Monday 4 September: Failing concrete joins the omnishambles awaiting the next government

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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392 thoughts on “Monday 4 September: Failing concrete joins the omnishambles awaiting the next government”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    Don’t Touch
    An elderly man lay dying in his bed. In death’s agony, he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favourite chocolate chip cookies wafting up the stairs.

    He gathered his remaining strength, and lifted himself from the bed. Leaning against the wall, he slowly made his way out of the bedroom, and with even greater effort forced himself down the stairs, gripping the railing with both hands, he crawled downstairs.

    With laboured breath, he leaned against the door-frame, gazing into the kitchen. Were it not for death’s agony, he would have thought himself already in heaven: there, spread out upon waxed paper on the kitchen table were literally hundreds of his favourite chocolate chip cookies.

    Was it heaven? Or was it one final act of heroic love from his devoted wife, seeing to it that he left this world a happy man?

    Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself toward the table, landing on his knees in a rumpled posture. His parched lips parted: the wondrous taste of the cookie was already in his mouth, seemingly bringing him back to life.

    The aged and withered hand trembled on its way to a cookie at the edge of the table, when his wife suddenly smacked it with a spatula…

    “Fuck off” she said, “they’re for the funeral.”

  4. Morning to you both,

    Apart from crumblng concrete that threatens the kids when they’re old enough to get to school this morning’s hreadlines focus on RSV which babies are likely to experience before they even get to school and suffer from RAAC syndrome.

    RSV has always been around but for some babies it could be more dangerous than falling RAAC:

    I found this a good article about avoiding RSV in babies and what to do about it if baby gets it:

    https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/chest-lungs/Pages/RSV-When-Its-More-Than-Just-a-Cold.aspx

      1. Too much use of abbreviations with the assumption we All know what they mean – we don’t..

  8. Failing concrete joins the omnishambles awaiting the next government

    When politicians say they have set in concrete pledges, they must have meant aerated concrete

  9. Six beers that are good for your gut health – and the ones to avoid. 4 September 2023.

    In recent years, researchers have been accumulating evidence to suggest that certain beers could help improve the diversity of species in the gut microbiome, something which tends to be associated with health benefits. Last year, a study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry followed 22 men who drank a little more than half a pint of beer every day for four weeks and found that they subsequently had better markers of intestinal health.

    Something written especially for Nottlers. I stopped drinking Guinness, which is top of the list, some forty years ago and have never drunk Newcastle Brown.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/nutrition/diet/healthy-beers-good-for-gut-health-and-ones-to-avoid/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

    2. All the beers they are showing are bottled beers (even the Guinness). Did they ever test cask ales, which will have living yeast in them? I suspect not, as it would be difficult to carry out tests on fresh draught beer in the laboratory.

    3. Guinness now has an alcohol free version called 00. My Guinness drinking friends tell me you can’t taste the difference. Good i suppose if you are the designated driver but want to feel part of the event.

      1. I have tried the zero alcohol version – as far as my taste buds are concerned I certainly can tell the difference, but it isn’t as bad as some alcohol free stuff – the Leffe version is awful!

        1. This was Guinness 00 in a can. If it were draught in Dublin i expect the difference would be greater.

          1. Yes, it was the canned stuff I tried, versus the “real” stuff in the cans with a widget!

    4. I do not drink beer that comes in bottles. I would never dream of touching the pseudo-‘beer’ cat-piss sold in cans! The same goes for lager, from any source.

      I only ever drink good quality, cask-conditioned English bitter ale, sold in decent pubs, whenever I’m in the UK. Otherwise I’m teetotal.

    5. At the pub I only drink Guinness (draught of course) At home mainly dry white wine. A pint of Guinness actually soothes my stomach as it goes down. I also drink it only by the pint.

  10. Living in the UK at the moment is like taking a late holiday abroad in October just as they are closing down at the end of the season.

  11. Morning, all. Fine start to the day.

    Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action.

    I fail to see that what Trudeau is doing in Canada is in the least progressive, i.e. improving the people’s lot. Instead, Canada appears to be progressing towards the sewer. Such is the planned journey of WEF ideologues.

    https://twitter.com/DVATW/status/1698582066638516666

  12. Good morning all,

    Autumn mistiness is again the view from the study window but it’s soon going to burn off to leave a bright, sunny day. Wind in the East, 15℃ going up to 26℃ today with higher temperatures in prospect tomorrow and later in the week. This is what we should have been enjoying two months ago when the days were longer. The BBC’s eco-goons, of course, will be yelling ‘evidence of climate change’. Can’t you just hear them already?

    I’m mad to be contemplating going fishing today but that’s exactly what I’m doing. It’ll take my mind off this video which the New Culture Forum popped up a day or so ago. Peter Whittle laments the loss of London.

    I challenge anyone to watch it and not feel anger towards the political class who have done this to our capital city and its real people. The RPs are not Londoners. They never will be.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGUOeyQUWi8

    1. Morning McPhee. That England; with all that is implied in the name; that I was born into, has now been dead some ten or fifteen years, Blair of course killed it off. I have only realised quite recently that the UK itself is now in the process of extinction. This of course is the Globalist Programme. A faceless, homeless mass devoid of individuality. Mere consumers. Servants to the Elites!

    2. Morning McPhee. That England; with all that is implied in the name; that I was born into, has now been dead some ten or fifteen years, Blair of course killed it off. I have only realised quite recently that the UK itself is now in the process of extinction. This of course is the Globalist Programme. A faceless, homeless mass devoid of individuality. Mere consumers. Servants to the Elites!

