Thursday 20 April: It’s time to take the NHS out of politics and set up a Royal Commission

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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438 thoughts on “Thursday 20 April: It’s time to take the NHS out of politics and set up a Royal Commission”

  2. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    Designated Driver
    One night, a police officer was staking out a particular rowdy bar for possible violations of the driving-under-the-influence laws.

    At closing time, he saw a fellow stumble out of the bar, trip on the curb, and try his keys on five different cars before he found his. Then he sat in the front seat fumbling around with his keys for several minutes.

    Meanwhile, everyone left the bar and drove off. Finally, he was able to start his engine and began to pull away.

    The police officer was waiting for him. He stopped the driver, read him his rights and administered the Breathalyser test. The results showed a reading of 0.0. The puzzled officer demanded, “How can this be?”

    The driver replied, “Because tonight, officer, I’m the designated decoy!”

  5. It’s time to take the NHS out of politics and set up a Royal Commission

    But what would politicians have left to argue about, everything else in controlled by the WHO, UN and the WEF

  6. Russian ‘spy ships’ threaten to sabotage UK energy supply. 20 April 2023.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/acbce9b19fbb32b9a3e6a1980a3a00c2044a4b301ac1a632a9f27d6313c878cf.png

    Russian spy ships are mapping wind farms and key communication cables off the coast of Britain as part of plans to sabotage critical infrastructure.

    Details of the covert “ghost ships” missions were published as Downing Street and GCHQ chiefs warned of a surge in Russia-aligned hackers aiming to “disrupt or destroy” energy facilities such as power stations.

    A fleet of Russian boats, often disguised as fishing trawlers or research vessels but with armed guards, have been observed by European intelligence agencies conducting mass reconnaissance close to British coastal energy and communications networks.

    As can be seen from the montage this is the latest propaganda program. Presumably under NATO auspices. There are two versions, the UK and Nordic variants. The Scandinavians as might be expected have a TV series attached. Supposedly the Russians are spying on our wind farms, though why they didn’t just buy a chart where they are marked, as are all hazards to navigation, is not explained. This will, we are told, lead in the event of war to sabotage, presumably on a windy day when someone would notice. It’s all threat of course. Nothing has actually happened. This is all running in parallel with the Cyber War threat waged by “Independent” Russian operatives; though it looks small beer compared to the On Line Safety Bill which will probably see Geoff in the Tower and the rest of us in the Hebridean Gulag!!

    https://news.sky.com/story/russia-linked-cyber-attack-groups-want-to-destroy-uk-minister-warns-12860186

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/04/19/russia-ukraine-war-spy-ships-europe-energy-infrastructure/

    https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/19/europe/russia-spy-ships-nordic-waters-intl/index.html#:~:text=Russia%20has%20a%20fleet%20of,%2C%20Denmark%2C%20Norway%20and%20Finland.

    1. 373685+ up ticks.

      Morning AS,
      In regards to the money mills Ivan really is a mate of Thomas Atkins.

    2. That outcome wasn’t unpredictable, was it, I think we all debated years ago that if we were ever at war then the first thing to go would be the windfarms

      2. …and our undersea internet cables. These, together with the interconnectors for importing and exporting electricity, will cripple this country with relatively little effort on the part of an enemy. We stand no chance of defending them as they are so vulnerable.

        I expect we can all remember the Russian ‘trawlers’ in the 60s and 70s as they caught not fish but intelligence. In those days it was just a couple of undersea telephone cables, the loss of which would not have caused anything like the damage that is now possible.
        Those trawlers were not imaginery and neither, I suggest, is their current interest in our critical infrastructure.

        ‘Morning, B3.

    3. You mean Putin might actuall rid us of these monstrosities?

      …
      or maybe the Americans might blow them so that we buy more of their gas.

      1. …or maybe the Americans might blow them so that we buy more of their gas.

        You are a wicked person LiM. Lol!

    4. Wouldn’t it be quicker and cheaper to used satellites and drones?
      I think the Russians already have the know how.

  7. 375685+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    I do believe the egg sniper was aiming to change political history
    and is going a long way in succeeding.

    Dt
    Humiliated Macron is now becoming dangerous
    His critics call him a snake. But his interventions on China and Ukraine show that he’s a blundering one

    1. Yo OLT! I couldn’t reply to your comment to me about beloved pets, but I don’t think you’re odd at all! 😘

      1. They are each in a little China ‘Pot” of their own, with their name embossed in Gold

        1. Wonderful!
          Some of my mothers ashes are in two spice jars in the dining room! My daughters think I’m nuts!

    2. Yo OLT! I couldn’t reply to your comment to me about beloved pets, but I don’t think you’re odd at all! 😘

    1. When I went to buy an ice cream with a stick of chocolate in it at the age of 7 I innocently asked for a 69. The girl at the counter said “You’re a bit young for that but here’s a 99 – for the other you’d better come back in ten years time.” I had no idea what she was talking about.

      1. From what I remember, a 69 was an ice cream cone with a chocolate flake in it, a 99 was the ice cream sandwich with a flake.

  12. ‘Morning All

    Medley…….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f2774509f3c1a4ae78989d1dfe9a65b967f7d585f06dc9185b272a99bc67496f.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a21137f57ff6665d86e76c647e212ace90a13711baa10a8291f5e0fddb865850.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/09fb93575bcb1a8266cd3228e9a1f1a8b6d775f780c9a235143f069377450f0e.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fe684d7c72ba94797f8d0e74e3e72148850944497a1c11fb28db38d096358a02.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a68bcb43be9412805c4aa95f873220a8d4ceb2d1309e46be8e611148a79a7de3.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6497b37680a3eb5ea50d4f08db78ea1e34542b9a6bba135a25feb79973ea7113.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/795434aec822a43ebf123d3e199249bb35306d9959898a4e9ad3555d20a3716f.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fd175169f39b02ebe7c4f219257b8f132ba9b4193d8081465d077d11528205f2.jpg

  13. Good morning all,

    Lovely sunny morning at Chateau McPhee, wind still in the NE, a chilly 5℃ but 14℃ forecast. Off to the Khanate today for some personal business in the belly of the beast.

    Came across this video yesterday of Godfrey Bloom talking to Colonel Douglas Mcgregor. Instead of framing a concise question and giving the floor to the good Colonel, Godfrey loves the sound of his own voice a bit too much. Nevertheless there is some brilliant wisdom on Ukraine and the World situation in general if you’re interested. Run time 47 minutes

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf_zD77oMrQ

  14. Good morning all,

    Lovely sunny morning at Chateau McPhee, wind still in the NE, a chilly 5℃ but 14℃ forecast. Off to the Khanate today for some personal business in the belly of the beast.

    Came across this video yesterday of Godfrey Bloom talking to Colonel Douglas Mcgregor. Instead of framing a concise question and giving the floor to the good Colonel, Godfrey loves the sound of his own voice a bit too much. Nevertheless there is some brilliant wisdom on Ukraine and the World situation in general if you’re interested. Run time 47 minutes

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf_zD77oMrQ

  15. Good morning all,

    Lovely sunny morning at Chateau McPhee, wind still in the NE, a chilly 5℃ but 14℃ forecast. Off to the Khanate today for some personal business in the belly of the beast.

    Came across this video yesterday of Godfrey Bloom talking to Colonel Douglas Mcgregor. Instead of framing a concise question and giving the floor to the good Colonel, Godfrey loves the sound of his own voice a bit too much. Nevertheless there is some brilliant wisdom on Ukraine and the World situation in general if you’re interested. Run time 47 minutes

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf_zD77oMrQ

    1. Hmm. She’s black, the crowd is white, the two other ‘runners’ shown on the starting line are white…

      1. Gradually painting the fence. It’s rough wood, so is a slow process, but ultimately worth the effort.
        The resistance tests your muscles and joints something chronic. (And no, I’m not getting a sprayer as it’s too windy.)

    2. I intend walking (slowly) in to town for a boozy lunch. Paint tins to remain untouched.

    1. They are not asylum seekers, they are illegal invaders.

      Each and every one must be removed. I care not how. Get. Rid. of. Them

  22. Re ER, Just Stop Oil etc, here’s Allison Pearson at the Gatesograph:

    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?

    To which I add crickets and wichetty grubs instead of beef, pork and lamb.

    2. That’s not going to do anything though. They are far beyond any logic.
      We need a simple action, such as lighting a candle, that puts more CO2 into the atmosphere, which many people do every time ER or Stop Oil do one of their stupid actions, so that they begin to understand consequences.
      At the moment, they are having it all their own way.

