Tuesday 30 May: The Conservative answer to the cost of living crisis is to make work pay

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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472 thoughts on “Tuesday 30 May: The Conservative answer to the cost of living crisis is to make work pay”

        1. My reply to Sir Jasper has been deleted – why? (I didn’t call him a Silly Sausage.) Tom, simply Google YouTube and click on Thrillers, Film Noir, Comedy, Romance, etc. and try to see which ones appeal to you. Good luck.

  2. Yes, I’m still here despite yesterday’s and Sunday’s traumas.
    Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    Let Me Put It Another Way

    A very shy guy goes into a bar and sees a beautiful woman sitting at the bar. After an hour of gathering up his courage, he finally goes over and asks, “Um… excuse me, but would you mind if I sat here beside you?”

    She responds by yelling, at the top of her lungs, “NO, I DON’T WANT TO SLEEP WITH YOU!”

    Everyone in the bar turns to stare at them. Naturally, the guy is hopelessly and completely embarrassed and he slinks back to his table.

    After a few minutes, the woman walks over to him and apologises. She smiles at him and says, “I’m sorry if I embarrassed you. You see, I’m a graduate student in psychology and I’m studying how people respond to embarrassing situations.”

    To which he responds, at the top of his lungs, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN, £200?!”

    1. A good morning joke, Sir Jasper. But even better is to see you back here. Enjoy your day.

      1. I’ve tried being good and searching for AA sites in and around Moffat. Nada. I’ll drink to that. You try it, you’ll see I’m not lying. I googled “Moffat – Local AA”. Ha, ha.

        1. Any social contact would be good for you, Tom. If not AA then there must be other groups. Ex-servicemen?

          1. Nah, playing on Amateur Market – young ladies looking for a shag. I can supply that so don’t moralise me.

          5. Maybe, I don’t. Jules. Maybe I’ve had enough and would like to go out with a BANG.

          2. I have been viewing this page for months, but until now have never felt inclined to sign up. Your situation has changed that.

            Lockerbie Living Sober is listed on the AA website with meetings on Thursday evenings at 8pm in Dryfesdale Church Hall, 10 High Street, Lockerbie.

          4. Unfortunately, like banks, supermarkets and other shops, we can’t always have things we want/need on our doorstep. While I don’t think 16 miles is far, I can understand your reluctance if there is the possibility of driving under the influence, particularly as the limit is lower in Scotland.

          5. Hmm, stuff the Scottish so called governance. I do my own thing as and when I wish. Looking to move out of this more than Marxist area ASAP. but only time will tell.

          6. He could at least ‘phone LLS and ask if any of the group drives there from Moffat.

          7. One tries to maintain a sense of humour, but it’s getting difficult due to workload, I must say.

    3. I am relieved to see you posting again, Tom. I’ve been away over the weekend and only looked in from time to time. It wasn’t until late last night that I realised Churchill’s black dog had paid you a visit. Make yourself something nice to eat and send that dog on his way.

    4. Good Morning Tom and welcome back. Some of your jokes are not my cup of tea but the most important thing is seeing you here.

  4. The Conservative answer to the cost of living crisis is to make work pay

    So does that mean that they are going to pay the teachers and nurses more then?

    1. The other way of making work pay is not to increase pay but to decrease benefits.

  6. Britain’s failed ruling class would rather destroy the country than fix its problems. 30 May 2023.

    There is no delicate way of putting it: the British governing class has completely lost the plot. It would rather risk some kind of economic collapse or populist backlash than actually deal with any of the country’s problems. Bereft of values and captured by institutional pessimism, our politicians are incapable of decisive action. Numbed by groupthink, and poisoned by ministerial turf wars, the Civil Service has been rendered inoperable. The British governing machine is broken; we are heading for total systems failure.

    Hmmm? Sounds like someone I know. Wait! It’s me! Wrong tense though! It’s destroyed not destroy.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/29/our-failed-governing-class-would-rather-destroy-britain-tha/

  8. Medley Time

    For Arsenal fans……

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6f144c93658bf1bd63448275531eaacaebf7e9e214669cd63ecc2a28bdf12f6b.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4ebcc0857592cbba55d5e5d446dbf39ca984eb9cb8d94b2464e5f36a3f94a7ec.jpg

    The rest

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/79259074029f39ace47c6a15ec5e0f4cdb33975ace77aa7f83b7910743f6a822.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/222d45bc9479ddff1aa4ee80b02265a945056982530cd093c531446beb47d4e6.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/31ee76f0181ae90b3a82271c29d3fe8fdd508d7cd01e733a333b78ee5338ba01.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5b7a2aad939285ce44b8b70ca9b6dbd2417b1a7fb29975bc9cfde3f31c73e2c7.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/92de24a238eda533a70c122df284b4683c9f5fa0ec2fd8da81a731fcf3d113b2.png

  9. 372751+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Covid inquiry faces court battle over ministers’ WhatsApps
    Critics accuse the inquiry of being on a ‘fishing expedition’ and the legal wrangle is likely to delay findings

    Nothing BUT NOTHING must delay in any way this inquiry taking place any obstructions MUST be removed immediately in the
    peoples interest, nothing but nothing can go forward / progress
    without the finding of a very,very,in depth inquiry being revealed to the peoples.

    1. …any obstructions MUST be removed immediately in the peoples interest…

      A government inquiry to reveal the truth in the people’s interest are mutually exclusive objectives.

      1. 372751+ up ticks,

        Morning KtK,

        On pain of the instigator being Tommy Robinsoned.

    2. Good Morning all.

      Ogga – I got asked about 6 weeks ago by my Government department to contribute to our input to the Covid enquiry.
      I honestly could see no relevance in any of the questions posed.
      This apparently is Phase 1. If future phases are similar I would not expect anything useful to come out of the enquiry.

      1. 372751+ up ticks,

        Morning N,
        I truly expect nothing but a glowing gloss over report from the current political overseers, in keeping with their governing actions so far in regards to the welfare of these Isles

        The excess loss of life MUST be explained fully along with the name / names of the politico / politico’s and their level of input.
        Too many peoples have lost love ones and witnessed serious injuries to seek otherwise than a FULL
        in-depth honest inquiry, with FULL honest answers.

