Wednesday 14 February: Labour’s Rochdale row casts fresh doubt on Keir Starmer’s judgment

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its commenting facility (now reinstated, but we prefer ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here.

445 thoughts on “Wednesday 14 February: Labour’s Rochdale row casts fresh doubt on Keir Starmer’s judgment”

  3. Good morrow, gentlefolk. Today’s (recycled) story

    BOB & THE BLONDE

    Bob, a handsome dude, walked into a sports bar around 9:58 pm. He sat down next to a blonde at the bar and stared up at the TV.

    The 10 pm news was coming on. The news crew was covering the story of a man on the ledge of a large building preparing to jump.

    The blonde looked at Bob and said, “Do you think he’ll jump?”

    Bob said, “You know, I bet he’ll jump.”

    The blonde replied, “Well, I bet he won’t.”

    Bob placed a £20 note on the bar and said, “You’re on!”

    Just as the blonde placed her money on the bar, the guy on the ledge did a swan dive off the building, falling to his death.

    The blonde was very upset, but willingly handed her £20 to Bob, saying, “Fair’s fair. Here’s your money.”

    Bob replied, “I can’t take your money. I saw this earlier on the 5 pm news, and so I knew he would jump.”

    The blonde replied, “I did too, but didn’t think he’d do it again.”

    Bob took the money

    3. What has our country turned into when this is what we get if we put a cross on a piece of paper.

  6. Good Morning Folks

    Cloudy and breezy out there

    It never affect my golf

    Wordle 970 3/6

    🟨🟩🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩🟩🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Won’t make a blind bit of difference.
      The Conservatives have behaved like blithering idiots and will suffer for it (or, rather, WE will suffer for it).

    4. That red kite is partially leucistic and it is fairly common condition in many species. Leucism is a lack, or paucity, of colour pigmentation, akin to albinism. The opposite is melanism, where an excess of dark pigmentation (melanin) produces a darker skin/plumage.

      Panthers are a melanistic form of leopard.

        1. It definitely is a red kite Milvus milvus, Spikey.

          The notch in the tail disappears when it spreads its rectrices (tail feathers).

        1. Thanks Grizzly. It was the lack of the V-shaped tail that sowed doubt in my mind. Leucism does make otherwise familiar birds look strange; a few years ago we had a leucistic blackbird as a frequent visitor in the garden.

  12. Putin’s troops advancing along ‘entire front line’, Kyiv military warns. 14 February 2024.

    Vladimir Putin’s troops have advanced along the “entire front line” in Ukraine as Kyiv was forced to switch to defensive operations, the country’s military warned.

    The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said the situation was “difficult” and his focus was now to exhaust the Russian advance.

    Is this true? It is the newly appointed head of the Ukie Army. Let us hope so and the end of this fiasco is in sight.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-ukraine-war-live-putin-war-death-toll-b2495149.html

      1. It worries me that there are quite a few DT commentators that fully support the war. I can not see Russia ever being driven from its present territorial position. So its just sending men to the meat grinder at the behest of the US. As long as there are no American body bags they are happy to continue. I suspect we will have to wait until November to get any change in policy.

    1. Good morning, Annie. I sincerely hope that dentists take advantage of this new “fad”. Having a root canal filling standing up is no fun! Lol.

  14. Calling ‘here puss’ to a cat in the street may become a criminal offence. 14 February 2024.

    Coaxing a cat in the street could become a criminal offence under proposed legislation.

    Anyone who attempts to “induce” a cat to accompany them risks falling foul of the Pet Abduction Bill, which is making its way through Parliament.

    The proposed law, which is supported by the Government, would make abducting a cat or dog punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine or both.

    I suppose we should Thank God that our rulers have nothing important to attend to at the moment.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/13/coaxing-cats-crime-pet-abduction-bill/?li_source=LI&li_medium=for_you

    4. But it’s okay to stand out side someone’s home wave placards and shout abuse at them.

      The screws are now very dangerously lose in Wastemonster and Whitehall.

    5. 383375+ up ticks,

      Morning AS,
      Kittynapping a,given time and the attention of fools could morph into a topping job.

      Any anti invasion law bills in the pipeline ?

  15. Good morning, chums. Late on parade – again!. Hope you enjoy your Valentine’s Day with lots of mystery cards, flowers, chocolates and wine as gifts from your beloveds.

  16. A Valentine to remember; a year to the day since we moved from Allan Towers to The Dower House.
    Dead romantic.

  17. Good morning.
    It’s still dull outside and looks overcast but not currently raining. Dryish afternoon forecast with 6°C on the yard thermometer.

    A trip to Stoke to see stepson is planned so will not be doing any woodcutting but hope Graduate Son will get what I’ve done stacked today.

      1. In the end – no. I think they should have given me an idea of how long the procedure would take. I was about 12 minutes “on the slab” – and I had thought it would be much less. But today all is well. Just blurry out of the right eye because I will need new glasses in a couple of months. I can live with that.

        1. You thought it would be much less?
          I presume you are joking, 12 minutes for such a delicate operation I think is bloody marvellous.

          1. I agree. But other people said one just lay flat and it was over in a jiffy – and I thought that jiffy meant jiffy! I’ll know better on 23 Feb when “another” eye is done.

  24. Wordle 970 4/6

    An average in four today, chums:

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

    1. Grr. Could done it in two but the second guess was a 50/50 and I went the wrong way.

      Wordle 970 3/6

      🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜
      🟩🟨🟨🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  25. 383375+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Wednesday 14 February: Labour’s Rochdale row casts fresh doubt on Keir Starmer’s judgment

    If this starmers judgement is in question, as with the political overseers of these governing
    cartels by the decent peoples left in these isles
    then we are in deep,deep,shit.

    JUDGEMENT HAS ALREADY BEEN PASSED LONG AGO BY THE PEOPLES OF A PATRIOTIC STANCE.

    rochdale as with rotherham are part & parcel
    of the “destruction of society, tear asunder”
    campaign, war via children, by the political
    lab/lib/con coalition cartel campaign against the remaining self respecting peoples of the United Kingdom.

    To give support to these political criminal NGOs currently, is to offer your children as playthings to the criminal invaders under the banner PARTY BEFORE COUNTRY, THE BEST OF THE WORST WILL SUFFICE.

    The most horrific thing is these political rodents are still finding support and consent through the polling stations.

    1. Starmers previous life was helping people evade the law and the consequences that should have followed their crimes. That’s why he moved on into politics.

  26. Good morning all,

    Dull and wet at McPhee Towers, wind South-West, 11 to 13℃ today.

