Wednesday 1 November: The recklessness of pursuing lockdown without a cost-benefit analysis

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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620 thoughts on “Wednesday 1 November: The recklessness of pursuing lockdown without a cost-benefit analysis”

    1. Good morning, ogga1. And a good morning to Geoff – glad to see you are now more or less adjusted to GMT.

  4. 378281+up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    eilani dowding 🌸🚜 ☮️ reposted
    Urban Scoop
    @ScoopUrban
    ·
    8h
    #BREAKING: Met Police have just turned up in the dead of night to arrest a gentleman infront of his distraught wife who is battling stage 4 cancer.

    His crime? Showing disapproval of Palestinian flags flying all the way along his local high Street.

    His “crime”;…
    Show more
    https://x.com/ScoopUrban/status/1719482385174053301?s=20

      2. Quite a few police have criminal records. A criminal record is no longer a bar to being in the police.
        Send a thief to catch a thief.

    2. Morning Oggy. The Thought Police. The Stasi and the Gestapo always used to come at night!

      1. 378281+ up ticks,

        Morning AS,

        David Atherton
        @DaveAtherton20
        A man walks down Bethnal Green Road E2, London, commenting on the road festooned with Palestinian flags. His most controversial comment is, “Let them come into the country & this is the shite they come up with.”

        He posted the clip to Facebook & the
        @metpoliceuk
        arrested him.

  5. Good morrow, Gentlefolk. today’s story

    Grab Life As It Passes

    Three old women are sitting in a park, feeding the pigeons.

    Suddenly, a man in a trench coat runs out from behind a tree and flashes them!

    The first old woman has a stroke!

    Then the second old woman has a stroke!

    But the third old woman, , try as she might, just couldn’t reach him! ,

  7. The problem with the covid inquiry is that it is looking inwards instead of outwards
    Every country did virtually the same thing and had the same disastrous outcome, apart from Sweden.
    We really need to know what drove them all to do it.

    2. Meanwhile Sweden has totally f@cked itself through something completely unrelated to Covid … in the next few decades Sweden will become majority Muslim.

    3. Ah, but they know who drove them all to follow orders. They are not going to let that see the light of day!

    1. Anyone else having a problem with copying ‘tweets’ into comments? The link appears but the ‘tweet’ doesn’t open.

        1. I’ve gone to the originating twitter timeline i.e. Welsh Labour and the copy and paste works. The retweet site copied the link over but didn’t display the tweet. I’m sure that’s changed.

    2. Is Eddie/Suzy wearing a padded bra, had breast implants or just has middle-age moobs?

      1. I’m sure that someone’s interested in that but the occupant chez Korky most certainly is not.

    5. Did they not have pit-head baths in Wales? My dad never arrived home from his shift, down t’pit, looking like an extra from The Black and White Minstrel Show.

  10. Good morning all,

    Dreich but it should soon clear up. Wind Sou’-West, 11℃-12℃, rain later.

    Yes, yes , yes, we’re all appalled by Dominic Cummings, Lee Cain, Boris Johnson and the revelations of government by Twitter and What’s App. It’s an indication of how low we have sunk that people such as this were in charge.

    But it’s a distractiion, folks, the real questions that need very public answers are not being asked.

  11. Good morning, all. Pinch and a punch – and a Happy Month to you.

    No news again, I note. I wonder if Lady Hallett asked the”witnesses” at the Great Whitewash WHY they used such disgusting language.

  12. Good morning.

    SIR – My wife and I had never bought a pumpkin, but this year we were
    given one by the farmer next door who had a surplus. After some
    research I made a spicy pumpkin soup, which was delicious. The remainder
    we mashed with potatoes for Sunday lunch.

    Roger Boyce
    Dornoch, Sutherland

    Spicy pumpkin soup is okay. Mashed potatoes for Sunday Lunch is not, unless you have lost all your teeth. Heathen !

      2. King Edwards mashed very smooth with lots of butter and salt are just so good. put them in a dish and put under the grill for a crspy golden top. add cheese to taste if you want.

    2. I have a surplus of sweet cherry tomatoes.
      Already given some to neighbours.
      Yesterday I made tomato soup. Home grown garlic, olive oil, a glass of red wine garden herbs. S&P. And sour cream and chives stirred in after all the mechanical process was over.
      And home made rosemary and garlic ciabata. Same for lunch today.
      I’ve eaten nothing but a few crisps since.

      1. That sounds very tasty.
        If you want to thicken your tomato soup put some bread in before you blend it. Better than using other thickening agents which can mask flavour.

    4. Mashed potato made into a patties and then fried and served with a couple of fried eggs and chopped pieces of fried bacon on top was a boyhood favourite.

  13. 378281+ up ticks,

    We can’t lay all Covid blame at Boris’s door
    This costly exercise is becoming a frenzied witch-hunt, unlikely to answer the most vital question: was lockdown the right policy?

    I believe that many see lockdown in retrospect as a well thought out WEF successful plot, firstly laying out the height of the bar then through manipulating blackmail demand the peoples clear the height or suffer the consequences.

    Obviously lockdown was a necessary element for all WEF purposes, as planned.

    There is NO witch-hunt, all the peoples want is honest answers to their questions via the inquiry.

  15. Morning all 🙂
    Pinch and a punch.
    Terrible weather. Of course there should have been an analysis of the effects of lock down.
    But we all ready know that they eff up everything they come into contact with.
    And now there is a bid to allow a Muslim political party. Hopefully this will never be allowed in this country. What we have now is bad enough. Give us strength to carry on.

    1. There is already an Association of Muslim Police Officers which put pressure on Police management.

    1. Ah, it was Jim Ferguson’s tweet. Korky has just posted a revision of his deleted one.

      1. Does Yemen’s central government have control of all its territory? It probably doesn’t have the means in areas occupied by Houthi rebels.

        1. If they are rebels trying to bring Yemen under Israeli retaliation they should be being attacked by the government.

          It isn’t clear who these spokesmen are but they claim to represent Yemen and thus they/Yemen are committing acts of war against Israel.
          :

          Yahya Saree, a spokesperson for the Houthi’s military, said the operation was the third targeting Israel and threatened to carry out more strikes “until the Israeli aggression stops.”
          Earlier, a senior Houthi official told the AFP news agency that the Iran-backed Yemeni group had sent drones towards southern Israel.
          “These drones belong to the state of Yemen,” Abdelaziz bin Habtour, prime minister of the Houthi government, said.

    3. DW, my original comment was to test whether or not the copying of original tweets was working for me as a retweeted tweet only appeared as the link and did not display – see my earlier Welsh Black History comment. It worked and immediately I deleted that particular test comment.

      A little later I commented on the tweet from Jim Ferguson as I thought it would be of interest but only after I had read some more detail. Replies to Jim Ferguson’s tweet mentioned the civil war and the Houthis, therefore, I worded my comment to cast some doubt on whether or not the country of Yemen had made the declaration of war.

      1. “The southern group, which represents the old South Arabian stock, claims descent from Qaḥṭān, the biblical Joktan.”

        Wasn’t Joktan a black Scotsman who set up a haggis farm in Saana when Noah’s flood subsided? He went bankrupt because he started adding pork scratching to the finished product. An early Ratner?

  18. What the Israelis are up against:
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12694691/Video-inside-terror-tunnels-Gaza-shows-fight-Israel-faces.html

    Inside the ‘terror tunnels’ of Gaza: Extraordinary video taken within 300-mile snaking network illustrates momentous task facing Israel as they fight Hamas

    A Russia Today (RT) reporter was allowed a rare visit inside the so-called ‘Gaza Metro’ which snakes for up to 300 miles under the war-torn enclave.
    As the clip emerged, senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk was asked by another RT interviewer why they didn’t allow the beleaguered civilian population to shelter from the bombing in the tunnels.
    His reply spoke volumes: ‘Protecting Gaza civilians is the responsibility of the UN and Israel…We have built the tunnels to protect ourselves from getting targeted and killed. These are meant to protect us from the airplanes.’
    The RT journalist entered the network by being lowered by an electric hoist 200ft (60m) below the ground.

    My emphasis

      1. I can’t help thinking that the civilians will know where the entrances are for the vast majority of the tunnels.
        If they told the Israelis, the IDF could seal them all, start pumping sea water in and wait.

      2. I could be wrong but that seems to be the plan,. Digging a way out from underneath tons of collapsed building rubble might be a tad tiring…..

    2. We have storm alerts out in Brittany.

      To borrow from King Lear. When the King has decided to go outside and expose himself to the pelting of the pitiless storm the Fool remarks “’tis a naughty night to swim in.”

      Looks as if we shall all be in for a pretty naughty night!

    3. ‘Morning DW and Peeps. If it’s in the Daily Fail then it’s probably as a result of ‘think of a number then double it’. On this part of yer sarf coast we have no fewer than three warnings – one amber and two yellow. This morning’s shipping forecast gave out a Force 9 for this part of the coast, which is, very roughly, 50 mph (mean). Bearing in mind that the Great Storm in October 1987 was a Force 11 I think I can live with it so far. However, if Michael Fish’s successor pops up this evening then it may be time to break out the incontinence pants.

    4. ‘Morning DW and Peeps. If it’s in the Daily Fail then it’s probably as a result of ‘think of a number then double it’. On this part of yer sarf coast we have no fewer than three warnings – one amber and two yellow. This morning’s shipping forecast gave out a Force 9 for this part of the coast, which is, very roughly, 50 mph (mean). Bearing in mind that the Great Storm in October 1987 was a Force 11 I think I can live with it so far. However, if Michael Fish’s successor pops up this evening then it may be time to break out the incontinence pants.

      2. I wish capital ‘i’s were given a cap and base to distinguish them from lower case ‘L’s.

      1. So what you are saying is that with the introduction of Digital currency, we will be well and truly fupt!?

    3. 378281+ up ticks,

      Morning JBF,

      Do not give the governments of the world any more maintenance, easy really.

    4. ♬New York, New York. I want to wake up in a city that never sleeps.
      And find I’m A-number-1, top of the list. King of the Hill, A-number-1…      ♬

    5. ♬New York, New York. I want to wake up in a city that never sleeps.
      And find I’m A-number-1, top of the list. King of the Hill, A-number-1…      ♬

  23. I wonder if by 2032 Net Zero will equate to months of freezing weather at 0oC? Just as a useful reminder this is how things stand with the 400 year Solar Cycle progression:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a08b9a9f454e51d8723ebe0f3789ded5a744957b0ef10a9cbae3fb5c58467c1c.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4decd55beb807371fc3bbdb872799cd099cdce4e556cb124b4cc8254de85064b.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7d4c754946bc537422485e2209023365fe4d7738be28281518faa19f3805f896.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/358bb7886aad32f5dc40d3491a42f6edde4a196b06fe04d72121847fb09d013a.png

    1. The climate people will claim it’s thanks to their actions rather than the big orange thingy, currently hiding behind clouds here.

