Monday 8 January: Gross incompetence at the highest level of the Post Office was ignored

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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435 thoughts on “Monday 8 January: Gross incompetence at the highest level of the Post Office was ignored”

  2. Good morrow, Gentlefolk. today’s story
    Sort these:

    AVOCADOS
    A wife asks her husband, “Could you please go shopping for me and buy one carton of milk and if they have avocados, get 6.
    A short time later the husband comes back with 6 cartons of milk. The wife asks him, “Why did you buy 6 cartons of milk”
    He replied
    “They had avocados.”
    If you’re a woman, I’m sure you’re going back to read it again! Men will get it the first time.
    My work is done here.

    1. Meaning “This is my final post, I have exhausted my joke book”, or “I’ve posted, so I’ll now go back to bed for some extra Zeds”?

    3. There’s logic… and then there’s common sense. I know which he had in short supply.

      1. I prefer to call it GOOD sense, Stormy because, unfortunately, it ain’t that common.

  4. Not sure if folk already know about it, but my sister introduced me to the Thursday Murder Club series. I wasn’t sure what to make of it in synopsis but they’re really good. I bought the first on Friday and am half way through. They’re easy to read physically as have short chapters so plenty of stopping points – good for a loo read – but also have a gentle, witty style that’s really quite lovely.

      1. Yep, I’m really enjoying them. Notably when I finish one the Warqueen starts it. She doesn’t really read unless it’s a tax book so they were a good find.

        1. Fingers crossed – it’s abating.
          MB felt sparky enough yesterday to tackle water logged pots and have a general tidy up in the garden.
          I played nanny and reminded him not to get too cold as he is still recovering from what proved to be a vicious beast of a bug.
          I am psyching myself up to tackle an attic in a search for unneeded Christmas decorations; the Dower House needs far fewer than Allan Towers.

    2. Richard Osman. He said he was inundated with ideas from the ladies and gents at the old peoples home.

    1. I wonder how many other people have victims of corporate injustice there have been, if they have the power to do this to so many people what chance would just a few individuals.

    2. Yes, he embodies everything wrong with the country, but I keep coming back to my own area – why was the software so completely trusted? I see now they’re blaming Fujitsu.

      Was there an second line QA (quality assurance) team from the Post Office? There must have been a project manager responsible for commissioning. Did someone just say ‘sod it, I don’t know what state it’s in or if it works at all, let’s just shove it out the door?’

      Someone *must* have been aware of the problems. That someone is responsible. That’s the job.

      1. I still cannot work how how people have been found guilty of taking money when they have never found any stolen money.

        1. Audit mindset. Money missing it must have been stolen……
          CCTV cameras and continuous recording could have been used to test the Sub Post Office managers’ claims that the computer system was incorrect …..but Audit mindset…..

  6. Good Morning Folks,

    A good breezy cloudy start here

    A little birdie three

    Wordle 933 3/6

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  7. Gross incompetence at the highest level of the Post Office was ignored

    Maybe everyone was just following the computer science and the experts.

    1. “Everyone” as in the crooked and corrupt establishment thoroughly enjoy crushing little people under their heels.
      We have now had thirty years of this increasingly arrogant behaviour.

      1. I did some work for a big university a while back and after getting their 30 tab spreadsheet, each with hundreds of lines of spec forced them into an iterative, fortnightly delivery model. The customer got what they wanted and could change their mind.

    2. But the experts are there to protect the organisation – usually from itself.

      Commissioning software is a relatively simple process. You go to a supplier and ask for software. You exchange money for software.

      As the work is completed and delivered it is checked against a set of requirements. If it fails to meet those requirements then you either look at the reqs (usually these are badly written but are the easiest to resolve as you talk to the business and the supplier to – usually – pay more to fix the problem) or the software.

      Defects (failures to meet requirements) are logged. From typos to calculations. Every week the defects are triaged by the project management team who decide which they want fixed first. How many defects you accept into production is determined by that same PM team.

      Things break down at every level, but the quality/test team must log defects. The business analysis folk must resolve mis-matches with requirements for defects. The project management team take responsibility for triage and re-testing.

      The bigger and more monolithic the project, the more likely it is to fail – imagine asking for a car blindfolded. You could get a Ferrari… but really want to take Gran to the shops, and get two big dogs in it. You could get a Land Rover….but want a hatchback. That failure comes at specification – it’s why government projects all fail: you end up with a Ferrari towing a caravan towing a diesel generator because you’ve taken the engine out and replaced it with a hybrid and the steering wheel is bolted on to the roof and the pedals are in the back.

      As I’m ranting, the failure lies with the project manager. Their refusal to do due diligence on the project and employ the necessary experts, or not listen to them is the problem.

  8. Good morning all!
    A rather chilly -1°C this morning, but again, it’s a dry start! Sky is getting lighter but it looks like it may be overcast and the only breeze outside appease to be from the quarry tippers going past.

    1. Morning Anne. We now live in a sort of modern equivalent of the Middle Ages ruled by Robber Barons and Oppressive Government where Justice and Freedom no longer exist except by accident. We must do what our forefathers did and keep our heads down for fear of something worse!

      1. What worries most is that there is no sign whatsoever that things are going to improve. The entire edifice of state has the exact same agenda – enforced decline, statist expansion, oppression to destroy dissent and crushing taxation to force socialism.

        1. The problem is Wibbles is that it is not just the UK. The whole of Western Christian Civilisation is collapsing.

      2. 381523+ up ticks,

        Morning AS,
        May I suggest the prime horror of horrors for many, that the
        lab /lib/con /current ukip anti Brit coalition is boycotted with a vengeance.

        Then a great many patriotic heads appear above the parapet demanding
        with a vengeance, a new GREAT CHARTER, or bloody else.

      3. I have repeatedly said that the last time this country was so badly and corruptly governed was during the C15. The era of the Wars of the Roses and a mad, ineffectual monarch.

    2. 381523+ up ticks,

      Morning Anne,
      I am sure old bill will have a pill for your malady, otherwise all I can suggest, in the nicest possible manner, is a radical change in the voting pattern.

        1. 381523+ up ticks,

          Morning W,

          I would say ” look at what the voting pattern of the late thirties germany resulted in ” currently a template being re-used.

    3. Of things to obsess about justice, truth and fairness are just about the only ones worth fighting for.

      Our society in the current iteration is broken. Fundamentally distorted. The promotion of the criminal, the rewarding of failure, the lauding of the incompetent, the feckless, the wastrel, the deceit of big state, the perpetual, repeated and continual lies solely to hide it’s uselessness – it goes on and on and on.

    4. It is fundamentally the fault of our pathetic, corrupt, venal politicians:

      Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile. Filths savour but themselves.

      [King Lear]

  10. Wordle 933 5/6

    Made it in five today.

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    1. Only just beat you
      Wordle 933 4/6

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  11. 381523+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Monday 8 January: Gross incompetence at the highest level of the Post Office was ignored

    Monday 8 January: Gross incompetence at the highest level of the Post Office was made to pay in a very lucrative manner
    regarding well padded wallets.

    Just one of the many odious issues that must go through the peoples sorting office.

    1. As you all saw the quote from The Times recently, Paula Vennells was not grossly incompetent.

      The Times stated that she sent a circular letter to her senior management on how to deceive

      the public into thinking that the Horizon worked satisfactorily.

      Her action wasn’t incompetence, it was pure evil.

      It caused misery, despair, bankruptcy, and in a number of cases, suicide.

      Pure evil.

      1. I haven’t yet worked out how to break the Times’ paywall – would you be able to post the quote?

        1. I tried to, but strangely it wouldn’t download.

          Anyway, the quote is in last Friday’s Nottl. Please try and download it for us.

      2. 381523+ up ticks,

        Morning J j H,

        ALL the qualities needed to go far in the WEF / NWO cartel.

    2. As you all saw the quote from The Times recently, Paula Vennalls was not grossly incompetent.

      The Times stated that she sent a circular letter to her senior management on how to deceive

      the public into thinking that the Horizon worked satisfactorily.

      Her action wasn’t incompetence, it was pure evil.

      It caused misery, despair, bankruptcy, and in a number of cases, suicide.

      Pure evil.

