695 thoughts on “Tuesday 7 January: Inept forest management laid the ground for the fires in Australia”

  2. SIR – Yet again America leads the way in the war against Muslim terrorists. It is time for the Europeans, including the British, to do their bit as well.

    Taking the fight to the enemy is the only way to go when dealing with Iran. Make no mistake, we are at war with a ruthless, fanatical tyranny.

    The next step should be to destroy the Parchin, Fordow, Natanz and Arak nuclear facilities as well as confronting the Iranian military presence in Syria, Lebanon and Gaza.

    Sir Gavin Gilbey Bt
    Dornoch, Sutherland

    After you, Sir Gavin; be my guest.

    1. “After you, Sir Gavin; be my guest.”

      On spot.

      Five years in Iraq destroying their WMD facilities before being kicked out and even longer in Afghanistan wasting British money and lives, all for nothing. Not to mention Libya. All the while, leaving our back door wide open.

      Sort this country’s problems out first, Sir Gavin.

      Morning zx.

  3. SIR – Could we not send some comfort to this fellow Commonwealth country out of our bloated overseas aid budget?

    Lord Vinson
    Roddam, Northumberland

  4. SIR – Dr Helen Sharman’s suggestion that aliens live among us (report, January 6) has already been confirmed.

    My team, working at the University of Sheffield, has shown that non-Earthlike microbes are floating at heights of about 20 miles in the stratosphere. We conclude that these organisms are coming to Earth from space and have done so since the birth of our planet.

    As it is possible that some of these biological entities are dangerous, it is essential that Nasa begins to take the evidence of their existence seriously.

    Professor Milton Wainwright
    Sheffield, South Yorkshire

    Grant funding running a bit thin, Prof Wainwright? Or are you angling for a free jolly up to the International Space Station?

      2. quasi-scientific term intended for someone who might be scared into providing urgently needed funds.

    2. If these alien microbes have been arriving since the birth of our planet, one wonders if they are destroyed in the ozone layer.

    3. Dangerous? Since they have been there since the start of time, how is it different now?

  5. SIR – It was interesting to read two letters in defence of the New Year concert in Vienna (January 5) that were written from the perspective of the audience.

    However, having performed last week in a New Year concert in Sidcup, I would like to speak on behalf of all second violins and violas who are driven out of their minds by incessant “um cha chas” throughout most Strauss waltzes, as they gaze enviously at the first violins with all the good tunes.

    Janet Newis
    Sidcup, Kent

    I know that feeling, Janet. Apart from when we performed Die Meistersingers, the trombone section of the school orchestra would get thoroughly bored. When we livened up one of the annual Parents’ Day concerts by playing the bass line from Les Marseillais instead of that prescribed for the National Anthem, all four of us were summarily dismissed with prejudice. Not fair.

    2. When I were nobutalad in the early 1960s, the RN Establishment, had a Volunteer band that insisted playing little known tunes, for us to sing well known hymns

      It lasted three weeks, We just sang the tunes we knew, then they changed their music.

      1. A couple of weeks ago, we had no choir for matins and the hymns were little known Advent ones. Even the organist (the usual choirmaster) admitted they were a poor choice of hymns.

    1. Rebecca Long-Bailey, or as she would have been known in our battalion, Rebecca Two Dads.

      2. Morning JN,
        You would be hard pressed to make up the past actions of the odious lab/lib/con coalition circus so far, unless one is of the three monkey tribe.

    3. The yoof will probably base their vote on who’s name fits their chant

      Oooooh Keir Starmer – nope no chance
      Oooooh Jess Philips – nope even worse
      Ooooh Lisa Nandy – maybe a chance with Lii-i-i-sa Nandy
      Oooooh Rebecca Long-Bailey – there’s your winner

      1. Take the name Rebecca Long-Bailey.
        Split it into its consonants.
        Re becc a long bai ley
        Change that to
        da da da da da da

        And you’ve got a good imitation of an old sewing machine.

      2. Jess Philips interviewed on Radio Scotland this morning – a joke, she can’t even string a sentence together

      3. ‘Morning, Stormy. The previous fee of £3.00 has been increased by 833.3333333…%. Typical Labour, I may have to think twice now about whether this still represents good vfm in my quest for the destruction of the party.

        PS Perhaps this is an indicator of the level of inflation they will be striving for, should they ever get anywhere near government again.

    4. PTV,
      Not much is assuring me we are not
      going to get more of the same
      lab/lib/con coalition circus going forward.

    5. ‘Afternoon, Peddy, she will become the perfect foil for Boris across the Dispatch Box; being daily slaughtered will ensure that the Labour Party will spin in ever-decreasing circles before finally disappearing up its ain folk.

    1. Morning, Stormy.
      I think I am one or the other, but as it is still dark, it’s difficult to be sure.
      :-((

    1. No more worrying than it was in 1962 with Khrushchev’s and Kennedy’s fingers on the buttons.

      1. I think it is more worrying these days with so many unpredictable, ruthless leaders in charge.

        1. The Russians were rational – well, compared with the fruit loops running all too many countries nowadays.

  11. Buenos dias everyone.
    Just happening to listen to CBBC news in the background. The newsreader has explained that a very important General in the Iranian Government has been killed. Was Soleimani moonlighting as a politician, or did the BBC misinform thousands of schoolchildren across the United Kingdom? The exact words escape me, but it will be available on BBC iplayer to check.
    CBBC is a channel aimed at primary and young secondary school pupils, sort of 7-13.
    Transmission was approximately 0736 onwards, (so I don’t forget later).

  12. BBC Radio 4 News reports the Chancellor as saying he will take advantage of the very low Interest rates to finance his policies. We know the attitude of muslims to interest rates on savings. It looks as if savers are being ignored again.

  13. Morning, Campers: a snippet of Charles Moore to go with your coffee.

    Judges are appointed to dispense justice – not radical social policies
    CHARLES MOORE
    7 JANUARY 2020 • 6:00AM

    “Great minds have argued for centuries about what constitutes a religion or a philosophy. Nowadays these matters can be decided by an employment tribunal in Norwich. Last week there, a judge, Robin Postle, ruled that ethical vegans (as opposed to people who are vegan just to lose weight) have the rights of a philosophical belief, which is a “protected characteristic” under the Equality Act 2010.

    Just before Christmas, another employment tribunal – this time in London – found against Maya Forstater, a consultant for the Centre for Global Development think-tank. She had tweeted against government plans to allow people to self-identify as being of a different gender from their sex at birth. For this, she was dismissed.

    She complained that her dismissal infringed her rights to philosophical beliefs. No, said the judge, James Tayler: her view of sex and gender was of an “absolutist nature” and “incompatible with human dignity and the fundamental rights of others”.

    I see much more work for lawyers in this. After all, the idea that your sex is biologically determined is common to many religions and many non-religious belief systems everywhere. Is that idea now actually illegal? If so, how are religious and philosophical rights protected under the Equality Act?

    It is important to understand that such rights do not merely uphold – as they should – the freedom to hold beliefs such as veganism. They affect a myriad of everyday things which are troublesome for the rest of us. Will it now be a duty in all workplaces to provide vegan food and to make sure that vegan employees do not have to handle anything made from animals?

    Once upon a time, a forgotten concept known as common sense would have ensured that vegans did not seek jobs in butchers’ shops. But now that they have acquired rights under law, how long before they get hired for the meat counter in Sainsbury’s and then protest that the management infringes their rights when it tells them to slice bacon?

    How do employment judges know the answers to these vexed questions? Judge Tayler referred repeatedly to something called the Equal Treatment Bench Book, a sort of semi-official guidance. This book, I notice, goes well beyond the law. It embraces, for instance, the concept of Islamophobia, although it currently has no legal definition. Judge Tayler is also a “Diversity and Community Relations Judge”. Did you know there are scores of them?

    The more one looks, the more one finds that a judicial career can now be a vehicle for those pursuing radical social and political causes. The idea of most citizens that it is simply about dispensing justice fairly is beginning to look woefully 20th-century.”

    2. Judge Tayler is also a “Diversity and Community Relations Judge”.

      Needless to say you would not attain this position if you were for example, a NoTTLer, so his rulings can be predicted with better than reasonable accuracy!

      Morning Anne.

    3. The Anti-Christ card must be played

      If someone can be an effical vegan, then an effical omnivore, carnivore should be able to say what they think about a subject

      The contra belief MUST be available to all these minorities, or we the majority have totally lost our Freedom of Speech

      Klaxon: Thought Police Incoming

    5. The more one looks, the more one finds that a judicial career can now be a vehicle for those pursuing radical social and political causes
      Didn’t the Blair government open specifically for judges with an axe to grind? This is the result.

      2. Is it just me, or are others faintly embarrassed by such ridiculous garb in the 21st century?

        3. I love tradition and if there is a history for wearing “archaic” garments then I’m fine with it. I have been known to wear a suit of armour and other different sets of clothes in my youth. These people today though… Many of them disgrace the offices that they hold.

          1. “Many of them disgrace the offices that they hold.”

            Yes, upon reflection perhaps that is the real source of my embarrasment.

  14. First head transplant will be achievable within the decade, says former NHS neurosurgeon

    The world’s first human head transplants may be just a decade away, a former NHS neurosurgeon has said, after working out how to achieve the
    groundbreaking operation.

    Bruce Mathew, a former Clinical Lead for Neurosurgery at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, is now an expert in hyperbaric medicine, helping divers to recover from the bends. But while working on a science fiction novel with the futurist author Michal J Lee, he realised there was a plausible way to move the

    consciousness of one person to another body, and that recent advancements in robotics, stem cell transplants, and nerve surgery now make the project achievable in the next decade

    AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH

    Corbyn is going to live forever

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2019/12/22/first-head-transplant-will-achievable-within-decade-says-former/

      1. Well said, D-Cup.

        Since the head (mainly the brain it contains) is the ‘us’, the ‘we’, the essence of a person; wherever that head goes the person goes with it.
        Chopping the head off a body and giving that body a new head changes that body’s essence and character to a different person.

