Sunday 23 June: Overhaul Britain’s electoral system so voters’ voices can truly be heard

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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638 thoughts on “Sunday 23 June: Overhaul Britain’s electoral system so voters’ voices can truly be heard”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolk, today’s (recycled) story
    A Story With A Moral
    A horse and a chicken were playing in a meadow. The horse fell into a mud hole and was sinking. He called to the chicken to go and get the farmer to help pull him out.

    The chicken ran to the farm but the farmer couldn't be found. So, the chicken drove the farmer's Mercedes back to the mud hole and tied some rope around the bumper. He threw the other end of the rope to the horse and drove the car forward and saved the horse from sinking!

    A few days later, the chicken and the horse were playing in the meadow again and the chicken fell into the mud hole. The chicken yelled to the horse to go and get some help from the farmer.

    The horse said, "I think I can stand over the hole!"

    So, he stretched over the width of the hole and said, "Grab my penis and pull yourself up."
    The chicken did and pulled himself to safety.

    The moral of the story: If you are hung like a horse, you don't need a Mercedes to pick up chicks.

  3. For Oberstleutnant:

    Have a happy, happy day, Paul, followed by 364 happy unbirthdays

  6. British voters will come to regret annihilating the Conservative Party. 23 June 2024.

    The lop-sidedness of the next Parliament – all the polling companies now expect Labour to win more than 400 seats, and some think it will be above 500 – is chiefly a reflection of Tory unpopularity.

    After four terms in office, a measure of unpopularity is inescapable. But doesn’t it feel just the teensiest bit… disproportionate?

    Actually no Mr Hannan. If it were left to me most of them would be hanging from trees.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/22/british-voters-will-regret-annihilating-conservative-party/

    1. I've just read the first six and the closing paragraphs of Daley's piece put up by William Stanier late yesterday, that was more than enough. Now this from Hannan. Tory supporters bleating about the probability of the Tories being destroyed electorally after fourteen years of gross mismanagement resulting in the UK being ground down by any metric that can be studied is a bit rich.

      Naturally, the people want change but the change offered by the Labour party is not so much in direction as in tempo towards total ruin. Both the Tories and Labour are infested with globalist cabal acolytes and their mis-management of the UK is directed by the cabal's agenda.

      Reform under Farage is offering something different but will enough people grasp the straw of the change in direction that Reform is dangling? If not, and the people vote for an accelerated form of more of the same i.e. Labour, then it is difficult to see the UK existing as it is today: as bad as that is, it will be infinitely worse after Starmer & Co have had their wicked way with the levers of power.

      1. Morning Korky. Sadly I agree with you but I am hoping for some sort of miracle. A revolution.

        1. Tory voters have had a hard lesson in globalism and by believing a switch to Labour with the idea that the ‘lesser of two evils’ is the answer they will receive an even harder lesson. Switching to a new party is a gamble but relying on either of the two old parties is a dead loss. The time to gamble is now as a Labour government will make the transition back to decency very difficult.
          If Starmer and Co are true to form I think you may have your revolution in 3 years or so but it will likely be on the streets. A political revolution now would be preferable to violence.

          However, should it come to the latter although I will be too old to fight, I will be able to sharpen and distribute pitchforks!

          1. Sunak is the lesser of two evils. At least his incompetence makes him more accountable than if power falls into his lap by default without even a nod to any principles… err, wasn't that how he was made PM though?

            The best outcome is if neither of them are given any power, and that there would be a political melting pot for as long as it takes to get those with integrity, honour and public spirit into Parliament.

            Therefore vote for the incumbent party if they manage to put up the most honourable candidate. If they don't, then vote for the one from any of the other parties most likely to unseat the incumbent party. I would even vote for Galloway under such circumstances.

            In West Worcestershire, I am in a quandary. Dame Harriett over the years has shown no inclination to tackle the conflicts of interest that have so perverted Government throughout, and would certainly do so under Starmer. She relies on platitudes handed out by staffers as PR instead. Yet none of the other five candidates on offer show any indication of making much inroads on her majority, even if nationally the Tory vote collapses.

          2. Under the boundary changes, we will be on the very margins of a Tory stronghold constituency. The sitting Tory MP is apparently an excellent constituency MP. (Our current area is similar, but with a wishy-washy MP) I think I will vote Reform, though I am in two minds because of this MPs strong record.

        2. Twitter is alive, humming and buzzing with Reform. I've not seen anything like it. Farage has been banned overnight for presumably being too popular and telling the truth to the British public.

        3. Me too. Sunak has obviously given up and will shortly be demob happy as he wings his way to Californication.

          Much the same is occurring in France where Macron by calling unwanted snap elections is destined to decant to some other Palace.

          Starmer and his motley crew are repulsive. I seriously doubt that they will gain power. Labour would be a catastrophe for all our futures.

      1. Upholding tradition. The Smithfield Elms. The Tyburn Tree. I’ve attempted to find out whether the former were actual trees or a euphemism as with the latter but Google won’t tell.

      2. Too high, and now they support LED units (which are not good for children's eyes) probably not robust enough to take the weight of all those fat cats.

    3. And after the disaster of a Labour government with absolute majority has wreaked havoc, a violent uprising of the people throwing the whole sorry bunch into commercial mincers, a fresh start.

    4. Thank you for the inspiration:-

      Actually no Mr Hannan.
      I suspect that many former Tory voters would like to see most of them hanging from trees.

    5. Show shum respect! It's Lord Hannan, Lord Moore, Lord Hague, & Lord Cameron. I was amazed that the hero Mr Bates swallowed the regime's Koolaid and accepted a 'K'.

  7. Morning, all Y'all.
    Sunny – and after yesterdays torrential rain, the mist coming out of the trees is really spectacular!

      1. Thanks!
        So far, sitting on my fat arse and eating a bacon sarnie and drinking good coffee… it's going well!

    5. Happy Birthday, Paul! Enjoy your day!🥂🍾🍰🎊🧁🍦🍷🍸🍧🎈🎉

    6. Grattis på födelsedagen, Paul, the young pup! 😊 Hope it's a good 'un, fella! 👍🏻🎂☕️

      1. Thanks, Grizz!
        Not feeling so young these days – need a holiday! Got planned a whole pile of building work, demolition and farming.
        I was going to add “drinking”, but alcohol has become boring… Never expected that one!

        1. I was given a glass of red wine last night, I could only manage one sip (I've not drunk wine for over nine years) before passing it on.

          I was much happier with a single malt later on.

      1. Thanks!
        In the countryside, surrounded by flies, cutting the grass and planning the building work. Some of the things we already bought have gone AWOL… so that doesn’t help.

  8. Morning, all Y'all.
    Sunny – and after yesterdays torrential rain, the mist coming out of the trees is really spectacular!

  10. 388802+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    This truly is a very sad state of affairs and if the thick as hogs shite supporter/ member / voters cannot see it as such then more deaths IMO will be the result, they, the current overseers are in every which way, continuing to suppress the excess deaths
    that is truly an issue of dire importance THAT NEEDS ANSWERS
    before ALL else.

    https://x.com/SandraWeeden/status/1804740383965884521

    1. 388802+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      If this rodents future is in the hands of the current voting majority then he can rest assured that he will be given a more powerful position in the political structure, the peoples really are their own worst ememas.

    2. Whilst on an anticoagulant I was concerned that non-healing bleeding minor abrasions suffered whilst putting my hand inside the caddy were indicative of too high a dosage of the blood thinners.
      .
      When I rasised my concern to my cardiologist he suggested I get a new tea caddy.

        2. I know the feeling, Maggie.

          I was on Warfarin for 21 years and have now been put on Clopidogerel. I bruise easily and in unlikely places!

        3. Obviously you are a pro (retired) but worth mentioning two details for others, although this is non-clinical hearsay: in an emergency the anti-coagulant warfarin can have its effect cancelled by an injection of vitamin K, and that would allow clotting to occur within an hour or less. More recent anti-coagulants cannot be rapidly counteracted/ neutralised by vitamin K. This sort of advice would be meat & gravy for personalised AI bots, who could develop a helpful conversation with a patient.

      2. 388802+ up ticks,

        Morning A O’E,

        Will it become so that DIY doctoring will be the order of the day ?

        1. Seeing that medical professionals first line of call for patient symptoms may well be the internet it is certainly worth a patient getting some possibilities for interpreting the signs when a GP is not available.

      3. Tea caddy?
        Thank goodness for that, Phizzee will have assumed something different.

          1. It’s a shame that TCS, The Central Scrutineer, no longer posts here, he was a thought-provoking and reasonable individual, in the sense one could have a reasoned debate with him.

          3. Don't be so rude!! Phizzee does have a very capable butler. He allows me one day a week off thus I wasn't there when you showed up. {:^))

          6. I have mum's old biscuit barrel (chrome-plated with a removable aluminium inside sleeve). Funny thing is it has never been used for biscuits. It served as mum's odds-and-ends 'drawer'.

            Even now it just sits on my bookshelves doing nowt.

          7. I have two tea caddies and two biscuit barrels. I'm a follower of one-upmanship, me. 🙂

      1. 388802+ up ticks,

        Morning Siad,

        ALL, I would think.

        Eventually when the herd realises the extent of damage done there will be a rhetorical tsunami of,
        “I was ordered to do it”

  11. Good morning all

    Sunny morning , have been awake for hours , 0430, have eaten my Weetabix and chopped banana and mug of coffee .

    My bird feeders are empty , I refill them twice a day usually, but I can't keep up . Jackdaws and rooks chomp the fat balls in the containers , they are also clever enough to get at the fat blocks in the square containers , starlings eat all the seed, leaving nothing for the smaller birds . Now I feel guilty .. will refill everything later.

    Moh off now to play the 2nd half of the Club championship , and son no1 is preparing to run a 10k race in an hour or so.

    All action here this morning . I drove to Wimborne yesterday to my hair appointment .. Wow the roads are getting busier and busier . I have been visiting the same hairdresser for 40 years .. (male) One chats away about this and that , and age at the same time , in the past , various female members of the family have visited and had their hair sorted out ..

    It was 40 + years ago after visiting hairdresser for the second time , that I went into an old fashioned pet shop , (no longer exists now) because it moved, to buy some bits and pieces for one of my late spaniels , and I saw an African Grey parrot perched sadly in a cage .. and it was just one of those things dear reader , without any discussion with the family, I bought him .. Happy was only 6 months old , a Timneh grey , and one of the last of the imported parrots .. so that is why I bought him. No regrets !!!!

    We had a parrot in Nigeria , an amazing bird , but it would have been too complicated to have brought it back to the UK.

    1. Your hairdresser sounds like a good chap. And Happy parrot had a good life.
      My phone is down to the last few minutes life so will have to plug it in and read something else.

      1. Yes , when he was younger , he was a dead ringer for Bobby Ewing , Dallas series , but a taller version , good mannered and good with my hair . Now nearly eighty , and hobbling around , same wavy hair and grey and I am not sure how long he will cope for, most of his loyal clientele are no longer , and he had a long list which he used to visit as the ladies became too old .. I must be the youngest now , haha !

        Sorry about your technical difficulties with your phone .

        1. Good morning TB and everyone. For a moment I assumed your parrot was a ringer for Bobby Ewing! Parrots can live to well over 60.

          1. Sadly my African Grey died about four years ago , he was 36 years old , my heart was broken , because he was a great companion and never complained !

        2. I got fed up with traditional barbers always talking about football. I tried the Turks and though they do a good cut i don''t want to be continually offered knockoff cigarettes.
          I found a nice salon that do mens hair in town.
          I'm growing it long this season. It's already several inches past my collar.

