Saturday 15 June: The Tories’ handling of the Reform threat has only highlighted their lack of nous

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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575 thoughts on “Saturday 15 June: The Tories’ handling of the Reform threat has only highlighted their lack of nous”

  2. Good morrow, gentlefolk. todays (recycled) story
    STAR TREK!
    or should it be the dark side?

    The Iranian Ambassador to the UN had just finished giving a speech and walked out into the lobby of the convention centre where he was introduced to a U.S. Marine General.

    As they talked, the Iranian said, "I have just one question about what I have seen in America."

    The General said, "Well, anything I can do to help?"

    The Iranian whispered, "My son watches this show called Star Trek and in it there is… Kirk who is Canadian, Chekhov who is Russian, Scotty who is Scottish, Uhura who is black, and Sulu who is Japanese, but there are NO Muslims. My son is very upset and doesn't understand why there aren't any Iranians, Iraqis, Afghans, Egyptians, Palestinians, Saudis, Syrians, or Pakistanis on Star Trek."

    The General leaned toward the Iranian Ambassador, and whispered in his ear, "That's because it takes place in the future."

    1. 388579+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      A true factual post but for, may one ask,

      Just who are their peoples

    2. That's dreadful.
      I don't think the good old paddy's will put up with any more of that.
      And good for them.

    3. I've located where that assault took place. It's outside the Limerick & District Credit Union Ltd, Credit Union House, Redgate Rd, Shannabooly, Limerick, Ireland.

      https://g.co/kgs/38UwsvK

      The earliest posting I can find of that clip is by
      Gearóid Murphy @gearoidmurphy_ at 9:55 AM · Mar 3, 2023. As the incident took place at night, it must have happened on or before March 2, 2023.

      https://x.com/gearoidmurphy_/status/1631594094509056001

      I've not found any news reports of the incident, however.

      1. 388579+ up ticks,

        Evening DW,

        The reason being it could be of such a regular occurrence that it is no longer news.

  6. Good Morning All. 14C, blue sky with some cloud and sunny. Looks like a good day for The Kings Birthday Parade.

  7. The Tories’ handling of the Reform threat has only highlighted their lack of nous

    I note that Cameron is making it even worse this morning.

    1. When does he ever not make things worse? Even among politicians his record is impressive.
      Good morning all.

  8. The West must display moral leadership. 15 June 2024.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/93c9be2a98c3e6bd1103e3e253b1387ae0977e00f93f90d890a2071cf4d866bb.png But Western countries do need to tread carefully. While the end may justify the means in this case, they must ensure that they do not concede principles that they later regret. The enemies of the West are seeking to undermine its claim to moral leadership in any way they can. They must not be given extra ammunition.

    Just look at them. Thieves and traitors. Moral leadership I don’t think.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    1. The enemies of the West are seeking to undermine its claim to moral leadership in any way they can.

      What moral leadership?

      1. They are for the mutilation of children and abortion. They have no moral authority at all.

  9. Good morning all.
    Bright and sunny after last night's downpour with a mere 6½°C on the Yard Thermometer.

    Celebrating Cromford is on this weekend so will be having a wander down for that.

  10. Mr Brown becomes a Companion of Honour for public and charitable services in the UK and abroad.

    Talk about failing upwards

  11. A well deserved honour at last!
    Alan Bates who led the campaign against the Horizon scandal has been knighted!

    1. Well done, Sir Alan Bates. Twenty years fight to get what politicians and footballers get for talking through their rse or kicking a bag of stale wind across a lawn.

  12. Good morning, chums. I have posted my first post today at the end of Friday's posts, planning at the time not to wait until 7 am. But I got distracted and here I am, once again. Thanks, Geoff, for today's page. And now I <b>will</b> go back to bed.

  13. Good morning all, 77th included,

    Cloudy over McPhee Towers, wind in the South going West, 10℃ rising to 15℃ today. Rain imminent lasting until late morning.

    I posted this last night but it needs to be up again.

    THIS is why we need to shun the CON/LAB/LIB Uniparty.
    Andrew Bridgen on the Filth in Parliament and much more
    Private criminal prosecutions could be the way forward.
    Vote Independent if there is a good candidate.
    Make July 4th Independents' Day.
    Or Reform if there is no independent.
    DO NOT vote for more of the same with any of the Uniparty (includes SNP/Plaid Cymru/Green).

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7beb47576969a6f902b9a5616d95d67e459dbf1d9829587b8acfb63be32a254c.png https://www.ukcolumn.org/vi…

    1. As I understand it, Bridgen tried to join Reform but was knocked back by that pillock Tice. Farage should welcome him with open arms.

  15. 388579+ up ticks,

    I do believe 30 plus years ago the political power hub inserted a
    body devouring gene in the torso England, and after decades of being given succour via the polling stations that gene
    has finally reached fruition, BIG TIME,

    Keep in mind on casting your vote that it is currently, a proven fact, "you get what you vote for after having been forewarned of the parties pedigree.

  16. Rastus has competition…

    SIR – Labour’s plans to charge VAT on private school fees and change charity law are not the only things that threaten the existence of private schools.

    The schools themselves have engaged in a kind of prospectus war with each other for decades, offering increasingly luxurious facilities to lure increasingly materialistic youngsters – a development very much against the grain of the traditional philosophy of public schools. This has driven prices up to astronomical levels, beyond the reach of normal middle-class families.

    In the past, parents sent their children to private schools in order to prevent them becoming spoilt. The French aristocratic families who make up the backbone of our English school in the west of France are still asking for noble simplicity. And lower fees. We welcome English boys, too – as long as they don’t expect a five-star hotel.

    Ferdi McDermott
    Headmaster
    Chavagnes International College
    Chavagnes-en-Paillers, Vendée, France

    1. Mr McDermott makes a very valid point.

      When I was at Blundell's my final years were spent sleeping in Big Dorm with 18 other boys. In the winter of 1962 to 1963 the breath of us all as we slept in our unheated dormitories froze thick on the inside of the window panes so that you could not see out for weeks on end!

      When our son, Christo, went to Gresham's in 2009 he had his own centrally-heated single study-bedroom from the age of 15.

      Mind you in my days the living conditions may have been spartan but the science facilities at Blundell's were reckoned to be amongst the best in the country. (But I studied English, History and British Constitution at "A" level!)

    1. I love the way they say ‘appears’ when it’s apparent he’s not really with it!

  19. Britain still doesn’t have a clue about the scale of the disaster heading its way. 15 June 2024.

    As the historian David Starkey has pointed out, Starmer is intent on devolving ever greater powers not just to Scotland and Wales, but to people like him – that is, to say, lawyers and judges. Describing the proposals as a means of “eradicating our traditions of parliamentary government”, Starkey highlighted how the manifesto reflects the self-confessed socialist’s long-held desire to entrench the worst aspects of the Blair and Brown years: devolution; welfarism; the nanny state; the Human Rights Act and the Supreme Court – so as to make them irreversible.

    It will be much worse than that.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/14/britain-still-doesnt-have-a-clue-about-the-labour-disaster/

    1. And as the world witnessed with the flexing of the power of The Supreme Court.. the PM, the ignorant wet Tories, the Queen were duped into believing that they shouldn't resolve the 'dead parliament issue' by the prorogation of parliament.. because some remainer bint said so. Unbelievably placing Lady Hale and her EU-funded justices above the sovereignty of parliament, The Will of The People and the Head of State.

      And didn't the Lefties scweam.. "No one is above the Law.. (when it suits). It's unlawful.. unlawful I tell you."
      Get used to this trick.

      1. And parliament reduced to being a meaningless assembly where they 'fuss' without any power.. and a dissolved HoL no longer relevant because all the finer details of legislation are ironed out in the socialist quango backrooms of the civil service.

    2. And as the world witnessed with the flexing of the power of The Supreme Court.. the PM, the ignorant wet Tories, the Queen were duped into believing that they shouldn't resolve the 'dead parliament issue' by the prorogation of parliament.. because some remainer bint said so. Unbelievably placing Lady Hale and her EU-funded justices above the sovereignty of parliament, The Will of The People and the Head of State.

      And didn't the Lefties scweam.. "No one is above the Law.. (when it suits). It's unlawful.. unlawful I tell you."
      Get used to this trick.

    3. "…the manifesto reflects the self-confessed socialist’s long-held desire to entrench the worst aspects of the Blair and Brown years: devolution; welfarism; the nanny state; the Human Rights Act and the Supreme Court – so as to make them irreversible."

      I share your worst fears, Minty!

    4. Glad to know you didn’t get out of the wrong side of the bed!
      Morning Minty and all

    6. Nothing is irreversible. It just becomes increasingly difficult to resolve peaceably.

  20. Bloody hell.
    Charles Moore appears to have taken leave of his senses:-

    If the Right is to have a future, it must recognise that our civilisation is precious and fragile
    Conservatism had its last serious rethink 50 years ago with Mrs Thatcher. It desperately needs one again now

    CHARLES MOORE
    14 June 2024 • 5:52pm

    When/if the Tories lose this election (I include the word “if” here in deference to the sound principle that no democratic election is a foregone conclusion), they will want a new leader.

    I do not propose to start arguing here today about who that person should be. Current coverage has gleefully written a pre-epitaph for the Conservative Party, which reads “Died on the Fourth of July”. I suspect predictions of this death are exaggerated, but obviously its situation is dire.

    I remember all too well editing this newspaper on the last comparable occasion, which was after New Labour swept to power in 1997. The sight of all those men struggling for the hollow Tory crown was dispiriting. We must expect it – though this time it will probably dominated by women – but there is no need to jump in early. To quote dear Bill Deedes, my first editor, who mixed his metaphors: “We’ll burn that bridge when we come to it.”

    But it is interesting to ask a much broader question, to which, if it continues to mess up, the Conservative Party might not furnish an answer. Does the Right have a future?

    Voting patterns in the Western world suggest that it does. This week’s European election results were good not only for the hard-Right, but for the centre-Right. The most important losers were the centrist President Emmanuel Macron in France and Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s centre-Left Social Democrats in Germany. In the United States, a Trump victory is possible, arguably probable.

    Britain is almost the only Western country where the Left is currently resurgent. Even here, that may not be the correct description, since Sir Keir Starmer, though much more a man of the Left than Tony Blair ever was, is obscuring his own views in order to win.

    Indeed, the future of the Right cannot be addressed without asking the same question about the future of the Left. Are these designations now beside the point? I am glad to say that the think tank Policy Exchange will soon start major programmes of work on both these subjects.

    As the authorised biographer of Margaret Thatcher, I shall have a role. Next year marks the centenary of her birth and – more relevantly – the 50th anniversary of her becoming Conservative leader.

    From that moment, she had more than four years to think through what she wanted a Conservative government to be before putting it into practice from 1979 to 1990. While nodding briefly to David Cameron’s “Big Society” work before he gained office in 2010, most would agree that Mrs Thatcher’s was the last full Conservative rethink. Half a century is long enough ago to draw dispassionate rather than partisan lessons for the next 50 years.

    The detail of all that is for another day. But if one had to generalise about Western leadership – Left, Right or centre – since the end of the Cold War, it would be to say that it has not been very serious.

    It has been based on the false assumption that our way of life has permanently triumphed. Almost without trying, we believed, we would go on getting richer and freer. Everyone else would want to be like us.

    This led us to catastrophic generosity to enemies – for example, letting China into the World Trade Organisation – and cultural arrogance, such as devoting so much diplomacy to lecturing poorer countries about climate change and LGBT rights.

    This complacency also made us – particularly in Britain, the United States and the wider Anglosphere – incurious about the historical sources of our strengths. It created a vacuum in which the next generation can be taught that our past is a simple, horrible story of slavery and colonial exploitation. We ceased to think about the sources of growth and concentrated on distributing its benefits like confetti.

    Our carelessness about mass immigration, whose consequences are now hitting Western countries so hard, had a Left-wing ideological component. First and foremost, however, it was a lazy way to solve labour problems and avoid thinking about productivity. Tony Blair made this mistake from the start. Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, as his chancellor, replicated it after Brexit, as almost no one who had voted Leave expected or wanted.

    We have developed a way of playing down the signals of distress. Even after September 11, 2001, we were extremely reluctant to reimport an awareness of internal and external threat into our political discourse. Much more recently, after the atrocious Hamas massacres of Israelis on October 7, instead of seeing how anti-Semitism is being used to undermine our culture, we have blamed the victims.

    Even after the financial crisis of 2008-10, we did not really address the way governments (drawing on taxpayers) had become a mechanism for saving banks, rather than banks being the best way of looking after people’s money.

    Even after Covid – and this is a more specifically British problem – we have not worked through how back-to-front it was to control 65 million people’s behaviour to save the National Health Service, rather than to have an NHS fully ready to save people’s lives.

    “Just in time”, the prevailing business doctrine of the age that is now ending, was not idiotic. It maximised efficiency and saved cost. But it was hubristic. It assumed our settled, uncontested superiority. Sometimes, one civilisation is superior to its rivals. Unfashionably, I would argue that Western civilisation is. But no civilisation, however glittering, can survive, if it takes its prosperity and security for granted, and neglects the close relationship between the two.

    It is worth asking the main parties at this election the question raised in various forms in this column recently: “If, in the coming weeks or months, Russia spreads its war in Ukraine to a Nato country, or China attacks Taiwan, what could we in the West actually do?” I am not saying either assault is imminent, but both are possible. Does either Labour or the Conservative Party have an answer?

    This week, a Reform candidate (my local one, as it happens) was revealed to have said that Britain would have been much better off doing a deal with Hitler and that Winston Churchill was an “abysmal” leader. Vladimir Putin, he also opined, has shown “maturity”.

    One must not make too much of one loopy candidate from any party, but I was struck by the response of Reform’s national spokesman. He defended the candidate: “His historical perspective of what the UK could have done in the Thirties was shared by the vast majority of the British establishment including the BBC of its day, and is probably true …no endorsement, just pointing out conveniently forgotten truths.”

    That Reform remark is not proof of Nazi sympathy, but it does reflect the sort of conservatism drastically ill-suited to the world crisis – the sort which pretends that it is nothing to do with us. The errant Reform candidate also attacked “Britain’s warped mindset [which] values weird notions of international morality rather than looking after its own people.” Yet Western nations cannot look after their own people properly if they refuse to be vigilant about how they are threatened.

    In the 1980s, Mrs Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and (though I feel Mrs Thatcher turning in her grave as I say this) Helmut Kohl in Germany, were intensely serious about the right relationship between economic freedom, their national interests and their allied vigilance against external hostility.

