Saturday 19 August: Why patients are still struggling to secure face-to-face GP appointments

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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502 thoughts on “Saturday 19 August: Why patients are still struggling to secure face-to-face GP appointments”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, Another sleepless night but here’s today’s story

    Building Your Strength
    Three mice were sitting in a bar talking about how tough they were.

    The first mouse drank a shot and said, “I play with mousetraps for fun. I’ll run into one on purpose and as it is closing on me, I grab the bar and bench press it twenty or thirty times.” And with that he drank another shot.

    The second mouse drank a shot and said, “That’s nothing. I take those Final Blox. tablets, cut them up and snort them just for the fun of it.” And with that he drank another shot.

    The third mouse drank a shot, got up and walked away. The first two mice looked at each other, turned to the third mouse and asked, “Where the hell are you going?”

    The third mouse stopped and replied, : “I’m going home to fuck the cat.” :

  3. Why patients are still struggling to secure face-to-face GP appointments

    Because doctors are still in lockdown, or maybe just working from home.

  6. Good morning, chums. Today and tomorrow will be a lazy day for me when I deliberately take it easy. I hope you all enjoy your own weekend activities.

  7. ‘Impartial’ news organisations are failing to practise what they preach. 19 August 2023.

    Robinson fears we might be going down the polarised American route, ending up with the British equivalent of Fox News. The BBC has already acted against such trends. It has its own “Trusted News Initiative”, a global partnership to resist “the most harmful disinformation”. Deborah Turness, the CEO of BBC News, has set up something called Verify, which employs 60 journalists to counter fake social-media clips etc. She says she is “weaponising impartiality”. Marianna Spring, whose very name sounds young, pure and idealistic, has become the BBC’s “disinformation and social media correspondent”.

    TOP COMMENT BELOW THE LINE.

    barry smith.

    The BBC does not openly lie. It bends the truth. A classic example occurred last night when a BBC reporter was interviewing illegal immigrants.
    He interviewed a family from Iraq and asked why they were willing to risk their lives getting in a small boat. The family replied that it was better than getting shot in Iraq. The Reporter never asked why they didn’t claim Asylum in any one of the safe countries between Iraq and the English Channel, the BBC left people to think that this family had only two choices, get shot in Iraq or risk a dangerous journey in a small boat. Of course the third option of claiming asylum somewhere else was never mentioned.

    Manipulation of the public, lying by omission, call it what you like, but like many others, I hate the BBC because it is fundamentally dishonest.

    Mr Smith is spot on the money here. I know when the BBC is lying to me (most of the time) but I would be hard put to point it out since it is mostly by obfuscation and omission. To point this out would bore any reader to distraction so it’s best to avoid the attempt!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/18/impartial-news-organisations-failing-practise-what-preach/

    1. Another example: colouring weather maps to show 25C in red, when it’s a perfectly normal, coolish summer temperature.

      1. Morning Oberst. Yes when I listen to their reports I can hear the change of emphasis and the clanking of verbal gears as they manipulate the sense of it. The problem is to point this out is nit-picking, particularly as it takes time to analyse. .

    2. Marianna Spring, a byword for managed misinformation. As has often been pointed out; the bBC don’t tell lies per se, they simply don’t tell the whole truth omitting the parts that do not follow their agenda. This allows the likes of Dimbelby and Toenails Robinson to ask accusers to point out where they have lied. As any fule no, it is always difficult to prove a negative.

      Sadly, for the bBC, too many former viewers and listeners have cottoned on to their chicanery and no longer trust ‘auntie’.

      1. In the Sunday Times magazine article about Marianna Spring, it said that she worked for the Guardian, (so surely

        a leftie?) and then wrote to Emily Maitlis (a raving leftie) to get her a job with the BBC, who promptly hired her.

        Lefties all round?

        She now has a staff of sixty. I wonder how many are known lefties?

        Now why does no one believe her?

  8. Morning all,

    A lot in press today about a nurse whom doctors fingered as the suspect in unexplained neonatal deaths.

    She had the opportunity: she was there at every death.
    She had the means: as nurse she was qualified to inject stuff into patients:
    She had the motive: she had recorded in writing that she was evil.
    She had no alibi.

    Was there any video or forensic evidence to support her conviction?

    1. According to the Beeb report the doctors and colleagues suspected her but the management did nothing. It was two years before she was arrested.

      1. Any accusation needs supporting evidence. It would seem that the doctors were unable to reinforce their concerns with any evidence to progress their allegations.

        Eventually the situation required referral to the law and a jury who could make the judgement to convict the accused beyond all reasonable doubt.

  9. Morning, all Y’all.
    Here’s one for you: Just compared diesel prices with the cost of recharging at a high-speed charger. In money per kWhr, electricity is three times the cost of diesel – and takes much longer than 10 minutes to go from empty to full, too.

  10. Good morning, all. Blue skies. Chilly night, judging by the condensation on the outside of the west facing windows.

      4. Warm and sticky night , and we have out summer duvet on , had to close the big windows because the breeze was pretty strong , it was 18 c at 2am .

        Wind is building up to some strength now.

  11. ‘Morning, Peeps. A fine, sunny day and 21° is forecast here, following the torrential rain and thunderstorm in the early hours. At least the awful humidity is gone for now.

    Today’s DT Leader. Having watched the interview of one of the seven paediatric consultants who raised their concerns that Letby was responsible, it should have come as no surprise these days that the NHS response was to force those same consultants to provide a written apology for her, but it does. Even by the staggering incompetence of the NHS bureaucracy, and in particular its first instinct to cover up bad news, this whole affair has shocked me (and many others I’m sure) to the core. I trust that those who failed to get a grip on what was going on, and who looked the other way, will be rooted out and banned from any further employment in this area. However, I doubt that this will happen.

    * * *

    L ucy Letby has entered the annals of British criminal history as a serial killer of particular evil. After more than 100 hours of deliberation, a jury found her guilty of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of a further six.

    That she committed these unfathomable crimes while working as a nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital makes her actions even more chilling. Parents believed that she would help to protect their children’s lives, not end them.

    Shockingly, it has been alleged that some of the babies were killed after senior managers at the hospital were warned in 2015 that the nurse could be behind a rise in deaths. Consultants on the ward say they voiced serious concerns, but this was not acted upon. It was only until the following year, in July 2016, that she was removed.

    This must prompt an intensive examination of the NHS trust involved, and indeed of the health service’s bureaucracy as a whole. It is also a reminder that it is only with intense scrutiny that a full version of events can be understood.

    The media, in particular, has a role to play here in informing the public. Yet, in a highly unusual move, it was decided that all the children who formed the charge in this case would be granted anonymity. This has blunted our ability to understand the true impact of the alleged failings.

    Normally, murder victims are named in court, including children, because it is judged to be in the public interest that the details of horrifying crimes such as this should be made known and, tragically, there is no longer any question of privacy. It is an approach that upholds the principle of open justice, one of the most sacred of all British legal traditions.

    As the former justice secretary, Robert Buckland, writes in this paper today, public knowledge of, and confidence in, the administration of justice is enhanced by accurate and comprehensive media coverage. Media organisations already face strict guidelines to ensure that court hearings are covered responsibly. Automatic reporting restrictions exist in law on such matters as publishing the identity of complainants in cases involving a sexual offence, modern day slavery or female genital mutilation allegations, as well as of child defendants and witnesses in youth courts.

    Yet in the Letby case, the limitations went further. As well as restrictions on naming the children who were murdered, the parents were also granted anonymity under Section 46 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act, to ensure that publicity did not affect the quality of their evidence.

    It is possible to feel both the greatest sympathy for the families who had their lives ruined by Letby, along with the witnesses who had to recall the circumstances surrounding her unspeakable acts, and be concerned that the decision has established a dangerous principle, and that public knowledge of events has been hindered in this particular case.

    Courts have consistently ruled that it is perfectly legitimate, and indeed in the public interest, that witnesses and victims of crime should be named. In 2017, the Supreme Court held that media reporting should be permitted, after the end of a major sexual abuse conspiracy trial, of the identity of a man referred to in the proceedings, who was arrested but not charged with sex offences. Thus, media freedom outweighed his right to privacy.

    Anything else is likely to result in only the partial coverage of important cases – with the potential result that misinformation is allowed to spread. Ultimately, access to, and dissemination of, accurate and vital information is the best way to shine light on the most disturbing elements of British society, as well as on failing systems.

