Thursday 22 June: Endless state meddling will only prolong Britain’s economic woes

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here.

779 thoughts on “Thursday 22 June: Endless state meddling will only prolong Britain’s economic woes

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    Letter To The Management

    Dear Signore,
    Now I am a-tella you how I was a-treated at your hotella.

    I am a-comma from Roma as tourist to Lucerne and stay as a younga Christian man at your hotella.

    When I comma in my room I see there is no shit in my bed – how can I sleep with no shit in my bed ?

    So, I calla down to receptione and tella . “I wanna shit!” They tella me, “Go to toilet.”

    I say, “No, no. You no understand. I wanna shit in my bed.”

    They say, “You better not shit in your bed, you sonnawabitch!” What is a sonnawabitch?

    I go down for breakfast into ristorante. I order bacon and eggs and two pisses of toast.

    I getta only one piss of toast. I tella waitress, and pointa of toast, “I wanna piss!”

    She tella me, “Go to toilet.” I say, “No, no. You no understand. I wanna piss on my plate!”

    She then say to me, “You bloody hella not piss on the plate, you sonnawabitch! ”

    Second person, who do not even know me, calla me sonnawabitch! What is a sonnawabitch?

    Later I go for dinner in your ristorante. Spoon and knife is laid out, but no fock.

    I tella waitress, “I wanna fock.” And she tella me, “Sure, everyone wanna fock!”

    I tella her, “No, no. You no understand. I wanna fock on the table!”

    She tella me, “So, you sonnawabitch wanna fock on the table?

    Get your ass out of here!!” So I go to receptione and ask for bill. I no wanna stay in this hotella no more.

    When I have paid the billa, the portier say to me, “Thank you, and peace on you.”

    I say, “Piss on you, too, you sonnawabitch! I go back to Italy!”

    I never more comma stay at your hotella no more, you sonnawabitch!!

      1. I’m glad you read it, Ann, and had a brief moment to take you mind off the face-ache. Hope it gets betterer sooner.

  2. Good morning, chums. Another longest day (-light hours).

    PS – A message for Anne Allan. Dear Anne, when I had lunch with Korky last week we wondered exactly where your new Dower House was. Could you please leave a message on my answerphone (you know the landline number) to let me know, as I would like to get together with Korky and yourself (and YB if he would like to) and treat you both to a meal, either a BBQ at my place or at a nearby eatery. Best wishes, Elsie.

    1. I’m afraid your details (phone number and email address) have fallen victim to the great laptop changeover.
      (One of my grandchildren’s email suffered the same fate – dunno why).
      If you buzz me over an email, I can add the details – again.

    1. Good morning Minty and everyone.
      Right on cue this morning, MH said the same. Every year, without fail.

        1. Chances are, you weren’t the only one waiting to make that post. The early bird and all that, ha ha.

    1. 373654+ up ticks,.

      Morning PM,

      IMHO he is the covert tory (ino) party pop up artist, a long time political coxswain of the tory’s (ino) party.

      The farage / blair duo, birds of a feather.

      1. Yes I too think he is a covert tory who broke away from the main branch to follow his obsession – and it is thanks to his obsession that we did get Brexit, if in name only, it is a foundation stone upon which to build for a distant future, hopefully more patriotic, Parliament. Without his obsession to guide him he loses his focus and strays from his path.

        1. 373654+ up ticks,

          PM,
          In my book he talks a good fight, in his last treacherous act he put down another UKIP founder member who was on the way to being a real asset to freedom & democracy, shown by his one year leadership of UKIP.

          1. Hear here, ogga. Farage’s betrayal of Gerard Batten was an act of pure spit based, so I understand, on jealousy. That Batten was as much responsible for UKIP, if not more so, and Farage could not stand that truth. Whilst Farage was flashing in public, Batten was doing all the grunt work and got, from Farage, no thanks at all, but a stab in the back from the ingrate. I also think that Farage is a coward and a fraud. He talks the talk and walks the walk but then when it becomes vital to actually act, he abandons and betrays both people, promises, and policies.

    2. Nigel Farage’s judgement is erratic added to which he is like Lady Macbeth’s cat in the adage who lets ‘I dare not’ wait upon I would‘. In other wards when it comes to the crunch he chickens out in spite of all his vain boasting.

      Brexit is a mess because Farage lost his nerve in the last general election and gave in to Boris Johnson by not contesting the parliamentary seats already held by Conservatives – many of whom were remainers. We all know that Johnson was never committed to Brexit and merely embraced it for his own political expediency and advancement and gave Farage absolutely no quid pro quo in exchange for his submission.

      The consequence of this is that we still have both Houses of Parliament, the Civil Servcie and much of the MSM determined to thwart Brexit and cave in, yet again, to the tyranny of Brussels.

      1. Not a single one of them wanted to commit to Brexit; Johnson simply saw it as an opportunity to exploit to further his own ends. He was always rabidly pro-europe until a ‘cheerleader’ was required. And his being ‘rabidly pro-europe’ was all about how he could exploit that to further his interests and career.

    3. Nigel, you’re getting to the Byron state, Mad, bad and dangerous to know,

      Do something positive for the country, if you wish to do anything.

    4. Nigel, you’re getting to the Byron state, Mad, bad and dangerous to know,

      Do something positive for the country, if you wish to do anything.

  3. Morning folks.

    Wide awake far too early this morning so read the internet and came upon this lecture given 20 years ago but still very relevant today. If only all our politicians could be made to read this they would not be able to obfuscate and hide behind the ‘ scientific consensus”….

    Here’s what Michael Crichton had to say about “scientific consensus” back in 2003 when he gave a lecture at the California Institute of Technology titled “Aliens Cause Global Warming”:

    “I want to pause here and talk about this notion of consensus, and the rise of what has been called consensus science. I regard consensus science as an extremely pernicious development that ought to be stopped cold in its tracks. Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you’re being had.

    Let’s be clear: the work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world. In science consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus. There is no such thing as consensus science. If it’s consensus, it isn’t science. If it’s science, it isn’t consensus. Period.”

    His lecture notes are here and are well worth reading:

    https://stephenschneider.stanford.edu/Publications/PDF_Papers/Crichton2003.pdf

    1. Very good, only read half and will finish later. I wasn’t that keen on his novels but this is excellent reading and prescient to boot.

  4. Windrush and the making of modern Britain. Spiked. 22 June 2023.

    The arrival of those optimistic migrants 75 years ago transformed our nation.

    The Windrush migrants almost universally spoke English (in some cases, a hybrid Anglo-Caribbean dialect) and were typically Christian. They were well positioned to integrate. Many had either served or had family members who had served in the British army or navy during the Second World War. They had a strong affinity with the UK.

    Yet despite all this, they did not receive a warm welcome. Employment was restricted and housing was denied to them on racially motivated grounds. Those who were able to obtain work were often excluded from trade unions. It was not uncommon for pubs, clubs and churches to bar migrants from entering their premises.

    Much of this racism was stoked by the likes of Oswald Mosley’s Union Movement, the League of Empire Loyalists and the White Defence League. And community tensions often spilled over. Race riots erupted in major cities, such as London, Birmingham and Nottingham. During the Notting Hill riots of 1958, gangs of so-called Teddy Boys urged white-British residents to ‘keep Britain white’ as the area’s black population grew.

    It’s convenient to blame Mosley and his crew since it disenfranchises the opinion of anyone else who opposed it. Much of this supposed racism was resentment. As now the people were not consulted about this change. That it has transformed the nation I do not doubt, that it has improved it in any way I would deny. It has destroyed the social cohesion that enabled the UK to build an Empire and to triumph in two world wars. That England I was born into is no more and I despise the one that has taken its place. I feel only contempt for it. It is without pride or dignity and slipping into the sewer of the third world.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/06/22/windrush-and-the-making-of-modern-britain/

    1. A cultural marxists nuclear missile, that’s all that little experiment was.

      As soon as that ship arrived here then we all suddenly became the bad people that needed to change our entire culture and way of doing things .

      We were all being used those arriving and those here, if only we could both realise that and come together and throw our the inter racial agitators.

    2. The original Windrushers were undermined by teachers and other socialists deliberately alienating the next generation from this country’s culture. We now have 2 – probably 3 – generations following that pernicious creed to its logical conclusion.
      (Drug riddled zombies and bleeding bodies in our city streets.)

    3. This is what happens when one group displaces another. Now look at that generation. 70% welfare dependency, representing 40% of the prison population. Areas of London so overrun you don’t see a white face all day.

    4. It wasn’t “stoked” by small groups of activists. It came from the ground upwards!
      Massive migration has certainly transformed our country, and not for the better.

  5. 373654+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Planet Normal: Britain is one of the most successful examples of a multi-ethnic democracy

    In reality,

    Planet abnormal: Britain is one of the most successful examples of a multi-ethnic, screwed, totally frikked up, democracy ever known to decent mankind.

    ALL self inflicted in supporting the mass “government”
    WEF / NWO controlled / uncontrolled immigration invasion via the polling stations.

    To me, king big lugs unveiling the windrush painting also signifies him giving the indigenous peoples the bums rush condoning repression & replacement via the WEF / NWO actions.

    Keep in mind out there, you want more of the same with guaranteed more odious issues to follow, adhere to the regular voting pattern.

      1. Yet you can have like minded people who are different colours, as long as the culture is shared. What we’ve had forced on us is foreigners turning up and creating mini ‘-istans’ wherever they claim welfare.

  6. Time to invite Ukraine into Nato and the EU. 22 June 2023.

    The pledges of financial support Ukraine is receiving from the West to repair its war-ravaged infrastructure are all very reassuring. But what the country really needs to secure its future prosperity and survival are cast-iron guarantees that, when the fighting is over, it will ultimately be allowed to join key institutions such as Nato and the European Union.

    Since Russia is waging this war to prevent both it’s unlikely to have a happy ending!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/22/time-to-invite-ukraine-into-nato-and-the-eu/

    1. My view: Russia is a great and important country, the land of Tolstoi, Dostoyevsky and Chekov, Tchaikovksy, Rachmaninov and Prokofiev. At the end of the Soviet Union there was an opportunity to bring Russia into alignment and co-operation with the Western World which was what Boris Yeltsin wanted. It was deliberately stymied from the start by the US deep state which did not and still does not want a Russia in close co-operation with Europe, specifically Germany, which could create an all-powerful Eurasian economic giant which would have ended American hegemony. Imagine Russian natural resources allied to German industrial know how. Dear me, no. Bringing Ukraine, with its rich agricultural land, into the Western alliance and European federation diminishes the Russian world. The Americans provoked this war.

      That is what it is all about

      1. I think you are right. But the Germans will probably end up close to the Russians, unless thwarted by China, which would probably like to have Germany in its own back pocket. Culturally and geographically, the Germans are closer to the Russians though.
        And there is a little matter of a pipeline….

  7. 373654+ up ticks,

    Thursday 22 June: Endless state meddling will only prolong Britain’s economic woes

    But surely that is the intentions of these “governing” parties and their consenting members.

  8. Good morning, all. A cloudy stay in store with strong winds. Tempting to go back to bed!

  9. Good Moaning.
    Bright yellow thing in the sky.
    Altogether now ……. “We’re dooomed ….”
    Oh, and the nights are drawing in.

    It’s being so cheerful that keeps me going.

    1. Only by minutes, but that’s the natural cycle of the planet’s rotation. No doubt the Left would call this axial tilt and rotation something an use it to scare the stupid and weak minded into paying more tax.

    2. A technical disagreement.

      For reasons which I don’t comprehend, the earth’s elliptical orbit ensures asynchronicity between the earliest sunrise, latest sunset and the solstice. In June, London’s earliest sunset precedes that of the solstice by about four days and the latest sunset follows that of the solstice by about another four days. It’s only a matter of seconds later than yesterday’s sunset but this year’s latest falls on the 25th. After that, the nights will start drawing in.

      The June solstice (summer solstice) in London is at 15:57 on Wednesday, 21 June 2023. In terms of daylight, this day is 8 hours, 49 minutes longer than the December solstice. In most locations north of the equator, the longest day of the year is around this date.