        We think, therefore we are.

          2. ‘Morning, Tom.

            No, I’m convinced my soles are under my feet. As for the other “soul”, I leave that to Aretha Franklin.

        3. It’s a body transplant. Asking for a new head (presumably including brain) would mean asking to die and have somebody else inhabit your body.

      2. Good morning Stormy
        I didn’t see your post and posted a similar comment above.
        Great minds and all that. 🙂

    2. Glad to see that the good Dr sees a time when the hospitals have empty beds and nurses are standing around twiddling their thumbs looking for trade. Suppose you have to look at how to spend all that money that is going to be thrown at the national treasure.

    3. Morning OLT,
      We in the UK have been front runners for years in that department, take for instance the governing political fraternity & the amount of two faced bastards within.

      1. Yo PT

        How ‘woke’ you are will depend on whose head you get

        Just imagine. you come out of surgery, they unwrap the banages and you are

        the Abbottopotamus

      2. Nope. You wouldn’t wake up at all, ever. Somebody else would wake up inhabiting your body.
        Now, a body transplant would mean that you woke up again – if it ever works.

      3. But would you know?
        It must be the same as a body transplant isn’t it?
        I’ve checked the diary and it is 7 January and not April Fool’s Day.

    5. Yo, Tryers.

      Sorry but that headline is a load of bollocks. Head transplants have been available for decades. How else do you account for the unstoppable rise in the numbers of snowflakes, virtue-signallers, social justice warriors and assorted rag-tag mobs of unwashed zombie pinkoes?

    7. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_After_Tomorrow_(novel) (not in any way related to the movie of the same name)
      The Day After Tomorrow (1994) is a thriller novel by Allan Folsom

      “Out of McVey’s researches arises that Osborn’s father invented a scalpel that can be used at degrees of absolute zero and that in the same year he was killed a few other inventors were killed, whose inventions were all about surgery at extremely high or low temperatures and all vanished. Because of that McVey and his investigation team have a suspicion that Scholl and his people might belong to an organization that’s working on surgery making it possible to combine deep-frozen body parts and to thaw it so the person is alive.

      Time passes, and McVey finds out about Elton Lybarger and a ceremony that should be held in Berlin. During this, in the main hall of the building, Elton Lybarger is giving the speech. Suddenly all doors close and all people inside the main hall are gassed with cyanide gas. Right after the cyanide attack the building is set to fire and Osborn nearly perishes. After Osborn followed Von Holden, the only remaining organization member, to Switzerland and is nearly killed McVey gives Osborn a VCR tape, on which Osborn finds a whole confession of Elton Lybarger’s physician. He confesses having experienced the surgery on Lybarger, because they were searching for a person, whose attributes and fingerprints were as much as the same as Adolf Hitler’s, and having helped the organization, who was trying to build a new Third Reich, to raise Lybarger’s two “nephews”, the perfect Aryans, who were raised with him since they were young. According to Salettl one of them should be the new leader after having undergone an operation. Osborn can’t remember exactly what happened in Switzerland, but then the scene replays in his mind. He sees how Van holden falls into a crevasse and how he opens the package Von Holden had been carrying with him all the time, and it’s the deep-frozen head of the Third Reich’s Führer, Adolf Hitler.

      1. I watched a film about frozen nazis rising from the grave a few months ago. Then there was “Iron Sky” about a nazi moonbase.

        “In the last moments of World War II, a secret Nazi space program evaded destruction by fleeing to the Dark Side of the Moon. During 70 years of utter secrecy, the Nazis construct a gigantic space fortress with a massive armada of flying saucers. When American astronaut James Washington puts down his Lunar Lander a bit too close to the secret Nazi base, the Moon Führer decides the glorious moment of retaking the Earth has arrived sooner than expected.”

        What imaginations some people have.

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/12519bf0eee4779ef3b8a7d24cd3808ad00e1939f250b7a7b0da01182ac8d59a.jpg

    1. Unable to prioritise priorities should mean instant dismissal without a golden boot to kick her out with.

      1. Do not forget this was an appointment which Amber Rudd and Theresa May came up with …

      1. Most up voting on here, I would suggest, would swell plods hate stats significantly if they ever had a look. Downers are normally from yer woke folk.

      1. Charles Moore

        An error of illustrious proportions

        On BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day on Saturday, Canon Angela Tilby described Qassim Soleimani as “illustrious”. Somehow this adjective got past the red pencil of the programme’s editors who police their slot so zealously. (Would they have been so lenient if she had so described Margaret Thatcher?)

        At what point in a career does a military commander and leader of terrorist attacks become “illustrious”? Was the late Martin McGuinness, the head of the IRA Army Council, illustrious? What about General Ratko Mladic, the Serb army commander who organised the genocide of about 8,000 Bosnians in Srebrenica?

        Perhaps Canon Tilby would argue that such a man becomes illustrious when he graduates from mere violence to the role of statesman. If so, I hope she would describe General Augusto Pinochet of Chile as illustrious too.

        I do sort of understand what she means. Soleimani was clearly a man of real consequence, ability and vision. He was not a mere thug. With skill and daring, he devoted 40 years of his life to killing – and ordering thousands of others to kill – enormous numbers of those who rejected his extreme version of Shia Islam. Such men certainly make a real difference. But I’m not sure that should make them “illustrious” on the best-known religious slot on British radio.

      2. You have also reversed the image of Connery – medals are worn on the left breast.

          1. Well, the Captain of the Red October was unlikely to be wearing none of his own but those of his father/mother/brother/sister. Technically the honour remains with the individual and does not pass to a widow, parent or relative upon death. Wearing on the right denotes that they were not awarded to you.

          2. Hence my comment. You can wear medals on the right. Medals are only worn on the left if they are awarded to you.

  21. B&Q JOB APPLICATION

    This is an actual job application that a 75-year-old pensioner submitted to B&Q in Tunbridge Wells.

    NAME:
    Kenneth Way (Grumpy Bastard)
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/977d064a3627de40a9c8717e4a6ff7d918a91cfa602b4225d798f91839589741.jpg
    SEX:
    Not lately, but 1 am looking for the right woman (or at least one who will cooperate)

    DESIRED POSITION:
    Company’s Chief Executive or Managing Director. But seriously, whatever’s available. If I was in a position to be picky, I wouldn’t be applying in the first place – would I?

    DESIRED SALARY:
    £150,000 a year plus share options and a Tony Blair style redundancy package. If that’s not possible, make an offer and we can haggle.

    EDUCATION:
    Yes.

    LAST POSITION HELD:
    Target for middle management hostility.

    PREVIOUS SALARY:
    A lot less than I’m worth.

    MOST NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT:
    My incredible collection of stolen pens and post-it notes.

    REASON FOR LEAVING:
    It was a crap job.

    HOURS AVAILABLE TO WORK:
    Any.

    PREFERRED HOURS:
    1:30 – 3:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.

    DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIAL SKILLS?
    Yes, but they’re better suited to a more intimate environment.

    MAY WE CONTACT YOUR CURRENT EMPLOYER?
    If I had one, would I be here’?

    DO YOU HAVE ANY PHYSICAL CONDITIONS THAT WOULD PROHIBIT YOU FROM LIFTING UP TO 50 lbs?
    Of what?

    DO YOU HAVE A CAR?
    I think the more appropriate question here would be “Do you have a car that runs?”

    HAVE YOU RECEIVED ANY SPECIAL AWARDS OR RECOGNITION?
    I may already be a winner of the Reader’s Digest Timeshare Free Holiday Offer, so they tell me.

    DO YOU SMOKE?
    On the job – no! On my breaks – yes!

    WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE DOING IN FIVE YEARS?
    Living in the Bahamas with a fabulously wealthy Swedish supermodel with big tits and who thinks I’m the greatest thing since sliced bread. Actually, I’d like to be doing that now.

    NEAREST RELATIVE?
    7 miles

    DO YOU CERTIFY THAT THE ABOVE IS TRUE AND COMPLETE TO THE BEST OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE?
    Oh yes. absolutely.

    They hired him …
    But…

    After landing my new job as a B & Q “Greeter – a good find for many retirees. I lasted less than a day. About two hours into my first day on the job a very loud, unattractive, mean-acting Bognor babe walked into the store with her two kids, yelling obscenities at them all the way through the entrance. As I had been instructed, I said, pleasantly, “Good morning and welcome to B & Q.” I then said, “Nice children you have there. Are they twins?” The woman stopped yelling long enough to say, “No, they ain’t effin twins. The oldest one’s 9, and the other one’s 7, why the hell would you think they’re twins? Are you blind, or just effin stupid?” I replied, “I’m neither blind nor stupid, Madam. I just couldn’t believe someone shagged you twice… Have a good day and thank you for shopping at B & Q.”
    My supervisor said I probably wasn’t cut out for this line of work.

    1. The reference to “50 lbs” suggests that this has come from America, and been re-worded for the British audience.

  23. One last post ‘cos it’s now time for walkies. This is from today’s Brexit Central. Feel free to shout “We Nottlrs could have told you that”.

    “Today the Brexit reflections continue with a fascinating set of answers to our questions from Stewart Jackson, who was Conservative MP for Peterborough at the time of the referendum, but after the 2017 general election went on to become Chief of Staff to David Davis when he was Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.

    He states his belief that David Cameron’s 2016 renegotiation with the EU was “a charade which was predicated on Remain winning the ensuing referendum reasonably comfortably” and expresses his fear at one point how the Conservative Party could split “because so many of the people who had run the party since the 1960s right through to today had accepted EU membership as gospel and were unused to having their cultural assumptions and worldview challenged.”

    Blimey, we were onto Dodgy Dave’s traitorous charade long before he set off for his (alleged) renegotiation!

    1. Morning HJ,
      More is the pity that the keep in / keep out mode of voting has been, and still is adhered to all the time, ie party first, that is the major cause of suffering among decent peoples.

