Saturday 15 April: How Britain could restore its status as a nation of sound money

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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432 thoughts on “Saturday 15 April: How Britain could restore its status as a nation of sound money”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    Be Sure You Know The Signs

    This guy went to the zoo one day. While he was standing in front of the gorilla’s enclosure, the wind gusted and he got some grit in his eye.
    As he pulled his eyelid down to dislodge the particle, the gorilla went crazy, bent open the bars, and beat the guy senseless.

    When the guy came to, the zookeeper was anxiously bending over him, and as soon as he was able to talk, he explained what had happened. The zookeeper nodded and explained that in gorilla language, pulling down your eyelid means, “Fuck you!”

    This didn’t make the gorilla’s victim feel any better and he vowed revenge. The next day he purchased two large knives, two party hats, two party horns, and a large sausage. Putting the sausage in his pants, he hurried to the zoo and over to the gorilla’s cage.

    He tossed in a party hat, a knife, and a party horn.

    Knowing that the big apes were natural mimics, he put on a party hat. The gorilla looked at him, looked at the hat, and put it on.

    Next he picked up his horn and blew on it. The gorilla picked up his horn and did the same.

    Then the man picked up his knife, whipped the sausage out of his pants, and sliced it neatly in two. The gorilla looked at the knife in his cage, looked at his own crotch…

    …and pulled down his eyelid!

    1. That cartoon might have been funny if the halfwit, Brookes, possessed the brains to realise that the goldfish is an oriental import and the smelt is an oceanic saltwater fish.

      1. “…the smelt is an oceanic saltwater fish.”

        But like salmon travels into freshwater to breed.

  6. Nurses to embark on most extreme strike yet despite thousands backing new NHS pay deal. 15 April 2023.

    Nurses are to embark on the most extreme strikes yet, despite hundreds of thousands of health workers backing the Government’s pay offer.

    The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced plans to target accident and emergency departments, cancer units and intensive care facilities for the first time over the May Day bank holiday weekend – just as Unison overwhelmingly backed the terms, with a 74 per cent vote in favour.

    I haven’t made any comment on the Nurses or Junior Doctors strikes. I have no idea how much they are paid or if it’s commensurate with their jobs. The reason I avoid making any is because I think the whole thing is based on a false premise revealed in the quote. …the Government’s pay offer. Why is the Government negotiating with any workers about their pay? Is that really the job of Government? Is that what they were elected to do? To set the pay levels of the Employees of the State?

    Now of course I’m aware of why they do it. It’s why I’m opposed to the whole process. Over the years Government in the UK has made itself responsible for a whole range of things which they have neither the education nor experience to manage. Despite their endless meddling and pontificating , they are not Doctors or Nurses or Teachers or any of the other things or people that they direct or control. They know no more as a body about Climate Science or Artificial Intelligence than I do. It wouldn’t be so bad if they simply limited themselves to observation and ensuring that the bounds of Public Order and Decency are not exceeded by Private Individuals or Enterprise. Which is of course the real function of Government. Instead they have become themselves the arbiters of change and supervision. A Command Economy and Governance both. In fact a totalitarian system in everything but name. History tells us that such a system is doomed to fail. No government, no matter how powerful or diverse can oversee every aspect of life. It must forever be struggling just to maintain the status quo! Its own ambition will eventually bring it down!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/14/nhs-nurses-strike-after-rejecting-pay-rise-deal/

  9. NORTH KOREA has tested an advanced solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile using technology that enables it to launch longer-range rockets with almost no warning.

    Steam locomotives were powered by solid fuel. This report doesn’t tell you where the fireman will sit in the rocket. Moreover, surely the loud chuffing sound it makes will warn of its impending arrival!

    3. Morning, Grizz. I do not think that our “leaders” railing against this development will have any impact on Kim J Wassisname.

  10. Russian tank captured by Ukrainian forces turns up at Louisiana truck stop

    The T-90 tank is thought to have been captured last September by the 92nd Separate Mechanised Brigade, after being used in Kharkiv

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/world-news/2023/04/14/TELEMMGLPICT000331952748_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqzu2bvzRPdQXglwBGHnBoc0Wy_sGK6oioMu5BzggyGUY.jpeg?imwidth=680
    *
    *
    *
    ***************************************

    AB AB
    15 HRS AGO
    It’s the latest SNP battle bus.

    1. It makes one wonder how the Ukes can spare the time, manpower, money and effort to ship scrap metal around the world.
      I wonder how many working Challengers, Leopards and Abrams tanks will be sold around the world, not to be used but for research purposes.

  12. The World’s Biggest Economies Over Time. 13 July 2020.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/07abb993ed6e18191c7f5db1cf5537b7aaf15f589121ae663cca2dbbd26ecfd2.jpg

    According to data from the IMF, Asian countries are expected to make up most of the top 5 countries in the world by size of GDP in 2024, relegating European economic powerhouses to lower ranks.

    China’s and India’s economic growth has been steep since the 1990s, while Indonesia has even more recently entered the top 10 of the biggest economies in the world and is expected to reach ranks 5 by 2024. Japan, an established economy, is expected to cling on to rank 4 in 2024, while Russia will rise to rank 6.

    Interesting Ja? This of course was compiled before the War and the destruction of the Baltic Pipeline. One imagines Germany has now dropped off the bottom!

    https://www.statista.com/chart/22256/biggest-economies-in-the-world-timeline/

    1. I’m surprised Italy was that high in the 90s – must have had some good spaghetti harvests.

  13. Keeps on growing….

    Staff at Tavistock gender clinic closed over safety concerns found training their replacements

    Alarmed parents say their children have been encouraged to seek gender changes by advocates of trans identity

    By Patrick Sawer, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
    14 April 2023 • 3:33pm

    Staff from a gender clinic that was closed following concerns about children’s welfare have been hired to train their replacements at new clinics.

    Individuals from the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust in London are understood to be involved in training staff at two new services.

    They are thought to include a senior clinician at GIDS, who has said that “social justice” underpins their work and who advocates an “affirmative approach” with trans children.

    The revelations have alarmed parents, who say their children have been encouraged to seek gender changes by advocates of trans identity.

    GIDS is being replaced by two new early adopter services: one in London and the other in north-west England.

    It was revealed earlier this year that The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust would provide support to the new regional centres replacing it, despite serious concerns over treatment.

