Monday 22 January: Tata cuts will destroy a community for the sake of net-zero posturing

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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539 thoughts on “Monday 22 January: Tata cuts will destroy a community for the sake of net-zero posturing”

    1. What the public want is the exact opposite of what Sunak is prepared to deliver.

      Sadly there are far too many people who want someone else to pay for whatever it is they want.

  3. Good Morning All. Not as windy as forecast and looks like the worst is over. 10C raining and windy.

  4. Morning, all Y’all.
    Rained on the snow at 04:00 this morning. Whole place is now shiny and very slippery. Working from home – ain’t driving in that!

  5. I will do a damage check at first light.
    We have a great fencing contractor who prefers mending fences rather than replace, and he leaves them much stronger than new.

  6. I will do a damage check at first light.
    We have a great fencing contractor who prefers mending fences rather than replace, and he leaves them much stronger than new.

  8. Tata cuts will destroy a community for the sake of net-zero posturing

    Now who could have possibly predicted that outcome?

  10. All the usual suspects are here; Cherie Blair’s Matrix Chambers, MEND, etc. Prepare for Sharia law and public beheadings. Lots of vitriolic BTL comments.

    Multiculturalism is becoming a Trojan horse for Islamist domination

    The Michaela scandal is another clash between this hostile ideology and British values

    NICK TIMOTHY
    21 January 2024 • 9:00pm

    The best school in the country, measured by the progress made by its pupils, is not what many would expect. It does not select by ability or by postcode. It serves a deprived community in Wembley, London. It is unapologetically strict and rigorous in its teaching.

    Michaela, founded by Katharine Birbalsingh, is loathed by many on the Left, who despise its methods and resent its success. But the news that a pupil is suing the school over restrictions on ritual prayer has shocked many on the Right. “How could this happen?” ask immigration liberals and advocates of multiculturalism, with a naivety that is difficult to believe.

    The answer is plain. In many respects, and compared to other countries, Britain has succeeded in managing its newly multiracial identity. But in other obvious and very visible ways, it is failing. There is widespread self-segregation along ethnic and religious lines in British towns and cities. In many schools, segregation is more pronounced than in the communities they serve.

    Meanwhile, backed by ideological academics and lawyers, and encouraged or appeased by politicians and public bodies, activists peddling grievance harry individuals and organisations to win favour, special treatment and institutional power.

    They can do so thanks to the structures, laws and norms we ourselves have created. And the Michaela example is a case in point.

    The school is a sort of Singapore of the British education system. Just as Lee Kuan Yew concluded that his multiracial city state could only maintain peace through uncompromisingly tough justice, so Birbalsingh ensures her pupils are treated equally under a tough school disciplinary policy. Everyone eats vegetarian meals to avoid religious segregation at lunchtimes. There is no prayer room for any religion.

    Birbalsingh says she asks pupils from all backgrounds to make sacrifices so all can live in harmony. “Our school must be a place,” she explains, “where children of all races and religions buy into something they all share and is bigger than ourselves: our country.”

    But this vision is rejected by activists and their facilitators, who demand exceptionalism, not equality.

    It is no longer enough, in their worldview, to treat people equally. They argue we must treat people differently, in order to respect their beliefs and achieve equality not of opportunity but of outcome.

    Some go further still: they are more interested in turning invented hierarchies of oppression upside down – which is why so many of them tolerate discrimination against whites and Jews.

    At Michaela, half its 700 pupils are Muslim. When around 30 started public prayer rituals in the shared playground, the governing body intervened. Birbalsingh explains that the decision was taken “against a backdrop of events including violence, intimidation and appalling racial harassment of our teachers”. Staff received death threats and were told the school would be bombed.

    Now, an unnamed pupil is suing Michaela, backed by over £100,000 in legal aid, and likely much more to come. The student had already been in trouble after being accused of intimidating other Muslim pupils who did not fast during Ramadan, and was suspended last year for allegedly threatening to stab another child (which the pupil denied).

    They are supported by a law firm in receipt of huge sums in public funding. They have instructed a barrister from Matrix Chambers, the legal practice specialising in human rights co-founded by Cherie Blair.

    Even though the school policy applies to all faiths, the Matrix argument is that it is a de facto Muslim prayer ban, because Islamic prayer is ritualised and not internal. Christian children, they say, are still allowed to pray personally and quietly.

    This all appears to come from the extremist playbook. As Ed Husain explains in The Islamist, the “total Islamization of the public space at college (open prayers, Islamist posters, women in hijab)” is an expression of power and intimidation – of staff, other pupils and other Muslims. At Michaela, when the playground prayers began, more aggressive behaviour followed. A girl was pressured to wear a hijab. Another left the choir because she was told music was haram. Others were pressured to pray in public.

    It is no coincidence that MEND, described by the Shawcross review of Prevent as having a “well-established track record of working alongside extremists”, and the Muslim Council of Britain, subject to a “no-engagement” policy by ministers over extremism concerns, have both campaigned for school spaces to be given over to Muslim prayer sessions.

    This all matters, because our failure is shaping the kind of society we are fast becoming. This case ought to be a wake-up call, but it is not an isolated example. In east London, Barclay Primary School has police officers stationed on-site after receiving threats following the headteacher’s decision to prohibit political symbols, including the Palestinian flag.

    Another east London school, St Stephen’s, was intimidated into dropping its ban on primary-age children wearing the hijab. There were Islamist protests against sex education outside schools in Birmingham, and the Trojan horse plot, when activists attempted to take over state schools and impose a hardline Islamic ethos.

    There is the Batley teacher, still in hiding after showing a depiction of Muhammed in a religious education class, and the kangaroo court held in a Wakefield mosque after a boy lightly scuffed a copy of the Quran.

    Extremists are turning our schools – and other public institutions – into a battleground. But instead of confronting them, the authorities are appeasing and encouraging them.

    Our laws, especially equality and human rights laws, allow extremists and activists to play the state and society like a fiddle, while workplaces and public services have succumbed to political correctness and American critical race theory.

    Instead of letting ideologues destroy them, we need to build more institutions like Michaela – resilient, unifying, and focused entirely on excellence. In Wembley and elsewhere, this is the choice we face. It could not be more serious.

    ***************************
    David Tozer
    9 HRS AGO
    Muslims can’t be corralled into acceptance of the host country
    Wherever they go they always try to convert the country, it’s in the Koran
    They will never assimilate
    They need to be removed for the sake of the indigenous population

    Rob Cy
    7 HRS AGO
    Reply to David Tozer – view message
    It says in the koran. “when you go to a new place try to convert the people to islam, if they won’t convert then kill them”.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/21/michaela-school-multiculturalism-trojan-horse-islamist/

    1. Multiculturalism is becoming a Trojan horse for Islamist domination.

      I’m sure it’s just a conspiracy theory.

      2. As we’ve seen over the past few years ‘conspiracy theory’ is just another way of saying ‘spoiler alert’.

    2. Multiculturalism is becoming a Trojan horse for Islamist domination.

      I’m sure it’s just a conspiracy theory.

    4. Three is no multiracial identity. There’s the natives and those who refuse to fit in. Those groups are entirely muslim. They create enclaves where they destroy the value of property, sit on welfare and cost vast amounts. They don’t learn the language, don’t hold shared values and are simply intolerant vermin the country would be better off without.

      Folk will – rightly – argue that such is an awful way to describe this group. It is. It’s also true. The muslim terrorist threat has never been higher and the Left deliberately pretend it doesn’t exist.

      Whereever they go, they cause trouble. With minority exceptions they don’t integrate. The country is divided because the Left wanted it so.

  12. Biden draws up plan for ‘sustained’ military action against Houthis. 21 January 2024.

    The Biden administration is reportedly drawing up plans for “sustained” military action in Yemen against the Houthis after US strikes failed to stop rebel attacks on ships.

    American fighter jets have repeatedly struck Houthi sites in Yemen over the past ten days, with the latest on Saturday taking out an anti-ship missile that was preparing to fire, according to the US military.

    Having learned nothing whatsoever from the failures of the last thirty years here we go again! Hubris in Action.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/01/21/biden-draws-up-plan-for-sustained-military-action-against/

  13. Load of old cobblers

    Record number of female chief executive departures blamed on ‘tall poppy syndrome’

    Female chief executives are much more likely to quit their jobs as a result of personal reasons, and are also more likely to be fired

    Lucy Burton, EMPLOYMENT EDITOR
    22 January 2024 • 6:00am

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/business/2024/01/21/TELEMMGLPICT000347563321_17058769165310_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqD3d2dmOlWYuQkR76XZjLQKOylOV7i1cNNz18XOj47vE.jpeg?imwidth=680
    Dame Sharon White, the departing boss of John Lewis, has said she has struggled to find men who will work for women CREDIT: Darren Staples/Bloomberg

    Female chief executives were either fired or quit at a record rate last year, with observers blaming “tall poppy syndrome” as critics attack successful women.

    A tenth of all global chief executive departures last year were women, a report by recruiter Russell Reynolds has found, which was a record high proportion.

    Female chief executives are much more likely to quit their jobs as a result of personal reasons, at a rate of 16pc versus just 5pc for men.

    Former longstanding YouTube boss Susan Wojcicki was among those who left for personal reasons last year, stating that she was standing down to “start a new chapter focused on my family, health, and personal projects”.

    However, female leaders are also being fired at a much higher rate than men, at 34pc versus 25pc.

    Russell Reynolds’ executive Laura Sanderson, who advises companies on board hires, said women are being penalised more for any perceived failure or “limelight seeking” because of a scarcity of other female bosses.

    Ms Sanderson said women leaders were also more likely to fall victim to “tall poppy syndrome”, a term used to describe criticism levelled at people who are deemed to be too successful or self-satisfied.

    She said: “Today’s CEOs are expected to be more of a public figure than ever before, and the relative scarcity of female CEOs automatically gives them a higher degree of prominence. So they get disproportionate media attention.

    “If you’re a woman, you are under more pressure to visibly outperform. But woe betide you if you’re seen to be enjoying the profile of the CEO role too much or if you become too prominent, as tall poppy syndrome is never far away.”

    Almost a quarter of FTSE 100 chief executives who left in 2023 were women.

    High-profile exits last year included the departure of NatWest chief Dame Alison Rose, the first woman ever to lead a major UK bank. She stood down in July over her role in the Nigel Farage debanking scandal and has since forfeited £7.6m in pay and benefits over the crisis.

    In December the chief executive of Ladbrokes-owner Entain Jette Nygaard-Andersen, one of the few female FTSE 100 bosses, also left amid pressure from activist investors.

    Russell Reynolds said at the current rate it would take the FTSE 100 117 years to reach gender parity among chief executives.

    Despite multiple efforts to improve diversity across business there remains widespread concern about the lack of women in senior roles, with many facing resistance as they reach the top.

    Outgoing John Lewis chairman Dame Sharon White last year claimed that she struggled to find men who will work for women, while evidence from 40 women working in UK finance revealed last week that sexual harassment remained commonplace.

    ***********************

    Andrew Ramsbottom
    11 MIN AGO
    That’s what happens when you appoint based on race and gender – try appointing the best person for the role and you may do better. That’s the woke left for you!

    1. A tenth of all global chief executive departures last year were women…

      Their appointments are almost solely due to their gender and Political Correctness!

        1. The Sick Rose : William Blake

          O Rose thou art sick.
          The invisible worm,
          That flies in the night
          In the howling storm:

          Has found out thy bed
          Of crimson joy:
          And his dark secret love
          Does thy life destroy.

    2. I wonder if there’s a correlation between woke women parachuted into jobs and those companies failing shortly afterward. Oh look! There is!

    3. Comment placed on X-Tw@ter, Faceache and BTL:-

      R. Spowart
      32 MIN AGO
      Message Actions
      Nothing, of course, to do with not being up to the job due to being promoted as part of a box-ticking, quota filling exercise.
      No Siree! Most certainly NOT!
      🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

  14. Good morning! Amazingly all our chimneys are still standing, but it’s too dark to see any damage! The wind was pretty wild!

  15. The Real Reason Thousands Are Fleeing Conscription in Ukraine. 21 January 2024.

    The criticism of the mobilization systems comes from various parts of Ukrainian society. Some argue that Ukraine should introduce a lottery system, where people are drafted depending on their birthday. Others say that Ukraine should only mobilize people not vital to the Ukrainian war effort. Recently, on Facebook, a Ukrainian officer named Yuriy Kasyanov criticized what he calls an inefficient system.

    He fears that Ukraine might lose the war if something isn’t changed to make the system more fair and increase the number of men willing to serve in the army.

    “The first thing I can say is that the situation is awful at the frontline. Very bad, and I know it very well. Maybe this is not so visible in the rear. Still, we are holding on with all our strength,” Kasyanov, a drone expert in the army, told The Daily Beast, “The most important thing is that, finally, euphoria and blindness are beginning to subside in society. We understand, including commanders and government officials, that something needs to be done.”

    Worth a read. Though lacking in political content the sort of report one might see in a democracy with an independent MSM.

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-real-reason-thousands-are-fleeing-conscription-in-ukraine

    1. The simple solution is to conscript everyone. They are supposedly fighting for their country to survive.
      Grannie get your gun.

