Tuesday 20 August: Critics of GPs should try spending a day in the consulting room

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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634 thoughts on “Tuesday 20 August: Critics of GPs should try spending a day in the consulting room”

  2. Morning, all Y'all.
    Raining. Strangely greeny-dark, like putting your head under water in a flooded open-cast mine.

  4. Nearly 2,000 prisoners to be released on single day. 20 August 2024.

    The moves come after the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) activated emergency measures in the North of England on Monday to avoid running out of prison spaces in those areas as the arrests of rioters increased pressure on jails.

    The real criminals are being released to make room for the Political Prisoners.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/19/nearly-2000-prisoners-to-be-released-on-single-day/

    1. I am sure there will be additional Probation Officers/ Social workers arranging housing etc etc for the flood of prisoners being released over the coming months.
      Then again there will be no Probation/Social Work staff, no available housing, no job advice/no jobs …………. the rotating door for prisoners will be spinning even faster.

      1. Give it time.

        Prisoners will be released and housed in the properties vacated by the "hate speech" merchants and other political prisoners who have protested against what is happening in the UK..

    2. You know you live in a totalitarian dictatorship when your country has a “Ministry of Justice”

  5. G'day!
    Wordle 1,158 4/6

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  7. BBC World service (Radio 4) broadcasting lengthy extracts of Biden speeches in support of Kamalfaced Harris and denigrating Boris the buffoon. Ten or more already this morning. Is this what we pay taxes for? Defund the BBC and strip the Marxist enemy of their ill-gotten millions and unjustified influence on UK and world politics.

    1. They really don't give up, do they?

      EXCLUSIVE Queen Elizabeth II said Donald Trump was 'very rude': Astonishing claim revealed in new book which also reports that late monarch believed former US President must have an 'arrangement' with wife Melania
      What The Queen really thought of Donald Trump: All is revealed in CRAIG BROWN'S deliciously gossipy royal book

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13758993/queen-elizabeth-donald-trump-melania-craig-brown.html

      1. They don't give up. There has been ten extracts/repeats of the rally speeches since I posted the above – there is another one on now – and there are another two hours of this to come.

        1. It will serve the bastards right if Harris and the Democrats win by a landslide and America collapses into anarchy as her polices are let rip, which then takes down the UK and the EU into economic catastrophe.

          I fear for my children and grandchildren

          1. Stay away from the cities. Rural France will carry on as normal. Keep a pitchfork handy.

      3. Did she even say that in earshot? I would believe not – she was one smart lady. Could use her back on earth…

        1. As we don't know her opinions about anything else whatsoever in her lifetime, why would she suddenly reveal how she felt about Trump?

      4. The thing about gossip it is mostly lies and exaggerations. Her Majesty would have been discrete of her observations and opinions of a U.S President.

    2. Also on the WS: long conversation with an obvious bloke who was referred to as she/her, followed by similar with one person who was, apparently, they/them.

  8. Good morning, chums, a much better Wordle attempt today. And thank you, Geoff, for today's NoTTLe site.

    Wordle 1,158 3/6

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    1. edit Sorry Elsie – Good Morning!
      Uninspired here!
      Wordle 1,158 5/6

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      1. Flippin' five for me too

        Wordle 1,158 5/6

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      2. Well, at least we have six attempts every day. I can't always do as well as I did today, but I am sad when – even after six attempts – I haven't solved the day's Wordle.

    2. edit Sorry Elsie – Good Morning!
      Uninspired here!
      Wordle 1,158 5/6

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  9. Good morning all.
    After last nights rain it's a bright dry start with blue skies, almost calm air and 10°C on the Yard Thermometer.

    1. Morning, BoB.
      MB and I are definitely temperate zone people.
      We feel invigorated by the lower temperatures and fresher air.

      1. The same here , but Moh loves the heat , but feels the cold and draughts , whereas I am an open window person and love this fresh cooler air.

        Must be blood group orientated, I wonder?

          2. I prefer the cooler air too, I love the silky feel as it brushes past my face. Landing at Stansted 10 years ago (seems like only yesterday) on a trip back from France for a hen party, I revelled in the touch of the cool late afternoon breeze on my skin, so at once instantly recognised like a long ago friend and loved; it brought to mind the words "this is my own, my native land."

            We must never give in.

  10. Good Moaning.
    What a coincidence.
    I learnt that a neighbour a few doors away needed jam jars. I dropped a note through her door telling her that I had plenty to spare.
    A few minute's later, a smiling lass stood on the doorstep and I had one of those "I know the face, but from where?" moments.
    Turned out she was a couple of years below me at school.
    It was the smile that did it; grey hair, obvious changes to skin etc… but people's smiles do not change.

    2. What's her Email address? We want to hear all the stories about you at skule…bullying, throwing tantrums, etc

    3. Good morning Anne ,

      Remembering the photo of a little girl Anne you posted a few weeks ago and of course the recent photo of you enjoying the fun at Phizzee's party , I will kindly say that you have not altered an iota, your facial features and smile are Anne as she was and is now .😊

  11. 392039+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    The labour party's " inside out" campaign putting MORE criminals on the streets seems to be a success among the party top rankers, I do hope that party elites and ALL party members personally, close up, enjoy the fruits of their actions no others deserve it more.

    https://x.com/JPEdwards_/status/1824563594245112296

    1. I think I'll post something really offensive; xx chromosomes = female?
      Bingo: time it well and for the coming winter I'll get three square meals a day and my heating bills paid courtesy of the tax payer.

    2. The charming Mr Streeting also fantasised on several occasions about pushing Jan Moir under a bus, iirc. I can't stand Jan Moir myself, but that is hardly the point. They're just gaslighting us and laughing as they rub their double standards in people's faces.

  12. 392039+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    The labour party's " inside out" campaign putting MORE criminals on the streets seems to be a success among the party top rankers, I do hope that party elites and ALL party members personally, close up, enjoy the fruits of their actions no others deserve it more.

    https://x.com/JPEdwards_/status/1824563594245112296

  13. Whisper it… but misogyny should be classed as extremism. 20 August 2024

    How can anyone have a problem with Labour’s mission to halve cases of violence against women and girls within a decade? I can’t imagine they do. But likening it to extremism was always going to push the wrong buttons for some: the ones who have become cynical after reading too many news pieces about boys being expelled from schools for making silly jokes; the ones constantly being assured by commentators that those jokes are the beginning of the journey into incel culture.

    That would be me then. The first problem I have is how would you identify someone who had extremist intentions; like murdering young girls at a dance class for example. What criteria would you use? Their Ethnicity? Their religion. Their online posts? Even if you could do this, what methods are you going to use to prevent their acting? Gaol? For something that has not yet happened? Counselling? Usman Khan was on the Prevent program and had lots of counselling. In fact he killed two of them. This program will end as so many Marxist ambitions do, if not in making the situation actually worse, then in utter failure.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/19/whisper-it-but-misogyny-should-be-classed-as-extremism/

    1. What a stupid, stupid paragraph from the article.

      If you want to reduce violence against women, then prosecute violence against women.
      Don't turn a blind eye when it's committed by muslims against white girls.
      That's all.
      Once you start bringing terrorism, extremism, misogyny etc into the law, then you are going to make the situation worse than it was before.

      Don't prosecute what you infer people's motives might be; prosecute their actions.
      Until the right gets this and is prepared to fight for it, we're doomed.

      1. Indeed. There’s been a remarkable uptick in “misogyny” since immigration (legal and illegal) went through the roof. But to mention that would be islamaphobic (sic) and so no one will. Correlation causation caveat etc etc.

        Best to blame it on the “faaaaaar right” and accuse Nige or Tommy as being behind it. Anything but the elephant in the room.

      3. "If you want to reduce violence against women, then prosecute violence against women."

        The article finished thus:

        Ann Widdecombe, Reform's home affairs spokesman, reminded everyone yesterday: "If you commit violence against women and girls, that's already a crime."

        So unless the Government actually carries out any actual reforms, all this is semantics: the literal breaking down of words and phrases put out to make the country feel that, on this point, Labour means business. If it does, it can start by enforcing the existing laws first.

          1. I copied that because some selective quoting gave a rather misleading impression of the article.

    2. Good morning Minty and everyone.
      As ever, thought provoking. Technically it should be possible to search for 'future criminals', using a combination of AI and Eugenics, but there isn't enough electricity in the world for all that computer processing. History shows that between 1 and 2 percent of any national population are theoretically capable of armed resistance, which could be viewed as future violent crime against the State and its Commissars; if you were to extrapolate amongst the total of muesli people in the UK, that would amount to between potential 40,000 and 80,000 résistants.

    3. Good morning Minty and everyone.
      As ever, thought provoking. Technically it should be possible to search for 'future criminals', using a combination of AI and Eugenics, but there isn't enough electricity in the world for all that computer processing. History shows that between 1 and 2 percent of any national population are theoretically capable of armed resistance, which could be viewed as future violent crime against the State and its Commissars; if you were to extrapolate amongst the total of muesli people in the UK, that would amount to between potential 40,000 and 80,000 résistants.

    4. Good morning Minty and everyone.
      As ever, thought provoking. Technically it should be possible to search for 'future criminals', using a combination of AI and Eugenics, but there isn't enough electricity in the world for all that computer processing. History shows that between 1 and 2 percent of any national population are theoretically capable of armed resistance, which could be viewed as future violent crime against the State and its Commissars; if you were to extrapolate amongst the total of muesli people in the UK, that would amount to between potential 40,000 and 80,000 résistants.

    5. Amazing how sp many 'things' that are so obvious to normal people are turned on there heads by the political classes and the medi-eye..

    6. Wasn't "Gaol for something that has not yet happened" a theme for a movie set in the future a few decades ago?

      1. Morning Oberst. Minority Report with Tom Cruise. Even that was incomprehensible . Lol.

  16. It turns out that the owner of the Bayesian, sunk by an unexpected waterspout off Sicily, was due to face trial for fraud in the US, and his co-defendant was run over by a car this week, purely by coincidence.
    No, I am not making this up, it is in the Daily Mail.

    Who was it that said words to the effect that the world isn't getting worse, it's just that the veil is lifting?

        1. Who lost and what was it about? Your explanation would be easier to understand than wading through 6 Mail articles
          (and all I would discover would b e the price of someone's house)

          1. I resent you expecting me or anyone else to be your unpaid Research Assistant – there's a wonderful thing called Google which is your friend. Try it.

            British tech tycoon cleared in US fraud trial

            Natalie Sherman
            Business reporter, BBC News

            Updated 7 June 2024

            British tech tycoon Mike Lynch has been cleared of fraud charges he faced in the US over the $11bn (£8.6bn) sale of his software firm to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.

            A jury in San Francisco found him not guilty on all counts in a stunning victory for Mr Lynch, who had been accused of inflating the value of Autonomy, his company, ahead of its sale.

            Mr Lynch, who faced more than 20 years in prison if convicted, had denied the charges and took the stand to defend himself.

            In his testimony, he maintained he had focused on technology not accounting, distancing himself from other executives, including the company's former chief financial officer who was already successfully prosecuted for fraud.

            "I am elated with today’s verdict and grateful to the jury for their attention to the facts over the last 10 weeks," Mr Lynch said in a statement.

            "I am looking forward to returning to the UK and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovating in my field."

            University of Cambridge graduate Mr Lynch co-founded Autonomy in 1996 out of a specialist software research group called Cambridge Neurodynamics.

            He led it as it grew to be one of the UK's biggest companies, winning him comparisons to Microsoft's Bill Gates and Apple's Steve Jobs.

            The company, known for software that could extract useful information from "unstructured" sources such as phone calls, emails or video, was ultimately sold to Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011 in a deal that ranked as the largest-ever takeover of a British technology business at the time.

            Mr Lynch made £500m from the sale. Just a year later, HP wrote down the value of Autonomy by $8.8bn.

            Years of legal battles followed.