    All three of them conservatives, they were, peacefully, victorious. It is time to stop squandering that inheritance.

    R. Spowart
    7 MIN AGO
    Message Actions
    "If the Right is to have a future, it must recognise that our civilisation is precious and fragile"
    But is it the Right that is such a threat to our Civilisation?
    Left Wing policies such as increased immigration with its drive towards "Multiculturalism", together with a collapse in moral standards where, simply because a man says he really is a woman, he can use woman only facilities have already caused massive damage to our Society.
    It is those on the Right who are standing against such insanities.

    2. R. Spowart seems to have forgotten that Britain has had a supposedly Right Wing Government since at least 2010 (and it could be argued that the Blair Government was hardly Left Wing when contrasting it with Thatcher and Corbyn). These woke manifestations, such as Pride, BLM and Single Sex Marriage Act, as well as an intensification of the enforcement of the Equality Act to the detriment of policing crime, have all happened under the watch of the Conservatives, reconfirmed by their supporters at the ballot box in 2015, 2017 and 2019. Maybe it was a cynical effort by agents provocateurs on the Right to discredit the genuine and honest campaigners on the Left? Who knows; I wouldn't put it past them, any more than environmentalists were distracted first by New Age mysticism and then by "social justice".

      Conservatives can no longer get away with the lie that woke lunacy and its attendant fascism is just a product of the Left, especially since the Labour Party has been nobbled by factional divisions between Momentum and the Blairites.

      Someone passed a comment about the likely result of this election, if opinion polls are to be believed. Starmer would get a stonking majority with fewer votes than Corbyn, condemned by his party, did at the last election. Reform, for all the charisma of Farage and a mass influx of disgruntled Tories , would be lucky to get as many seats as the Workers' Party, and predicted to get half that of the Greens.

      Nobody who has done well out of FPTP is likely to push for electoral reform, any more than they did fifty years ago.

      1. No, I did not forget that.
        Unfortunately too many Conservatives thought they were voting for a Conservative Party and not a Conservative (In Name Only) Party.
        But that is another argument.

        1. Indeed, but then what is Conservatism?

          It became fashionable in an age when the Anglosphere must do and think like Americans, that the only way to be elected is to be "Free Market" old-Liberal (in the Thatcher/Reagan mode) economically, but socially to follow what is trending among the influencers online, because that is the only way to appeal to the young. Above all, taking the lead from grabber-settler culture America when it comes to Critical Race Theory and LGBTetc/feminist orthodoxy.

          There has precious little representation offered recently for the socially conservative but economically public-spirited (i.e. adequate funding of public services combined with a requirement that they be run competently, honourably and efficiently, avoiding waste and bling and the conflicts of interest inevitable when overprivatised).

    3. 388579+ up ticks,

      Morning Bob,

      Eventually the whole issue will come down, to accommodate the civil war, two parties,
      RIGHT & WRONG.

      The sad thing is that RIGHT will be fighting on two fronts as in, the WRONG party made up from two factions,the old left and their "in waiting" islamic allies who are building daily
      in strength.

    4. My word they can go on abit. All that hot air and not a mention of all the pot holes……..😏🤔

    5. Whatever Charles Moore's factional sympathies are, or whether he is being deliberately gaslighting, he rather ruined his otherwise splendid piece with this paragraph "Much more recently, after the atrocious Hamas massacres of Israelis on October 7, instead of seeing how anti-Semitism is being used to undermine our culture, we have blamed the victims".

      I don't think anyone, and possibly not even Galloway, is blaming the innocent Israelis slaughtered or kidnapped during the brutal raid on Southern Israel on 7th October. The culprits of this atrocity are plain to see, and I only regret that the Israeli authorities were so off the ball that they allowed them back into Gaza with their booty, rather than apprehending them and dealing with them according to the law of the jurisdiction where the offences occurred.

      If Hamas had limited their attack to military targets, then yes, it was as justified as the IDF's endeavour to neutralise the threat posed by Hamas. All's fair in love and war, so they say…

      Charles Moore should not be such as a hypocrite as to blame pro-Palestine marchers for the atrocities of 7th October without also blaming pro-Israeli supporters for their massacres of considerably more innocent civilians (and aid workers from abroad) and over a much longer time period. To make it the hate crime of antisemitism is to play into the hand of the Woke with any criticism of its select favourites deemed more worthy of police attention than burglary.

    6. Has his mind been corrupted by muddleheadedness or has his thinking been corrupted by agents outside his head?

      1. Nope!
        Might have been motivated to kit the van out for camping and bugger off up there had I known!

  22. Good morning, all. Bright with a mix of blue sky and clouds. Rain expected mid-morning and so I'm off out into the garden to run in a small strip of concrete to complete a job.

    Jim Rickards, lawyer, investment banker and author defines the the G7 summit as "a losers' summit".

    Biden is likely to lose the USA election; Macron and Scholz both lost their recent elections; Sunak "is done" and von der Leyen "there's some intrigue there" and she may lose out.

    Are these "losers" conspiring to misappropriate Russian assets to the tune of billions of dollars? Rickards explains how it can be done without touching the capital. It's still theft but anyone running such a scheme would be lacking any moral compass.

    Rickards' simple explanation here

  24. Morning all 🙂😊
    Sunny Saturday, for a while. Still chilly.
    Typically the government underthreat of losing its seats at an election should have been more interested in public opinion than their own adgenda. Too late, they no longer deserve to be in Parliament. I hope Reform do become our new government. Imho we desperately need and deserve people who could as they do on paper be more appreciative of overall public opinion. And get on with it PDQ.

  25. Morning all 🙂😊
    Sunny Saturday, for a while. Still chilly.
    Typically the government underthreat of losing its seats at an election should have been more interested in public opinion than their own adgenda. Too late, they no longer deserve to be in Parliament. I hope Reform do become our new government. Imho we desperately need and deserve people who could as they do on paper be more appreciative of overall public opinion. And get on with it PDQ.

  26. Bom dia from sunny Porto! Beautiful day here so we’re off to ‘do’ the city! 💕

          1. We had a barbecue misto (7 meats and chicken) with rice and beans and pastel de navas, and coffee for 4 + 2 children, in a lovely little restaurant yesterday. €53

          4. Worth visiting Portugal just for that dish. Clams are my favourite seafood. Sweet and delicious.

          8. That's not much of a challenge. Even mashed potato with no gravy is better than paella.

          10. Exactly so. And if you add a knob of butter to your taters it knocks paella right out of the park.

    4. If you have time, I’d recommend going up to the top of the city on the funicular and walk back down through the old narrow lanes.

      1. Thanks Ken! We’re quite high up here in Lapa, and went to Trindade yesterday. It’s a wonderful place and we’re going to walk down to the cathedral and the port. The little streets and squares are magical!

  29. We will balance in favour of Farage and Reform UK as long as broadcaster bias continues
    Kathy Gyngell https://www.conservativewom… The Conservative Woman offers opposing points of view far more than the BBC does!

    A couple of BTLs

    Baxter Basiks:

    I have no time for Farage who threw Tommy Robinson and Anne Marie Waters under the UKIP bus, then he stood down his party members at the elections in order to let the blonde WEF buffoon into No.10. How did that work out?Tice is about as exciting a personality as Mr Blobby.'I do not consent' is my only option.

    Percival Wrattstrangler:

    You could claim that Farage's treatment of Tommy Robinson and Anne Marie Waters was on a par with Starmer's treatment of Abbott and Corby. Both Farage and Starmer were trying to dispel the perception that their party looked extreme Right or extreme Left.
    So if Farage is guilty so is Starmer. But then is then and now is now.
    Abbott is being welcomed back into the Labour fold and it looks as if it will not be long before Corbyn is back in Labour. Perhaps it will soon be the time for Farage to make peace with Robinson and Waters?

  30. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/14/diversity-drive-double-non-white-honours-recipients/

    This is why folk despise the government. An honour should be just that. Not something you get because you're brown. Forcing diversity on us is just disgusting. We don't want it. There is no reason to praise it. This country should NOT have been changed so horribly.Instead of pushing the foreigner in our faces and lauding them, what about punishing their perversions, rapes, murders, stabbings, theft? Gods I hate the state.

    2. It took us a while to catch on, that's all. Obama got a Nobel simply for being black years ago.

      1. Immediately prior to bombing seven countries and killing millions. I read his book, “The Audacity of Hope”. I’m saving it for the Bonfire of the Vanities.

        1. Oh yes, forgot that. Presumably they meant the sort of peace you get when all dissenting voices are cancelled. You get plenty of "peace" that way.

    3. In the latest Irreverend podcast the Revs were going through some of the utterly lunatic manifesto pledges of the Lib Dems, from the truly evil to the petty authoritarian. Madness.

    4. Just how many more honours can Floella Benjamin receive – for doing nothing.

      Maybe she has done something wonderful, but reading her extensive wiki page of all the awards that have been flung at her, I couldn't actually find out anything that she has actually done to warrant them. Acted a bit; sang a bit; wrote a couple of books of no particular merit – the only noted one being her experiences of racism as a kid. And she supports a few charities (as do most of us) but with no outstanding or even notable reference to said charity work. Honestly, her wiki page is a spoof tribute to the meaningless of diversity.

        1. or, the ‘Overton Window’ which she has crammed herself through very lucratively.

    5. Just how many more honours can Floella Benjamin receive – for doing nothing.

      Maybe she has done something wonderful, but reading her extensive wiki page of all the awards that have been flung at her, I couldn't actually find out anything that she has actually done to warrant them. Acted a bit; sang a bit; wrote a couple of books of no particular merit – the only noted one being her experiences of racism as a kid. And she supports a few charities (as do most of us) but with no outstanding or even notable reference to said charity work. Honestly, her wiki page is a spoof tribute to the meaningless of diversity.

  31. Morning, all Y'all.
    Dull day; slept nearly 12 hours last night, so rather refreshed!

    1. I was abed reading my book last night. Dogs snoring away in their baskets. Then a delivery turned up at 8.30pm. Dogs started running around in a frenzy of barking.
      I went and got the parcel. Put it on the coffee table and went back to my room. Dogs snoring away in their baskets as innocent as you like.

  32. I like these comments.

    Matthew Biddlecombe
    25 MIN AGO
    Oh dear; there's none so blind as those who will not see.
    Elsewhere this morning the Telegraph is reporting that our, unelected, Foreign Secretary is accusing Nigel Farage of trying to destroy the Conservative party.
    No Mr. Cameron. The Conservative party has destroyed the Conservative party, aided and abetted by previous Prime Ministers stretching back to, and including, John Major; you not only continued the trend but quickened its pace.
    What Nigel Farage, and Reform, is doing is filling the gap for the thousands of us YOU have deserted over the past near 25 years. You are reaping what you have sown. so stop blaming others for your downfall.

    Reply by Matthew Biddlecombe.

    MB

    Matthew Biddlecombe
    9 MIN AGO
    PS. I'd also like to add that, like Theresa May's campaign in 2017, Sunak Rishi's has been a disaster with promises of tax cuts and changes to inheritance tax and stamp duty mere weeks after a budget, and I won't even mention the disastrous early return from the D-Day events abroad, leading the UK as the only country not represented by its leader in so many photographs beamed around the world!

    1. Morning all.

      I think that as a true Lib-Dem, Lord Cameroon of Greenswill needs to be reminded that it's no use huff-puffing away like that any longer. He should either properly join Davey's sorry rag tag crew or retire to the good ole US of A to go work with his annoying chum, the Clegg fly.

      1. Good morning ,

        A great selection of comments, and I expect we all agree with them .

        This is doomsday for the Conservative Party
        The prime minster unwittingly created the best possible circumstances for his party to be eclipsed by Reform https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/14/this-is-doomsday-for-the-conservative-party/

        Robert Spencer
        6 MIN AGO
        Firstly The blame for this debacle must lie at the heart of the party the Central Office and the Selection Committees how do you clear out a self perpetuating cancer – I don’t see how. The king makers who put Sunak in charge with no reference to the party members have now left our country open to the most terrible privations to be foisted on it by Labour- and not because people support labour policies but because they reject the team of largely failures on the current Tory merry go round that made up the cabinet. Secondly the literal explosion of immigration- presumably encouraged by the Treasury- has and will in an accelerating fashion become the central issue in politics- the Conservatives had a chance to stem it – they totally failed!

        Comment by Hugh Tredegar.

        HT

        Hugh Tredegar
        11 MIN AGO
        The government and Labour tolerate the waving of Swastikas on the streets by Muslims and Marxists.
        Tolerant of INVASION.
        Tolerant of Trans brain washing in schools and hospitals.
        Have a think… Think very hard about loyalties.
        Reform is now the Centre.
        Centre for return to Sanity.
        Centre to Return to Reality.
        Centre to save our country.
        Vote for the Reform Government.

        Comment by Joolsey Eightsix.

        JE

        Joolsey Eightsix
        13 MIN AGO
        What did they expect? Said they were going to lower immigration for 14 years in a row and did the absolute opposite. Deaf Looney's.

        Comment by Simon Templar.

        ST

        Simon Templar
        15 MIN AGO
        Conservative party doesn't exist, they are Social Democrats. Vote Reform, why because everything has changed and is changing. The old rule is dead. Imagine a CEO running a company like Sunak and this government, indeed Boris et al. Zero governance, zero management, indecision, lack of conviction, and lack of courage. (Please Mr Rowley could you please stop the Palestinian protests) It's time for a change, but sadly it's communist Britain around the corner.

        Comment by Joseph Hoggins.

        JH

        Joseph Hoggins
        18 MIN AGO
        IF the Conservatives are trounced at the GE it would make total sense to take a carving knife to the party and, initially, split it in two with the ‘wishy washy’ liberals on one side and true blue conservatives on the other.
        Being a broad church sounds good but when the wishy washy’s turn on the right and get rid of two PMs in quick succession it tells me the sooner the split the better.

        Comment by Great Briton.

        GB

        Great Briton
        32 MIN AGO
        I’m afraid that things are going to get worse for the Tories. Three weeks to go and Reform are still winning more voters across

        1. Aye, we very much do agree with those comments. I noticed Cameroon does not accuse the Labour Party of trying to destroy the party. Of course not. In such a cosy little system it's obvious that they don't want anyone else rocking the boat. They need each other. It's the perfect mechanism by which the public can be excluded from any meaningful debate. In the EU they've got MEPs and a pretendy parliament for that purpose. In the UK it's all about keeping two friendly players on the court engaged in an eternal 'knock up' while keeping the riff raff out.

          Cameron has spots and afraid they won't be changing anytime soon, Belle.