      The earliest sunrise is on 17 June. The latest sunset is on 25 June.

      https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/uk/london?month=6

      There are small variations from these dates/times in other parts of the UK but more so in most other parts of the world the further from London you are, most significantly within the Arctic and Antarctic circles where their is neither sunrise nor sunset at this time of year.

  10. G’day all,

    Lovely day in prospect at the McPhee estate in NW Hampshire. Wind in the Nor’-West, 15℃ with 24℃ forecast.

    Who thinks bailing out distressed mortgage-holders is a good idea? I’m off on another trout-hunting trip today which will stop me thinking about our ludicrous government for a few hours.

    1. Far simpler to just cut taxes – leaving people more of their own money to pay their own costs. Reduce state spending and scrap all the taxes around energy, reducing costs again. History tells us people save more when there are tax cuts, which goes into borrowing elsewhere which then creates jobs.

      The solution is obvious, which implies the state is deliberately engineering the collapse.

      1. I think we can all agree on that. It is implementing the Great Reset at the oligarch’s behest. Get ready for a tsunami of ‘reposessions’ or, to be more accurate, corporate seizure of individuals’ private assets.

        1. Banks don’t actually like repossessing houses. They make more money from long term mortgages. The hassle and legal fees of selling a home in a depression are an annoyance.

          Most mortgage companies would prefer to switch mortgages around to keep the cash coming in.

          1. It will probably be the giant financial institutions which hoover them up and maybe even companies like Serco which will then rent them to migrants.

  11. Storm Shadow missile strike damages Crimea bridge. 22 June 2023.

    Ukrainian forces have carried out a missile strike on a bridge connecting Ukraine’s Kherson region and Crimea, Russia-appointed officials in both regions said.

    Vladimir Saldo, the Russia-appointed Kherson governor, said the bridge was likely to have been attacked by Storm Shadow missiles that damaged the road, but traffic has been diverted to a different route. No casualties have been reported.

    This is a toe in the water strike to see how the Russians react. It is not the main bridge that you see on the news and that was blown up with a truck bomb a few months ago. If the Russians do nothing they will probably do that next. If Vlad nukes Kiev they will say he’s over reacting!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/06/22/ukraine-russia-war-latest-news-putin-counter-offensive-nato/

    1. It seems that useless prat Biden is pushing things a bit too far. How can the rest of those who are responsible for this destructive nonsense, let this continue to happen. What are they trying to prove ? Except the obvious, they are an absolute disgrace to humanity.

      1. Morning Eddy. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the US wants WWIII. To do this it needs to avoid taking any blame for it.

        1. It’s always an easy cure when the economy is in a mess. And ultimately, you can invoke conscription to reduce the population a bit.

          1. In the event there is a WW3 the probability is that most of the initial fighting will be based in Europe and that most of those killed, services personnel and civilians, will be white.
            Most of the infrastructure will be destroyed and the build back better can occur unopposed.
            Two birds with one stone.

        2. Hey, a nuclear conflagration might just do the planet some good. All the old nuclear test sites from the 40s and 50s have gone back to an ideal natural state, but only because humans have been kept away from them for the last 60 or 70 years.

        3. The neo-cons are desperate to have Biden re-elected and believe that by provoking a war Biden will be seen as a War President.

          It matters not that Biden will operate from the basement whilst his entire crime family occupy the White House in ways reminiscent of the Beverly Hillbillies.

    2. The controlled hawks in the UK and the USA continue to provoke the Russian Bear. There can be only one reason: their paymasters want/need an escalation with the direct intervention of NATO as the result.
      IMHO Sunak & Co are way out of their depth in matters of conflict, and much else as their policy failures, lies, U-turns mount up. An unelected and almost certainly an unwanted, except for the sycophants in his circle, Prime Minister.

  12. Well said Mr. Jenkins. Exactly what I’ve been saying for a while now:-

    Party Pauper
    1 HR AGO
    “ Three-day-old baby died after 40-minute ambulance wait, court told”
    May god forgive the useless and the treacherous snakes that have sat in parliament over the last 40 years because I bloody well won’t.

    robert jenkins
    1 HR AGO
    I think you are deluded if you believe that any government has any control over the NHS. It has been a law unto itself for decades.

    1. Morning Bob.
      It could be that the government might be stirring up all these strikes to further their aims to destroy the NHS.
      Remember that the government put into place 7 new regional directors about 4 years ago. All being paid 250k per year.
      More and more patients and staff are heading for the private sector as it becomes impossible to break through the brick wall of orchestrated ‘incompetence’.

    2. The Labour party is the worst influence on the British health system. Every time meaningful reform is proposed they scream blue murder, and they implemented the system of vast private loans from rapacious foreigners.

    3. Except when it comes to delivering genocidal ‘vaccines’ at the behest of government? Then the two institutions seem to be hand-in-glove.

  13. Well said Mr. Jenkins. Exactly what I’ve been saying for a while now:-

    Party Pauper
    1 HR AGO
    “ Three-day-old baby died after 40-minute ambulance wait, court told”
    May god forgive the useless and the treacherous snakes that have sat in parliament over the last 40 years because I bloody well won’t.

    robert jenkins
    1 HR AGO
    I think you are deluded if you believe that any government has any control over the NHS. It has been a law unto itself for decades.

  14. Morning all 🙂😊
    Once again a cloudless start.
    We had a lovely day with our joint friends yesterday. Nice lunch in St Albans. And spent the afternoon reminiscing in the Green Dragon along side the river Colne. We have all had previous experience and memories of the immediate area.
    Todays headlines could have been written decades ago. It simply proves what the public have to put up with year on year. Everything the ‘they’ come into contact with they eff it up and big time. And still it goes on.

  15. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ee0ea2d6298a5e063c7f7e3d06043c59427a5841211d2f10fd13d4bf3974f98a.png

    Another DT article about age difference between spouses! The writer is 11 years younger than her husband but as her husband is Piers Morgan the age difference could be the least of her problems!

    BTL — Percival Wrattstrangler

    I met my wife when she was 24 and I was 40, we married the following year and have now been very happily married for 35 years.
    Our two sons are now in their late 20s, each one has left home and bought his own home, each has a good degree and a good well-paid job, each has a wife or a fiancé.

    In our experience those couples where there is a difference in age are happier than most so we hope each of sons who has about the same age as his wife/fiancé won’t find the age similarity a problem!

    1. As you know, Richard, my wife is 14 years younger than me. Happily married for 41 years.

      1. The ideal age for a man to marry is when he is in his 40s and wiser that he used to be!

        I quoted these song lyrics in the few words I gave at our wedding reception:

        At seventeen he falls in love quite madly
        With eyes of tender blue
        At twenty-four he gets it rather badly
        With eyes of a different hue
        At thirty-five
        You’ll find him flirting sadly
        With two or three or more
        When he fancies he is past love
        It is then he meets his last love
        And he loves her
        As he’s never loved before.

        All my best friends took to Caroline immediately and one woman of my own age whom I had known as a child squeezed my hand and said: “Marrying Caroline was the best thing you have ever done.” How right she was.

  16. A letter:-

    Undaunted spirits
    SIR – Spirits for breakfast in Soviet hotels (Letters, June 21) was not the preserve of Moscow.

    While staying at the top hotel in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 1991, as the collapse of the Soviet Union created food shortages, I found the breakfast table beautifully laid in silver-service style. No food (or power) was available, but set in the centre of each plate was a bottle of Azeri brandy. It was awful stuff, but I kept the bottle for years as a memento of my visit.

    Graham Blackbourn
    Linlithgow, West Lothian

    Was it the full bottle he kept or just the empty?

    1. No food or energy – a future coming to the UK under communist greeniac rule.

      1. If that UN whistle-blower, Calin Georgescu is to be believed, that’s scheduled for 2025.

    2. Azeri brandy was horrible then. Not had any for years, but in 1992 you could only get vodka, no tonic or other soft drink, and salty mineral water. A deeply unpleasant cocktail, but all there was.

      1. On the plus side, when we holidayed in Russia, we had champagne with dinner every evening.
        It was far cheaper than wine – and proved to be drinkable.

    1. Government auditors are pointless. You can count the things, but the big stuff always hides amongst the lies. The kick backs, brown envelopes, special favours, the incompetence of Ajax, for example. Wind mills – a deliberately rigged scam, written by ministers for ministers and their chums, who then give some of that cash back to the arty that got them the contract.

      The whole system is bent. When the state colludes for it’s own agenda and profit the tax payer is always screwed over, and we’ve been done in for trillions.

  17. 373654+ up ticks,

    Dt,

    Time to invite Ukraine into Nato and the EU
    They are doing us a favour by weakening Russia, and their future is inextricably linked to Western security

    Then await the nuclear reaction, political short term mindset

    There is more monies in supplying nuclear hardware.

    1. Ukraine was shelling the Donbass region before the war. If they’d had nuclear weapons it would have been far worse.

      These are not nice, balanced people we’re dealing with.

      1. 373654+ up ticks,

        Morning W,

        I realise that, but there is mega bucks in supplying arms and to our politico’s evil consequences are of no importance

  18. There’s talk of recession to resolve the current economic mess. A mess caused by:

    * Cripplingly high taxation
    * Massive government debt
    * Incredible state borrowing and waste
    * Debasing of the currency
    * Net zero making energy expensive
    * High fuel costs due to tax – making everything expensive.
    * Overly generous welfare and unemployment expanded by this government
    * Effective workers being pushed out of the labour market by high taxes and Left wing social policy.

    Given that the situation we’re in is not by chance, and has been deliberately engineered I imagine the intent of a recession is to hammer the final nail inn the coffin of the economy and use it as a lever to force us back in to the EU.

    The state continually told us what would happen if we were to leave the EU. It didn’t, and we started growing so the state made sure it did through abusive policy.

    I want to be wrong but the Left are vicious. This was always their endgame – if they can’t have what they want, they burn everything down.

      1. I have just briefly read that luton airport seem to want to build a new runway and expand because of the amount of flights they are currently getting from Albania. WTF is that about.

          1. No of course not. These people are insane. We have just had another planning application south of St Albans for yet another housing estate.

      2. It’s been mentioned to cost Six million a day.
        Only idiots would allow this to happen.

    1. Not to mention the war and all we have contributed, alongside the considerable increase in family budgets sustained by the conflict in Europe. A price worth paying, said Boris. Many would disagree.

      1. Most of us don’t get paid £quarter million pa for producing a weekly column.
        And similar for each after dinner talk.
        Fair do’s to the earner if they can get it, but don’t base an entire national financial programme on such an unreal situation.

    2. The Eurozone is going to suffer nearly as badly as the UK, and if it’s not worse, then that will only be because they manage to pull themselves further away from the US.

      1. Aye, folk bash on about the EU being the world’s biggest trading bloc – it isn’t, never has been. The nations of Europe are no even that efficient compared to Asia. Simply combining the GDP of failed nations and chaining them to buying German goods and in return propping up German industry is not a rational economic model – except in the eyes of a Eurocrat.

        At this stage I don’t believe the state cares. Their intent has always been to cause so much damage that when they present rechaining the public grumble and go ‘oh well’ – or, more likely, it won’t even be offered. It’ll be salami, such as rejoining the single market (which means adopting all EU rules anyway).

        Their spite and desperation to destroy a democratic vote is almost funny looked at from the outside.

    3. Even Aftenposten wrote yesterday about the UK government debt being over 100% of GDP.

  19. 373654+ up ticks,

    May one ask is stig o’k only I haven’t been pulled up lately.

  20. Relaxing immigration rules could help beat mortgage crisis, claims Hammond – latest updates Updated 5 minutes ago
    Lord Hammond was chancellor under Theresa May
    KEY MOMENTS
    Chosen by us to get you up to speed at a glance

    7:29am

    The Government should relax immigration rules to help ease the mortgage crisis gripping Britain, a former chancellor has urged.

    Lord Hammond, who led the Treasury under Theresa May, said the Government has to strike a “balance” between the “politically toxic” increase in immigration with the impact of rising mortgage rates.

