Saturday 26 August: Driving in Europe highlights the appalling state of Britain’s roads

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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496 thoughts on “Saturday 26 August: Driving in Europe highlights the appalling state of Britain’s roads”

  4. Anything with the name Kinnock associated with it should be treated as a load of bull and ignored:-

    Net zero and industry
    SIR – Delivering net zero in a pragmatic and fair way requires close collaboration between the Government and Britain’s key manufacturing industries, which will be doing much of the heavy lifting to reduce emissions in the coming years. This approach would see these industries leading the low-carbon transition through innovation, reorganisation and long-term investment.

    But some of the existing schemes to incentivise decarbonisation are having the opposite effect, damaging Britain’s competitiveness and opening up our energy-intensive sectors to the risk of carbon leakage, whereby burdensome domestic climate-change policies risk causing UK production (and the jobs it supports) to decline – only to be replaced by goods from elsewhere without a reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions.

    That is why we set up the cross-party and cross-industry Commission for Carbon Competitiveness, to hear directly from industry and other stakeholders, and share recommendations with the Government on how to avoid decarbonisation through deindustrialisation.

    Our central recommendation is for the Government to introduce a carbon border adjustment mechanism as soon as possible, bringing forward a cheaper and more efficient way of reaching our net zero targets while ensuring that our manufacturing industries can compete on a level playing field, in both import and export markets, against firms based in countries with less ambitious climate change regimes. Our proposal would also generate significant revenue for the Treasury, freeing up cash to reduce green levies or fuel duty – an immediate cut to the cost of living.

    We look forward to working with the Government directly on introducing our recommendations. For industrial communities, there can be no delay.

    John Penrose MP (Con)
    Stephen Kinnock MP (Lab)
    Jo Gideon MP (Con)
    Arjan Geveke
    Energy Intensive Users Group

    1. For industrial communities, there can be no delay.

      I’m sure they are agog with expectation.

    2. ‘Our’ manufactoring industries will be moving abroad to countries that do not follow the madness of Blair/Brown/Millibean’s 2008 Climate Change Act. Thereby slashing our carbon output (will no one think of the trees), whilst merely moving the ‘problem’ to those countries which will still employ people as ours are confined to their 15 minute ghettos and a UBI.

      1. Ross Clark in the DT:

        https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/26/energy-prices-really-are-conspiracy-against-public/

        “Energy prices really are a conspiracy against the public

        Households are being failed by a dysfunctional market built on a bizarre set of rules

        Ross Clark26 August 2023 • 6:00am

        From October 1 the average home will be paying £1,923 a year for gas and electricity rather than £2,074 as now.

        Many consumers will be so relieved to hear that Ofgem has lowered its price cap again that they won’t bother to ask the question they ought to be asking: how come, in a privatised electricity market, the price we pay for energy is still being determined by officials at a government agency? Why can’t I go shopping around for a better deal just as I do for food, petrol, clothes, holidays and most other things?

        We used to have some kind of retail energy market, but consumer groups started moaning that some customers were paying more than others – something that is inevitable in a market. They persuaded themselves that energy companies were profiteering despite their margins being wafer-thin.

        Ed Miliband, then Labour leader, came up with the wheeze of capping energy prices and the Conservatives, while they damned him at the time, found it politically expedient to interfere in the market too.

        Once consumers found themselves wrapped in the comfort blanket of fixed prices, it has proved hard to switch back to a competitive market. On the contrary, energy is being dragged ever deeper into state interference.

        Indeed, last autumn the Government ended up with the idea of capping the price cap with the Energy Price Guarantee – funded, needless to say, from our taxes.

        On the wholesale side, we never did have a genuinely free market in electricity. What was created after privatisation was a fudged, artificial market, the rules for which failed to foresee what would happen when we started feeding renewables into the grid. It is so dysfunctional that the prices that we pay for our power are vastly inflated.

        Energy companies are forced to buy a proportion of their power from green sources, partly explaining our higher electricity prices. Retail energy companies are still obliged to buy “renewables obligation certificates” from older wind and solar plants. Newer solar and wind plants are paid a guaranteed ‘strike price’ instead.

        But another reason we pay so much for our power – around 80pc more, unit for unit, than US households – is thanks to something called “marginal cost pricing”.

        Every half an hour the grid runs an auction in which electricity suppliers submit bids to provide power for that period. The lowest bids are accepted first, followed by the next highest and so on until supply has matched demand.

        But here is where it gets odd. Rather than be paid what they bid, all electricity providers are paid the same rate – equivalent to the highest bid. In other words, a wind farm might have bid to provide power at cost of £40 per megawatt-hour (MWh) and a gas plant at £60 per MWh, but both will be paid at a rate of £60 per MWh.

        It is rather as if you go to a supermarket to buy 12 bottles of Prosecco for your wife’s birthday party but find they only have 11 bottles. To make up the 12 you buy a single bottle of Bollinger. But when you get to the till you are charged for 12 bottles of Bollinger.

        Obviously, such a market works in favour of the producers rather than the consumer, yet it didn’t matter so much when our electricity market was made up mostly of large-scale reliable sources such as coal, gas and nuclear which charged similar prices for their electricity.

        However, then came renewables. While the marginal cost of supplying wind and solar energy tends to be low, these sources are very intermittent, and are prone to under-deliver at short notice if the wind stops blowing or the sun stops shining.

        In order to make up the gap between supply and demand, the operators of gas power stations have to be called upon to switch on their power plants at short notice. But it costs a lot more, MWh for MWh, to provide a burst of power for a couple of hours than it does to provide a steady load of power.

        Britain is becoming increasingly reliant on electricity imported via subsea interconnectors. But we quite often end up paying eye-watering prices.

        At one point in June 2022 we ended up paying £9,724.54 per MWh to import electricity from Belgium – over 100 times more than its average wholesale price. And given the rules of marginal cost pricing, everyone supplying power to the UK grid at that point was paid the same, silly sum.

        Over the past year alone, thanks to intermittent wind and solar, the average daily price paid in the wholesale market has varied between £56 and £458. Retail customers don’t see these enormous spikes on their bills, but the costs are passed onto them.

        The problem is compounded by green levies. If you own a gas power station you have to pay the Climate Change Levy – a tax on the burning of fossil fuels which is passed onto consumers. Yet thanks to marginal cost pricing, consumers are effectively paying the climate change levy even on renewable electricity.

        Wind and solar farms would be making a killing from our dysfunctional wholesale energy market were it not for the fact that the Government has shaped an effective windfall tax on them – capping how much they are paid per MWh.

        Yes, that is how silly it has become: renewables are being subsidised and subjected to windfall taxes at the same time.

        At some point someone in government is going to ask: why don’t we sweep away all the absurdities – the levies, subsidies and bizarre rules like marginal cost pricing – and have a proper, functioning energy market? We might be surprised how liberating it is – and how much better value for the consumer.”

    3. Penrose is the husband of DiIdo Harding who blew £37billion of our money on Track’n’Trace.

      1. Good point.
        There is no “pragmatic” way to introduce net zero anyway. Liars, the lot of them.

  5. SIR – I was once at an airport in Moscow in the 1980s when a group of ballet dancers arrived.

    Fresh fruit and vegetables were reported to be very scarce, so one young dancer had packed three aubergines. These were swiftly confiscated by a zealous customs official.

    The official asked in passing how one ate such strange-looking items. The reply was immediate: “Boil them for at least three hours.”

    Helen Mills
    Tunbridge Wells

  6. Spanish government takes FA chief to tribunal after World Cup final kiss. 25 August 2023.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a37c23ea5de9b184042fda9e20ae6be7be9ffbe787b5aef3a7a775b5e6b8ece9.png

    The Spanish secretary of sport says he “wants this to be Spanish football’s MeToo moment” after the government started legal proceedings seeking to suspend football federation president Luis Rubiales for kissing World Cup star Jenni Hermoso on the lips.

