Tuesday 27 August: Equestrians must adapt to ensure that horse welfare is paramount

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its commenting facility (now reinstated, but we prefer ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

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

619 thoughts on “Tuesday 27 August: Equestrians must adapt to ensure that horse welfare is paramount”

  3. New Zealand’s Net Zero green energy disaster is a terrible warning

    The Ardern government’s eco obsession leaves NZ facing blackouts sooner rather than later

    BRYAN LEYLAND
    26 August 2024 • 9:03pm

    New Zealand has serious problems with its power supply. There are three underlying reasons: the weather, a flawed electricity market and a drive for ‘net zero’.

    Sixty-five per cent of New Zealand’s electricity is provided by hydropower, and the remainder by geothermal, gas, coal, wind and some solar. Though hydropower is often seen as the one form of renewable energy which is not plagued by intermittency of supply, it sadly isn’t true. In a dry year, hydro’s ability to deliver falls away, and we lose about 10 per cent of our generation. In the past, we always tried to have the hydro reservoirs and coal stockpile full by the end of summer to guard against this possibility. When we switched to an electricity market, this was forgotten.

    This year, we failed to refill the reservoirs, and levels are now unusually low. We are muddling along for the moment, but this is a difficult position from which to recover and there are likely to be blackouts at some point in the future.

    The ability of our fossil fuel power stations to step into the gap has been severely restricted. We used to get 20 per cent of our electricity from gas-fired power stations, but six years ago, as part of their decarbonisation policy, the previous government banned further gas exploration, and we are now desperately short of gas. The new government is encouraging new exploration but we won’t see the results for several years.

    New Zealand is running out of gas https://cf.eip.telegraph.co.uk/illustrator-embed/content/9eac353acd35ec7145495caf7950d548a86152e2/1718126559586.jpg
    We also have a single coal fired station with insufficient coal in its stockpile because our electricity market does not pay for the cost of maintaining an adequate stockpile.

    The situation has been made worse by poor market design. New Zealand was one of the pioneers of electricity markets, and chose a risky model which has proved to be seriously flawed.

    As a result, the problems this year have led to wholesale market prices rising to ridiculous levels of as much as £1/kWh. This has already caused some factories to shut down; others are under threat. The politicians are beginning to realise that the energy crisis could have serious effects on consumers, and there is speculation that they will be forced to intervene. This could mean instructing our gas and coal-fired power stations to run flat out day and night – which won’t make much difference because of the lack of fuel. Failing this, the only solution in the short term is rolling blackouts. and a public conservation campaign.

    How did we get to this situation?

    Firstly, the electricity market is simply not fit for purpose. The underlying propositions are that ‘electricity is a commodity like any other’ and that ‘when the price goes up, the demand goes down’. But electricity is not a commodity like any other, because it does not have an alternative or significant price elasticity. It isn’t a market that Adam Smith would recognise. As two departing CEOs said, the way to make money is to keep the system on the edge of a shortage. Which means that disaster is inevitable if a dry year occurs. And that is exactly what has happened.

    The blind pursuit of ‘Net Zero’, has driven the closing down of gas exploration and the desire to shut down our coal fired station, even though it is doing a vital job in keeping the lights on.

    The long-term problem
    There has now been some rain on the hydro lakes and we are temporarily out of danger – assisted by the fact that the power companies have paid a stiff price to a major industrial gas user to shut down so that they can have its supplies.

    But the long-term problem is still there: empty storage lakes that need to be refilled, not a lot of snow pack to melt in the springtime, declining supplies of gas, and the need to import 30 shiploads of coal and truck it to the power station. None can be achieved in the time available. The imminent shutdown of a 380 MW combined cycle power station, because it cannot find a secure gas supply for the next 20 years or so, adds to the problem.

    Instead we are placing our faith in more wind and solar power. The price will skyrocket when it is in short supply, but that will not help the wind and solar farms’ accounts as that is when they have very little to sell. When wind and sun are abundant, prices will crash. This means that the wind and solar farms under construction and planned will not make enough money to pay for their construction and operation. New Zealand does not directly subsidise wind and solar power so we can’t even be sure that the generators will continue building them.

    To be economic, wind and solar must be supported by low-cost long-term storage for days, weeks and months.There is no technology that can deliver this right now. New Zealand’s hydro reservoirs have huge capacity – approaching 10 per cent of a year’s electricity supply – but this storage capacity is already fully required to deal with the annual variations in hydro output. It cannot be used to back up solar and wind. Batteries simply can’t be used at national grid scales: they are too expensive by a factor of 50 or so.

    Worse still the expectation is that electricity demand is going to increase rapidly, driven by domestic and industrial heat and road transport being electrified (although the extent to which this will actually happen in the face of rising power prices is debatable). Whether electric heating and transport arrive or not, we are already getting more and more data centres, which are a 24-hour per day load and need a reliable supply.

    So the load will go up but we will be less able to keep the lights on when wind and solar are not delivering. Australia is 2000 km away, so there is no chance of importing from there, even if they did have power to spare, which they don’t.

    We could build more geothermal stations, but that takes time, especially as the oil rigs they need to drill production wells have all departed overseas. There is probably 1000 MW so of identified geothermal potential, and there is the possibility that more could be found with exploration. But this is not a quick solution.

    The only quick solution is to buy gas turbines and run them on diesel: not a nice prospect.

    In the long-term we could consider more hydro generation, but that is blocked by many environmentalists, even though there is probably 2000 MW of potential left in the South Island. For those who do not believe in dangerous carbon-driven climate change – or who consider that atmospheric carbon levels will rise beyond desirable levels anyway due to China and India and that it is therefore pointless for Western nations to spend huge sums reducing their emissions – more coal and gas generation are an obvious solution but they are not quick.

    For those who believe that man-made global warming is real and dangerous, and that it is worthwhile for the Western nations to cut emissions alone, we could be urgently considering nuclear power. This is the only practical and economic way of having reliable electric power with low carbon emissions. I suspect that in spite of a long-held opposition to nuclear armed and propelled ships, the New Zealand public are more sympathetic to nuclear power than they are believed to be.

    Whatever happens, New Zealand faces a very uncertain situation in the next few years with an increasing risk of major shortages and a major increase in domestic electricity prices.

    The implications for other countries
    I suspect that this is the writing on the wall for all countries that have pursued net zero and ignored the importance of keeping the lights on at a reasonable price. The UK is already relying on interconnectors for about 10 per cent of its electricity and would be in serious trouble if Europe was unable to provide backup power when UK wind and solar are not delivering.

    For as long as Europe and other countries have net zero as a prime objective, electricity blackouts and high prices are inevitable. As we are planning to make our entire society electrically powered, this is a bleak prospect.

    Bryan Leyland MSc, DistFEngNZ, FIMechE, FIEE(rtd), is a power systems engineer with 60 years experience in all aspects of power generation and supply all over the world

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

    Triumph Trident
    6 HRS AGO
    Article written by Bryan Leyland MSc, DistFEngNZ, FIMechE, FIEE(rtd),.
    Yet
    David Turver of Eigen Values (Thanks) points out in his blog ( https://davidturver.substack.com/p/desnz-net-zero-competence) that ALL of the Department of Energy and Net Zero do not have any STEM or business qualifications or experience of running any business let alone an energy company. So from the Minister (Mad ED) , through all the other ministers and advisors and within the Civil Service department and the CCC – no relevant qualifications. The CCC have STEM advisors only. Yet these people are driving us to penury on the back of a cult. I despair.

    Kim Terry
    6 HRS AGO
    I helped run an anti turbines group in Scotland and people with knowledge and qualifications in the energy business, ex directors of the national grid and professors all said what is happening in New Zealand would happen here. Have our ministers listened? No. Have our energy bills reduced? No.

    Outside Right
    6 HRS AGO
    Thank you Bryan, a thoughtful insight into the ongoing nightmare we face in NZ as a consequence of Ardern's Kindergarten government. I seriously doubt that the NZ Herald would have published this article. Only a few weeks ago, the Herald's deranged "Business Editor at Large" Liam Dann wrote an article arguing that NZ's best future growth path was to become a world leader in data centres! The reality here is that Arden spent untold millions of taxpayers' money subsidising EV's that run on extra electricity generated by burning imported coal. Net Zero is impossible without embracing nuclear power.

    1. An excellent article on the folly, nay stupidity, of pursuing a net zero policy. The UK is heading the same way as New Zealand and the country will end up impoverished and fully dependent on outside supplies. The only solution at present is nuclear power, but that takes years in planning and construction. "Thing will only get worse" (2T Starmer) – Yes, and you and your short sighted, scientifically ignorant money grabbing friends will have thousand of unnecessary deaths and a starving population as your ignominious legacy.

    2. How interesting that New Zealand is predicted to have gas again within a few years because they are exploring for it now. In fact, the shortage of gas will just coincide with the financial reset. What a coincidence!

        1. We notice that nowhere in this article is there any form of criticism of the sainted Jacinda,

          Marxist Queen of the South.

    4. Just what I've been saying and preparing for – and I gave up physics at the end of the third year in grammar school.

  4. Osprey found shot in national park

    Police appeal for information after injured protected bird, found in distress in Cairngorms, has to be euthanised

    Telegraph Reporters
    26 August 2024 • 5:39pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2024/08/26/TELEMMGLPICT000002465263_17246893935640_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqvPUUb5lefMDNuIsSZZ-wQglFD4B9reQjR3ST_28UIkQ.jpeg?imwidth=680
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/26/police-investigation-after-osprey-found-shot-in-cairngorms/

  5. BTL@DTletters

    Archie Crompton
    4 HRS AGO

    On Bank Holiday Monday I confess that I exposed my family (including two of my youngest grandchildren) to an annual 'monocultural' event in Norfolk.

    There was a distinct lack of what some observers would term 'vibrant cultural diversity,' 'identity politics' or 'enrichment.'

    Instead, it was all rather homogeneous, rural, traditional and English.

    The derided Mr. Punch, along with a crocodile and string of sausages, still entertained children for whom there was no cotton wool wrapping before they tackled the helter-skelter, fun-house or dodgems.

    People formed orderly queues, happy to listen to the background music from a brass band as they waited patiently to buy ice creams.

    Various rare breed and non-commercial farm animals were outrageously paraded and judged on their appearance while horses were ridden by people over jumps and around obstacles.

    There was nothing about foreign culture, just exhibitions by local charities and organisations including some working for indigenous (how dare they) wildlife and environments.

    Everyone was disgustingly orderly and decent, myriad dogs were kept under control, litter was put in bins and toilet needs happened only in the provided facilities.

    The police enjoyed a day handing out stickers and colouring sheets to unfrightened and unwary children who climbed all over their cars and dressed themselves in spare uniforms while the only pigs meeting their demise ended up in bread rolls with stuffing, crackling and apple sauce.

    There wasn't any 'proper diversity' at all, just a broad range of exhibitions from cooking to flower arranging and from wood carving to working dogs and a host of entertainments from circus to sky-divers.

    Incredible really how so many people got so much out of it.

  6. Good morning all. Could have got it in three if I had put first choice down:
    Wordle 1,165 4/6

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    1. Good morning
      Not very inspired here!
      Wordle 1,165 5/6

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  8. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's NoTTLE site.

    Wordle 1,165 5/6

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  10. So, horse-related news….
    First we had that video of a competitor abusing her horse.
    Then we had, out of the blue, a huge Guardian article suggesting that people shouldn't ride.
    Now we've got a lead letter about horse welfare in the Telegraph.

    Why is horse welfare suddenly such a talking point?

      1. Either that or else they’re working up to some gruesome new legislation around owning a horse.

        1. I like your thinking, I bet taxes are involved or some new “passporting” scheme

        3. How many people is that going to affect (outside Olympic athletes and the racing community)? The "travellers" won't be affected.

    3. I did write to the horse who represents me in Parliament yesterday, letting her know my concerns about this Government. She is Limp – Dumb so we don’t historically agree on anything.

    8. Animal rights people wanting traction? Obviously not by draught horses, but you know what I mean. Also, a touch of "oh, look! A squirrel!" to hide yet more bad news.

  11. Putin will soon turn his war machine on Britain. Ben Wallace. 27 August 2024.

    In Putin’s warped worldview, we were behind the Crimean war and defeat of the Czars, we were behind the rise of Hitler, we were behind the counter-revolution and our espionage was behind the end of the Soviet Union. Britain is in Putin’s crosshairs. One of the most senior members of the Russian Siloviki recently commented: “We know Britain is behind the invasion of Kursk”. We weren’t.

