Tuesday 14 May: Rishi Sunak has not done enough to turn the tide against Labour

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

630 thoughts on “Tuesday 14 May: Rishi Sunak has not done enough to turn the tide against Labour”

    1. Did the fortune cookies warn him about the letter telling him he’s racked up fines for driving along the High Street and parking in the cycle lane running in front of the restaurant?

  3. Good morning all.
    A wet and miserable start to the day, chucking it down but still 10°C outside.
    I might delay my trip to Stoke to see stepson until later in the week.

  6. Good Morning. 15C. Raining. Just what the garden needed. Forecast dry by 10am.

    1. Good morning Johnny and everyone. ‘Rain before seven, fine before eleven.’

        1. Thank you, it was not too bad… a back lower molar needed a filling on the side, I debated with myself whether or not to have the injection, rumours of graphene oxide in all dental injectables had unnerved me somewhat but as I sat in the dental chair I heard that little internal voice telling me not to make things difficult for myself so the injection it was. A clean-up of all those red wine and coffee stains was also performed, the poor old things look almost lovely now! A discussion about what to do about a potential dodgy tooth and it was job done. 45 minutes from arrival I was out of there, nice clean teeth but bank balance is less an arm and a leg!

        1. The adage is based on the fact that it takes roughly 4 hours for a front to pass over, in hilly areas this may take slightly longer.

  8. Rishi Sunak has not done enough to turn the tide against Labour

    After 14 years of emulating New Labour the Conservatives are painted into a corner.

    1. Tories are far left. Who would have thought it. They are toast no matter what they try to do. Just need Nigel to stand for Reform.

      1. Reform lacks a heavyweight knockabout leader, but at least with Tice they are avoiding the usual accusations of being far right and racist the mainstream media mafia usually employs and would do against Farage.

    2. Turn the tide? They’re both sitting on the same beach. And they’ve both conjured up a tsunami directed at us.

  9. Good morning, chums. Rain all day today, so a good opportunity for indoor jobs and perhaps a trip to the shops for a bit of shopping. (And thanks for today’s new NoTTLe page, Geoff.)

    Wordle 1,060 5/6

    🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟩⬜⬜🟩⬜
    🟩⬜🟩🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Extra Wordle clue for today? “Watch out for those pesky Israelies!”

        1. lacoste does it every day!! That’s why I now do wordle in the morning before I see any hints. Your word play was funny though!
          If that were my only problem, I would be very happy…..!

    3. He doesn’t know the words and sings like a camel giving birth, but many of his audience would recognise the tuneless screeching, considering where they come from! He should have thrown sand at them to make them feel really at home.

    4. Pedant alert for this otherwise fine fellow: it’s “Britannia rule the waves…” It’s an imperative.

    1. Good grief. On the face of it this is scandalous for a British Royal to be involved in.

  12. Britain will be less safe under Labour, warns Sunak. 13 May 2024.

    The UK would be less safe with Sir Keir Starmer in 10 Downing Street, Rishi Sunak claimed as he sought to put defence and national security at the heart of his general election pitch.

    Mr Sunak delivered a speech in central London this morning setting out his vision for the UK for the next five years.

    He warned Britain is facing “storms ahead” and the “dangers are all too real” as he pointed to the challenges posed by an “axis of authoritarian states” including Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.

    Less safe? What does that mean? I’m not remotely concerned about any of these people. Our real enemies are already here.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/13/rishi-sunak-latest-news-keir-starmer-natalie-elphicke/

      2. Andrew Bridgen claimed recently that Sunak doesn’t want to be a wartime PM and therefore he wants to lose the election because war with Russia will swiftly follow – which ties in with the theory that British troops will be sent abroad and we will be left to the tender mercies of imported migrant troops/police. Who knows what to believe any more. The only thing I can say that I have seen with my own eyes was the photos last year of boatloads of fit, muscled young men with military style haircuts arriving at Dover.

        1. I caught a brief sight of a comment over the past couple of days that the migrants actually include trained soldiers ready for a UN/WEF takeover putsch.
          I’d moved on before my mind caught up with what it said and was unable to find it again.

          1. John O’Looney had a podcast with someone else, and JOL says he has credible evidence that migrants are being trained by the British army at the moment.
            But the rumour is coming from several sources.

            No country imports thousands of young men without families. When has this ever happened in history when it wasn’t an invading army?

          3. One of the problems with “upgrades” to commenting systems, making it nigh-impossible to retrieve old, but still valid comments, is that debate is reduced to chat. Here today and forgotten tomorrow, presuming we all have the attention spans of goldfish, and goldfish do not have the patience to scroll down fifty times to reach anything amid the chatter.

            A while back, I related how during my walk around the block in my remote village in Worcestershire, I saw two busloads of Muslims of fighting age driving down a track leading nowhere except to a field and a disused railway. Google Earth history showed a temporary camp there. Where would you choose to train your sleeper cell of fifth columnists that would not be noticed?

            When I reported this to MI5, I never saw the buses again.

          4. Interview of John OLooney by John Campbell, posted on here yesterday but I can’t recall who.

    2. It’s hard to argue that the authoritarianism displayed in the UK and wider West through the covid lockdowns, any serious consideration of the consequences of nut zero or disagreement with the Identitarians and Islamists is that far removed from Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. We are not as free as we used to be.

    3. The UK would be less safe with Sir Keir Starmer in 10 Downing Street, Rishi Sunak claimed as he sought to put defence and national security at the heart of his general election pitch.

      This from a man parachuted into No 10 who has spent taxpayers’ money on supporting a deplorable regime in Ukraine. His largesse extends beyond money and includes the supply of advanced missiles, tanks and other armaments. How is emptying the Country’s arsenals putting the defence of the Country first?

      Further, his comment re national security is risible when the evidence of battalions of unknown and unvetted fighting age men are being imported and barracked month after month is reviewed. Calling these invaders refugees is an insult to the people’s intelligence. If he is really concerned about national security he would; first, stop the invasion; second, he would repatriate/expel those already here and third, he would put to bed any idea that British troops would be deployed in Ukraine or anywhere else in the World with the exception of British Overseas Territories.

      The differences between Sunak and Starmer are infinitesimal as both are working to the same agenda: the latter not being in the interests of the people.

    4. Did he mention Islam? Net Zero destruction of the economy? CBDCs? Digital IDs? His father -in-law’s surveillance technology? The Great Reset? No? Thought not.

      Does anyone pay attention to this Prime Miniature any more? Did anyone ever?

    5. And if our govt can’t sort out the enemies within, I don’t think they should be let loose with our money and the lives of our young to sort out confected wars elsewhere.

  14. Good morrow, gentlefolk. Today’s (recycled) Poem
    You’ll have to wait until to-morrow for the copper-knop denouement
    WHO SAID POETRY IS DULL?/B

    When me prayers were poorly said
    Who tucked me in me widdle bed
    And spanked me till me bum was red?
    Me Mudder!

    Who took me from me cosy cot
    And put me on the ice-cold pot
    And made me pee when I could not?
    Me Mudder!

    And when the morning light would come
    And in me crib me dribbled some
    Who wiped me tiny widdle bum?
    Me Mudder!

    Who would me hair so neatly part
    And hug me gently to her heart
    Who sometimes squeezed me till me fart?
    Me Mudder!

    Who looked at me with eyebrows knit
    And nearly have a king size fit
    When in me Sunday pants me shit?
    Me Mudder!

    When at night her bed did squeak
    Me raised me head to have a peek
    Who yelled at me to go to sleep?
    Me Fadder!

    1. They didn’t fly into the towers at that speed, evident from the videos. What’s Fiscals view on this?

      1. Remember what happened to the Dutch explosives expert when he explained how the towers were made to collapse. Including the much lower building alongside that could not and was not involved with the alleged crashes.
        He was run over by an anonymous driver and killed.

    2. Any of us who, express our doubts about any improbable happening, are screamed at and labelled as “conspiracy theorists”.

      The same was evident with the ‘moon landings’ (and safe returns afterwards) in 1969, and a few years thereafter, all achieved with the rudimentary technology available at the time.

      1. So what did happen? The Towers did fall. People did die, horrifically.

        (And the insurance policy still wasn’t in place.)

        Edit. Something about reading the whole thread before posting.🙂

        1. You tell me. There are good number of videos on the subject: most of them explaining why the aviation fuel aboard the airliners was nowhere near sufficient to create the intense amount of heat required to melt the entire massive steel-and-concrete central columns of those towers.
          The controversy will rage on forever (à la the JFK assassination) but whether the entire truth will eventually emerge is anyone’s guess.

          1. No need for the steel beams to melt, they simply weaken and get more ductile as they heat up and will bend.
            As they begin to bend, the momentum of all the floors above will begin begin to build up and the impact of the upper floors dropping onto the lower floors will be more than sufficient to cause their steel structure to fail.

          2. Ductile? Ductility is the property of a material to be drawn out in to a thin wire without fracture. Nothing else. The higher its ductility the finer the wire that can be drawn out without fracture.

            I learnt all the specific definitions of properties of materials for my technician’s certificate in engineering back in the early 1970s. That’s why it tends to grate when people misapply the terms.

          3. Ductile? Ductility is the property of a material to be drawn out in to a thin wire without fracture. Nothing else. The higher its ductility the finer the wire that can be drawn out without fracture.

            I learnt all the specific definitions of properties of materials for my technician’s certificate in engineering back in the early 1970s. That’s why it tends to grate when people misapply the terms.

      2. So what did happen? The Towers did fall. People did die, horrifically.

        (And the insurance policy still wasn’t in place.)

        Edit. Something about reading the whole thread before posting.🙂

    3. The basic ideas in the vid are correct, I can only suggest that the reported speeds are incorrect. But it’s pretty clear that 2 airliners did fly into the towers.

      1. Thank you. That is what I suspected, but I thought that air traffic controllers would have known the speed accurately. I wonder how great is the effect of mass hysteria is.
        James Delingpole wrote an interesting article about this last year, how people can be influenced by news media to exaggerate their own observations and experiences.

        1. There is sometimes confusion between the indicated air speed and the true airspeed (its due to the way air speed is measured) but at sea level the two are just about the same.

    2. And what about the damage done by migrants that entered Britain illegally, cost us millions and will never bring in more than they cost?

    3. That’s dreadful ‘others’ doing the same thing would have let off. We know that.
      It’s time for our army to stand up and defend our country before it’s too late.

  18. 387415+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,
    Sad to say given the odious state of the nation,and assuming the
    voting pattern follows the usual route sunak has,for one time only, made the “best of the worst” voter right.

    Hobson’s choice, BIG TIME.

    In the shite graders cafe the menu displayed reads, shite,shite or, wait for it, SHITE.

    For ALL voters that retain a centre core of decency this general election will be a lost cause, a continuation of the last four decades with more treacherous additives.

    In saying that I give a great deal of credence to
    Mr Richard Inman saying, build a new party NOW to be ready for the 2024 General Election or the alternative being
    SUBMIT TO POLITICAL OVERSEEING SHIT.

  19. Morning, all Y’all.
    Another cloudless start to the day. Was down in single figures C last night, but warming nicely now.
    Typical Norwegian May day – so, we’re flying to the UK tomorrow, so we can miss it.

  20. Good Moaning.

    Do we laugh or cry?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/13/dan-neidle-wine-gdpr-privacy-data-policy-red-tape/

    “How a bottle of wine showed up the great GDPR waste

    An experiment involving a 2014 Château de Sales Pomerol has shown just how little we engage with the red tape that defines our digital lives

    Nicholas Fearn 13 May 2024 • 6:00pm

    We all see them: those annoying pop-up boxes that appear on our screens, asking us to consent to websites’ privacy and digital cookie policies.

    Likely you don’t read them, instead frantically hurrying the messages away by clicking “yes, I accept” without a second thought.

    In fact, it appears actually engaging with the jargon is so rare that free wine goes unclaimed for months on end, buried deep in the particulars.

    It emerged last week that Tax Policy Associates, a think-tank, had since February hidden a clause in their website privacy policy offering a complimentary bottle of “good wine” to the first person to notice it.

    But it wasn’t until this month that somebody stepped forward to claim the prize, highlighting how little we all engage with the reams of legal red tape that have increasingly come to define our digital lives.

    “We know nobody reads this, because we added in February that we’d send a bottle of good wine to the first person to contact us, and it was only in May that we got a response,” a sentence in the non-profit organisation’s updated privacy policy now spells out.

    The think-tank’s founder, Dan Neidle, says the experiment involving a £30 bottle of 2014 Château de Sales Pomerol was a personal, “childish protest” against regulations that dictate all businesses have to have a privacy policy when “no one reads it”.

    “I had an email out of the blue from a chap named Arthur. He was writing a privacy policy for his own website, and so was researching other ones. That’s how he found it,” Neidle says, adding Arthur unfortunately turned out to be “intolerant to alcohol” and so was unable to enjoy his reward.

    “It shows that no one reads this stuff normally. A normal person doesn’t have the slightest reason in the world to do so.”

    Burdensome bureaucracy

    All firms that process and store customer information like names and email addresses must provide an online privacy policy as part of their obligations under the 2018 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), according to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

    Those who fail to comply face the prospect of hefty fines and reputational damage.

    But adhering to the directives is often an onerous task for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and charities, costing them energy and resources that could be allocated elsewhere.

    As the complexity has risen, so too has the time such companies spend on ensuring they conform with the regulations, which is up by 46 per cent over the past year alone, according to new research from data and analytics firm Dun & Bradstreet.

    Meanwhile, a 2021 study by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) saw two-in-five of its members describe data protection as the “most burdensome regulation” to grapple with.

    These regulations create a “disproportionate effect” for companies with “fewer resources to devote to compliance than their larger counterparts”, says Tina McKenzie, policy chair at the FSB.

    Neidle points out that even small, community coffee shops, for example, need to have privacy policies to comply with GDPR, adding this incurs costs that mean “money… [is] being wasted”.

    He argues the solution is to simplify – by reverting to standard privacy conditions that “apply as a default to typical small businesses that don’t handle client data”.

    These shouldn’t require cookie policies and would help businesses save money and “save consumers from annoying clicking”, he says.

    McKenzie, for her part, acknowledges data protection laws are a “vital” part of life in the 21st century.

    However, their “complex” and “sensitive” nature means small businesses often need greater support and understanding from regulatory bodies not only to ensure compliance but also to “reduce the financial and time costs of doing so”, she says.

    Regulators should be “proportionate” in enforcing these rules, McKenzie adds, focusing on “education and support in the first instance”.

    “Having reams of text required by law, which, in practice, very few people actually read, undermines the consumer protection we all want to have in place. It also costs small firms time and money they can ill afford,” she says.

    In effect, stringent requirements can distract entrepreneurs from important priorities like increasing profits, growing their businesses and generating jobs for their local communities.

    “Starting a business isn’t about just doing the fun stuff – there’s a lot of compliance that can’t be ignored – but this all contributes to the long hours and sense of feeling like you’re taking on the world when trying to build traction and momentum,” says Gareth Jones, CEO of small business and coworking experts Town Square Spaces Ltd.