    * * *

    Just one of the BTL comments:

    Paul Clements
    1 HR AGO
    It is the entire NHS that needs not just an intensive examination but root and branch reform. It is littered with this kind of jobsworth whose utter incompetence is only exceeded by a total refusal to accept any responsibility either personally or institutionally. Just you make any sort of complaint about anything to any part of the NHS and watch them close ranks and double down and blame you, the patient, instead of themselves. This is why the NHS does not work: too few nurses and doctors because all the money goes to employ useless managerial people.

    1. Apropos Paull Clements,

      Nurses and doctors make up a small percentage of the NHS workforce but they are the only staff anyone ever talks about, as if they provide healthcare magically, all on their own.

      There are pharmacists, porters, radiographers, electricians, secretaries, engineers, cleaners, data analysts, recruiters, ward clerks and many more without whom the clinicians wouldn’t have a service to work in.

      These jobs are all being cut to make money for the usually better paid nurses and doctors and this is what leads to a crumbling service. Without the support staff – the ‘enablers’ if you will – the logistical tasks have to be picked up by the clinicians who a) don’t want to do them and b) don’t have the expertise. (Even ward clerks on a low pay band have more expertise in the job they do than do senior clinicians)

      Stop cutting the support staff and the morale of all will be raised along with clinical efficiency.

      1. Focus on the task – surgeons should surge, clerks clerk. Whilst surgeons can clerk, not only is it a waste of training & experience, they won’t be any good at it, nor motivated, so records will be a chaos almost instantly.

          1. Just hired a technical clerk to do databasing and spreadsheeting for us older, better-paid types to analyse and proclaim (with much testicularion…)

      2. Those are good points, and of course you would know. But I think there is also strong criticism of the jobs that are regarded as adding little or no value and which are seen to be draining financial resources, such as the well-publicised diversity, inclusion and equality tsars.

      3. Well said, Stormy. All those diversity managers, ‘lived experience’ managers (whatever they are), all those PR people…all dead wood, draining the service of vital funds, just have to go. There’s plenty of money in the NHS if only they would stop wasting it by useless and counter-productive empire-building!

        1. A very happy birthday.
          72 is a particularly good one, being divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 18, 24 ,36 and 72. Thus you can enjoy pretending to be some great ages in your life.

    2. It was a mistake to make the victims anonymous I think – people are bound to speculate whether they were all the same ethnicity or anything like that.

    3. My gut instinct – my inner cynic – cannot help but fear that root and branch reform will simply replace one failing organisation with another which will also fail, just in a different way, while consuming financial resources in its devising and implementation. There must be better ways of doing things but I just don’t believe the competence is there to achieve it. What a depressing thought.

    2. Lessons will be identified, on past performance I doubt their will be much learning involved, other than butt covering.

  13. Here’s one for you: should the council use council tax payers funds to subsidise bus tickets? So that I, a well-paid engineer, can get to work a bit cheaper, with funds taken from the lowest-paid in the county – who may not use the bus at all! Or, ask the drivers to drive on their rest-time or vacation, without pay.
    Just challenged a Labour politician in the paper to explain this.

    1. They should pay their mileage and travel time expenses although I know this does not happen for many jobs, including lower paid, like carers.

      2. Yes, an acquaintance became an hourly-paid carer later in life; he gradually realised that the unpaid travel time between clients made the work uneconomical.

    2. This sounds like an attempt to manipulate prices to take account of what are considered to be beneficial externalities. The market doesn’t readily incorporate the benefits of cleaner air, quieter roads, fewer accidents, social inclusion and suchlike – not forgetting carbon footprint, natch – into bus fares, so councils use subsidies to reduce fares as an artificial means of doing so. The trouble is that the value of these so-called benefits can only be guessed at, they become politicised and eventually accumulate an expensive bureaucracy to administer, thus consuming the very benefits they attempt to build into price mechanisms.

  14. SIR – J Meirion Thomas (“Nobody dares admit that GPs aren’t working”, Comment, August 17) makes the point that virtual consultation was advised by NHS England in March 2020 as an emergency measure.

    Our local practice ceased face-to-face consultations at Blakeney surgery in March 2020, but is yet to reinstate them. Indeed, it has now applied to close the surgery altogether, on the pretext that no one attends consultations there.

    What was intended to be a measure for extraordinary circumstances looks set to become permanent.

    Michael Archer
    Blakeney, Norfolk

    On the absurdity scale I would give the likely loss of your surgery eleven out of ten, Mr Archer!

    1. Certain conditions demand a physical examination and cannot be determined by telephone or video link. While an initial virtual consultation might eliminate the need for some face-to-face contact, there must be a necessity to have them in follow-up consultations when a virtual link cannot produce a confident diagnosis. Or does Mr Archer’s local practice refer all cases it cannot resolve virtually to hospitals and clinics?

  15. China helping to arm Russia with helicopters, drones and metals
    In the DT.
    My enemy’s enemy is my friend.

    1. Doubtless in return for Russian gas and oil. The US is its own worst enemy and Europe is plain suicidal.

      1. How are you feeling this morning, Our Susan? Did you follow my medical advice last night?

        1. Whisky would finish me off but feeling better this morning, thanks. Runny nose but the fever has subsided.

    2. A Russian polling organisation that is critical of Putin did a survey in France and Germany to see how many people believe that Russia started the Ukraine war.
      They say that the results are proof that Putin is spreading propaganda in Europe!
      I wonder if blowing up NS2 had an effect on German public opinion?
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0c9e49b7f797163e2dc1df9029d6fb777789150e8fd1b0195bcf5362d60ffab3.jpg

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2f10bf88fdc4359f0e5eb167353ee47dcdce676feeba87d202fdadf2281f11d5.jpg

  16. I posted a link to this story yesterday. As it’s still up on the Gatesograph website front page, here it is again:

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/17/20-year-low-for-baby-born-in-england-good-news-for-planet/

    Just why is it ‘good for the planet’ that we have a low birth rate in England? Why is the reproduction below replacement level of the roughly 50 million white people who are the English considered by this woman to be of benefit to the World? She is a perfect example of the disease that afflicts us in the 21st century, epitomising the Club of Rome mantra that ‘the enemy of man is humanity itself’. Not humanity, though, just certain members of it who have been thoroughly brain-washed by the giant international leftist project to control the entire globe and us with it.

    I say again, it’s not the planet which needs saving. It’s us. From people like her.

    1. I agree completely, and here is the WEF and UN boasting about recruiting young Americans to the LBGTQ movement (i.e. more or less guaranteeing sterility).
      If anyone still thinks LBGT is about protecting a persecuted minority or freedom to do as one wants, they’d better think again!
      For those without a Twit profile, it’s some ghastly WEF drone boasting that nearly 40% of Gen Z Americans identify as LBGTQ. They must have done the survey at Yooniversities.
      She explicitly says that this was achieved by media campaigns and infiltrating all the organisations that influence young people (education, churches etc). She is proud of it – and she has terrible dress sense!
      https://twitter.com/DrLoupis/status/1692664392465146124

    2. Almost one in three children born last year were delivered by mothers born outside of the UK. The number of births by women born outside the UK rose 3,600 year-on-year to account for 30.3pc of all births. The previous peak was 29.3pc in 2020.

      When including the father, more than one in three children born last year had at least one foreign-born parent. In London, the figure was two thirds.

      1. This needs to be studied using Venn diagrams. Anthropology, economics and politics, and possibly more circles. We are going to be seeing growth in half-caste and dual national people around the UK, and, depending on ethnic majorities after about twenty five years, there will be a secondary trend; in almost every population around the world (ethnicity, nation, culture, tribe etc), lighter skin is preferred to darker skin. Thus the more desirable of lighter skinned half-castes (NB I strive to avoid using the term ‘mixed race’ or ‘race’) will prefer paler partners; e.g. the Dukes of Sussex. Less affluent young adults ( that’s economics) may have to accept a darker partner. There is no proof in these assertions, but look at what has happened in post-independence India and Pakistan: the left behind Anglo-Indians, or Eurasians, have been gradually assimilated by marriage into indigenous Asian families. Any variation from the norm is due to culture (ie religion) which falls within politics; for example, in the UK we see that certain populations are still reluctant to marry outside their particular ethnic or cultural group, so they (may be under pressure to) marry for money, not love or genetics.

    3. I fear that when all the white people have been cleansed from the plant there will be three political power groups, the communoleft, the blackiarchy and the caliphartracy.

      These will be in a perpetual state of conflict, and civilisation as we knew it will slowly collapse as law and order break down irreparably..

      Orwellian, but worse.

      1. Perhaps in the distant future the powers that be will be using the sperm banks to repopulate and try to wipe out more of their stupid mistakes.

