Sunday 5 February: Britain’s plumber problem stands in the way of the heat-pump revolution

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

537 thoughts on “Sunday 5 February: Britain’s plumber problem stands in the way of the heat-pump revolution”

  4. ‘Morning, Peeps.  A dry and mostly sunny week ahead, or so we are told…

    SIR – Heat pumps are great for the triple-glazed, airtight, sound-proof new build, but not for the unfortunate next-door neighbour in the older period property.

    Leaving aside the extortionate installation costs, why does no one publicise the noise of these evil units, sited, of course, to face the neighbouring garden, not the owner’s?

    I am one such victim, whose large garden in this rural area is now permeated by a persistent drone – not from bees and other wildlife, but from the heat pump next door. Imagine a row of terraced houses with one each.

    Clare Lake
    Falmouth, Cornwall

    Quite right, Ms Lake.  The ludicrous aim to replace gas heating with heat pumps has the same ring to it as the pitifully few public charging points for EVs – for those who can afford their extortionate cost.  It would laughable if it wasn’t so serious.  I would like to think that any party against all this expensive and unworkable claptrap should do well, but time is fast running out.

    1. A sensible BTL response, together with the offending photo:

      Martin Mitchel
      41 MIN AGO
      Once again the Telegraph uses its stock photo of the two Vaillant heat pump ‘engineers’ installing the heat pump far to close to the walls and under a (incorrectly installed anyway) boiler vent which will drip water on it. There is not enough room for free airflow into the heat pump and no access for removing leaves or as I had to do this year floating (possibly poplar) seeds that fell like snow.
      600,000 heat pumps a year will require the equivalent of one Hinkley Point C every 18 months to power them and how long has it taken not to build one?

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/16605ba34b7bdbf19af80b40558cc534f06d6553c5a7b455a43ffa692c6dd698.jpg

      1. The generation and transmission capacity never gets thought about when idiot politicians come with these ideas.
        My estimate for new power stations, if all UK was electric only, was three times the current number! Plus, total replacement of the grid, right up to the fuse box at home.

  6. SIR – I would like Sir Keir to answer five simple questions.

    Does he support the strikes?

    Are his party’s net zero targets more important than energy security?

    What is his plan to stop illegal migration if the French continue to fail to cooperate?

    How much more than the 75 per cent windfall profit tax on energy producers would he like to levy?

    What is his definition of a woman?

    He might as well be prepared because these questions will be asked often before the next election.

    Christopher Hunt
    Swanley, Kent

    Simple to you and me, Mr Hunt, but a real challenge for the evasive Sir Kneel Hindsight.  And you would need a tough interviewer to insist on straightforward answers from the beer-swilling, korma-munching, fence-dwelling deluded old fool who thinks he leads the Labour Party, otherwise the interview is over!

    PS Your parents obviously had a sense of humour…

  7. SIR – The Government has promised greater protection from strategic lawsuits against public participation (Slapps) to protect freedom of speech, but I suggest it puts its own house in order first (“Stop lawsuits which silence journalists, Labour urges”, report, January 28).

    In 2017 I applied to look at the personal diaries and letters of Dickie and Edwina Mountbatten for a biography I was writing. They had been bought by the University of Southampton from a Mountbatten family trust as part of a £2.8 million purchase under the Acceptance in Lieu scheme (in lieu of tax payable by the trust to HMRC) and with contributions from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Hampshire County Council and other organisations. I was told the Cabinet Office had closed all the material (some 30,00 pages) under a mysterious Ministerial Direction.

    Eventually, in 2019, after numerous Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, the Information Commissioner, who instituted contempt proceedings against the University of Southampton for breaching its FOI obligations (a step unprecedented against a public authority), ordered the release of the material. The Cabinet Office and the University of Southampton appealed and I was forced to defend the appeal.

    As the Cabinet Office and the university instructed two top QCs and a plethora of lawyers, I had to take on legal representation myself. Eventually 99.9 per cent of the material was released but, as the general rule in information tribunals is that each party bears its own costs, I was not awarded my legal costs, which came to over £400,000. The Government will not say how much taxpayers’ money was spent on this needless appeal.

    The Government’s strategy, it seems, was to try to break me financially by running up my costs. The ministerial direction they had relied on for a decade was dropped shortly before the hearing.

    Rishi Sunak promised a government of integrity and accountability, but I’ll believe that when I see it. I write as a former Conservative parliamentary candidate.

    Dr Andrew Lownie
    London SW1

    That each party must bear their own costs is scandalous, and will prevent all but the wealthiest individuals from taking on a government that ducks and dives when faced with a troublesome FOI request.   Full marks to Dr Lownie for having the persistence, and the means, to take them on.

    1. In 2017 I applied to look at the personal diaries and letters of Dickie and Edwina Mountbatten for a biography I was writing.

      Mountbatten has always been a sensitive subject with Dieppe and all, plus his relationship with the King and his end. The resistance to Dr Lownies enquries probably stemmed from the Royals and was paid for by the taxpayer!

    2. In 2017 I applied to look at the personal diaries and letters of Dickie and Edwina Mountbatten for a biography I was writing.

      Mountbatten has always been a sensitive subject with Dieppe and all, plus his relationship with the King and his end. The resistance to Dr Lownies enquries probably stemmed from the Royals and was paid for by the taxpayer!

    3. In 2017 I applied to look at the personal diaries and letters of Dickie and Edwina Mountbatten for a biography I was writing.

      Mountbatten has always been a sensitive subject with Dieppe and all, plus his relationship with the King and his end. The resistance to Dr Lownies enquries probably stemmed from the Royals and was paid for by the taxpayer!

    1. Exactly. Does anybody seriously think the Chinese would send over a stonking great highly visible balloon when they’ve embedded practically everything from baking tins to tellies with spy chips?

  9. “Bang, bang, you’re dead….”

    UK Military Would Run Out of Ammo In One Day of Fighting Russia, Warns General

    The British military’s supply of ammunition would run dry in just one day in a direct engagement with Russia as a result of years of spending cuts to the nation’s defence, a former top general has warned.

    General Sir Richard Barrons, who formerly served as the Joint Forces chief, claimed that spending cuts have depleted the British military to such an extent that, in a hot war with Russia, the UK would run out of ammunition and artillery shells within just one day.
    *
    *
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/02/04/uk-military-would-run-out-of-ammo-in-just-one-day-of-fighting-russia-warns-general/

    1. Apparently the yanks shot it down with a missile probably costing hundreds of thousand dollars!

        1. Absolute bargain – mere pennies spent to achieve the same result as the yanks – Square root of bugger all!

  11. Leopard 2 bought by Turkey to fight British-backed Kurds has numerous faults exposed in lethal fashion. 31 January 2018.

    A German-made tank, which Berlin once dubbed one of the best in the world, has had its shortcomings embarrassingly exposed on the battlefield in Syria.

    Photos from the Turkish military operation dubbed ‘Euphrates Shield’, which began in August 2016, show the charred remains of one of the Leopard 2 tanks which was reportedly blown up with mines.

    Whoops! Has anyone told the Ukies?

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5332247/The-4million-German-tank-embarrassed-Syria.html

  13. Britain’s plumber problem stands in the way of the heat-pump revolution

    Well according to Lammy, plumbers can carry out their business without the use of a van, they can do it all by travelling on the bus.

    I think we have a politician problem, not a plumber problem

    1. Another Double Lammy

      The dictionary definition of a double whammy is:

      “A situation in which two negative things happen at the same time or in rapid succession”

    2. Changes need to be made to the funding of apprentices. I know of a young lad who has started on a plumbing apprenticeship course at college. He is bright, keen and showing much promise. However, in spite of contacting numerous plumbers, he is unable to find anyone to take him on. Our plumber, who took on his own son, explained the problem from the side of a small business (just him and his newly qualified son). It simply costs them too much.

      1. Not to mention the red tape. A working man is assumed to know all the laws with respect to “Health and Safety” but without employing an expert HR team, how can he possibly know them? The barriers to micro-entities growing are significant.

      2. Tell him to go to Germany, they’ll bite his arm off to get a keen plumbing apprentice, and he’d have no problem finding a company!

        1. That’s interesting though, as far as I’m aware, he was taught French as his foreign language. I will mention it to his mum next time I see her. If he is interested in looking into that, any idea how he’d go about investigating that approach?

        2. That’s interesting though, as far as I’m aware, he was taught French as his foreign language. I will mention it to his mum next time I see her. If he is interested in looking into that, any idea how he’d go about investigating that approach?

