Saturday 18 February: It can’t be right that energy profits soar while customers worry about their bills

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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493 thoughts on “Saturday 18 February: It can’t be right that energy profits soar while customers worry about their bills”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, I’ve been up all night, writing and cooking but here’s today’s story:

    Trump, in office, Can Be Funny!

    Everyone concentrates on the problems we’re having in our country lately:

    Illegal immigration, hurricane recovery, alligators attacking people in Florida.
    Not me — I concentrate on solutions for the problems — it’s a win-win situation.

    * Dig a moat the length of the Mexican border.
    * Send the dirt to New Orleans to raise the level of the levees.
    * Put the Florida alligators in the moat along the Mexican border.

    Any other problems you would like for me to solve today?
    Think about this:

    1. Cows
    2. The Constitution
    3. The Ten Commandments

    Cows
    Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that during the mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow, born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she slept in the state of Washington? And, they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give each of them a cow.

    The Constitution
    They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq …
    why don’t we just give them ours?
    It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it has worked for over 200 years,
    and we’re not using it anymore.

    The 10 Commandments
    The real reason that we can’t have the Ten Commandments posted in a courthouse is this – you cannot post

    ‘Thou Shalt Not Steal’
    ‘Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery’, and
    ‘Thou Shall Not Lie’

    in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians, it creates a hostile work environment.

    Now I think I deserve to go to bed. God bless you all.

    1. Settled in, Anne, despite the unpacked boxes?

      Be careful you don’t find a Sturgeon in one of ’em.

    2. Good to see you back again, Annie. I hope you and YB are now nicely settled in at the Dower House. Take your time unpacking, you’ve spent enough time in the past few weeks packing all the boxes so no pressure to unpack. As long as the bed, bedding and the kettle are to hand.

  5. Big moment for cricket fans

    https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/live-experience/cps/624/cpsprodpb/vivo/live/images/2023/2/18/10dfe0d4-151f-4597-8fc2-37e1bee5d4ae.jpg

    https://twitter.com/englandcricket/status/1626836816132186112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1626836816132186112%7Ctwgr%5E707038c79ab3e1e7e942628b3829622d716611d4%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fsport%2Flive%2Fcricket%2F62866045

    That wicket means Broad and James Anderson have overtaken Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath as the most successful bowling partnership in Test history.

    1. I suppose that this is something we need to know.

      Sorry CV2 but this and wendyball bore me to tears.

      1. I was careful to preface the piece ‘…for cricket fans’ to warn off naysayers. Follow your promise and zzzz’s

  6. The Writing of Roald Dahl. 18 February 2023.

    “Words matter,” begins the discreet notice, which sits at the bottom of the copyright page of Puffin’s latest editions of Roald Dahl’s books. “The wonderful words of Roald Dahl can transport you to different worlds and introduce you to the most marvellous characters. This book was written many years ago, and so we regularly review the language to ensure that it can continue to be enjoyed by all today.”

    Put simply: these may not be the words Dahl wrote. The publishers have given themselves licence to edit the writer as they see fit, chopping, altering and adding where necessary to bring his books in line with contemporary sensibilities. By comparing the latest editions with earlier versions of the texts, The Telegraph has found hundreds of changes to Dahl’s stories.

    The self-contradictions in the first paragraph are familiar to anyone acquainted with Cultural Marxism. Words matter except when they don’t! Dahl I imagine; were he alive, would sue the pants off these people. Authors linger over every single word that they write. They taste them, test them; twist them around in their inner ear to check the cadence and rhythm to try to see what they would sound like to others. Here we have a gang of Woke numpties somehow imagining that they are Dahl’s equals. That they know better. We should know just how many books they have written that qualifies them for this task! One is staggered at the sheer arrogance of it! It’s simply book burning without the pollution.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/17/roald-dahl-books-rewritten-offensive-matilda-witches-twits/

    1. Can you really mess with copyrighted literature?

      If we had a reasonable judiciary, I’d love to see this challenged.

      2. Apparently, the Copyright of Dahl’s works (which expire in 2060) has been sold to Netflix. It would appear that Netflix has been cooperating with Puffin to ‘update’ his books.

      3. Apparently, the Copyright of Dahl’s works (which expire in 2060) has been sold to Netflix. It would appear that Netflix has been cooperating with Puffin to ‘update’ his books.

      5. But, but, but… You simply have to retitle The BFG (Big Friendly Giant) as The MDSFP (Medium-Sized Friendly Person).

    2. Well, we can kiss goodbye to Revolting Rhymes and The Witches altogether then.
      All this revising of books, history etc is an absolute disgrace.
      I did a long term sub in a 3rd grade class and did Revolting Rhymes with them, which they loved. They then wrote their own stories and we called them Fearsome Fairytales. The stories were great and the kids really enjoyed it.

    3. Words don’t matter when you can change them to suit your own narrative. Words mean whatever I want them to mean!

      Newspeak. Doublethink. The erasure of the ability to express dissent.

  7. All is not as it seems….

    Just Stop Oil rebuked for claiming judge said ‘you’ve nothing to feel guilty about’

    Court officials criticise climate protesters for misquoting remarks after seven were found guilty over fuel terminal blockade

    By Ewan Somerville 17 February 2023 • 9:31pm

    Just Stop Oil protesters have been rebuked by court officials after claiming a judge told them: “You have nothing to feel guilty about.”

    On Thursday, nine members of the environmental activist group appeared at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court over the blocking of the Esso fuel terminal in Birmingham in April 2022.

    Seven were found guilty of aggravated trespass and given a conditional discharge, while two others were acquitted.

    Paul Barnes, Paul Fawkesley and Alan Woods were each ordered to pay costs of £500.

    Oliver Clegg, Jon Deery, Harley Brewer, Diana Hekt were fined £250 each and all seven were sentenced to a 12-month conditional discharge and a £22 surcharge.

    Naomi Goddard and Sylvie More were acquitted.

    Following the proceedings, Just Stop Oil took to their website to celebrate a “moment for us to come together and resist the destruction of everything we love”.

    In their press release, the group also issued a 288-word, directly quoted report of District Judge Wilkinson’s sentencing remarks, which then went viral on Twitter as environmental activists caught wind of the “very moving” comments.

    But on Friday afternoon, the Judicial Office, which represents judges, admonished the group for “misquoting” the judge.

    In a rare intervention, the body accused them of taking a phrase “out of context” and issued an almost entirely different account, saying it was “what the judge actually said”.

    Judge’s comments ‘missing from transcript’
    The Esso blockade stopped all oil distribution for around 12 hours, according to Just Stop Oil, which campaigns to end all new fossil fuel licences.

    Just Stop Oil initially claimed that the judge told all nine defendants in sentencing remarks that: “You should feel guilty for nothing.”

    However, the Judicial Office said: “It was said to one of the defendants who in his evidence had said (through tears) that he felt guilty for not doing enough to save the planet for his daughter.

    “It was not in the context that the seven convicted should feel guilty for nothing, which would make no sense at all in the context of the judge having convicted them.”