  13. Suspected Russian drones ‘spying’ on Ukrainian troops training in Germany. 8 January 2024.

    Suspected Russian drones are regularly being spotted over army bases in Germany where Nato is training Ukrainian soldiers, it has been reported.

    Ukrainians learning to operate Leopard tanks have been repeatedly observed by drones overhead, according to German tabloid Bild.

    Germany shares no border with Russia. They would have to overfly Poland. The quality of the propaganda is deteriorating by the day! Are they sure that they weren’t UFO’s?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/01/08/ukraine-russia-war-live-drones-spying-army-germany-latest/

    1. NATO training Ukrainian troops? Why not just German troops? Are Nato fighting this war by proxy?

      Given that we have these things called ‘satellites’ (as does Russia, by all accounts) a drone following a predictable flight path would be quite easy to detect.

      Then there’s fuel. Given Poland is 700km across at the widest point one of the most advanded drones we have is the predator, with a range of 740km. Unless they don’t want it back and only intend to nip 40km into Germany what’s the point? Of course, Russian drones could be launched from the most western point of Poland and footage sold to Germany, or launched from a sea going vessel but…

  14. Good morning, all. Grey but not raining.

    I see the Caliph gave in to his political pals in the railway unions. Funny that…

  16. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/01/08/biden-hails-16-trillion-spending-deal-in-bid-to-avoid-shutd/

    Mr Schumer said the agreement means “we can protect priorities like
    veterans’ benefits, health care and nutrition assistance from the
    draconian cuts sought by right-wing extremists”.

    Dear life. NOT hectoring people on what to eat is now ‘Extremist Right’. They’re demented. Utterly, completely, bonkers level nutcase idiots.

    Am I the only one finding Biden’s desperation to waste even more trillions to avoid ‘shutdown’ a somewhat counter productive move?

  17. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/01/08/biden-hails-16-trillion-spending-deal-in-bid-to-avoid-shutd/

    Mr Schumer said the agreement means “we can protect priorities like
    veterans’ benefits, health care and nutrition assistance from the
    draconian cuts sought by right-wing extremists”.

    Dear life. NOT hectoring people on what to eat is now ‘Extremist Right’. They’re demented. Utterly, completely, bonkers level nutcase idiots.

    Am I the only one finding Biden’s desperation to waste even more trillions to avoid ‘shutdown’ a somewhat counter productive move?

    3. I had a look into this and found a ‘Fullfact’ check that said this wasn’t true, but it’s such a mealy-mouthed piece which distorts and tries to lessen Starmer’s involvement in the case.

  21. Call for downsizers to be spared stamp duty to ease housing crisis
    Lord Heseltine and Lord Mandelson have backed a report that proposes a crackdown on second homeowners and short-term Airbnb-style rentals to rebalance the market

    Older homeowners who downsize should be exempt from paying stamp duty while those who own a second home should be financially penalised in an overhaul to tackle Britain’s housing crisis, a study has concluded.

    The report, backed by Lord Heseltine and Lord Mandelson, also urged the government to review greenbelt boun­daries to free up land for development and force local authorities to plan for their future housing needs.

    Academics at the London School of Economics and University of Sheffield also recommended a revaluation of council tax bands so that the bene­ficiaries of higher-priced properties would pay more to support social house­building.

    Their conclusions are likely to be examined closely by senior figures in the Labour and the Conservative parties as housing moves up the political agenda before this year’s election.

    It said the UK had a vacancy rate of only 3 per cent — one of the lowest levels in the developed world — which was “inadequate” to allow normal turnover and mobility. This situation is likely to get worse with latest household projections for England suggesting that the number of households is set to increase by about 1.6 million over the next ten years.

    That would mean even if the national target of 300,000 new homes being built each year was achieved, more than half of these additions would go to meet this increase, leaving relatively few to help reduce the backlog of the present unmet need.

    In 2000 more than 70 per cent of households in England owned their home. In 2022, the figure was just over 64 per cent. That year fewer than 25 per cent of households aged under 35 were owner-occupiers compared with more than 50 per cent in 2001.

    The report’s ­authors argued that much more needed to be done to use the UK’s existing housing stock more efficiently. They pointed out the discrepancy between older homeowners — sometimes living alone — in houses that are both too large and unsuitable to their needs.

    But they said that at present there was too little to incentivise these people to downsize as they would incur both the cost of moving and paying stamp duty on their new home.

    To remedy this, the report recommended that stamp duty should be waived for downsizing older homeowners, combining it with an emphasis on creating “retirement communities”, which could ease the moving process and help keep people healthier and connected.

    It recommended a crackdown on second homeowners and the short-term Airbnb rental market, which it said distorted housing mar­kets, making it harder for local people to get on the ladder. It pointed to Wales where second homeowners faced paying up to three times the normal rate of council tax for a second property.

    Mandelson said that facilitating downsizing would be a “far swifter way of easing some of the existing housing problems” than “headline-grabbing newbuild targets”.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/call-for-downsizers-to-be-spared-stamp-duty-to-ease-housing-crisis-wrtp5ffvc

    3. Into the waste-paper basket with this, please. Just stop migration then reverse it.

    1. I believe they have tried to stop benefits for more than one wife in France: a politician called Charles Pasqua in the 1990s introduced a law to stop this happening.

      Our politicians in the UK have neither the desire nor the ability to halt the flow and I am beginning to fear that it is already too late in the UK and we shall inevitably become a Muslim state in the next fifty years or so. Enoch Powell’s ignored warnings are proving irreversibly true.

  23. Good morning all,

    A bright dawn at McPhee Towers. Wind in the North East and cold at 0→2C with snow showers forecast in the late afternoon.

    If ever a regime change were needed it’s in Iran. This is brutal and disgusting.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7be98d8321b167a0552433db94f936c6e79f1b22168f6ef7bfef9fb8445d62ff.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/01/07/iranian-woman-whipped-74-times-refusing-wear-hijab/

    The poor lass is someone’s daughter, for heaven’s sake. I would have no problem granting asylum to people such as her. Instead we import brutes who would do this to her.

    Can you imagine the progress for peace in the World if the theocrats were to be toppled and Iran/Persia returned to being the relatively civilised place it once was? No Hamas for a start. Nor Hezbollah. It can’t be done by bombs and rockets but it can be done in other ways. It is reported by dissidents that people are turning away from Islam in droves and converting to Christianity. There have been waves of mosque burnings with over a hundred having been destroyed in recent months. THIS is where Western intelligence and subversion efforts need to be applied to help them. The rest of us can only pray for them.

    1. And yet the number of women wearing the hijab in the UK has massively increased over the past 20 years or so (and the wearing of the full veil Islamic garb is becoming more apparent as well).

      1. The worst and nastiest Muslims seem to be the ones who come to Britain.

        Politicians are to blame by offering immigrants too easy a life and not insisting that they integrate.

        Why do no emigrating Muslims want to live in existing Muslim states? Maybe we should deport illegal immigrants to Iran or Saudi Arabia?

      2. One of the reasons Britain is so attractive to them is precisely because we are tolerant of such compulsory dress codes. The more the rest of Europe clamps down on burqas and the like, the more fundaments who head for the UK.

    2. We should certainly encourage and aid those who hate the Islamic Iranian State to rebel, I’m not concerned about their converting to Christianity.

  24. Godd morning all,

    A bright dawn at McPhee Towers. Wind in the North East and cold at 0→2C with snow showers forecast in the late afternoon.

    If ever a regime change were needed it’s in Iran. This is brutal and disgusting.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7be98d8321b167a0552433db94f936c6e79f1b22168f6ef7bfef9fb8445d62ff.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/01/07/iranian-woman-whipped-74-times-refusing-wear-hijab/

    The poor lass is someone’s daughter, for heaven’s sake. I would have no problem granting asylum to people such as her. Instead we import brutes who would do this to her.

    Can you imagine the progress for peace in the World if the theocrats were to be toppled and Iran/Persia returned to being the relatively civilised place it once was? No Hamas for a start. Nor Hezbollah. It can’t be done by bombs and rockets but it can be done in other ways. It is reported by dissidents that people turning are away from Islam in droves and converting to Christianity. There have been waves of mosque burnings with over a hundred having been destroyed in recent months. THIS is where Western intelligence and subversion efforts need to be applied to help them. The rest of us can only pray for them.

