Sunday 26 March: Memories of lockdown sacrifices make Boris Johnson’s testimony difficult to stomach

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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575 thoughts on “Sunday 26 March: Memories of lockdown sacrifices make Boris Johnson’s testimony difficult to stomach”

      1. Good afternoon, Elsie, I’ve been quite remiss with any early rising so, for today’s story you’ll have to dig further down, or up, whichever way you have comments sorted.

        1. Thanks, Tom, what I usually do when I can’t see your Funnies post is click on your avatar and scroll through your posts until I find it.

    2. Pull the bally lever first, then line up the other hundreds of dross ruining the country.

  6. 372563+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    European judges may be overruled on Rwanda deportations
    Suella Braverman in talks to ban ECHR injunctions that ground migrant flights

    “May”
    Can the unelected in brussels and their political assets in westminster be asked what part of ” We left the eu crime syndicate on the 24/6/2016 what part do you NOT understand”

    1. They’ll get a shock then. This ‘we can make our own decisions!’ lark is boring. We can’t. They chained us to the useless ECHR. Folk say it’s not related to the EU, that it’s a bastion of human rights. It isn’t. It’s a corrupt, kangaroo court designed to support, endorse and enforce EU mandate.

      And Sunak has ensured it has primacy over our own courts.

      1. It never fails to astonish me that so many people are so unconcerned by the fact that the ECJ is still the final arbiter and takes precedence over British Law in a part of UK sovereign territory

        The people who are most unconcerned probably delude themselves into thinking that the EU would not violate the new Windsor Surrender as they violated the spirit of the Northern Ireland Protocol which has been used by the EU from the word go to obstruct Brexit.

        How long will it be before some of the nastiest and most devious consequence of the Windsor Sell Out occur?

        The only thing I am unsure about is whether Sunak was duped or whether he deliberately betrayed Britain. I fear it was the latter.

        1. Agreed, Richard. And a belated Happy Birthday to your dear Caroline. I hope you help her celebrate it to the hilt.

    1. 372563+ up ticks,

      Morning C,

      Is it Scottish perchance, there are certain features….

    1. When you look at the world, especially the West, you have to ask ‘when you planned out your communist empire, is this really what you wanted?’

      Looked at a university site the other day. You see a white face about once evey five pages. You see a white male face less than once in a dozen and even then surrounded by female ethnics.

  10. Good morning, all. Raining.

    Suspicious fires and explosions in the USA aimed at meat packaging plants, grain storage units, egg production etc. along with train derailments. Now chocolate production is a target?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3ee4bc5c547cea099e9516cf924f901358ebf539e647b8b0838289c045cb4b88.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d3446be8603a9635203e87c5853bedceeba0adfab10bf8e908d116d7a5f9c62b.png

    Seems that there are people in the USA who are aware of the potential threat of thousands of young, unaccompanied men of fighting age infiltrating their country: much as we are seeing here.

    https://twitter.com/bangerbloyce/status/1639867988898619394

    1. I wonder – when the communists rigged the market so completely and food ran out and people began to starve, did they ever once stop and think ‘hang on, we might be wrong’?

      Judging by the EU’s malignant attitude no, they just push more of the same. It has got to stop. This cannot go on. The last assault on everything that works killed millions. How many more do these Left wing morons want to go this time? Is that the intent?

  11. Offenders in jumpsuits to clean police cars in anti-social behaviour crackdown. 26 March 2023.

    Ministers will announce new measures to discourage low-level crime, including public punishments and a requirement for offenders to begin cleaning up graffiti within 48 hours.

    The Telegraph understands that offenders will be made to wear jumpsuits or fluorescent jackets to make them more visible to the public as they carry out punishment tasks including washing police cars, litter-picking and scrubbing graffiti.

    The new approach will begin in 10 areas before being rolled out across England and Wales next year.

    This isn’t a cure but a confession of the total uselessness of a system that does not even bother to investigate burglaries. All these offences could be dealt with by present legislation. This is simply a Public Relations exercise. Nothing here will make any difference to anything at all. Much Sound and Fury and nothing else!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/03/25/offenders-jumpsuits-clean-police-cars-anti-social-behaviour/

    3. Although, the idea of chaining prisoners at the neck and ankle and forcing them to clean up the filth they spew everywhere is a good idea.

    1. The good burghers of Thetford have a meeting on the 30th of this month with county and local councillors, I believe. Could be interesting!

      1. The council say one thing, then do another. Some rich globalist gets uppity and says ‘Righty, I want to shut down all personal transport so I can enforce my world view. I’ll give this crappy council and it’s corrupt, incompetent, lazy, easy to buy troughers a bung and I’ll make sure I get what I want.’

        In a democracy the public would simply refuse whatever these useless fools did. Government would be a tenth the size it is, people would have to work. Sadly, we are not a democracy.

  13. Morning all 🙂😉
    I guess it’s the same as the rest of the country out there today……rain.
    Isn’t it daunting that since the tory mafia got rid of Thatcher, I’m not saying she was any where near perfect. But we have had the worst possible bunch of political leaders in our entire history. Just do one Boris, we’ve had enough of your continuous bullshite.
    We really enjoyed our day in North London yesterday going to the Tottenham stadium to watch Saracens Vs Harlequins.

    1. We’ve had the same government for the last 25 years: tax, waste, debt, tax. They keep saying they need to balance the books, get the debt under control, manage inflation – and then pursue high tax – creating debt, market rigging – creating inflation policies.

      Then, to top it all off, they break another market – employment – massively increase the supply of labour now the employers are over taxed, but with a continually rigged price in the min wage – which is obliterated by taxation.

      They keep doing the wrong things, repeatedly, over and over and over again while saying they want to do the opposite. It’s boring now. They’re habitual liars, thieves and fools and the whole lot need to go.

      1. I Totally agree.
        As long as the political classes are making a good living they don’t seem to give a damn for the rest of us.
        See Ogga’s comment below.

  16. My family owned 1,000 slaves and profited from the trade: this is how I am trying to make amends. 26 March 2023.

    In 1833, when Britain finally abolished slavery, my ancestors were absentee owners of more than 1,000 enslaved people on the Caribbean island of Grenada. To the best of my knowledge, the Trevelyans never set foot on the island. They enjoyed the profits that came rolling in from sugar harvested by exploited and brutalised enslaved people thousands of miles away across the Atlantic Ocean.

    Like much of Britain, my ancestors never had to confront the face of slavery – or its sordid legacy. Generations later, my extended family spent a year debating how we could respond to the horrors of the past. The deafening silence from the descendants of slave owners, from other families like ours, causes unimaginable pain, Sir Hilary Beckles of the Caribbean Community’s Reparations Commission told us. He convinced us of the power of an apology and encouraged us to lead by example.

    How can the present be in debt to the past? Even if her ancestors were slave masters themselves how could this possibly be the responsibility of those alive now? Such a principle would see us all up on various charges. Was one of your predecessors present at some historical horror? Time for you to pay up!

    What this really speaks to is the neurotic self-obsession of the Elites. Slavery is the modern version of Original Sin. As in the Middle Ages you can be absolved by Public Penitence and Confession.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/25/slaves-trade-amends-grenada-laura-trevelyan

    1. What nauseating, self-indulgent twaddle!
      There are so many good and positive things this privileged twerp could do if he or she feels guilty – splurging his or her feelings in the Guardian, and trying to draw all white people into the guilt net is not one of them!

      1. Morning BB. It’s like the Flagellants of the Middle Ages! Look at me! Look how virtuous I am!

    2. My ancestors were in the Navy blockading the slave ships. I’ve nothing to be ashamed of.

      Not surprised a Lefty owned slaves, either.

    3. There speaks a BBC apparatchik, although apparently she has just retired to become a full time “advocate”!
      “Trevelyan, (born 21 August 1968) is a British-American journalist who worked for the BBC for 30 years. “

  17. What a vey nasty place New Zealand has become since Jacinda appeared on the scene. (As previously mentioned, I’m a quarter Kiwi)

    Brendan O’Neill
    The shameful persecution of Posie Parker in New Zealand
    25 March 2023, 1:29pm

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2N0A4D51.jpg?resize=1536,1024

    This is what it must have been like when women were marched to the stake. Yesterday in Auckland the British women’s rights campaigner Posie Parker found herself surrounded by a deranged, heaving mob. She had tomato soup and placards thrown in her face. She was doused with water. Huge men screamed insults and expletives in her face. The shoving of the crowd became so intense that Parker feared for her life. ‘I genuinely thought that if I fell to the floor I would never get up again’, she said. ‘My children would lose their mother and my husband would lose his wife.’

    It was a truly chilling spectacle. The mobs’ faces were twisted into masks of feral hatred. They ranted in frenzy as the diminutive Parker, her bottle-blonde hair stained orange from the soup that had been dumped on her, desperately tried to make her way to the safety of a police car. It was a ritualistic shaming of a witch, a violent purging of a heretic.

    https://twitter.com/radionz/status/1639420703232643072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1639420703232643072%7Ctwgr%5E8e36c2551fc4172b232684ea89a232dac7084cef%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.spectator.co.uk%2Farticle%2Fthe-shameful-persecution-of-posie-parker-in-new-zealand%2F

    Next time you’re reading a history book and find yourself wondering how Salem came to be consumed by such swirling hysteria, watch the clips of Posie’s persecution in New Zealand. This is how it happens. This is how the fear of witches can overrule reason and unleash the darkest, most punitive passions of the mob.

    And what is Parker’s crime? What did this witch do? She said, ‘A woman is an adult human female’. That’s it. Parker, whose real name is Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, is well known for her criticism of the ideology of transgenderism. She thinks a man never becomes a woman, no matter how many hormones he takes or surgeries he undergoes. She thinks if you were born male, you will die male, and in the time in between you have no right whatsoever to enter any women-only space.

    This is heresy. Dissenting from the gospel of gender ideology is to the 21st century what dissenting from the actual gospels was to the 15th. And so Parker must be punished. It was a modern-day stoning, so mercifully they only threw soup and water and planks of cardboard at the blasphemer.

    Parker organises public events called ‘Let Women Speak’. She has done it across the UK, in parts of the US, and for the past couple of weeks she’s been doing it in Australia and New Zealand.