    Meanwhile, Just Stop Oil’s account of the judge saying “millions of people, and I do not dispute that it may be as many as one billion people, will be displaced as a result of climate change” was missing from the official Judicial Office transcript.

    Another judge comment that Just Stop Oil claimed was missing from the Judicial Office account was: “The tragedy is that good people have felt so much, without hope, that you feel you have to come into conflict with the criminal justice system.”

    Just Stop Oil forced to update website
    While the group reported the judge referring to how “we are facing a climate emergency”, he actually said: “We are facing a climate crisis.”

    Judge Wilkinson did describe the defendants as “good people, intelligent and articulate” and “a pleasure throughout to deal with”, adding: “No one can therefore criticise your motivations and indeed each of you has spoken individually about your own personal experiences, motivations and actions.

    “Many of your explanations for your actions were deeply emotive and I am sure all listening were moved by them. I know I was.”

    A Judicial Office source said: “They have misquoted the judge. That’s why we have provided this clarification. The judge has sent us exactly what he said.”

    On Friday night, Just Stop Oil was forced to update its website, clarifying the line about not feeling guilty.

    ‘Notes could be unreliable’
    A spokesman told The Telegraph that its report of the court case was “substantially correct based on the notes that we were given from the defendant and the barrister”, but admitted that the notes could be unreliable.

    The news came after a further four Just Stop Oil supporters who also blocked the Esso fuel terminal were acquitted last month.

    Since the Just Stop Oil campaign launched on Feb 14 2022, there have been more than 2,000 arrests and 138 people have spent time in prison.

    There are currently seven Just Stop Oil supporters and one Insulate Britain supporter in prison while awaiting trial or serving sentences for actions taken with the campaigns.

    Just Stop Oil has scaled back its highly divisive road-block tactics since Christmas, largely going unnoticed so far this year.

    ****************************************

    Michael Dee
    9 HRS AGO
    Our judicial system has become an utter disgrace and looks to be no longer fit for purpose.
    Judges and Magistrates are not employed to make personal statements we pay them, very well, to uphold the law and protect us, the paying public.

    Peter Jarman
    8 HRS AGO
    However, if you protest about illegal immigrants who pestered a schoolgirl, then you men women and children are right wing bigots.
    The full weight of the law and the police will be used against you, because you are working class and have no voice.

    2. If the judiciary will not uphold the law, then the public must. The next time the joilers block the road they must be beaten and dragged aside, then chained to the wall, with the key thrown away.

  8. School massacre plots foiled in Britain, counter-terror police reveal. 17 February 2023.

    Speaking at a Scotland Yard briefing about threats facing the UK, the police chief also disclosed that eight “late stage” terror plots were foiled last year, several of which were “close calls” that he described as “goal-line saves”.

    Asked by The Telegraph whether police had disrupted any school shooting plots in recent years, Mr Jukes said: “Yes, absolutely. We have absolutely seen cases in which we have intervened with young people to prevent them going on to potentially carry out attacks in their school days.

    He’s a liar! Schoolboy fantasies are not plots! The ability to carry out “massacres” is dependent not on intention but the possession of advanced weaponry. This is simply not available in the UK as the bombing and stabbing incidents of Muslim terrorists bears witness.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/16/school-massacre-plots-foiled-britain-counter-terror-police-reveal/

    1. Weaponry doesn’t need to be “advanced”. Remember the fertiliser bomb at Canary Wharf? Guns, of which there are very many on the loose, are not advanced.

      1. Have you seen the price of fertiliser?

        In any case, I was under the impression that nitrogen fert is now dosed with something to make it less suitable for big bangs. You will have noticed also that NaClO3 is no longer available dry within the EU area; gardeners have to spend more for less, buying it already mixed with H2O.
        Thank you barbarians of the Koan for making so many aspects of everyday life more difficult and costly.

  9. Good morning all.
    Not a pleasant start today, a tad over 6°C, a dull grey and a cold drizzle this morning.

    Just about to make my 2nd mug of tea and then a quick trip into Matlock.

  10. Good morning, all. Flat cloud and breezy in N Essex.

    Is the USA being attacked internally? Over 100 food production and storage plants razed to the ground in the last year or so; the Ohio environmental disaster that Biden refuses to provide federal funding for; a recent spate of other derailments; trucks hauling hazardous loads overturning and fires at plastics plants and now this:

    https://twitter.com/JennieJenn9481/status/1626799889303719938

    We know railroad ties as sleepers. Train derailments and 10,000 sleepers go up in smoke?

    Text isn’t too good on this map but it is an indication of what has happened in the USA in recent days. Normal everyday disasters in the USA or exceptional incidents?

  11. 371283+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    The hundreds of changes made to Ronald Dahls books to suit a sensitive generation
    Across his beloved children’s books, hundreds of the author’s words have been changed or entirely removed in a bid for relevancy.

    I take it then the originals WILL be burnt on orders from the westminster reichstag on pain of the jab & hard labour interment.

    Not satisfied with the mass rape & abuse (on going) of children they now want to create generations of pansy types only fit for
    pink brigades of abcwxyzs daisy chainers.

    The solution IMHO is mass membership of a fringe party that’s
    manifesto is inclusive of mandatory rectum reaming of ALL governing party’s political hierarchy, ALL current civil servants, and ALL CEO’s of gas.electric & water companies.

  12. Weather tracker: world braces for sudden stratospheric warming event. 17 February 2023.

    SSW events are very common and occur two in every three winters. It remains unclear how climate change will affect these events in the future. As the vortex develops during autumn and into winter, westerly stratospheric winds increase in strength. But in the event of a SSW episode, stratospheric temperatures rise rapidly in the space of only a few days, leading to the weakening or even reversal of these winds. The zonal mean winds at 10hPa pressure – about 30km high – turned to an easterly direction on 15 Wednesday February, significantly displacing the polar vortex away from the North Pole. The vortex and zonal winds are forecast to stay much weaker than normal for the remainder of February and into the first half of March.

    The consequences of this warming will spread slowly into the troposphere and can, over time, disrupt the jet stream that influences our weather on the surface. A weakened jet stream can help in the development of large “blocking” areas of high pressure. Should high pressure build across Scandinavia, it can feed very cold polar air from the east into western Europe and towards the UK. However, it is important to note that not all SSW events are the same, and not all will lead to cold conditions in Europe. The eventual effects of such SSW events are not usually experienced until two to three weeks after they begin.

    Of course! Everyone knows that! Lol!

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/17/weather-tracker-world-braces-for-sudden-stratospheric-warming-event

    1. Its interesting that the Met office regards the jet stream as something that sits aloft permanently and can be disrupted by certain events. In my understanding, the jet stream is caused by pressure differences aloft which themselves are created by cold and warm air masses, classically the boundary of tropical and polar air over the Atlantic. This boundary is seen on the telly as a weather front. In essence, jet streams will reflect the weather systems and not the other way around. Maybe my understanding has been completely wrong and invite any other specialists to advise. In the case in question, temperatures are going to rise so the jet will be affected but the pressure differentials will determine its strength and direction as always.

