Friday 18 October: Labour is poised to break its core election promise to ‘working people’

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

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531 thoughts on “Friday 18 October: Labour is poised to break its core election promise to ‘working people’”

  3. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's NoTTLe site.

    Wordle 1,217 6/6

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  5. Good Morning Geoff and All, it's me again
    Today's Tale – Success Story
    He was an uneducated youth. He left school at thirteen and there weren’t too many job opportunities available to him. The only thing going was the job of a Public Toilet cleaner.
    “Fill out this form,” said the prospective employer.
    “But I can’t write,” said the boy.
    “Well,” said the prospective employer, “you don’t qualify for this job, so be on your way.”
    On the way home, the lad bought a box of apples for £2. He sold them around the neighbourhood for £6. He developed this idea and years later, finished up with a chain of 20 fruit and vegetable markets.
    One day, his bank manager asked him to sign some papers.
    “Can’t write,” he said.
    The bank manager was amazed. “You can’t write? My God! What would you have been if you had been able to write!"
    “A Public Toilet cleaner,” came the reply.

      1. Thanks, Elsie, I'll try to keep them coming. Some of them may be a little raunchy, but that's never stopped you (and other laydees) upticking, has it.

  6. Good Morning Geoff and All, it's me again
    Today's Tale – Success Story
    He was an uneducated youth. He left school at thirteen and there weren’t too many job opportunities available to him. The only thing going was the job of a Public Toilet cleaner.
    “Fill out this form,” said the prospective employer.
    “But I can’t write,” said the boy.
    “Well,” said the prospective employer, “you don’t qualify for this job, so be on your way.”
    On the way home, the lad bought a box of apples for £2. He sold them around the neighbourhood for £6. He developed this idea and years later, finished up with a chain of 20 fruit and vegetable markets.
    One day, his bank manager asked him to sign some papers.
    “Can’t write,” he said.
    The bank manager was amazed. “You can’t write? My God! What would you have been if you had been able to write!"
    “A Public Toilet cleaner,” came the reply.

  9. Labour is poised to break its core election promise to ‘working people’

    It's not looking very promising, is it?

    1. It was a marketing slogan that unintelligent people leapt on. Fundamentally, everyone is a worker – except the welfarists and public sector. I imagine she thought she was being clever in suggesting 'da wich' were not workers in some pathetic attempt at class warfare.

      Of course, she ignores that she is a public sector employee who provides nothing of value and slaps most of her bills on taxpayers making her one of 'da wich' she so eagerly wanted to demonise.

      The woman is thick, an ideologue without a brain desperately looking to buy votes rather than fundamentally support and balance the economy.

      1. She may be thick, but she's also successfully greedy.
        Her husband has some high up non-job in Whitehall.

        1. Oh yes, the Left have a low cunning that sees them, like the idle welfare scrounger ableto rob the tax payer as much as possible for their own profit. That's why they never get rid of all the largesse. They're the biggest grifters going.

          1. They need me to run the country. I have paid off my mortgage, raised my children, am it greedy and care about the country. I will make Wibbling my vice/deputy whatever.

        2. I was shocked – shocked I tell you – to find she claimed almost as much for the fuel for her ‘2nd home’ as I spent last year on the fuel for my main home. That suggests to me that she was either extraordinarily profligate with heating (maybe MIli junior needs a word) or that she spends much more time in the designated 2nd home than she does in the designated 1st home.

      2. Nobody voted because they believed the marketing slogan. Starmer received fewer votes than Corbyn in 2019. The people who voted Labour would have been hard core tribalists, idiot bien pensant trustafarians and professional virtue signallers, and some cynical grifters who see Labour as the party most likely to kow- tow to their brand of identity politics.

    2. It wasn't looking very promising on the 5th of July, now was it? Time is proving us right – and then some!

      'Morning, B3.

  11. Inheritance Tax Changes
    In yesterday's NTTL there were several posts (including mine) on paying Inheritance Tax (IHT). On this morning's news there were rumours of changes to the IHT rules.

    I started calculating the effect of removing the Main Residence Nil Band allowance, which currently allows a couple to shelter an extra £175,000 each from 40% IHT if the second one to die leaves their house to their direct descendants. If that MRNB is taken away, that's an ADDITIONAL £140,000 (£350,000 @ 40%) tax to be paid by the Estate of anybody who has a fairly modest property near London as well as some savings. Just like that, several years of careful planning by lots of elderly home owners go down the tubes. Good old Labour money-grabbing!

    1. Doesn't IHT have to be paid before probate is granted? Where does one get that kind of money, anyhow?

      1. Yes. That's right Oberst. I have a new article today in Free Speech that discusses this, and points to a way round it. The main thing is to start planning now.

        1. It doesn't affect me, I live and own property in Norway, but my Brother will be interested. I'll ping him the link.

      2. If there is cash in the bank accounts of the deceased, IHT can be paid directly from those before probate. Otherwise, the executor will have to borrow it.

          1. I can advise, very reasonable rates, payable in Spoons beer vouchers! It is all on the gov website and articles I have read in the paper.

      4. Oberst,
        I posted a table on NTTL yesterday which displayed how much the banks are willing to release from 'frozen' deposits in order to help pay the Inheritance Tax BEFORE Probate.

        Kaypea then gave the lie to one of the entries by saying that he had managed to get NS&I to settle his father's IHT bill of over £100,000, when the table (pinched from a Telegraph Money article) says they may only release up to £5,000 from accounts frozen after a death. Ask the banks if they'll do that for your ma's savings.

        I know you are probably in the throes of Probate so if it helps, I re-post that table below:
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d78d4461f7bb2efb3df67ee420dfead567dba302946f64e46b33d96fed2820e7.jpg

        1. Thanks for the table – not in probate, although Mother is pretty decrepit – unfortunately. Her house we already sold to pay the care home bills, also she was never going home again, so it would just have deteriorated a lot until she died.

      1. IHT Loopholes
        Tom,
        After my shower this morning I dipped in to NTTL and followed your pointer to Iain Hunter's excellent articles in Freespeechbacklash. I read both pieces with great interest, as I was completely unaware of the Discounted Gift Plan and will investigate it asap.

        My problem may be one of longevity. My Dad lived to nearly 99 years old, his sister lived to 103 and my mother's sister survived till 100. I have never smoked, am skinny and drink very sparingly (my Doctoral Thesis was about the detailed sub-cellular changes in the liver between cirrhosis and liver cancer).

        So as long as I don't suffer from the Big C or a road traffic accident I might expect to reach my late 90s like my father did. Putting it crudely, I had to wait until I was 70 before inheriting his bungalow and savings and I am working very hard on transferring Surplus Income IHT-free to my two sons while they are in their 50s.

        This is enabled by a very generous Final Salary based company pension as well as no longer having to pay in excess of £25,000 a year (after tax) for Domestic Carers for my late wife. To benefit from this loophole you have to have very good financial records to prove that all these donations came from Income, not Savings.

        Let's hope the rumoured Budget changes to IHT are fairly minor.

        1. Very informative comment RC. Can you do me a favour and post it under the article in FSB please, as I’m sure readers will be interested.

          freespeechbacklash.com.

      1. But but but. I’ve been looking into it, as my folks are 80/85.

        You have to list everything owned. And then they tax the estate.

        Everything you own when you die. Your house, car, books, jewellery, paintings.

        It is absolutely outrageous.

        If people understood the scope of the tax, they would hopefully be outraged.

        The fact that at the moment it only affects people in SE England (due to property prices) is irrelevant.

        They need your executors to list everything you own.

    4. But why should inheritance be taxed at all? Apart from the State needs and wants all your money to piss up the wall.

  12. Inheritance Tax Changes
    In yesterday's NTTL there were several posts (including mine) on paying Inheritance Tax (IHT). On this morning's news there were rumours of changes to the IHT rules.

    I started calculating the effect of removing the Main Residence Nil Band allowance, which currently allows a couple to shelter an extra £175,000 each from 40% IHT if the second one to die leaves their house to their direct descendants. If that MRNB is taken away, that's an ADDITIONAL £140,000 (£350,000 @ 40%) tax to be paid by the Estate of anybody who has a fairly modest property near London as well as some savings. Just like that, several years of careful planning by lots of elderly home owners go down the tubes. Good old Labour money-grabbing!