            The company's chief financial officer, Sushovan Hussain, was found guilty of fraud in 2018 and later sentenced to five years in prison.

            US prosecutors brought charges against Mr Lynch in 2018, accusing him of inflating the value of the firm using backdated agreements to mislead about the company's sales; concealing the firm's loss-making business reselling hardware and intimidating or paying off people who raised concerns.

            Mr Lynch, who lives in Suffolk, was eventually extradited after a UK judge ruled in favour of HP in a similar civil fraud case in 2022. HP is seeking a reported $4bn in that case.

            Mr Lynch, a former UK government adviser who sat on the boards of the BBC and the British Library, had faced house arrest in the US while preparing for the trial which began in San Francisco in March.

            Prosecutors had called dozens of witnesses to the stand, including the former head of HP Leo Apotheker, who was fired shortly after the purchase was announced.

            But the arguments fell flat. Mr Lynch's team pushed the argument that HP had failed to properly vet the deal and mismanaged the takeover, while he testified he was uninvolved with the transactions being described.

            Judge Charles Breyer had already dismissed one count of securities fraud during the trial for lack of evidence.

            Abraham Simmons, a spokesman for the US Attorney's Office, said: "We acknowledge and respect the verdict.

            "We would like to thank the jury for its attentiveness to the evidence the government presented in this case."

            As well as Mr Lynch, another former finance executive at Autonomy, Stephen Chamberlain, was also on trial. He was found not guilty.

            Lawyers for Mr Lynch, Christopher Morvillo and Brian Heberlig, said in a statement that they were thrilled by the outcome, saying it reflected a "rejection of the government's profound overreach in this case".

            "This verdict closes the book on a relentless 13-year effort to pin HP's well-documented ineptitude on Dr Lynch," they said. "Thankfully, the truth has finally prevailed."

          2. Hey, I didn't think you would have to look it up!
            "Sold dodgy software company, accused of exaggerating its value" explains all.
            I'm too lazy busy to pick the wheat from the chaff this morning. In any case, I wouldnt use google, they are shyte and Yandex or Qwant is better.

            edit: Thank you

          3. HP paid almost twice the stock market value of Autonomy. Many commentators said at the time that it was a crazy price.

          4. They should look to their decision processes and the basis for those. I thought HP were smarter than that.

          1. We sailed around the West coast of Sicily in 2005 from Trapani to Marsala and thence to Licata and then headed south to Valleta on Malta.

            As I posted yesterday we saw several waterspouts on the voyage south from Licata to which was rather unsettling but we were actually knocked flat by a tornado while we were at anchor in a bay in SW Turkey a couple of years later.

            The southern part of Sicily is still under the control of the Mafia and we found Licata a depressing place.

            Mafia – Sicily – Billionaire – Fraud case – Sunken 'superyacht'. Spot the connections?

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/81a8c3bce2e19c21a9bc41d20a84ee66d3fcda9580890830379dedfa15408f4f.png

    2. The people responsible for our current woes – and those in the past, it's a habit – were thought to have war-gamed the current scenario just prior to the emergence of CV-19. Did they not see/understand/underestimate what pressed people are capable of thinking and discovering? Arrogance is a weakness.

    3. I thought he had recently been acquitted and was celebrating on the boat.
      Was there another trial in the offing?

      1. You are probably right. I haven't been following it and the Mail is rather in one's face. It's still a pretty large coincidence though!

      2. The one missing and the one dead did win their case. Some big players and even bigger money was involved. Pure coincidence that tragedy strikes in two different places within a week of each other.

    4. Following extradition to the US and a lengthy trial in the US, Lynch was acquitted of all charges by a jury.

      Odds against Lynch in US court case were 'astronomical'
      As we've been reporting, missing entrepreneur Mike Lynch was acquitted against all odds in a high-profile US fraud case in June.

      Our (Sky) business presenter Ian King says he saw Mr Lynch not long before he was extradited to the US in May last year and the businessman was "absolutely adamant he had done nothing wrong".

      "He was charged on a number of counts, including wire fraud," he says.

      "It sounds worse than it is – it can boil down to sending an email which the US authorities don't like.

      "It was an immense role of the dice on his part.

      "Most people that get taken to court in this way will go for some plea bargain deal but Mike was determined to have his day in court and face it down.

      "The odds against that are astronomical and 97% of people who face criminal charges in the US and don't go for a plea bargain will end up being convicted.

      "So it was a huge gamble on Mike Lynch's part."

      Ian wrote this excellent analysis after Mr Lynch's acquittal:

    5. The lengthy trial was concluded in June; Lynch was acquitted of all charges.

      How does the Daily Mail get away with factual incorrectness?
      A journalist AND and an editor should be sacked.

      1. Um, I think the incorrectness was due to me not reading the text properly. Huge headlines, irrelevant details and I am up to my ears in BOTH my jobs at once.
        Ive been avoiding the press and media this year, and get most of what’s important by following various international financial and economic commenters. Don’t miss endless sleb/climate/covid/royal news. But I guess I have missed a few significant stories too.

  17. OT – Today The Times prints its 29,000th cryptic puzzle. Nottlers may remember my moaning on reminiscing the other day when the 28,000th puzzle appears. That "other day" was 10 June 2021….. Time like an ever-rolling stream etc….

  18. Good morning, all. Overcast and breezy.

    Is Vorderman cheerleading for Harris because she, Vorderman, really believes Harris has the right policies, has been an effective VP and will put Americans first, despite the fact that only four years ago Harris could barely register a vote in the Democratic Presidential primaries?

    What a come-back!

    Or, does Vorderman just detest Trump and that any opponent of Trump is worthy of support despite that person's ineffectiveness and failures when in office?

    https://x.com/carolvorders/status/1825174983682687191
    Professor Norman Fenton explains the reality as he did during the CV-19 days. Thank goodness for thinking people who know what they're talking about.

    https://x.com/profnfenton/status/1825187416367354135

    1. Didn’t the polls put Hilary ahead in 2016? They lie in an attempt to persuade people to back the “popular candidate”?

    3. All part of the psyop to demoralise Republican supporters. Hand in hand with the negative reports of Trump's health and state of mind.

      The Democrats don't need to claim foreign interference in U.S elections. They are doing a fine job themselves.

    1. And once more the 'powers that be' do not seem to be able to understand why the people on the streets are not happy with the way the country is and has been run for decades.
      I'm not condoning rioting but people have the right to complain.

  20. Last night we watched on catchup the Porm performance of Britten's "War Requiem". Spectacular setting, excellent orchestra (though the men had left their shirts and ties at home for some odd reason). Three very good soloists. Brilliant choral singing in the highest tradition of English choirs. Pappano in complete control.

    BUT – the music itself left me completely cold. It was the third time I had heard it – thankfully (for this cynic) it is only performed about once every 30 years. I am familiar with requiems by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven etc etc all of which in different ways give me emotional uplift.
    But the Britten – nah, rubbish! At times I was reminded f Dudley Moore's pastiche – when he sang Little MIss Muffet in the style of Britten (and, of course, dear, DEAR Peter Pears… ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdmoxlqQQ4c
    Still it helped sleep!!

        1. Nor me.
          His mangling of The Lyke Wake Dirge and the "plinky-plonky" accompaniment to his folk song settings turned me off before I got anywhere near his larger works!

          1. I was at a singing course weekend once where we had to prepare and learn by heart three pieces for the masterclass. We rattled through them, and were invited by the last day to have a fourth ready.

            I went into the library to find something. It was 2013, Britten's centenary, and I've never sung a Britten solo before nor wanted to, but I thought it would be an interesting exercise for study. I found a setting of a Blake poem that seemed manageable to do in the time, so set to.

            First off, the accompaniment provided no help whatsoever to the singer. All the harmonies in my head that naturally evolved when I was learning the melody, Britten seemed to go out of his way to avoid, in order to confound me. In the end, the only way I could avoid being undermined by the accompaniment was to learn the tune at a piano whilst playing random notes. That way, I was able to get the notes despite the racket going on alongside.

            It actually worked quite well in the end, creating an atmosphere of wonder in the tone picture, but it had to be spot on to work. Anything less than perfection rendered it meaningless, but there is a sweet spot when it's like a light emerging. Hard work though! Romantic composers make life so much easier for the performer and the listener.

    2. Genius – today’s pitiful panel show ‘comedians’ should watch and weep, but they wouldn’t even have the insight to realise how far they fall short.

    4. Of course Britten and Auden were alumni of the school where your MR used to work!

      Caroline likes some of Britten's work but it leave me cold.

    5. I know what you mean, Bill.
      I'd rather listen to the tinnitus in my ears than Britten's anything. Now, Mozart, on the other hand, Beethoven… even dropping their conductor's baton onto the floor sounds better than Britten, tinnitus or no.

      1. Talking of requiems, what do you make of Fauré? His was revolutionary at the time. Most requiems liked to send one to heaven with a grand fanfare, and with the full fear of what God had in store for your soul if you had transgresed in life.

        For Fauré however, leaving this world should be a more peaceful affair, and one leaves for paradise not eternal fear. There is little in the work that rises above mezzo-forte, and even the Anger of God, so enjoyed by other composers such as Verdi banging away on his drum, was given just a few bars before going onto better things.

        Mozart of course ended up writing his own Requiem, and died doing so. The point of his death was marked eight bars into the 'Lacrimosa', where the style changes. Mozart's pupil Franz Süßmayr, who was asked by the widow to complete the commission in order for her to be paid, has a different style after bar 9. He treats it more as Viennese waltz. What I spot most is how each composer ends phrases. Mozart liked to throw them away, and his phrases end with a quaver. Süßmayr on the other hand is more conventional and finishes them off with a crotchet.

        1. Thank you for that explanation, Jeremy. Mozart's Requiem is the finest piece I have ever heard, and I love it deeply to the extent that my favourite CD is almost worn out. I did wonder about the change there, but just thought I was being a deaf and dumbass.

    6. Linguistic professor Dr Guy Deutscher, who worked with Stephen Fry on his radio programme about the English language 'Fry's English Delight', wrote a splendid book about the meaning of language 'Through the Language Glass'. He then gave up scholarship to concentrate on his daughter's musical career.

      I once asked the good doctor when he would start writing again. Considering his work over the last 15 years, I would love to hear what he has to say about the emotional language of music, exploring how different cultures tackle this and where there is common ground. It could be the formulated Indian ragas, African rhythmns, the harmonies, cadences, counterpoints, melodies and modulations of European classical music, and the power to excite or depress in jazz. It could be the lingering tonal beauty of a single temple bell, or it could be the cacophony of a city (explored both by the daughter and in the last century by Gershwin). We could even go into the violent rasping sneering of modern rap to a repetitive goosestep, which some consider to be music.

      Where does this fit in with Britten? Maybe there is some emotional substance there, but I suspect a lot of it is intellectual cleverness.

      As for the style of singing, as a singer myself I have railed against the convention popular in Britten's time to suppress consonants and to obscure the many vowel sounds and nuances of English in favour of some concept that the only music worthy of praise comes from Italy, and must be sung in the Italian manner to be considered "musical". For me, it renders a song unintelligible.

    7. My goodness; Dudley Moore is spot on there1! I cannot imagine anyone even attempting to take the mickey out of a contemporary classical composer, so far have they removed themselves from relevance

      1. Apparently, dear, DEAR Peter was “flattered” but the totally humourless Britten was “furious”!!

          1. Britten died tragically young having contracted syphilis from Peter Pears. It was Pears who was promiscuous. The syphilis meant that Britten’s other medical condition was inoperable.

    8. I completely agree. Britten is my most-loathed classical composer. I once rehearsed in a choir for a performance of his War Requiem, and when it came to the performance I bailed out because I simply couldn't face singing any of the ghastly stuff.

    9. There is a lot of Britten that I like. His Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge Op.10, Simple Symphony Op.4, Prelude and Fugue Op.29, Our Hunting Fathers Op.8, Five Flower Songs Op.47, Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell Op.34 (The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra) and much more.