    2. “Blimey, we were onto Dodgy Dave’s traitorous charade long before he set off for his (alleged) renegotiation!”

      It would have been more difficult to establish the ecclesiastical affiliations of the Apostolic Vicar of Rome.

  24. Chancellor vows to tackle cost of living as UK budget date announced

    The 2020 budget will take place on 11 March after a planned budget last November was cancelled in the run-up to the election, HM Treasury confirmed in a press release on Tuesday.
    Business leaders said it was the new administration’s “first opportunity” to show it understood firms’ concerns amid continued political uncertainty over Brexit.

    1. BJ,
      It is surely recognised the world over that a vow, promise or pledge made by a lab/lib/con politico is worth less than
      1 ounce of sh!te

  25. Morrisons sees festive sales slide amid shopper uncertainty

    More like increase competition and an overcrowded market

    Supermarket Morrisons has posted falling sales over the crucial festive season amid “challenging” trading and shopper uncertainty.
    The UK’s fourth biggest grocery chain reported a 1.7% fall in group like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, for the 22 weeks to January 5 covering its third quarter and the key Christmas period.

    It said it moved to slash prices to help boost trade, but admitted it missed out after choosing not to take part in November’s Black Friday offers.

    Morrisons said wholesale trading was hit by lower total sales at McColl’s, but added that the performance was better at the 10 stores converted to Morrisons Daily.

    1. And meanwhile: “On Monday, discount chain Aldi said that its total UK sales in the four weeks to 24 December rose 7.9% from a year before, although it did not give a like-for-like comparison”

      One supermarket’s falling sales is another’s rise…

    1. BJ,
      It started in 2016 but thanks to the treachery of the pro eu
      lab / lib / con coalition party, current members and voters, is still ongoing.

  27. A plant-based pork substitute has been launched in Las Vegas by one of the leading “alternative meat” producers.
    Impossible Foods, the firm behind the Impossible Burger, says it hopes to appeal to a global audience with its latest vegetarian-friendly meal, which it unveiled at the CES tech show.

    Yet to find any of these claimed meat substitutes that taste anything remotely like meat. They are also very expensive . More a case of hype over substance and should they really be describing them as meat. Is that not false advertising ?

    Pork is currently the most widely consumed meat in the world.
    The company hopes the product will help it break into China. But one expert said it might find that a challenge

      3. Me too.

        I only eat dead vegan sheep, and dead vegan cows, and dead vegan pigs, and dead vegan ducks, and dead vegan geese, and dead vegan chickens …

  29. Rebecca Long Bailey says immigration does not push down wages

    It is quite clear that it does. A lot of spin is used to try to pretend it does not

    Ms Long Bailey marked out her pitch with a call for an open immigration system – perhaps even a continuation of free movement after Brexit – calling that “the million dollar question”.

    I have not seen any economic evidence to suggest that the influx of workers from any country across the world at the moment has depressed wages in any way.”

    1. I heard Jess Phillips on Radio Scotland this morning (Why, I asked myself) and I thought she was the most common woman I had ever heard.

    2. Of course mass immigration doesn’t push down wages.
      And the sky is green with purple dots….

    3. That’s because she doesn’t talk to ordinary people, just those in the Islington Bubble.

  30. Senior civil servant stole £1.7m from Ministry of Justice

    How? Even the most basic systems that should be in place would have picked this up ?

    A civil servant who stole more than £1.7 million from the Ministry of Justice to buy a lavish home and cars has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.
    Allan Williams, 37, masterminded a “sophisticated” fraud by setting up payments to a fake company for two years.

    Williams, who as a Grade 7 civil servant would be earning £50,000-£60,000 a year, used the cash to buy an Audi SQ5, an Audi A3 and a five-bedroom manor house with 1.1 acres in Hampshire.

    On July 23, 2017, Williams created a £7 million purchase order for an “IT services contract” from “Sopra Business Consulting” and set up a monthly payment to it. But the firm was bogus, created by Williams.

    The money was transferred from the company’s bank to his personal account.

    He was caught when a junior civil servant became suspicious of a transaction in July 2019.
    Williams, a manager in the MoJ’s commercial and financial control sector, tried to convince him the payments were legitimate, the court heard.
    But the employee reported them. Police found Williams had transferred almost £1.4 million of MoJ funds to himself and £400,000 was in the fake firm’s account.

      1. How lax must the system be if he could just set up a fake company and then invoice for £7M . In private companies that would require layers of approval including the finance director plus it should have gone out to competitive tender

        How much more fraud is going on if they are that lax ?

    2. So he set himself up at £850,000 per year and now has to ‘pay his taxes’ with an actual ‘behind bars’ sentence of 21 months.

      If I could, I’d have some of that, cheap at twice the price.

      1. I would also be sacking people at the MOJ. They must have very lax systems for that fraud to happen

        2. My elder sister used to be Head of IT at the MOJ. She took early retirement because this situation was just waiting to happen and no-one would listen to her !

          1. If it was for a few thousand pound if they were careless it could have sliped though but £&M no way should that have happened

        3. My elder sister used to be Head of IT at the MOJ. She took early retirement because this situation was just waiting to happen and no-one would listen to her !

    3. Tip of the iceberg Bill

      All gone very quiet on this case

      Gangsters with links to the 7/7 London bombings stole £8billion from

      British taxpayers in 20-year fraud before funnelling cash to Pakistan

      to support Osama Bin Laden

      Gangsters

      stole billions via VAT fraud, benefit fraud, credit card and mortgage

      fraud over 20 years including £8bn directly from UK taxpayers, files

      show

      They channelled £80 million to Al Qaeda terror operations and Osama Bin Laden

      HMRC were tracking associates of 7/7 bomber two years before deadly strike

      Court

      orders prevent reporting of names and details because prosecutors claim

      ringleaders’ trials could be jeopardised – but they fled to Middle East

      years ago

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6869857/Gangsters-links-7-7-London-bombings-stole-8billion-British-taxpayers.html

      1. Small amount can potentially be fiddled if they are careless with their systems but there is no way Billions should slip through. On any logical basis it would need people at the top complicit in it

        Charities are another favorite fraud target as they have very lax systems or no system at all

  31. Dead mother’s pension collected for eight years in £77,000 fraud, court told

    A benefit cheat continued collecting her dead mother’s pension for nearly eight years in a £77,000 fraud, a court heard.
    Hilary Wilson, 46, a school clerical assistant from Brixton, did not report the death, which happened during a visit to Jamaica and was not registered in the UK.

    Inner London crown court heard that Wilson’s mother had her state pension paid into a joint account that she held with her daughter.

    The mother of two pleaded guilty to defrauding the Department for Work and Pensions between August 10, 2009 and February 12th 2017

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4e3753d498699937b734aa6a968bde1b858f61a86110a1fe282bc3436b17996c.jpg

      1. “My wife went to a concert in South East Asia”
        “Singapore?”
        “Yes, the band weren’t exactly first class either….”

      2. I always find it vaguely unpleasant when criminals such as this wear a cross as if it is a fashion accessory. I assume that is a cross that she is wearing next to the questionably tasteful “mom” necklace.

        2. This fraud would be one of the difficult ones to pick up as the death was in Jamaica and she had been living in Jamaica so the death would not have been registered in the UK

          It sounds as if the fraudster was claiming benefits and they seemed to have picked up that she seemed to have an unexplained income

    2. How do you effectively punish this scumbag?

      Gaol means shelter, warmth, exercise, entertainment and three square meals a day.

      Fines will not be paid. Compensation orders are unenforceable (she’s spent it in any case).

      What an excellent opportunity to bring back the cat o’ nine tails. £77,000? 700 strokes! And then a complete forfeiture of benefits (of any kind) for the rest of her life.

      THAT’S a proper punishment.

      1. After which, deport her back to Jamaica and she can live on their ‘benefits’ rather than ours.

  32. Morning all. I’m a first time visitor, after seeing a reference on the going postal web site (where no one reads the comments).

        2. But check your spelling and punctuation before posting. This is a bastion of stylistic pedantry.

    4. Verax – I will add my greetings and I am a fairly new person here as well, just since the Disqus free-channel carnage.

      Most people here are interesting, but as we don’t want to lose you on your first day, I would not spend too much time talking to someone called “PrettyPolly” and you will see why shortly. They have just started commenting a few minutes ago, and unless you like going round in circles with endless replies that go nowhere, I’d give it a few days before replying to them. They are almost certain to talk to you. Welcome again though. 🙂

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8a1ba148b2795cfc1654eaa98d57757988cc6918bdbf041ab317d3797939d156.jpg

        1. I was not going to say anything about her as we are all grown-ups and can make our own judgements on people. But I was just off for lunch and saw her comments beginning. I thought to myself “If I had just come to the channel would I want to think that she was typical of the people here, or would I want to be warned?”

          You may like her comments though. It is possible that you will hear her repeat the name “Soros” a few too many times for her own credibility. That man is a nasty piece of work and he is a globalist, but Polly… Well, you can draw your own conclusions. Time for lunch. Welcome again. 🙂

  33. Labour deputy leader:

    Scotland’s only remaining Labour MP is to run for the position of deputy leader of the party.
    Ian Murray, the MP for Edinburgh South, said the architects of the party’s ”catastrophic failure” in 2019 could not be allowed to lead the response.
    The long-time critic of Jeremy Corbyn said he never again wanted to feel the way he did on the night of the general election
    And he said the party had let down millions of people across the UK.

  34. How have we ended up with the Met that was probably once one of the best police forces in the world now being nearer the worst

    How can they be spending millions of pounds recording non events. Basically id anything gets reported to the Met they record is as a hate crime. So if a shop assistant refers to you as dear and you dont like it the met will record it as a crime. Saying you dont like the SNP and that can go down as a hate crime if someone does not like you saying that

    I think I will report that ethical vegan., HE east plants and birds and insects and animals feed on them and also when they are harvested some will be killed and he will be eating some of them

  35. State Pension and Migrants

    Now many migrants will also be entitled to a state pension from the country they came from so surely the UK state pension they get should be reduced to take that into account

      1. Don’t be so sure. I knew of an elderly businessman who worked until he was about 90, and until his last he collected scrap copper. I also met someone whose family amassed significant savings from discarded Co-Op stamps.

