Monday 17 June: Labour’s VAT plan for private schools could hurt thousands of children

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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526 thoughts on “Monday 17 June: Labour’s VAT plan for private schools could hurt thousands of children”

  4. GOOD MORROW, GENTLEFOLK. TODAYS (RECYCLED) STORIES.

    A Whole Week’s Stories
    Monday
    The mother of a 17-year-old girl was concerned that her daughter was having sex.

    Worried the girl might become pregnant and adversely impact the family's status, she consulted the family doctor.

    The doctor told her that teenagers today were very wilful and any attempt to stop the girl would probably result in rebellion. He then told her to arrange for her daughter to be put on birth control and until then, talk to her and give her a box of condoms.

    Later that evening, as her daughter was preparing for a date, the mother told her about the situation and handed her a box of condoms. The girl burst out laughing and reached over to hug her mother, saying,

    'Oh Mom! You don't have to worry about that! I'm dating Susan!'

    Tuesday
    A man went to church one day and afterward he stopped to shake the vicar's hand.

    He said, 'Reverend, I'll tell you, that was a damned fine sermon. Damned good!'

    The vicar said, 'Thank you, sir, but I'd rather you didn't use profanity.'

    The man said, 'I was so damned impressed with that sermon I put five hundred pounds in the offering plate!'

    The vicar said, 'No shit?'

    Wednesday
    Brenda and Steve took their six-year-old son to the doctor.
    With some hesitation, they explained that although their little angel appeared to be in good health, they were concerned about his rather small penis.
    After examining the child, the doctor confidently declared, 'Just feed him pancakes. That should solve the problem.'
    The next morning when the boy arrived at breakfast, there was a large stack of warm pancakes in the middle of the table.
    'Wow, Mum,' he exclaimed. 'For me?'
    'Just take two,' Brenda replied. 'The rest are for your father.'

    Thursday
    One night, an 87-year-old woman came home from
    Bingo to find her 92-year-old husband in bed with another woman.
    She became violent and ended up pushing him off the balcony of their 20th floor apartment, killing him instantly.
    Brought before the court, on the charge of murder, she was asked if she had anything to say in her defence.
    'Your Honour,' she began coolly, 'I figured that at 92, if he was such a Superman that he could still screw, I thought he could fly too.'

    Friday
    A Doctor was addressing a large audience in Birmingham.
    'The material we put into our stomachs is enough to have killed most of us sitting here, years ago. Red meat is awful. Soft drinks corrode your stomach lining. Chinese food is loaded with MSG. High fat diets can be disastrous, and none of us realizes the long-term harm caused by the germs in our drinking water.

    However, there is one thing that is the most dangerous of all and we all have eaten, or will eat it. Can anyone here tell me what food it is that causes the most grief and suffering for years after eating it?'

    After several seconds of quiet, a 75-year-old man in the front row raised his hand, and softly said,
    'Wedding Cake.'

    Saturday
    Bob, a 70-year-old, extremely wealthy widower, shows up at the Country Club with a breathtakingly beautiful and very sexy 25-year-old blonde-haired woman who knocks everyone's socks off with her youthful sex appeal and charm and who hangs over Bob's arm and listens intently to his every word.
    His buddies at the club are all aghast.
    At the very first chance, they corner him and ask, 'Bob, how'd you get the trophy girlfriend?'
    Bob replies, 'Girlfriend? She's my wife!'
    They are knocked over, but continue to ask. 'So, how'd you persuade her to marry you?'
    'I lied about my age', Bob replies.
    'What, did you tell her you were only 50?'
    Bob smiles and says, 'No, I told her I was 90.'

    Sunday
    Groups of Brits were traveling by tour bus through Holland.
    As they stopped at a cheese farm, a young guide led them through the process of cheese making, explaining that goat's milk was used.
    She showed the group a lovely hillside where many goats were grazing.
    'These' she explained, 'Are the older goats put out to pasture when they no longer produce.'
    She then asked, 'What do you do in Britain with your old goats?'
    A spry old gentleman answered, 'They send us on bus tours!

    1. The interrogators just can't win against him! They just make themselves look petty, vindictive and stupid.

  7. Good morning, chums, and thanks to Geoff for this morning's NoTTLe site.

    Wordle 1,094 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
    ⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Soooo feminine, aren’t they! What a spectacle!
      ‘Morning all! Just about to leave for the airport!

      1. Morning Sue. I have to confess that I cannot watch this stuff. It is so obviously fixed. Give me Kent Walton on Saturday afternoon.

        1. Hi Spikey! Home now! Cats thrilled to see us and the garden looks like a jungle! Very warm and overcast!😘

    3. Comments from our lady Nottlers surprise me. Those women are empowered in both senses.
      I would like to see a muslim rapist try and turn any of them into a victim.

  11. Floats in on a scented breeze, good morning everyone, it seems summer has finally arrived. A bright blue sky outside and the birds are chirping away .

  12. Sir Rod Stewart booed for Ukraine tribute at concert in Germany. 17 June 2024.

    British pop star Sir Rod Stewart was booed at a concert in Germany while making a show of support for Ukraine in its war against Russia, German media reported on Sunday.

    The singer paid tribute to Ukraine as he introduced the song “Rhythm of My Heart” at his sold-out concert in Leipzig on Friday, according to the Tag 24 news outlet.

    This was a live opinion poll that the PTB couldn’t fix. I think that a fair proportion of the population have figured out what is actually going on here. There are for example no popular marches or demonstrations in support of Ukraine.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

  13. Sir Rod Stewart booed for Ukraine tribute at concert in Germany. 17 June 2024.

    British pop star Sir Rod Stewart was booed at a concert in Germany while making a show of support for Ukraine in its war against Russia, German media reported on Sunday.

    The singer paid tribute to Ukraine as he introduced the song “Rhythm of My Heart” at his sold-out concert in Leipzig on Friday, according to the Tag 24 news outlet.

    This was a live opinion poll that the PTB couldn’t fix. I think that a fair proportion of the population have figured out what is actually going on here. There are for example no popular marches or demonstrations in support of Ukraine.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

  16. Labour’s VAT plan for private schools could hurt thousands of children

    Since when has the suffering of children's education been a problem for Lefty levelling down dogma

    1. In our village, there is a small private school (just over 100 on roll) for children aged 4-16. A significant number of the pupils have 'additional needs' which cannot be met by state schools with their large classes. I know several families who have sent their children there, including a very bright teenager who was unable to cope in his previous big state comprehensive. It provides a very valuable alternative for many families, whose children would simply not be able to cope in mainstream schools.
      Contrary to what many seem to believe, not all independent schools instil attitudes of entitlement and superiority in their charges, and not all pupils are from wealthy families.

  17. Good Moaning.

    "A brand new species of vegetarian piranha has been discovered by scientists in the Amazon River."

    The vegan piranha didn't need to be discovered. It told the explorers the moment they entered the river.

  18. 388634+ up ticks.

    Morning Each,

    .Monday 17 June: Labour’s VAT plan for private schools could hurt thousands of children

    On reflection "Miranda" first introduced the mass harming of children ongoing,this was revealed clearly via the JAY report
    other governing parties took the easy route and continued to import foreign paedophiles, cover ups in ALL departments of society becoming the norm.

    From the 5th July ongoing regardless of which set of toxic detestable political creatures are victorious Britain will start working on the biggest cover up ever created, it will be in the shape of a nation fitting, tailor made, shroud, ALL our own work.

    Currently regarding the polling stations "Best we forget" the country many of us knew and loved the herd majority mindset is
    that is for the best.

  21. looking forward to the implementation of CGT on private residences. Cannot foresee any consequences whatsoever on this.

    “Sir – The various party manifestos give us an opportunity to shine a light on the injustices in our current tax laws and allow us to challenge policies that have been ingrained in the system for years.
    Family homes present one example (“Labour forced to deny CGT on family homes”, report, June 15). Many people view their homes as an “investment”, so charging a capital gain on any profit made on this investment seems perfectly reasonable. Stamp duty, on the other hand, is a punitive tax on a necessary purchase which disproportionately penalises first-time and younger buyers. It should be abolished.
    Paul Archer
    Derby”

    1. I’m pretty sure most people regard their “home” as, simply, home. Not an investment. I’m not sure many make a living out of moving house every couple of years simply to make money out of it.

    2. My home is NOT "an investment". It's a place I live in. I don't intend to move if I can avoid it.

    1. Whilst the Culprits of that act of vandalism deserve a very severe arse-kicking, I find the hysteria being spouted against them more than slightly over the top.

    4. I can't even think why someone would cut down such a tree. Can anyone put forward a reason? Hatred of tourists perhaps?

      1. Did it for a laugh appears to be all the reason some need to destroy things.
        Look at how often things are destroyed by random acts of vandalism.

  23. Quite liked this.

    “Sir – James Charrington (Letters, June 14) asks who “working people” are.
    Times have changed and the old definitions of working, middle and upper class are outdated. Society is far better divided into the dependent, the working and the independently monied, the last two groups being the ones that actually make a material contribution to national wealth.
    Today’s real working class encompasses anyone rendered liable to taxation by their efforts to make a living, so might include everyone from manual workers to investment bankers. Politicians clinging to an old class system to attract votes are being disingenuous at best.
    Charles Smith-jones
    Landrake, Cornwall”

    1. Yes, at last some common sense injected into what has now become an archaic sytem of classification (not to mention 'put down' and 'know your place'). We criticise India's caste system and its 'untouchables' but somehow still cling on to a way-past-its-best hierarchy of 'betters'.

      Everyone who works for a living, despite their ancestry, and despite their working environment are 'working people'. What is wrong with that?

      I have had the opportunity and pleasure of associating with people from all over the 'rank structure' of British society. I found the so-called upper classes quite normal, unpretentious, and more than willing to chin-wag with the 'lower orders' especially the 'working man'.

      It is those in the middle, the envious brigade, who constantly bang on about their 'middle class' status — as if it is somehow necessary to reinforce their incongruous belief that they are somehow better than he who gets his hands dirty for a living — who I call the 'pretentious class'.

      [Cue: indignation and orotund flatulence from members of the pompously inflated, jumped-up contingent 😊]

      1. I have far more respect to those who work for a living with their hands than University administrators etc. Would be very happy to have my son train as a Sparky or plumber or even gas engineer. Would be very happy for my daughter to marry one.

        1. Firstborn is a time-served motor technician, by his own choice, and now a Technical Specialist for the firm in Norway. He is by no means lazy or stupid, in fact is probably better informed than I am – and I have 4 degrees!

        2. Very good money to be made in those jobs. And customers are pleased to see them. Unlike anyone from the council or government.

      2. Ditto. In my working life I've had to mix with the spectrum of the 'class' system. From senior politicians and the 'gentry' to those in sink council estates. I soon found out that they are all just people. Some good, some bad, and the distribution was more or less equal.

  24. I have the day off as I am taking my lovely daughter to the airport later – she is off to Oz for the trip of a lifetime. Hence I am here, now (but not for much longer🙂). Last letter for consideration/comment: is this really the way our late Queen would have eaten toast? Breaking the bread, as one would a bread roll when eating soup? If so, I must change my ways!

    “– The late Queen would not have spread marmalade over the whole slice of toast as shown in the accompanying photograph to your article (“Queen’s favourite marmalade in a sticky spot”, report, June 14).
    She would have broken the slice into quarters and eaten each in succession by putting on enough butter and marmalade for one mouthful at a time.
    Eating toast in the manner illustrated is inelegant and risks ending up with one quarter between the teeth, one still in the hand and the remainder in one’s lap, marmalade side down.
    David Vaudrey Doynton, South Gloucestershire”

    1. Good grief! Now there are rules about how to eat toast and marmalade!
      Some people need to get a life…

      1. Not rules just best practice. Her Majesty had it right. Same with cut sandwiches. If you cut a sandwich on the diagonal it can lose the filling at the points but if you cut a sandwich into four squares it remains stable.
        Crusts off of course !

        1. I just eat the whole slab with no cutting. Reduces the need for washing-up!

    2. Breaking the bread and spreading it with butter from the side of the plate and marmalade (spooned) is how I was taught toast and marmalade should be eaten.

  25. I have the day off as I am taking my lovely daughter to the airport later – she is off to Oz for the trip of a lifetime. Hence I am here, now (but not for much longer🙂). Last letter for consideration/comment: is this really the way our late Queen would have eaten toast? Breaking the bread, as one would a bread roll when eating soup? If so, I must change my ways!

    “– The late Queen would not have spread marmalade over the whole slice of toast as shown in the accompanying photograph to your article (“Queen’s favourite marmalade in a sticky spot”, report, June 14).
    She would have broken the slice into quarters and eaten each in succession by putting on enough butter and marmalade for one mouthful at a time.
    Eating toast in the manner illustrated is inelegant and risks ending up with one quarter between the teeth, one still in the hand and the remainder in one’s lap, marmalade side down.
    David Vaudrey Doynton, South Gloucestershire”

  26. Good morning good people!
    A pleasant start to the day, dry, if somewhat overcast and with 8½°C on the yard thermometer.

      1. Good morning J

        I am always amazed , but puzzled and delighted how birds develop their feathers , and the variety of coloured feathers as well. When they are hatched , they resemble little lizards , then the magic starts .

        How do we know that many dinosaurs didn’t have feathers or fur ?

        I do hope all the babies survive.

          1. Good morning MM,

            The flying variety or the ground based variety ..

            And another thing .. flying fish , yes I have seen many of those , and how and why..

            Also those strange fish that crawl in mangrove swamps .. how and why ..

            So many questions , even now I am older , do we ever find the answers we need ?

          2. Both, Belle. All birds have dinosaur ancestry. I remember you had a pet African grey parrot. Their chicks are so dinosaur-like that I'm surprised the relationship wasn't made many many years ago.
            As for flying fish, it's just an evolved defence trait. Flying squid are even more amazing to see. I used to watch them in the mid-tropics and couldn't persuade others on the boat that these were flocks of squid not flying fish.
            You probably saw the mudskippers in the creeks of Nigeria near the coast. I watched them many time and was always fascinated by them.
            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6f56746b507cef238abd671d060ae24c73babdfd06021b6da6dc71f6065595db.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e2ce202da812189d6d5d7b31bd7abf94e992e4bfe2156a28fa4ad2fc251100da.jpg

          3. We shared the same amazing experiences MM.

            Yep and bless you for remembering my parrot. He was like a little gnawing dinosaur , and enjoyed chewing on a chop bone ..as a treat !

          4. Flying squid! You just made my day. 🙂 (One of my favourite toys as a child was a rubbery/plastic flying fish.)

    2. Excellent.
      There is also a nest on part of the Abbey in St Albans. Not osprey, I think it's Peregrines.

  29. Good morning. Vote Reform.

    David Cameron is a disgrace to Britain

    Smug, complacent, and snobby, he has convinced me I was right to offer Britain a stronger alternative to a hopeless Tory opposition
    Nigel Farage

    Why would anybody trust the Conservative Party to make the big decisions about the future of Britain, when they can’t even agree on what to do about Nigel Farage?

    Former Tory home secretary Suella Braverman last week urged her party to “welcome” me and “unite the right”. But Saturday’s front page headlines had Tory foreign secretary David Cameron hurling insults at me and declaring that “Farage has no place in Tory Party” – apparently because of my “incredibly divisive” approach.

    If Lord Cameron is worried about damaging divisions, he should look a bit closer to home. The terminally divided Tory Party has proved itself incapable of effective government over the past 14 years – and is set to be even more hopelessly split in opposition, after it gets hammered on July 4th.

