Thursday 9 May: Conservative MPs’ disloyalty reflects a deeper malaise in the party

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437 thoughts on “Thursday 9 May: Conservative MPs’ disloyalty reflects a deeper malaise in the party

  1. Good morrow, gentlefolk. Today’s (recycled) List
    SCOTTISH DIPLOMACY

    One thing about blokes from Scotland is that their hearts and humour are always in the right place!

    Jimmy MacDonald, a City Councillor from Glasgow, was asked on a local live radio talk show, just what he thought about the allegations of torture of suspected terrorists. His reply prompted his swift ejection from the studio, but to thunderous applause from the audience.

    His statement:
    ‘If hooking up one rag-head terrorist’s testicles to a car battery gets the truth out of the lying little camel shagger, to save just one Scottish soldier’s life, then I have only three things to say: Red is positive, Black is negative and make sure his nuts are wet’:

      1. When you are intrinsically bent and bereft of any moral fibre, then any rat-hole will do.

  2. The British dream is crumbling, replaced by a nightmare of sectarian division. 9 May 2024.

    Britain is a wonderful, welcoming country that has embraced newcomers fleeing persecution or poverty for centuries. Our gradual affirmation of religious toleration after the English Reformation and the Scottish Enlightenment, our individualism, our early adoption of capitalism, our commitment to the rule of law, our pioneering role in the eradication of slavery, all helped forge a culture that to this day remains more open to outsiders than those of European neighbours.

    This is the dream of the Political Elites and the nightmare of the people who were never asked if they wished for it.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/08/uncontrolled-migration-turning-british-dream-into-nightmare/

    1. You just knew it would end up like this. We will have to fight to survive in the end.its like the 1930s all over again.

      1. Morning Johnny. At least we had some leadership back then that believed in the UK. Now we have globalist stooges.

  3. Good morning, chums. Another decent day today. Enjoy the sunshine.

    Wordle 1,055 4/6

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

    1. Five here

      Wordle 1,055 5/6

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

      1. I can’t think what the first letter of Elsie’s third line could be! Maybe you could tell me tomorrow, Elsie?
        Wordle 1,055 5/6

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

    2. Just blown a 203 win streak. I have 2 more possibilities as well.

      Wordle 1,055 X/6

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

  4. Cameron: EU must be tougher on Russia and China. 9 May 2024.

    Lord Cameron’s speech is being billed by the Foreign Office as his first “big picture” policy speech attempting to map out how the UK should approach a more dangerous world.

    He will say: “We need to adopt a harder edge for a tougher world. If Putin’s illegal invasion teaches us anything, it must be that doing too little, too late, only spurs an aggressor on.

    Says the Destroyer of Libya. The Globalists want a war with Russia and here’s one of their lackeys urging it on.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/09/david-cameron-eu-must-be-tougher-on-russia-and-china/

    1. Ah, the Balaclava rematch;

      Half a brain, half a brain,
      Half a brain, awkward,
      All in the valley of WEF
      Strode the six Billion.
      “Forward, the WEF Brigade!
      Charge for the guns!” he said.
      Into the valley of WEF
      Strode the six Billion.

      “Forward, the WEF Brigade!”
      Was there a man dismayed?
      Not though the Plebs knew
      Someone had blundered.
      Theirs not to make reply,
      Theirs not to reason why,
      Theirs but to do and die.
      Into the valley of WEF
      Strode the six Billion.

      Cameron to right of them,
      Cameron to left of them,
      Cameron in front of them
      Volleyed and thundered;
      Stormed at with shot and shell,
      Boldly they strode and well,
      Into the jaws of Death,
      Into the mouth of hell
      Strode the six Billion.

      Good morning Minty and all…

    2. Ah, the Balaclava rematch;

      Half a brain, half a brain,
      Half a brain, awkward,
      All in the valley of WEF
      Strode the six Billion.
      “Forward, the WEF Brigade!
      Charge for the guns!” he said.
      Into the valley of WEF
      Strode the six Billion.

      “Forward, the WEF Brigade!”
      Was there a man dismayed?
      Not though the Plebs knew
      Someone had blundered.
      Theirs not to make reply,
      Theirs not to reason why,
      Theirs but to do and die.
      Into the valley of WEF
      Strode the six Billion.

      Cameron to right of them,
      Cameron to left of them,
      Cameron in front of them
      Volleyed and thundered;
      Stormed at with shot and shell,
      Boldly they strode and well,
      Into the jaws of Death,
      Into the mouth of hell
      Strode the six Billion.

      Good morning Minty and all…

    3. Ah, the Balaclava rematch;

      Half a brain, half a brain,
      Half a brain, awkward,
      All in the valley of WEF
      Strode the six Billion.
      “Forward, the WEF Brigade!
      Charge for the guns!” he said.
      Into the valley of WEF
      Strode the six Billion.

      “Forward, the WEF Brigade!”
      Was there a man dismayed?
      Not though the Plebs knew
      Someone had blundered.
      Theirs not to make reply,
      Theirs not to reason why,
      Theirs but to do and die.
      Into the valley of WEF
      Strode the six Billion.

      Cameron to right of them,
      Cameron to left of them,
      Cameron in front of them
      Volleyed and thundered;
      Stormed at with shot and shell,
      Boldly they strode and well,
      Into the jaws of Death,
      Into the mouth of hell
      Strode the six Billion.

      Good morning Minty and all…

  5. That’s a relief…

    Britain refuses to sign global vaccine treaty that would force it to give away fifth of jabs

    Sharing of pandemic products seen as red line for many countries locked in talks

    Joe Pinkstone, SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT
    8 May 2024 • 9:01pm

    Britain is refusing to sign the World Health Organisation’s pandemic treaty while it insists the UK would have to give away a fifth of its jabs, The Telegraph understands.

    The UK is firmly against such vaccine-related commitments and will not sign any form of the pandemic agreement that undermines Britain’s sovereignty.

    Representatives of the WHO’s 194 member states are halfway through talks to try to agree to the WHO Pandemic Agreement, an initiative first announced in May 2021.

    At the peak of the Covid emergency, nations planned to sign a legally binding document, informally known as the pandemic treaty, or pandemic accord, that would force countries to tackle the next global health emergency in a united way.

    Under the terms of the latest draft of the treaty, now in its ninth and final iteration, all member states, including the UK, would be obliged to give up 20 per cent of “pandemic-related health products” to other countries and would be prevented from stockpiling supplies. This would include therapeutics, PPE and vaccines.

    The WHO document states the UN-run agency would get “real-time access” to 10 per cent of these products for free, and 10 per cent “at affordable prices”.

    The divisive document says countries should “set aside a portion of its total procurement of relevant diagnostics, therapeutics or vaccines in a timely manner for use in countries facing challenges… and avoid having national stockpiles of pandemic-related health products”.

    A source familiar with the negotiations said: “The UK could not accept these proposals in their current form – and they have not been agreed.”

    It is understood the UK will only agree to a legally binding global accord if there is a commitment that British-made jabs are used for what the UK deems to be its own national interest.

    Officials are understood to want to remain in control of being able to choose when it is best for the UK to distribute products globally and when resources will be best deployed domestically.

    It is understood that while the UK is keen to work towards a united approach, it is not prepared to give up autonomy on its own assets.

    The sharing of healthcare items is seen as a red line for many of the countries locked in discussions over the pandemic treaty. Poorer nations see it as essential in ensuring equitable treatment for all nations but richer countries are concerned about relinquishing autonomy to a global organisation.

    One key aspect of the treaty, WHO Pathogen Access and Benefits Sharing system (PLABS), has already been pushed back to 2026 as countries can not agree on how to legally enforce the distribution of virus samples and genetic information for research purposes.

    Experts have cautioned that it is likely the two-week marathon talks will fail to resolve fundamental disagreements on the controversial topics and said it is likely a “vanilla treaty” will be agreed and signed by the May 10 deadline, before it is formally adopted at the World Health Assembly at the end of May.

    Dr Clare Wenham, associate professor of Global health policy at the London School of Economics, told The Telegraph: “What will have to happen bilaterally to get that outcome, is yet to be seen, but I wouldn’t be surprised if deals were being done behind the scenes for low and middle income countries to acquiesce.”

    The head of the WHO on Friday restated his hope that the vaccine impasse can be resolved as the talks entered their second week.

    “Give the people of the world, the people of your countries, the people you represent, a safer future,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told officials at a Geneva meeting. “I have one simple request: please, get this done, for them.”

    Then former prime minister Boris Johnson announced in May 2021 that the treaty was being set up to improve alert systems, data-sharing, research, and production and distribution of medical and public health counter-measures such as vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and PPE.

    He said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has been a stark and painful reminder that nobody is safe until everyone is safe.

    “We are, therefore, committed to ensuring universal and equitable access to safe, efficacious and affordable vaccines, medicines and diagnostics for this and future pandemics.”

    This mantra is still being echoed in the room today, sources say, but the willingness from wealthy nations to opt in to the legally binding document has seemingly diminished.

    A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson told The Telegraph: “We cannot comment on the details of specific proposals and no proposals have been agreed.

    “We will only support the adoption of the accord and accept it on behalf of the UK, if it is firmly in the UK national interest and respects national sovereignty.”

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

    Silver Bullet
    9 HRS AGO
    Why is HM Government even in talks about this treaty? It’s very clear to anyone who has read it that it will give huge powers to an unaccountable organisation controlled by the CCP.

    1. 387197+ up ticks,

      Morning C1,

      My belief is that, were they to sign now in a climate of very strongly alleged
      political / pharmaceutical criminal action
      capers being cut regarding the vaccine would, in reality, see MPs adorning lamp-posts.

    2. Just tell WHO and the Ethiopian crook nominally heading it, to take a running jump.

    3. …because Citroen, behind the scenes the British government will roll over, like it always does.

      They just don’t want the voters to know before the Election.

    4. Ah, that’s it. They’re going to sign it as long as all the toxic injections are kept to be used in Britain. They hate us. It’s mutual.

    5. There are far better reasons for rejecting any agreement with the thoroughly corrupt WHO!

    6. Oh that’s funny. Sick but funny. So the UK won’t sign the WHO treaty if we’re required to kill people in other countries as well as our own.

    7. Give the people of the world, the people of your countries, the people you represent, a safer future,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told officials at a Geneva meeting. “I have one simple request: please, get this done, for them.”

      The people of the world could take responsibility for themselves one in a while.

    1. Do our fiscal think tanks know what marriage is for, or even what it is? They can barely recognise a woman.

  6. Russian defence attache expelled from UK for spying. 9 May 2024.

    Russia’s defence attache is to be expelled after James Cleverly identified him as a spy.

    Maxim Elovik, a colonel in the Russian military, is to be thrown out of the UK as part of sanctions by the Home Secretary in response to a rise in “malign” Russian activity across Britain and Europe.

    Mr Cleverly also announced several Russian-owned properties suspected of being used as spying bases would lose their diplomatic status and there would be visa restrictions on Russian diplomats that would cap the time they were allowed to stay in the UK.

    This is all nonsense and has nothing to actually do with the Russian Defence Attache or the Russian Embassy. Nothing has changed. They are both pursuing their functions as they have always done! What we have here is a part of the propaganda preparation for the coming NATO confrontation with Russia and Vladimir Putin. The Ukie army is near to collapse and something must be done! My guess is that we will eventually get an ultimatum from the US. You can write in your own response.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/08/britain-to-expel-russian-defence-attache/

    1. I’ve always assumed that defence attaches in all embassies are spies.
      Including those in British embassies

      1. Morning Anne. Of course they are. Hence my opinion that is all fake.

  7. Good morning all.
    An almost warm 9°C on the Yard Thermometer this morning. A dry but bright overcast today.

    I’ve a run to Osset for an auction purchase today. Plan to head of just the back of 8.30.

  8. 387197+up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    If this be factual and not a smoke & mirrors issue, then the MPs/pharmaceutical / doctors/ nurses should have recognition
    and their portraits hung in the medical hall of fame, and not
    as currently, the evidence is showing, hanged from the nearest lamp-post.

