Saturday 25 November: Why fixing Britain’s pothole-ridden roads will be an uphill struggle

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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597 thoughts on “Saturday 25 November: Why fixing Britain’s pothole-ridden roads will be an uphill struggle”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolk. today’s story
    That’s the Way to Do It
    A construction worker came home just in time to find his wife in bed with another man. So, he dragged the man down the stairs to the garage and put his wet willie in a vice. He secured it tightly and removed the handle. Then he picked up a hacksaw. The man terrified, screamed, “Stop! Stop! You’re not going to (gulp) cut off my dick, are you???!?”

    The husband said, with a gleam of revenge in his eye,

    “Nope. You are. I’m just gonna set the garage on fire.”

  2. Good morning, chums. Reasonably good weather today, so I may go out later. But for now, here I am to read Sir Jasper’s morning funny and enjoy the music on Angel Radio. Enjoy your day.

      1. Sorry, Sir Jasper, I’m not sure. If you Google it, you will probably find it. But, as you are not in the Portsmouth area where the station is situated and where their coverage is limited, you will have to do what I – and many international listeners – do which is to get it on the internet.

  3. If you are feeling stiff and slugish, eat more red meat. We did and the difference is fantastic. We have increased our red meat intake and it has worked.

  5. 379983+ up ticks,

    Morning Each

    It would be unforgivable to allow Abu Dhabi to nationalise the Telegraph and Spectator

    Rishi Sunak might fear upsetting Arab friends, but these are great British institutions whose future is now in doubt

    Least of the worries with what in reality is really happening,
    sunaks arab friends have / are taking over, ALL over.

  6. Good Moaning.
    Today is Christmas card printing day; be prepared for a nuclear shaped cloud hanging over north Essex.
    After designing it on a new program (too clever by half – therefore clunking and laborious) my language and thoughts over the past couple of days have been neither festive nor Christian. If it’s still much of a butter ugger after the New Year and a bit more practice, I will ask my pet ‘pooter nerd to find something else.
    I hope you can access this weekly round-up from TCW.

    https://mailchi.mp/conservativewoman/kathys-tcw-week-in-review-xosto90xo5-2635984?e=572844d9ca.

      1. I used to use Photoshop and Word, but they were becoming old and cranky.
        When my PPN got me a new laptop, he put ArtRag5 on it; so far, I am not a fan.
        I will give it a few weeks to see if I can discover its virtues.

        1. The card I’ve just sent you, Anne, is made using PowerPoint but it does require you to print it on your own paper, fold it and then it’s done.

          1. Can you send a printer THAT WORKS too, Tom? Ours just bung up their little injetty pathways and never work again, so we gave up having a printer.
            Morning, BTW.

          2. I’m currently using an Epson XP-3150 and it seems OK – cheap ink is available from various retailers at a fraction of Epson originals.

            I also have a Canon PIXMA MG3650S Wireless Inkjet Printer that I’ve yet to fire up – Argos £34.99.

      1. The billionaire, Chris Hohn, she mentions was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George by Cameron in 2014 – for his donations to Extinction Rebellion and other ‘Greeny’ causes, no doubt. They are all deeply corrupt.

    3. Kathy is spot on.
      I never seen or heard of her before, brilliant. She closely resembles my good lady who just maybe a tad older.

      1. Get yourself an external hard drive (at least 1TB) and download docs you no longer reference.

    1. Morning Bill – it’s very bright and clear here so I’m sure it will be sunny as it was yesterday.

        1. I’ve put the clothes out in the sun – I don’t expect them to dry, much, but better than nowt.

  9. Off to the Christmas market today in Wotton. Nice sunny day – car all loaded up last night and just hope the customers all have cash – I remembered to sum-up machine last night so we’re collecting it from Annie this morning on our way, but I’m buggered if I know how to get it going.

    Heavy frost on the windscreen.

        1. Sorry, i have a notion that Ndovu supports a hedgehog charity and i wondered if the market trip was thus related.

          It did prompt me to make a mental note to go to the hedgehog website and buy my next year’s calendar. In the interim it seems my 10 am match has been cancelled as the pitch is frozen so seems i will have no excuse!

          4. Blimey, you must be a lot younger than the average Nottler. Last time I played hockey was on a rolling helideck back in about 2000 and a young Tasmanian lady almost taking my foot off at the ankle.

      2. No – we sell stuff to pay for the care of the hedgehogs in the hospital. Cards, calendars, tea towels, other stuff, and a tombola. Soft toys, etc etc. We have over 100 underweight autumn juveniles in care for the winter, many suffering internal parasites, so need medication so vet bills too.

  10. Good morning all,

    Frost on the battlements at McPhee Towers and a nice clear day in prospect. Wind in the Nor-West, -1℃ rising to +4℃. Autumn is over.

    Potholes are just too boring although I’ve just had to shell out for two new front tyres for the Merc due to “typical pothole damage” according to my tyre man.

    The Princes in the Tower are much more interesting:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e9b7a3583fd27036c8ac4cd5b5273002b9514ff7941506686920f64e3e0306f5.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6c38026f08ab77e64a8049461de4bc43192e08ded1c025ca95159cfa1015fbbf.png

    It so happens that SWMBO is currently hooked on a series of historical novels by Phillipa Gregory about this period at the end of the War of the Roses/start of the Tudor Dynasty and she keeps regaling me with remarks about what an utter bastard Henry VII was despite his hailing from her county, Pembrokeshire. We watched the C4 programme about Phillipa Langley’s discoveries concerning the two princes and it certainly was interesting (what is it about Phillipas and Dick the Shit?). The only thing about the programme which irked me was the involvement of TV judge/barrister/whatever Rob Rinder who seems to get everywhere these days (was he not very good at being a judge?). The ever-reliable James Delingpole dealt that in his review in The Spectator.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/877c24f3b9f3235193733f5933c1a25982a9ea508cdf34866127c0a6ffd2cb12.png
    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/a-calculated-insult-to-the-viewer-channel-4s-the-princes-in-the-tower-the-new-evidence-reviewed/
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8d67829340c72718126f601a2981e1bd4432108bc734644ed68806d355e91e0d.png

    Despite that the programme is definitely worth watching on catch-up if you haven’t seen it.

    1. I will have to look up what the history book to end all history books has to say about Lambert Warbeck and Simnel Perkin.

        1. 1066 and all that. Sellar and Yeateman. Sorry, have been busy. Will try and do it soon as it was hilarious.

    2. I’d be interested to know how close the York siblings were. Henry VII married their sister.

      1. Elizabeth Woodville the younger who detested him. Apparently she had been in love with Richard III. The Duke of Clarence (brother to Edward IV) had put about the rumour that the princes (and therefore Eliz W junior) were illegitimate because Edward was still married when he took Eliz. W senior as his wife. Henry had to declare them legimate in order to marry Eliz W. junior (who hated being raped every night). The really nasty individual in all this was H VII’s mother Margaret Beaufort. So SWMBO tells me.

        Henry was expecting an invasion and coup from the continent because one or both princes were there and he had troops stationed along the East coast to keep a watch.

        What a rum bunch.

      2. Elizabeth Woodville the younger who detested him. Apparently she had been in love with Richard III. The Duke of Clarence (brother to Edward IV) had put about the rumour that the princes (and therefore Eliz W junior) were illegitimate because Edward was still married when he took Eliz. W senior as his wife. Henry had to declare them legimate in order to marry Eliz W. junior (who hated being raped every night). The really nasty individual in all this was H VII’s mother Margaret Beaufort. So SWMBO tells me.

        Henry was expecting an invasion and coup from the continent because one or both princes were there and he had troops stationed along the East coast to keep a watch.

        What a rum bunch.

      3. Elizabeth Woodville the younger who detested him. Apparently she had been in love with Richard III. The Duke of Clarence (brother to Edward IV) had put about the rumour that the princes (and therefore Eliz W junior) were illegitimate because Edward was still married when he took Eliz. W senior as his wife. Henry had to declare them legimate in order to marry Eliz W. junior (who hated being raped every night). The really nasty individual in all this was H VII’s mother Margaret Beaufort. So SWMBO tells me.

        Henry was expecting an invasion and coup from the continent because one or both princes were there and he had troops stationed along the East coast to keep a watch.

        What a rum bunch.

    3. I’ve just looked up Lambert Simnel. Apparently he was “crowned” in Dublin in 1487, and was reported to be around ten years old at the time. This would make him too young to be one of the princes in the tower, who were born in 1470 and around 1473. He took the regnal name ‘Edward’, which was the name of the uncrowned Edward V, previously Lord of the Marches when Prince of Wales, and most definitely born in 1470. He would not have claimed the throne as his younger brother, since Richard was below Edward in the Order of Succession, and there was no reason why he should not have taken that name. Wikipedia thinks Simnel was the Duke of Clarence – cousin to the princes in the tower.