    It’s a genius initiative. She knows these gatherings of women who merely want to give voice to their profane belief that sex can never be changed will draw out crowds of intolerant trans activists and their allies. She knows the ‘Be Kind’ mob will do everything in its power to stop women from speaking. And she knows it will all brilliantly illustrate her core belief: that trans activism is misogyny in disguise, misogyny in drag, if you like, and that it has devoted itself to silencing women who believe in biology.

    Australia and New Zealand played their parts brilliantly in Parker’s clever scheme. From Melbourne to Canberra, Hobart to Auckland, huge crowds of the right-on turned up to drown out the voices of the pesky women who dare to call men ‘men’. ‘Let women speak’, Parker says. ‘No’, says the mob. She incites them to confess their misogyny and intolerance in full public view. And they do.

    Auckland was the worst. At Albert park in the centre of the city yesterday, the mob could not hide its vengeful loathing of the uppity women who disagree with its ideologies. Parker is a new kind of witch, one who willingly submits herself to a witch-trial, so that the rest of us might see just how dogmatic and unforgiving the new witch-hunters are. I am full of admiration for her. Her courage is shining a light on the visceral intolerance that advances under the banner of identity politics.

    The events in Auckland should be a wake-up call for liberals everywhere. We glimpsed the iron fist of authoritarianism that lurks in the velvet glove of ‘Be Kind’. The misogynistic streak in trans extremism is undeniable now. Watch enraged men kicking down metal barriers so that they might get closer to the witch Posie and tell me this isn’t sexism masquerading as radicalism. Witness the crowing of men who are delighted that the mob made the ‘coward TERF’ run away and tell me this isn’t chauvinism on steroids. Behold the use of megaphones and expletive-laden chants and physical menace to silence a woman and tell me this isn’t a sexist, censorious crusade against women’s freedom of speech.

    https://youtu.be/ka6jl0hL9ZE

    That mob in Auckland did not emerge out of thin air. No, it was a brutish manifestation of a regressive idea that has been taking hold for some years. Namely, that it should be forbidden to dissent from gender ideology. That it is bigotry to state biological facts. That it ought to be a punishable offence – whether that punishment is being No Platformed or sacked or having objects thrown in your face – to say men are men and women are women.

    To see where censorship ends up, just look at those grimacing agitators in Auckland, hatred spreading like a current through their number, as they fight with every fibre of their being to prevent the expression of a critical idea. Censorship begets bigotry. It begets violence itself. For the more we tell people that certain words will hurt them, the more we witlessly incite people to hurt those who dare to utter certain words.

    That mob was drunk on sanctimony. This is what happens when we tell people their identity is the most important thing in the world and that anything that so much as grazes their self-esteem is an outrage that must be crushed. We nurture a generation of navel-gazing Torquemadas. Posie has exposed them, yet again, and for that she deserves our thanks. This time round, the witches might just win.

        1. My pad died when the clocks went forward. 😥 Unfortunately. Otherwise good, thx. Moving Second Son to his flat today.

    2. The self righteousness of zealots and fanatics knows no bounds. Parker shouldn’t have been moved away, the violent Left wing wasters should have.

      It’s funny, they proclaim to be champions of the underdog and heroes of democracy when really they’re bitter totalitarian fascists. They know this at their heart, but can’t accept it. it conflicts with their twisted worldview.

    3. What on Earth has happened in the land of the Long White Cloud, sheep-farmers and fearsome All Blacks?

      1. ‘Liberal’ ‘progressives’ were not stamped hard in the face and big fat government kept encouraging them.

    4. It is a spine chilling article.
      What the heck has happened to the Kiwis?
      Mind you, Horseface was a Blair Babe, so, yet again, the evil is traced back to him.

  18. Good Day all,

    A wet morning at Casa McPhee, wind veering North and a chilly 5℃.

    Glancing at the Gatesograph letters section on Johnson’s kangaroo court experience, Charlie Leech of Twickenham gets it right.

    “SIR – The biggest takeaway from the partygate fiasco is that all those involved in breaking the rules knew perfectly well that they were unnecessary and that no one attending the gatherings was in any great danger.

    It would have been much better for all of us if common sense had been applied and the lockdown, mask-wearing and social-distancing rules scrapped long before Boris Johnson and his associates could break them.”

    The ever dependable Neil Oliver went further in asking the old question: Quis Custodiet Custodes Ipsos? Its worth looking at the recording of the whole show to get the response of Daniel Moylan ( a peer) who was on his sofa and who doesn’t see it. Why would he?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv8LI2q9KtQ

      1. Do you have to put your clocks forward?
        MB appeared with a cup of tea at 6.15 ish: I thought he’d gone mad. Then the awful truth hit me.

    1. Not really. He’s in Saudi. That’s how they think. As long as he, and his savage religion is not here, there’s no problem.

      Oh. Hang on.

    2. Does anyone notice a similar reasoning behind the way that Labour justified the grooming gang activities while blaming the girls for their lifestyle

        1. Drive past the the local comprehensive school after 3pm and you will observe that there is clearly a severe shortage of skirt material.

      2. I have no problem with them having second jobs but NOT one that relies on their positions within Parliament. For example, an MP who happens to be a doctor or a solicitor or a dustman can still be a doctor or a solicitor or a dustman outside parliament. If, however, they are trading on their position in Parliament and knowledge of government THEY NEED TO GO.

      3. I hand it to the reporter: I wouldn’t stand in the middle of the Millennium Bridge for nanoseconds in a light jacket and T-shirt.
        It is perpetually cold and windy.

    4. Victims don’t want a say. They want the criminal punished – brutally. The Left wing, weak, pathetic criminal justice system does not work.

      A criminal needs to be broken until they are able to function in society.

    5. Trouble is, MPs will become even more financially attached to Nanny Westminster as they will have no outside experiences to connect them to reality.

    1. My gold tooth becomes worth more than the rest of me, as cat food. Yaay! What’s not to like?
      What price a used pacemaker? Latest model…

    2. The value of gold remains constant, whereas the value of currencies (purchasing power parity, etc) may fluctuate.

    1. More than that, by forcing regulations on goods coming from the U into NI, the EU ensures we cannot divert away from the hated EU and remain chained to it’s policies.

      If we start cutting taxes and regulation then they use NI as leverage to force realignment – and stuff the people of NI. It’s all about control.

        1. There are loads of Catholics in Northern Ireland, and no doubt they are allowed to vote both in the North and in the South.
          Not being intolerant, just referring to demographics.

        2. The only answer is a referendum on whether Northern Ireland remains in the UK or leaves it.

          If they vote to leave us then the rest of the UK should stop all further financial, moral and political support. They can then see if the Republic of Ireland wants them to join them to form a united island of Ireland.

          If, on the other hand they vote to stay in the UK then the EU and the ECJ should be kicked out completely and have no further power or influence.

          This half-in half-out state of affairs is frustratingly nonsensical like coitus interruptus or Vatican Roulette.

  25. Memories of lockdown sacrifices make Boris Johnson’s testimony difficult to stomach

    It doesn’t for me, watching all those people in authority that did nothing but vote for more and more authoritarian restrictions now trying to present themselves as the good guys by conducting a silly act of witch hunt theatre for their own political ends just sickens me.

    If they had only done their jobs as our parliament was set up to do to provide a brake and prevent totalitarianism sweeping though our country then we wouldn’t have fallen for this globalist reset, but they are all signed up to it too.

    They all need to go.

  26. Good morning all.
    A dull, damp and dreary start to the morning with a tad under 3°C outside. At least the rain appears to have paused for now.
    A busy morning planned.
    My smaller chainsaw still needs fueling up and sharpening from Friday’s use so I hope the rain stays away.
    My larger saw needs a new fuel priming bulb so I’ve that to get on order too.
    And the Holly bush wood shelter is now empty so I need to get the axe swinging.

  28. ‘Morning, Peeps and Happy BST! Meanwhile the weather on yer sarf coast is anything but ‘summery’ with yet more lashing rain and a best temp of just 8°C forecast for today.

    Today’s leading letter:

    SIR – One thought was permanently in my mind while I watched Boris Johnson being cross-examined by the privileges committee (report, March 23): had anyone been caught by the police having the kind of gatherings shown in the photographs, they would have been slapped with a £10,000 fine – as many were.

    Surely it would have been wise to have cancelled gatherings at No 10 for the duration if it was so “cramped”, as Mr Johnson put it. And if it was so essential to thank a leaving employee, a one-to-one meeting between them and the prime minister would have been, in the circumstances, quite good enough. Social sacrifices were being made by everyone.

    Carole Taylor
    Milford, Hampshire

    Well said, Ms Taylor. In early 2021 we – Mr and Mrs HJ, that is – were invited to a leaving do to mark our departure from a voluntary organisation we had served for 11 years. Our house move took place soon after. In the circumstances we were touched that anyone had taken the trouble to organise anything at all. Instead, the presentation took place in the hospital car park and was attended by just us and two of the trustees. None of our fellow volunteers, and certainly none of the patients we had come to know so well, could join in. The rules at that time prevented any such event. It was good enough for us, and it should have been good enough for Johnson. His blathering and self-justification at the committee hearing for breaking them should see him gone once and for all.

    ‘Leadership by example’ served me well for 39 years but for him it was obviously a completely alien concept!

      2. But not at the G7 meeting in Cornwall…
        It is clear that everyone at the top knew the rules were unnecessary.

          1. Indeed.
            A sight that never fails to make my blood boil. It harks back to pre-Christian times when the masters of various middle eastern cultures saw themselves as a different species from the peasants. The people behind this reset share those beliefs – we should consider ourselves warned.

  29. SIR – When I listened to Mr Johnson giving his evidence, I was reminded of an observation by his late first mother-in-law, Gaia Servadio, which was quoted in her Telegraph obituary. She said: “For him the truth does not exist”.

    Blanaid Walker
    Witney, Oxfordshire

    And so it came to pass…

    1. Clearly he needs to be removed and placed in some sort of installation wearing a hood and handcuffs

      1. And then give a whip to both Carrie and Nadine Dories and he will be ecstatic!

    3. TBF – I’m not sure that an ex mother-in-law is necessarily a disinterested witness.

      1. We all know Boris is full of bullshit with his stuff and nonsense blather. I believe the ex-MiL.

    4. Lots of time for socialising at Oggsford Uni, and young Boris was competitive. His first wife, Allegra, was a front runner in the good looks department. No idea why they split up, except…

      1. He was shacking up with his future second wife (German/Punjabi descent) while still married to his first wife. Boris married her 12 days after he got divorced by his first wife. She was heavily pregnant going down the aisle.