    I took a few day’s enforced sabbatical during which there has been a lot going on. At least the DT has at last caught up with what is going on in the country.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/22f9adb67893ca4787d2c4244ecdf43f57d54b2e1025c4c0ae4cd07f36765715.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/02/13/home-office-pays-homes-asylum-seekers-housing-shortage/

    This was written about in TCW well over a year ago: https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/migrants-in-working-families-out-fat-cats-purr/

    Good to see Charles Hymas, the Home Affairs Editor is on the ball.

  27. Good morning all,

    Dull and wet at McPhee Towers, wind South-West, 11 to 13℃ today.

    I took a few day’s enforced sabbatical during which there has been a lot going on. At least the DT has at last caught up with what is going on in the country.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/22f9adb67893ca4787d2c4244ecdf43f57d54b2e1025c4c0ae4cd07f36765715.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/02/13/home-office-pays-homes-asylum-seekers-housing-shortage/

    This was written about in TCW well over a year ago: https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/migrants-in-working-families-out-fat-cats-purr/

    Good to see Charles Hymas, the Home Affairs editor is on the ball.

  28. The Rochdale scandal proves Labour is still in the grip of anti-Semitism
    Whatever Sir Keir may claim, there are forces impacting his party which may yet prove beyond his control
    Allison Pearson: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2024/02/13/keir-starmer-labour-party-rochdale-anti-semitism-sunak/

    BTL

    I wonder what is actually more important to the Left of the Labour Party: to have a Labour government or to destroy the State of Israel and exterminate the Jews?

  29. Your electricity meter isn’t getting any younger. Email. 14 February 2024.

    Hi Minty,

    We know you’re busy, but we just wanted to remind you your electricity meter has reached the end of its life. When this happens there’s a legal obligation to check and exchange your meter with a new one.

    The installation will be performed by experienced installers from E.ON or one of our partner companies. They’ll be sure to show you their ID as they arrive, but you can also choose to set up a passphrase for the day of your appointment for peace of mind.

    We’ll make your installation as quick as possible and we’ll only need to switch your power off at the point we change the meter. Your power may be off for up to an hour per fuel, however we now carry power banks, so we can support in keeping power on for an item like an internet router if you need to stay connected.

    So if you are ready to say goodbye to unexpected bills and to help Britain become cleaner and greener just click the button below.

    Latest email from Eon. So far as I am aware there has been no inspection of my meter and the obligation to replace it if faulty is on Eon. If they were to do so it would require them to offer a choice. I would of course choose the same as I have now. Hence this Hobsons Offer. This is typical of the underhanded and dishonest nature of public utilities, indeed government itself, nowadays!

    1. I have around 3 phone calls per month telling me I should have a smart meter. But they don’t appear to be listening to my reply.

    2. There should be a phone number for you to refuse their offer. I have called it each time I have received a letter (!) from them.

    3. I keep getting reminders about my meter and am urged to book an appointment for a new meter. What they don’t say is that it will be a smart meter (and in their Ts&Cs they admit that having a smart meter will allow them to cut off my electricity if they think I’m using too much).

  30. Pro-Palestine protesters target Tory MP Tobias Ellwood’s family home. 14 February 2024.

    Pro-Palestine protesters have targeted a Conservative MP’s home accusing him of being “complicit in genocide”.

    Dozens of activists stood outside Tobias Ellwood’s family home in Dorset brandishing flags, placards and a megaphone.

    The former defence minister, who represents Bournemouth East, was at home with his children during the demonstration which ended at about 9pm on Monday.

    Oh dear. How terrible.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/14/palestine-protesters-home-tobias-ellwood-police-dorset/

    1. That’s not a lawful protest, its viciously vindictive.
      And the police as usual kept their hands in their pockets.

      1. Ellwood is an officer in 77 Brigade that acts to suppress the lawful opinions of the people of the UK.

        1. He should have asked for assistance. They might have arrested the police for doing nothing, as usual.

    2. A show of strength. The ‘demonstrators’ are sending a clear message – “this is what will happen to you if you do not comply with our demands”.

      1. He is quite happy to preside over the importation of vast numbers of these people without saying anything!

        2. It is the tactics used which I object to – forget about to whom they are being applied. The message is – “don’t mess with me – I know where you live”.

  31. Morning all 🙂😊
    It’s been raining overnight again, and obviously still very cloudy. Horrible in fact.
    And just as cloudy and equally as Horrible is Rochdale. Every one knows what terrible things have been going on their for many years.
    Perhaps with a bit more investigation from journalism the facts will emerge.
    The police and government are useless.
    And the genuine people of Rochdale will stand and vote against the people who allowed it all to take place. And of course have done absolutely not a single thing to stop it from happening.

  32. Good morning, all. Overcast, wet and soggy outside. Housework on the cards today with compensation being drinks with the boys night has moved to Wednesdays. Black Buoy in Wivenhoe the destination this evening. Could be interesting as on our previous visit the pub was taking on an Italian Bistro look after local favourite Valentino’s closed.

    Net Zero, that much heralded scam devised to impoverish the nation takes another turn that exposes the futility of attempting to achieve its aims.

    Reading the article makes it clear that the people running NZ not only want to reduce emissions but in addition ‘capture’ and store carbon dioxide forever(?).

    Last month the scandal broke that the Climate Change Committee (CCC) relied on just one year’s wind data when it advised MPs in 2019 that the U.K. would be able to rely on wind and solar power by 2050. This is despite U.K. annual wind varying by 39% from its maximum to its minimum during the period 2009-2022.

    Now, it turns out that this error, major as it is, is a mere footnote compared with the much bigger problem of the mismatch between the CCC’s advice regarding carbon capture and storage and the Government’s stated intentions.

    The U.K.’s ambition to achieve Net Zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 is heavily reliant on carbon capture and storage technology to remove all the CO2 that the country will still be producing.

    According to the CCC report (see below), by 2050 the U.K. will need to be able to store 176 Mt of CO2 in order to achieve Net Zero emissions.

    This target is annually, where are they going to store it, depleted oil wells? How will it be secured from release?

    At first reading of the article, it looks to be fantastic, in the sense that it’s unreasonable and/or imaginary. Is this going to be another money gobbling exercise that will never attain its proposed potential? We’ve seen too many of those over the years.

    Full article at Daily Sceptics

      2. Reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; reducing/eliminating use of nitrogen based fertilisers; doing away with farmers; culling cattle, pigs and sheep thereby eliminating dairy and meat from our diet: I think the answer is clear, Delboy36.

