Saturday 21 October: The Conservatives have been punished for neglecting their natural supporters

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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586 thoughts on “Saturday 21 October: The Conservatives have been punished for neglecting their natural supporters”

  2. The Conservatives have been punished for neglecting their natural supporters

    It looks like we are in for a repeat of 1997, the Conservative leadership has gone as far as it possibly can with the globalist agenda, their voters cannot take and more and now they are set to pass the baton on to Labour to complete the job, just as Blair did back in the day.

      1. I wondered about that, Cherry (the dog) being a perpetual tail-wagger. I presume someone knows, but I reckon she steers through her paws.

  5. It’s a good job the storm and flooding wasn’t in Wales, at 20 mph they couldn’t have escaped it.

  6. Morning, all Y’all. Dark & windy. Cats cross at being kept in – soon, a trip to the cat Hotel.

  7. The aftermath of Hamas’s attack on Israel has exposed the West’s moral collapse. 21 October 2023.

    The truth is that there is a broader problem in Britain and the wider West. It has nothing to do with Israel and everything to do with the problems here at home.

    Because one thing the West now knows with utter certainty is that it contains large numbers of people, many of whom we have imported as immigrants, who are not only instinctively anti-Israel, but openly anti-Semitic.

    Who would ever have guessed that importing tens of thousands of people who share none of our views would make a difference? The West in the sense that Douglas Murray uses it here in the headline is finished. It is no longer Democratic or even Free. As these people have arrived they have brought with them that which they were fleeing.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/20/israel-palestine-hamas-london-protests-anti-semitism/

  8. 377849+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    In my book the current supporter / voters have NOT been punished nearly enough, lets also have it right, the tory IN NAME ONLY PARTY.

    Saturday 21 October: The Conservatives have been punished for neglecting their natural supporters, WHY ? the two really do deserve each other .

    No difference to the lab / lib / dems, reality, treacherous SHITE
    PARTIES currently supported by SHITE SHUFFLING ELECTORATE

    These voting idiots are content supporting / voting for these
    counterfeit,sham,fraudulent,imitation, mock-up,dummy,phoney,
    very dangerous name stealing political anti English cartels.

    It cannot be far off now when ” get what we vote for” comes truly to fruition, BIG TIME.

    By the by can anyone tell me what was wrong with the patriotic, common sense, retaining self respect, care for each other way of life, as was ?

  9. Terrorist attack in UK linked to Gaza. 21 October 2023.

    An asylum seeker bent on avenging deaths in Gaza has carried out a suspected terrorist attack in Britain, The Telegraph can disclose.

    The public has not been told that the man, who came to the UK in 2020, told police he had done it for “Palestine”.

    Of course not knowing its nature means that we can all sleep safer in our beds!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/20/terrorist-attack-in-uk-linked-to-gaza/

  10. Good morning, all. Overcast with a breeze. Light rain forecast around mid-morning.

    This is what we get from our elected representatives when they’ve either bought in to the government’s narrative completely or did, and now realise they were, as were the people, duped by the faux scientific propaganda. Those MPs who remain wedded to the government’s line should have attended the debate and argued the points with Andrew Bridgen MP and those who’ve seen the light should have supported him. The House of Commons has lost its raison d’être.
    Gutless buggers, which ever way you slice it.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a0297ad05911bd1873e852d17af35020cbb890e1e89a23b6aa9bc07e801805c7.png

    1. Unable to edit and add a picture and so…

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9588e2ab82c65dc04a3544eea119c226b081905cc99e7cbb7fe1930d8e8f9c95.png

      This is likely the reality, a number of cardiologists have warned of this potential tsunami of deaths.

      Jim Ferguson
      @JimFergusonUK
      ·
      17h
      Shocking Report. There are now record numbers of young people dying.

      If diagnosed with #Myocarditus 50% of people may only live for 5 years. 75% of people diagnosed will die within 10 years. These are deeply concerning statistics but medically verified.

      1. I wish I hadn’t read that.
        My statuesque Polish friend got myocarditis as a result of vaccination. I hope very much she’s in the lucky percentage.

        1. I’ve read that it’s mainly, but not exclusively, young men who suffer with Myocarditis. She likely has a better chance being XX. Let’s hope so.

    2. 377849+ up ticks,

      Morning KtK,

      As I posted they condemn themselves as guilty by their absents.

      A clear view of the majority voters role models MIA = missing in action.

      Truth dodgers to a man.

      1. It could be of course that none of them actually had a covid ‘vaccine’ just sterile water if it was in public.

        1. Sorry I was distracted earlier.
          The other problem they might have had to consider is, because they probably didn’t have the same injections the public had to suffer. The pharmaceutical industry would have known this. Therefore making them all vulnerable to exposure of the truth.

    3. Useless piles of dung all of them.
      I think there were few more on Conservative benches.
      Mass exit as soon as something is discussed that has effected every single family in the UK.

  11. Good morning, all, and a very happy Trafalgar Day. No doubt there will be large parades of sailors in London this morning (sarc – military events might upset the slammers),

    Grey and overcast – a damp look to the morning.

    1. Yo Bill

      A good day to visit HMS Victory (an aptly named ship), in Pompey Dockyard (well what is left of it)

      2. If it’s the Aberfan disaster – it’s only now appeared on my page.

        Yes, ’twas indeed sad.

          4. He was unarmed too
            His crew asked him where he’d like to be laid to rest – with his dying breath he said “Over there under that brass plaque”

  12. 377849+ up ticks,

    This can be posted in capitals if needed for those of a
    dumb / stupid disposition.

    GongSteve
    @GongSteve
    ·
    8h
    When government lies result in harm to innocent people, the people must unite to create something better. Truth prevents harm! We need transparent democracy!

  13. Good morrow, Gentlefolk. today’s story

    Politics and The Family
    A little boy goes to his dad and asks: “what is politics?”

    The dad says: “well son, let me try to explain it this way: I’m the breadwinner of the family, so let’s call me Capitalism. Your Mom, she’s the administrator of the money, so we’ll call her the Government. We’re here to take care of your needs, so we’ll call you the People. The nanny, we’ll consider her the Working Class. And your baby brother, we’ll call him the Future. Now, think about that and see if that makes sense.”

    So, the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what Dad has said. Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his nappy. So, the little boy goes to his parents’ room and finds his mother sound asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny’s room. Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny. He gives up and goes back to bed.

    The next morning, the little boy says to his father, “Dad, I think that I understand the concept of politics now.”

    The father says, “That’s good, son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is
    all about.”

    The little boy replies, “Well, while Capitalism is screwing the Working Class, the Government is sound asleep, the People are being ignored and the Future is in Deep Shit.”

    1. Brilliant! Morning all.

      Alf wrote to our MP yesterday “trusting he would be attending Andrew Bridgen’s debate in HoC”. By the looks of the mob milling to get in we are sure he managed to fight his way in sarc .

      So presumably all Tinos were whipped not to attend and the other lot too. Disgusting. 🤢 and they claim to be working for us.

    1. I remember Aberfan. Quite horrifying and heartbreaking.

      It also leads me to remember how the North-East was littered with slag heaps in the late 1960s, and by the 1980s they were pretty well all gone …. I believe much of the material was used in construction foundations.

    2. Harold Wilson had to kick Lord Robens in the shins before the NCB admitted liability.

    3. Jo Browning wrote A TERRIBLE KINDNESS, a novel based on the tragedy of Aberfan and which moved everyone to tears who read it in our monthly Book Club. Published in 2022 in paperback for just £8.99 I would seriously urge all NoTTLers to read it. Not just moving but, as one reviewer put it, “A novel of healing and hope”.

  15. Morning all 🙂😊
    Usual grey wet horrible.
    Just like Westminster and Whitehall.
    Grey wet horrible. And useless having absolutely no regard for public opinion.
    That’s why our country has been wrecked.

  16. Good morning all,

    Dreich again at the McPhee’s and staying that way for most of the day. Wind in the Sou’-East going Nor’-West, 12-13℃ but getting cooler as the day progresses.