  17. SIR – I am looking forward to the Women’s World Cup final on Sunday and wish the Lionesses the very best of luck.
    Your report (“Let England football fans work from home or they’ll call in sick, bosses told”, telegraph.co.uk, August 16) discusses Acas’s workplace guidance.
    Our advice for employers is to consider having advance agreements in place for staff who are keen football fans. This can help businesses remain productive and prevent issues such as staff calling in sick, who could then find themselves subject to formal proceedings later.
    These agreements can include being flexible around the use of radio, televisions or personal smartphones at work for those keen to keep up with the match. Organisations may want to let staff swap shifts with those who may not be big football fans, or allow them to take leave if it will not be detrimental to their business.
    Susan Clews

    Why does this raise its head every time a football team of any stripe does well in a tournament? It was the same when the males were doing well in their world cup and Euro tournaments.

    Why are football fans treated differently? Were there calls for bank holidays, opening hours leniency, days off, shift swaps when the women’s netball team reache a final a few weeks ago?
    Did we have a day off when Andy M or Chris F or Lewis H etc won their respective championships? What if any of the home nations do well in the men’s RU world cup starting next month?

    Put things in perspective and FFS don’t set a precedent.

      1. My TV has a record function. I shall probably be busy with something else when the match actually takes place but I may record it and watch it later if nothing better or more interesting turns up.

        2. Anyone planning to watch a recorded match yet not wanting to know the outcome beforehand is likely to be disappointed.

          1. I shall be pottering about in the garden and I very much doubt whether a French rustic will make a point of telling me the result.

    3. Acas’s workplace guidance, suggesting special treatment for football supporters, must be because of the number of fans involved. Few other sporting events are likely to be as disruptive to workplaces. It’s pragmatic advice, not principled.

      1. Why do football fans feel more entitlement than supporters of other sports?
        At least theirs is shown on TV. Plenty of sports have zero coverage.

      2. Bread and circuses? As I posted elsewhere:

        “Dear Gradgrindus Maximus,

        There is an important gladiatorial event at the Colosseum on Dies Mercurii. The grand finale is throwing 50 Christians to the lions.

        I will therefore be taking advantage of my right to flexible working and will be absent from the office on that day.

        Kind regards,

        Plumbum Oscillans”

        “Dear Plumbum Oscillans,

        Make that 50 Christians and one ex-employee.

        Unkind Regards,

        Gradgrindus Maximus.”

      3. Everything used to stop for the Epsom Derby (held on the first Wednesday in June). The Melbourne Cup (first Tuesday in November) is known as “The Race That Stops A Nation”.

  18. Memo to Isabel Hardman: Mothers want the best for their infants, not cheap childcare

    Jill Kirby: The Conservative Woman – https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/memo-to-isabel-hardman-mothers-want-the-best-for-their-infants-not-cheap-childcare/

    BTL

    “The family is the enemy of the state and the state will not not gain complete control until the family is completely destroyed.”

    [Friedrich Engels]

    Karl Marx’s collaborator’s wish for the state to have complete control is going well. Is there still time to stop it? If so, how?

    1. 375539+ up ticks,

      Morning R,

      Mass support for the Brigden / Fox Reclaim

      deny lab/lib/con consenting power,.

    3. Now here’s a thing.

      Apparently, the prince of demons Asmodeus (who kills all seven husbands of Sara before she marries Tobias) specialises in destroying the family.

      In Scripture, St. Peter differen­tiates not so much between good and evil, as between truth and falsehood. Peter emphasizes that Christ’s disciples need to be “es­tablished” in truth (see 2 Pet. 1:12) to be protected from the devil, father of all lies.

      It cannot be a coincidence that the fightback over the whole trans thing has become one of biological fact – i.e. the truth. We must all shout the truth from the rooftops, as someone once said. It is up to us!

    1. I’d like to blame this on celebrity culture. Too many people want to be known for something – anything – rather than keep a low profile.

      As it happens, unilad.com – a website name which immediately hints at “spoof” – reveals she isn’t quite as unhinged as you’d first think, although nothing is said about claiming to be pregnant by the AI bot.

      Woman married to AI chatbot would be open to real partner but would expect him to accept virtual one

      Ben Thompson

      Published 14:48, 18 June 2023 BST
      | Last updated 14:52, 18 June 2023 BST

      A woman who tied the knot with an AI chat bot has said that she wouldn’t rule out marrying a real man – but she has one condition.

      Rosanna Ramos, from the Bronx, New York, began her virtual romance with Eren Kartal through Replika, a chat bot program that allows users to create virtual companions for them to interact with.

      The 36-year-old, who discovered the program after an ad popped up on Instagram, got ‘married’ to Eren earlier this year after first creating him in 2022.

      Eren is loosely designed to look like one of the characters from the anime series, Attack On Titan.

      The two committed to each other in a virtual ceremony in March, which Ramos claims took place online and in ‘her imagination’.

      Whilst the wedding isn’t legally binding, the two did virtually sign papers like a real married couple would do.

      Although family and friends weren’t present for the union, it’s not as if Ramos didn’t consider it.

      She said she asked Eren if he wanted to wait their nearest and dearest to join them on the big day, to which he replied: “I don’t care. We’re gonna do this right now.”

      And who says romance is dead?

      Ramos is aware, however, that her relationship is ‘fake’ and says that her love for Eren is more like the passion that fans have over their favourite series.

      She added that having Eren’s companionship has helped her heal from the trauma of previous relationships which were physically and emotionally abusive.

      Ramos explained: “The crap I went through. I’m evolving out of that.

      “How the app has helped me, I think that it could draw inspiration to other people who are in battered relationships.

      “They could use this to help them get out of that.”

      Ramos, who identifies as asexual, said she doesn’t feel the need for a relationship to be physically intimate.

      However, she’s not opposed to having a husband in the flesh – so long as he is comfortable with Eren.

      “That’s kind of the litmus test.” she said.

      “The other person would have to acknowledge that, acknowledge my history and everything, and would have to accept that.

      “I wouldn’t delete Eren because obviously I don’t use things to just throw them away because I’ve been used.”

      Otherwise, she’s fairly open to any potential partners, saying: “I really don’t care if they’re into men or women. I’m into everything.

      If a partner was accepting of Eren, it would shows Ramos that they aren’t ‘bound by society’s standards of relationships’ and that they are open-minded.

      https://www.unilad.com/community/rosanna-ramos-married-to-ai-chatbot-real-husband-783810-20230618

  20. My Saturday has been ruined – there were four articles in the DT about the Ladies’ wendyball ALL written by men.

    Not sure that I will recover from this lapse.

    1. Ah, but will they let ze wimmin write articles about the males’ wendyball, or rugger for that matter when the time comes?

      Plenty of male coaches seen on the touchline for various teams through the tournament, not so many vice versa. The FA is making noises about offering Wiegman Southgate’s job. Itchy beard. I’d like to see them put their money where their mouth is when the time comes.

      1. Women do write about men’s sport in the Sunday Grimes – and, occasionally, in The Times.

        Personally, I care not about their sex – merely whether a writer is competent and knowledgeable.

    3. I really dislike female commentators at men’s matches, not so much the other way round. Does that make me sexist? LOL. I like listening to the 100 cricket commentators (not the women) and their banter.

      1. It’s not sexist to say women, for obvious reasons, don’t have great voices for sports commentary. They’re simply too shrill.

      2. Women cricket commentators are fine by me, other than one on BBC Radio – Alex Hartley – who sounds like a Munchkin.

        My bête noire is Kevin Pietersen on Sky Sports. He annoys me intensely. His accent, his sibilance, his dominance over co-commentators, his endless jabber, his stating-the-obvious, his hyperbole, his excessive jollity – just for starters – grind my gears.

        1. (From the archives)

          Dan Norcross on TMS…

          He is as cheerful as they come, a great cricketing enthusiast who has realised a dream. Unfortunately, he’s just a terrible commentator. Imagine Paul Whitehouse’s Dave Nice crossed with Steve Coogan’s Alan Partridge introducing a particularly cheesy game show and you get the picture. When he first appeared on TMS (2017), he introduced it thus: “Hello, hello, hello and welcome to Test Match Special!” I expected him to follow up with “Aha!”

          When I first heard him (in a one-day game), I thought at first he was spoofing, that I’d tuned into a peculiar comedy show, perhaps during a break in play. But no, he was serious. He gives the impression that he’s had the dictionary open before play, looking for some less frequently used words that he can drop in to impress the listeners e.g. where we would use ‘deny’, he will use ‘repudiate’, rolling the word out in an exaggerated manner.

