Thursday 14 March: The sprawling Covid Inquiry will be of little use come the next pandemic

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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739 thoughts on “Thursday 14 March: The sprawling Covid Inquiry will be of little use come the next pandemic”

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

    A prestigious cardiologist died, and was given a very elaborate funeral by the hospital where he had worked for most of his life…

    A huge heart – covered in flowers stood behind the casket during the service as all the doctors from the hospital sat in awe.

    Following the eulogy, the heart opened, and the casket rolled inside. The heart then closed, sealing the doctor in the beautiful heart forever.

    At that point, one of the mourners burst into almost helpless laughter.

    When all eyes stared at him, he said,

    ‘I’m so sorry, I was just thinking of my own funeral – I’m a gynaecologist!’

  4. Good morning, chums. Today’s job is to pack for a three day trip to Bath, so after a three day break I shall return on Monday morning. Enjoy your weekend.

    Today’s Wordle 999 5/6:

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

    2. Don’t forget to take a towel, Auntie Elsie. A Bath is not much fun without one! 🤣

        1. Indeed, we are very close …

          … but we draw the line at scrubbing one another’s backs!😉

      2. I tell all my chums that it’s my first trip to Bath, but not the first time that I have taken a bath! (Good morning, btw.)

        2. Bath — in common with York, Chester, Norwich, Winchester, Durham and Lincoln — is one of the most visitable cities in England.

      1. Not in the bath, OLT! It’s a meeting of the P G Wodehouse Society and a hotel has been booked for us all to listen to talks and quizzes about The Master of Humorous Fiction and his works. What ho! Pip pip! and all that, Don’t You Know?

        1. Have a lovely time, Elsie!
          I’ve just re-read The Code of the Woosters, and passed it on to one of my children.

  5. Muslim groups that incite hatred to be named as extremists by Government. 14 March 2024.

    Muslim groups that incite hatred and undermine democracy will be named and shamed as extremists by the Government, Michael Gove will announce on Thursday.

    The Communities Secretary will set out a new definition of non-violent extremism which officials will use to identify and publish a list of Islamist and far-Right groups.

    Officials will be instructed to cut off all government funding and block all meetings with any of the groups to ensure they are not inadvertently giving them a “platform or legitimacy to advance extremist ideologies”.

    “Far-Right groups.” I can hardly wait.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/03/13/government-muslim-groups-incite-hatred-extremists-gove/

    3. Countryside Alliance, CPRE, Game Conservancy, various heritage railway trusts… Lock ’em all up.

      1. I once upset a Green Party meeting at a time that Caroline Lucas was pushing for the renationalisation of the railways. I asked Natalie Bennett (remember that Aussie socialist, modelled on Julia Gillard, who once led the Greens through an election campaign without mentioning the environment) whether there were any heritage railways not set up in the private sector, and that Beeching, Marples and Castle did their worst when the railways were nationalised.

        1. Natalie Bennett! There’s a blast from the past! Even more useless than Jo ‘I’m about to be your next PM’ Swinson, and that takes some doing!

          1. I think the Countryside Alliance is pretty close – I have to disclose an interest, as I’m a member – and the Taxpayers’ Alliance as well.

    4. Never, ever did I think that I would qualify as ‘far right’ but here I am thanks to a caste of unprincipled politicians and their handlers.

      Vive la révolution!

          1. Thank you, Anne, we try.

            I can also get by in both Swedish and Spanish but very stumbley.

    5. Presumably this group will also contain supporters of BLM and indigenous rights campaigners, IHRA and pro-Palestinians, Pride and the traditional family, Feminists and husbands to non-fake women?

      Not to mention environmentalists and anti-environmentalists – one which insists that humanity is destroying the planet, and the other that insists that humanity is destroying the economy. And lest we forget, that old chestnut – socialists and capitalists.

      Come the Revolution, we will all be manning the barricades. Who then dispenses justice?

    6. In 2009 Muslims in Luton protested against the 1st Battalion, The Anglian Regiment on their return from deployment.
      These protests led to the formation of the English Defence League by Tommy Robinson.
      Instead of persecuting him, the authorities should have listened to his warnings.

      1. Instead of persecuting Richard D Hall, they should answer his reasonable questions.

        Their actions speak louder than words.

    7. Yo Minty,

      “Far-Right groups”cannot include the Armed Forces, cus we aint got any

    8. “Muslim groups that incite hatred and undermine democracy will be named and shamed as extremists by the Government, Michael Gove will announce on Thursday.”

      That’s all very well, but cue the long impassioned debates on the BBC about what constitutes “Incitement” or “Hatred”, arguments over where you draw the line between “Undermining” and “Legitimately criticising”, and morons like James O’Brien lecturing us on whether “Democracy” is such a good thing after all, if it can bring us Brexit!

      They just try to wear you down with semantic hair-splitting casuistry, and have a pliant media and judiciary on their side to define the terms in their own favour.

      And then “Far Right groups” can be deemed to encompass people who post on pages like this, if it suits their agenda.

  6. ‘Morning All

    A very NoTTL meme

    https://images3.memedroid.com/images/UPLOADED435/5c4216d597a7b.jpeg

    Rest

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2a1822abcaff4f4bcc8ce7e0befbee4cc5faa36674d137a7933256566355fab9.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9e1879675a341c74e26e1ceec75c865db2bd3542321a2a0d94333a8fd320fa99.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cfec7052877d9b1e92a9878d71c52331fccaefa9ed691a541a8217bd1951dd89.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c09f6b3cad25ed18b22ac87170a5468e7c854ff57fd155d1ae88e0e1124fd826.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2801f69057bd96178197306590e15226d0aa994a0c995ddb13d0a13760b1abe9.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/abb58085bf0c3b072eed9a5285bae68081c5fdd43e8705723ed17d95d6dce0e0.jpg

    1. “Can I go to the restroom?”

      How the hell do I know what your capabilities are? And what the hell is a “restroom”? Do you need to lie down?

      This inane question elicits more further questions than answers. Trouble is, gormless Yanks don’t ‘get’ it.

      1. My bugbear is summed up by the Winnie the Pooh meme.
        Are those “Protesting their crimes” protesting against or in favour????

        1. I was in a guided tour of some caves in America when I heard a little girl behind me say, “Dad, can I go over that wall and see what’s on the other side?” to which the admirable man replied, “You can, but you’re not going to.”

        1. “Lavatory” was originally a bathroom. I noticed it in Stalky & Co.

      4. I told our friend in America that when I was young we didn’t have a bathroom in our flat. He was aghast until I told him that in England to be a bathroom ig had to have a bathroom in it. He thought we didn’t have a lavatory. That’s American for you.

        1. Nothing wrong with the German Scheißenhause.. The spelling may be a little awry – it’s been a long time since I used German on a daily basis.

  7. Good morning all.
    A springlike 6°C with a damp dull start, but the rain has paused. A light breeze is making the trees behind the ex-pub sway.

    So Dianne Abbott has accused both Tories and Labour for not doing enough to tackle racism???
    Irony or hypocrisy one wonders?

    2. I had to turn off the BBC this morning after they went on, Oprah Winfrey mode, to their one-sided report on “antisemitism” once more.

      “Extremism” is not the right word, and using it simply digs the hole deeper. It is projection and gaslighting, and this could come from anywhere, including and especially the Establishment, with their stooges, the legislators and the judiciary and the Church of England.

      Until we have people who are clear-headed enough to tell the truth from strategic disinformation, especially when confecting a charge of offence to cover their own paranoias, it will be the innocent that will be made to suffer for the deliberate ploys of the guilty under the guise of “Pride”.

      Is there [edited for brain fog] anyone prepared to make this clear, without falling foul of the well-meaning, but mistaken?

    3. I had to turn off the BBC this morning after they went on, Oprah Winfrey mode, to their one-sided report on “antisemitism” once more.

      “Extremism” is not the right word, and using it simply digs the hole deeper. It is projection and gaslighting, and this could come from anywhere, including and especially the Establishment, with their stooges, the legislators and the judiciary and the Church of England.

      Until we have people who are clear-headed enough to tell the truth from strategic disinformation, especially when confecting a charge of offence to cover their own paranoias, it will be the innocent that will be made to suffer for the deliberate ploys of the guilty under the guise of “Pride”.

      Is there [edited for brain fog] anyone prepared to make this clear, without falling foul of the well-meaning, but mistaken?

    4. That would be Diane (black mothers are better than white mothers)Abbott.
      I don’t generally mock her because I think she is ill (look at photos of her some year ago)and having a paranoid schizophrenic son is no joke, but that comment would cause outrage if, say, Miriam Cates had made it.

  10. Good Morning, all

    Yesterday someone was asking where the hobgoblin was

    The Graun heard your plea for help…

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/ad5cb1dd2419f7c713a9194dec7533eee67e373e/0_0_5664_4353/master/5664.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=c193d43927d426f88a8b095fcbd3d010
    Stockholm, Sweden
    Police officers forcibly remove Greta Thunberg and other climate activists who were blocking the entrance to parliament, driving them away in a police van for the second time this week

    2. Wonderful psyop to deceive the masses into believing that the powers that be aren’t in complete agreement with the doom mongering dwarf

  13. Shapps calls for defence spend increase in a ‘more dangerous world’. 14 March 2024.

    Grant Shapps has called on the Government to spend 3 per cent of GDP on defence.

    The Defence Secretary said in a “more dangerous world” it was right for the UK to increase its defence spending.

    He said committing to any rise would be “an issue for a future manifesto”.

    The Ministry of Defence is an utter shambles and not coincidentally so is the UK’s defence. Is Shapps making any effort toward sorting it out? Answer no. .

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/03/14/graham-shapps-defence-spend-increase-gdp-pre-war/

    1. “Mr Shapps also revealed he would “definitely” sign up as an RAF pilot in the event of war”.

      Would that be fly and be SoS for Defence at the same time? The silly things politicians say that they can never be called upon to actually fulfill.

    1. One of my cousin’s grand-daughters, called Eleanor but known as Ellie is on holiday in Thailand with a group of female chums. One of them took a photo of my relative with a baby elephant and labelled it as “Ellie and Elly”! Lol.

  15. Good day all and the 77th,

    Cloudy at Castle McPhee, wind in the Sou’-Sou’-West, 9℃ rising to 12℃.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5b3a98d39c201abb78f810a612f4945460f51d819b29778367cf419aaf7a4f8d.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/03/13/government-ban-foreign-state-ownership-newspapers/

    Quite right too. Will it include, do you think, banning the British government from state ownership of UK newspapers and digital publications? Note that it’s just foreign STATE ownership that will be banned so I think foreign states may well be able to work around that. There is, of course, already foreign ownership of large swathes of the UK media – Murdoch and that Russian chappie spring to mind.

    I wonder if they’ll extend the idea to our infrastructure and ban foreign state and private ownership of the steel industry (what’s left of it), chemical industry, water industry, rail companies and energy generation and distribution, airports, seaports and toll roads. They jolly well should in my view. That’s just for starters.

    1. The Telegraph and its sister rag, The Spectator, have been successfully taken over by multi-millionaire controllers and run by a couple of left wingers. Chris Evans (Telegraph) once declared “fake news is “great” for the news industry” and Fraser Nelson (Speccie) said “The British Muslim is truly one among us – one “of our great success stories”, promoted ‘gay’ marriage in Christian and Jewish places of worship and declared his editorship was “right of centre, but not strongly right of centre” (He was obviously facing the wrong way at the time).

      The last thing the ‘Back-room boys’ want is a foreign power coming in and diverting their principle propaganda outlets away from their leftwards lurch.

      “You vil own nothing and you vil be happy” – World Economic Forum 2016.

  18. Right, that’s me logging off and away to Manchester to pick up machining bits & pieces I’ve bought for t’Lad.
    TTFN.

    1. Good morning, BoB. Logging off? Have you enough in your wood store already? Lol.

  19. 384723+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Thursday 14 March: The sprawling Covid Inquiry will be of little use come the next pandemic

    Truth be told it was never, ever, going to be of any use to man nor beast, the coalition parties are organising their troops for the next General Election and a continuation of more of the same.

    The next “pandemic”is I believe under construct, knocking the rough edges off of the original
    ( the prototype).

    The introduction will be almost seamless as the
    odious, sinister, political shepherds do learn from the past.

    We need to let those involved in inquiring regarding the covid inquiry know that “their” findings and actions will, in turn, be subject to an in depth inquiry.

    1. I start by asking him two questions that I think the British public want answering: What is extremism and why does it exist?

      ‘That is two different questions: one is easy to answer, the other, less so. I think we can define extremism quite easily, by that I mean any opinion or thought that is outside of what a normal right-minded individual might think. I must emphasise that the phrase right-minded is used in its old-fashioned way and should not be misinterpreted as any kind of endorsement of the kind of right-wing thuggery we have seen scar both Europe and the US. I, and I am sure, voters up and down the UK, felt revulsion at the antics of Trump’s supporters in America and the loathsome AfD in Germany.

      ‘If we are to have any harmony in society, these enemies of democracy need to be challenged head on, and if that doesn’t work, then quite naturally we need to look at other tools at our disposal as a responsible government.

      ‘Why extremism exists is a far more complex issue, involving society and multifaceted problems. As a government, we often struggle to understand why a country such as the United Kingdom is in disharmony. Part of the problem, I think, is that the population are extremely content. Macmillan summed it up with his ‘You’ve never had it so good’ speech. That sentiment is even truer today than then. People are undeniably happier and more content that at any time in history. With that gladness, people cast around for problems where none exists. The Government has striven tirelessly to make life easier for so many sections of society, and to have certain groups carping and moaning about nothing is particularly galling.’

      All you ever wanted to know about Gove out of his own mouth!

      1. Extremism ?

        Shouldn’t he be lecturing Afghanistan , Saudi Arabia , China , India ( caste system ) Iran , Nigeria,
        damn, forgot all so called commonwealth countries, USA..

        When you constantly pick and mix and muddle different races together , different cultural values cause problems .

        Google Haram , and then wonder why on earth are these people flocking to the UK?

  21. Just a thought: driving around my part of the country I can’t help but notice the current appalling amount of roadside litter. I don’t recall it ever being as bad as it is now and it seems as though the local councils and Highways Agency have given up on picking it up. When did we become such a nation of pigs? Was it when the the mass migration really began to bite so that we now have millions of drivers on our roads, both private and commercial, who have no historical connection to Britain and no emotional investment in it either? I’m very much tempted to think so. After all that’s the way people behave in the sh1thole countries many of them come from.