    Investigation and complaints
    An investigation by BBC Newsnight discovered that some of the trust’s clinicians were involved in the direct training of cohorts of staff at the new centres. At one stage, a GIDS director was considered for inclusion on the interview panel for the new roles.

    The Tavistock clinic, launched more than three decades ago to help children and other young people struggling with their gender identity, was rated “inadequate” following complaints raised by whistleblowers, patients and families.

    Doctors voiced concerns that some patients were being referred on to a gender transitioning pathway too quickly.

    One parent has criticised the decision to use Tavistock staff to train their replacements, telling Friday night’s edition of Newsnight: “Our daughter started identifying as first non-binary, then as a trans boy during the lockdown. Before that, we’d had no indication that there was anything she was unhappy about.

    “I would absolutely advocate for a clean slate in setting them up. Putting anyone who is really in a position of power and leadership back into a position of leadership would be incredibly foolish.”

    ‘Different service model is needed’
    The decision to close GIDS followed a recommendation from Dr Hilary Cass in March last year that a “fundamentally different service model is needed”. The advice was included as part of her official review into the care provided to gender-questioning young people.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2023/04/14/TELEMMGLPICT000304215248_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqlPeuDKkGCVFObdT1phUBTk8FchWZRD3tSYOiRwPjWDo.jpeg?imwidth=1280

    Dr Hilary Cass recommended that a “fundamentally different service model is needed” as part of her official review into the care provided to gender-questioning young people

    Another person understood to have been appointed, who is not employed by GIDS or the trust running it, has openly questioned Dr Cass and NHS England’s more cautious stance on gender changes.

    Sajid Javid, who was health secretary when the decision to close GIDS was made, told Newsnight that staff who had been involved in failings at the clinic should not be training people appointed to its replacement.

    He said: “Individuals who oversaw significant failings at Tavistock should clearly not be managing the set-up of the new system.”

    The approach at GIDS was “overly affirmative” and “bordered on the ideological”, he added.

    ‘Old service system is discredited’
    Dr Marcus Evans, a consultant psychotherapist, who resigned from The Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust over its treatment of whistleblowers, told the Telegraph: “There are a lot of parents who are already worried, after Tavistock said it would be involved in advising the new service providers.

    “The old service system is discredited. We need a completely different approach that avoids preoccupation with gender to the exclusion of all other facets of the family, child and young person’s personality and development.”

    Another parent, called David, said GIDS “shouldn’t be anywhere near” the new services.

    NHS England said there would be “a number of significant changes” from the service previously provided by GIDS, including that it would be medically led and extend the clinical team to include experts in paediatric medicine, autism, neurodisability and mental health, as well as restricting access to hormone blockers to the context of a formal research protocol.

    An NHS spokesman said: “As part of the transition to a new clinical approach, the NHS is developing a new training framework for clinicians providing care in this field, rather than adopting the old training materials previously used by Tavistock’s GIDS.

    “All aspects of the new children and young people’s gender service – from the development of both the interim and final service specification, including staff training to individual patient care – will be guided by the ongoing findings and expert advice from the Cass Review.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/14/tavistock-gender-clinic-medics-training-their-replacements/

    1. Yo Citroen and all

      I sthe old fashioned Gender Bender now someone who is ‘Straight'”?

  14. Joe Biden breaks down during chance meeting. 15 April 2023.

    Joe Biden broke down in tears after a chance meeting with the priest who performed the last rites on his late son Beau.

    Mr Biden was at the Knock Shrine in Co Mayo on the final leg of his visit to the Republic on Friday when he made the discovery.

    Fr Frank O’Grady, who performed the ceremony for Beau before he died of brain cancer in 2015, is now working at the shrine, where the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared in 1879.

    Mr Biden later told a rapturous crowd in Ballina that it was “incredible” to meet “out of the blue” the man who gave his son the last rites.

    “It was like a sign,” he said.

    Oh God!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/04/14/joe-biden-tears-meets-priest-son-beau-last-rites/

    2. ‘when he made the discovery’.

      ‘out of the blue’.

      ‘it was like a sign’.

      Pull the other one. It’s got bells on.

    4. He can remeber his son?

      Gollox

      after a chance meeting with the priest

      A carefully arranged stunt

      1. Yes, I would imagine that is true, OLT. But his son receiving the last rites? Is Mr Biden a Roman Catholic president?

        1. ‘Joe Biden is just the second Catholic president in U.S. history, after John F. Kennedy. “

          1. Thanks for that, Anne. I knew that JFK was the first, but had no idea that Joe B. was also a Catholic and just the second one in US history. It’s amazing what you learn on this site.

    5. A sign of what?
      Given the circumstances and Biden’s age, I’m not sure it would be a sign I’d relish.

  15. As they say, “Enough is as good as a feast.”

    So, on that note, I’m off, back to bed, as the port snifter didn’t work last night and I’m knackered.

    Bis spieter my friends.

  16. 373431+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Why is the Left in the driving seat of government after 13 years of Tory rule?
    Successive Conservative prime ministers allowed non-traditional orthodoxies to rule the roost, but we can hope that Sunak marks a change ?

    There lies the odious rub to start with, the dependency on
    ” hope”and its fickle pedigree followed by the majority voters
    supporting / voting for, at best a reshuffled bunch of proven treacherous political top rankers within a pro eu COALITION.

    A repeat of part of last nights post, no apology.
    Lest we forget,

    Freedom is what we do with what is done to us.
    P Sartre.

  18. 373431+ up ticks,

    Saturday 15 April: How Britain could restore its status as a nation of sound money

    There is NO chance of this taking place all the while the odious political overseers have a hole in their rear exits and continue to purchase morally illegal immigrants from france, with tax payers money.

    The Dover campaign by the ruling class of politico’s is blatantly, openly, taking advantage of a very weak minded indigenous peoples.

  21. Good morning all.
    After the foul weather of yesterday, a fine, dry and bright start with 1°C outside.
    I might just stir up the effort to mix some mortar and do a bit to the wall.

    2. As an aside, why is Elon Musk holding his hands like that? Is it a typically masculine gesture or does it have some other meaning?

        1. Some people say it’s some kind of symbol, but I think that is a bit fantastical. Who knows, though.

    4. I’m struggling to understand this, Herr Oberst. Which one is the interviewer and which one is Elon Musk?

  24. Good morning all.

    Lovely sunny blue sky here .