    1. We don’t often see Roughcommon here these days – but Happy Birthday if you’re looking in!

      1. I received an email from Robin thanking us for the birthday greeting.

        He drops into the Nottlers forum regularly but only comments when events make him particularly incensed.

        He is a very talented chap and does beautiful stone carving – he sent us some photos of some of his work. For his birthday he had a drone to play with as he is passionate about flying and used to fly real planes.

        Professionally he was an eye surgeon so he must be extremely well coordinated manually as well as intellectually.

  27. Morning all 🙂😊
    It’s a dark today or maybe I’m twirly.
    Mr Bates has already told us all they were all lied to. But that won’t be the end of the lies from Whitehall and Wastemonster.
    The police are involved now. They’ll be under instructions.
    Oh what a tangled Web…..
    Slayders.

    1. For Westminster and our establishment fat cats, lying is the default position.
      You should see the comments under the Wail’s piece about resurgent convid; basically – stuff it.

  28. 2024 will bring Ukraine to the negotiating table – where Putin holds all the cards. 8 January 2024.

    Predictions are notoriously dangerous, and I have stuck my neck out many times in this journal, saying that in my opinion Putin will eventually win. 2024 will be the year in which the war is brought to a close through negotiations: the levers to put these negotiations in train will bear on Zelensky, not Putin, and will be principally those of resources, or lack thereof. A negotiated settlement also probably means the end of Zelensky. Putin, it seems, is in no hurry.

    This is a rather blunt, not to say brutal, summation of the situation on Ukraine. Definitely not MSM material! Well worth a read.

    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/2024-will-bring-ukraine-to-the-negotiating-table-where-putin-holds-all-the-cards/

    1. As for international peace-keeping, which the province of the UN, but practically useless without the firepower of the USA, the ideal solution would be for Russia to retreat to its internationally recognised borders, handing back Crimea and the Donbas to Ukraine and calling it a day. That way, precedents are not set to other nations, notably right now Israel, China and Azerbaijan, to have a go at their own bit of land grab, confident the UN would do nothing about it.

      I somehow feel that ain’t going to happen.

      The most likely settlement that would restore peace and entente cordiale in the region is for Russia to consolidate its gains in Crimea and the Donbas, and agree to cease further shelling of the rest of Ukraine in return for Russia’s Black Sea fleet and merchant navy to go about their business unmolested, and even offering to offer protection for ships sailing from Odesa, for a fee. A protection racket maybe, but who said Putin wasn’t a gangster?

      Almost certainly Ukraine would respond by applying for EU and NATO membership, but this is the price Russia has to pay for its “special military operation”, and would have to learn to live with it. If Putin has enough patience in his old age, he may ponder the value of turning the proximity of EU’s and NATO’s borders to his advantage by improving trade relations with buffer nations and even wooing the conservative West with an antidote to wokism and Islamism.

      1. Crimea was always a part of Russia. Ukraine shelled the Donbas for years – provoking this war.

        1. Crimea was gifted to Ukraine SSR by Khrushchev in the 1950s, and this border was set in the 1990s at the breakup of the Soviet Union. They could have redrawn the national boundaries then, but didn’t. I think it had something to do with a trade off over Soviet nuclear weapons based in Ukraine, which they had to give up to Russia. It was originally populated by Tartars from the Ottoman Empire, but after the Crimean War, they were sent to Siberia and the peninsular settled by Russians. There was a powerful case for Crimea to cede back to Russia from Ukraine, following a plebiscite there which voted overwhelmingly in favour of this, but I don’t know how reliable this election was.

          There were several conflicting paramilitary factions in the Donbas. It fell to Ukraine, as the sovereign power, to keep order there and to suppress the pro-Russian terrorists (they shot down a Malaysian airliner remember). Therefore it is hardly fair to condemn Ukraine for that. Nevertheless, elections in the region returned a pro-Russian majority, and it was perilous in the extreme to disregard public opinion there. Before 24th February 2022, it left Ukraine with two options – partition or neutrality, but the Russian invasion rather forced the issue, and created the third option – resistance against occupation. The pro-Russian city of Kharkiv, after being bombarded by the Russians, swung behind Ukraine, as did Odesa, but I detect little appetite in Donetsk and Luhansk to attempt a return to Ukraine, and there is little left of the strategically important coastal city of Mariupol.

    2. My BTL under this article in TCW

      They could and should have negotiated an agreement before the first shot was fired and avoided the needless loss of hundred of thousands of lives that has resulted. However the warmongers such as the senile Biden and the bumptious Johnson were eager for war and persuaded Zelenski to ignore those who wanted to arrange talks.

      Ukraine could have got far better terms at outset than they will now get and the damage that this war has caused in international relations is beyond measure.

  29. By their enemies shall ye know them?
    Trump rises in my estimation.

    ANDREW PIERCE: David Cameron may be hoping Donald Trump will be beaten by one of his presidential rivals after it is revealed the former Prime Minister told his ministers to have nothing to do with the GOP frontrunner

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-12936325/ANDREW-PIERCE-David-Cameron-hoping-Donald-Trump-beaten-one-presidential-rivals-revealed-former-Prime-Minister-told-ministers-GOP-frontrunner.html

      2. I put it in the same bracket as Khan’s approval of the Trump baby blimp and politicians refusing to attend functions where he was there because he was POTUS.
        The fact one may despise the holder of the office doesn’t mean one should insult what the man represents.
        Utterly disgraceful behaviour.

  30. The ‘voice of business’ no longer speaks for anyone. 8 January 2024

    The boardroom veteran is reaching out to influential executives returning from their Christmas holidays, eager to chat after the CBI was rocked by sexual misconduct claims and an exodus of corporate members last year.

    While many in the City are impressed by the high-profile appointment of Soames given the extent of problems facing the group, he faces some very awkward conversations in the weeks ahead. The CBI is tarnished and nobody knows the point of it anymore.

    BELOW THE LINE

    A Allan.

    The CBI “represents” the bloated old boys’ backscratching fat cats.
    It is on a par with just about every other British institution; corrupt, treacherous and inefficient

    That Allan person is everywhere! Lol!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/01/08/cbi-voice-of-business-rupert-soames/

    1. I’m confused as to what the CBI is for. As a business we’ve never had anything to do with it and it has never done anything for us whatsoever.

    2. Would that be the Soames who was Chairman/CEO or whatever of Serco, the aiders and abetters of the Muslim invasion of Britain?

  31. And now back from Matlock!
    Rather chilly still, bit it’s dry and a lot brighter.
    A lady I chatted to said there was light snow on the tops towards Chesterfield.

  32. Good Morning, all

    Lib Dem leader ‘has questions to answer’ over Post Office scandal

    Pressure grows on Sir Ed Davey over his role in the Horizon IT fiasco

    Victims of the Post Office scandal joined MPs in saying Sir Ed Davey had “serious questions to answer” and should consider his position over his role in the fiasco. The Liberal Democrat leader faced new allegations yesterday that he “fobbed off” victims of one of Britain’s worst miscarriages of…

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F5a03a38c-c199-484f-9cec-c44d35992858.jpg?crop=2723%2C1816%2C591%2C212&resize=1027.5

    1. Even for a politician he is an exceptionally nasty man.

      Even the Lib Dems don’t like him much and in previous leadership elections they voted for anyone other than Davey.

    2. He didn’t just fob off the victims – he’s alleged to have take £275,000 from the law firm that prosecuted some of them?

    3. At the end of the day as is usually the case the British taxpayers will be forced to pay for all their lies and misdemeanors and ckllective offences.
      I’ll bet no one will ever be brought to justice as is deserved.

  33. Odd how all this is Post Office stuff is coming out now. Something else I felt was odd was last night seeing an article in the Daily Mail an article about those who were suffering from the side effects of the AZ vaccine, with comments allowed, and they did not hold back. Odd that they are both being presented to the public now. My thoughts are that this is to show us how utterly useless, incompetent, dangerous and malevolent is our government in order to lead us into the arms of the One World Government. And the snake-in-the-grass in all of this is going to be: step forward one Nigel Farage. They are going to need an excellent orator to pull it all together, to present it to the people of these islands, untainted as much as is possible by the right/left of national party politics. That is why he was sent (?) on ‘I’m a Celebrity’ – to show to the British people what A Jolly Nice Chap he is, sound, trustworthy (I wish I’d watched it now) and all the rest. Yesterday I saw a photograph of him ‘having’ the jab, and I wondered why, at this late stage, it was being presented to the public albeit in an off hand sort of way – it is so that he can say ‘look, I am the same as you’. I am beginning to wonder yet again about Andrew Bridgen, my thoughts have varied over him too.

