69525bcf4bd205f837d132eba15cc077c5eb7df2ad2c4865961a77fade7b08a.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2f2103c6dc8c4201ce07d3f96bbfaa55e7e85148ee7b8f8f257418379487d1d8.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cb4995ad73f0a824c106a529aa52ff9db36ba5365b80a182a3e0f62f0dd88678.jpg

    A heartfelt BTL:

    Mark Hampton1 HR AGO

    I am moved to tears this morning reading about the self sacrifice that this man and others like him gave our country for the freedoms we now take for granted.

    His generation like the late Queen knew about honour and service to our country. I feel embarrassed about what our nation has become and how far it has fallen from grace since that time.

    Thank you Jim for your service and to your family I am sure you are very proud to be associated with such a great man. Rest in peace Jim. I for one will make sure your life story is retold to my children to remind them of the sacrifices made to enjoy the freedoms we have today.

  26. Good morning all

    Pleasant day here , 6c . Moh playing golf.

    I had a temperature yesterday, felt terrible , I also have a cough , still feeling quite grotty,, but I will have to muddle on . I will leave the fireplace clearing to Moh .

    Moh and I watched this film on the box last night. I think it was on BBC 4

    What story is Defiance based on?

    Bielski brothers
    The film Defiance (starring Daniel Craig, aka James Bond) tells the true story of the Bielski brothers, who saved 1,200 lives and organized the largest Jewish resistance unit during World War II.

    It was a 2008 film .. and Daniel Craig ‘s performance was commendable .

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-9eUXSzZNk

    1. Morning all.

      Alf and I watched Bank of Dave on Saturday, a true-ish story of a business man sptrying to set up a bank in Burnley for local people and businesses. A really good film on Netflix.

      1. Morning VW

        I will look forward to watching that .

        Moh bought a 55″ TV a few days ago ,quite a reasonable bargain .

        Not too sure it was a good idea because the things I like and he likes are worlds apart .

        Digging for Britain and Detectorists , etc are my favorites amongst other thoughtful progs.

        I have a sense of humour , but I cannot bear raucus in your face shows like Michael Mcintire or Strictly ..I hate shreiky audience driven shows .

        So the TV hasn’t been unpacked yet because we need a larger table to support it .

        I don’t think our living room will cope with the size of it , and football …. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

        Listen to me moaning on , must be my high temperature . Sorry about that.

          1. I think my TV is 40-something inches. The remote stopped working a while ago, but I discovered I could still switch it on and off from a switch on the side, so I carried on using it. A couple of days ago, it had a glitch, switched itself to DTV (I normally keep it on HDMI1) and it took me a while to manage to get it to switch back. I finally did it when the remote OK was accepted! I think it won’t be long for this world and then I shan’t replace it.

        1. Hope your new tv table doesn’t cost more than the telly did! Sorry to hear you’re still not feeling 100% (from one Maggie to another). We haven’t watched Strictly or M Mc for years. Do sometimes watch football (when I criticise the numbingly boring backwards passing of England). Alf supports Fulham and, boy, do they need a lot of support LOL! No, that’s unfair, think they’re doing quite well. I support Arsenal, coz I used to live in Highbury, but the only player I can name is Sara. And he’s good.

          We also watched North and a south recently, DVD, and then I reread the book. So enjoyable.

          Don’t forget the fluids if you have a temperature and get well soon.

        2. Not too sure it was a good idea because the things I like and he likes are worlds apart .

          To T_B

          It is big enough, that you can each watch what you like, on different sides of the screen……

        3. Or you could put the smaller one in another room and watch the things you want to watch while he watches the footie…….

        4. Or you could put the smaller one in another room and watch the things you want to watch while he watches the footie……….

        5. Don’t apologise, Belle. My viewing likes and dislikes are very similar to yours. I particularly like Digging for Britain. Prof Roberts is a good presenter and, unusually these days, is very knowledgeable and has a string of relevant qualifications. My eldest son put me on to the prog, which he insists should be called Dogging for Britain. I have no idea where he gets that from!

          Edit: I hope you will soon feel better. I’m just starting my first cold of the winter…plenty of First Defence is being sent up my hooter, in the hope that it will stop, or at least shorten, the pesky virus.

    1. There is some sort of muddled NHS & government policy to reduce or limit the use of antibiotics and also opiate-type painkillers.
      If you are ever prescribed antibiotics and feel that you are 100% recovered before the packet is empty, you might consider keeping the remainder for emergencies, because the NHS would rather pay out millions to crippled children than allow you the same access to medication as is available in many underdeveloped countries.

        1. Once again another massive eff up by our useless political classes. No lessons were learned from hundreds of years of Islamic occupation in Europe.
          Especially Spain when they kept thousands of white children in caves for the use of. And fed them to their pet lions when they had finished with them

          1. Hence the Inquisition. It was a reaction to centuries of cruel occupation. The Cordoba Myth is just that. Moorish rule in Spain was not interfaith sweetness and light and the Jews became a target of the Inquisition because they’d paid the jizya tax to buy survival while the poorer Catholics suffered. It seems wrong with hindsight but it was entirely understandable at the time.

          2. There was a very good two part documentary on BBC not long ago, Called Blood and Gold With Simon Sebag Montefiore.
            It took around Three hundred years to get the muslims out of Spain. And they are still there in smaller numbers.

          3. I expect like we have, you’ve been to many churches in Northern Europe.
            Usually Catholic and adorned in gold and silver. Whilst the people it is said to attract are peasants and have very little. It never seemed fair to me.
            We did which I called the ABC tour (another bloody church) 😉 around 12 years ago Northern Italy, which included Asisi and Mercia. Great week being taken around on a coach. Around twenty people. Finished in Venice.