    Rubiales has refused to resign despite overwhelming pressure after the incident following Spain’s Women’s World Cup final win over England.

    I have no interest in football, male or female, and certainly none in the celebrations afterwards which; truth to tell, I have always found rather embarrassing. One of my bête noirs in sport is the end of F1 Grand Prix’s that end in juvenile Champagne showers. I was drawn to this incident by the BBC coverage (it led the bulletin) and that it consisted of still photographs (the one above) of the incident. Why? It seemed curious. Surely footage of this assault on womanhood deserved to be shown in all its offensive and lascivious detail? So I looked on line. The first thing to note is that there was some difficulty in finding it! Once I did the reason that it is shown as a still becomes apparent. It is because that is it! Two seconds is one too many. If Hermoso had been heterosexual she could have complained at its brevity! In essence this is a manufactured grievance in the cause of the Alphabet people.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66621146

    2. Shocking bad taste he has – I would never dream of kissing a tattooed lesbian.

      1. Why not? I’ve kissed few (most actually kissed me) and they taste no different from untattooed females who prefer males. Some, indeed, are truly excellent kissers.

  9. Good morning, chums, and welcome to a new day. I must also apologise to Geoff. I logged in to Friday’s page and waited for his link to Saturday’s to appear at the top of the “Newest” comments. When they didn’t appear after 5 minutes I chided him (“Come on, Boss”). 5 minutes there was still no post from Geoff, so I clicked on Friday’s “Oldest” posts and then back to Friday’s “Newest” when I saw that he had posted the Saturday link much earlier. The wonders of the Internet, eh? My sincere apologies to you again, Geoff.

  10. Putin’s ‘show of strength’ may be paranoia that could be his undoing. 26 August 2023. 26 August 2023.

    Russian leader has made good on his promise to punish Evgeny Prigozhin for treachery, but his short-term success may have consequences.

    He made no such promise. The intention of this article is to hang the murder of Prigozhin around Vlad’s neck without any proof. If evidence actually exists it is in Russian hands. The assassination was carried out on Russian territory and the Crime Scene i.e. the plane, is in their hands. The author simply assumes that his agents blew up the aircraft with absolutely no evidence whatsoever. The cod psychology is to bolster this idea and confer legitimacy on the accusation.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/08/25/analysis-putin-stronger-or-weaker-after-prigozhin/

    1. An aircraft in flames spinning out of control and then hitting the ground with a big bang seems fairly conclusive evidence, but I suppose it could have been an Airfix model and the whole thing filmed over Malibu in the same manner that Pamela Anderson once photobombed the footage from Apollo 11.

      The old maxim ‘count the wings’ applies in Russia, according to the British FCO’s ‘Advice to Travellers’. The thing self-combusted like a UN ambulance. If it was a Russian surface-to-air missile, it would have been on its way to Barbados by now.

      An Irishman I once met asked me if there was a better way of putting it than calling it lying. I suggested that telling stories has a long and honourable tradition in his country, and he shouldn’t be ashamed of it.

    2. Why the crocodile tears? The world is rid of one more nasty bastard, so things are looking up.

        1. As long as the nasty buggers stick to wiping out other nasty buggers….
          And, as I’m not racist, sexist, homophobic or commit any other thought crimes, as proof of my commitment to equality, I extend that the chance to practice that skill to all races, genders and sexualities.
          (Phew! Have I covered all bases so I can keep my bank account and my front door?)

  11. Putin’s ‘show of strength’ may be paranoia that could be his undoing. 26 August 2023. 26 August 2023.

    Russian leader has made good on his promise to punish Evgeny Prigozhin for treachery, but his short-term success may have consequences.

    He made no such promise. The intention of this article is to hang the murder of Prigozhin around Vlad’s neck without any proof. If evidence actually exists it is in Russian hands. The assassination was carried out on Russian territory and the Crime Scene i.e. the plane, is in their hands. The author simply assumes that his agents blew up the aircraft with absolutely no evidence whatsoever. The cod psychology is to bolster this idea and confer legitimacy on the accusation.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/08/25/analysis-putin-stronger-or-weaker-after-prigozhin/

  15. A male Spaniard kissing a lesbian footballer in a sexually aggressive manner, i.e. on the lips, is dominating the news at the Bullshit Broadcasting Centre – repeated every fifteen minutes this morning. Has the Ukrainian army failed in its tenth attempt to ‘smash’ the Russian despots murdering hordes? There must be something they aren’t telling us . . . another WEF cover-up perhaps.

  16. Good morning, all. Bright, sunny and calm here.

    It’s back, Scamdemic_1 has morphed into Scamdemic_2 and will reprising all its nauseating scenes, beginning with masks.

    Alex Jones from Info Wars was informed by whistle-blowers last week of the coming new masking demands being organised, starting mid-September and escalating through the Autumn with lockdown before Christmas.

    Now, The Highwire has latched on to these proposed threats – they cancelled the previous week’s segment on this news due to time constraints – and have an extensive segment in the Jaxen Report this week. Below are slides from Jaxen’s report.

    As well as ‘control’ this plan also has its slice of money for Big Pharma as the later slides clearly show.

    8 slides is a lot to read but we need to know the real ‘Science’ and what the bastards are considering doing. No surprises this time round. Do not comply.

    Is Sunak getting his ducks in a row to follow Biden’s lead?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ef73ee439f2214e2fa7498a7a5094175053b130456ba68852c5bf31cea392fd5.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ee71fcca6727e2db2623ab6ac59d089d5b630fc2c3a2e13447ae6c5d52c970e4.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/159324535367c57781a1e23ea86569722808d70d02822f81a05b1b4275d87092.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f7b568d6bdd7dfcf73867e827760e05eb5a15e39e8a280b1baa68197cb679e51.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e2a134f51c37819356c61ebf8c275db534bd9f56aee9791d14ce153d7e7f1681.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/271dd3d48deb12ebd7888312f8c7897b9750200970337ccc5e6b4230c5f6e2c4.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c047df9b85d5612d45d5edf989c10aca94471d1fea5685ffcbcf7de4bec5892c.png

    And finally the people must understand:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a237c53493761a03c08744a9e6534bb13e3b0a942cb96d810a7aac4294be6f78.png

    1. It is a sort of man caused climate change though. If they hadn’t set the fires, there’d be no problem.

    2. Good, I hope all the gullible and naive people who believed in ‘wild fires’ all along will take notice of this.

    3. Since the truth cannot support Net Zero the WEF have employed International Arson Squads to convince the gullible that their big lie is not a lie and the fires have been caused by climate change.

      1. 375731+ up ticks,

        Morning R,
        My way of thinking is many of the L/L/C coalition voters
        know but cannot face “the truth” in regards to “their party” being treacherously rogue, tis the party name that is the magnet.

        You can do anything you wanna do to their blue suede shoes, but the”party” is first in everything no matter the evil consequences fallout.

  18. ‘Morning All

    Mask Medley

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/578c745c072c8016b3b10f3c31988ad62fe8f3d89ed2b7b0de64b734aaaaf6b0.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/435e11742838b587eb075a5b6ec1042d79be45c3b7953206e59fb20087f69594.gif

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F4YuQQCWIAIqFvr.jpg

    https://scontent.fbrs4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/368400605_10226033600159127_2684306939074688248_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=ElPEXqQ7tDgAX8TF0k5&_nc_ht=scontent.fbrs4-1.fna&oh=00_AfAe22X3JkVI8i7QNbYMTXT2YZw42QikfJxDIWiGH0V36A&oe=64EC51E4

    Rest

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a28077a826a88d2c49dbf42fbeafce9c6baef5f39cd198d75b274e0fced10171.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4830ae37c7dec4c5c30d143c0f39c8a9cb0fa179a4873bd2769d8da072f2192c.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/57d89daeb00c3a538f3a86c329fa6740e3b9a0ff122bba1d80eaa94c53879092.jpg

    1. If we are presented with masks to take and wear anyware just empty the box and throw them in the bin.

          1. I prefer the more emphatic way of telling them (in a way they will never forget) that I will not be controlled by corrupt malign forces.