      1. And when they finally realise their mistake will they become Neo-Aztecs and start making sacrifices to the Sun God?

    3. How reliable are the older sun spot observations? Did astronomers of the day have the technology to accurately measure sun spot activity?

      2. I’ll try and find out. China produced detailed Naked -eye observations which some scientists I understand have correlated with radio carbon dating….

  24. An article in TCW this morning cited one of P.G. Wodehouse’s novels The Mating Season . It so happens I am re-reading through my collection of P.G Wodehouse novels and am currently half way through this one.

    I have got to the bit where Aunt Agatha’s visit to Deverell Hall has been averted by the fact that her son, Thomas, has absconded from Malvern Court, his prep school at Bingley-on-Sea, but Madeleine Bassett is about to arrive which might put Bertie’s bachelor status at very great risk. Bertie for convoluted reasons is having to pretend to be Gussie Fink-Nottle; Gussie is going under Bertie’s name; Catsmeat Pirbright is pretending to be Gussie’s gentleman’s gentleman and Jeeves is in London and cannot be consulted. Edmond Haddock is in love with Catsmeat’s film star sister, Corky, but is suffering from an inferiority complex and dares not defy his aunts.

    What will the harvest be?

    I must say P.G. Wodehouse’s world is considerably more pleasant and no more ridiculous than the hellish one our rulers have made of the one we have to live in.

    1. I wouldn’t want to have lived in Wodehouse’s world. If today’s is even worse, I can only say it hasn’t much impinged on my very pleasant and happy life.

      1. That does not surprise me!

        Of course P.G. Wodehouse’s world never existed – it is a fantasy world created for our delight if we enjoy his mastery of simile, metaphor and the use of the English language.

  25. It’s been predicted that dementia will have increased up 1.7 million people. The problem being, they don’t know, can’t, tell, or explain what might be causing this rapidly rising this horrible situation.
    Could it be all the jabs, or any of the types of current mass medications. I suspect the medical profession might actually know, but are obviously reluctant to expose their knowledge. There could be thousands of court cases.
    Similar to the metal on metal hip implants that has cause many ongoing issues in the USA.

    1. I suspect that it is more like people living until older than say 50 years ago. Apart from many people living healthier lives, great numbers are sustained by medications. All in all something has to go and deterioration into dementia is probably most noticeable as it has a great impact on all those surrounding the individual.

      1. All of my previous elder family lived into their 80s even 90s and had never been forced into jabs and took no regular medication they smoked they drank moderately. Worked hard for years. Brought up their own children. They always (had to) paid their own way. No other choices were available. There were no invented medical terms like mental health issues, they were of fairly slim build, probably arthritic. But generally didn’t moan, as so many people now seem to.
        But I still say that vaccines and meds are the ongoing cause of so much dementia.

        1. Polypharmacy. All those medications interacting with each other. It’s not surprising they have adverse effects.

      1. My right hip is metal on metal. Circa 2008. I have to take annual blood tests and have X-rays. Mine is starting to wear now. And after 15 years the other side has been noticed as wearing.
        For Goodness Sake……the Jeans need replacing.

      1. All things that were not around much during our parents and grand parentsife time. Those things you mentioned might also contribute TB.
        I knew two guys in their late 50s who died from brain hemorrhage. They were on their mobile phones for business, almost constantly.
        Maybe hard water or aditives as well.
        Even if the ‘experts’ actually know what causes these problems, no one is going to admit it.

      2. My mother in law (the first one) was addicted to Rennies. She lived to 85, and although hugely overweight and disabled physically (probably due to her weight) she didn’t have dementia until her terminal weeks. She did lapse then into a childlike state but she was very close to the end by then.

    1. Morning vw. Bizarrely as the world falls into the Pit I can find nothing to write about!

  27. I liked this letter.

    Microplastic plague
    SIR – There are 171 trillion plastic particles in our oceans today. About 35 per cent of the these come from textiles. Each time clothes are washed at home, more than 700,000 plastic microfibres can be released from washing machines into our rivers, seas and oceans.

    Across the world, governments are waking up to the importance of protecting people and the planet from microplastic pollution. Landmark legislation in France means all new washing machines will soon be fitted with microfibre filters, while in Australia similar measures are set to be introduced by the end of the decade.

    The UK is lagging far behind. As a result, the British public and our ecology are not being protected from microplastic pollution. This is particularly concerning given that microplastics carry chemicals that are causing cancer, mutations to DNA, metabolic disorders and endocrine disruption, have toxic reproductive effects, affect neurodevelopment and can affect the nervous system.

    What’s more, microfibre filtration technology is readily available and is being used by a number of British companies already working with international partners. The Government now has the chance to address the greatest environmental challenges of our time. Today we’re calling for the urgent introduction of mandatory microfibre filters on all new washing machines sold in the UK.
    ———————————————————————————————————————

    I emptied my GTech vacuum dirt catcher into the dustbin , the dust is incredible , and the sand / grit / hair particles . We have carpets , and the gunk gathered and dusty laminate floors is shocking .. we live near fields etc.

    I looked at the vacuum stuff and felt terribly sad because there was no more black dog hair , only ginger hair from Pip.. . The filters on my G Tech are pretty good , as is the filter on my dryer, but my washing machine has a pathetic filter , just catches the odd penny or screw, and thats it , and all the muddy detritus seems to gather in the rubber seal inside the machine … it is about time that all washing machines had proper filters and an easier access point , instead of getting down on ones hands and knees . Mine is a Bosch.. efficient , but!

    1. Mine is a Bosch and the rubber seal has got a bit black. With the two new cats we already have a bit more fur flying around. Both the washing machine and dishwasher are more than 10 years old now.

    2. 171 trillion… who counted? And have they allowed for that UV (sun)light breaks plastic, so it finally rots?

      1. Microorganisms have also been found which can digest and break down plastics. There are hopes they can be used in recycling facilities but what it means for plastics already released to the wider environment is less clear.

        https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2023/02/new-external-story/#:~:text=A%20common%20environmental%20bacterium%2C%20Comamonas,waste%20from%20plants%20and%20plastics.
        https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/may/10/microbes-digest-plastics-low-temperatures-recycling
        https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/01/230123083443.htm

      2. A bit like counting mould or bacteria in a petrie dish. You cover with a grid. Pick a square and count then multiply by the amount of other squares.

        Also, it has recently been establish that bio-degradable plastic releases more toxins into the enviroment than ordinary plastic.

        Go green, go mental.

    2. I’d be asking the cops who authorised the arrest – it wouldn’t have been any of those attending so it must have come from Sgt or Inspector level – we need names

  30. And here’s another famous black ancient Briton!

    Roman emperor hailed as ‘black Briton’ – even though he wasn’t black

    Lucius Septimius Severus has been included in teaching material and children’s books

    By Craig Simpson • 30 October 2023 • 4:50pm

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3aa4d77e98521051e03792c40e218d9a7379f6bea5e9cc4f77609889ef3feba4.jpg
    Severus was also included on the front cover of a 2022 Puffin children’s book
    __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    A Roman emperor who appears on numerous lists of “black Britons” was not black.

    Lucius Septimius Severus died on campaign in Britain in 211AD, and has also been named in overviews of “black British history” distributed by councils, teaching colleges, and children’s publishers, despite the emperor being of Middle Eastern and Italian descent. The suggestion that Severus had black ancestry has been widely repeated, and the Museum of Cambridge this month hosted “Black History Lectures” that included a talk on the ancient ruler.

    Last year, the Museum of London created a timeline outlining “Black Londoners through time”, which included the emperor. Severus was also included on the front cover of a 2022 Puffin children’s book by This Morning presenter Alison Hammond, called Black In Time, which was billed as a history of “the most awesome black Britons”.

    Some depictions of the emperor appear to encourage the confusion by showing him with dark skin, compared to the women alongside him. However, this is typical of Roman portraiture, as tanned skin was considered a sign of masculine outdoor activity and vigour in the ancient world, contrasted to women who would stay indoors, and therefore were depicted as pale.

    Local authorities have produced similar material, and Hammersmith and Fulham council has created a timeline of black British history that includes the emperor as its first entry. These materials do not elaborate on him being a black man but instead qualify his identity as “African”, because he was born in a city on the coast of north Africa called Leptis Magna, now a Unesco site.

    On the streaming service BBC Select, a documentary on Severus was included in a range of programmes for Black History Month 2023, which takes “a contemporary look at black history” and “celebrates icons from the past and present”. It is understood the inclusion of the emperor on the BBC Select site was a mistake made during Black History Month in the US, and the programme has now been removed from the listings.

    Others have made firmer claims to his ancestry, including Sheffield teacher training college the SCITT, which, in online guidance, published following Black Lives Matter protests asked: “Why don’t we teach our students about Septimius Severus, the black Roman emperor?”

    In online learning resources for the Black Lives Matter-inspired charity Anti-Racist Cumbria, Severus is also included, along with the claim that he is “widely believed by historians to have been a black man”. The ruler was born in the Roman city of Leptis Magna on the coast of what is Libya, and the emperor’s connection to Britain lies in the fact that he died near York in 211AD during a military campaign, ending a reign that began in 193AD.

    His mother was of Roman descent, and his father’s ancestry was Carthaginian, a Semitic people with origins in the Middle East. The ancient biographical collection Historia Augustus explains that Severus was disturbed by the sight of a black person on one occasion, taking his “ominous colour” as a bad omen while on campaign.

    The inclusion of the emperor in a range of educational material claiming him as a “black Briton”, despite the reality of his ancestry, has been criticised as being “patronising” for black people in the UK

    Cambridge historian Prof Robert Tombs said: “Pretending that Britain had a centuries-old black population is silly and rather patronising. Apart from tiny numbers, our black population dates overwhelmingly from the last few decades. Why be ashamed of this?

    “Claiming otherwise leads to embarrassing mistakes, as in the recent removal of a plaque to the ‘first black British woman’, who turned out to be from the eastern Mediterranean. For the Romans, ‘Africa’ was North Africa, before the arrival of the Arabs, and part of the Graeco-Roman world. Hence, the emperor Septimius Severus was an ‘African’ of Phoenician and Italian descent.”