      2. Many of these penniless big issue sellers have nice home back i Romania paid for by UK benefits including in some cases fake children

    2. Hullo Bill. You have raised an important issue. Many immigrants maintain financial and family ties with their countries of origin. Some links are positive, some less so.
      These sort of matters for taxation treaties were being dealt with (far too slowly) by eurocrats, but the British government needs to create a flexible modern policy for people who earn and own and contribute in various countries. Not just for multinational expats, but for ordinary businesspeople. Looking at a Christmas round-robin recently, I realised that the adult children have the right to three nationalities, and that the highly respectable parents probably have assets in the EU, UK and non-EU (eg holiday homes). Complex.

      1. ‘Afternoon, Paul, that is precisely why Somalia is my country of choice to which we deport those who have destroyed their papers.

        Make yourself stateless and we’ll find one for you to get in a state about.

      2. I put Somalia State pension into a search engine and it directed me to the UK state pension

  36. The population BOOM in Britain’s towns and cities: Coventry and Corby are among top 20 fastest-growing areas outside London – while capital continues to swell
    MailOnline has analysed population data from the Office for National Statistics
    Revealed council districts such as Coventry and Corby have been rising most
    In central London, population growth has now risen by a whopping 44 per cent
    Elsewhere, however, population decreased in places such as Ceredigion, Wales

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7806583/Fastest-growing-council-districts-Britain-revealed-areas-shrinking-most.html

    Excuse my ignorance, but what happened to austerity and all the poverty and poor families that Corbyn bleats on about?

    1. Back in the 1950’s and 60’s, there was a saying

      You can tell someone from Coventry by the tilt of the Shamrock in their Turban

    2. London exports a lot of its surplus problem. All the London borough have to do is to pay the housing benefit all the other costs fall on the local authority they dump them on. It saves the London boroughs a fortune

      Typical rent in Enfield North London for 3 bed accommodation about £1500 pcm. In Corby about £700 pcm

      1. A decade ago Tendring Council was becoming concerned about the dumping of London’s benefit dependents. Central Clacton-on-Sea was becoming more run-down than ever before. Plenty of old/former guest houses to accommodate the incomers.

        1. Same in Blackpool a couple of decades ago.
          With the decline in holidaymakers, the B&B owners decided DSS B&B was a viable option.

  37. Just one in 400 chance of car criminals being brought to justice as conviction rate collapses 6 January 2020.

    The chances of police catching and successfully prosecuting car thieves has fallen almost five-fold in just two years, an analysis of force data reveals.

    Only one in 400 (0.25 per cent) vehicle crimes where the offenders broke into or stole them resulted in jail, a fine, community sentence or caution in 2019. In most, the case was closed without a suspect being identified.

    That compares with 1.1 per cent of the 458,500 vehicle crimes in 2017 which resulted in convictions or sentences and 0.8 per cent of the 467,800 offences in 2018.

    Morning everyone. Apart from the technicalities exhibited here it should be obvious to anyone of moderate perception that the Criminal Justice system has collapsed. This is not to say that there are no judges or policemen, there manifestly are, but they serve simply as implements of Social Policy and to maintain the façade of an ordered society. If the majority of the population do not realise this, or much more likely do not care, the criminals do. Things will become much worse and the chances of your escaping their attention will slowly recede. A sensible person would make some provision for living in a UK that is increasingly hostile to the law abiding.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/01/06/car-broken-chances-police-bringing-culprits-justice-falls-five/

    1. Yes at the moment they are allowing children to take puberty suppressing drugs without any consent from the parents. No proper trials have been done neither . There is little data on the affect of the long term taking of these drugs on a child both physically and mentally. It also suppresses the natural development of a child. WE may will be creating a long term problem in the futures

      Is a child even capable of making a proper informed decision on this ? I would say not

      1. BJ,
        The party first in choosing governance out of what is on offer must surely stop when the horst schumann / j mengle
        charitable clinic opens up and they start asking for twins etc.
        then again maybe that is not enough.

      2. Children have not got the same ‘mental capacity’, so not much chance of consent, unless of course they live in Rotherham.
        Edit, I see there is a concept known as Gillick competent.

    2. Morning Rik,
      To me much of this transgender pelt
      should be operating out of an old castle reminiscent of Colditz with a thunder storm as background.

    3. Yo Rik

      In the not to far distant future, some girly-boy or boyly-girl will sue a Hospital trust for carrying out Transgender Treatment

      The Bliar Witches argument will be that the boyly-girly was not old enough or mature enough to make the decision to undergo treatment

      The fact that anyone trying to persuade them not to do it would be sacked for not being with the LGBTqwerop programme will be immaterial.

      The clock is ticking and if I were involved, I would be getting signatures of the child, its’ parents/guardian, have an independent medical/mental assessment etc. I would then photocopy all the documentation, cus the PTB will accuse You, not the system that allowed it to happen

      As an aside. I went on the Royal Mail Parcel Tracking Site today and came across a gender related form that listed

      Male
      Female
      How would you describe yourself

      AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH

    2. Yes how you can go from being ready to open in 6 weeks to being 3 years late and counting is a total mystery. People at the top had to be in my view lying about the progress probably in order to claim their fat bonuses

      Even now they are not prepared to commit to firm opening date

      1. 3 years bonus at 1.5 million a year leaves executive 4.5 million better off than if had been done on time. No brainer!

    1. I have not bought a packet of cigarettes in 25 years and so had no idea of the current prices. I have just looked them up and it is £8.69 for a packet of 20, or 43.5p per cigarette(!) I could not have afforded that back in the early days when I first started working, not with all of the other bills and rent to pay. I would have been thinking “2 cigs = 1 loaf of bread.”

      It is nice to know that the MEP’s have some help to scrape by on their salaries.

      1. Not my bloody preferred brand!!
        £11.50
        Reduced to rolling my own with an occassional treat

        1. I have revised and widened my search parameters from the “Benson & Hedges” standard that I can remember from back then. Camels king sized are now £11.69 for 20.

          Silk Cut king sized, which we bought as students because they were the cheapest back then, and it was felt that spending the money on beer was a more productive use of funds, are now £12.40 for 20 king sized. Or 62p each. The packets all look grim now as well, for obvious reasons.

          You would almost think that smokers are being used as a taxation cash cow. Although you do sometimes see people who do not look that well-off who are smoking while food bank usage is rising. Some might consider rating food more highly on their list of priorities.

      2. I stopped smoking in 1977. If I remember correctly, I was paying 46p for 20 back then. I gave them up in order to save money to get married!

        1. When I gave up in 1969 I smoked Guards at 25p a packet when I wasn’t rolling my own

    1. Rik,
      In complete agreement with Amy Mek.
      It was the lab/lib/con pro eu coalition party, members & voters who should be thanked for being the latch lifters for our terrorist murderers, rapist /abusers ongoing entrance.
      Party first ,sod the consequences.

    2. We are not allowed to view it in France. The national thought police deem her unfit for publication.

      Twitter: @AmyMek’s account has been withheld in France based on local law(s).

        1. I have Firefox. I also have the slowest up/download speeds in the world perhaps. 141kb/527kb and I think that is an exaggeration. 10 crashes a day is normal. I complain to the Frogs at Orange, they send someone round, change a plug then send me a bill. Time for another whinge, I think.

    3. They haven’t failed in their globalist mission, though. Where they have failed deliberately is in their duty to protect the citizens of the state and the state itself from harm. Literally they are on the road to success with their destructive and disruptive policies.
      Who, in a position of political influence in the UK, will stand up and say something similar? If we listen to the siren voices the UK is one of the most welcoming of countries to anyone who can make it here: ergo, we are being inundated to a degree where many services are breaking down and the situation will continue to deteriorate. There is no end in sight to the stupidity of our political class, they are hellbent on destroying the Country: what other explanation makes any sense?

    4. Excellent words from this man. But I would not have liked to be the translator or, even worse, the sign language person trying to copy what he was saying at that speed.

    5. Would that we had a single MP who would have the guts to stand up in the Commons and say similar.

      My God, it needs saying!

    2. Forwarded to Best Beloved, as she has a bunch of snowflake, luvvy and other suspect relatives, with the following entreaty;

      Darling,
      Should anyone in your hearing, ever try to say that the Bushfires’ ferocity is due to climate change, you might like to direct them to this website (belonging to those who are actually fighting the fires).

      With that link:
      https://volunteerfirefighters.org.au/it-is-high-time-bureaucrats-and-politicians-stopped-blaming-climate-change-for-a-bushfire-crisis-that-is-very-much-of-their-own-making-and-is-putting-lives-at-risk

    3. We had a Corgi that performed that trick with any rope tied to a tree branch and used as a swing by children. On one occasion he enjoyed swinging on a rope for such a long time that when we eventually got him off discovered his gums were bleeding!

  44. All EU flags currently flying over every BBC building and office are to be lowered to half-mast in sympathy with the Labour leadership and in solidarity with the Iranian regime who have suffered an unjustifiable terrorist attack and assassination of one of their greatest leaders, Sqashem Soleimani, under the orders of the war mongering dog, Donald Trump. The cost of a television license is to rise by 10% to cover the expense of flying executives and reporters to and from Tehran and Bagdad. It is true, I swear, I got it from Radio 4.

    1. Couldn’t we just leave them there? One way ticket and all that? I’ll bet they ham it up at the Four Seasons or some other luxury hotel, so on second thoughts, they can stay here.

    3. I once had a phone call put through to me at the BBC from a very angry man at IRIB, the Iranian state broadcaster. He demanded that I pay the expenses bill run up by Lyse Doucet when she used their facilities in Tehran. At that time I didn’t even know who she was and that seemed to disgust him even more than the unpaid bill. Told me all I needed to know about our illustrious Middle East reporter.