    Make no mistake, Putin is coming for us. We must be prepared for the inevitable.

    Mr Wallace doesn't allow common sense to interfere with his analysis. In fact reading this article leaves two possibilities, Wallace has completely lost his marbles or Ukraine is about to collapse. .

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/26/putin-will-soon-turn-his-war-machine-on-britain/

    1. "Wallace has completely lost his marbles or Ukraine is about to collapse. ."

      Both possibly? But if it is the case of the former I believe it is now traditional to set up a 'Go Fund Me' page for the return of marbles….you never know it might accrue a few bob….

      Morning Minty and all.

    2. "Wallace has completely lost his marbles or Ukraine is about to collapse. ."

      Both possibly? But if it is the case of the former I believe it is now traditional to set up a 'Go Fund Me' page for the return of marbles….you never know it might accrue a few bob….

      Morning Minty and all.

    3. What utter gobshite Wallace comes out with.
      Or, is this an excuse for a pre-emptive strike on Russia?

      1. Why the Hull would Putin bother about totalling Blighty?
        The country is doing that quite successfully without any outside help.

        1. Morning Anne. Vlad has no interest in the UK. Interestingly every spare Nudge Unit troll is on the threads supporting this crack brained article.

        2. Quite so, Anne. There was a time when "Russians with snow on their boots" was the great threat. No longer, the threat is, as you claim, home grown.

      2. Morning Oberst. If, as I suspect,the Kursk operation is going seriously awry. They might just do that.

    5. Putin will soon turn his war machine on Britain.

      Will this be an obvious attack i.e. missiles tracked by radar from Russian territory or submarines or are we to expect terrorist style attacks within the Island? The latter, of course, could be committed by any disaffected or supremacist group as we have seen before. Responsibility could then be attached to Putin's sleeper cells.

      What I do not expect is a mass landing of Russian troops across the open beaches of say, Great Yarmouth.

      1. You mean like the mass landing of Russian RoP troops across the open beaches of say, Dover

      2. They could just start a free ferry service from France so that we are overwhelmed with newbies.

      3. Just as well; one of my friends is taking her disabled daughter there for a holiday shortly!

    6. I agree with Ben Wallace that Britain was not behind the invasion of Kursk.

      It makes complete sense for Ukraine to improve its bargaining chips when it comes to a peace settlement, which is really the only sensible thing to do when the alternative is a relentless stalemate vendetta. Holding some Russian territory means that there is something to negotiate with when attempting to get back some of its land lost to the Russians. You don't need to be a British operative to realise that.

      I think the British position is that when Russia is on the warpath, best it stops in Ukraine rather than spilling over emboldened into Poland, the Baltic republics or Moldova. I think the British are pretty lukewarm about Ukraine recovering its old sovereign borders, let alone making incursions into Russia.

      I saw an old documentary last night about the apocalyptic prophets which all suggest that Francis is the last pope before the end of civilisation. One revelation to the Portuguese Children of Fatima was that Russia should be consecrated to Our Lady, for if it isn't then Russia will spread her errors throughout the world and nations will be annihilated. If Russia is consecrated, she will be converted and there will be peace.

      As with all prophecies, these are moot, but would appeasing Russia actually bring world peace?

  12. 392496+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    This equestrian project has been in the pipeline for some time
    the kneeler in conjunction with the pakistani porg mayor of london, karnage.

    The kneeler, chief cowboy PM, the political Tex Ritter / heavy shitter is in league with the porg to put london inmates back in the saddle via "rent a horse"

    The horrendous stench from the mix of horse shit / political treacherous bullshit will have the indigenous dropping like flies but will attract MORE foreign illegal incoming settlers, drawn by familiarscents of homeland.

    Tuesday 27 August: Equestrians must adapt to ensure that horse welfare is paramount

    1. 392496+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      They will push this as a form of transport and when knackered a meat dish c0mbined with a MRNA mix from the gates stable.

  13. Starmer vows to clean up politics in face of cronyism row. 27 August 2024.

    Sir Keir Starmer will vow to clean up Downing Street and put it “back in the service” of working people as he faces a growing cronyism row.

    In a speech in the Rose Garden of No 10 on Tuesday, the Prime Minister will insist that his Government has moved on from the “lockdown-breaking parties” that the Tories held in the same location.

    Addressing 50 public sector staff and small business owners, he will position himself as a guardian of morals in public life despite facing accusations of cronyism in his government.

    There is a real possibility that Starmer is psychologically unhinged. A Messianic do gooder confirmed of his own righteousness and that anyone opposed to him is evil.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/08/26/keir-starmer-speech-hits-back-over-cronyism-row/

    1. Committee of Public Safety.

      With automatic quango sinecures and added pension benefits.

      1. A bit variable. On a good day I can walk without a stick. On a day. when the pain ramps up a bit I need the help of the stick. I just KBO.

  16. Good Moaning.
    But suppose they have their fingers crossed behind their backs?
    The UniParty strikes again.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/26/violent-offenders-increasingly-let-off-with-apology/

    "Violent offenders let off if they say sorry

    Concern as community resolutions rise, with even those accused of knife and sex offences avoiding criminal record

    Police are increasingly letting knife and sex offenders escape prosecution if they say sorry, The Telegraph can reveal.

    More than 147,000 people accused of offences including sex crimes, violence and weapons possession were given community resolutions in the year to March instead of being prosecuted. Such resolutions do not result in a criminal record.

    Police guidance says community resolutions should be restricted to low-level crimes, with offenders required to apologise to the victim, accept “responsibility” for their crime and offer some form of recompense.

    But the resolutions, which are issued at the discretion of individual officers, have increased by 40 per cent since 2019 – when 102,574 were recorded – and are now nearly twice as likely as a criminal charge, according to an analysis of Ministry of Justice data.

    The surge comes amid a deepening crisis in the criminal justice system. Prisons are so full that the Government is releasing thousands of criminals early next month in the wake of the riots, while police have raised concerns that any worsening of jail overcrowding could limit their ability to make arrests.

    Jess Phillips, the Home Office minister responsible for safeguarding, has ordered a review of the police response to “non-contact” sexual offences, an issue raised by the inquiry into the rape and murder of Sarah Everard by Pc Wayne Couzens, who had a history of exposing himself to women.

    Ms Phillips told The Telegraph: “This Government has been clear that violence against women and girls is a national emergency, and we expect police to treat all sexual offences with the seriousness it warrants.”

    Since 2019, community resolutions given for robbery have increased by 127 per cent, from 175 to 397. Those issued for sex offences have risen by 29 per cent, from 482 to 621.

    Resolutions for offences involving violence against a person have risen by 57 per cent, from 29,188 to 45,845, while those for possession of weapons are up 77 per cent, from 1,590 to 2,821.

    The surge in community resolutions comes as knife crime approaches record levels. Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to halve it within a decade.

    Five people were stabbed at Notting Hill Carnival this weekend, including a mother who was with her young child. Police said they had become “tired” of the same scenes repeating themselves every year.

    Dame Vera Baird, the former victims’ commissioner for England and Wales who advised Labour on tackling low charging rates, said she was concerned that issuing a community resolution for an ostensibly serious offence meant police had no formal record of the offender’s criminality.

    “Police have historically seriously undervalued the potential danger for small sexual offences, which can look like a nuisance that you could laugh at but are very intrusive to women and young men as well,” she said.

    “The real problem is that someone who has a propensity to impose their sexuality on someone else, if they don’t get stopped at the beginning either in terms of some treatment or being given a record, then we have no record that person behaved in that way or any way of keeping a lookout for them to protect other people.

    “They could have six community resolutions in different areas because they move around, and then apply for a job at a nursery and there would be no record.”

    Rory Geoghegan, a former Number 10 adviser and former police officer, said an increase in the number of knife offences made the use of community resolutions for knife possession of particular concern.

    Knife crime hit record highs in eight police forces in the year to March. The Metropolitan Police was one of those forces, with offences up from the previous record of 14,680 in 2020 to 14,961 in the year to this March. West Midlands also saw a high of 5,266, up from 5,192 last year.

    “It’s vital that community resolutions are used appropriately. When misused, they represent a missed opportunity to bring an offender to justice and to prevent future criminality,” said Mr Geoghegan, the founder of the Public Safety Foundation.

    “The use of community resolutions for offences involving the possession of a weapon will cause particular concern when we see knife crime exact such a heavy roll on neighbourhoods across the country.”

    “The fact that some forces ban or strongly discourage the use of community resolutions for some of these offences should be commended and there is certainly work to be done to assure the public that they are being used properly.”

    On Monday, a “zombie knife” compensation scheme began, with some owners offered payments to hand over their weapons to police before a ban is introduced on Sept 24 under legislation passed by the Tories.

    Dept Asst Commissioner Ade Adelekan, who was in charge of the policing operation for the Notting Hill Carnival, said his officers “very narrowly avoided a fatality” and were “tired of seeing crime scenes” at the street party.

    “We are tired of saying the same words every year,” he said. “We are tired of telling families that their loved ones are seriously injured, or worse.”

    The National Police Chiefs’ Council maintains that sex offences where officers issue community resolutions typically involve children sharing inappropriate images, or sex between under-age children.

    They say that police guidelines are clear that community resolutions are intended for “low level” offending in relation to weapons, violence and robbery with officers guided by the “gravity matrix,” guidance that they can use to determine whether children should be considered for out-of-court disposals like community resolutions.

    Dr Alison Heydari, the Police Chiefs’ Council lead for out of court resolutions, said: “We have made it clear that out-of-court disposals are not to be used in serious cases. Officers take into consideration all circumstances of a case, with victims’ wishes at the centre of our decision-making.”

  17. Good morning all;,

    A bright morning at McPhee Towers, wind South, 15℃ rising to 23℃ this afternoon.

    Four years too late, Tugendhat.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bc77e61ceb4605ee021699d87c0d54419251c3a335a99bed4e0b217297c21c10.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/08/27/tom-tugendhat-military-illegal-migrants-royal-navy-slavery/

    From day one, in 2020, the Royal Marines should have been meeting them mid-Channel and turning them back and the Parachute Regiment should have been on the beaches to round up those that got through.

    Too late.

    1. Tugendhat from the safety of the opposition benches and five years from a General Election.

      1. The man who only a few years ago was desperately agitating for Britain to Remain

        under the control of Brussels

    2. Tugendhat from the safety of the opposition benches and five years from a General Election.

    3. Tugendhat from the safety of the opposition benches and five years from a General Election.

    4. 392495+ up ticks,

      Morning FM,

      Not too late to go into the house at a full sitting
      and do an "olly" though.

      1. Many of the middle class who enabled this state of affairs are leaving California in their droves. Beverley Hills will become a mausoleum to the pampered. California also wants to impose huge taxes on millionaires to pay for slave reparations.

    1. Nothing wrong with consensual arbitration, as I am sure Uncle Bill will confirm. But just how consensual is it in practice?

      1. I have to disagree with you when it’s Sharia. There should be no parallel law system in this country.

        1. Then what about Beth Din? While we're at it, if we object to halal meat, what about kosher?

          1. Sharia is more than a religious court, as you well know.

            and I am not aware of kosher meat being served up routinely in schools to everyone, to keep one side quiet.

          2. There are indeed differences in both scale and intent. Everybody knows about sharia, I learnt about Beth Din by watching Law & Order (Great show, bigly great). I don't need to explain the "intent" bit.

          4. I’ll ask my friend Nigel to ask his friend Donald what the correcy spelling is.

          5. But orthodox Jewish women may also be treated as second class citizens within their community eg if they want a religious divorce.

          6. I object to both.
            Those forms of slaughter are totally unnecessary in a western culture with refrigeration. (Although Milipede Jnr is working on it.)
            Denmark has banned both forms of slaughter and the burka.

  21. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b606491e03fbe3e48e7d4eb772e488ee958f5a4df8f14d3a3652875f470663fa.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/26/gails-cafe-worthing-sussex-new-branch-opposition-society/

    One opened in Newbury, our local town, recently. SWMBO and I went in for tea and a scone to see what it's like. I said to her, "this is the first and last time we'll be in here". She nodded in agreement. Everything about it was awful. Including the toilet, which really, is the first thing you should check to see if an establishment is well-run.

    1. I despair at the low level “activism” taking place by smug middle-class (probably) public sector types who think by doing this they are supporting Gaza.

    2. 'Tushar Patel, who has owned Café Traditionale on Chapel Road for two months, said the Gail’s opening would affect his trade and could force some businesses to “close their doors”.