    Hours of reading time

    On the consumer end, there’s precious little appetite to sift through tens of thousands of words of policy, regardless of what it costs businesses to produce them.

    Not only are they hugely complex, they’re also getting longer all the time.

    A 2021 study by De Montfort University found that the average length of privacy policies had increased from more than 1,000 words in 2000 to over 4,000 words in 2021.

    Dr Isabel Wagner, an associate professor in computer science who conducted the research, found that their average word count increased following the European Union’s implementation of GDPR in 2018 and, again in 2020, when California adopted its own privacy policies.

    “As a researcher who works on privacy, I find myself agreeing to privacy policies but not reading them,” she told the New Scientist in 2022, admitting her study of some 50,000 texts was triggered by a recognition of her own habits.

    Typical policies “require university education to understand”, Wagner said, and take at least an hour to read.

    If you were to stop and digest each one, it would effectively amount to a part-time job.

    A study of the most popular websites in 19 different countries conducted by NordVPN in October last year revealed that the average privacy policy was 6,461 words long.

    In the UK, reading every word of every policy on each of the 20 most visited websites would take nearly 11 hours, the study found, based on assumptions that people read at approximately 238 words per minute on average.

    And over the course of a month, the typical Brit would clock up something like 53 hours of reading time were they to peruse every privacy policy in full on each website they visited – nearly 20 hours more than the length of the average working week nationwide.

    Calls for a ‘rethink’

    The apparent absurdity of the situation has prompted calls for policymakers to make adjustments.

    McKenzie, of the FSB, says there is a need for a “rethink on how the system works” so that legislation is “easier for everyone to navigate”.

    This should be done in a way that preserves the “data adequacy we need to keep business flowing between the UK and other international jurisdictions with their own sets of rules”, she says.

    Jordan Phillips, founder of food delivery startup Tin Can Kitchen, agrees that existing data protection regulations can be confusing for consumers and small businesses alike, arguing that a new approach is needed. He says the regulations’ wording is “verbose” and should be “condensed” to make them easier to understand.

    “This, I feel, should definitely be the case for small businesses that do not have the money or resources of large businesses,” he says. “How this translates into real-world cases remains to be seen.”

    Austin Walters, director of website design firm Triplesnap Technologies, recommends that regulators take a tiered approach that simplifies requirements for smaller businesses that don’t handle highly sensitive data. Meanwhile, companies which possess more personal, or sensitive, information about their customers would need to continue following “stricter controls.”

    “Simplifying legal jargon and making policies more accessible could increase consumer trust and understanding without compromising data security, ultimately improving user interaction with these important documents,” he says.

    Others contend companies have a part to play themselves too.

    Andrew Wilson-Bushell, an associate at the law firm Simkins LLP, says firms should ensure they’re only providing customers with information they genuinely need to engage with.

    But, lengthy and unloved as they are, privacy policies do ultimately have an important purpose, he acknowledges.

    “The exercise of writing the privacy policy requires a business to understand its use of personal data, and map that out in a relatively comprehensible way. That might often feel like overkill – until a serious data breach occurs.”

    Neidle, for his part, remains sceptical in the extreme about the demands GDPR has placed on SMEs.

    That’s despite a historic uptick in engagement with his think-tank’s smallprint on the back of the wine stunt.

    “In the last 72 hours we have had 1,000 people read our privacy policy, but in the whole of April, nobody looked at it,” Neidle says, citing web traffic data.

    “It just seems crazy to me that my local coffee shop has to deal with the same rules as Facebook does,” he adds.

    “Why can’t there be a simplified version of the rules for small businesses and non-profits?”

    1. Couldn’t be *rsed to read all that – Where’s my bottle of Château de Sales Pomerol?

  21. 387415+ up ticks,

    Firstly they create the problem,

    ITN news,

    In a speech, Rishi Sunak set out the challenges the country faces in the years ahead, ITV News Political Editor Robert Peston reports

    Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has set out his plans for the UK’s future, claiming “more will change in the next five years than the last 30,” in what is widely considered a pre-election pitch to voters.

    In a 30-minute speech delivered on Monday, Mr Sunak set out his vision for the next government, addressing issues including, the Rwanda scheme, the environment, the education system and the economy.

    On the latter, he promised his government would “always be there” for voters at times of economic difficulty.

    He said: “People have been struggling to make ends meet. I know that.

    “In the last few years we have seen rising energy bills, mortgage rates, the cost of the weekly shop.

    “And I hope I have shown that through my time in office, that from furlough to support with your energy bills, the government I lead will always be there for you.”

    The UK economy came out of recession last month, growing by 0.6% in the last quarter, boosted by retail, public transport, and car manufacturing.

    However, many people are not feeling any better off financially, with GDP per head crucially down to levels lower than they were before the pandemic, and before the PM came into office.

    1. He and his Government’s policies are responsible for most of the recent problems that he listed.

      1. 387415+ up ticks

        Morning S,
        They are in collusion as a coalition
        party first they create the problem
        then to keep gullible fools ( NOT sheep) on board they rhetorically give the solution although no action is ever taken.

    2. Rishi is too thick to understand that if he took less and wasted less tax these problems wouldn’t have arisen.
      As I have pointed out many times before National GDP is as useful an indicator as is the average price of a house. GDP per capita is the gauge of the wealth wealth of the individual and, therefore, the country. That is probably still close to the 2008 level.

  22. G’day all and the 77th,

    Cloudy skies at Castle McPhee, wind in the Sou’-Sou’-East, 12℃ going up to 16℃ or so but it should be a precipitation-free day.

    The Grinch of the Day Award goes to Paul Caruana of Truro.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/153fe40cd886b37d6eca66c3ddba9ec11e35cd96ba6827ceeabd12e883abd879.png

    Personally I think the roadside verges in Spring and early summer are Cornwall’s glory. Similarly in Pembrokeshire where we have just been for a few days – the lane verges are full of cow-parsley, bluebells, campion, herb robert, buttercups and jack-by-the-hedge. Perhaps they could be strimmed a bit at junctions but on the whole, colourful verges are one of the things that make spring and early summer visits to the West of Britain so enjoyable.

    3. Our son sent me a photo of a dead adder yesterday near Mawgan Porth.
      Keep safe.

  24. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/664a5611f83805dfa9055e679bbb48626cb2392117762be20f78b224c256ed0e.png The Crooked Spire.

    A striking up-to-date photograph of the lovely parish church of St Mary and All Saints, on St Mary’s Gate, in my home town of Chesterfield. I was born just a quarter of a mile from the sound of its bells.

    The two most popular myths surrounding the twisted steeple are:

    1. That it was twisted after the Devil rested there for a while, curling his tail around it for support and then forgetting to unfurl it as he flew off.
    2. The spire twisted round to get a better view of a wedding party when it was reported that the bride was, indeed, a virgin.

    The reality is that the spire was constructed from unseasoned timber shakes, held together by lead. When the timber dried it twisted the entire steeple and the top of it now stands a full nine feet off centre towards the south-west.

    The weathercock atop the spire was made by a group of apprentice platers from nearby Markham & Co. Ltd. The same firm (and trade) where I had my own apprenticeship, between 1967 and 1972.

      1. I initially put “from … to”, but when I changed the “from” to “between” I forgot to change the “to” to “and”.🙄

        Now altered!

    3. There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,
      He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile;
      He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse,
      And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

    4. William Golding once wrote a splendid novel about the building of this – the faith of the master builder pitched against the faith of the Dean.

      As an aside, when they rebuild the Crooked House pub, how do they comply with Building Regs?

        1. True. While teaching at Bishop Wordsworth’s School, Golding often gazed out of his classroom window at Salisbury Cathedral, pondering how he would construct its spire.

          Golding was a teacher – like a lot of that profession he was obsessed with an enormous erection.

      2. Dunno, but The Crooked Spire pub is still standing on the south side of this church.

        [I once related a true tale about me wanting to use the lavatories there but my hands were too frozen to unbutton (yes, unbutton) my fly so the young landlady kindly offered to assist me!]

      3. That wasn’t about Chesterfield. That was Salisbury, just a mere 190 miles away.

      1. Barnes Wallis tested out his bouncing bombs (dropped from Lancaster bombers) on the Derwent reservoir chain (Howden, Derwent, Ladybower) just 18 miles to the north-west of Chesterfield.

        1. I thought the bouncing bombs were tested at Reculver. The Derwent and Ladybower dams were used for approach to the dams training, surely?

  25. “The Government’s policy to support ambitious action on climate change reflects the mainstream scientific consensus, and delaying action will only put future generations at risk.”

    Have other Nottlers received this email today?

    It was in response to an appeal I signed: “Repeal the Climate Change Act 2008 and Net Zero targets”.

    I did not expect any other response!

    1. Response? Richard, I e-mailed you yesterday!! Did you not receive it? Look in your “spam”.

      1. Thanks for your email. Mea culpa I am not as assiduous at checking my email inbox as I should be.

        Caroline greatly enjoyed visiting Carnac with her parents some years ago – her father was a geologist and was fascinated by the stones.

        1. Thanks. Can be equally guilty. But I do look at inbox every hour or so!

          Given what you say, I think that Caroline (and you) will find that prog very interesting.

      2. Thanks for your email. Mea culpa I am not as assiduous at checking my email inbox as I should be.

        Caroline greatly enjoyed visiting Carnac with her parents some years ago – her father was a geologist and was fascinated by the stones.

    2. Has anyone spotted the non sequitur in your opening paragraph?

      Accepting the scientific consensus that climate change is a major peril confronting those young today, along with war and mass extinction, if “action” is counterproductive, then surely delaying it might mitigate the risk? Nobody in authority seems to be asking whether specific “action”, as lobbied for by favoured interests, is doing any good.

      1. Here’s the whole text of the email:

        Dear Richard Tracey,

        The Government has responded to the petition you signed – “Repeal the Climate Change Act 2008 and Net Zero targets”.

        Government responded:

        The Government’s policy to support ambitious action on climate change reflects the mainstream scientific consensus, and delaying action will only put future generations at risk.

        The Government’s policy to support ambitious action on climate change reflects the mainstream scientific consensus and thousands of studies, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessments. The IPCC is the authoritative source of information on climate science. The IPCC has established that human influence has warmed the climate at a rate that is unprecedented in at least the last 2000 years. This warming of the climate is attributed to the build-up of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to fossil fuel combustion, cement manufacture and deforestation. The evidence for this is set out in chapters 2 and 3 of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Working Group 1 report. The IPCC Sixth Assessment reports can all be accessed here (https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/).

        As discussed in chapter 4 of the above report, if the CO2 concentration continues to rise unchecked the world could face a global surface temperature rise of about 3°C or more above pre-industrial levels by the end of this century. The serious consequences of this for human societies and ecosystems are set out in the IPCC Working Group report on impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation.

        The Prime Minister has reiterated that net zero is a priority for this Government. The UK is the first major economy to halve its emissions – having cut them by around 53% between 1990 and 2023, while also growing its economy by around 80%. More than ever, we are determined to adopt a fair and pragmatic approach to net zero that minimises the burdens on working people. The measures announced by the Prime Minister on 20th September 2023 (https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-speech-on-net-zero-20-september-2023) will help avoid imposing significant costs on families.

        The Government understands the importance of affordable energy bills for households and businesses and is focussed on delivering for energy consumers. We are taking a comprehensive approach to bring down future bills. This includes reforming retail markets to be more effective for consumers through the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) Programme. We are also investing across the energy system and supporting the progress of new technologies to deliver a smarter energy system, and energy efficiency to reduce costs for all consumers.

        The costs of global inaction to tackle climate change significantly outweigh the costs of action. Indeed, delaying action will only put future generations at risk. The Net Zero Review by HM Treasury, published alongside the Net Zero Strategy in October 2021, provided an analysis of the costs and benefits of the transition, found here (http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/net-zero-review-final-report). As the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) noted in its July 2021 Fiscal Risks Report (https://obr.uk/frs/fiscal-risks-report-july-2021/), “the costs of failing to get climate change under control would be much larger than those of bringing emissions down to net zero”.

        Government policy and spending ambitions will support up to 480,000 green jobs in 2030. We have a clear strategy to boost UK industry and reach net zero by 2050 – backed by £300 billion in public and private low carbon investment between 2010 and 2023, with a further £100 billion of private investment expected by 2030. Since September alone companies have announced plans for £30bn of new investment across the energy sector, including to advance green technologies and support green industries of the future.

        The public will play a key role in the net zero transition. A significant proportion of the emission reductions will require the public to make green choices and the UK government will be supporting the consumers all the way. Our priority is making green choices significantly easier, clearer and more affordable, and working with industry to remove barriers.

        The DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker shows that people are willing to make green choices. In Summer 2023, a large majority (74%) agreed that they could make changes that would help reduce climate change. When shown a list of behaviours related to reducing climate change, almost all people (98%), said that they did at least one of these in their everyday life. The most recent wave of the DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/desnz-public-attitudes-tracker-winter-2023) shows that 80% of people in the UK are either fairly concerned or very concerned about climate change and 62% of the public consider climate change and the environment to be one of the most important issues facing the UK (ONS 14-25th February 2024 https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/bulletins/publicopinionsandsocialtrendsgreatbritain/14to25february2024).

        The Climate Change Act requires that we publish the level of the Carbon Budget 7 twelve years before the period to allow policy makers, businesses, and individuals to prepare. The statutory deadline for setting the Seventh Carbon Budget is June 2026. In recent correspondence with the Environmental Audit Committee, the Secretary of State for DESNZ stated her support for proper democratic consideration of carbon budgets. We have committed to additional Parliamentary scrutiny for Carbon Budget 7, which is in line with this government’s commitment to delivering on these targets in a way that brings people with us and ensures democratic debate about the way we get there.

        Department for Energy, Security & Net Zero

        Click this link to view the response online:

        https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/657353?reveal_response=yes

        The Petitions Committee will take a look at this petition and its response. They can press the government for action and gather evidence. If this petition reaches 100,000 signatures, the Committee will consider it for a debate.

        The Committee is made up of 11 MPs, from political parties in government and in opposition. It is entirely independent of the Government. Find out more about the Committee: https://petition.parliament.uk/help#petitions-committee

        Thanks,
        The Petitions team
        UK Government and Parliament

        3. The petition says ” build up due to manufacture of cement and deforestation”

          Yet:
          1. Billions spent on HS2- cementing over the countryside.
          2. Germany has announced that they will be cutting down 120,000 trees
          to build wind farms.

          It appears that Governments can do what they want and it doesn’t affect CO2 levels,
          but we should be cycling or walking to avoid producing CO2.
          Oh! and don’t even think of using your central heating.

        4. I’m sure I signed that one so probably will have had that response too. You’ve saved me the bother of reading mine.

          1. In the past it would have been regarded as just ‘hot air’ – but that is verboten these days!

        7. As soon as I read the words: “scientific consensus,” I stopped reading. Science is about evidence, not consensus.

    3. You can imagine my disgust Richard, when I read the carefully crafted bollox that completely ignores the views of the genuine scientists who cannot be bought and appear to have no latent vested interests. For example, those interviewed for this documentary:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A24fWmNA6lM.