    1. Judging by our area, I think it coincided with the rise in internet shopping, and fleets of delivery drivers. As did the discoveries of little piles of human excrement behind trees.
      Also, tradesmen can be fined for having empty wrappings in their vehicles if they don’t have a waste disposal licence can’t they? So that’s hardly an incentive to take their litter home if they don’t have the licence (which is a racket, but that’s another story).

    2. It’s not a general problem that I see in east Cornwall. In fact the very occasional plastic cups and cartons, thrown from a car window presumably, stand out like sore thumbs.

    3. A few years ago I took a walk with a group of Welsh people amongst the beautiful streams and woodlands north of Swansea. I have been to many countries around the world but I had never seen such an unholy mess along the pathways and riversides as those leading to the city. How it got there is a mystery, only tracks and byways but there were hundreds of tons of rubbish of every description. Strangely enough, several of the group was carrying plastic sacks and collected discarded paper and tins but the scale of the litter was beyond normal recovery. A shame!

    4. I wonder if the litter problem can be collocated with immigrants? Around here there are no immigrants and there is no litter to speak of.

      1. I am sure it can; certainly in the “ethic” quarters of our cities, and people to throw litter down in the street are probably also throwing it out of their car windows.

      2. Really? I’ve followed white children and teenagers tossing their litter aside. You’d be a fool to challenge them.

    5. I think we always had a litter problem here. Remember “Keep Britain Tidy” posters in the 1950s?

      My mother used to say the British were the “dirtiest people in Europe”. It’s just that as the population has increased, so has the rubbish they leave.

      1. It’s also about the way people live, eating and drinking on the hoof. It isn’t just hot food takeaway outlets but supermarkets, with all kinds of snacks, from salads to cakes, in plastic trays to which you can add drinks cans and bottles.

        1. Judging by the litter round schools, the cost of living crisis doesn’t extend to not being able to afford crisps, filled baguettes, chocolate bars, bottled water and energy drinks.

        2. And for some reason, they have to discard them wherever they are, instead of taking them home with them.

  22. Another thought: While we can see into the woods and forests before the spring re-foliation gets under way it is noticeable that an extraordinary number of trees and large branches are down. It seems to my eye that there are far more down than is normal. They’ve been falling across roads too. I can think of four cases of trees across the road in and around our village which happened without any excessively strong winds to cause it. Is it because the ground has been so consistently wet this winter that the roots systems have been loosened? Whatever the cause, apart from those that fell across the roads there is no clear-up going on that I can see. If we have a dry summer there’s going to be a lot of tinder and kindling lying around the woodland floors.

    At the same time we learn that the UK now has a successful directed energy weapon system, Dragonfire.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDCAT2QjRRY

    “Spontaneous” wildfires? Or am I overly suspicious.

    1. Would I be naïve to think that applying a mirror like coating to drones, or whatever might be targeted, would counter the laser?

  23. “The sprawling Covid Inquiry will be of little use come the next pandemic”

    That is because the terms of the Inquiry were deliberately set so that blame might be apportioned to various Conservative ministers and their supporters, whilst scientists, modellers and heads of relevant agencies should escape censure.

    The Inquiry is only of use if it focuses on the causes of the pandemic and identifies general rules of how to tackle the next one.

    Most of all it needs to work out the balance of risk ratios so that we do not institute measures (like blanket lockdowns) that prove more detrimental to the country as a whole, than the disease itself.

    The Inquiry as it stands is a total waste of time and a simply eye-watering waste of money.

    1. I saw that thick as pig s*** wrong un, Drakeford, sounding off yesterday on how Johnson et al didn’t take the ‘pandemic’ serious enough.
      This is the same tyrannical lunatic who despite introducing an additional firebreaker lockdown ended up with more deaths in his country than either Scotland or England! Which further proves two depressing points:
      1. Lockdowns caused more harm than good, even purely from a deaths perspective, never mind the catastrophic economic damage
      2. Psychopaths like Drakeford have learnt nothing and come the next ‘pandemic’ will double down, with harder and longer lockdowns and other draconian impositions.

      2. 384723+ up ticks,

        Morn9ing MT,

        Precisely, the next one is in the finishing construct stage now,& waiting.

      3. Drakeford is a statist stooge. He’s never had a job outside of an expense account. He’s the typical example of someone who’s lived a life completely in the state machine and this colours his entire attitude toward other people’s money, time and intent. He doesn’t have to live with the consequences of his waffle. In the state, time and money cost nothing, so he just wastes both without consideration.

    2. It’s not a total waste of time for the politicians and quacks who implemented lockdowns as it will conclude they weren’t ruthless enough, just too kind, and will not address any of the consequences of their appalling decisions.

      1. Question for you. When does Lent start and end in your denomination?

        For us it is March 18 to May 4. this year.

        1. It started in mid February and will end on 31st March in line with all Western churches.

    2. I think that’s rather unfair on the RNLI who do a bloody awful job in terrifying conditions. Yes, they’re bringing back criminal vermin and yes I’d rather that they were towed back to French waters and ignored thereafter but they are decent people believing in a good cause risking their lives.

      1. It’s appalling what the Woke government has been doing to one of our best loved institutions

        1. That’s just the problem. As a former seafarer I always used to support the RNLI by donations. I stopped once they became Royal National Lifts for Illegals. Sad.

      2. They will be looking for a good tragedy where they can save holiday-makers or fishermen and get a lot of media coverage to restore their image. In line with the cinema production that passes for news, expect one to come along in 5, 4, 3, 2,…

  25. The COVID so-called inquiry is merely an exercise in making sure the questions about that sorry episode are limited to the ones liable to provide the answers politicians want to hear.

    Next.

    1. 384723+ up ticks

      Morning JG,

      If it is allowed to get away with anything but honest answers then we the peoples deserve everything we get in the way of suffering, and more.

      1. Morning ogga.

        We do. It works a bit like charity to me, which really does begin at home. Don’t tolerate being walked over in your daily life. Challenge at every turn. The “peoples” of Britain are slow to anger, but once they do incandescence is the result. That’s why government always tries divide and conquer every time rather than tight control, such as in lockdown for example.

        Who’s complying with the next attempt to gul us with some deadly sniffle ruse? Not me. I’m going outside and I’m not having the mandatory jab. Once bitten, etc. I bet the deleterious effect on public health and decrease in trust won’t figure large in the so-called inquiry, though.

      1. Quite. If this goes on the government will be ordering the telly companies to withdraw Yes, Minister permanently.

    3. Politicians use whitewashed enquiries as a ‘get out of jail card’ when implicated in misconduct and in the case of Covid measures, crimes against humanity.

      The evidence of mounting vaccine harm and injuries is inescapable as are the harms caused by lockdown.Sooner or later the politicos will be prosecuted for their actions.

  26. If you have had “copilot” downloaded and do not want the icon in your main task bar. right click in the task bar and untick it.

    1. What’s copilot, Johnny? Oh, I see. It’s a search engine. Why this is labelled AI is beyond me. A bit like in the 80’s when everything had turbo on it.

      Even sunglasses. But they were bi-turbo.

  27. 384723+ up ticks,

    May one ask,

    Will this be inclusive of the lab/lib/con coalition party also ? Taking a “ok fair cop” stance.

    Muslim groups that incite hatred to be named as extremists by Government

    2. Ohh, good call. And of course it won’t. Politicians never have the nonsense they ram on others applied to them. As it is, we all know that this is really just a way to silence critics of the state. That’s how all these laws are applied.

    3. Updated definition of extremism I saw only a few minutes ago presents Islamism and the far right as equivalently sized threats in the UK, thus making this necessary. Apparently.

      It includes the words, “intolerance” that aims to “negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others”.

      The government probably doesn’t realise then, that it needs to report itself to the police on that basis. It’s continuously chipping away at everybody’s fundamental right to free speech, for example.

      As ever, the lightweights running our country just making things worse. Yet much more heat and very little light being shed about everywhere.

      1. There is no such thing as the ‘far right’, the right promotes individualism, it must otherwise capitalism, entrepreneurship, innovation, cannot function. The true far right would be people with individual opinions differing on almost any subject you put in front of them. As a group the far right would be a bunch of cats running in all directions and thus impossible to herd. The far right is a lie perpetrated by the left manufacturing an enemy in order to justify their desire to oppress and control people to create a utopia that doesn’t exist and cannot be achieved, it is a fiction and a neurosis that creates death and destruction. Herding is a ‘left wing’ habit, group think, whether it be a mindless Marxism/wokism in all its manifestations including fascism/Nazism and, in religious form, Islam.

      2. 384723+ up ticks,

        JG,
        Anybody supporting these WEF / NWO political mobster cartels must surely take heed of the Quran resting between the dispatch boxes for oath taking, and halal on the parliamentary canteen menu.

    4. That is all and any mosque in which the Koran is quoted.

      Surah 3:151: “We shall cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve (all non-Muslims) …”

      Surah 2:191: “And kill them (non-Muslims) wherever you find them … kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers (non-Muslims).”

      Surah 9:5: “Then kill the disbelievers (non-Muslims) wherever you find them, capture them and besiege them, and lie in wait for them in each and every ambush …”

      The Quran has 123 verses that call for fighting and killing anyone who does not agree with the statement, “There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet.” Jews and Christians are specifically included among such “infidels.”

      1. It begs the question about Holy Scripture, especially when it is having an off day – is it “extremist” to believe all that one reads in such tomes, or better to be somewhat selective?

        1. With the Koran you must believe 100% because it is the literal word of Allah. It is not open to moderation or interpretation. Those who have tried, Sufis or Ahmadiyya, for example, have been consistently murdered for blasphemy because they tried to promote a non-literal interpretation of the Koran. There is no “off day”.

          The irony, by the way, of the Ahmadiyya, is there headquarters are in Israel because they can’t survive in any Orthodox Muslim country.

          1. Whereas the Christian church does not invest its teachings and interpretation in a single entity or person but rather defers to a group.

            I remember listening to Chad Varah, founder of the Samaritans and vicar at St Mary le Bow on this topic. Varah understood inferences in Hebrew and Greek texts which illustrated differences in interpretation of historic texts.

          2. Yes, in the Christian tradition there were two ancient schools that cast a long shadow and their influence still operates in this century. The Antiochian school of theology and the Alexandrian school. The latter inclines to the symbolic and metaphorical, it produces Christian mysticism and is now particularly prominent in Orthodox Christianity.

            The Antiochian school tends to literalism and its effects can be seen in Protestantism, the West. It is interesting to follow these strands of thought because they are responsible for a great deal. I think that the reason that the Industrial Revolution took place in England and that modern science developed in Protestant Europe, is thanks to the type of thinking that Antiochian Theology encourages. I do not think that if Christianity had become entirely Alexandrian in its thinking, that modern science would have risen. We would be much the same as the other religions and their scientifically underdeveloped cultures. Which is not to say that they are inferior at all, at least not spiritually, except for Islam which closed the doors (itjihad) of knowledge deliberately in the 14th Century.

        2. Jesus was an extremist. He would get locked up by most authorities around the world these days.

          2. Nope, evidence was that the State didn’t much like his ways. Hence I suppose indicates why Archbish Welby gets on so very well with the State nowadays.

  28. Good morning all , another dull mild day, 11c, the sun may peep through later .

    Moh not golfing , so we will do some gardening later .. Bought a medium size wooden half barrel to plant hydrangea in . We are surrounded by an eight foot hedge .. so we are limited to how and where we can plant anything . Lots of trees on the other side of a bordering driveway.

    Why is Gove lecturing us on unity and social cohesion , and is he cracking down on free speech .

    Is he talking about people like the bods who sent the teacher into hiding in Batley , I do hope so.

    I also hope he is talking about Diane Abbott, who has stated horrible things about us Anglo Saxon whiteys?

    1. Morning TB.

      Gove is a shill, everything about him has a thick layer of lubricant over it.
      I always wonder if any of these perpetually moaning ‘ex African’ people have ever been back to their ‘roots’ just to see what it’s really like.
      To discover how lucky they really are.
      They wouldn’t last a week.

    2. The most important part of Gove’s speech is this part:-

      The new definition…. also includes those who “intentionally create a permissive environment for others to achieve” either of those aims.

      “Others” being doubtless websites who allow opinions that the Goves of this world do not like and do not wish others to hear.
      Like this website, for instance.

          3. I don’t either. I loathe Sky News. My news roundup app has it as an exempt among others. Google will find it.

      2. Again, government needs to report itself to the police then, for the biggest and most powerful creator of such environments is government itself. I give you mass uncontrolled immigration, m’lud. My case rests.

        1. The state refuses to believe it is responsible for any problems. They are blameless. The reactions _to_ the problems they cause, now, that’s wrong and must be punished.

          And so do we get the circular advancement of the Left wing mind.

    3. Of course not – he has the “far right extremists” in his sight. People like us.

  29. Morning all 🙂😊
    Not a bad start but a lot of rain forecast….again.
    A bit of a rough night of coughing.
    The liars never admit anything, there is no way we will ever know the truth about covid.

    1. The inquiry has already decided what it wants to find and is simply making sure it does. Truth and evidence are annoyances it will ignore.

      But hey, what is it? £25 million a day? Probably for 5-8 years, returning a phonebook of gibberish that’ll never be read again because it is so clearly biased and irrelevant that it just doesn’t matter.

      1. At least you managed to waste money on an inquiry. All we got was a self serving report for the federal medical officer that bragged about how well her organisation managed the issue.

      3. I assume that all the KCs are paying tax at 45% so we might recoup a bit. That still leaves 55% of it thrown down the khazi.

  30. Wordle 999 5/6

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

    2. Par. I should have guessed it adpfter the first try.

      Wordle 999 4/6

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

      2. Wordle 999 3/6

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

        Lucky, but not quite lucky enough!

  31. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/03/14/rishi-sunak-general-election-keir-starmer-michael-gove/

    There’s lots of blither about Sunak in the article but fundamentally it’s the entire party. Not one of them stands for anything. There is no sense of purpose, of values of vision. They don’t seem to want to do anything for the country except ruin it. Taxes remain offensively high and they lie about being a low tax government. They could stop the invasion but don’t want to because that upsets the EU. They betrayed Northern Ireland with the Windsor agreement.

    They waffle on about ‘green’ but continue to push Miliband’s lie – that higher prices will force down your use of energy and that that is the plan to achieve net zero – to literally drive you out and socialise costs. They don’t care who this affects. The end result is going to be socialism.

