Saturday 4 November: Politicians’ blind faith in Covid models exposed the pitfalls of ‘following the science’

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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535 thoughts on “Saturday 4 November: Politicians’ blind faith in Covid models exposed the pitfalls of ‘following the science’”

  1. Good morning.
    2°C outside with a thick mist clinging to the valley sides but not, at the moment, raining.

    1. Good morning, BoB. Here it is raining until 2 pm, then dry until 10 pm when the rain starts again. Hope your garden is going well.

      1. Thank you, but it’s not a garden, but a “garden”. However, I’ve currently got all the raspberry canes out from round the small apple tree and have been chasing out the bindweed and bramble roots, of which there are masses!
        Next stage will be to put an anti-weed mat down and lay turf on top of it.

    1. Good morning, Bob3. A day for indoor jobs – or just relaxing. I hope to do a little of both today. Signing off now until later.

  4. Politicians’ blind faith in Covid models exposed the pitfalls of ‘following the science’

    Following The Science appears to be code for following our globalist masters

    1. But that’s thething. It wasn’t science, it was a model. A projection from one minority group, ignoring the others to determine the actions the country would take.

      Actions that were demonstrably false and destructive. Frankly, our lives would all be improved if government just went away.

    1. Thanks, SR.

      I know that John Lennon has many detractors, but I am still of the opinion that Lennon wrote — and sang — the best of the Beatles output. I’ve never been a big fan of Paul McCartney’s songs … nor his voice.

      I can now see why this particular song was left on the shelf for decades. It is dross.

      1. Frank Sinatra thought that one of the best songs ever written was Something by George Harrison. I also enjoyed his Here comes the Sun.

        And here is George Harrison, smartly dressed in a purple blazer, in a special got-together group singing and playing Bob Dylan’s My Back Pages.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_Df39PjkwA

        1. Indeed. Those two Harrison songs you mention are two of the best Beatles songs.

          No one seems to have mentioned that two of my favourite musicians are also on that stage. Steve “The Colonel” Cropper (guitar) and Donald “Duck” Dunn (bass) were two of the house band musicians of Stax Records and part of the soul outfit, Booker T and the MGs. This gifted pair have recorded with most of Americas soul legends and many more.

          1. I’ll always have a soft spot for Green Onions with its undercurrent of brooding threat as well as the ebullient party mood of Soul Limbo, always associated with the BBC Radio’s coverage of cricket.

        2. Rastus, I think that Sinatra used to introduce “Something” as “a wonderful song by Lennon & McCartney” didn’t he?

      2. There is a fascinating documentary on YouTube explaining a lot of this song’s background. It was written by Lennon in his Dakota Buildings apartment in New York and he sang his lyrics whilst accompanying himself on the piano. When preparing the ANTHOLOGY tapes for release, Yoko Ono (his widow) passed on the Lennon tape to the three remaining Beatles who tried to complete the recording but found that Lennon’s piano obscured his singing. So, after various attempts by McCartney and Harrison on guitars and Ringo on drums they had to conclude that they couldn’t’t really complete the song.

        After Harrison’s death Peter Jackson, the New Zealander who did a lot of work technically on both THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD (digitally cleaning up WW I footage) and THE BEATLES GET BACK (digitally cleaning up the previously poorly filmed Abbey Road recordings footage), approached McCartney explaining that his digital breakthroughs meant that he could separate Lennon’s singing from his piano playing. With this information it was now possible to complete “Now and Then” properly with contributions from all four Beatles.

        The video posted by Stephenroi cleverly matches footage of “Now” (Paul and Ringo in 2023) and “Then” (Harrison whilst alive, John ditto) and in some shots we see all four interacting with each other, and even things such as the “Now” Paul and Ringo joining themselves as they were then. It is a real work of art, and the more times I watch it, the more impressed I am.

        So, Grizzly, I have to differ with you when you say that “Now and Then” is real dross. Fortunately, on this wonderful site, we can agree to differ without resorting to insults. (Except when I insult you and other NoTTLers by calling them “Silly Sausages”, of course. Lol.)

        1. That is a very interesting story about the history of that song, Auntie Elsie. Thank you for that. Although I would never call you a ‘silly sausage’, I still think that the tune is not one I would like to continue to listen to. Similarly, although I generally prefer John Lennon’s output over that of any of his fellow band members, I do think that his appalling “Imagine” is one of the worst songs I can think of. I shall, one day compile a list of all my most hated ‘popular’ songs. The dire “Imagine” is in that list. Other people may have differing opinions, I hear! 😉

          1. Queen’s We Are The Champions and We Will Rock You. I like much of the group’s output but the gloating bombast of the first and plodding football-terrace chanting of the latter have long annoyed me. I also denounce the dubious chants lent by drunken and/or sporting crowds to Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline (SO GOOD, SO GOOD, SO GOOD!!!) and Smokie’s Living Next Door To Alice (WHO THE F**K IS ALICE!!!).

          2. Agreed. I was only making the very same point about that (‘Champions’) dirge of Queen’s just a couple of weeks ago. The band’s first two albums, Queen I and Queen II, contained their best music. Sheer Heart Attack was nearly as good and A Night At The Opera was good in parts. They they became much too “populist” for my taste and consequently went downhill in my opinion.

        2. I have not heard the recording but I do admire the technical achievement. Separating voices and different instruments when surviving recordings only have them merged together is called de-mixing. I do not know the limits of its capabilities but I do wonder whether it might one day be applied to shellac discs to not only separate the voices and instruments from one another to create a stereo sound stage and better sound balance but also to erase surface imperfections without the dulling effect complained of about current filtration methods. Purists might balk at the thought of Glen Miller, Fats Waller, and other stars, recording before the age of audio tape, being heard in hitherto unknown clarity as a reduction in the authenticity of the age when these recordings were first captured, but I would very much like to hear the results.

          Giles Martin, son of Sir George, has collaborated with Peter Jackson before by using this technique to de-mix then remix the Beatles’ later recordings to enhance the clarity of the music as captured on audio tape in the late ’60s and to reveal detail hitherto largely obscured by the limitations of mixing techniques available to Sir George at the time. The results have met with the approval of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr as well as Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison.

    2. Lennon’s songs in the last 1970s became very introspective, but there was always this streak about him. ‘In My Life’ and ‘Julia’ come to mind. Even his most surreal songs could contain lines as “sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun; and if the sun don’t come, you’ll get your tan sitting in the English rain”.

      This is a fascinating exercise in grave-stirring. It started with Mozart’s ‘Lacrymosa’ – the piece that killed him after eight bars, and had to be finished off by his student. Most touching is the last song ever made by Queen – ‘Mother Love’ where Freddie Mercury, singing about death, finds his famous voice flaking and then giving up after the second verse. You could hear the heartbreak in Brian May as he finished off the last verse.

      Here we have John in his thirties, George in his fifties and Paul and Ringo in their eighties, imagining they are in the same room at the same time. I think what is missing is that in real time they’d be arguing with one another, rather than being respectful to memories.

      2. I selected I Saw Her Standing There on my local social club’s juke box just a week or so ago and people started dancing. It’s 60 years old.

  6. 378351+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Listen quietly you will hear the echoing ring of a loud slap in the kisser to ALL passed over Tommy Atkins and ALL current Vets.

    In such a case Health & safety is running cover for APPEASEMENT.

    Is appeasement in the welsh school curriculum if not will it be added in the future?

    Dt,
    Town cancels Remembrance Day parade over health and safety fears
    Barry Town Council in Wales says it cannot ‘overcome’ the burden of extra hosting responsibilities necessary this year

    1. Ogga, fortunately Barry Council didn’t feel the same way about the Pride March it hosted, or the

      £8000- of ratepayers’ money that they spent on it.

      Just depends on ones priorities, doesn’t it?

    1. In times past, in a case like this a shorter stretch would have been a longish drop with a short rope.

    2. Manifestly excessive. Clucking bell. Rape and murder and he’s let off 5 years. No doubt will be out in 10. Probably 8.

      This country is insane. Kill the scum.

      1. No. His minimum sentence has been reduced from 38 years to 33. This does not mean he will automatically be released after 33 years. After 33 years have lapsed he will be entitled to a review of his case but that panel, and any subsequent ones, will be entitled to keep him in prison for as long – or longer – than his original sentence allowed. It all depends on his behaviour in prison, the degree of remorse he shows and whatever the prevailing views of review panels happen to be in 33 years’ time.

      2. After many assumed past mistakes in judgment. In our modern scientific world, mistakes of the past leading to obvious
        false decisions are behind us. The drop should be brought back. Why should the innocent suffer and pay to keep this sort of scum alive.

      1. It’s mind boggling just how they reach such idiotic decisions.
        I expect the all claimed overtime and extra expenses.

    5. Let the creature out, now, in the pouring rain, before he has a chance to grow old. Someone would give him a lift and look after him.

    7. The only consolation I can see in this case is that, although his minimum term of imprisonment has been reduced by 5 years, it does not mean he will automatically be released 5 years sooner. It depends on the views of the review panel in 33 years’ time. It’s unlikely I’ll be around to know the outcome of their deliberations.

      I’m puzzled by the consideration given by the appeal panel to the notion that the victim’s suffering ended sooner than it might have done because his brutal assault rendered her unconscious earlier in the attack and that this was not taken into sufficient account in the original sentencing. Does this mean that had he been less brutal and she had remained conscious for longer her assailant would not have been entitled to a reduction in sentence?

  9. 378351+ up ticks,

    Camilla Tominey,
    Dt,
    For the first time in my life, I’m beginning to fear for the future of Britain
    You can hum that tune again baby, coming to fruition is the results of the past forty years polling station use, political treachery finding majority support EVERY general election, via a(ino) party name.

    1. ogga I’m genuinely surprised that you haven’t battered yourself to death the number of times daily you must be banging your head against a brick wall. I think I may speak for most on here when I say we feel your pain and despair….

      1. 378351+ up ticks,

        Morning S,
        I in turn do feel some sympathy for those who have a conscience within
        realising just what they have done over the past four decades, following the party before Country regardless of consequence voting pattern.

        I have never professed to be the brightest tool in the kit & the canister is on the thick side but my redeeming feature, is I am a patriot.

      2. My pain and despair is not so much about the message as its endless repetition. Imagine a song that you quite enjoy. Then imagine the same song set to play loudly on an endless loop by a neighbour just before they embark on a one-month ocean cruise.