      Perkin Warbeck, however, was the right age to be Richard. His story, according to Wikipedia, was that his life was spared when his older brother was murdered, and he managed to escape to Burgundy. It was exposed as a fabrication following investigations by Henry VII, but some of that evidence was obtained under duress. Nevertheless, why would a gaoler employed to remove any threat to the Duke of Gloucester’s claim to the throne, kill the King but spare the next-in-line, when both could be dispatched at the same time with ease?

  11. Good morning all,

    Frost on the battlements at McPhee Towers and a nice clear day in prospect. Wind in the Nor-West, -1℃ rising to +4℃. Autumn is over.

    Potholes are just too boring although I’ve just had to shell out for two new front tyres for the Merc due to “typical pothole damage” according to my tyre man.

    The Princes in the Tower are much more interesting:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e9b7a3583fd27036c8ac4cd5b5273002b9514ff7941506686920f64e3e0306f5.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6c38026f08ab77e64a8049461de4bc43192e08ded1c025ca95159cfa1015fbbf.png

    It so happens that SWMBO is currently hooked on a series of historical novels by Phillipa Gregory about this period at the end of the War of the Roses/start of the Tudor Dynasty and she keeps regaling me with remarks about what an utter bastard Henry VII was despite his hailing from her county, Pembrokeshire. We watched the C4 programme about Phillipa Langley’s discoveries concerning the two princes and it certainly was interesting (what is it about Phillipas and Dick the Shit?). The only thing about the programme which irked me was the involvement of TV judge/barrister/whatever Rob Rinder who seems to get everywhere these days (was he not very good at being a judge?). The ever-reliable James Delingpole dealt that in his review in The Spectator.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/877c24f3b9f3235193733f5933c1a25982a9ea508cdf34866127c0a6ffd2cb12.png
    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/a-calculated-insult-to-the-viewer-channel-4s-the-princes-in-the-tower-the-new-evidence-reviewed/
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8d67829340c72718126f601a2981e1bd4432108bc734644ed68806d355e91e0d.png

    Despite that the programme is definitely worth watching on catch-up if you haven’t seen it.

  12. Good morning all,

    Frost on the battlements at McPhee Towers and a nice clear day in prospect. Wind in the Nor-West, -1℃ rising to +4℃. Autumn is over.

    Potholes are just too boring although I’ve just had to shell out for two new front tyres for the Merc due to “typical pothole damage” according to my tyre man.

    The Princes in the Tower are much more interesting:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e9b7a3583fd27036c8ac4cd5b5273002b9514ff7941506686920f64e3e0306f5.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6c38026f08ab77e64a8049461de4bc43192e08ded1c025ca95159cfa1015fbbf.png

    It so happens that SWMBO is currently hooked on a series of historical novels by Phillipa Gregory about this period at the end of the War of the Roses/start of the Tudor Dynasty and she keeps regaling me with remarks about what an utter bastard Henry VII was despite his hailing from her county, Pembrokeshire. We watched the C4 programme about Phillipa Langley’s discoveries concerning the two princes and it certainly was interesting (what is it about Phillipas and Dick the Shit?). The only thing about the programme which irked me was the involvement of TV judge/barrister/whatever Rob Rinder who seems to get everywhere these days (was he not very good at being a judge?). The ever-reliable James Delingpole dealt that in his review in The Spectator.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/877c24f3b9f3235193733f5933c1a25982a9ea508cdf34866127c0a6ffd2cb12.png
    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/a-calculated-insult-to-the-viewer-channel-4s-the-princes-in-the-tower-the-new-evidence-reviewed/
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8d67829340c72718126f601a2981e1bd4432108bc734644ed68806d355e91e0d.png

    Despite that the programme is definitely worth watching on catch-up if you haven’t seen it.

  13. 379041+ up ticks,

    If truth be told we should have troops on the ground alongside the IDF

    Stef Anthony Coburn 🗣
    @Stef_Coburn
    ·
    15m
    “All of this has happened before; & all of this will happen again”, & again & again..

    Humans are, at their worst, a disgusting race of pretentiously self-justifying, mostly hairless, all dressed-up, inanely chattering, viciously-squabbling monkey-people.

    https://x.com/Stef_Coburn/status/1728320088187802004?s=20

    1. 379041+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      Watch and if you have a conscience weep, for very little if any has changed.

    1. That first one needs to be posted in all other parts of the world. Especially Northern France. 22 miles away.

    2. We were told it was dangerous because the state didn’t know if it was. They didn’t have enough information and they panicked, as they always do. After the first lock down it was clear to anyone capable of applying logic what would happen and, the consequence of another lockdown and it’s abject inefficiency.

      When Boris locked down but not for Christmas it was clear to anyone vaguely aware that the thing was politically motivated and thus should be ignored, but folk slavishly carried on as before – a few rebels stepped out of line but that’s to be expected as companies desperately needed work.

      What bothered me most wasn’t the lies and hysteria. It was how eagerly people believed them.

  15. Morning all 🙂😊
    Frosty start today. I might have a lie in.
    Pot holes will never be overcome the money we all pay in road tax has been going elsewhere for decades. It’s now rumoured council tax will be increasing by another 5%. Some one has to contribute to all those on benefits, those who live their lives with out any contributions whatsoever.

    1. Sorry Eddy, But that’s me, A pensioner on benefits but I’m by no means well off. Contributed since 15½ ’til 74, so it’s a pension not benefits.

        1. My two little company pensions routinely fiddle their way around raising the payments to meet inflation. Apparently, they were given a loophole under the law whereby their executives can pocket the difference.

      2. Same as me Tom, but like you and millions like us have paid into the system for all of our working lives. And still being asked to contribute more. To cover the rising costs of the more recently arrived and illegal scroungers.

      3. Slight difference, Tom.
        You have paid in for your Pension, therefore to call it a “benefit” is an insult. Pensions that have been worked for are “Entitlements”.

      3. And if you put any of those news papers on your bonfires you will of course be arrested. 🤗😉

    2. 379041+ up ticks,

      Morning FM,

      Via the ballot stations we seemed to have ditched our major cities to foreign bodies and foreign bodies read the DT & speccie so ……

  17. Meanwhile , over on UK Column there is this excellent analysis by Simon Elmer of ‘Woke, Racism, the Great Reset’ and just who the treacherous quisling placemen and women are.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5e1fca636d1b9177873c0c8c95fcbbcbaedc6b98ba3728afe528eb4c4d458f20.png

    https://www.ukcolumn.org/article/woke-racism-and-the-great-reset-of-the-uk

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0c714d2623a183e4e7764bb40c044db2cbc52ba77d582401ad412088d9e30679.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a32f825d41212e0aef2aa9d066b9ac07819d607137c80d4996ee4f057aa8cbf7.png

    Simon Elmer is the author of The Road to Fascism. Everyone should read this essay.

    1. Did MI5 post the online application form?
      It’s a bit like the Anarchists’ Cookbook – it remains on sale so that the police can swoop on any gullible youngster that orders a copy and claim to have broken up a dangerous cell of far-right extremist terrorists.

    2. This reminds me of those who still fall for the “meet sexy biddable 10-year-old” online scam. Of course it’s a burly copper at the other end with an identity crisis!

    3. If that is the level of intelligence our security services have to deal with then our operatives only need to be in the office Wednesdays and Thursdays.

    4. What a waste of our money and food, they should be immediately sent back from whence they come, their British citizenship revoked and never allowed re-sentry to the U.K.

      1. I was surprised. Very tired yesterday, plus a stiff G&T and 1/2 bottle red medicine, and I was done.
        At Firstborn’s smallholding, and it’s very peaceful. No sound at all, only the tapping of a keyboard & the gurgle of the coffee machine.

  20. Good morning .

    Perfect frosty clear sunny start to the day, Birds are busy on the feeders . the cars are frosted up , son has defrosted his car and has driven down to Weymouth to compete in the 5k Park run.

    “My current vehicle even has swivelling lights that move depending on which direction you turn the steering wheel. Initially I thought this was just a gimmick, but I now miss it when driving my wife’s car.

    Adrian Waller
    Woodsetts, South Yorkshire”

    Does any one here know the make of car that has swivelling lights?

    1. My VW Tiguan has them, and it’s a 2010 model.
      AFAIK, the first car to have them was the 1955 Citroen DS. Most beautiful car in the world.

      1. I believe the VAG group cars cheat by turning on the relevant wide-beam front fog lamp when the steering angle exceeds a certain point. Mine is the same.
        With the old DS it was a mechanical linkage which moved the reflectors.

    2. Hi Maggie.:

      (1) Good morning.
      (2) I have no idea what the car make is.
      (3) I think your son is not very nice competing in the 5k run in his car when most of the others will be running in their shorts. Lol.