  30. SIR – When I listened to Mr Johnson giving his evidence, I was reminded of an observation by his late first mother-in-law, Gaia Servadio, which was quoted in her Telegraph obituary. She said: “For him the truth does not exist”.

    Blanaid Walker
    Witney, Oxfordshire

    And so it came to pass…

  31. SIR – I have worked in the electrical energy sector for 60 years, and remain convinced that there is no possibility that wind and solar sources could ever provide more than 50 per cent of our energy needs or more than 30 per cent of the power demand (Letters, March 19).

    We have a massive problem in producing sufficient power generation but we also have a major task to rebuild our infrastructure, particularly the cables in the street and distribution substations. The power supply to most houses is designed on the basis that the main energy source is gas, and on average the electrical demand of each will be about one kilowatt. So, 500 houses will demand 500 kilowatts.

    If you are charging a car, running a heat pump and cooking, this will increase to 10 kilowatts or so. The scale of this problem is clear.

    For net zero our target has to be not burning anything to generate energy. To achieve this we urgently need new nuclear generation – preferably the Rolls-Royce small modular proposal. A full-scale rapid deployment would enable us to close down ageing nuclear and gas-fired plants in time for the 2035 increase in demand. Beyond that we need to complete two gigawatts of new generating capacity each year for the foreseeable future, extending eventually to replacing retiring plants.

    The Budget announcement of funding for carbon capture (report, March 16) is a diversion. The trials conducted by other countries have failed to prove the benefits. We would still be burning carbon fuels, and the risks of long-term carbon-dioxide storage have not been addressed. We would be much better off investing this £1 billon in the Rolls-Royce SMR prototype.

    David Sidebotham
    Hayling Island, Hampshire

    None of this will come as any surprise to yer average Nottlr, and the same probably applies to most of the wider population. Carbon capture was, and still is, an expensive and probably unworkable fantasy, proposed and pursued in the main by the idiotic Milliprat. What a waste of time, effort and money, and with nothing to show for it even now.

    3. Don’t close the gas plants, build more, say a dozen and get fracking. Yes to small modular reactors, about 50 would be a good start. Oh, and build coal power stations as well, say half a dozen.

      Abandon all subsidy for wind, scrap all solar plans. The money can be used for real energy generation. Let those MPs, civil servants and the BBC pension plan collapse.

  32. SIR – Project Fear is alive and well.

    Not content with terrifying the population about the Covid pandemic, the Government now wants to frighten the life out of mobile phone users with a “loud siren-like sound” to warn of impending floods, fires and terrorist attacks (report, March 19)

    Elderly and nervy citizens may find these sudden noises extremely frightening and distressing, and it’s not impossible to imagine they could cause car accidents if activated while driving.

    I predict many will opt out of receiving these unwarranted, unnecessary intrusions into our lives.

    Marilyn Parrott
    Altrincham, Cheshire

    I can’t be alone in regarding this as particularly sinister…today a warning, but tomorrow who knows what? Mine’s off!

    1. SIR – I read about the Government’s new alert system with interest and trepidation.

      I hope a simulation has been done predicting what might happen if an alert has to be picked up on a smart motorway, where nobody can stop in a safe place to read the message.

      Wendy Strathdee
      Burnham, Buckinghamshire

      Quite so!

      2. I believe it’s St George’s Day – probably the only event to mark it as any further acknowledgement would be racist!!

    3. I keep the sound off on my phone. I can’t stand the bleeps and notification noises it makes.

    5. Dear mind numbingly useless and moronically stupid politicians, ……..get stuffed.

  33. SIR – As someone who customarily holds his knife “like a pencil” and sometimes tucks his napkin into his collar, I find recent fulminations on table manners (Letters, March 19) rather strange.

    I hold a knife in a logical and comfortable way that does no one any harm, only resorting to the (apparently) approved manner should a host be ill-mannered enough to serve meat so tough that it requires industrial cutting technique.

    I tuck my napkin so as to protect the tie I wear out of courtesy to those with whom I dine, and to avoid their having to spend the evening looking at congealed food on my clothing should an accident occur, as it can to anyone.

    To bracket prejudice towards these simple acts with actual table manners, such as serving oneself before guests or talking with a full mouth, is to misunderstand the nature of genuine etiquette.

    As for the spoon, I fear that, if I were to describe my use of it, some of your readers might choke on their breakfast.

    John Sheridan Smith
    Southampton

    Anyone having the urge to write to a national newspaper informing the world, John Sheridan Smith, that they use a ridiculous, incongruous, unergonomic and idiotic method of holding a dining knife must be a big girl’s blouse. Then I looked further and saw that you come from Southampton so I rest my case. [I suppose you also added the ‘Sheridan’ bit to your name to differentiate you from all the million-and-one other John Smiths].

    If you insist on looking a complete prat by holding your knife inefficiently, like a petulant schoolgirl, then I shudder to think how you might hold a saw, chisel or any other sharp hand tool that might cause you (or anyone nearby) a serious injury. I bet you are one of those chumps who would hold a hammer near its head and use the side of its head to hit whatever you were hitting with it. But, then again, I’ll wager that you are not the sort who would dream of picking up any kind of hand tool.

    2. The letter must be a bit of a pass take, surely no one could write a letter such as this as a serious contribution? Or maybe not.

  34. ‘Morning All

    Sunday Medley

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    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d281f2f32458f54c6e67ae4fea9011aa6110259216e3c42e996e9c590c49b7be.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/88048436724494920012b70e6d7ee84a40348f5274606d140a4728f8acae72b7.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9c1fb22715ca1614c0c91dce808a4d88efd37f0f8357bb6e77c3964352b45f33.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d9a9ee5dc6eacecddd4e69f688b0c09033fee82cd1362b72213cfe140ecfcf97.jpg

  35. ROD LIDDLE
    I’m not convinced that bulldozing an orchard for a green bus lane is the way to cut emissions

    Sunday March 26 2023, 12.01am, The Sunday Times

    In a noble effort to save the polar bears from rising water levels occasioned by global warming, the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) has decided to build a long “green bus lane” at a cost of £200 million. I have never been convinced that building new roads, even if they are designated for vehicles powered by distilled unicorn tears, is hugely environmentally friendly — but this one, believe me, is a real belter.

    To build the fatuous green bus lane the partnership will need to pave over Coton Orchard, a 100-year-old collection of more than 1,000 apple, pear and plum trees, strawberry fields and vines. It is described as “a haven for wildlife and a peaceful respite from the hustle and bustle of Cambridge city centre”. At least 500 of those trees will have to go and the orchard will be chopped in half, according to the GCP (which is a self-selecting agglomeration of the worst people in Cambridgeshire, comprising not only messianic local councillors but also trainee Thunbergs from the city’s elderly university).

    The locals are not happy: one protester told me that 80 per cent of the residents oppose the plans, which were of course nowhere in the manifestos of the parties represented on the GCP. Cambridge residents are also aghast at the plans to charge them £5 every time they drive their cars anywhere at all in daylight hours, which is another radical pro-polar-bear policy being imposed. They are staging a demonstration in the city today.

    It is tempting to believe that Cambridge is simply trying to outdo its historic rival, Oxford, in trying to get as many of its townsfolk as possible to hate it. Oxford councillors have recently proposed dividing their city up with six traffic “filters” that effectively ban visitors’ private cars. Residents will get 100 free passes, but once those are used up, they too will be fined £70 for driving into another patch. One of the geniuses behind this scheme, the Labour councillor Duncan Enright, has said his plan will go ahead regardless of whether the locals like it.

    A similar scheme is going ahead in my old manor Canterbury, where people who wish to drive to their local supermarket, or to work, will in future have to use a ring road — thus trebling their journey time and therefore carbon emissions — or face a fine for crossing from one zone into another. This seems to be the brainchild of the Conservative council leader, a man called Ben Fitter-Harding.

    It is tempting to gloat. Pretty much all the cities where residents are about to get penalised for daring to use a car are achingly liberal utopias where the only people who voted Leave are the artisanal oiks bussed in from elsewhere to change the fuses on their Nespresso machines. They know what side of the culture wars they are on, these people — and now, rather wonderfully, they are beginning to realise the consequences.

    All these councils are following in the footsteps of the oleaginous Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, who has forced his Ultra Low Emission Zone on what seems to be a large chunk of the home counties. Within this circle of hell, drivers whose cars are not powered by fermented mung beans will be charged £12.50 if they travel anywhere. Oh, you could take a Tube, I suppose, on those rare occasions they’re not on strike. There’s a demo being organised against Khan’s Ulez by a new protest group called Together, which aims to unite all victims of council overreach across the country. One wishes it luck.

    I have no objection to cutting emissions: it is something we should do, of course. But I am not convinced that bulldozing a wildlife haven and an orchard is the way to go about it, or penalising cash-strapped locals for daring to do their shopping in a car, or banning them from doing so altogether.

    What I fear we are seeing is the revenge of the second rate — by which I mean the politicians who end up running our councils (the comparatively talented ones become MPs. Yes, think of that.) With global warming they are no longer simply functionaries lumbered with the tasks of repairing potholes, emptying bins and waving rainbow flags from their buildings. They have become, instead, masters of the universe, charged with saving the planet — and they have not the slightest regard for the electors as they go about this task, cack-handedly.

    Incidentally, Cambridge city council held a Remembrance Sunday event last year for those awful people, the public, at which half the food supplied was vegan.

    Nobody ate it, so most had to be thrown away. The GCP should have mulched it up for its new green buses.

    British glummertime begins

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Fsundaytimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F7267add4-cb2f-11ed-95da-a1d444dbeaec.jpg?crop=1500%2C1000%2C0%2C0&resize=846

    How many life coaches to change a lightbulb?
    The light on our landing has not been working since December, and its life of leisure is likely to be prolonged for most of this year. That’s because trying to book an electrician is like getting an audience with the Pope.

    I’m sure some of you are already mouthing the word “Brexit” with malicious glee — and I don’t doubt that’s a contributory factor. But isn’t it also that nobody wants to be an electrician any more, or a plumber or a builder? Instead everyone wants to be a life coach or an aromatherapist for pets or to run an interactive drama workshop for people suffering from exclusion … or any one of a thousand other ephemeral occupations that are not even the slightest use to mankind.

    Earthling, take me to your farmers
    It may well be that you are reading this not over the breakfast table at home but in the unfamiliar surroundings of a planet far from here, while spiteful extraterrestrial beings do invasive things to your sensitive parts.