  16. Good morning, chums. I’ve been up since 6 a.m. and, as is usual on a Monday am off to the cinema today to watch the THE HOLDOVERS with other chums. So I shan’t be on this site too much. Enjoy your day.

  17. One bullet…

    Davos Globalist Demands Worldwide ‘Coordinated System of Carbon Taxes’ at WEF Summit

    https://media.breitbart.com/media/2024/01/klaus-schwab-WEF-world-economic-forum-davos-2024-getty-640×480.jpg

    The climate change agenda can only be fully if international carbon taxes are implemented on the global population, Saudi Arabian Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan proclaimed at the World Economic Forum meeting this week.

    During a panel discussion on the “Global Economic Outlook” on Friday during the annual WEF meeting in the Swiss ski resort town of Davos, Al-Jadaan argued that in order to solve the supposed climate crisis, a global carbon tax will be required.

    “There is no realistic solution to the climate transition that does not involve a globally coordinated system of carbon taxes,” the Saudi politician said.

    Al-Jadaan rejected the notion that such a system would hit the poor and developing nations the hardest, by hindering industrial growth and spurring inflation, arguing that such countries will face even worse outcomes if climate change is not prevented by international intervention.

    “There’s a perception that it’s unjust, it’s unfair, it will lead to inflation. In fact, quite the contrary. If we don’t do this, the countries that will suffer most ultimately are the developing countries. They’re going to be the worst affected by climate change,” he said.

    “What we need is a system of carbon taxes coupled with subsidies for developing households and a stream of funding for the developing world, to allow them to engage in investments and mitigations and adaption that allows them to keep growing. And that’s a real opportunity,” Al-Jadaan continued.

    “It’s a fair solution and it’s the only realistic solution, and we can’t keep ducking it,” he concluded.

    The notion of imposing an international tax on emissions has been gaining ground within globalist circles. For example, at the United Nation’s COP28 climate summit in Dubai last month, French President Emmanuel Macron and Kenyan President William Ruto called for a global carbon tax system to be implemented within the next two years.

    The two leaders said that such a system would start with targeting global financial transactions and extend to air and sea transport. The taxes raised would be directed to countries in Africa and other developing nations to mitigate the alleged impacts of climate change.
    *
    *
    Blah, blah, blah

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/01/21/davos-globalist-demands-worldwide-coordinated-system-of-carbon-taxes-at-wef-summit/

    1. The two leaders said that such a system would start with targeting global financial transactions and extend to air and sea transport. The taxes raised would be directed to countries in Africa and other developing nations to mitigate the alleged impacts of climate change.

      Yeah, right. Anyone who believes this pack of lies needs to be sectioned, especially as there is no climate change; ergo, no impacts, alleged or otherwise to be mitigated.

      Africa, the continent of opportunities. Laundries a speciality.

    3. Nuke the scum. Give them plenty of energy in a short burst. Solve a myriad of problems.

      Everything good, every advancement has come from hydrocarbon energy. Forcing that to be unaffordable will destroy our way of life. We need to get in first and end theirs. It’s as simple as that.

  18. SurKneeler a bit off target. It’s broad swathes of the NT Membership that is at war with the NT management wokies. Those NT members may have been Tories in days gone by.

    Starmer defends the National Trust’s ‘woke’ agenda

    Labour leader Sir Keir accuses the Tories of getting ‘tangled up in culture wars’ in a desperate attempt to cling to power

    Amy Gibbons, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
    21 January 2024 • 10:30pm

    Sir Keir Starmer on Monday defends the National Trust against accusations of “woke” behaviour as he claims the Tories have gone to “war” with the charity.

    The Labour leader accuses the Government of getting “so tangled up in culture wars of their own making” that they have ended up turning on the same organisations they “once regarded with respect” in a “desperate” attempt to cling to power.

    In a major speech on his vision for the voluntary sector, Sir Keir tells an audience of faith, charity and community leaders that the Conservatives have undermined the “proud spirit of service in this country” by “trying to find woke agendas” in Britain’s valued ­institutions.

    In particular, he accuses the Tories of demeaning the valuable work of the National Trust by taking a “divisive” approach led by the “politics of self-preservation”.

    He also claims the party’s rhetoric on the small boats crisis has helped “demonise” the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), which had the late Queen as a patron for 70 years.

    In recent years, the National Trust has faced growing anger over a series of decisions that have prompted claims it is following a “woke agenda”.

    Bosses have been accused of “dumbing down” by removing important items from display and turning historic homes into “theme parks” designed for children.

    There was also a significant backlash after it emerged Christian ­holidays had been excluded from the trust’s “inclusivity and wellbeing” ­calendar.

    Last year, Lee Anderson, then a deputy Tory chairman, lashed out at the charity for publishing its own “manifesto” calling for “concerted action” on climate commitments, insisting: “Brits expect the National Trust to protect our heritage, not lecture them on net zero.”

    In 2022, Conservative MP Andrew Murrison set up an All-Party Parliamentary Group to scrutinise the trust, citing “recent controversies” around its ­“strategic direction”.

    Links to slavery and colonialism
    And in 2020, the Daily Express reported that a powerful group of Tory MPs were demanding the charity’s ­status be reconsidered after it ­published its properties’ links to slavery and colonialism.

    The Conservative Party’s official historian, Lord Lexden, also said the institution engaged in an “act of folly” by issuing the “tendentious report”, which singled out 93 sites connected to historical figures involved in the British empire.

    Addressing the Civil Society Summit in central London Sir Keir says: “The Tories seem set on sabotaging civil society to save their own skins.

    “They got themselves so tangled up in culture wars of their own making, that instead of working with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution – an organisation the late Queen was patron of for 70 years – to find real solutions to stop the small boats, their rhetoric has helped demonise them.

    “Instead of working with the National Trust so more people can learn about – and celebrate – our culture and our history, they’ve managed to demean their work. In its desperation to cling on to power, at all costs. The Tory Party is trying to find woke agendas in the very civic institutions they once regarded with respect.

    “Let me tell you, waging a war on the proud spirit of service in this country isn’t leadership. It’s desperate. It’s divisive. It’s damaging. It comes to something when the Tories are at war with the National Trust. That’s what happens when politics of self-preservation prevail over commitment to service.”

    Sir Keir also uses his speech to say a Labour government would create a “society of service”, bringing “a new focus on those who build the bonds that connect us, the communities that nurture us, the institutions that support families and provide a bridge between the state and the market”.

    He adds: “In a society of service, doing the right thing will be rewarded. Working hard will pay off for people. And building caring, compassionate communities will make our country stronger, more prosperous, fairer for everyone.”

    The Tories reacted by accusing Labour of “sniping from the sidelines without putting forward any serious plan”.

    Later this week, Sir Keir will tour the country to talk to people about his plan to make Britain’s streets safe. [That’s going to be laugh-a-minute!]

    *******************************

    Alis Griff
    6 MIN AGO
    I am no fan of the Tories but to accuse them of getting involved in culture wars is height of hypocrisy from Starmer. Labour are knee deep in promotion of Stonewall and Pride and the pushing of agendas that don’t stand up to critical scrutiny. Both right & left are at fault in this. Impossible to respect any politician who won’t look as carefully at their own side or themselves & Starmer who says he doesn’t even know what a woman is, is as guilty as anyone.

    L R Jones
    9 HRS AGO
    Is Starmer trying to gaslight everyone by pretending there isn’t any woke extremism going on? Or is he just providing cover for it? After all, Sir Kneeler doesn’t know what a woman is.

    1. In a major speech on his vision for the voluntary sector, Sir Keir tells an audience of faith, charity and community leaders that the Conservatives have undermined the “proud spirit of service in this country” by “trying to find woke agendas” in Britain’s valued ­institutions.

      Just a taste of what is to come under a Labour Government.

    2. Resigned from NT last year with the way they are going. I see this year’s Cadbury Easter Egg Hunt is now just called Easter Trail after they fell out with Cadbury’s over their palm oil stuff and eggs are seemingly not allowed either. At least they have kept the Easter bit, how long before that becomes Springfest?

    3. Caring compassionate communicates is a nice bit of alliteration, but it does nothing to create jobs. Ruthless competition, low taxes and brutal markets do that. That’s how people get richer and better off. That’s how people are made more equal – because if Joe sees Bob succeeding from his efforts then he is encouraged to work harder.

      These fools need to learn that fairness is an ideological construct that simply does not exist. Life is NOT fair. If it were we wouldn’t be facing a sodding Labour government, nor have 70% of our income stolen from us in tax.

  19. Wordle 947 4/6

    Today’s result. I struggle to get below four.

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

  20. Bonjour, as they used to say in France.
    To the title, and maybe to those who understand the energy sector more than I do:
    At what point does the closing down of industry and the consumation of stock create enough added value in what remains (of that industry and stock) to justify the loss of revenue.
    For example, I sometimes wonder why our North Sea gas reserves were not uncapped as soon as the prospect of Russian gas problems were forseen. I suppose because those with an interest did not want to price to drop. They were making more money from less work with what they had.
    Is this true?
    Is the same true of Tata’s interests?

    And when these elites have collapsed everything, will they then save us by reopening?
    Will there be enough people left to work for them?
    Serious question.
    I’ll also ask it on TCW.

    1. I’m not sure on the first question who the target is. If the query is ‘when does government notice the destruction of jobs costs more in welfare than the ideology’ hte answer is never. Ideology always comes first, regardless. There is never a consideration of opportunity cost in big government because there is no end to the money it can waste. Specifically for Tata, once the steel works furnances shut down the skill will vanish and never return.

      The gas reserves remained taxed and fracking remained forbidden for the same reason: the ideology could never, ever be countenanced. The intent was to lump the tax payer with the cost. The problem is the cost was so high the public couldn’t pay it – this is why defaulters have now been moved into the standing charge.

      You could suggest my cyncism of government arrogance, incompetence and stupidity is unfair, but I am only returning what they have done, willfully and deliberately. The state keeps making energy expensive to drive down consumption. It has reached a point where people can’t afford it. Rather than do the sane thing, and undo the damage and let markets set the price is continues it’s moronic arrogance and dumps the cost of those who stop paying on the others who do pay – socialising the cost.

      If the problem isn’t evident yet, let’s look at welfare: socailism by the back door. Now look at housing benefit. Another aspect of socialism. Then there’s the minimum wage. Both have driven up the cost of labour and housing, removing market forces from the equation. The response has been a housing shortage, high rents (which are then subsidised by those who are already paying high taxes) and unemployment, which creates a housing shortage.

      At some point, a moron in the Treasury might point and say ‘look, socialism does not work’ but the ideological fanaticism of the state cannot be countenanced. They will not stop, ever.

  21. 3822`2+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Monday 22 January: Tata cuts will destroy a community for the sake of net-zero

    A person currently supporting / voting lab/lib/con coalition, then they buy into the coalition reset policies.

    THAT IS SURELY THE NAME OF THE GAME ISN’T IT, RESET.

    1. The Left simply don’t care. Remember, the ends justifies the means. Putting the hundreds of jobs Tata created and the subsequent thousands of jobs that income supported out of work and on to welfare is irrelevant when the entire plan seems to be to destroy jobs, wealth and growth and make everyone state dependent.

      Communism sees no problem with this. It does not care. All together! Tractor production is up, comrades!

    1. Inflation is caused by government printing money. Such as Biden and his trillion dollar splurge of future cash.

      Odd that a hard Left democrat supporting globalist thinks inflation is caused by tax cuts and sound government.

  23. 382212+ up ticks,

    Tis an ill wind, the next move will be global warming orientated as in, bringing in a winter law, double beds in winter months.

    Boarding schools allow trans pupils to sleep in dorms of their preferred gender
    Policies clash with government guidance, which states sleeping areas must be segregated by biological sex

    Bare in mind the governing cartel does NOT mean what it says sometimes, many times, ALL the bloody time.

  24. Good morning all.
    Dry and 2½°C with a clearing sky after some heavy overnight rain and the wind has died down.
    Well, I don’t know about the effect Storm Isha had on the rest of the country, but it was a bit of a non-event up here with aforesaid heavy rain and gusty wind, but nothing unusually severe.

    1. Even down here in Bracknell it seems to have been a non event. Yes, a bit blowy late last night but eased when the rain came, which the drains easily coped with. No visible damage – though not been out for my walks yet. Even our trains are running bang on time. Just a winter storm…

    5. It’s been very wet and windy on the Costa Clyde since early yesterday afternoon. Ongoing, it’s almost wintery. Walking football was cancelled this morning. I wish they’d told me before I dug my kite and snorkel out of the shed.

      If the rain abates, I may wander down to Prestwick promenade to see the horse-tailed waves.

  25. Bins everywhere, rubbish strewn along the street. Absolutely no hope of the bin men bothering to pick it up because jobsworth is in the title.

    Warmer today though.

    2. I hear the is a new scale for measuring the strength of wind, no longer the Beaufort scale, it will be a scale based on the number of greenie bins blown over from a one bin wind to a ten bin wind.