        1. My suspicion is that only those of us alive in 40 years time when the cabinet papers are released will get to know the whole truth.

          1. 372751 + up ticks,

            N,
            I do not believe this odious issue can be looked upon as
            another Dunblane with peoples satisfied to wait one hundred years.
            This inquiry really must go into express mode with NO DELAYS for the benefit of politico’s & peoples alike.

            There are factions within society currently who feel they have been pushed to far
            & will not await the inquiry verdict, sad to say.
            Could we see politico’s hiring
            protection squads ? could it be another reason for the “invasion” the young fit men,
            as with the current politico’s, have no love for us, as has been proved by both parties.

  10. ‘I was so scared’: the Ukrainian children taken to Russia for financial gain. 30 May 2023.

    Ukraine says 16,000 children have been deported from Russian-held territory during the war – many by friends and relatives seeking to make money from fostering.

    This is of course an admission that the original story about the Russian State kidnapping of these children was fake. The whole thing, the ICC prosecution, is a fabrication by the Ukies. No doubt this modification is to accommodate the widespread disbelief.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/29/i-was-so-scared-the-ukrainian-children-taken-to-russia-for-financial-gain

    1. I have enough knowledge about the Russia/Ukraine situation to realise I do not have enough knowledge.

      2. Right from the start I never been convinced that Vlad has been the problem. He’s never had anything to gain from starting the trouble.

  11. ‘I was so scared’: the Ukrainian children taken to Russia for financial gain. 30 May 2023.

    Ukraine says 16,000 children have been deported from Russian-held territory during the war – many by friends and relatives seeking to make money from fostering.

    This is of course an admission that the original story about the Russian State kidnapping of these children was fake. The whole thing, the ICC prosecution, is a fabrication by the Ukies. No doubt this modification is to accommodate the widespread disbelief.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/29/i-was-so-scared-the-ukrainian-children-taken-to-russia-for-financial-gain

    1. On the tube today. Lady has just got on wearing a 3/4 length puffer anorak and a N95 face mask. I am wearing a T-shirt (on top).

      Having said that she appears to be the only passenger (“customer” lol) on the train.

      Edit at 11:40 – wearing a mask!!!!

    4. It is much chillier here on the western slopes of East Anglia than it was on the IoW.

  13. 372751+ up ticks,

    Dt,

    Britain’s failed ruling class would rather destroy the country than fix its problems
    From food prices to mass immigration, both parties’ quick fixes are pushing the UK towards disaster.

    Lest we conveniently forget (for the sake of the party name) that
    these “quick fixes” were triggered with the voters consent again,again,& again nearly 40 years ago, now coming to FULL fruition.

  14. Suspected Russia-trained spy whale reappears off Sweden’s coast

    A beluga whale that turned up in Norway wearing a harness in 2019, prompting speculation it was a spy trained by the Russian navy, has reappeared off Sweden’s coast.

    First discovered in Norway’s far northern region of Finnmark, the whale spent more than three years slowly moving down the top half of the Norwegian coastline, before suddenly speeding up in recent months to cover the second half and move on to Sweden.

    No doubt it’s spying on undersea pipelines and cables then reporting back to Vlad in the Kremlin.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/29/suspected-russia-trained-spy-whale-reappears-off-swedens-coast

    1. Perhaps it’s a research project and the whale has been tagged as a bird is ringed?

        1. I wondered whether it was released rather than escaped.
          I understood it had been re-captured and the harness examined. If it was some sort of spy unit why then release it still wearing the harness and if it is no longer wearing the harness how can they be positive it’s the same whale?
          All very strange

    2. Bright and sunny here in The Borders @ 08:12 @ 8°c with 24°c promised at 16:00.

      1. Still rather dull and chilly in Essex.
        Would somebody do something about that bloody wind!?!

    1. Morning, Tom.
      Maybe, like the Jews, I should start hoarding precious stones.

      3. I looked into precious stones, but concluded that it’s not worth it unless you know a lot about them. Too easy to buy the wrong thing. Also, they are harder to sell or barter, because only a specialist will accept them.
        I’ve come to the conclusion that the best thing in Britain is small gold jewelry, eg small rings that are stamped with the % gold. Silver coins also have a certain value in Britain, as we have a history of buying / using them.

    2. I responded using their suggested template, can’t be bothered to go through it all . One of the two email addresses they suggest, to CBDC@HMTreasury.gov.uk bounces as undeliverable.

      1. I responded some weeks ago when Hertslass shared the link. I got no acknowledgement so I don’t know if it worked or not.

  18. ‘Morning, Peeps. Lousy night so brief visit this morning. And 16°C and a strong NE breeze won’t improve things…

    SIR – If I was fortunate enough to be the chairman of one of the major supermarkets, my comment to ministers asking for caps on food prices would be something along the lines of: this business is run for the benefit of the shareholders and those it employs. It is not my responsibility to damage the reputation and profitability of this business in order to assist the government in its efforts to be re-elected.

    Ian Gill
    Knaresborough, North Yorkshire

    Take a bow, Ian Gill, a very good letter! The ridiculous ‘prices cap’ idea is about as daft as it gets, and furthermore it smacks of panic.

    1. I was always under the impression that the Companies Act required directors to run the company for

      the benefit of the shareholders. Anybody legal got the quote?

      1. Companies Act 2006
        S171 Duty to act within powers (i.e. in accordance with the Co’s constitution)
        S173 Duty to promote the success of the company
        S173 Duty to exercise independent judgement
        S174 Duty to exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence
        S175 Duty to avoid conflicts if interest
        S176 Duty not to accept benefits from third parties
        S177 Duty to declare interest in proposed transaction or arrangement

    2. Good morning.

      Yes, a very good letter .

      When prices started shooting up , Sainsbury’s bought hundreds of new trolleys .. what was that all about ?

      2. The local Morrisons also. The wheels work better, as in they don’t make you have to push the thing sideways to go in a straight line. But the tray at the back you could raise for delicate items, or whatever, is not the width of the trolley and so fall off into the ‘maw’ of the trolley amongst the tins and heavy items.

    3. They won’t be damaging the supermarket profits; they will be squeezing farmers. The agenda is probably driving dairy farmers out of business.
      Buy your milk directly from farmers, not from supermarkets!