    I know it jars with current lab/lib/con member / voters but we really should strive once again to become world leaders to ALL things beneficial to mankind, and its.

    Deaf toddler can hear after gene therapy world first
    Opal Sandy, from Oxfordshire, had ‘spectacular’ results as her surgery led groundbreaking international trial

    1. Morning, ogga.
      It really is a feel good story.
      THOSE are the sort of people who should get recognition, not vapid “stars”.

    2. Yes Ogga , that story is beautiful .

      Sadly the poor child will now be confronted by the nonsense we are all hearing ..

      1. 387197+ up ticks,

        Morning TB,

        Agreed but, we have as a united front of decency & common sense
        the power of change that would benifit that child more so going into the future, which we as adults find great difficulty in using.

        #

        1. So true Ogga,
          The power of change can be advantageous to us , but sadly it is diminishing in quality and giving others more voice !

  9. EU deal will release £2.6bn frozen Russian assets to Ukraine yearly. 9 May 2024.

    The European Union has struck a deal to send up to £2.6 billion a year to Ukraine from frozen Russian assets.

    The tentative agreement on using interest made on Moscow’s assets to buy weapons was struck by EU ambassadors meeting in Brussels on Wednesday.

    Aside from what is obviously a criminal act I sense that this will prove to be the crossing of the Rubicon. Like The United States embargo on Japan prior to WWII it will crystallise attitudes in Russia and help bring on a direct confrontation. Fasten your seat belts Nottlers. It’s going to be a (very) bumpy ride.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/05/08/eu-deal-bilions-frozen-russian-assets-ukraine-yearly/

  10. Nadhim Zahawi to step down as MP at next general election. 9 May 2024.

    Nadhim Zahawi has announced he is stepping down as a Conservative MP at the next general election.

    The former chancellor said in a letter published on Twitter this morning that he had “come to feel that the time is right for a new, energetic Conservative to fight for the honour of representing Stratford-on-Avon and assuming the mantle of MP for Shakespeare”.

    Well. No loss there. This Party is dead! It just won’t lie down.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/09/rishi-sunak-latest-news-nadhim-zahawi-natalie-elphicke/

    1. Someone who possesses the Bardic pose and prose , and strength of purpose who is capable of erudite thought is required .

      No, I didn’t mean Muslims either 😮

  11. Nadhim Zahawi to step down as MP at next general election. 9 May 2024.

    Nadhim Zahawi has announced he is stepping down as a Conservative MP at the next general election.

    The former chancellor said in a letter published on Twitter this morning that he had “come to feel that the time is right for a new, energetic Conservative to fight for the honour of representing Stratford-on-Avon and assuming the mantle of MP for Shakespeare”.

    Well. No loss there. This Party is dead! It just won’t lie down.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/09/rishi-sunak-latest-news-nadhim-zahawi-natalie-elphicke/

  12. Araminta featured Allister Heath’s latest missive. It’s worth reproducing in full.

    The British dream is crumbling, replaced by a nightmare of sectarian division

    The UK has been hugely successful at integration, but mass immigration elites have abused our openness

    ALLISTER HEATH • 8 May 2024 • 7:29pm

    A sectarian future? The election of Mothin Ali as a Green party Leeds councillor on a pro-Palestine platform may be a portend of things to come

    Britain is a wonderful, welcoming country that has embraced newcomers fleeing persecution or poverty for centuries. Our gradual affirmation of religious toleration after the English Reformation and the Scottish Enlightenment, our individualism, our early adoption of capitalism, our commitment to the rule of law, our pioneering role in the eradication of slavery, all helped forge a culture that to this day remains more open to outsiders than those of European neighbours.

    It is a reason why so many first- and second-generation immigrants love this country, why so many are doing so well and contributing so much to politics, business, medicine, academia, sport and entertainment, and why it is entirely uncontroversial that Rishi Sunak is our first Hindu Prime Minister.

    Visiting Britain in the 1720s, Voltaire was stunned. “Go into the London Stock Exchange … and you will see representatives from all nations gathered together for the utility of men,” he wrote in Lettres Philosophiques. “Here Jew, Mohammedan and Christian deal with each other as though they were all of the same faith, and only apply the word infidel to people who go bankrupt. Here the Presbyterian trusts the Anabaptist and the Anglican accepts a promise from the Quaker.” [Not many Mohammedans in London in the 1720s, Frankie…]

    Fast forward three centuries and we continue to integrate immigrants far better than the French or Germans, an ability dubbed Britain’s “superpower”. Across western Europe, the children of immigrants perform worse than those of the native-born; in the UK, children of immigrants are better at maths than the children of natives, and children born abroad do almost as well, the Pisa tests reveal.

    British-Chinese, Indian, black African, Pakistani and Bangladeshi children all get better marks at GCSEs than their white British counterparts. Ethnic minorities are now in the majority in some of the best private schools in Britain – and, conversely, Muslim Bangladeshi children on free school meals do better at GCSEs than the average white British child.

    White children are the least likely of any ethnic group to go to university. There even appears to be a reduction, on average, in geographical segregation of minority communities, an analysis of the past four censuses reveals.

    Tragically, instead of building on this by embracing a controlled, rational immigration policy to forge a modern, united, multi-ethnic British nation, our ruling elites – first New Labour, and then the Tories, backed by the cultural and business establishment – have blundered so severely that the entire multicultural edifice could now come tumbling down. What could have been a model for others to follow has been ruined by insouciance.

    The first fraudulent claim was that we could cope with net figures of hundreds of thousands of migrants, year in, year out. On what planet? The staggering inability of the state to build infrastructure, or to allow free enterprise to do so, means that large-scale immigration is inflicting huge costs on the existing population (including earlier migrants) via congestion, rationed healthcare and smaller, prohibitively expensive homes.

    Robert Jenrick and Neil O’Brien crunch the data in their brilliant Taking Back Control, from the Centre for Policy Studies. England’s population surged 6.6 per cent between 2011 and 2021 (it would have grown 2.7 per cent without migration) yet during that time the major roads network grew by just 2.3 per cent, the rail network by 1 per cent, GP surgeries by 4 per cent (at a time of ageing population), the number of secondary schools by 4.9 per cent, the net capital stock of machinery and equipment by 4 per cent and, maddeningly, our electricity generation capacity collapsed 14.2 per cent.

    High immigration has diluted our per capita capital stock: we have effectively become poorer. Housing has grown faster – by 9.6 per cent – but even that isn’t enough to cope with the massive pent-up demand from years of under-building and the concentrated geography of immigration. Home ownership is collapsing, quality of life is deteriorating and the institutional underpinnings of conservatism and capitalism are lethally undermined.

    The second falsehood was that large volumes of migration – as opposed to smaller-scale, targeted, high-skilled migration – would turbocharge productivity growth and insulate us from the baby bust. Yet productivity has flatlined, even though the UK now has more foreign-born residents than the US; the availability of labour may have discouraged automation.

    Many immigrants contribute far more than they take out in government spending, but some do not, especially if they don’t work or don’t earn enough. Meaningful data doesn’t exist to perform a proper cost-benefit analysis of mass migration as a whole, or even for different nationalities. But we desperately need to be much more discerning, and only bring in migrants whose skills and values are such that they are likely to be net contributors to the Exchequer over their lifetimes.

    The third error was to leverage mass immigration to camouflage other problems. More foreign students – many of whom stay permanently – subsidise domestic fees. Foreign care workers allow the authorities to grossly underpay staff. We don’t train enough doctors and health workers, or anybody else for that matter: it’s easier to import ready-made workers. The 5.5 million people on out-of-work benefits have been consigned to the memory hole. The success of migrant children allows the complacent to disregard the atrocious educational performance of the white working class.

    The Government’s final blunder was to ignore the rise of Islamist extremism, out of cowardice and stupidity, while tolerating woke critical race theory (CRT), an ideology that rejects colour-blind integrationism and pits racial groups against one another.

    Yes, Britain’s superpower is integration, but it turns out that Islamism and CRT are its kryptonite. The authorities did nothing in Batley to protect a teacher chased away by extremists. They haven’t tackled radical preachers and have been useless at promoting moderate, reformist Muslim voices.

    A toxic anti-Semitism that had been largely eradicated from British life is spreading again. The return of Israelophobic sectarian parties – including the Greens – is the final straw.

    We need to drastically reduce migration. We need to be much more discerning about who we let in. We can no longer allow our righteous openness to immigration to be perverted and manipulated.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/08/uncontrolled-migration-turning-british-dream-into-nightmare/

    Too right it doesn’t. It would be useful to know how each ethnic group features in the education, income and welfare stats. Heath overplays the value of migration while hardly mentioning the vast welfare dependency in the white underclass and some ethnic and cultural minorities. Ask a socialist about this and you can expect an affectation of deafness.

    He writes like a liberal wet with his vision of a ‘modern, united, multi-ethnic British nation’. He wouldn’t have seen anything united in Wellingborough town centre yesterday afternoon just after the end of school for the day. Black groups, Asian groups, white European groups, the latter most definitely not speaking English. The two fat white women who barged past me weren’t British. And in the market square, going into one of the banks still open, a Muslim couple, the woman in a black niqab and, unusually but appropriately, a dogshit brown burqa. I wish I’d had a camera with me. Flying the flag for England? A white youth, obviously not just out of school, riding a motorbike illegally through what passes for the town’s park gardens.

    It was a hideous and frightening vision of a fracturing, crumbling society hurtling towards oblivion. And this is provincial England. Our cities and major towns must be all but lost.

    1. But we desperately need to be much more discerning, and only bring in migrants whose skills and values are such that they are likely to be net contributors to the Exchequer over their lifetimes.

      All too late. The UK is destroyed!

  13. Good morning, all. Bright and sunny here.

    Well, in the last few days we’ve had the revelation that the extremely well promoted AZ “vaccine” didn’t quite live up to the hype lavished on it. How long before Pfizer, Moderna et al. fall from grace?

    Governments and their agents promoted the “vaccines”, coerced and tried to bully people into taking them and in some cases even mandated them. All this despite those responsible for this high level promotion having not the slightest idea of what the “vaccines” contained. How deeply some of these people understood the raison d’être of these potions will likely never be known.

    Even now, when the facts of the lack of efficacy and the possibility of harms, including death, are well known, the PTB remain promoting these potions. Why? Perhaps they’re getting their money’s worth by using up all the stock or is there a more more nefarious reason?

    With the first bricks of the “vaccine” wall crumbling is the other huge scam, Net Zero/Climate Change, about to come under increasing attack? The MSM remain wedded to the scam but on social media reports are emerging of a growing number of experts speaking out and raising doubts about the narrative.

    I mentioned the other day what Blackrock’s Fink was explaining to the WEF i.e. if AI and all the other digital mechanisms these control freaks want to implement are to be viable then reliable, the latter being the operative word, power generation will have to increase and increase vastly. Nuclear power takes decades to be brought to market and the quickest and cheapest system to be brought on line is fuelled by gas. How can that reality sit easily with the Net Zero nutters?

    Now, more experts are appearing to question/contradict the narrative. It’s going to be one hell of a fight and as more and more people begin to understand what Net/Zero really has in store for them, just like has happened with the “vaccines” and lockdowns, the people will turn away from the narrative.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/af84ddab0208d0755143b6fc3a61e265f77d008738a2763a0c886f8482802c23.png

    https://twitter.com/HicksKiwi/status/1788023035808895071

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ceefd15616e96d7abe01b579188aedab878fcda7c724152966e2ea9d818cf56b.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/546c7b134b2b2216251668a1352cbb1fbf91adf88970e38d2ccdce7059e9fc80.png

    1. Nice knowing them.. that’s the end of their careers and social media accounts.
      Good riddance.. don’t they realise that people are lidderally boiling in their skins in Ireland?
      UN Secretary-General António Guterres

      1. You are correct. One or two have openly admitted to that being the situation that they find themselves in. Much of science has been hijacked by extremely rich ideologues, sociopaths and rogues. In these areas of science scepticism has been replaced by what these charlatans demand is true, no argument allowed.