    2. Every single thing is related to Brexit for those fools, isn’t it? They’re blind to reality.

      1. 371283+ up ticks,

        Morning W,

        I cannot believe that the opposition in the main is indigenous , more like foreign elements being given the leave to vote wanting to change our country to resemble their old homesteads.

      1. Morning, Phil. Play rehearsal this morning. Four more including a dress rehearsal to come. We perform on March 18th.

  17. Morning all 😉 😊
    Grey again, the climate suits the mood of the country.
    The energy price rises were invented to force the working population to pay for the government cock up on the illegal invaders.
    There was and has not been a shortage of gas or electricity caused by Vlad. Alongside no shortage of lies from our habitual and pathological lying politicians.

    1. Harry and Meghan were invented to sort out Government troubles over illegal invaders.

      The shortage of gas and electricity were invented by the deregulated privatised global wholesale companies unhappy about prices during Lockdown. All sorted now – quarterly bonuses better than ever!

  18. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, I’ve been up all night, writing and cooking but here’s today’s story:

    Trump, in office, Can Be Funny!

    Everyone concentrates on the problems we’re having in our country lately:

    Illegal immigration, hurricane recovery, alligators attacking people in Florida.
    Not me — I concentrate on solutions for the problems — it’s a win-win situation.

    * Dig a moat the length of the Mexican border.
    * Send the dirt to New Orleans to raise the level of the levees.
    * Put the Florida alligators in the moat along the Mexican border.

    Any other problems you would like for me to solve today?
    Think about this:

    1. Cows
    2. The Constitution
    3. The Ten Commandments

    Cows
    Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that during the mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow, born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she slept in the state of Washington? And, they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give each of them a cow.

    The Constitution
    They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq …
    why don’t we just give them ours?
    It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it has worked for over 200 years,
    and we’re not using it anymore.

    The 10 Commandments
    The real reason that we can’t have the Ten Commandments posted in a courthouse is this – you cannot post

    ‘Thou Shalt Not Steal’
    ‘Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery’, and
    ‘Thou Shall Not Lie’

    in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians, it creates a hostile work environment.

    Now I think I deserve to go to bed. God bless you all.

    Fell asleep too early.

  19. Good moaning all,

    The view from McPhee Towers this morning is grey and drizzly. It looks a tad breezy but at least it’s a pleasantly mild 10℃. Off to market first then back to the interior decorating. at SWMBO’s behest which is dictating the days at the moment.

    The Gatesograph certainly knows how to jerk people’s chains. Regard this photgraph of one of the cutters of the useless Border Farce among some bird-chomping useless unGreen windmills which despoil more and more of our vistas https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ccdeefeaa96be15cffda0545f824577ba95d27159ade6421de8a41bb7a796dd9.jpg

    Then look at this multi-signatory letter from all those useless ‘representatives’ of the people:

    SIR – The UK needs more affordable, clean, secure energy sources to lower household bills and meet our climate goals. But it is increasingly evident that biomass power – burning wood pellets for electricity – does not meet these objectives, while also exacerbating the supply and demand imbalance for timber faced by UK industry, including the wood panel sector.

    New wind and solar projects are now two times cheaper than biomass – and the potential of fixed and floating offshore projects in the North and Celtic seas is tremendous. Experts are questioning biomass’s carbon-neutral status, due to doubts about how quickly new tree planting can negate the carbon dioxide emitted by burning wood residues. It also currently requires importing wood pellets, which sends vast subsidies overseas, risks fuelling deforestation and generates significant processing and transport emissions.

    The next generation of biomass power stations – with carbon capture and storage attached – could cost taxpayers more than £30 billion, equivalent to £500 per person. Carbon can be sequestered more cheaply through afforestation and the use of timber in furniture and construction. Given the costs and environmental concerns, we urge ministers not to hand out generous new biomass subsidies.

    Selaine Saxby MP (Con)
    Sir Peter Bottomley MP (Con)
    Earl of Caithness (Con)
    Sally-Ann Hart MP (Con)
    Sir Oliver Heald MP (Con)
    Pauline Latham MP (Con)
    Derek Thomas MP (Con)
    Lord Randall (Con)
    Lord Robathan (Con)
    Sir Roger Gale MP (Con)

    ‘Cons’ they most certainly are.

    1. “New wind and solar projects are now two times cheaper than biomass” what a crock – it’s only cheap because of the government’s ludicrous energy policy, and biomass is logically unsupportable anyway [at least these CINOs are right about that]. Also fossil fuel beats all the others – we have the stuff here already!

      1. Yes, it’s not cheaper if the tax payer is forced to subsidise it. Let it open to the market and see how many people want the extortionate, unreliable energy then.

        1. Why use one word when ten will do?

          Though I confess I am not sure as to why they want this.

      1. One assumes their lordships have wind turbines on their estates and are recipients of green subsidies.

        Apropos of nothing at all, Dylan’s song ‘A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall” was a rewrite of an old folk ballad called Lord Randall.

        1. Oh where ha’ you been, Lord Randall, my son?
          Oh where ha’ you been, my handsome young man?
          I ha’ been at the greenwood, mother make my bed soon
          For I’m wearied wi’ hunting and fain would lie down……

          & etc there’s yards of it 😉

    3. affordable, clean, secure energy sources to lower household bills and meet our climate goals.

      Affordable and clean are a nonsense. We just need for mreo energy sources. The cliamte change goals the government has set itself should be abandoned as the farce they are.

      Those MPs ignore the fundamental problem, but I imagine they’re all desperate to get in on the windmill scam.

    5. For the first time in my life I will not be voting for the Conservatives in either local or general elections. I was going to vote Reform UK but, apparently, they are now on board with net zero. I suppose I will not vote at all, unless others here have any suggestions.

  20. Same-sex marriage will tear the C of E apart

    It already has,I was born into the C of E, Converted, so that my Catholic wife could have her nuptial marriage but am now adrift as an agnostic, but I still see marriage as a sacrament and to go against the will of the big yun, upstairs is to fly in the face of all faiths.

    It just shews how decadent we, like the Roman Empire, have become.

    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/same-sex-marriage-will-tear-the-c-of-e-apart/

    1. The C of E is a religious backwater, irrelevant to the world at large, irrelevant to the majority of Anglican churches world wide, irrelevant to Christianity and certainly irrelevant to the average Briton. It should be disbanded for the Marxist scam it is and its buildings and treasure be distributed to those churches that still believe and practice Christianity so that its wealth does some good.

    1. That they thought they could do this is astonishing. That they did it is disgusting. That they see no problem with it, and think themselves heroic is rage inducing.

      It is the desperate efforts of Left wing, evil, murderous regimes. I do not understand why people are not ramming these demented censors on pikes outside their offices.

        1. And yes, he’s right. It is pure, cultural vandalism. It is an obscenity.

          I don’t know what to say. Are they completely blind to this is what Orwell warned of? Are they unaware of the revisionism that Hitler carried out? Is there any concept of how many people have written to warn of this very action?

          It’s insane. The whole sodding world is insane. Everything is back to front.

    2. The great appeal of Roald Dahl was that his stories were anarchic, surreal and macabre; take those three elements away and children won’t be remotely interested in them.