        1. Neither have I.

          I have recently been watching repeats of Heart Beat and Downton Abbey, progs I have never ever seen before .

  20. Good Moaning.
    I think, for the foreseeable future, our shed will be harbouring “you never know when they might come in handy” pieces of oak gate leg table. But It Was FREE!!!!!!
    So far we’ve only managed to utilise the central top part. On the plus side, we now know which drill to bin.
    We have plans but lack the will for action. Maybe we could form a British government.

  22. A longish article. I think he’s right.
    https://www.takimag.com/article/six-feet-undergroundhog-day/

    Which means that now everyone has a stake in black failure. The failure of the “black community” (and of course I’m not talking about individual blacks but the rot that persists among the unsalvageables) represents the failure of every presumptive cure. The welfare state, the free market, Christianity (conservative and liberal), Islam, patriotism, communism—no matter what your deal is, blacks have proved it doesn’t help.
    That’s why whites will never give up. Giving up means your utopian cure, whatever it may be, has failed, and most people are loath to admit the failure of their most deeply held beliefs.

    There are a thousand good reasons for closing the border, ending asylum, halting illegal and slowing legal immigration. But I’m not sure “It’ll keep blacks in your neighborhood!” is one of them.
    Plus, such appeals will never move blacks in significant numbers to vote conservative. Indians have booze, blacks have Democrats. Two suicidal tendencies, but the latter’s more like murder-suicide.

    1. Some of us signed this a while ago. The governments reply after the 10,000 threshold was not thought to be adequate and it has been requested to give a more thought out response. Nice to see the petition numbers rising.

  24. Allow me to brighten your morning by posting a snap of the roses my beloved picked on Saturday to mark our anniversary. The gorgeous red one (highly scented) is Royal William (appropriately). It is extra special for us, because it was planted 8 years ago by by late son and his daughter on their last visit here together. She was then aged 7. We took them to the beach at Cley – and, returning to the house, I found a stone in my anorak pocket. Jim said that the child was always doing that. And, indeed, after he died, she insisted on going to the undertakers and left stones in his coffin – which must have been a shock to the crem people! The stone is still in my coat pocket….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dc9f718bad7558c94e284b9ed877d268b4944d4b0351cb0d6735b123b4aa43fb.jpg

    3. Good morning Bill,

      I can smell them from here, they look beautiful .

      I am also a stone picker upper .. some of them are very special .

      1. Left a stone amongst a huge crowd of them at Auschwitz Birkenau camp.

      2. Left a stone amongst a huge crowd of them at Auschwitz Birkenau camp.

    4. “Had we never lov’d sae kindly,
      Had we never lov’d sae blindly,
      Never met — or never parted —
      we had ne’er been broken-hearted”

      Robert Burns.

      With just one stone you could start to build a cairn.

  25. Politics latest news: Rishi Sunak’s popularity sinks to three month low
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/05/30/rishi-sunak-news-latest-boris-johnson-vaping-crackdown/

    A couple of BTLs

    G Sherrington

    Why don’t you all like Sunak? Be specific. Have you really considered the alternatives…Starmer, Rayner, and all the Corbin supporters?

    Percival Wrattstrangler
    Reply to G Sherrington

    “Not being the worst
    Stands in some rank of praise!”
    [King Lear]
    Scraping the barrel when Beelzebub and Belial are not quite as bad as Satan!

    2. I do not want to like Sunak – or any politician. I want them to serve the country. Every single thing he is doing is wrong. The correct path is politically awkward, so he looks to blame and point, to deflect from his own stupidity with gormless policies.

      He isn’t stupid. He knows why we have soaring inflation. He knows why goods are expensive. He is so wedded to the Left wing statist ideology – the machine that put him in place – that he cannot countenance admitting it and unravelling the carnage he has created.

  26. Morning all 🙂😉
    Two days of sun now back to normal. And that chilly wind.
    If the Conservatives don’t know by now what has caused the cost of living crisis, it only shows more emphasis how absolutely useless politicians are.
    When you have allowed hundreds of thousands of people to arrive in your country and live here for nothing, making absolutely no contribution to the economy. You’ll have a self caused self influcted cost of living crisis for everyone else who does contribute to the economy.

    1. It’s more than that though. They rig the market for energy and then blame energy producers. They complain they’re making ‘record profits’ – mostly because of government policy – and government announces a windfall tax so all research and extraction stops, storing up trouble for the future.

      They make fuel and food expensive by adding 30% to taxes – including energy – which are immediately passed on to customers. They make energy expensive and that creates shortages and they blame super markets for profiteering. It is no better than a lord blaming a miller for the price of grain after burning the crop.

      They stand up and announce massive tax hikes, saying this will reduce the debt when they continue to hike welfare and public sector spending and spend on nonsense we do not want or need.

      They continue to borrow incredible amounts – 1.5bn a day on top of the 2.5bn raised in tax.

      The state persists in refusing to build power stations, reservoirs, to resolve farming payments as it keeps expecting to rejoin the EU because democracy is merely an annoyance, not the bedrock of our country.

      The left and whinging activists demanding refugees are welcome ignore that this country is only 200 years from anarchy. In rights bought in blood from invading forces repelled at incredible cost. The nation we have, the laws we have are built on sacrifice earned in hundreds of years of civil war, invasions to set out how we expect to be governed and the rights we permit them. They are NOT our rulers and yet think they are.

      Their efforts are forcing us back to feudalism and dependence after almost a millennia of earning the right to refuse it. Sunak blithers on about Ukraine but he is no different to us arming the Normans against the Flemish. He bashes on about climate change yet may as well steal our flour by force – as the state has done when it wants power. hell, they’re already forcing compulsory purchase orders on farmers and creating shortages through policy. When we can’t pay it’s taxes we’re dependent on the state because the state is destroying jobs, no different to a king forcing a tenant off his farm. The Home office is forcing an invasion along our borders no different to the Viking, Roman or Norman conquests.

      We drove them all away by force of arms and earned the right to call this our home by struggle. The state now uses the weapons of legalese and lawyering, with the infinite money and time only available to the state machine to get what it wants.

