Tuesday 4 July: The growing appetite for a bank that doesn’t have political opinions

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

456 thoughts on “Tuesday 4 July: The growing appetite for a bank that doesn’t have political opinions”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    Morning Finds

    Morris wakes up in the morning. He has a massive hangover and can’t remember anything he did last night. He picks up his bathrobe from the floor and puts it on. He notices there’s something in one of the pockets and it turns out to be a bra.

    He thinks “bloody hell what happened last night?”

    He walks towards the bathroom and finds knickers in the other pocket of his robe. Again, he thinks “What the fuck happened last night, what have I done? Must have been one WILD party.”

    He opens the bathroom door, walks in and has a look in the mirror. He notices a little string hanging out of his mouth and his only thought is

    “Please, if there is a God, please let this be a teabag.”

      1. It’s July 4th today.
        US Independence Day.
        Father’s birthday – he would be 97 were he still alive. Happy Birthday, Pa.

    3. I’ve had an entirely similar morning, with the addition of rain arrived, golf postponed for another day.

  4. The growing appetite for a bank that doesn’t have political opinions

    The banking crash of 2008 is looking more and more as if it was all planned by the forces of globalism

    1. That would apply malice to stupidity. Brown was told, repeatedly by many people: stop fiddling with the banking code. Stop encouraging over lending. Stop letting banks put current account assets into investment banking.

      He was warned over and over again but because he was spending the taxes those policies raised faster than the money was coming in, he kept fiddling. Then the banks broke, Brown blamed them and forced us to pay for his mistakes.

      1. Under New Labour there was a time when three Great Offices of State* were held by Messrs Blair, Brown and Blunkett, a total of three eyes.

        (* ie PM, Home Office and Chancellor of The Exchequer.)

    2. Recently we saw a political commentator who complains that when the then President Trump tweeted a reply to her tweet

      Paypal promptly closed her account.

      Whilst businesses and private people always have the final decision who they do business with, we find it interesting

      that someone promptly tipped off Paypal….. and that Paypal acted on the tipoff.

      Be careful, it is not only the banks reading your tweets!!

  5. Since I’ve not slept, I’d better be sensible and catch up on some zeds.

    1. Good morning, LotL, I do hope the night passed comfortably for you. Thinking of you today.

  8. 374154 + up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Dt,

    Ministers were warned that suicide would kill more children than Covid

    Reality,

    Ministers were warned that suicide would kill more children than Covid, in truth youngster suicide can also be taken in many respects as an odious extension of covid carrying on into the future.

    A future fraught with danger from the cradle onwards, the aim of the governing political overseers and seemingly the supporting
    majority voter is at every birth a midwife ( currently a midit) and a member of PIE to photograph the new arrival for future reference, check if collective heads can be withdrawn from collective arses
    how many children go missing worldwide each year, and do not think we are above that because in fact we are in as deep as the worst.

    In short you CANNOT, in any shape or form continue to support
    these political importers of paedophilia plus and protect children

    A lab/lib/con coalition vote is at best a child abuser.

    Government missed nine opportunities to avert damage caused by school closures during the pandemic

    Surely in keeping with the WEF / NWO agenda.

  9. 374154 + up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Dt,

    Ministers were warned that suicide would kill more children than Covid

    Reality,

    Ministers were warned that suicide would kill more children than Covid, in truth youngster suicide can also be taken in many respects as an odious extension of covid carrying on into the future.

    A future fraught with danger from the cradle onwards, the aim of the governing political overseers and seemingly the supporting
    majority voter is at every birth a midwife ( currently a midit) and a member of PIE to photograph the new arrival for future reference, check if collective heads can be withdrawn from collective arses
    how many children go missing worldwide each year, and do not think we are above that because in fact we are in as deep as the worst.

    In short you CANNOT, in any shape or form continue to support
    these political importers of paedophilia plus and protect children

    A lab/lib/con coalition vote is at best a child abuser.

    Government missed nine opportunities to avert damage caused by school closures during the pandemic

    Surely in keeping with the WEF / NWO agenda.

  10. Very quiet out there. Even Ukraine has dropped out of contention. Most probably because the penny has finally dropped and the PTB have throttled back on the propaganda.

  11. Good morning all.
    A bright clear sky this morning with a rather chilly 7°C on the yard thermometer.
    And I see ERNIE has given me £300 this month!

    2. Lucky you Bob! It looks a bit damp out there this morning. Grey and overcast.

        1. Morning, Ann.
          Will be thinking about you today.
          Sorry I can’t do anything more useful.

  12. Good morning, all. I wonder if Sleepy Joe realises that it is Independence Day….

      1. As he was lead into his current position, he probably doesn’t have a clue why he’s being given to much publicity and even who he actually is.

    2. The only independence day the Dopey Wokies in the US will enjoy, is when he’s gone for good.

  13. Good morning all,

    Dull over McPhee Towers this morning. Expecting heavy rain to start soon, perhaps some thunder. Wind Sou’-West, 12℃ going to 14℃ at the most today.

    Happy 4th July to the cousins. Wish we could be independent of Westminster too.

    Did I say 4th July? I put a duvet back on the bed last night. Where’s muh climate change?

    You really have to laugh at the haplessness of Scooter Useless up at Holyrood. The story of the Orkneys and Shetlands Councils thinking of quitting Scotland and the UK to return to Norway or Denmark reveals the truth.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/03/orkney-has-exposed-the-lie-at-the-heart-of-snp-scotland/

    I have been saying and writing this for some time. If ‘Scotland’, in reality the SNP, can break up the UK then why cannot the UK break up Scotland? Scotland does not have a God-given right to its territorial integrity. If the Orkneys and Shetlands go in the event of Scottish secession would not the Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, perhaps even Edinburgh and Fife and the North-East, where the fishing communities and oil and gas interests are being badly served, vote to stay with England, Wales and NI? Could we see the rebirth in some local government form of ancient kingdoms such as Northumbria, Deira, Bernicia, Strath-Clota and Rheged?

    The SNP really should have been much more careful about what they wished for.

    1. I did something similar last night! I was even contemplating putting the heating back on.

        1. I once had an argument amiable discussion with a New York Jewish businessman about who should lead the Conservative Party. When he told me he favoured Ken Clarke, he couldn’t accept that Clarke was a closet socialist in Tory clothing.

          1. Ken Clarke gets one bronze star for rescuing the UK economy from Lawson’s German experiment. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to save us from Mr Underpant’s otherwise disastrous premiership.

      2. How much longer might she have remained in office had she not been ousted in 1990? Maybe only as far as the 1992 General Election. Actually, that might have been for the better in the long run. Yes, there may have been a Kinnock-led Labour government during the mid ’90s, but it would probably have spared us the Blair years.

  15. Morning all 🙂😊
    Grey start again, birds have lost their Morning joy and the chorus is now very short.
    Grab an umbrella, rain later this morning, possibly all afternoon. Re-Green day.
    And that little shite Kahnt is now attempting to bring his dictator style U lose scheme into the home counties, by attempting to include the whole of the M25 boundary.
    FFS get rid of him who does he think he is ?

    1. Typical politician; while the voters are up in arms regarding ULEZ, Sad Dick doesn’t have to confront his abject failure in TfL, Met Plod, increasing numbers in stabbings and murders. He can’t start a ‘war’ in a foreign field but he can dodge with the best of them.

      1. I thought he was starting a war in what has become a foreign field (London is no longer English) – a war on the motorist.

    2. I’d like to know how his jurisdiction extends beyond the boundary of Greater London. Most of the M25 lies outside it. Is he suggesting that Greater London be expanded to encompass the entire motorway?

  16. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9b161472b5dcb7a2f10ffefd790fa42c4d773bd9f9b63ec2b3381e3154bb75bc.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/03/mass-migration-killing-the-tories-theyre-powerless-stop-it/

    The Conservative Party is now both spineless and rotten to the core. Why have the likes of Jacob Rees-Mogg, who might have been thought to hold traditional conservative views, practised ignoble sloth, become like rabbits caught in the blaze of headlights, and incapable of moving out of the stinking cess pit to join or found something more wholesome?

    The tragedy is that their lack of conviction, resolve and fighting, rebellious spirit has left the woke left, full of its passionate intensity, entirely unimpeded to wipe out the Conservative Party.

