Wednesday 19 April: A practical way to boost young people’s confidence with numbers

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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596 thoughts on “Wednesday 19 April: A practical way to boost young people’s confidence with numbers”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    Revenge Is Sweet

    After a miserable weekend of high-stakes poker in Vegas, a successful businessman lost the shirt off his back. He was left with nothing but a quarter and the second half of his return ticket. All he had to do was somehow get himself to the airport. So he went out to the front of the casino where there was a cab waiting. He got in and explained his situation to the cabby. He promised to send the driver money from home, he offered him his credit card numbers, his driver’s license number, his address, etc., but to no avail.

    The cabby just kept saying, “If you don’t have fifteen dollars, get the hell out of my cab!”

    So the businessman was forced to hitchhike to the airport and was barely in time to catch his flight.

    One year later the businessman, having worked long and hard to regain his financial success, returned to Vegas. This time, he won big.

    Feeling pretty good about himself, he went out to the front of the casino to get a cab back to the airport. Well, who should he see out there at the end of a long line of cabs but his old buddy, the cabby who refused to give him a ride when he was down on his luck! The businessman thought for a moment about how he could make the guy pay for his lack of charity, and he hit on a plan.

    The businessman got in the first cab in the line. “How much for a ride to the airport,” he asked?
    “Fifteen bucks,” came the reply.
    “And how much for you to give me a blowjob on the way?”
    “What?! Get the hell out of my cab!”

    The businessman got into the back of each cab in the long line and asked the same questions, always with the same results. When he got to his old friend at the back of the line, he got in and asked “How much for a ride to the airport?”

    The cabby replied “fifteen bucks.”
    The businessman said, “Okay,” and off they went. As they drove slowly past the long line of cabs, the businessman gave a big smile and a thumbs-up to each and every driver.

    …and another little story that shews that we are not the only ones – suffering ‘Down Under’.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia0bfWbOLjY

  5. A practical way to boost young people’s confidence with numbers

    Make those that are too thick or don’t want to learn leave school at 15 and get a proper job doing practical work.

      1. I think that is the joke as the SNP Party “battle bus” is dragged off into oblivion.

        1. Agreed. Huznae Akloo’s grand plans (as if they were ever his) have been overtaken by events, as the parlance goes, and have been drowned out by the financial skullduggery of the Scottish Nationalist Party over the past decade plus. He would have us believe, even though he held three ‘ministry’ positions, that he was unaware of any shenanigans taking place around the Shortbread Senate cabinet table.

          Kate Forbes looked pleased to have ‘lost’ the leadership race. As finance minister, brought in on the eve of the Nationalist’s annual financial report to replace her predecessor who had been caught grooming a young teenage boy, she must also have had an inkling of how dire the financial situation was.

          1. You can increas thesize of the page, upto 300% using “Appliction Menu’ from your puter Top Line

            and ‘equal sign’ with but 3 lines on mine

  11. The NHS is broken, declares Keir Starmer. 19 April 2023.

    The NHS is “broken”, Sir Keir Starmer has declared, claiming that a fifth of A&E patients go to hospital because they cannot get a GP appointment.

    In an interview with The Telegraph, the Labour leader accused the Conservatives of presiding over a “cycle of decline” that could bring the NHS to an end.

    New research by Labour has suggested that around 4.5 million patients in England went to A&E last year because they could not get a GP appointment.

    Wow! Imagine that! How did he guess?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/04/18/the-nhs-is-broken-declares-keir-starmer-labour/

  12. Disneyland to dress Minnie and Mickey in Pride outfits

    Florida governor at odds with Disney since it condemned law prohibiting teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools

    By Josie Ensor, US CORRESPONDENT
    18 April 2023 • 5:49pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/world-news/2023/04/18/TELEMMGLPICT000332497954_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqZRlmL2VnvBTYeWb-cXG3RZx1Dy4GUa6yUByiKSnm1IU.jpeg?imwidth=680

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

    archangel gabriel
    10 HRS AGO
    Let us be under no illusion, as evidenced by this nauseating incident, far from its former status as a beloved cultural icon and purveyor of wholesome family entertainment, Disney is now in thrall to a sexually and societally deviant ‘woke’ cult, covertly and calculatedly promoting an extremist LGBT agenda.
    The following leaked Zoom meeting videos, featuring a Disney production coordinator … https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1508934581092765700?s=20&t=g92OQKbsHE8kOuyJeQTb7Q … and a Disney corporate president … https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1508926408332034049?s=20&t=rV9DDwJ-14Bpjvyz6Iw1LA … illustrate this fact succinctly.
    The stated aims of the latter are to incorporate “many, many, many, LGBTQIA characters in our stories” and for “a minimum of 50 percent of characters to be LGBTQIA and racial minorities”. In the face of such warped ideological propaganda, the only recourse for responsible parents, with traditional moral values, is to summarily boycott Disney and all its products.

      1. She will see it as a success in perverting nature. Very sad for the children who will lead disturbed lives no doubt.

  13. Don’t deactivate emergency phone alert, No 10 urges public amid Tory backlash

    Millions of mobile phones across Britain will emit a loud 10-second blast at 3pm on Sunday in a test of the new electronic warning system

    By Dominic Penna, POLITICAL REPORTER

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

    J Chapman
    6 HRS AGO
    Reply to The Purple Crocus – view message
    iPhone:
    – Settings;
    – Notifications and scroll right to bottom;
    – Turn off Extreme and Severe Alerts!

    1. My response to J Chapman:

      “…and how to disable on older Android ‘phones? Samsung Galaxy 6“

      1. This seems to be it for the United States. I think “AMBER” alerts are just the American name for their government messages.
        https://www.digitalcitizen.life/turn-off-emergency-government-alerts-android-iphone/

        American phones have a “Safety and Emergency” entry in the Settings, and you can turn off everything under Wireless Emergency Alerts apart from Presidential Alerts!

        Not sure if the phones sold in the UK have this Safety and Emergency entry?

          1. They are a completely different operating system though. Also, the phones will be configured differently in each country.

            Apparently Jacob Rees-Mogg has disabled it on his phone according to the Mail!

        2. ‘Amber’ alerts came about after a young girl of that name was abducted by a miscreant in a van. The Amber alert message gives a description of the vehicle and last known heading, allowing the general public to inform Plod of any sightings in a timely fashion.

          As for Rishi-Washi and his Project Fear klaxon, I’ve turned alerts off on my android phone.

    2. This is going to be partway through a memorial concert for my late friend on Sunday so I have switched off the alerts.

  15. One thing they are not mentioning about the SNP and it’s fall from grace, is that they were all ardent Remainers.

    Proving that it is the holier than thou Remainer politicians that are corrupt

    1. As the EU is hardly purer than the driven snow (audits not being signed off, anyone?) why should anyone be surprised that its adherents were also somewhat less than pure?

  16. Putin threatens Europe with fresh gas crisis. 19 April 2023.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/252d752db918e86d1a4c9f7c283c3b336b2c24743847214822614172305948f4.jpg

    Russia has warned Europe that it faces a fresh gas crisis next winter as it scrambles to restock reserves as Vladimir Putin launches a new attempt to weaponise energy.

    Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned gas supplier, said Europe had made it through winter despite cuts in Russian gas supplies owing to mild temperatures but warned there “is no guarantee that nature will make such a gift” again.

    In a statement on Twitter, it said restocking for next winter would not be easy, blaming “politically motivated decisions aimed at halting the imports of Russian pipeline gas”.

    As a reading of the text makes clear Putin has said nothing of the kind but why let a headline go to waste? There’s no threat either. All this is in response to the rather dry and technical observation by Gazprom [see above] on Twitter about the European Gas Market next winter.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/04/18/putin-threatens-europe-with-fresh-gas-crisis/

  17. Good morning, all. Bright and sunny with a breeze this morning.

    The mantra from the lying PTB and those they have captured and convinced with their lies is, “Correlation is NOT Causation.” It is clear, therefore, that this graph will baffle the ‘experts’.
    ‘Jellied Muscle’ sounds a particularly nasty condition to suffer but that is not unique as an adverse reaction.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/691c382bdc2501f8f1fe75c1a77f771ad358d3a5095334fd12d29940a0e46134.png

  18. Good morning, all. Sunny day, again. Lincoln outing was delightful. What a building the cathedral is. Stunning.

      1. We followed the directions (coming from the south) for “Historic Lincoln”. These took us on a new ring road to the east an brought us directly to the cathedral. And, within 400 yards there was a carpark WITH SPACES!!! Not indicated in any way – found it by chance. Very satisfactory!

      1. And another pretendy-Opposition shooting down low-hanging fruit, while standing 100% behind the WEF programme in reality!

    2. Are those leather patches on his Uniform Jacket? Naughty

      (they all seem to dress the same Scruffy)

    3. I can’t watch this. I just take one look at his face and I can’t watch it.

    5. You can see he is not right minded and should be in a secure home. Nothing more than a crank.

  20. French publisher arrested in London on terrorism charge. 19 April 2023.

    A French publisher has been arrested on terror charges in London after being questioned by UK police about participating in anti-government protests in France.

    Ernest Moret, 28, a foreign rights manager for Éditions la Fabrique, was approached by two plainclothes officers at St Pancras station on Monday evening after arriving by train from Paris to attend the London book fair.

    He was questioned for six hours and then arrested for alleged obstruction in refusing to disclose the passcodes to his phone and computer. His treatment was condemned as an attack on the right to demonstrate, amid calls for protests outside the UK embassy in Paris and the French Institute in London.

    Bit of Cross Channel harassment here. Lol. This guy didn’t even get to leave the station! Perhaps he should have come by boat? It shows when they really want to stop you. They stop you; albeit at the personal behest of the President of France.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/18/french-publisher-arrested-london-counter-terrorism-police-ernest-moret

  21. 373650 +up ticks

    Morning Each,

    ‘Woke’ Dover welcome signs for Channel migrants to be replaced
    Source says Robert Jenrick wants to make it clear to arrivals that they have broken the law and can expect to be removed

    That’s really showing them bob, LARGE written verbals is the order of the day.

    The very reason many are making the trip is to do JUST THAT.
    Think about it bobby only in the main the terrorist element are going to be “law abiding” up until the final odious ultimate act.

    when indigenous peoples have to die once again to prove security treachery is a killer as in, rhetorically telling the potential enemy it is not lawful to land without action SEEN to be taken is, in point of fact rhetorical fodder for the majority of the herd ( sufferers of mental issues) to swallow.

    Did we have any notices on beaches in 39 / 45 or verbal warnings of landings being illegal, NO we bloody didn’t, as a matter of fact
    bill stickers & co were promptly shot.

    This clearly shows the difference betwixt real government and the overseeing political reptiles the, sadly mental retards, have once again voted into power.

  23. Good morning all,

    Cloudy at the McPhee Ranch, wind still in the NE, 8℃ but it should be brighter later.

    It’s a bit of a chilly spring so far, I wonder why? Well this chap knows. This is #97 in the Tom Nelson Podcast series on climate realism which all good climate realists should have been viewing. It’s 44 minutes.

    Things are going to get decidedly colder, probably within 5-6 years, and it will blow all the Net Zero/CO2 nonsense out of the water. It’s not just the fact that we are at present at the start of a Grand Solar Minimum; that is overlying this. The only question is will enough people realise before too much damage has been done to our energy supplies and agriculture.

    Many of us here won’t be affected. We’ll be gone but our children and grand-chidren won’t be so we need to fight the brain-washing before it’s too late.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_B10L9bV18

      1. Much was made of Monday being the warmest day of the year so far, scary eh? They seem to have forgotten that it normally warms up after winter and down here its been one of the coolest springs I can remember.

  24. In case you are wondering where your council tax goes to. If you add pension entitlement onto this then there is not a lot of change:-

    3,000 town hall bosses paid six-figure salaries
    A list shows some 721 council officials are paid more than £150,000, almost as much as the £164,951 Rishi Sunak earns as Prime Minister

    By
    Daniel Martin,
    DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR and
    Dominic Penna,
    POLITICAL REPORTER
    19 April 2023 • 6:00am

    More than 3,000 council officials are taking home more than £100,000, campaigners said on Tuesday night.

    The TaxPayers’ Alliance said an analysis of councils’ accounts shows that 2,759 have staff on six-figure remuneration packages.

    But because so many local authorities did not publish their accounts, the group estimates the true total could be around 3,126.

    The news comes just weeks after local authorities put up council tax by an average of more than 5 per cent – breaching £2,000 a year for the typical Band D home for the first time.

    The alliance’s Town Hall Rich List 2023 also found that, of the accounts that have been published, some 721 council officials are earning more than £150,000.

    This compares to the £164,951 that Rishi Sunak earns as Prime Minister.

    Had all councils published their accounts, the TaxPayers’ Alliance said it was reasonable to conclude the real total earning more than £150,000 could be around 818.

    The managing director of Guildford council received the highest remuneration of any council employee in the country of those who published the data – £607,633, including a £107,195 salary, £339,158 pension contribution and £5,688 in benefits.

    John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers facing record council tax rises want to be sure they are getting value for money from their local authority leadership.

    “Many authorities continue with extremely generous pay and perks, including bonuses and golden goodbyes, while local people are facing a financial squeeze.

    “Residents can use these figures to hold their local town hall bosses to account.”

    The Town Hall Rich List found that the average number of employees who received £100,000 or more in total remuneration was 7.9 per local authority.

    The average number receiving £150,000 or more was 2.1 employees per local authority.

    Westminster Council alone had 50 employees on more than £100,000 – the highest in the country. Of the 10 local authorities with the most employees receiving over £100,000, eight were in London.

    This year saw a large reduction in the number of councils publishing accounts, with 47 failing to disclose the pay of their town hall bosses, compared to 25 local authorities last year.

    The local authority to pay out the highest amount in terms of bonuses and performance-related pay to a senior employee was Newcastle-upon-Tyne council, with their director of public health receiving a £36,192 bonus.

    A spokesman for the Local Government Association said: “Councils are large, complex organisations with sizable budgets and responsibility for more than 1,300 different statutory duties and responsibilities that make a huge difference to people’s lives. It is important that the right people with the right skills and experience are retained to deliver this important work.

    “Senior pay is always decided by democratically elected councillors in an open and transparent way.”

    A spokesman for Guildford Council said: “In the last financial year we made a one-off payment of £154,000 to the former managing director.

    “The payment was a legal obligation and reflects over 30 years of loyal service to our borough. This payment was shared equally with Waverley Borough Council in line with our partnership agreement.

    “GBC also paid £339,000 into the Surrey local government pension scheme. The fund supports all members of that scheme. We made the payment from a capital receipt, under the flexible use of capital receipt government scheme, so this has no impact on the services we provide to our residents.

    “The savings achieved as a result of the Joint Management Team across Guildford and Waverley Borough Councils has exceeded the target of £300,000 per year. The new structure is costing the Council £420,000 less than the previous structure.

    “We are confident the collaboration with Waverley Borough Council will create further opportunities for cost savings. This will result in better value for money for residents and help to protect and improve public services.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/19/3000-town-hall-bosses-paid-six-figure-salaries/

    1. Where I was born in the County Borough of Southport , It had low rates, kept in near perfect condition and run by The Town Clerk.

  26. Russia-linked hackers a threat to UK infrastructure, warns minister. 19 April 2023.

    Russia-aligned hackers are seeking to “disrupt or destroy” Britain’s critical infrastructure, a Cabinet Office minister will warn later.