    2. Norway captures and stores CO2 in, er, trees. Firstborn is a net consumer of CO2, despite his massive fcuk-off diesel truck, and tractor…

    4. Around 2008/2010 one of the Millibeans hawked the notion of carbon capture around the major European power companies (he possibly cast the net further than Europe but my memory fails). The ‘offer’ to take on a contract to ‘capture’ carbon included a £1Bn bung from the UK taxpayers but, even with a bung of that size, no company could see a way to turn a profit. What, if anything, has changed in the intervening years?

      If CO2 on the planet is reduced from today’s comparitively low level of 420 ppm, how devastating will that be to plant growth and what will be the knock-on effect to animal life? It’s like playing Russian roulette with an automatic pistol.

    1. He very recently declared that the injections were safe. This in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

    2. 383375+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      Would it be more apt for the above post to read executioner in place of executive ?

    2. I have a cunning plan. We send all those doctors that arrive on inflatable craft in SE England directly to Gaza to treat the children.

  37. ‘Morning All

    What were the parents thinking??

    https://twitter.com/LozzaFox/status/1757468774276502010?t=S_NRHoCijJqDt8qMegvicg&s=19

    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/82d51eb4afce7681841762f6183b3af32a9e19305e4472e93db7edaf972a9082.jpg

    https://i.imgflip.com/8fqhwj.jpg

    More Dunblane

    https://burningblogger.com/2016/03/13/the-dunblane-massacre-20-years-on-and-still-80-years-from-the-truth/

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/94c7059d66bb4ea9e31060ede5d528e2ac8563198fd8ee22973193b3789e4119.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2e5770eacffe7bdcfe44e37e6007b6e9095fbdcc1782ebdccb225a5bd9a15e4a.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ffb35a3db4a4aa0b0c4fceb017cfc3e669e7152f3336f8eae432ec8595994d9d.jpg

    Yay

    https://twitter.com/BGatesIsaPyscho/status/1757070768050000113?s=20

  39. “Carbon Capture”??

    This is insanity……

    Bill Gates Launches Scheme to ‘Save Planet’ From ‘Climate Change’ by Chopping Down Millions of Trees

    Microsoft

    co-founder Bill Gates has just launched his radical new scheme that

    promises to “save the planet” from “climate change.”

    As Slay News

    reported last year, Gates’s organization, Breakthrough Energy, plowed

    $6.6 million into the project led by Kodama Systems.

    The project

    promised to remove “carbon emissions” from the Earth’s atmosphere by

    chopping down trees and burying them underground.

    The move will see 70 million acres of forests, mostly in the Western United States,

    According to the project organizers, “scientists” say “burying trees can reduce global warming.”

    https://slaynews.com/news/bill-gates-launches-scheme-save-planet-climate-change-chopping-down-millions-trees/
    The “Greens” have been howling about the horror and evil of deforestation for decades where are they now,,,,,,,,,,,,

    1. Reuters say he has invested in a company that will remove dead trees. Then bury them to slow down the release of CO2

    2. Where is Bob of Bonsall?

      This is his opportunity to emerge from the depths of Derbyshire to lead the charge in tree reduction – naturally Bob will lead with his trusty diamond coated chainsaw in hand

      1. Yo Maggie

        To repeat

        It is indeed a horrible and frightening cartoon because that’s what the cartoonists intends and wants us to realise. The PTB are leading us all in the majority of European countries to accept Dignitas or some close variant as normalcy.

  45. TERRIFYING

    Quote of the day

    ‘I am ready to serve.’

    – Kamala Harris says she is prepared to be president.

    2. I thought JB would stand down at the halfway point, but she proved to be so useless that the men behind the scenes kept him in place.
      It will be interesting if he changes his running mate.

      1. There have been rumours that she will change her running mate instead, a last minute replacement at the Democrat convention.

        The democratic leadership are so misguided, maybe we will see Clinton resurrected!

          1. She would at least be of the right generation and automatically capture the black vote.

            Hillary would just be swapping one old wrinkly for another and guaranteeing a Trump victory.

          2. In that case, a Trump victory with Ramaswamy, swiftly followed by a heart attack and President Ramaswamy?

    3. She did follow that up with something along the lines of “I have shown what I am capable of”.

      Deluded but quite accurate.

    2. Yo Maggie

      It is indeed a horrible and frightening cartoon because that’s what the cartoonists intends and wants us to realise. The PTB are leading us all in the majority of European countries to accept Dignitas or some close variant as normalcy.

    4. Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings on R2 for many years. The Sunday morning show was the most popular playing music from the 60’s 70’s and 80’s mostly. Sunday morning show was called Love songs.

      1. The last time I listened to Radio 2 was when Terry Wogan was on and I was in bed trying to postpone having to get up!

          4. Lots. KRB; several R3 people – such as Donald McCleod. The technical people were remarkable and very friendly.

          5. Never liked the bloke. In fact I couldn’t stand his oleaginous smarminess!

            This deepened when I discovered he was making shiploads of money by funding the planting of hundreds of thousands of conifers in the Scottish flow country (natural habitat for countless declining wading birds).

            I didn’t lose a wink of sleep when he popped his clogs.

      2. The last time I listened to Radio 2 was when Terry Wogan was on and I was in bed trying to postpone having to get up!

      3. Oh I remember those ghastly love song dedications. We always tried to time our drive back to Heathrow so that we could avoid such overblown tosh.

    7. I (and a few friends) listened to his programme quite a bit, back in the 1980s. I found it very entertaining and amusing.

      He had a voice (and a face!) for radio.

  50. 383375+ up ticks,

    The Lord twat cameron commander of wretchedness, now wants to bring the children of Gaza to England for treatment, listen up FAT TWAT we have indigenous children on waiting lists.

    I am 100% up for protecting, worldwide, the kids,but we must have priorities.

    These political overseeing cartels will use kids in any odious ways to further their RESET ambitions, the lab/lib/con are as one, that is a
    WEF,NWO,PRO EU coalition cartel, to any anti
    English, anti United Kingdom, the coalition is an asset.

    1. Once the children are here their families will follow. All part of the plan.
      I do hope Cameron isn’t caught in a terrorist bomb blast.

    2. There are 52 Muslim countries in this world.

      Generosity to the poor is one of the founding tenets of Islam.

      Why should Lord Cameron barge in and insult good Muslims?

    2. They’re really lovely. I do like elephants and giraffes. I think it’s because I’m big.

  56. The SNP can’t handle that Scots were the real ‘oppressors’

    In their resentment of all that is British, foolish Scottish nationalists are willing to rubbish their own patriotic heritage

    ROBERT TOMBS • 13 February 2024 • 12:51pm

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c564704b5dca4afc44525d903c04233a5e481b2103698bb1d3c41ae1d7a3ed66.jpg
    Even the meanest Sassenach like me cannot fail to be stirred by the heroic military annals of the Scots. The phrase “The Thin Red Line” dramatically evokes British soldiers facing overwhelming odds, and the originals were Scottish Redcoats, the 93rd Foot (later the Sutherland Highlanders), who repulsed a major Russian attack in the Crimea in 1854.