    3. (in fact, let’s ban them from leaving their country).

      Leaving the country would be fine, let’s just not allow them back.

    6. How would they get to Australia for the witchetty grubs? Or the grubs make the journey to Blighty?

  23. Oh dear. It would seen that Mr. Wiseman has never explored the delights of sitting quietly, feet up, sipping gently on a glass of single malt and TOTALLY relaxing whilst listening to one of those bits of music he so despises.

    Inessential listening
    SIR – I concur heartily with David Hughes’s letter (April 13) concerning the inexplicable popularity of The Lark Ascending.

    To the list of overrated compositions I would add the following: Elgar’s Cello Concerto (far too morbid), Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (meanders for far too long without getting anywhere), pieces of Gregorian chant, especially when they are accompanied by a squeaky saxophone – and, above all, anything and everything by Ludovico Einaudi (Letters, April 14), whose output is irritating and insubstantial.

    I wonder if it might be possible to compile a comprehensive “Hall of Shame” to present to Classic FM before it carries out next year’s predictable survey.

    Alan Wiseman
    Merriott, Somerset

    Brian Thorne
    29 MIN AGO
    I am rather surprised that there are people such as Alan Wiseman, who are happy to show off their ignorance by deriding certain pieces of music.
    Fantasia On A Theme by Thomas Tallis by Vaughan Williams is a stunning composition, preferable to Lark Ascending for me, and another piece that RVW discovered and brought back to life.
    Vaughan Williams also revived English folk music with his English Folk Song Suite which included the delightful Seventeen Come Sunday.
    Can you imagine any German person complaining about Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and the fact its so popular that the opening bars are used as a ringtone on many mobile phones!
    Fine, if you don’t like some pieces that’s okay but many of us are grateful to listen to such wonderful music. EDITED

    Steve Lee
    26 MIN AGO
    Watch it Brian!
    You’ve been reading too many AmF comments.
    :>)

    Brian Thorne
    23 MIN AGO
    Perhaps Alan Wiseman could have told us which pieces he likes that we must listen to?

    Just Another Bloke
    18 MIN AGO
    You’re right BT there’s nothing more subjective than music IMHO.

    Simon Bainbridge
    11 MIN AGO
    And what’s wrong with that, pray?
    Interestingly, “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis” is just about the only piece composed by RVW which seems to be familiar to continental European music lovers, and it is played incessantly on the French and German equivalents of Classic FM.

    1. I’m with you Bob. I’ve loved Lark Ascending for years; for me it conjours up images of particular places in the countryside whenever I listen to it. Musical appreciation is subjective. Let’s leave it at that.

      1. Oh dear: I am a Fillistine.
        I find ‘Lark Ascending’ one horrendous bum-number.
        Halfway through I am yearning for a hawk to take out the tedious little birdie.

    2. Well, Mr. Wiseman, if you don’t like certain pieces of music – don’t listen to them. No-one is really that interested in your (or anybody else’s) opinion. À chacun son goût.

      1. Your GP – should you be able to contact him – ought to be able to help with your gout.

        1. I was told that if I wanted to cure my gout I had two options: i) To give up red meat and alcohol; or ii) to take pills.

          I chose to take pills.

    3. Well Mr Wisebum

      I prefer the Stones to the Beatles and you can shove it, so there!

    6. ‘Morning, BoB. Mr Wiseman sounds like someone you would not wish to take to classicall concert! I do wonder what he does like. Has he not heard of those devices you can buy and take home in order to listen to whatever music appeals to you??

  24. The Russians need not bother about damaging our energy supplies, our politicians, via the Net Zero farce, have already done that

    1. There are shocking pictures of Russians identifying as males on the ships.
      I mean … haven’t they heard of driverless cars?

          2. Grizzly and I agree on many – but not all things. On this one I am definitely in agreement with his judgement.

  28. Sir Softy’s hard lesson: accusing your opponent of being a paedo-enabler can backfire

    Starmer v Sunak’s latest battle was a slogfest enlivened by the schoolboy name-calling

    MADELINE GRANT PARLIAMENTARY SKETCHWRITER
    19 April 2023 • 8:14pm

    Easter’s over kids and we’re back in the Thunderdome! After a question from Chris Clarkson so toadying it gave amphibians a bad name, the great slog de nos jours returns. As ever, Starmer vs Sunak was like watching two insurance underwriters attempt to recreate gladiatorial combat.

    “That’s what you get with a Conservative government: more funding, more reform and better outcomes for Britain!” bellowed the PM, suggesting that, his wife’s financial affairs aside, he at least was no longer domiciled in reality.

    For Sir Keir; a man who gives off the permanent air of a child snitching on his classmates – and enjoying it – to have a question consisting of him shouting “they broke it!’ was brave. But the PM leaned into the Year Three jibes and teased his opposite number with the nickname “Sir Softy”, which would be a good title if they ever ennobled Mr Whippy for services to ice cream. What’s more, it seemed doubly appropriate today, since the Leader of the Opposition’s hair appeared, yet again, predominantly composed of palm oil, needing only a Cadbury’s Flake at a rakish angle to complete the authentic ’99 look.

    “Sir Softy” drew a loud jeer from Tory MPs – but a pleasing knack for childish nicknames comes easier to the likes of Boris Johnson (“Captain Hindsight”, “great pointless human bollard”), or indeed Donald Trump (“Sleepy Joe”, “Meatball Ron”, and my personal favourite, “Pocahontas” for Elizabeth Warren and her questionable Native American ancestry). In short, those who might conceivably have flushed a head or two down the school loos. Sunak, so obviously head-of-house material, seemed less at home with playground thuggery.

    https://youtu.be/EljETEn5IMc

    The Leader of the Opposition’s next question exceeded two minutes; largely consisting of him praising his own record in public prosecutions. Not so much a tooting of his own horn as a Krakatoa-style eruption of egoism.

    But Sunak beamed back genially: “I love it when he speaks about his record as a lefty lawyer”. He quoted Emily Thornberry’s criticism of Sir Keir’s performance as director of public prosecutions. This very personal diatribe clearly owed much to Labour’s recent BrassEye-esque attack-ads, accusing the PM of not wanting to jail child sex abusers. The moral of the story: if you want to avoid awkward questions about your own soft sentencing record, it’s probably best not to accuse your opponent of being a paedo-enabler.

    The Home Secretary scuttled off at the end of PMQs, so it was left to policing minister Chris Philp to answer Yvette Cooper’s urgent question about the presence of illegal Chinese secret police stations on British soil. Philp’s demeanour in the Commons is always about as reassuring as a “don’t panic” siren; stuttery delivery, quaking hands, more blinking than a mole in an eye test. True to form, on this most vital of questions, he opened with a disclaimer that foreign affairs wasn’t really his brief so he could only be so helpful. Philp explained that “the law enforcement community” was conducting a live investigation into the developments. Presumably, he meant the police.

    And this was not even the nadir of politician-speak in the chamber that day: Bolton West MP Chris Green plumbed still deeper depths, describing the upcoming local elections as a “festival of democracy”. Who needs Easter when such joys await us next month?

    1. The DT deserves a medal for employing Maddy. She never fails to make me laugh.
      Treasure this one:
      “As ever, Starmer vs Sunak was like watching two insurance underwriters attempt to recreate gladiatorial combat.”

  29. Good morning, chums. Off now to do some gardening. See you all later tonight.

    4. They’re already here and been looting for years – Brixton etc – any excuse, that’s what this scum does

    5. I don’t understand, why, when they’re all in one place we don’t systematically solve the problem.

  31. Rod Liddle
    I shed a tear for the SNP
    From magazine issue:
    22 April 2023

    For people who take politics seriously and very earnestly, such as myself, the present debacle within the Scottish National party is surely a time of great sadness and disappointment, rather than of jumping up in the air, screaming ‘Ha ha ha, suck it up, you malevolent ginger dwarf!’ and breaking open the champers.

    Gloating in such a manner is odious and juvenile and so I simply shook my head sadly and even shed a tear when I heard that the party’s treasurer, Colin Beattie, had been arrested. In fact I spent most of the day beneath a shroud of tears, having learned that the mega campervan parked outside Peter Murrell’s mum’s house had been bought for ‘campaigning purposes’ during the pandemic – and then read the transcript of Nicola Sturgeon’s Putinish lecture to members of the SNP’s National Executive Committee who had dared to question the state of the party’s finances.