  13. Good morning all!
    Another bright sunny start with 8°C outside and a gibbous moon, not quite down to half moon, hanging high in the sky.

    A fair comment on the Letters Page with supporting BTL Comments:-

    SIR – Why is central government being blamed for the lack of proper maintenance of buildings by local educational authorities, local government run by Labour, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives, and the incompetent NHS? The reality is that it has taken the Conservative Government to close buildings that should have had regular surveys and maintenance to prevent the problem. Blame and hold them to account rather than the Government that has had to act to save lives.

    David Brinkman
    Poole, Dorset

    Anastasias Revenge
    6 HRS AGO
    David Brinkman – “Why is central government being blamed for the lack of proper maintenance of buildings by local educational authorities, local government run by Labour, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives, and the incompetent NHS?”
    Because, every time a microphone is shoved under the nose of someone these days, the first words out of their mouths are “The government ought to…”.
    All part of a repetitive brainwashing so that the Government being “responsible” for every aspect of your life is “normalised”. That way, when the story becomes fact and the Government of the day DOES take over every aspect of your life, there will be no great protest.

    REPLY 3 REPLIES 40 1

    Leslie Ayre
    5 HRS AGO
    Reply to Anastasias Revenge
    Just watched the Sky newspaper review – to precis a comment by the Daily Mirror’s John somebody “this Conservative Government knew that the concrete only has a 30 year life span, have had 13 years of power and have done nothing but cut budgets” This was echoed by that well known ex Conservative – Anna Soubrey
    Balance, impartiality? nowhere to be seen on Sky for years.
    In addition, if it was known the concrete only has a 30 year life, and was used in the 50’s and 60’s, why hasn’t any Government since the 80’s and 90’s done anything? Not to mention the local authorities whose responsibility it is to maintain the buildings.

    Steve Jones
    4 HRS AGO
    Reply to Leslie Ayre
    Leslie i wondered about that – your final point – in Oz local councils are responsible to issue permits for construction.
    I assume if there is state money involved then the state/territory government would stick its nose in – I can’t see how it would ever be a Federal responsibility and I thought it would be the same in the UK – am I wrong? EDITED

    Anastasias Revenge
    4 HRS AGO
    Reply to Leslie Ayre – view message
    These things were erected during Labour years and had worn out during the Blair years. Not a word on that.
    There is no media balance anymore outside of GB News

    1. GB News is disingenuous when it claims to present both sides of the argument because the people it employs as guests to present Left wing, pro-trans, pro-vaccine, pro -Net Zero opinion, are completely incoherent morons such as Benjamin Butterworth, Amy Nickell, Rebecca Reid et alia. These people systematically avoid answering any questions to defend their lunacies.

      You cannot take such people and what they say seriously and I wish GB News would employ more rational people to present views with which I disagree.

    2. Ms Ayre raises the real question: why haven’t councils maintained the buildings? They’re happy to pocket the cash, but they do nothing but waste it.

  14. Regarding the CofE:-

    A lopsided C of E
    SIR – Charles Moore’s article will speak for many Anglicans.

    In particular, he refers to the multiplication of bishops, despite calls for episcopal numbers to be reduced.
    Add to this that, under the present leadership, bishops, almost without exception, are being drawn from an Evangelical stable. The great High Church-Catholic Anglican tradition is being marginalised.

    Churches offering free-style, enthusiastic gatherings with little, if any, connection with historic Anglicanism appear to have official favour. Those maintaining a dignified and reverent liturgy with sound doctrinal preaching receive little appreciation or encouragement.

    The mind and self-understanding of the Church of England have become woefully unbalanced and impoverished. Yet how can the situation be redeemed by those who know and care little for Anglican tradition and have themselves created the problem?

    Rev Barry A Orford
    London NW3

    R. Spowart
    JUST NOW
    Message Actions
    A good letter from the Rev. Orford, but I wonder if he realises that the Archpillock of Canterbury was put in place on the instructions of the WEF to destroy the Church of England?

    1. And David Cameron – an avowed atheist – appointed his fellow Etonian, Welby, with specific instructions to destroy the Church of England.

      Welby is carrying out Cameron’s brief most effectively.

    2. Sadiq Khunt ULEZ decision also showed utter contempt for the public.

      Drakeford 20mph speed limit decision ditto.

      They don’t care. It’s a feature, not a bug. Don’t you just love devolved government?

      Thanks again, Bliar.

  20. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2a1099f318d2c3b4e9737067bfae9c5965d580704f05a032c5cbb931b8be1b2a.png

    It is not just Sunak who wants to shaft the public – it is the whole of Parliament.

    William Blake referred to the dark satanic mills which he clearly thought were eyesores; I wonder what he would make of the current windmills which pollute our once lovely landscapes.

    And yet we continue to sing ‘Jerusalem‘ lustily without having any idea of what it is about!

    1. Sunak is just pretending to be on the side of the people. He makes claims that we want to hear then he U turns when the going gets tough.

      1. I’m aiming for the 11am train from Clapham Junction to Woking today and can hopefully get a taxi to High Street, Horsell but still nervous that I get lost and don’t find y’all!

          2. Made it home about ten min ago. Long congested stretches on M25 and M40.

            Thank you, and to Alf, for lunch. It really was too generous of you.

            Lovely to put a couple more faces to names, I’ll look out for the photos.

          8. I didn’t see it. But I wouldn’t have been able to get there today. But post some picture Phiz.
            Have a good time y’all. 😊

        4. Look forward to seeing you Sue. We are only about a mile from the station. Come out the town side for a taxi it’s a shorter journey.