    The groups have started to focus on the UK in recent months, Oliver Dowden will say in a speech.

    He will unveil new measures to support businesses “on the front line of our cyber defences”.

    Another scare story for the peasants!

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65319771

    1. The woman was rather like the Musk interviewer, when asked what evidence there was of the threat she said she was unable to tell us, implying that the source might be revealed. Of course…

    2. Good morning, those damn Ruskies will have to get a move on. Our PTB appear to be causing enough disruption and destruction to our critical infrastructure, without outside help.

    1. Lies have become the predominant means of communication by the Political Elites!

      1. The workings of our governing class are bound up in lies and obfuscations and more importantly, who is in the know and who isn’t. Are these Trevelyan’s own words or was she handed a ready made statement that she will parrot as required?

    3. Weasel words from Anne-Marie Trevelyan!
      It’s not the main instrument from the WHO, apparently it is the amendments to existing rules in conjunction with the main instrument.
      She should either stop lying or do a bit of research for herself and stop believing her civil servants and the legacy media!

  28. ‘Morning, Peeps. A forecast of sun all day and a sweltering 15°C has lifted the spirit, so off to mow the church grass later on…

    A headline in the DT:

    “Don’t deactivate emergency phone alert, No 10 urges public amid Tory backlash”

    I’m not going to bore you with the article because I have more respect for our individual blood pressures. Instead I skipped most of it and went into the BTL comments. I was not disappointed:

    The Purple Crocus
    9 HRS AGO
    This descent towards state dependency is eerily Pavlovian. Please understand that we are all born with a brain which means we are blessed with the power to be independent beings. We are not automatons to do the government’s bidding.
    I am not a law breaker, I pay my taxes, a responsible member of society but I refuse to bow down to unreasonable, illogical and sinister control mechanisms.

    El Guiri Cabron
    8 HRS AGO
    There is a reasonable case for an emergency alert system and the mobile phone network is a brilliant mechanism for this purpose.
    However, after the government lied, waged a psyops war and put the entire country under house arrest based on manifestly dishonest “data science” then worked to cover up evidence and silence those sceptical of their narrative. Well, those lying bar stewards can far cough if they think I’m going to buy in to any future government scare story or their mechanism for advertising it.
    Just searched the Notifications setting on my IPhone and disabled Extreme Alerts and Severe Alerts.

    Susan Lundie
    9 HRS AGO
    I’ve never actually used this phrase at government before (I try to maintain the illusion I’m a moderately civilised little old lady), but I fear we’re getting dangerously close to the pitchforks and tumbrils moment, and we’ve had quite enough of government attempting to force itself into our personal life in this household. We have switched off the emergency alert on our mobile phones, which we generally attempt to ignore and leave at home, or switched off as much as possible, so Mr Sunak, p**s **f out of our lives, we are not compliant, we are not your servants, Sir, and at least one of us will not be voting Tory (after a 50 year run) or for any of the other incompetents pretending to serve the public from Westminster.

    Michael Twomey
    8 MIN AGO
    As a traditionalist I will stick to dialing 999 if I happen to notice a mushroom cloud at the end of my street.

    Martyn Lincoln
    4 MIN AGO
    Waste of time and money for most people, but remember there is now a generation that needs to be told which hand to wipe their b*m with because they are so fragile as to not be able to decide themselves.
    They will probably call for a ‘trigger warning’ of the impending warning.
    Put ‘mental elf’ services on high alert for droves of affected students to be in touch, worried or offended by the noise.

    Don Jackson
    1 MIN AGO
    We have a similar system in our house using Alexa-enabled devices. “The takeaway is here”, “Has anyone seen the scissors?”, “Who put plastic in the cardboard recycling box again?”, it’s been pretty useful on the whole. I’m fairly sure it would also work for more pressing emergencies like “I’m being attacked by another alligator” or “My shoes are on fire again.”

    Debra Clarke
    9 HRS AGO
    Protect and survive. You’ve got 4 minutes to whitewash your windows, remove a door and cover yourself with it in the bath….

    1. Excellent. I switched off my extreme and severe alerts a couple of weeks ago. My phone will be off for good measure at 1500 on Sunday – just in case they have a way around it.

    2. Michael Tworney wins the internet today!

      Meanwhile, loads of idiots who probably got terrified about covid, are just setting themselves up for the next government scare campaign!

    1. I saw that yesterday. They are destroying hives under the excuse that they’re infected with mites, but the beekeepers say that’s a lie.

      1. We’ll know who is and who is not lying when/if DEFRA come out with something similar. They’re all following an agenda albeit with some small adjustments here and there but the objective is the same, reducing the food supply. Wiping out the primary pollinator is akin to an act of war on the people.

  30. I’m surprised there’s been no comment on here about Fox News and the out-of-court settlement it made this week to avoid a defamation trial. Radio 4’s ‘Today’ has just run a piece on it and it was, for the BBC, unusually even-handed, even though Amol Rajan failed to disguise his pleasure at the cost to the Murdoch empire. One conservative interviewee made the observation that “…the whole conservative project had changed from being a political one, aimed at winning elections and governing, to an entertainment one, aimed at winning audience share and earning money for the performers…”.

    A bad day for conservatives.

    Can Fox News afford the $787.5m Dominion settlement?

      1. Has he? No one’s been sacked yet. Conservatism needs a serious voice but this is a setback in country where the media is dominated by CNN and the NYT, just as here it’s the BBC, the broadcasting arm of The Guardian.

        1. The Democrats have control of most areas in the U.S.. He was not prepared to fight them with all the corrupt resourses they have. Good generals fight on the ground of their choosing.

    2. A tactical withdrawal by Fox News.
      Given the corruption within the American legal system and politics in general, better to save one’s powder for later.

    1. Good morning OLT

      Every week for the past 50 years, come rain or shine, Jennifer Wilcox has driven to Warwick to do her shopping.

      The 76-year-old, who lives in Claverdon, five miles outside the town, says it caters perfectly for all her needs: her bank, chemist and optician are all within a short walk of each other.

      But one week late last year, she found the payment machines in all the council car parks had disappeared.

      The retired secretary discovered from the car park signs that she instead had to download an app on her mobile phone and enter her bank details and car reg number to pay to park — something she wasn’t comfortable doing. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/cars/article-11987323/The-drivers-ripped-rise-daylight-robbery-parking-apps.html?ico=mol_desktop_home

      Parking fees are a nightmare now ..Cashless machines are an intrusion into our privacy .

      1. We are finding the same.

        We have village near us with Mobile Phone only Parking

        AND NO PHONE RECEPTION

      2. We are finding the same.

        We have village near us with Mobile Phone only Parking

        AND NO PHONE RECEPTION

      3. I think the answer to all this could be to put yourself on a crash course on Natural Law and Common Law. When you’ve done that use the phrases “I do not consent” and “I require trial by jury”. Pay no parking charges. They are not fines. Besides they run counter to Magna Carta 1215. “No one can be fined or charged without trial by jury of his peers”.

        Let’s get to it.

      4. In Stroud, if you haven’t got the right amount in coins, you can only pay by phone. I hardly ever go into Stroud. If I do, I wait for ‘Free after 3’ and go then for anything specific. i don’t mind using my card to pay but I won’t use my phone.

        1. I use all three, cash, card and ‘phone. Phone with the appropriate app installed is not wholly reliable, often has an ‘admin charge’ on top of the parking fee and I won’t stand making a call with my CC in my hand. Cash by preference but they MUST have machines that give change. All P&D machines don’t which is another little way they rip us off. It all adds up.

          1. Last time I tried to park in Stroud in a morning was a few months ago – I had no cash, my phone was anyway at home, no card payment facility – so I had to go back into Waitrose car park – at least they allow two hours.

      6. I see one of the places mentioned was Cirencester – it’s a while since I’ve been there and the machines were unreliable but still took card payments then. I’ll avoid going there if you have to pay by phone. I’ve already had two parking tickets in the last few years.

        1. We went there in 2021 – the car parks were already with apps, so we parked on the street a bit further out from the centre. Got a wonderful expensive shirt in a charity shop for 6 pounds! But another charity shop had a sign up saying it was card only, so we avoided that one.

  33. Good morning.
    Apparently a Walmart in Chicago got completely looted last night. There are photos all over the internet, empty shelves, packaging strewn everywhere. Too depressing to link to.

    A serious question from Forbes…
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eea4134cf68e562efb8231e42c87949d6eedd3037ef097833b6c26ddc8cd7935.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1807fc1d25b9358480b5a1acd580b4ae8a0bed14625e66590c0b88e30b6ad909.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b41408564eb97b80602f69e5042b49bd81a403ac45a6ae47968ed98da3ac5f49.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/aa50f8ad999924a53aeac8294718f645d1740133a07a964e0f1692518011fbfb.jpg

    Puppies, eh
    https://twitter.com/theDoggLovers/status/1645295073645727746
    You know you only shovel snow to amuse your dog…
    https://twitter.com/Funniest_Family/status/1648043510803873792

        1. So did my Goldens, especially Fred. He used to flump in the snow, roll on his back and make dog angels.

        2. I often took our lovely old lady to the river on boxing day. It’s in their genes to be in the water.
          In Labrador they were trained to swim out to grab and bring the ropes ashore from the fishing boats, so the guys on the shore could haul the boats in.

  34. 373650+ up ticks,

    Dt,

    The UK is blinding itself to the truth about Covid’s origins
    British institutions beholden to China or concerned about the effect on science appear uninterested in investigating the lab leak hypothesis

    Bloody sure they do, the multi jabbed and china plate lickers have no wish to lift the lid on that chest of honest contents.

  35. ‘Morning All

    Medley

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0c246ef73e65efca47ed482d67975361939a49e839b63600ea0358d571362f0b.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/80518d908b0dedf7a696a973b792772f35f915bb81843f33161b50f3e8b08e44.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/811f178d50b5709cd8d5d3c1060042dc91bc629c15437366c2892e4e922c3246.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dbf9b5738dfd75fc12368b7b07585a75c1283eb2687d50c264bfe5d00bc2dfb1.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0eed2e543e01acb7ba34e9a6ed0cdea9cc8d5b3cbdf402140bc2bc4be61b31be.jpg

    1. Oscar doesn’t particularly like going for walks; he’d rather lie on his fleecy mat and sleep.

  36. Apropos our Lincoln trip – not only was the unsigned carpark a few yards from the Cathedral – the machine took COINS.

    As we followed the “Historic Lincoln” signs for about five miles, and appeared to be getting further from the city, I did begin to wonder whether “Historic Lincoln” was a theme park – where there were lots of Lincoln Imps and Robin Hoods and one could pay to dress up in Lincoln Green…

    Fortunately not. One had to pay to visit the Cathedral – fair enough; the Quota and upkeep must be unimaginable. But wherever you went, there were more collection boxes begging you to donate for flowers, repairs – you name it.

    There was very little description of the important historic items in the building. In exchange for the £22, we were given a leaflet (small grey print on a purple background = NOT a good design) which showed some of the things but was very difficult to read.

    Thank goodness we had taken our elderly edition of Pevsner with us.

        1. Oh booger 😃
          When I’m fit enough I’m going to take Erin there for the day. It’s rather an interesting city. But that hill 🤔

          1. Park at the top and walk down….!

            The carpark we used was in LANGWORTHGATE 400 yards from Cathedral – 800 yards? from t’Castle. Level ground, too….
            If driving from Sleaford – follow A15 and brown “Historic Lincoln” signs … Worked for us.
            Five yards from carpark = Morning Start pub. http://www.morningstarlincoln.co.uk/site/index.php

          2. I can hardly climb our stairs Bill let alone walk up a hill.
            We might be going to Holt nice and flat, for a week in June Erin’s looking into it.

    3. You have to put money into a box in the cathedral in order to make a light illuminate the Imp up in the rafters.

  38. Looks like the barge will be based at Portland .. for the illegals .

    I suspect many of them will scarper once they have found their feet

    There are alot of unhappy people ..ie the County Council ..

    2. Not even “We are”.
      But hang on not everyone wants to be an accountant.
      Sometimes tape measures and gauges have number’s on as well.

    3. It’s obviously a complete spoof.

      There is NO county of Bant or Bantshire. It doesn’t exist.

  40. Morning all 🙂😉
    I’m getting a little bored with this weather. It never seems to be the same as the forecasts.
    Here’s a practical way to build young people’s confidence with numbers. A paper round helping the milkman on his rounds the Baker as well. Using public transport paying for fares choosing which bus to catch. Oh hang on………
    This takes priority now 📱 👀

    1. Join the club.
      We have outside jobs to do – painting cannot be done if there is a chance of rain. And the fences are my primary job before the plants start growing too tall.

      1. I’ve been trying to remove moss from our lower North facing rear roof since Monday. Yesterday the North westerly was blowing the loosened growth into my face. I had an eye full.

    1. “a general lack of care across the entire police force”

      The jokes write themselves these days!

    2. Never mind, hopefully you’ve all learnt a lesson. I expect you had free A&E treatment and your mental health issues will be attended to. Poor luvs.
      And you have all now realised why fences have to be erected.

    3. Personally I would thrash the lot of you (birch rod or cat o’ nine tails for preference) within an inch of your pathetic, sad, brain-dead, wimpish lives.

      [Twatter would not permit me to post this! It must be run by like-types.]

      1. Twatter accepted my reply:

        No more than they deserve – stop denying people their lawful rights and don’t expect us to consider any rights you’ve just given up, by your continual law-breaking and intolerance to the rule of law.

  42. Michael Gove gets rooftop smoking hut after being heckled in street
    Taxpayer-funded hut built after the Levelling Up Secretary was surrounded by anti-vaccine campaigners in October 2021
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/04/18/michael-gove-rooftop-smoking-hut-after-heckled-street/

    As long as Gove pays for the hut himself then that’s his business and if he wants to smoke cigarettes it is his decision to do so as long as he doesn’t inconvenience others or lumber them with extra costs.

    I agree with Percival. I think that the messianic campaign against smoking which started many years ago was a milestone in the process of Britain becoming a very less tolerant country than it used to be.

    BTL Percival Wrattstrangler

    Many cigarette smokers become zealots when they give up the habit.

    I used to buy a carton of 10 packets of cigarettes a week to see me through which meant I smoked about 28 cigarettes a day. But I have not had a cigarette since December 31st 1987 and I got married in April 1988 to a woman who has never had a cigarette in her life but whose parents between them smoked 100 cigarettes a day.

    I am still addicted to cigarettes which is why I don’t touch them but I do have the occasional pipe to which I am not addicted and which I do not smoke in company.

    I do not judge smokers as long as they are considerate of others but I think it is indicative of how intolerant the British have become that they are so vindictive towards smokers. This intolerance has spread to many other areas – for example people who have opposing views on Brexit, climate change, renewable energy and the state’s autocratic behaviour on Covid 19.

    1. I don’t think I’m intolerant or vindictive towards smokers, but the air is a lot cleaner now. I hate having smoke blown in my face. I grew up with a smoker and that made me never want to start. Nor did my children.

      1. Christo smoked for a week or two but he didn’t enjoy it and only did it because he thought it would annoy Caroline and me.

        1. My boys used to leave the doors and windows open when my mum came to stay – and they said things like “Phew! It smells like the bus in here!”