  14. When out for my daily walk, I spotted a pile of sawdust on top of some grass clippings rotting down in some odd corner, doing no harm to anyone. I thought though that if I gathered up some urine and sprinkled it over the sawdust, in a year or two, it would make fabulous garden compost.

    I then remembered around 1990 planting a windbreak of trees after a storm took off the roof of my shed. To encourage growth, I mixed in some rough vegetable matter, hedge clippings and weeds, with the cruddy crust from my septic tank, using a saucepan (belonging to the WI, perhaps) and then planting the trees on top of the mix. They thrived and grew like anything.

    I then thought this could sort out two modern problems – Net Zero and raw sewage discharge. Dig a hole, fill it with sewage and sawdust and hedge clippings, and then plant trees on top. The trees should grow vigorously, soaking up carbon dioxide doing so, and releasing oxygen. To answer those here that don’t approve of Net Zero, the trees could be coppiced and chucked on the wood burner, in order to keep up CO2 levels in the atmosphere.

    1. I don’t think Jeremy really understands.

      At the moment the German government stated that they are cutting doiwn 120,000 trees in order to build wind farms

      to reduce CO2 emissions.

      1. Yes, the atmosphere has diddly squat percent of CO2. Once the zealots have had their way by reducing the diddly to next to nothing of diddly, then apparently the world will be saved. Hal-lay-looooooo-ya! An end to nasty old greenhouse gas.

        And meanwhile we are trying to save the Amazon Forest, make the Sahara green and having a tree and hedgerow replanting drive in Britain precisely in order to keep the diddly squat percent above the level of next to diddly squat.

        They’re our leaders. Listen to them. They know what they’re talking about! Fine bunch of people. Fine bunch.

        1. How much CO2 did those 120,000 trees absorb? How much CO2 was emitted to make all the bases? And the non-recyclable blades?

          A lot of false assumptions, methinks. Wind-farms are NOT the answer.

    2. When I used to stay with my grandparents for a day or so, when I was a little girl , beds had space underneath them for potties .. a night time pee in the potty was part of childhood visits .

      I was told when I was older that urine was added to the soot and ash pile and compost bin in the garden , to fertilise the vegetable garden ?

  15. May 9th 1898

    Christopher Birdwood Tracey

    would have been 126 years old today

    My very dear father is still remembered very fondly by all who knew him and loved him.

    1. I watched about 7 or 8 documentaries about Enigma before I (sort of ) understood it. I think.

    2. A similar attempt to capture Enigma material ended in tragedy for Tony Fasson, 29-year-old 1st lieutenant of HMS Petard, and 22-year-old Able Seaman Colin Grazier. Both drowned within U-559 after the boat was forced to the surface, boarded and then sinking. The last man (boy) to get off of U-559 was 16-year-old canteen assistant, Tommy Brown.

      Brave men, all.

  16. We are tolerant, we are welcoming, we believe in free speech and freedom of belief and equality between the sexes; our culture is based upon the Christian ethic.

    In order to rid the country of the scourge of Islam we shall have to behave like the sort of people we are not.

    1. Theses invaders have used all of our ‘weaknesses’ against us.
      This situation will only worsen.
      If our Westminster bunch of numb skulls can’t see this they should all resign.

      1. The Politicians say the opposite but our greatest weakness is diversity.

        ‘Patrick Henry used the phrase in his last public speech, given in March 1799, in which he denounced The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. Clasping his hands and swaying unsteadily, Henry declaimed, “Let us trust God, and our better judgment to set us right hereafter. United we stand, divided we fall.’

        Why have we gone for a rewrite? Divided we stand, United we fall

        1. The Irony is, the white man invaded America and took over and with violence pushed the long established cultures aside.

          1. Who, by & large, had themselves invaded America, taken over and with violence pushed the long established cultures aside.

          2. This is true. The so-called “native Americans” were actually native to Siberia. They just migrated earlier and oh, were they violent!

          3. As the invaders first landed ashore they gasped:
            “Christopher Columbus – look at the State we’re in!”

      2. The Politicians say the opposite but our greatest weakness is diversity.

        ‘Patrick Henry used the phrase in his last public speech, given in March 1799, in which he denounced The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. Clasping his hands and swaying unsteadily, Henry declaimed, “Let us trust God, and our better judgment to set us right hereafter. United we stand, divided we fall.’

        Why have we gone for a rewrite? Divided we stand, United we fall

    2. Thing is, the massive unwanted tsunami of foreigners has made me the opposite of all those things.

  17. “We are heading for a hung Parliament at the next General Election,” says Sunak.

    Nice to see Labour and Conservatives have finished their negotiations for the next five years. Saves any fuss on actually voting, at least.

    1. I’d prefer a hanged Parliament. Trafalgar Square would be a good venue. Not too far to drag them.

      1. Thank you, Sue, for hanged as opposed to hung though a hung Parliament (i.e no overall majority) is perfectly acceptable. I’m sure that there are plenty of lamp-posts in Shitehall, which could accommodate some senior, snivel-serpents!

        1. ‘Elf ‘n’ Safety insists you first check them for stability.
          The paperwork will take at least a decade to be processed.

      2. Too messy Sue.
        A one way trip in a helicopter over the Atlantic and wearing concrete boots is the tidy solution.

  18. It seems that quite a few armchair detectives read the DT:…..

    “A stolen power tool with a tracking device led police to a cache of missing caravans and vehicles, a slew of tools and a quad bike.
    Police searching for a single power tool were staggered when it led them to a hoard of more than 1,000 suspected stolen items that could be worth more than £500,000.
    The find is one of the largest Kent Police has dealt with and images show hundreds of drills, garden equipment, boxes of tools and a hoover were among the haul recovered.
    The discovery was made after a tradesman who had suffered multiple thefts attached trackers to his tools. When officers from the force’s Rural Task Force followed a GPS signal they discovered the other items.
    The quad bike is suspected to have been stolen from Ashford, while the six caravans are thought to have been from thefts in Bristol, Wales, Southampton, Staffordshire and Sussex. Four vehicles were also seized along with a huge number of power tools.
    Officers from the task force obtained and executed a warrant, assisted by colleagues from Thames Valley Police, at an address in Swattenden near Cranbrook, Kent, just after 7.30am on Friday April 26
    Five local men, aged between 18 and 44, were arrested alongside a 19-year-old woman and 17-year-old boy on suspicion of multiple offences relating to theft.
    They have since been bailed pending further investigations.”

    BTL Comments:

    Honeycomb Kid

    Google maps shows there’s a traveller site in Swattenden. What are the chances?

    Comment by Terry Morrissey.
    3.14 keys

    Comment by Honeycomb Kid.
    Did the suspects ‘travel’ by any chance?

    Kevin Edwards
    They live up to their stereotype don’t they. Yet we’re not allowed to name them.

      1. One of our friends had his car cloned by someone in Kent.
        It was driven across the country to the Anglesea port where the ferry goes to Ireland. But our friend was the recipient of several fines for breaches of parking regulations speeding and failing to pay road tolls. And stealing fuel. We wondered who might have been guilty of all that.
        Typically it took our friend a few weeks to clear his name.

          1. Was it also a Kent based cloning TB ?
            Our friend lives in Buckinghamshire.
            I don’t think he’s been to Kent in that particular vehicle.

        1. The problem with GPS always used to be that it was very battery intensive. But I think they have better aerials now (more parallel antennae to pick up the very weak signal)

      1. Mongo and Oscar have one in their collars. You can get ones as small as a 5p piece.

    1. Kent police ?
      I wonder how they are getting on with the recently report many thousands of tonnes of domestic waste materials that have been dumped in picturesque woodland in Kent.
      So far nobody appears to know how it even got there.

        1. And nobody appears to know anything about it Bob.
          Jail sentences and a huge fines should be the answer to what has been allowed to happen.

        2. It must have been a big hoax and everyone fell for it – that wood be my answer.

        3. It must have been a big hoax and everyone fell for it – that wood be my answer.

    2. I live in a no cold calling zone. Mostly because the majority of residents are elderly. The pikeys still turn up knocking on doors offering to tarmac drives and repair roof tiles. Complaints to the police receive the usual response. Nothing.

    3. I must dash and will be busy all day but remind me tomorrow to tell you a story about a stolen bike, a tracker and Plod

    1. Thanks for that, Poppiesmum.

      We ain’t seen nuffink yet.

      More and more poisoning frights will surface ..

      We are being used as guinea pigs ..

      The tablets we take for blood pressure etc all cause side effects , and where are drugs manufactured ?

      The Indian sub continent /and further East?

      Even the plastics in our milk bottles can’t be healthy either .

      Plastics , plastic plastics .

      1. Good afternoon, Belle – a few years ago, just before ‘covid’ leapt into view over the horizon, I fractured my ankle. It was determined I had osteopaenia, and I was offered a lifetime course of tablets to ostensibly strengthen my bones. Would I be interested? I declined, and as I was leaving the doctor said “actually, we are finding that people on these tablets can experience fractures in places we would not normally expect to find them.” Just what is the point of that? It seems that as long as a drug sorts out a problem it matters not what havoc it may cause elsewhere in the body, trouble elsewhere is cause for further milking of cash from the patient. In fact I have come to the conclusion that our sacred nhs was never set up for the benefit of the patient, rather it was to provide a market through national insurance, and profit for the pharmaceuticals with the public to be milked via their illnesses (and if they can be given a few more, so much the better!) as they pass through the portals of this institution. A patient cured is a customer lost. Of course, the nhs does some wonderful things, it has to in order to keep our support, but it must be remembered that being born of politics it has a very dark political heart at its core, visibly exemplified by its obsession with race, diversity, transgenderism in all departments.

    2. I was wondering what sort of idiot medicates for heartburn/acid reflux when a glass of cold milk will settle it so I googled and was told that milk aggravates acid reflux. Simply not true. Bin there, dun that, many times. So the question is actually why do people retain an infantile appeal to authority rather than trusting the evidence of their own experience?

      1. I take your point but whilst I do not eschew modern medicinal advances, I do seek natural remedies as much as I can. I had terrible reflux. Lots of investigations. Nothing found. I cut out ibuprofen/nurofen which plays havoc with tummy esp. if taken regularly. I also stuck to regular mealtimes of decent food. I know, common sense but when busy your body often comes last and you do daft things with it. I took good health for granted. Switched from white wine to red too. Couldn’t give up wine but I do moderate.

        1. I used to have nasty headaches and then I had a TIA 12 years ago.

          The medication I take has resulted in the fact that I don’t get headaches any more because it has thinned my blood.

          1. I had an irregularly fast heartbeat and was presribed blood thinners to stop blood clots forming.

            I asked the cardiac registrar how my prescription would impact through side effects during COVID. He said we give all our COVID positive patients blood thinners and there are no clots left on the ward.

            He didn’t say how many there were in the mortuary!

      2. I take a quarter of a teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda and one tablespoonful of apple cider vinegar in half a pint of lukewarm water the first thing every morning. That, coupled with the fact that I do not eat heavily in the evening, ensures that I never suffer from heartburn (acid reflux).

      3. Here’s one idiot.

        No I don’t take Zantac but an esophageal hernia causes problems and surgery would be invasive.

        1. Is that like a hiatus hernia? My mother had that and swore by Gaviscon. What do you find helps?

          1. I have a prescription drug called Pantoprazole. I am supposed to take one every day but one every three or four days is enough.

      4. It is only recently that I have discovered that cholesterol is required in order to synthesise with the sunlight that lands on one’s skin in order to turn it into Vit D that the body can use efficiently. So on the one hand we are being given statins to reduce our body’s cholesterol and on the other hand we are asked to use sun creams or to stay out of the sun to reduce the amount of sunlight on our skin. A double whammy pincer movement to reduce that most vital vitamin in connection with a healthy immune system.

        I think everything we have been told by authority is a deliberate lie.