      1. Lyse Doucet has the weirdest accent I’ve ever heard: sort of mid-Atlantic with a strange twist.

      2. Hi Sue, Lyse Doucet used to be the BBC’s mid-East correspondent based in Israel ( in East Jerusalem ) but she was de facto embedded with Arafat’s PLO propaganda dept. in Ramallah most of the time. She was suspected like the BBC’s Orla Guerin of using her BBC vehicle & govt. issued foreign press credentials to transport PLO operatives through Israeli military checkpoints knowing that the soldiers were under orders not to check the vehicles of the foreign press who had a semi diplomatic status . Guerin was quietly expelled from Israel after UK FO intervention to prevent her arrest for transporting on a number of occasions PLO operatives who were banned from entering Jerusalem, in & out of the city.
        The BBC has a history of the most vile anti-Israel bias and all its Mid-East correspondents have been collaborators with terror groups & vile regimes, Orla Guerin, Lyse Doucet, Jon Sopel & Mishal Husain being some of the most extreme apologists for Islamo-Fascist terror !

  46. BBC planning some extensive programs at the end of the month about our leaving the EU and how it will adversely affect London’s economy

  47. Child Benefit for Children not resident in the UK. After we leave we should tell the UK to get lost with regard to paying child benefit abroad for migrants. If we pay it at all it should be at the rate payable in that country and not at UK rates

    1. I signed up to a Courtship & Marriage Group on Facebook just now. It was all full of breeding Nigerians eager to boost the world’s population and ship the result across the Mediterranean. Not a single European on board interested in such things, apart from me stumbling on board out of curiosity, but it became clear after scrolling down for as long as my patience with the Facebook interface lasted that there was nothing for me there.

  48. Survivors survey Australian bushfire carnage as farmers bury their dead. Tue 7 Jan 2020 12.35 GMT.

    Grant was one of dozens who lost his home in the blaze. As he used a tractor to lift sheep carcasses into a truck that then dumped them into graves dug with an excavator, his son Paul explained that Grant and his wife had built the home together as part of their retirement.

    “I think this will be it for them now,” Paul Grant said. “They’d talked about downsizing in the future and I think this will just speed that up. It’s pretty heartbreaking, though. Mum’s really gutted but I suppose at the end of the day it’s just things. Funny how life has a way of changing your plans for you, though.”

    I feel considerable sympathy for these people and their losses but also great admiration for their resilience similar to that exhibited by the victims of American Tornado’s. No whining here. No visits from benefit wielding politicians or pleas from Social Justice Warriors for special treatment because they are “disadvantaged”. Once upon a time we were like this!

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/07/survivors-survey-australian-bushfire-carnage-as-farmers-bury-their-dead

    1. “Once upon a time we were like this!” It was called WWII, and things have gone slowly but surely downhill since.

    1. ‘Morning, Hugh.

      As a long-retired rozzer, I never used or, indeed, needed any form of firearm whilst doing my job.

      Having said that I would not wish to contemplate doing that job in this day and age without one.

      1. “Rozzer” Grizzly, I thought that you were opposed to using slang when perfectly good English words were available.

        1. Nowt wrong with good old ENGLISH slang, Enri. It’s just the Yank slang that raises the heckles.

          1. Ah, I see. I lived and worked in the US for a number of years and was quite surprised at the differences in our respective forms of English, both slang and formal. I once caused odd looks in the office when asking a female colleague if she could lend me a rubber, for example. We have, unfortunately you would say, adopted a number of American slang terms but the traffic is sometimes the other way. The term “the loo” was not unheard of, crap was common (from Thomas Crapper) and I am sure that cock and other slang terms for a penis were of English origin. Oh, and of course, cop has English origins and Old French before that. Some formal words in common use in the UK have also travelled west across the Atlantic . In the early 80’s, most Americans had no idea what the word fortnights meant but, probably thanks to Game of Thrones where it is very often used, it is very common. I agree that some slang from the US is irritating but some words do enrich the language.

          3. Never! In my youth as a young airman, there was a hairy-arsed matelot who tried in on but I fought him off.

          4. Indeed – words such as hog, fall (for autumn) and diaper (cloth) were used in Elizabethan English. They fell out of use here but were retained in the Americas.

          5. People on the Eastern Shore of Maryland have an unusual accent which is said to be almost exactly as spoken by the very early English settlers.

          6. Indeed. There was a TV series called The Story Of English on TV in the 80s, where they went to some islands in Chesapeake Bay where the locals are known as ‘Hoi toiders’ due to the way they pronounce ‘high tide’.

            Edit: Just checked a map – it could well be the same story.

    2. He was superb. And I wasn’t a particular fan of his. Never watched The Office, or any of his stand-up stuff, but I’ve watched the highlights of Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes over the past years, and what he said then was funny, but Sunday’s routine was priceless. And it wasn’t all a joke, it was too true.

  53. I notice the headline ‘Morrisons sales slide amid ‘challenging’ trading’.

    I’d say ‘too expensive’ would be nearer the mark.

    I used to walk to Morrisons every week, despite it being twice as far away as Aldi, but no longer do so. A visit to My Supermarket to compare prices shows why.

    1. E,
      Maybe having peoples biting into halal unknowingly for a while is beginning to bite them on their pro halal arses, I do hope so.

        1. E,
          Maybe you are right but the halal issue would be of more importance if the peoples realised to what extent it invaded their shopping trolley, & for instance the methods used or neglected to be used to supply their Sunday joint.

          1. I suspect most people, including me, don’t look beyond the shelves.

            There was a programme on BBC4 last night – Eat to Live Forever – and one of the people shown kept animals, including lambs, in his back garden. Not only did he butcher them himself but ate the lot raw.

          2. That’s illegal, is it not? Where were the animal rights people when you need them?

          3. It was in America and the presenter brought that point up. It seems you do it until someone complains.

  54. A stampede of people has killed mourners at a General’s funeral. These mass gatherings of Muslims seem vulnerable to stampedes killing many of their comrades.

    1. I had “Unclouded by delusions of morality” written on the back of one of my folders when I was at school, which is a line from the Android in the first Alien film. That would get me a series of meetings with a school councillor and my name on a list these days.

    1. I’m disappointed that they (The Wail) couldn’t have fitted in a few more photos!!?

  60. Brendan O’Neil

    All of this – all of these laws, all of the speech codes, all of the

    branding as ‘Islamophobes’ anyone who mocks the niqab or the Koran –

    sends a message to radical Islamists. It tells them their religion must

    never be criticised. It tells them Islam’s critics are racist (a new way

    of saying ‘evil’). It green-lights their violent intolerance.

    Mainstream censoriousness inflames extremist violence.

    Five years on, our response to the Charlie Hebdo massacre

    must be to defend freedom of speech for everyone. For every blasphemer,

    every unorthodox thinker, every un-PC cartoonist, every offensive comic,

    every free-wheeling politician, and every citizen who wants to make fun

    of religion or oppose mass immigration or say that people with penises

    are not women and never will be. There should be worldwide events to

    mark Charlie Hebdo Day today. That there aren’t reveals how little

    backing freedom of speech now has in political circles. Let’s change

    this so that on the tenth anniversary of this act of censorious and

    Islamist barbarism, people will gather to say once again: ‘Je suis

    Charlie.’

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/01/07/je-suis-charlie/
    Hear Hear

    1. Islamophobia has gone into general usage as meaning anti Muslim bigotry. I favour Muslimphobia myself as Islamophobia puts the onus on the word ‘Islam’ ahead of the people who adhere to it and conflates prejudice and discrimination targeting Muslims with criticism of Islam.

      As he notes the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo it is also almost a year since the racist anti Muslim terrorist attack in Christchurch which killed 51 people.

        1. I think a distinction has to made between an ideology and those who subscribe to it.

          2. Exactly, there is no picking and choosing in islam. You are born into it and there is hell to play if you try and leave.

    2. You cannot blaspheme an ideology. You can only strive to educate the uneducated, brain-washed masses and, if that fails, consign them all back to the shit-holes where their ideology is classed as a religion and let them suffer its slings and arrows without inflicting them upon us.

  62. Brits living on Corbyn Road demand street name change after Labour defeat

    DISILLUSIONED voters living in Corbyn Road have called for their street name to be changed as the Tories celebrated a sweeping election win.
    The 600m-long road lies in the heart of Dudley North, a staunch Labour stronghold before the Conservatives demolished the “red wall” on Thursday, securing the second largest swing in the country.

    Residents of Corbyn Road say they are ashamed of the association and fear the street name could send house prices – which average £140,000 – plummeting.

    One resident said: “We’ve always known the name attracts attention and it didn’t matter as much when the town was Labour but now it’s associated with the worst Labour leader there has ever been.
    “The name must go. When you think Corbyn you think of racism and failure. I don’t want the place I live to be linked with that.
    “House prices in this area are already struggling, the last thing we need is potential buyers being put off by the street name.”

        1. On scales of grotesqueness (will Peddy allow that word?) who will win? And we have yet to consider the person turning himself into a parrot? (I’m late on the scene so he may be exhibited somewhere here).

      3. He probably does the round of so called reality shows. I am sure he has been on Botched

  64. On Monday, discount chain Aldi said that its total UK sales in the four weeks to 24 December rose 7.9% from a year before, although it did not give a like-for-like comparison. It also said it sold 55 million mince pies over the festive period.

    According to Kantar, Aldi’s sales over the 12 weeks to 29 December went up by 5.9%.

    Fellow discount retailer Lidl had the highest percentage increase in sales growth for bricks and mortar supermarkets over the same period, with its sales up 10.8%.

  65. Red Button text service is closing

    I doubt it was much used

    From early 2020, the text based service from the Red Button will no longer be available. The text based service includes news and sport headlines and business, weather, travel and lottery updates. The video elements of the service will continue

  66. That’s me for today. Tomorrow we leave for the Côte d’Azur – and I know not whether I shall be able to NoTTL.

    If not – I shall be back on 24 January – a year older. Meanwhile have a spiffing time planning the Memorial Service in St Paul’s for the martyred Iranian soldier. The beeboids have guaranteed full coverage.