    BTL : Carpe Jugulum

    I have been a rock solid Conservative voter for the past 40+ years. I have not changed significantly in outlook or beliefs in that time yet now utterly despise the Conservative Party to the extent I would prefer their electoral annihilation to their continuance.
    The reality is that they have betrayed every single tenet of Conservatism. They are not the Conservative Party of Thatcher, they are the Conservative Party of Hancock. Self-absorbed trash of little ability and no sense whatsoever of Britishness.
    There is one very simple fact in play introduced by one simple question – Name one single policy introduced by the Conservative governments of the last thirteen years that has improved the lot of British working families. That is what people will remember on polling day. There isn’t one.

    1. The headline is misleading. There is plenty that could have been done to stop it, but the Tories have chosen to do nothing.

      Carpe Jugulum is right, however he missed the other half of the problem. The Tories have made almost everything demonstrably worse.

      1. It is impossible for government and the public sector to improve anything. Like firemen attending a fire or car crash, the only positive outcome is to prevent deterioration.

    2. If i had a tenner for each time I’ve been told that our political classes are not idiots or stupid I’d be pretty wealthy.
      They have jointly and deliberately wrecked our country.
      How can they be allowed to get away with this. Sack the lot of them and make them reapply for their jobs with a signed provisio and certain conditions they will never be allowed to brake.
      The problem we have is our judiciary are just as bad.

      1. Sunak’s strategy is based on the fallacious theory that abject surrender is the best form of attack!

        1. Are you suggesting he doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing ?
          I whole heartedly agree.

          1. We’re suggesting that he certainly does know what he’s doing.

            Pity that his actions, and inactions, are not for the benefit of Britain and the British.

          2. Which is why ‘they’ have installed a foreigner of sub-continent heritage.

          3. I’m not sure that being a foreigner is important.

            When you look at how Cameron and May betrayed the country, place of birth appears irrelevant.

            What is important is that the person installed does what “they” want.

          4. But they all eff up everything single thing they come into contact with. Surely it’s a lesson to be learned.

    3. The Conservatives haven’t just evolved slowly over time into the political wreck they have become. The party has been hijacked by the globalist cabal/WEF/Bilderbergers et al. to become a group designed to wreck the nation. Two of the main wrecking tools are mass immigration and the various nonsenses that comprise the ‘Woke’ agenda. If the supposed heavyweights e.g. Rees-Mogg and Redwood do nothing, what can be expected of the mere voting fodder?
      .
      It’s of no value to look at the Labour Party as a route out of the chaos that the conservatives have created: Starmer has been tarred by the same brush and his comment re Davos should have damned him from ever being elected PM.

    4. Could have written that myself. Its refusal to rebalance the tax and benefit system to promote traditional family life is a big one for me.

  17. Has Netherland’s WEF subject, Prime Minister Rutte, overplayed his hand or does he have a draconian solution to play? The EU lackeys are backing his dangerous nonsense and they will not want to be seen backing off. If that precedent is set then others may take up the gauntlet of rebelling against their ‘masters’. All strength to the farmers and their defence of freedom over globalist tyranny.

    https://twitter.com/BernieSpofforth/status/1675827693663793152

    1. Can someone tell me what the FOXTROT the problem with nitrogen is????

      2. I believe the claim being made is regarding nitrate run-off into water from farming activity. The Dutch farmers claim that they have met all the requirements asked of them but the PTB aren’t satisfied.
        Basically, it’s an attack on food production. Anyone who gardens knows that nitrogen is very important for the growth of plants. Phosphates next on the agenda?
        The globalists ‘running’ the show are misanthropes: they hate us.

      3. Nitroglycerine, TNT, RDX, PETN?

        Allowing the enslaved masses to have access to nitrogen is just asking for trouble.

        1. Nitrogen is used in the process of the manufacture of fertiliser. And allowing the enslaved masses to have access to plentiful food and choice is asking for trouble in their enslaved condition. Well-fed slaves get uppity.

          1. I should have thought that starving slaves wouldn’t be too happy with their lot, either.

          2. Except they wouldn’t have the energy and strength, suffering from scurvy, T.B. and the like!😉

        1. I said something similar to my neighbour the other day – “if they could find a way of fining you for breathing, they would”.

      5. Problems with excess levels of nitrogen in the environment

        Excess nitrogen can harm water bodies

        Excess nitrogen can cause overstimulation of growth of aquatic plants and algae. Excessive growth of these organisms, in turn, can clog water intakes, use up dissolved oxygen as they decompose, and block light to deeper waters. Lake and reservoir eutrophication can occur, which produces unsightly scums of algae on the water surface, can occasionally result in fish kills, and can even “kill” a lake by depriving it of oxygen. The respiration efficiency of fish and aquatic invertebrates can occur, leading to a decrease in animal and plant diversity, and affects our use of the water for fishing, swimming, and boating.

        Excess nitrogen in water can harm people

        Too much nitrogen, as nitrate, in drinking water can be harmful to young infants or young livestock. Excessive nitrate can result in restriction of oxygen transport in the bloodstream. Infants under the age of 4 months lack the enzyme necessary to correct this condition (“blue baby syndrome”).

        https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/nitrogen-and-water#:~:text=Excess%20nitrogen%20can%20cause%20overstimulation,block%20light%20to%20deeper%20waters.

        While I accept the above, why can’t excess nitrogen/nitrate be removed from drinking water during filtration and purification?

        1. I misread the headline to read “ Problems with excess levels of migrants in the environment”

      6. They’ll soon be complaining that there is too much nitrogen in the air (78·084%) and steps “must be taken” to remove it!

  18. OT – in today’s Times crossword, 13 across is both an amusing (and very simple) cryptic clue, but also a statement of fact!!!

    “Rubbish articles in Telegraph and Times primarily (3)”

      1. I got it straight away but that’s easy for me to say two hours after the event and with your reply immediately below. I did, though, get the answer before seeing yours. Scouts honour!

          1. There was a young girl who begat
            Three triplets called Mat, Pat and Tat,
            When she offered her breast
            She was rather distressed
            To find she had no tit for Tat.

    2. That’s an incredibly easy clue for the Times, normally I get nowhere with them (but do the Telegraph ones every day over a cuppa).

    3. Oddly enough, that answer was required for a Caravan and Motorhome crossword in their latest magazine.

      1. It has appeared quite a bit recently (in the last 2 months) in The Times, S Times and Telegraph.

  19. ‘Morning All

    Medley

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0df7ce96c9c7ac98e68f462499ea346c536615c8cf6ba1034460f7f7ad41594d.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0f7c4f8e52e6e90580ed3121deed2f3a5ea824afd70109006c22fbf6a128e22b.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4e300c4274d0468ab0a73cc1de22800bcd0f504dff83ec0042c5136fe16095aa.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6d88a20e6ea0bbaaabbc1d0bce635e26209bf706f89b6a3687cc3567ef6e0455.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/92ebe68de1472602c9b0e48db2a31886d215719ceeb88debb93ee33a5c42f12e.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bb23924924e61b6a18e79779681d4a2f7f3980bbf4b5839016ce33002b9ca8ca.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/81f26a32d1fd1f350f0c2c526fafe37bb417cf7ee1c48ab06f31d69e104c1b45.png

    1. Item 2: the West has spent squillions on the Third World, resulting in a vast expansion in their number.

      1. Never mind feeding children in poorer countries, they cannot even feed children at home.

  20. The Electric Car Revolution is a Disaster

    Did anyone read this item in the Torygraff? I’ve attached a link with the 12ft.io prefix to get you through the paywall.

    https://12ft.io/proxy?&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fbusiness%2F2023%2F07%2F01%2Fpoliticians-forcing-electric-cars-public-doesnt-want-them

    Car manufacturers are laying off staff and don’t know what to do for the best. Despite vowing I would NEVER buy another NEW car, in April I bought a brand new Audi, petrol, manual vehicle, despite cries from those who said I should have gone electric. My new vehicle fills up in fewer than 5 minutes (including paying) and has an indicated range of 425 miles, a much quicker fill and more range than any EV I can find.

    I wonder if BMW’s latest efforts at Hydrogen-powered cars will bear fruit? Here’s a link:

    https://12ft.io/proxy?ref=&q=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/07/04/bmw-hydrogen-cars-net-zero-race-elon-musk-tesla-evs/

    2. And after reading the above Telegraph article, a comment by a retired Cabinet Secretary:
      .

      No one could claim, whatever their party political position, that government decisions in the last 30 years have been of a high standard…

      Britain now stands out amongst comparable European countries, and perhaps among liberal democracies as a whole, as a state

      unusually prone to making large-scale, avoidable policy mistakes.

      Sir Brian Cubbon

    3. Only 425 miles indicated on a fill up? What sort of driving do you do? My Merc 2-litre petrol is usually good for 600+ and my previous BMW 2-litre diesel would go 740-ish on a fill.