        1. I agree, everything we are told is a lie – and that’s the truth. 🤔

      5. But there’s no money to be made coined out of common sense and home medication.
        Well, apart from those evil farmers who merely produce food, natch.

      6. Have to say I find milk only aggravates my heartburn/acid reflux when I sometimes suffer it.

  19. Morning all 🙂😊
    Lovely start again.
    I was ‘plumb tuckered out’ after my epic maintenance programme yesterday. Climbing onto and clearing our rear north facing extension roof with Velux roof lights of horrible moss. I may have broken three tiles in the process. I’ll sort that out today.
    And after resting, cutting the grass at the rear twice over. Due to our recent holiday, It was too overgrown for the one cut. Six full boxes of cuttings into the compost.
    All the edges have to be tried today. And clear the moss from the gutters.
    Let’s be perfectly honest about our MPs. Most of them are only in Parliament for what they can get out of it. Their genuine interest in how our country fairs in general terms obviously is not a priority to them. We simply wouldn’t be in such a terrible mess if it was.
    As a small group of islands it is not our job to put the world to rights and except thousands of illegal invaders. Who have come from far larger land masses than ours. But are too lazy ‘to put their own houses’ in order. We owe them nothing.
    Once again I have to say this about our political classes “they eff up every single thing they come into contact with” and will continue to do so. Unless there is a well needed and drastic change.

    1. Morning, Eddy.

      I’m still ‘plumb tuckered out’ after my epic programme of painting and gardening work, t’other day. I’m now enjoying my recovery time in the sunshine.👍🏻

      1. I heard that phrase used in New England 25 years ago. It’s stuck in my mind every since..
        Painting is next on my adgenda. 🤗

    2. Morning Eddy.

      We all know you haven’t been very well, so why didn’t you get one of these gutter clearing companies in to sort the moss problem out , also a local gardener would have loved the chance to cut your grass for a few bob as a one off .

      Still , if you are feeling better, STAY better.

      1. Well I made it through the night, there’s a song in that.
        I’ll get one of our sons to clear the top gutters TB the eldest has had my long ladder and stand off bracket in is garden for quite a long time. 😉
        We use to use window cleaners but they walked on both front and back lower roofs and have in the past broken tiles.
        I’ve still got a stack of new ones.

    3. Honestly, I think they’re laser focussed on the economy, debt and taxes. I genuinely believe the intent of the political class and state machine is to ensure this country declines, permanently under a tax, welfare and waste burden so colossal it cannot be recovered.

      I believe this because a nation dornw in taxes, where the currency is worth the same as it was 50 years ago but prices are 50 years ahead of current, where energy is socialised and rationed simply cannot exist as a free entity. When so much damage has been done big fat state will simply waddle it’s corpulent, corrupt, obese corpse over the last vestige of functioning market economy and stamp on it – all to say ‘told you so. We’re rechaining to the EU. This didn’t happen then.’

    1. Absolutely agree Bill Hicks keep on with the good work. Say it loud say it clear.

    2. Which reminds me my back is giving me gyp at the moment.

      I am trying to preserve my body by pickling it in alcohol in small doses as I hate being drunk. Indeed my wife has seen me jolly and more talkative and prolix than usual after I have taken a few but she has never actually seen me drunk in 36 years of marriage!

      [The first time I got drunk was when I got my “O” level results. I was very sick and made a politician’s promise* to myself that I would never get drunk again.] (* a politician’s promise is one that you fail to keep)

    3. Mr Hicks is wrong. Mankind doens’t need help. It needs to be left alone. To be told ‘no one is coming’. To hear ‘if you want it, save for it’. To be told: Hungry? Get a job.

      If you give pretentious people power to ‘help’ you those people then set up a monopooly on that help and use force to decide who gets the help they can give.

    4. Mr Hicks is wrong. Mankind doens’t need help. It needs to be left alone. To be told ‘no one is coming’. To hear ‘if you want it, save for it’. To be told: Hungry? Get a job.

      If you give pretentious people power to ‘help’ you those people then set up a monopooly on that help and use force to decide who gets the help they can give.

  20. Back from t’market. It was very busy. Not quite so warm as yesterday – the breeze has gone round to the south and strengthened. Never mind – shorts and T-shirt ….

    Any more Tories ratted? When I am dictator, ANY MP who changes sides will be required to resign and force a by-election.

    1. Sean Woodward is a good example of a rat- a queer rat at that.

  21. What are the chances hey. Just booked and paid for the Malta apartment and it’s the exact same one Bill and Carolyn Thomas stayed in.
    Hope he left it tidy.

    1. Had I had any inkling, I would have warned the delightful owner not to let the flat to anyone from Fareham.

      1. I have canceled the booking. I can’t imagine sleeping in the same bed as you. Yukky poohs.

    1. Christianity is growing rapidly in China but they’re fighting persecution from the empire and worshipping underground in house groups, which makes their numbers difficult to judge and their creed impossible to standardise. The rulers of the empire need a Constantine and if one were to emerge, the Mohammedans would become irrelevant. The church is also undaunted by persecution in Africa but as yet, the Chinese are smarter.

    2. Robinson is right in his ethos but not it being led by corporations. Companies want cheap labour. A massive labour pool ensures wages are suppressed. Why pay £30,000 when you can choose the cheapest and pay them £20,000?

      The family has always been a target of the state and it’s Left wing ideals. It, wrongly; believes it is better than the nuclear family but mainly the nuclear family needs nothing from the state except the basics of infrastructure. That’s why taxes are now so high. The white nuclear family has to work double time to provide for the children, which means the child grows up without both parents. Welfare ensures the final knife in the back as some people simply breed knowing it’s a leg up. The child is simply a cash voucher to them. Such ‘units’ – because they’re not families – exist only because the state spitefully wants to erase it’s greatest enemy: parents.

  22. 387197+ up ticks,

    Job done, time to move on and enjoy what delights the pieces of silver, for treacherous services rendered, can oblige with.

    All the Tory MPs standing down at the next general election
    Former Cabinet members Sajid Javid and Dominic Raab are among dozens of Conservatives who will soon leave the House of Commons

    Be a sensible idea to trace tag each before they enter the door of the home office, never to be seen again.

  23. High immigration to Britain has made integration “impossible” and exerted “huge pressures” on communities, a former immigration minister has said.

    Robert Jenrick, who quit the government over its approach to both legal and illegal migration, said immigration was not making the country “richer”. He added that reducing the numbers coming to the country would allow Britain to “build a more cohesive and united country”.

    Jenrick, who is tipped to be a contender for the Conservative leadership after the election, said Rishi Sunak needed to implement his plans to cut the number of people coming to Britain if he wanted to win back voters and see off the threat from Reform UK.

    Along with Neil O’Brien, the former housing minister, Jenrick has called for the Home Office to be split up because it is “incapable” of securing Britain’s borders, in a report released on Wednesday.

    He told LBC: “What this report sets out to do is to fix this problem once and for all by making clear how the government in quick time could change our immigration system to finally bring it down and return to the kinds of historic norms that we were used to in the years prior to 1997.”

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Jenrick said high immigration was placing “immense pressure” on housing and public services, creating “cultural issues” and he said: “I don’t believe it’s making the country richer.”

    “We want a country where there is a diversity of opinion and migrants throughout our history have added to our culture and enriched our country. But if you have such large numbers of people coming in as we’ve seen in the last 25 years, and in particular in the last couple of years, that makes integration impossible and it places huge pressures on communities.”

    He added: “Someone coming into the country may bring benefits but they don’t come with a home, a mile of road, a hospital bed.”

    He also criticised the Rwanda scheme, branding any flights which may take off as purely “symbolic”, adding that flights to the east African country would not be the “measure of success”. He said he would “not oppose” Nigel Farage joining the Conservative Party.

    ‘Incapable’ Home Office
    Rishi Sunak made stopping small boats one of his five pledges

    AP
    Jenrick was setting out his ideas in a speech which will be seen as a pitch to the right of the Tory party.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    He advocates creating a new Department of Border Security and Immigration Control, which would focus on migration policy. The rest of the Home Office’s responsibilities should be covered by a new Department for Policing and National Security.

    Jenrick and O’Brien, writing a Centre for Policy Studies report, said that the overhaul would be an opportunity to “instil a totally different culture in the Home Office” staffed with “new personnel and processes”.

    They said immigration was consistently one of voters’ top concerns but the Home Office had “fallen short on this front” and while staffed by “many good, hard-working people”, it had proven itself “simply too unwieldy to function effectively”. It had been “undermined by high levels of churn and a lack of institutional knowledge”.

    Neil O’Brien joined Jenrick in calling for the Home Office to be replaced

    TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD POHLE
    • BBC journalists ‘fear being called racist in migration reports’

    New Home Office figures revealed that more than 2,000 migrants had arrived in the UK in small boats since Rishi Sunak’s Safety of Rwanda Act became law almost two weeks ago.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/call-to-curb-migration-by-splitting-up-incapable-home-office-n3nhkzcsn

    Very long article but worth accessing and reading .

    I like Jenrick!

    1. He added: “Someone coming into the country may bring benefits but they don’t come with a home, a mile of road, a hospital bed.”

      A lot more could be added to this list!

        1. Sadly lots of talk but very little if any delivery. Achievements – zero.

    2. Betrayed voters deserve action now on the mass migration scandal

      Reducing net migration to the tens of thousands would be the single biggest thing the Tories could do to win back support

      ROBERT JENRICK • 7 May 2024 • 8:00pm

      When I resigned as immigration minister, I refused to be yet another politician who broke their promises on migration. Having pushed the Government as far as I could within the confines of collective responsibility, I didn’t believe it would go any further. Six months on, with no new policy and our 2019 manifesto commitments looking more distant than ever, my reasoning has been proven right.

      Fortunately, leaving government provides new opportunities to effect change. My colleagues and I came agonisingly close to strengthening the Rwanda Bill with amendments that seem more prescient by the week. I am now free to make the case for leaving the ECHR so we can secure our borders in this age of mass migration. And today, I release the report, Taking Back Control, with Neil O’Brien MP and Karl Williams of the Centre for Policy Studies, detailing the failures of our legal migration system and setting out more than 30 policies to fix it.

      Most could be delivered now. We urgently need to overhaul our bloated university sector, starting by rethinking the International Education Strategy, which sets the enormous and entirely arbitrary target of 600,000 international students a year. This has led to an explosion in low-quality courses at lower-tier universities: the 24 Russell Group institutions combined accounted for just a quarter of the increase in international student numbers between 2017/18 and 2021/22.

      We now have a collection of universities more interested in the immigration rather than the education business. To shut this backdoor to the UK, we should scrap the graduate visa route, which enables students to stay on after their studies regardless of the type of job they find. Instead, graduates should have six months to find a job that meets the salary thresholds every other migrant in the labour market is subject to.

      The health and social care visa has similarly ballooned beyond imagination. Despite this, the number of vacancies within the health sector remains high. The policy has been a complete failure. We should impose an immediate cap on health and care visas at roughly 30,000 and recruit from the domestic workforce by raising the minimum hourly wage in the care sector by 20-40p and by expanding the NHS workforce plan, training British doctors and nurses. While the Treasury will bear an initial cost, the long-term savings to the taxpayer will be significant as pressure on our capital stock is relieved.

      Elsewhere, the Government should automatically index salary thresholds in line with inflation to end the in-built liberal bias. The opaque Immigration Salary List, which allows industries to rely upon a steady stream of cheap labour and avoid investing in technology, should be scrapped. And we desperately need a period of glasnost where the Government is transparent about the immigration data it holds on crime, the benefits bill and tax receipts.

      Other proposals, like breaking up the Home Office into two – a Department for Border Security and Immigration Control, and a Department for Policing and National Security – will take longer. But having worked in the department for more than a year, it’s clear that, in its current formation, it isn’t working. We need to start afresh with a totally different culture, structure and far greater ministerial oversight.