      1. I'm fond of the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings and the folksong settings. I also like the War Requiem but though the performances at the Proms on Saturday were good, they failed to be moving. Even the final scene where the English and German soldiers meet each other as they go hand in hand to the hereafter and realise that they were combatants on the battle field the day before was merely perfunctory when it should be heartrending.

        1. I like most of Britten in particular the music for strings I mentioned but his many settings of the poetry of W H Auden and even John Clare in one of the Flower Songs, The Evening Primrose opes anew….

      2. Each to their own!

        I DO like the YPG and Simple Symphony. Most of the rest = unlistenable rubbish, to me.

    10. The soloists had nice voices but they were singing in English and not a word of it was intelligible.

  21. Good morning all. Quiet start to the day, but expecting the tail end of hurricane Earnesto to keep us company for the next couple of days. Really autumnal as well.

  22. Good morning all. Quiet start to the day, but expecting the tail end of hurricane Earnesto to keep us company for the next couple of days.

  23. Good morning all. Quiet start to the day, but expecting the tail end of hurricane Earnesto to keep us company for the next couple of days.

  24. Bugger.
    I think I may have just wasted 10 minutes hanging the washing out.
    The blues sky has clouded over and the almost calm air become distinctly gusty.

    2. I use this app before deciding important matters such as hanging out the washing or walking down town.
      I found it on the Apple App Store, it is called Rain Today, not sure if there is an Android equivalent.
      It is not 100% but reasonably accurate.

    3. Try a rainfall radar website such as this one: https://www.netweather.tv/live-weather/radar and run the images backwards and forwards again to see the direction of travel.

      Works fine for frontal rainfall, but less reliable in thundery weather when a heavy shower can develop from nothing 15 minutes away upwind.

  26. 'Morning All
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c48487b7e09f5a09194610530016a5febe54f4f0148fb8e4365d0b8f3b303b95.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3fd2e4c07c49a69e70a8134dc1b96d879ce0692620e184656f035fcee705c599.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a620bfe1c202ad8fba37ec2ee732000526a9ff065a324653dcafc1651cc533b6.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cafc192375056fdfad15ced72c224d3182ffb059fdeb6cd213958d26833ade19.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cc12b5bf328b27d98c66adb75919a45ac94a1e930a17449513dae4d2ed7bfc0a.jpg
    Bills going up??
    Awkward………
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c7cfe3fb3f4b7ed3a28bcb5b7e19105e701278da7ea5948f723d98f9a04439f7.jpg
    https://x.com/ANon05136448000/status/1825549891529298348

      2. My parents are being blackmailed into having a smartmeter. They were previously blackmailed bt their energy co to have cavity wall insulation. It is disgusting, preying on poor pensioners’ heating bill fears like this.

    3. Pension rises are calculated according to September's CPI. That's why they are waiting until October to put up standing charges for this year's director bonus round. By cutting the winter fuel payment, the cost is no longer the Chancellor's problem.

      This is CHANGE. Can't have socialism interfering with the Party.

      1. Octopus has offered me a 1 year fix from Sept, the electricity standing charge has gone from 52p to 62p, 20% up. Seems like there are a lot of people defaulting on their bills because it is difficult to force pre payment meters on these customers.

        1. That way, they get the money off you even if you use very little. The whole point of running essential services as a business is to use the law to extort without any public accountability.

    5. I need to clean my specs!

      At first I thought those flames on the burning WEF flag was a battered deep-fried tail-end of cod!😳

  28. Morning all 🙂😊
    Some rain overnight sun coming out now.
    I would have thpught the vast majority of GPs would have already considered the consequences of the 'consulting room'. Many GPs are taking on private sector work as well these days. But patients don't have much choice if they are unwell.

  29. Good morrow, Gentlefolk, today’s (recycled) story

    Sorry About Your Loss

    A man was leaving a Starbucks with his morning coffee when he noticed a most unusual funeral procession approaching the nearby cemetery. A long black hearse was followed by a second hearse about 50 feet behind. Behind the second hearse was a solitary man walking a pit bull on a leash. Behind him were 200 men walking single file.

    The man replied, "Well, that first hearse is for my wife."
    "What happened to her?"
    The man replied, "My dog attacked and killed her."
    He inquired further, "Well, who is in the second hearse?"
    The man answered, "My mother-in-law. She was trying to help my wife when the dog turned on her."
    A poignant and thoughtful moment of silence passes between the two men.
    "Sir, could I borrow that dog?"
    "Get in line."

  30. Good morning. How many GPs these days ever do spend a day in the consulting room? A friend recently insisted on being seen and her GP rushed in still wearing his golfing gear. Too many have become overpaid part time call centre workers.

    2. I discovered that my retired GP and two others from our old practice had set up private specialised consulting.
      And the same thing goes today.
      Our current GP and probably others are running private consulting along side their paid per listed patient NHS.
      No wonder it can take several weeks to get an appointment.

        2. Here’s a good one BT.
          I was given three different types of eye drops to help repair the problem after my cataract op.
          Last week I saw the surgeon for a check up after three weeks of using them I told him I was running out. He told me not to let that happen so I contacted my local surgery. They told me to go on line and apply on the website. I did, listing the items precisely.
          Only two were at the pharmacy yesterday, so I called into the surgery to bring this to their attention. The receptionist said she would deal with it. She rang this morning and said the missing item had been left off because the GP said it clashes with a blood thinner I take.
          After 4 hours and me making three calls, I get a message telling me that doc has reversed his decision and sanctioned the missing item. Whoops.
          The surgeon probably emailed and told him it was essential.

      1. “He’s a fascist!”

        “For decades, this has been a favourite smear of the Left, aimed directly at those on the Right, or (erroneously and witlessly) at others on the Left who have an opposing point of view. Every American Republican president—for that matter, virtually every Republican—since the 1970s has been called a fascist; nowadays, this happens more than ever.

        This label is based on the notion — the false assumption — that fascism is a phenomenon of the political Right. The Left says it is, and — unfortunately — some self-styled ‘white supremacists’ and neo-Nazis witlessly embrace the label.

        But are they correct?

        To answer this question, we have to ask what fascism really means: What is its underlying ideology? Where does it even come from?

        These are not easy questions to answer. We know the name of the philosopher of Capitalism: Adam Smith. We know the name of the philosopher of Marxism: Karl Marx. But who’s the philosopher of Fascism?

        Yes—exactly. You don’t know? Don’t feel bad. Almost no one knows. This is not because he doesn’t exist, but because historians, most of whom are on the political Left, had to erase him from history in order to avoid confronting fascism’s actual beliefs. So, let me introduce him to you. His name is Giovanni Gentile.

        Born in 1875, he was one of the world’s most influential philosophers in the first half of the twentieth century. Gentile believed that there were two “diametrically opposed” types of democracy. One is liberal democracy, such as that of the United States, which Gentile dismisses as individualistic — too centred on liberty and personal rights — and therefore selfish. The other, the one Gentile recommends, is what he considered to be “true democracy” in which individuals willingly subordinate themselves to the state.

        Like his philosophical mentor, Karl Marx, Gentile wanted to create a community that resembles the family, a community where we are “all in this together.” It’s easy to see the attraction of this idea. Indeed, it remains a common rhetorical theme of the Left.

        For example, at the 1984 convention of the Democratic Party, the governor of New York, Mario Cuomo, likened America to an extended family where, through the government, people all take care of each other.

        Nothing’s changed. Twenty-eight years later, a slogan of the 2012 Democratic Party convention was, “The government is the only thing we all belong to.” They might as well have been quoting Gentile.

        Now, remember, Gentile was a man of the Left. He was a committed socialist. For Gentile, fascism is a form of socialism; indeed, its most workable form. While the socialism of Marx mobilises people on the basis of class; fascism mobilises people by appealing to their national identity as well as their class. Fascists are socialists with a national identity. German Fascists in the 1930s were called Nazis—basically a contraction of the term “national socialist.”

        For Gentile, all private action should be oriented to serve society; there is no distinction between the private interest and the public interest. Correctly understood, the two are identical. And who is the administrative arm of the society? It’s none other than the State. Consequently, to submit to society is to submit to the state; not just in economic matters, but in all matters. Since everything is political, the state gets to tell everyone how to think and what to do.

        It was another Italian, Benito Mussolini, fascist dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1943 who turned Gentile’s words into action. In his La Dottrina Del Fascismo, one of the doctrinal statements of early fascism, Mussolini wrote: “All is in the State and nothing human exists or has value outside the State.” He was merely paraphrasing Gentile.

        The Italian philosopher is now lost in obscurity; but his philosophy could not be more relevant because it closely parallels that of the modern Left. Gentile’s work speaks directly to progressives who champion the centralised State. Here in America, the Left has vastly expanded state control over the private sector, from healthcare to banking to education to energy. This state-directed capitalism is precisely what German and Italian fascists implemented in the 1930s.

        Leftists can’t acknowledge their man, Gentile, because that would undermine their attempt to bind conservatism to fascism. Conservatism wants small government so that individual liberty can flourish. The Left, like Gentile, wants the opposite: to place the resources of the individual and industry in the service of a centralised State. To acknowledge Gentile is to acknowledge that fascism bears a deep kinship to the ideology of today’s Left. So they will keep Gentile where they’ve got him: dead, buried and forgotten. But we should remember, or the ghost of fascism will continue to haunt us.”

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6bSsaVL6gA&frags=pl%2Cwn
        Cue: "Biff" to dismiss this.

        1. It should be mentioned too that Benito Mussolini was the editor of Avanti, the Communist Newspaper of Italy. He was a fascist because he became convinced it was the most efficient method of attaining the Socialist Paradise. It is also a matter of fact that Hitler thought he was a better exponent of Marx than any Communist of his time. Both men were clearly of the left. A fact that the left, since WWII, has done its best to conceal.

          1. Despite the clue in the Nazi's name: National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP).

  33. the shitshow clown world of the political sociopathic politician.. that have zero power over the civil service, or the management of the system run by incompetent PPE graduates that routinely hound out officials that have any talent and fight to close down any innovation.
    .
    Depressing.
    .
    Cummings says close down London HQ, and break it up & move it north. https://youtu.be/C-HhIfpBdoQ?t=6119

    1. I listened to this the other day. I made it to the end which is a marker of my respect for his intellect. He has some good observations around institutionalisation. However Dominic does love the sound of his own opinions and has no self doubt. Underneath his proclamations is a deeply anti-democratic sentiment in that people like him should be running things and not (quite rightly though) the Blob.

      1. Yep. he clearly knows how to win an election, and big on technology & innovation.. however, Starkey says.. He's an outcome guy, not a historian.
        He does seem to have a few blind spots.

        Also, a lot of the comments suggest he has been portrayed badly by the leftie MSN.

        1. Thank you for Starkey quote. I like your term blind spots, indeed. I very much agree he has been treated badly by the media. His account of the reality of an adviser not being able to tell the most junior of civil servants what to do was spot on. But the media chose to portrait him controlling then Prime Minister Johnson, which is quite frankly paranoid. I don't hear the media making such claims about Sue Gray and Prime Minister Starmer’s relationship for example.

      2. Yep. he clearly knows how to win an election, and big on technology & innovation.. however, Starkey says.. He's an outcome guy, not a historian.
        He does seem to have a few blind spots.

        Also, a lot of the comments suggest he has been portrayed badly by the leftie MSN.

  35. Ukrainians flee as Russia bears down on key eastern city. 20 August 2024

    Ukrainian civilians are fleeing the key eastern city of Pokrovsk where Russia’s grinding advance in the Donetsk region gathers momentum.

    Local authorities said Moscow’s forces were advancing so quickly that families are now under orders to leave the city, which is still home to 53,000, and nearby towns and villages.