      1. Depends on the size of the tank. My 206 diesel (2007) holds about 45ltrs and will do about 500 miles on a tankful.

      3. I used to be able to get to Newmarket and back (from North Shropshire) on 3/4 of a tank of petrol in the motorhome. That’s 320 miles or so. Mind you, the motorhome is no lightweight.

      1. That’s because, as I mentioned in my post above, I appended (or prepended) the command 12ft.io/ to the telegraph.co.uk web address. It works every time to by-pass the paywall. Surprised you hadn’t come across the ruse before.

        so: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/07/04/bmw-hydrogen-cars-net-zero-race-elon-musk-tesla-evs/

        becomes: https://12ft.io/proxy?ref=&q=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/07/04/bmw-hydrogen-cars-net-zero-race-elon-musk-tesla-evs/

        1. You misunderstood me. I have been using the 12ft ladder for some time. However, the last week or so, I have been able to go straight to the DT without using it, as the paywall has disappeared.

          1. What is it with you people and ladders? I get vertigo climbing the stairs:-)

          2. What is it with you people and ladders? I get vertigo climbing the stairs:-)

    5. I would have bought a hybrid last year but we were looking at an eighteen month wait before delivery. Oh, your deposit does not guarantee the price.

      We now have two petrol powered cars and I haven’t even tried the economy mode on my mini.

    6. An electric car would be completely impractical for us. We regularly used to drive from Dinan to Bury St Edmonds via Dover from Calais. We left home at 0800 and reached our destination in time for afternoon tea with our cousins in Bury having had a picnic lunch on the ferry.

        1. Some good songs in this show but Happy Talk must have been the worst thing that Rogers and Hammerstein ever wrote.

    4. “… under Democratic District Attorney Larry Krasner, a self-described ‘progressive prosecutor.’ Say no more!

      Edit – Bad news – The Democrat scored a major win in recent weeks after the Commonwealth Court, in a split decision, ruled the articles of impeachment against Krasner, which took issue with his policy and decision not to prosecute some minor crimes, failed to meet the required legal standard of “misbehavior in office.”15 Feb 2023

    5. The only one I helped celebrate was in 1976 in Geneva, the bi-centennial. The whole US community of expats set up stalls and music by the lakeside not far from the Jet D’Eau. Free beer and Yankee food. Must have been a weekend day as I wasn’t at work. Beautiful weather and fireworks.

      2. 4 July 1976 was a Sunday. Google is useless if you want to know why weather records are being falsified or when Lenin created Ukraine but for trivial stuff like what day of the week was…

        1. These are the Met Office temperature records in June for each of the home nations. As far as I know, June 2023 hasn’t broken any of them. For this year to have set a new average record, even if no extreme records have been broken, warm weather would need to have persisted for long spells over large parts of the country. The trouble with averages is that you have to take frequent readings throughout each day from numerous weather stations and I don’t have access to that.

          Highest daily maximum temperature records

          England:

          35.6 29 June 1957^ Camden Square (London)
          35.6 28 June 1976 Southampton Mayflower Park

          Wales:

          33.7 18 June 2000 Machynlleth (Powys)

          Scotland:

          32.2 18 June 1893 Ochtertyre (Perth and Kinross)

          Northern Ireland:

          30.8 30 June 1976 Knockarevan (County Fermanagh)

          Highest daily minimum temperature records

          England:

          22.7 28 June 1976^ Ventnor Park (Isle of Wight)

          Wales:

          19.9 30 June 1976 Swansea, Victoria Park (West Glamorgan)

          Scotland:

          19.3 11 June 2006 Achnagart (Ross & Cromarty)

          Northern Ireland:

          17.5 18 June 2005 Annaghmore (County Armagh)

          https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-climate-extremes

          My nearest weather station recorded its highest daily maximum for June 2023 of 31C on the 25th and highest daily minimum of 17C on the 28th, both well within England’s historical June records.

    1. A fortunate family who share their good fortune. That’s the way it should be.

  23. Phew!
    A batch of mortar mixed and 18 concrete blocks laid.
    Now in need of a mug of tea and some breakfast!

          2. He spent the whole time piddling in the sea and walking up and down stairs.

  24. Coutts & Co. say that they closed Nigel’s accounts because there wasn’t enough money in them. Why didn’t they tell him that when they closed them? Their parent, Natwest, has offered him banking services. Why didn’t they do that immediately?

    The genie is out of the bottle. Nigelgate has exposed the banking “communities'” oppressive woke practices.

    1. He’s getting very litle support from the likes of Katie Hopkins and Tommy Robinson because he wanted nothing to do with them when it happened to them. I did not speak out because…

      1. Their support would be of little, if any, help. More likely a hindrance, if banks treat any association with them with disdain.

        1. Perhaps I should have written sympathy rather than support. The point is about sacrificing principles when such things happen to others in the belief that it can’t happen to you.

      2. Farage is a very good journalist but a fairly flawed person and I would certainly have even more sympathy for him over this banking fiasco if he had been more sympathetic to Ms Hopkins and Mr Robinson when they were cancelled and in a similar position. As I said yesterday how can GB News ban people like Tommy Robinson or Katie Hopkins from ever appearing on their channel when they allow preposterously repulsive people like Benjamin Butterworth, Amy Nickel and the phenomenally foul Tessa Dunlop to appear on it.

        Incidentally, I never knew what a nasty, snivelling, self-righteous and arrogant man Martin Bell, the self-proclaimed white-suited, saviour of truth and enemy of corruption was until I saw him appear on GB News.

        1. GB News invites its ideological opponents to take part in discussion and treats them with some respect. BBC News invites few of its opponents and when it does, it treats them with contempt.

          Is Farage floored through drinking too much Spitfire or has he been punched out by an ‘anti-fascist’?

          1. I do wish that GB News did not present such total imbeciles to challenge many of the views I hold. Most of us need to be challenged but some of the GB News lefties are so completely offensive, absurd and bigoted that they do not make one reflect enough on whether one is correct or not.

          2. I think GB News has to tread a very fine line between pleasing its viewers and not antagonising OFCOM to the extent it gets shut down.

          3. Ofcom seems completely biased against anything to the right of very left of centre.

          4. I do wish that GB News did not present such total imbeciles to challenge many of the views I hold. Most of us need to be challenged but some of the GB News lefties are so completely offensive, absurd and bigoted that they do not make one reflect enough on whether one is correct or not.

      3. Farage is a very good journalist but a fairly flawed person and I would certainly have even more sympathy for him over this banking fiasco if he had been more sympathetic to Ms Hopkins and Mr Robinson when they were cancelled and in a similar position. As I said yesterday how can GB News ban people like Tommy Robinson or Katie Hopkins from ever appearing on their channel when they allow preposterously repulsive people like Benjamin Butterworth, Amy Nickel and the phenomenally foul Tessa Dunlop to appear on it.

        Incidentally, I never knew what a nasty, snivelling, self-righteous and arrogant man Martin Bell, the self-proclaimed white-suited, saviour of truth and enemy of corruption was until I saw him appear on GB News.

    2. Coutts does have a reputation for handling the accounts of ‘elite’ customers, so it’s possible that Farage’s balances didn’t meet its requirements, although they could have told him that back when they said they’d be closing his accounts. It would have given him the opportunity, if he and his businesses had the means, to abide by their minimum balance rules. It doesn’t explain, though, why nine other banks, presumably including mainstream high street ones, were not interested in opening accounts for him, nor why three family members have suffered a similar fate. Did they all bank with Coutts?

      1. On the World at One, Nigel said that his balance with Coutts was higher than usual. Also that Natwest had offered him a personal account, but not a business account.

        1. While a NatWest personal account would be of some help, he does employ people paid from his business account. I don’t blame him for looking elsewhere as NatWest owns Coutts. I would feel aggrieved and reluctant to take up the offer in his circumstances.

    3. This is obviously a retrospective explanation to counter the adverse publicity. If they had trouble with his account he would have been called in to discuss the matter long before closing the account.!

    4. The government should impose a code of conduct on the banks on how to treat customers. its not difficult.

    5. By ‘not enough money’ it means not £2million…. A bit like the HSBC Plus account where you (used to) have to have £1800 per month. Coutts is not for us plebs.

      1. Then there’s HSBC Super Plus Plus, speciallly configured for the enterprising drug cartel.

      1. Is this another new contributor? If so, welcome to Nottle, it’s good to see new blood.

        1. Thanks, though I’ve merely ‘tailgated’ in from a disqus follow.

  25. New cars to be put on ICE

    Yesterday I saw a car advert that showed the internal parts of an internal combustion engine (ICE).
    It illustrates why motor manufacturers are not giving up on maintaining the ICE industry beyond the UK Government’s deadlines for banning the sales of such vehicles.