      3. When hanging pictures were removed from wall, there was a white patch, surrounded by yellow grime!!!!!

          1. Remember the colour of the ceilings of tube trains when smoking was allowed? A ig mistake to reach up and touch it…

    2. I used to smoke up to sixty cigarettes per day but gave up a long, long time ago. I still carry cigarettes to give to those who have run out or cannot buy them (on Sundays). I remember how frustrating it was to have to go without. I was once offered one by an off duty gendarme as I was leaving a bar late at night. I refused but he insisted – I took it and smoked it while he and his friend watched. He said it was amazing – like watching a ‘feu d’artifice’ fizzing and sparkling in the dark. He never offered me another.

    3. “Many cigarette smokers become zealots when they give up the habit.”
      Not in my experience.

  44. Tunisia is a country that I have known since 1968 and where I am at the moment. It is very much in the news today, although I don’t see it mentioned in the DT. The Guardian however, gets the wrong end of the stick (again).

    The leader of the Islamic party, Ennahdha (Ghannouchi) was arrested yesterday, along with a group of the most radical Islamists who have duped the naive in Europe by calling themselves the “National Salvation Front”! They are heroes of the Guardian and the leadership of the EU!

    I do not understand why so many EU countries, and much of the press, support the Islamists. Why would they want an Islamic regime on their doorstep with an inevitable flood of refugees? However, to show how out of touch they are, the most recent polls that I have seen have the president on 65% – 70% approval, the prime minister (a woman) on about 60 – 65% and Ghannouchi never above 8% (sic)!

    The best thing about the president of Tunisia is that he is not a politician and is not affiliated to any political party. His stated goal was to root out corruption of which Ghannouchi is a clever expert. The only reason why Ghannouchi is so powerful is bribery and corruption, ill-gained wealth and supported by the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) of which he is a senior member. The MB is regarded as a terrorist organisation and is banned in several countries, but not, of course, in the UK!.

    Conversation a few months ago with a Tunisian lady:

    Me: “I see that Ennahdha has organised a demonstration in Tunis today”
    She: “Yes, my son has gone there”
    Me: “Don’t tell me he supports Ghannouchi”
    She: “Of course not. He only went to collect the 50 dinars that they are paying to those who attend”!

    Very briefly, Ghannouchi was variously sentenced to life imprisonment or death for trying to overthrow the government in favour of an Islamic state in the 1980s. When there was a change of presidents in 1987, they agreed to deport Ghannouchi on condition that he is never allowed into Tunisia for the rest of his life. He ended up in Sudan in the early 1990s with senior members of the MB, the PFLP, Osama Bin Laden and many other representatives of fundamentalist Islamic organisations, even Carlos the Jackal. Bin Laden had based the operations of Al Qaeda in Sudan at this time, having been expelled from Saudi Arabia. Sudan was later forced to expel all of them and, to its great shame, Britain offered asylum to Ghannouchi who had nowhere else to go.

    When the so-called Arab Spring took place in 2011, Ghannouchi saw his chance and returned to Tunisia which has never been the same since. Accordingly, there are quite a few people here who blame Britain for Tunisia’s problems!

    After his return he was caught on a video discussing his goals with a group of Salafists.

    The video is in Arabic but a translation of the conversation was published, a précis of which is:

    “The secularists are still controlling the media, economy and administration, also the police and army’s support for Islamists is not guaranteed, therefore controlling them would require more time. The Islamists must fill the country with associations, establish Quranic schools everywhere, and invite religious preachers because people are still ignorant of Islam.”

    He also said he supported a constitutional amendment to allow for Sharia, and heaped scorn on secularists who are tolerant of Islam. “The government is now at the hands of Islamists, the mosques are ours now, and we’ve become the most important entity in the country,”

    There has been much jubilation that this malevolent person is at last in prison. He has been under investigation for a long time, for corruption, money laundering and terrorist activities, but what triggered his arrest yesterday is that he has just called for civil war!

    Among the numerous comments on news articles (many of them heavy with expletives), this is typical (translated): These are our internal affairs; our president Kaies Saïed is in his duty to cleanse the country of Islamists and all those who have destroyed my country over the past 10 years, including and especially the Islamist leader Ghannouchi!!

    Sorry for the rant!

    Edit: I have jut had a conversation with a friend who is a devout Muslim. I asked him what he thought of Ghannouchi’s arrest. He said “We are all very happy”!

    1. Thank you for the update, it’s very interesting. Glad to see that the Tunisians are dealing firmly with islamists!

        1. North Africans understand islamists – our WEF puppets don’t. Algeria dealt with theirs in a firm fashion – while Britain was giving the poor, persecuted extremists asylum in the nineties.

          1. There are Muslims and Muslims. In the UK the majority are of Pakistani origin. Arab Muslims are far more pragmatic and tolerant, apart from a small number of hotheads. That is true, not just in North Africa, but throughout the Arab world as I have learned, having visited every country in the Arab League except for the Comoros and Somalia!

            It is much more difficult to deal firmly with the Islamists in the UK, although the UK authorities don’t seem to try very hard!

    2. It’s good to see you here again SGuest! and for keeping us up to date on things our media ignore.

    3. Had a project in Tunisia way back in 1993-6. Great place, fine people, good food. Much better than Morocco back then, and the Moroccans coulnd’t understand why…
      For some reason, the UK high hiedyins support Islam and Islamicists. No idea why. And the MSM follow up with tired stereotypes – all over, such as Le Pen is right-wing! Huh.
      Edit: And I think that the MB are based in London. That doesn’t help.

    4. Sorry for the rant!

      Don’t be Sguest. We always appreciate first hand information! Nice to hear from you as well!

    6. A superb and very informative rant nevertheless.
      It’s difficult to believe why so many people in politics trust islam or ever have. I wonder if it’s because of the extreme weakness, submission or platitude and in defence of oppression, when the long proposed world take over actually happens.

    8. Thank you very much for this. There is SO little objectivity in such reporting as there is about the Middle East in the western press .

    1. Why does the Mail give these twats so much publicity?
      Beat the shit out of them all is the answer

      1. The DM is doing the nation a service:

        “On Saturday we took peaceful action at the Grand National, to save lives and bring about a kinder world. In response we were brutalised by police and private security, we’ve experienced broken bones, dog bites and pepper spray. Is this what democracy looks like?’

        “This April saw the launch of Animal Rising, a movement for all life. With only the promise of disrupting the Grand National, watched by 600million people worldwide, we already made front-page news and appeared on Good Morning Britain. And stopping the Grand National is just the beginning.

        “Our broken relationship with animals is never clearer than in animal farming and fishing. These industries are directly responsible for not only animal exploitation and suffering, but also global heating, extreme weather events, food insecurity, and the mass loss of wildlife and nature.“

        Democracy = disruption?

        These people are mentally and morally retarded.

        1. Nick Alexander, trainer of Hill Sixteen, reckons that it was the delay caused by the lunatics that contributed to the horse’s death. Normally there would only be an average of two fallers at the first; this year there were seven. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. After the delay, they would be anxious to get off and the run to the first is always, even in normal circumstances, hectic.

  51. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/04/19/italian-minister-says-country-risks-ethnic-replacement/

    Isn’t replacing the indigenous the intent of the Left? After all, all those annoying, law abiding, high tax paying white people must be a terrible burden on the state machine.

    Quote form the article:

    Mr Lollobrigida’s comments also appeared to be a response to warnings from economists that Italy will not be able to afford welfare and pension payments unless it boosts its population with immigrants.

    Err, those immigrants have no skills, no use, no value. They are welfare shoppers. They’ll consume benefits, never actually pay their own way. They are parasites.

  52. Just got round to listening to Neil Oliver’s Should Charles Be King? podcast – thank you to whoever linked it last week!
    Fantastic stuff, he voices all my misgivings about Charles (and William). I hadn’t picked up on the significance of the Coronation oath not having been made public – the Mail is carrying on as though whether Meghan Markle comes is the most important aspect of the whole day. I wonder what depressing weasel words are in store for us.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nc1CP71_Kk

    1. Neil Oliver is quite right – Charles is not fit to be king. Defender of all faiths – especially climate change, Islam and Satanism.

      1. My feeling is that he won’t have the courage to go for that one – it was said a long time ago that that idea had been dropped.

        I think we might see some weasel words around his loyalty to the British people . As Neil Oliver points out, how can he swear loyalty to the British people when he launched the Great Reset for a bunch of foreigners?
        Something like pledging loyalty to the environment, which people will think is cute, but it will really be a pledge to net zero slavery for us, is what might pop up.

        2. We will because it’s the only Coronation we are likely to witness. I am also going to make a Coronation Quiche. And we will be celebrating too.

          4. I am going to adapt it but it’s mainly cheeses and spinach. Broad beans don’t belong in a quiche.

          6. Too right. They said it gives it texture. Just don’t feed it to children as it can be a choking hazard. I just don’t believe the household chef came up with this on his own.

          8. Bland. Like Charlie boy.
            There isn’t enough cheese. There isn’t enough Tarragon. Spinach is great but doesn’t taste of much.
            In trying to please everyone it pleases no one.

            How about a home produced artisanal British cheese with watercress flan ? At least you would get to taste the damned thing.

          10. Though Charles wishes to appeal to all i don’t think he had pedestrians in mind.

            Absolutely nothing wrong with a bacon and egg flan. Trouble is…some of the ‘faiths’ would complain.

          12. I’m going to use a few cheeses, spinach and some finely chopped onion. Plenty of seasonings. When I catered my son’s rehearsal dinner I made two quiches- one meat free and one with meat. There was none left. Other food was served.

          13. Sounds good.

            I have been reading other peoples attempts at making this dish and they are not so good.

            I think sprinkling the cheese on the blind baked pastry is a good idea (as it melts it creates a barrier)but also…i read previously to avoid a soggy bottom was to lightly sprinkle semolina first.

            Next lesson…how to suck eggs… :@)

          14. Yes, but you’re an expert and I’m an amateur. Still, if it works, stick with it.

          17. My parents and sisters drove up to London from Cornwall for the occasion in 1953.

            I was left at home because I was considered too little!

          20. Saw the last one – the only differences will be this one’s in colour and the recipient is a greeniac

        3. My sister and brother in law will be here from Greece, and we are all going to the first Communion of my great niece! It will be a very special day for her, and us all!
          I should point out that my nephew is Greek Orthodox, his partner is very Catholic and the girls both attend Catholic primary. My sis is CofE, as I am, our girls are baptised and my husband was raised Methodist! As I said, it will be a very special day for us all.

  53. A sign held up by teachers in Bradford during their recent strike:

    EDUCATION IS ON IT’S KNEES PLEASE FUND US PROPERLY

  54. Muslim pupils tell Hindu classmates to convert to Islam to avoid bullying

    Think tank finds religious education is ‘fostering discrimination’ against Hindus with children mocked in class

    By Neil Johnston, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
    18 April 2023 • 9:14pm

    Muslim pupils are telling their Hindu classmates to change their religion to avoid bullying and make their lives easier, a think tank has found.

    The study by the Henry Jackson Society found that Hindu pupils are being “held responsible” for the actions of India and facing xenophobic slurs from white pupils.

    It comes after disorder broke out in Leicester between the Hindu and Muslim communities, which the report warned the same tensions are fuelling discrimination in schools.

    Half of Hindu parents said their children had suffered hatred in schools with incidents including a pupil having beef thrown at her by classmates, the report found.

    Hinduism is the third most common religion in the UK, with around one million people identifying as Hindu.
    *
    *
    *
    ************************
    Wendy Munday
    13 HRS AGO
    Politicians of all persuasions are guilty of being too lenient with people who do not abide by our laws, and Muslims are by far the worst in this respect. They have migrated here during the last sixty years and have carried on with impunity in their ways, which are diametrically apposed to ours. Most of them have made little or no effort to integrate and simply do not understand out way of life. Harassment of other religions should be regarded in a similar way to race relations.
    It angers me that those in authority are so frightened of these people. They should be told in no uncertain terms that this is our country and you live by our laws.

    Phil Moore
    11 HRS AGO
    Reply to Wendy Munday
    I long for a political party with the guts to tackle Islam.

    1. “Muslim pupils are telling their Hindu classmates to change their religion to avoid bullying”.

      But – Islam is the Religion of Peace, so why are its adherents bullying people of other religions?

      1. And why hasn’t the Telegraph noticed that this kind of bullying has been done to Christian kids for years?

      2. Because we know that islam means submission and bullying people to submit is second nature.

    2. Only the begining. We will regret allowing so many muslims into the country.

    3. “I long for a political party with the guts to tackle Islam.”

      Me too.

      Also, for a political party to shoot anyone using the words “identifying as” e.g. as in the sentence: “ Hinduism is the third most common religion in the UK, with around one million people identifying as Hindu.”

      1. But by special decree Muslims are the only people who are allowed to engage in Hate Crime.

  55. Morning, all! (I can say that for once, as I didn’t go out dancing until the early hours yesterday… 🤣)

    I have decamped to Montevideo for a few days to sort out my passage back to the UK. My ninety days in Argentina were up, and whilst I would gladly have extended that, as I still can’t access my own money due to having had my English sim card stolen, I need to come back to sort all that out. I was having difficulty finding flights back – all the affordable ones route through the U.S., and that is impossible for me, what with being an unjabbed leper and all. This gives me a bit of breathing space while I regroup.

    Interestingly, I find it a very different energy here. The underlying societal aggression, so wonderfully lacking in Buenos Aires, is back. Ah well; it’s only temporary.

    Any recommendations for things I shouldn’t miss while I’m here?

      1. Gosh, that’s definitely something I wouldn’t have thought of myself! 🙂 Thanks.

    1. A big frightening. Did Mao and Pol Pot get an early version of the memo?

    4. Happy Birthday Day Dev boy , are you now a Kentish Boy or Man of Kent and 365 Happy Unbirthdays to the next one

  58. Just in passing can I say that quite by accident I caught a part of Prime Ministers Questions on the BBC after returning from the Supermarket. It’s been some time since I last saw them and it caught me somewhat by surprise. I found myself watching their antics with increasing anger and wishing that some Divine Retribution would descend on them and destroy them all!

    1. Ugh, Minty just go back to ignoring them – it’s better for your blood pressure!

      1. Afternoon BB. I usually try to keep a cool head when watching this lot but it sort of snuck up on me!

    3. Do they show PMQs on Russian TV, Minty?

      Sorry – only joking. Based on some of the responses you get at the Speccie, from the likes of Mike Brighton et al.

      Carry on…

  59. Looks like there are movements afoot in UKIP…

    Nice bit of trolling the left in today’s email from Ben Walker….

    “Following Saturday’s National Executive Meeting, members decided unanimously to update the Party’s Rule Book, making changes to people who can apply to join the party.

    Please see the change below:

    I.6 Membership is not available to anyone who is or has previously been a member of Hope not Hate, Antifa, Communist League, Left Unity, Extinction Rebellion, Stop the Oil (or any other parties or organisations later added to the proscribed list)….”

        1. Not according to Anne-Marie Waters who left to found ‘For Britain’ but has re-joined, as per a comment and video posted here yesterday.

          1. Posted by BB2, yesterday.

            Now that is a surprise. Typo is not a good look, and she is “Anne Marie” not “Anne” as he would know if he had followed her work. But still.

            From: UK Independence Party – National Party Chairman
            To: You

            I am really pleased to announce that Anne Marie Waters has returned to politics and as “Justice” spokes for the UK Independence Party.

            This ground breaking move by Anne demonstrates her commitment to helping unite our fragmented side of the political argument, whilst also recognising that she is a political activist with so much more to give.