    The tears failed to cease when the party’s inept new leader, Humza Yousaf, insisted that there was no reason for Sturgeon to resign her seat, because we have ‘moved past the time’ when wives can be held responsible for the actions of their spouses. Yousaf, I think, is an idiot – but then so too are the Scottish police if they continue to display a complete lack of curiosity about what little Ma Sturgeon knew and when. Are we really to believe she had not the slightest idea anything whatsoever untoward was taking place? That she did not know about the existence of the campervan, or how it had been bought, or why it spent so long at her mum-in-law’s house?

    Perhaps she didn’t – but one way or another, don’t the rozzers think it might be interesting to find out, by talking to her for a bit? Apparently not. Such is the sway Sturgeon held over that benighted country that while the coppers feel they have a right to peer closely at her barbecue, they cannot quite bring themselves to have a word with her directly. It is most odd.

    I was a little wary of writing about the misfortunes befalling Scotchland because whenever I do some SNP halfwits who adhere to the trendy new discipline of Critical Scotch Theory get themselves terribly worked up and demand that I am arrested for hate crimes. But needs must. It seems perfectly clear from south of the border that the leadership contest should be rerun, given that Sturgeon et al knew exactly what was coming down the pipeline and wished to get the election over and done with, all the better for their supposed ‘continuity candidate’, poor old Humza. The party’s members may have been rather less inclined to opt for continuity if they had known that continuity involved a very close relationship with the police. The truth is that Kate Forbes was effectively cheated by the leadership of the SNP – and this alone should require the resignation of wee Krankie.

    The whole business is having its effect in the opinion polls, with the SNP vote down from a high of 55 per cent two years ago to 39 per cent today: that figure is surely destined to fall further. Labour has gained most of those disaffected votes but the Tories, too, are performing well.

    The other problem with ‘continuity’ is that the policies which Sturgeon pursued are not terribly popular with the electorate, despite the party’s huge dominance this century. People vote SNP because they wish for Scotland to be independent of the UK, which is a perfectly respectable aspiration. It is this sense of Scottish identity, its otherness from Englishness, which the voters north of the border find appealing, especially when it is reinforced with a bit of Anglophobic dog-whistling (at which Sturgeon and co have been adept). There is no indication whatsoever that the electorate found her progressive politics, which led to Scotland becoming perhaps the wokest country in Europe, remotely attractive.

    Indeed, a recent opinion poll carried out for UnHerd showed that of the top ten most ‘trans-sceptical’ constituencies in the United Kingdom, all bar one were in Scotland – and the other was in Wales. (Incidentally, the most sceptical of the Scottish constituencies were from the Roman Catholic west coast, rather than the Wee Free Presbyterian redoubts.)

    This tallies with a previous opinion poll in the country relating to gay marriages and gay adoptions, in which 69 per cent of Scots thought that the ideal circumstances for the raising of a child were for the mother and father, of different genders, to be married. Similarly, 71 per cent disagreed with the suggestion that defending traditional marriage was discriminatory towards gay men and lesbians.

    The Scots still self-identify as left-wing, however – and that’s because (rightly in my opinion) they do not consider indentitarian issues to be necessarily of the left, even if it is the liberal left from which they most frequently emanate. The picture is much the same in England, and particularly in those Red-Wall seats won by Boris Johnson in 2019. There, they had no great argument with the left-wing economic policies put forward by John McDonnell, but were brought over to the Conservatives partly by Brexit and partly by Jeremy Corbyn’s hideous wokeness and especially his lack of patriotism (as Sir Keir Starmer well understands).

    The problem in Scotland is that in an attempt to counter the Nats’ dominance, the other major parties tagged along with all the idiotic woke stuff – when, in truth, it was really only the prospect of independence which cleaved the voters to the SNP. Currently, then, there is a vacuum in Scottish politics the size of Colin Beattie’s stomach.

    1. “ because they wish for Scotland to be independent of the UK, ”

      SorryRod, i think what you meant to write was:

      “ because they wish for Scotland to secede from the Union,”

    2. Quite a tribalist is Rod Liddle. He applies the logic of football supporters to other areas of life.
      As for human strangeness, or quantumism, I chatted recently in the street to a Northern British chap who lives locally. He was positive about the election of Humsto Yoursaf, which made me wonder why any SNP member would choose to live south of the border. Self denial?

    3. Anybody like Liddell who takes politics seriously and earnestly should be soundly beaten with big sticks until the arms ache.

      1. If we don’t take them seriously – and stop them – those useless fools set about making our lives even more miserable than they already are.

    4. ‘The party’s members may have been rather less inclined to opt for continuity if they had known that continuity involved a very close relationship with the police’.

      Brilliant!

    5. I shed a few tears for the SNP.

      In fact I was laughing so much they ran down my leg!

  32. Good morning all

    Skip this if you think I am being boring .

    No 1 son bought an expensive sports / fitness/ travelling coach/ doctor watch a few months ago .. It is frighteningly amazing .. I refer to it as his wife .. It tells him things re his exercise/ rest periods / diet etc .. it is everything , sleep patterns .. it is controlling his life and diet.

    Moh received a parcel in the post on Monday, he has been quite quiet recently because he thought the parcel had got lost ( I knew nothing about the purchase) , he has a golf watch which monitors his play bought last year.

    This new watch is mesmerisingly scary.. his sleep patterns are erratic .. it looked as if he had stopped breathing at 0400hrs yesterday… he has sleep apnoea.. but to see the graph was horrifying .

    Apparently it also monitors his glucose level, how I have no idea , he told me that he wouldn’t have to do a blood test every morning , it monitors B/P, breathing , heart rate , O2 levels , steps , and it is linked to his phone . Notifications of phonecalls , Wots app messages etc etc .

    Shake your wrist and it takes a picture … aligned to ones phone .. to me a non techie person it is A/I gone mad ..

    I have told him to be careful .. too much info connected to his phone .. and possibly China !

    2. You are quite right! They are giving away a horrific amount of data to big corporations.

    3. I hate these intrusive things that monitor you. I’ve managed to switch off the alerts (I think) for Sunday’s mass propaganda exercise on both our phones. I usually leave mine at home so it doesn’t track my movements, but we are away for the weekend.

    4. I have multiple vital sign analytical tools/gizmos whose numbers don’t add up like most medical professional kit.
      It’s one thing for these devices to interpret the data but a diagnosis is entirely different and legally has to be given by a medical professional. The latter can’t always be right because doctors are only human that’s why you can ask for a second opinion.

      I have my own opinion based on an HR app used in conjunction with a Polar 10 chest strap which records electrical heart rate activity that can be recorded during a specified exertive exercise and displayed dynamicaly:
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dcf210f06a49ef2ebec8cf0814774e3032fc64025a306da369cb80fed6fb8548.gif

      1. This is a useful display for me because it shows how closely my sympathetic system is responding to my body’s stress level as a function of time.
        Outliers on this Poincaré plot are an indicator of premature or missing heartbeats dependin on whether or not there is a compnsatory beat pair on the plot.

    5. I have multiple vital sign analytical tools/gizmos whose numbers don’t add up like most medical professional kit.
      It’s one thing for these devices to interpret the data but a diagnosis is entirely different and legally has to be given by a medical professional. The latter can’t always be right because doctors are only human that’s why you can ask for a second opinion.

      I have my own opinion based on an HR app used in conjunction with a Polar 10 chest strap which records electrical heart rate activity that can be recorded during a specified exertive exercise and displayed dynamicaly:
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dcf210f06a49ef2ebec8cf0814774e3032fc64025a306da369cb80fed6fb8548.gif

    6. What does/will he do with all that information? If the answer is “nowt”, then why have it measured and recorded? Just because he can is not a good reason.

      1. It shows how willing we are to surrender our private information to organisations that may not wish us any good.

        The Great Reset is already well under way and will succeed because it is meeting with so little resistance.

    8. My daughter and I took my grandson for a hospital appointment yesterday. While we were in the children’s waiting area we were approached by a young lady who wanted to demonstrate a gadget connected to a phone to collect state of health data etc. with its proposed installation in schools to monitor children’s health centrally. A replacement for the school nurse.

      1. And will this gadget also have supplies of spare clothes to issue if a small child wets him/her self or throws up all down its clothes? Will it have bandaids to stick on a cut or grazed knee?
        No, of course not- it’s all about collecting data and info and ultimately, control.

    10. Folk don’t know how much they give away to these devices. Fitbit, owned by Google, immediately flog the information to insurance companies.

