Saturday 29 April: Patients are paying a terrible price for the lack of joined-up care in the NHS

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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501 thoughts on “Saturday 29 April: Patients are paying a terrible price for the lack of joined-up care in the NHS”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    Painting the Porch

    A woman answered the knock at her door and found a destitute man. He wanted to earn money by doing odd jobs, so she asked: “Can you paint?”

    “Yes,” he said, “I’m a pretty good painter.”

    “Well, here’s a gallon of green paint and a brush. Go behind the house and you’ll see a porch that needs repainting. Be very careful. When you’re done, I’ll look it over and pay you what it’s worth.”

    It wasn’t more than an hour before he knocked again.

    “All finished!” he reported with a smile.

    “Did you do a good job?” she asked.

    “Yes, but lady, there’s one thing I’d like to point out to you. That’s not a Porsche back there. That’s a Mercedes!”

  6. The BBC’s future is increasingly precarious. 29 Apil 2023.

    This is particularly true given the tendency of bodies like the BBC to act in their own interests, rather than those of the public. Captured by groupthink, they stop interrogating their own assumptions, and gradually become distanced from the people who pay their salaries. Institution after institution has fallen prey to such a tendency, from the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee to quangos such as NHS England. Conservative governments have been poor at appointing people capable of counteracting such trends, too often favouring establishment insiders.

    This cannot be allowed to happen now with the role of BBC chairman. The next few years will be critical for the future of the broadcaster, which is increasingly precarious, in large part thanks to the emergence of internet streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. Millions have also grown disillusioned with the corporation. Many consider, with some justification, that it is failing in its duties to be impartial, disrespecting pro-Brexit and Conservative viewpoints. Others feel that it is neglecting older listeners and viewers in its desperation to appeal to the young.

    Why this angst over the fate of this anti-British anti-White Marxist mouthpiece that only exists because it is financed by judicial extortion? It should be shut down!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2023/04/28/the-bbcs-future-is-increasingly-precarious/

  7. He’s not very popular, is he…

    Gary Lineker: Government must not pick next BBC chairman

    Match of the Day host argues on Twitter that different approach is needed after resignation of Richard Sharp

    By Robert Mendick, CHIEF REPORTER ;Dominic Penna, POLITICAL REPORTER and
    Nick Gutteridge, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
    28 April 2023 • 9:25pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2023/04/28/TELEMMGLPICT000333711933_2_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq9G1FWXFXVy9Jivt8rsRtvcLZq-j_VIcNfiYtpwBx7zI.jpeg?imwidth=680
    *
    *
    **********************************************

    1100+ comments, mostly negative

    Bevill Conder
    13 HRS AGO
    Gary Lineker says ….
    Prince Harry says ……
    Meghan says …..
    The British public says “Leave us alone and go away”

    Anthony Power
    13 HRS AGO
    If I want advice from someone who spent most of his life chasing a ball, I’ll ask my dog.

    2. My Wife went to the Bristol Hippodrome earlier this week to see the WNO perform “The Magic Flute”, one of our most favourite Operas, after she recovered from a fit of the vapours having paid £12 for a pre-performance G+T she sat down to watch what unfolded to be a travesty. The directors stated attempt was to make the performance acknowledge racism and misogyny and be inclusive. The result was so bad even the Guardian panned it. Imagine if you will the lovely princess Pamina played by a very large lady of colour and indeterminate age and indifferent voice. I’m almost glad I’m bed bound and didn’t waste the cost of a seat.

      https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/mar/06/the-magic-flute-review-mozart-welsh-national-opera-hectic-new-version

    3. For goodness sake. Why do these fools insist on re-writing history. Britain is white. The foreigners are Labour’s miserable addition.

      Netflix did the same, replacing a VIking king with a black woman. It’s hilarious. No one’s watching that, either.

          1. …and, if you are going to bang on about it as you so often do, my father, elder brother, and myself. The difference was that we weren’t spies. Donald Maclean was not at Trinity but next door at Trinity Hall. He and my father often played squash together.

          2. 373995+ up ticks,

            C1,

            “..and, if you are going to bang on about it as you so often do”

            A touch of assuming there, if ever.
            I do believe in learn by rote, lest we forget.

            You have me at a disadvantage seeing as
            I did not know your dad or brother and as for squash, no comment, we had brick fights at our school.

    2. Oh – shaved, has he?

      He was the bloke that Johnson was going to sack. But somehow never managed to to.

  11. Russian ship fitted with submarines spotted near Nord Stream pipelines four days before explosion. 29 April 2023.

    A Russian vessel known for carrying deepwater submarines was spotted touring the Nord Stream pipelines days before they were sabotaged, according to a new report.

    The SS-750 Russian naval ship was tracked by a Danish patrol boat east of the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea, close to the two sites of the explosions that rendered the pipelines inoperable.

    The Danish military confirmed it captured 26 photographs of the Russian ship, which has a crane and a mini-submarine of its own to perform underwater operations, on September 22 last year.

    Keep those stories coming Lol! Maybe we will forget that it was the Americans!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/04/28/russian-ship-with-subs-near-nord-stream-before-explosion/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

    1. Only now, after a year of rumours is was the US, does someone go “Oh, yes. We just remember we have photos of a Russian pipelay vessel in the area!”
      What bollox.

  12. Despite getting 7 hours sleep last night, because it was induced by a pill, I’m still sleepy so I’m going to take a couple more hours.

    Bis später

  14. Officials commenting on the discovery of submarine paper in a pub loo said turday that it was no big deal as the captains log revealed it was just a bog standard sub.

  15. Officials commenting on the discovery of submarine paper in a pub loo said turday that it was no big deal as the captains log revealed it was just a bog standard sub.

  16. Officials commenting on the discovery of submarine paper in a pub loo said turday that it was no big deal as the captains log revealed it was just a bog standard sub.

  17. Officials commenting on the discovery of submarine paper in a pub loo said turday that it was no big deal as the captains log revealed it was just a bog standard sub.

  18. Good morning, all. Cloudy but dry. Odd bits f blue sky but, as yet, NONE of the promised sunshine.

  19. 373995+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Military families given shop vouchers as compensation for unsafe or substandard homes
    One couple with a newborn baby living in a house infested with black mould and damp were given £2 in vouchers – at no cost to the MoD

    This is the accumulation of years of adhering to, the lab/lib/con coalition voting pattern, and putting an ersatz party again before the Country.

    We have the defender of the Nation living in sub standard
    5* .hovels whilst the foreign INVADERS of the nation are putting their feet up in 5* hotels, awaiting the screech from a tower.

    I do honestly believe that the bulk of very dangerous imbeciles are to be found encapsulated within the voting majority.

    1. Ownership, care and maintenance of military housing, barracks as well as married quarters should taken off the private sector and put in the case of a reformed Barrack Services under the control of the Royal Engineers.

      1. 373995+ up ticks,

        Morning Bob,
        This “should ” word has a great deal to answer for.

  20. Good morning. A cool 4°C, initially with a light overcast but now becoming sunny as the cloud breaks up and the sun clears the hill towards Cromford.

  21. Good Moaning Tootle Mond,

    Sunny over the McPhee plot, some cloud later, 9℃ rising to 16℃, wind back in the East but going South by this evening.

    A few things to sink ones fangs into today.

