Wednesday 20 September: Rishi Sunak could capitalise on Labour’s misguided moves in Europe

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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428 thoughts on “Wednesday 20 September: Rishi Sunak could capitalise on Labour’s misguided moves in Europe”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolk, today’s story

    Let’s Get It Right
    A farmer walks into the drug store and says: “I want me one of them thar condoms with pesticides on it.”

    The pharmacist replied, “Oh sir, you must mean that you want the condoms with SPERMICIDE, not pesticide. They’re on aisle 4.”

    “No, no, I want me them thar condoms with PESTICIDE on it,” growled the farmer.

    “Sir,” said the pharmacist, exasperated from explaining, “PESTICIDE is for killing insects, SPERMICIDE is for killing sperm. I’m sure that you mean spermicide instead of pesticide.”

    “Listen here, ” argued the farmer, “I want condoms with PESTICIDE on it, cuz my wife’s got a bug up her ass, and I aim to kill it!” ,

          1. It wasn’t triumphalism, Sir Jasper, I really couldn’t see your first post when I logged on yesterday (Wednesday).

  4. Morning, all Y’all.
    Raining, dark, cold.
    Waiting for train in nice warm waiting room, but some bastard eating with his mouth open and the squelching makes me want to throw, so standing outside in the rain.

  7. Rishi Sunak could capitalise on Labour’s misguided moves in Europe

    But wasn’t part of the leave deal not to seek any economic advantage?

    1. And let’s stop talking about this as if market economics is somehow driving it. It’s not. We’ve had a communist state skewing the global economy.’

      And that in a nutshell is the problem. In a market, wind would receive no subsidy, no grid upgrade freebies slapped on tax payers. No handouts. no guaranteed price. It would have to compete with all the other suppliers. That means it’d have to charge some £500 per KWh and even then not work most of the time and no one would buy it. So the state forces it. The lobbyists, paid by the wind industry push for more wind and, worse, more tax payer subsidy. . They get rich and fat, then lobby for even more, buying even more politicians up and eventually it becomes self perpetuating. All because the market for energy has been fundamentally broken by big fat state.

  9. 376935+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Listen up,

    Currently, EVIL rules OK,

    With every vote appertaining to the current political governing overseers you condone their actions, as in the daily importation of foreign rapist, paedophiles,etc,etc, your mindset when considering childrens safety could be “it ain’t my
    child” but the PIE fraternity are working seriously hard to remedy that.

    https://x.com/ANTlWEF/status/1703819150421106782?s=20

    1. One day the Left wing paedophile gay trans mob stonewall will demand the rape of all children by law. They simply won’t understand why this is wrong because by then it’ll be too far gone.

      1. 376935+ up ticks,

        Afternoon DW
        I believe many of the lab political hierarchy are of that mindset having conversed in the past with PIE, & lowering the age of consent to, was it 12 ? check with Harman.

        1. I’m well aware of the scurrilous attempts to link Harman with the Paedophile Information Exchange.

  10. BBC Breakfast this morning had been gleefully predicting an increase in the inflation rate. The figures have just come out – it’s gone down from 6.8% to 6.7% in August. The reporter looked and sounded crestfallen, but still managed to say that prices are still going up.

    1. That is sad. Not a fate I would wish on my worst enemy.
      Makes you wonder if some of his recent behaviour has been the disease rather than the booze.

    1. Problem is, that Polish politician is giving a speech in the very heart of communist fascism itself – the hated EU.

  14. Good morning all. a rather damp 11½°C this morning and the rain is coming down rather hard.
    Got home yesterday lunchtime, absolutely knackered, after picking up a 21″ faceplate and box of Coventry thread cutting dies for t’Lad’s lathe from Keighley.
    It was rather a damp trip but still enjoyable. I’ve still got to transfer the photos on this computer before I can put any up.

  15. 376935+ up ticks,

    May one ask,

    What part of COALITION is hard to understand ?

    Wednesday 20 September: Rishi Sunak could capitalise on Labour’s misguided moves in Europe

      1. 376935+ up ticks,

        Morning W,

        I see it as a coalition with three party segments to keep the electorate happy.

        Three turds = 1 coalition

  18. G’morning all,

    Clouds scud rapidly across the sky at McPhee Towers, driven by the Sou’-West wind. It’s soon going to be very wet and windy for virtually the whole day, the thermometer is at 16℃ and not moving.

    I’ve been to quite a few exhibitions at the Royal Academy but I think we’ll be giving this one a miss.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/19/marina-abramovic-royal-academy-nude-naked-performers/

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a21f861a5cb51bdc6ee45b9b67b5f2b82482be34786b20955734ae5ef8e2a36d.png

    What happens if the chap has an erection? Or is he drugged to prevent it? Maybe he’ll bat for the other team so he’ll be unexcited.

    This is The Royal Academy, folks. Another way in which we are beginning to re-live the Weimar Republic?

      2. Wander past and before going in say ‘hang on’ and whip out some plastic sheeting to drape over them both.

    6. Considering I’m nearly 2 metres tall and over 70cm wide their standing there is just going to get us all in difficulty.

      Then there’s the situation of someone groping either one. Not to mention folk using walking aids.

  19. In today’s DT:

    “German city will remove thousands of parking spaces to discourage motorists”

    I would be inclined to delete the word ‘motorists’ and substitute ‘business’ if the state of some of our high streets is any guide. A friend with a small business in Brighton is on the verge of giving up now that a scheme near his premises has been extended and eye-watering charges imposed. When will they learn?

    2. They won’t, because they don’t care. The council’s response to falling revenue from lost income from businesses they have destroyed is to hike taxes on the remainder, accelerating the decline. This is why high streets have collapsed.

      They are morons, plain and simple stupid, vicious, gormless, arrogant morons. Actually, that’s unfair on morons, as they don’t know what they’re doing. The useless chancers infesting political office do.

      1. It is part of the agenda to destroy all independent businesses just leaving corporations in control of everything.

    3. I stopped going to Shrewsbury when they removed all the free on-street parking and made you buy a ticket (from selected shops) to display on your windscreen. You had about five minutes to find a shop, buy the ticket and get back to your car before they fined you.

  20. With Captain Hindsight trotting around Europe in the hope of impressing anyone other than him and his party, I had to smile at this DT letter:

    SIR – Rishi Sunak should invite Marine Le Pen to “get to know you” talks at No 10.

    David Hefford
    Chichester, West Sussex

  21. Well, it’s going to be an expensive week for the van. It needs:-
    2 x front tyres, the current ones are on the limit – They’ve not done too badly, they are the originals from when I bought the thing!
    A new master cylinder for the clutch – I’ve currently got hydraulic fluid dripping down the pedal so have to keep an eye on the reservoir
    And it needs tanking up! That will be at least £120 worth!!!

    I need to have one run to Derby today to drop t’Lad’s things off then it’s VOR until those jobs get done. At least it’s Pension Day on Friday!!

      1. Yes! Got back yesterday, totally bloody knackered after several nights of disturbed sleep due to the sound of rain, hammering in some showers, on the van roof!
        Still enjoyed myself though.

  22. SIR – At the Great North Run, in dire weather, Dr Brian Wareing (Letters, September 16) got a “99” ice cream for £5. At Lords, for the Ashes, mine was £6.50 – with no flake. The sun was at least out. The rate in Sussex is £3.

    Ashley Preston
    Horsham, West Sussex

    Why buy it then? More fool you.

    3. Er – isn’t a “99” without a flake just an ice cream?
      “I’ll have a cheese and pickle sandwich without the cheese”.

      1. A German fella I met camping years ago, when I asked him if he’d like a coffee, asked for it black with milk and sugar 🙂

      2. If an ice cream with a chocolate flake in it costs 99p and the flake costs 30 p what do you get for the lower price without a flake?

  23. Good Moaning.
    No comments allowed under Allison Pearson’s DT article, but the flash of insight – however cynical it might be – is at least honest. The little grey apparatchiks who benefitted from encouraging Brand’s behaviour are just as sickening as the man himself.

    “As Brand himself told ITV presenter Lorraine Kelly, when she suggested that some of his sleazy exploits may have been enabled by his employers, “Yes, I suppose if you’re in a position of some success, people will let you be a nutter as long as they’re making money out of it.”