      Instead of banning smoking or regulating London’s pedicabs, the Government could use the time left in the parliamentary session to deliver the post-Brexit immigration system voters were promised. We shouldn’t wait to save conservative policies for our manifesto when we are 20 points behind in the polls in an election year – that would be government by posturing and an abdication of duty. The Government has a solid majority and could deliver these today.

      The local election results reaffirmed two clear trends, obvious to those of us who spend time on the doorsteps listening to voters. First, Conservative voters feel badly let down and are struggling to find reasons to back us. Second, we are haemorrhaging support to the Reform Party. This is primarily because of mass migration and the allied and growing problem of extremism, although clearly other factors are also at play.

      In the precious time we have left before the election, reducing net migration to the 10,000s and delivering the highly-selective immigration system we call for in our report would be the single biggest thing the Government could do to win over these wavering voters. Rational, hard-headed analysis dictates that a vote for Reform at the general election would split the Right-wing vote and usher in a Labour government, with a big majority, who would undo these changes.

      For many voters, belated action on immigration will be too little, too late. They are right to be angry – they have been systematically misled by politicians of all stripes. The post-Brexit immigration liberalisations were a particularly egregious betrayal, the consequences of which will be felt long into the future. But the policies I propose are nevertheless the right thing to do for the country, and the Government shouldn’t hesitate to implement them. It would be unforgivable if they did not.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/07/betrayed-voters-deserve-action-now-on-the-mass-migration-sc/

      1. Reduce migration to zero. When the place is overfilled, stop filling some more.

    3. An easy way to solve the criminal invasion problem: borrow an A10 warthog. Get out into the channel and strafe any boats.

      Or… demob the quangos that keep fighting it. Abolish asylum seeker legal aid. Leave the ECHR. Repeal the migration pact, modern slavery acts, safe harbour acts. Send a message to the globalists that we will not be race replaced.

      If this fails the public should sue the government under the international genocide laws.

  24. Lovely weather, been gardening. Can hardly get through my little meadow and wood for fallen trees and broken branches.
    Wordle 1,055 3/6

    ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Impressive, I struggled today
      Wordle 1,055 6/6

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

    2. Well done, another tough-ish one today. Bogey 5

      Wordle 1,055 5/6

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

    3. Lots of lazy trees at Firstborn’s place as well. Lying down on the job!

  25. Phew! 120 miles in 4h. Not bad!
    And this is what I’ve bought:-
    Eight various bottles including 100cl bottle of Pernod, a 0.70l bottle of Southern Comfort, a 70cl bottle of Monterez liquer and five other bottles of wines and liquers https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ad9cad46eb04b7f0bf908ef3665629b79c333c1e89612abd9a894567d9b90d0f.jpg

    Twenty items – 0.50l bottle of Cointreau, a 500ml bottle of Benedictine liquer, a 37.5cl bottle of Drambuie, a 35cl bottle of Grand Marnier liquer, cocktail shaker and various bottles and miniatures (spirits and liquers, etc)
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e4c9f726abd1abc362c2a05eb0f6e15c8944a3d833e3b6e3c713ff93cf2e7e2f.jpg

    A 70cl bottle of Chevalier Cognac (40% vol), a 700ml bottle of Lamb’s Navy Rum (40% vol), a one litre bottle of McCarthy’s Irish Cream and a bottle of The Touching Vines Soft & Mellow red wine
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a4145fc873b2a4b84403f0db19606ed14635ee74da2b869fa261e07a812ceb1c.jpg

    A one litre bottle of Smirnoff Vodka, 70cl bottle of Vladivar Vodka, 750ml bottle of Ron Bacardi, one litre bottle of Napoleon Brandy, bottle of 2000 Rioja, 70cl bottle of Yeni Raki and two small miniature
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d23089ec17ab82b61b398260fbb40ee0e616fcd5770b456c06239ce855a0504e.jpg

    Total cost, £148.35

    1. I must have missed an earlier post. It would explain why you’ve driven 120 miles to stock up your drinks cabinet.

    1. The most disadvantaged in society are poor white working class boys. Why are they not Khans priority?

    2. He spouts about “a sense of belonging” – he means a sense that London belongs to muslims. I agree with the comment that those Londoners who did not vote against him deserve whatever they get (except those muslims who see his largesse as their right anyway). But the rest of us do not deserve what is being done to OUR capital city.

    3. This nasty little man is not in favour of diversity at all. He would prefer London to be 100% Muslim and until it is he wants special housing, religious and food special benefits for Muslims.

  26. Charles Moore extract from article 09 May 2024 Spectator Magazine

    Some time ago, I wrote that the actress Olivia Colman, then about to play the late Queen Elizabeth in The Crown, might be unsuitable because she had a ‘left-wing face’. I caused offence but meant none: it was simply something I had noticed. I am pleased to receive from a reader scientific confirmation of my general point – an online first posting of the American Psychological Association entitled ‘Facial Recognition Technology and Human Raters Can Predict Political Orientation From Images of Expressionless Faces Even When Controlling for Demographics and Self-Presentation’. The authors, Kosinski, Khambatta and Wang, claim that their predictive model from standardised images of 3,401 politicians in the United States, Britain and Canada showed such recognition. Their other experiments confirmed the point. For example, conservative types ‘tended to have larger lower faces’. Liberals, however, ‘tend to smile more intensely and genuinely’. The authors warn: ‘Our findings underscore the urgency for scholars, the public, and policymakers to recognise and address the potential risks of facial recognition technology to personal privacy.’ I’ll say: if one mugshot can reveal a person’s politics, no conservative will get a job in the public sector or the BBC ever again.

    1. Fascinating!
      I had kind of noticed the same as you mention, but not really thought about it, but Left-wing faces seem to be more disapproving than Right.

      1. Boy don’t they love disapproving of stuff and wagging their fingers. Authoritarian streak; no “live and let live”, that’s for sure.

      2. There’s a certain kind of unattractive, weak but bossy face that all the women in mainstream political parties seem to share.

    2. Some years ago I came across several pages on the internet with photos of American politicians, normally unknown to people living outside the areas of influence. Viewers were invited to decide their political party merely by looking at the faces. I almost never erred immediately being able to identify the Democrats. Something in the expression, the hairstyle, perhaps. But always very obvious.

      1. Doesn’t appear so. I know that a lot of those fires are set by arsonists for economic gain on the part of corrupt builders and real estate, wanting to remove excuses for why holiday homes can’t be built in certain places. Ancient woodland in the way, burn it down.

  27. Hello Friends

    What a lovely day. Feeling good – sun is shining. now going to worry about the world going to hell in a handcart seems it seems i cannot stop it.

      1. Ugh. Too hot for me. In the parlance of the London Borough of Thames’s stance on speed limits, “twenty is plenty” (and even then it’s too hot).

          1. I think, generally, it’s the humidity rather than the temperature that makes it uncomfortable and energy sapping.

          2. That is where the garden sprinkler comes into its own. Keeps me and the doggies happy.

      2. Pleasant 22° here in SW France but up to 27° tomorrow and Saturday apparently. As long as it stays under 30° I’m fine 🙂

        1. Met office says it’s 19 in my town on the South Coast England. I have a thermometer in a shady part of my back garden showing 28c. No wind at all.

      3. 15C forecast tomorrow. Sun.
        Today has been hard physical work at Firstborn’s place. Sorting barn, preparing to scrap the combine harvester that’s in the forest because, about 20 years ago, the then owner of the place couldn’t get it to work properly, so they drove it into the forest and abandoned it… as you do, with a brand-new machine. Now we have to free it from the trees growing through it, pull it out of the forest, and get it taken away to be scrapped.
        That, and sort out beehives, sort out blackberries, blackcurrants, apples, raspberries… Sigh.

        1. Any plans to salvage the engine? Quite certain there will be other uses for it.

          1. Not as such, but Firstborn has investigated, and the poor old thing has been uncovered for a long time, and in his opinion (as a Technical Authority in such things) is that it’s pretty well junk.
            A pity, as a decent diesel would be useful, but there’s too much work required on this one to get it to that stage. Sadly 🙁

        1. I think it was about 32 here some time in April. The TV news put on grim faces as they reported the hottest April in forty years or something. Then the temperatures plummeted. And they forgot global warming for a while.

    1. Afternoon Nagsman. I console myself constantly with the thought that though I can see all that is going on. There is absolutely nothing that I can do about it!

    1. Someone’s getting a bonus out of it. Loadsamoney’s been announced.

    2. If Britain is to rebuild its armed forces, then money, kit, and renewed purpose will only take it so far. We cannot continue to discard 800,000 applicants a decade through an incompetent, inflexible, and insincere approach to recruiting.

      This guy is either a Saint or a Moron. He is clearly the wrong Colour/Ethnicity/Religion.

    3. Is it intentional, I wonder? Do they really want the UK to be independently secure? Or is it a circuitous way of getting us back under the umbrella of the EU. Whatever the reason, it is not because the best interests of our country are being considered. The banal response to this highly competent young man’s application seems to be telling a story of some kind.

      1. Just a point to ponder. The applicant’s degree subjects are not mentioned and, if it’s the case that the interests of the U.K. are being deliberately ignored, then the RN must have bribed/coerced Capita to reject this kind of applicant.

    4. Perhaps he should have mentioned he was an apprentice transvestite. I daresay he would have been taken aback by the speed of his entry…..

    5. As one BTL put it “Crapita is about as much use as a chocolate tea pot”

      1. It would be interesting to see who was on the board of Crapita – they also have the contract for TV licence collection

  28. Ukraine drone hits refinery nearly 1,200 km inside Russia
    9 May 2024

    Ukraine broke records with a long-distance strike on Russia on Thursday, hitting a target nearly 1,200 kilometres (746 miles) from the border.

    A Ukrainian defence source said the drone attack, which hit an oil refinery in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan, was the SBU security service’s work and was carried out at a “record range”.

    Obviously it is time for Vlad to start knocking out Euopean pipelines and oil and gas installations. What is sauce for the Goose is sauce for the Gander.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/05/09/ukraine-russia-war-latest-news/

    1. Being honest, Milei is playing this well. Argentina has far better things to be thinking about.

      He’s doing the right thing. All he need continue is once Argentina is booming to negotiate the oil rights nearby. Of course, the net zero fools here will say no and he’ll continue to point out how massively rich, comfortable and prosperous cheap energy, fuel has made his country.

        1. If only our own useless government were as intent on exploiting natural resources.

    2. Interesting. Thanks for posting.

      A small point – when Tousi says that Argentinians are ‘done with socialism’ – not all of them! Buenos Aires today at a complete halt due to a general strike.

      Luckily it’s sunny, although chilly. Good day for walking!

      1. The rump resistance of failures. They have them in Russia too. Can you imagine being so looney you have nostalgia for Stalin an repression?

    3. I like Tousi he expresses himself lucidly and speaks a good deal of common sense.

      However, I think he would be better advised to have a good shave.

      1. That’s the fashion now a days. Like you I do not like the scruffy look.

        1. He is not a Muslim – indeed he does not much like Muslims – but his complexion and a beard would make him look like a Muslim which is why I would advise him to shave himself thoroughly at least twice a day as he is rather hirsute.

      2. Perhaps his missus likes beards…(nudge, nudge, know what I mean? …)

        1. Is one supposed to understand labyrinthine lawyer speak? I thought the whole point of it was to be incomprehensible.

          1. For many years I was a renegade solicitor who insisted on writing – and drafting legal documents – in what was then know as “Plain English”. I won awards for some of my work.

            Other solicitors were aghast. Several refused to have anything to do with draft deeds I sent them for agreement. The usual riposte was, “Clients will understand what you are saying…”

            Doh! I still try to be as clear (and succinct) as possible, although, fortunately for everyone, I write very little of interest! As NoTTLers will confirm.