  27. I am off – got to get togged up to go to a meeting – to discover what I have let myself in for by agreeing to be Treasurer for the Arts Society……

    Dreading it…

    Back later.

        1. It’s rather unusual to find a Norfolk arts society with its accounts operated via Panama. Still, there must be a logical reason.

  28. This letter is just one of several today that are crutical of this failing government. Is doesn’t pull any punches:

    SIR – The sacking of the Conservative Party chairman is yet another disgraceful incident in the life of a Government that appears to be strewn with buffoons, liars, incompetents and opportunists, who have brought the bar on modern political behaviour to an all-time low. The dust may have settled on the Truss debacle but the country is in deep trouble on every front and Rishi Sunak shows no sign of leading us out it.

    If the Government were the board of a major public company it would be sacked by its shareholders. The chairman has gone, the rest of the board should now resign and give the nation the chance to vote in a government worthy of respect, with the talent and experience to behave and govern properly. We may then regain some political dignity and have a better chance of solving the current and future challenges we face.

    Michael Robinson
    Onston, Cheshire

    Well said, Mr Robinson. The BTLs are not impressed, either:

    Olivia Wilde
    3 HRS AGO
    Michael Robinson;
    “The chairman has gone, the rest of the board should now resign and give the nation the chance to vote In a government worthy of respect, with the talent and experience to behave and govern properly”.
    If only there was a prospective government with all those attributes you mentioned, then we would all be only too happy to oblige…

    Michael Geddes
    3 HRS AGO
    I agree with Michael Robinson and also with your reply. However, the present government is now hopelessly mired in scandal and incompetence, with a despairing lack of the sort of people we can trust to take the nation forward. The probability that there is not an acceptable alternative is not a reason for the continuation of a group of people whose motivations are as shallow as their egos are deep.

    1. What, pray, was the ‘Truss debacle’? An attempt at reversing the carnage caused by previous governments and freeing people from the ever growing chains of state?

      Or perhaps the author refers to the way she was removed by a backstabbing WEF stooge dedicated solely to ramming the country back in to the hated EU?

      1. The Markets reacted badly and politicians panicked. If they had waited the Markets would have stabilised and bounced back.

        1. But the pound is now lower against the euro than it was in Truss’s brief time as PM.

      2. Reducing tax rates was just not on “their” agenda. I thought exactly the same as Phizzee has put that, if they had waited a little, the markets would have stabilised. And the markets haven’t fared a lot better since then.

  29. Have I just seen the EV ghost?

    There is a ghost prevalent in the electric vehicle world globally.
    It is a ghost that creeps up at any time of day or night and sucks current out the EV’s 12 volt auxiliary battery.
    It likes to strike particularly in EVs that have been left for some time, have not been charged after a trip, have been charged only during cheap rate and may have been used less often e,g, over lockdown.
    It may even be disturbed by people with its EV fob walking past the EV.

    Here’s the evidence from my tests over the weekend:

    This is the. EV 12V auxiliary battery under open circuit test this morning:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4f9fde7587d7f823c3b2903b0a837841329524ab33c17a574919ca1094f0a2ed.jpg

    This the the brief reconnection yesterday of the 12 volt battery showing an enhanced image of the EV ghost with voltage and current meters measuring the load parameters:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/985952c749ab838b65ab15475489dca408d3c0d269795be8aa6344e1faaebe88.jpg

    Images are a bit difficult to capture in a lit environment and camera flashes would blank out the meter displays.

  30. Wordle – Don’t count your Eagles before they hatch!
    First go 3 correct letters in their correct places.
    Second go 4 correct letters in their correct places.
    Only on the Bogey 5th attempt did the 5th correct letter drop into place.
    Par – Humbug!

    1. You wor locky.
      Wordle 590 X/6

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

  31. US general warns British Army ‘is no longer regarded’ as a top-level fighting force and is ‘unable to protect the UK and our allies’
    British army is no longer a top-level fighting force, a US general reportedly said
    Decades of cuts have led to a decline in Britain’s war-fighting capability
    Rishi Sunak also runs the risk of failing in his role as ‘wartime Prime Minister’

    ‘CHALLENGES FACING THE ARMED FORCES’
    Among the challenges facing the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, it is understood that:
    The army would run out of ammunition ‘in a few days’ if needed to fight.
    The UK couldn’t defend its skies against the level of missile strikes Ukraine is enduring.
    It would take at least five years for the army to be ready with a war-fighting division of 25,000 to 30,000 troops, supported by tanks, artillery and helicopters.
    Around 30% of UK forces on high readiness are reservists, unable to mobilise within NATO timelines.
    Most army vehicles, including tanks, were built 30 to 60 years ago with replacements not due for years.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11690425/US-general-warns-British-Army-no-longer-regarded-level-fighting-force-sources-say.html

    Not wishing to draw too many parallels with the build up to WW2, but here we are accelerating the rush to war while simultaneously giving away what little we have to Ukraine. We are deliberately provoking a potential enemy rather than trying to rebuild for a potential conflict.

    Had we done similarly in the 1930’s I wonder what the outcome might have been.

      1. Heaven help us. The EU would probably use the French navy to ferry the enemy across the channel. Oh, wait a minute………

  32. Am I alone in finding the Daily Gatesograph letters boring now? No-one who is genuienly awake and who writes in will have his or her letter published. I type as one who was banned (shadow-banned in fact) a year ago for posting a comment highly critical of the government which contained links to the Planet Lockdown interviews with Drs Mike Yeadon and Wolfgang Wodarg.

    When the paper was banging on about free speech I wrote twice to the editior pointing out his moderators’ behaviour ( they would not even enter a discussion with me) and suggesting he looks closer to home if he really believes in free speech. Needless to say neither was printed.