    Zelensky’s Kursk incursion was supposed to prevent this by drawing off Russian forces from the Donbass. In actuality it has probably made the situation worse. The inescapable truth about this war is that the Russians have the numbers. One would have thought that the Ukies would have realised this by now. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn, when this business is over, that it was Zelensky’s idea. Ukraine now has three Brigades, supposedly the best and most up to date, sunning themselves on Russian farmland while the main body is being crushed.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/08/20/ukraine-russia-war-latest-news21/

    1. 'Russians have the numbers'. Hitler, of course, made the same mistake in Second World War

      2. They also have the distances to really stretch a supply line and wear out transport and troops. And weather is on their side, too.

        1. No Soviet Union when first the Teutonic Knights then Napoleon Bonaparte failed to invade Russia in 1242 and 1812 respectively.

          1. Just referring to AH, not the whole of history. Different times different problems.

  36. Good Morning all, Happy Rayner Day,

    Another day has dawned in the already-glorious history of our Dear Leader's progress towards the birth of the Activists' Republic of Britanistan.
    Here at dwelling unit No 63458975 we have already taken our Happy Pills and can see events as they should be seen. The clouds are evaporating as ordained by the weather-influencers, the sky is achieving the approved milky hue and the temperature the approved global average of 14.9ºKier.

    The Telecranium has just summoned me to receive the daily instructions on what to think.

      1. How far can they go before most people see it?

        I just realised this morning, that if I stood up in church and said that I don't believe in the Resurrection, I would get more understanding and less anger than if I stood up and told them that CO2 doesn't cause climate change.

        1. Perhaps some of the government are hoping to take a lot of extra money in VAT with increasing the sale of Base Ball bat's.

      1. Demonstrating that the majority on twitter are Lefty nutters. Most of us have better things to do.

        What it also shows is that the Left never, ever learn. Last time it was Gulags and extermination camps. This is – ideologically – no different. The intent is to silence and punish those you hate. The Left are incapable of changing. They're still the bitter, fascist communists they've always been.

        1. I suspect most of the lefty nutters have time on their hands playing keyboard warriors on social media waiting for their benefit cheques to arrive.

          The rest of us are posting funny quips on forums such as this and can’t seem to find the time to work up to their level of stupidity.

        2. At the top of the heap they crave power, then there are those who actually believe the Egalitarian Myth despite its being so completely at odds with reality and at the bottom of the heap are the majority of lefties driven by the politics of envy and an inability to acknowledge their own shortcomings. Have I left out any layers of lefty creep?

      3. Hem – 49% of THOSE polled. If it was YouGov …. the poll that gives the answer YOU want.

        Just saying…

          1. YouGov formed by Nadhim Zahawi who got the job as chancellor and now represents a consortium to buy the Daily Telegraph and is in talks to offer Boris Johnson a job.

            The strands of the web are perfectly visible and they don't care.

      4. As I would support lefties being jailed for…oh, I dunno, having two elbows and being a lefty. What goes around comes around. They never think that by normalising this, it could work against them at some point. I think Labour Scum are on dangerous ground, anyway. They are utterly exploiting our democracy and flouting it brazenly in some instances.

  39. I love this letter …

    Rent prison cells abroad to ease overcrowding
    SIR – You describe the serious overcrowding in prisons, the release of some prisoners very early, and the avoidance of handing down too many custodial sentences, even when they are deserved (“Courts more lenient on repeat offenders as they escape jail amid overcrowding crisis”, report, August 19).

    Norway experienced the same problem some years ago. Its solution was to rent unused prison cells in the Netherlands, fill them with Norwegian prisoners and run them on Norwegian lines. This was a straightforward and cost-effective solution.

    Have we thought about trying something similar?

    Patrick Despard
    Bristol

    bd

    bonzo dog
    2 hrs ago
    Re prison overcrowding. There were 10,422 foreign nationals in jails in England and Wales at the end of March this year, why not start by making them serve time in their own country. Not so easy to find the number in Scotland but Northern Ireland had 1900 as at end of July.
    Mrs d

      1. Hi Peta. I’m going to stick with truth. Not into the relative nonsense . Leave that to Marxists and people corrupted by modern French philosophers.

  41. Oh well, same old same old…..

    "The Karamel-uh entity, great respecter of The Science™ and pharmaceutical industry cash, has decreed the unvaxxed unhireable in recent campaign staff position postings.

    One such posting, for a “National Booker” — tasked with “managing day-to-day relationships with media bookers, and developing strategies to increase the visibility of campaign spokespeople and surrogates across TV networks, radio, digital streaming programs, podcasts, and more” — reads:

    “Harris for President requires all employees to be "up to date" on COVID-19 vaccination status as prescribed by the CDC as a condition of employment, unless otherwise prohibited by applicable law. If you seek a reasonable accommodation in relation to the campaign's COVID-19 policy, you should speak to the HR Department* prior to reporting to an office location.”

    Can you imagine the hell on Earth of trying to reason with a paper-pusher in the HR Department for a President Harris campaign? How DMV-level fat, how gender-diverse, how colorful does one have to be to gain such employment?…

    And with that I bid you all a good morning!

    1. Not really a problem though is it. Anybody willing to work for giggles and the Dems is bound to be on message regarding vaccinations, preferred pronouns etc etc.

  42. Amazing.
    THE Queen, who never expressed an opinion – even by her facial expressions – about politics and especially the foreign leaders she had to entertain, let people know her thoughts about Donald Trump.
    Thank goodness it wasn't favourable or we'd never have heard it.
    The Daily Mail really sums up Baldwin's quip:
    “Power without responsibility – the prerogative of the harlot through the ages”.
    Closely followed by the DT hawking itself around Islington and Hampstead.

    1. drip drip drip..
      orange man is still bad, really bad.. Kamala Harris is actually a very good choice, and really popular.

      1. Kamala is very popular with men of a certain disposition. The type that have inclinations like President Clinton, although Harris is far from innocent. It is the only thing that got her where she is. She has nothing else going for her.

        1. Kamala Harris is very popular with men of a certain disposition, the same men who took an interest in Shirley Temple. Reference Graham Greene.

    2. Didn't bother to read it Anne, when I was skimming through the newspapers on line early this morning. Automatically consider anything of that nature in the Daily Mail as rubbish. Especially since I have read several times that she rather liked Trump.

      1. The pictures of them laughing together do suggest that.

        Whilst smiles can hide feelings genuine laughter is very difficult to fake.

      2. Pretty much everything in the Mail is nonsense – there are exceptions, but most of it's waffle.

        Folk read it to see Liz Hurley in a bikini, or to see how big Rhian Sugden's boobs are – absolutely gigantic, I am happy to say.

        Not that I read the Mail, of course.

        1. I don't since it went behind a paywall, only penetrated if you agree to their advertising cookies.

          1. "only penetrated if you agree to their advertising cookies" So what you are saying Jules is that once you agree you are well and truly, ahem, 'penetrated'!

          4. Only one or two articles are behind a paywall and they aren't difficult to access.
            The ones behind the paywall aren't really worth reading.

          5. No – it’s because I won’t accept their cookies. The paywalled articles have been there for some time – I don’t mean those. If you don’t accept cookies there is now (since very recently) a blue screen. I accept essential cookies only on most sites. Even using Adblock a lot of rubbish gets through.

    3. I am extremely sceptical – whatever The Queen thought she would have kept her thoughts to herself.

      1. Precisely.
        For heaven's sake, she even managed to treat the Ceaușescus as human beings without the slightest facial hint.

        1. One realises, day-by-day, just what a fine Monarch she was. Supported by Philip, who knew what he was doing, she made a great Head of State.

      2. The only time she slipped up was when she urged people to have the jabs. I think she was primed for that.

        1. The DofE was no longer there to give advice and she had fallen into her woke son's clutches.

          1. I wish that Charles was a bit more like his father.

            Whatever you thought of Prince Philip you had to admit that he had a strong personality. The King may be churlish, obstinate and pettish – but he is not strong.

          2. I don't think we can complain. He's doing what is expected of him. Performing his duties with dignity.

      3. I am too. The photo shown was one of her in his company looking less than amused, yet I saw others of her in his company looking very amused indeed. Also, he had the utmost respect for her and is smart enough to know exactly how to behave. It is equally very difficult to imagine the Queen saying to anyone outside of her most intimate circle in which case it would never have got out (if she said it at all) that he must "have an arrangement with Melania".

    4. Not quite, remember the EU flag she wore on her head at the State opening of Parliament. In the past hats were the only way women could express an opinion, that great lady knew exactly what she was doing. She put Britain first.

  44. King to meet children who survived Southport attack
    His Majesty will visit the Merseyside town to express support for all affected by the stabbings including families and emergency services
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2024/08/20/king-charles-southport-stabbings-meet-survivors-families/

    The Idiot King will only make matters worse if he intervenes.

    He is very pro WEF and mass immigration leading to a new world order.

    Starmer's reaction has been a disgrace – he refuses to see the cause of the discontent which the majority of British people have.

        1. And doing his silly "laugh" and that weird pointing tic he does…one finger sort of aimed at some unseen person.

    2. And not once will he condemn the killer. Because knives, like guns, act without human agency. Morally bankrupt, the lot of them!

  45. Free Speech has a new article: Can Islam live in peace with traditional British values? Please read and comment as it is essential that we have this debate before it is too late.

    freespeechbacklash.com

    1. Morning Tom, could you link to it? Google for free speech returns a lot of articles about communism, suppression of dissent, why the Left are righteous, why the Right are evil… the usual pointless google results.

    1. I don't imagine the Growler even knows where London City Airport is. Some flunkey (no doubt with an "interest" in the project (nudge nudge) put a bit of paper in front of her and she placed a cross where indicated.

  47. How does she square that one with the avowed intentions of the globalists to stop people flying and driving?

    1. That's an easy one. People should stop flying. VIPs have to fly and London City Airport is very convenient for VIPs…..

      Edit: Perhaps I'm being a bit too cynical…..

      2. There's a Neal Asher series – I forget the name – that had this exact scenario. Massive overcrowding of a nation caused by unlimited immigration, food rationing thanks o government policy and ownership of farmland (sequestered to feed the elites), no vehicles traffic as no fuel whatsoever – except for government vehicles, the wasters would fly about, untouched by the proles and not having to deal with them at all, protected by paramililtary shoot to kill.

        At the time I thought, yep, that's the WEF lot. Now Starmer is bringing that same communist hell here. They've simply got to be stopped.

        1. The Owner series by Neal Asher…

          Like Wellsian war machines the shepherds stride into riots to grab up the ringleaders and drag them off to Inspectorate HQ for adjustment, unless they are in shredding mode, in which case their captives visit community digesters, or rather whatever of them has not been washed down the street drains.

          Pain inducers are used for adjustment, and soon the Committee will have the power to edit human minds, but not yet, twelve billion human being need to die before Earth can be stabilized, but by turning large portions of Earth into concentration camps this is achievable, especially when the Argus satellite laser network comes fully online…

          Alan Saul has taken a different route to disposal, waking as he does inside a crate on the conveyor into the Calais incinerator. How he got there he does not know, but he does remember the pain and the face of his interrogator. Janus speaks to Saul through the hardware implanted in his skull, sketching the nightmare world for him. And Saul decides to bring it all crashing down…

  48. So, quick run into Matlock to pay in my winnings from ERNIE and a bit of shopping.
    Heavens opened on the way home and I though, "Sod it!" and just left the washing hanging up the "garden".
    Rain appears to have now paused/stopped, so it might dry or it might not.

    1. I agree with that attitude but as this is the 'first time' we've had our own proper garden I'm making best use of it.

      I'd rather the washing weren't hanging around the house but i am not allowed to tumble it during Summer, regardless of how gloomy it is.

    1. Wait until we get to the budget and Reeves announces means testing the state pension. She'll hike every tax going. The country will simply be ruined.

      Problem is, big fat state is utterly stupid. It will spend the money this year and every year, but tax receipts will decline. It just means more debt, more waste, more tax. Labour are stupid. We must, must cut spending. It's as simple as that.