  19. Good morning all,

    Some blue sky visible from the library window at McPhee Towers but thundery showers expected by early afternoon. Wind wafting around Sou’-West to West, 12℃ rising to 17℃. Remaining cool for August but then Autumn is around the corner.

    So, driving in Europe highlights the appalling state of Britain’s roads does it? There are five letters on the subject today but there is no need to go on a motoring holiday in Europe to know that our roads are indeed in an appalling state. Those with normal powers of recall know that.

    What none of the correspondents hints at is a growing feeling some have that this could be deliberate. It’s a part of Agenda 2030/Net Zero. After all, once you have driven millions of private cars off the roads what would you even need all these roads for? When road traffic has been reduced to its planned post-Great Reset levels when it will just be the delivery vehicles of MegaCorp and the so-called elite and their politico-managerial underlings who have private cars (which won’t be electric btw) then the road network can be reassessed, the best routes selected and maintained to link the 15-minute cities while the rest is allowed to return to nature. I was going to type ‘or be converted into cycle/pedestrian ways’ but, of course, they don’t want us going into the countryside so they won’t be.

  20. 375731+ up ticks,

    Saturday 26 August: Driving in Europe highlights the appalling state of Britain’s roads

    And overall,

    Saturday 26 August: Driving in Europe highlights the appalling state of Britain.

  23. Morning all 🙂😊
    A noticable Drop in temperature today and
    no sun, it must be climate change. 🤔
    I wonder what our roads are going to be resemble, when the millions or invaders our useless government have allowed to stay here, due to thier treason and destructive adgenda, have all become vehicle owners.
    Net Zero ? How stupid can they get ?

  24. All those fighting fit young men being imported via Dover could be put to work building roads. They’d need close supervision of course and possibly a little ‘encouragement’ but their daily bread should depend on their labour.

    1. And job done get rid of them. All of them.
      But hang on……who man riaghts and slavery comes to mind.

      1. Someone would be bound to trot out ‘Arbeit macht frei’ too. Even if they were paid and still given four star accommodation.

          1. They still have prisoners on the streets in the south,, guarded by big guys with rifles. The inmates pick up trash, they sit at the roadsides for lunch closely watched.
            Open prison I would guess.

          4. Hanging in- pain bad but my son is calling this afternoon and my sister in law is coming tomorrow.

          5. I remember a road gang of convicts cutting roadside hedges on the IOW when I was a nipper.

      2. There are times when life goes horribly wrong and people need temporary help, but …
        by and large: Can’t Feed? Don’t Breed.

        1. I agree. That’s what benefits were about. But just like benefits, food banks have become a lifestyle choice.

          1. There are actually Foodbank vans in our area.
            How much does a small (possibly new) van with appropriate artwork cost? Before you take into account fuel, maintenance and insurance.

  27. Well, that’s what I call service. Colin Tree Man arrived with his mates at 8.10. All tree work completed, trimmings chipped, logs taken to top of garden – and they left at 9.20.

    2. That’s why we use local companies whenever possible.
      Not just to keep business flourishing in this area, but also because you get a decent service.

  28. SIR – Five years ago a large pothole developed at a junction near where I live, to which the local authority paid no attention.

    My next-door neighbour had been living in Africa. He told me that they used to plant bushes in potholes, and these would attract immediate attention.

    We did the same, and within six hours ours had been filled in.

    John Ashworth
    Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire

    Oh! He lived in Africa did he?

    Well, I live in Europe and my brother lives in Asia; however, we tend to narrow that down to a specific country whenever asked.

      1. My brother has lived in more than one Asian nation, but he never calls where he currently is ‘Asia’. I’ve lived in more than one European nation but I never announce to the world that I live in ‘Europe’.

        The trouble is that the world is overfull of abject thickos who think that Africa is a country.

        2. But African countries disguise their identities just as some of us here use noms de plume, pseudonyms or aliases. You call yourself Grizzly, Alan or George just as I call myself Richard or Rastus C. Tastey – and even Rastus C. Tastey has his own pseudonym of Percival Wrattstrangler.

          For example: Upper Volta is now called Burkina Faso, Zaire, changed its name in 1997 to Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zanzibar, a former protectorate of Britain, gained independence in1963 and united with Tanganyika and today it is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania.

          But the same sort of thing even happens in England – people who used to live in Rutland were told that they lived in Leicestershire – but now, they are happy to say, they live in Rutland again and suddenly bits of Somerset became Avon before becoming Somerset again. And is Bournemouth in Hampshire or Dorset?

          As I have said before (not that anyone would accuse me of being repetitious!): What’s in a name – just as a rose by any other name would smell as sweet so a cess pit by any other name would stink as foul.

          For interest: here is a link to a list of African countries which changed their names.

          https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/historical_countrynames.htm

          1. I take all that on board, Richard Percival Tastey, but my point was that countless people think that Africa is a country. They are clueless as to the fact that it is a continent of numerous independent countries. For some unfathomable reason they don’t do the same thing with Europe or Asia.

          2. Maybe they should be more specific as to which country the Asian rape gangs come from?

        1. They kept changing the names, so it’s perfectly possible that the new name meant absolutely nothing.

          1. And they tend to share names. I count three Guineas and two Congos, then there’s Niger(ia). Across the pond we find Dominica and the Domnican Republic.

      1. One thinks of Bongola, formerly Bongoland, the creation of Michael Wharton, writing as Peter Simple.

        1. One is reminded of Evelyn Waugh’s Ishmaelia in Scoop and of Brigadier Ritchie-Hook’s hobby of collecting coconuts in North Africa in The Men At Arms Trilogy.

          Talking of novels about Africa, Tom Sharpe who was, like Waugh, at Lancing, wrote two novels set in South Africa which I must confess I greatly enjoyed: Riotous Assembly and Indecent Exposure.

          1. Another good Book about the ruination of Africa is, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, by Peter Godwin.

          2. Another good Book about the ruination of Africa is, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, by Peter Godwin.

    3. One of our local roads always appears in the top ten worst roads list. The road was in poor condition when we moved here twenty five years ago and has not been fixed in all of that time. It is not a road that I am happy to drive my mini on, I am scared of falling into one of the deeper pot holes and being lost.

      The council make a futile effort to reduce the pothole severity and we now have a crew of two workers doing nothing but spread cold patch asphalt into the worst craters. The crew work a full forty hour week just patching this one road.

      Roll on winter, at least then we will have a short period when the packed snow makes the road usable.

      1. They used to edit them when Christopher Howse was letters’ editor. These days, under Orlando Bird, they just butcher them into mutilation.

  29. Obviously Nad’s financial skills are more extensive than just knowing the price of a pint of milk.

    “Having announced her intention to resign “with immediate effect”, the Member for Mid Bedfordshire has, more than two months later, not done so – and claims she will not until somebody explains why she didn’t get a peerage. She thus continues to draw her parliamentary salary.
    She has, however, stopped doing her job. Dorries last voted all the way back in April. Her role as MP for Mid Bedfordshire no longer even features in her Twitter (‘X’) byline, although her TV show and newspaper column do; the email given is for her agent, not her office.”

    https://conservativehome.com/2023/08/22/the-house-of-commons-could-simply-expel-dorries-should-it/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter for Saturday 26th August 2023&utm_content=Newsletter for Saturday 26th August 2023+CID_f06c2fcca0da407d0710a2c96c1d977e&utm_source=Daily Email&utm_term=The House of Commons has the power simply to expel Dorries Should it

    1. I wondered why comments about Dorries kept dropping into my twitter feed. Being less than interested in her shenanigans, I was under the impression that she had ‘retired’ and it was just an exercise in clickbait-chasing.

