Wednesday 28 August: Labour has already broken the central promise it made to the electorate

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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715 thoughts on “Wednesday 28 August: Labour has already broken the central promise it made to the electorate”

    1. I flatly refused to be jabbed and I have, consequently, not suffered any viral disease.

      Millions of those who were dim enough to be taken in by the bollocks and were jabbed … over and over again, keep contracting a virus … over and over again.

      D'oh!

      1. 392556+ up ticks,

        Morning G,

        I do think some compassion must be shown to first timers, but in the case of action repeaters, NOT so much.

        1. Au contraire. I knew, from having jabs all my life (for poliomyelitis, diphtheria, whooping cough, hepatitis B, typhoid, paratyphoid and tuberculosis) that having those injections would prevent me from contracting those diseases. I was never, at any stage, fed any hogwash that having such injections would prevent other people from contracting the disease.

          That is precisely what those cretins pushing "Covid" jabs were telling me. I saw through their crass impropaganda immediately.

          1. That’s because you are too old to have been given a rubella vaccine. The rationale for adding it to the Measles and mumps jab, and giving it to boys as well as girls, was entirely to prevent other people contracting rubella.

          2. How does the ‘rationale’ that suggests having a vaccine … will protect others … work?

            Seems to me it is the rationale of imbeciles. And imbeciles, moreover, who have no clue how viruses work.

          3. In the case of rubella, the original aim was, by vaccinating all girls at the age of puberty, to prevent the risk of them catching rubella while pregnant and giving birth to a child with congenital rubella (which is a devastating condition causing blindness, deafness and cognitive disability).
            Congenital rubella declined to more or less zero, except for a few children born to young non-immune women who arrived in the country as brides. The answer was obviously not to make immunisation a requirement for a marriage visa (perish the thought) but to add rubella to the existing Measles immunisation jab (as well as Mumps). That way, they hoped to eventually completely eliminate rubella circulating in the community.
            The bottom line is that immunising against rubella is principally for the benefit of a 3rd party ie an unborn child who is not necessarily your child.

          4. #metoo. Also has cholera, Yellow Fever and a whole host of tropical disease jabs as you describe, Grizz.

      2. Neither Caroline nor I had the jabs and we are very glad not to have had them.

  5. G'morning. Not easy:
    Wordle 1,166 3/6

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    1. I dunno, I think it must be because I got it in three as well!
      Wordle 1,166 3/6

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      1. Easier than yesterday.

        Wordle 1,166 3/6

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  6. Britain has become a hotbed of casual criminality. 28 August 2024.

    The shameful truth is that Britain has become a hotbed of casual criminality of this kind, as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has gone some way to acknowledging. Earlier this week, she vowed to crack down on the “epidemic” of shoplifting in this country, vowing to end the “shameful neglect” of this crime. It comes as it emerged just 431 shoplifters were handed fixed penalty notices in the year to March 2024, a 98 per cent drop from a decade ago, when 19,419 fines were issued. The majority of police forces didn’t issue a single fine. No wonder petty thieves are running amok!

    The unspoken bonds that hold society together are dissolving. When this happens no man made laws will rectify the situation. It will become much worse.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/27/britain-petty-crime-police-yvette-cooper/

    1. That's because if you mis-gender the thief you could get ten years solitary. The police have different priorities nowadays.

    2. Let's face the facts, politicians don't have a clue what damage they have done to people's lives outside of their protected environment. Not a bloody clue.
      If they do they should all be arrested.

    3. Minty

      We will become more and more similar to the corrupt crafty thieving 3rd world .

      We will start to smell like them and behave like them .. we will in turn become beggars .. our Protestant ethic , the view that a person’s duty and responsibility is to achieve success through hard work and thrift is being trashed .

    4. I understand nothing is done if the value is £100 or less. Zero tolerance is the only thing that will stop it.

  7. Britain has become a hotbed of casual criminality. 28 August 2024.

    The shameful truth is that Britain has become a hotbed of casual criminality of this kind, as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has gone some way to acknowledging. Earlier this week, she vowed to crack down on the “epidemic” of shoplifting in this country, vowing to end the “shameful neglect” of this crime. It comes as it emerged just 431 shoplifters were handed fixed penalty notices in the year to March 2024, a 98 per cent drop from a decade ago, when 19,419 fines were issued. The majority of police forces didn’t issue a single fine. No wonder petty thieves are running amok!

    The unspoken bonds that hold society together are dissolving. When this happens no man made laws will rectify the situation. It will become much worse.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/27/britain-petty-crime-police-yvette-cooper/

  8. 392556+ up ticks,

    Wednesday 28 August: Labour has already broken the central promise it made to the electorate

    Anyone but anyone believing in the odious coalitions
    pledge ,promises,& vows currently needs an in depth
    neck up / check up.

    The davos loving kneeler is just a continuation of the very nasty blair, the original instigator of a campaign depriving the United Kingdom of patriotism, independence, and integrity, the political king rat with Bow Street criminal record, ( miranda ) is the kneelers role model.

      1. I was listening to a random Jordan Peterson interview this morning with Axel Kaiser* (which was super-interesting and depressing at the same time) and towards the end the conversation evolved thus:

        ““You know, Germany was the Athens of the modern world and so on. And in a couple of, in a decade or two decades, you lost everything and you sunk into the most horrible barbarism. And this was in central Europe.

        This is, this, this can happen to anyone. It happened to Venezuela. It can happen to-

        You mean like the UK?

        Well, there you go. There you go. I mean, the UK is what is going on there.

        It's really shocking to me. I'm a great admirer of the Anglo-Saxons because as Montesquieu said, they have done more for liberty than any other people in the world. But now you see this totalitarian degeneration going on in the UK.

        And it's very scary because the thing Jordan is that for us who grew up in Latin America, I also spent some time in my childhood in Germany and so on. But you could always say, okay, here the things don't look very well in terms of democracy and liberty, but you have the UK or you have Canada or you have the United States. But now it's like everything, everywhere you are having the same problems, maybe not[…]””

        From The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast: 475. Threat From South America | Axel Kaiser, 26 Aug 2024
        https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast/id1184022695?i=1000666700481
        This material may be protected by copyright

        *Axel Kaiser Barents von Hohenhagen is a Chilean-German lawyer, Master in Investments, Commerce, and Arbitration, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Heidelberg (Germany). He is the co-founder and president of the Foundation for Progress in Chile, one of the most influential free-market think tanks in Latin America. He is an international lecturer and a best-selling author of several works that include his Tolkienian fantasy novel “The Book of Asgalard” (available only in Spanish). His book "The Street Economist" became the most sold economics book in the Spanish-speaking world in the last 20 years, playing an important role in Argentina’s current free-market movement.

        1. Bombarded with gloom!

          Gloom from the left of us
          Gloom from the right of us
          Volleyed and blundered!

        2. It appears time after time lessons are never learned and these people who are obviously totally inadequate if not viciously vindictive for their own reasons. Should be removed from power. It’s so blatantly obvious.

      2. I was listening to a random Jordan Peterson interview this morning with Axel Kaiser* (which was super-interesting and depressing at the same time) and towards the end the conversation evolved thus:

        ““You know, Germany was the Athens of the modern world and so on. And in a couple of, in a decade or two decades, you lost everything and you sunk into the most horrible barbarism. And this was in central Europe.

        This is, this, this can happen to anyone. It happened to Venezuela. It can happen to-

        You mean like the UK?

        Well, there you go. There you go. I mean, the UK is what is going on there.

        It's really shocking to me. I'm a great admirer of the Anglo-Saxons because as Montesquieu said, they have done more for liberty than any other people in the world. But now you see this totalitarian degeneration going on in the UK.

        And it's very scary because the thing Jordan is that for us who grew up in Latin America, I also spent some time in my childhood in Germany and so on. But you could always say, okay, here the things don't look very well in terms of democracy and liberty, but you have the UK or you have Canada or you have the United States. But now it's like everything, everywhere you are having the same problems, maybe not[…]””

        From The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast: 475. Threat From South America | Axel Kaiser, 26 Aug 2024
        https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast/id1184022695?i=1000666700481
        This material may be protected by copyright

        *Axel Kaiser Barents von Hohenhagen is a Chilean-German lawyer, Master in Investments, Commerce, and Arbitration, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Heidelberg (Germany). He is the co-founder and president of the Foundation for Progress in Chile, one of the most influential free-market think tanks in Latin America. He is an international lecturer and a best-selling author of several works that include his Tolkienian fantasy novel “The Book of Asgalard” (available only in Spanish). His book "The Street Economist" became the most sold economics book in the Spanish-speaking world in the last 20 years, playing an important role in Argentina’s current free-market movement.

  12. Good morrow, Gentlefolk. Today’s (recycled) Story.

    A Variation On A Theme

    Reaching the end of a job interview, the human resources person asked a young engineer fresh out of MIT, "And what starting salary were you looking for?"

    The engineer said, "In the neighbourhood of $125,000 a year, depending on the benefits package."

    The interviewer said, "Well, what would you say to a five-week vacation, 14 paid holidays, full medical and dental, company matching your retirement fund to 50% of your salary, and a company car leased every two years, say, a red Corvette?"

    The young engineer sat up straight and said, "Wow! Are you kidding?"

    The interviewer replied, "Yeah, but you started it."

  14. Gold is soaring on fears of the economic catastrophe Kamala Harris is about to unleash. 28 August 2024.

    It has already punched through $2,500 (£1,889), the highest price it has ever reached. Over the next month, it may well go to $3,000 or perhaps even higher.

    Gold has entered a new bull market, with investors piling into the precious metal. There are plenty of conventional explanations for that, from the prospect of falling interest rates, to strong buying from Chinese and Middle Eastern central banks.

    The seizure and threatened confiscation of Russia’s Foreign Cuurency Reserves has taught the world that they are unsafe. Gold is the only real alternative.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/08/28/gold-soaring-on-fears-economic-catastrophe-kamala-harris/

    1. I do wish headline writers would not be so much like Americans and hype everything up to action movie levels in order to maintain public attention.

      Gold has been hovering around the £1900 level for quite a while now, and has been creeping up consistently, but at a level consistent with inflation and currency debasement. I would suggest that the reported level here is largely down to a drop in the value of the US dollar, anticipating their woeful choice at the forthcoming presidential election.

      Whilst gold has for aeons been the safe haven during political turmoil, and certainly popular with hardworking Asian investors right now, it is tempered somewhat by having to be sold at a time Big Brother is on the lookout for real money to filch when the imaginary stuff has been "sunsetted" by Google.

    1. We don’t even protest about it anymore. Just weary acceptance that there are different levels of justice at play, depending on who you are.

      1. 392556+ up ticks,

        Morning MIR,
        Then we should be charged with Wilful neglect of a nation & denying our children their true birthright.

          1. 392556+ up ticks,

            Morning Anne,
            I know it’s not cricket but a cricket bat with a nail in the end can do some damage.

            Forward thinking, he also tampered with the treason laws did he not.

  16. "Labour has already broken the central promise it made to the electorate"… And so they should.

    It was always utterly ridiculous for Labour to pledge not to raise Income Tax, VAT, NI and Corporation Tax when they knew full well that the Treasury was in financial trouble. That was bleedin' obvious after the huge splurges of public money during Lockdown when the nation was producing precious little for over a year, and the previous Government's refusal (and supported may I add by the Liberal Democrats and Starmer himself, despite a pledge to his constituents not to do so) to axe the HS2 cash cow before it cost the Treasury a fortune for so little benefit.

    I would add that keeping schtumm about policies, other than that cynical lie about tax, and relying on Tory popularity to carry the election, did not help Starmer's ChangeUK party which actually polled fewer votes than it did when the Labour Party was led by Jeremy Corbyn.

  17. Quote of the day

    ‘This is nothing but a performative speech to distract the public from the promises Starmer made that he never had any intention of keeping.’

    – Tory party chairman Richard Holden’s response to the Prime Minister’s speech.

  18. Gold is the only real alternative.
    Gold is a commodity.. in sizeable amounts you'll be taxed on your profits.
    btw, I have some bullion in a storage facility.. worst "play" ever.. even if it doubles in price tomorrow.

    1. It's rare , but not too rare, it's easy to value (you only need to know its weight and purity), it's virtually indestructible, and, best of all, it looks great. It has a few practical uses, but most of gold that has been mined has been put back underground. Come the great disaster, gold will come out of hiding and inro circulation and, if market forces are a thing, its purchasing power will fall.

      I'll get me coat.

      1. it's easy to value..
        er, no.. it's expensive to value if you want top price. for example Kitco do not take your word that what you are trying to sell is in fact GLD SLV or whatever. They drill into the slab to make sure it's not tungsten. They prefer you to "store" in their facility for ease of buying & selling. That costs $.
        Most pawnshops in Hongkong wont give you anywhere near spot price.

    2. Until the fiat currency system collapses. That's what you're hedging against. The trouble is, gold is not easily divisible and hence not easily exchangeable for goods and services. You could invest in it through Monetary Metals, as Delingpole often tells us. You could then earn interest in the form of more gold. https://monetary-metals.com/

      We don't have any beyond watches and jewellery but when we sell the house to downsize, I'll get some gold, silver and/or platinum with the capital released. Just in case. No income expected from it.

      1. "the fiat currency system collapses."
        Oh Lord spare me the drama..
        if that happens in UK or USA then.. believe me you'll be using your gold bars as a spade or bludgeon to fight off ethnics. Your can of baked beans will be worth more than gold.

    3. Why "worst play ever"? I thought gold coins (which are legal tender) are exempt from CGT?

    5. I have some metals that are held just as a share in the stocks held by a bullion dealer. Several years ago I decided to take a punt on a small amount of rhodium and didn’t realise that I would be paying for storage. When the first bill came in I got a shock and decided to sell even though I made a loss. Fortunately it was outweighed by the gains in the others, although I’ve been very disappointed by the performance of platinum.

  19. Good morning all,

    Cloudy over Castle McPhee this morning with sunny periods forecast, Wind South-East but veering West, 16℃ rising to 24℃ later.

    This is an appalling piece of 'journalism' from the once great DT.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e31c9edab3e6febc0c919d0b782187dbb29b59d6aaf37096307075808e7bca52.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/08/27/exploding-boeing-757-plane-tyre-kills-two-atlanta-airport/

    "It is the latest disaster for embattled aeroplane maker Boeing, which is already facing serious allegations about its safety and quality checks".

    This is not a disaster for Boeing at all. Whatever caused the tyre to explode it, will be nothing to do with the Boeing Company. So there is no need for 'Boeing' even to be in the headline. Yes, the aircraft the tyre came from is a Boeing 757. That's the only connection. Boeing don't make the tyres; B F Goodrich, Dunlop, Goodyear, Michelin or Bridgestone do. Aircraft Tyres are not changed on the ramp. Wheels, complete with already-inflated tyres on them are. There is no need to refer to wheels falling off other aircraft or B737 Max cabin blow-outs.