      2. Wibbs, the difference between the early invasions and the current one is that the Romans, Angles, Saxons, Vikings and Normans were intelligent, skilled and resourceful Europeans. It’s a myth that the Romans were multi-kulti, they weren’t. Only men permitted a Roman education became officers in the Roman army and that didn’t include their primitive colonials.

      3. We are fast getting to the point where Civil War and the overthrow of the current hypocrisy is necessary.

        The current govt cannot/will not see it until it hits them in the face. Too late, buster, you’re gone.

      4. Ahhh but don’t forget according to Al-Beeb, we are all descended from immigrants.

        Don’t you just lurve the Brussels Broadcasting Corporation?

  27. Morning, all. Overcast, breezy and very chilly. Looks and feels like late March rather than two days off of ‘flaming’ June.

    Around a friend’s home and BBC Five is on the TV. Current topic being discussed is the price of food. Video clips of shoppers and they are masked! The poor old Al-Beeb just can’t help itself.

      1. Well, Mao is key to this presentation- not Mussolini. We see what he espoused in the cosy relationship between governments and the corporates.

    3. I’ve seen nothing attractive about any of it and just don’t want to know.

  29. I’m quite sure that the PTB are quietly ecstatic with these outcomes. Destroying everything that creates and supports a stable, law-abiding and generally happy society is, and has been for decades, a prime objective within their planning. Why else would mass immigration be encouraged and defended by using the most specious of arguments e.g. diversity is our strength: when did the idea of being a settled homogeneous society become unfashionable?

    https://twitter.com/TiceRichard/status/1663461884379508737

    1. 372751+ up ticks,

      KtK,
      Much of what is coming to fruition now has been in the construct these past near four decades, voted in via legions of dangerous fools
      on the basis of, party (ino) before Country.

    2. This won’t stop the state. They’ll like it. It means bigger government, more spending, more demands on the public purse.

  30. Away for a couple of days. Lovely morning down here in Chichester but with the wind in the Nor’-East can’t smell the sea nor hear the cry of the gulls. Off to an exhibition of Gwen John’s work.

    1. A great great great uncle was one of the officers on board those ships. My aunt gave his diaries to a local museum during the Blair terror.

      What is interesting is the history of the towns founded, built by the British for freed slaves. They swiftly resorted to barbarism and savagery.

    3. Let’s hope that there may be a glimmer of light as regards all this slavery shite, and that the real history will become widely known as not being a black & white issue, but with many shades of grey.

  32. Err, no, the Conservative answer to the cost of living has been to blame everyone else for their problems.

    Fuel, energy, food. All blamed on other groups. Then they hammer us all with crippling taxes and wonder why the tax take is falling.

    They proclaim that they’re all so marvellous yet they’re borrowing ever more and using inflation to keep doing so – then have the temerity to say they want it brought down.

    It’s one pack of lies after another, all to avoid their own culpability and doing what so desperately needs to be done.

    1. One wonders if they’ve ever heard of the Laffer curve – stupid berks.

      1. Or the Dunning-Kruger effect! Too stupid to know how stupid they are.

  33. A couple of Letters BTLs worthy of mention:

    Trevor Anderson
    3 HRS AGO
    We have had too many years of inept, ineffective and shambolic pretend conservative government. We are heading towards a soviet style command economy that will destroy the economy and social order as we once knew it.
    The plethora of crass and unfit for purpose decisions made regarding situations such as illegal Immigration, NHS, HS2, benefits for freeloading shirkers is capped with the most enormous destroyer of all – Net Zero.
    Net Zero is a vanity project (aren’t we clever!) based on deeply flawed science and imposed by a government that has not got a clue how they can make it work. There isn’t a single plan for an effective means of producing renewable energy, while we have gas and oil deposits and sit on 300 years of coal, the use of which would restore the economy.
    As mentioned in today’s letters, energy costs affect prices – but we persist with this insanity to the nation’s detriment. Another major problem we have is that a probable Labour government will be worse.
    This country needs a revolution before it’s too late. Ban Net Zero now.

    Robert Gray
    3 HRS AGO
    Net zero is economic suicide from people speaking to themselves – such as with the Skidmore fantasies. We exist as a country on borrowed money, tax the population to screaming point and then re-tax them again with the highest energy prices – with embedded subsidies. And then spaff £100BN on an already failed white elephant rail farce which will never repay its (our) capital. Oh and let’s crush what’s left of our domestic natural resources on any trumped up excuse.

    * * *

    And so speak plenty of others, I imagine. Time has already run out and the outcome of the GE can’t be in much doubt. It is the Tories to lose, through abstention, than Sir Kneel’s to win.

    1. Never mind stopping farming and so get food shortages to go with the burgeoning population… way to go!

    2. We have had too many years of inept, ineffective and shambolic pretend conservative
      government.

      No matter, conservative, labour or coalition governments, we have not been governed as we would have wished to be for decades. Changing political allegiance made no difference as we can now see: the political landscape was scoped out without the people being aware. Now is the culmination of all that has gone before and we are understanding that we have been betrayed.

      Trevor Anderson’s following four paragraphs are spot on.

      What is irksome is that not one emerging political party has made any headway against the big two and a half despite the serial failures, blatant lies and continuous betrayals. Why should that be?

  34. I’m off, outside to enjoy the weak Border’s sunshine with my book (kindle) and a whisky and dry, Later maybe folks.

  36. The wheels of the NHS grindeth slowly but still faster than I expected. Phone at just after 9 this morning and the biopsy scheduled for June 9 so only a week and half to wait. Consultant must be concerned;-)

      1. It’s cancer- we already know that- it’s just a making sure procedure as is the MRI.

  37. Just back from Nurse. New dressing. Next apptmt Thursday. Cold out – and drizzle. Horrible. Just lit stove.

      1. It was beautiful on the Isle of Wight over the weekend. We arrived on Friday to glorious sunshine, sun all the way through and departed with the sun still doing its utmost. It was t-shirt-and-flipflops weather. We arrived back in s. Cambs about 4.00 pm to cloudy grey skies and had to put the fire (lpg) on for the rest of the evening. It’s not so warm today either, grey skies and that continuous N.E. chilly air flow. Plants on the IoW did not appear to have suffered over winter in any way like our plants have suffered.