  14. Good morning good people:

    Apart from one element of this chap’s conclusion I think you will agree with what this chap has to say about the danger and insanity of Wokism!

    https://twitter.com/billmaher/status/1621741159201800192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1621741159201800192%7Ctwgr%5Ef465a1a4960a739cab449f3486b1c27e1942dfc9%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Fnot-so-fking-awesome-bill-maher-blasts-insane-arrogance-todays-woke-revolutionaries

  15. Good morning good people:

    Apart from one element of this chap’s conclusion I think you will agree with what this chap has to say about the danger and insanity of Wokism!

    https://twitter.com/billmaher/status/1621741159201800192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1621741159201800192%7Ctwgr%5Ef465a1a4960a739cab449f3486b1c27e1942dfc9%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Fnot-so-fking-awesome-bill-maher-blasts-insane-arrogance-todays-woke-revolutionaries

  16. 370753+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Sunday 5 February: Britain’s plumber problem stands in the way of the heat-pump revolution

    Where have all the tradesmen gone?
    Long time passing.
    Where have all the tradesmen gone?
    Long time ago.
    Where have all the tradesmen gone?

    Oh, When will you ever learn?
    Oh, When will you ever learn?

    British apprenticeship tradesmen once valued an asset to society are now only a figment of fodder for the voter as in vows,promises, & pledges, successive governments / party members / voters have seen to that.

    Still not to worry, as Mr Wilky Micawber did not say, we could get a boat load of plumbers arriving at Dover today.

  17. Good morning all. Quite a temperature drop this morning, from yesterday’s 4°C we’re down to -3°C, but the predawn sky is largely clear with contrails and what cloud there is all streaked with red. A fine day is forecast.

        1. Much better thanks – he drove this afternoon when we went to the concert. His car’s been sitting on the drive since early November and it started without a stutter.

    2. Yo B o B & Good Morning

      Red sky at night, shepherds’ delight
      Red sky in the morning shepherds’ warning

      And

      It’s black over Bill’s Mother’s

  18. Good morning all,

    Nice clear start to the day at McPhee Towers with a sunny day in prospect, just 3℃ at the moment.

    Neil Oliver was on form last night:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZcBo4UqoNE&t=5s
    The PEOPLE are sovereign, not Parliament. 1215 Magna Carta, which Parliament cannot repeal or amend, says so.

    He had William Keyte on later:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R3KDFeaSK0&t=310s

    Go to:
    https://www.commonlawconstitution.org
    https://www.newchartistmovement.org.uk/welcome/what-it-s-all-about

    1. It is a question on not who holds ultimate power but who wields ultimate power.
      Parliament because they control the police and army and the people are not willing to bring about worthwhile change in Parliament.

  19. Good morning all,

    Nice clear start to the day at McPhee Towers with a sunny day in prospect, just 3℃ at the moment.

    Neil Oliver was on form last night:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZcBo4UqoNE&t=5s
    The PEOPLE are sovereign, not Parliament. 1215 Magna Carta, which Parliament cannot repeal or amend, says so.

    He had William Keyte on later:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R3KDFeaSK0&t=310s

    Go to:
    https://www.commonlawconstitution.org
    https://www.newchartistmovement.org.uk/welcome/what-it-s-all-about

  21. Eagle yesterday, birdie today, they will be cutting my handicap next

    Wordle 596 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
    ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  22. Morning all, dry frosty start with a promise of sunshine today, Creeping up above freezing now.

  23. A courageous soldier in a particularly dirty and difficult war:

    Tony Towell, young officer who won an MC risking his life searching for a missing comrade in Korea – obituary

    During the night his patrol came under relentless attack from Chinese troops with machine guns, mortars and grenades

    ByTelegraph Obituaries 1 February 2023 • 7:02pm

    Captain Tony Towell, who has died aged 91, was awarded an MC when he was 21 and on active service in the Korean War.

    The 1st Battalion The Royal Norfolk Regiment, part of 29th Independent Infantry Brigade, arrived in Korea in November 1951. Towell, then a 2nd Lieutenant, was in command of a platoon.

    On the night of May 29 1952 he was in command of a 40-man fighting patrol comprised of three sections. Their objective was to advance to a feature nicknamed “Tombstone”, on higher ground about 700 yards away, then snatch a Chinese soldier from an enemy trench and hold him for interrogation.

    Jonathan Wormald, a lieutenant in the Assault Pioneers, set off with the leading section at 23.00 hours. Towell’s orders were to follow about 200 yards behind him. Suddenly, at 01.20 hours, just as Wormald’s section was preparing to assault, the Chinese opened up with machine guns, mortars and grenades.

    Towell heard the noise of a big battle, but it was a pitch-black night and the only light came from enemy red and white tracer fire. He called down artillery fire on the crest and shoulders of the hill to prevent the Chinese bringing up reinforcements.

    His repeated calls for a situation report got no response so, taking 12 men, he crept up the slope through scrub and outcrops of rock to within a few yards of the trench. There, he came across dead and wounded men; those who had not been hit were wandering around dazed and disorientated.

    Three-quarters of the section, including the wireless operator, had become casualties. He was told that Wormald had been wounded and was lying further up the slope. For the next hour there was a fierce battle, with incoming supporting fire from American howitzers and New Zealand 25-pounders, while all around them he and his men were under relentless machine gun and mortar fire.

    Towel continued searching until he decided that it was too dark to continue. There was no sign of Wormald so he escorted those who were severely wounded back to his base and they were then evacuated to the company lines. By this time, it was close to 04.00 hours.

    “Tombstone” was still under machine gun and mortar fire, but Towell was convinced that in daylight he would be able to find Lt Wormald. He therefore took four men, including a Bren gun team and a signaller and, under cover of smoke, they crawled to the foot of “Tombstone” and hid themselves in an old mortar pit.

    An hour later, at first light, when the incoming fire had slackened, they searched the area thoroughly, but there was no trace of the young officer. Later that day, Towell volunteered to join another search party but again their search proved fruitless.

    He subsequently learnt that Wormald was lying dead in the trench. The citation for Towell’s Military Cross paid tribute to his “great leadership and the highest standards of courage, endurance and initiative”.

    Anthony Philip Towell, an only child, was born at Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire, on April 16 1931. Tony won a choral scholarship to the King’s School, Canterbury, and at the outbreak of war the pupils were evacuated to Carlyon Bay on the south coast of Cornwall.

    At 17 he left school and joined the Suffolk Regiment before attending Sandhurst and being commissioned into the Royal Norfolk Regiment.

    In Korea, he and his men lived off American rations and in small dug-outs which protected them from everything except a direct hit. He said later that they lacked intelligence of which Chinese units they were facing, and that was why making a night raid and capturing an enemy soldier for interrogation was so important. Sometimes the best that they could do was to bring back a wounded soldier, but even if he was only slightly wounded he usually gave up and died.

    After returning from Korea, Towell was promoted to captain and seconded to Hong Kong. He resigned from the Army in 1957 and worked for Shell, who sent him to learn Spanish and then posted him to Thailand. Quick-thinking, decisive and with considerable charm, he made a successful career in marketing, posted to Uruguay, Argentina, Colombia and the US, where he led the sales and marketing departments. After leaving the company he held directorships in the oil and gas industry.

    Towell and his wife settled in Long Island, New York, and later in Florida, close to their son and his family. They spent winters in Florida and summers in Kent, where they enjoyed time with their daughter and her sons.

    After his wife died, Towell settled in a London retirement community. He represented his regiment at parades and reunions and was often interviewed about his experiences.

    He married, in 1955, Jackie Honnor, whom he had met in Hong Kong and who had been held as a child in a Japanese internment camp in Manila. Their children survive him.

    Tony Towell, born April 16 1931, died January 14 2023 https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fbd337cf2d792735dc4ef811fbd1edfe9995e6f418d434a30a9643a7ab4885e9.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/16e8f6db8b3816ba27f9073d6f67b1a503a148df52a7afc15093601e58c990a0.jpg

    This BTL comment stood out from the rest:

    Tony Read
    3 DAYS AGO
    Now more than ever we can all learn a great deal from such courageous people as this and other obituaries. Perhaps just may be a tiny piece of their courage may rub off onto lesser mortals such as us.

    Hear, hear.

    1. Amazing.
      Led by a 21 year old!
      They weren’t concerned with gender-neutral toilets, were they.

  26. ‘Morning All

    Argghh the lurgy has stuck throat that feels like i’ve been swallowing razor blades and a constant hacking cough

    So a quick medley

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b8eb720c07cd264eeb29f4ff24af7c818f4c948102b2d0930ea73f20e00bf523.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/579dfb5109c67c1663a09cd6716259f6ec68cdd3258459a5f8ffc711b6dc5aad.jpg

    https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/706/575/bda.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7b4401b9a7f44a9a394ff93292ce3049bf0769dd0e0865f4c325890603a01ab6.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8fe21ac9b67334dde6858f39be19e9f3abef68ea577a4105e58fd83d3ed86dbb.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bf3af8fabd7345432351ba65a3bfa97bb1ca8b4c395742a124822682e4f66ae4.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9574296a871aea7f472aef58223745641ffe7083df31a09bb2ed3712d83a6fa0.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5adfea77103166c00de73ac7daa459afb8a154af4dd507e9666b01a29ba08c3d.png
    Breakfast today will consist of ibuprofen and paracetamol chased down by a very large hot toddy made with wood’s overproof rum,then back to bed to sweat this out
    Later All

    1. Yo Rik

      AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

      The only thing that you puts Wood’s Rum is another one

  27. I was watching a programme about The Black Death yesterday as there was nothing else more interesting on the TV,
    It was interesting to see how most people lived those days under Serfdom and that the were not allowed to leave their Manor without permission.