    According to a person called Eno Alaric, who apparently comes from the year 2671, Earth was invaded at teatime on Friday by an alien species, who whisked away 8,000 of us — including the best engineers, scientists, doctors and farmers — away to a different planet.

    Another lot of very hostile aliens are nipping round soon to take over the Earth completely. Bring it on, I say. Could they possibly be worse than Putin, or Justin Trudeau, or Ed Davey?

    Mr Alaric made his prediction on TikTok, thus removing any doubt as to its veracity.

      1. He claims he’s a time traveller who has come from 2671..
        He is the guy who will do something stupid while he’s here which will ensure everything changes.

    2. Rising sea levels will not affect polar bears. Polar bears enjoy swimming.

      A lady friend of mine is a hairdresser. She is short of staff so went to the local college to find some apprentices. Not one young woman was interested in what they are being trained for. They all want to be influencers.

      1. I watched someone broadcasting on TV last week, about The James Bond series and the author of the stories. Ian Fleming
        His British home at St Margaret’s bay Kent is on the sea front against the cliffs and has been there for many decades.
        There was noticeably no sign of and rise in water level since he moved into the property in the early 1950s. Perhaps the sea levels are different where its convenient to use it as propaganda.
        Just sayin’ …..😊

      3. The hairdresser that I used to go to had the father of her apprentice ringing up and saying he didn’t like the work that his daughter had been given to do. It was taking the cash to the bank (on the other side of the square). Hairdresser was gobsmacked – she said she had done it and every apprentice they’d ever had had done the same task. My daughter also did it this year when she was working in a shop.

        1. The last haircut I had from a barber was just before I got married almost 35 years ago. Since then the diminishing amount of my hair has been trimmed by my lovely wife but, probably wisely, she won’t let me near her hair with the scissors!

    3. Perhaps the destroyers of the green belt orchard for a bus lane. Are secretly concerned that after human consumption of all the delicious wonderful natrual products, the humans might produce ‘gas’ that could infact damage the climate.
      More than the damage of the bus lane.
      Just who are these idiots ?

      1. Solar power – from sun to food, capturing CO2 on the way.
        What’s not to like?

        1. Swift clocked that one 300 years ago.
          His scientists were busily trying to extract sunbeams from cucumbers.

      2. Solar power – from sun to food, capturing CO2 on the way.
        What’s not to like?

    4. For Cambridge people rarely smile,
      Being urban, squat, and packed with guile ;
      And Royston men in the far South
      Are black and fierce and strange of mouth ;
      At Over they fling oaths at one,
      And worse than oaths at Trumpington,
      And Ditton girls are mean and dirty,
      And there’s none in Harston under thirty,
      And folks in Shelford and those parts
      Have twisted lips and twisted hearts.
      And Barton men make Cockney rhymes,
      And Coton’s full of nameless crimes,
      And things are done you’d not believe
      At Madingley, on Christmas Eve.
      Strong men have run for miles and miles,
      When one from Cherry Hinton smiles ;
      Strong men have blanched, and shot their wives,
      Rather than send them to St. Ives ;
      Strong men have cried like babes, bydam,
      To hear what happened at Babraham.

  36. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    Calamity

    At dawn the telephone rings,

    “Hello Señor Bob? This is Ernesto, the caretaker at your country house.”

    “Ah yes, Ernesto. What can I do for you? Is there a problem?”

    “Um, I am just calling to advise you, Señor Bob, that your parrot, he is dead.”

    “My parrot? Dead? The one that won the International competition?”

    “Si, Señor, that’s the one.”

    “Damn! That’s a pity! I spent a small fortune on that bird. What did he die from?”

    “From eating the rotten meat, Señor Bob.”

    “Rotten meat? Who the hell fed him rotten meat?”

    “Nobody Señor. He ate the meat of the dead horse.”

    “Dead horse? What dead horse?”

    “The thoroughbred, Señor Bob.”

    “My prize thoroughbred is dead?”

    “Yes, Señor Bob, he died from all that work pulling the water cart.”

    “Are you insane? What water cart?”

    “The one we used to put out the fire, Señor.”

    “Good Lord! What fire are you talking about, man?”

    “The one at your house, Señor! A candle fell and the curtains caught on fire.”

    “What the hell? Are you saying that my mansion is destroyed because of a candle?!”

    “Yes, Señor Bob.”

    “But there’s electricity at the house! What was the candle for?”

    “For the funeral Señor Bob.”

    “What Bloody Funeral??!!”

    “Your wife’s, Señor Bob. She showed up very late one night and I thought she was a burglar. I hit her with your new Ping G15 204g titanium head golf club with the TFC 149D graphite shaft.”

    Silence………..

    Long Silence………

    Very Long Silence…………

    “Ernesto, if you broke that driver, you’re in deep shit.”

    1. Caroline’s birthday always happens during the Easter school holidays so we had the celebrations and presents on Thursday before a group of four very pleasant girls arrived yesterday.

      She is teaching as I write this but I am now making her some coffee and will interrupt the class and ask the students to sing Joyeaux Anniversaire which will be rather embarrassing for everyone!

    4. Happy birthday Caroline from vw and me. Hope you have a spiffingly wonderful day.

    6. Grattis på födelsedagen, Caroline.

      Ik hoop dat je een fijne dag hebt. 😊🎂👍🏻🥂🎻

  39. Biden vows to ‘act forcefully’ after exchange of attacks with Iran-backed militants in Syria. 26 March 2023.

    Joe Biden said the United States was “prepared to act forcefully to protect our people” as Iran-linked groups in Syria responded to US attacks made in retaliation for a deadly drone strike.

    But the US President, visiting Ottawa, also said his government “does not seek conflict with Iran”.

    An American base at Al-Omar oil field was targeted by a salvo of missiles on Friday morning hours after the Pentagon announced carrying out multiple “precision air strikes” against facilities in eastern Syrian used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

    Is this the same United States that opposes the Russians acting in Ukraine? They have illegally occupied the Al-Omar oil field and sell off its oil and pocket the revenue. This makes them richer and prevents it going to its real owner Syria. This 7000 miles from the US.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/03/24/iran-backed-militants-target-us-base-syria-air-strikes/

  41. Good morning all ,

    Mild day, wind has abated , 6c.. everything in the garden is greening up .

    This DT letter is interesting

    Migrants’ motivation
    SIR – Ian Jefferson (Letters, March 19) asks why migrants risk their lives to get to Britain instead of staying in other European countries.

    There are – and have long been – three answers. First, most migrants speak at least some English. Secondly, depending on their needs, they can enjoy housing, health and education benefits, and later apply to bring their families to join them. Thirdly, if they prefer, they can disappear into the black economy – either willingly or as victims – because the British Government neither tracks their movements nor maintains adequate records.

    Alun Harvey
    Groningen, Netherlands

    Of course , they are all pulling a fast one . We are being mugged .

    https://twitter.com/Justice_forum/status/1639779242513776640

  43. There is concern in the US that the government has pledged to bail out the customers of big banks, but not the customers of little banks.
    The result of this will be a massacre of smaller banks, as customers fly to the perceived safety of a bank that is “too big to fail.”
    Why would anyone seek this? Because smaller banks are more likely to protest at the introduction of a CBDC, as they would lose business. And smaller banks tend to sponsor politicians, that would oppose the introduction of CBDCs.

    Here is a clip of someone alleging that the ECB has been doing the same in Europe. What a coincidence!
    https://twitter.com/ValhallaDAO_/status/1638593300738318345

  44. Good moaning.
    As I blearily cleared the dish washer this morning (a cleaning appliance for which we felt no need at Allan Towers), the truth hit me with a blinding light.
    Three little letters ‘ECO’ mean “doesn’t do the job and everything stinks worse than before’. Hah, and the Germans think they were clever to invent the portmanteau word ‘schadenfreude’.

    1. At least they have a word for it, unlike the French – who have no word for entrepreneur.

    2. We have a similar problem but I always put it into the prewash cycle a few hours before the main wash. It only takes ten minutes. But I still believe its more efficient and cost effective to had wash the used crocs and cutlery.

    3. Who uses ECO? Not hot enough, not enough water changes. I use AUTO, seems to work well.

        1. Psalm 23:4
          “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For Thou are with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.”
          Topical “joke” for a Sundy.

      2. I use the eco setting, and on my dishwasher, it works well. But I have given up using said appliance at all, as we can heat the water for free in winter, so it is far cheaper to hand wash the dishes.

    4. ECO settings are there to get good energy ratings on the product. If you want your clothes clean, use a standard setting. A bit like stop start on cars, it earns you a £30 VED but mine never activates as the car battery is old and never charge to a sufficient level.

    1. At least he went to agricultural college. But why as a successful farmer did he become an mp ?

      2. In order to manipulate laws in his favour: to be a port of call for agricultural lobbiests – backhanders.

    2. Do they think by calling it gene editing and not genetically modified will fool people? Don’t answer that.

    3. Putting it in food means that at least it has to submit to the body’s defence system, injecting the stuff means that it by-passes this.

    1. Hmmm – last year. Why bring it up now?

      (I can’t read the article – my adblock stops access to the Fail after ten seconds!)

      1. It should be in the DT.
        He appears to have been addressing blindness campaigners, (odd title for a group)

        In a video shared with the outlet, (the DT) he told blindness campaigners that he was cycling alongside a floating bus stop and there was ‘someone like you waiting to cross.’
        ‘I stopped and two of my fellow cyclists didn’t,’ he added. ‘I then caught up with them and remonstrated with them, and I was punched in the face for my efforts.’
        Mr Dance agreed that cyclists not following rules was a ‘big problem’ and the incident he mentioned was reported to police.
        A survey of 397 cyclists by the publication looked at how the riders behaved while pedestrians waited at three crossings in central London.
        It found that only eight per cent (33) of the cyclists gave way to the pedestrians – which is required by the Highway Code – and 91.7 per cent did not.
        Earlier this week, Mr Khan admitted that more needs to be done when asked about the investigation at Mayor’s Question time by Conservative health member Emma Best.
        He said enforcing of the rules is required rather than just raising awareness, as he revealed a review has been launched by Mr Dance and Tfl.

        1. I see…..(…{:¬))…)

          Perhaps cyclists should be limited to fifteen minutes…..