    As for Reform, it simply wouldn’t be allowed if it were going to do the job we want it to do.

    I am sad to have come to this conclusion about Farage, he has puzzled me for some time, what his role is in all this. I wonder is the PO Scandal a set-up for this moment, or was it a fortunate happenstance that our government decided to develop and put on ice for this very purpose? I now start to wonder about many other people… Jordan Peterson, Christine Andersen.

    William Shakespeare was right, all the world is indeed a stage, and I am even beginning to wonder about him now!

    1. The Horizon scandal was covered on Radio Four in the 13:45 (ten episodes, IIRC) slot some time ago. But it took an ITV dramatisation at peak viewing time to engage the public.

    2. 381523+up ticks

      Morning PM,

      Masses of up ticks deserved, In my book old nige is one to be watched closely, I do see him now as a dispenser of odious oats, fodder for misleading / feeding fools.

      1. He needs to be watched closely, with no assumptions. All of this has been decades in the planning, down to the last detail.

      1. How rude!

        The kaleidoscope that is the world has moved on a notch or two, lacoste, and our old values no longer apply or are needed.

        Now go and wash your mouth out with soap!

    4. And the link between The Post Office Scandal and The Vax Injury investigation, such as it is? Andrew Bridgen. Hero or Villain?

  34. Calling radiology: We are currently experiencing a high volume of calls… you are in a queue.

    Have you thought of answering them? Using better methods of communicating with patients? Actually sending emails? Having appointments accessible through the site? No, you ‘write to us’. The slowest, least efficient, most annoying method going.

    And… it went to my old address. Because there’s no way of telling them my new one. No way of them looking it up on the doctor’s surgery database. No way of them messaging me, emailing me, or publishing this information externally because websites are so new fangled and modern.

    Aaaarrrggghhhhh!

        1. Well done, Philip – now try very hard to see if you can remember the next one….

  35. Flurry of sleet while returning from the Envy of the World “annual review”. One of the questions: “Do you have a good diet?” I wondered how many people answer by saying they eat shyte, fatty, unsuitable food all day long…. Heigh ho.

  37. Well we even thought of taking a packed lunch and a flask. But a combination of both journeys to and from and the procedure all carried out and back home inside 90 minutes. And it took me 10 minutes to find the department from the carpark. Brilliant. And only 3 pounds for the carpark.
    Quite on the roads as well.

      1. An ultra sound guided cortisone injection into the specific area of pain in my left knee.
        Didn’t feel a thing, brilliant.

        4. I had a hydrocortisone injection for pain in my left wrist 45 years ago. I had the pain for about a year before I was finally sent off to Addenbrooke’s. The pain was gone within 24 hours after injection and has never returned. Fingers crossed for you.

          2. As I mentioned to the nurse and doctor yesterday, I’d had tennis elbow in both at one stage. One jab at different times in each did the trick.
            Thanks for the kind thoughts 😊

      1. I was worried, but the nurse explained that no junior doctors were involved. The Doctor who carried out the procedure was in his 60s.
        A Nice Indian origin, guy.

        1. Good news at last! I had a letter today re my knees; they’ve referred me to the physio I saw about my hip some time ago! The exercises then didn’t work, either.

          2. It did initially when I had a torn meniscus in one knee. Thereafter it’s been useless (and sometimes it made the problem worse) because it’s been prescribed for joint problems (arthritis and degeneration).

          3. I have that problem with my left knee at the moment. It started in September (chasing new pup round the garden) – started to feel easier towards the end of November then I went and fell headlong over a bramble and this put it back to square one. I wear a knee support which helps a lot and I am slapping Ibuleve on it now as well. I am reluctant to return to my gp who gave me the diagnosis, a homeopathic doctor (who was also a gp) advised me never to let a surgeon anywhere near my knee (from that I gathered, any knee, not just mine!).

          4. One of the church bellringers has just had both her knees replaced. It’s made a wonderful difference to her life.

          5. I have that problem with my left knee at the moment. It started in September (chasing new pup round the garden) – started to feel easier towards the end of November then I went and fell headlong over a bramble and this put it back to square one. I wear a knee support which helps a lot and I am slapping Ibuleve on it now as well. I am reluctant to return to my gp who gave me the diagnosis, a homeopathic doctor (who was also a gp) advised me never to let a surgeon anywhere near my knee (from that I gathered, any knee, not just mine!).

          6. As I told the physios I had previously been sent to see. It was my dedication to exercises that probably caused all my problems. I think they understood.

    1. If they did that the Left would have to accept that ‘diversity’ is a failure, that there’s a real problem not caused by welfare, jobs or other state issues and is behavioural. So they pretend there’s no problem and black kids die.

      The Left do NOT CARE. Ignoring the results of their spite is a lot easier than accepting the failure of their arrogance.

      1. I agree with the author of an article I read a few days ago.
        One should sympathise with the hard working, intelligent black people and their families, who get conflated with the huge feral underclass of savages and who are doing their best to integrate and prosper and thus escape from the urban jungle through their own efforts.

      2. It appears to be a law of nature that those who create memes are strangers to grammar, spelling and punctuation.

  41. By a reliable source I hear that the Horizon project was an utter debacle. The sort of incompetence and buck passing idiocy you see far too often.

    Now, I appreciate most people are not as untrustworthy of software as I am but I remain utterly baffled as to why people accepted that they were at fault. Did folk not balance it up manually to prove the error?

    The TV show is pretty good though.

  42. Bloody fed up. We’re going to be audited. Our accountant – a 64 year old Viking hero is telling me there’s nothing to worry about and it’s fairly normal practice.

    As you can imagine, the Warqueen, who set up our tax structure and was an auditor is cheerful and excited. She suggested making them tea and providing biscuits. As they’re HMRC I’ll give them fig rolls and almond cake – to disguise the cyanide.

    1. A word to the wise, and I’m sure the Warqueen knows.

      When an auditor asks a question, they are usually fairly sure they already know the answer. Always best to be entirely straight down the line with the blighters. This is particularly pertinent if you think you might be dealing with the “gotcha” variety.

      1. I’ll stay out of it. When the ’employees’ bought me out I stayed on as a sort of contractor and shareholder. I like the technical side, I hate the business running side (and I’m rubbish at it). Better folk than I do the business thing of getting clients and then they sub contract their skills to others, so we’re a sort of network company who provide legal and accounting services. It’s very odd, but it works for the massive 5 of us.

    2. I offered the auditors at the U of C (maths) tea and biscuits. They declined (!) in the manner of those who are convinced that they are being bribed.

  43. Welsh motorists can surpass 20mph speed limit

    Punishments for speeding drivers to start at 10 per cent of the speed limit, plus 4mph

    Sarah Knapton, SCIENCE EDITOR
    7 January 2024 • 10:26pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2024/01/07/TELEMMGLPICT000350503632_17046496864750_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqqVzuuqpFlyLIwiB6NTmJwauLYewjGO21NF-o1gxbkUI.jpeg?imwidth=680
    Welsh drivers will receive more leeway than English road users
    *
    *
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/07/wales-speed-limit-is-not-20mph-because-of-relaxed-police/

    1. Apparently ‘Soton CC have run out of money. Yet they still have money to waste reducing speeds and painting roads, sticking up electronic limit signs, whacking up traffic lights.

      They waste money because they are told to. It’s not about monies coming in or out. It’s simple waste because no one controls those useless fools.

      1. Even the fashion houses are saying pants worn on the outside is going to be the next big thing. Personally, i’m ahead of the curve as i wear mine on my head to keep my ears warm.

        2. Reminds of when I travelled into London every day on the tube train.
          Late 1960s minni skirt time. Oooo suits you sir.

          2. Nor could i or anyone i know, not king likely. I always made out I was reading a news paper. Good job we couldn’t buy coffee back then, I would have spilled it.