    Fellow historian Zareer Masani said: “The attempt to claim past figures as black is pathetic and unhistorical, referring to a time when the concept of racial identity was non-existent.”

    The BBC and others have been contacted for comment.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/30/bbc-hails-roman-emperor-black-briton

    2. The terminally ignorant wokerati are incapable of distinguishing between North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.

      Meghan Markle truthfully identified as caucasian until there was political capital to be made out of her no more than 25% black heriage. Kamala Harris isn’t black either, except for political purposes.

    3. And I, a white person with no touch of the tar brush in my ancestry, should be interested in this because …?

    4. The revisionists seem not to realise that any Romans in Britain would have been members of an occupying hostile power and hardly indigenous. It’s like claiming that there were thousands of Germans in France in 1944, therefore, they were indigenous too.

      1. The desperation of some to portray these islands as eternally multiracial and multicultural is both baffling and dangerous. The parties range from respected historians such as Michael Woods to BBC’s Countryfile.

  31. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f02657bce3140474d14ab66f1611e9a08ee363ce6bdee7f922424d4ff459859b.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/31/europe-britain-fertility-rate-decline-population-children/
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7bbcd25f7da5355ba6da88abeb38e98b6fc5cc33639a425dbe9cb9c8629aa8d0.png

    BTL

    Looking at the graph it seems that even though, according to Philip Larkin, sexual intercourse began in 1963, ironically it was from about that time that the birth rate began to fall!

    1. Annus Mirabilis – Philip Larkin

      Sexual intercourse began
      In nineteen sixty-three
      (which was rather late for me) –
      Between the end of the “Chatterley” ban
      And the Beatles’ first LP.

      Up to then there’d only been
      A sort of bargaining,
      A wrangle for the ring,
      A shame that started at sixteen
      And spread to everything.

      Then all at once the quarrel sank:
      Everyone felt the same,
      And every life became
      A brilliant breaking of the bank,
      A quite unlosable game.

      So life was never better than
      In nineteen sixty-three
      (Though just too late for me) –
      Between the end of the “Chatterley” ban
      And the Beatles’ first LP.

    2. I was looking for a sharp dip after the widespread adoption of mobile phones and another when they became smartphones, but I cannot see one, which surprises me as young people are so engrossed in looking at these devices they have no time for bonking.

    3. It would be interesting to see those births per woman done for the resident Muslims in the UK and Italy.

      1. Only people on benefits – whether Muslim or not – can afford more than two children, unless they are very wealthy.

      4. A couple of years ago the French government announced that the births per white French

        woman average 1.8, whilst the births per Muslim woman were 8.1.

        Easy figures to remember.

    4. The childcare system used to be Mothers – now it seems they have to be palmed off to “carers” while mother goes to work to afford the carers.

        1. I stayed at home wih my children until they were both at school. The job I got then was flexible, evenings and weekends mainly for a local caterer.

          My mother was widowed when I was four so I started school at Easter before my 5th birthday in July, and she worked full time from then until she retired at 67.

          1. When my mother did go out to work, she had a job with a family firm which allowed her to work “family friendly” hours. Not a new thing! She was always there for me when I got home. I was never a latch key kid.

          2. I was but I didn’t mind that – in summer I had the freedom to dawdle home, go and play with other people, do as I pleased; in winter the lady next door was my friend who made me a cup of tea and I could watch a bit of telly (we never had one).

      1. It is not the number of people it is the number of ethnic British which is under decline when the white birth rate falls to well below 2 per woman.

        My arrogant old grandfather, a doctor, deemed that the world needed more people of the right sort in it and so, at the end of the nineteenth century, he built a large house in Devonshire and proceeded to have eleven little Traceys. The first was killed at the age of 19 in WW1, four of his children became medical doctors, one became a Doctor of Music, one became a senior colonial administrator in the Sudan, one became a horticultural expert, two became farmers and one became a headmistress.

        If the ethnic British population continues to decline and the immigrant population continues to expand at its existing rate then the indigenous British will cease to exist in any meaningful way fairly soon.

        That is what the politicians, Schwab , Soros and Gates want but is probably not what most of us Nottlers want!

        1. Well we need to remove the bad excess people that have been allowed to come here so we have more of the right sort of people.

  32. Very, the online shopping successor to Littlewoods, gets my booby prize of the day for having the first Christmas tv ad I’ve seen this year, just one day after Halloween. That’s one hearing of Slade’s Merry Xmas Everybody notched up with nearly eight more weeks of this to come.

    1. Not if you don’t watch telly. I never see telly ads, Christmas or otherwise as I watch very little telly.

          1. I don’t follow creekit – but I was under the impression, from reports this summer, that the England team was the greatest the world has ever seen. Because they won a match (or something).

          6. England’s performance at this World Cup must rank as one of the worst defences of a world title you are ever likely to witness and they’ve not played Australia yet.

          7. There are various explanations for this dramatic loss of form: insufficient preparation for this particular tournament, insufficient 50-over cricket in general since the adoption of The Hundred, Jos Buttler’s insufficiently assertive captaincy style, too many players over 30, too many carrying niggling injuries or having illnesses, the presence of an old boys club of best mates to the exclusion of others in better form, the oppressive heat and humidity of India (which other nations are more accustomed to).

          8. I see. But, this summer, though they lost the Ashes — was the team not lauded for being “world beating”?

            Or did I dream that? (Quite possible – I sleep a lot…though at the wrong times)

          9. The Ashes series was drawn and the compositions of the Test and 50-over teams are rather different. The “world-beating” epithet comes from England being the current world champions in both 50-over and 20-over formats.

          10. Yes – draw. Though we shudda won it?

            I suppose my perennial beef is about the press that build up individuals/teams – and then shoot them down in flames a short time later.

  33. Why the war in Gaza could spawn Hamas 2.0 and spread terror into Europe. 1 November 2023.

    Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel on Oct 7 has understandably been described as Israel’s ‘9/11’ moment.

    Leaving more than 1,400 people dead, it was in fact many times worse than al-Qaeda’s terror attacks in the United States two decades ago. In the wake of those attacks in 2001, fuelled by a desire to destroy terrorist threats and assert strength on the international stage, the US invaded Afghanistan and later Iraq.

    While those wars raged, eventually leaving at least 400,000 dead, the terrorism threat metastasised, growing in scale, scope and sophistication across the globe.

    This is an interesting article pleasantly free of gung ho rhetoric and the blood lust so prevalent on the threads. It asks a simple question: Where is Israel going?

    No one with any sense has ever doubted that there would be an Israeli military victory at the end of this business. But to what purpose? In twenty five years when the next uprising occurs Europe and the UK in particular will be Islamic supporters and the US will be politically Hispanic. Israel will be stood alone. Now is the time to do some deep thinking before the point of decision is past!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/11/01/hamas-israel-war-gaza-terror-europe-palestine/

    1. I am in my late 70s and beginning to think it is already too late.

      But what is far more important is what my sons in their 20s think and what, if anything, they think they can or will be able to do.

    2. Israel will have made peace with the Arabic world. It is Iran that prevents that. As for us, we need to wake up, reject multiculturism and start deporting those who do not wish to be British. I hope that we will have, soon, a right wing government that recognizes reality and takes measures to preserve and promote our values.

      1. I think we are many years away from a British public willing to vote one into office. I don’t think I’ll see one in my lifetime unless an armed militia takes power and installs one.

        1. Well the present Prime Minister of the UK is a Hindu and his Attorney General is a Buddhist! So not far to go then?

  34. Why the war in Gaza could spawn Hamas 2.0 and spread terror into Europe. 1 November 2023.

    Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel on Oct 7 has understandably been described as Israel’s ‘9/11’ moment.

    Leaving more than 1,400 people dead, it was in fact many times worse than al-Qaeda’s terror attacks in the United States two decades ago. In the wake of those attacks in 2001, fuelled by a desire to destroy terrorist threats and assert strength on the international stage, the US invaded Afghanistan and later Iraq.

    While those wars raged, eventually leaving at least 400,000 dead, the terrorism threat metastasised, growing in scale, scope and sophistication across the globe.

    This is an interesting article pleasantly free of gung ho rhetoric and the blood lust so prevalent on the threads. It asks a simple question: Where is Israel going?

    No one with any sense has ever doubted that there would be an Israeli military victory at the end of this business. But to what purpose? In twenty five years when the next uprising occurs Europe and the UK in particular will be Islamic supporters and the US will be politically Hispanic. Israel will be stood alone. Now is the time to do some deep thinking before the point of decision is past!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/11/01/hamas-israel-war-gaza-terror-europe-palestine/

    1. If he’s correct, women would be well advised to wear false beards to ward off molestation.

      1. In P.G. Wodehouse’s world (in which you say you would not like to live!) many characters disguise themselves with false beards to avoid their bookmakers.

        As you may remember in Full Moon Bill Lister is advised by Galahad Threepwood to wear a false beard because Gally’s sister, Constance, is determined to thwart Bill’s amatory aspirations toward one of her nieces so it was essential that Bill was not seen in the vicinity of Blanding Castle though his love life depended on him being there. The situation is complicated by the fact that Tipton Plimsoll, a very wealthy American dipsomaniac, happens to see Bill’s face every time he has a drink and this convinces him that Bill is a phantom sent to haunt him as he is meant to be going on the wagon. When the phantom appears wearing a beard Mr Plinsoll’s mental equilibrium becomes seriously unbalanced.

        (I cannot understand why anybody should think that P.G. Wodehouse’s books are rather silly!)

    4. Phizzee writes;
      “I was nearly assaulted by an Imam. It was a close shave getting clear”

    5. The imam does not seem to realise that this says more about himself and his fellow muslims than it does about men who shave.

        1. Thank you. Gain-of-function could be beneficial if it helps researchers develop treatments for dangerous viruses which might evolve in the future but how they hope to anticipate random changes escapes me for the time being. However, lab leaks – or worse – will be an ever present danger. I cannot see how they can guarantee that leaks – whether accidental or deliberate – will not happen.

          2. I’m guessing your “- or worse -” is that such things can be weaponised and released deliberately, particularly if they think they have a cure.

    1. ‘Climate change’ will see crops destroyed, so there will be nothing to eat for all those extra billions of Africans.

      1. I remember seeing an African farmer standing in his destroyed field after a swarm of locusts had got to it. He said tearily how can i feed my children? He obviously didn’t think to eat the locusts which are a rich source of protein.

        1. They were nature’s bounty – ground up and used for flour. When we were in Uganda the ‘grasshoppers’ were a eagerly awaited delicacy. I declined those.