        7. Lovely to meet you today, Sue. A pity we didn’t get a chance talk. We’ll have to sit closer together next time.
          I hope you got home Okay

          1. Yes, that will be good! It was great to meet everyone. So much to talk about. We must definitely do it again. Big thanks also to those who organised and paid. I didn’t expect that.

    2. I do wonder what on earth is wrong with them. Windmills do not work. To power this country they would have to cover the entire country. Then, when the wind doesn’t blow…. the few people living under them would have no power.

      The intent seems to be utterly perverse. Force us back to the technological Dark Ages. Forever retard human progress. Leave us without the thing that separates us from other animals – tools.

      Yet on the other hand they are pursuing a vindictive policy of race replacement. Trying to erase our culture and force millions of unskilled, welfare dependent foreigners on us – all consuming vast amounts of energy and not paying for it, but lumbering others with the bill.

      It is difficult to understand these people as they seem simply malicious, hypocritical, contrarian and spiteful. There is no logic, just destruction – of everything: way of life, ideology, society, attitude, currency, living standards. They’re political kamikaze pilots but flying the entire nation headlong into entropy.

      1. Ironic that HMG sees no correlation between immigrant influx and static GDP! Actually it’s not ironic – it’s all being done on purpose it seems to me.
        Edit: It’s not

      2. It’s just what Muslims do. Destructive ideologists. I’ll have no truck with them. Hotting is too good.

    2. Yes! Oddly Vlad understands what is happening in the West. He can’t do anything about it of course. He’s trying to save Russia from the same fate!

  22. Right – about to go out for much of the day. Play nicely.

    I take nothing back from my encomium yesterday morning. However, I have just remembered that staying five yards from a sandy beach – one provides a living deli for an enormous range of small – often almost invisible – BITING insects!!

    A plus tard.

      1. But, but…DDT spraying is believed by the anti-virus camp to be the source of poliomyelitis.

    2. Cover yourself in vaseline and roll in the sand. The little biters won’t see you in your camouflage.

    4. They are called No-see-ums in the Caribbean but we have plenty of the nasty practically invisible brutes in our garden at this time of year and I am covered in bites each time I go to do any toiling au jardin.

  23. It’s time the West admitted free speech is dead. 4 September 2023.

    Christianity is under attack, from China to Pakistan, but I want to consider a case closer to home to emphasise that religious liberty is vulnerable even where we complacently assume it is part of the culture. Let’s visit Finland.

    Päivi Räsänen is a doctor, longstanding MP and former interior minister. In 2019, police opened an investigation into her for “incitement against a minority”. The accusation is based upon a tweet in which she asked why the Lutheran Church sponsored a Pride event; a debate in which she said God intends us to be straight; and a booklet she authored nearly 20 years ago that argued homosexuality is a developmental disorder.

    For some obscure reason Stanley takes Finland and not the UK (perhaps it is now prohibited) as his example. It makes no never mind of course. The West as a whole; the source of all the modern ideas of Individual Freedom and Democracy has now abandoned them. We are living in a Totalitarian Police State little different to Communist China in its beliefs and where you may at any moment be selected as an example to be prosecuted or persecuted.

    P.S, No comments allowed. Cue: Creepy Music!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/04/its-time-the-west-admitted-free-speech-is-dead/

    1. Comments are allowed on the ‘virtual newspaper’ version of the Daily Telegraph that I subscribe to. I’ve just added my one-word comment to that article:

      Bollocks!

    2. Was it with irony or a total lack of self awareness (or lack of education) that they named their movement after one of the seven deadly sins?

  24. It’s time the West admitted free speech is dead. 4 September 2023.

    Christianity is under attack, from China to Pakistan, but I want to consider a case closer to home to emphasise that religious liberty is vulnerable even where we complacently assume it is part of the culture. Let’s visit Finland.

    Päivi Räsänen is a doctor, longstanding MP and former interior minister. In 2019, police opened an investigation into her for “incitement against a minority”. The accusation is based upon a tweet in which she asked why the Lutheran Church sponsored a Pride event; a debate in which she said God intends us to be straight; and a booklet she authored nearly 20 years ago that argued homosexuality is a developmental disorder.

    For some obscure reason Stanley takes Finland and not the UK (perhaps it is now prohibited) as his example. It makes no never mind of course. The West as a whole; the source of all the modern ideas of Individual Freedom and Democracy has now abandoned them. We are living in a Totalitarian Police State little different to Communist China in its beliefs and where you may at any moment be selected as an example to be prosecuted or persecuted .

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/04/its-time-the-west-admitted-free-speech-is-dead/

  25. Morning all 🙂😊
    What a lovely morning🌞
    I doubt if the average person would ever have been aware that schools and other buildings were about to ‘fall down’ around us.
    Our media are completely exaggeration the situation. Most of the problems if actually discovered during surveys, will be solved with simple repairs.

    1. The public sector doesn’t do ‘simple repairs’.
      Ditto the large corporations which often inhabit these concrete jungles.
      There are years – possibly decades – of lovely obfuscating income looming.

    2. HMG never does anything that is economically viable. Anything they do do is at vast unnecessary expense.

      1. It’s been said many many times before. They eff up every single thing they come into contact with.

  27. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amccMGe3ehs

    I had one of these in pieces that I was pretending to restore. It mostly involved me disappearing into the garage and cleaning bits of metal and spending daft sums of money on replacement bits and custom made larks.

    It is a beautiful car. The Warqueen made me sell it. On the upside, it went to a proper restorer who will no doubt do a ‘prop’er’ job’ and sell it to a collector.