  29. From Spectator magazine 09 May 2024
    Mark Mason
    Why do people make excuses for surly staff?
    Comments Share
    ‘You grab that table, I’ll get the drinks.’ I did as bid. A couple of minutes later, Paul was back, beers in hand, and we started chatting. Soon the member of staff who’d served him appeared. She was stony-faced and holding a card machine. ‘You didn’t pay,’ she said.
    Paul looked confused for a second, then glanced down at the machine. ‘Oh, it didn’t go through?’ The staff member shook her head. Paul held out his card, she punched the numbers again, we all waited for the beep. Then she handed him his receipt and left.
    ‘Service with a smile,’ I said. He laughed. And then, a second or two later: ‘Oh well, I guess she’s having a bad day.’
    I didn’t say anything – this was the first time I’d met Paul, we were here to talk about something else and I didn’t want to get distracted. But what I felt like saying was: ‘It doesn’t matter if she’s having a bad day – it’s a basic part of her job to be able to ignore that when she’s dealing with customers, and treat them politely.’
    Why do so many people make apologies for the bad service they’ve just received? I first noticed it years ago, queuing at the issue desk in a library. The woman in front of me was given the books she’d ordered, and noticed that one was missing. She asked about it. ‘It’s unavailable,’ replied the librarian, neither looking up from his desk nor offering an explanation.
    The woman faltered for a second, clearly wondering whether to enquire why the book was unavailable, or whether it would become available at some point in the future. Deciding against it, she turned to leave. ‘That was friendly,’ I said as she caught my eye. But instead of accepting my commiseration, she had a go at me. ‘Would you do that job?’ she scowled, and stormed off.
    Most popular
    Yascha Mounk
    How universities raised a generation of activists

    Had she left me time for a reply to her question, it would have been: ‘Yes, I would. I’ve done several jobs where I’ve served members of the public, as have most people I know, and in every case I’ve treated them with courtesy and friendliness.’
    My first such job was for my father, one of whose efforts in the (ultimately doomed) campaign to make his farm pay was offering pick-your-own runner beans. It was my task to weigh the customers’ hauls and take their money. If at any point my father had seen me being anything less than affable and respectful, he would have deployed the age-old personnel management technique of ‘giving me a right bollocking’. And he would have been right to do so.
    Many apologists for bad service are members of the GMC – the Guilty Middle Class. They’re not exactly socialists, but they’re temperamentally anti-business, sneeringly inclined against ‘fat-cat’ owners who make too much money (‘too much’ always being about ten grand a year more than they make themselves). The GMC hate the fact that they’re forced to be part of a society based on private enterprise. They make amends for their guilt by always siding with the downtrodden workers: it’s a kind of economic S&M. The excuses they make for the shop assistants, waiters and receptionists who insult and/or snub them are absurd. ‘They haven’t had the right training’ is a common response. Really? If you need training to (a) smile at a customer and (b) say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, you shouldn’t be doing the job to start with.
    No one’s asking for any forelocks to be tugged. Over-attentive service can be as bad as the rude kind. All we expect is a normal human interaction, where a few pleasantries are exchanged, and perhaps the odd joke. My favourite experiences are often in pubs or restaurants where you’re served by a teenager. They’re lively, engaging, they tell you things you don’t know, they ask about your world and you ask about theirs, and it’s a mutually rewarding encounter.
    You know that in 15 years’ time they’ll be running their own businesses, providing lots of those things that the GMC always go on about but the origin of which they never seem to understand: jobs.
    And those business owners of the future will take care to employ people like themselves, people who look after the customer, see them as an integral part of the job, not a problem to be dismissed, or ideally ignored altogether. Because they know two things about a customer. One, they’re the people who pay their wages. And two, they have a choice about where they spend their money.
    A business with unhelpful staff might survive for slightly longer than it should, simply because the GMCs will keep on queuing up (literally) for a dose of the rough stuff. But in the long run, both sides are doing each other a disservice.

  30. Well, that was a moment of hilarity for any onlooker. The tap on one of our 150 litre water butts stopped working. It was too difficult to try to empty it with buckets – so Muggins here had the bright idea of trying remove the tap. It DID work – except that as soon as the nut inside the butt (quiet at the back) came away – the spigot shot out and horizontal water soaked me and the surrounding area…. Brought under control by a sopping Muggins – we managed to salvage about 120 litres for immediate use elsewhere.

    Then I had to get the well pump out of storage, clean and prime it – and then wash out the empty butt (just be quiet, Philip). All done and dusted – the spigot replaced and everything is back to normal. A shower and a complete change of clothing follows!

    1. The late Gerard Hoffnung also had a spot of bother with a barrel; perhaps you could offer the tale to Mr Bean.

  31. Woman stabbed to death in busy London street. 9 May 2024.

    A murder investigation has been launched in north London after a woman was stabbed to death in broad daylight in a busy street.

    Police were called to Burnt Oak Broadway in Edgware just before midday on Thursday.

    Officers attended the scene, along with paramedics and an air ambulance crew.

    A woman was treated for stab injuries but despite the best efforts of the medics she died at the scene.

    I can remember forecasting many years ago that Law and Order would progressively break down as Cultural and Racial cohesion disintegrated though I was thinking more on the lines of muggings. Now it’s go out and risk your life on some random meeting. If you live in London a stab vest is a reasonable not to say essential investment. I might buy one myself.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/09/woman-stabbed-death-london-street-daylight-murder-probe/

    1. Proper descriptions are what is required but the police won’t go there. I don’t see why…they have been accused of being institutionally racist loads of times. Just do your damned jobs !

    2. “A murder investigation has been launched in north London after a woman was stabbed to death in broad daylight in a busy street.”

      Stabbed with what; a knife, a sword, an axe or ???

      Wielded by a man, a woman or??

      If no one was detained, a DESCRIPTION of the perpetrator is essential; someone must have witnessed the killing . . .

      1. “Nit kein entfer ist oich ein entfer” (Yiddish)
        No answer is also an answer.

    3. Just a suggestion. Jewish woman. Bearded non-Jewish attacker. A wild guess, I know…but.

      1. That was exactly my thought, lacoste. Do we all really all have to wear kevlar reinforced high collars to accommodate our diverse guests these days?

    4. I know the area faily well.
      Police say they want to reassure people it will be thoroughly investigated……a few years ago we knew it would have been ‘throughly investigated’. But probably would never have happened.

    5. It was an act of self defence; the perpetrator’s honour had been threatened.

  32. Explored emptiness for a Bogey Five!

    Wordle 1,055 5/6
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜🟨🟨🟨
    ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Five here too.

      Wordle 1,055 5/6

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

    2. Posted earlier. Just broke run of 203.

      Wordle 1,055 X/6

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

      1. Aaaargh! I posted earlier (bogey 5) but it was a tough one, again! 203 is a hell of a run, the best I’ve managed is I think about 80 before ‘-o-er’ got me (again)……

      2. I only got it on the sixth, mola, and then because there really was only one option which i had not seen before,

  33. Lefties wearing a keffiyeh, Greta & Hamas out in force in the Gaza strip of Sweden.. called Malmo.. to air their Jew hate at Eden Golan at Eurovision.
    Lefties still obsessing about something they don’t understand nor could place on something called a map.

    1. They’ve been told that the Ashkenazim are not real Jews and that they’re actually Europeans who stole land from Arabs. There isn’t any truth in that whatsoever but didn’t Goebbels say something about making the lie BIG?

      1. They’ve also been told on US campus during protests not to answer any questions to the Press or YTubers.. after viral X posts show them getting mixed up about dates, land, maps and the fruity history of Mohammad.

        1. I posted here yesterday those acting “don’t respond to questions” cult behaviour.

      2. They’ve also been told on US campus during protests not to answer any questions to the Press or YTubers.. after viral X posts show them getting mixed up about dates, land, maps and the fruity history of Mohammad.

  34. I see Dominic Cummings is already winding up the Lefties, and his political party hasn’t even started yet.
    He’s far too smart for them.. and likes to tell it like it is.. “Tories doing ‘f*** all’ for Brexit.”

    1. You are lucky to have MPs that have a long term view of future elections. Trudeaus mob all sit on their hands and applaud the Emporer like trained seals.

  35. A few remarks about this Yorkshire Post front page today.

    I know the initial response is that the ghastly Labour Party are trying to cynically hoover up those votes. Some are showing their true nasty colours, like the Greens. However it’s worth considering that many on the moderate Left are now displaying the behaviour of the victims of Cluster-B narcissism, like the abused trying to make everything perfect so the abuser won’t go off on one. The mad-Left Left keep calling them racist if they step out of line. There’s no defence in their #bekind no judgement Liberalism. I’ve heard this response to Cluster-B abuse described as playing the dancing monkey.

    I notice the Yorkshire Post uses the word “Muslims”. I thought we weren’t allowed to use that term? Is it OK now? Don’t we have to speak about Islamists or Islam but not specifically Muslims as they are individual people and not a blob acting in unison because that’s analogous with Hîtler and hateful? Has the Yorkshire Post unwittingly tripped up here?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9cd171d67b266825ab3476560554bc4e86d073ce6f7dae08b476c351bdb32a23.jpg

    1. I don’t want political parties to cow to foreign religions. It’s stupid and unnecessary. What religion someone is is irrelevant. The obey, or they leave.

      Let’s start getting rid of them.

    2. You really do need to be careful about that “Cluster B” stuff AA. It might attract the wrong kind of attention. Remember what happened last time :*)

  36. A few remarks about this Yorkshire Post front page today.

    I know the initial response is that the ghastly Labour Party are trying to cynically hoover up those votes. Some are showing their true nasty colours, like the Greens. However it’s worth considering that many on the moderate Left are now displaying the behaviour of the victims of Cluster-B narcissism, like the abused trying to make everything perfect so the abuser won’t go off on one. The mad-Left Left keep calling them racist if they step out of line. There’s no defence in their #bekind no judgement Liberalism. I’ve heard this response to Cluster-B abuse described as playing the dancing monkey.

    I notice the Yorkshire Post uses the word “Muslims”. I thought we weren’t allowed to use that term? Is it OK now? Don’t we have to speak about Islamists or Islam but not specifically Muslims as they are individual people and not a blob acting in unison because that’s analogous with Hîtler and hateful? Has the Yorkshire Post unwittingly tripped up here?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9cd171d67b266825ab3476560554bc4e86d073ce6f7dae08b476c351bdb32a23.jpg

  37. The letters headline might have been better if worded thus:

    ” Time for ministers to fulfil promises on tackling rampant anti-Semitism islamism.”

  38. I’ve seen reports from the terrible most recent ‘London’ stabbing but have found it difficult from the TV shots to recall where it actually took place. As usual with a mix up from journalists it can’t be both Burnt Oak and Edgware underground stations. They are quite a long way apart.
    I’ll say goodevening to you all, in a precurser to goodnight all. 🤗

  39. That’s me gone for this eventful day. Successful market. Cleared out the greenhouse – four barrow loads of soil removed and replaced with four barrow loads of manure and compost ready for tomato planting out tomorrow. The butt issue (see below!!). Two garden chairs delivered – could we fold the up – could we heck as like….! After 20 minutes I tried one last idea – it worked!

    Nice sunny day – shorts and T-shirt. Looking forward to a nice piece of halibut with our own asparagus, new (gold-plated) local potatoes and salad.
    With a bottle of Soave Classico (one of Morrisons’ better whites).

    Then a bit of telly and a long night’s sleep. Or not.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

    PS The Edgware murderer was a bag-snatcher. I’ll bet he looked like that threatening jungle-bunny who was “securiddity” at one of the 4* hotels for illegals – as shown here yesterday. The one who told the interviewer to leave as it was “private property”. (As though he’d know what that meant).

    1. A rather busy day there Mr Bill. I, in contrast, slept through most of today.

        1. And me, Bill. retired, exhausted at 14:00 hours, only to be awoken by the surgery to expect a phone call NEXT Thursday. That was me awake at 16:36. Bar stewards!

          1. At least there is some action, even if delayed, Tom.
            Have a good evening… these lighter nights are pleasant, even if I can’t keep awake!

      1. I woke at 09:00. First time I had so many zeds, I can’t remember.
        Excellent, though!

    1. You’d think spatial hearing would indicate the sound is not coming from the wheel….

    2. Wait until he gets the bill for investigating noise at back wheel.
      Diagnostic testing – $100 an hour.
      Diagnostic testing with customer watching – $200 an hour.