  26. Good morning all,

    It’s a nice clear dawn again at Castle McPhee. A gentle wind in the West-Sou’-West, 7℃→9℃ with some light showers later.

    I drove home through storm Isha last night and it blew through here sometime in the wee sma’ oors. All a bit of a nothing-burger here as I thought it would be. A few dead branches are down but no chimney stacks, living trees or roofs blown off summer houses. It was nothing more than a fairly standard deep Atlantic travelling depression of the type that has marked the climate of the British Isles for the whole of human existence and which we always used to take in our stride with no more than ‘it’s blawin’ a hooly oot there’. But, oh no, we’ve got to call it a storm and give it a name these days to make it fit the extreme weather/climate scare-mongering narrative. We even had the Met Office warn us not to stand too near windows! Do they imagine that we all live in glass-fronted bungalows built atop shingle beaches wide open to the prevailing South-Westerlys?

    Where exactly did the 99 mph gust occur? Out at the Needles? The Lizard? The Mull of Kintyre?

    Michael Fish, come back. We need you.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cd76c5c1cb50c9ef6e6ea77268932f6a8623ca9bc74b0e2319ee3fe21f6b2561.png

    http://www.michael-fish.com/

  27. Good morning all,

    It’s a nice clear dawn again at Castle McPhee. A gentle wind in the West-Sou’-West, 7℃→9℃ with some light showers later.

    I drove home through storm Isha last night and it blew through here sometime in the wee sma’ oors. All a bit of a nothing-burger here as I thought it would be. A few dead branches are down but no chimney stacks, living trees or roofs blown off summer houses. It was nothing more than a fairly standard deep Atlantic travelling depression of the type that has marked the climate of the British Isles for the whole of living memory and which we always used to take in our stride with no more than ‘it’s blawin’ a hooly oot there’. But, oh no, we’ve got to call it a storm and give it a name these days to make it fit the extreme weather/climate scare-mongering narrative. We even had the Met Office warn us not to stand too near windows! Do they imagine that we all live in glass-fronted bungalows built atop shingle beaches wide open to the prevailing South-Westerlys?

    Where exactly did the 99 mph gust occur? Out at the Needles? The Lizard? The Mull of Kintyre?

    Michael Fish, come back. We need you.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cd76c5c1cb50c9ef6e6ea77268932f6a8623ca9bc74b0e2319ee3fe21f6b2561.png

    http://www.michael-fish.com/

  29. Has the time come for an immediate decision to be taken to build one of the smaller Rolls-Royce nuclear power stations at a
    suitable site near Port Talbot?

    What, and overrule the instructions given to our government, by their masters at the WEF, NWO, etc.

    Soros & Co rule, OK

      1. They are opening more coal mines and power stations and polluting the atmosphere as much as they want. They don’t buy into this nonsense except to take up the opportunities offered by our government’s stupidity in outsourcing our power and industry.

  30. What a repulsive ?woman? she is with her whole SNP ghastliness.

    Nicola Sturgeon’s Cabinet looked at how Covid could boost support for independence

    The Covid public inquiry has been shown the secret minutes of a Scottish Cabinet meeting from June 2020

    Simon Johnson, SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR
    21 January 2024 • 4:00pm

    Nicola Sturgeon’s Cabinet agreed to consider how the pandemic could be politicised to boost support for independence, as hundreds of Scots were hospitalised with the virus during the first lockdown.

    In March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, SNP ministers said they had “paused” their preparations for an independence referendum so they could focus on tackling the virus.

    But the UK Covid public inquiry was shown the secret minutes of a Scottish Cabinet meeting on June 30 that year, which stated ministers “agreed that consideration be given to restarting work on independence and a referendum”.

    The minutes said that the case for separation should be updated “with the arguments reflecting the experience of the coronavirus crisis and developments on EU exit.”

    On the same day the meeting was held, Ms Sturgeon used her daily televised Covid briefing to argue that anyone who was “trotting out political or constitutional arguments is in the wrong place completely and has found themselves completely lost”. She added: “We’re not dealing with politics at the moment.”

    Earlier in the same briefing, she announced 885 people were in hospital with the virus, including 19 in intensive care. A further three deaths had been registered in the previous 24 hours, taking the total at that time to 2,485.

    Although Scotland had started moving out of the first lockdown in June 2020, significant restrictions remained on people and businesses.

    ‘Revelations are disgusting’
    Non-office workspaces, outdoor sports venues and playgrounds had only started reopening the day before the Scottish Cabinet meeting.

    Marriages were only permitted outdoors with “minimal attendees”, and zoos and garden attractions could only be visited by those living within a five-mile radius. Mixing between households remained severely restricted.

    Stephen Kerr, a Scottish Tory MSP, said: “These revelations are disgusting. When people were dying from Covid, the SNP was focusing on how to use the pandemic to further their plans to break up the United Kingdom.

    “Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP colleagues reassured us repeatedly that the pandemic was their sole focus. This has now turned out to be lies – there’s no other way to describe it.”

    The Scottish Cabinet minutes were published on Friday afternoon as the inquiry took evidence from Ken Thomson, who was then manager of the Scottish Government’s Covid Coordination Directorate and one of its most senior mandarins.

    A leaked video of him emerged last year in which he joked that his job was “breaking up” the UK. At the time, he was director-general of strategy and external affairs.

    Using Covid to further independence
    Jamie Dawson KC, lead counsel for the inquiry’s module on Scotland, asked him about claims that the SNP government’s response to Covid had been politicised to further independence.

    Mr Thomson said he did not agree with that, adding: “The second way I hear that criticism is that somehow in her decisions the First Minister was seeking…to be different for the sake of being different to remind people that Scotland has the ability to take decisions on its own. And I also don’t agree with that.”

    But Mr Dawson read out the passage from the Cabinet minutes about using the pandemic to promote independence and asked whether this was “indicative of the fact that the Scottish Cabinet in June 2020 wished to politicise the coronavirus crisis.”

    Mr Thomson prevaricated and admitted “that runs slightly contrary to what I said in my previous answer”.

    Recalling that independence work had stopped at the start of the pandemic, he said: “As we moved out of the lockdown restrictions, more of the ordinary business of the Scottish Government started to resume, including this bit.”

    He added: “I don’t think I gave significant time to that but some of my team, who for example had been moved from that independence work into work such as travel restrictions, might then have resumed work on this because we had been able to adapt our structures.”

    The same day as the Cabinet meeting discussed promoting independence, Ms Sturgeon used her Covid briefing to dismiss claims that differences in her lockdown rules from Boris Johnson’s were politically motivated.

    She said: We’re not dealing with politics at the moment. We are dealing with a virus, a virus that we know poses a real risk to health and to life.”

    The Scottish Government, the SNP and Ms Sturgeon were approached for comment.

    *****************************

    Chris Brown
    16 HRS AGO
    Her bare faced lies about “not doing politics now” are incredible. She absolutely must be held to account…

    Jeffrey Hobbs
    15 HRS AGO
    It was obvious at the time that Sturgeon was using the Covid crisis to further her independence agenda. The way she differentiated every Covid policy in Scotland from the measures taken south of the border, communicated in her uniquely sanctimonious style, was clear to anyone. It’s great that she and her SNP lackeys are now being revealed for the corrupt hypocrites that they are.

    S Fyles
    16 HRS AGO
    This is the trouble with Sturgeon. Like a baby with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
    Instead of doing the right thing, she politicised everything regardless of safety or your life.
    Yet she can’t even keep hold of WhatsApp messages or follow simple instructions.
    She is evil.

    1. No surprise there.
      Her draconian regulations had nothing to do with health and everything to do with “wrong footing” the Westminster government.

      1. Living north of The Border, I am eligible to vote in the General Election – I won’t bother.

    2. I’m surprised that no huge, hairy-arsed Jock hasn’t yet grabbed her to give her a damn good thrashing.

      Have they all been emasculated?

      Are there no huge, female, hairy-arsed Jockesses willing to do the job?

      2. The people who could actually
        help, seem they are currently being persuaded towards kneeling several times a day. I’m not sure a kilt is the best type of attire for such activities.

      3. There are so many of the cult taken in by her Poundshop SF/IRA nonsense. Holyrood, Police Scotland (including the current Chief of Police who lives in England for tax reasons – as do 10% of the civil servants who work north of the border), the supine media (bar one or two brave rebels – who are barred from direct access to Holyrood), local councillors (even more local that the inmates of the pretend parliament) and the judiciary are all onside. Whether this is through blind obedience, brown envelopes or blackmail remains to be seen, but it’s worth remembering that, beyond the central belt and Dundee, most Scots have long had enough.

    3. I’m stunned and shocked. I didn’t realise the scurrilous wretches actually took any minutes. Regarding WhatsApp messages, Olga Krankie was at pains to point out that she wasn’t in any WhatsApp groups; implying that she wasn’t in contact with other party members via WhatsApp. As sleekit as she is, I’m sure group discussion on her shenanigans would be the last thing she would want.

    4. Hundreds of Scots were hospitalised with the virus…or
      Hundreds of Scots with the virus were hospitalised?

      Do no journos study English anymore?

  31. Good Moaning.
    Hurrah!!!!! I’m a survivor.
    I slept in a room with a window …… and I’m still alive.
    Truly, the age of miracles is not past.

  32. 382212+ up ticks,

    May one ask,

    Do money mills ( wind turbines ) still pay out dividends if bladeless & stationary ?

  33. Good morrow, gentlefolk. Today’s (recycled) story
    DRINK DRIVING
    I would like to share with you all an experience that I recently had regarding drinking and driving. As you would know, even those of us who are just social drinkers have had near brushes with the law on our way home.

    Well, I for one have done something about it. The other night I was out for dinner and had a few drinks with some friends. Having had a few too many glasses of wine and knowing full well I was struggling, I did something I’ve never done before. I took a bus home.

    I arrived home safely and without incident, which was a real surprise as I have never driven a bus before.

    1. A policeman I used to work with was an ex-sailor. He confided in me that during his Royal Navy days, he once got so drunk that he stole a bus to drive back to the ship. En route he crashed it and ended up in the glasshouse on numerous charges relating to the incident.

      He successfully managed to conceal this fact when he applied to join the police and, evidently, his Navy background was not fully checked on his recruitment.

  35. Good morning, all. Bright and breezy here. Haven’t been out but for as far as I can see the fence is intact. I had my chimneys removed years ago so no possibility of damage from that front.

    Lucrative business model for some built on the taxpayers’ money. I see a pattern, am I correct?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cec654883d708b5501f49cb36992eb470e10a71b0fe44d49ac49e97db44835e6.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e5cacab99fd7f7ae1402748d53905dd08c10bdcd34991db285c19cda0f7ca8d2.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d4a7c5ef78aafdfd90f9e2a0704bfa72f0c1fc95bcaaffcda0ca63df39f64d3e.png

    1. Those people are an absolute disgrace. Greedy lying thieving bustards.
      There will have been thousands of bungs for local councils taking place right up to the level of Wastemonster and Whitehall.
      So say goodbye to our greenbelt and agricultural land.

    2. I recently read that Serco were taking on some of the ‘reception’ duties of the Border Farce for the illegal gimmegrants arriving on our southern shores. If Serco are raking in taxpayer-funded accommodation fees, what incentive do they have to refuse any of the illegals?

    3. The dodgy panel in our fence is now at one with the choir invisible.
      If it wasn’t for the large bay tree behind it, it would have arrived in a Norwegian fjord.
      Will make removing it that much easier.

  36. Good morning all.

    We had a short noisy stormy night , what a fuss about nothing , blue sky breeze and 12c now .

    Not being smug, but we got away lightly weather wise .

    1. Did you see the inappropriately dressed female reporter hair blowing all over, on the news last evening. Screaming into her hand held microphone on the beach at Blackpool.
      She was trying to tell everyone that it was windy. And the waves were quite large……..

      1. I don’t know why they send weather people out into the rain when we can hear it from our windows.

  37. Morning all 🙂😊
    Lovely sunny start, breezy but no obvious effects of a terrible storm, but I expect the usual pervasive tricks from predicted news disasters and weather disasters have not had an obvious effect in our local area.
    But yes of course our plotical idiots are going to ruin the lives of thousands of people by allowing the closure of the steel works in Wales. And for no real or proven purpose at all, but to boast of their own virtue and weaknesses, whilst inflicting martyrdom for the use of an invented phrase know only to our self-righteous political morons.
    Once more they have all landed themselves in more than a bit of a pointless mess.
    Our farms will be next on the list. They had better get the tractors ploughing machines and diggers up to London PDQ.

  38. Staying with the weather theme, SWMBO and I exchanged words on the outlook for the day an hour ago.
    “No rain today”, says she.
    “I think there’s a chance of some light showers”, says I.
    “No there isn’t” says she.
    “Oh well, we’ll see says I”.

    As I type this rain is streaming down the study window.

    The thing is she looks at the BBC weather app wheras I look at the Met Office website and rainfall radar. Now, surely the BBC gets it’s weather information from the Met Office. No? How can it be so different?

    Unless it’s all a part of a deliberate psy-op to keep us all confused and uncertain. I think it could well be.