  24. The leading Letters BTL, a heartfelt but forlorn plea for our useless government to get a grip:

    Trevor Anderson
    1 HR AGO
    It is deeply depressing, yet fascinating to watch our PM dither and prevaricate about everything that is diminishing this country to third world status. The Peter Principle applies across the board in Westminster. Almost to a man and woman, they have reached their highest level of incompetence.
    Apart from the destruction of our economy and rapidly growing social deprivation, the loss of`our freedoms and aspirations through the constant attack on democracy is given no heed. The democratic vote for Brexit and the application of it, has been meaningless and is an example of democracy being wilfully ignored – along with the insane enforcement of more wind and solar because they can’t think of anything else. The list of soviet style enforcement is endless, the banning of ICE vehicles – which if even moved on to 2035 is still unachievable and unnecessary, the banning of gas and oil boilers, ULEZ, 20 mph in Wales, the retro fitting and insulation of millions of older properties, etc etc, all to electrify the nation with a National Grid that admits it cannot handle an increase in the production of electricity – all to be paid for by whom? Not much guessing to do there, then. Starmer and his crew of incompetents will only make it worse.
    “We are called a nation of inventors, and we are. We could still claim that title and wear its’ loftiest honours, if we stopped at the first thing we ever invented – which was human liberty.” Mark Twain.

    Hear, hear Mr A!

    1. Well said Trevor, but…..
      You should have mentioned the out right and openly carried out treason against the British people.
      This ongoing act is what is destroying our nation.

    2. It is not dithering. It’s not by accident. It’s a deliberate, specific, intentional act to destroy the country and nation. That’s what Sunak has been illegitimately installed to achieve. He chose Hunt because that useless fool is guaranteed to obey the globalist line – he agrees with it – and will do everything possible to cripple this country.

      1. Actually Hunt was nominally installed by Truss but who got her to do this, how did she do it and why did she do it?

  25. Well, that’s £36,000 – £48,000 per annum well spent.
    Jocasta is now fluent in Management Speak.
    She can take over the running of NatWest.

    “Gender identity policy

    SIR – I write regarding your report “Gender is a ‘spectrum’ says top girls’ school formerly attended by Princess Royal” (September 16). To be clear, Benenden School is renowned for its outstanding pastoral care and would never behave in a way that would contravene our statutory duties or safeguarding principles. Our equality, diversity and inclusion policy is fully compliant with all relevant legislation and in line with the approach most other schools adopt. In fact, the section quoted in your article relates to an annex outlining a definition of terms.

    Certain groups in society may not like the fact that a very small proportion of young people question their identity, but it is a reality that they do and every school in the country will, at some stage, encounter a pupil dealing with this. One aspect of our role as school leaders, in addition to educating young people, is to help them through their teenage years, which can be a confusing and difficult time. Our policy is written with the wellbeing of young people at its heart so that every student feels that they can seek support and be heard if they are uncertain about where they fit, whether that relates to sexuality, race, religion or cultural beliefs.

    There is frustration in many quarters that the Government has been so slow to issue schools guidance on gender identity, and I know I speak on behalf of school leaders when I say we share this frustration.

    Samantha Price

    Headmistress, Benenden School

    Cranbrook, Kent”

    1. Our policy is written with the wellbeing of young people at its heart so
      that every student feels that they can seek support and be heard if
      they are uncertain about where they fit, whether that relates to
      sexuality, race, religion or cultural beliefs.

      When did schools start doing social work?

      2. When the state set about destroying the family – about 30 years ago when Blair got in.

        Big government hates – absolutely hates – the nuclear family.

        1. The white nuclear family, surely? In those all-blik adverts that I sometimes fail to avoid, they are all happy-happy and having a wonderful time. I marvel at the sheer stamina of blik actors who must be working around the clock…

          1. That tends to be the only sort. Blacks abandon their children except in rare cases. Sometimes they don’t, and that’s to their credit but it is the exception, not the rule. Comically it is the colour black/ethnically white who tend to stick together. Most ethnic households exist solely for welfare.

      3. Quite a while ago. One of the things I really disliked about education was that I was expected to be a social worker, policeman and surrogate parent. I actually signed up to teach.

    2. I was just going to pop that one up. I sent my daughter to a private girls’ school. If I were doing it today Beneden would be off the list even if we could afford the exorbitant fees.

      The really concerning bit is the last paragraph. A headmistress who needs guidance. God help the girls and their parents.

      I would love to hear what The Princess Royal has to say on the subject.

    3. Certain groups being the vast majority of the country. Keep trying to demonise and marginalise, but its you who is inn the minority.

      Gender is not a spectrum to choose from. It is a biological fact, defined at birth.

    4. “Gender identity”? A DNA test will establish that it’s at a girls school ‘cause it’s a girl. End of.

    5. A pupil? All this fuss, buggeration and whatnot for “a pupil” – and why just now? Surely the issue has been around since schools started, and has been perfectly well handled by lashings of ridicule in the past.

    7. “Certain groups in society may not like the fact that a very small proportion of young people question their identity…”

      If that is the case then your ‘pastoral’ care should have them sent to a psychiatrist (or detained under the Mental Health Act) since they are clearly mentally ill and a danger to themselves, and possibly also to others.

    9. Over 60 years ago, our astute and observant deputy headmistress noticed I appeared to have a crush on a sixth former. She took me aside and calmly and quietly told me to back off. It was a normal part of life in a girls’school.

    1. Nothing if not inventive. 👍. The trouble is the self-employed tradesman whose van this is has to have a work-free day.

    3. A can of road marking spray paint would do just as well. And the van can move.

      The frustration is that the public cannot simply refuse this horrid policy. Whither Democracy?

      1. I’d love one of those, but it’s a bit long to fit in most parking spaces and too high to get under carpark barriers.

  27. Morning all 🙂😊
    Oh that horrible wind is very annoying.
    Another family birthday today, our eldest, and his mother’s birthday tomorrow.
    Can you see exactly what our Virgo instincts did there 🤗😉
    44 years ago, at the Mathew Flinders medical center Adelaide.
    And Mathew by name.
    A lovely fellow, a hard working, 12 hc golfer, good at tennis, part time guitarist, married with to lovely young children.

      1. Well worth all the efforts.
        And this afternoon with our four in Feb, granddaughter sitting on my knee playing silly games with pencil and paper. She loved drawing around our hands. A new trick learnt.

  28. Morning all, rain throughout the night and it’s the dreichest I’ve seen for ages.

    Q: If you have a green ball in your left hand and a green ball in your right hand, what have you got?
    A: The undivided attention of the Incredible Hulk

  29. Sunak won’t capitalise on anything. His mandate has been to tax the country into destruction economically, to ruin the energy market with idiotic legislation, to flood the nation with freeloaders to destabilise it socially and to do absolutely nothing – not a thing – that could create any opportunity for a positive outcome whatsoever. In fact, when such appears, he is under orders to crush it.

    There is no decision – not that the slime has made any decisions – the Shunk duo have made that is good for the UK.

  30. From the DT’s ‘Live’ column:

    Rishi Sunak risks making the “greatest mistake of his premiership so far” if he proceeds with a watering down of the Government’s net zero pledges, a senior Tory MP has warned.

    Chris Skidmore, a former energy minister who conducted an independent review of the Government’s net zero approach, was asked during an interview on BBC Newsnight if he believed the Prime Minister would be making a mistake by backtracking on green measures.

    Mr Skidmore said: “I have said it is potentially the greatest mistake of his premiership so far and I say that not lightly because we have seen in the past, when David Cameron decided to cut the green c— as he called it, actually it cost householders £5billion extra every year as a result of that decision not to invest in extra insulation and to decarbonise our heating systems and we can’t afford to repeat the mistakes of the past.

    “Actually, delivering on net zero provides a benefit and not a cost. It provides regeneration in communities…”

    He added: “The challenge is we are living in a transition, an energy transition, that is going to happen anyway.”

    * * *

    “…an independent review of the government’s net zero approach…” independent? Whoa there, it was nothing of the kind! He was the goon of a minister who signed the UK’s Net Zero pledge into law. Without a single scientific qualification to his name he should stick to his subject – the writing of ‘popular history’. This morning we have another greenie disciple, Alok Sharma, practically blubbing into his tea in an interview on the radio when asked about the likely easing of the deadlines in Nut Zero…

    This morning there is much frothing at the mouth of those who preach the absurd and highly damaging gospel of Net Zero, and I am enjoying it immensely.