          1. Yup.
            To change the wheel: With engine running, crack the wheel nuts. Set ride height to maximum, wait for the car to rise up. Insert a prop (found in the wheel change kit) onto the chassis peg on the side you want elevated, set ride height to max low. With much hissing, the car sinks, hisses more, and the wheels on the propped side are then lifted clear of the ground! Change wheel, set ride to highest, remove prop, set back to normal height. Tighten wheel nuts. Put prop etc back in boot.
            Fabulous!

          5. Price cutting! I insisted on a full size (albeit a steel wheel) – and free, or I didn’t buy the car .
            The spray kits they sometimes give you are useless unless it’s a pin hole and in any case it renders the tyre scrap

          6. If you broke the bead, the aerosol can is useless. If you bust the rim (such as crashing into a pothole), likewise.

          1. E-type in white is a lovely car, but the drophead is a tiny bit too shallow in the bodyline when viewed side-on for me. Looks like it works out too much.

          2. I liked the XK 150. one of my mates had one. I had an MGB GT. 1798 cc. With Overdrive.
            I went to a cousin’s wedding in Berkshire. He had a V8 BGT. I was Gutted.

          5. I knew a chap who lived locally his own A was immaculate. Legendary in fact, he had restored everything in or on it. Poor old john lived alone and he died about two years ago, I have no idea what his family have done with it. I just hope they had respect for his life time’s efforts.

      4. The most liked car I ever had was the unfashionable Austin Princess. Wonderful to drive lots of room a massive boot and I could fit in most of the mini rugby team on the back seat on sunday away games.

          1. I was watching Flog It on tv a few weeks ago. They were in Southend-on-Sea. They featured a local hero who once lived in a shack at the end of the pier. He saved many lives from disaster in the sea. And was rewarded with medals. His surname was Bradley. My good old mate Bruce from Great Wakering now in Australia, is a Bradley. I emailed him the info and the Hero was his great great grandfather.

          3. How about this one.
            One of my niece’s was on a work holiday in Oz around 30 years ago. One of her trips took her and companions to a pub in Alice Springs. With Coldies set up on their table, a similar selection of youngish people,
            where on the adjacent table.
            One of them said “you’re from England then, where abouts are you from” ?
            She said “oh you wouldn’t have heard it, near St Albans in Hertfordshire”.
            So she told him the name of the village. “Blimey” he replied “you don’t know ………… do you” ?
            “Yes” she said “he’s my uncle”.
            He was Martin from Hatfield who use to be my apprentice.
            Amazing eh !

          5. I was in a piano bar in Spain when a group of girls asked me where i was from. Turns out they were all from a town 2 miles away from where i live.

          6. I was walking along the prom with a nice young lady from the UK one evening in Benidorm 1967. I bumped into an old neighbour. Going in the opposite direction.
            And 15 years ago as we were leaving the ferry at Manley in Sydney, our youngest son saw some boys from his sixth form. Boarding the ferry back to circular Quay in opposite direction.

    7. Morning all.

      Our Skoda Kodiaq has a turning light which follows round when turning corners. I probably haven’t explained that very well but as you turn left, say, a light follows round showing the kerb.

  21. A rather belated good morning to all.
    A bright sunny and bloody cold morning today. Not QUITE -4°C on the Yard Thermometer!

    SIR – Road works need to become more efficient. Usually, after anything is completed, the temporary traffic lights remain for several days.

    When I was a divisional highway engineer, I had patching gangs who did the necessary work in half the time. Drivers suffered minimal inconvenience. Indeed, back then potholes did not need to be reported or inspected before anything was done. I accept that traffic has since increased, but organisation today appears to be very poor, and I fear that government funding will not be used properly.

    Ken Mitchell
    Kings Langley, Hertfordshire

    Is Government funding EVER used properly?

  23. I’ve just had that dreaded message from Hermes/Evri which says “We’ve got your Amazon parcel”

      1. He could not hit the nail on the head with the head of the hammer. His normal procedure is the turn it on its side.

    3. I pray that the victims will survive and recover.

      There is something utterly repugnant about males who personally commit acts of violence against females and children.

      Lest you imagine that I am ignoring other vulnerable groups, here is a link to a crime in Ireland that was ignored by the British msm press. (edit, the trial verdict was reported by the BBC)
      https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/spotlight/arid-41254303.html

    4. Considering the type of hammer using the sid was sensible. It was just an open goal for the press, same as Miliband eating a sandwich. No one looks like a goddess eating such.

      1. Translation: Conservative Party Central office put out damage control to that well known organ of truth, the Daily Mail.
        If true, Sunak walked into a trap which he would probably have missed had he come up into politics the hard way instead of the sheltered David Cameron, Jeremy Hunt way.

  27. Just got an email from 38 Degrees, asserting that UK living standards are now the lowest they have been since the fifties. If you believe that, I have a bridge you might be interested in buying. In fact, we have (apparently) suffered the sharpest fall in living standards since comparable records began in the Fifties. A left wing outfit, lying through its teeth – I’m amazed.

    1. I think technology has improved a lot of our living standards, but th government has made life so expensive for so many that people are living worse off lives as a result. People are certainly unhappier, but we manage that by grumbling rather than resolving the real problems.

  28. ‘Morning All

    Good Boi!

    https://twitter.com/Enezator/status/1728081998487371786?s=20

    Medley

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e45d5da96ed55faa2a37e79a12a7be9c82ed9a74f25534b17209095e2aff7101.jpg

    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0f19f066a423cacc40a8085effbe2ad46d829d6252df208bbafcf046e5e653fd.jpg

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F_n-uJ1WMAA0zYb.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1e924737d1fda21b099d54c88428388fce1ca3035aa3763746bac0277c363696.jpg

    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5ad56dd5bb93014d49f9e053801615767bdc26f14667c418a6da94bcccb3f632.jpg

    Finish with a Neil Oliver

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_Tamb0gPM0

    1. The betrayal picture is most poignant. Those people are forced to pay the highest taxes to keep the dross in clover. It’s wrong.

      1. Our indigenous homeless don’t go on murderous rampages and burn the house down when they don’t get what they want.
        Seems to be the way to conduct ourselves in future.

    4. The emergence of CD and DVD technology, the rapid gain in their popularity, followed by a steady decline as they are superseded by downloading and streaming.

        1. Blimey. I posted early because Royal Mail has a reputation for delivering Christmas cards the following year.

    15. Mosques wailing in our big cities , and Enid Blyton’s golliwogs raiding cars, vans and shops , and PC Plod bowing and scraping in deference to them ..

      The size of a chocolate Wagon wheel has shrunk in size but the adults and children have expanded in width somewhat.

    16. The fact that David Steel hadn’t become PM. His optimistic cry, “Go Back To Your Constituencies And Prepare For Government”, was somehow thwarted.

  30. Just back from t’village hall – where I collected £40 – an 18th century village charity to provide coal for local residents. Extraordinary in 2023, when you come to think of it.

    Cold out – sun beginning to fade…

      1. Very funny. There is no coal any more. Just money – and every villager (who has lived here for 2 years) is eligible.

        1. Shouldn’t you be writing a letter to the Telegraph boasting about how you don’t need the cash and aregivingut to unworthy charities.

    3. Extraordinary is that it is extremely difficult for individuals to buy coal that has been mined (or excavated or recovered) in Britain. As far as I know, the Forest of Dean is the best source.

      1. Plenty of coal being mined in Canada but we are not allowed to use coal so it is all sold to china so that they can pollute the atmosphere.

  31. One of the differences between myself, and I would suggest most here and the moronic left is we can enjoy a glorious late autumn day without reaching for the smelling salts.

    1. Do you mean in the sense of the trauma they experience in what they see as proof that the world will soon become uninhabitable unless we all accept radical changes in our lifestyles and reductions in our standards of living?

    3. The perpetually terrified have given up with enjoyment, and do their best to ruin yours as well.
      Sour bastards, they are.

    4. The perpetually terrified have given up with enjoyment, and do their best to ruin yours as well.
      Sour bastards, they are.

  32. Just spotted this gem in the Terriblegraph:

    FM listeners tune into stations transmitting via radio waves, but DAB is a digital signal broadcast just like television.

      1. Surely television is also broadcast via radio waves. The journalist was unable to differentiate between digital and analogue.

          2. And that static interference that was visible when an analogue TV was not tuned to a station originates from the Big Bang, 14,000 million years ago.

          3. And that static interference that was visible when an analogue TV was not tuned to a station originates from the Big Bang, 14,000 million years ago.

          5. In the industry it used to be referred to as standard and non-standard television but now that all television is effectively what used to be deemed non-standard, free and pay television has replaced the old terminology as a more meaningful distinction.