      Most don’t know this. It’s just idiotic the great reaches they want to go into your life solely to do what are really simple things.

    1. Quiche is not gluten free in the recipe. This is a betrayal of those with Coeliac disease.

  35. Good morning everyone.

    Here is a BTL comment on Telegraph Letters posted by the great Edwin Pugh (possibly a retired examiner and former teacher):

    ” While referencing the TCW – that hotbed of crackpots and
    conspiracy theorists – another article to give you pause for thought.

    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/low-uk-unemployment-disguises-some-worrying-trends/

    “The private sector is in some trouble, having shed a
    net 513,000 jobs, while at the same time the public sector has grown by
    367,000. Thus the productive engine of the economy, which generates the
    tax revenue, shrinks yet more.”

    “Taking a longer-term view, it is also noteworthy that
    the NHS has grown out of all proportion, from 1,176,000 employees in
    1999 to a staggering 1,916,000 today, soaking up around 7 per cent of
    the entire workforce. That’s an additional three-quarters of a million
    NHS workers! I leave it to the readers’ own conclusions as to whether or
    not in their experience the NHS is a better organisation today for all
    those extra staff.” “

    1. So he agrees with the opinion but still thinks we’re all crackpots and conspiracy theorists!

      1. Good morning Jules

        I think that Pugh (Winnie or excremental?) may be being ironic.

    2. I wonder how many of those extra 740,000 are qualified front line medical staff; doctors, nurses, physios, radiographers etc etc?

      1. Roughly speaking there was one NHS worker for 50 people in 1999 now there is1 for every 35 people.

        I am pretty sure that waiting lists etc were nowhere near as bad then as they are now. The damned thing is FUBAR.

  36. Good morning everyone.

    Here is a BTL comment on Telegraph Letters posted by the great Edwin Pugh (possibly a retired examiner and former teacher):

    ” While referencing the TCW – that hotbed of crackpots and
    conspiracy theorists – another article to give you pause for thought.

    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/low-uk-unemployment-disguises-some-worrying-trends/

    “The private sector is in some trouble, having shed a
    net 513,000 jobs, while at the same time the public sector has grown by
    367,000. Thus the productive engine of the economy, which generates the
    tax revenue, shrinks yet more.”

    “Taking a longer-term view, it is also noteworthy that
    the NHS has grown out of all proportion, from 1,176,000 employees in
    1999 to a staggering 1,916,000 today, soaking up around 7 per cent of
    the entire workforce. That’s an additional three-quarters of a million
    NHS workers! I leave it to the readers’ own conclusions as to whether or
    not in their experience the NHS is a better organisation today for all
    those extra staff.” “

      1. Extremely difficult to spot in a tree.
        One would think they would be easy to see, given their bright plumage; but those times I have seen them fly from one tree to another it is almost as if they vanish into thin air.

        1. I heard them often in Laure – but only saw them rarely – and then, usually, from some distance.

  38. 373685+ up ticks,

    May one ask,

    Would one enterprising person be on the way to being a millionaire via bulk egg, inclusive of pinprick hole ( poetically similar to the jab) stationed on parliament green on politico’s full attendance days,if ever ?

  39. A beautiful sunny day here. A trip to the wilds of the supermarket and then home to sit outside.
    Blackbirds very active outside.

  40. 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…

    I posted this late last night along with Percival Wratttrangler’s BTL.

    It was clear from the outset that Sunak wished to appease Sinn Fein and the EU and does not give a toss about the Union.

    Anne Widdecombe and Kate Hoey have seen right through this nasty little man.

    My view is that an immediate referendum is needed – if the Northern Irish wish to leave the UK then it would be their decision to do so and not because of threats and bullying from the UK’s prime minister.

    1. It is the ‘psyops’ element that irritates me.
      The ‘Windsor Framework’:

      why was some respectable but second rate Town Hall used to host the signature session of the pending agreement? Look carefully at the name Windsor: people associate ‘Windsor’ with Royalty, an affluent town and with the concept of strength, due to its castle. Its constituent sounds are ‘win’ and ‘Sir’; then there is ‘framework’: indicates a structure and the word ‘work’ happens to be included, to give an illusion of honest toil or functionality.

      There is no mention of the EU.

      1. Now is the time to put my plan into action – dissolve not only the NI Assembly but also the Welsh one and the Wee Scottish Pretendy Parliament and take all the power and responsibility back to Westminster.

        That leaves the EU and its ECJ not a legal leg to stand on but causes the SNP to go into melt-down (No Independence here).

        Now Westminster can call the shots but it’d better make the best use of them.

      2. The whole thing stank from the moment Sunak started his lies about it.

        The most horrifying thing to me is that the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland go along with it.

        As often happens at about this time on Thursday afternoons a few lines from John Milton’s Samson Agonistes spring into my mind as they have done several times before:

        But what more oft in Nations grown corrupt,
        And by their vices brought to servitude,
        Than to love Bondage more than Liberty,
        Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty”.

    2. Well, Sunak, you, via the civil service; forced the eventual loss of Northern Ireland through the Windsor agreement. They made that international law – not UK law – precisely so it wasn’t something that could be undone by the UK alone, but could be managed by the EU. You either walked or were just incompetent in your planning.

  41. The SNP’s implosion is a chance to put failing devolution into reverse

    Devolving powers to Wales and Scotland has resulted only in the recreation of closed-shop fiefdoms

    DAVID FROST • 19th April 2023 • 9:30pm

    Even I feel a bit sorry for Humza Yousaf. He has scrambled to the summit of Scotland’s administration only to find himself on top of a political volcano, perched precariously as the land around him twists and deforms under pressure. Whatever he now does, he can’t shape events and is doomed to be their prisoner.

    Of course, we should not feel all that sorry for him. The Scottish government’s current difficulties are all the more gratifying to watch because they come after years of self-righteous nationalist preaching at the Conservative Party and at backward neoliberal England more generally. Humza himself was a leading – at least in role if not in competence – member of the SNP team that has so failed Scotland in recent years. Indeed, in its misgovernment and its control-freakery, the SNP has sown the wind and, let us hope, will now reap the political whirlwind.

    I say “let us hope” because nothing is predetermined. The SNP’s failings have been widely known for years. The party’s dreadful record on Scottish health and education, the shambolic ferry procurement, its appalling efforts to constrain free speech, its endless nannying and hectoring, its inept pursuit of its own main goal of a second independence referendum, and of course its determination to defy biological reality with the gender legislation that finally brought down Nicola Sturgeon – none of this is news.

    What turned it potentially lethal was a determined act by the Westminster government, one for which the Scottish Secretary Alister Jack deserves huge congratulations, in using the powers under Section 35 of the Scotland Act to block the Gender Reform Bill. That single act threw the SNP into crisis – a crisis it might have avoided had Sue Gray managed to persuade the Government to leave it to the courts.

    There is now a huge political opportunity, but it is one that must be seized. It won’t just drop into the Government’s hands. Scottish nationalism hasn’t disappeared. The Government has scotched the snake, not killed it. Independence still polls around 40 per cent and arguably its truly core support is no lower than 30 per cent. That is enough to keep nationalist parties significant players in Scottish politics, indeed the leading players if their vote does not split. If Yousaf becomes a tartan Liz Truss, and Kate Forbes returns, the mood could change quickly once again.

    That’s why the Section 35 decision must be only the first step in a determined campaign to reverse the many mis-steps of recent years. Surely it’s now clear that the philosophy held, implicitly or explicitly, by both parties, that more devolution would defuse and undermine the forces of independence, has been completely disproven by real life.

    Of course, Gordon Brown and a few others are still going around arguing that transforming the UK into a skeletal federal state, with all real powers held in the regions, will stave off dissolution. But I strongly suspect that even Keir Starmer doesn’t really believe him. It’s very obvious that riding the tiger of Scottish nationalism has nearly seen the UK dismembered and gobbled up.

    So now: do something different. Not only must no more powers be devolved to Scotland, it’s time to reverse the process. Devolution was designed in a different world – a world in which many powers theoretically devolved to Scotland were actually held at EU level and could not be exercised in practice. Brexit changed that, but rather than using the opportunity to rationalise things, a complex programme of “common frameworks” was established, making the UK Government a supplicant to the devolved administrations to maintain common rules across the country.

    Boris Johnson and a few of us, against much internal opposition, devised what became the UK Internal Market Act in 2020, giving Westminster the power to spend in devolved areas and to require goods to flow freely across the UK. But it has not been used assertively as it should have been – and of course the Windsor Framework has now introduced new and unwelcome complications in this whole area.