      2. US – 'Mr Cameron, we don't want more immigration. We don't want more immigration. We don't want more immigration.'

        DAVID CAMERON – 'Immigration it is then – and lots more of it – because I am so nice.'

        1. Yes, exactly the line that any door to door sharp suit wants you to believe.

    2. Cameron shows staggering lack of self awareness. He genuinely doesn't seem able to understand that the public have rejected him and his ideology. The unelected, unwanted crony, honoured and brought in and then immediately setting about an agenda appeasing the people we don't want here while blithering on about Ukraine and Russia when we're responsible for keeping them fighting.

      It is him, the entire Islington set we have rejected.

      1. And he said that pushing through gay marriage with no mandate was one of his proudest achievements. Dickhead.

        1. A Lib-Dem would say that though, wouldn't he. I find it a truism that your pejorative applies to most of them Aeneas.

      2. "He genuinely doesn't seem able to understand that the public have rejected him and his ideology."

        True, but I doubt he's even tried. He does not actually care.

      3. He has zero interest in ordinary people. He was never qualified to be a leader in a democracy.

    3. Terriblegraph today reporting that Liebour will reduce IHT allowance to £125k over a lifetime (I.e. no “falling out” of the estate after 7 years). It’s going to be carnage. I will have to put my parents in the freezer if they die during the next 5 years.

    4. Call me Dave who left his very young daughter in a pub.
      That simple action Summed him up perfectly.

      1. Someone else was apparently looking after her, but didn't know that they had been delegated the task.

  33. Re the bacteria scare re sandwiches etc, I am wondering whether imported workers with strange bum wiping fingers and frequent prayer intervals were responsible?

    Some sandwiches sold at major supermarkets have been recalled as it emerged an E.coli outbreak is linked to salad leaves.

    Greencore, which makes ready-to-eat food sold by retailers including Asda and Sainsbury’s, has recalled 45 products as a result of the outbreak.

    No bacteria has been found in the products directly but the company is recalling the products as a precaution “because of possible contamination with E.coli”.

    Products subject to the precautionary recall include everything from vegetarian wraps and a BLT to gluten-free chicken salad sandwiches and a chicken, bacon and avocado focaccia. https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    1. Likely the salad elements were not properly washed. It's actually annoying. We could grow salads here, package and ship them, we make our own bread here, in the UK. There's pork, chicken and what not in plenty but no. It's all bought overseas, pacaked and shipping in nitrogen.

      Because it's cheaper. Vastly cheaper.

      I'm sick of the state pretending it is good and virtuous when it is destroying the economy.

      1. When you cut the root off celery, little gem and spring onions. Those roots will regrow. You can keep doing that and not have to rebuy.
        British meat and chicken is more expensive than imports but far superior in taste.

        1. The root ('nut' or 'heart') at the bottom af a celery plant is by far the best bit. Most supermarkets cut most of it off, these days, the twats.

          I had to fight Mum for that bit when I were nobbut a sprog.

          1. The only celery I eat is the very white celery with black earth; I can only get it in January.

          2. Still, if you can get another celery plant out of it, might be worth sacrificing it!

            I have had rotten luck with celery this year.
            The first packet of seeds I bought all came up, but whatever they are, it's not celery. They are some kind of fuzzy flowering nightshade type thing of the kind I never choose for my garden.
            Tried again, this time they obviously are celery, but something is eating them in the night and I can't catch it, so there are very few left. The entire small plant just disappears in the night.

            Buying a root of celery from th esupermarket and planting the bottom of it is sounding like a good idea!

    3. Those who buy ready-made sandwiches deserve all they get. Serves them right for being too thick to make their own.
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d273447753376474f8605b2afba45291d3557d994c267200e09bd6e80cd2d6a6.jpg Today I made this small chicken salad sandwich (the dark rye bread only measures 4" x 3½"). I poached the boned, skinless chicken breast lightly in a chicken stock so that it remained full of flavour and succulent; then, when cooled, made a sandwich with it and a freshly-grown lettuce leaf, a new season tomato, and a splash of remoulade sauce.

      Utterly delicious and nourishing. A million times better than any 'sandwich' knocked-up yesterday by some wog in an industrial facility and kept overnight in a plastic coffin.

    4. I was a regular visitor to Birmingham's Balti triangle in the 80s. Having seen the city councils hygiene inspection records for all food outlets, I will never again visit an "Indian" restaurant or takeaway run by these people.

    5. I was a regular visitor to Birmingham's Balti triangle in the 80s. Having seen the city councils hygiene inspection records for all food outlets, I will never again visit an "Indian" restaurant or takeaway run by these people.

  34. Re the bacteria scare re sandwiches etc, I am wondering whether imported workers with strange bum wiping fingers and frequent prayer intervals were responsible?

    Some sandwiches sold at major supermarkets have been recalled as it emerged an E.coli outbreak is linked to salad leaves.

    Greencore, which makes ready-to-eat food sold by retailers including Asda and Sainsbury’s, has recalled 45 products as a result of the outbreak.

    No bacteria has been found in the products directly but the company is recalling the products as a precaution “because of possible contamination with E.coli”.

    Products subject to the precautionary recall include everything from vegetarian wraps and a BLT to gluten-free chicken salad sandwiches and a chicken, bacon and avocado focaccia. https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

  35. Because of the political turmoil in Europe the euro has tumbled. Great news as i have just bought £1000 worth. Post Office rate has given me euro 1,160. :@)

    1. if you have a £1000 itching for a home.. perhaps a stash of ETH (x80 in six years) or BTC (x20).. either an ETF or as zeros&ones stored in a wallet. Once the govts, pension funds, banksters start piling in at the end of the year it'll go north and then some.

  36. Update on son and partner who moved to the Isle of Wight on Sunday .

    Nice flat , great view , 2 bedrooms 2 bathrooms , kitchen , loads of cupboard space , no balcony sadly, lift , and a living room which is 6 foot smaller than their previous flat in Worthing .

    OH DEAR.. and oh dear again .

    Doing things impulsively sometimes has penalties ..

    4. Did they not have a look at it first? Or is it just till they find something better?

    5. I do not like the Isle-of-Wight, Maggie. Not a bit!

      Went there, just once, and toured the place. The scenery is not as impressive as the mainland (quite boring in fact) and everywhere I went seemed to be run by get-rich-quick London wide boys, providing appalling service, crap quality food, and ridiculously expensive prices.

      To visit the Needles I was required to pay a fortune to park my car and then another fortune to take a bus ride from the car park. I thought "bollocks to that" and couldn't wait to get on the ferry back to the mainland.

      No return will be made to that miserable, vastly overrated shithole.

      1. My experiences of the IOW are completely different to yours. Perhaps it was the people you surround yourself with or poor choice of venue.

  37. Good morning. The election is controlled debate on steroids. I will vote for Farage in the hope that he is the only straight one in the field, but I well understand those who want nothing to do with our parliament as it is currently formed. And the media are now of course in maximum bright comment mode!
    https://open.substack.com/pub/tarableu/p/watch-as-the-filth-media-try-to-nudge?r=10qzvs&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

    1. Starmer, the weakest of all weak leaders will get eaten alive for trying to have his cake and eat it. I'm sure Farage will point out the discrepancies in his approach when the time is right, but he won't need to, I suspect. Talking of cakes his own party will eat him alive before that.

      Tom Slater lists just a few of his flip flops, which while we all recall them are always worth regurgitation:

      Flip: ‘I have supported schemes where cannabis possession is not arrested… and I believe in that.’
      Flop: 'Every night cannabis smoke creeps… into their children’s bedrooms… That’s not low-level, it’s ruining their lives.’

      Flip: ‘We have to make the case for freedom of movement.’
      Flop: ‘Well, immigration is at a record high under this government – a complete failure. We need to bring it down.’

      Flip: ‘As the Extinction Rebellion protest showed us this week, the next generation are not going to forgive us if we don’t take action.’
      Flop: 'Get up, go home. I’m opposed to what you’re doing. It’s not the way to deal with the climate crisis.’

      Flip: '99.9% of women don't have a penis'
      Flip: 'It is not right for Duffield to say that of course only women can have a cervix'
      Flop: 'Duffield was right about cervixes all along'
      Flippity flippity flip flop: 'Those brave men and women who stormed the beaches in Normandy'

      Flip: 'Single sex spaces are very important'
      Flop: 'We should make it easier to legally change one’s gender'

      Anyone who votes for Starmer is either setting him up deliberately as an Aunt Sally or more likely is a deluded Utopian who believes in nothing.

        2. Braverman was canvassing in my town yesterday. She has done a good job locally, particularly with the local hospital and GP surgeries. She is very popular here. She has a 26,000 majority.
          A Conservative council and a Conservative MP have done good here.
          But i will be voting Reform if we have a candidate. The Conservatives deserve a bloody nose.
          I will be doing this in the knowledge/hope that Braverman will retain her seat.

          1. If you have Braverman you would be mad not to vote for her. We have Top Cat, who is a good constituency MP and seemed very sound until he suddenly backed Sunak and was hence made Welsh Secretary. Reform seem to have put up an oddball who has stood in 3 other constituencies so far and come either last or second to last, with votes in double figures. He has not yet bothered to give us any clue as to his hinterland and agenda. Hard to know what to do. Our boundaries have also changed and labour is forecast to win.

          2. I like Suella but i want Reform to scare the Conservatives and Labour. Suella will still get in here.

          4. Not in this town. We have never once had a Labour controlled council or sitting MP. Ever.

          5. We had been true blue for decades – a century or more. We now have a Lib Dem MP.

          10. I'm voting Reform, but I'd always vote for "the man" if you've got a good one, no matter which party she or he is in. Happily the choice for the Conservatives is usually straightforward, since obviously good candidates are now as rare as hen's teeth.

            We're under Poulter until July 4. Useless representative, useless minister I seem to recall and now a Labour MP. Easy choice.

          13. On that occasion, Phil, I would ask you to reconsider.
            SB is just the sort of Conservative MP who will be needed to join with Reform to create a "right wing" opposition.
            Vote for the person, not the rosette.
            If I'd lived in Battersea at the time, I would have vote for Kate Hoey.

          14. Excuse me!

            Me mum voted labour, just like her parents did before that. It is our family duty to vote for labour and tax the rich bastards out of existence.

            Don't bother me with no stinkin manifestos, they are ignored any way.

          15. If we'd all stuck to voting for the person in the first place the political parties would never have got such a grip and been able to create the current situation.

            When the politicians are afraid of the people, that's democracy. When the people are afraid of the politicians, that's tyranny.

            The political parties have persuaded everyone that Parliament is sovereign when it isn't. The people are.
            People are scared of what Parliament (the putative huge Labour majority) will do to them after the election.

            That's tyranny.

          17. She is one of the very small group of Conservative MPs who has actually tried to do something constructive! And both she and Truss explained why they were prevented after they left office.

        3. Add green, lib dem and Tory to that list. I don't understand why they do it. The policies evidentially don't work, the ideology just makes and keeps them poor , but their envy and hatred of others having more than they do is all consuming.

        1. He's merely a whiney voice signifying nothing. Believes in nothing, precisely so.

        2. As some Nottlers whom I bore know I used to write satirical songs.

          When Blair came to power I wrote a song for him – one of the lines was: "I won't believe in anything unless you want me to." I find that some of the observations I made in the late 1990s are still relevant!

          I hope the last line of the song does not prove to be prophetic:

          I'll seem so straigth and reasonable on me you'll bet your shirts
          And with New Labour, endlessly, you'll get your just deserts.

  39. ffs. Page 5 of the Terriblegraph. We are NOT America!

    “Allow Farage to debate Starmer head to head, BBC urged”

    1. Just as bad is this sub-headline from today's Sports Section of the DT.

      "Manager edges towards bold line-up to let attack off leash." [A reference to the England's football team].

      English people do not take their dogs for a walk on a "leash", they use a lead, a dog-lead. The inane use of the Americanese non-word "leash" gets my goat every time!

      1. Mine too. I'd have preferred it if they had 'let slip the attack dogs', in any case 😄

        1. I don't think coursing figures in the everyday experience of the average footy writer cohort.

    2. Just as bad is this sub-headline from today's Sports Section of the DT.

      "Manager edges towards bold line-up to let attack off leash." [A reference to the England's football team].

      English people do not take their dogs for a walk on a "leash", they use a lead, a dog-lead. The inane use of the Americanese non-word "leash" gets my goat every time!

    4. Yes, I think I would even enjoy watching that.
      But the far left bbc know Farage would make Starmer look incomplete..

      1. …… "make Starmer look incomplete."
        Unlike Labour women he doesn't possess a penis?

    5. I know! I have made a personal decision to eliminate all Americanism from my speech.
      It’s so everyday on the media that you don’t realise how much you’ve picked up until you pay close attention!

      1. I have a soft spot for "Get mediaeval on your ass". Very descriptive and yet somehow not specific.
        I have this vision of a Quasimodo like peasant cowering under blows from the local lord.
        (Yes, I deliberately used the English spelling for mediaeval)

  40. I had a nudge yesterday to check out 59 Hunter Street Judith's Paarl JHB. It's the house where myself and my old buddy John stayed for about 12 months. Nice family of Afrikaans people.
    Looking on Google earth along the once pleasant street, most of the houses have gone probably burnt. The whole length of the street has tons of rubbish dumped and the edges are overgrown. I use to walk back to house at after a night out in Hillbrow. So this is what they mean when they say that since the ANC took over things are much better in South Africa.
    Yesterday's post on the murdered farmers and the White's living in slums was heartbreaking.

    1. You can always take the African out of a savage country but can you always take the savage out of the African?

      1. If you look on Google earth at any African towns and cities featured, (not very many) nearly all are littered with rubbish. But in comparison Rwanda looks very well kept.

      1. I know TB, they gave moved out of JHB and live in northern suburbs in gated guarded communities.

          1. I might have mentioned it, we once saw Jeremy playing in a bar in Port Elizabeth.

          2. We got to know him quite well as he was in a musical revue, Wait a Minim, with my cousins Paul and Andrew Tracey.

            He now lives with his fourth wife in France and they came to stay with us in Brittany when our boys were small.

    3. This is what will happen here. Heck, it already has. The savages set fire to London, stole everything they could… except books because they don't value them because, basically, they're barbarians who have no place in countries with roads, running water and technology.

  43. Will there be another down pour in London today ?
    Charlie is all geared up. The lovely Kate making an appearance.
    Guards all in line, all perfectly arranged for another bloody summer down pour.
    Sun was out for the rehearsals.