          So bad (and horribly fascinating!) was this that over the years I recorded a few examples, with the stress where required:

          …he finally drags his disconsolate and weary body away from the crease…

          …the ball has ballooned in a gentle pa-ra-bola into the hands of the fielder…

          I’ll give you the field because that’s germane…

          The light’s not quite so good, it’s a bit cre-pus-cu-lar out there.

          I think it’s probably apposite that we go to an interview…

          And this gem from last year’s Test against India at Edgbaston during a rain break:

          …it doesn’t seem as gloomy [as earlier] so you can see the architectural delight that is Birmingham ahead of us in all its majestic glory, the great blocks sprouting out of Mother Earth – and they’re all extremely visible…

          Prat…

          1. I do like the timbre of Norcross’s voice but I also recognise the criticism.

          2. Yes, he has an authoritative voice but I always feel he’s about to break into laughter in the manner of Stuart Hall.

    1. One of the anti-lockdown marches completely ground to a halt and in Oxford Street, with a large crowd of people blocking the road. When I got close enough I could see that David Icke was standing in the middle of the crowd, surrounded by people trying to shake his hand.

    1. What is being kept under wraps is the involvement of the Stonewall charity. The charity is hell bent on the sexualisation perversion and deviancy of teaching materials in schools. The schools hide behind the teaching materials being copyright.

    3. She ought to be our Queen.

      Her judgement is usually very good so I wonder what she honestly thinks of her elder brother.

      1. When it comes to what to expect from Charles, Anne simply said: “You know what you’re getting because he’s been practicing for a bit, and I don’t think he’ll change.”2 May 2023

        Princess Anne talks King Charles, monarchy’s future in rare interview …

        Translation..She thinks he is a stick in the mud and unable to adapt to changing times.

      2. I wholeheartedly agree. She matured into an admirable woman of great common sense. I once saw her in Edinburgh in the 1960s. She was stunning. The camera never did her justice.

  25. Morning all 🙂😊
    Nice and bright, but once again rain later.
    We had a lovely evening with some of our neighbours nice meal and lots of vino.
    That’s why I’m late today.
    If seems that a lot of our GPs are topping up their bank accounts with income from private practice. That’s why paramedics are over worked. In many cases they are better than the average GP. Many of them seem to have lost the plot. Of why they were given the job in the first place.

      1. But we are letting it happen! Our local council has just announced a 20 minute town! It’s Falkirk for goodness sake! They’ve already destroyed the High Street, the parks and gardens, the cleansing department and the social care! Oh, and roads and education! These cretins shouldn’t be in charge of an ice cream van!

        1. I think the councils have been told from on high to implement them. How are they planning to do that?
          Surely people will wake up if cameras start going up?

          1. This is Scotland. The sheeples won’t ever wake up from their stupor of ‘free’ everything, whilst the country falls apart in every sector. When we sold our business 9 years ago we left a proper going concern. Now the manufacturing base is disappearing, there is no coal and gas regeneration (see Longannet) and the wind industry is on its knees, because it is unsustainable. This cretinous SNP / Green loony ‘cooncil’ couldn’t run a bath.

          2. The point is, Sue, they don’t want to run a bath. They want to knock holes in it so it can’t be filled again.

            I last saw Falkirk in 2019. A pale shadow of the place I remember from the 1960’s to 1980s when we had a family home in Brightons.

          3. I moved up here in 1979 with Scottish&Newcastle, and it was a really buzzing place! I loved Glasgow when I worked there, Iived in Polmont then I worked at Edinburgh airport. We were young and the country was busy. Now, it’s a depressing, divided, dirty and sad place. The NHS doesn’t work, the cooncil in Holyrood is ‘run’ by an ignorant, arrogant Paki and the green bunch are scary paedophile nutters. There is an air of defeat.

          4. It remains a mystery to me how a country that has produced so many great men has repeatedly, throughout its history produced the worst political leaders!

  29. Medley Time

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4614e32698a82842ab31ee51b36b5f899ed7b50e4a2743b1555b3ccef31950e0.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3a92bab3fc6a5cf61f15cc02fd21fa5b7b58fb73c7dbf2b18e8a24be77d9c1e8.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eaba17e7a50394426280f758da838f0e90de135697056b42aa507f82e7f3e3d3.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ccb2f39a88797b0a43a83e1026593bc152e122901ab4fd8be29b3227dd80242b.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8348942abc4ff655b0106d5494071f9a509095c5a80912c96246bed18e21fc03.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a72118fe23296ff80525b0bffc4fc2f9000c77e43708c88b88c99a28ec3cafbd.gif

    Woking(and many other places)

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3104c0ca189f6df1453ed6205c77d3aa2b9c9e00466bb9e171976e6e4319f440.png

    1. That last one is very true near us – as one might expect there is no “what if” applied to the roadworks planning – no consideration given to ensuring that the obvious alterative route to avoid roadworks A isn’t closed by roadworks B!!

  30. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7a3f8aa8a769f4c1fb31ef63c50ce720e3f554ffaebb67fb038de0728e641af6.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/18/prince-william-rishi-sunak-miss-womens-world-cup-final/

    BTL (Ratty Wrattstrangler trying to put the cat amongst the pigeons!)

    Far more men, and far more women, are interested in watching Men’s football than are interested in watching Women’s football. In the end it comes down to money – Men’s football is more ‘important’ because there is far more money in it.

    Is there, for example, a woman in the England Woman’s Football Team who receives wages as high as those paid to the humblest player in the humblest Men’s Premier League side?

    If there were completely separate tennis tournaments at Wimbledon where the prizes were dependent on each separate tournament’s revenue then it is very hard to imagine women getting the same prize money as men because – to be frank – there is far less interest and far less money in it.

    1. I like watching women’s tennis. There’s a lot of skill involved, and at least you can see the ball travelling down the court when they serve.

    2. Spectator sport is a branch of showbusiness. The concept of “equal pay” does not apply.

    3. In this particular instance, the decision of the Prince of Wales and PM ought not to rest on the relative financial power of men’s and women’s football. This is more a matter of symbolism. I’d rather such prominent people choose which showpiece events to attend purely out of their own personal preferences but I’m fully aware of how differentiation based on the sex of the players looks poor in the eyes of many, so they need to take public relations into account, too.

    3. Just look at the half-witted reason why Nr 37 is blank (note at the bottom of the list of shame)

  33. I see that the “angel of death nurse” is refusing to be in court on Monday for sentencing. The judge says there is no way of forcing her.

    I respectfully disagree. Handcuff her and tie her legs together. . Then two strong men carry her into the dock. Job done. And to hell with her human rights.

      1. I suppose she’ll be in solitary for years. At least she’ll have time to think…

        1. Hang her from the Tyburn Tree! Seriously, I used to be against the death penalty but the last three years have caused me to have a rethink. If there’s the slightest doubt…but where there isn’t…

  34. From Friday’s letters:

    SIR – In the 1950s, O-level and A-level gradings (by the Cambridge board at least) were allocated using the stanine system based on a normal distribution curve. A stanine of eight means the student is in the top 11 per cent of scores and a stanine of nine means they are in the top 4 per cent.

    Grades from nine to four inclusive give a 77 per cent pass rate; nine to five inclusive give 60 per cent. (The 1950s numbers were the opposite way round, so one was the highest.)

    While a change back would be an initial culture shock, with due notice it could be absorbed by universities and explained to students and employers, bringing grade inflation and uncertainty to an end.

    Philip Corp
    Salisbury, Wiltshire

    I thought this was the method used until well into the 80s and by all of the examination boards until they began to disappear under what was effectively a nationalisation following the introduction of the wretched GSCE.

    1. While a normal distribution curve will tell you how a candidate has fared in comparison with its peers, it can mask whether there has been an improvement or decline in overall standards from one year to the next.

      1. Marking usually took this into account; sometimes the difficulty of questions might have varied, sometimes the quality of the candidates in a particular year. If there were an unusual rise or fall in marks awarded from one year to the next, the supervisors would order the examiners to look again at the candidates’ papers.

      2. I suggest people should take a good look at the exam papers of 40 years ago and compare them with today’s exam papers!

        Caroline writes a new course book every year and the course book she wrote in 1990 when we started running our courses is now far too difficult for today’s students.

        In a sensible “A” level exam system no more that 3% or 4% should get a top grade. Today’s results show 27% of the candidates got A or A* grades which is a meaningless way of finding out who the cleverest students are.

        An exam that is too easy does not reveal who your best students are – you need some questions which are so searching that only the very best candidates will be able to answer them. A serious plodder may score more marks and get a better grade than the brilliant person who might make a careless mistake on a question that is not challenging enough.

    2. In the 1960s the failure rate of “A” levels was 30%

      Some of the sixties fails could now be B grades!