    2. Well, Ms Tominey, you had a platform to oppose massive uncontrolled muslim invasion. Why didn’t you speak up?

      Blair forced tens of millions of them on us, they immediately sat on welfare. Many became terrorists. The rest set about destroying our society and culture from within, gabbling away in foreign, wearing those ghastly bin bag dresses, complaining about dogs, wanting everything written in foreign for them.

      Perhaps instead of now realising the probkem of forced multi culti bigotry you’ll realise the endless damage done to our laws, society, the very fabric of the country by forcing acid of immigration all over us.

      1. Absolutely correct.
        We have to show our displeasure at what our very expensive political idiots are doing and have done. Which is Absolutely nothing.

      2. Come on! You can hardly pin this on a hack. She was at university when Blair came to power. It was only relatively recently that she was promoted to editorship.

        1. I don’t blame her specifically, I blame the lot of them. The entire media class, London based saw the problem. When Brown called that woman a bigot for pointing out the damned problem we all could see no one followed up with the problem. The state hid the truth by imprisoning Tommy Robinson.

          It’s a litany of obsfucation across the entire state edifice to avoid the fact that massive uncontrolled criminal invasion ofthis country has done nothing positive whatsoever.

          1. Aren’t you overdoing the deification of Tommy Robinson? He has hardly been the sole voice speaking out about the subject and imprisoning him – not always for reasons to do with this particular subject – has by no means hidden the truth. All I will say is that some of those who share his views might feel sufficiently intimidated to take a little more care about their actions and how they express themselves such that their truth carries a little less impact.

          2. As I recall, when the “bigot” woman refused to accept Brown’s personal apology she went on to vote Labour in the subsequent General Election.

          3. I’ll be kind and see it as an endorsement of her local Labour candidate rather than that of the party’s leadership.

    3. Comments closed after 3 hours. Oh … the irony.
      (Which reminds of one of my wet Saturday jobs.)

  10. With regard to the headline, I don’t think science had anything to do with it after the first effort. I think politicians got carried away with the power trip that covid gave them, being constantly on the TV, giving interviews, promoting themselves and their department. Science was a backseat to the scaremongering.

    Which sums them up, really.

    2. My own view is that they involved the “scientists” so that, if everything went pear-shaped, they had someone to blame. And those self-same “scientists”, to avoid being blamed themselves if everything went pear-shaped”, insisted on draconian lockdowns to avoid being accused of being too timid. It’s all about being a blame game.

  11. Morning, all Y’all. Wet.
    But enough of UK govt response to Palestinian marches on Sunday.

    1. On our weather forecasts Obs it looks as if you get the aftermath of all of our weather.

  12. Morning all 😊🙂
    We might get some rain later 😉
    In fact it’s been chucking it down all night. I’m glad we live on high ground.
    I think the headline today exposes what most of us already know. Our Politicians haven’t got a clue what they are doing.
    And today’s expert is so often, tomorrow’s fool.

  13. Good Moaning.
    Michael Deacon cooking on gas.

    “Levelling up… by banning books

    Loyal Conservative members are no doubt delighted by the news that their party’s interns have been learning about the evils of “privilege”. During special training sessions in 2021 and 2022, The Telegraph revealed this week, Tory interns were taught about the unfair advantages enjoyed in life by people who are white, male, middle-class and heterosexual. The most intriguing aspect of the story, however, was as follows.

    Interns were asked whether their parents read to them as children. Because apparently, that’s a form of “privilege”, too.

    It would be easy to scoff at the people who spout this sort of thing. But the truth is, they’ve got a point. Studies show that children who were read to by their parents go on to do better at school than children who weren’t. And it’s obviously not the second group of children’s fault that their parents couldn’t be bothered to read to them. Which means that those children were unfairly disadvantaged.

    The question is, how do we level the playing field? Clearly, there’s only one solution.

    The Government must ban bedtime stories.

    I see no alternative. How else can we prevent all these selfish middle-class parents giving their children an unfair advantage by raising them to take pleasure in books and learning? Without banning bedtime stories – or, ideally, banning books altogether – how are the children of lazy, stupid and negligent parents supposed to compete in life?

    It’s impossible. So, if Government ministers are serious about eliminating privilege, they must start drawing up legislation immediately, and put an end to childhood reading once and for all. Not until every child in Britain spends 16 hours a day staring gormlessly at the TV will our society be truly equal.”

    1. Having two parents is the norm, not a privilege, as is being white and heterosexual. The pathetic fifth columnists are simply trying to normalise the weird and unnatural by pretending others are advantaged.

      1. Incredibly, yesterday I received an email from my local garden centre which showed a film of happy groups of families and their children enjoying Christmas decorations, presents and even a visit from Santa Claus this December. It was incredible to me because there was not a single non-white person portrayed in the film the garden centre had made. Clearly Santa will not bring any of these people a sofa as a gift this year.

    2. Having parents who read to their children was regarded as an unfair advantage (privilege, etc) as long ago as the 1960s, and probably earlier. Owning or having access to books for children was a mark of the bourgeoisie.

  15. Good morning, all. Grey day. Rain on the way.

    The best news is that Cur Garfield Lineker has aligned himself – yet again – with the wrong side – and so publicly and preachily. My riposte to Cur Garfield would be “Gaza delenda est”.

        1. “G ARY LINEKER has sparked a fresh political row as he backed pro-Palestinian protesters planning to march through London on Armistice Day.
          The Match of the Day presenter yesterday posted his support online after Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, said the march risked causing offence to millions of “decent British people”.
          Tens of thousands are expected to gather in central London on Nov 11 to take part in the now weekly pro-Palestinian rally. Yesterday, Rishi Sunak said the planned protest was “provocative and disrespectful” and would be an “affront to the British public and the values we stand for”.
          Mrs Braverman said: “It is entirely unacceptable to desecrate Armistice Day with a hate march through London. If it goes ahead, there is an obvious risk of serious public disorder, violence and damage, as well as giving offence to millions of decent British people.
          But responding to her comments, Lineker wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Marching and calling for a ceasefire and peace so that more innocent children don’t get killed is not really the definition of a hate march.”
          Andrew Percy, the chairman of the allparty parliamentary group on anti-Semitism, said: “Gary Lineker isn’t known for his insight into Middle East politics, but this takes the biscuit in terms of ignorance. These marches have seen appalling examples of anti-Semitic placards, calls for jihad, the glorification of terrorism and the murder of 1,400 innocent Israelis. They have made British Jews feel more unsafe in this country than they have for generations.”
          Two people were arrested at Kings Cross Station in London last night, after the transport Secretary banned a sit-in protest for Gaza at the station because of the risk to train services.
          The row came as Israel rejected US calls for a temporary ceasefire in its Gaza offensive. Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, said there would be no humanitarian window until Hamas freed hostages it continues to hold….”

          1. But it’s not about ending the war, is it, Lineker? It’s about pushing the muslim above everyone else. It’s about denigrating Jews. Is he ignorant or just deliberately spiteful?

            He really has got to grow up.

          2. “Gary Lineker isn’t known for his insight into Middle East politics, but this takes the biscuit in terms of ignorance” really sums Lineker up. He really is an utter feckwit – surely this time the BBC must get rid of him? Oh, hang on …

  16. Sunak orders police to stop pro-Palestinian protest disrupting Remembrance events. 3 November 2023.

    Rishi Sunak has demanded that the Metropolitan Police makes “robust use” of all its powers to protect next weekend’s Remembrance events from being disrupted by a pro-Palestinian protest.

    The Prime Minister wrote to Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Police commissioner, on Friday to argue that the force had “the powers necessary” to ensure that protests did not “disrupt or disturb” acts of Remembrance.

    Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, has called for a planned march on Saturday Nov 11 to be stopped, saying it would be “entirely unacceptable to desecrate Armistice Day with a hate march through London”.

    The Pleas of the Powerless! These people no more run the UK than I do!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/11/03/sunak-police-pro-palestinian-protest-remembrance-events/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

    1. If the muslim starts causing problems on Armistice day they’re fair game. It would be a step too far.

      They have all got to go. If they like palestine so much they should live there, not here. Get rid of them.

      1. We are now seeing what the politicians have been refusing to admit: that the invasion of Britain has been deliberately planned for some time. This invasion has now got to the point where the invaders have become confident that neither the government nor the police can do anything to stop them running riot when they decide to do so. They have already taken control of our capital city and many other cities and the construction of the British Caliphate is well under way.

        The country needs to be purged – but is this still possible?

      2. The Muslim population of England & Wales in the 2021 census was 3,868,133. Add Scotland, Northern Ireland, 2 years and the undocumented and the figure will be somewhat in excess of 4 million by now. “Getting rid of” – whatever that denotes – 4+ million people involves an enforced population reduction/relocation of industrial proportions of a kind the 20th century witnessed on several occasions.

        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_the_United_Kingdom

    1. “There is always the alternative to the lab/lib/con political death march.”

      Yet still no one has persuaded the greater population to accept that fact. And, I daresay, no one will; not in our lifetime.

      1. 378351+ up ticks,

        Morning G,

        It will not deter me from continuing to try, I have no wish to have my name linked to the certain downfall of a once decent Country.

      3. Good morning, George

        I keep telling ogga to found his own political party and to convince us all to vote for him. So far he seems to have been rather reluctant to do so.

        As I have reported before, Blair robbed me of my vote in 2004 and because I do not have French nationality I cannot vote in France and I am completely disenfranchised . The worm Cameron, having promised that I would be allowed to vote in the Brexit referendum, then went back on his word

        1. Good morning, Richard.

          I am not gloating since I will also be disenfranchised in the UK in three years’ time. I do, however, now have the vote in Sweden since my application for citizenship was accepted. I applied for my Swedish passport on Monday (at the local police station) and it was ready for collection after just four days (yesterday). No reams of red tape like it is in the UK.

          I’m rather surprised you haven’t applied for French citizenship before now.

          1. Caroline is in the process of doing so but there is a monstrous administrative hurdle to clear to get it done quickly.

            If Blair had had any genuine interest in the democratic probity of the EU before depriving UK nationals working and residing in the EU of their vote in the UK then he should have first made sure that there were reciprocal arrangements in the EU countries where they were resident so that they were not disenfranchised.

            The fact of the matter is that Blair has never given a toss about the democratic rights of ordinary people.