    Relaxing immigration could help deal with record rises in wages across Britain by creating more competition for jobs and lowering workers’ ability to push for pay increases.

    The Bank of England is poised to raise interest rates for the 13th time in a row at lunchtime after disappointing inflation figures showed price rises have not eased.

    Traders are pricing in a nearly one in two chance that policymakers will make a half a percentage point rise in rates to 5pc, sending mortgage costs surging.

    The average rate for a two-year fixed mortgage increased to 6.15pc on Wednesday, according to Moneyfacts.

    Lord Hammond told LBC: “I don’t think The Bank [of England] has got much choice [but to tip the country into recession] unless the Government does something pretty significant intervening in the labour market in a different way.

    “I think the Government has regarded any relaxation of migration rules as being politically toxic.

    “But rising mortgage rates on the scale we’re seeing is also politically toxic.

    “I think we might have to have a debate about the balance between the two of you.”
    ======
    So what you’re saying is, immigration holds down wages, something frequently denied by all major parties.

    1. He never considers that the best intervention might be to … sod off! Did he consider cutting taxes? Cutting state spending? Reducing energy costs by abandoning net zero, contracts for difference? Of course not. It’s always forcing the tax payer to adapt through negative intervention, never the state making necessary and vital cuts to it’s incompetence.

      What is hammond Lord of? Stupidity?

      At least he has admitted it, even obliquely. Of course, LBC missed that and glossed over the facts.

    2. If the tens of thousands of able bodied gimmegrants we have already imported were forced to work for their benefits to the extent that they covered their superficial costs it would be a start point.

      You won’t work, then no money, shelter, or food.

    3. So what you’re saying is, immigration holds down wages, something frequently denied by all major parties.

      Let’s complete that sentence. How about:

      So what you’re saying is, immigration holds down wages, the upwards pressure on which is a response to government/BoE magic money creation in the response to the fake pandemic, something frequently denied by all major parties.

    4. Interest rates rose in the past to control inflation – who remembers a mortgage rate of 15% for a while end of the 1980s(?). It sucked money out of the economy (certainly mine) and squeesed prices accordingly.
      Idiot Hammond doesn’t say where the extra immigration will live, who will pay for it, and how comforting to voters it will be to have government undermine your efforts in education and career.
      Maybe import much cheaper politicians and put that shit-for-brains out of work?

      1. Blair and Brown?
        Cameron and Osborne?
        May and Hammond?
        Sunak and Hunt?

        Very strong competition to choose the worst ever PM/chancellor combination.

  21. How very convenient:

    Pentagon accounting error provides extra $6.2 billion for Ukraine military aid
    An accounting error has left the Pentagon with more than $6billion in unspent aid to Ukraine
    The error occurred because officials used the cost of new weapons to calculate cost, as opposed to the shelf supply that the US actually sent Ukraine
    The $6billion in unspent aid dollars will mitigate the need for Congress to approve any more aid to Ukraine before the end of the fiscal year

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12217357/Pentagon-overestimates-value-weapons-sent-Ukraine-6-2-Billion.html
    err…
    Won’t those shelf weapons be replaced?

    1. Hang on… it sent weapons it had already paid for at the cos of buying new ones?

      So it could have posted off a nice F22 when it bills for an F35?

  22. https://twitter.com/True_Belle/status/1671799960222724098

    Heart deaths have risen by more than 500 a week, major research has shown, with experts saying “extreme disruption” to the NHS caused by the pandemic may have fuelled the crisis.

    The study of government data revealed almost 100,000 extra deaths among people with cardiovascular disease (CVD) since spring 2020.

    Experts said NHS disruption to heart care and increasing ambulance delays for heart attack and stroke victims had left Britain “in the grip of a heart and stroke care emergency”.

    The British Heart Foundation (BHF) analysis of data from the Government’s Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) revealed an extra 96,540 deaths of patients with heart conditions since February 2020.

    While excess cardiovascular deaths in the first year of the pandemic were linked to coronavirus infections, heart deaths have remained high since Covid deaths fell.

    Cardiac experts said “severe ongoing disruption to NHS heart care” was among the factors driving the continued increase, with record delays for ambulances in recent months.

    Case study: Why I fear I wouldn’t survive a heart attack now
    Bernie Lawrence, 74, from Farnborough, Hampshire, worries that if he were to have a heart attack in 2023, he would not survive.

    In 2018, the retired sales manager went to Frimley Park Hospital’s A&E with severe chest pains and was diagnosed with angina – chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart muscles.

    The very next day he had a special type of X-ray called an angiogram, which revealed he had disease in his coronary arteries and was at significant risk of having a life-threatening heart attack.

    Just nine days after going into hospital with chest pains, he was on the operating table having quadruple heart bypass surgery.

    Mr Lawrence said: “When I went into hospital with angina in 2018, the doctor had said I could have had a heart attack, collapsed, and died if I’d exerted myself any further. “Thankfully my condition was discovered at a time when the NHS was working well and waiting lists were at manageable levels. I dread to think what would happen if I had angina or a heart attack now, and it’s something I often think about. I’m convinced I wouldn’t survive.”

    His experience of NHS heart care in 2023 has been very different to his experience in 2018.

    While on holiday on New Year’s Eve 2022, he rang 111 and was told to go to Gloucester Royal Hospital’s A&E because his heart was racing, and he was dizzy.

    There were no A&E beds available, so he was treated in the corridor during his 27-hour stay and diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. He was told he would need an “urgent” scan of his heart called an echocardiogram, but after four months of waiting, he chose to have it done privately because of the toll on his mental health.

    Mr Lawrence said: “My experience with the NHS this year has been awful. When I went into A&E on New Year’s Eve, it felt like a war zone with hundreds of people waiting to be treated – some were even on drips. It was standing room only. I felt really sorry for the NHS staff who were rushed off their feet – that’s an understatement.

    “When I was discharged, I was really worried about my atrial fibrillation diagnosis, but there was no-one I could speak to about it. I didn’t feel safe. After more than three months, my echocardiogram hadn’t even been triaged yet. It’s not the fault of doctors, nurses or paramedics. They’re doing what they can with very little resources. But something is very broken, and it’s taken a psychological toll on me.

    “I just feel so sad that I’ve had to look elsewhere and been forced to go private for the service that we used to get and should get on the NHS.”

    bonzo dog
    3 MIN AGO
    No comments allowed on “Heart deaths surge by more than 500 a week since pandemic” but disgracefully the article makes no mention of the COVID jab which we know resulted in myocarditis. Yet more subterfuge and I doubt the enquiry will be allowed to ask the question about post-Covid excess deaths. I think the truth is being massaged.

    1. A good question to ask might be to establish if other countries, who did not effectively close down their health care, are experiencing the same excess cardiac related deaths.

    2. They’re doing what they can with very little resources.

      Que? With the amount that is spent on the bl**dy NHS. Who’s got the dosh then?

    3. My lovely Polish friend contracted myocarditis almost immediately after the clot shot.

  23. Scientist, 92, who created Russia’s thermonuclear bombs is found hanged in his Moscow apartment
    Officials said they found a suicide note next to his body at his Moscow home
    Klinishov’s death follows a slew of suspicious deaths of high-profile Russians
    By WILL STEWART and CHRISTIAN OLIVER

    PUBLISHED: 08:54, 22 June 2023 | UPDATED: 08:57, 22 June 2023

    A 92-year-old scientist who created the first Soviet two-stage RDS-37 thermonuclear bomb has been found hanged in his apartment.

    Grigory Klinishov was found dead at his central Moscow home, as Russian investigators said they were probing the death of the nonagenarian atomic expert.

    Klinishov was reported to have died on June 17. Officials said a suicide note was found next to his body.

    A top secret bomb designer, Klinishov won the Lenin Prize in 1962. He was most well known as one of the creators of the Soviet RDS-37 – a thermonuclear bomb first tested in 1955.

    Klinishov’s death follows a slew of suspicious deaths of oligarchs and high profile Russians, particularly those linked to business executives at Russian energy giant Gazprom.

  24. Morning all.

    Largest tree in Asia. However the Chinese are not capable of leaving politics out of anything. Here, what they are doing is using Chinese renditions of Tibetan names in order that people not in the know, believe that Tibetan is some sort of variant of Chinese. Zayu county is actually pronounced Dzayul Dzong in Tibetan. Nying Che City is actually, Nying dri gong kyer. This is done deliberately by the Chinese to obscure the fact that Tibet is it’s own country and own language. It is the sort of insidious propaganda the Chinese use, in order to deceive those who know nothing, or little about Tibet. This is located in what the Chinese like to call. “The Tibet Autonomous Region”. Which, in fact are the two ancient provinces of U-Tsang & Kham. Which leaves, what they choose to call Tibet about one third its original size, a rump state without any political or cultural independence whatsoever onto which they have conferred the name, Xizang” a word, incidentally, that no Tibetan speaker can pronounce properly because “Xi” is a sound that doesn’t exist in the Tibetan language. Tibetan name for Tibet is Bö Yul.

    Excuse me for griping about something rather arcane to most of you but this must be put in the context of the genocide going on in Tibet. Recently the Chinese kidnapped 1 million children, took them from their parent to be retrained as Chinese speaking people without any connection to their own culture, This out of a population of 3,180,000. The aim is to return these children eventually to swamp entirely the indigenous Tibetans, a gradual extinction of Tibet. By the way, before the Chinese invasion the population was 7 million. Most of the depletion is through genocide by the Chinese after the Dalai Lama fled to India and during the “Cultural Revolution”.

    Forgive this rant but this sort of thing really pisses me off that we all kow tow to these monsters who are far worse in their treatment of people than the two genocidal regimes of Germany and the Soviet Union. It really makes you question why we bothered to fight the Germans or the Soviets at all.

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/asia-s-tallest-known-tree-found-hidden-in-tibet/ar-AA1cS4ru?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=9ad322bc8802459bbf4263f151544e8b&ei=17

    1. The next long economic cycle with China at the top is not looking good for liberty.

    1. It’s nonsense. We simply don’t have enough soldiers to put boots on the ground. Same goes with our air force and our navy. All are pitiful remnants of what used to be and pose no threat to the Russians at all.

        1. I honestly don’t think Russia would do that. They are not interested in attacking us or escalating this war.

          1. They have previously said that undersea internet cables are legitimate targets following the sabotage of NS2.
            That will probably happen when the lizard elites decide that it’s time for the internet to go down.

      1. I think the point is that the Russians consider that we have joined the war, and therefore any attacks on the UK are now legitimate.

        1. Probably why the Ukrainians did it.
          To try to force NATO’s hand and to escalate the conflict, they have relatively little left to lose now.

    2. The storm shadow it’s nearly 25 years old. In technical terms it’s an antique. If we’ve given the Ukrainians a load of those we’re probably grateful.to get rid of inventory.

        1. The beneficiaries of war are the arms industrialists and their investors. The biggest investor in the German Arms industry prior to, and during, WW2, was Wall Street, specifically the Rotschilds.

  25. ‘Morning All
    “Inflation is caused by wage demands”
    Aye Right just like rain is caused by wet pavements
    They really do think we’re idjits

    1. The grid in Texas is likely to fail in the next few weeks. The seasonally hot dry weather places high demand for air conditioning and pumping at the very time that the wind stops blowing, rendering the over-subsidised wind turbines next to useless.

      Much the same applies to solar farms when the sun goes down, it is called night.

      The collective west is run by political midgets and technically illiterate morons. Meanwhile Russia, India and China are wetting themselves laughing at our self inflicted demise.

    1. I think it looks really pathetic, a veneer of toughness hiding absolute uselessness. A bit like the emperors new clothes.

    2. Strangely enough, law and order was available to all before wannabee Judge Dredds took over.

        1. Fish and chips under my cape. As well as the odd crafty fag!

          No ‘note pads’, only an official pocket book which is page-numbered and audited, and not for just scribbling notes in like the plastic cops on telly do. No pencils either, only black-ink ball-points permitted.