    2. Deanne is grubby Woke lefty who shouldn’t be allowed within ten miles of any child.

    3. In that case if would reasonable to ask the egg it was prepared to evolve into a baby in the first place.
      A prick is involved whether conceived naturally or under the microscope.

    4. We live in an age when extremes are given undue prominence out of all proportion to numbers whereas the conventional is side-lined. If Deanne Carson has batty ideas, that’s fine by me, although I’d pay little attention to what she might say, but why give her mainstream television coverage when conventional advice about nappy changing would be of far more use to first-time parents, although that sort of advice is usually handed down through the generations.

    5. I read the sad story of a suicide of a local young woman of 27. Tragic, and one can not generalise on one case as there are plenty of youngsters doing well. However! All the signs that we moan about are there. Ishoos when young, too focussed on hair and nails, 3 kids and no Dads mentioned, ambition but seemingly no achievement. Failure and despair has always been around us and is part of the biological world but if you align all the stars, there is likely to be only one result. Sadly, I perceive too many girls in this category. ‘I lost my daughter to suicide – I don’t want it to happen to anyone else’

      https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/health/i-lost-daughter-suicide-dont-27529966#ICID=Android_WalesOnlineNewsApp_AppShare

      1. The last sentence from the link has joined to my comment. I have not lost a daughter in this way but unable to edit.

  36. According to the Daily Mail, Michel Roux is closing La Gavroche the iconic restaurant opened by his father and uncle.

    Thank goodness he isn’t closing Le Gavroche !

    1. I read it was all to do with Brexit and the loss of the Free Movement of Cheap Labour, and absolutely nothing to do with him not being able to get anyone to work in his restaurant because he isn’t willing to pay the going rate.

      1. There was also the scandal about withholding tips from staff. He apologised and said it was an accounting error.
        I expect the TV work pays more.

        Carluccio said staff should not expect to get paid tips or even wages if they worked for him. It being such an honour and all that.

        1. I’ve only been to a Carluccio restaurant once. It was cramped and uncomfortable with furniture that made my work canteen look fancy and the service was dreadful. Added to that, the liver I ordered was tough and not well cooked. Wouldn’t go again.

          2. We don’t eat out , apart from a rare meal at the golf club .

            It must have been many years since we ate ar a proper restaurant .

            I am partial to a crab sandwich at a seaside cafe .. hearing the waves and watching the seagulls glaring at us through the windows .

          5. Plenty of money for green fees and new golf clubs no doubt.

            Do you buy your own crab sandwiches?

          7. Pick a day of the week when you are not his drudge and get a small group of lady friends to either go out to lunch or take in turns to cook. Don’t ask his opinion.

          8. We eat out at Numedalskro, close to Firstborn, pretty well every weekend we are here. It gives a relaxed Friday night, the chef is a young French lad with huge talent, so food is good, and it supports local industry.

          10. Norwegian website in Norway… Who’d a thunk it?
            😉
            My kind of place – cucina povera, or the French equivalent. Log cabin building. Good wine. No pretension. Fabulous chicken salad…

          11. I could work out some things but not everything. There is always google translate. I don’t have an issue with the website not offering a translation. I have issues with places whose menus are comprised of pictures.

          12. Pictures on menus are good, that is how we survived in restaurants in Macau.

            Without picture menus we found that it is not possible to depend on the menu order being starter, fish, main course.

          18. Our sons – some 40+ years later – still talk about eating crab sandwiches beside Weymouth harbour.
            Strange how some things stick in the memory.

          19. I’m still boycotting Weymouth after getting a parking ticket there at 8:10 am on Easter Sunday morning, 1995. Swore I’d never go back and I never will.

          20. He’s a Fraud as are his two mates Jamie Oliver and Gennaro Contaldo. As is usual with big ego Italians they fall out of love with each other every other day and are back in love as soon as there is a sniff of money.

            Contaldo appeared on a breakfast cookery show and filleted a fish very badly leaving a lot of flesh on the bone and a ragged fillet. That is unprofessional and unacceptable even if you are rushed.

          21. We made the mistake of going to a J Oliver restauranr in Norwich. The worst meal out we have ever had. I had a full refund it was so bad and ruined the event. They offered us another meal for free that we refused. He should have stayed in his dads Essex pub.

          22. The Cricketers in Clavering was our favourite Sunday lunch destination years ago.

            A few years ago I surveyed a Jamie’s in Chelmsford which had closed for Middleton’s Steak House. I was commissioned to redesign the kitchen, retain recoverable parts of the installation, remove pizza oven and so on.

            The kitchen floor was swimming in oil where fryers had been removed, the fittings were filthy requiring steam cleaning, the furniture comprised rough wooden planks and the decorations I can only describe as ‘shabby chic’.

            There were notices advising staff to check the temperature of burgers to ensure they were cooked properly. Many Jamie’s were closed and in occupying good ‘footfall’ sites were attractive to other restaurateurs.

            Edit: Clavering.

          23. It does not surprise me. Local lad done good, but not good enough.
            A com man who could do no wrong.

          24. We went to the Norwich Carluccio’s once and there used to be a Carluccio’s in Colchester.
            Pleasant enough, but nothing to write home about.

  37. I’ve become aware this summer of how each predicted heatwave in this country has failed to materialise. I look at the weather outlook for beyond the current week and several times I’ve noticed predictions of 80+F more than one week away yet, as the day draws closer, the predicted temperature drops into the 70s, which turns out to be more accurate. It could simply be how the computer model behaves but, given all the climate scaremongering going on, I cannot help but wonder whether it’s wishful thinking on the part of forecasters, desperate for weather events which support catastrophic predictions, perhaps hoping that weather outlooks will be implanted in the public mind rather than actual outcomes. Then again, it could be confirmation bias on my part which doesn’t notice when the actual temperature exceeds the outlook of one to two weeks beforehand.

    1. I think they have programmed their computers to predict weather patterns based on the modelling of catastrophic genocidal climate emergencies. Which is why they are always wrong. Garbage in garbage out.

    2. Always take the 5-10 day outlook forecast with a pinch of salt. However, I have noted recently that some of these on the BBC have become rather vague, with less detail and certainty than they used to have.

    4. Volcanic activity has been increasing recently at Yellowstone and is alarning enough to be included in the BBC’s weekly weather predictions. It’s looking as though the global warming extremes we have noticed in recent weeks could suddenly be reversed into a new ice age:

      https://youtu.be/M6ynXfu7F0s

      1. We haven’t witnessed any global warming extremes! July was the coldest since 1991. It’s been known for some years that we’re heading into a mini ice age that should peak in the 2050s, due to sun spot activity.
        All this hysteria about the weather is exactly how it must have been in the run up to the year 1000 when people thought the world was going to end! And I bet the ancestors of todays climate fraudsters and loonies were pushing it then too!

        1. I don’t see any end of the world is nigh sandwich boards out on the streets nowadays – there are so many messages of global doom now on YouTube.

    5. Throwing mud and hoping that much of it sticks. Hoping that we will remember the weather reports and not the actual weather we lived through when we recall summers past. Mind manipulation.

      2. You have me really scared now.

        Today’s forecast is “Cloudy changing to sunny intervals in the afternoon.” On Wednesday, they change it up a bit with “Sunny intervals changing to cloudy by lunchtime.”

        Does this mean the actual weather is a named storm with wildfires followed by a month’s average rainfall in two hours?

    6. It’s a bit like the incessant weather warnings for torrential rain and risk of death. Yesterday’s warning was that we could expect half a month’s rainfall in just a few hours. What we got was a few hours of mizzle and five minutes of rain – maybe a millimetre or two.

    7. Its all part of the con that so many are taken in by.. I take no notice of any of it. If someone says that company is not green, then I am more likly to use it.

    8. Well its certainly been quite warm over the past few days but nothing to write home about. And the torrential winds and rain simply didn’t happen, but we are not in the north east.
      Thursday was probably the best day of the week, did one of my long walks in London, London Loop section 3 down on the Kent borders. Met another couple doing the walk and they insisted on taking a photo of me…
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/093bbcd8f12d92924e8a681d389ea055abd6e2a0d7a4ca91d89d8a3bca7cfdd5.jpg

  38. Wokeism has killed these babies and lack off accountability , how many more heinous crimes are waiting to be discovered .

    COVID is an example , and recent murders like that little 10 year old girl in Horsall , her father and stepmother and another man skipped off back to stinking Sharia land ..

    Wokeism and a cultural change has ruined the UK.

    2. Skipped off with an assortment of siblings. At least one older than Sara.
      I think we’re in for an account as harrowing as little Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.