      2. Well… digital signals can also be transmitted via radio waves.

        It’s how mobile telephones work.

        1. That’s something I didn’t know but, as for television, I am of the same opinion as William; that TV signals are now all digital, the conversion from analogue long since complete.

          2. I did not know that. I thought that analogue and digital were utterly different in all respects other than being transmitted through the atmosphere. I had no idea that digital signals were carried by radio waves. I think the terminology “radio waves” confuses me as digital signals are discrete packets of information rather than waves,

          5. AM refers to the carrier, AM is Amplitude modulation. Similarly there is FM (Frequency Modulation)

            In both instances the transmitted signal carries a signal over and above the transmitted carrier.

          6. AM refers to how the data, be it TV, radio or even just data is carried by varying the amplitude of the radio waves, FM it is the signal frequency.

  33. From today’s DT Letters page:

    SIR – My cousin was once given a drum as a Christmas present (Letters, November 24).

    My uncle said: “Why don’t you see what’s inside it?”

    Problem solved.

    Rob Peters
    Beesands, Devon

          4. Yup! May wander into a nearby country, but I fancy seeing what Christmas in the sunshine is like.

    4. A bit silly of Rob’s uncle who was almost certainly the one who forked out to buy his son (Rob’s cousin) the drum.

  34. Daily Mail: “The chief suspect in the multiple stabbing that left a
    five-year-old girl fighting for her life was arrested earlier this year for
    possession of a knife, the Irish Daily Mail has learned.
    The man, originally from Algeria, has been living in Ireland
    for the past two decades. He took Irish citizenship more than a decade ago.
    The man, who is in his late 40s, has come to Garda attention several times in the past year.”
    Whenever the authorities deny something, it tends to be true.

      1. Could you actually see that ? It didn’t come up on my screen.
        Oh well, Back to the Fuchsia eh.

  36. Going into the garden (brrr) to put the Thalia Fuchsias away for winter. I may be some time.

  40. Fluckwittery of the week:

    “The debate over the repatriation of materials held in British collections has expanded beyond the Parthenon marbles and the Benin bronzes to the millions of plant specimens kept at Kew Gardens.

    A botanist in South Africa has suggested that some of the specimens in Kew’s herbarium could be repatriated to their countries of origin as an alternative to the controversial planned move to Reading.

    Professor Muthama Muasya from the University of Cape Town, whose research has led to the discovery of more than 100 plant species new to science, suggested that if Kew was feeling “the weight of custodianship” of its specimens, then they could be returned to their country of origin or shared. He said that if Kew “offloaded” some of the specimens, the move might not be needed.”

    I must away and dig up the wisteria, tomatoes, chillies etc etc etc….

    PS “Professor” Muthama Muasya is of a darker hue than many NoTTLers….

    2. I wonder, has the “Professor” thought of starting a herbarium in South Africa? Hmm, no, thought not.

  41. That’s the Thalias seen to. Fortunately the Head Gardener had the task well in hand – I only need to explain things to her and do some lifting.

    Bluss, it is chilly out.

      1. Thing is, he’s not an idiot. He knows that national leaders are utterly irrelevant to the EU. He knows they’ve no say or influence. He knows that MEPs are pointless as well. Why then did he not go to the commissars to get change from them? Ah, of course. Because they’re utterly aloof, utterly undemocratic and doing so would expose the fundamental problem Cameron and his gang wanted to hide.

    2. The question mark separates the URL proper from any data parameters passed with it. I don’t know what the value in your link is for. It makes no difference to what is displayed.

  44. Want a good larf this afternoon?

    “Cops line the streets as Palestine rally hits London amid four-day ceasefire in Gaza – as police make first arrest after warning Arabic-speaking officers are watching out for hate speech in crowd”

    So that they can warn the terrorists to keep quiet….(a cynic writes).

    The Muslipolitan Perlice doing their bit, eh?

    2. Er… if they are marching to demand a ceasefire – haven’t they noticed it’s already in place?

        1. Ceasefire, pause in hostilities, truce – it’s what the demonstrators were demanding. Good to know they had so much influence over the Israeli government.

    3. The gold commander knows what he’s doing…..and nothing can go wrong….click….go wong…click go on…ik wo glong…

    1. Did she play humorous roles? I remember people saying she was comical. At least I think it was comical.

    2. Did she play humorous roles? I remember people saying she was comical. At least I think it was comical.

    3. Because the microphone went flying every time she turned round to face the camera!

      Boom! Boom!

  47. Yes, Winter draws on.
    The temperature this morning barely got above zero before the sun dipped below the top of the valley side opposite and by heck, has the temperature dropped!

    1. “Winter draws on”, Bob?. How very sensible of you, my dear. (© Carry On Up The Jungle).

    3. I didn’t realise it was plod handing out the advice leaflets. That’s just disgusting.

      The whole rally could have been easily resolved with napalm sprayers and a match. They’re the enemy. A fifth column.

    3. Confusing. You can never trace the thread to see what the reply was to and it constantly demands you log in for no reason except audience capture.

  51. HMS Barham (04).
    Battleship (Queen Elizabeth).
    .
    Complement:
    1,311 officers and men (862 dead and 449 survivors).

    At 16.29 hours on 25th November 1941, HMS Barham (04) (Capt G.C. Cooke, RN) was hit on the port side by three torpedoes from U-331 (Hans-Diedrich Freiherr von Tiesenhausen) north of Sidi Barrani. As the ship rolled over to port, her after magazines exploded and she quickly sank. The battleship was sailing with the Mediterranean Fleet (Force A) from Alexandria to cover sorties by Malta and Alexandria-based cruiser forces against Italian convoys heading for Libya.

    Type VIIC U-Boat U-331 was sunk on 17th November 1942 in the Mediterranean Sea north-west of Algiers by a torpedo from a British Albacore aircraft (820 Sqn FAA) and strafing by two British Martlet aircraft (893 Sqn FAA) from the British aircraft carrier HMS Formidable, after being badly damaged by depth charges and strafing from three British Hudson aircraft (500 Sqn RAF/C, L & Z). 32 dead and 17 survivors.

    https://uboat.net/media/allies/warships/br/bb_hms_barham.jpg
    https://uboat.net/media/allies/warships/br/hms_barham.jpg
    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/HMS_Barham_explodes.jpg

    2. The bulk of his fortune is now funded from the Covid 19 gene therapy experimental injections, not from drugs per se. He has said so himself.

    5. His aims are noble, but the reality of their outcomes is to force an agenda, not to free people.

        1. He believes what he is doing is righteous. The problem is, all fascists think they’re righteous.

    2. What happens now? Will Estonian sovereignty be respected and, as a non-signatory, its non-compliance be accepted, however grudgingly. Or will it be subjected to soft power, such as exclusion from WHO committees, maybe a communication barrier, denial of access to information and knowledge-sharing? Maybe it will face tougher reprisals, such as economic and cultural sanctions, trade barriers, exclusion from sporting, entertainment and arts events. Or will it ultimately result in an invasion, the deposing of its government, the installation of a puppet one and violent retribution against Estonian dissidents. I’d like to know because I’ve been lead to believe that defiance of the WHO is almost impossible. It is, I believe, an extremely powerful organisation. Woe betide anybody who refuses to cower before it.

  55. I had a Waitrose delivery today and i refused the entire order. I wasn’t happy with the substitutions and the fact that the 25% discount wasn’t applied.
    I wrote customer services a scathing email where i told them they were not the supermarket they once were and i wouldn’t use them again in the future.
    I expect a full refund in due course.
    The response came from a lady called ‘Precious Lilac’…

        1. A Nigerian ?

          We had maids when we were in Nigeria , called Precious , Mercy and Christiana , all Igbos , clever girls who wanted to be teachers .. matriarchal society, they were good kind girls , and they were paid a good wage compared to others from the villages .

          4. Was there a few times, I was at Core Laboratories at the time, about 1988. I had to put Joyful through a swim test for him to go out for work on a rig. Did they even have the swimming pool there in the 70s? Shell became the be all and end all when it came to HSE in the industry. I didn’t realise that about 8 years later I would have to take a swim test there myself along with other crew from our seismic vessel. Which I failed and had to go to Warri Shell where I could bribe the pool boss.

          5. Yes MM, nice club house and swimming pool , it was a good clean pool , no problems apart from the odd lizard etc

            Then there was a nice small golf course on the compound as well as a championship course in PH .
            I was flown to Warri in a leaky old helicopter with the children for the day . getting spare parts in those days was nightmare for all the companies involved because of import problems and the harbours being clogged up with cement ships .

          6. Was there a few times, I was at Core Laboratories at the time, about 1988. I had to put Joyful through a swim test for him to go out for work on a rig. Did they even have the swimming pool there in the 70s? Shell became the be all and end all when it came to HSE in the industry. I didn’t realise that about 8 years later I would have to take a swim test there myself along with other crew from our seismic vessel. Which I failed and had to go to Warri Shell where I could bribe the pool boss.