        1. I do not think you will have stopped being ‘nice’ Mrs N is never wrong .

    1. David Hemery was a pupil at my school.
      On sports day, the gun went off – David breasted the tape while the rest were barely out of the chocks.

        1. Should’ve gone to Specsavers, Eeyore.
          Unless I’ve changed my name to David.

          1. Not at all. You would eventually have reached the finishing line and, er, breasted the tape.

  26. Up in the wee small hours of the night- going back to bed for a while now. See you later.

    1. Good plan, girl, often my fall-back but I had to be awake for District Nurse this morning and a health visitor in the Morn’s morn.

      For those urging me, I’ve written the following to Halsey House in Cromer.

      Good morning,
      I’m writing as an Ex RAF airman who was taken in by RAFA when my relationship in Mid-Suffolk broke down.
      I’m Norfolk born and bred and feel like an exile here in Moffat, in The Scottish Borders.
      I’m now 79 and not in the best of health,
      My pensions (State and a small private one) give me an income of £1,190.24 and benefits are currently £567.74
      Despite being well travelled for work, I will feel a lot easier and less lonely and isolated, if I can return to my home county.
      I have copied in Colin Lee, the CEO of the local RAFA branch who is, I think, aware of my current unhappiness.
      Anything either of you can do, will be much appreciated.

      1. Well done Tom and I hope you are rewarded. I’m sure they will do their best for you.

      2. Well done Tom and I hope you are rewarded. I’m sure they will do their best for you.

  27. Phew!
    A couple of hours on the next section of the Folly, digging out the next, and for a while at least last, section of footing.
    The front shuttering is more or less levelled off, so I’m hacking out behind it before I put the rear shutting in place. About 7ish feet and 16″ wide, I want it about 6″ deep so I’ve shifted 6 buckets of soil this morning to join the 4 bucket loads I shifted last night.

    Might be a bit of a wait before I mix the concrete, I need to get the area I plan siting the mixer levelled off.

  28. Bit of a mournful time in the Bob3 household today, my old mum passed away yesterday, she had been ill for some time with various ailments and conditions, that makes me officially an orphan, I suppose.

    1. My condolences.
      As much as you will be grieving, you will, no doubt, have feelings of relief that her pain is over and she is now at peace.

    2. I hope it was peaceful at the end.

      We have one left still, a very fit and healthy 97. I pray it stays that way.
      There are three aged relatives left, at which point I become oldest living of the direct and extended family.

      1. That’s been me, Sos, since 2019 when my Brother in N Carolina passed on with multiple cancers. I’m now waiting my turn and possibly hastening it with an occasional tincture.

    3. Condolences, Bob. May she rest in peace. One never quite gets over being in the orphans club and I miss mum and dad still but every now and again they pop up in my dreams as large as life and hyper real. It’s always nice to see them.

    4. My condolences, Bob. It is never easy but the pain of loss becomes more manageable with the passing years.

    5. So sorry to read that Bob. The loss of your Mum is a very sad occasion, and I send all my best wishes and condolences to you and the family. 💐

    6. So sorry to hear this, Bob, my condolences – my mum and dad died 22 years and 55 years ago respectively, I still have moments when I long to see them again washing over me from time to time, though they are always with you in spirit (although it may not seem so at first).

    7. So sorry, Bob.
      From experience, it seems strange to be at the top of the family tree.

      1. Yes. I have no parents, uncles, aunts or first cousins. I do have some further distant cousins, and my father’s cousin in Devon is still alive at 97. My two sons have no children so it’s just us.

    8. My condolences, Bob3. Keep the memories safely banked for future reference.

    9. I’m sorry to hear that, Bob; please accept my condolences. My mum (88) died in 1998 and my dad (92) a year later.

    10. A Very sad times for you and your family Bob. Please accept my sincere condolences.

    11. Sad news Bob3, In a way I was glad when my Father died, as he was an old-fashioned disciplinarian (this was 1955 and I was just 11) but when my Mum died in 1980, it really hit me and I still miss her for the friend she became. I am now, at 79, a year older than she was.

    12. Oh dear, so sorry Bob. Alf and I lost our parents one year after another in 1987, 88, 89 and 90. I felt as though I was rootless for some while, a very odd feeling, and we were only in our early 40s.

      A very sad time for you all. Lots of happy memories though.

    13. My aunt said “You’ll always miss your mum” – she was right. Mine died in 1989. I hope your mum had a peaceful and pain-free end.

    14. I’m very sorry for your loss.
      I think that when we have a parent with us into our own ‘senior’ years, it is even harder to imagine life without them.

    1. Gas leaks aren’t uncommon, but they are usually small terraced houses in the backstreets of Plymouth or Hull where the last owner did a DIY job because calling the gas man was too expensive.

        1. Maybe. My post was a bit prescriptive, but the last part was from personal experience. Can be read in an acid tone of voice! We were very lucky to avoid an explosion.
          I can’t remember a gas explosion at a comparable building ever in my life. What next, a weed farm in the Foreign Office?

  29. Interesting Twitt thread started by Zuby, about the existence (or not) of the banker elite controlling world affairs.
    At least three people have nick-named them “Babylon” or one of its gods.
    https://twitter.com/ZubyMusic/status/1671822132680982530
    I don’t think we will be allowed to have the internet in its current form for much longer – before this free exchange of information, hardly any of us worried our heads about why international events happened, now we’ve all heard whistle blowers like the UN man that poppiesmum linked last night, or Ronald Bernard, explaining how it’s all going down.

  30. They have 33 minutes to lift that mini sub off the bottom. That doesn’t leave enough time for the ascent without serious decompression sickness.

  31. Re the “gas” explosion in yer Paris.

    Down here (Nice) there is a big row. All French state schools are aggressively laic.

    Guess what – the Slammers want their spawn to be able to their praying malarkey IN school. Authorities stand firm. Ordinary parents furious at very idea.

    I’ll bet that within a few years, the French govt will give way.

    1. If they want religious schools, make them run them themselves AND pay for them themselves

        1. Quite possibly, but my Islamophobia is not irrational; quite the opposite, I see it for what it is.

    1. Well you silly little bitch, does that give your parents carte blanche to kill you?
      If not, why not?

  32. It takes a human being to make a mistake.
    It takes a government to totally eff things up.

  33. 373654+ up ticks,

    Further to my post yesterday, every picture tells a story, the starmer is a QC, & his adviser is a raving QC without a shadow of doubt.

    What sort of peoples are supporting & voting for these political reptiles, and why would any decent person want to vote in a
    personal paedophile for each child & make paedophilia legal
    because that is the ultimate aim.

    https://twitter.com/UnityNewsNet/status/1671811894095560708?s=20

          1. I went with a friend. I had my nipples done and she had a Guiche. Don’t tell anyone.

          2. I must be getting really old but the thought of that makes me shudder….and I’ve had 2 natural births!

          3. It doesn’t hurt though you may have to take all your clothes off through airport scanners !

    1. Sigh!

      The photo was reportedly taken inside Epstein’s apartment in Paris’s Avenue Foch months after Epstein had been formally charged with soliciting a woman for prostitution in August 2006.

      Whilst police at that point had uncovered evidence he had abused underage girls, a US grand jury refused to indict Epstein on charges of sexual relations with minors.

      He eventually pleaded guilty to procuring a child for prostitution in 2008 – after he was pictured with Lord Mandelson.

      However, before the image was taken, news articles had alleged that the tycoon had engaged in sex acts with minors.

      There is no suggestion that Lord Mandelson was aware of the allegations about Epstein at the time the image was taken.

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10384407/Pictured-Lord-Mandelson-Jeffrey-Epsteins-birthday-party-Paris.html

  34. I’m here for a rant! My old man is watching First Ministers (ho ho!) questions on the dear old beeb, and I have had to leave the room. I’m not Scottish but to have to see an evil, lying Paki bastard spouting vicious and nasty bile at the Westminster lot, and hear the hatred for all white people, is something I cannot stand! What the hell is wrong with this great kingdom of ours when this revolting racist little sh*t can slime his way to the top of the greasy pole?

    1. I’m all for freedom of speech, but it should apply both ways.
      Talentless little snake!

      1. Well, really they didn’t. He was voted ‘leader’ by the ‘membership’ of the corrupt SNP after the Nikeliar got cold feet, and flounced off.

          1. The party admin. at the time, had no idea how many members they actually had!! Completely scandalous!

          2. The auditors had left, they had no idea where the money went and they didn’t know the SNP had bought a motor home.

        1. What I was trying to say is that slammer was elected to the pretendy parliament by Scottish people

          1. Wrong, Bill, he was shoe-horned in by Sturgeon’s departure, as was Sunak by Truss’ departure.

            Can’t you see where this is going, most of us can.

    2. Is he related to the other slime bag POS who is wrecking London and all of its surroundings ?

        1. Why are we putting up with all this vile lying imported scum telling us what to do ?

          1. Because most people have better things to do with their time.
            That’s how the unions developed such a stranglehold; most member did a day’s work and went home to their real life. That meant the demented fanatics could take over.

      1. I bet this will get a lot of support from people who haven’t managed to get on the housing ladder and blame everyone but themselves. To a man, they will fail to see that if the government doesn’t respect private property, they will own nothing.

    1. The twittering talks about houses priced below about 350,000 and I suppose that is Euros.

      .That would have no effect over here, the only property that you could get for that money would be a tent in some homeless ghetto.

      1. In the EU, they are steadily chipping away at property rights. From the start of 2023, it was illegal to buy or sell property for gold.
        They are replacing the ownership of assets with permissions assigned by government.

  35. Blimey it never just rains does it ?
    I’ve now got severe pains in both my feet. Especially the left foot. I’m not sure if it’s gout I’ve had gout before but more in the right foot, I can hardly walk. There might be several reasons for this, one could be from eating very sugary and delicious treacley cakes one of our daughters in law made a week ago. I’ll just have to keep guzzling water. But today I did manage to get an appointment at the surgery next week. Which is a bit of a miracle in its self.
    A bucket of ice water helps.

    1. Good for gout. Turmeic, ginger, water, cherries, oily fish.
      Avoid sugar and cut down on red meat.

      Sorry you are in pain. Quite a few Nottlers are having to deal with that.

      1. I remember that from last time Phizz.
        I’ve got ginger, water and oily fish probably turmeric as well. I’ll get some cherry 🍒 jam tomorrow.

        1. Not sure about the jam. Too much sugar. It states cherry, the more tart the better.

    2. Row back on the port, Eddy.

      It’s a useful tincture for sleep, Otherwise loads of Stilton and cheesey bikkies.

      1. I don’t drink port Tom, somebody else told to give some of my money away. My old buddy Bruce rang this morning, he’s got an almost identical problem.
        We’ve agreed it’s long term side effects of covid injections, undermining our imune systems.
        He also has a cataract in one of his eyes. And might have have to stop driving soon if they don’t fix it.

        1. Port = gout is a myth. I’ve had gout and I never touch port. I find dehydration is a trigger, though I haven’t had an attack in years.

  36. There’s a gang (certainly not a charm) of newly fledged goldfinches terrorising the other birds on the feeders.

  37. Weird.
    Just had a cocktail majoring in beetroot liqueur plus some other ingredients. Rather good, herby flavour on the soft palate, quite dry.

      1. Not yet. Working on it. Firstborn just received a chocolate sponge with cream filling tasting cocktail… Nice!

    1. I suppose you are used to higher prices for food and drink but according to ‘Which’, Rekjavik comes out worst as a tourist destination as to how far your money will stretch.

      Enjoy your alcoholic borscht !

  38. Russia ‘plotting nuclear plant terror attack’. 22 June 2023.

    Ukrainian spies believe Russia is planning a “terrorist” attack at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant involving a release of radiation, Volodymr Zelensky has said, after his intelligence chief warned Russian troops had mined the cooling systems.

    “Intelligence has received information that Russia is considering the scenario of a terrorist act at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – a terrorist act with the release of radiation,” the Ukrainian president said. “They have prepared everything for this.”