    Their commander, Sir Colin Campbell, shouted out to them, “There is no retreat from here, men…you must die where you stand.” One of the soldiers shouted back “Aye, Sir Colin. An needs be, we’ll do that.” During the First World War, Scots were more engaged than any other part of the Empire. More recently there was the kilted piper of D-Day, Private Bill Millin, playing Lord Lovat’s commandos ashore on Sword Beach – against War Office regulations, but as Lovat said, “That’s the English War Office: you and I are both Scottish”. Scottish and British.

    “Redcoats”, of course, were the British infantry of the line, who wore scarlet tunics. The colour originated in Cromwell’s time, and it lasted in battle until accurate rifles and smokeless powder made it less necessary to be recognisable through the smoke to one’s own side and far more important not to be visible to the enemy.

    Redcoats have not been universally popular. The American rebels in the 1770s hated them. Many of the Redcoats in that war were Scottish Highlanders, who took the King’s Shilling to escape poverty, but who also had no sympathy for the American cause. Radicals in Britain did not like Redcoats either, as until Sir Robert Peel created a civilian constabulary the army was the last resort in case of disorder.

    Under Queen Victoria, while Redcoats policed much of the world, they were not much respected at home, as Rudyard Kipling stingingly emphasised in his poem, Tommy: “I went into a public ‘ouse to get a pint o’ beer / The publican ‘e up an’ sez ‘We serve no red-coats here'”. Only when danger threatened did they suddenly become the “Thin red line of ‘eroes.”

    This long and dishonourable British tradition of undervaluing “uniforms that guard you while you sleep” (Kipling again) sadly persists. And now some Scottish nationalists – including some SNP politicians – are joining in. In their resentment of all that is British, they are willing to rubbish their own patriotic heritage. That’s the difference between patriotism and nationalism. Nationalism is discontented with its own country and wants to make it something else.

    The latest triviality – nothing is too small to be grist to the resentment mill – is insisting that the Redcoat Café, in Edinburgh Castle, should be renamed.

    Campaigners claim that “the Redcoats … played a significant role in subjugating Scotland and suppressing its people during periods of history marked by conflict and strife”. “Subjugation” by other Scots, in this case, who garrisoned the castle, and who served and still serve the Crown. It is not clear which periods of “conflict and strife” the petitioners have in mind, or which “Scots who fought and died for their freedom and independence” their petition praises.

    Could it be the Jacobites of 1745, the unlucky highlanders whose lairds made them fight for the Stuarts? The 1745 rebellion was a mixture of Bonny Prince Charlie’s dynastic ambition, French geopolitical calculation, and internal Scottish religious and social conflicts. It had nothing to do with “freedom and independence for Scotland”, and the Scottish establishment in the Lowlands heaped honours on the victorious Duke of Cumberland.

    The Scots were much keener on Union than the English, and many of the greatest Scottish names were vocal unionists. I suppose that’s hard for today’s nationalists to swallow.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/13/the-snp-cant-handle-that-scots-were-the-real-oppressors/

    1. Well, I suppose the Scots Guards will have to stop wearing those red tunics and switch to a different colour – Green, perhaps, in honour of the SNP’s coalition partners?

        1. Given the amount of transitioning going on in Scotland perhaps they could use Foreskins instead?

          Afternoon Mr Thomas and all.

    1. Is Starmer on a Wild Goose Chase over seeking out the anti-Semites in his party?

      Old mother Flipper Flapper jumped out of bed
      Out of the window she cocked her head
      Cryin’ John, John the grey goose is gone
      And the fox is on the town-o, town-o, town-o
      John, John the grey goose is gone
      And the fox is on the town-o
      John, John the grey goose is gone
      And the fox is on the town-o

  58. So this older guy goes to the doctor asking for a prescription for ‘Viagra’. The guy asks for a large dose of the *strongest* variety. The doctor asks why he needs so much. The guy says that two young nymphomaniacs are spending a week at his place. The doctor fills the prescription.
    Later that week, the same guy goes back to the doctor asking for pain killers. The doctor asks ‘why, is your dick in that much pain?’, ‘no’, says the guy, ‘it’s for my wrists – the girls never showed up!’

  59. Every now and again I catch a bit of BBC World News, as it plays on a big screen near the lifts at work. Coming back from the canteen I saw what looked to me – and of course I could be wrong – like some old black and white sea battle footage. Archive licencing is what I do of course and this looked to me like archive (the Reuters historic collection has footage of this kind from WWII) but the picture cut to a guy in a studio talking about a significant new success for the Ukrainians. Well yes, love. But in which war? It isn’t impossible that the Ukes have sunk another Russian ship, though RT have no mention of it and they usually would, even if just to put a different spin on the story.

      1. The Magura V5 unmanned drones it said were used in the attack are made in Ukraine and travel just above the sea surface at a speed up to 42 nautical miles an hour, their manufacturer says.

        And we’re to believe the Russians couldn’t intercept these?
        I’m assuming a zero has been missed off.

      1. And they won’t question why the footage looks more as if it was shot by Sergei Eisenstein than a modern drone camera.

  60. David Cameron’s patronising advice would doom Israel to defeat
    Who does he think he’s talking down to? And if he had his way, what would have been the point of the last few months of fighting in Gaza?
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/14/david-camerons-patronising-advice-would-doom-israel/

    BTL

    If the old Etonian Association had any integrity, good judgement and common sense it would expel Cameron and Welby from the old boys’ club and ban them from ever re-joining.

  61. Women in Armed Forces ‘feel unsafe’ after Grant Shapps comments. 14 February 2024.

    Women in the Armed Forces have been made to feel “unsafe” in the wake of the Defence Secretary’s comments over the diversity row engulfing the military.

    Grant Shapps warned a “woke” and “extremist culture” had infiltrated the British Army after it was revealed the military was considering ways to relax checks to promote ethnic diversity among officers.

    The Telegraph understands Mr Shapps spoke with Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the Chief of the Defence Staff, on Monday to discuss how to conduct a review of ethnicity, diversity and inclusivity policies within the Ministry of Defence.

    All I can say it that if you joined the military to feel safe you have serious problems. There should be no Ethnic, Diverse or Inclusive policies in any military organisation!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/13/women-armed-forces-feel-unsafe-grant-shapps/?li_source=LI&li_medium=for_you

    1. Did all the women in the military rush to their superiors to say they feel unsafe after a very recent speech or has some liar made it all up?