    1. Thanks, Paul. Due to bloody Covid, the overhaul of the organ at St John the Baptist, Puttenham, was much delayed, Finally, last year we had a recital by Katherine Diennes from Guildford Cathedral as part of the inauguration of the organ. Then we did a home-grown effort. In the absence of feet, I set up a vaguely organ-like keyboard, and enlisted the help of Dr David Melville (one of our occasional organists, but so much more) to play the pedal part on the keyboard, and managed the Toccata, if not the Fugue…

        1. The T&F in Dm is one of the few Bach pieces that I can more or less rattle off from memory.

          Obviously, the pedal part is problematic now. But there’s much Bach that i can ‘cheat’ – I can do the pedal part with the left hand, and fill in with whatever is available. No big deal, really.

          KD’s recital was not without issues. Ordinarily. the Great Fifteenth would simply add to the Diapason Chorus. But she chose to use it as a solo stop, a couple of octaves below.

          Great plan, but the stop action let her down. One has to pull the Fifteenth stop very carefully. Or it doesn’t work. Oops…

          1. Could you specialize on lesser known masterpieces? That way your adjustments might not be noticed by too many!

  40. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/09/gibraltar-deal-uk-sovereignty-meaningless-mps-cameron/

    Are the Tories all devoted to destroying this country? How come the foreign office is so useless at doing things the public want, but so frenziedly fast at doing the nation down?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/05/09/ftse-100-markets-latest-news-bank-england-interest-rates/

    There’s Hunt sayng ‘don’t reduce mortgage costs! Make people pay more! Keep the economy stagnant!

    Gods I hate them all.

    1. Yes, it’s beginning to feel like the great reset machine is turning up the revs

  41. Dangerous cyclists are a lawless menace

    Parliament must act, or I fear the growing number of electric bikes will only see more pedestrians killed

    IAIN DUNCAN SMITH • 8 May 2024 • 8:43pm

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a7967cd4f1b0da70ca9846869a55aac03895dce9941cfcac8be1ee752d569b19.jpg
    Kim Briggs was killed in 2016 when a speeding cyclist crashed into her. Her widower Matthew is campaigning to change the law so dangerous cyclists can more easily be brought to justice

    On Monday morning, I was listening to the BBC Today programme, and happened to hear the interview with Matthew Briggs, who told the sad story of his wife Kim. A cyclist had crashed into her, knocking her to the ground. She suffered a severe head injury and later died.

    Mr Briggs’s attempt to get the cyclist prosecuted was, as he said on the radio, an astonishing and appalling tale. His explanation of the torturous legal process that ensued, which involved relying on a Victorian law based on “wanton and furious driving” – originally meant to apply to horse riders – was compelling. One barrister likened it to trying to put a “round peg in a square hole”.

    At the heart of the issue is that the current law does not allow for a range of offences or penalties to tackle the problem of death caused by dangerous cycling. The gap between manslaughter and the historic offence of wanton and furious driving is too wide.

    As far back as the 1950s, it was recognised that juries are slow to convict in “motor manslaughter” cases, which led to major changes in the law for drivers. The case for a change in the law concerning cyclists is now urgent.

    One of the problems is that, under the complex current 1861 law, even if someone on a bike has killed a pedestrian, they can only be jailed for a maximum of two years. This creates a clear discrepancy between different forms of dangerous behaviour on the roads, and many will agree that the punishment does not always fit the severity of the crime or achieve justice for the victims’ families.

    There have been calls for legislative change for some time. In one case concerning dangerous cycling heard at the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice Mitting pointed out that “If the vehicle ridden by [the suspect] had been motorised he would have had no defence to a charge of causing death by dangerous driving, an offence which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years’ imprisonment.”

    I spoke to Mr Briggs at length after the interview. He explained that ministers and civil servants were sympathetic to his plight, and they did finally undertake an independent inquiry. This came down firmly in favour of significant legislative change, but following that there has been nothing.

    And Mr Briggs’s case is far from isolated. In July 2020, Peter McCombie, 72, was killed by cyclist Ermir Loka, 23, who had jumped a red light. In June 2022, Stewart McGinn, 29, was jailed for a year after he sped on his bike around a corner in Monmouth, South Wales, hitting Jane Stone, 79, who died four days later.

    In 2016, Diana Walker, 76, died when a cyclist hit her in Pewsey, Wiltshire and, worse, the cyclist was not prosecuted. In June 2020, Ian Gunn, 56, died in south Manchester, yet the cyclist was cleared of wanton and furious driving.

    I wonder how many more pedestrians need to die before the laws are updated to prosecute dangerous cycling.

    So, clearly the problem exists and it appears to be getting worse. The number of pedestrians hit by cyclists has increased by a third since 2020. In 2022, the most recent year for which figures are available, there were 462 collisions between cyclists and pedestrians that were recorded by police.

    One of the factors that particularly concerns me is the growing number of electric bikes on the roads. Yesterday, outside a school with young pupils milling around, a cyclist on an electric bike sped past the children, dangerously fast, which emphasised the fact that there are reports that some bikes are adapted so that they can go faster than the legal speed limits for those vehicles.

    So when Mr Briggs explained to me that he was getting nowhere, I decided to see whether or not I could help in bringing this issue to the fore. I know that Mr Briggs is also not alone and has been campaigning alongside other families who have also lost loved ones, and who are desperate to see change.

    It is for that reason that I decided to see if we could end this peculiar mess. I and other colleagues have laid an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill, to create an offence of causing death or serious injury by dangerous, careless or inconsiderate cycling.

    The principle is simple. As MPs, we must do what we can to break through the bureaucratic inertia and ensure that law-abiding people get the justice they deserve.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/08/dangerous-cyclists-are-a-lawless-menace/

    You will have heard of the case of Auriol Grey, who had her conviction for the manslaughter of a cyclist overturned. In this report, scroll down to the short video and watch what happens at 30 seconds:
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-68975335

    1. It seems odd that cyclists seem immune from prosecution. If I were to go out in the street and act recklessly, and as a result kill someone, plod would soon be a knocking on my door. If you are riding a bike, there must be a responsibility to not endanger others even if not ‘speeding’.

    2. Number plates for ALL bicycles, plus insurance (at least 3rd party) and regular MOT type testing.

    3. What happens at 30 seconds? Do you mean the male pavement cyclist who cannot be bothered to stop for a reporter doing a ‘piece to camera’?

  42. Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen .

    I suspect a lot of our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents (depending on your age), were suffering the most God awful hangovers 79 years ago today.
    But that being said, I think they deserved the party.

    1. As mentioned a long way down the thread, Mother told me that she was allowed by her parents to take the train to London from leicester, to celebrate. She was 16. And very good-looking, from the pictures taken about then.
      I suspect she got properly laid… and why not?
      I’m not judging… things are different now.

      1. Indeed not. They were I imagine happy to be safe at long last, and to be alive, and the best way of proving you are alive is, well, what millions did that night.

        1. Her parents seemed more permissive than most. Not that I ever met her Mother, she died about the same time as I was born. Her Father was a knitwear factory owner in Leicester, back when the city was white.

          1. Grandpa got fucked over by the Masons.
            So, no sympathy for they bastards from me.

        2. How many people were born in February 1946? My parents were a bit slow off the mark – I was born in July 1946 – 10 months after VJ Day.

          1. …and I was born 24th May 1944. I wonder what they where celebrating in August 1943.

    2. As mentioned a long way down the thread, Mother told me that she was allowed by her parents to take the train to London from leicester, to celebrate. She was 16. And very good-looking, from the pictures taken about then.
      I suspect she got properly laid… and why not?
      I’m not judging… things are different now.

    3. Not my father, he was in some hellhole in Burma at the time.

      Strangely, my mother never talked about VE day.

  43. Ascension Day Greetings. For the first time in 53 years as a church organist, we didn’t have a service today. No explanation.The Rector is generally sound, and has my full support, but he does have health issues. I discovered he’s two days younger than I am, but – frankly – health and mobility-wise, he’s in a worse place than I am, despite my absence of lower iimbs.

    Here’s a relevant hymn…

    https://www.google.com/search?q=hail+the+day+that+sees+him+rise+youtube&sca_esv=33fda89bc4ea5a26&biw=1536&bih=729&tbm=vid&sxsrf=ADLYWIKwBJwgmZvU6-pgmuRK_tKFM9xbuQ%3A1715283687895&ei=5yY9ZrinNsGghbIPkY6UyAs&oq=hail+the+day+that+sees+him+rise&gs_lp=Eg1nd3Mtd2l6LXZpZGVvIh9oYWlsIHRoZSBkYXkgdGhhdCBzZWVzIGhpbSByaXNlKgIIBTIEECMYJzIEECMYJzIEECMYJzIKEAAYgAQYQxiKBTILEAAYgAQYkQIYigUyCxAAGIAEGJECGIoFMgUQABiABDIKEAAYgAQYQxiKBTIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAESKssUABY0QNwAHgAkAEAmAFVoAGTAaoBATK4AQHIAQD4AQGYAgKgAp0BmAMAkgcBMqAH3BM&sclient=gws-wiz-video#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:fbf3ee7e,vid:pFaAKf4Eqck,st:0

      1. Me too. He shares with me a typical ‘bloke’ issue of ignoring health issues until they bite him on the ass. He has a place in Wales.
        I happen to believe that he should retire now, while he still has a modicum of health. He owns an isolated place in Wales, which would keep him busy. But he’ll carry on to the bitter end. He’d be a loss to the united Parish, since he won’t be replaced. We’ll end up as an offshoot of a happy-clappy Evangelical group of many churches. And I’ll be gone, before I’m pushed.

        1. It’s difficult for blokes to give up. So, they don’t (just had this discussion with SWMBO) regarding me & firstborn).
          You have to take charge, and get all parties to agree how it’s to work
          i’m sorry, Geoff, but I suspect the load falls on you.
          If you wsnt to call me about it, cos this isn’t easy, send sms to me & I’ll call you.
          Next week, we’re in South Glamorgan, visiting Mother. If you can make it, a face-to-face meeting would help. We’re over to set fire to Barclays bank, as well as visit Mother…

    1. What a shame. Since our Vicar resigned in a huff he’s not done a damn thing other than turn people against one another and cause as much mayhem as he can.

      We’ve since discovered he had two breakdowns in his last job and resigned leaving it in great disorder. I think our Diocese covered this up and he should never have been appointed here as he is clearly a narcissist who collapses when people disagree with him.

      1. I’ve worked successfully with umpteen clergy, over the years. They all have a thankless task. I once explored ordination, but – at the time – the fact that I wasn’t wearing a skirt more or less meant that I had no chance. In fairness, I think i had more to offer at the keyboard. The present incumbent is a former Army chaplain (it amuses me slightly that I once interviewed his boss for a living in darkest Suffolk. We were presumably too much of a challenge, since he stayed with the army, eventually becoming Chaplain General).

        Current Rector is a good and sound guy, but clearly doesn’t like us Surrey types very much. I suppose if one has been under fire in Helmand, the petty concerns of the locals pale into insignificance.

        But the CofE is utterly shiite as an employer. I’ve sat in meetings during an interregnum, where folk have said ‘we must play down the problems’. My response was that this was utterly counter-productive. When, In darkest Suffolk, we did appoint a new incumbent, keen to accept all the challenges, we ‘broke’ him within a couple of years. Not deliberately, of course.

        1. My previous experience vicars has generally been very positive, many being utterly wonderful people, but we’ve really had the opposite with this one.

          1. We will but we are finding there aren’t that many real Christians in the hierarchy of the CoE. I wonder if they ever consider how they will account for themselves on the Day of Judgement/

          2. They’ll tell God he’s got it wrong and lecture Him on diversity and inclusion. Then they’ll go to Hell.

          3. The D of J seems near. The built-in combination microwave at my last place used to display “end time” – I think it may have been prescient.