    That – and Cameron’s complacent, arrogant dismissal of the biggest issue facing the country – is why I’m more convinced than ever that it’s right to stand against them.

    It’s why more and more people now rightly see Reform UK as the real opposition to the coming Labour government.

    Cameron has the nerve to claim that, after 14 years of failure, the Tories now have a plan to deal with Britain’s immigration crisis. By contrast, he says, all I offer is “inflammatory language and hopeless policy”.

    By “inflammatory language”, does he mean my stating the fact that 3.5 million immigrants have come to the UK over the past three years alone? Or that, under the current the Tory Government, one more migrant enters the UK every minute? Or that, under the Conservatives and Labour governments before them, more people have come to the UK over the past 25 years than in all of British history before that?

    Does the Tory Government now consider these plain facts to be too “inflammatory” for the ears of the British people? (The BBC seems to think so, having desperately fact-checked my statements but failed to find any untruths.) If anybody is being dishonest, it is those who refuse to admit that our country simply cannot cope with this uncontrolled influx, economically or culturally.

    As for “hopeless policy”, that’s a subject that Rishi “Rwanda plan” Sunak knows all about. By contrast Reform UK’s policies – to freeze all non-essential immigration, detain and deport all illegal migrants and leave the European Convention on Human Rights – offer realistic hope of addressing the migration crisis and stopping European judges overruling the will of the British people. This is at the heart of our Contract with the British people, which we are launching on Monday.

    Eight years is a long time in politics, yet Cameron and the Conservatives appear to have forgotten nothing and learned nothing since the EU referendum of 2016.

    Perhaps I shouldn’t blame Lord Cameron for his personal animus towards me, since the success of our Leave campaign did cost him his job as Prime Minister. But the Tories’ repeated betrayals of the British people and the Brexit they voted for is unforgivable.

    Cameron called that referendum in the smug belief that the Project Fear run by him and his chancellor, George Osborne, would hoodwink the British electorate into voting to Remain in thrall to the EU. When instead 17.4m voted Leave – lest we forget, the biggest vote for anything in British history – he flounced off and left Theresa May and the Remainer-dominated parliament to try to sell out Brexit.

    The victory of my Brexit Party in the 2019 European elections drove Mrs May from Number 10 and brought in Boris Johnson who – with my help – won the general election that year on the promise to “get Brexit done”. Yet five years and three Tory prime ministers later, we are patently no nearer to taking back control of our borders and our laws.

    That betrayal of Brexit is ultimately why millions of furious voters have turned their backs on the remains of the Conservative Party. It is why Keir Starmer’s Labour is set to win on July 4th, despite the lack of public enthusiasm for his party, his personality or his six big election pledges – which do not include a word about migration.

    It is also why I decided to stand for election. In two weeks, Reform UK has breathed life into this zombie general election and overtaken the Tories in major opinion polls, winning the support of millions of people across the country who have simply had enough of the establishment parties.

    In his lowest personal insult at the weekend, the Tory Foreign Secretary accused me of using “dog whistle” politics to play on popular prejudices. As ever, the biggest insult here is directed at the voters, who snobs such as Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton see as dumb mutts to be herded into pens. I trust the good judgement of the British people to see through such Tory prejudice.

    Cameron is right about one thing. There is “no place for Farage” in this divided, sinking hulk of a Conservative Party. My place is leading the real opposition to Labour, and building the resistance to the threat of a one-party state over the next five years. The last conservatives in the Tory Party, such as Suella Braverman, are very welcome to join the revolt.

    1. Good point that he reminds us of: That Brexit was the biggest vote ever, and that the ruling classes have thwarted it at every turn.
      By rights, Parliament should have been burned well before now.

  30. Morning, all Y'all.
    Dear God, did it rain last night! Woken several times by the hooshing of rain on the roof and windows… now, extremely damp day. Just back from the Dr, having has the piss taken (no connection to the dampness, before you ask!)

  31. Good morning all (77th too),

    A bright sunny day at Castle McPhee, clear blue skies but clouding over this afternoon, wind South-West 11℃ with 19-20℃ forecast.

    Farage launches the Reform UK manifesto today in Wales, possibly the part of the UK which has been most affected by the crazies – smart move that.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/46aa3f3f410365f82ce73317c0f589432fb87927a5ea6d9f71c3d1bc0595d88b.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/16/reform-manifesto-uk-wales-nigel-farage-tories-opposition/

    My only complaint is that it doesn't go far enough. Raising the Personal Tax Allowance and the Higher Rate threshold is good but it should also make PTA and the basic rate band transferrable between married couples, abolish the tapering of the PTA above £100K and get rid of the 45% rate. As well as abandoning Net Zero, The Climate Change Act should be repealed. There is no mention of a repatriation programme for migrants either.

    It's a start, and this is of course just an advance report. Maybe he'll pull some rabbits out of the hat.

    2. And then stupid Wilson poked his nose in, at Rhodesia and wrecked the whole safe and well balanced country. Murder became a past time.
      He also ruined many working people's future state pensions. By forcing SET on businesses and making many working people self employed.

  34. As you will see , Labour ruined London and will continue to socially engineer every green space in our Kingdom.

    According to another historian, Eric Shaw, in the rush to build, and to overcome shortages in funds, the First Wilson Government "succumbed to the fashion for high-rise blocks of flats." For Shaw, the housing drive demonstrated "flaws in Labour's centralist brand of social democracy," the assumption that the interests of ordinary people could be safeguarded by public officials without needing to consult them, "a well-intentioned but short-sighted belief that pledges could be honored by spreading resources more thinly; and a 'social engineering' approach to reform in which the calculation of the effects of institutional reform neglected their impact upon the overall quality of people's lives." This approach resulted in people being wrenched from their local communities and transferred to isolating and forbidding environments which often lacked basic social and commercial amenities and which hindered the revival of community networks. High-rise council flats, according to Shaw, intensified class inequalities by becoming a low-grade reserve for the poorer sections of the working class, which reflecting the "extent to which Keynesian social democracy had departed from the traditions of ethical socialism, with its aspirations to construct institutions which would foster greater fellowship, a communal spirit and more altruistic forms of behaviour." As further noted by Shaw, the "new soulless working-class estates" became the breeding grounds of a host of social evils, "as socialists from an older generation like William Morris could have predicted."

    1. I was a child when all this was going on and remember feeling deeply uncomfortable about it all. It was not until 1974 that I was allowed to do anything about it electorally.

      The buzz words at the time were "slum clearance" and "progresss" – Sweep away the old and bring in the new. This was on the presumption that the new was better than the old, which I was not entirely convinced about. The favourite tool was the Compulsory Purchase Order, which I always felt was a violation of freedom that as a child I was brought up to believe my country was about.

      I saw whole swathes of Victorian and Edwardian Britain torn out that were clearly not slums, and had considerably more life left in them than their modern replacements. Many of them much-loved landmarks I lamented as Britain (later to be known as GB plc) replaced elegant with tacky.

      Yet I was a child. Below the age of consent, so I had to like it or lump what my elders and betters were doing.

      1. The first two houses I lived in were demolished under 'slum clearance'. Where they where are now are soulless and very ugly.
        The whole thing was highly corrupt as well. T Dan Smith the Labour politician who demolished large parts of Newcastle ended up in jail because of it.

        1. They say that when the medieval heart of Worcester, which had survived the Blitz (and included Elgar's shop and the last Cathedral lych gate in Europe), was torn down in 1965 to build a shopping centre, hotel and multi-storey car park, the councillor lobbied to make the decision retired to Bermuda on the proceeds.

          Edit – I am sorry to hear of your former homes. I have lost quite a few places important to me – the first place where I worked was substantially rebuilt about 15 years ago, and quite a few other of my workplaces have gone. I also lost the residential school where I met my first girlfriend at a choral summer school in 1974.

          I was born in a little converted coach house in Middlesex, which was in a row of large Victorian houses with a tennis club, a TV studio and the set of locks on the Thames where the river's tidal status ended. When demolition was rife, I often used to dream about my birthplace disappearing, but while all the big houses were torn down and replaced by flats, that little house survived – perhaps the developers felt it was not viable for development, and it is still there.

        2. When I was a child we lived in Talgarth Road, Kensington.
          The side that is now under the road leading to Heathrow.

      3. The old "slums" had a real sense of community, fellowship and society. The new tower blocks were brutal and isolating. To destroy the former in favour of the latter was the start of what we're seeing come to fruition now.

        1. From Coffee House, the Spectator

          The trouble with having a posh accent
          It’s a signifier of all the wrong things

          Comments Share 17 June 2024, 5:00am
          When I was growing up, regional accents were quite firmly delineated. If you came from Birmingham, for example, you spoke Brummie. That is, unless you were posh. In which case, wherever you lived, you spoke the same BBC English – or received pronunciation. Speaking ‘correctly’ was a determiner of class, like a grounding in Latin. If you met someone who spoke RP, you knew they’d probably had a similar education. Even today, when certain people ask, ‘where did you go to school?’ what they really mean is, ‘which public school did you go to?’

          I once spent two miserable months working in a housing association, where my accent made me a target for some of my less open-minded colleagues
          The problem with ‘talking posh’ when I was growing up was that you stuck out. Attempts to disguise my accent made me sound ridiculous. If I adopted the local vernacular, my dad would bellow: ‘I haven’t paid good money for you to sound like that!’ Speaking the way I did could lead to awkwardness. My friends who went to the local school had such thick accents I often had to ask them to repeat themselves. If I met anyone from further afield, they might as well have been speaking Chinese.

          Leaving the rarefied world of public school brought me into more contact with people who spoke colloquial English. The job I had before going to university required neither qualifications nor skills. My accent made me a source of fascination to my workmates. I was treated as a kind of exotic animal; ‘ark at ee,’ they’d exclaim. Having also had elocution lessons, I must have been a dead-ringer for Little Lord Fauntleroy.

          I once spent two miserable months working in a housing association, where my accent made me a target for some of my less open-minded colleagues. In their opinion, my private school education meant I lacked empathy with our largely poor clients. I couldn’t be bothered to tell them that I wasn’t actually posh. My dad had just paid a fortune for me to sound the way I did.

          However, in the intervening years, accents have become more fluid. The patrician voices of old television and radio presenters have been replaced by a more representative spread of accents. Even the royals speak differently. If you listen to recordings of the late Queen when she was a girl compared to when she was old, the difference is marked. Those sharp vowels softened considerably.

          Where being posh was once a source of status, these days, it can make you a target of resentment or even hate. Ordering a pint in a braying voice at your local won’t win you any friends. Any deference to poshness has long gone. Former BBC newsreader Jan Leeming recently told followers on X/Twitter that she no longer gets offered work because of her RP accent.

          Most popular
          Louise Perry
          The quiet return of eugenics

          So, when I hear the plummy voices of the kids who go to my old school, I think wryly, ‘you’re not going to last five minutes in the real world sounding like that’. My accent is more neutral now. I haven’t consciously changed it, but it’s modified over time as I’ve lived in other places, travelled, and generally met a mix of people. There are probably subtle changes as I ‘code-switch’ (to use the current lingo) depending on whom I’m talking to. The chummy tone I adopt for builders – ‘Alright, mate? D’you fancy a brew?’ – is replaced by something slightly more affected if I’m ordering at a fancy restaurant. Nobody wants to be thought of as phoney. Who remembers the ridicule Fettes-educated Tony Blair got for his attempt at mockney?

          Anyway, cockney is now facing extinction, with the children of most speakers talking in Estuary English, which is widely used in the south east around London. There can’t be too many youngsters today who’ve been told to: ‘Shut yer bleedin cake ole.’ Meanwhile, Standard Southern British English has largely replaced received pronunciation.

          So RP has become an anachronism. Some may see it as an erosion of standards and fulminate over the increasing use of sloppy English, but speaking clearly and precisely is not predicated on having a particular accent. Although, admittedly, some people’s diction is appalling: including notable individuals in public life. But that is another matter.

          1. Code switching is not just "current lingo"; it's been a sociolinguistic concept for decades and was old when I did my Applied Linguistics MA in the early eighties.

  35. As you will see , Labour ruined London and will continue to socially engineer every green space in our Kingdom.

    According to another historian, Eric Shaw, in the rush to build, and to overcome shortages in funds, the First Wilson Government "succumbed to the fashion for high-rise blocks of flats." For Shaw, the housing drive demonstrated "flaws in Labour's centralist brand of social democracy," the assumption that the interests of ordinary people could be safeguarded by public officials without needing to consult them, "a well-intentioned but short-sighted belief that pledges could be honored by spreading resources more thinly; and a 'social engineering' approach to reform in which the calculation of the effects of institutional reform neglected their impact upon the overall quality of people's lives." This approach resulted in people being wrenched from their local communities and transferred to isolating and forbidding environments which often lacked basic social and commercial amenities and which hindered the revival of community networks. High-rise council flats, according to Shaw, intensified class inequalities by becoming a low-grade reserve for the poorer sections of the working class, which reflecting the "extent to which Keynesian social democracy had departed from the traditions of ethical socialism, with its aspirations to construct institutions which would foster greater fellowship, a communal spirit and more altruistic forms of behaviour." As further noted by Shaw, the "new soulless working-class estates" became the breeding grounds of a host of social evils, "as socialists from an older generation like William Morris could have predicted."

    1. She was a Cunard ship Belle. Cunard took over the White Star line of Titanic fame in 1934. The official company name might have been Cunard White Star though. Can't remember.

      1. At the time of sinking it was HMT Lancastria (His Majesty's Troopship). It has been requisitioned in 1939/40.

        1. Still a merchant ship operated and mostly manned by Cunard merchant seamen.

  37. Warmongering Western leaders reject Russia's sensible and moderate peace proposals at a Global Peace Summit. Almost 90 countries voted in favour.
    We are heading for the never-ending 'useful' war depicted in Orwell's 1984.

    1. If I understand it, Russia's peace proposals were for a temporary ceasefire if Ukraine hands over four provinces, including some parts never occupied by Russian forces.

      Seems to me to bear too much of a resemblance to Munich in 1938 for any victor of WW2 to stomach. It sets a precedent too for Israel and China at least to feel they can push for similar terms to their claimed birthrights.

      I imagine "sensible and moderate" was said somewhat tongue-in-cheek, or you are Neville Chamberlain.

      1. Not at all tongue in cheek. Russia's proposals just mirror reality. The proposal was for a permanent ceasefire. Russia keeps the areas with large Russian majorities such as Crimea and the Donbas and Ukraine keeps the rest so long as it remains neutral and kicks Nato out. Russia proposed an alternative Europe-wide peace organisation. Most of the world thought it very sensible. If it is not accepted Ukraine stands to be destroyed and many more will die. The analogy with Chamberlain does not hold as in the 1930s the West was trying to avert war. Now it is the cause of it.

        1. Before 24th February 2022, I agreed with you, and often argued that the best way for Ukraine to avoid partition was a policy of strict neutrality, favouring neither Russia nor the West and willing to trade with both equally. It would recognise the split Special Relationship Ukraine had with both Russia and Lithuania/Poland and honour the deep bonds with both places drawn apart by post-Soviet history.