      2. Yes we have personal connections with his family. Daddy is a self-made millionaire but Chris has done nothing.

    2. As a parish councillor I’ve been invited to another “green” shindig – “Climate literacy” – for which I can even get a certificate. I declined on the grounds that a) I am already literate and b) I have O Levels in biology and geography (when science was proper science and not propaganda).

  31. So, Kneeler gets the stamp of approval from the Micron? (I didn’t know Kneeler was a short-arse too). In any sane world that would be the kiss of death… but we are not living in a sane world.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/09/19/emmanuel-macron-keir-starmer-moral-authority-prime-minister/

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d52833c26548cdd4a2aefde71e945565288387fbb5b2118fd9903bba77a481ab.png

    Can you imagine The Nightmare on Downing Street after the election? Government by Yooman rights lawyer while there is government by sociology lecturer in Wales, government by anti-White, anti-Christian racist in Scotland and government by terrorist in Northern Ireland.

    1. The very manifestation of dystopia. I’m prepping, got the chickens and cans of beanz, just need some guns and ammo…

    2. Lucky I haven’t had breakfast yet. That will certainly appeal to a lot of Remainers though, of whatever political hue.

    5. The only moral authority Starmer would have is if enough people were deluded enough to vote for him. Not that Micron understands democracy.

  32. 376935+ up ticks,

    Keir Starmer has moral authority to be prime minister, says Macron
    French President’s comments came as French and German ministers unveiled proposal for UK to take up ‘associate membership’ of European Union

    This kneel character has the right letters after his title to run the lab party ( QC Queer ….) is very apt.

    He has the same moral stance as the ex leader of the party the
    PM who leaves hoof-prints in parquet flooring, he who instigated the mass foreign paedophilia movement.

      1. And not prosecuting all those grooming gangs in Rochdale etc.etc. According to Jacquie Smith, Labour Home Secretary at the time, “it was a lifestyle choice”.

        1. Didn’t Ms Smith and her then husband buy porno videos which were charged to parliamentary expenses?

    2. Whether or not the endorsement of the most unpopular French president ever will help Starmer gain more popularity must be a very moot point!

    1. And did the members of the EU Parliament actually listen to this?

      Meanwhile our esteemed government is signing us all up to this medical tyranny.

  36. EU ‘amazed’ by Ukraine reforms. 20 September 2023.

    Ukraine is making surprisingly swift progress on reforms and can quickly become a member of the European Union, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission President has said.

    “I am amazed to see how Ukraine is doing very difficult reforms while they are fighting a war,” she said in New York.

    I would be amazed if there had been any.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/09/20/ukraine-russia-war-latest/

  37. A very strange thought has been playing on my mind for ages re the NHS.

    Re some of the recent nonsense spouted by that female black historian who believes this …
    Stonehenge was built by black Britons, children’s history book claims.
    Readers of the newly-released book are told that monument was built while Britain was ‘a black country’

    The book, published by Bloomsbury and promoted by Arts Council-funded literacy charity The Book Trust, states that “Britain was a black country for more than 7,000 years before white people came, and during that time the most famous British monument was built, Stonehenge.”

    The introduction says that “Britain has been a mostly white country for a lot less time than it has been a mostly black country”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/18/stonehenge-built-by-black-britons-childrens-history-book/

    Back to my previous thoughts , … Do people of another colour believe the NHS exists because of them .. and all the diversity nonsense is instigated by them alone ?

    2. So black people swarmed in when the ice retreated about 12,000 years ago? How on Earth do they get away with such tripe?

    5. Britain has never been a black country. Even now, it’s black and white, mainly white (at least the bit that works). This is indoctrination of the worst kind.

          1. Me, too. There isn’t much that’s available in the way of (tried and tested) jabs that I haven’t had.

          2. My last lot of 10 year travel ones were done in 2014, so they’re good for next year. After that, we’ll just have to trust the immune system and hope for the best. I won’t be renewing them again.
            I think I was very lucky to survive the two AZ ones with no reaction at all, so I dodged that bullet.

    2. I’ve never permitted anyone to jab me with an experimental concoction. I’m not about to start doing so now.

  39. SIR – I would like to add two comments to the shirt ironing guide by Mick Brown (“Young people no longer iron? They don’t know what they’re missing”, Features, September 16).

    After starting with the collar, the yoke – the part at the top of the shoulders and behind the neck – should be ironed before the sleeves. The best cut shirts have a split yoke, that is to say a vertical seam behind the neck to allow the cloth to lie better across each shoulder, rather than a single piece of cloth.

    For those who like their freshly ironed shirts folded, rather than on hangers, a simple piece of board measuring around 8in by 14in can be used to facilitate perfect, uniformly folded shirts. They look so much better on the shelf.

    Richard Allen
    Montorfano, Como, Italy

    Moh instructed me how to iron shirts … and how to Robin starch detachable stiff collars when we got married .

    I overcame the stiff collar lark by sending them off to the laundry .

    When I was nursing , our detachable collars for our dresses and stiff cuffs were sent off to the hospital laundry, but our frilly cuffs we used when we rolled our sleeves up were washed by ourselves , they were quick drying .

  40. Pouring wet today……..and I’m walking down through the woods to meet a friend who is taking me to a lunch gathering…… might be a bit muddy.

      1. Gosh – send that to “Women’s Own” and win a 5/- postal order for “idea of the week”…..

          1. Somehow, I’ve always got away with it! I walked down this afternoon and back later on after our lunch and again the rain had eased off, but in between, my friend’s car got stuck in the mud at the pub……… Thank goodness for nice young men with a big white van and a towrope.

  41. Police officer who shot dead unarmed rapper Chris Kaba charged with murder. 20 September 2023.

    The police officer who shot dead unarmed rapper Chris Kaba in south London last year has been charged with murder, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

    The officer, who has only been identified as NX121 was charged following a review of evidence provided by the Independent Office for Police Conduct which carried out an investigation.

    Mr Kaba, a 24-year-old expectant father, died after being shot by an armed officer on September 5 last year as he was driving an Audi Q8 alone in the Streatham Hill area.

    An expectant father. Lol. You don’t want to be going around shooting black people, even if you are a copper, especially if you are a copper. Like the US the forces of Law and Order are evaporating under the Rule of Woke. What sensible (white) person would join the police? This of course explains the constabularies’ inability to do their job. The addition of more women and ethnics (20%) as in the latest reforms will finish it off.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/20/police-officer-shot-dead-unarmed-chris-kaba-brixton-murder/

    1. Hmmm “expectant father” what a fluffy description,so much better than convicted thug driving a car with firearms markers on it

      For a truly balanced view try the Critic

      “THE most important question related to the death of Chris Kaba is whether

      he was ramming police cars in an effort to escape. If he was — and I

      hope it should be obvious that “ramming” implies the considerable use of

      force — the police officer who shot him had cause for thinking that

      lives were in danger. If he was not — bearing in mind that Kaba was

      otherwise unarmed — then the officer did not. If that is true, he or she

      should face serious consequences.”

      https://thecritic.co.uk/chris-kaba-and-the-rush-to-judgement/
      ‘Morning Minty

  42. Tory MPs say net zero backtrack would be Sunak’s ‘greatest mistake’ as PM. 20 September 2023.

    Rishi Sunak is facing a growing Tory backlash over plans to water down his key net zero policies, with MPs saying it would be “the greatest mistake of his premiership”.

    Bans on petrol cars and oil boilers in the next decade are among the green pledges that could be loosened under the Prime Minister’s plan to meet the 2050 net zero target in a “better, more proportionate way”.

    I don’t believe any of this. Like the small boats and Ruanda it is a pack of self-serving lies in the cause of the coming election. Even if the Tories won, which they won’t, none of them would be implemented.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/09/20/tory-mps-net-zero-backtrack-rishi-sunak-greatest-mistake/

    2. Then how about MPs demanding this live without those things this winter.

      No hot water, no clean water, no food, no fuel, no light. Not so shiny now, are they?

    2. But it’s okay if men with beards mass in a street banging their bare chests with their fists and chanting.

      At least the german reference was light hearted and meant no particular harm.