    2. I’ve never had a food delivery in my life. I choose my own food, not some halfwit who thinks they can substitute my choices. If I ever become disabled, I shall get someone to take me to the shops.

          1. I haven’t eaten bread for over six months but I was asked to bake some, so I decided to try it. It hasn’t affected my weight loss since I am now at a record low for the past 40 years at 13 st–12 lb–14 oz this morning.

      2. That was the problem with the order. Chosen by a halfwit. My normal supermarket is Ocado M&S. They don’t employ halfwits. They use robots.
        I prefer shopping online. That way i don’t get sucked in to impulse buy. There are better offers and discounts available that way too.

  57. Feral ‘super pigs’ threatening to invade US from Canada
    Prolific breeders eat almost anything and cause $2.5 billion of damage to US crops every year. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/11/24/us-faces-being-invaded-by-super-pigs-from-canada/

    I had a terrible experience on Wednesday lunchtime .. many of you will know I am left to my own devices .. Nice day, so went for a long walk with Pip spaniel , trying to get my 10,000 steps in I visited Hartland moor , Arne .

    My walk was quite lonely, cold wind , not many others walking their dogs , saw wild ponies and donkeys , but I DID not expect to see these .

    Hairy pigs at RSPB Arne
    These hairy swine are an overseas breed, Mangalitza, descended from wild boar. The RSPB introduced the pigs to the nature reserve to help improve the habitat for endangered bird species, lizards, and snakes.

    I saw them on a public right of way , they were grubbing the soil with their snouts and teeth.

    They saw me and the dog , and they all squealed like hell … They appeared to be a large group, and they stopped feeding , ran towards me , and I ran screaming Help help .. I ran , dodgy knee and hip, over heather and gorse and clumps off grass. A woman with 2 dogs heard me , she was coming towards their direction , and I was yelling to her , run run , they are after me .

    She bravely waved her hat at them and yelled , but they were after me and the dog , the hogs were shrieking loudly. and I must have run a distance of 200 yds to where I had parked the car , clicked key fob to unlock the car , opened passenger door for do( not the tailgate where his crate is ) and jumped into m drivers seat just as the hogs reached the car , squealing their heads off.. I counted 14 hogs , I thought the were going to chew the car , but they just stayed put grubbing around in a drainage ditch .

    Once again the adrenaline shakes kicked in and I thought I was going to die of a heart attack and I had to rest a while . Pip was also shaking lie a leaf, it was a very unpleasant experience .

    November has proved to be a very unpleasant month for me re wild animals , and my hedgehog injury to my thigh and my bruising to legs and shoulder still hasn’t faded .

    How on earth did David Attenborough cope whilst filming really wild animals , lawd knows .

    The lady who witnessed the near attack told me there were many other incidents re the hogs , but my incident shook her up severely , because she said she was powerless to do anything . (I met her yesterday in a slightly safer area , and she told me it had given her nightmares because if I had fallen whilst running , I could have been bitten to bits .

    All of this is true , and I seem to attract the call of the wild .. Cows scare me , horses worry me , deer can be protective and standoffish when the have fawns , but pigs take the biscuit.

    https://dorset-nl.org.uk/news/purbeck-heaths-grazing-unit2/

    Moh just plays golf 3 times a week .

        1. Tell that to True-Belle.

          If they are similar to wild boar there seem to be youngsters nearby all year round. There should still be warnings.

    4. May I suggest you write to the RSPB and let them know you were attacked by feral pigs on a public right of way. Advising them not to ignore the problem because having advised them of the possibility of another person being attacked and sustaining injuries the organisation is likely to be taken to court. Mr T probably knows wether legal action can be pursued under the Occupiers Liability act or HASAW act or some other laws with fringe benefits!

      Glad you survived.

    5. I’ve mentioned this before but one of the plonkers on BBC Country File told us that domestic dogs had attack and killed sheep in north Shropshire. The same area were wild pigs had been released a few years previously.
      I say this because I spent a few weeks over two years shooting introduced wild pigs on sheep stations in Northern NSW. These animals are also cannibalistic.
      How else could they survive in the wild in the UK.
      The more ‘experts’ we have the more ongoing mess they make.
      I wonder how long it might be before the damage beavers are doing to our environment will be admitted.

    7. Good God, Belle! Are you OK? Did you call the police? Tell the paper?
      I thought the world had learned about introducing foreign species… from introducing cats to Australia, for example.
      Where was this near? I have a good Dorsetty friend that walks her dogs a lot in the countryside, would like to warn her if relevant.

    8. It may have been the dog that set them off – like when people walk their dogs among cattle, especially with calves about. Were there some piglets amongst the full grown hogs?

      I’m sorry you had such a frightening experience – and running when you have a dodgy knee and hip is dangerous. I hope you will write to them as Stephen suggests.

    9. Would we be able to harness these pigs in some way if it comes to civil war against Islam?

    10. I bet you had to change your underwear after that experience.
      As has been suggested, you need to advise the RSPB of the incident, perhaps getting the witness, if you are still in touch with her to give a statement too and warn them that, if someone is injured or killed, they WILL be 100% liable.

  58. Farmer jailed for clearing Herefordshire river insists ‘I didn’t do anything wrong’

    John Price, who spent three months in prison, has hit out at authorities that manage flooding

    By Emma Gatten, ENVIRONMENT EDITOR • 24 November 2023 • 7:03pm

    The farmer imprisoned for clearing a river in Herefordshire ahead of heavy rain has insisted he did nothing wrong, following his release from prison.

    John Price – a cattle, potato and cereal farmer – spent three months in prison for undertaking unconsented works on a stretch of the Lugg on a site of special scientific interest between 2020 and 2021.

    Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Price defended his actions and said that the works were necessary to stop flooding of the nearby area, including homes in the village of Kingsland, which had been hit by Storm Dennis.

    Mr Price is a well-known local figure, and residents in Kingsland and nearby Leominster offered vocal support in the wake of the conviction. Some of the residents said that the farmer had acted to protect their homes in the face of a perceived lack of interest from the Environment Agency (EA) and other government bodies.

    “Of course it was the right thing to do because it helped to stop erosion,” he said. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
    He argued that the EA, which has responsibility for managing flooding in England, “don’t do anything” and had potentially misunderstood the actions he took.

    He said that he had always taken action to clean up the river, partly because of his autism.

    “I don’t like a mess on the rivers,” he said. “They probably thought I was pushing it sometimes to clean up, but they don’t do anything. I’ve never seen the EA do anything on any of the rivers. They’ve done nothing for 40 years. I reckon what I’ve done will come right. They’re going to have to do what they’ve put me in prison for. They’re gonna have to do it on every other river.”

    Mr Price faced seven charges, brought by the EA and Natural England, including those relating to discharging silt into the river and the destruction of 71 trees.

    Dredging has been used for decades to remove earth from the riverbeds as a way to combat flooding. But the EA now believes that it is not as effective as other options and can be harmful to the environment, as well as expensive, and therefore rarely supports its use.

    Mr Price pleaded guilty to all seven offences, which took place in 2020 and in 2021, when he conducted follow-up work on the site. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison, ordered to pay £600,000 in costs and to take action to help repair the river, which he said was now thriving.

    “My river’s got probably more fish, more salmon, more trout, more grayling than what I’ve got on another farm 10 miles downstream. There’s nothing in that river, because it wouldn’t live, couldn’t live.”

    Further upstream “the same river doesn’t flow, it’s blocked. I’ve got a 400-acre farm there and it floods because the river has been blocked. Because they [the EA] haven’t done anything. We have always worked this river.” He said the river was now “It’s the same as it has been for years. Ever since I could remember it.”

    The day after he was convicted, local residents told The Telegraph that they supported his actions because he had acted “in all good faith to help prevent us from flooding”. At the time, one resident, Paul Impey, told the Telegraph: “We’ve been asking for that to be cleared for a long, long time, but that didn’t get done.”

    Speaking to Farmers Weekly this week, Rev Julie Read, the vicar of Kingsland, said: “There are people who are very thankful to John Price because he helped those who live right by the bridge who had been flooded a few times.”

    She added: “A lot of people who have lived here all their lives are very grateful that he did something and cleared the third arch. There was the feeling that this started with a request from the parish council. John is always very willing to help, but he maybe went too far.”

    The EA argued that his actions had made the flood risk worse, downstream, and said that there was no evidence the work he did in 2020 has reduced the local impact of flooding.

    A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: “We are in the third year of our £5.2 billion flood and coastal erosion risk management investment programme. In the first two years we have invested more than £1.5 billion to better protect more than 60,000 homes and businesses.