      1. The state does not care. This won’t go anywhere near the BBC, and the BBC, the greatest censors going won’t accept there’s anything wrong here.

        Heck, an RPG book was re-written to remove references to gypsies and two of my group thought this revisionism entirely acceptable.

        I do not know what is wrong with people that they think this acceptable.

  22. Good morning all,

    Dull morning , low cloud , breezy 11c.
    Son no 1 in Weymouth running in the 5k Park run this morning .

    Younger son not so good , they believe he has a clot in his leg post op re his fractured ankle before Christmas .

    I have been reading the DT letters , I knew the sandwich theme would be an in filler , and worthier letters would not be published .

    I have been enjoying toasted pikelets (crumpets ) with a smear of butter and Marmite . Re sandwiches , I love lightly buttered brown bread and fresh green watercress and grated cheese. Not too often , but as a change .

    1. At least he is one of the few remaining public figures who call things as they are. Can’t see him apologising later either.

    1. 371283+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      I do believe these political reptiles in what now passes as government swear by this quran jobee regarding oath taking in parliament, then I take it all contents will be recognised & abided by, this really is treacherously frightening.

  25. ‘Morning All

    Medley Time

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bf4132740aeefeb64f304b2d39d41c43d5abde115815a92c404daeb8f8c79f7e.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1af907ef0cb06a767fb907770a994f4bc3bbb7bef5f4b87e2b2814b2b25d624c.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d2b096182d44d6c64573fd200d961c8f902b12b289f204d6b9f1c90793869c19.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/35f6ec6fea22c26de35f69daff0d677f5b9e982b220328251600b7ed0daa6fb9.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7148319404e60ebc7e17eb56b0c3f59e876148a24d590b4fd6945bd3c4a417e6.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8c5915fcee7dd207f45d85b6fe8dd36b534c934c63477035096514443c502a4d.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ffbb5669a48448016a1f4f8c2cfa38369867faacf7a0975f3e3e4f14fbfc277d.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4c4a0d917b8a8e3beeacad922d5d0dd74c51f6840ed9f1d840bd492244bbb4d7.jpg

    2. I see this is China, are they free range dogs being fattened up for chow main and other gourmet doggy delights?

    1. Depressing reading – utter lunacy! I seem to recall we voted to leave all this rubbish in 2016? How come the terrorist gets NHS access – many of us find that difficult!

      1. What you voted for is irrelevant. You must understand that you are now living in the post democratic age.

        The government does not want Brexit, the members of both Houses of Parliament do not want Brexit and the Civil Service do not want Brexit so firm faeces to those of you who do.

    1. No sun here in West Sussex, Bill. In fact I just turned on the light in order to see properly.

        1. He was one of the signatories of the Global Declaration which got very little coverage a few months ago.

    2. Egypt is a classic example of climate change.
      And the rest of the middle east.
      There is no way those intelligent people would have built all those towns in a desert.

      1. The sands moved in and covered up their artifacts…….. everything was buried untill a couple of hundred years ago.

    4. I read his book years ago – heavy going but he knows what he’s talking about. Nothing in the intervening years to convince me that the “climate emergency” is anything but a scam.

    1. Maybe the greedy state has been going through the ownership documents and records and discovered a few anomalies.
      But I know from others experience, the detectorist will be out more often after dark.

    2. 371283+ up ticks,

      Morning R,

      Any finds that show as being averse to their current agenda will be erased / destroyed.

    3. In the main I agree with you. But the criteria should be something better for what constitutes treasure. In the article and I quote: “The copper alloy Roman helmet was found in Crosby Garrett in Cumbria in 2010, It may have been the ornate helmet of a cavalry officer. The piece was sold through Christie’s in 2010 for £2.3 million to an undisclosed private buyer”. Isn’t such a rare artifact something that should be in a museum for all to enjoy rather than disappear into the hands of a private buyer never to be seen again other than by a select few? To me, the helmet in question is just as much treasure as something that would be made of gold. It belongs to the patrimony of all the English, not to some Arab sheik or whatnot, never to be seen again. Too many treasures disappear from our shores, paintings in particular, Gainsborough’s Blue Boy, for example, which is in the Huntingdon in California. Perhaps the solution is to declare all things of historical significance ‘treasure’ and then the nation pay a reasonable amount to the finder. Reasonable amount to be defined by the market and such people as Sotheby’s or Christies. We spend enough money on absolute junk, HS2, surely we can afford a few million a year for the treasures of our past.

  31. Conway tells me that Spitfires should really started with the Trolly Acc augmenting the inboard Auxikiary Battery.
    So I’ve stuck this trickle charger across the Kona’ EV’s inboard 12 volt auxiliary battery to aid starting and avoid using excessive loading of the traction unit’s power through using the engine driven generator:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f59dd17a9d5b257e2c311b96daf9f332e0f6e01a8617e5210fa81915464d6b13.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6201da38ba15691e4841fefce9306588a3d61698fbb7cefe79e14767e5eebe0a.gif

      1. It’s fun driving it because its acceleration is fantastic when you put your foot down and thanks to regerative braking your mileage goes back up when you take your foot off (called one pedal driving).

        Making sure of the integrity of the inboard 12 volt auxikiary battery is paramount however because absolutely everything that functions in an electric car depends on it.

        Unfortunately because battery electric vehicles don’t have an alternator to maintain the auxiliary 12 volt battery at a sensible voltage of between 13.0 to 13,5. volts the existing charging algorithms relying on the traction battery when the vehicle is not in use are unacceptable due to parked mode current drains.

        1. The car alarm could be nibbling away at the aux battery.
          Have you thought about installing a PV solar panel as a trickle charger?

          1. There are all sorts of devices draining the auxiliary battery after the vehicle is turned off at the STOP button.
            The trickle charger I am using is capable of delivering up to four amps and shows the current and terminsl voltage at the battery.
            After turning off the vehicle the charger shows a current of nearly three amps which is held for some time before battery reaches the level of an open circuit battery.

            This is not an acceptable load for such a low (45AH) battery.

            P.S. It’s pretty dark in my garage.

        3. Blimey; I was miffed because I ended up with £20.03 when refuelling the Noddy car today.
          At least I could understand what had happened.

  33. David Lammy: ‘We should be seizing Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine’. 18 February 2023.

    The rhetorical support is backed up with a concrete proposal – a new proposed law to seize Russian state assets in the UK and sell them to finance Ukraine reconstruction. “I think it’s hugely important that given Russia’s aggressive, imperialist intentions and its massacring of not just obviously Ukrainian civilians, but of life in that country, we do all we can to assist,” he explains.

    “This is a long haul. It includes the rebuilding of Ukraine at some point. You’ve seen the way that the Russian armed forces have been pummelling the country’s utilities in Ukraine. And clearly where we have Russian state assets in our own country, we should be seizing those assets for the rebuild.”

    Labour of course would have no problem with stealing someone else’s property and giving it away while basking in feel good virtue!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/02/18/david-lammy-should-seizing-russian-assets-rebuild-ukraine/

    1. It’s a short step from that to taking the 3 and more bedroomed homes of couples or widow/widowers who the state feels only need one.