    Moreover, until recently, the UK Government has been supine in policing the boundaries of devolved powers. A devolved public health power was allowed to become an immigration and borders power during the pandemic. The SNP was allowed to set up its own missions overseas to preach independence. It’s very welcome that James Cleverly has now announced constraints on this, though I fear he will have to go further.

    Time to stop. Devolution was about enabling powers to be exercised closer to the people in a more practical and accountable way. Instead, it has resulted in the creation of closed-shop fiefdoms, effective one-party states, a tinpot amateurish one in Wales and a seriously dangerous one in Scotland. Let’s not forget that most people in Scotland oppose independence and in Wales there is real ambivalence even about the extent of devolution. Yet that Scottish majority has to live with permanent uncertainty about their future as British citizens and with a bullying, hectoring political culture that, hitherto, has intimidated SNP critics into submission.

    We, the Conservative Party and the Conservative Government, have allowed this to happen. It’s time to fix it. Ministers should make clear that, if re-elected, they will review and roll back some currently devolved powers. In particular, Scotland does not need to be an independent actor on the world stage; it should not be able to legislate to disrupt free trade within the UK; and it does not need to have most tax-raising powers currently available to it.

    These powers are embryonic independent government powers. They aren’t necessary to run an effective local administration, which is what devolution should be about. I hope, of course, that Labour might do likewise and drop its sneaking admiration for socialism in one (devolved) nation, but I am not holding my breath.

    I know I will be told by many that being tough with the SNP is counterproductive and just produces a reaction against those who “do down Scotland”. No. We have seen where that gets us. Stand up for Scots who want to live in a normal, settled, political culture. Speak for Britain. And start rebuilding our nation.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/19/snp-implosion-is-a-chance-to-put-devolution-in-reverse/

  43. ‘Delusional’ Brexiteers will die soon, says Ryanair chief

    Brexit critic Michael O’Leary says Britain will be back in the EU within a generation

    By Matthew Field • 19 April 2023 • 1:55pm

    The chief executive of Ryanair has claimed Britain will be forced to rejoin the European Union’s single market by a generation of pro-Europeans as Brexiteers die out.

    Michael O’Leary, the boss of Europe’s largest airline, claimed the British people had been sold a “tissue of lies” over the benefits of quitting the EU and said exiting the bloc had been “unbelievably messy”. Mr O’Leary accused Boris Johnson of being “completely delusional” about Brexit and said leaving the EU would be a “net negative” in the next five years.

    Ireland’s best-known businessman claimed Britain would be forced to rejoin the single market within the next 15 years, arguing that demographics would support the shift. The 62-year-old said: “In the next five to 10 years, quite a number of the Brexiteers will die, as the average age of them is about over 70. Younger people coming through are much more pro-European.”

    Mr O’Leary has been a long-standing critic of Brexit and campaigned for the “remain” vote during the 2016 referendum. Speaking at a Bloomberg event, Mr O’Leary said: “Everything that was promised to the UK population, the sunny uplands and the ability to do trade deals everywhere around the world were shown to be a tissue of lies. We mistakenly assumed there would be some kind of competence at the top of the government under Johnson and they would at least put the economy first and do a sensible deal. It turns out that was completely delusional, just like Johnson and the rest of his Brexit cohort.”

    The Ryanair chief said he was “more optimistic” now that Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt are in office but launched a broadside against aviation minister Baroness Vere, calling her “not the brightest sandwich in the picnic basket.”

    The budget airline boss said visas had become “ludicrously expensive” for EU staff, costing up to £3,000 each. He said: “The problem we find dealing with the government is there’s an obsession in most departments to find excuses that show where Brexit benefits. Duty free is back on flights to and from Europe, that’s about the only benefit.”

    Mr O’Leary previously claimed last summer’s airport disruption across the UK was “completely to do with Brexit” over the struggle to hire EU workers.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/04/19/delusional-brexiteers-will-die-soon-says-ryanair-chief

    2. 373685+ up ticks,

      Afternoon WS,
      No notice should be taken of paddy when the UK & the eu will be answering, in a very subdued manner, to the islamic brotherhood.the voting pattern dictates so.

    4. Tissue of lies – because of sabotage by the snivel service and politicians, not adhering to the voters instruction to leave.

    5. Mr O’Leary’s speech was lauded on Sky News this morning.

      Whatever you think of Brexit, having a foreigner interfere with the democratic process in this country is totally wrong.

      If we’re not careful we’ll get Soros and Gates interfering as well.

      1. That’s already happening, Janet, via the WEF who have their claws in our jokey, wokey king and his equally useless son(s).

    6. There is no reason it should be at all. If Brexit were taken advantage of huge things could change creating masses of jobs, real wealth and growth.

      The state is fighting that.

      The sad bit is that as those who understood why we left the EU pass, and the yobs get their own way – only to realise how wrong they are – they’ll find the same malice from their brats when they get a chance – not that they ever will because the freedoms so dearly earned simply won’t exist.

    7. The EU won’t exist in a generation. O’Leary is a fool. A rich fool, but still a fool.

  45. The north-easterly gale continues. Washing on line is horizontal… First lot put out an hour ago is dry enough to iron!

        1. It’s a lovely evening here! Still sunny.

          Just had a look on the Met Office’s rainfall page and yes, you have has a bit of weather today!

  46. 373685+ up ticks,

    There must be currently party members able to explain their voting actions in returning this toxic, treacherous political trio to power time again.again.& again.

    Why do you want these types here, is it just to build on party numbers at the expense of decent indigenous peoples feelings & welfare

    If WW2 lasted twice as long it would not have created as much damage as the continuing voting pattern has via the polling booth, and ongoing.

    https://twitter.com/LeilaniDowding/status/1649000722191593472?s=20

    1. Lock the door and burn it down. I am past caring. They shouldn’t be here, should never be allowed to land and those here must be removed. Whether that’s in a crate or by force.

  47. Britain ‘must rethink where it lays sea cables amid Russia threat’. 20 April 2023.

    Britain must rethink where it lays sea cables amid the threat from Russia, the former deputy chief of defence staff has suggested.

    “For many years we assumed we could lay these cables, intelligence, communications, energy, in a benign geopolitical environment – and that is absolutely no longer the case,” Simon Mayall told Sky News.

    Really? And where exactly are we supposed to lay sea cables?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/04/20/ukraine-russia-war-latest-putin-air-strikes-patriot-system/

    3. Just get those child labourers in the cobalt mines working a bit harder and it will be possible to avoid cables completely by plugging the whirly things into batteries, all you will need to do is tow the batteries back to land and swap them with the used ones.

    4. We could string them over the wind turbines; add fairy lights to show when the things are generating lekky.

  49. Rishi has just played a masterstroke to stop the small boats. 20 April 2023.

    Given the draconian nature of the Government’s solution to the small boats crisis – sending large numbers of migrants on a one-way trip to Rwanda – the objection of the Court was inevitable.

    The Government’s solution? To remain as signatories to the Convention but give the Home Secretary powers to ignore attempts by European judges to suddenly block deportation flights from leaving Britain. She would have “discretion” to ignore Strasbourg injunctions, known as Rule 39 orders. It’s an inelegant but pragmatic solution. And it will infuriate Sunak’s opponents – for the cynicism of the tactic as much as for the possible end result – a reduction in cross-Channel traffic. They will point the finger at the Right-wing MPs who have pressed for just such an outcome and they will claim that the Government remains at the mercy of an unrepresentative clique of extremists.

    All this is of course Horse Manure. The aim is to get through the coming General Election and then it can all be safely ignored for another five years.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/20/rishi-has-just-played-a-masterstroke-to-stop-the-small-boat/

    1. Every one of those criminals came from France. They should be returned to France and the Froggie government charged for their stay in the UK and the cost or repatriating them.

    2. A vastly simpler solution is to simply withdraw from the ECHR and HRA. But the state is desperate to remain chained to the EU and to do nothing that could jeopardise that.

    3. If it turns out to be a clever move (and I share your cynicism), then it will have come from Braverman, not Sunak who is barely capable of tying his shoelaces.

  50. Rishi has just played a masterstroke to stop the small boats
    It may not guarantee an electoral recovery by the Conservatives – but doing nothing or tinkering at the edges is a sure path to defeat
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/20/rishi-has-just-played-a-masterstroke-to-stop-the-small-boat/

    Just like surrendering Northern Ireland to the EU and the ECJ was ‘a masterstroke’.