    Then I thought wait a minute, it’s all sounding just like our governments 15 minute neighbourhoods that are coming in.

  31. From Graham Linehan:-

    “Ma’am I am”
    By way of Doctor Seuss.

    https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd5063a1e-b5ee-4a49-aa0e-d9a44de7c388_1164x2048.jpeg

    Hello, my friend! Hello to you!
    I need to tell you something new!

    Hello, good sir! Hello, I say!
    Please tell me why you’re dressed this way!

    I am so glad we meet once more!
    You knew me as a man before.
    I changed my name! I changed my hair!
    I put on ladies’ underwear!
    You must not ever call me “sir.”
    I am a she! I am a her!

    I see your hair. It is a wig.
    Your Adam’s apple still looks big.
    You are a man, and that is clear.
    I do not see a woman here.
    I must admit, it’s rather odd
    To hear you say you’re now a broad.

    I am a woman! Call me ma’am!
    You have to call me Ma’am I Am!
    I wear a skirt! I wear high heels!
    I feel just how a lady feels!

    You cannot know how ladies feel.
    It is not true. It is not real.
    A woman’s more than shoes or clothes.
    I do not care if you have those.

    I am a woman! You can see!
    I had expensive surgery!
    A surgeon came! He gave me tits!
    He changed my junk to lady bits!
    My pronouns now are “she” and “her.”
    I am a woman! I am sure!

    A saline bag is not a breast.
    A woman’s more than how you’re dressed.
    You are a man. This is a sham.
    I will not, cannot, call you ma’am.
    I will not, cannot, say a lie.
    I wish you well, but now: goodbye!

    I made the city change a law
    To let me use the women’s spa
    But now I do not want to go!
    It is your fault, I’ll have you know!
    You have been mean! You have been rude!
    You’ve put me in a sour mood!
    I am so mad! I feel such stress!
    I think I may have PMS!

    You have no uterus, so no:
    You cannot bleed from down below.
    I do not like your padded bra!
    You should not use the women’s spa!
    You tell me you had surgery;
    Your pronouns still are “him” and “he.”
    Your chromosomes are X and Y.
    That means you’ll always be a guy.
    You gave yourself a girly name.
    That does not mean you’re now a dame.
    A surgeon chopped your eggs and ham?
    I still won’t call you Ma’am I Am.

    Police! Police! It is not fair!
    You must arrest that person there!
    His hateful speech has frightened me!
    He made me sad! He called me “he”!

    Now come with us for being bad.
    You should not make this lady sad.
    To jail with you, and there you’ll stay
    Until you change the words you say.

    I will not change them! I refuse!
    A woman’s more than clothes or shoes!
    The DNA in every cell
    Is how a scientist can tell!
    You cannot force me to agree
    Because he’s taking HRT!
    You cannot force me to comply!
    I will not, cannot, say a lie!
    A woman’s more than how you feel!
    It is not true! It is not real!

    To jail with you! That’s quite enough!
    You must not say such awful stuff!
    You should have called this lady “ma’am”!
    We’re very sorry, Ma’am I Am.
    Because he did not call you “she”
    We’ll lock him up and lose the key.

    At last that horrid man is gone!
    I think I’ll hit the nail salon!
    And then I’ll buy athletic shorts.
    I think I could be good at sports!
    I may be getting fat and old
    But still, I bet I’ll win the gold!
    I’ll beat those girls! I know I can!
    I’m bigger! Stronger!
    I’m a man!

  32. 370753+ up ticks,

    Mass kettling is the order of the political day,

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    18h
    Just another story about the destruction of our way of life. Its being done by these main ways.

    1) The non-existent ‘climate crisis’ to justify the desctruction of energy supplies.
    2) The covid scamdemic & lockdowns to destroy food & other supply lines.
    3) The banning of fertilizers to destroy food production.
    4) The importation of millions of illegal migrants to create social chaos.
    5) Increaing restrictions on individual freedoms to demoralise people.

    You will think of a lot more to add to my off the top-of-my-head list.

    Our corrupt Globalist controlled political system will not even address the problems let alone solve them.

    https://gettr.com/post/p27be0bfc89

      1. California …. for now. Only a matter of time before it happens here. ‘Diversity, equity and inclusion champion’ 😂at technology company Phenomenex.

    3. Merely changing an old cliché for a new one.
      Doubtless those alternatives will also offend some group in due course.

    6. “Shoot me” an email; “bombed” the presentation; “kicking around” an idea; and a “straight shooter” in meetings; are all vapid Yankisms, urgently requiring consignment to the trash can dustbin!

      1. Indeed. But at least half have been in everyday speech here as long as I can remember. Rather than ‘beat a dead horse’ we would use ‘flog a dead horse.’ In order to trigger certain people, we need to use these phrases as often as possible.

        1. Trying to eliminate “not bad” in favour of “good” is just discrimination against English people.

          1. I like ‘ Not bad’ – English understatement. (There’s a word for that but it won’t move from the tip of my tongue!

  36. Good morning all ,

    Fine day ahead , 9c. Lovely sunrise.

    Can any of you remember what it was like to have restless infants / toddlers who climb out of cots and wander around in the middle of the night / early hours , clattering around saying they are thirsty/ wet bed / needing the loo …

    Moh and I are now suffering from sleep deprivation , older dog Jack, 15yrs next month clatters around , mid week was another crisis point , head tilt , failed sight and hearing … he suddenly really aged , and has started wandering at night and colliding with things , we are going to have to make a few hard decisions soon .. He is still enjoying his food .. and doing his business outside .. but I need to encourage him ever 2 hours to wee, because he is drinking water frequently .

    He sleeps in the bedroom with us, because he has alwas been my shadow.. he has to be carried upstairs now .

    Moh and I just need our sleep , so are we being selfish?

    1. Does he have diabetes, Belle?
      Just before Magnificat died, he would wee all over the place, and it was very sticky. Maybe a consultation with the vet for your old mate and some pills could be a solution.

    2. Yo T_B & MOH

      Rainbow Bridge Poem

      Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

      All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

      They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

      You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart. Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together…

      I know that it has helped us in the past

      1. Such beautiful and tearful words , thank you dear OLT

        I have owned spannels for over 50 years , dare I say , closer companions than I ever expected and a pleasure especially so with an absent Moh here there and everywhere.

    3. It’s hard when they reach that stage. Does he still enjoy life? You’ll know when the time has come to say goodbye.

    4. I find the vet a good sounding board for these decisions. It’s your choice but they’re normally pretty good at giving you a steer.
      Usually though, if both ends are functioning OK (food & water in, waste out) then the main consideration would be any pain.

    5. Sleep is something we take for granted until we suffer insomnia. Its vital for our wellbeing. Can you put the hound in a child’s playpen, or similar, at night.

    6. I think if you need to ask, it’s not the time. You will know, Belle, and if you make the decision too early, you may regret it. Our daughter had planned to put her beautiful Lab to sleep last Sunday, as the very aggressive tumour on her leg had grown and she was concerned it would burst and become an emergency. So we all met at Cramond beach last Saturday with Hector and mad Harry and the children, had a wonderful romp around, and ice cream and then went our separate ways, in tears. Sunday came and Lyra was like a puppy so the plans were abandoned! However, on Friday she was so much worse that she went peacefully, and broke all our hearts. Sending my good wishes to you and Jack.

      2. Thank you Sue,

        Oh dear, why do we feel like this .. I was in a terrible mess when Happy parrot died 2 years ago , that clever little bird was 36 .. I felt terrible . Still miss him.

        1. I know it’s dreadful, isn’t it? The enormous ache in your heart and the space in your life. Absolutely awful. As long as Jack is happy and able, he deserves all the time he has. Our daughter is devastated, as are we all, as Lyra came to us, with her brother Hector, when they were 8 weeks old. So many memories.

        2. We still miss Oscar.
          He used to peer round the corner from his cage in the conservatory to see what I was up to in the kitchen.
          MB has just moved the cage to the Dower House. It resides in the shed until we decide what to do.

        3. We never forget those animals who were part of our lives…….. all my cats; my mother’s dog; all gone but never forgotten. Now we have elderly Lily – thin as a bone, but still lively and quite active. She may not have long to go – she’s probably about 16. We gave her a home in 2019, after Suzie disappeared one evening and the house felt so empty.