    1. Al Beeb used to, now it uses an aggregate. The Met office is an odd one as it heavily skews it’s models with nonsense climate change agenda.

      1. That’s my understanding, but, if even the bBC are apparently wary of the machinations of the Met Office models, why would anyone else use their skewed output?

  40. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5da93cd116c4519e53febe7078e8e9b9a02709f43296deef594fa6f92dfe6eac.png

    Are the governors of Bedales, Taunton, and Sevenoaks receiving bungs from Keir Starmer who is determined to destroy independent private schools?

    If I had daughters in a school with this sort of insane policy then it would be a far greater incentive to take them out of the hell hole than a rise in fees owing to the removal of the VAT exemption!

    1. A lot of those schools are still dealing with claims of sexual, psychological and physical abuse of boys. Are they seriously considering allowing women with penises to sleep in girls dorms?

    2. Under the article there is this BTL comment:

      As a father of 2 girls who board can you imagine how many sleepless nights I have just waiting for the moment some mentally ill trans male tries to sexually abuse them. EDITED

      It was edited – i.e. censored. I wonder what the DT took out of it?

    3. Hasn’t Bedales always been a bit weird?
      You know, turn up in a class if you fancy it etc….

        1. Princess Anne was at Benenden which is not particularly avant-garde

          We have had several girls from Benenden on our courses over the years including the daughter of a former headmistress.

          We have also had several girls and boys from Bedales and one of the English teachers at Blundell’s went on to teach at Bedales.

  41. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5da93cd116c4519e53febe7078e8e9b9a02709f43296deef594fa6f92dfe6eac.png

    Are the governors of Bedales, Taunton, and Sevenoaks receiving bungs from Keir Starmer who is determined to destroy independent private schools?

    If I had daughters in a school with this sort of insane policy then it would be a far greater incentive to take them out of the hell hole than a rise in fees owing to the removal of the VAT exemption!

  43. Morning all. Sun and still today. Was noisy last night with the wind but fun. I love being in bed listening to the wind howling through the wood with the creaking sounds. ’twas a dark sand stormy night.’
    Great story in the Telegraph today.

    Multiculturalism is becoming a Trojan horse for Islamist domination
    The Michaela scandal is another clash between this hostile ideology and British values

    Surprisingly the Telegraph is allowing comments and boy are they blunt!

      1. Folk arrive, get a council house and get welfare. Their children then go on to commit crime – because they’re unskilled layabouts. Thus the cycle is perpetuated. The solution was not not let them into the country and certainly not to give them a house off someone else.

        The old friendly societies such as the Quakers had this sorted. You had help, but for a limited time – because money was finite.

        1. It’s from Australia originally. Mind you, it applies over here as well, and we probably have more of them…

    2. What a shame they weren’t brave enough to publish articles like this 30 or more years ago. It’s all fine and well allowing them now we’re neck-deep in the brown stuff. Still, at least it is happening now.

    3. What a shame they weren’t brave enough to publish articles like this 30 or more years ago. It’s all fine and well allowing them now we’re neck-deep in the brown stuff. Still, at least it is happening now.

  44. Home Secretary pushed to end jobs for migrants scheme by former cabinet ministers

    Most of the immigrants to UK, of military age, will be recruited into an Army.

    It just will not be the ‘British one!

    1. Yes we know Nick. You could have read this on Nottl any time in the last six or seven years!

    2. What’s odd is once they’ve destroyed a nation they complain about it and move on to somewhere else not muslim to repeat the same process.

  46. The word ‘conservative’ is used by the BBC as a portmanteau word of abuse for anyone whose views differ from the insufferable, smug, sanctimonious, naive, guilt-ridden, wet, pink orthodoxy of that sunset home of the third-rate minds of that third-rate decade, the nineteen-sixties.
    Norman Tebbit

  48. I have now said goodbye finally to my old happy space which was my poor old failed Peugeot 307sw car, and am mobile again on 4 wheels .. used wheels , but an up graded model . Peugeot 2008.. 1.6 diesel engine . So far , no complaints.

    1. Glad you’ve got sorted – is it a bigger version? My old Peugeot 206 I’ve had since new in 2007 has been very reliable.

      1. Difficult to say really, more modern interior, my large dog basket just about fits in the rear.
        It has 6 gears and cruise control.. no sat nav .. however , no need for that really, no road tax , and it is a 7year old car , local owner and 70k on the clock.

        We don’t have the dosh for big expensive items !

    3. Brilliant. I was hoping you’d strike lucky.
      Wheels is freedom. Even nipping to the supermarket or the tip is a chance to be on your own.

  49. Good morning all and Happy New Year. I have been travelling/visiting family and friends and stricken by some semi-disabling throat, chest, bowel problems for my sins. I am back in France and recovering slowly. I left most of my keys in the UK and cannot visit my favourite social centres (bars) yet – something to look forward to though.

    I see the BBC is continuing its campaign against the Israelis with a 45 minute documentary about International War Crimes and ‘holding those accountable for mass murder (Jews killing innocent Palestinian men, women and children) in pursuit of their political aims. Is there no way of bringing the ‘t*rds that control the anti-British Bullsh*t Broadcast Criminals to justice instead?

    1. I wondered how you were! It’s been a long absence……. I hope you are well on the mend now and back here to join the fray. You’ll be having a birthday this year!

    2. Good to see you back. There have of course been far greater numbers of moslems killed by other moslems than have ever been killed by Jews but it all comes back to the intersectional power structure nonsense. Very sad this weekend to see Bob Moran peddling blood libel against the Jews in his latest cartoon and not backing down when faced with the inevitable barrage of flak he’s receiving. Foolish man.

    3. Good to see you back, Ped.
      Give yourself a break and relax. This a good time of year for feeling virtuous about doing nothing.

  50. Decided to post the whole story for the benefit of those who do not read the Telegrapy

    Multiculturalism is becoming a Trojan horse for Islamist domination
    The Michaela scandal is another clash between this hostile ideology and British values

    NICK TIMOTHY
    21 January 2024 • 9:00pm

    he best school in the country, measured by the progress made by its pupils, is not what many would expect. It does not select by ability or by postcode. It serves a deprived community in Wembley, London. It is unapologetically strict and rigorous in its teaching.

    Michaela, founded by Katharine Birbalsingh, is loathed by many on the Left, who despise its methods and resent its success. But the news that a pupil is suing the school over restrictions on ritual prayer has shocked many on the Right. “How could this happen?” ask immigration liberals and advocates of multiculturalism, with a naivety that is difficult to believe.

    The answer is plain. In many respects, and compared to other countries, Britain has succeeded in managing its newly multiracial identity. But in other obvious and very visible ways, it is failing. There is widespread self-segregation along ethnic and religious lines in British towns and cities. In many schools, segregation is more pronounced than in the communities they serve.

    Meanwhile, backed by ideological academics and lawyers, and encouraged or appeased by politicians and public bodies, activists peddling grievance harry individuals and organisations to win favour, special treatment and institutional power.

    They can do so thanks to the structures, laws and norms we ourselves have created. And the Michaela example is a case in point.

    The school is a sort of Singapore of the British education system. Just as Lee Kuan Yew concluded that his multiracial city state could only maintain peace through uncompromisingly tough justice, so Birbalsingh ensures her pupils are treated equally under a tough school disciplinary policy. Everyone eats vegetarian meals to avoid religious segregation at lunchtimes. There is no prayer room for any religion.

    Birbalsingh says she asks pupils from all backgrounds to make sacrifices so all can live in harmony. “Our school must be a place,” she explains, “where children of all races and religions buy into something they all share and is bigger than ourselves: our country.”

    But this vision is rejected by activists and their facilitators, who demand exceptionalism, not equality.

    It is no longer enough, in their worldview, to treat people equally. They argue we must treat people differently, in order to respect their beliefs and achieve equality not of opportunity but of outcome.

    Some go further still: they are more interested in turning invented hierarchies of oppression upside down – which is why so many of them tolerate discrimination against whites and Jews.

    At Michaela, half its 700 pupils are Muslim. When around 30 started public prayer rituals in the shared playground, the governing body intervened. Birbalsingh explains that the decision was taken “against a backdrop of events including violence, intimidation and appalling racial harassment of our teachers”. Staff received death threats and were told the school would be bombed.

    Now, an unnamed pupil is suing Michaela, backed by over £100,000 in legal aid, and likely much more to come. The student had already been in trouble after being accused of intimidating other Muslim pupils who did not fast during Ramadan, and was suspended last year for allegedly threatening to stab another child (which the pupil denied).

    They are supported by a law firm in receipt of huge sums in public funding. They have instructed a barrister from Matrix Chambers, the legal practice specialising in human rights co-founded by Cherie Blair.

    Even though the school policy applies to all faiths, the Matrix argument is that it is a de facto Muslim prayer ban, because Islamic prayer is ritualised and not internal. Christian children, they say, are still allowed to pray personally and quietly.

    This all appears to come from the extremist playbook. As Ed Husain explains in The Islamist, the “total Islamization of the public space at college (open prayers, Islamist posters, women in hijab)” is an expression of power and intimidation – of staff, other pupils and other Muslims. At Michaela, when the playground prayers began, more aggressive behaviour followed. A girl was pressured to wear a hijab. Another left the choir because she was told music was haram. Others were pressured to pray in public.

    It is no coincidence that MEND, described by the Shawcross review of Prevent as having a “well-established track record of working alongside extremists”, and the Muslim Council of Britain, subject to a “no-engagement” policy by ministers over extremism concerns, have both campaigned for school spaces to be given over to Muslim prayer sessions.

    This all matters, because our failure is shaping the kind of society we are fast becoming. This case ought to be a wake-up call, but it is not an isolated example. In east London, Barclay Primary School has police officers stationed on-site after receiving threats following the headteacher’s decision to prohibit political symbols, including the Palestinian flag.

    Another east London school, St Stephen’s, was intimidated into dropping its ban on primary-age children wearing the hijab. There were Islamist protests against sex education outside schools in Birmingham, and the Trojan horse plot, when activists attempted to take over state schools and impose a hardline Islamic ethos.

    There is the Batley teacher, still in hiding after showing a depiction of Muhammed in a religious education class, and the kangaroo court held in a Wakefield mosque after a boy lightly scuffed a copy of the Quran.

    Extremists are turning our schools – and other public institutions – into a battleground. But instead of confronting them, the authorities are appeasing and encouraging them.

    Our laws, especially equality and human rights laws, allow extremists and activists to play the state and society like a fiddle, while workplaces and public services have succumbed to political correctness and American critical race theory.

    Instead of letting ideologues destroy them, we need to build more institutions like Michaela – resilient, unifying, and focused entirely on excellence. In Wembley and elsewhere, this is the choice we face. It could not be more serious.

    Breaking News Alerts News

    1. That child who has caused this trouble obviously has form – and should have been expelled after the knife incident.

    2. ‘Birbalsingh says she asks pupils from all backgrounds to make sacrifices so all can live in harmony. “Our school must be a place,” she explains, “where children of all races and religions buy into something they all share and is bigger than ourselves: our country.”‘

      Unfortunately, as far as I can see, the school is made all backgrounds and all races except white Brits.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e0498d4c3b411c8c8725a71d8839fb0120684e88182b7c3e819fa3fda075e14f.jpg

      2. When half are muslim it’s very clear the intent is race replacement. Add on how many muslim are in utter dependence on welfare and basically we’re paying for them to kill us.

    3. We all know the Michaela school will lose. The intent of ‘human rights’ is specifically to ensure the divisive, the anti social, the obstructive are given a platform to oppress the normal.

      If the HRA were revoked as it should be, this pathetic child would long since have been expelled and reminded that they are not the messiah, they’re just a very naughty boy.

  51. Is Javier Milei genuine or is he a part of the psy-op to make us feel we have a chance of defeating the globalists? Where does Lord Hannan of Kingsclere sit (apart from on the red benches where he makes speeches to which few listen)?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a03c1be97bd5a397d61749d8d9577abad92526986d838da7642f352034ae0193.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/20/smug-world-elites-should-fear-chainsaw-wielding-libertarian/

    Are we being played? Georgia Meloni has been a damp squib. Will he be?

    1. He demands we hand over the Falklands to his shoddy ramshackle country. So on that alone I assume he is genuine but unique in his libertarian thinking for South America as a whole.

      1. He has to by law. In reality he knows full well that Argentina has far, far bigger problems to solve.

    2. Perhaps we could send every illegal immigrant, and ideally every Muslim, to the Falklands and then hand them over to Argentina.

        1. Indeed, but they could return to take up the released housing stock.
          I know which group I would prefer in the UK.

          3. Just a year or so before the Argentines invaded the Falklands, the Sunday Times (or perhaps it was the Observer) Colour Magazine did a feature on the Falklands Islanders and told us that when the majority of the islanders (who were sheep farmers) retired they moved to either New Zealand or to Scottish Isles.

          4. It’s the perfect location for all of the boatees;
            Kent beach, next stop Port Stanley.
            Far more effective than Rwanda as a deterrent.

    3. I think Milei is going to be destroyed by a concerted effort of his own state machine supported by the globalists. His policies, like those of Truss risk upsetting their carefully planned agenda. If it is proved that low taxes and a small state work then their entire plan comes undone.