    EVs are getting justifiable criticism because electrical power technology, whilst suitable for milk floats, doesn’t scale up to the performance expected from the modern internal combustion engined car.

    Edit: Here’s an added EV experience from Nadine Dorries:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-12260483/NADINE-DORRIES-handed-electric-car-5-000-miles-clock.html

    1. Makes me larf when broadcasters refer to “combustion engines”, So that includes steam rollers, then.

  27. As Yeats states:

    The Best lack all conviction while the Worst
    Are full of passionate intensity

    The right of centre cannot hold – but it gave up trying to hold after they deposed Margaret Thatcher. There will be no more comings or turnings for the Tories ever again no matter how wide the gyre is.

    1. “The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
      The ceremony of innocence is drowned;      ”

      As quoted in Murray Smith’s excellent book – The Devil’s Juggler!

  28. Putin may now be preparing to detonate a nuclear plant in Ukraine. Hamish de Crettin-Gordon. 4 July 2023.

    As victory slips from Putin’s grasp, the forces under his command are resorting to increasingly brutal unconventional tactics in pursuit of victory. The most recent turn has been the use of local infrastructure as a weapon; attacking hospitals, schools and power infrastructure in the vain hope it will lead to capitulation.

    I saw these tactics at close hand in Syria, where General “Armageddon” Surovikin – now missing after the abortive Wagner coup – developed them. In Syria, as in Ukraine, Russia’s conventional military strength was found wanting. But there, the use of unconventional violence eventually won out. If history is a guide, Putin may now be about to engage in an unthinkable escalation in Ukraine.

    The most important thing to understand is that the Russian military is monstrous. Its leaders are aloof and arrogant, out of touch with what’s happening at the front, while junior officers are too frightened to push bad news up the chain. The brutality of Russian command – where hit squads wait at the rear to shoot anybody taking a backward step – is evidence of its utter lack of scruples. They will do anything to try and grasp victory, or at least avoid defeat.

    This guy lives in an alternate reality, though his mention of Syria is interesting. Here the Russians defeated the Jihadists who were armed and financed by Western proxies and trained by Crettin-Gordon and his people in the practice of False Flag chemical attacks. He’s probably a sore loser as well.

    His story about “Hit Squads” is stolen from WWII where Stalin and the KGB did indeed carry out such a policy. There’s no evidence that the present Russian Army is so engaged.

    On the other hand it is looking increasingly likely the Ukies are indeed going to blow the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant. Contrary to the assertions in this article the Russians look to be winning and that would be a political catastrophe for both the EU and the US. If the only way to prevent such an outcome is to drag in NATO then so be it!

    . https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/04/zaporizhzhia-putin-preparing-detonate-nuclear-plant/

    2. From Wiki:

      In 2004, rather than receiving the command of a tank regiment as he’d expected, he was appointed commanding officer of the UK’s Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment.[15] In preparation for the command, he studied for a diploma in chemical biology at the Royal Military College of Science.[16]

    3. preparing to detonate a nuclear plant in Ukraine.
      Shows the sort of alternate reality the chap lives in. How do you ‘detonate’ a nuclear power plant…? The bloke hasn’t a clue.

  29. Putin may now be preparing to detonate a nuclear plant in Ukraine. Hamish de Crettin-Gordon. 4 July 2023.

    As victory slips from Putin’s grasp, the forces under his command are resorting to increasingly brutal unconventional tactics in pursuit of victory. The most recent turn has been the use of local infrastructure as a weapon; attacking hospitals, schools and power infrastructure in the vain hope it will lead to capitulation.

    I saw these tactics at close hand in Syria, where General “Armageddon” Surovikin – now missing after the abortive Wagner coup – developed them. In Syria, as in Ukraine, Russia’s conventional military strength was found wanting. But there, the use of unconventional violence eventually won out. If history is a guide, Putin may now be about to engage in an unthinkable escalation in Ukraine.

    The most important thing to understand is that the Russian military is monstrous. Its leaders are aloof and arrogant, out of touch with what’s happening at the front, while junior officers are too frightened to push bad news up the chain. The brutality of Russian command – where hit squads wait at the rear to shoot anybody taking a backward step – is evidence of its utter lack of scruples. They will do anything to try and grasp victory, or at least avoid defeat.

    This guy lives in an alternate reality, though his mention of Syria is interesting. Here the Russians defeated the Jihadists who were armed and financed by Western proxies and trained by Crettin-Gordon and his people in the practice of False Flag chemical attacks. He’s probably a sore loser as well.

    His story about “Hit Squads” is stolen from WWII where Stalin and the KGB did indeed carry out such a policy. There’s no evidence that the present Russian Army is so engaged.

    On the other hand it is looking increasingly likely the Ukies are indeed going to blow the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant. Contrary to the assertions in this article the Russians look to be winning and that would be a political catastrophe for both the EU and the US. The only way to prevent such an outcome is to drag in NATO.

    . https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/04/zaporizhzhia-putin-preparing-detonate-nuclear-plant/

    1. Phizz- I would love to see more photos of your doggies; would cheer me up no end.
      Planning on getting pissed tonight so further posts may be less coherent;-))

      2. How many do you want?…… https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0739997a2f5bd2c06d2c565198eea0334f1f2aa14b10e2cf20daac3919e27749.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/70de9cdef3ef660cef4a380220cbb7e1bf2de6a7f6253adfc88be9c45f8fb13e.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9c980f2b8b1ba559173962f1b6fa72e87eeead18c24b3d56a1f1e9fb1961e920.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d285076288e8aa0e353907dd7792e98c7f5168165b44a64e62266173795a5dc1.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/908dcd0da57e52a34fa55e75483be067b102c1b9b5c378e0bb97c8499879cae9.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2bbede434783d0bb26e2c8dea64de17eaa1be52f797a6433bd4c4c90f783d4e8.jpg

        2. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9fa6bd5c47a222153b066b5e81bc0c2c452708b9cd5f5419ece8f1845c588881.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b02bacece8ead7c913c5d38f99d8d7be30f9a75ea64c0ae51e0e4e94d105cec0.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d9647a388c58d899b18d1ab58cf977ec1fe19a2a1e73f0b6c1eb020c5ea31add.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5fa80ce608b92296d90fbbf763eb657b2d0f0a4bba03f5bca207c90942203f16.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6cc8027e13668ae5dccaa5e1958ebddc7a0fefcffe2f5d20d5360e04671db365.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e1cbb6af515ee92b72c70288a68ec1f06ba4eb8cbf450e5ae57b4cfc2ed3fddf.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c9961658801f410b7afb3dfdc70e142fa8e936bd394e7aebd292a38623de15d3.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cfb3557aea4a39ec4c72ce3d241b738a9efd77896da1ecee4e34e40de6f1a688.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eb412cc4883d56b34d8380b6c8b83057be3701a30e6ccca42cb050e98d3d4432.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/81d87004c47a63c0a55e335def2777862ec49be9175106dc4cca8112014e5d45.jpg

          3. I believe so. We spoke on the phone this week. Plans for August and then Blenheim Son et Lumiere.
            This site has given me access to people who i wouldn’t ordinarily meet.

            Gosh they have expensive tastes !

          8. I doubt if I’m the only one who wishes their regards to be passed on to her.

          10. I’m glad you were able to speak to her -I understood she was refusing contact so that’s positive and perhaps she’s feeling better. Give her my best wishes next time you’re in touch.

        3. That last one: “Don’t even dream of trying to get into my bed or touching my toys!”

          1. They kiss all the time now. And sleep together. Once his red pencil comes out she sends him to his own bed !
            Women eh !

        1. Also welcome. Not had good news today which I shall post later once some of the nerve tonic has kicked in.

        2. Yes but they are cats…My little doggies are much more interesting and affectionate !

          1. I came across that afterwards. Sorry to hear the news isn’t brilliant. I did remember you (and Mum Is Busy) when I said my morning prayers.

          1. Only on the outside; beneath that teddy bear exterior is a grizzly waiting to leap out! 🙂

        1. Given the absolute shits in our prisons now, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they will hero worship the turd.

  32. 374154+ up ticks,

    Why is it we the indigenous peoples of England can get full coverage of the Arab / Israeli, on the hour action, yet the actions of many a foreigner coming in morally illegally are, if reported by the msm at all is in a very opaque manner.