    Things that cause tyres to explode: Over-inflation; striking a hard object on the runway at speed; heavy braking giving rise to overheat; extreme cross-wind landing with little or no drift correction before touchdown. In this case my money is on someone inadvertently or negligently over-inflating the tyre.

    DEI strikes again?

  20. Good mornig all,

    Cloudy over Castle McPhee this morning with sunny periods forecast, Wind South-East but veering West, 16℃ rising to 24℃ later.

    This is an appalling piece of 'journalism' from the once great DT.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e31c9edab3e6febc0c919d0b782187dbb29b59d6aaf37096307075808e7bca52.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/08/27/exploding-boeing-757-plane-tyre-kills-two-atlanta-airport/

    "It is the latest disaster for embattled aeroplane maker Boeing, which is already facing serious allegations about its safety and quality checks".

    This is not a disaster for Boeing at all. Whatever caused the tyre to explode it, will be nothing to do with the Boeing Company. So there is no need for 'Boeing' even to be in the headline. Yes, the aircraft the tyre came from is a Boeing 757. That's the only connection. Boeing don't make the tyres; B F Goodrich, Dunlop, Goodyear, Michelin or Bridgestone do. Aircraft Tyres are not changed on the ramp. Wheels, complete with already-inflated tyres on them are. There is no need to refer to wheels falling off other aircraft or B737 Max cabin blow-outs.

    Things that cause tyres to explode: Over-inflation; striking a hard object on the runway at speed; heavy braking giving rise to overheat; extreme cross-wind landing with little or no drift correction before touchdown. In this case my money is on someone inadvertently or negligently over-inflating the tyre.

    DEI strikes again?

  21. Good mornig all,

    Cloudy over Castle McPhee this morning with sunny periods forecast, Wind South-East but veering West, 16℃ rising to 24℃ later.

    This is an appalling piece of 'journalism' from the once great DT.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e31c9edab3e6febc0c919d0b782187dbb29b59d6aaf37096307075808e7bca52.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/08/27/exploding-boeing-757-plane-tyre-kills-two-atlanta-airport/

    "It is the latest disaster for embattled aeroplane maker Boeing, which is already facing serious allegations about its safety and quality checks".

    This is not a disaster for Boeing at all. Whatever caused the tyre to explode it, will be nothing to do with the Boeing Company. So there is no need for 'Boeing' even to be in the headline. Yes, the aircraft the tyre came from is a Boeing 757. That's the only connection. Boeing don't make the tyres; B F Goodrich, Dunlop, Goodyear, Michelin or Bridgestone do. Aircraft Tyres are not changed on the ramp. Wheels, complete with already-inflated tyres on them are. There is no need to refer to wheels falling off other aircraft or B737 Max cabin blow-outs.

    Things that cause tyres to explode: Over-inflation; striking a hard object on the runway at speed; heavy braking giving rise to overheat; extreme cross-wind landing with little or no drift correction before touchdown. In this case my money is on someone inadvertently or negligently over-inflating the tyre.

    DEI strikes again?

  22. Lying fraud…

    Author of ‘White Fragility’ Accused of Plagiarizing Minorities

    https://media.breitbart.com/media/2024/08/Robin-DiAngelo-via-Wikipedia-640×480.jpg

    Robin DiAngelo, author of the book White Fragility, has been accused of plagiarizing minority writers.

    The Washington Free Beacon recently obtained a complaint filed with the University of Washington outlining 20 instances of alleged plagiarism in her 2004 doctoral thesis, Whiteness in Racial Dialogue: A Discourse Analysis. Per the New York Post:

    Among the examples cited are two paragraphs reproduced almost entirely from Northeastern University’s Thomas Nakayama — who is Asian-American — and coauthor Robert Krizek, in which DiAngelo fails to provide adequate attribution.

    Another example in the complaint shows DiAngelo allegedly playing fast and loose with a paragraph written by Asian-American professor Stacey Lee of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

    In it, rather than clearly delineating that Lee had summarized the work of scholar David Theo Goldberg, the information was presented in such a way to appear as though DiAngelo herself was providing the summary herself.

    Peter Wood, president of the National Association of Scholars, said that DiAngelo’s work rises to the level of “forgery” in certain circles. “It is never appropriate to use the secondary source without acknowledging it, and even worse to present it as one’s own words. That’s plagiarism,” said Wood.

    When questioned about the accusations, University of Washington spokeswoman Dana Robinson Slote told NY Post, “We are committed to the integrity of research conducted at the University of Washington. All complaints are carefully reviewed.”

    As noted by the Free Beacon, DiAngelo remained a relatively obscure professor upon the publication of her book until the death of George Floyd in 2020 shot her to national stardom.

    https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2024/08/27/author-of-white-fragility-accused-of-plagiarizing-minorities/

    1. From a broken family, unmarried mother, in her twenties, hates white people. Probably got a lot of sordid memories from her 'poverty ridden' childhood. Would normally have been confined in a mental home but they employ them in universities nowadays.

  23. Why is the BBC obsessed with a trivial subject – a letter of complaint found in a concrete column in the National Gallery – it has been mentioned scores of times and discussed endlessly on the news and other programmes. They even had the son of the millionaire author on the radio a few minutes ago. Why?

    1. Best they could come up with to bury bad news. A quick glance at this year's Death List shows them having a bad year with only four celebs so far kicking the bucket. A good death to have them emoting for weeks can cover up a whole raft of Government announcements slipped into law on the sly.

      1. The reuniting of a 'rock band', of which I know little, has drawn a lot of attention these last few days. Scraping the proverbial will become quite an important occupation if this government continues on its current path.

        1. Of course! Even I am acquiring the mental capacity of a goldfish not to remember the supreme importance of two squabbling Mancurian siblings and their need to pay off a women’s rights case by raising a few millions off the adoring public. Does anyone know what Taylor Swift is up to these days?

  24. seriously, if you want a good "investment" of time, money, education.. Then buy an unwanted Helium miner on ebay 868MHz for £50 (used to sell for £2000) for learning purposes of what is coming down the road in five years time.
    Just need broadband & a smart phone.

    Then you will be paid (depending on where you live) about 20p per day.. and learn along the way about the digitisation of IOT & finance & long range wifi, swaps, blockchain address, NFTs, wallets, all the up & coming technologies. treat it as a hobby. treat it as an education. then save up your accumulated tokens until they grow to about $1,000 then get a UK wirex card to exchange into £ to buy some baked beans.

  25. seriously, if you want a good "investment" of time, money, education.. Then buy an unwanted Helium miner on ebay 868MHz for £50 (used to sell for £2000) for learning purposes of what is coming down the road in five years time.
    Just need broadband & a smart phone.

    Then you will be paid (depending on where you live) about 20p per day.. and learn along the way about the digitisation of IOT & finance & long range wifi, swaps, blockchain address, NFTs, wallets, all the up & coming technologies. treat it as a hobby. treat it as an education. then save up your accumulated tokens until they grow to about $1,000 then get a UK wirex card to exchange into £ to buy some baked beans.

  26. seriously, if you want a good "investment" of time, money, education.. Then buy an unwanted Helium miner on ebay 868MHz for £50 (used to sell for £2000) for learning purposes of what is coming down the road in five years time.
    Just need broadband & a smart phone.

    Then you will be paid (depending on where you live) about 20p per day.. and learn along the way about the digitisation of IOT & finance & long range wifi, swaps, blockchain address, NFTs, wallets, all the up & coming technologies. treat it as a hobby. treat it as an education. then save up your accumulated tokens until they grow to about $1,000 then get a UK wirex card to exchange into £ to buy some baked beans.

  27. seriously, if you want a good "investment" of time, money, education.. Then buy an unwanted Helium miner on ebay 868MHz for £50 (used to sell for £2000) for learning purposes of what is coming down the road in five years time.
    Just need broadband & a smart phone.

    Then you will be paid (depending on where you live) about 20p per day.. and learn along the way about the digitisation of IOT & finance & long range wifi, swaps, blockchain address, NFTs, wallets, all the up & coming technologies. treat it as a hobby. treat it as an education. then save up your accumulated tokens until they grow to about $1,000 then get a UK wirex card to exchange into £ to buy some baked beans.

  28. Good morning, all. Bright with high cloud to the south and west.

    Araminta has a comment re criminality with the emphasis on shoplifting. Perhaps these figures are part of the problem?

    Essex has a complement of 3,842 police officers (including 524 special constables) (Google). Losing many more officers nationally to voluntary resignation in a year than the the 7th most populous county in England employs has to be a concern to our leaders elected politicians.

    Comments are interesting.

    https://x.com/MPFed/status/1828379496942043358

    1. I can understand decent policemen wanting to get out.

      I cannot understand how any decent teachers can stay in teaching when they are expected to teach the evils of whiteness, transgenderism and the joys of multiculturalism.

      I would have refused to have done so.

  29. Good morning, all. Bright with high cloud to the south and west.

    Araminta has a comment re criminality with the emphasis on shoplifting. Perhaps these figures are part of the problem?

    Essex has a complement of 3,842 police officers (including 524 special constables) (Google). Losing many more officers nationally to voluntary resignation in a year than the the 7th most populous county in England employs has to be a concern to our leaders elected politicians.

    Comments are interesting.

    https://x.com/MPFed/status/1828379496942043358

  30. Good morning, chums, yesterday has left me cream-crackered, so after a trip to the cinema with a friend, I hope to take it easy today (which is what I was hoping for yesterday). And thank you, Geoff, for today's NoTTLe site.

    Wordle 1,166 5/6

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    ⬜🟩🟩🟨🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  31. 392556+ up ticks,

    May one say,

    Germany calling, germany calling,treachery is surely afoot, with
    the kneeler heeding the call from berlin and, I suspect strongly,
    leaving the United Kingdom with a pro eu key in one hand and a pen in tother.

  32. SIR – Your Leading Article (August 27) reminds us that Tony Blair used D:Ream’s Things Can Only Get Better as his theme tune.

    Perhaps for his, Sir Keir Starmer could revive Noel Coward’s There Are Bad Times Just Around the Corner.

    Nigel Swann
    Chesterfield, Derbyshire

    https://youtu.be/tSA5C8mQcLQ

    2. Sorry – I also posted this before scrolling down and seeing that you had already posted it.

      It is brilliantly prophetic!

  33. Morning all 🙂😊
    Grey High cloud.
    Our friends from Perth WA landed at LHR about 5 am. I expect it could take them quite along time to drive to ours. M25 A1.
    What cental promise did labour make to the electorate? I must have missed that one
    I see stammer has cancelled the 40 million goverment contract for helicopter and jet transport. I hope they might return Dame Elizabeth Filkin back to moderate the Wastemonster expenses claims while they are at it. They can them claim to be nasty to everyone. Except of course all the invaders.

    1. Lied that it wouldn't raise taxes because everything had been costed. Why anybody should ever believe anything Labour says about the economy and taxes I have no idea.

  34. Good morning from Dr. Daughter's front room in Fenham!
    Got here yesterday evening but was so knackered that, after having a bite to eat and going through my photos, I went straight to bed!
    After leaving Wooler, I drove to Belford and realised that was the first time I'd ever traveled that road!
    Some excellent views along there though. This is looking across to the muckle Cheviot with its head in the clouds:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2c7869677772e7056e8dfa18f23be2e95472e969a46f75ce88599c404aba4292.jpg
    And looking further North to pick up Newton Tors and Yeavering Bell:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ac11e2e8e3d77487aa7c6a7bc6659c89eeef3a9e4e714530db317871b7b087f4.jpg
    Bamburgh was chock-a-block with tourists, so I had a pause between there and Seahouses for a walk along the beach:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/79ca0bcb5545dc1eb330871a9da975c402a6fa7dccaf0389ae9c4c83c2abf07e.jpg
    Then Craster:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3002dad71d2f0cccb02fb031b276f7269eb07d496b467c5b596e9e852f9281cf.jpg
    And Newbiggin:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6ba8fb110d94199abbc57dee818ee9dc29cf560ee443a99c6202a8170425b758.jpg
    And who decided to put that eyesore in front of the church? It TOTALLY destroys the view:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a9d4596c68a5e943c12c269a3f0f7d2257b5344f7ccaf0e65120751f52e927ba.jpg

    2. On seeing those, I'm homesick for the North. My mother lived her last years in Northumberland.

        1. From Coffee House, the Spectator

          Ofcom can’t be trusted to censor social media
          Comments Share 28 August 2024, 6:31am
          It’s boom time at Ofcom. In the past few years, what was until recently the government-backed regulator for broadcasting, telecoms and postal industries (already an absurdly broad range of responsibilities) has seen its remit expanded beyond all recognition. Following the passage of the Online Safety Act 2023, Ofcom has been handed the famously straightforward task of regulating social-media companies – compelling them to clamp down on illegal speech and activity on their platforms. The Media Act 2024, which gained royal assent in May, has extended its reach to streaming services, too. Now, a think-tank has essentially suggested we should cut out the middleman and turn the Office of Communications into a full-blown Ministry of Truth.

          Ofcom’s new responsibilities under the Online Safety Act are already a major threat to free speech online
          This is the call from the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) for Ofcom to be better equipped to ‘fight misinformation and deamplify harmful posts to prevent public disorder’. Among other proposals, apparently aimed at preventing a repeat of the recent race riots, the CCDH thinks that Ofcom, in times of crisis, should be able to apply to a judge for ‘emergency powers’, allowing it to demand immediate action on ‘harmful’ content and ‘misinformation’ posted on social-media platforms. Reportedly, this could be achieved by tweaking the ‘special circumstances’ directive in the Online Safety Act, which enables the science, innovation and technology minister to issue a direction to Ofcom during a crisis of national security or public health.

          What could possibly go wrong? Quite a lot, obviously. We’ve seen from Ofcom’s never-ending crusade against GB News that it struggles with being impartial even within its existing areas of responsibility. And yet now it is being asked to enforce the rules around what ordinary people can and can’t say on social media. Last year, it had to suspend its new ‘online safety supervision director’ – charged with ensuring social-media firms obey the new censorship regime – after she allegedly liked an Instagram post accusing Israel of ‘ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians’. Which hardly inspired confidence, given that Israelophobic take is itself a bit of misinformation.

          Ofcom’s new responsibilities under the Online Safety Act are already a major threat to free speech online. The Act’s insistence that platforms proactively seek out and remove illegal content, or else face Ofcom’s fines and sanctions, is an incentive to censor first and ask questions later. Quite aside from whether or not we should have so many legal restrictions on speech as it is, this law will mean algorithms and overworked moderators removing all manner of perfectly legal speech, for fear of falling foul of their platform’s new duties. Ofcom’s final codes of practice for social-media firms haven’t even been published yet. That there are already calls for it to have greater powers suggests this is more about a rush to censorship than it is a sober reflection on how best to combat fake news and hate.