  13. Morning, all Y'all.
    Dear God, but there was rain last night! Hardly slept a wink.
    Start new position today – I am now a Senior Principal Engineer in Integrated Operations – that is, getting data from the platform to shore in a form that it can be easily used in "decision support" for operations, maintenance, logistics, condition assessment… scary!

    1. Careful now, anything with principal in it has people asking you questions.

      I find the way to head this off is to ask 'What do you think?' And let the person tell me how to do their job, rather than the other way around.

      1. Indeed. That's the "grey hair" technique – experience on how to deal with such people.

  14. In his sparkling new article Iain Hunter assesses the system of governance in Britain and concludes that we live in a kakistocracy which, given Rachel Reeves proclivities, will find soon be more accurately described as a kleptocratic kakistocracy.
    And staying on the theme kleptocratic kleptocrats, we have a second article today on Tactics To Combat Kleptocratic Kakistocracy or how to reduce your inheritance tax liability.

    Please do read and leave a comment ot two.

    freespeechbacklash.com

    1. Kakistocracy:
      government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state.
      "the danger is that this will reduce us to kakistocracy"
      a state or society governed by its least suitable or competent citizens.
      plural noun: kakistocracies
      "the modern regime is at once a plutocracy and a kakistocracy"

      Just in case people thought it had anything to do with dung filled stables.

      1. As I say in my article anne, which also defines kakistrocracy, the root is the same ‘kakka’ sancrit for to defacate.

        1. The word cack was/is common in the north of England. Old English (in cac-hus); as a verb, "to void excrement," from Latin cacare, ultimately from kakka-(PIE) Proto-Indo-European language. We also used it as a noun – sh*t.

    1. I find it difficult to believe there is anyone of any calibre in the Treasury. The solutions to the economic mess are obvious and simple to resolve. It is a matter of political will to make the necessary changes. The Tories refused to. Labour won't because they are ideologically opposed to common sense and discipline. The Treasury relies upon largess, waste and inefficiency.

      The OBR categorically rules out tax cuts from any of it's calculations – as they are the defacto resolution to all problems.

      No group in the entire state machine is remotely interested in doing the right thing. They just dump ever more costs on to the tax payer with no interest in the damage those stupid decisions have.

  17. G'day all,

    McPhee Towers is Foggy Bottom this morning. Little wind, 8℃ risng to 15℃ later.

    Do we think this image was published to wind us up? It seems she's been a naughty girl.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/43739bde94b38445602eb2149089f9074ecb79c28f05f62431681bdf71677b0a.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/17/ruby-begum-police-disciplinary-racist-tweets/

    Oh, and by the way, Khan, and Starmer, I do not consent to being policed by such people.

  18. 394986+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    When reality sets in and it dawns fully on the herd what has been building for decades has finally come to fruition, I believe justified hell will break loose.

    Friday 18 October: Labour is poised to break its core election promise to ‘working people’

    The lab/lib/con current coalition are an anti indigenous peoples force, and most definitely NOT as we once knew them some forty years back.

    Now we witness daily lies,deceit, treachery manipulation, mind & physical control, it is reminiscent of scenes from "the prisoner" with the big white ball
    seeing more daily action than seen at a Chinese
    table tennis grand final.

    Well meant advice,

    Wise up rapid or suffer never- ending.

  19. Germany must shed its reputation as Europe’s soft underbelly. 18 October 2024.

    Last week the head of MI5 warned the country that Moscow’s intelligence agencies were carrying out “arson” and “sabotage” in Britain. Yesterday, we learnt that Russia is suspected of having planted an incendiary device on a plane to the UK.

    The parcel containing the device subsequently caught fire while stored in a warehouse in Birmingham; had it instead ignited mid-flight, the consequences could have been catastrophic.

    They are still trying to sell this mythical “arson and sabotage” operation. One wonders what the UK’s wartime intelligence people would have made of it. What of Operation Fortitude South designed to convince Germany that the Allies intended to cross the Channel via the Pas-de-Calais? This involved complex disinformation and propaganda. Deception on a vast scale. The fake officer dumped in the sea with false plans in his briefcase? There is nothing like that nowadays. Just idiotic lies without foundation. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that our present leaders are simply much more stupid than those of our father’s generation. They lack both imagination and subtlety.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2024/10/18/germany-must-shed-its-reputation-as-europes-soft-underbelly/

    1. I've read Roger Hesketh's book, Fortitude, several times and it is an amazing tale of organised deception on a grand scale. Fortitude was organised for the good of the Western Allies in WWII.

      Recently we have been subjected to a massive psychological deception i.e. CV-19: a complete 180 degrees turnabout with the people as the target. Will anyone write a book as compelling as Hesketh's Fortitude when the dust has finally settled on the CV-19 affair?

      1. No, Korky. If it exposes the CV-19 affair, it will be suppressed by the Government of the day. (Good morning, btw.)

  20. This might blow up on Election Day…{:^}}

    Labour to send 100 party staff to US to help Democrats in swing states

    Plan is ‘outrage’, Republicans say, and could damage relationship with UK if Donald Trump wins

    Dominic Penna Political Correspondent.
    Tony Diver US Editor
    17 October 2024 9:26pm BST
    Labour is sending almost 100 current and former party staff members to the US to campaign for the Democrats in swing states.

    Activists from Sir Keir Starmer’s party will spend the next two-and-a-half weeks canvassing for Kamala Harris in four key battlegrounds ahead of the US election on Nov 5.

    They will target Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia, which are all seen as crucial to Ms Harris’ path to the White House.

    Republicans described the plans as an “outrage” on Thursday and warned they would damage the UK’s relationship with the US should Donald Trump win the presidency.

    Elon Musk reacted to the news on X, formerly Twitter, by saying: “This is illegal.”

    The Federal Election Commission, which regulates US elections, states that foreign volunteers may not donate money to campaigns or spend money on their behalf. They cannot “participate in the decision-making process” but they may, however, participate in activities as an “uncompensated volunteer”.

    Sofia Patel, Labour’s head of operations, said in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday: “I have nearly 100 Labour party staff, current and former, going to the US in the next few weeks, heading to North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

    “I have 10 spots available for anyone available to head to the battleground state of [North] Carolina – we will sort your housing.”

    Staff were also emailed on Aug 2 and asked if anyone would be willing to travel to the US to “help our friends across the pond elect their first female president”.

    The email, sent by Ms Patel, added: “Let’s show those Yanks how to win elections!”

    Sebastian Gorka, a former aide to Trump during his first administration who was born and schooled in the UK, said on Wednesday that Labour officials campaigning for Ms Harris was a “bloody outrage”. He compared the incident to Barack Obama’s infamous suggestion that the UK would be “at the back of the queue” for a trade deal if it voted for Brexit.

    “It’s complete interference in American politics and an incredible show of desperation that, not only would this come up as an idea, but that this would be permitted or encouraged by the Kamala campaign,” he said.

    “I think the real extent of the damage will be clear after if, God willing, the America First team wins and president Trump is victorious in November.

    “The UK has a very special place in president Trump’s heart, but why on earth would Labour be doing this in America three weeks before the presidential election?

    “What would Starmer think if president Trump sent a team to campaign against him in the UK?”

    Reacting to the post on X, Tom Cotton, the Republican senator of Arkansas, described it as “yet another reason to vote for president Trump”.

    Liz Truss, the former prime minister, also shared the post, adding: “President Trump is definitely going to win now.”

    In 1992, two of Sir John Major’s team flew to Washington DC eight weeks before that year’s US election, advising George HW Bush to attack his opponent Bill Clinton’s character.

    The Home Office also inspected its records to see whether Mr Clinton ever applied for British citizenship to avoid the Vietnam draft while he was studying at the University of Oxford.

    However, nothing was discovered and Mr Clinton proceeded to comfortably beat Mr Bush, prompting Sir John to write a letter of apology to the US president-elect.

    There is no evidence that Mr Clinton ever replied but his refusal to meet Sir John later that month was widely viewed as a snub.

    Labour and the Democrats are both part of the Progressive Alliance (PA), a network of social democrat and progressive parties founded in Germany in 2013.