    4. Morning McPhee. I think that he is the real deal. They cannot possibly let him survive!

    6. Good article. Lord Hannan is not as blunt an instrument as Nigel Farage, but he ain’t no fool. Brought up partly in Peru, educated at Marlborough, he speaks Spanish; his father Hugh (1924-2000) had served in RAC in WWII, North Irish Horse I believe, commissioned as 2nd Lt in 1994.

      1. Hannan is a big part of the problem on the right of politics; he’s a free trade absolutist and fantasist, wedded to his ideological principles even in the face of evidence to the contrary.

        1. A bit like Thatcher – who encouraged the selling off of our industry and utilities, in the mistaken belief that other countries would be as stupid as that.

    8. Words are cheap. Actions count. And so far, his actions have matched his words. It’s early days, but he’s the opposite of Meloni in that regard. She’s done nothing much at all, despite promising so much.

  52. Good morning, dear NoTTLers!

    How about handing these out free to the gender challenged? I would happily subscribe to give one to every man in a dress, starting with Eddie Lizzard.

    https://www.lightinthebox.com/en/p/human-black-army-green-dark-blue-t-shirt-tee-men-s-graphic-cotton-blend-shirt-sports-classic-shirt-short-sleeve-comfortable-tee-sports-outdoor-holiday_p9751389.html?category_id=35211

    (unfortunately I couldn’t seem to copy and paste the picture – I should be grateful to anyone who can to post it, so that I can send it to a couple of people I know)

  53. Good morning, dear NoTTLers!

    How about handing these out free to the gender challenged? I would happily subscribe to give one to every man in a dress, starting with Eddie Lizzard.

    https://www.lightinthebox.com/en/p/human-black-army-green-dark-blue-t-shirt-tee-men-s-graphic-cotton-blend-shirt-sports-classic-shirt-short-sleeve-comfortable-tee-sports-outdoor-holiday_p9751389.html?category_id=35211

    (unfortunately I couldn’t seem to copy and paste the picture – I should be grateful to anyone who can to post it, so that I can send it to a couple of people I know)

      1. Joking aside, my wife feels the cold very badly.
        I bought her one of their fleecy hooded tops, and much as she dislikes it from a fashion perspective, she says it is one of the cosiest tops she has ever owned and wears it around the house constantly.
        It has a picture of an ice-cube and a silly slogan “Me, cold 24/7”.

          1. I swear by my Tissaia fleecy cardigans. I think they must a Leclerc own brand.
            I find that they keep me warm with only a shirt underneath on all but the coldest days.
            They were also very good value at under 20 Euros.
            Edit cardigans and Tissaia

          2. I swear by my Tissaia fleecy cardigans. I think they must a Leclerc own brand.
            I find that they keep me warm with only a shirt underneath on all but the coldest days.
            They were also very good value at under 20 Euros.
            Edit cardigans and Tissaia

        2. I can’t take the cold, either. It even stops me thinking straight.
          Christmas 2022, Rastus got me an electric poncho (from Lakeland). I use it daily in the winter – not necessarily plugged in. It is a wonderful thing.

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/30c8161fa0c18e3f387374be67731f9c97a83e0e0b2dd81d83c1d3ad7436a73a.jpg

          And this last Christmas, on the same theme, Rastus got me an electric foot warmer (from Amazon) which now lives under my desk in the study – my feet are in it as I write this. Again, a brilliant thing. Mine is higher than most and comes halfway up my legs.

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0dac5e50d5740f5c31899de60f822816d6745367c842e3e3b1885731e19b7b10.jpg

          1. I considered the heated approach but she isn’t keen.
            Perhaps her experience with her top might change her mind.

            If you have a Leclerc have a look at the Tissaia zip-up fleecy cardigans, I can’t recommend them highly enough. Even during the recent cold snap I’ve been happy working outside in just that and a shirt. They wash like a rag and dry quickly. Our French gardener saw mine and bought one and he’s always in it in the colder weather.

            I’m fairly sure this is a picture. They look knitted on the outside but have a fluffy interior that really retains the body heat well. They come in quite a few different colours, they feature in the men’s section.
            https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRnf4E1HjPGQ_0qfK4UCwXY9hSHZL4_9fINyUg0l_VGdOnWMec613nDDaKXO0X0N3-FpPc&usqp=CAU

          2. I’ve made myself a couple of dresses from thick fleece fabric, and lined them as well, and I wear a woolly roll-neck jumper underneath and thick woolly tights. I barely stop shivering, even with that little lot. I think I’m just a hopeless case.

          4. I considered the heated approach but she isn’t keen.
            Perhaps her experience with her top might change her mind.

            If you have a Leclerc have a look at the Tissaia zip-up fleecy cardigans, I can’t recommend them highly enough. Even during the recent cold snap I’ve been happy working outside in just that and a shirt. They wash like a rag and dry quickly. Our French gardener saw mine and bought one and he’s always in it in the colder weather.

            I’m fairly sure this is a picture. They look knitted on the outside but have a fluffy interior that really retains the body heat well. They come in quite a few different colours, they feature in the men’s section.
            https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRnf4E1HjPGQ_0qfK4UCwXY9hSHZL4_9fINyUg0l_VGdOnWMec613nDDaKXO0X0N3-FpPc&usqp=CAU

    1. Wonderful, but who is he actually addressing face to face there, is it Schwab, Von de Leyen(?) et al, or it it just a few of the non-elite?

  55. I have just seen the biggest bodge of a bodge on a bodge that can be imagined. One convertors into another, into another through a switch (to act as a repeated) to another bodge to get the end result the business wanted, which has the user trapped in an inflexible muddle they don’t really want, meaning another convertor.

    All to make life easy for the original installer.

  58. In my day we all slept in dorms – even in the Upper Sixth.

    When Christo went to Gresham’s 15 years ago he had his own room in a house of boys; the girls were housed in different buildings.

    I imagine that most private school nowadays offer their pupils single rooms in the Sixth Form.

    1. It was often the older boys dishing out the punishments. It was the younger boys who needed a room with a lock on the door.

      1. When I was at school in the 1960s homosexual activity was illegal. There were rumours but by and large it was considered a taboo activity and very few boys did it!

        We had to sublimate our adolescent urges on the rugby pitch and have a cold shower afterwards.

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

        (There was always Donald’s solution)

    1. Not to put a damper on the cartoon but the only guy who is supposed to say ‘I do’ is the father of the bride!

      2. Really? it was both my wife and I who said that when asked by the vicar “Do you take **** to be your lawful wedded ****………etc”
        I guess the brides father says that in answer to “Who giveth this woman….”

      3. It depends if the celebrant poses the pertinent questions as Will you? or Do you?

        I prefer “will” because it covers the future.

          1. I have definitely attended UK services where the wording has been: “Do you, etc”
            Perhaps the marriages are invalid

          3. Well, at a recent marriage ceremony the Archbishop of Canterbury asked “Do you, Harry, take Meghan…’ so technically Henry’s marriage is invalid.

          4. I can’t recall, but if he did, it rather shows that the do/will argument is dead in the water.

            Perhaps it was intentional to counteract the lack of a “prenup”.

      4. Not to put a damper on the cartoon but the correct words in English marriage ceremonies (religious or civil) are “I will“.

        The question responded to is: “Will you take this man/woman…”

  60. https://www.takimag.com/article/take-pride-in-prejudice/

    Oops

    The problem is: Where is left to actually flee to? Occidental lands are all as bad as each other these days, mass-immigration-wise. I am reminded of a scene in Michel Houellebecq’s 2015 novel Submission, about an Islamist takeover of France, where a young Jewish student announces she is leaving Paris for Israel, escaping the growing anti-Semitism all around her. However, her boyfriend, being a white, post-Christian Frenchman, laments that “There’s no Israel for me.”
    Hungary for Salvation
    Except…maybe there now is. An international conservative conference was held in London recently, Alliance for Responsible Citizenship—or ARC, an acronym seemingly chosen for its resemblance to ARK, as in the boat built by Noah. But where was this Ark of civilizational sanctuary desperately being constructed to escape the Salafist flood? Certainly not in Londonistan itself.
    According to some depressed white attendees, “Hungary is our Israel”—or our Ark, as it were. Many disappointed conservatives are now moving Danube-wards in search of greener pastures. Why Hungary? Because it is led by Viktor Orbán, an alleged “far-right fascist” or “prejudiced bigot,” if you listen to most corrupt Western media.
    Why is he a fascist? Because he rejects mass immigration, refuses to bend to the E.U. and let millions of Muslims in, publicly disparages George Soros, passes laws against the queer indoctrination of kids, maintains freedom of speech, and proudly seeks to keep his country white and Christian. In other words, he’s normal.
    Naturally, this can’t be allowed, so Uncle Sam has been trying to undermine Orbán of late, apparently illegally funding the more liberal Hungarian opposition and allied pro-immigration and pro-LGBTQ NGOs undercover, considering Hungary a “Key Battleground State” in the war for the West’s soul. Is it really wise to deliberately antagonize a NATO ally in this way? Only if you want to morally colonize it, remaking the entire place in your own sick image, like a willfully condom-less AIDS patient.

    The article makes interesting reading.

    1. If you want to emigrate to Hungary at the moment you are supposed to learn the language. Which is not easy.
      The last time i looked you also had to buy a property in the region of £250,000 and pay a bond of the same amount returnable after 5 years. Obviously they want to keep the trash out.

    1. 1. Do not live close to a large population of people who hate you and want to kill you and your family and neighbours.

  62. Ukraine Is Losing the Drone War. 22 January 2024.

    Most Western-supplied weapons have fared poorly against Russia’s antiaircraft systems and electronic attacks. When missiles and attack drones are aimed at Russian sites, they are often spoofed or shot down. U.S. weapons in particular can often be thwarted via GPS jamming. A small number of U.S. F-16 fighter jets are set to arrive in Ukraine later this year, and they should quickly get to work targeting Russia’s own jets, which are currently devastating Ukrainian defenses with guided bombs. But it is not clear how even the F-16s will perform amid active electronic warfare and against the long-range missiles deployed by Russian aircraft.

    This is an unusually informative article about the situation on the Ukrainian Front Line and not just about drones. Well worth a read for those interested.

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/ukraine-losing-drone-war

    1. Keeping cattle inside all year round is factory farming and the opposite of natural and “green”. They should be grazing outside, converting grass into beef.

          1. I do now as they are cheaper than Ocado on many standard items but i buy my meat from Donald Russel.

        2. I never buy disgusting Omega-6-laden beef from grain-fed cattle.

          Luckily, there is none for sale over here, only delicious Omega-3-rich grass-fed beef.

          1. Many pastures in Sweden?

            Argentine beef was supposed to be the best in the world except for when you actually find out the beef are grown on concrete platforms, creating massive offrun pollution.

      1. How naive I was back then – 27 years old and I didn”t make the connections with perversion.

    5. In one respect, this shows the armed forces as they were 50 or 60 years ago – overwhelmingly white.

  68. ‘Afternoon All

    OK,you first……

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d2dbe2c999a03b4b3e72eb3d9122d7f8350203065b77de6b54db5fb80f0047f1.jpg

    Rest

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/49784b65455dc87446897a0ebae73ec47f3cd2a070bcfe96606334fdbf928dfb.jpg

    https://twitter.com/extremepatriot1/status/1748977300568191182

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cfa4927afe9fa6809ecac4e104bbb7a69d1844d6093a9f475c8a77af98c72df6.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1bef66fc5c14d7a7faab1be38d142866b07a55e43890ae5c8f4f1090a348eb84.jpg

    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2d726e7b35e346a651880b9679dabf0f03ebac8189cb5e057ca23378fbdf7d07.jpg

    Please,please.please………..

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/07369ca4c20905d6026423ac1fcc897a1e2e895d63ec53ab36092053518db69d.jpg

    1. The first one.
      Of course the elites are in favour of rationing. But not for them.
      This will create a huge black market which also works in their favour as it makes the plebs think they still have some choice in their lives.

    2. Such ‘polls’ are as believable as are those Harvard scientists who proclaim that eating highly-processed, sugar-laden breakfast cereals is good for your health, whilst concurrently taking the shilling of the global corporations who manufacture them.

      1. Look at his history and ask yourself what idiot would offer such a person any job, let alone a cabinet post!

  71. EXCLUSIVE Rochdale
    grooming gang ringleader, 54, is STILL living in Britain nearly nine
    years after he was meant to have been deported to Pakistan over
    sickening child sex offences

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12990843/Rochdale-grooming-gang-ringleader-54-living-Britain-nearly-nine-years-meant-deported-Pakistan-sickening-child-sex-offences.html

    Paki’s who have homes and families in Pakistan should all fuck back there. They are abusing our hospitality and our benefits system.

    2. A far better idea in this specific case and many others would be to repeal the human wrongs act. Then the migration pact. Prevent legal aid for deportation of criminal cases and finally get rid of modern slavery and leave the ECHR permanently.

      But the state refuses to permit that.