      2. They can go back to eating each other. They were still at in in West Africa when my dad was there in the early 40s. They didn’t eat dad but he was sent to arrest a guy charged with cannibalism and the accused not only admitted his crime but couldn’t understand why the British soldier had any issue, since he considered “chop chop” to be normal practice.

    2. Afternoon Sos. I think it is important to grasp that the outcome of wars is not nearly so important as the PTB tell us. Demographics rule and they tell us that the West is finished!

  40. Britain braces for Storm Ciaran: Huge torrents and 80mph
    gales to batter the UK TODAY with amber ‘danger to life’ warnings in
    place as coastal communities brace for the worst of the extreme weather.

    Warm and sunny on the Costa Del Solent.

    1. Dull and a chilly breeze up here. Care home gig this afternoon, it’ll be nice and cosy inside the home

          1. The wind blows high, the wind blows low, through the streets in his kilt he’ll go – Donald, where’s yer toosers? 🙂

    2. Dull and a chilly breeze up here. Care home gig this afternoon, it’ll be nice and cosy inside the home

    4. Weather maps indicate areas north of London will largely escape the worst effects although the storm could track further north than expected. So far there was substantial rain over night, a little more late morning, but otherwise mild with sunny spells. Certainly no storm signs thus far, but it’s still too early, to be fair. And just as I finished that sentence it has darkened and another shower has arrived.

      1. Far from it. It is entirely rational to fear an ideology that thinks you should be beheaded.

        1. “…leaving people fearful and unsafe in their own country…”
          “…women wearing the hijab are too scared to travel on public transport…”
          “…British Muslims questioned as though they are terrorists…”

          He then blames the Tories for stoking division.

          Truth stands on its head.

          1. Indeed. It is the kuffar who is unsafe in their own country (and it really IS our country, not theirs; they are interlopers). Women NOT wearing the hijab don’t feel safe travelling on public transport. Any muslim, “British” or not, is a potential terrorist. If not active, they are supporters.

  43. I’m beginning to wish I had coin operated gas & electricity meters…..

    Bulb had 1.5 million customers when it collapsed in November 2021.
    The company was placed into special administration by the Government and was later sold to Octopus Energy last December in a deal that saw ministers agree to pay upfront for Bulb’s energy costs until the end of the winter.

    Overall, MPs said £3.02bn of public money had been committed to Bulb, while Octopus has said it expects to repay about £2.8bn – a figure that includes interest – by September next year.
    >But MPs said the arrangement left the Government “dependent on the continued commercial success of Octopus” to recoup the money.

    They said the loan was granted despite an assessment by Ofgem that Octopus had “low levels of investor support and rapid growth which meant that it had a weaker financial position compared with other large suppliers”.

    MPs also warned that a further £246m “shortfall” was not covered by the Octopus loan and would need to be recovered separately, most likely through a levy on consumer bills.

    Fairly soon energy will be completely unaffordable – Net Zero here we come……

      1. Judging by the software used by Octopus, just a couple of programmers to extract the personal details of the Bulb customers, Oh and some Receivers….

    1. What were whiteys doing in Keighley anyway? They should know better, it is part of the caliphate of Bradford – one of the most powerful independent slammer ghettos in the land.

    1. But but – they have “shown remorse”.

      “Now, Kevin, don’t smile or laugh in court – and tell the judge you are “full of remorse” (it’s OK, you don’t have to spell it)…”

      1. teenagers don’t use the word remorse. They are only sorry because they were caught. The fines should have been much much higher.

        1. Undoubtedly their parents (if they have any) will pay. Or they’ll go out robbing to raise the money.

        2. Some of the below-the-line comments either amused or infuriated me. One said they can afford it. Responses suggest he meant the home owners, not the teenagers and their parents. A rather heartless comment, I thought, if that’s what he meant. One suggested all the property of the teenagers should be confiscated while another suggested the property owners be given free rein to trash the homes of the teenagers and their parents. Rough justice but I understand the feelings involved.

  46. Driving along a B road in the Cotswolds last week I noticed a Barn a couple of hundred yards to the left. The side was open in part and lined up therein were at least 3 live elephants. It brought to mind the story of ‘The 100 year old man who walked out of the window’

    2. I’d never heard of that story, Kingy! I intend to go and buy it – it sounds wonderful! I do love a Scandi author!

  49. From https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2023/11/01/only-hatred-of-israel-unites-the-united-nations/

    A comment:

    Tony Hodgkinson
    3 HRS AGO
    I can’t believe we are back where we were in the last century 1930’s, have we learned nothing?
    The hatred of Jews is simply not on, it’s as if the whole world has embraced Nazism.

    Well… yes? The Left have infiltrated institutions and are simply continuing their progrom that was interrupted by their defeat in WW2. We stopped fighting. The fascist Left didn’t. Fifth columnists, whingers, remoaners, Muslims, the WEF, EU, Lefties generally all realised they could force their oppression in other ways – economic, social,, destroying the family, poverty through economic policy, energy scarcity destroys the industrial output making nations vulnerable…

    The great lie, that Nazis are Right wing, that fascism is right wing is promulgated by the Left who know, thoroughly and completely, even through their frenzied self righteousness that they are the fascist.

    The idea this isn’t a deliberate, intentional assault by the wokers, Lefties and assorted other nutters is daft. The fascists just bided their time and played the long game.

    1. Some of the communists of the Frankfurt School were Jewish. Kalergi is often identified as Jewish, though he wasn’t. The WEF is not a Jewish organisation but maybe Jewish money helps its aims. Kissinger, the Rockefellers and Rothschilds are maybe not all good guys though many of the bad guys are not Jewish. Somewhere convenient to hang fear and resentment…the Jews.

      1. There is no need to exaggerate the part played in the creation of Bolshevism and in the actual bringing about of the Russian Revolution by these international and for the most part atheistical Jews. It is certainly a very great one; it probably outweighs all others. With the notable exception of Lenin, the majority of the leading figures are Jews. Moreover, the principal inspiration and driving power comes from the Jewish leaders. Thus Tchitcherin, a pure Russian, is eclipsed by his nominal subordinate Litvinoff, and the influence of Russians like Bukharin or Lunacharski cannot be compared with the power of Trotsky, or of Zinovieff, the Dictator of the Red Citadel (Petrograd), or of Krassin or Radek – all Jews. In the Soviet institutions the predominance of Jews is even more astonishing. And the prominent, if not indeed the principal, part in the system of terrorism applied by the Extraordinary Commissions for Combating Counter-Revolution has been taken by Jews, and in some notable cases by Jewesses. The same evil prominence was obtained by Jews in the brief period of terror during which Bela Kun ruled in Hungary. The same phenomenon has been presented in Germany (especially in Bavaria), so far as this madness has been allowed to prey upon the temporary prostration of the German people. Although in all these countries there are many non-Jews every whit as bad as the worst of the Jewish revolutionaries, the part played by the latter in proportion to their numbers in the population is astonishing.

        Winston Churchill. Illustrated Sunday Herald. February 8. 1920.

        1. No, you’re right. They were baptists. The Mellon banking family in Pittsburgh were Northern Irish Protestants. But all bankers are lumped in together as the perceived Jewish establishment threat. It’s where that whole theory unravels.

    2. National Socialist German Workers Party. (Nazionale Sozialistisches Deutches ArbeiterPartei, NSDAP = NAZIS)
      What’s to misunderstand?

    3. National Socialist German Workers Party. (Nazionale Sozialistisches Deutches ArbeiterPartei, NSDAP = NAZIS)
      What’s to misunderstand?

  51. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/31/sorry-snowflakes-cantankerous-workaholics-have-been-vindica/

    We’ve had a range of folk work for us over the years and each time, either we’ve been lucky (bar one) or we’re amazing at hiring. Our female apprentice 9who’s just graduated!) works harder than me, tries harder than me, knows more than I do, challenges me properly, professionally, rationally. Her arguments are cogent, practical and always in good humour.

    Just as I am very guilty of with my ‘evil Lefties!’ one can brush an entire group with the same tar.

  53. Really heartbreaking. My next door neighbour just came round. She could hear her neighbour calling for help as she had fallen again. Had to go round and help lift the old dear and get her into bed. She also has COPD and her breathing was scary. This is happening a lot and i don’t know how much more help i can be.

      1. Karen neighbour works from home in her front room so she heard quite soon. It was worse last time because no one was around and she was there all day. In and out of hospital since.

        1. Thank heavens for that! My Dad lay for 11 hours in the bathroom because he left his mobile and his care button thing in the kitchen! He was heard by the paper boy!

      1. Not as far as i know. Her husband works shifts and they are renting the bungalow so obviously not got lots of money. He doesn’t even have a car.
        I have just offered through my neighbour Karen to cook lunches for them like a version of meals on wheels as i could see the she had lost a lot of weight.

        1. Does she have any oxygen or other non invasive intervention?
          My mother died with/of COPD but her later years were helped considerably with breathing assistance, particularly at night..
          Presumably the hospital has made an assessment.

      1. I am going to be more proactive. I am offering to provide lunches and make sure she has what she needs. Not really my business but in this cul de sac i am now the longest home owner. All the rest have either died or came here after me. 35 years !
        I did have one old chap ring my door bell at 2 am asking if i knew where his wife was.

          4. I’m 60 in February. She is 62. He used to be a prison officer on the Isle of Wight and now works for Amazon. There but for the grace of God…

          6. COPD is an absolute bastard but can be managed if caught early and treated.
            My mother had it for many years before she finally succumbed, at home in her sleep. A merciful release at the end.

          7. Besides my health problems and your being bitchy (which i like BTW) i feel real concern for others in my street who might need help but i also know how people value their independence and once given up………………….

          8. If I didn’t think you were a thoroughly decent bloke I wouldn’t do it.

            I’m argumentative, but respect those who post interesting threads and are prepared to debate.

            If people are rude to me or abusive you may have noticed that I am more than happy to respond in kind.

          12. The friend whose post I quoted above has it and she’s gone downhill in the last few months. I think she may not last much longer. She also has breast cancer but declined surgery due to her poor health.

          14. Is she taking drugs for it (tamoxifen?)? My mother did that. She didn’t want surgery. She lasted four years.

          16. They have only been in the Grove for four years so don’t know much about them. I did see her struggling with her shopping bags and offered to help but she said no. She had obviously come from the bus stop. I was walking Dolly.

          17. My suggestion is that if you do go to help anyone in distress in their own home, take a couple of selfies and preferably avoid going there alone.
            Later on, recollections may differ.

          18. Good advice. There were three of us from different households. We also don’t seem to suffer the same malaise that is social mental platforms.