    1. We lived just up the road from A-M in Newport Pagnell back in the 80’s. The V8 Vantage was my favourite car, and still is – we’d often see one, on trade plates, out for a test drive, and one of SWMBOs friend’s husband was the test pilot. Dream job…

  28. ‘Morning All

    More batshit crazy and yes it’s Billy Boy………..

    https://twitter.com/karma44921039/status/1698306374768238664?s=20

    It’s a “carbon credit” scam of course

    Rest

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2f1351bde886737c98ead9e7b1a3018269ebc51bb4124e23e70ab2deec9c3b86.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f223762471219677301bb16e54d530985cab75e306fa51a85c084799f36fa218.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c4e4ad0e9ff8351421f4a03c3fd01c42e5205fce5edb70f04348123fb7907a56.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6d98d49b85592ad4fde754aa6a4f3d8f1ce9b84c253c72448a555730841ee9c9.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cca528a6121b8dd17eedf626c73fb93b801d9e329ff8e55091baf9d1b1b67ae0.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c8b9fe60999fd77f2306978ce6d0c9eb1288f4495356a3ba07126c90069548a9.jpg

      2. Q: What’s the different between Bing Crosby and Walt Disney?
        A: (in fake Glasgow accent) Bing sings and Walt disnae.

  30. I have no appetite. The bath is leaking. We are all slightly grumpy. Me especially as I feel responsible for the problem.

    In the old place we’d wangled in a new bathroom and for us two, an en suite – which el Warqueeno mostly used. The floors were almost solid stone and even I felt ok. However we’ve inherited a bath with this place and an electric shower. The bath is tiny. Hell, all bloody baths are tiny when you’re 6’4 and about the same wide. It’s pointless for her as well as he legs are too long. A useful bath is 3m long, 2m wide and 1m deep. Why produce these ghastly rectangular tubs?

    Anyway. Saturday I get out of the shower and find the carpet is wet. I was so careful but it just wasn’t to be.

    That same day I put out for quotes for a new bathroom but even with that done we’ve been washing with flannels. Junior thinks it’s a game but she has not been happy. Her hair is a good 2 feet long and she’s washing it leaning over the bath. We’re wangling gym visits to shower properly there but it’s not the same – especially as I seem to be menopausal and burst into sweats going downstairs.

    A couple of fitters are coming today and Wednesday to quote, and I’ve set about getting an outside tent lark and camping shower but it’s going to be a difficult few weeks. This revolting hot weather doesn’t help either.

    1. House moving. Don’t you just love it?
      It’s amazing how much you don’t notice before you move in.

    3. I have the same problem as Bob Monkhouse highlighted.

      He was flattered thinking that his grandchildren thought he was a super-hero because they called him Spiderman – until he discovered that it was because he had trouble getting out of the bath.

  31. https://freespeechunion.org/monthly-newsletter-15/

    FSU wins substantial compensation for bank manager sacked in free speech row

    The Free Speech Union racked up another significant legal victory at the employment tribunal (ET) last month, securing what promises to be a significant pay-out for a dyslexic Lloyds bank manager sacked in a free speech row!

    Carl Borg-Neal, 57, was unfairly dismissed and subject to disability discrimination when Lloyds Bank sacked him for using a racial slur during a workplace-based diversity training session. He is now likely to recover damages for past loss of earnings, future loss of earnings, a pensions award, compensation for discrimination and compensation for personal injury, all amounting to a significant sum.

    In July 2021, Mr Borg-Neal was one of around 100 senior Lloyd’s managers who logged on to an online training session entitled ‘Race Education for Line Managers’. Provided by an external organisation, the training formed part of the bank’s ‘Race Action Plan’, launched in the wake of George Floyd’s death the previous year.

    Carl had worked for Lloyds Bank for 27 years without issue, was popular among colleagues, and had risen to a highly technical managerial role at head office. Far from being indifferent to racial equality, he had recently joined a new scheme mentoring young colleagues from ethnic minorities and was working with three mentees, one of African descent, one of Asian descent and one of European (non-UK) descent.

    At the start of the session, the trainer read out a script that established the parameters for what was to follow. “When we talk about race, people often worry about saying the wrong thing,” she said. “Please understand that today is your opportunity to practice, learn and be clumsy… The goal is to start talking, so please speak freely, and forgive yourself and others when being clumsy today.”

    At a relevant point during a subsequent discussion on ‘intent vs effect’, Mr Borg-Neal decided to take the trainer’s statement at face-value and “speak freely”. Thinking partly about rap music, he asked how as a line manager he should handle a situation where he heard someone from an ethnic minority use a word that might be considered offensive if used by a white person. Met with a puzzled look from the trainer, he added, “The most common example being use of the word n***** in the black community.”

    Carl didn’t receive a response to his ‘clumsy’ question. In fact, he was angrily berated by the trainer. He tried to apologise for any offence, but was told if he spoke again he would be thrown off the course.

    Other managers on the course complained that Carl’s question never received an answer – indeed, anonymous feedback collated after the session suggests the trainer’s behaviour was not particularly well-received. “I was shocked by the manner and tone used by one presenter to a colleague,” said a respondent. “After saying at the beginning this would be a safe environment and [acknowledging] we may make mistakes, she launched into a vitriolic attack… I believe [Mr Borg-Neal] was trying to ask a valid question to aid understanding.”

    After the course, the trainer claimed she was so offended by use of the n-word that she was too sick to work and took five days off. The provider then complained to Lloyds Bank.

    It was the fact that the trainer needed to take time off that triggered an investigation, with the bank subsequently accusing Carl of racism and launching a disciplinary process that led to his dismissal for gross misconduct.