        3. Just the normal – it ran down as they do..
          My hairdresser is in his 50s so should last me out! He has a young family so needs to keep working. He recently set up a new salon having worked for a company for a few years after selling up to them.
          He’s been doing my hair for 35 years.

          1. It is so strange , but quite clearly I am similar to you , a male hairdresser doesn’t fiddle around , mine is confident and takes charge , and I appreciate that , and I don’t receive any vacant conversation either .

            Mine has an interesting life story and is never boring .

            What was so funny was Moh decided to accompany me one day… yes !

            Moh had the time of his life because my hairdresser has a season ticket to Southampton football club , and has done so all his adult life , so he and Moh discussed the team and all the positives and negatives of their favourite team .

  12. Phew, that was close. My postal vote arrived yesterday. Now it seems that every media outlet is warning me that this Farage chap whose party I was about to vote for is "quite literally Adolf Hitler*".

    (*One thing I like about this site is that Disqus auto-moderation is turned off. Moderators are real people.)

    I'm still voting Reform. It is, however, depressing that so many BTL posters appear to have swallowed the story – hook, line and sinker. 😕

    I'll make a prediction, though. Here in Surrey Heath – Michael Gove's former constituency – the Illiberal Undemocrats will win by a landslide. Polling, based on election leaflets through my letter box is as follows:

    Green: 0
    Reform: 0
    Labour: 0
    Conservative: 1
    Lib Dem: 12
    Heritage: 0

    I think this poll will turn out to be more accurate than any of the professional pollsters' efforts…

    1. Nigel is correct , Nato poked the bear .

      Current politicians are not clued up to world events . Too many knee jerk reactions .

      2. The US was giving it a jolly good poke too by its funding of the AZOVS back in 2014 to stir up trouble (i.e. persecute) the ethnic Russians to manipulate Putin into action. My only question to Putin was what kept you? At least 10,000-14,000 ethnic Russian Ukrainians were killed by these people in the years from 2014-2022. It was some months after Putin's military operations on the eastern border of Ukraine commenced that I realised the reason for his holding back.

        Good morning, Belle.

    2. But will the Lib Dems leaflet-delivering enthusiasm help them? Any sensible person reading their nonsense would run a mile!

      1. Undoubtedly. I didnt read any of them. Don’t assume that the Surrey electorate is sensible. It largely comprises a bunch of overpaid self-centred pricks. Harsh, but true.Guildford has in recent memory had a LibDem MP. Had Gove not stood down in Surrey Heath, there may have been an entertaining fight. With him gone, this constituency is about to turn yellow, along with much of the county.

      2. The leaflet blitz seemed to work here last time. Mind you, the ambulance times are still appalling and the roads are still full of potholes (the main thrust of last election's campaigning), so disillusion may have set in. The house a few doors along which had an LD poster last time doesn't have one this.

    4. Morning all.

      We actuhad a Labour canvasser knock on our door recently, very nice chap he was and wanted to leave a leaflet. I was so surprised, never seen one around here before, I said congratulations! Declined the leaflet and wished him luck.

    5. I have had two election leaflets, one Conservative and one Lib Dem for the neighbouring constituency of North Herefordshire, where the Green Ellie Chowns is putting up a strong showing. My cottage was moved into West Worcestershire several decades ago though.

      1. Hi jM. Since I don't read every comment, I thought you had been conspicuous by your absence, and rather feared the worst. Glad to see you're still with us…

        1. Since they new-improved the text editor, the only way I can make a new comment is through Windows 7 via an emulator, which takes a while to load up and can be quite annoying until all the auto features settle down and don’t hog resources.

    6. Good morning Geoff, hope this finds you well 🙂 I'm not going for any tactical voting, or being loyal to the party I've voted for since MT, voting instead for the party whose views align with my own i.e. same as you x

      1. Quite right, Kate. At least there's a right-of-centre alternative candidate here in the shape of the Heritage Party, but I'm staying with Reform. Nigel's stated aim to form the opposition seems that of a grown-up politician. Even if he supported Putin's 'special military operation' (he clearly doesn't), he could have no influence on that conflict from the Opposition benches. The media have utterly twisted his words (no surprise there), and the sheep are following. It's frightening that they have a vote.

        Among the electorate blessed with more than three brain cells, I hope the outcome will be similar to the effect of 'lawfare' on Trump's support.

        I have a cunning plan to boost the Reform vote. "Farage skins and pan-fries kittens alive, according to whistleblower." Should be good for a couple of percentage points… 😱

        Oh – and I'm very well, thanks. Hope you are too. Just home from a week.. er.. overseas. Twenty minutes by FastCat from Portsmouth Harbour Station. I love the fact that you can buy a train ticket from Surrey to the IoW, with full Railcard discount. As the crow flies, I'm 160 metres from Wanborough Station platform (three minutes' walk without hedge-hopping). Went one "station stop" in the wrong direction – I can cope with the footbridge under normal circumstances, but not with a ridiculously heavy suitcase. So I crossed the line at Ash, via the level crossing.

    7. Here the GPO (Post Brenhinnol) has delivered one LD and one Con leaflet. Both have gone in the fire (I like to keep up my carbon footprint).

    1. That was when we found just how many officious barstewards there where among us.

      In that terrible year, we visited Denby's, the vineyard near Dorking. While we were there, aa coach load of tourists arrived. Later on, as we walked in the open air, we noticed that they had been split up into groups of six.

      1. For a while, I was the postman serving the Denbies vineyard on Ranmore Common. They had just started up then. Some argue that because of climate change, the ideal conditions for sparkling wine has moved north, away from Champagne in France and towards the North Downs in England, with its chalky soil.

        1. Climate change would account for the Romans growing grapes north of Eboricum*, then.

          *York.

  16. Such is the current state of infantile debate with a progressive liberal..
    You suggest there's a set of complicated reasons for the conflict in Ukraine.. so, therefore you beat your wife up.

  17. Such is the current state of infantile debate with a progressive liberal..
    You suggest there's a set of complicated reasons for the conflict in Ukraine.. so, therefore you beat your wife up.

      1. I disagree. I believe the high ratings of Labour reflects the apathy of voters.
        Matt Goodwin notes that Rishi Sunak is the most unpopular PM ever.. however, Sir Keir isn't that popular either.

        Everything changed with the Farage.

        1. It seems that Farage has now been suspended from Twitter (X) for ….. well, nothing, really. For being too popular, I suppose. And for panicking Labour. I have oft thought that Reform was controlled opposition, there to split the Tory vote, and to provide an easy shoo-in for Labour. Perhaps it was, but the room was mis-read and the Law of Unintended Consequences kicked in, and Reform thought, 'we can do this, too! Let's go!'

          Good morning kowloonbhoy, everyone.

        2. When Starmer puts his projected landslide down to not being Corbyn, he ignores that Labour was actually considerably more popular in 2017 when led by Corbyn than it is today. Furthermore Corbyn, from a low starting point, with the collapse of the Lib Dems in favour of the Tories in the West Country, and without Scotland, managed to deny Theresa May her majority, forcing her to approach the DUP to vote on her deal with Michel Barnier. This was a considerably achievement by Corbyn, but glossed over by those with an interest to restore Blairism.

          By 2019 though, worn down by the constant sniping in his party from the Blairites and the Jewish lobby, Corbyn was exhausted and facing Boris Johnson with his powerful and justifiable message to "get Brexit done" and "take back control".

          It is because of Tory voters sitting at home and the incapacity of the Conservative Party to put up a credible election campaign that Starmer owes his lead in the opinion polls, and the change he is offering the electorate is more of the same in Government, only that he isn't Corbyn.

        3. The ratings matter not a jot, the issue is who will get off their backsides and vote. I suspect the Reform voters may be more motivated.

          My worry is, that as Maggie Belle has noted, there will be enough Muslim postal votes to give pro Islam MPs a disproportionate say in any new parliament

      2. I disagree. I believe the high ratings of Labour reflects the apathy of voters.
        Matt Goodwin notes that Rishi Sunak is the most unpopular PM ever.. however, Sir Keir isn't that popular either.

        Everything changed with the Farage.

    2. Then, just like the re-election of Sadiq Khan in a low turn out.. the good people of Britain will only have themselves to blame.

  19. Good morning all.
    A tad over 11°C this morning with another beautiful start. Scattered clouds and little wind.

    1. 16C here in the Surety Hills. Off to a garden party this pm to celebrate the eighth anniversary of the referendum.

      1. Just cliched comments, one after the other, from Stupidly. And it's not his party. I think if this is the best the Conservatives can offer ref. strategy, they really should step down and make way for Reform. Honestly, as a warrior, you can see where he's going to put his sword, ten minutes before he does it. Stand down, Conservatives please – if you care about our country.

    1. Just more proof, if any was really needed, that the Labour party do not represent the indigenous population in any way, shape or form. And why are the left wing women so ugly? Is that what makes them so bitter and unpleasant?

    2. Just more proof, if any was really needed, that the Labour party do not represent the indigenous population in any way, shape or form. And why are the left wing women so ugly? Is that what makes them so bitter and unpleasant?

  23. Morning all 🙂😊
    Another lovely sunny start. A hose pipe ban is imminent 😉
    Overhaul the electoral system? Of course, but the most obvious Overall overhaul (alliteration) that is necessary is Wastemonster and Whitehall.
    It's rotten to the core. Top to bottom.

  26. Muslim vote may be decisive in most marginal constituencies, says think tank
    Islam largest minority religion in 129 of 220 swing seats, Henry Jackson Society reveals

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    The British Muslim vote could play a crucial role in the majority of swing seats around the country, a new analysis has found.

    Of the 220 most marginal seats in the general election, Islam is the largest minority religion in 129 of them (58.6 per cent), according to the Henry Jackson Society (HJS), a think tank.

    The second largest minority religion in marginal seats is Hinduism in 23 of them (10.5 per cent), followed by Sikhism in six marginal seats (2.7 per cent), and Judaism in three (1.4 per cent).

    The swing seats were identified by the political consultancy Electoral Calculus, which defines a marginal seat as one where the margin of victory is expected to be 10 per cent or less. The 220 marginal seats at the general election make up a third (33.8 per cent) of all available seats.

    Martin Baxter, chief executive of Electoral Calculus, said that the results of their most recent MRP poll with Savanta found that religion is a “significant factor” in how people vote.

    “It is not the biggest factor in voting patterns, but there is a measurable correlation between someone’s religion and the way they vote,” he said. “It is one of the several things that influence people’s vote.”

    Mr Baxter added that other factors include age, education level, ethnicity, social class and previous voting pattern in elections and the EU referendum.

    In the local elections earlier this year, dozens of candidates around the country ran on a Gaza ticket and defeated their Labour rivals.

    Across the country, Labour votes plummeted in areas with a high Muslim population including Blackburn, Bradford, Pendle, Oldham and Manchester, where support for Sir Keir Starmer’s party dropped by an average of 25 points.

    In Pendle, wards with Muslim populations higher than 10 per cent saw Labour support decline, on average, by 43 per cent. Meanwhile, those with smaller populations saw support surge by 15 per cent.

    In Blackburn, support in those Muslim areas fell by 35 per cent. Across all five areas, Muslim areas dropped support by at least 12 per cent.

    Several Labour candidates – including shadow cabinet minister Stephen Morgan – have promoted leaflets on social media, designed in the colours of the Palestinian flag, with their position on the Gaza conflict.

    The leaflets, created by Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East, pledge MPs’ support for various causes including an immediate ceasefire, Palestinian statehood, getting aid into Gaza and releasing hostages.

    Other Labour candidates to have shared the leaflets include those on the Left of the party, including Kate Osborne, Kim Johnson and Sarah Owen.