    Well, whaddaya know? The Old Ghoul lines up for the auction of the year:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2a17e7db5761861baf884d2ac7410a813d7ba912d73975be3d4b3566f886a52e.png

    For some strange reason the link in Firefox won’t copy and paste so here’s a screen-shot of it.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/007b19536129c4d68ffd7495dd9b01d28f0237288e8068f1b0a3e05af6f55537.png

    He’s also interested in acquiring the Spectator. If he wins will that mean the end of the DT as a centre–right or right-wing news organ? Many in the comments seem to think so bearing in mind that his offspring to whom he is handing the levers of power have a different outlook to the Old Ghoul. DT will become a “Grauniad-lite” like the Times and Times Radio they say. The Spectator will be another New Statesman ( isn’t it nearly there already under Fraser Nelson?).

    On the other hand, take a look at Sky News Oz and Spectator Oz. They’re in the Murdoch empire. Isn’t there a chance that the DT and the Speccie could veer rightwards?

    In the comments there are those who think is all a part of a plan of the dastardly WEF-controlled financiers at Lloyd’s to stifle any remaining conservative news outlets. They won’t listen to the Barclays’ rescue attempts, telling them they can bid along with everyone else (and of course see to it that the finance to outbid the Barclays is available).

    1. Why would Murdoch want another pseudo-conservative rag?

      I remember, when Conrad Black was in trouble for some minor fiscal matters Lady Black was asked how frequently they crossed the Atlantic with Concord.
      “We don’t use public transport.” She answered.
      Those were the days. When shamelessness had style.

      It might even bother me that this elderly antipodean lout is sniffing at the DT.
      But it doesn’t.

      2. My brother used to nourish him.

        This is true: he was private chef to the Murdoch family for a time in the early 2000s.

  17. Good morning all,

    Dreich again at the McPhee’s and staying that way for most of the day. Wind in the Sou’-East going Nor’-West, 12-13℃ but getting cooler as the day progresses.

    Well, whaddaya know? The Old Ghoul lines up for the auction of the year:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2a17e7db5761861baf884d2ac7410a813d7ba912d73975be3d4b3566f886a52e.png

    For some strange reason the link in Firefox won’t copy and paste so here’s a screen-shot of it.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/007b19536129c4d68ffd7495dd9b01d28f0237288e8068f1b0a3e05af6f55537.png

    He’s also interested in acquiring the Spectator. If he wins will that mean the end of the DT as a centre–right or right-wing news organ? Many in the comments seem to think so bearing in mind that his offspring to whom he is handing the levers of power have a different outlook to the Old Ghoul. DT will become a “Grauniad-lite” like the Times and Times Radio they say. The Spectotor will be another New Statesman ( isn’t it nearly there already under Fraser Nelson?).

    On the other hand, take a look at Sky News Oz and Spectator Oz. They’re in the Murdoch empire. Isn’t there a chance that the DT and the Speccie could veer rightwards?

    In the comments there are those who think is all a part of the dastardly WEF-controlled financiers at Lloyd’s plan to stifle any remaining conservative news outlets. They won’t listen to the Barclays’ rescue attempts telling them they can bid along with everyone else (and of course see to it that the finance to outbid the Barclays is available).

  18. Call me old fashioned (and many do) but I do find the prospect of going to play a rugby match at 9 pm (French time) a bit odd. With all the bollocky stoppages there are now, and, possibly, extra time – the lads won’t be off the pitch until getting on for midnight. I shall be in bed at 10 pm UK time as usual so I won’t know by how many S Africa won until tomorrow.

    To be serious, it can’t be good for a competitive match to be played at this late hour.

      1. Which increases hooliganism. There was an article in the week by Stephen Jones (I know, I know) about depressingly unpleasant scenes he had witnessed with very drunk English “supporters” behaving shockingly on French trams etc after a match in Marseilles.

        1. It always surprises me that so many of yobs can afford the tickets, let alone the food, booze and accommodation.

          8. I like your trade name, it sounds ever so jolly.

            Do you get much custom at 7pm? I suppose you must do, to start so early.

            }:-O

          10. Scaffolding is a trade much in demand going by the number of their structures I see about me on a daily basis.

  19. 377849+ up ticks,

    Terrorist attack in UK linked to Gaza
    Asylum seeker suspect arrested as fears grow over safety of weekend protests

    ALL this to my mind was on the WEF / NWO agenda triggered forty years ago, the road to RESET will be paved with the dead of lost democracy, decency and the need of physical / mental
    freedom of body & spirit.

    The governing odious political bodies have, via mass controlled / morally uncontrolled immigration, an unlimited supply of potential “”terrorist actions” riding the next incoming tide on any given day.

    Lest we forget,

    Must vote tory (ino) to keep out lab (ino) the daisy chain coalition.

  20. The difference between selfless and self-serving behaviour clearly demonstrated in two pictures.

    Preaching to the choir, I know, but our elected representatives have moved beyond being reprehensible and IMO are inhabiting a state of limbo where uncertainty reigns but anarchy is a very likely outcome. Electing Smarmer and his acolytes will very probably hasten the collapse of society. What then?

    https://twitter.com/DVATW/status/1715380123686277257

      1. It is a shame that constituents aren’t empowered to issue three lines with a whip.
        Better?

    2. I have emailed this photo to one of my sons and a couple of my friends with the heading:

      Excrement in the latrines of a Cairo prison is probably no dirtier than this lot!

      1. During WWII my father served in the RAF servicing bomber aircraft and did a short tour in Libya and Egypt. He visited Cairo and was not overly impressed with the smell of the city itself, let alone its prison latrines. If anything, he was even less impressed by Arabs.

    3. I have emailed this photo to one of my sons and a couple of my friends with the heading:

      Excrement in the latrines of a Cairo prison is probably no dirtier than this lot!

    1. This passage was probably the cruncher:-

      The medic also waded into the trans row, stating that: ‘Humans come as Male or Female, as dictated by their chromosome complement: XY or XX.

      ‘Surgical scalpels, hormones, high heels, dresses and lipstick may alter the external appearance of gender confused (mad) individuals but their sex stays unchanged.

      ‘To think otherwise is insane.’

    2. The comments wouldn’t load but I agreed with a lot of what he said. Absolutely agreed with the remarks about deluded trans. I do think a lot of people were coerced into taking the jabs before it became apparent how dangerous they are.

    4. The doctor was either hell-bent on provoking his own dismissal or he must be one of the brainless half-wits himself if he somehow imagined that posting and sharing comments on social media – such as those documented throughout the Mail’s report – would have no adverse consequences for his career.

      2. It seems he retired some years ago and returned to assist during the Covid panicdemic.

        I suspect that most Nottlers have made plenty of posts here that would be equally offensive to the woke, I know I have.

        2. I’m quite aware that many of his sentiments will find much agreement here but most of us are either retired, self-employed, unemployed through ill-health and using pseudonyms. Would people here be just as cavalier if employed in the public sector with full disclosure of their identity?

          1. Almost certainly not.

            But doesn’t that also reflect on the public sector’s almost total inability to accept views that don’t comply with their orthodoxies?

            If it does turn out unequivocally that the Covid vaccines really are as dangerous as many claim or suspect, do you think all those supporting them so vociferously will have their social media trawled to get them all sacked?

          2. It’s not the doctor’s scepticism about the efficacy and safety of the Covid vaccines which has got him into trouble but the derogatory manner of describing those who have taken them. If it came to my attention that my doctor thought me to be a brainless half-wit, I’d seek out another doctor tout de suite.

          3. I would bet my pound to your brass farthing that the vaccines issue was the least of the reasons for getting rid of him.

          4. Looking through the litany of what he posted and shared, you’re probably correct. It’s the entirety of his social media presence rather than any individual comment.

          5. I respect your efforts to wash away conspiracy rubbish with a bucketful of facts, but our brains do shrink as we grow older. Your Hoffnungesque description of a routine visit to a Hospital, pitting yourself against the wiles of public transport, leads me to regard you as an optimist.

  23. 377849+ up ticks,

    breitbart

    Farage Takeover? Brexit Boss ‘Jokes’ He Expects to Become Conservative Party Leader

    Farage Takeover? ex Brexit party Boss ‘Jokes’ He Expects to Become Conservative Party Leader, well suited and deserving
    seeing as he has been a tory since 3 / 4 / 62, unbroken service.