      2. I’m convinced that that short step has been considered and the out of control politicos of this Country are awaiting for what they consider the time to strike. So many newcomers to be housed and the government no longer has the funds nor the will to build and so expropriation will be the order of the day.
        Their, “You will own nothing,” is a plan. I left out the, “and be happy,” as that is just another BIG lie.

    2. Of course, Araminta, is the fact that when Ukraine capitulates to Russia it means that all that stolen Russian assets will go into the coffers of the UK. Britain and the rest of the West will have no role in rebuilding Ukraine unless Russia consents. I have no doubt that dim though Lammy is he has been informed that the game is up in Ukraine and thus sees an opportunity, at the cost of Russia to steal for Socialism, standard practice for them. The only ones that believe there will be a Ukrainian victory are the dim witted sheep who will believe anything they are told by the legacy media.

  34. I watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s on TV a couple of nights ago – did anyone else here watch it?

    I always thought that what happened to Cat was outrageous but even more outrageous was that during the commercial breaks a voice told us that certain parts of the film had been censored in order to comply with modern sensibilities.

    1. All too common ,a large number of old films I rewatch I suddenly think “Where the hell did that scene go”
      All very Dahl

      1. I refused to watch the remake of The Darling Buds of May. I have read the books a few times with great pleasure and the previous TV series was very good. But they can’t leave it; Charley has to become a black bloke, the Brigadier is turned into an Indian former officer and so on.
        HE Bates wrote about the England that he knew and recognised, even if some of it is seen through rose tinted specs.
        Everything we hold or held dear is being revised and destroyed and it breaks my heart. Leave things alone!

        3. I also refuse to watch anything that has been tampered with .

          I am sick and tired of black luvvies and wokists ruining our cultural history and I am equally hacked off with the new king embracing his pwn particular crawling creeping pleasantries ..

          I wish Prince Phillip was still with us and forever young .

          1. When Charles became king I said I would do my best to think positively about him and ignore the fact that he is prematurely senile, boring, woke and completely lacking in either wisdom, judgement or principles.

        4. I am currently rereading “The General danced at dawn” by George MacDonald Fraser.
          Who would think that the antics of a 1940’s Highland regiment would keep me sane during a stressful week?
          A good laugh at bizarre human behaviour sets me up for the day.

          1. I find the same with Spike’s war memoirs….not all of it funny but enough nuttiness to make you laugh.

        5. I think it has been cancelled. The black bloke was making inappropriate advances to the women on set.

      2. I noticed quite a while ago that if you watched a film before the 9pm watershed it was normally mangled with scenes stripped out. That might be it.

    2. We watched Crocodile Dundee, similar censorship has happened there.
      The continuity is very poor.

      1. Was the mugger no longer black? Because it’s going to be. All a bit sad, but the stereotype exists because it’s blasted true!

      2. In the 2nd movie Crocodile washes his socks in the bidet; now he probably washes fishnet stockings.

    3. As I’m on an odd time zone at the moment, I’ve been watching Headliners live on GB news when I get back from work. They were discussing the Ronald Dahl rewrite and Andrew Doyle, who is a lovable lefty, said it’s time to go and get old copies of the real stuff, as soon they won’t be showing anything that resembles what we ever knew. It does make me wonder what on earth the future will be like.

      2. In rural Utah? Surely New York Grand Central Station would have been a more successful venue?

    2. I remember the Hippies’ dawning of the age of Aquarius in the 1960s but now we’re well into the age of Coincidences.🤦‍♂️

    3. I listen to a lot of podcasts. Somehow, and I don’t know how, one popped into my podcast box which is really dark and even I must wonder if I should don my tinfoil hat. I am just listening to the one that came out yesterday, a round table discussion between a Brit, a couple of Yanks and an Ozzie, all about the plans for NWO etc but the point for here: it was mentioned that where the train derailment happened is Amish country, and as the Amish are self-sufficient, they need to be crushed.

      QI.

      Edit. A couple of times, they have to catch themselves and not say something they want to say, because of censorship.

  36. Just looked at the ‘new’ design without the auto expand and show image extension. It’s almost a blank white space with links. Why are images not shown by default? Why is the data density so low?

    1. Are you talking about Disqus? I didn’t like the ‘new design’ and changed back to the old with no problem.

  40. Dear God (if She exists).

    I have just spent the best part of an hour replacing one of the firebricks in the stove. The bloke who “designed” the stove clearly never had in mind an 82 year old with a bad back and minus zero practical skills. Nor did he mention that you need at least four hands – and more patience than I have in a year.

    The MR – bless her – did find a video – where some arse showed off by showing what had to be done speeded up ten times…. Very clever – NOT.

    Anyway, I have sort of done it. I can see why the sweep charges extra for doing it….. The good thing is that it is SO mild that we do not need to light the stove until later.

    1. You can slow a youtube video to about quarter speed, if that helps at all? It’s the cog icon in the bottom right.

      I sometimes watch slow videos at twice speed, or fr anything instructional slow them down to make notes as I follow along.

      1. If only…. I am completely inept with anything that needs skilled hands. Totally useless. It is SO frustrating.

  42. The MR read out the short version of the Roald Dahl re-write – and claimed that it was an early Loof Lirpa. Turns out not…..

    2. And Well done Dr John Campbell 👏

      I knew it was the two jabs that had ruined my health conditions.
      Who can I sue ?

      1. The government (taxpayer) provides a vaccine damage fund. But as they wont admit to any damage being caused, dont open the Bolly yet!

        1. They won’t admit it because it would bankrupt the government if they did and then paid up as they should.

  48. Yo All

    I have just received my BT Phone Bill and it is telling me about Digital Voice and that all landlines are going.

    Has anyone been converted Forced to use the system yet?

    2. We’ve just had it installed. Seems painfree. MB has remarked on how much clearer the line is; for the past few years he had been handing me the phone because he couldn’t understand the speaker.

  49. Yo All

    I havejust received my BT Phone Bill and it is telling me about Digital Voice and that all landlines are going.

    Has anyone been converted Forced to use the system yet?

      1. Natch – everything for everyone but the indigenous. Who, incidentally, are the majority of those who have to pay.

    2. Such types infiltrate, then set about perpetuating themselves. Then their backward, offensive views do furious damage to the country all to suit their gormless agenda.

  53. WARNING

    I just got an automated phone call saying: “Your internet service will be shut down due to illegal activities within the next 24 to 48 hours.” Looked it up on the internet and predictably it is a scam. Do not, out of curiosity press any numbers they give you to contact a person or anything else. Hang up as soon as you have heard the first sentence.

    1. There’s a lot of it about these days. I have typically 10 emails a day trying it on. Now even the mobile phone version of Paypal is at it (apparently).

      1. Usually it is a person called Bill with a heavy Indian accent. As soon as they open their mouths they get a stream of invective from me, then I hang up.