    5. The Canadian army has the answer to that. All toilets must now contain a supply of sanitary products. That’s the answer to feeling unsafe – tampons in the mens toilets.

    1. I find this whole farce comical. That the council thinks it has this power – that it does is laughable. Councils should be booted sternly in the face and told to sod off.

      1. In quite a few circumstances they do have the power for CPO. A recent story of an estate managed by a private company told all the residents they were losing their parking spaces and their garages as they needed to add 500 new houses to the estate. The council can then turn around and say nothing to do with us.

  63. Had some religious people come to the door. I said I was a bit busy but they could talk to Mongo.

    So they did. I think he was more confused than they were.

    1. As long as they didn’t try and abduct a stray cat while they were at it. According to comments below that would have been a five year holiday.

      1. I may be wrong but …though they were convicted it wasn’t because of what they did to that woman but the fact they perverted the course of justice….

      1. Looks to me they wanted a slave who didn’t comply. Telling how they had nothing to do with their neighbours.

  65. We’ve just had the most delicious lunch ever for St Valentines Day, followed by a digestif of Hine Cognac and my monthly cigarette. Perfection! And now for a kip.

  67. Off to Cardiff on Saturday, to visit an old friend whose brother died unexpectedly last month (he is Iranian). Am hoping my son will deign to see me while i am there, if only to dole cash out to him!

    1. Well, make sure it is in the hundreds….. My grandchildren regard £100 as a couple of rounds of drinks or a tank of petrol.

  69. Just wandered round the garden. The logs store is looking very good! And the snowdrops and Thomasiana bulbs. They don’t photograph very well – but a joy to see. We planted two or three hundred about ten years ago and they have multiplied and spread.
    I am amazed that my right eye now has about 90% good vision only 24 hours after the procedure. Remarkable.

    1. Friends who have had the surgery normally find that colours are so much brighter than before.

      Have you thought of popping the lens from the good side of the glasses?

        1. I haven’t been here for a few days. It sounds like your cataract surgery went well. Good to know.

          1. Bill is doing fine. Though his sight is improving well, Gus and Pickles are making sure he knows where their food is. When they think he is slacking they draw him to the garden to discover headless mice.

    3. I was astonished [nay: dumbfounded] when I discovered, after my cataract operations, that I could discern all the minute details in surface of the bricks of a (fairly) distant building; and could read the small letters on a remote shop sign with astounding clarity. It was an emotional overload.

      I still require varifocal specs, since the operation does not correct the presbyopia and astigmatism (elongation of the eyeball) that causes long-sightedness. Nevertheless, my eyesight through those glasses has returned to the sharpness I took for granted in my youth. Even without glasses on, I can see for up to a metre in front of me with crystal clarity.

  70. OT – for cat lovers.

    At breakfast this morning both cats came in for their meal. Pickles then sloped off to his day time place on one of the settees. After 15 minutes I realised that I hadn’t seen Gus. The MR knew that they both came in and that the outside doors had not been opened. So he must be in the house. But where?

    We went through every room, looked under every bed; searched wardrobes (though none had been opened. The airing cupboard. The garage. Zilch.

    The MR thought she could hear him calling (he has a pathetic squeak which he thinks is a miaow). She focused on the utility room and assumed he had got behind the fridge-freezer. Zilch again. Mew continued. Opened a drawer in a unit under the sink. One cat emerged.

    The MR had opened that drawer for a few seconds to get out a bit of rag and Gus must have jumped in. She then shut the drawer and he was trapped behind it…..

    Cats, eh?

    1. I once discovered my cat, after a frantic search, trapped under the bed, behind the drawer (which I had already checked). Silly sod was just sitting there. He was a chatty soul and could have raised the roof but preferred to just calmly listen to my rising panic on this occasion.

      Cats!

    2. A good 30 years ago when mother had got a new kitten which became Claudius – all teeth and claws – In the airing cupboard we had a gap going under the floor. My new kitten had found her way under there and was squeaking away, under the floor. I was absolutely panicked and tore the boards up to get her out.

  71. And in other D Torygraf news:

    French prosecutors are investigating the British Coastguard following the deaths of four UK-bound migrants in the English Channel.

    It follows the filing of complaints for “involuntary manslaughter” and “failure to render aid” by the refugee aid charity Utopia 56.

    In legal documents, the association complains to the Boulogne-Sur-Mer public prosecutor about a maritime disaster on Dec 14 2022, when dozens of people on a small boat ended up in the sea.

    Many were pulled out of the water by rescuers in the early hours of the morning, but – it is claimed – both the British and the French were too slow in their response

    3. Considering they came from France isn’t it down to France to deal with them? Cripes this is a total mess, that they blame us for their rubbish.

  74. 383375+ up ticks,

    The Tories refuse to admit that mass migration is driving the housing crisis

    The Tories refuse to admit that mass migration is driving the education crisis

    The Tories refuse to admit that mass migration is driving the medication crisis

    The Tories refuse to admit that mass migration is driving the incarceration crisis,

    Beneficial only to the RESET agenda campaign.

    The current tory (ino) party core members / voters, as with the lab/lib core member / voters,
    refusing to admit that the lab/lib/con/current ukip pro eu coalition cartel are NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE.

    1. I have no problem with mass migration provided those migrating don’t come here. I do have a concern when it becomes uncontrolled mass immigration to this country.

    2. Of course they won’t admit it. To do so would prove what the public have been telling them is right.

      Worse, massive uncontrolled immigration is also responsible for our economic mess, crime rate and a host of other issues – such as insurance costs.

      Yet the uniparty will never, ever accept responsibility and do the only things that must be done: repealing the acts that keep the flood pouring in.

  76. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5b73e3067926964cf82865686cd83dc2e9ac3f55e753bdd70011988e94c554d3.png
    To all those NoTTLers who were doubting that the photograph of a red kite Milvus milvus posted this morning (by Citröen) actually was one; I can reassure them all that the photograph was indeed a red kite, even though it was a leucistic one (i.e. has a lot of its pigmentation washed out by a lack of melanin).

    I have a wealth of knowledge of this species from my time as an amateur naturalist and field ornithologist when I lived in the UK. Now I live in Sweden I see them every hour of every day from my garden.

    Red kites appear to lose the deep notch in their V-shaped tail when they spread their rectrices (tail feathers), as can be clearly seen in the top right-hand photograph (above).

    There is not a shadow of a doubt in my mind that Citröen’s excellent photograph is one of a red kite. Its general head shape, bill size, body shape, wing structure and pattern of markings all combine to confirm its identity. No other UK raptor comes close to looking like this.