    How campaign visits reveal which swing states Trump and Harris think they can win
    Read more
    The Party of European Socialists (PES), which includes Labour as one of its 33 member parties, endorsed Ms Harris for the presidency in August.

    One Labour MP said it has been normal for some party figures to put time and effort into campaigning for the Democrats in a number of past elections.

    The Covid-19 pandemic meant no Labour activists travelled to the US during the 2020 presidential election.

    But dozens of party members backed Hillary Clinton’s ill-fated candidacy in 2016, with more than 70 Labour activists travelling to Charlotte, in North Carolina, one of the states highlighted by Ms Patel.

    In 2016, the state was ultimately won by Trump as he defied predictions to beat Mrs Clinton. The Republican candidate also held the state in 2020.

    The GMB trade union also campaigned for Mrs Clinton in states such as Philadelphia, while other volunteers focused on crucial areas like Ohio.

    Sir Simon Burns, who was a Tory MP at the time, visited New Hampshire in 2016 during parliamentary recess to campaign for Mrs Clinton.

    In 2019, campaigners for Bernie Sanders, who was running to be the Democratic nominee at the time, ran phone-banking sessions from New York in support of Jeremy Corbyn, the then Labour leader.

    Labour activists who want to help with the Harris campaign have been told they will need to pay for their own flights and car hire but that Democrat volunteers would provide accommodation.

    Any staff intending to travel are expected to book annual leave for the duration of their trip.

    Labour has sent senior staff to engage with Democrats in recent months, including at the Democratic National Convention in August.

    Morgan McSweeney, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, and Matthew Doyle, director of communications, attended the convention in Chicago and met with Ms Harris’ campaign team.

    Deborah Mattinson, Sir Keir’s director of strategy, also went to Washington in September to brief Ms Harris’ presidential campaign on Labour’s election-winning approach.

    Ms Harris’ campaign is lagging behind in several of the swing states ahead of next month’s election.

    Some Democratic strategists criticised her “ground game” in Pennsylvania, which is thought to be the most crucial state.

    Joe Biden, who will vacate the White House in January after having served just one term as president, triumphed in Pennsylvania in 2020.

    Virginia is a reliably Democrat-voting area and was won by Mr Biden in 2020, although some Trump strategists have suggested it could be “in play” at this election.

    Nevada has also been a bellwether state for the past century and was last won by Mr Biden, although recent polls have placed Trump in the lead.

    Downing Street insisted Sir Keir would be ready to work with whomever succeeds Mr Biden to become 47th president of the United States.

    He shared a two-hour dinner with Trump during a visit to New York in September after the former president heaped praise on the “popular” Prime Minister.

    Sir Keir requested the meeting as he seeks to build ties with the Republican candidate.

    While he had intended to meet Ms Harris, Sir Keir said “diary challenges” had meant that it was not possible to do so.

    David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, has been criticised over past comments about Trump, which include a claim that he was a “neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath”.

    In September, Sir Keir refused to back Dame Angela Eagle, a Home Office minister, after she suggested that Trump had emboldened racists in the UK in the wake of riots.

    He insisted he was “absolutely clear” that full responsibility for the unrest then sweeping Britain after the Southport killings lay with those who took part.

    1. Eyebrows Raised as New Spectator Editor Backs Kamala Harris

      Eyebrows have been raised pretty high in response to Michael Gove’s endorsement of Kamala Harris. Gove said she had “significant weaknesses” but was “the lesser of two evils.” Those “weaknesses” have been painfully on display today…

      Gove said on the BBC’s Today podcast:

      “I would follow Dick Cheney’s advice, and I would vote for Kamala Harris.”

      At the same time Gove refused to back Badenoch on the record because “the Spectator doesn’t back candidates, it backs causes.” Media sources question the wisdom of the Spectator’s new editor endorsing the most left-wing Democratic candiate in some years. They point out that fledgling US edition of the magazine is loss-making – sales may not be helped by this intervention. The US expansion is a big deal – throwing weight behind one party’s candidate is a choice…

      17 October 2024 @ 16:08

  22. Jenrick and Badenoch Clash, screams the headline, at the GB News Conservative Party Hustings.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a7c709e678a42bc4640ddd49a211763edb8d2c6905010bfcdf8552acf015c711.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/10/17/tory-leadership-badenoch-jenrick-debate-gb-news-live/

    A poll of over 21,000 people in the report gives the victory to Badenoch by 77% to 23%. She wasn't even born here. It's colours to the mast time. I'm sorry but, for me, a black woman cannot lead the British Conservative Party which, first and foremost, must have at its heart the preservation of the birthrights and continued control of the indigenous English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish peoples in their ancient homelands.

    She is not even conservative at heart. Talks the talk, but that's it. Harrison Pitt, Conor Tomlinson and guest at NCF expose her:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTWzdUu6ROQ

        1. Margaret Thatcher was part of the Heath government.
          There is a case for watching and learning.

      2. Femi Badenoch and some immigration scams, old and new.
        Is Britain ready for an African leader of the Conservative Party? Olukemi Olufunto Badenoch.
        .
        British citizenship but born under curious circumstances. Mother fell pregnant in 1980 in Nigeria. Dropped kid in UK at NHS expense then returned at once to Lagos. Grew up in Nigeria. Went to USA then back to Nigeria. Then mid 1990s civil unrest. First time in UK of any meaning she was aged 16.
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avWq4Y4nCPg

    3. Kemi Badenoch loathes Nigel Farage.. loathes his voters.
      "The Conservative brand is dead.. nobody trusts them." Nigel Farage.

  23. Good moaning.
    Heckuva moon last night. I thought I'd left the landing light on.
    Sadly, I couldn't see it as the window faces the wrong way and I didn't fancy leaning out too far.

  24. An exodus of millionaires is already under way. Britain will be poorer for it
    It is simply wrong to argue that high taxes do not stop the wealthy from investing and staying here in the UK

    Fraser Nelson 17 October 2024 7:05pm BST

    My proposal for tax reform is a new, empty box at the end of the self-assessment form. “Some believe the rate of tax is too low,” it would say. “If you would like to pay more, state the amount here.” This would serve to gauge just how much demand there really is for higher tax. But most of all it would allow people, like those involved in Patriotic Millionaires UK, to pay what they feel is right without deepening the inequality of which they complain.

    The movement was set up in America by Erica Payne, a Democratic campaigner then arguing against George W Bush’s tax cuts. She found rich Americans to say that their (then) effective tax rate – 24 per cent – was too small. In Britain, the top rate is 47 per cent. But we now have an offshoot group, ‘Patriotic Millionaires UK’, popping up to suggest we need more capital gains tax, wealth tax and more. They have even released what purports to be a poll of millionaires crying out to be hit harder.

    This matters because it’s unclear how many around Rachel Reeves will be able to see through this seductive logic. She certainly needs money. Millionaires have it – so what’s the problem if they want to give more to her? The Institute for Public Policy Research, an influential think-tank in Labour circles, has issued a report quoting some of the ‘Patriotic Millionaires’ to say that higher tax would not stop them investing or force them to leave the country. So, surely: case closed?

    Hitting the richest would certainly be popular. Since the dawn of opinion polling, people have always backed higher taxes for those richer than themselves. When Idi Amin turned on Asian businessmen and women (like Priti Patel’s parents) it was wildly popular. The problem was that the Asians accounted for 90 per cent of Uganda’s tax revenue and, after he threw them out, the economy collapsed. It was the most spectacular example of an old problem: the rich may be annoying, but you need them. So what to do?

    The UK tax system has become unusually reliant on a small number of super-taxpayers with the best-paid 1 per cent stumping up 28 per cent of all UK income tax collected. These figures should warm the heart of the most ardent class warrior. Deeper data isn’t published but you can (and I did) submit a Freedom of Information request. The top 0.01 per cent – that’s the top 3,740 taxpayers – are expected to pay over 5 per cent of all income tax this year, an average of £4.5 million each – and that’s just income tax. On to that we can add their investments, charitable donations, spending and more.