    From the Gatesograph letters it seems some are exercised by Twinings changing their Lapsang to ‘Distinctlively Smokey’. Personally I have always regarded Twinings tea to be little more than the sweepings off the warehouse floor, in the same category as TyPhoo and Brooke Bond and supermarket ‘own brand’ etc. It’s always better to go to a proper tea merchant and buy proper tea whether loose leaf or in bags. It may cost a bit more but you only have to buy one less pint in the pub to cover it. Assam in the morning, Darjeeling in the afternoon, no milk, no sugar and there is a place for the odd pot of Lapsang. If a cafe/tea-room/coffee-shop trades in Twinings tea-bags (such as Costa), don’t go there.

    1. Twining’s Earl Grey is an almost tasteless brew when compared to the much better Rington’s version.
      Not only does the Rington’s version actually taste of oil of bergamot, it actually produces a reasonable strong cuppa!

      1. I bow to your superior knowledge, BoB. As for me I buy the cheapest Aldi teabags and use each one for two cuppas. So far, I haven’t died! Lol.

  22. Whisper it, but Ukraine may no longer be winning. Richard Kemp. 29 April 2023.

    In recent weeks, optimism has been the main feature of analysis regarding Ukraine’s chances this summer, as Kyiv gears up for a major offensive. The failure of Russian forces to gain any significant territory since the winter has, quite understandably, excited Western pundits. But there is a risk that we are over-estimating Kyiv’s abilities and becoming complacent in the process.

    Is this the same Richard Kemp MP. who wrote:
    A total Russian collapse is surprisingly close. 28 February 2023.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/28/total-russian-collapse-surprisingly-close/

    Russia will never recover from this devastating collapse. 1 April 2023.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/01/russia-will-never-recover-from-this-devastating-collapse/

    Putin’s Götterdämmerung is fast approaching. 4 April 2023.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/04/putin-wagner-fast-approaching-demise-killed/

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/28/whisper-it-but-ukraine-may-no-longer-be-winning/

    1. Yet the picture that emerged in the apparent leaks of classified Pentagon papers is one in which Ukraine will struggle to maintain these functions.
      One reported leak stated that the “enduring Ukrainian deficiencies in training and munitions supplies probably will strain progress and exacerbate casualties during the offensive”.
      Very convenient these leaks. Misdirection, I wonder? Hmm…

  23. https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/972eaf838175dc6d98873c9b2e9e456a6a12daad/0_0_3543_2362/master/3543.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=8b218da23e39d05a2e597ef266b0f353
    Vidareidi, the northern most settlement on the island of Viðoy, the Faroe Isles.

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/76eb897c34bb07fb9b3387faa84aa44c4819b980/0_0_3543_2362/master/3543.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=ed805af1580bdb5a60883f65a7e828f4
    Young men take an evening swim in the cold waters in Sydrugota

      1. Maybe that is why we are being taxed to provide funds to Ukraine. If Vladimir Putin gets so cross that he unleashes nuclear weapons on the UK I am sure that London would be one of the prime targets.

  25. Target 2.

    On our trip to see off-spring and grand-offspring yesterday we touched the South Downs. Driving around one noticed a fair few rural houses – they were large ones too which were obvs. owned by well-off folk – with Green Party election signs up on the edge of their desmesnes. It’s the same in the more affluent part of our local town. What is it with these people? Don’t they know what the Green Party really is?

      1. They use it as a means of exerting control for the benefit of – themselves. One need only read Anthony Sutton and Carroll Quigley who exposed them.

  26. Target 2.

    On our trip to see off-spring and grand-offspring yesterday we touched the South Downs. Driving around one noticed a fair few rural houses – they were large ones too which were obvs. owned by well-off folk – with Green Party election signs up on the edge of their desmesnes. It’s the same in the more affluent part of our local town. What is it with these people? Don’t they know what the Green Party really is?

      1. Unusual for you to get so aroused this early in the day. Must be Spring.

        O/T
        I know you’ll say “It’s not my area of expertise” or “It’s Scottish law” or some other excuse if I don’t offer enough guineas, but when might we hear something about what was encompassed by the Sturgeon/Murrell injunctions/super-injunctions? There must have been some serious dirt circulating for them to have gone to that trouble. Did the SNP pay for the lawyers?

        1. Dunno. I suspect that, despite the current “isshoos” facing the Snippers, the Scottish press will keep schtum.

    2. Because he’s white and teh scum who killed him were gimmigrants. Let’s not forget, many people have been killed, raped, assaulted, stolen from by immigrants ever since. It hasn’t stopped the state importing them in legions.

      The entire edifice of government is pointless. It is failing in it’s every duty.

  31. Good morning, everyone. Just walked the dog for an hour. Now coffee and shredded wheat. First bowls league match this pm.

      1. Morning, Alec. I tried the indoor when I took up bowling 47 years ago and I didn’t like it. I prefer the challenge of playing on grass.

    3. Morning Delboy. Have a good game this afternoon. Alf and I play in our first friendly match today, tho the season started the day after we left for our holiday. The green looked heavy last night but hopefully the sun is drying it a little now and the grass will have been cut this morning.

      ETA: Morning all. I see there’s been a big shift towards CBDC by the IMF. I’m glad I’m at the later stage of life, I don’t wish to be watched all the time or to be controlled as to whether I can buy something.

  32. The Sun HAS come out to play. At last. Quite mild out. Bloody muntjac eating up the shrubbery. Cats just sitting WATCHING it. Fat lot of use they are.

      1. I was really appalled that anyone can allow a cat to get so big. It is simple cruelty.

        1. Little Cat has put on a bit – we restricted his feeding, but he dines out at someone else’s pretty regularly, so it’s difficult to do anything about it.

      3. A friend of mine named his Jack Russel terrier Cassius – not because he had a lean and hungry look and was over-pensive but because he was pugnacious like the World Heavyweight champion at the time, Cassius Clay.

        1. Cassius Clay – a turd-faced traitor who avoided military service by claiming he was as thick as porcine excrement. After having been convicted of draft evasion, and the conviction confirmed, he manages to get the U.S. Supreme Court to agree with him – ‘He was thick as pig sh*t’ – the conviction overturned and escaped being fined or imprisoned. I am not a fan.

          1. I found it ironic that his given name, Cassius Clay was after Major-General Cassius Marcellus Clay, an abolitionist campaigner who survived a couple of assassination attempts.
            His chosen, Islamic name, Muhammad Ali, was shared by a notorious slave trader who trafficked slaves across the Sahara to the North African markets with the male slaves being castrated during the journey.

  33. ‘Morning, Peeps. Dry here and a sunny afternoon in prospect, with a massive 12°C…

    This article should stir up all remaining Beeboids!

    BBC must restore ‘British accents’ to its news coverage, says Simon McCoy

    McCoy claimed ‘no British accents’ on the domestic news channel presents a problem for licence fee payers

    By
    Craig Simpson
    29 April 2023 • 12:46am

    Former BBC presenter Simon McCoy has suggested the corporation is failing licence fee payers over a lack of “British accents” in its news courage.

    The newsreader has raised concerns about the merger of the BBC News and BBC World News channels, which he claimed has created a channel skewed towards international rather than domestic stories, despite the British public paying for it.

    McCoy claimed that this “domestic news channel… with no British accents on it” presents a problem for licence fee payers.

    He said: “At a time when the BBC is under such pressure, when you’re talking about an institution which people in their hearts do care about, but see daily a lowering of standards, and then you’re watching a domestic news channel, and it is a domestic news channel overnight coming from Singapore from Washington – and I’ll be pilloried for this – but with no British accents on it.”