    1. Downpour? In central Norway, motorists are instructed to swap to winter tyres, as it's snowing!

      1. Unbelievable climate disruption I wonder what has cause this? It's very unusual Obs.
        And two more tourists have vanished in the heat of the Greek Islands.

        1. 1974, I think, it snowed in Rutland on 1st June. I was in German class, looking out of the window.

    2. Quite a few of the horses looked skittish. Even Princess Anne was having to exert more control than normal.

      1. I was worried for the guys in the Band playing the Tuba its difficult to imagine how they cope in a down pour.

  45. Sunak today: "there is a massive difference between Labour and the Tories. Labour would raise the tax burden to the highest level in this country’s history.”

    Yes, we wanted to keep that record. It's so unfair!

    2. It's the first time in my life that I have zero interest in politics and hearing a politician just makes me sick.
      Of course, that is part of their strategy – they want us to be so sick of 'democracy' that we welcome having it taken away from us.

  46. I have reluctantly decided that first past the post has got to go. It was fine when we actually had a choice, but not now.
    Under this system I believe that the percentage is calculated from the number who voted; so you can still get a huge majority based on a very small percentage of voters.
    It’s no good banging on about it’s your own fault. If there is no one on the ballot paper you want to vote for.
    We should have at least the option of stating none of the above if we want voting numbers to rise.
    Liebour will be crowing about the huge majority meaning the country are behind them when in reality, nearly three quarters of the country won’t count as they either voted for someone else in smaller numbers, or didn’t vote at all.
    This definitely not democracy!

    2. No, it isn't. we haven't had a democracy for many years. We need referism, recall and direct democracy with the franchise being revoked for the majority and earned rather than just gifted.

      Welfare needs to go, endless government largesse needs to be revoked. Duty and responsibility imposed because people won't accept it willingly.

    3. In addition to changing the way government is elected, there are a few other changes needed.

      Dump the Special Advisors and hangers on that control the agenda, parliament needs to be supreme. Well almost supreme, there has to be a way for the electorate to get rid of a rogue government or even demand that the election manifesto is respected.

      This would be especially relevant for Canada where Trudeau is hanging on and ignoring public feelings as he pushes us towards third world status. However, as all governments appear to march to the same beat, your time will come.

  47. I've decided where my vote is going, so they can say and do want they want. I'm not for turning. Makes life simpler and more enjoyable.

    1. It doens't matter who you vote for. The state machine rumbles on with it's own agenda. If Reform won every seat, stuffed the Commons to the brim with Right wing, free market libertarian capitalists the state would immediately work overtime to do absolutely nothing.

      Weeks would pass with no activity as the party set about defending itself from snipes, jabs and abuse from the Left wing media.

      If anything were to be pushed the entrenched state machine would deliberately was time finding legalese to overturn the work.

      If it got through to the Lords they would deliberately set out to stifle them. Big government wants the supranational seven figure retirement home non-jobs. It likes them so much it is determined for us to fund them with our taxes now for their benefit tomorrow.

      The entire administrative force of state is determined to destroy progress, private wealth, freedom and civil society.

      1. Quite so. The only way this will change is if someone has the cahonas to tackle the Constitution, beginning with the dismantling of everything Bliar introduced plus of course the ECHR. Whoever takes that on will get the flak hosed up in their direction, no doubt.

        1. Which is why to undo it our entire system of government needs to change. No longer can just anyone be allowed to vote. There must be complete control over the state by the citizen.

      3. My old Dad always said " if voting changed anything , it would be banned".
        A French style revolution complete with the guillotine is perhaps the only solution.

  48. Finished the small concreting job and rain has held off, thankfully. Enjoying second cup of French roast coffee.

    Despite the cool, wet and dreary Spring, plants are showing some movement and providing colour. This morning, chez Korky.

    First flower on 'Snow Queen' passion flower. Many more to come.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5e204aa06d1f0f99836e29bd6324792b3ffe6294386ea48cf90c8083ee21d978.jpg
    Two large trusses on tomato 'Sweet Aperitif', the sweetest tomato I have ever tasted. Discovered this variety a few years ago and I have grown it every year since with good results.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e669ba966f5dc33383c6d1a22a212ab4520e9fd6a82a049cc5e10bf4db9d4f55.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/31253a03b2f3969d3f24e8c318b40d5ee3bd59808c1d975dd2437569efb30d5e.jpg
    Müller Thurgau grape starting to form fruit. My third year red grape in the other greenhouse has three bunches this year. Next year should be better when the rod has that extra year of maturity. The wooden 'thing' behind the grape is a large 3.4.5. triangle I made to help me square-off some walls I built a few years ago. Greenhouses need revamping but that's a chore for later this year or early next year.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e672d989c8e313501d0eac8e00888f2ebe8cfb7f46eec3c8cad7e4a481524175.jpg

    Elstar apples forming. A very sweet variety and I'm hoping that the brown-rot doesn't get to them this year.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/20c0fd4797f1086fe4328b9fa6ad7b0a1536b6b0f91a5fb6f74d79f4e68242d2.jpg
    Caught this little bird, I think that it's a Robin chick, purely because it didn't seem to be particularly wary and I managed to get to about 3 feet away and get this shot. Taken with my phone camera and edited to zoom on the bird.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d4636c309195c7e8dfae69b544ff452904e94a59b421e21e317716a2935115d6.jpg
    Sounds as if the rain has arrived!

    2. Rain just arrived here too. We've got Roma tomatoes going among others. Can recommend.

      1. I've given up on growing determinate Italian tomatoes. I've grown several varieties, including Roma, and while I can't disagree that the taste and fleshiness are very good I have the problem of blossom-end-rot as I do not seem able to get the watering quite right.

      2. I got two packets of seeds, some fancypants organic variety and Moneymaker. Thank goodness for the Moneymakers is all I can say – the organic ones are weedy and have smooth leaves. I think they are tomato plants, but a lot less vigorous.
        I did cheat and buy a few plants too!

          1. I've got a couple of Moneymaker, too. One in the greenhouse and one outside. They are the only two survivors.

          2. A friend of mine has lost all his tomatoes this year despite being in a greenhouse. He uses a bare earth floor rather than flagstones. My guess is that the ground had been too cold for too long and no doubt damp too.

          3. I lost most of my first sowing when I planted them out and put them in a grow bag which was on the floor. All that was left was stalks. I wonder if the grow bag had been infested with slugs. The plants on a table were unaffected.

        1. We had nick names for the draw of the Sunday Swindled at the golf club.
          One of the guy's nickname was Thrush…….

    4. A disadvantage of moving into a condo. We now depend on local farmers for our fresh fruit and vegetables.
      I haven't had to go through the tomato forest on a bug squishing expedition for a few years now.

    5. It has all the the arrogance and aplomb of a Robin chick; in my book, it is a Robin!

      2. I hope you're not suggesting 'the travelling population' are involved in that sort of thing.

  51. On Saturday 27 July, we are going to make history in London. The 27 July event will be the biggest patriot event in a generation.
    The establishment will have a meltdown when they see the crowds.We are building a mass movement. We are not going to stop until we have mobilised the British people and forced huge change in this nation. They have censored us, persecuted us, demonised us and ridiculed us.
    But now we have real momentum to build a movement that will enable us to fight back effectively.

    You saw the turnout for our recent event in Parliament Square. The 27 July event will be even bigger and better organised.

    Today, we received the invoice for the deposit for our stage, sound system and three huge screens. this is just the deposit for the giant setup we need to make 27 July a truly earth-shattering event. But it's what we need to find right now, and without delay.
    We can deal with the remainder of the cost later.

    We are going to fill the whole of Trafalgar Square with thousands of patriots! It will be a vast sea of patriots with flags who are proud to be British!
    One day you will look back on this moment in our struggle and realise how important this event was. Our children deserve a future in their own country. As a valued member of our movement I am calling on you to help me clear this invoice so we can organise a spectacular event on 27 July. Without your support on this one we may stumble and fail to meet our goals so we can make the event a success.

    Every penny counts, so any amount is welcome and appreciated.

    Can you chip in with a £10 donation this evening? Whatever you can afford, please chip in without delay.

    I thank you in advance for your loyalty and dedication to this movement.
    Tommy Robinson
    https://www.urbanscoop.news/

    You don't need to like Tommy Robinson to support his movement. He is fighting our fight.

    2. That is an old one nicked from Freddie Trueman.

      Fiery Fred would stand on the boundary when an emerging batsman from the opposition walked from the pavilion to the pitch to bat. When the boundary gate was opened for the batsman, Fred would shout to the steward, "Don't shut that gate!".

      1. I remember being told as a prep school boy about Fiery Fred's field placings and style of bowling: he had two short legs and swung his balls both ways.

        (A biped version of a speedy Dachshund)

      2. I heard a story of when Freddie was bowling against some international side – his first ball rapped the batsman on the legs "Owzat" cries Fred "Not out" says the umpire. Second ball flies past the batsmans bat and a faint nick was heard "Owzat" cries Fred "Not out" says the umpire. Third ball takes the middle wicket out, Fred says to umpire " Nearly had the bastard that time eh?"

  53. Ooh, yes that's an issue. I sympathise. We found that the solution was to invest in a specialised deep trough for the greenhouse with a water / feeder reservoir built in at the bottom. Obviously standard too, not watering the leaves, just the bases. But yes, that's an issue once you take them out of the Med region.

    1. This year for the first time I’m foliar feeding my toms with seaweed extract. The plants look more healthy than recent years but that maybe due to the weather, few very sunny days up to now. One growing season is, of course, insufficient time to make a judgement but I’m happy with my indoor plants so far. Outdoor aren’t exactly setting the pace at the moment.

      1. Yep, we use Browns seaweed extract. Tomorite is fine but we find that better. Don't overfeed, of course. Don't feed before the flowers appear.

        1. I’ve watched a few videos from the States and the attitude of some of the gardeners to using fertiliser is the opposite to ours. I’ve picked up a few ideas e.g. increasing fertiliser in the potato trench and this year adding dry fertiliser early on the tomatoes. The plants seem to be growing well and not producing extra leaf growth. In addition, I prune off the bottom 2 or 3 leaves when the plants are young and growing strongly.
          I find experimenting with ideas for growing plants an interesting pastime.

          1. That’s interesting. I don’t do poptatoes any longer; however, the recipe for that was very old fashioned with me: dig to one and a half spades deep; add a layer of compost for water retention; add a sprinkling of fish blood and bone; fill by digging “the next trench” in the plot; repeat until the end. Then plant the potatoes about 5 ins down and two feet apart. It’s as old as the hills. I had a small garden in the 1970s, i.e. narrow, so planted a patch with everything just put into the ground equidistant, not in rows. Worked equally as well. Always “earthed up” my spuds as they grew in order to reduce chances of disease.

            Reducing leaf at the bottom of tomatoes is a good idea, yes. Having said I don’t do potatoes anymore though, the last ones being planted about 5-yrs ago, we now have nine very fine plants in full pink flower in what we had assumed to be “the new herb patch”! Once you’ve got a potato, you’re never without a potato thereafter…

          2. I, too, have potatoes where I didn't expect. It's been a few years since I had spuds in those particular beds. Will be interesting to see if they produce anything worthwhile.

          3. Me too. Got to be the extra rain hasn't it?

            I dug an old planter out this spring to replace it with a new one. It was three feet deep and lurking at the bottom was a single Maris piper about 3ins long in perfect condition. No plant had even shown in that part for years. Brilliant.

          4. We've certainly had more than our fair share of the wet stuff. I had to hack off more branches to get down the path again today. The rain had made them so heavy they were bowed down.

          5. The wind and rain have certainly played havoc with the delphiniums. Half my Blue Niles, which regularly stand about 7-feet tall every year have suffered from that. Broken stems, bent stems, the lot.

    3. And the Flyover.

      Motorways don't flyover; aeroplanes don't flypast – the Buck House Balcony is about 30' high – they flyover, Eh?

  55. 388579+ up ticks,

    Just musing,

    The likes of brown and co, in many respects giving & receiving

    lord titles along with £332 sobs a day for sitting through a days business.

    To bring some reality to this wonderland for current political macers, can we not issue ALL in-house politico's with the prefix OO …as in, would the right honourably OO… until they proved themselves to be otherwise

    1. ..A day's business! … clock on, speak to your mates and retire to the subsidised bar at lunch. Take afternoon nap on a comfy red bench. £332 tax free, kerrrching.

      1. 388579+ up ticks,

        Afternoon KP,
        You are actually paid to daily visit a subsidised club, amazing.

    2. Don't they get a London allowance? Just look at train fares, £332 a day hardly pays the expenses nowadays.

  56. Been to market in town this morning. Two observations.

    1. The BAME count is noticeably higher.
    2. Pubs where you can watch the Wendy-ball are hanging out both the St. George's Cross and the St.Andrew's Cross. I wonder if pubs in Scotland are doing the same?

    1. I noticed that recently as well. There are a lot more foreigners everywhere.
      It would not surprise me if Reform won the election and immediately were allowed to put a stop to the boats, because the damage is already done.

      1. Same here; some days it seems every third passer by is blek. This is in rural England, where normally we rarely saw anyone tinted (since the countryside is so racist, you know).

    2. Even down here at the foot of the valleys, you notice blacks regularly whereas a couple of years ago there was only one who lived locally. A skinny chap who had a fat partner and 3 kids, never noticed him at work as he was always at the school pick up.

        1. Evening, just in from a beer and some music. My brother, who works in the NHS dealing with asylum seekers, knows all the latest scams of those terrible sad people washing up, but seem to know all their rights. Thankfully, I dont pay too much tax these days although the HMRC can not even be bothered to acknowledge the several hundred £k IHT I sent to them 6 weeks ago. Apparently, their head has just been honoured. Their 20 day turn round time was 50+ when I submitted a complaint about their service. Not one word from them, I really cannot believe it.

    1. 'Farage has no place in the Tory party because he exposes us for the global socialist stooges that we are'.

      1. What forces were behind Sunak's bizarre placing of the twerp Cameron into the House of Lords in order to make him the foreign secretary?

        I am beginning to believe that Sunak was so determined to get out of politics by losing the election that he appointed Dumbo Dave to speed his way out of Downing Street and into the USA..

      1. One of the reasons why Cameron lost the Brexit referendum vote was that when he went to the EU to ask for some very minor reforms he was told, in no uncertain terms, to go and fornicate elsewhere.

        Even then he tried to pretend to the British electorate that they would be voting whether or not to stay in The Reformed EU.