    “Dredging is an important part of our maintenance programme. We consider each location carefully and do it where we know it will make a difference. Understanding where dredging will – and won’t – reduce flood risk is key. We must be sure it will reduce flood risk to local homes and businesses and won’t increase flood risk downstream.”

    After the verdict in April, Emma Johnson, the area manager for Natural England, said that the destruction had been “devastating for the abundance and range of species that thrived in this river”. She added that the regulators had used their powers “to see that justice was done and to act as a stark warning to others that we will take the strongest action against those who do not respect the laws that protect the environment and wildlife we all cherish”.

    Speaking on Friday, Mr Price said: “Everybody is disgusted with what they’ve done to me. Everybody tells me they made an example of me but they made such a bad example that they’ve almost finished the business. People, friends, everybody. Since I have come out of prison, they don’t shake my hand. They hug me and kiss me.”

    He added: “The country’s with me; I’d say 90-odd per cent of the country is with me. We made the country what it is, the farmers look after the countryside, the road, the verges, the hedges, the land.”

    Mr Price described his treatment during his 11 weeks in prison as “pretty disgusting”.

    “There’s no air in the prison,” he said. “June was really hot. You couldn’t hardly breathe in there.”

    He said at one point he was transferred via lorry in conditions “worse than an animal in a cattle container”. But Mr Price said that he was now looking to the future. My kitchen table has been filled up with paperwork for the past two and a half years,” he said. “It’s empty now.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/24/farmer-jailed-clearing-herefordshire-river-john-price

    Some special pleading here from Mr Price? Perhaps, but the river is recovering remarkably quickly. It’s already reshaping the banks; shingle beds have reformed and can be seen on aerial pictures.

    Before:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c408af386e64418a7cdd6b83bbc7ce3cf9fb73456692954285a4b82f6c36d5c0.jpg

    Immediately after:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/70a4fc117a8e15bb2bd22d7a026dd643da0bfdf1e77f9200bdccb5a600ed4f2d.jpg

    Now:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9cde6730e896c9c432656724acd050a099e38f1f5d5367007675c83d232399ff.jpg

  59. Could only manage a three today

    Wordle 889 3/6

    ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩
    ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      2. Ooh that is good.

        I stumbled along to my normal par

        Wordle 889 4/6

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

        1. I still find it odd that Wordle accepts a French starter word yet there are English words it rejects!

      4. You have the same starting word as I do, and I got a 2 as well! Now edging closer to being balanced around the central score of 4.

    2. I can’t remember whether mine was a three or a four. Once it’s completed the whole page disappears and I can’t even remember the 5 letter word answer. Short of writing a daily list I have no idea what I have done. Lol.

          1. Open goal, irresistible.
            Sorry Madame Bloodaxe:

            “Elsie”

            It woz dat Edison woman wot tempted me!

        2. Well. Sos, I am at a loss for what to do now so I looked to see if the new “Today’s Wordle” was up. It wasn’t, but it showed me my Saturday morning result which was in fact a 3-attempt result. (82 percent running total which means that I was unable to solve the puzzle on just two occasions.

    3. Spoilt for bloody choice here.

      Wordle 889 5/6

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

    4. 4 for me. Wordle 889 4/6

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

  60. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/552c0093fbaa97ec5aca69563f6010d5e9f4b762ddb61395df411298bb8bcb86.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/25/mass-migration-ons-figures-home-office-rishi-sunak/

    “Threatens to ….? It already has done.”

    Just because you described a person as being a bigoted racist several years ago doesn’t mean he wasn’t right!

    “We must be mad, literally mad, as a nation to be permitting the annual inflow of some 50,000 dependents, who are for the most part the material of the future growth of the immigrant-descended population. It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre.”
    [Enoch Powell]

    If we were mad to permit 50,000 in Powell’s day how imbecilically insane are we now when the annual inflow is more than a dozen times that number?

    1. Dorset has over 750, 000 residents .. we are primarily an ag county, rural and now under pressure from government to build build build .. and rural towns lie Wimborne , Dorchester , Gillingham, Blandford and Shaftesbury including villages like ours are all ready suffering from over development coupled with negative resources .

      1. Politicians have wrecked our country.
        I have never hated anyone or anything as much as I hate them all.

        1. Exactly. That is why I am angry with Sunak, Hunt, Cameron etc. They aren’t up to the job, but they are perfectly capable of following the wrecking agenda and ruining our country while they smooch with their fellow multi-millionaires and billionaires.

    2. It’s the Elite that are busy heaping up the funeral pyre, but we don’t understand why it is

      so advantageous to them.

    4. It’s particularly difficult to integrate people who have absolutely no intention of integrating.

  61. Made a mistake this afternoon. Having seen a nice handbag on the Radley website, I thought I’d go and take a look in their shop at Covent Garden. Got there OK. The bag is nice but the strap is way too long. Don’t want to pay hundreds for something I’ve then got to have altered.

    Anyway, then tried to get home. Between the Christmas shoppers and the Hamas…sorry, peace supporters, it was damn nigh impossible. I’m afraid I argued with some of them. White British people whose Jew hatred is out of the blood libel playbook and who are convinced that anyone who doesn’t see the Moslems as victims must be the primary impediment to “peace”.

    Finally got on a westbound train at Holborn. Shepherds Bush is a haven of tranquility compared to the West End.

    1. What a shame and what a terrible mess our country is in. All due to the weak minds in Whitehall and Westminster. If only the public opinions had been taken on board and had been acknowledged.
      Instead of labeling public opinion as “far right’.
      They must know by now that they have effed up everything they have come into contact with.

        1. I just understand what these annoying idiots are trying to achieve. Nothing make any sense at all.

      2. I feel things are accelerating towards something appalling – the general population may well feel that there is no alternative but violence, as the state is against them – just look at Ireland and their government taking the opportunity to boost hate speec laws after the public, quite reasonably, wanted to tear the stabby slammer to pieces, but the gardai got in the way.

        1. My wife was at J L at WGC yesterday and she came home with three wonderful Christmas presents for our older grandchildren. All at reduced prices.

          2. Eldest grand son already has a drum kit.
            Daddy was drummer in a band. Now lead guitar in a different
            band.

          3. Has he got any rubber practice mats? (I used to lodge with a drummer and that’s what he used to practise quietly).

        2. I make do with a carrier bag, Sue Ed. They only cost 10p and the ones at my local butchers are free! Lol.

          1. Last night we boiled 12 litres of water mixed with salt, sugar, berries, peppers and various other spices using the recipe my mother used to use. We left it to cool overnight.

            I picked up the ham this morning and the saline solution was ready for the ham to be immersed therein by about 6 o’clock. In five weeks time we shall take it out of the pickling solution, skin, boil and bake it. Caroline makes a splendid glazed coating of mustard, and honey with cloves pricked into the surface. We we shall have it for our New Year’s Eve feast . (Here is a snap of the one we had a couple of Hogmanays ago.)

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6e99222ee6d799fce2abb89f8b23a2974fa1b3df53360a4ddfb7d0ee1398707a.png

            Caroline is feeling far more cheerful today and I am doing my best to be dresser and major domo. She will not be able to use her right hand for at least 2 weeks when the bandages will come off. She passes on her good wishes to everyone on the Nottlers’ forum and will post again when she has recaptured the manual dexterity with which to do so.

          5. Ah! I thnk I remember you said she had a growth on the bone – was it cancerous? Please give her my best wishes for a full and speedy recovery and be back playing the organ very soon.

        3. I gave Caroline a leather handbag which she likes very much for her birthday.

          I found a few on line and asked her to choose the one she liked the most. She made her choice and it arrived a couple of days later and she was delighted.

    4. You must have know what was going on. Why didn’t you get a black cab and let them deal with it?

      1. I thought I could get off the Piccadilly Line at Covent Garden, go round the corner to the shop in Floral Street then straight back on the tube. Didn’t expect the station to be exit only.

        2. Stations are being closed for crowd control purposes not because other reasons. Plan better my friend.

    5. Sounds a bit dangerous to argue with people like that, however much they upset/annoy you. Best to ignore them.

      2. They probably all didn’t.
        There are many ways and means carried out to alter the election counts.

  63. We had a good day in Wotton today! People turned out and we were quite busy most of the time. Not a very diverse crowd though, I didn’t notice any non-white faces. Jolly cold when we set off this morning – -4C in the car and icy.

  64. That old Global Boiling is doing well:

    “Ski resorts open early as Europe celebrates bumper snowfall”

  65. A vote for Nigel Farage’s lot would put Starmer in No 10, warns Rishi Sunak…
    PM says vote for anyone non-Conservative is vote for Starmer
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12790391/vote-Nigel-Farages-Starmer-No-10-warns-Rishi-Sunak.html

    They used that argument against Corbyn but Sunak will be able to claim the full credit by himself without Farage’s help for Starmer sweeping into Downing Street.