  18. Good morning all,

    Cold and rainy at McPhee Towers but it should clear up into a showery day with sunny periods. Wind moving round the compass from ESE to SW, 7℃ rising to 11℃.

    You really mustn’t miss an opportunity for more law-making must you. You’ve got to take every chance you have to hem in the British people and silence them while their country continues to be handed over to invaders who don’t share their culture, traditions and beliefs. Mrs Balls is positively slavering at the thought of the power soon to be within her grasp if her arm of the uniparty wins the next General Election. Under the guise of cracking down on anti-semitism she will crack-down on “Islamophobia” which, by the way, doesn’t exist because there is nothing irrational about having a dislike of , distrust for and fear of Islam. Mark this woman well. She is a traitor.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e4d3a596c3b8c0e59c8eebd7c1a842679bd6ba553117a525fa7bcf02b19ec436.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/11/04/labour-strengthen-hate-crime-laws-anti-semitism-crackdown/

    e

    2. Omg, she would get a job as a cleaner in the real world.
      Respect to all honest cleaner’s.

      2. Marks and Sparks’ ‘seasonal’ advertisement has cut out Christmas just as those in charge of the harem were cut out. Here is a verse from song which does mention Christmas which would be more optimistic if the prayers of the testicularly deficient were answered:

        Christmas Day in the harem
        The eunuchs were saying their prayers
        A hundred dusky houris
        Were trimming their pubic hairs
        When in comes Father Christmas
        And out aloud he calls
        “        What do you want for Christmas?”
        And the eunuchs answered: “Balls!”

  19. Labour pledges to strengthen hate crime laws in anti-Semitism crackdown. 4 November 2023.

    Ms Cooper said: “There is no place for hatred or prejudice on Britain’s streets. Yet in recent weeks we have seen a disturbing rise in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, which is causing enormous anguish in communities across the country.

    “There must be zero tolerance for anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and for the hateful vitriol that devastates lives and corrodes communities here in the UK.

    “That’s why Labour is calling for stronger action to tackle and monitor hate to ensure that events unfolding internationally do not increase tensions or sow the seeds of hatred here in our communities.”

    Odd that since most of it is coming from the Labour Party!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/11/04/labour-strengthen-hate-crime-laws-anti-semitism-crackdown/

    1. Equating anti-semitism with islamophobia in Britain today is disingenuous to say the least.

  20. And meanwhile, out in the real world:

    https://www.takimag.com/article/the-great-green-energy-transition-that-wasnt/

    Energy expert Robert Bryce estimates that Ford has lost $62,000 for each EV it has rolled off the assembly line. That’s hardly a road to profitability.
    Meanwhile, the news is even worse for wind and solar power. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that “clean energy” investment funds are tanking, with some down as much as 70% in recent months. Solar has been one of the worst-performing industry stocks this year.
    This collapse is happening right when Exxon and Chevron have engineered a combined $110 billion blockbuster acquisitions to expand oil and gas drilling in the Permian Basin in Texas, one of the biggest oil fields in the world. This year, they both reported their largest profits ever.
    They and their investors are looking at the real-world data, not green energy propaganda. In 2023, the world is guzzling oil and gas like never before. Global consumption of fossil fuels was higher in 2022 than at any time in human history, even as the developed countries spend hundreds of billions of dollars trying to stop oil, gas and coal.
    Despite the $370 billion green energy slush fund stashed in the federal budget, almost 80% of our energy still comes from old-fashioned fossil fuels. We’re a long, long way from “net zero.” And remember: Unlike green energy, fossil fuels get almost no subsidies. In fact, they pay taxes.
    All of this is to say that there is no “global energy transition” going on. If there is one, it’s away from green energy, not toward it.

    1. The Idiot King has finally convinced me that man-made global warming is a myth, carbon dioxide is both necessary and beneficial and that Net Zero is a complete scam.

      If we want cleaner air we need to make cars powered by fossil fuels even cleaner. Already modern diesel fuels have become far more environmentally friendly than they used to be and their emissions are far less toxic.

      1. The problem is that owing to the race to produce EVs, no development of more efficient petrol and diesel engines will be made.

      2. Oh dear, Richard. I keep hearing “The idiot King”. Tut tut!

        I have full confidence in King Charles III and will stand by his side in the vanguard of his fight against his distractors. As far as I am concerned, His Majesty is a Proper Charlie!

        1. In his defence the moronic monarch cannot be expected to use the brains God didn’t give him.

      3. Recently I saw an article/tweet containing a diagram of a process that has been designed to scrub carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. I didn’t bookmark it but a simple search turned up this:

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e9957d2043613b7bafc19a944191d2fb7955db4061ed6afddaa20465b25694a6.png

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/50b174237c98e9c2cfccea8d3663bdf3e857a438519a4d22b9bc2edf8e2eb75e.png

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/641a026892b1ea8943e8e1b3da29cce776f33c7b87dc2fbd1290b5784fee2c52.png

        Climeworks – Direct Air Capture

        Then there’s this:

        The total sales of aviation fuels in the UK in 2006 was 12.7 million tonnes [4]

        CO2 emissions from aviation fuel are 3.15 grams per gram of fuel [1] .

        So the fuel used gave rise to 40.0 million tonnes CO2.

        This estimate of CO2 emissions is from aircraft taking off from the UK, and there will be a similar quantity of CO2 generated on the return flights, giving a total of 80.0 million tonnes CO2.

        Carbon Independent – Aviation Emissions

        If one current plant is capable of extracting 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide per annum my maths tells me that around 80,000,000/4,000 = 20,000 plants would be needed to capture the UK’s aviation emissions alone. At 0.42 acres per site, that’s quite an area to be developed. Then, of course, there’s both the renewable energy required and the underground storage to be considered. Oh, and of course there’s the manufacture of all the plants too.

        Being scalable will, I presume, reduce each plant’s footprint but the energy and storage demands remain.

        Is this feasible?

        1. “Scrub CO2 from the atmosphere”? All 0.0415% of it. That should be interesting. I hope the veggies and vegans don’t expect to keep eating their greens. I’ll stick to meat….oh, wait.

        5. So does Firstborn. Solar-powered CO2 capture – hundreds of acres with lots and lots of trees!

  21. Good morning , my friends,

    I doubt if the DT would dare to print it but I have sent this to their Letters Department:

    Sir,

    I expect Enoch Powell is sitting on his cloud in Heaven playing his harp and singing: “You can’t say I didn’t warn you!”

    Richard Tracey

      1. I put it up with slightly different wording on the Nottlers’ Forum late last night. Enoch sang “I told you!” rather than “You can’t say I didn’t warn you!“

      1. The headline trivialises the matter. Other complaints in the report have more substance.

    3. If Celia Sawyer’s complaints – not just about the balcony; others are documented – are correct then I think she (and neighbours the other side of this new property) have good cause to feel aggrieved. On the face of it, this new build does breach planning regulations and the local authority seems rather tardy in dealing with it. While the constraint on bikini-wearing grabs attention, the other complaints are less trivial.

      1. That may be so but compared to the slaughter and destruction in Ukraine, Israel/Gaza and elswhere it is trivial, inconsequential stuff. That’s the point.

        1. I don’t think it sufficiently important to warrant a report in the Mail but the celebrity culture we live in means that the newspaper knows there are sufficient readers out there more keen to read this than about terrible human suffering. We all need lightweight distractions from dreadful news to some degree or another.

  23. One for wibbling
    https://www.takimag.com/article/the-food-insecurity-lie/

    We (I include myself because I believed it, too) who wanted to reduce poverty declared “War on Poverty.” Welfare checks poured out. The poverty rate continued to drop for seven years. But then progress stopped.
    What happened? Why did progress stop?
    Because handouts taught people to be dependent.
    Welfare payments did something remarkable. They created a new class of dependent people — a nearly permanent “underclass,” where generation after generation lives in poverty.

    1. My daughter has just discovered that. She took a year out after leaving school, and worked in a min wage job. Now she has started at university. Suddenly, the government is pouring money into her lap (child benefit, which I pass on to her), after a year of long hours, hard work, and the same government pinching a portion of her meagre earnings.

  24. 378351+ up ticks,

    Charity Commission ‘examines’ British mosques that hosted pro-Hamas hate preachers
    Sermons made since terrorist group’s October 7 attack include calls to ‘destroy Israel’, ‘kill the Jews’ and ‘wage your war for Allah’

    By
    Ewan Somerville
    3 November 2023 • 7:31pm
    At the Mohammadi Masjid in Birmingham, preacher Abu Ibraheem Hussnayn told worshippers: ‘Oh Muslim, behind me is a Jew, come and kill him’

    The Charity Commission is examining British mosques after they hosted pro-Hamas hate preachers,

    What do the commission have in mind for the preachers, a mayorship, a seat in the lords, a government position maybe ?

  25. This new Cold War is in real danger of turning hot. Tobias Ellwood. 3 November 2023.

    Once again, the great cogs that turn the mighty geopolitical kaleidoscope are beginning to rotate with no clear indication where they will stop. Today’s world is volatile, further complicated by a general retreat from globalisation, military proliferation, the growing challenges of climate change, and the distraction of domestic politics.

    It is imperative to recognise the gravity of the situation. The number of people living in democracies has plummeted from 3.9 billion in 2017 to around 2 billion today. Around 70 percent of the world’s population now live under autocratic rule.

    Yes. That would be including us? In the old Cold War there was no doubt which were autocracies and which democracies. This is no longer true. It speaks volumes that the author of this piece is a Lieutenant Colonel in 77 Brigade; a UK government disinformation channel.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/03/this-new-cold-war-is-in-real-danger-of-turning-hot/ v

  27. Kremlin spread rumour Putin had died to ‘test his popularity’. 3 November 2023.

    The Kremlin spread a rumour that Vladimir Putin had died to test his popularity among the Russian public, Ukraine has claimed.

    Andrii Yusov, a Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman, said that a report last week by a Russian Telegram channel on the alleged demise of the president was a ploy by Moscow intended to help it tighten domestic control.

    Of course he did. He wrote all those stories about having Parkinson’s Disease and terminal cancer as well as the reports about every public appearance being a double. And don’t forget him tossing people out of windows and stuffing Novichok in their underpants. All grist to the mill!

    My views do change gradually over time in response to the world. I have to say that when I look at Vlad and the traitorous rubbish that we have to endure; that the Russians are incredibly lucky!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/11/02/kremlin-russia-vladimir-putin-death-test-popularity-ukraine/

    1. The Telegraph will soon start printing the five year plans for tractor production.

      Electric tractors, obviously.