      1. The comments were revealing. Just another fake outrage.
        I went to a similar event in Salisbury and though i didn’t see any Nazi uniforms i wouldn’t have been perturbed. I did get to look inside a German officer’s tent which i found very interesting with all the paraphenalia on and around the desk and bunk.
        There were also lots of gladiators for some reason but no was alarmed about that either given what was done to Christians from that period.

        If families were shocked and children frightened then that is the fault of the parents.

        1. I wonder which side will be banned from Civil War enactments?
          Do the Ironsides fwighten you?
          Do you think the Cavaliers were a bunch of Papist pansies?

          1. My 8 times Great Grandfather, Sir Timothy Featherstonehaugouh (Fanshawe to you berks) was a cavalier, captured by the Roundheads in 1651 Chesterfreld and beheaded putting an end end to our familie’s hereditary ennoblement. Boo, Hiss.

    3. Weekends with a 1940s theme are a popular on some heritage railways but ‘German’ uniforms have been banned because of complaints from the public. The Severn Valley did so in 2009.

    4. So silly. There were many nations involved in WW2, it is racist to exclude the Germans from re-enactments!

  45. Only Connect?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/38490ee75d6a528774b9c74884b14925bbe6129577c85ab97e6bc06155b99150.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/20/police-officer-shot-dead-unarmed-chris-kaba-brixton-murder/

    “Mr Kaba died on 6 September 2022 after he was struck by a single bullet in Streatham Hill, south London.

    “The CPS reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against the officer are active and that he has the right to a fair trial.

    “It is extremely important there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/russell-brand-a-sleazeball-you-read-it-here-first-second-and-third/

    Russell Brand a sleazeball? You read it here first, second and third

    BTL (RCT)

    In this feeding frenzy most right-thinking people despise the horrible degenerate piece of filth that Russell Brand is.

    But, however foul he is he should be tried in court and not by the media, politicians of both the right and the left and above all by the Judas BBC.

    Is it not a fundamental principle of the great country Britain used to be that no matter how repulsive a man is he is entitled to a fair trail in the courts of law.

    1. How can this be, the fire arm belonged to a government department. He was only carrying out the job he had been told to do and had been trained for.

        1. Indeed. The dogpile in today’s media was awful again. I note that Sarah Vine is particularly likely to pile in on the Establishment’s “villains” – she repeatedly called Andrew Wakefield a charlatan in a recent article, and she was all over Russell Brand today.
          She probably only lets this stuff go out under her name for the money – which is just as bad!

      2. Correct, Employers usually carry vicarious liability for the actions of their employees. However, our soldiers have been hung out to dry in theatres of war.

      1. Whilst I was making some lunch the radio was on and that nasty horrible git Vine was spouting his usual hate about motorists and the problem with climate change. If he and his listeners are truly concerned and not just experimenting in their ramped up hate campaigns. I suggest they go to other major cities around the world and take a look at the traffic on their roads. And stand and shout at those distant road users. It’s possible we might never see or hear from them again.

  47. 376935+ up ticks,

    Just another brick in the incarceration wall regarding free speech.

    David Kurten
    @davidkurten
    ·
    1h
    Online Safety Bill becomes law – internet freedom destroyed as Ofcom are given powers to fine social media platforms for ‘hate speech’ posted by users and monitor private messaging services.

    Make sure you cast a lab/lib/con vote, without YOUR support / vote these type issues will never see daylight and become law.

  48. The city watchdog’s debanking report is a total stitch-up

    The establishment is closing ranks to protect its own

    NIGEL FARAGE • 19 September 2023 • 3:38pm

    After my initial anger at the bank, Coutts, for closing my accounts due to what I suspect were political reasons, the truth finally confirmed my suspicions. I was delighted that the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, and, above all, City Minister Andrew Griffith were clear that what happened to me was plainly wrong. The Financial Conduct Authority was instructed to carry out an investigation into the wider debanking issue.

    To my total shock and surprise, the Financial Times (where else?) was apparently given an exclusive leak. The main conclusion of the report was that nobody had been debanked over the course of the last year because of their political opinions.

    I simply can’t believe it; this was a complete and utter stitch-up, with all parties doing their best to protect each other. Laughable at best, deeply concerning at worst.

    I can give you a list as long as your arm of those affected from the Brexit campaign, Arron Banks, Andy Wigmore, Richard Tice; I could go on. Countless UKIP and Brexit Party activists have been through the same humiliating process over the course of the last few years, as have media personalities and even some MPs.

    So, what did the FCA do? They seem to have simply asked the banks, “Have you debanked anybody for political reasons?” The banks responded, “No,” and the FCA said, “Oh, that’s absolutely fine, thank you very much indeed.”

    Notably, they used the phrase “primary reasons,” implying that people may have been debanked for reasons other than their political views, such as the language they used, something which is stated in their report. But when the FCA claims to have found “no evidence” of debanking, I must ask–were they even looking?

    They didn’t even have to look very hard; my subject access request to Coutts showed what was, in my mind, clear intent to debank me because of my political views. My views did not align with those of the bank, and to me it’s perfectly clear why they got rid of me. I supported Brexit and I’m against mass immigration; therefore, I was debanked. The FCA either deliberately chose not to dig deep enough or worse, ignored the evidence altogether.

    So, what are we now supposed to do? Where do we go from here? The FCA promises that it will, in time, investigate banking on a wider basis for those who struggle to have accounts. I hope and believe that Parliament will, in time, ensure everybody has the right to a bank account. But as for the conclusion of this report, the FCA, the regulator for Britain’s most important and biggest industry, is simply not fit for purpose.

    Look at the people appointed to key roles within the organization, such as Executive Director Sheldon Mills, a Trustee and former Chair of the woke organization Stonewall, and you’ll find it leans more toward political campaigning than financial market oversight.

    From the top down, the City of London is now in decline. Asking a bureaucratic and politically woke regulator to investigate bias in another comparable organisation should not surprise anyone when the result comes out the way it does. The FCA is not fit for purpose; it doesn’t work, and it’s time the government acted. We need a change in personnel at the top

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/19/the-city-watchdogs-debanking-report-is-a-total-stitch-up

    The report was featured on yesterday’s World At One on Radio 4. It had an interview with the CEO of the FCA, one Nikhil Rathi. You may find it hard to believe (because we’re talking primarily about Farage here) but even Sarah Montague managed to express a modest level of disbelief as she listened to this creep.

    From the FCA website:
    He began his career in HM Treasury before serving as Private Secretary to the Prime Minister between 2005 – 2008. Nikhil then became Head of the Financial Stability Unit, overseeing a number of the UK’s financial stability interventions before becoming HM Treasury’s Director of the Financial Services Group from 2009 – 2014. In that role, he also served as the UK representative to the EU Financial Services Committee.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a633bd343fe157ada25fff856e77dd839f31f8e1b79f0756db6d992ec5928233.jpg

  50. ‘Morning All

    Oi Laffed

    In the
    NHS ten cannibals are hired as part of a diversity program. For a year
    the company’s productivity has been growing steadily and the management
    is very satisfied.

    One morning, the area manager summons the cannibals:

    A cleaning lady has disappeared, does anyone know anything about it?

    All the cannibals shake their heads. The division manager accepts the
    answer and leaves. Then the chief of the cannibals stands up and says
    sharply: who was it?

    A young cannibal explains whimpering: I had worked all night and was so hungry and then she came and looked so delicious.

    The chief yells at him: Are you crazy! We’ve been living off middle
    management here for a year and no one notices, and you you idiot eats a
    cleaning lady!!