      1. She’s waiting for an explanation as to why her peerage was turned down.
        Come on, NOTTLers. Your creative cynicism should come up with some corking reasons.

        1. She didn’t get her tongue down Boris’s throat often enough? She wouldn’t let him shag her from behind?

    1. “It takes one to know one”. How else could they recognise corruption when they see it?

      1. More likely he sequestered funds in a way that prevented government officials sequestering them (for their own) use first.

    2. The corrupt AH who didn’t get the big Bung they wanted. For the favours provided ?

    3. I’m shocked, I tell you, shocked! I thought countries had to get rid of corruption before they could join the EU.

        1. OK! That ridiculous Alice band, the hair extensions and the glittery fairy dress! She looks like a 90 year old version of my 4 year old granddaughter! Silly old tart!

          2. I feel much better now! A little bit of bitching is soo good for you! We were in Edinburgh yesterday with my nephew and family who are over from Athens. We had a meal then strolled up Cockburn St to the Royal Mile and wandered up through the unicyclists, jugglers, singers, artists, living statues and all the rest of the Festival stuff, then sat and had a coffee and people watched! Sofia and I had a ball! Many raised eyebrows and stifled giggles at the sheer range of weirdness! ‘All human life’ was certainly on show! Foreigners eh?

          4. Ooh yes, of course! This is Fringe time! Some of the sights would make you reach for your gun! And the ubiquitous Chinese wearing their useless masks, while staggering up Cardiac Brae!
            Most of them dragging little suitcases on wheels!

      1. Precisely.
        Whoever advised her to wear an Alice band and pose in that outfit should be shot.
        It merely makes her look like the evil stepmother in a pantomime.

      3. I’ve always liked her style.
        She is what she is, an elderly lady.
        Nothing wrong with that, but only cosmetic surgery would have an effect. She’s not had any of that. Unlike the younger generation and its not quite working for most of them. Fat lips massive eyebrows, false lashes and tattoos, nose rings studs are awful.

      1. Only intelligent people choose not to infest the planet with more and more unfettered humanity.

        1. Hmm. = End of Line. No genetic drive. I’m not sure what it has to do with intelligence.

          2. I chose to be child-free. The line doesn’t end since my three brothers (and sister) have all reproduced.

            Millions more should also choose to be child-free on a grossly overpopulated planet where one self-righteous species is destroying the balance of nature.

            In any case, many ‘lines’ are better off ending.

            As for the exponential decrease in human intelligence, which is inversely proportional to the increase in that species’ stupidity, I am currently producing a paper which will serve to prove this hypothesis.

    5. She was never beautiful or even pretty – but she was very sexy.

      Attractive women generally age better than pretty women and pretty women age better than sexy women.

        2. I have used BB as an example and compared her with Catherine Deneuve. According to Caroline it is all down to her having high cheek bones that made Catherine Deneuve look good into her 70s while BB didn’t.

          1. Probably better lusting after Ann Widdecombe. At myage she would be good conversational company .

      1. She’s from Southend – or, possibly Westcliffe.
        One of our friends was a contemporary in their youth and was part of the age group that socialised together. Apparently she wasn’t interested in a trainee solicitor.

        3. My mother was born in Southend – grew up in Westcliff. She was not a happy bunny when her parents moved out to Hornchurch.

  35. Chuffin ’eck, the Yorkshire dialect is dying. Can anyone save it?
    A retired German teacher is fighting to preserve the county’s distinctive tongue against an invasion from the south

    The distinctive dialect of Yorkshire may be at risk of dying out — but one octogenarian is leading the fight to keep it alive.

    Much like Yorkshire’s landscape of rolling hills and peat bogs, the tongue has been shaped by the area’s rich history: both are marked by coal mining and still touched by the Viking invasions of medieval times.

    While many have viewed the “Yorkshire” tongue as an accent or regional slang, Rod Dimbleby, 80, disagrees and is now teaching the dialect to locals.

    One 2021 study predicted that the Yorkshire accent may disappear completely in as little as 45 years as slang and pronunciation from the south drift northwards.

    Weekly two-hour sessions from the Yorkshire Dialect Society, in Keighley, West Yorkshire, attempt to rectify this.

    There is a perception that the Yorkshire dialect is simply an accent, with the occasional slang word but this idea is false, according to Dimbleby, who is chairman of the Yorkshire Dialect Society.

    Michael Parkinson downplayed his Yorkshire tones as he carved out a television career

    An accent is simply a style of pronunciation, whereas a dialect is a difference in vocabulary and grammar – and the differences in the Yorkshire dialect can be traced back to Old English and even have close links to Germanic languages from Viking settlers.

    Dimbleby, a retired German teacher, said that many of the variations in Yorkshire speech are similar to German vocabulary. “I recognise lots of words in German in Yorkshire. For example, to find in Yorkshire they say fynd, ‘I can’t fynd it’. To find in German is ‘finden’,” he said.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/chuffin-eck-the-yorkshire-dialect-is-dying-can-anyone-save-it-m3mrf7clz

    1. The Yorkshire accent is dying out because they all speak Gujurati in Allah’s own county.

    2. About time too. I have never once heard the call to prayer in a Yorkshire dialect from any of the minarets in Keighley.

      PS: Suvverners should learn the correct pronunciation of Keighley – it’s Keeth-li. Even the late Queen, God bless her, couldn’t pronounce it, she called it Kee-lee.

      1. Ah, the ‘gh’ in English. So conghusing for the foreigner. Chouffing marvellous!

    3. My paternal Grandfather was from Scarborough, as a very young child in North London I found it very difficult to understand what he was saying. Ay opp Toop thoop Rod.

      1. I had an uncle from Kirkcaldy in Fife. I never understood a single word coming from his mouth.

          3. The same!. The lugubrious Fyfe Robertson did a skit on that on the “Tonight” prog – before you were born, I expect!

          4. I do remember him! Deerstalker and speech inflection which started quite highly pitched, then gradually lowered! Jolly eccentric!

          6. Lugubrious, maybe. But an erudite, characterful and very presentable reporter who is sadly lamented and missed. An icon from better days, i.e. before the BBC became infested with bland, anodyne, personality-free, clueless thickos.

          9. I had a house on the riverside near Cupar – while working in Kirkcaldy from 1970 til 1976 . . .

          10. I remember the train announcer to Waverley ‘this train will call at Markinch, Ladybank, Cupar, Leuchars and Dundee’!

        3. Not just Kirk’ady! Apparently, upon hearing that an acquaintance has died, a native of Aberdeen may respond, “Och! Fan diddy dee and fit diddy dee’o?”

        4. I remember standing in a swimming pool with a Scottish guy on holiday somewhere we were chatting and I couldn’t understand what he was saying. I did a lot of nodding.

      2. I used to spend my holidays with my aunt and uncle in Devon. I was only just starting to understand them when it was time to leave and go home!

    4. Rod Dimbleby is a retired teacher of German, not a German teacher.

      Even The Times has fallen…

    7. Tha’ what? There is no such thing as a ‘Yorkshire’ dialect. The entire region holds at least a dozen distinct dialects. For example in Sheffield, anyone asking “Hey, I’m talking to you. Have you seen our Tony?” would sound like, “Ey, I’m talking to dee. ‘as da seen ar Tawneh?” In Leeds, “44” is voiced as “fotty-foh” [the first syllable of each word being identical].

      The speech of someone from an isolated village in the North Riding would be indecipherable to someone from a similar village in either the West Riding or the East Riding. North Yorkshire alone is the largest modern county in England.

      1. I know the Leeds accent well. York is different again. Very much from the back of the throat. I’ve been in London too long to be the genuine article.