    Speaking on the Beeb Watch podcast, he added: “You’ve got BBC licence fee payers paying for that – I think there is going to be a problem with that.”

    The channel merger has already caused problems within the BBC, with job losses looming for presenters, and it has been suggested that audiences will also be affected.

    McCoy, who became a familiar face on BBC Breakfast and BBC News before leaving for a brief spell at GB News, has claimed that there are problems with trying to serve both an international and a domestic audience.

    He has suggested that rival broadcasters like Sky could use the diluted BBC domestic coverage as an impunity to poach the corporation’s UK audience.

    McCoy, who left the BBC in 2021, said: “Talk about merging the channels was live while I was there – for many, many years – and we all said at the time it can’t work because you cannot serve those two audiences.

    “I look at what we have now, it to me is BBC World, there is very little element of the old BBC News channel in it.

    “I watched Dominic Raab’s resignation the other day, and I don’t know how to put it politely – it wasn’t brilliant, it was uncomfortable, it looked a bit shambolic.

    “It was not the slick ‘let’s go straight to Westminster’, they were scrabbling around for people, they were interviewing people at home, correspondents.

    “I’m afraid I often switch over to see what oppositions are doing but these days I tend to stay with the opposition.

    “This is a moment where Sky, and to some extent GB News, can really grab this, this domestic news agenda.”

    As well as potentially reducing domestic output by catering to an internal audience on the same channel, regional courage may also be lost, McCoy has said.

    He claimed that cuts to the BBC’s TV and radio operations across the country presents a “massive issue” for audiences.

    McCoy announced in 2021 that he was leaving GB News for “personal reasons” and is not currently working with a UK broadcaster.

    * * *

    I’m surprised that BTL comments are still allowed…here’s a selection:

    Marianne Lindsey
    5 MIN AGO
    It can only get worse. In another DT article, there is speculation that the woman who has been chairman of John Lewis (yes, I know, I know but she ticks the boxes) is one of the candidates to head up the BBC after Sharp’s resignation. She knew b-all about retailing and has performed as was to be expected. What more natural than to repeat the trick at the BBC?

    alan turner
    6 HRS AGO
    Everything produced by the BBC needs to fit the agenda. Globalization with every ethnicity and sexual preference and every other ism under the sun. BBC dramas in particular need a token lesbian scene and some over the top racial diversity. The UK population are turned off because the liberal London elitists who run it live in a moral, ethical and cultural bubble which 80% do not follow. Even Match of the Day has been infected by liberal zealots.

    Trevor Anderson
    42 MIN AGO
    If one is unlucky enough to catch a TV ad, one usually finds it full of black people and for interracial balance, a black man with a white wife/partner.
    I am not a racist and served in the army with black guys who became good friends. The point is, that the Woke creators of these ads are pandering to Black Lives Matter, when in fact, All lives matter. The black community in this country represents 3% of the population and the adverts should be made in representative proportions.

    Bradley Horn
    42 MIN AGO
    Easy job the BBC.
    Ingredients for most productions. Mixed race couple front and centre; gay couple – ditto; several black/coffee coloured lead characters. (20’s-30’s & gorgeous with great hair and teeth).
    Include the following only where strictly necessary;
    Anybody who is really black (like most Africans); elderly, fat, ginger, ugly, disabled, Chinese, Asian, Japanese, Eastern European, short or simply doesn’t quite fit the first list.
    They lecture us incessantly about inclusion and can’t see the irony of their own profiling efforts excluding the majority of our world.
    The most under represented? White British.

    2. I can only receive BBC Radio 4 Long Wave here and it is dominated by Scotch, Irish, Caribbean and Asian presenters, guests and administration. There are many BBC Marxist indoctrination centres around the world, one of which is located north of the Forth Bridge near Inverkeithing – middle of nowhere and not listed. There are another seventeen or more BBC locations in Scotland alone. It should be defunded and disbanded.

  34. Morning, all! I am back on these shores. 🙂 Not forever; I have decided to up sticks and give living in Buenos Aires a try, come autumn (spring over there). I shall enjoy the British summer – already thrilled by the dawn chorus and the scent of spring flowers – and look forward to visiting those of you I have made friends with already, and maybe even some new faces, before I go. Planning, never my strong suite, has pretty much left the building, though. 🤣

    So just a general hello and nice to be back, for the moment!

      1. The mind boggles! (Can’t open the link, as I won’t sign up to Facebook again).

        If your fence can wait, I’ll paint it en passant! 🙂

      1. How could I?? Canapés to try, drinks to share, singing to be done? 😉 I shall be by, my friend!

    3. Exciting!
      How easy is it to get a residency permit, Ashes? And work permit, if applicable?

      1. Other people seem to manage without a problem! Worth a bash, I reckon. 🙂

      1. His salary, which it seems he is still being paid, is massive. Some say $10m, others $20m.

  36. And now for the important matter of the day:

    SIR – Sixty years or so ago, while I was camping on the beach at Glen Brittle, on the Isle of Skye, I discovered that one way to ward off the ever-present, pestilential Highland midges was to smoke a pipe of Balkan Sobranie tobacco.

    It worked every time.

    Bruce Reid
    Prenton, Wirral

    Another method – less harmful, cheaper and certainly less intrusive – is Avon’s Skin So Soft. We used it during two tours of Scotland, including the badly infested west coast – and it worked very well. However, I have yet to find anything as effective against the Scottish Nasty Party – although the missing money scandal is showing considerable promise…

    1. Yes I would recommend that too. You know when midges are about – the builders are wearing Tesco carrier bags over their faces

  37. Good Moaning.
    Chiz chiz …. the sun’s out.
    So I can’t dodge out of painting the fence.
    The darn thing seems more like the Great Wall of China than a few wooden panels surrounding a suburban garden.

  38. Morning all, busy day today, off to see an elderly relative who is suffering from dementia. I hope the sun shines and I can cut her grass for her and see to the things that needs attention since I visited last week. Just visiting and having a cup of tea and a chat helps her along though, old age is certainly is a bugger at times!

        1. A couple of new folk are in our gym class and gabble away in Polish. They barely speak English.

          It’s tiresome. It’s rude to not try to speak the language. Heck, while it drew laughter I made the effort to speak Italian when I was over there. Folk come here and treat this country as a toilet boil they don’t bother flushing and I’m sick of it.

    2. What, precisely did anyone expect? Neither should be jailed, they should be deported. Better yet, put against a wall and shot.

  41. Good morning all,

    Misty overcast start to the day. 9c.

    Re the nurses strike.. the salary of Pat Cullen RCN leader is £197k

    Annual reports published by the RCN reveal that between 2015 and 2020 the total salary for the union’s Chief Executive and General Secretary increased by a whopping £33,000 – from £164,000 to £197,000.

    While the RCN’s chief is in the unique position of having the dual role of Chief Executive and General Secretary, in comparison during the 2019 to 2020 financial year, the pay and benefits of UNISON’s General Secretary was £126,480 and NHS England’s Chief Nurse was around £180,000 per year.

    All figures include annual salary, any additional payment for working in central London (if applicable) and employer pension contributions.

    Inflated salaries.
    In stark contrast, the pay of an experienced staff nurse has risen by just £2,507 in the same five year period.

    The news comes amid fresh calls from members to directly link the pay of RCN staff to Agenda for Change.