      The proponents of this idiotic policy appear to me to be complete (insert your own unprintable epithets!)

    4. Yes we received it. I remarked to vw that it doesn’t rely on science but, as you point out, “the mainstream scientific consensus……..” which, of course, isn’t science at all.
      As far as the percentages showing people in favour, an experienced polling company will write the questions to elicit the answer it wants.

  26. A slightly disturbing event from our recent sojourn in Pembrokeshire. While driving along one of the many single-track lanes with high-hedged verges I pulled into a passing place to let an oncoming car go by. It was a taxi, driven by a darker-hued fellow with a beard and a cloudy countenance who could scarcely bring himself to acknowledge our presence let alone thank us with the smile and cheery wave that is customary in Pembrokeshire.

    The young women of Fishguard, Haverfordwest and Milford Haven had better stay indoors at night.

    1. I had a run-in in Richmond Park on Saturday evening. I was on my push-bike, about to exit Sheen Gate (which is only open to traffic to go to the car park. A car was (illegally) parked outside the toilet block and as I cycled past it just pulled out without any indication. I was so close (inches) -luckily fairly wide out in the road because of a gate which was only open in the middle) and could see not only the bearded man, but his hijab-wearing passenger, were both texting on their mobiles I.e. the reason I was nearly knocked off my bike was that the driver was texting, and not even looking.

      Outside Sheen Gate the car had to stop to let another car up; and so I attempted to remonstrate with the driver who had narrowly avoided knocking me off my bike through his own inattentiveness and he couldn’t care less. The driver of the car coming up then got out (he was not indigenous either, let’s say) and was all “What’s up bro’” to the other driver. I wasn’t sure whether it was misogyny or racism or both. All I know is that in modern Wokeism, I am probably in the wrong for being the wrong skin colour. I am so fed up with this country, especially after last night.

      1. Our government has rendered us defenceless. It took 50-60 years to do it but that is what it has done.

  27. Mayhem as Fury’s father butts member of Usyk’s entourage

    Ugly scenes at media launch of £116m heavyweight fight Ukrainian’s team demand apology from Briton’s camp

    ‘They needed to know what they were up against. They were saying things about my son and insulting him’

    Tyson Fury’s father was left bleeding from his forehead after he butted a member of the Oleksandr Usyk camp ahead of the boxers’ undisputed world heavyweight showdown in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

    Security staff had to intervene as the ugly scenes unfolded at the hotel where media events were being launched for fight week, which will culminate in a contest for a reported £116million purse.

    John Fury, the British boxer’s 59-year-old father, traded insults with members of Usyk’s team before thrusting his forehead towards one of their number, Stanislav Stepchuk.

    Fury snr then walked away wounded as insults continued to be exchanged.

    Usyk and his promoter, Alex Krassyuk, called for calm as tempers threatened to boil over.

    The answer to the ever-increasing problem of islamic insurgency in the country is right under our noses. All we need to do is set our Pikeys onto them. Pikeys are so thick they don’t feel pain (no sense: no feeling) so telling them that gangs of muzzies are free sport … job solved!

    2. It’s all theatre. If the bout itself is also scripted, I’d not be in the least bit surprised. Professional boxing is akin to television’s professional wrestling.

  28. 387415+ up ticks,

    I take it the new home guard is currently residing in 5* hotels this will be the changes sunak is on about, when he packs the indigenous troops of to certain death on foreign soil.

    I do believe he will have a problem with that proposal in so far as
    the average soldier will I believe take umbridge regarding leaving his granny at home, then finding she is a sexual plaything of the “NEW HOMEGUARD”

    https://x.com/LeilaniDowding/status/1790283273886712000

    .

    1. Would not the diversity & inclusion targets imposed on the military ensure that a fair proportion of those sent abroad to be cannon fodder targets for the Russians or the Israelis be of favoured groups, in roughly the same proportion as those currently in TV ads and contemporary drama?

    2. DIE needs to die.

      It is within Sunak’s ability to permanently stop all illegal immigration and to properly manage incoming numbers. He chooses not to. He has absolutely no interest in doing what needs to be done in any area: he won’t cut back the scale and intrusion of the state, he just adds more legislation. He refuses to repeal legislation that lets the invasion continue. He keeps forcing inflation up – it was £60 to fill our 40l car the other day = £60! Two thirds is tax, so that’s 40 not going into goods and services, just destroyed in the government furnace.

      If he doesn’t want to govern then he should say so and sod off. If he does, he should do so. If he’s just obeying his masters for his next non-job then the lot of them should be dismissed and the entire system of government torn down and replaced with a system that serves.

      1. 387415+ up ticks,

        Morning W,
        They are still keeping afloat via
        a multitude of “party before Country” supporter / voters, as we sink deeper into the mire of treachery.

  29. Morning all 🙂😊
    That burst of summer didn’t last long, but typical of what we expect. Never mind it’s good for our gardens.
    Richie clearly hasn’t got a clue regarding public opinion. If he was taking notice he would walk it. But he’s ‘working hard’ (they all say that now) to change things. Probably meaning his socks etc. Obviously nothing else that matters to the British public.
    I just wonder who he is actually working for, it’s certainly not for the British people and taxpayers.

    1. Global boiling, innit. Drizzle and a tad chilly. At least I won’t need to water the veg.

      1. I am a bit peed orff with the results from the packets of tomato seeds.
        Nothing showed at all. I’d expected to come back from our week in Portugal to find them in good condition.
        Kept damp and covered Nothing.
        But the seeds of a giant tennis ball size tomato 🍅 I brought back have already sprouted. I can’t wait to see how things turn out. 😉

        1. I have had the same “nul points” with peppers, rocket and parsley this year. ON the other hand, ALL nine of my trombetti seeds sown have germinated. Win some – lose some! As gardeners say, “There is always some damn thing or another…”

          1. Dill and coriander from seed worked. The rest i bought as small plants. Much more expensive but less fannying around.

        2. I transplanted a couple of tomato seedlings into the grow bag when I got back. Today I went to water them again and all that was left were stalks 🙁 A slug has got into the greenhouse, by the look of things.

          1. Oh dear, my good lady bought some compost a few weeks ago and everything she planted in it was attacked by slugs. I think they come with the bags.

  30. Rishi Sunak has not done enough to make it clear that he’s not just another suit wearing managerialist who occupies an office in some corner of the Lib / Lab Uniparty. When we find one single Conservative leader who actually thinks like a Conservative then I’ll be happy. Up until then, writing pie in the sky whimsy about some fabulous battle involving Left vs Right can get consigned to the fiction shelves of my local library.

  31. Torygraph readers are going wild today on the Ozempic/Wegovy story. Comments are generally anti mass medication.

  32. Breaking news – of the “Oh How Sad” variety:

    “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been told to stop soliciting or spending money for their Archewell Foundation after it was declared delinquent by the state of California.

    The foundation was established in 2020 for the couple’s charitable work, however it appears they have failed to file the correct paperwork and pay the required fees to operate.

    In a letter dated May 3, the office of Rob Bonta, the Californian attorney general, informed Archewell it was considered delinquent.

    “An organization that is listed as delinquent is not in good standing and is prohibited from engaging in conduct for which registration is required, including soliciting or disbursing charitable funds,” the letter said.”

      1. Doria Ragland did not serve time in prison. She had trouble paying her rent.

  34. 387415+ up ticks,

    Political overseers advice if you are called up as an indigenous soldier with a family to fight in the WEF / NWO foreign wars,
    to give PIE a ring they will have a list as to your nearest paedophile agreeable to home visits.

    This is not as yet mandatory, but……….

    1. I fear that she did, and that her next role may be Queen of England!

      Maybe I am being too fanciful, but I can’t help feeling that it’s no coincidence that the most popular member of the RF disappears just when everything is getting so unstable in Britain. The RF was the focus of patriotism and stability during the war, you would expect that to be their role this time around too – IF TPTB want Britain to survive as a country.

      1. I feel you could be right.
        I would love to know what good old Annie thinks of all this.

      2. Not possible. There are 5 people in line before Harry could ascend the throne. Frankly I think he would be stopped if that unlikely scenario became a possibility.

        1. Four of them in the same close nuclear family.

          I think there would be a huge sigh of relief when Prince George grows up and leaves home.

          It’s nowhere near the first time there has been worries about the succession. George V’s concerns were well founded. Unlike Harry, who also married an American divorcee, Edward VIII wore his swastika in earnest.

          Victoria’s worries weren’t though, since her successor, the party-loving guzzler aka Tum-Tum because of his appetite actually turned out a rather splendid king. William IV was spared the regency he dreaded, putting off dying with just three weeks to spare. As for George III, he could do little about his succession. Anne had to go a long way down the pecking order before finding an acceptable successor who curiously could speak no English.

      3. I think you are worrying needlessly. That said, I do think that somewhere in the background there are malign forces pulling the Sussex strings in a determined effort to undermine the Monarchy. I’d like to know who they are but have my suspicions.

  36. ‘Morning All

    Hmm Bird Flu you say………

    The Convid Criminals atre going to try it again aren’t they

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

    Because we didn’t hang them last time………..

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fc73ce3d5fd09054fe65c46f0f817a1754aad50573141ff0af4e6b1810c1b231.jpg

    Rest

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cbe0598df67ad57c8a2c19387af885ccf1a9639cbd65d0c96fc3797c10305ed8.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7fbc495fb8ccd3036de0d503ca4a799199c8fdc35793c253fc83f08980b3fec4.jpg

    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/86d12830602ab7436a331ec292bb59940a19bd6441077f9aa2db013acbfceae4.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7eca85994f2c721984d8acbcaf410986db4d652e812c081f09dc8d14a01cdfeb.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d6d94eadd921340567718c7fcd4e03c74a54a21347edd91ceadc9524266c2640.jpg

    3. This is worth repeating:
      One common factor with issues such as Covid, Brexit, Ukraine and global warming is that many choose to turn the debate into a moral one. The issue itself becomes secondary. They will seek a position which exemplifies their own perceived moral superiority while also giving an opportunity to condemn and demonise those who hold contrary views.
      Pro Brexit? Xenophobe!
      Ukraine Nazis? Putin lover!
      Climate sceptic? Science denier!
      Covid realist? Granny killer!

  37. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    Could Trump’s conviction really change the presidential election?
    Comments Share 14 May 2024, 8:50am
    The first time I heard the name ‘Michael Cohen’ was in 2015, from a Republican political operative who told me: ‘It’s his job to clean up Trump’s messes with women.’ He went on to explain how Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer, would pay a large amount in cash to whichever actress-model-stripper-pornstar was claiming to have been screwed, dumped or knocked-up by The Donald. And, crucially, Cohen – Trump’s ‘designated thug’ as he called himself – would scare the hell out of the women concerned to make sure they signed an airtight NDA (or non-disclosure agreement). Over the years, this story has turned out to be far more durable than the allegation that Trump was a Russian agent and today Cohen testified in a Manhattan court that cleaning up the ‘messes with women’ had in fact been his job, his main job, while Trump was running president.

    To Trump’s most loyal supporters, killing bad stories is just what a candidate is supposed to do
    In The People of the State of New York vs Donald Trump, Trump is charged with falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election. Cohen has already served time for arranging this hush money – it was deemed an illegal campaign contribution – and the trial turns on the issue of whether Trump ordered him to make the payment, and told his company’s chief financial officer to fraudulently bury it in the accounts as legal fees. Cohen is the star witnesses after a string of others testified that Trump was both a micromanager and incredibly cheap – all things which lend weight to Cohen’s evidence, since it appears unlikely that such a large payment could have been made without Trump’s say-so. ‘Everything required Mr Trump’s sign off,’ as Cohen testified. This, the prosecution says, is the first-hand account of how the conspiracy unfolded, as seen from the inside.

    Reports from inside the courtroom – no TV cameras are allowed – suggest that Cohen was calm and measured on the stand. Reading his evidence, it seemed more like controlled anger to me. This was the performance of someone furious at having to take the fall for something he maintains was business-as-usual in the Trump organisation, and all done at Trump’s behest and for his benefit. Discussing the case with Cohen in 2018, before he served his sentence, he asked me, voice filled with disbelief: ‘I go to jail because he gets his pecker pulled by a porn star?’ Now, finally, he can even the score. Cohen told me then that Trump ran his business like a mafia don: discussions were always one-to-one, with no third person who could act as a witness if collared by the Feds. But Cohen secretly recorded some of these conversations and the tapes were played in court. Trump is heard telling Cohen to pay-off another woman, Karen McDougal, a Playboy model, ‘in green’ – cash that could not be traced.

    In that conversation, Trump can also be heard saying about McDougal: ‘So, what do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?’ There is echo here of the famous smoking gun tape of Nixon discussing paying the Watergate burglars to keep quiet. ‘You could get a million dollars. And you could get it in cash.’ History, tragedy, farce. This time, the sums – and the personalities involved – are much smaller, the cover up about some spectacularly silly sex at a Lake Tahoe hotel, where Trump was appearing at a golf tournament. In her book, Full Disclosure, Stormy Daniels relates how she spanked Trump on his backside with a copy of Forbes that had his face on the cover. ‘I like you,’ Trump supposedly said, as he fastened his belt, ‘You remind me of my daughter.’

    Stormy twisted the knife in her book, writing about Trump stripping down to white briefs and socks: ‘His hard, darting tongue pushed in and out of my mouth. I thought, He’s even a terrible kisser… I’d say the sex lasted two to three minutes. It may have been the least impressive sex I’d ever had.’ On the stand, last week, she said something equally believable but much sadder. Trump had allegedly been dangling the prospect of an appearance of The Apprentice – ‘Have you seen it? It’s a big hit’ – trying to persuade her to embark on an affair with him. She said he had told her: ‘This is the only way you’re getting out of the trailer park.’

    Stormy has her book to sell and Cohen now makes a living publicly lambasting the man he once said he’d take a bullet for. But despite all the caveats, most legal analysts think things are looking bad for Trump, who is of course running for president again on the Republican ticket. Cohen’s most telling evidence today was about how Trump – always the cheapskate – tried to delay paying off Stormy until after the 2016 election. Either he’d be elected president and it wouldn’t matter; or he’d be defeated and he wouldn’t care. The payment was allegedly rushed through when it seemed she might go public before voters went to the polls. Cohen said: ‘He wasn’t thinking about Melania. This was all about the campaign.’

    If Trump is convicted, it is theoretically possible he could go to jail. On the one hand, the judge in the case has treated Trump with all the deference due a former president – other defendants tweeting aggressively about a case would almost certainly have ended up in the cells for contempt. On the other hand, the judge also has a record on coming down hard on white collar crime – and the prosecution argues that if Cohen has served time for this, so should Trump. Trump would, though, appeal any conviction, and that appeal would not be heard until after the election in November. And whether or not he’s convicted, it’s unlikely that a conviction would on its own sway the election. To his most loyal supporters, killing bad stories is just what a candidate is supposed to do. And no one is shocked by Trump’s private life anymore.