          This one’s Suzie.

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/94f882c8dd23cd1bc8f788902ff50d8d8810833cc1a365022ed4ae71517a9110.jpg

          1. Beautiful Suzie.

            She might have been camping with another family.

            We have had cats in the past , more like proxy dogs , but they always adopted other families , or rather were fed by other people . A Tortoiseshell, called Autumn leaves and a ginger male we called Scud, after Scud missiles.. he was very fast and nimble , and a mouser .

          2. I don’t think so – she was 17 and had never gone missing before. One of our neighbours lost her cat the same week – disappeared and only her fluffy tail was found. We think something took them – a fox maybe. Suzie was stone deaf and wouldn’t have heard anything approaching.

    7. I have a similar problem with Oscar at the moment; he’s been waking me up at 02.30, 04.30, 06.30 … for the last few days. It’s probably the medication he’s on. I think you will know when it’s time to make the fateful decision. Jazz looked at me and told me he’d had enough. My red setter stopped eating, my wolfhound cross had squamous cell carcinoma and it had spread through his organs. Charlie had tests and his kidneys had packed up. You have to consider Jack – does he have a good quality of life? If he doesn’t, it’s time.

  37. Good morning, all. Sunny in N Essex this morning.

    From eggs causing heart attacks as another nonsensical excuse for the “vaccine’s” impact to egg yolk antibodies having a positive effect against CV-19.

    Here’s a thought provoker from Redacted.

    Egg Yolk Antibodies Neutralises Covid?

  38. Good Moaning.
    I am struggling against the urge to shout “I Told You So”.
    Still the Chinese economy received a totally unwarrented boost.
    The Sunday Wail’s doctor has a mea culpa moment. Sort of:

    “Are facemasks pointless? It’s a debate that has rumbled on for nearly three years through the Covid pandemic.

    I was very firmly in favour of them, especially in healthcare settings, but now it seems we might finally have a definitive answer. Following a review of 80 international studies, the conclusion reached is that, yes, facemasks are pointless. Probably.

    The analysis, by research charity Cochrane, looked at whether masks slowed the spread of viruses such as flu and Covid in schools, offices and hospitals. It turns out even wearing a medical-grade one makes very little difference.

    Washing your hands properly, however, was found to stop bugs. So there you have it – sticking to basic hygiene rules that you already know is pretty much the best you can do.”

    1. Morning Anne ,

      The damage that the mask string has done to my poor ears is unbearable , the rear of my ears are so sore and itchy, and ar one point during the Covid crisis , actually bled.

      I have a sensitive fair skin, and have to be very careful with many products and clothes , and even food .

      1. Morning, Maggie.
        Firstly, I really feel for you over Jack; we had the same conundrum with George and Hamish, our Jack Russell brothers. One had leukaemia, the other just old age.
        I refused to wear a mask.
        I still keep my lanyard as I don’t trust the bu88ers an inch. I used it under protest, as it was playing their game, but I needed to get the shopping done, not do a Rosa Luxembourg every time we needed bread and bog rolls.
        The government is absolutely itching to exert more control over us.
        When it comes to skin, I have to use unscented products and avoid cheap make-up; ditto laundry capsules. When I occasionally use scent, I put it on my clothes, not directly on my skin.

        1. I’ve still got the little exemption card in my coat pocket. I complied for some time then decided I’d had enough of not being able to see for steamed up specs or hear because I need to lip read.

          I saw no masks in Morrisons on Friday, but one yesterday – an elderly lady walking very slowly with a grubby blue mask under her chin.

    2. When muzzles were mandated for secondary school pupils but not for primary schools, there was no difference in ‘case’ rates between the two sectors.

      1. Morning PM.
        Exactly.
        In Normal life conditions after the Christmas holidays, a week after the children returned to school the usual colds and other nasties spread through local communities. If primary children didn’t have to wear masks what would be the point of their older brothers and sisters wearing them ?
        They call this research.

    4. If masks are so brilliant, why were they not universally worn BEFORE the plague? Especially by medical people (I don’t include people in operating theatres).

    5. I think they did some research and could find no evidence that the Lone Ranger ever caught or passed on Covid. That was enough evidence to settle the science.

    6. There is no sense in wearing a mask for the reasons given but in addition because you are inhaling stale breath and trapping nasal mucus in the fabric.

      I found wearing them by mandate in hospital settings awkward because the strings interfere with my hearing aids and this is compounded by the fact that I wear spectacles.

  39. SIR – Heat pumps are great for the triple-glazed, airtight, sound-proof new build, but not for the unfortunate next-door neighbour in the older period property.

    Leaving aside the extortionate installation costs, why does no one publicise the noise of these evil units, sited, of course, to face the neighbouring garden, not the owner’s?

    I am one such victim, whose large garden in this rural area is now permeated by a persistent drone – not from bees and other wildlife, but from the heat pump next door. Imagine a row of terraced houses with one each.

    Clare Lake
    Falmouth, Cornwall

    Anyone who has lived in West Africa in air conditioned homes , we used to turn the units off at night because of the incessant clattering noise .

    I just have to walk past our village butcher’s shop to know that the noise from their cooling system is unbearable on the wall outside , and if ou drive the car past with the radio on , the interference is terrible .

    1. We had one bedroom with a big old Westinghouse aircon unit in the wall. When temperatures were high, we would run it from suppertime until bedtime, switch off & get in to bed. Once you are asleep in a cool room, sleeping in the coolth until morning was easy.

    2. I’ve worked on homes where ground source heat pumps were installed. Half of the garden had to be dug up to Bury all the pipe work and the unit and control system in the garage looked like a control centre at Jodrell Bank. And after all that and the huge cost they still had to switch on an emersion heater because the two people living in the detached 3 bed two bath property, had run out of hot water before afternoon tea.

    3. There should be no interference, that’s a faulty machine. I suspect it’s illegal.

    4. Our sons’ frozen food business had similar equipment.
      You couldn’t actually hear anyone when you were standing in the alleyway beside it. The sound level was unbearable. It had to provide a chilled environment for the production area, and then freeze the desserts below -20.

    5. When we lived in Oz we only used our aircon once at Christie’s Beach SA. The temps 43c for 4 days running and we turned on the AC and stayed in doors windows and doors closed until the sun had gone down. The temps went down to 30 and the beach at the bottom of our road, was packed.

  40. Morning all 😉 😊
    Lovely sunny morning and blue skies up above as the song goes. I’m always suspicious of days like this earlier in the year.
    I may even try and go for a walk. After my medication has settled.

  41. Good Morrow, Gentlefolk. Late on Parade but here is today’s offensive list:

    Something To Offend Everyone

    What is the difference between a Harley and a Hoover?
    The position of the dirt bag.

    Why is divorce so expensive?
    Because it’s worth it.

    What do you call a smart blonde?
    A golden retriever.

    What do lawyers use for birth control?
    Their personalities.

    What’s the difference between a girlfriend and wife?
    20 kgs.

    What’s the difference between a boyfriend and husband?
    45 minutes.

    What’s the fastest way to a man’s heart?
    Through his chest with a sharp knife.

    Why do men want to marry virgins?
    They can’t stand criticism.

    Why is it so hard for women to find men that are sensitive, caring, and good-looking?
    Because those men already have boyfriends.

    What’s the difference between a new husband and a new dog?
    After a year, the dog is still excited to see you.

    What makes men chase women they have no intention of marrying?
    The same urge that makes dogs chase cars they have no intention of driving.

    A brunette, a blonde, and a redhead are all in Grade 9. Who has the biggest boobs?
    The blonde, because she’s 18.

    What’s the difference between a porcupine and a BMW?
    A porcupine has the pricks on the outside.

    What did the blonde say when she found out she was pregnant?
    ‘Are you sure it’s mine?’

    Why do men find it difficult to make eye contact?
    Breasts don’t have eyes.

    What would you call it when an Italian has one arm shorter than the other?
    A speech impediment.

    What’s the difference between a Chinese zoo and an English zoo?
    A Chinese zoo has a description of the animal on the front of the cage along with a recipe.

    How do you get a sweet little 80-year-old lady to say the F….. Word?
    Get another sweet little 80-year-old lady to yell “BINGO”!

    What’s the difference between a northern USA fairy-tale and a southern USA fairy-tale?
    A Northern fairy-tale begins ‘Once upon a time.’
    A Southern fairy-tale begins ‘Y’all ain’t gonna believe this shiiit’.

    Why is there no Disneyland in China?
    No one’s tall enough to go on the good rides.

      1. The (in)famous Tannoy/Public Address System call in “American Pie”

        “Telephone call for Mike Hunt”

  43. Did anyone watch the Calcutta Cup match? Did Youngs appear? Were Engerland as bad as the papers say? Did they kneel??