            Please click the link below to watch her video.

            https://youtu.be/X5eeT36K_04

      2. No, I think it’s just a move away from the mainstream media’s agenda that the far right is a threat. They’re correctly pointing out that Anty-fa and Hate not Hope are far worse in reality.

      3. Afternoon LiM. When I last looked at it there was a fight going on between Mi5 and 6 to get their man in the top position. Lol!

    3. 373650+ up ticks,

      Afternoon BB2,

      The forth segment of the lab/lic/con coalition party.

      On reflection there was only two genuine leaders of UKIP first, Gerard Batter then Richard Braine..

      After the 2019 treachery portrayed by the party nec & farage openly displaying very pro feelings towards johnson & the tory (ino) party via the brexit party it was not viable to continue Battens run of success making the party financially sound with membership building daily.
      The guts of the party left along with Batten, tis all on record.

      Outcome, the farage followers were completely duped and knackered from up / down hill climbing.

      Wasn’t ben walker ( the dodgy builder) fined for breaching building regs. now building parties , I see.

        1. 373650+ up ticks,

          Evening BB2,

          She did stand for UKIP against henry bolten then lost and left , bolten had both girlfriend & wife so he had to go.
          We held a EGM in Birmingham & elected Batten, Batten won, took the leadership for one year to allow another leadership election.
          In one year he first asked the members for £100000 and received £300000 in reply he got 13000 new members with members joining daily got the party financially out of stook and in the black
          and on course to becoming a major threat to the lab/lib/con coalition party.

          Year up he applied to re-stand as leader
          only to be told by the party nec he was
          Not in good standing within the party this after the nec ask him to extend his leadership another six months.

          Shared treachery the party nec/ nige.

          1. I know all that ogga – I didn’t vote for Bolton! It’s ancient history now though! A week is a long time in politics, remember…

          2. 373650+up ticks,

            BB2,
            Only fools forget treachery though and will repeat the same actions that got us to where we are currently.

          4. 373650+ up ticks,

            Evening BB2,

            More like ukip is the sum of its nec & leader and they add up to a bunch of treachery, going on broke and to my knowledge still owing ex leader Richard Braine monies after losing the court case.

          5. I didn’t vote for Bolton, either, but I did remark before the results were announced that he would be the one chosen!

    4. Is UKIP still ‘a thing’?

      I thought it was infiltrated and comprehensively neutered, years ago.

      I did my best. I joined. Supported the Guildford branch. Stood for election in the Borough election. There was no chance of winning, but I gave the sitting Tory a squeaky bum moment, and I beat the Lin Dem.

      But the branch Chairman and Secretary (who happened to be married to each other) both ‘sadlidied’. Surrey Heath branch offered to help. I was the only Guildford member to attend their meeting.

      Sad to say, but what remains of UKIP is even ,ore moribund than my current employer – the CofE…

      1. This is the first sign of life for several years. Despite what ogga says about them, there are some decent people involved, I think.

        2. I don’t doubt it. The Guildford branch were decent types, although some were ‘on the spectrum’.

          Sadly, the Chairman shuffled off (I played the organ for his funeral), followed by the branch secretary (his widow).

          And it all fell apart.

  60. Anyone up for a jolly jape on Sunday??
    find the most crowded place you can and at 20 seconds to 3 scream out
    “Oh my god,the russians have nuked us”
    5 seconds later cue “Emergency Alert”
    Perhaps not,that really would be shouting “Fire” in a crowded theatre………..

    1. What larks, Pip, what larks.

      Meanwhile, I’ve seen talk about being able to turn these alerts off but on my Apple phone I can’t see where to. Is it phone-specific or mobile-data-provider-specific? Can anyone help?

      Update: followed Kidaru’s advice below and found it right at the bottom of my apps list – 2 of them, extreme and severe. Both now off.

          1. Don’t forget to pour hot custard over it.
            Yummy, hot apple and custard desert.

    2. You could do it in a less crowded place…like where students hang out…just sayin’.

    3. You could try a slightly more subtle “What was that bright flash on The Eastern horizon?”

    4. You could try a slightly more subtle “What was that bright flash on The Eastern horizon?”

  61. 373650+ up ticks,

    So the coroner has changed the verdict regarding the chap who died of a blood clot ten days after the jab, from a very rare reaction to the vaccine.

    May one ask, could “very rare reaction” be defined more clearly so as to be understood by the layman, also how many “very rare reactions” would be acceptable before considering corporate manslaughter as a more apt charge.

    1. In the same way that the now Dean of St Edmundsbury, when Vicar of Fulham, used to describe every moslem terror attack as “an aberration”. I used to sit in the pews wondering how many aberrations it would take to convice him that islam is a violent creed.

    2. It’s interesting that the State tried to have cause of death written on his Death Certificate as “from natural causes”.

      One wonders how many other similar deaths have been defined as “from natural causes”?

  62. I wonder how many people, particularly young people, who do not pay any attention to the news will be traumatised by the emergency alert on Sunday?

        1. I expect they’ll all be terribly traumatised and their mental health will be compromised, and they’ll all need to have therapy and demand compensation! Just a thought…🙄

    2. If you have a phone running on Android:-

      – Settings
      – Notifications
      – Advanced settings, scroll to bottom
      – Wireless emergency alerts, disable alerts using button

      if, like me, you don’t want your Sunday afternoon disturbed by some bossy, overbearing civil servant.

      1. My iPhone is just: Settings – Notifications – Emergency Alerts – OFF! Hopefully that works.

        1. I don’t have Emergency Alerts in my Notifications. Probably my i-phone is too old.

      3. It doesn’t bother me. I only switch my phone on when I need to use it, it’s off for all but a very few minutes and used perhaps once a week, if that. I would be very unlikely to have it on during a test.

        I doubt that those I was wondering about ever turn theirs off and would be very unlikely to know about the alarm being a test.

      4. I think we’ll probably be on the train at the time, returning from Sheffield, so we’ll probably be treated to a cacophony of alerts from other people’s phones. I’ve turned mine off. Will get OH to turn his off. We probably won’t escape it.

      5. I’m rather surprised that they chose 3 pm on a Sunday. 10.45 ish would have taught those pesky God-botherers a lesson. Needless to say, they didn’t choose a Friday…

      6. My network provider informed me that alerts would not be received if the phone was off or in airplane mode.

    4. We have had these alerts for several years now. I checked back through the history and there were quite a few (maybe one every two months) missing child kind of alerts which is fair enough, I can live with that kind of infrequent interruption.

      What was missing was any bad weather alerts – we have had ice storms and tornado warnings, roads were closed over christmas and even then nowt from the alert makers.

      However, I did find a couple of mandatory stay at home alerts during covid days. Ah well, I ignored them then, I will continue to ignore them.

      1. I think there is a significant difference between a local ” heads-up” and a universal test of an apocalypse warning.

        1. We had universal messaging as well when the system was first started. Even the lost kiddie alerts are province wide and its at least a days drive to some of those remote places.

          It does come down to the intent of the message and the way the government with restricting information, I can see Vote Trudeau spam coming our way soon. There again if Trudeau winning an election is not an emergency, who knows what is!

    5. During a serial killing rampage in Nova Scotia a couple of years ago, the RCMP did not send out emergency alerts warning that a killer was on the rampage because they could not find a senior officer to approve the language in the French language warning – so nothing was done.

      You can put a system in place but it needs to be used properly.

    2. Some time ago I shared a train carriage with a large lady dressed in garish coloured striped clothes. She was rather loud and overly giggly.

      As she toddled off the platform and I contemplated the horror that is London I remember thinking ‘she is over compensating for an internal unhappiness. By being so over the top, by deliberately drawing attention to herself she is daring the world.’ I found it quite sad.

  64. Anyone see anything more on the sweet 16 shooting. It seems the perp was either arrested or shot but it went very quiet. No description given, hmmm.. Blue on Blue then, other colours are available.

    1. Sweet 16? – Ah, found it. Google before gobbing, Wibbling!

      Add to that the bank shooting – by an employee and it’s clear that americans simply aren’t mature enough for guns.

  65. Boys have been left devastated by the woke attitude to masculinity

    Perhaps the fact that some young men are looking up to Andrew Tate† will force us to sit up and take action

    NICK FLETCHER • 17 April 2023

    Society is in danger of demonising boys and young men. They are lambasted in schools by toxic masculinity crusaders and denigrated in popular culture. This environment is having a crushing impact. According to the Health Department, suicide is the biggest cause of death in men under the age of 50 and around three-quarters of deaths from suicides each year are men. Research from Future Dads last year showed that around a third of young men felt left behind by society.

    Commentary routinely seems to present boys as inherently bad. The impression is given that parents cannot be trusted to raise them as good citizens, leading to the worrying conclusion that outside organisations should do the job for them. But some organisations which come into schools and talk to boys have developed a habit of telling them to move away from “toxic” masculinity. That, in my view, feeds into a sense of uneasiness.

    There urgently needs to be more public and parental scrutiny of this type of content. We need to know exactly what is being said to boys in educational settings. I remain hopeful that the Government’s review on Relationship, Health and Sex Education (RHSE) will lead to firmer guidance on bringing external groups into schools, but it may also need to reinstate a right for parents to first view, and then withdraw their children from workshops that they deem harmful and oppressive to their children.

    We are also failing to address boys’ underachievement. Academia is not for everyone, but it should trouble us that in 2020-21, only 48 per cent of boys, compared with 55 per cent of girls, attained a grade 5 or above in both English and Maths GCSE. Of course, we should celebrate that girls are performing well – but why does this gap exist, and what is being done to bridge it? The number of male secondary school teachers in England has fallen to record lows. Thousands of boys are excluded from mainstream education.

    As a member of the Education Select Committee, I have scoured the national political and educational landscape for answers and recommendations on these issues, but I’ve been dismayed to see very little.

    It is as if people are frightened of the topic. Does anyone believe this would be the case were the genders reversed? Why don’t we see more campaigns promoting education careers for boys? Why do we have a “This Girl Can” initiative to get girls involved in sport, but no “This Boy Can” to get boys reading?

    We can no longer continue to claim ignorance of the male malaise gripping the country. Perhaps the fact that some young men are looking up to Andrew Tate will force us to sit up and take action. We agree that they deserve better role models, but little has been done to understand the dynamics behind his appeal.

    The only way through is to understand the root causes of poor behaviour, poor mental health, and the impact of bullying and violence on boys. For too long, we have failed to intervene early, then responded to any transgressions with expulsions and suspensions. My fear is that, without a systemic response, the attainment gap will widen, more young men will be left behind, and we will move further away from being an inclusive society.

    Nick Fletcher is the Conservative MP for Don Valley

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/17/boys-have-been-left-devastated-woke-attitude-to-masculinity/

    Mr Fletcher omits to mention that white boys are also the damned for being white.

    † Andrew Tate is an online ‘social influencer’. He’s not a good influence:

    Tate, 36, has claimed to be the world’s ‘first trillionaire’. He gained notoriety through social media posts about his lavish ‘alpha male’ lifestyle and promoting what he calls ‘traditional’ male values, including having simultaneous relationships with several women, fathering multiple children, and owning women as if they are property. ‘Why would you be with a woman who’s not a virgin anyway?’ Tate said in a 2014 kickboxing magazine interview, adding that women who aren’t virgins are ‘used goods’. In his YouTube videos, Tate has called cheating ‘exercise’, said he is ‘absolutely a misogynist’, and regularly referred to women as ‘bitches’. He has also said that if he were to have a son who is a ‘nerd’, ‘one of us has to die, him or me, and I’ll challenge him to mortal combat’.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/26/andrew-tate-influencers-toxic-masculinity-teenagers-misogyny/

    1. I’m not the only one in these parts that came from a poor background but managed to make good in the world thanks to a decent education.

      Can you imagine the chance of success that a white boy from a poor background would have in todays world? Everything here is focused on helping girls and / or minorities achieve success. We have government programs for black entrepreneurs, after school support programs for young girls, job discrimination where only visible minorities can apply for positions.
      I received free education and a grant to go on to university, nowadays they will be denied a university place because of their sex and ethnicity.

      1. Both my boys went to a grammar school and on to university. We were poor, but they had a good education and they too had a grant and free tuition. They only had small student loans which they were able to pay off quickly.

        1. Our younger son has just finished paying off his student loan £400 to cover accommodation, food, books, travel, everything. He did two first degrees, 7 years in total. His loan was £27,000. We paid his course tuition fees. He is 40 next month. He has been paying his loan off for 14 years. We did assist by sending him cash from time to time, and we paid his house deposit for him. Our elder son enlisted with the RAF, so no loan to repay.

          1. Mine are aged 52 & 49 at the moment so they went at a good time. They both did menial jobs during the holidays which is a good thing, I think. I also became a single parent while the elder one was at university. so that did help them obtain the full grant. My elder son managed to get EU funding for his masters, as he stayed on in Swansea. He thought he should get something back from the EU!

      2. There are still good apprenticeships that can lead to a successful career. The whole degree path isn’t what it used to be.

  66. Moh and I feel faint .. we are listening to GB news about the migrant National Emergency.

    Thousands more than last year expected …

    It is costing £billions .

  67. SNP in humiliating U-turn after uproar from Scotch whisky industry

    Humza Yousaf scraps plans to restrict alcohol advertising after industry backlash

    Rachel Mortimer • 18th April 2023 • 5:48pm

    Humza Yousaf has backed down on plans to ban alcohol advertising after warnings it threatened one of Scotland’s proudest exports – Scotch whisky. The Scottish National Party has U-turned on proposals which would have restricted alcohol advertising and promotion in a bid to reduce alcohol abuse and underage drinking in the country.

    Last year the party enraged the Scotch whisky industry after a consultation published under Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership claimed “alcohol products in each beverage sub-sector are essentially variations of the same thing”. But in his first statement as First Minister to the Scottish Government in Holyrood on Tuesday, Humza Yousaf scrapped the proposals and confirmed the plan had been taken “back to the drawing board”.

    Mr Yousaf said: “The aim of this consultation – to reduce the harm caused by alcohol to children – is not just admirable, it’s one that I support wholeheartedly. But it is clear that some of the proposals have caused real concern to an industry which is already facing challenges on multiple fronts. I have therefore instructed my officials to take these ideas back to the drawing board, work with the industry, and crucially with public health stakeholders, to agree a new set of proposals.”

    The First Minister said he wanted to reduce the harm caused by alcohol to young people without undermining Scotland’s “world class drinks industry or tourism sector”.

    Scotch whisky, which by law can only be made in Scotland, is exported at a rate of 53 bottles per second, according to the Scotch Whisky Association, the industry trade body. In 2022, Scotch Whisky exports were worth £6.2bn.

    Vendors of Scotch whisky had previously hit back at the SNP’s claim that all alcohol products were equal, warning the comments showed “no regard for the history” of one the country’s most famous exports. Mark Kent, of the Scotch Whisky Association, welcomed the climbdown, which he said had signalled “…a reset with the Scottish business community. The Scotch whisky industry is aligned with the Scottish Government on reducing alcohol misuse but the sweeping proposals set out in last year’s consultation would have distracted from that goal and would have caused unnecessary damage to the Scottish economy and society.”

    Mr Yousaf also delayed the roll out of the Scottish government’s controversial Deposit Return Scheme, a recycling plan which would charge a 20p deposit on single-use cans and bottles. The premium would be refunded if the consumer returned the can or bottle to a qualifying retailer.