    That seems to bee their overriding attitude. Not free market economics, the greatest work of wealth creation ever, but statist socialism where government decides and controls all. Soviet Russia abandoned this nonsense. It failed in the 70’s here. Why are they forcing the same again? Is the civil service so desperate to force a planned economy?

    1. Yes, Labour isn’t talking about pensioners freezing to death in the winter any more, are they?

    2. We seem to be in the situation that Yeats foretold in his poem: ‘The Second Coming.’ And, at the same time, entering the world of 1984.

  32. The Covid enquiry will last years and earn the lawyers millions.
    It’s conclusions will be that Boris Johnson is to blame for everything and that every member of SAGE and every civil servant was impeccably correct at all times.
    It’s so obvious you could set it to music and sing it.

    1. No – they will conclude that lockdowns should have been sooner, harder and for longer. The jabs should have been mandatory for all.

    3. Caedit nos pestis: “The plague falls upon us.” The dire opening of Stravinsky’s “Oedipus Rex”……

      1. “The curse has come upon me,” said the Lady of Shallot!”

        This line from Tennyson’s poem made prurient-minded pubescent schoolgirls giggle!

          1. They used to give us some tablet called veganin – it was the size of a horse pill and had no obvious effect.

      2. “The curse has come upon me,” said the Lady of Shallot!”

        This line from Tennyson’s poem made prurient-minded pubescent schoolgirls giggle!

        1. I am afraid I am a philistine. With very few exceptions, I find music composed after 1840 too much for my pore brane to cope with.

          1. I am in general agreement (as I tend to believe that if one needs to put on one’s thinking hat to understand a work of art, it ain’t art), but those works I like, I like a lot. I think I am partial to a spot of crunchy dissonance, but only if it is resolved decently afterwards.

          2. I will concede that one of my faves is Walton’s Balshazzar’s Feast. Wonderful to sing.

    4. You left out that Sturgeon and Drakeford showed impeccable leadership, completely untainted by political opportunism. Also that beer and curry with a group of people drawn from all over the country posed no risk but being surprised by cake in your usual workplace was a major risk.

      1. Yes, the old memory isn’t what it was. I forgot those paragons that you mention.

  33. Eddy
    Sorry your cough is still rotten , it will soon ease . Mug of hot Bovril cuts away the cack .

    This notification amongst others appeared in my mail .

    Good morning,
    It’s always a lively morning when Michael Gove is on the broadcast round. Today, unsurprisingly, was no exception.

    The briefing

    Name and shame: Michael Gove, the communities secretary, told Times Radio that “first of all, before dealing with a problem you have to define a problem” as he unveiled his new definition of extremism.

    Trivia question: Who was the first minister of state for communities and local government? Find the answer below.
    New recruits: Far-right activists are working to entice youngsters into fascism by setting up a secretive network of martial arts and fitness clubs across the UK, a new report has found.

    Michael Gove was up early to pitch his new definition of extremism to the nation, with the hope of focusing minds on his package and, crucially, away from the increasing pressure Rishi Sunak is under to return millions of pounds to a Tory donor who made racist remarks about Diane Abbott.

    First, the definition. Extremism is described as “the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance” that aims to “negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others” or “undermine, overturn or replace the UK’s system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights”. It also includes those who “intentionally create a permissive environment for others to achieve” either of those aims, and is, in Gove’s view, more precise that the previous description targeting “vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values”.

    The communities secretary has a number of hurdles to clear today. The first is to answer those who think this doesn’t go far enough: the new definition doesn’t concern criminality but, rather, whether groups can engage with government – and even then it won’t initially apply to councils, arm’s-length bodies, universities and independent government bodies such as the police and Crown Prosecution Service. Nor are we expecting to know those groups he plans to name for some weeks yet. Then Gove must address those who think it could go too far: some of his own MPs, Miriam Cates chief among them, harbour concerns that the definition threatens free speech, while others – including three former Tory home secretaries – fear it risks politicising extremism. And then there’s Labour criticism in the form tested by Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs yesterday, which hopes to use the Tory donor row – with the implication that Rishi Sunak has himself been soft on extreme language – in an attempt to damage the credibility of government efforts on this issue. Full story here.

    1. The definition “undermine, overturn or replace the UK’s system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights.” seems to make extremists of pretty much everyone in Parliament?

    2. Fascism is a Left wing concept. The control over others is not something a right minded person wants. The Right mind seeks freedom of expression, non-conformity, independence and to act within the law as an independent entity.

      I know this terrifies the Left and thus why they demonise these attributes but the reality is simple. The Far right that the Left are so frightened of is simply individualism.

  34. Morning all! Another dull day. We are the unhappiest people in the world excepting Uzbekistan. I think it is because our politics and the country disintegrating around us matches our weather. I find it quite fantastic that when I was born the Empire with the exception of India, which left the year before, was intact and now, we are on our knees being invaded by hostile people and cultures and unable to push back because all our institutions have deserted us.

    Anyway. Tommy Robinson yet again. For all the difference it makes. But hopefully he is right in his prediction here, I hope it is soon. I would like a fightback to start before I die.

    Calvin Robinson sits down with Tommy Robinson

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qss57TyTus

  35. Geert Wilders will not be PM after rival parties refuse to support him. 14 March 2024.

    Mr Wilders posted on X that he wanted a “Right-wing cabinet… less asylum and immigration. The Dutch come first”.

    Party leaders have been tight-lipped during the process but public broadcaster NOS reported that the most likely outcome for Thursday’s report was an “extra-parliamentary” or technocratic cabinet.

    It is unclear exactly what form this could take, but it is expected that four party leaders will serve as MPs.

    So much for the voters!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/03/14/geert-wilders-not-pm-parties-refuse-support-netherlands/

    1. It is not the PMs job to be popular or so the unloved Trudeau said yesterday.

      Stop the presses! That is one objective where he has not just met but exceeded the objective.

      1. Running a country is not a popularity contest, but there are limits to showing your contempt for the electorate. Well, showing it openly, at least.

    3. It is throughout Europe that what the people want is completely irrelevant.

      Remember the video in which the cockney gives an address complaining that we were never asked whether or not we wanted mass immigration? (Does anyone have a link – I have lost mine?)

      Now when they do ask us whether or not we want it and we tell them we don’t they just ignore us.

      Democracy cannot RIP when the PTB are determined to rip it apart.

        1. Many thanks.

          This is brilliant and it should be shown in schools instead of the woke crap children are fed.

    4. So again a European electorate has voted for change, and again their politicians have refused to allow it.

      Technocratic being a posh word for Undemocratic.

      2. Oh, democracy is a wonderful thing – so long as it comes up with then “correct” result.

  36. Just back from t’market. Though the temp is 11½ºc – feels jolly cold with the strong breeze.

    For cat lovers – Alan Brownjohn (no, me neither) has died. The MR knew him. Together they founded the local branch of CND. (As I pointed out – very tactfully – to the MR – that went well!!!).

    Sometimes I am an unseen
    marmalade cat, the friendliest colour,
    making off through a window without permission,
    pacing along a broken glass wall to the greenhouse,
    jumping down with a soft, four-pawed thump,
    finding two inches open of the creaking door
    with the loose brass handle,
    slipping impossibly in,
    flattening my fur at the hush and touch of the sudden warm air,
    avoiding the tiled gutter of slow green water,
    skirting the potted nests of tetchy cactuses,
    and sitting with my tail flicked,
    skilfully under me, to sniff
    the azaleas the azaleas the azaleas

  37. If you take Jesus’s teaching as the starting point, then there is nothing that one can’t believe in. Remember, he went against some of the stuff in the OT.

  38. It is the dangers of proportional representation. Our system, in that respect, is better but far from satisfactory. Perhaps the Swiss system?

      2. Ermm, let us rerun that referendum, the result was not as required (Irish government model).

    2. Our system, in that respect, is better but far from satisfactory.

      Morning Johnathan. It is not the means but the definition that has gone awry. It no longer matters who you vote for. They will forget their campaign promises and simply implement their own agenda. What we are seeing is the dissolution of the West and its Culture.

    3. Our system, in that respect, is better but far from satisfactory.

      Morning Johnathan. It is not the means but the definition that has gone awry. It no longer matters who you vote for. They will forget their campaign promises and simply implement their own agenda. What we are seeing is the dissolution of the West and its Culture.

    5. Thee is a concern that the liberals will try and bring in some form of proportional representation before the next election in canada. It would most likely end up with a coalition of very left liberals, nutty left ndp and assorted greenies and communists.

      If things don’t change, polls are giving a 99% certainty of a runaway conservative victory so we expect Trudeau to try anything to keep power.

        1. Why do you think they banned gun ownership?
          The only people round are way with guns are gang members.

          1. Yup, when you ban guns the only people who have them are the criminals. Don’t they ever learn?

          2. Especially when yer natives were already known for smuggling illegals into the US and bringing back guns and cigarettes on the return trip.

          3. Good grief! I had no idea. No-one ever mentions smuggling illegals into the US via Canada

          5. surely you don’t want them to be able to legally carry guns? you want the law to be enforced more rigorously?

      2. Oh help! But you could be right, he doesn’t need to hold an election until October 2025.

        1. Looked for you here, as I think you suggested in a different post not returning to Speccie? Hope you’re doing OK, thought of you when reading a piece on South Africa, felt sure you’d have contributed to it 🙂

          1. Hello KJ – I’ve missed you! I am still on the Speccie site and also posting there, but not quite so often. I haven’t seen the piece on SA, is it in the new issue which I’ve not yet had time to look at properly? Btw, I seem to be blocked by you on the Speccie site? A few days ago I responded to a couple of your posts and when I went back to see if you had seen my responses you were “content unavailable” 😕

          2. It’s a huge mess, self-inflicted by Spectator – Editor has to take responsibility. I ended up with two Disqus accounts, my usual one (as here, from you) and a ‘Spectator’ one which has now disappeared. I suspect Spectator (& Telegraph? was it similar there) decided to write their own messenger, based on Disqus whilst not being Disqus, and it backfired. Moira G gave Nelson what-for when he appeared yesterday (thought about you too, then). I will continue to look out for you, you can bet on that. I always liked Geoff Graham’s comments, exchanged for a number of years, as he’s a Type 2 I think, as is BH. No-one seems to know where Angelina sprang from, Lord Snooty had a to and fro with her the other evening, suggesting she’s a troll. I hope you see this, possibly leading to more regular comms. PS – yes, on new issue by Sam Kiley.

          3. It does seem to be a real muddle and, as you say, self-inflicted. Geoff Graham is, I am sure, Type 1 and has lost a leg to it. I’ve had lots of interesting exchanges with him, especially on church matters as he is a church organist of decades standing!
            Angelina isn’t a troll and she’s OK. She asked Geoff if she could recommend the nttl site to lost, lonely and confused Speccie commenters and he agreed. She might have got a bit over-enthusiastic, but in fact it was she who told me that you were looking for me and very upset that we could no longer chat. She’s upset about Lord Snooty’s attack which I don’t think is really justified. After all, we can comment on both sites – I do. He told me that he has had a look at nttl but hasn’t commented on it. It is very different from the Speccie in many ways but there are some very nice, and fun people here. In fact, I remember Geoff telling me ages ago that he had his own site and giving me the name, but I never followed it up until the Speccie debacle!
            Anyway, its a relief to be able to talk to you again – I thought you had gone completely off-air🫨😆

          4. I did take a look at it one evening, read some of the comments, decided not for me. Doubt I’ll return. Angelina kept repeating the same message, which I think is what upset Lord Snooty, I’m thankful she no longer does that. Geoff is a good guy, have exchanged a number of messages with him in the past. No-one seems to know/understand why she seemed to take over his nttl blog. She posted the same comment a number of times on the Spectator message board, citing ‘around 40’ people having moved over (number from my memory), and encouraging others to do similar – typical troll type behaviour. I have no wish to hear from her again. Whole episode coincided with Disqus going down, which didn’t help. I’m glad now seems sorted. There was a short spell where I couldn’t get online. I was only off-air a short time.

          5. KJ where are you finding my comments? The reason I ask is that I can only see your responses by clicking notifications on the nttl site which is where I am now, but you say you don’t post there? I found you on the SA article but as “content unavailable” so I asked Aggie and she told me what you said 😄 I have posted there now so let me know if you see it. There aren’t all that many comments on it.

          6. I see you now on nntl, not the Spectator. I have replied to Aggie, she had corrected me on my comment, and told me you had been in touch with her I think. I asked her to let you know I’d seen you, hope that’s OK. I don’t usually use nntl, but I occasionally check it out, when I can get past the ads.

          7. Can you see my Spectator comments on nntl? I was in touch with Aggie yes, and of course it’s OK to pass messages on via her – just ridiculous that we have to :((

          9. Evening, Kate. For the record, last Tuesday, I appeared to acquire an unofficial marketing team: initials AK. I didn’t ask for this, but I did post a reply saying that displaced Speccie posters were welcome in ‘the other place’. 3 am Wednesday, I woke to attend to a call of nature, only to find that the world existed on the other side of what appeared like obscured glass. Fortuitiously, I had a routine ophthalmology appointment on Wednesday afternoon. Explained the situation, and the eye doctor said “you’ve had a small bleed” – this being in the ‘good eye’. Which is what I had assumed. So I have an appointment for laser surgery on 4 April. Meanwhile, the vision has been variable, but now it’s back to a couple of easily ignored ‘floaters’. Hence, I’ve been mostly absent from the site for a week.

            AK has only been posting at the Speccie for a few weeks. I have no idea re. her previous posting history, but quite a few NTTL regulars swiftly identified ‘trollish’ behaviour. It seems that her Disqus profile has now been deleted.

            The new Speccie commenting system is a mystery. Lots of folk say “it isn’t Disqus” – yet it’s clearly based on Disqus, with the functionality removed.

            I’ve noticed that, if I go to “new, improved, Speccie non-Disqus comments”, the next time I return to “Proper Disqus”, I’ve been logged off. Further, some New Speccie comments appear as “content unavailable”.

            This suggests to me that my small handful of blocked posters in the past, remain blocked in “Not Disqus”.

            Frankly, I’m past caring. I’ve pulled my subscription.