    So how mobile are golden geese? How likely to fly off to other countries? We can answer that by asking how many have done so already. The first Sunday Times Rich List, published in 1989, contained hardly any immigrants. Now, it reads like a Who’s Who of the global business elite: Gopi Hinduja, Idan Ofer, Len Blavatnik. Then come the families like the Rausings and Mittals. Britain has become home to more millionaires than any country in the world after the US and China – and we’ve been banking the dividend.

    Britain’s top 100 earners now pay more in tax than North Sea oil has generated for most of the last ten years. While we’re unlikely to strike oil again, it is quite possible to find another 100 millionaires – or, at least, keep the ones we’ve got. So what they think matters, but they tend to stay away from the public debate. The UK’s biggest taxpayer, for example, is Alex Gerko, a reclusive financial trader from Moscow whose latest tax bill came to an estimated £665 million. He tends to give about £20 million a year to charity.

    Very few millionaires announce that they’re emigrating because tax is too high, but decades of study from several countries shows that this is precisely what happens. It is, as always, a combination: quality of life, of schools, ease of business. But no serious economist disputes that tax is a major factor in that balance and that, after a certain point, tax rises are self-defeating and bring in less money. The only debate is where that point lies.

    It looks increasingly likely that Britain passed that point some time ago. A survey by Henley & Partners found that Britain’s millionaire population probably started to decline in 2017, with 9,500 on track to leave this year – double the 4,200 who left last year. The trickle may soon become a flood. The UBS Global Wealth Report recently estimated that Britain will lose 500,000 dollar-millionaires over the next five years, far more than any other country in the world. Spain and Italy are out to catch those fleeing Britain, with some success so far.

    The uber-rich, it seems, don’t stop to give quotes to think-tanks on their way to the airport. They just leave. A millionaire exodus would certainly make Britain a more equal country (just as Uganda was after the Asians left) but also a poorer country. This will increase the tax burden on people who are not millionaires and deprive the economy of its biggest spenders and investors. This, surely, should be the sole priority of a progressive government: to reduce the burden on the poorest. If that means wooing the rich, so be it.

    This is the logic that led Peter Mandelson to declare that Labour was “intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich” as long as they pay their taxes. That’s why Gordon Brown ensured the top rate of tax was no higher than 40 per cent for all but the last few weeks of Labour’s time in office. His new 50p tax richest was not intended as a revenue raiser but a trap designed to electrocute any Tory who tried to touch it. George Osborne dared only reduce this to 45p. Liz Truss put any Tory off trying again.

    It would be a shame if Brown’s trap ends up ensnaring Rachel Reeves. High taxes make everyone poorer: even New Labour understood that. If the Chancellor wants more investment, she should cut tax on investing – and investors. But if she comes after them in her Budget, she should not be surprised if they decide not to stay around to see her drama to its conclusion.

    1. Norway lost a number of millionaires this last 2-3 years of Labour government, and the country feels it in reduced business and the need to increase tax for everyone left.

    2. Socialism always targets the productive class and enriches the thieving ruling class, who won't be donating their own millions to the public purse.

    3. More tax = less discretionary spending. Less discretionary spending = less money in the economy to buy stuff. Less money to buy stuff = less demand. Less demand = shutting down production and sacking people. More people on the dole = increased welfare bill. Labournomics 101.

    1. Good morning Bob

      Many of us of a certain age loved all the old musicals , and we knew the words as well to the majority of the songs.

      Song writers in those days knew how to set a score .. their music was uplifting , poignant , beautiful meaningful and memorable.

      I'm going to wash that man right out of my hair.. 🎶📻

    2. From the days when we went to the cinema or theatre to be entertained. To be taken out of ourselves and our fretful, humdrum lives.
      The other day, I got the 6 monthly programme for the Mercury Theatre. Apart from one item that MB might have enjoyed (we missed it by a day) there was absolutely nothing worth turning out for on a dark, chilly evening. My fault for not being obsessed with LBQTWXYZ matter,s no doubt.
      And I speak as one who thoroughly enjoys her early dinner + theatre evenings.

      1. I feel the same. I go to the theatre, cinema or watch TV (when I had a licence) to leave the cares of the world behind. I did not do any of these things to be re-educated in Room 101.

  26. 394986+ up ticks,

    Dt,
    Labour to send 100 party staff to US to help Democrats in swing states
    Plan is ‘outrage’, Republicans say, and could damage relationship with UK if Donald Trump wins

    Should read,
    Labour to send 100 staff to US to party & help Democrats in swing states

    Money seemingly no object, the elderly
    will foot the bill, or else.

    Plan is ‘outrage’, Republicans say, and could damage relationship with UK if Donald Trump wins

  27. 394986+ up ticks,

    Dt,
    Labour to send 100 party staff to US to help Democrats in swing states
    Plan is ‘outrage’, Republicans say, and could damage relationship with UK if Donald Trump wins

    Should read,
    Labour to send 100 staff to US to party & help Democrats in swing states

    Money seemingly no object, the elderly
    will foot the bill, or else.

    Plan is ‘outrage’, Republicans say, and could damage relationship with UK if Donald Trump wins

    1. There is NO two tier juctice in UK FFS.. I heard Andrew Marr & Stephen Fry both agreeing emphatically on this very topic.

      A Labour councillor, was filmed in August telling a crowd to ‘cut all their throats,’ referring to his political opponents.

      1. Stephen Fry has a face like a deflated Yorkshire pudding. In my personal opinion, a Yorkshire pudding is more intelligent.

  32. Good morning Anne ,

    By the light of the silvery moon.. yes it was beautiful , and at 1am in the morning I had to let Pip out into the garden , and the dew on the grass sparkled like a lawn of diamonds , the effect was amazing .

    I expect there will be a huge earthquake soon , as it seems that a full moon seems to associated with quakes .

    https://ds.iris.edu/seismon/index.phtml

  33. I believe this was posted yesterday.

    Britain’s security ‘at risk’ following Armed Forces helicopter training crisis
    Lack of engineers to maintain aircraft halts flying lessons for significant number of trainee pilots
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/17/britain-security-armed-forces-helicopter-training-crisis/

    Whilst I agree that Labour can not be trusted on defence, I would like to point out that they've only been in office for a little over 3 months. A point many of the commentators appear to miss.
    The damage was done under the previous Conservative (In Name Only) Government and is a perfect example of how far that party has drifted from core conservative values.

    1. Without question. The one thing that would keep Brown off the gallows when the Labour party are hanged is his using emergency funding to buy mine protected vehicles rather than letting the cretinous MoD wait for FRES – the first vehicle for that pointless programme being this abomination: https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2021/06/03/the-british-armys-new-ajax-vehicles-ride-too-rough-too-loud-report/

      Too loud, too slow, under gunned, overmanned, not mine protected, using last generation equipment, turret too slow… you name it, it's crap.

      But! it meets EU emissions targets!

      1. Oh! Just fantasising about the hanging of the Liebour party apparatchik.

        And the sun is shining, too.

    2. how far that party has drifted from core conservative values.

      By being infiltrated by globalist interests. Today's headline appears to be putting Labour in the same frame.

      1. Wathcing the "debate" yeserday evening on GBN, the first question I would have put to each candidate would be, "Are you, or have you ever been, a member of the World Economic Forum"? If the answer is yes, then anything else they say is just hot air. (With hindsight, McCarthy wasn't wrong about the communist threat.) Certainly when she ran for the leadership first time around, against Truss and Sunak, Badenoch definitely wasn't a WEF member but it's become much more difficult to find that information and it's not impossible that she's since been nobbled.

    1. I think the horse speaks for all of us.

      That bigoted, intolerant garment should be banned – along with the muslim that goes with it.

      1. Strangely the one downvote has two names against it, possibly neither of whom actually intending to downvote?

        2. I don't see the point in vote 'downvoting', or blocking, for that matter. If folk won't engage in the debate and present a counter argument then they are just taking the lazy route.

    2. Spartie loathes people wearing hats or masks/scarves that cover the lower face/dark sunglasses etc…
      I think many animals are nervous of anyone with face coverings which conceal expressions and body language.

  36. I am shell of myself,’ says grandfather poisoned with fake Covid jab
    Patrick O’Hara tells court ‘I genuinely feel as if I have been to hell and back’ as Dr Thomas Kwan faces life term for attempted murder

    A grandfather has described how he was left “a shell of an individual” after being injected with poison by a GP determined to remove him as “an impediment to his inheritance”.