    The scheme was due to begin this August, but has now been postponed until the beginning of March next year, after small businesses warned of additional costs when finances are already stretched.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/snp-humiliating-whisky-u-turn-alcohol-same

    I’ve never been as interested in Scottish politics as I am now! Sadly, three years to the next wee pretendy election is a bit of a wait…

      1. Turn your puke-o-meter on to stun.
        https://www.tvguide.co.uk/detail/5078128/82640182/naked-attraction

        Sarah from Plymouth becomes the first ever returning picker having previously been on the show as David. Now proudly pansexual and living as a woman, Sarah can’t wait to road test her new body and hopes her first date as a woman will be everything she has dreamed of. Twenty year-old plumber Jamie from Swansea is fed up with being hit on by OAPs at work, he comes into the studio looking for love


        How on earth do such programmes get commissioned?

  69. Can someone point me towards a good source of information on anti-inflammatory foods?
    A glance at the first page of any internet search shows a bunch of website parroting the red-meat-bad mantra, and none of them mentioning seed oils.
    Considering that the mainstream recently came out with the gem that the diabetes epidemic is down to too much red meat, I really don’t take them too seriously.

    1. I have found it it depends on the individual and time of life – I could eat things when I was young that cause inflammation now (I’m 60) – all starches, some alcohol – poor red wine but decent red is ok – some spirits – no vodka, but whisky and rum are ok. I can no longer eat avocados or cheese (anything with lactose or dextrose) but parmesan is ok. I live on tomatos which are supposedly full of allergens – just none which bother me, for now.

      I’ve been taking black onion seeds since covid as it is supposed to have anti-inflammatory qualities.

      I live off meat and fat meat in particular – jambon de montagne, chops, lamb (especially shoulder) as I need the energy I’m not getting from carbs. I am fit and healthy, I walk and cycle and teach martial arts, so you are right to discard the meat-bad trope. Utter nonsense.

      But it might very much depend on your own metabolism – what hurts me may not hurt you and vice-versa. Our genes need a shotgun approach as until recently when our mothers became pregnant no-one knew what food would be readily available when would be born. So even in the same family there might be a wide variety of food intolerance and preference.

      I suggest you try one kind of food per day and see how you feel afterwards. Note that sometimes the inflammation can kick in a day or two later and may translate elsewhere than in your joints – migraine might be caused by inflammation, and so might depression.

      Something that has greatly helped my arthritic ankle (volley ball injury when I was 26) is CBD oil. Expensive but well worth it. And it also helps my dog – forgets her arthritic hip when I give it to her.

    2. I would like to help but most resources that don’t spout the eat less meat propaganda are difficult to find.

      As a rule….do the opposite of what is being said. I know of nutritionists saying we aren’t eating enough protein rich red meat but as you can guess….the sound of silence.

      1. I wonder if you may help. Air Fryer delivered today and I’ve downloaded the safety manual.

        Can you recommend a good air fryer cook book with details of ingredients and cooking method(s)?

        2. I have been looking around for one myself. Not much luck with that.Best i can suggest is YouTube.

    3. I just purchased this for the MR’s birthday:

      The Kitchen Prescription:
      101 delicious everyday recipes to revolutionise your gut health
      by Saliha Mahmood Ahmed

      Might be handy. Amazon has it.

      1. Thank you Belle, that is a good list.
        That site looks very mainstream, but it seems to have a preventative approach to health, and the content looks good.
        I am surprised they don’t list cows milk as being inflammatory though – I thought that was pretty well established. Or is that just more propaganda?

    5. The Four Poisons (all of which contribute to the ever-increasing incidence of chronic disease) are:

      ● Refined Sugar.
      ● Refined Wheat.
      ● Processed Foods.
      ● Vegetable Oils      , including:
      ● Soybean oil. ● Corn Oil.
      ● Canola/Rapeseed Oil. ● Grapeseed Oil.
      ● Cottonseed Oil. ● Flaxseed (Linseed) Oil.
      ● Sunflower-seed Oil. ● Safflower-seed Oil.
      ● Rice Bran Oil. ● Peanut Oil.
      ● Any undefined ‘Vegetable’ Oil.

      Vegetable Oils are poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and are over-rich in — particularly — Omega-6 [linoleic Acid] fatty acids; the overeating of which is known to cause inflammation, the primary cause of:

      ● Metabolical Derangement, which manifests itself thus:
      ● Mitochondrial Dysfunction (energy dysregulation and failure), which often directly leads to:

      ● Obesity. ● Heart Disease,
      ● Atherosclerosis (fatty deposits in artery walls), ● Arthritis,
      ● Hypertension (high blood pressure), ● Cancers,
      ● Strokes, ● Metabolic Syndrome,
      ● Type 2 Diabetes ● Insulin Resistance,
      ● Fatty Liver, ● Asthma,
      ● Depression, ● Postpartem Depression,
      ● Schizophrenia, ● Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
      ● Alzheimer’s Disease/Dementia, ● Parkinson’s Disease,
      ● Macular Degeneration ● Low Testosterone
      ● Menstrual Irregularities, ● Infertility,
      ● Fibrosis, ● DNA Damage,
      ● Inflammation, ● Crohn’s Disease,
      ● Lupus, ● Pain.

      On the other hand:

      ● Animal fats, including:

      ● Butter, ● Pork Lard,
      ● Beef Tallow, ● Lamb or Beef Suet,
      ● Goose or Duck Fat, ● Fish Oil
      ● Cheese, ● Unsweetened Yoghourt,
      ● Milk, ● Cream.

      These have been proven (for millennia) to promote good health and physical wellbeing, and are tasty and nutritious.

      In addition, the following natural vegetable (fruit) fats have been declared by modern science as (generally) healthy:

      ● Olive Oil, ● Avocado Oil. ● Coconut Oil.

      ● MCT Oil [oil from coconuts containing C8 (caprylic acid) Medium-Chain Triglycerides.

      1. From the time our ancestors emerged from the primordial soup, our species has enjoyed a natural diet of nutritious foods of both plant and animal origin. As we became more civilised, we extended that food intake of animal and plant products, including dairy and the cooking of our foods. Humans were a fit, slim and healthy animal and our natural nourishment kept us well and free from most diseases and ailments.

        Then came the agricultural and industrial revolutions. Grain crops began to proliferate and mechanical methods of altering those crops became mainstream. This, by no coincidence whatsoever, was the start of a general decline in the overall health of the species coupled with an incremental rise in the occurrence of modern diseases and physical disorders.

        At the age of 72 I am not anticipating a progressive deterioration in my health leading to my premature death; au contraire, I am looking forward to improving my health and wellbeing, exponentially, in order to live as long as possible while continuing to enjoy good health.

        Life is not a dress-rehearsal: we only have one stab at it. From now on, for me, all the following foods are history:

        ● All alcoholic drinks (yes, I’m now a teetotaller), ● Sugars,
        ● Confectionery, ● Chocolate,
        ● Ice-cream, ● Sweet desserts,
        ● Breakfast cereals, ● Flours,
        ● Bread, ● Cake,
        ● Scones, ● Biscuits,
        ● Pies, ● Pastry,
        ● Pasta, ● Noodles,
        ● Rice, ● Root vegetables,
        ● Processed foods … ● … and ALL processed vegetable oils.

        Radical, I know, but I want to live long and healthily and I shall still continue to enjoy the nutritious food I really love:

        ● Meat, ● Fish,
        ● Stocks, broths and home-made soups, ● Stews, hash and casseroles.
        ● Cheese, ● Cottage Cheese,
        ● Eggs, ● Greek Yoghourt,
        ● Most fruit, ● Leaf vegetables,
        ● Some nuts, ● Most berries,
        ● Tea (mashed properly in a teapot), ● Espresso coffee,
        ● A little milk, ● Cream …
        ● … and lots of water

        1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVJM_0XEiBI&list=WL&index=87 “FAT: A Documentary — Health & Wellness, Diet, Food.” [24/05/22]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUADs-CK7vI&list=WL&index=31 “Fat Fiction – Full Movie – Free.” [29/07/21]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4kXpioDkU4&list=WL&index=52 “The Pandemic of Omega 6 Induced-Obesity: Can It Be Reversed?” [25/09/21]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL-h_8CJyQk&list=WL&index=61 “Omega 6, Linoleic Acid, toxicity on Keto? What you need to know.” [11/09/21]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN6yGbyMiUE&list=WL&index=27 “Cholesterol & Statins: Behind the headlines.” [26/09/21]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxJzC2u1dv4&t=0s “Stop Using Obesity Oil on your Food and Calling it ‘Keto’.” [31/08/21]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8dEjA-Oy-s&list=WL&index=35 “The Ultimate Big Fat Keto Lie is NOT about Saturated Fats.” [03/09/21]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt10g7_3-E8&list=WL&index=28 “How to Fix Your Omega 6 and improve your metabolic health profoundly.” [20/09/21]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A472KZtxI5M&list=WL&index=27 “Why Did We All Get Sick? The Nutritional Transition & How Seed Oils Drove It.” [25/08/21]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2g-OW-NZcY&list=WL&index=40 “Carbohydrate: The Dose Is The Poison!” [03/10/21]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQmqVVmMB3k “The $100 Billion Dollar Ingredient making your Food Toxic.” [19/09/21]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH_tk6Bn0pM&list=WL&index=31 “Why LDL Goes Up on Low Carb.” “Is LDL Cholesterol Bad?” “Risks of Statins.” [11/02/21]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kGnfXXIKZM “Diseases of Civilisation: Are Seed Oil Excesses the Unifying Mechanism?” [13/06/20]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mc7O-7BUZg “Cholesterol Is Not The Cause Of Heart Disease.” [05/10/20]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_QdNX9etCg “Do statins prevent or cause heart disease? Should LDL be called ‘bad’ Cholesterol?” [28/06/20]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWg0oBFRZPI&list=WL&index=33 “Cholesterol Is Not The Cause Of Heart Disease.” [13/11/20]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GUIBNKnT1M&list=WL&index=28 “Low Carb Diet: Fat or Fiction? Does it work?” [17/11/14]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKfR6bAXr-c&t=2s “Longevity and why I now eat One Meal A Day.” [27/07/16]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQYyOvCAM_E&list=WL&index=27 “Low-carb: myths that refuse to die.” [26/07/20]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KrmpK_Lckg&list=WL&index=26 “What about fibre?” [06/01/19]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reBRMw0BeEk&list=WL&index=26 “Will a low-carb diet shorten your life?” [14/09/19]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQmqVVmMB3k “The $100 Billion Dollar Ingredient making your Food Toxic.” [19/09/21]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRcVZ1G7kRI&list=WL&index=40 “Why I Eat Five Eggs A Day For My Heart.” [31/07/21]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtH7Y4eNV2s Nutritional Model of Modern Disease [01/04/14]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmdncv-xWsM&list=WL&index=37 The Top 9 Foods You Should STOP Eating Today! [28/08/21]

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS0Qr7wRr9o&list=WL&index=33 Five Years After Stopping My Statins. [03/02/18]

          1. I’d add “anything with soy in” to the banned list.

            For a specifically anti-inflammatory diet, Belle’s website suggests the following:
            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/307ae979c7a63f344bdf765529e51fdb987c3faffb386b6db5b8cc02933080d8.jpg
            Cinnamon, ginger are also supposed to be good, I think.
            I have been taking quercetin tablets for more than a year now, and my hair is noticeably thicker. They are supposed to have an anti-inflammatory effect, and it occurs naturally in blue fruit and veg, of course.
            So maybe quercetin and turmeric tablets as food supplements would be a good idea.

          2. If you chop up a large onion, four cloves of garlic, a big knob of ginger, a large spoonful of turmeric, a handful of black peppercorns, the juice of a lemon and enough honey to sweeten. Add these to a pan with a pint of water and bring to the boil then simmer for 15 minutes. Strain into a bottle and then drink one tablespoonful of this mixture every morning to cleanse out your system.

        2. F that for a game of soldiers.

          I would rather live a few years less than be constantly anal ysing everything I eat and drink.

          The way the world is moving suggests that your extra years will be cold, wet, miserable and defined to the last calorie of allowed consumption by a bunch of politicians an Green Goblins. Rather you than me.

          1. I’m inclined to agree.

            As a diabetic, I moderate my carbs. Mostly. But sometimes, life gets in the way. So I’ll adjust my insulin, if I remember.

            But – having confounded the actuaries by reaching State Pension age – I look around and think “why bother”?

          2. Funnily enough, we are having a healthy salad with some cheese and shrimp tonight. Shepherds Pie in fridge for a rerun tomorrow.
            We both like salad and eat quite healthily and usually cook from scratch.
            But if either of us wants a slice of cake or some sweets we will have some. And there is no way we are giving up our evening tipples.
            In my case a glass or several of wine is the only thing that slightly eases the pain in my face.
            If I am going to do any damage to my innards, I’d rather do it with wine than overdose on ibuprofin or similar.

          3. 100% on that, but if I may; I think your spell-checker might have kicked in:
            And there is no way we are giving up our evening triples…
            };-))

          6. No and our drinks shelf is the top of the fridge. We only have a small place.

          7. A drinks shelf!?!?
            WOW
            I have a wine box on the end of the counter.

            OK, I also have a cellar with room for a few thousand bottles of wine, but at the moment it contains several empty wine racks, three half bottles of Monbazillac, one bottle of Taylor’s ’64 port and 7 bottles of expensive Burgundy, a “significant” birthday present from my children, six tins of wall paint, a few containers of specialist paints and a cellar pump.

          8. Horses for courses. All I am interested in is minimising the chance of getting a ‘modern’ disease as a result of eating crap food.
            I simply eschew rubbish and eat good old-fashioned meat, fish, eggs, cheese, fruit and veg. A bit like my grandparents did.

      2. Thanks!
        I did a search on cows milk, and the idea that it is inflammatory appears to rest on the saturated fats theory.
        Other studies, notably one sponsored by the US National Dairy Council appear to show the opposite.

        From https://www.arthritis.org/health-wellness/healthy-living/nutrition/healthy-eating/dairy-and-inflammation
        “Dairy Research
        A study published in The Journal of Nutrition in 2015 found that eating dairy foods increased low-grade inflammation in a small sample of German adults. And a study of more than 40,000 people with osteoarthritis (OA) found that those who ate more dairy products were more likely to need hip replacement surgery. On the other hand, several studies have found that drinking milk and eating yogurt can lower the risk of gout.

        Despite conflicting information, overall, research paints a positive picture for milk-based products. A 2017 review of 52 clinical studies, published in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, concluded that dairy generally has anti-inflammatory effects, except in people allergic to cow’s milk. Still, the authors of that review noted there’s surprisingly little known about what components of dairy products might be helpful versus harmful. Milk-based products contain all sorts of nutrients and active compounds, including calcium, vitamin D and a variety of fats and proteins. And the proportions of those nutrients vary from food to food.

        It’s hard to draw conclusions, Dr. Hu says, for an important reason: “Dairy isn’t a single food.” Dairy covers everything from yogurt to cheese to ice cream. Even liquid milk differs from glass to glass (i.e., skim options versus full-fat varieties). So far, the research hasn’t drilled down to say which components of which dairy products might be most healthful (or harmful).

        The most consistent evidence so far centers on yogurt. “Yogurt is associated with decreased inflammation, decreased insulin resistance and it may prevent type 2 diabetes,” Dr. Hu says. Nutrition researchers believe yogurt’s anti-inflammatory power comes from the probiotics it contains, but that has yet to be confirmed with rigorous trials, he says.”