        2. Good on you, man. If only more had such a kind heart, the world would be a better place.

    4. A neighboring our apartment building fell last week and broke her arm. She was not found for a couple of days when the cleaner arrived. The neighbour is not exactly sociable and eschews social contact so nobody missed her.

      Once she was carted off to hospital, her little dog became the centre of attention. The poor she was under ourished and has many problems.

      Not the first fall She has had but she refuses to get one of those alarm necklaces that would at least warn others.

      We shall see what happens next.

    5. A neighboring our apartment building fell last week and broke her arm. She was not found for a couple of days when the cleaner arrived. The neighbour is not exactly sociable and eschews social contact so nobody missed her.

      Once she was carted off to hospital, her little dog became the centre of attention. The poor she was under ourished and has many problems.

      Not the first fall She has had but she refuses to get one of those alarm necklaces that would at least warn others.

      We shall see what happens next.

    6. Someone needs to contact social services. They will arrange for her to have an alarm in the house that operates from a button worn round the neck or on the wrist. It’s a sort of intercom connected to an office somewhere. They will contact whomever is necessary, police, ambulance etc.

      1. The day after she was released from hospital after 3 months she had another fall. I don’t think the hospital even did an assessment for a care package. Her husband seems to be compos mentis so i really don’t wish to interfere.

        1. I can understand your reluctance Pip. Perhaps you could suggest it to him. I thought, from what you said, she lived alone.

          1. He works a 3 shift system. A week on early, then afternoons and the next week nights. Effectively she is alone.

          4. The woman needs a profile bed, with adjustable sides etc. That could be lowered nearer to floor level, making it easier to place her on the mattress.

      2. Mother had one of those fall alarms, whilst she was still at home. Batteries went flat, nobody checked she actually wore it (she didn’t), so it was back to the cleaners picking her up in the morning.

        1. MOH had one (for which I paid) but refused to wear it. I got fed up of pointing out it was no use left under the pillow.

  54. Can I tell you a little story.

    As yet no news about Pip spaniel.. the Vet will ring us when he is read to come home after his op .

    Son no 2 rang me earlier to ask how things were going, he lives in Sussex.

    We chatted about this and that and he then told me a terrible story .

    He used to comment on F/B , catching up with friends and cousins etc .

    The company he works for is M+S.

    He mentioned to his friend that his Grandma (my mother )was killed in a car crash in SA years ago by a drugged up black man driver ..this comment was made on F/B last Autumn .

    My son then told me that M+S spy on their staff on F/B and someone spotted him and his comment , reported him . he was hauled up by the company HR , his pay rise was stopped for a year and he was sent for Diversity training , because he had described the driver of the car that killed his Grandma.

    How disgraceful and shocking is that , he has worked for M+S for over 20 years , he has been victimised and reduced to rack and ruin , and the have used Woke techniques to bully him .

    Gawd help us all.

    Last night I was cautioned and banned for commenting on F/B for a month because I suggested a paedo should have his knob chopped off.

    I use the F/B facility to keep in touch with friends etc.

    1. Employers shouldn’t be spying on what people say in their spare time.
      This is why most of us can’t go on the internet under our real names. Even if what you say is not illegal today, who knows about tomorrow?

    2. That’s awful and I would like to think unlawful. What a dreadful state this country is in. The Gestapo and Quislings all tolled into one.

    3. That’s why I never post anything remotely controversial on Fb and very rarely on Twitter. It’s why I like this forum where we can speak freely – for now. How much longer, I wonder.

      That’s disgraceful that they should penalise your son for simply telling the truth. I suppose if he’d just said “driver” things might have been different. And now you’re banned for expressing an opinion.

      A friend of mine (who is now so ill she hasn’t been on Fb for a while) was forever getting banned because she would engage with idiots on the Royal Family page – she and her husband both spent many years in the RAF and she’s a great Royalist; she would get into fights with ignorant Americans especially.

      What’s happening with Pip spaniel? Have I missed something there?

    4. Sorry and very annoyed about your son’s treatment. Treat your month’s ban as a badge of honour. Pip will be fine and have lovely white fangs.

    5. That’s is a terrible disgrace TB.
      How dare they do that and be able to get away with it.
      One of my old friends was murdered on Hillbrow JHB some years after I had come back from SA. He was shot by an angry driver at traffic lights. There was never so much as a mention why or who the murdered was. He was never found. It’s a very busy area. There was obviously a cover up.
      I’m getting fed up with FB Although it’s a good and easy way to keep in touch with friends and family overseas.
      Just recently I have been angry with posts supposedly by FB showing lewd photos of very young ladies.
      I’ve made public statements in the form of complaints and it seems to have stopped now.

    6. Not defending M& for one second – but did your son post the comment while he was at work?

    8. I have had a month’s ban on Facebook for posting articles from TCW. I have an almost ‘blind’ account in order to see what is happening in the village, for instance a few years ago a village about five miles away had some Iranian muslims being trained at the nearby army barracks. Every so often a message would go out on FB “They’re out again! Lock your doors and close your windows!” I thought information like that might come in useful some time, so I got myself a FB account.

    1. And the West has been completely infiltrated by Islamic young men who are ready and eager to take arms against Israel.

      1. And the West has been completely infiltrated by Islamic young men who are ready and eager to take arms against Israel US.

        1. Soros – Blair – Gates – Schwab

          If we directed our hatred to these people we would presumably be guilty of hate crime and would have to be punished.

    3. I’ve always liked Melanie Phillips.
      We need to export all islamics from Europe. They will never stop trying to destroy eveything in our educated western society.

        1. No, it’s just another stupid and dreadful error made by our idiots.
          They should have checked history before all this was allowed. What a mess they make of everything.

      1. It would be perhaps a little more compassionate if instead of the term “End of Life Care” the phrase; ‘ All Tender Loving Care’ was applied instead – (It might also focus the carers attention)

        Edited to add ‘All’

        1. Only it’s not………. it’s being chemically coshed with midazolam and morphine, and the withdrawal of food and drink. Starvation until death.

      2. We lost our wonderful Uncle Brian last week. He was 89 and his wife of 63 years found him lying in the garden, having had a stroke. She wasn’t allowed to travel in the back of the ambulance with him, but went in the front. They got clot busting drugs into him and he stabilised, gained some movement and some speech. Then his wife got Convid from the ward and wasn’t allowed in to see him. She was distraught as she thought he would think she’d deserted him. He died, with no medication or sustenance, after a week. I’m wondering exactly what lessons have been learned? She is 88 and with no immediate family, is somewhat alone.

        1. None. The state doesn’t care. It never has to learn or change because that would imply a problem. Bluntly,, the state witters out these headlines. It’s palliative. It doesn’t mean anything. How can an organisation the size of the NHS adopt improved procedures when hundreds of thousands of people are impacted?

        2. That’s terrible. One of the things Carl Heneghan and Tom Jefferson have said all along was the number of people who caught “convid” in hospital and then died of neglect. I hope she gets the care she needs.

        3. I hope to goodness one of the NHS staff had a discussion with her on what treatment (if any) could be offered.

          1. She was told that there was no more medication that could be given, as he still has a bleed somewhere. Goodness knows what happened after she could no longer visit him. The medication I could understand having dealt with our SiL but they asked Ann what he would think of being bedbound! She said he’d hate it, and as a vet would be doing whatever was for the best for his patient. I guess they took her at her word.

        4. Unless you’re sure it’s a clot, best leave the drugs alone.
          I had a MRI scan for my stroke before they were sure it was a clot, then the drugs came in like a firehose. If it were a bleed, clotbusting is the last thing you need.

          1. The stroke was a clot, which they cleared but, as you say, they weren’t about to do anything else!

    1. The hatred, spite and bitterness of the writer veritably drips off the page. Such relentless, psychotic hate is disgusting to read. It says more about the bigotry, intolerance and sheer evil of the Left than the subject of the article.

    4. If I had an outside lavatory I wouldn’t even consider hanging a copy of The Standard on a nail inside.

      (As I understand it Mr Kennedy is not a Vax denier – he just has questions about the touted efficacy of some ‘vaccines’….)

      1. My parents and grand parents were of the opinion to avoid hospitals at all costs. If i were a woman in Telford i would want an unassisted home birth !

        1. The only time to my knowledge that my mother went into hospital, she came out a week later, dead.

          2. At least she didn’t have dementia. You know what that’s like. My mum was compos mentis to the end and planning the next concert season. As I’d only recently passed my driving test, I said I’d take her. She had already bought her season ticket.

          3. To some extent, knowing Mother isn’t really there, makes it easier. More time to get used to the whole idea.
            An ex-friend suggested it would be better if “useless people” like Mother were offed – they have nothing to offer, and it would be kinder. Since Mother seems quite happy, isn’t in pain, and can afford her care, I totally disagree. Also, when you set a threshold like “useless”, it can be moved. Unemployment, anyone? Bye-ee.

          4. Absolutely. It’s a “final solution” and no way to treat your loved ones. OH’s mother had dementia. His father looked after her at home until the CPN persuaded him she’d be better in a home – they looked after her for another four years and he visited very frequently. It wore him out rather but he lasted a few more years after she’d gone.

          5. Check out Canada regarding your last paragraph. Its government seemingly doesn’t know where to stop.

          6. Indeed. That’s why I so oppose legalised euthenasia. Mission creep is inevitable; look at what happened over abortion (just as I predicted, as it happens).

  60. Thought for the day:

    If storm Ciaran turns out to be a bit of a damp squib will the weather people be named and shamed and subjected to the same abuse as poor old Michael Fish was?

    2. Clear sky. No wind. No rain. Here on the South Coast. My only concern is it will encourage the fireworks.

          1. They didn’t seem to notice really. At least it was quite short. I saw a couple of expensive rockets going off and then it seemed to be over. The cats are pretty relaxed.

          3. This afternoon they had a session of tearing about chasing each other like a couple of kittens. Mostly they sit quietly on their favourite cushions.

          4. Our 2 generally put on their tacketty boots about 2am and run around like loonies, up and down the wooden stairs and along the upstairs corridor! It’s an absolute joy….😳

          5. Doggies are wonderful too !
            Harry rushes around like the cartoon Tasmanian Devil and Dolly just blinks her eyes and drops her head..(thinking idiot child !)

        2. The wind has just got up here in Central Scotland, and it’s absolutely howling! Came out of nowhere!

        2. We shall report tomorrow if we still have power. Electrickery is usually the first thing to go.

  61. Just back from one of life’s great little pleasures: Couple of pints down the pub with Second Son.
    Man, I do enjoy that.