    Ideal conditions for no 1 son running in the Weymouth 5 Park run at 9am this morning … oh the fuss though, of gathering stuff together . Now pleased to have some peace and quiet .

    1. Fantastic, there are peregrines nest on parts of St Albans cathedral.
      Even the bbc London news has been mentioning and filming the stars of the nest sites.
      There is one photograph of the falcon staring straight at the camera.

  26. Good day all,

    A chilly grey start at the McPhee abode, wind Northerly, 5℃.

    This little chap has been keeping us company at breakfast and from time to time during the day as he flits from door handle to window to trees and back again. I’m not sure what’s going on, whether or not he’s just attracted to his reflection, but he does seem to have a fascination with our kitchen patio doors.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c578e6cf136914a722af489d31835c6397e1ef061746787596b2d3ccef915715.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eff6e06d308546e882adc30c02f0878e2c6c4e33da42058d25d0ba737036a39d.jpg

  27. Cloudy and damp this morning which is a pity as it’s our Open Morning at the bowls club to attract new members.
    The green will be very heavy due to all the recent rain and the grass is cut to 6mm rather than the ideal 5mm.
    We normally attract 20+ people on the morning and end up with 12-15 new members which replaces the natural wastage, moving away, giving up playing due to age etc.

    1. We tried bowls a couple of years ago, it looked a lot like curling but warmer.

      Anything but the same, modern curling has progressed well beyond planting the lead foot and swinging the rock.

      1. Very skilful game. vw is a far better bowler than me and is Ladies Champion for the past 2 years.

  28. Morning all 🙂😉
    Grey again, it fittingly suits the general public opinion of Current affairs.
    I think it’s part of the problem trying to boost income as the headline suggests. How much money and property do people actually need to me happy and generally content. That’s when greed takes preference and the cheating starts.
    I think we have seen enough of this sort of thing in our once stable culture.
    Corporate greed and self centered political skulduggery is ruining many peoples lives.
    Perhaps there are just too many people trying to muscle in.

      1. Approved candidates’ list.
        I and my pals have waded through some dross in my time; no hopers just sending out CVs in the hope that someone – anyone – will choose them.
        And don’t get me onto Call Me Dave’s diktat that 50% of the final line-up should be female.

    3. I can’t be bothered with people like her. She is typical of a useless failed politician. They’ll jump on any bandwagon to get some sort of public recognition.
      It’s time the content of Westminster is reduced significantly.

    5. “Oy, Annie …. Step away from that gin bottle. And don’t trip over the empties.”

    6. Do you think that she means that indigenous people should reject the ways and customs of outsiders?

      I could agree with her if that was the case.

    2. “The beer we brew”. They don’t brew beer. The concoct cat piss from rice and other fillers and chemical crap.

      If any wants to know what proper, decent Budweiser beer tastes like then buy some original Budweiser-Budvar, brewed in Czechia, made from nothing more than clean water, malted barley and hops, and taste what the Yanks cannot copy. It is widely available in the UK.

      1. I wonder how much is down to food regulations on what ‘beer’ is, how much is cost cutting and how much is Americans just not knowing what ‘good’ is?

        1. There is quite a lot of new beers in the US now so instead of cats pee you can normally get a flavourful IPA, it will cost you though.

          If you think US budeweiser is bad try some of the bigger regional beers. yuengling and Genesee assemble lagers with even less taste.

  31. Good morning, chums. Umpteenth today! I really enjoyed my break this week but the drive there and back of over four hours was quite exhausting so I took my time to unwind yesterday. Popped in to read some of your posts whilst away but now I am properly rested it’s time to resume my daily NoTTLe sessions, starting now with a look at Sir Jasper’s jokes. (PS – The journey time of over four hours was for EACH day of travel, i.e. nine hours in total.)

  32. Right – I am off. First to take the MR to the concert venue; then to have a bonfire. Will look in at lunchtime. Have a busy morning.

  33. Chill, grey, drizzly day. Puh. Bloody miserable – not energy-giving at all. Shopping, then slobbing in the sofa looks like the plan for today. Need ant pub and anti-ant goop, as the wee leggy buggers have de-hibernated and come to eat our sticky splats in the kitchen, kindly donated by SWMBO.

    1. We’ve had a lot of those sort of days lately – at least it’s a bit brighter today.

  35. Good Moaning (so far).
    Holy Cow!!! What on Earth has happened to Ipswich town centre?
    Ipswich has always been not quite Suffolk, but now it’s fighting to be on a par with Detroit.
    We arrived a bit early, so wandered through looking for a pub or decent eatery to while away the time.
    To say that the town – and I’m talking about the Buttermarket area – is run down is paying it a compliment. It is downright squalid, with a horrible atmosphere. Even the The Great White Horse hotel is closed.
    MB remarked that he’d feel safer in the East End. And that’s without the Krays to keep order.
    There were people of indeterminate origins lurking; even if they were doing something as mundane as shopping, they still lurked.
    The shops were small, grubby and smothered in lurid plastic signs. Decay and ruin surrounded us – every gutter contained its growth of grass and buddleia. I imagine that British towns looked much the same after the Romans left.
    It’s probably about 5 years since we last visited Ipswich town centre and we were shocked and not a little upset.

    1. I visited Ipswich once. I could find no reason, whatsoever, that would compel me to return.

      1. Even back in the 1950s it seemed rather out of place in Suffolk, but it used to be a good day out for different shops and eateries from Colchester.
        There is no way you could say the same today.
        It made Colchester seem positively vibrant and buzzy.

        1. It made Colchester seem positively vibrant and buzzy.

          Really! That bad?
          When walking in Colchester ‘City’s’ centre I tend to keep my eyes peeled for the paving slab tripping hazards (Headgate is particularly bad); much like driving and looking for the next tyre/suspension wrecking pothole. If I go to the town city centre once a month it’s too frequent.

          1. Believe you me, Ipswich is far, far worse.
            When the assistant told me at the Regent Theatre, while we killed time, that there was a pub over the road, I replied that I had no wish to be stabbed.
            Incidentally, do NOT rock up at the RT before 6.30 pm; you will be left to kick your heels outside in the most inclement of weather. ‘Elf’n’Safety, doncha know.

          2. We’re off to the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham in a couple of weeks’ time, to the English Touring Opera, first time for four years – but they do still do a pre-theatre meal which was always good value. We’ve booked for that as well.