    After 27 years, his career lay in tatters.

    Following an unsuccessful attempt to appeal Lloyd’s decision, Carl joined the Free Speech Union. Having reviewed the case, we instructed Doyle Clayton – an expert firm of employment solicitors – who brought a claim against Lloyds Bank in the Tribunal.

    Something that emerged particularly strongly from the hearing was the extent to which Lloyd’s focused on Mr Carl Borg-Neal’s use of the n-word in isolation, irrespective of the context in which he’d used it.

    For instance, the initial HR caseworker talked to colleagues from the bank’s Inclusion and Diversity team “to understand the impact of the word used on session attendees”. The disciplinary Hearing Manager then spoke to witnesses “to understand the impact of use of the term on the facilitator”. During the appeal process, the new Hearing Manager also focused on the impact that use of the n-word had had on the individual carrying out the training.

    It was on the basis of this semantic fixation that the bank could concede that Mr Borg-Neal had not intended to cause any hurt, that he asked the question with no malice, and that the question itself was valid, but then still dismiss him for gross misconduct. The bank’s argument was that Mr Borg-Neal should have known better than “to use the full word in a professional environment”.

    However, thanks to top-drawer representation from Doyle Clayton, we were successfully able to steer the panel towards an appreciation of the wider context in which the n-word had been uttered.

    Explaining its unanimous decision to rule the dismissal unfair, the panel noted variously that: the incident had taken place during a race education session, and specifically during a discussion of ‘intent versus impact’; it was a well-intentioned relevant question regarding how to handle a situation of racially offensive language in the workplace; there was no suggestion that he was taking an opportunity to say an abusive term under cover of a question; and that his dyslexia affected his ability to formulate his question carefully.

    Lloyds Bank also relied heavily on the suggestion that Mr Borg-Neal had demonstrated a lack of concern for the impact of his actions on others. According to the Hearing Manager, it was “because of the absence of any deeper acceptance as to why [Mr Borg-Neal’s] use of the word was so inappropriate [that it was] difficult to make the case that action short of dismissal such as further training or removing [him] from a position of influence as a role model would be sufficient”.

    The panel was distinctly unimpressed with this line of reasoning. “This is an unusual distinction given that the claimant had repeatedly apologised,” they wrote. “He told [the Hearing Manager] that he understood in hindsight that the trainer could be upset. He said a friend had told him use of the word was inappropriate and ‘I get that now’. He said he understood his conduct had fallen below expectation. One wonders what was expected of him.”

    1. “the trainer claimed she was so offended by use of the n-word that she was too sick to work and took five days off” – ’nuff sed!!

    2. “When we talk about race, people often worry about saying the wrong thing,” she said. “Please understand that today is your opportunity to practice, learn and be clumsy… The goal is to start talking, so please speak freely, and forgive yourself and others when being clumsy today.”

      Baiting the hook!

  32. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2100765f3265b689627d8bf193bfd047f27fbf5b91f7716d804532f786deab2a.png

    BTL

    Free?

    Is the payment for this going to come out of Mr Sunak’s and Mr Hunt’s own private bank accounts or would the taxpayer be expected to pay for it?

    If the majority of Conservative voters think that everyone should pay for other people’s children’s meals then we are truly living in what Mr Mandelson described as ‘the post-democratic age’.

    1. People must be mad! Who would want their children stuffed with halal ‘food’, GMOs and whatever else they can put into these meals without parental consent?

      1. The cheapness is truly amazing.
        I remember a “Two Greedy Italians” programme where they visited a school for lunch. An enormous pan of penne, and tomato sauce was lunch, prepared at school, and it looked so absolutely wonderful. Never had any school dinner that looked like that. Sigh…

    2. These people seem to have forgotten that child benefit is over £80 a month, more than enough to pay for a school meal even if you have to pay.

    2. Forget the Multicultural Enrichment Lie: the Great Multicultural Impoverishment Truth is now already upon us.

      1. A Muslim immigrant is rather like Geoffrey Boycott in that once you get him in you’ll never get him out!

    3. Again Conway sought to reply, but could not, till at length a vivid lightning flash paled the shadows and stirred him to exclaim: ‘The storm … this storm you talk of …’ ‘It will be such a one, my son, as the world has not seen before. There will be no safety by arms, no help from authority, no answer in science. It will rage till every flower of culture is trampled, and all human things are levelled in a vast chaos.

      Lost Horizon. James Hilton.

      1. He also wrote Goodbye Mr Chips.

        They made a pretty frightful film of it starring Peter O’Toole and Petula Clark but the television film with Martin Clunes as Mr Chips was worth watching. Talking of books set in public schools did anyone read R.F Delderfield’s To Serve The All Their Days?

        1. Afternoon Richard. There was an earlier version of Goodbye Mr Chips with Robert Donat in the title role. It wasn’t too bad but it was a little schmaltzy!

        2. Yes.
          I’ve read most of RFD’s works, starting with “There Was A Fair Maid Dwelling”.

          1. The school was based on West Buckland near Barnstaple in North Devon where Delderfield was a boy.

            W.B. had the reputation of being quite a happy place but not very strong academically.

          2. Happiness is good. Granddaughters junior schools in Dubai had the following on one of its staircases.
            It is you attitude not your aptitude that will determine your altitude.

  36. Well with this latest school project fear campaign we can safely assume that Blair’s team are fully in charge of Labour’s dirty campaign tricks with a fully compliant mainstream media.

    1. Which caused Tony Blair to dislodge and float to the surface, thus proving what New Conservatism actually consists of.