    The only reason I have not cancelled my subscription to the rag, as with the TV licence, is SWMBO won’t let me.

  33. Grand Tour host James May condemns Jeremy Clarkson’s Meghan Markle column telling Radio 4’s Today it was ‘too creepy’ but claims he didn’t read it at the time because he was ‘away’
    DM Story

    An inadequate person biting the hand that used to feed him – just as Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grant turned on J.K. Rowling.

    1. I imagine James May likely thought it was a bit odd, but as with all things it’s a quote out of context.

    2. What right does James May take to himself to make outrageous comments yet deny Clarkson the same right?

      1. The BTL people are already wading in with some of the obvious pitfalls.

        When people in blocks of flats cannot even cooperate over things as trivial as replacing the bins to their allotted slots when the binmen don’t, or putting rubbish in the correct communal bins I very much doubt they could handle a significant problem that might affect them all, eg the security gates to the car park break down and those without cars refuse to contribute to the repairs, or the lift breaks down and ground floor people refuse to contribute, etc.

        It might even have the effect of killing the rental market for flats.

  34. Boris Johnson lying about Putin missile threat, says Kremlin.30 January 2023.

    The Kremlin has accused Boris Johnson, the former British Prime Minister, of “lying” when he said President Vladimir Putin had threatened him with a missile strike during a phone call in the run-up to the invasion of Ukraine.

    Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told reporters that what Johnson said was not true, or “more precisely, a lie”.

    Speaking to the BBC, Mr Johnson said that the Russian leader had threatened him with a missile strike that would “only take a minute”.

    Oh Dear! Decisions. Decisions. Who to believe? Vlad of course. You clearly cannot target an individual with an interstate missile and besides Johnson and his accomplices are congenital liars all!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/01/30/ukraine-russia-war-putin-news-latest-wagner-bakhmut/

    1. But could it be done in 45 minutes, or was that a different lie? There have been so many, it’s hard to remember which is which.

  35. Headline in the DT:

    BBC impartiality at risk because journalists ‘lack understanding of basic economics’

    Review into coverage of taxation, public expenditure, borrowing and government debt finds some staff have ‘an occasional temptation to hype’.

    I think we can also assume an ignorance of basic science when it comes to covering Net Zero and other climate-related matters!

  36. Headline in the DT:

    BBC impartiality at risk because journalists ‘lack understanding of basic economics’

    Review into coverage of taxation, public expenditure, borrowing and government debt finds some staff have ‘an occasional temptation to hype’.

    I think we can also assume an ignorance of basic science when it comes to covering Net Zero and other climate-related matters!

  37. Violent trans criminals are women, says Nicola Sturgeon’s justice secretary. 30 January 2023.

    The violent trans criminals at the centre of the Scottish prisons scandal are women, the SNP’s Justice Secretary has said after banning them from female jails.

    Challenged whether Isla Bryson and Tiffany Scott were trans women or predatory males, Keith Brown said: “If somebody presents as a trans person, then we accept that at face value.”

    But he said they still did not have the right to be housed in women’s prisons and insisted the decision rested on a Scottish Prison Service (SPS) risk assessment “with all the known facts.”

    When you lie, and lie consistently, as this man does here, you eventually trip over them and fall on your face!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/01/30/keith-brown-nicola-stugeon-justice-secretary-trans-criminals/

    1. Would they accept these criminals as being innocent at face value, I think not. Deranged, the lot of them.

    2. “If somebody presents as a trans person, then we accept that at face value.” The same as a double murderer illegal immigrant presents as a 14 year old boy we have to accept that too.

  38. Violent trans criminals are women, says Nicola Sturgeon’s justice secretary. 30 January 2023.

    The violent trans criminals at the centre of the Scottish prisons scandal are women, the SNP’s Justice Secretary has said after banning them from female jails.

    Challenged whether Isla Bryson and Tiffany Scott were trans women or predatory males, Keith Brown said: “If somebody presents as a trans person, then we accept that at face value.”

    But he said they still did not have the right to be housed in women’s prisons and insisted the decision rested on a Scottish Prison Service (SPS) risk assessment “with all the known facts.”

    When you lie, and lie consistently, as this man does here, you eventually trip over them and fall on your face!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/01/30/keith-brown-nicola-stugeon-justice-secretary-trans-criminals/

  39. A lunchtime Wordle par 4 today.

    Wordle 590 4/6

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

    1. Me too Par Four.

      Wordle 590 4/6
      🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜
      ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩
      ⬜⬜🟩🟨🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Bloody game.

      Wordle 590 X/6

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

  40. As Mr Punch is wont to say: “That’s the way to do it!”

    Following public remarks from Netanyahu in which he recounted his previous efforts in 2013 to rein in illegal immigrants entering the country from Israel’s border with Egypt, the Prime Minister announced a plan to expel the remaining entirety of the 60,000 Africans who entered the country before it was able to erect a barrier to prevent them from doing so. Since then, Israel has already deported a third of that number – 20,000. Despite that, Netanyahu has doubled down on his hardline immigration rhetoric by going as far to announce a policy which will offer African migrants a payment worth $3,500 and free air travel to return to the nations they emigrated from. “We have expelled about 20,000 and now the mission is to get the rest out,” Netanyahu said in remarks embodying how hard-lined his ruling faction has become.

    Further details on the policy elucidate how Israel will partner with alternative destinations to expel African migrants to. Migrant rights groups have surmised that Rwanda and Uganda have joined forces with Netanyahu’s government to facilitate the mass deportation scheme. Israeli Immigration officials conveyed that there are presently 38,000 migrants freely living illegally in Israel along with 1,420 being held in detention centers. While the $3,500 incentive to leave Israel is on the table now, those officials have stated that that monetary award will shrink after March until it’s eventually weened down to zero and any migrants found to be in the country afterward will face incarceration.