    Why is anybody taken in by this useless little man, Sunak?

    BTL from Anthony Goodson

    “I hope somebody has considered how difficult it will be to load two or three hundred young men onto a plane taking them to somewhere they don’t want to go.”

    Line them up and give them injections to send them to sleep so that they can’t struggle and make a mess and then fill the planes’ holds with illegal immigrant containing racks so that they can pack as many as possible at a time ? The racks should not be unpacked until they have been loaded onto the tarmac in Rwanda.

    Any better ideas?

    1. I watched a short podcast on YouTube last evening with Neil Oliver. He referred to Fishy Rishi as “Wee Rishi Sunak and his tiny, tiny suit.”
      Nearly choked on me plonk.
      And only the truly gullible will be taken in by that poseur.

    2. Rastus, some years ago the Government decided to repatriate approximately 150 illegal Sri Lankans to their home land.

      On the tarmac they all took off their clothes.

      The Government immediately decided that they could stay in Britain.

      Expect many repeats of a successful ploy.

      1. Leave them in the crates until the planes have taken off and returned to Britain for the next lot. They can then prance about naked if they want to do so.

      2. I thought up a great wheeze for all those that ditched their IDs.

        Unless they identified their country of origin, I’d let it be known that they would all be taken by Naval Cutter to a Somalian Beach, and landed at midnight wearing only their underpants.

    3. Affix each with leg shackles. Employ a trained force of British Sikhs and offer payment based on number shackled. Back-up must be provided using stun guns and real guns.

  51. HAHAHAHAHA
    Breathe
    HAHAHAHAHA
    On the snooker Frank Warren announces a civil case agin the snooker looney invites all the audience to submit all expenses (tickets,taxis,hotelsetc) saying he will bear all legal costs
    “We have to stop this nonsense”
    “Young man you’ll be spending an awful lot of time in court”
    Excellent,no assets?? bankrupt the little shit ruin his life
    Edit
    Just a thought,there were 400+ in the audience,make them all separate cases that’ll keep him busy!!
    Reedit
    It was Barry Hearn,not Frank Warren

    1. Excellent news. The loony has picked on the wrong people this time. Warren is a boxing promoter once likened to a Warren Street Car Salesman.

  52. Just back from lunch. Patatas Bravas, Frito Misto, Mussels, chilli garlic Prawns. Burp !
    And a bottle of Tempranillo.

    Nice sunny day too.

  53. Elon Musk’s prized Starship mega-rocket exploded into a fireball on its first attempt to launch ((nearly three minutes after liftoff)

    A crying shame. Elon half expected it but it would have been nice for him to have a successful launch. Back to the drawing board!

  55. Phew!
    After picking up by hammer drills from t’Lad’s yesterday, a drive to Matlock & back, via Crich as the DT’s has apparently got a dead battery, to pick up a suitable drill for using with the wedge & feather sets I bought and, lo & behold! I have one lump of limestone reduced into smaller bits! Not as cleanly as I’d been hoping and, owing to the faults in the rock, into several lumps but still, useful bits never the less.

    Eldest daughter is due into Cromford at 16:00 after a replacement bus between Reading & Didcot.

    Driving between Crich and the main road above Tansley, I want along this bit of road:-
    https://www.google.com/maps/@53.1053202,-1.4806618,3a,75y,84.99h,90.18t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sqX8hPdmdfxSUqkXZ_O-qtw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

    And had to stop and marvel at how beautiful our country is.

    1. Lovely, indeed. And soon to be built over with accommodation for thousands of illegals.

    2. We’re away this weekend for a family lunch but not staying in Belper with OH’s niece but in the outskirts of Sheffield with his nephew. Going tomorrow by train and back on Sunday afternoon.

        1. Very good – for a girl. I never found them remotely funny. Nor Karl, for that matter.

          Same with the Crazy Gang – left me stony faced. My Dad would crease up.

          3. The three Stooges were worse than the Marx Bothers, no matter how many of them.

            My father used to sing Music Hall songs whilst shaving in the bathroom including all the stuff from the Black & White Minstrel Show which he thought was the only thing worth watching on television.

          5. No Diversity! All the male singers were black, weren’t they? Don’t tell me now that they were wearing make-up.

          6. That’s what I always imagined.

            On the wider point, I think it is a generational thing. My parents loved ITMA (as did my much older eldest brother). But they couldn’t make head nor tail of the Goon Show and, later, Monty Python.

          7. My mother would listen to The Archers every day. My father had no time for The Goon Show, was a massive fan of That Was The Week That Was (adoring Millicent Martin and loathing David Frost), and was selective about which bits of Monty Python he found funny (as was I and we didn’t always agree).

          8. My people didn’t like TW3 at all. But then they never understood satire in any form. I took them to “At the drop of a hat”. Total waste of money. They just could not see the point of it. “Too clever by half…” was one comment on the way home!

          9. We all loved ‘At the Drop of a Hat’.

            My father insisted that we all go to The Nottingham Playhouse every month to see whatever they had in repertory. This was not because any of us had thespian tendencies but because he had a passionate crush on a young actress called Judi Dench.

          10. 16 year old Judi Dench sent a charming reply to my grandmother’s letter to her praising her performance at the York mystery plays.

          11. My mother liked to listen to My Word and My Music with Frank Muir & Denis Norden but other than that, comedy left her cold. Apart from Peter Sellers and the Balham record which I still have somewhere.

          14. From that Best of Sellers record was the sketch about the nervous couple visiting a school to see if it would be suitable for their son:

            Nervous Father: Do the boys and girls share the same curriculum?
            Headmaster: We had separate ones built.
            Nervous mother: The fire escape doesn’t look very safe in the photograph.
            Headmaster : I can assure you, Madam, it is considerably safer in the photograph than it is on the building

            My parents loved Face The Music with Joseph Cooper, Joyce Grenfell and Robin Ray.

          20. There was a spin-off show from the Black & White Minstrels that featured the same singers without the black face. The format was very simple and the music was good. Elaine Paige was a regular on that before she was well known. My dad liked that very much and also Top C’s and Tiaras with Julia Migenes and friends.

          24. Some of us fail completely to see why people think that Richard Gervais is remotely funny. In general I prefer situational and verbal comedy to slapstick but it is very difficult to laugh with someone who strikes you as being a total pillock.

          25. Because he dares to say things other people just think? And he was very good at that cringeworthy narcissistic character David Brent.

    3. I think that his collaborator, Spencer, was the real brains behind behind Das Kapital.

    4. I think that his collaborator, Spencer, was the real brains behind behind Das Kapital.

    6. Marx reputedly never took a bath. I wonder how she could stand being so close to him?

  59. ‘It will make him a kinder King’ : Charles has great empathy after ‘merciless’ bullying at school by peers who ‘pulled his ears during rugby games’, former classmate claims
    King Charles attended Gordonstoun School in Scotland in the 1960s
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11994385/King-Charles-mercilessly-bullied-school-peers-pulled-ears-classmate-claims.html

    Bullying is always going to happen and it is never easy to know what the best thing to do is: ignore it and the problem goes unchecked and unpunished and gets worse; but going in over-zealously can stir up great resentment and make matters very much worse again. I must admit though that in one school in which I taught a group of bullies were expelled and this sorted out the bullying problem in the school for a year or two but such problems have a nasty habit of returning.

    How the bullied react is interesting. Some become zealous in wanting to stop bullying happening to others as it had happened to them. But not all bullied people are particularly pleasant themselves and their view is ‘it happened to me so I’m going to enjoy bullying others now that I have the chance to do so.’

    If Charles was seriously bullied did it make him more compassionate or did it make him nastier in his treatment of others? He certainly strikes me as a selfishly arrogant and unpleasant man and if these traits were with him as a schoolboy then it is not surprising that he was bullied.

    1. Agreed. On the other hand, it can’t be easy to be at a rigorous boarding school in the middle of nowhere with a couple of policeman following your every move. Can’t endear you to the other sprogs.

    2. The way to stop bullying that schools ignore? Break three ribs, knock out two teeth and leave the kid with a concussion head first in the toilet he tried to beat you up in.

      Stefan Boakes crosses the road to avoid me even today, the little shite.

      1. Today you’d get a couple of years in a Detention Centre – and be ordered to pay damages to the poor little fellow you attacked.

        Unless you were a bame, of course.