    1. I thought for a moment you said spliffing!
      Safe trip Bill and happy birthday during the next couple of weeks.

  67. Disqus seems to annoy me more and more. First it was hiding replies, then squashing comments with ‘show more’ and countless other nonsense that was unnecessary.

    Thus I’ve found two extensions – these I use in Firefox – to get over these daft, useless issues (hiding comments and images doesn’t save a tickle of bandwidth, data or loading time).

    Disqus Auto Expander

    disqus-undirect <-- removes the disqus URL redirection. Something I'm especially annoyed by as it means getting to the content takes longer simply so Disqus can record that my username has clicked on that link so it can sell it to someone else. A caveat: I've an 8 core intel thingy with 40gb of RAM. I've also got about 10 other add ons as well. I don't know if these will slow down browsers.

    1. Disqus has been faulty for years. Every few days there seems to be a problem logging into an account or loading comments.

    2. She’s tying herself up in knots. What is obvious is that, like many Remainiacs, instead of wanting to make a go of it, she wants Brexit to fail.

    3. I heard her on Radio Scotland (what she was doing on that, I’ve no idea) this morning. I thought she was the most common woman I’d ever heard.

    1. Thin ice indeed.

      I can see the Iranians assassinating a US general as a “proportionate response”, Trump responding by bombing targets in Iran, Iran retaliating for that and then full war breaking out.

      2. Trump has already said any response to an Iranian attack would be very disproportionate, and he apparently has quite a temper. Maybe time for diplomats to leave Tehran…

      3. Many followers of the slain General Soleimani will seek the assassination of President Trump as the only ‘proportionate response’.

        If they succeed, Donald won’t be in charge of the aftermath …

  70. Rebecca Long-Bailey.

    I listened to the silly woman on Radio 4 this morning. She never answered a single question but waffled uninterruptedly both agreeing and disagreeing with the questioner and changing the subject whilst claiming she was firm in her beliefs and will change the Labour Party yet keep the same objectives which were for good of the people but had failed to convince the electorate because they had not been explained simply and clearly enough and… etc. etc. You get the drift.

    Rebecca Long-Waffler is the lead candidate for leader of the Labour Party. Boris must be chuffed to bits.

    1. She is totally useless i debates and is in someways like May who just came out with meaningless waffle

  71. Putin Now Needs a Plan B on Iran. Moscow Times. 7 January 2020.

    Yet he [Putin] will need to react if Iran does retaliate and the situation gets out of hand. Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer has even likened Soleimani’s killing to the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914, the event that set off World War I. One possible scenario he described was an Iranian strike on Israel and an Israeli response against Iranian forces and proxies in Syria, which might endanger Russian troops. Putin has planned a visit to Israel this month; deconfliction in Syria will be one of the key subjects of his discussions with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    On a strategic level, further escalation between Iran and the U.S. might disturb the geopolitical balance that Russia intervened in Syria to maintain. That’s something Putin wants to prevent with the help of European leaders. In addition to talking to Macron, he has invited German Chancellor Angela Merkel to visit Russia next weekend, with Iran atop the agenda.

    Needless to say the DT’s anti-Putin program has been suspended during the current crisis so I’ve turned to the Moscow Times, also an anti-Putin outlet; that the Telegraph constantly assures us does not exist in the “Kremlin Controlled” media. The author (Bershidsky) give a better insight into the details of the Russian Presidents geo-political dilemma than might be expected but it is still lamentably parochial. If as seems likely war breaks out between Iran and the US, Putin will have a lot more to concern himself with than the fates of Syria and Libya. The whole Middle East will be destabilised and with it direct risks to the Russian Homeland let alone its interests might well manifest themselves. This will probably lead to opposition to US policies in the region with all the risks that entails. I can think of no one better to negotiate a way through this potential Nuclear Minefield than Vlad but fear that even his remarkable gifts will be insufficient to allay the worst outcome.

    https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/01/07/putin-now-needs-a-plan-b-on-iran-a68820

    1. Afternoon, Minty!

      One of the reasons that events in the aftermath of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand escalated into all out war was that Austria at that point had no effective government. Just the ageing, sad and disappointed Franz Josef. If Austria had acted swiftly and decisively then the situation might have been contained but it was allowed to fester. There are no ineffective ditherers involved here and surely no-one who seriously wants WWIII, though that might be the most effective way to destroy the globalist new world order?

      1. Afternoon Sue. There are of course a considerable number of books on the causes of WWI though I don’t think any of them deny the relevance of the assassination of the ArchDuke Ferdinand. He was not a particularly well known figure or well liked but it was the trigger that released the animosities of the polities of the time. These share some of the motivations of the present players, inordinate ambition being the main one. Like their predecessors they will blunder blindly into a quagmire from which they cannot escape.

  72. ” Players walk off after racism allegation during Welsh rugby match “.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/51020761

    Quote ….
    “To be fair to the rest of the Trefil RFC boys, most of them apologised for the incident and one of the coaches popped into our changing rooms
    after and also apologised. Can’t tar the entire club with the same brush!”

  73. Just listening to Radio 4 reporting on the four days of mourning for General Squashimflat, or whatever his name was, and you can here the loud wailing and weeping in the background – and that is just in the London studio. God knows what the bill is going to be for all the counselling the entire staff of the BBC is going to need.

  75. Seems to be a lack of interest about the Brexit Bill, Theyy have finally got around to it and the chamber is almost empty , Probably no vote today though

          1. Hell, she needs an extension fitted to the steering wheel or her arms will not be able to reach it.

            At least she hasn’t pumped up her backside to look
            like that Kim Kardigan person.

      2. Warning heavy objects . Use of protective clothing recommended when in the immediate vicinity

      1. And a rather large bank balance well t least at one time. I suspect hr large bank balance has now done to a third party

      1. They could have a new trick on DOI. Instead of the Head Banger they could have the Boob banger

          1. I reckon she needs a back brace as well to keep the disks in place. Another problem is if she bends over to do her shoe laces up she will never be able to get back up or she may topple over

    6. Acute mental illness manifests itself in many ways.

      For some it makes people want to do ridiculous things with their bodies.
      For others it makes them worship a 7th century pædophile.
      For others it makes them vote Labour.

      Mental illness is not to be laughed at.

    10. I guess that Bob of Bonsall will tell you that is another example of an EWBB (Extra Wide Bulging Bra).

      1. Funny that, when I Googled “Very Big Breasts” and clicked on “Images” that photo was nowhere to be seen, despite an exhaustive search.

    11. The scientific answer is that it is all to do with pneumatics.

      The patient (for that is what she is) has a surplus of air situated roughly between her right ear and her left (taking a view through her right earhole will reveal light shining in from the left).

      OK so far?

      Now, as she “thinks” (obviously the power to do this has to be qualified) that a body part filled with air (i.e. her head) works well when filled with the substance; she automatically “considers” (again, this word is used advisedly) that other body parts will also benefit in the same way.

      Hence the over-inflated balloons attached to her chest area.

      The degree of the ability to think in a sentient manner is usually indicated (for all to clearly see) by the colour of the patient’s hair.

      QED.

          1. Bailey and it’s derivatives, HAFB, LAFB, HGB, will always have some interest for Sappers of my generation and a total mystery for civilians.

          3. No, Sir, always happy to acknowledge a fellow Serviceman. even if they were not past of the Chosen Few.

          8. There are a few about!
            The first Bailey I knew was the one over the River Till between Wooler and Doddington on the Berwick road, replacing the bridge washed out by the ’48 floods.
            It was only there for a short time though as they replaced in the late ’70s.

          9. Not strictly related, but do you remember the steel prefab flyover that went up in the middle of Brum in a single weekend in 1961 as a “temporary measure” and was still there 20 years later?

          10. No, other than passing through New Street on the Train, Brum was not a place I visited until the ’90s.

          11. Same in Bristol next Castle Street/Temple Meads for years.

            Then there was a Bailey Bridge over the Avon in Bath after some idiot planners caused the demolition of The Old Bridge. That Bailey Bridge was there for forty or more years and actually more attractive than its modern ‘permanent’ replacement which is just very ugly.

          12. Fiddler’s Bridge in Braidwood Lanarkshire went up quickly, I can’t remember why now , but it stayed up for several decades.

          15. They say it was demolished as part of the flood prevention scheme. Narrow arches replaced by a single span was the thinking. Difficult to say what impact the bridge replacement made as the flood prevention scheme entailed a lot of other work.

            You are correct, the replacement is ugly compared to what it replaced.

          16. Camp Hill flyover. I remember it well. Going over it on the top deck of a bus was an interesting experience.

          3. Rather like the Royal Army Service Corps – Run Away, Someone’s Coming! My brother (who served in it) was not amused 🙂

      1. They look like the pontoon bridges that predated LAFB.
        (Light Assault floating Bridge)

          2. I’ve found two US covered bridges dating back to 1825: Hyde Hall Bridge in Cooperstown, New York (top, below), and Hassenplug Covered Bridge in Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania (bottom, below):

            https://ascelibrary.org/pb-assets/images/BRIDGES%20CALENDAR/7_July-1537722175463.jpg

            https://img-aws.ehowcdn.com/700x/cdn.onlyinyourstate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/6-118-700×306.jpg

            The story oft-repeated is that colonial American settlers had expertise in building the hulls of wooden ships, and consequently the design of their churches (and possibly covered bridges) inherited from ship construction techniques.

            @bobofbonsall:disqus

        2. The engineering is more tubular bridge than anything else. The roof structure resists bending as it is in compression.

  79. When viewing the overhead shots of that funeral in Iran, is anyone reminded of looking into an angry beehive?

    1. I was thinking hornets rather than bees, but you are right these swarming masses will attack the decadent west with no concern about their sting hurting themselves as well.