        This was a complete lie – his humiliating failure to secure anything showed that the EU had not reformed, had no intention of reforming and would never reform.

        It is hardly surprising that the very word REFORM sticks very uncomfortably in Cameron's craw.

        1. Here's the Babbling Poltroon in full flow – the clear impression is that he has "renegotiated" successfully – note "new settlement" and "yesterday's agreement" – he mentions "special status" 3 times and "Reformed EU" no less than 6 times! Either complete self delusion or a complete lie!
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w87GNWJHtFM

          2. Self deception can be both a lie and a delusion.

            I am beginning to think that the arrogant, common little twerp, Cameron, has been used by Sunak. He has been fooled by the Indian Dope Trick! He thought he was being ennobled and appointed to his position because of his competence but he was merely being appointed because he is loathed by most Conservative voters and has a reputation for being totally incompetent in foreign affairs

            I am convinced that appointing Cameron as foreign secretary was Sunak's masterstroke. How better to ensure total wipe out for the Conservative Party so that he can go with his family to the USA and resume his career in the world of finance without further delay.

        3. Good point, I’d forgotten that about the so-called reforms. It’ll stick even further down his throat now though, because the very reason Farage named it The “Reform” Party was specifically to reform Conservatism.

        4. I wondered how he could promise reforms without telling us what those reforms consisted of. If he could tell us, then those reforms must have already been agreed. In which case, they are going to happen regardless of any polls.

  58. I once heard poor old Nige had a bit missing as well.
    But unlike the test of our politicians at least he’s got one. Something that they totally lack.

  60. Red Arrows imminent. Blue sky now good timing.
    Who is that plonker with the silly haircut interviewing, it's so out of keeping with the usual respect given on such an occasion.

    2. Quite a lot of republicans/wasters shouting over the flypast commentary. Claire Baldthing trying to ignore quite a noticeable racket.

  61. Forty years on and the BBC lets us know which side it's on.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a58419afd54da51d2ca36195c086b658e63fe37efac6992a97e506c3a0627681.jpg – https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6aed4ec1a1120f5aed78c199e2bc72e712773b5b4ac955c60c29b35e7c8ae413.jpg
    John Dunn: "People had gone in shorts, T-shirts and trainers just to picket, enjoy the sun and then go home. And what did they get? They got savagery on an unseen scale."

    Steve Brunt: "They [the police] had geared up for that, they set us up. And they set us up to fail and get battered. Looking back, that's the way I see it."

    However, this was the South Yorkshire force.

    Over to you, Grizz…

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/…

    1. I did not attend the Orgreave coking plant in South Yorkshire; I was too busy on picket lines in North Derbyshire. Most of the pickets that I encountered — mainly locals — were good humoured and well-behaved. We got along fine with them and shared a cup of tea on night shifts.

      On a couple of occasions busloads of "flying pickets" turned up with the avowed intent of causing trouble; these people —Scargill's rent-a-mob — were resented by the locals just as much as they were by everyone else.

      I was at one pit as a member of a team of nine officers when busloads of this sort turned up. We were outnumbered by 40:1 and had no chance of stopping them entering the colliery (Creswell); they simply walked past us. An alert went out and a number of busloads of police were sent to help out. We arrested around 50 flying pickets that day; but there was no rioting, assaults, or any other such nonsense.

      1. Moreover, that strike lasted for 362 days (06/03/84 – 03/03/85). Every single day there were pickets around (even Sundays and bank holidays) yet there was no rioting, 'police brutality' or any other BBC-inspired bollocks going on over that time period.

        Orgreave took place for a couple of hours on one single afternoon, yet it sets the BBC template for police behaviour over an entire year.

        Most days, over that extended period, were terminally boring for both pickets and police.

        1. There then was a coal depot in Crawley. The cops and the pickets spent most of the day playing cards with each other, only going out when a lorry arrived.

          Lenin was appalled on his visit to England to see striking dockers and Met police officers playing football against each other.

  63. It can’t be slugs! They are in a tub, on large stones that are dry because they are under an overhanging roof. No slug could have got that far! I think it’s that pesty blackbird hunting for worms. It has destroyed plants in the past.

  64. The BBC is well aware that Farage's common sense is the enemy of the BBC's common purpose.

    In the State of Mendacity the Truth is dangerously explosive stuff!

    1. The Common Purpose brigade should be declared as enemies of the state and summarily eradicated.

    2. From Coffee House, the Spectator

      Didn’t have a Sky dish? You’re probably middle class too
      It had nothing to do with cost

      Flora Watkins15 June 2024, 8:23am
      As any child of the 1980s could tell you, whether your house had a Sky dish had nothing to do with income. The launch of BSkyB in 1989 – when Rishi Sunak was eight and I was 10 – was greeted with horror by our middle-class professional parents, just as with their parent’s generation when that ghastly ITV began broadcasting. Crudely, Sky was common. It was council house – like single parents (still a rarity in my native Suffolk in the 1980s), fish fingers and the Sun. Our route to primary school took us through the council estate where satellite dishes sprouted as quickly as green wellies in the rain in the old part of the village.

      None of the pretty period houses in the village were sullied by a Sky dish
      ‘Why can’t we get one?’ my siblings and I would ask again and again, always receiving the same answer: ‘It’s too expensive’. This was most unsatisfactory; as unconvincing as the explanation my mother delivered when I demanded to know why Top of the Pops never played ‘Relax’ by Frankie Goes to Hollywood during the five weeks it was number one. Kids who didn’t have cars had Sky. Kids whose houses were devoid of books, who’d never even been to London on the train had Sky. None of the pretty period houses in the village were sullied by a Sky dish – or if they were, they were down a sufficiently long drive to get away with it.

      All we were allowed, as the children of two teachers, was half-an-hour of television when we got in from school – and even that was policed. Blue Peter or Record Breakers: OK. Grange Hill: definitely not OK. Grange Hill was banned in our house, as was Eastenders – for the same reasons, I suspect, that Sky wasn’t welcome. It was council house TV, with nasty, gritty storylines involving teenage pregnancy and alcoholism. Perhaps our mothers were concerned that we could, in some sort of osmotic way, get pregnant simply by hearing the DOOF DOOF drumbeats of the Eastenders theme tune.

      The 1980s and its television was a country so foreign that L.P. Hartley would have struggled to locate it on a map. Telly, in middle class households, was something to be rationed (inversely, interestingly, to the amount of sugar we were allowed). The BBC children’s programme, Why Don’t You embodied this idea, rejoicing in the full title, Why Don’t You Switch Off Your TV And Go And Do Something Less Boring Instead?

      Breakfast telly was in relative infancy. The Test Card was still going strong and television shut down completely at night. It’s Awfully Bad for Your Eyes, Darling (the title of a 1970s BBC sitcom penned by Jilly Cooper) was something we heard a lot. There might be a bit of Bagpuss or Pigeon Street for the pre-schoolers and a couple of suitable programmes each afternoon for older children, who’d then have to switch the gogglebox off, lest they became square-eyed. Screens weren’t the panacea, the third parent that they are now.

      In the best Larkin tradition, I am deepening the coastal shelf with my own children. Their television consumption would appal my late mother, but I’ve told my sons that they can’t have a games console until they’ve passed their Grade 3 brass exams. Apart from The Simpsons, I don’t think we missed out on much, not having Sky. Most of the early programming (and I had to Google it, it was so unmemorable) was crap. WWF wrestling, The Sullivans or Falcon Crest, anyone?

      It was only when Sky started filching all the sports rights that the middle classes began to soften their stance. Curiously, once the rugby went to Sky, my father performed a U-turn so screeching as to rival anything Sir Keir Starmer has managed since becoming Labour leader. As the Wykehamist son of a GP who had to find the fees for Winchester in full (the young Rishi having failed to get a scholarship), he will need to do a lot better than missing out on Sky to best Keir ‘DID I MENTION MY DAD WAS A TOOL MAKER?’ Starmer in the sociological race-to-the-bottom.

      1. The author forgot to mention the Interlude. Those fascinating potter's wheel or windmill sessions. In some cases more interesting than the programmes.

      2. Here in Spain, where I've spent most of my life, it became very fashionable in the 1980s to place several satellite dishes on the roofs of blocks of flats allowing access to multitude of international TV channels. Partly a reaction against the Socialist government's refusal to introduce private television channels (the Mexican Galavision had a special programme for news from Spain) and also a genuine interest in foreign languages.
        My wife and I were delighted with The Chidren's Channel, Sky One and all the kids' show our children could watch to improve their English.
        I went to a wedding in London in 1990 and happily began telling a friend about this. Her eyes began to flash as the Englishwoman came to the surface. 'Don't talk to me about television,' she began to rant. And so I remained quiet. Much the same attitude as that of the parents in the article.
        My kids are of course grown up and bilingual, something which they are passing on to their children. Satellite TV formed part of their education and not only language learning. My son told me the other day that his memories of watching American news programmes over breakfast as a little boy opened a whole new world to him.
        A pity this resistance to technology so endemic in people who really should know better.

    1. That event will not happen "between now and September".

      It already happened 3,000 years ago, in or around 976BC when Emperor John I Tzimiskes dies at Constantinople!

      The light now seen from that star, which is 3,000 light years away from earth, has taken 3,000 years to reach our eyes.

      2. Tempting to suggest that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan might like to mark the anniversary but of course the modern Turks are not the race that inhabited ancient Constantinople.

      3. Tempting to suggest that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan might like to mark the anniversary but of course the modern Turks are not the race that inhabited ancient Constantinople.

  66. Lord Greenswill may be a lot of things, most bad, but he is certainly not a Conservative!!

      1. The article in the DM has 2.5k comments. They are not at all kind to Pig fucker Dave. I think that's his nickname.

    2. Sorry, SB, I agree, but he's a card-carrying Upper-case "C" Conservative.

      Meanwhile, Lower-case "c" conservatives are flocking toward Reform UK. And rightly so.

  67. Sweden scrambles fighter jets to intercept Russian bomber over Nato border. 15 June 2024.

    Sweden scrambled a pair of fighter jets to intercept a Russian Su-24 aircraft that crossed into Nato airspace on Friday.

    Sweden’s Air Force first verbally warned the Russian pilot, which did not deviate from its course, and then sent two JAS-39 Gripen fighters to force it to turn around, the Swedish Armed Forces said in a statement.

    There is of course no such thing as “NATO Airspace.” This looks more like an attempt to intimidate the Russians. It takes no great imagination to see where this sort of game playing might lead.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    1. "warned the Russian pilot, which did not deviate from its course"??? Respecting pronouns are they?

      1. Afternoon Bleau. It's quite possible that the whole thing is a fabrication.

        1. Being Russian, he or she is unlikely to be non-binary or whatever the phrase is.

    2. There's a NATO exercise around there. Russian aircaft were well known to get too close to NATO exercises in the past, why so dramatic now? They do it to provoke exactly the response they got: Now they have updated locations, timings, frequencies, you name it, from Sweden as it launches fighters to intercept – plus, a take on tactics.
      Yawn.

      1. I suspect these incursions and their fleet off Cuba are due to Putin winding NATO up.

  68. Sweden scrambles fighter jets to intercept Russian bomber over Nato border. 15 June 2024.

    Sweden scrambled a pair of fighter jets to intercept a Russian Su-24 aircraft that crossed into Nato airspace on Friday.

    Sweden’s Air Force first verbally warned the Russian pilot, which did not deviate from its course, and then sent two JAS-39 Gripen fighters to force it to turn around, the Swedish Armed Forces said in a statement.

    There is of course no such thing as “NATO Airspace.” This looks more like an attempt to intimidate the Russians. It takes no great imagination to see where this sort of game playing might lead.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

  69. Labour candidate cancels hustings

    Labour candidate Rosie Duffield has announced she has withdrawn from hustings events as she does not feel safe.

    Ms Duffield, who hopes to be re-elected in the Canterbury constituency, has previously faced death threats and multiple instances of abuse over her stance on sex and gender.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cyxx243yr16o

    But…but…but…only right-wingers are intolerant, right?

      1. No, no, no, she is pro EU and against Grammar Schools. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

        1. Maybe not just yet.

          But when she thinks things through rationally she will begin to understand that rejoining the EU and destroying the best bits of our educational system are not very good ideas.

          1. Your second sentence falls at the first hurdle. She's a lefty; she doesn't THINK, particularly not rationally.

  70. The depths of the Starmer Terror have not yet become apparent to the electorate.
    Giving power away to councils, quangos, the WHO; the introduction of ULEZ and LTNs to "Every town and city" (A. Rayner), 20mph zones and above all a fanatical adherence to the God of Net Zero.
    It is going to be beyond awful.

    1. Beyond awful?

      Unchecked, it will reach a point beyond which it cannot be solved by peaceful means …

  71. Just back from food shopping. So many people and cars! Are the shops to be closed for the next six weeks?

    1. Just had an Amazon Fresh delivery. It included wine (obviously), so I told the slanty-eyed git of a courier that my birth year was 1957.

      This usually suffices. Not today. "Show me your dliving ricence". "I don't have one, but here's my "oldfart's" bus pass, complete with photo."

      "Not good enough – i need to see your dliving ricence". "OK – stand there in the rain, and I'll try and find my passport."

      The fact that I'm 67, and live in an obvious retirement bungalow, simply didn't cut it.

      "Your Amazon Fresh order has been delivered, now rate your experience…" This is problematic, since negatve numbers aren/t allowed.

  72. Just back from Celebrating Cromford.
    Not a bad little event, but VERY noticeable how few stalls were on Scarthin compared to earlier events.
    If I don;t fall asleep and can resist going SLUMP I might have a walk down for this evenings events!

    On the return walk up, I filled a carrier bag with about 2kg of litter.

  74. I watched the Trooping of the Colour on BBC TV this morning. As usual the troops were superb and show that, notwithstanding the troubles in the country, we can still put on a show that can’t be beaten. Also, the BBC coverage was pretty good and, apart from a small number of wokeish and sycophantic moments, was enjoyable. The most surprising thing to me was that I didn’t see a single rainbow banner or Palestine flag anywhere.

    1. We enjoyed watching the Trooping of the Colour as well .

      Unbelievable to think that wonderful display was right in the middle of Khan's Londistan ..

      How did the visitors cope with ULEZ .

        1. Us folks in the sticks tend to forget that there are places that have usable public transport.

      2. There must be small enclaves of civilisation somewhere in the darkest depths of Londinistan. It reminds me of those movies where the explorers in a fever-infested jungle, inhabited by fierce natives, discover a beautiful lost city.