    2. I just remembered i had a GP appointment at 10.50am. Damnation. I was soo looking forward to my bottom inspection !

          4. They were very nice about it and told me not to worry. The Doc will call back to reschedule.

          7. Yup. It has happened to two friends of mine who couldn’t make their appointments. They were told they had been removed from the list and had to work hard to get back on it again! Really Shropshire is worse than a third world country at times.

  38. A bit of a cooler day and I’m almost ready for the off. I plan stopping off at Droitwich for the night, there’s a couple of really good pubs there.

    I see Netflix new drama is being torn to shreads:-
    https://youtu.be/sj-iCoPQN78

    1. It wasn’t the actress, it was simply wrong because it suited the ego of the Lefty who wrote it. This doesn’t do anything for black representation at all. It’s just distortion. A cruel abuse of history.

      2. Recently I had to turn off the remake of Great expectations……now featuring black actors. Not part of the original story. Which I enjoyed as a wonderful experience, when taken to see at a local cinema from my school, by coach. I think I was about 12 years old. The lovely Mrs Eades was our English teacher.

        1. Simple truth is there simply weren’t blacks in the UK in the 19th century. If there were they’d be incredibly, infinitesimally rare.

          1. There were very few. There were even fewer in the 18th century, which is why shoe-horning them into Tom Jones makes my blood boil.

        2. Simple truth is there simply weren’t blacks in the UK in the 19th century. If there were they’d be incredibly, infinitesimally rare.

      1. Just give the dog a bowl of beer !

        She shouldn’t be pulling him by the neck. It’s why i only use a body harness. Easier to drag.

        1. I suspect hubbie usually walks the dog on this route and normally stops off for a pint and a packet of crisps {:^))

      2. Lessons? The fellow’s an amateur. You can’t drag Mongo. Ah, the flop. We know that so well.

        You wait them out. Maybe Mongo’s a bit dim but he forgets why he’s stopped.

  43. Good morning. I have not read the Telegraph for a long time now save for scanning the front page in front of the paywall to watch the sad motions of what was once a real newspaper. And glancing at it today the image that came to mind was of a pond of manure that has just been stirred up by a passing animal. Right across it we can see mud-skipping creatures scurrying in all directions. The narrative appears to be questioned by many, but when it gets down to it the controlled debate is always there. The leader complains that the Covid Inquiry is descending into farce. Is this a Damasceme moment for the organ? Don’t hold your breath. As one of the builders of the straw house the Telegraph will have a hard time returning to truth in journalism, and the tiresome hypocrisy of propaganda will continue until it hits the wall. Coughlin is hieratic about the EU collapsing but you can be sure he’s still polishing his cowboy boots for the neocons. Pitful showing.

  44. Trust is breaking down in Britain. It is a danger we can no longer ignore. 30 May 2023.

    There are consequences, too, of our increasingly radical racial diversity. Research shows there is a negative correlation between diversity and solidarity. Studies find support for redistributive taxation falls as immigration increases, and communities lose trust as they grow more diverse. In the words of Robert Putnam, the US academic, while these trends can be overcome with time and effort, “in the short to medium term, immigration and ethnic diversity challenge social solidarity and inhibit social capital”.

    This should worry us, since low-trust societies are far less pleasant than others. Expectations that good behaviour will be reciprocated diminish. Norms of politeness and respect disappear. Anti-social behaviour and crime increase. Bad business practice and the exploitation of customers or workers become more common.

    There fixed that for him!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/28/trust-is-breaking-down-in-britain/

    3. Were any “studies” really necessary to come up with that?

      My word, these academics are a bit slow, aren’t they. I wonder how much they cost, she thinks idly.

      1. ‘Academics’ are very focused. I have seen them in their natural habitat at the IST and previously the IEE. Just make sure they have access to the internet and Costa.

  45. 372751+ up ticks,

    The origins of covid just finished with the chinese prof. rushing back to the laboratory to check new info, to be continued in the next instalment.

    My belief is the next episode is in construct mode hence the inquiry delay, remember the last delay the political overseers
    pulled on decent peoples, the nine month delay introduced by treacherous treasa, that has near cost us a Country.

    1. There is an extent to which the Chinese laboratory is a red herring. What they did there was run a million+ DNA samples from infected tissue through a computer programme that comes up with a common gene sequence which they then characterise as representing the infection. It’s very clever but also very pointless. They probably also experiment with mixing and matching infected tissues to see if 2 plu 2 equals deadly and oh, can they find a way to engineer transmission etc etc. At the root of it all though is still the basic point that the existenece of viral pathogens is unproven. So who cares what the Chinese laboratories do?

    2. There is an extent to which the Chinese laboratory is a red herring. What they did there was run a million+ DNA samples of infected tissue through a computer programme that comes up with a common gene sequence which they then characterise as representing the infection. It’s very clever but also very pointless. They probably also experiment with mixing and matching infected tissues to see if 2 plu 2 equals deadly and oh, can they find a way to engineer transmission etc etc. At the root of it all though is still the basic point that the existenece of viral pathogens is unproven. So who cares what the Chinese laboratories do?

    1. I went to watch one year about 50 years ago – it’s utter madness but great fun – the hill is very steep.

    3. This should start the cheeses rolling. Its e dam fun day. I’ll make my own whey out..

  48. The neo-Mengelian torture chambers might be closing down but the mental disorder that currently supplies them with their victims must also be tackled.

    The cult of gender ideology is finally disintegrating

    Recent findings reveal that Susie Green had influence over policy at the Tavistock clinic – a woman who should never have had any authority

    SUZANNE MOORE • 30 May 2023 • 7:00am

    Susie Green, the former chief executive of Mermaids, who stood down “unexpectedly” last year, has been hiding in plain sight for so long that I sincerely hope we can see her clearly now. How this woman was ever allowed to have so much influence over vulnerable children, never mind medical professionals, is frankly disturbing. She is a former IT consultant with no medical training – unless you count the fact that she won 2016’s Sparkle Diversity Champion of the Year as a specialised qualification. I certainly don’t. The story of how much power she came to have remains shocking.

    The organisation she ran was once not controversial; it was a support group for children and parents of kids with gender issues until she got her hands on it. It became an activist and lobby group receiving hundreds of thousands of pounds in lottery funding and grants and was hired by the Department for Education to provide training on “gender identity” in schools. As with Stonewall, it had huge reach into key institutions and the usual gormless celebrity support.