    Patrick O’Hara, 71, told a court how his life has been ruined by the actions of his ex-partner’s son, Dr Thomas Kwan, 51, who disguised himself as a NHS nurse to deliver what he hoped would be a lethal injection.

    Kwan is facing a potential life term for trying to kill Mr O’Hara in a determined plot that he hatched over the course of two years because he would have delayed him receiving funds from the sale of his mother’s house on her death.

    Wearing a grey sweater and trousers, Mr O’Hara, a retired environmental analyst, gave an emotional statement to Newcastle Crown Court on the devastating effects of being injected with iodomethane by Kwan, an already wealthy father-of-one.

    He narrowly escaped with his life and was left with scarring when the jab caused the flesh-eating condition necrotising fasciitis, which ate away sections of his arm.

    But as he was recovering and returning to a semblance of a normal life he was struck by debilitating PTSD, which caused him to have hallucinations of Kwan’s face, terrifying flashbacks to the injection and his hair to fall out.

    As the sentencing process for Kwan began at Newcastle Crown Court on Thursday, Mr O’Hara faced the man who tried to kill him across the court as he read out his victim personal statement.

    He told how his life changed completely on Jan 22 2024 when Kwan arrived at his house disguised as a NHS nurse who would be delivering a Covid booster jab.

    Should be given life sentence
    Kwan initially denied attempted murder when his trial began on Oct 3, but he changed his plea to guilty after the prosecution opened its case.

    Peter Makepeace, KC, prosecuting, argued that he should be given a life sentence when Mrs Justice Lambert passes sentence later this year.

    The court has previously heard how Kwan carefully planned his attack, gaining Mr O’Hara’s trust by mocking up NHS letters saying he had been selected for a Covid booster jab at home.

    He even created a fake ID card in which he was depicted in dark face make-up, a wig and beard

    Neither Mr O’Hara nor his partner, Kwan’s mother Jenny Leung, recognised him as he delivered the near-fatal injection at the home they shared in central Newcastle.

    Mr Makepeace told the court that Kwan was a man of considerable means who had put in an offer on a house in the south of England for £2 million.

    However, he said: “This was not a man motivated by greed for the sake of necessity. This was greed for the sake of greed.”

    Mrs Justice Lambert will deliver her sentence before the end of 2024.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/17/grandfather-poisoned-fake-covid-jab-thomas-kwan-ohara/

    1. He should have smelt a rat when the fake covid jab was offered to be done 'at home' – only very ill or frail people normally get that offered, and in 2024 as well – nobody needs a covid booster now. The perp certainly needs locking up for life though.

    2. How the blue blistering blazes did the mother not see through the "disguise".
      Is she senile? Voices and stance give people away, particularly people you have produced and brought up for a good 20 years.

  37. A good article from Matt Goodwin on recent psychology research.
    "Rise of the Liberal Authoritarians – What a FASCINATING new study reveals about the psychology of the “liberal” elite class"

    The final paragraphs:

    "So, what does all this mean?

    It means, as Conway notes, that we have a very serious problem. While much of our public debate is focused solely and heavily on the supposed threat to democracy from the right, the evidence that’s emerging in social psychology points clearly to a major and growing problem on the left, from Liberal Authoritarians who are intellectually lazy, openly hostile to people with different views, obsessed with “misinformation” and managing the supply of information, exhibit a deeply tribal, simplistic, and divisive “us versus them” mentality, prone to black-and-white thinking and cognitive rigidity, and when all this is pointed out to them they deny it’s true at all or applies more to their opponents than themselves.

    And, even worse, this outlook also appears to be especially visible among the very people who happen to dominate the most important and influential institutions in the country, who wield enormous influence over the public square and the national conversation, but who are simultaneously punitive, bullies, and intolerant of any disagreement "

    Source: https://www.mattgoodwin.org/p/rise-of-the-liberal-authoritarians

  38. Lass down the way has hung sheets out to dry. There's a dense fog here. No win, no sun (obvs).

    I said 'Must be a Labour voter. No awareness of the environment, utterly impractical and convinced their ideas will work despite never having done so before.

    1. The country [nay: the world] is now over-inhabited by such types. The witless idiots they procreate are getting more idiotic by the generation. Homo sapiens has already morphed into H. imbecilus.

      I wonder what Charles Darwin would have made of this.

      1. Well, he was into natural selection, not keeping imbeciles alive with welfare and medicine.

      2. Non-survival of the thickest?

        That will speed-track Lammy, Rayner, Miliband and Abbott – in the morgue!

        1. Same here – I hung out two loads of washing while the sun was glimmering, and it's heavy cloud again now.

          1. I hung out a load of washing, too, but I put mine on the sheila maid over the Rayburn. Doesn't matter what the weather does 🙂

  40. Does resonance mean anything these days ?

    Something with resonance has a deep tone or a powerful lasting effect. Resonance is the quality of being “resonant,” which can mean “strong and deep in tone” or “having a lasting effect.” If your voice has resonance, you might consider a profession that involves public speaking.

    Jenrick was hollow , Kemi had strength .. I want to hear and see someone who will wobble Starmer of his perch .

    Jenrick looks like a quiz show host or similar , he has no presence .

    I guess I would prefer a Boris type voice , but not the character , Nigel has a quantity of it , but sadly Nigel reminds me of Kermit the Frog when I look at him , and I always wonder how much wine Nigel has consumed before he speaks!

    Sorry if you think I am being rude about Nigel .

    Moh and I were discussing the possibility that we might never ever have a chance to vote in five years .. time is against us .

    So I darned well feel that I can be as mean as I want to be with regard to discussing idiot politicians .

    1. Does resonance mean anything these days?

      Probably not Belle. One of the oddities of the present age is the extinction of Political Oratory. Nigel Farage is almost certainly the best speaker, not just in the UK, but the whole of Europe. Without wishing to be unduly censorious that does not say much for the rest. Once of course it galvanised whole populations. It made men weep and women faint. People used to attend Churchills speeches just to hear his utterances. Now it is no more. The cause of its demise might very well be technical. Television in particular. In some way it has belittled its subjects, killed that mystique that is need to enthral the listener.

      1. Hello Minty,

        Yes I do think that Nigel is the better than best speaker , and he gets his point across .

        Jenrick , he is just harmless, samey , probably too nice , not gnarled enough , hollow and why on earth is he rabbiting on about Wolverhampton or where ever he stems from .

        He would look at home on any Council committee, but not in charge of a cabinet meeting .

        The Kemi woman is rather fearsome and would make a good temporary leader who could outsmart Starmer and his acolytes .. and I would like her to tackle Lammy and the Rayner woman .. Kemi has a good death stare which could floor many who want an argument .

        1. Nigel is a very good speaker – but I do see what you mean about Kermit. It's the mouth, I think. And the gravelly voice is obviously well oiled.
          Jenrick – generic is the nickname and I think it's apt.
          Kemi would be good to hold Starmer at PMQs but not sure if she should be PM when the time comes.

          2. I do not trust the Conservative party at all. There are far too many lefties involved in the party . They will turn the party the way THEY want it not what the members want.

          3. Paradoxically the only way to neutralise the lefties in the Conservative Party is to give in to them!

            By which I mean all those in the party – in or out of the Houses of Parliament – should resign from the party just leaving the lefties in it in charge. This would destroy any remnants of support the Conservative Party still has.

            The defectors should join forces with Nigel Farage and form a radical right of centre Reformed Conservative Party.

          4. I do not trust the Conservative party at all. There are far too many lefties involved in the party . They will turn the party the way THEY want it not what the members want.

      2. Indeed. Resonance used to be a mecessry component of effective oratory – without it, few people can hear what one is saying and be inspired by it. Technology which artificiallly amplifies the voice means people can be heard without projecting (although this often leads to an unconscious lack of human connection).

        Even on the stage, the idea of a magnificent, resonant voice is 'old-fashioned' – so even attending the RSC one is never stirred by speeches.

        So yes, Belle, I rather think that (for now), resonance is dead.