    That’s the view of Rick Wilson, a former Republican political consultant and co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project. ‘I don’t think anyone in this country, who is a supporter of his is not going to be a supporter of his after this thing is over. It’s not going to break off the guy in the red hat, it’s not going to break off the hardcore Maga supporter.’ However, Wilson says it’s significant that Nikki Haley is still winning 15 to 25 per cent of the vote in the Republican primaries, despite having been out of the race for months. That’s because there are softer Republicans and conservative independents who are ‘uncomfortable’ with the latest Trump chaos, whatever that might be. Wilson thinks a conviction could edge up Trump’s numbers in red states such as Alabama but will do nothing to expand his base, which is ‘a little crazier, a little tighter than it was.’ So: ‘Don’t expect any one of these trials, no matter how consequential they seem, to change the eventual election outcome one way or the other.’

    1. Sounds almost as frequent as JFK, but nobody made a fuss about his well publicised liasons.

      Oh wait !

      JFK was a Democrat, so all is forgiven and forgotten.

      1. The difference is Janet, that Trump didn’t do the dirty with this Stormy character. I think its another example of gold digger throwing turd and hoping to be paid off for making a baseless accusation. Trump has a phobia about people being clean. As a result he would not consort with prostitutes. That is how those of us who knew about Trumps personality knew the Steel dossier was false.

        1. I would agree with you. Also, he has far too much self-esteem, some would say arrogance with some justification, to “lower himself” like that. I’d add that the same goes for Prince Andrew which is why I never believed that he was anywhere near Virginia Roberts/Guiffre. What I would believe though, is that with her connivance Epstein may well have tried, and failed, to set him up with her so as to have something on him and indirectly the RF.

          2. The photo is a fake. Quite apart from some professional observations I have read on technical aspects that are beyond me, the simple fact is that the hands are not his. PA’s hands look just like KC’s hands – short, stubby, almost deformed fingers.

      2. JFK’s philandering came out many years after his death and beatification.
        Journalists of the time say that it wasn’t considered good form to publish this kind of information about politicians in those days.
        And remember the birthday celebrations in Madison Square Gardens which Mrs Kennedy didn’t attend.
        Years later a great fuss was made about Clinton’s indiscretions. And he was a Democrat. He never really recovered from the scandal and I’m sure if it hadn’t been for that Hillary would have won the presidency. Indeed she may even have been selected instead of Obama.

    2. This is a political prosecution and I do not expect the outcome to influence the election in any way except insofar as it is preventing Trump from campaigning. It is also a sign of how far Democracy has deteriorated in the US. When States get to this level Civil War is not far off.

      1. Yep. That the thing that got him into court in the first place Biden is also guilty of is just tiresome now.

    3. The above account is complete nonsense. Almost from start to finish. That the cretin that wrote this is a ‘Log Cabin Republican’ tells you all you need to know. A group of malcontents who have had it out for Trump since he was elected. Trump cannot be convicted because the stature of limitation on what he has a been accused of has come and gone and which were not criminal in the first place. The Federal Courts have already determined that and Trump was exonerated by them, he has no case to answer. Further Trump being gagged in court is clearly a political attempt to silence him during a Presidential Campaign and will be, I’m sure, be repealed by a higher court. It violates his civil rights under the Constitution. If Trump goes to jail. I predict that there will be rioting in the streets at a blatant act of political imprisonment by a partisan judge who has violated all the civilized rules of jurisprudence in the USA for political motivations.

      I also predict that this judge will be disbarred for his behaviour in this trial.

      Correction. I made an incorrect statement above. Log Cabin Republican should read Lincoln Project. Apologies for confusion.

      1. What I find incredulous is that the Dems and the US judiciary are so determined to “get Trump” that they seem totally oblivious to how their corrupt machinations look to the outside world and the almost irreparable damage they are doing to the image of the country. As Minty says below, some kind of civil uprising really can’t be that far off.

      2. Why do you say he’s a Log Cabin Republican?
        He’s in Wikipedia: ‘Paul Wood is a British journalist. He is the World Affairs correspondent for the BBC. He was previously the defence and Middle East correspondent.’
        Working for the BBC would make me assume he’s anti Trump.
        If Trump cannot be convicted because of the Statute of Limitations, as you say, why is the trial taking place? Surely he would simply have to allege ‘no case to answer’.

        1. The last paragraph. He says:

          “That’s the view of Rick Wilson, a former Republican political consultant and co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project. ‘I don’t think anyone in this country, who is a supporter of his is not going to be a supporter of his after this thing is over. It’s not going to break off the guy in the red hat, it’s not going to break off the hardcore Maga supporter.’ However, Wilson says it’s significant that Nikki Haley is still winning 15 to 25 per cent of the vote in the Republican primaries, despite having been out of the race for months. That’s because there are softer Republicans and conservative independents who are ‘uncomfortable’ with the latest Trump chaos, whatever that might be. Wilson thinks a conviction could edge up Trump’s numbers in red states such as Alabama but will do nothing to expand his base, which is ‘a little crazier, a little tighter than it was.’ So: ‘Don’t expect any one of these trials, no matter how consequential they seem, to change the eventual election outcome one way or the other.’

          I was in error and thought it was a Log Cabin Republican mostly because it was the first thing I wrote this morning and still half asleep. But I would call it a quasi-error, if there is such a thing! Many of the characters in the Lincoln Project were Log Cabin Republicans. Same rabid anti-Trumpers to the point of irrationality and quite willing commit character assassination without foundation. Difference is that the group I named in error are a gay group of Republicans. In fact
          I would say that it is the Lincoln Project makes it even worse!!!

          Here’s a sample of their lunacy

          https://lincolnproject.us/

  38. Morning all! Cool day here in West Sussex, which I am truly grateful for.
    Went to hospital yesterday. Arrived at the hospital with 10 minutes until my appointment. Then had to sit in the car for three quarters of an hour until an available wheelchair and porter could be found. I was in quite a good mood until then. Waited in reception for another hour and was finally seen. Business took all of 5 to 7 minutes, all that a round trip of an hour. Not terribly amusing. Went straight to bed exhausted.

    Anyway to start the day off. Acts of resistance. At least we can all speak up as this South African gentleman does on the London underground.

    MAN TELLS MUSLIM “BRITAIN IS A CHRISTIAN COUNTRY”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSHRdGlHi-Q

    1. So sorry to read about your exhausting jaunt to hospital , everything seems to be a big fail these days , we are just a nuisance to the NHS , they exist because of us .. ! Not a very helpful statement , but everyone who requires help / treatment or a kind assistant to get you from a to b are left stranded .. especially so if you were abandoned on a ward !

      Hope you have a better day and that your consultation was helpful .

      1. I agree Belle. It seems to me that the hierarchy in hospitals now is Bureaucrats first, doctors second, technicians third, nurses 4th and then us, the general public. It may be my imagination too but it seems to me to have become worse since Covid. I wonder if anyone else has that perception or is it just me?

        1. Absolutely correct.
          I’ve got two appointments Thursday one at 10:50 and one at12:30. At the same hospital for the same condition my arthritic left knee. Watch this space 🤔

          1. Whats your hospital Eddy? Mine is the Royal Surrey, Guilford. I should go to St Richards which is in Chichester but they couldn’t treat me there, unfortunately, because I needed radio therapy. But St. Richards is a far better hospital. Royal, Surrey is large and almost feels third world, a generally grubby atmosphere to the place.

    2. Too right Meneer, he should have told the turd to voetsek and get on the track to pray, he would find out if it works.

    3. The bloke isn’t British. He’s clearly South African? The bigotry here is the lack of respect for other people by the muslim – as it always is.

      1. Yes, definitely South African. The woman who comes in and helps me is South African. Really cheers me up to listen to her, I love the accent.

  39. Good morning all , fresh weather ,13c very green and didn’t have to water the garden last night , rained all afternoon, gentle rain , and rained during the evening .

    I love our British climate , honestly do, weather , north or south ..

    I lived in Cornwall for 2 years in the very early 70’s when R was doing his flying training at Culdrose , the weather could be glorious , but all I can remember was low cloud and more wind than here , screeching screaming wind , the low cloud cover was depressing , as most of the pilots found !

    Dorset weather is delightful and varied .. as was North Yorkshire weather .. I hate great heat , and dread relentless high temperatures . My parents were in love with Africa, they never gave British weather a chance , they were in their late twenties when they cleared off out of Britain with family in tow .

    All I can remember were spiders , flies , mosquitoes , scorpions , other creepy crawlies etc .

    Moh and I lived in Nigeria for a while , near Port Harcourt , the heat was a killer, and humidity terrible , some clear sunny days , hot hot hot , and the red dust , monsoon conditions were shocking .. and the smell , my goodness .

    My siblings, nephews and nieces live in SA, and have done so since 1967, my parents died out there .

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/advice/best-european-holiday-destinations-for-weather/

    Ranked and rated: The best (and worst) European countries for good weather
    We’ve used data from numerous meteorological sources to profile 15 popular countries – and uncover the one with worse weather than Britain

    1. I grew up in Africa and am absolutely with you in hating too much heat. I only ever complain about the weather here when it is really hot in summer!

  40. Breaking news – about our broken legal system:

    “The man who killed three people in the Nottingham attacks has had his sentence of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility upheld by three Court of Appeal judges.

    Valdo Calocane, 32, fatally stabbed the University of Nottingham students Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber, both 19, and Ian Coates, 65, a school caretaker, during a dawn rampage on June 13 last year.”

    1. Thats a terrible thing to happen, but it’s pretty obvious why it has.
      Any criminal these days will use the same stupid excuses for what they have done. I can’t imagine how the families of the people he murdered feel. This country is in serious need of urgent repair. It has been and still it goes on as we speak. COMPLETELY WRECKED.

      2. Recently three men were jailed for a total of around eight years because the ripped off elderly people over roofing repairs.
        Oh but they had no noticeable trace of diversity.

    3. He was perfectly responsible enough to use a knife to kill people. Suggesting he didn’t know what he was doing is farcical. Just another foreigner killing Britons and judges saying that doesn’t matter.

    4. The victims clearly had the wrong coloured skin. Two-tiered justice system, you see.

    5. The victims clearly had the wrong coloured skin. Two-tiered justice system, you see.

    1. Oscar Wilde bang on the money again.. “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life”.

    2. she should update the artwork and give it a new title..
      Homage to Gary Lineker ‘The Isis thing’.

    3. S’ok her stuff. A bit obvious but OK. The twist is Plod’s response. Well done Plod, the jihadist wins and makes our world a poorer place.

    4. Also, the artist appears to have rather enjoyed the Green Room hospitality at GB news. She seems amply refreshed.

  42. OT – my bedtime audiobook is about the Narvik “episode” in March/April 1940. Conceived and master-minded by Churchill – it appears to have been a catastrophic disaster – almost as bad as his other great success – the Gallipoli campaign.

    And yet – within a couple of weeks he was Prime Minister. Bewildering….

    Six Minutes in May: How Churchill Unexpectedly Became Prime Minister by Nicholas Shakespeare

    1. I visited Narvik over the Christmas period 2018. The locals informed me that British ships and troops occupied the town in 1940 to prevent the Germans from using the place as a loading facility for iron ore from Kiruna in Sweden. Unfortunately that British military contingent was removed when they were needed for ‘far more important’ military campaigns in the Med. A soon as they left, the Hun moved back in and the rest is history.

    2. Can’t find much about N Shakespeare’s politics. His Wikipedia entry says a lot about his writing and nothing about the man. Is he pro EU/anti-Brexit? Does he support immigration? Is he a Greenie? It would be interesting to know.

        1. Thanks. Interesting but, like the Wiki entry, evasive about Shakespeare’s inner convictions.

    3. Supporting Greece when the British Western Desert Force, later Eighth Army, had the Italians by the throat in North Africa. A move that led to disaster on both mainland Greece and Crete. And to cap the Greece fiasco, Churchill pushed for the landing at Anzio, another costly disaster.

      Churchill had many political strengths but military expeditions exposed a weakness, some may very well argue.

      1. He always wanted to rid himself of the legacy of Gallipoli – and so went on repeating the same old same old.

    1. Artist & satirist Miriam Ella.. is problematic on many levels and should be in prison for her own safety. For starters, she’s Jewish, even worse she was a vocal supporter of brexit.
      .. step away from the cuddly toys and put your hands up.

    2. Artist & satirist Miriam Ella.. is problematic on many levels and should be in prison for her own safety. For starters, she’s Jewish, even worse she was a vocal supporter of brexit.

    1. Surrounded by security, carefully controlled endless photo opfest. I don’t know why they bothered. They’re a private couple, not relevant, not useful, who have no say.

      1. They not only have no say, they have nothing to say – nothing worth listening to anyway.

        1. Harry looks pretty miserable these days, discovered his wife is 43% Nigerian. Thought of you when I read their news:-)

          1. Well hello KJ – how lovely to see you! You still have me blocked in the Speccie😆 I should think that most Nigerians are pretty miserable too, on learning who their new “sister” is🤣

          2. Good to hear from you… I notice my Disqus a/c here is the one attached to TCW, I read that most days too. Speccie shenanigans have quietened down lately, now they allow comments on the App, which some say is what the blocks were always about. My S/O ceases end of June and I likely may not renew. I still dip in most days (Baron and Ian still there) but also read Unherd quite a bit. Weren’t the Nigerian photos splendid, everyone so jolly (except Harry, wondering finally if he’s been played, looking a bit like he realised the bind he’s in). Charles looks very well, everyone just waiting on Kate news and hoping for the best. Tried to check Disqus block, now won’t allow me on Speccie version to check, likely because I’m here. BH has informed me Disqus is one of those pick n mix apps you can amend at will. Will continue to look out for you on Geoff’s blog , hope he’s doing Ok and you too…will also check TCW. See you then 🙂 Final update (I hope)…managed to get on Speccie Disqus a/c, ability to block/unblock not listed, suspect it’s another feature of their own version. Still think something to do with ‘graph readers able to comment on Speccie board whilst not actually being Speccie subs, seemed to happen around the Redbird purchase which never was.

          3. I do read TCW but haven’t commented much there, also UnHerd. Still read the Speccie but not as much as before and don’t comment all that much either. Here most days though :))
            The Nigerian photos were splendidly stage-managed 😀 The stupid woman did not wear a single outfit suitable for either the occasion or the country she was in – talk about not being able to “read a room”, she can’t even read “her” whole country🤣 You just needed to look at what the other women were wearing to see just how wrong she got it – and her clothes still don’t fit her! I bet Harry was comparing it to “real” Royal tours and found it very much wanting – no cheering crowds lining the streets, walkabouts etc. Still can’t believe he agreed to “inspect the troops” though, he must have known that was seriously out of order. Still, perhaps he had no choice as they were guests of the Nigerian Army and not the government.

          4. Good post, good we can check in on nttl😊 almost feel sorry for H, doubt any improvement ahead…🙄 was very much a Meghan show.