    3. Yet her policies were rejected by the ‘Conservative’ party and the globalists. They hated her clearly pro growth, small state agenda. It was truly monstrous.

      1. Those were days, and pubs that culd only serve beer as they did not have a spirits licence.

        1. It was such a depressing lac that we used to go to the George just round the corner. Don’t know if it still exists.

  39. Fibre to the Home – WiFi upgrade

    When Morrison Networks replaced my landline NT point with a fibre termination:

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

    The Smart Hub 2 was set on a WiFi band that the Rectory was pumping out (green humps)

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0348b4376b14179ce11318d053ee54ef3f8f6e1d06354704be327255af3309b6.jpg

    So I bought one of these:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/37eccce0d5282911a8c995aa30159862675754ddbc35beb9e515c41c3ca2f8e9.jpg

    and I’m now using this repeater closer to my tablet (red hump) at the end ot a Cat6 Ethernet connectiin to the fifre connected Smart Hub router.

    Do any of us techno geeks know why the Rector should be pumping out his WiFi signal with such a big bandwidth?

          1. The weird thing is that I remembered that from my schooldays 72 years ago when the class had hysterics reading that in RI – I have not thought of it during those 72 years

      3. Is this the Great Delivery from Amazon?

        I commissioned the delivery today by connecting the new WiFi repeater to the end of a length of Cat6 cable connected to the Smart Hub and overcame the overbearing transmissions from the Rectory.

        With the hub connected directly to the optic fibre I must have seen the light!

    4. Pass? Could be he’s using a wider bandwidth than you are – I use 80Mhz for my connection, from between 40 to 160.

      1. Does that mean you have a setting on your router/hub to change the WiFi bandwidth you use?

        Why should the Rector be trying to wipe out all his local flock?

  40. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/49c8859e056f40f6633a84b56b23a5d3dc6326513e58ebba50a298938537c415.png

    They were talking about abolishing IHT quite a bit in the MSM a few weeks ago.

    Clearly this was a popular idea which is why it is not talked about any more because Sunak is quite determined to do all he can to stop people voting Conservative.

    The Conservative Party will self-destruct – which seems to be just what Sunak wants – if he is still leader of the party when it is wiped out completely in the general election next year.

    2. How many years must elapse before offloaded assets are no longer liable for IHT? Is it seven? I hope Sir David has had reassurances from his children that they will come to his aid if he suffers financial difficulties in the years to come.

      2. I think it’s a sliding scale with it going to zero after 7 years Stig. I’ve already taken this route with some of my assets

      3. You also have to ensure there is no ongoing benefit to the donor. For example, transferring your house to your children but continuing to live there rent-free would not count.

      1. Yes, that was a masterly summing up of the situation. Good for her! We need to be that angry.

  44. I see the independent “expert” panel in the Houses of Parliament have directed the unspeakable Cur William Wankinson to apologise to some woman whose feelings were hurt.

    The final para of the report:

    “The sub-panel determined, having considered the wishes of the complainant, that the appropriate sanction was to require Sir Gavin to make an unreserved apology by way of a personal statement in the House, and to undertake appropriate behaviour training. Sir Gavin accepted this decision.”

    I don’t know which is the more depressing. That he has been told to apologise OR that he as to go for behaviour training.

    If the wanqueur had an ounce of honour he would have resigned years ago. But of course he has no concept of honour.

  45. Delightful day out. Excellent sandwich bought in a boulangerie in the middle of nowhere. Only niggle – our tour guide (despite coming to France for 73 years) overlooked that it is MONDAY and all monuments etc (and many shops/restos) are SHUT!! The MR forgave me.

      2. I have a statue of the BVM with a halo of stars, although she is standing on the world, not a moon.

  48. Russian helicopter pilot says he defected because of ‘genocide’ in Ukraine. 4 September 2023.

    A Russian helicopter pilot who defected to Ukraine has said he switched sides to oppose “genocide” in his first interview.

    Appearing on television on Sunday night, Maksim Kuzminov said he felt “sorry for what is happening right now: killings, tears, and blood”.

    The 28-year-old flew a Russian Mi-8 helicopter across the front line in Kharkiv in a coordinated operation with Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR).

    This is absolute nonsense. It is of course quite understandable, that some people should not be in sympathy with the aims of their governments during wars. That doesn’t apply to this guy. He has enriched himself by this betrayal and there is another aspect to it:

    Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukrainian intelligence, has previously said the pilot’s family was extracted from Russia before the operation while other crew members were killed when they tried to flee upon landing in Ukraine.

    It seems unlikely to me that his crew waited patiently until they landed in Ukraine before legging it. In my view he murdered them shortly after take-off to ensure they did not interfere with his plans.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/09/04/russian-helicopter-pilot-maksim-kuzminov-defected-ukraine/

    1. Tut tut – he obviously waited for a telly crew to arrive (by arrangement) to capture this spontaneous moment.

      You ae an old cynic, Minty!!

    2. Pure propaganda. The Ukrainians are desperate, their menfolk sent to the slaughter, their entanglements with corrupt US politicians exposed and much of their most industrious territories returned to Mother Russia.

      Ukrainians abroad will never be persuaded to return and the rest of their menfolk will be leaving the country to avoid certain death in the proxy war.

      I would that there was justice and that Zelensky and his henchmen are deposed and dispossessed of their ill gotten gains then hung from trees or lampposts. It would be good to see the same justice meted out to Obama, Clinton, Nuland, Sullivan, Blinken and the rest of the scum in the Biden administration.