    We now find that Green herself had direct influence on policy at the gender identity development service (GIDS) at the Tavistock. After being told that the Tavistock did not have any records of meeting with Green, when threatened by court action, miraculously it found 300 pages of them.

    They reveal that Green spoke directly to the director Dr Polly Carmichael, had advisory roles on two studies and – most scandalous of all – could refer children for treatment at the clinic even when their own GPs had repeatedly advised against it. The Cass Review, remember, effectively shut down GIDS as it was not fit for purpose.

    GIDS was in turmoil and dealing with a new cohort of distressed young women with gender dysphoria; the number of girls jumped 5,000 per cent in a seven-year period. Cass found there were no long-term follow-ups even though nearly every child who was referred for prescribed puberty blockers went on to cross-sex hormones [which are used to transition from biological gender to desired gender].

    Puberty blockers are controversial because we don’t have enough longitudinal studies to really understand their impact, which is why several countries such as Sweden and Norway have stopped them. The NHS site says they are not simply reversible. Research is showing that when distressed teenagers are given therapy, they no longer want to change gender and many accept they are gay. Puberty blockers tend to be the first step on a medical pathway that leads to cross-sex hormones and surgery. The other issue which Green should know well, is that if given too early, genitalia do not develop enough to make satisfactory “new models”. These kids may well lose their fertility and any chance of sexual pleasure.

    There is an infamous Ted Talk and other YouTube videos of Green talking of what happened to her own son. He wanted a Barbie Rapunzel and other girl things. Her husband, she claims, didn’t like this “girly” boy. Later, he was whizzed off to the States at age 12 for puberty blockers and at 14 was out on oestrogen. He spent seven hours on his 16th birthday on an operating table in Thailand in what is euphemistically called “gender-affirming” surgery.

    Green explains this meant “basically use[ing] the skin from the penis to create a vagina. And she hadn’t developed through full puberty so, not to put too fine a point on it, there wasn’t much to work with”. That is the work of puberty blockers.

    This operation was done in Thailand as it is illegal to do that to a 16-year-old here. Indeed, it is now illegal in Thailand. If this well-known information is not a red flag, I don’t know what is. Yet this woman was, we now know, given carte blanche to overrule psychiatrists and medics and to push her dubious agenda. What is that agenda? It is the lucrative invention of the trans child. I say lucrative, because in the States, billions of dollars are projected to be made by surgeons and drug companies with lifelong medicalisation being offered to 13-year-olds who have been diagnosed sometimes as young as four.

    Green herself has now chummed up with Dr Helen Webberley of GenderGP, who was once suspended, and who sells cross-sex hormones to under-16s, which is not allowed in the UK. This is done online with no counselling.

    None of this is really about the trans rights of adults. It is about the pushing of extreme gender ideology on to distressed children. Any basic model of safeguarding has gone out of the window. It is a complete negation of the duty to ‘Do No Harm’ and at its centre is a woman who should never, ever have been given any authority.

    I really hope that for Susie Green, the game is finally up.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2023/05/30/the-cult-of-gender-ideology-finally-crumbling/

    1. No matter what the state does to meddle with house prices, it’s contradictory policy of massive uncontrolled gimmigration ensures house prices always rise. It’s idiotic.

    2. Mr Taylor has a good point, but it’s already happening in Sussex.

      Wealden Planning is desperately trying to get a whole village built near Rotherfield.

      They show a complete resistance to giving planning on nearby brown field sites with easy access and communication but are

      very keen on a large construction company building on Green Belt agricultural land.

      One wonders why?

      Glad that we don’t live near there !

  53. In case people don’t look back to the oldest posts, I have added this as a reply to sirjasper.

    I have been viewing this page for months, but until now have never felt inclined to sign up. Your situation has changed that.

    Lockerbie Living Sober is listed on the AA website with meetings on Thursday evenings at 8pm in Dryfesdale Church Hall, 10 High Street, Lockerbie.

    2. Welcome Eric – lots of us began as lurkers and eventually started to post.

      You’ll find we are quite friendly on the whole.

          1. Acksherly I has me own teeths… so far anyway. Mind you, half me face might be gone in the next few weeks 😉

    3. Welcome and very many thanks for your support of sirjasper.
      I hope we’ll see more of you.

    4. Ha, thanks but I knew of that. Too far to drive from Moffat. Absolutely zitz in the Moffat area m too busy getting pissed in their own area. Just thinking…

      1. Surprised there is no AA in Moffat. At our church (Bracknell) we have no fewer than three separate AA groups which hold meetings (though they call themselves Living Sober) and they are all well attended. Guess it varies a lot from area to area. And welcome Eric from another long time lurker.
        (and touch wood I am a long way from needing to use their services, my drink consists of a single pint over pub lunches on my weekly walks).

      2. Stopping drinking spirits in the morning would be a start. No need to travel. It’s up to you.

  54. 372751+ up ticks,,

    May one ask,

    The real foundation question of this covid enquiry is “was it a cull or a cure” if it was the former will THAT alter the voting pattern?

    1. Oh ogga. The real purpose of any enquiry is to put officials in the clear.

      1. 372751+ up ticks,

        Afternoon W,
        All I can say is there must have been one hell of a cock up at Nuremberg then.

        1. There was. The most dangerous cabal survived to regroup and continue plotting.

        2. That wasn’t run by the civil service. Wated to say British civil service but in reality so many of them are foreigners it isn’t accurate.

    2. The whole thing was a total mess of lies and total government and civil service incompetance. How can people not see it. This is now the cover up.

      1. 372751+ up ticks,

        Afternoon JN,

        Read incompetence as treachery when it comes to scams these politico’s have no equals.

      2. JN, I think that you are too kind to the shower in government. The incompetence was when the narrative wasn’t followed at the outset i.e. herd immunity was on the agenda. A ‘clarification’ was issued that brought the government back on script and the infamous lockdowns followed. That the lockdowns were a shambles isn’t in question and with Johnson not being the sharpest knife in the drawer where management skills are required, a shambles was always on the cards.

        1. Johnny was brought up in the days where one wasn’t a rude bastard – unlike the rest of us. Me especially.

    1. Funny short, but a lot of people seem unable to comprehend the potential effects of AI in the workplace. It will be a tsunami, followed by more tsunamis.