          I had no problem with ceding Crimea to Russia. It was only part of Ukraine since it was gifted by the Ukrainian Nikita Khrushchev in the 1950s, and served primarily as a bargaining chip involving relinquishing Ukraine's nuclear weapons capability (something Kazakhstan did not do), allowing Russia free use of its naval [corrected] base in Sevastopol and a special deal for Russian energy, which Ukraine profited from when selling on to the EU. Crimea was an anomaly though, since most residents there were eager to join Russia (but not the Tartars, who have sore memories).

          The Donbas is another matter though. During Soviet times, it became the main industrial hub for Ukraine, and losing it would leave Ukraine an impoverished agrarian nation incapable of defending itself. Maybe this was Putin's intent in winding up pro-Russian sentiment there, with backing for local terrorists? Ukraine had no choice but to deal with them, as any Government must with its troublesome internal insurgents.

          One effect of hiving off Crimea and the Donbas was to unbalance politics in the Maidan. The residue Ukraine would become overwhelmingly pro-West, and EU and NATO membership would surely follow, as it did with Poland and Lithuania.

          Putin might have been wiser to leave things be, and strengthen the case in Ukraine for neutrality, with the stick of partition as an alternative.

          After the military incursion into sovereign territory, this has all become rather academic. It is all about winning the war now.

          1. Putin wasn’t the main instigator. Rather the reactor. It was the West who destabilised Ukraine and provoked the war, with the primary objective of reducing Russia to the woke globalist condition of western nations. If the intention was to create a stable, prosperous Ukraine the best way of going about it would be to accept Russia’s proposals and then work with Russia to rebuild it.
            My new on-line magazine, Free Speech Backlash should be live this week some time Jeremy. You write well and clearly, so why not write an article for us on this (or any other) subject making your case? It doesn’t have to be long. I have already written a piece making the argument that it is the West that is the Evil Empire now which touches on Ukraine, and intend to do a piece on that specific issue shortly. I would, however, like contributors who put all sides of an argument forward.
            (Register by leaving your email address at freespeechbacklash.com and we’ll tell you when we open. It’s free.)

          2. I suspect the destabilisation you write of happened during the time of Thatcher and Reagan who did everything they could to undermine the USSR, exploiting its degeneracy then. A family friend, a Tory MP until standing down at this election, was in the 1970s a drinking companion and fellow adventurer to my late father. He was very much involved in this process, being a finance adviser to post-Soviet Russia and well travelled in Eastern Europe during the dying days of communism there.

            The problem in Russia is that the people there like strong leaders, and have contempt for those that are intellectual and liberal, since they engender weakness. Many may blame Gorbachev for destroying the USSR, and Yeltsin was just an old drunk, and about as able-minded as Joe Biden is today.

            Thatcher and Reagan were on a mission to make their programmes for government universal, no less than in the old USSR, and were happy to shave off as many of their satellite vassals as they could, starting with Eastern Europe. Until Putin drew the line, they got away with it.

            This was the narrative therefore that fuelled what is happening in Ukraine. I don't actually believe you that the CIA had hostile designs on Ukraine. I think the Americans in this century regard Eastern Europe as a bit of a backwater and are far more concerned about Muslims, the Pacific and the gang threat from Latin America.

            Nevertheless the fact that Poland and Lithuania were already Western meant that it was only a matter of time before Western Ukraine wanted to join them, with or without the Americans on board. This was intolerable to Putin.

            If you want to reproduce this thread on your website, please do so.

          3. 'The problem in Russia is that the people there like strong leaders'. Why is this a problem?

            The Bidens are up to their necks in corruption in Ukraine. Plus Ukraine has some of the most fertile soil on the planet. They also have more than $12 trillion in untapped mineral wealth and you say the Americans consider them just to be a backwater?

    2. Like Covid, the Covid jabs and Net Zero it is a way of reducing the world's over-high level of population.

    3. Predictions from the USA that Biden's administration is planning to put 'boots on the ground' in Ukraine. We've had the 'conscription' scare here and it's worth considering why governments dedicated to mass immigration, with that immigration consisting of a not inconsiderable number of young fighting age men, would consider sending their own young fighting age men to the Ukrainian (at the moment) charnel house while cosseting the illegal immigrants?

      I don't think I'm paranoid.😎

  38. On a good run. Didn't win the lotto last week, must have another go tomorrow.
    Wordle 1,094 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  39. Morning all 🙂😊
    Looking like June outside again, surely that can't last. But fingers crossed.
    We had a lovey afternoon at number one sons yesterday four fathers present, enjoying their day and not having to drive home. If you get my drift.
    Any of labour's plans if they get into office will be designed to upset anyone who didn't vote for them. It's the only method of government known to them.

  40. Fate
    Although the First Wilson Government had enacted a wide range of social reforms and arguably did much to reduce social inequalities during its time in office, the economic difficulties that it faced led to austerity measures being imposed on numerous occasions, forcing the government to abandon some of its key policy goals. Amongst the controversial austerity measures introduced included higher dental charges, the abolition of free school milk in all secondary schools in 1968, increased weekly National Insurance Contributions, the postponement of the planned rise in the school leaving age to 16, and cuts in road and housing programmes,[180] which meant that the government's house-building target of 500,000 per year was never met.[7] The government also failed to meet its 1964 manifesto commitment to tie increases in national insurance benefits to increases in average earnings,[181] although this reform would later be implemented during Wilson's second premiership in 1975.[182]

    There was also much controversy over the government's decision to reintroduce Prescription charges in 1968 (after having abolished them in 1964),[38] although the blow of this measure was arguably softened by the fact that many people were exempted from charges. In 1968, arguably in response to sensationalist stories about supposed "scroungers" and "welfare cheats", the government made the decision to introduce a controversial new rule terminating benefits for single men under the age of 45. Under this rule, young, single, unskilled men who lived in areas of low unemployment would have their supplementary benefits stopped after four weeks.[10] Wilson's government also failed to maintain the real value of family allowances during its time in office, which (despite being doubled under Wilson[56]) fell by 13% in real terms between 1964 and 1969.[183] In addition, tax allowances were reduced in 1968 to pay in part for increases in family allowances, and despite inflation were not increased again until 1971.[184] Family allowances were increased for the fourth and subsequent children from 50p to 75p per week in October 1966, and then in April 1967 to 75p for the second child and 85p for each subsequent child. According to one writer, however, this policy did not help single mothers with only one child, Supplementary Benefit payments were reduced "by the amount of this increase," and tax allowances were adjusted "to recover the cost of family allowances from taxpayers, including some low earners."[185]

    1. The Wilson government was saddled with the fixed exchange rate regime which collapsed soon after the Tories took over. (Reminds one of the demise of the gold standard in 1931, does it not?)

      1. The gold standard was the best balancing mechanism going. Crucially it prevented government's from borrowing by devaluing the currency.

    2. In 1968 Edward Short, the Labour Secretary of State for Education and Science, withdrew free milk from secondary schools for children over eleven. His successor, Conservative Margaret Thatcher withdrew free school milk from children over seven in 1971, earning her the nickname "Thatcher, the Milk Snatcher". Shirley Williams withdrew free milk for children between seven and five in 1977

      But of the three only Mrs Thatcher earned a nasty nickname. No one even remembers Edward Short and Shirley Williams was almost canonised.

    3. "Wilson's second premiership in 1975"? The general election was in 1974 not '75 and Jim Callaghan was Prime Minister from 1976 until Margaret Thatcher took over in 1979.

  41. Watching the football on the tele, in a French bar, last night. The commentator said, "Here come the Three Lions" but all I could see was about seven monkeys and four handlers. The young one got his head in the path of the ball and it rebounded into the net. They spent the rest of the game cartwheeling and rolling around clutching an ankle, an elbow or a knee. Football has changed since 1966!

    1. The powers that be really do need (no pun intended) sort out the most obvious destructive fact that has been allowed to creep in and now ruined the basic game of football.
      Cheating by diving and rolling around clutching parts of the body everyone watching can see wasn't injured.
      It's pathetic, fake and very annoying.

      1. We watched the world cup final about 2 tournaments ago, in a bar in Berlin. Both sides did the falling over and rolling around in agony bit, but if ignored, sprang up and ran off. The Germans did not appreciate taht spectacle at all, and there was a lot of booing in the bar at both sides (incl Germany) when they did it.
        It should be worth a penalty, to be caught faking injury or falling over for no reason.

        1. IMHO Obs, If any player goes down and cannot get up immediately.
          They should be sent/taken off the pitch for 15 minutes to ‘recover’.

      2. Football in Europe appears to be an ill disciplined affair with much grabbing of shirts tripping and feigning of injuries.

        As a boy I supported Bath City at Twerton Park and occasionally Bristol City at Ashton Gate. I have fond memories of Tony Book at Bath City under Malcolm Allison and of John Atyeo at Bristol City. Atyeo was a sublime player and highly educated teacher. Football was less rowdy and more sportsmanlike in the sixties.

    2. Moh was fixated on the golf as well as the England match .. I had to organise supper properly , roast pork etc and rhubarb pud for 7pm .

      The media are premature in making golden hero boy Bellingham the it boy , because no good will come of it .
      Why are wives and girlfriends accompanying their partners, really a huge distraction .

      Unexciting dull old England team , because it is a team and not reliant on one individual?

      1. What was your husband's reaction to the Northern Irishman's disgustingly unsporting behaviour?

        1. I am ashamed to reveal that most golfers are of the same ilk .

          I have heard stories of some golfers throwing their golf clubs and kicking their trolleys.

          Some do shake hands , but golf is a game of high tension and concentration , just like tennis .

          I can't stand petulant moody Rory McIlroy.

      2. We had our roast chicken dinner a bit earlier than usual so he could watch the footie. Still it keeps them happy.

    3. Yes, we aren't allowed to have a Nobby Stiles kicking anything that moves until it stops moving …

    1. Why, though? Why were they forced on us? They don't work, they don't contribute, they don't integrate. They're just parasites on welfare. They commit dreadful crimes, are abusive, derogatory of our laws. Clearly, they hate us. Yet the state forces us to bend over to take their poison. If wee say no, the screaming from the Left is disgusting but their attitude is the enemy of my enemy. As soon as the muslim gets control the first thing to go is the freedoms the Left proclaim to love – but really don't, as they're really just bitter fascists.

    1. Lent is a really important time for the Christian community and yet it is never mentioned.

      1. Worse; one of the charity shops near me was selling ramadan cards during Lent! I was so disgusted I walked out and I haven't been back.

  44. 388634+ up ticks,

    Congregations dwindling daily , pubs disappearing daily, the Dover invasion campaign successively operating daily, you have to be,if indigenous, top rate dumb if you cannot see or do not want to see for the good of the party ,the Allah don't drink link.

    Surge in ‘vanishing’ pubs as 80 locations close per month
    Boost from Euros and Olympics comes too late as business rates punish dwindling sector

  45. Rory McIlroy storms out after US Open choke without congratulating Bryson DeChambeauMcIlroy departed Pinehurst immediately after watching American hole the winning putt from the scorer’s hut https://www.telegraph.co.uk…
    "If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat these two imposters just the same "

    So if he cannot do this he is certainly not a sportsman – or, according to Kipling's last line, he may not be a proper man at all.

    He reminds me of Prince Louis – a broiled sprat.

    2. What's a US Open choke?
      Poor old McIlroy, missed out on $4,300,000. He had to make do with $2,322,000. How is he going to live on that paltry sum?

      1. I found an answer:
        In golf, "choke" usually refers to a bad shot caused by a golfer's inability to handle the pressure of the moment. But when "choke" is combined with "up" or "down" — choke up or choke down — it refers to the position of a golfer's hands on the handle of a golf club.

    3. I don’t follow golf but almost everything I have ever heard about R McI suggests that he is somebody one would go out of one’s way to avoid.

  46. Rory McIlroy storms out after US Open choke without congratulating Bryson DeChambeauMcIlroy departed Pinehurst immediately after watching American hole the winning putt from the scorer’s hut https://www.telegraph.co.uk…
    "If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat these two imposters just the same "

    So if he cannot do this he is certainly not a sportsman – or, according to Kipling's last line, he may not be a proper man at all.

    He reminds me of Prince Louis – a broiled sprat.

  47. Rory McIlroy storms out after US Open choke without congratulating Bryson DeChambeauMcIlroy departed Pinehurst immediately after watching American hole the winning putt from the scorer’s hut https://www.telegraph.co.uk…
    "If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat these two imposters just the same "

    So if he cannot do this he is certainly not a sportsman – or, according to Kipling's last line, he may not be a proper man at all.

    He reminds me of Prince Louis – a broiled sprat.

  48. Good morning, all. Blue sky with some white cloud building from the south-west.

    First pick of this season's soft fruit, redcurrants.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5275aee4a53e1fbfb636a7283b138aabd4a003041ee3de8b0798725ca1c9ed04.jpg

    A little over six pounds (this colander and a half), including stalks, from three bushes of differing ages and sizes. What I found a bit odd was the high number of currant bearing strings that had both perfectly ripe currants and immature unripe currants. It's not unusual to get some strings with a mix but this year it seems excessive.

    Never mind, I extracted 5 pints or so of juice and 4 of those pints have been turned into 7 jars of jelly. The remainder will be dealt with tomorrow morning.

    Next up, the raspberries and loganberries: possibly towards the end of the week.

    1. Looks amazing and I am envious. When she was with child the Warqueen had a huge hankering for cranberry jelly on toast. That went on to other jams until we almost went through a jar per slice.

    1. It's going to be an awful few years. Crushing taxation, no growth, debt, tax, waste. I'm tired of the political class and the appalling Left wing group think administration.

  51. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    AI will change everything – so why is the election ignoring it?
    Comments Share 16 June 2024, 6:00am
    Imagine if you somehow knew a war was coming in the next few years. Imagine if you knew this war would change societies, transform economies, and possibly even endanger humanity. Now imagine Britain held a general election, with that certain knowledge of imminent turmoil, and no one mentioned it, and instead the politicians waffled on about stealth taxes, low traffic neighbourhoods, and making energy drinks harder to obtain for children aged 15 and 3/4.

    Not only is this raging silence insane, it is bizarrely, recklessly irresponsible
    That would be mad, right? And yet that is what we are doing in Britain today, in regards to the looming revolution that is Artificial Intelligence. We are simply not talking about it. I haven’t heard a single politician mention it, reference it, discuss it, in any but the most glancing fashion (‘it might help productivity in the NHS’).

    Not only is this raging silence insane, it is bizarrely, recklessly irresponsible. Because AI is going to massively impact all the things we do talk about.

    Take education. Britain is rightly proud of its ‘world beating university sector’. Yet we are also concerned about the funding of these universities, and how they rely on foreign students, who bring dependants. And so we ask ourselves, should we cut back on foreign students, maybe we need to raise student fees, and so on. Whereas the question we need to be asking is: what happens if – when – the university sector collapses?

    Because this is likely to happen. Experts reckon ‘multimodal AI at PhD level’ is just two or three years away. Put that in layman’s terms: an AI that can see and hear and talk – that can interact like a human – is coming soon. This AI will be more intelligent – at almost everything, from engineering to maths to medicine to saying things that actually make you laugh – than 98 per cent of humankind. Maybe 99.99 per cent.

    When that happens – in a few years, possibly within Keir the Toolmaker’s first term – a university education will be rendered pointless. Everyone will have a personal AI which can do every cognitive task, superbly. Why spend three years at college learning something when you know your smartphone will do it miles better and vastly quicker? Does anyone spend three years learning to do sums really fast? No, because we have pocket calculators. Soon we will have pocket calculators for everything.