      2. It was in the Terriblegraph as well.

        “SADIQ KHAN’s cycling tsar was punched by a cyclist for defending the Highway Code at a floating bus stop, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.
        Seb Dance, the deputy mayor of London for transport, has told how he was attacked after two fellow cyclists failed to stop for pedestrians.
        A survey by this newspaper found last week that just one in 10 cyclists stop for pedestrians at floating bus stops, which have been labelled death traps.
        The Mayor of London has overseen a proliferation of the Amsterdam-style bus stops, at which busy cycle lanes are wedged between the pavement and a bus stop island, with a zebra crossing bridging the two.
        A review has now been launched in response to the survey findings.
        In a video shared with The Telegraph, Mr Dance told blindness campaigners: “I was cycling alongside a floating bus stop and there was someone like you waiting to cross. I stopped and two of my fellow cyclists didn’t.
        “I remonstrated with them and I was punched in the face for my efforts.”
        The attack last year, understood to have been carried out by someone on a hire bike, was reported to the police.
        Mr Khan, asked about the Telegraph investigation this week, responded: “Clearly more needs to be done.” But revealing a review has been launched by Mr Dance and TfL, he refused to rule out more of the bus stops being built.
        Sarah Gayton, of the National Federation of the Blind of the UK, said: “Seb was terribly punched in the face. But what has Seb done about it since then?
        “The elephant in the room is that [the bus stops] are simply not working and we need an immediate halt on any more being built.”
        Mr Dance said: “I’m committed to making London a more inclusive city and regularly talk to Londoners about any road safety and accessibility concerns that they may have… I will continue to work to make all London as safe as possible for all road users.””

  48. I made the journey to the smoke yesterday to see my daughter being awarded her degree from the Open University. Most of the graduates strode gracefully on stage and glad handed the VC to receive their award before shuffling off. However, a number from a certain metric erupted into a short break dance, with one asking the VC for a selfie. Decorum had left the building. Anyway, there was an award for an honorary doctorate. A black lady with blond hair stood and sung the praises of Gaynor Legall, a black rights activist from South Wales. Much waffling about rights and diversity. The audience rose and applauded, it was at that momenet I felt the urgent need to check on what was being Nottled lest I threw something at the stage..

      1. TY, it has taken her much effort. And now she’s in for another year MSc, stupid girl!

        1. Good on her. Nothing like brain work to keep you active and switched on.

          (Wish I had done some myself!)

          1. Having reflected on my own Chemistry degree, like many believe, they are necessary for some but not for the many. My step son has completed an apprenticeship, been paid well and has no debt. The OU is useful insofar as you can hold down a job and study although they are now charging £7k for the privilege for full time study. At least my daughter has been offered a better job as a result of her qual. Ah yes, 46 years in aviation didn’t require much chemistry apart from sampling the products of the brewing industry. Hic..

          2. I left school with 8 O-levels. That enabled me to be articled for five years.

            I never regretted not going to university. I have had a fulfilling – and very varied – career all due to the miracle that in 1959 a firm of solicitors was willing to take on a unknown lad from nowhere.

            There are times, now, when I think it might have been fun, especially when the MR talks about her time at UEA.

            There are other ways of educating yourself!

          3. My time at university was the worst three years of my life – partly due to being ill, and partly because I was studying the wrong subject in which I had zero interest, but didn’t know how to change.
            It’s wonderful if one has a good time at university, but it’s not a given at all.

          4. My younger son spent four years at Oxford, doing biochemistry. He wished he had changed to biology. He was very disappointed with his degree, and never went back for the graduation. Having said that, he’s never been out of work and has spent the last 24 years working in Switzerland for a pharmaceutical company.

          6. I was idle and indolent and got a pretty poor degree in Philosophy and Economics to the disappointment of my father who got a Double First in Classics at Cambridge. However I had a marvellous time as UEA in the 60s was quite trendy and a lot of very pretty girls went there then.

            Henry also went to UEA where he studied Philosophy and Politics, got a 2.1, and met his girlfriend, Jessica, on his first day there and they now have bought a flat together in Lancaster where she has just completed her Ph.D. in Mathematics. Henry has always been interested in computers and since leaving UEA he has worked in this business. He decided to do an M.Sc at York University in Computer Science and Data Analytics while he was holding down a full time job. He wanted to show Jess that he was just as intelligent as she is so he worked very hard and was awarded a Distinction.

          7. Good lad!
            Pro tip though; nobody in the industry respects you for having an MSc. You get respect based on how quickly you pick up new stuff on the job, and the quality of your last check-in. (I’m sure your son will be up to the challenge!)

        2. Good luck to her, presumably she can work and study, that’s the beauty of the OU.

    5. Congratulations to your daughter.

      Blond hair? Cultural appropriation. And the audience was virtue signalling. It sounds a little like a Hitler rally.

      1. Funnily enough, one of the graduates raised his arm in celebration in the traditional german way!

    6. Good on your daughter.
      Firstborn started an OU degree a few years ago. First year was fine, the second year was seriously woke, so he didn’t continue – and, being a tree herd as well as a bee herd, he knows a bit about green, and the OU take on it was wrong!

  49. Car firms forced to sell electric cars next year under net zero plans

    A new Government mandate requires car manufacturers to produce a set amount of electric vehicles by January 2024

    1. Shirley, net zero, to be an event, should have capital letters
    2. How to turn a motorist into a pedestrian. Make him(et) by an EV
    3. Are all the government staff cars EV, ie those those that take Riski Sunhat to his nearest Heliport?
    4. Does Sad Dick Khant drive an EV?

    My Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather produced the world’s first Internal Combustion Engine in 1799, to follow the at the time Government diktat, Net Hoof, that we should not treat horses as slaves.

    The only problem, no petrol to power the engine.

    Ring any bells

    3. The public isn’t too keen on Smart meters. The Govt has wasted millions on these and the public generally doesn’t want them.

    4. The government is lying to us about Net Zero . It deliberately ignores the the massive CO2 used in producing the products we import.
      Most people want to keep their convenient gas supply and refuse heat pumps, Very few motorists want Electric vehicles. Our dictatorial government needs to be brought to heel and stop manufacturers and the electorate being forced to do what the politicians demand.
      The Net Zero nonsense/waste of taxpayers money needs to be stopped immediately

      1. There are only 5 people in the public eye I hate as much as him.
        Blair, daft Vader Campbell, Livingstone and Cameron.

        1. I wasn’t keen on Sturgeon. And i have a long list of foreigners

          But you are spot on

        2. I wasn’t keen on Sturgeon. And i have a long list of foreigners

          But you are spot on

      1. Still snowing but larger flakes now – still not lying. Must be global warming in NW Highlands

  53. I’ve Just noticed that it’s Caroline’s Birthday today Have a lovely day Caroline.
    You share this day with Diana Ross and one of our daughter in-laws 🥂🍾 best wishes.

  54. 372563+ up ticks,

    First lines of the mass sheet this morning,NOT me preaching religion.

    Struck me as fitting like a tailored glove around the
    remainers / RESET brigade.

    Give me justice O GOD, and plead my cause against a nation that is faithless.

    From the deceitful and cunning rescue me, for you O GOD are my strength.

    In my view many walked away from the church, the church did NOT walk away from the many, as with the country as a whole
    a majority are supporting / voting for their own demise as is their prerogative but in doing so condemn their children to a future of all-round abuse.

  55. 372563+ up ticks,

    On now radio 4 “The food program”, all about
    immigrants, refugees / £6 million a day guests.

    If you are waiting for a recipe you’ll starve to death.

  56. https://www.takimag.com/article/the-week-that-perished-234/
    WAIL, WAIL, THE GANG’S ALL HERE

    Remember when America’s “backyard” mattered? When people were obsessed with nations like El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Panama?
    Well, who needs that anymore? Not with Ukraine being the new center of the universe.
    But just because the world’s forgotten about El Salvador doesn’t mean El Salvador’s forgotten about the world. Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele is trying to teach the world a lesson.
    The lesson? George Soros should be shot out of a cannon into the sun.
    Bukele is the anti-Soros, the anti-Bragg, the anti-Gascon. He governs with an iron fist and one iron-clad rule: If you permanently imprison violent offenders, societal violence decreases. Over the past year, he’s rounded up hordes of Salvadoran gangbangers—terrorists who for decades have murdered their own with impunity and sometimes murdered here with impunity—and he’s shut ’em away for life in Supermax-style prisons, pledging that they’ll never get out for any reason. No appeals, no new trials.
    There’ll be no Salvadoran retried beans.
    A whopping 65,000 Churly Browns have been locked away, and a new Supermax has just opened, capable of holding 40,000 more.
    And the result? In less than a year El Salvador’s murder rate fell 57 percent.

    JOY VEY!

    Good news for Jews! A new poll shows that “Judaism is the most favorably-viewed religion in the United States.”
    The poll was conducted by the Béla Kun-Eugen Leviné Institute for Shooting Anyone Who Doesn’t Like Jews, so the results aren’t surprising.
    Just kidding…the poll of 10,588 U.S. adults was conducted by Pew.
    Jews were No. 1, with a favorability rating of +28. Catholics and mainline Protestants were next in the likability factor. Rounding out the bottom with the lowest favorability numbers were Mormons, atheists, and Muslims.
    The poll’s author wanted to add a disclaimer, explaining that Muslim unfavorability comes from racist disinformation about Muslims being violent and intolerant, but a Muslim beheaded him before he could write it.

  58. Ukraine’s kit men started their journey to Wembley EIGHT days ago and since then players and staff have taken buses and trains before finally meeting in London. 26 March 2023.

    For Ukraine, the road to Wembley started eight days ago when two of the kit men loaded the team’s equipment into a truck in Kyiv and set out on the first leg of the mission, a 450-mile road trip to the Polish city of Rzeszow.

    At 7pm last Sunday, four players from Dynamo Kyiv and one from Oleksandriya, coaching staff, the medical team and various other members of FA staff, boarded an overnight train in the Ukrainian capital to carry them west into Poland.

    Twelve hours later, across the border in Przemysl, they climbed into a bus and travelled a further 50 miles by road to Rzeszow where they met the kit men and 10 team-mates from Shakhtar Donetsk and Dnipro-1, clubs exiled in western Ukraine, and another from Oleksandriya, who had congregated in Lviv to depart by train at 5am on Monday.

    Camels would have got them here sooner! Is England going to play on one knee through the entire match?