      1. Kate Humble is much better than me.

        I wish they’d get rid of that pathetic, childish, Strachan creature!

    2. Driving through the suburbs of Thatcham recently I saw at least a dozen Red Kites swooping over the roof tops. Sat Nav didn’t seem to show any open land over which they were flying….

      PS a few years ago I filmed an albino Magpie in my garden…

    3. It is not my photograph but thank you, Grizz, for adding your endorsement to my view that the birdie is a not-very-red Kite. I have spent many hours on many days at Rhayader (which I think is overrated and boring), nowadays distorts nature, and should be shut down – I don’t like the shifty exploitive family who run it. Over the past dozen years, we now have far too many red kites in the valley where I live to the detriment of other species.

  77. Dish washer repair man has just left .. our 20 year old Neff has died a noble death ..died last week .

    Now searching on AO for a replacement .

    More expense .

  78. Must get a grip!
    Wordle 970 4/6

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

    1. Mine’s a tighter Birdie Three!

      Wordle 970 3/6
      🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. I made heavy work of it and the spelling still looks wrong.

      Wordle 970 5/6

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

    3. Ah this is where you all posted.

      A surprising 2 for me.

      Wordle 970 2/6

      ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Khan is so obsessed with his tax soaking through the destructive ULEZ – driven by the WEF – that everything else is falling apart.

      What a berk that loathsome whelp is.

    2. A phrase I learned when I was a Court Usher was “show me the statutory authority “. It was asked of solicitors by Legal Advisors (Court Clerks) when they quoted an obscure case. The lawyer would have to provide the Act, section and subsection from Stones or Blacks.
      As she’s on private property the occupant can request she leaves and if she doesn’t she’s trespassing, a criminal offence.

      1. It won’t help. Even you who knows more than they. You are being ‘difficult’. They will call for support. If you ‘resist’ you will….perhaps i don’t need to go into details. Resistance is futile. You will be threatened..possibly a night in a cell they don’t have and then have to supply you with a plant based menu which they don’t have and then say blah

      2. It won’t help. Even you who knows more than they. You are being ‘difficult’. They will call for support. If you ‘resist’ you will….perhaps i don’t need to go into details. Resistance is futile. You will be threatened..possibly a night in a cell they don’t have and then have to supply you with a plant based menu which they don’t have and then say blah

  81. British coastguards face criminal charges over the death of four UK-bound migrants in the Channel after refugee charity files ‘involuntary manslaughter’ complaint in France
    The defendant, himself a migrant, claimed he was threatened by smugglers

    British coastguards face criminal charges in France following the deaths of four UK-bound migrants in the English Channel.

    It follows the filing of complaints for ‘involuntary manslaughter’ and ‘failure to render aid’ by the refugee aid charity Utopia 56.

    In legal documents, the association complains to the Boulogne-Sur-Mer public prosecutor about a maritime disaster on December 14, 2022, when dozens of people on a small boat ended up in the sea.

    Many, including Afghan and Iranian nationals, were pulled out of the water by rescuers in the early hours of the morning, but – it is claimed – both the British and the French were too slow in their response.

    This led to four people drowning in horrific circumstances, including some getting trapped inside the sinking inflatable.

    The defendant, himself a migrant, claimed he was assaulted by people smugglers and threatened with death if he did not go ahead with the voyage.

    As his trial continues, the French authorities will be focusing on any possible culpability by official agencies.

    A legal source in Boulogne said: ‘The complaint was filed to the Prosecutor early this month, and it focuses on the way the British and French authorities dealt with Mayday calls for help.

    ‘The complaint is currently being investigated.’

    Those facing allegations that could lead to prison sentences and fines are His Majesty’s Coastguard, the Maritime Prefect in France, and the director of the Cross de Gris-Nez emergency centre, near Calais, said the source.

    Tapes released by Utopia 56 record the boat sinking, as the desperate migrants plead for help.

    A distress message received at 2.54am includes the message: ‘Please help. We have children and family in the boat.’

    The unnamed caller to an emergency line set up by Utopia 56 says: ‘Please help me, brother. Please. Please. Please.

    ‘We are in the water; we have a family.’

    A Utopia 56 email was then sent to the Cross de Griz-Nez, and also to the British emergency services.

    It read: ‘Problem: water in the boat… There are families with children on board.

    Despite this, Utopia 56 claims, it was not until 3.40am that the first rescue boat left the coast of England.

    The English fishing boat Arcturus was able to rescue 11 people in the sea, but many remained trapped inside the dinghy, which had 48 men, women and children on board when it left France.

    A criminal investigation has also been opened in France into another collapsing boat disaster on November 24, 2021, when 27 people died.

    Seven French military personnel who were manning phones at the Cross de Gris-Nez centre on the night face charges.

    A total of 29,437 migrants crossed the English Channel in small boats from France, despite efforts by both the UK and French governments to halt the hugely dangerous journeys.

    France
    English Channel
    Share or comment on this article: British coastguards face criminal charges over the death of four UK-bound migrants in the Channel after refugee charity files ‘involuntary manslaughter’ complaint in France

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13082285/British-coastguards-face-criminal-charges-death-four-UK-bound-migrants-Channel-refugee-charity-files-involuntary-manslaughter-complaint-France.html

    1. What happened to the ‘Death by Misadventure’ verdict? I await the coroner’s report.

      If a pirate asks a mariner to walk the plank, who then is responsible should the mariner fall off the plank and perish in the sea?

    3. 383375+ up ticks,

      Evening TB,

      Sad but, not the first won’t be the last,

      The organisers / rescuers all complicit, those that live by the sword……..

  82. S.S. Langleeford.

    Complement:
    34 (4 dead and 30 survivors).
    6800 tons of wheat.

    At 08.00 hours on 14th February 1940 the Langleeford (Master H. Thompson), a straggler from convoy HX-18, was hit amidships by one G7e torpedo from U-26 (Heinz Scheringer), broke in two and sank within 13 minutes about 70 miles northwest of Fastnet. Four crew members were lost. The Germans questioned the survivors, handed over two bottles of rum, 100 cigarettes, bread and dressing materials and told them the course to the nearest land. The master and 29 crew members made landfall at Ross, Co. Clare.

    Type IA U-Boat U-26 was scuttled 1st July 1940 south-west of Ireland after heavy damage suffered by depth charges from the British corvette HMS Gladiolus and bombs from an Australian Sunderland aircraft (10 Sqn RAAF). 48 survivors (no casualties).

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

    1. The rum, grub and fags was a nice touch. I suppose not many encounters where the time would be available.

    2. Langleeford is the former sheep farm, now part of a shooting estate, lying below Cheviot, up the Harthope Valley to the South West of Wooler.