    No one will want to go to uni and rack up loads of debt, when there likely won’t be nice jobs at the end of it. And even if teens are still keen on learning, AI will provide personal bespoke one-on-one tutoring better than any bored or weary academic, and do it for pennies, and do it at home.

    In this light, it is probable we will soon kiss goodbye to our ‘world-beating university sector’. My guess is only a few elite unis will survive, as glorified finishing schools for the rich, allowing their kids to network. The vast majority of higher education will vanish.

    Another thing politicians like to boast about is Britain’s ‘world beating creative sector’. This too is about to be decimated. Hollywood moguls are already predicting the end of the entire Hollywood ecosystem – the same will happen to Bollywood, and British TV. Even as I type this, a new video generating AI has just launched, called Luma. With Luma you can make your own five second movies. Try it. The tech is amusing but primitive – but remember that AI images went from photos of ten-fingered freaks to undetectable perfection in about 18 months.

    You may say: well, that’s just a few actors and directors in the bin, we will largely survive, but that is not the case. The creative industries in the UK employ 2.4 million people. There is a good chance most of these roles will disappear in the coming years, and only live entertainment – real people singing, dancing, acting, in front of your human eyes, will survive. But they will likely be singing AI songs, and acting AI dramas. The writers are doomed, as well.

    All this can be applied across every cognitive sector. If you are a coder, a solicitor, a manager, an accountant, a researcher, an editor, a banker, a designer, an architect, a copywriter, a publisher, a scientist, a salesperson, an engineer, a mathematician, a consultant, a therapist, an actuary, or a session violinist at Abbey Road Studios, your job is seriously imperilled.

    The Chinese AI mogul Kai Fu Lee has predicted that ‘50 per cent of jobs will go in three years’. Even if he is out by a factor of ten that’s a million high-paying jobs in the UK. And he won’t be out by an order of magnitude forever.

    However you frame it, this is a sobering if not terrifying prospect. We are, as I said, facing a world-changing event on a scale that matches global war, and what’s more we know this. Rishi Sunak actually held an AI summit at Bletchley to debate this. Yet he says nothing about it, like every other politician.

    Perhaps another analogy will illustrate Britain’s idiocy. Our politicians are like monkeys sitting on a strangely waterless beach, squabbling over who gets the flapping fish, and how to divide the drying seaweed. Meanwhile the tsunami gathers on the horizon, ready to surge inland, and sweep us all away.

    1. Spectator comments thread

      What's Up
      a day ago
      I really don’t buy this. Essentially, people compete with each other, and with their environment, for access to pleasure and avoidance of pain. Work is nothing more than the process of doing this. The nature of it will evolve, but it can never be redundant.
      We already have access to vast computing capabilities that we barely use. Look at the NHS!
      I can see the potential for Big Data and Large Language Models, but it will take a long time.. It is quite possible that in 100 years work will be very different from now.
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      WinkyWoo What's Up
      19 hours ago edited
      I reckon the time-frame and extent of reach will be determined by big profits. I think it will happen sooner than 100 years. And they won't wait until AI is beneficial or efficient. As soon as profit is to be made, they will implement it on a very wide-scale basis, in multiple arenas. You only have to look at the speed the vaccines were developed and implemented with all previous safety protocols abandoned. How many of the ruling elite received back-handers to facilitate it? Or, more prosaically, the rush to online banking, even though its safely is compromised with fraud all the time occurring. And few say a thing…AI will control the NHS but it will ultimately be tweaked by a powerful few. Same with politics, I expect. Lovely thought.
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      HonestGuv What's Up
      21 hours ago edited
      Good post. I'm trying to say similar things in my contributions.
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      Barrie Poeton
      a day ago
      Not sure how politicians talking about AI during an election campaign is going to help anyone.
      Share ›
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      Sean Thomas Barrie Poeton
      a day ago
      Well, for a start it is highly relevant to the migration debate. Why are we importing 100,000s of people if, in the near future, so many jobs start disappearing?
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      Robert Bidochon Sean Thomas
      18 hours ago
      AI cannot drive a moped. Yet. You do want to Just Eat don't you?
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      Dhimmitude Ishere Robert Bidochon
      4 hours ago
      "Yet" being the operative word. In any event, drones are more likely to be the delivery mechanism for meals and small items in the future.
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      WinkyWoo Sean Thomas
      19 hours ago
      Absolutely. I mean we have toilets which can clean behinds and yet they aren't installed in care homes, to my knowledge. How many care workers do we import to do precisely this kind of task? Old people are just left for hours on their own or in communal rooms not speaking whilst care workers see to their physical needs instead. AI could solve the social care crisis.
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      Paul Brown
      a day ago
      Hyperbolic nonsense. AI is currently in the form of LLMs, which are giant glorified predictive texts. It's remarkable, but the text it produces is almost always bland and only usable in parts for anything other than student essays and school PowerPoint presentations. As for making you laugh, the jokes it churns out are old rope and have obviously been predetermined by the trainers (we don't have a satisfactory theory of humour in humans, so not sure how we could make a robot comedian). Same with image generation. It's remarkable, but completely unusable for anything useful like illustrating a children's book, for example. It never quite gives you what you want, and even if it did, you can't make the characters and backgrounds consistent across multiple images. Plus it's only imitating pre-existing styles created by humans, so the output is generic unless you're going for something weird or unsettling (which it's very good at). Try asking Chat-GPT to invent something, even something simple like a company name. What it comes up with is generic rubbish, which is only to be expected as it's performing a statistical analysis of pre-existing text. It can be great as human augmentation, but the robots aren't taking over anytime soon.
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      WinkyWoo Paul Brown
      18 hours ago
      Hang on though, we were playing Space Invaders only three decades ago, or so. And now look at the rapidly improved and improving game industry. And terrifyingly, Big Profits won't wait anyway until a new bit of AI, in their area of expertise, is efficient. It will be installed as soon as profit is to be made. And yes, we should be preparing for this and being proactive in scrutinizing Big Profit (and their facilitators) before they sneak something in before we realise. Look how quickly they pushed ofr online banking despite it being a huge source for fraud. Running before they could walk.
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      Alex Sneddon WinkyWoo
      11 hours ago
      Where do the big profit people keep their money.
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      Sean Thomas Paul Brown
      a day ago
      Try using a jail breaked version of Claude 3 Opus, and get back to me
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      Reluctant Mlungu Sean Thomas
      19 hours ago
      Sean could you elaborate just a little?
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      Alexander Mendoza
      a day ago
      Toolmakers were, are , highly skilledd engineers. Starmer has been trying to show that he came from a desperately uneducated working-class backgrounds. Complete nonsense
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      Engelbert Clangworthy
      a day ago
      Go on Youtube. Search for a video called "AI Deception: How Tech Companies Are Fooling Us" on the Cold Fusion channel.

      Here you will find a far more realistic and sober assessment of the state of play than the above.
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      Ask Zippy
      a day ago
      I thought the big threat to the world was "climate change" and the way to address it was to reduce power consumption. Why don't progressive liberals make AI illegal because it's generating too much CO2? Because their billionaire paymasters tell them what to think and they want to make "loads a money" from AI.
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      HonestGuv
      a day ago
      I dont agree. If everyone has AI then it wont confer any advantage to anyone. I'm an accountant and have been told constantly that my job is at risk. Thing is, an AI could produce a perfect-looking and entirely convincing set of fake accounts and supporting documents; we'll therefore still need humans to verify them and you can't put a computer in prison for fraud.
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      Sean Thomas HonestGuv
      a day ago
      Do you trust your pocket calculator to get sums right? Yes. So there. That's what it will be like for all cognitive tasks. We will learn to trust it
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      HonestGuv Sean Thomas
      a day ago edited
      A pocket calculator and accounting software are traditional computers that follow precise rules based on specific inputs. AI is not. AI is corruptable. A user could tell it to produce anything.

      As an accountant its my job not to trust anything.
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      Sean Thomas HonestGuv
      a day ago
      You’re just a calculator. No offence. Just as I am a word generator. In the end we can both be replaced, and we probably will be – just as people who were really good at mental arithmetic were replaced by pocket calculators. Or horses by cars
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      What's Up Sean Thomas
      a day ago edited
      This is untrue. No-one pays an accountant to add up, or an author to write grammatical sentences, or a chef to boil water. They pay them to produce pleasing results, where pleasing means meeting various complex and not rigorously definable criteria.
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      H
      Harry Newiss What's Up
      17 hours ago
      Correct
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      WinkyWoo What's Up
      18 hours ago
      Well put but I think quality won't be the desired end result by the people in charge of AI. Profit will be. If it is more profitable to get rid of accountants and implement AI then that is what the big accountancy agencies will do. And that will set the template for other accountancy firms.
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      Reluctant Mlungu What's Up
      19 hours ago
      Excellently put.
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      HonestGuv Sean Thomas
      a day ago edited
      No. As an accountant the thing I sell first and foremost is trust. Trust is what makes a successful society go round. If fraudsters and criminals have access to AI then it cannot be completely trusted.
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      Sean Thomas HonestGuv
      a day ago
      Also, you charge. An AI will do your job for free. So even if the AI is a bit glitchy at first, in the end the AI wins. Also they will iron out the glitches
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      HonestGuv Sean Thomas
      19 hours ago edited
      AI, here is an HSBC bank statement and here is their website. Produce me a fake website that looks exactly the same and also produce a load of fictitous bank statements that prove my business made zero profit and therefore I owe no tax. Invent fictitious employees with NI numbers, pictures, payslips, employment histories that load fake costs into my business. Produce supplier invoices, delivery notes with transaction numbers that reflect the time they were ordered. Send all this to the AI auditor. If the AI auditor smells a rat ask it why and send to another AI until it checks out.

      Gangsters paradise!
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      Squire Western HonestGuv
      18 hours ago
      Surely as soon as this becomes a reality then bank statements/websites etc etc will all evolve in a way which makes such deception impossible?
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      HonestGuv Squire Western
      17 hours ago edited
      Yes, I agree. My belief is that AI will become so good it will eat itself and that old fashioned verification methods like paper, signatures, and date stamps will be needed more than ever.

      Think about war – despite amazing tech it is still about men fighting at close quarter with guns just as it was 110 years ago because the technology used by both sides cancel each other out.
      Share ›

      1. It's irrelevant to me that AI can't ride a moped. I cook my own food, culinary challenge or not!

    2. AI?

      Gosh, imagine if you knew which horse would win the 3:30 at Chepstow!

      1. Not so very many years ago there was allegedly plenty of ocasional race fixing at minor courses.
        It doesn't really matter who wins if your AI bet-buddy could generate a positive return.

      2. Not so very many years ago there was allegedly plenty of ocasional race fixing at minor courses.
        It doesn't really matter who wins if your AI bet-buddy could generate a positive return.

    3. Makes one want to vote for the monster loonies – at least with a bit of imagination they can pass the Turing Test better than most politicians, and that's without clicking on a sidewalk somewhere in Colorado. I wonder how long it would be before we get the first AI loony?

      I have made up my mind over this election. Unless any of the candidates can inform me who they are and what they would do to sort out the problems, I will vote for the barmiest candidate, who is currently this lady standing for the Women's Party who was so annoyed at unigender toilets in her local hospital, she put up for Parliament in order to stop them.

      Until AI can replicate JK Rowling, along with her fantasy world (my goodness, how could she come up with this strange definition of a woman?), I think the Loony Test is probably more reliable than Captcha.

    4. As for the film industry, sod 'em. Seems to me 99% of new releases are based on about 4 plot scenarios.

    5. Oh, I think the only animals looking gormlessly out to the distant tsunami would be humans, the monkeys et al would be heading for the hills.

    2. That allegation came from migrants and charities helping them, and has yet to be substantiated. I can't see any reference to it in Greek news and anyhow Greeks have other things on their minds. It's over 43C and Athens is covered in yellow haze from the Sahara (both fairly common in July and August) and they have over 12% unemployment, and food prices are rising twice as quick as average income.
      And they keep on losing tourists. As well as that telly doctor, there's a Dutchman dead on Samos, two Frenchmen dead on Sikinos, a Yank missing on Mithraki and a Belgian dead in Crete.

    3. Are theylooking for a new job in the Channel ?

      I just caught the end of it. It's just been shown on BBC news.

    1. They should all delete their social media accounts for the duration of the campaign. Save any personal photos elsewhere and remove everything else.

        1. You can't delete what is held on the servers. That's why Hilary Clinton deleted emails still exist. Hopefully Trump will force the company to release them and send her to jail.

      3. Apparently this is what 'done him in';

        'The Times reported that, in 2010, the candidate had written: “I could weep now, every time I pick up a British newspaper and read the latest about the state of the UK. No doubt, Enoch Powell would be doing the same if he was alive. My solution … vote BNP!”'

        From a blog, possibly like this one. How would we delete what we wrote 14 years ago?

        Edited for smelling.

        1. When the London Assembly nonsense first began, the BNP were quite well represented. I voted for them then, as a valid alternative voice. I wouldn't now because Nick Griffin has turned out to be one of those dimwits wailing about evil Zionists. One would expect that being aware of the nature of the Mohammedans, he'd know better than to indulge in Jew hatred but apparently not.

      4. Apparently this is what 'done him in';

        'The Times reported that, in 2010, the candidate had written: “I could weep now, every time I pick up a British newspaper and read the latest about the state of the UK. No doubt, Enoch Powell would be doing the same if he was alive. My solution … vote BNP!”'

        From a blog, possibly like this one. How would we delete what we wrote 14 years ago?

        Edited for smelling.

    2. I am so blessed that I am neither royal nor electable. Therefore I am completely at liberty to say what I like and like what I bloody well say.

      1. Very lucky indeed. I publish on Instagram and TikTok using my name and rarely express any opinion.

    3. I'm far more worried by all those decent and respectable members of the established parties who think that Islam is the religion of peace.

    4. Also, active seeking out of such old posts with the aim of discrediting someone. I think it’s termed “offence archaeology”.

  55. 'Morning All
    Oh for such a Prime Minister………….
    https://x.com/LeilaniDowding/status/1802067989241438680
    Rest
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d830a191b522f9cb3166ff2ec49e766e296631c5f971427142f5a78246b2ce76.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7c9e26124ab320a9be025f832f06be8a1095c3a60fba7b118d70d1ec8c72fcad.jpg
    https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/162/311/403/original/beb2a37c59177057.gif
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9d5a6cdc0371ff417b3924470404046caa4fd7e85414f32ae45ca5e03e52fe5f.jpg
    https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/162/445/062/original/bd8608007cfb7960.gif
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6145b64bb6eb4575b9f1010e2b3f8129e39f7ccf98ad79a1dfb86c62484b65d2.gif

  56. When travelling up the M/A1 to North Yorkshire I passed sign posts for Rotherham, I thought my goodness, that place really exists . I cab report that I didn't see one single Muslim or dusky person whilst near Askrigg where I was staying, or even in the nearest town of Layburn or even Richmond. It was very much Yorkshire folk and delightful. I thought being so far up North that I'd encounter some Muzzies, maybe they all stay in Leeds and Rotherham. North Yorkshire with her castles, stone walls and wonderful wild landscapes was as beautiful as I remembered as the villages were like walking back in time, the locals warm and friendly and the pubs served very good food with generous portions.

    1. They prefer to huddle. They don't wish to integrate or even speak the language. The towns provide better hunting grounds.

    3. Very good part of the world, and I am from Lancashire. Used to stay at a farm near to Richmond.

    4. Shhhhh!
      If Starmer gets to know you can bet your bottom dollar that North Yorkshire will be enriched before you can say "diversity".