      He told The Telegraph: “Because Gail’s is new, some of my customers will try it, and we are losing opportunities as a result. We might lose those customers for good.

      “Allowing more cafes to open will have a knock-on effect on existing businesses. Existing businesses are struggling as it is. Somebody will have to close their doors very soon here. It is frustrating. The council should look after the existing businesses by not allowing new cafes to open.”'

      So two months' operating makes one an "existing business" which must be protected from "new" competitors ??? Whatever the merits or demerits of Gail's – I have no feelings one way or the other – this is proof positive that chutzpah isn't just a semitic possession. I wonder what the other cafes in town thought when Mr Patel commenced his own operations lo ! back in the mistily dim and distant days of…..oh yes: June this year ?

      1. And it’s hardly as if Worthing is an oasis of old world charm.
        Recalling my last visit (2014 if memory serves) a branch of Gail’s would have been a distinct improvement.

    3. 'Tushar Patel, who has owned Café Traditionale on Chapel Road for two months, said the Gail’s opening would affect his trade and could force some businesses to “close their doors”.

      He told The Telegraph: “Because Gail’s is new, some of my customers will try it, and we are losing opportunities as a result. We might lose those customers for good.

      “Allowing more cafes to open will have a knock-on effect on existing businesses. Existing businesses are struggling as it is. Somebody will have to close their doors very soon here. It is frustrating. The council should look after the existing businesses by not allowing new cafes to open.”'

      So two months' operating makes one an "existing business" which must be protected from "new" competitors ??? Whatever the merits or demerits of Gail's – I have no feelings one way or the other – this is proof positive that chutzpah isn't just a semitic possession. I wonder what the other cafes in town thought when Mr Patel commenced his own operations lo ! back in the mistily dim and distant days of…..oh yes: June this year ?

    4. I used to visit Newbury quite often in the noughties and can’t say I saw anywhere in the centre of town where one would get a decent tea, let alone scone.
      In the leafier parts of north London we have had Gails for a few years (2 within walking distance of my house). They are always packed with customers but the selling point tends to be the bread.

  22. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b606491e03fbe3e48e7d4eb772e488ee958f5a4df8f14d3a3652875f470663fa.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/26/gails-cafe-worthing-sussex-new-branch-opposition-society/

    One opened in Newbury, our local town recently. SWMBO and I went in for tea and a scone to see what it's like. I said to her, "this is the first and last time we'll be in here". She nodded in agreement. Everything about it was awful. Including the toilet, which really, is the first thing you should check to see if an establishment is well-run.

      1. Surely he got a lot of money, then he became teacher’s pet? That’s how it usually works in politics (see Starmer and the No 10 pass) although being teacher’s pet from the off may help you get the money of course.

  24. Anyone fancy a Chinese take-away?

    Taking a page out of Europe's playbook, Canada will impose staggering new tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, aluminum and steel, lining up behind western allies and taking steps to protect domestic manufacturers.

    Speaking in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he was gathered with the rest of his cabinet for a series of meetings about the economy and foreign relations Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled the new policy which consists of a 100% levy on electric cars and 25% on steel and aluminum. The EV tariff will take effect Oct. 1 and will also include certain hybrid passenger automobiles, trucks, buses and delivery vans. It will be added to an existing 6.1% tariff that applies to Chinese EVs, the government said in a news release.

    The levies on aluminium and steel will come into place Oct. 15. The government released an initial list of goods on Monday and the public will have a chance to comment before it is finalised on Oct. 1.

    Turdeau's (sic) government is also launching a new 30-day consultation on other sectors, including batteries and battery parts, semiconductors, solar products and critical minerals.

      1. Not sure about the Sky falling but there will be a number of unintended consequences….

  25. a propos to the horse story, one of my favourite Matt cartoons (and heaven knows there a hundreds to chose from) was at the time of the horse meat scandal.

    It was a dad, holding behind his back a packet of beef burgers, saying to his little daughter (who was jumping up and down with excitement): “About that horse you’ve always wanted…”

    1. Not forgetting the wonderful video of a Pantomime horse entering a Tesco store and sobbing "Mother!" whilst looking over the meat counter…

  26. Meanwhile in another corner of the Globe one group was actively demonstrating Grizz's hypothesis of the stupidity of man….

    'A massive coordinated terror attack on several locations in southwestern Pakistan has left at least 70 dead over a 24-hour period of terror which started Sunday night.

    The attacks were the work of a separatist group called the Baluch Liberation Army (BLA), which claimed responsibility. It started with bombings and gunfire targeting a national military camp in Pakistan’s Baluchistan Province, which left at least one soldier dead.

    In the same area, gunmen stormed four police stations, setting vehicles on fire. By morning, a key bridge in the area was also attacked and destroyed. But the situation escalated when militants attacked a major highway in a town called Bela. They intercepted traffic and then proceeded to execute people, reports say.'

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balochistan_Liberation_Army

    2. This is another tangle like Kashmir, in as much as Baluchistan did not want to be part of Pakistan but was forced into it at independence from the British Empire. But then, I think we all know that the best thing that could happen on the subcontinent is the disintegration of Pakistan. It is a basket case and would not exist if it were not for a despicable man, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who threatened a blood bath if he didn't get his way with the founding of an Islamic state. Unfortunately the Indians would not listen to the wisest man in India at the time, Lord Mountbatten, who urged that the Indians wait a year (Jinnah had cancer) for independence and the problem would be solved by Jinnah popping off.

  27. https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/24b816e6b0796414a0269044b782f7368b348067/0_0_6000_4000/master/6000.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=0ce4b1c571269649fc96ff5f123188ea
    Strathdon, Scotland
    Lonach Highlanders stop for a dram of whisky as they march through Donside, Aberdeenshire, to the Lonach Highland gathering and games. The event is organised by the Lonach Highland and Friendly Society, which was founded in 1823 by Sir Charles Forbes

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/65231e69403ba6f74e8f7e1c29cc69343bcd4876/0_0_3500_2333/master/3500.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=808f59838c6ffb172b34033ecc50fcae
    A field of sunflowers at Mundles Farm in Tyneside

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a22e71fb0132bb325900ab4d64b805db669280b4/0_0_5159_3440/master/5159.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=07326e06a902bb8183e77b60334ecb2d
    Seekirchen am Wallersee, Austria
    Northern bald ibises migrate from Austria to the Orbetello lagoon in Tuscan, Italy, as foster parents of the birds support them from a microlight

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/300d9d43c084d0134b3054196cfeb14caab4c026/0_0_8192_5464/master/8192.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=0560fc11febe96d3ba10605cdb7c85ce
    Claddaghduff, Ireland
    Beach horse-racing on Omey Island

    2. The utter cruelty of making those horses enjoy themselves. They should be put down immediately.

        2. I wanted to see that when I went to Holkham, but unfortunately I couldn't make the right date when they were there.

    3. We should get the Lonach Highlanders mass-producing those pointy things. With no guns, we're going to need them.

      1. I'd not like to be fighting wearing all that heavy clobber. Could seriously slow you down, and whilst it might be proof against a light sword, wouldn't protect you against those points.

  28. Good morning all ,

    Very dull sky, what happened to the toxic cloud ?

    17c now and still, humid air , not a day for washing on the line .

    What is all this media c##p about that miserable group called Oasis , how can anyone be nostalgic about people like that. Their vocals remind me of yowling cats.

    Moh and I were entranced on Sunday by the magnificent The Planets Suite , performed by student musicians from Helsinki and London who united for a Prom all about music’s conjuring power. BBC4.

    That is what I call music .

      1. Good morning Johnathan

        The news, and online papers and every media outlet are waxing lyrical about a groaning miserable pair of old blokes called Oasis .. they sing .. (🥱🙄🤮)

  29. Good morning all ,

    Very dull sky, what happened to the toxic cloud ?

    17c now and still, humid air , not a day for washing on the line .

    What is all this media c##p about that miserable group called Oasis , how can anyone be nostalgic about people like that. Their vocals remind me of yowling cats.

    Moh and I were entranced on Sunday by the magnificent The Planets Suite , performed by student musicians from Helsinki and London who united for a Prom all about music’s conjuring power. BBC4.

    That is what I call music .

  30. Good Morning all. Weather unexceptional, so forth and so on.

    More about Kursk and what a blunder it is for Ukraine. This video has some important bits of information in it. Apparently there are British and other NATO members involved in this, on the ground, about to be slaughtered. Basically the West has put its foot in a large amount of equine ordure in this excursion into Russia and is paying for it badly. This is an important video.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehVbjzF4AY0

    1. (I don't have a dog in this race..).

      John Mearsheimer.. A realist? or just an anal-yst that gets it wrong time after time?
      He gleefully notes that they've failed in their aim to take the nuclear plant in Kursk.
      However, I note the "Forever-Wars" propaganda machine tells us the aim was to get super-close to knock out Russian's Belgorod logistics chains.. and yet Mearsheimer doesn't mention this and bangs on about a nuclear power station.

      1. The person doing the talking in this video is Col Macgregor, not Mearsheimer. I have yet to fault the Colonel, on his analysis of the Ukraine conflict. He is always spot on, probably because he has friends in very high places.

      2. The person doing the talking in this video is Col Macgregor, not Mearsheimer. I have yet to fault the Colonel, on his analysis of the Ukraine conflict. He is always spot on, probably because he has friends in very high places.

    2. There was a suggestion that, just prior to the recent French elections, Macron was pushing support for a NATO offensive as a political gesture to the French voters. It seems, however, that his support may have been more selfish. Apparently, he has deployed 300+ members of the French armed forces to Ukraine, and, as France are not officially at war, should they 'fall' or be captured in battle they will be treated as mercenaries rather than as legitimate opposition forces protected under the Geneva Conventions.

  31. SIR – When Anna Sewell published Black Beauty, her “special aim” was to induce kindness to horses. The book provoked such public outrage that several important reforms were introduced to improve horse welfare.

    Had this great anti-cruelty author still been alive, I feel sure she would have written in support of Boudicca Fox-Leonard’s excellent article about the harm still being done to these noble creatures, especially in the sporting arena – perhaps reminding us that all the horses want is to be left alone to live happily at the orchard at Birtwick, standing with their old friends under the apple trees.

    Tracey Gregory
    Hemingford Abbots, Huntingdonshire

    I had a Little Pony. :

    I had a little pony,

    His name was Dapple-grey,

    I lent him to a lady,

    To ride a mile away.

    She whipped him, she lashed him,

    She drove him through the mire.

    I wouldn’t lend my pony now,

    For all the lady’s hire.

    2. My first experience with horses was the lovely white one who after I fed it with just one slice of bread came back almost every day and put its head over our garden fence. Snowy we called it.
      And our milk was delivered by Doug our milkie from his horse drawn cart.

    4. If it had not been for the horse people we would have lost all the heavy horse breeds. Not all mistrerat their horses in fact just the opposite.

        1. Or parents who buy their daughter a pony , and then daughter finds her i phone and other concert going interests far more attractive than looking after a pony .

          Look around you and witness bored unkempt ponies in fields , no shelter , upturned food buckets , and ill shod hooves..

          The same goes for pet dogs , once the puppy stage is over , and care and vet bills and exercise in wet weather takes it's toll .. the rescue centres re full of ponies, rabbits , guinea pigs , dogs and everything else because the public have a limited attention span towards the care of pets ..

          1. That's because people don't understand the reality of caring for animals. It's darned hard work, out in all weathers, no days off unless you can arrange cover. The same applies to farming, which also gets a bad press from the urbanised masses who have completely lost the link with agriculture.

        2. Or the ignorant who think they're doing the right thing (like the letter writer) when in fact they're doing totally the wrong thing.

    5. The worst thing you can do is leave a horse alone – they need checking regularly to make sure they haven't tried to kill themselves in their field. They are not designed to stand still – they are grazing animals that need to keep on the move. Too many apples can cause colic (can be fatal if neglected) and too much rich grass causes laminitis (ditto). Black Beauty was about horses being used when no other transport was available. It was the equivalent of the treatment work animals get abroad these days. The lot of a horse has changed dramatically in the intervening years since the invention of the internal combustion engine. Ignorance like hers causes more harm to horses than using them for leisure.

  32. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, Today’s recycled story

    Family Love

    Son: Daddy! Daddy! I hate grandpa's guts!

    Father: Well push them aside and eat your peas!

  33. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, Today’s recycled story

    Family Love

    Son: Daddy! Daddy! I hate grandpa's guts!

    Father: Well push them aside and eat your peas!