    1. I can be just as straight talking ..

      Years ago , a doctor lectured that promiscuity increased the chances of cervical cancer ..usually transmitted by an uncircumsised male partner , dirty stuff gets caught under the foreskin .

      Chlamydia etc never gets mentioned , neither do STD’s.

      Cigarettes .. hmmm, look at all the industrial diseases .. including the nasties that pilots are faced with in their cockpits or the terrible blood diseases and lung diseases that are becoming increasingly common from the nuclear and oil industries .

      Or maybe the pundits should concentrate on the danger that mouldspores give out .

      My younger sister contracted a lung / mould disease from guano in a bat cave in South Africa.

      We are all a hoist to our own petards.

          1. This I know, my brother, being eldest male, was circumcised at birth. I was not. The difference was immediately visible.

          2. When I was at prep school the number of circumcised and uncircumcised boys were about the same. When we arranged our dorm fights the armies were divided into Roundheads and Cavaliers.

      1. Before people say this is a racist riddle I must declare that it was first told me by a Jewish friend with whom I shared a flat in younger days.

        Q. What is the difference between a Morris dancer and a Jew?
        A. A Morris dancer is a complete prick!

        My brother in law, who used to be in a Morris side declared that this was not true!

      2. Dirty stuff doesn’t get ‘caught’ under the foreskin if you wash it thoroughly and frequently. Twice a day at the minimum.

        1. Yes but … I was sort of thinking of the de Pfeffel exPM whose ex wife succumbed to cancer of the Cervix..

          and just wondered about his wham bang thank you ma’am habits .

    1. After a decent start he needs some time in Boot Camp. He must know by now, politicians can’t be trusted.

    1. Sun didn’t last long here. It was cloudy all morning, then the sun came out about lunchtime, so after I’d had the remains of yesterday’s soup I went and pottered outside for an hour or so.

      He should be making your tea if you’re not feeling well.

  41. It’s time to close the Government’s Ministry of Truth. 30 January 2023.

    The Government’s “Ministry of Truth” has been exposed. The Orwellian collection of secretive units across Government departments that claim to counter misinformation has been found to in fact monitor and record critics of the Government and its policies. The units were practically hyperactive during the pandemic, scribbling down any divergent utterance by anyone with an audience online – from journalists to world-leading experts and even MPs.

    Civil servants in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport lead the government’s shadowy truth enforcement service, supported by officials in the Cabinet Office. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect is the involvement of the highly secretive 77th Brigade of the British Army – a unit that specialises in “non-lethal engagement” against “adversaries” and has been described as an “information warfare machine”. Politicians and the public have been quite happy about this activity on the premise it was directed at Chinese and Russian troll farms, but now we know the chilling truth: it was actually aimed at us.

    Better late than never I guess. We have always known, or at least Nottlers have, that the Secret Agents of the State act against the people. They are actually a modern Gestapo. There is a problem here. I can’t see anything happening. The Political Elites have come to rely on this clandestine support for their policies. It is interwoven inextricably with the MSM. They would collapse without it.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/30/time-close-governments-ministry-truth/

    1. I wonder if we were under surveillance here on this forum. We are sometimes quite outspoken and not in agreement with government policies.

      1. Afternoon Ndovu. Well it’s my belief that I was once followed by an Mi5 team for a few days until they decided that someone so knackered could not possibly be a Russian Agent!

    2. As I’ve already commented today, who’d have thought that the ‘enemy within’ would turn out to be our own government?

      1. Perhaps most famously Ronald Reagan, but most have always known that the enemy is the government. How can it be otherwise when you have to pay nearly half your income in income tax, property tax (rates), National Insurance, VAT and other fees, all at the point of a “gun” or go to prison.

    3. Quelle surprise.
      I always assume that all forums are monitored.
      Snail mail is the way to go …. it only takes as long as travelling by stagecoach.
      Back to the future.

    4. I read a comment a while ago wondering what horrors the Stasi would have got up to with modern video surveillance and better computers – I think we are finding out!

  42. I am going to have to turn down the treasurer post. I am used to very simple book keeping for the church – half a dozen basic categories of receipts – the same sort of number for outgoings.

    For the Arts Soc – one has to deal with 170 members – their subs (cheques, cash and BACS) a dozen other sources of income; 24 categories of outgoings. All far too much for my small brain. The current treasurer (retired civil servant who devised the mechanism for Gift Aid) said that she did find a couple of times of year “very stressful”. Well, with my heart and what is left of my body, stress is the last thing I need.

    After she had spent 1½ hours going through the systems, as I was putting on my coat, I asked her if (being from the Revenue) she knew of any way in which one could try out completing an online tax return without committing oneself to using it .

    She said that she had a confession to make. She had never and would never do ANYTHING online with HMRC!! Out of the horse’s mouth, eh??

          1. It’s nice. Coffee and tea are good, sofa is comfy, and cats warm. Couldn’t be better!

      1. I am entirely familiar with that.

        It is the enormous amount of work entailed in these accounts that has put me off.

        1. I thought you might be but, once you’ve set up the template, the rest, month on month is quite easy.

          1. For an individual – of course.. For what is in effect 170 individuals – not a chance.

            The existing treasurer showed me first the 18 different folders, then the dozen or so files in EACH one. Over 200 separate files…..

            When I did the church accounts, I had two files only – for each year.

          2. Separate sheet for the 170 and their dues as paid, or not.

            Then taken to main spreadsheet as income. Easy peasy.