          1. That is actually funny. A good mind F… if ever there was one. I was actually listening to a snippet of various Germanic languages this morning, quite interesting. But why does Danish sound like strangulation with a stomach ache.
            Here’s the thing I was listening to.
            Germanic Languages Comparison
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq2_gTETBXM

          2. As someone with a degree of experience with Scandinavian languages, I would say that firstly the Danish woman was practically unintelligible and certainly not representative (although Danish is gutteral it is not usually as ugly as that presenter made it), and secondly if the Danish clip had been played immediately after the German one, your comment might have been levelled on the former.

          8. Saved to listen to another time. I seem to be speaking more German than Spanish here at the moment, and it’s confusing my pore brain.

            Danish sounds utterly appalling, I agree! 🤣

        3. I’m delighted that BT have brought their call centres back to Britain.
          I had a lovely chat with Keith in Dundee. Accent to die for. No wonder the town produced a scrummy fruit cake and The Bash Street Kids.

      2. I’m forever getting emails telling me about abortive deliveries.
        My junk mail fairy is very efficient.

        1. Not yet, did you hear the one about the new vicar who went just out of the village to meet two old spinsters, famous for their rhubarb wine…….

      1. Yes, couldn’t they put non-black muslims and POC together? Or any other people who fight each other back in their own cesspits.

          2. There are times when you can understand the Roman love of gladiatorial games.
            Shove all your ne’er do wells and other detritus into a ring and leave them to wipe each other out.

          3. Partly, but in the same buildings would be better. Let them sort each other out in private. Don’t involve the rest of us. No chance they would gang up together against whitey outside.

    2. I really think that some one needs to point out that he’s not the PM, the only people who voted for him were his allies in the Conservative Party.
      And he seems to be working for some sort of overseas corporation.

      1. It’s very obvious that he is working for some sort of overseas corporation.

        He is doing as much damage as he can, while he can.

        1. How long will it take him to damage Britain beyond repair?

          If that point has already been passed then nobody has any possible need of him any further and he can return to either India or the USA..

    3. More utter lunacy – WTF are this government thinking [if, indeed, there is any thought process behind this madness]

        1. Almost verbatim what I said to my husband today, except I said “arse backwards”. You win the prize for politeness;-)

    1. I wonder how a mass demonstration would be policed if the slogans carried the message;

      STOP SELECTIVE POLICE BIAS AGAINST NORMAL PEOPLE

  57. 371283+ up ticks,

    May one ask,

    Would holding a full black mass with sacrifices in play outside an abortion clinic get the political overseers / police
    nod of approval ?

      1. 371283 + up ticks

        Evening N,

        You are taking a chance with trigger if you typed with a lisp you could be looking at doing six hard.

  59. Russia has committed crimes against humanity, says Kamala Harris. 18 February 2023.

    The Biden administration has formally concluded that Russia committed crimes against humanity during its nearly year-long invasion of Ukraine, Kamala Harris has said.

    “In the case of Russia’s actions in Ukraine we have examined the evidence, we know the legal standards, and there is no doubt: these are crimes against humanity,” the US vice-president and former prosecutor said in prepared remarks delivered in a speech at the Munich security conference on Saturday.

    “And I say to all those who have perpetrated these crimes, and to their superiors who are complicit in those crimes, you will be held to account.”

    It’s the sheer hypocrisy of it all that gets to you. What of the 500,000 Iraqi children who died because of American Sanctions and who Madeleine Albright thought it a price worth paying. This along with the devastation of Syria and Libya hardly makes them Models of Humanity!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/18/us-accuses-russia-crimes-against-humanity-kamala-harris-ukraine

    1. They killed 20k+ and deliberately flattened civilian infrastructure in Serbia on the pretext of a genocide committed in Bosnia for which no more evidence exists than of Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction. Yet NATO is theoretically a defensive organisation.

      1. It was a pretty close run thing, when they invaded Grenada.

        CNN and the Coke Franchise nearly arrived late

        1. The shocking thing was the way the Yanks didn’t invite John Simpson to lead the liberation invasion…

        2. Had an American friend studying medicine at the school on Grenada. He told me that no one was being threatened and all the Americans were doing fine thanks. It was only when the American military arrived that they were terrorized and forced, against their will, to vacate the island. No one wanted to leave. Their rescue was nothing more than a propaganda exercise and no students were allowed to speak to the press or protest. They were told in no uncertain terms what would happen to them if they did.

    3. What is she talking about? She’s a crime against humanity.
      Extraordinary how selective these immoral people are. I guess shelling the Donbass, your fellow Ukrainians, civilians at that, mostly children, women , and old people for 7 years is not a crime?

      1. Harris is drugged up to the eyeballs as is her boss.

        I believe the prosecution of the war in Ukraine is a political device to distract from and conceal the real aims of the WHO/UN/WHO globalist elites’ crimes against humanity.

        Too many people are awakening to the coordinated machinations of the globalist bankers for the project or Great Reset to carry on for much longer. These people, Johnson, Hancock, Sunak, Macron, Rutte, Abbott, Ardern, Sturgeon, Fauci, Whitty, Harries, Farrar, Vallance, Van Tam, Schwab, Gates, Soros and the rest will be brought to book in the near future.

  62. Amsterdam plans to relocate 100 red light district windows to multi-storey ‘erotic centre’

    Residents say proposed project risks becoming a ‘sex-Disneyland attraction’ that will draw even more nuisance tourism

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/02/17/amsterdam-plans-replace-red-light-district-multi-storey-erotic/

    In *Woukland, the non binary places would be to the fore

    The binary ones would be in Ukelandia

    *I quite like Woukland, it describes how Ingerland now is, perfectly.
    There will be no royalty costs for using it

  63. Rishi Sunak ‘making very good progress’ on Brexit deal
    Prime Minister and European Commission president said to be channelling ‘spirit of cooperation’ over war in Ukraine at the Munich conference

    Danielle Sheridan : DT https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/02/18/rishi-sunak-says-no-means-done-northern-ireland-protocol-deal/

    “Rishi Sunak has made “very good progress” on finding a solution to the Northern Ireland protocol, Downing Street said on Saturday.

    Number 10 issued the statement following a meeting between the Prime Minister and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission.”

    BTL from Percival Wrattstrangler:

    Why should either Rishi Sunak or Ursula Von der Leyen dictate what happens to the sovereignty of Northern Ireland. It is up to the people themselves to decide.

    A referendum in Northern Ireland should be called with the simple question :

    Do you want

    i) Northern Ireland to remain in the UK?
    or
    ii) Northern Ireland to be part of The Republic of Ireland and thus a part of the EU?

    If the people vote to stay in the UK then the ECJ will have no further jurisdiction in the British territory of Northern Ireland.

    If the people vote to leave UK then UK will have no further financial or social obligations towards Northern Ireland.

    2. The last time a British PM returned from Munich after signing an agreement, it didn’t bode well for Czechoslovakia.
      Edited for grammar.

      1. On BBC news the other day Sinn Fein were in a very celebratory mood. They were delighted.

        I wonder what the deal is?

    1. Do you own a twinset? I don’t and never have. I always dressed professionally when teaching but certainly not in a fashion show way. I haven’t worn a skirt for years although I do have dresses, mainly for summer wear. Ditto teaching. Much of the time I wore trousers because they were more practical and cheap tops because you never know what will happen in a classroom 🙁
      I thought the detective was somewhat inappropriately dressed given the sombre occasion it was. A jacket or simple cardigan would have been a good addition.