      To plough the newly emptied cities.

  29. Bonjour at tous!
    To the title:

    I listened to Dr Henrion-Caude in France. She said there was a scientific consensus around CoViD.
    Any “scientist” worth the name knew this was an absulute cluster-fornication, from the lockdowns to the withdrawal of working meds, to the imposition of this dangerous soup, to the persecution of anyone who said otherwise.
    It just wasn’t the consensus the media potrayed.

  30. 378351+ up ticks,

    Fodder for fools,

    breitbart,
    Britain and Austria Agree to Collaborate Illegal Migration, Seek Cooperation on Deporting Migrants

    They are most likely to straight swop like numbers..

    1. Wet here too but no glimmers of sunshine.
      I’m gearing up to brave the weather and go and knock some balls around for an hour or so.

      1. Similar to my grandmother too. Rolling the Rs, and the way she pronounced the vowels, sounding very careful to modern ears.

  33. Another falling over session so today’s is very late but it gores like this:
    Good morrow, Gentlefolk. today’s story
    Another Clinton Story

    One winter, the President was out for his daily run when he saw some writing on a nearby snowdrift. Taking a closer look at the yellow snow, he was enraged when he saw that it spelled out BILL CLINTON SUCKS!

    As soon as he got back to the White House, he ordered the Secret Service to find out who was responsible.

    Two days later, as Clinton sat in the Oval Office, the head of the Secret Service came in and announced, “Sir, we’ve finished analysing the evidence. I have good news and bad news.”

    “What’s the good news?” asked Bill.

    “Well sir, It’s Al Gore’s urine.”

    “What?” Bill screamed. “That’s the good news?! What the hell’s the bad news?”

    , “Well sir, our handwriting expert says it’s Hillary’s handwriting… ,

      1. With the increasing number (low blood pressure) of falls, I’m learning to turn myself face down, bring my knees up and using my arms and hands do a doggy walk to the nearest yellow cord if I can go no further. If I can get to, and reach a grab handle I might pull myself up, otherwise I need help. Thank you for caring, Jules.

        1. I fell off a roundabout in the children’s playground a few weeks ago. Although this type of roundabout is one on which you stand, it is like a very large tyre – very low down at the front and higher at the back, it certainly floored me despite the fact that I am considered ‘sprightly’. I was shocked to find I couldn’t get up, even with my son and grandson trying to pull me. I had turned into a dead weight. I suggested that if they left me alone for a few moments, whilst I got my breath back, I would turn over and then get on my hands and knees and hopefully push myself up. Success!

          It is very distressing to discover you can’t get up when you fall, I hope you are feeling better today, SJ.

          1. Being hauled up by te arms can cause a lot of muscle/tendon/joint pain & damage. I saw the right way to lift someone (practiced by ambulancemen) and the wrong way (by nurses… wtf?) when my Father was dying of cancer. The nurses caused him much pain.

          4. Thank you, Mum. going back now and I#’m looking for companionship in this latter part of life. you are an inspiration to me.

          8. Crikey! I thought that was just me! The twins enjoyed it hugely! It was one of those small round wooden things, set at an angle with 3 hand holds! I was showing them how to use it. I definitely prefer the flying fox!

          9. No handles, Sue, balance only possible! One ‘walks’ round on the thing whilst it trundles backwards and the person is walking forwards. My centre of gravity has obviously changed in the last 60 or so years. I also think I’d fall off the flying fox these days..

        2. That’s much better than my backwards pratfall, breaking kitchen floortiles with my head, Tom.
          Were you a Para? They are good at falling and not being broken!

          1. RAF – Air Radar Mechanic, remastered to Air wireless fitter and became El Fitt (ac).. Never learned to fall but getting better at it!

      1. Could You have helped from Falkirk (the church of falling?)? Thanks for thinking of me. Sue

  34. ‘Morning All

    A side effect of the codeine is vivid dreams/nightmares worthy of a film script,last night involved a small nuke going off in York,frothing calls for revenge nuclear strikes then the discovery the York strike involved Israeli material……..

    I sincerely hope Mystic Rik is not at work here………..

    meanwhile Medley Time

    Animal Crackers

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8a76ad577c61a66c38d80b8672a579e5fe3f15e5748bf9b0a002582290f4c3fb.jpg

    https://media.tenor.com/CT-0yyCKXekAAAAC/kids-falling-over-cat.gif

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2b2b457c68d43a817d2466e55511a2d7cac919f6b39578e3fb627dd7876f62a4.gif

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5e74d8139456e4c61df7de9c6a72f33bf953f4599312154a995f3ee9fa62d1c1.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4ce0a8e10e57a9ae33e8cdf28d96346395413db049a5678acdbd4888285c6bbb.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d8e1e1f9116490dad9e6797a28ebe792a68d57ce515e1e9021c0a8002a396626.jpg

  35. Reed’s Yorkshires [today’s Peterborough column]

    Ping! A WhatsApp arrives from shadow environment secretary Steve Reed, who is cooking a joint of Aberdeen Angus beef, with his promised recipe for Yorkshire puddings, after he told me of his recipe for the perfect roast potatoes. Reed’s “Yorkies” comprise 35g plain flour, 15g self-raising flour, one egg, 50ml milk, 20ml cold water, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of dried sage. The mixture is then heated for 25 minutes in a 220C oven with a tablespoon of vegetable oil.

    “Adding the dried sage is a little tip from one of my neighbours when I lived in Sheffield,” he says. “They call them seasoned pudding when the sage is added.”

    Can any Peterborough readers do better?

    No self-respecting Englishman, let alone Yorkshireman, would dream of baking his Yorkshire puddings in a poisonous industrial lubricant that is marketed – for nothing other than profit – as a “vegetable” oil. The only fat suitable for Yorkshire Puddings is beef tallow, or the drippings from the beef joint. Also, no one who knows anything about Yorkshire puddings, uses self-raising flour.

    As for adding sage. My father, a Yorkshireman, often added sage and a little grated onion to the batter. It does give a lovely flavour.

    1. No one with half a brain would allow SR flour anywhere near a Yorkshire pudding! Just sayin’….

          1. I have to ask my butcher to keep all the fat on the meat I buy. I order it direct and never take what is pre-prepared for the locals, who are still, curiously, fat-averse.

        2. … and poured into the tin and raised to smoking-point temperature before adding the batter.

        1. He uses vegetable oil.
          Grizz is right about beef dripping. Much improves the flavour of the pud.

      2. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8c7e0fd431e14d63c679429c39898fb112d1798adc80469b27886d4b2937b632.jpg I’ve been making proper Yorkshire-style Yorkshire puddings for over 60 years. It is a tradition in the county to make a large one and cut it into portions (none of that poofy little bun-tin efforts so adored by the effete!). A large slab of pudding, smeared with some Colman’s English, then adorned with slices of medium-rare rib-of-beef-on-the-bone, and then drizzled with a good portion of thick, beefy, onion gravy, puts hairs on your chest. It even does the same for the men!🤣

        1. The bun tin ones work better in the Pub. More control. I also prefer a whole roasted onion rather than it being in the beef gravy.

          10 out of 10 for effort. 9 out of 10 for neatness.

  37. 378351+ up ticks,
    Seemingly MORE incoming shite could very well be in the pipeline,

    Astudy conducted at Durham University, which was recently published in the journal “Appetite,” found that warning labels including a graphic image “similar to those warning of impotence, heart disease or lung cancer on cigarette packets” could reduce the selection of meals containing meat by up to 10%, as reported by Damien Gayle at The Guardian.

    The study “split 1,001 meat-eating adults into four groups and showed each group pictures of hot meat, fish, vegetarian, and vegan canteen-style meals.” These were presented with “a health warning label, a climate warning label, a pandemic warning label or no label.” The pandemic label was most effective at dissuading the participants from eating the meals with meat, followed by the health, then the climate warnings, at 10%, 8.8% and 7.4% respectively. According to Gayle, ultimately “researchers said the differences [between the warnings] were not statistically significant and that participants had judged the climate warnings to be the most credible.”

    In addition to contributing to climate change on a global scale, consuming meat can also result in many personal health issues as well. An October study recently revealed that people who routinely eat a lot of red meat — as well as processed meats — “may be increasing their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.”

    Truth be told in one instance instant death could very well come about due say, to supermarket prices for lamb.
    To re-construct a lamb via the S/Ms must surely, through the check-out
    amount to at least 20K

    1. That’ll weed out the weak-minded and leave more nutritious meat for the rest of us…

      Actually, I try to avoid cheap supermarket or restaurant meat now. Analysis of fast food chain meals in the US showed residue of contraceptive and anti-biotics apparently. I guess that’s from the kind of factory farm that has 10 000 animals.

      1. We use a local farm shop and a very local butcher who has his own farm.

        Very low (moo) food miles.

    2. The idea is to tell people that meat contributes to climate change?Dear life, what utter rot. Two lies, desperately componding.

      1. I do wonder whether these people are truly sold on the idea of livestock-rearing being a significant contributor to the warming of the planet or is it a case of finding that appealing to our sensibilities about animal welfare hasn’t been very successful in converting the masses into vegetarians and vegans, they’ve opened another front in their efforts to reduce livestock-farming.

  39. The Crown Prosecution Service is no longer fit for purpose. 4 November 2023.

    In the quarter to June 2019 the CPS took an average of 27 days after receiving the evidence from the police, to decide whether to charge a suspect. That average has now increased to 44 days – an increase of over 60 per cent. For domestic abuse cases, where the victims are perhaps more vulnerable than anyone else, the time to charge has almost doubled from 12 days to 23 days.

    Astoundingly the Protocol introduced by the CPS to cope with what should have been the exceptional circumstances caused by the Covid-19 pandemic was still in place this summer – more than 2 years after the last national lockdown ended. This Protocol has essentially resulted in all but the most exceptional circumstances, criminal suspects being released on bail for 28 days so prosecutors can review the evidence gathered by the police in slow-time. In reality, a month very easily becomes two or three – by which time many victims simply decide that the whole thing just isn’t worth the hassle.

    There are some wags in the police who say the CPS stands for the Criminal Protection Service. Given the increasingly shambolic performance by the Crown Prosecution Service you can see the jaded officers’ point.