    1. The worst refection on the situation is that even now – with both main parties beneath contempt – no new party has made any real breakthroughs,

      Richard Tice and Laurence Fox seem to lack Farage’s charisma and Farage is now having more fun as a journalist to want to get back into the fray.

      There must be someone – but who else is there?

      The Conservative Party will be dead forever if Sunak remains its leader which is why the sleazy and idle MPs are ecstatic at the prospect of their new pay off which has just been doubled when they lose their seats..

    2. The perpetually offended can not get enough of being perpetually offended. He should offer to give her a good spanking for creating such a fuss.

    3. Personally, I can see why the woman felt uncomfortable with a greasy Spick spamhead planting a smacker on her lips.

      However, the press in yer Spain are calling it, “A serious sexual assault” which seems a bit OTT to me.

      1. He claims she lifted him off the ground and a photo shows this. The football authorities have always been run by shady men and it is no surprise to find them closing ranks around this oily person. Sepp Blatter springs to mind.

        I reckon the match was fixed and the referee partisan.

        1. On your last point, I would disagree. The England girlies simply played badly – while the Ladies of Spain were very clinical and accurate.

      3. When Frankie Dettori (he is Italian, after all) has a big winner, he kisses everybody, man, woman, camera, the cup …

  38. Hypocrisy on steroids. John Kerry, having flown into Scotland in a private jet, spouts more bullshit in just over a minute than a herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle generates in a week. That by-product from the cattle does have a use. On the other hand Kerry is well past his sell-by date and he and his ilk are the serious danger to humanity.
    Kerry ought to man-up and explain what his empty rhetoric means for the people should he and his partners succeed: The End.

    https://twitter.com/DVATW/status/1695336125416579418

    1. Even more hypocrisy –

      Steven Guilbeault the Canadian Environment minister is winging his way a cross to China for a meeting of the Chinese government run organisation where he holds the position of Executive Vice Chair!

      No he is not taking a slow boat to China and no we do not know where his loyalties lie.

  40. It’s a small world …..sometimes. Thursday My appointment at the main GP practice was with the pharmacist at 13:35. Arrived with ten minutes tio spare. Because i am finding it difficult to climb stairs the lady on reception help me go up in the lift. There sat and elderly lady out side waiting room and the seconded chair was moved from a long side her to allow me to sit down. The upper waiting room was being use for an exercise class.
    We looked at each other and she said what time is your appointment ? I told her in 5 minutes. She replied mine was at ten past one and i’m still waiting. Conversation continued and some how we started talking about where we original came from. She told me she use to live in Willesden. I told her my father was born in Willesden and she new the road where he was born along with his 5 brothers. What was amusing she told me that she had ‘bungalow legs’…….she didn’t use stairs unless it was absolutely necessary. And now lived in a single story home. After her my appointment was half an hour late but very thorough. the poor old lady who came in behind me was pancaking, because she had a further appointment else where.
    There are still some nice people out there, but they are becoming scarce.

      2. Only in Notting Hill. (Carnival, after all, means farewell to meat. It’s a pre-Lenten festival that should only take place on Shrove Tuesday.)

          1. No, I missed that. Haven’t looked at the Speccie for ages. Is it behind a paywall online?

          2. What a clash of the titans we witnessed at the weekend. The Lionesses vs Divine Worship on a Sunday morning. An unfortunate conflict of timings meant that just as the England women’s football team were limbering up to kick the first ball in Australia, church services in England were launching into their first hymn.

            The Church of England knew which side it was on. ‘I know lots of people will want to watch the match live. That is fine from the Church of England’s point of view. Others will prefer to go to church and avoid knowing the score until they can watch the match on catch-up, and that is fine, too. Church services happen at different times in different places, so people can choose one that is right for them.’ So said Libby Lane, the CofE’s first woman bishop, now appointed the church’s spokeswoman on sport.

            It isn’t difficult to see why. No one wants the church to look like a bunch of miserabilist killjoys. In this, Bishop Lane might be channelling Charles I. His Book of Sports, published in 1633, rebuked the Puritans for their ‘prohibiting and unlawful punishing of our good people for using their lawful recreations and honest exercises upon Sundays’.

            His reasoning might also feel familiar to the bishops. He feared a ban on sports would lead to ‘the hindering of the conversion of many, whom their priests will take occasion hereby to vex, persuading them that no honest mirth or recreation is lawful or tolerable in our religion, which cannot but breed a great discontentment in our people’s hearts’.

            And yet, at the risk of being a vexatious priest, there was a key factor missing from Bishop Lane’s statement, which Charles I did not miss: that church comes first. That the worship of Almighty God is, for Christians, the single most important thing we can do. Of course we were excited about the Lionesses, of course many of us wanted to bunk off church to watch them, of course the church doesn’t want to give the impression that ‘no honest mirth or recreation is lawful or tolerable in our religion’, but… there is an existential danger in implying that the absolute core of our religion – worship – can take a back seat when something really exciting comes along.

            Or something really scary. The Church of England is living in the shadow of the catastrophic mistakes made at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, when churches were closed and priests were banned from entering them even to pray by themselves on behalf of their absent congregations. Our church leaders told people that they could worship God just as well from their sofas, and many heard what we said and have stayed put on their sofas – or switched to a church which gives the impression that it takes their souls seriously.

            And there is a wider national problem too. A series of dioceses are pursuing plans to slash the number of their clergy and create vast mega-parishes, with priests doled out at random to their flocks like over-stretched GPs. Truro is ground zero for this. The deanery of Kerrier is about to become one mega benefice, made up of (wait for it) 23 churches and ministered to by (wait for it) two full-time stipendiary priests, one of whom (and I am not making this up) will not work on Sundays. She will ‘work primarily in the community, looking for exciting opportunities to grow churches for people who have either never been to church or who have had a break away’, the area dean explained.

            ‘I’ve heard it’s come as a bit of a shock to some of you to hear that [she] won’t be working regularly on Sunday mornings,’ the area dean continued. Twenty-three churches, two priests, one of whom won’t work Sundays? Shocked was at the milder end of the reactions from parishioners.

            This decision is not for want of cash. The Church Commissioners’ vast £10.2 billion endowment has the money to keep all of these churches going and staffed from the interest alone. They just choose not to.

            Bishop Lane’s comments feed the fear that many church leaders do not value Sunday worship. The hugely dismissive phrase that is now used for it in official CofE documents is ‘inherited church’, like an old carriage clock that you know you’re going to send to Oxfam the moment your great aunt has died.

            Worshipping God on a Sunday is the primary act of a Christian. It is, to borrow from the Eucharistic Prayer, ‘our duty and our joy’. Many other things may seem more exciting, may be more fun, and certainly might attract more Church of England funding. But in the end Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday, and we are called to worship him first and foremost. If we sell the pass on that, we sell the pass on everything.

            WRITTEN BY
            Marcus Walker

          5. I think the CofE’s current mission is to destroy Christianity. Personally, I go to church to get away from football as much as to worship God!

        2. Don’t expect the ignoramuses to have the first clue about the origins of the festivals at which they like to disport themselves while turning the original meaning on its head.

      3. Yanks can’t toss their ‘pancakes’. They are too thick, dense and heavy!

        That is: both the Yanks and their ‘pancakes’. 👍🏻😉

        1. Fanny Haddock said that if you could toss a pancake the only place to toss it was the bin.

          You should just flip it over.

          1. No. Waffles are Belgian. What we call pancakes are similar to French crêpes. Yank ‘pancakes’ are the same as Scottish drop scones.

        1. I stand corrected. Spode became Lord Sidcup and – to Bertie Wooster’s and Gussie Fink-Nottle’s relief – he married Madelaine Bassett who thought, amongst other rather erroneous beliefs that:

          “‘Every time a fairy sheds a tear, a wee bit star is born in the Milky Way.‘”

          Bertie’s assessment of her was:

          “Well, I mean to say, when a girl suddenly asks you out of a blue sky if you don’t sometimes feel that the stars are God’s daisy-chain, you begin to think a bit.”