  57. Kemi Badenoch falls out of favour with Tory voters after Brexit bonfire fiasco
    Approval ratings of most ministers down as Conservative electors are ‘thoroughly fed up’ with the Government
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/05/30/kemi-badenoch-conservativehome-supporters-popularity-tory/

    A couople of BTLs

    Spuds MacKenzie

    She was set up by Sunak to take the hit on the remaining EU laws, whilst he remains above the fray. I would have resigned if I were her, on principal.

    Percival Wrattstrangler

    Reply to Spuds MacKenzie –

    Sunak is a singularly unpleasant and nasty man who is very happy to damage his colleagues if he thinks he will get an advantage by so doing.
    You could say that all politicians do this but it seems to me that Sunak does it in an especially underhand and smarmy way.

  58. Par Four today.

    Wordle 710 4/6
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
    🟨🟩⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Likewise

      Wordle 710 4/6

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

      1. And me.

        Wordle 710 4/6

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

    2. A birdie for me.

      Wordle 710 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜⬜🟨🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. An obnoxious, self-obsessed tosser who is so far up himself…..

      I must stop before I say something impolite….

      1. I never liked Paxman, whom I thought very arrogant and rude. It’s easy to be a know-all when you’ve got a little card with the answer written on it!
        The chap before him was far better.

          1. I was very surprised to read that Paxman had been the only question master since Gascoigne, nearly 30 years in the chair.

        2. Bamber Gascoigne once came into a pub I was in and asked for a half pint of beer – some wag called out “Is that your starter for ten?”. From the expression on Gascoigne’s face it wasn’t the first time he’d heard that! Seemed a nice chap though.

          4. When working in Richmond on Thames 1974-75 I often saw Bamber Gascoigne from the first floor of our office overlooking The Green. He had red hair.

            I believe he drank at The Cricketers and the Adam & Eve. This was also Dimbleby territory.

    6. And Mastermind is being hosted by Clive Myrie.

      And when Victoria Coren-Mitchell calls it a day with Only Connect Diane Abbott will take the show over.

    1. Which leads us to draw obvious conclusions about immigration policy in the last 15-20 years.

  62. Robin Page dead at age 80: One Man And His Dog presenter who was friend to King Charles and outspoken countryside commentator passes away

    Robin Page died at his home in Cambridgeshire last Saturday after cancer battle
    He presented One Man And His Dog on the BBC from 1994 until 2000
    The campaigner was also a friend of King Charles

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12140063/One-Man-Dog-presenter-outspoken-countryside-commentator-Robin-Page-passes-away.html?ito=push-notification&ci=rtbPfMz7DH&cri=oBYfPE0s86&si=p3DSQ2YwOLik&ai=12140063

    Another good man gone . RIP. Robin 😥

        1. He lived in the next village from us. I used to see him on my way to work, trudging along the footpath to his farmhouse. He looked like a real countryman, no airs nor graces. Solid stock.

    2. A champion of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, an effective programme for landowners to make environmental improvements – and at a much lower cost than Gove’s idiotic, bureaucratic, post-EU ELMS.

    3. A champion of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, an effective programme for landowners to make environmental improvements – and at a much lower cost than Gove’s idiotic, bureaucratic, post-EU ELMS.

    4. Takes the shine off the day, news like that.
      RIP, Robin – and thanks.

  63. That’s me for this dreary day. More tomorrow and the next day. Cold, grey and cheerless. Hullo summer!

    Have a jolly evening

    A demain.

    1. Been lovely here and set to be so for the week. You’re living in the wrong place, mate ;- ))

  64. Oh what a grey day.
    And cold.
    Still at least I’ve got paperwork done and paid the government an unfeasible amount for 365 days of pothole dodging.

    1. Just had a triple of beers in the sun at the pub, with Second Son. After a bastard of a day. Helped unwind a bit. Now using red medicine… Cheersh! Man, but he’s well-informed, and smarter than the average bear.

    2. We live in the same part of the world, it has been near freezing here today, so cold and grey.

  65. 372751+ up ticks,

    We really could do with some of that boycotting ( people power) material in thy United Kingdom, our electoral majority are ALL up for satanic pride in the political marketplace, they DO actually vote for paedophilia importation parties, not once in error but intentionally even after mass paedophilia cases are revealed once their cover has been peeled back.

    https://twitter.com/Grit_News/status/1663578585410543616?s=20

    1. 372751+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      Let’s face it Og that b lair ( the bog man) serpent
      ex PM, would be on a winner in England with a line in hoof concealing shoes.

  66. Oh how I suffer.
    Yet another warm and sunny day.
    Birds singing, butterflies dancing, cicadas scratting, the pool 27° this evening, the breeze is warm and gentle; perfectly palatable wine is less than 3 quid a bottle.
    Moan, moan moan, moan, moan, moan moan.
    I could be a UK Nottler.

      2. I suspect that unless you are a genuine aficionado you couldn’t price this wine against wine you pay £20 a bottle for.

        We do get the odd tooth pullers, but by and large the everyday stuff here is better than anything I can get in the UK at 4 times the price.

    2. We have been suffering here too…sunshine and warm temps., Bees buzzing about and kids are on half term so not as much traffic.
      Looks good for the rest of the week too.

    3. Oh, how you are suffering! We have horizon to horizon clear blue skies with temperature 28degs and a delightful 30% humidity, you can keep the pool though, not a swimmer. Blue birds, not on my shoulder, but fluttering around, beautiful Eastern Cardinals contrasting with their lovely red, plumage! And some charming Swallowtail butterflies to complete the picture. Just the day to sit back and appreciate!

      1. Sounds familiar.
        The pool is hard work to keep pristine, but we get enormous pleasure from it, swimming gently up and down.

    4. Been gorgeous here in SW England too, with another week of lovely weather forecast. We’ll pay for it in the summer, no doubt.

    5. It was like winter when I went outside a few minutes ago – the thermometer saiid 11 C and that was in a sheltered place out of the wind; the cold north-easterlies are something else entirely. The sky is grey, overcast. We have had the gas (lpg) fire on from 7.30 pm.