    Alan Mendoza, executive director of HJS, said: “The first thing to note is that we cannot assume by any means that all members of a particular religion will vote in the same way. All of our religions are very diverse communities with very different backgrounds.”

    He pointed to the organisation Muslim Vote, which encourages British Muslims to vote for specific candidates it has approved. The website declares that this election “signals a shift for Muslims – no more political apathy”.

    It goes on to say: “We will no longer tolerate being taken for granted. We are a powerful, united force of 4 million acting in unison. We are focused on seats where the Muslim vote can influence the outcome. We are here for the long term. In 2024, we will lay the foundations for our community’s political future.”

    “If this proves to be a path we see voters going down, it will hail the beginning of a dangerous sectarianism in British politics. In the local elections, it was clear that in Labour-held seats with large Muslim populations, the Labour vote fell substantially.”

    The Muslim Vote campaign group was established in response to the war in Gaza and the Labour Party’s decision not to oppose Israel’s military response to Oct 7 from the start.

    It is aiming to make sure Britain’s 3.9 million Muslims turn out on polling day and vote for their approved candidates, putting pressure on Keir Starmer to adopt The Muslim Vote’s 18 demands.

    These include immediately recognising Palestine as a state, cutting military ties with Israel and investing seven per cent of public pensions in “ethical and Islamic funds”.

    Fiyaz Mughal, founder of the charity Tell Mama which counters anti-Muslim hate, claimed that the Muslim Vote website is “highly divisive”.

    While there is no “block voting” along religious lines in the UK, he said he believes a “handful” of seats could be affected.

    Jennifer Carter
    13 HRS AGO
    And, in those constituencies, there will be a high count of postal votes. That is what happened when Labour won the Peterborough by-election a few years ago – 35% of votes were by post.
    At the time I asked the Election Commission what the procedure was. They do not check that the applicant is the person they say they are, only that that person is on the voters' roll.
    And, of course, you won't have to provide ID for a postal vote

    1. I wonder if Galloway’s Workers Party will split the Mohammedan vote. Ironic if it did, given that most of them don’t work. Useful though, for the time being.

      1. GG has apparently been very quiet since elected, at least in public/HoC. I wonder if he's been as quiet in his constituency, Sue…

    2. And well said Jennifer Carter and as you may well know, this is why that hatefilled POS is still in hus position in our once safe and respected capital city.

    3. Give the Isamists an inch and before you know it they will have taken over.

      It is well worth listening to Brigitte Gabriel. What she says about Lebanon should be a grave warning to us all.

      https://www.google.com/sear…

    5. Anybody who cannot speak English and/or does not have British citizenship (for at least 5 years even) should NOT be allowed to vote.
      Postal voting is very open to abuse, especially by a certain 'community.'
      Anyone who wants to register for a postal vote should have to present themselves at a designated place (court?) to prove they are eligible, and somehow prove that they aren't turning up more than once (not that our enrichers would dream of such). Obviously, some sort of provision would need to be made for some people, such as housebound elderly or the severely disabled.

  28. Overhaul Britain’s electoral system so voters’ voices can truly be heard

    It's not the electoral system that is the problem for democracy, it is all the sovereignty that has been transferred to the judiciary and supranational institutions that has stymied the electorates ability to change things through the ballot box,.

    1. I disagree. I voted fifty years ago to overhaul the electoral system to reflect the will of the people, but Heath preferred to leave office, handing it to Wilson, than to let this happen. The situation in 2015 whereby UKIP gained four million votes and just one flaky MP to show for it, sowed the seeds for the parliamentary chaos over Brexit that dragged on for years until it was resolved at the 2019 election.

      I have every faith in the King, and any Royal Commission under his command. The advantage of the arbitrary nature of hereditary privilege is that it does not depend on the machinations of party politics, and so has an intrinsic interest in sustaining the hand that feeds it, without having to resort to fiddling the system politically.

      The problem lies on the electoral side, whereby parties once elected, make subsequent party appointments out of reach of the electorate and accountable to nobody but the party and its favourites.

      1. I just look at other countries that have PR or different systems.
        They are still in the EU
        And just a badly off as us at getting their leaders to do what they voted them in to do.

        1. The two round system in France starting with the first vote on June 30th and the 2nd vote on July 7th will be interesting.

          The first vote will have several parties involved and then just the first two parties will go into the second round which looks as if it will be between Marine Le Pen and a coalition of the Left.

          1. Am I right in believing that it is technically possible for three candidates to get through to the second round? (Demandant pour un ami.)

        2. I came up with an alternative system that combines the best aspects of PR with the personal representation offered up by FPTP. None of this Alternative Vote or Party List nonsense. I was ignored of course.

          Essentially, every election would comprise two elements. One would be a personal vote for a candidate, and the other would be a vote for the parties on offer in each constituency (including Independents). The personal vote would allow the one with the most votes membership of the Commons, but not define their voting power, which would no longer be on the one member, one vote principle.

          This would be set by the national status of the party apportioned over the number of MPs elected.

          Therefore a minor party with a small number of MPs, but a lot of support nationally, such as the Green Party or UKIP in 2015, may only have one MP, but this MP would carry a lot of voting strength. Independents would have a voting power equivalent to their standing in a single constituency and would broadly be an average. Those parties without seats exceeding a national threshold where they would reasonably expect to gain one MP, would gain an honorary MP with a voting strength representing their national standing.

          In the case of defections or by-elections, the voting strengths would be adjusted accordingly. A defector would reduce slightly the voting power of the target party, and increase that slightly of the party being abandoned, since the party votes for that MP would remain with the original party until there was a subsequent election. A by-election would remedy any anomalies here.

          1. You would need genuinely honest individuals to be MPs, I can't immediately think of a system that would be more open to corruption.

          2. An interesting idea. Complicated, but could be more representative than FPTP.

          3. I did some calculations from the 2019 election, which I will post up in the morning. The party with the lowest weighting (at 21k per MP) was the SNP. The party with the highest was the Green Party of England & Wales at 835k per MP. Also grossly uner-represented were the Liberal Democrats, the Brexit Party, the UUP and the Alliance Party. The record for under-representation must be UKIP in 2015, which by my reckoning would be nearly 4000k per MP. This had serious repercussions following the 2016 Referendum, since Leavers were very poorly represented in Parliament and this distorted the debate catastrophically.

        3. I vacillate. I can see the pros and cons of both. Maybe keep the FPTP but tweak it so that independents can have more of a voice.

      2. I agree with you apart from the fact that Brexit was not resolved in the 2019 election – Brexit was sabotaged by the subsequent sell out agreement which has led to even more betrayal by Sunak's Great Windsor Surrender to the EU and Starmer's clear desire for the UK to be recaptured and re-enslaved by the EU.

        1. The only way to sort out the Irish dilemma was a fudge, which essentially was what Windsor was. The most sensible thing to do was to leave the Irish to sort out how they do trade, and dare Brussels to set the bailiffs loose on Dublin, over which they have jurisdiction. Otherwise muddle through. The British Way.

          Starmer was Shadow Brexit Secretary in 2019. Rather than offering a statesman-like approach to Parliament at a time when 42 Tories crossed the floor, and that Leavers were still grossly unrepresented in Parliament, he made mischief. He prevented the PM passing any legislation, yet denied him (through jobsworth application of the Fixed Term Parliament Act) the capacity to call an election and settle the issue there and then. At the same, whilst professing loyalty to his leader, he was busy conniving with Blairites and Jews to stab him in the back, and pick up the plum of power, knowing that the Tories were falling apart and it was only a matter of time before he got into office by default.

          It is to the credit of Boris Johnson that he got the electorate to see through this treachery and deliver him a decent working majority. It is a pity that he then blew it.

          1. What is it about you and Jews?
            You seem to take any opportunity you can to denigrate them.

          2. It was they that redefined the hate crime of antisemitism to include any criticism of the Netanyahu Coalition, and drove out Jeremy Corbyn on this charge. I consider the denigration justified because this has perverted the course of democracy in the UK.

            I had hoped that most Jews would see through this, and I am certainly willing to apologise to any of them that played no part of the IHRA’s and Margaret Hodge’s and Luciana Berger’s campaign against Corbyn in 2019 or the ubiquitous libelling of the man as an antisemite on the grounds of his long-standing sympathy with the Palestinians. I felt that Corbyn was being somewhat naïve and with a misguided sense of “noble savage” when it came to those he considers freedom fighters, but I do think it was more borne of Socialist solidarity than of any hatred of the Jews per se.

            I fear that British Jews are being somewhat dragooned into compliance by their Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, who is not the enlightened national treasure Jonathan Sacks was.

    2. As long as either the Conservatives or Labour are in power the FPTP system will never change.

      Remember that in the 2015 general election UKIP won more votes that the Scottish Nationalists and the Liberal Democrats combined. The result: SNP 57 seats, Lib Dems 7 seats; UKIP 1 seat.

      That result suited both Labour and Conservatives very well.

      Even though for a long time the Lib/Dems had campaigned for PR the 2015 result made them think very seriously about whether PR would be such a good idea after all if the result meant a party like UKIP – or now The Reform Party – won far more seats and scuppered their chances of going into a coalition government as they did in 2010 and hope to do so again now.

    1. Thanks for this post, Johnny N…my younger family & friends, anyone with ability to vote is doing exactly the same (as are the older and crustier of us).

    2. We'll I hope Patriots for Britain is a very large organisation, and where can I sign up.
      Very close to eighty but I can still shoot straight.

    1. In the old days the joke about swingers was that Fred Truman was nicknamed the Dachshund because he had four short legs and swung his balls both ways.

        1. If only Uncle Bill wasn't taking a sabbatical he would be able to give us his exhaustive views on swingers parties…

    1. The powers that be want their world war and Russia's mineral and fossil fuel assets

    2. That the truth should be silent I had almost forgot.

      I know that I have frequently used this remark from Shakespeare's Enobarbus many times. I do not apologise as I shall doubtless use it again and again.

      Nigel Farage has made himself extremely unpopular – and some would say vulnerable – by stating very obvious truths about why the war in Ukraine came about. The truth is, of course, completely unacceptable to many politicians and most of the MSM.

      1. There is a counter piece by the truly delusional Hamish de Cretin-Moron; enough said!

      2. I don't think the people who hung out Ujke flags were ever likely to vote Reform UK.

      4. The problem that Mr Farage has, is that he will answer every question as honestly as he can. The establishment blob can't understand that, and tend to treat people by their own appalling standards.
        I just say, more power to his arm.

  32. Pre Election run up.
    Make it up and lie, BS and anything else that covers their ME Opinions.
    After the election, hangover or arse covering as in everyone else is wrong. Or not available for comments.
    The stench in the bbc Kuenssberg studio this morning must have been overwhelming.

    1. Sorry Obs I must have missed it.
      A very happy birthday to you I'm sure you're enjoying the day with your lovely family 🤗🤩🍺🍻🥂🍾 cheers to you all.

    3. Happy Birthday dear Oberst!!! (Fits better than 'Paul', I'm afraid, and this song has a looong way to travel!!)

      May you have a glorious day, and here's to a happy and healthy year to come!

      Love from Buenos Aires,

      Katy x

  34. Stifling heat here – 17°C
    Wordle 1,100 4/6

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

    2. Wordle 1,100 4/6

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

    1. Not so much "support" for Vlad, many like myself still recognise what a hard bastard he is, but more of a realisation that a growing number of people do not believe the Globalist line on the conflict.

      1. Morning Bob. I admit that they are conditional but you get used to the domination of the Nudge Unit trolls with their mindless ad hominems.

        1. Were any of the facts Farage used to support his contention that the West's actions in Uskraine were provocative actually untrue?