          3. I have not been a visitor to central Ipswich for decades but I have been harbouring a thought to go to Lakeland for a look around.
            Talking of theatres, Thursday last I went up to London to the Prince Edward Theatre to see the Temptations story, Ain’t Too Proud. That whole area was heaving with people having a good time; never felt threatened at all. The show started at 7:30 and doors opened just before 7. Several security people managing the queue made it easy to enter and find our seats. Found a wonderful Italian restaurant for our meal just down the road from the theatre. Great day out except that four of us couldn’t find the coach; it was in the one street we hadn’t looked down. Typical!

        2. I used to like visiting Woodbridge when I lived in Colchester.
          Would change buses at Ipswich.
          I used to quip to myself “I switch “!

    2. My uncle and aunt (who later moved to Bradfield, near Harwich) lived in Ipswich for many years, so I used to visit when I was a child. They lived in Camberley Road, on the edge of the heath. I don’t remember much about the town, apart from accompanying my aunt while she whizzed round the shops.

      1. That is it; I doubt many Gippyswickians go into the town centre.
        There is little to attract them.
        We know that the area round the Regent Theatre has always been down at heel, which is why we pottered along to the formerly ‘nice’ streets.
        Bury St. Edmunds – despite some less welcome developments – still retains its Suffolk vibe.

        1. I lived in B St Eds too when I left the RAF – some great pubs there and in the surrounding district, eventually bought a house in Thetford

    3. My uncle and aunt (who later moved to Bradfield, near Harwich) lived in Ipswich for many years, so I used to visit when I was a child. They lived in Camberley Road, on the edge of the heath. I don’t remember much about the town, apart from accompanying my aunt while she whizzed round the shops.

    4. I lived in Ipwsich in the late 60’s – it was nice then, I’ve never been back

      1. Sadly, even relatively local people like me were somewhat took aback as its current state.
        I think the posh bit is now the Quayside. The old docks, former haunts of the ne’er-do-wells; human life is weird.

        1. Gloucester Docks were revamped a few years ago – it removed the main shopping and eating out centre away from the original centre of the city. That’s now the hang-out of dropouts and empty shops. What do these town planners think they’re doing? Of course the centre of Gloucester was ripped out and ruined in the sixties as well. It’s now a building site.

          1. I think that’s what happened to Ipswich.
            Department store (most recently a Debenhams) has gone, posh tailor’s shop on opposite corner (forget the name) has closed, Great White Horse closed, Tower Ramparts shopping mall – under a different name – is a shadow of its 80’s self, the Thoroughfare which used to house smaller quirkier shops is pretty much deserted, the old, grandiose Post Office is now a restaurant cum bar and the Town Hall just exists, with no discernible purpose.
            And there are the inevitable empty shops, whose bare dusty windows look like missing teeth.
            What a dispiriting mess.

          2. The big Debenhams in Gloucester has been taken over by the local college, so the building is still there. The bus station has been altered out of recognition, and last time I was there – an empty space where a sixties shopping centre used to be. A huge block going up where there was a multi-story car park,opposite the station. Not sure what that’s going to be. Flats maybe. The hotel by the station is really run down, I expect that will be the next to go.

          3. And all the former profits going to people like Amazon who pay relatively little tax in the UK

          4. I remember trudging along that bloody great footbridge between the two stations in the late ’60s/early ’70s when going to & from Chepstow.

        2. I remember a ‘greasy spoon’ down by the docks that did a bacon & sausage butty to die for
          We lived in Clapgate Lane on the way to the airport

    5. Went to Tesco the other day. A pile of middle eastern foreigners just hung around the trolleys gabbling in foreign.

      Asked shop security if they could move them on and they said they couldn’t unless they caused a problem. I asked if loitering and leering wasn’t a problem?

    6. It is a problem all over the developed world; urban areas are losing their mojo.
      Fulltime private sector employment has been exported to SE Asia, there is a trend towards middle class flight and shops have been crippled by online sales. It is going to get worse as Chat GPT grows.

    7. Stopped in Ipswich a couple of times with work and actually found 1 decent pub that had a charity music night on and I really enjoyed myself.
      Never did find the bloody place again on subsequent work visits!

    1. The state is still forcing this miserable and dangerous agenda. It’s why nothing works.

  37. Just hung out yesterday’s washing – maybe it will dry today! A shade warmer than it has been recently.

    1. I did 2 washes and got it all dried in the tumble drier yesterday for nothing as the sun was shining – I’ve just charged up the breadmaker which will bake me a loaf free because the sun is belting down.

      1. I did a wash and dried it on the shiela maid over the Rayburn. Cost me nothing as the Rayburn was already heating the water, the house and cooking my meals.

    2. I did 2 washes and got it all dried in the tumble drier yesterday for nothing as the sun was shining – I’ve just charged up the breadmaker which will bake me a loaf free because the sun is belting down.

  38. Heat pumps epitomise the economic folly of net zero

    The true benefits appear trivial when compared with the massive scale of expenditures required – something seen clearly with heat pumps

    GORDON HUGHES

    Amid the cacophony of claims about Net Zero there is little concrete analysis of its wider impact in macroeconomic terms. For all the magical thinking about green jobs and technologies, the true benefits appear trivial when compared with the massive scale of expenditures required – and even more so when we account for the huge destruction of our existing capital stock, from cars to industrial machinery.

    Think of a three-bedroom house currently heated by gas. My work suggests that installing an air source heat pump, upgrading radiators and improving insulation could cost £15,000 or more. Even after spending that money, many will find the level of comfort inadequate.

    But this is only the tip of the iceberg. That heat pump will require green electricity if it’s to help meet net zero. So we must also allow for building and operating the wind farms, backup storage and grid network needed to replace gas heating with electricity. All those costs must be recovered through higher electricity prices, or direct government subsidies. Even if energy costs revert to “normal” pre-2021 levels, my calculations suggest that electricity prices could well double.

    Along with the higher demand, and allowing for a reduction in gas use, this could be equivalent to a net increase in bills of £1,000-£1,200 per year for our hypothetical 3-bedroom house. Moreover, we must allow for the higher costs of servicing and eventually replacing heat pumps. With a life-cycle of 15 years, this would effectively add £400-600 per year to household expenses.