            Anyway, NTTL isn’t to everyone’s taste, and it was never intended to be a substitute for either the DT Letters page, or the Spectator, for that matter. But feel free to look in from time to time, if the mood should take you…

          10. Evening, Geoff, really good to hear from you. I am so sorry to read about your eye trouble (although very pleased you had a routine ophthalmology appointment – as we’ve discussed previously, been there done that, and more than once.) The laser treatment sorts it out, how fortunate we are to have that option. For now, him indoors is keeping on top of his numbers, he’s actually been on the carnivore diet for almost a month, his numbers down and coping well, for now, his balance issues improved, and mental clarity/speech improved too. Been quite a scrow at the Spectator, upset a lot of subscribers – what was Nelson thinking of. Seems to have settled down somewhat, although the link to Disqus still mia by way of the D button/reply history etc. I wonder if they were intending to have their ‘own’ version of Disqus which somehow never got off the ground. AK is the only person I have blocked in my Disqus account, I checked earlier when PetaJ wondered about it. I’m very glad I found you on NTTL and I’ll keep checking in on you:-) I’m the same person I always was, don’t seem to change much, and glad you seem so too. Btw have you seen the headline this evening, suggesting the Redbird/Telegraph deal being questioned? Watch that space…and hope to see you again, Kate.

          11. Hi Peta,

            Thanks for what I think is a good summation of the situation. Point of order, though: I’m Type 2 and lost both legs below the knee. Really buggers up the organ pedals, but I get by.

            I met with a few NoTTLers for lunch today, and the general consensus is that the new influx has enlivened the site. I agree…

          12. Hi Geoff, nice to hear from you! My apologies for getting my facts so wrong – I never knew that Type 2 were so vulnerable to losing limbs. I can well imagine that it doesn’t help with the organ pedals!
            I’m glad that the general consensus about the influx is positive – I think those of us who have stayed have tried hard to fit in, join in and not upset anyone. I’m enjoying the site anyway :))

          13. I deleted my Disqus account and then opened a new one before joining this forum. It may be worth doing that if you are OK with losing your history.

          14. Thanks Lola, for info – may just have to resort to that. I think a lot of my history seems lost anyway, eg number of comments etc

          15. Just checked, I can see your responses to nttl, but not to Speccie. I don’t post on nttl. I couldn’t even mention nttl yesterday, wouldn’t accept it. I can see my reply to you a few minutes ago not appeared, either. The hot mess continues……..

          16. How odd, because I can only see you on nttl but you say you don’t post here?? 😕 What is going on??!

          17. When the new Notthespectator site starts up I imagine there will space for comments on each article. Then there will be no reason for any one to stay behind.

          19. No, somebody else started a new disqus one on which he announced the plan, then allowed a few comments (16), then closed it, saying he would be in touch soon when arrangements were finished. I didn’t keep a record of his name.

          20. Thanks…odd times…I still have two Disqus accounts, this one with characters and now also a Spectator one. I was apparently trolled last week by Angelina Komeneka, along with many others. All this happened since Spectator seemed to decide to write their own messenger, possibly they had a data loss along the way, who knows.

          21. Update to msg below…think this Disqus a/c is linked to Geoff’s blog nttl, he’s disowned AK. So other Disqus a specific Spectator one. Both have my handle KJ1.

        1. Elections are subject to a number of acts of parliament. There are some provincial veto powers, I can only hope that such a change requires provincial agreement.

          You only need to look at the way the latest carbon tax increase is being pushed through. Every province is calling for the increase to be scrapped but Trudeau is ignoring the calls for sanity.

    1. That’s wonderful. Thank you, I’m having a gloomy day but that gave me a good smile.

  40. Quite so. Very unhelpful labels, all of them. Main stream media puddings make those up mostly. Politicians jump on bandwagon. Apple cart upset, as usual. Politicians ought to get on with their day jobs, I feel.

  41. That was the reason for my comment – and the word in brackets – because it could never happen here….!!

  42. OT – Funny thing. Cats both fast asleep. Knock at front door. Delivery man to say he had left the cat food (ordered at 6 pm yesterday) in the garage.

    Pickles immediately woke up – went to front door – demanded to go out. The MR found him in the garage sitting next to the box of cat food….!!

        1. I expect the words ‘cat food’ did it! ‘Tuna’ works quite well with Phoebe and Dobby!

    2. Ah, just because their vocal tackle only produces a feeble squeak that doesn’t mean that you haven’t taught them English!

  44. Modern life and depression. Episode 241.

    Called into the public library this morning. Immediately on entry – very large sign: “How to report a hate crime”

    3. I’m not keen on D.H. Lawrence (pretentious and boring).
      Is that a hate crime by librarian standards?

  45. Well, that’s that. Goodbye Merc E class, hello Range Rover Evoque. For better or worse.

    4. Hopefully, you won’t be disappointed. My last dozen cars included 2 Renault Megane Scenics, 3 Alfa 156s and a LR Discovery 2 – none of which were remotely new, and had lousy reputations for reliability. All gave great service, though admittedly the Disco was a cheap Ebay purchase with a supposedly blown engine. As I swapped the Td5 for a newer one (also from Ebay) I discovered that the original lump was fine, but oil had travelled via the injector loom to the ECU, cusing two cylinders to misfire. It’s apparently a common problem. So I sold the old engine back on Ebay, with full disclosure.

      The last company car was a new diesel Ford Mondeo, which was the only one to give trouble, despite the reputation of the other marques. My final car was a Merc C class estate, with 190k on the clock when I purchased it, and 280k when I sent it to the scrapyard. That was only because disability meant I didn’t feel able to tackle the fairly straightforward MOT advisories such as drop links and bushes.

      These days, with a station on the doorstep, my vehicle of choice is a 450 Class “Desiro” train. I’ve gone electric…

  47. Is the DT being deliberately obtuse?
    This enquiry is exactly what the next pandemic needs.

    1. Of course. It’ll give them all the excuses they need to implement full on soviet terror and kill off as many of us as possible next time. But the DT can’t print that.

  48. 384723+ up ticks,

    May one ask,

    ,Could this be made a great deal clearer in the respect say of paedophilia,and the abuse of children of ALL caste in general and the instigators will be fully Identified as in place of origin, race etc,etc.

    I take it groups can be inclusive of families, yes ?

    Muslim groups that incite hatred to be named as extremists by Government

    1. and if they are charged with inciting hatred nothing will happen to them – words are cheap Ogga

      1. 384823+ up ticks,

        Afternoon FA,

        Sad to say but, when the decks of bounty cards appear
        hosting the likeness of
        politico pharmaceutical
        hierarchy, they will need legions of protectors.

  49. A manboy tries to plead guilty to manslaughter of a girl who was stabbed to death but denies possessing a blade in a public place!

    Boy, 17, admits killing 15-year-old private schoolgirl Elianne Andam who was stabbed to death at Croydon bus stop – but denies murder
    Elianne was stabbed to death on her way to Old Palace of John Whitgift School
    Boy appeared at the Old Bailey via videolink to plead not guilty to her murder
    Manslaughter plea rejected by prosecutors with trial to take place in November

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13196321/croydon-bus-stop-stabbing-boy-admits-killing-girl.html

    1. Yes, well; poor wee lad, how was he to know that stabbing someone with knife could lead to death.
      He hadn’t done that module of his GCSE in Citizenship.

    2. Yes, well; poor wee lad, how was he to know that stabbing someone with knife could lead to death.
      He hadn’t done that module of his GCSE in Citizenship.

  50. The French front line health care is superb, the bureaucracy less so.
    I tried to arrange a follow up appointment to check the stent only to be told they have no record of it.
    Ho hum,.

    3. How strange.

      The consultant’s secretary has just phoned to give me an appointment.

      Nottle works its magic.

    1. Gormless, over-excitable “Steve” should be educated: you cannot stab with a machete. You can only cut, slash or chop with them.

        1. We do not have the big Grizzlies, our bears are black, here in WV and smaller, only dangerous when Momma bear is protecting her offspring. I had to take down the bird feeder as it can attract them

        3. I read that the usual idiots are suggesting wolves be ‘re-wilded’ in the UK.
          At least bbc Country File reports won’t be able to blame ‘packs of domestic dogs’ for fatal attacks on sheep and lambs.
          Wolves to be re introduced In order to control the increasing herds of wild deer.

          1. When the wolves escaped from Colchester Zoo, they were all shot.
            MB and I were upset; we have no illusions about wolves, but surely they could have been tranquillised.

          2. I few years ago I was out walking with our Lab and came across a guy on a dirt track who already had two butcherd and dismembered bodies of deer in the back of his Land Rover. And another along side. Doggo was very interested.
            If we’d been on our way home I would have asked for a chunk.
            I’m wasn’t if what he was doing was legal. But it’s going to have to happen more often.

          6. It’s worth a try, wolves attack and kill politicos, wolves die after eating poison meat. The two birds trick.

    2. Smart of the Muslipolitan Perlice to spot that he is dangerous. Too dangerous for them to get anywhere near, I expect…

    3. They find the POS and then what happens, shoved under the carpet like all the other huge bulges ?

    1. It is an anti-inflammatory and cancer is an inflammatory disease so the answer is, possibly. Like aspirin, also much hated by the pharma industry, it could serve a prophylactic purpose.

          1. Choooor….. I know what you’re getting for Christmas Luke……I can feel your presence.

      3. Nathan’s tweet is flawed, to say the least. The accusation dates back to 2008, not 1997. The then Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, had nothing to do with it, so does it really go all the way to the top of Brown’s government? Politicalite’s website aired this accusation nearly 5½ years ago, so it’s not a new revelation. The webpage is peppered with ‘claims’, ‘allegations’ and ‘if true ‘, so has it or has it not been verified? It would also have been useful had the supposed email circulated to all police forces come to light.

        LABOUR’S COVER-UP: Gordon Brown’s Government ‘Urged’ Police Not To Investigate Grooming Gangs

        By Jordan James
        Published 13 November 2018

        GORDON Brown’s Labour Government allegedly urged Police Forces across the UK ‘not to investigate’ grooming gangs.

        The Former North West Chief Prosecutor alleged that the Home Office ordered police to ignore grooming gang claims in 2008.

        Nazir Afzal, told the BBC that in 2008 the Home Office sent a circular email to all police forces calling on them to not investigate the sexual exploitation of young girls in towns and cities across the UK.

        Speaking on the Radio 4’s PM programme, Mr Afzal the former North West Prosecutor who reversed a Crown Prosecution Service decision and successfully prosecuted the notorious Rochdale rape gang, said: “You may not know this, but back in 2008 the Home office sent a circular to all police forces in the country saying ‘as far as these young girls who are being exploited in towns and cities, we believe they have made an informed choice about their sexual behaviour and therefore it is not for you police officers to get involved in.’”

        UKIP’s Spokesman for Families and Children Alan Craig hit out and said: “If Mr Afzal is right then it indicates that the Home Office knew about rape gangs’ sexual crimes against underage girls across the country and wilfully instructed the police not to investigate the claims.

        “This brings a whole new dimension to the case – it was thought that both local police and local councils had failed their duty of care, but if true, Mr Afzal’s claims would show that instructions to the police to ignore the claims came from the very top, at the heart of government in Whitehall.”

        UKIP Leader Gerard Batten said: “I demand that the government investigate the claim made by Mr Afzal that the Home Office sent an email circular to all police forces calling on them to cease investigating claims related to the industrialised mass sexual exploitation of young girls across the country.

        “If true, Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary at the time should be investigated for grossly failing her duty of care to countless young women across the length and breadth of the UK.”

        UPDATE: Mr Afzal has admitted Jacqui Smith had nothing to do with the order and has apologised to her.

        https://www.politicalite.com/politics/labour/labours-cover-up-gordon-browns-government-urged-police-not-to-investigate-muslim-grooming-gangs/

        1. There are so many alleges appearing at the moment that I fear it is becoming too easy to fall off. 😉

      4. Nathan’s tweet is flawed, to say the least. The accusation dates back to 2008, not 1997. The then Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, had nothing to do with it, so does it really go all the way to the top of Brown’s government? Politicalite’s website aired this accusation nearly 5½ years ago, so it’s not a new revelation. The webpage is peppered with ‘claims’, ‘allegations’ and ‘if true ‘, so has it or has it not been verified? It would also have been useful had the supposed email circulated to all police forces come to light.

        LABOUR’S COVER-UP: Gordon Brown’s Government ‘Urged’ Police Not To Investigate Grooming Gangs

        By Jordan James
        Published 13 November 2018

        GORDON Brown’s Labour Government allegedly urged Police Forces across the UK ‘not to investigate’ grooming gangs.

        The Former North West Chief Prosecutor alleged that the Home Office ordered police to ignore grooming gang claims in 2008.

        Nazir Afzal, told the BBC that in 2008 the Home Office sent a circular email to all police forces calling on them to not investigate the sexual exploitation of young girls in towns and cities across the UK.

        Speaking on the Radio 4’s PM programme, Mr Afzal the former North West Prosecutor who reversed a Crown Prosecution Service decision and successfully prosecuted the notorious Rochdale rape gang, said: “You may not know this, but back in 2008 the Home office sent a circular to all police forces in the country saying ‘as far as these young girls who are being exploited in towns and cities, we believe they have made an informed choice about their sexual behaviour and therefore it is not for you police officers to get involved in.’”

        UKIP’s Spokesman for Families and Children Alan Craig hit out and said: “If Mr Afzal is right then it indicates that the Home Office knew about rape gangs’ sexual crimes against underage girls across the country and wilfully instructed the police not to investigate the claims.

        “This brings a whole new dimension to the case – it was thought that both local police and local councils had failed their duty of care, but if true, Mr Afzal’s claims would show that instructions to the police to ignore the claims came from the very top, at the heart of government in Whitehall.”

        UKIP Leader Gerard Batten said: “I demand that the government investigate the claim made by Mr Afzal that the Home Office sent an email circular to all police forces calling on them to cease investigating claims related to the industrialised mass sexual exploitation of young girls across the country.

        “If true, Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary at the time should be investigated for grossly failing her duty of care to countless young women across the length and breadth of the UK.”

        UPDATE: Mr Afzal has admitted Jacqui Smith had nothing to do with the order and has apologised to her.

        https://www.politicalite.com/politics/labour/labours-cover-up-gordon-browns-government-urged-police-not-to-investigate-muslim-grooming-gangs/

      2. Very irresponsible of it, I thought. I hope the police helicopter caught up with it and issued one of those fixed penalty thingies. That’ll larn it.

  55. Right – the sky is brightish – I am off for more wood sorting. I shall return, exhausted, in a couple of hours.

  57. Three Muslim groups to be investigated over extremism fears, says Michael Gove. 14 March 2024.

    Mr Gove used parliamentary privilege to name the five groups which will now be assessed as to whether they and other organisations meet the new definition of extremism.

    Officials will be instructed to cut off all Government funding and block all meetings with any of the groups that meet the definition to ensure they are not inadvertently giving them a “platform or legitimacy to advance extremist ideologies.”