        1. Since haircuts became illegal, me too. Bought Remington clippers, and a telescopic wall-mounted mirror from IKEA (which arrived broken, but never mind. So I can see the back as well as the front. No-one laughs at me, so I assume the result is OK (or everyone is very polite)…

          I have had one ‘professional’ haircut since: I went to Carlisle in January for a funeral. I took the clippers, but realised that I couldn’t, in fairness, use them in the Station Hotel. So I went to the nearest barber. Gave me the works. Bemoaned the fact that Botchergate was a ‘very dangerous place’, and – on cue – three police cars screamed past with blues and twos. “Not like this where I come from”, he said. Turned out he was from Khazakstan… 😟

        2. I’ve been cutting my own for 8 years. A No1 comb on the electric clippers all over. 5 mins and I’m done.

        3. I haven’t done that since I lived in South Africa. I was afraid my hair would turn into tight curls. 😉

    2. I have a very wide central parting.

      As the old verse goes:

      ‘Tis many years of toil and care
      Has made my head grow through my hair      .

  50. Not many still wordling?

    Par here.
    Wordle 807 4/6

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

    1. I had a little bit of twouble today

      Wordle 807 6/6

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

    3. Bogey five for me today.

      Wordle 807 5/6

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

    4. Only just got around to it

      Wordle 807 4/6

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

  51. That’s me gone. A very happy day plus an hour on the beach – to feed the insects.

    On thing that stuck out a mile in our 100 mile ramble through very rural France – -the enormous amount of house building. NOT of second homes but nice country places to live in.

    The MR and I agreed that this was almost certainly due to yer town/city living French realising that said towns/cities are becoming disgusting and that they had better sell their town/city houses while they still had a value – leaving towns/cities to the unspeakable invaders. And buy nice place in the middle nowhere – hoping for the best.

    Have a joyful evening.

    A demain

    2. One thing that struck me about rural Norman housing was how traditional in style it all was. Even new builds looked as though they’d been there a while.

  52. Right, I have a guest staying for the night and we’re just off for a walk!
    Logging off now as she’s sleeping in this room.

    TTFN all.

    1. I had an email from Prickly Thistle a a week or so ago. She met up with Lacoste, and he has a few medical issues which are giving him grief, and he’s not being served well by NHS Scotland. Which may explain his current absence.

        2. He has the same problem as I do (sacroiliac joint pain). NHS Scotland seems to be as useless at offering help as NHS Shropshire. They have washed their hands of that and have now moved on to my knees (I suspect the answer to that will be the same as last time – not bad enough to do anything with).

    1. That’s a great photo! What is there to apologise for? A good time was had by all. We would have shared the bill if asked.

      2. The daughter of my closest friends who i spend happy time with describes me as a social hand grenade. Get the apologies in first !
        Lovely to meet you Sue. Glad you could make it.

        As this event was suggested by me i thought i would treat the gang to some nice wine. John and Maggie decided they would pay the lion share of the food without any arm bending or suggestion from me.
        So you can thank them for your calves liver and me for your tap water………….i’m not selling this am i ?

        1. It was really nice of all of you, and I do thank you. And the pub is wonderful, a real find! The calves’ liver is just as nice as you described.

      1. Just watch Crimewatch later. One of our group is suspected of stealing an Astin Martini from the car park !

          3. Pink !!! Are you mad !!! With my red hair and freckles ! The only colour worse would be green !

      1. Thank you most kindly. John and Maggie got stuck with the food bill so next time it’s my turn it’s KFC.

      3. I’m thinking that the 1/4/24 anniversary lunch should be in East Anglia…

        Might not suit everyomne, but there’s no reason it should always be on my doorstep.

        I made it to a funeral in darkest Suffolk a couple of weeks ago, by train. And survived…

        Somewhere midway between Norfolk and Essex might work for a few extra Nottlers. Just a thought…

        1. Suits me. I have an invite to visit Harry Kobeans and his good lady. Two birds etc. Great sea food around there too.

    7. Hello, hello, hello! What’s all this ‘ere then?

      Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello! 😊

        1. You as always look lovely. Shame i am a bit out of focus. Still, we look the same age. / / / / / / / :@)

        1. I thought that must be Hertslass – the only Nottler I’ve met in person – and her other half.

          1. Ahem…. All you have to do is flutter your eyelids and the world is non-allergenic seafood of choice. Erm…

          5. I’m so impressed that you manage to get to both the North and South Branch Meetings! 😘

          7. Not me…I am definitely going to be on the other side of the planet. Or in fact another one. :@(

    10. Wonderful photo! So glad you all had a great time, and curses that I live so much further North! Please someone supply a list of names as it’s nice to be able to picture the gang!

          1. You insist on this and i don’t get a kiss? Many others today kissed me more than once….in public !!! Not all of them of the lady persuasion. Ahem… Er How are you……. ? :@)

    12. The nicely placed menu looks interesting. Yummy – Liver, bubble and squeak!

      There was me imagining that we are all grey haired oldies, what a surprise!

    13. There are about a dozen, give or take partners/friends here. How many nottlers are there? I can’t see any stats on the site.

      1. People have come and gone, over the years. Not sure how many active perticipants there are now. A few have died, sadly.

        1. And some are ill. Or have withdrawn for various reasons. Thinking especially of Plum and Lacoste. And especially Lottie. Google Calendar reminded me that Granchester Meadows also shuffled off, a few years ago. I wonder what happened to Helen of Tuskegee…

          1. I was thinking of GM, and also Issy, amongst those who had died. I guess Helen would be a little younger, but at least she let us know.

          2. True, Jools. Much water has gone under the bridge since (rather like the flood which removed GM’s kitchen in Haworth).