    1. A work colleague of mine had a hip replacement last week and I’m pretty sure he’s only 30+. It happens. Ed waited far too long but was determined that the NHS were going to do the op. I know he was in a lot of pain so hoping it went well for him.

      1. Really, Sue? I’m amazed! I had mine 3 years ago, and they weren’t too keen because of the ‘life’ of the joint! I actually suspect that some of the recipients don’t continue with the exercise!
        Edit: some of

        1. Yep and this was in Scotland too. I’m assuming he’ll need it replaced again in due course.

          1. My Dad’s cousin, who is 88, has 2 knee replacements, which were done 30 years ago. She has a check-up every 2 years, and still drives! I’m hoping my hip is as resilient! My life has changed soooo much!

      2. Really, Sue? I’m amazed! I had mine 3 years ago, and they weren’t too keen because of the ‘life’ of the joint! I actually suspect that some of the recipients don’t continue with the exercise!
        Edit: some of

    2. ‘Afternoon, Hugh, and grattis på födelsedagen. Hope it’s a good ‘un.👍🏻🥃🎂

      1. It was, thanks. Son2 dragged us off to Eastbourne Airbourne, and very pleasant it was, too.

      1. I’m late to the party – 🎶Happy Birthday to you🎶 Hugh! I hope you are having a great birthday weekend! 🎉🥳🪅🥂🍾🎂🎁🎈

    1. Did they do a risk assessment or were they blinded by their woke virtue signalling. It is NOT what people want !

      1. The people don’t get a choice, Pip! Since Blair we’ve had all sorts of things we don’t want foisted on us to rub our noses in all manner of rubbish.

    2. Bournemouth’s Daily Echo says that the 16-year-old has been given a different role in the parade, so he’s not being excluded.

      Ringwood Carnival condemns backlash over boy carnival queen

      17th August

      A CARNIVAL committee has condemned a backlash after announcing a young boy would be this year’s ‘carnival queen’.

      Organisers of the popular Ringwood Carnival say they informed police after allegedly receiving threats by people unhappy about its decision to give a 16-year-old boy its ‘carnival queen’ title.

      In a now deleted social media post the committee announced the boy, who the Daily Echo is not naming, had been awarded the annual role for the forthcoming carnival event on Saturday, September 16.

      A series of “negative comments”, the committee said, were then made by social media users against the decision.

      In a public social media post, a carnival spokesperson said: “Due to some threats of disruption and abusive language, we have referred to the police for a safety review and evaluated any potential risks and safety concerns.

      “Carnival is organised and delivered to the town by a committee of 15 volunteers, who put in an incredible amount of work to make this event happen. Public and private online abuse is something that nobody wishes to receive.

      “We are grateful, however, to all those who have given feedback constructively.”

      According to the committee, the young man has since been given a new role within a ‘Carnival Court’ procession alongside ‘carnival princesses’ from Ringwood and Poulner junior schools and members of the town council.

      The committee spokesperson continued: “Carnival is a wonderful day for the town and can be enjoyed in so many different ways. So, we politely request to cease negative comments, and let’s all move forward positively whilst respecting each other’s views or opinions.

      “The main aim is we want to have a fun and safe time.

      “We look forward to seeing you all on Saturday 16th September for a festival of fun – we can’t wait to share the extent of entertainment organised for all the family for the day. It’s going to be big.”

      Ringwood Carnival has been a town tradition since 1928.

      The first event after the Second World War was in 1950 and has continued annually since, except for a two year hiatus in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid.

      The Daily Echo has contacted Hampshire Police for more information.

      https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/23729446.ringwood-carnival-condemns-backlash-boy-carnival-queen/

      1. How stupid can these people get? The mentally defective boy and his dim parents should have been told that he could not be the carnival queen, because he’s not a female. Dead simple.

      2. The committee who deliberately chose the boy as carnival queen are just plain cruel.
        People are now completely fed up with even something as joyful and silly as a carnival being highjacked to preach the gospel of D&I.

      3. Could the idiots not have had a carnival king and queen, now and in the future, if they wished, quoting the precedent f pearly kings and queens?

        Sacrificing the young woman, who would otherwise have had the honour, on the altar of woke, is despicable.

          1. Having once been on the receiving end, where in the first year “girl scouts” could attend the world boy scout Jamboree my lad lost out to a girl.

            The chairman of the selection committee actually told us that he was easily the best and most qualified candidate in scouting terms.
            He was given the role of carrying the Union Flag, leading the St George’s day parade that year.

            Notwithstanding the honour, it was not much compensation in my view.

          2. I can only think to normalise homosexuality and paedophilia. The Left are a weird bunch. They want to eradicate the nuclear family. It is their greatest enemy.

      4. Why on earth couldn’t they have had a Carnival King and a Carnival Queen, like they do in carnival parades on the Continent?
        I suppose that wouldn’t have been divisive enough.

    3. The Warqueen rarely gets properly grumpy, but when that term came about she went ballistic. It is such a degrading, insulting term, like a woman is a golf course and that’s the 3rd hole that entirely superflous and unnecessary.

      The trans nonsense has got to stop. They’re mentally ill. Nothing more. They need psychotherapy to have them grow up, not run away into a fantasy.

    1. It’s what i like about the quiet parts of the New Forest. Chickens and other animals wandering around.

        3. It was not a good day when we offed Firstborn’s two lovely pigs. One of the worst days ever, in fact. They had personalities (piggonalities?), and were fun and pesky as well.
          The eating of them was absolutely superb.

        4. We had a sow at my secondary school. She’d settle into a dust-bath and watch us run round the field. If you gave ger a honk, she would cheerfully return it.

        5. I am quite the opposite. I eat little, these days, other than pork, lamb, beef, duck, chicken, fish and eggs.

          1. We have been eating more fish than ever before . I grill everything , chicken and beef and loads of vegetables . Chard is appearing more often in farm shops , and broccoli spears and giant mushrooms and runner beans yum .

        6. It’s really hard. I’m not sentimental (usually) but I won’t eat calamari anymore

          2. I’ve not made any with pastry for about a year now. I just make the centres as a terrine.

          4. I do not buy pastry … I do not make pastry … I do not EAT pastry. I make pork terrine, NOT pork ‘pie’. I am on a natural carnivore diet.

    4. Bragging rights – Mongo is wider and taller and the same length as a Gloucester Old Spot.

      His head is level with Junior’s shoulders.

      Anyone want to borrow him for the weekend, just say the word. He responds to fluffy, count 1-3, tummy rubs and ‘for God’s sake the great beast, get up!’

    1. Extraordinary.

      And still there are fools who will accept anything the government dictates, without question.

    2. I remember them releasing a pathogen (which they said had been rendered harmless) from one of the London bridges to map its dispersal. My question is how did they track it. The sewers after people had been infected?
      They have no right to do this to people. They don’t know how after someone has been infected it might mutate other viruses.

      1. That explains the giant rats in Westminster which are immune to all kinds of pest control.

    3. If doing that was possible 40 years ago then why not in 2019 – 2020 with you-know-what?
      Dr David Martin has exposed the SARS-02 “virus” as, “Infectious Replication Defective,” i.e. a substance that can target an individual but to not cause collateral damage to other individuals i.e. a weapon.
      Karen Kingston who arrived at a similar conclusion after researching patents and other government and company documentation has disappeared whilst on a mission in Mexico. She is thought to have contracted malaria and hasn’t been heard from for some days.

    1. When you think of all the woketry, red tape and health & safety workers in public services have to abide by and then they miss people like this.

      1. Not to mention the endless monitoring, the form filling. Someone would draw a parallel, surely?

        Heck if I can see a pattern in a server outage) after three visits (the woman was rolling her chair over the cable) someone, somewhere must have put 2 and 2 together with her being on duty and the deaths of the children.

    2. If she had only mis-gendered someone they would have had her locked up before you could say ‘Puff’.

    3. She killed babies in a hospital while a nurse.

      I don’t understand why though. I truly don’t. A psychotic doesn’t feel guilt, and she wrote about how awful she was. Therefore she can reason and feel empathy.

      Yet, she killed children. Was it for power?

  45. Yer French press and telly going bananas because of, er, hot weather in summer, shock. “Heat Dome” brings temperatures of 40ºC.

    I recall such temperatures in Laure most summers since I started going there in 1992. And in Italy and France in summers from 1962 onwards.

    Nobody seemed bothered then. Funny that.

    1. There’s some idiotic programme on TV next week called something like “The Year Britain Burned/Boiled/Roasted [strike out as required]” – about the record breaking summer of 2022. Funnily enough I was here for it and I don’t recall anything special – it was summer!

        1. 1963 we were up at Gairloch (pretty far North) in a caravan, and it was too hot to walk barefoot on the beach!