    1. Interesting point.
      Does the party leader have to be an MP?
      In the HoC, yes – but outside in the normal world?

  24. One question came to me just now that sums up succinctly the problem, and possibly the solution to the world today, and I invite responses.

    Can you think of anyone you would trust with Lasting Power of Attorney?

    I can’t.

      1. It depends upon whether your sudden or gradual incapacitation, by accident of dementia, would cause those who take care of you financial difficulties. LPA is simply done online and it cost me £82 to register it with the Court of Protection. Hopefully, it will sit on my desk and never be needed, but in my case, if I was wingged by a passing bus, it would give my family access to my single named bank accounts. If your accounts are joint, then the problem is solved.

          1. I had PoA over my late wife and my mother. It certainly made life easier when dealing with their affairs but PoA dies with the person (in Scotland anyway). I should really make one out but you need someone living close in my opinion as dealing with someone’s affairs remotely is a PITA and all my family live lightyears away

          2. Yes – it’s difficult, isn’t it. My sons live in Swansea and Switzerland, and his nephew & niece are in Yorks & Derbyshire.

    5. Some friends near Melbourne, their daughter live with her falla for many years. They had more recently decided marry. But he was diagnosed with leukemia. And after two years of treatment suddenly lost his battle or life.
      His previous and divorced wife and her family stormed in and took everything he had ever owned.
      Leaving his partner not only a ‘widow’, but broken in more ways than one.

      1. Plenty of cases of inheritances being challenged by first families. I don’t know if Victorian law is different to that in England, but over here, it is the last properly made out that supercedes all previous, and a marriage also cancels previous wills, but not a common law relationship.

        I am in a similar position, in that I have disinherited my estranged children, but still live alone and never remarried. If I die intestate, they would have to be traced, even though they use their stepfather’s surname, so I will probably have to make a will leaving everything to nephews and nieces who have kept in touch with me. If I did find someone this late in life, most likely she would get everything, but I have serious trust issues, especially with women, and it would take someone very special to thaw me out in time.

        There was a case in America when a very famous actor got dementia and eventually died after his second wife had Power of Attorney, and used her power to deny any contact between this actor and the children of his first marriage. They were not even informed of his death, and had to read about it in the papers. A new law was passed whereby children of an adult with dementia had the same rights as parents of estranged children, and a second wife could not deny contact, even if she had power of attorney. The actor Peter Falk played a long-running TV detective (pilot was in 1968 and it ran until 2003, and one episode was even directed by Steven Spielberg), and his wife appeared several times on his show, and seemed always to have the same sour expression.

        Sir Ken Dodd was notoriously as tight with money as he was generous with
        his time and talent on stage. He got married on his deathbed in order
        to avoid inheritance taxes. He was never a friend of the tax collector.

    3. You’re the police.

      Which do you go to remove, a group that is extremely unlikely to turn violent, or a group that will riot with great violence and with relatively little provocation?

      This isn’t about protecting those Jews, it’s about protecting themselves.

      1. I would treat the protestors, those for Hamas, exactly as the police treated the miners when they fought Thatcher. Islamists need to be forced to wind back into their shells. Give an inch to a Muslim and they will take a mile. It is part of their strategy of control and subjugation. Strongly recommend a book to you: “The Legacy of Jihad” by Andrew Bostom. It is hefty but after reading it you will not be so reasonable about Islam or the games they play. As things stand, with your strategy, you are giving ground ceding control and by doing so making Britain less British and more amenable to Islam.

        1. It’s not sosraboc’s personal strategy but how he perceives that of the police.

        2. I don’t disagree, I think they should be treated with severity.
          What I was doing in my response was suggesting why they act as they do.

          And please read the post with a bit more thought as to what it says before you start suggesting I would have concurred with the actions of Germans toward the Jews in the 30’s.

          1. Yes, for my last remark I apologize and I have removed it. It is I’m just really, really peed off by the lily-livered response by the authorities to the problem. On watching the video I posted I wanted to punch those police creeps hard in the nose.

        3. The Dagger of Islam also makes enlightening reading. It was written quite a while ago, but everything it predicts has come true. It descibes islam as the most serious political threat to Europe.

        1. Whatever they do nowadays they seem to be in the wrong.
          To some extent they’ve brought it upon themselves, but they’ve been undermined by the political classes, the civil service and the Left for years.

  26. Labour Party candidate and by-election winner

    I hope, that he had a note from his Mum, for the day off school and was not playing truant.

  27. Off topic – BUT not irrelevant

    When will the MPs be held to account for not attending the debate on 20th October on one of the most burning health issues of our time: Covid “vaccine” damage?

    They must not be allowed to evade the issue.

  28. 377849+ up ticks,

    Dt,

    Reform UK will stand in every seat – and make sure the Tories lose
    Britain cannot reward 13 years of failure with more incumbency

    The reform party on the march again, and a “lest we forget” brexit party actions 2019, and accept tory (ino) Mk 2.

    1. As I posted yesterday having watched A Brigden’s speech, ‘FUCK the BBC’….Where’s their much vaunted “Verify” disputing Mr Brigden’s assertions?

      1. You saw their stance very clearly from the messages being flashed along the screens of the televised bits.

        1. I know, but they appear to be too cowardly to undertake a critical analysis of Mr brigden’s assertions.

          2. I cannot be certain, but I would guess that the NHS has records of every person vaccinated and how many times they have been vaccinated.

            A truly independent analysis of all deaths and new diagnoses of possibly connected cases would at least provide some statistics to allow people to draw their own conclusions, and whilst I accept correlation does not prove cause, I am sure something could be proven one way or the other to see if it requires further detailed and focussed investigation of what is happening

          3. Ultimately of course the death rate is 100% therefore stats need to be sorted by age group as well as vax status?

          7. A proper analysis would be doing that, but I’m not just referring to deaths, it’s things such as myocarditis and other significant serious conditions, also by age and compared with historical, pre vaccine data.

          8. My personal opinion for what it’s worth, is perhaps the politicians left the house yesterday because many of them have been involved in the ‘vaccine’ scam.
            And if they were seen to be involved is, it might affect their futures living off the British taxpayers. Or even under the watchful eyes of the ‘vaccine’ manufacturers.
            Many of whom were serously damage or worse from the jabs.
            The politicians supported the program but I doubt very much if most of them took the chance of receiving the so called vaccines.

          9. Soviet psychiatrists co-operated with the government by torturing dissidents.
            They gave them haloperidol – a powerful psychotropic drug that has awful side effects on the mentally ill, let alone the sane – without any anti-parkinson drugs to mitigate side effects.
            No doubt, that was part of the Russian version of the NHS. Can’t argue with your employer.

          10. Pathetic mob of deniers.
            Still.no further news on the murder of the poor little 10 year old girl near Woking.
            Perhaps the weather takes up too much time.

        2. When Bluebottle said:
          “Little does he know that I am as intelligent as the next man.”
          Eccles said:
          “Little does he know that I am the next man.”

    2. PHIZZEE; BETTY’S OF HARROGATE DO NOT EXIST.!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      If they did, SWMBO would have invested my pension there!

      1. Last time we were in Yarkshire we had intended to go there but a huge queue denied us entry.

      2. I assume you’ve taken out a second mortgage? They used to be wonderful, but are no longer affordable!

  31. I know they look similar but some people have a hard time telling apart Vladimir Putin and the BBC’s Andrew Marr.
    How hard can it be? One is a malevolent frontman for an antidemocratic, crypto-fascist political entity intent on subjugating the western world… and the other is the President of Russia!

    https://scontent-cdg4-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/73316969_10157817199899954_6918564694580002816_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=7f8c78&_nc_ohc=OzfJrhCSv-AAX85qLsU&_nc_ht=scontent-cdg4-1.xx&oh=00_AfB4fZWpuCRLdNZ1rPDXY-TMksfD3ibhICaF95AUxzDukg&oe=655B196B

    1. Wendyball – a game in which a bunch of grossly over-paid poufs roll around pretending to be hurt.
      Rugby – a game in which a bunch of precariously-paid proper men run around pretending not to be hurt.