    Zeba Arif, an RCN Activist and President of the All Pakistan Nurses Association APNA-UK, said; “As a retired member of a challenging nursing speciality, I reflect how arduous, complicated and demanding it was (and now even more so) to earn enough as healthcare staff to live a life of dignity.

    “I am sure I am not the only one who cannot fathom how excessive salaries paid to heads of trade unions, without members’ input or agreement, can be linked to an ethos of public service and justified to those who struggle to get by each day.

    https://nursingnotes.co.uk/news/rcn-chiefs-total-salary-and-benefits-rise-to-197000-per-year/#:~:text=Annual%20reports%20published%20by%20the,%C2%A3164%2C000%20to%20%C2%A3197%2C000.

  43. At last – a university that stands up to spoiled students
    Reading’s vice-chancellor has shown he has the guts to defend free speech on campus. If only others would do the same
    Michael Deacon : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2023/04/29/reading-university-woke-students/

    We forget that in the 1960s there were left-wing students who made a nuisance of themselves. Have things changed completely? When I was a student at UEA in the 1960s I used to write satirical songs. One was

    “How I hate Apartheid But How I Love To Demonstrate.”

    One of its verses:

    ‘I say that what we want is tolerance and peace,
    In proof of this I smash up cars and throw things at the police
    I refuse to hear a point of view that’s different from my own
    A really reasonable debate’s a thing I’ve never known.’

    1. I’d bet you anything that those officials now out of office are in hefty Fondamonte jobs for 7 figures a go.

    2. Just look at the covid debacle. You go through life thinking people are intelligent, conscious and rational and find out they’re obedient gormless statist drones desperate to be told what to do by thugs.

    1. The UK gov has recently made an English test a requirement for citizenship and Indefinate Leave to remain (on your original citizenship). There is a special test that costs hundereds of £s. My step son, who has GCSE English and did all his secondary education here, still has to do the test. Now, if you rock up on a boat…. I’m sure you will be looked after as most of the immigration forms exclude refugees from many of the requirements put in place for legal migration.

      1. Why is everything always done so stupidly in Britain, so that stuff that works on the Continent doesn’t work here?

        They have the same rule in Germany, but you are exempt from the English test (and the fees!) if you have secondary school exams.

        1. I thought he had got it wrong so I checked. He’s been here 13 years now, has 9 Gcses and has completed an apprenticeship. Around £200 for a home off test I believe!

          1. It will be £2000 by the time all the boxes have been ticked.

            The citizenship test contains questions that not all Nottlers would know or care about.

          2. There was an example test in a paper some while ago. I tried it, and it left me feeling who needs to know that crap? Is this really the fundamentals of being British? Like, knowing the characters in a soap opera, and other fluff.

        2. The far simpler question is why do we bring the criminal invaders here? Why don’t we return them to France? Why, once here does the Left wing state get public money to fight their staying here?

          Why are remoaners allowed ot behave as they wish? Why is Bray permitted to bellow down a fog horn every day? Why are greeniacs allowed to block roads and the law abiding threatened? Why does the state want to control and read our every missive? Why does it want a new currency it has complete control over?

          Every single thing is the wrong way around.

    3. We do – and monetary support. Those rules are thrown away for ‘asylum seekers’ and completely ignored for the invading horde of vermin.

      The state loves providing them with everything they need. A huge state means more power, while sticking a fingerin the eye of the nation it so hates.

    1. I remember the unions ruining the country during the dismal misadministration of Dim Jim Callaghan in the late 1970s. They were running amok; making clear their demands over beer and sandwiches at No 10; and causing refuse to pile up in the streets. The cretinous Labour government just let them get away with it.

      Then up stepped Mrs Thatcher.

      1. “Then up stepped Mrs Thatcher.”

        It took Norman Tebbit to kick down the door of the TUC after they’d slammed it shut in the face of Jim Prior.

        1. Norman Tebbit considered standing for the Conservative leadership following Margaret Thatcher’s resignation in 1990, but decided not to stand as he had earlier made a commitment to his wife, who had been crippled in the Brighton bombing, to retire from front-line politics in order to care for her. A very great loss to the British public.

      2. “Then up stepped Mrs Thatcher.”

        It took Norman Tebbit to kick down the door of the TUC after they’d slammed it shut in the face of Jim Prior.

      3. We won’t see her like again, ever. The state sets out to destroy anyone that will upset it’s hegemony.

        Comically, the same state is killing itself. The incomers, welfarists and wasters in the country don’t pay any tax.

  50. Morning all 🙂😉
    Lovely and sunny, it might even be spring for a day.
    Early appointment with doc went well, I’ve not met him before, we spoke in great detail of my current situation, and although he showed a lot of sympathy and understanding. He hadn’t yet seen the telegraph.
    Although given the hateful circumstances I find my self in and how it is so hard to accept.
    I have to admit I agree with his advice and have decided to stick with what I have got at the moment. I’ll now have send my email to the cardiology department and tell them that I will hope they can bring forward my appointment for the much needed future ablation. His advice was keep your chin up and put the letters I have out of sight. They could be admin mistakes.

    1. An actual face to face appointment? I once received a letter from the NHS in March for an appointment in February of the same year. Phoned and got an emailed apology and correction. But that was BC. Before Covid.

    1. Consider buying frozen berries. When i have berries going over i make a coolis and pour it over ice cream.

      To prevent mold growth and extend berries’ freshness, rinse them in a mixture of one cup white vinegar and four cups of water, then drain and dry them thoroughly. Store them as you would unwashed berries, on top of a dry paper towel in an open container in the fridge.

      The strawbs may have been younger.

      2. Thank you Phizzee

        I wondered whether the Spanish strawbs were GM things .

        I was amazed they had lasted so long .

        The vinegar trick is an excellent idea. .. much appreciated .

        1. Do you remember years ago, (early 1980s) before the GM plants and seeds debacle, there were suggestions for irradiating our fruit and veg to make them last longer, to prevent growths such as mould? There was such a fuss, it was never mentioned again and the whole concept appeared to die away. I wonder if they have been doing this anyway on the quiet, some berried fruits and tomatoes seem to last so much longer these days than they did.

  52. Ministers have been urged by MPs, economists and motoring groups to rethink plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030.

    Criticism is growing over the most significant government intervention in the car market to date, amid claims that regulation is not needed to promote electric vehicles (EVs).

    The sale of new petrol and diesel cars will be banned in 2030 while new hybrid cars, which use a combination of electric and conventional fuels, will be banned in 2035.😊

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ditch-unrealistic-pledge-to-ban-petrol-cars-by-2030-ministers-told-hhgfck8zg

      1. Trudeau has just given thirteen billion dollars to VW so that they will build a seven billion dollar battery plant in Canada. That really is taking from the peasants to give to the rich.

    1. When you go to vote, you’re asked your address. You are then given a form. What they really want is for voter fraud, so multiple people can vote using the same identity to weight the dice in their favour.

      They want the precise opposite of democracy.

      1. I am sure that we are not the only country that demands that we show photo ID before being able to vote. Is it really that hard?

      2. If they were serious about quashing voter fraud, they would rescind postal voting except for exceptional circumstances. And your husband not allowing you out of the house would not be one of them.

  55. Late Queen’s aide to leave her royal home amid rumours of rift
    Angela Kelly, personal dresser and confidante to Elizabeth II, is moving out of Windsor Castle cottage
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2023/04/28/late-queens-right-hand-woman-move-out-grace-and-favour-home/

    I do hope that the King has made sure that she has a comfortable place in which to live for the rest of her days and that he has paid for it. My worry for her is that he is a miserly skinflint.