    2. Well, Nigel has said that mass deportation are out of the question. So we shouldn't expect much from him. But I'm going to keep up with Reform in as much as what we have on offer is Hobsons choice but, I think, we have more of a chance to get things moving with Reform than anyone else.

        1. Apparently not. It seems to me at this point that our politicians, regardless of party, could not care less about that. I am not aware of one criminal being deported, are you?

      3. UKIP's current (temporary) leader, on the other hand, urges "Deport, deport, deport" and claims it's the only way to reclaim the country.

    3. A succession of liberal wet Tories masquerading as Conservative "have had a lasting effect.”

      Oh Look.. Here comes another one.. what's her name?
      Kemi Badenoch..
      That''ll be the one.

      1. I am not convinced by either of the candidates.

        Robert Jenrick is totally devoid of charm, warmth, humour and charisma which are the same traits that Starmer has. They are both sub-human.

        Kemi Badenoch will probably win but I don't think Reform needs to worry as the scales will soon fall of the public's eyes.

    4. A succession of liberal wet Tories masquerading as Conservative "have had a lasting effect.”

      Oh Look.. Here comes another one.. what's her name?
      Kemi Badenoch..
      That''ll be the one.

  41. Morning all 🙂😊
    Foggy Friday.
    Labour set to expose its election promises as lies.
    If that is the case then the British public will the rightful assistance of the British authorities should remove this government. Before they are allowed to carry out more lasting damage even and obviously those who may have voted for them.

  42. Secondly this morning apart from the usual political issues and the vile idiots who cause them.

    How marvellous modern technology is now, we both sat down at just before midnight our time, with mobile phones and joined in the Friday morning funeral in Upper Fern Tree Gully Victoria.
    For our good friend Bruce's funeral proceedings. 20 plus people where present the lady who led the proceedings was excellent. All the lovely speeches from friends and family were very touching. And reflections on the sort of person he was. Kind, generous, humorous, caring.
    His love of animals was one of the topics especially his several dogs he had kept during his life in Australia. Many fond and familiar
    memories of his life. And after one hour and 20 minutes as the curtains closed on his coffin. We heard one of his favourite songs. The Hollies, "The Air that I breathe". Fitting in so many ways.
    I remember several times seeing Alan Clarke the singer of that song, (now 82) walking his own dog near Hampstead Heath over 45 years ago.
    Rest In Peace matey.

    2. Your friend Bruce was clearly at one with nature, great lyrics:
      "There's nothing left to be desired
      Peace came upon me and it leaves me weak
      So sleep, silent angel
      Go to sleep".

      Did he really live in a tree house?

      1. Close.
        Take a look at Upper Fern Tree Gully on Google earth.
        He once use to sit in his garden and had a 'pet' Magpie larger than ours. And it use to stand on his knee as he fed it with nuts.

    3. When I lived in Melbourne my Dad came there on a business trip. He was a bit knackered after several long flights so I drove him out to Beautiful Fern Tree gully to relax a bit. After all that fresh air we went to my flatmate's house for dinner for Oz style steaks and red wine after which my pal's date gave us a slide show with pics of how he rebuilt his house. Despite my subtle kicks and nudges my Dad's snoring was impressive. Anyway happy memories of Fern Tree Gully – a wonderful place to be laid to rest

      1. The Hollies have it nailed, hands down. Hammond's voice (on this) is thin and reedy.

        Just because you wrote a song doesn't mean that you can sing a decent version of it. Jim Steinman wrote all of Meat Loaf's best output but his own voice was pathetically awful. I bought Steinman's solo album some years back, more in hope than expectation. I played it just the once.

        Steinman had hoped that he could have recorded Bat Out Of Hell as his own singer/songwriter compilation but he fell ill at the time of recording and Meat Loaf stood in for him at the last minute. As one record company executive put it, "If Steinman had sung on that album, no one would have bought it."

    6. I'm glad you were able to see it. It feels less like dismissing oldfriends.
      We had to do the same thing for a friend who died at the height of the scamdemic. Normally, we'd have nipped the 40 miles down the road to be there.

      1. Yes, my wife’s cousin Bruce’s Wife waved to all the onlookers and almost immediately on arriving home emailed us.

    7. Were his surviving dogs there? I took Kadi to his owner's funeral – he came up to the lectern with me when I read the poem she'd written and wanted at her funeral. I also had to take Oscar; I left him lying down in the pew but when Kadi and I got back, Oscar had disappeared! Fortunately, he'd only gone a bit farther along the pew and her son had captured him.

      1. No dogs Conners they all passed away a few years ago.
        In recent years haveing had a lovely labrador friend for over ten years, I developed much more respect for their intelligence. Like you are you have to be close to them to understand.

      1. Radical EU bureaucrats are weaponizing the Digital Services Act (DSA) to crack down on free speech that doesn't align with government-approved narratives on social media, including Elon Musk's 'free speech' platform X. The EU's attack on free speech online has possibly entered a new chapter, with Musk's entire business empire potentially in the crosshairs of fines.

    2. Socialists all, what would you expect? Birds of a feather flock together and so do thieving socialists.

  45. I hope tonight's Lotto is as good:
    Wordle 1,217 3/6

    🟩🟩⬜🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Well done, me too.

      Wordle 1,217 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜
      🟩⬜🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Well you have more chance than I do

      Wordle 1,217 4/6

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

    3. Took me five today. No misplaced letters, jus too many options.
      Wordle 1,217 5/6

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

  46. Starmer agrees Rwanda-style deal to deport migrants from Chagos Islands. 18 October 2024.

    Sir Keir Starmer has agreed a Rwanda-style deal to deport migrants who arrive at the Chagos Islands on small boats, The Telegraph can reveal.

    Asylum seekers arriving on the British-owned archipelago will be deported to St Helena, another UK territory more than 5,000 miles away in the Pacific Ocean.

    Lol. If these people make it to the Chagos Islands they deserve medals and the Kon-Tiki award.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/10/18/keir-starmer-rwanda-style-deal-deport-migrants-chagos/

    1. Is the Telegraph reporting that the island of St Helena has changed its location from the Atlantic to the Pacific?

    2. My question is are the "migrants" the native people who wanted to return after being turfed out of their home, or are they real migrants? Because, frankly, the natives were given a raw deal.

    3. We do have historical precedents for sending trouble making foreigners to St Helena, at least to the one in the Atlantic that is.

  47. Funny thing. The sun is out but the outside temperature is right now much lower than it was at 7 am (when there was no sun!)

  48. 'Morning, Peeps.

    I'm pleased to report that yer sarf coast is bathed in sunshine, so it's a spot of gardening this morning.

    SIR – The problem with Labour’s promise not to increase taxes for “working people” is that it has boxed the Chancellor into a corner, ruling out arguably the simplest and fairest solution to her spending problems – raising income tax. Those who have a small income pay a little, and those that have more, pay more. It works.

    Labour can still do this. There is nothing wrong with changing your mind to reach the best solution.

    Tim Rowntree
    Great Bardfield, Essex

    Sensible idea, Mr Rowntree, but it wouldn't fit in with the spite and envy so beloved of Labour politicians.

    2. not to increase taxes for “working people”..

      This was picked up before the election.. it all depends on what Sir Keir defines as "working people".
      David Starkey deciphered his truthspeak as 'those without savings'.

      So he can, in fact, maintain his promise and look at himself in the mirror.

      1. Assuming that Two Tier actually generates a reflection in a mirror – I'm not sure he does!

  49. Dear All,
    I'm going to be away for a couple of days so I'm transferring stuff to my laptop and just checking now that I'll be able to post Today's Tales from it over the weekend. Here goes (I can't remember my Roughcommon password.)

    EDIT: Hey! it worked. Hooray. Now to transfer some more stories here.

    1. Get yourself bitwarden. A free, relatively open source password manager.

      Not ideal by any stretch of the imagination (as by default it doesn't work and makes life difficult for the user) but that can be changed to suit.

      1. Wibbles,
        I have a passworded Excel spreadsheet with all my many different passwords on it, as well as the usual ‘modern’ Apple and Google automatic Password-storing apps. Problem is – I set up my Roughcommon Disqus identity so long ago that it never got onto the spreadsheet. Having said that, I appear now to have gained write access to NTTL on all my devices. So, fingers crossed.