      2. I think the lesson here is never to take a prescribed drug until you have checked it out via the internet!

        1. I do. Easier to watch for adverse reactions. My clopidogrel was giving me diarrhoea and the zapain was making me constipated. Oh joy.

        2. I do. Easier to watch for adverse reactions. My clopidogrel was giving me diarrhoea and the zapain was making me constipated. Oh joy.

  35. Just curious, Reform UK pledges to put candidates in every constituency this coming election and I wondered how many of us will vote for them? For myself, I will not vote vote for the Conservative Party as it is presently constituted. And certainly would rather have my hand cut off than vote for Labour. At least a vote for Reform UK is to register a protest rather than just not voting.

          6. Youngest granddaughter is at Edinburgh university.
            Because she has Danish nationality, her fees are (I think) £1,800 pa. (If she was English, she would be stung for the full whack.)
            Travel is free as well.
            As a family, we take the view, given the blasted Barnett formula, that we are getting back some of our taxes.

          7. I’m crying now! Both our girls (OK! We) had to pay full whack! Edinburgh Royal Dick Vet, and Stirling.

          8. That is why granddaughter – unlike her brother – has held back on applying for dual citizenship.
            Once she graduates, she may return to the subject.

      2. In 2015 the SNP and the Libs Dems got a total of 66 seats between them; UKIP obtained more votes than The SNP and the Lib Dems combined and yet got only one parliamentary seat.

        If that is democracy I’m a Dutch man (and not just a man married to a Dutch woman!)

        Shirley Williams, David Owen, Woy Jenkins and Bill Rodgers deserted the Labour Party to found the Social Democratic Party saying that they were going to break the mould but after a couple of years, with their tails between their legs, they had to ally with the Liberals with joint leaders David Steel and David Owen.

        “Better to reign in Hell than Serve in Heaven” [Satan in John Milton’s Paradise Lost]

        One of the problems with smaller parties is hubris. No leader can ever accept someone else as leader. I cannot imagine that Nigel Farage would ever want to be in a party of which he was not the leader. He will not fully join the Reform Party unless he is the leader and I very much doubt if Richard Tice would stand down even if he were told it was for the good of the country and the party.

        2. If that is democracy I’m a Dutch man You’ve been reading too much Swallows and Amazons, Richard

      3. Unlike Scotchland where we have dimbo moronic Green loons with 2 votes each, in the ruling junta!

        1. A (female) friend, who lives in Wales, has just told me that the Labour-run councils there have ensured that all male public bogs have to have a supply of tampons!

          2. You jest.
            When we were young, one of our friends had an humungous nosebleed.
            He seemed rather put out when we girlies unearthed a small size Lilet.

          4. Presumably if they don’t have a dispensing machine installed the proprietor will have to put up an out of order sign on the male WC and turn the female WC into a unisex toilet……

          5. Talk about fiddling while Rome burns. These people are morons. (With apologies to morons).

      4. I do remember that UKIP got 3.9m votes in 2015 and one seat! (and none of the many academics who’d written in Mrs T’s time about the need for PR made a peep of objection about THIS most-spectacular-,ever underrepresentation).

    2. I shall vote Reform, but in any case the Tories haven’t won this seat (Birmingham, Selly Oak) since 1992 and now it’s fairly rock solid Labour.

    3. I will but Andy Slaughter (Labour) will only lose Hammersmith when he’s challenged by an openly Islamist candidate. The white lefty morons will still vote Labour but they’re rapidly becoming outnumbered. I wonder if Greg Hands (Conservative) can hold Fulham & Chelsea. I expect so. They still have it sown up between them.

    4. That will just about guarantee labour win in the election.

      The same happened in Canada when real conservatives left the party and were candidates under the Reform flag. Many years under a liberal government (thankfully not trudeau) before they got together and brought us back to common sense,

  36. My elder son and his elder son are in Paree for the match in the middle of the nighttonight. Just sent me a snap if them in a – you’ve guessed it – bar.

    I reminded him that I first took him there FIFTY years ago….! Seems just the other day.

    1. Yesterday evening, our son and his girlie chum (not actual girl friend) from way back in primary school spent an evening at The Dower House.
      Heck; she’s a grandmother; as is one of her sisters.
      How did that happen?

      1. Um – do you want me to explain?

        It’s like Dan talking about when he’ll take his pension…{:¬((

      2. Annie, I still have no idea where The Dower House is? Any chance of you emailing or phoning me with details?

        1. Will email.
          Sorry, life’s been a bit action packed and social life has taken a back seat.
          I’m reaching the stage where I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be sociable.

  37. The reason that the authorities do nothing to stop slammers “protesting” is simple. They are frightened stiff.

    Slammers could easily organise 100,000 people to stage a “peaceful” march. Should it become violent, there is absolutely nothing that the police – nor the armed forces – could do to control it.

    So the bastards get their own way every time.

    1. “Should it become violent, there is absolutely nothing that the police – nor the armed forces – could do to control it.”

      Labour will blame white prejudice and call for meetings with ‘community leaders’ to negotiate a truce and let them air their grievances.

    2. The slammers are well organised down to a local level. Apart from the high profile politicians, there are powerful national bodies such as the MCB (to empower British muslims) and networks down to a local level. Every mosque can quickly activate the ‘community leaders’ and locals to protest, with the badly hidden secret that violence might ensue if there is any push back. Any action against muslims will generate the victim card, politicians shouting racism and the equality act brought into play. British politicians enabled this state of affairs and anyone daring to speak out risks being cancelled and losing their livelihood. Occasionally, the state has to make an example of its attitude, Tommy Robinson was first, Lawrence Fox seems to be the next victim. I think, like many on here, we have been done over and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. Sound like an excuse for a drink, don’t mind if I do…

      1. Enjoy it while you can. When Sharia Law comes in, there will be no booze available (and no pork, bacon or anything else enjoyable).

        1. When Sharia law comes in and probably before, they will kill us. Why would they want us hanging around? I would suggest to pay taxes but, Islam being Islam, killing the infidel will satisfy the blood lust and after that Allah will provide.

          1. They will want dhimmis to pay jizya. They won’t have any rights, but they will have to finance their slavery.

  38. Good morning (just), chums. One of the benefits of waking up at 3 am is going back to bed at around 5.30 am and having a long, long lie-in. Enjoy your day.

        1. My screen saver background has been running a series of pictures from NY, “Hudson river school” they look very similar to molamola’s photo.

          11. Kernow is the Proto-Brythonic name for Cornwall. It translates as the ‘headland inhabited by foreigners’. (Not joking).

  40. Good Mo Afternoon.
    Aaarrgghhhhhh …. first world problem or what!
    Trying to find an A5 ring binder address book that is neither twee nor dull.

      1. I like Etsy – I’ve bought several unusual items from them.
        When I looked at address books, there were few ring binder models, but there were a couple I might return to.

          1. Of all things, I bought some 1950s steak knives – mock deer antler handles!
            They came from a dealer in Vancouver; postage cost me nothing.

        2. Etsy is good, buy my Christmas cards from there. Wending it’s way to me at the mo, is a Japanese hand reproduction of a Japanese painting that I have always wanted but, in no way could afford the real thing, anymore than I could afford the Mona Liza. It’s called “The descent of Amida”. You can look up various versions of it on google. But the one I picked doesn’t seem to be illustrated there.

  41. How is this any different from what Sunak et al. are doing here? Illegal masses being housed in, 3* at a minimum, but many in 4* accommodation with full board, free mobile phone charging, pocket money, free health and dental care and whatever add-ons to make their lives as comfortable as necessary. Meanwhile ex-service personnel, the mentally challenged, people who have fallen on hard times etc. are ignored and are rough-sleeping.
    If the illegals are being granted this level of help what are the ‘legals’ getting: they’re certainly not all doctors, architects, rocket scientists etc. no matter what the government and its propaganda arm the BBC, Sky, Channel4 say…?

    https://twitter.com/polishprincessh/status/1715124539628175645

    1. Not new. This was in 2018 when the idiot was asked about reductions in veterans disability pensions –

      Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government is fighting some Canadian veterans in court because they are asking for more than the federal government can afford

  42. Claims that myocarditis proves fatal in 50% of cases after 5 years – as a warning against Covid-19 vaccines – are based on a misunderstanding of studies carried out before Covid-19 and its vaccines ever existed. The study was of severe cases of viral myocarditis, not the much milder vaccine-induced form which very rarely has serious consequences.