    More Ukie lies though I wouldn’t put it past them to raise a False Flag by doing it themselves!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/06/22/ukraine-russia-war-latest-news-putin-counter-offensive-nato/

    1. This sort of crap, not to put to fine a point on it, is dumb propagandist garbage. It’s pathetic. Does the West actually think that Russia wants to do things that would alienate it from the whole world? Of course not. But it does indicate that the fraud Zelenskyy is loosing his grip to propagate such inanities. Clearly his support is dwindling to be so desperate.

      1. Afternoon Johnathan. It’s pretty obvious that the Great Counter-Attack has not only failed to materialise but has almost certainly been a catastrophe. How do I know this? Because it has completely and mysteriously vanished from even the most rabid propaganda outlets!

        1. Yep, it was a fraud from the beginning. They don’t have the resources for any sort of onslaught.

    1. An extension to Television Centre built in the 90s and now demolished had disabled loos on every floor, all with a three step approach. I had a wheelchair bound colleague at the time and we checked out the whole building. Her chair was the sports type which is light and has very big wheels but I couldn’t push it up those steps. She certainly couldn’t navigate them on her own.

  39. Reykjavik midsummer 2023: a lass just came in the bar wearing a huge puffa jacket and big woolly hat with pompom!
    And it’s “warm”, too!

      1. I’m sorry, I have to ask you this; why did you go to Iceland for your summer hols???

          1. I would understand it if he lived in Marbella. But he lives in bluddy Norway!!

  40. Where have all the memes gone?
    Is it just me, or are there fewer funny memes circulating at the moment?
    I want to laugh, and not just at the latest pride folly.
    Fed up with one miserable news story after another.

    1. Afternoon BB. I often think that one of the things missing from accounts of WWII are how utterly miserable it must have been. We of course are living through something similar!

      1. True. My mother once said “after Dunkirk, we knew we were going to win.”
        I think everyone believed the propaganda far more in those days, and it was very manipulated of course.

        1. Churchill said he knew we would win after The Battle of Britain. At that point he believed it inevitable.

      2. I was only born 13 days before D-Day so didn’t do much.

        Probably poohed a lot but that’s all.

        Now I know what it must have been like – I’m looking for the escape hatch.

        Not A Bad Life by Tom Hunn available on Kindle. 5 USD

      3. I can remember late 1940s London.
        Very cold and dark: everything grey apart from the odd light relief of something brown.

    2. Don’t know about memes per se, blackbox, but I find plenty to laugh about on You Tube and other sites.

    3. The site i pinch memes from are all about the Titan Sub. It is a bad taste site but it would also be bad taste to post them here.

  41. We’re not in a tourist bar – Icelandic spoken all around… and lots of big blonde lasses, all very good-looking. Could get to like the place!
    🙂

    1. They are only speaking Icelandic because you lot walked in. Otherwise, they’d be nattering away in yer English!!

  42. Just had the confirmation letter re the CT scan next week. They have my date of birth: could you be pregnant? At age 69 I am so tempted to write yes and expecting triplets;-)

          1. They will probably find you a vet and give you first class treatment – for a price.

    1. Good luck with the scan.

      You know it isn’t the front line staff but the management creating this tick box culture. Take a can of spray paint for when you pass one of their offices and tell them what you think in big pink letters !

      1. It is but so slowly. Scan next Tues and oncologist the Tues after. Pain is so awful that I have broken into the bag of stuff from the hospital- not the morphine though.
        My husband is beside himself and it’s very tough to keep going right now.

        Have you had a chance to go to Thingvellir?

        1. Regretfully not, something for next time.
          Lit a candle for you in St Hallgrimms cathedral, with a prayer. Hope that brings some relief to your face, and to YOH.

    2. I got a stupid text twice from the surgery not so long ago regarding a vaccine (not ‘covid’ this time). I replied “Look! Stop bothering me! I don’t bother you so don’t you bother me! If I want something, I’ll ask for it!” I heard nothing more. I will never have another vaccine.

          1. I think I’ve already figured that out and why I’ve fallen in love with you.

            I know it’s unattainable but it doesn’t halt the longing.

          2. Bless you! I am so flattered! At parties in my youth, whilst everyone was busy chatting up everyone else I could be found in the kitchen being helpful or chatting up the dog – this is not a euphemism! – in a corner somewhere! I seem to be a pied piper for dogs… my uncle, who was not given to flights of fancy, he was a major in the army during WWll, said I probably have a purple aura which dogs can see and like, but humans cannot see it. And talking of dogs, we have put in an offer for https://www.bluecross.org.uk/pet/ruby-1138036. No great hopes but what will be will be. They can have as many as 500 applicants for popular dogs. I do hope your application for Cromer is successful, good old Maggie! (‘Good old’ is an esteemed and respected phrase in Yorkshire..).

          3. Go for it, Mum, Take the trouble to go down and see the pup you think you want.

            It makes a helluva a difference.

            Our Dotty was the first of the little girls who came and licked my male hand. She bonded from day one. I do miss her.

        1. I don’t trust the medics any more. On-message, they pushed the vaccine and the vilification of the nay-sayers.
          No more: I take everything they say and look for the agenda: control and elimination.
          Do you know, if you have sleep apnoeia at any level and ask for help, the first action is to remove your driving licence? If I’m that sleepy, I don’t drive, but no, you must be banned. Bastards.

      1. I just ignore their texts. Having said that – they have been good to OH – we went this morning to see the GP, only arranged yesterday, following a call from the cardiac nurse on Tuesday. She was concerned that the new meds have made him feel like a zombie, so she said she would contact the surgery on his behalf. The doc was quite positive and said his heart felt more regular and to give the pills a few weeks to work.

        1. MB is going through the same thing.
          His condition varies wildly; I cannot decide whether it’s damage from the original heart attack or the medication that is causing the mood swings.
          Very frustrating for both of us.

          1. Two weeks ago we spent most of the day at Gloucester Royal – after all the tests again we saw a cardiologist and she prescribed Amiodarone to regulate the atrial flutter. Three tablets a day as a loading dose, reducing to two then one per day. We’re now on the one per day. They made him feel really weird, killed his appetite, turned him off coffee, piano playing and generally knocked him for six.

            The cardiac nurse phoned the other day and she requested the appointment today with the GP. They do seem to be working to some extent, as his heart rate has gone down a bit and appears to be somewhat more regular. Hopefully on one a day his body will adjust to them.

      2. I’ve has an ocean of them: yellow fever, cholera, diptheria, you name it, but not Covid. It all seemed too convenient, I only once had a flu vaccine and it made me sicker than a dog, so I didn’t. Vit D tablets worked a treat, no covid, flu or colds gor 2-3 years now.

    3. You will find Ann, that things will happen very quickly now. The NHS is not to bad when it comes to cancer treatment. And you will get to meet some wonderful people.

      1. Doesn’t move so fast here Johnathan. Slower than molasses as Scarlett O’Hara said.

        1. Where are you? See my post above to Ober about how fast they dealt with me. When were you actually diagnosed so the tumors nature became a certainty?

          1. South coast- two wrong diagnoses last year. Finally confirmed as SCC last visit and it’s taken off this year. When the consultant gives you morphine…..
            All I can do is hope. And I must email my son which is going to be very tough.

          2. Oh, my God, Ann, i do so feel for you.

            I hope my prayers to the big man at night, and his Mother, might have some effect.

        1. Not kidding Ober. As soon as they had diagnosed me I was in within 10 days. Why 10 days? Because I started the whole process at a different hospital which did’t have the facilities to deal with me so there was the matter of transferring all the paperwork, lining up a bed, getting another Dr. etc. If it hadn’t been for that I would have been dealt with in a week. After that things just came one after the other, no messing about at all. I was impressed to say the least. Where it all falls down is in other departments where the delays and incompetence seems to be routine. I have nothing but praise for the Oncology department at the Royal Surrey. Great and very caring people.

          1. It can vary between wards and departments in the same hospital.
            The EAS unit was a vision of hell; once Sonny Boy and I reached the Surgical Assessment Unit – a mere couple of corridors away – it was like being on a different planet; a beautifully organised and peaceful planet.

          2. The urology dept. at the Royal Surrey is the epitome of disorganization and incompetence. Hauled me in for an operation 5 times, it was on the fifth attempt that I got it done and only because I created merry hell. I think that all these departments are autonomous with regard to organization which is OK as long as they are competent, if not they should be taken in hand because it is the patents that they are supposed to serve that end up suffering.

    4. For heavens sake don’t do that, the idiots will take it as the truth and delay any treatments for six months or so.

      You are not preggy are you?

      1. Richard- I am 69, if I was I would qualify for the Guinness Book of Records!

    5. When I went for my second AZ jab I was asked a long list of questions – including “are you or could you be pregnant?” I was 72 at the time.

      1. It’s not that they are dim, it’s like the covid messages we saw everywhere, it’s to brainwash us into the acceptance of, and to normalise, a third sexual type. It is exceedingly evil. Eventually there will be just this type (is what they are hoping) as females and males will be cancelled. A little like communist China in the days of the Great Leap Forward whose women had their hair cut short, and men and women dressed in identical, sombre clothing. They simply didn’t have the medical advances and surgical techniques, crude though they are today, or they would have used them. This is all about transhumanism and these stupid questions are all about normalising the approach to that.

        1. Or it’s just a standard form which isn’t worth the bother of subdividing into different groups.

        2. Well said, Mum. I could talk for hours on the subject and it really is so easy to differentiate between male and female.

          Why make it difficult, we’ve managed for thousands of years. how relevant is the NEW thinking?

          Totally irrelevant I think

          1. You, me and BB2.

            Strewth I could almost write a song about it all and we’d all be in harmony, I think!

    6. I’ve had the same question Ann.
      The look on their faces when I tick the yes box is a sight to behold. (Only joking but would love to do it)

    7. I’ve had the same question Ann.
      The look on their faces when I tick the yes box is a sight to behold. (Only joking but would love to do it)

    8. You joke about the pregnancy question. A friend’s daughter took a photo of her Mum strapped down ready to be scanned …. and posted it on her farcebook page. Weird. The friend (a mere youngster at 66) actually looked 9 months pregnant (not just blubber, possibly tumours).
      It goes without saying that we hope the scan will not show too much damage/spread. Good luck!

    1. If I were in the USA I would vote for Robert Kennedy, an honest man which, of course makes him a “conspiracy theorist”.

      So, I see Mehdi Hasan, the man who actually thinks that Mohammad ascended into heaven on a horse with a human head, is slithering around in America, poisoning that place now. Hope they keep him!

      1. I read that RFK thinks “climate denial” should be illegal. If true, that’s not the commitment to liberty that I’d be looking for.

          1. At this point, we would do better to talk a bit less about science and a bit more about spiritual health. All this wrestling about the ownership of science is masking (pun fully intended) the fact that science untethered from Christianity has led us down the path to fascism.

          2. I would love to meet and talk with you BB2. I think we share a lot of spiritual tenets which are worth hashing over to see where we might agree and and also disagree,

            I have to see where, when and how, I could get to Bayern Munchen in the future.

            It’ll be a helluva haul for me but in the end result, that may be worth it!

            At the moment I am trying to move from The Scottish Borders to Cromer. It may take time but I’d still like to talk with/to you.

            Any plans to be in England soon?

        1. I don’t know where you read that but he certainly doesn’t think that. He thinks that, in the main, it is a con game.

          1. I also read it somewhere, and I think it was that he supported Ukraine, I recall thinking that’s two things, then.

    1. “Assigned by God.”
      “You’re sacked!”

      “Assigned by Allah.”
      “Very good! Carry on!”

      1. Everyone we know works, or used to work, in London. All those who lived there now has moved out. The only fellow who hasn’t is trying to.

        We are all white professionals. The reasons are myriad – noise, sheer number of people but the most likely is crime, drugs, abuse, danger, schools that don’t speak English. To get away from the foreigners you have to go private.

      2. It’s more than unlikely. If it’s supposed to represent the demography of London as a whole, it’s utterly wrong. Perhaps it pertains to a small part of the city, somewhere in Tower Hamlets, for instance. If I were in a forgiving mood, I’d say it was an elementary error on someone’s part, but I’m not feeling forgiving, so I’m putting it down to deliberate mischief making.