  34. Morning all 🙂😊
    Still very windy (not me) and very little sunshine peeping through.
    I have all ways had great respect horses but there are far more important things going on in all of our lives.
    Let's have a vote of absolutely NO CONFIDENCE in this terribly destructive Labour government. We're all doomed.

    3. No we aren't. Fight back. Send letters to MP. Politely but persistently. They are so brainwashed that they think they are right. Constant challenge undermines their certainty. Tell energy companies you cannot afford their bills and ask for concessions. Do not pay by direct debit. Don't make it easy for them. Pay cash where you can. Scrutinise payments for subscriptions. If they are woke cancel them. These people will be far more wary of imposing totalitarianism if they realise that there is a swell of objections. At the moment they are trying to ignore such objections or reframe them as 'far-right'.

      1. I’ve been doing that for years they have made it almost impossible to ask them directly a question.

  35. One in eight people diagnosed with dementia ‘may have liver disease instead’
    Cognitive symptoms are similar to those caused by hepatic encephalopathy, which is caused by cirrhosis and is treatable

    Joe Pinkstone,
    Science Correspondent
    26 August 2024 • 8:47pm
    Related Topics
    Dementia, Liver disease

    One in eight people diagnosed with dementia may actually be suffering symptoms from a liver disease, a study suggests.

    The cognitive symptoms of dementia are similar to those caused by the condition hepatic encephalopathy (HE) which is caused by liver cirrhosis.

    Viral infection, heavy alcohol consumption and obesity can all lead to the disease which causes scarring on the organ.

    The condition can lead to confusion, forgetfulness, shaking and slurred speech as toxins build up in the bloodstream and impact the brain because the liver can not clean them out properly.

    Scientists analysed the medical records of more than 68,000 patients in a database of American people who were diagnosed with dementia between 2009 and 2019.

    The average age was 72 and scientists analysed each person’s records to calculate how likely it was they actually had undiagnosed HE caused by liver cirrhosis.

    ‘Cognitive impairment’
    Data show that 12.8 per cent of patients in the cohort were likely suffering from an undiagnosed case of cirrhosis.

    “Risk factors for potential undiagnosed cirrhosis include alcohol use disorder and viral hepatitis,” the scientists write.

    “In up to 13 per cent of patients with dementia, treatable hepatic encephalopathy might contribute to the cognitive impairment.”

    The findings are in line with a previous study which found ten per cent of veterans with dementia may have actually had HE caused by cirrhosis.

    Hepatic encephalopathy can be treated with medication and the symptoms reversed, scientists say, unlike dementia which is a disease that progressively worsens.

    “We need to increase awareness that cirrhosis and related brain complications are common, silent, but treatable when found,” said study author Dr Jasmohan Bajaj from Virginia Commonwealth University.

    “Undiagnosed cirrhosis and potential hepatic encephalopathy can be a treatable cause of or contributor towards cognitive impairment in patients diagnosed with dementia.”

    ‘Symptom overlap’
    Data showed that having viral hepatitis more than doubled the likelihood of a person having cirrhosis, while alcohol abuse increased risk by 39 per cent.

    But while the liver condition and dementia have “symptom overlap”, according to the study authors, some experts believe that the subtle differences in the conditions would allow a doctor to tell the difference.

    Dr Rob Howard, professor of old age psychiatry at University College London, told the MailOnline: “Full-blown hepatic encephalopathy looks different to dementia.

    “The symptoms of hepatic encephalopathy fluctuate in a way that Alzheimer’s doesn’t and anyone working in a memory clinic will be familiar with that.

    “No one should be diagnosed with dementia without physical causes for their confusion being excluded.”

    He added: “Simple tests should always be done and these include a liver function test.

    “But I don’t think it’s credible to say people with dementia have been misdiagnosed, based on this evidence.”

    The study is published in The American Journal of Medicine

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/26/one-in-eight-diagnosed-dementia-may-have-liver-disease/

    1. Interesting… I seem to be suffering the confusion, forgetfulness, concentration and memory issues related to this. Best get me checked out.

      2. I've had an abdominal scan. The conclusion was "your internal organs are looking good". I guess I'm just daft.

        1. I had a CT scan and head Xray a few months ago.
          “What did you find?” I asked.
          “Nothing” said the medic.
          🙁

  36. In October, we will be changing Costa del Skeg for Costa del Benidoom for a fortnight.

    and no, we do not go down "the Strip"

    1. Some forty something years ago when we first started going out together my wife and I spent a long spring weekend in Benidorm. Very built up, modern with great hotels. A young friend recently told us she was going there for a few days with her boyfriend and our eyes filled with stars as we reminisced.
      My son and family were there this summer and lamented that it isn’t promoted as glitzy and glamourous in the same way that the Americans promote Las Vegas, built in a similar era, classically old fashioned and really a national monument.
      Enjoy your holiday.

  37. Good morning all from the Milk Bar, Wooler, just beside the A697 before the road turns to go over Wooler Bridge.
    An excellent Glendale Show after a VERY stormy night.
    Plan heading to Newbiggin today then Dr. Daughter's for tonight.

    1. I used to drive that road often in the 1970s when going back home to Scotland. I preferred it to the A1.

      1. In the 1960s I went to Perthshire from London quite frequently. I'd use the A1 – turn off at Scotch Corner and take a B road north for several miles then join the A68 – for most of the rest of the trip to Edinburgh.

        Haven't been that way for 50 years! Has the road changed much (apart from potholes)??

    2. I used to drive that road often in the 1970s when going back home to Scotland. I preferred it to the A1.

    1. It has a paywall but I get some free to my inbox. To get all you need to pay but I received this one. He is brilliant. Utterly fact-based arguments. The left has no-one like this.

  39. I was thinking about this Prime Minister and it occurred to me that this is the first time in 75 years on this planet that I actually feared a PM. An emotion that should be unthinkable in Britain, a, purportedly, democratic country. So, I wondered how many of you have a similar sentiment?

    1. Labour have destroyed this country with the help of the Conservatives. I do fear for the future as we have an evil PM in my opinion. He is a fanatic.

      2. We need lynch mobs to round up ALL politicians, of ALL ranks, and ALL parties, and transport them to some uninhabited coral atoll in the Pacific.

        We can then start again with a system that works.

      3. He's not a fanatic.

        He's always been a Trotskyist.

        He's never concealed it, and he even edited a Trotsky magazine for some time.

    2. Morning Johnathan. I have always been curious about what is was like to live in a Police State. I'm not enjoying the actual experience.

      1. I knew what it was like living in a police state from being in Moscow in the sixties. I recognise it here in the 2020s.

    3. Flares of anger, actually. And, unexpectedly, rebelliousness. We protest politely and persistently. De-brainwash your MPs by constantly writing to them expressing concern. They are programmed to think your silence is your agreement. Meticulously investigate benefits to see if you are eligible for anything and apply as much as you can. The welfare system is unsustainable and the sooner the govt realise, the better. Do not pay energy bills by DD, let them chase you up for it. Express your concerns about the high bills to them. Do not give MiliMarx a clear run. I'm sure there are plenty of other ways to make our feelings known but we have to be persistent.

        2. I’m beginning to think we have become complacent because most things were generally working well. Our complacency is being grossly taken advantage of. Hence the horrors in government. We need to find a better selection system and we need to be more engaged and vigilant. We should absolutely regularly but politely bring our concerns to MPs. As you say, they interpret our silence as consent.

      2. I am doing my best to rebel. I'm ditching as much electricity as I can and never pay by DD. I constantly refuse a "smart" meter. I've applied for benefits in the past, but I've never been eligible, except for disability benefit (I claim that).

        1. Keep applying – they change criteria all the time. I think we should be creative. Everyone can devise their own small challenge of unfair systems. Everyone’s circumstances are different.

    4. A grey apparatchik.
      They are the most dangerous, because they are easily overlooked until it's too late.
      Like woodworm or black mould.

  40. Final results in for the carnage at The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts;

    230 people were arrested yesterday on top of the 104 on Sunday's 'Family Day' .
    Firearm possession 3. Sexual offences 12. Assault on Emergency Workers 52.
    5 stabbys in last day.
    35 LGBT Teletubbies were injured.

    all arrested face the full force of The Law & fast tracked through the courts, humiliated in public and deported to Rwanda.

    1. I'm waiting to hear the news about the similar carnage and arrests at Glyndebourne and Henley.

      1. I'm going to the Glyndebourne Prom on Thursday. I've read that they've messed with the ending so that Don Jose strangles Carmen instead of stabbing her. Ho hum. That's the one stabbing that actually ought to happen!

        1. Have they cut the opera to ten minutes so that Gen Z (or X or woteva) can cope with it?

          1. Wouldn't have surprised me but no, estimated running time is 6.30 pm to 10.05 pm with one interval. Mind, that probably includes at least 10 minutes of curtain calls, which I find tiresome but I think I have an aisle seat so can applaud and escape.

          2. I find the seemingly endless applause tedious in the extreme. Most times, musicians turn up, do their stuff and it is OK. Once or twice in a lifetime something truly stunning happens. Then I applaud.

          3. Or have they woven a gay sub-plot in to make it ‘relevant’?
            Alternatively, is Carmen portrayed as a trans woman since it is a mezzo role?

        2. Having once had to chase a Don José around the stage because he's picked up the wrong knife (a non-retracting one. He wasn't having any of it so I basically had to wrestle it off him 🙄), I'm fine with this change. 🤣🤣

          1. I was expecting DIE casting but Carmen is to be played by Rihab Chaieb, a Tunisian Arab, which is not wholly inappropriate?

          2. Indeed! And if she can get the attitude down (Carmen is absolutely not about the voice), good luck to her!

            Hope you have a fabulous evening.

  41. 'Morning All
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3aac551bc399f4a488bdb8a4a7b28af70540a8b22ec382c9847f2544a52cb893.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/44403c7ad4959115bfe713aca5405acc31960370746b0c01ae6d1d037563fb08.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/50a80cdce457c5c7d752078c9ce2684c0163adf52e9fbc039910e03a0ef8143c.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ce9e93f3975bd7ed492775080ce71d8d9aa6e7caed658e9ab4278b720da8fc90.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f2b605a5116ed211e9c485c79b75245776785a6252e461a8f349cf6e2e7745f8.jpg

    2. Just had a post on Facebook removed. It was the same picture with caption: "Wake up Ange, he has nearly finished talking the usual b*ll*ocks". Was it because I misspelt bowlocks? Seems a bit harsh to me. My name is in the book now – Don't tell anyone Pike!

      1. We live in strange times.
        Earlier today, I had a post BTL at the Spectator held over by the mods (ie consigned to a black hole). The offending part of the post was apparently ‘e.g. final’ (I’d made a reference to final salary pensions)
        I am mystified – is there some obscene meaning that has escaped me?

      2. We live in strange times.
        Earlier today, I had a post BTL at the Spectator held over by the mods (ie consigned to a black hole). The offending part of the post was apparently ‘e.g. final’ (I’d made a reference to final salary pensions)
        I am mystified – is there some obscene meaning that has escaped me?

  42. Yvette Cooper has been bleating about anti-establishment rhetoric. Surely, no group of people is more guilty of anti-establishment rhetoric than this iteration of a Labour government? Anti-law and order (criminals set free, reduced sentencing, selective arrests based on colour of skin); anti growth in the UK economy (anti-growth taxes); anti-free speech (reducing powers of the Free Speech Act in universities), clampdown on ordinary law-abiding citizens' views; anti-British culture (constant attacks on British traditions and values). I could go on.

  43. ‘No whites’ graffiti in Birmingham investigated by police

    Slogans appear in three locations, with CCTV capturing moment hooded figure sprays one on wall outside primary school

    Confirmation of the identity of the graffiti artist should be reasonably easy, if the police examine any documents that the suspect has written

    Capital letters have been used in the spraying of the 'message', however, the letter i, in white, has been written large in lower case WHiTE, not WHITE.

    The same applies to the message on Farndon Road

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/26/no-whites-graffiti-investigated-police-birmingham-alum-rock/

    2. The lettering of i makes sense if you know that in some alphabets, there are two letters : undotted i and dotted i. These are pronounced differently. The capital letter of undotted i is like our normal capitalised i; in order to capitalise dotted i you have to add the dot.

      Conclusion: whoever wrote the graffiti did not have any European language as his or her mother tongue.

      Hoodagestit?