    Why in point of fact are we taking any notice of foreign wars and troubles when we are leading the field by a country mile in domestic problems concerning foreigners and local dangerous
    politico’s, plus a cast of supporting, consenting fools.

  35. The boat is currently on the Kennet & Avon Canal. With 7 Boat Hire companies along a 15 mile stretch it gets very busy this time of year. As a consequence the Canal Authority has designated a number of 48 hour mooring spots at intervals along the canal. This afternoon having spent 48 hours moored in one such spot I was obliged to move the boat to another further down the canal or face the prospect of a £25 fine for each day overstayed. Of course it was persisting it down when I went to the boat and moved off to find a new 48 hour mooring. By the time I had travelled one mile I was drenched as I discovered my waterproof is no longer waterproof! The next bit is going to sound as if I’m bragging. In the pouring rain I spotted a space between two moored boats that I thought I might just squeeze the boat into. The boat is 45 feet long. I managed to steer the boat alongside the towpath without touching either the boat ahead or the boat behind. In tying off the bow and stern lines I noted I had just 3 inches spare at both the bow and stern. Really chuffed.

    Even more chuffed that this morning Partner and I came top out of 20 pairs playing 24 hands of duplicate bridge.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3ac9c191af4e3134e36a5699042a156659716d624bfad09940c7f15046a632df.jpg

    1. How I envy you your bridge. From 12 until 45 I played very regularly. Not since. And, when I tried a few years ago I discovered that I could no longer remember which cards had been played. A great disappointment.

      1. A real pity as it is a great social pastime for those who are no longer physically as able as they once were.

        1. I know. Funny thing, memory. I can remember all the family phone numbers since 1945 – and the car registrations…but later events …(remind me…!)

          1. Memory power, when it wanes, often works like that. Oldest memories endure the longest. Recalling new stuff, not so well.

      2. Standard card game in most RAF SNCOs crewrooms but I haven’t played for 50 years
        I remember some visiting French guys coming in our crewroom and watching us play. One said to the other (in French) “What is this called?” The other replied “I’m not sure – I think it’s called Hard Luck or Fuck it”

        1. SNCOs. Crew-room.

          Regularly played in the Station Flight crew-room as well. ‘Dummy’ got to see the next one in or out (aircraft that is).

      3. I enjoy playing bridge, but – like you – I tend to forget which cards have already been played because it takes too much concentration.

      2. I thought that railway footbridge was over the canal, but I see it’s over the railway.
        Looks like a standard issue railway design pre-cast in Exmouth Junction concrete works.

        1. It is indeed. The Station is in fact in Great Bedwyn. However if you try to buy a ticket to Great Bedwyn – you can’t. You have to buy one for Bedwyn…..

    4. It must have been in ’78 when I walked from Perham down to Ludgershall and hence along the old M&SWR trackbed to the then still derelict Crofton Locks.

        1. Don’t know if same but that also looks like the engine room on the Waverley.

          1. Just a guess, Philip but I think those beam engines were quite common in the late 19th Century and early 20th.

  36. That’s the three day ladderwork finished for six months. Not a job I relish – though it does look nice when completed.

    Just as we stopped, drizzle started – totally useless dampness. Doesn’t even wet the leaves and dries as soon as it hits the ground. Grrr.

    1. The older I get, the less confident I feel when up a ladder, even though I have yet to come to grief. I still need to when pruning hedge tops, although I’m giving serious thought to reducing them to a height reachable from the ground.

      1. You could try the Highgrove Tripod stepladder (see ladders999.co.uk for an example). I saw one in use at Sandringham and was very impressed by its stability.

  37. Message for Sue Mac, as and when you join us:

    The Back Scratcher has arrived, Thank you so much, Sue, great job.

    2. Delighted it finally got there! I think it looks scary and is described as a Bear Paw!

  38. Tony Vivaldi is working tonight,
    So here it is- surgery not an option as it will take 9 hours and leave the right side of my face paralyzed.
    Two other options…..one is to go to the far away hospital 5 days a week for 6 weeks for radiation. The other is to go the nearest hospital once every 3 weeks for a drug therapy. I have yet to read all the paperwork and make a decision. The drug therapy seems more logical to me.
    I am also to begin taking the liquid morphine, which I have been resisting, as the other stuff ain’t working.
    The specialist nurse was superb and far better than the doctor.
    Going to get fairly pissed tonight so if comments become a little muddled- bear with’- )))?
    The prognosis is not promising.
    How do I tell my son?

    2. “How do I tell my son?”

      As it is, girl, no beating about the bush. Glad you’ve got a pain-killer.

      Cheer up, you do have options and we’re all still with you. Love and hugs.

    3. Oh Gawd Lottie
      So sorry to hear this hope the Kanga juice and the morphine at least deal with the pain

    5. Not a great choice, is it! Sorry you haven’t got better news, but at least they still think you are repairable!
      Is it possible to book an Air BnB near the far hospital for six weeks? Or ask that hospital if there’s anywhere cheap for patients to stay?
      A friend in Zimbabwe did similar for a family member’s radiation therapy – they just stayed in a flat near the hospital (Patient is still going strong five years on!). She said there were families camped in tents on the grass in front of the hospital as well.
      Maybe try to go for whichever treatment is better rather than settling for the nearest.

        1. AirBnb can be surprisingly cheap, plus maybe the hospital or Macmillan would be able to help you? That’s their job!

    6. Oh bugger.
      That’s a bitter pill for anyone to chew.
      Where, exactly, is the far away hospital?
      Could MacMillan help?

      1. I expect they could but I am so tired and stressed this evening- so I don’t know.

        2. A word to the wise.
          Unless it is really helping you at the moment, you might consider leaving Nottle this evening and spend the time discussing things with your husband and possibly your son.
          A few glasses of Pinot together would be good.
          As the cliché goes, tomorrow is another day.

    7. Not much of a choice is it and no doubt there are side effects to both options. Six weeks of daily travel would be quite a challenge, especially if the treatment weakens you.

      When my wife was in intensive care,, the hospital came up with a room for me as well. Not even as nice as a Travelodge but a bed that as close by. Another ars suggesting, maybe these hospitals can help – you cannot be the first in this situation.

      Your son does know something is wrong doesn’t he? Time for a long phone call.

    8. Sorry to hear that. Depends on whether the prognosis between the radiation and the drug therapy are significantly different.

    9. I would try to not go the liquid morphine way unless and until.

      You tell your son the truth.

      1. Sort of how I feel. My son already knows what’s at stake. I will email him tomorrow.

        1. My MiL has been on Oramorph for over two years without any adverse complications….

        2. That’s my girl. If you boy is like mine – he’d want it straight, no messing.

          Thinking of you – and your glass(es) of red.

    10. Lottie, don’t forget MacMillan and Marie Curie may be able to offer helpful advice and possibly assistance with accommodation costs if you decide to to try Radiotherapy. Raising my glass to you. S.

    11. I’m so very sorry.

      For my two cents worth:
      Read the paperwork very carefully and whilst time sounds to be of the essence try not to rush the decision and discuss it with your husband and son. As to your son I would tell him outright, difficult though that will be.

      All things taken into account I would go for the one that has the best prognosis, if there isn’t a best prognosis go for the least painful most convenient.

      Good luck and much sympathy to you all.

      Let’s pray for a miracle, they do happen.

    12. I wish you well with whatever route you take. It’s a very personal one and you will make the right decision for you.
      Tell your son straight. Is it possible to phone him or get him to phone you as it might be easier than trying to compose an email.
      I told our children when I was diagnosed with cancer on my 52nd birthday, nearly 25 years ago. Obviously my prognosis was good.

      Thinking of you and, luckily, you have a good man by your side.xx

      2. Tell it straight: that’s how my Father told me (it’s his birthday today, btw)

    13. 1. Seek advice – preferably face-to-face – from Macmillan Cancer Support, Lotty; that’s what they do.

      Get their opinion re your Radiation v. Drug therapy options – and any free/ cheap/ dedicated accommodation near the Radiation hospital.

      2. Have a further discussion with your ‘superb specialist nurse’. Discuss the merits of your twin options for therapy.

      3. Your son? Tell him straight.

      4. Have a nightcap!

    14. For what it is worth, Ann –

      I am talking 1988 when my father was ill. I didn’t get on at all with Macmillan – but Marie Curie were tremendous – just brilliant.

    15. Having read some of the comments to you down the page, I don’t think there is anything I can add, other than to continue keeping you in our thoughts and prayers (as Sos says, miracles can and do happen) hugs to you both.