      1. I’ll sit on your lap, if that helps.
        You’re more than welcome – but the airfare may sting a bit.

      2. I’ll sit on your lap, if that helps.
        You’re more than welcome – but the airfare may sting a bit.

    2. Something we haven’t done for a long time Obs.
      We used have beer fest in several local pubs.
      One in particular I remember was when I walked the dog about 5 miles to meet them we had tasting trays with different quarters of pints on each tray. All the beer was brewd within 30 miles.
      After about three trays I noticed it always seemed to my round. I’m glad their mother arrived later to collect us all.
      Love those three young men so much.
      And the driver.
      The eldest plays lead guitar in a four piece band. Just recently played a Hello Ian gig. In a pub opposite the pub were we all over indulged.

      1. It returns to focus those we most care for.
        I’m so lucky: SWMBO brought all that’s wonderful to my life: two well-adjusted, inxependent, intelligent lads who I’m so proud of. They can both cook well, sort their lives out, think for themselves. My cup runneth over with blessings.

    1. But you can get hold of step ladders and mount them on the flat roofs of bungalows to get to the necessary height.

    2. Titania has some good posts, that’s the first I’ve seen in a long time. Like her style.

    1. 378281+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      Wasn’t there another chap who reported on this odious issue, Tommy ….

    1. Oh, fcuk off you whining old queen.
      I worked with a guy who was a military policeman during the Mau Mau. Charlieboy should have tried some of that before beginning his whinefest. Arse.

  65. That’s me for this damp day. Through unwelcoming day for the 1st November. Hope the rain misses us tomorrow as I have to go to the market. And the MR is going to Bury St Edmunds – I’ll bet most of you didn’t know he died last week….!

    A demain.

  66. Saw an advert today, on the way home. To the effect that “The war in Palestine has attracted attention away from Ukraine: What can we do?”
    WHAT?

  67. Musk on Soros:

    “”Soros realised you don’t actually need to change the laws – you just need to change how they’re enforced – if nobody chooses to enforce the law – or the laws differentially enforced – it’s like changing the laws,” Musk said.

    2. That started when they legalised abortion, and then extended it silently without changing the law.

  68. Good luck to them both and I wish the child well.

    Victoria Coren Mitchell, 51, reveals she’s given birth to her second child with her comedian husband David, 49,

    It can’t be many years ago that having children at that age was considered to be next to impossible.

    1. I remember when she was nobbut a lass, writing in the Telegraph.
      Wow – good on her. Hope she’s got the energy for a 10-year-old when she’s close to retirement age…

      1. She’ll be waiting outside school dances/proms/whatever they will be called then at midnight when she’s 68 years old, and having rows about make-up and mini skirts when she’s 65.

    2. My mother was 36 when she had me (her second child). She was considered geriatric and rather old for a safe birth. In fact, she got pregnant because she thought she was menopausal and so didn’t take precautions!

  69. I know I have gone – waiting for the MR to return from her Keep Fit Class so that I may have a drink. But ave just seen this comment BTL in The Spectator concerning the rather fay lady wot gave evidence today to the Great Whitewash Inquiry and said that Downing Street was a “distopian nightmare”….

    If she thinks some rude words and confusion at the office were a ‘dystopian nightmare,’ she should try imagining what it felt like to be a rational, sceptical individual on the receiving end, watching these “c***s” (I believe that’s an acceptable word) create a fantasy world in which they could predict and regulate society at the microbiological level; abandon sound decision-making; pass expansive laws in record time virtually unscrutinised; give the police exorbitant powers which they proceeded to enforce with favour and fear; trash centuries of hard-won liberties; disregard established wisdom; conspire to traduce and silence credible experts with alternative views making justified criticisms; conspire with ‘big tech’ to ensure contrary evidence or critical discussions were suppressed; vilify sceptical hacks; destroy small businesses to the benefit of large ones; deny children education because of intimidation from unions which were using state-generated fear to hold the same state hostage; print money to pay people not to produce anything; co-opt and undermine the free press; spew an endless diet of sentimental, manipulative ‘communications’ via TV, radio and on bus stops; create mistrust and suspicion of once-noble institutions; manipulate data to justify decisions; assert certainty where none existed about the positive impact of chosen policies, while exaggerating the negatives, or even denying the possibility, of alternative approaches; dream up arbitrary, confusing, pointless and expensive counter-measures; tell us that masks don’t do any good, then suddenly assert that masks work, despite no new evidence…

    And to watch an occasionally shuffled cohort of the same “c***s” keep pushing this bu115hit for almost two years, all because they got spooked by Chinese propaganda and catastrophising ‘experts,’ over-reacted, and couldn’t find a way of admitting why.

    Rather good summary. Chap ought to be a NoTTLer.

    3. Great comment!
      Doesn’t go far enough though – lockdowns and all the regulations, stopping cash etc wasn’t just some random idea dreamed up in Whitehall – it happened across the world.
      We are in that old “we know they know we know they are lying, but they still lie” situation with the establishment at the moment…

      1. Still – it is a good start. I have suggested that he sends it (tidied up a bit) to the enquiry.

  71. A man has been banned from driving after crashing his car into a shop front in Swindon.
    It happened on Cricklade Road during a police pursuit, causing around £100,000 worth of damage to the Michael’s Workwear store.
    Liam Wells, 31, of The Circle, Swindon, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, drug driving, driving uninsured and driving without a licence.
    He has been given a 16 month suspended sentence and has been banned from driving for two years.

    That’ll teach him good and proper!

      1. Then clap him in irons so he can’t possibly get behind the wheel of a car where he has demonstrated he is totally reckless and a potential danger to the public.

        1. I had a sixth sense experience yesterday driving home after my eye test. On the outskirts of St Albans on the Hatfield road, there are two small roundabouts almost attached to each other. As we carried straight forward past two of exits a large van travelling toward us made a 90 degree hard right turn across our bows completely cutting out the roundabout. I managed to slam on the bakes probably saving our lives. I suspect the driver has never taken a test in the UK or read a copy of the highway code. This is probably why our car insurance costs have risen so much.

  72. If there really are still people who have sympathy for Hamas

    Hamas vows to repeat October 7 attacks and bring about the ‘annihilation’ of Israel while cynically saying it ‘did not want to hurt civilians’ as it slaughtered 1,400 people ‘but there were complications on the ground’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12697293/Hamas-leader-dismisses-Gaza-civilian-deaths-necessary-price-blood-boasts-terror-group-demonstrated-Israel-beatable-changing-Middle-East.html

    I hope Israel kills every single Hamas terrorist that they can dig out of the rat-runs.

  73. Mob sets two suspected thieves on fire in Anambra

    Two suspected thugs have been set ablaze by a mob near Sokoto Road, Main Market in Onitsha, Anambra State. It was gathered that the incident happened around 3.30 p.m. on Wednesday.
    Eyewitnesses in the area said the mob first lynched the suspects before setting them on fire. “The tricycle operator had dropped a passenger and his goods in the market, and as he was about to move, those boys approached him and attempted to dispossess him of his money before the mob descended on them, lynched them before setting them ablaze,” the source said.
    Efforts to speak with some market leaders proved abortive as all of them declined to comment on the development.
    When contacted, the state police spokesman, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, confirmed the incident.

    From https://punchng.com/mob-sets-two-suspected-thieves-on-fire-in-anambra/

    2. The article doesn’t say so, but there is an implication that the lynch-mob knew the perpetrators that they attacked.

      Power to the people?

  74. SIR – Hamas, the controlling authority in Gaza, seems to have plenty of money for missiles, guns, ammunition and building tunnels. However, the people of Gaza don’t have basic supplies such as water, food or medicines.

    Perhaps the world should ask where all the previous aid has gone and where any new aid will go.

    Lindsay Mirelman
    Edgware, Middlesex

    I wonder if the purchase of munitions and arms, and the lack of services, are related?

  75. SIR – As a former leader of Hampshire County Council, I agree with Tony Wolfe (Letters, October 30) that history, culture and the views of local people should be considered when determining administrative boundaries.

    The village of Wellow, in which I live, is on the Wiltshire boundary. However, much as we like our neighbours, we are “Hampshire hogs” while they are “Wiltshire moonrakers”.

    When ministers visited my offices in Winchester to raise the idea of creating a Solent city, I would direct them to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which refers to “Hamtunscire”, an area that predated a united England.

    You can draw straight lines on maps, but without local support they will not work, will cost a lot and will destroy any sense of community.

    Roy Perry
    Wellow, Hampshire

    Too true, Roy. In Norway, we had a merging of counties over the last few years, in the cause of “efficiency” (and EU REgions). This was such a success that billions are now being spent again, this time on re-establishing the old counties… Somehow, they now need new, grand offices, when before an old railway carriage was good eough.
    Politicians – doncha lurve the bastards?

    1. Here’s the letter to which Mr Perry refers.

      County culture
      SIR – Since the 1970s, successive governments have shown utter contempt for local opinion regarding the administrative and ceremonial boundaries of counties (“I could still weep at the desecration of England’s historic counties”, Comment, October 27).

      Any cultural identity was trampled. The early 1970s saw the creation of regional assemblies and development agencies – precursors, allegedly, to integration into a pan-European model of government. This meant that the need for historical boundaries was seen as quaintly anachronistic.

      The most recent iteration of this contempt has given us the nominal unitary authorities of Cumberland and Westmorland and Furness. Neither is based on the historical regions connected with these names. Towns in the north Pennines are now linked with the Furness peninsula in the same authority. Two more diverse cultural identities are difficult to imagine.

      More than 90 per cent of people surveyed in my parish would have comfortably accepted either a single unitary authority of Cumbria, or a return to the former model of Cumberland and Westmorland, where the boundaries, culture, history and peoples are, even now after nearly 50 years, well established and understood.

      Why does this matter? Without a local identity and culture it is impossible to create a cohesive society. I am not alone in feeling that changes of this nature are unnecessary and disruptive, and ultimately lead to the diminution of our lives.

      Tony Wolfe
      Penrith, Cumbria

      The article to which Mr Wolfe refers.

      I could still weep at the desecration of England’s historic counties

      Even when they meddle so much that they restore what was there before, ministers just cannot resist leaving their mark

      CATHERINE PEPINSTER • 27 October 2023 • 6:00am

      To countless generations, Westmorland was the place of the people of the western moors. Was there ever a more beautiful county? Wordsworth and the other Lakeland poets celebrated its wildness and its lakes. It had an administrative function from the 12th century. Then along came Edward Heath’s government of the 1970s and fused it with Cumberland to make Cumbria and wiped out 700 years of history.