    1. They didn’t kneel but they sang god save the king.
      Three Scottish tries were virtually un challenged and a South African called Van De Merwe was the star for the Scots.
      No ‘diversity’ was present in the Scottish side.
      And engerland will have to pull their sweaty socks up.

      1. Scotland sing a Scottish anthem. Ireland sing (two) Irish anthems. Wales sing a Welsh anthem. France sing a French anthem. Italy sing and Italian anthem.

        England though, for some unfathomable reason, sing a British anthem! Time for Jerusalem, methinks.

        1. That is exactly what my good lady and I were saying.
          The national anthem is a complete dirge.

    2. Youngs did appear – but it was too late. In fact he struck me as being very much better the the chap who has usurped his place.

      1. You must have watched a different match.
        We know you adore him because of the schooling connection, but you should remove the rose tinted spectacles.
        One of his wayward and unnecessary kicks resulted in Scotland regaining easy possession and permitted their winning score.

        1. I knew that my post would be provocative – especially to Bill whose MR found the young Ben Youngs a very poor pupil in her English class!

    3. England enjoyed a slender, but eminently defensible, lead. Youseless Youngs was brought on; performed his party-trick of mindlessly kicking the ball anywhere; and, as expected and as a direct result of his brainless idiocy, his serial gift of the ball to the Jocks assisted their victory.

      The clown should have been consigned to the scrap heap years ago. He never came close to being in the same league as Danny Care, for example.

    4. England enjoyed a slender, but eminently defensible, lead. Youseless Youngs was brought on; performed his party-trick of mindlessly kicking the ball anywhere; and, as expected and as a direct result of his brainless idiocy, his serial gift of the ball to the Jocks assisted their victory.

      The clown should have been consignes to the scrap heap years ago. He never came close to being in the same league as Danny Care, for example.

      1. I have already bought two alternative batteries that are capable of jump starting a Kona Electric with a flat auxiliary 12v battery but they are not suitable for installation in a new Kona Electric.

      2. I don’t ever want to join a petrol queue again – I just want it to fill itseff up from the mains.

    4. Good morning Angie
      A quick question. With all your testing and fiddling do you ever find time to drive the car?

      2. I’m not going to drive the car until I’m confident I know it works.
        I learnt my mistake when I bought a new diesel and the salesman couldn’t explain why the oil level went up when you.drove it.
        After that I found the handbook said you had to drive the car ‘enthusiastically’ but didn’t bother to find out why.

        In the case of the Kona Electric I’ve made an analogy with the Spitfire to aid my thinking as to how I have to treat it to make how I exoect it to work.

          1. No but Q is working on a laser to fit behind the front charging port to take out road ragers’ tyres.

      1. It has a Merlin – the Griffon would make it fall flat on its radiator on takeoff it it had one.

  45. Jeremy Hunt should ignore the doom-mongering IMF and freeze corporation tax
    The Chancellor must realise that going for growth is the only way out of this mess
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/02/05/jeremy-hunt-should-ignore-doom-mongering-imf-freeze-corporation/

    A selection of BTL comments:

    He promised to lower it to 15% when he was vying for the party leadership.
    The Republic of Ireland has a Corporation Tax rate of 12.5% – imagine how businesses in Northern Ireland will react when their tax rate is double the rate in the south and when the occupying force of the EU, of which the ROI is a part, is controlling their trade?
    If the EU allows the Republic of Ireland to have corporation Tax at half the average EU rate then why can’t the UK allow the same for Northern Ireland?

    Jeremy Hunt is under clear instructions from Schwab at the WES to destroy the British economy. Remember that when he was vying for the party leadership he said he would reduce Corporation Tax from 19% to 25%. Why else has he changed his tune?

    And then when he has completed what Schwab told him to do Sunak will revive his US green card, move to America and let Britain stew in its own juice. Maybe as a parting gift he can give the UK a limitless supply of Vindaloo sauce to add to the stew so that the taste and aroma of his time as prime minster can linger on long after he has gone.

    1. “The Chancellor must realise that going for growth is the only way out of this mess.”

      Maybe, like all the WEF cohort, he wants us further in the mess.

      1. Same old same old, they commit all the crimes and then punish the public.
        And give themselves a pay rise.

  46. Is anyone capable of providing me with a sensible, coherent and easily-assimilated answer to this question?

    Television and radio Newsreaders first morphed into “Newscasters” and now seem to have transmogrified into “News Anchors”.

    Why?

    They still read the news (from an idiot sheet). They have never thrown it at the viewer or listener, nor have they secured it to the sea bed!
    What is the reason (not to mention point) for this ever-devolving abuse of the language? Gobbledegook is becoming more fashionable by the second and its incessant — seemingly unstoppable — rise matches the exponential increase in the stupidity and imbecility of the modern-day excuse for an “intelligent” species.

    4. On this and many other blogs, given they parrot lies, they are known as News Wanchors…..

    5. Anchors is Merkin, as you know. Believe it’s used as they just introduce pieces by other reporters, and are more like continuity announcers. Introduced when the news stopped being information and became entertainment.
      Wonder what Reggie Bosanquet thinks of all that?

      2. … or Tim Brinton, or Peter Woods, or Richard Baker, or Kenneth Kendall, or Alistair Burnet, or Gordon Honeycombe, or …

      1. …and look what a hash these teenagers make of it.

        Poor education and lack of educated editors.

      2. Maybe they do write some of their own scripts but they invariably read them from a teleprompter (autocue). And where did I call them ‘idiots’?

        1. Everywhere they go those brainwashed people use and standby their 2000 plus year old ‘reasoning’. It just doesn’t fit in with modern day ideology.

          1. Mohammed didn’t receive the first word of ‘Allah’ until the year 610 so, only 1,413 years old ideology.

    1. He says march but… we did. Blair ignored us. When we protested over fuel duty hikes, Brown used the military to force us to move.

      When criminals hold up traffic, the state protects them. When the public protest, the state hammers them.

      We do NOT live in a democracy. We are tolerated as tax slaves in a dictatorship – look at Sunak. Who elected him?

        1. I agree.

          Although were we to try it, the entire force of the state would oppose us. The solution has got to be having far more people than they have bullets then, when we get to them, turn their own weapons on them.

        2. Interesting that we haven’t had much (any) comment on the first page article (Liz Truss’s “expose” of “the Blob”)

        3. And money is irrelevant to him so he does not need to realise its importance in the ordinary lives of ordinary people. And when he is kicked out of office he will reapply for his green card and go and live the US as Prince Harry has done.

    2. Power to the people is a nice idea but those who control state power are the ones who dictate to the plebs. If you go against the flow you will end up cancelled, out of a job, unable to access everyday facilities. The little man cannot afford such a protest unless it becomes part of a revolution. But Just look at what happened to a huge and powerful protest in Canada, the truckers. Their bank accounts were closed and they were demonised, in the end they were steamrolled by the state, if I understand things correctly. In our high tech lives, we are interdependent on all sorts of digital facilities, credit ratings, licensing by the state, which all allow the state to influence an individual as it requires. In the end, if you really get up their noses, they will throw you in jail. Remember Tommy Robinson and the guy who peed against a memorial in Westminster, and others. Just wait until they have passed the online harms act, there will be more freedom to say what you like in North Korea!

    3. Power to the people is a nice idea but those who control state power are the ones who dictate to the plebs. If you go against the flow you will end up cancelled, out of a job, unable to access everyday facilities. The little man cannot afford such a protest unless it becomes part of a revolution. But Just look at what happened to a huge and powerful protest in Canada, the truckers. Their bank accounts were closed and they were demonised, in the end they were steamrolled by the state, if I understand things correctly. In our high tech lives, we are interdependent on all sorts of digital facilities, credit ratings, licensing by the state, which all allow the state to influence an individual as it requires. In the end, if you really get up their noses, they will throw you in jail. Remember Tommy Robinson and the guy who peed against a memorial in Westminster, and others. Just wait until they have passed the online harms act, there will be more freedom to say what you like in North Korea!

  49. After months of stalemate, Vladimir Putin’s army is on the move again. 5 February 2023.

    What is certain is that after months of stalemate, Vladimir Putin’s army is on the move again.

    In the past few weeks, they have put in attacks along the southern front in the Zaporizhzhia region, in the south-eastern Donetsk region town of Vuhledar, as well as along the forested front line in Luhansk region.

    I’ve had this strange dream where the Russian army is no more. Defeated and destroyed it can never rise again and Vladimir Putin threaten Ukraine and the World! Oh wait a minute. Sorry everybody! That was in the MSM!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/02/04/what-russian-spring-offensive-ukraine-could-look-like/

  50. ‘I’m the older woman who took Prince Harry’s virginity’: Digger driver Sasha Walpole, 40, reveals she is the mystery horse-lover who had ‘passionate’ five-minute sex session with the duke in pub field – after rendezvous was laid bare in memoir Spare
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html

    So the older woman was 19 at the time – just two years older than Prince Harry!