      2. I’ve never worn a twinset, even with a nice necklace. I’m generally to be seen in trousers, though I might have the odd dress still in the wardrobe for special occasions…….a wedding perhaps.

        Yes – she should have worn a jacket – but the information she was giving out was even more inappropriate.

      3. I am fairly ‘old fashioned’ in my dress but I don’t own a twin set. I was rather taken aback by the bare-arms, though, it made her look unprofessional and so delegitimised the content of her input. I wouldn’t quite call it a cocktail dress, but sleeveless dresses, shirts are a sexual signal and as such shouldn’t be worn in professional circumstances.

        2. I am an unashamed scruff nowadays. Jeans and a sweater in winter- jeans and a tee shirt in summer. And you should see my winter fuzzy socks!

          1. These are my favourite wellies. I walk Poppie in them, I wear them when/if we go to the pub, or a restaurant. They go with everything. No need for posh shoes. I first started getting them 13 years ago, they were about £17 then. I have just bought another two pairs for future use. I must be on my sixth pair by now. They have never let any water in. The photograph does not do them justice. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spot-Ladies-Leopard-Print-Wellington/dp/B007GL2KAE?th=1 If you feel you simply cannot live without a pair, I am exactly a size 6 and the size 7 is perfect and will take an extra pair pf socks. I am the last person you would think would wear anything leopardy – they are the most commented upon item of clothing I have ever had.

      4. Yes, I a had a couple of sets of twinsets , and had several lovely Daks skirts for years .

        There were times when I had to dress for the occassion , these days I am a jacket, jumper , scarf and jean gal.

      1. She is clearly desperate to get back into the public arena – hence her “whine” last week about her arrest and treatment by the plod.

      1. Wyatt posted a snap of the woman perliceman at a press conference about the missing lady – where she tutted that the lady cop was wearing a “cocktail dress” rather than more appropriate working clothes.

        If you click on Maggie’s post – the whole sequence becomes visible.

    4. Petronella Wyatt is right.
      Certain jobs and occasions call for something rather more formal than a sleeveless dress.
      (Given it’s February, I do wonder at the venue’s heating levels.)

  65. Petition to sign: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/633007

    Open an independent Public Inquiry into Ofcom’s guidance on broadcast
    standards during the coronavirus pandemic. This should consider whether
    this guidance prevented discussion of concerns about vaccines, and
    whether that resulted in unnecessary injuries or deaths, or symptoms
    being ignored.

  66. ‘Humanitarian visa’ could cut number of asylum seekers reaching UK by boat. 18 February 2023.

    Rishi Sunak has made tackling Channel crossings one of his five priorities since entering Downing Street, despite concerns among his own ministers that it is not within his power to stop boats attempting the dangerous journey. The government is scrambling to examine a series of controversial measures that could be included in a forthcoming immigration bill, aimed at automatically blocking those who come to the UK on small boats from seeking asylum.

    However, a growing cross-party group of political figures is backing a new specialised visa that would allow 40,000 people a year to seek asylum. The proposal has been drawn up by the independent thinktank British Future. It said that rather than ratcheting up expectations and rhetoric, a new visa stream would make asylum case processing and safe returns “faster and fairer”, while also saving money on hotel accommodation created by a backlog of cases.

    Oh look! Two squirrels!

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/feb/18/humanitarian-visa-could-cut-number-of-asylum-seekers-reaching-uk-by-boat

    1. Yet again there is a DELIBERATE attempt at confusion – referring to “asylum seekers” when we know that 99% of the incomers are illegal economic migrants.

      What a little shyte Fishi is.

      1. It’s just obfuscation Bill! Neither of these measures; even if they were adopted, and they won’t be, would make the slightest difference to the Cross Channel traffic!

      2. It’s just obfuscation Bill! Neither of these measures; even if they were adopted, and they wont be, would make the slightest difference to the Cross Channel traffic!

      3. They were all safe in France, there was no need for any single one of these scroungers to come here.
        But of course the freebies have attracted every single one of them.
        How politicians have the audacity to show their faces, leaves a lot to the imagination.
        Our country is full.

        1. And the worse thing is that, come the GE, the same/similar fluckers will be elected by the sheeple.

          4. I was speaking to a fellow customer when I was shopping this afternoon. She said she wasn’t to blame for the government – she didn’t vote for any of them.

      4. Dance for your daddy,
        My bonnie laddie;
        Dance for your daddy,
        My bonnie lamb;
        You shall get a Rishi,
        On a little dishy;
        You shall get a Rishi,
        When the boats comes in.

    2. Just done a quick check: that’s the equivalent of Bishop’s Stortford or Coalville arriving here every year.

      2. But in all probability they are extracting the GDP of Bishop’s Stortford or Coalville and adding nothing…

      3. But as they’re all doctors, nurses, scientists etc, shirley that’s good for us? [/sarc]

    4. “ However, a growing cross-party group of political figures is backing a new specialised visa that would allow 40,000 people a year to seek asylum. ”.

      On top of all the illegals presumably? What a load of two balls. They are lying through their teeth. Every time they open their mouths actually.

  69. I understand the attraction of ditching ID papers in the channel instead of showing a passport at St Pancras or Heathrow but we’re told that the channel migrants are paying several times the cost of a train or plane ticket for their passage. Where does the money come from? Who is funding this traffic? Almost certainly not the migrants themselves. Why does no one ask?

  70. That’s me for today. Took it very gently to try to reduce the chronic agony bearable discomfort. Done the crosswords and other puzzli.

    Tomorrow will attempt some light garden work. Another grey but mild day forecast by the Wet Office.

    Watched the 2-part PBS prog about Mussolini last night. Extraordinary how that bombastic nonentity – at whom most Italians larfed (to begin with) got to the top. Didn’t last, of course. I was fascinated by the way he and Adolf chatted away without interpreters. What on earth language did they have in common? An interesting couple of progs – and film.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain.

      1. Far too long a story – dates back to 2011. Hernia repair. Mesh attached to pelvis. Where there is a NERVE ending….

        1. EEEOOWWW!
          Not nice. When I read of the trials and tribulations of others, my petty discomforts, injuries and ailments pale into insignificance.

  71. Another Boring Bogey Five.

    Wordle 609 5/6
    🟩⬜🟨⬜⬜
    🟩⬜⬜🟩⬜
    🟩⬜⬜🟩⬜
    🟩⬜🟨🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. A 3 but while I didn’t crib the answer, I was prompted by a clue.
      Wordle 609 3/6

      🟩⬜🟨⬜⬜
      🟩🟨⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Par for me.

      Wordle 609 4/6

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

        1. It certainly does, Belle, my Oscar is 9 in May and it just seems a year or two ago he was just a puppy.

          2. They are so beautiful, bless their little doggie souls. Time passes so quickly. If only the world was ruled by dogs…… what fun it would be.