    Myocarditis is often mild, contrary to online claims

    BY TERRENCE FRASER

    Published 6:22 PM GMT+1, November 18, 2021

    CLAIM: Myocarditis can’t be mild and it’s an irreversible condition. Once the heart muscle is damaged, it cannot be repaired by the body. Within five years of diagnosis, the death rate from myocarditis is 50%.

    AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Myocarditis, inflammation of the heart muscle, is a mild, temporary condition in the vast majority of cases, according to experts. Irreversible scarring may occur rarely in a severe case, but even then, it may be possible for the heart muscle to heal with treatment. Experts say claims that patients with myocarditis have a high mortality rate are incorrect and misinterpret the scientific literature on the condition.

    THE FACTS: Misinformation about myocarditis has been spreading online in recent weeks by social media users sharing false claims about COVID-19 vaccines.

    “Myocarditis is irreversible. Once the heart muscle is damaged, it cannot be repaired by the body,” states one widely shared Facebook post. “Myocarditis has a 20% fatality rate after 2 years and a 50% fatality rate after 5 years,” it continues.

    The Facebook post shows a screenshot of an article written by Edward Hendrie for his blog Great Mountain Publishing, which describes itself as a Christian publishing ministry and “watchman to warn the world of the rising spiritual peril.”

    Hendrie told The Associated Press his statistics around myocarditis came from an academic article co-authored by Dr. Michael Kang, health sciences assistant clinical professor at University of California Riverside School of Medicine.

    Kang, contacted by the AP, said Hendrie was misrepresenting the figures used in his article, which was published in October 2017, well before the COVID-19 pandemic. It was written “as a general review of viral myocarditis and does not pertain to vaccine induced myocarditis,” Kang said.

    With regards to the myocarditis death rate, Kang said his article was referencing the most severe forms of myocarditis.

    Those numbers pertain to smaller, older studies, in which patients had extreme forms of the disease, “not what we are seeing with the covid19 vaccine,” Kang said in an email.

    A Twitter post by Aaron Kheriaty, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Irvine, which circulated on Monday, stated, “There is no such thing as ‘mild’ myocarditis.” Kheriaty is currently on leave for non-compliance with the university’s vaccination requirements, according to his Twitter page and Substack.

    Kheriaty, asked for evidence to support his claim, responded, “Saying ‘mild myocarditis’ is like saying ‘mild heart attack.” He added that myocarditis is “always medically serious, even on the mild end of the spectrum.”

    But cardiologists and medical professionals refuted that assertion, and said in many cases myocarditis is in fact both mild and reversible.

    “The majority of myocarditis is mild and indeed reversible,” said Dr. Eric Adler, professor at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine who specializes in advanced heart failure. He said a majority of individuals with myocarditis — about 70% — have no symptoms or mild symptoms that resolve completely.

    “Myocarditis by definition is inflammation, which is usually reversible,” said Dr. Leslie Cooper, chair of the Mayo Clinic Department of Cardiovascular Medicine in Florida.

    Kang noted that some patients with myocarditis don’t experience symptoms and don’t seek out treatment. “You will never be able to count them because they never actually came in,” he said.

    Severe damage and scarring can occur in a smaller amount of cases, experts said.

    “Myocarditis can lead to ‘irreversible’ scarring but only in a minority of overall cases,” said Cooper.

    But Adler said there are treatment options which can help recover heart tissue even in severe cases.

    “Though dead heart tissue is indeed felt to be non-recoverable there are lots of examples of damaged hearts that recover to normal function over time or with medical therapy,” said Adler.

    Very rarely, teens and young adults given the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines have experienced myocarditis. The condition has mostly affected young men and teen boys, and they tend to recover quickly. After intense scrutiny, U.S. health authorities concluded the vaccine’s benefits outweigh that small risk, the AP reported.

    “The facts are clear: this is an extremely rare side effect, and only an exceedingly small number of people will experience it after vaccination. Importantly, for the young people who do, most cases are mild, and individuals recover often on their own or with minimal treatment,” read a statement issued last June by top U.S. government health officials, medical organizations, laboratory and hospital associations.

    ___
    This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.

    https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-552859079506

      1. I don’t know about the overall population of the unvaccinated but I believe it’s more commonplace in the unvaccinated who have contracted the Covid-19 virus, which suggests that the virus is more likely to induce myocarditis than the vaccine. Studies into the matter would also need to compare the vaccinated who have since contracted the virus with the vaccinated who have yet to be infected, mainly to discover if the virus and vaccine together compound the risk of myocarditis or whether the vaccine can ameliorate the effects of the viral-induced variety.

        1. Hence my earlier observation that the whole matter needs a lot more study and analysis between the groups.

          I had the vaccination and boosters (at the time it was impossible in France/UK to do things we had to do).
          I had an adverse muscular reaction which lasted the better part of a year. I cannot be absolutely certain it was the jab, but the balance of probability and timing after the most recent one suggests it was.
          Since being vaccinated I’ve had Covid twice now and my wife has had it three times. I have to admit I would rather have the disease than the muscular problems.
          Each to their own decision, but I can’t help feeling that all facts are not being aired.
          Hopefully class action lawsuits and congressional investigations in the USA and elsewhere will establish what has happened.

          1. I had the initial AstraZeneca vaccines in 2021 followed by Pfizer boosters and I’ve suffered no ill effects whatever. As for the virus, I have a suspicion that I caught it in August this year but no confirmed infections thus far. I had the latest seasonal Pfizer booster just yesterday. If that makes me a brainless half-wit, so be it, but I’m not a fit young man in my teens or twenties. I’m an overweight 67-year-old with prior cardiac problems, which completely alters the risk-benefit equation. Had the wild claims about the vaccine not been shown time and again to be bunkum, I might have been more sceptical, but I have become sceptical about sceptics. My decision to have another booster was based on inadequately informed guesswork, and the example of a sister and niece, cardiology nurses without qualms about the vaccines, but part of it was driven by sheer bloody-minded defiance of sceptics.

          2. I don’t know many people who’ve been multiply jabbed and haven’t caught the disease since their vaccinations.

            I agree re the risk/reward approach to making the decision and each to their own.

            I’m sure there must be a good reason, but one should wait 6 months after catching Covid before having another injection, apparently because it could cause a relapse!
            We were told this by the pharmacist who deals with them here.

          3. That point confirms my suspicions about MB’s incident.
            He had the jab within weeks of the suspected infection.

          4. Be grateful for small mercies, a chap I know died.

            He had had a bad reaction to his first jab and asked for a medical exemption from a second to allow him to travel. The doctor refused and the second one killed him. He had underlying problems, but his widow is sure it was the jab.

          5. I had covid before they admitted to it (put me in bed for a week) so I never had the jabs as I considered my natural immunity would suffice. As I’ve never had covid again, it seems I was right.

          6. I don’t know how easy it is to suffer from repeated infections of the sars-cov-2 virus. Some clearly have been whereas many others have never been infected. There’s no doubt that natural immunity exists but as the virus mutates, that natural immunity becomes less effective. That you’ve not had a repeat infection could be due to the antibodies present in your system but it might just as easily be that you’ve not come into contact with it since. It’s not easy to definitively say why you’ve only been infected once.

          7. I have been in contact with people who have had covid – they know they have because they are testers.

          9. Not necessarily. They can serve to mitigate the symptoms of a disease if infection does take place.

          10. That was my understanding too, but times change, now the point is to earn loot for the pharma company

        2. Before we realised what it could be, MB had a stonking cold and cough that effectively wiped him out for a month. Since he is given to chest infections, we didn’t think any more about it.
          A fortnight after his civid vaccination a few week’s later, he had heart attack caused by an enormous blood clot.
          So I think there is something in the theory.
          I only had the jab to protect MB, and I was fine.
          The irony is awful.