          As usual ad-hominem attacks are about all Starmer, Sunak and the MSM can come up with.

          If Farage has misrepresented the facts than it is up to those who disagree with him to give evidence that he is factually wrong.

          1. Morning Richard. Though Farage has stated the West's culpability in helping to start this war he has steered clear of supporting evidence. The Baltic Pipeline for example. I'm sure that this is because it would bog him down in detail that it would not be possible to substantiate.

          2. Morning Richard. Though Farage has stated the West's culpability in helping to start this war he has steered clear of supporting evidence. The Baltic Pipeline for example. I'm sure that this is because it would bog him down in detail that it would not be possible to substantiate.

  37. I read in Private Eye about a young woman who had her Uber account suspended because they considered her name to be offensive. Her name is Swastika Chandra. The Hindu council got them to change their mind. It seems it is not uncommon in their culture.

    1. Morning Phizzee. The original clockwise swastika is a Hindu religious symbol but I'm sure that you knew that.

      2. Rudyard Kipling used the symbol on one of the books of his verses which I have in my library.

        2. I have quite a few slim volumes of Kipling’s works bound in red leather (rather crumbly now) that I bought from 2nd hand bookshops in the 70s. The leather is imprinted with gold patterns on the spine and a roundel on the front and several of include swastikas in the roundels.

        3. I have quite a few slim volumes of Kipling’s works bound in red leather (rather crumbly now) that I bought from 2nd hand bookshops in the 70s. The leather is imprinted with gold patterns on the spine and a roundel on the front and several of include swastikas in the roundels.

  38. A bit of sense from Volvo:-

    Volvo reverses decision to dump classic estates

    Volvo said it was ‘blown away’ by the response to its decision to remove its signature vehicles from sale
    Liz Perkins
    22 June 2024 • 10:57pm

    Car manufacturer Volvo has decided to reverse its decision over plans to axe its classic estates and has saved them from the scrapheap.
    Motorists will now see the iconic car return to British showrooms again, less than a year after a decision to stop selling the classics was met with outcry from customers.
    The scale of the demand for the vehicle led Volvo to confirm last week that its V60 and V90 models would roll back onto the production line after a “resurgence in demand” for its “estate products in recent months”.
    Volvo said it was “blown away” by the response following its decision last August to remove its signature vehicles from sale because of poor sales.
    They instead decided to focus on the production of SUVs [sports utility vehicles] and electric cars.
    Tom Lynch, Volvo UK’s head of communications, in an interview with the Sunday Times, said that many Volvo customers were “up in arms” following its original decision to withdraw the cars from sale.
    In a statement, the company confirmed the return of the V60 and V90, and said: “We were thrilled by the many comments from customers and media last year, with many stories and memories of how our estate cars have been a huge part of their lives. We look forward to helping create more.”
    Outcry from motorists
    Following the announcement by Volvo last year, Top Gear magazine compared the decision as “nearly as big as Ford laying the Fiesta to rest”.
    Motorist Margaret Dupp said at the time that the decision to end estate production was “very sad”.
    “We’ve had Volvo V70s for 25 years. Wonderful cars,” she said.
    “Our first one came with a factory-fitted labrador (choice of black, chocolate or yellow), tartan picnic rug and pipe holder.”
    Police driving instructor Bob Isaacs, 76, a lifelong Volvo driver, said his 1995 Volvo 850 estate remained a part of the family.
    Mr Isaacs, who lives in Isleworth, west London, said: “My old Volvo has been here, there and everywhere. My grandkids travelled in the rear-facing seats when they were young, and in the boot I’ve carried anything you can buy in a garden centre: turf, paving stones, bags of pea shingle and gravel.
    “I don’t like the SUVs. I like the older cars. We had a family holiday in Scotland at the end of April — me and my daughter and the grandkids and all of their stuff. Only the Volvo estate could have done that.”
    Another Volvo estate owner, who got in touch with the firm following last year’s announcement, said his family had owned 32 Volvos in total and “will not be buying SUVs”.
    “I am on my eighth Volvo estate. We have six Volvos in the family right now,” they said. “We used to buy them in pairs. We will not be buying SUVs so it looks as if this is goodbye — very sad. I guess nothing lasts for ever. Someone else will fill the gap and they can have our money.”

    BTL Comment:-

    21 min ago
    Volvo have a history of making stupid decisions!
    Not mentioned in the article, but in it's original body shape the V40 Estate, mine was an R reg, was a delightfuly practical car in the same class as the Fort Escort with a full width tailgate and fair sized load area.
    Then, in a perfect example of Schlimmbesserung, they "improved" the V40 by angling the rear body sides inwards at a ridiculously steep rake not only reducing the capacity of the loadspace, but reducing the size of the tailgate by over 25%!

  39. 388802+ up ticks,

    It must be to our utter shame that the french are showing the english the way to win back YOUR HOMELAND.

    Dt,

    Why France’s nationalist revolution could be coming for Britain too
    The radical reshaping of the French political landscape offers a glimpse of an all-too-possible future for our country.

    WE CAN ONLY LIVE IN HOPE.

  40. Just tried, yet again, to call Mother. Yet again, the new phone system at her care home screwed up, going the first time to voicemail, the second time asking me to press button #1 on my fax machine… so, no call to Mother today, either.Same issue all week. Even if it's solved later today (unlikely, this being in Wales and a Sunday), she makes little sense when she's tired, being even more doolally than normal, so I make a point (at her request) to call between breakfast and lunch, her awake moments.
    Bugger.

    2. That's a lousy Birthday Present for you. I find that it's best to assume that 'technology' will never work because I am so inept; it's then such a thrill when something does work.

    3. Morning Oberst. I am suffering Dropsy at the moment. This is not the Victorian ailment but a self-diagnosed modern equivalent. If I pick anything up. I drop it. If I try to move something. I knock it over. I can get nothing in the rubbish bin at first try. If I open something it spills. All goes awry. It is like I am out of synch with the world. This is not my imagination. I have had it before and I am aware when it is absent.

      1. That's a pain in the arse for you, Minty. My sympathies. I go through phases like that, it's like the world has it in for you, regardless of what you are trying to do.
        Hope it passes soon. Fongers crozzed for youu.

      2. Sounds a drag, Araminta…I have hypermobility, fall over too often as bruised legs testify. Perhaps could be ear wax in your case, tests are a doddle….

      3. Arriving home just after midday, for no particular reason, I took off my smart watch. A few minutes later, it started to beep, incessantly. "Fall detected" – with an option to call an – as yet – non-existent emergency number. Scrolling down, I found the option "I haven't fallen". I was blissfully unaware of this feature. It seems that "Fuck off, and mind your own business" isn't offered as a response…

  41. Volvo reverses decision to dump classic estates
    Volvo said it was ‘blown away’ by the response to its decision to remove its signature vehicles from sale
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/classic/volvo-saves-car-v60-v90-classic-estates-scrapheap/

    Of course a true Volvo Estate would be powered by a diesel engine. But as Volvo no longer make diesel engines then perhaps they should subcontract the manufacture of their estates' engines to a company which does still make them.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e94a53a839c880fee031f096cc7e62c70643de8eeca16cb6b03f8031b612c7c3.png

    1. I wish they'd revive the "elastic band" technology they took over from DAF. It was brilliant.

  43. Russia unveils anti-drone robot named after Disney character. 23 June 2024.

    Russia has deployed a new anti-drone robot named after Disney’s rubbish-collecting Wall-E.

    The unmanned vehicle is designed to produce an invisible dome that jams aerial drone attacks and protects troops on the ground.

    The machine uses electronic warfare blockers, Russian state TV said, in the latest advancement to keep away kamikaze drones that have been pivotal to the war for Ukraine.

    This bizarrely (assuming it is genuine) looks like piece of cheap Russian propaganda. It has a fellow article on Russian assault motorcycles. I can only assume that Farage’s intervention has unhinged the whole Globalist propaganda effort. Lol.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/06/23/russia-unveils-anti-drone-robot-wall-e/

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/06/23/copy-of-ukraine-russia-war-latest-news/

  44. 'Morning All
    Fun Time
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3c1879c1c8b31a78b4f96fd67180d7713c06b9716148713fb7b19dcba88b5d6b.jpg
    https://x.com/georgegalloway/status/1804536298381713823
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9669970a7e51d04c6afd75235c6528bc948f8d7aba784b4c9401846bd000ccba.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/db970343b56b6451c18433c1db2a297a520ec27adcce2df861eec7d5e98728b0.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cfbf3b533da48cb6789ca7c2afbaff67ad3869a298b2769b22fa7ec2813a10c5.jpg
    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5cda3e7e3039985dcd3cbfafcc3c029bc3af1d30c8032184068332387cc92bee.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f0ef90be2709a2c7a4ad43552ac23bcad77aebcbc1672add5be14d291ac081a2.jpg

    1. I'm sympathetic to this post. I suspect that there is more than a passing resemblance with this war and Vietnam where the peasantry made most of the sacrifices.

      2. Oh yes. Long past the days when the aristocracy led on the battlefield. Was Waterloo the last time?

    2. Apparently the Ukies had a huge flag (briefly, before it was removed) with "Give us back our elections" on it.

    3. Well I like to think if I were young and Ukrainian, I wouldn't risk my life on behalf of such a corrupt government.

    4. He is "sat watching the Euros"? What the hell does that mean? Is he in his counting house, or at the bank?

      Funny how the late, great, Otis Redding didn't sing, "Sat on the Dock of the Bay." Nor did Georgie Fame sing, "Sat in the Park waiting for You."

      1. That one always makes me giggle, remembering my first Russian tutorial at uni. The poor tutor, trying to explain Russian verb tenses, got completely stuck on my tutorial partner's broad Yorkshire insistence upon "I were sat". (Under pressure, she conceded that you might say "I was sat" – if you were posh… 🤣🤣).

        3. In Yarkshire, it would be 'I wa' sat, you/thou wa' sat, he/she wa' sat, they wa' sat…..

          3. I’m rarher jealous of your time in Moscow – I never got to study in Russia.

          4. I went to MADI (Moscow Road and Automobile Institute, would you believe!) for a summer school. I have the certificate to prove it as well! Being behind the Iron Curtain well before Glasnost’ was a real eye-opener. Today’s social climate reminds me of it constantly 🙁

          5. What an experience! I went (just as a tourist) as Glasnost was unfolding, and it was still a different world. Best thing was being invited for a drink or 17 by a Moscow couple who had never spoken to a foreigner before . Goodness, did that vodka aid my fluency in Russian! 🤣🤣

          6. We were accompanied everywhere by Komsomol and Intourist people. After all, we were dangerous foreigners; we spoke Russian! The strange shopping system was a wonder – you had to go to different shops for different items; you queued up to order what you wanted, then you queued up to pay for it and then you went back to the counter with your receipt to pick up what you’d bought! Then there were the foreign currency only shops. You could always tell the Intourist girls; they were the only ones wearing make-up. Midnight in Moscow (podmoskovskie vechera) being played over the loudspeakers in the park and us, the English contingent, singing Jerusalem in the Vistavka. I recited a poem by Pushkin as my contribution to the “cultural” evening towards the end; Ya vas lyubeel. An experience indeed.

      2. A grammatical excrescence is what it is. Irks me all the time. A peculiarly Mancunian figure of speech, historically entirely in keeping with the region that has been allowed to escape. We'll all be ending our sentences with "but" if we don't resist it.

        2. There was a gobby ‘Manc’ working at the airport when I was there. I used to wind him up by calling him a Scouser. I also told him that a Manc was nobbut a Scouser with his brain punched out. He was never best pleased.