          5. Everything has to be “The Meghan Show” – that’s why she couldn’t stand being in the RF. It already had a Queen😆!
            Good to be back in touch – I’ve missed you😊

          6. It does, her starring role. Have you ever watched Suits? (if not, don’t waste your time). QE2 – the one and only. Yes, good we can keep up through nttl/tcw, I missed you too 🙂 Might be mia from end of this week, m-i-l here for around a month so if don’t see you/reply you’ll know why…:-(

          7. No, I’ve never watched Suits, and nor do I intend to start now! Can’t stand the sight of the woman if I’m honest.
            Doesn’t m-i-l normally live in Australia? Could be a long month…..☹️

          8. Don’t. Me2. Yes. Yes. -:(( wish me luck, I’m going to need it. BH already in orbit….

          13. Different topic, PJ, hope that’s OK. If you haven’t already, will you please think about reading up on Lucy Letby (today Unherd). Welcome your thoughts 🙂 (and anyone else’s too) Since reading David Livermore, been a concern of mine ever since her trial.

          16. I’ve had a look, but can’t access New Yorker article. I did click on a link BTL to an article in the DT last year though, which was interesting. I must confess that I hadn’t registered at her trial that so much emphasis was placed on statistical evidence. I see what you are saying but I’m not sure. In my experience of life too many coincidences very rarely are.
            I remember the Sally Clark case in the 90s very well though (mentioned in the link I opened) and I never thought that she did kill her babies. I have my own theory about SID syndrome though 🙂

          17. Thanks PJ. I remember Sally Clark too, the right outcome. The Letby ward sounds quite dis-functional, with many vulnerable babies. Re-trial needed, I suspect, and likely found not wholly to blame if at all. Anyhow..different topic…have you seen the new portrait of the King, opinion very divided to say the least….

          18. I have seen the portrait and am in two minds about it. I think the likeness is excellent but don’t see the point of the Picasso-like “red-washing”. What do you think?

          19. ‘Morning :-)….guess what, exactly the same 😀 I thought the head/face/expression well rendered, ‘the rest not so much’ – and that the blood on his hands open to interpretation from certain quarters (as it’s turned out).

          20. Well, what a surprise :D! I noticed that his hands were very “splotchy” but saw more grey/brown which is quite a contrast to the red so didn’t associate it with blood. Someone (an art critic but the name didn’t mean anything to me in my ignorance!) said he thought it would become a classic of this era and I think I would agree with that. I could be wrong, but technically I think it is very good indeed and the artist very talented. Real talent tends to survive, even if often in its own time it is severely criticised.

          21. It will certainly be remembered, perhaps for the wrong reasons. The artist Jonathan Yeo has also painted Prince Philip, Queen Camilla, amongst others, the faces/heads are well rendered in a similar fashion but without the red background…hmm….perhaps a reference to a death?

          22. I’m honestly a bit stumped as to the significance of the red. Perhaps it is KC’s rather misguided adherence to “dangerous global warming” and everything is going up in flames? 😀

          23. Perhaps I shouldn’t have, and this isn’t what the artist was nodding to, but I wondered about the death of Diana (blood on one’s hands etc). I hope not. A recurring theme in some portraits – Holbein and others, often reflecting status/wealth/education etc. It could just as easily be ‘Global Warming’ in Charles’ portrait 😀

          24. No, I don’t think Yeo would do that. Also, I don’t think that the blame for Diana’s death lies at his door. I think he has to bear more blame for the break-up of the marriage than Diana did, together with Camilla, but she was pretty headstrong and her relationship with Dodi Fayed stupid in the extreme. If she hadn’t entered into it she would still be alive and would most likely have grown up enough to carve a significant role for herself apart from the RF.

          25. You’d be surprised what artists will do 😀 there are very many now, angling for business/posterity – numbers exploded during lockdown/s. Re: Diana, whole issue was a mis-match, I do think it affected both boys and especially Harry. Charles and Camilla happy and settled now – she’s done him a world of good, I think.

          26. Well I think Mr Leo will find posterity – one way or the other!
            It was bound to affect the boys, but I think William more than Harry, especially as he was older at the time. He’s a bit of a dark horse. Harry is just a man-child and even if he hadn’t married MeAgain he would have found ways to make William’s life difficult. Agree about C&C, even though I’ve never really been able to warm to her.

          27. Yes, likely a flood of portrait requests in the mail. William more mature imo, everyone hoping and praying for good news soon. Harry stayed a boy, which likely suited his wife, who’s definitely in charge now. Agree re C, although those who’ve met personally seem to take to her, think she’s good for the King in that she’s a strong character.

          28. My mother had a close friend who was Nigerian. When out and about together in London, she used to confide to my mother that Africans were very wary of Caribbeans. Apparently the Caribbeans blamed the African ancestors for having sold their own ancestors into slavery.
            One wonders if Meghan had mixed emotions when meeting her ‘sisters’ in Nigeria.
            Historical recollections may vary.

          29. Without African slavers there wouldn’t even have been a trans-Atlantic slave trade. Meghan doesn’t have “emotions” – not like normal people do anyway. They are whatever she says they are at any given moment – and “if you don’t like these I have others” 😆

          31. In my experience Nigerians worship education and professional status. In the past they tended to despise Caribbeans as uneducated but perhaps that has changed as increasing numbers of Caribbeans have gone into higher education.
            But, as for Meghan, she is not a person who has grown up in a community that has ever-present reminders of the slave plantation as might be the case in the Caribbean. She grew up in a middle class, mainly white environment and I doubt she ever thought much about Africa until it became another prop for her ‘brand’.

          32. I don’t think this woman despised Caribbean people at all. She was I understand quite frightened of them.
            But of course Meghan would have known little about Africa until she conveniently discovered her roots. A middle class privileged American girl who flitted from flower to flower until she found her prince.
            My musings about her feelings were intended to be jocular.

    2. No hoi polloi would ever get near enough to actually nick anything off her.

  45. Here’s some examples of government thinking:

    Youth unemployment is falling ‘Right let’s make it more attractive for youths to get jobs by hiking the min wage.’
    Businesses are closing at record levels ‘right, to make up the tax shortfall we will hike corporation tax.’
    People are not driving as far, causing the economy to shrink ‘This is good, as it meets our green targets.’
    People are dying from the cold weather ‘This is not good, as it means higher NHS costs. We need higher taxes to pay for that’
    Unemployment is rising as heavy industry moves overseas ‘this is good, as it means we need to spend less on power stations (apart from windmills)
    Energy is too expensive and creating poverty ‘let’s massive subsidise wind by taxing coal, gas and oil’

    At every step, the state refuses to understand that it is the cause of the problem and damages somewhere else thanks to it’s ‘solution’.

    They’re utterly gormless morons

  46. From a leaving message:

    “…im scared of Whale’s)…”

    For goodness sake. This is a supposedly capable high ranking person. The grammar isn’t a mistake. It’s repeated thrice. This person is a buffoon.

    1. The Outlaw Josey Wales? You wouldn’t wanna up get on the wrong side of him, I suppose…

    3. Back in the seventies waiting at Sloane Square for the 137 bus to Clapham Common the blacks would jump the queue in similar fashion.

  49. 387415+ up ticks,

    May one ask,

    This closing, would that not be seen as a benefit to indigenous common sense user peoples ?

    Government warned slashing number of foreign graduates could lead to collapse of some universities
    It comes as ministers call for two-year graduate visa route to be axed amid claims it is being used as a backdoor immigration route

    1. Government warned slashing number of foreign graduates could lead to collapse of some universities

      Good…

      1. Especially the Mickey Mouse ones which should revert to being tech colleges teaching useful skills.

          1. Oh I don’t know. I met a Professor of Sociology the other day and he told me “He was learnd in one of the best skools in Britian by sum of the bestist teechers in the wurld” – So there!

  50. More liberalspeak.

    Canada has problems with too many temporary incomers, the latest liberal suggestion to resolve the issue is to make these temporary workers / students / layabout asylum seekers permanent residents. Problem solved!

    2. If she’s marrying him for his money she will be disappointed – he has less than £10 billion. If they are marrying for love I wish them well.

      1. She’s not poor and from all accounts they are a happily matched couple. It doesn’t matter how rich or poor you are if you truly love one another. Good luck to them

  52. Good late morning, all.

    The source of the following is parochial in as much as it was quoted after the local elections in Colchester. However, could this description be applied widely to the Greens in local government – people in and around Brighton may disagree – or has Colchester reared a sub-species of this political unwanted plant?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a5c10fd40e8ec3e3a54ea353a59c937c8a25d85a752c483aa70ad1e78d35c200.png

    Scott Everest – Comments on Colchester Council Elections

  53. Just a bit of fun……

    It only takes one slow-walking person in the grocery store to destroy the illusion that I’m a nice person.

    It turns out that when asked who your favourite child is, you’re supposed to pick out one of your own. I know that now.

    It’s fine to eat a test grape in the produce section, but you take one bite of rotisserie chicken and it’s all, “Sir, you need to leave!”

    One thing no one ever talks about, when it comes to being an older adult, is how much time we devote to keeping a cardboard box because it is, you know, a really good box.

    I can’t believe I forgot to go to the gym today. That’s seven years in a row, now.

    If you dropped something when you were younger, you just picked it up. When you’re older and you drop something, you stare at it for just a bit contemplating if you actually need it anymore.

    I like to make lists. I also like to leave them lying on the kitchen counter, and then guess what’s on the list when I am at the store.

    Ask your doctor if a drug with 32 pages of side effects is bad for you.

    I relabelled all of the jars in my wife’s spice rack. I’m not in trouble yet, but the thyme is cumin.
    I just read a book about marriage that says treat your wife like you treated her on your first date. So, tonight after dinner I’m dropping her off at her parent’s house.

    The best way to get back on your feet is to miss two car payments.

    I love bacon. Sometimes I eat it twice a day. It takes my mind off the terrible chest pains I keep getting.

    As I watch this generation try to rewrite history, one thing I am sure of is that it will be misspelled and have no punctuation.

    Driver: “What am I supposed to do with this speeding ticket?” Officer, “Keep it. When you collect four of them, you get a bicycle.”

    I asked a supermarket employee where they kept the canned peaches. He said, “I’ll see,” & walked away. I asked another & he also said, “I’ll see,” & walked away. In the end, I gave up & found them myself, in Aisle C.

    I told my physical therapist that I broke my arm in two (2) places. He told me to stop going to those places.

    I put our scale in the bathroom corner & that’s where the little liar will stay until it apologizes.

    When I was a kid, I used to watch the ‘Wizard of Oz’ & wonder how someone could talk if they didn’t have a brain. Then I got Facebook.

    Do you ever get up in the morning, look in the mirror & think, “That can’t be accurate!”

    I want to be 14 again & ruin my life differently. I have new ideas.

    A guy walks into a timber yard & asks for some 2x4s. The clerk asks, “How long do you need them?” The guy answers, “A long time. We’re gonna build a house.”

    I walked into to a large hardware store and ‘The Greeter’ with the Kiwi accent asked me if I needed decking, I floored him before he got any nearer.

    I just burned 1,200 calories. I forgot the pizza in the oven.

    Who knew that the hardest thing about being an adult is figuring out what to fix for dinner and doing it every single night for the rest of your life until you die? (This is so true..! – Stan)

    I hate it when people act all intellectual and talk about Mozart when they’ve never even seen one of his paintings.

    Never trust an electrician with no eyebrows.

    So, my neighbour knocked on my front door at 3 A.M.!!! Luckily, I was already up playing the bagpipes.

    Instead of cleaning my house, I just watch an episode of “The Hoarders,” and think, “Wow! My house looks great.”

    ====================

    2. Some crackers in there but I think the list one must be my favourite

    5. The first date one reminds me of the time my Dad dropped his Sister-in-Law off at Shepherd’s Bush station. She lived in Buckhurst Hill. Only a 17 mile journey but Dad’s logic was that they’re both on the Central Line. What’s 22 stops between friends. Aunty was fond of my father but she lived to 100 and never forgot the time he did that.

    7. I think we all know what happens when you try the one about the doctor and the drugs now…

    9. “One thing no one ever talks about, when it comes to being an older adult, is how much time we devote to keeping a cardboard box because it is, you know, a really good box.”
      I have such a bad case (ho ho) of that affliction, I deliberately stick the box outside and hope it rains so I HAVE to get rid of it. I close my eyes, stick it on the heap, draw a deep breath and make myself heartlessly turn my back on the orphaned cardboard.

      1. That’s what we’d call planning Anne.
        I know what you mean it’s something to do with our parents and this might come in handy…..

  54. A recall referendum in Calgary was rejected yesterday, all 66,000 signatures were rejected as being invalid. Apparently each signature was supposed to be accompanied by a copy of the referendum notice.

    Now that is the mayor controlling the result.

        1. She was advised by a nurse to be an impatient patient. She phoned the hospital every day and left messages. At this stage she was not interested in living the way she was. Eventually the surgeon phoned her at home and was astonished at the staten she was in.
          He said he would consult with his anaesthetist.
          He subsequently called and said the anaesthetist agreed to put her under for 10 minutes max to permit a cardioversion procedure. This is the least successful treatment for AF.
          Anyway, the procedure was done and the change was immediate. She is getting better every day and her strength is returning. Importantly, I have got my cheerful wife back.
          We don’t know how long the heart will stay in rhythm but we are very grateful for what we have.
          Thank you for asking. I haven’t wanted to bother nottlers with our problems.

          2. How nice to hear some good news, Delboy! Well done to your wife for persevering and I’m sure you must both be a lot more relaxed.
            It’s not a bother to listen to Nottlers problems! Someone out here may be able to offer help and support! Thinking of you both. 💕

          6. Thank you for the update. I’m glad you have got at least a little treatment. We can only remember you in our prayers.

          11. We’ve been worried by the lack of news so I’m very glad to hear she’s had the procedure and is getting better. Glad to hear she’s more like her old self.

            My OH had AF following his triple bypass op at Christmas 22, and at the end of January this year had a cardioversion, which they said was successful. He does seem to have more energy than before and keeps busy doing things.

          12. Good news about your dearly beloved, I asked how things were the other day.

            Really pleased the AF has been halted for the time being .

  57. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    Rain is the biggest problem for Oxford’s Free Gaza protestors
    Comments Share 14 May 2024, 11:24am
    Oxford students, like others, are protesting about Palestine, but not so much when it rains. There’s an encampment outside the Pitt Rivers museum and once the rain starts the protesters in tents disappear inside them and the others disappear indoors. But when the sun is out, they re-emerge, though not if it’s too early. Welcome to the People’s University for Palestine, a placard says.

    Quite a few of the tents have LGBT flags
    It’s a mixed group; some of the demonstrators are Muslim, and there are enough oldies to explain the sign saying ‘Vietnam 1975 is Palestine now’. Just over half are women. Quite a few of the tents have LGBT flags; and there’s one placard that says, ‘Queers Support Palestine; don’t use us as an excuse not to support Palestine’. A couple of days ago, there was a Jewish student, who was chatting to friends.

    There’s also a sign up saying ‘please tread carefully. We want to take care of the land and the space around us!!’ Too late; the lawn has been churned up and people pick their way across it on planks. Lots of the protesters have masks and some are starting to smell, notwithstanding the Portaloo. The bins are spilling over with the residue of junk food containers. Actually, there seems to be quite a lot of food around. There’s a family tent, and a pop-up coffee tent. In one, someone had donated a cupboard and TV; they seem to be there for the long haul.