          1. SWMBOs brother, a couple of years younger, died of a massive heart attack shortly after being innoculated.

        3. As then, PCR and LFT “tests” were not diagnostic tools (or ever intended to be so) the only
          virus possible to be picked up was coronavirus – not specifically covid19. And the vaccinated/unvaccinated in the “trial” statistics were pretty useless as the unvaccinated in the control group were then vaccinated.

          How to muck up any statistics!

          3. Given that variations of the sars-cov-2 virus can be distinguished from one another, I fail to see how they cannot be distinguished from other coronaviruses.

  43. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/65bbe93b6a25ed930e2f9cee775a33a9bfba0692b7c568a5b89fcc7761f0bc71.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6ca210d0a18014fc90d39c86c5991875692e7e12c5b66be230320b7188484f99.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/048e7b057e7d18bf0641e5878a0974f0c9f53ce1eb13489909621a6afb98aeaa.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3b5dd3b471af6cb82be452b717ce0d06a900c5dc64a83c4a7c921bcac47b1859.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/66f8cb8557c874d9cef985ade15a390922bdf15761c1a42dc039defee65c4326.png

    1. Indiana Jones is sooooo 1930s.
      Thanks to scientific advances, he should multiply that number by at least four.

      1. Flag of St George. Nasty, vile, racist England supporter. Probably a monoglot English speaker as well.

  45. It’s always hard talking to an attractive woman.
    But then it goes soft again when she tells me to fuck off and threatens to call the police.

      1. I’ve got a huge soft spot for Dianne Abbott.

        Well, I could never have a hard spot for her!

  47. The BBC World Service has outlined plans to accelerate its digital offering and increase impact with audiences around the globe.

    “The BBC is trusted by hundreds of millions of people for fair and impartial news, especially in countries where this is in short supply. We help people in times of crisis. We will continue to bring the best journalism to audiences in English and more than 40 languages, as well as increasing the impact and influence of our journalism by making our stories go further.”
    — Liliane Landor, Director, BBC World Service.

    (The daughter of a Lebanese father and a Cuban mother, Landor was born and raised in Lebanon. Educated in France and Switzerland – Nationality: British).

    About as British as one can get.

    2. 377849+ up ticks,,

      Afternoon P,

      For the benifit of ALL, they the BBc, really should accellerate and -uck off.

    3. The BBC are totaly self deluded about themselves. Everything they do is far left biased. on the World Service as much as anywhere.

    5. In 20 years of overseas work in the gas and oil industry, (Africa, Mid East, Asia) I have often met people who are envious of the Premier League and often follow English teams. I have yet to hear: “Aren’t you lucky to have the BBC”.
      “Trusted round the World?” Yeah, OK…

    5. It is said that opposites attract, so would a thicko be attracted to a sapiosexual, and vice versa?

    1. I knew a “serious” chemist who told me that theory nearly 60 years ago, even before Lovelock published.
      He was ridiculed.

      He must be jumping for joy in his grave that it’s being considered seriously.

      Mind you, he also believed that oil circulated within the earth rather as blood does in an animal.
      An early believer in the Gaia theory, perhaps. I wonder if he knew Lovelock.

  52. Lord knows if my comment on TCW in response to Kathy’s piece will ever emerge on the site column, but this is what I said:

    “Kathy, the fact that I and no doubt a significant number of TCW fans
    don’t share your enthusiasm for the Zionist cause, or regard whatever
    crimes Hamas (that creation of Israel itself) has actually committed as
    any different to the other crimes committed by other armed people that
    have been and are presently being perpetrated so widely, in no way
    diminishes the nobility of TCW’s stand over the last years against the
    Covid outrage and the corruption of our societies that has been driving
    it.

    I believe firmly however that the same corruption is driving
    these events on both sides of the conflict. No-one watching Mr Netanyahu
    boasting how he presented Pfizer with 98% of the Israeli populations
    medical data should be in any doubt about what they are seeing.

    I published here days ago in comment the text of a eulogy from the days of
    the Nakbah by the great Moshe Dayan which was actually a statement of
    the truth. He pointed out that it was the fate of his generation to have
    to defend the land taken by Israel from those we call the Palestinians
    whose land it was, by the “maw” of the cannon. He pointed out that they
    could not be expected to know or agree that the land had been given to
    the new state by God. Tens of thousands of casualties then were the
    consequence, and since then nothing has changed except the departure
    from truthfulness by the Israeli state and which, if it knows God ,must
    be a God very different from the one I was taught is the boss

        1. Be fair, he’s faithful to his husband.

          ‘People like the clean-cut image, but Gabriel is in fact a lot more unconventional, and happy to challenge accepted values.’
          Presidents of France have always been male heterosexuals who – despite a history of affairs at the Élysée Palace – like to portray themselves as being committed to their wives.
          Mr Attal is, by contrast, happily settled with his husband Stéphane Séjourné, the 38-year-old general secretary of Renaissance – Mr Macron’s political party, and one that Mr Attal has represented as an MP since 2017.
          Mr Attal and Mr Séjourné are in a civil union – a legal arrangement similar to marriage – and share a home in Paris.
          ‘If Gabriel does become president, then Stéphane would be a perfect companion at the Élysée,’ said a Renaissance source.
          ‘They would be the first gay couple in the role, and a refreshing change from those who have come before,’ he added.

    3. Attal, his husband and several other ‘unmarried’ young men, were close friends of Macron. I wonder what the could have had in common.

  55. As it’s a somewhat soggy day, I’m catching up on Spekkie articles: Douglas Murray for world dictator!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/what-shakespeare-can-teach-us-about-cancel-culture/#comments-container

    “What Shakespeare can teach us about cancel culture

    Douglas Murray16 October 2023, 8:30pm

    The following is an edited excerpt from Douglas Murray’s lecture at the Sheldonian Theatre earlier tonight, in honour of Sir Roger Scruton. It features the actor Kevin Spacey reciting a scene from William Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens.

    By the last year of his life Roger had finally been not just honoured in his own country but given a position by a Conservative government to advise on that most pressing of issues – how to try to build beautiful housing in a country desperately in need of housing and even more desperately in need of beautiful housing.

    Roger was engaged in his researches when a young snake of a man came to interview him and misrepresented what he had said. The fact that the magazine in question had been one Roger had contributed a column to for many years did not make this pill any easier to swallow. Roger was accused – falsely – of almost every one of the modern heresies, including racism against the Chinese. It was a preposterous set of allegations, and I for one knew them to be so from the outset.

    Yet the Conservative government of the day – led by that great lady of iron principle, Theresa May – sacked Sir Roger before they had seen any more than a couple of Tweets from the lying reporter. Conservative MPs and ministers called it a ‘no-brainer’ to fire Sir Roger and declared that Scruton was just so much dead weight on the party.

    As some people here know, I fought a campaign to get Roger’s reputation back. In fact I think I dedicated every hour of every day for months to that campaign. I eventually got hold of a copy of the tape of the interview that the New Statesman refused to hand over. The quotes attributed to Roger were misrepresented. He was vindicated.

    But I remember that even at that point of victory it felt like too little a victory. Roger called me immediately after I published the true account of what had happened and said to me, ‘So do you think I still have a career’. There have not been many times in my life when I have wanted to cry with frustration, but that was one of them.

    I do not want to end on a bitter note. But I do want to end on a question. Can a society really survive, let alone do anything good or beautiful, if it is so willing to play these dirty, nasty games? Can any society seriously manage to do anything good if it is willing to throw away and discard people on mere hearsay? Can we get anywhere, let alone create anything, if we throw away our most talented figures with such ease? Can we honestly do anything of worth if people are kicking their feet in the shallows while trying to drown everyone engaged in anything of import in these puddles?

    It is not a straightforward question, but it is one which we would all do well to think on. Of course like all great questions, it is one that people have thought on before.

    I would like to say two things in closing. The first is that I learned a lesson during the period I defended Sir Roger and it is a lesson I should like to pass on. Especially to the younger members of the audience here tonight.