  45. One for Wibbles:

    Ms Coates is one of the world’s best paid executives and regularly tops the list as Britain’s best paid chief executives. She earns roughly £1m for every working day of the year before tax.
    She has run Bet365 since it launched from a portakabin in Stoke 20 years ago. As well as the company’s founder and chief executive, she is Bet365’s majority owner.
    Unlike other business owners who earn the majority of their wealth through dividends or share payouts, Ms Coates is paid a significant salary. The arrangement makes her liable for significantly more tax, with Ms Coates and her family paying an estimated £460m to HMRC last year.
    Her brother, John, is also involved in the business and is a major shareholder. Her father, Peter, originally founded the company. The Coates family are worth over £8bn.

      1. Probably spends half her life explaining to the authorities that she isn’t money laundering proceeds from Drug Dealing….

      2. 1% would do for me – but I qualified as a school teacher rather than a solicitor!

        Since coming to France we have been remotely involved in education and inspired by Jack Worthing’s nurse, Miss Prism, who is described by Lady Bracknell as:

        …………… a female of repellent aspect, remotely connected with education.

        However we have avoided leaving novels which are abandoned – in either the literal or metaphorical sense – in handbags in left-luggage lockers in London railway termini.

    2. Absolute credit to her. It’s entirely her choice, she deserves the money, she’s not a parasite like councillors or council management. She could rearrange her tax affairs and chooses not to.

      Frankly, we need more people like her!

      1. It wasn’t her earnings, it was the tax paid (for which as a recipient of the State Pension I’m very grateful!)

        1. I understand your point but I disagree. It is a personal choice. Some gaming sites do prevent repeated bets, others limit losses to a fixed amount. Legislation is thicker than iron around the whole thing.

          I’ve helped get a drug addict clean. It’s hard work. Somehow a 60kg woman was able to do me sufficient harm in her demand for coke. All we can do is help those around us who ask for it.

    3. Earned from gullible people who think they will beat the odds when betting. If the betting was designed for punters to win she’d be worth zilch

    4. ….by exploiting human weakness and stupidity. The only thing gamblers are guaranteed is a loss, sometimes a huge loss. They are encouraged by the occasional publicised, and very rare, big win. There is more chance of being struck by lightning than having a large win in the lottery. The more people gamble the more they are guaranteed to lose. Ms Coates is the living proof.

      1. I was one of those with a big win but there was no outside publicity. I won £111,000 on a video slot game on Jackpotjoy.com on a 40p spin.
        I immediately maxed out the Premium bonds and bought gold and silver Britannias. Plus several blocks of savings dotted around building societies. I also took my mates out for a big dinner.

        Very few people win. Most people are ‘mug punters’ as Mad Frankie Frazer would say.
        I still play.

          1. I did but i am mostly out now. Just a £100 left in there. Still made a few thousand in profit though before it all went tits up.

    5. ….by exploiting human weakness and stupidity. The only thing gamblers are guaranteed is a loss, sometimes a huge loss. They are encouraged by the occasional publicised, and very rare, big win. There is more chance of being struck by lightning than having a large win in the lottery. The more people gamble the more they are guaranteed to lose. Ms Coates is the living proof.

  46. How kind and considerate….

    The lobbying group for older Americans just told its nearly 38 million members to “hustle” for another Covid jab, even if they have already had five boosters.

    In the organisation’s December “AARP Bulletin”: (AARP is open to anyone 50 or older).

    The column does not specify a narrower or higher age range for its recommendation. It implies that even a 50-year-old who has not already had six “Covid boosters” needs to “catch up” with another immediately.

    Keep in mind that someone who has had “five Covid boosters” has actually received seven mRNA jabs – the initial two-shot primary vaccination regimen, followed by five boosters.

    Thus AARP is suggesting its members should be taking their eighth jab of mRNA in the last three years……

    1. That darn pensions bill needs reducing and now. Too many useless eaters! I try to resist paranoia, after all, there were probably people in first century Judea who thought Jesus of Nazareth was controlled opposition. No corpse, no revolution and those bluddy Romans were still there – what more proof could you need? However, some things are too blatant to ignore!

      1. I am beginning to wonder if I have a severe case of paranoia – these days I see deliberate attempts to sideline people with sensible views everywhere, when it ‘s probably just uselessness. The rectorette has changed the day of the PCC meeting again, meaning it clashes with a meeting I’ve attended since long before I was elected to the PCC. We have previously debated changing the day and rejected it, but it’s been changed regardless. Sheer bloody-mindedness or a deliberate attempt to nobble one of the opposition?

      1. Afternoon Rastus. Please will you post the advice you received about floaters (in the eye!). I’d be very interested. Thank you.

        1. Robin (roughcommon) suggested looking to the right and then to the left as quickly as you can. This worked very well for me and moved the floater out of my line of vision.

        2. Floaters in the Eye
          Hi VW, Roughcommon here.

          Via email, Rastus has asked me to publish the advice I gave him privately on November 15th. It is very long but you will see why: it depends on which type of floater you are encountering.

          He asked: ‘Can they get rid of floaters? I tried to have one fixed 30 years ago but it is still there.’

          Sorry this email is rather long, but when (if) you have read a bit further down this email I would direct you to a Youtube video: ‘How to Get Rid of Eye Floaters’ by Dr Joseph Allen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqCjxlY_H-A

          There are at least 2 kinds of Floaters: in the Aqueous Humour and in the Vitreous Body.

          1. AQUEOUS FLOATERS
          I had experienced Aqueous floaters when I was 17-18 years old, as I was learning to fly planes and was being subjected to all sorts of positive and negative G-forces while spinning and doing aerobatics. These forces are known to cause leakage of e.g. groups of red blood cells from the retinal blood vessels into the Aqueous space between the Retina and the Vitreous Body and these are Aqueous Floaters. For orientation about the inside of the eye see the first 2 graphics in the Youtube film (from about 1min 19sec.).

          The early floaters that I had were in the Aqueous Humour (the fluid-filled space behind the Vitreous Body), so by rapidly flicking my gaze from left to right or up and down I could make the Vitreous globe ‘wobble’ and this caused the Floaters to appear to to sink out of sight. Actually, since the image on the Retina is upside-down, they were floating UP to the top of my eyes. Being close to my Retinas these Floaters were in relatively sharp focus.

          Those were Aqueous floaters which I lived with for decades. As a career Histopathologist looking down a microscope for up to 6 hours a day I occasionally needed to be able to ‘swoosh’ them out of my field of view, and the above-mentioned eye-flicking method always worked. Rastus says it works for him too.

          VITREOUS FLOATERS
          After my first cataract surgery in May this year I noticed a larger, fainter, out-of-focus Floater in the operated eye and told the Surgeon. He said it often occurred in the Vitreous Body after Cataract surgery had been performed (mostly in the aged), and that if I wanted he could use a focused YAG* laser to remove it/them. I checked on the web and found the above-mentioned Youtube presentation that shows this method (Laser Vitreolysis) at about 10min 18 sec. This seemed pretty simple and the surgeon said he would do it for free as a follow-up if I desired.

          I also checked with my own NHS Ophthalmologist (who in January 2023 had recommended Cataract Surgery) and he said that, while Laser Ablation of Floaters was possible and quite quick, there were occasionally also side effects such as inflammation and potential small gas bubbles in the eyeball. I told my Surgeon before the second operation and he said yes, it was an uncommon side effect, but that he could fix my larger Vitreous Body Floater if it became a nuisance in the future.

          I know – too much information! But at least you will know a lot more about Floaters.

          Hope this is useful information. You may not like the youthful appearance and manner of Dr Joseph Allen, but he gives a pretty complete exposition in relatively Layman’s terms.

          Regards, Roughcommon

          * YAG = Yttrium Aluminium Garnet

      1. Don’t apolgise I downloaded the earlier one for future use! (They say every one has a doppelganger!!!!)

  49. Sharma vows to rebel over Sunak’s North Sea oil and gas legislation
    Cop26 president says new Bill would reinforce ‘unfortunate perception’ that UK is ‘rowing back from climate action’
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/01/08/alok-sharma-vows-to-rebel-north-sea-oil-gas/

    I posted this BTL comment under the article and immediately the upvotes came in. It will be interesting to see if the DT now decides to dock future BTL comments as they often do when incorrect opinions are expressed!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3f746f5ab6105b0f0bcccc582160afda93ecd233b13d4d90fd507c80c3bfb602.png

  50. Just been showing 5 month old baby grandson the snow out the garden.
    I never ever thought he would see snow with all that global warming

    2. The original was a rich American visiting a British Lord and being asked by the butler how he liked his coffee.
      His response was, “Listen Bud, I like my coffee the same was as I like my women, hot, strong and sweet.”
      To which the butler replied, “Certainly, Sir. Black or white?