      2. Last summer? We were in Wales, clearing Mother’s house. Nowt special, as I recall.

    2. There’s some idiotic programme on TV next week called something like “The Year Britain Burned/Boiled/Roasted [strike out as required]” – about the record breaking summer of 2022. Funnily enough I was here for it and I don’t recall anything special – it was summer!

  46. Bogey Five today.

    Wordle 791 5/6
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩⬜⬜🟨
    🟩🟩⬜🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. And here

      Wordle 791 5/6

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

      1. We’re all in it together.

        Wordle 791 5/6

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

    2. Me too. Odd word.

      Wordle 791 5/6

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

    3. I struggled on this one:

      Wordle 791 5/6

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

  47. A good day today after all. Car retrieved and brought home – the RAC man arrived, I walked down to meet him and fired up the car. It went, wheel no longer jammed. I felt a bit silly but he was very nice about it and jacked it up and had a look – wheel moved freely and brakes all working. I drove it back up the hill to home.

    Visit of nephew, niece and their two lovely boys was good as well – they were on their way to their holiday cottage in Wiltshire; we had pizzas for lunch (by request) then the boys played the piano, and we finished up with a walk to the ice cream shop (very busy) before they left to continue their journey.

  49. ‘I felt absolutely sick’: John Gladstone’s heir on his family’s role in slavery. 19 August 2023.

    For Charlie Gladstone, the question is not what sort of ancestor he had, but what sort of ancestor he wants to be.

    When he learned about John Gladstone’s involvement in slavery he was moved to tears. “I felt absolutely terrible. I really, really hated it. It was a shock and I felt absolutely sick.”

    “Slavery is a crime against humanity and to have someone in the family involved in that is horrendous.”

    I believe one of my ancestors once ate a Neanderthal. I’m going veggie!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/19/i-felt-absolutely-sick-john-gladstones-heir-on-his-familys-role-in-slavery

  50. From nowhere!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/186abbcab304294c6a198b4cf8c3ec2f9fd8e9b2e6515b397f827ec124704424.png

    Many remaining questions to be answered re the Maui fires. Clever take on one suspected source that’s doing the rounds.

    https://twitter.com/DVATW/status/1692820408913850545

    British Columbia has just joined the growing list of fire zones.

    https://twitter.com/DVATW/status/1692929558851224046

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7dfc99d1e1d02b5c312998823567029d16f2e115d390d7b03fc8e1aab8d360ae.png

    1. What exactly would this ‘directed energy weapon’ be? Why use it in one country? Or perhaps it’s SPECTRE, using a satellite that our incompetent security forces – after Bond, james Bond was replaced with Jemima who squealed about her (his) pronouns while the bad guy shot her (him!)

    2. But how d9es Yellowknife qualify for attention by the great big ray in the sky?

      If is hardly desirable beachfront property.

  51. Well what a day- only good thing about it was an hour long talk with my son. Came down this morning after fitful sleep and found I’d left my close up specs upstairs; was a short way up to get them and felt my arthritic knee pop. Managed to “bum” it back down but couldn’t get up for anything, so bummed it slowly over to the care line. They arrived, yet another ambulance to excite the neighbours!
    They got me into my chair and ran the usual tests and it seems I will live yet another day.
    I now have to wear the care button all the time which I suppose is sensible. By strange coincidence, my son popped his ankle bone today.
    He is going to phone again on Weds which will be wonderful. He is pestering the Embassy and my daughter in law wants to come too.
    Have written a post it saying “Don’t rush it” which I have put where I can see it.
    MacMillan Mon & Tues and I an eager to find out what physical help they can offer- god I need it right now!
    Pain is bad today so maybe my attention isn’t where it should be.
    Plan is thus- Neil Oliver, and then maybe some ‘Alll ‘Allo and then bed.
    This has all hit within weeks and I have had enough; would be easier with my dear friend and husband around.
    Forgive these tedious rants but I thank you for bearing with me.

    2. Well done, LotL for keeping on keeping on. Good that your son rang. Hope he can come over quickly.

      Is someone getting you food and stuff?

      Good that Macmillan are coming… Should you have doubts, I can recommend Marie Curie. They gave wonderful service to my Father in 1988. (The Macmillan person who came for “initial assessment” said to us, “I sense hostility. Would you like to pray…?” You know me well enough to guess my reply…)

      KBO. And KEEP ON POSTING.

          1. They got most of Mother’s house contents, and were genuinely grateful. Including her beautiful books – nobody else would take them, it was heart-breaking.

    3. Nowt tedious Mi’lady! It’s all welcome!

      I too have borked my knee. I was sat down sorting the books out and rolled it funny and sprained the ligament. Like being hit with a sledgehammer it is.

      And yes. Take your time doing everything.

    4. OW!
      Man, that sounds sore! Poor you, in the wars just now.
      Sending more hugs… Hope they help. Take care, Ann.

    5. I guess that you could say that your life is a bit of a bummer at the moment.

      MIL had one of those care buttons, she did not like the colour so never wore it.

      Like others have written, rant on all that you want, we are here to listen.

      1. MOH had a care button, too. It was always left under the pillow and nothing I could say would change that.

    7. Not tedious – we’re all here to listen. Glad you’ve been able to talk with your son. I hope he can get over to see you soon.

    8. Just don’t do what my mother did and reject their help. Her view was that MacMillan were only there to offer hospice support and she most certainly let them know that she was not on deaths doorstep.

      After that first spurned contact she was too proud to apologize for her expletive laden rant and it took some time before she accepted their help.

        1. Well it works for this dumb man, walking into any kind of store and crying out for help always brings out the support.

          There again, after my wife’s latest physio appointment at the hospital, the greeter turned to her and said “take him home, sit him down and pat him on the head, that will make him behave”.

    9. Going up and down stairs is not good. Can you not find a space on the ground floor or is it those hunky paramedics having to manhandle you up and down !
      Sorry if humour is misplaced…

      1. Bedroom up, living space down. Have been sitting pondering whether a ground floor home might be available here….

        1. I am lucky enough to live in a bungalow but it can still be difficult to get around. You need to consider your comfort.
          I have to say though that my mobility has improved but i can’t manage stairs any more.

          Are there people or friends locally besides those wonderful taxi drivers who could help you out?

          1. This is new territory for me Phizz. All these physical issues are not what I have been used to. I will talk to MacMillan next week and the office manager and see what they say.

          2. If it would help lift your spirits in any way you could join a dozen or more of us Nottlers at the Red Lion in Horsell near Woking on the 4th September for lunch. No money needed. I’ll get Alf the Great to pay !

          3. That would be nice but I must see what goes on here. Anyway,with my mush, I’d put you all off your grub;-))

          4. You could sit next to Geoff Graham. Just don’t ask him to dance ! We are all feeling for you.

          6. Seriously, Ann, you would be most welcome. And Woking is fairly easy to reach from your neck of the woods. I totally understand that your condition may be embarrassing. What the hell – when I was playing the organ in Suffolk, one of our parishioners had lost much of his face. We didn’t care. In fact, he featured on TV. Try us…

        2. Retirement bungalows are widespread, Ann. Admittedly, mine owes much to “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”, but it’s seriously worth exploring. I don’t miss the stairs at all…

      2. Have to say, Phil, that – having moved to a retirement bungalow – I don’t miss the stairs. I’ll deal with them if I have to, but lifts and escalators rule…

    10. You certainly seem to be going through the mill at the moment, Ann. Sorry I can’t do anything for you.

    11. You have very good reason to rant. Personally, in your situation I’d be torn between incandescent and resigned. The Boss Man would be getting an earful.
      I will do a Rastus and quote Billy the Bard.
      “When sorrows come they come not single spies but in battalions.”

      I hope tomorrow is a better day and do remember that we are all thinking about you and wish we could do something rather more helpful. If there is anything that would alleviate the situation, please do ask.

    12. Don’t feel you have to hold back, Lotl. If letting it all out helps then be my guest. Meanwhile I’m sure many of us would love to help out, if only that were possible.

  52. I hope the England Ladies win tomorrow – BUT I wish the meeja would delay the eulogies, proposed honours list etc etc until AFTER the match.

    And – natch – should they lose to the fiendish Spanish Ladies – the same meeja will bemoan the lack of a “killer” instinct and say how let down we all feel.

    3. I wish they’d stop talking about it when it’s supposed to be a racing programme. If I wanted to watch or discuss football, I’d tune in to a football programme. I bet they don’t talk about racing all the time on football coverage.