    16. Go for the 9 hour op.
      You will be under some top quality surgeons working as a team; they are likely to be even more dedicated (professional, determined, competitive, other adjectives are available) than the radiotherapy people. Very tough afterwards for a few weeks, but there is a chance of further chemotherapy followed by remission. As I mentioned recently, I know someone who was in your situation post-Covid. Still alive, and improving.

      Top tip: buy some used combat fatigues, and then children and grownups will believe the scars came from your work as a Commando in a Top Secret Operation.

      (some schoolchildren once asked me if I had been a Desert Rat in WWII; like a fool I denied it)

    17. So sorry to hear your news, LOTL. All I can offer are my very best wishes to you and that you choose the best way forward for yourself.

    18. Oh gawd, Ann. I won’t give any advice as there’s lots been given, all sound advice too, I’m sure. Just lots of, better, luck to you and hubby. Lots of love from me and this unholy forum.

    19. Is the surgery completely out? Is paralysis inevitable? Would they not do skin grafts after cutting out the cancer?

      You might still need the radiotherapy or drug treatment as well.

      The idea of staying near to the hospital during the six weeks of therapy is a good one. See what your son can suggest.

      I had radiotherapy for two bouts of breast cancer – the first time I went five days a week for seven weeks and it left me exhausted but I was driving there and back, about 35 miles round trip. Radiotherapy does burn the skin and makes you very sore. That was 26 years ago. Second time round was easier, 12 years ago.

      Talk it all through with your husband and son and and the specialist nurse.

    20. Not nice choices to make Ann – I think I’d be going for the drug therapy but whatever you choose we’ll all be thinking of you and wishing you well

    21. Oh bugger, to put it bluntly. There’s some good advice below from people who have more experience of this than me, so there’s little point in putting my oar in. I’m just very sorry that this has happened to you and that you have difficult choices to make. For now, you’re very much in my thoughts and those of fellow Nottlers. We’re with you all the way. xx

    22. Bluddy hell, Ann! So sorry to hear that. There’s not much I can say that hasn’t been said, and that goes for the advice and the caring words from the wonderful Nottl crowd. Love and blessings to you and your husband and enjoy the Pinot! Not a good time to make decisions!🍷

    23. Specialist nurses are one NHS recent development that has been a genuine improvement.
      I am so sorry to hear your news. You are very wise to give yourself a breather as there is a lot to think about and some very serious decisions to be made.
      In the short term, I hope you have a better night’s sleep.

    25. I am so sorry to hear this LotL. Don’t discount the first option yet, sometimes in life the one you discount straight away is the one that turns out to be the best option. Draw up your ‘cost benefit’ analyses on each, chew them over, throw them around in your mind until you are comfortable with your choice. We are here for you.

    26. What ho mil’lady, did the docs give any options – could you not try the drugs, and if they don’t work the radiation therapy or is it one or the other?

      1. The nurse was better and very sound. It is one or the other – they won’t even consider surgery.

    27. Heavens above, what a day you have had. I am so sorry you have to face such a difficult decision.
      Were you given any indication as to which option offered the best outcome?
      As others have suggested, maybe ask to talk over the options again with the specialist nurse? Or Macmillan or Marie Curie nurses?
      You have so much to take on board deal with, and you must be exhausted with the emotional side too.
      It goes without saying that we are all here for you, even just to bounce thoughts around with.
      I send my warmest wishes and hugs.
      Goodnight Ann.

      1. Thanks Ann! Such a great name;-) I am going to look into MacMillan as it might be helpful.

        1. All hail the Anns!
          If nothing else, Macmillan can offer some knowledgeable advice and listening ear.
          I remember about 30 years ago, one of my aunts was struggling on Skye when her washing machine packed up. She lived alone on the family croft, not a penny to spare. Macmillan funded a replacement washer for her until she could no longer stay in her home. Until then, I hadn’t realised they funded practical support of that nature to those in need.
          Goodnight, and hope you get some sleep.

  39. Afternoon, all. It would be nice to have a bank that wasn’t fiscally incompetent and didn’t have a “green” or LGBTQWERTYUIOP agenda!

      1. We only have one left (there used to be four plus several building societies) in my nearest town.

        2. Stevenage still has branches of Lloyds, HSBC, Barclays, NatWest, Santander, Halifax, TSB, plus Nationwide and Leeds Building Societies, all in the Town Centre. Then again, the town’s population stands at about 90,000, Nevertheless, some of them had smaller branches in the Old Town’s High Street, now all gone. Barclays became The Vault, a bar now also closed, NatWest became the Dental Implant Centre, Lloyds became Ozzy’s Barbers. An older branch of Lloyds is now The Standing Order, a Wetherspoon’s pub.

          1. Are the Old Town pubs still gong I used to drink often at the Marquess of Granby Abbot Ale if I remember.

          2. Not all of them. We’ve lost the Yorkshire Grey and the White Hart from the High Street, the Prince of Wales and the White Horse from Albert Street, the Mallard and the Rising Sun from Julian’s Road. Corey’s Mill by Lister Hospital is now a Beefeater with a little lounge bar, the High Street’s White Lion became the Mulberry Tree, the Two Diamonds is now the Old Town Bar, the Coach & Horses is much changed, as is the Cromwell Hotel bar, now called Rump & Wade, and the Royal Oak in Walkern Road. The Red Lion, the Marquess of Lorne, the Chequers in the High Street, as well as the Dun Cow in Letchmore Road are much like they once were. We’ve gained the aforementioned Standing Order, the Drapers Arms, a former hardware store, Cinnabar, a rather chic bar, all in the High Street, and the Broken Seal, a craft ale bar up a side street. As for the Marquess of Granby, it’s still there, but somewhat more stylish and smoother than it once was. It still serves Abbot but – and you won’t like this – it only accepts card payments, no cash.

          3. Thank you for that its very interestiong. I worked in Stevenage and lived in Letchworth and often had I pint in the Granby.

          4. They closed our RBS branch in Matlock with the excuse that there was a branch in Bakewell, not that far away. Guess which branch they closed next?!

          5. We’ve still got Nationwide, formerly Derbyshire, and, for now at least, Lloyds.
            We also had Midland/HDBC and, I think, NatWest on Dale Road over the bridge.

          6. I realise I miscounted – there were actually FIVE! I forgot about Barclays. I suppose, before TSB and Lloyds split, it could have been six. The TSB moved into the Lloyds building when Lloyds moved to Shrewsbury and the old TSB became a betting shop.

      2. My bank branch is in Saxmundham and the nearest branch is buried in the depths of Dumfries, 25 miles away. I’ve yet to find it, or have reason to.

    2. A few of months ago I was trying to pay for a tank of fuel. But out of the blue my card was refused. Fortunately I had enough cash to pay.
      I rang the bank and got absolutely no where. I had to go to the nearest bank now 5 or 6 miles away pay for parking and queue for 10 minutes to see the only one person available.
      Went through all sorts of process and ended up on their cash point.
      Today I tried to pay for some work on our car and the card was refused. Fortunately the lady split the bill and at below the maximum one hundred pounds each, the double tap was successful.

  40. Another Birdie today.

    Wordle 745 3/6
    🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜
    🟨⬜🟨🟨🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Likewise
        Wordle 745 3/6

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

    2. After a run on fives…

      Wordle 745 2/6

      🟨⬜🟨🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. A good first word start here, couldn’t miss an eagle after that.
      Wordle 745 2/6

      🟨🟩🟨⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  41. Why is this? I thought most plots had a timespan of about 50 years unless the plot is paid to continue, or had been paid for in perpetuity.

    As so many of us are being cremated I wonder what (if any) effect the changing demographic has had: apart from those who specifically wish to be buried (my mother was one) I understand that certain religions will not allow their dead to be cremated. Is this rush for new spaces a future question of not just our living being moved out of accommodation, but of even our dead being moved out of their resting places?

    https://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/news/hertfordshire-news/parliament-look-plan-disturb-human-8572691?utm_source=herts_live_newsletter&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter2&utm_medium=email

    1. There is bound to a PCC expert within the Nottler crew, or an ex-Churchwarden. However, my guess is that 50 years is a figure decided by the C of E synod to prevent any descendants of the deceased from causing problems in (e.g.) 60 years when the vicar (or Imam) might plan to ‘re-purpose’ a cemetery. It is an offence to excavate human remains after interment, so there won’t be a midnight digger-fest.

      1. Fifty years isn’t long enough. My father died 70 years ago and I wouldn’t want his grave dsturbed.

        1. This is an odd one for me.
          We wish to be cremated and my ashes and HG’s ashes mixed and scattered to the winds.
          I’ve seen too much grief expended on regular pilgrimages to a grave and trying to tend it. We don’t wish it on our sons and they understand our reasoning.