          3. You do sometimes talk a lot of bollocks, Tom.

            I have been book-keeping for myself, for 55 years, for the MR for 30 years and (for 25 years) the church. For 40 years I kept accounts as a practising solicitor – clients account and office accounts.

            I am very familiar with Excel. You have simply no idea how this Society’s accounts’ systems work. If it was as simple as you keep on telling me – I’d be doing it, wouldn’t I?

          4. So why aren’t you? If you want it simple tell the silly buggers, this is how it’s done.

            If they don’t like it, go hang.

            Not a load of bollocks, Bill – it’s what suits you, if they want you for treasurer.

            I too have been bookkeeping since 1970 – makes 53 years and I always insisted on the simplest way.

          5. Because the system I would be inheriting has been developed over many years and I have no longer the strength or desire to suggest they change it all.

            This thread is now closed.

      2. Edit: as a general comment, not for long you won’t. Under “Making tax digital” ”one” will have to use HMRC-approved software to submit quarterly company returns. Can’t remember when the implementation date is, but it’s coming.

        1. Fcuk ’em, I’ll keep using my system and, if they cannot understand a simple spreadsheet, then I say again fcik ’em.

    1. I pay my tax online but don’t do the self-assessment online. I’ve been using the same accountant firm for 33 years now and can’t be arsed to change now.

    2. I would imagine that those with complicated financial affairs the on-line Self Assessment returns might be a tad daunting. However, for the poorer souls, I’ve found the on-line system works very well having used it every year for the past 5+ years….

      1. That is what I have heard. I would just like to be able to do a simulation before joining. There appears to be no way of doing that. To go online, you then are unable to return to the paper SA200.

        Short-sighted of HMRC, I’d say.

        1. I didn’t know you couldn’t go back to paper returns. However, you may like to know that when completing the Self Assessment on line – you can stop and save at any point. Complete the return at a later date. Review the calculations and if necessary go back and change any errors you may have made prior to making any final submission. In my experience any tax overpaid (insignificant in my case!) is usually refunded in a couple of days….

          1. Sounds much the same to me, Stephen but I haven’t completed a tax return, for at least 6 or 7 years.

        2. you then are unable to return to the paper SA200.”

          Try using the ‘back’ Arrow up in the top left-hand corner.

          1. No assumption, Bill, it’s where you are and the ‘back’ arrow should take you to the previous screen.

          2. I am afraid I haven’t the faintest idea what you are on about.

            A “screen” assumes that one is looking at an online tax return. To get that, you have to sign up for the service.

            Just to add – on a paper SA200 there is no ‘back’ Arrow up in the top left-hand corner!

      2. Zahawi doesn’t have a leg to stand on. He could afford to employ tax consultants. He was HMRC’s boss after all.

          1. The trick is to write a letter on your PC (etc). Save it.

            Then write to that e-mail address – heading the mail: For the attention of Jim Harra (the current Head of HMRC). Then attach the letter. Slowly, but surely, the wheels will grind and someone will, eventually (but MUCH sooner than normal) deal with the claim.

          2. On the basis of “Go to the top”, as a student desperately needing the tax back that the Revenue weren’t in a hurry to repay, I wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer about it.
            Problem solved pretty well by return.

          3. Perhaps you should publish the email address and suggest everyone writes to to gum up the system for MPs. They deserve it.

          4. This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home,
            This little piggy had roast beef, and this little piggy had none,
            This little piggy went “wee,wee, wee” all the way home.

          5. “This little piggy went “wee,wee, wee” all the way home.”…hat’s because he/she/they was pissed!!

    3. I received a tax form in 1978, or thereabouts. It was the first and last. The whole of my working life, coming up to 45 years, has been PAYE.

          1. Just had a look – it seems to have downloaded ok. – thankyou. Just having a look through now.

        1. I too have been self-employed since 1975.

          What a breath of fresh-air. I soon learned the tax-avoidance methods and employed them up until 2017.

          At £500 per diem you have to know how to avoid the bluddy revenue.

          1. That’s not what you posted a while ago, but even so,, one and a bit days then, or three after tax.
            Where did it all go?

          2. Oops £577.86 per month To include £45 – heating (everything on max), £118.84 Service and £413.64 rent.

      1. I had one every year I worked in the UK, despite being on PAYE.
        They kept sending them here to Norway too, until I demanded they refund overpaid tax by cheque, sent here. It was for 2p!

        1. When I was letting a property, I had to do that, but I gave up in the end and stopped the let.

    4. Don’t blame you. As a volunteer, you are never in the right.
      Add that you are dealing with other people’s money and Gus and Pickles will appear extremely undemanding.
      As you have probably discovered, those that do the least are your greatest critics.

      1. Speaking as an ex auditor, you’re spot on re critics.
        Audit and Compliance departments are typical examples.

    5. First suggestion for the Treasurer: ban cash and cheques, just use cards and BACS. (unless they are fond of coffee mornings)

      1. 10% of membership (vital to keep falling numbers up) have neither computer nor online banking. If you sacked them, the income would fall below expenditure and the Society will end.

  43. Ahhh! That’s better! I’ve just had a bath!!

    Dropped a dead Elm on Saturday and got the main trunk & branches partially cut into manageable pieces before knocking it on the head for the night.
    Finished that off yesterday and then began filling mushroom trays with sticks, getting them stacked and covered over for use next winter.
    Today I did more trays of sticks and several trays of the twigs as kindling and then kindled a fire in the old oil drum to get rid of a lot of the waste, also pulling up a load of brambles to throw into it too.

    There’s several other elms to be dropped up above the “garden”, one of which is going to be a right bugger. It’s leaning over in the wrong direction at a near 45° angle and will need pulling back to stop it going where I don’t want it!
    However, before I do that I have to drop another two elms, both deceased of course, to make room to pull it up the hill.