    3. The original was a rich American visiting a British Lord and being asked by the butler how he liked his coffee.
      His response was, “Listen Bud, I like my coffee the same was as I like my women, hot, strong and sweet.”
      To which the butler replied, “Certainly, Sir. Black or white?

  52. Well that’s leaves swept up and branches and twigs off the lawn moss just as some white stuff starts to come down.

  53. I think the British Isles should be renamed the Isle of (gone to the) Dogs

    Retired policeman fined £130 for chasing shoplifter – while thief gets off scot-free

    Mr Brennan confronted the shoplifter outside a Sainsbury’s in Twickenham Green, south-west London, before the offender turned and fled
    Neil Johnston
    A retired police officer has been fined for pursuing a shoplifter in his car while the offender escaped prosecution.

    Norman Brennan, 64, said the criminal justice system was completely “broken” after a thief he followed for nearly two miles before he was arrested was let off, while he received a fine from the local council for a traffic offence.

    Mr Brennan confronted the shoplifter outside a Sainsbury’s in Twickenham Green, south-west London, before the offender turned and fled.

    He followed him in his car before helping to arrest him and retraced the man’s steps where he found nine stolen expensive bottles of wine hidden behind a block of flats in a backpack.

    The shoplifter was neither fined nor cautioned after the manager of the Sainsbury’s decided not to press charges but Mr Brennan later received a fine of £130 from the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames for driving the wrong way down a one-way street during the pursuit.

    The amount has since risen to £195 after Mr Brennan did not pay the fine.

        1. True. What they are not telling people though is when people refuse to pay very few of them receive further sanction. A warrant may be out but someone has to action that. The police say they don’t have time. You will get the odd headline case pour encourager les autres just like benefit fraud but most people sail on through completely ignoring it.

          2. To an old address after they have moved to a different town. Then identify as someone else by spelling their name differently.

        2. Aftenoon Alf. The pursuer being an ex-cop obviously knew this and told them to get stuffed!

    3. Typical of how stupid our country has become under the jurisdiction of all the pompous self obsessed knobs.
      Ask a thousand people who was guilty in this incident
      and less than a handful (also idiots) would agree with the prosecution.
      And sainsbury deserve all the problems that will arise in the future. This will continue and the cost of the losses will be met with price increases.
      Both my wife and one of my friends in Sainsburys miles apart, have recently witnessed people stealing from their stores. But there was no one on hand to it report to.

      1. It’s about time the supermarkets were allowed to set up stocks in their carparks so that miscreants caught stealing (with shop CCTV evidence) can be arrested and placed in the stocks for at least 12 hours and shoppers be invited to ‘recycle’ fruit & veg no longer fit for human consumption.

        2. Fenced off and pigs installed to tidy up….we nearly. Apart from the porkers. There needs to be something of use behind the fence.

        3. As I started reading your post, I thought that you were going to suggest that the stock in the carpark would be for the ease of nicking without entering the shop…

      2. I was banned from commenting on Face Book for the month of November because I called a twerp a knobhead .

        A few days ago I was given a caution for talking about blue tits and nut hatches !

        2. I’ve used eff up a few time, but not directed at anyone except politicians.
          Fur cough is quite a useful adaptation of a well known phrase or saying.

        3. A re-education course or even total cancellation might be in order for a hardcore offender like yourself, Belle.

        4. TV is full of adverts for Birdwatch at the moment. They show pictures of a blue tit on fat balls and then one of a great tit (Packham).

        5. I was banned from Twitter for a week or so for writing ‘monkey see, monkey do’ and I wasn’t even referring anywhere to those who originate a little further south than Calais!

      3. It’s quite likely the retired policeman was, like you Eddy, caught on camera and a PCN issued automatically. Should be cancelled on appeal.

        1. We had a long awaited letter today.
          The result of our appeal is pending.
          They can’t prove we did pay the parking charge. We on the other hand have proven we did pay it we have the ticket..
          A friend of ours has had his registration number cloned.
          He’s had parking and speeding fines from Kent to Wales. It’s been recognised as a van. Probably gypos
          His is a Skoda estate.
          Lives near MK.
          They’ve have ask him to provide evidence that he wasn’t in the places reported.
          Bloody cheek.

    4. It is absurd. While I’m pleased he stopped the black thug, I’m genuinely pleased he wasn’t stabbed/shot in his actions.

    5. The sooner he is sent to prison the better. There he will learn not to attack innocent criminals.

  54. IDF kills senior Hezbollah commander in targeted strike. 8 january 2024.

    Israel has killed a senior Hezbollah commander in a targeted strike on southern Lebanon amid growing fears the conflict in Gaza could spread, it has been reported.

    Wissam al-Tawil, the deputy head of a unit within the elite Radwan force, was killed along with another Hezbollah fighter when their car was hit in a strike on the Lebanese village of Majdal Selm, three security sources told Reuters

    Yes that should help things along.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/01/08/israel-hamas-war-latest-updates-gaza-palestine-day-94-live/

  55. The West must shoot down Putin’s spy drones. Hamish de Crettin-Gordon. 8 January 2024.

    The German tank ranges and training areas currently under surveillance from Moscow is where I and many British and American tank commanders spent many months honing our skills for the First and Second Gulf Wars. It is unconscionable to me that we are allowing Russia to spy on the Ukrainian forces training there. If true, these drones are either being operated by Russian special forces in Europe, or they are large drones which will have travelled hundreds if not thousands of miles from Russian territory unfettered. I can think of no military reason to not shoot these drones down.

    I cannot believe that a grown man believes this ludicrous story. Europe is probably the most intensely surveilled airspace on the planet and yet we are expected to believe that Russian drones are cruising around perving on everything that is going on with no one doing anything? I am reminded of that incident a few years ago where a UK airport was supposedly being droned. It turned out to be a fantasy. Much like this one.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/08/the-west-must-shoot-down-vladimir-putins-spy-drones/

    3. There is not exactly much to learn from watching old tanks drive around and fire their guns. Plenty on You Tube I imagine, and Vlad will already had 2 years of viewing the Ukes at close quarters.

    1. The more people there are the more intensive our farming necessarily has to become. This isn’t sustainable or sensible.

      Perhaps someone would tell the government that? After all, did we really need another 30 million people poured into this nation over 25 years?

      1. Eat animals: remain a healthy, strong, mentally-alert, fully-nourished, apex-predator animal.
        Eat vegetation: become a vegetable.

        1. Humans are omnivores. Our teeth prove this. In my mind, let folk eat what they like. Life’s a lot easier with live and let live.

          1. Grizz has a vegan bee in his bonnet. Much of what he says is good sensible stuff – until he starts on vegetables and how dangerous they are.

        3. Sorry Grizzly, life is too short ;-)) The thought of not being able to eat fruit, vegetables and salads is just not going to work for me! Moderation in all things is my motto!

          1. Odd that almost all so-called apex predators wander around on four legs. Or swim.
            Strange how human kind is descended from similar creatures to the great apes, essentially vegetarian and opportunist carnivores.
            Peculiar that mankind only really made intellectual progress once it became more agrarian.
            Funny that life expectancy has increased over the years because of the intellectual advances.
            But hey ho!

          5. But as the chap says, Jill, historically fruit bore no resemblance to the genetically-engineered, sugar-laden items that are for sale today.

            Sugar cannot be eaten in moderation: it is a substance that kills and causes all manner of nasty diseases.

        4. Our younger son’s brother-in-law became a strict vegan probably 4 years ago. He eschewed even honey (exploitation of bees). A few months ago a friend (male) fractured bro-in-law’s rib when he gave him a hug at the start of yet another of his marathon runs. I don’t think he has made the connection. Our younger son and his wife started a vegetarian-ish (pescatarian actually) sort of diet in sympathy when bro-in-law was staying with them during the covid lockdowns – inadvertently marooned – this probably lasted about a year or so but they have thankfully fallen off the wagon especially our younger son.