      3. Otis Redding sunged (past partricipal) 'Shitting on the Dock of the Bay', I've been there, seen the stain.

    5. Simple. Close all of the exits and take them straight from footy to the front line.

      instant sacrifice.

  46. Good morning from Audrey and me . What concerns me greatly is what I read online .
    There seems a total lack of concern about a one party state led by Stasi Starmer who in reality is Corbyn with another face . What concerns me ( which isn't such a concern for expats ) Is Starmer taxing savings, there does seem a large amount of financially comfortable people online that would be affected by this. But I do know that whatever anyone says online in various blogging situations, when faced with the real world and voting, what concerns most in reality is their local communities and actual lives and families. In reality no one curs their nose off to spite their face .
    I've a very good Conservative MP ( regardless of the council being vile Lib Dems ) I shall continue to vote for my MP – real life is about your community not virtual reality .

    1. Re taxing of savings – it rather depends what they have in mind. We already pay tax on savings in an ordinary interest-bearing account if you receive over a certain amount of interest. He may decide to do away with ISAs which are a good way of legally avoiding interest. Or he may decide that investments in equities or property will be taxed more than at present.

      1. Are all of them. But it's just as likely that the Tories will do the same isn't it. Their record over the last 14 years is not reassuring, to me at least.

      2. People must have very short attention spans. Less than 4-months ago this government was being berated as the administration of the highest taxation in history; including by the opposition. Now that Kneelalot's promising extra taxes on top even of that, no one is saying a thing.

        Thing is, they're both proposing excruciating tax rises really, just arguing about how much they can get away with and who should pay the most. Two cheeks, same backside.

        What's important to these people isn't that tax rises are going to happen. It's that we all talk about them, because that normalises it as an inevitability. The question isn't 'do you want tax', it's 'how do you want to be taxed most'.

        1. High taxes to keep the population under control. these are evil people with evil thoughts against us all.

    2. I understand, I really do, but a vote for a Tory, any Tory, is an endorsement of the woke globalist Tory rule of the last 14 years, and a vote for the continuance of what is in effect a one party state with two slightly different factions.

  47. Well I have just watched the BBC News Headlines. Nigel has vanished from them as well.

    2. They can't handle the truth can they.
      But by trying this old worn out old trick on the public is now stirring up more attention.

    1. It doesn't mean they don't want to impose Islam on us. They are simply worried that violent Islamism will halt the progress that they are making.

    2. What an utter load of bollocks! "Muslims against antisemitism"?

      What about "Muslims for Women's rights", "Muslims against fatwas", "Muslims against threats to murder apostates", "Muslims against beheading or stoning", "Muslims against punishing women who have been raped"?

      There are no good muslims, whatever these twats tell you.

      1. I attended a pro-Israeli rally in Trafalgar Square. There were a few hundred Muslim Iranians there, supporting Israel.

        1. There’s a large Iranian community in London who come here for the freedom to revert back to Zoroastrianism. They will also support Jewish Iranians. Are you sure those people were Moslem?

          1. Some of them obviously were Sue, some may or may not have been. The one I spoke said they they or their families had fled when the Ayatollahs took over. I’m as much against Islamism as anyone, but let’s not forget that there are genuinely decent Muslims as well. Isn’t Farage’s biggest donor a Muslim?

          2. Very likely. There are certainly decent Iranians and it was a pleasant surprise when the Jordanian and Saudi military stepped up to the plate to defend Israel, even if it was at least partly motivated by Sunni versus Shia rivalry.

          3. Jordan is a great little country, and Saudi is much better than it used to be.

    4. Given the antisemitic parts of their holy texts, how can they be good muslims and not antisemitic?

  52. Yacht fireworks spark wildfires in Greece
    Pyrotechnics launched from a yacht have set off a forest fire on Hydra, an island near Athens
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    We visited Hydra several times when we used to Mianda around the Med. But on Ataturk's pyrotechnic Birthday celebrations in May one year when we were anchored in Fetiye in Turkey a chap on a boat let off a distress flare with the result that the whole hilllside was alight.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/19fadbc1f34c2a0b3c7e1b805147ebdc80bdefa050ebed7b91205835c71de288.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a7e0cef424f3707e881f2ebdfa16fbc96cbbe9b1e4e75baadb1c073ac1d3461c.png

    1. We had the same up here a few years ago with these stupid Chinese lanterns which landed in some heather. Luckily they are now banned

    2. “Yacht fireworks spark wildfires in Greece
      Pyrotechnics launched from a yacht have set off a forest fire on Hydra, an island near Athens”

      You have to worry about people, don’t you? What goes through their tiny minds?

  53. Yacht fireworks spark wildfires in Greece
    Pyrotechnics launched from a yacht have set off a forest fire on Hydra, an island near Athens
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    We visited Hydra several times when we used to Mianda around the Med. But on Ataturk's pyrotechnic Birthday celebrations in May one year when we were anchored in Fetiye in Turkey a chap on a boat let off a distress flare with the result that the whole hilllside was alight.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/19fadbc1f34c2a0b3c7e1b805147ebdc80bdefa050ebed7b91205835c71de288.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a7e0cef424f3707e881f2ebdfa16fbc96cbbe9b1e4e75baadb1c073ac1d3461c.png

    1. Scientific studies show that a moderate amooint of alcohol can reduce PAD but that an excessive amount can make it worse. You do also have to be aware of the influence of alcohol when taking a variety of drugs as I found out after taking a glass of champagne when my walking ability became toast

      1. Dentists often prescribe metronidazole. You can't drink any alcohol at all when on that. That's why i tell them to prescribe something else.
        The advice i got from the consultant was to 'walk through' the pain. Git.

        2. I would try walking through the pane but only if I have opened the French windows first.

    2. Thanks for h/t, will pass it on, Phizzee. I just discovered cause of constant stomach ache – Ibiuprofen, taken for years/sciatica. Apparently both it and aspirin affect stomach lining. Paracetamol a better alternative.

      1. Or co-codamol.
        I saw an exercise for sciatica relief. You sit on the end of the bed. Put your left ankle over your right knee and slowly lower your bottom to the floor. Repeat with other leg. Don't know if it works.

        1. Thanks Phizzee. Going to give it a try, sounds interesting/betting I fall off the end of the bed….. best exercises so far from Dr Charlie Johnson/YouTube…at the time he was foc, now makes a living from it. Found him after someone said Bob n Brad were useless, I found that too.

        2. We need a diagram, Phizzee. This sounds both impossible and dangerous for people who are not trained contortionists.

          Here's one that works for me:

          Lie flat on your back on the floor with legs straight and arms extended sideways

          Bend one knee and try to reach it over your body to the opposite hand. Very gently and slowly, letting body twist. Repeat other side to taste.

          Stand up carefully and enjoy the painfree moments

        3. You could consult a physiotherapist about something called "core stability exercises" for your back.
          They are very gentle movements designed specifically to strengthen the small muscles around your vertebrae.
          They are surprisingly easy to do, but do them carefully and conscientiously.
          They are usually undertaken three times a day over a number of weeks.
          Do them properly and carefully and you will be very pleasantly surprised, and possibly even eventually become more flexible and pain free.

          EDIT NB, do not try to do the physical jerk types shown on internet searches, the ones I refer to are very, very gentle and done mostly lying flat on your back on a firm surface

          1. Good advice. I don’t have sciatica myself. My problem was a collapsed disc. I did gentle yoga exercises which strengthened the surrounding muscles. Much improved.

      2. Ibuprofen fine if always taken with meals and soluble aspirin much better than tablets. Paracetamol not so good for kidneys and liver so recommended dosage should never be exceeded.

        1. Thanks PJ…I should have asked you to begin with. Of course I haven’t been doing what you advise. I’m going to try not taking anything unless in extremis, and stick with exercises. Dr Charlie more cute anyway :-D….

        2. Thanks PJ…going to try exercises for a while and only go to pain killer in extremis (I thought I’d already replied to you, btw….usual nonsense from me). I have some soluble paracetamol, BH took it prior to hip replacement.

      3. Ibuprofen raises the blood pressure.
        Diclofenac is even worse. Both I and our elder son get nosebleeds if we take it.

    3. I take vit D3 in a sizeable dose, daily. Since I started, haven't had a cold or a sniffle – so that's years now.

    4. My diabetic foot issues were related to PAD. It's somewhat frustrating to think that – had I gone on Vitamin D3 supplements ten years earlier, I might have retained my feet.

  55. Let's overhaul Britain's political system. Start by trashing the Tories, and then Labour. While these two treacherous globalist parties can rely on their tribal and the frit votes, the only change will be for the worse.

    Things are starting to change in the benighted EU-occupied countries, at last. the Berlin Police Chief has admitted that young foreign males are behind the violent crime wave Berlin and Germany are experiencing.

    1. .. then Labour.

      Too late by then. They've already prepared for doing away with 'Loser's Consent'.
      End of democracy as you know it.. with Sir Starmer.

  56. Shifted the second compost bin on Friday and, after initially moving the thick layer of unrotted chainsaw chips back into the bin, I am now sifting through the better composted lower layers.
    Just done a large builder's bucket full so thought it was time for a mug of tea.

    Ball Eye Quarry on t'other side of the hill has recently changed hands and, because the land owned by it stretches down to adjoin my property, we had a couple of tree surgeons marking up a load of diseased ash for felling, much of which I already had plans to drop. The resulting wood will be left in situ by them so I should be able to be well stacked with fire logs for the foreseeable future!

      1. Fill the large trolley to the neck and leave it in a corner, preferably fill it from the frozen food section. Hiss.

    2. Allah oo Asda.
      Haven't been near it for years.
      After being questioned about 6 beers and two bottles of wine at the checkout on last occasion. I left the half full trolly at the checkout.
      And walked out.
      He's obvously insulting her, it's an arresteble Hate Crime.

      1. I stopped using ASDA when the two brothers who are building a mosque the size of Blackburn took it over.

        1. I stopped using when I discovered they fiddled the prices, always in their favour, and that was before it was sold to the slammers.

          2. It was. But now it's owned by the Issa brothers, Mohsin and Zuba. Of the Hertfordshire Issas, prolly. English through and through, at least as far back as the Middle Ages…

        2. I don't use ASDA because there isn't one anywhere near me. Now I'm definitely not going to drive to visit one.

      2. Their petrol stations already decline to sell alcohol. Only a matter of time till the stores follow suit.

        Look – I'm uneasy about the way Jeff 'bookseller' Bezos appears to have taken over the world. But for £8.99 / month, I get unlimited free deliveries, plus lots of video. And – at least hereabouts – Amazon Fresh. I just took a delivery of wine and food. And more wine. Also delivered free.

        SInce I refuse to have a TV licence, what's not to like?

        1. Cars and booze are a bad combo. Not selling wine at gas stations is fine by me – for safety, not religious reasons.

          1. Point taken, Paul. But most people drive to a shop, filling station, or whatever, to get their booze. Always have. It doesn't follow that they'll immediately guzzle the lot, upon purchase. Necessarily.

    4. The only thing to do is shop elsewhere. Asda for the slammers and a wider choice for normal, sane people!

  58. James Cleverly leaves door open to running for Tory leader
    Home Secretary does not rule out bid as he says his ‘focus’ is on getting himself and his colleagues re-elected
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/23/james-cleverly-leaves-door-open-running-tory-leader/

    There is a poll for readers to decide who would make the best leader. Of course the most glaring omission is:

    None of the Above but what is really needed is a good undertaker to dispose of the dead carcass.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/320ae80cbdb552a5f8582a8b1df7a47627ce5d8bb15c339f5f118deeee84e79a.png

  61. Buckle up #102.
    Any convictions for blasphemy, or 'likes' of IDF actions, or problematic visas in your passport, or visible evidence of being a practicing Christian will get you flagged at all UK airports.