    Of course this is dreadful but it is just a part of the utter collapse of the UK’s Institutions. None of them actually work. We would be better off simply shutting them all down and allowing new independent ones to come into existence.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/03/crown-prosecution-service-is-no-longer-fit-for-purpose/

        1. They’ll answer as they take their fees:
          “There is no cure for this disease.”

        2. Two legitimate questions: I add a third, how many have vast bushy beards and take multiple breaks to pray?

  40. Do my ears deceive me or is the BBC commentary team on Radio 5 Sports Extra – watching England vs Australia – taking a particular delight in repeatedly saying the forename of Fakhar Zaman of Pakistan in his side’s match against New Zealand being played elsewhere in India?

  41. 378351+ up ticks,

    De-thronement springs to mind for the nations / peoples benefit.

    Prime up Anne,
    Post
    See new posts
    Conversation
    leilani dowding 🌸🚜 ☮️ and UNN follow
    HIN News🇬🇧🇺🇸
    @HerdImmunity12
    Comment: HRH King Charles III has spoke out on; his desire for us to ditch our cars, flying, fossil fuels, plane travel, the end of the world due to man made climate change, ‘Build Back Better’, British Colonial crimes, etc, etc.

    He has happily entered into the political arena despite taking the Coronation Oath, a ‘pledge’ not to interfere. Well he’s truly smashed the **** out of that. On the matter of the Cenotaph and the sanctity of our British ‘Glorious Dead’, KC3 has said nothing.

  42. A couple of further observations about cricket commentary.

    During the innings break in the England vs Australia match in India, attention shifted on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra to the Pakistan vs New Zealand game. I couldn’t help but notice the ubiquity of “g’nuh” rather than “going to”. This falls below the standards of enunciation that used to prevail at the BBC.

    There has been a rain delay in the Pakistan/New Zealand match and the commentator spoke of the exciting drainage system in place at the ground. Drainage systems can be impressive or efficient. but exciting? Other than for drainage geeks, I don’t think so.

        1. I loved listening to the wonderful voices of the celebrated West Indian pair, Tony Cozier and Donna Symmonds.

  43. The two faces of islam.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f97ee0126d23c5d5d323b80815cb285ccc7654f6a881118d4afbdb152de16546.png

    David Vance reposted

    Darya Safai MP
    @SafaiDarya

    When I was detained in Tehran in 1999 in the ayatollahs’ prison,
    I could never have imagined that one could also be imprisoned in the West for the same reason.

    The day before yesterday, it was announced in the United States that they have a comprehensive plan to fight Islamophobia.
    What might this national plan entail? Criminalising “Islamophobia” and making it punishable?

    Here in Belgium too, UNIA wants to do the same and as a member of parliament, I have been trying to stop this for years with debates in parliament. More and more people are trying to silence people who criticise Islam. However, it is a fundamental right to be able to criticise religions and political views.

    When I was detained in a prison of Ayatollah Khamenei in 1999 at 23 for criticising the way I was marginalised as a woman by Islam as a second-rate gender, I never imagined that I could ever face a prison sentence in the West because of the same criticism.

    Why should I not be allowed to say that many aspects in Islamic law violate human dignity and fundamental rights? Will I be prosecuted for Islamophobia because of that? Where would that leave my civil rights and freedoms? I did not flee an Islamic country only to lose my freedom of speech in this country, because of such a thoughtless proposal.

    Islam is a religion that has not yet experienced enlightenment and many discriminatory rules from thousands of years ago, institutionalised in this religion, are still in force. Moreover, Islamism is a pernicious ideology that wants to conquer the world.

    In the Muslim world, there are many critics who openly criticise it, even if they have to pay with their lives, because Sharia law is not tolerant.

    In the West, under the guise of religious freedom, the radical Muslims try to further perpetuate their discriminatory views, especially against women. And anyone who criticises them is called polarising, stigmatising and Islamophobic.

    And sometimes they can get right with some “progressives”, who themselves, in the not so distant past, stood up against certain rules of another religion. But now, suddenly, they are no longer critics of gender inequality or so many other discriminatory rules of Islam. Because of their cultural relativism, they are abandoning millions of women and young girls, including here with us.

    While Western civilisation waits for “enlightened” Islam and it is believed that the change must come from the Muslims themselves, some of them abandon the reforming critical eyes and silence them because it is allegedly “stigmatising”.

    Maybe they believe in miracles, but all I see in this way is an evolution towards a dark future.

    The West urgently needs a wake-up call to ensure the future of our posterity.

    That should be our mission.

    2. The Left don’t care. They are trapped in that demented hypocrisy where ‘muslim good’ simply because the people the Left hate – us – oppose it.

      1. What the left don’t understand is that if the left-Islamic axis wins, the Islamofascists will then destroy them.

  44. MP Bob Stewart ‘surrenders Tory whip after racist abuse conviction’. 4 November 2023.

    Bob Stewart has surrendered the Conservative whip while he considers an appeal of his conviction for a racially aggravated public order offence, a government source has said.

    The Beckenham MP was found guilty at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday of racially abusing an activist by telling him to “go back to Bahrain”.
    Labour and the Liberal Democrats led calls for Rishi Sunak to act against the “totally unacceptable” behaviour of the 74-year-old backbencher.

    Was he actually from Abu Dhabi?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/11/04/bob-stewart-tory-mp-beckenham-surrenders-whip-racial-abuse/

  45. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f43c046c638908cefeb05df2b68c82e63456485aca9ef10de23cad792efeefdd.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9d539251c311741189780cbb67c5bb9e0aebe8e3fa3a8a318119427b7d81792b.jpg Last night tins of lit tallow were placed along the kerbside, every 20 metres-or-so, on every street in each town and village of the area. At least last night the rain stayed away. Last year it pissed it down spoiling the effect.

    This is the annual celebration of Österlens Ljus (Eastern Skåne’s Light), a tradition that goes back in the annals of time. I tried a few times to capture the spectacle on camera but with little success.

    2. What saddens me is that were such tried in the UK a bunch of chavs would have kicked the candles around, set fire to plants in gardens and stolen the pots. When plod were called they’d utterly ignore the criminality.

      2. I know nothing about charging the batteries of electric vehicles. I passed one in a charging bay yesterday and wondered if there was anything to prevent me mischievously unplugging it.

          1. Thank you, wibbling. I thought it likely that there would be some kind of measure to defeat naughty pranksters.

      3. There is an old village green near where I live – it was a village before the New Town was built around it – and there used to be a big bonfire there every November 5th. The practice was abandoned after local yobs would repeatedly set fire to the stack of wood being assembled ahead of the day.

        1. This is what happens when you don’t routinely, and soundly, thrash yobs, chavs and twats.

          The pussies who banned corporal punishment, and those who oppose its return, need an urgent taste of the birch rod.

      4. Different mentality over here. Our post boxes are open-lidded (unlocked) canisters on posts in the street. Mine is 200m away along the road. I cannot recall a single incidence of anyone, without authority, looking into or stealing from them. We have knives on open sale and workmen routinely wear one on their belt. Swedes tend to not go around stabbing each other.

        1. Same here, Grizz.
          Still quite common, at Firstborn’s place in the country, to leave doors unlocked.

    1. Tell the French they are breaking the EU rules and they’ll send gangsters and scroungers across in rubber boats. They have never got over the drubbings we have given them in the past or being saved from Nazi rule.

  47. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/11/04/tory-war-public-sector-waste-labour-jeremy-hunt-nhs-police/

    This is utter tosh. The Conservative party is throwing out any desperate platitude it can to it’s voter base hoping, desperately that their lies will stick and people will fall for them.

    It’s disgusting. They’ve had 13 miserable years to undo the Blair Brown holocaust (not The Holocaust) and have done nothing, electing one useless waster after another and when a Tory finally arrives, they stab the knife in deep to get the WEF stooge imposed on us without a shred of legitimacy.

    They’re serial liars, thieves and fools as devoted to the globalist, socialist idelogy of big state, high tax, spendaholic socialism as Labour . They’re all the same. Burn it down and start again.

    1. Who is to do the burning? Who is to do the starting again? Those with the inclination and ability do not have the power to do so and the general public shows little inclination to bestow it upon them.

  48. PROJECT FEAR LIVES!!!

    Next pandemic deemed the ‘Big One’ could be the most contagious and deadliest disease known to humanity, scientists warn

    Trillions dead in a trice. And even as they dream up the headline, Chinese “scientists” (aka killers) are working night and day to produce this new virus….

    1. According to our good friends near Melbourne, its rife already.
      Phone call this morning.

    5. So you’re saying, Bill, that the Russia/Ukraine confrontation and/or the Israel/Hamas confrontation will result in Nuclear War (“trillions dead in a trice”)?

    7. Apparently Pfizer’s results were disappointing. It was ascribed to “covid fatigue.”

      Gotta ramp up that fear campaign to get more needles into arms!

      RFK Jr estimates that the big pharma companies make more money out of selling remedies for vaxx injuries than they do out of vaxxes now.

  49. I couldn’t fathom out how my latest pulse oximeter could work out my respiration rate (RR) from my fingertip:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ca3c4cdddf047515950bcc2830e80dbff6ad302c1fc2ffe3d1b2d5c06986571e.jpg

    Here’s why:

    https://youtube.com/shorts/-8XXh1bVYu8?si=wt5XlnLzNPdBlzGV

    It turns out my SpO2 oximeter is running an RR algorithm based on Heart Rate Variability.

    Just add in a bit of AI generative computing and you can get a drug prescription to achieve whatever data training set objectives that the health minister decided to employ in the NHS robot doctor.

  50. In The Plot: The Political Assassination of Boris Johnson, Nadine Dorries identifies Michael Gove, Dominic Cummings and a powerful adviser called Dougie Smith as members of ‘the movement’.

    She says it toppled Mr Johnson and ‘brought down Iain Duncan Smith as party leader, created havoc for Theresa May and undermined Liz Truss’. Her

    book, which is being serialised in the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday,

    argues that ‘when it came to behind-the-scenes manipulation and

    manoeuvring, all roads lead back to Michael Gove’ because ‘he binds all

    the dark-arts people together’.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12708657/Sex-parties-ruthless-Tory-clique-secretly-make-break-Prime-Ministers-Revealed-Nadine-Dorries-bombshell-book-assassins-wanted-Boris-No-10-straight-landslide.html

    Nadine sticks the boot in…

    1. No wonder Sarah Vine ended up by loathing the very sight of this odious man and had to leave.

      1. Gove was exactly the same at Oxford. His only talent is for running slates and election campaigns – he’s useless when he actually has to DO anything!