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-11902877/Ukraine-players-journey-Hell-450-mile-road-trip-air-travel-outlawed.html?ico=topics_pagination_desktop

    2. Is this Greta style virtue signalling or were their elite pals not willing to gift a private jet or three?

      Did I mention that I’ve gone off RT? It seems to’ve been taken over by the CCP. I get that Russia needs China, Iran and Saudi Arabia for economic reasons and the US and EU are to blame for that but pretending there aren’t any cultural issues – even trumpeting that line that the Chinese are the happiest people in the world – is beyond the pale. Of course the Chinese say they’re happy. Social credit score. Food. Likewise the Saudis are happy. Keeping your head on your shoulders till Saturday.

      1. Did I mention that I’ve gone off RT?

        I don’t watch it myself Sue (I can’t) But some deterioration is to be expected as the war intensifies. I watched a BBC report By Steve Rosenberg on the Childrens Evacuation from Ukraine. Goebbels would have been proud!

    4. Credit to them though. Makes you wonder why they didn’t just fly from Poland though.

    1. Heh, and I thought Mongo was a big lad! That floof is 10% heavier! He’s lovely, but needs more training. He shouldn’t be pulling on the lead. Also needs vegetables and carbs in his diet, not just raw meat.

  61. Greenhouse calls – on a sunny afternoon, where better to be? And out of the gale!!

    Many more seeds to be sown.

    Back later. Play nicely.

      1. Not for a long time. I recommend his short “Letter to Liberals”.

        It is ironic that the party of JFK is now the party of a dribbling Pol Pot!
        Liberals seem to think that they are the first ones ever to trip over what is right for humanity – and forcibly (not to say tediously)dose us with whatever idiotic concept that comes to hand. The conservative mind is aware of values established over millenia and wishes to work with that foundation. So history, and tradition, do matter to us – not as blueprints but as wallpaper to life’s journey. The name of Democrat now means, in true Goebbels fashion, precisely the opposite.

        1. “Peoples DEmocratic Republic” – not democratic, not for the people, and dictatorship takes too many letters to spell.

    2. I did think that the Fauci book reads a little bit like a bid for the White House. Well why not? he would be miles better than the current incumbent! Wonder if Kennedy is holding back until after Trump? He would be going for a lot of the same populist vote.

  63. I asked my new neighbour Leroy what he does for a living and he
    replied..”go on, have a guess. I’ll give you a clue, it involves telling
    people to put their hands in the air.”
    Apparently he’s a DJ and I’m a racist for guessing Bankrobber. :@)

  64. Bit late for lunch, been moving Second Son to his new apartment.
    Fresh sourdough bread and sambal oelek dip for lunch. Scrummy!

      1. Buy it in jars. Can’t be bothered to make it.
        Has the ability to really stimulate the appetite!

      2. Buy it in jars. Can’t be bothered to make it.
        Has the ability to really stimulate the appetite!

    2. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f8e22f0fd880b4716c7490f99f81351997cd147f5a25f67bf83c319d61a09a2a.jpg I had a real treat last night. I finally managed to source some fresh haddock from our local fishmonger. There is no haddock in the Baltic, only cod. This was sourced from Göteborg since there is haddock in the Kattegat, an arm of the North Sea.

      I battered it and deep-fried it in beef tallow (along with the triple-cooked chips) and my home-made mushy peas and pickled onions. For half an hour I was back in Yorkshire! It was certainly the tastiest fish supper I’ve had since I moved to Sweden.

        1. Proper chips, too. Look like they were cut from potato, with a knife… Sigh again.

  65. Yo Caroline

    I thought (a dangerous thing to do) that I had posted this earlier

    Happy Birthday to you and of course the normal Happy 365 Unbirthdays in the coming Leap Year’

    I thought, (see above) that the card Richard has for you, would have had HIM carrying the tray for Breakfast in bed

    1. We have a machine for making tea which makes me redundant in that capacity.

      This morning, as we have a group of students with us, Caroline had to be up early in order to do their breakfast and get ready for the first French class.

      3. We also have a machine for making tea. It’s called ‘me’ and I obtain assistance from a kettle, a teapot and some decent Assam tea.

    2. This is all Smoke and Mirrors. No one is going to be deported anywhere let alone Rwanda!

      1. I am slightly heartened by the standing up to the Krankie.
        The meltdown from the word “No” is awe inspiring.
        Fingers crossed.

      2. 372563+ up ticks,

        Afternoon AS,

        Acknowledged, NOT this side of french style civil unrest I would say,surprises me the peoples have allowed it to continue for the number of years it has.

  67. Re-posted from last evening.

    Happy, happy Birthday, Caroline and, hopefully a further 365 happy unbirthdays.

    Have the best of days – and I’m sure Richard will do his best to make all that happen.

      2. I think it’s more likely (over here, especially) that plod will arrest those angry at the protestors.

        It’s a worrying precedent when law is applied unevenly.

        1. More than worrying. There is no law and order left in Britain. We’re coasting along on the assumption of the majority that there is.
          It would only take a spark to set the whole tinder pile alight. E.g. no internet for three days, and therefore no food deliveries.

          1. When people take the law into their own hands, emotion takes over, and nasty things happen.
            All the fault of the Police, who don’t apply the law. The consequences are easily forseen.
            And by “police”, I don’t mean the officers in the field, who obviously have a difficult job, but those who set policy and strategy, and manage it’s implementation. Management failing, as usual.

          3. I don’t see rioting, I see hungry people looking for food wherever they can, and a country that is devoted to solar power stations, re-wilding and rapeseed crops.

          4. There was a supply line issue with chickens and they did riot. They also took the time to do some extreme shopping.

    3. Given that the police don’t remove them, I would say the provocative one got off lightly.
      In Germany though, I thought they did remove them?

    4. Dragging the protester out of the way I have no problem with. Kicking him (especially while he is on the floor and poses no danger) is just vindictive.

      1. The idiot got off a lot lighter than he would had he been “dealt with” by a French policeman…..

      2. Vindictive? No, people should do that, it’s called a deterrent. People violate others rights because they believe they have some sort of moral impunity. Perhaps if people got into the routine of kicking these A-holes they would be a bit more circumspect in dribbling their massive egos and pseudo half baked ideology over everyone else.

          3. What, you wait until he is jumping in the air then? But seriously, sorry, but I don’t agree. These people suffer from a massive dose of narcissistic privilege and no decent behaviour, such as remonstrating with them, will make them give way. Better a hefty Pavlovian conditioning kick rather than having to suffer their repeat performances as destructive fools. Although I do think a smart stamp with the boot on a tibia would be more effective.

          6. You are not giving, nor does the video or article with it give a context. Context always matters. If the victim was an innocent passerby then it is inexcusable. If his assailant assaulted him because the victim had just raped someone, then he got off lightly. I am, obviously, giving the context as an either or, but without knowing the context I cannot say if it is OK. However, I would like to think that in my younger days, coming across such behaviour, I would try to defend the man on the ground. Act on the side of caution and fairness, as it were. Not so the demonstrator disrupting the lives of all around him who deserves a good kick.

            I would also say that seeing actions in terms of moral ultimate’s is a very dangerous position to take. It is the road to hell.

  69. A Very Big “Thank You” to all of you who gave me advice about a new (to me) hotter oven.
    I played safe and made some basic idiot proof buns; reduced the temperature from the recommended 200c to 175 – 180.
    Perfect results.
    The fan is slightly more efficient on the higher shelf, but not to a degree where it really matters.

    4. I don’t believe you, Annie. Tell me your new address and I shall come round immediately to check that your new baking system produces perfect results! Lol.

  70. Lord, what a mess.
    Only the most radical reforms can mend the broken Met
    The British model of policing in London and elsewhere is in mortal danger – we need unsentimental leadership to pull back from the brink
    https://12ft.io/proxy?ref=&q=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/26/radical-reforms-can-mend-broken-met/
    Glad it’s not going to be me who sorts it out. That will require huge amounts of energy and effort. If solveable at all; maybe the solution would be to fire the whole sorry lot of them and start again.

    1. There will be no mending until they get rid of wokery and the idea that they have to pander to “communities.”
      Given that many in London come from countries where the police are very corrupt, fitting our police to their “communities” is by definition never going to work.
      So, I guess there will be no mending then 🙁

    2. The British model of policing in London and elsewhere is in mortal danger – we need unsentimental leadership to pull back from the brink.

      It’s as dead as mutton! That model of policing was based on an English culture that no longer exists!

        1. “A constable is a citizen, locally-appointed, who derives his authority under the Crown” has been replaced by “An officer is whoever we choose, from wherever, who derives his authority by governmental diktat”.

          3. Which sort of defeats the principle : ‘Of the people, for the people’

            As always, when politicians tried to control what the police investigated, combined with a massive proliferation of nonsense law – all for egotistical advantage they caused chaos.

            So many things started failing when Labour floode this country for political machination.

    3. “… maybe the solution would be to fire the whole sorry lot of them and start again.”

      Agreed. Then we could do the precise same with: the BBC; ALL politicians and their parties; the NHS; the Judiciary; everyone in Education (schools and universities); the MSM (newspapers and the broadcast media); the RNLI; HM Revenue and Customs; the Border Farce …

      1. “A journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step…”
        There’s a problem there, and it’s, as usual with these things, in the management. (“There are no bad soldiers, just bad management”). Bad management hold idiot policies and drive bad strategy, hire bad employees, and manage them badly. Sigh…
        Problem compounded by idiot politicians not doing the right thing as well.

        1. And if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Tradition had the police recruiting fit and able men locally. All promotions came from those who were time-served. It served the public well for 150 years. Then came the ‘progressives’ in the 1970s who declared the police to be ‘dinosaurs’. They wanted more ‘brains’ at the top so implemented the graduate-entry scheme. That was the moment when it all went tits-up for the police. Clueless morons with no street experience got promotion to the top, then hired more of the same kind. You know the rest.

          1. Indeed.
            We have a problem in a similar way, but less significant.
            New manager promoted ‘cos she’s good, but doesn’t know squat about maintenance, practices, the law, the clients… not looking good already. At best, we have a piece of work to do to educate her, at which point she moves on, ‘cos this position is obviously on the way to something much more interesting. So, do we waste our time, or do we suffer from not wasting our time?