          “‘She holds the view that the stars are God’s daisy chain, that rabbits are gnomes in attendance on the Fairy Queen, and that every time a fairy blows its wee nose a baby is born…'”

          I am still re-reading all the Master’s lesser known novels. Yesterday I finished “Big Money” and have just started “Cocktail Time”

    5. There is an internet meme showing a topless female wearing a bra made out of a piece of rope. Caption reads: ‘Plenty of support, but no cup.’

    6. With a little ‘fixing’ and a few more accurate shots could they become heroins?

    7. The females were always entitled heroines but then I’m still old-fashioned to really care enough for English to mean that, as was taught when I was just a nipper. Actresses, hostesses, authoresses etc.

        2. Yes, yet another, Incidentally my ex who I trust and appointed to oversee my will, is named as executrix

  43. That is hopefully better. Had internet connection problems these last few days, being spontaneously disconnected from the internet whilst still maintaing connection to the router. All DIY solutions failed. Khalil N at Microsoft in India was sorting it last night, over t’web, when we were disconnected. I expected to have to go through the rigmarole over again, but no. He emailed me with a set of drivers to upload. Excellent man! Excellent service.

        1. Nigel from Microsoft said it was them, and your router is compromised as well. If you just send your bank details to validate this free offer to fix ….

          2. If receiving by post the seals should be intact.

            If not, make sure you have a handy bucket of fish.

  45. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fa36928d398a9c74c68613f1717b26d1b34baaf5ea761cd00130030ae04f7a8d.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/ulez-expansion-outside-london-driving-charge-sadiq-khan/

    BTL

    It’s not meant to feel like England – that’s the whole point. As the Mayor of London correctly pointed out a white family is no longer appropriate to represent London as over 50% of the population of London is non-white and if we whiteys or honkies don’t like it then that is obdurate excrement for us!

    I had to amend this post but they went ahead with putting it up once the honkies and the excrement had been removed.

    Significant DT editing of which Sadiq would approve: – it’s fine if you get rid of the honkies when you can!

      2. We get caught twice – the white man van my husband uses to do his job, and his beloved old Z3 (passed down from his father). We were just saying 20 minutes ago how we’d like to join in with the Bladerunners. Unfortunately I am in a “responsible job” so daren’t. Until I do.

    2. That nasty little racist shiite needs to STFU.
      Hundreds of thousands of Londoners had to repair the city after Hitler attempted to completely flattened in.
      They rebuilt it with the future in mind.
      Not for people whose mindsets are based in the past centuries and who are here because they simply couldn’t be bothered as our parents and grandparents did. To put thier own ‘houses in order’.
      And now he’s robbing the people, with his BS ulez scam. The offspring of original inhabitants.

      1. There was an article in my local rag (no point in posting the link because they’ve started hiding things as “premium” and I don’t want to encourage them) about an immigrant in Telford who paid £6k to get here and was arrested for growing £700k’s worth of cannabis plants. Needless to say, we’ll be picking up the tab for his keep. In the same paper was a headline about four “Black Country Men” who’ve been arrested for the murder of the foreign delivery driver in Shrewsbury. What’s the betting they might live in the Black Country but they won’t be indigenous? We is SO enriched.

    4. They ain’t black families either as, in a high percentage of cases, the ‘Father’ has done a bunk and not paid a penny in Child Support – some family, pfft.

  46. Anti-Westernism is rampant in Europe and beyond. Love of Putin is its worst abomination. 26 August 2023.

    Asked who was responsible for the war, 36 per cent of Germans blamed the US, 15 per cent Nato and 9 per cent Ukraine; only 29 per cent blamed Putin or Russia. In France, 46 per cent blamed the Americans, 36 per cent Nato, 19 per cent Ukraine, and 40 per cent Putin.

    The trouble with performative wokery is that other countries are listening. Blaming Britain and America for all the world’s ills might be intended as a way to signal high-status views, but it has consequences.

    If the Anglosphere is systematically portrayed as wicked, rather than as the last-ditch defender of the rule of law, personal freedom and representative government, then some people will be drawn to other systems. Sure, they’ll miss the ascendancy of Western liberalism when it has gone; but that will be scant consolation.

    TOP COMMENT BELOW THE LINE.

    JM Vern.

    When the west think that it’s okay castrating, mutilating and sterilising children, have men dressed as women having to be called real women and expect the rest of the world to do the same, don’t be surprised that they look elsewhere.

    Pretty much nail on head there! It’s OK whinging about Putin but where is his equal in the West?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/26/anti-westernism-is-rampant-in-europe-and-beyond-love-of-put/

    1. “If the Anglosphere is systematically portrayed as wicked, rather than as the last-ditch defender of the rule of law, personal freedom and representative government“. One has to ask just what the author of that massive lie has been smoking!

    2. “If the Anglosphere is systematically portrayed as wicked, rather than as the last-ditch defender of the rule of law, personal freedom and representative government“. One has to ask just what the author of that massive lie has been smoking!

      1. If I was asked I would put the blame on USA, Ukraine, NATO, the EU and Russia in that order. The way these things seem to work it would presumably be analysed as 20% each.

    4. It is blatantly dishonest to equate criticism of the West’s role in the Ukraine war with anti western sentiment. They daren’t say racism of course, because that would upset the narrative.

    5. Hannan appears to be confusing two different sentiments here: the modern Marxist, anti-Western idea that European success was achieved entirely by the plunder of Africa and Asia; and the criticism of Western nations by their own loyal people who know that the former idea is a lie but that their own countries contributed to the war in Ukraine by their treatment of Russia after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

      There is no admiration of Putin expressed in this criticism.

    6. Hannan appears to be confusing two different sentiments here: the modern Marxist, anti-Western idea that European success was achieved entirely by the plunder of Africa and Asia; and the criticism of Western nations by their own loyal people who know that the former idea is a lie but that their own countries contributed to the war in Ukraine by their treatment of Russia after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

      There is no admiration of Putin expressed in this criticism.

    7. Anti-Westernism is certainly rampant here. Being anti-Western is the last thing I would accuse Putin of!

        2. I hear you met TP, formerly of this parish. She’s concerned for your welfare. As we all are.

          Few of us are spring chickens, so it’s prolly inevitable that our travails will be posted here. But we’re all rooting for you, as we are for poor Ann. And others. Get well soon…

    2. Well done. How are you?

      Birdie for me.
      Wordle 798 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
      ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

          1. Just remember that Diclofenac elevates blood pressure. Voltarol contains diclofenac.
            Everyone reacts differently to these medications, but side effects need to be known.

          2. Agree totally.
            I only take it when the pain becomes more than irritating.
            It works for me, but it isn’t a take one a day forever pill!

        2. Could it be an inflamed tendon in the wrist? Would the NHS consent to a scan? Apparently steroid injections are now off the menu. Probably because it works. Our NHS believes liver destroying painkillers are preferable to treating the source of the pain.

          1. The Doc reckons it is gout, Sue; Colchicine gave me bloody diarrhoea. I don’t recommend it!

          3. Our NHS believes liver destroying painkillers are preferable to treating the source of the pain’.
            That is the best argument for me to go back to smoking pot. Not the stinky strong stuff but the resin.

            For three separate conditions the only long term treatment has been paracetamol and opioids. With no end game.

        3. I sympathise with the lower back pain. Unless one has had it, one tends to get scant sympathy.

          Mine is now in its 4th week. Previously, it went away in a fortnight. Another of the joys of ageing…..

    3. Four here

      Wordle 798 4/6

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

    4. Last place for me.

      Wordle 798 5/6

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

    6. Not up to your standard, but a birdie all the same. Been watching the cricket ( I know it ain’t proper cricket) this evening.