    Still, it’ll not only keep me fit, but will keep the home fires burning for another winter!

    1. I’m ashamed of your carelessness, Robert, dropping all these elms!

      I bet you never drop a pint of tea :)!

  44. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3a04df2eaaeee85f1782bc0ece3c50178dbee0cac83cde2b4c60baa6a340e990.png Not really much I can think of to comment on this.

    I am intrigued, though, by the bacteria-and-snot-retaining face-nappy. I am wondering if she is wearing it because:
    A. She thinks it matches her garb and, therefore, makes her look ‘cool’?
    B. She has been brainwashed by the Covid hysteria?
    C. She genuinely thinks she can contract a respiratory disease when all alone?
    D. Her full-face burqa was in the wash so she had to make do with the niqab.

    1. Worse, it’s a woman driver.
      Even worse, it’s a woman driving a boat.

      However, something that is good news should it crash and sink, nothing of value will be lost.

    2. “Azzouz left”, perhaps there is someone else plus a photographer in the cabin and we don’t get to see the whole picture?

      Or E to protect her from the air-conditioning recirculating all the filthy air from all those pilgrims” breath.

      1. Always safer that way when a woman is ….

        “Stop hitting me and I’ll delete it…”

        1. What’s even more amusing is that the young lady is wearing quite a scruffy outfit, with no sign of a smart uniform.
          Saudi ladies are just as clothes conscious as women in most countries, so it’s a disaster as a PR photograph.

      2. The controls are labelled in English and Arabic. Could it have been made in the UK? Oh, it’s a high speed train, so obviously not.

        1. Lots of Pakistanis do the work in Saudi. Too demeaning for Saudis to dirty their hands. Hence, must have English labels.

    1. Will they refuse to attend fires? House fires could result in great loss of lives. What the hell is going on in this country these days?
      I was hearing on the local news about a woman who was left on a trolley in a hospital and she died. It ain’t easy here but I am so thankful my husband discharged himself and is here where I can keep an eye on him.
      No call from physio today so tomorrow we call them; I will make sure someone turns up tomorrow- or else.

        1. That brought back memories.
          I haven’t seen one of those for over 60 years, I thought they had been banned.

          1. Now is the time for Putin to invade. Half our army fighting fires and the other half manning 6 ambulances.

        1. When the Green Goddesses returned in 1977 or 1978 (firemen’s strike) they were crewed, in Chesterfield, by RAF staff who were stationed at the local TA Drill Hall. I was to accompany them in my panda car to all reports of fires since none of the RAF lads were local.

          Oh, what fun!

          I lost count of the times we arrived at fires that had burnt out before we got there. Those ancient GGs were a nightmare going uphill and were flat out at 20mph top speed on the level.

          1. Never went round corners either, when they had water on board, and those bar-grip tyres should have been called Bah! No-grip.

          2. With full tanks not too bad actually.
            It’s when the tanks were partially full and the water flowed through the balance pipe into the tank on the outside of the bend that flipped them over.

          3. Free surface effect of liquid slopping about in tanks is a real problem, especially for tanker lorries. The delivery route needs planned so they can empty the internal tanks completely, or there’s no delivery.

    1. Matt on the ball as usual.
      We live in a country where industrial action can suddenly prevent children from going to school, and ditto with lockdowns, but if a parent wants to take that child out of school for a few days, they have to pay a penalty.
      Incidentally, it was that Mrs Truss O’Leary who presented the Statutory Instrument to Parliament (on a Friday evening just before a bank holiday) which authorized education authorities to penalise parents (even a divorced parent with no access).

          1. I remember matches by Bryant & May(?) called “England’s Glory” about half the size of Swan Vestas.

          2. Things change.the bryant and May factory is now a block of upscale flats – well as upscale as that part of London can be.

          3. After two bouts of bronchitis my voice plunged from mezzo to a bass. Slightly restored now but not to its former level.

          4. I don’t need pills, let alone an injection.

            Did your inability to tell the difference between circumcised and uncircumcised affect your sex life?
            I quote:

            NoToNanny True_Belle
            5 hours ago
            Uncircumcised = no foreskin.
            NoToNanny Phizzee
            4 hours ago
            This I know, my brother, being eldest male, was circumcised at birth. I was not. The difference was immediately visible.

            I guess that must make you the Dickhead of your family

          5. If I read the posts about timing correctly, one needs to book the whore several hours before hand.

          6. Hi Lotl, I’m just catching up on what has been happening today, and I inadvertently pressed the downvote while trying to scroll down.

            I retracted it straight away, but hope it doesn’t show as downvote in your inbox!

  45. The Ghost Drain

    There. are many bloggers reporting that their 12 Volt EV auxiliary battery shows 12.28 volts (or thereabouts) and interpret this to be indicative of a no start situation. What is puzzling is that the battery still has some reserve at this stage (because it is above 12 volts) and whilst the EV still will not start, the battery measures as healthy and fully charged when removed from the car.

    I have demonstrated this by testing the EV battery to the point of no return to start after getting an electrical warning. in the driver’s cluster:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/de9366842dfc6d982a06ec8c517c18dc1469cae76ae939823af48e81dfde4960.jpg

    followed by a good healthy battery test:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4f9fde7587d7f823c3b2903b0a837841329524ab33c17a574919ca1094f0a2ed.jpg

    So what’s going on and why is this a possible solution for starting a car in this state?