      Other counties fared even worse. For it has now emerged that Michael Heseltine, the man who swung a mace in the House of Commons, was one of the ministers who took a sledgehammer to England and created giant urban authorities – after a trip in a light aircraft.

      As Hezza, minister for local government, scanned the nation from his lofty height, he took to ticking local authorities “in, out, in, out”, he recently confessed in an interview with academics from Harvard and King’s, London. What Heseltine saw from his plane was an urban nation, and so six new metropolitan authorities – Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Tyne and Wear, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and the West Midlands – were invented.

      It was that era, begun in the 1960s and continuing into the 1970s, when shiny and new was in, and old and traditional was out. Tower blocks were built, terraces demolished. Bricks were old hat, concrete the building material of choice. The counties fared no better under this tide. Once Eccles, home of the eponymous cake, would have proudly been part of Lancashire and its culinary heritage. No more. It is merely part of the jigsaw of Greater Manchester.

      Even more distressing for those of us who deplore the way ancient counties were plundered was the abandonment of the old Ridings of Yorkshire. Instead in came North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and what quickly became known as the people’s republic of South Yorkshire. Would those in Sheffield, with their Left-wing credentials, have had much in common with the sheep farmers of Swaledale? Yes, those with Yorkshire blood in their veins would have thought so, but South Yorkshire was no longer Yorkshire through and through; a chunk of Nottinghamshire was hived off to help form it.

      Some weeks ago I was in County Durham’s Bishop Auckland, visiting the newly opened Faith Museum – part of the remarkable renaissance of that town, which includes a Spanish art gallery housed in fine old buildings and a restored Auckland castle. The local man behind that renaissance, Jonathan Ruffer, said he thought County Durham had lost some of its identity. That may well be down to a significant chunk of County Durham being lopped off and merged with Newcastle upon Tyne and a section of Northumberland to make Tyne and Wear.

      Ruffer is helping County Durham rediscover its soul. But England needs more than a generous benefactor here and there. It needs politicians to resist fiddling with old counties, established over time, and recognise their history, their heritage and the sense of belonging they inspire.

      Even when they meddle so much that they restore what was there before – Cumbria County Council is gone and now Cumberland and Westmorland are back – ministers just cannot resist leaving their mark. Those fine lakeland places are no longer counties. They are unitary authorities. I could weep.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/27/i-could-still-weep-at-the-desecration-of-englands-historic/

      And the reference to Heseltine.

      I took one flight over England’s historic counties … then ripped them all up, admits Lord Heseltine

      Former local government minister acknowledges his method wouldn’t fly today, after he used bird’s-eye view to sketch new boundaries on a map

      By Daniel Martin, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR • 25 October 2023 • 7:32pm

      Lord Heseltine has admitted he ripped up England’s historic counties after taking a light aircraft flight across the country and redrawing lines on a map.

      As local government minister under Edward Heath in the early Seventies, Lord Heseltine used the bird’s-eye view provided by the trip to outline the boundaries of major conurbations that were gouged out of the traditional counties. Conurbations are groups of towns and cities that have merged with each other and are seen to have similar economic characteristics.

      Lord Heseltine said he simply “ticked local authorities in, out, in, out” on the basis of the single flight – a process he acknowledges would today be open to judicial review. As a result, Manchester and Liverpool were torn out of Lancashire, and Yorkshire’s ridings were abolished in 1974.

      Six major new metropolitan authorities were created – Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Tyne and Wear, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and West Midlands – straddling old county boundaries.

      Lord Heseltine, who was local government minister from 1970 to 1972, admitted he wished he had been able to get rid of county councils altogether. Instead of the current “two-tier” system across most of England – where people receive services from both a county council and a smaller district council – he wanted the whole country to be covered by unitary authorities, meaning people would only have one local council.

      In an interview with academics from Harvard and King’s in London, he said: “I think probably what I did would today have been judicially reviewed to oblivion. But I just hired a light aircraft and I went round the conurbations with a map and you could see where they began and where they ended, and I would just tick local authorities in, out, in, out whatever it may be.”

      He said there was a public inquiry on his proposed boundaries, but he dismissed opposition as “predictable arguments” that were “based on the self-interest of the people living there”.

      “By and large, what I proposed – which was common sense, anyone would have come to the same view – became the boundaries of the conurbation authorities,” he said.

      The review carved Greater Manchester out of Lancashire and parts of Cheshire. Merseyside – which encompasses Liverpool and its surrounding areas – was also taken out of these two counties. A new county of West Midlands was created from Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire, while Tyne and Wear was carved out of Northumberland and County Durham.

      The two other new metropolitan councils – West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire – were part of the historic West Riding of Yorkshire, though South Yorkshire also included a small part of Nottinghamshire.

      Lord Heseltine went on to say he would have liked to have gone further and introduce unitary authorities right across the country. “I think I had an unease that we were compromising over the two-tier county structure more to meet political requirements than actual administrative sense,” he said.

      Heath moved Lord Heseltine to a different department in 1972 and the metropolitan authorities were introduced two years later.

      Last night, Gerard Dugdill, campaign manager of the British Counties Campaign, described Lord Heseltine’s admission as “nonsense”.

      “He has always denied direct involvement,” he said. “Why cough now? Perhaps Lord Heseltine could offer personal compensation for the damage and loss of culture caused. I am unaware of his exact roots, but clearly he didn’t care for anyone else’s.

      “We build on the past, not throw it in the bin for a new Year Zero. Counties should be used as templates into which council areas can fit. Someone should have stopped Lord Heseltine’s callous indifference to history in its tracks. Nearly 50 years later, we still have to, across England, Scotland and Wales.”

      Lord Heseltine was not responsible for Greater London, which was created in 1965 and swallowed up the whole of Middlesex as well as taking huge chunks out of Kent, Surrey and Essex.

      Heath’s reforms also created a number of new non-metropolitan counties, such as Humberside, Avon, Cleveland and Cumbria. These have since been abolished.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/10/25/lord-heseltine-england-historic-counties-flight/

      And a follow up to Heseltine’s admission.

      SIR – I was amused to read about Lord Heseltine’s light aircraft ride to re-map our traditional English county boundaries (report, October 26).

      He was also the power who, in the early 1970s, told county councils to review their historic boundaries in the interests of administrative convenience. Berkshire duly met Oxfordshire and agreed to hand over North Berkshire (Wallingford, Abingdon, Wantage and Faringdon) in exchange for Henley. When the Bill was published, however, Henley stayed in Oxfordshire and in February 1974 Michael Heseltine, as he was then, was elected as its MP.

      When later writing about these events, I approached Lord Heseltine for a comment. He replied that he had played no part in the decision to retain Henley in Oxfordshire.

      Clive Williams
      Upper Basildon, Berkshire

  76. Here’s a paper that postulates Net Zero Bollocks is in fact Bollocks!

    https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/To-what-extent-are-temperature-levels-changing-due-to-greenhouse-gas-emissions.pdf

    Summary:

    Weather and temperatures vary in ways that are difficult to explain and predict precisely. In this article we review data on temperature variations in the past as well possible reasons for these variations. Subsequently, we review key properties of global climate models and statistical analyses conducted by others on the ability of the global climate models to track historical temperatures. These tests show that standard climate models are rejected by time series data on global temperatures. Finally, we update and extend previous statistical analysis of temperature data (Dagsvik et al., 2020). Using theoretical arguments and statistical tests we find, as in Dagsvik et al. (2020), that the effect of man-made CO2 emissions does not appear to be strong enough to cause systematic changes in the temperature fluctuations during the last 200 years.

    I don’t pretend to understand the statistical analysis but I did find page 12 interesting in the light of the post I put up earlier today relating to Sunspot Cycles and the effect on Earth’s temperature.

    1. Well I’ll be damned, surely it can’t be that big orange thingy?
      / sarc

      The paper looks to be worth reading in its entirety.

      If I can maintain the necessary attention span!

    2. Again, it’s bringing science to a gunfight. The Left DO NOT CARE about the environment or ecology. Green is nothing more than a tax scam to retard human progress.

          2. I don’t like killing things, but spiders (those large fast ones that race across the floor and then disappear) and flies (generally) are fair game to swat/whack whatever. Oh, and things that I’ll kill to eat.

          4. My Maine coon would catch spiders and present them to me while holding them in his teeth still wriggling. Yuk !

    2. Us blokes always get the shitty end of the stick.

      “Mating can be tricky with the male and female circling around each other making contact with their antennae with this being the only contact they will make. The male then deposits his sperm on the ground which the female collects and uses to fertilise herself.“

      1. Don’t tell me, tell Phizzee; he’s the one who has a crush on a tango lady in Buenos Aires.

          2. Katie is lovely. The lady has a gift for making you feel interesting. Even when you are dull…such as yourself.

        1. I thought perhaps “The Wolf of Kabul.” appeared in that, but apparently it was the Hotspur.

      2. Depends on the type, the Asian honeybee eaters are very bad news.
        The ones that prey on pests are OK, but you REALLY don’t want to be stung by one.

        1. I’m talking about our home grown hornets. Beautiful. I’ve been stung by wasps and bees, but not for a long time. Hornets just mind their own business. At least in my (perhaps lucky) experience.

          1. We always tell the cottage guests to try to ignore them and they’ll soon lose interest.

            Flapping at them only makes them angry.

            Even so, if they come in the house I kill them. My son was stung on the foot and he lost a lot of skin as a result.

        1. Damn! How did you know? Is it cuz I iz a Geordie, pet?
          We have silverfish in the bath!

          4. We have Silverfish in the old oak frame crevices of our mediaeval cottage. They are a threat to health so we squash them when they appear but they are very fast.

    6. I remember my cousin calling me: Remi! You’re a fireman! (I was).
      Get rid of this!
      I caught it in a box. Not easy. They are fast.
      My cousin waited at the door. Enthralled. Terrified.
      I took the box to the window and tipped it out like a hero.
      But it landed on the blanket we had hung out to air in the window ledge.
      Still in charge. I took the blanket and shook it.
      In slow motion, I saw this monster float through the air and land on my bare forearm.
      No longer in charge, I screamed like a bitch slapping at my arm.
      My cousin screamed at the door.
      I ran towards her and she ran away.
      But I think the bastard landed outside.
      I don’t care.
      It still makes me shudder.
      Not my proudest moment in the fire brigade.

  78. Evening, all. A pinch and a punch for the first of the month! Pursuing lockdown without a cost-benefit analysis is the last in a long series of policies without considering a) the costs and b) the likelihood of unintended consequences. A cost-benefit analysis seems to be totally alien to Westminster culture.