          Because when you think about it for longer than five seconds, empowering a state-backed regulator to demand that Big Tech immediately clamp down on certain forms of speech is a recipe for authoritarianism. It certainly panned out that way during the pandemic, when social-media firms worked hand-in-glove with governments and public-health bodies to suppress certain statements and opinions about Covid. Time and again, people were censored not just for spewing obvious falsehoods, which would be bad enough, but also for opposing particular policies, or saying something that didn’t quite jive with the current public-health ‘consensus’. Censorship was, in effect, outsourced to the private sector and totally legitimate, legal statements were silenced as a consequence. Indeed, in the space of a year or two, the lab-leak theory – positing that Covid originated in a Chinese laboratory – went from being a racist conspiracy theory, wilfully clamped down upon by Facebook et al, to a plausible explanation endorsed by various US government agencies.

          If we are truly concerned about tackling misinformation, or indeed hate, the last thing we should do is empower a state-backed body to define and censor it. Call me an old cynic, but when it comes to misleading the public, governments (and their ‘independent’ regulators) are repeat – and far more consequential – offenders.

          2. It would be a pity. It’s the only UK news channel I watch. Would it continue on YouTube I wonder?

          3. I would hope so. I do believe it is making some sort of transition to being exclusively on computer. A wise move to get it out of the clutches of offcom.

    3. Yo B o B

      We were up there a bit ago. The area is awash with Dolphins at the moment.

      Seen by Bro in Law at Newbiggin

    4. Lovely Northumberland, don't let everyone else know Bob. We were in Seahouses last month for lunch.
      It was rammed.
      I called into Carpenter's nursery yesterday to buy some Redbourn mill flour. The carpark was very full.

      1. Heritage Center.
        Quite a good display and very in formative, but built totally in the wrong place.

  35. I made the mistake of taking two AZ shots before I worked out what was really going on.

    No jabs at all now, not for anything.

  36. I made the mistake of taking two AZ shots before I worked out what was really going on.

    No jabs at all now, not for anything.

  37. Yo and Good Moaning from, a damp, cold, dark Costa del Skeg.

    The solar panels are even having a day off

  41. SIR – As a clergyman, I find myself constantly raising my Panama hat to parishioners, with the result that the front of the crown of the hat tends to fray very quickly. This means that a hat usually lasts only a year.

    Do readers have any suggestions for prolonging the life of my hats, since I am finding that politeness, far from costing nothing, is proving rather expensive?

    Rev Richard Smail
    Oxford

    Just lift your index finger to the brim signalling your greeting without touching the brim or the crown.

    Or wash your hands more.

    2. A Panama hat is unsuitable for at least half the year, so he's only getting 6 months wear out of each one.

      1. Panamas should only be worn after Royal Ascot and that's in June. I suggest he'll get less than 6 months out of it.

  42. Starmer seeks ‘ambitious’ new treaty with Germany
    Prime Minister to also hold talks with French president as he pushes for ‘reset’ with Europe following Brexit
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/08/27/keir-starmer-ambitious-new-treaty-germany-trade-defence-uk/

    The trouble with BRINO (Brexit in Name Only) was that BREXIT was strangled at birth by the Gove, Johnson, Frost surrender to the EU deal which has lost N.Ireland to the EU and punished our fishing industry.

    The ordinary people have had no practical benefits at all – all they have got is the inconvenience of travel restrictions limiting the time UK visitors can visit EU countries and increased delay and searches a borders. (We cannot even take English cheeses legally to France and I miss my Stilton!)

    Starmer is now keen to have EUINO (EU in Name Only) with all the potential benefits of Brexit extinguished – but it does look as if once again, the poor ordinary person will get any practical benefits at all.

      1. Traita May is the personification of sheer evil.

        The full circumstances surrounding her father's fatal motoring accident will probably never come to light.

        2. I have read that every trace of the Rev Brazier’s history had been mysteriously expunged from the internet when his daughter was Home Secretary. Can anybody shed light on that?

          1. I believe he was associated with some paedophile priests.

            He was certainly a most peculiar man but whether he was a sexual pervert or not I do not know. Traita May was, as you suggest, very keen to wipe all records about him from the internet.

  43. New article by reader NANAMUGA up now on Free Speech, on the decay of democracy and justice in Britain and America under woke government.

    As ever folk, please do read and leave a comment or two.

    And, just a reminder, we are open to articles from anybody, especially the excellent posters on this site.

    freespeechbacklash.com

    1. Starmer railed against Populism the other day. His plan is clearly to replace that nasty ideology with Unpopulism.

      1. Just as Sturmer Snr was a successful toolmaker, Sturmer Jnr is equally successful at destroying populism.

    2. If Labour had any form of a fully costed plan for anything then they would have known of the 'black hole' or whatever else was lurking in the dark corners of the treasury. Inconsistent and incompetent statements.

  45. "Do readers have any suggestions for prolonging the life of my hats, since I am finding that politeness, far from costing nothing, is proving rather expensive?"

    The 'church' of England hierarchy are already doing it for you.

    Their attitudes, lead by Archdevil of Canterbury, are driving parishoners away

    1. Good morning OLT

      The Happy Clappy brigade have infiltrated the C of E.

      I loved the thunderous notes of a well played church organ, the tolling of the bells , the solemnity of prayer , the traditional hymns and our Lords prayer , the silences and the progression towards the Nicene Creed, not the modern version .. Am I being fussy ?

      I am not a happy clappy type , I don't like this strange raising of the hands and singing odd sounding offerings to a different type of church service .

      Adapting the church to modern requirements is horrible , horrible horrible.

      1. It's not so much "modern" as "imported" church service. It's the way some people have always done it because that's the way they do things. That's no reason why we should slavishly follow suit (the way this country seems to slavishly follow any carp American trend, that invariably turns out not only to be an anathema to our own traditions and inclinations, but actually manages to take that little bit more of our own identity away from us every time).

        Apologies, rant over!

      2. Hallo Belle. It is very evidently not for "modern requirements". If that were the case people would attend not leave in droves. If you have a look you will find that the most successful churches are those that are most traditional. People want structure and tradition. It is telling that in terms of mainline churches it is my church, the Orthodox, that is the only one gaining adherents, not losing them. I think because people appreciate the discipline and the fact that it demands effort from you not just a passive role as a member of an audience that is preached at by people who are spiritually derelict themselves. People, I think, can discern the difference between real spirituality and empty platitudes and it is the latter that people get from the C of E.

        1. I've been telling my priest that for a while. I think she agrees, but the diocese is the one to convince. I suspect I'll be pushing against the tide when I go to synod.

      3. It isn't just the "happy clappy" brigade it's the diversity fiends as well. I am beginning to feel a second class citizen in my own country.

  46. Gang forged more than 2,000 marriage certificates to allow Nigerians to live in the UK illegally
    The organised crime group have been jailed for a total of 13 years after they made fraudulent applications between March 2019 and May 2023

    Four gang members have been jailed for a total of 13 years after forging more than 2,000 marriage certificates that allowed people to live in the UK illegally.

    Abraham Alade Olarotimi Onifade, 41, Abayomi Aderinsoye Shodipo, 38, Nosimot Mojisola Gbadamosi, 31, and Adekunle Kabir, 54, made fraudulent EU Settlement Scheme applications for Nigerian nationals between March 2019 and May last year, the Home Office said.

    The organised crime group provided false Nigerian Customary Marriage Certificates and other fraudulent documentation to support the applications of the nationals to help them remain in the country.

    A Home Office investigation both domestically and with its international operations based in Lagos, Nigeria, uncovered more than 2,000 false marriage documents.

    Onifade and Shodipo were both found guilty of conspiracy to facilitate illegal entry into the UK and conspiracy to provide articles used in fraud following a trial at Woolwich Crown Court, the Home Office said.

    But no news of the 2000 still living here illegally?

    1. “Four gang members have been jailed for a total of 13 years”

      What, 3 years each, less time off for good behaviour- they are probably already out. That’ll learn ‘em. Meanwhile, white working class “criminals”….

      1. Now since the jails are full, it will be

        Trip to jail in Prison Van

        Booked in

        Given a meal

        Booked out

        Bus fare home

        Given 100 quid to cover expenses

    2. Are they going to be deported after completing their sentences? No, thought not but why not?

      1. And, at least as pertinently, are those that availed themselves of the fake documents going to be deported forthwith?

  47. Many of us had the rather dubious pleasure of studying a little economics at school or college. Starmer says that Growth is at the centre of his policy. All he can possibly mean is growth in the government.

    We were taught the discredited Keynsian equation:

    Y = C + G + I + (Exports – Imports)

    As well as telling us that worse times are on the way Starmer and Reeves are keen Keynsians but they are trusting in Y (GNP) being augmented solely by G (Government Spending) because there will be no I (Private Investment), and no C (Consumption by the population) in overtaxed Britain and as we shall have to import most of our energy Imports will vastly exceed exports in direly straitened Britain.

    Starmer's words have reminded me of Noël Coward' s brilliantly prophetic song. It is very worth listening to this!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSA5C8mQcLQ

    1. Here are the full lyrics of Noël Coward brilliant song.

      They're out of sorts in Sunderland
      And terribly cross in Kent,
      They're dull in Hull
      And the Isle of Mull
      Is seething with discontent,
      They're nervous in Northumberland
      And Devon is down the drain,
      They're filled with wrath
      On the firth of Forth
      And sullen on Salisbury Plain,
      In Dublin they're depressed, lads,
      Maybe because they're Celts
      For Drake is going West, lads,
      And so is everyone else.
      Hurray, hurray, hurray!
      Misery's here to stay.
      There are bad times just around the corner,
      There are dark clouds hurtling through the sky
      And it's no good whining
      About a silver lining
      For we know from experience that they won't roll by,
      With a scowl and a frown
      We'll keep our peckers down
      And prepare for depression and doom and dread,
      We're going to unpack our troubles from our old kit bag
      And wait until we drop down dead.
      From Portland Bill to Scarborough
      They're querulous and subdued
      And Shropshire lads
      Have behaved like cads
      From Berwick-on-Tweed to Bude,
      They're mad at Market Harborough
      And livid at Leigh-on-Sea,
      In Tunbridge Wells
      You can hear the yells
      Of woe-begone bourgeoisie.
      We all get bitched about, lads,
      Whoever our vote elects,
      We know we're up the spout, lads.
      And that's what England expects.
      Hurray, hurray, hurray!
      Trouble is on the way.
      There are bad times just around the corner,
      The horizon's gloomy as can be,
      There are black birds over
      The grayish cliffs of Dover
      And the rats are preparing to leave the BBC
      We're an unhappy breed
      And very bored indeed
      When reminded of something that Nelson said.
      While the press and the politicians nag nag nag
      We'll wait until we drop down dead.
      From Colwyn Bay to Kettering
      They're sobbing themselves to sleep,
      The shrieks and wails
      In the Yorkshire dales
      Have even depressed the sheep.
      In rather vulgar lettering
      A very disgruntled group
      Have posted bills
      On the Cotswold Hills
      To prove that we're in the soup.
      While begging Kipling's pardon
      There's one thing we know for sure
      If England is a garden
      We ought to have more manure.
      Hurray, hurray, hurray!
      Suffering and dismay.
      There are bad times just around the corner
      And the outlook's absolutely vile,
      There are Home Fires smoking
      From Windermere to Woking
      And we're not going to tighten our belts and smile, smile, smile,
      At the sound of a shot
      We'd just as soon as not
      Take a hot water bottle and go to bed,
      We're going to un-tense our muscles till they sag sag sag
      And wait until we drop down dead.
      There are bad times just around the corner,
      We can all look forward to despair,
      It's as clear as crystal
      From Bridlington to Bristol
      That we can't save democracy and we don't much care
      If the Reds and the Pinks
      Believe that England stinks
      And that world revolution is bound to spread,
      We'd better all learn the lyrics of the old 'Red Flag'
      And wait until we drop down dead.
      A likely story
      Land of Hope and Glory,
      Wait until we drop down dead.
      [When Noel later used this number in his Las Vegas cabaret act, he adapted it to the American milieu, as he did with many of the topical numbers]
      There Are Bad Times Just Around The Corner
      [American Lyric]
      They're nervous in Nigeria
      And terribly cross in Crete,
      In Bucharest
      They are so depressed
      They're frightened to cross the street,
      They're sullen in Siberia
      And timid in Turkestan,
      They're sick with fright
      In the Isle of Wight
      And jittery in Japan,
      The Irish groan and shout, lads,
      Maybe because they're Celts,
      They know they're up the spout, lads,
      And so is everyone else.
      Hurray, hurray, hurray!
      Trouble is on the way.
      There are bad times just around the corner,
      There are dark clouds hurtling through the sky
      And it's no use whining
      About a silver lining
      For we know from experience that they won't roll by,
      With a scowl and a frown
      We'll keep our spirits down
      And prepare for depression and doom and dread,
      We're going to unpack our troubles from our old kit bag
      And wait until we drop down dead.
      There are bad times just around the corner,
      The horizon's gloomy as can be,
      There are black birds over
      They grayish cliffs of Dover
      And the vultures are hovering round the Christmas tree
      We're an unhappy breed
      And ready to stampede
      When we're asked to remember what Lincoln said,
      We're going to un-tense our muscles till they sag sag sag
      And wait until we drop down dead.
      They're morbid in Mongolia
      And querulous in Quebec,
      There's not a man
      In Baluchistan
      Who isn't a nervous wreck,
      In Maine the melancholia
      Is deeper than tongue can tell,
      In Monaco
      All the croupiers know
      They haven't a hope in Hell.
      In far away Australia
      Each wallaby's well aware
      The world's a total failure
      Without any time to spare.
      Hurray, hurray, hurray!
      Suffering and dismay.
      There are bad times just around the corner,
      We can all look forward to despair,
      It's as clear as crystal
      From Brooklyn Bridge to Bristol
      That we can't save Democracy
      And we don't much care.
      At the sound of a shot
      We'd just as soon as not
      Take a hot-water bad and retire to bed
      And while the press and the politicians nag nag nag
      We'll wait until we drop down dead.
      There are bad times just around the corner
      And the outlook's absolutely vile,
      You can take this from us
      That when they Atom-bomb us
      We are not going to tighten our belts and smile smile smile,
      We are in such a mess
      It couldn't matter less
      If a world revolution is just ahead,
      We'd better all learn the lyrics of the old 'Red Flag'
      And wait until we drop down dead.
      A likely story
      Land of Hope and Glory,
      Wait until we drop down dead.