  57. Warrington Borough Council credit rating withdrawn amid near-£2bn debts. 17 June 2024.

    Influential ratings agency Moody’s has pulled its credit rating of Warrington’s heavily indebted council.

    Warrington Borough Council told bondholders on Monday that Moody’s withdrew its rating due to “the inability of the council to procure that its statements of accounts are audited by external auditors”.

    The Labour-led council has a debt of £1.85 billion and has come under scrutiny for a number of investments.

    How in God’s name has a council raked up £1.85 billion in debt? What we need here are some prosecutions and long gaol terms.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/business/warrington-borough-council-credit-rating-withdrawn-amid-nearps2bn-debts-b2563781.html

    1. Now, perhaps, it becomes clear why Sir Keir intends to substitute the role of Chancellor of the Exchequer at cabinet level with a bunch of Leftie lawyers in the Supreme Court.. forever.

      Labour’s Supreme Court will have the power to intervene in the running of the economy. It will, as far as I can see, be able to overrule the economic decisions of the Cabinet in London.
      David Starkey.

    2. Fast foward ten years..

      Influential ratings agency Moody’s has pulled its credit rating of Bradford’s heavily indebted Islamic council, due to “the inability of the Imam to procure that its statements of accounts are audited by external auditors”.

      The Sharia council has a debt of £100 billion and has come under scrutiny for a number of investments in Lahore & Gaza.

      Supreme Court rules in favour by 9-0 votes for a government bail-out overruling The Chancellor of the Exchequer.

      1. Well they don’t do “debt”. It would be a wakhala or some such sukuk.

      2. Well they don’t do “debt”. It would be a wakhala or some such sukuk.

      1. AI would take Mr Suit's job and then send him to work in the paddy fields or use his body for biomass.

      2. AI would take Mr Suit's job and then send him to work in the paddy fields or use his body for biomass.

  60. Greek coastguard 'threw migrants overboard to their deaths, dumped others in the sea on punctured boats and caused the deaths of dozens of people in the Mediterranean'..

    Shirley.. Stephen Flynn of the SNP could step in here and offer sanctuary with another Islamic community centre or Gurudwara whatnot?
    Win Win for all.

    "A real privilege to visit Aberdeen Gurudwara today alongside
    Wonderfully uplifting."
    https://x.com/StephenFlynnS…

    1. Read that as "Wonderfully shoplifting"… 🙁
      I'm going to hell, aren't I?

  61. 388634+ up ticks,

    They put thumb screws onto every digit, wired his willy up to the mains,
    and used him as an ashtray for 50 king eddies before getting this one truth out of him.

    Tony Blair: A woman has a vagina and a man has a penis
    Former PM wades into the transgender debate, questioning why politicians had got themselves into a ‘muddle’ on the issue

    1. Woman: adult human female.
      Man: adult human male.

      If an individual believes they are anything else, they are mentally ill. If an individual refers to themselves as a plural they are mentally ill. If an individual refers to themselves as 'non-binary' then they are mentally ill.

      By all means – live the life you want but you cannot avoid the plain facts of biology. Falling back and saying 'I identify' just makes you delusional. To the rest of the world your are a singular male or female.

      That such stupidity exists is result of our incredibly rich, safe world. You can pretend you're anything you want because you've no other threats of poverty, invasion, you benefit from all your basic needs being overly met. However, your choices may NOT be forced on others as then you make yourself more important than others. No one should be forced to adopt or entertain the attitudes or psychoses of others.

      That's just oppression and ironically opposes the very freedoms o indulge yourself in the delusions you enjoy.

      1. To the rest of the world I am a plonker, and however many personalities I may identify with over the week, I think the rest of the world is pretty glad there is only one of me.

        Am I deluded?

    2. Blair has waited until the public's opinion has become crystal clear, and then presented himself as the leader of this opinion.

  62. Being kissed while you are asleep is one of the purest forms of love. Unless you are at sea on a submarine.

    4. You must remember this;
      A kiss is still a kiss;
      A sigh is still a sigh.
      The fundamental things apply
      As time goes by.

      1. Hearts full of passion
        Jealousy and hate
        Woman needs man, and man must have his mate . . .

        Unless you are a follower of the BBC then any one of 42 LGBTQWERTY options are available.

    6. Yes, but it can get confusing when you mistake the dog for your wife. I'd often woken cuddling Wiggy.

  63. Well, that’s my baby girl on the flight to Oz. Back late August. Weather is beautiful here today.

    1. Three winters in one 12 month period… not sure I could cope with that!
      Hope she has a great time, MIR. My three visits to Western Australia were all fantastic, although it's a long way away!
      I still remember the excitement in finding a three-lane drive-through bottle shop! ("Bottle-O").

      1. Well she is going north in W Au so it will still be reasonably warm. Beggars can’t be choosers!

        (Except…..when they are immigrants, obvs).

        1. I highly recommend Darwin. It's the dry season there currently I think. I took a week off (before going home) after a crew change there once. Bars and restaurants excellent and the fishing is amazing.

    1. 65 years ago the Nazis invaded Poland. today the same Left wing fascists are using proxy troops to achieve the same goal.

    2. that and failing to protect your children. Sir Keir's lot guilty on both counts.

  65. 388634+ up ticks,

    Currently this farage chap fits snugly into the existing governing
    cartel, the chap abused to many peoples trust in the past.

    In many respects the very same peoples that were reviling him as UKIP leader are now queuing up to kiss his arse., the sirens of desperation are loudly awailing.

    The chameleon party are in mid strike, again.

    Reform has pledged to “stop the boats” in its first 100 days in power as Nigel Farage launches his party’s manifesto in a run-down community centre in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales.

    The party has set out a four-point plan on tackling illegal immigration that would involve leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), with zero illegal immigrants being resettled in the UK, a new government department for immigration, and migrants crossing the Channel in small boats being returned to France.

    1. Thing is, France wouldn't take them. The key is not to let the criminal invaders land.

      I worry that Reform voters don't understand the realities of government. The public think the government can do things by fiat. It can't. It provides instruction but then rams headlong into the state machine which will, determinedly and desperately fight everything Reform want to do.

      There are thousands of wasters employed working for quangos. The courts will fight them, as will the Lords let alone the legions of administration. For real change to happen the entire edifice of state needs to be decapitated and then fed through a blender.

      1. The snivel serpents need to be locked out of their computer systems, have their NI numbers cancelled and all the entry codes to their buildings changed. Tit for tat. Then sensible people could take over. Alternatively, have a revolution and line them up against a wall – but that's messy.

        1. It'd be nice, but our laws prevent this. Simply, we need significant redundancies with entire departments closed down and radical cuts to state spending. Real cuts, not changing librarians from civil servants to council ancillaries.

          1. Precisely. Begin by cutting departmental budgets year on year. Stop Councils raising Council Tax inexorably by scrapping CEOs and executive committees of paid councillors and reinstating Town Clerks.

          2. My town council still has a Town Clerk and my Parish Council has a (very good and efficient professional) Parish Clerk. The problem lies with County Councils and (spit!) Unitary Authorities.

        2. I definitely think they should change with change of party in government, Sue – otherwise they 'might' just start to think they run the shop.(Btw I think it changes this way in American gov't, no doubt someone confirm or shoot me down:-D)

      2. As in the US the UK is run by a deep state bureaucracy. The politicians supposedly set the policy but the vast civil service departments do as they please often ignoring the government and contradicting policy.

        Just as the US deep state bureaucracy is glad to have a senile old man as its President so in the UK it matters not who is Prime Minister because they can happily follow the direction of the equally incompetent EU and have done for decades.

        The parliamentary system, the Supreme Court, the Police and just about every institution is now run by grifters exchanging brown envelopes at taxpayer expense. The way in which Sunak and Cameron have kowtowed to the US Ukraine Project shows just how stupid and dull our politicians have become.

        2. It isn't ALL you need, but it's a start and it has been decidedly lacking over the last few decades.

  66. I've posted the full article as I think it's simple truth. The dismantling of the state machine will take an entire parliament before anything gets done and the Left will use everything they can to destroy the publicly elected government:

    For all the terror he triggers in Brian Cox, Nigel Farage is a saloon bar bore, not a beer hall putscher. Winning power doesn’t really interest him. He has never had any sort of governmental responsibility: the perfect tribune for disgruntled Right-winger, who can be safe in the knowledge that none of his ideas really matter. Deport asylum seekers to the Moon? Sounds tremendous!

    But Reform UK’s once-and-future leader is a victim of his own success. With the real prospect that a Farage-Davey tag team will push Rishi Sunak into the abyss, many Right-wingers will have been paying close attention to today’s manifesto launch. Sorry – “contract” launch. But unfortunately for those hoping for a serious policy prospectus, the document has the imagination and incontinence of a back of a fag packet doodle after a hearty lunch.

    Lifting income tax thresholds. Scrapping carbon targets. Net zero migration, quitting the ECHR, and cutting NHS waiting lists to zero. What’s not to love? Yet it’s all too good to be true. Pledging to cut taxes by cutting £50 billion in spending is easy. But what happens when you tell the Treasury – or your backbenchers start demanding a new A&E in their seat?

    Farage is great at identifying problems – stifling taxes, ridiculous immigration levels, climate lunacy– but providing genuine solutions would be too much like hard work. If Reform UK ever got into power, the Sir Humphreys of the Whitehall Machine would stump him within a week. Rather than resolve Britain’s problems, he’d soon decamp from Number 10 to drown his sorrows in The Red Lion.

    But Farage isn’t interested in power. This is not a plan for government, but a Santa list of cask strength policies designed to woo wavering Tories. Farage isn’t aiming for Downing Street, but to hand every Conservative MP their P45. His proposals will strike many Tories as exactly what we should have been doing in government these last fourteen years. If Labour wins anyway, why not vote for it?

    Reform’s “contract” might be a far from serious document. But Conservatives only have ourselves to blame if we find it so attractive.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/17/reform-uk-manifesto-nigel-farage-must-believe-in-fairies/

    2. William Atkinson, aged fourteen and a half, "journalist".. er you mean a couple of internships at The Specie & somewhere else for 1 month a piece? Studied history at Oxford.

      This is what Julie Burchill & Peter Hitchens bang on about.. there are no decent journos coming through.

  67. No idea. Looks about 12 in his photo. That said, everyone looks 12 these days. I do think he has a point though – badly made, but a point nonetheless.

    1. He sounds to me like one of the backroom boys who have been running the Tory Party for the last fourteen years.

  68. Why are the Tories preparing for a One Nation future, post-Sunak?
    Yes, it could be because they genuinely believe that "Elections are won from the centre". Of course, if every party is "of the centre" then this is going to be true. One of them has to win, after all.

    And the uniparty tag is certainly valid, because if you vote Labour, Tory, LibDumb or Green you are voting for globalism, net zero, trans nuttery and mass immigration. Whichever party you vote for, that's what you will get.

    Truss was an alternative to that consensus, certainly as far as economic policy goes. So she was ousted, and in comes Sunak who very much adheres to the globalist consensus, whatever he might say to the contrary.

    The only ones offering an alternative are Reform, small"c" conservatives.

    If the Tories returned to small "c" conservatism they would make a comeback, but they won't.
    Maybe they are more interested in toeing the globalist line than they are in being actual conservatives?

    It looks like the rules of the game now mean that anyone offering a genuine conservative alternative to mainstream uniparty-ism will instantly be attacked as "far right".

    So we end up with the appearance of democratic choice when in reality, great efforts are being made to make sure that we have no choice at all. No matter what colour the tie may be, the outcome will be the same.

    1. I may have said to you in the other place, Sossidge, but it bears repeating – folks I know all voting Reform. EDIT: far as I know, we can't do a darned thing about (legal) immigration (which are 90% of the figures) unless we leave the ECHR (it's reported would affect NI Agreement) – but the open border between NI and Republic recently re immigrants who fled there swerving Rwanda deal shows there's really no border at all. So what's the hold-up, why can't we FoxTrotOscar ECHR? Hoping you have an answer I can understand, folks 😀

          8. I have seen Dolly run from big dogs in the park and as they lumber along she turns on a sixpence and runs between their legs prior to them crashing full on in to the undergrowth. You can tell when a dog is smiling you know.

          9. Mongo doesn't run. He falls forward. (He does actually, and looks amazing when he's trotting alongside). I think they'd get on very well. Oscar's a grumpy sod but slowly coming around. Mongo likes everyone all the time. He might – just might pick Dolly up in his jaws and run her about pretending he can fly. He's gentle as anything though. He carried a neighbour's kitten back to the mother once. Apart from being a bit wet the little mite was completely unharmed.

            The turning's because dogs are rear wheel drive.

          10. Dolly is now middle aged and she wouldn't take kindly to that. Harry on the other hand would be 'easy meat'. :@)

          11. Mongo doesn't run. He falls forward. (He does actually, and looks amazing when he's trotting alongside). I think they'd get on very well. Oscar's a grumpy sod but slowly coming around. Mongo likes everyone all the time. He might – just might pick Dolly up in his jaws and run her about pretending he can fly. He's gentle as anything though. He carried a neighbour's kitten back to the mother once. Apart from being a bit wet the little mite was completely unharmed.

            The turning's because dogs are rear wheel drive.

          12. I’m female:-) My dog Harry isn’t, obvs – a mad Patterdale. I would take a dog like your little Harry in a heartbeat, but I also have an even crazier Border terrier. Never again….

          14. Hi Tim, yes he is too especially with vans. He chose me…when I went to look at the litter, he looked at me, came over and sat on my knee. He’s 14 years now, bit lame, but he follows me everywhere. Be lost without him, dread the day he goes.

          15. All MY (as opposed to MOH's) dogs have chosen me. They've looked at me and said, "take me!" and I have (they've all been rescues).

          16. Good to read. I’ve had many rescues too, every single one worthwhile. Once had a lurcher type, no fur, didn’t know what colour she’d turn out, was lovely pale cream. Nothing more forgiving than a dog. Once had a small mongrel rescue, other half let her off lead so she ran out of garden was gone almost three weeks. Rescue place suggested take her brother and she would find her way back (they see me coming at rescue centres), so I did…he was banging around in the back of the van they delivered him in, I put him on a lead and took him indoors, gave him chicken on my hand…mine for rest of his life, best dog ever. He came from RSPCA, they said to take him back as vet hadn’t checked him to discharge, waited an hour, dog’s legs started to shake, I said that’s it we’re off, soon as I opened car door like a rat up a drainpipe. Sorry for rant….great dog tho’! (and the sister came back too – they’d been tied as puppies to a tree in a wood, luckily someone found them. Wtf is wrong with some people…)

          19. I only wanted a little dog as i didn't want to feed the thing more than i eat. Also i don't have a big garden so it really wouldn't suit a larger animal and i am not all that mobile.
            I googled small dogs and her picture came up. A local breeder who has many Crufts trophies,
            Dolly's sire is a Crufts winner. Veejim DeltaForce at Teradonna…otherwise know as Archie.
            The breeder also offered me Harry some years later at a ridiculous knock down price. I think she likes me. :@)
            What is wonderful about the arrangement is she will take Dolly and Harry if i am abroad. For free !
            Rachel (the breeder) has also said she will breed Harry and i get first choice of the pups. Again at no cost.
            Harry is a bit frisky and Dolly gives me long suffering looks but they get on very well and often sleep in a huddle. Though sometimes they are…erm..how should i say…doubledecker…

          20. Harry sounds a bit of a sex pest, Phizzee. We have a pony like that, and he's gelded

          21. They chase each other around a lot. They also do a lot of jaw to jaw french kissing. All good fun. When Dolly tires of him she lies on top. Slows him down somewhat.