            And Issy. HL and David gave him much support, for which I’m thankful.

      2. There’s no easy way to enumerate them. Disqus offers some analayses, but not down to individual posters. Individual daily posts are around 500. The most ever was on Referendum Night, when they far exceeded 1,000.

    14. Is that a Nottleragerie?

      It’s like a menagerie, but with wimmin, and thus much more civilised.

      They certainly look as if they’ve had fun and I hope that firm real-time friendships were formed.

      1. Several people handed me their business cards. Well, when i say handed…they came with their wallets.

    16. What a wonderful happy photo, and I am so pleased 14 of you managed to get together and enjoy Nottlerdom at its finest.

      I am non the wiser about IDs , but you all look as I had imagined .

      I would have loved to have been there with you, but maybe another time , perhaps .

      Brilliant you Phizzee, and such a wonderful social get togethererer xx

    17. Any chance of ‘naming and shaming’ Phiz ? 🙂😊😉
      It would be lovely to know what the people we are in daily contact with actually look like.
      I take it you are head of table.
      Excellent turn out.

      1. From the left. Alf the Great. RichardSK. Hertslass. Harry Kobeans and Alison. Yours truely. Steve. Rik Redux. David. Sue Edison. Maggie. StorminaDcup. Geoff was an hour late!

        1. Cheers Phiz, I’ve only met one Nottler. Beaded old codger Bob. I should have bought him a coffee and a cake, but in a hurry to change and leave home I forgot my wallet. 🤗🤔
          I was invited some time ago to meet HL for a coffee, but I wasn’t in a good place at the time.

      3. Not a chance, woke is in society as cancer is in a body. Until reeducation training is outlawed for those who transgress against the ‘progressives’ we are doomed. If you can lose your career and livelihood for wrong think rather than acting against the law, again, we are screwed. Thankfully, most of us are not beholden to employers and can say what we like, well almost all we like!

        1. Quite so. Being semi-retired, I thankfully don’t have to deal with all that EDI bollox. Although working for a CofE parish as an organist, it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that the Church has B Corp certification. Thankfully, we have a Rector (former Army chaplain) who is even less woke than I am. He point blank refuses to attend Diocesan ‘Sexual Ethics’ seminars – which seem to be the only issue the Church cares about these days. He will resign rather than conduct same-sex marriage.

          My retirement bungalow is one of 15 properties owned by a small local housing society. I met the committe Chairman on Saturday – they’ve met all the tenants to warn them that changes are afoot. It is believed that the society is the last one in the UK run entirely by volunteers. There’s so much legislation now, that they can simply no longer cope. It’s likely that their properties will be ‘migrated’ to a much larger outfit, which has the resources to deal with all the nonsense. Frankly, I don’t blame them. And the larger outfit already looks after maintenance issues, brilliantly.

          It’s 15 years since I left the ‘day job’ – were I to return, I doubt I’d last a week…

          1. I have managed to avoid all this nonsense by being freelance, up til now.
            “We would like to see your DIE and CRT training certificates to prove you can write good software” said no customer ever…at least until now…

          3. It is the same in the architectural profession. Only an American client would expect to see my Professional Indemnity Insurance or qualification Certificates. Despite having sold out to the government for protection of title, architects remain sidelined by developers and their armies of draughting technicians.

            This is the explanation for almost all modern housing resembling the advocacy of the Essex Design Guide from the seventies. Autocad pull down menus for elements such as doors and windows ensure persistent mediocrity.

            This explains why so many charlatans get away with promoting themselves as ‘architectural designers’ and the rest of the unregistered rabble posing as experts in design.

            None are.

          4. Your rector sounds like a keeper – unlike ours! We can only dream of getting someone so sensible.

          5. No-one knew how old he was. But, as he gave me a lift between services, I mentioned that I had joined the happy recipients of the State Pension. “I don’t know when I get mine”, he replied. “How old are you?” I asked in all innocence. “65”, he replied. “So you’ll get it this year”, was my response.

            So, he has around four years before he has to retire, 70 being the maximum age for stipendiary clergy. His wife plus one other (an American) have just been admitted as Pastoral Visitors. I thrink he’ll stay the course. Which means I’ll prolly leave before he does.

            My contract expires on 1 October 2025. At which point, I may get my life back. Or not… Watch his space…

  58. Well Labour always said they wanted to do it,
    But the Conservatives have beaten them to it on their watch.
    Broken the class ceiling.

  60. Evening, all. Been a busy day (but nothing like tomorrow’s!); went to the RAF Association meeting in the morning, followed by the parish council meeting in the evening.

  61. Glad to see the that the DT has published an obituary for Jimmy Buffett. Those of us who sailed around the Caribbean Islands in our boats will remember him and his songs with affection.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d7074baa528e76f808ffb9db230c8c72a16d48229cc6c29e7b442e8a9a3f4c3f.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2023/09/03/jimmy-buffett-usa-singer-songwriter-margaritaville/

    Here’s my BTL comment under the obit:

    I took a sabbatical year in 1984/85 and sailed my 31 foot boat from Cornwall to the Caribbean and back with a couple of friends. Jimmy Buffett was at the height of his popularity then and I learnt how to play and sing “The Weather is here I wish you were Beautiful” so I could take my guitar to parties on the beaches of the Windward and Leeward Islands.

    Let’s hope Jimmy will RIP somewhere where both the weather and all his girlfriends are beautiful!

  62. Good night, chums. The window cleaner calls tomorrow, then I am off into the city centre to watch THE EQUALIZER 3, then back to give my garden shed a coating of Creosote substitute. Busy, busy, busy day for me.

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