    2. A colleague at work has just begun a protein diet. For the first two weeks she’s on eggs and chicken only. I was quite surprised given how hard they push the vegan agenda around here. Today is Meat Free Monday in the canteen. Only veggie options for cooked breakfast and lunch main course but a lot of meat sarnies were sold.

        1. Ah, I asked that question and she told me with confidence that the egg must have come first since chickens evolved from dinosaurs therefore the sequence was dino, egg, chicken :-))

        1. Well, that’s wot it said on the box and the cheese and ham one that I ate certainly tasted like cheese and ham :-))

          2. Could you not take in a rare cooked steak and eat it in the canteen, wiping dripping blood from your chin, just to upset them?

      3. Do they do a vegetable-free Friday? A sugar-free Sunday? I hope they lose money on Mondays. How dare they?

    3. You need some garlic and onions for flavour.
      Grow your own.
      Soup and home made whole grain bread tonight. And probably finish off the Christmas pudding with bandy sauce.

    4. “The audience behind me laughed at me when I told them I wanted to be a comedian. They’re not laughing now!”

  59. Positively tropical this afternoon. Warmed up to -14C for the wait for the train… cats delighted now we’re home and the fire is lit!

          1. Not as close as that. Across the estuary, about 8 miles as the gamma rays fly, should they escape.

    2. One of the classic limericks is about the man from Devizes which I first heard when I was at prep school in Bath – not so far away. Some of the boys went on to Dauntsey’s which is near the small country town.

      There once was a man from Devizes
      Who had balls of two different sizes
      While one was so small it was
      No ball at all
      While the other was big and won prizes.

      1. I won’t regale you with the one about the young lady from Buckingham, it really is a bit, as they say, off colour.

          1. Try this one
            A fine tranny guardsman from Buckingham
            Said, “As for the girls, I hate fucking ’em.
            But when I meet boys,
            God! how I enjoys
            Just licking their peckers and sucking ’em.”

          3. A fine deep bass singer from King’s
            Had his thoughts fixed on prurient things
            He said: All I require
            From this excellent choir
            Is a treble whose arse is on springs.

        2. I know it and if I printed it it would be behind a spoiler as would the one about the Bishop of Birmingham.

          I was a great enthusiast of limericks as a schoolboy and, as the saying used to go: there are three types of limericks – i) those you can tell in mixed company; ii) those which you can tell in front of clergymen, and iii) limericks,

          My brother-in-law, a City solicitor, had a copy of this book which was printed by the Olympia Press – as all prurient stuff had to be before the Chatterley trial. He also had the complete words of Eskimo Nell typed out and which he sent to me at Blundell’s.

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4c74f5afc2e621d1d6c2e8b6ce1aabc7dd053621f129ca396239b51146ccf5bb.jpg

  61. Moh and I drove a few miles to attend the funeral of a superb elderly friend who died suddenly in December the night before the Christmas lunch that is held for ex service veterans .

    It was a poignant service , good turnout , many elderly Royal Engineers wearing their blazers and berets and medals , 2 Standard bearers’ carrying the colours and a bugler… this always reduces me to tears .

    The weather today is so cold , and everyone was wrapped up warmly, we didn’t linger too long afterwards , we said our farewells and despite being invited to a ‘Wake’ elsewhere , we knew we had left behind the memories a kind nice man who had lived a full good life .

    1. Lovely to get a good send-off. Even if you aren’t there to enjoy it, it’s good for the others to say Farewell in such a manner.

      1. No not Ray, although he is quite poorly, sadly.

        The gentleman in question was 90, active , lots of hobbies and interests and a huge family. Sudden quick demise .

        1. I thought it might be Ray, as you’d said he was poorly. I hope he will recover.
          90 is a good age and quickly is the way to go, though a shock for his family and friends.

          We lost our dear friend, Pam, just before Christmas. She would have been 80 on Sunday 7th Jan, and her husband Ken turned 90 on 1st Jan. His daughter Julie had planned to take them both on a holiday. Ken is away with her now, and the funeral is delayed until 2nd February. Pam will be laid to rest in the Bristol Memorial Woodland, which will be a bit different from the quick service at the crem. All the hedgehog team will be there.

  62. An easy Birdie Three!

    Wordle 933 3/6
    ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
    🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Five for me.

      Wordle 933 5/6

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

      1. Three here too, with a bit of luck on the second work
        Wordle 933 3/6

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

    3. Wordle 933 4/6

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

  65. Keeping it in the family (in a manner of speaking). The CONservative Party here in Wellingborough has named its candidate for the forthcoming by-election, forced by Peter Bone’s unseating following a successful recall petition. She is Helen Harrison, his bedmate.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67905750

    Other candidates:
    Labour – Gen Kitchen
    LimpDumbs – Ana Savage Gunn
    Greens – Will Morris
    Reform – Ben Habib

    I shall break the habit of a lifetime in a parliamentary election and vote for someone other than the CON.

          1. But will he get the opportunity to perform in front of major audiences in the run-up?

            I hope he wins but his problem is that if he loses he’s all but stuck with that seat to fight at the GE. I believe Bone was locally popular, so his support for his partner may be crucial.

        1. And people will keep saying that about anything new with a shout that comes along. If they fail us, fine, don’t vote for them any more. But Reform hasn’t even been given a chance.

          1. 381523+ up ticks,

            Evening BF
            Take note of recent history, around 2019 time.
            Good men went to the wall while the brexit party, under the duke farage went amarching.

          2. I know. But we can play purity ponies all day long with this stuff. There is no perfect alternative, and Reform is the only one with any real chance. If they fail us, we can abandon them, but I see no sense in dismissing every other option that isn’t a perfect fit. Yes, there are parties like Heritage, which is a better fit for me, but realistically they’re not going anywhere right now.

          3. I too would prefer Heritage, but I think Reform has to be given a chance (see my rant earlier today!) because I may be wrong about it all, and actually I hope I am but fear that I am not. Unfortunately time is not on our side – and if Reform is not on side it won’t be a case of voting in someone else, it will be bloodshed in large quantities.

          4. That mirrors my sentiments exactly. I suspect things will hot up significantly over the next five to ten years, regardless. But I believe that the solutions will come in part through the ballot box and perhaps in larger part through direct action by very angry citizens. See the farmers in the Netherlands and Germany for reference. We could do with some of that here.

          5. 381523+ up ticks,

            BF,
            We have not got IMHO the fullness of time to play with, If advising I would select one person
            ( A working figurehead) with a trustworthy pedigree and mass build membership.
            Look for such a leader among those
            who have been mightily multi slurred
            as far right racist.

            brexit/reform leaders, past leaders, carry to much suss baggage.

          6. You’re right that we haven’t time, but I think that the logical conclusion of that is that we must go pragmatic now, rather than wait for something perfect to be formed or come along. Let’s be honest, it isn’t coming. So that leaves us with two choices: go with the imperfect option – Reform – and try to shift the balance in our direction, if not getting everything we want right now; or just withdraw from the whole system in despair. And who knows what comes after that?

            I see a lot of these types of argument in the conservative sphere. There are quite a few who are of the opinion that it has to be a shining knight on a white charger to the rescue, or nothing at all. We haven’t time for nothing at all.

          7. 381570+ up ticks,

            Afternoon BF,
            Read up on the UKIP party under Gerard Batten leadership, up until 2019 and the treachery meted out by the UKIP party nec & farage who was then leader of the brexit party.

            We were on course under Batten leadership of turning UKIP into a success story fear of that was the very thing that triggered treachery via farage & the ukip tory mole riddled nec.

            brexit ( fleet of manching feet) name
            change to reform, in my book = tory (ino) party.

            I have posted my personal advice on what I would like to see happen, no more to say.

          8. I was a member of UKIP then. What happened was a disgrace, and I have never forgiven Farage for dumping the party and accusing its members of being racists. Nevertheless, I don’t see any realistic alternative to Reform. We’ll have to agree to disagree. 🙂

          9. 381570+ up ticks,

            BF,
            Agreed,
            One last thing if I may, all the time farage was in the UKIP leadership position he was too useful to win anything beneficial to the UKIP party.

            Once bitten twice shy, bitten multiple times is a sure sign of idiocy.