          22. Charlie was like that even though he'd been "done". I'd wake up in the middle of the night to hear him bonking his bed round the room!

          25. They only bark when someone comes to the door.
            Harry hasn’t been done as i intend to breed him. Dolly has been done so no interest. He does try occasionally but can’t reach. She gives him a growl if he becomes too insistent.

          26. Oh I love Border Terriers and Patterdales. I'd take your Border if he's a dog (rather than a bitch) in a heartbeat. My BT x Cairn was a challenge, but came good in the end. He made it to seventeen and a half all but a few days. Are they foodies? My rescue Fox Terrier (put to sleep this February) was also a challenge, but came good.

          27. Border is a bitch 12 years, Patterdale a dog 14 years. He’s a nutcase, won’t have anything to do with anyone except me. I do like terriers very much, my first was a JRT, think I was four years old(?). 17 & half a good age for even a small dog, normally live longer much longer than large dogs eg Great Danes (no way, for me). Fox Terriers very handsome, yours sounds a belter. I’m 75 now, have had a dog or more than one all my life. I try not to think about if I die first, if family will care for him….plus if he goes first, chances are someone will come around with a pup or stray…and then I’ll repeat the process 😀

          28. Kadi (current Cairn x Westie) is fixated on me. He watches me all the time, especially if we're out. I've only had terriers since 2000 (before that a GSD x wolfhound or deerhound – we never saw his parents – and an Irish setter. As a child I had a GSD with a better pedigree than mine – although he belonged to my brother, he became my dog. I have an understanding that my best friend will take my dog when I go. He (I've only ever had dogs) will live the life of Riley. I wouldn't put a dog in a rescue centre at the age of 12 (which is what happened to my Foxy). It is so unfair. He had lots of issues to be overcome. These pages are full of tales of small triumphs and big setbacks!

          29. He sounds pretty darned cute. Patterdale is asleep right now, all four legs in air. Yes I had a wolfhound type rescue, very gentle character, heartbreaking experience – just stopped eating although salivating and wanting to eat. Took him different vets, many tests, all clueless. Euthanised same day as previous dog I mentioned, the one from RSPCA. Never had a GSD, come into contact with a few, mostly not well behaved sorry to say. You landed on your paws (!) with b/f. Completely agree with not putting old dogs into rescue. Vet once confided in me she had to euthanise more or less weekly dogs taken to rescue who could never be placed. I hate that pups are now big business thanks to Crufts and breeders – have been to a couple of those, dogs in cages etc…how to rage and cry at the same time….

          30. Both the GDSs I had were cuties – gentle and intelligent. The wolf or deerhound cross had the best of both worlds; the temperament of the wolfhound and the brains of the shepherd. The other way round and he could have been thick and nasty!

    2. The Left hate Truss. It's visceral. They really are utterly obsessed and completely bonkers. Her policies would have worked. She fell over because of an entrenched, stubborn, spiteful state machine that had an agenda and took advantage of her lack of nous to stop them.

    1. I enjoyed Reform's presentation. I watched it on the BBC and to be honest they showed a decent enough amount of respect, which quite shocked me.

      1. They have to, as part of impartiality during a campaign. I sincerely doubt that'll last.

  70. Farage is right: Wales is an utter disaster
    –
    After 25 years of Labour rule, there is little hope left
    –
    ANNABEL DENHAM • 17 June 2024 • 11:45am
    –
    Adam Smith's dictum – that there is a great deal of ruin in a nation – is being tested to the limit in 21st century Wales. After 25 years of Labour control, it lags behind the rest of the UK on a range of metrics. Nigel Farage is wise to launch his "contract" with the people in Merthyr Tydfil, if his aim is to warn the British public just how much they might suffer under Keir Starmer.

    The Welsh economy has shrunk by 1pc since 2018, while England's has grown by 2pc. Its productivity rate is lower than in most other regions, and its schools produce among the worst results in the UK. A third of children in Wales are classed as living in poverty.

    Then there's the pandemic response, the anti-car policies, the anti-business, anti-agriculture and anti-tourism agenda. Farmers have protested against a government they feel has turned its back on the countryside, specifically a sustainable farming scheme that would require them to sacrifice 10pc of agricultural land to be used for trees and 10pc for wildlife habitat.

    A tourist tax could be imposed as soon as 2027 on overnight visitors, who will find themselves clobbered in the name of "fairness". This should be a golden period for the Welsh tourism industry, as the era of cheap air travel nears its end and heatwaves deter many Brits from holidaying in the Med. Yet anti-foreigner sentiment is driving it into the ground.

    All but three Welsh councils, out of 22, have introduced tax premiums on second or empty homes. It was reported in May that Labour is now planning to deploy satellites to spy on homeowners to verify the size of houses, with those living in areas with good schools or lower crime rates likely to be "punished" under a new council tax regime.

    But against this stiff competition, it is the way that Welsh Labour has trapped its citizens in a cycle of dependency and welfare which is most disgraceful. An under-reported statistic this week came from the Office for National Statistics' labour market report, which revealed the economic inactivity rate in Wales is worse than in any other region of the UK.

    Figures from the ONS suggest that 28.4pc of 16–64 year-olds in Wales were economically inactive in the three months to April, compared to a UK average of 22.3pc. According to the latest data, 160,000 people are long-term sick, the most in 17 years accounting for 34pc of all economic inactivity.

    Is anyone surprised? In addition to driving its economy to the brink, the devolved Labour administration has slowly and deliberately destroyed the culture of work. It has promoted four-day weeks, only to then decree that they might be racist because they "discriminate" against ethnic minority groups working in frontline public sector roles.

    It trialled a Universal Basic Income scheme, paying £1,600 each to a group of 635 care leavers, only to concede it cannot be continued after the initial pilot ends in 2025 due to cost.

    No wonder seven local authority areas saw falls in population in 2021 compared with 2011. What hope is there for the hard-working and aspirational in a country which has, at government level, given up on growth and prosperity?

    Across the UK, talent and capital flight is becoming a clear and present danger – there was a surge in the number of wealthy people leaving last year.

    Investment migration consultant Henley & Partners estimated that the UK last year experienced the third-largest exodus of millionaires in the world, with more than 3,000 moving to places where they can keep more of their hard-earned cash – instead of watching it be wasted by the state.

    It is true that Wales's predicament is a hangover from the decline of heavy industry in the 1970s and 80s, compounded by a lack of skills and infrastructure. But the show-boating, virtue-signalling and litany of government failures has entrenched this sorry situation.

    Only under Plaid Cymru, which in its manifesto has proposed accelerating towards Net Zero by 2035 and rejoining the single market, could matters conceivably deteriorate further.

    In 2022, Starmer said that the Welsh Government provided a "blueprint for what Labour can do across the UK". What's happened in Wales may be the future of the whole UK just weeks from now.
    –
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/jobs/welsh-labour-given-up-on-growth-prosperity/

    I don't know where I first saw it in print but it's worth repeating: dyed in the wool, turned from the sod, thick as sh!t socialists.

    1. The Left do not like success. They would prefer to burn the world than allow anyone to succeed.

  72. Just been reading about the Ocean Gate Titan submersible.
    I was breaking out into a cold sweat just looking at the pictures, let alone reading the details. Towards the end of the article, I realised I had been holding my breath.
    How the hell could anyone be daft enough to enter the thing? The sheer thought of being bolted in would freak me out before I even went near it.

    1. We were talking about that last Friday in the pub. They must have been as mad as hatters.

      1. Some folk go cave diving – in underground tunnels. Some people bolt themselves into metal cylinders and pootle hundreds of metres down. Others vote for the green party. Humans are idiots.

    2. Is it the same one, anne, that Boris Johnson applauded for British ingenuity, but then added shame about the lives lost – almost seemed like an afterthought?

      1. When I took Kadi for a walk this morning I was wearing a long woollen overcoat and a hat! It did brighten up a bit later (after a heavy shower) but the wind was cold. Global boiling? Bring it on!

  74. I tried to go to see Nagsman on Saturday but this happened

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2024/06/17/TELEMMGLPICT000382131088_17186312210120_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BquLmHKNaT2OspieeUjldj06lZlVGkFVrulHDGfmLMmms.jpeg?imwidth=680
    Luckily Stephenroi was not phut-phut-phutting along the K&A canal below.

    Pictured: Lorry plunges off bridge into canal
    No one is thought to have been injured during the incident and the vehicle has been recovered

    Telegraph Reporters
    17 June 2024 • 2:46pm

    4. Guess what Michael I was just over a mile away when the driver decided to take his truck for a drink I’m now moored at Burbage Wharf until the dredger arrives and clears the debris from the canal bed!
      By all means pop by on a No 80 bus for light lunch tea / coffee or something stronger. Not on board Wednesday

  75. An early Birdie Three!

    Wordle 1,094 3/6
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜🟨🟨🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Well done, nasty 5 here.
      Wordle 1,094 5/6

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

    2. Well done. Par four today.

      Wordle 1,094 4/6

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

    3. A lunchtime par

      I tried narrowing down the choices with turn 3 – that didn't help.

      Wordle 1,094 4/6

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

    4. Me too, Rene, with a little bit of luck!

      Wordle 1,094 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
      🟨🟨🟩⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  76. Well that's a bit unnerving.

    Yesterday we had a tournament at a golf course that is on a local forces base. We had to show ID to get in which is fair enough. But we did not have to get out of the car, all I needed to do was hold up my driver's license beside my face and the guard in his little hut said OK and let me in. His last words were that I should try to avoid straying onto the runway.

    Was that it for security? Just a retired soldier commisionaire checking licenses from about ten feet away. Hopefully there are no terrorist golfers, they could easily do who knows what damage.

    1. "His last words were that I should try to avoid straying onto the runway."

      And that's when you shot him?

  77. Good evening ladies and gentleman from Audrey and I .
    I do like Nigel Farage's contract with the country, it sounds like a job of which politicians are employed to act upon unlike the meaningless word ' manifesto .

    1. The key phrase being "it sounds like …" Too many years of disappointment leading to cynicism for me to believe in anything a politician says, I'm afraid.

      1. Yes but Nigel knows what he's doing here – he knows he will never have to deliver on anything he says this time round, so he might as well drop a few 'bombs' on the main parties – his tax proposals, whilst probably unaffordable (funded by massive cuts in the Public Sector, well good luck with that!), will spook the main parties and make them look very dull and boring.
        I understand your cynicism (I thought you preferred realism!) but Nigel is (to use an IT term) a 'disruptive technology' – and that has proven to be a big positive influence to date.

        1. I campaigned for NIgel when he was running UKIP. I know him well. The last UKIP manifesto was completely costed (and independently audited). I doubt very much if Reform’s is.

          2. So you think Reform should be just like the others – offer the earth and then renege on the promises?

          3. Not at all – he's there to stir it up, rightly so, and should use everything in his power to disrupt the stinking status quo.

            If he was to get a sniff of power he might, reluctantly, have to moderate his aspirations, faced as he would be by the lumpen colossus of vested interests….

  78. @squireweston:disqus just said hello in the other place, are you on your travels again . Enjoy yourself if so

  79. Good afternoon all,

    Warm and sunny here , garden will need watering again.

    The trouble with potted plants on the patio is that one cannot use peat any more when potting up, and the granules are hopeless for retaining water .. I mean , they burn peat in Scotland and Ireland , and use peat for all sorts of things , but good plants brought on by nurserymen need constant attention and the garden nursery industry is furious that twerps are making rules all because of carbon capture and global warming .

    2. Uncooked kitchen waste fallen leaves and lawn cuttings creat good compost that retains moisture.

      1. And not all were wearing masks either. I wonder how many of them occasionally cough without even turning their head away.

      2. And not all were wearing masks either. I wonder how many of them occasionally cough without even turning their head away.

  83. In the unlikely event that anyone was in any doubt about the nature of the Labour Party throughout the ages, this will help them. Blair's agreement gave amnesties to terrorists but not to soldiers, hence the Tories' recent Legacy Act. Now they want to repeal that.

    Labour's plan to ditch Troubles amnesty branded 'dangerous'
    –
    Act of vandalism would threaten Northern Ireland's fragile peace, warns veteran
    –
    Nick Gutteridge, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT • 16 June 2024 • 10:00pm

    Labour's intention to repeal a law that protects Northern Ireland veterans from prosecution has been branded a "dangerous act of vandalism" that threatens the peace. Paul Young, from the Northern Ireland Veterans Movement, said he was "shocked and appalled" by Sir Keir Starmer's plan to axe the Legacy Act.

    The landmark legislation, which was passed by the Tories last autumn, offers an amnesty for atrocities committed during the 30 years of the Troubles. It has been praised by military groups for ending the "witch hunt" of veterans but has been criticised by Northern Irish political parties and Dublin.

    In its manifesto, published last week, Labour committed to repealing the act which it said "denies justice to the families and victims of the Troubles".

    Mr Young, a veteran of the Blues and Royals Household Cavalry and a former police officer. Writing for The Telegraph, he said: "Repealing the Act would be a dangerous act of vandalism to Northern Ireland's fragile peace. It would also be a slap in the face to the brave soldiers who had put their lives on the line to restore order and prevent a civil war in this country.

    "I am shocked and appalled that Keir Starmer, someone who wants to be the prime minister, would repeatedly commit to repealing such an important law whilst using veterans to promote his party. Should he get the keys to Number 10, Starmer must rethink his position on this law which upholds so much for so many. Either he doesn't understand the veterans' community, or he just doesn't care about us. Neither is acceptable."

    Johnny Mercer, the veterans minister, said: "Difficult politics requires difficult decisions made by adults who actually believe in something. We are on the side of veterans and have backed up our strong words to make the UK the best country in the world to be a veteran with bold action.

    "Keir Starmer, on the other hand, has made it clear he would happily side with his mates in the human rights lobby to continue to make the lives of British veterans and their families a misery, in Northern Ireland and elsewhere. By threatening to repeal this important Act that will restart prosecutions that have hounded many veterans even until death, Keir Starmer has revealed his disdain for British veterans."

    The Legacy Act has effectively stopped new inquests and civil cases being launched into potential crimes committed during the Troubles era. Under it perpetrators who come forward to a new Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery will be granted an amnesty.

    Ministers have said this will mean victims, survivors and their families get closure whilst stopping the prosecution of elderly and often frail veterans. But the legislation was opposed by the two main Northern Irish parties, DUP and Sinn Fein, as well as the Irish government and human rights groups.

    They all argue that its conditional amnesty will rob victims of justice, whether they suffered at the hands of the IRA or the British armed forces. The legislation is also subject to legal challenges, including one from the relatives of a man who was shot dead in a Loyalist attack in 1997.

    In February, the High Court in Belfast ruled in relation to that challenge that the immunity was in breach of the European Convention on Human rights. The UK Government responded to the verdict by saying it would appeal.

    Last September, the Irish government also announced it was taking legal advice about lodging a challenge to the law at the European Court of Human Rights. Joe Biden, the US president who has Irish roots, has also made clear his opposition to the legislation which he said was the Brits "screwing around".