  51. Medley

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5d9e679a30b7d971fafe7017158228bdb3e0d6adcb1b761c9a7033e01268c687.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/88a1075f0b99e532c29a84a1fc5196707d5681deb3502f08d8a2bbf9fdd90458.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8b91c8554114230ace7de43563f13c0907222a595f4093ef70aefc920b4d382a.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0984c71812452e24b7198a9d1ae5dcfd3708f9d3cf79e31ee8eb9f2116e02d25.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4e4ba7460d4cdfc830b3bda7a0a6471c68b9902882f10bfdccc9ebf6d4a4fed4.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/311ed3ae174e298de9504f3cca204b1c61a5ddc8106be26f7659f499274b87df.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ff9101ef3a084d5dd2a21ca11238ded12d258bb13f2d112ba557f13bbb04ed3c.gif

  54. Mark Carney can’t be allowed to forget his role in Britain’s ruin

    Liz Truss was right, but she was frustrated in carrying out her plans by the very people shouting about an Argentine implosion

    PATRICK MINFORD • 19 September 2023 • 5:00pm

    Liz Truss this week made a brave speech, pointing out that there is really no alternative to her growth agenda if we want to create an economy with good fundamentals and viable public finances. Mark Carney’s cheap remark that her policies imploded because she created “Argentina on the Channel” has been flung in her face.

    Yet this implosion was largely the result of bungled monetary policy and the worldwide withdrawal from the massive and misguided printing of money, conducted both after the 2008 crisis and then again under Covid. This episode gave us the era of zero interest rates which undermined capitalism by making capital a free good. Carney himself was heavily involved, before leaving the Bank to become a spokesman for central banks to focus on climate change – when their true role is to contain inflation.

    Truss was embarking on her programme just as this monetary overreach was being corrected, with interest rates being forced up to push down the inflation that had resulted. Here the Bank, steeped in Carney’s legacy, made serious errors which compounded her problems.

    First, it was slow in raising rates, well behind the Fed, and this depressed sterling, contributing to talk of a “crisis”. Secondly, concerns that the Bank was not doing enough to curb inflation set off fears that it would need to raise rates later to much higher levels. This destabilised the gilt-edged market.

    Incredibly, the Bank announced that it would sell bonds (quantitative tightening) into this market, badly worsening the panic. It should have been sending out the opposite signal – that this panic was wrong and that it was raising rates sufficiently to get inflation down.

    Carney’s jibe, therefore, is misdirected. Has he forgotten the key role of the Bank – which he himself led for years – in a programme of monetary debasement, sold as a wonderful cure for the crises of capitalism? In retrospect it can be seen as a programme to ruin capitalism.

    It is not just in the UK that productivity growth has stalled since the post-2008 crash monetary policies were ushered in; it is an OECD-wide phenomenon. Reversing it is a work in progress everywhere.

    In the UK, we need to focus again on what is killing growth, just as we did during the 1980s reform era. The Thatcher inheritance of lower taxes and less burdensome regulation has been gradually reversed, leaving us mired in some of the highest tax rates in our history and a huge web of regulation that is stifling our entrepreneurial culture.

    The consensus of the governing classes running our institutions today, inherited from the Carneys who preceded them, is that this web must be accepted and that tax must be raised as far as needed to finance the ever-growing burden of public service provision to deal with our ageing demographics and the demands of redistribution.

    This is a dismal vision. Plainly, it is not acceptable to the public at large, who are naturally unhappy at the indefinite prospect of no improvement in their living standards.

    If we look around the world, or even our own history, at examples of stronger growth, we see that they occur where tax is low, regulations are light and incentives to raise profits by innovation are high.

    That was what Liz Truss was saying. She was frustrated in carrying out her plans by the very people shouting about an Argentine implosion.

    Patrick Minford is Professor of Applied Economics at Cardiff University

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/19/mark-carney-cant-be-allowed-to-forget-his-role-in-britains/

    1. To think that some see Mark Carney as the savior of the Canadian Liberals.

      At least he might not create an international dispute based on “credible intelligence” about “a potential link” between a murder and the Modi government.

    2. Carney the money printer bears a far greater share of blame for creating Argentina in the west than Liz Truss ever will.

      1. It always makes me laugh when Liz Truss is blamed for the financial mess after her election. She was PM for exactly 49 days. My word she must have been like a whirlwind to have such an effect.

  55. Immigration destroyed the Roman Empire. Now it could bring down Europe. 20 September 2023.

    Woke bureaucrats see opposition to migration as knuckle-dragging racism. They should not be so quick to dismiss the public’s concerns.

    You are twenty years too late my friend! We are into the endgame now. Within another twenty years the British as a people and culture will have ceased to exist and European civilisation with them.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/20/immigration-roman-empire-europe-collapse/

      1. Yer Cherman “President” has said that Germany cannot take any more migrants.

        Not quite sure how that will pan out for him….

  56. Should be a few good fights brewing over here today. A number of “Hands off our kids” rallies are being planned to protest the current trend of schools encouraging trans behavior while keeping it secret from parents.

    Needless to say, the left are screaming far right racist and have committed themselves to disrupting the rallies. The protests are not in keeping with media thinking so we will see if anything makes it to the news tonight.

    1. The fascist Left will go solely to cause trouble. They’ll rant and scream abuse. Plod will then get involved and, because their tactics are to separate the least aggressive the press will show the normals being policed.

      In addition there will be the usual tired manipulation where by the normals are presented as only half a dozen when the Left mob are hundreds. It’s actually boring how deliberately twisted the media make things.

    3. How does all this stuff go down on the reservations? Back in the day, injun violence was off the scale and public sex with men, women and animals was perfectly acceptable but it seems highly unlikely that they were ever confused about sex and identity?

    1. Baroness Flather tells us that:

      British Pakistanis are 13 times more likely to produce disabled children

      I suppose that the only good thing that Barrenness Evilla May has done is not to have produced any children herself!

        1. There is: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11856191/

          According to the Express:

          “Her claims come off the back of shocking Government research which found British Pakistanis are 13 times more likely to produce disabled children than other groups in society. …

          She also points to a study of the Bradford population, which discovered 37per cent of babies of Pakistani origin came from parents who were first cousins. …

          She goes on to point out her views on inbreeding among the British-based ethnic group back up comments from Professor Steve Jones who raised concerns in 2011 that it was problem in Islamic communities …”

          https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/591577/British-Pakistanis-13-times-more-disabled-children

          She comes from Lahore and describes herself as “a Hindu atheist”

  59. Ooops!

    “The New York Times has issued a surprise about-face regarding the September 6 deadly missile strike on the center of the Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka, which is in Donetsk Oblast.

    Initially it was universally reported among all major international press that it was a Russian attack which killed at least 15 civilians and injured 30 more. It was among the single deadliest strikes on a civilian area since the start of the war, given a busy market had been directly impacted.

    The fresh Tuesday Times report underscores that less than two hours after the market was struck, “President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed Russian ‘terrorists’ for the attack, and many media outlets followed suit.” The NY Times was at the time among those major outlets which uncritically went with Zelensky’s version of events.

    But the missile came from the Ukrainian side, with the NY Times’ investigators finding that it was a Ukrainian surface-to-air missile that hit the busy civilian area and killed and wounded scores.

    One of the key videos which the NYT analyzed to reach this conclusion was actually provided by Zelensky’s office, ironically enough.

    According to the New York Times report, “evidence collected and analyzed by The New York Times, including missile fragments, satellite imagery, witness accounts and social media posts, strongly suggests the catastrophic strike was the result of an errant Ukrainian air defense missile fired by a Buk launch system.”

    “Further evidence reveals that minutes before the strike, the Ukrainian military launched two surface-to-air missiles toward the Russian front line from the town of Druzhkivka, 10 miles northwest of Kostiantynivka,” the report continues.

    The newspaper’s own correspondents were actually in Druzhkivka and reported hearing the outgoing missile launches which started at 2pm, and one journalist even record the sounds.

    In contrast to Kiev’s claims that it was a Russian missile launched by an S-300 system, the Times details the following:

    In the aftermath of the attack, Ukrainian authorities said Russian forces used a missile fired by an S-300 air defense system, which Russia has used both to intercept aircraft and strike targets on the ground. But an S-300 missile carries a different warhead from the one that exploded in Kostiantynivka.

    The metal facades of buildings closest to the explosion were perforated with hundreds of square or rectangular holes, probably made by cube-like objects blown outward from the missile.

    Measurements of the holes — and fragments found at the scene — are consistent in size and shape with one weapon in particular: the 9M38 missile, which is fired by the mobile Buk antiaircraft vehicle. Ukraine is known to use the Buk system, as is Russia.

    The investigative analysis also makes heavy use of open source intelligence, including photos and videos of the projectiles flying over the area, and the aftermath of the deadly strike.”

    But, but if it wasn’t for the Russian invasion this wouldn’t have happened!