    3. Langleeford is the former sheep farm, now part of a shooting estate, lying below Cheviot, up the Harthope Valley to the South West of Wooler.

  84. Does your dog have ‘shark teeth’? Vets say 7% of pooches have an extra row of gnashers – these are the breeds most likely to have them
    Vets warn dog owners to be on the lookout for ‘shark teeth’ – an extra row of teeth
    READ MORE: Vets issue urgent warning to owners after spike in dogs falling ill

    Dog owners have been urged to be on the lookout for a little-known dental condition that affects seven per cent of canines.

    ‘Shark teeth’ – officially known as persistent deciduous teeth (PDT) – is a disorder where two sets of gnashers come out of a row of gums.

    It occurs when a dog’s baby teeth remain fixed in the jaw instead of falling out when the adult teeth come through.

    Dog breeds with lowest risk of shark teeth
    Greyhound (0.1%)
    Rhodesian ridgeback (0.2%)
    Great Dane (0.4%)
    English bulldog (0.4%)
    Boxer (0.4%)
    Alaskan malamute (0.5%)
    American bulldog (0.5%)
    Weimaraner (0.5%)
    Saint Bernard (0.5%)
    American Staffordshire terrier (0.6%)
    Australian cattle dog (0.6%)
    Bullmastiff (0.6%)
    Newfoundland (0.6%)

    Dog breeds with highest risk of shark teeth
    Yorkshire terrier (25.1%)
    Toy poodle (14.8%)
    Maltese (14.8%)
    Chihuahua (13.2%)
    Pomeranian (13.1%)
    Shih tzu (12.1%)
    Dachshund (9.3%)
    Papillon (9.0%)
    Miniature pinscher (8.1%)
    Miniature poodle (7.5%)
    Miniature schnauzer (7.3%)
    Pug (7.3%)
    Brussels griffon (6.9%)

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13083015/Dog-shark-teeth-vets-breeds.html

  85. That’s me gone early. Lecture from Rome starts in ten minutes.

    I’ll be up betimes tomorrow as the MR is leaving to go to Norwich at 7.20 am….. Can’t get over my eye being OK.

    Have a spiffing evening

    A demain de bonne heure.

    4. Doesn’t the compensation scheme acknowledge that the vaccines are no “safe and effective”?

    5. Doesn’t the compensation scheme acknowledge that the vaccines are no “safe and effective”?

    6. I don’t suppose “track and trace” not working was really much of an issue. The thirty odd billion was probably laundered.

    1. At the same time we are told not to piss in the countryside. Or on allotments or our own gardens.

    2. Oprah Winfrey who is a great friend of the duke and duchess of sussex was telling everyone you just cannot clean yourself properly with toilet roll.

      Well multimillionaire Oprah…friend of the Obamas…not everyone has 13 bidets in their villas.
      Though Rightmove don’t show it but those houses for sale in the north of england….they are the pits.

  89. No sign of Lacoste so I’ll post my jammy 2.

    Wordle 970 2/6

    ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  90. In an earlier post today i mentioned that I thought the Etonian Association of old boys ought to strike off both Cameron and Welby for bringing the place into disrepute and not let them back in again.

    I am reminded that when I left school 60 years ago the Headmaster got all the leavers together and gave us a few wise words.

    We were all looking forward to hearing these words because a boy who had left the previous year had reported that the HM would tell us to wear the OB tie with pride and never to wear it when entering or leaving a brothel; he would also warn us that the only people who would get VD from a lavatory seat were the Pope and The Archbishop of Canterbury.

    Sadly, the HM’s wise words omitted these interesting things and concentrated more on service to others and living useful Christian lives.

  91. I have a question. If you are in a High St and some preacher of any denomination says something you personally find offensive….Which number do you call to get an immediate response?

    2. 666 gets you through to the Police ‘Hate Crime’ Squad, and an immediate response, if it’s not an Imam.

    3. 666 gets you through to the Police ‘Hate Crime’ Squad, and an immediate response, if it’s not an Imam.

  93. 38337+ up ticks,

    I do believe the fat wretch is trying to start yet another war,

    Dt,

    Cameron tells US: don’t repeat the weakness that was displayed against Hitler
    Foreign Secretary calls on Washington to pass multi-billion dollar aid package for Ukraine as a ‘matter of global security’

    1. Ah that’s expensive.

      We just had our lunch paid for by some friendly policeman.

      Too damned true, I checked the car before driving anywhere!

  95. Keep the climate emergencygoing!

    Canadas Environment minister, the convicted Greenpiece weirdo Guibault is saying that the Federal Government will no longer contribute to road construction. Bike paths, buses, trains are OK but no more roads.

    Stand by for a new fifty lane bike path being built!

  96. An extract from the latest Allister Heath piece – about a decade late…

    “Britain’s decline over the past 25 years has been staggeringly rapid. Almost everything is getting worse, and almost nothing is getting better. Our public and private institutions are broken, presided over by an incompetent, selfish and narcissistic ruling class. Living standards, when adjusted properly for living and property costs, are declining.

    Even the simplest things don’t work any longer. Queuing, scarcity and congestion are rife, our infrastructure is embarrassingly poor, and the honest and hardworking face endless bureaucratic battles to obtain what they are due. Free riding, crime, disorder, fraud, littering and generalised rule-bending are rife, and all too often tolerated by apathetic citizens and an indifferent state. Britain’s residual virtues, our individualism, independence of mind, tolerance and openness, uniquely appealing features of our national character, are fading.

    Like a frog in boiling water, few saw the full scale of the decline coming until it was too late, and those who did were ridiculed by the bien-pensant. Yet even in 2024, when millions now realise that Britain is on the wrong track, there is no hope of meaningful improvement. The Tories have been abysmal, but Labour will be even worse: Keir Starmer will double down on the social-democratic and culturally nihilistic policies tested to destruction by the Conservatives.

    In the 2000s, Britain had a particular idea of itself: a country of post-Thatcherite property-owners which reconciled modernity and tradition, globalisation and national self-determination, low-tax dynamism and fairness, where you didn’t need IDs to vote, where MPs weren’t attacked by screaming mobs, and where, finally, racism was increasingly a thing of the past. We saw ourselves as a socially mobile, law-abiding land of high trust, low corruption, the rule of law, improving race relations and religious toleration: a uniquely open society and a model to the Western world.

    Such a vision is now largely obsolete. An Englishman’s home was his castle, making a huge difference to our national psyche, until our deliberate policy of rationing new housing at a time of mass immigration robbed the under-40s of the chance of owning anything of their own. “This is a free country”, we used to maintain when presented with another idiotic proposal to control us, but that too is over, killed off by the woke war on free speech, the jailing of Christian preachers, the sugar tax, the surveillance society and the Covid lockdowns.