    3. GNP = Govt spending (from taxation) + (Consumption + investment) – whats left after taxation and a bit of saving, + trade flows.
      Nothing about wealth creation there at all, it's just cash flows, so where's the "product"? You can make the same equation about a civil servant's bank account, and they don't produce anything, either. More accurately, they destroy value.

  48. Good Moaning.
    Fingers VERY firmly crossed.
    This morning, Spartie is making his first care home visit when I see Elderly Chum.
    The home encourages dogs as it livens up the residents. Let's hope Spartie isn't too stimulating.

      1. I'm taking his dog walking bag that contains the essentials.
        It's nearly as bad as taking out babies and all their paraphernalia.

        1. I know. Longer trips or holidays they go back to the breeder. They don't mind though as there are at least 15 other chihuahuas there. Half of them relatives. They get to sleep in big piles of snoring doggies.

      2. Great news for humanoids in UK..

        The UK has become the first country in Europe to approve lab-grown meat for dogs. The authorization will specifically allow the use of cultivated chicken, or meat grown from the cells of an egg sample, in a new pet food made by the London-based startup Meatly.

        Klaus says.. be patient humanoids your turn vill come soon.

      3. Great news for humanoids in UK..

        The UK has become the first country in Europe to approve lab-grown meat for dogs. The authorization will specifically allow the use of cultivated chicken, or meat grown from the cells of an egg sample, in a new pet food made by the London-based startup Meatly.

        Klaus says.. be patient humanoids your turn vill come soon.

      4. Great news for humanoids in UK..

        The UK has become the first country in Europe to approve lab-grown meat for dogs. The authorization will specifically allow the use of cultivated chicken, or meat grown from the cells of an egg sample, in a new pet food made by the London-based startup Meatly.

        Klaus says.. be patient humanoids your turn vill come soon.

        1. In that situation, I never kid myself that it's my charm, wit and beauty that gains their devotion.

      6. The shop assistant helped put my purchases in the bag this morning and said, "there's a half a dog biscuit in here – do you want to give it to him [my dog who was with me]?" I've no idea where the half a bonio came from; it isn't the usual sort of treat I buy for him.

    2. Good morning Anne ,

      Aha , will Spartie do as Jack spaniel used to do .. cock his leg as a loving greeting ..

      " I like you, so this pair of legs/ shoes will do/ table leg/ chair leg " ..

      No matter how many times Jack peed in the garden , he would sprinkle his mark to make a statement , similar to an email or calling card!

      1. 🙂
        That awful thought had crossed my mind!
        When we get there, I will walk him up and down the drive to "drain him out"!!!!

      2. I remember, as a child in St Mawes, a rather eccentric woman artist, Dulcie ('Peter') Pears, the widow of Charles Pears who founded the Royal Marine Artists Society, came to supper with her dog which immediately cocked his leg on the grandfather clock in the hall. Our dog, Tim, a border terrier, was not at all impressed and gave us a look as if to say 'why have you invited such a common, uncivilised dog into my house?

        'Peter' was, so my parents said, staggeringly good looking in her youth and she and her husband were contemporaries and friends of Augustus John and lived a very Bohemian existence before moving to Cornwall.

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b0c18a86f1ea413f6f3261c80f674227cd4a71efa5abd212b02f6a413e223969.png

        (I have a small oil-painting of St Mawes by Charles Pears on my study wall.)

          2. I'm sure Pears. Purves was one of the original Blue Peter presenters, yes?
            I though a tenor, but that was so long ago that I doubted my memory.

        3. The first time I visited my future mother-in-law with my setter he watered the tradescantia hanging down in the hall. Oops!

    5. The photos I get from Mother's care home when there's a pet visit are enough to make you cry. The joy on the faces of the inmates from a dog to hug and play with, is absolutely to break your heart. A pity the dogs only visit: a resident woofit would be great!

    6. The photos I get from Mother's care home when there's a pet visit are enough to make you cry. The joy on the faces of the inmates from a dog to hug and play with, is absolutely to break your heart. A pity the dogs only visit: a resident woofit would be great!

  49. Well, that was short and sweet. For ten minutes, the sun was out, blue sky and no breeze. It was warm. I sat in the garden in a T-shirt and shorts with the crossword. Then, natch, the sun went in, the wind got up and the temp dropped. Indoors with a pullover. Global boiling, my arris.

      1. I thought all that global warming was supposed to be hiding in the depths of the ocean? Perchance another lie by the fanatical purveyors of heat death to humans.

          1. Very familiar with El Nino because it has a strong influence on the weather in California. El Nino = forest fires, drought and all manners of problems including, paradoxically, flooding. But its power to disrupt depends on how strong it is. Sometimes it is hardly noticeable, other times catastrophic. It was responsible, when I was there for a 7 year drought, literally millions of dead trees, agriculture ruined, no baths, no watering lawns, dead gardens, flush the toilet once a day. Then the rain came. It was so unrelenting that mold grew on the clothes in closets and we were plagued by masses of insects including so many fleas you could see them hopping around in the grass and in the house. It was a nightmare. Europe and the UK are a paradise when it comes to weather.

          2. It was responsible for the long drought and then catastrophic floods in East Africa earlier this year. But nothing to do with “global warming”, CO2 or “climate change”. We are lucky to live in rainy old England.

          3. Agree. I’m in the camp, of course there’s warming but it has precious little, if anything, to do with human activity.

          4. Warming, cooling, whatever – it’s all natural variation driven by the sun’s action on the wind and tides. Added to that are the natural events like volcanic eruptions and the undersea one of Hunga Tonga. Nothing to do with man-made CO2.

    1. "Electing Trump may allow the catastrophic collapse to be paused for a moment, but there is nothing substantive he can do to reverse decades of poor decisions, and a teetering tower of debt poised to come crashing down at any moment, as the world loses faith in the USD. If the powers that be choose so, Trump may be the sucker holding the bag when they pull it. There really is no escape, as described by Ludwig von Mises many decades ago. With debt of $35 trillion and rising by a trillion every few months, our credit expansion has reached its limit. Collapse is inevitable."

      yes, all those people who think Trump's going to save them in the US really need to wake up and smell the covfefe

  52. 'Morning All
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0e59195db9076cc5bfccb3cb65df54e96880f1e2b6f9c8eff605376793ba1f4c.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/23a38db5d4e7b1d2932aec2e902b411b631f74943d03226f049be13761acb8bb.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bdde11541d09c4a05c8e64ae6ecd975f36be75574ef7a419f404498b02cf4d45.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a696730420296b641b24206b4abd319cb8f8157843f16509b90f451d49b12085.jpg
    Couple of "Oofs"
    https://x.com/GBNEWS/status/1828546646919258162
    https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/1828089463383490827

    1. Patrick Christys is an excellent presenter but some of his guest panellists are extremely offensive.

      Christys looks very far from gruntled at having to have them on his show and indeed the presence of such oafs must make many of his listeners switch to other channels. Jonathan Lis, who was on the panel last night, is totally odious.

      2. Lis exemplifies the patronising , ultra- smug Oxbridge product that pervades the media classes. He is the personification of supercilious – a better looking version of Will Self, albeit possibly without the Class A habit, and without the will to engage in any proper debate over the perspective of the little people.
        I’ve just fast forwarded my way through last night’s show and laughed as I heard Patrick refer to “Jonathan Liss’s first eye roll of the evening”.

        1. You cannot accuse Will Self of being good looking but to my mind he is easier on the eye than the disgusting slob, Lis.

          Also although it is hard to agree with Self's views at least he had a facility to express himself amusingly from time to time. I can see no excuses or justification for Lis's existence at all.

      1. That's why i intend to stay at home and employ prostitutes. After they have changed my nappy and fed me they can clean the house. Much cheaper.

  54. Musings from cynical Rik
    I have visions of the Starmtrooper at a later day Wannsee conference,a grey faced grey suited bureaucrat taking notes from his WEF masters on organising a "Final Solution" for the white races of Europe the UK being his particular responsibility
    A bit like a modern Reinhart Heydrich but without the personality the epitome of
    "The Banality of Evil"

    1. Yet with just a few token exceptions, the New World Order elite are themselves almost exclusively white. If they achieve the aim of culling the white masses then to maintain their purity they'll have to resort to in-breeding and thus become even more crazy and corrupt. Success will be their undoing of course but it takes too long and wreaks too much havoc along the way. Our ancient aristocracy gained power more honestly on the battle field. Brute force is pretty straightforward and most of them were illiterate so more subtle means weren't really at their disposal. Shame about serfdom of course but we're sleepwalking back in to that anyway.

      1. It's a matter of useful idiots.
        Blacks can be managed, as can a surprising number of whites, to get rid of most whites. Then, the blacks (being easily manipulated) can be managed to get rid of most of the blacks – hell, they keep practising in Africa – and whoosh! The world is depopulated, leaving just the elite – who will have lots of money but nowhere to spend it, nobody to tidy up after them, nobody to make pretty things for them to buy.

          1. Their thinking is that North East Asians make the best slaves. Intelligent in terms of their ability to carry out the necessary tasks but more placid, accepting and compliant than Europeans. There are exceptions of course but those are easily dealt with and the others won't protect them.

    1. Monochrome thinking on behalf of John McTernan, there. This presenter was very good: he kept fighting back with logic and widening the context to include black riots and yet McTernan just kept to his blinkered obsession with denigrating white people. This is how they think. There is no sense of logic or context with them so you just have to keep the debate on a logical track. This presenter did that very well.

      1. McTernan is a repulsive see you next Tuesday . I once attended a meeting where he was a guest speaker and the man’s arrogance shone through. Now that his tribe is back in Downing Street he will be even more insufferable.

        1. Does his hatred and contempt for white people extend to hatred and contempt for himself?

          Starmer should give him a special brief to promote self-loathing.

        2. Those kinds of people set themselves up – which is probably why he keeps out of the real public eye. Just filthy articles here there and everywhere.

  60. Cursed Harmer repeats the mantra again and again that Labour will not raise taxes for working people.
    If you are retired you'd better start making budget cuts because that's who they are after.
    Once you are dead they will tax your estate even more too.
    I would not be surprised to see NI charged on pension payments.

      1. Actually it could have the opposite effect. If the 'old gits', as you so delicately put it, decided not to buy a number of medications it might possibly prolong their longevity…..

        1. I think most 'old gits' are on far too much medication. My OH is no exception, but he did stop taking the statin a few weeks back.

      2. I expect prescription charges to rise 10% and you don't get them free until you are 65.

        1. My prescriptions are not free. However, I get three months' worth each time instead of the useless one month you get in the UK.

          1. I get 56 days with each prescription but they make me ask for the painkillers as acute medicines need to be signed off by an ACTUAL doctor rather than some functionary.

      3. I am pretty sure they'll do that. Fortunately I don't take much in the way of prescription medicine.

      2. How can you means test something you have paid into? The effing contributions weren't voluntary.

    3. The Tax Payers' Alliance has been advocating NICs on pensions for a while. My view is that I pay enough tax as it is for virtually no reward.

  61. What an absolute night mare Barclays bank customer service now it.
    The options given are not what you want they keep talking over you when your attempting to insert the numbers they ask for and you cant talk to anyone and they just keep pushing their bloody App, I don't have a frigging app nor do i have an iPhone.
    I need to pay 10 pounds into a long term on line account but it tells me i cant and to contact my bank ……….

    1. Haven't you got a link to your account online to do it on your laptop or desktop? I don't use apps if I can avoid them and I don't use my phone to make payments.
      I'm about to make a payment via Barclays to a friend so I'll see if that goes through as normal.

    2. I just made my payment with no problems. I haven't tried telephone banking – is that where the problem is? I just use my card and pinsentry card reader to key in the details. Our nearest Barclays now is Gloucester so I haven't been into a bank for at least a year now.

      1. Same for Mother's accounts in Barclays, Ndovu. Straightforward transactions seem quite simple…

      2. Thanks.
        Sorted at last, Erin did the job directly with the National lottery.
        I had a new debit card and on line lottery told me to get in touch with the bank.
        But I spoke to a helpful chap at
        NL He Sorted it out for my new card details had to be registered.
        More than 8 million tonight 100 million in euro on Friday. Scary eh.

        1. It won’t be You hoo! I’ve never done the Lottery – think how much I’ve saved over the last 30 years or however long it’s been going.

          1. Entered a couple of times when it first started, won £10 but when I saw what the 'good causes' were I stopped

          3. I've only ever occasionally bought a ticket. The last time was after a good day at the races when I bought a lucky dip and won a tenner. I have saved a lot of money over the years by not indulging.

          1. Quite a few on YouTube…search Fred and Ginger, for some reason unable to copy and paste here, sorry Grizzly….can we still dance that way you think?! :-))) Try 'Pick Yourself Up' video of them….

          3. If only 😀 at one time, maybe. I was talking about Ginger mirroring his every move, as you well know:-)))….her heels were I think 3 possibly 4 inch.

    1. He certainly puts the sin in sinister!

      But he looks like a mechanical zombie – he takes the pulse out of repulsive and the heart out of heartless.

  64. He's at it again in Germany, going against the British public interest.
    WTF is a new treaty ?

    1. Any new Treaty – or variation to an existing treaty – should be subject to full Parliamentary Process for approval, nicht wahr?

      1. Any new Treaty – or variation to an existing treaty – should be subject to full Parliamentary rubber stamping Process for approval,

      2. Big treaties have little treaties upon their backs to bite 'em and little treaties have lesser treaties and so ad infinitum!

        Happy sailing days and lovely photos.

    2. From Coffee House, the Spectator

      A trade deal with Germany can only mean one thing
      Comments Share 28 August 2024, 10:35am
      Britain will not be rejoining the EU, the single market nor the customs union – that ship has sailed, and all we seek now is a closer relationship with the EU. So Keir Starmer assures those who feel a little suspicious about his multiple meetings with Olaf Scholz in the weeks since becoming Prime Minister, the latest of which took place this morning. All he seeks, he says, is a better trade deal which would allow better access to EU markets for UK firms.

      Maybe Starmer dreams at night of being paraded through the streets of Brussels as the man who engineered Britain’s return to the EU
      Maybe Starmer dreams at night of being paraded through the streets of Brussels as the man who engineered Britain’s return to the EU. He did, after all, continue to press for a second referendum right up until the point at which it became too late. I don’t know what is going through his mind, but I do know one thing for sure: the EU is not going to be making any concessions on trade without doing as it continually tried to do throughout the Brexit negotiations: to attempt to bring the UK back within the EU’s regulatory orbit.

      As an unnamed source quoted in the Times this morning puts it, Starmer must ‘realise that any access to the EU’s single market comes with obligations on mobility and alignment with European laws, on food safety for example.’ It should be pretty clear what that would mean: an end to the very limited areas of divergence which Britain has effected, such as creating a more favourable regulatory environment for the gene-editing of crops.