    Manchester & Heathrow staff 'wearing pro-Palestine badges' 'begin harassing certain passengers and subjected them to 'degrading treatment'
    When passengers asked why they were being treated differently, staff reportedly told them that as customs officials they could do whatever they wanted.

    The complaints have prompted a Home Office investigation by their professional standards unit and issue statement.. "Safeguarding the health, safety and welfare of our passengers is of paramount importance. Thoughts & prayers are with blah blah, can do better blah blah.. Allahu Akbar"

    1. I expect as many others probably have, that the type of people who are searching baggage etc and passport checking, only a few years ago would have been the ones suspected.
      Just Something else that our political idiots have effed up.
      A home office investigation, it sounds like one of those enjoyable dressing up party games.

    2. In view of the preponderant ethnicity and political allegiance of Home Office employees this would be yet another pointless waste of money

  62. Buckle up #102.
    Any convictions for blasphemy, or 'likes' of IDF actions, or problematic visas in your passport, or visible evidence of being a practicing Christian will get you flagged at all UK airports.

    Manchester & Heathrow staff 'wearing pro-Palestine badges' 'begin harassing certain passengers and subjected them to 'degrading treatment'
    When passengers asked why they were being treated differently, staff reportedly told them that as customs officials they could do whatever they wanted.

    The complaints have prompted a Home Office investigation by their professional standards unit and issue statement.. "Safeguarding the health, safety and welfare of our passengers is of paramount importance. Thoughts & prayers are with blah blah, can do better blah blah.."

  63. Ed Stone, scientist who led the Voyager space missions through the solar system and beyond – obituary

    The Voyager craft beamed back methane oceans, ash-spewing volcanoes and five-mile-tall geysers on moons of Saturn, Jupiter and Neptune

    Telegraph Obituaries
    23 June 2024 • 12:01pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/obituaries/2024/06/23/TELEMMGLPICT000382293316_17191396058430_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqdODRziddS8JXpVz-XfUVRxp_Rh5meLd3xMJaHlzgqK0.jpeg?imwidth=680
    Ed Stone at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in in La Cañada Flintridge, California, in 2011

    Professor Ed Stone, who has died aged 88, was project scientist for Nasa’s Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft missions from design and build to their launch, two weeks apart, in 1977.

    Intended to explore the outer solar system with the exception of Pluto, Voyager 2 passed Neptune in 1989, sending back unprecedented data and photographs of alien worlds which stunned the astronomical community. To Stone’s astonishment, the two probes continued to function despite dwindling power supplies as they plunged on into the darkness beyond the planets for a further 33 years, and they continue collecting data today. Voyager 1 is now the most remote emissary of the human race, having left the Sun’s domain and entered the void between the stars of our galaxy.

    Voyager was the brainchild of Gary Flandro, a summer student in the 1960s at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who realised that the mid-1970s would offer a once-every-176 years opportunity for spacecraft to visit all four giant planets when they were in rare alignment.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/obituaries/2024/06/23/TELEMMGLPICT000382293780_17191397376950_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqqVzuuqpFlyLIwiB6NTmJwfSVWeZ_vEN7c6bHu2jJnT8.jpeg?imwidth=680

    The twin plutonium-powered spacecraft first visited Jupiter and Saturn, and Voyager 2 remains the only probe to have made fly-bys of Uranus and Neptune. The mission transformed our view of the solar system and raised the possibility that the conditions to support basic lifeforms may exist beyond Earth – and close enough to investigate.

    Highlights have included beaming back the first glimpses of methane oceans on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon; ash-spewing volcanoes on Io, one of Jupiter’s moons; and a thunderstorm on Saturn. In addition they tracked 1,000 mph winds on the surface of Neptune and discovered five-mile-tall geysers erupting from the icy surface of Neptune’s largest moon, Triton.

    “When I started on Voyager my two daughters were young,” Stone recalled in 2012. “By the time they were in college we had passed Saturn and were on our way to Uranus. They got married and the Voyagers just kept going, and we had grandchildren and Voyager just kept going and our grandchildren are now aware of what’s happening to the Voyagers just like our children were.”

    By the time Stone retired from the mission in 2022, the Voyager spacecraft had travelled beyond the outer boundary of the heliosphere, the bubble of supersonic charged particles streaming outwards from the sun, and had ventured into interstellar space, where they continue to collect and transmit data to Earth.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/obituaries/2024/06/23/TELEMMGLPICT000382293655_17191398198050_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqqVzuuqpFlyLIwiB6NTmJwfSVWeZ_vEN7c6bHu2jJnT8.jpeg?imwidth=680
    Partial disk of Triton, moon of Neptune, taken by Voyager 2 on August 25 1989

    By the mid-2020s the vessels will fall silent, but their journey will continue for billions of years, the spacecraft carrying with them a “compilation album” of what life was like when human beings roamed the Earth, featuring everything from Azerbaijani bagpipes, through the music of Beethoven and Chuck Berry to the sound of humpback whales and a message from Jimmy Carter – US president at the time the spacecraft were launched – for the interest and entertainment of alien civilisations they might encounter along the way.

    https://youtu.be/MGPM58S5Njg

    The elder of two sons, Edward Carroll Stone was born in Knoxville, Iowa, on January 23 1936 and grew up in Burlington, Iowa, where his father ran a small construction company. After leaving school he studied physics at the University of Chicago, receiving a master’s degree in 1959 and a doctorate in 1964.

    He then joined a former colleague, Rochus Vogt, in helping to launch a space physics programme at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, where he was appointed professor in 1976 and chaired the university’s physics, maths and astronomy division in the mid-1980s.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/obituaries/2024/06/23/TELEMMGLPICT000382293783_17191398896130_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqqVzuuqpFlyLIwiB6NTmJwfSVWeZ_vEN7c6bHu2jJnT8.jpeg?imwidth=680

    Stone went on to design scientific instruments for US satellites, oversaw the construction of the WM Keck Observatory in Hawaii and led the establishment of LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory), a billion-dollar project that in 2015 made the first direct observations of gravitational waves, ripples in space time that scientists had been looking for for years.

    In 1991 Stone was appointed head of Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, California, and continued to work on missions that included Mars Pathfinder, which landed the Sojourner rover on Mars in 1997; Galileo, which orbited Jupiter for eight years; Cassini, which orbited Saturn for 13 years, and the Parker Solar Probe, which flew through the corona, the sun’s upper atmosphere, in 2021.

    He was awarded the US National Medal of Science in 1991 and the Shaw Prize in Astronomy in 2019.

    1. Voyager featured in a Star Trek, wrecked on a planet visited by the Enterprise. You could only see the name V GER on the side of some twisted metal.
      So cool it lasted so long.
      Kudos, guys. Good one!

      2. Syph requires antibiotics. Diarrhoea only time. Doesn't turn you crazy either.

  65. It's a quaint and historic village, mentioned in the Domesday Book, with a Norman church and a proud history as a mining quarter in an attractive rural location in Warwickshire.

    But in recent months residents of Old Arley have been increasingly up in arms about a new threat to their quiet lives – the putrid stench coming from slaughtered livestock at a recently expanded abattoir right in the centre of the village.

    Round-the-clock sheep deliveries and giant tankers removing blood, carcasses and effluent in the heart of the village at T&S Abattoir Ltd in Old Arley are making people's lives a misery, they say.

    The village that smells of death: Putrid stench coming from newly-expanded abattoir is making locals' lives 'a misery' and ruining picturesque village with HGVs dropping livestock off day and night

    Yesterday, abattoir owner Dr Afhtar Ahmed, 29, who assured residents at a public meeting in April, that he would abide by any council imposed operating restrictions, refused to speak to MailOnline.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13556727/village-stench-abattoir-locals-village-livestock-sheep.html

    1. Resident Carolyn McKay, 63, said a previous abattoir business on the site had been a welcome addition to the village because it was a small-scale operation including a butcher's selling locally supplied meat.

      "Sadly, when the premises were re-opened by the new owner in April this year, none of us had any idea our lives were about to become a living hell," she said. "'When the abattoir was previously run as a family business, only 200 animals a week at its peak were being slaughtered and it never interfered with village life but the council has told us 1,800 animals are being slaughtered there each week and the new owner had been issued with a full licence by the Food Standards Agency to slaughter sheep, goats and calves from Sunday to Thursday, 7am to 1pm."

      It sounds as though it's not just the numbers but the standards.

    2. How extraordinarily accomplished Dr Afhtar must be – a qualified Dr at a tender age and devoting his life's endeavours to the welfare of sheep.

      My God, this makes me want to puke…much like kowloonbhoy's posting about the Slammers manning the immigration desks at Heathrow and Manchechester.

    5. A properly, humanely run abattoir should not, under any circumstances, stink of death. Such a pity that the likes of "Dr" Ahmed remain above the law of the land.

      1. He’s 29! What idea has he got about good practice or humanity? Plus, I’m guessing he’s a muslim!

        1. Big money in the Halal meat business, Sue. Helped by its complete immunity from the laws applying to animal welfare. Expect more of this when the Woodentop takes over. (I am so angry i can hardly type, btw)

          1. Yes , I am also so angry , my area here is full of sheep , and when the lambs stop bleating I shudder to think of the fate of their mothers , or fathers and of course themselves .. we have caring farmers but everything is a business now , and there is more livestock than ever in our fields , and poor little lambs ..

            We have to cater for people who stick their bums in the air and who are misogynist to the core and who are basically a lower order peasant class of medieval origin .

          2. And brutal, venal and callous with it. Also entitled by successive administrations to do as they want and crow about it, whilst calling us bigots for minding

          3. We don't have to cater for those people you describe. Our politicians and snivel serpents CHOOSE to cater for them.

          4. We are made to cater for these people. I'd rather they effed off back to where it was their culture. It isn't ours.

          5. No, and they are trying to make sure that ours is replaced by theirs. Entitled, arrogant peasants.

          6. And that's their 'good' points.
            When we moved here 30 years ago, there was a traditional butcher's shop in the village. It had been there since his grandfather's time, and there was a field behind the shop & house which was a holding field for animals awaiting slaughter, though this practice had been discontinued before we arrived. Thank goodness he went out of business some years ago. The field was sold for building a couple of houses, and the shop part of the big house has been converted to a self-contained unit for a son to live in.
            The whole site would have been ideal for some of Peterborough's slammers.

          7. I’m also very angry and sad. I posted on the DT the other day about the calf rammed by plod that the way we treat animals reflects the state of our society and its progress. Ghandi.

          9. Shocking and stupid, but not a huge surprise given the quality of the police farce.

          10. I see some pillock in the upper echelons said it was necessary! I'd like to see them rammed and say it was necessary.

          11. Sue – as a Council Taxpayer in Surrey, I can only apologise, and seek your forgiveness for subsidising these futter uckwits. I'm so sorry. 😕

          12. Seppuku not required, Geoff. Who'd put up NoTTL in the early hours if you were't here?

          15. "…its complete immunity from the laws applying to animal welfare."

            This is disgraceful: If the electorate had the opportunity to vote on this matter, there would be no exemption for the Halal business.

          16. Excuse a small correction, lacoste – there would be no halal business in this country.

          17. Another small correction – there would be no halal meat-eating incomers to this country. And many of those here would be deported toot sweet.

        2. Flagged for blatant Islamophobia. Any minute now, a Mod will be along to cancel your outrageous, nay blasphemous comment…

          Whaddya mean, I'm a Mod? OK – i guess that's alright then. As you were… 😉

      2. My uncle was a butcher and as a child I used to accompany him on his rounds to the slaughterhouse. It didn't smell unpleasant.