          1. Yes, this has been the understanding both Jack and I have discussed with our children.

          2. How is he?
            I can’t recall the last time he posted.
            Please give him my very best wishes

          3. I will be cremated and my ashes mixed with those of my late wife and the lot scattered on our croft where we spent our happiest times

          4. I mixed my parent’s ashes and we had a special dispensation from a NT property, because of their connection with it, to scatter them in the gardens.
            I am due to do similarly for a relative when the time comes. He’s an Atheist yet wishes to be with his wife, a very devout Christian.

          5. I’m ok with cremation for myself – but it wasn’t so usual when my father died.

          7. So long as I’m dead I won’t care too much. I’ll leave some instructions for my sons.

          8. I can’t bear the thought of being buried, claustrophobic or what?

            I’ve donated my body to medical science – someone has to give med students a laugh.

          9. From medics who I know: they treat the cadaver with great respect and the students often attend the final cremation/burial.
            Without you and people like you, they would never get the experience of dealing with real rather than theoretical anatomy and they acknowledge that.

          12. I agree srb, with a caveat: as a lifelong yachtsman, I would wish my ashes to be decanted at sea – in the Firth of Clyde within sight of the Irish Sea – a guaranteed tranquil resting place in perpetuity …

          13. As a one time rock climber I’m toying with the idea of having my ashes scattered down a very friction dependent gritstone slab climb!!

          16. I thought that launched in a firework over the sea would be good.
            What fell to the sea would be spread as that which was offered to the winds

      2. This is the advice from Doncaster council:

        “Legally, graves cannot be sold for more than 100 years. However, as the remaining lease period reduces, owners have the opportunity to buysubsequent lease periods of 50 or 75 years as long as the total ownership at any time does not exceed 100 years.

        What happens when the lease expires, on a new grave for 50 or 75 years?

        When you buy a grave you purchase the rights of burial in that grave for a set period of time. If the lease is not renewed, the burial rights will run out. No further internments may then be allowed in the grave.”

        When the church wall was repaired graves had to be disturbed. All sorts of licences were required and an archeologist was involved as well, I believe. Before any work started, a site notice was posted with details of the graves affected requesting living relatives to get in touch with their wishes (and presumably their consent).

      3. This is the advice from Doncaster council:

        “Legally, graves cannot be sold for more than 100 years. However, as the remaining lease period reduces, owners have the opportunity to buysubsequent lease periods of 50 or 75 years as long as the total ownership at any time does not exceed 100 years.

        What happens when the lease expires, on a new grave for 50 or 75 years?

        When you buy a grave you purchase the rights of burial in that grave for a set period of time. If the lease is not renewed, the burial rights will run out. No further internments may then be allowed in the grave.”

        When the church wall was repaired graves had to be disturbed. All sorts of licences were required and an archeologist was involved as well, I believe. Before any work started, a site notice was posted with details of the graves affected requesting living relatives to get in touch with their wishes (and presumably their consent).

      4. I wonder how the contractors managed when Shirley Porter sold off three Christian cemeteries for 15p in the later ’80s?

    2. Bloody politicians, politics and councils. Who do they think they are?
      What exactly do they think they can achieve by doing this.
      It’s absolute nonsense. These people have supposedly been laid to rest. Not treated like pieces of rubbish.

    3. There are apparently only 25 graves dug per year. They should be able to extend their plot without disturbing graves.

      1. If there is a greater demand in the future (for whatever reason) the available land may not be enough. I would like to know why demand is expected to outstrip available space.

    4. I remember talking to the Catholic priest who was handling my conversion from Protestant (C of E) to Catholicism. Apparently in Switzerland it is 75 years, provided that there are no living relatives. At that point, because of the shortage of land, the remains are exhumed and the bones go into a charnel house.

      The priest was quite amused by the idea that, on judgement day, when the Lord calls us all, there’ll be such a noise and bickering, as everyone tries to sort out their own bones in order to present themselves.

      1. Isn’t the RC belief that the body has to be in one piece (or at least together) in order to be able to be resurrected on the Day of Judgement ?

        2. Cremation was banned by the Catholic Church until fairly recently, but has been permitted for the last 50 years or so.

          1. I thought that all the ashes had to be together, i.e. they can’t be scattered?

          2. Correct. The ashes should ideally be buried in a cemetery. It’s really about respect for the departed person and a re-iteration of the Church’s view of life and death and a rejection of pagan ideas of fusing with nature or of re-incarnation.

      2. My wife owns a nice burial plot in Dumfries if you are interested – it’s permanent ownership.

        1. I’d rather not, thank you RichardL because a). I don’y want to be buried; b). I don’t wish to remain in Scotland any longer than I have to, and c). I’ve donated my body to medical science and, after 3 years, any remains are cremated.

    5. I have expressed my wish to be buried rather than cremated. If it doesn’t happen I shall come back and haunt the undertakers!

      2. I just want my gravestone to be situated in the middle of the fairway on the golf course – conveniently angled to push golf balls off into the deep rough! No concerns about the bodily leftovers but I don’t fancy that latest trend of boiling the bod in some caustic mix, I don’t want to become soup du jour.

    1. Love the court.
      I would have added a few Candace Owens’s and Thomas Sowells.

  43. That’s me for today. The drizzle fizzled out – there doesn’t seem any rainfall in the offing.

    To Lunnon tomorrow – if the effing unions permit. Have a jolly evening.

    A jeudi.

    2. Persistent, prolonged rain this afternoon. Gloomy most of the day.

  44. Not exactly sure what is actually going on in the ‘West Bank’ but it looks as if the usual suspects are at it again.

    1. As the headlined letter is regarding banks and politics, is that the Nat ‘West Bank’?

  45. Sunak has failed on all fronts; he is an incompetent rich kid.

    His sidekick in No.11, is a proven incompetent at Health.

    They – both – were chosen by sitting conservatives.

    There is an urgent need for radical change.

    The Conservative Party – as we knew it – is unelectable.

    Next?

    1. One can only say that Rishi has failed if they know what his real plans really were

  46. https://youtu.be/-9LBmKnfWUQ

    This advertisement’s been around for a few months but it wasn’t until last weekend that I saw it for the first time. My immediate impression was “What a voice!” followed by “Why is Cunard using a 1980s ad in the 21st century?” Except it’s not. 1980s, that is. The ad is contemporary, the voice is from the 1960s, taken from archive recordings. It didn’t take me long to find who it belonged to. I had never heard of him. It seems he’s partly responsible for a lot of today’s self-obsession and pseudo-spiritual vacuity. Gus Carter’s article (available on the Spectator website) is a long one at 3,000 words. Here are a few extracts worth noting:

    There’s an advert for cruise holidays on television at the moment. It’s all dolphins and dining halls and laughing women flashing their teeth. Above the tinkly, swelling music is a familiar voice. It’s the kind of clear English accent that might remind you of a compelling history teacher or vicar.

    The voice belongs to Alan Watts. He’s a strange choice for a cruise advertisement. Watts was a sixties hippie, a Zen Buddhist pop philosopher who sought to soothe the anxieties of the newly tuned in. Competitively priced holiday packages are not, you’d have thought, a central part of Zen Buddhist teaching. Dig out the full quote and you’ll find that Watts’s words have been edited to remove their true meaning. But nobody really cares.

    Watts seems perfect for the internet age, even if he died before it. His lectures can easily be broken up into little minute-long chunks, perfect for the limited attention spans of the screen-addled masses. His ideas, too, speak to that typical westerner who likes to describe him or herself as spiritual but not religious. The type of person who dislikes organised religion but thinks there might be something beyond the mortal realm.

    Watts hints at the something of Buddhism but never commits to the religion in its full form. For him, the point of faith is liberation; liberation from anxiety and from stultifying western individualism. His credo was individualistic, however, in that he simply picked the bits of faith he liked. The more you listen to his lectures, the more you’ll feel the effects of a kind of sugar-rush philosophy. He was criticised in his lifetime for a lack of commitment to basic Zen practices such as meditation. One can imagine his listeners discovering a sense of clarity as Watts spoke, only to feel it fade as they went back to their everyday lives.

    At this point Carter gives us Watts’ biography – and what a biography it is. Today it might be said that he had problems with his sexuality. Carter summarises:

    Watts managed to bring Zen Buddhism, however mangled, to the western world. It was through him that the casually interested were first switched on to eastern thought. But the tragedy of Watts was that in trying to avoid the horrors of stale old England, he became an early version of the new western man: more attuned to his own inner life and more unhappy because of it. Despite that, he managed to make a decent living. Only in the West can you drop out and cash in.