        P.S. I’ve just posted the above from an iPhone, while seated on the loo. Don’t tell anyone!

    1. Is London still to be classed as a coastal port or is it now a Khanate? Google AI "A khanate is a state or territory ruled by a khan, a supreme tribal leader from a Mongol or Turkic society. Khanates were typically located on the Eurasian Steppe and were organized tribally. Leaders gained power through the support of their warrior subjects, who would provide tribute to fund the realm". I think that's us now.

      1. Well, it is in dispute, rather like the former Crimean Khanate. London used to be English but now the English are a minority as are the Turkic people of Crimea. There are several parallels.

  51. Daily Telegraph. Thank God for Trump. At least he will tell the truth. Hope he becomes President or America before it has had it, killed off by the laughing jackal.

    Donald Trump blames Zelensky for Ukraine war

    Donald Trump has blamed Volodymyr Zelensky for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    The Republican presidential candidate said the Ukrainian leader, 46, should never have allowed the war to happen.

    Speaking to podcaster Patrick Bet-David, he said: “I think Zelensky is one of the greatest salesmen I’ve ever seen.

    “Every time he comes in we give him $100 billion. Who else got that kind of money in history? There’s never been. And that doesn’t mean I don’t want to help him because I feel very badly for those people.

    “But he should never have let that war start. That war is a loser.

    “Ukraine, remember, is not Ukraine anymore.”

    ‘The country is rubble’
    Trump added, speaking to the PBD podcast, that Ukraine’s cities had been “knocked down to the ground,” adding it looked like a demolition crew had “went through”.

    “If we had a president with half a brain, it would have been easy to settle [before it started],” he said.

    Trump has repeatedly claimed Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if he was serving in the White House.

    He also previously said that “the people are dead” and “the country is in rubble”.

    The former president has also claimed that he would be able to negotiate an end to the long-running conflict if he is re-elected, although he has not gone into the details of his strategy.

    Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, triggering the largest land war on European soil since the Second World War.

    Trump has repeatedly complained about US military support for the war-torn nation on the campaign trail ahead of the Nov 5 election.

    He has also previously suggested that Mr Zelensky was at fault for the war mounted by Vladimir Putin.

    Concerns over Trump’s relationship with Putin
    The former president’s latest remarks come after a new book fuelled concerns over his relationship with the Russian leader.

    When Trump met Mr Zelensky last month at Trump Tower, the American said he had a “very good relationship” with Putin.

    It was then reported by Bob Woodward, the veteran journalist, that Trump had spoken to Putin as many as seven times since losing the 2020 presidential election.

    In his book, War, Mr Woodward also claimed that Trump had sent American Covid tests to Moscow during the pandemic for Putin’s personal use.

    Their apparent close relationship has been used by Kamala Harris’s campaign to suggest Trump would force Ukraine to cede land in a peace deal if he wins the upcoming election.

    Reduction in US military aid for Ukraine
    Meanwhile, a senior Nato official said European governments were bracing for a reduction in American military aid, regardless of who takes over the White House next month.

    The Western military alliance has made plans for European governments to take a greater share of the burden of supporting Kyiv for when the next US leader takes office.

    “It is a fair assumption that regardless of who wins the US election that the US share of contributions in Ukraine will probably decrease in relative terms,” the senior official said.

    “That is also because Europe is significantly increasing the share it is providing in Ukraine.

    Nato has been long planning to “Trump proof” the alliance’s donations of weapons to Ukraine to aid its fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion.

    While the alliance has not directly contributed to Kyiv’s armed forces, its 32 member states have accounted for 99 per cent of foreign aid to the war-torn country.

    Congress has passed five bills setting aside $175 billion to support Ukraine since Putin launched his invasion in February 2022.

    In comparison, European Union countries and the United Kingdom have pledged roughly the same figure.

    Under Nato plans to address the imbalance, largely aimed at placating previous complaints by Trump that Europe is not pulling its weight in terms of support for Ukraine, a new command centre will oversee the distribution of $43.3 billion in aid from the alliance.

    The amount will cover both shipments of weapons to Kyiv and the training of its latest recruits.

    It will likely be split between Nato member states according to the size of their economies, meaning the US will still pay the largest chunk but the likes of Germany, France and the UK will have to step up their contributions.

    1. If it's so bad that Trump can be friendly towards Putin, why do people not consider that Putin can be friendly with Trump? Do they think the two will get their heads together and give their countries away? Or, more likely, it's just shit stirring – as usual.
      Like the article (froget where) that suggested that Russia wouldn't stop at swallowing Ukraine, but take all of Western Europe. As if the seven remaining soldiers in the Russian Army could manage that, press-gangs or no.

      1. Putin has zero reason to attack Europe. It is propaganda and I think the wise know that. Putin is not a bad person, not the demon he is depicted to be. Simply he cares about his country and people. But that is, of course, a crime in the woke West and sufficient reason in itself to vilify and denigrate him at every opportunity.

        1. Ukraine should have been left as a buffer country between Russia and Europe.. any fool know that should have happened.

          1. Indeed Johnny. And it was deliberate provocation on the part of the West that it wasn't used as a buffer. Anyone who has the slightest acquaintance with Russian history knows that regardless of who is in power in Moscow, they have a horror of not having a buffer between them and Europe. History has taught them with much blood, that it is a necessity.

      2. Putin has no reason to attack Europe. Europe is destroying itself very successfully without Russian input.
        Putin may be slightly unhinged (I doubt anyone, anywhere gets the top without possessing a certain level of madness), but I doubt he goes looking for extra work.

  52. 394986+ up ticks,

    Yet another life lost to the child killing political brigade,
    Dt,
    Baby dies after migrant boat sinks in Channel
    Infant was onboard an overloaded dinghy which got into difficulty off the French coast.

    I do not believe any member / voters of the lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled / governance controlled morally illegal invasion need feel any blame even if they could, as the importers / exporters will put it down as collateral damage.

      1. Much like the stabbing of black kids – the Left don't care. To them, the ends – slaughter – justify the means.

      2. Well, that's the child benefit, health care, schooling and housing sorted. Perhaps we could let pensioners keep warm this winter …

    2. Do you believe these reports? I think it's a bit of propaganda that gets thrown in to the mix to sow the seeds of doubt. We can see that there are only adult men in the boats but every so often we're informed that a woman or child has drowned. It throws just sufficient doubt on the rather obvious theory that a new model army is being imported.

  54. UAE is now working with South Korea on its nuclear programme (SK nuclear consortium have delivered plants at 25% the cost of EDF…) and nuclear shows clearly how third world the UK is now.

    This week Amazon led a $500m fund raise for SMR pioneer X-energy with agreements from utility providers in Washington State and Virginia to have 60+ of its 80MW reactors running in the next 15 years. At 5GW that'll provide more nuclear power than the UK has presently, for just one company's AI ambitions. A couple of days earlier Google said they were partnering with Kairos another SMR enterprise. Oracle's Larry Ellison estimates his largest datacentre will use 1GW, Microsoft are restarting Three Mile Island and will obviously be eyeing up Bill Gates' TerraPower for SMRs…

    Meanwhile GB Nuclear issued its modern slavery statement. No new news on the forever competition for nuclear that has seen nuclear power halve in a decade and the UK could be entirely without by 2030.

    Apologies for the long quote, but I think it poignant that 5gw is being deployed for about half a billion. The UK is currently using 35GW. For 3 billion or so we could deploy enough nuclear reactors for our entire energy needs. Add in gas and coal plant building, call it a round 10 bn and we could triple our power output.

    For reference, Hinkley point – not yet ready – has cost £46bn. As the quote says, Hinkley has published a pointless document utterly unrelated to energy production.

    Milioaf gave away 11 bn in 'climate aid' on getting in to office. That money could have tripled our energy production to come on line in a couple of years (as Virginia's will). That'd reduce energy costs by a third, more if the green scam were abandoned. Imagine what a KW/h cost of 4-5p would do for the country.

      1. Yes, fair point. But if electricity were literal pennies other options could be found for heating (and no, I am not an advocate of heat pumps). There are electric boilers, after all.

        1. To swap all of the nation's gas boilers for electric would more than double the demand for electricity. The grid would burn.