        1. Yes, do you know , that thought occurred to me , and perhaps Khan had given permission for no calls from the Muezzin , no placards , no strange beings in burkah or shaded faces .. he probably said this is the day for the Brits , we can count their horses and artillery , but there are more of us than them , let them march and play music .. just to keep the British happy !!!

  75. I’m bored. Nana Akua had some climate loony on so I flipped channels and got A Place in the Sun. It occurred to me that of course Casablanca means White House. Snopes say I’m wrong. They really should employ a researcher. (They don’t.) It’s trivial but still illustrates what crap they publish.

    1. Casa Blanca is Spanish for White House, Sue!

      Its Casa Branca in Portuguese, Casa Bianca in Italian and Domus Alba in Latin…

      1. Indeed. According to Britannica it was originally Casa Branca. I wondered how the name had come about.

      2. Ah, Casabianca …
        The boy stood on the burning deck,
        Whence all but he had fled;
        The flame that lit the battle's wreck,
        Shone round him o'er the dead.
        etc!

        1. And as mentioned a a couple places in the Swallows and Amazons series …
          The Great Aunt wants Nancy and Peggy to learn a poem, so Captain Flint suggests Casabianca, and mother goes out of the room in a hurry. "It is a pretty long poem" says Titty, but Peggy says "we knew it already, and Uncle Jim knew that we knew it. We had to learn it at school" so she rattles off The boy stood on the burning deck [Swallowdale]

          1. The boy wasn’t on the burning deck.
            He wasn’t with Captain Howard
            He wasn’t even on the sinking ship,
            the dirty little coward!

    2. 'In all the Gin joints in all the towns in the world you could have walked into mine'. If you ever get bored.

      What did snopes think it means?

      1. They have the literal translation as having caused confusion with the home of the POTUS and therefore declare it incorrect.

          1. Their mindset is very infant school playground cleverness. I’ve flipped channels again and found Ella Fitzgerald on Sky Arts.

          2. I found a boxed set in a cupboard at home of 4 CDs by Ella Fitzgerald 100 songs.
            What an artist she was.

          6. I'm not watching TV at all; I've viewed the racing and that's it until tomorrow (Sunday series).

          2. It was too much like Southampton. I should have gone to Marrakesh.
            Yes. The film is good.

    3. Football is on ITV Spain 🇪🇸 are 2 up against Croatia 🇭🇷 after 32 minutes.
      Good game so far but for the fake injury syndrome and rolling and diving.

  76. A stuck-up Birdie Three!

    Wordle 1,092 3/6
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    1. Me too. Will almost certainly come before calamity.
      Wordle 1,092 3/6

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    2. Me too, but a schoolboy error on my 2nd go.

      Wordle 1,092 3/6

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    3. You wonder how much lower the Met can stoop. Then they go and add animal cruelty to the list.

    4. Wow, a torrent of disapproval in the comments.
      It was only a calf, likely frightened being away from it's herd, and to hit it like that with the patrol vehicle and then park the engine on the poor bloody animal's head… bastards.

      1. I recall one Sunday evening, several years ago, when I set off from Seale towards Puttenham and the Good Intent. Half way there, I met three Jersey cows who had escaped / had a gate opened. I phoned the Estate. No answer. I knew who owned these beasts, but had no contact details. So I essentially blocked the road with my car, and walked ahead of them. Next car in the opposite direction were neighbours.

        Between us, we persuaded them to turn around, and back into their field. And closed the bloody gate…

        I'm almost a yokel… 🙄

    5. Maybe the RSPCA could do something useful and prosecute the driver for animal cruelty.

  79. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/495f34c1074908b94e28655330ada7369522532dc970ba90b2352289e67e6607.jpg Sending you all a splash of colour from the Caminito (really touristy bit of Buenos Aires, but it's a beautiful sunny day and I fancied it). https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8eed55581fcd0b564a28cdfd429479855d0b121aea871bd2c656be8e176f0394.jpg Amusingly, whilst posting this, leaning against a wall in the sun, I became one of the things the tourists were photographing… 🤣🤣

        2. BTW. At my August doo, you will be on loop to greet the guests as they go to the bathroom. Is that wrong of me or am i just loopy?

    3. Oh gawd – and I stopped for lunch in a restaurant which has a tango show, and just got dragged up to dance in public. I can't take myself anywhere! 🤣🤣🤣

  80. German police shot an Afghan man dead after he killed one and wounded three people watching the televised opening game of the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in eastern Germany

      2. Primitive anyhow.
        My Nan was a primitive methodist. Ferocious and handy with a knife, but used only on the Sunday roast.

  81. Prince Louis takes centre stage as he dances during Trooping the ColourPrincess Charlotte watched him for a moment before telling him: ‘Please stop that’ https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    If Louis's sister knows what a Spoonerism is she will agree with me that he is behaving like a boiled sprat.

      1. AI is pretty impressive these days…

        Sorry – I've been gaslighted for long enough. I truly hope that she is on the mend. Trouble is, I don't believe a word in the MSM any more. If I ever did….

          1. A good question, Bob.

            I met up with a former colleague on Thursday for a pint or three. His scepticism re. everything that has happened since the 2019 election is quite extreme. He still does "Stand in the Park" every Sunday in Farnham. But his "conspiracy theories" from mid 2020 have all come true. As have mine.

        2. Is the difference between gaslighting and gaslit that the latter involves being illuminated?

          1. OK, Paul. Gaslit is prolly more grammatically correct. Trouble is, I keep seeing the other version, which grates, but – there we are.

  82. The International Cricket Council chose Central Broward Park in Lauderhill, Florida to host 4 matches in the T20 World Cup. Three have been abandoned – the last is tomorrow – not just without a ball bowled but not even a coin toss. Is this typical of June weather in Lauderhill? If so, the ICC needs to have a period of self-examination to see if the lure of the US Dollar overcame the practicalities of staging cricket there. That the outcome of a major tournament can be as much determined by weather as by playing cricket is unacceptable.

    Meanwhile, England are supposed to be playing their last group stage match against Namibia. The ground in Antigua has just been deluged by a downpour with a real prospect of abandonment. Their opening match against Scotland in Barbados was also abandoned after bad weather forced umpires to reduce the match to 10 overs each and then to call it off before England had batted. Shared points in this match will eliminate England, once again as much because of the weather as playing the game. Yes, Australia comfortably beat them, but that ought not to be the sole determinant of an early end to their participation.

    2. Should have got a police car to ram him as they did to the cow on the road.

    1. MB has just checked.
      What a relief "Runtie" as he's been named, is now recovering from a bad start.
      Fingers firmly crossed.

    1. BBetter than my effort
      Wordle 1,092 5/6

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  86. Labour has no excuse for banning trail hunting
    –
    If the party proceeds with its manifesto promise, it would be evidence of a class war and anti-rural attitude
    –
    WILLIAM ASTOR • 15 June 2024 • 9:00am

    Twenty years ago, when the Hunting Act was passed, most of us thought that hunting as we knew it would end. That was wrong. Hunts changed, adapting to trail hunting and exempt hunting. The former involves laying a scent – a trail – for hounds to follow, but with no killing of live quarry. Today, hunting is still flourishing and is as popular as ever.

    The hunting community realised that it needed a strong regulatory body and created the British Hound Sports Association, BHSA, bringing together 247 packs of hounds, representing fox hounds, beagles, harriers, bassets, stag hounds and mink hounds, as well as fell packs. A disciplinary body, the Hound Sports Regulatory Authority, was also created, chaired by a retired High Court judge.

    But we are now under threat from a Labour government. We had hoped that Labour would have realised that it need not be at war with the rural community. Sadly that has not proven to be the case, and we now see that Sir Keir Starmer leads not a new Labour Party, but one still entrenched in so-called class warfare with an anti-rural agenda. The party’s manifesto includes a commitment to end trail hunting.

    All is not lost. We must show a Labour government that it should address what really matters to rural areas. We must show – indeed, prove – that trail hunting properly conducted under strict rules, set by the BHSA, is a legal sport and should not be subject to new legislation.

    Trail hunting is not, as has been claimed by some – including the chief superintendent in charge of wildlife crime – a loophole. That is nonsense. Tony Blair’s bill to ban hunting live quarry was a piece of government legislation, passed by an administration with a huge majority. Parliament spent many hours debating the bill in both the Commons and Lords. Moreover, when Labour MPs argued for the original ban, many insisted that they were not opposed to chasing an inanimate object, such as a scented rag. They said they were not trying to ban the act of hunting with hounds, only the pursuit of live quarry. Why the change of mind now?

    When the bill became an Act, it represented the clear will of Parliament. It’s a bit rich for any police commander to suggest that it contains loopholes. The police should look at their own rules, where police under investigation for serious misdemeanours and possible crimes have been known to retire early and avoid any sanction. That’s a serious loophole.

    Hunting has a good record. Last season, there were about 12,000 days of hunting, often with police following by car or observing by drone, and with anti-hunt activists taking hours of videos. The result was only one successful prosecution, and that is subject to appeal. Since the ban, there have been about 250,000 days hunting with hounds and only 23 successful prosecutions. It’s a better record than most other sports.

    Hunting with hounds brings together the rural community, offering a sense of social cohesion. It encourages conservation, the planting of hedges, the mending of walls and the creation of woodland. On Boxing Day, many thousands of people turn out to support hunts in their area.

    The hunting community has adapted since the ban and operates within the law of the land. We have not been as robust as we should have been in explaining how trail hunting works. So, on September 14, we will put on a National Trail Hunting Day at 30 venues around the country. We want new MPs, the press, and the public to come and see for themselves how we operate. If a Labour government wants rural support, it has no need or excuse to ban a legal sport enjoyed by many thousands throughout the country.

    A ban on trail hunting would mean the end of hunting with hounds. Hounds are pack animals, difficult to rehome. They are more likely to eat a sofa than sit on one. Does an incoming Labour government really want to be responsible for the unnecessary euthanasia of 12,000 animals?

    Viscount Astor is chair of the British Hound Sports Association

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/15/labour-has-no-excuse-for-banning-trail-hunting/

    Just wait until Max follows this up with right-to-roam and farming licences.

    1. For Labour all hunting (except for rabbits – that's working class) is totemic. There is no sense, no rhyme or reason to their hatred. It won't matter how many educational experiences are put on, Labourites will froth at the mouth at the thought of "toffs" enjoying themselves on horseback. The Act is full of holes due to its class warfare nature. It's okay to hunt a rabbit, but not a hare and some idiot in Parliament stated that dogs should be taught to know the difference! If I take a walk with two dogs and they run after a fox I'm guilty of a criminal act, even though I'm not "hunting" in the accepted sense. I was put in that situation not long after the Act was passed; I either became a criminal for letting my dogs chase a fox that was strolling through the field or I became a criminal for contravening the Animal Welfare Act (also Labour's creation) for not letting my dogs indulge in natural activity. Fortunately for me, plod is traditionally absent from my neck of the woods.

    2. The hunting dogs are unlikely to make good pets.
      The hunters should point out that large numbers of dogs may well be put down and get Labour MPs to state categorically why they think that is a good idea.

  87. Labour has no excuse for banning trail hunting
    –
    If the party proceeds with its manifesto promise, it would be evidence of a class war and anti-rural attitude
    –
    WILLIAM ASTOR • 15 June 2024 • 9:00am

    Twenty years ago, when the Hunting Act was passed, most of us thought that hunting as we knew it would end. That was wrong. Hunts changed, adapting to trail hunting and exempt hunting. The former involves laying a scent – a trail – for hounds to follow, but with no killing of live quarry. Today, hunting is still flourishing and is as popular as ever.

    The hunting community realised that it needed a strong regulatory body and created the British Hound Sports Association, BHSA, bringing together 247 packs of hounds, representing fox hounds, beagles, harriers, bassets, stag hounds and mink hounds, as well as fell packs. A disciplinary body, the Hound Sports Regulatory Authority, was also created, chaired by a retired High Court judge.

    But we are now under threat from a Labour government. We had hoped that Labour would have realised that it need not be at war with the rural community. Sadly that has not proven to be the case, and we now see that Sir Keir Starmer leads not a new Labour Party, but one still entrenched in so-called class warfare with an anti-rural agenda. The party’s manifesto includes a commitment to end trail hunting.

    All is not lost. We must show a Labour government that it should address what really matters to rural areas. We must show – indeed, prove – that trail hunting properly conducted under strict rules, set by the BHSA, is a legal sport and should not be subject to new legislation.

    Trail hunting is not, as has been claimed by some – including the chief superintendent in charge of wildlife crime – a loophole. That is nonsense. Tony Blair’s bill to ban hunting live quarry was a piece of government legislation, passed by an administration with a huge majority. Parliament spent many hours debating the bill in both the Commons and Lords. Moreover, when Labour MPs argued for the original ban, many insisted that they were not opposed to chasing an inanimate object, such as a scented rag. They said they were not trying to ban the act of hunting with hounds, only the pursuit of live quarry. Why the change of mind now?

    When the bill became an Act, it represented the clear will of Parliament. It’s a bit rich for any police commander to suggest that it contains loopholes. The police should look at their own rules, where police under investigation for serious misdemeanours and possible crimes have been known to retire early and avoid any sanction. That’s a serious loophole.

    Hunting has a good record. Last season, there were about 12,000 days of hunting, often with police following by car or observing by drone, and with anti-hunt activists taking hours of videos. The result was only one successful prosecution, and that is subject to appeal. Since the ban, there have been about 250,000 days hunting with hounds and only 23 successful prosecutions. It’s a better record than most other sports.

    Hunting with hounds brings together the rural community, offering a sense of social cohesion. It encourages conservation, the planting of hedges, the mending of walls and the creation of woodland. On Boxing Day, many thousands of people turn out to support hunts in their area.

    The hunting community has adapted since the ban and operates within the law of the land. We have not been as robust as we should have been in explaining how trail hunting works. So, on September 14, we will put on a National Trail Hunting Day at 30 venues around the country. We want new MPs, the press, and the public to come and see for themselves how we operate. If a Labour government wants rural support, it has no need or excuse to ban a legal sport enjoyed by many thousands throughout the country.

    A ban on trail hunting would mean the end of hunting with hounds. Hounds are pack animals, difficult to rehome. They are more likely to eat a sofa than sit on one. Does an incoming Labour government really want to be responsible for the unnecessary euthanasia of 12,000 animals?

    Viscount Astor is chair of the British Hound Sports Association

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/15/labour-has-no-excuse-for-banning-trail-hunting/

    Just wait until Max follows this up with right-to-roam and farming licences.