    This being 2024, there’s an app to register when you come in. If you ask individual protesters why they’re there, it’s hard to get an answer except that they’re against genocide. Do they know there’s genocide? ‘Everyone knows’.

    Most popular
    Mary Dejevsky
    The concerning sickness of NHS staff

    When one female friend asked a group what the protest was about, a man intervened to tell her: ‘educate yourself’, which sounded a bit sexist. If you say you’re writing, they’ll ask you to meet their media representative…yes, they’ve got one, who asks for accreditation.

    There is a wall made of cardboard and plywood where you can express how you feel about the situation and write messages to Palestine. ‘Write on the Wall if you want Apartheid to Fall’, it says. There’s also a medical tent run by student medics and for those feeling upset, there’s a wellness tent.

    A large billboard displays their demands: ‘Disclose all finances; Divest from Israeli genocide, apartheid and occupation; Overhaul university investment policy; Boycott Israeli genocide; Stop Banking with Barclays; Support Palestinian…’ the rest is folded on the ground.

    As regards their own education, it’s still going on, if not in the subjects the students are in Oxford for. Every day they have lectures relating to Palestine; there’s also a tent library filled with Palestinian and Arabic literature.

    Every so often a car honks in passing, and the protesters cheer. Peter Hitchens turned up too. He got booed.

    Oh, and why the Pitt Rivers museum? A flier explains, under the headling, Welcome to our Liberated Zone: ‘We have established a Liberated Zone on the lawn of the infamous Oxford University Pitt Rivers Museum. The museum, which ‘acquired’ items from across the globe through imperial expansionism, mirrors the ongoing struggle of Palestinian people and connect us to colonised peoples everywhere’. Another says, ‘The museum displays…the erasure, dispossession, scholasticide, epistemicide and cultural pillaging that defines Oxford’s legacy.’ Poor Pitt-Rivers. Actually, you can’t see the famous shrunken heads any more.

    In other words, as with any student protest, there’s any amount of virtue signalling going on as well as genuine sympathy for Palestinians. A Muslim I met complained to one Catholic that: ‘You were more bothered by a rainbow flag than people being kicked out of their own homes at gunpoint’; there’s a bit of disjointed thinking going on here.

    The buzzwords are what you’d expect: ‘imperial expansionism’, ‘All links to Capitalism…’, ‘It’s the Tories’ and (my favourite) a description of the encampment as ‘a public facing global education project‘.

    When you try and ask what their argument is, you get slogans: ‘genocide, occupation and ethnic cleansing‘; either you support Palestine, or you support the butchering of innocent women and children. Everyone I spoke to suggests as much. As for the business of the university? ‘There will be no business as usual during genocide’, said the press release.

    The university authorities had better hope it rains.

      1. Woke is funded by the tax-payer. It’s because our stupid government gives it all away whenever anyone throws a tantrum.

    3. Do empty heads shrink more easily? This is all too well organised. It has the Open Society Foundation written all over it.

    4. “When one female friend asked a group what the protest was about, a man intervened to tell her: ‘educate yourself’…”

      The correct response to that is: “I know what it’s about. I want you to tell me what you think it’s about.”

      This approach – the question as a test, not an enquiry – is often followed by a satisfyingly apoplectic fit.

      1. That bloke is a paranoid authoritarian. It’s likely that bloke will have a problem with free speech too.

    6. The only thing I am in agreement with is “don’t bank with Barclays”. They made a right mess of their new banking arrangements for the Trust of the Friends of the Few. Cost the Trust thousands.

  58. Putin is plotting ‘physical attacks’ on the West, says GCHQ chief. 14 May 2024.

    Vladimir Putin’s Russia is preparing “physical attacks” against the West, the head of GCHQ has warned.

    Anne Keast-Butler, who was appointed to lead Britain’s intelligence operations last May, has used her first major speech to highlight the growing threat posed by the Kremlin.

    She said GCHQ was “increasingly concerned about growing links between the Russian intelligence services and proxy groups to conduct cyber attacks – as well as suspected physical surveillance and sabotage operations”.

    Another exercise in Kite flying.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/05/14/putin-plotting-physical-attacks-west-gchq-chief/

    1. ‘We ‘avent done nuffin to provoke these entirely unjustified attacks’ said a British spokes-them. Oy, that was our line, said the Azov mob..

    2. Nowadays, I am so cynical that the first thing that comes to mind is “What are the British secret service planning against us so that they can blame the Russians?”

        1. That goes without saying, but underneath it all, they’ll be brewing something nasty to escalate it all.

    2. This is the technology in which we should be investing rather than the blind alleys that our masters have decreed.

    2. Meghan has been elbowing Harry out of the way to take precedence over him for years. This video was produced four years ago; examples from news/publicity footage are shown from 10minutes onwards:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIC5znWxZt4

          2. Had Bouillabaisse, sourdough bread and home made aioli. Strong flavours.

            Bacon, Brie and tomato baked in a croissant tomorrow.

          3. I wanted a high-fat, high-protein, low-carb, low-sugar meal today. I roasted a chicken thigh and couldn’t decide what to do with it. A chicken curry would have meant rice, and a sandwich would have meant bread.

            I made a two-egg mushroom omelette, spread half with a cucumber-and-mint raita, and the other half with Geeta’s mango chutney. I covered all that with some sautéed, caramelised onion and then with slices of chicken thigh. I rolled it up and ate it. It was delicious and filling.

          4. What a coincidence, Mr Grizz! We’ve just picked up a large jar of Geeta’s mango chutney at Costco this morning! Amongst quite a lot of other things…..!

          5. I just pictured you sitting in bed propped up by fluffy pillows with a spoon and the large jar of mango chutney.

            Sorry…have to check my blood pressure>>>>>>>>>>>>>

          17. We like Geeta’s mango chutney.
            Another good one is by the Bay Tree Company, but I’ve only seen it in garden centres.

          18. Had Bouillabaisse, sourdough bread and home made aioli. Strong flavours.

            Bacon, Brie and tomato baked in a croissant tomorrow.

    1. “What a truly disgusting shower these politicians are”

      You are too kind about them.

    2. My word that was absolutely mind blowing. We have every right to hate all the people he mentioned.
      It needs to be sent far and wide.

    3. That is utterly terrible news for the poor unfortunate man.

      It’s a shame it wasn’t his fucking head!

        1. That is a miracle, it must be the work of Allah – he couldn’t count beforehand.

        2. That is a miracle, it must be the work of Allah – he couldn’t count beforehand.

  66. If anyone’s thinking of taking Ozempic (yeah yeah I know, NOTTLers are more likely to take cold showers, go on bracing runs and rely on willpower!)
    this Twitt post might be of interest:

    Renée Hoenderkamp
    @DrHoenderkamp
    My god. Already doctors out trumpeting the drug companies press release.
    These are the actual data to consider:

    * this study published Nov 23 and only this is on every front page.
    * funded by Novo Nordisk who make the drug
    * the researchers are funded by Novo Nordisk (thickets don’t vote for Xmas)
    Actual data:

    – 3 years and 4 months
    – end point Death, non fatal MI or stroke
    – 6.2% in placebo
    – 8.0% in treatment
    -Adverse events causing patient to withdraw from trial:
    – 16.6% treatment arm
    – 8.0% placebo
    (These may be the difference in outcomes)
    – Researchers have declined to share their data! Why?
    This will cause harm to many, even potentially death, and will bankrupt health systems. All for something that is totally within personal control.
    That money would be better spent on education, lifestyle interventions and tackling diet which is the cause of what the drug companies are now running to fix!

    1. Apologies for this being a bit of a wafflefest, but there was a time when, so fat and so miserable I that I tried to cut ‘bits’ off. When you saw an inch into your body you just bleed a lot.

      I was sent to hospital and still have the scars. No one will see them apart from the Warqueen who knows and, bizarrely, sort of understands why but from the other side of things: she’s ‘too’ beautiful and is judged solely on that.

      Sometimes life can seem so desperate, so empty you’ll do most anything to change what you. You become irrational. Folk look at anorexics and self harmers and feel sorry for them but for many very obese people it’s the same thing. You don’t want to be fat. You’re ‘ill’ in a way of that’s the only thing you could control.

      I don’t excuse my weight. It was down to me. My fiancée leaving me didn’t help, nor did being hounded out of a career, but hey. As was paying for my op to try to sort it, and Wiggy who helped me the most to stabilise mentally. Coming homme to a bounding wally who just wants a fuss and doesn’t care if you’re 50 or 200 kilos is just about the definition of unconditional love.

      I can’t explain how debilitating it is. You go shopping late at night to avoid people seeing you. You don’t go out. You worry if a chair will hold you. You reach a point where you’ll try anything.

      1. So sorry for how you feel about your weight. If at a point where you will try anything then why not try Grizz’s high protein diet……don’t know what to say.

      2. My ire is directed at the people promoting the next pharma money-spinner as a wonder drug for all that can be popped like sweeties, rather than at fat people…
        I think it’s ok to take a risk as long as one knows what risk one is taking…and I’ll bet none of the drs prescribing Ozempic will warn the patients about the increased risk of serious side effects or death.

          4. Especially in their Liberty bodices.
            With …….. wait for it ……… rubber buttons.

      4. I believe you are not that far from where i live. Southampton right? I’m have a drinks and canapes party coming up in August. I also have a sturdy chair.

    1. You think it is bad now?

      I think you’ll find that it’s not really started to kick off yet.

      1. When the numbers reach a certain level it most certainly will kick off. I don’t know what the fuck the Police think they are doing going softly softly on pro hamas groups in the UK.

          1. They need to weed out the top brass who were parachuted into their positions after gaining a degree in Art and design and put in time served army sergeants. A person who knows how to lead the troops.

          2. They need to weed out the top brass who were parachuted into their positions after gaining a degree in Art and design and put in time served army sergeants. A person who knows how to lead the troops.

        3. They are scared shitless. If they did what they do to a “far-right” protest to slammers, the slammers would turn on them. Hundreds of PCs would be killed or maimed. So they not only do nothing but stand aside and smile and wear Hamas flags etc etc.

          1. Those in uniform will be the first to be slaughtered in large numbers. Then what is left of our military. Then us.

          2. Those in uniform will be the first to be slaughtered in large numbers. Then what is left of our military. Then us.

        4. They are scared shitless. If they did what they do to a “far-right” protest to slammers, the slammers would turn on them. Hundreds of PCs would be killed or maimed. So they not only do nothing but stand aside and smile and wear Hamas flags etc etc.

        5. The police, the armed forces, the border forces – every armed agency of the state – have been taken over by either actual Islamists (note the prevalence of chinbeards) or the Queers for Philistinia brigade. Add to this the numerous state-funded “NGOs”, “Not for Profits” and “Charities” also thus infiltrated and one can see, with alarming clarity, what the AF they have in mind for rUK

          1. The police, the armed forces, the border farces, the NHS, education, the judiciary, ALL major political parties, the news media, radio and television, and every other sphere of influence in the country has been surreptitiously infiltrated over the past few decades by the malignant forces of the Left.

            This all happened in plain view while the Right sat tut-tutting and harrumphing with its thumbs up its arse drinking pink gin,

            I’ve been saying — and warning — about this for years, but those Right-wing thumbs seem well and truly stuck up those complacent arses.

          2. To be openly right of center is like looking Jewish now. Besides, regardless of what Prevent and other agencies tell us there isn’t a massive swing to the right in the UK. Which will be our downfall.

      2. When the numbers reach a certain level it most certainly will kick off. I don’t know what the fuck the Police think they are doing going softly softly on pro hamas groups in the UK.

    2. You think it is bad now?

      I think you’ll find that it’s not really started to kick off yet.

    3. The bigger problem is Janet, as we all know the French have been chucking them across the channel for years.

      1. While our government has been paying them (les grenouilles) to supposedly stop them. A nice little earner for les singes mangeurs de fromage.

    4. The bigger problem is Janet, as we all know the French have been chucking them across the channel for years.

    5. Coming to a place near you – thanks to all the UK politicians dedicated to inclusivity and integration.

      1. Divisive, evil and intolerant.

        Maybe that’s just me, but I don’t want these savages anywhere in this country. Educated, decent law abiding folk who add to our society, great. Very welcome. The flushed turds of the third world? Bugger off.

    2. As usual, the London chatteratti insults foreigners and makes us despised around the world – but if you complain about mass migration, you’re a racist.

  69. First part of headline from Daily Mail online

    How Europe and Britain will stop Putin unleashing Armageddon: Interactive graphic shows nukes on Russia’s doorstep, conscription at 18 and arms factories entering a war footing in the face of doomsday WW3 scenario
    David Averre
    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 saw the horrors of a large-scale war darken Europe’s doorstep for the first time since the end of World War II.

    For a short while, hope endured that a swift resolution to the conflict would materialise, but before long the prospect of a speedy diplomatic solution lay in tatters as Moscow’s drones and missiles continued to batter Ukraine’s cities.

    Now more than two years into the conflict, Vladimir Putin has doubled down.

    His forces have made noticeable gains on the frontlines in recent weeks as they pressure war-weary and ammo-starved Ukrainian defenders, and his decision to appoint civilian economist Andrei Belousov as defence minister suggests the Kremlin is committed to sustaining its war economy over the long run.

    Meanwhile, the president’s long-serving and intensely loyal foreign minister Sergei Lavrov earlier this week challenged what Russia calls the ‘collective West’, declaring Moscow’s troops are ready to meet NATO on the battlefield.

    In light of the downward spiral of East-West relations – not to mention the alarming escalation of tensions further afield in the Middle East and Indo-Pacific – the UK and its European partners could soon be forced to contend with any number of major military threats.

    As a result, many countries are reversing decades of peacetime policy to reignite their war engines. Others never stopped and are only consolidating efforts to ensure they are fit for conflict.

    But there is little doubt that all Europe is now scrambling to prepare in anticipation of what may lie over the horizon.

    Here, MailOnline assesses what Britain and its continental allies are doing to ready their armed forces, economies and citizens for the prospect of war.

  70. From the Daily Mail today

    Summer of 2023 was the hottest in 2,000 YEARS
    The summer of 2023 was the hottest for 2,000 years in the northern hemisphere, according to new Cambridge University analysis.

    Humanity has not known hotter weather since the early days of the Roman Empire and the birth of Jesus Christ, the latest study shows.

    Overall, last summer was 2.2°C hotter on land than the average temperatures for the years between 1AD and 1890AD, when the industrial revolution was in full swing, pumping huge amounts of climate warming greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.

    It was also almost 4°C hotter than the coldest summer in 536AD – when an ash cloud from a volcanic eruption is thought to have caused temperatures to plunge.

    ‘When you look at the long sweep of history, you can see just how dramatic recent global warming is,’ said co-author Professor Ulf Büntgen, from Cambridge’s Department of Geography.