      The EU already appears to be pressing for a deal which would give the under-30s from the EU the right to live and work in Britain for up to three years – which would be reciprocal. It would be free movement lite, in other words. While many young people in Britain would welcome that it does rather raise the question: would it simply mean the return of large numbers of Eastern Europeans travelling to Britain to take up low-paid jobs and thus suppressing wages for UK workers? That is, after all, one of the pressures which led to the Brexit vote in the first place.

      But there is a very big question mark hanging over Starmer’s visit to Berlin. Why, if he says he is seeking to improve trade with the EU, does he seem to be seeking a unilateral treaty with Germany? He is in the wrong city – he should be in Brussels. Quite clearly, trade deals are an EU competence. No individual member state is allowed to do its own trade deal – that is what the Customs Union is all about. Whatever comes of Starmer’s agreement with Scholz, it isn’t going to include anything which makes it easier for us to trade with Germany. The most he can hope for is instigating a process which leads to negotiations with the EU – at which point Emmanuel Macron can be guaranteed to take a far harder line than Scholz.

      But it shouldn’t be any surprise that Germany is keen to talk trade with Britain. Germany is the EU economy which is most in need of an economic boost. The Germany economy shrank by 0.1 per cent in the second quarter after a lukewarm 0.2 per cent of growth in the first quarter. By contrast, UK growth was 0.7 per cent followed by 0.6 per cent. Until recently the industrial powerhouse of Europe, Germany’s manufacturing-heavy economy has suffered from high energy prices and competition from China. Car manufacturing – the beating heart of the German economy and a great source of national pride – is way down from its peak in the middle of the last decade.

      Britain, Remainers once told us, would suffer from Brexit far more than other EU countries – we need them more than they need us. With Germany struggling, it is becoming ever harder to sustain that argument.

      1. It is not possible to do a trade deal with an individual EU country. Trade is a devolved EU area.

      2. Maybe Scholz is mainlining his inner Bismarck. Otto was a great one for bi and tri lateral agreements with other countries.

        1. And unification. Life in the last 100+ years or so might have been a bit better for the rest of Europe had he not been quite so assiduous in that regard.

    2. Ffs well thanks for that!

      (All sarcasm aside – thanks for that).

      Good grief. What are we going to do?

  66. Our Protestant ethic , the view that a person's duty and responsibility is to achieve success through hard work and thrift is being trashed .

    Starmer is taking altruism to extremes..

    Altruism involves engaging in selfless acts for the pleasure of it. An example is giving your jacket and shoes to an unsheltered person.

    Why is he giving £billions away to countries that are part of the space race , yet ensuring that those of us who have worked hard and paid our taxes suffer horribly..

    Why work?

    2. Something that socialists never get their heads around is that people need an incentive to work. They soon realise they are being played for fools when the results of their labour are taken away to give to those who won't bother. They either leave or give up work or work less. The idea of the "deserving poor" has long since disappeared.

  67. Home!
    Got back at 12:25 after leaving Dr.Daughter's just the back of 9, so comfortably under 3½h for the run.
    Now got photos to transfer onto this computer.

  68. Why a capital gains raid may be the economic boost the Chancellor has been looking for
    Rachel Reeves is gambling that a tax overhaul will aid her mission to accelerate growth
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/08/28/rachel-reeves-betting-raid-capital-gains-economic-growth/

    The BTL comments under this article posted by those who have set up and run their own successful businesses say that when you are going to lose half you lifetime's work in building up a business when you sell it and retire then there will remain very little incentive for young entrepreneurs to set up their own businesses. In the meantime many of those working in the public sector receive very generous pensions without having to take the sort of risks business entrepreneurs have to take.

    BTL (Percival Wrattstrangler)

    Starmer has repeatedly said that Growth is his priority.

    He has not said that he means growth in the revenue and size of the state and the shrinking of the private sector and the punishment of entrepreneurs.

    He has left us to work that out for ourselves.

    1. Sooooo…in 1994 I bought my little flat for £36.5k and due to socialist immigration policies creating a shortage of residential property, it's now valued at £200k+, therefore if I retire and sell up, I'll be taxed on the £163.5k "capital gain", as if I engineered the inflated value to spite Karl Marx? Presumably they hope that I'll then have to rent and not buy a retirement home? You vil own nufink…etc?

      1. The idea of putting CGT on people's homes is so evil it's beyond belief. How are people supposed to buy another home? Also, if you take into account the decline in the value of the pound since 1994, your real gains are probably not that much. Your investment is inflation proof mainly.
        They can engineer a decline in the pound any time they want, and then tax people on the "gains" they have made on property.

        It would be likely to lead to people staying in their houses rather than getting taxed on a sale and new buy – so then they would have to think up some other evil scheme to force older people to move out. Let us hope they are not mad enough to do that.

        1. At the moment it only applies to property that's not your main home but in principle the government website describes CGT simply as, "a tax on the profit when you sell (or ‘dispose of’) something (an ‘asset’) that’s increased in value".

          2. That qualification can be removed at any time. Statutary instrument would do it – no need for debate.

          3. I haven’t looked at the legislation to see the mechanics, but I rather get the impression that Starmer doesn’t care too much about the niceties of debate anyway.

      2. I don’t see how they can bring in a straightforward CGT on primary residences without triggering a) a complete collapse in the housing market and b) civil unrest, including among their own supporters.
        I would be in a similar situation to you but possibly worse. I bought my house in the mid 90s when it was in an uninhabitable state (ceilings down due to burst pipes) and spent about 3/4 the purchase price again rendering it habitable. I have subsequently upgraded it at regular intervals including a new roof and insulating rendering to replace the original. I have receipts for work done in the past 5 years or so but am not sure if I have everything from 30 years ago and, in any case, quite a lot came through by fax so the ink has deteriorated and may be illegible. It means I would be very unlikely to sell while the policy is in place.
        I understand that, in the past, when CGT was levied at the same rate as income tax, it was tapered according to how long one had held the asset

        1. CGT in France is tapered – so after about 25 years or so the tax you have to pay becomes insignificant .

          Within limits CGT does not apply to your principal residence.

        2. I think if they tried to bring CGT in on your primary residence all hell would be let loose. I bought my little 3 bed terrace in 1977 for £12k. Not been watching the market that closely but last time I looked it was worth something like £450k. Improvements over the years, most not recorded. And of course already over the IHT threshold that as a single person with nobody interested in inheriting it I can do nothing.

        3. I am similar; my house is in a rural location where house prices are depressed compared with the south of the country (and, indeed, the south of the county). I bought it in the early '80s before house prices and inflation took off. Fortunately I don't intend to sell.

      3. So, say on your figures with a property worth £200,000 you will have to pay 40% on £163,500 = £65,400 so you will lose a great proportion of the gain in your property's value and you will not be able to afford to buy a similar property for £200,000 as your available funds will be £134,600.

        This means, for example, that you will not move home for a new job; you will stay where you are once you have bought your first home. House values will stagnate as will the whole economy. You will have nothing and be pissed off!

        I thought Reeves was meant to understand basic economics – I am beginning to think she must be financially illiterate.

        1. Yo Rastus.

          I read your post as:

          I am beginning to think she must be financially illegitimate.

          She is a bit of a barsteward then

      4. I don't know much about CGT Sue but don't you get an allowance/discount for each year you've held the asset?

    2. People will just emigrate. The only ones left in Britain will be those hanging off the taxpayer teat in one way or another

  69. One pound is now worth 1.32 US dollars. The dollar is sliding. If this is being done deliberately in the run up to the presidential election, can someone explain in simple terms how and why?

    1. Doller slides = Donald Trump.
      Pound rises = Starmer

      i apporved by Soros and 1 disaproved by Soros.

    2. Weak dollar = higher exports, so illusion that the economy is booming?

      Their debt is so huge now, I don't think there's any way back, and both Harris and Trump are promising to spend, spend, spend…

          2. Time will tell, wouldn't be surprised if the € and £ started tumbling too, and we'll all be in it together.

          2. Eejits including my brother and his wife, passionate lifelong Tories, that is until their half-witted Lefty sons "persuaded" them that Left was the only way to go.

            You couldn't make it up!

          3. We were outnumbered, Grizzly, and all will pay the price. All younger people I know voted Labour, as they are doing in America/Kamala. They vote with their hearts and not their heads, have to be around age 30 to change.

          4. Hopefully the next 5 years will change their minds. If not, then perhaps they have no minds left to change.

          5. They’ll doubtless hang on as long as they can. Colder climate on the way with El Nino, see how they like that…:-D

          9. You old coupon you, Conway….off to my cot now, been weeding all day getting ready for veg….back packed in..:/-…’night 🙂

          12. They haven't the experience of previous Labour governments such as Wilson and Callaghan.

          13. Wilson definitely, similar neck of woods…I remember my dad having high hopes of him…hopes -invariably dashed:-D

          14. I have the misfortune of having experienced several Labour governments (Attlee, Wilson, Callaghan, Blair, Brown and now Starmer). All have been economically incompetent.

    5. I just read a post by parallel mike on this subject
      "When the US Federal Reserve lowers borrowing costs, the appeal of US dollar assets will erode and potentially spur a “conservative” US$1 trillion of flows back home as China’s rate discount with the US narrows."
      This is at the limit of my understanding, but I think they need to attract all the dollars back home in an orderly fashion to unwind the debt pyramid (given that all the dollars are issued as debt)
      Too much at once and the whole thing crashes.

    6. This is why economics is so confusing!
      Just read an article by Gregory Mannarino that claims the exact opposite – and both are plausible!
      "Just this past week the Federal Reserve announced that it is about to cut rates beginning in September, effectively instituting a quantitative easing monetary policy. "
      He thinks that cheaper loans will mean more debt being created, i.e. more dollar printing

    7. This is why economics is so confusing!
      Just read an article by Gregory Mannarino that claims the exact opposite – and both are plausible!
      "Just this past week the Federal Reserve announced that it is about to cut rates beginning in September, effectively instituting a quantitative easing monetary policy. "
      He thinks that cheaper loans will mean more debt being created, i.e. more dollar printing

  70. Just a reminder folk, we have a first class article up on Free Speech by nanamuga.

    Also, if any one of you fine folk fancy writing an article, we would like to see it.

    freespechbacklash.com

    1. Singing, dancing and enjoying yourself are all against the Koran. It's why most of them go mad.

      Little girls are okay as long as they are promised in marriage aged nine and married at twelve. If not, they are rape fodder.

  72. Has Sir Jasper been about on the page today? Took a look, haven't seen his daily, or anything else for that matter, from him.

  73. Fingers uncrossed.
    Visit to Elderly Chum was a success.
    Spartie was a bit thoughtful initially, but didn't seem worried by the seriously demented. By the time we passed through the day room at the end of the visit, he allowed several residents stroke him. It is actually quite tear jerking to watch such lost people light up and start talking.
    EC was in bed which was handy as all dogs love a chance to flop out on beds. For the best part of an hour he sat with her while she had a cup of tea and a couple of biscuits. (I was a bit worried he might snaffle the bikkies, but I think he picked up the vibes.)
    Big PHEW!

      1. I have to say I was proud of him.
        The people are weird and frightening and the noises and smells are not something he's used to.
        Even on a walk, let alone in a strange building, he soon picks out someone who's a bit odd.

        1. Yes, but there is something underneath what we see as odd that animals can sometimes identify with. My lovely daughter (who had high-functioning autism) was so liked by the animals she came into contact with – and they obviously liked her.

          1. Yes. I did feel Spartie sensed something deeper.
            EC's movements and voice are now quite disjointed, but he didn't flinch or try to get off the bed.

          2. Yes. I did feel Spartie sensed something deeper.
            EC's movements and voice are now quite disjointed, but he didn't flinch or try to get off the bed.

      2. He did try that, but EC didn't take the hint.
        I gave him crumbs from mine as I'm trying to keep his weight down.

        1. The only way to keep Dolly’s weight down would be to make her hunt for herself hampered by being nailed to a plank.. At least my kitchen floor is licked clean.

    3. What a wonderful thing for you to do, anne, hope someone does similarly for me one day. (Have been a dog owner since I was 4 years old.)

    5. Pets are good for people. An ex-colleague used to have a PAT (Pets As Therapy) dog he took round the wards.

        1. Back in the day my son used to claim he could barely breathe on rugby or cricket tour because of the overpowering smell of Lynx 😉

    3. In Britain, the Eurasian lynx survived longest in Scotland until finally going extinct around 1,300 years ago due to hunting and habitat loss.

      1. Gaupe (Lynx) live in the forest above Firstborn's smallholding. Big buggers, so they are. Most impressive.

  75. The Tories are hardly Tory these days, as the ape Labour in pretty well anything. It might have been more honest to abstain, or vote for something a bit Right-wing.

    1. If everybody who voted Conservative had voted for Reform – or if everybody who had voted Reform had voted Conservative – the sum of their votes (38%) would have been greater than the votes received by Labour (34%).

      You can blame those who voted Reform for Labour's landslide but you could just as well blame those who voted Conservative.

      Be that as it may I think it has been apparent for some time that the Conservative Party is dying and the sooner it is completely dead and buried the better. We need a party which is well to the right of centre – whether this is Reform or not I do not know.

      1. There was no point in voting the despicable Tories in yet again simply to stop Labour. If it takes the young Trots and the cerebrally challenged 5 years of Labour rule to realise that both cheeks of the same posterior of humanity are unelectable, then so be it.

      2. I think it was the mass who didn't vote at all that has landed us with this dreadful government. The Tories were incompetent fools but this lot are malevolent tyrants.

  76. We have two big cats at home – Norwegian Forest Cats, nowhere in the league of lynx, but about 10kg and 12kg each.
    Nice and fuzzy, very warm for a cuddle.

    2. Had to look up their pic, Ober…they're very handsome, do their coats take much looking after?

        1. Some are worth the effort 🙂 Not heard any cat described as sympathetic previously, tho :-)) ones I’ve had, kill on sight….

        2. Some are worth the effort 🙂 Not heard any cat described as sympathetic previously, tho :-)) ones I’ve had, kill on sight….

      1. I’ve had at least 3 comments removed today – no explanation, just gone! They really have stopped doing debate!

      1. Yes, this was discussed when he went. But obviously, small things like facts don't concern the MSM.

    5. The WIll Bolton who wrote this article is a very poor journalist and this article is a disgrace.

      The far-Right activist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, ……

      Is there anybody who has not heard this often repeated attempted slur? What about Harry Webb, Reginald Dwight etc. etc.? Is Will Bolton's real name Biased Muck-Raker?

      Robinson fled the country earlier this year before he was due to appear in court over separate alleged contempt proceedings relating to the same injunction.

      This is a straight lie. He went on holiday and told the authorities that he was going before he went.