    My grandfather, a doctor, married a wealthy woman and had eleven children. He had a large house built for him near Cullompton in Devon at the end of the nineteenth century. The family employed several live-in servants including a young girl called Polly Courtier, a girl from a village on the edge of Dartmoor. Polly became the cook who provided excellent food for the family and ran her kitchen with a will of iron even though she was only 4 foot 9. She was loyal and very much loved by the family and when she retired the family bought a cottage in her native village in which she could live with no financial worries for the rest of her days and she lived until she was in her late 80s. I well remember going to visit her several times when I was a schoolboy and indeed all the family visited her regularly.

    I hope the King and his family treat Angela Kelly as well as the Traceys treated Polly Courtier.

    1. They didn’t treat ‘Back stairs Billy’ very well when the Queen Mother died. He was out on his ear after a lifetime of service.

    2. It was certainly reported at the time of HM’s death that she wanted Angela Kelly to have a grace and favour house for life. We can’t really know what has gone on, but Charles would be an utter fool if he hadn’t reached some amicable agreement with someone who could earn a fortune from her insider knowledge.

      1. Very droll. Can’t remember the last time I was in a pub. 2017, perhaps?

        I hate pubs. Especially nowadays when unruly children run about making a racket.

        2. I love brown bars / pubs.
          Good ones don’t have children running about, but that’s down to the parents, who need to educate them how to behave. Our two were taken to pubs, restaurants and bars from before they could walk or talk, and they were never a problem. As a parent, one must realise the child’s attention span is short, and they are easily bored. So, take them something to do, such as pencil & paper, book, toys that don’t get lost.

    1. I think it’s an extension preventing me uploading images but I’ve one of Mongo sitting beside the 40l water butt beside his ‘outside tap’ (he operates it with a lever – he’s a clever boy) and he makes it look like a bucket.

  58. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3efb0e8f576365b5acc3d8cbc3835de4b0ce73877b804a1fe50d4b56a8e12d53.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9d837be4565f83c6aefda8f28e86dc42fce0bcff691958d2ff9d7abffa71563f.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/845fee018a21e25b7c8cafef2ea7c18837d8063919adab9a6cdf80fce695deaf.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ef67cbc06c039885cbdf4cd3fc8456a541b9b36d441d11ea5dad76d1fc10461b.png
    Another ridiculous piece of execrable ‘journalism’ by the half-wit ‘Sun’-reject (or should that be ‘Beezer’-reject?), Joe Shute! There are no brown rats that are even closely “as big as cats”. One photograph shows a composite picture, Photoshopped; and the second photo shows a chap holding out the rat from his body on a long stick, bringing into play perspective. Even the ‘News of the World’ wouldn’t have been duped by such childishly sensationalist excrement.

    2. Don’t mind rats. I do mind the other sort of vermin the state prevents us getting rid of.

  59. Eurovision is more than kitsch. It’s about what it means to be European. 29 April 2023.

    Next month’s Eurovision Song Contest is going to be historic. I can’t oversell it. To recap: the 2022 winner was Ukraine, but it can’t play host because it has been invaded by Russia. So, the UK, which placed second after many years of humiliation, has stepped in to stage the world’s largest music event – in Liverpool, home of the Beatles, just one week after the Coronation of King Charles III.

    We should all be gripped by Eurovision fever. But for many Brits, the show remains an afterthought; camp nonsense, foreigners on stilts. As a fan, I can assure you that’s a big part of the appeal: there’s nothing wrong with tuning in to laugh at Israeli chicken impersonators or sinister goatherds from Moldova.

    Well that’s it then! Let’s face it. I’m never going to be a European. Not only do I think this thing is utter crap, suitable only for the Brain Dead but I hate the EU and everything it stands for!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/concerts/why-eurovision-song-contest-2023-still-matters-european/

    2. Is it still going? I shall resist the temptation to watch.

      Back in the day there were songs that made it to the pop charts but transvestite circus act seems to be the norm nowadays.

    3. I don’t think I’ve watched it for at least 30 years and I don’t intend to start now.

    5. Technically the EBU, European Broadcasting Union, is a different entity to the EU. The New Years Day concert from Vienna is the only EBU production that I still watch.

    6. I used to enjoy it – it was an entertaining bit of nonsense, but the politics of recent years has made it very tedious.

  60. Eurovision is more than kitsch. It’s about what it means to be European. 29 April 2023.

    Next month’s Eurovision Song Contest is going to be historic. I can’t oversell it. To recap: the 2022 winner was Ukraine, but it can’t play host because it has been invaded by Russia. So, the UK, which placed second after many years of humiliation, has stepped in to stage the world’s largest music event – in Liverpool, home of the Beatles, just one week after the Coronation of King Charles III.

    We should all be gripped by Eurovision fever. But for many Brits, the show remains an afterthought; camp nonsense, foreigners on stilts. As a fan, I can assure you that’s a big part of the appeal: there’s nothing wrong with tuning in to laugh at Israeli chicken impersonators or sinister goatherds from Moldova.

    Well that’s it then! Let’s face it. I’m never going to be a European. Not only do I think this thing is utter crap, suitable only for the Brain Dead but I hate the EU and everything it stands for!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/concerts/why-eurovision-song-contest-2023-still-matters-european/

  61. ‘Afternoon All

    The cat lady loses to Banks

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9f399cd3d06888dd8529966792d49ecba068e910f24c888af5a06642024354ab.jpg

    Someone isn’t happy……….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d927c3b8ad4cc0b6e87456d91818957d9f7d2a3d879113ebab753dd7f30cd540.png

    Rest of the Medley

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/715315de2506345982883d7ae18d89750c79c92636096506b27e54896d92bbde.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7cf1b681d8e8bdbdda15c919946eaa25d2602d3d46c25508e62c9e23c036ca68.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6c614d55865561ca7155aebfdc7d75df7e183d0413243ca6a62c23833dc1b1be.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ca98e2b1cd50e4f837bc057cf8e5b4feb120b9c3b4dc648ee13b2029801a4f56.jpg
    Edit forgot this one
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5c288e3d9012911dbc6b24f8d803e9171c91dbfb42c60e710eac28f060552b62.jpg

    1. The Arron Banks case isn’t so simple. He won one of three claims against Cadwalladr. Naturally, the Guardian reported that he lost two of three…

    2. The Arron Banks case isn’t so simple. He won one of three claims against Cadwalladr. Naturally, the Guardian reported that he lost two of three…

    3. The Arron Banks case isn’t so simple. He won one of three claims against Cadwalladr. Naturally, the Guardian reported that he lost two of three…

    1. Lefties like trudeau don’t care about the difference. In their world, words mean what they want them to mean. If you disagree, they set about destroying you.

  63. Gorgeous MILD day. Make the most of it…

    Recording the girly rugby to watch o Monday when it is raining.

    Back later – play nicely.

        1. When it comes to football, the girls are much better than the blokes. Much less cartwheeling and ankle clutching – they play the game as it was meant to be played – and I’m not a wendyball fan.

  66. Why is the BBC obsessed with the problems in Sudan – and why were there more than 1500 ‘British’ doctors and nurses working and living there?

    2. There’s a lot work for charities like MSF, and of course there’s been a lot of charity action in regard of Darfur and the independence wars in South Sudan.

          1. To be fair to him after reading the article he wasn’t really complaining much.

            Much of India is vegan/vegetarian. Plenty of recipes.