  66. Rory Sutherland
    The box-tickers shall inherit the Earth
    06 January 2024

    Back in the late 1960s, a Welsh surgeon was returning home late, fell asleep at the wheel and fatally crashed into a tree. My aunt, a doctor, remarked that 30 years earlier a surgeon of such eminence would have had his own driver, and the accident would not have happened.

    Probably true. And it reminds us of a time when people who did useful things were given people to work for them so they could do useful things more easily. These were drivers, secretaries, assistants and orderlies. They made useful people’s lives easier.

    What is the great-grandson of the 1930s chauffeur doing? There is a worryingly high chance that he is working in hospital administration, perhaps in HR or compliance, and is adding to the surgeon’s workload with every click of his mouse.

    In every organisation, whether in the public or private sector, a great inversion has taken place where the people who do actual, useful work (from surgeons to call-centre staff) find themselves working at the behest of a vast army of box-tickers and pen-pushers who demand that they must conform to a host of metrics and proxy targets so their contribution can fit into a cell on a spreadsheet. Although this caste often uses capitalist language, its principal achievement is a kind of Sovietisation of the modern organisation.

    As in the Soviet system, the people who report, quantify and measure things end up with all the power and none of the scrutiny. Rather than fostering motivated teams and trusting them to make decisions, every job is reduced to an algorithm, with the participants treated as wholly interchangeable components. Although beadily focused on the output of productive staff, the administrative caste effectively marks its own homework when it comes to its own activities.

    And this is my explanation for the ‘productivity crisis’. It isn’t that there has been no improvement in productivity. It’s just that genuinely productive people now form a minority in any organisation. Not only do they feel powerless, they have spotted that any monetary gains from performance improvements will never translate into better pay or working conditions for them. Instead, they will be dressed up as ‘cost-savings’ and presented as such to investors by the finance director and the chief executive (who used to be the finance director before he got promoted) since the chief preoccupation of the modern organisation is the collation of numbers. Any money left over will be used to hire even more people in bogus administrative roles, largely as a reputational firebreak for the executive team, who are much more motivated by fear of scandal than by satisfying customers. According to Mattie Brignal in the Telegraph, HR salaries alone stand at £25 billion, up from £15 billion in 2017. Why? Executive paranoia seems the most plausible explanation.

    Let’s be honest. The reluctance to return to the office is a form of industrial action by knowledge workers who have no collective bargaining power, but who discovered after the pandemic that it’s difficult to sack everyone simultaneously. I largely support this action. The modern organisation is now controlled by administrative overlords whose main aim is to work the few remaining productive staff as hard as possible while paying them as little as they can, even though these people perform the jobs for which the organisation exists. Not having to buy a bloody Travelcard is the best hope you have of a pay rise.

    ‘Ah, but you must come back into the office. We need the value of serendipitous encounters.’ This plea would carry more weight if it weren’t for the fact that the same people calling for ‘serendipity’ hadn’t spent the previous two decades trying to eliminate the agreeable working conditions which made it possible.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-box-tickers-shall-inherit-the-earth/?mc_cid=7b0b7b8361&mc_eid=ea2a8f9a59

  67. SENIOR CIVIL SERVANTS RAKED IN £40,000 A YEAR ON POST OFFICE BOARD

    Sir Ed Davey is under fire for his role in the Post Office scandal, where innocent postmasters were wrongly prosecuted. He maintains that Post Office officials misled him rather than fobbing off the victims himself. Guido reminds his readers that some of those officials are senior civil servants…

    Since 2012, the government has appointed a Shareholder Non-Executive Director to the Post Office Board, with fortunate senior civil servants from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) filling the position and receiving an annual salary of £40,000. Susanna Storey, senior civil servant at then BEIS, was a Director from 2012-2014, crucial years of the post office scandal. While civil proceedings against the Post Office began in 2016, senior civil servants Richard Callard and then Tom Cooper were on the board. Currently, Lorna Gratton, a senior civil servant at UK Government Investments at BEIS, is an Non-Executive Director. The Post Office are currently recruiting a new NED. Nice work if you can get it…

    January 8 2024 @ 14:35

      1. Yes Mr Bung..
        I think I have mentioned where the word Bung came from.
        Charles Dickens. Sketches by Boz.
        A beadle who bribed people to vote for him and won. Named Mr Bung.
        The winner.

    2. Same old effing story they stuff up everything they come into contact with.
      And we pay for it plus they get away with it all. They are ‘king useless.

  68. That’s me gone for this cold, dreary day. The Wet Office says that it will be colder but very sunny. Hah! We’ll see.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

    1. It’s cold all right, I had to wrap our olive tree in bubble wrap and a plastic bag. We nearly lost it last year.

      1. You should put a label on it, like Paddington Bear, in case it wanders off again.

        Olive trees can cope with the cold, but they don’t like it wet or freezing around their roots.

          1. My squirrels don’t seem to bother eating the hazelnuts – they just bury them and forget about them so I find lots of saplings in the spring.

          2. We have had three walnut trees, one growing in our garden. Head gardener removed one, second growing under protection in a new plantation up in the North Pennines. Along side oaks and confirs.
            I hope the future locals enjoy.

    1. Just what I’ve been thinking the last couple of days. It’s as if (I haven’t watched it) this programme was what happened filmed by CCTV, and it ain’t.

    2. Just what I’ve been thinking the last couple of days. It’s as if (I haven’t watched it) this programme was what happened filmed by CCTV, and it ain’t.

  72. ‘Night All

    it seems disqus is over its snit with me and I can post again

    Very belated rest of the Medley

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/985621e6ced76764418de4f9023fc160d2e60eaf48e42b3944de31453b4e3797.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c180c6fda50dc4de54075014733180e0f81959a854138e3f2d33f60a14f144d7.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c0564825c3f42e960e58289bc4d8b4c90b5bd9127e69ce7cabfcc035ff882ede.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8f2517755feedb108aa032c6e7460c8c2a7e147191a0ebfec97b6d55e64f56dc.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6b8cf12244f62380659d52f839bcc0498d4e8f2e60b58543e28fa416f51eb828.jpg

  73. Evening, all. Very cold today. I went to a talk on locomotive steam engines (each month RAFA has a guest speaker). I learned a lot, but still can’t reliably tell which engine is which. I did, however, learn that one of the horses I have a share in is named after a locomotive, which surprised me.

    1. Every time Starmer spoke, his jaw kept dropping.

      He’s a practical man, so he used the gag that stopped him laughing…

    2. Probably a sort after way of stopping the lies streaming out.
      Looks like someone’s outside bedroom. Mattress a side.

    3. If a flood had swept through my house, bringing with it all manner of excrement from flooded sewers, the last thing I’d want is a visit from Kier Starmer.

    2. Oh, man.
      That’s really sad. As a teenager, used to watch Wales whenever I could, and JPR was the best.
      Rest in peace!

    3. I think I’ve mentioned on here before that he was ortho consultant in a hospital I worked in; my mother was his boss.

      A fantastic rugby player, unfortunately not such a pleasant chap to work with 🙁

    4. Such a sad loss, and so young. A wonderful full back and an iconic Welsh rugby player. I’m very pleased I got to see him play live several times in a great era of Rugby.

        1. So it turned out. The Daily Mail reported the incident in May 2018. She was attending a Mother’s Day event at her daughter’s school in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She shot him three times. He died of his injuries in hospital later that day.

          https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5724427/Gunmans-attempted-robbery-families-waiting-outside-school-Sao-Paulo-foiled-mother.html

          The full text of a Twitter reply to that video post says that she became a congresswoman after using this incident in her election campaign.

          https://x.com/githii/status/1744436957659214123?s=20

        2. So it turned out. The Daily Mail reported the incident in May 2018. She was attending a Mother’s Day event at her daughter’s school in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She shot him three times. He died of his injuries in hospital later that day.

          https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5724427/Gunmans-attempted-robbery-families-waiting-outside-school-Sao-Paulo-foiled-mother.html

          The full text of a Twitter reply to that video post says that she became a congresswoman after using this incident in her election campaign.

          https://x.com/githii/status/1744436957659214123?s=20

    1. Can’t you delegate the printing to Oscar and Kadi, Conners? Lol. (Anyhow, a good night to the three of you.)

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