  44. Several years ago I posted a long rant about the politicisation of our Judiciary led by the arch wrecker Blair who changed the manner judges were appointed allowing lawyers to apply for judgeships in areas they "had a special interest" in
    There has been a few very awkward twitter reveals that shows a number of judges failing to jail those convicted of noncery and kiddie porn while instantly banging up or denying bail(against the bail act) those prosecuted for meme crime
    I wonder if they have a "special interest" that needs a hard drive check………..
    It is obvious they have received and are obeying political directions and the proof of the pudding??
    Let's see how many of the very violent offenders at the Notting Hill crimefest are "fast tracked" denied bail sent to jail within days
    Two Tier oh no sir no sireee
    https://x.com/MartinDaubney/status/1828311256018940107

    2. If you want less of something, tax it. High taxes on employment, job creation, wealth creation all discourage those things.

      I work a 4 day week reduce my tax rate. I don't see why I should pay for the state to destroy my income. The Warqueen stopped working 6 hour days for half a million a year because of taxation. That money isn't coming back to the UK. It's gone. If Starmer comes for more then I'll work even fewer days. I don't wish to pay to support African windmills.

      1. Wow. Those stupid lads at the end. Still, they probably don’t pay any taxes so what donthwy care?

    2. Let's face it, the only ones who say they are ok with mass and illegal immigration are the ones who are not paying for it/in publicly funded jobs.

      1. Ask Soros, Schwab and Goats. He is just carrying out their diktat.

        If you look carefully, you can see the strings.

    2. They're not asylum seekers. They're criminal welfare shoppers.

      I do think it's a bit unfair of the Tories that criminal gimmigrants were put in Labour heartlands. Labour heartlands that voted to leave the EU and end gimmigration, because it was making them miserable. Frankly the Tories should simply have changed the law to get rid of the vermin.

  48. I know nothing about the pop band called Oasis – except that its progenitors seem to be two self-obsessed, self-loathing brothers who wear sulky, surly faces all the time.

    Can't quite understand why they are all over the meeja just now.

    Can any ravers out there help?

    2. Like the Beatles captured the zeitgeist in Liverpool at the time, Oasis did the same for Manchester. I think you have to be young to get caught up in the madness. Then surf the wave.

    4. "…two self-obsessed, self-loathing brothers who wear sulky, surly faces all the time."

      Perfect, Bill!

    5. They must be short of cash because they're getting together again and will be doing a tour.

    6. Husband is incandescent about how uninteresting this news is and how untalented they are.

      I am vaguely aware of them, but not engaged, though of course alert to the ghastly "Don't Look Back in Anger" which, along with the equally dire "Imagine" (from the least talented but marginally most big-headed Beatle) is prescribed by the PTB to be sung by the compliant masses following any of the repetitively routine Islamic atrocities perpetrated upon children.

      They have very sneery voices, each song sounds the same and they sing below the note (flat), even when they begin to approach the notional tune. Nevertheless, the masses seem to worship them.

      As Noel Coward quipped: "It's extraordinary how potent cheap music is"

  49. Honesty goes down the black hole with Two-Tier Keir
    By Laura Perrins – August 27, 2024 : https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/honesty-goes-down-the-black-hole-with-two-tier-keir/

    Remember the Capitol riots after the 2020 US election?

    These were grossly exaggerated – or even fabricated – for political advantage by the unscrupulous Democrats – indeed some of the TV coverage on Fox News indicated that there were no riots at all.

    Starmer is implementing the first rule of Left wing politics and has learnt from Biden : find a scapegoat, slander him, use the law against him and divert attention away from yourself. Starmer has chosen a virtually non-existent extreme far right and is using exactly the same tactic against the so-called "Far Right" that Biden used by exaggerating a virtually non-existent insurrection triggered by Trump.

        1. There's an EDL Ltd incorporated on 15 March 2024 but it's listed as a retail mail order company owned by a Romanian called Simona Ionela Albu. There've also been others but all, as far as I can see, are now dissolved.

      2. It was disolved some years ago. and is now just an organisation that the left will not let go.

        1. And Tommy Robinson resigned from the party in October 2013 – nearly eleven years ago.

          The then government was led by Cameron/Clegg and Labour was led by Ed Lunatic Miliband.

    2. I am reading Andy Ngo’s book “Unmasked” which documents this is a lot of detail; and the disingenuousness of the Democrats and legacy media in its reporting of events. Truly worrying, how ideologically stupid, wilfully blind (and easily manipulated) they were.

    3. My memory was of a bunch of daft people wearing idiotic hats walking through their own property – government offices – saying thank you to the security men.

    1. Who's going to check the Dominion machines and intervene when the Dems try to shut down counting at midnight then turn up at 3 am with boxes full of fake votes? I write purely from memory since Google is hardly likely to verify my recollections?

    2. Trump needs to learn 'never interrupt your enemy while they're making a mistake' and Let harris say and do what she likes. Her supporters hate Trump. He jus needs to present the policies he enacted that helped people with real word examples. harris cannot do that. Her ideology prevents her from making people better off.

    3. This is the type of attack which Trump should be making on Harris – targeting her record rather than making petty remarks about her appearance etc.

    4. This is the type of attack which Trump should be making on Harris – targeting her record rather than making petty remarks about her appearance etc.

    5. This is the type of attack which Trump should be making on Harris – targeting her record rather than making petty remarks about her appearance etc.

  51. If this is true why weren't all the public bodies, such as the BoE, the OBR, and all the financial analysts, academics and journalists screaming it from the rooftops? Because basically it isn't true, it's merely an excuse for a petty, spiteful and envious group of little shits to hammer the middle classes so that they can hand out bucketloads of money to those least deserving largesse

    Keir Starmer warns a 'painful Budget' is coming amid fears of tax rises in gloomy speech blaming Tories for leaving economy 'worse than we ever imagined'- but defends handing striking workers billions while cutting heating help for pensioners

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13783515/Keri-Starmer-defends-cutting-winter-fuel-payments-pensioners-blames-Tories.html

      1. BBC R4 asked for a minister to appear on 'The World At One'. Labour sent Jonathan Ashworth, who is no longer an MP, having lost his Leicester South seat to a Hamas supporter in the GE. He is now the chief executive of the Labour Together thinktank.

        He solemnly intoned that the cost of the Tories' mismanagement had to be borne by those with the broadest shoulders: non-doms and private schools…

      2. 12 Billion to "fight" climate chage in Africa

        So, it is getting colder there

        Good the locals will not need to ccome to UK cool down

    2. "Hammering the 'middle classes'?" Is there more than one?

      I think he's hammering the working class (his core support group) even more. Working people will find losing the winter fuel payment far more difficult to cope with than the so-called professional classes will.

      1. The concept of class has changed in my view.

        I believe there is more than one middle class, in the same way that I believe that working class includes all those who work and pay their taxes, be they Lords and ladies or street sweepers. It is possible to occupy more than one class too, it's an outdated concept/shorthand, which I use for convenience

        It depends what you mean by even more. If he increases inheritance tax, school fees, capital gains tax, reduces allowances, taxes small businesses puts up costs etc, to the extent that individuals' way of life is utterly changed, I would regard that as being hit hard.

        1. In the old days pre-Blair (we're all middle class now), there were the lower middle classes who had just made the transition and the upper middle classes who were looking to ape the gentry. The middle middle classes were the entrepreneurs and shop keepers in the main. The backbone of the economy.

          1. There was also a snobbery about “professionals” and “tradesmen” within the class structure.
            It really pissed me off with my F-i-L who wasn’t all that great at his professional job sneering at his B-i-L who was a millionaire (in the days when that was very, very serious money) from engineering.
            Particularly when his sister, wife of said engineer, had stepped aside to allow her brother to take over her place in the hierarchy where they worked as “professionals”.

          2. Despised by all – and still are. This is why the current incumbent social climbers are so very keen to crush the rest of us.

      2. Working people don't vote Labour.

        Lower paid people do because they think labour will make them better off. The problem is, they're lower paid for a reason: they think taking money away from high earners means they get it. But what they forget is that if higher earners have less money to spend then the jobs selling the rich the things they want – typically done by the lower earners – vanish.

        There are petty, spiteful, not very bright people who refute this of course, but there are far more people who just say 'tax da wich' as if this didn't immediately fall on their faces.

        1. When I gave up the TV licence I made the point to the licensing people that having lost the WFA, I could no longer afford the telly tax so I gave my TV away. You can only spend it once.

    1. Tried to read the comments but it wouldn't load the comment thread, which could be a genuine technical hitch but probably isn't. Who are the "experts"?

      2. Experts?
        The usual subjects.
        Any random academics who may be working within a nearby field of research, extrapolating answers from what they don’t know compared with what they do, aka educated guessing

        1. Considering the number of homosexuals working for the BBC I'm surprised they covered it at all.

      3. That was standard monkeypox.

        This is new, improved, and scarier monkeypox which, naturally, will require massive amounts of aid to Africa to pay for the vaccines, which will be produced in the developed world at great expense.

  53. In a new article, reader Rob mason predicts revolution by next year on Free Speech.

    Please read it and let us know what you think.

    freespeechbacklash.com

  54. At what point does a protest become a 'riot' and when do everyone attending being 'thugs'?

    Simple, it depends on the ethnicity of thug….. know what I mean???????

    1. When I decide to organise a riot, I will call a Caribbean Carnival.
      Then all us evil old white grannies can run amok with our knitting needles, while flogging off our bottles of valium and frusemide, without let or hindrance.

    2. Funnily enough, I thought that today when I read the headlines in the local rag. The "far-right, thuggish rioters", were actually protesters. The BLM crew, on the other hand, really were rioters.

  56. So Starmer says we have to accept short term pain for long term gain.
    Well all except for the elderly, without a long term left.
    When Starmer said he wanted closer ties with the EU,
    We didn't realised that was short for euthanasia

  57. I wonder which bright spark thought this would be a good idea….?

    "A German plan to charge more for using electricity on cloudy days has been dismissed as “crazy” by businesses.

    The country is pushing the use of solar power and other forms of renewable energy, and as part of that has said people should pay more for electricity usage on days with no sun – a concept companies say will harm their competitiveness.
    The economy ministry outlined its energy plans earlier this month in a project called “electricity market of the future”.
    A key area involves varying electricity charges to discourage usage in dull weather.

    The proposal, which has yet to be agreed upon by Olaf Scholz’s cabinet, would see transmission charges hiked at times when wind parks and solar panels are producing too little electricity."

      1. The sun has got his hat on 5hit, 5hit, 5hit No way
        The sun has got his hat on
        And he's gonna make you pay
        Now we're all unhappy
        5hit, 5hit, 5hit No way
        The sun has got his hat on
        And he's gonna make you pay
        Ed's been paying Natives out in Timbuktu
        Now he's coming back to take even more from you….

        1. Go to 59 seconds on this video and you will see that the original word was not Natives!

    3. The same happens here. It's why energy is going up in October. The unreliables will produce less but will still demand the subsidy. Don't folk know this?

      This is why energy is so expensive in this country: the 'climate change' hoax and 'net zero' abomination.

    4. Of course, in a free market, not only do suppliers charge more when supplies are low, but also when demand is high. So it is rational to charge more for electricity on cold winter nights when demand will be very high. You know it makes sense. (/sarc)

  58. Keir Starmer has never looked less happy to be in power
    The Prime Minister looked glum as he gave his address, preparing the nation for yet more misery
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/27/keir-starmer-has-never-looked-less-ready-for-power/

    Adam and Eve have been expelled from the Garden – but the Serpent remains!

    (England is no longer this other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself!)

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d3478d497d5584dd39fa36d7804f2e688f03830b5755b56b7ddd80a0764b97a0.png

        1. Ah, Kilometres Kington, l’inventeur de Franglais etait un member de Instant Sunshine.
          Pris trop jeune.

          1. Du moins, il s'appellait "Miles". J'ai surnomme Mark Johnston "Metric" Johnston – il n'aime pas utiliser "furlongs".

    3. He feels our pain, Rastus – but not as much as he will when we finally boot him out. (Except by then he'll be a made man.)

      1. There are some great memes buzzing around with those words corrected to more accurately describe his intentions towards the lower echelons and the country in general

      2. Just commented at the Speccie, wondering which of the myriad of underpinning methods Sir2TKS proposed to use to fix our foundations. And listed them.

        Comment was zapped instantly. If we can’t even discuss construction methods, I’m afraid free speech is no more. I fear for the future.

  60. Normally Junior and I go shopping. We abseil from the chopper, smash a pane of glass on the way in, shoot a few rounds to keep people out of the way, basket each. He loads up the light stuff, I get the heavy. We get the stuff in double quick, throw a card at the assistant, smash a window pane on the way out, run back, hop on the chopper skids and we're away.