  71. https://12ft.io/proxy?ref=&q=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2023/03/25/jk-rowling-brought-sturgeon-bring-humza-yousaf/
    I so enjoyed reading this. I enjoyed reading the Harry Potter books to the lads as they grew up, but this is fabulous!
    The mood at SNP meetings must be pretty low just now. Even so, I’d love to have been a fly on the wall during the brainstorming session for Humza Yousaf’s latest photo op.

    “Right, guys, I’m announcing my plan to promote women’s rights. So for the photo I need some kind of visual metaphor that shows female voters how seriously I take them. Any ideas?”

    “How about you hold up a nice, cute pink heart? That’s the kind of thing the girlies like, bless them.”

    Sadly for the SNP leadership favourite, however, the resulting photo has gone down particularly badly with a woman no politician wants to upset. On Twitter, JK Rowling retorted: “What a lovely pink heart. Now tell us why you voted down the amendment to stop rapists being housed in women’s jails.”

    Mr Yousaf should beware: this was only a warning shot. The truth is, no one did more than Ms Rowling to bring down Nicola Sturgeon – apart, perhaps, from Ms Sturgeon herself. And if, as bookmakers expect, Mr Yousaf becomes Scotland’s new First Minister next week, Ms Rowling may well bring him down, too. At least, if he refuses to abandon his predecessor’s policy on gender self-ID.

    Surely Ms Sturgeon’s downfall has taught him it’s political Kryptonite. Even Sir Keir Starmer is now tiptoeing anxiously away from the idea. Yet the SNP front-runner did pledge to take the UK Government to court to force self-ID through.

    Mr Yousaf has described himself as the SNP’s “continuity candidate”. I suspect he’s right. Continuity is exactly what he can provide – by causing another furious row over gender, and then resigning.

    2. What puzzles me is ANY politician thinking that ‘transgender rights’ is a vote-winner.

      1. They don’t care. They will fix the elections. It is all part of the plan to destroy the nuclear family. And they are succeeding.

        1. “It is all part of the plan to destroy the nuclear family”

          You mean people are going to fall out?

          I’ll get me geiger counter….

  72. Hello everyone ,

    Have any of you heard of this ?

    It reads like a Nottler column https://thelightpaper.co.uk/

    There was a notification in our mailbox days ago from the Postie to say that postage cost £1.50, and to collect envelope from the PO

    The envelope was addressed to No 1 son .. and he was mystified , and hadn’t a clue who sent it .

    Moh said bin it and I said no , so I hid it amongst the gardening magazines on top of the downstairs loo.

    All I can say is that it is brilliant .. and covers so many topics , many which have been discussed on here .

    What do you all think?

      1. Caveat emptor

        “A newspaper such as The Light can help introduce material to new groups who would otherwise not see it.”
        The Guardian

        1. That was what put me off, I’m not keen on downloading separate documents, probably paranoid, but careful.

          1. I read it and closed it. didn’t save it. Why is that worse than opening any website?

          2. It probably isn’t, but I am always wary of pieces I can’t read without downloading them first and then having to open them once downloaded.
            I’ve been nearly caught before, fortunately my virus checker warned of it in time.

    2. Read the first paper, looks interesting Belle. New to me though, so no, never heard of it.
      Trust you are feeling OK today?

    3. It’s a ‘far-right’ publication, full of disinformation, so probably right up our street.

    5. Some far-right nutters have been moved on because they were distributing it in the street locally. It’s not what councils want you to see.

    6. The two men featured on page 6 are local to me so I have heard of it – Dr Richard House frequently writes letters to our local paper. They distribute The Light in the street.

    7. I have never believed the 9/11attacks on the buildings was a reality. One of the lower buildings completely untouch by the aircraft or anything else suddenly exploded.
      Then an explosive expert from Holland was mysterious run over and killed after he made his statement that the building had been predominantly blow up by planted and planned explosives.
      And I’ve reach the conclusion that many other people have. You simply can not trust anybody in the political world. They will.do anything for money and are such appalling liars.

  73. Could the al-Beeb have pointed out the cause of “global warming” here?
    Sky gazers were treated to “one of the best displays of aurora” on Thursday night. After a strong geomagnetic storm, the northern lights were seen in southern England and Wales in a rare display. The aurora can be particularly strong around the equinox which happened earlier in the week. Aurora activity is also increasing as the sun reaches the most active part of its 11-year cycle in 2025. Late on Thursday evening satellites which monitor solar activity picked up a strong solar wind directed towards Earth. (my emphasis)
    https://www.bbc.com/weather/features/65061790
    Lovely pictures, BTW.

    3. That’s repulsive. What surgeon thought that appropriate things to do to someone?

      3. Surgeons who agree to do that should be struck off.
        They are merely pandering to mental illness.
        Same with tattooists.

    5. That looks so chuffing grotesque, artificial and, quite frankly, ugly and repulsive.

      2. It prolly doesn’t know how. And, if it did, might find it tricky to lure a man to her (extra-buttressed) bed.

  75. Just tuned into commentary on the football match between England and Ukraine at Wembley. No talk about football but pure state propaganda courtesy of Channel 4 rattling on about brave soldiers under the Great leadership of Zelensky.

    The fact remains that most are sick and tired of hearing about Zelensky, Ukraine and Joe Biden’s support for the proxy war. We are also fed up with the false reporting because Ukraine is no longer a functioning economy but instead kept barely alive with massive handouts from the US, UK and Europe.

    If no politician is prepared to seek a negotiated settlement with Russia there will soon be no Ukraine. Military defeat by Russia is inevitable.

    The war strategists on both sides have had ample time to test their weapons systems, all that remains is an air war which is a year away for the reason that sophisticated US jets require highly trained and skilled fighter pilots of which Ukraine has zero.

    2. I see “gimme more” Zelensky is asking for ammunition – I bet he wishes he hadn’t fired so much at his own people now!

      1. Nobody has any left.
        Wonder how they expected to fight the Russkies if they had come sweeping acronn the Inner German Border?

  76. Why has Jeremy Clarkson apparently written some utter shyte for the Sunday Times about how everyone’s gay or trans now, and we should all love the political movement?

      1. Very much for you, Philip, as the resident cocktail connoisseur. Monks are always fiddling with things that they shouldn’t touch.

        Your cocktail is in peril — blame silent French monks

        https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/methode%2Fsundaytimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F2451ca5a-cb37-11ed-9386-0ff7738b71b1.jpg?crop=2266%2C2832%2C1677%2C0&resize=747
        A Carthusian monk oversees the making of Chartreuse

        Monks put a stopper in bars’ supply of Chartreuse
        JEAN-PIERRE CLATOT/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
        Matthew Campbell, Voiron
        Sunday March 26 2023, 12.01am, The Sunday Times

        A decision by French monks to protect their spiritual health by limiting production of a green herbal liqueur has prompted consternation in some of America’s most fashionable cocktail bars.

        For centuries the monks of la Grande Chartreuse monastery have been producing their drink to a secret recipe. Now demand for Chartreuse is outstripping supply because of a cocktail revival in the United States — and soon the distinctive bottles bearing the holy order’s crest may become even harder to find. A letter to distributors in January said the white-robed monks, known as Carthusians, wanted to concentrate on their primary task of praying for humanity rather than slaking the growing thirst for their liqueur.

        “That letter got a lot of US bartenders fired up with concern about supplies,” said Brendan Finnerty of Idle Hour, a famous Baltimore bar specialising in Chartreuse. “There’s definitely been a scramble for bottles.”

        Traditionally the monks have spent their lives in prayer and contemplation at their monastery, founded a thousand years ago by saint Bruno of Cologne in the Chartreuse mountains north of Grenoble. Two of the brothers are dedicated to producing the liqueur, made with a blend of 130 plants, flowers and herbs. They oversee the distilling process with lay collaborators from a company called Chartreuse Diffusion following an ancient recipe passed down through generations of monks and kept in a safe in the monastery.

        According to Emmanuel Delafon, Chartreuse Diffusion’s director, the monks arrived at their decision not to boost production in 2021 after “quiet” deliberation among themselves — quietly being how most business is conducted in a community of men who have sworn a vow of silence and rarely interact with each other, let alone the wider public.

        “We had been making plans to open a new cellar two years ago but the feeling among the monks was that it was wrong to just carry on producing more and more of the liqueur,” Delafon said at the company’s headquarters in Voiron, a town near the monastery. “They didn’t want to put all of their eggs in one basket.” He said they were “limiting output” to the present level of 1.2 million bottles a year partly out of concern for the environment. “Making millions of cases of bottles would have a negative impact on the planet in the very short term,” he said, adding that under a new system, customers would be allocated bottles according to their needs.

        Eleana Zappia, another of the company’s executives, said the monks had recently branched out into making herbal teas and medicinal balms. “Even if the liqueur remains the pillar of their activity, they have taken to heart the idea that . . . alcoholic and sugary products don’t get a good press,” Zappia said.

        https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Fsundaytimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F27a698c0-cb37-11ed-9386-0ff7738b71b1.jpg?crop=5009%2C3339%2C0%2C0&resize=846
        The brotherhood has decided against expanding production

        News of the decision may have taken time to filter into the outside world but appears to have pushed up prices already. An online auction of 1,500 bottles owned by a private French collector recently netted £1.3 million.

        Two of the bottles, whose contents were distilled in 1953 to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, fetched £30,000 each, believed to be a record. All of the bottles were reported to have gone to buyers from America.

        What lifts Chartreuse above alcoholic rivals is the intrigue surrounding it. Only a pair of the monastery’s two dozen monks are permitted to know the recipe, each entrusted with half of it. The formula is said to have been written down by a 16th-century alchemist who called it an “elixir for a long life”. It has become the basis of a multimillion-pound business sustaining the monastery and other Carthusian outposts around France. The recipe was given to the monks, famed for their knowledge of medicinal herbs and plants, in 1605 by a French nobleman. After years of experimentation they produced a heavily alcoholic “Elixir Vegetal” still sold as a cure for common ailments, insect bites and sores when applied externally.

        “It was even given to children well into the 20th century,” said Maryline Boéro, a guide at a Chartreuse museum in Voiron. “After producing the elixir, the monks got to work on producing a liqueur.” The green variety has a colour named after it; there is also a less alcoholic yellow version.

        The monks enjoy a rare taste of their product at Easter but their lifestyle could not be further removed from the indulgence associated with the liqueur.