      2. I expect to see the tax on cigarettes increase massively. They are after all concerned about my health. ……sarc.

          1. I don't tink so cheeko…

            Still don't know where it came from. Though Geoff hasn't answered my email yet. I know it wasn't Rik as he sensibly ignores convention and just brings himself. As asked !

  51. Funny day. Briefly sunny. Grey again. Windy. Rain in the offing (already had half an hour's drizzle). Just picked 2 lb of raspberries. Variety = "September". Once they start – they go MAAAD. One has to pick every day.

  52. It did look a good idea at the time – when Covid was described as being like 'flu. I didn't then, because I'd had a flu jab some years before that made me sicker than a dog, so was going nowhere near it – and I'd had flu often, it's not so bad. Interestingly, Vit D3 tablets, taken for a few years now, have banished flu and colds…

    1. I only once had a flu jab – in 2020 when the propaganda went through the roof. I never bothered with one before or since.
      I've had flu twice – at Christmas 1972 and March 1984. I was young and fit but it floored me for several days. Not to be confused with a mere cold.

      1. I had the most terrible flu in my late teens. After that, never bothered by it again – hardly ever a cold.

        1. Mother must have done something like that – she's never ill (aged 95), has an immune system that can fight off radiation…

      2. A few years ago my wife got very ill after a flu jab. Came down with all the flu symptons. She never wanted another one.

    2. It never looked a good idea to me, but then I am a cynical old rat-bag. Too many years.

    2. I'll say this – as a 6'4 something and nigh metre wide at the shoulder bloke, everything is too small. Absolutely everything. Beds, rooms, door ways, door handles – the Warqueen commented yesterday 'It just disappears in your paw, doesn't it?' (I'll not ref what she was referring to) to which I agreed most heartily. Mugs – the handles – I can get about two fingers in even the biggest mug. A Tesco one I simply hold by one, if I'm lucky or just the whole mug as it's easier. Keyboards – far too small. Mice – even my big mouse is smaller than my palm. Door ways: I was carrying a bowl of soup and a box of cheesy biccies upstairs for Her Warqueeneyness and knocked into the frame. There's barely 5cm either side. In this room, my office if I reach up my arms don't reach extension before I touch the ceiling. I can't stretch out sideways as I bash into a wall. The bars we use for the gym classes are just not long enough for me unless I squash my arms in.

      Yes, I get it, I'm huge. I can't do much about that, but when everything is too small life isn't much fun. For the 'normal' people here – imagine using a toddler's playset to drink tea in, or a thimble for a glass, a footstool as a bed.

      Beside me, Mongo – who's head is 70cm off the ground (as it's laid on my desk) looks like a normal dog. Get close though and he's huge. Lucy looks like a Labrador. Oscar… well, he is just a normal Newfoundland (and a grumpy sod until she returns).

      That 'giant' deckchair looks about the right size!

        1. 120 000 to put up a few bat boxes and dig a very small pond in a field.
          And that was repeated every km or so up the line!

      1. At so very many levels. It just proves that the trans brigade are nothing but attention seeking mentalists.

        On a personal level, this bloke needs psychotherapy. He is clearly miserable – he is eating his pain. To escape that he's pretended he's something he's not. As that has not slaked his need to be noticed he decided to go for the most extreme attention seeking going and has been mocked for it.

        While the judge may be right, this bloke is now going to do something even more destructive.

        I pity him. He – like all trans – needs help to identify their psychological lack and resolve their internal difficulties

    3. It's said that the infamous male boxer was mistaken for a female at birth because a protein deficiency stopped his penis developing properly. Could it be that deep down his reason for beating up women is a reaction to this sexual deficiency?

    1. 392039+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      But it was the angry brigade that put him in power, this then must be the very,very, angry brigade.

  57. Just posted ( and it's been removed before I finished it) on the DT piece about what Khan thinks and whether we're better off in or out of the EU……………
    Ndovu the Elephant.
    just now

    Anyone who believes either of these two shysters' weasel words needs a rethink,,,,,,,,,,,

    They keep asking me to join the conversation (and I seldom do) and my post is removed as soon as I post it. Free speech anyone?

    2. Khan, like all the wasters wants more EU. He doesn't know why, he wans it because those he hates want less of it.

      As a non Briton he wans more EU to irrevocably change the nature of this country so it better suits his awful view of it. He also prefers the power without democracy that the hated eu enforces.

    3. Afternoon Ndovu. I refuse all offers to expand on my posts because experience has taught me that they will be removed. I think that this is a way of discouraging comments.

      1. I stopped posting comments on the Guardian because they invariably deleted any post which disagreed with the article.

    4. The Telegraph does not seem to be behind a paywall. Why don't you unsubscribe, cheaper and you save yourself the frustration of having your comments deleted.

      1. I’m on a £25 sub till next May – we always used to buy the Saturday one but stopped a few months ago. I rarely comment there but I do like to read what others say. It has been behind a paywall for quite a long time.

        1. I think it may been behind a paywall but at the moment all the articles seem to be available without charge.

          1. I can’t tell the difference now then! I thought £25 for a year was reasonable especially the Saturday paper alone was almost a fiver by the time we stopped buying it.

  59. I hate what the Left have done to this country.

    I hate the daily announcement of yet another stabbing, murder, rape, or assault by a diversity – carefully hidden by the Left wing press. I hate the enforced deceit, the treachery, the arrogance of the political class. I despise the bloated and incompetent and utterly useless civil service. I find this wfh farce moronic. It doesn't matter what people work, it matters what they do while there and most civil servants provide nothing of any value. I hate Reeve's lies about a 'blackhole' when she created it with her profligacy. I hate unions who protect the incompetent. I hate the destruction of markets and the enforcement of 'equality'. I hate woke, because it's spiteful, vicious and cruel. I hate this government's stupid ignorance of cause and effect. I am embarrassed by raynor, ashamed of Lammy. Starmer is a charlatan. The next five years will be an awful time for everyone who wants to better themselves.

    1. Wibbles,

      You really must 'stop beating about the bush' and say what you mean, whenposting on Nottles

      1. People just don't get it. They're still stuck in some 1960s paradise where everything's going to be alright and Britain is rich and there's enough to go round for everyone, and it's our responsibility to help those poorer than ourselves, ie the whole world

        Reality is that Britain is like the only child of rich parents, who is partying on and inviting the world to drink champagne at its expense when the money's long gone and it's funded by an overdraft. And the overdraft's about to be called in.

    1. Considering the Left wing nature of most governments – being infested with people desperate for power and control over others who have achieved nothing whatsoever of any use, ever – their endorsement is hardly surprising.

      1. I remember the man with the shopping bag standing in front of the tank. What i didn't know at the time was they later used to tanks to run over the crowds. People crushed to bloody messes and the remains hosed down the drains.

  61. As per Stephenroi's request, herewith a very short clip of the end of yesterday's guest appearance.

    The band is called Otros Aires, and the main man (here, singing) is, in my opinion, a genius. Not only did he forge a new variant of tango, singing, playing the guitar and an electronic bit of wizardry, but he designs amazing videos to accompany the tracks, mapping them onto each performance space. He's an architect and is evidently having huge fun exploring the possibilities of AI.

    I feel immensely honoured to have been asked to caterwaul – oops, I mean collaborate – and it was huge fun stepping out of the audience to sing. An opera singer is not what one expects at an electrotango gig! 😈

    https://youtu.be/ZoS_hCnNFIM?si=M-QnQTAJzxFcusTW

      1. Ashes is even better in real life. Magnetic !

        The lady held me close…toe to toe…showing me the position to Tango. I could barely breathe.

          1. It was the closeness. Tango is very passionate yes? I thought for one moment with that sparkle in your eye you were going to have your way with me…and then…you didn't. :@(

          2. It’s the most amazing way to connect two human beings, yes!!

            Apologies for any disappointment… 🤣🤣

          3. I must say my heart rate did spike but as you know i am virgo intactus and i appreciate you not taking advantage of such a sensitive soul……….ahem.

    4. Caught you on UTube…crying and shuffling now…some voices do that to me esp mezzo-s…thanks so much Katy xxx

    2. He as already been offered a job as Diversity and Equality Consultant to Keir Starmführer and a regular place on the BBC's 'We Bin Dun Bad For' 'Ooman Rites' Series.

  63. I've rather relieved to say that the rain has stopped and the sun has been shining for the past hour and a half, so the washing, although a bit damper than when hung out, is drying quite well!

  65. Will Starmer use the Southport demonstrations like Biden used the false flag insurrection?

    1. Yes. People have already gone through the kangaroo courts and been fast tracked into cells. The process is ongoing.
      Next job…weaken the police further.

  66. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    Librarians attending ‘whiteness studies’ to avoid ‘racist’ venues
    Comments Share 20 August 2024, 12:55pm
    Just when you think the equality and diversity police can’t get any madder, they do. Now it transpires that libraries across Wales have been told to become ‘anti-racist’ in the devolved Labour government’s bid to ‘eradicate’ systemic racism by 2030 – with librarians urged not to hold meetings in ‘racist’ buildings by decolonisation training experts. It turns out that Welsh library workers are being educated – as part of a £130,000 ‘anti-racist library collections’ project – in ‘critical whiteness studies’. These aim to help staff understand the ‘dominant paradigm of whiteness’ besides other issues, as part of the Welsh government’s 2022 Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan. Crikey…

    The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals released documents that outline how best libraries can embrace ‘anti-racist principles’, with one guide advising staffers attending training meetings: ‘Be mindful of the venue and if you have a choice, do not choose a venue that represents a racist legacy.’ If, however, using a ‘racist’ building is unavoidable, the venue booking guide tells its readers solemnly: ‘Acknowledge this as early as possible to demonstrate your commitment to systemic issues.’ It added: ‘You can even acknowledge historical context in the event invitation.’ But that’s not all of it. The guidance even proposes the provision of ‘vegetarian and vegan options only’ in order to ‘support any decarbonisation or net zero goals of your organisation’. Talk about going the whole hog, eh?

    And if anti-racism coaches were concerned about curating this list of potentially problematic venues, fear not! Existing research conducted by the Welsh government in 2021 has already demarcated troublesome locations and monuments linked to colonialism – including those relating to Admiral Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and Francis Drake. A primary school in Anglesey, named after Welsh poet Goronwy Owen, was flagged up because the writer owned slaves. Meanwhile an entire village – Nelson in Caerphilly – was singled out in a draft version of the 2021 audit. You couldn’t make it up…

    Is Wales the wokest country in Britain? It certainly has a competitive edge…

    2. When it is paid for entirely by the rest of the country it can afford to be. Equally it's Left wingery is why nothing works and why it is dependent on other people's money.

  67. Just drawn 800 litres from the well (God bless it). Now, of course, it is raining. For half an hour it was just maddening (and cold) drizzle – now proper rain. Very useful because some of the hydrangeas 100 yards from the source of water (= lugging buckets…) are looking dry. This rain won't last more than half an hour, but it is something. I am also VERY glad I picked the raspberries this morning in the sunshine!

        1. It's Bill, ladders must be involved somewhere in the operation. maybe he has to climb down a ladder that the MR has judiciously placed in the well for him.

      2. Yes, thank God. A very efficient electric pump. The people from whom I bought the house in 1983 used a BUCKET on a chain….. Talk about hard labour.

    2. Which part of which country are you in, Bill?
      You want water, we'll have oceans by this time tomorrow, apparently. I'll post you some.

      1. Drinking coffee, visiting prostitutes, taking their kickbacks from people smugglers. Sticking two fingers up at the Brits. The usual.

    1. The sentence is utterly ludicrous. There's nothing wrong with the tweet at all. That it got that far, that there was no jury to throw it out shows just how demented and power crazed the state has become.

      1. The Unions are all getting what they want because they bought the Labour Party with bribes to several members of it.

        Now it is time for a General Strike by the whole of the private sector – not for grubby money as the union graspers want – but as a sign of total disgust at the current government's refusal to understand why the British population is so furious.