  60. Re The XYY Man I mentioned further down, I’ve just looked it up:

    The XYY Man began as a series of novels by Kenneth Royce, featuring the character of William (or Willie) ‘Spider’ Scott, a one-time cat-burglar who leaves prison aiming to go straight but finds his talents still to be very much in demand by both the criminal underworld and the British secret service. Scott has an extra Y chromosome that supposedly gives him a criminal predisposition – although he tries to go straight, he is genetically incapable of doing so.

  61. On The News – Join The Conversation 🇬🇧
    @On_The_News_Ltd
    BREAKING NEWS

    VILE Tony Blair has helped broker a SECRET meeting between Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron yesterday as part of secret plans to ‘reverse Brexit’

    This SNAKE is the reason the UK is in such a mess from economics to immigration

    He sold out Britain for greed.

    1. Choice of three there. Who were you referring to? Blair, Macron or Starmer?

      Blair I’d argue does a disservice to reptiles. He’s more like a cancer and should be treated as such – by cutting him out of society.

      1. I don’t know. It’s hard to emulate that look of shock and surprise at being thrown to the floor.

    2. That video is at least two years old. It asks many questions, not the least: what was the point of the utterly useless dog?

        1. Our boxer was called Rumpole; not only did his face look like that of Leo McKern who played the part of the grumpy old lawyer who never prosecuted but only defended but he had the same temperament.

          When a stranger came to the house our dog Rumpole always placed himself between the stranger and our children until he was sure that the stranger was not nasty. His mere presence was enough to keep strangers under control.

          2. Thankfully, Oscar has got over that now. I’ve been able to step over him (and walk past him when he’s lying down) for some time without a reaction.

    1. Quite frankly, a man who has spawned countless children – including three with the current Greeniac – needs to shut his face.
      And 99% of the population don’t have his income stream either.

  64. It started raining at about 10.30 am , and now it is sheeting down , windy, dark and very wet.

    There is a driveway leading up to a small holding , next driveway to us , and the gunk coming down on to the road will block the drains again .

    Water , this is almost a deluge , and a large red once nearly empty plastic bowl which the dogs drank from when the weather was hot , is now full up .. reckon we have had over 3″ of rain.

    I need to go out soon and buy milk etc .

    I should have thought about that earlier .

    2. I saw the prospect was for heavy rain this afternoon, so I pressed on with more gardening chores earlier to ensure I finished without getting a soaking. The brown wheelie bin is now full, ready for tomorrow’s garden waste collection.

  65. Email from our energy company. Outfox The Market.

    However, we’re doing more than simply charging our customers the prices set out in the new price cap…we’ve gone even further and are:

    Reducing your gas standing charge 50%
    Freezing your electricity standing charge
    Dropping your electricity unit rates

    We’ll see what difference it makes.

  68. Well that’s me knocking off for the day – built the log store in breaks from the rain – now to tackle the logging . There’s already 3 containers of logs to the right of the green shed . I don’t intend to run out https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/42c0c6b8c795931db7d30db1e1197daca96a909b140ce328e74425d933a90a7a.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/68be2a98c43ea7b802749833b7a50b53d7d69f1e4986b85a866b695bd5aff2d3.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0ba65fc38455dcf8f27f876c91bcb5c244090603c7fdcd9cbb03b2a45afe591f.jpg

    3. Dem invaders from the beaches are not going to be very impressed with the promised Scottish hospitality…

  69. Our Ceanothus tree has blown down in the gale . 20 years old and fifteen foot high , the most delicious honey scented blue flowers , it was a bit of a shock, the wind has been very strong .

    We listened to Sunak, actually we applauded his sensitivity to impoverished householders.

    3. Which is exactly what they wanted of course. It will all go out the window once the votes have been cast and it will be “business as usual”.

    2. Labour has been overheating a bit by accusing The Fakir of ‘playing politics with the future of the British economy’. Their energy spokesman Steve Reed said the Tories are ‘selling out the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century…the chance for Britain to lead the world in transitioning [sic] to the green economy of the future where the jobs will be’.

      We’re all for new developments, Mr Reed, but only if they work.

    3. No. The 2030 deadline will be reinstated after next year’s General Election.

      Ed Miliband accused Mr Sunak of ‘an act of weakness from a desperate, directionless Prime Minister, dancing to the tune of a small minority of his party’.

      And the party’s shadow environment secretary, Steve Reed, tonight confirmed Labour would retain the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars if they are in government after the general election.

      ‘We would keep that at 2030 because that’s what businesses have been investing for, that’s what businesses expect,’ he told Sky News.

      1. Never mind what businesses have been doing, what about common sense and practicality? Oh, hush ma mouth! We are talking Labour loonies here.

          1. In the sense of nurturing them, never. In the sense of taxing them and driving them overseas, more or less all the time 🙂

    4. No not if I’m anything to go by. It’s dead easy to come out with all this stuff when you’re well on course to lose the next GE. Maybe I’m wrong. If the cons do win and if hi risk anus is still PM they’re going to look pretty silly if they do another u-turn afterwards.

      I suppose it’s too much to hope that he’s actually thought sensibly about net zero.

      1. The bookies have Labour favourites to win (but they’ve been wrong before – I seem to recall they thought remain would win). I think you are correct that it’s too much to hope he’s thought sensibly about Net Zero 🙂

  71. Bonsoir, mes amis. Im Westen nichts neues. The letter writer is deluded if he/she/ze thinks Sunak is interested in guiding the country to prosperity. His aims and Labour’s are pretty much identical. He’ll have his nice fat PM’s pension and possibly a golden handshake if he’s kicked out of his constituency at the next election and then he’ll be laughing all the way to the (central) bank.

    2. He doesn’t need the money, which to my mind makes it all so much more devious and a planned wrecking of the country.

  72. That’s me for this day of two halves. Gales and dry this morning. Wet and gale now. Should be calmer and drier tomorrow. A better day for a funeral. Neighbour whose wife died a month ago.

    I thought about the daft bint “headmistress” of Benenden’s ludicrous letter. Presumably, if one of her gels is colour-blind – the whole school, its pastoral departments and the curriculum will be adapted so that the gel doesn’t feel left out…..

    I wonder, sometimes…………….

    A demain.

    1. Arghhh! That letter!
      I want to reply to her that her ridiculous letter is exactly the reason why we didn’t even bother to try and find school fees for an English private school, and therefore our children were educated abroad. But I suppose she’s riding high on Chinese fees.

  73. Onw of my cats has been off colour the last couple of days so I took her ro the village vet this arvo and she was referred up to the sister practice in Woodstock for investigations and to be put in an oxygen tent as she started ‘mouth-breathing’ while being looked at and this caused the vet great concern.
    They’re keeping poor little Swifty in overnight. Lord knows what the bill is going to be – I’d better look for my insurance docs.

          4. I am pleased with how far he’s come. There were times when I wondered whether I would manage to turn him round, but I always believed that, with a few rare exceptions, there were no bad dogs, only bad owners.

          6. I couldn’t possibly comment 🙂 He is, by far, the most expensive dog I have ever owned, and I’ve owned a few! Still, I don’t begrudge a penny.

        1. So sorry to hear about the worry you have at the moment , poor pusscat , I do hope the vet has a solution which will help make her better .

          Vet bills are through the roof these days , but I am sure things will be not that bad .

    4. Sorry to hear that, Stormy. Hope all will be well – and you find your insurance docs (and they cover the bill).

    6. Oh dear, such a worry for you…. I hope your little Swifty makes a speedy recovery. Do let us know how he gets on.

        1. I wonder if the ‘mouth breathing’ was due to the stress of being at the vets – she might settle down later I hope.

          1. That’s what the vet thought too. She’d stopped doing it after having some Ooxygen and was a bit calmer after the drive to Woodstock.

    8. Hope all goes well.
      You should ask how much everything costs before you agree to treatment. If the Vet actually knows all the costs of treatment it’s an indicator they are giving you a shakedown.

      1. Morning Phizz.
        I have pretty good insurance thank goodness. The vet has estimated £1700, but it might be a bit less.

  74. Don’t know if it’s been done but …

    Foul 5 here.