  88. More looney tunes from the world of academe. Given that you already know how it goes, you might not want to bother with anything after the first paragraph or two but it's worth sticking with it until the end just to remind yourself how mad these people are.

    Imagine some of the world's great philosophers of the past looking down on this and wondering how it came to be.

    Outcry as university tells staff to teach that whiteness and heterosexuality are a problem
    –
    Liverpool accused of implementing divisive policies after lecturers advised on how to diversify and decolonise history curriculum
    –
    Sanchez Manning • 15 June 2024 • 3:00pm

    History lecturers at the University of Liverpool have been advised to "problematise" whiteness and heterosexuality in their seminars.

    The advice has been given in guidance on how to "diversify" and "decolonise" the history curriculum, sent this week to academics at Liverpool – a member of the prestigious Russell Group universities. But last night critics lambasted its recommendations as "ideologically driven" and "divisive".

    In the report, entitled History Curriculum Diversity Audit, staff are encouraged to "think creatively" about how they can bring questions of race and gender into the topics they teach. Giving examples of how they might do so, the guidance asks them to consider: "Can a module that teaches exclusively about race relations do more to problematise and de-centre whiteness?"

    The "diversity audit" also notes that there is a lack of "queer history" in the teachings on gender, while pointing out that there are no seminars "problematising heteronormativity" – a term which refers to treating heterosexuality as the norm.

    Elsewhere, it tells history lecturers that it is not enough to simply include more BAME – meaning Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic – women or non-binary scholars on their reading lists. They are directed that in addition they must discuss the diversity of the reading lists with their students on every module that is taught.

    Teaching staff are further told that it is "essential" they make their seminars "safe spaces" because topics such as race and gender can be both "emotional" and "challenging" for students.

    Meanwhile, department heads are urged to introduce compulsory training on "inclusive teaching" for all academics to help them "feel more comfortable initiating and managing such conversations".

    However, one lecturer teaching at Liverpool University, who asked not to be named for fear of professional repercussions, said of the advice: "It's all ideologically driven, namely Empire is bad. But it's the wrong way to approach history. Historians should have the freedom to teach what they believe is true rather than having an agreed ideology that you're not supposed to question. Also, I'm not quite sure how we are supposed to problematise whiteness."

    Dr Edward Skidelsky, a philosophy academic at Exeter University and co-founder of the Committee for Academic Freedom, agreed: "It's not the business of universities or university departments to tell lecturers to 'problematise heteronormativity' or to 'de-centre whiteness', whatever that means. University departments should be free to make strategic decisions about teaching and assessment, but they should not impose controversial ideological positions on their members."

    Dr Alka Sehgal Cuthbert, director of Don't Divide Us, a pressure group which promoted "colourblind anti-racism", was equally critical. She said: "Non-activists who want an easy life need to realise decolonising has nothing to do with addressing discrimination or unequal access, nor is it about expanding knowledge. Any positive insights it may have once had regarding disciplinary blind spots or neglected past works, have long gone.

    "It has morphed into an aggressive and illiberal political ideology that promotes divisive, epistemologically weak concepts like 'whiteness' and seeks to impose its narrow, highly speculative interpretation at the expense of genuine academic study that depends on exploring different viewpoints."

    Liverpool's "diversity audit" comes amid a growing drive among universities to "decolonise" their curriculums. Last week it was revealed that an academic at the University of Sussex, Dr Zahid Pranjol, had claimed making students sit traditional exams was racist and exposes "colonial biases".

    In another example, the University of Cambridge was advertising last month for a PhD student to investigate its plant and animal collection, ranging from tigers to dodos, to root out imperial connections.

    A University of Liverpool spokesman said, "We are absolutely committed to an inclusive experience for all our students. Reviewing our curricula to ensure content is reflective of cultural, historical and societal contexts is an important part of this commitment.

    "Following recent fruitful and positive conversations within our history department about decolonising the curriculum, a 2020 audit was circulated to colleagues to prompt further thought and discussion. A final decolonisation framework, once developed and agreed, will be a useful and important guide for staff in the development of their modules and, as always, colleagues will retain full academic freedom in how this is best applied."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/15/diversity-university-of-liverpool-woke-decolonise-history/

    1. Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida. Like Jean-Jacques Rousseau, they’ve wreaked havoc on our civilisation.

      2. I just want to comment and praise the story / drama I listened to this afternoon on BBC radio 4 at 15.15 . https://www.bbc.co.uk/progr… Orwell vs Kafka: Restless Dreams

        We were coming back from an outing , I was driving , and husband my passenger . He listened to half of it then went to sleep as he often does when I am driving , but I was so into it , that a took a long detour so that I could listen to the whole story .

        The story was so well done , very clever and deep , that I do hope many other people listened to the drama and we are all lucky enough to be presented with more high calibre radio theatre such as I heard this afternoon .

        My drive home is usually half an hour , my detour was enormous, but was very scenic and enjoyable, and Moh , bless him slept all the way home !!!!

      3. I just want to comment and praise the story / drama I listened to this afternoon on BBC radio 4 at 15.15 . https://www.bbc.co.uk/progr… Orwell vs Kafka: Restless Dreams

        We were coming back from an outing , I was driving , and husband my passenger . He listened to half of it then went to sleep as he often does when I am driving , but I was so into it , that a took a long detour so that I could listen to the whole story .

        The story was so well done , very clever and deep , that I do hope many other people listened to the drama and we are all lucky enough to be presented with more high calibre radio theatre such as I heard this afternoon .

        My drive home is usually half an hour , my detour was enormous, but was very scenic and enjoyable, and Moh , bless him slept all the way home !!!!

    2. By its very nature (it should select the best), university cannot be "an inclusive experience". It should be weeding out those incapable of making the most of the educational experience so as not to waste scarce resources.

      1. The advantage of having to pay for the course. Who'd pay thousands a year for that bollocks?

  89. Evening, all. Been an extremely wet day here. My neighbour had a flooding and emergencies van in his drive (but I think it was a social call rather than a call out). Meanwhile, in other news, Bridgnorth is celebrating its first "Pride" rally (it should be ashamed of itself) and a 26 yr old goal keeper has died (probably vaxed, but I couldn't be bothered to read it).

    The Tories' handling of everything, particularly running the country, has highlighted their ineptness, not to mention lack of nous, and now the chickens are coming home to roost.

    1. Bridgnorth. A favourite destination for a run out from Wolves. Very fond of the old place.

  90. – So Starmers Dad made fork handles
    or was it four candles?
    well Keir gets on your wick going on about it, I suppose

    1. His dad certainly was a tool maker, but Sir Cursed Harmer is living proof that he wasn't particularly good at it.
      He made a totally warped, bent tool, good for nothing except digging up shit.

      1. I don't know what I may have done to offend Delboy36 to keep getting downvotes, but this is the third I've had recently and on none of my comments have I received a rebuttal of what I wrote.

        By all means give down votes, but at least state why.

        1. I never downvoted anyone on these threads and I don't recall violently disagreeing with anything you have written.
          Not guilty!

          2. It occurs to me that I have occasionally fallen asleep while reading posts ( I am rather old) but I wouldn't think a sleepy twitching finger would only select your offerings. I am a really friendly chap.

          3. I've always enjoyed your posts and most times we appear to be on the same side.
            It was the fact that you had appeared to have done so three times recently that had me wondering.
            If I had offended you I wanted to understand why and perhaps explain my side.

  91. from Coffee House, the Spectator

    David Cameron is driving voters into Farage’s arms
    Comments Share 15 June 2024, 1:05pm
    Who on earth at Tory campaign HQ thought it was a good idea to send Lord Cameron into battle to attack Nigel Farage and try to head off the gathering threat from Reform UK? In an interview with the Times today, the Foreign Secretary accused Farage of dog-whistling.

    He may well be right: it doesn’t take too much imagination to see how Farage’s assertion that Rishi Sunak ‘doesn’t understand our culture’ will have gone down with some voters. The trouble is, though, that Lord Cameron reminds many Reform-leaning voters of everything they dislike about the Tories. He represents the privileged, patrician wing of the Conservative party – the toffs and landowners, the green welly, ‘get orf my land’ brigade. As Tory leader and prime minister he looked after his own, showed a paternalistic regard for the poor – and treated the Conservatives’ self-made men and women with contempt. He went into the 2010 general election promising one tax cut – in inheritance tax – and tax rises for everyone else. He called Ukip voters ‘fruitcakes’. That he has come back into government as a Lord rather than an elected MP has underlined his aloofness.

    The last person who is going to dissuade you from voting for Reform UK now is David Cameron
    What’s more, voters remember that Cameron didn’t want to offer an EU referendum but was dragged into it by the threat that the Conservatives would lose support to Ukip. If you voted Ukip in 2015, or considered voting for the party, in order to force the Conservatives to offer the referendum, the last person who is going to dissuade you from voting for Reform UK now is David Cameron.

    Nigel Farage, by contrast, represents much of what appeals to the other main branch of the Conservative party: the aspirational lower middle classes who flocked to Mrs Thatcher. He looks and sounds like a 1980s Tory backbencher. He stands for everything that conservative-minded folk hate about woke, climate activism and many other things.

    Actually, the Conservative manifesto has a lot in it for the aspirational lower middle classes. No party in modern times has made such an offer to the self-employed: the promise to abolish their National Insurance contributions by the end of the next Parliament. Rishi Sunak’s ‘triple lock plus’ for pensioners – which promises them a higher income tax threshold than other voters, as well as continuing to jack up their pensions by inflation, average earnings or 2 percent, whichever is higher – may be fiscally irresponsible, but it is pretty good news if you are relying on the state pension. The nation’s bungalows and former council homes ought by rights to be plastered with ‘Vote Conservative’ posters.

    Such is the contempt for the Tories after 14 years in power, however, that I doubt there is anything they can do to change the result of this election. It looks as if the country made up its mind after Liz Truss’s brief premiership and that was that. Very few governments around the world, in any case, managed to survive the fallout from the pandemic. But inasmuch as the Conservatives have any chance at all it is certainly not going to be aided by David Cameron’s campaigning. Cameron should be reserved for schmoozing wealthy donors behind closed doors. He should be kept out of view for the rest of the campaign.

    1. The problem the Tories have is that they never seem to fulfil their election promises.
      They've been in power for what seems like eternity and as far as I can recall haven't actually achieved anything.
      To Hell with them

    2. "… the promise to abolish their National Insurance contributions by the end of the next Parliament. Rishi Sunak’s ‘triple lock plus’ for pensioners – which promises them a higher income tax threshold than other voters, as well as continuing to jack up their pensions by inflation, average earnings or 2 percent, whichever is higher …" Trouble is, promises is all they are; we know from past experience they are unlikely to happen once we've been conned into voting for them.

      1. Fool me once, etc. That's the land we're now into regrettably. We'd be mugs to believe them again.

      2. Fool me once, etc. That's the land we're now into regrettably. We'd be mugs to believe them again.

    4. More to the point Cameron is vocal in urging all manner of drastic actions directed at punishing Russia and foolishly backing the gangster regime in Ukraine.

      Cameron typifies the bone-headed imbicile class, a product of Eton and Oxford. The sooner Cameron retires to his hut the better for our country. The House of Lords of which he is a typical example should be abolished and all of those ennobled stripped of their titles.

  94. Israel is not a colonial state. If anything, it's the reverse
    –
    It was only when the Israelis arrived that the desert, and freedom, bloomed
    –
    NAOMI GREENAWAY, Deputy Editor, Telegraph Magazine • 15 June 2024 • 5:15pm

    A distorted narrative painting Israel as a country of "colonisers" has become an accepted truth, particularly among a generation whose concept of global politics has been formed by social media sized snippets.

    It is a tawdry falsehood. Given that many Israelis were driven out of surrounding Middle Eastern countries and many others were survivors of the Holocaust, branding them "colonial" is laughable – but also deeply dangerous.

    My own grandfather was nine when, in 1935, his parents managed to get him out of Mashhad in north-east Persia (now Iran) – a city where being Jewish was punishable by death – to the safety of Jerusalem, where his grandparents lived. Following pogroms in Mashhad a century earlier, those who weren't murdered or didn't manage to escape were forced to convert.

    But while outwardly those converts kept Islam, even taking Arabic names (my Jewish grandfather took the name "Abdul Rachman"), at home they preserved their identity and traditions. My grandfather, who moved to London in his 20s, would tell me about their underground synagogues, clandestine matzah baking on Passover and secret Shabbat observance.

    He also remembered being told to play on the streets and make as much noise as possible. It was only when he was a little older he realised the din was to disguise the sound of the "shofar" being blown on Jewish New Year – and the tragic price they would have paid if they had been discovered.

    In Baghdad my husband's grandfather wasn't having a great time either. The Jews of Iraq had lived happily under British rule but, after Iraqi independence, anti-Semitism increased. Jews were no longer allowed to hold public office, their houses were regularly looted. Riots saw them murdered and abducted. Most of the Jews fled, leaving everything they possessed behind.

    If you can spot a colonialist in this story so far, please do stop me. These are just two of the forgotten pieces of Middle Eastern history that feed into the story of Israel. An estimated 850,000 Jews were driven out of their homes in countries including Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Tunisia, Iran and Libya, many joining the Jewish communities that had been in Israel for millennia.

    The Holocaust survivors, who arrived after liberation in 1945 and more in 1948, also don't fit the colonial bill. For the Jews who came before the Holocaust, anti-Semitism was still the motivation. They may have been white but they don't fit the "white oppressor" narrative they've been branded with. Those people, so many desperate and destitute, turned swamps into farmland and literally made the desert bloom.

    If anything, the story of Israel is the very inverse of colonialism. When Israel gained independence in 1948 the indigenous population, whether Jewish, Muslim, Christian or Druze, were given the vote. And it became a beacon for women's suffrage in the Middle East, particularly for Muslim women. Israeli-Arabs are now part of the fabric of society – they are judges, broadcasters, soldiers, sportspeople and politicians. The Muslim party United Arab List was part of the 2021 coalition.

    That's the inconvenient truth that doesn't fit the social media narrative. There were of course other Muslims who fled Israel in 1948, or were forcibly evicted. Some went to the West Bank and others to the Gaza Strip, where many of their descendants still live.

    But it's important not to give that story the social media treatment too, and erase its historical context. It happened during a war, after Israel was attacked by Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. So many of these details have been erased, distorting Israel's history and its very story of existence. This casting Israel as a colonial force and branding the concept of Zionism as malevolent is crushing real debate rather than encouraging it – and stoking hatred with it.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/15/israel-is-not-a-colonial-state-if-anything-its-the-reverse/

    1. If the world analysed and criticised 1000+ years of Islamic conquest/colonisation in the same way that they do fewer than 100 years of Israel they might come to the conclusion that the problem is Islam rather than Judaism.