    Overall, last summer was 2.2°C hotter on land than the average temperatures for the years between 1AD and 1890AD
    Overall, last summer was 2.2°C hotter on land than the average temperatures for the years between 1AD and 1890AD
    The summer of 2023 was the hottest for 2,000 years in the northern hemisphere, according to new Cambridge University analysis. Pictured, a man recoils as a fire burns into the village of Gennadi on the Greek Aegean island of Rhodes, July 25, 2023
    The summer of 2023 was the hottest for 2,000 years in the northern hemisphere, according to new Cambridge University analysis. Pictured, a man recoils as a fire burns into the village of Gennadi on the Greek Aegean island of Rhodes, July 25, 2023
    Read More
    2023 was officially the hottest year on RECORD – with global temperatures close to the 1.5°C limit, scientists warn
    article image
    While the temperatures are an average for Earth’s northern hemisphere, summer in the UK last year was considered average by the Met Office and only the eighth warmest on record.

    2. Bollux. Wasn’t hottest here – in fact, what summer? Wet, cold, led to lousy apples, berries and honey production. Almost never sat outside.

      1. The northern hemisphere is a lot bigger than a little bit of Norway.

  71. A lumpy Par Four!

    Wordle 1,060 4/6
    ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
    🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩
    🟩⬜⬜🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Five today.

      Wordle 1,060 5/6

      🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
      🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
      🟩⬜🟩⬜⬜
      🟩⬜🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. My first word helped a lot.

      Wordle 1,060 3/6

      🟩⬜⬜🟩⬜
      🟩⬜⬜🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Jonathan Yeo is a superb portraitist who I admire immensely. I would love to have a quarter of his talent.

      1. I see his idea with this one, but it’s too weak for a portrait of the King. Makes him look as though he’s peering through a red patchwork muslin curtain.

        1. That’s art, Marlowe, which means it’s beyond you!

          Dialogue from Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective that always puts a smile on my face.

          1. You think that portrait is too deep for me to understand? I laugh in your general direction…

          2. Not in the least. I just wanted to enjoy the opportunity of using a piece of my favourite drama dialogue.

      2. I like his portrait of the King, but ambivalent about the red overall….but I know nothing about art!!

        1. Reflects his inner watermelon tendencies (green on the outside, red on the inside).

        2. Reflects his inner watermelon tendencies (green on the outside, red on the inside).

      3. Agree that Yeo is exceptionally skilled. This painting, though, I would not have recognised as the King if it weren’t for the Ruritanian uniform hidden amongst the pinks. Presumably the butterfly is also a clue. Portraits are so knife-edge – a millimeter here, a millimeter there – juggling between flattery and caricature. I would guess that the pink storm is either underpainting that he just couldn’t be arsed to develop or he got impatient with the background, did that to get ideas, and thought it looked good (which perhaps it does). Hard not to become generic when you’re commissioned time and time again, though.

      4. Yes, I think he is a very gifted portrait painter, although he’s a bit of a silly leftie which can translate into his paintings – the issues around his Bush portrait for instance.
        Mostly he’s brilliant, and his style can capture the nature of his subject uncannily – his Michael Parkinson is fantastic.

        1. Lots of artists are Lefties, unfortunately. I tend to overlook politics, though, when discussing art [or, indeed, when discussing many things].

    4. I love it , I am wowed by the depth of feeling and goodness of the artist who has interpreted the eccentric quality of his subject .

          1. If only – I’m still waiting for the final red board to be lifted at Blake’s lock so I can get onto the Upper Thames and head for the source at Lechlade….

        1. It would have looked better in blue, with a blue wash. The red effect looks angry, war-torn.

          Edit: He looks as though he is appearing through a red mist. Not a good omen.

    7. The butterfly depicted is, of course, a Monarch butterfly. There is much symbolism surrounding the Monarch butterfly.

  74. Goodbye:
    Wordle 1,060 6/6

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

    1. You got there! Took me 5 today.

      Wordle 1,060 5/6

      🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
      🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
      🟩⬜🟩⬜⬜
      🟩⬜🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. It was a tricky one, wasnt it? – took me a bit to spot it…. ultimately relieved with a Bogey 5!
      Wordle 1,060 5/6

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

      1. I had the letters, the correct order was hard to find.

        Wordle 1,060 4/6

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

    3. Par 4 today.
      Wordle 1,060 4/6

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

  75. I don’t know whether this has been mentioned, but this morning, near Rouen, at a péage I have used dozens of times, a prison van and escort was attacked – three prison officers shot dead and the bloke in the van – a convicted drug dealer and attempted murderer – was lifted and taken away by his pals.

    His name, just for the record, is Mohamed Amra. Pure coincidence, of course….

    1. Well of course, you would have used that péage dozens of times on your journeys back and forth

          1. As it happens……….having sold our house we no longer go down the N154….

    2. Life would be just sooo dull without enrichment from such interesting cultures..

          1. Those killers would have had a higher motivation than the guards. A lesson that needs to be relearned.

        2. Which indicates just how many weapons must be available to jihadists when it all turns nasty.

    4. R.I.P. the prisoner transfer officers, and condolences to their families. When General Franco was in power the standard treatment for recaptured escaped prisoners was to break their legs.

    5. It’s been pretty obvious for some time that the scum of the earth is taking over our societies. Time to fight back hard, teach the repulsive slime exactly what they deserve.
      Bring back hanging. That terrible event might not have taken place.

    6. It’s been pretty obvious for some time that the scum of the earth is taking over our societies. Time to fight back hard, teach the repulsive slime exactly what they deserve.
      Bring back hanging. That terrible event might not have taken place.

    7. It has been noted. Great. Normandy. Guess where this excrescence is headed?

  77. Well having just mowed the lawns I have to confess to a very cold G&T refreshment!

      1. Well I suppose a spoonful of lemon helps the medicine go down,
        In a most delightful way!

          1. Pimm’s also I seem to recall. I find the taste of Bourbon, as well as the taste of Rum not to my palate.

          2. I’m rather boring. I don’t drink any spirits. Beer and wine and I do like Port.

          5. I like gin and ginger beer. The gin takes away the sweetness of the ginger beer, and often strengthens the gingeryness and bite of the ginger beer.

          7. Wasn’t ginger beer cockney rhyming slang for queer. Hence if you say someone is a ginger you are saying he is queer.

      1. I’m enjoying an EU vodka martini. 4 parts Finnish vodka , 1 part French vermouth, 4 ice cubes. Refreshing.

    1. Cultural norms. Who are we to criticise. At least the goats are safe. Shame about the lambs.

      Along with mass abuse of our young people and so called honour killings our government have allowed this to flourish in our country.

      1. I read something on another site which claimed that even the goats are guilty, under sharia. for inflaming the passions of their rapists. Let alone the women and little girls. How can we deal with such a mindset?

    2. Notice we don’t hear the Western blue haired feminists wailing, chanting and ruining the lawns of British universities.

  81. I shall shortly be signing off after a day that has been dull, drizzly and not very warm. More rain expected.

    However, I expect to be in a minority of one (yet again) but the case of the psychopathic killer worries me. Not the judgment and sentence but the surrounding “noise” (to use a modish word).

    It always seemed to me to be a great mistake to allow relatives of victims of crime to have a say in court, to make speeches and run campaigns – and to be cross when, they think, the “courts have got it wrong”.

    The whole point of the judicial system for the last 150 years has been to be utterly objective and impersonal. I know there are cases where judges say damn fool things or show sympathy to criminals or tweet political stuff. But these are very, very few. The vast majority of judges do their very best to be fair and impartial during any trial. They have to listen to grieving relatives tell how they felt about the crime and the victim – none of which has a ha’porth of effect on the sentence. It is an aspect of the bleeding heart society that one meets everywhere these days – and I think it does more harm than good. There was (and still is) something to be said for the stiff upper lip.

    I expect to be shot down in flames while I am off this evening – but I feel strongly about this.

    Spare a thought for the families of the three prison officers murdered as they went about their daily business.

    A demain

    Have a sober evening

    2. I thought the “victim impact statement” was a modern device but was not sure how it was used, so here is what Wiki says:
      “One purpose of the statement is to allow the person or persons most directly affected by the crime to address the court during the decision making process. It is seen to personalize the crime and elevate the status of the victim. From the victim’s point of view it is regarded as valuable in aiding their emotional recovery from their ordeal. It has also been suggested they may confront an offender with the results of their crime and thus aid rehabilitation.
      Another purpose of the statement is to inform a court of the harm suffered by the victim if the court is required to, or has the option of, having regard to the harm suffered by the victim in deciding the sentence.”

      Seems reasonable to me.

    3. I have thought this way for quite some time. Justice is meant to be dispensed impartially. Two people murdered – Person A was a near-saint, and has several relatives stand up in court and give ‘victim impact’ statements. Person B was a tramp, no family no friends, no-one to give a statement in court. Should the murderer of Person A get a longer sentence that the murderer of Person B? Does Person B deserve less justice than Person A?

      1. It could be argued that in the murder of the tramp there was only one victim. The murder of a bread winner and spouse leaves a number of other victims to suffer alongside the actual deceased. However, Wiki does mention that the Victim statement has no effect on the sentence in murder cases.

    4. I have thought this way for quite some time. Justice is meant to be dispensed impartially. Two people murdered – Person A was a near-saint, and has several relatives stand up in court and give ‘victim impact’ statements. Person B was a tramp, no family no friends, no-one to give a statement in court. Should the murderer of Person A get a longer sentence that the murderer of Person B? Does Person B deserve less justice than Person A?

    5. The Canadian system has been twisted so that victim and offender status has a significant impact on the outcome.

      Offenders are being given reduced sentences so that they can avoid being deported.
      First nations have very different punishments many of which avoid prison terms but heaven help whitey who is convicted of a crime against any person of hue.

    6. “I expect to be shot down in flames while I am off this evening – but I feel strongly about this.”

      Au contraire.

  82. Evening, all. It will be a case of ave atque vale as I have to head off shortly to chair a meeting, but I should be back later. Sunak has done nothing to merit voting for, let alone turn the tide. Mind you, Keir hasn’t either. His advantage is that he isn’t Sunak.

    1. Nigeria is a predominantly Muslim country & married women have no business touching other men in the manner Meghan Markle was

      If the man she is touching does not accept contact between men and women, I’m sure he would have politely refused Meghan’s embrace.

    2. Northern Nigeria is Muslim, although there are a lot of Christians there. The South is mainly Christian.
      She is unfortunately, over exposed clothing-wise.

      1. African Christians tend to be quite conservative. She doesn’t need a bag on her head but nor should she expose acres of flesh.

    3. As I posted on this forum yesterday:

      Do you remember the Dudley Moore film with Bo Derek as the girl who rated a perfect 10?

      In those days politically incorrect young men (so they tell me) rated the girls they saw and fantasised about on a 1 – 10 scale for their beddability.

      I should imagine that if Bo Derek rated a 10 and Miriam Margolyes rated a 0 then Migraine would have been well under 5.

      1. I would wager that most men would have given her an above 5 when she first appeared on the radar. Now, though…

      2. I would have rated both Bo Derek and Dudley Moore with a –10. The former was talent-free. The latter was just an unfunny irritant.

    4. As I posted on this forum yesterday:

      Do you remember the Dudley Moore film with Bo Derek as the girl who rated a perfect 10?

      In those days politically incorrect young men (so they tell me) rated the girls they saw and fantasised about on a 1 – 10 scale for their beddability.

      I should imagine that if Bo Derek rated a 10 and Miriam Margolyes rated a 0 then Migraine would have been well under 5.

    5. Facially, she is looking more and more like Wallis Simpson. Those mean pinched, simpering features. The tiny eyes and the big chin,. Interesting.

  84. So much oil went into the Kings new portrait
    He has agreed to forest over Norfolk.

  85. So much oil went into the Kings new portrait
    He has agreed to forest over Norfolk.

    2. I don’t care for it. Looks like a cadaver wrapped in upholstery fabric.

    8. Already discussed below. I love it, Jonathan Yeo is an artist (portraitist) who I much admire.

      For some unfathomable reason it seems to be attracting a lot of curmudgeonly comments from non artists.

      1. Non artists probably prefer portraits to be similar to a photograph of the subject.
        ie not needing “subtle” interpretations of what is presented.
        Yes, this portrait is well constructed and original, but why do it that way except to look clever to other artists and he professional critics of the art world?

        “Look at me, aren’t I clever”

        1. Agree. The idea isn’t strong enough to carry a painting of a monarch.
          Twitter thinks it looks satanic, and apparently the monarch butterfly symbolises mind control, which I didn’t know. The RF is very hot on symbolism though, so….

      2. Ahem. If you mean me… I studied art and art history for two years and am registered as a freelance artist. My mother was an art teacher, so I grew up with analysis and discussion of images. Actually pretty much all my family are either artists or engineers.
        I spent last weekend in a gorge painting a stream, at a landscape painting exhibition and in the evenings, working on a drawing for a computer game.
        My hobby is buying paintings in car boot sales, of which I have a large collection by known and unknown artists!

          1. I have offended a lot of people in the past with my frank and open art analysis. We just grew up with it! I sometimes hold back nowadays, especially if somone has just bought the most ghastly piece of modern crapola for $$$….

          2. You did not offend me in the least with your replies (which I thought were well-considered) and my reference to “curmudgeons” did not include you.

            In a world where the majority of modern art could easily have been produced by an infant; a chimp (think ‘Congo’, Desmond Morris’s artistic chimpanzee from London Zoo in the 1950s); or a computer; highly-skilled portraiture deserves praise, not a succession of inane and uninformed pejorative utterances by the non-æsthete. My ire was directed at those. As an amateur portrait artist (untrained and utterly ingenuous) myself I feel a kinship with those whose works I both admire and hold up as an inspiration. Jonathan Yeo falls into that category of portraitist. Our very own Katy Ashesthandust is another.

    9. It’s like a still from the opening of a 1970s TV sci-fi series, a face appearing through the flames. Indeed, a bit Dr. Who-ish…

    10. The painting is beautifully executed and subtle in that we are drawn to the face. It paints Charles as a beneficent and warm person which we must assume he is.

      Were Charles perceived by the painter to be other than the image portrayed we would surely detect it.

    11. There is little resemblance to Charles, for a start. Then we go on to the merits of the painting itself. I think it lazy – I loathe the floating head approach, however it is dressed up. Yeo is a very clever painter, though.

        1. There we go, Grizzly. In the eye of the beholder. I do concede that it is very well painted indeed, as always with this artist. I just see no likeness, none at all.

          1. Yes, opopanax, there we go indeed. The eyes of this beholder immediately noticed a strikingly accurate likeness. Different eyes, eh?

      2. They have not quite got the ears, have they. Just to be clear, I’m a scientist not an artist and had just the one glass of vino..

        1. I’m the opposite and I’m supposed to be in bed. But yes, your observation is correct. Amongst others.

    13. I think it’s a very good likeness, but not sure why he’s in that sea of red. It’s as though the artist was fed up after doing the face.

      1. Disagree re: the likeness but do agree re: the probable cause of all that red sploosh.

  87. The right to protest shouldn’t trump the rights of the rest of us

    Empowering extremist marchers only weakens the rest of us. Such coercion is corrosive to British democracy

    CHARLES MOORE • 14 May 2024 • 6:00am

    ‘Protecting Our Democracy From Coercion” is the title of a report which should appear next week, by Lord Walney, the Government’s independent adviser on political violence and disruption. His project is complementary to the Prime Minister’s remarks about insecurity, which he made at Policy Exchange yesterday.