    Wordle 823 5/6

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

    3. Par four for me.

      Wordle 823 4/6

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

    4. Almost a hole in one but then I kept hitting the rim.
      Wordle 823 5/6

      🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
      🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
      🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
      🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  76. The BMA doesn’t care about patients. It wants total power over a broken NHS

    The doctors’ union has repeatedly been at the forefront of opposition to plans to reform the service

    PHILIP JOHNSTON • 19 September 2023 • 8:00pm

    The health secretary’s anger with the British Medical Association was incandescent. Not only was the doctors’ body scaremongering, but it was “peddling untruths” and grossly misrepresenting the government’s position, he said. However, this was not Steve Barclay commenting today on the latest industrial action in the NHS but Alan Johnson, who held the post in the last Labour government.

    Then again, it could have been Barbara Castle back in 1975, when consultants withdrew all non-emergency services and introduced a work-to-rule that closed entire hospitals and shut casualty departments. Their protest was against new contracts which they said would force them to abandon private practice. Later that same year, junior doctors also took industrial action over pay and conditions.

    Or we can go back further to the post-war period to find another Labour health secretary, Aneurin Bevan, locked in a three-year battle with the BMA over the terms for establishing the NHS, settled only when he famously “stuffed their mouths with gold”. The key disagreement was over the continuation of contractor status for doctors and the capitation arrangement whereby GPs are paid per registered patient.

    Without the deal, the BMA threatened to boycott the new NHS and kill it at birth. Looking at it now, perhaps it would have been better had they done so. We might have moved to a Continental-style, mixed-state and insurance-funded health service, which would have worked better than ours. The irony is that the BMA, an implacable foe of nationalised health care in 1948, is now the greatest obstacle to reforming it.

    The row with Mr Johnson was over the Brown government’s plans to create large health centres, known as polyclinics, following a review by Ara Darzi, an esteemed surgeon and then health minister. This was a good idea and reflected the practice in other, more successful, systems such as Germany’s.

    But the BMA fired up a campaign to stop it, launching a petition that attracted the signatures of more than one million people encouraged to believe these polyclinics would sound the death knell for general practice and family doctors (remember those?).

    Laurence Buckman, then chairman of the BMA’s general practitioners committee, said: “My message to Gordon Brown is this: ignore at your peril the wishes of the most important people in the NHS, the patients.”

    But the BMA does not really regard the patients as the most important people in the NHS. It appears to think doctors are. How otherwise can it possibly justify strikes that will mean the cancellation of thousands of appointments and operations? It is estimated that more than 800,000 procedures have already been postponed since this action began and, for all we know, many have never been rescheduled.

    The people waiting for these treatments are anxious, quite likely in pain, possibly unable to work and in many cases desperate to be operated on or have their ailment diagnosed. To hear BMA spokesmen saying that their action is being carried out for the greater good of the nation is risible.

    The Government says the union is vetoing local agreements to exempt certain hospitals and departments from the strike, which is why ministers now want to impose a minimum service requirement on them.

    The BMA responded with a weaselly worded statement, declaring: “This week’s industrial action comes as a result of this Government failing to address the unprecedented staffing crisis that is engulfing our NHS, and betraying the doctors who they applauded through the pandemic, by failing to value the work they now do to help the NHS back onto its feet.”

    How would a pay rise – even the ludicrous demand of 35 per cent – make any difference? It would not end the backlog – which is likely to be growing because of the strikes – and it would not reduce the workload of burnt-out doctors. The reason that the lives of GPs and hospital doctors are so difficult is because the NHS is in a mess and the reason for that is the way it is structured and funded. Yet any attempt to change either would be resisted by the BMA.

    It suits the union to have a monopolistic, nationalised healthcare system because it gives them total power; yet its members would be paid better in a hybrid healthcare market of the sort that operates in places like Australia, where many of them are now heading. Depressingly, in seeking to retain the existing broken NHS structure, it is supported by the main political parties.

    The BMA is behaving like the National Union of Mineworkers in the 1980s, run by militants, resistant to change and prepared to wreak any amount of damage on the country in pursuit of its aims. At least the miners were trying to stop their livelihoods being closed down, which is not the case for doctors who are, in addition, paid well even if they think it’s not enough. I have yet to meet a destitute GP, let alone an indigent consultant.

    Indeed, they can earn so much that the Chancellor removed the cap on the pension lifetime allowance in his March Budget to address concerns that they were being taxed on savings over £1 million and to incentivise them to stay in practice. For most of the people forced to find a new date for their knee replacement or cancer treatment, this is a retirement sum beyond their wildest dreams.

    How on earth can they go on strike without compunction? More to the point, why are so many prepared to go along with the wrecking tactics of their union as the ballots on industrial action suggest they do? Of course, the BMA fulfils its function by getting the best deals for its members, including massively beneficial contracts which pusillanimous governments have agreed over the years in order to secure its goodwill.

    But the union never reciprocates. Every health secretary since Bevan should have learnt that to deal with the BMA it is necessary to sup with a long spoon. Mr Barclay thinks that, if he refuses to negotiate on its demand for full pay restoration to 2008 levels, the action will eventually fizzle out. He shouldn’t bank on it. The BMA has forced governments to their knees before and looks determined to carry on until it gets its way, whatever misery it inflicts in the process.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/19/the-bma-doesnt-care-about-patients-it-wants-total-power/

    “…unprecedented staffing crisis…”
    “…the workload of burnt-out doctors…”
    “…places like Australia, where many of them are now heading…”

    I wonder if there’s something else that might be putting pressure on them?

    1. The government of the day imposed new contracts on teaching staff which stipulated a minimum number of hours to be worked (and no maximum!).

      1. There is Norton, but I’ve never used it, and something called TotalAV (ditto). Also Panda Antivirus. Can’t speak for how decent (efficient and effective, I presume you mean) they are.

  78. The woke brigade forced a
    @metpoliceuk
    officer to be charged for the murder of career criminal Chris Kaba in Streatham Hill

    4 years for possessing an imitation firearm.

    He was served with a 28-day domestic violence protection order

    AND driving without insurance with a knife in his car

    The Events….

    He refused to stop his Audi when pursued

    Smashed into the police car to try and escape

    He refused 12 times to leave his car – Shot

    This is why the police should not have guns, but no one knows the full events, I doubt we ever will.

    But the media have already trialled the officer, who has ZERO chance for a fair trial as those who promote racism for profits have ensured his demise and their rewards

    No doubt, whatever happens, his family and community supporters will be rubbing their wallets

    There is no justice when criminals are hailed as hero’s, no one cares about victims they hurt anymore. £££

    This is my view, if you don’t agree that’s fine 🙂 https://twitter.com/On_The_News_Ltd/status/1704462489134518676

    AstroPeanut 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇬
    @peanut_astro
    ·
    3h
    It’s time for the Police Federations to act? They are using police officers as fodder for the woke cult? IMHO.
    @GBNEWS

    1. I heard this story at least four times on R4 today, each time the newsreader described CK as a black man. I don’t remember many white victims of crime ever having thir race or colour mentioned.

    2. The last time they tried with the WHO treaty it was the Africans which saved us. Let’s hope they listen to these countries.

    1. This is a year old.

      “Tyranny has had a makeover. It’s no longer a boot stamping on a human face forever. It isn’t a cop dragging you into a cell for expressing a ‘dangerous’ idea. It isn’t a priest strapping you to a breaking wheel. No, authoritarianism is well-dressed now. It’s polite. It has a broad smile and speaks in a soft voice. It is delivered not via a soldier’s boot to the head but with a caring liberal head-tilt. Its name is Jacinda Ardern.”

      https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/09/29/jacinda-ardern-and-the-woke-war-on-free-speech/

      Brendan O’Neill responding to Ardern’s address to the UN in which called she freedom of speech ‘hateful and dangerous rhetoric and ideology’, ‘misinformation used as a weapon to disrupt and to cause chaos’. It was delivered in that peculiar manner, earnest yet pleading. Did she adopt the head-wobble from our stick insect or was it the other way around?

      Don’t forget that this is the woman who said during the pandemic “We [the government] are your only source of truth.”