    These costs would likely be capitalised into property values for owners who decide to contribute to net zero by opting for a heat pump. Calculating the present value of the servicing and running costs on a green grid indicates they could knock somewhere around £10-15,000 off the value of our 3-bedroom house, on top of the £15,000 or more spent on the change.

    And housing is only the start of our Net Zero capital losses. Schools, hospitals, offices, shops and factories will have to be extensively refurbished or replaced to accommodate electric heating, and will then incur higher operating costs. A significant fraction of buildings and other assets could be abandoned as no longer economic. That could have the knock on effect of driving up both residential and commercial rents paid by housing tenants and businesses.

    Then, there is transport and the hasty replacement of petrol or diesel vehicles by electric vehicles. Less obviously we must allow for the reorganisation of urban and suburban areas in the name of Net Zero and “15-minute neighbourhoods”. Our whole social infrastructure – shopping, schools, community facilities – has been built over many decades on the assumption of cheap private and public transport. A large part of this may have to be replaced, at vast but unknown cost.

    Still, this is only one side of the capital account. Every year the UK spends 17-18 per cent of GDP on gross investment, much of which goes to replace old and worn-out assets. Arguably, this is too low, leading to the UK’s dismal productivity record. Detailed calculations by the Cambridge engineer Professor Michael Kelly suggest that the investment required for the current Net Zero timetable will exceed £3 trillion, or 1.2 times UK GDP. Either other investment must decline or the burden will fall on household spending.

    In summary, in pursuit of Net Zero by 2050, around a quarter of all UK investment will be devoted to replacing existing assets. The knock-on effect means that what’s left of the UK’s original asset base could well get older and more expensive to operate. Prospects for future improvements in productivity or healthcare or education are at risk of shrivelling in the face of endless demands to fund the energy transition.

    These costs result from needless haste. A practical date for Net Zero, 2080, would be consistent with the natural cycle of asset ageing and replacement, protecting the economic interests of our children and grandchildren. It would also seem to stand a better chance of delivering a sustainable low carbon future. The 2050 target is on a collision course with reality.

    Professor Gordon Hughes is a retired Professor of Economics at the University of Edinburgh, and a former senior adviser on energy and environmental policy at the World Bank

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/13/heat-pumps-epitomise-the-economic-folly-of-net-zero/

    1. The intentional rationing and hiked prices of energy are simply a method of moving money from the earner to the state.

      They underpin inflation and give the state an easy way to retard economic and technological growth enforcing the Lefft wing aim of ruining advanced economies and making the world ‘fair’.

      After all, if everyone is miserable, starving and poor then everything is fair. It is the goal of the communist throughout history. An ill thought out, miserable, decline enforcing, bitter, vindictive assault on choice, liberty and merit.

    2. Great comment Professor Hughes.

      However we’d like to point out that our neighbours’ heat pump is worn out and needs replacing.

      It’s eight years and four months old. They feel that this short working life is unacceptable.

      They are replacing it with an oil fired boiler.

  39. The green agenda has become an embarrassing failure

    From heat pumps to new bins, the government keeps trying to force unworkable technologies and environmental wheezes on an unimpressed public

    ROSS CLARK

    David Cameron’s best-remembered comment while in office was not even intended for public consumption. We’ve “got to get rid of all the green crap,” he told aides against a backdrop of rising levies on energy bills in 2013. This from a man who several years earlier had tried to convince us he was taking climate change seriously by driving a husky-pulled sled in Svalbard and promising us the “greenest government ever”.

    It may well be that Rishi Sunak is experiencing similar sentiments. The government’s initiative to rationalise recycling bin collections, with the result that all homes could end up having up to seven wheelie bins or other containers, seems to have been binned itself. Meanwhile, the government’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which seeks to persuade us to rip out our boilers and install heat pumps instead, has turned out to be a miserable failure, with only 10,000 installations in its first year. The government had made enough money available for three times that number – and by the end of the decade is counting on 600,000 installations every year. Nor is the great switch to electric cars exactly going to plan: the proportion of car sales made up by pure electric vehicles has stalled at 16 per cent, with petrol cars still accounting for a stubborn 41 per cent in March.

    Sunak is rapidly finding out what Cameron previously discovered: while the public is generally very concerned about the environment, we are not going to tolerate badly thought-out policies which make us poorer and turn our lives into a misery. Sadly, that is exactly what so many green policies do. While they offer huge handouts to a lucky few – such as Cameron’s father-in-law Sir Reginald Sheffield, who was reported to be earning £350,000 a year from wind turbines on his Lincolnshire estate — for the greater mass of humanity green policies too often mean vast expense and a large amount of bother.

    Is it really any wonder that take-up of £5,000 vouchers for heat pumps should have turned out to be lukewarm? Lukewarm, indeed, is how many early adopters have described their homes after shelling out £10,000 or more for a heat pump. Even the handout won’t bring the cost of a heat pump down to parity with a new gas boiler in all but a few cases. Moreover, if you have a gas boiler which is functioning perfectly well, why risk changing it? Heat pumps may be suitable for well-insulated, newly-built homes which don’t need a lot of heating of any kind, but even Bosch, which manufactures them, has said they are not suitable for older properties – at least not without spending at least another £10,000 stripping them back to the walls and insulating them.

    As for expecting us to sort our rubbish into up to seven recycling bins, why on Earth did any government minister think that would be a good idea? There are some environmentalists, it is true, who love the idea of people being forced to go through their rubbish with a fine tooth comb every week because they see it as doing penance for the damage human societies are wreaking on the natural world. But it is so unnecessary. The technology to sort out recyclables from a single waste stream has existed for many years, is widely used in the US and many other countries – and even in parts of Britain. My own local authority uses an automated plant outside Cambridge – with the result we need only one bin for dry recyclables and have one of the highest recycling rates in the country. It rose from 37 per cent to 56 per cent after the new plant was opened.

    The lesson of recycling is pretty clear: when you make it easy for people, they will do it. The local authority with the highest rate, the East Riding of Yorkshire, sends a van around to collect disused computer equipment from businesses, free of charge. Too many other authorities go around calling waste a “resource” but then want to charge us for handing it to them.