        Belle’s link give the following list for foods to avoid:
        Processed foods: potato chips and fast food (98Trusted Source, 99Trusted Source)
        Refined carbs: white breads, white rice, crackers, and biscuits (92Trusted Source, 100Trusted Source, 101Trusted Source)
        Fried foods: fries, fried chicken, and mozzarella sticks (93Trusted Source, 94Trusted Source)
        Sugar-sweetened beverages: soda, sweet tea, and sports drinks (96Trusted Source, 97Trusted Source)
        Processed meats: bacon, ham, and hot dogs (94Trusted Source, 99Trusted Source, 102Trusted Source)
        Trans fats: shortening and margarine (103Trusted Source)

        which is essentially the same, as the fried foods are mostly fried in veg oils these days, with the exception of processed meats (nitrites).

    1. Its raining and you burnt teh roof off your barracks – too bad. Lock the bloody gates and just leave them to repair the place themselves.

      Make sure than all food delivered courtesy of the taxman requires preparation and cooking in those commercial kitchens.

        1. Scratchings?
          Food of the Gods with a few pints on a Saturday afternoon after a hard game of rugby.

      2. We have to live with the consequences of our actions – why shouldn’t they?

    2. OK, so nothing to cook on, then.
      And if they burn the camp, they can bloody well live out in the rain.

  73. Well lunch at the organic cafe was not too exciting – I had a bowl of squash & carrot soup which was ok with nice sourdough bread and butter. Car park was very full and I had to move my car to let someone out.

    1. It was “no meat day” in the canteen at work today. For breakfast I got scrambled eggs but there were only fake sausages. Had mushrooms instead. Rather real fungi than pretend meat.

      1. The cafe only serves meat on Sundays! The others had quiche & salads but there was very little choice.

  74. OT – curious thing, life. A cousin died last Friday. He was 76.

    A keen golfer (fool), in November he was half way through a round, which he had played quite normally. He then picked up a club and said, “I don’t know what to do with this.”

    Upshot was – hospital – massive brain tumour – operation – some apparent respite. February – all started up again. Went downhill rapidly. Last month bedridden at home – 24 hour care etc. Died. Terribly fit bloke. Sporty; sensible diet; sobriety itself. Yet the poor bastard gets a ghastly thing in his head. Seems terribly unfair to me.

      1. Not a sausage. His sister said that she could never remember having a day’s illness.

        1. I think that on balance I would prefer 75 very good years and one bad than 90 or so where every other one has problems.
          Easy to say of course.

          1. I agree. Even worse than 90 is living on an extra 5 years to 95 in a terrible state of frailty.

          2. My M-i-L is 97, she still does stretching and strength exercises, recommended by HG, every morning.
            Walks to and from the supermarket, walks down the hill and up into the town for shopping, but compromises by taking the bus back.
            And she walks to and from the Church twice a week and travels up to London on the train periodically, for concerts!

            I think she may be a witch, but then again, so is her daughter HG!

    2. Friends young Malaysian wife died about a month ago, same cause. Desperately sad, poor man is in bits. Lovely lady, too.

      1. Dreadful.
        I tend to err away from an up vote, although it says one agrees with the comment.

      1. No idea, Geoff. We were not close. All I was told was that the tumour grew extremely quickly.

        1. Handcuffs might appeal to her. As I made clear to you a couple of years ago when we didn’t have a conversation on the topic, I know nothing about her supposed sexual proclivities and the malicious gossip that wasn’t doing the rounds in the Scottish press because of her super injunctions.

  76. Does anyone know why we have given France so much dosh to hold back the illegals , yet why has Sunak said there will be 56,000 arriving this year?

    1. To show us how bad it would be if France was actively encouraging them to leave?

      /double sarc.

    3. cus we is dimmmmmmmmmmm

      cus our ‘government’ is more dimmmesterer than than any other in the world

    3. I never had you down as an international financier.

      I saw my first swallow of the summer on Saturday.

      1. I saw a house martin yesterday in Lincolnshire. MIght have over-wintered, of course.

        1. The bird I saw flew by so quickly it might have been a martin or a swift, I was guessing because of the tail feathers and where I saw it.

        2. Sand martins are one of the first summer visitors to arrive (first week in March is common). House martins arrive a little later. Spotted flycatchers are usually the last to arrive in mid-May.

      2. Dianne’s youngest had a very well-paid job, selling SWIFT’s services. His GF – now wife – got a job teaching in Bangkok. As far as I can tell, he’s now a ‘kept man’ spending his time playing video games. Sigh…

        1. On leaving the pub rumour has it, that after two swallows, LotL swiftly heads home for the martin ies.

  78. Par Four today.

    Wordle 669 4/6
    🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟩⬜🟩⬜🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Me too.

      Wordle 669 4/6

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

      1. Me also
        Wordle 669 4/6

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

    3. Double bogie yesterday to birdie today.

      Wordle 669 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
      🟨⬜🟩🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Terrible isn’t it.
      Our parents and grand parents generation would absolutely hate it.

  81. OT – an anecdote for former RAF Nottlers.

    Although I never served, I spent part of many of my first 18 years living on RAF stations. I therefore grew up knowing the geography and architecture of such places.

    On our trip to Lincoln, we drove up the A15. Just south of RAF Waddington, I saw on the left what looked like the remnants of a control tower. I told myself that it couldn’t be – (a) it was only a couple of miles from Waddington and (b) it was too close to the road.

    When we got home, I did some research. It WAS an old control tower. There WAS a fighter station there. RAF Coleby Grange – built in 1938. Grass runways. Converted in 1956 to a (USAF) Thor Missile Site. Closed in 1965. Only the control tower (and a bit of Thor baffle wall) remain.

    Those were the days …..

    1. Taking a look at the OS map for East Anglia you can see the outline of numerous old airfields. I often wondered how those chaps with few electronic aids found their way back in bad weather. Perhaps they put down wherever they could find and retired to the bar until morning. There are numerous books with ghost stories detailing those who are said to still climb the control towers. Many years ago, having told my young son of the rumours, one day we stopped and wandered into an old tower. He became absolutely petrified, we left sharpish!

      1. I suspect that if one used google-earth, during a particularly hot dry summer, that the ghosts would be very visible.

      2. Search for Coleby Grange in YouTube, and the first video that came up was a ghost story!

      3. In Lincolnshire -= they used the Cathedral as a navigation aid. Also the “drains” in west Norfolk.

        The control tower that I saw is said to be haunted……

      1. I served at a North Norfolk Airfield – RAF West Raynham from 1961 to 1964 finally on 85 Sqdn.

        1. Some of my mates went there in 62 from Leeming I think with the T11 Canberras, I’m sure it was to 85

  82. A plea to our Dear Founder. Geoff – the e-mail address I have for you appears no longer to exist. Could you possibly mail me so that I can re-establish contact?

        1. So you don’t like the lucky bastards who live here telling you how wonderful our lives are compared with living in the UK on a similar income?

    2. Yo, Bill. When I first used Plusnet for broadband, they offered a free domain name, which I gratefully accepted. When I knew I was moving elsewhere mid 2020, I dispensed with their services. I’ve spent two years trying to rescue my domain name, but no joy.

      Email to follow…

  84. That’s me for today. Glorious sunshine ruined by a bitter north-easterly gale. OK in the greenhouse – but not much fun outdoors.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain – more of the same weather – apparently. Then rain on Friday – then much colder…..(yawns..)

    1. Half the wokies wouldn’t realise milk came from a cow, rather than cartons in a supermarket, anyway!

  86. An essay on Luxury Communism…

    Being a Just Stop Oil activist only makes sense if you’ve been pampered by Mummy and Daddy

    Instead of offering a rational argument, their attention-seeking disruptions increasingly look like a spiteful, class-based attack

    ALLISON PEARSON • 18th April 2023 • 7:38pm

    The picture of the Just Stop Oil protester who jumped on to a table at the World Snooker Championship at the Sheffield Crucible and scattered orange powder is hugely damaging. And I don’t mean for the table. (How much do you love the fact that master of ceremonies and BBC commentator, Rob Walker, emerged with Marigold gloves and a hoover to clear up after the little blighter?) It’s the green cause, not the green baize, that comes out of it worst. Full marks to a member of the audience who surely spoke for the nation when he shouted, “You p—-.”

    Public patience with this kind of selfish stunt is just about exhausted, I think. Frankly, the Just Stop Oil brat was lucky the audience didn’t brain him with a red followed by a colour. The green ball would have dealt a perfect kind of poetic justice.

    Just look at the stony faces of the spectators behind the brat. He kneels there, mouth agape, fancying himself a martyr while more closely resembling a bawling toddler who has been told he has to eat his broccoli before having a Petits Filous fromage frais. Those people in the audience paid their hard-earned money to watch a game between Joe Perry and Robert Milkins; it was a treat, an absorbing pleasure to be saved up for and savoured. But Edred Whittingham – or as I prefer to think of him, Crispian Entitled-Pratt – thinks it’s OK to sabotage the recreation of ordinary working people because he can’t be bothered to make his case against new fossil fuel projects through argument and persuasion, the traditional route in a democracy.

    Instead of producing a rational case against oil and gas, Entitled-Pratt and his pampered pals stage a series of attention-seeking disruptions which target mass sports (Grand National, snooker, the London Marathon is rumoured to be the next target) and the industries (energy, finance) that afford them the luxury of deluded thinking. More and more, Just Stop Oil and its doolally sibling Extinction Rebellion start to look like a spiteful, class-based attack on hard-working families. Families that are already reeling from high fuel bills caused by the UK’s parlous lack of energy security.

    To force the Government to stop giving out permits for new oil and gas wells, making us more dependent on erratic renewables when there is a real danger the lights might go out, is the kind of irrationality which only makes sense to a select few who are going to inherit £3 million houses from Mummy and Daddy in Barnes.

    Then there are the middle-aged virtuosi like Cathy Eastburn. Mrs Eastburn, who is currently on trial accused of being part of the Insulate Britain protest at the Swanley Interchange, is the wife of a former director of Transport for London. Of course she is. She lives in a £1.5 million house in London with her husband Benedict, an Oxford-educated descendant of William the Conqueror. Of course she does. Benedict – brace yourself, dear reader, for the most exquisitely perfect detail – was given responsibility to get traffic moving again after the Covid pandemic. Not easy, obviously, when the missus has glued herself to the M25.

    On the first day of the trial, involving Mrs Eastburn and three other numpties who are accused of blocking the motorway, jurors heard from a woman who was desperately trying to reach a dying friend in hospital.

    Just Stop Oil protesters don’t care. They don’t care how much grief they cause – ambulances attempting to collect the desperately ill, carers trying to travel between their patients or simply white man van needing to get his tools to a job so he can earn enough to pay the gas bill. All practical considerations are piffling to these stunningly selfish people in their rarefied eco-bubble. Environmentalist Marie Antoinettes, they yawn: “Let them ride bikes.”

    Another infuriatingly smug type turned up in Monday night’s Panorama, called Road Wars: Neighbourhood Traffic Chaos. Justin Rowlatt reported from Oxford where the imposition of low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) is causing public anger and street clashes with an obstruction on Howard Street becoming “probably the most abused bollard in the UK”.

    One resident, a Guardian reader judging by her superiority complex, told Rowlatt that vehicles were interfering with her “freedom” to ride a bike safely in car-free streets. Would those be the same cars, Ms Antoinette, that are bringing much-needed custom to local shops owned and staffed by people who can’t afford to ferry organic root vegetables from a bijou grocer in the wicker basket of their Pashley Tricycle (yours for a very reasonable £995)?

    The Panorama programme billed itself as “featuring stories from both sides of the debate”. Of course, that debate is already settled as far as the Corporation is concerned. That’s why Rowlatt holds the title of BBC climate editor and people who spoke out against LTNs and the 15-minute city idea (in which you have to give the authorities a reason to grant you an exemption for leaving your area) were branded “climate-change deniers”. Perhaps they would just like a debate before life as we know it is returned to the pre-industrial age in pursuit of a goal that will make not a gnat’s bite of difference to global CO2 levels?

    Personally, I prefer to call Just Stop Oil and LTN fanatics “human life deniers”. Protect the planet, sod the people!

    I notice there is now a man with the creepy-sounding job of BBC climate disinformation specialist. Let’s hope he has a watertight explanation as to how we are going to abandon oil, coal and gas in short order and get all our power from renewables. Except, oh dear, to achieve that we need to find a way to store electricity in very large quantities at very low cost. But there is no viable technology to do that at present, nor will there be in the foreseeable future. Anyone who tells you otherwise is talking bollards.

    Yet, complete and utter bollards is now the settled policy of all major political parties. Trust me, this is going to turn very nasty, once people grasp the full implications for their lifestyles.

    Funnily enough, on Saturday I had my own run-in with a Just Stop Oil protester whose group was doing a slow march that was completely blocking our town centre on what should have been the busiest day of the week for beleaguered retailers. I was incensed because the police, instead of wrestling the protesters to the kerb and clearing the road for traffic, were providing a cheery escort. The protester, who looked like Catweazle’s vegan grandson, handed me an apocalyptic leaflet warning of the hellfire we would be plunged into if we didn’t stop drilling for oil. I refused the leaflet with a loud, No!

    “You are angry, lady,” he said.

    Too right. I’m angry that spoilt, callow kids like him are assuming the moral high ground while our country is morally blackmailed into a self-inflicted disaster that will bring down the standard of living for millions who didn’t know they’d voted to be poorer or colder. Or have less fun in their lives.

    Here’s a suggestion. As Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain and so many of our politicians and opinion formers are convinced of the rightness of their cause, why not let them go first? Call it a pilot scheme for net zero. They can’t own a car, they can’t fly, they can’t take a foreign holiday (in fact, let’s ban them from leaving their country). They mustn’t use, eat or wear any product which has had oil involved in its manufacture. Nor must they consume any foodstuff which hasn’t been produced within 15 minutes of their front door. Their homes must be warmed by heat pump only (gas boilers and electric heaters will be confiscated) and they aren’t permitted to use any electricity which wasn’t generated by wind or solar power. We may need an island for the control group – all suggestions welcome.

    Let’s give them two years living like the Amish and see how keen they are on decarbonisation, eh? [Nottlanders have been suggesting this for a while…]

    I’m delighted to say that the World Championship resumed at the Sheffield Crucible to a standing ovation. Judging by the hostile public reaction to the brat, it’s Just Stop Oil that got snookered.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2023/04/18/just-stop-oil-snooker-protest-activists-know-nothing

    2. What we need to do is identify some simple action that we can all do to annoy Just Stop Oil.
      Then, every time they have one of their annoying protests, we all go out and do that. Get it trending on Twit so that thousands of people do it.
      Burning something, perhaps?

      1. Perhaps we should insist that they lead by example and make them give up everything that involved oil. When they are shivering naked on the street without their phones it might bring it home to them.

        1. They won’t listen to reason – we need an action that everyone can do, that will annoy them as much as they are annoying us. They need to understand that actions have consequences.