    The three Muslim groups named by Mr Gove are MEND (Muslim Engagement and Development), CAGE and the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB). The two right wing groups are British National Socialist Movement and Patriotic Alternative.

    The two right wing groups are sops. What we should really be seeing is any LGBT organisations who we know are consulted by the Civil Service, and the BBC which should be defunded and closed down. This is not going to happen of course. What we are seeing here is a nod toward reform that will maintain the status quo.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/03/14/rishi-sunak-general-election-keir-starmer-michael-gove/

      2. Its the name of a fairly notorious far right party from early 20th century continental Europe. It is socialist in the same way that Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is democratic.

          2. perhaps you are thinking about a different National Socialist Party? I’m thinking of the one in Germany that started WW2

          3. Your inference is false. totalitarianism is a feature of both extreme left and extreme right.

          4. On the contrary, Right wing thought is more associated with reducing Government.

          9. Isn’t he?
            Wasn’t it the typical German contraction of the name of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, (NSDAP) in the same way that “Kriminalpolizei” is shortened to Kripo.

          11. I don’t D’Souza think is an idiot, but I could be wrong. I think he just playing culture war nonsense games.
            Nazi was a derogatory term. The term was used in Germany before the rise of NSDAP as a colloquial and derogatory word referring to an backward and clumsy peasant. Opponents of NSDAP also used the word “Sozi” prior to “Nazi” as a derogative representation of the word Sozialist or “Socialist” in English.
            Hitler never used the word in his conversations. Herman Goering also avoided including the term in any of his speeches. The same could be said of over 550 members of the NSDAP who were interviewed by Professor Theodore Abel of Columbia University in 1933.

          12. Of course a number of clueless, Left-wing, mob-handed socialist organisations “embrace the label”, this is because they are beyond education. You cannot educate a cabbage.

            Being called “far-Right” is simply an absurdity.

            Being labelled ‘far-Right’ is preposterously idiotic. If you are on the Right of the political spectrum it means you shower, work, know the words to the national anthem, belong to a family, voted Brexit, eat meat, and prefer single-sex lavatories. Have I missed anything?

            Oh yes, I’ve missed a lot. It also means you love life, liberty, freedom and the pursuit of happiness. You are an independent, self-sufficient and self-reliant individualist who has aspirations and are innovative. You are a knowledgable, entrepreneurial, enterprising and hard-working individual who enjoys low taxation and small government. Moreover, your preference is a free-market economy, and you do not go in for mob-handedness, rioting and civil disorder. You expect these positive attributes to be encouraged and rewarded. Your self-esteem, your family, your locality and your country come first, and you are prepared to kill (and die) to defend them.

            In a nutshell, you are NORMAL.

            Therefore it logically follows that to be ridiculously labelled as being ‘far-Right’ means that you must be extremely free, extremely happy, extremely independent, extremely self-sufficient, extremely self-reliant and an extreme individualist; who is extremely aspirational, extremely innovative, extremely knowledgable, extremely entrepreneurial, extremely enterprising, extremely hard-working, and enjoys extremely low taxation and extremely small government, etc.

            If that is the case, then you may call me extremely ‘far-Right’ until the cows come home.

            Moreover, the curious expression “Right-wing populism” is a facile, puerile fallacy. Being on the so-called “Right” side of the political spectrum is as far removed from populism as it is possible to get. Populism = collectivism = socialism. Those on the polar opposite to the accepted “Left” believe in individualism, not populism.

            ©Grizzly 2023.

          14. labelling right of centre people as fascist or nazis is idiotic, but not as dumb as trying to rebadge fascism as a left wing phenomenon. The label is overused and abused. It should be saved for actual extremists

          15. I see you have invented your own definition of “populist” and “Far right”. You are pretty much on your own if you think Neo Nazis and white supremacists are left wing or socialist.
            Sooo, next …‘War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength.’

          16. I dont know about you, but when I go for a sh1t, I am the only person in the bog. single sex by definition. Its a f@kking cubicle.

          17. In the North East where I come from, the swimming pools have had mixed changing areas and showers for decades, and nobody sh1ts the bed. the whole debate is pathetic. why do you care about what’s in someone else’s pants? Have you ever even met a trans person?
            I’ll be honest, trans women unnerve me a bit, but being a big strong man, I’m not reduce to having a f@king fit about such trivial bollox.

          18. Trans women = man pretending to be woman?
            Well, maybe as a big strong man, you don’t care if a man pretending to be a woman is in the ladies’ loo. The real women, however, do care.

            I get it. “Big strong men” don’t care if women-pretending-to-be-men swing their bits and bobs around the men’s locker room. But small, vulnerable women definitely care about men-pretending-to-be-women swinging their genitalia around the ladies’ powder room. And so do not-so-small not-so-vulnerable women. In short, men, keep the hell out of our spaces.

            [And also, real women, let the real men have their spaces: their clubs, their sheds, etc).

          19. I’m pretty sure that the real women and the “real” women are in separate cubicles. in my office, each cubicle is a room with a bog and a sink. Why would any one care who is in the next room when both door are locked any more than you care if 2 men shag each other in the privacy of their own home.

            Clearly communal areas where everyone is nudey is a different thing entirely. Any decent pre-op trans woman would get in a cubicle.

          20. Women dont walk around toilets naked. Changing rooms vary obviously. As I said, some are cubicle based. Where they aren’t you have an issue.
            The *actual* hill to die on here is fairness in sport. My view is that if you are a trans woman and you lose your sporting career, tough. Life is like that. there are all sorts of career enders in sport. It has to be near impossible to guarantee fairness if someone has gone through pubery as a male.
            Also “women in business” awards. Some very dodgy looking winners, where 1 trans women coincidentally beats 1000 women to a business award. Looks flawed. Not the fault of the trans woman. The lame arse judges. That will pass I think when the novelty fades. there is discussion to be had here, but there is the possibility of nuance. this stuff can be figured out without all the f@cking hysteria.
            Nobody is legislating about sheds, so if you follow that example…. Male only clubs on the other hand are the opposite of protected.

          21. Some thoughts:
            “Trans women = man pretending to be woman?”. well, thats a point of view. There are others and they have been around for millennia. One example (there are others).

            The Talmud contains eight gender designations including:
            1 -Zachar, male.
            2- Nekevah, female.
            3- Androgynos, having both male and female characteristics.
            4- Tumtum, lacking sexual characteristics.
            5- Aylonit hamah, identified female at birth but later naturally developing male characteristics.
            6- Aylonit adam, identified female at birth but later developing male characteristics through human intervention.
            7- Saris hamah, identified male at birth but later naturally developing female characteristics.
            8- Saris adam, identified male at birth and later developing female characteristics through human intervention.

            So gender (as opposed to birth sex) can be viewed as more of a social construct. You have your view. Entire societies have got along with a different approach. No need to hate on those who see the world from a different angle. We all live in the same country and we have bigger fish to fry (assuming the French dont nick them all) . What someone carries in their pants (or not) isnt hurting anyone 99.9% of the time, so far as I can see. “The crying Game” made my eyes water. The trans woman in my office makes me uneasy. But then I engage my brain. There is literally no harm being done. How is my life better if I make her feel like cr@p? Being trans must be incredibly hard to start with, without the rest of the world piling on.
            BUT there are edge cases, like the scottish rapist to decided to declare themself female, and the stupid politicians who went along with it. So dumb. But one predatory (false, lying ) allegedly trans women need not represent all trans women any more than David Carrick represents all Met officers.
            Also, screaming “trans women are women” at people is equally dumb.

          22. “know the words to the national anthem”. Well, the first verse and the chorus, anyway…

          24. 5 minutes of my life watching that culture war pap. D’Souza is deliberately wrong. Wrong about the origin of the word “Nazi” . Admits that that the far-right embrace the term ‘fascist’ . Wastes 5 minutes drawing one comparison between the hard left and fascists .

            A key concept of the Mussolini “The Doctrine of Fascism” was that fascism was a rejection of previous models: “Granted that the nineteenth century was the century of socialism, liberalism, democracy, this does not mean that the twentieth century must also be the century of socialism, liberalism, democracy. Political doctrines pass; nations remain. We are free to believe that this is the century of authority, *** a century tending to the “right” , a Fascist century. **** “

          25. We will simply have to agree to disagree on this topic, won’t we? I know that most commentators on this forum are, like me, of the Right, and we tend to believe that the concept of a “far-Right” is simply ludicrous. You don’t happen to be a Guardian-reader by any chance?

          26. not really a fan of the guardian to be honest. My wife buys it. If i may, terms like Far Left (or right) are what happens if you move to the left (or right) and keep going. Maybe the problem is that people are too ready to label people on the other side of the spectrum as extreme, when they are simply on the other side of the centre.

        2. They were funded by the same people who funded the Russian re-revolution, in order to produce the same power concentrated in the hands of the few.
          If it looks like a duck…

          3. you have some sources so I can read more? I think you are saying “they both borrowed money from banks”??? “The communists were funded by capitalists”??? Like the commies were closet capitalists or something? Or the US bankers were secret communists? What are you trying to infer, apart from something about ducks?

          4. The source is G Edward Griffin’s book “The Creature from Jekyll Island” – it’s all referenced. And yes ,they were funded by capitalists. It was never about workers, and always about a small elite controlling the masses.

          6. Left wing – right wing is just a distraction for the masses really. It’s all about who controls the money, and that’s not politicians.
            TCFJI is a history of the Federal Reserve, and is actually quite gripping, especially as it covers a lot of historical events that include Britain.

          7. If you aren’t up to speed on fiat currencies and debt-based money and the collapse thereof, then now might be a good time to start (before it happens!)
            Willem Middelkoop’s book The Big Reset is good, or The Great Taking by David Rogers Webb.

          9. Then you should know perfectly well how the world is run, and what point we are at with the crumbling debt-based fiat currencies…

          11. I shall probably ask you what arcane financial terms mean then. For example, I saw this the other day

            Gunther Schnabl
            @GuntherSchnabl
            A bombshell: The #ECB hints at permanent #bond purchases.
            This should pave the way for permanent monetary state financing.

            What do they mean by permanent? Surely they can’t mean literally selling bonds that pay out forever?

          12. permanent isnt a technical term. Some bonds are perpetual, yes . The UK still has WW2 bonds outstanding

          13. Since government debt is never zero, bonds are paid off by issuing new bonds. Shorter dated bonds require lower interest, but you dont know what the rollover rate will be. Just like when you decide whether to fix your mortgage for 1 year or 5 years. I think the US goes out to 30 years and the UK goes out 50. This debt trades. So it can be bought back at any time. think about a 30 year bond issued at 1% rate 5 years ago. the government could buy that back for a fraction of the price they paid for it, but by borrowing money at the current 5+% rate of interest to finance the purchase. No free lunch, just a choice of frontloading or backloading the cashflows. bonds are priced (very efficiently) by discounting the cashflows according to the rate of interest. The “smart” decision is to borrow very long term when rates are low. The challenge is calling the bottom. I saw UK gov bonds costing 170% of issue a few years ago because they were issued before rates plummeted in 2009. 4% interest from the UK government looks fantastic when rates are 1%. The opposite happened when rates returned to high levels in the last year or so. (you may have seen this in the news when Liz Truss resigned)

      3. The Communist Party of Britain ought to be on that list. Communists murdered far more than National Socialists.

    5. Black Lives Matter, Gay Pride and the International Holocaust Remembrance Association all come within Gove’s definition of extremism, having perverted the course of democracy, indulged in hate programmes, and infiltrated national institutions within the last ten years. The Labour Party, under Starmer, comes pretty close too.

      I expect their clever London lawyers will find a loophole.

    6. However Mr Gove is going ahead with Hostile Vehicle Mitigation Barriers in Guildford.

      “One of the entrances to Guildford Railway station will be closed to passengers for two weeks as safety measures are installed. The plans mean the Park Road way in will be inaccessible at the beginning of next month.

      From April 2nd until April 14th work,will be taking place to install Hostile Vehicle Mitigation barriers which will prevent cars from driving into Guildford Station. Once in place these will effectively seem like bollards and are part of a regional programme to make passengers safer at train stations.

      The work will involve the digging of shallow foundations to install the steelworks and the bollards. This will involve the use of heavy machinery to break into the ground, which Network Rail have said will be noisy”.

      [We didn’t realise that Guyildford had so many muzzies]

      2. Isn’t the correct term “Allahu Ackbarriers”?

        Actually, I know a bit about these things, having been involved in the construction of the Ocean Terminal, Southampton. We had to install 176 bollards to BSI PAS 68. The estimators missed that tiny detail, and priced them as ordinary bollards, at tuppence-ha’penny each. Or something. Perhaps £40.

        Here’s an example of what the specification actually required…

        https://www.internationalsecurityexpo.com/exhibitor-videos/marshalls-rhinoguard-75-50-bollard-crash-test

    7. How can the British National Socialist Movement be classed as far – right? t’s very name smacks of far-left.

  60. Appalling manners. Didn’t wait for the hostess to give the nod. Must be American.

  61. Kensington Palace compared to North Korea by news boss over Kate portrait controversy. 14 March 2024.

    Kensington Palace has been compared to North Korea by a news agency executive, who said the Prince of Wales’s household was no longer viewed as a trusted source.

    Phil Chetwynd, the global news director of Agence France-Presse (AFP), said the photograph of the Princess of Wales and her three children released to mark Mother’s Day, and later revealed to have been edited, had “clearly” violated the agency’s rules.

    Mr Chetwynd said it was “rare” for news agencies to “kill” a picture because it had been manipulated but that on this occasion, their hand had been forced because the palace did not respond to requests for an explanation or to release the original image.

    North Korea! Lol! Kim Jong Kate. Talk about over the top.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2024/03/14/kensington-palace-compared-to-north-korea-by-news-boss/

    3. Oh, for goodness’ sake! It’s a single flippin’ photo. Who cares if it’s been touched up?

      1. Some consider the Royal Family to be public property and that we’re all entitled to know every last detail of their private lives, including details the complainants would be unwilling to yield up from their own lives.

        1. No, I don’t think that’s true at all. Just a smokescreen here to cover up the real issue.
          For some reason the photo was faked and would have been accepted as genuine if it hadn’t been exposed by international news agencies.
          Instead of publishing the original or some videos showing that nothing was amiss, the RF published a message purporting to be from the princess but no evidence to support that.
          The only photos then was one taken of the couple in a car, So dark it really could have been anyone.
          People often laugh at the poor quality of photos of UFOs but this photo was much worse.
          The use of a doctored photo has caused many to suspect that there is a dark, possibly sinister reason behind this deception.
          The ridiculous accusations of bullying and prying only provide further fuel to the conviction of many that there is a conspiracy.