  68. Summer has arrived in Argyllshire; bright sunshine, 21° today with a gentle breeze.

    Tomorrow’s forecast is similar, with 23° and a gentle breeze!

    Perfect weather for my large chilli & lime prawns accompanied by Prosecco Cocktails 🙂 !!!

          1. I saw a comment by Tartan Pimpernel on the Daily Sceptic the other day…….. it would be good to get her back too.

          3. She began as Tartan Pimpernel and then changed to Prickly Thistle, if I recall correctly. But has been gone a while now.

          5. Both. She left us because she wanted to avoid somebody who hasn’t posted here for some time.

      2. No.

        I’ve given up phoning; she is depressed and repetitive. She doesn’t call back. She talks about getting a new dog but is doing nothing about it.

        I think she has ‘post Covid depression’.

        Sadly, she has no intention of getting back online.

  69. Good thing they didn’t use their sidearm. What is the matter with people?
    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/met-police-spit-hood-woman-peckham-b1084496.html
    A 91-year-old woman in Peckham had a Taser pointed at her and a spit hood put over her head by police after a dispute with her carer. The Metropolitan Police said that the elderly woman was “distressed” and allegedly spat at one officer when they were called to her home in south-east London on May 9. She was handcuffed, had a mesh spit hood placed over her head and a Taser trained on her before she was taken to hospital without being arrested.

    1. I used to work in Peckham- Saturday job and then all college vacations. Yes, there were black people around but there were few problems. Mind you. this was late 60s and early 70s.

      1. No matter the skin colour, who threatens to taze a 91-year old? What kind of POS treats a really old person like that? Same with taht incident in Oz just recently. Police should all be banned fro the pubs, as they clearly cannot behave themselves like ordinary folk, when given the implements of State power – tazers, firearms, etc.

    2. What a spate of ill -treatment towards the over 90s. After that poor old dear in Australia, you’d think they’d be more careful.

      1. Likely they don’t give a shit. They have the power, the old should cower from them.
        Bastards.

  70. Today has been a good day. Up early to catch a 7:10 bus to Bath and thence on to Bridge where partner and me came 2nd out of 15 pairs
    Home for a spot of lunch & mowed the lawns.
    Then the plumbers arrived unannounced to undertake the first service of the boiler – I was expecting a service charge but no, apparently the first service was free (ie included in the original installation cost. But hey)
    Back into Bath for a cocktail and early supper. Visited ‘ Bath Gin’ and found the owner on good form. He presented us with a gin cocktail served in a teapot (enough for 4 sizeable drinks) on the house!
    A light tapas supper and then :
    Bus back to Devizes and a spot of victualling followed by a mug of tea and a little medicine to follow. All in all a good day.

    2. Moan moan moan, all these Nottlers do is moan about the hard lives they lead…
      };-))

  71. SWMBO just played a recording of Pie Jesu by a Russian choir, in a beautifully acoustic building.
    It was enough to make the stress run as liquid out of one’s eyes.
    God really does have the best tunes.

    1. I don’t do god but I love choral music. Especially Mozart- his Requeim, Grand Mass in C minor are simply wonderful.

      1. When a friend croaks, I mark the occasion by an overly loud playing of Mozart Requiem, and consumption of copious alcohol, to mark their passing
        There’s been a few this last few years – not so much need these days.

      2. We went to a very good performance of the Requiem and Coronation Mass a couple of weeks ago. Also the Linz symphony.

      3. The older I get, the more I appreciate some of the traditional choral music.

        At my age, it is lovely.

        2. I went to evening prayer on Sunday night, something I haven’t done for a long time. I had forgotten how beautiful the words are.

  72. I forgot to mention, the owner of the Gin bar challenged me to a Duel which I accepted!
    The choice of weapons were drinking straws I conceded his two hits to my one!

      1. Let’s put it this way as he was a chap I didn’t quote Hamlet:”It will cost you a groaning to take off mine edge….”

  73. Time to turn in as I need to be up early to tackle the fist 6 beau locks before 10:00 am when the next flight of 20 locks opens….
    Goodnight Nottleland!

    1. You can sing- it doesn’t matter what it sounds like, blast the sound and sing!

    2. Singing is like drawing; everyone CAN do it – just some don’t do it very well 🙂

  76. As soon as I finish my glass of nerve tonic, I am going to bed. A little Vivaldi right now which soothes the soul.
    Honestly, I don’t know how much longer I can cope with the pain.
    Anyway, goodnight Y’all .

    1. Thank you for contacting Tom, and giving the update.
      I have been out all day but just checked in to see if there was any news. Goodnight.

      1. Tom, bless him, rang me – I had unsuccessfully tried to get hold of him a few times. He obviously felt positive enough to respond.

        1. ‘You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink’ springs to mind.

  81. Just to let those of you who have expressed concern over my well-being recently that I’m OK having had a long conversation with HertsLass and she has been very good in helping me put things in their right place in my mind. I’ll put more up to-morrow. Thank you all for caring and I apologise for being such a pain.

    1. Thanks for that (and Hertslass). An important thing is that people you have never met in person care about your wellbeing.

    2. No-one is a pain when they have problems, Tom. If you have a problem it is not for us to judge the scale, we all react differently. Some of us go to ground, others will ask for help in all sorts of ways (some of them obscure). I am, no doubt all of us are, so pleased for you that Hertslass has enabled you to find some peace of mind and has found a path forward for you. xx

      1. That’s my two mums and my little sis, all of whom (and others) have cheered me up and on. Thank you.

    3. Good to hear that you are in a better place than yesterday and were able to have a long chat with Hertslass.
      As Poppiesmum just said, you are not a pain! It is just a shame that we all live so far apart.
      See you tomorrow!

    4. Glad to hear you’re a) still with us and b) in a more positive frame of mind. Take care.

    5. That’s good news, Sir Jasper. And my thanks (and no doubt all NoTTLers’ thanks) to Hertlass for her phone conversation. I do hope that you are able to sleep tonight, but don’t forget that if you can’t there are some good films to watch on YouTube.

    7. No apologies needed, Tom. Just glad H has managed to work her magic!

  83. Evening – just about! – all. The sensible answer is to make work pay to wean the feckless off benefits. I don’t think we have any conservatives in Wastemonster.

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