        1. I rather agree. If we all, entirely, collectively stopped and held the state to ransom… it would ignore us entirely and just double taxes next year as punishment.

          The worker would be hurt far before the state would because statism realised long ago that it can continue to grow the pointless, useless entities of itself – such as diversity, woke, unionists – while cutting the front line of, say, policing.

          Everything is back to front. Our boot must be on their neck. Not the other way around. That's just tyranny.

    3. You are doing it all wrong, you should be celebrating the illegals.

      Today is Undocumented Residents Day in Toronto. To quote the relevant post on Twitter :
      Join us on Aug 20 for Undocumented Residents Day event and learn about the realities, challenges and contributions undocumented Torontonians make to our city

      Unfortunately I don't believe that it is a hoax to gather the illegals in one place before deporting them!

      1. I assume there is no longer anyone in public life in Canada who denounces this sort of tripe.

    4. Assuming that the clip has not been taken out of context or selectively edited, and that that is the sum total of what the prole has been sentenced for, I think it's a bloody disgrace.

      Welcome to the fourth Reich UK

    5. This offence is so serious..

      Did I miss something?
      Incitement to harm? nah.
      Incitement to riot? nah.

      It was an observation.. an opinion.. drumroll.. the wrong opinion. Guilty as charged.

      2. And that's the truly terrifying bit. It is pure, undisguised thoughtcrime. It does not conform to newspeak and thus cannot be permitted and must be punished by thoughtpol. The individual is Unpersoned by the state.

        This is evil beyond measure.

    6. It's all Lawfare at its best plead guilty or we'll bang you up on remand for an indefinite period maybe as long as 1/2 years before you get a trial in front of a jury of your peers
      Now be a good boy and just sign this………………

    8. The man should not have pleaded guilty, and should have elected to have the case heard in front of a jury. My bet is that undue pressure was applied to all of the accused to plead guilty to avoid a longer sentence, and that they lost their nerve.

      1. They’ve admitted that already! Said the accused would get shorter sentences if they pleaded guilty! Ha bluddy ha! No jury, no witnesses! What a stitch up by 2TK!

        1. The whole rush to bring these people to court stinks. ‘Kangaroo Courts’ would be an apt description.

        2. Does Starmer seriously believe anybody will ever trust him again? And Yvette Cooper and Rachel Reeves do not strike me as being any more trustworthy than their leader.

          In my opinion Starmer's wife would be best advised to do a runner and get out asap. The man is poisonously treacherous.

          1. Does he care? Not a jot! He’s a cold and heartless lawyer with Davos backing who doesn’t give a toss for Britain and it’s indigenous people. He’s vile and wicked.

        3. It's a pity there can't be a class action lawsuit against the judiciary, the police and Government to at least appeal the process.

  71. Survivors could still be alive in superyacht air pockets, engineer claims
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/20/bayesian-superyacht-sicily-sinking-missing-mike-lynch-live/

    Remember Tony Bullimore?
    https://www.kidsnews.com.au/sport/famous-roundtheworld-sailor-who-survived-four-days-in-the-freezing-southern-ocean-has-died/news-story/6eec09ea983ebd53bad0289f7a8b6ff6

    He was in The Vendee Globe Round The World singlehanded race and his boat turned turtle in the freezing waters of the Southern Ocean. He was rescued after four days in an air pocket in the upturned hull.

    "He admitted he had almost given up hope when a diver banged on the side of his boat. “I started shouting: ‘I’m coming, I’m coming.’ It took a few seconds to get from one end of the boat to the other,” he said later.

    “Then I took a few deep breaths and I dived out of the boat. When I saw the ship standing there and the plane going overhead and a couple of guys peering over the top of the upturned hull, it was heaven, absolute heaven.”

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/96a243711615d1b05d999e2ef35303d1fc962aac317500f2860cd0abdc225f94.png

    1. Bullimore’s yacht lost its keel. I read recently that the sunken Superyacht was re-masted from its original design and had a deep keel so large that it would be too large for many ports and would be changed to a shorter keel for certain routes.

      From a purely visual standpoint the mast appears impossibly tall and would presumably have required a deeper keel than its original rigging.

      I would like to find the original designer’s thoughts on the matter.

      1. I wrongly thought that the boat, Bayesian, was originally rigged a ketch but I was misled by the Internet.

        Do you remember Simon Le Bon's boat Drum which lost her keel off the Dodman Point and turned turtle during the 1985 Fastnet Race? I was sailing my then boat, Raua, single-handed from Fowey to St Mawes and I took several photos of Drum off Mevagissey. She looked like a stricken, wallowing whale with broken fins.

        Below this post is a picture of Raua, the lovely boat, which took me and two friends across the Atlantic to the Caribbean and back in 1984 – 85.

        My parents met each other racing 14' International Dinghies against each other in Fowey in 1930 and the town was always a special place for them. And for many years messing about in boats during Falmouth and Fowey regatta weeks was a high point of each year for me.

          1. Wonderful photogrpah, and you looked like an actor from The Sweeney!

            Firstly, my heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of those who lost their lives on the yacht Bayesian.

            Potentially there could be air pockets in the hull, but I doubt that a well insulated cabin would allow any tapping noise to be heard without specialist equipment i.e some form of sonar.

            Puzzling that there has been no sign of any deep sea submersible, robotic or crewed, being brought to the wreck location.
            Curiously for a cruising dinghy, there were more guests (12?) than crew (10). If you discount the cook and stewards/stewardesses, how many people were sailing crew? Were they keeping traditional four-hour watches?

            Could the mast have acted as a nucleation point for the tornado, causing immense and instant precipitation (deluge) on the vessel? But if she then capsized, surely the weight of the keel would have righted her, unless too many hatches were open and the keel were in a raised position…

            Back to the the loss of the frigate HMS Eurydice off Sandown in 1878, known to be unstable, caught with her gunports open by a snow squall which was falling down into the sea from nearby cliffs.

        2. My supervisor at Cranfield did the failure analysis for the loss of the keel. Lousy welding. Weld was like a swiss cheese – so full of holes.

      2. I wrongly thought that the boat, Bayesian, was originally rigged a ketch but I was misled by the Internet.

        Do you remember Simon Le Bon's boat Drum which lost her keel off the Dodman Point and turned turtle during the 1985 Fastnet Race? I was sailing my then boat, Raua, single-handed from Fowey to St Mawes and I took several photos of Drum off Mevagissey. She looked like a stricken, wallowing whale with broken fins.

        Below this post is a picture of Raua, the lovely boat, which took me and two friends across the Atlantic to the Caribbean and back in 1984 – 85.

        My parents met each other racing 14' International Dinghies against each other in Fowey in 1930 and the town was always a special place for them. And for many years messing about in boats during Falmouth and Fowey regatta weeks was a high point of each year for me.

          1. It was quite a sight, but collapsed in a storm. The concrete ballast is (obviously) still there , I’ve been down there and walked on it several times.

        2. You make my point. I wonder simply what weight and size of keel a yacht with a 235 feet high mast would require for stability.

          About 30 years ago I witnessed a keel for a racing yacht being cast in the foundry works of Jays and Company in Norwich. The keel was cast beneath the foundry floor. All that was visible was the shape of the keel section in the floor of the foundry.

          There are many examples of ships having to be ballasted with concrete for stability. From a WWII German captured S S Imperator and reassigned as Cunard Atlantic Liner (Berengaria) to a Cruise liner Marco Polo operating out of Dartford.

    2. Drum was subsequently owned by the late Arnold Clark (d.2017) and hung on a mooring in the Clyde – visible from my kitchen window! I sailed on her several times.

    3. If there is to be any serious attempt at rescue from Bayesian, I would expect to see a submarine rescue craft by now.

      Depth is a big problem; Bullimore was lucky in that respect.

  72. Joe Biden passes Democrat torch to Kamala Harris

    Yep, the torch that will set fire to America if she wins

  73. Into week 7 of Starmergeddon.

    a word of warning.. The Tories couldn't careless. And if an election were held tomorrow Labour would win another landslide.
    Brace yourself for a decade of Labour.

  74. For those of you who haven't yet been, there's a good debate on Free Speech on whether we can live peacefully with Islam. I say we can, the majority says we can't. Nip over, read the article, and let us know what you think.

    freespeechbacklash.com

        1. Establishment won't stand up for good behaviour… don't mention a teacher from Brum, for example.

  76. The Sheriff of Nottingham will be “young, queer and female” in the new series of BBC drama Sherwood.

    Writer and director James Graham said he wanted to make the change because such representation is “modern and important”

    The new “queer” character will have the honorary role of Sheriff of Nottingham, a title which has existed in some form since the 13th century.

    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH

    Says it all.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/20/sheriff-of-nottingham-young-queer-female-sherwood-bbc/

    3. They are probably adjusting the script to make the queer disabled black female sheriff into the good guy(ess) as well.

  77. Guess what lefties are now saying caused to sinking of the yacht off Sicily?
    Climate change, of course.
    The lies and crime being played out in plain sight are mind-blowing. Will anyone in the future ever understand what crazy times we are living through?

    1. I confess my first thought was did they go off narrative and a la My Fair Lady, woz they dun in! Sad because this episode can probably safely be taken at face value?

      1. Considering that the co-defendant was run over by a car this week, I'm not sure I do take it at face value.

        1. Once I was told if your not a sceptic by forty, either you're an incurable optimist or stupid. I'm neither so I must be a sceptic, and trust nobody except my wife and children.

  78. Unpunctual Birdie Three?

    Wordle 1,158 3/6
    ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Well done! A regular par for me.

      Wordle 1,158 4/6

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

    3. HHappy With a par

      Wordle 1,158 4/6

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

        1. That’s very true…got sidetracked watching Japanese guy renovating a house….made a note to get to it tomorrow…:-)))

    5. Nice one Rene! Moi aussi…..

      Wordle 1,158 3/6

      ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
      🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    6. Well done, late par here after being all bloody day at a litigation mediation.

      Wordle 1,158 4/6

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

  80. Here's one for you: From https://www.bbc.com/news/live/ce38n4egqwzt
    "Divers are struggling to reach the cabins of the British luxury yacht that sank off Sicily on Monday. The team says there is a "world of objects" blocking access to the rooms, and that divers have only 10 minutes to search before needing to resurface. Six people are still missing, including Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy, British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, and jewellery designer Neda Morvillo.
    Of the 22 people on board, 15 survived, six are missing, and one body has been found.
    The body has not been formally identified, but the Palermo coastguard said it was the ship's cook
    Separately, it has emerged that Mike Lynch's co-defendant in a recent major legal case, Stephen Chamberlain, died on Saturday in a road accident.
    Is it significant that this happened off Sicily, and separately, two were co-defendants in a case?
    https://youtu.be/X-jdl9hcCeg?si=NbC-ILXPThORNex7

  82. Just looking at the way Starmer has used the Southport unrest and subsequent copycat riots around the country, most were in Labour's heartlands, to justify closing down free speech on social media.
    It all feels very much like the way Biden and the Democrats behaved when he became President and we had the Capitol Hill protest, which they upgraded to insurrection and blamed Trump for it.
    Well it looks like Starmer is reading from the same playbook with his reaction, by blaming Farage and certain people on twitter.
    The whole thing has been deliberately overblown and taken out of proportion for political gain while the underlying problems have been completely ignored.
    How many shops were looted, was anyone killed, how many mosques were burnt down, at the end of the day?
    They certainly didn't feel anywhere like the scale of the 2011 riots, where shops did go up in flames and were never rebuilt.
    Since the riots there have been even more of these senseless attacks on girls and women, we still don't have any clue why and what for.

  83. BBC says we need another 150,000 people to build the houses required to ease the pressure on housing. Oh where, oh where are we going to get such a large number of builders? Anyone got any idea? Call the BBC and put their minds at rest. The poor things are going crazy with worry.