        1. They should smell vaguely of swimming pools. Not guts, death and other horrors.

        2. When I was a student I had a summer job working as a meat porter.
          It was extremely hard work, but apart from the waste awaiting collection in the bins outside the whole abattoir smelt clean. Hygiene was very high priority in all areas of the operation.

          If anything smelt it was the workers, particularly on Smithfield days at the end of a 6.30 am to 11 pm shift.
          Fortunately that was only on Thursdays.

        3. There was a Coop abattoir right beside MB's school.
          It was also opposite the college which unsuccessfully tried to turn me into a secretary.
          Unless the abattoir doors were open and your could see the hanging carcasses you would never have known.

          1. When I was lecturing in Carlisle I took a class of TOPs students to Cavray, a company which produced bacon and quiches etc. Apart from the initial shock, it was a clean and smell free operation. Even the animals waiting in the holding yard were fed a sugar solution which calmed them down.

  66. Woman killed disabled man two days after her daughter was jailed for robbing him. 23 June 2024.

    It can now be revealed that on Jan 20, two days before his death, Serena Hotchkins, Hawkins’s 24-year-old daughter, had been jailed for three years and seven months after breaking into Mr Shadwick’s home, with an accomplice, and violently robbing him of his phone and wallet.

    Gloucester Crown Court heard how in May 2022, Hotchkins and Antony Gardiner, 64, forced their way into Mr Shadwick’s bedroom demanding money.

    When Mr Shadwick tried to make the pair leave, Gardiner, who has 61 convictions for 250 offences, throttled him.

    You have to a laugh. It’s either that or cry. If it were left to me this man would never have made it to five offences.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/22/mother-killed-disabled-man-after-daughter-jailed-robbery/

    2. Yet, arming yourself for self-defence isn't allowed.
      A handgun really levels the playing field between disabled old man and younger, fitter more aggressive male.
      Edit: smelling mitoke.

  67. A brassy Birdie Three!

    Wordle 1,100 3/6
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
    ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Well done, just a par here.

      Wordle 1,100 4/6

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

      1. Me too.
        Wordle 1,100 4/6

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

        1. Wait for me!

          Wordle 1,100 4/6

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

        2. Four here

          Wordle 1,100 4/6

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

    2. Dunce's cap bogey here……well done getting a birdie on what I thought was quite a difficult word!

      Wordle 1,100 5/6

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

    3. Dunce's cap bogey here……well done getting a birdie on what I thought was quite a difficult word!

      Wordle 1,100 5/6

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

    4. Par for me.

      Wordle 1,100 4/6

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

    2. Oh! I'm so pleased, I was beginning to think they might try to take advantage of us.

    3. That I’d really frightening. I think we are definitely at the end of good will now.

          1. And that's before we talk about his fly problem.

            The buzzing insects, not his zip.

      1. You havin a larf?
        Whitehall has banned half the leaders of the EU from even entering the country.

        Geert Wilders, the Dutch politician accused of Islamophobia, was today refused entry to the UK after arriving at Heathrow airport in London. Wilders was due to show his 17-minute film Fitna at the House of Lords today. (2009).

        1. Only the sensible ones have been banned, surely. The full-on WEF followers will be welcomed with open arms.

    1. Lot of these types pop up..

      Elon Musk? NASA stooge defo.
      Farage? Whitehall plant.
      Putin? Double agent.
      Sir Keir Starmer? CIA agent.
      EU head Jose Barasso? Goldman Sachs banker.

      oh hang on.. forget that last one.

          3. I remember buying my mother a tiny bottle of "Tonight or Never" in Woolworth's in the sixties, along with a truly hideous plastic rose brooch. I still treasure similar offerings from my own children.

        2. I remember 'Hai Karate' with the fabulously sexy/scary Valerie Leon….. happy days…..

          2. Not sure I can remember, even though I did get it as a present on at least a couple of occasions. I seem to recall it was presented in a bamboo-style frame which may have looked like a cage??

          3. That’s the one! Deffo bought it for Dad one Christmas! I expect he was very delighted!

          6. At the risk of being appallingly retro/sexist/unreconstructed….. Phwoooaarrrr!

  73. Celebrity stag put down after hikers feed it croissants

    ‘Local legend’ Callum euthanised after its health deteriorated, with locals blaming tourists for feeding it with snacks from their hands

    Janet Eastham
    23 June 2024 • 1:40pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2024/06/23/TELEMMGLPICT000382992945_17191453771740_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqRAp9E8yZ40FuCLCct6vaN6ne3CB2vM1akl5BG6pZjZo.jpeg?imwidth=680

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

    Aaron Aardvark
    2 HRS AGO
    I suspect that stories of junk food are exaggerated, Callum probably deteriorated because he was overwhelmed by the lack of diversity amongst the people feeding him.

      1. Yet they are great at processing Fly Agaric (or at least the reindeer version is)

        1. We had a young, healthy deer die on lane near house, opopanax…liver fluke was suspected.

          1. That's very sad – such magical creatures. A recent England-wide road trip shocked me as so many were dead on the verges.

          8. Hear you, some odd coves around, I suspected poisoned bait. I’ve found a few animals near death over the years, and I generally help them on their way by gently covering their breathing, over very shortly. On this occasion I was held back by others ‘let nature take its course’ which in this case was around 3 to 4 hours. I’m sorry you saw what you did on your road trip, it’s always upsetting. Hope you enjoyed your tour otherwise 🙂

    2. I read, "Celebrity slag put down", and mulled over which one it could be.
      After discovering it was a poor old red deer I wondered if the venison might be sold on 'Stag at e-bay'.

  74. The Sywell airshow is over. The Red Arrows finished off this evening. I had a good view of that, even if from a distance. Yesterday's highlight over our part of town was the pair of Spits circling, being joined by another, then two more, then a Hurricane and another. Seven planes circling around for a couple of minutes before flattening out into a wing and heading off into the westering sun.

    All this free of charge!

  75. Evening, all. Been a lovely day and I managed to get some work done in the garden in the afternoon.

      1. I occasionally see a singleton going over to RAF Shawbury. The Cosford Air Show can put up a few. When I lived south of Shrewsbury, the BBMF (Hurry, Spit and Lanc) flew over while I was gardening (not sowing mines!), which was a treat.

        1. The Battle of Britain group used to often fly over here some years ago. It always brought a lump to my throat, and I gave silent thanks and a prayer that my own boys would never have to face being in a war.
          My Scottish grandparents waved off 4 of their 5 sons to the army in WW2, and all 4 returned in one piece though the eldest didn't return as soon as he had been a POW since Dunkirk. One of the daughters went away to do 'war work' (munitions, I think) in London. When the eldest son was captured, my granny took up smoking, and never stopped for the rest of her life. I suppose she lived in fear of another son being captured or one of them being killed.
          My own Dad enlisted in the Royal Navy at the start of 1944 as soon as he was old enough. He spent most of the following 3 years in the far east.

          1. In 1990, I lived in Bedford, near enough to work to be able to walk (on a day of decent weather, at least). One evening that hot summer, I was waiting to cross the road by the Bunyan memorial when the BoB flight passed overhead. Almost every pedestrian in that rush-hour stopped to look up at the three aircraft glinting in the sun. Today, hardly anyone will give a glance. When yesterday's Spitfire and Hurricane 'carousel' assembled almost overhead in Wellingborough, no one but me stopped to watch…

          2. That is sad. I feel privileged whenever I see them, especially since my boys were in their teens.

        2. The Battle of Britain group used to often fly over here some years ago. It always brought a lump to my throat, and I gave silent thanks and a prayer that my own boys would never have to face being in a war.
          My Scottish grandparents waved off 4 of their 5 sons to the army in WW2, and all 4 returned in one piece though the eldest didn't return as soon as he had been a POW since Dunkirk. One of the daughters went away to do 'war work' (munitions, I think) in London. When the eldest son was captured, my granny took up smoking, and never stopped for the rest of her life. I suppose she lived in fear of another son being captured or one of them being killed.
          My own Dad enlisted in the Royal Navy at the start of 1944 as soon as he was old enough. He spent most of the following 3 years in the far east.

    2. Hello Conway! Whilst I have been missing in action (no internet connection due to our changing providers, then it was discovered we were wired up to the 'wrong box' 300 yds away and needed to be re-wired to another box further down the village and be re-connected, this has taken a month…). Anyway, during this time we went away for a week to s.Devon, a self-catering 'shed' in the garden of a bed and breakfast establishment. https://thebarnandpinncottage.co.uk (in case anyone is interested – five star reviews). The table chairs were of the folding variety. I sat on one of them and it collapsed underneath me…. a bolt was missing on the side. I made a few noises of discomfort (!) and we put a replacement chair in its place. Whilst we were eating lunch, me now sitting comfortably on the replacement chair, Rico was busy (I didn't realise what he was doing, I was recovering from the shock of the chair giving way). He had pulled his cushion which we had brought from home from the sofa and wedged it under the new chair, we can only assume oto give me a soft landing! He never plays with the cushion, or pulls it around at home, he just uses it for lying on next to me on the arm of the chair. Whilst we were away he was a model dog, butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. Back home he is up to his old tricks again! Photo below. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ff471e8aebd026e99822620577d25cbe0449317349c2b2d960418de1d9b78d9c.jpg

      1. He's a good boy, looking after his mum 🙂 Did you see the photo of Kadi with his rosettes yesterday?

        1. No, I’ll go and look for it. We had a family bbq yesterday at our son’s home and I was (only very) slightly worse the wear for one too many glasses of Prosecco….. well done Kadi!

          1. He was unplaced in the "most handsome lad" class, though. The rosettes are consolation ones. He's still a star in my eyes, though.

          2. He deserves to be the most handsome lad. He is lovely. Very Norfolk Terrier looking.

          3. His legs are too long for a Norfolk. He's a Norfolk on stilts 🙂 He's also got Queen Anne legs at the front, poor lad.

        1. Thank you, Sue – we had very mixed weather and one day was downright wintry with a bitterly cold wind – we rounded the corner on to the sea front at Lyme Regis and were nearly knocked off our feet by the gale, which had teeth…. we were on the search for a crab sandwich, not something one usually finds in the west of East Anglia!

    2. Dangerous stuff I agree but, based on their performance to date in Ukraine, I wouldnt be surprised if all the Russian missiles exploded in their silos – if they actually managed to explode at all…..
      Not sure I'd want to test that theory, however!!

  78. OT but why is there no press interest or investigation into the blatantly unethical behaviour of the OberStarmerFuhrer and Sue Gray? Or some of the other stuff not ToreeeScum or "FarHardRight" related?

    1. Because they're sympathisers/supporters, I reckon, opopanax. Sue Gray has all the contacts Starmer will need to stay in power for at least two terms. I wonder if she was already hand in hand with Labour even during Johnson gov't. Wouldn't trust any far as I could throw 'em.

  79. Tuned in briefly to the football viz. Scotland versus Hungary. I always think the Scots are destined to lose on account of having to rendition that Godawful Flower of Scotland dirge.

    It is much the same when England, having ‘taken the knee’ have to pretend allegiance to a woke king.

    Both recitals are debilitating, particularly by comparison with the patriotic tunes of most European opposition.

    1. It's probably been mentioned many times before but the tune of the first line of FoS is almost the same as the opening vocal line of the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves. Mere coincidence, I'm sure.

    2. It was written by that bloke from The Corries and actually started to get traction when Billy Steele, the Scotland wing, made it one of the British Lions songs on the 1974 South African tour. Eventually adopted by the Scottish RFU, the rest is history.
      I actually quite like it and always find myself singing along ('Gainst WHO!!) but it's hard to avoid the blatant anti-English sentiments.