    Sir Keir has repeatedly criticised the Act, saying it was forced through without the support of either the Unionist or Republican communities in Northern Ireland. The Labour manifesto states: "The Legacy Act denies justice to the families and victims of the Troubles. Labour will repeal and replace it, by returning to the principles of the Stormont House Agreement, and seeking support from all communities in Northern Ireland."

    A Labour spokesman said: "The Legacy Act managed to unite just about everyone in Northern Ireland against it. The Conservatives' Act offers immunity to all, including terrorists. It does not have the consent of the political parties and communities in Northern Ireland, and key parts of it were recently found by the courts to be unlawful. It simply cannot work.

    "Labour is deeply proud of our Armed Forces personnel and veterans for the contribution they make to our country – including those who served with great distinction in protecting the people of Northern Ireland. Labour has been clear that we will repeal and replace the Legacy Act – working with all those affected, including the veterans' community, on a process of reconciliation and a desire for the truth."

    ________________________________________

    Legacy Act stopped witch hunt of brave veterans

    By Paul Young

    The NI Legacy Act has drawn a line under one of the most traumatic periods in our country's history, the Troubles.

    It has stopped a witch hunt of brave veterans who can now go about their lives without the fear of prosecution weighing on their minds. It has also helped provide fair routes to justice, getting better outcomes for victims, survivors and their families.

    The Act protects soldiers who had been investigated and cleared but were being repeatedly taken to court without new evidence for political gain. Both as a veteran myself and through my work with the Northern Ireland Veterans' Movement, I have seen the damaging impact on veterans, their families and victims.

    Not only is this traumatic for old soldiers who are hauled before the courts, but it enflames the wounds for victims and their families and deepens division in Northern Ireland.

    Although it's been well over 50 years since the Troubles began, its scars are still fresh in the minds of its veterans and its survivors. Repealing the Act would be a dangerous act of vandalism to Northern Ireland's fragile peace.

    It would also be a slap in the face to the brave soldiers who had put their lives on the line to restore order and prevent a civil war in this country. Passing the NI Legacy Act was clearly the right thing to do, despite some vociferous opposition.

    Veterans now have peace of mind, because of the NI Legacy Act and the work of the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).

    The dedicated minister for veterans in the Cabinet, who understands what veterans need and is interested in fighting for veteran's rights, has informed the public of the dire plight of veterans. He has made the veterans' voices heard loud and clear and it has made a difference.

    This Government has been different, and they have made noticeable gains in what it actually feels like to be a veteran in this country. This government promised to deliver legislation to protect veterans who served in Northern Ireland, and they have delivered on that promise despite opposition from other parties.

    Veterans are used to hearing meaningless words about how much politicians value the veteran community in election times.

    I am shocked and appalled that Keir Starmer, someone who wants to be the prime minister would repeatedly commit to repealing such an important law whilst using veterans to promote his party. Should he get the keys to No 10, Starmer must rethink his position on this law which upholds so much for so many.

    Either he doesn't understand the veterans' community, or he just doesn't care about us. Neither is acceptable. There are 1.8 million veterans in the UK who have given everything for this country. Protecting us from vexatious litigation should not be a lot to ask. This act must not be repealed.

    Paul Young is a veteran of the Blues and Royals Household Cavalry and the senior policy adviser to Justice for Northern Ireland Veterans Original

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/16/labours-plan-to-ditch-troubles-amnesty-branded-dangerous/

  84. Peer claims bombs 'more horrific than Hiroshima' dropped on Palestinians

    Baroness Uddin insisted protest marches will continue until the "slaughter stops". She said she hopes the marches will "yield peace and justice", adding the cause of Palestine has been "awakened in the hearts of all citizens throughout the nations".

    She added the UK Government is "so complicit with Israel's breaking of international laws and breaching the international norms of war"…and so on…

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/hiroshima-house-of-lords-gaza-bangladesh-government-b1144178.html

    It's all boiling up for a summer of discontent.

    2. Maybe if Hamas stopped murdering and promising to murder more Jews we wouldn't have this situation. But that's a narcissist for you. DARVO, deny attack reverse victim and offender.

    3. The non-affiliated peer’s remarks came as the House of Lords held its International Women’s Day debate.

      Non affiliated?
      NON AFFILIATED???
      She's a shove it in your face Muslim, how can she be?

      1. Oh the irony of supporting islam on International Women's Day when women are goods and chattels to muslims.

    4. WTF are the international norms of war? Who fights to lose? The Moslem definition of peace and justice involves them having a monopoly on mass slaughter.

    5. Hmm. I'm not the first one to say this but…

      if you don't want a war, don't start a war.

    7. The "cause of Palestine" hasn't been awakened in the heart of this citizen. Hamas deserves all it gets (and the Palestinians should denounce them and disclose the tunnels) while Israel, the only democracy in the ME, needs to be defended and supported. Is that someone I hear battering the door down?

    8. The "cause of Palestine" hasn't been awakened in the heart of this citizen. Hamas deserves all it gets (and the Palestinians should denounce them and disclose the tunnels) while Israel, the only democracy in the ME, needs to be defended and supported. Is that someone I hear battering the door down?

  85. Interesting how the BBC leads with a shocking report on the Greeks throwing immigrants back into the sea, just before mentioning Reforms election contract with the people.
    Great timing that.
    I bet they were saving that one up.

      1. Of course. The beeb is a nasty organisation, peopled with nasties (apart from our Sue).

  86. :-DDD well done, that man (been there done that). Have a lovely evening, well-deserved….:-)

  87. Finishing off the leftovers after the weekend. Turns out I like my Pimms made with half-sparkling water, and half-lemonade.

  89. Evening, all. Housekeeping first; I had an apology from Reform and an offer to discuss it (I think I've sussed it now; I did sign up to a UKIP Whatsapp group about campaigning about 5 years (and at least 3 phones) ago and I suspect the data was mined from there by one of my "ex-UKIP colleagues". My mobile phone company appears to be off the hook.

    I drove to Newport (Salop, rather than South Wales or IoW) this arvo to buy a generator. Needless to say, they didn't have any in stock, but it should arrive in about 10 days' time. I've spent a lot of money so far with only promises to show for it. A bit like the government, only I suspect that in this case the goods will, in fact, be delivered. As it was an old-fashioned agricultural store, such as used to exist in my area, but which has since disappeared, I also bought other things while I was there. 50% off shrubs was attractive as they were reasonably priced in the first place. I also bought some weedkiller to tackle the ground elder; the woman behind the counter agreed that nothing was as effective any more since the EU meddled with things. I have since sprayed the ground elder at the back and will await results before trying the front. Then there were a couple of replacement items that I hadn't been able to find locally, so all-in-all, a good result and worth the trip.

    Apropos the headline; Labour doesn't care what chaos or hurt it causes. It will be basking in a glow of self congratulation at having stuffed "the rich", who probably aren't rich at all, and put another nail in the coffin of aspiration and upward mobility.

  90. What a day it has been……
    I'm worn out following directions from the head gardener I have trimmed hedges mowed the front verges, ours and neighbours lawn and our own rear lawns. Had some help from our lovely four years old grandson. He just loves to get involved.
    His dad sent a message saying he had fallen asleep on the sofa before his dinner was ready.
    I'll be in bed early as well.
    Off to hospital for cataract surgery tomorrow.
    Not sure if I'll be able to get involved tomorrow.
    Night all. 😴

    3. I find grandsons make more sense than anyone else – and are a lot more fun!

      Good luck tomorrow buddy, my own eyes are shot to sh!t and I probably need it done as well! I'm a bit of a wimp on stuff like this though…..

      1. I haven't had it done yet (that joy is yet to come) but I understand from people who have that it isn't as awful as all that and the end result is well worth it.

        2. The worst bit is the self-inflicted apprehension.
          The outcome is invariably good to great, Conners!

          Think of it like a watch repair; the guy knows how to fix it!

          3. " If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well. It were done quickly …"Macbeth

          4. I would be happy to have it done. My eyesight hasn't deteriorated enough yet, though. The cataracts are just incipient.

          5. "My eyesight hasn't deteriorated enough yet…"

            Rubbish: you should have one done right away and take advice about the other. They are never going to get better or go away, Conners!

          6. That is the opinion of my optician, lacoste! I have to wait for them to get worse before I can have them done.

      2. Same here. There's something about eyes …..
        My DiL even hates the thought of a person putting in contact lenses.

        2. I've worn contact lenses since 1967. I'm blind as a bat (and lacking the radar) without corrected vision.

          1. I wore contact lenses for a number of years but developed a painful reaction to even the most simple cleaning solution. No daily disposables back then. The alternative method of sterilising them was to boil them for 5 minutes every evening in a special container. After a few years of doing that, I gave up completely, too much bother, especially when staying away from home. I, too, am blind as a bat without my glasses which, even with maximum thinning of the lenses, are so thick. Eyesight is a very precious gift.

          2. I wore contacts for a few years. I really need varifocals now though and the contact lens version isn’t very effective. Also, glasses frames hide a multitude!

          3. I have worn varifocals now for many years (well over 20, I think), and was surprised at how I noticed no issues on my first pair.

          4. If you ride and/or do a lot of bending over when gardening, specs are not very convenient. I use Ortho-K – put my lenses in at night, sleep in them and take them out in the morning. My vision is then corrected all day, which has the advantage of not having to worry about dust getting behind my lenses when I'm filling hay nets.

          5. Good grief, Conway…many years since I wore contacts, never heard of sleeping in them, how fab!

          6. I always thought sleeping in lenses was a big no-no. Times change, and improvements are developed.

          9. I have never, ever heard of that, Connors. Please would you explain how it works?

          10. It's Orthokeratology. They are hard lenses and basically they reshape your lens as you sleep so that when you take your lenses out, your eyes are corrected. It lasts a good 24 hours. It's been likened to wearing a brace on your teeth.

          1. I used them for a good few years when I was younger. It was so good to be able to go out in the rain without getting specs splashed, and go into shops in winter without misting up.

      3. Please go for checkup before condition worsens, G4…..you know it makes sense, him indoors put it off for a while….

        1. Him indoors sounds like a good lad – My old man always said he'd never go to hospital/the docs as eventually they'd be carrying him out feet first!
          That level of self-delusional idiocy supports me in my darker moments…….

          1. He actually went in during lockdown, place was empty, plenty of parking, seen to immediately. Drive home, roads almost empty too. He still goes for checkups now and again, went today, placed full to rafters, one doctor on duty hanging around waiting for nurses chuntering away at their station….as you were, everyone. Have to say, I’m with your dad, not keen on medics…last episode was I had a tick bite, wanted a prescription for antibiotics (as I’d had previously several times), again lockdown so told me no and to go to A&E, three hours later temper boiling just a tad….nurse ‘ooo your bp’s a tad on high side’…..

          2. I think Dylan Thomas (as ever) sums it up quite beautifully;

            Do not go gentle into that good night,
            Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
            Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

            Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
            Because their words had forked no lightning they
            Do not go gentle into that good night.

            Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
            Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
            Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

            Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
            And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
            Do not go gentle into that good night.

            Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
            Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
            Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

            And you, my father, there on the sad height,
            Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
            Do not go gentle into that good night.
            Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

      4. It is well worth it.
        Amazingly quick – about half an hour – and the results are magical.
        Go for it.

        2. I'll have to significantly increase my dosage of brave pills, Anne, then maybe I'll try…..

    6. You'll be fine, him indoors was….just do as you're told, to the letter. All the best x

    9. I had both mine done a couple of years ago. Results were brilliant. Literally.
      About two months apart, just in case something went wrong.

      After all, to lose one eye may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness!

    1. I find Dominic Frisby very good – his 'We're all Far Right now' is very funny!!

    1. Anyone championing proper farming gets my vote. The war that the Glob is waging on the countryside (on common sense and wisdom in general) must be opposed.

    2. Nothing to really disagree with in that.
      Not that it will stop the dyed-in-the-wool con and liebour supporters, even though I suspect a majority would support the above plans.
      I saw that liebour are considering dropping the IHT threshold to just £125,000. Again, that won't stop the idiots voting for them.

    3. "Look to UK for cleaner energy sources."

      Aye. Good 'ard Yorkshire steam coal! None o' that soft'n'mucky foreign stuff.

  95. Just watched Nigel Farage talking at Frinton. No notes, no prompts just him talking about his mission. I must say very impressive, I could not in my wildest imagination imagine Sunak or Starmer, especially Starmer putting his cause across with such energy and passion.
    Love him or loathe him he is a real force to be reckoned with, I like him, just cost me 25 quid.

  96. I have forwarded that film to several friends and family members.
    Regardless of political persuasion, it is a good example of how politicians once knew how to makes speeches.
    Of course, holding genuine beliefs is a good start.

  97. Nigel is an orator par excellence. He can work a room and carry a crowd with him.

  99. I once took my late MiL to hear him speak at a meeting in Boston. She lived there, and had issues with 'rude' east Europeans clogging up the shops and her GP surgery. I can't remember the occasion of the meeting, maybe it was before 2016 Brexit vote, maybe before the EU elections prior that. He was an excellent speaker, very passionate and knowledgeable. He was able to answer every single question thrown at him by members of the audience. I was impressed too.

    1. Starmer is a Trotskyist fool. I really doubt whether any sentient human being could ever vote for this shite.

      Starmer is a repulsive example of the very worst in the legal and professional political class. A liar seeking to secure his Muslim constituency, a cabal of foreigners seeking to undermine our country and its historic values.

  102. Serbian FA charged after objects thrown in England's Euro 2024 opener
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c0jjy31pv1po

    "So what?", you ask. This:
    UEFA charges include "transmitting a provocative message unfit for a sports event" after the Kosovo Football Federation said it had made a complaint to Uefa about the "display of flags, slogans and chants by Serbian fans", which it said contained "political and racist messages against Kosovo".

    Europe's next flash-point…

    1. Were they pointing out that Kosovo IS Serbia? Unfashionable but true nonetheless.

        1. NATO responsible back then as far as I recall. Of course the motivation was the US seeking a major airbase in the region.

          It is high time that NATO was put to sleep and consigned to history as a bad idea.

          The Serbian leader understands the nonsense in Ukraine.

          3. Eh? The was began with the KLA (Islamic ethnic Albanians) claiming autonomy from what was left of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) and engaging in guerilla activities when refused. Yugoslav forces eventually turned on Kosovo, leading to NATO turning on Belgrade.

            Serious violence has flared up there several times since the 1870s. Christian Serbs are a very small proportion of the population of Kosovo, confined to a small area in the north. They were the subject of the KLA's attacks in 1998.

            Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008. Serbia recognises Kosovo but still makes claims for the region in the north.

  104. Morning run to Stepson's flat to drop off his clean washing and pick up some more that needs doing, having a mug of tea as I did so. Picked up a bottle of milk en route to Stoke.
    Then over to the Harpland's Mental Unit.
    Sat with him for half an hour before he went to get ready for lunch.
    A bit of shopping, including cleaning stuff, then back to his flat to drop it off, have another mug of tea and back home.

    And that is now me off to bed.
    Good night all.

  105. Tuesday's letters early…
    ________________________________________

    SIR – Nigel Farage's stated aim is to destroy the Conservative Party – even, it appears, those elements within it that share many of his values and aims – despite the fact he has no hope of establishing Reform UK as an effective party in Parliament in the short term ("Reform would stop small boats in 100 days, says Farage", telegraph.co.uk , June 17). His victory would be a self-serving, Pyrrhic one.

    In pursuit of his own ambitions he is helping to ensure a Labour majority, which, should it be on the scale widely predicted, would allow fundamental changes to be made to our constitution that even Mr Farage would be unable to reverse.