        Guess where he has popped up recently?
        Speaking at the inaugural meeting of ARC, the Association for Responsible Citizenhood (or similar), which is Jordan Peterson’s new group that is supposed to be the main opposition to the WEF!
        Gove!!
        The group is just a good way of identifying who is controlled opposition.
        Douglas Murray, Jordan Peterson, Freedom Barbie from the Netherlands, (though she might have been duped) and many others.

  52. 378351+ up ticks,

    Short term mindsets at work again a temporary truce at this moment in time gives time for hamas to consolidate and endangers more children in the future, long term.
    Our politicos have a great deal in common with hamas as in, hamas tunneled to undermine the peoples
    physically, whereas the GB political overseers undermine the decent folk of the United Kingdoms minds.

    ‘Israel only has to lose once to be annihilated – a ceasefire is out of the question’
    Majority of Telegraph readers reject calls for a ceasefire in the escalating Israel-Hamas conflict

  55. Princess Anne.

    Her voice was confident as she read the
    scripture, which started with the words: ‘Though I speak with the
    tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as
    sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.’

    ‘And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and
    all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove
    mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.’

    A passages from 1 Corinthians was also read out at the Queen’s funeral.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12709707/Princess-Anne-admits-rewilding-scale-isnt-necessarily-good-idea-recalls-friendship-entertaining-conversationist-Gerald-Durrell.html

    1. I read I Corinthians xiii at the funeral of my father in 1984. I read the same lesson at my mother’s funeral in 2001.

      And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

      The King James Bible says charity; other versions say love. I always read aloud from the King James version.

      1. That is the ONLY version. The Janet and John ones which are so frequent these days are a shambolic disaster.

    2. She is more tolerant of ragwort than I am. It’s an intrusive invader, toxic to animals when dry and I root it out wherever I find it!

      1. It is also a noxious weed under the 1944 Dangerous Weeds Act and should be rooted out and destroyed.

  56. I came across a phrase I’d not heard before to describe a certain clique of US politicians…. The KosherNostra…..

  57. I saw a good birthday card today:
    ‘It seems strange being the same age as old people.’

    2. I once asked my mother (who was in her sixties at the time) if she would consider going on a Saga cruise. “Oh no,” she replied “the ship would be full of old people”.

      1. I had this shock when my children were teenagers and I looked round the room at a parents’ evening and thought, Help, I’m one of these!

  58. If November is Islamophobia Awareness Month then when are we going to have:

    Infidelophobia Awareness Month

    and when will the police take action against those guilty of

    Hate Crimes against Kafirs?

    3. The first thing would be to point out there is nothing irrational about fearing Islam.

        1. I thought it was the in thing to wear them again? They go in and out of fashion faster than I can count!

  59. S.S. Hatimura.

    Complement:
    90 (4 dead and 86 survivors).

    8,950 tons of general cargo, including 200 tons TNT, 250 tons gunpowder and 300 tons incendiary bombs.

    At 00.15 hours on 4th November 1942, U-132 (Vogelsang) attacked convoy SC-107 about 500 miles southeast of Cape Farewell, sank the Hobbema and Empire Lynx and damaged the Hatimura. The U-boat was lost after this attack when her last victim, the Hatimura, exploded.
    At 03.22 hours, the burning and sinking Hatimura was torpedoed by U-442 (Hans-Joachim Hesse) behind convoy. The ship blew up and debris fell within a wide radius from the ship. It seems that U-132, which was near the ship probably waiting for her victim to sink or to fire a coup de grâce, was struck by debris and immediately sank with all hands.
    Three crew members and one gunner from Hatimura (Master Willie Furneaux Putt) were lost. The master, 76 crew members and nine gunners were picked up by the American tugs Pessacus and Uncas, transferred to the British rescue ship Stockport (Master Thomas Ernest Fea OBE) and landed at Reykjavik on 8th November.

    Type VIIC U-Boat U-132 was sunk on 4th November 1942 in the North Atlantic south-east of Cape Farewell when the British ammunition ship Hatimura blew up in a huge explosion. U-132 had torpedoed this ship earlier and was probably waiting nearby for her to sink when caught in the lethal radius of the explosion. 47 dead (all hands lost).

    Type VIIC U-Boat U-442 was sunk on 12th February 1943 in the North Atlantic west of Cape St. Vincent by depth charges from a British Hudson aircraft (48 Sqn RAF/F). 48 dead (all hands lost).

    https://uboat.net/media/allies/merchants/br/hatimura.jpg

    1. Will he put himself forward for public circumcision and will he ask his wife to have female circumcision as well in order to suck up to the Muslims and show solidarity with their women?

  63. Four today lipped out on a three

    Wordle 868 4/6

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

    1. I just managed a birdie.

      Wordle 868 3/6

      🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟨🟩🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  64. Turning Point UK 🇬🇧
    @TPointUK
    The authorities have removed the flags off of the Cenotaph in order to “keep the peace” with the Palestinian march today.

    If they are offended by the flag of our nation why are they here?

    Law Discoveries Authority
    @LawDiscoveries
    The removal of national flags from the Cenotaph in the context of a Palestinian march engages several legal principles and statutory provisions. From an international law perspective, the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) may be relevant, particularly Article 22, which protects the premises of a mission (such as embassies) from intrusion or damage, ensuring the dignity of such premises. While the Cenotaph is not a diplomatic mission, the same principles of respect for national symbols could be analogously applied.

    In terms of domestic law, the decision to remove the flags could be scrutinized under the Human Rights Act 1998, which incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law, particularly Article 10 (freedom of expression) and Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association). The Public Order Act 1986, specifically sections 11 to 14, which deal with processions and assemblies, and section 16, which defines a public assembly, may also provide a legal framework for the authorities’ actions.

    Furthermore, the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011, especially sections 141 to 149, outlines offenses related to trespassing on or causing damage to national war memorials, which could be interpreted to include actions that disrespect such memorials.

    The Equality Act 2010 might also be invoked, considering the duty not to discriminate on various grounds, including race and religion, which could apply to the treatment of individuals participating in the march.

    From a common law perspective, the principle of maintaining public order and the Royal Prerogative, which includes the preservation of peace, could be cited as justification for the authorities’ decision.

    Lastly, the Flag Flying Regulations or any specific bylaws pertaining to the display of national symbols at memorials may provide additional legal context for the actions taken.

    These legal instruments and principles reflect the complexity of balancing the right to protest with respect for national symbols and the maintenance of public order. For a deeper legal analysis, one would need to consider case law, statutory interpretation, and the proportionality of the measures taken in light of the specific circumstances.

    Explore
    @LawDiscoveries
    for more in-depth discussions on legal statutes and their applications in various contexts.

    1. I’m disgusted by the useless wasters in officialdom. More flags should have been rolled out until the scum learn that this is Britain and we are proud of her and won’t tolerate vermin any longer.

      1. Anyone who ‘disrespects’ the British flag flying in Britain should be locked up for high treason and then be expelled from Britain without further delay.

        What would happen to a British national treating the Palestinian flag with disrespect in Palestine?

    2. The Met Police have stated that the flags are removed every year for cleaning, before Armistice Weekend.

        1. KenL, we just don’t believe it.

          If a flag is taken down for cleaning it is replaced.

          It hasn’t been replaced in this case, we wonder why?

          1. I am always sceptical about social media posts and try to validate what they are saying, before either referring to one or refuting one. In this instance, I searched the web and there are lots of historical references to the flags being removed for cleaning on all sorts of military and other websites. Nowhere did it say anything about temporary replacements being used. Equally, nowhere did it categorically state that replacements were not used.

    1. Yes, it is. Sadly, being the cynic I am I expect the SS to start legal action against the men who did the good deed.

    3. You would have thought after all this time they would have given it a ride in a Lamborghini …….

  66. Ukraine has blown its best chance to defeat Putin. 4 November 2023,

    A resolution to the war in Ukraine is one remaining option. What if he chooses to pressure Ukraine into a ceasefire by threatening to deny or reduce American support? Few European leaders would seriously object as Meloni’s phone call suggests.

    Whatever happens, we – Britain – must continue to support the more noble, if difficult, pathway to ultimate victory. Give Ukraine the air superiority, combat engineering and artillery it needs to change the battlefield. For as things stand, only Putin may emerge victorious.

    This is the stuff of the purest fantasy! We should never have become involved in the first place! The larger picture looks even more dreadful.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/04/ukraine-has-blown-its-best-chance-to-defeat-putin/

    1. There is one hilarious comment which links Israel to Russia via Iran! I’ve no idea what the guy is smoking!

    2. Give Ukraine the air superiority, combat engineering and artillery it needs to change the battlefield.

      I’d be surprised if we are capable of providing air superiority over our own island home yet alone along a huge front in the Ukraine and right next to Russia. Did a retired Lt Colonel really write this fantasy?

      1. The only military with the resources to do this is the USA, and even they must be getting tired of it.
        Not only has almost all spare materiel been sent to Ukraine already, but involvement of serving personnel would be a terrible escalation, being the same as declaration of war on Russia.

    1. Where are protests happening on Saturday?
      Protests are taking place in around 40 different towns and cities on Saturday in solidarity with the people of Gaza.

      According to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, these locations include:

      Bristol
      Cambridge
      Canterbury
      Carlisle
      Chatham
      Coventry
      Dorchester
      Dumfries
      Durham
      Eastbourne
      Exeter
      Guildford
      Halifax
      Hereford
      Hitchin
      Kingston
      Kirkwall
      Leamington Spa
      Leeds
      Lincoln
      Liverpool
      London (Brent)
      London (Brixton)
      London (Camden)
      London (Central)
      London (Ealing)
      London (Hackney)
      London (Harrow)
      London (Islington)
      London (Kingsbury)
      London (Lewisham)
      London (Redbridge)
      London (Wimbledon)
      London (Tower Hamlets)
      Luton
      Miltton Keynes
      Newcastle
      Northampton
      Nottingham
      Oxford
      Penzance
      Plymouth
      Portsmouth
      Sheffield
      Southampton
      Southend
      Stoke
      Tunbridge Wells
      Woking
      Wolverhampton
      Worthing
      Wrexham
      York
      Further protests are scheduled for Sunday, including in:

      Barnstaple
      Birmingham
      Brighton and Hove
      Chester
      Hastings
      Leicester
      London (Herne Hill)
      London (Waltham Forest)

      1. Righty, when they turn up and kick off, pack them into shipping containers and dump them back in Palestine.

        1. I would be surprised if more than a tiny proportion of these marchers have even visited it let alone lived in “Palestine”.