  72. Afternoon all,

    I caught a bit of Rip Off Britain this morning when a Net Zero fan’s air source heat pump hadn’t been working and no one was assuming responsibility to fix it- costing him an extra £900 using electric heaters to keep warm.

    It was looking grim as it was so complicated and he hadn’t been instructed how to use the air source heating system. The manufacturer had also said that the warranty wasn’t valid as it hadn’t been installed properly. I turned off then because he hadn’t been deterred from be!ieving in Net Zero.

    During my childhood. I could operate our home heating system:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/45f84376df46de25b3893659c318a74c392ecaabad2534730d2d2f7d1a4b9205.jpg

    by lifting the boiler lid to put coke in and turning the tap to get hot water from the hot water tank. The only moving parts (shown as green dots) were the boiler lid hinge and the hot water tap.

    1. This bloke was ripped off – unless he installed it himself. Otherwise, the firm that sold it & presumably arranged for the installation are contractually obliged to repair or replace for a period of one year (IIRC, for the UK). It’s called a “guarantee”.

    1. If only the UK could find leaders of such testicular fortitude, common sense, and national altruism.

      1. No doubt the UK could, but they wouldn’t be allowed to get anywhere. It’s not the paucity of the UK potential, it is the engulfment of our country by the people who have held power in the background for many, many years. Who are largely in the USA.

  74. Picked up from Faceache, probably American, but the same principal over here:-

    Gary Robb
    a day ago
    ·
    For anyone who has the fucking nerve to tell me that we need to pay for water have a read
    At first I thought this was funny….Then I realised the awful truth of it. Be sure to read all the way to the end! Think bin charges need to be added in too.
    Tax his land,
    Tax his bed,
    Tax the table
    At which he’s fed.
    Tax his work,
    Tax his pay,
    He works for peanuts
    Anyway!
    Tax his cow,
    Tax his goat,
    Tax his pants,
    Tax his coat.
    Tax his tobacco,
    Tax his drink,
    Tax him if he
    Tries to think.
    Tax his car,
    Tax his gas,
    Find other ways
    To tax his ass.
    Tax all he has
    Then let him know
    That you won’t be done
    Till he has no dough.
    When he screams and hollers;
    Then tax him some more,
    Tax him till
    He’s good and sore.
    Then tax his coffin,
    Tax his grave,
    Tax the sod in
    Which he’s laid.
    When he’s gone,
    Do not relax,
    It’s time to apply
    The inheritance tax.
    Accounts Receivable Tax
    Airline surcharge tax
    Airline Fuel Tax
    Airport Maintenance Tax
    Building Permit Tax
    Cigarette Tax
    Cooking Tax
    Corporate Income Tax
    Goods and Services Tax (GST)
    Death Tax
    Driving Permit Tax
    Environmental Tax (Fee)
    Excise Taxes
    Income Tax
    Fishing License Tax
    Food License Tax
    Petrol Tax (too much per litre)
    Gross Receipts Tax
    Health Tax
    Heating Tax
    Inheritance Tax
    Interest Tax
    Lighting Tax
    Liquor Tax
    Luxury Taxes
    Marriage License Tax
    Medicare Tax
    Mortgage Tax
    Pension Tax
    Personal Income Tax
    Property Tax
    Poverty Tax
    Prescription Drug Tax
    Real Estate Tax
    Recreational Vehicle Tax
    Retail Sales Tax
    Service Charge Tax
    School Tax
    Telephone Tax
    Value Added Tax
    Vehicle License Registration Tax
    Vehicle Sales Tax
    Water Tax
    Workers Compensation Tax
    Tax (VAT) on Tax.
    And Now they want a blooming Carbon Tax!
    STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
    Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, & our nation was one of the most prosperous in the world… We had absolutely no national debt, had a large middle class,a huge manufacturing base, and Mum stayed home to raise the kids.
    What in the Hell happened? Could it be the lying parasitic politicians wasting our money?
    Oh, and don’t forget the relatively new bank charges….
    And we all know what we think of Bankers.
    I hope this goes around the UK at least 1,000,000,000 times!!!
    YOU can help it get there!

    1. What IS funny is the concept of a ‘Poverty Tax’.

      Don’t dare to be destitute or we shall tax you for being so!

      1. Brief history of income tax

        During its early years, income tax was generally regarded as a wartime impost of a temporary nature only. It was first introduced by William Pitt (the Younger) in 1799 to help pay for the Napoleonic War and repealed in 1802 when the Treaty of Amiens was concluded. The peace generated by that treaty was short-lived, and 1803 saw the reintroduction of the tax, with refinements and modifications, by Henry Addington. Consolidation followed in 1805 and 1806 and the tax remained in substantially that form until the first decade of the twentieth century. Pitt’s and Addington’s tax lapsed in 1816 after the Waterloo Campaign, but in 1842 income tax returned under Sir Robert Peel, and was renewed in 1853 for a period of seven years. However, at the end of that period, the Crimean War disappointed hopes of its abolition, and it continued on a temporary basis until after the Boer War.

        In 1905 and 1906 income tax was examined by departmental and select committees, and Lloyd-George in his budget of 1909 recognised for the first time that income tax was here to stay. The nature of the tax was altered somewhat by Lloyd-George’s Finance (1909–1910) Act 1910: the imposition of super-tax turned it into a progressive tax.

        1. So what you’re saying is that there was income tax a hundred years ago. What about national debt?

          1. I wouldn’t have the foggiest about National Debt but I did know that Pitt the Younger started Income Tax.

  75. There are definite advantages of having a diesel powered rather than an electric main battle tank in the field of conflict:

    1. It can be started without a battery,
    2. You can install shells rather than a Lithium Ion battery,
    3. You can use the diesel smoke as camouflage,
    4. You can make a scary rumbling sound as you bear down on the enemy,
    5. You can use almost any volatile product as diesel fuel – even peanut butter.
    6. You can use the diesel fuel to make sandwiches.

    https://youtu.be/Bxqwr2wjqAw?si=LtTuTkDt9ANJ-H63

    1. My uncle was a diesel fitter.

      He had a market stall selling women’s knickers. He would hold up a pair and shout, “Diesel fitter! Diesel fitter!”

      1. an oldie but goodie George – it’ll eventually appear in the (recycled) story of the day.

  76. Several people deserve to be sent to prison, pretty please.

    John Ferry
    The Covid inquiry has damaged Sturgeon’s legacy beyond repair
    22 January 2024, 11:43am

    f you thought senior Conservatives giving evidence to the UK Covid inquiry in London was rough then you should watch the footage now emerging from Edinburgh, where the Inquiry’s lawyers have moved to take evidence. It’s a bloodbath. Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon and current first minister Humza Yousaf are yet to even take the stand. But already the sessions have revealed a Scottish SNP government embroiled in secrecy, cover-up and the politicisation of a deadly pandemic in the interests of furthering the cause of independence.

    The latest revelations are startling. On Friday morning, the inquiry established that Sturgeon and other senior Scottish government officials had deliberately deleted WhatsApp messages the inquiry wanted as evidence. Later in the day, the inquiry questioned Ken Thomson, a retired senior civil servant and the former manager of the Covid coordination directorate of the Scottish government. He was asked about posts he made in a ‘Covid outbreak group’ WhatsApp chat in August 2020. As well as Thomson, the group also included Scotland’s national clinical director Jason Leitch and the then deputy chief medical officer Nicola Steedman.

    Who knows what else will emerge, despite attempts to keep the truth from bereaved families

    The conversation went as follows:

    Thomson: ‘Just to remind you (seriously), this is discoverable under FOI [freedom of information]. Know where the “clear chat” button is…’

    Steedman: ‘Yes, absolutely…’

    Leitch: ‘DG level input there…’

    Leitch: ‘Done.’

    Thomson: ‘Plausible deniability are my middle names. Now clear it again!’

    Thomson denied this was an attempt to defeat requests under FOI laws.

    In another WhatsApp group post dated May 13, 2021, he wrote: ‘I feel moved at this point to tell you that this chat is FOI-recoverable.’ His message ends with an emoji with a zipped mouth.

    Remarkably, this is the same Ken Thomson who, in August 2021, and along with fellow senior civil servant Lesley Fraser, issued a formal letter to civil service colleagues laying down the law in relation to record retention for both the UK and Scottish Covid inquiries. They wrote:

    If in doubt, you should assume that material may be relevant and ensure that it is retained and is accessible in eRDM [electronic Records and Document Management system]. This includes ensuring that no material of potential relevance to either inquiry is destroyed.

    The May 13 2021 WhatsApp conversation also featured Leitch boasting about deleting his messages. ‘WhatsApp deletion is a pre-bed ritual,’ he said. Incredibly, this was just one day after the prime minister had confirmed a public inquiry into the pandemic that would have ‘full formal powers, including the ability to compel production of relevant material and to take oral evidence in public under oath’. It is also notable that we now know the Scottish government issued misinformation to the press, and therefore the public, in October when it gave ‘background information’ in a press release stating it is ‘not correct that the national clinical director deleted every WhatsApp message every day’.

    The revelations during Friday’s session did not end there. It also emerged that in June 2020, during the first lockdown, the Scottish government had considered how the pandemic could be politicised to restart campaigning for independence. Minutes from a Scottish government cabinet meeting dated 30 June 2020 shows agreement that ‘consideration should be given to restarting work on independence and a referendum, with the arguments reflecting the experience of the coronavirus crisis and developments on EU exit’.

    On that same day, 30 June 2020, speaking at one of the daily presidential-style press conferences she gave at the time, Nicola Sturgeon said: ‘Frankly, anybody who is trotting out political or constitutional arguments is in the wrong place completely, and has found themselves completely lost.’

    The Covid-19 inquiry has only just started taking witness evidence on the Scottish government’s handling of the pandemic. Already, it has revealed the industrial-scale deletion of vital information needed to understand government decision-making, a Scottish government shown to not only be secretive but hypocritical, the uncovering of apparent co-option of Scotland’s civil service and confirmation that the Sturgeon administration considered using the pandemic as an opportunity to promote the break-up of the UK.

    The inquiry will take evidence from Scottish government scientific advisers this week. Who knows what else will emerge, despite attempts to keep the truth from bereaved families. What is not in doubt is the damage to Sturgeon’s reputation. That, at least, can now never be deleted.

    ******************************

    Chris Larabee Adams
    2 hours ago edited
    Anyone with half a brain could see at the time that Sturgeon and her gangsters were using Covid for political gain. The pre-empting of Westminster announcements and manipulating statistics was obvious to even the casual observer but somehow invisible to her lackeys in the media.
    Never mind her reputation, she should be in prison.

    1. “Chris Larabee Adams”. The character played by Yul Brynner in John Sturges’ The Magnificent Seven.

  77. Don’t know what you are missing: Someone called John Wilson arselicking Boy George for 45 minutes on Radio 4. Aren’t we lucky to have such a service devoted to the wishes of the British public? Even billionaire Yankees don’t have daily access to such a wealth of diversity and adoration.

      1. Both probably. Now 30 minutes of hazards of being ‘gay’ in the 1950s. It was a hard time for woofters, trannies and perverts. Not like today’s freedom to flounce in schools and nurseries.

        Films and Filming Radio 4
        History on the Edge
        Anita Anand uncovers the story of the respected British film magazine that provided a secret rendezvous for illicit sexual contact.

    1. We all agree with what he’s saying, but the video heading of
      “Crowd Goes Silent as Politician Gives Brave Speech Denouncing WEF Agenda‘

      He looks like Bridgen when he speaks in the HoP, to an empty room.

        1. …and look what a shithole it has become. I thank God that I’ll never have to go there again.

      3. If Londoners Tower Hamlets vote that appalling Khant in again they deserve all they get.

        Modified to reflect reality.

      4. If Londoners Tower Hamlets vote that appalling Khant in again they deserve all they get.

        Modified to reflect reality.

        1. I was mooting that point collectively. It is the first principle of politics that we get the politicians we deserve.

        2. I was mooting that point collectively. It is the first principle of politics that we get the politicians we deserve.

    2. Far more rigid controls must be in place before a person is given postal vote. Without proper controls postal votes are the surest way to kill democracy.

      1. One year my mother got a postal vote because she was planning to be abroad on polling day. She let me out the X on the ballot paper.

  82. Politics latest news: Sunak backs Hunt insisting he will be Chancellor going into next election

    What was that series of films starring Charles Bronson about the chap who wanted to track down and wreak vengeance on the scum scrotum who had killed his wife and molested his daughter?

    Ah, Yes it was

    DEATH WISH

    which is what Rishi Sunak has in mind for the Conservative Party.

    1. It seems to me the majority of those wearing a blue rosette in Parliament are eagerly urging him on…..

    2. It seems to me the majority of those wearing a blue rosette in Parliament are eagerly urging him on…..

  83. In many Muslim families the head of the family will fill in all the ballot papers.
    Notwithstanding the need for secret ballot it would be interesting to get a breakdown of exactly what the postal votes are by ward and who got those votes. My money would be on the vast majority going to Khan.

    1. Quit postal voting only for overseas military who MUST provide service number and place of voting.

  85. Mt Trump is a tad bombastic. However, I do hope he is elected and is serious about tackling the swamp….

        1. He will, and given the chance I think he’ll certainly try to stop them, but perhaps the juggernaut of war will be too far along.