    I’d suggest a simple cure for your problem is to use a LiPo car start pack in parallel with your batteries. These units use LiPo cells (as do many larger 4S1P RC battery packs) capable of supporting 30C for very short periods of a few seconds.
    Even if you leave the unit permanently connected, your battery charging system will never overcharge the LiPo (in fact it will always leave it undercharged).

    https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/274353/using-capacitors-to-prevent-surge-current-on-lead-acid-batteries

    1. Angie, are you sure that you are posting on the appropriate blog?
      There’s LiPo, and there’s LiPosuction; I know which one I need….

    2. I’d suggest a simple cure for your problem is to give up on electric cars?

      I have a theory that you are consuming more CO2 explaining it than you are saving from driving it!

      1. I don’t think Angie is saving any CO2 from driving it, to be honest. Production of EVs and the consequent electricity to power them is very ungreen.

      2. I think you should be thanking all EV drivers, we are after all ensuring that the gas of life CO2 continues to be present on the planet.

        1. Not sure about that.
          EV cars are consuming very rare elements that might equally be essential to things that really will save the planet, but we don’t yet know about!

          1. Your comment is rather vague, “might be essential”. I will take the thanks for something we both agree on in the here and now, I am adding to the CO2 levels of the planet to keep life going.
            At my age this is probably my last car and you can have the rare elements back when I am gone if you do discover them to be essential to saving the planet.
            I may however be tempted to give it up if I can find a mint one of these. (The car, I still got the girl)
            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7cfb5691edb420c0d5661c616a138a07274311b82ed56fa62f517dca8bc2c0eb.jpg

          2. It has to be vague!
            };-))
            None, and I really do mean NONE, of the claims for EV cars actually stand up to real scrutiny.
            But on the plus side keep supporting life on Earth by producing CO2.

            Great car by the way! I learned to drive in the hard top version.

    3. Battery tests are really only good under load – so, in a fossil car, when cranking the engine, measure the voltage.

      1. I have done the test described under the load presented to the battery on connection to the EV. In an ICE car the load presented should resolve to a low stable. current measured in milliamps.

        My measurement shows that the battery under load was about 3 amps and falling as the voltage fell to 11 volts when I disconnected it.

        A test outside the vehicle with an equivalent stable resistive load of four ohms did not show the same falling voltage drop illustrating that the EV presents a capactive load which could account for a ghost current drain on the battery.

        The appended quote suggests that a permanent pocket LiFePO emergency starter across the battery could address the suspected inrush current drain when the 12 volt auxiliary battery is connectrd to the vehicle.

  46. That’s me gone for this lovely day – sunny right through (me specially) though embarrassed at turning down the treasurer job. C’est la vie…

    Have a spiffing evening. We are going to funeral tomorrow afternoon – our beloved cleaner’s Mum. And Maureen, bless her, were here today in “customary suits of solemn black”. Haven’t sen that for many years.

    A demain.

    1. Clever. My mind tries to see the numbers of Trans and politicians in that 100, hopefully they wouldn’t make up one person.

  47. Busy day today so am only just perusing the pages of the paper. I was no fan of Djokovic; but warmed to him (if that is the right word) after the appalling treatment meted out to him by our Australian cousins last year and am therefore delighted that he won the Oz Open yesterday. I think, with a year’s hindsight, an apology would be in order from the men down under but I don’t expect one will be forthcoming.

    “A mid convulsive emotion for Novak Djokovic on Rod Laver Arena, it was Nick Kyrgios who cut to the essence of it all. “We created a monster,” he wrote. He did not intend it as a compliment to his fellow Australians. On the contrary, it was a statement on the pious posturing that had led to the Serb’s demonisation 12 months earlier, and the bloody-mindedness he has channelled to deliver one of sport’s most delicious acts of vengeance.

    It can be an overused trope, revenge. But nothing else quite captures the narrative flip that Djokovic has engineered in Melbourne. One year ago, he was the pariah of the parish, derided as “Novax Djocovid” for daring to remain unjabbed, a man whose eventual deportation was exploited by the Australian government for cynical political capital. Today, he can reflect contentedly on having the last word over all those opportunists who used their five minutes of fame to expose him to global ridicule…”

    1. The greatest player of all time.

      Strange that he still cannot play at Wimbledon or in the USA when both countries are being inundated with unvaccinated hordes of alien creatures in their tens/hundreds of thousands every year.

      With honest and sensible men like Djokovic there remains hope of turning the tide.

    1. “With her support dog” ffs

      Maybe i’ll call my mutt my “support dog”. I wonder what he’d have to say to that!

    2. “With her support dog” ffs

      Maybe i’ll call my mutt my “support dog”. I wonder what he’d have to say to that!

    1. If fishing for compliments, reel around or better yet buy a round…
      Good luck and have fun.

  48. Evening, all. The Con party is going to have an uphill struggle to move on – they all seem to be as bad as each other with no proper Conservative in sight. On a personal note, Oscar has an eye infection and after an abortive trip to the vet’s this afternoon (he squeezed his eye tight shut and got very upset about attempts to look at it, despite sedation) he’s been referred to a specialist tomorrow morning in Nantwich. I have a load of medication to try to give to him at various times, plus instructions of what to give him tomorrow two hours before his appointment, but not to give him any breakfast. I think we may be struggling to get him to take the pills! Putting pills down Oscar’s throat is not for the faint-hearted and definitely not for anybody not wearing steel gauntlets! I may not be typing tomorrow night!

    1. Accepting that you might well lose your face, have you tried the peashooter approach to pills?

          1. It was just morbid curiosity that prompted my suggestion having read so much about his hound from Hell!

          2. I keep telling him that inside that snarling, snapping lunatic (when I wake him up to take him for a walk) there is a nice, gentle dog trying to get out. He isn’t entirely convinced.