    And remember when Cameron did not get the result he wanted in the Referendum – he threw his hand in and resigned and disappeared to make money elsewhere. This is why Sunak has brought him back into the government to show him how best to grab a place in the lifeboat when the ship goes down with virtually all hands lost.

  66. I’ve just enjoyed my weekly Spaghetti Bolognese with a small glass of wine and am finding myself falling asleep. So I will wish you all a very good night, chums, and head upstairs for a few more Zeds. I may return to this site or not. If not, I shall see you all tomorrow. (It’s now 6 pm.)

    1. Lasagna here, red wine… G&T as vorspiel, so getting ready for a mega-zed, I hope, like last night.

  67. Gosh – just noticed it is wine o’clock. Looks like a cold day tomorrow. Rain on Monday.

    Have a spiffing evening. We have watched 3 progs on PBS about “The Stuarts”. Fascinating – learned lots BUT the presenter (brilliant academic) was absolutely appalling. Bad and very flat, expressionless delivery. And total inability to read her own autocue material WOT she ROTE.
    Otherwise – very good telly…..

    A demain.

  69. A propos the reference earlier to the Pretenders. Here is what Sellar and Yeatman have to say in Chapter 30 of the best book ever.

    “Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck.

    English history has always been subject to Waves of Pretenders. These have usually come in small waves of about two – the Old Pretender and the Young Pretender, their objective being to sow dissension in the realm, and if possible to confuse the Royal issue by pretending to be heirs to the throne.
    Two Pretenders who now arose were Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck, and they succeeded in confusing the issue absolutely by being so similar that some historians suggest they were really the same person (i.e. the Earl of Warbeck).
    Lambert Simnel (the Young Pretender) was really (probably) himself, but cleverly pretended to be the Earl of Warbeck. Henry VIII therefore ordered him to be led through the streets of London to prove that he really was.
    Perkin Warbeck (the Older and more confusing Pretender) insisted that he was himself, thus causing complete dissension till Henry VII had him led through the streets of London to prove that he was really Lambert Simnel.
    The punishment of these memorable Pretenders was justly similar, since Perkin Warmnel was compelled to become a blot on the King’s skitchen, while Perbeck was made an escullion. Wimneck, however, subsequently began pretending again. This time he pretended that he had been smothered in early youth and buried under a stair-rod while pretending to be one of the Little Princes in the Tower. In order to prove that he had not been murdered, Henry was reluctantly compelled to have him really executed.
    Even after his execution many people believed that he was only pretending to have been beheaded, while others declared that it was not Warmneck at all but Lamkin, and that Permnel had been dead all the time really, like Queen Anne.”

  70. Nearly 20 tons of ammonal explosive was used in Hawthorn Ridge mine, near the village of Beaumont Hamel, located just behind the German lines on the 1st July 1916.

    A witness to the detonation of the Hawthorn Ridge mine was British cinematographer Geoffrey Malins, who filmed the 29th Division attack. Malins set up on the side of the White City trenches, about 0.5 mile from Hawthorn Ridge, ready for the explosion at 7:20 a.m.,

    “The ground where I stood gave a mighty convulsion. It rocked and swayed. I gripped hold of my tripod to steady myself. Then for all the world like a gigantic sponge, the earth rose high in the air to the height of hundreds of feet. Higher and higher it rose, and with a horrible grinding roar the earth settles back upon itself, leaving in its place a mountain of smoke.”

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Hawthorn_Ridge_Redoubt_mine_%281_July_1916%29_1.jpg

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Hawthorn_Ridge_Redoubt_mine_%281_July_1916%29_2.jpg

    1. The poor sods on the receiving end may or may not have realised what was happening, but a terrible way to die.

      2. My nephew in North Pennines has had one for years Phizz he even had enough power to supply his nearest neighbours.

  72. Yeah yeah, of course they have
    Lying bastards

    EXCLUSIVE: Chinese scientists find a NEW bat coronavirus linked to pangolins that has same freak mutation as Covid – and some experts say it shoots down the lab leak theory
    Bat coronavirus 1,000 miles from Wuhan closely related to virus in pangolins
    Pangolins thought to be intermediary that passed Covid from bats to humans
    READ MORE: Researchers found ‘serious safety concerns’ at WIV lab in 2017

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12772991/China-says-proof-Covid-wasnt-lab-leak-discovers-closest-virus-wild-bats-1-000-miles-away-Wuhan.html

    2. I expect they euthanised all the Beagles because cigarettes were so expensive. Bats…so many and cheap and easily turned into takeaway.

      1. My father worked in Coventry in 1944-45, as an Inspector in charge of parts at the Rootes shadow factory.

          1. Aero engines but I know no more than that. He had trained as an engineer at Fords, then spent a year at sea as a ship’s engineer. With war looming he became a civil servant with the AID. He and my mother were married the day before the declaration of war.

      2. My grandparents were Coventry. Terry Road and Irving Road. All student land these days. Grandad went to Bablake. I have no idea, but he was very proud of it.

        1. Very. The good news is they have ruled out cancer. The bad news is I was away for over six hours. Too long for Oscar, unfortunately. I couldn’t blame him because I shouldn’t have left him so long, but it was out of my control. I am looking forward to being able to eat what I like rather than white bread, boiled chicken or fish, white rice, no milk, no chips, no jacket potatoes, no red meat, no nuts or seeds, vegetables or salads … The only good bit was custard and ice cream were not on the verboten list. I haven’t had ice cream for ages. I might buy some again.

          1. That diet is very limited. What is the thinking behind that? I take it they found nothing untoward then so hopefully normal.
            Glad to hear it’s not cancer.

          2. They nipped a bit of a polyp for a biopsy. I had to follow a low fibre diet for three days and drink “clear fluids”.

          4. I have another couple of hours before I am cleared to have any alcohol and drive (obviously not at the same time!), but I’ve been able to eat normally and take my pills. I cooked myself fish and chips with a side serving of veg at lunchtime – chips, batter and veg were all verboten on my pre-procedure diet.

  74. Just have to share. Middle of supper, phone rang. Elder son.

    His step-daughter – our step grand-daughter – whom we have known for 16 years – since she was at Primary School – is a teacher in Birmingham. Felt a bit queasy Friday night. Sensible fiancé (solicitor – thus brilliant) suggested going to A&E.

    She was safely delivered of a daughter – 6 lb 7 oz – late this afternoon.

    She had absolutely NO IDEA she was pregnant…… (Has that weird thing where you can go for months without a period – Nurses hereabouts will know).

    As I explained to them – the first 20 years are the worst!!!!!!!!!!!

    Dead chuffed, the MR and me.

    2. Happy for the birth. Why didn’t she know? I know when i have a bad bowel movement. Glad it was immaculate. What colour is it? Asking for Royal Friends………………….

    3. My only experience of going without periods is called menopause.

      Many congrats to all concerned!

    7. Wow , wonderful news , but what a shock.

      I wonder whether she assumed she was menopausal before baba arrived , depending how old she is of course .

    10. What did she put her cessation of periods down to? Nonetheless, congratulations to all concerned, and I wish her, the baby and father all the very best.

    11. Girl i knew playing hockey had exactly the same, 25 years ago. You can still have periods and be pregnant, too.

    1. Floyd died because a police officer knelt on his back.
      He was high on drugs at the time.
      He was caught passing counterfeit notes.

      If he had not been high and had not been arrested he would not be dead.

      The logic is simple, but as we know, the legal system has no interest in justice or legality, only following the state line.

      1. He died purely from the effects of the drug he swallowed.
        When the Police Chief told the trial that the knee hold was not part of police procedure, he lied and several former police officers have come out to call him a liar and to confirm it was included in their training.

        St. George of Fentanyl was already complaining of not being able to breathe not only before Chauvin became involved, but before he was placed in a prone position AT HIS OWN REQUEST.
        As fentanyl interferes with the exchange of CO2 and O2 in the lungs, resulting in feelings of breathlessness, anoxia and death.

        1. If Floyd was as sick as you made out, then the arresting officer had a duty of care and should have called an ambulance, and used a restraint method that would not put his life in jeopardy, such as handcuffing him to a lamp post until the paramedic gave the go-ahead to bundle him into the police car.

          If these questions were not asked at the trial, then what on earth were they paying the lawyers for?

          1. Floyd was an extremely violent individual.

            The conviction of Chauvin was a purely political act and an attempt to justify the planned riots experienced in major US cities, such as in Minneapolis abetted by Black Lives Matter and ANTIFA.

            All of these hooligans and subversives were determined, supported and funded by the Democrats and their sponsors including principally George Soros.

          2. I do not deny this, and if Floyd was so dangerous that lives would be put at risk had any other restraining technique been used, then this should have been aired in court and Chauvin acquitted if found true. If you can say this, then so too can any defending attorney.