    1. Jungle bunnies. Knock up a mud hut in a couple of hours. Use your imagination, vieux haricot…{:¬))

    4. You mean, in the 70 million already in the UK, there aren't a spare 150 000 labourers? Bollox!

    5. Never mind the builders, what above the materials? I’m led to understand that we’re importing bricks from India.

  88. That's me for this day of several halves. Sun, drizzle, warmth, rain, sun…. Tomorrow, tree and ladder work. Will be very rewarding.

    Have a spiffing evening thinking what you would have said to the JWK had he rocked up on your doorstep….

    A demain.

  89. The yacht tragedy , the dinghy held 15 survivors .. how did that happen especially in a tempest .. all very strange the sea must have been really churned up..

    What a shocking experience , and yet how weird .. especially the other story of how the the other wealthy individual involved was killed whilst out running .. sounds like a Jeffrey Archer novel.

    1. Yeah! What a convenient storm, and what a coincidence that his partner was killed a day or so that he was. Just like a thriller.

    1. All those people coming across in dinghies in all weathers and a great big yacht sinks with billionaires on board, what are the odds?

  92. Beware..
    this video shows how Hungary dealt with Muzzie migrants however.. here's the warning..
    .
    the country's anti Muslim immigrant approach faces criticism from leftist human rights groups and the European Union.
    Oh crikey..
    https://youtu.be/1ClkaoYTSNI?t=26

    1. One might create a similar video about the eventual removal/change of the British Empire!

    2. Think it was Simon Webb asked the question 'why do we think all the boat people are young fit males?'….answer/s, anyone?

      1. They aren't, but a very, very significant proportion is.

        And I suspect that most of those with women and children apparently connected aren't connected at all.

        The numbers of "complete families" will be negligible within the totals.

    1. You scumbag, you maggot
      You cheap lousy faggot
      Happy Christmas your arse
      I pray God it's our last…

      Top man! (and top teeth…..)

    1. Dont die of ignorance – when you bum a monkey, you bum every other monkey that that monkey has bummed……

      1. ‘Change on a wide scale is needed’
        That used to be a favourite from the Department of Health messagers. I and various colleagues pointed out that changing our behaviour would increase our risk of STI not decrease it. To avoid ‘stigma’ it became essential to pretend that everybody is at it like rabbits.

        1. I was married when the AIDS shit hit the fan but my younger brother, who, shall we say, was fairly ‘heterosexually active’ was traumatised by the relentless scaremongering from the government – an early indicator of what was to come, perhaps?
          I didnt feel the ‘stigma’ Lola – being married of course I wasnt ‘at it’…….

          2. They say a man is not complete until he is married. And then he is completely finished!

          3. That’s a very good saying, my husband will no doubt love it. And then he’ll pay for loving it….:-D

          4. At the time I was a very active rock climber – one “grade 3 scare” was regarding the possibility of an HIV positive climber leaving dried blood on a climb which could then infect others. I seem to recall we ignored them, but given the infected blood scandal ….?

        2. And that all the oddities of the dangerous demographic were "perfectly normal" and mainstream. So utterly dishonest.

      2. Wasn't that AIDS, G4? I remember my children being bewildered by the huge advertising boards. Post Covid, no-one is listening, or getting vaccinated.

        1. Yes KJ, as I point out below, the government messaging scared the shit out of everybody who was ‘sexually active’ even though the real problem lay with a much smaller percentage of the population …. no names, no pack drill….

          1. Ah yes the San Fran bathouses…Did you down-vote me by mistake, G? Yope so, if I did anything to offend…apologies….

          3. No probs….I'm on my tenth dry evening…just thinking about breaking that record..:-D (PS glad we're cool x)

          4. Well done you!! I struggle with dry days or evenings as it forces me to confront the realities of what we face today – I fear for my children and grandchildren – and it depresses me.
            I think alcoholism offers an attractive alternative… hic…..

          5. Of course you do know that they say alcohol is a slow poison. But then again most folk aren't in any hurry to die….

          6. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light……

          7. I know exactly what you mean, I have very similar fears for mine – I think most of us do. If I don’t feel more resilient soon I’ll be falling off the wagon, again.

          8. Funnily enough when I came back from the races I wondered whether to have a dry evening. There was nothing to celebrate, after all. Then I thought, "life's too short" and poured myself a drink.

  97. In 1930, a Hungarian inventor observed children playing with marbles in a puddle, noticing that the marbles left a trail of water in their wake.

    That's how the idea came about: why not use a ball-shaped metal nib for writing? This is how the pen was born. ✒️🖋 László József Biro shared his idea with his brother György, a chemist, and together they began researching and experimenting to create a new type of pen based on this concept. Finally, they found the perfect combination: a viscous ink and a tip with a small ball that rotated freely, preventing the ink from drying out and controlling its flow. They presented their invention at the Budapest International Fair in 1931 and patented it in 1938, although they did not market it immediately.

    With the start of World War II, the brothers emigrated to Argentina, where they founded a company in a garage. Although they were initially unsuccessful due to the high cost of the product, they secured a contract with the British Air Force, which boosted their popularity. In 1943, they licensed their invention to Eversharp Faber in the United States for $2 million.

    In 1950, Marcel Bich acquired the rights and, on the recommendation of an advertising expert, dropped the "h" from his surname and founded the company BICGroup. In that year, they launched the first BIC Cristal, one of the most perfect designs ever created, of which more than 20 million units are sold every day around the world. Since 1953, more than 100 billion BIC Cristals have been manufactured, making it the best-selling pen of all time.

    2. I remember my grandfather being the proud owner of a 'biro', sometime early '50s, always on display top pocket.

      1. My Dad always had a Bic sticking out of his shirt pocket. The transparent ones, like I use now.
        Sigh… miss my Dad.

        1. Hear you…think it must be a feature of age, I miss all my deceased family, think of them daily. I look in the mirror and see my grandmother:-)

          1. Never had much family. Father's side all died before I was born, as did Mother's. Had a Grandfather, three great-Aunts – rapidly reduced to one, who was my favourite. Hilda died late 1990s, when I was in Sicily. Nearest I had to a Grandma, and I really miss her, even now. A tiny, battling Granny – Leicester City council went in fear and trembling…

          2. Thing is, Hilda actually seemed to love the tiny me (I was a real pain…) which is more than anyone else seemed to, parents included. But then, she couldn't have any children of her own, so maybe her niece's (my Mother's) had to substitute.
            Lovely lady, she was.

          3. I’m sorry to read your post, Oberstleutnant. Seems that sometimes non-relatives give us the support we need, when families often don’t. I left home in my mid-teens, couldn’t get on with either of my parents, that only came later when I was in my 30’s. Only child, I have a certain resilience – likely something I’ve always had from a very young age.

          4. I’m glad it turned out OK in the end. But my sympathy anyhow – I went to boarding school aged 8, and after that pretty well never lived at “home” until meeting SWMBO and getting married aged 21. Home was, for a few yers, scruffy places in Bow and by Milwall Dock.

          5. Any local authority school bad enough those days…boarding school tho, and especially so young….I couldn’t have done that with any of mine although I know some still do. Apparently changes upcoming with private schools, meaning LA schools , not quite sure what’s happening there – sounds like a Labour special. Yes, have lived in some rough bedsits too, just wanted to get away from my father, left the day I legally could without being brought back. Off to watch the kites (birds) now, laters…….:-)

          8. Maternal ones for me, PM. Feuds on paternal side and massive ones going back further on maternal ones. Very depleting. No contact with, or even knowledge, of cousins.

          9. All my grandfathers (I had three all told, mother's father, mother's step-father and my father's father) died before I was born.

          10. All my grandfathers (I had three all told, mother's father, mother's step-father and my father's father) died before I was born.

          11. That is sad. I only got to know mine in my teens, as she and my mother had a falling out (to put it mildly), my mother’s fault I think. I didn’t just love my grandmother, I liked her too 🙂

      1. I remember at prep school we became very proud of our Parker fountain pens and longed to swank by ostentatiously displaying them on the left outside blazer breast pocket. We were ticked off by one of the masters if we did so because he said it was vulgar and we should put them on the right inside breast jacket pocket,

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/255aec34b3d937a3f959ee83c24004ac99f99150ceb23ff83ad54bed274c8422.png

        I still have the Parker Slimfold my parents gave me when I was 8 with its 14 K gold nib and it still works perfectly. I also have a solid silver Yard O Led propelling pencil which I use every day.

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d95587913d1c1d59e8a1bebebaa63b24f3c1979de9a5a92266067c3ba46e217e.png

    4. TB, are my eyes deceiving me?
      Did you really paste an article which refers to the "British Air Force"? Carry on like that and you will end up working as a proof reader at The Telegraph.

    5. TB, are my eyes deceiving me?
      Did you really paste an article which refers to the "British Air Force"? Carry on like that and you will end up working as a proof reader at The Telegraph.

    6. So you see, Maggie, Argentina has a lot more to recommend it than just Malbec wine (Anne Allen's favourite) and its two adopted foreign subjects, Ashesthandust and Elsie.

      1. I write beautifully with a fountain pen. I found writing beautifully with a Biro a challenge but practice over several years made writing with Biro a bit different in style but passable.

        I also sketch using a long Biro as opposed to pencil or pen and ink.

  98. Robust response:
    https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/mensch-metropole/letzte-generation-wie-gefaehrlich-sind-klimakleber-fuer-die-sicherheit-am-berliner-flughafen-ber-li.2245989
    "Experte über Klima-Kleber auf dem Berliner Flughafen: Der Secret Service dürfte schießen
    Mitglieder der Letzten Generation sind wiederholt in das Gelände des Flughafens BER eingedrungen. Wie gefährlich sind die Störaktionen der Aktivisten?"
    Die Klimaaktivisten der Letzten Generation haben am vergangenen Donnerstagmorgen ein Loch in den Zaun des Flughafens BER geschnitten. Gegen 5.10 Uhr habe die Brandenburger Polizei ein Loch im Zaun des Areals bemerkt, sagt eine Sprecherin. Zwei Menschen im Alter von 21 und 22 Jahren hätten sich auf dem Gelände des Flughafens festgeklebt. Gegen 6.30 Uhr seien die Aktivisten von der Bahn gelöst und kurz darauf in Gewahrsam genommen worden. Beide Aktivisten seien der Polizei „durch gleich gelagerte Delikte“ bekannt. Auch in Nürnberg wurde der Flugbetrieb nach Angaben eines Polizeisprechers für etwa eine Stunde eingestellt.

    I know all Y'all can read German… 😉

      2. Climate activist cut through the boundary fence and buggered around on the runways of Berlin Brandenburg airport. The article suggests that they should be shot by the guards, as would a terrorist.
        Seems fair to me. Who knows who or what they are? Don't wanna be shot, don't cut your way into an international airport. Easy, really.

        1. Thanks for the translation, Herr Oberst. I got most of the gist of the post with the help of my schoolday's German, but was baffled by "Der Secret Service" and "Der Letzten Generation". :-)) [I also struggled with "ein Loch" because we never learnt Scottish at school. And, thinking of JFK, is "Brandenburger" MacDonald's or Burger King???]

        1. How about "You, vot is your name?" (All together now, NoTTLers, "Don't tell him Pike!")

    2. Expert on climate glue at Berlin Airport: The Secret Service should shoot

      Members of the last generation have repeatedly invaded the grounds of BER airport. How dangerous are the disruptive actions of the activists?"

      The last generation climate activists cut a hole in the fence of BER airport last Thursday morning. Around 5.10 a.m., the Brandenburg police noticed a hole in the fence of the area, says a spokeswoman. Two people aged 21 and 22 would have stuck on the grounds of the airport. Around 6.30 a.m., the activists were removed from the railway and taken into custody shortly afterwards. Both activists are known to the police "through similar offences". According to a police spokesman, flight operations were also suspended in Nuremberg for about an hour.

  99. Had a very busy day. Digging for Britain on now I'll watch that and buzz off.
    Good night all.

  100. With the caveat that the clip may not give the full picture:

    I've been pondering that clip of the judge sentencing the tweeter to several months in prison; fewer than he would appear to have liked because the tweeter pleaded guilty.