    (It's less exciting than that but the principle's the same).

    This time _she_ came with us. Oh dear life. Every onion inspected. 4 peppers checked. She doesn't even bally cook! Junior got confused as things we don't ever buy went into his basket. Mongo – usually used to us being back within ten mins (he won't let Junior go unless he's with him) came pootling into the store trailing the bollard we'd hooked him to. Found the security man making a fuss of him.

    After many apologies and a fair bit of dribble we explained to the Warqueen that we usually took 15 mins, not 45. So she flounced off to buy a coat – to go with the other 20 or so other coats. we waited over two ruddy hours. 2 hours! before she reappeared.

    1. The picture of Mongo in the store had me in stitches. It reminded me of my Patterdale, whom I left outside while I nipped in for a few things, only to find him snuffling down the aisles to find me. At least he only trailed his lead, not the hitching post.

    1. My chum's wife wanted to learn about Britain so I suggested she watch Blackadder, Monty Python, Dad's Army and the Young Ones.

      I also recommended many books and some music but she found the TV series' the most accessible.

      1. "The Young Ones" was painfully unfunny. One of the most criminal wastes of licence-fee money in history.

          1. Countless people like “Only Fools and Horses”. I am not one of them. I am much more at home with “Porridge” and “Fawlty Towers.”

        2. I agree. But my husband liked it (i didn’t know him at the time; nor indeed of his penchant for liking it when i married him).

        3. I agree – it was unwatchable. Rik Myall was vastly overrated – but to be fair he did improve a bit as he grew up.

          1. Rik Mayall, IIRC, had started to let slip some rather inconvenient truths about the entertainment business, the BBC and the Establishment in general just before he died so unexpectedly and mysteriously aged 59. I cannot now locate any of the video clips that I recall from those times. Would be interested if anyone else has them.

          2. Adrian Edmondson has proved himself to be a very successful and talented serious actor.

  63. Henceforth I am self-identifying as The Black Hole and will thus get lots of money thrown at me.

    Just how stupid do they think we are?

    1. Judging by many commenters on youtube and twitter, nextdoor – folk are very, very, very stupid. Very stupid indeed.

    2. Very, I'm afraid. Still, the level of stupidity was sufficient to get them elected, even if it was only 20%.

  66. Not too bright…

    CAPITAL GAINS TAX RAID DETERRING GREEN ENERGY INVESTORS

    Starmer has been gearing the nation up today for a “painful” budget this October, once again dodging the question of wealth taxes, particularly a capital gains tax raid. He insists that “broader shoulders should bear the heaviest burdens” to fill the so-called black hole. Meanwhile, businesses and landlords are scrambling to sell up to avoid the looming raid, and green energy investors are hitting pause on their plans, spooked by the prospect of Reeves’ Autumn Statement on the eve of Halloween…

    With capital gains tax raids in sight, private investors are getting cold feet. NatPower UK’s CEO, who promised to pump £10 billion into UK green energy, says investors are stalling due to the expected tax hikes:

    “I’m talking with investors and they are definitely considering and waiting for decisions to be made so that they can make their own decisions. For infrastructure investors in the energy transition, it is the capital gains tax that is particularly relevant.”

    Labour’s been pushing the narrative that their costly GB Energy plan will be bankrolled by the private sector, sparing taxpayers the cheque to reach Net Zero, though as Guido’s flagged before, the numbers don’t add up. Labour cutting their nose despite their face on capital gains tax could force them into yet another policy U-turn. If private investors bolt, “working people” will be left footing the bill to meet Net Zero targets—or more likely, the 2030 goal will be quietly shelved. The latter might be the better option…

    1. Labour's numbers never have added up when it comes to the economy. The only numbers they consider are the hundreds of thousands of illegals they are foisting on us.

    2. Something that deters green energy investors?

      This must be the sole good thing that has come out of the current abysmal government.

      But of course they need to go far further and remove all subsidies from the fraudulent 'green' businesses.

  67. Gavin Mortimer
    The Islamists want to silence music the way they have free speech
    25 August 2024, 12:26pm

    The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack on Friday at a festival in Germany that left three people dead and many more wounded. In a statement they said one of their ‘soldiers’ carried out the attack ‘as revenge against Muslims in Palestine and everywhere’.

    As soon as news broke of Friday’s attack in the town of Solingen, fifteen miles east of Düsseldorf, seasoned observers of Islamist extremism knew who to blame.

    Despite the risible posturing of western governments in recent years that far-right fanatics pose as great a threat to our way of life as Islamic extremists, the people aren’t fooled. It’s not the far-right who have murdered priests, police officers, schoolteachers, journalists and Jewish children. Nor have they targeted music venues which is clearly the new strategy of Islamist terrorists.

    It began in 2015, when an Islamic State terror cell massacred 130 people at the Bataclan theatre in Paris, where they had gathered to watch a heavy metal band.

    Two years later a suicide bomber killed 22 people, mostly youngsters, in Manchester as they danced to the American singer Ariana Grande.

    In March this year, Islamic State gunmen murdered 137 people in Moscow as they attended a concert by the rock band Picnic. In the wake of that attack, some western journalists linked the targeting of Picnic to their support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    Islamic State slaughtered 145 people in Moscow’s Crocus City Hall for the same reason they did in the Bataclan and for the same reason they planned to at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna earlier this month.

    Acting on information provided by foreign intelligence services, Austrian police arrested three young men described as ‘ISIS sympathisers’, who were preparing to launch a suicide attack during the concert.

    Islamic extremists consider listening to music a sin. When the Islamic State established its caliphate in Iraq and Syria a decade ago it banned the sale and the playing of music. ‘Stringed instruments and songs are forbidden in Islam because they distract from the evocation of God and the Koran, and are a source of trouble and corruption for the heart,’ they said in a statement.

    Claiming that music is illicit is also a means for Islamists to reinforce the ‘them’ and ‘us’ narrative in the west; in taking responsibility for the attack in Paris in November 2015, Islamic State described France as the ‘capital of prostitution and obscenity’.

    Their strategy is working. In December last year an extensive survey about French Muslims and their relationship with religion and secularism found that 49 percent of Muslim pupils in French schools absented themselves from music lessons on religious grounds.

    What the Islamists hate (and fear) most is music from the mouths of young liberated women who are free to wear and say what they like. Taylor Swift, who has built a huge army of many millions of fans around the world – known as ‘Swifties’ – embodies this emancipation.

    In an interview with Elle magazine in 2019, Swift said that the Manchester bombing two years earlier had left her ‘completely terrified to go on tour’. Not just for own safety, but the millions of fans attending her shows.

    Austrian police may have averted a catastrophe this month but in a sense the Islamic State can still celebrate a victory; Swift’s three concerts in Vienna were cancelled so they silenced the music.

    This is what the Islamists ultimately want, to rid or at least restrict music in Europe. They will be encouraged by the success they have had in restricting freedom of expression in the ten years since they murdered the staff of Charlie Hebdo. ‘Je suis Charlie’, cried Europe as one in the immediate aftermath, but who now has the courage to criticise Islam?

    ‘We have to live bravely in order to truly feel alive, and that means not being ruled by our greatest fears,’ said Swift in 2019.

    The Islamists know that Europe is not a continent brimming with courage. Teachers, journalists and politicians now self-censor to avoid causing offence and endangering themselves. How long before musicians and music teachers pack away their instruments for good?

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

    Sir Bufton Tufton
    2 days ago
    And yet it's a complete coincidence that a young man here in the UK attacked little girls who attended a Taylor Swift dance class…

    Stanley Sir Bufton Tufton
    2 days ago edited
    The most disgusting thing is Starmer and police saying it wasn't terror related.

    Well, just think how terrified those children felt seeing a black man with crazy hair and a knife stabbing everyone he saw.
    Those children were in a state of terror, and if that's not terror related what is.

    Starmer so as not to offend black immigrants chose to ignore the children, and instead protect the mass murder.

    What an absolute disgusting excuse for a human being Starmer is.

    Cunningham Lowe Stanley
    2 days ago
    Exactly. How can such a thing not be "terror" related? There were also eyewitness reports at the time that he was "shouting" as he carried out his acts of terror but not what he was shouting. There were also reports that police "warned" eyewitnesses not to disclose anything they had seen or heard. Were these reports "misinformation"? Who knows but perhaps we'll find out the trial next year – not very swift justice is this instance clearly – if there are no "reporting restrictions" placed on it.

    Hominoidal Tendencies Sir Bufton Tufton
    2 days ago
    He took a taxi to the specific venue, didn't he? But nothing to see here.

    Alastair Harris Sir Bufton Tufton
    2 days ago
    It does seem strange that the underlying motive for this horrible attack has not been established.

    DerekB Alastair Harris
    2 days ago
    Established or communicated?

    1. Charlie Hebdo has been culled into submission by Islam.

      It is quite understandable that they don't want another outbreak of murder visited upon then so now they are focussing their vitriolic bile against the Catholic Church by showing a cartoon of the defilement of the Virgin Mary.

      A brave and principled editor stands up to the horrors of Islam; a weak and cowardly editor surrenders and redirects his attention towards a target who will not strike back.

      Charlie Hebdo does not deserve our approbation.

    2. It isn't islamist extremism, it's islam tout court. Who has the courage to challenge islam? Well certainly not the govt whose duty is defence of the realm. Not the press, either. Ils ne sont pas Charlie pour peur qu'ils aussi soient tues. Not the ordinary people who would stand up and be counted because they are whisked off to gaol instanter or live in fear of their lives, not enjoying politicians' levels of protection.

  68. An interesting article from the Speccie.

    “Keir Starmer is making a big mistake by cancelling the appointment of one of Britain’s top generals as national security adviser. General Gwyn Jenkins, the ex-vice-chief of the armed forces, was picked for the role by Rishi Sunak in April. Jenkins is a widely-respected military man and was a perfect choice for the job. But Starmer has reportedly axed Jenkins’s appointment and opted instead to re-run the application process.

    We can only guess at the motivation, because Downing Street has made no official announcement
    Jenkins is, technically, entitled to apply a second time. He is a formidably qualified candidate: a Royal Marines general who was vice-chief of the Defence Staff until June, he had previously served as military assistant to prime minister David Cameron and deputy national security adviser with responsibility for conflict, stability and defence from 2014 to 2017. However, if his first appointment – which was carried out under normal procedures and regulations – has been cancelled it is hard to see why he would suddenly be chosen a second time.

    Starmer could come to regret his decision. To overturn a senior official appointment like this, when it has been made properly several months before, publicly and formally announced, and when the individual involved has left his previous position, is absolutely extraordinary. If Starmer is unhappy that Sunak made this appointment, he shouldn’t be: there is no prohibition on governments at the possible or even likely end of their time in office making important choices of officials. Gordon Brown named Sir Mark Lyall Grant as permanent representative to the United Nations only six months before he lost the 2010 election, while Edward Heath appointed a new ambassador to Washington and a new permanent secretary to the Treasury in the last weeks of his administration.”

      1. The plan is to stuff the armed forces and the police with DIE merchants, particular the RoP. Of course, we all know where such a policy is leading. Maybe General GJ is more interested in the security and wellbeing of the UK than the introduction of Sharia as our supreme governance.

    2. "He is a formidably qualified candidate: a Royal Marines general who was vice-chief of the Defence Staff until June, he had previously served as military assistant to prime minister David Cameron and deputy national security adviser with responsibility for conflict, stability and defence from 2014 to 2017."
      There's the problem. He knows his job.

          2. Don't knock woodblock prints some of them are really good. I find printing really difficult; it's having to think back to front that does it.

          4. Interesting you should say that, Connors. When I know that a picture is going wrong but cannot see why, i look at it in a mirror, or upside down, or both, then it becomes very clear. I think its all to do with Right Brain v Left Brain (see, eg Ian McGichrist for more ludic explanation.)

          1. dreichus, lacoste? nimbus…or is this a Wordle ..:-D before you ask, not got round to it yet, too much else to do, taking a few minutes’ escape here..

      3. An 8-metre race? Just seconds after the starting pistol is fired then, the race will be over. ?!?!?

        1. An 8-Metre yacht is designed by a formula specifying a waterline-length of eight metres, Elsie.
          The same idea applies to 12-Metre and 6-Metre yachts.

          BTW, there is no pistol; yachtsmen use a CANNON – together with flags – to signal starting, finishing or alterations of course.