            I consider both Black Lives Matter and ANTIFA to be profoundly fascistic in both their philosophy and their campaigning methods and public attitudes, not least to benign host cultures. They are a threat to the public and to national security, and the Floyd affair a diversion to the true intent of these sinister movements.

            A similar contradictory hypocrisy exists with the so-called Democrat Party in the States, which might explain how they find it so hard to find a credible presidential candidate under 80. As for Soros, he is a figurehead for those that meet each year in Davos to rule the world in their own interest. The public, so preoccupied with sideshows, neglects to address this.

          3. They made the wrong call, but how do you tell the difference between someone who is genuinely in danger, and someone who is shouting that he can’t breathe so that he can get the police to loosen the restraint and start fighting again?
            At some point, a person has to take responsibility for their own fate, i.e. not take drugs, not resist arrest. The police can’t be punchbags for every criminal, just in case he genuinely is in danger.

          4. Quite so. This should have come out in court. It is quite routine for a villain to use such tactics when resisting arrest, and any competent police officer would have been fully trained in unarmed combat, with techniques for every occasion, including a villain having a genuine heart attack when being arrested, which can be pretty stressful for anyone.

            My father, who was army trained during WW2, once showed me a simple restraint method using the knees on a point on the arms that renders someone immobile, incapacitated and the pain is simply adjusted and not life-threatening – there are some handy nerves on the arm. It is also important to position the feet correctly to prevent the arrestee bending at the waist and using his own legs to kick off the arresting officer. It also leaves the hand free to fish around for some cuffs. More effective and less deadly than the knee on the windpipe, but perhaps not taught to American cops, who prefer something more showy.

            What surprises me a little is that they simply did not shoot the bugger. Isn’t that what American cops usually do?

          5. I was not there, but understand that medical assistance had been called, but because of the crowd of onlookers the crew felt unsafe to approach.
            There is also a police bodycam video from a year earlier that showed St. George of Fentanyl using EXACTLY the same tactics in an effort to avoid arrest as he used before his death.

      2. “Floyd died because a police officer knelt on his back”

        In an approved police procedure.

        George Floyd died of a drugs overdose.

        Chauvin is subject to mistrial and loads of compensation..

        American Justice – Pah!

      3. Don’t they have coroners in the US?

        They made 68 episodes of ‘Columbo’ between 1968 and 2003, and each scriptwriter was confident that detectives had access to competent forensics when investigating an alleged homicide, which this case was. Establishing cause of death is elementary, and the first thing to do before starting an investigation. They would then know whether Floyd died of a knee on the windpipe or because he was too drugged up to breathe. One is homicide and the other is misadventure. I would also presume that any jury would be told that, and that any expert witness would be cross-examined.

        Now it seems that US criminal justice is rubbish. I won’t make a judgement on conflicting opinions, and frankly I don’t care how he died – far more innocent people have been murdered by the thousand over the last few weeks for me to fret too much about one pretty horrible man and a gung-ho cop who was probably psychotic himself.

        I do object though for this man to be kneeled to in homage as if he were Jesus Christ. They didn’t kneel in homage to John Lennon when he said he was bigger than Jesus. Why should anyone have to, to an American gangsta just because of his skin color (sic)?

      4. The argument goes that Derek Chauvin would not have behaved as he did had George Floyd had a pale skin tone. That Floyd died, very possibly because of his consumption of recreational drugs, is immaterial, because Chauvin applied lethal pressure purely because of the physical characteristics of the person he was attempting to apprehend. Whether or not that is true is impossible for me to determine.

        1. We have concrete proof that the police have applied the same techniques to white men, because a white man called Timothy Coffman died in similar circumstances in Florida in 2018.
          You must have missed the White Lives Matter riots…
          However this incident puts the rest the argument that Floyd was restrained in that way because he was black.

          Also the autopsy report said that there was no signs of injury on Floyd’s neck.

        2. We have concrete proof that the police have applied the same techniques to white men, because a white man called Timothy Coffman died in similar circumstances in Florida in 2018.
          You must have missed the White Lives Matter riots…
          However this incident puts the rest the argument that Floyd was restrained in that way because he was black.

          Also the autopsy report said that there was no signs of injury on Floyd’s neck.

      5. Also if f he had got out and of the car as the police repeatedly asked him to for half an hour he would probably still be alive

  78. Well, I woke up at 9 pm and now I hope I can find enough things to do without nodding off again. Bedtime is usually just after 1 pm. But tonight it will probably be at midnight.

    PS – Yet again I’m getting tired, so I shall now sign off and try to sleep through to my normal 6 am wake up time. Good night, chums.

  79. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llPhL1JUBnw

    “I have people I love, among them Christians, Jews, Muslims and others besides – or, if you prefer, Westerners, Israelis and Arabs. They’re my friends. I won’t hate on command.”

    A fine sentiment, Mr. O, but there’s the individual and there’s the tribe, the latter the basis of all human societies since the species climbed down from the trees. How do you square that?

    1. I’m not sure what you’re suggesting. Is it to dislike people, regardless of their personal qualities, just because they happen to belong to a particular group?

          1. Maybe, the attributes of the tribe brought about by the collective behaviour of the individuals?

    2. Only six upticks? SHAME on all those who disagree with — or are too cowardly and curmudgeonly to agree with — Neil’s infallible and irrebuttable logic.

      You all deserve the dystopian world that he is clearly stating will soon be with us, caused by an increasingly stupid populace remaining in a trance-like stupor, with our thumbs up our arses, while those wielding the power continue to shit on us all.

  80. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llPhL1JUBnw

    “I have people I love, among them Christians, Jews, Muslims and others besides – or, if you prefer, Westerners, Israelis and Arabs. They’re my friends. I won’t hate on command.”

    A fine sentiment, Mr.O, but there’s the individual and there’s the tribe, the latter the basis of all human societies since the species climbed down from the trees. How do you square that?

  82. Evening, all. Back home at last, having been away for over six hours. They won’t be able to mend the potholes because they will have pissed the money up the wall on diversity officers, rainbow flags and benefits for the non-indigenous.

      1. It went. It was a bit of a nightmare. I arrived in good time, had to wait to be called, had a long pre-assessment, got changed (a bit of a logistics problem as some of the ties were missing – but not as bad as when I had my knees X rayed; then half the gown was missing!) and waited. I took a book with me and nearly finished it! Then they wouldn’t let me go because my BP was low. Finally they twigged that I’d had nothing to eat since 3pm yesterday and nothing to drink since midday today. When they fed me and gave me drinks – lo! my BP went back to normal and stabilised. I felt sorry for the dogs because I was away so long. I shall get the results of the biopsy some time, but they have ruled out cancer (I hope they aren’t like the lot that treated my neighbour who kept telling her she didn’t have cancer until suddenly they said, “oh yes it is cancer and it’s stage 4 terminal”!)

        1. I’m never sure what is meant by these stages. I have a friend who was told about 8 years ago he had stage 4 melanoma. Still with us and it’s his arthritis that occasionally limits him.

    2. There’s all of these idle refugee doctors sitting around doing the square root of sod all. Bring back the workhouse and make the idlers goouton chain gangs to fix pot holes.

    3. I discovered a work entitled Responsories for Tenebrae by Victoria some 50 odd years ago, performed by the Choir of Westminster Cathedral. I have it on vinyl and can recommend it.

      It was played to me by the late Sir William Whitfield in the magnificent salon of his northern residence St Helen Hall, St Helen Auckland, played on his immaculate early Quad System.

      I was sitting on a sofa designed by Thomas Hope at the time. It was encrusted with leaves of Mother of Pearl and sold recently for a fortune.

      Memories eh?

        1. I did not know that. It is not uncommon. Two of the four vestries at Christ Church Spitalfields were upstairs so to speak.

          Incidentally, the church at St Helen Auckland is adjacent to St Helen Auckland Hall.

          The architect William Whitfield when landscaping his grounds, having purchased the Hall for 5000 Guineas at auction, formed an earthen bank mounded against a boundary wall in order to bring the church into his grounds, visually speaking.

          Whitfield placed a number of pieces of statuary in the small grounds and immediately regretted that Gypsies or to be politically correct ‘Travellers’ stole them.

          There was a ‘Traveller’ site a mile or so away on a lane which I discovered on a weekend walk. An immaculate white Rolls Royce marked its entrance.

          1. Ah, Wedding Business sideline – Hiring out a Rolls Royce can make a tidy income. Losing a Rolls Royce can make for an expensive insurance claim!

  86. I have good news for all NoTTLers: I have proof that Covid is nothing but a scam. It is now 6.30 am and I have just attempted today’s Wordle. At one point I typed in COVID and the site refused this word since “this is not accepted as a word”. Lol.

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