    Always stand up for your friends. Especially when they are right. There is every reason to do so. Many of them are obvious, but one perhaps is not. It is this: it might be the best or only chance you get to show them how much they mean to you. If you do not seize this opportunity when it comes you will save the truth of your feelings for their funeral or obituaries. Then it is not much use to anyone. But if you defend a friend while they are alive you might just give them the slightest intimation of how much you value them and love them – how much they mean to you and to others too.

    But I want to say one final thing. In an era of cancellation and defenestration we sometimes forget that we both cannot go on like this and that we have been here before. We know this because our greatest writers and artists have addressed this question in their own times. When Roger was going through his own battle with the shallows I often thought of Shakespeare’s rarely performed but great play Timon of Athens. Timon has the whole world before him. He is surrounded by friends and admirers. He is generous to all. Yet he falls on hard times and when he does absolutely everybody deserts him. He is left with nothing and nobody, and risks being filled with despair and rage. It does not help that he is shadowed by the cynical philosopher Apemantus, who has warned him that just such a desertion might occur.

    I adore this scene and should like, in closing, to read it. But I am not a professional actor. So I would like to invite someone to the stage who is. The former Cameron Mackintosh professor of contemporary theatre at this university, one of the greatest actors of his generation, and somebody I am very proud to call a friend, Kevin Spacey.

    Watch Kevin Spacey’s full performance here:

    1. Hello Anne

      Briefly, rural Britain is in danger of emulating the overcrowded Gaza Strip if the planners get their wish.

      What is the Gaza Strip? The Gaza Strip is part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It is 25 miles long and 6 miles wide enclave bounded by the Mediterranean Sea, Israel and Egypt

      1. “And the coloured girls go ‘do-be-do–do-do-dobe-do-do’…” or something like that. Lou Reed knew.

    4. We do need beautiful houses, what we do NOT need ls lots of new housing. What we DO need, however, is fewer invaders to avoid the need to house the unwanted.

    1. I’ve just watched them against Afghanistan on catch-up – what a bunch of tossers, no aggression at all, no wonder they lost so heavily

        1. Of course he was, on his great grandmother’s side.
          How do you think he obtained his naval genius?
          /sarc

        2. Nelson was five feet tall. His statue is 15 feet tall. That’s Horatio of three to one.

          I’ll get me own coat.

  59. ‘100,000’ people protest in central London for pro-Palestine march. 21 October 2023.

    Up to 100,000 protesters have gathered in central London on Saturday as part of a pro-Palestine march, the Metropolitan Police have said.

    Attendees held signs that read “Freedom for Palestine” and “Stop Bombing Gaza”.

    The platform at Marble Arch Tube station was briefly closed due to the crowds.

    Saturday’s march has been organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign along with, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Stop the War Coalition, Muslim Association of Britain, Palestinian Forum in Britain and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

    No Nottler’s though! Comedy aside it will not be long before Westminster is following their dictates! t

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/palestine-march-london-saturday-october-21-marble-arch-whitehall-met-police-israel-gaza-b1115081.html

        1. 1. Gordon Banks, 2019
          2. George Cohen, 2022
          3. Ray Wilson, 2018
          4. Nobby Stiles, 2020
          5. Jack Charlton, 2022
          6. Bobby Moore, 1993
          7. Alan Ball, 2007
          8. Jimmy Greaves, 2021
          9. Bobby Charlton, 2023
          10. Geoff Hurst, Still Alive
          11. John Connelly, 2012
          12. Ron Springett, 2015
          13. Peter Bonetti, 2020
          14. Jimmy Armfield, 2018
          15. Gerry Byrne, 2015
          16. Martin Peters, 2019
          17. Ron Flowers, 2021
          18. Norman Hunter, 2021
          19. Terry Paine, Still Alive
          20. Ian Callaghan, Still Alive
          21. Roger Hunt, 2021
          22. George Eastham, Still Alive

          3. Thanks for that, Grizz. I wanted to know how many squad survivors there were and some sources suggested that Hurst was the sole survivor of the 22, giving Greaves and Flowers as examples of squad players who had passed on. None mentioned that Paine, Callaghan and Eastham were still with us.

          4. Only 15 players were used in the six matches. The same eleven played in the QF, SF and final but in the group matches Connolly was used against Uruguay, Paine against Mexico, and Callaghan against France; Greaves played in all three but was injured in the last and replaced by Hurst.

          5. One news report, presumably written by a comparative “journalist” claimed that he was Britain’s greatest footballer. Sir Stanley Matthews, anyone?

  62. Afternoon all. I’m here early because I had to put the laptop on to join a Zoom meeting (we’re still cut off with floods).

    The Conservatives have been punished for no longer being conservative. I see no signs of their having taken on board the need to ditch the socialist Zanulabour tendencies and actually start acting like conservatives.

      1. When you see the photo of the ‘Jingle & Mingle Party’ at No 10 during ‘lockdown’ it appears they are a bunch of not so bright young things.

      1. Not only brilliant footballer and a gentleman – but also the champion of the comb-over.

    3. Everyone needs a break from the internet at times. The cyber-flak has been awful in the last couple of weeks.

    1. Par here.

      Wordle 854 4/6

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

      1. Five today.

        Wordle 854 5/6

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

    1. I hope that the mealy-mouthed, eco-freak, Limp Dumb posing as a Conservative in my constituency is given the heave-ho.

      1. So do I regarding the similar Tory in mine – but he won’t be. Although the boundaries have been changed so we’ll have to see how that affects things. We have an equally weak etc. etc. local Lib Dem council. They are all useless and parade their uselessness as if it were a rosette.

      2. We could be having a by-election here in Wellingborough if the HoC upholds the complaints against Peter Bone.

    2. Sunak won’t care. He simply won’t give a stuff. His handlers have told him what to do and he is doing it. In absolutely no way must he ever permit the UK economy to recover. People must not be better off after Brexit. More taxes – to align with the hated EU – must be applied. More debt must be accrued.

      It’s clear he has absolutely no interest in doing what must be done, far preferring to do the exact opposite of everything it could.

  67. That’s me for this damp day. So much for the Wet Office and its promise of sunshine. Now raining quite hard. Cats rapidly returned from their late afternoon ramble…

    I hope England win -but I fear – the more I watch the competition unfold – that it is rigged in favour, now, of the Southern Hemisphere. The original plan, I think, was the final to be Ireland v France. But that went wrong. So plan B….

    Anyway – have a jolly evening.

    A demain – and the sun…ha ha.

    1. There were mere glimpses here of sunshine despite the prospect of a mixed bag of sunshine and showers. We’ve had the showers – some rather prolonged, I’d say – but it’s been mostly grey and gloomy throughout. Sunset now fast approaches so I think the sunshine will have to wait until tomorrow. We’re supposed to have a bright and cheerful autumn day, so I shall hold the forecasters to that.

      1. I don’t think we had any glimmers of sunshine here today – though we could see the moon this evening. It was grey and drizzly most of the day I think.

        1. We have had heavy rain here today. The water meadows and road out of the southern end of the village is flooded.

          1. The rain here was just light drizzle, though I think yesterday evening’s downpour was much heavier. There were traffic lights near the park, and a sign that said ‘flood’, though it must have drained away by then.

    2. It got out quite war earlier on about 2 ish. I know because I had the washing out.

      Then it poured with rain.

    2. How – someone – does a man on his salary get to buy that sort of house? He’s only been president for a while. Assuming he has bills and a mortgge how has he accumulated millions to do that?

      It’s digusting – Lefties go into government poor and come out millionaires. Righties go into government rich and come out richer.

      Not a single MP ever leaves office penniless.

          1. A “three bottles a day man”. Of course the bottles were smaller and the glass thicker than today. I like port but I can’t hold my drink these days.

          3. Not swallowing helps most. I’m on flavoured spring water. Has to be M&S. The rest are rubbish.

          7. in 1963, I was allowed a glass of Cockburn ’27. Even I could tell it wasn’t half bad!

          8. I have a Taylor’s ’64 in the cellar. Not sure of a suitable celebration.
            We drank our Burmeister ’55 a few years ago, it was superb.
            Wasted on me, I’m more a quantity than quality imbiber.

          14. It’s an odd one, it doesn’t have a particularly good reputation.
            I was given three ( possibly two, I can’t recall as it was many many years ago) but for my palate it was excellent.