      1. Problem is Sos it too obvious for the world divots to notice, let alone mention.

  95. Yes it's early but my phone battery is red lining.
    So I'm off but watching Italy being 2-1 up on Albania. Just before half time. Great to watch football logic for a change. Not too many passes back into their own half.
    Catch yawl tmz.
    Looking forward to a family bbq it's
    Father's day.

  96. The only really wrong note in this is the reference to nativism. All that has happened is that voters, having seen the troubles of, notably, the UK, France, Sweden, Germany and Italy, have told their leaders that they don't want any of that.

    The toxic legacy of lockdown is destroying our political system
    –
    Until politicians come clean about the devastating costs it inflicted, we will be stuck in this cycle of failure
    –
    JANET DALEY • 15 June 2024 • 2:16pm

    I have never known a general election like this one. I cannot remember a national campaign in my lifetime in which the only question for voters was who they hated less.

    There have certainly been moments in the past when a sitting government was so loathed that its defeat was clearly inevitable, but on those occasions there was at least some hope and optimism attaching to the rivals who would displace them.

    Now, from both the evidence of opinion polling, which shows almost no enthusiasm for Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister in what is regarded as a presidential contest, and the anecdotal, word-of-mouth currency that is often more accurate, the conclusion is unavoidable.

    Apart from vested interests in the public sector and the trade unions (some of which appear to be making their support conditional on promises of greater power), the electorate does not appear to much like the Labour Party or its leader – but will still vote for them.

    They are unaffected by the fact that the party's policy statements are evasive and its aims platitudinous, because they are not interested in them at all. Labour's sole function is to act as a blunt instrument with which to beat the Tories. This applies equally to Reform, which might as well change its name to Revenge.

    This fulminating rage must be acknowledged and will have to play itself out through the electoral process, but before we enter that dark place in which we are governed by people nobody wanted, it is important to examine this phenomenon, because it is the most serious threat to healthy democracy in the postwar era. What is happening in Britain is not unique.

    Virtually all of the Western governments who presided over the pandemic years are being thrown out, sometimes with deeply disturbing consequences that could never have been anticipated a mere decade ago.

    Politics in the most advanced countries of what was known as the Free World has become deranged. Populations once believed to have renounced febrile demagoguery and nativist hatred, having absorbed the terrible lessons of the 20th century, are once again infected by them.

    What is going on here? In this country, the conditions of ordinary life for most people – even those groups who consider themselves unfairly disadvantaged – are surely not as bad as they were in, say, the 1970s, when the lights were going out on a regular rota, public transport was frequently shut down completely by national strikes, and my generation had to cope with devastating interest-rate rises and soaring inflation.

    Of course there is genuine hardship and frustration – particularly over the possibility of home ownership, which is the key to independent adulthood – but this overwhelming fury is surely disproportionate to the conditions of everyday life.

    The crucial complaint is that "nothing works", which applies almost entirely to the public sector, and that no one in government seems to be able to fix this. The assumption is that the governing party is either utterly incompetent or indifferent to the needs of ordinary people.

    This exasperation is exacerbated by the fact that neither the Conservatives, who have been in power, nor Labour, which has been in official opposition, can utter the truth. Government policies devised to deal with the pandemic and the energy crisis created by the war in Ukraine have tanked the economy.

    Locking people up in their homes and paying them not to work destroyed the possibility of creating new wealth and saw governments print mountains of money that debased the currency. Energy bills were subsidised by even more money from the Treasury.

    But the governing party was not alone in its responsibility for creating this disaster. Labour was not only complicit in these plans, it was positively exuberant about them. Indeed, Sir Keir wanted earlier lockdown, more lockdown and longer lockdown.

    There was no respectable, mainstream political voice arguing that the economic and social damage done by this decision to shut down the country – and thus disable all the mechanisms of productive, wealth-creating activity – might be catastrophic.

    And there is still no one from the governing class prepared to say that repairing this damage is going to require the kind of sacrifices to which modern electorates are not accustomed.

    More money cannot be poured into public services without raising taxes. And raising taxes is a sure-fire way of killing any prospect of creating new wealth, which makes a nonsense of Labour's commitment to increase growth.

    Somebody is going to have to come clean about this if the democratic process is to regain credibility. The Government, egged on by the Opposition, was running on empty, spending funds that didn't exist, for the best part of two years, and the day of reckoning has finally arrived.

    Now, as it happens this truth that dare not speak its name coincides with a new era in public speech. Social media has opened channels for the dissemination of what can be completely irresponsible, often false and pathologically vicious content.

    Troll armies, sometimes robotically generated, roam unchecked across a landscape whose boundaries are largely unmonitored. Unverifiable and untraceable sources fling out wholesale bile or blatant deception on a scale that is truly overwhelming.

    The Centre for Policy Studies issued a report last week suggesting that this could be the first "deepfake election", in which simulated video clips of politicians making damaging statements are being circulated online.

    Whipping up hatred and distrust is the whole point of this nasty new game and there is only one way to stop its progress: some politician or other is going to have to tell the truth.

    We need a Churchillian voice to deliver the blood, sweat and tears message, which would at least show respect for the intelligence of the populace: there are no easy solutions to our current problems.

    We are going to ask you to make sacrifices and accept some disappointments. Remember that we have always survived as a nation by facing difficult times with courage and resourcefulness.

    But maybe it is too late for that.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/15/toxic-legacy-lockdown-destroying-our-political-system/

    1. Don't worry; we'll be reliving the '70s with strikes, power cuts and all the rest of the problems, including the economy, once Labour gets in power. Net immigration will look good because all the talented, entrepreneurial people and the mobile wealthy will be heading out in great numbers again.

      1. Ah, the good old days. Even the weather looked like a standard 1970s summer's day today.

    1. Big government would just force those horses back to work by destroying the stables they've found to retire into.

    1. I was worried we'd have another no result. It could still happen, fingers crossed.

      Edited. It.

  100. Rosie Pearson loves where she grew up. “This is proper old English countryside,” said the 51-year-old from Aldham in deep, rural Essex. “It is renowned for its big skies, gently rolling countryside, hedgerows and woodlands and historic buildings. These are the landscapes painted by Constable and Gainsborough.”

    But, according to Pearson, this ancient vista is at risk: “They want to put in 180km (112 miles) of pylons across three counties. It’s phenomenally destructive.” By 2030, if proposals are approved, a new electrical highway will be built from Norwich to Tilbury on the north bank of the Thames. National Grid says the plans, which will require 510 new steel pylons, each 50 metres tall, are a “vital part of the transition to net zero”. The wires running through these pylons will transport power from offshore wind farms in the North Sea to the southeast.For local residents, the bright orange posters they have erected in the fields at the sides of the roads have a simpler message: “180km of pylons. Say No!”

    Whichever way the election goes on July 4, this is a dispute set to be replicated up and down the country. The Conservatives have pledged to decarbonise the power sector — move from generating electricity from fossil fuels to alternatives such as wind, solar and nuclear — by 2035.

    Labour wants to do it even quicker — by 2030. “To deliver our clean power mission,” Sir Keir Starmer’s manifesto said last week, “Labour will work with the private sector to double onshore wind, triple solar power and quadruple offshore wind by 2030.”

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Cynics say this is impossible — and not just because Britain cannot install enough wind turbines and solar panels in that time. Another, less obvious, factor is that we do not have the power lines in place to move the electricity to the towns and cities that need it.

    To decarbonise, National Grid says it will need to build five times more transmission lines than have been erected in the past 30 years. And that can mean only one thing: many more new pylons.

    https://twitter.com/True_Belle/status/1802074201077014790

    1. They do want to do just that, yes. They're saying the pylons will be 150M high apparently. They will carry on from Essex up into Suffolk and run along the west side of the A140 through places such as Mendlesham, Bacton and so on.

      They are to take the power from the newly planned offshore, but the lines could go underground. As usual, it's just the energy companies trying to save a bob or two.

    2. Even if we did build and instal enough windmills and solar panels, we don't have the climate for them to be effective. Too much wind and they have to be shut down, too little wind associated with cold spells mean they won't contribute enough power (never mind the grid not being able to cope with intermittent supply). Cloudy, rainy days are not conducive to providing the massive amounts of solar power that would be needed. It's a fantasy based on totally incorrect science (the real sort, which isn't settled).

      1. As long as the government keeps donating taxpayers' money they'll keep on building them despite anything, as we know.

        Def. Sustainability: the ability given to politicians to spaff other people's money on worthless projects in the sure and certain knowledge that tomorrow the money will keep on coming.

    3. If we did carpet the country with windmills they would still be 20% efficient, still require massive subsidy, still force energy bills and up still not work 60% of the time. They are a pointless, destructive, ecological and engineering abomination.

  101. Could very well have been. We've been bitten by slugs too many times in the past now. My remedy is to buy a packet of Nemasys and another of Nemaslug every Spring and disinfect everywhere I'll be putting down crops with them. Nasty, nasty pieces of work are nematodes. Slugs around the garden yes, but never on the veg following that.

    1. I think that’s the way I shall have to go. I used to go out in damp weather and salt the beggars (I have a dog so no slug pellets), which controlled them, but nematodes seem to be the best solution.

    1. Trump is unlikely to put those miscreants in jail. He is not a vengeful person but a man who has no need to seek retribution. The retribution will be in winning the election and supplanting the scared fools with reliable patriots.

      The one thing those fools should fear is of course the appropriate application of the Law.

      1. The MSM in the States are pushing the retribution falsehood for all its worth: the objective is to make Trump and his followers look like vengeful thugs. When the presenters on MNSBC, CNN etc. are delivering their tirades against Trump at the same time as Biden & Co are systematically dismantling and bankrupting the USA it appears that a form of madness has overtaken the presenters and editors of those programmes. Can they be so blind politically or is there something else in play?

        Steve Bannon, of the War Room, especially, and others, are talking of the application of Justice, the rule of law and the Constitution to bring these people to heel.

    2. Trump is unlikely to put those miscreants in jail. He is not a vengeful person but a man who has no need to seek retribution. The retribution will be in winning the election and supplanting the scared fools with reliable patriots.

      The one thing those fools should fear is of course the appropriate application of the Law.

  103. Another day is done so, I wish you a goodnight and may God bless you all, Gentlefolk. Bis morgen früh. If we are spared!

  105. In his mid-twenties, Starmer was training for the Bar and editing Socialist Alternatives, a Trotsykist magazine. Reeves, never given to radicalism, was writing discussion papers on the extent to which the publication of monetary policy committee meetings affected bond prices.

    https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/rachel-reeves-labour-shadow-chancellor-taxes-spending-2nbxxt99d

    What is a Trotskyist?
    Trotsky believed his country could achieve socialism only if the working classes around the world rose up as one to overthrow the ruling classes – the doctrine of "international socialism".

    He believed the Soviet Union had become a dictatorship under Stalin and advocated more democracy in the one party state.

    He was murdered by a Stalinist assassin, in Mexico, in 1940, where he was living in exile after being expelled from the Soviet Union.

    Trotsky's killer embedded an ice axe in the revolutionary's head.

    What has any of this got to do with 21st Century British politics?

    Trotsky inspired followers around the world and they still survive to this day on the fringes of British politics.

    They have never had much success in elections, seeming to spend more time fighting each other and splitting into rival factions with confusingly similar names than taking on the powers that be.

    There is a poignant clip of actress Vanessa Redgrave, whose family were heavily involved with the Trotskyist Workers Revolutionary Party, defiantly lecturing her 1974 general election opponents on the urgent need for a socialist state, after gaining just 574 votes in Newham North East.

    1. Socialist Alternatives??

      Apart from Islam, anything is a better alternative to socialism

      1. The number of wasters exiting the workforce onto benefits under the Tories has rocketed. UnderLab it will become a free for all.

    3. None of the minnows supposedly representing the Labour Party and its voters are in any way serious politicians. They are posturing ignoramuses with expensive hairstyles and the clothes to match, both equally distasteful.

      Anyone cajoled into voting for these oiks are therefore by definition morons. We desperately need an anti-moron party, a party able to represent the intellectual and educated base of our country.

      I am voting Reform more in hope than expectation.

    4. None of the minnows supposedly representing the Labour Party and its voters are in any way serious politicians. They are posturing ignoramuses with expensive hairstyles and the clothes to match, both equally distasteful.

      Anyone cajoled into voting for these oiks are therefore by definition morons. We desperately need an anti-moron party, a party able to represent the intellectual and educated base of our country.

      I am voting Reform more in hope than expectation.

    5. None of the minnows supposedly representing the Labour Party and its voters are in any way serious politicians. They are posturing ignoramuses with expensive hairstyles and the clothes to match, both equally distasteful.

      Anyone cajoled into voting for these oiks are therefore by definition morons. We desperately need an anti-moron party, a party able to represent the intellectual and educated base of our country.

      I am voting Reform more in hope than expectation.

  107. the end of a long day…22nd wedding anniversary and celebrating daughter’s 21st birthday 5 days early as she is off to Oz for 2 months on Monday, having just finished her university degree. Just us 4, and the 4 grandparents. Given I was 35 when I married, the children are very privileged to have 4 grandparents still alive and in relatively good nick.

    edit. Tomorrow would have been Jasper’s (dog) 11th anniversary with us. Such a lovely dog.

    1. "Just us 4, and the 4 grandparents". Who were the "Just us 4"? You (MIR), your other half (Mr or Mrs MIR), your daughter, and…?

      2. Sorry, me, husband, daughter, son (on good form for once; he is 19 and has the most devastating smile, which i had forgotten he had (🙂) and my daughter has the bluest of eyes). Just 16 months between my two! Poor Jasper didn’t make it; we would have had him 11 years today.

  108. Well, that's me for today. Good night all, sleep well and see you all tomorrow. PS – A belated Happy Birthday to His Majesty King Charles. Sorry I'm so late Your Maj., but Rastus and Caroline forgot to let us know on here.

      1. His unofficial or false birthday is a device whereby the idiot can distribute yet more honours on the undeserving flunkeys keeping him in power. Most honours are mere sops to his adversaries and those such as Alan Bates of the Post Office scandal who have exposed the corruption in our systems of government.

        For goodness sake, people, wake up!

      2. Strange, that, Conners. His Mum also had two birthdays. It must run in the family. Lol.

    1. Morning, Geoff, thank you and cheers for all the sterling work you have lavished on us, on our behalf.

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