        2. But it’s all so silly. Sometimes I wonder if I’m surrounded by people from another planet!

        3. That never used to be the case; when I was growing up the RF was treated with respect and very little was known about their private lives. I don’t think that opening the curtains and letting the public in has necessarily been a good thing for them or us.

  62. 384723+ up ticks,

    Have a good one Michael, you sure pegged that one right ,we are Living in a (The Self Preservation Society)”

    2. Comparing Trump’s physical condition with Biden’s is exaggerating a bit.
      Spoke to my brainwashed colleague the other day – he believes that Trump is the most dangerous criminal in American politics. I pointed out that Hunter Biden is up to his neck in p_ photos, positions on the board of Uke energy cos and dodgy painting deals – my colleague did not dispute any of that, but maintained that Trump is a worse person.
      A testament to the power of propaganda…

      2. But can’t tell you why. I agree with you.
        I respond to those statements by saying he’s the only POTUS in recent years hasn’t started any wars. That being the case why is he dangerous?
        Silence.

    3. The key issue will be who Biden chooses as running mate.
      If he drops Harris and selects a reasonably centre leaning alternative who appeals to middle America I think he could win it.
      A vote for Biden will in reality be a vote for the running mate. Biden’s deteriorating too fast to serve another full term.
      If Biden goes with Harris I think Trump will get in.

  64. Why has modern, up-to-date, green technology not yet managed to produce a feasible and viable clockwork car engine?

    Or would that be too much of a wind-up?

    4. I don’t understand why electric cars are not self charging. Normally car batteries charge themselves over a reasonable journey.

    1. It could be why so many MPs are leaving, I bet they didn’t realise that they would be signing up to population reduction programs when they stood for Parliament

  66. Nord Stream sues insurers for €400m over pipeline blasts. 14 March 2024.

    Nord Stream is suing insurers including Lloyd’s of London for more than €400m (£345m) over explosions that tore apart pipelines used to transport Russian gas to Europe.

    The Swiss-based company, which operates two pipelines known as Nord Stream 1 and 2 in the Baltic Sea, has filed a claim at the High Court seeking damages over the 2022 explosions.

    The Americans blew them up so they should pay the compensation.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/03/12/nord-stream-sues-insurers-lloyds-london-pipeline-blasts/

  67. Back from a very pleasant lunch with the Boss and some other NoTTLers just as well nobody was recording the conversations
    Viva la Revolution!!

          8. It would have been about the time I was in Transition. ‘Transition’ was, at that time, just the name of a class at school – but how prescient!

          10. If I didn’t know better, I would have said the video was HG.

            Her mother has a photo of her aged about 4, which is the spit image of the little girl just as she smiles after nicking the cake before running off. The likeness is extraordinary.

          1. He got a half bottle of Malt Whisky in a brown paper bag. I said the bag was for if he wanted to drink it straight away.

          2. Next time take him to Wiltons for Dover Sole with Chablis Les Clos GC and then Sticky Toffee pudding with Chateau Y’qem. I can advise on vintages.

          5. Next time take him to Wiltons for Dover Sole with Chablis Les Clos GC and then Sticky Toffee pudding with Chateau Y’qem. I can advise on vintages.

          9. It was a nice gesture on their part but you deserve it.
            PS I’m having more and more trouble logging into your site, it can take over 20 attempts, but suffering no problems elsewhere. Any advice?

          10. The site itself doesn’t require logging in at all, but it can take a few seconds to open. It’s a WordPress site, hosted by Bluehost. It can take 30-40 seconds for the “new post” page to open in the morning, for no obvious reason. Which gives me time to fill the kettle…

            The comments are hosted by Disqus, and as you have a Disqus account, it shouldn’t be a problem.

            However – since Fraser buggered up the Speccie comments, I’ve noticed that, having viewed them, if I return to normal Disqus sites, I’ve been logged off. It only takes seconds to log back in with my Disqus account, but this never used to happen.

            Otherwise, I have no idea. Disqus has always been somewhat flaky.

  68. I think I’ll stay with this comment section now.
    Have been staggering along with the Spectator and it’s not the same.
    Thinking of giving up the subscription too, as they have gone from a group of both left and right thinkers arguing the toss, which was interesting; to a left wing outfit that very occasionally allows a different perspective as long as it doesn’t make too much fuss.

  69. It is now clear: Ousting Truss killed the Tories
    The Party is out of options. Not even a new leader can save it
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/14/it-is-now-clear-ousting-truss-killed-the-tories/

    BTL

    The problem is very clear. The Conservative Party is the Mendacious Party.

    Everybody knows that net Zero is a scam and that carbon dioxide is both beneficial and necessary.

    Everyone now knows that the Covid jabs did more harm than good and that many people have been seriously injured by them.

    Everyone also knows the difference between a phobia and a genuine fear based on facts.

    And the Conservative Party just lies, lies and goes on lying.

        1. All you’re left with is the different shades of wrapping paper round the same bundle of lies.

    3. I don’t buy that about Truss. She had some decent ideas but no fiscal or political judgement and was a complete disaster as she lacked the courage to begin with spending cuts. Her energy subsidy was also insanely large.

  70. Back from garden. Knackered. Still, job 3/4 done. Will finish on Saturday arvo. Talking of which – isn’t 8 pm a bloody silly time to start a rugby match?

  71. Just received this from my energy supplier

    Great news! The cost of using energy is going down from 1 April

    1. Only for those using more. For those economising on energy consumption, the Standing Charge is actually going up.

      1. I shall be economising on energy consumption by sitting down a lot – will my Standing Charge still go up? 🤔

  72. Beyond yesterday, a Bogey Five!

    Wordle 999 5/6
    ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
    ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
    ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
    🟩⬜🟨⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. A lucky birdie.

      Wordle 999 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟨🟨🟩
      🟨🟨⬜⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Not so good here
        Wordle 999 5/6

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

    2. Same here

      Wordle 999 4/6

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

    3. Another lucky three. Being an optimist, I expect a six tomorrow!

      Wordle 999 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
      ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Wordle 999 4/6

        Boring, boring par – first time I’ve done this though, very exciting!!

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

        2. Perhaps a visit from our Foreign Secretary would help out. He’d make a fair few choice cuts.

    2. If you google “what does chop mean in Nigeria”, a dishonest answer will come up claiming that it merely means “to eat”. When my father was there and in Ghana in the 1940s, it was widely recognised that chop chop meant cannibalism and a Ghanaian colleague when I worked in Selfridges in the 1980s confirmed that. Is it still going on Haiti too?

  74. I’m still waiting for the 11:20 am phone call from the osteopathy department arranged by letter more than two months ago. Not to block a late call, I tried to send an email the address on the back of the letter, it bounced. I rang the number next to the email address and number not recognised.
    I found trusted PALS email address and sent the original email to them.
    🤔 another fine mess.

    1. When MB had to change an appointment date, he tried the phone 3 times.
      Eventually, our son ran him up to the hospital to physically sort out the matter.
      The nurse who could do that only worked part-time. Not on the day that MB rocked up, natch.
      MB then went to the actual department and saw the consultant’s secretary. Job done.

      1. If I’d known they were not going to phone me, I could have gone to the hospital, my wife went to collect our DiL from an earlier appointment.

  76. That’s me gone. Useful day. Discovered how to put a chain saw chain back!

    Tomorrow out all morning. I have to be on my best behaviour “helping” at a “Getting to know you” coffee morning for new Arts Society members. More tree work in the afternoon.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain – briefly.

  77. Radio 4 6pm news. One of the headlines started thus: “A council in London is to remove all Palestinian flags from its infrastructure.” Well done, I thought – but then: “The mayor says they’re being used to further Islamophobia .”

    I waited for the story and guess what: Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman. The report continued: “There are complaints that some people feel intimidated.” Not the Muslims, surely?

      1. Oh, I know of Rahman’s history alright.

        Peter Golds was in the report, talking of the illegality of the displays of the flags.

  78. Is it safe to come out? It seems the crush has passed through almost as quickly as it came. I have been hiding in the coal bunker after blocking one of them. All too much fun for an elderly old girl.

        3. I didn’t block you! Well, only for a few weeks, I always knew I was going to set you free one day.

          1. You’re not alone in blocking me, you joined an honourable list, all of whom have since unblocked me too.

          5. Teasing people who have a sense of humour is sometimes a thin line to tread.
            As I often note, or words to that effect: one man’s humour is another woman’s offence

            Phizzee is one of Nottle’s very good sports, as are you.

            I’ve observed, and I’m told, he always gives as good as he gets.

            So you’d better be good if you want to get any….

          9. I have a T-shirt that says “When I am good I am very, very good, but when I am bad I am spectacular!”
            I’ve not worn it for a few years….. 😆

          11. I’ve only once blocked someone (temporarily) who was trolling me and being unpleasant.

      2. Someone with the handle of JD. Edit 1. I must admit I am sensitive. But I thought he was arrogant and not the sort of person I wished to exchange views with. Edit 2. In fact, I thought quite a few of the newbies were more bolshie than that to which we are accustomed. They seemed to be throwing their weight around without any sense of self-awareness.

        1. I think it’s just a matter of getting used to the rather less confrontational atmosphere on here. The Spectator seems to be infested with People Not Like Us. I don’t mind that normally, but there’s no doubt it’s nice to be able to retreat to an echo chamber where you don’t even have to post because someone else will have said exactly what you were thinking!

          1. Most of the newcomers seem to have a good way of integrating and I’m delighted to see them here, but there a couple of “flat contradiction” specialists that we could do without!

          2. It isn’t just being on the same wavelength, though. We really are a “community” and we look out for each other. We have, in our time, seen births (of grandchildren), deaths (of posters and their dependents, spouses and pets) and even marriages (well done, mola2!). We are close knit and caring. Some new posters didn’t seem to try to get the feel for the forum before they waded in without even considering adapting their style or content. As I say, it wasn’t a good look and didn’t endear them.

          3. Er, I did exactly that and waded in…but I am usually not aggressive – I have to crank it up when I post on TCW as some of the men there are a bit MGTOW.
            actually I was aware of NOTTL from its founding and looked in a couple of times, but I didn’t ‘get’ the format for a long time.

          4. I can’t say you stood out in that respect, unlike some of the newbies recently. It’s a matter of styles and registers; tailoring your communication to fit the surroundings. Some clearly had no awareness of the need for that.

        2. Honestly poppiesmum, JD is a really nice man, as you will undoubtedly find if you ever engage with him….

          As to your second point, you’re absolutely right – the Speccie BTL was massively more robust and confrontational than on here.

          I think you’ll find the vast majority will adapt to the different parameters that exist here.

          I speak as an ex-Speccie loudmouth who loves the jokes, memes and general fun you get on here!!

          1. Haven’t the Canadian Mounties got their man yet GG? We kept hearing that it was imminent 😆
            What’s your prediction for Saturday? Three matches in one day will leave me with square eyes 🤣
            Here’s mine:
            Italy to beat Wales
            Ireland to beat Scotland
            France and England leave me with very divided loyalties. I will be as happy for the winner as I will be sad for the loser, so maybe a draw?!

          2. Yes, looking forward to it PJ!

            My call is very similar to yours:
            Italy to beat Wales (very close though)
            Ireland to beat Scotland (comfortably)
            France to edge England in a titanic encounter – they were so good last week…..

            What a great 6N this has been!!

          3. Hasn’t it just! So pleased that Ireland didn’t get the Grand Slam against all predictions, Italy have silenced their critics, England thrown theirs into delicious disarray and France have finally shaken off their post RWC depression :))

          4. Yes, looking forward to it PJ!

            My call is very similar to yours:
            Italy to beat Wales (very close though)
            Ireland to beat Scotland (comfortably)
            France to edge England in a titanic encounter – they were so good last week…..

            What a great 6N this has been!!

          5. It’s a different style. I used to post on the Terriblegraph before i quit subscribing (on their pro-Lockdown stance) and then on the Speccy before i quit (because Fraser Nelson and his girls are liberal-Leftards). I have gone back to the Speccy and get the Terriblegraph for free courtesy of my local council’s subscription to Press Reader. That is a huge digression but i see here as more like family.

          8. Someone, I don’t know who it was, took Rik to task for posting his usual early morning amusing memes to make us laugh, this new person called them spam. Honestly, I don’t know who these people think they are. They have no self-awareness, no insight. He may not like them himself but he has the facility to scroll down but no, he had to throw his weight around. I am not a fan or Wordle but I realise other people enjoy it and regard it as a challenge, so I let them get on with it and move past it.

          10. It was the use of the word ‘spam’ that really infuriated me, Conway! It was at that point I headed for the coal bunker and soundly closed the door for a few days! I would be there still had the comment count not receded. However, I was pleased to see Rik soundly boxed the intruder’s ears.

          11. Somebody called Tom’s joke “drivel”. He got short shrift, too. Then there was the loud-mouthed braggart (you know who you are) who put up the results of two races on the first day of the Cheltenham Festival without either a warning (“if you don’t want to know the result, look away now” as it used to be) or covering them with a spoiler. As I hadn’t had time to watch the recording, I was incandescent. Worse, it took two posts, the second spelling it out in words of one syllable, to get the message across that it was inconsiderate. Still no apology has been forthcoming.

          12. Drivel!! Who do these people think they are!!?? As for your personally offensive one, words fail me.

          13. Having met Rik several times, most recently at lunchtime today, I think you can rest assured that such criticisms would have been water off the proverbial duck’s back. The newbies will either take us for what we are, or they’ll become bored and bugger off. Whatever.

          15. Lack of appreciation that it isn’t like the Speccie threads. Here, it’s a free for all.

          17. Sir Tom of Jasper was also criticised for his morning joke. Tom was very roundly defended.

          18. Do you know, pm, I’m a massive Wordle fan and, thanks to Geoff G, I was able to post my ‘score’ on here for the first time today! I know it isnt everbody’s cup of tea but that’s why I really like this site!

          19. This platform is a mish-mash of many things, which is why it is so much fun. To visit other sites I have to be feeling strong e.g. TCW especially for the comments (the articles are edgy and informative) but the btl comments are doom and gloom and I leave feeling despondent; I sign on to Nttl and the world is returned to normality and sanity. I really don’t mind what people post, I can scroll down if it is not my thing and there are no hurt feelings. But I do draw the line at inconsiderate replies.