      1. Such displays are orchestrated by the Iranian security services, probably under threat of reprisals if they do not turn up in suitable attire with their Government-supplied photos of the dead git.

        Jobs in the civil service and government controlled agencies, local representatives, teachers, doctors and health workers, all are otherwise prone and people are at risk of sacking and imprisonment (or public flogging, stoning or hanging).

        The murderous devil correctly taken out by Trump was also responsible for the brutal suppression of all opposition to the mediaevalist theocratic regime itself within Iraq.

  80. Tribunal judges back News UK’s right to zero-rated VAT on Times and Sun digital editions

    I dont really see why newspapers and magazines should be exempt from VAT. Educational books fair enough but not the rest

    News UK has successfully argued at a tribunal that its digital editions of the Times, Sunday Times and Sun should enjoy a zero rate of value-added tax.
    The digital offerings of newspapers and magazines are currently subject to a 20 per cent standard VAT rate while printed publications are zero-rated.
    The ruling sets a new precedent for newspapers and magazines that offer subscribers a digital edition identical to their print title.

    News UK took HM Revenue and Customs to tribunal over the issue of its VAT payments, but initially lost the case in March 2018. The decision was overturned last month after News UK filed an appeal.

    The news group, owned by Rupert Murdoch, had argued that the meaning of “newspapers” in the legislation was broad enough to include the digital versions even though they did not exist at the time it was written.

    HMRC said it is “carefully considering” the decision as it decides whether to appeal to the next court.
    Owen Meredith, managing director of the Professional Publishers Association, told Press Gazette he understands the ruling is unlikely to apply to the majority of news publishers who update on a more frequent basis than the Times website.

  82. In an exclusive interview and photoshoot with HELLO! magazine, Sky News presenter Sarah-Jane Mee and her boyfriend Ben Richardson reveal they are engaged to be married – and expecting their first child together. Sarah-Jane, who is 16 weeks pregnant, says: “It’s going to be our best year yet,” while Ben adds: “Our feet haven’t touched the ground yet, we are very excited.”

    Given the small circulation of Hello Magazine now I doubt they pay a lot for these stories. Its circulation is only about 200,000 . I doubt advertisers pay much neither the hit rate with ads is pretty low

          1. I am so glad she has fallen pregnant and will be so disappointed when she loses the baby/divorce.

    1. It is the law of economics in operation. The first, and most simple, that one learns. That of supply and demand. Flood the market with labour and, guess what, the price (wage/salary) goes down. Flood the market with, er, lettuces, and guess what, the price of lettuces goes down. Conversely, make labour scarce and the reward for that labour will be enhanced. How dim do you have to be not to be able to understand this?

      1. Evening PM,
        How dim do peoples have to be to support & vote for mass uncontrolled immigration parties, not once, twice,thrice but at every opportunity, ongoing.
        Maybe they wish to destroy the legacy that should be set in place for the upcoming youth.

      3. With most people a budget is based on what you have to spend. With politicians a budget is based on what they want to spend

  85. With regard to inept forest management in Australia.. I expect you will all agree with me when when I say that this beautiful planet is being ineptly managed ..

    Our human species has b——–ed everything up… species decline , pollution , forest clearances , over population , bad planning … it is just unbelievable .

    Just look around where you live .. last summer was an eye opener . We didn’t even see a single wasp or ladybird.. and the moths and bats vanished!

  86. Sajid Javid allowed to attend World Economic Forum in Davos

    DFiD not to be merged with FO
    Political promises eh??
    It’s not looking promising
    Government planning for a no-deal Brexit has been stopped with
    “immediate effect” as Boris Johnson predicts his exit deal will be
    approved by MPs.
    No,not promising at all

    1. Rik,
      The line is getting longer of the “we tried to tell them” but……….
      As soon as Brexitexit entered the “hope” era,ie “hope he does the right thing” you knew for certain that treachery, once again, was coming into play.

    2. A Muslim school told girls that university was “not for them”, while boys were given first choice on work experience placements, an Ofsted report has found.

      What’s the point of educating girls when they are viewed as second-class, and are only good for breeding?

  90. The art of advertising & Branding and PR

    It is all about getting you to pay a lot more for something in many cases you do not even need. Interestingly now in most cases branded goods are not even made by the brand it is sub contracted and the branded and non branded goods come out of the same factory

  91. Is anyone else haemorrhaging upvotes again? I’ve lost about 3000 in the last 24 hours.

      1. Everyone will be back down to zero soon. As unappreciated as the day that you first opened your Disqus account. 🙂

        With that week-long break just before the holidays, when most peoples scores started going up again before the following Monday morning when they started dropping once more. To the scores going back up again over the Christmas break when we know the Disqus staff were away because there was no-one there to fix the problems… Now the staff are back and the scores are falling again.

        It does seem more and more likely that Disqus staff are doing a “facebook / twitter” and working against their own users in an attempt to censor them when the scores drop below zero. Censorship only gets these people so far. Those of us who care about freedom will find ways around their little games. In the words from Serenity:

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d2100e3315398b85db5bb7b38d8b9a3a675327f9cc3e6f93918e8ef3451d3da0.jpg

          1. That is the opinion of many. I remember just after opening this account a couple of years ago, I was having some problems and started searching for reasons why on the open net. The number of users and former channel owners who had stories of Disqus staff directly interfering with channels that they were paying for, and censoring “right wing” comments, was an eye-opener.

            Disqus as a company have been 95%+ snowflake for a long time. We all know how the left wing enjoy censorship and hate free speech. Poor things that they are. It is almost as if they cannot win an argument using their words alone. 🙂

      3. ‘Evening, Hat, have the disqus teenagers been notified of this? Do they have any ant-bot security software? Would they even know what it is?

        Keeping score – currently at 60,097. let’s check tomorrow.

    2. Britain and America helped kill hundreds of Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s, so I wonder if UK and US military and intelligence figures involved in that should similarly be considered terrorists.

    3. Can Michael Fabricant tell us what British forces were doing in Iraq in the first place – handing out tea and buns?

      Suddenly, Blair is vindicated.

      For all our differences, if a power hostile to Ireland and Britain invaded the former, would we stand by and do nothing?

      THE WEST INVADED IRAQ for goodness sake (and far more than 140 innocents were killed in the process).

  95. That was an eerie feeling just then. I was closing down for the night, shutting email programs / browsers, when I clicked on the “notifications” button to clear the backlog. I found an “upvote” from a comment that I had made over 2 years ago about book publishers censorship. It was like someone walking over your grave. It does remind me how little my views have changed in the past 2 years: 🙂

    “Meredith Mckay • 2 years ago • edited
    I buy more books than I can shake a stick at, but corporate ignorance of this magnitude means I will now check the publishers first to make sure it is not Penguin / Random House. I would rather go without a book than fund their rabid insanity which they hide as virtue. These people would all die-out in the real world.

    I have just ordered the American Civil War trilogy of books called “The Civil War: A Narrative” by the great Shelby Foote. He is a white American male with a perfect slight Southern drawl for describing that conflict. He was in the TV series on that war from a few years ago. That must make me an utterly disgusting, woman-hating, banjo playing racist in the eyes of Penguin books.

    They clearly hate people becoming educated and would like us all to forget the past. As for having talent and working for a living – that will be outlawed soon enough.”

    On that merry note, have a good evening Ladies and Gentlemen. 🙂

    2. Have you read “Battle Cry of Freedom” by James McPherson. An excellent one volume history.

      1. Sorry for the delay in replying – late night and busy morning. 🙂 It was a James Delingpole article and here is the first paragraph with a link to the old story beneath it:

        “Delingpole: Bestselling Author Fired for Mocking Publisher’s Diversity Policy.

        Publishing giant Penguin Random House has announced that its authors are no longer to be chosen on literary merit but according to a politically correct quota system “taking into account ethnicity, gender, sexuality, social mobility and disability”.”

        https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2018/06/13/lionel-shriver-mocks-penguin-random-house-fired-prize-judge/

    1. I’ve seen the video before, and it’s vile. It must be down to all the plastic straws we use.

    2. Humanity: the only organism to ever evolve that routinely trashes its environment.

      The human species is well past its use-by date. Time, methinks, for a global thermonuclear war to get rid of the pestilence.

      The planet will then start to breathe again.

  105. I see that the DT has now pulled the comments from the article about Harry and Sparkle’s very public visit to the Canadian Embassy to thank the country for their very private holiday in a very private (and expensive) mansion.

    Perhaps the DT thought the comments were less than helpful to the Royal Family.

    1. I didn’t realise along with the Trip-advisor review after the hol you are expected to trot along to the appropriate embassy and thank your hosts. Something I have been missing.

    1. BJ,
      Being part of the lab/lib/con coalition they probably, knowing the final outcome, thought they were unnecessary.

  107. The BBC’s newly-appointed director of creative diversity has warned that the corporation will only remain “the broadcaster of choice” by “cultivating inclusion”.

    In her first major address since taking up the role in October last year, June Sarpong said the BBC could not escape the fact that “the makeup of Britain’s viewing audience” is changing rapidly.

    Writing in the Huffington Post, the 42-year-old presenter said the solution will be to “reflect and engage with the UK’s diverse communities” both on and off the screen.

    Sarpong’s appointment is an attempt by BBC bosses to ensure the broadcaster better reflects modern Britain and its audience.

    Sarpong said: “We can’t escape the fact that the make-up of Britain’s viewing audience and workforce is rapidly changing.

    “And we can only continue to make the case for the BBC as a broadcaster of choice by cultivating inclusion and harnessing the power of our diversity.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/01/07/bbc-must-engage-uks-diverse-communities-remain-broadcaster-choice/

    Serves me right for reading this sort of stuff before bedtime .!
    The big bad wolf of diversity is at the door .

    Will I sleep sweetly.. ?