    A more mature approach would be to work with the Tory party to avoid the expected outcome of the imminent election.

    Don Hamilton
    York
    ________________________________________

    SIR – I have just watched Nigel Farage and Richard Tice present the Reform "contract". It is far and away the best conservative manifesto I have heard in many years.

    Geoffrey Reynolds
    Camborne, Cornwall
    ________________________________________

    SIR – A lifelong Conservative voter, I have found the lure of Reform almost impossible to resist – but I'll manage it.

    A revolution in the Conservative Party cannot be achieved, at least for now, from the outside; it can only be achieved by Tory MPs. So the country must have as many of these MPs as possible – not just to save us from the horrors of Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner, but also to create a group among themselves strong enough and determined enough to bring about the change we so desperately need.

    Gordon Brown
    Grassington, North Yorkshire
    ________________________________________

    SIR – Lord Cameron says that Nigel Farage is trying to destroy the Conservative Party. But that has already been achieved – by the Parliamentary Conservative Party, over the course of the last parliament.

    Peter Madden
    Knutsford, Cheshire
    ________________________________________

    SIR – Tim Stanley (Comment, June 17) is spot on. When David Cameron became Conservative leader, my late husband and I knew he would be useless. We both left the party.

    It's no good various pundits blaming Reform for the Tories' problems; they started with "Call me Dave". Rishi Sunak's decision to bring him back showed very poor judgment.

    Mary Wiedman
    Piccotts End, Hertfordshire
    ________________________________________

    SIR – Philip Duly (Letters, June 15) is suspicious of Reform's polling, as he has only met one voter willing to voice support for Nigel Farage. But for many Mr Farage is a guilty pleasure. They won't admit to being fans, but will support his party when the day comes.

    Gavin Littaur
    London NW4
    ________________________________________

  106. from the Telegraph

    Tories turn to Boris to combat Farage threat
    Former PM signs letters to wavering voters amid warning Labour could be in power for a generation if support goes to Reform

    Ben Riley-Smith, Political Editor 17 June 2024 • 9:48pm
    Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson
    The Prime Minister and Boris Johnson once had a close relationship, but it became increasingly strained after Rishi Sunak's resignation as chancellor in 2022 Credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

    Boris Johnson is being drafted in by the Tories to play a more active role in the election campaign as the party seeks to counter the threat from Reform UK.

    Tens of thousands of letters signed by the former prime minister are due to be delivered to voters later this week, The Telegraph can reveal, after the Conservatives warned that a vote for Reform risked putting Labour in power for “a generation”.

    The direct mail drive urging people to vote Tory is Mr Johnson’s closest involvement yet in the Conservatives’ attempts to defy the polls.

    Among those voters believed to have been targeted are wavering Tories who backed the party when Mr Johnson was leader but are now tempted by Reform.

    On Monday, the Conservatives issued their starkest warning over Nigel Farage’s party yet after the Reform manifesto launch, saying: “If you’re thinking about voting for Reform, and a generation under Labour scares you, there’s only one way to prevent it: vote Conservative.”

    tmg.video.placeholder.alt aFLHtBRzQZM
    In the last fortnight, there have been discussions about Mr Johnson appearing in person on the campaign trail to boost the party’s fortunes.

    Isaac Levido, the Tory campaign manager who also ran his 2019 election bid, is known to admire his former boss’s communication skills. Mr Levido and Mr Johnson have been in regular contact during the campaign, including about how the former prime minister could help out.

    But it remains unclear how much Mr Johnson is willing to do to support Mr Sunak, a man many of his allies still blame for his ousting from Downing Street.

    Mr Sunak’s resignation as chancellor in July 2022 triggered a ministerial stampede for the exit door, with Mr Johnson resigning 36 hours later.

    So far, Mr Johnson has limited his campaign role to video endorsements for individual MPs who have asked for them, and pro-Tory columns in the Daily Mail. But those articles often make no explicit mention of Mr Sunak, and the video support messages made public so far have tended to be for loyal allies.

    Mr Sunak and Mr Johnson have not talked during the campaign, according to one Johnson ally, suggesting their relationship has not fully healed. They had shared texts about Israel-Gaza policy issues the day before the snap election was called.

    One ally of Mr Johnson told The Telegraph he was still weighing up whether to campaign in person. Asked why the Tory campaign wanted to deploy him, the source said: “The simple answer is he gets cut through. That is a rarity in this Conservative campaign.”

    Sources in both the Tory campaign and close to Mr Johnson dismissed any suggestion there was friction between the two camps. They stressed Mr Johnson had not turned down any specific offer to join a campaign event.

    One idea had been that that he would campaign in Red Wall seats that he won in 2019. In the past, his allies have said Mr Sunak would have to call and ask for his help.

    With limited time before the election, Mr Johnson’s overseas commitments complicate the situation. He travels abroad again this week and is due to return only shortly before polling day.

    He sees himself as an election winner and he may be reluctant to appear as part of a campaign facing defeat, especially should he ever wish to launch a political comeback. One ally predicted that he would not end up doing an in-person campaign event.

    The Tories are still trailing Labour by around 20 percentage points in the polls with less than three weeks before the general election on July 4. Some polling analysis suggests they could be left with under 100 MPs.

    Analysis

    The Tory big beasts who could lose out to tactical voting

    Mr Sunak, under pressure after months without improvement in the polls, has faced calls from some Tories to “go for the jugular” in attacks on Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader.

    The campaign is now also talking up the prospect of a Labour “super-majority” to sway voters back to the Tories. But Mr Sunak has avoided personally talking about that possibility, insisting he can still win the election.

    A spokesman for Mr Johnson said: “Boris Johnson has always said ‘vote Conservative’ at every election, and he continues to say that this time.”

  108. Well, chums, I'm off to bed now. Good Night, sleep well, and I shall see you all tomorrow.

  109. Good morning all. Tuesday's new page is fixed .😁

    …delayed, perhaps indefinitely. I'm in the Isle of Wight for four nights, for the first 'annual' meet-up with sundry cousing since Covid. The hotel is excellent, but for some reason its WiFi network is blocking access to nttl.blog . I can't believe we've been singled out as a 'dangerous' site, since it allows access to 'far, hard Right' sites such as TCW and Breitbart. Tere's absolutely no mobile signal, so I can't post via 4G either,. Perhaps because it's still the 1950's here?

    So I suggest thay we keep posting to this page while I ponder a solution. There may not be one. I can still access the moderation page, so at least I can override the closure of pages after a couple of days. At worst, the site will be back to normal on Saturday. 😢

    1. Thank you for the heads up, Geoff, enjoy your time on IoW.

      Today's story just posted on yesterday's page.

    2. Maybe, Geoff you should highlight that, so that it appears at the top, for all to see when they eventually arrive at this page.

  110. Good morrow, gentlefolk. Todays (recycled) storiy.

    NAG, NAG and NAG

    A Lawyer arrived home late, after a very tough day trying to get a stay of execution. His last-minute plea for clemency to the governor had failed and he was feeling worn out and depressed.

    As soon as he walked through the door at home, his wife started on him about, 'What time of night to be getting home is this? Where have you been? Dinner is cold and I'm not reheating it'. And on and on and on.

    Too shattered to play his usual role in this familiar ritual, he poured himself a shot of whiskey and headed off for a long hot soak in the bathtub, pursued by the predictable sarcastic remarks as he dragged himself up the stairs.

    While he was in the bath, the phone rang. The wife answered and was told that her husband's client, James Wright, had been granted a stay of execution after all. Wright would not be hanged tonight.

    Finally realizing what a terrible day he must have had; she decided to go upstairs and give him the good news. As she opened the bathroom door, she was greeted by the sight of her husband, bent over naked, drying his legs and feet.

    'They're not hanging Wright tonight,' she said.

    'For The Love Of God Woman, Don't You Ever Stop?'

  111. Morning GG,

    May Gods grace and the patriotic feelings of ALL the Notties be with you in all your endeavours.

  114. Good Morning, all

    RESCUE THE IoW ONE

    Zero Tolerance’ — Labour Party Leader Starmer Vows Government Crackdown on ‘Islamophobia’

    https://media.breitbart.com/media/2024/06/GettyImages-2086889183-1-640×480.jpg

    Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer said that if elected, his government would take a hardline approach in policing “Islamophobia” as he looks to sure up Muslim support before the July 4th general election in Britain.

    The government needs to take a “zero tolerance” approach to supposed anti-Islam statements not only made in real life but online as well, Sir Keir Starmer said in a video with London Mayor Sadiq Khan marking the of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr.

    The Labour leader said that Islamophobia in Britain has been “far too high for far too long,” adding: “We need to say over and over again, Islamophobia is intolerable, it can never ever be justified and we have to continue with a zero-tolerance approach.”

    “I think there’s more we can do in government, certainly stuff online, which I think needs tackling much more robustly than it is at the moment,” Starmer said.

    Agreeing with his party’s leader Mayor Sadiq Khan, a practising Muslim of Pakistani heritage, said: “What I’m hoping Kier is your experience as a prosecutor means you’ll be thinking about the strategy we can use to make sure we take action against those who break the law.”

    The comments from Starmer, who is widely predicted to become Britain’s next prime minister in a little over two weeks time, suggest that his potential government would look to build upon his party’s history of undermining free speech in the UK.

    For example, under former Prime Minister Tony Blair — whom Starmer appears to be modelling his persona and policies after — the Labour government introduced the draconian Communications Act of 2003, which criminalised statements deemed to be “grossly offensive” or intentionally causing “annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another”. The legislation has been used to arrest thousands of Britons for posts online.

    Despite being in power for the past 14 years, the so-called Conservative Party not only refused to roll back Blair-era laws on speech — or his radical constitutional reforms for that matter — but instead decided to double down on censorious actions, such as the Online Safety law, which threatens to punish social media companies with fines of up to 10 per cent of their global income for falling afoul of the government’s speech standards.

    However, the Labour Party seems to look to go further, particularly on so-called Islamophobia. The increasingly urban woke left-wing party has adopted the widely contested All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) definition of Islamophobia as being “rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness”.

    The adoption of the definition suggests that the party may seek to enshrine it into law once in power, which critics such as Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch have warned will act as a “back door” blasphemy law in Britain.

    “In this country, we have a proud tradition of religious freedom AND the freedom to criticise religion,” Badenoch said in February.

    While the Labour Party is expected to secure a large victory in next month’s general election, the party has been facing some issues with Muslim voters, who have come to represent a key voting bloc for the party. With Starmer attempting to distance himself and the party from the antisemitism scandals that hounded his socialist predecessor Jeremy Corbyn, there has been a swath of leftist and Muslim Labour politicians resigning from the party for not taking a hard enough line on Israel.

    In May’s local elections, dozens of single-issue pro-Gaza independent candidates won council votes and Labour’s Muslim vote share radically declined in heavily Islamic areas of the country. The move by Starmer to virtue signal on the issue of Islamophobia alongside the party’s most prominent Muslim politician, may therefore be an attempt to sure up support within the community before they head to the polls on July 4th.

    In addition to vowing to crack down on Islamophobia, Starmer told Khan that as prime minister, he would seek to negotiate with the government of Saudi Arabia to increase the number of visas granted each year for Muslims to travel there for the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

    2. If true this move should be the final piece of evidence that the Labour party has given up on the 'working class'. Cast adrift by Starmer & Co in favour of a new power bloc, the 'workers', if they have a sense of self-preservation, should head for Reform. Sadly, tribalism is rife in politics and it may take a while for the Starmer/Labour betrayal to seep into the minds of the betrayed.

      Giving succour exclusively to one religious group is an extremely stupid and dangerous step. History…

      Just as giving a child a box of matches and a can of petrol, Starmer literally will be playing with fire if this goes ahead.

    3. With Starmer attempting to distance himself and the party from the antisemitism scandals that hounded his socialist predecessor Jeremy Corbyn.

      What? Has he not noticed the massive increase in attacks and threats on British Jews?

    4. Starmer is graduating from going down on one knee to two knees, head on ground, bum in the air.

  115. Britain is already at war, and nobody wants to admit it. Iain Duncan Smith 18 June 2024.

    I refer to the systemic threat to those of us who live under democracy and the rule of law. The danger posed to the free world by the new axis of totalitarian states is the greatest we have faced since the end of the Cold War. It has been growing in plain sight, but the leaders of the West have done their level best to play it down.
    The chief members of this axis are China, North Korea, Russia and Iran. But alongside them is a growing list of totalitarian fellow-travellers, from Syria and Myanmar to some of the Gulf States and significant numbers of African nations. Each of these countries already exhibits a charge list of brutality that is chilling.

    You would think by this article that Iain Duncan Smith had spent the last fourteen years shipwrecked on a tropical Desert Island. According to this, he and the Tories, have played no part in the formation of the present world and tellingly there is no mention of immigration or the UK’s precipitous decline into division and irrelevance.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    1. 'Each of these countries already exhibits a charge list of brutality that is chilling'.
      Duncan Smith conveniently forgets our actions in Libya and Iraq where we slaughtered hundreds of thousands of innocent children.

  118. BTL@DTletters

    Daryl Linson
    10 HRS AGO
    This is how I see it Don from York. Farage did work with the Conservatives in 2019 and the clowns pretty much spat in his face. They've hashed Brexit and broke their immigration manifesto promise 4 times. It is the idiotic behaviour of the Cons with partygate and the lies, that have landed them in this mess not Farage. They are the ones facing annihilation, they now need to prostrate themselves before Reform and help them to defeat Labour, not the other way around. Enjoy voting Conservative, it will probably be one of the last few times you will be able to do so. I doubt there is any way back for them after this betrayal. RIP. 1834 -2024

    John Reeve
    9 HRS AGO
    Don Hamilton would do well to reflect that if the Conservatives had not totally betrayed their voters, losing votes to Reform would not be an issue as there would be no reason for Reform to exist.

  119. Good (Tuesday) morning, chums, and thanks for your efforts, Geoff. I'm sure we can all continue to use Monday's NoTTLe site until you are back from your IOW break, so don't be concerned. On a similar note, I myself shall be "out of action" on most of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so after this Tuesday post, only expect to see me on Wednesday, and Thursday – possibly Friday morning – when I shall again remind you of my weekend absence. And now for today's Wordle result; after three consecutive days of solving it in 3, this morning I failed to make it in my full 6 tries.

    Wordle 1,095 X/6

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

  120. Good Morning Everybody, another dull start in Co Antrim.
    Geoff, many thanks for your sterling efforts.

  121. 388553+ up ticks,

    🎵,
    The parties over,
    The indigenous piper MUST be paid via the courts in regards to
    services rendered by political / pharmaceutical top rankers concerning excess deaths and ongoing life long injuries.
    That has surely got to be an over riding all else, concern.

    Bare in mind the majority of those below are trying to erase
    everything genuinely English

    English Proverbs for "Practicality"

    … have tangible actions and accomplishments rather than merely impressive words or empty promises … if ifs and ands
    were pots and pans (there'd be no work for .

    Farage vows to reform ‘biased’ BBC and scrap licence fee
    ‘Wasteful’ broadcaster’s levy is ‘taxation without representation’, says Reform UK manifesto

  122. Good morning all.
    Tuesday the 18th of June 2024 and it's 7°C outside on a beautiful morning.
    No rain last night for a change too!

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

  125. Morning, all Y'all.
    Absolutely hissing down here, dark, and utterly miserable – yet, when I left home, it was a lovely bright day.
    Fooey 🙁

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