        1. Agreed.

          Good to see you back, AND with the real Stig avatar.
          Yes, I know I’m not the one to talk about avatar changes.

          Off topic, it seems that Matt may be doing a caption competition, do you have any info?
          I’m not a subscriber to the DT.

          1. I’m no longer a subscriber, either.

            As for my avatar, I deleted my Disqus account. I now log on with my Twitter one, hence the apparent restoration of the oak tree.

    1. Seeing the population percentages, that seems like a good idea – if half of them are muslim, go for the vote.

  43. Yey! I cracked 1000 upvotes for the first time!

    ‘David Walker

    19 HRS AGO

    Many people on these threads have been saying the same thing for a long time, Allister. You say it more eloquently than most, but the fact remains that the Conservative party in its present form is not what it says on the tin.

    After 50 years of voting Conservative, I’ll be looking for another party to vote for at the next GE. And the only party coming close to reflecting my views is Reform. Probably a wasted vote, but I can’t bring myself to vote for any of the others.

    38 REPLIES. Like 1002’

    3

        1. Paul – like me and many other NoTTLers – was got at by some auto-downvoting “bot” some years ago. I had nearly 200,000 …!!

          1. I remember you being very upset about it – and at the Hatman’s suggestion that those accounts would disappear, quite a few of us made alternative ones.

      1. Did you get the cookbook, Paul?

        Sorry no recipes for killing and cooking slammers – working on it but without much hope – I wouldn’t eat it, too full of shit.

        1. Received thanks, Tom.
          On the phone at the moment, will read properly when on the PC.
          Looking forward to that.
          How much do I owe you?

          1. Have you not seen my letter, Maggie, it reads:

            to halseyhouseadmin, Colin

            Good morning,

            I’m writing as an Ex RAF airman who was taken in by RAFA when my relationship in Mid-Suffolk broke down.

            I’m Norfolk born and bred and feel like an exile here in Moffat, in The Scottish Borders.

            I’m now 79 and not in the best of health,

            My pensions (State and a small private one) give me an income of £1,190.24 and benefits are currently £567.74

            Despite being well travelled for work, I will feel a lot easier and less lonely and isolated, if I can return to my home county.

            I have copied in Colin Lee, the CEO of the local RAFA branch who is, I think, aware of my current unhappiness.

            Anything either of you can do, will be much appreciated.

            Good enough, Maggie?

      2. Did you get the cookbook, Paul?

        Sorry no recipes for killing and cooking slammers – working on it but without much hope – I wouldn’t eat it, too full of shit.

      1. Hi LotL, ditto.

        Surprisingly, in the circumstances, quite good. Mother in Law died in March, but that was a relief for all concerned, particularly her I imagine. My mother went into a very nice care home (Avery) a few weeks ago and she is loving it. My brother and partner returned from Hong Kong after 30 years and living close to my mum. We have the house on the market and moving down there to join them, so, next phase of life coming up.
        How are you and yours?

        1. Not so good. I have aggressive skin cancer on my face and surgery will mean removal of part of my lughole and cheek.
          Husband is also going through some stuff so we are coping as best we can.
          It’s nice to see you here again.

          1. Sorry to hear that, Anne. Life’s a bitch and we all deal with it as best we can. I hope thing’s turn out ok for you and husband, you deserve it.

      1. We don’t need a Cathedral, Paul.

        We pray for her in our own little ways.

        As they say up here, “Many a mickle, maks a muckle”.

        So be it.

        Are you listening, Anne – we’re ALL behind you.

        1. Oh, it is truly awful and looks ripe for easy conversion into a mosque, it has a certain Islamic appearance about it.

        2. Yep! That’s ugly! Like a public loo! St. Hallgrimms is at least light and airy!

        3. Guildford has weirs acoustics. SWMBO sung there in a choir once, and the acoustics was dead, until one note, when the whole building lit up with sound. Then the choir moved on, and it went flat and dull again.
          Edit: keyboard language changed, so pressed the wrong keys.

          1. Hi, Paul. Guildford acoustics have never particularly bothered me*. I once attended an Area Rehearsal for a forthcoming Diocesan Choirs Festival. Talking to Andrew Millington afterwards, he noted that, among the approx 300 voices, there appeared to be one opera singer. “Mea culpa”, I replied. That was our secret weapon. One of the sopranos at St Alban, Hindhead, Dr Sheila Cooper. was better known as Sheila Armstrong…

            *But I attended a couple of St Edmundsbury Diocesan Choir Festivals in the Chapel at the Royal Hospital School, Holbrook, Ipswich. Lots of concave plasterwork. The widest organ case in the UK. I had typeset the musical score for one piece, but hadn’t anticipated what would happen when the pedal part got going. It was like being under fire. At one point, I literally ducked…

        4. I understand, Jonathan. Externally, Guildford Cathedral resembles an “ecclesiastical power station”, and I don’t mean that in a good way. The imporant thing about brickwork, is that the perpends (i.e. the vertical joints) are in alignment – in alternate courses, obviously. Famously, the great and good of Surrey and beyond, were invited to ‘buy a brick’. Even the late Queen joined in. But, sadly, I have to conclude that the bricks were purchased individually, from different suppliers. I can’t look at the North or South elevations without getting seasick.

          But internally, it’s much more traditional, and not unpleasant. My main gripe is that the tactile plan of the building, for the visually impaired, is kept safely locked up in a retangular Perspex case. WTF?

          I’ve never made it to the organ loft, but I’ve sung there. Once for a Confirmation service, a couple of times for Diocesan Choir Festival, and – latterly, both choirs in our parish turned out for the funeral of a much-missed former member of Puttenham choir / server at the Cathedral / semi-retired police motorcyclist / instructor, all-round good guy and and latterly receptionist at Mount Browne HQ. The Chief Wotsit did the eulogy, and it was literally standing room only. The entire Surrey Service Force was there. I could have driven there at my theoretical maximum of 137 mph, culminating in a handbrake turn in the Cathedral car park, and got away with it…

          Our former church architect, John Deal, had a long working relationship with Peter Harknett, the nonogenarian steeplejack. John claims that he once bet Peter that he wouldn’t ride his bicycle around the parapet of the cathedral tower. And lost. And Dianne, my ex-but-still-good-friend, once abseiled from the tower for charity.

          1. Must confess I have not been in the building so have no idea of the interior. I have been as far as the car park and that put me off so much I wasn’t in the slightest bit interested in going in. I really wonder at the aesthetic sense of people who allow such building to go up.

    1. The truly impressive bit s how the cathedrals were made, and with such elegance. They really were pioneers of technology.

      I’d quite like to live in one.

      1. It is a truly beautiful building, and I don’t like much of modern architecture.

    2. Not just me Paul, there are many here who need our thoughts, prayers and support. Can’t even bloody type today;-).
      Thank you anyway.

      1. This comment sums up this community. No matter how bad we each may feel, we recognise that others may be in a worse place or state than ourselves.

    3. Are you celebrating this? Taken this from Robert Malone’s substack.

      Jónsmessa (Icelandic pronunciation: ​[ˈjounsˌmɛssa]), also known as Midsummer Night, is an Icelandic holiday celebrated on June 24. It is named after John the Baptist.

      According to Icelandic folklore, cows gain the powers of speech, seals become human, and it is healthy to roll naked in the dew-covered grass on Jónsmessa. Icelandic folklore also states that if you sit at a crossroads where all four roads lead to separate churches all night, elves will attempt to seduce you with food and gifts. (Wiki)

      1. We leave tomorrow, so no.
        🙁
        Celebrate on my terrace at home instead. Have the music, too.

  44. Counter-offensive needs more aircraft to challenge Russia in sky, admits Ukrainian foreign minister. 22 June 2023.

    Ukraine’s counter-offensive requires more aircraft, helicopters and shoulder-launched missiles to challenge Russia’s dominance in the air, Ukraine’s foreign minister has said.

    Dmytro Kuleba said “throwing Russia out of the sky” was second only to the supply of artillery ammunition in the challenges the offensive faced and called for the kit to do so.

    Yes let’s have more of that but don’t anyone mention the huge herd of Ukrainian Elephants that have just been slaughtered in the counter attack!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/06/22/counter-offensive-more-aircraft-challenge-russia/

    1. With apologies to Alfred, Lord Tennyson

      Half a league, half a league,
      Half a league onward,
      All in the valley of Death
      Rode the Uke army.
      “Forward, the army brigade!
      Charge for the guns!” he said.
      Into the valley of Death
      Rode the Uke army.

      Mines to right of them,
      Mines to left of them,
      Mines in front of them
      Volleyed and thundered;
      Stormed at with shot and shell,
      Boldly they rode and well,
      Into the jaws of Death,
      Into the mouth of hell
      Rode the Uke army.

    1. My first thought was of an unusually optimistic sentiment, that the blue Tory tube train will be leading the nation out of a black hole towards recovery. Perhaps I’m yearning so much for good economic news that I couldn’t help but put a positive spin on it.

    1. That’s just state enforced theft, undermining the very basis of market capital society.

          1. I’m not condoning it. Read it as ‘…… undermining the very basis of market capital society and natural justice.
            They’re thieving bastards.

    2. Rutte is a deeply sinister man and a dedicated disciple of Schwab at the WEF. I would have thought he has had to increase his personal and body-guard security because there must be thousands of Dutch farmers who would like to take a pot shot at him.

      The Netherland really does need to get out of the EU as soon as possible.

  45. Created by black artists selected by the king, they will be displayed for two weeks on 500 billboards and 600 shopping centre screens across the UK. Last week the 10 people featured were hosted by Charles at a Buckingham Palace reception, and given a special preview of the artworks.

    Linda Haye OBE painted by Shannon Bono
    Windrush generation celebrated in a series of 10 portraits – in pictures
    Read more
    In the foreword to the book accompanying the portraits, the king writes: “It is, I believe, crucially important that we should truly see and hear these pioneers who stepped off the Empire Windrush at Tilbury in June 1948 – only a few months before I was born – and those who followed over the decades, to recognise and celebrate the immeasurable difference that they, their children and their grandchildren have made to this country.”

    He added: “Those pioneers, who arrived in a land they had learned about from afar, left behind all that was familiar to them. Many served with distinction in the British armed forces during the second world war, just as their fathers and grandfathers had in the first world war.

    “Once in Britain, they worked hard, offering their skills to rebuild a country during peacetime and seeking opportunities to forge a better future for themselves and their families. When they arrived on our shores with little more than what they were able to carry with them, few could hardly have imagined then how they, and those that followed them, would make such a profound and permanent contribution to British life.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jun/22/king-charles-honours-immeasurable-impact-of-windrush-generation
    Charles said it was his “sincere hope” that the portraits would serve as a reminder that “our society is woven from diverse threads, each comprising stories of remarkable courage and sacrifice, determination and strength”.

    He added: “It is these stories that help light the path of progress and remind us of a fundamental truth: that though we might all be different, every individual, no matter their background, has something unique to contribute to our society in a way that strengthens us all.”

    1. This is ridiculous, and guaranteed to annoy every other ethnic group, that is 99% of the population!
      At this point, I’m starting to believe that’s the goal of the exercise.

    2. He’s right about the “immeasurable difference” – not sure about the rest. I avoid shopping centres so hopefully it will all pass me by.

    3. Typical wokey, jokey King – not my ideas at all – I wish we could have continued for many more years under his Mother.

      1. Actually what the king is saying is true. It was the children of the Windrush generation where the rot starts, not their parents. It was the same pattern in America. Black families of that period were actually more conservative than whites and divorced rarely. So had incredibly stable families. It is when LBJ and the Democrats got their claws into the black community that the rot set in.

        1. Can’t help but agree, Johnathan, though I had little to do with them when growing up and working with them in HM forces in the 1960s.

          I always remember their acceptance of our ways. On the squadron we had a couple of different skin shades and they were refereed to ( as nicknames) the darker shade as midnight and the lighter one as 23:59. All in fun and they accepted it in the spirit it was given.