        Finnerty said he first tasted Chartreuse 20 years ago, an experience that changed his life. “It was unusual, it was high proof, it was, ‘Ooh, wow!’ It got me in a lot of places alcohol hadn’t hit me before, like in the nose. The taste changed and lingered.” He added: “We try to educate people, to tell them about the men of faith who produce this drink. It’s amazing that a secret recipe has remained secret for so long.”

        3. Abbot: “We had no idea that members of the public were drinking our holy concoction.”

      1. His “Clarkson’s Farm” series was good. Apart from him being an arse, it shows just how difficult and financially precarious farming is.

  77. Boat Race: excellent stroking from Cambridge with lots of rippling muscles…and that’s just the women’s boat. {:^))

      1. The Cambridge women’s boat cox is a ‘he’ and they threw him in the river. I believe that the Cambridge men’s boat cox is a ‘she’ this year.

  79. Cambridge win; Oxford came second. Best race in years. Gutsy coxing by Jasper Parish for Cambridge, especially in the early phases. Contrary to my earlier comment, it was Oxford who had a gitlie cox – she did OK.

      1. Surprisingly, some, perhaps fast tracking them from Kent. The hard up Beeb managed to provide more commentators on the actual race than boats.

    2. I recognise that it shouldn’t be a part of such a race, but if I had been the Oxford cox, in both races, I’d have called “a ten” and aimed to hit the Cambridge boat.
      Not ruthless enough.

        1. Not totally. In my view they were following the umpire’s instructions and didn’t really “go” for the disqualification.
          It’s a high risk effort: go for it and hit them and it’s game set and match, miss and you’ve exhausted a LOT of energy and the opposition will just row away.

        1. I saw the consequences of one of those blades coming off. Frightening, to say the least.

      3. And to think he’s smarter than you.

        Yeah yeah, I know, I’m at the bottom of the pile.

        Someone has to support the rest of you on his shoulders.

          2. Lol me too!!! At the weekends, anyway.

            Another roast done. Elder child back from Uni. Younger one just left to go back to school. All fed up🙂

  82. Just had a lovely toasted teacake with lots and lots of slightly salted butter and a cup of Assam tea. Spent many many decades using Olivio spread instead of butter ( started with butter a few years ago). It’s delicious – toast now tastes of something, and I love Eggs Benedict with lots of hollandaise.

  83. Happy with Par Four today.

    Wordle 645 4/6
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩
    ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟩
    ⬜🟨🟩🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Me too.

      Wordle 645 4/6

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

    2. Yesterday I lost. My winning streak went to zero and my percentage wins dropped by 1%. Today…

      Wordle 645 2/6

      ⬜⬜🟨🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  84. That’s me gone for this day of several halves. Rain; gale; sun; rain; gale etc etc Sunny now – with the pleasure of the extra hour of daylight (and to pre-empt any pedants, (Grizz) I KNOW there are the same number of hours of daylight – just that the clocks have changed!!)

    A glass of wine to treat myself for shedding 5 kg. Back on the regime tomorrow – I want to lose another 3 kg by Easter.

    Lots more seeds sown – and the pleasure of one tray which I was about to abandon suddenly producing a seedling!

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

    2. Lost 5kg? Cool! Mind you don’t get so thin you slip down the plug ‘ole, Bill!

    3. All I’ve done is a bit of shopping with my daughter, read the paper, done the crossword, drunk some wine, a bit of office work and posted far right comments on line all day

    4. All I’ve done is a bit of shopping with my daughter, read the paper, done the crossword, drunk some wine, a bit of office work and posted far right comments on line all day

    5. I have a stratagem to deal with all this ‘messing around with clocks’ bollocks.

      Between October and March I go to bed at 2300, rise at 0700, and dine at 1300.
      Between March and October I go to bed at 2359, rise at 0800, and dine at 1400.

      This way my body stay attuned to the natural rhythms of the sun and planet (since I remain on CET all year) and my health and wellbeing benefits accordingly.

      [As all military men know: there is no “0000” or “2400”. Just as there is neither “12 a.m.” nor “12 p.m.”]

      1. I have a stratagem to deal with all this ‘messing around with clocks’ bollocks.

        Between October and March I go to bed at 2200, rise at 0800, and dine at 1300.
        Between March and October I go to bed at 2200, rise at 0800, and dine at 1300.
        But then I’m adaptable…

        1. I’m not. Having done shift work for 90% of my working life just an hour’s difference throws my internal (infernal) clock!

          1. I did a few years of shift work; I actually quite liked it in a funny way, the pleasure of the off time far outweighed the pain of the bigger changes.
            Most of my career I was driven by the working hours and the train times and ‘plane times.

          2. Did you suffer from jetlag?

            I found that constantly changing shifts put me in a permanent state of jetlag. Trying to sleep during the day in a summer’s heatwave after night shifts was an impossible task.

          3. Usually I wasn’t bothered by jet-lag when moving between time zones.
            My UK shift pattern was over a two week spread, and nights were not part of the equation, 11pm finishes and 6 am starts aren’t really very far from what lots of people did.
            But as one who can sleep anywhere at almost any time, it wasn’t a great problem.

          4. It’s weird eating a full dinner (and a pudding) at 2 a.m. In the hot summer of 1976, I slept in the garden during the day after coming off night shift.

          5. I worked on night shift (swing shift) for a year whilst in the RAF and it screwed my sleep patterns for at least 5 years afterwards.

          6. Mine was a three-week rotating shift pattern – days, evenings, nights. I worked that for 7 years, and then took a 9-5 job. Shift work has its advantages as well as its disadvantages, but I’m glad I made the change.

          7. When I was a young squaddie, I could have slept on a clothes line at any time of the day. Not today though.

          8. My last 20 years working consisted of 35 consecutive 12 hr shifts (mainly midnight to midday) in many different time zones. After these 35 shifts I’d fly back home (from wherever) and try to recover my equilibrium during my 5 week break. Travel time counted as part of my 5 week break.

          9. Same here, Grizz. That hour leaves me feeling discombobulated and, weirdly, vaguely hung-over. The 3rd day is worst. Trying to sleep out the differences this time…

      1. Indeed. Breakfast = porridge and banana; lunch = soup, bread and cheese, salami and salad. Supper = fish/meat; veg; salad. Chopped apple afterwards with cup of tea. Nourishing diet. One simply has to resist booze and sweet things.

        1. Chocolate is (one of!) my downfall. I have developed a sweet tooth in my old age unfortunately and that’s not good. I never used to be this bad. But you’ve done so well I shall try to be better!

          1. I do eat two squares of dark chocolate after supper – good for the heart etc. Lid’s 74% – costs 79p for a 100 gm bar….!

          2. I’ve tried to wean myself off the “wrong” sort of chocolate (!) and do as you do. It works sometimes!

    2. I suppose for the funeral group theyd be shut down by the state if there were any infractions.

      2. The rectorette crowed how she’d “had to” stop grieving relatives putting flowers on the coffin. Why? It posed no threat. Still, Befehl ist Befehl.

  86. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11904275/Violent-clashes-erupt-outside-migrant-hotel-Newquay-anti-migrant-protesters-hold-demo.html

    I know being a Lefty is complicated, goverened more by hatred than anything else, but do these Left wing agitators, the so called ‘antifa’ actually understand that they’re enforcing state control, not resisting it? That, actually and in truth, they are literal facists? Has that gone through their little minds at all?

    3. Antifa and Black Lives Matter are actors funded by Soros. In that they reinforce and stress division in society they are state actors.

      It is a long time since we had intelligent politicians who sought to unify the people and give everyone a sense of purpose, direction and order. Instead they attempt to divide us by using race, skin colour, religious differences, political ideologies, invented harms as with critical race theory, the plethora of stupid LGBTQ nonsense spawning the denial of gender via the trans lobby, the mutilation of children, the destruction of women’s sport and placing rapists in women’s cloak rooms and even jails.

  89. Don’t know if Belle’s around, but there’s been an oil spill, or some hydrocarbon reservoir leakage, in Poole Harbour.

  91. Evening, all. I did manage to get to church on time this morning, but I was dozing off most of the time!

  92. A busy morning, 2 x bags of cement carried up the “garden”, chainsaw sharpened, fueled & oiled, several bits of fallen tree impinging onto the edge of the road a few hundred yards towards Cromford trimmed off and the van loaded with pre-cut logs, driven home and unloaded.
    Otherwise not a lot done.
    A bit of a “nothing afternoon” due to drizzle putting me off taking the axe to the ash I cut up t’other day.

    And that’s me off to bed soon.

  93. Oh well another day passes, I had a reply from PALS on Friday just gone and now I’m going to be insisting the cardiology department give me a date for the procedure they have told me they will carry out. Enough of the brick wall stances they have been making.
    Back in the morning Slayders.

  95. My lovely Caroline has just had her birthday.

    Two more very special Nottlers coming up. Watch this space.

      1. We have some delightful girls with us on a French course so a busy day but an enjoyable one. After supper Caroline prevailed upon me to get out my guitar so we had some French songs and I sang Francis Cabrel’s lovely song Je l’aime â Mourir for my beautiful wife.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMZVtFCU0ZQ

    2. Please wish Caroline a happy birthday from me- haven’t been here much today. Hope she had a good one.

    4. I’m sure Caroline had a well-deserved lovely day. Best wishes for a happy birthday!

  96. Monday 27th March 2023

    Our lovely Maggiebelle

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e281877e66f9640965428cfaf7612b736a56b10f037dc7830d6ff3f7e0f8aba9.png
    and many many more and congratulations on Joining the Trombone Club (of which Rastus is a member until July when he’ll become a Sunset Stripper).

    With very great affection

    Caroline and Rastus

    https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tTP1TdILswrLjZg9BIyN1MoKcrPTcrPSy1WyM0vy0wFAJvWCmo&q=76+trombones+movie&oq=76+Trombones&aqs=chrome.3.0i355i512j46i512j0i512j46i512l2j0i512l2j69i61.9149j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:af22c4be,vid:eBQWsBiM5YY

  97. Monday 27th March 2023

    Fallick Alec

    (aka Spikey)

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/db66e2547a5d466f231f9886510fc8ec2de80520335ae999c94b08675278b1ff.jpg

    Keep making making your beautiful music!

    Much Love from

    Caroline and Rastus

    We are very envious of your talent! Here’s something you should get your hands and feet on!

    https://www.google.com/search?q=Happy+Biirthday+played+on+the+Organ&oq=Happy+Biirthday+played+on+the+Organ&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30l4.15735j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:5e899947,vid:wu1Altb1N6A

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