  87. An essay on Luxury Communism…

    Being a Just Stop Oil activist only makes sense if you’ve been pampered by Mummy and Daddy

    Instead of offering a rational argument, their attention-seeking disruptions increasingly look like a spiteful, class-based attack

    ALLISON PEARSON • 18th April 2023 • 7:38pm

    The picture of the Just Stop Oil protester who jumped on to a table at the World Snooker Championship at the Sheffield Crucible and scattered orange powder is hugely damaging. And I don’t mean for the table. (How much do you love the fact that master of ceremonies and BBC commentator, Rob Walker, emerged with Marigold gloves and a hoover to clear up after the little blighter?) It’s the green cause, not the green baize, that comes out of it worst. Full marks to a member of the audience who surely spoke for the nation when he shouted, “You p—-.”

    Public patience with this kind of selfish stunt is just about exhausted, I think. Frankly, the Just Stop Oil brat was lucky the audience didn’t brain him with a red followed by a colour. The green ball would have dealt a perfect kind of poetic justice.

    Just look at the stony faces of the spectators behind the brat. He kneels there, mouth agape, fancying himself a martyr while more closely resembling a bawling toddler who has been told he has to eat his broccoli before having a Petits Filous fromage frais. Those people in the audience paid their hard-earned money to watch a game between Joe Perry and Robert Milkins; it was a treat, an absorbing pleasure to be saved up for and savoured. But Edred Whittingham – or as I prefer to think of him, Crispian Entitled-Pratt – thinks it’s OK to sabotage the recreation of ordinary working people because he can’t be bothered to make his case against new fossil fuel projects through argument and persuasion, the traditional route in a democracy.

    Instead of producing a rational case against oil and gas, Entitled-Pratt and his pampered pals stage a series of attention-seeking disruptions which target mass sports (Grand National, snooker, the London Marathon is rumoured to be the next target) and the industries (energy, finance) that afford them the luxury of deluded thinking. More and more, Just Stop Oil and its doolally sibling Extinction Rebellion start to look like a spiteful, class-based attack on hard-working families. Families that are already reeling from high fuel bills caused by the UK’s parlous lack of energy security.

    To force the Government to stop giving out permits for new oil and gas wells, making us more dependent on erratic renewables when there is a real danger the lights might go out, is the kind of irrationality which only makes sense to a select few who are going to inherit £3 million houses from Mummy and Daddy in Barnes.

    Then there are the middle-aged virtuosi like Cathy Eastburn. Mrs Eastburn, who is currently on trial accused of being part of the Insulate Britain protest at the Swanley Interchange, is the wife of a former director of Transport for London. Of course she is. She lives in a £1.5 million house in London with her husband Benedict, an Oxford-educated descendant of William the Conqueror. Of course she does. Benedict – brace yourself, dear reader, for the most exquisitely perfect detail – was given responsibility to get traffic moving again after the Covid pandemic. Not easy, obviously, when the missus has glued herself to the M25.

    On the first day of the trial, involving Mrs Eastburn and three other numpties who are accused of blocking the motorway, jurors heard from a woman who was desperately trying to reach a dying friend in hospital.

    Just Stop Oil protesters don’t care. They don’t care how much grief they cause – ambulances attempting to collect the desperately ill, carers trying to travel between their patients or simply white man van needing to get his tools to a job so he can earn enough to pay the gas bill. All practical considerations are piffling to these stunningly selfish people in their rarefied eco-bubble. Environmentalist Marie Antoinettes, they yawn: “Let them ride bikes.”

    Another infuriatingly smug type turned up in Monday night’s Panorama, called Road Wars: Neighbourhood Traffic Chaos. Justin Rowlatt reported from Oxford where the imposition of low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) is causing public anger and street clashes with an obstruction on Howard Street becoming “probably the most abused bollard in the UK”.

    One resident, a Guardian reader judging by her superiority complex, told Rowlatt that vehicles were interfering with her “freedom” to ride a bike safely in car-free streets. Would those be the same cars, Ms Antoinette, that are bringing much-needed custom to local shops owned and staffed by people who can’t afford to ferry organic root vegetables from a bijou grocer in the wicker basket of their Pashley Tricycle (yours for a very reasonable £995)?

    The Panorama programme billed itself as “featuring stories from both sides of the debate”. Of course, that debate is already settled as far as the Corporation is concerned. That’s why Rowlatt holds the title of BBC climate editor and people who spoke out against LTNs and the 15-minute city idea (in which you have to give the authorities a reason to grant you an exemption for leaving your area) were branded “climate-change deniers”. Perhaps they would just like a debate before life as we know it is returned to the pre-industrial age in pursuit of a goal that will make not a gnat’s bite of difference to global CO2 levels?

    Personally, I prefer to call Just Stop Oil and LTN fanatics “human life deniers”. Protect the planet, sod the people!

    I notice there is now a man with the creepy-sounding job of BBC climate disinformation specialist. Let’s hope he has a watertight explanation as to how we are going to abandon oil, coal and gas in short order and get all our power from renewables. Except, oh dear, to achieve that we need to find a way to store electricity in very large quantities at very low cost. But there is no viable technology to do that at present, nor will there be in the foreseeable future. Anyone who tells you otherwise is talking bollards.

    Yet, complete and utter bollards is now the settled policy of all major political parties. Trust me, this is going to turn very nasty, once people grasp the full implications for their lifestyles.

    Funnily enough, on Saturday I had my own run-in with a Just Stop Oil protester whose group was doing a slow march that was completely blocking our town centre on what should have been the busiest day of the week for beleaguered retailers. I was incensed because the police, instead of wrestling the protesters to the kerb and clearing the road for traffic, were providing a cheery escort. The protester, who looked like Catweazle’s vegan grandson, handed me an apocalyptic leaflet warning of the hellfire we would be plunged into if we didn’t stop drilling for oil. I refused the leaflet with a loud, No!

    “You are angry, lady,” he said.

    Too right. I’m angry that spoilt, callow kids like him are assuming the moral high ground while our country is morally blackmailed into a self-inflicted disaster that will bring down the standard of living for millions who didn’t know they’d voted to be poorer or colder. Or have less fun in their lives.

    Here’s a suggestion. As Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain and so many of our politicians and opinion formers are convinced of the rightness of their cause, why not let them go first? Call it a pilot scheme for net zero. They can’t own a car, they can’t fly, they can’t take a foreign holiday (in fact, let’s ban them from leaving their country). They mustn’t use, eat or wear any product which has had oil involved in its manufacture. Nor must they consume any foodstuff which hasn’t been produced within 15 minutes of their front door. Their homes must be warmed by heat pump only (gas boilers and electric heaters will be confiscated) and they aren’t permitted to use any electricity which wasn’t generated by wind or solar power. We may need an island for the control group – all suggestions welcome.

    Let’s give them two years living like the Amish and see how keen they are on decarbonisation, eh?

    [Nottlanders have been suggesting this for sometime, AP.]

    I’m delighted to say that the World Championship resumed at the Sheffield Crucible to a standing ovation. Judging by the hostile public reaction to the brat, it’s Just Stop Oil that got snookered.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2023/04/18/just-stop-oil-snooker-protest-activists-know-nothing

  88. OK Charlie, you wokey-dopey halfwit, if you are serious about BLM, slavery, the colonialisation, eco loonery etc etc et bloody cetera, why don’t you have a coronation that excludes all people who are not British to their roots, 600 years minimum, (so the British had hardly left the Islands).
    No “exotic foods” no non-whites, no oil or coal based products, no colonial jewellery, none of it.

    On the plus side what was left would still be a celebration of England.

    1. He is leaving out the Dukes in favour of sucking up to the new arrivals and anyone whose allegiance is to the WEF. A mistake, I cannot help feeling. We all know what happened to the last monarch who tried to rule by divine right.

      Perhaps Charles believes that the aristocracy is irrelevant since Blair’s disastrous “reforms” of the House of Lords. Perhaps he believes that the new elite to which he is sucking up will be loyal to him.

      2. It’s why I’m not going to bother to watch it or celebrate it. The first Charles lost his head, the second tried to sell us out to France (secret Treaty of Dover). He should have stuck to being called George.

        1. Perhaps the fact that he changed his mind about that is indicative of a break away from the monarchy as defined by the uncompromising adherence to duty and the Crown espoused by his grandfather and mother. I think Charles sees himself as the wise leader who is guiding Britain through the necessary pain of net zero and depopulation, during which we, not his family, will be suffering of course!

  89. Lloyd Evans
    There was yet more proof of the SNP’s megalomania at PMQs
    19 April 2023, 4:34pm

    ‘Sir Softie.’ That’s Rishi’s new nickname for Sir Keir Starmer. ‘Sir Softie,’ he called out twice at PMQs. ‘He’s soft on crime!’ The insult works because it’s easy to remember and pleasantly alliterative. And it builds on an existing perception of Sir Keir as a criminal-hugging lawyer.

    Sir Keir set out to overturn that impression by posing as the scourge of the law-breaking classes. He started with a trick question. Citing the case of a man found guilty of scalding a prison officer with boiling water, he asked if the offender deserved a jail sentence. Rishi could tell that this was a booby-trap so he answered in generalities. Sir Keir had to unpick his subterfuge. The convicted man received a suspended sentence because several years had passed between the offence and the date of the court case. Terrific. What a brilliant way to highlight the collapse of Britain’s justice system. Well it’s brilliant if you’re a legal whiz kid speaking to other legal whiz kids. Sir Keir seems unaware that most voters regard lawyers as scrounging lightweights with modest abilities and immodest fees.

    He continued his ‘broken Britain’ theme by naming the public services allegedly wrecked by Tory incompetence. ‘Roads! Trains! The NHS! The asylum system! Policing! Mental health provision!… The Tories have broken them all.’ As he harrumphed and snorted through his list he was wildly cheered by his backbenchers. Then he delivered a peal of Wagnerian anguish. ‘Why, everywhere you look, does nothing seem to work at all?’ More ecstasies from his MPs. But not every voter shares Labour’s perverse lust for ruin.

    Sir Keir finished by complaining about over-stuffed prisons. Judges are being discreetly warned not to increase the problem when delivering sentences, (‘be aware of the prison population’ says the coded advice). But is that bad news for the government? ‘Vote Tory for fuller prisons’ sounds like a law-and-order message. And by bringing up sentencing, Sir Keir gave Rishi a chance to boast about his new prisons programme – up to 20,000 extra places are being built.

    The SNP party leader in Westminster, Stephen Flynn, has contracted a bad case of windbaggery – perhaps inherited from his garrulous predecessor, Ian Blackford. Instead of putting questions to the PM, Flynn makes speeches for the benefit of SNP voters at home. Suddenly he feels the need to shore up his support in Scotland. Why could that be? Today, in a convoluted effort, Flynn signalled his solidarity with striking nurses, his yearning for independence, his phobia of Brexit and his tribal loathing of the Tories. Rishi ignored these ritual complaints and reminded Flynn of the ‘Barnet consequentials’, a sum of £1.5 billion, being paid to the SNP. Flynn is a nimble-witted speaker but he wastes parliament’s time with his divisive posturing.

    A more interesting question was put by Flynn’s SNP colleague, Chris Law, the pony-tailed member for Dundee who looks like a Dutch porn-star dressed up for an awards ceremony. Today, he revealed a fresh SNP scandal. Law told parliament that the Holyrood government has been attempting to negotiate diplomatic side-deals with foreign powers as if Scotland were an independent nation. This skulduggery is so widespread that UK embassies around the world have been told to warn their hosts about bogus overtures from the SNP. Law believes this attempt by the Foreign Office to stop the SNP from acting as a separate country is a curtailment of its rights. To everyone else it looks like yet more proof of the SNP’s arrogance and megalomania. The death spiral of Scottish nationalism continues.

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

    GUBU
    2 hours ago edited
    A more interesting question was put by Flynn’s SNP colleague, Chris Law, the pony-tailed member for Dundee who looks like a Dutch porn-star dressed up for an awards ceremony.

    You need to get rid of those VHS cassettes before your wife discovers that they’re not old episodes of Yes, Minister.

    Lamia
    an hour ago
    If the SNP is using public money to try and engage in foreign policy, it is breaking the terms of Devolution, and the SNP’s members should be liable for the costs.

    Sturgeon/Yousaf in Scotland and Drakeford in Wales have been pushing the boundaries like this for years. The Tory government is just as culpable for not stepping in and squishing them.

    Bob3
    2 hours ago
    Scotland is a good example for what happens when EU Remainers are left in charge

    3. The people rewriting these wonderful and iconic books are not sensitivity editors they are censors!

    4. Just as well,. The powers that be are using it as a reference manual at the moment.

  91. Woke, a parody of itself:
    https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/anti-woke-backlash-warriors-cancel-culture-b1075184.html

    I always knew there was a backlash coming. I could sense it when I was working on the Equality Act back in 2010 when I was an adviser for the Labour Party. “You’ve all gone too far this time, there’s gonna be pushback and it won’t be nice,” warned a male colleague. It felt ominous. The thing we were pushing for was transparency on the gender pay gap — not actually demanding to be paid equally but knowing by how much we women were getting shafted. It’s just nice to know these things.
    Perhaps it’s because I am a woman and from an ethnic minority background that I’ve always felt anxious about banking “equality” wins because they were hard fought for and therefore felt eternally fragile.
    We saw that with Barack Obama. I remember watching Jesse Jackson weeping on the night he won, and while all my friends were yelling “this is it!”, I was elated but also had a gnawing feeling that there would be some retaliation — sure enough, it came with a vengeance in the form of Donald Trump.

    1. I wonder how they managed to find such a crowd of midgets to be filmed, Macron looks like a giant!

  93. Not been around much today, but i’m off now, feeling a bit fed up with things in general.
    Slayders.

    2. Take care Eddy, not much these days to encourage us. Follow my husband’s example and dive into a dry martini;-)

  95. Netflix’s Cleopatra enrages Egyptians by casting black actress
    British star Adele James hits out after racist abuse as streaming giant accused of ‘falsifying facts’

    The British star of a new Netflix programme about Cleopatra has defied Egyptian critics who have claimed the legendary queen should not have been cast as a black woman by saying they don’t have to watch it.

    Adele James, who has faced racist abuse in recent days, is to play the legendary queen of Egypt in a new docudrama series chronicling the life of “the world’s most famous, powerful and misunderstood” woman.

    But the choice to cast James, who previously starred in the BBC drama Casualty, as Cleopatra has infuriated some Egyptian cultural leaders and reignited a centuries-old debate about the ancient ruler’s racial profile.

    Zahi Hawass, the archaeologist and former Egyptian minister of antiquities, accused Netflix and the show’s executive producer, Jada Pinkett Smith, of “falsifying facts”.

    He said: “Netflix is trying to stir up confusion to spread false information that the origin of Egyptian civilisation is black. This is completely fake. Cleopatra was Greek.”

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/netflix-cleopatra-black-adele-james-race-row-2023-dlzhzq6gs

    1. It’s such a shame that Viggo Mortensen or Alexander Godunov were never cast as Martin Luther King.

      1. The gaps in Cleopatra’s family story
        The heritage of ancient Egyptian monarchs is often unclear but we know much (if not everything) about Cleopatra’s racial background (Jack Blackburn writes).

        A descendant of the Ptolemaic dynasty, Cleopatra was of Macedonian Greek heritage. Ptolemy came eight generations earlier, but the wives of his heirs were also Greek.

        Cleopatra’s grandfather had two Macedonian Greek wives and one concubine of unknown origin, but we don’t know which woman was Cleopatra’s grandmother.

        Cleopatra’s mother, meanwhile, was one of her father’s five high status wives, a description that suggests they were either Greek or Egyptian.