    It is the same for all green policies: if they make financial sense, the public will take the bait. But where many struggle is in adopting flawed technologies which don’t keep us warm, or which we can’t charge because we have to park it off the street. The government has made its bed by agreeing on an arbitrary emissions target, but we shouldn’t have to sleep in it. Rather than pressing ahead with top-down, costly schemes, it should trust the market to find innovative solutions to our climate change or environmental challenges. Crap stuff won’t cease to be crap just because it’s green.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/14/the-green-agenda-has-become-an-embarrassing-failure

    1. Green never has and never was intented to be anything about the environment or ecology. It is simply a tax scam. A method of moving money from the earner to the state to further retard the progress of Western economies and create and enforce the misery of socialism.

    3. She’s wrong. It’s not gender specific; it’s sex specific. Gender is a grammatical term.

    1. And, rain before seven, fine before eleven – there is some truth in this as it takes on average four hours for a front to pass over.

  42. More bad news this morning – another member of our table tennis club gone. My namesake, too. Last time I saw him was at his father’s funeral in December – he told me then that his cancer was terminal. Only 55.

    1. Life has become very fragile here as well..

      Smallish village here , but people are falling off their perches of all ages .

      It seems that every time the tawny owls hoot , a neighbour or friendly face vanishes ..

      Moh and I worry , because we hear more stories ever day.

      We went to the funeral of a near neighbour on Thursday.. an active lady , golfer etc , her death left us all in deep shock.

      1. It just makes me glad that I can still do the things I enjoy and am in good health. Things like housework can wait…… but OH is crawling about on the carpet at the moment, picking up bits of fluff, while watching the snooker.

        1. Do you hire him out? Just took the carpet sweeper round and most of the bits seem to be fluff off sweaters.

          1. I think he does it to make me feel guilty! I must get the vacuum cleaner (not a hoover) out soon.

          2. I could have dragged “Fang” round but my husband also has the snooker on and I didn’t feel like wrestling with the beast today.
            All set for visitors…be nice to see them but a relief when they’re gone.

          3. How old are the ‘monsters’? My mother used to heave a sigh of relief when my kids departed, however much she enjoyed seeing them.

          4. 9 and 7. Little girl is no trouble (7) but the lad is prone to attention seeking and can be petulant if things don’t go his way. Hope he’s in a sunny mood today. We’ll see.

          6. Kids do get a bit bored though, visiting elderly relatives. I hope you’ve got some activities lined up (besides eating).

          10. Yes, colouring books, comics with attached toys and a new bat and ball set for outside.
            Just had a text saying they’ll be here about 1 as they’ve taken the kids to the beach as the sun is actually out. Been raining all week.

          11. That is how I feel. The younger is only 20 months, the elder just six. We are looking after the elder child (boy) all day on Monday.

      2. Caroline plays the organ at more and more funerals in the parish than she did before the Covid vaccines gene therapy was taken by so many.

      3. Same here. I just get sick now hearing about yet another stroke, heart attack, cancer etc, or someone being taken to hospital. It’s happening so much.

      4. All the more reason to live every day as if it’s your last, carpe diem, and rejoice that it wasn’t you.

  43. The nuclear family is dead – and our politicians are to blame
    It won’t change until the young are able to afford a wedding, a house and some childcare

    Charlotte Lytton : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/15/the-nuclear-family-is-dead-our-politicians-are-to-blame/

    BTL Percival Wrattstrangler

    Your mindless conformity to the anti-Truss narrative and your eager desire to jump on the ant-Truss bandwagon show how very little journalistic intelligence and credibility you have.

    I am no great fan of Ms Truss but her economic ideas were considerably better than Sunak’s and Hunt’s dismal plans to stop UK growth completely. What does stick in my craw is that she and Kwarteng were not strong enough and united enough to ride out the attacks on them. Truss’s appointment of Hunt as chancellor seems so mad and so bizarre that I suspect blackmail or other very dirty tricks forced her hand.

    Hunt is very critical of all the decisions that Ms Truss made during her short time as PM – but surely her very worst decision was to appoint Hunt as her chancellor.

    1. I don’t think Hunt was her choice. She sacked Kwarteng to save herself, but then of course, she had to go as well.

      1. I am sure that Jeremy Hunt was not her choice. But WHY did she appoint him? I suspect there was some pretty murky stuff going on.

        Adultera Truss was infamous for her sexual relationship with Mark Field and the rumours were rife that she had inherited the sexual services of Kwasi Kwarteng when he had finished pleasuring Amber Rudd. If there was any evidence for this then blackmail could well have been used against her.

    2. All those things would be affordable if the SODDING GOVERNMNENT JUST DID ITS JOB, STOPPED THEN REVERSED MIGRATION THEN GOT OUT OF THE WAY AND STOPPED TAXING US.

      Apart from that, it’s obvious that Truss appointed Hunt because she was told to by shadowy figures.

    1. There are an awful lot of uninformed, bitter, ignorant little Lefties who immediately squeal ‘no, the colonies were bad!’ without a hint of rational discussion.

  45. ‘Morning All (just)

    Medley

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bd4907d914847454ee72ff4e8da3eae77daa37bb0e8f08cff32b615601d4c822.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5f38ee367a062163b67faa3dcb20d109570edd07fdac39e72b49704146af4416.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7ac106d450d27ca8679155d242f0e51220599bbf9176bbc4784b781b7903113b.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ffb47c7bf1c8e1ab66c33de7e7bc900c7390afa771daa0347a44c006bc131f90.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c2cff66072a676bf1859c693942ab8ef9c7a92510ef05139bc8687422296429f.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/679a2f4d3bc5129add64aee3428953700fc7c1b46f7bff160a45a1d3c4ec1641.png

    1. Not only that, I will allow my battery to run down as well, one cannot be too careful! We prefer to use the landline anyway when at home.

      1. Most people know not to phone me on my mobile as I never answer it. We do answer the landline.

    3. We’ll be on the train, coming home from Sheffield – I’ll have to remember to turn ours off. But I expect it will be going off all over the train from other people, unless it’s inaudible. If it’s like an air-raid siren it’ll be deafening.

      1. #MeToo, Connors.

        In fact mine will be switched OFF from Midnight 22nd to Midnight 23rd.

  50. Just to appease the ‘we know best’ moaners, Wadda mistaka to maka ?
    Germany turns off all of its nuclear power plants for good at midnight tonight.
    Alternatives ????

    1. Crikey. Last I’d heard they were building coal stations like crazy as unreliables had proven… pointless.

    2. This decision has always amazed me. The only reason I could think for it was that Vlad asked Angela Merkel to do it so they would have to buy Russian Gas!