    I wonder if Migraine has noted the fact she herself is three years older than her husband and a year older than the ‘older’ woman who had it off with the innocent young prince!

    It begs the questions about Migraine’s loss of virginity. At what age did she lose it? Did she lose it with a white man or a black man? Was the chap older or younger than she? These questions are not entirely prurient given the fact that Migraine has made much of the fact that she thinks it outrageous that a man can brag about his sexual past but if a woman does so she is considered to be a slut. She should prove her point by telling us all about he own ‘pre Harry’ sexual experiences – after all we even know the circumcision status of Harry and his brother which of course is rather ironic as they are Roundheads rather than Cavaliers and in Stuart times – when the previous King Charleses reigned – it was the Cavaliers who supported the monarchy.

    1. Rastus, puh-leeze.
      Who cares about Me-again, her virginity or who she lost it to? It’s a level of detail about a rather unpleasant person that I don’t care to know, and would rather not hear about.

      1. Just when you think it can’t get any more sleazy- it does! I’m with you, sick to death of it!!

        1. Getting close to awarding a thumbs-down, me.
          How all Y’all this morning? We’ve just filled a wheely bin with throwing-out stuff from bedrooms and sitting room – still 1/2 house to go. :-((
          Tidyer, though.

          1. Tired but OK- quiet day in planned although with some jobs to do. I have some things to chuck in a wheely bin, mainly of the glass variety 😉
            A bright day with sun and clouds which is nice.

      2. Of course you’re right – but it did give me the chance to make my dubious joke about Roundheads rather than Cavaliers at the head of the monarchy!

          1. When I put up a saucy story on this forum I usually put it behind a spoiler. Strangely enough when I do this I find that the majority of upvotes for the joke come from the ladies!

            Whose naughty jokes – apart from mine – should be censored?

      3. Of course you’re right – but it did give me the chance to make my dubious joke about Roundheads rather than Cavaliers at the head of the monarchy!

    2. I can’t get over the five minutes. Frankly if I were Harry I’d be thoroughly embarrassed.

    3. Better that she stays silent and be thought of as a slut than to speak and prove that she is in fact a shut.

      1. She has kept quiet for twenty years – it was Harry who blew her cover and publicised it. It was only a matter of time before some newspaper named her.
        Harry’s behaviour is disgusting.

    4. The spread in the Mail today was appalling – clearly TPTB want the masses to focus on Harry’s sex life rather than the rapidly unravelling fiat currencies or the lawsuit being brought against the Japanese government for promoting the vaxx (expect a crash in the Japanese bond market if that goes any further…).

  51. Do not change to a heat pump. I have has much to do with them in a former life , and you will be dissapointed with them and a lot poorer.

    1. I’m glad we didn’t change our midium size, fake but realistic looking coal, gas fire into a log burner. We had a quote last year and it would have costs us around 3 thousand pounds.
      Then fines.
      A lot of our neighbours have log burners. But I’ll keep that to my self.

    2. Had good experience when we rented “Grandma’s Cottage” a couple of years ago whilst our sewage system was being rebuilt. That was air-to-air, and worked well down in -10C. Kept the house nice & warm, and didn’t make much noise. Don’t know about the electricity costs, though.

      1. A pedant writes: Do you mean your sewerage system, Paul?😉

        Sewage = shit. Sewerage = the system that removes the sewage.

    3. Good morning, Johnny

      And do not change to an EV and do not get rid of your wood-burning stove.

      1. The fundamental problem, Rastus, is that the fascist state is removing the ability to choose.

        I’ve always argued that choice is what differentiates man from beast. The state must be stopped. It cannot remove the right to install whatever heating system we want in our homes.

        1. We got a letter from Thames Water in Friday about the compulsory “smart” water meter they are going to install. I couldn’t help myself and had scrawled the word “fascists” across it… childish I know but as you say, where is the choice?

          The bl@0dy letter “justifying” it – grrrrrrr

    4. I suppose it depends which type of “heat pump” you are referring to. I live in a house with 15″ of wall insulation and triple-glazing. The house has three luft/luft varmepumpar (heat transference pumps) already installed when I moved here 10 years ago. One in the kitchen, which heats the whole open-plan house; one in the conservatory; and one in my workshop/studio. The latter two are only used at certain times of the year.

      They are nearly silent (just a bit more noisy in freezing weather when on ‘self defrost’ mode’); do not make a noise on the outside that would upset neighbours (they all own their own in any case); are cheap to run; and require very little maintenance (we vacuum the dust filters every few months).

      In my circumstances I wouldn’t be without them; but I can see that other types, installed in poorly-insulated houses, might not be such a good idea.

      1. Are UK heat pumps either Inferior models, wrongly specified (= cheap) or badly installed? Experience here is air-air heat pumps work well (as you wrote) down to really quite cold temperatures in the -10’s of C. Judging from the moaning, you couldn’t even create a draught with a British-installed one.

  52. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/715ff2b395d7ccaf66af8a491f347997064d0761e792e48de608f36b82c3a8fd.png If it isn’t bad enough ‘electing’ a geriatric imbecile into office as US president for one term; how crassly idiotic would it be to have him installed for a second term as the “most powerful man in the world”?

    I am wondering, therefore, if those “supporters” (who look like refugees from a Gary Larson “Far Side” cartoon) who are waving placards that say “Go Joe” on them are not for the purpose of supporting him in a second campaign, but are simply a euphemism for “Fuck Off, Joe”, which would make much more sense.

    3. It is interesting that Leftie will tolerate anyone to meet their goal. They are beyond reason.

      A carefully selectede, diverse, more women than men, more ethnics than white men group. All the sort of person Democrats praise. Just not the people who make the money, create jobs, sell products or pay all the taxes.

  53. 370753+ up ticks,

    breitbart,

    Great Reset Fail? Germany Mulls Diverting Green Agenda Cash Aimed at Killing Coal to Arms Industry ?

    Ogga1

    And satisfying the great reset way and killing peoples , there’s wonga in financing a stay at home war, and staying away from those Eastern fronts

  54. 370753+ up ticks,

    breitbart,

    Great Reset Fail? Germany Mulls Diverting Green Agenda Cash Aimed at Killing Coal to Arms Industry ?

    Ogga1

    And satisfying the great reset way and killing peoples , there’s wonga in financing a stay at home war, and staying away from those Eastern fronts

    1. The solution is hilariously simple. Sunak waffles and puffs, but at heart, he’s been told to enforce the criminal gimmigrant to achieve the petty vengeance of the state.

      I’d bet as soon as they get their own way, suddenly the problem will stop.

    2. It would stop almost overnight if the State refused to pay them a penny, refused them healthcare, housing, education food etc unless they paid for it in full.
      Let the charitable sector pay, but do NOT allow that sector to receive State aid.
      If people want to welcome they can pay for them out of their own pockets and without gift aid tax relief.

      1. Far quicker way to stop it is to get out there with a gunboat and point it at them. If they refuse to turn back, shoot them.

        I’m sodding tired of dangeorus criminals being brought into this country by dogooders who never experience the violence they inflict on others.

          2. It would take them a long time to reappear in the UK and if they knew they would be on a plane straight back to the Ukraine it would dry up.

          3. This is true, but they’d still fight to get back here.

            The invading horde have got to be removed from the country entirely. A floating prison hulk, perhaps. A few soil bags and asome seeds. Let them grow their own food. If they try to swim ashore, shoot them.

      2. The trouble is, sos, most of these ‘charities’ are funded by taxpayer money. We are caught in a never ending web of deceit and obfuscation.

          4. Sad sacks who still think they are wonderful – like SWMBOs parents, who hold regular fundraising dinners.

    4. I expect George Soros is funding this rabble just as he is doing in the USA.

      I expect the RNLI is receiving money from Soros too, channeled via NGOs.

    1. When I see tripe like that I think what a monumental waste of public money it was. If that council has that much spare cash to waste, it can return some to the owners – the public.

      Far better still, find the oaf responsible and hang him over his own waste.

      1. We have two of those defaced crossings in our town. Unveiled a year ago with great fanfare by our supposed right wing mayor, they are now fading into insignificance.

        It is not me responsible for the excess wear, I always swerve to avoid the poofy bits.

        1. They should be defaced and the original black and white colour restored. This is NOT what taxes are for.

          1. It gets me that they talk about being inclusive but all we ever see is this small group of people being singled out.

            If you want to be inclusive, just treat people normally.

          3. Interesting. I just upticked your comment and see that 7, including me, have upticked yet the tally only says 3.

    3. I wonder how the two officers reported the problem back at the station ? A shrug ?

      The people who purport to run this country are absolute effing stupid.