        2. He will, and given the chance I think he’ll certainly try to stop them, but perhaps the juggernaut of war will be too far along.

    5. It will only be possible if the Republicans have significant control over both houses AND he gets rid of all Biden and Obama appointed personal in all parts of their civil service, military and federal bureaucracy.
      Otherwise he’ll ultimately be as ineffective as previously.

    6. It will only be possible if the Republicans have significant control over both houses AND he gets rid of all Biden and Obama appointed personal in all parts of their civil service, military and federal bureaucracy.
      Otherwise he’ll ultimately be as ineffective as previously.

  86. We’ve run out of time…

    Tony Blair is still ruining Britain

    Labour’s Equality Act only came into force after they lost office in 2010 – but we are living with its pernicious legacy 14 years on

    MIRIAM CATES
    22 January 2024 • 1:37pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2024/01/22/TELEMMGLPICT000343011433_17059299605450_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqqVzuuqpFlyLIwiB6NTmJwSX5rhseiWKOo9p9OQ-ymek.jpeg?imwidth=680
    Under cover of darkness, every night he still crawls out of his coffin in the crypt to wreak poisonous havoc long after he was removed from office. He is living leprosy Ed

    Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s failures are still writ large on the public imagination – the Iraq War for example, or the racking up of astonishing national debt. But what is less well recognised is the last Labour government’s extraordinary success in using seemingly mundane pieces of legislation to profoundly – and, for conservatives, detrimentally – transform the culture of the United Kingdom.

    In its 2005 manifesto, the Labour Party pledged to bring forward a new Equality Bill, to “modernise and simplify” equality laws. A bland aim perhaps, but the resulting Equality Act 2010 became a flagship piece of New Labour legislation that would embed leftist identity politics into our public institutions, paving the way for the ideological capture of our schools, civil service and NHS.

    Like all good grenades, these Blairite laws did not explode until the thrower was safely out of range. In 2010, few conservatives understood the perniciousness of a Bill that established in statute nine “protected characteristics” including race, sex, religion and gender reassignment, laying the foundations for a culture that sees people not as equal individuals but as members of competing groups.

    Neither was it foreseen that the Act’s Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) would give rise to such strident critical social justice activism within our public bodies. This paper has exposed some of the most excessive examples of this, such as hard-pressed NHS staff attending a three day diversity training course at a time of record hospital waiting lists.

    It is welcome news that Government ministers wish to tackle divisive and wastelful civil service activism. But in promoting woke causes, public bodies genuinely believe they are fulfilling legal duties under the PSED, which compels public organisations to “eliminate discrimination” and “advance equality”.

    It is no longer enough for public sector bosses to ensure they do not discriminate against someone because of their sex or skin colour; they must actively pursue policies to eliminate all potential inequalities, giving rise to the kinds of ridiculous re-education programmes that frequently make the news. In seeking to subvert a British understanding of fairness, these programmes actually introduce discrimination, for example gender neutral policies that discriminate against women.

    I am often asked, how has this happened under a Conservative government? It’s a fair question. But while some now argue that the incoming 2010 Cameron government should have repealed the Equality Act, this was a political impossibility in coalition with the Lib Dems.

    And by the time of Conservative’s outright victory in 2015, Blairite equalities legislation had changed our culture so effectively that anyone who questioned the new creed of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion feared becoming a pariah. Even if Cameron had wanted to push back against these “advances”, he would not have had a majority in parliament to do so.

    The architects of Blair’s revolution knew that politicians would not want to be seen to oppose his “progressive” agenda. But if we want to end this ideological capture – and the division, waste, confusion and cultural destruction it has caused – then either this Government or a future Conservative government must be prepared to undertake wholesale reform of our equalities and human rights legislation, including withdrawing from the ECHR. It will take time to make the case for this but we must.

    And the case for reform is this: Britain was built not on diversity, but on an understanding that every person is equal under the law, having an inherent value as an individual and not as a member of a particular identity group competing with other identity groups for power. A determination not to discriminate – to show no favouritism – is a key part of this understanding. But assuming someone needs special treatment or holds particular views purely on the basis of their race, sexuality, or age is itself a form of prejudice and undermines the social cohesion that is so vital in building a nation that shares a common purpose.

    We cannot end this destructive madness by playing whack-a-mole with each and every public sector activist group; we need to reform our legal framework. Even if this cannot be achieved in this Parliament, Conservatives need to start rolling the pitch now. Our next manifesto must contain a clear commitment to a new British Bill of Rights that establishes fundamental rights and freedoms that apply equally to all individual British citizens.

    Miriam Cates is Conservative MP for Penistone and Stockbridge

    ***************************

    Nathan Hobbs
    2 HRS AGO
    Bang on the money Cates. Despised Blair and his cronies have a lot to answer for, how a man with such dubious morals can call himself a ‘good Catholic’ is beyond me. He damaged Britain beyond the pale with mass migration, war and dubious ‘equality’ legislation rather than make a ‘New Jerusalem’ in his 10 years of office
    Cates, leave the sinking ship and join Reform. Tories won’t repeal the Equality Act, nor leave the ECHR. You can see the writing on the wall, join the turning tide. Vote Reform

    1. Ah, you see, Nathan, you confess, pretend you repent, say several Hail Marys and Our Fathers and all is forgiven. Rinse and repeat.

      1. 382212+ up ticks,

        Afternoon M,
        Precisely, born just in time to die, or live in agony mentally / physically.

      2. 382212+ up ticks,

        Afternoon M,
        Precisely, born just in time to die, or live in agony mentally / physically.

    3. I don’t want diversity. I don’t want inclusion. No one wants equity. What people want is to be left the bally hell alone.

      That means their towns not flooded with foreigners, their money destroyed by the state, their wealth stolen in tax, being hectored on how to behave and what to accept. It means making our own choices and decisions for our best interests.

      I accept some people just want to be paid to be idle and prefer a prison of lies for a life of indolence and ignorance. That needs to stop. If we ended welfare most of the problems the country has go away – along with most of the immigrants here for cash.

      1. 382212+ up ticks

        Evening W,
        The indigenous people have the power to unite, they have shown their united power peacefully in a successful referendum, and in controlled anger in 39/45,
        in my book it is that time again.

    1. Notable that Japan has almost no terrorism and also no immigration. No one bellows at them to take in millions of foreigners.

  91. A nip of a Birdie Three!

    Wordle 947 3/6
    🟩🟨⬜🟨⬜
    🟩🟨🟨⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Good result. I found today’s puzzle difficult

      Wordle 947 5/6

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

    2. Good result. I found today’s puzzle difficult

      Wordle 947 5/6

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

    3. Just a 4 here.

      Wordle 947 4/6

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

      1. And me.

        Wordle 947 4/6

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

    4. Just a 4 here.

      Wordle 947 4/6

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

  92. A nip of a Birdie Three!

    Wordle 947 3/6
    🟩🟨⬜🟨⬜
    🟩🟨🟨⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. I entirely understand your view, Phillip. I can’t vote again for the effin’ Tories, I am not a Tice fan, but the more I learn about this Kier Canute bloke the more I want to go and Tango with Ashes in BA until my dying day.

        1. He has crawled his way in the usual manner of worms to the top soil. None of the shit sticks from not prosecuting terrorists, paedo’s and rapists. The exact same type of person as Paula Vennels and the PO chief of operations Mike Young who then became a a bigwig at Centrica.
          Given your work you must have had to deal with this circle the wagons shit and kill all the indians.

          1. There are stories to be told but, within my spectrum of experience, comparatively few. I would be happy to tell you about them but not on this forum. You were still in nappies when the monstrous fraud at The Burmah Oil Company was revealed to the World (by little 27 year-old me) working for Chase Manhattan Bank but in harness with a wonderful ‘old school’ Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Jasper Hollom. The main problem we had in containing all the negative fall-out for UK Treasury borrowings on the international markets was the arrogant idiocy of Harold Wilson and Denis ‘Silly Billy’ Healy (then in No10 and No11 Downing Street, respectively)

            The NoTTLer with the richest seam of deliciously incriminating stories is Nagsman whom you have met and love. She’s got some ‘Hot Stuff’ on the appalling Paula Vennels with whom she had direct IT Audit dealings. Pat is in considerable pain at the moment so we mustn’t make her laugh but she will recover.

            Nigel Farage and Richard Tice aren’t the only people who are frightened of her.

        2. He has crawled his way in the usual manner of worms to the top soil. None of the shit sticks from not prosecuting terrorists, paedo’s and rapists. The exact same type of person as Paula Vennels and the PO chief of operations Mike Young who then became a a bigwig at Centrica.
          Given your work you must have had to deal with this circle the wagons shit and kill all the indians.

      2. I entirely understand your view, Phillip. I can’t vote again for the effin’ Tories, I am not a Tice fan, but the more I learn about this Kier Canute bloke the more I want to go and Tango with Ashes in BA until my dying day.

  95. How do you copy Wordle to post here?

    I got three letters in the correct position first go but it took three more goes to get it right.

    5. If you’re using Windows you do this;
      On the ‘Stats’ page press ‘Share’.
      That copies the game to your ‘Clipboard’

      On Nottl either start a comment or reply to one. To attach your effort press the Window symbol key while at the same time press ‘v’

    6. If you’re using Windows you do this;
      On the ‘Stats’ page press ‘Share’.
      That copies the game to your ‘Clipboard’

      On Nottl either start a comment or reply to one. To attach your effort press the Window symbol key while at the same time press ‘v’

    7. Once you’ve finished and, presumably are correct, some stats should come up and a green box. Click on that, go back to your post, and click one line below that post. It should come up with paste. Click on that and you’re there.

      Only thing is there will be 4-a-line gaps between each line. Put cursor to left of any of the lines and back space. But keep an eye on the cursor coz it tends to disappear and start deleting a square. Just put cursor where it should be and that should work. A bit long winded but I don’t know any other way to do it. Hope this helps.

    8. Once you’ve finished and, presumably are correct, some stats should come up and a green box. Click on that, go back to your post, and click one line below that post. It should come up with paste. Click on that and you’re there.

      Only thing is there will be 4-a-line gaps between each line. Put cursor to left of any of the lines and back space. But keep an eye on the cursor coz it tends to disappear and start deleting a square. Just put cursor where it should be and that should work. A bit long winded but I don’t know any other way to do it. Hope this helps.

      3. I think that is because the closing date has passed. Tess Lawrie was talking about a lawyers’ debate regarding that petition, it is a screen shot to exemplify her comment.

    6. The govt. has already responded and said no to withdrawing from WHO, as expected. I signed, but I knew that it was pointless.

      1. Petitions which go over 100,000 signatures simply go to a room where a couple of dozen MPs at most discuss the pros and cons, and the inevitable conclusion of this “debate” is “This motion was debated as required because of the large number of signatures”. No further action is ever taken.

        1. It always was a gimmick. The real control over what a government does is the ballot box. And they’ve got that well and truly sewn up between them already.

  97. Did you know that if you put 100 black ants and 100 red ants in a jar, nothing will happen? But if you shake the jar hard, the ants start killing each other. The red ants consider the black ants their enemies, and the black ants consider the red ants their enemies. The true enemy is the one shaking the jar. The same thing happens in human society. So, before we attack each other, we should think about who is shaking the jar!

    I have been to the dentist this afternoon.. just a tooth clean and check up .. in Poole.

    The young woman hygienist chatted away.. and told me about her 51 year old husband had recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer .. she told me that he couldn’t be operated on because he was too young.

    She also told me that he put off seeing the doctor despite the fact he had difficulty peeing, and because he didn’t want the finger up the rectum examination …

    We live in a cruel world .

  98. Did you know that if you put 100 black ants and 100 red ants in a jar, nothing will happen? But if you shake the jar hard, the ants start killing each other. The red ants consider the black ants their enemies, and the black ants consider the red ants their enemies. The true enemy is the one shaking the jar. The same thing happens in human society. So, before we attack each other, we should think about who is shaking the jar!

    I have been to the dentist this afternoon.. just a tooth clean and check up .. in Poole.

    The young woman hygienist chatted away.. and told me about her 51 year old husband had recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer .. she told me that he couldn’t be operated on because he was too young.

    She also told me that he put off seeing the doctor despite the fact he had difficulty peeing, and because he didn’t want the finger up the rectum examination …

    We live in a cruel world .

    1. “For fear that it might damage their credibility”

      Classic!
      On the money.
      Net Zero credibility.

  100. Prayer, rather than thought, for the day:

    I hope Trump wins, that he withdraws America from NATO, the UN and the WHO and all the other parasitic organisations that infest the planet and that he kicks all of those organisations out of the USA.
    He could then consider banning from America anyone who attends the WEF from the day he is elected.

    That would clip a few wings.

    2. I think they’ll assassinate him (massive heart attack or whatever) if that seems a likely outcome to the election.

          1. I genuinely believe that the deep state will stop Trump unless he is banged up first. A useful idiot will be paid to do the job and then be silenced. The cancer of the left is fully embedded in the establishment and there is little that we can do to eliminate it.