      3. What is the point of them, do they think we have the power to influence the outcome even if we wanted to

        1. Muslims flexing their muscles – seeing how much they can get away with. It will only get worse.

    2. Last time when the black looting mob got uppity plod ran away from them as well. They should have beaten them back until they learned their place.

    4. Of course if those protest marches took place anywhere in the Arab/Muslim world there wouldn’t be any women protesting. Or Unions or queers for that matter.

    5. You reap what you sow. Import the third world: become the third world. This ‘revenge for the crusades’ will get completely out of hand. No one in the government (of any party) nor any of the populace has the balls or brains to do anything about it. It is time to get mediæval on their arses. More procrastination spells disaster.

      1. The longer you leave a problem, the worse the solution is.
        This one is going to be awful.

        1. As Eddy mentioned, just this morning, the future is going to be even worse for the youngsters of today.

          3. Indeed.
            I’m approaching end-of-life, so if I can make it better for the youngsters and if necessary leave this coil a bit earlier than expected, that’s a deal I can live with.

          4. Us old buggers haven’t even started to think about how to do that yet. Our accelerating stupidity as a species is preventing it from happening.

          5. I mentioned to our eldest grandchild, you need to go and live somewhere else when you get older. His dad was born in Adelaide.

          6. Living somewhere else is good for the experience. One learns a lot, not being stuck in the same wee bubble. Live & work in Africa, Asia, Europe, US, S America. Makes one a more rounded, and experienced, person.
            Just look at the denizens of NoTTL!

          8. I was born in 1946 after World War II had ended. I wonder if I shall die before World War III begins!

          1. Fight for the old one. Not finished yet. Traditional Brits never gave up, not in the psyche.

      2. We’ve imported and “bred” millions who follow a religion which deems it perfectly acceptable to kill people who disrespect that religion.
        If only 0.1% decided to start a holy war, that’s approaching 4,000 potential suicide bombers, machete men and women and atrocity drivers.

        I wouldn’t be at all surprised if 10% of the dinghy folk think along those lines, so the 0.1% figure is probably a woeful understatement.

        1. Ah! That was only one Crusade. The revenge is for even thinking about mounting the Crusades.

      4. The state wanted them here as revenge, they’re massive clients of the public sector – if not *in* the public sector. It won’t do anything to disrupt that.

  68. OK, so what has Maggie been up to?

    Protected 180-year-old oak tree permanently damaged in chainsaw attack
    By
    Telegraph Reporters
    3 November 2023 • 9:49pm

    A protected 180-year-old oak tree was permanently damaged after it was slashed with a chainsaw under cover of darkness in a quiet cul-de-sac.

    The much-loved magnificent oak had two large and deep slices cut into its trunk on two separate occasions.

    It is thought the attacker used the cloak of night and a quieter electric chainsaw to carry out the two bodged attempts to fell the 50ft tree three weeks apart in August.
    It is not known why the oak was targeted.

    The specimen is on communal land in Lampton Close in Wool, Dorset, and is subject to a Tree Preservation Order, making any attempt to destroy it an illegal act.

    Dorset Council has launched an investigation.

    At first officials said the weakened tree would have to be felled as the damage meant it was a danger to people and property.

    But tree surgeons have since visited the site and managed to save the mighty oak after removing 20ft from the top to take the weight off it.

    Dorset Council said: “Our team have managed to save the tree and they are hoping that it will reshoot and continue to grow.

    “We are still following up lines of inquiry to find the person responsible.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2023/11/03/TELEMMGLPICT000355365804_16990463229750_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqtGQB12KHxxQCrwnTZkX0nwgWqwm85JEWpGVhFb46TTg.jpeg?imwidth=680

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2023/11/03/TELEMMGLPICT000355365788_16990464130100_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqtGQB12KHxxQCrwnTZkX0nwgWqwm85JEWpGVhFb46TTg.jpeg?imwidth=1280

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/03/protected-180-year-old-oak-tree-damaged-chainsaw-dorset/

    2. What is this mini fad of attacking old trees all about? Did the culprit(s) want to fell it or merely damage it? Had it fallen were they in any way concerned for their own safety or that of the neighbouring properties? Given the proximity of the tree to those homes, I find it hard to understand – even with the claim of chainsaw quietness – that none were awakened by the noise. Given that the two attacks were in August, it certainly wasn’t a copycat incident as it preceded the felling of the sycamore by Hadrian’s Wall.

      1. Have they questioned the residents of the immediately neighbouring properties as suspects? Perhaps they collaborated to have it felled by a third party because of the shade it was casting over their properties and feigned not hearing the chainsaw.

          1. I keep thinking about it being two nights in August, a time of year when people leave their bedroom windows open.

      3. There are people who just like to wreck stuff that other’s like – such as this tree. It’s been there a long time, and as some kind of representative of the local community, needs defaced, damaged, destroyed. Poor old tree – I hope it survives now it’s had emergency surgery.
        I just posted the following on an arsbook thread, in reply to a very old Native American’s post on trees:
        “Trees have character, soul and opinions – if you listen hard enough.”

          1. 😉
            Same goes for old cars, boats, houses. They develop characters and opinions, and if you shout at them, can become upset and uncooperative-
            Firstborn, Technical Authority in the motor trade, agrees with me.

          2. It’s known as the poetic or pathetic fallacy – the attribution of human feelings and responses to inanimate things or animals, especially in art and literature. For example :

            When the stars threw down their spears. And water’d heaven with their tears:

            [William Blake: The Tyger]

          3. Those of us with a technical bent, and with oily hands, will disagree.
            A “thing” isn’t just a “thing”, it communicates to those who know the language.
            Who here can understand Hausa? Does that mean that there is no communication is Hausa? Or, just that one cannot understand the communication in Hausa?

      5. We have three oak trees in our garden. One must be at least 70 years old because it was already quite big when we arrived here in 1989. The second self-seeded itself in the middle of a laurel hedge 30 years ago. We cut out the laurel and it is now a healthy tree of about 45 feet in height. The third I dug up as a sapling of 2 feet and transplanted it about 10 years ago. It is now about 20 feet high.

        1. I’ve got some spare acorns next time I manage to go for a walk I’ll put into pocket and toss them into the edges of the local fields.

      6. I’ve been starting oaks from our neighbours acorns, and conifers from cone seed. Also a walnut squirrels buried in our garden. I give them to my nephew who lives in the North Pennines they’ve recently had a huge replanting project which includes some of their land. He stored thousands of new growth in his barn. They had a local area replanting for volunteers.
        Fortunately he had some protection surrounds and stakes spare. He sends me photos of how they doing. Under three feet and A longway to go. But it will happen. We should pay a visit next year and stay over.

    2. I don’t know what happened to it but, my father had a photograph of his eldest brother in his army uniform. Every year with out fail, father use to fix a poppy to the frame. His brother Ernest was on board a hospital ship in the English Channel on his way home from Egypt for treatment as were his colleagues. A brave smart arse German pilot dropped a few bombs, sank the ship and nobody on board survived.

  72. I note that the Rafah crossing is closed again for foreign nationals.
    Is this determined by Egypt or the Palestinian Authority?
    I also am led to believe that Hamas has been trying to evacuate its wounded that way, as well as to smuggle fighters out amongst those being allowed to leave

        1. I guess it’s only those of us with a Christian & similar background who care for all involved, as opposed to only those who are useful in pushing forward the Prophet’s (piss be unto Him) agenda.

          1. There can be no balance from now on, it’s obvious islamists relate kindness, accommodating compationate behaviour and honesty, as weaknesses to be restlessly exploited.
            And as we know, they don’t miss an opportunity in their ambition to destroy our western cultures.
            Our government needs to get a move on if they have any common sense.

          1. 378351+ up ticks,

            Sue it is photoshopped, but I wouldn’t put the arab kit past him if he thought it was a vote winner.

  74. All the silly lefties and other bleeding hearts and LGBTQWXYZ+ marching with the Muslims, just who do they think will be next when the Jews have been killed?

    2. Indeed.
      Warning given – probably the most powerful poetry I know.
      When the Nazis came for the communists
      When the Nazis came for the communists,
      I remained silent;
      I was not a communist.

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

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

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

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

      Als die Nazis die Kommunisten holten,
      habe ich geschwiegen;
      ich war ja kein Kommunist.

      Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten,
      habe ich geschwiegen;
      ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat.

      Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten,
      habe ich nicht protestiert;
      ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter.

      Als sie die Juden holten,
      habe ich geschwiegen;
      ich war ja kein Jude.

      Als sie mich holten,
      gab es keinen mehr,
      der protestieren konnte.[1]

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

      1. I understand the sentiment behind that poem but it is hugely flawed in ints concept. The title (and first line) are an obvious error since the Nazis and the communists were both of the same totalitarian bent and both shared the same Left-wing of the political spectrum. One ‘coming’ for the other is nothing more than the supporters of one football team ‘coming’ for the supporters of a rival team. Both play the same sport but have different affiliations.

        2. Yes, Fascism and Communism were, and still are, the opposite cheeks of the same shitty Socialist arsehole, but there were several differences between them that saw them as bitter enemies.

  75. That’s me gone for this very dreary day. Sun struggled to shine for about two minutes. Then it rained …. More tomorrow. Apparently Monday will be nice. “Jam tomorrow” springs to mind.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain

  76. Sue Edison, or anyone who take their local Parish Magazine…
    Does your parish do a digital magazine, and if so, how is it distributed?

    Does anyone get any kind of publication via Whatsapp, dedicated app or any digital method other than email?

    1. Both my churches (the one I now attend and the one I left) have paper versions only. One charges for it (£5 per year – 12 issues – or 50p per issue) and the other doesn’t (paid for by advertising).

    2. I edit our monthly parish magazine. People can subscribe to either the paper version, or the digital version by email, or both if they really want it. No advertising; the sub pays for the printing and the postage. Here in France both these costs are high and this year our paper sub is 20€, and the digital sub is 12€. Paper subs are much more popular – about 230 per month, as opposed to under 40 for the digital ones. We have just decided to sent most of our complimentary copies out digitally rather than on paper, wherever possible, to save on costs.