      2. Boys go in for rough and tumble and physical bullying. Girls however are far more effective with psychological bullying which can be very much nastier.

      3. Firstborn was (and still is) short, but very strong. Aged 12 or so, at a new school, a lad tried to bully him, so he picked the lad up, hung him on a coathook, and told him that if he ever tried that again, he’d break the bastard.
        Never bullied since.

        1. My father was not only very academically clever as a schoolboy, he was also very tough. When he was 13 he was picked on and hit by a prefect and my dear old dad knocked him out cold with one punch which did not go down very well with the prefect’s father who was one of the school governors.

      4. Lenny Giddens quite tall, as well was a known bully and was shoving me a round one day until I punched in the face. Didn’t bother me again.

    3. He didn’t have much empathy for Diana and her pregnancy sickness. He was very dismissive when she had to dash off while we were catering for an event at Highgrove.

      1. This is a man who is incapable of putting his own toothpaste on his brush, nor eating a boiled egg without assistance.

        I was a monarchist, joined The Queue (OK – the legs gave out, but I tried).

        I’m sorry but he’s #notmyking..

        1. I pledged allegiance to HM The Queen – that doesn’t get transferred to Chas the turd

      1. I was the tallest girl in my primary school and am still the same height- 5’4. I also had sticky out front teeth (now corrected) and my nickname was Harold Hare. I didn’t get bullied because as stated, I was the tallest girl.
        A real twit of a girl tried bullying me at grammar school even up to tipping the waste paper basket over me. She received the biggest mouthful of invective I bet she’d ever had and never bothered me again. My barbed tongue is my weapon as others have found out.
        Never mind Charles’ ears, it was because he was who he was and had led a somewhat sheltered life. I have always thought it was insensitive of Prince Philip to send Charles there.

        3. They wanted him to go to school rather than be educated privately as the Mitford girls were.
          Gordonstoun was a strange choice but his father went there as thought it would do him good. I suspect that the DoE thought that Etonians were too effete. Maybe he should have been sent to a school such as Sherborne, Marlborough or Rugby.

          1. Having lived in leafy Surrey for two or three decades, I’ve met more than my fair share of Old Etonians.

            The words “thick” and “pigshit” spring to mind…

    5. Yes, I cannot help wondering if they wanted to take him down a peg or two because he was arrogant. But they may equally well have been unpleasant bullies. Without knowing the people involved personally, one can’t say.

    1. Didn’t feel quite so cold out there this afternoon as it did this morning, but still unpleasantly windy when I took the washing in. I did do an hour or so tidying up outside.

      1. A good drying day. Much sunshine and wind. Saved me using the tumble part of the washer dryer.

        Sadly, lots of rain forecast from now to eternity… ☹️

        1. We had to water the hanging baskets again – pansies which have done very well – flowering right through the winter. They perked up again with a drop of water. They should be ok if it’s a wet weekend.

    2. Still a beautiful sunny day here, but the air temperature is still lower than you’d expect.

        1. I sat out in the sun for an hour when the groceries were put away and very nice it was too. Cushions now inside as it’s supposed to rain, again, tomorrow. Grrr.

          2. We have a few new planted in pots on our patio, Erin will have to wrap them if the forecast is bad enough. We might be okay in Mid Herts.

          3. Bought a small pot of coriander today and will repot it when the weather obliges.

    3. Been a lovely day here; I’ve spent most of it outside and didn’t need to wear a jacket.

  62. G’day all 😊😉
    Been very busy clearing the old crusty stubborn Moss from our lower rear extension roof. Tough job it’s gone hard as I sprayed it last year and killed it off, but it was stuck in place in and around the tiles especially front edges. I started it earlier this week but was too exhausted to keep it up. All done now and it’s about to rain, just in time. I manged to do most of it from upstairs windows and the rest from a ladder, that wind was a bit dodgy at times. Funnily enough I had to wear a peaked golf cap to keep the sun out of my eyes. Fore………….

      1. Finished now, but probably not Sue, I did take my time though, plenty of breaks, but it had to be done. Eldest coming to cut the back and front grass on Saturday weather permitting of course.

        1. I expect Erin nags as well? I’ve been at my old man for a while noe re his kidney stones and heart problems, but for any real effect I have to call in the vet daughter!

          5. She puts on the ‘hurt’ tone and says they’re all worried about him!! As if I’m not….🙄

          6. While I applaud your daughter’s view – and your own – speaking as an, hem, older person – it can be a right pain in the arse when some young person gives you health advice. My daughter-in-law does it and, while I love her dearly and she has been a marvellous addition to the family – I could sometimes give her a kick!

            Just saying…I wouldn’t be surprised if your OH agrees with me!

          7. Without even asking him, I know he does! Oberst made exactly the same point to me recently, which is why I shut up! However I understand the girls worry, and I try to reassure everyone!

  63. Manufacturers are finding it difficult to make profitable EVs with the usability and reliability of Internal Combustion Engined (ICE) vehicles. Manufacturers of the latter have higher overheads in moving production to EVs than Tesla which can make low quality mass produced EVs without the legacy of ICE robotic construction lines. Tesla has the scope to lower EV costs and compromise the net zero targets legislated by governments whilst at the same time improving the saleability of ICE cars:

    https://news.sky.com/story/new-electric-car-interest-drops-two-thirds-on-uks-biggest-car-sales-website-12861324

    1. Interesting. I hadn’t considered that car manufacturers may themselves be behind the push to force us all to “go electric” – if they can charge more for something that costs them less to produce, it’s a win-win for them, isn’t it?

      Hmmmmm.

    1. “Impatient”…”rearranging traffic cones”…sounds very much like a superannuated delinquent who occasionally blurts out reactionary and incendiary opinions BTL DTletters…I think the chap’s name is A Allan or summat like that. In the interests of Public Safety, probably ought to be locked up.

  65. “Rishi Sunak will delay a decision on Dominic Raab’s future until tomorrow at the earliest after being handed a report into allegations that he bullied officials.

    The prime minister will weigh whether to keep Raab in his cabinet tonight after concluding that he needs more time to go through the lengthy report, which was submitted this morning by Adam Tolley KC.” (The Grimes just now)

    He’ll wait until Draab has stopped beating him up.

    2. Funny how it’s always politicians who are alleged to have bullied civil serpents, and never the other way round. We’re supposed to believe that the saintly civil serpents never bully anyone.

    1. Don’t do it, Bill, it’s a noble thing to do but NoTTLers and the MR would be heartbroken.

  68. Right – that’s me done. Potted on my Green Magic broccoli. Wondering when to take the plunge and pot on the tomatoes.

    Have a spiffing evening planning what to do with Draab. I bet Fishi is frit…..

    A demain.

    1. How do you get the tomato seedlings to grow? Is it the heated propagators?
      I chucked in the towel and bought some. The ones I planted are stubbornly not growing. I thought they needed light, so I took them outside, but they just look even sicker, although they aren’t frost damaged.

      1. Two years running I’ve had to experience four none conformist packets of tomato seeds.
        No show. I’ll have to buy plants now.

        1. I bought a small tomato plant in Asda last year for £3. Cherry toms and we had a few dozen off it and they were delicious.

        1. And a lot of light too, it seems! I might just abandon the effort, concentrate on other plants that will grow next year and buy the tomato plants.

          2. Heat and light…as I thought! Our cottage is old and has small windows. No chance of all-round light if kept indoors.
            I shall keep my eyes open for a rigid greenhouse that I could put against the house wall. Someone I know leaves a candle in the small greenhouse overnight to heat it.

          5. The kind that I have – electric and large – are no longer made. Unfortunately.

  69. Another Par Four today.

    Wordle 670 4/6
    ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩
    ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩
    ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Five for me but there was a sort of logical progression that felt quite satisfying anyway.

      Wordle 670 5/6

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

      1. Bogie 5 for me too.

        Wordle 670 5/6

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

        Edited my bogey.

  70. If Raab goes it opens the floodgates for every politically motivated civil servant to try to get rid of any politician they disagree with.

    “Mummy, mummy she raised an eyebrow at me, I’m traumatised, she’s a bully”

  71. More power to her elbow

    Harry ‘should be charged with treason’, Meghan ‘used a racism narrative when she didn’t get what she wanted’, Gary Lineker is ‘deluded’ and BLM is ‘Marxist’: Meet our new columnist NANA AKUA

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11995667/NANA-AKUA-Harry-charged-treason-says-MailOnlines-new-coumnist.html

    Forgive my cynicism, but does anyone really believe that “John Smith, white man aged 45” would be able to write similarly?