    2. Did the Merkins shoot it down with a missile a) to be sure they hit it, or b) to remove any evidence of the source of the balloon and it’s espionage contents… if b), why? Was it an ally’s?

      2. Isn’t it just another squirrel with which to distract the sheep from noticing that a major financial crisis is unfolding?

    1. Show me a more revolting and talent-free individual than this slimy piece of slug excrement.

      Even in the early 1970s (spit!) I could not believe that people, voluntarily, bought and listened to his idiotically crap records.

    1. I’m thinking of not paying my leccy bill, apparently the company cannot cut you off or take sanctions against you. And if they do break in with a court order, there will be compo in the post. What’s not to like…

      1. Some are from the Speccie and those are Matt’s that didn’t get chosen for his daily cartoon. Not sure where Citroën finds those.

  62. That’s 4 x Builder’s buckets filled with sawn & split logs and stacked.
    Still need a couple of bucket’s worth or so to finish the stack, but I now need to drag more wood down the hill.

    1. Ah, this is for the pallisade, or the south tower?

      You’re incredible Bob. I’ve just got the dinner on.

      1. Well just after that I did medallions of pork tenderloin with onion, red pepper, runner beans and an M&S Chinese sauce served on noodles for us all.
        And VERY tasty it was too!

  63. LOOK at this ..

    Have the police investigated Face Book re the missing girl who was walking her dog .

    We all think we are all arm chair sleuths , and some of us have a Dim view of the police

    Nikki Bulley – Mortgage Adviser
    Mortgage brokers · 826 followers
    I offer expert mortgage & protection advice and provide a fast, friendly and professional service. I
    1 post in the last two weeks

      1. I should not have posted that.

        Her face book carries her number and photos of her river walk, and her lovely dog.

        I wonder whether a client was stalking her . Will the police have investigated things like that?

  64. How many folk have heard of the Academic Agent YouTube channel? The fellow is an academic, writer, author, producer of on-line courses and creator of some endlessly informative on-line discussions. He’s also a paleo-conservative who is highly allergic to one Anthony Charles Lynton Blair whom he has christened ‘The Dark Lord’. Here he is doing a fascinating analysis of Blair’s appearance at the WEF a couple of weeks ago and a discussion Blair and Hunt had in 2021. What was Hunt, supposedly a conservative, even doing talking to him? Enjoy, as they say.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l9IS-Vmi_8&t=3530s

  65. On Amazon

    Ginge’s Book, Spare (Part* at a Wedding) is No ! Best Seller in Royal Historical Biographies!

    Shirley, it is an AUTO-biography, even though the Ghost of Chrisrmas Past wrote it for him , as some words contained 5 letters of the alphabet or more

    *Other word may be used)

    1. Good Lord! Talk about brainwashing! What a disgusting bunch of smug, virtue-signalling w⚓️s! And can you imagine the cost of this and who is paying for it?

    3. I’ve said this many times that pile of dung is trying to bring the whole of the inside of the M25 under his grip.
      Some one needs to do something about this very soon.

  67. Hmm,. Plus 2C today, only 29C warmer than yesterday’s deep freeze.

    Time to settle down and read Tom’s latest joke of the day.

    1. Never look a gift horse in the mouth.
      Or:-
      You don’t look at the mantelpiece when you’re poking the fire.

    1. I think you are being unfair. I can think of a few others who were similarly honest chappies.

      Bob Catesby, John and Chris Wright, Bob and Tom Wintour, Bob Keyes, Tom Bates, John Grant, Ambrose Rockwood, Everard Digby and Francis Tresham to name a few. 😉

    1. If you have any interest in aircraft you should see this 20 min film. First class, and an American acknowledgement of British technology.

  71. HMS Prince of Wales departure hit by ‘elementary’ blunders. 4 February 2023.

    The HMS Prince of Wales has been delayed further after engineers discovered “elementary” mistakes in the warship’s shaft alignment, The Telegraph can reveal in a further embarrassment to the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

    The revelation came as the department was being investigated about its procurement process by the Conservatives, in an attempt to get to the bottom of repeated failing

    The MoD defence procurement division has been useless for twenty years. It is beyond reform. Like the NHS, Police Service and Home Office the only way to make it work is to sack everyone and start again from first principles!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/04/hms-prince-wales-departure-hit-elementary-blunders/

    2. The Prince of Wales saga is appalling, but of even more concern is the revelation, in the same article, that someone glued broken bolts back together in a nuclear submarine!

  73. A Benign Birdie Three today.

    Wordle 596 3/6
    🟨🟨⬜🟨⬜
    🟩🟨⬜🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Should have had Quordle in 5 but too many variations.
        Daily Quordle 377
        3️⃣2️⃣
        7️⃣4️⃣

    2. Bogie here.
      Wordle 596 5/6

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

    3. Par 4. Always happy with that – happy to get the answer at all actually.
      Wordle 596 4/6

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

    1. February 5. Precisely halfway through winter [between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox].

      1. Spring is Sprung
        The Grass is Grizz’s
        He wonders where the birdies is?
        The bird is on the wing
        But that’s absurd
        Because the wing is on the bird.

        (With apols to Henry Gibson).

          1. Oh I love that! Thtoopid! I heard a classic Lindisfarne track today on Johnny Walkers ‘Sounds of the ‘70’s’. Clear White Light with that great underplay drumming of Ray Laidlaw! I was transported back to my youth!

    2. My crocuses are out, ditto my snowdrops and hellebores, the bergenia and primroses are in bud and the clematis are starting to sprout. I’ve put in a row of lettuce (All Year Round), radish, turnips and a few onion sets. Spring is on its way!

  76. That’s me for this agreeable but tiring day. Colin the Tree man came this morning and felled the rest of the maple. The MR and I managed to get most of the trimmings up to the top of the garden and lop them into usable bits for sawing into small logs.

    Tomorrow we start shifting and stacking the smaller ready-to-stack logs. Colin will return with his axe to chop up the large “rounds”. It is a long haul and very exhausting. If only I had Robert’s stamina……

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain.

  77. Countryfile just started where Adam goes down a mine to get low energy fertilizer out for farming.
    Some Nottlers would like to know where mine is!

  78. 370723+up ticks,

    breitbart,

    Roman Cup Depicting Child Sex Promoted by British Museum for LGBTQ History Month
    The British Museum has promoted an ancient Roman cup thought by experts to depict child sex as part of “LGBTQ history month”.

    Makes one wonder how many lads that queued at Dunkirk would queue to see this

  79. https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fnews%2F2023%2F02%2F05%2Fagony-ae-no-one-whose-job-kind%2F
    It was the end of a long day. No doubt for sins committed in a former life, I had been watching my daughter in a six-hour chess tournament. Louisa, my wife, had been chauffeuring the other two between a bowling party and a netball match. It was standard weekend stuff: the to-do-list undone, spelling tests on the way to bed, supper was Friday night’s dinner reheated. And then finally the children fell asleep, the dog lay down and we started to watch Fauda.

    But we didn’t get past the opening credits. Because suddenly I grabbed my right flank, bent over double on the sofa and groaned: “It’s kidney stones again.”

    They hit you like that. The first time it happened in 2011, I had no idea what it was. The pain is excruciating. I was coming out of court and thought I might have been shot or stabbed (accidentally or by a disgruntled client). The second time, and now the third, I had no such doubts. It’s a pain so unique and acute, you know what it is.

    I called 999 but was refused an ambulance. This posed an interesting question: if you are in extraordinary pain, cannot move, cannot get yourself into a car and have no one who can drive you (we had three sleeping children upstairs), what are you supposed to do? The answer (isn’t it the answer to everything?) is to call 111. My wife did this patiently for 30 minutes, choosing multiple-choice options while I writhed on the floor, sweating and vomiting with pain. The conclusion of the 111 call was that there was a need to go to hospital. So that was time well spent. We called 999 again, and then again – and eventually they sent two caring paramedics who rushed me to A&E, astonished an ambulance had not been sent earlier.

    It was then things got bad. The senior nurse who took over from the paramedics did not speak to me but wheeled me in a chair to a waiting area of about 80 people. I asked when I would be seen and what would happen, but he walked off, leaving me parked between a man with blood dripping down his face and a screaming baby who, some minutes later, projectile vomited onto the floor and my jeans. The floor was cleaned after an hour and 20 minutes. My jeans never were.

    I do not know whether any words can do justice to the misery of A&E on a Sunday night in January, but let me try. It was windowless and the noise was a discord of screaming, crying and coughing. Police were trying to keep bloodied victims of a fight separated. My phone was out of battery and I could not move. I was bent over in the wheelchair, holding my side, counting to 10 and trying to focus on breathing. I would do this for several hours. There was no drinking water available. The floor was filthy. It reeked of urine.