          3. He is getting better, thankfully. He let me clean away the tears without my having to muzzle him before I took him to the vet’s. He was less accommodating, even with a muzzle on, for the vet herself. It seems to be a trust issue. I am, however, not sure that I trust him enough … 🙂

          4. Tinned tuna is good as well! I hope it goes well for you and Oscar! Do you take Kadi as well?

          5. Yes, Kadi comes as a package! I did worry a bit about taking him off when I had to leave Oscar at the vet’s, but he seemed fine with it. We went to a dog friendly cafe and he stuck to me like glue as usual. He was delighted to see Oscar when we went back and picked him up. I don’t think there would be anything left if I took Oscar and left Kadi home alone. He’d shred everything he could get his teeth into due to separation anxiety. He used to live with two other dogs and has never been on his own – he’s a nervous wreck even with company!

      1. Used to do that with the horses! I can wrap them in something tasty, apparently – just not give him a full breakfast. Here’s hoping greed will cause him to wolf them down before he suspects there is something not so tasty inside!

          1. I’d have to cook bacon and I’ll be short of time. I’ll be getting up at the crack of dawn anyway to be able to get there in time for the appointment. Oscar is, unfortunately, lactose intolerant as I discovered when I tried a previous vet’s suggestion about cottage cheese …

          1. I don’t have any peanut butter in the house. Some varieties of PB have ingredients that are bad for dogs, too, I remember reading somewhere.

          2. It worked well with one Golden and the cat. Only a little on a finger with pill concealed within.

          3. These are capsules – about an inch long! I did get him to take his doggy paracetamol tonight in a bit of meat. He has half a tablet of that (I had to get some pliers to cut the damned things in half – there was no way I could manage to break them!). He’s supposed to have half a tablet of those three times a day. It’s worse than supervising MOH’s tablet intake used to be!

        1. We wrap tablets in wafer-thin ham. Or I dig a hole with a cocktail stick in a softer treat and push the tablet into that and present it hole/tablet towards me. We did have a few problems at first but we’ve got a system going now. It is amazing though how, in the early days, a tiny diuretic half tablet could be spat out and its camouflage would go happily down the hatch.

          1. My setter used to be like that; I would carefully hide a pill in a bread and butter sandwich. Sandwich would disappear, then the pill would be spat out! I don’t have any wafer thin ham, unfortunately. I might investigate the treats to see what would be soft enough to do that with.

          2. We ground the late Sinbad’s tablets to a powder and mixed with a spoonful of chicken or fish paste from Aldi.

            Other medications ground in a pestle and mortar and mixed with water administered with a syringe by mouth.

  49. Dame Cressida Dick asked for £500,000 package when she quit as Met Police chief
    Dame Cressida stepped down last February after reportedly being ‘intimidated’ into quitting
    According to correspondence seen by the Guardian, Dame Cressida’s representatives initially requested a payout worth around £500,000 as she prepared to step down last year.
    The Guardian reports Robin Wilkinson, the Met’s former chief of corporate services, believed Dame Cressida was “entitled” to two years’ severance after being forced out.
    When the commissioner stood down in February she had 26 months of her contract remaining at a salary of £240,000 per annum, says the Guardian.
    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/met-police-cressida-dick-commissioner-mayor-of-london-sadiq-khan-b1056506.html
    Tell the striking firemen that Dame Cressida got all the money and there’s none left.

    1. Our income tax office staff are talking about striking for a thirty percent increase.

      Hopefully they go on strike and stay out.

      1. P.S. their latest ploy has been determining that all of the illegal covid support claims are not worth going after for repayment.

        1. Surely the Government’s answer is to get the staff to retrieve the illegal / over payments so that there is more money available to help fund any pay increases…..

      1. She should never have been appointed! In a sane world she would have got nowhere near the position she was given.

  50. Just after lunch I went outside to check the post box and spotted a honey bee sunning itself on the wall of the house. Later a mossie (insect) appeared at one of the windows. All in all a fairly mild day…

  51. That’s me off to bed!
    We’ve emptied the next wood-stack so I’ll be getting started with refilling that tomorrow. Dropping the other elms can be left for a while.

    Goodnight all.

          1. Even when I’m aching – oh, alright, hurting – I can still manage to sleep if I’ve been really busy. A few glasses of something alcoholic helps, of course 🙂

  52. We are off to bed soon- it takes some time. Although we both slept well last night, it is all very tiring right now.
    Hoping for some action tomorrow, if no call then we will call and get it on board.
    Sleep well Y’all.
    At least it isn’t bloody freezing.

  53. Goodnight and God bless, Gentle NoTTLefolk. I hope to be back with another story for you, soon enough.

  54. Goodnight, all. I’m off to bed shortly. Thank goodness the Rayburn hasn’t gone out tonight – it did last night and had to be relit and then the damned thing went out again this morning. I shall be pushed for time tomorrow, so I don’t need any extra activities to fit in.

  55. Don’t scrap powers to overrule EU in Northern Ireland for a quick Brexit deal, Sunak told
    Two former UK negotiators say Prime Minister must press ahead with new law giving Government right to rip up red tape
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/01/30/dont-scrap-powers-overrule-eu-northern-ireland-quick-brexit/

    BTL

    Why was the Northern Ireland Protocol agreed in the first place?

    Remember the final stages of the negotiations in Brussels?

    Lord Frost was holding firm on both Northern Ireland and British fishing rights. Then Boris Johnson and Michael Gove arrived in Brussels and the following day – within 24 hours of their arrival – Britain had capitulated. We still have EU fishing boats in British waters plundering British fish stocks and the Northern Ireland Protocol has passed which enables the EU to hold sway on trade rules and Customs in British territory.

    Nobody should have trusted Johnson – he did not believe in Brexit but he wanted the kudos of being seen to have got it done but was not prepared to fight for British interests.

Comments are closed.