          Understanding then, now long lost. It’s what has made whitey racist.

          1. Decades ago after staying with my aunt and uncle up in North Yorkshire when I was a student , friends of mine who lived in Edinburgh and Newcastle used to meet up with me on the train coming down South, after our 2 weeks leave had finished .. used to be accosted by feral blacks on the platform when we reached Kings Cross..

            They were an absolute nuisance , I mean it , and what was so frightening was they used to dance around us blocking our exit .

            The black chaps would always say “Wanna come to a party, doll, free drinks , wanna smoke.? ( meaning a spliff)

            We would tell them to bog off and complain to the Station staff who were not black thank goodness.

          2. Being male, my love, of course I never experienced anything like that, but I’m sure you knew where the well-aimed kick had to land.

        2. I wasn’t in the States at that time and paid no attention but we are now reaping the whirlwind, as sown at that time.

          To me he is no patch on his ever so sensible Mama, and the follow-on looks to continue the idiocy to the detriment of both the UK and the Monarchy.

          1. I couldn’t agree more. I recall a few years ago, before he (William) married he went off to the Department of Land Use Economy in Cambridge for a couple of months and I recall thinking that I’d lay bets that he had been sent there to be brainwashed, to have his thinking altered, to be ‘Common Purposed’. Some of these obscure Cambridge departments are no more than tiny rooms down side streets, they could get away with anything.

          2. Time for Common Purpose to be highlighted by the news, at least GB news, needs to identify the disaster of Common Purpose.

        3. Forty years ago I had many dealings with a lovely Jamaican couple who were immigrants. They were nice, kind and respectful of authority. Pity is they had three teenage sons who were lawless; thieves, flashers, and all types of offences were committed by them routinely.

          Each time I arrested one of them I had to inform their parents (since they were all juveniles) who were invariably apologetic. They were too nice (too soft) to instil discipline. I didn’t mind at all, those sons were too stupid to stop their criminality and we used them as fodder for probationary constables to cut their teeth on.

          One of them was so stupid as to climb into his attic, remove bricks from the communal wall (it was a semi) climb through and drop into the neighbours’s house to burgle it. This dim cretin did this even though he knew the neighbour had a Dobermann Pinscher waiting on the landing to bite him! One of the easiest arrests I ever made.

          The first name of the eldest, who rejoiced in flashing his dick at women, was Everard. I have not made that up!

          1. The mention of Everard in some way reminded of the TV advert for Eroxon. 🤔

          2. The mention of Everard in some way reminded of the TV advert for Eroxon. 🤔

    4. The King needs to sped a year or three living cheek by jowl with these people and their descendants. A small flat on the White City estate would do nicely.

    5. I had an email from Age UK saying it was celebrating the Windrush anniversary. I binned it. I don’t see anything to celebrate. They came here for work.

  46. We live in a great country, a country that we believe benefits from Conservative Party leadership. We want to ensure future generations can enjoy the freedoms and privileges that a Conservative government delivers. If you share this vision you may wish to consider leaving a legacy in your Will to the Conservative Foundation.

    The Conservative Party has always stood for personal liberty, democracy and the rule of law. But while we are very proud of these core values, we must be able to look confidently to the future in the knowledge that our society, our institutions and the things we stand for remain strong and secure.

    We believe it is our duty to uphold Conservative values for future generations. With your help, we aim to guarantee that our children, and their children, can live in a Britain where:

    Our individual freedoms and right to social justice are respected and upheld
    Our right to free enterprise and industry is protected and encouraged
    Our dignified institutions and traditions are safeguarded and carefully maintained

    https://www.theconservativefoundation.co.uk/what-we-value

    Fibs and more damned fibs

      1. It’s now got to the stage where where anyone with conservative principles would be a total hypocrite to vote for the Conservative Party.

    1. Mostly vacuous blather. I get more agitated by overuse of the verb ‘deliver’.

          1. Amazon are pretty good. Evri is largely dependent on the individual entrusted with the package. But around last Christmas, they had a huge backlog at the depots, and the drivers – even the good ones – came in for much abuse. My – good – local driver threw in the towel as a result.

          2. Evri one round here including us was waiting for Evri to deliver something around last Christmas time. It really trashed their reputation.

          1. He told me yesterday that he’d closed his Disqus account and wasn’t coming back. I hope he’s changed his mind.

          2. As Ndovu says, Geoff, I deleted my Disqus account. I’ve since been logging in with my Twitter account, which Disqus will have regarded as new, despite its resemblance to what went before.

    2. NOT today’s Conservative party (INO) I don’t recognise them and will NOT vote for any of this bunch of clowns.

      Not just fibs, Maggie, downright, unadulterated and mendacious lying for their own evil ends. Don’t trust a one of ’em.

      1. When the cbdcs are brought in, they may try to ban cash like small silver and gold coins. Might be relevant in that situation.
        Armenia and Austria both produce quarter ounce silver coins, for example.

  47. Sunak says he is ‘totally, 100% on it’ and, in battle against inflation, ‘we are going to get through this’. 22 June 2022.

    Rishi Sunak is speaking in Kent now at at PM Connect event.

    He starts by referring to the interest rate increase. He says he knows people will be anxious about what is happening. He goes on:

    I’m here to tell you that I am totally, 100% on it. And it is going to be OK and we are going to get through this and that is the most important thing I wanted to let you know today.

    I caught this buffoon on the 2 o’clock BBC News. That anyone with an ounce of sense would ever vote for him is beyond comprehension!

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2023/jun/22/james-cleverly-rishi-sunak-inflation-interest-rates-mortgages-covid-inquiry-uk-politics-live

    1. That’s like when your 15 year old computer game addict tells you not to worry about his exam results, he’s totally, 100% on it.

  48. Bogey Five today.

    Wordle 733 5/6
    🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
    🟨⬜🟨⬜🟨
    🟩🟨🟨⬜⬜
    🟩🟩⬜🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. I won the Grand National on Foinavon at 100/1 in 1967.

        I had visited Arkle’s stable in County Dublin; Foinavon was his stable mate . . .

        “He won the Grand National in 1967 at odds of 100/1 after the rest of the field fell, refused or were hampered or brought down in a mêlée at the 23rd fence. The fence was officially named after Foinavon in 1984.”

    1. Stupid bloody fail here.
      Wordle 733 X/6

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

        1. Yes, you have it to a bloody ‘T’. I didn’t get it wrong, I just had too many bloody choices.

    2. Me too but I made a couple of dumb mistakes.

      Wordle 733 5/6

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

  49. Thunder and a nice drop of rain here in the last half an hour. Not in this morning’s forecast but welcome all the same. I was planning to attack the bindweed with Roundup but the rain has put an end to that idea. Made a banana cake instead. Looks yummy but I’m not counting my chickens quite yet. Used remaining batter in cupcake cases so one of those will be the test model for this evening’s dessert. Later to Wivenhoe’s Black Buoy for a real ale, only one pint as I’m the chauffeur this evening.

      1. What’s wrong with calling a black painted object that’s bobbing up and down in the river what it is; a black buoy? Essex University is on the edge of the town and I’ve not heard of any nonsense coming from that direction: but you never know!

    1. Couple of friends used to live in the cottage opposite. During the ’76 summer, the wife was on night duties and was trying to sleep during the day; what with the heat and the noise from the pub, she looked an absolute wreck.

  50. I am finding the ‘facts’ surrounding the submersible and the Titanic quite unbelievable. Are we being tested to establish how much we will believe, and therefore extrapolated as to how much tptb/globalists can get away with, how far they can go? As expected there has been nothing mentioned of the cardiologists’ report on Shane Warne and the fact that the vaccine was highly likely to have been responsible for his heart attack. https://twitter.com/MakisMD/status/1671541396506042368?s=20

    1. With the richest man in Pakistan on board I thought initially a possible ransom motive was behind the disappearance of the submarine.

      We are all now conspiracy theorists, never trusting anything reported in the MSM whether on UFO’s, recovered alien spaceships being reverse engineered in Antarctica or the prospect of Ukraine defeating the Russian Bear.

      Above all I distrust the secretive UK government and its intelligence services. D Notices locking evidence away for a lifetime and more demonstrate the pure evil nature of those governing us.

      1. Exactly cori. And with that distrust a pervading sense of being nudged and manipulated. At one time years ago I would have said, ‘no, the govt would never do that….’ whatever it was, but I have learned that it will lie and lie and lie to achieve its aims and agenda – it exists for itself. And that is the basis from which I work when attempting to come to a conclusion regarding any business involving the government. It has no conscience, no shame, it lies pathologically, the end always justifies the means.

          1. We know better, now, Anne. Have we ever been at this point before in our history regarding our government? Or has it always been like this and we simply haven’t perceived it?

    2. With the richest man in Pakistan on board I thought initially a possible ransom motive was behind the disappearance of the submarine.

      We are all now conspiracy theorists, never trusting anything reported in the MSM whether on UFO’s, recovered alien spaceships being reverse engineered in Antarctica or the prospect of Ukraine defeating the Russian Bear.

      Above all I distrust the secretive UK government and its intelligence services. D Notices locking evidence away for a lifetime and more demonstrate the pure evil nature of those governing us.

    3. I – a chemist and physicist – have no problem whatsoever with the reporting and facts surrounding the submersible ‘Titan’ in the vicinity of the Titanic wreck site.

      However, I share your concern about the ‘concealment’ of the cardiologists’ report on Shane Warne and the fact probability that the vaccine was highly likely to have been responsible for his heart attack.

      1. To a lay person like myself it sounded as though the thing had been structured from spare parts and computer controls with thin perspex for for the windows, at least not sufficiently strong enough to cope with the pressure of water at 12,000 ft below.

    4. Tuned in for my daily dose of Mogg O’Clock and it looks like all we are going to get is question after question over the sinking sub

  51. Debris field is discovered in search area near the Titanic, US Coast Guard announces -as family of missing British billionaire Hamish Harding slam OceanGate over ‘frightening’ eight hour delay in raising the alarm after sub vanished

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12223805/Debris-field-discovered-search-area-near-Titanic.html

    The occupants are almost certainly dead.
    I hope for their sakes that it was a sudden and catastrophic accident and that they were hardly aware of what happened before they expired.

    1. Assuming it imploded, that would have been at the speed of sound, so nobody would have known a thing.
      If they had a leak first, that would have been frightening… then BAM. All over.

      1. For their sake, I hope so.
        As I noted yesterday, the only upside is that their killer was also killed.

  52. Afternoon, all. Just popping in briefly before I go to see Carmen this evening. Endless state meddling has been the cause of most, if not all, of our ills for decades.

      1. I doubt she could thanks to the footlights, but she was a lovely woman (and a good singer). Very sultry!

    1. It’s sad. Hopefully people might take this moment to reflect on media circuses, respect, tradition, trusting experienced engineers even though they are 50-something white men and leaving the dead in peace.

      RIP

    1. I think several watermen and cyclists would argue that Mo Farah isn’t our greatest Olympian, even “merely” by gold medals let alone total medals, where he isn’t even in the top 10.
      Still, Khan’s a liar, it comes with being what he is.

    2. Dear God, where do we start in picking this apart? The implication throughout is that the countries of Europe are acting illegally by not allowing in anyone and everyone; that they should pay no regard to the fortunes of their own people but simply act as sanctuaries for anyone who wishes to come here, whatever the economic or social consequences; that all who seek to come here are not mere chancers but people of good character who are fleeing wars and that they must be believed without question; that entering someone else’s property is a human right; that no one in possession of any property may defend it or have any say in its defence; and that anyone who disagrees with any of the above is prejudiced and must be silenced, abused and humiliated.

      And when Michael Marks came here in the 1880s, immigrants were not piling in at the rate of half a million a year.

      I hope this truly offensive lecture by Khan will see him finally exposed for what he is but it probably won’t. The BBC will run a whole programme on it, using Marianna Spring to explain how the lazy British were sat on their arses while the Irish dug the canals and then built the railways…

    3. The country’s going to the dogs, and the cities are leading the way. I believe it’s too late to stop the descent into the chasm (to be polite).