    I am glad the word “coercion” is in the report’s title. That is what the public hate. Few want protests banned: they accept demonstrations as part of free speech. But many feel that the recent extremist protests – often large, repeated and borderline violent – have an intentionally coercive effect.

    The most significant example is the Gaza marches, which have been pretty much weekly in London since October, and the related campus protests. To understand how threatening they are, one must recall why they happened.

    Their organisers say they are inspired by the “genocide” committed by Israel against Gaza. But the protesters never express disapproval of the almost uniquely vile event which drove Israel to attack Gaza – the Hamas October 7 massacres of 1,200 mainly unarmed, mainly Jewish people and the taking of more than 200 hostages, many still held and exploited as bargaining chips.

    If you are Jewish, and you see thousands of fellow British citizens filling the streets, many shouting their hatred of you and none expressing sympathy, you must feel scared. Here are thousands who do not mind your kin being murdered. Some even rejoice. That is a horrible thing to experience in a free country. It should not be an automatic right to stage such protests.

    Fear among Jews only grows when the Metropolitan Police seem to regard their desire to demonstrate against the protests as more objectionable than the protests themselves. The marchers coerce the police: the police coerce the Jews. The wider public feels coerced, too – driven off the streets which belong, collectively, to us. These streets are turned into a weekly stage-set for a cause which, though important, directly involves few British people.

    Even the highest public authorities feel coerced. If protest makes it difficult, occasionally dangerous, for legislators, ministers, constituents, and officials to move in and out of Parliament, that suggests the protests have the power to affect what goes on there. This turns out to be true – hence Mr Speaker Hoyle’s breaking of parliamentary convention about which vote to take in Parliament. He said he acted to protect the security of Labour MPs who were being threatened on social media.

    Lord Walney’s report will show that the Gaza protests are not an elongated “one-off”, but part of a series of actions by extreme-Left groupings whose hatred of “Zionism” is also embraced by Black Lives Matter, Extinction Rebellion and more. The name of the Kill the Bill movement, which protested violently against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, could be understood to convey a sinister ambiguity, since “the Bill” could mean not only the legislation but also the police.

    Lord Walney wants to ensure that government and law-enforcement agencies understand these ideological links better. They have got the measure of largely stupid, disorganised Right-wing thuggery. Against the more sophisticated, multifarious threat of the extreme Left, they are much weaker.

    This loose extreme-Left alliance sharing protest skills against the common good in the name of human rights is noxious in a free country. To use a Cold-War word which should be re-employed by the intelligence services, it is subversive.

    Another highly relevant question is, who pays for such protests? At least two types of unacceptable costs are involved. One is the cost of the policing itself. There should not be an open-ended right to have free police for every demonstration. A chief constable should be able to forbid the repetition of a march if it costs too much. Another is the damage done to ordinary people and businesses by disruptive activities – the shops that cannot trade, the defence manufacturers, energy suppliers or meat companies picketed, the motorists who cannot travel, the delivery lorries which cannot get through the blocked M25. Surely march organisers should be liable for these costs. Lord Walney certainly thinks so.

    Almost by definition, a protest march tries to expand its power beyond its numbers. If we invariably let it happen on demand, we empower it. The rest of us are weakened.
    ________________________________________

    Anyone for Mandarin?

    There was a fuss when Cambridge University Press (CUP) recently changed the name of its learned journal Anglo-Saxon England. It has been renamed Early Medieval England and its Neighbours. The reason for the change, though somewhat obscured by CUP’s chatter about “rapidly evolving research in the field”, seems to be that the phrase “Anglo-Saxon” is considered problematic because it is used with pride by American white supremacist groups.

    Follow that logic. If “Anglo-Saxon” is bad, is the word “England”, which survives in the journal’s new title, much better? It derives, after all, from those very same Angles who are allegedly causing offence. As long as the word “England” continues to be accepted in polite society, so will the word “English”. And as long as “English” continues to be the word for the language that dominates the world, it will be a daily insult to the Global Majority, which has been forced by the legacy of slavery and empire, to speak it.

    We face a choice. Either decolonise the offensive name for the language we speak – all suggestions to be sent to Cambridge University Press, please. Or, bolder still, dethrone our despicable language and force the world to adopt another tongue not associated with oppression. Mandarin, perhaps?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/14/right-to-protest-ban-palestine-march-london-extremism/

    “They have got the measure of largely stupid, disorganised Right-wing thuggery.”

    This will upset some on here but CM is making an important point. Whether it’s Tommy Robinson or the Football Lad’s Alliance, the position is essentially defensive but aggressively so. Most who quietly cherish their existence as British (or English) don’t wish to make a noise about it – a typically British manner. They may silently cheer on these defenders of the faith but they wouldn’t want to be seen with them. How can they defend their nation without appearing to back TR & Co? Perhaps when they realise that he’s more than the former football hooligan and BNP member that the media portray him as rather then one of the few people brave (or foolish) enough to make a public stand against militant Islam in the UK and Europe.

    To continue the football analogy, perhaps the mood will change only when the Ropers put through their own goal – and badly.

    1. The modern equivalent might be Ukraine, deploying their new American armaments.
      Will the death tolls be similar and will the so-called good guys win this time?

      1. Russia has a calculated approach to threats which it considers existential. Every action is measured and planned beforehand.

        Russia is fighting a war as attritional whereby they tread very carefully and aim to draw the enemy into entrapment and annihilation. Russia preserves its numbers of combatants whilst destroying the enemy in greater numbers. This is the essence of the Russian approach to war viz. wear down and deplete the enemy resources whilst reinforcing your own combatting numbers and materiel.

        This proxy war was lost almost from its start. Anybody thinking otherwise is either stupid or delusional or both.

        The collective west as presented by the idiotic Biden Obama administration is foolhardy and being taken for fools by superior Russian masters.

        1. The very idea that British troops etc. will be sent into the Ukrainian charnel house should be a resigning position of the top military officers on the Defence Staff along with the General, Air and Naval Staffs. War-mongering politicians should be left in no doubt that unrealistic ideas that run counter to the security of the UK and its people will not be supported by the professional heads of the services.

  90. By July 1916 British artillery had become the dominant force on the Western Front. Two views of the same area around Mouquet Farm, near Thiepval Wood:

    Aerial photograph of Mouquet Farm, near Thiepval with trench systems surrounding it, prior to 1st July.
    Note that this version is rotated to show North at top. Running diagonally ENE from south of the farm buildings is a road no longer existing which ran to Courcelette. Running diagonally WSW from south of the farm buildings is a road which connected with the Thiepval-Pozieres road. The trench running across top right was Fabeck Graben.

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Mouquet_Farm_aerial_June_1916_IWM_Q_27637_rotated_North_at_top.jpg

    Aerial photograph of Mouquet Farm, near Thiepval with trench systems obliterated by heavy shellfire.
    NOTE : This version is rotated to show North at top.

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Mouquet_Farm_aerial_September_1916_IWM_Q_27639_rotated_North_at_top.jpg

  91. “A security guard trainee at an Amazon
    warehouse in Ohio (USA) was fatally shot by police after he tried to shoot
    his supervisor at close range and later shot an officer who was saved by
    his bulletproof vest, authorities said.

    The initial shooting occurred around 4:40 p.m. Sunday (12th May 2024) at the warehouse in
    West Jefferson and was captured on surveillance footage, police said
    during a news conference Monday.

    Ali Hamsa Yusuf, 22, came up behind the supervisor and pointed a gun at the
    supervisor’s head, police said, but the weapon apparently malfunctioned
    and the bullet barely missed the supervisor, who was not injured. There
    were more than 100 workers inside the building when the shooting
    occurred, officials said.”
    Sounds like the man was an Islam-missed.

    1. There must be some more chapters in that terrible book they are keeping to themselves.
      Unless of course it’s obviously easy to use modern warfare against your enemy than swords and axes.
      I slam you.

      1. they should all be there, representing their constituents. What a waste of money these carpet baggers all are.

    2. The MPs are running scared. Most are trying to avoid having to face questions whether about ‘vaccine’ harms or else the serious violence and complete breakdown of order on our streets resulting from mass illegal immigration.

      I assume that a skip load of the MPs are seeking alternative employment full time because they just know that their time at the Westminster trough is finally at an end. May these shits rot in hell. I hold a particular dislike for Rishi Sunak, Grant Shapps, Penny Mordaunt, Matt Hancock and the Right Honourable (laughs) Andrew Mitchell.

    3. The MPs are running scared. Most are trying to avoid having to face questions whether about ‘vaccine’ harms or else the serious violence and complete breakdown of order on our streets resulting from mass illegal immigration.

      I assume that a skip load of the MPs are seeking alternative employment full time because they just know that their time at the Westminster trough is finally at an end. May these shits rot in hell. I hold a particular dislike for Rishi Sunak, Grant Shapps, Penny Mordaunt, Matt Hancock and the Right Honourable (laughs) Andrew Mitchell.

      4. How will they get these spongers to relocate to countries such as Hungary, Estonia, Bulgaria etc where the benefits are less generous of maybe non-existent?

      5. Remember when May the unspeakable signed the UN Migration Pact, and the establishment simpered that it was only a treaty, it wasn’t law and we shouldn’t feel threatened by it?

    1. Used to be “The Keystone Cops”. These are the “Twentystone Cops”.

  95. Apologies to those I’ve not got around to reading, or even thanking – and for the self aggrandisement of even saying that. Night night and sleep tight, dear people. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.

  97. It was such a simple idea and it worked so well for so long: the laws passed by Parliament applied throughout the United Kingdom (with some historic exceptions for the Celtic fringes). What a bloody tangled mess Heath, Blair and May made of it all.

    Britain is paying the price for surrender to the EU

    The UK can’t control its borders because Sunak did not heed my warnings on the Northern Irish Protocol

    MARTIN HOWE • 14 May 2024 • 7:28pm

    The Northern Ireland High Court has dealt another blow to the Government’s policy of stopping the boats by deporting illegal migrants to Rwanda. Mr Justice Humphreys has ruled that a number of key sections of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 are not to apply in Northern Ireland.

    This means that illegal migrants who think they might be at risk of being deported to Rwanda (if the flights ever get going) could move to Northern Ireland in order to avoid removal. If significant numbers take this course, this could impose serious stresses on the province.

    The Government intends to appeal against this judgment to the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal, and from there it might go to the Supreme Court. There are legal arguments that this judgment is wrong and so it might be reversed in the higher courts. But the Government has already suffered a number of setbacks and disappointments in those courts on its Rwanda policy, so it is by no means guaranteed that it will be reversed.

    The reason why this judgment is so significant is that it involves a court actually setting aside an Act of Parliament on human rights grounds. For all the faults of the Human Rights Act 1998, this cannot be done under that Act. Instead, the court has used the Northern Ireland Protocol (rebadged last year with minor changes as the “Windsor Framework”) as the legal basis for disapplying an Act of Parliament.

    The idea that courts could disapply Acts of Parliament was a revolutionary concept, which came into being when we were members of the European Community (later the European Union). Because Community law (later called EU law) claimed supremacy over the laws of member states, our courts decided that they had the power and duty under the European Communities Act 1972 to disapply UK Acts of Parliament if they conflicted with the EU treaties or with EU law.

    This should have ended – completely and for good – when we left the EU. But Theresa May’s disastrously botched Withdrawal Agreement accepted the principle that a large range of EU laws, together with Luxembourg Court jurisdiction, should continue to apply in Northern Ireland after we left. Boris Johnson’s renegotiation made some important changes to the way customs rules would operate in Northern Ireland, but left the rest of the disastrous May structure intact.

    That included agreeing to give supremacy to EU laws in Northern Ireland over all UK laws. Therefore, the Act that gave effect under UK law to the Withdrawal Agreement and the Northern Ireland Protocol contains section 7A, which is effectively copied out from the old repealed 1972 Act and gives supremacy to the Protocol over all UK laws.

    The Protocol also contains a vaguely worded Article 2(1), which enjoins the UK to ensure that there be no diminution of rights, safeguards or equality of opportunity in a number of wide areas.

    The Northern Ireland High Court has interpreted this as giving continuing effect in the province to many effusive and vague EU rules in the area of asylum and human rights. It has so concluded that a number of key sections in the Illegal Immigration Act should be disapplied in Northern Ireland because of conflict with EU rules.

    It is quite shocking that the Government should have allowed this to happen. It was warned. In December last year, a group of lawyers, including myself, assessed the Rwanda Bill and warned that it would not achieve its objectives unless it were tightened up. We specifically raised the danger posed by the argument under section 2(1) of the Northern Ireland Protocol and suggested that a clause be inserted in the Bill that would exclude the Protocol from interfering with deportations to Rwanda.

    The Government ignored both that and other warnings, and instructed its whips to get Conservative backbench amendments voted down which would have rectified these problems.

    Worse than that, earlier last year, Rishi Sunak decided to abandon a Bill that had gone through all stages in the House of Commons and would have enabled EU laws to be removed from Northern Ireland.

    Instead, he negotiated the so-called Windsor Framework with the EU. This left almost all EU laws in place in Northern Ireland (despite false claims by the Government to the contrary). In return for some limited easings of formalities on trade across the Irish Sea, it conceded the vital principle that EU foreign laws and foreign courts should continue to apply in Northern Ireland and be supreme over our laws.

    Both on the Rwanda policy and on Northern Ireland, we have seen from this Government and Prime Minister a pattern of tough talking and boastfulness, but spinelessness and incompetence in actually standing up for the vital interests of this country against the out-of-control European human rights establishment or the European Union.

    Regrettably, as the general election approaches, I fear we are likely to see even more of this pattern. This Northern Ireland court case is just the latest example.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/14/northern-ireland-rwanda-human-rights-brexit/

        1. Mori8ng, Oberst! (It’s nine a.m. here, despite you having posted your welcome greeting seven hours ago!)

  98. It’s t’Lad’s birthday so he called over and we went over to the Old Bank at Matlock Bath for the acoustic session and then walked back via Jacob’s Ladder and Ember Farm.
    So I’m now off to bed.
    G’night all.

  99. Just watched an excellent film, ‘Complicit’. Based on an Iain Banks novel according to the opening credits, which I hadn’t read. I preferred his SciFi books under his persona of Iain M Banks, but an excellent watch. Watched on Amazon, but might be available elsewhere.

  101. Willian Sitwell the obese are a threat to the NHS
    After a hospital visit today the NHS needs to look at their own a collection of chunky blubbernoughts was very much in evidence………

    1. What a load of victim-blaming rubbish from Sitwell!
      How about,
      – the food industry and government health advice to load your plate with carbs, glucose-fructose syrup and seed oils has contributed to obesity,
      – NHS financing is so poorly structured that it is a threat to itself
      – the government has threatened the NHS by flooding Britain with foreigners who cost more than they contribute

      But no, let’s blame fat people for killing the golden calf NHS! Grrrrrrrrrr

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