          An 8-metre race also applies to Very Tall People, my Dear!

          1. Thanks for the clarification, lacoste. Not sure I understand about firing a cannon in the public baths, though, surely a Very Tall Person would reach the other side of the swimming pool much sooner than a shorty like me. Lol.

        2. Ignore the alligator dressed as a crocodile.
          Ocean racing is standing under a cold shower tearing up ten pound notes, no wonder he's snappy!

          2. Oddly enough, I was going to put £50 but though that I recalled that the original quote was tenners.
            BUT
            Since posting I gather it was Ted Heath and he said fivers.

    1. Try as I might, the only word that springs to eye is A R S E.
      In the plural if I really concentrate.

  72. Evening, all. Am here early again because the weather is definitely not conducive to working in the garden – cold, dull, wet … typical August. I've lit a fire. It won't warm the water, but it will mean I shan't freeze to death while I'm typing this and, as a bonus, once the embers are glowing nicely I shall be able to toast crumpets.

    I am sure "equestrians" on the whole do take welfare seriously and any abuses are rare (though highly publicised). What I would call "horse users", on the other hand, probably not much. We are all going to be tarred with the same brush in an attempt to stop anybody integrating horses into their lifestyle as anything other than field ornaments.

    1. Temperature here has been 24c this afternoon ..

      My bleat about horses is that here and there parents buy ponies for their offspring, because they can afford to do it , next thing ponies languish in fields , bored , fed up and unloved .

      I have every respect for proper horse owners , and all the wonderful events horses and ponies can take part in , including the polo ponies that the military use.

      2. Well yes, but that's what the Animal Rights people want for them. They do not want animals to be cherished as pets and companions.

        What usually happens without human intervention is that the weakest will die in horrid ways or through predation when they become too weak to run away, or through starvation when their teeth go bad (part of the horse's digestive system involves the grinding of fibre with saliva before it even enters the digestive tract – if their teeth are not up to this, or not kept at workable levels to grind against each other, the fibre will pass straight through. Result: however much they eat they will slowly starve to death). Or they will get too fat with associated painful diseases. Or, or, or.

        The fact is the domesticated horse has an almost perfect symbiotic relationship with a kind and appreciative human. Most cruelty is unintentional, through ignorance or poverty. Some, however, isn't – and this is observable on a daily basis amongst yet another Premier Tier demographic which proliferates in Wales.

    2. It's fairly warm and sunny here (warmer than yesterday anyway) but unpleasantly windy, so I didn't stay long in the garden, did the watering and that was it.

      2. Similar here, Ndovu, but the sunny weather and light breeze has enabled me to do a lot of washing today.

    2. Happy to report I've infected a couple of other people today with the Wordle bug…less happy to report the usual from me…painting went quite well tho 🙂

        1. I've now been shown how to do that, and hope to tomorrow. I did mine today on a motorway drive (passenger). I'm the only one in my family who is hopeless with numbers :/- my mum was a crossword wizard.

          3. I am getting considerably worse at crosswords as I get older.

            When I first started teaching in a small private school in Bideford in the 1970s we had a DT crossword team of four : a retired army colonel who taught history, a young maths teacher, a middle-age French teacher and myself. It was a considered a very bad day when we did not finish the DT crossword in 15 minutes.

            When I first went to teach at Allhallows near Lyme Regis my flat was near a Sixth Form study room. I offered the boys a 50 p prize for any day when they completed the DT crossword before I did.

            One of these boys, after leaving school and during his time studying law, joined me in 1984/85 to cross the Atlantic in my then boat Raua. Not only did the Law Society name him as the young solicitor of the year when he went into a law leading London firm of solicitors but was the youngest in his generation to be made a partner in his firm. Not only did he become immensely rich but he also became far better at crosswords than I ever was.

          4. We used to have a crossword corner in the staffroom; Mick, Head of English, der Fuehrer and I. We'd demolish the Times, the DT, even the Grauniad. We used to have a quiz team as well along with Hoppy (who was sane and had a proper job).

          6. The first part of your post has the makings a a magnificent Waugh satire, Rastus. You'd need to make the rest less heroic, though 🙂

          7. My father was stoic socialist, his newspaper of choice Daily Mirror – mum said the crossword the most difficult/enjoyable (this was decades ago). Good memory, watching how much she enjoyed it.

    3. Impressive! Boring par here.

      Wordle 1,165 4/6

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

    4. Well done, I wish I hadn't bothered today. From your post I now know the answer.

      Wordle 1,165 X/6

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

      1. What a complete bugger, mola, you must have exhausted all the alternatives -I hate those!!!

    5. BBirdies Are almost as gooʻd.

      Wordle 1,165 3/6

      ⬜🟨🟩🟨⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    6. Blimey Rene, I'm going to have to demand a drugs test here before this one can be considered legit!

      In the meantime, very well done, yet another boring par for me…..
      Wordle 1,165 4/6

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

    1. Fenland celery is actually delicious. Unfortunately it has a very short season and can be difficult to come by.

      1. Fenland celery with cheese – any cheese – is the biz.
        The only Colchester greengrocer who sold it has retired.

      1. Slice it very finely and sprinkle over salads, on soups or on almost anything and it is heavenly. Just don't tell anyone what it is.

    3. The only edible celery is the very white one that you can only buy during the depths of winter.
      Tastes even better if the black Fenland earth is still on it.

  75. Hmmm
    Dr. Meryl Nass: "How all the countries did the lockdowns together and restricted the hydroxychloroquine and the ivermectin together. That only happens if you have some entity that is above all of our national governments and is giving them orders. And one of the ways that they can carry this out is because there's so many young global leaders who were heads of state as when Covid occurred. Most of them have been thrown out, Macron's still there, but they were trained for this to obey and to carry out their orders.
    So the World Economic Forum, I don't think they are the people sitting on top, but they're a mechanism my which multinations can all act together at the same time against their own people."
    https://x.com/newstart_2024/status/1828452739602645243

    1. Many parts of India and Africa (countries teeming with humanity, often living in deep poverty and close proximity) made both medications freely available over-the-counter. You'll never guess what happened (or didn't happen).

          4. Not as far as I know, KJ, but I might have got it the wrong way around (not unusual!). It is my understanding that India as a whole did not really swallow the vaccination schtick and that some states did as I've described above (made the proven alternative treatments legally available to all at very low cost). Open to correction, as aye.

          5. Very similar here :-DD Possibly India just didn’t want to bear the cost both of vaccine and administering it. Always open to correction, too – might larn summat!

          6. India has learnt to be cynical about foreign "good intentions", as has Africa. They also have some very intelligent and independent thinking proper scientists who are not in the Globalist pocket. Long may it last.

  81. BREAKING NEWS Two men are charged with murdering mother and her three children aged nine, five and 22 months in Bradford house fire
    By Megan Howe

    Published: 17:19, 27 August 2024 | Updated: 17:34, 27 August 2024

    e-mail
    Two men have been charged with murdering a mother and her three children who died in a house fire in Bradford.

    Mohammed Shabir, aged 44, and Calum Sunderland, aged 25, both of Keighley, have been charged with four counts of murder and one count of attempt murder.

    The pair were arrested over the weekend in connection with the deaths.

    Shabir and Sunderland have been remanded in custody and are due to appear at Bradford Magistrates Court tomorrow.

    Bryonie Gawith, 29, died at the scene while her children Denisty, nine, Oscar, five, and Aubree Birtle, 22 months, died in hospital after the horror blaze on Westbury Road, Bradford on Wednesday, August 21.

    West Yorkshire Police said their home was 'deliberately set alight' in the early hours.

    Four other people remain under investigation.

    A 39-year-old man arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder remains in hospital in a critical condition.

    A 36-year-old man arrested on Friday on suspicion of murder and attempt murder has been interviewed and released on conditional bail.

    A 54-year-old woman and 42-year-old man arrested on Monday on suspicion of assisting an offender have been interviewed and released on bail.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13784941/Two-men-charged-murdering-mother-three-children-aged-Bradford-house-fire.html

  83. There is now a big problem with the lack of prison places, while they are all playing the blame game.
    But why is nobody blaming the sharp rise in the imported population?

    2. Bring back the good old days when you would be transported if you nicked something worth more than 5 bob.

          1. I thought so too, but was corrected. Perhaps I should try correcting the one who corrected me……..

        2. Was it the same William Golding who wrote Rites of Passage and Lord of the Flies? Read both but not sure if it was the same man.

      2. Forget that, dear mola, you will now have your hand cut off under the new Uberstarmerfuhrer regime. In public, to boot.

  84. NORMAL FOR NORFOLK

    Street lights at crash blackspot turned off to cut carbon emissions

    Residents fear move by Conservative-run Norfolk authority will endanger lives

    Tim Sigsworth
    27 August 2024 • 5:00pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2024/08/27/TELEMMGLPICT000391324414_17247684451780_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq6W5U3i7aIsD-FFe7YFdv_k0i99wolI8tch7HjyTG-C4.jpeg?imwidth=680
    The stretch of road near King's Lynn has a series of hidden dips CREDIT: Google Maps

    https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTUVrWswN3V-r13LIsGkDNhapPcDkgk6Q5RgDA05T2_W4oUR9gw9COPXLEpZJ3Oo4Fe-yM&usqp=CAU

    Street lights will be turned off on a road notorious for car crashes under a council’s plans to cut carbon emissions.

    Residents fear that the removal of lighting from a section of the B1145 near King’s Lynn, which has a series of hidden dips, will endanger motorists.

    Two serious accidents have occurred at night on the road in the past six months, and a number of deaths have happened there in recent years.

    Norfolk county council has insisted that it has no safety concerns about the plans, which it previously said would be “significantly contributing” towards its plans to create a “net zero Norfolk”.

    The Conservative-run authority wants to switch off 1,000 of the county’s 50,000 streetlights to save up to £200,000 and cut annual carbon emissions by 76 tonnes a year.

    But there are concerns that the proposal – part of wider cuts worth £42 million – could have fatal consequences.

    Alexandra Kemp, Independent councillor for Clenchwarton and King’s Lynn South, said that the streetlights on the road, known locally as the Bawsey Dips, “should be extended, not switched off”.

    She said: “All of us around here know people who have sadly lost their lives or been maimed going down the Bawsey Dips, even going back 40 years.

    “It shows a complete lack of willingness from Norfolk county council to listen properly to the concerns of residents.”

    Edmund King, president of the AA, said turning off the lights on dangerous roads risks turning them into “potential overnight death-traps”.

    “There is a huge irony that, while councils will pour millions of pounds into traffic calming schemes proclaiming their road safety value, they will switch off street lights and turn the same roads into potential overnight death traps,” he said.

    “We would urge local authorities to think twice before switching off the lights particularly on roads with poor road safety or physical safety records.”

    In July, the driver of a Jaguar XJS was taken to hospital with serious injuries after crashing into a tree on the road shortly after midnight.

    Three months earlier, on April 24, a cyclist required hospital treatment for a head injury after a hit-and-run incident at 11pm.

    There have been at least three other serious incidents, including two deaths, on the Bawsey Dips in the past 10 years.

    ‘No difference to global temperatures’
    Jim Moriarty, Independent councillor for Gayton and Nar Valley, said that the road is notorious for giving motorists a “misplaced sense of confidence”.

    He said: “It’s one particular part of the road where drivers are unsighted going over the bumps.

    “There are double lines in the middle to discourage people from overtaking. But it is fairly straight, which can give you a misplaced sense of confidence.”

    Andrew Montford, director of Net Zero Watch, said that the council’s attempt to cut emissions would “make no difference to global temperatures”.

    He said: “Switching off street lights will make no difference to global temperatures but may carry a very heavy price.”

    Norfolk county council was approached for comment.

    2. I thought they claimed there were double white lines – have they disappeared to remove whiteness?

    3. They are laughing at us.

      I bet there’s a secret competition for local councils. The most ludicrous idea they can get away with.

        1. Do some still have those on/off again lights, the ones come on with approach and disappear as car/s do? (apologies for non-tech language…)

          4. Ah that’s OK then, I thought it was a bulb defect, should be white but morphs into purple.

    5. I have traversed that very road, east to west (and back again) on countless occasions. It is very narrow in places, unlit and has some sharp bends.

      1. isolated incident.. 2TTelebubby police there to observe only, as no one speaky English.

      2. isolated incident.. 2TTelebubby police there to observe only, as no one speaky English.

      1. Darnall stabbing: Door-to-door police enquiries as cops quiz boy, 15, over double stabbing

    4. The injured boys, 15 and 16, were taken to hospital after suffering from suspected stab wounds, which were described by the force as serious but not life-threatening.