      Wordle 798 3/6

      ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
      ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  48. Sorry Gentlefolk I was somewhere on the A9 en route to Elgin when the alarm went off. Too late to do anything then and too early at 02:30 when I set out. Wasted journey couldn’t find her,. so left disconsolate to drive another 230 + miles back to Moffat.

    Anyway  
    Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story – better late than never.

    That’s The Way To Do It
    There is a powerful emperor who needs a new head Samurai, so he puts the word out. A year passes and on the same day, three people showed up to apply for the position: a Japanese Samurai, a Chinese Samurai and a Jewish Samurai.

    The emperor asks the Japanese Samurai to demonstrate his abilities. The Japanese Samurai opens a match box and out pops a little fly. He flicks his sword and the fly drops dead on the ground in two pieces.

    The emperor exclaims, “That is very impressive!”

    He then asks the Chinese Samurai to demonstrate his abilities. So this second Samurai also opens a match box, releasing a fly. He flicks his sword twice, and the fly drops dead on the ground, in four pieces.

    “Amazing!” exclaims the emperor, turning to the Jewish Samurai. “And what can you do?”

    The Jewish Samurai opens a match box and out pops a fly. He flashes his sword in an intricate flourish, filling the room with a wooshing wind from the speed of his blade.

    Then he puts down the blade, but the fly is still buzzing around!

    The emperor, disappointed, asks: “After all that fuss, why is the fly not dead?”
    The Jewish Samurai smiles and says: “Circumcision is not intended to kill, Emperor-san.”

    1. Lot of driving, Tom. Pity it was wasted effort.
      Been a long time since I passed through Elgin (1990, IIRC)

      1. A potential girlfriend from a dating site. I’m still an old romantic at heart you know.

        1. Is this a new one, Tom? I thought she lived south of the border! (Not down Mexico way)

          1. That’s another one, Sue – it seems I have to pay the field, sounds cruel but that’s the name of the game.

          6. I think so too, Philip. If you ever go fishing, you will likely use bait. Bate is what you wish to respond to your baiting.

          7. Do be careful, Tom.
            Friends of ours have a cousin in his 80’s – who is neither physically nor mentally in top condition – has become entangled with a Polish woman he first made contact with over the internet. She moved in and treats him like dirt.
            She is taking his money, locks any friends and relatives out of his house and refuses to let them in. If they continue to knock on the door, she calls the police. Every so often, she goes back to Poland and leaves him to fend for himself.

          9. I don’t believe you. Just looking, needing, wanting at any age opens you up to chancers. If you have experience of these types why do you still court them?

          10. Because I can, Philip, at minimum cost to myself. If they refuse to meet, use SMS or e-mail, then it’s “Bye”

          12. Telling, Philip. inasmuch that women enjoy very much the same passions, enjoyments and sexuality, as their male counterparts do and, in fact, there is no shame whatsoever in enjoying these little foible,s in both the sameness and differences in our enjoyment of alleviating the frustrations no matter which sexual organ is satiated by the thrust and fulfilment both given and received lustiness.

            I wonder if I should start writing dirty books for our female friends, Could I make money in this genre?

        2. Oh dear……..that’s a hell of a drive in the middle of the night. Did you not have the right address? I’m sorry you had a wasted trip.

          1. Bogus Yell.com ad, lead me to believe I’d identified her but sadly no one at that dress knew of her and the phone number given is instantly cut off. That’ll teach me to be impetuous.

          2. Oh…….a real deception then. Did you not have any kind of online discussion or exchange of phone calls before you decided to go and visit? Sorry it was all such a waste of time and effort.

          4. Oh, man. Tom, that’s awful. So sorry.
            Maybe, for the future, if she won’t meet you closer to home, then it’s not a good sign?
            But what do I know?

          5. I hear and see where you’re coming from, (both Paul and Philip) this I am ware of and I think I know, from a female mind. what they want. It’s a question of picking the good from the bad. I also give credence to Ann’s story.

  49. England post their “crap out” potential for the RUWC.

    I feel slightly, but only slightly, sorry for Borthwick. Skill has been coached out at almost all the top English clubs replaced by thuggery and intimidation as the way forward.

    1. Still look back with fondness at the Welsh team of the mid-late 70s. Small men, with lithe moves. Sigh.

        1. French chum of mine – very keen rugby player/fan went to Cardiff (the Arms Park) to watch a match – had an accident – a fall – went to A& E and was dealt with by JPR.

          Gérard dined out on that for 40 years”!!

          2. I needed a couple of ops on my knee when I was in my teens. There were two orthopaedic surgeons in Bridgend at the time – JPR and Mr Blaney.
            I was Mr Blaneys patient, thank goodness. JPR was a right rude old misery off the field.

      1. Whatever the odds, you will still lose your money betting on England as they are selected.

    3. Fortunately I was unable to watch it. Can’t wait to read Stephen Jones in the Sunday Grimes .. (sarc)

  50. That’s me for today. Rain this afternoon – quite useful amount.

    At our brief holiday destination today is a “Life-saving competition”. Presumably the losers’ “victims” drown….!!

    Time for a reviving drink – best painkiller (what a deceptive word) avalable.

    A demain – I wonder how the Sundays will deal with the England XV…..

    1. We had quite a heavy shower around lunchtime and early afternoon. Then it brightened up but got rather chilly.

  51. Going to see how much of Neil Oliver I can remain awake for- had a dreadful night. Long talk with my son today and my sister in law tomorrow. But I am worn out. Just want to climb into bed and sleep.
    Hope you all have a good evening.

    1. You have a good sleep, Ann. Be sure we are here for you, and rooting for you.
      Hugs.

    3. I managed to fall asleep in the men’s 1500 metres final the other day, didn’t even realise we won the gold medal until the next day

    4. Psst! Don’t tell anyone, but I watch him on 1.5-2x speed. He’s far more palatable that way!

  52. https://news.sky.com/story/paper-straws-found-to-contain-long-lasting-and-potentially-toxic-chemicals-study-12947006
    Paper straws contain potentially toxic chemicals which could pose a risk to people, wildlife and the environment, a study has found.

    Poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are long-lasting and potentially destructive to human health over time, were discovered in the majority of paper and bamboo straws tested.

    The straws are considered “eco-friendly” compared to their plastic counterparts, which have been banned in the UK since 2020.

    The groundbreaking European study analysed straws made from a range of materials from shops and fast-food restaurants and found 18 out of 20 brands of paper straws contained PFAS, with a lower frequency of detection in plastic and glass versions.

    The research did not look at whether PFAS leaked out of the straws into the liquids.

    The most commonly found PFAS, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), has been prohibited worldwide since 2020.

    No PFAS traces were detected in any of the steel straws tested.

        1. Drinking bottled juices in pubs, I would always drink from the bottle; too young for a glass, too old for a straw.

      2. Kurt Vonnegut would hate those poxy Grammarly ads that interrupt YouTube videos with their exhortations to improve yourself in your desire to sell packages of nothingness on the internet.

      3. Kurt Vonnegut would hate those poxy Grammarly ads that interrupt YouTube videos with their exhortations to improve yourself in your desire to sell packages of nothingness on the internet.

  53. –https://scontent.flhr10-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/370814423_10225938708728850_6898168723559190929_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p526x296&_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5cd70e&_nc_ohc=w8Bh9nOFBBsAX9rDvch&_nc_ht=scontent.flhr10-1.fna&oh=00_AfCIWxjqGi47stG65OeDLMzo4Bbin1WeMZ1JooJghp4EoQ&oe=64EF9A17

  54. https://twitter.com/chrisjackson193/status/1695425843390984264/photo/1

    Bournemouth and Poole have had spectacular thundery dark skies .. We viewed the rain storms from the top of Purbecks.

    Late morning we went out to the farm shop we use nr Corfe Castle to collect a box of dog food and some other bits and pieces , as well as giving the younger dog a run on the heathland at Arne .