    4. I’m to sure I believe this. Turn them all off at once? Seems rather unlikely. But who can believe anything these days?
      Edit: not sure.

      2. Well I thought it was more than a bit strange. But it was on the news earlier today.

    5. I’m to sure I believe this. Turn them all off at once? Seems rather unlikely. But who can believe anything these days?
      Edit: not sure.

    6. At a time when the Sun is taking a nap for the next 35-40 years. It’s going to be cold next winter in Germany

  51. Bonfire almost completed. As the MR is away – I treated myself to an old favourite – baked beans on toast!!! Mmmm!!

    Now to relax with crossword and a coffee.

    Gus and Pickles haven’t moved since 9.30….!

    1. I like baked beans on toast too but i add a small teaspoon of garam masala and finely dice shallot just to ensure lift off you understand!

        1. I start off with toasted cheese on mine before adding the beans and then finish with the egg.

          5. Why should I. I like my toast toasted on both sides. I’d never heard of toasting on one side until a chap from Surrey told me that’s how they do it. I find it a bit weird.

          6. Likewise…only buttering one slice of bread for a sandwich…Northern tradition i believe. :@)

          7. No one in the North has ever buttered just one slice of a sandwich. You’d be lynched if you tried it.

  52. Phew! Knackered!
    A 20 shovel mix of mortar mixed and 4 hours of wall building done.

    We appear to have a couple of groups of vehicles having a rally/drive past us, one appears to be a specific marque of modern sports car and the other is a bunch of Three Wheelers with big V Twin engines in the front got past and barking ever two or three trees!

    2. The 3-wheelers sound like Morgans, from your description. V-twin aircooled out at the front. driving single wheel at the back. Two seats, aeroscreen. Nice!

      2. As part of a Course, I had to do a tour of the Morgan factory.

        At that time there was no Mass Production of the body, all the wooden and metal bits were hand maid(sic) for each car at
        Malvern Link, Worcestershire, UK. Magic

      1. One of these days you will divert up the Via Gellia and call in for a mug of tea!

  53. Good attendance at our bowls open morning with 20 visitors signing up for coaching and a few others who couldn’t stay but are coming to our club nights on 21st and 28th April.

      1. Don’t be disgusting ! They just need people to fertilise the greens as they walk on by.

  54. I am off – to hear the Nelson Mass – the MR is in the chorus.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain – one hopes.

    3. Trust me to go on a break this week and miss the news. When did the Admiral Lord Nelson pass away, Bill? Lol.

  55. https://order-order.com/2023/04/14/unison-accept-governments-5-pay-rise-offer-for-nhs-staff/#comments

    You know, if the government cut spending, cut waste, radically reduced taxes and stopped rigging the market for energy inflation would reduce of its own accord and there would be no need for these absurd pay hikes. The unions would immediately be made ot look greedy and then real cuts and changes to state waste and public service could be pushed through.

    Why is the government continuing to do, deliberately the wrong thing?

  57. Par Four today.

    Wordle 665 4/6
    ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
    ⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜
    🟩⬜🟩🟩🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. And here

      Wordle 665 4/6

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

  58. The Dopey Wokies animal welfare group have brought the Grand National to a standstill.
    Climbing over the fences with ladders.

    1. It’s a great pity that they can’t let the crowd deal with them.
      They would be very badly hurt.
      Unfortunately if one fights anarchy with anarchy it soon turns to mob rule.

      The lack of firm action by the authorities is what encourages these single issue fanatics to raise the levels of disruption.
      Huge fines and unpleasant slave type labour, cleaning ditches and the like, might be an answer.

      1. A weekend of protestors in the stocks would be entertaining for the Aintree punters …

      2. Some of the crowd did deal with them (assisting the police). I suspect they dished out rougher treatment than plod did. Scousers love the National. It’s the People’s Race.

    2. As if they give a damn about cruelty. Remind me, when did they demonstrate against halal butchery? The pretence that selective outrage has any moral basis is so pathetic.

    3. Oh dear at least 8 jockeys have been unseated. And several horses are running along side.

    5. No, RE.

      The Dopey Wokies animal welfare group have caused a fifteen-minute delay of the Grand National.

      1. Obviously you missed the original commentary on TV. I was only referring to what I had heard during the disruption.
        🤗

    6. The Merseyside police should be congratulated for overcoming the protesters challenge to The Grand National.

      As a result of their considerable police efforts, the challenge was reduced to a mere 15-minute delay.

    7. My mum texted me to say she had out a bet on Big Dog (Big Dog being the name of both the toy dogs she bought my children one Christmas when they were 2. & 3, the toys being bigger than thd children). Both Big Dogs have been very well loved during the intervening 17/18 years.

      Apparently he came 5th.

      1. Bookies were offering places down to at least 6th, so I hope she shopped around and chose one who gave her a good choice.

    8. The locals were out in force to deal with them (“reinforcing” the police presence). The commentators (apart from AP McCoy) were way out in their comments, saying they had to “educate” the protestors. That isn’t what they are about; they frankly don’t want to know and don’t care a jot about the life of racehorses. They just want to impose their World View on other people.

      1. Sadly it looked as if one of the horses might have been put down, there was a tarpaulin looking surrounding for something on part of the course.
        Perhaps some of the horses aren’t quite cut out for such a gruelling type of race.
        It’s such a shame they are such beautiful animals.

        1. It was Hill Sixteen, unfortunately. Green screens don’t necessarily mean the horse will be put down; they are there for privacy – jockeys are screened the same way if they are receiving treatment.

          1. I read that there were three horses that died at Aintree but not the names and one had a broken neck. It must have ben the horse and rider that collided with (tee boned) the loose horse at the jump that went side ways.

  62. I am bloody but unbowed- not literally but survived the grand monsters visit. Food was nice and they enjoyed their comics very much. The kitchen is a disaster area but so what?
    And, best of all, my husband, with his small granddaughter’s help, walked all the way from the house to the car park with his crutch. She held his hand all the way- she’s 8 and the height difference is quite something but she didn’t let go of his hand once. And he walked all the way back on his own.
    Progress is being made.
    Hope y’all have had a good day.