    3. Too much money and too many ideologues to allow Trump.
      Trump did say among the people flooding across the southern border were terrorists. Given the types now turning up in New York he was not wrong. If it were just Mexicans crossing you could understand they wanted to get jobs and make something of themselves. What they are seeing is people from the Sudan !

      1. I couldn’t paste the original so I just did it again to get an answer and posted it here. – It normally takes me two or three goes to get it right. 😀😀😀😀

        1. That’s a relief.
          If you were a Muslim, it would have taken two or three goes to get it wrong.

          OOoops

          They always get it wrong however many times they try.

          1. Afghanistan – 99%
          2. Iran – 99%
          3. Iraq – 99%
          4. Mauritania – 99%
          5. Morocco – 99%
          6. Somalia – 99%
          7. Tunisia – 99%
          8. Western Sahara – 99%
          9. Yemen – 99%
          10. Maldives – 98.40%
          11. Comoros – 98.30%
          12. Niger – 98.30%
          13. Turkey – 98%
          14. Algeria – 97.90%
          15. Palestine – 97.90%
          16. Azerbaijan – 97.30%
          17. Jordan – 97.10%
          18. Uzbekistan – 97.10%
          19. Djibouti – 96.90%
          20. Libya – 96.60%
          21. Pakistan – 96.50%
          22. Tajikistan – 96.40%
          23. Egypt – 95.30%
          24. The Gambia – 95.30%
          25. Mali – 94.60%
          26. Kosovo – 94.30%
          27. Turkmenistan – 93%
          28. Syria – 92.80%
          29. Saudi Arabia – 92.70%
          30. Bangladesh – 90.80%
          31. Sudan – 90.70%
          32. Kyrgyzstan – 89.40%
          33. Indonesia – 87%
          34. Oman – 85.90%
          35. Guinea – 84.60%
          36. Albania – 82.10%
          37. Sierra Leone – 78.50%
          38. Brunei – 75.10%
          39. United Arab Emirates – 75%
          40. Kazakhstan – 72%
          41. Kuwait – 70.70%
          42. Bahrain – 69.70%
          43. Malaysia – 66.10%
          44. Qatar – 65.20%
          45. Burkina Faso – 62.70%
          46. Lebanon – 61.20%
          47. Chad – 55.10%
          48. Nigeria – 51.10%
          49. Bosnia and Herzegovina – 46.50%
          50. Guinea-Bissau – 46.10%
          51. Republic of Macedonia – 43.60%
          52. Ivory Coast – 37.20%
          53. Eritrea – 36.60%
          54. Ethiopia – 35.90%
          55. Tanzania – 34.10%

          2. You have just listed all the bio labs funded by the U.S. All the research being illegal in America.

    4. That’s about 3,700 to one, Ped; that’s kinda lucky!

      I backed Foinavon (100/1) winner in the 1967 Grand National.

  104. Donald Trump’s unhinged Left-wing critics have learnt nothing

    The Democrats would rather attack Trump voters and warn of Armageddon than consider why so many people distrust them

    TOM HARRIS • 22 January 2024 • 1:01pm

    The Left’s reaction to Donald Trump’s victory in the Iowa caucuses suggests that it has learned absolutely nothing in the last eight years.

    While the Democrats continue to obsess about identity and reparations for slavery and pronouns, the 45th president is making great strides towards his goal of becoming the 47th. And nothing that Joe Biden’s party is saying sounds remotely relevant to the kind of people for whom Trump provides an attractive and realistic candidate for the presidency.

    In 2017, talk show host and Left-wing comedian Bill Maher put it as succinctly as anyone, telling Democrats: “While you self-involved fools were policing the language at the Kids’ Choice Awards, a madman talked his way into the White House.”

    A year earlier, the Democrats were so dismissive of Trump and the electoral threat posed by the Republicans that they believed they could nominate Hillary Clinton, whom polls assured them was divisive and unpopular, under the arrogant assumption that she would make history by being elected as the nation’s first female president. When Trump was formally nominated, the Democrats were cock-a-hoop, believing the election had just been gifted to them. Who, after all, would ever vote for the billionaire property developer?

    A campaign perforated by Clinton’s undisguised contempt for blue collar voters living in the kinds of states that she would never visit outside election time (ironically, the kind of state her husband was brought up in) culminated in a Saturday Night Live sketch, aired a few days before polling, in which the Democrat nominee was described as “President Clinton”.

    When reality bit, it was a painful experience. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and from that perspective, it was possible to see what had happened and why. Voters across the country, but particularly in the south and mid-west, felt abandoned by the elites of both main parties, whose language and priorities simply didn’t resonate. Clinton’s description during the campaign of the large minority of the population who supported Trump as “deplorables” helped clarify how those same voters felt about her.

    From 2017 to 2021, the media were awash with apocalyptic warnings of the end of democracy and the onset of modern day fascism, warnings that reached hysterical levels with the riot by Trump-supporting thugs who, if they really were attempting to take over the government on January 6, 2021, were the most incompetent and ill-prepared revolutionaries in history. But it was, in some ways, a comforting event for Democrats because it confirmed their criticism of Trump as a new-age Hitler whom the nation could never trust again.

    Oops.

    As Trump now prepares to cruise towards his party’s nomination for a second time, the online and media hysteria is already surpassing previous records. He remains entirely unsuited to the position of president and he would undoubtedly make a mess of it all over again. But that is not the considered analysis of the Democrats. A Trump victory would signal the end of the republic, or at least the end of democracy as we know it. Ill-considered analogies with 1930s Germany are again intruding on public discourse, almost as if they belong there. And the people who support him – aren’t they the real enemies?

    It all sounds like the demented videos produced by the likes of kung-fu doyen and Right-wing film star Chuck Norris during the 2008 election, when he warned that a Barack Obama victory would usher in “a thousand years of darkness”. Oh, how we laughed. Yet today’s warnings by mainstream liberals sound just as unhinged.

    The Democrats could have spent the last eight years considering why they are so mistrusted by a large section of the country, why the language they use is such a turn-off to voters whose own lives and experiences present such a puzzle to the policy-makers inside the Beltway. They could have examined their own priorities, they could have listened to and even tried to understand those same people instead of dismissing them as ignorant rednecks.

    They might even have listened to Maher’s warning that the Democrats have gone from being a party that protects people to a party that protects feelings. “From ‘Ask not what your country can do for you’ to ‘You owe me an apology.'”

    Angrily criticising American citizens for their poor behaviour in 2016 achieved precisely nothing, other than a widening of already damaging cultural and political divides, and the Democrats and their supporters across the world, including in the UK, seem determined to continue along the path that proved so successful in November 2016.

    Except this time, the indignation and anger felt towards Trump will be well-rehearsed enough in advance of polling day that, in the event of his second coming, the bleating and whining and cries of foul play, not to mention the predictions of yet another Armageddon, will be even louder, more heartfelt, and even more self-pitying.

    But why not? Why not indulge in blaming others for your defeats? It is far easier and satisfying than taking a long, hard look at yourself and asking if your own political messaging and priorities might, after all, have been wrong.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/22/donald-trumps-left-wing-critics-have-learned-nothing/

    Apart from his reference to Chuck Norris (which I don’t remember), this is one of Harris’s better efforts of recent times.

    Let’s just remind ourselves of the terrifying moment when the Trump mob took over the White House complex.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a62fb41f5e75c0db46431c2a30991edc96c7bf22082dd49230f30f998e69d2af.jpg

    Man, they’re some scary dudes, ain’t they?!


    1. Oooh I’ve just been watching Chuck get married on channel 41…Walker, Texas Ranger….

    2. Did Trump really make such a mess of being President? He started no wars and black unemployment fell during his tenure.

      2. Trump also had a face to face with Putin….(screams of watch out for novichok) He also did similar with Kim Jong Un.
        Isn’t this what diplomacy and foreign policy should be about…..

    3. I know some are still in prison. I bet the guy in the furry hat isn’t though. He looks like he was paid to be there.

  105. A Good day. Had a pre booked appointment for blood tests. And brought forward Two weeks earlier than expected because of a cancellation. Arrived 15 minutes early expected to sit and wait. Was call through, almost immediately, blood samples taken in a few minutes. I was home 10 minutes after the initial time of appointment.
    After lunch, sent a message to my local barber to enquire if he had any appointments available this week. Yes he answered 3:45. this afternoon. Even walked both ways 30 minutes exercise in total.
    Good start to the week. Very satisfactory and Job done.
    Quit while I’m ahead (scuz the pun)
    Slayders peeps.

    1. The vampires at Colchester General Hospital are the most efficient department.
      The one visit where you don’t need to take something to read in the waiting room.

      1. I have known two of the ladies for many years. They are so good.
        I use to be known as Mr Stone by phlebotomists. But these expert’s are wonderful.

      2. My GP sent me for a blood test at our main hospital after she had spoken to the consultant because her diagnosis was i had a blood clot in my leg. She made an appointment direct with his secretary for 10am Monday morning. I arrived at 9am for the blood test and was confronted with two women and an empty waiting room. They said they couldn’t do the blood test as they no longer did walk ins. I asked why…they said…covid. (this was when they were all over reacting).

    2. I had a phone call this afternoon about a referral my GP had made. Urgent, so I had to be seen in two weeks. I was offered two appointments, neither of which was convenient due to other commitments. After much persuasion I have accepted one of them – 09.00 in Telford. Lord knows what state I’ll be in when I get there, having had to set off at the crack of dawn and get up even earlier to stoke the Rayburn and walk Kadi.

        1. How far did you have to drive to get there? It will take me a good 45 minutes to get to Telford – probably more as it will be rush hour.

      2. The whole set up has been damaged by the people who have been brought in to run the NHS. They, like many other people who have taken charge have no obvious connection with humanity and our needs. It’s all about them. And if you complain it’s your fault.

        1. The desire to apportion blame anywhere but where it should be laid seems to be endemic these days.

      3. I meant to add I’m still waiting for my follow-up from my catheter ablation on the 26 of July last year.
        And since I have been self medicating
        My BP has now returned to as normal as i can remember and the some of the other problems created by far too much medication have cleared up. Again, dish it out but no follow-up.

    1. I may be wrong but the Reading triple murders was an Islamic hunting to kill gay men. I do hope all those Queers for Palestine take note.

  110. Another unpleasant thought for the day.

    Biden steps down and endorses Harris to stand with Michelle Obama as the running mate.

    Democrats win in a shitstorm.

    1. It is thought that they are grooming MO to be the candidate, but the Os are thought to have too many dirty secrets.

  112. Well it’s early for me, chums, but I am now signing off from NoTTLE for the night. Hope to go to bed shortly after 10 p.m. Sleep well, and see you all tomorrow.

  113. 382212+ up ticks,

    For those that supported / voted for the tory (ino) party in 2019, are surely reaping the benefits of giving the invasion campaign a booster.

    Breitbart

    Border Farce: UK Hires Private Boats for £36 Million to Bring Channel Migrants Ashore

    2. They used to cost a farthing each … four-a-penny. And they were made just a couple of miles from my home in Chesterfield.

      ‘Trebor’ is Robert backwards and although most people pronounce it “Tree-bore”, in Chesterfield it was invariably known as “Trebber”.

    3. I used to love Black Jacks, and fruit salads. Do they still make them under a different name?

  116. Evening, all. Much better day generally here, although there were showers of rain, some of them heavy. At least I didn’t find strange things blown into my garden this time.

    I find it odd that people are just waking up to the bad things associated with net zero. Still, better late than never, I suppose.

    1. The fundamental problem is the government keeps blaming the ‘profiteering energy companies’ and idiots believe this. Just read some of the comments on the Wail about energy or food price inflation. Both blame the companies. Neither look at the facts.

      Until the lies are demolished and people start to understand the real problem – government legislation – nothing will change. The lies are horrific and suit the government.

    2. Will the Idiot King ever come to grips with the fact that he is no more than a useful idiot for the WEF and the Net Zero scam which is based on the fraudulent man-made climate change confidence trick?

  117. On the off chance she is reading this, I have it on good authority that the Palestinians and Israelis have information that could lead to the arrest and conviction of Hillary Clinton..

  119. This week’s Countryfile included a report on test-drilling for oil in Lincolnshire in a sensitive area (was an AONB, now a ‘National Landscape’). Both sides were represented but in that oh-so-subtle way that the BBC has, you knew which side the programme was on. However, also included was this quote from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero [sic]:

    “…the UK is a global leader on climate action…but we need oil and gas as we reach net zero in 2050…it makes sense to use home-grown [sic] British resources…in a way that reduces our vulnerability to hostile states.”

    ‘Home-grown’ steel, anyone?

    The great irony was that although the ‘serious’ feature was from Lincs, the edition featured the Newport (South Wales) nature reserve, fashioned out of a huge power station ash tip and just 35 miles from Port Talbot.

      1. You going on about not understanding acronyms all the time and i have no idea what you are going on about when using whole words !

          2. Whatever that purports to mean.
            Nancy Blackett and Peggy are instantly recognisable to Swallows and Amazons aficionados.

Comments are closed.