  69. Good evening aunty, they say you are looking for a maid . . . Yes, it’s a maid I’m looking for! I didn’t say a rival.

    Look at the dribbling, googly eyed moron’s face: What’s the obsessive attraction of the gigantic rear end with these ethnics?

    https://scontent-cdg4-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/343303147_533415202329580_5841150980195255918_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=0RCPQq2gp7cAX8Arht7&_nc_ht=scontent-cdg4-2.xx&oh=00_AfCk3wabCoawDDeUb4EgcL3XZpMaUn3Zw9FJ8L1Vf05djg&oe=64524FED

          2. Have fashions changed? Is it the same as saying ‘coloured person’ instead of ‘person of colour’?

          3. I’ll just ‘phone my son-in-law and find out what words we can use ‘du jour’!

    2. Young woman at the shops today had a bubble-butt like that. Made me think rude thoughts, so it did – and I was caught by surprise, I didn’t think the libido batteries had any charge left!

    1. The only way to do that is for Parliament, as presently constituted, to outlaw the Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Green, Scottish National, Plaid Cymru, Democratic Unionist and Sinn Fein parties. I’d put my money on the resurrection of Jesus, first.

    2. It has to start by refusing in large numbers to vote for any candidate of an organised party. Independents only. It’ll take a while.

      1. I love the smell of coalsmoke and steam/fog. Reminds me of childhood in foggy Midlands.

  73. I’ve just been sitting outside in the sun for over an hour. A bit of a breeze but nice and warm. Shortly, I shall begin making tomato and basil soup. The herbs are doing well.
    Hamburgers tonight though.
    The weather seems to be nice for the next few days so good- more sunshine for me.

    1. Do enjoy. It’ll get warmer from here on in, until it’s sweltering and no one can breathe.

      Although that might just be me.

      23 18l boxes moved from Junior’s room. It’s only 3 by 4 metres!

      1. I am more than ready for some sun and warmth. The older I get, the more I find the cold hard to bear.
        You’re a youngster anyway- 44 is it? I’m 69 and feel every year of it at times. And I’m quite young compared to some of the veterans here.

        1. I didn’t feel young this morning! I’m going to advocate that all stairs are made at least 25 cm deep and no more than 8cm high. Five trips, 2 motors, all full of boxes for storage.

        2. Agreed, Ann, at 78 (79 next month) I feel the cold particularly here in The Borders.

          I just wish I could move further south but I cannot afford it.

      2. Read that as twenty three thousand one hundred and eighty one boxes – was dead impressed!

    2. Very sunny and warm up here this afternoon, got grass cut and a loaf made with free electricity. The lambs on the croft have been searching for shade

  76. I received a phone call from a gorgeous ex-girlfriend this morning who called ‘out-of-the-blue’ to see if I was still around.
    We lost track of time, chatting about the wild, romantic times we used to enjoy together.
    I couldn’t believe it when she asked if I’d be interested in meeting up and rekindling a little of that “old magic”.
    “Wow!” I was flabbergasted.
    “I don’t know if I could keep pace with you now”, I said, “I’m a bit older and a bit greyer and balder than when you last saw me. Plus I don’t really have the energy I used to have.”
    She just giggled and said she was sure I would “rise to the challenge”.
    “Yeah.” I said. “Just so long as you don’t mind a waistline that’s a few inches wider these days! Not to mention my total lack of muscle tone…everything is sagging, my teeth are a bit yellowed and I am developing jowls like a Great Dane!”
    She laughed and told me to stop being so silly.
    She teased me saying that tubby, grey haired, older men were cute, and she was sure I would still be a great lover.
    Anyway, she giggled and said, “I’ve put on a few pounds myself!”
    So I told her to piss off.

    1. I use ‘shall we sue’. Adding a comma and a capital completely changes the tone of the sentence.

  78. A mere Par Four today.

    Wordle 679 4/6
    🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
    🟨⬜🟨🟨⬜
    🟩🟨🟨🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. And here

      Wordle 679 4/6

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

    2. Par 4 is a good result for me.

      Wordle 679 4/6

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

    3. Birdie today.

      Wordle 679 3/6

      🟨🟨⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜🟨🟨🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    4. I’m back on form – 2 days running

      Wordle 679 3/6

      🟩⬜🟨🟨⬜
      🟩🟨🟨🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  80. That’s me for this glorious day. What a change NOT to be cold all day. This spell won’t last, of course. Similar tomorrow then cooler and COLD on Tuesday…GRRR.

    Planted out beetroot. A lot of general garden work – with the added delight of Pickles coming to observe – ten dashing off – then coming back. Then Gus sauntered out (having been asleep since 9 am.) They are two wonderful animals.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain

    1. Windy like an old grandpa here this afternoon.
      Blew the bins over, and Second Son, who is working at an outdoor festival, had the tent blown away – then it rained.

  81. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/04/28/lloyds-orders-staff-back-to-the-office-for-two-days-week/

    Another one about working from home. My main memory of it was getting up at half 6 to get into the office for 8 – because 45 minutes was spent in traffic that is, at the speed limit and doubling for Soton’s hilarious traffic lights – 15 minutes – that’s *before* rush hour.

    Then my midday I’ve had enough, by 2 I’ve stopped being at all productive. WFH I start earlier because the commute is 2 minutes up the stairs. I sometimes work later, I have lunch when I want to and I get more done because I don’t have anyone interrupting me. I refuse to believe I am the exception, but there must be some utter urine takers who see WFH as a doss, so unproductive and unresponsive have big business become.

    The civil service isn’t suffering from WFH. It’s because 70% of it doesn’t need to be done.

    1. Half 6 in Norway, like Germany, is half TO, not past – so, 05:30. Took a moment to make the translation.

      1. Same here. “Fem över halv åtta” (five over half eight) is similar to my grandparents when they would say, “Five and twenty to eight”.

    2. Self employed people who work from home get it done because otherwise nobody will pay them. Employed people if allowed to work from home can use it as a doss day.

    3. Ah – Southampton traffic.

      I worked on the Ocean Cruise Terminal construction site, around 15 years ago. Lived st Seale, near Farnham. The site was 20 miles nearer than the regional office in Ringwood. Both were an hour’s drive in the morning. In the evening – Soton was impossible. Thursday nights, I needed to be home by 7 pm for choir practice. I could leave work on time, early, or late. I’d never get there on time.

      Until I eschewed the company Mondeo on Thursdays for my 600 Hornet.

      The choir got used to their dripping wet organist and choirmaster in bike leathers after a while. At least, I didn’t keep them waiting…

      1. When you moved to a new site, did you rent accommodation, or buy a place, Geoff?

          1. I’ve spared you the long version. I shared rental of a place in Melrose when building Borders General Horse spittle.

            I bought one place when I was moved to East Anglia, but it didn’t end well. Repossession and eventual bankruptcy followed. Which is why I now live in a retirement bungalow belonging to a charitable Housing Society. It suits me…

          2. I drove from Braintree to Swansea on a consultancy contact every Monday starting out at 05:00 and it was just an example of what one needed to do in order to fulfil you obligations.

            Bluddy awful drive but needs must. I then spent the week there before going home on the Friday evening. But I was earning £500 every day. What’s not to like – this was in the early 1990s.

          3. Every Monday morning – Carlisle to the East side of Norwich. 280 miles, usually achieved in four hours. Given the congestion in Norwich, how fast did I cover the open road?