      This is thoroughly shoddy journalism but it is what we have come to expect from the Daily Telegraph

      1. There's an even worse one on the ironically named "Unherd". Real sick-making tosh. Cannot even bring myself to post a link.

      2. It isn't shoddy journalism, Rastus, it's pure and wilful propaganda, disinformation or call it what you will.

  80. Oh dear, Oh dear!!!!

    A pet cat could double your chances of schizophrenia, according to new study:

    Having a pet cat could potentially double your risk of developing schizophrenia, according to a new study. Researchers from the University of Queensland, Australia, conducted a review looking at 17 studies from 11 countries including the US and the UK over the past 44 years. They found those who were exposed to cats before the age of 25 were around twice as likely to develop schizophrenia.

    The science is settled! . . . or is it?

    6. Maybe it's the other way round. Maybe it could be so much worse without. These people are abject idiots.

      1. Never achieved a cat until I was an adult (parental distrust of the creatures). Had dogs, a great joy. Never had own pony (too poor). Schizophrenic "episode" (involving lengthy compulsory hospitalisation) during teenage years. I'm sure this could have been avoided had there been a cat or a pony on site. Especially a pony. But a cat might have done.

  81. For this alone, Elon richly deserves an honorary knighthood…

    GARY LINEKER WHINGES MUSK HAS STOPPED HIM FROM TWEETING HIS THOUGHTS

    BBC presenter Gary Lineker has complained that Elon Musk has forced him to “change his habits” when it comes to posting on X, whining to The Independent that “I don’t really post my thoughts now because I think it has become not a very pleasurable experience.” Shame…

    Lineker continued his whinge, saying that he can longer “banter” (whatever that looked like) on the platform thanks to Musk’s changes. A reminder that Lineker was actually suspended from Match of the Day after his Tory bashing diatribe. Perhaps the presenter refraining from parroting his political views has more to do with that than with the tech tycoon…

  84. 11-year-old child from Middlesbrough has become the youngest person to be arrested over the UK riots..

    If you think the Lefties can be shamed about two tier policing.. think again.
    They support 2TK 110%.. They hate the pasty working class, those outside the M25, and basically anyone not working in the public sector.
    unless you are an exotic minority.. soon to be an exotic majority.

    Strongly suggest Farage takes over the Tory party, otherwise Starmer will hold power indefinitely.

    1. the speed at which Starmer is implementing his radical plans means time is already running out..

      1. This painting shows a view of St Mawes Harbour and village from the beach immediately in front of the house which my maternal grandfather had built at the turn of the 20th century.

        Both St Mawes and Pendennis castles are in the middle distance and the shoreline in the distance leads to the Manacles with the Lizard Point beyond. Charles Pears was the founder of the Royal Society of Marine Artists and this picture by him hangs on my study wall along with pictures by my father, who exhibited at the RSMA exhibition a couple of times and family portraits, and photos.

        My father did some beautiful water colours but I do not have any talent for painting at all though one of my sisters painted semi-professionally.

        Grizzly has done some impressive paintings – I hope he will post them on this forum again. I remember an impressive elephant.

        1. I haven’t been but looks very much like my kind of place. I wonder if Turner ever painted there, it’s reminiscent of some of his work (I’ve been to the Gallery in Margate, sorry but couldn’t recommend it unless significantly improved). How fortunate you are to have paintings from your father. I’ve noticed men are very good at buildings, vehicles etc, whereas females often go for botanical studies (with a few notable exceptions). Me? portraits, for my sins…I hope Grizzly posts again too, I didn’t see them previously. Thanks for reply Rastus 🙂

  86. Eliot Wilson
    What’s the real reason Starmer axed his national security adviser?
    27 August 2024, 3:13pm

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/GettyImages-1243297934.jpg
    Gwyn Jenkins, pictured with King Charles, had been due to take up the job this summer (Getty)

    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.

    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.

    The unavoidable conclusion is that Starmer and his team in Downing Street do not want General Jenkins to be the national security adviser. Many possible reasons have been adduced for this: that a military figure does not have the breadth of experience to fill the ‘national security’ role (though he was deputy NSA); that as an officer in UK Special Forces he concealed allegations of extrajudicial executions by members of the SAS; or that Starmer wants to appoint a more ‘politically loyal’ figure to an important and sensitive position at the heart of government.

    We can only guess at the motivation, because Downing Street has made no official announcement on the story which first appeared in the Guardian on Monday night. That in itself is odd – and clumsy. Making such an unusual decision was always going to attract considerable media attention. Anyone with an ounce of political acuity and five minutes’ experience in communications would have advised the Prime Minister’s office to control the narrative by issuing a short statement saying exactly what was happening, when it was happening and what the reasons for it were.

    Such a statement would have made all the more sense given the ongoing media coverage of out-of-the-ordinary civil service appointments made so far by the new government, with Emily Middleton, a former adviser to Peter Kyle in opposition, becoming a director general in his Department for Science, Innovation and Technology; Ian Corfield, a Labour donor, being appointed a director in the Treasury then giving up the role within weeks; and Jess Sargeant moving from party think-tank Labour Together to a position in the Cabinet Office’s Propriety and Constitution Group. But the government seems to think it should not have to explain itself when questions like these are raised.

    This morning the Prime Minister gave an exhaustively trailed speech in the Downing Street rose garden to set out his programme for the autumn. When questioned by journalists, he declined to explain why he had cancelled Jenkins’s appointment as national security adviser, and was dismissive of allegations made by the opposition: ‘I’m not really going to take lectures on this from the people who dragged our country so far down in the last few years.’ A politician relying on ‘not taking lectures’ is already waist-deep in hubris. What Starmer would say about the issue was that ‘there will be an open and transparent process, and no I’m not going to publicly discuss individual appointments’.

    That is not good enough. There is no reason a Prime Minister should not discuss individual appointments – they are fully enough discussed when political advantage is perceived – and it is all the more incumbent on him to ‘discuss’ them when they involve such unusual decisions as (effectively) sacking a four-star general from one of Whitehall’s most senior security jobs.

    Starmer insists that he is putting ‘the best people into the best jobs’. How can we possibly know that to be true, when every detail has to be dragged out of them like recalcitrant teeth? Labour has made some controversial appointments, and it can hardly be surprised there is speculation about its motivation when it remains monkishly, or arrogantly, silent. This is not a complex or multifaceted question, let alone an impertinent one: Prime Minister, why have you binned your national security adviser?

    Eliot Wilson was a clerk in the House of Commons 2005-16, including on the Defence Committee. He is a member of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

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

    TBF
    a day ago
    The fact that he is a highly respected and highly decorated professional soldier and leader, sealed his fate.

    Mulga Bill TBF
    21 hours ago
    Presumably he’s loyal to crown and country. Nothing could be more loathsome to the left.

    Stephen Harper TBF
    7 hours ago
    Why listen to a real expert when you can call on the "intelligence" of the far left Hope not Hate leader who predicted 100 riots.

    Benjamin d'Israeli
    18 hours ago edited
    I admit I'm nigh on seventy years old, and to be honest I've given up the will to live. The past six weeks have seen Starmer show up our once wonderful 'Gentleman's Agreement' of a constitution: it seems that from Wilson to Thatcher (both of whom abided by the rules), we now have, for the first time at No10, someone who does not deserve the epithet 'gentleman'. He has shown the flaws of the system: that a bloody-minded thug can ride roughshod over all these islands hold dear. I know that this is probably not the best place to comment on this, but I'm afraid I don't want to live in a Totalitarian State (the very kind of place my father fought against from 1939-45). Something needs to be done to rid these islands of this ridiculous new (for Britain) ideology in the very near future, or else everything we treasure will be irreparably gone for ever.

    1. My guess is that 2 Tier Kier wants someone more politically loyal (to him, not the country).

    2. A family man with a successful career and reputation has been chosen for a top job by due screening and Civil Service process.

      It is an abuse of power to cast the process aside.

      The world will be wiser when we learn who is the new candidate – and why he was chosen . . .

  87. 392556+ up ticks,

    The end of the year to finalise the deal with germany and reverse brexit, I always knew UKIP was the way to go from as long back as Kilroy Silk, but to have your own sell you and the country out via supporting /voting lab/lib/con through polling stations since 24/6/2016 is an odious load to realise.

  88. Awkward
    The Labour activist that threw bricks at Farage on a bus during the election campaign in Barnsley has a suspended 6 week prison sentence and a paltry fine.

    Two Tier Kier and his legal friends in action once more it would appear .

    Disgusting really.

          1. Unlike the poor old girl who posted whatever she did from her sofa, removed it as soon as she realised it was dodgy and apologised profusely. How many years did she get?

          2. One might hope there could be something like a class action appeal against this obvious abuse of judicial powers and judicial bias.

          3. Just organising that could result in having a porridge breakfast for a couple of months.

          9. The lady looking after her disabled husband, opopanax? I think it was 15 months, but being appealed. Whatever, it was dodgy and unfair.

          12. He has been ordered to undertake 'Throwing practice'. The judge was not impressed with his aiming skills and choice of missiles. Must do better!

          14. No need to send him to Afghaf; he can practise in Luton, Tower Hamlets, Bradford or any of the other no go delightfully enriched areas.

          15. They are completely blind, deaf and dumb to what is happening in the places you mention. It is baffling.

      2. There was a previous milkshake thrown at him(teenage failed porn star or something). I think this upstanding young man simply threw a coffee cup followed by some stuff from a builders rubble pile, under the intense provocation of Nigel talking from a bus. Obvs, neither action as dangerous or worthy of punishment as printing out stickers whilst holding the wrong views, or posting memes disrespectful to the Regime.

    2. What got me was the contention that being a graduate, with a masters degree was some sort of mitigation!

  89. A lissom Birdie Three?

    Wordle 1,166 3/6
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Well done, lacoste, but here is something which I don't understand; perhaps other Wordlers can help me. I was first introduced to Wordle two or three years ago by a family who said they always started with the word AUDIO. This will usually give you a start. Some time ago (on Thursday of last week, in fact) I entered AUDIO and it told me that the only vowel which was correct was the letter O (and there wasn't a letter D either), but that it was in the wrong place. So I tried putting the O in various other positions, and found that the O was actually in the centre of the word. I then searched for one vowel missing from AUDIO, i.e. the ubiquitous E. This only proved that E was not in the answer. The same thing happened when I tried Y as a substitute for the vowel I. Again, this proved that Y was not in the answer. I think that further attempts showed me that, just as O was the third letter, so N was the final one. By now I was baffled at to what letters I could try, the only possible one being ACORN; but of course I had learned from the original AUDIO attempt that the letter A was not in the word. Nevertheless, I did try ACORN and was fortunate to discover that both C and R were in the solution, but not where I had put them, i.e. C was not letter number two, nor R letter number 4. If I put R down as either letter one or two that was the only place where it could go. C, however, had to be either letter number one or letter number four, but a word ending in OCN seemed totally improbable. So I tried moving the C to letter one and the R to letter two, and at once I realised that the solution to that day's Wordle was CROWN. Success, but in 5 attempts.

      My question is this: do other Wordle players use the same starter word as AUDIO like me, or do they have a different starter? And if it is a different starter word, do they always keep to this starter word or use a different starter word on different days. Can anyone help?

      PS – Looking at lacoste's attempt for today, and also Sue Ed's attempt for today I can see that neither of them have started with AUDIO.

      3. Dear Elsie, I use various 'starter' words; eg Taser, Opium, Pious, About, Canoe and Lynch.

        When I started, I used Tares for ages – it was tipped as a good starter.

        Now, I choose a word randomly from the above – or my daughter's favourite – Adieu!

        BTW, I replied to your note yesterday re "8 metre races"….!

    3. Well done, lacoste, but here is something which I don't understand; perhaps other Wordlers can help me. I was first introduced to Wordle two or three years ago by a family who said they always started with the word AUDIO. This will usually give you a start. Some time ago (on Thursday of last week, in fact) I entered AUDIO and it told me that the only vowel which was correct was the letter O (and there wasn't a letter D either), but that it was in the wrong place. So I tried putting the O in various other positions, and found it that the O was actually in the centre of the word. I then searched for one vowel missing from AUDIO, i.e. the ubiquitous E. This only proved that E was not in the answer. The same thing happened when I tried Y as a substitute for the vowel I. Again, this proved that Y was not in the answer. I think that further attempts showed me that, just as O was the third letter, so N was the final one. By now I was baffled at to what letters I could try, the only possible one being ACORN; but of course I had learned from the original AUDIO attempt that the letter A was not in the word. Nevertheless, I did try ACORN and was fortunate to discover that both C and R were in the solution, but not where I had put them, i.e. C was not letter number two, nor R letter number 4. If I put R down as either letter one or two that was the only place where it could go. R, however, had to be either letter number one or letter number four, but a word ending in OCN seemed totally improbable. So I tried moving the C to letter one and the R to letter two, and at once I realised that the solution to that day's Wordle was CROWN. Success, but in 5 attempts.

      My question is this: do other Wordle players use the same starter word as AUDIO like me, or do they have a different starter? And if it is a different starter word, do they always keep to this starter word or use a different starter word on different days. Can anyone help?

      PS – Looking at lacoste's attempt for today, and also Sue Ed's attempt for today I can see that neither of them have started with AUDIO.

    4. Certainly more straightforward than yesterday.

      Wordle 1,166 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩
      ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    5. finally got here

      Wordle 1,166 4/6

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

    1. Since when has he had a degree in medicine?
      Government misinformation and disinformation is the greatest threat to our lives and freedom.

    1. I believe they were taken to the Isle of Dogs and made to work in an outdoor washroom scrubbing hijabs, chadors and niqabs for complaining about losing their winter heating allowance. Serves 'em right, said a Government spokesperthing.

      1. The alternative option was generating the heating for Tower Hamlets Town Hall by taking turns on a giant treadmill.

  95. I'm reading trash post apocalyptic pulp fiction for bedtime reading at the moment. (more calming than reality).

    And i just watched an episode of Come Dine With Me from Merseyside where one of the hosts said he often went to Michelin Star restaurants and particularly enjoyed the Foycse Grass.

    I am 50/50 on this.

      1. I don't think so. He asked the guests how they would like their venison cooked and they all looked at him with a blankly.

        I do enjoy pate but i found foie gras far too rich for my taste. Like the very best caviar you only need a small amount and then have to wash it down with ice cold Vodka !

          1. Neither do i. The French spesciality of nailing them to a plank

            Just like with Rose Veal conditions have improved a great deal. Not so much force fed but allowing them to overeat.
            In the case of veal you must know that boy calf babies and boy hatched chickens are thrown away. or now ……………….

            Boris and his dad would have indulged you know.

          3. Not trying to convince you but those calves born male when they wanted females for dairy herds were destroyed soon after being born. I know the whole thing stinks.