    3. They don’t have a clue. With out their presence in Westminster. They would all hopefully be starving.

    4. Why should they care? Not their money and if it all goes to shit they just vote themselves an increase.

    1. When I was getting my hair cut yesterday the barber’s grandchildren arrived from trick-or-treating. Splendidly dressed as a witch and a ghoul.
      The houses around here are so far apart that they have to go into the local town to participate, but it seems to have taken hold locally.
      Delightful to see their sheer pleasure at having taken part.

      1. Sorry, Sos, but TorT is just another American carp import. What is it in aid of – getting some sweets, well how about something that means something. like penny for the guy was about the gunpowder plot, carols are about Christmas.

        Treat or treat is simply mindless charade; the children have no idea why they are out, except that they might get some sweets for nothing. At least Easter eggs commemorate Easter (or the pagan festival that preceded it).

        I’m afraid I just don’t go along with it.

          2. Fortunately there are no young kids round here now and the teenagers don’t bother so we are no longer troubled by ‘Trick or treaters’.

          3. The adults in our apartment building had a little get together in the meeting room instead of waiting for trick or treaters. Of course since we were there, we could not hear the door bell and let any kiddies in.

            We did dress up and have treats at the gym yesterday morning,that was probably not a good idea during an aerobics class.

        3. I agree. I moved into my, first house in 1991, having been stationed overseas and living in barracks/messes. I was hitherto unaware that a tradition I had only seen in Peanuts cartoons had taken hold here. Kids knocked on my door expecting goodies. I wasn’t quite sure what was going on.
          The following year, I considered making some snacks laced with garlic and chilli, but didn’t get round to doing it.

          1. Chocolate covered fag butts are a favourite of mine. To see their greedy little faces turn green is a pleasure to behold.

        4. Some regard the practice as the thin edge of the wedge – ‘making demands with menaces’…..

        5. It commemorates all hallows before all saints and is just a bit of fun.
          It’s when it gets out of hand that it loses its appeal.
          It’s when teenagers go out as mobs without costumes or minimal effort and attempt to intimidate by threatening damage as the trick, that the thing is unpleasant.
          The same happened to penny for the guy and even for that matter door to door carolling. Next to no effort put in and the expectation of giving.

      2. I agree it is a bit of fun. Only those properties signalling participation with pumpkin candles next doorstep are involved.

        I was amused at the sight of children wearing Biden masks in the US and most extraordinarily at the White House Party the sight of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s son dressed in a Zelensky ‘warrior’ vest and pants. At least the kids know true evil when they see it.

        Biden and Zelensky are two of the most evil and predatory specimens on the planet after the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, its offshoots Hizbollah and Hamas (and the Archbishop of Canterbury the principal official advocate for Sharia Law in the UK).

      3. I agree it is a bit of fun. Only those properties signalling participation with pumpkin candles next doorstep are involved.

        I was amused at the sight of children wearing Biden masks in the US and most extraordinarily art the White House the sight of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s son dressed in a Zelensky ‘warrior’ vest and pants. At least the kids know true evil when they see it.

        Biden and Zelensky are two of the most evil and predatory specimens on the planet after the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, its offshoots Hizbollah and Hamas (and the Archbishop of Canterbury the principal official advocate for Sharia Law in the UK).

  80. Fine BTL Comment:

    KJH on October 23, 2023 at 12:23 pm
    The message to my MP at the next election will be that since he couldn’t be arsed attending the debate on excess deaths, then I can’t be arsed putting a cross on the ballot paper next to his name.

      1. Be fair, at least he has the courage to make his position very clear.

        If it turns out that the conspiracy theorists were correct I hope he also has the courage to apologise and resign.

        2. If you read his speeches in parliament you would want to punch the little shit. All the right on causes and group think boxes ticked. Not a single original or honest thought in this career politico’s head.

      3. Except quite clearly the covid 19 vaccine was not tested. It did not provide any protection. The speed of release precludes a safety trial and the deaths afterward do point to a consistent problem.

        Thus it is not baseless, nor inaccurate. There is a correlation and that it is being talked about proves it is not conspiracy theory. Avoiding the debate is pathetic. He should be instructed to return to the commons, regardless of what he wants to do.

        2. It was tested, although not sufficiently enough to satisfy many. It did provide protection but, as with other corinaviruses, it rapidly mutated, thus rendering the vaccine less effective for each mutation and requiring boosters for each variant that came to dominate the virus pool.

          1. Which is why bed rest would be the better option. Those with comorbidities are likely to die anyway.

      5. Colburn is a fucking idiot with blood on his hands. He does not deserve a single vote.

        His baseless claims are no argument but mere assertions disputed by facts.

      6. Colburn is a fucking idiot with blood on his hands. He does not deserve a single vote.

        His baseless claims are no argument but mere assertions disputed by facts.

      7. ‘They have passed rigorous clinical trials and safety checks’.
        Elliot Colburn is an idiot. AstraZenecca was so ‘safe and effective’ it was withdrawn from the UK because of a noticeable increase in blood clots.

      8. Interesting that my, and other’s experience, shows that those with the most clot shots are more often ill with covid than those of us with few or no clot shots.

  81. Any Wordlers?
    Should have had an eagle today.

    Wordle 865 3/6

    ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
    ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Five here

      Wordle 865 5/6

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

      1. Wordle 865 4/6

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

    5. Birdies are fine

      Wordle 865 3/6

      🟨⬜🟨⬜🟩
      ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    6. Birdies are fine

      Wordle 865 3/6

      🟨⬜🟨⬜🟩
      ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  82. I think I’ll turn in I have worked very hard this afternoon. Wooden hill is calling.
    It makes me remember why I retired 10 years ago.
    Good night all. 😴

  87. Good night, chums. I’ve been busy today decluttering and shredding lots of paperwork. See you all tomorrow.

  88. Good night, chums. I’ve been busy today decluttering and shredding lots of paperwork. See you all tomorrow.

  89. Boris was right – older people should have been given a choice over lockdown

    It horrified me that my grandchildren might be disadvantaged into the indefinite future in order (possibly) to protect me from – what?

    JANET DALEY • 1 November 2023 • 1:11pm

    It is difficult to recall now the shock of learning that it had become a crime for children to hug their grandparents. But we must hold on to the memory of that extraordinary moment when a liberal democratic society introduced prohibitions in personal and family life which went way beyond anything that the East German Stasi had devised. These rules were, in the technical sense of the word, inhuman and they should have been inconceivable.

    What kind of bizarre pathological state of mind had enveloped the country – and, as we now know, much of the government – which made it acceptable to inflict such an edict? Even when the cruel consequences of its imposition had been widely publicised – the elderly parents being forced to die alone without a final embrace, the isolated and housebound being “protected” from the virus who fell into irreparable despair – still it went on relentlessly. And it was enforced even in the face of data that should have been taken into account.

    That a British prime minister expressed resistance to such measures should not be shocking or even surprising. His comments on the disproportionate death rates among elderly people may sound crass but they were factually sound and acknowledged even by the implacable lockdown champions. More important, the force of his argument should have been seen, in spite of its flippant delivery, as ultimately compassionate: he was protesting against draconian rules which, in the end, deprived the entire population – including the old and sick – of the comfort and solace of family intimacy.

    The key observation he cited, that a large proportion of people dying of Covid were beyond the normal age of life expectancy, should have been of huge importance in this. What he was suggesting was that Covid had effectively become what pneumonia had been called in a more unsentimental age, the “old man’s friend”.

    That may or may not have been a simplistic view of what was a new and unknown virus. But the moral question at the heart of this remains the same. Should an entire population – including those who were, by virtue of their youth or state of robust health unlikely to be at risk – be locked into personal isolation from friends and family, stopped from engaging in the activities which constitute normal emotional development, and prevented from making an economic contribution to society, in order to protect people who might have been close to death under any circumstances?

    Or, even more to the point, who could have chosen to isolate themselves? The idea of sheltering or advising confinement only for those in serious danger apparently appealed strongly to Boris Johnson but was firmly beaten back by the Cummings-Gove alliance who were adamant that the situation was so grave that personal choice and individual responsibility could not be permitted any space at all.

    Back in 2020, before there was even a vaccine programme in place, I wrote on these pages in what seemed like very stark terms at the time. As someone who counted, because of my age, as one of those being protected by everybody else’s sacrifices, I assumed the moral right to say: please don’t. Don’t give up the liberties and opportunities that properly belong to your stage of life for my sake and do not go meekly into that imprisonment to which the government has sentenced you.

    It horrified me that my grandchildren might be disadvantaged into the indefinite future in order (possibly) to protect me from – what? Mortal illness, which must come eventually? The inevitability of death? I concluded that column with the favourite refrain of anti-war protesters: not in my name. As it happens, we know now, the then prime minister felt the same.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/01/boris-was-right-older-people-covid-lockdown/

    1. I think we all knew that Cummings was a liar when he took himself off to Barnard Castle under the pretext that he was protecting his family from press intrusion or other undefined threats in London.

      My own personal view is that we was more likely visiting the executives of Glaxo Smith Kline based as it happens in ‘Barney’.

      The same company have facilities in some small remote villages in County Durham which were selected to provide rare employment but which are most notable for the whitish deposits on their stone and slate roofs., the outfall of the chemical processes of their factories.

      1. I hate to confess that I admired Cummings for his astute killer weasel mind .. He had such insight .

        I wish he was joining GBnews instead of pillock Boris .

        He was the cleverest of the lousy bunch , cleverer than clever .

      1. Goodnight Jill.

        We have had to take away all his toys , like his balls and rings etc , and I have hidden them .. He is ball crazy , and loves carrying stuff, as spaniels do . His mouth has to heal, stitches etc . Moh has given him a rolled up pair of socks to carry around , ‘cos they are soft .

        He has already been searching for his toys .

        I gave him scrambled egg and chopped cooked chicken for his supper , he wolfed his meal down . He will have that for breakfast as well.

        Dear me , we are having a deluge of rain , I do hope the hedgehogs are tucked away safe and sound .

        Poor old UK is having a rough ride weather wise .

        God bless, and stay safe .

        1. Don’t wish to scare you or add to your worries but tooth extraction can cause heart problems. Not often but sometimes.

          Just up the coast from you and it’s calm and quiet here.

  92. What is this with the gurning ‘judge’ in the prosecution of President Trump and his family?

    Have Americans lost all sense of the idea of Justice where now biased buffoon judges grimace and gurn in front of the cameras and seek to jail honest persons with a sort of repulsive relish.

    I just hope this shit does not find its way to our own shores but suspect that it is already here.

    God help us.

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