          4. Oh….. nipping…. yes. Well. Our soft and gentle little dog, has never growled nor shown her teeth to anyone, let alone bite – bit the groomer on Friday. One could take her chews from her and she would be mildly surprised and say ‘what did you do that for?’ She puts up with grandchildren so well, if the 18 month old’s attention becomes too much she just moves out of his way. The little cameo of events was thus: I was told Poppie pooped not once but twice whilst she was being bathed, and as the groomer lady reached out to clear it up, Poppie lunged forward and bit her on the arm. And it was a real bite too, about three quarters of an inch long. We are wondering if there was a tiny bit of information left out between ‘pooped’ and ‘bit her on the arm’ such as she was whacked. I can understand the frustration, but…. Poppie was very subdued and despondent after that for the remainder of the afternoon and evening – delighted to get home but she went downhill very quickly after that. She began to recover her spirits somewhat over the course of yesterday. I will have to find another groomer.

          5. Definitely! I know Oscar is vile when he’s being groomed (he was sedated at the vets to have it done before I got him) so I always muzzle him – but then, his reputation preceded him! My groomer is very patient with him and manages to cope with his squirming and writhing while ignoring his snarls.

  75. Completely OT, but has anyone seen Horace Pendleton here recently? I don’t think that’s his real name but he live somewhere in the Borders.

    1. I was thinking last evening about those awol. Horace, Andrew Lockwood, Iffy, poor Datz who isn’t well, Peddy, Plum and others I can’t bring to mind right now.
      I do hope they are all well.

    3. I was wondering last week where he’d got to. One or two recent comments elsewhere but otherwise absent from here since last autumn.

    1. Like the old steam train menu (you have to say it out loud):

      Coffee, coffee
      Cheese and biscuits, cheese and biscuits
      Treacle pudding, treacle pudding
      Beef and carrots, beef and carrots
      SOUP!

      2. I like listening to the old DBB Class 44 lok. Being a 3 cylinder you get a distinct 6 beats to the bar, much like the Bullied and Gresley pacifics over here, which matches the Scherzo of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony!!!

  78. Did anyone listen to Neil Oliver’s chat with US Army Colonel Douglas McGregor re Ukraine?

    I think Col McGregor is right; our lot have got it wrong.

    Rishi Sunak, President Zelenskyy, NATO and the EU have got it wrong.

    Putin is not our enemy.

    We are teetering on the edge of disaster: we’re backing the wrong side!

    Edit: Douglas

    2. Well I knew that from the word go. Check out the recent history of the Ukraine ‘Ukraine on Fire’. Never have I been so ashamed of my country as I have in the last three years, and the last year in particular. Putin is not our enemy, he stands between us and the WEF. He is our last hope.

    3. The provocation from the west has been relentless with the U.K. leading the charge it seems to me. All at USA’s instigation. It won’t be them in the firing line when things get really ugly. And Sunak is still egging everyone on.

      The U.K. should never have been involved let alone leading the charge, Ukraine is nothing to do with us and never has been.

      1. Sunak has not been elected by the electorate – nor Tory party members.

        He is democratically illegitimate – and unfit for purpose.

        Sunak is a dangerous, Bollywood, billionaire playboy.

    4. A well know ex military Sir gave an interview with the bbc before all this kicked off. And spoke, as he usually does, a lot of sense and explained the situation. He’s still out there of course but hasn’t been heard from since.

    5. That we’re backing either side is stupid. We should be doing everything we can to bring both sides to the negotiating table.

  80. To all Nottlers.
    At home and recorded we have just been watching a US film called Dark Waters.
    If you haven’t seen it yet I can’t recommend it enough. It’s superb, so well acted and presented, but very dark as it suggests. I don’t have time now to go into further details. But it’s something that effects 99% of the people on this planet.
    You’ll see If you watch it.

    1. I’d thoroughly recommend the above. He’s saying everything I have, only more coherently and with less waffling and ranting.

      More seriously, everything is wrong. This is a discussion of that.

  84. It’s not late but we both have had two awful nights of discomfort/pain and therefore, not much sleep. Plus I went shopping today- Asda had not one single tomato!
    We have eaten, lightly, and my husband has already gone up and I am going now. Am hoping to sleep in a bit tomorrow and I hope we both can sleep tonight.
    I am envious of Mola and David out having fun…hope they both have a blast.
    Goodnight Y’all. Try and be good 😉

    1. On the upside, they’ll aim for cities. Capital cities. No one would miss London – it’s an infested overrun, welfare addicted hell hole.

      1. I’ll make sure two of our sons and daughter’s in law are working from home on the day of delivery. 🤔

    1. Hi Sue,
      Sorry, that is 99% fake news.
      “A screenshot of a package for the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca has been shared on Facebook in South Africa alongside a claim that a purported date stamp on the box shows it was manufactured in July 2018 – more than a year before the novel coronavirus was discovered. But the claim is false: the image of the packaging has been digitally altered to include a false date stamp.The image was published here on Facebook on July 21, 2021,…”

      https://factcheck.afp.com/http%253A%252F%252Fdoc.afp.com%252F9JR8FG-1

      1. Easy to say, Tim but how much garbage do ‘factcheck’ put out, in order to suit the WEF/UN/WHO narrative?

  87. Evening, all. They are blaming the wrong people for people worrying about their energy bills; the finger should be pointing at the government.

    1. I am very impressed by how well his collected copies of the Beano and the Dandy have been bound. Lol.

  91. I cannot remember if I’ve said this already – I’ve slept so much for most of today but,

    Goodnight and God bless, Gentlefolk.

      2. Well, that’s very odd, Ndovu and Tom. On Saturday I also had not one but two “catnaps” of a couple of hours each, yet when I went to sleep at 10.15pm thinking I would not be able to sleep at all well I managed a full seven hours, waking at 5.15 am today (Sunday).

  92. The late Queen had barely been laid to rest when the anonymous Buckingham Palace machine started to warn life was about to change for Prince Andrew – as the ‘distraught’ Duke now faces losing his Windsor home of 19 years, writes DAPHNE BARAK
    Sources claim Buckingham Palace ‘didn’t wait ten days’ from the death of the Queen before they began contacting Prince Andrew about upcoming changes
    Late monarch paid the Duke a reported £249,000 out of her private fortune
    The funds enabled him to pay for his family home at Windsor’s Royal Lodge
    ‘Distraught’ Prince may have to give up home of 19 year as soon as September
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11767311/Distraught-Prince-Andrew-faces-losing-Windsor-home-19-years-writes-DAPHNE-BARAK.html#comments

    DM BTL Comment

    The King is a mean-spirited and nasty, vindictive man. His mother and father both wanted Edward to have the Duke of Edinburgh title but Charles has taken it for William’s daughter; he has punished his other brother, Andrew, who has not been found guilty of anything; and the general view of his treatment of his first wife, Diana, was that Charles was cruel and heartless.

    2. Put not thy trust in Princes….?

      If I were Charles, I would keep Andrew on a very tight leash, giving him just enough money to enable him to live in the luxury he clearly desires, while ensuring that he has no power to splurge his stupidity around any matters relating to the country, or pursue his friendships with paedophiles and children of crooks.

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