          4. You don't need to torture them, they'll eat and eat and eat, with no extra encouragement.

          5. Although they do force feed them ,sos, but with consent it seems. I am on the fence over this, because traditional practices differ greatly now that we have factory farming. Personally, if i choose to eat meat, i would rather pay more for meat that is produced from happy animals that are humanely produced and killed

          7. I have no idea either, sos! I was trying to find a rather joyous video I once saw of French peasant women force feeding eager geese but, alas, could not. It does now all look rather grim – but the continentals are not known for their soft-heartedness towards animals. It's the Brits that insist on kindness, both in husbandry and in slaughter.

      2. No Tomorrow: The Complete 6-Book Series: A Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Survival Series Kindle Edition.

        On Amazon. 78 pence.

        I do find the fleshing out of the characters is quite good. You can see them in your mind. Goes on a bit but i haven't scanned forward or put it down yet.

        Like i said…Pulp Fiction. Possibly written by AI. Which is an improvement on wokeism.

        Or did you mean Come Dine With Me? :@)

        1. Just reading the Whispering Room by Dean Koontz. Implants in brains to make the populace submissive and compliant.

          1. Thanks for the tip. Though that was published at least eight years ago.

            Not dissing you. Just missed it.

            Elon is also doing chips in brains and some reports show people with no mobility at all can now control their own enviroment from their mind.

            Of course all this new tech have military applications.

        3. I am deeply ashamed to say that watching "Come Dine With Me" became a secret vice for me some years ago (I did watch telly then) enhanced by absolute fascination when people with whom I was personally acquainted began to appear as hosts, often in train-crash episodes. One of them (an ex-headteacher at one of my children's schools) committed suicide shortly afterwards.

  96. Net Zero is becoming a threat to our basic security

    Turning off street lamps to cut emissions is insanity. But with Ed Miliband as Energy Secretary, we can expect many more such measures

    MATTHEW LYNN
    28 August 2024 • 1:08pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2024/08/28/TELEMMGLPICT000389386101_17248462221920_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=680

    They would make the streets safer from crime. They would reduce road accidents. And they would boost economic growth by making it easier for shops to display their goods, as well as extending the hours when people could trade. Street lights have been around since Greek and Roman times, but as they were introduced widely in cities such as London and Paris in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries they were sold as a way of making life better. And they delivered.

    Yet now, we are turning them off even when there are clear risks. In reality, our obsession with Net Zero is now turning into a clear threat to public health and safety – and it is only going to get worse.

    If you happen to be driving through what has now dubbed itself “Net Zero Norfolk”, be careful along the B1145 outside King’s Lynn. The council is planning to remove the lights along the road, even though it is notorious for car crashes, with two serious nighttime accidents in the last six months alone, and several deaths over the last few years. Why? It is taking down 1,000 of its 50,000 street lights to save 76 tonnes of carbon emissions a year. The road will become even more hazardous. But, heck, never mind. At least you will be saving the planet as your Nissan veers into a ditch.

    It is hardly an isolated example. Both central and local governments are now pursuing Net Zero targets with a Maoist fanaticism that allows one single goal to trump every other consideration. Elderly people will be left to freeze in their homes, especially now Labour are scrapping the universal Winter Fuel Payment, because energy prices have been pushed so much higher than they otherwise would be. Small businesses could go bust because low emission zone charges mean their customers can’t easily get to them anymore, and children will be at risk if they have to walk to school because their parents can no longer drive them. Food prices are going up because of restrictions placed on agriculture, reducing nutritional levels. The list goes on and on.

    It will get worse over the next few years, especially as the Green Commissars around Ed Miliband, the Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary, become more confident. Street lights will soon be turned off in cities as well, even if it means they are no longer safe for women to walk down and burglary rates rise. Police cars may well have speed limits placed on them to reduce carbon emissions. Electric ambulances may sound like a noble idea until you consider what happens when the battery runs low during an emergency call out.

    What next? Schools closing during the winter, because the heating contributes to global warming? Perhaps social workers will stop making home visits because driving to them threatens the planet. We may need to empty out the few remaining prisons to save on fuel. Lights could be turned off on airport runways, and of course the lighthouses along the sea lanes as well, because they are wasteful. Once you make hitting Net Zero the only thing that matters, there is almost no measure that can’t be imposed so long as it saves a tiny amount of power.

    This is crazy. Everyone agrees that we need to steadily reduce carbon emissions [NO WE BLUDDY DON'T}, even if the UK accounts for such a tiny fraction of the global total that it doesn’t make much sense to aspire to global leadership. But we need to do that in a way that balances out different priorities, in the way that any sensible government would do. Sure, climate change is a serious threat to the health of the British public – although hardly immediate – and yet public goods such as street lights were also built to protect us.

    To put it bluntly, global warming does not make much difference if you have already died in a car crash, or been stabbed on a dark street. With rising amounts of wind and solar power, and of course new nuclear generators, it should be perfectly possible to steadily reduce the country’s carbon emissions while maintaining the basic lighting and other services that keep public space functioning. Instead, Net Zero is being turned by a handful of extremists and fanatics into the only cause that matters, and is now turning into a clear threat to public safety.

    1. 20+ years ago there was a BBC producer who when told that she could use the polar bear footage but not the grizzly bear footage, responded with, “Can’t we just use the grizzlies and call them dirty polar bears”? She was joking but she really did want that footage and the owner wouldn’t play.

  98. Pope Francis says refusing aid to migrants a 'grave sin'

    He called for expanding access routes for migrants and a "global governance of migration based on justice, brotherhood and solidarity." The pope said the issue would not be resolved through the "militarization of borders".

    https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pope-francis-says-refusing-aid-migrants-grave-sin-2024-08-28/

    Anyone, anytime, anywhere, any place, eh Frankie? Let's have a free-for-all, is that it?

    2. The gates of the cities are not forced open by the Barbarians..

      ..very often equanimously offered to you by men of god in other robes, Christian, Jewish and smarmy ecumenical.

      These are the ones that will hold open the gates for the barbarians. For barbarians will never take a city until someone holds open the gates for them. And it is your own preachers that will do it for you. and your own multi-cultural authorities. Resist it while you can.

      Christopher Hitchens.

    4. The Italians should ship every arrival straight to Vatican City, no ifs no buts, and particularly the Muslims.

      1. The Castel Sant’Angelo. Don’t want the savages anywhere near St Peter’s or the Sistine.

        1. Good idea, the militant Muslims can throw the LBGTQWXYZ's, fleeing Muslim countries, off the walls.
          Win win.

    6. Well, that lets the U.K. off the hook then. We refuse nobody anything. All they have to do is turn up. Nobody turned away.

    7. Pope Francis has abrogated all spiritual authority by putting worldly politics before his first duty (ie kindling and sustaining man's spiritual journey back towards his creator). The same applies to the awful man Welby who has grabbed our Anglican church and is doing his best to destroy all that is meaningful within it. Centuries of worship, spirituality and sacred lore shoved to one side by this evil man all for the sake of political expediency and shallow BBC trendiness.

      I think Jonathan Rackham is correct that the Orthodox Church may well be the only religious organisation that keeps the true Christian flame burning. It certainly was alive and true when Anthony Bloom (Metropolitan Anthony) existed. I don't know enough about his successor in the role, but hold out hope.

    9. Justice, brotherhood and solidarity? They hate us kuffars and being people of the book won't give us any protection. You first, Franco!

  100. That's me gone. A day of total leisure at resort! Apart form the crosswords, I have read two books and now am starting the third! Bliss. The MR is shortly going to her Keep Fit class – so I'll show willing by watering the vegetables.

    Have a jolly evening

    A demain.

  101. Watch: Migrant dinghy crushed by Spanish police boat

    The Guardia Civil can be seen chasing the speedboat and trying to block the path when it ploughs into it

    James Badcock
    28 August 2024 • 5:14pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/08/28/migrant-dinghy-crushed-by-spanish-police-boat-mediterranean/

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

    Xtro Vert
    37 MIN AGO
    Precisely what should have happened in the English Channel 5 years ago and the illegals would have stopped arriving within 24 hours EDITED

    lesley dawson
    34 MIN AGO
    Can they be recruited to Border Force?

    S l Williams
    13 MIN AGO
    Just another example of the fact that it was not the EU that was actually the problem, but in fact any of our UK governments at the time. I voted Brexit but the true problem remains our useless overlords who deliver nothing and tax us more and more for their dereliction of duty.

    3. I did worry if anyone had been hurt. No, I worried if any Spaniards had been hurt. If we'd done this from the outset millions of the vermin wouldn't be here now.

  103. There's a lot in today's BBC news broadcasts about events in Israel. You don't need me to describe to you the perspective taken. On R4's PM, Jeremy Bowen threw in a little bit of history (of the West Bank) to tell us what a rotten lot the Jews Israelis are.

    My worry is that sooner or later this will spill over here. Properly, I mean, not just a few marches and demos in the cities. What will Max do then?

        2. The Jews at least have Israel. We do not have an israel. Our homeland has been sold to the highest bidder.

          1. By buying trinkets from other countries we have provided them with £sterling in great quantities which has been used very successfully to buy up prime bits of the UK….

      2. If they were the only ones left there would still be trouble. They can't help themselves.

    2. No no no – you misunderstand. The BBC doesnt have a problem with Jews, or Israelis – perish the thought – it's Zionists they have a problem with, why dont you all understand the difference??

    3. I don’t suppose Bowen acknowledged truthfully that the “West Bank” is actually Judea?

  104. Dear Mr Viktor Orbán

    Please, please, pretty please.

    Gather up all the gimmegrants on your borders and, using freedom of movement, transport them all to the Vatican.

    1. There's something wrong with that title; I don't think we've sent any illegal migrants to Rwanda, have we?

    4. So typical of Africa. Generally very friendly, everyone wants something from you but you know that things can kick off anytime. Fewer beggars than I remember though.

  107. UAE as a champion of free speech eh….

    Kim Dotcom
    @KimDotcom
    The French Govt just lost $17 billion over the arrest of Pavel Durov. The UAE froze a deal to purchase 80 Rafale fighter jets and says that the arrest of Pavel Durov is outrageous. Pavel is a citizen of the UAE and a close friend of the Deputy Prime Minister Hamdan Al Maktoum.

          1. Sure a gent like you would take the trouble to learn the rudiments of local politesses before venturing into foreign climes, Connors.

          2. Not that I am not polite, but my Spanish is very rudimentary. I'd be okay with por favor and gracias.

          4. Many years ago after a conference in Madrid, I scooted over to Benidorm or some such seaside resort to visit my mother who was on holiday there. Por favor and Gracias was more Spanish than the English holiday makers would manage, all they could come up with was loud demands for decent draft and their full English breakfast.

          5. I know. When we pimp up the English and how great we are in some ways there is this undeniable area of shame.

          9. In the 70s in Switzerland, walking into a restaurant, small places at least, without a "Bonsoir, messieurs, dames." would point you out as a bit of a Philistine.

          10. In Majorca say 'bon dia' (the Catalan local dialect) you get all your coffee free and make friends for life.

          12. Not sure of the spelling, but in Brazil it always sounded like 'Bonjia!' though spelt differently.

          15. I wouldn’t know about that. But it is certainly the preference in Catalonia (including the Balearics). I know this because I tried it (from advice in a tour guide) and I can confirm that it works well.

    2. I went into a coffee shop in Italy (Moderna, to be precise) decades ago. Cracked open the phrase book and after haltingly asking for a coffee with milk in dreadful, insultingly bad Italian, got a round of applause and a hug from the proprietor. He shook my hand and said, in annoyingly fantastic English – 'thank you for trying. It means so much to us'

      1. Even in the Czech Republic I learned enough Serbo Croat to be able to order my food and drink. Where I fell down was if people wanted to hold a coversation 🙂

        1. When did the Czechs start to speak Serbo-Croat?

          I thought it was the Yugoslavs that did that.

          1. No wonder I had problems 🙂 I did learn Serbo Croat at one stage. I learned enough Czech then to order food and drink. I get a bit confused because what I always knew as Czechoslovakia suddenly became the Czech Republic and Slovakia. How that affected the language, I'm not sure.

          2. When I make orders for coffee, and such like, in my broken Swedish, here in Sweden, I often get a stifled smirk at my pathetic attempts.

    1. This is a man who has shown extreme restraint and always posted in good faith, from an informed base, never jumping to conclusions. His disillusion reflects that of many.

  112. Well Starmer clearly wants us to have a much better relationship with our good friends in the EU, better cooperation, stronger defence, improve our trade and freedom of movement and ensure that we are all back marching in goose step together.

    1. "Well Starmer clearly wants us to have a much better relationship with our his good friends in the EU . . ."

      1. "Well Starmer clearly wants us to have a much better relationship with our his good friends paymasters in the EU . . ."

    2. Having a good relationship was never a contentious idea. Paying £13 billion a year for it, to have rules and regulations imposed on us without accountability and, after 2003, having to accept millions of foreigners without protest was just a bit off.

    3. We've never had a good relationship with the EU, even before we had the temerity to vote to leave. They took our money, treated us with contempt and did the best they could to ruin our economy with petty rules and regulations which the rest of them ignored.

  113. Evening, all. My delivery arrived after lunch, so now I have to put the item together. I'm leaving that until tomorrow because my fingers are aching. Why is everything self-assembly these days?

    Why should anybody be remotely surprised that Labour has broken its electoral promise? All politicians routinely lie to get elected then do things that they either never mentioned beforehand or do the opposite of what they said they would or wouldn't do.

    1. Pass. What I do find annoying is when you pay a lot more for something only to find it's the same cheap MDF and build it yourself you get from ikea.

      It was the only negative review I've ever left and the first time I fought to get my money back. You can't describe a tabletop as oak only to have fibreboard turn up.

      1. This is machinery. It's come in two boxes. About the only thing I've bought recently that I haven't had to put together is the generator.

          3. Having lived through the seventies, I've bought a generator to keep the central heating pump working when there's no juice. It should cope with keeping the fridge freezer cold as well. I'm not bothered about the lights (I have oil lamps and candles). I may be incommunicado as I don't think the router will work, but I have a solar powered energy bank for the smartphone.

            My County Council is going to charge for green waste collection so I am putting two fingers up to them and not going to pay. The machinery is a heavy duty chipper/shredder/mulcher to get rid of my prunings, of which I have a huge amount because I have an orchard, holly hedges, lawns and herbacious borders. It's very tiring to chop the stuff up manually (one reason why my hands are hurting so much). Once it's been shredded, it should compost down okay. I have two compost bins to accommodate the shreddings.