  73. Dear prime minister, please support your deputy all he’s done has threatened to flush the toilet in Whitehall.

    1. I think Raab is probably on the Autistic spectrum .

      I do hope he isn’t sacked .

      Those of you who can remember your teachers in the 1950’s and 60’s, usually ex service/ wartime experience/ good university / academics etc.. who kept law and order in the classroom .. and were strong discipliarians .. no wishy washy stuff , and we were lucky, and that then happened again when I was a young student nurse in the QARNNS.. the Royal Navy then was fiercely strong on discipline .

      1. I may not last long in my job, shame because I really enjoy it…for now.
        In a meeting about recruitment yesterday, our clinical lead – a consultant – declared that we should be seeking out staff who might find it difficult to get jobs elsewhere I.e. those with loads of tatoos, facial piercings, openly trans etc.
        I can see my attempts to enforce a dress code becoming even more difficult than it is now, surrounded as I am by a load of typical NHS wokey soshies.

        1. I can’t recall the exact figures from an earlier thread today but for sake of argument there were 50 people in the UK for every NHS worker in 1999 now there are 35. Has the service improved?

          Has it Hell.

          I take my hat off to you for tolerating it.

        2. I wish the NHS in our parts were as keen on actually getting people to see their consultants.
          Good luck to you.

        3. Surely you should be hiring those best suited by way of training, competence and attitude?
          I’ll get me coat…

        1. I think that should be left in peace….for now.
          PS- Anyone heard anything about Gavin? He could be very serious but also great fun.

    2. “Tell me madam, how will you feel if the husband of a woman whose space you have invaded kicks you in the bollocks so hard that you end up with three prominent Adam’s apples?”

    3. He has just proved he’s mentally ill – which is what ‘transgender’ people are.

  78. The other evening I was rubbished regarding a post of mine regarding adrenochrome. I was informed it was the writings of the imagination of a fictional novelist.

    The link below now informs us that this has now become an item of interest on mainstream news in Bulgaria and Turkey. This is what the West is trying so desperately to hide in Ukraine. If you decide to read the link, do follow it through to the next link (click on the box) given and read the comments. It is distressing, appalling, but we need to know in order to put it right.

    https://twitter.com/DocAhmadMalik/status/1647684768673267712?s=20

    2. The real answer is to make clear we don’t house them, don’t feed them, don’t give them money don’t give them health care or education.
      Just say;
      “Welcome to Britain. You will get nothing. Find your community, let them support you.

      If you commit a crime you will be deported, no ifs, buts or maybes.”

      2. It doesn’t happen, it won’t happen because TPTB want them here. There is no political will to effect your suggestions.

        1. True, sadly.
          But they’re going to abscond at the first opportunity anyway, why do waste time and money?

          If they knew that there was absolutely nothing available except from “their” communities they would stop coming, because you can bet a few bob that “their” communities won’t want them if they have to pay for them.

      4. Sorry Sos, but no. They must never, ever be allowed into the country. Ever. Get rid of them.

        1. Short of shooting them as soon as one becomes aware of their intended destination I can’t see how they can all be stopped;
          Take away the attraction.

      2. It saves the taxpayer from feeding them for years and frees up rooms for the next tranche of invaders (who will also disappear into the black economy)

    4. Why? Throw them in there and forget about them! Anchor the scum off the coast – a long way off the coast – for goodness sake, keep pouring the vermin in until it’s bursting and then sink the thing.

    5. 373685+ up ticks,

      Evening TB,
      The seven days will be used by many to assemble at arranged points country wide on trial runs, awaiting the trigger screech from the tower, signalling the take over.

    3. Putin, without question.

      Sunak is an imposed stooge with no mandate who spouts utter nonsense.

      Trudeau is a psychotic fascist hypocrite.
      Macron is a bad of slime happily taking our money while pushing the criminal horde on to us because he couldn’t be bothered to deal with it.

      Putin is a patriot and does what he says he will. Yes, the democracy is completely bent but so is ours. Is he a fascist? No. A hypocrite? No. He doesn’t lie when he says he’ll get rid of you.

      1. Yes, he is a hard bastard and not a nice person to upset, but he cares for his country.

  82. Sound of big guns and mortar fire on the Lulworth ranges tonight .. some activity .

    The dogs are used to it ,it is dusk now, firing will probably continue untill late .

    We have a lot of Ukrainians based here at the RTR Bovington and Lulworth ..

    Practising for something worse than we could possibly imagine , I expect ..

    They will be cannon fodder .

    Remember the state of anxiety and tension after 9/11 ?

    We could be in for a shock…

    TPTB haven’t a clue ..

    Our soldiers are in Ukraine and elsewhere in that part of Europe .. We hear whispers ..

  84. Lions can hunt and kill their food from the age of 3 months.
    My 3 year old couldn’t find his lunchbox, and it was in his other hand!
    And they say we’re at the top of the food chain.
    🙁

  85. I’ve just stumbled across this…

    Neil Oliver says the BBC is ‘nothing more than a mouthpiece of the state’ after the broadcaster had been slammed for claiming an anti-ULEZ protest featured ‘conspiracy theorists’ and ‘far-right groups’.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgqk6VJuJ-Y

    1. I was there and was handed a very well-drafted anti-ULEZ leaflet by a lovely woman and her c. 9 year-old daughter -from the Communist Party.
      PS thanks for vid

      1. BBC: “we are satisfied the protest was covered accurately and the script was a fair description of the people and groups attending the event”

        Sir – you are lying

        1. I see that the bloke who presents Countryfile was praising Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil. Impartial?

          2. The one about whom there has been controversy before with his agenda. I’m afraid I don’t watch the Beeb, I just get told what’s going on and frankly, it went in one ear and out the other. Name some names and one might ring a bell.

  86. Eldest daughter is planning to go to Derby to see my Stepson, her half-brother, tomorrow, so I’ll be drilling holes in another rock and using the wedge & feather sets to split it.

    However, I’m off to bed now. G’night all.

    1. Goodnight, BoB. I’ll be off to bed in a short while too. (To my own bed, not to BoB’s, you naughty-minded NoTTLers!)

    2. Goodnight, BoB. I’ll be off to bed in a short while too. (To my own bed, not to BoB’s, you naughty-minded NoTTLers!)

  87. Do you remember the story of the ‘farmer’ who did a bit of landscaping in Herefordshire three years ago? He’s been jailed for a year and effectively fined more than £1 million.

    From this…

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4379d6bd51780deb4290ec5109adaccf1da13c74738aa314ad406a0a3c5b3d6c.jpg

    …to this.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8db20234656b9cb67bf0d4e8bebd1578ff560da576a4f0c34c1a8d3d25691cdb.jpg

    More pictures in this report:
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-65339969

  88. Do you remember the story of the ‘farmer’ who did a bit of landscaping in Herefordshire three years ago? He’s been jailed for a year and effectively fined more than £1 million.

    From this…

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4379d6bd51780deb4290ec5109adaccf1da13c74738aa314ad406a0a3c5b3d6c.jpg

    …to this.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8db20234656b9cb67bf0d4e8bebd1578ff560da576a4f0c34c1a8d3d25691cdb.jpg

    More pictures in this report:
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-65339969

  90. Evening, all. A Royal Commission would be a waste of time and money. I can’t see it delivering anything worthwhile.

    1. Yo Conners

      Unless of course it comprised of Nottlers.

      We have, between us, so many skills.

      Fiscal. Legal, Educashun. Military, Quality Management, Caring, Providers, Language,

      The list is endless

  91. Random musings….tomorrow April 21 would have been my parents’ 72nd* wedding anniversary.
    Tomorrow would have been the late Queen’s 97 birthday.
    I have just had a small bowl of Neapolitan ice cream- because I’m worth it;-)
    *Just proved how useless at sums I am.

    1. My parents married on April 21st, too. It was Easter Sunday. Today it is two years since I lost my beloved old terrier. Oscar marked it by being absolutely obnoxious this morning. He nearly went on a one-way trip to the vet! When I got back from walking Kadi, Dr Jekyll had banished Mr Hyde and Oscar was sweetness and light!

      1. Poor Oscar- he must have had a troubled life until he met you.
        Glad he’s happier now.

        1. I think he did, but this morning I understood only too well why he might have been beaten!

  93. Goodnight Y’all. Have done well today and stayed up to be tired enough to, hopefully, go straight to sleep.
    Have a good night and see you tomorrow.

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