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CamSGA9hWSs

  82. The furious Blob will try to destroy Rishi Sunak for his net zero heresy

    Tories must get behind the PM’s green pragmatism, and prepare for a Brexit-style battle in the courts

    ALLISTER HEATH • 20 September 2023 • 7:00pm

    Was I wrong about Rishi Sunak? Does he still, despite everything, have what it takes? In a dramatic move that may yet upend British politics, the Prime Minister has declared war on the green establishment, torn up the cross-party, fanatical consensus on how to achieve net zero, defied the useful idiots within his own party – including many of his closest allies – and promised a gentler, more humane, more sophisticated environmentalism committed to protecting consumers. It was the best speech he has ever given, and the first indication that he might, after all, have it in him to forge a new, more conservative vision for Britain.

    There is now clear green water between the parties, making life trickier for Sir Keir Starmer. But I hope Sunak realises just how vicious the backlash will be: the Blob, the cultural aristocracy and myriad pseudo-Tories will unleash every dirty trick in the book to force him to back down. Broadcasters will continue to be hysterically negative, as will the clerisy; he will be accused of hating the “youth”; the Church, the Left-wing think-tanks, big business and charities will continue to condemn him; there will be leaks, resignations, and attempts at ousting him. It will be nasty and frenzied, but he must hold firm.

    Yet by any rational standard, Sunak is merely being pragmatic and realistic: banning pure petrol cars in six and a bit years’ time is a dangerously utopian policy that would guarantee chaos, mass impoverishment, power cuts and a popular revolution. The same holds true for the other policies Sunak is delaying, including the ban on new oil and gas boilers. They are all examples of what the philosopher Rob Henderson calls “luxury beliefs”, ideas performatively adopted by hypocritical jet-setting elites to highlight their high social status, even though they inflict immense costs on those who can’t afford expensive electric cars or spare thousands to replace a boiler with technology that is not yet ready.

    As recently as 2017, the original target for the ban on petrol cars was set at 2040. Sticking to the current 2030 deadline, a random date dreamt up by Boris Johnson because it sounded “better”, would represent the final triumph of dogma over reason. Our charging infrastructure won’t be ready, we won’t produce enough electricity and there won’t be enough truly cheap, long range all-electric models available, new or second-hand, to allow those with budgets of just a few thousand pounds to replace their vehicles. Prohibiting new combustion engines from 2035 onwards, as Sunak now wants to do, remains pretty extreme, but it’s at least a policy that stands a chance of being workable. [Electric cars for everyone? A non-starter…]

    The PM isn’t proposing to ditch decarbonisation, or net zero – he just wants to travel to the same destination at a more reasonable speed, while keeping the public onside and avoiding a revolt. He believes in harnessing technology to solve environmental problems while improving living standards, rather than using green challenges as an excuse to impose a hair-shirt, “degrowth” agenda on an unwilling population, via taxes on meat or compulsory car-sharing. In a sensible world, Sunak would be seen as a green centrist aligning our decarbonisation agenda with the likes of the EU and California – rather than trying to go even faster – a policy which the bien pensant establishment would approve of in almost every other area.

    In the neurotic, irrational world in which we live, of course, Sunak’s pragmatism is akin to unforgivable heresy, an intolerable transgression of the boundaries of right-think. To understand why Britain is now about to return to Brexit-style legal and cultural warfare, one must grasp just how much power our hapless politicians have handed over to bureaucrats.

    The central problem is Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband’s subversive 2008 Climate Change Act. The original idea – a legally binding, 60 per cent net reduction in emissions compared with 1990 levels by 2050 – was hardened to 80 per cent during the process. In 2019, during the dying days of her calamitous premiership, Theresa May increased the legally binding reduction to 100 per cent by 2050.

    Supporters of the Act knew what they were doing: its legal-technocratic infrastructure was deliberately structured to prevent the sort of rearguard, common sense action now being advocated by Sunak. There isn’t just a 2050 deadline, but also five-year rolling carbon reduction targets that must be met by law. These “carbon budgets” must be agreed 12 years’ ahead of time, and accompanied by credible policies – although, scandalously, as the PM noted yesterday, they are not properly debated by MPs.

    The Act created an extremely powerful quango, the Climate Change Committee, to “advise” the Government on where to set the budgets, and how exactly various sectors are squeezed to ensure they are met. The politicians have some room for manoeuvre, but not much.

    The terrible truth is that Sunak is probably overstepping the mark. He has pressed the nuclear button: he has rejected the CCC’s advice and potentially torn up the fifth (2028-32) and sixth carbon budgets (2033-37). The latter was enshrined into law by Johnson in 2021. Sunak’s courage in defying this madness is remarkable, but he must now act strategically if he is to avoid being annihilated. [The only real pressing of the nuclear button would be the repeal of the CCA in its entirety. Watch the green blob melt down then. We could power the country for years on the heat of its rage!]

    Green activists, corporate subsidy junkies and the rest are crying blue murder. They will claim – perhaps rightly, given the inane legislation – that the Government’s policies are unlawful. They will rush to their lawyers. The Left is already planning a raft of judicial reviews to prevent any airport expansion: the CCC has called for a temporary halt, and, longer-term, will surely demand that any increase in airport capacity (such as at Heathrow) be met by a reduction somewhere else (for example, by shutting Manchester Airport). This battle is a harbinger of things to come: the courts may well rule that the delay to phasing out the combustion engine is unlawful.

    If Sunak wants to win, he will need to change the law – carbon budgets may need amending, requiring a Parliamentary vote. He may even need to amend the Climate Change Act itself. He will need to whip his MPs: he should learn from the Brexit battles of 2019, when Remainers who defied Johnson were thrown out of the party. If that fails, he will need to include a pledge to legislate for his relaxed deadlines in his 2024 manifesto.

    The public tells pollsters it is pro net zero, but also objects to paying more to go green. The voters are on Sunak’s side, not the Blob’s: the Tory party must support the PM on this critical issue.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/20/net-zero-rishi-sunak-blob-heresy

    1. Ditching Net Zero altogether would be the most sensible solution, which is why it will never happen.

      1. BTL:
        Hard Rain
        Badenoch labelled ‘Net zero’ correctly as “unilateral economic disarmament” and promised to scrap it if elected but has now performed a Volte face. Her new position is “we need China to help us achieve net zero.”

        The dead hand of the establishment has grabbed the face of Badenoch, tilted her head to one side, tweezered a larva and dropped it into her ear. She has been assimilated into the establishment Borg and is a different person now.

        Brave New World
        Hilarious how the cages of the Guardian readers have been rattled enough for them to comment here in their droves.

      1. I have signed both of them, but given the government’s response to the last referendum, I’m not hopeful these would do any good even if we had one.

          1. So did hundreds of thousands marching on the streets of London. All ignored. I’m not saying we shouldn’t do it, but I don’t hold out much hope that it will produce any results.

  85. David Wainwright questioned the figures for disabled Pakistani children. There is also this study by Brunel University

    http://enothe.eu/Wordpress%20Documents/2014%20Powerpoints/The%20impact%20of%20having%20a%20disabled%20child%20on%20Pakistani%20parents'%20employment%20opportunities.pdfniversity:

    Although it nowhere mentions inbreeding (yet islamophobia gets a mention!). The conclusion does admit that cultural influences are important in the Pakistani community being particularly disadvantaged.

    There’s other research into the rising number of disabled children in “South Asian” families (Croot L, Grant G, Cooper CL, Mathers N – mainly from Sheffield University). I’ve only read the abstract but it seems to be that religious (ie muslim) beliefs make life difficult for these families (well, I never! Their beliefs make life difficult for us, too).

    https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9602/CBP-9602.pdf
    has lots of figures. Section 2.4 deals with disability by ethnicity and concludes that Bangladeshi ethnicity has the highest. They appear to lay the blame on low income (the Chinese have the lowest incidence).

      2. That is the correct, but un-PC answer! Muslims have low incomes because they don’t work, won’t let the women work and often don’t speak English! Hence the correlation with islamic practices (first cousin marriages) and low income.

  89. “You visited as a Prince, you return as a King…welcome, your Majesty”

    We could all do that if we were born as the eldest royal Prince! Can he get further up Charles’s backside?

    A sweet foreign girl asked me last week whether I as an English person like “Charles the Third”. Only she pronounced the “th” with a hard T. I nearly choked.

    1. Ah, we inherited the soft thu sound from Old Norse. Central and Eastern Europeans can’t do it! Charles the Turd should be flushed down the loo, no?

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