          6. It does sound rather mysterious, if not sinister, doesn't it? Multiple packs of "machinery"?

          7. When I moved to Seale in 2005, I had more power cuts in the first year than I'd experienced in the preceding 48. So I bought a generator from Focus DIY (remember them?). Chinese origin. Enough to keep the lights, router and central heating going. Plus two Sunday services when it was warmer in the churchyard than indoors, and it powered my elderly keyboard, since neither the pipe organ nor the digital piano in the church were working…

            Sadly that genny has since rusted to oblivion. I'm minded to get another one, mainly to keep the heating going. The router will be useless in a power cut. I know from working on a reactive maintenance contract for BT that the smallest of local telephone exchanges have diesel backup generators. Which work for the "copper wire network". Broadband? Not so much. Plus – we're all being hepherded towards "Digital Voice". Goodbye, analogue.

            Since mobile cells don't generally have backup power, they're hardly reliable in a power cut. During Storm Arwen, in the absence of mobile signals (which is the default status here), I managed to get a phone signal from Hindhead, 10 miles away as the crow flies. But only by battling through the storm as far as the footbridge at Wanborough Station. Trains had all been cancelled, otherwise I might have journeyed to whatever passes for civilisation…

    2. Starmer made it abundantly clear before the GE that Davos was more important than Westminster. It is absolutely clear that he is taking instructions from them to ruin us.

  114. Well Labour appears to be giving favourable deals and jobs to all their biggest donors.
    Which has me now wondering how much did the EU give them

        1. Or the €innoc€s.
          (Autocorrect tried to change that to ‘innocents’. Ooh the irony!)

    1. Much obliged Johnny, yes, he's right. Trump isn't there to be liked. I think that's why the Left so hate him. They can't control him. He has convictions and will argue his case. The Left don't understand that.

    1. There will be many investors who bought silver in anticipation of big price increases who might now see their dreams come true.

  119. Well, chums, it's now 10 pm and I shall head to bed. Good night, sleep well, and see you all in the morning.

  120. I honestly believe Starmer and co will announce a truly destructive budget and when it creates poverty, unemployment and chaos they'll say – we need more of it to pay all the welfare.

    After a few short months they'll go to the IMF – as planned – who will force us back in to the hated EU.

    Almost guarantee it.

    2. I'm not sure that France would let us past the entrance examinations. Greece yes, Ukraine, yes, UK no!

      1. The IMF will ensure it. No doubt it'll involve a truly monstrous bribe.

        The French just want us to pay for their farmers because they're lazy.

      2. Oh, I think they will. They'll want reparations, of course, and the price will be extortionate, but the opportunity to humilate us will be irresistible.

          1. After they had taken our bribe money, you mean? The problem with that, is it's a one off. If we're chained to the institution the opportunities for humiliating us are endless.

      1. My word, what a speaker. I wasn't in the country at the time, but prescience ain't in it!

      2. Well if it doesn’t matter to you, then something terrible has happened to the British people…it is precisely those powers…of deciding your own laws which is the very heart of your own democracy, and if you think that doesn’t matter, then by God you are indeed a strange generation that has come to Oxford.

      1. Post Graduate Certificate of Education. I went there after my first degree and before I started teaching.

          2. I'm guessing that you are a modest dark horse then, rather more fluent in Spanish than those of us who stumble along with a humble O level and a bit of residency!

          3. Spanish was never a language I studied, although it has common roots with Italian, French and Portuguese. I have A Level Latin as the nearest thing 🙂

  122. It's over for Britain, crushed by Labour's cruel war on the middle classes

    Starmer's betrayal of those who have saved and worked hard is built on lies, ignorance and class hatred

    ALLISTER HEATH • 28 August 2024 • 8:10pm

    This is going to be the worst budget in decades, a milestone in Britain's accelerating decline, a farrago of deceit, vindictiveness and economic illiteracy. Having sworn that its spending commitments were fully costed, that it had "no plans" for further tax rises, Labour is now warning of "painful" increases to come, especially on those with "the broadest shoulders".

    Not content with having lied so grotesquely, and being elected under false pretences, Labour is continuing to take the voters for fools. The Government is showering union comrades with cash and the economy is recovering, but we are meant to believe that it has no choice, that a supposed fiscal black hole inherited from those dastardly Tories must immediately be filled by higher taxes. Yes, the Conservatives were useless, but Keir Starmer didn't need much of a casus belli to unleash a socialist war on wealth.

    Life is about to become a lot nastier for what the Left describe as "the rich" but who would usually be more accurately categorised as belonging to the coping classes. These are the kinds of people who often struggle to pay their mortgages, afford childcare and accumulate a little wealth for retirement. Those likely to be singled out for a shakedown belong to five overlapping groups: the top fifth of income taxpayers (soon to be anybody on £50,000, where the 40p tax rate begins, or above); small investors; private school parents; owners of expensive homes; and pensioners.

    Gordon Brown's raid on pension funds in his first Budget was one of the most destructive decisions ever taken by a chancellor. He removed the 20 per cent tax credit enjoyed by pension funds on dividends from UK companies, trashing returns, fatally undermining retirement schemes and triggering a series of other unforeseen catastrophes.

    Rachel Reeves could go one further if she chooses to follow a blueprint from the Fabian Society that is being widely discussed in Left-wing circles. Tax relief on employee and employer pension contributions, the last big "loophole" in the tax code, is worth £66 billion a year; only a third of that (£22 billion) is offset by tax levied on pensions paid out. Some 53 per cent of the tax relief went to the top fifth of income tax payers, which to the Fabians is terribly unfair.

    Their answer: slash tax relief to a flat rate of 25-30 per cent; drastically reduce the tax-free lump sum that pensioners can take out of their pots; charge national insurance on private pension incomes; slap employer national insurance on pension contributions; and charge inheritance and even income tax on pension assets.

    The end result: a massive increase in tax, special privileges to protect public sector final pension schemes and, to rescue private schemes, an increase in employer contributions under automatic enrolment from 3 to 7 per cent of earnings, depressing pay rises for years.

    Such a proposal would be a disaster for Britain's army of 40p and 45p taxpayers, the linchpin of the economy. Why should they bother staying in Britain? If the 40p rate were to affect the same, smaller share of people as it did in 1991, its threshold would need to double to £100,000 in 2027–28, the Institute for Fiscal Studies calculates. On top of that, taxpayers used to enjoy mortgage tax relief (phased out by Brown) as well as generous pension tax relief.

    This has been hacked back, but the Fabian plan would be the final nail in the coffin. The top fifth of taxpayers would also bear the brunt of Reeves' likely decision to increase capital gains tax, perhaps aligning the rate to that of income tax, and also to widen the scope of inheritance tax. Those on somewhat higher incomes are already being hammered by Reeves' class war against private schools, and many professionals will see their opportunities diminished as non-doms leave London.

    Pensioners, reeling from the removal of the winter fuel allowance, might be hit again: the Treasury would love those still in work to pay National Insurance Contributions. Last but not least, I fear that Reeves will either revalue council tax, landing millions of families with higher bills, or introduce a property wealth tax, replacing council tax (and perhaps stamp duty) by a proportional, annual levy on houses, forcing hundreds of thousands of asset-rich but cash-poor homeowners to sell up.

    In The Politics of Procrustes, Antony Flew identified the malady at the heart of the socialist project. Procrustes was an egalitarian bandit who would lurk between Athens and Eleusis. He would force travellers to lie in a metal bed. If their legs were too long, he would amputate them; if they were too short, he would stretch them to make them fit.

    Starmer and Reeves are Procrustean technocrats. Their egalitarianism is their central value, which explains why they are so confused about growth. They seem to think that the economy is driven by house building, infrastructure projects, mass immigration, green energy and trade with the EU, all of which can be partly directed by the state.

    Of course, we need more homes and infrastructure, but real, sustainable growth requires gifted entrepreneurs to create new, more productive companies that compete globally. It involves growing the City of London again, as well as tech and science firms; it necessitates a boom in private investment and innovations by flexible workforces; it needs cheaper energy and less regulation. Real growth stems from, and leads to, inequality: it entails a tax system that rewards work, investment and success.

    In Denver, aimed at 5- to 6-year-olds, David McKee, the best-selling children's author, tells the story of a wealthy man. He is kind and generous, and employs many villagers. He is popular until a stranger turns up and begins to ferment [sic] jealousy by telling the villagers it isn't "fair" that he is richer than them. Disgusted, Denver divides his money equally between his neighbours and moves to a more welcoming town, where he rebuilds his fortune. The original villagers burn their cash on a holiday, before returning to their impoverished, jobless hamlet, destroyed by the green-eyed monster.

    McKee, who lived in France, was inspired by that country's disastrous wealth tax. Britain is now equally set on a path to ruin, and it is the middle classes that will bear the brunt of the coming calamity.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/28/labour-tax-onslaught-extinction-event-middle-class-britain

    1. We DON'T need more homes. We need to stop augmenting the population by the equivalent of a town the size of Portsmouth every year.

      1. There were some truly lovely restoration/conversions of back-to-backs in various northern towns, which made for lovely houses, conducive to communities in the last few decades. No, we do not need more non-contributory dependents from completely different cultures who wish to impose their horrid ideas upon us.

      2. “We DON’T need more homes.”

        Well, we do, but at nowhere near the rate projected by the Commissariat.

          2. Perhaps it was in Europe then that decline was taking place. I remember reading it somewhere.

  123. Labour's misguided post-Brexit 'reset'

    The idea that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is in a position to offer anything meaningful is fanciful

    TELEGRAPH VIEW • 28 August 2024 • 9:00pm

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5ca84ec335044dc248207e36843b7d27850818fbc95857001da93e7efd7c9e48.jpg
    When the United Kingdom voted in a referendum to leave the EU, even the most ardent Brexiteer was anxious to retain good relationships with individual countries on the continent. Why would we not? They are our closest neighbours, fellow democrats, NATO colleagues and trading partners.

    The aim of Brexit was to escape the political and regulatory hegemony of the bloc, allowing decisions in the national interest to be made unilaterally. The subsequent negotiations over the exit deal, however, helped sour relations between countries whose leaders were keen to see that Britain did not benefit from its decision. They were anxious not to stoke similar sentiments in their own backyards and were content to see the EU drive a hard bargain for Brexit.

    Even if the last government failed fully to avail itself of the new post-EU freedoms, the calamity predicted by many – including Sir Keir Starmer – did not materialise. European economies have largely fared even worse than Britain's, Germany's in particular.

    The Prime Minister was on a trip to Berlin yesterday, fulfilling one of his tasks as premier, which is to nurture bilateral relations with allies. Inevitably for someone who campaigned to overturn the 2016 result, he felt it necessary to cast the visit as an opportunity to "reset" connections with Europe rather than a meeting of the political leaders of two independent nations.

    Sir Keir repeated his campaign undertaking not to seek Britain's return to the EU nor to join the single market and customs union. He does not, therefore, need to approach such bilaterals with an apologetic attitude, otherwise people may come to question his intentions.

    Good relations with Europe's largest country and biggest economy are important for both Germany and the UK; but the idea that Chancellor Olaf Scholz is in a position to offer anything meaningful on matters that are in the hands of the EU as a whole is fanciful. He could be prevailed upon to petition other member states to ease some of the post-Brexit border controls. The new digital visa regime requiring the fingerprinting of non-EU citizens will make travel more difficult.

    Millions of pounds have already been spent preparing British ports for the extra time it is likely to take to cross the Channel.

    True friendly neighbours would make these arrangements less onerous, especially when they are not required for EU citizens to enter Britain.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/28/labour-misguided-post-brexit-reset

          1. To be fair, Starmer hasn't yet started executing right wing extremists tied to posts and firing mortars at them. Give him time though.

    3. This new administration will not rejoin the EU, but it will shadow it. Regulations will be closely aligned.

  124. Labour's misguided post-Brexit 'reset'

    The idea that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is in a position to offer anything meaningful is fanciful

    TELEGRAPH VIEW • 28 August 2024 • 9:00pm

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5ca84ec335044dc248207e36843b7d27850818fbc95857001da93e7efd7c9e48.jpg
    When the United Kingdom voted in a referendum to leave the EU, even the most ardent Brexiteer was anxious to retain good relationships with individual countries on the continent. Why would we not? They are our closest neighbours, fellow democrats, NATO colleagues and trading partners.

    The aim of Brexit was to escape the political and regulatory hegemony of the bloc, allowing decisions in the national interest to be made unilaterally. The subsequent negotiations over the exit deal, however, helped sour relations between countries whose leaders were keen to see that Britain did not benefit from its decision. They were anxious not to stoke similar sentiments in their own backyards and were content to see the EU drive a hard bargain for Brexit.

    Even if the last government failed fully to avail itself of the new post-EU freedoms, the calamity predicted by many – including Sir Keir Starmer – did not materialise. European economies have largely fared even worse than Britain's, Germany's in particular.

    The Prime Minister was on a trip to Berlin yesterday, fulfilling one of his tasks as premier, which is to nurture bilateral relations with allies. Inevitably for someone who campaigned to overturn the 2016 result, he felt it necessary to cast the visit as an opportunity to "reset" connections with Europe rather than a meeting of the political leaders of two independent nations.

    Sir Keir repeated his campaign undertaking not to seek Britain's return to the EU nor to join the single market and customs union. He does not, therefore, need to approach such bilaterals with an apologetic attitude, otherwise people may come to question his intentions.

    Good relations with Europe's largest country and biggest economy are important for both Germany and the UK; but the idea that Chancellor Olaf Scholz is in a position to offer anything meaningful on matters that are in the hands of the EU as a whole is fanciful. He could be prevailed upon to petition other member states to ease some of the post-Brexit border controls. The new digital visa regime requiring the fingerprinting of non-EU citizens will make travel more difficult.

    Millions of pounds have already been spent preparing British ports for the extra time it is likely to take to cross the Channel.

    True friendly neighbours would make these arrangements less onerous, especially when they are not required for EU citizens to enter Britain.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/28/labour-misguided-post-brexit-reset

    1. I do vehemently agree with you. Was just teasing. I suppose it is all now beyond a joke.

  127. Les Frogs have done it again. Another dire ceremony to kick off the Paralympics. I managed about ten minutes.

    1. Don't watch it. Don't have a TV any more and have no inclination to look at it on ITV X to see what happened.

        1. Wouldn't watch it then. I have given up my TV licence so can't watch Channel 4 et al. Feel a lot better for it!

      2. 392617+ up ticks,

        Morning DW,
        Every living creature has the right to life even slugs and politicians.

    2. I must have eaten cochineal. It would be irrational to balk at insect protein. Perhaps a savoury sauce would overcome petty revulsion.

      2. It is not eating insects that is the problem. The problem is that is all they want us to eat.

      3. I've eaten the abdomens of a few honey ants in Oz and some odd fried grubs in Thailand.

  129. Goodnight, all. The sweep is coming tomorrow – hooray! Once he's gone I shall be lighting the Rayburn.

      1. We are the frozen Marches, in the rain shadow of Wales. Ironically, it’s been too warm to light it today.

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