    4. London was built by Romans, who were invaders. Then destroyed by an Icenii (Saxon) queen and built again repeatedly by Britons.

      You, Khan, are sewage we flushed away. What the scum needs is kicking repeatedly in the face and made to apologise before finishing him off, then throwing the remains off the Shard as a reminder to the rest of them of their place.

    5. My twitter response and their attempt to close it down:

      You stupid boy, Why don’t the ‘refugees’ stay home and improve their OWN country instead of sucking on the teat of British taxpayers and the hated colonialists? Twitter is obviously afraid of the TRUTH

    1. I know a very wealthy Arab fellow. He once parked his very flashy sports car in the middle of the road ain London nd jauntily went off for a meal.

      He came back to a parking ticket which he posted off to hist lawyer person who got him immunity and away with it.

      For some, the law just doesn’t apply.

      1. Before towing away, wealthy people in London used to just park wherever they wanted, and view the tickets as a parking fee.

  53. No swim – but an agreeable walk among the gorgeous turn of the century (19th/20th) villas in Cap d’Ail. Now a glass of medicine.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

    1. I think the cable cutting abilities refer to towing or mooring type cables, made from strands of braided wire.

    1. Sorry Korky, but for Vance to be impressed by that silly bitch being rude is hardly a good look.
      The bit about shedding blood to break free from King George was a disgraceful comment.

        1. Have to agree, Ann. Have followed her ‘rise’ in the political arena and have come to the conclusion that she is no better than Marjorie from Georgia!

  54. It appears the Titanic sub has had a “catastrophic failure” as debris has been found.

      1. For whom, ppm?

        The findings are consistent with the enormously inherent risks of this extraordinary – and unnecessary – ‘visitor craft’.

        1. So convenient for our govt (and no doubt the US and other western govts) to use as a cover for the reports from S. Australia. How do we really know all this as happened in the north Atlantic? It is all based on trust that they will tell us the truth. A few interviews with various people, a woman who was a partner/girl friend/friend actually laughing through the interview as though it was an enormous joke, about how they would be coping – you may not have noticed but every single time there is about to be a break-through regarding the effects of a certain toxic injection there is a diversionary tactic elsewhere in the world.

  55. I have been in bad shape today so my wonderful husband ordered Chinese take out. I have eaten some and it went down quite well.
    Now taking pills from hospital but when the Pinot doesn’t go down well…..

    1. You’re fortunate to have found him.
      as he is you
      I guess you allowed him to extract the sword, to protect you.
      KBO

      1. Sos, tell me about it. Odd thing is that we both worked in Peckham at the same time. Never met. As he often says- what a waste.

          1. Don’t …. I played some Joni Mitchell yesterday from her 1968 Album – 55 years ago!!

    1. And the man who rescued the duckling is on the Comment section! Nice chap!

  56. 373654+ up ticks,

    Sunak’s catastrophic plan has opened the way for a new populist party
    High inflation, record debt and broken promises have left millions of voters politically homeless

    Many of us went to a EGM meeting in the ICC Birmingham and voted OUT henry bolten? voted in Gerard Batten, in short he asked the members for£100000 as the UKIP party was in dire straights financially he received £300000 in reply putting the party in the black he added something like 17 thousand new members with others joining daily, We as a party in construct were a success.

    One year leadership over he, as he said he would, applied tu stand again only to be told by the party nec he was not of good standing within the party /the nec was also backed by as it turned out later the grand old duke farage..

    Memship ballot when Batten was out put Richard Braine as a clear winner for the leadership , he wanted Batten as deputy, not acceptable to the party nec, (this nec is still in power)

    The rest is recorded treacherous history, in 2019 the grand old duke farage went hill climbing and in true tory (ino) fashion
    stood his brexit party candidates down, for his love of johnsoa.
    Sunak’s catastrophic plan has opened the way for a new populist party

    Sunak’s catastrophic plan has opened the way for a new populist party
    High inflation, record debt and broken promises have left millions of voters politically homeless

    Was tried with Batten successfully, only to be knocked back by
    the tories, the ukip party nec, farage, and a supporting cast of lab/lib/con party before country crapheads.

      1. Pupulist is what the state calls ‘If not rubbished in the press would be democratically elected and must therefore be stopped.’

  57. Don’t know if it’s affecting anyone else, but notifications of new posts appears to have crashed.

  58. There has been doubt expressed today (DT front page and elsewhere) whether the BoE is really capable of controlling inflation by raising interest rates. A commenter on BBC today even said it was the UK Government’s responsibility to get inflation under control.
    It has already been mooted that the BoE’s economic model is flawed and that is why its attempts at contolling inflation is not working.

    Could it be that economic interactions are so complex that AI could be used with a natural language interface to set fiscal controls to achieve an intended outcome.

    Here is an example where a AI geek lets his computer AI implementation take control of his smart home leaving it to completely take domestic decisions according to his own entered natural language intentions.

    What happened next were completely inexplicable events and he had to shut it down:

    https://youtu.be/4ZxUsLnDjTA

    1. No, because the UK’s tax system is so complex and badly written that there are too many contradictory or ill defined parameters. Think of the Jaffa Cake case.

      1. The video in the link I posted illustrates the uncertainty of outcomes that can arise by the use of. AI as a substitute for human intelligence in the control of complex systems.

        The case you refer to underlines fallacy of controlling a system with either humans or AI that has insufficently defined entities which leads to confusion through malinterpretation of semantics.

    1. I don’t understand what the caption has to do with the Ofsted boss’s comment. There is a reasonable debate to be had about when to begin restricting subject choices ahead of choosing GCSE examination subjects.

        1. I’m fine, thanks, Tom. Certainly in better physical shape and personal circumstances than several of the less fortunate contributors to this forum. It’s the direction of opinions and comments here which I increasingly struggle to accept. I keep my thoughts to myself all too often so as to avoid making it an uncongenial place but were I a newcomer, I don’t think I’d hang around for very long.

          1. I try to be dispassionate but sometimes news and the actions or reactions drive me to unfortunate distractions.

      1. My suspicion is that this has more to do with sex-change decisions at 13 than GCSEs

      2. If one were to replace ‘the cause of stupidity’ with ‘the reason for so much ignorance’, the sentence might start to make sense.

  59. The submersible has finally been declared buggered up. 5 people dead, shame for them and their families. A lesson in not paying to go on stupid untested extreme ventures. MSM? They love it.

    1. Would be better or the designer to survive and withstand the public humiliation of being a dumbass with shit for brains.

        1. Ha, the MSM will be all over it, as diversionary tactics for the next big scandal.

          1. Prolly so. But please be aware that your call to euthanise the nearest RoPer has been moderated out of existence. I’m uneasy about the “Great Replacement”, if it exists. But this site is mainly a bunch of wrinklies, having a moan. The are certain things one cannot say in public, these days. I’m not unsympathetic, I’m broad-minded, but there are limits.

          2. Already understood, Geoff and my apologies. I was just very heated at the moment

    2. Well at least we now know, very sad for those involved but most of us worked out that it was a fatal something or other right at the start. Trying to keep the hope up when the obvious cause is staring in your face didn’t help one bit. When Challenger exploded, after a similar episode of design faults ignored by those in charge, it was obvious to all. These people will never learn.

    1. Don’t watch it if you want a good night’s sleep!

      To have Campbell on there lecturing us on the morality of truth does grate a little…

    1. My fav nightcap is a brandy & water; I sleep soundly for four hours, Lotty; have one on me!

  60. Bugger.
    Flight home cancelled without explanation. Alternative means an hour earlier departure& two hours later arrival, with a change.
    Bugger SAS.

      1. Yes, it is. 10C or less, too. Midsummer, and folk wear puffer jackets and woolly benny hats – pompom optional.

        1. We could do with some more of that. No rain yesterday just spent an hour watering pots and borders after 24oC temps – currently 26oC in my study….

        2. Look on the bright side, it won’t get dark and you’ll be able to see the rain all night long.

    1. Never really cared for, or used, SAS. Flew Norwegian or easyjet.

      Sorry to hear of the ruination of what seemed an idyllic holiday.

    2. I would be delighted if my outward flight was cancelled without explanation, Oberst; I am not an Icelandfan.

      1. Been here a few days now – got to really like the place, apart from the weather.

    3. Could be worse:
      an hour earlier departure & two hours later arrival, with a change charge.

  61. – I see the Rees Mogg show ended with a prayer for the lost submariners, you don’t get that on the BBC

    1. Didn’t radio 4 have a slot Fault for the Day? – I haven’t listened to it for over a decade….

        1. I do wish our supine government would tell the BBC’s management – you’ve got 18 months license fee support to take the organisation Private. However, if any part of the organisation criticises our executive decision on air for every instance of criticism you will loose one month’s financial support – so go to it!

        2. I do wish our supine government would tell the BBC’s management – you’ve got 18 months license fee support to take the organisation Private. However, if any part of the organisation criticises our executive decision on air for every instance of criticism you will loose one month’s financial support – so go to it!

        3. There seemed to have been a whole concentrated mass of diversity on TV today.
          From what I understand is only 3% of our population.

    2. I saw that as well, and I was extremely touched that his priest did .

      It gave gravitas to everything , including St Thomas More’s feast day which is today, June 22nd and he is the patron saint of adopted children, lawyers, civil servants, politicians and difficult marriages.

          1. Present company excepted – I mean the Whitehall ones that run the country

      1. Yes, Mogg’s show is very informative and he is very knowledgeable on all the issues of the day, you don’t get that on the BBC either

        1. Just tried it out – it’s correct , I doubted the key but that’s correct too

  62. That’s me done for today, my good lady went to our pharmacy to collect a repeat prescription for me, it was put through the letter box of our GP practice on Friday last week. They didn’t have any trace of it. I rang the very helpful GP receptionist, she asked me to hang on while she checked.
    She told me that the order had been sent to Holt. Where I was in Norfolk when I had an upper respiratory infection the week before.
    But soon remedied the mistake. Now available closer to home.
    You see they are human after all 😉🤗😊
    Goodnight all.

    1. Oh, my God and I’m trying To move to N Norfolk as a V old resident.

      “Ha yur father gota dicka bor?

      Can you answer this?

      1. Can’t help you on that Tom, but I can recommend Holt to you, it’s a lovely town.

        1. My great aunt lived just down the road in Aylmerton, Eddy but, alas, she’s long gone.

  63. This week’s Countryfile on water supplies: “In the next 20 years, the UK’s population is expected to hit 70 million…parts of the SE could run out of water.”

    And then: “Climate change means wetter winters but drier summers. With less water topping up chalk aquifers…”

    More rainfall means less water. You heard it on the BBC.

    1. Just on the off chance this past week I have been next to at least one known chalk stream in Hertfordshire.
      The Ver in St Albans and the Colne.
      Both not as I remember them and needing more than a top up.
      Also the Lea is close to where we live, looking a bit sleepy these days.
      Obviously we are going to need new water storage facilities. Someone in Whitehall needs to tell the Brussels mafia that we are going to do this despite their insistence that we can’t.
      Same old story unfortunately, everything politicians come into contact with………

    2. Are the 10 billion they don’t mention going to get in dinghies and return to France? The population is closer to 80 billion.

  64. Good night, chums. Sleep well and see you all tomorrow. (PS for Anne Allan: I shall send you an email tomorrow with my contact details.)

      1. Happy birthday Paul and we hope you have a spiffingly good day albeit travelling.

        1. Thanks, Alf.
          Had a good (free) tasting of Icelandic whisky in duty-free… 😁😁

  65. Robert Kennedy Junior specifically mentions Boris Johnson’s role as an emissary for Biden in telling Zelensky to decline a peace offer and agreement from Russia.

    That gross bastard Johnson has a great deal to answer to, as do his spineless hack successors. They have blood on their hands.

      1. I don’t use the link. I find it easy to scroll right to the top of the page and click on NOT THE TELEGRAPH LETTERS.

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