    I'm sorry, that tweeter was to all intents and purposes blackmailed into pleading guilty.

    In my opinion that judge is a disgrace to the judiciary.

    Surely to goodness he can recognise that he is being manipulated by the press, the politicians and the police to toe a particular line.
    When I consider the sentences, if any, that are handed down for genuinely serious crimes committed by immigrants such as the tweeter was complaining about, and what this craven crown court coward has done it makes me angry. (The description was for the purpose of alliteration, I don't know his court level.)

    A proper judge would be questioning what is happening, what caused it and why and speak out against the set up of these kangaroo courts.
    What's he hoping for, promotion to a higher court?

      1. For all their many faults, that is one thing that would surprise me.
        Political? Yes
        Financially corrupt? No

        However, I do regard what is happening as a corruption of the legal process.

    5. He really did look as if he wished he had that little black silk square. What on earth have we come to?

    7. It was Crown Court as District Judges, in Magistrates Courts, do not wear robes although I was surprised to see that as cameras are not allowed in courts. Was it a fake?

      1. I apologise I was wrong. Sentencing judgments have been allowed to be shown since 2012.

      2. I’ve been “caveating” my comments for that reason, it may be a fake, but somehow I have my doubts.
        Given the state’s view on the seriousness of the offences the no camera rule might have been rescinded to allow the message to be sent.
        I’ve lost all trust.

        1. I did append another comment that says cameras have been allowed for sentencing in Crown Courts since 2012.
          It’s probably authentic.

  101. 392039+ up ticks,

    The kneeling tool will come up next with indigenous internment camps, he has read mein kampf now moved on to SSGB.

    You have to shake your head in wonderment at the joys revengeful tactical voting brings, after five years of suffering the United Kingdom will sport a new title, "THE REMAINS"

    Dt,

    Police fear they won’t be able to make arrests because prisons too full
    Overcrowding crisis could lead to ‘one-in, one-out system’ in which suspects are driven around the country in secure vans to find free cell

  102. I was playing reasonable level Rugby at the time and all communal baths were scrapped in favour of showers. Shame really, I used to enjoy communal baths……. What?………

      1. Two Rugby players in a bath – one asks ‘Where’s the soap?’ the other replies ‘Yes it does, doesnt it?’ (a nun joke that doesnt really travel..).

        1. What is the difference between a vicar and a woman in the bath? One has a soul full of hope

          1. My (6 year old) grandson told me this one just the other day.

            Why did the Elephant have a bath? – because he was a Smellyphant!

            Well, I laughed anyway……

        2. Two chimps in a bath facing each other.
          Chimp No 1 squeals at the top of his voice as chimps often do.
          Chimp No 2 says "Well, turn the cold tap on then.

          1. It took me a bit to get that (but than I’m stupid) – Ooh Ooh Ooh! Aah Aah Aah! – now I cant stop sniggering!!

    2. We had the same. And a mad panic when someone got even a minor cut, off the field to get it cleaned and covered!

  103. from Coffee House, the Spectator

    Joe Biden’s underwhelming convention farewell speech
    Comments Share 20 August 2024, 7:27am
    Joe Biden has given a speech at every single Democratic National Convention since 1976. Tonight was his last and he didn’t start speaking until 10.28 p.m., local time. Far past his bed time.

    Why so late? Poor planning? Or a cynical attempt to push the President’s appearance past ‘prime time’ – in case he had another major meltdown?

    Convention officials were quick to say that Biden’s big finale had been delayed by the ‘raucous applause’ and ‘electric atmosphere’ in the convention centre, which had interrupted speakers in the build-up. Hmmm. Perhaps we’ll never know. Whatever the case, it seemed to add insult to injury for a Commander-in-Chief who, as everyone knows, has been forced to stand down from the 2024 election.

    As it turned out, the speech wasn’t too bad, albeit underwhelming. After his daughter, Ashley, had introduced him as ‘the OG girl dad’, Biden appeared on stage, dabbed his eyes with his handkerchief, expressed some gratitude, and shouted: ‘America I love you!’

    In the crowd, the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, the woman widely understood to have forced Biden out of the 2024 election, looked only slightly guilty as she joined in the chant: ‘We love Joe! We love Joe!’

    Yeah, Nancy, of course you do.

    Biden had couple of minor malfunctions but nothing too serious. He was quite shouty, as he often is, and his voice slurred at moments, but he got his key words out. ‘Are you ready to vote for freedom?’ he asked. ‘Are you ready to vote for democracy and for America? Let me ask you, are you ready to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz?’ Harris, sat in a box, smiled gnomically.

    Biden condemned white supremacy and extremism as the driving force of Trumpism, as he always does. And he berated Trump as a ‘loser’ for having called America a ‘failing nation.’

    He then went through the ‘major Bills’ he had passed to help manufacturing jobs, infrastructure, schools, science, technology, and the climate.

    ‘We’re growing our economy, we’re improving our quality of life, and we’re building a better America,’ he said. The audience agreed rapturously, even if 65 per cent of Americans tell pollsters they think their country is on ‘the wrong track.’

    ‘The murder rate is falling faster than any time in history,’ he claimed, even though he was speaking in Chicago, the homicide capital of America.

    He also addressed the Gaza issue, in reference to the pro-Palestine protests in Chicago earlier in the day. ‘Those protesters out in the street, they have a point,’ he said. ‘A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides.’ That was a fudge. The angry left of the Democratic party want their leaders to condemn Israel outright for committing ‘genocide’.

    It was all boilerplate Biden. He only alluded in passing to his presidency being cut short. He pointed out that he had been ‘too young to be in the Senate because I wasn’t yet 30 yet’ (not quite true) yet now he was ‘too old to stay on as president.’

    He ended by quoting the song ‘American Anthem’ by Norah Jones: ‘America, America, I gave my best to you.’ The music system played the song ‘Higher love’ as he shuffled off. The convention will now go on without him. It’s easy to forget he’s still meant to be the leader of the free world.

    1. I love this song and so do many Nottlers as it must have been posted on the forum at least a dozen times.

      A cynic might use the quotation from old George Burns:

      'The key to success is sincerity. If you can fake that you've got it made.'

      but this song's simplicity strikes me as completely genuine. A couple of years ago Caroline posted it here to wish me a Happy Birthday. I cannot think of a better love song.


    1. I was going to uptick, but not funny. Too close to reality, and moving Mother out of her house is still a rather painful memory.

      2. Apologies Paul – I've also been there and got the T shirt. Insensitive but no offence intended

        1. No worries. I didn’t expect any malice, just I’m a touch oversensitive these days.

    1. Me too, BoB. So I wish all NoTTLers a Good Night. Sleep well and see you all – briefly, if at all – tomorrow. (Explanation, I have to take my car in for its annual service and MOT test tomorrow at 8 am.)

  108. Bayesian

    Despite: Survivors could still be alive in superyacht air pockets, engineer claims
    [Telegraph]

    I see no evidence of a serious rescue attempt.
    Sundry (local?) scuba divers operating out of RIBs does not amount to a credible rescue attempt. Time is running out

    Sophisticated submarine rescue equipment capable of 'docking' and opening the hull is essential.

    Where is it? Cost should not be an issue; there are lives to be saved.

      1. There has been no feed back from the divers, tim5 – other than allegations of 'cluttered furniture' impairing views of the interior.

        Reports of knocking would be crucial …

    2. Rather fits the narrative that there is more to this than initially meets the eye………

  109. Evening all. Just back from watching my horse fight his jockey every step of the way from the stalls to the 5f mark of the 7f race. Needless to say, he ran out of puff (the writing was on the wall early on) and finished last. Hey ho! Apparently he's a bit of a nutcase on the home gallops as well. Soon we shall be running out of excuses options.

    GPs chose their profession and so must take the rough with the smooth in their consulting rooms. People do not choose to be ill.

  110. from Coffee House, the Spectator

    Left-wing media’s double standards on show at DNC
    Comments Share 20 August 2024, 3:55pm
    To the Windy City, where the Democratic National Convention is in full swing. In the early hours of this morning, outgoing President Joe Biden bid an emotional farewell to conference delegates to pave the way for Kamala Harris’s 2024 campaign, and former US leader Barack Obama is due to speak today. But besides the big names of the moment, Mr S spotted something rather interesting about just how the DNC has been received in comparison to its Republican counterpart by some of the noisiest voices in UK media…

    When a selection of British politicians decided to make the transatlantic voyage to Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention last month, not everyone was supportive of the international trip. UK journalists pestered Liz Truss about why she was there, quizzing the unimpressed former prime minister about whether or not she’d received a personal invite from Trump. Ex-Beeb star and News Agents host Emily Maitlis slammed the RNC room as being full of ‘cranks and weirdos’, adding that the conversations being had there were ‘utterly dystopian’. Charming!

    Maitlis’ podcasting posse was particularly unpleasant about the appearance of Reform leader Nigel Farage at the Donald Trump-headlined event.
    In fact, Maitlis’ podcasting posse was particularly unpleasant about the appearance of Reform leader Nigel Farage at the Donald Trump-headlined event. Grilled by Maitlis about why exactly he wasn’t back in Clacton on constituency work, the Reform politician told the ‘news agent’ that, given the recent assassination attempt made on Trump, ‘it was right that I came… When [my friends] are having a tough time, it’s right to go and support them.’ Lewis Goodall further mocked the Reform politician on the pod before Jon Sopel sniggered: ‘I wonder whether Joe Biden knows where Clacton in Essex is. Probably not.’ No wonder they were glad to get shot of the Beeb’s impartiality rules, eh?

    Yet everything’s different at the DNC. Labour Together chief Jonathan Ashworth, the party’s general secretary David Evans and a delegation of officials have flown to Chicagoland which, the Mirror excitedly reported, will ‘share strategy tips with [Harris’s] campaign team’. And, of course, the ever-present, ‘centrist dad’ podcasters can be found enthusiastically milling about too, with former Blair man Alastair Campbell already gushing over the speeches.

    And instead of slating the convention, the News Agents cast look positively ecstatic to be there. Goodall and Sopel can hardly contain their excitement about their own Chicago venture, taking to Twitter to post a jubilant picture from inside the venue. Little has been said so far by these great agents of news, however, about the, er, Labour MPs who have taken a break from their constituencies to jet off across the pond. MPs Lucy Rigby and Mike Tapp – interviewed by Freddy Gray – are also at the DNC, adding to the Starmtrooper numbers. Should we expect a Goodall-Sopel interrogation of the lefty lot’s presence to drop? Don’t hold your breath…

    1. John Sopel is a repulsive little shit who took against President Trump when Trump was in the White House. At a press briefing Trump on being told by Sopel that he was from the BBC quipped “Another Beauty”.

      I also recall the hostile BBC programme called “100 Days” which sought to rubbish President Trump and to paint him as some deranged impostor. Sopel was often consulted and the programme featured that Katty Kaye character and the Justin creep. The damn programme did not stop rubbishing Trump after “100 Days” by the way.

      Jesus. The BBC is truly now Media Disinformation Central Control.

    2. John Sopel is a repulsive little shit who took against President Trump when Trump was in the White House. At a press briefing Trump on being told by Sopel that he was from the BBC quipped “Another Beauty”.

      I also recall the hostile BBC programme called “100 Days” which sought to rubbish President Trump and to paint him as some deranged impostor. Sopel was often consulted and the programme featured that Katty Kaye character and the Justin creep. The damn programme did not stop rubbishing Trump after “100 Days” by the way.

      Jesus. The BBC is truly now Media Disinformation Central Control.

    1. BBC states that "Ian Franklin, 33, of no fixed abode, did not enter a plea at York Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, after being charged with murder and possession of a bladed article.
      He will now appear at Leeds Crown Court on Wednesday, along with a second man, Jason Rhodes, 33, of Union Terrace, York, who is charged with affray and possession of a bladed article in connection with the incident."

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

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