      1. The anti-English sentiments have bedevilled Scots for generations. The habit of young folk wearing silly kilts and pretending to be warriors is another downside and as I stated a ridiculous provocation that never works. It always ends in failure.

          1. I’d understand the Braveheart worship if he’d actually succeeded but going to and from church I regularly pass the site where he was hanged drawn and quartered. Having seen the Sound of Freedom movie, which was exec produced by Mel Gibson, I can forgive.

          2. I of course agree. My principal objection to the Scots constant references to past conflicts when engaged in modern sporting contests is that it proves counter productive. It is as though it diverts positive energy in achieving a goal to harbouring a resentment if the goal is not achieved.

            I have witnessed this numerous times. Just play the game as if it is today and forget all of the animosity of past historical conflicts. By that means you will be unencumbered and free to perform your tasks as in ways as the best possible.

      2. I'm guessing it's broadly fascistic – given the proclivities of the Southern European/Mediterranean states?

      1. Maggie May, You Wear It Well and numerous others are in no way diminished by the pronouncements of pensioner Stewart. His opinions are of no importance.

        1. Very true. Some of the music from my best years. Maybe dementia is setting into him, or he has simply become infected by the mindset of so many ‘celebrities’/rich/famous people.

    1. I read a few days ago on here I think that, if these people are not picked up and brought in by RNLI or whoever and they land independently, they’re supposed to be arrested and jailed. But there aren’t enough places for them.

      1. Then there is an urgent need for some sort of new, secure holding facilities to be built. it would also be cheaper than all the hotels.

          1. That’s against their yooman rights, isn’t it. never mind our human rights to live in peace without constant fear of these scum.

        2. We could use the sea? Or, how about France? Drag them back to French water, destroy the boat.

          1. If only ……. I really don’t mind what happens to them, as long as they aren’t here. Nobody invited them, nobody wants them and none are genuine asylum seekers or refugees.

    2. He doesn't care. He's done, it's someone else's problem now and he couldn't care less.

    1. Exactly. 'Climate change' takes centuries to establish, even my 'O' level geology has told me that, not to mention three year degree level climatology. Along with other things, like a good memory. Margaret Thatcher: 'climate change is a marvellous excuse to bring in socialism'.

    2. Very good. Climate change (well yes it does, always has, always will)….the latest 'religion'…….

  83. I can't be (arsed) bothered with the football this evening. We've just finished our meal. And I'm not hungry now. Nor wanting tart tatan.
    We had a nice afternoon with our middle son DiL and two younger grandchildren.
    I've got to be at the hospital for an appointment at 7:30 am. Traffic should be okay before eight.
    Night all. Or I could set out and walk now…..
    On second thoughts.

    1. Hope all’s well. If it’s going to be hot, setting out early could be good.

      1. Arrived at 7:30 home by 12:30.
        Brilliant, we’ll see how it goes.
        I even met the main man, the consultant, he gave me the new injection, with confident outlook.

    1. Louise.. obv.

      she has the bruv that famously sued his university for not teaching
      Harry Petano-Heathcote. Let down: Harry Petano-Heathcote feels he spent £9,000 on 'a glorified Netflix subscription'

    2. Louise.. obv.

      she has the bruv that famously sued his university for not teaching
      Harry Petano-Heathcote. Let down: Harry Petano-Heathcote feels he spent £9,000 on 'a glorified Netflix subscription'

    5. That's not many. There is a by election in Toronto tomorrow that has over 80 candidates on the slate.
      A desperate liberal attempt to protect their supposed safe seat by having lots of independents to dilute the conservative vote. Word is that if the liberals lose, trudeau will be forced to step down. Personally I don't see it because no one has said squeeky boo squat about him so far.

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Toronto—St._Paul%27s_federal_by-election

  85. Why isn't anyone pointing out that if the UK goes entirely to "renewables" and net zero that the Manchester airport farce will be a common event?

    2. People don't have any concept of how systems work. They think they can have everything.

    4. We are ruled by idiots with no understanding of basic physics. They probably attended Comprehensive schools or failing that Harrow or Eton.

    1. Oh, that’s wonderful! Such memories, but such a long time ago! 1970! I was 13 and loved this man’s music.

          1. I always thought there was something special about you, Geoffrey! Welcome to the club!

          4. I suspect I will, reluctantly, have to defer to the wisdom of my elders and betters.

            As Spock would say; Live long and prosper……

          5. Yep. I only recently decided that I must be a genius. I already knew I was a genius Architect but as I grow older and deteriorate in old age everything else seems to be so bloody obvious.

            No worries, I still give architectural advice pro bono.

    2. I always liked him but could never get the joke out of my mind;
      What's green and eats nuts? – Syphilis
      What's green, eats nuts and plays the guitar? Labi Syphilis

    1. That was actually very good – not sure about the backing music, which always seems to detract from the message – but packed all the big points into a punchy message which was far shorter than any Party Political Broadcast – Well done, Nigel!!

    2. Most people who come are great people and work hard! What? Most people who come are muslims who don't work and hate us.

  91. A horse and a cow walk into a pub.
    The barman looks up and says "Why the long faces?"

    1. The horse, which was white, asks for a large Scotch.
      The barman asks 'Do you want the one named after you?'
      The White Horse responds 'What, Eric?'

      I'll get me coat…..

  93. – Never mind Scotland
    There is always Andy Murray at Wimbledon to look forward too

    2. Oh dear, dear me! How sad, what a shame, never mind! I would say this to my darling husband, but the joy will only last ‘til Tuesday when England throw it away again! 🤣

        1. Every pundit has told Southgate what corrections he has to make with the talented club players available to him, in particular the very sensible new manager of Tottenham Hotspur. (Don’t ask me to attempt to write his name but except to say he has a most refreshing demeanour compared with the usual thin lipped idiots).

          Play the best players in the positions in which they play for their clubs. On no account compromise by playing half the squad out of the positions in which they play for their clubs.

          If you really have to change anything for goodness sake do not change the 4:3:3 formations that every bugger in European football plays.

          Jesus wept. Why do we accept such idiots in charge of just about everything in our country, not just the national football coach but everyone else in senior management positions.

    3. The most uncharismatic player on the circuit. Grotesque really, imho, of course.

    4. I'm no fan of Scotland but some of the gloating below is rather unpleasant.

    2. Windrush generation could have returned from whence they came, if it was so awful.
      Just saying.

  97. Moh watched the Scotland match , and he grumbled on and on and on .

    I told him that Scotland were a better team than England , and at least the Scots were Scots unlike the England team with imported players from goodness knows where and an absent Captain who resides in Germany .

    He blew his stack .. he erupted and accused me of being a traitor to England , I told him that Scotland had 5 million people and had a decent team , unlike England which has 70 million people and they have a strange mixture of overpaid players , not from these islands .

    Anyway , I told him to be quiet and stop bullying me , my Pictish blood levels were somewhat raised and still are.

    The last nice memorable England team was the 1966 team whom everyone loved .

    1. And the following year Scotland beat them.

      With Jim Baxter taking the mickey by playing 'keepie uppy' mid match.

    2. I just dislike football players overall. They constantly spit, think they are prima donnas and the game seems to have degenerated to pushing, shoving and pulling of shirts. Overpaid, doesn't even touch reason for the contempt I have for the game.

    4. Good grief. Tell your hubby that Scotland at times played very well but lacked any quality up front. In other words they lacked a credible attacking front line. They never came close to scoring. They might have been awarded a penalty at one point but were not. End of.

      The Scots were suckered into throwing everyone bar the goalie up front and left in the final minutes defenceless to an Hungarian counter attack which resulted in the Hungarians scoring.

      Your hubby should in my view show you more respect. He comes across as a bit of a prick. Perhaps you should apply one of his golf sticks to his head.

    5. Er, England's population is well short of 70 million, unless you think it should be calculated by assuming that the food that ends up in bins is neither greed nor waste but people who are not accounted for on the census

      1. Tesco reckons nearer to 80 Million.

        Calculated from food sales – supermarkets need to know the total size of their customer base.

  98. When I watch Scotland play football, my stirrings are similar to those I feel when watching the likes of Latvia or Slovenia.

  99. Not at all, but they're quite good! Especially with the crowd interventions (in bold)

    O flower of Scotland
    When will we see
    Your like again,
    That fought and died for
    Your wee bit hill and glen
    And stood against him – 'Gainst Who?
    Proud Edward's army,
    And sent him homeward – F*ck Off!
    Tae think again.

  101. MoD releases video to dispel 'myth that NATO provoked Putin'

    The short film comes after Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, suggested NATO expansion led to war with Ukraine

    Genevieve Holl-Allen, POLITICAL REPORTER • 23 June 2024 • 9:53pm

    The Ministry of Defence has released a video dispelling the "myth" that "NATO is aggressive and the enemy of Russia" after comments by Nigel Farage. The department shared a clip on social media that said it was a "fact" that NATO "has worked for peace, security and freedom" for 75 years while Russia was "aggressive".

    The video came after Mr Farage, the Reform UK leader, told the BBC on Friday that the West had provoked Russia into invading Ukraine. He claimed that the "ever-eastward expansion of NATO and the European Union" gave Vladimir Putin a reason to justify war.

    Mr Farage has since come under fire from figures across the political spectrum, including Rishi Sunak, who claimed he was "playing into Putin's hands".

    Mr Farage has strongly denied being an "apologist or supporter" of the Russian leader, and has called Putin's invasion of Ukraine "immoral, outrageous and indefensible".

    The video said: "Fact: NATO has previously made significant efforts to establish a strategic partnership with Russia. It established a NATO-Russia council and worked together on issues including: submarine rescue, counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism."

    It added: "Russia invaded Georgia, Russia invaded Ukraine, Russia is aggressive. For 75 years, NATO has worked for peace, security and freedom."

    The MoD later uploaded a second video to bust the myth that "NATO is encircling Russia", stating that only 11 per cent of the country's land border is shared with bloc countries.

    Mr Farage wrote in The Telegraph on Saturday: "Back in 2014, when the EU first offered Ukraine an accession agreement, I said in a speech in the European Parliament that 'there will be a war in Ukraine'. Why? Because the expansion of NATO and the EU was giving Putin a pretext he would not ignore.

    "As I have made clear on multiple occasions since then, if you poke the Russian bear with a stick, don't be surprised if he responds. And if you have neither the means nor the political will to face him down, poking a bear is obviously not good foreign policy."

    On Saturday, the Prime Minister said: "What [Mr Farage] said was completely wrong and only plays into Putin's hands. This is a man who deployed nerve agents on the streets of Britain, who's doing deals with countries like North Korea. And this kind of appeasement is dangerous for Britain's security, the security of our allies that rely on us, and only emboldens Putin further."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    Russia's land border is almost 14,000 miles long. 11% of that is not a short distance.

    Not enough is being said today about that EU deal. At the time (2012-13), Ukraine was a member of the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States), effectivley a free-trade area of the old SSRs. It is reported that Yanukovych was set to sign the deal but pulled out under pressure from Putin. Ukraine claimed that it would lose more trade with the CIS than it would gain from the EU. Wiki tells us that the then President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso had stated that the EU will not tolerate "a veto of a third country" in their negotiations on closer integration with Ukraine. However, it's coy on the events of the winter of 2013-14 and who started what in the rioting that led to the war in the east of Ukraine.

    1. Almost certainly when Merkel was Pusina for Ukraine to enter EU so many years ago, Farage was the only one to point out the political folly of such a move. Nothing new about Farage’s opinion.

    1. 'Morning, Geoff, and thank you for all the effort you have put in to keep us all rolling along. Well done!

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