  82. A shark can swim faster than me.
    I can run faster than a shark.
    So, in a triathlon, it would all come down to which of us is the better cyclist.

  83. Someone down the pub said “Thirty years ago…” and my mind went “Ah! Yes! the 1970s!”, but they meant 1992, and now I need to lie down… 🙁

    1. My elder son will be 30 this year.

      This makes me feel very old which is absurd because I was 47 when he was born so what did I expect to feel?

  84. Alligators can live for up to 100 years.
    Which is why there is a high chance they will see you later.

  87. Did you know that there is a species of antelope that can jump higher than the average house?
    This is due to its powerful hind legs, and that houses cannot jump.

  89. We went to a nearby Village where one of our sons lives with his family. They have a three day festival most years. Beautiful weather today. But it’s in an ancient river valley. The Park is up one hill. It was very difficult for me to get around. And they have an exhibition of local art in the village church, up the opposite hill.
    But as usual the art was excellent and they had some people singing solo. One guy sang old tune full ballads and the second more uptodate songs whilst playing acoustic guitar. Both very entertaining. As I sat and listened, resting.
    Signing off for the day now best wishes all ……Bin puffin and blowin’.

    1. God’s strewth, I know what you feel Eddy, particularly with the puffin’ and blowin’

      No bluddy fun old chap.

  90. I love the expression “Bear with me”.
    It could mean to be patient, or the zoo robbery was a success!

          2. No takers on guessing the fish then? I thought it might last as long as some fish pun threads. ☹️

          20. Nah. Here’s some clues: it is a white sea fish, and a member of the cod family. You will be more familiar with it in a different guise.

          11. Thanks, it was very tasty, and not a greasy chip anywhere to be seen (like you get when you fry in oil).

          1. Nonsense, Herr Oberst. My local chippy serves “small” fish and “small” portions of chips that are at least ten times the size of Grizzly’s. Lol.

  91. Sometimes only comedians can say the truth in public…
    https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1652003123479625732

    Bank bingo – spot the familiar names…
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/83ca2e69317338023cb8e71b8132f8a2bbb2dfbb9da886e6ee13db0d14363201.jpg

    Let’s think about nicer things
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/176bde0853e15337bbfef5a5757fbca02667eebf31997680813af6b36ab29bd5.jpg

    Amazing picture.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0332ed1b55ee868ea2da4b44458314fd49a00cfb351b798a3351ad321b238efd.jpg

    PS: I think this is the origin of the claim that was made about Gates and child sex. Shady, nasty stuff – I expect he will claim not to know what his foundation is donating to, and everyone will give him the benefit of the doubt for the umpteenth time.
    https://www.foxnews.com/media/gates-funded-ngo-claims-children-born-sexual-10-year-olds-should-learn-about-commercial-sex-work

    1. On the ‘Bank Bingo’, I can’t see any reference to National Provincial Bank, or the Yorkshire Penny Bank.

    1. Considering that schools lose nothing for the child being absent, why do they think they can fine parents? It is idiotic. The parent is the arbiter of the child’s welfare and education, not the state.

      1. May I reshape your observation, Wibbers? The parents should be the arbiters of the little darling’s welfare and education but so often couldn’t give a toss and just let the Marxists get on with it. We’re stuffed.

    2. Matt is wrong; initially the customers, aka parents, are offered the opportunity to pay a penalty charge notice masquerading as an invoice; the amount is £60 per parent, rising to £120 if they decide to pay late.

      A fine is a pecuniary sanction from a court of law. IIRC one Nottler is a retired court official, so perhaps he could enlighten us further.

        1. He’s back and can confirm that only courts can impose fines. Other fines can be imposed by councils but if unpaid they have to go to court, Magistrates, to have them enforced.
          This is Alf on vw’s iPad.

  93. After a lovely morning and early afternoon, the weather has now degenerated to dull and rain.
    At least I got 4h of wall building done and then did a mild beef curry for the S@H and the DT!

    1. As always, bloody impressive, BoB. Hope the S@H and DT give you full credit for the culinary gem you are and that the Basingstoke daughter had a productive visit. We need you to return to Wilts with your singing before too long.

      1. Blimey Ann! You’ve nicked our lovely sunshine and warmth! It’s been blooming chilly here after so many warm and sunny days, we’ve had to put the wood burner on! The cats are delighted!

        1. ‘Twas all part of my sinister plot for climate control….sun and heat for me;-)

        2. Sunny and mild here, but then it rained, meaning there was no way I could get anything done in the garden again.

    1. Thankfully, I’m in leafy Guildford Borough, rather than Rotherham.

      I stood for UKIP in my ward, eight years ago. I beat the LibDem. I’d have come second, were it not for Guildford Greenbelt Group, whose aims were similar to UKIP, but they dismissed the latter as racist troglodytes. They also broke election law, scattering election leaflets, posters and flyers around the local churches. This put the churches in danger of sanctions by the Charity Commission.

      Still, I had the interminable Tory worried for a while…

      1. 373995+ up ticks,

        Evening GG,
        Under the Batten leadership we had what was currently needed, only a combo of treachery and gullible fools
        denied us going forward to being a real threat to the toxic trio.

        The treachery & the gullible fools are still very much in evidence.

        1. Ogga – I’ve necessarily moved on from UKIP. The Guildford branch essentially died with the Chairman and the Secretary, (who were married) within a few months of each other. I played the organ for the former’s funeral. I didn’t hear of the latter’s passing for at least a year. Surrey Heath Branch arranged a joint meeting with Guildford. I was the only Guildford member who could be arsed to turn up. It was agreed that SHB would take over the admin, and I would join their committee. That was the last I heard.

          1. 374084+ up ticks,

            Evening GG,

            Many of us have moved on from UKIP after witnessing the treachery dealt by the party NEC / farage to the successfully building party under the Batten leadership.

            I use this as I can see in the current offerings a repeat performance taking place.

            The same treachery and the same dealers have not moved on they are still in situ…waiting.

      2. I went for a walk today down your neck of the woods – Catteshall way, a round route along the River Wey and Fox paths. Saw some GGG placards in Bramley. Had not (obviously) heard of them before.b sorry to hear of you election woes. On the face of it, if I hadn’t seen your comment just now, I would have thought they were a Good Thing.

        We wondered if this Bramley was where the apple was from.

        1. Sadly, GGG were largely on the same page as UKIP. But they were determined to go their own way. I didn’t expect to win – in fact that would have made life rather more difficult. But it gave the locals a UKIP box to tick.

          I Don’t think the apple has any connection with the village, but I could be wrong.

    1. Reminds me of the joke my youngest grandchild told me, “what do they call Postman Pat now he has retired,
      Pat”

      You are not swapping joke books with her are you Obs?

    1. My elderly neighbours go off on a cruise tomorrow. They had their fifth boosters on Thursday. Last year, they both caught Covid while on a cruise. But “Imagine how much worse they would have been, were it not for the jabs”

      I despair.

      1. Shortly after I arrived at the surgery 8am this morning dozens of elderly people arrived to have the latest covid booster or a new jab. I couldn’t get out quickly enough.

        1. Its frightening just how many stupid people are out there. they have no logic at all and never listen to both sides of a story.

        2. There were at least 3 people at the supermarket yesterday wearing masks. And they were the ones I saw. I wish these so-called experts would give it a rest. They never will and neither will the government.