            I’m no happy-clappy Evangelical. If salvation is dependent on following the likes of Nicky Gumbel, then I’m truly lost.

          4. Likewise. Current one is very private. Over the years I’ve been in and out of Rectorys and Vicarages on a regular basis. And vice versa. Not with the current one. But, rightly or wrongly, I think he has post-Afghan security worries.,

    2. Oh that’s sad. I’m just home from Ascension Day Eucharist and the Beating of the Bounds is going on as I write. There are seven pubs on the boundary so it’ll take a while.
      It’s a nice warm evening. I was amazed at the size of the crowds of young folk standing out in Smithfield Rotunda boozing. Good for the local hostelries though and they doubtless need the business.

      1. Hi Sue. I pondered whether I might attempt to go to Guildford Cathedral this evening for a Choral Eucharist, but the trains are still subject to induatrial action. There wasn’t a convenient way of getting there. Let alone getting home…

  44. I have been listening to Alan Bennett on BBC4 . He is ninety years old ..
    I don’t like his politics but I love his work as a playwright , and he does tell a good story , with humour and grace .

    1. I often think of him as a sort of professional Yorkshireman, same as with the painter David Hockney.

      I remember some of his stuff and prefer his stage plays to the TV output. The play The Old Country I remember today in particular as being prophetic in that the world is turned to glass and the remainder “divvied up” between China, Russia, India and the USA.

  45. Now watching Lady in a van BBC4.

    Maggie Smith and other commendable leftie faces .. never the less , it is a good yarn.

  46. Beethoven Piano concerto no. 5 Emperor.
    Von Karajan conducting, a young lad with perfect beard on the keyboard. Don’t, to my shame, recall his name, because he is absolutely superb. A few years old now, the recording.
    How can anyone create music of that quality? There must be a God who likes music, not that miserable muslim one who hates everything that lifts the soul and makes this life bearable..

    1. You only have to hear the caterwauling of the Muslim call to prayer to realise why Islam disapproves of music.

      1. There is so much to say about islam but essentially, it’s a joyless ideology which oppresses and brainwashes its followers. Similar to the cults of the 60s eg Jonestown. Quite vile really.

        1. I both agree and wonder if twere not always thus. Islaam swept so many ancient religions and practices into its auspices by its extreme violence that some practices that promoted spiritual truth and a genuine path did secretly survive, though in increasingly diluted/polluted form. Sufism, for example, I believe to be based on practices that predated Islaam by centuries, if not millennia, and was claimed as its spiritual wing (proof of its peaceful and loving centre) until other, newer sects chose to massacre most of the Sufis. I^m not managing to say quite what I really want to say but maybe some of you will understand anyway.

          1. The act of “purification” started when Mohammed started smashing up family icons, which got him banished from Mecca. The idea is to destroy all possible alternatives, so that submission is the only option left. A final solution, and one repeated throughout history, and not just by Muslims.

            Within Islam itself, the Wahhabis set about demolishing Mecca, along with anything connected with Mohammed and his followers during his time in the city, so that the war-like Medina phase could dominate the whole cult. This destruction was systematic and thorough, and within a decade of the 21st century, very little remains of the ancient city. Most of it is upmarket hotels and retail experiences for the favoured rich, with the lesser pilgrims within Islam (the Sufis and the Shia for example) to be trodden underfoot and accept their lot as divine providence. “Bigger Ben” – a parody of the Elizabeth Tower, lords it over the redevelopment.

  47. Cameron warned his Gibraltar Brexit deal will ‘erode UK sovereignty to point of meaninglessness’
    Commons committee accuses Foreign Secretary of ‘allowing pendulum to swing too far in the direction of EU’ in negotiations

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/09/gibraltar-deal-uk-sovereignty-meaningless-mps-cameron/

    BTL

    The Sunak/Cameron Giveaway List

    1) Northern Ireland; (to Ireland/EU)
    2, Gibraltar; (to Spain/EU)
    3) The Falkland Islands; (to Argentina)
    4) England. (to Islam)

    Can anyone name a more treacherous, vindictive and nasty person in politics than Cameron?
    (He faces very stiff competition but nobody comes near him on the malice scale)

    1. No, I cannot think of anyone – in Parliament – who comes near Cameron’s malice and arrogance.

    2. Gibraltar was ceded ‘In Perpetuity’ by the the treaty of Utrecht 1713.

      1. Ah, but international treaties are only binding if they splat the UK. England in particular.

      2. Well, it ought not to have been. Nothing, ever, should be forever. Unlikely though it now seems, if Gibraltarians were to clamour for unity with Spain, is it really the case that a 211 year old treaty, which no living person had a say in, must deny it in perpetuity? They almost unanimously desired to remain in the EU and were forced out against their will. I thought the UK was not in the business of tyranny.

        1. The UK is not the only country with some parts in the EU and some outside. Denmark, whose mainland is very much in the EU, has a province, Greenland, that is outside. France has territories scattered around the world outside the EU. I do not believe the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man were ever signed up to the Treaty of Rome all the time the UK was a member.

          Surely, it is not beyond the wit of man for parts of the UK to be in and parts to be out, without the collapse of the sovereign nation?

          1. Even more to the point if we are discussing Gibraltar/Spain, is that Spain includes land on the northern tip of Africa across the Straight of Gibraltar. I have not noticed Spain wanting to give that away.

          1. No, Gibraltarians voted 95% to stay in the EU.

            It now appears that Lord Cameron wants to give them their wish

        2. On that basis the Treaty of Rome can be dismissed as the electorate of the United Kingdom rejected it in 2016 and plenty of it is still in force and we are still paying the EU. W can also reject the Asylum and illegal immigration signed by tereasa May as it was not properly discussed on voted on in parliament .
          In fact let’s not make any more treaties as they’re a waste of time.

    1. Another day is done so, I wish you a goodnight and may God bless you all, Gentlefolk. Bis morgen früh.

  48. Britain is forgetting what it means to be a free country

    By downgrading freedom as a value, we’re choosing a false promise of ‘stability’ over dynamism and growth

    DAVID FROST • 9 May 2024 • 6:32pm

    Helicopter parenting is, just perhaps, falling out of vogue. We can now see that protecting children from failure and stopping them from taking any decisions for themselves leaves them more prone to fearfulness, less able to deal with adversity, and fundamentally less capable of getting on with life.

    Unfortunately, its adult counterpart, helicopter politics, is as popular as ever. In this style of politics, no harm, no societal difficulty, no injustice is, in principle, beyond the reach of the state. Political debate is about how, not whether, the government can solve your problems. It’s therapeutic politics – politics as medicine or as parenting. What it’s not is politics for grown-ups.

    If you doubt me, just look at some recent ideas from the Government. Wages too low? Simple – boost the minimum wage by fiat. Not enough houses? Simple – make tenant eviction largely illegal. Don’t like smoking? Ban it. Childcare too expensive? Subsidise it. No problem is too small. On Friday, Parliament will debate pet theft and make it illegal “to induce a cat to accompany you”.

    It’s easy, fun, and necessary, to knock this nanny statism. But it isn’t enough in itself. We have a nanny state, not just because most voters want it, but because most politicians do, too. State action gives power and influence to government MPs and a sense of purpose to the opposition.

    That’s true whichever way round the parties are. After all, every wing of the Tory party seems to have some problem it wants the government to solve – “hate” on social media, taxing “unhealthy” food, regulating cyclists, the list is endless. All politicians nowadays see it as their job to get government to do things. For if that is not their job, what is?

    Well, one element of that job always was, and still should be, to police the government: to stop it expanding its power and encroaching on the people’s rights – rights that they owned, not rights given them by the state.

    The whole handling of the pandemic shows how feeble this conception now is. I have to laugh when I hear people argue that being a member of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is a barrier to domestic tyranny: did they not notice that, when raison d’état demanded it in 2020, the ECHR and the Human Rights Act, just when they might have been useful, turned out to be no more than worthless bits of paper?

    At the root of all this, I fear, is a fundamental downgrading of freedom as a value. Freedom used to be fundamental to Britain’s view of itself. Now even the Conservative Party barely uses the word.

    Yet you can’t long remain a free society if you don’t believe in freedom. And it’s no good just saying you believe in it: you have to live it. Sometimes that means politicians deciding “we would rather live with this injustice or this social problem than expand the state to deal with it”. When was the last time you heard anyone say that? And that’s the problem.

    I am not arguing for a libertarian nightwatchman state. There is never going to be a majority for anything like that in modern British politics. But we have to change the direction of travel.

    At some point since the war – and I think I am aware of it happening in my lifetime – we moved from seeing ourselves as a society in which free individuals accepted government rules in certain areas for the common good, to one in which the state and society are almost the same thing, in which the state can in principle do anything, but allows citizens autonomy in certain areas, always provisionally, and always subject to overriding state purpose. [Essentially the comparison between bottom-up common law and top-down European law.]

    We moved from one to the other because we valued stability over dynamism. For a free society is dynamic. Free people won’t do what the great and good think they should do. They don’t necessarily want to live in allocated social housing, have their education from state-approved curricula, or travel only where and when the trains go. They won’t be told what to say and think. They want to experiment and try different things. They are eccentric in the best sense of the word.

    People like this are inconvenient not just for government but very often for fellow citizens. Yet it is from the eccentric and the entrepreneur that progress happens. Squeeze them through tax, regulation, and disapproval, and the ideas and effort that spark growth go away. And that is what is happening.

    Politicians of both parties say they want “stability”. That is certainly the mood of the times. Yet the people who most want and need stability are children. When they grow up they want, or should want, something else. And so should this country.

    We need not stability but dynamism, we need creative destruction, we need an end to unprofitable businesses and the creation of profitable new ones, we need new homes, new roads, new airports, new more productive agriculture, and above all new ideas.

    If we are to get them we need to end helicopter politics. And politicians, at least those on the Right, need to start saying to voters “Now it’s over to you. You fix it.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/09/britain-forgetting-what-it-means-to-be-free-country/

    1. This whole argument reflects what I was saying the other day about teenagers. It riles me when well-meaning people speak of “children”, as in “will nobody think of the children”, when referring to the post-pubescent young.. Not are they not children, these young people have their own vulnerabilities and life imperatives they neither share with children, nor with adults.

      Children follow their parents, and it is important for life there to be stable and dependable, and to acquire trust and confidence in the world around them.Otherwise, they turn feral and often malign, and this can be carried for the rest of their lives.

      Teenagers, on the other hand, must acquire the skills and the yearning for independence. They need to learn to come to terms with the world as it is, not always as they would like it to be. They will make many mistakes, and it is the role of parents and responsible adults to see that the consequences are not too serious, and can be remedied or prevented. Otherwise, teenagers are best left to their own devices and learn to handle their mistakes and bad things they encounter on the way. By adulthood, young people come prepared to handle anything, rather than emerging from childhood totally unprepared, as if age was their only guarantor of maturity. Furthermore, if young people do not like the world they are being expected to work with, well then it is up to them to divine how they would like it to be, and to use their emerging skills and talents to make it so.

  49. A long, tiring, but enjoyable day. Good Night chums, sleep well and I’ll see you al tomorrow.

  50. 387197+ up ticks,

    Pillow ponder,

    Think about it, anthony charlie lynton the politico that crepl out of the public toilet crypt triggered the killing spree when lifting the latch, he reintroduced the eradicated TB to these Isles along with many other life robbing issues.

    Only to have the other political overseeing parties refining and
    honing to perfection the culling techniques, we are witnessing today the lab/lib/con coalition parties input over these last four decades, we are in point of fact reaping a harvest of ongoing
    serious malidays and strongly alledged corporate killings.

    1. Quote from the Sunday Times:

      Newham has the highest level of TB in the western world. It also has the highest muslim population of any London borough.

      What a fitting tribute to the Open Borders brigade!

  51. I’m also off into my basket, and thank you all for your sparkling wit et al. Sorry not to have contributed much at all today. Sleep well, mes amis! Tomorrow will be a beautiful day.
    https://youtu.be/zjX72vIpxsg

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