    Hmmm

    Goodnight Nottlers

    1. I think they’ve “rubbed our noses in diversity” for long enough. We’re all bored with it.

    2. Does that mean they’re now going to include the indigenous population?
      Thought not.

  108. I don’t think that I have seen this mentioned here today. I was skipping through the Sky News propaganda channel last night when at around 23:15 a news note started scrolling across the screen, and it was repeated by the anchor. It was a notification that the planning for a No-deal Brexit had now officially been stopped. Project Yellowhammer is no more. The reason for this was that we were leaving the EU at the end of the month (they said.)

    Boris has always said that he didn’t want a No-deal Brexit, but now we will see just what sort of a deal he is prepared to accept from the EU if he has stopped all contingency planning by the civil service for not agreeing to what they offer. I’m laying off of Boris now, as there is nothing we can do but monitor events as they unfold. But if anyone else spots nuggets such as that announcement last night, it is good to keep everyone informed.

  111. Opposition MP’s waffling on about wanting more time for a deal. Why do they want more time they cannot explain. Yes 12 months is challenging but is achievable, If you go into negotiations with an open ended end date everything will just be in slow time and with the EU having no need to really negotiate

    If at the end of 12 months we have not quite completed everything thing there are ways around that. It could be like a Quality Audit where you get a conditional pass so the deal will be signed off but with the condition that the outstanding issues have to be completed say withing 3 months

    1. I watched a few minutes of the extra-terrestrial Caroline Lucas. These fools have learnt nothing from the recent general election and understood even less.

      They seem to wish to perpetuate the arguments they have conclusively lost, not once but three times. Their speeches prove one of Einstein’s more tangible theories viz. his definition of madness.

      1. I dont even really understand the point of these debates they just waffle on about their personal view. The decision has been made we are leaving but they want to delay and obstruct Brexit when what they should be doing is to facilitate getting a deal as quickly as possible

        Can you imagine these MP’running a large project’. How long will it take? Thats difficult to complicated we will leave it open ended. How much will we need for the budget? Thats even more difficult lets leave that open ended. When does the customer want it? We will not tell them how long it will take and if it goes over the custoners budget we will jut tell them thats one of those things

        2. Yup. You appear to have understood the mechanics of public procurement programmes.

          The avaricious blind leading the more avaricious blind.

  112. Aliens are among us… and they’re running to be leader of the Labour Party!
    ALLISON PEARSON – 7 JANUARY 2020 • 7:00PM

    At first, the theory of British astronaut, Helen Sharman, that aliens are possibly living among us on Earth but have gone undetected so far, sounds a bit bonkers. Surely not? And then you start to look more closely at the contestants for the leadership of the Labour Party.

    You know, I reckon Helen could definitely be on to something. Do you ever think that those MPs who are still struggling to account for their pulverising election defeat (something to do with betraying 5 million Labour supporters who voted Leave, perhaps?) sound like they’re on another planet? Well, perhaps that’s because they are.

    How else to account for the spectral oddity that is Rebecca Long Bailey? The shadow business secretary, who looks like the love child of the Roswell alien and Mrs Merton, just confirmed that she is running to succeed Jeremy Corbyn.

    Critics have claimed that Becky, whom they call Wrong Daily, is a dimwit. Not so fast! Maybe that look of transcendent vacancy on her pointy little face, and the habit of cupping her pointy little alien ears with her hands, suggest she is actually receiving messages from her controllers in a galaxy far, far away. That would definitely account for Becky’s robotic loyalty to Corbyn, long after any sane Earthling concluded he’s a total liability.

    The attempt to download the software programme for normal human reactions into Long Bailey’s brain has not been entirely successful. Announcing her candidacy in the far-Left Tribune, she said the task was to “build a winning vision of a socialist future” and to reject the “Tory-lite politics that held our party back before Jeremy”.

    Becky, love, the only winning vision Labour has had in the past 25 years is when a Tory-lite was leading your party. I mean, what did Tony Blair ever do for Labour? Apart from triumph in three general elections in a row and force the Conservatives to move leftwards, that is.

    As far as the MP for Salford and her Momentum backers are concerned, Blairite is a dirty word that represents a deviation from the path of ideological purity. The party must be steered back to righteous irrelevance as soon as possible!

    To be fair, light from distant stars can take 7,000 years to reach Earth. We could be looking at millennia before the appalling truth dawns on Becky and her Corbynist comrades. The working class does not want socialism, they wants a Mini Clubman with 0 per cent APR.

    Asked by Martha Kearney on Today why, with Labour voters so concerned about immigration, she was still an enthusiast for freedom of movement, Long Bailey basically said that her constituents were deluded. “There is no evidence their lives were detrimented by migrants,” she chirped.

    Try telling that to those who are waiting three, even four weeks just to see a doctor. According to The Lancet, 6.5 million migrants registered with a GP between 2007 and 2017. A truly staggering number that the system was simply not equipped to deal with, and which has affected the poorest communities most. Long Bailey, whose job it is to protect those communities, can’t admit it’s a problem, though, because her Martian manual tells her that mere mention of the word “immigration” equals “racism”. Always. Even when the majority of that 6.5 million are white Europeans, it’s still “ray-cist”.

    A wiser politician might stop croaking rusty Leftist mantras like R2-D2 and consider whether her voters were the best judge of whether they’d been “detrimented” or not. (Surely more proof that Becky’s an alien? Only someone taught English by a computer would turn detriment into a verb.) A wiser politician would grasp that controlling immigration was vital for social cohesion and for the safe functioning of public services.

    Jess Phillips, another leadership hopeful, is little better. The MP for Birmingham Yardley makes the classic error of mistaking Twitter for the real world. Twitter may thrill to gobby stroppiness and bad language, but the real world sees neither as the mark of a future prime minister.

    Jess talks about “regaining trust” while representing a constituency that voted 60 per cent Leave and telling Andrew Marr she would not rule out rejoining the EU. Eh? How does the restoring trust thing work when spitting in the face of your own voters?

    Both Long Bailey and Phillips position themselves as women of the people while displaying an almost aristocratic condescension towards the peasants’ politically inconvenient opinions. A regional accent so thick you can cut it like parkin is no guarantee of authenticity if you privately despise the views of your electorate.

    The same can be said in spades for Emily Thornberry, aka Lady Nugee, who famously posted a picture of a house in Kent that not only had a white van parked outside but also a St George’s flag. How hideously racist, darling! Or hard-working and patriotic, as millions of former Labour voters would see it.

    Rebecca Long Bailey has promised a “progressive patriotism”, a phrase you can just tell the Martian policy wonks spent a long time on. Progressive patriotism doesn’t mean that you’re proud of your country, of course. God forbid! It means you’re proud to point out your country’s faults and compare it unfavourably at all times with pleasingly diverse, repressive regimes.

    Of the four female leadership hopefuls, Lisa Nandy appears to be the only one prepared to state that a moderate, modernising message is what is needed if Labour is ever again to be a credible party of government. The MP for Wigan served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the eminently human and sane Tessa Jowell, who clearly had a beneficial impact. “Tessa was so effective because she knew that, to create lasting change, you have to take people with you,” Nandy says.

    Her father, an Indian Marxist, thinks Lisa is “Right-wing”, which suggests she’s probably about right for most British people, who are deeply suspicious of ideology.

    Lisa Nandy is the one candidate for Labour leader I could ever dream of voting for. Her refusal to cuddle up to the Corbynists in the wake of a damning defeat, her grasp on reality, her warmth and willingness to bring people with her, rather than “cancelling” them for heresy, all mark her out as someone who could lead a broad church instead of a nasty, narrow sect.

    The poor woman doesn’t stand a chance.

    So, it looks like Labour’s first female leader may well be Rebecca Long Bailey, Jeremy’s anointed heir. Still, in the unimprovable words of Napoleon: “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”

      1. I would have thought that underpants for that particular activity are rather superfluous.

    3. Yuk. I detest that girl. Most men buy an evening suit and wear it until they can no longer fit into it.

    1. That young man did very well in the face of such strong provocation. With people such as him around there is still hope for the future after all.

  115. Fake Vegan Meat Dishes

    I had a look at the ingredients of these meals. The read like a chemistry lesson. There is very little real nutrition in them and very little product in them . You would certainly not be having a healthy diet. They look though to be highly profitable for the supermarkets typically paying 3 times as much as a normal meat based dish

    2. Profitable for the manufacturers too. I quoted from a paper I read this morning, over on letters. For the maximum / optimum environmental benefit we need a sensible meat / fish and veg diet.

    4. Well the latest non meat meat looks and tastes OK but really,why bother?
      I just looked at the product details for a brand sold over here. Never mind the pressed mung bean protein, in a four ounce burger, 28% of the daily fat allowance so they are not even healthy.
      As for the more traditional veggie burger, they don’t even look the part.

      Just give me real fruit and veg that taste like fruit and veg.

      1. I have tasted a few of them and non taste or have the texture of real meat. They can make a passable imattion of the very cheap pies that are filled with a thick gravy pulp and or very cheap cardboard burgers. They do put lots of seasoning and spices and e numbers in them though

  117. Gritting truck named after Greta Thunberg spotted in Scotland

    The gritter has been named after the teenage Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg.

    Scotland’s hilariously-named ice gritter fleet apparently has a new member, after a lorry named ‘Gritter Thunberg’ was spotted in Edinburgh over Christmas.

    The gritter is named after 16-year-old environmental activist Greta Thunberg, and joins other gritters named after celebs, like Spread Sheeran.

    Other funny names for the Gritting trucks include Gritty Gritty Bang Bang, Gritallica, David Plowie, Sir Andy Flurry, Luke Snowalker, Snokemon Go and Grittle Mix.

    A photo of ‘Gritter Thunberg’ was shared online on 26 December by a tourist, with the caption: “Love the Scottish sense of humour – and obsession with naming things. [Spotted in Edinburgh (Scotland) this afternoon]”

    https://ukupdates.co.uk/gritting-truck-named-after-greta-thunberg-spotted-in-scotland/?fbclid=IwAR20pDxETiUXe9KSU7-_N4TFxMh_6ll5ve8_AbYD-t8GYCv-vnEdT8hywqc

Comments are closed.