          1. Masks…..for hayfever. ‘They’ did this in 2020 as well to keep the scam going into the summer. They must be desperate.

          2. They are and determined to keep us cowed. Not me and not my husband. We’ve had it with all this BS.

          3. There is a virus going round, my son has it at the moment.
            It’s not a deadly plague though. It’s just a normal nasty virus.

          4. We had something unpleasant over Easter, involving nausea, runny nose, fatigue, but not as many tissues involved as usual but much sneezing. No sore throat. Bad enough to cancel family Easter. As was Christmas, sigh.

          5. Yep, that’s the one! I had it too. Only lasted three days, which I put down to quercetin + zinc supplements, but my children had it for seemingly ages. They simply will not look after themselves! Never take supplements and run around in postage stamp sized clothes!

          6. We both came down with it on the same day, which is unusual, so neither of us could look after the other; we suspect we caught it from our younger grandchild earlier in the week.

            A friend said her mother ate just a teaspoon of good quality honey every day of the year and she never caught colds. I was surprised to learn a week or so ago that honey contains quercetin, so perhaps there is some truth there. I have resolved to give this a try, as colds are my bête-noir, I catch everything. I took quercetin and zinc as a supplement last year but got out of the habit this year, although we both take Vits D and C as a matter of course.

          7. I saw a wonderful short video about soaking chopped onions in honey for 24 hours to make a good medication the other day. Haven’t verified it but the claim was that it is anti-biotic, which sounds plausible.

            One side-effect of quercetin is that my hair is thicker, and less of it falls out when I wash it!

          8. There is no hope for people who are still wearing masks. I see them around from time to time as well. There is one doctor’s practice locally that was still enforcing masks recently.

          9. As the dozens of pensioners arrived for jabs at the GP practice yesterday morning I was very surprised none were wearing masks. Not even any of the staff.

      2. Good morning Geoff.
        Did they catch ‘Covid’ or did they test positive. A vast difference.

        1. “Tested positive”, I suppose. Point taken.

          Apparently. people still test themselves. It’s mmmmmph (hang on a minute while I take this mask off – ah – that’s better) bizarre.

  97. Rather good commentary on the Coronation from Patrick Jephson. Pity Charles won’t listen to it.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/royals/article-12027039/For-monarchists-shadow-Diana-hang-Coronation.html

    It starts off paying lip service, but gets to the point later on…

    “Leave to the politicians those invitations to the World Economic Forum in Davos and other global talking shops.
    The late Queen knew that monarchy doesn’t need a plan to save the world — it just needs to be a steadfast comfort to British people.”

    In other words, Charles – Loyalty cuts both ways, and yours lies with the British people not your foreign billionaire chums and your family keeping its riches at all costs!

    1. Charles has been susceptible to poor advice on virtually every topic, be it Architecture, Planning, Bio-diversity, Climate Change, Politics, Multiculturalism, Slavery (the actual history), the Green New Deal and the rest of the crap frothing from the mouths of his globalist swine friends including the Rothschilds, WEF and the fools at the UN and WHO.

      How we miss his mother Queen Elizabeth II and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh.

      In a succession it is often best to skip a generation but I am afraid to say William Prince of Wales is as stupidly ignorant and Woke as Charles himself.

      1. He’s actively gone out and sought the poor advice. Charles IS the bad company that other people get into now!

    2. Very subtle comment BB2.

      The fool needs to realise what he has – or could have in the British people – until they turn on him for his wokishness.

  99. Going to bed soon. Got a bit done today but now bed beckons. Not doing too well today re pain. May have to take steps next week.

    2. Not hard to comprehend, Ann, I feel your pain, as I’m permanently in pain from my back and there seems no cure, so just like it and lump it.

      Life through gritted teeth, is the future.

      I can only hope for some respite for you.

  100. Popping in late at night I’ve just realised that today I forgot to wish you all a good morning and read Sir Jasper’s Joke of the Day. Apologies, and may I wish you all a very Good Night, chums. I’m off to bed now.

  102. Evening, all. The NHS is a postcode lottery; some people get really good treatment, others are treated very shabbily (if they can get treatment at all). It needs root and branch reform.

    2. The trouble is tha life is a postcode lottery. Always has been and always will be.
      Like everything in life you have to fight to get treatment. Those who shout loudest get the treatment rather than waiting, forever, as some seem willing to do.

  103. Just back from Book Club. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn. One of my primordial (?) fears is losing everything. Which is why I work so hard. Mixed views on the book but a good rating from me.

    Our next one is Sea Change by Jessica Streeting. Spoiler alert – her father drowns. Apparently it’s some kind of “stream of consciousness” poem.

    1. Losing everything ain’t possible. There’s always something.
      Just back from my local Cornish pub with an amazingly good musician. Looked up “The Salt Path”.
      Life is depressing enough. I’m sure it’s a good read though.

      1. What touched me most was the small acts if kindness along the way (among the not-so-nice people they encountered).

        2. The Grapes of Wrath is about losing everything (among other things), but the family takes a series of monumentally stupid decisions along the way. It’s presented as inevitable in the book, but it really isn’t. These financial crises come along every hundred years or so, there is a Great Muppet Reaping and things totter on.

          I think we’re all looking at that possibility as we’re teetering on the edge of fiat currency collapse. You can hedge your bets by holding an asset like gold that will rise in value if your mortgage shoots up, your house value collapses and the bank demands an immediate injection of funds.

          I only really appreciated what I’ve heard all my life, that the best investment is a financial education after I started listening to the Delingpods where he had financial people on, and it opened my eyes a lot.

          1. What good will the gold be when the the thing you really need is seasoned wood for a fire and a bit of meat to cook on it?

          2. The Swiss gold account is for stuff like the saving the mortgage. Apparently Blackrock already have a fund in the US with which they intend to buy property when it crashes and the banks foreclose on people because the value of their property no longer covers their loan. I don’t want to lose my house in that scenario.

            I have a good firewood stack, about to be replenished. I also have a Kelly Kettle, which cooks efficiently with a very small amount of wood (thanks Selko Begovic for that tip!)
            I’m ordering meat directly from farmers to get the contacts, and I’d also like to get some more contacts with people who hunt (I mean food, not the stupid fox pantomime). To buy anything anonymously in the event of a CBDC will require universally accepted, relatively low value tokens. Maybe have a look and see what’s out there?

          3. Been buying meat from local farmers for a while. I know 3 locals with shooting qualifications for deer, which we have in abundance. Then of course, there’s my trusty fishing tackle. We’ve got some gold, not a fortune, but in coins stashed. No mortgage here. But why can’t they disappear what amounts to digital gold?

          4. If rich people store their gold in private vaults in CH … then they won’t raid private vaults in CH.

    2. I understand Mir, I lost all when our relationship broke up and I ended up in RAFA housing in Moffat in The Borders of Scotland, Alone, isolated and far from my native land.

      It is desolation and leads to suicidal thoughts. Thankfully you guys and gals, on here pulled me back from that abyss, for which I’m eternally grateful. Now I must sleep.

  105. Just woken from falling asleep in front of the pooter to realise it’s 02:30 on Sunday morning.

    A cup of tea and a glass of port and with a bit of luck I may be in bed by 03:30.

    Goodnight and God bless, Gentlefolk.

    Ha, now 03:38 will I bother going to bed?

  106. Now 05:45 and scoffing a chix tit and veggie stir-fry that’s been quietly heating overnight in the multi-cooker

    It’s getting light but still overcast just 6°C out there.

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