      I must say that it has never occurred to me to offer a digital version via WhatsApp, but I don’t see why we shouldn’t. I’ll suggest it to the parish counsellors and see what they have to say about it. Thanks for the idea!

      1. I’ve just been looking into WhatsApp. There is a “broadcast” function that can be used to send a file out to a list of Whatsapp subscribers. It is available programmatically, so I would have to code something. There are ready-made professional solutions aimed at businesses, and some of them offer a free service if you don’t send many broadcasts, I think.
        One problem would be that most people use WhatsApp on their phones.
        We currently do one magazine layout that is for A4 paper, and it looks OK on the computer. But it could be better laid out for phones.

        Do you know if there is any software that helps you to change a Word/Libre Office document to phone format?
        Mostly this would be putting the text in one narrow column, and changing photos from being at the side to being either above or below text, so that people can scroll through it more easily.
        But this would be a lot of work to change the format without special software.

        1. What about pdf ? The trouble can be file size; most pdf programs (I use Foxit) have something called an optimizer which will reduce the size in such a way that it makes better viewing on a mobile phone.

          1. Ours gets sent out as a pdf, of course, but nobody has said that file size is a problem. I suppose I ought to get a smart phone and test it myself…

            If you create posts for Substack online, they automatically create two different layouts, one for a computer screen, and one for a phone, so that you don’t have to zoom in to read it. That’s the kind of thing that I’m looking for.

            There is lots of interesting stuff about pdfs on the Foxit website, thank you for the link.

      1. Do young people get the email newsletter? My children use email, but I have heard that young people don’t now – they prefer Whatsapp or other messaging apps.

        Do people read your newsletter on their phones, and if so, how do they manage with the format? Is it optimised for A4? Do they just rely on zooming in?
        Ours has lots of photos embedded on left and right in the text, whereas for phones, they really need to be chained with sections of text.

        1. Everyone gets the email and there’s a 4-6 page paper pew sheet with details of services and events but many of the young people in the congregation arrived via engaging with Fr Marcus on Twitter. He’s not afraid to be contentious and express personal opinions, have lively debate and take the flak. When there was an ad for an assistant priest it was actually part of the job spec that they do Twitter. The emails are legible and the photos are the right size on my phone. I don’t know how that’s done!

          1. Respect to him, because Twitter is an energy vampire!
            Our parish group is rather different – a group of rural villages, and everything gets put into the magazine whether it’s directly related to the church or not!
            Thank you for the information.

      2. I love your church website!
        Online sign-up is good – but our magazine is not free, so paying would have to be built in.

    1. Good for them – they stand up for our much benighted country.
      Time to think about fighting back!

  81. A Conservative MP has been found guilty of racially abusing an activist by telling him to “go back to Bahrain”.

    Bob Stewart showed “racial hostility” towards a protester during a demonstration outside a Foreign Office building, a court heard.

    The MP for Beckenham in southeast London told activist Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei “you’re taking money off my country, go away!” during a row in Westminster on December 14 last year.

    Mr Alwadaei shouted: “Bob Stewart, for how much did you sell yourself to the Bahraini regime?”

    During a heated exchange, Stewart replied: “Go away, I hate you. You make a lot of fuss. Go back to Bahrain.”

    In footage played during a trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday, he also said: “Now shut up, you stupid man.”

    Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring found the MP guilty of a racially aggravated public order offence.

    He said Stewart will not be jailed.

    This is all wrong .. why on earth did this come to court ?

    I hope the activist Sayed Ahmed Alwadae was sent back to Bahrain immediately .

    1. “Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring found the MP guilty of a racially aggravated public order offence.

      He said Stewart will not be jailed.”

      How generous of the court, the world’s gone mad, Maggie!

          1. We seem to be participants in the Mad Hatters tea party, over seen by the RED Queen of Hearts ..(“Off with their heads!”)

            “It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.”

    2. I was once told to “go back to Dorking”, but I don’t recall calling the cops when they said that.

      1. I’m forever telling NoTTLers to go to the Naughty Step because they are Silly Sausages. Lol.

        1. Isn’t calling someone a “Silly Sausage” considered sexist, or can women also be called that these days in the name of trans-friendliness?

  82. Evening, all. Kadi is currently cowering in a corner shivering while the crashes and bangs surround us. I’ve got the TV on for noise. I’ve just had to throw away my battery drill driver (the batteries won’t charge) and my electric drill (started sparking with a smell of electrical discharge. Cue having to buy a new drill driver and while I was at it, I bought a cheap smart watch to count my calories and steps.

    On the convid jab front I had a phone call from a friend tonight who happened to mention en passant that two other members of our acquaintance had been laid out by having a covid booster. That makes three of my aquaintance in the last week.

      1. No, they just had to spend a day or two in bed. I’ve got a huggy fleece on Kadi and he’s settled better now. I do have spray rescue remedy for him. Oscar doesn’t seem to be bothered. He wanted to go out when the bangs were at their loudest!

    3. Poor little Kadi, Conners. What’s worse is that the morons won’t stop at night-time tomorrow, but may well continue for at a least a week and then start again at Christmas and into the New Year. PS – How is Oscar coping with all of these flashes and bangs? PPS – Sorry, I have just read on down and have seen your answer.

      1. Oscar is fine. I’ve wiped Kadi down with a calming wipe. He’s asleep now (but the bangs have stopped anyway).

    1. Nice hair 😄 one of the two remaining Travelling Wilburys left.
      21:00 will do for me. Young grand-daughter Christening at midday tmz.
      Night all.

        1. A superb afternoon lovely time, lots of lovely people I’ve never met before lovely to chat with them.
          I contacted my nephew and because he never watches MSM he’s never seen any reference to the M&S FB Incedent.
          Lucky guy.

  90. From the DT comments just now .

    BD

    bonzo dog
    2 MIN AGO
    I have been fuming most of the day after seeing the articles about planned marches, disruption to Remembrance services and the 2 minutes silence, takeovers by the mob minority of mainline stations and all the while the authorities do nothing. Camilla Tominay says she fears for the future of Britain – where has she been these last few years?
    Multiculturalism has failed. Successive governments, in their rush to bend over backwards to facilitate absorption of other cultures and values have presided over the trashing of our values, culture and our history.
    The left have taken over the Universities, the schools and all the major institutions. We teach our children that we are guilty because of things our ancestors did centuries ago.
    To be patriotic is seen as sinful – especially if you are English – whereas the other UK nations are encouraged to revel in their patriotism and fly their flags. The Union flag is vilified as a badge of colonialism, by those eager to denigrate the role Britain has played in fighting for freedom and against ‘bad actors’ around the world.
    We accept refugees and asylum seekers but have seen our goodwill evaporate as many more than we can cater for are allowed in, those who despise us are happy to take from us, they do not want to accept our values or our culture. They do not want to be a part of our way of life, they want us to adopt their way of life and will not stop until they succeed.
    Fear for the future of Britain? It’s already been lost by our spineless political class.
    Mrs d

    I know , that is how I feel, because on many occasions I have been pulled up sharply by politcal correctness and banned for this that and the other .. honest free speech is monitored now ..

    The other evening I was banned from commenting on Facebook for a month because i suggested someone was a knob head .

    I am feeling so fed up , My contact with old friends and my family is ruined ..I cannot reply or comment nor can I do like wise with village events etc .

    Feeling angry is an understatement .

    1. The ones doing the worst of the hand wringing are the same ones who up to a couple of weeks ago were squealing racist and bigot at anyone calling doubts upon mass immigration and their foul Diversity.

    2. I share your despondency. I believe we should stop giving Muslims a free pass. We should condemn those who by their demonstrations are lending support to Hamas whose acts are worse than animals and whose statements are beyond hate speech.

      We must defend western culture and continue to teach its values such as morality, the family, honesty, charity and forgiveness.

      We need a certain diversity, that of Liberty, a diversity of opinions and ideas with a view to arresting the evident moral decline which has given rise to many of our current problems.

      We need our churches to step up to the mark. Churches and our great cathedrals have become tourist destinations, congregations are dwindling and our priests are infected by woke nonsense. We need highly educated male priests just as the disciples were intelligent males for a reason. The same applies to higher offices such as Deans, Bishops and Archbishops.

    3. I share your despondency. I believe we should stop giving Muslims a free pass. We should condemn those who by their demonstrations are lending support to Hamas whose acts are worse than animals and whose statements are beyond hate speech.

      We must defend western culture and continue to teach its values such as morality, the family, honesty, charity and forgiveness.

      We need a certain diversity, that of Liberty, a diversity of opinions and ideas with a view to arresting the evident moral decline which has given rise to many of our current problems.

      We need our churches to step up to the mark. Churches and our great cathedrals have become tourist destinations, congregations are dwindling and our priests are infected by woke nonsense. We need highly educated male priests just as the disciples were intelligent males for a reason. The same applies to higher offices such as Deans, Bishops and Archbishops.

    4. The pub, if it’s a decent one, is still a place of sanity. Which is probably why they are driving them out of business.

  93. Sandra Ntonya
    @sandraXntonya
    ·
    8h
    I will give you one massive underestimated positive of this week. x
    ‘Party of Islam’ has bid to become new UK political party rejected.
    The would-be party’s application ‘did not meet the requirements set out in electoral law’, regulators said.
    🇬🇧🫶🏾🇬🇧
    One can only imagine if…

    2. Jesus, won’t be long before they’re the government. Lucky we’re all old. Why won’t the kids listen?

  94. Goodnight all. Took me ages to get home from the Wigmore this evening. Shepherds Bush station is closed for no apparent reason and the TFL website had no mention.

    2. Good concert I hope.
      Years since I’ve been to the Wigmore. I used to drop in for the Monday Lunchtime Concerts whenever I was on a travel shift passing through London in full Network Rail orange with a week’s worth of kit in my bag!

  96. I suppose better late than Never. I’ve been charping all morning:

    Good morrow, Gentlefolk. today’s story (not very funny but I have to put something up)

    Complimentary Bar

    Just as his favourite bar opens for the day, a guy walks in and to his surprise hears a voice saying, “Those are really nice shoes you’re wearing.”

    He looks round but he’s the first customer. No-one else is there but the bartender. Again, this voice is heard, “That suit you have on is real sharp, too!”

    The customer asks the bartender, “Say, Mike, did you hear that? Who said that?”

    Mike points to a bowl on the bar and replies, “It was the complimentary peanuts.”

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