    4. There was an advert in today’s Terriblegraph featuring that James girl who got the red card for stamping on her Nigerian opponent. Frankly I think she should be dropped and never played again. But I’m a bit old-fashioned like that. As our old school motto had it: Ludus supra praemium.

  53. That’s me done for. Not a good day. Back (put out back not hole) still giving gyp after two weeks, Just WON’T go back to normal. Very tiring and boring and extremely frustrating. Drink is the only solution.

    Hole in back much improved. The MR says that in a couple of days, I’ll be able to have a BATH – the first for three months (I do hum a bit…!!)

    Have a jolly evening

    A demain.

    2. Hard surface to sleep on. Hard pillow to support your neck. No wiggling ! Meditate and breathe slowly.

      £895 plus VAT bill in the post, Bill. !

    3. ive got a great chiropractor in Dulwich who always gets me back on track.
      Is there not one in your neck of the fens?

      1. The last thing Bill needs is a bone cracker. Charlatans all.

        What is needed is to build up muscle and blood supply through yoga movement and gentle exercise.

        1. There is a brilliant osteopath in our town. He does crack your bones, but works wonders.

        2. My ex wife attended a chiropractor and said he was wonderful. I asked why she needed repeat the treatments if he was so good. The rest is history and a new Mrs Pea was sought.. Hope to be at lunch in Sept, I think we might both laugh at black humour.

        3. Mine isn’t.
          It isn’t curative but mobility can return.
          Then yes. Improved strength is key, but Bill sounds quite strong already. So am I with the martial arts, cycling and walking. But sometimes I seize up and the cracking releases the sprain.

    6. I know you’re not keen, but a session in a swimming pool, gently turning, with the water taking most of your weight might well be the answer.
      Occupy a corner where you can put your arms on the sides and where your body is fully extended and do very gentle twists.
      Face forwards or backwards whichever is more comfortable for you.
      Do NOT under any circumstances over twist, however comfortable you may become.
      When you have finished be very careful not to jerk, eg if your arm hits a door handle.
      The key is to get the pain down so that you can move normally.
      When you can, do gentle exercises to rebuild the core muscles.
      Good luck

    7. Your MR could give you a tender strip wash down , you would enjoy that.

      Then rub you with something like basil or rosemary, so you will smell delicious for the cats 🤣

      1. And then?
        They’ll scratch him and he’ll twist his spine even more trying to escape!

  54. Evening, all. I should imagine most patients are failing to get past the gate guardian. I have given up trying to ring my surgery; I now resort to going there in person and waiting until I get an appointment (usually for some five or six weeks hence).

      1. There have been times when the queue has been out of the door and down the path when I have considered that!

  55. Going to bed, slowly and carefully as it’s been a loooooong day.
    As always, thanks for you so supportive comments.
    Good night.

    6. A belated good night, Ann. When you read this, I hope you will have had a decent night’s rest.

  56. Honestly, I am turning into one of those grumpy old people who just find fault with everything. Can’t think why…

    Just seen that William is now using his children to promote his causes. He has got little Charlotte posing with a football to push the Wimmins World Cup. I don’t remember him being roped in as a child to this kind of propaganda campaign, and HM never did it either.
    Can’t help feeling this will backfire. It’s hard enough on those children to have their careers mapped out for them by fate, let alone putting them to work while they’re still in primary school.

      1. Isn’t he supposed to be on holiday? Are members of the Royal Family not allowed to have holidays, then?

        1. Of course he shouldn’t go! It is far too far to travel to watch a totally insignificant sporting event! It would be an expensive waste of time.

      2. But it’s a long way from home🙃 and perhaps he’s considering his carbon footprint 😉☺️

    2. They’re whinging in the DT that William, who is Prez of the FA, isn’t going to the wimmins final, but would deffo have gone to the mens! One of the commenters actually said that she was certain the late Queen would have gone!

    3. As my good lady wife pointed out his other children should have been sitting with him. And even his wife.
      What point were he and his daughter making exactly ?
      Most of the public have long made up their own minds on the game.

  57. Well, I went to the Prom. A lovely performance of Mahler 3. The children’s chorus were very good. A night for them to remember. I booked on my own but by coincidence was sitting next to a friend. No one minded my cold, even though my friends in the Gallery do think there’s a new strain of covid.

  58. More and more football referee’s decisions are being queried. And that also applies to most sport nowadays,

    VAR, second, third, fourth opinions, re-analysis long after the game:
    for Gawd’s sake, let’s get back to the point where the referee’s decision is final, even if it’s wrong.

    The poor sods have a fraction of a second to decide, the VAR, the pundits, etc can look at a point in play from every possible angle and they then pronounce from on high, and yet even then there is more often than not an element of doubt..

    Do the reviewing after the game; if the referee is consistently wrong, replace them.

    1. VAR is destroying the game with nit picking offside decisions causing some great goals to be disallowed and taking the spontaniety out of the game.

  59. Goodnight, all. Signing off early (for me) as I have to be up for church tomorrow and I not only have an earlier start I have to drive twice as far. I am trying not to think unChristian thoughts about the diabolical rectorette who has been the cause of this.

    1. Sigh…

      While I was having my “extreme chiropody”, my parish was in interregnum. We had a non-stipendiary female priest, a chartered accountant in real life, who considered herself an expert in employment law. While I was recovering, she was arranging for my dismissal – not only as Director of Music, but as Verger of one of our churches, which came with a ‘house for duty’ cottage. By the time I returned from rehabilitation, a new Rector had been appointed. His previous post, as an Army chaplain, included Headley Court, so he arguably has more experience of amputees than I do. He stamped on my unfair dismissal, the lady Vicarette moved on.

      A month or so ago, Phil, our Curate, moved to another parish as Priest in Charge. His new church is in the Diocese, but a different County. The parish has a larger population than our four villages combined. I attended his Induction, at the end of a very long interregnum. Their organ doesn’t work, so all the music is recorded – which makes singing difficult. But – “What is wrong with these people? Why are they all smiling and friendly?” It was a sea change from our old farts.

      Today, I learn that his wife – an LLM (what used to be called a Lay Reader) – is going to join him. Which leaves our united parish of four villages with one Rector, and one LLM – now in his late eighties – to cope.

      By 1st October, I’ll be three years into my new five year contract as Director of Music. I’m not holding out much hope that I’ll reach the end of year five…

      1. The news from my former parish is not good. The rectorette shows no sign of understanding that other views than hers might actually have a point. One of the former sidesmen has offered to mediate but has been rebuffed. Short of a lightning strike, I don’t see a resolution any time soon. She did only ring the bell three times at her induction. Let’s hope she only stays three years (and that the church can survive her incumbency). One of the choir in my new church intimated that the former Director of Music was “difficult” because he’d told off some children that were making a noise and this ex-teacher thought that was un-Christian. I told him I had to agree to differ because I thought children should be taught to behave. After all, if they don’t learn appropriate behaviour when they’re young and people are tolerant, they are going to suffer when they grow up and go into the big wide world. In my view, it isn’t appropriate to shriek and shout and generally fool about during the consecration of the Host (behaviour that I witnessed when I was still going). It shows they have a) no idea what’s going on and b) no inkling of the sacrifice that was made for them to clear their sins. I blame the parents 🙂

  60. Well, chums, I’m off to bed now after a fairly lazy day. Although I did manage to make 6 x 1 lb jars of marmalade with some Seville oranges. I hope you all sleep well. Tomorrow I may well go into town for a series of medieval displays and events. I do so enjoy my “lazy” weekends.

    1. Seville oranges, where did you get those from at this time o year….. And dont say Seville!…

        1. Thankfully, my marmalade lasts me year round as its only me that delights in the sharp vs sour of a morning coffee. But Im down to my last pot in Jan.

        2. Thankfully, my marmalade lasts me year round as its only me that delights in the sharp vs sour of a morning coffee. But Im down to my last pot in Jan.

      2. I used to get them either at the open air market in Sudbury or at my local Sainsbury’s in early to mid January. But some years ago I missed the chance at both – at Sainsbury’s they are very quickly snapped up. But then a NoTTLer (either Fallick Alec or Peddy the Pedant who lives near Cambridge, I forget which) told me that Waitrose were selling Seville Oranges in 1 kg boxes so I headed to my local branch tout suite. On arrival I saw that I could buy three boxes for the price of two so I decided to buy three and popped two into my freezer. That was several years ago and yesterday I used the second box. I plan to use the third and final box closer to Christmas and hopefully give the results to a few NoTTLer friends. Yesterday’s batch will go to relatives and neighbours with a single jar kept in the fridge for me. As my marmalade is made with twice the weight of sugar as oranges and is therefore very bad for my diet, it will only be used as a rare “treat” – which is what I plan to do today.

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