    In narrow GDP growth terms, we continue to outperform the true laggards on the continent, as Brexiteers correctly predicted, but that should be no consolation. Our manufacturing sector is being priced out of global markets by the rush to net zero, our energy policy is a hideous farce, our misregulated City is in decline, and our tax system an absurd conspiracy against hard work and merit, with marginal tax rates back at 1970s levels for some.

    The socialist NHS, despite massive increases in funding, is a horror show, and one of the main reasons not to live in the UK. Some 5.6 million adults are on out-of-work benefits, and yet immigration is running at extraordinary levels. Our Armed Forces have been slashed, and are now being subject to a woke takeover.

    Yet while all of these instances of national enfeeblement are tragic, they pale in comparison with the most terrifying regression of them all. We thought that we had progressed decisively as a society, that we had vanquished racism and religious discrimination, that the institutions of our liberal state would prevent a minority from facing persecution, and that our ruling class would never allow any subset of the population to be openly hated and othered again.

    How wrong we were. That anti-Semitism, the oldest of hatreds, is back on the streets and screens of Britain, is terrifying enough; but the fact that this explosion of prejudice is being treated in such a cavalier fashion by the authorities and the mainstream broadcast media – and in some cases is even being rationalised and normalised – is a catastrophic development that casts doubt about Britain’s very future.

  97. Ditch girls are playing India in the women’s hockey. First of all the matches in this year’s tournament that I’ve caught.

          1. They are winning 1-0 at the mo and the India GK has been sent off for 5 mins. But fair play to India, they are playing well (the competition is being played in India).

    1. I’m genuinely surprised it will be that many. But still look on the bright side they can cosy up to Ed Davy on the opposition benches

    2. 383375+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      The treachery played out in 2019 all that marching up/down hills, a wasted effort,

      poetic justice is served.

      The future, more of the same
      coming up, that is the way a coalition operates.

  100. Last July walking at the Durotriges iron age hill fort at Badbury.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e849aa41e4819fcf26a66c5a3e3a3b3fe8ececc66302a453bf26cc2c11096415.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/35346b6d6bf2bf823acc5385fffd3c21cb189958922eb760b2547919c40e384e.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a1a840a4202bb5b310e0b556c2798a61e24950ac6f4db601129c2f90232ac44f.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/21eb00339930bc54d60c3eae3378cffd95486ebafc68e2e133aaa4448b69af6c.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9195650ee20bb234a8bb07987e8dbec7b3f5482b56379a317dd839ea63fc2df1.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a0ddb12abca546e91c2209402a81a17a7895bef21744006e041a60f6b77dfd28.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3ac07e03b6e76b100cc0c55681bd88441196ef04e2d4c380e9d2733eac19bf07.jpg

    1. Excellent. Wonder how long it will be before we need to rebuild hill forts? (serious question)

        1. I love pre historic sites:

          From my boating journal:

          “The relief lock keeper at Benson Lock on the River Thames asked where I was heading. When I told him Dorchester Village, he suggested that I might be able to moor at the confluence of the River Thames and River Thame [sic] by the arched footbridge that crosses the Thame. I’m glad I took his advice. When I arrived at the footbridge a local dog walker kindly held the boat’s centre line while I banged in a couple of mooring pins to moor the boat tight on the bank against the stream. After a spot of lunch I walked across the meadows to Dorchester. Its tiny museum has displays informing visitors that the settlement of Dorchester has been occupied since around 4,000 BC.

          On my way back to the boat after a concert I reflected on the fact that for the best part of 6,000 years now forgotten men, women and children would have walked the same footpath to the confluence of the Thame and the Thames”.

  102. Just had a bath 7 now listening to Bruckner’s 3rd on R3 at the moment. Will be off to bed when it ends.
    When I got back from Stoke I had enough time to do some further sawing and chopping.

    A morality tale picked up from Faceache:-

    A Little 10-year-old girl was walking home, alone, from school one day, when a big man on a black motorcycle pulls up beside her.
    After following along for a while, turns to her and asks,
    “Hey there little girl, do you want to go for a ride?”
    “NO!” says the little girl as she keeps on walking.
    The motorcyclist again pulls up beside her and asks,
    “Hey little girl, I will give you $10 if you hop on the back.”
    “NO!” says the little girl again as she hurries down the street.
    The motorcyclist pulls up beside the little girl again and says,
    “Okay kid, my last offer! I’ll give you 20 Bucks “and” a Big Bag of Candy if you will just hop on the back of my bike and we will go for a ride.”
    Finally, the little girl stops and turns towards him and Screams Out…
    “Look Dad” “You’re the one who bought the Honda instead of the Harley… YOU RIDE IT!!”…….

      2. Sunak was under orders to bring back Cameron – just as Truss was under orders to bring back Hunt.

        No prizes for guessing who gave the orders.

  104. British folk are being betrayed:

    “It comes after The Telegraph revealed on Tuesday that the Home Office has quietly built up a stock of 16,000 properties for asylum seekers despite acute shortages of homes for young workers and families.

    Contractors working for the Home Office are offering landlords five-year guaranteed full rent deals to take over the management of properties as they race to transfer asylum seekers out of hotels.

    The properties drawn from the private rental and social housing markets are being used to house more than 58,000 asylum seekers across England, Wales and Scotland. That is double the 29,000 asylum seekers in the so-called “dispersed accommodation” a decade ago.”

    2. A lot of the younger generation who seem to have lots of time on their hands to join all those protests over the last few years seem to have competition for housing…if not jobs. Oh…for shame.

      1. Ah, you mean the ones who have benefitted from that nice Mr Blair’s Education policy …

        “That alone should encourage the crew. Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice: What I tell you three times is true.”

  106. Evening, all. Happy Valentines Day! Repent ye also for Lent has started. I went to the Ash Wednesday service, which was very good, but I really don’t think I need to repent my wastefulness of resources or my polluting the planet. I live by the maxims “waste not, want not” and “make do and mend”. There was still rationing when I was born!

    I was extremely proud of Oscar this morning (okay, pride’s a sin); he let me put some more food in his dish while he was still eating. When I tried to do that when I first got him, he nipped my fingers.

    One only has to look at Starmer’s record to be certain that he has no judgment at all!

    1. Perhaps ‘proud’ is not the right word then? ‘Took delight in his progress’ during this Lenten period……?

  112. Wordle 971 4/6

    Up early today (Thursday) so I am posting my Wordle score on Wednesday night’s late site.

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

Comments are closed.