    2. So good to hear, Ann, nice to hear progress is being made!! Glad you had a good visit.

    3. Well done to you, Ann! The kitchen can wait, the Pinot can’t! The picture you’ve created of your husband and granddaughter is wonderful! So pleased you’ve had a lovely day! And in the immortal words of Enid Blyton you’ll be able to go to bed ‘tired, but happy’!

    4. Good. Delighted to hear it.
      That is a reason why it is important for various ages to mix and not be ghettoised.

      1. I am step grandma but they call me grandma which is nice. A good visit but am very tired.

    6. Sounds like a rollicking time was had by all. So now you can relax and recover 😀😀😀

    7. The granddaughter bit brought a tear to the eye, Ann. What a lovely lass, and what a lovely image.
      I’d bet he’s as delighted as a dog with two tails.

      1. It was lovely to see them together, there’s a real bond. He mispronounces words to make her laugh and she put his toy panda on his head and just messed about with him. My poor old Teddy had a work out too!
        She’s small for her age and he’s 6′ 4 so quite a difference. She’s a wonderful artist too and quite the gymnast at school. She’s lovely and she did my husband no end of good.
        The young lad was also very good and loved his Star Wars comic. He gave me a huge hug as they were leaving.
        Very tiring but well worth it in the end.
        Husband now in kitchen converting some leftovers into bubble and squeak. I am stuffed full!

  63. Dog trainers oppose veto on e-collars used by minister in charge of ban

    Let the hounds alone, let us put E collars on the politicians who refuse to abide by their manifesto/promises.

    Solved

    Also, the articles should be about Canines, as dogs are the male of the species.

    If I mention the females by group name, my post will be removed:- Sharpish edited

    Also. “wot abowt the trans ones”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/15/dog-trainers-oppose-veto-on-e-collars/

    1. No banned words here, OLT. You can say what you like so long as you don’t slag off other posters.

      1. Unless you really slag them off by calling them Very Silly Sausages and ordering them to take a seat on the Naughty Step. Lol.

  64. Sorry fat-girl, but if you want to fly attach yourself to a barrage balloon.

    Plus-size influencer demands FAA and airlines give fat flyers as many FREE seats as they need to spread themselves out – and admits other passengers may have to foot the bill
    Jaelynn Chaney, a travel and lifestyle creator based in Vancouver, is demanding the FAA to ‘protect’ plus-sized travelers and make it more ‘comfortable’
    She suggested airlines provide bigger seats or an extra free seat to larger passengers and refunds for passengers who purchased two seats
    Chaney admitted she did not know who would fund the cost of the suggestions but believed the changes were worth it

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11976173/Plus-size-creator-creates-petition-try-force-airlines-offer-larger-passengers-bigger-seats.html

    I’m sick and tired of finding myself squeezed against a blubber-wally who expects to be able to ooze all over my already limited space.

      1. A scrounger who hopes that a few plugs on social media will get them free stuff paid for by the rest of us?

      1. Plus size – that hardly covers it, she’s enormous! And creator of what, except maybe empty plates??

          2. Maybe they don’t take a dump, and they are full of it, making them so massive. God help us all if they burst!

      1. To quote Mrs. Fisher in The Enchanted April; when she proposed her friend, Kate Lumley as a guest at San Salvatore….”I’m afraid that Kate is a very large lady and once in the room she might never get out.”
        The guest room was very small.

      2. That’s not the real problem, if she sat down on it, the suction would upset the cabin pressure for the rest of the passengers and they might suffocate.

    5. Lard arse could always pay for her own upgrade to the front of the bus.

      Perhaps the airlines should measure passengers at check in and adjust seat width to the minimum needed by that passenger – they might pack more passengers in if they are thin.

      Chaney is from Vancouver, that place is full of lefties.

  65. Right, a decent bit of wall building done, might take some progress photos tomorrow, so I’m off to bed.

    G’night all.

    2. As an aside, the Battlements of the Great Wall of China appear to be designed to keep the Chinese out. The edifice was not built by the Chinese but by the folk on the other side of the wall.

  67. I just heard another BS woke marketing pitch from a big name company,

    Apparently it is fifty years since FedEx was founded, so to celebrate their green credentials they have committed to planting up to 50,000 trees in South Carolina.

    Has anyone else been to SC, it is full of trees, millions of them!

      1. Exactly. Would anyone notice 50,000 new trees?

        Back in 2027, Trudeau promised 2 billion new trees. We are still waiting.

        1. I lived in a state forest in CT- trees didn’t need to be planted, they just grew. The acorns were huge and it didn’t take long for a small oak to pop up.

  68. Evening, all. It was heartwarming to see how the Liverpudlians dealt with the animal rights idiots who tried to get into Aintree to disrupt the National. They weren’t messing about. We need to put them in charge of our Border Force!

    1. I suspect those who used glue have no skin left on their hands. The way to go.. They cleared the problem pretty quickly, good race as well

  69. Thanks for your very nice comments. A nice day but after three days of busyness, I am ready for bed. Thank gawd it’s Sunday tomorrow- no intrusions.
    Fingers crossed, it looks like almost a week of sunshine ahead.
    Oh, and mea culpa, I flushed the loo today…
    Goodnight Y’all.

  71. I’m late tonight, I’ve been watching Carol King on bbc2. Her talent for writing lyrics was second to none. But sometimes other people sang her songs in a more tune full way.
    She reminds me of one of my girlfriends from the late 1960s.
    Night all.

  74. Bad day up here today, collision between car and motorbike – 65 yo biker died at the scene. Road closed for about 6 hours which meant an 86 mile detour along a single track road to get to Inverness (or from Inverness). Unfortunately that detour had a problem when an artic went off the road and blocked it. It’s been chaos on the roads. Thankfully I was in all day doing the DT crossword, making another loaf and watching the English ladies wollop the Welsh at Rugby

    1. You might be glad you weren’t driving the recovery lorry to clear up after that lot.

      1. Yep, although I probably wouldn’t have been called to it as it was just outside our area. I’ve been to them before though

  75. Well, I’ve just watched the black and white film of THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW made in 1964 by the Italian director Pier Paulo Pasolini. I’d long wanted to see it and was tremendously impressed. Must read the original soon (first book of the New Testament). But now I am off to bed, chums, so I wish you all a good night’s sleep. See you all tomorrow.

    1. Yo and Good Moaning to You Boss and all Nottlers

      Anf Fanx again for giving us our lifeline to sanity,

Comments are closed.