        3. ‘Evening, PM. JD is no stranger to the site: he used to post here as 1642again. His style reflects Going Postal, but he’s one of the good guys.

          1. Well, I’ve blocked him and I’ve no intention of unblocking him, so he’s out of my hair. What the mods do is up to them.

        4. You have kindly upvoted several of my posts – thank you! I concur with Geoff and 4G below – JD is OK, straight-talking but really OK.

          1. I am one of nature’s teddy-bears, I like pleasant, congenial, good-humoured company; I found JD overbearing, not only to myself but one other at least as well. I don’t like to see others badly treated or humiliated. It distresses me.

        5. I thought he seemed ok – and Geoff says he used to be 1642 again – he did post here years ago.

        6. I haven’t blocked anybody, but there were a few newbies who came over as arrogant, inconsiderate and definitely condescending to the establishment (i e us experienced posters).

          1. They did rather overwhelm the long-standing inhabitants last week. But they seem to have calmed down a bit now.

          2. I understood the reason for the avalanche of posts and expected it to settle once the initial excitement wore off (as, indeed, it has), but there were a few who made sneering comments, some of which were, in my view, rude and uncalled for, particularly as they hadn’t taken the time to know us. It was as though they were entitled and we were mere plebs. It wasn’t a good look!

          3. I had a “small bleed” in the good eye early last Wednesday, and have been limiting my screen time as a result. Things have now mostly cleared up. So I may have missed any unpleasantness. I’m aware of a few ‘trollish’ comments, but – compared to the early days of the site – all seems relatively calm, and the site seems rather better for the new intake (most of whom I’m aware of from the Speccie).

          4. No reflection on you, Geoff. I hope things are improving for you. A few things needed to be made plain (ie spelled out because they couldn’t take a hint!), so hopefully they will take that on board and we can move on peacefully into the sunlit uplands.

          5. Things seem to be settling down. And – dare I say – I’ve noticed at least a couple of somewhat left-of-centre Spexiles, which adds balance to the site. Not least since poor Lottie’s demise (although I think she was coming round to a conservative way of thinking).

            We had hordes of trolls eight years ago. They got bored and left…

        1. I haven’t. You’d better have a look and see if I’ve missed anyone. I had a job to keep up with them all last week.

    3. I feel bad. I blocked David Wainwright ages ago. Should i unblock him? He just winds me up, he is just so far-Left (imho 🙂!). Should I reevaluate?

      1. David has been here since the beginning. Very well balanced, neither right wing nor leftie. Always sensible. He did throw a wobbly last summer and deleted his account, only to come back a day or two later.

          1. David likes to take the balanced view; if he thinks things are too lacking in facts. he’ll put the opposite view with stats, etc.

      2. He’s our moderator of conscience…
        Nottlander: “I think we should nuke Africa.”
        DW: “ALL OF IT?!”
        Nottlander: “Just a bit of it?”
        DW: “You’re excused.”

          1. When the DT ditched Disqus, many of the regular Letters Page, and other posters, who had built up online friendships, were cast into the outer darkness. Whilst trawling other sites using Disqus, I would see them, looking lost. Conversations ensued. Then David (aka Stigenace) posted lists of the Letters page regulars. One or two felt we should do something, but in the end, I thought “Why not?”. Hence, in the early hours of 1/4/2016, I opened a new Disqus “Community” channel, and tracked down the Disqus profiles listed by David. So as not to draw too much attention, I would pick an old comment by each poster, and reply, saying “Psssst… You may be interested that we’ve set up an alternative place to comment on the Telegraph Letters.”

            Dear Reader, the rest is history. Or the longest-lasting April fool ever…

      5. Me too, I blocked him a while ago.. The only one, actually since the disappearance of JenniferSP on this site. It was his refusal to consider anything except government opinion that got to me, and he quoted gov.uk articles back to me, and Reuters and Snope, and we all know what a shower they are. Now I have blocked JD as well.

  79. If only Hester hadn’t of donated so much money to the Conservatives,
    He could have called Abbott anything he liked and nobody would have cared.

  80. Had an exhausting day, so, another day is done so, I wish you goodnight and may God bless you all, Gentlefolk. Bis morgen früh.

  81. Heyup All!
    Auction items picked up for t’Lad and I have to drop them off at his place Sunday.
    Not a bad run except the bloody DPF on the van is choked up and the engine’s gone into low power mode.
    Coming back via the old A6 through Whaley Bridge and up the Goyt Valley to Buxton, the bloody thing struggled to reach 40 coming up the hill!!
    Needs to be sorted.

    1. My Euro4 diesel kept throwing up the engine warning light – something I was told would mean an MOT failure.
      However, when I traded it in for an EV which has even better acceleration (0 to 60 mph in just over 6 seconds) the sales guy had no problem in accepting the diesel’s road worthiness.

      I can now fill up my EV without going to a garage or public charging port and fill it up at home for 11p per kWh. I get 4 mile range for 11p. I overcome the major drawback of EVs not having a 14v output alternator by disconnecting the 12v battery when the EV is not in use.

      1. Was catching up on my GBC (Geoff Buys Cars) yesterday. Takes me back to my youth, romping round the Staffs/Worcs countryside. Anyway, one of his posts was about how people who drive EVs are complaining about getting travel sickness. Something to do with the acceleration, and lack of expected noise. Any views?

        1. MOH can’t stand being a passenger in my EV.

          Your two reasons are relevant because EVs are instantly responsive to acceleration and the electric motor’s torque can push an EV to outpace most ICE vehicles – this can be unexpected and frightening. Lack of gear changing noise is also confusing for a passenger during bkaking because you can hear an ICE engine slowing down on a lower gear whilst an EV brakes the car when just for raising your foot off the accelerator.

          Passenger expectancy than an EV should feel like an ICE car is quickly eroded.

        1. But that is exactly what you are instructed to do in the user manual.
          That is why something is not right with EVs.

  84. Oh for Gawd’s sake
    All they did was follow the bullshit stream.

    Scramble to find Russian cyberhackers who unleashed GPS jamming attack on Grant Shapp’s RAF jet: NATO launches major reconnaissance operation to identify source of electronic warfare attack
    UK, US and Swedish aircraft have been deployed to track down the hackers

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13198141/Scramble-Russian-cyberhackers-unleashed-GPS-jamming-attack-Grant-Shapps-RAF-jet-NATO-launches-major-reconnaissance-aircraft-operation-identify-source-electronic-warfare-attack-Defence-Secretarys-Poland-flight.html

  85. Busy day for me, work and funeral and trying to help elder child wrt somewhere to live post-graduation.

    The youngsters are screwed. Property prices are through the roof. At her age, I had a starting salary of £8.5k (1989) and bought a tiny two-up two down in Smelly Poke, Brum, for £42k off my brother (he had purchased it 2 years earlier for £21k). Now you are looking at starting salary in my profession of £30K (not bad!) but similar two-up two-down is now £250k. World has gone mad. But we know that.

    1. We’ve been screwed for decades. I’ve saved and saved and saved. And inflation and taxes have cut my legs out from under me. I’m not much further forwards, despite having forewent holidays, cars and the like. Wish I’d just lived it up in my 20s now. I’d be no worse off!

      1. Now that I’m retired, I can’t get any extra help/relief for the simple reason I worked hard, was prudent and made provision so I wouldn’t be a burden on the state – unfortunately, the state has negated all my prudence, but denies me any help. I frequently mutter, “I wish I’d just p1$$ed it all up the wall, not bothered to work or try to save and I’d have everything provided now.”

        1. I hear you. It’s difficult to advise the kids to do the right thing; it’s not valued, of rewarded.

          1. The problem is the current govt mindset (and has been so for some time) is to reward bad behaviour and penalise those who do the right thing. Think marriage, having children in wedlock, only having the children you can support, being sober and hard-working. I’m sure you can add others.

        2. I know that feeling. By having some savings we miss out on dental care, prescriptions (supposedly coming one day), tax rebates, grants and general handouts. Just to really annoy, I also lose part of my state pension because our income s high.

          Not that my frozen UK pension is setting any records for purchasing power.

        3. They’ve squeezed both ends. Quite impressive the effrontery to commit outright theft and tell us that they’re doing us a great favour.

    2. Apparently a family wanting to buy a house in Vancouver would need to save 20% of their salary for 50 years before they can make the down payment on a house.

  86. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse…

    British countryside can evoke ‘dark nationalist’ feelings in paintings, warns museum

    Cambridge University’s Fitzwilliam institution overhauls displays with visitors informed that landscape images can stir dark emotions

    Craig Simpson • 14 March 2024 • 2:05pm

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bc06848cbefa25bd89b4831593d343297f33b5df519c835297262e51a59b436b.jpg
    Hampstead Heath by John Constable at the Fitzwilliam Museum [CREDIT: Alamy]
    __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    The Fitzwilliam Museum has suggested that paintings of the British countryside evoke dark “nationalist feelings”.

    The museum, owned by the University of Cambridge, has undertaken an overhaul of its displays, in a move that its director insisted was not “woke”. Luke Syson said last week: “I would love to think that there’s a way of telling these larger, more inclusive histories that doesn’t feel as if it requires a push-back from those who try to suggest that any interest at all in [this work is] what would now be called ‘woke’.”

    The new signage states that pictures of “rolling English hills” can stir feelings of “pride towards a homeland”. However, in a gallery displaying a bucolic work by Constable, visitors are informed that “there is a darker side” to the “nationalist feeling” evoked by images of the British countryside. It states that this national sentiment comes with “the implication that only those with a historical tie to the land have a right to belong”.

    Paintings at the Fitzwilliam have been reordered into themed categories, in a shake-up the museum’s director hopes will make the gallery’s displays “inclusive and representative”. Categories include Men Looking at Women, Identity, Migration and Movement, and Nature, which includes English landscapes by Constable, Gainsborough and Palmer, and French scenes by Pissarro, Renoir, Monet and Cézanne.

    A sign for the Nature gallery states: “Landscape paintings were also always entangled with national identity. The countryside was seen as a direct link to the past, and therefore a true reflection of the essence of a nation. Paintings showing rolling English hills or lush French fields reinforced loyalty and pride towards a homeland. The darker side of evoking this nationalist feeling is the implication that only those with a historical tie to the land have a right to belong.”

    The claims about the depiction of landscapes comes after the charity umbrella group Wildlife and Countryside Link submitted a report to MPs which claimed that the British countryside was seen as a “racist colonial” white space. However, Mr Syson has insisted the shake-up of the museum is not “woke” or “radical chic”, saying: “Being inclusive and representative shouldn’t be controversial; it should be enriching.”

    A sign for the new Identity gallery informs visitors that portraits of uniformed and wealthy sitters “became vital tools in reinforcing the social order of a white ruling class, leaving very little room for representations of people of colour, the working classes or other marginalised people”.

    ‘Portraits entangled with imperialism’

    It adds that “portraits were often entangled, in complex ways, with British imperialism and the institution of transatlantic slavery”.

    Paintings in this space include Joseph Wright’s (1734-97) portrait of Richard FitzWilliam, who bequeathed £100,000 to fund what is now the Fitzwilliam Museum. Labelling for the portrait points out that FitzWilliam’s wealth “came from his grandfather, Sir Matthew Decker, who had amassed it in part through the transatlantic trade of enslaved African people”.

    The gallery also displays paintings intended to broaden representation with works by John Singer Sargent, the subject of “speculation he led a secret, queer life”, and works by artists in the Jewish diaspora, and a modern work by Joy Labinjo, the British-Nigerian artist.

    The Migration and Movement gallery display notes that “while some people chose to leave their homes, global conflict, discrimination and European colonialism meant others fled or were exiled by force”. Here visitors can see works by Jewish artists who fled the Nazis, such as Motesiczky, along with works specifically focused on the Roma gypsies and travellers, including Turner’s A Beech Wood with Gypsies Around a Fire.

    In the Men Looking at Women gallery the different ways in which male artists have portrayed female subjects is explored, until women’s more equal status in society altered how they were depicted. Specific themes from the “mythologising” of violence in paintings, to “women reading”, to the emergence of outdoor painting, are now covered following the rehang.

    Mr Syson previously told The Guardian: “Being inclusive and representative shouldn’t be controversial; it should be enriching. We should all welcome the opportunities to understand each other better through the eyes of great makers and artists.”

    Wildlife and Countryside Link, an umbrella group for nature charities, drew up a report on perceived barriers to ethnic minorities enjoying the countryside. The report, submitted to MPs in an all-party parliamentary group for Race and Community, claimed that the British countryside has been influenced by “racist colonial legacies” which have created an environment some fear is “dominated by white people”.

    The report added that Britain’s green spaces were seen to be influenced by “white British cultural values”, and that the idea of such a “white space” prevents people from other ethnic backgrounds from enjoying the outdoors.

    The claims, disclosed by The Telegraph, prompted Suella Braverman, the former home secretary to say that “no, the countryside is not racist”.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ab358fd9a215b336be263477e0ffcdcb6b7a6bb729336fa198c70401081889af.jpg
    ‘Zipporah’ by Barbara Walker at the Fitzwilliam [CREDIT: Joe Giddens/PA]
    __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0041d225599614caa75e1c29b014ce647c28e43f5060146e4db4d0ec502097b5.jpg
    Technicians hang ‘The Dream II (mae)’ by Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum at the museum [CREDIT: Joe Giddens/PA]
    __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a9ad54cdb4b4cf1638474ebc72dc8e2ebba396211ca3f4e46e31e070ea289bb3.jpg
    ‘An 18th-Century Family’ by Joy Labinjo is on display at the Fitzwilliam Museum [CREDIT: Joe Giddens/PA]
    __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/14/fitzwilliam-museum-cambridge-university-not-woke-displays/

    1. The museum, owned by the University of Cambridge, has undertaken an overhaul of its displays, in a move that its director insisted was not “woke”. Luke Syson said last week: “I would love to think that there’s a way of telling these larger, more inclusive histories that doesn’t feel as if it requires a push-back from those who try to suggest that any interest at all in [this work is] what would now be called ‘woke’.”

      Perhaps it would be best for all concerned if Mr Luke Syson were taken to the Vet?

      1. For “telling these larger, more inclusive stories” read “re-writing history so as to offend the indigenous”. As a bonus, it will no doubt put off potential visitors and donors. Go woke, go broke.

    2. The museum, owned by the University of Cambridge, has undertaken an overhaul of its displays, in a move that its director insisted was not “woke”. Luke Syson said last week: “I would love to think that there’s a way of telling these larger, more inclusive histories that doesn’t feel as if it requires a push-back from those who try to suggest that any interest at all in [this work is] what would now be called ‘woke’.”