        The consensus is that Cleopatra was either Greek or part-Egyptian, but theories that she was black have emerged since the 19th century. They recur frequently, such as in a 2002 Ebony magazine article, Was Cleopatra black?

        1. It is possible. And how many people forget that Jesus was a Jew and not a white skinned, blond haired bloke as depicted in so many paintings?

          4. I enjoyed Delderfield’s To Serve Them All My Days which he published in 1972.

            Delderfield was a boy at West Buckland School near Barnstaple in North Devon upon which the school in the novel is based.

            My first teaching job was at Grenville College, a small boarding school in Bideford to which I went in 1974 before moving to Allhallows near Lyme Regis in 1977. We we played rugby, cricket and other sports against West Buckland.

          5. I thought that he was one of those Norwegian Methodists that goes wild every now and again.

    2. “the world’s most famous, powerful and misunderstood” woman.

      Shirley, that is the Abbotopotamus

      She is in a position of power and no-one has clue what she is on about

  96. The first bit of common sense has prevailed in the trans debate. It’s about time

    New rules are now being finalised which will mean that parents will have to be informed if pupils start using a different identity

    CELIA WALDEN • 18th April 2023 • 4:00pm

    Writing about one of the many scandals to hit London’s now defunct Tavistock child gender identity clinic three years ago, I came across a “detail” that I had to check once, twice, three times – because what I was reading couldn’t possibly be correct.

    Teachers were not required to inform parents if their children were expressing a desire to change sex or had “feelings of gender distress”.

    As a result, there were instances of children being taken off to consult with the Tavistock about their possible referral to be prescribed such things as puberty blockers without the parents’ knowledge, let alone their consent.

    The thinking was that the confidentiality of a trans child trumps everything, including a parent’s right to know. The reality was a systematic institutional failure of child safeguarding on a level only revealed to us last month, thanks to a report published by the think tank Policy Exchange.

    It found that just 28 per cent of schools who responded were “reliably informing parents when a child said they had feelings of gender distress”.

    Obviously, if your child wore the wrong blazer, stole another pupil’s pen or was overheard using the F-word in the playground, the school would be on the phone to you within minutes.

    But little things like “Felix thinks he may actually be Felicia” barely warrant a mention. Crucially, the report was alarming enough to prompt action from a government that has been too scared to do the right thing for years…in case it looks wrong.

    New rules are now being finalised which will mean that within weeks, parents will have to be informed if pupils start using a different identity.

    This is a triumph, but it’s hard to think of it that way when the failures have been so eye-watering, and allowed so much damage to be done.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2023/04/18/trans-debate-schools-common-sense-parents/

    __________________________________________________________________________________________

    This can be the end of the gender insanity

    Well-meaning people feel unable to push back. New trans guidance for schools may change everything

    MIRIAM CATES • 18th April 2023 • 7:00pm

    Politicians are often accused of being out of touch. But nowhere has the divide between the “ruling elite” and reality been more apparent in recent years than in the debate on sex and gender.

    Despite clear and immutable differences between men and women, many of those in public life have declared that women can have penises, advocated for male rapists to be housed in women’s prisons, or stated that those who support single-sex spaces are “dinosaurs”. Neither have our institutions escaped this divorce from common sense, with the NHS asking male patients if they may be pregnant and referring to mothers as “birthing parents”.

    The wholesale conversion of the establishment to gender ideology has not only shaped discussions among academics and policy-makers, but has also led to rapid changes to our language and to long-established protections for women, generating fear of the consequences of dissenting from the new orthodoxy. Last week, it was reported that a teacher was forced to apologise after addressing a group of girls with the words “good afternoon, girls”. Even the Women’s Institute is struggling to define what a woman is.

    Nowhere has the tangible impact of this ideological capture been greater, however, than in schools. A recent report by Policy Exchange laid bare the alarming extent to which schools have swallowed the gender ideology pill, revealing that 28 per cent of secondary schools no longer maintain single-sex toilets, 72 per cent do not routinely inform parents when their child “changes gender”, and 60 per cent do not uphold single-sex sports.

    The interim report of the Cass review noted that “social transition” – when a child’s name, pronouns and dress are changed, sometimes without parental knowledge – is not a neutral act, but a potentially serious medical and psychological intervention. Social transition is frequently followed by “treatments” such as the wearing of breast binders or injection of cross-sex hormones, carrying risks of permanent infertility and loss of sexual function.

    One of the reasons this insanity has spread is that people have lacked the confidence or have been scared about standing up against it. That’s why, in the case of schools, I’m delighted that the Government has finally committed to producing new guidance on how to approach – and protect – children who express discomfort with their sex.

    To turn the tide on this ideological capture – and its harm to children – the guidance must be based on the understanding that biological sex is significant, binary and immutable. It must effectively prevent schools from “socially transitioning” children unless this is “prescribed” by an NHS clinician.

    There can be no exceptions to this rule as it is unfair to expect schools to resist pressure from children, parents and activists to make decisions on a case-by-case basis. If a child expresses discomfort with their body – whether they have an eating disorder, anxiety or gender distress – proper safeguarding protocols must be followed, rather than the school agreeing that the child has been “born in the wrong body”.

    Some will argue that such an approach lacks compassion. But at present, children who express unhappiness with their bodies are frequently being exempted from normal safeguarding processes and from any attempt to get to the root cause of their unease, which can include autism, trauma, online exploitation and homophobic bullying. It is far from compassionate to affirm a child in their confusion and agree that all their problems can be solved by “changing gender”.

    I do not underestimate the significant culture change that the new guidance will require. There will also be political opposition, not least from some unions. But if the schools guidance is robust and legally enforceable, it could have a cascade effect for other institutions, emboldening organisations like the Women’s Institute to remain women-only, or the NHS to re-establish single-sex wards.

    In the tale of The Emperor’s New Clothes, it took just one brave villager’s statement of truth to open the eyes of the deceived. Perhaps the new guidance for schools will provide the reality check that our institutions are long overdue.

    Miriam Cates is the Conservative MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/18/this-can-be-the-end-of-the-gender-insanity/

  97. The UK is blinding itself to the truth about Covid’s origins

    British institutions beholden to China or concerned about the effect on science appear uninterested in investigating the lab leak hypothesis

    MATT RIDLEY • 18th April 2023 • 7:00pm

    As a US Senate committee’s full, 300-page report on the origin of Covid now makes clear, a whole string of clues points towards a laboratory accident as the probable cause of the pandemic.

    For example, there is: evidence of biosafety concerns at the lab in the autumn of 2019; the Chinese authorities’ refusal to share details of early human cases of the disease in November 2019; persistent reports from US intelligence that these early cases include lab workers; the apparent start of vaccine development in China before the outbreak was even declared; and the astonishingly uncooperative attitude of the Chinese authorities to investigating the origin.

    Add to these: the failure to find infected animals in markets or on farms; the revelation that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) brought about 200 kinds of bat coronavirus to Wuhan; the risky nature of the research they did to combine the genes of new viruses with existing ones and test them on human cells and humanised mice; the surprising finding that the virus which causes Covid has a unique genetic feature that happens to be of the kind that the Institute had been inserting into other viruses; and the blank refusal of the WIV to share its database of viruses it was working on with the outside world after taking it offline in late 2019.

    Despite the best efforts of a small group of Western virologists who collaborated with the WIV to shut down the debate in the West and label a lab leak a conspiracy theory, the matter will not go away. Yet the British science establishment and Government, normally so ready to boast of our reputation as a biomedical research hub second only to the US, has done nothing to contribute to this debate.

    I cannot think of a single significant addition from our universities and institutes, except the strange role that the Wellcome Trust played in convening a meeting in February 2020, where attendees appeared to agree to mislead the public about the plausibility of a lab leak.

    With the US government arguably compromised by allegations that it funded the very work in the very lab in Wuhan that is under suspicion, there was a golden opportunity for British scientists and spies to step in as honest brokers and weigh the evidence. Yet they refused to do so.

    When I urged one leading scientific body at least to debate the matter, it politely declined. When I urged another to investigate, it told me the topic was “too controversial”. Nature, Britain’s and the world’s premier science journal, has confined its reporting to condescending dismissal of all discussion of lab leaks.

    When I asked a senior scientist to help wake the establishment up to the biggest enigma science has faced in decades, he said he thought it was vital we do not find out what happened lest it annoy the Chinese government.

    This is not the stance anybody would take over an accident to an airliner, a chemical plant or a nuclear reactor. Yet unlike such accidents, the pandemic killed millions.

    Of course he is right about the reason for our reticence.The Foreign Office is in permanent kow-tow. Our universities and science journals are directly or indirectly dependent on Chinese funds and infested with people who seem to admire authoritarian communism. Senior scientists are worried that admitting a lab leak is plausible would damage the reputation of science. To which I say: not half as much as trying to cover it up.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/18/the-uk-is-blinding-itself-to-the-truth-about-covids-origins/

    Jeremy Farrar and others, Feb 2020, The Lancet:
    “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin”.

  98. The UK is blinding itself to the truth about Covid’s origins

    British institutions beholden to China or concerned about the effect on science appear uninterested in investigating the lab leak hypothesis

    MATT RIDLEY • 18th April 2023 • 7:00pm

    As a US Senate committee’s full, 300-page report on the origin of Covid now makes clear, a whole string of clues points towards a laboratory accident as the probable cause of the pandemic.

    For example, there is: evidence of biosafety concerns at the lab in the autumn of 2019; the Chinese authorities’ refusal to share details of early human cases of the disease in November 2019; persistent reports from US intelligence that these early cases include lab workers; the apparent start of vaccine development in China before the outbreak was even declared; and the astonishingly uncooperative attitude of the Chinese authorities to investigating the origin.

    Add to these: the failure to find infected animals in markets or on farms; the revelation that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) brought about 200 kinds of bat coronavirus to Wuhan; the risky nature of the research they did to combine the genes of new viruses with existing ones and test them on human cells and humanised mice; the surprising finding that the virus which causes Covid has a unique genetic feature that happens to be of the kind that the Institute had been inserting into other viruses; and the blank refusal of the WIV to share its database of viruses it was working on with the outside world after taking it offline in late 2019.

    Despite the best efforts of a small group of Western virologists who collaborated with the WIV to shut down the debate in the West and label a lab leak a conspiracy theory, the matter will not go away. Yet the British science establishment and Government, normally so ready to boast of our reputation as a biomedical research hub second only to the US, has done nothing to contribute to this debate.

    I cannot think of a single significant addition from our universities and institutes, except the strange role that the Wellcome Trust played in convening a meeting in February 2020, where attendees appeared to agree to mislead the public about the plausibility of a lab leak.

    With the US government arguably compromised by allegations that it funded the very work in the very lab in Wuhan that is under suspicion, there was a golden opportunity for British scientists and spies to step in as honest brokers and weigh the evidence. Yet they refused to do so.

    When I urged one leading scientific body at least to debate the matter, it politely declined. When I urged another to investigate, it told me the topic was “too controversial”. Nature, Britain’s and the world’s premier science journal, has confined its reporting to condescending dismissal of all discussion of lab leaks.

    When I asked a senior scientist to help wake the establishment up to the biggest enigma science has faced in decades, he said he thought it was vital we do not find out what happened lest it annoy the Chinese government.

    This is not the stance anybody would take over an accident to an airliner, a chemical plant or a nuclear reactor. Yet unlike such accidents, the pandemic killed millions.

    Of course he is right about the reason for our reticence.The Foreign Office is in permanent kow-tow. Our universities and science journals are directly or indirectly dependent on Chinese funds and infested with people who seem to admire authoritarian communism. Senior scientists are worried that admitting a lab leak is plausible would damage the reputation of science. To which I say: not half as much as trying to cover it up.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/18/the-uk-is-blinding-itself-to-the-truth-about-covids-origins/

    Jeremy Farrar and others, Feb 2020, The Lancet:
    “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin”.

    1. What does i5 mean?

      Great Britain is the official collective name of of England, Scotland and Wales and their associated islands. It does not include Northern Ireland and therefore should never be used interchangeably with ‘UK’ – something you see all too often.

      How can a geographic ‘entity’ be racist?

      I think Africans are anti Britain

  101. The ontario government have announced that they are going to rework the syllabus to be taught in schools and wil focus on the three Rs and stem subjects.

    Oh the agony. of the teachers and their union as they wonder about all of the extra teaching that will involve. maybe they should stop counting genders.

  102. Re all this gender identity stuff that is going on- GB news had a teacher on who is a bloke but is being a woman. He used words like trans gender and non binary. Kids do not know those words, they have to be told them.
    As an aside but slightly similar…..the school in CT in which I taught, had a drug awareness programme, ostensibly to make the children aware of the dangers related to drugs. I knew the cop, Pete Furness, who gave the talks and I asked him how successful the programme was.
    Oh it’s great, he said, now the kids know exactly what to look for at middle and high school. It was suspended not long after.
    Most young children, male or female, will not be aware of terms like non binary or transgender- they have to be taught them.
    Like the song from South Pacific- You Have to be Carefully Taught.

  103. No doubt the latest shooting in the US south has made the news after some poor kid went and knocked on the wrong door and was shot for his efforts, he kid is now recovering in hospital. It made it into our national news last night.

    What was missing is a case much closer to home in New York when a group of youngsters drove into the wrong driveway and were shot by the homeowner – they didn’t even get out of the car, they were apparently just trying to turn the car round. One of the women in the car died.

    The only difference is the woman in the second case was white, that event didn’t even warrant a mention.

    Obviously black lives matter, forget teh rest.

    1. Saw that over in Norway, in the papers. Apparently, the shooter chased the car down the road, firing as he went. WTF??

  104. Evening, all. My usual trainer is on holiday in the sunshine, so I had a new instructress this afternoon. As she had not taught me before, she took it into her head to try to correct the bad habits I’ve got into over the decades. There is a reason I haven’t managed to correct them in all that time! I certainly had a workout!

    1. Goodnight and God bless you, Elsie.

      I’m trying to stay up until midnight in the hopes of getting uninterrupted sleep for once.

      1. Good luck with that- I cannot remember the last time I had an uninterrupted night’s sleep.

        1. I cannot take brandy as it has a detrimental effect on my weakened heart.

          I took a couple of glasses of port but still only slept for about 2 hours.

          Now at 04:49 I’m taking a mug of tea..

  108. Back my Brexit deal or face a united Ireland, Rishi Sunak tells DUP
    Prime Minister says failure to make a devolved government in Northern Ireland work risks its place in the UK
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/04/19/back-brexit-deal-or-face-united-ireland-rishi-sunak-dup/

    BTL – Percival Wrattstrangler

    With the EU and the ECJ taking precedence over UK law in Northern Ireland the Northern Ireland is no longer fully a part of the United Kingdom.

    If that is what the people of Northern Ireland want then this is what they should have. There should be a binding referendum without delay so that this absurd half-in, half-out nonsense can be resolved one way or the other.

    If the people of Northern Ireland want to leave the UK then the UK must stop supporting Northern Ireland financially, legally and morally; if the Northern Irish want to remain a part of the UK then the EU must accept that they have no further jurisdiction over any part of the United Kingdom and get out of Northern Ireland altogether taking their ECJ with them.

    2. There is another way – dissolve the NI Assembly and take control back to Westminster

  109. Goodnight and God bless, Gentlefolk.

    I’m finally retiring in the hopes of sleeping through until the alarm wakes me in time for your story in the morning’s light.

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