      Err "suspected"?
      What else might they be, love bites?

  87. That's me gone. I can hear a cork being drawn…. Good day – watering. Picked 4 MORE pounds of raspberries. A barrow of fallen apples disposed of. They are being attacked on the trees. Very odd – not wasps.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain.

  90. Fun fact:
    between September 1939 & February 1940 there were 120 tribunals in UK .. to determine what should happen to enemy aliens..namely Germans & Austrians citizens living in UK. The reason was that the UK was at war with Germany & Austria. And having Germans & Austrians walking the streets was a security risk. It was true not every Germans & Austrians were an inherent danger.

    Gentle reminder:
    you are at war with some Islamic entity or other, in effect a low level civil war.. as long as these people are at liberty.

      2. If only we had the Boris hospitals, Ober…..would be another of his great legacies to us, his loyal and obedient subjects.

    1. Now, if you added some really, really finely chopped celery I can guarantee that you would be in heaven

    3. Parker, take off my dress
      Parker, take off my bra
      Parker, take off my knickers…..

      And Parker, if I catch you wearing my clothes again you'll be down the f*cking road!….

    2. "Haven't you had enough? Do you see that impi of Zulus on the top of that hill?"

      "No, I can't, my binoculars are strapped down."

  96. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/27/officer-pressured-domestic-violence-victim-drop-complaint/

    "A police officer pressured a victim of domestic violence to drop a complaint against her abusive husband three months before he stabbed her multiple times, a court heard……..
    The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, made a formal complaint against Khan at the time but later retracted it, Preston Crown Court heard."

    Off the top of my head, I would suggest Mrs. Khan.
    Possibly 25% of the available Mrs. Khans.

    1. If the picture at the top of the page is him,boy has he had a hard life

      Fayaz Khan 29, was described as having a 'medieval' attitude towards his girlfriend

  98. Lancashire police launch inquiry after statement on man who treated wife ‘like a slave’ was retracted following official advise

    Sub editors not doing their job I see!

  101. France's Chief Rabbi is reported to prosecutors accused of 'apologising for war crimes' after saying Israeli forces should 'finish the job' in Gaza

    Haim Korsia, 60, caused outrage on Monday by openly supporting the massacre of tens of thousands of Palestinians, many of them children, during the ongoing conflict against Hamas.

    He said live on a news channel: 'I have absolutely no reason to be ashamed of what Israel is doing in the way it conducts the fighting' and that 'I am not uncomfortable with a policy that consists of defending its nationals.'

    Rabbi Korsia added: 'Everybody would be very happy if Israel finished the job, and we could finally build peace in the Middle East without people who only want one thing all the time – the destruction of Israel.'

    Now today, French MP Aymeric Caron confirmed he had filed a complaint to Paris prosecutors for comments that were 'an apology for war crimes' – an offence that can be punished with up to five years in prison and a fine equivalent to £40,000.

    1. WHAT?

      Meanwhile the Hamas apologists in the mainstream press and the glob blob continue to persecute Jews. My God I have had enough of this

      AM YISRAEL CHAI

      1. Hardly a massacre, either, unlike the Hamas pogroms. They (Hamas) started it and they could finish it right now by handing back the hostages (although I doubt that many, if any, are still alive -and possibly those that are wish they weren't. There really are fates worth than death).

  103. We, the people of the UK, are utterly wrecked.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13784431/paralysed-grandfather-unable-speak-brain-bleeds-blink-southampton-council.html
    A jobsworth's jobsworth.

    A council has been forced to apologise after a disabled grandfather unable to speak was asked to 'blink' to stop paying rent for a property he didn't even live in.

    Peter Badger could not verbally end his £350 per month tenancy in Southampton after he was left paralysed from the neck down having suffered two brain bleeds.

    The 64 year old's daughters tried to cancel the agreement but they were told by the council that it needed to come directly from their father – who couldn't speak.

    They were left horrified after their dad, who had moved into a nursing home in July, was asked by a representative to blink to confirm the end of his tenancy.

    Amber Badger, 32, branded the request as 'so disrespectful' and added the care home refused straight away.

    1. The Enver Hoxha quote is getting a lot of airing at the moment;

      'This year will be harder than last year. However, it will be easier than next year.'

      A classic of its kind………

        1. Or no jam at all for you feelthy little far right bastards – not now, not ever. you vill suffer

          1. Ah, but they have to keep holding out the hope that you will get some jam if you are a good little apparatchik. Otherwise you might as well be full on far right barstewards because there's nothing to lose.

  106. Living in France, fun times ahead for me, I fear.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13784679/France-braces-riot-chaos-Macron-threatened-impeachment-refusing-appoint-left-wing-PM-election-winning-coalition.html

    France braces for riot chaos and Macron is threatened with impeachment after refusing to appoint left-wing PM from election-winning coalition
    France is preparing for another round of political violence
    Macron has refused to name a left-winger as his new PM
    The Left has now gone on the warpath, promising political demonstrations

    2. Chaos is the goal. They need it to hide the financial reset and force through restrictions that people wouldn't otherwise accept.

  108. I'm pretty sure there have been 10's of thousands, what I refuse to accept is that the majority are "innocents" and I also refuse to accept that they weren't sacrificial lambs on the altar of Hamas's militant Islam.

  109. Oh joy! I've just been informed that the new Bishop of Wolverhampton is a chap who has been teaching in Kenya, having set up a school for empowering Africans in London. He's been lauded for his work on "racial justice" following the mass BLM movement and will add to the "diversity" of the Diocese. He may be a nice bloke and very sincere, but we in Shropshire need this sort of policy like we need a hole in the head (it's Lichfield Diocese). Oh, and he has a PhD in researching proverbs and sayings. I wonder what he thinks about "horses for courses".

    1. Back in the day, the Bishop of Wolverhampton confirmed me. I was at school with his daughter. I want to say his name was Rogerson, but i think i am making that up.

  110. Well, chums, it's been another busy day for me. Two hours' gardening, a six hour session of washing clothes, preparing a large pan of spaghetti sauce for the next three Saturdays' Spaghetti Bolognese, etc. etc. So I'll take my leave early just like yesterday, and wish you all a Good Night. Sleep well, and wake well refreshed tomorrow morning. A demain.

    1. From the freezer We dug out four portions of frozen spagbol defrosted it, added a lot of red wine and extra herbs to make a lasagne.
      A lovely afternoon and evening.
      Youngest home from Dubai for our 50th wedding aniversery Saturday.

  111. We have had a lovely day and alfresco evening meal with our family. I'd hate to spoil it by getting involved in the Shiite that is now called politics.
    Good night all.

  112. And you thought it couldn't possibly get any worse…..

    "Lord Mandelson is being lined up as the new ambassador to the United States, The Telegraph can reveal.

    The Labour peer is said to have made a “credible pitch” for the job, which is one of the most important appointments for the Prime Minister."

      1. If D Trump is elected he could get his own back by nominating NF as the US Ambassador to The UK….!

    4. Does he really not have some criminal conviction??? I seem to recall he was sacked twice??

    5. It should be a career diplomat, I thought. But they're all as bad as Mandelson these days anyway.

    6. As if anybody remotely acceptable to the new administration would be any better. That does not mean I like or endorse him.

  113. There’s some twerp on GBN talking about Starmer wanting to suck seed. He can suck as much seed as he wants and I hope it grows in his belly.

        1. Indeed. The very barsteward…..I notice even more Trumped Up charges being brought this evening…

  118. Goodnight, all. I have to be up early tomorrow for a parcel delivery (any time between 08.30 and 18.00!).

  120. Does Cooper think we are stupid? Labour gives not a **** for anti-Jewishness but offers false sympathy to Jews in order to bring in by the back door blasphemy laws for Muslims.

    Anyone anticipating the arrests of thousands of humanitarians as they march through the streets of London chanting their cheery little song about the little land at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea might well be disappointed.

    Hate crime measures axed by Tories over free speech fears back on agenda

    Yvette Cooper considering 'zero tolerance' approach as part of crackdown on anti-Semitism and Islamophobia

    Charles Hymas, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR • 27 August 2024 • 9:21pm

    Labour is set to strengthen hate-crime laws watered down by the Tories over free-speech concerns in order to crack down on anti-Semitic and Islamophobic abuse.

    Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, is considering a new "zero-tolerance" approach to ensure that anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate falling short of criminality is recorded by police.

    She is understood to be committed to reversing the Tories' decision to downgrade the monitoring of non-crime hate incidents, specifically in relation to anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, so they can be logged by police.

    Home Office sources said incidents would only be recorded where "proportionate and necessary" to protect Jewish and Muslim individuals and communities from abusive and hateful comments and behaviour while also preserving the "fundamental right" to free speech.

    Suella Braverman, as home secretary, issued new guidance last year ordering forces to stop recording the incidents just because someone was offended amid concern that freedom of expression was being curtailed.

    Officers are restricted to recording only incidents motivated by intentional hostility and which pose a real risk of escalating into significant harm.

    The changes followed "trivial" cases such as a man who ended up with a police file for whistling the theme tune to Bob the Builder at his neighbour, who perceived racial hatred.

    Labour, however, believes the guidance is preventing police from monitoring tensions involving Jewish and Muslim communities that could escalate into violence and criminality.

    This then prevents local agencies from providing support to the communities.

    The move follows a surge in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic incidents after the Hamas terror attack on Israel on Oct 7. Anti-semitic incidents hit a record of 4,103 last year, double the previous high, while Islamophobic incidents tripled to 2,010 in a similar period.

    It is understood the review of how such incidents were recorded was ordered by Ms Cooper before this month's riots. Some of the violence was fuelled by false rumours that the suspect behind the murder of three young girls in Southport was a Muslim.

    A Home Office spokesman said: "The Home Office has committed to reverse the decision of the previous government to downgrade the monitoring of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate, at a time when rates of those incidents have increased.

    "It is vital that the police can capture data relating to non-crime hate incidents when it is proportionate and necessary to do so in order to help prevent serious crimes which may later occur.

    "We are carefully considering how best to protect individuals and communities from hate whilst also balancing the need to protect the fundamental right to free speech."

    Ms Cooper signalled the new approach before the election after the "disturbing rise" in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia after Oct 7. "There is no place for hatred or prejudice on Britain's streets," she said.

    "There must be zero tolerance for anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and for the hateful vitriol that devastates lives and corrodes communities here in the UK.

    "That's why Labour is calling for stronger action to tackle and monitor hate to ensure that events unfolding internationally do not increase tensions or sow the seeds of hatred here in our communities."

    Any new guidance is likely to be drawn up in consultation with the College of Policing, the national standards body, with police given discretion on how to apply it. Persistent perpetrators could have their personal details logged although that would be at the discretion of police forces.

    The Government adopted an international definition of anti-Semitism in 2016 under Theresa May. Although not legally binding, it is designed to help police and criminal agencies tackle it.

    There is no similar definition for Islamophobia. However, Angela Rayner's Housing, Communities and Local Government department is considering whether to introduce one for Islamophobia – although there is controversy over how widely it could be drawn.

    Critics have suggested that some definitions of Islamophobia could curtail free speech by limiting legitimate criticism of the religion.

    The move follows a wider rapid review of the Government's counter-extremism strategy ordered by Ms Cooper into how best to tackle the threat posed by extremist ideologies online and offline.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/08/27/hate-crime-measures-back-agenda-despite-fears-free-speech/

  121. This will go down well…

    “British pensioners living in Europe are set to keep the winter fuel allowance this year while millions of older people at home are stripped of the payment. As many as 35,000 retirees on the Continent are in line to get the £300 handout even if they exceed the new wealth threshold set by Rachel Reeves. Expats living in the European Union plus Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland are guaranteed the allowance by the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
    BRITISH pensioners living in Europe are set to keep the winter fuel allowance this year while millions of older people at home are stripped of the payment.
    As many as 35,000 retirees on the Continent are in line to get the £300 handout even if they exceed the new wealth threshold set by Rachel Reeves.
    Expats in the EU plus Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland are guaranteed the allowance by the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
    The revelations will prompt further controversy over the Chancellor’s decision to axe the payment for all UK residents who are not in receipt of benefits….”

    1. Well I am glad for people overseas who will get it. It's like sticking two fingers up at 2TK.

  123. Are mushy peas servings in greater quantities than whole peas or are they sweetened? I ask because menus give mushy peas a higher calorific value whenever a choice is offered.

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