      Perhaps it would be best for all concerned if Mr Luke Syson were taken to the Vet?

    3. “Dark nationalist feelings”? What! Like nostalgia for a way of life the woke are trying to destroy?

      1. From earlier posts BoB tends to wake in the wee hours (pun intentional) and will often make himself and his Missus a mug of tea….

        1. Plus he will have moved cords of timber, split them and stacked them against the great new Ice Age. He will have deserved his early night. I should have addressed this to the 4G commentator, but as it followed your post, it wouldn’t have made much sense to him.

          2. It may be a joke to you, but to us who know Bob well, it came over as not understanding his situation. While we’re on the subject, Bob has a stepson who has lots of problems; he spends a lot of time travelling to look after him and sort out those problems. It helps to know the backstory.

          3. Undoubtedly and, if it was to cause him any distress whatsoever I would apologise unreservedly.

            But I really dont expect that level of sensitivity on an open forum like this, from what was evidently a very light-hearted comment – I would, however, be very interested to hear his take on this and would respond accordingly.

          4. I doubt Bob would be bothered – he’s ex-army. The point is, before we can know it’s a joke (and not a put-down) we need to get to know each other a bit more. There are tongue-in-cheek slanging matches between posters, but they’ve known each other for years. Yes, we are a sensitive site; some of the posters here are very sensitive people and they’ve been upset by apparently insensitive posts from people who haven’t got to know us yet. Just sayin’.

          5. Oh come on – I mentioned the Apprentice and ‘you’re fired’ – who on earth would construe that as anything other than a joke??? Just sayin’

          6. Someone did and leapt to Bob’s defence. As I’ve pointed out elsewhere, we look out for each other.

          8. Fair enough but we have genuinely good people on this forum who have been here for many years. Best to fit in and take care to settle in gracefully.

            You are most welcome to this forum and I am sure others will agree.

  88. It took the Telegraph to say what the BBC wouldn’t in its earlier reports.

    London borough to remove Palestinian flags from council buildings

    Some Jewish residents of Tower Hamlets have been so distressed that they are looking to move, say campaigners

    Robert Mendick, CHIEF REPORTER • 14 March 2024 • 3:03pm

    The mayor of Tower Hamlets has bowed to pressure and ordered the removal of Palestinian flags from council buildings and lamp posts. Lutfur Rahman insisted the flags were “symbols of solidarity and sympathy” for Palestinians in Gaza, but said the east London borough was taking them down after being advised to do so.

    The Telegraph has highlighted the upset caused to Jewish residents by the council’s previous refusal to remove the flags. Other boroughs have taken down Palestinian flags that were hung from lampposts, street signs and council-owned property – but Tower Hamlets had allowed them to flourish, many, as reported by The Telegraph, close to schools.

    The Government has ordered an inspection amid fears over how the borough is being run by Mr Rahman, who had previously been barred from public office for five years for corruption. Having served his ban, Mr Rahman, an independent, was voted back into the post in the May 2022 local elections.

    Tower Hamlets’ about-turn comes three days after a group of lawyers sent the borough a legal letter, threatening to bring a private prosecution. UK Lawyers for Israel had complained that the flags were intimidating Jewish residents and that the council was committing a criminal offence by refusing to take them down.

    Jonathan Turner, the group’s chief executive, wrote: “Many Jewish and other people who live and/or work in the borough have expressed their distress to us. A number of them are so distressed that they are looking to move out of the borough.”

    In a statement on social media, Mr Rahman blamed his decision to move the flags on adverse publicity in the media and said a rise in Islamophobia had made Tower Hamlets, which has the highest population of Muslims in the country, “a target”.

    He said: “Sadly, it is clear the Palestinian flags flying in the borough have been the focus of these media attacks. I understand that those who have erected these flags across the borough have done so in line with our strong tradition of solidarity, and I reject that they are symbols of division.

    “However, as mayor I sometimes need to make difficult decisions, and it is time to make one now. Following advice from the chief executive, the council will begin to remove the Palestinian flags from council-owned infrastructure. Although these flags are an understandable expression of solidarity, I now feel they are being used to unfairly attack the people of the borough and further the Islamophobic narrative.”

    He said the situation had become a “distraction” for the council and pleaded for understanding for the decision he had taken.

    Mr Turner said he was pleased that Tower Hamlets had relented. But he also expressed disappointment that the police had not intervened earlier. He said: “After months of ignoring the concerns of a significant number of Jewish and other residents of Tower Hamlets, we are pleased that Lutfur Rahman has at last been forced to remove the flags following our threat of legal action.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/14/tower-hamlets-removes-palestinian-flags-from-buildings/

  90. Evening, all. If you could only see me smiling you’d be dazzled by my pearly whites (shame on me!); I have been to the dental hygienist.
    I don’t know whether to admire the trust the headline letter writer places in the good intentions behind the enquiry or despair at the naivete. The enquiry was never intended to produce any solutions, or indeed any answers, let alone point the finger of blame for shortcomings. When the next scamdemic arrives the government’s aims will remain the same – control.

    1. Evening Conners.
      Churchwardens’ letter to the Bishop complaining about our resigned narcissistic vicar now drafted. Lighting the blue touch paper tomorrow. Apparently there’s an epidemic of similar complaints across the Westcountry as relationships between the hierarchy and parishes disintegrate.

      1. I sincerely wish you joy, but if you have as much success with your Bishop as we have had with ours it’s a waste of time. The Archdeacon and the various Bishops have had numerous complaints from a multitude of parishioners over an extended period, plus visits from well-connected people in the county all to no avail. All they do is back the woman and fob us off.

        1. The temporary Bishop seems to like us and the previous one congratulated us on growing and refurbing the church during a five year interregnum. They even sent a retired priest to inspect us during that period and she promptly went native and wrote glowing reports about us. In 18 months this narcissist has caused division, upset, driven people away and tried to get rid of the lay leadership who got the churches through Covid and interregnum. My better half says he’s evil.
          We’ll see.

          1. We grew the church during a long (ca 18 months) interregnum. It was a very happy place, with a healthy attendance and it was financially viable. Now the atmosphere is toxic and we will run out of money after Easter unles a miracle intervenes. We have some very wealthy parishioners, but they refuse to support the She Devil and won’t come back until she’s gone.

          3. We are in despair. Many of us wonder if it will have done irreperable damage. The cathedral-quality choir now sings at a different church, most of the parishioners have decamped to other churches, made friends, been registered on the electoral roll, got involved with fund-raising, bell ringing and other activities. It will be hard to leave that behind to rebuild.

          4. I feel for you, Conners. And you, JD. In the nineteen years I’ve been in my ‘united’ (some would say ‘untied’) parish, I have, through circumstances not in my control, presided over the disintegration of two good, if not cathedral-quality choirs. It’s not all that many years since we staged Faurés Requiem, with around 40 voices (admittedly, not all actually members), a soloist from London and a guest organist.

            Numbers were falling off. In one year, 3/4 of the men in one choir died. It happens. Then Covid and the ridiculous lockdowns happened. I had to move outside the Parish, was no longer Verger at one of the churches, and without a key, choir practice at that church was forced to end. So (since we do the same hymns in each church) I suggested we had joint practices at the other end of the parish, where at least I still had a key. Since some don’t like driving in the dark, and others work for a living, we decided to have practices alternately at 2.30 pm and 7 pm, so everyone could attend. It didn’t work.

            My Director of Music contract runs till 1 October 2025. Meanwhile, I plod on. I have no issues at parish level. But I’m embarrassed to be associated with the current Church of England.

          5. That takes me back. As a Churchwarden in a two-year interregnum, we managed to acquire 20-odd Confirmation candidates. The Rural Dean said they would have to be confirmed in his church in Newmarket. The candidates weren’t happy. I bumped into the Diocesan Bishop at a service elsewhere in the Diocese. Recognising me, he asked “How’s it going?”. We got our local Confirmation service. This was John Dennis, Hugh Dennis’ Dad. Sound bloke.

    2. Lessons have been learnt. Blah, blah, blah.

      Nothing changes except that a number of lawyers will be even richer than before.

  91. Well, chums, it’s off to Bath tomorrow, so I’ll sign off now and wish you all a Good Night, restful sleep and an enjoyable weekend. On reflection I may just pack my laptop so that I can keep up with Nottlers over the weekend.

    1. When I worked in Bristol all the Bristoleians called Bath ‘the city without a heart’. There was no love lost.
      Have a good weekend.

      1. As a Bathonian and Architect I can assure you that Bath is The Queen of the West and Bristol by comparison jerry built apart from a handful of fine buildings on Broad Street and Corn Street built by Bath stonemasons. These buildings include the fabulous Corn Exchange and Bank of England.

        I remain fond of Bristol but bear in mind that its original centre, Castle Street, was obliterated by the same Baedeker bombing raids that sought to wipe out Bath by the Luftwaffe. Bath was mostly rebuilt, less so Bristol.

        I never heard the description you give of Bristolians commenting on Bath. My grandmother and aunt lived in Henleaze, another aunt and family in Knowle and another aunt, uncle and family in Hanham.

        My mother’s best friend was a Bristol solicitor who had offices in Queen Square and who was also Secretary to the Commercial Rooms, now sadly a bloody Wetherspoons but formerly an exclusive club for city traders and businessmen. His name was Paul T Pease and he loved Bath and lived in Saltford.

        1. Having lived here for three years I’ve found Bath to be relaxed, civil and indeed civilised. I get the impression that the thousands of tourists wandering around the city feel safe. (Although to counter external threats the council has, over the past year or two, installed heavy duty automatic barriers across all the side road entrances to the heart of the City to prevent a terrorist attacker using a HGV to mow down pedestrians….)

        2. I used to work at the old Harveys/Gaymers factory site, now Matthew Clark and that’s what the locals said. Bathonians were regarded as posh and snobbish, and the city lacking any sense of old community. As a Devonian I had no skin in the game. Even my PA, a fanatical Bath RFC supporter, said it.

  92. A welcome blow against extremism

    The Communities Secretary has taken a necessary step towards ending the division that is tearing our society apart

    TELEGRAPH VIEW • 14 March 2024 • 10:00pm

    At the start of the month, Rishi Sunak promised action to defend Britain’s “patriotic, liberal, democratic” society from Islamist and far-Right extremists seeking to tear it apart. Yesterday, we saw the first indications of what this will mean in practice. Michael Gove, the Communities Secretary, published a new definition of non-violent extremism and, using parliamentary privilege, named five groups that would be assessed against it.

    These moves were necessary, Mr Gove said, because of the disturbing growth in anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hatred in the months since Hamas’s October 7 pogrom. He called the new definition more rigorous and precise, and also announced the creation of a counter-extremism Centre of Excellence to ensure the best academic insight shapes Britain’s approach.

    Officials will be instructed to cut off Government funding for, and meetings with, groups deemed to be extremist. Some will wonder why this has taken so long. Others are concerned that the new definition will undermine free speech, or result in groups that do not pose a threat to our society being penalised just because their views lie outside the current political mainstream. Several Tory MPs, for example, have warned that gender-critical feminists could fall foul of it, a danger that needs to be guarded against.

    Ultimately, however, Mr Gove’s work is welcome. Even the limited measures he announced yesterday are likely to have faced stiff resistance from the Civil Service and other groups who shy away from a robust approach to tackling the extremist threat. The defence of a free society from those who want to destroy it will necessarily involve some degree of compromise with civil liberties. The philosopher Karl Popper’s famous paradox – that to maintain a tolerant society, the tolerant must be intolerant of intolerance – very much applies.

    But this has to be just the start. Week after week, pro-Palestinian protesters continue to chant genocidal slogans in the centres of Britain’s cities, while the police stand by. Sir William Shawcross has criticised ministers for not enacting all of his recommendations on reforming the Prevent counter-radicalism programme. Local government and police forces should be required to end their dealings with extremist groups, too.

    Hateful anti-British ideas have to be challenged and defeated, not appeased. Mr Gove has made a good start. This time, however, enough really has to be enough.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2024/03/14/a-welcome-blow-against-extremism/

    A welcome blow, my ****. The Telegraph has fallen. The ‘anti-Muslim’ feeling it refers to is not hatred but genuine fear, borne of the belief that the state also fears Islam but is too scared to confront it. Forty years of the rape-gangs, of Ray Honeyford’s divided society, of the rise of radical Islam and left-leaning observers express outrage that some people say “Excuse me ever so politely, but I don’t think Islam is the religion of peace.”

    The only ‘far-right group that The Guardian can come up with is Patriotic Alternative, a few website warriors with a tiny membership that would be lost if stood in the vastness of the East London mosque. Read this gem of a paragraph titled ‘The far right’:

    Gove named Patriotic Alternative (PA), which has emerged from the fractured far-right scene and splits in the British National party, and an older but lesser known group, the British National Socialist Movement, as two that would be assessed for inclusion on the list.

    PA is led by a digital-savvy younger generation seeking to present themselves as a “white pride” organisation. It blends traditional far-right causes, such as hostility to immigration, with others, such as preserving the countryside and helping the homeless.

    It has sought to piggyback on protests against hotels accommodating refugees, including those which led to riots in Liverpool last year.

    Founded in 1968, the British National Socialist Movement is described by the counter-extremist organisation Hope Not Hate as one of the few openly Nazi groups still active in the UK. After a period of dormancy, its activities included opening a gym in Manchester last year and seeking to promote a “fitness network”.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/mar/14/from-left-to-far-right-which-groups-could-end-up-on-the-uk-extremism-list

    Far-right socialism, eh? As for the wickedness of wishing to preserve the countryside…

    1. When I saw that cant, I immediately cringed at “communities” (we used to be one community before the govt effed it up) and thought, “they’ll protect islam and go after the ‘far right’ who are, in fact, just people with mainstream views”. And so it proved.

    2. We need a Nuremberg 2 trial before determining the sentences on Gates, Soros, Schwab, Johnson, Fauci, Whitty, Vallance, Van Tamm, Farrar, and the rest of the cabal plus the politicians such as Ardern, Trudeau and the rest all over the world and complicit in these crimes.

      As to the pharmaceutical companies selling products which did not comply with ‘safe and effective’ and ‘immunising against Covid and preventing infection’ principally Pfizer but including Moderna, Astra Zeneca and Johnson & Johnson, these companies should be closed down, their assets and properties seized and liquidated and their executives tried at Nuremberg 2 appropriately.

      A compensation scheme is urgently required for those harmed or relatives of those killed by this, the most barbaric episode in history.

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