    But worse than all this, there was no one whose job it was to help or be kind. A nurse appeared occasionally, calling out a name of someone to be seen. After some hours of sitting, I called over to ask when I might see someone. She was extremely unhappy to be asked and told me to wait. An hour later I saw another nurse and hoped politeness would count for something: “Please, I can see what a hard job you do, I’ve been here for so long, I’m exhausted, I’m in agony, I just want to know when I might see a doctor.” She walked on and shrugged. Eventually, in the small hours, someone took pity on me enough to type my name into a computer and told me I was “not allocated yet”. She said that meant a good few hours longer. I might see a doctor by 5am or 6am.

    I’m not blaming the staff. They were exhausted and we know they are underpaid. But a wait of some eight hours through the night to see a non-specialist junior doctor when you are in this much pain? How is this a system that can be called functioning?

    I said I was going to call an Uber home. I would rather be in agony in my own bed, self-prescribing pain relief, than stay in A&E any longer. It was only then that I saw a doctor. He rushed out from a booth to make me sign a form that I was leaving “against medical advice”. I smiled for the first time that night. “Medical advice? Chance would be a fine thing.

    I went to A&E two weeks ago on a Sunday, after I blacked out, fell down & banged my head. I suspected another stroke. A&E took me in immediately, and stuck my head in a CT scanner, no messing around. Then an examination by doctor, and immediate admission to recovery ward for observation. Next day, admission to stroke ward for further investigation (and 3 more CT scans, one with contrast fluid) as there was a bleed in my sub-arachnoid – later diagnosed as a result of the fall.
    At all times, I was kept informed, and the nurses and porters were all very kind. What a contrast to the article. I even had to turn down paracetomol, as I didn’t need it and don’t like taking pills unless necessary.

    1. My husband’s experience and mine, when I visited him in the hospital, was dire. Getting info was like getting blood from a stone. And of course, their time is far more precious than yours.
      Nurse is going to phone tomorrow and I am to remove final dressing; a phone consult on Tues with his specialist and a procedure on Friday.
      Tuesday next week, I go for a follow up when I anticipate another face scrape, at least.
      Ain’t life fun.

    2. It wasn’t as bad as that in Gloucester A& E, either – both times we’ve been there. This last time, the GP sent us off with a full medical history printout and a letter. He was seen for triage in half an hour, and then by the medical team soon afterwards. He was admitted then and I went home. They didn’t have a bed till the morning, so he spent an uncomfortable night in a chair, but he did see a doctor that morning.

      The first time we were there, two years ago, he was seen and dealt with straightaway and his bladder drained with a catheter.

        1. GP thought i had had a heart attack and sent me to the acute medical ward. After three hours they did another ecg and said that i hadn’t. They told me to wait for the consultant. 8 hours later as people were bedding down for the night in the waiting room i walked out.

          No follow up from the GP either.

  80. Lovely concert this afternoon – three girls – 17,20 & 21 – the Astartine Trio. Hugely talented and still students at the Royal College. First outing for OH and the first time he’s driven the car since early November. We’re getting back to normal.

    Lovely sunset on the way home, too.

    1. Am very happy for you both. Still a way to go for normal here- or as normal as it will ever be.

    1. Bit like its namesake really – expensive and not up to the job. Still, at least the ship doesn’t want 7/8ths of the population dead.

  82. Well here’s a surprise….. not:

    On Friday, the nonprofit journalism organization Project Veritas published footage that appears to show one of its reporters confronting YouTube’s vice president of Global Trust and Safety, Matt Halprin.

    The video shows the reporter approaching Halprin in public regarding YouTube’s removal of a video featuring a senior Pfizer official, unaware he was being recorded, discussing how the company is considering mutating the COVID-19 virus to develop new vaccines proactively.
    Halprin refused to answer the reporter’s inquiries and instead told the reporter not to touch him while also threatening to call the police, before walking away.

    “YouTube took down our Pfizer exposé. YouTube gave us a strike and will not let us post for a week,” said James O’Keefe, head of Project Veritas, in a video.

    Facebook and Instagram warned Project Veritas that its video of Halprin violates “Community Standards.”
    “We have these standards because we want everyone to feel safe, respected, and welcome,” the warning said. “If your content goes against our Community Standards again, your account may be restricted or disabled.”

    Project Veritas also announced Friday that it had been “wrongfully locked out” of its Twitter account for two hours over a post that featured the video of one of its journalists questioning Halprin. The organization said it received a warning from Twitter that the post was “abuse and harassment.”
    Twitter later apologized for the move, calling it an “error,” according to a screenshot shared by O’Keefe.

      1. Canalese Translation of lacoste’s statement: She can twirl her windlass on my paddle any time….

      1. Think about it: Pavarotti was a brilliant operatic concert singer, not an operatic star – there was no opera house big enough for anyone else . . .

      1. That was in 1991. Comforting to see our useless political class, Major, Heseltine, Kinnock and the rest plus Charlie the Bald and Lady Diana getting drenched.

  90. I thought these gin and tonics were tasting peculiar, I thought it was the lemon and lime I was adding, but as it turns the bastard tonic water is cucumber flavour.

    Bearing in mind on on my third bottle of it now.

  91. – Makes you laugh, the BBC mutes out the singing of Delilah at the rugby because they say it glorifies violence then puts on Happy Valley

  92. Latest Breaking News, the large balloon passing over the USA and Canada has been now identified as the ball that Harry Kane launched into orbit with his missed world cup penalty kick.
    Apparently the ball expanded to giant proportions due to the low air pressure on its descent

  93. I’m making tremendous progress on my de-cluttering these days, so I shall now depart upwards to bed. Sleep well everyone.

    1. Gosh, you could make a business of it. You can come and de-clutter my stuff, I could be your first client. I am a hoarder in that I don’t like to throw anything out, you never know when it might come in useful or be able to fit into it! – I don’t actually go out to collect stuff off the streets, though – I’m not that sort of hoarder!

        1. I just can’t help myself; I took a paperback to the church bookstall this morning, but came away with two others! One out and two in is NOT going to help with my book problem!

      2. I’m a hoarder, too. MOH used to constantly throw things out – and then I had to go and buy a replacement when we needed it!

      3. Dear poppiesmum,

        I wish I could help you. I’ve been at the de-cluttering lark for over three years now, and even with currently spending 4 to 6 hours daily at it, I reckon I will need at least a year to really reach some kind of order in my paperwork and books. All I can tell you is that I have found that doing my basic routine jobs (cooking, cleaning, shopping, washing, etc.) in the morning and the de-cluttering in the afternoon just doesn’t work for me. Since I started at the beginning of this year to get up at six a.m. and doing my de-cluttering straight away, this is helping me to make some real progress. Good luck with your own attempts to scale down the amount of accumulated “junk”

        1. Three years!! And another year!! You have made me feel quite faint. You are right, though – life gets in the way of this sort of thing and I can see you do have to treat it as a ‘job’ if you are to achieve your aims. I am full of admiration for your determination. I may well yet opt for the skip method!

    2. Snap, you should see my loft, it has not looked like that for over 35 years. Still more to do though.

  94. I am starting to feel very uneasy about the disappearance of that poor woman. I don’t think she’s in the river. My increasing suspicion is that someone was watching, knew her routine and abducted her. I really hope to god I am totally wrong.
    Feel so much for her family.

    1. My feeling is that the police know more than they are saying for the sake of what they call ‘community relations’. I cannot imagine why the dog’s harness was removed. I understand that there was a caravan park/site either adjoining or adjacent, and not investigated. She could be anywhere now.

    2. I think she was abducted. But there seems to have been cctv all over the place and they’ve traced the women walkers. Nobody else was seen. But they’d have found her body if she’d just fallen in the river.

    3. Yes, I think the ‘not knowing’ must be horrendous for the family, it’s hard to imagine what they are going through.

    4. My position pretty well as soon as I read it.
      Fell in the river, my arse. Any skid marks on the bank? Why did she not get out, or cry out? There were people around. Where’s the body? Utter tosh. Young woman – screams abduction to me.

  96. Crap journalism from the Terriblegraph, mind you I expected nothing less. Gordon Messenger is late Royal Marines, not Army. His findings are not in the slightest surprising, essentially the whole of the NHS is broken from top to bottom. The only disappointment is his apparent surprise at the blame culture in the NHS and the avoidance of responsibility. That to me indicates how out of touch with reality those in high office actually are – anyone who has used the NHS knows that.

    “Throwing money at the NHS won’t solve its problems, says Army general turned troubleshooter. Sir Gordon Messenger warns extra funding could be wasted without urgent reforms made to improve the health service.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/05/throwing-money-nhs-wont-solve-problems-says-army-general-turned/

  97. Goodnight and God bless, Gentlefolk, I’m seeking my bed and a good night’s sleep. Whether I achieve it another story. Until the morning’s light, goodnight.

Comments are closed.