          15. My palate is like my eyesight – it works, but that’s about all. Things near & far aren’t in focus, but I can see enoug to not fall over (usually).

          17. That’s about the same time, Bill as I was introduced to Port via Constantino ’47, the house port of Bucks Club.

    3. With all due respect to the President of the USA, wouldn’t a bungalow have been more suitable? Just glancing at those front steps.

  69. Oh bugger.
    Apparently there has been a stabbing in Matlock today.
    Not in the news yet though.

    1. I saw the usual unwashed piereced ear tattooed waster wearing a free palestine jumper and suggested it be freed from muslim.

  72. Oh FFS! Do they never give in with this bollocks?

    Households could face extra taxes if they refuse to remove their gas boilers, a senior energy boss has suggested.
    Emma Fletcher, who leads a project at Octopus Energy to encourage households to make their homes net zero, said that there needed to be a “carrot and stick” approach for people to switch to heat pumps.
    The Government wants the vast majority of homes to remove their gas boilers when they break down after 2035 to move home heating to net zero by 2050.
    It has a target of 600,000 heat pump installations a year from 2028, but installations last year were currently lagging at about a tenth of that.

    “I’ve thought a lot about how you actually incentivise people,” Ms Fletcher told the Telegraph. “Do you put it on council tax – so those who are on the lowest incomes don’t have to pay
    She suggested that households in higher tax bands could face a charge of £5 a month “for not having done something” by 2035 in areas where councils have declared a climate emergency.

    There is no climate emergency except in the minds of Dimwits and those who would profit from such a thing.

      2. Feckwit hardly fits the bill. She is a devious, malevolent eco-fanatic who is determined and ruthless enough to foist her policies on people no matter how unpopular they might be. If she succeeds, that would command a grudging admiration, not for what she would have achieved but for how she would have achieved it. A feckwit would not possess the dubious talents needed to bring about her aims.

      1. They could “incentivise” people by giving those who comply a tax cut, but oh no! Tax non-compliant people instead. That isn’t incentivisation, that’s punishment.

    4. “Move home heating to net zero”. No heating then. Where I live we have two boilers to heat 175 flats of different sizes therefore with different council tax banding within the same building. Her tax idea is barmy.

    6. This system already operates within the trade. I cannot get my 29-year-old LPG boiler serviced because any professional that is qualified to work with LPG sucks his teeth and says “you want a new one, mate”. One actually admitted that he makes his money replacing them, not servicing them, and it’s usual to replace them every six years for best results, and modern designers are designed to go wrong after their warranty has expired, unlike the “inefficient” old ones.

  73. OK England, now’s your chance.

    Prove me utterly wrong by

    a) winning
    b) doing so by playing running, not kicking rugby
    c) not having players sent off for dangerous tackles.

    I’ll even accept only a) albeit grudgingly…

  74. The Warqueen is off on a ‘girlie night out’. Which means tomorrow there will be lots of sniping and gossip.

    Last time she made an effort and was stunning – which always gets attention and had the other girls bitching and complaining, so this time jeans and a black top. And she still looks sexy enough to have for dinner.

    2. I have to be careful how I phrase this but I rather admire this apparent lust you still have for your wife. Long marriages often consist of a deep love, affection and warmth, but not always the fire you still seem to have in your belly. She must be a special lady.

  75. Libbok off, Pollard on at fly-half for SA after 30 minutes! England can’t afford to give away penalties within 60 metres now.

      1. An ugly win would suffice. I get too stressed watching England play. The dog jumps onto the missus’s lap and trembles when I’m watching them. I don’t shout or yell, he just senses the stress.

        1. Tell the dog that the compo-heap, where I hope he pees, has said SA will win. That should calm both of you down

  77. SA subbing early in the second half, old warriors Le Roux and de Klerk on. They’ve taken Etzebeth off! ????

  81. England making far fewer mistakes than the ‘boks. They just need to ensure it stays that way.

    1. I cut mine this morning. I’m chewing a pencil. England really, really need not to concede any penalties within 60 metres.

    1. An exciting finish, but Gawd, what a tedious kick and chase game it was.
      I hope NZ annihilate them.

      1. Well at least there was a try at the end but they seemed to just be playing for penalties not score.

  89. England lose because they reverted to their kicking game instead of keeping possession

    1. Plus they changed their front line in the scrum. Until then we had scrum advantage. Lose the scrum and you concede penalties which is precisely what occurred.

  90. They played poorly but that’s why South Africa are World Champions – until next Saturday anyway.

  91. Its very rare you win matches by just kicking. as we have seen again. No suprise at all. Big rethink for the future England.

    1. No, the Eddie Jones system won it for SA.
      Although they would have been equally culpable, had they lost, because they were doing the same.

      On the very, VERY few occasions SA ran it at England they looked far better.

  93. The first 50 minutes went well then South Africa did us in the scrum again, same as in the final last time.

  94. Farrell lost that for England by arguing with the ref who then moved an SA penalty 10 metres enabling a penalty kick.

    2. Problem is Farrell scored all the England points. I agree he is too combative when confronting the referee when it is better to show discretion.

    3. When watching rugby, I go into a trance. I saw almost the entirety of tonight’s game but cannot recall a single incident. The score ratchets up and I have no idea why. It refuses to engage me.

  95. Goodnight, all. On a day when Frankie Dettori retired from English racing in style with two excellent winners, it seems there was also a game played by men with odd-shaped balls.

      1. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt Won’t Quit Parliament Before Election

        21 October 2023 at 21:52 BST

        Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt has no plans to step down before the next election, his spokesman said after the Observer newspaper reported that Hunt would resign from Parliament before the vote.

        With support for the Tories slumping after 13 years in power, Hunt was planning to step down before the election due by January 2025 rather then risk being voted out, the Observer reported, citing several political figures it didn’t identify. Hunt’s spokesman denied the report, saying Hunt did plan to run in his constituency, Godalming and Ash in Surrey.

        https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-21/chancellor-jeremy-hunt-won-t-quit-parliament-before-election?leadSource=uverify%20wall

  98. Sad news:

    “The president of a Detroit synagogue board has been stabbed to death outside her home.
    Police were called to Samantha Woll’s home on Saturday morning and followed a trail of blood that led to her body. She had multiple stand (sic, stab) wounds.
    Police say a motive for the attack is not yet known.
    Woll, 40, was president of the board of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue and worked to build bridges in the community between Muslims and Jews.”
    Move along now folks, nothing to see.

  99. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/21/sheepdog-saves-stranded-ewes-farm-floods-flintshire/

    Truly amazing wonderful dog . See the video on link

    A courageous sheepdog has been branded a “hero” after it swam across a flooded field to rescue three ewes on a Welsh farm as Storm Babet battered the UK.

    Llyr Derwydd said that he had gone to check on his flock in Flintshire on Friday afternoon when he noticed the sheep were in trouble and sent the dog, called Patsy, to coax them to safety.

    In footage shared by the sheep farmer on social media, the dog can be seen chasing the ewes along the edge of the field, before they find a shallower spot to cross to safety. The video has now been watched more than 20,000 times.

    “We thought we’d better go check, make sure all the sheep are safe, and that’s when we saw the three ewes stranded on this little spot on the field,” Mr Derwydd told PA.

      2. I often see collies taking their owners for a walk and wonder who is the more intelligent.

  101. New Mid Bedfordshire Labour MP Alistair Strathern was once a Greenpeace ‘zombie’
    By-election winner who replaces Nadine Dorries has previously been a target of Tory ire after eco protesters scaled Rishi Sunak’s house
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/08/08/alistair-strathern-labour-greenpeace-protester-zombie/

    Grinning in the rain after toppling the Tories in the true blue seat for the first time in nearly 100 years, he was barely recognisable from the grim-faced man plastered with ghoulish face paint demonstrating outside the Home Office last November.

    1. If the Mid Bedfordshire electorate was fully aware of this beforehand, then he won fair and square, but if it suddenly came to light after the polling booths had closed, then I’m afraid I question the legitimacy of the result.

      1. It is the job of his political opponents during an election campaign to bring this to public attention. No candidate is required to incriminate himself.

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