    ‘Trite’ is the word that Carter fails to use. Here’s the script of the ad:

    ‘I wonder, I wonder, what you would do if you had the power to dream any dream you wanted to dream? You would, I suppose, start out by fulfilling all your wishes, love affairs, banquets, wonderful journeys. And after you’d done that for some time, you’d forget that you were dreaming.’

    So speaks a dead man. Each time I listen to it I find it more unsettling.

    The paradox of Alan Watts

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fdc597c57499d54399df7d4b94779fa643b96407277edfc86c2608ad5802cbdd.jpg

  49. Off topic
    I finished my evening swim, and spotted a medium sized, very dark feathered bird get disturbed, possibly by a hare.
    It shot up into an oak tree and made the most peculiar whirring, chittering sounds, which continued on and off for ages.
    Having listened to, and looked at a few YouTube clips, I’m reasonably confident it was a nightjar.
    It’s times like these that I wish I had Grizzy’s expertise.

    Star bird at this year’s Spring watch. Chris Packham, eat your heart out.

    This evening the cicadas are going crazy, the hares are chewing on freshly strimmed stubble and the ground roosting birds are settling down by the dozen. The nightjar, if that is what it was, was the icing on the cake.
    It’s a hard life here…

      3. You’d better have mine; I have been prescribed new pills which mean I can’t drink alcohol 🙁 It’s going to be a long month!

          1. Please do! 🙂 Hope you are managing to sort out all the information to make an informed decision. You know I am keeping you in my thoughts and prayers.

  50. Mongo has a fractured leg. My bother has a very bruised wrist. Junior is absolutely bonkers with worry and made almost as much noise as the brother did.

    The two were playing and brother grabbed Mongo’s front legs. Problem is, he didn’t let go. Mongo pulled away and yelped, swiftly followed by what in anything that isn’t an 80kilo bear would be considered a playful bite to brother’s arm. Mongo hopped away and couldn’t walk, so I carried him to the car whereupon we went to the vets. Junior cried the whole way and the Warqueen stayed with brother, giving him a hug as he bawled himself stupid.

    Mongo has some pretty strong painkillers and only Junior can give them to him. His leg remains in a boot and he walks very comically. This means Junior can’t dash about and Mongo has to rest. He can’t go up stairs very easily so again we have the baby gates up – which is tricky when he needs to go during the night.

    Fun times.

      1. Thank you sos, I’m sure he’ll be fine. The igger problem’s Junior, who hasn’t left his side all week. When Mongo gets up to move, he throws his arms around the great furball.

        1. Oh wibbling! Poor old Mongo! What an awful thing to happen especially while playing! How long will he be in the boot?

          1. He has a checkup in a month from now. I’m sure he’ll be ok, it’s just never happened to either before. Thorns in pads, tooth pulled out by dragging a tree home all fine.

          2. Yep, I had a small tree/large branch dragged into the house in CT. Been there, seen that!

    2. Poor Mongo. Will the fracture heal OK? Human bone takes around three months to grow. (As I’ve discovered with jaw/bone graft etc.) Is it the same with dogs?

      1. The vet said the ‘break’ was pretty clean, more a very nasty bruise that squashed the bone too much causing a hairline crack.

        She’s said he’ll be fine with rest, and that he should be ok after 2-3 months, walking on it in 6. Thankfully he got to see his usual vet, so it’s all a bit familiar to him.

    4. I remember when our cat broke his leg. The vet told us that he would be a bit stiff for a few weeks and that we should hold him above his litter tray when he wanted to pee or poop

      Ever tried picking up a cat in mid poop, they don’t appreciate it!

  52. Good night and God bless, Gentlefolk.

    Looking forward to sleeping through until 06:00.

  53. Well, with other Nottlers having serious health problems, I’m almost embarrassed to report that I had a phone chat with one of the practice nurses today regarding my diabetes blood test and I’ve more or less dropped off the bottom for the cause for concern range and appear to be in disgustingly good health!

    As reported earlier, I did 3½h on the Folly, doing a mix of mortar and getting 18 blocks laid.

    And now I’m off to bed.
    G’night all.

    1. Your effort is enough to tire me out.

      Around 30C here today with a sticky feeling humidity making it feel close to 40C. I think that deserves a gin or two.

    2. Well done on the blood sugars. Hoping MH gets a result when he gets checked in a month or so.
      All the ‘exercise’ on your plot must help.
      Goodnight.

        1. Much more comfortable, thank you.
          A bad week for scan results for both you and my oldest friend.
          I have just replied to your ‘results’ post below. I am so sorry about the news. My heart weeps for you.
          Today, I have been trying to support my oldest friend today. Her CT scan results yesterday brought the bad news that her cancer is now in another couple of vertebrae.
          Why does such bad stuff happen to decent people instead of all the vile creatures?
          Ah, well, hardly awake now, so I bid you goodnight Ann.

      2. Thank you, m’Dear.
        I hope you are bearing up under the strain of your problems.

        1. I don’t know what makes me most angry: the imposition of the rules, the breaking of them, the police for pursuing (very selectively) those who broke them , or the indignation of the 75% of the population towards the breaking of them rather than their imposition.

    2. A deadly airborne pathogen is stalking the land, nay the World and in the UK’s seat of power gatherings of this nature were going on. These partying types, and it appears some politicians, were not concerned about spreading or catching this oh so deadly pathogen. Why was that?
      Clearly, the pathogen and the emergency regulations put in place to control it were a charade, a trial run for something or somethings further down the line.
      The initial something was of course, the “vaccine”, now outed as completely useless as well as extremely dangerous if one was to receive an inoculation from certain lots/batches, debilitating from other lots/batches or innocuous from others. See here
      In the light of Hancock’s words last week at the ‘inquiry’ another something could well be other earlier and harder lockdowns.

  56. Went to bed early as I had been up since 4,30 but now back up for a while- serious alcohol deficiency preventing sleep;-)

  57. Heading back to bed now…. perchance to sleep.
    See Y’all tomorrow DV.

    2. Goodnight Lottie, hope you are able to sleep, tomorrow is another day, as Scarlet O’Hara says…

  58. The resurrection of Party-gate is a distraction from the abject failure of the proxy war in Ukraine, backed by idiots in the US and their equally stupid adherents in the EU and UK.

    The Russians are engaged not in a war but in what they term a Special Military Operation. Had Ukraine declared war on Russia, Ukraine would have been eviscerated.

    Prior to the US inspired and promoted proxy war Ukraine possessed the largest and best equipped army in western Europe, larger than the combined forces of Germany, France and our very own depleted UK. Most of those forces are now destroyed by Russia except our useless lying media and military pundits are telling you a different story, a fairy tale if you will.

    Whilst in the west we are fed lies about the conduct of the conflict in Ukraine, Russian media tells the truth to its people, an altogether better educated population than ours in the collective west whose ideas about wars are derived principally from Hollywood movies where Americans carry all before them and win. Of course the reality is that the US is rotten at conducting wars. They lost in Vietnam and gave up in Afghanistan. They won in a superficial sense in Iraq initially but were up against a third world rag tag army.

    I have read Zelensky’s claims attributing war crimes to Russia. This is known as displacement. The real war crimes have been committed by Zelensky who has forced elderly and decrepit men to go to the front line with no training and has ordered the shooting of those Ukrainians unwilling to fight and who would otherwise surrender to Russia.

    The intelligence agencies in the west, whilst generally useless and ineffective in matters of war craft, know these facts yet refuse to act on them.

    As matters stand the Ukraine has lost its proxy war with Russia and the cowards in the EU, UK and US funding this abomination are exposed as a mere circus and laughing stock to the rest of the world.

    All of this has resulted from an obviously rigged US election and the displacement and persecution of an elected President, President Trump. The idiot neo-cons in Washington whilst focussing on getting Trump have lost the plot entirely in international relations and influence.

    .

  59. After all the problems with escalating energy costs and even the Government having to bail out users to make ends meet it just seems stupid that you can actually make money by wasting electricity.

    But this is what Octopus Agile enables you to do and it’s all in the national interest.
    So it’s time to be patriotic, waste as much electricity as possible and even make money doing it!

    But it just seems wrong wasting so much electricity just to earn a few quid. It is what Agile is designed for, it is why I joined it, it is what Octopus want us to do, it is what the Grid want us to do… yet it feels wrong!

    https://www.speakev.com/threads/morals-of-the-octopus-agile-tariff.178522/

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