    The main roads were busy, campsites were full of tents , lots of families cycling , or picking blackberries and the toots from the Swanage railway brought back that Famous Five feeling , if you know what I mean .

    Moh didn’t want to go to Kimmeridge or linger anywhere because he was fretting about getting home to set his laptop up to watch Southampton play at 3pm .

    Back to that routine again , thankfully , they won .

    We had some rain at about 4pm and then that was it . Bit chilly now.

    1. Well, it is Bank Holiday on Monday, as well as the school holidays, so it’s no surprise that the campsites were full and there were lots of families out and about.

      1. It’s been autumnal here since the end of June. July was miserable and August not much better.

    3. Sitting here, red medicine in hand, wearing a jumper and surrounded by warm fuzzy cats.
      Still cold… –

      1. I’ve taken hot water bottles to bed for the last couple of nights. It’s AUGUST, FFS!

    4. It’s certainly a bit chilly for late August. We had a bit of a downpour and it was quite chilly afterwards.

    1. They came for Tommy Robinson but nobody cared because he was an oik. But then they came for the intellectuals. We are not there yet, but Cambodia and Vietnam had reeducation camps alongside wholesale slaughter of the middle classes in the killing fields. Canada seems to be a shocking place but the rest of the West is not far behind.

      1. This is still a pertinent warning:

        When the Nazis came for the communists,
        I remained silent;
        I was not a communist.

        When they locked up the social democrats,
        I remained silent;
        I was not a social democrat.

        When they came for the trade unionists,
        I did not speak out;
        I was not a trade unionist.

        When they came for the Jews,
        I remained silent;
        I was not a Jew.

        When they came for me,
        there was no one left to speak out.

        Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller
        (14 January 1892 – 6 March 1984) was a Protestant pastor and social activist.

  56. Evening, all. Driving in “Europe” (I suspect that’s shorthand for the EU) highlights how much money we poured in to the bottomless pit to the detriment of our own infrastructure.

    Here we had a torrential downpour – unfortunately, just as I was walking back from town after paying a bill. Kadi and I were like drowned rats – I had to change all my clothes and my coat, which turned out to be warm, not waterproof, is still drying out. The roads were awash because the drains couldn’t cope. To add to the misery, I had one of those recyclable paper bags that are all the rage and the damn thing disintegrated in the wet, leaving me to carry everything under my arm. When I got back in, Oscar, who had declined to come, gave me a smug look. He is no fool!

      1. I wouldn’t have minded so much, but there was no indication when I set off. I wasn’t the only one caught out; at least I was wearing a coat, not a tee shirt and shorts like some of the shoppers.

        1. A phone call out of the blue this afternoon. And shortly after a visit from my eldest nephew and his wife. They’ve been in Sussex visiting family and friends. But staying overnight at his parents not far from where we live.
          Very down to earth couple.
          They live in the North Pennines in the middle of the open countryside. Run a business and have four adult offspring.
          They are absolutely in tune with the view’s of us Nottlers on how this country is being wreck by our political morons and the DopeyWokies. Lovely to see them and I’ve donated another tree sapling for their plantation. This time an oak.

          1. Oaks… a news story from last year or so:
            Swedish tree herd wrote to the King to advise him that the trees planted for his Royal Navy some 300 or so years ago, were now ready for felling. Grizz likely remembers the detail.

      1. It never is ‘them’ or theirs. It is always someone else they want, or their offspring, to make that ultimate sacrifice.

    7. Oddly, I don’t disagree. Look at this poor country. It’s overrun with foreigners. The roads are gridlocked. Even shopping is hard work. Far too many people do absolutely nothing. We could start by cutting off welfare. No more in work tax credits. No more child benefit.

      However, the real problem is a monstrous state sector and appalling political arrogance. We could really make progress by collar and chaining politicians.

      1. The 15% that were the most ruthless, well armed and ready to murder their fellow residents for life’s necessities would be the ones to survive though.
        Funnily enough, the Deagel report predicts only 15% will survive in teh UK…

    1. Lefties hate history, white people and truth.

      Truth more than anything else. It causes them physical pain.

  61. Goodnight, all. I’m having an early night as I have to be up in time to drive to church tomorrow (and I’ll be picking a friend up later to drive to Nantwich for evensong – our former choir is singing, so that should be a delight to listen to).

  62. Well, that’s me for today, chums. Good night all, and sleep well and (hopefully) see you all tomorrow.

  63. More “It’s a hard life” here….

    Just back from the last Saturday marché gourmand of this year.
    Rock and Roll band, lots of dancing, children having fun.
    Paella, duck salads, oysters, pizzas (if you’re a bit weird) charcuterie, home made ice creams, pancakes and waffles prepared as you watch.
    Good wine and artisan beers.
    I really don’t know how I cope with suffering this existence.

    Woe, woe, thrice woe, is me…
    And to think that I have a very few more such evenings to fight my way through.

    It’s a hard life here…

    1. Are you a foodie, Sos, and perhaps you could share a few more delicious delights , to tempt the palate .

      Moh is a plain food man , and moans if I try something different , if I attempt to add garlic or anchovy or olives etc , he complains .

      So from those who are still awake , tell me the meals you enjoy?

      1. I am very easy to feed, there is little I won’t eat and HG is a splendid cook.

        Try adding something simple that he likes to another food e.g. smoked streaky bacon rashers cooked around a piece of chicken.

        I like making fish pies with lots of prawns and shrimps and perhaps some smoked haddock as well as the usual whitefish; tartiflette is another good easy standby as is moussaka. They can be done in good quantity as they freeze very well.
        If he likes curry, butternut squash and shrimps with prawns is tasty although the sauce can be a bit fiddly.

        Phizzee’s the one to ask.

          1. Fresh anchovies are delicious. I’m not keen on the preserved ones, but they do enhance certain dishes, I think the same about fresh and preserved capers.

          2. A tin of anchovies added to a beef stew gives a real depth of flavour. And no taste of fishiness.

      1. It’s strange to how many people do choose pizza at the events.
        I enjoy a pizza, but prefer them at home (our supermarket prepares them on site and make several good alternative toppings) or in an Italian restaurant, particularly calzone style.

    1. All a bity uber philosophical for me. I keep hearing this ‘wooshing’ sound over my head

  67. Yesterday (Frday) BT changed me from copper network to fibre:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ce6160f1fb298196ab7cac8d9419e1061f1d23e687f771c322e276713e4c3f6b.jpg

    This is the new setup:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/38bca8fdf715a946ddf40f66c88d6ac6b23d034ed347096bfa08e833c108afc8.jpg

    However I now cannot receive incoming calls because the phone doesn’t ring but the wireless (Alexa Digital Voice) handset registers incoming calls yet callers are directed to BT Voicemail saying original number is not available.

    So I asked BingAI what to do next:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/64391e4063c13b1050f3982e92a02f482b77ad5d8967296eb1dcb91546c40e15.jpg

    BingAI sent me a reasoned reply about what to do:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/146f7541c1f281a949972f41cda77e2c667ef853b330988efeed30830d93fc9e.jpg

    1. Hope you can sort the issue out.

      We’ve already had the suggestion from dear old Schwab that elections won’t be needed in the future because AI will predict who won. Looking at your answers from Bing AI, how long is it before we, the people are judged to need safeguarding from the dangerous internet, and only allowed access via AI, which will answer all our questions?

      1. As far as BT is concerned they have finished the installation their end.

        As far as I am concerned I had a working copper based system on Friday that diverted home calls on my landline to my mobile phone at our remote lodge on the Suffolk coast where I am now so that I could respond to emergencies in person by phone 24/7.

        So BingAI thinks it could be BT’s problem or it could be mine.
        But I need to be at home to know if the bell rings should someone call me and check that the call is diverted to mobile on no reply.

        After all, I could be in charge of lots of premature babies that require my assistance because of something I have or haven’t done to them to keep them alive. Whose fault is it then?

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