        2. Small modular reactors. Can be built and installed in three years plus fracking. Energy independent in 3 years.

    2. I was watching one of the Lotus Eaters programmes last night. It was about our leaders. In particular David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Sadiq Khan, Starmer etc. The thing that struck me is how little imagination or vision they have. It is always the same old solution in the UK, bring in more immigrants. There is no desire to innovate, use new technologies, think outside the box, etc. It is a rut of unintelligence that non of them seem capable of getting out of or, it appears, even want to. What struck me is that these people are there because of the old, born with a silver spoon, as it were and, if not, then raised up by someone of that ilk. They are not there due to intelligence or because they have anything special to offer. In fact they are dead weights who actively, via their stupidity and stupid policies, drag the country down to the point that now, they are razing it with their utter stupidity. I kept thinking, no wonder, regardless what you think of him, Dominic Cummings couldn't get on with them, they are, essentially, very thick people, very dull people and, totally selfish to boot.

    2. The confusion folk have is that teaching – in the UK – is about educating the child. It isn't. The student is an annoyance to the state education system. Big government would far and away preferto spend the money purported to be for children on itself.

      All those annoying costs just get in the way.

    3. Speaking of children (well almost) the Canadian Paediatric Society has decided that the recent Cass Review on Transgender treatments for children only applied to the UK and is not relevant in Canada – On with the puberty blockers, we have young lives to ruin!

      1. If they're hell-bent on sterilising children (and they clearly are) then there are ways of doing it that don't involve sexual perversion. It isn't just that these people want to destroy children, it's that they get a thrill out of it as well. I did notice that in the GBN debate last night, Kemi Badenoch consistently referred to this practice as the sterilisation of children and not by any of its more fashionable labels.

      2. Ha,ha. Never I did once vote them but due to the performance of certain B Liar, never again.
        I have no faith whatsoever in anyone in particular in the whole of Wastemonster.

    1. Google "AI Overview" has this bit of wisdom. "White is a traditional color of mourning in many Eastern cultures, including China, Japan, and India. It's worn to symbolize purity, respect for the deceased, and the temporary nature of life. In the West, black is the traditional color of mourning. However, before the Victorian era, white or purple was more common". I knew that at some time women in the West wore white for mourning but wasn't sure when that changed and purple in this context is new to me.

      1. I purposely wore a cream suit with a lilac shirt and tie when I gave the eulogy at my mother's funeral, 16 years ago. Most of the black-tie wearing mourners gave me daggers looks but I explained my stance from the pulpit.

        I informed them that mum had frequently told me she hated the shade black to such an extent she never wore it and she often said, "I don't even want it at my funeral". I went on to explain that not only was I fulfilling her wishes, I had chosen to wear lilac since it was her favourite colour.

        1. I just wear a dark suit black tie white shirt and black leather shoes.If its a wedding same clothes but a silver grey tie.

        2. The grey suit and tie is calming and sombre. I like that in preference to the others , but I know you haven't asked for my opinion .

          I hate funerals , been to too many recently .

          In fact most of the funerals I have attended have been military funerals, formal affairs , standard bearers , trumpets , last post etc .. and tears.. yes lots of tears.

          1. That 'grey' suit is actually navy, Maggie. Weird how the photo made it change colour. (see older photo, above).

          2. Strictly speaking, if you aren't a family member of the deceased, you shouldn't wear black. Navy, dark grey or any suitable sombre colour is appropriate.

          3. No one, family members or not, wear black in Sweden. White tie is the tradition here but few follow that these days.

        4. My father hated black clothing for any occasion. He wanted to distance himself from his Eastern European Jewish roots and those people in his day wore a lot of black, especially the women. As a teenager I remember wanting a black jacket but Dad was paying so I got a cream coloured one instead. It was unbleached cotton which was fashionable at the time so I was happy enough.

          1. I just looked in Matalan for a new cheap suit for Tuesday, black or grey was the only choice. I gave it a swerve. I'll drag something out from my wardrobe.

          2. My parents spent their lives warning me off black. To this day, i have never owned a “little black dress” and am proud of it. I did make a beautiful little dark blue velvet dress when I was about 22 or so. I can picture buying the material at Birmingham market to this day. When my son was little, i used the left-overs to make him a superman cape. He will be 20 in 3 weeks’ time. Bless him.

          3. Doing a student placement in Lincoln during my attempt to get into teaching, I saw an LBD in crimplene.
            As it was when Dr. Daughter was taking part in Youth Concerts with a couple of children's music groups she was part of, I took a chance and bought it.
            It was just the right size for her and, when playing on-stage, she looked lovely in it.
            As it was crimplene however, the fabric stretched enough as she grew for her to be able to wear it for four or five years!

      3. In Mary Queen of Scots' time, white was the colour of mourning for the French Royal family. In Japan, it's still worn for mourning. The Victorians made a thing of mourning and elaborate rules were laid down as to what you should wear (crepe, for instance) and when you should go into half mourning. It was an etiquette minefield!

      1. It's 112, here, in yer Sverige.

        My friend likes the 'Al Capone' look but wonders where I hide my derringer.

      1. Funny thing is the 'grey' pinstripe, on the left, is actually navy. For some strange reason the sunlight affected the sensors on the iPhone it was taken on and it turned out a weird grey!

          2. Actually that middle 'suit' is a navy blazer with (nearly) matching trousers. Paler trousers would perhaps set it off better.

          4. Yes. The darker blue is better IMO. I would also wear a white shirt and cuffs showing signifying according to Buddism…purity.

            And as you know i need as much signifying as i can get !

    4. I think (1), Grizzly. Some think a head covering is essential at funerals – I don't. Actual ceremony should be serious, with a few lighthearted comments in the eulogy. Then the wake. Just my view – I know it's not for everyone.

      1. I'd like everyone attending mine to wear a clowns outfit, at least I'd get burnt smiling

        1. Good choice, make sure to tell your Trustees:-) quite something, pressing the big button, watching the coffin slide into the flames

    5. I think a white tie against the navy blue suit would look quite cool, but a dark shirt too.

      1. I wouldn’t anyway. I’ve not worn it for years and I’d forgotten how ‘loud’ it is. I’d chuck it, but it’s silk (as are all my ties).

    1. He's not wrong, government figured this out – why we have high immigration numbers albeit higher than existing population wants or thinks we need.

    2. "A society getting crappier and crappier every year."

      As I've said so often, a nation of imbeciles will invariably elect a government of cretins to rule over them and make more and more half-baked, mindless and idiotic laws in order to keep that doltish population under the cosh.

      It behoves the few members of society, those who have not yet lost the rational intelligence they were born with, to take positive steps to restore the country to its former greatness. In order to do so, firstly the cancer/canker totalitarian establishment needs to be ruthlessly excised with haste.

      1. I would agree. But how to do it when the very act of organizing or expressing your thoughts by any form of communication would get you and your compatriots arrested.

        1. They managed that because formerly sensible people permitted them to get ahead. What the few sensible people who are left need to do is embrace the spirit of Boadicea, Edward I, Elizabeth I, Sir Francis Drake, George Loveless, Wat Tyler, Robert of Locksley, Robert Kett, Guy Fawkes, Sir Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher — combined — and take it to them.

          Surely there are sufficient left who still possess the balls, the brains and the bulldog spirit to take on those intent on destroying — forever — the British way of life. It may be we have to go abroad to recruit assistance. The names Elon Musk and Donald Trump may consider the fight to be worthwhile investing in?

          He who hesitates …

          2. That’s the problem, so am I. We need a Captain Mainwaring to train us up and deploy us wherever needed.

          3. I am nearer 80 than 70. I've slowed down and find it hard to deliver leaflets and attend hustings the way I once did.

      2. People can only vote for whoever puts themselves up for election.
        Even if nobody votes, there will still be politicians r(u)inning the country.

  59. Apparently the liberal party caucus meeting in Ottawa next week includes a motion calling for Trudeau to resign.

    Nothing will come of it of course but it is the first sign of discontent in the mass of clapping seals that surround the village idiot in parliament.

    2. Looking good.

      I'm a stickler for tradition and a good helping of beef (or lamb) kidney would have finished it nicely for me.

      1. I did have some lamb kidneys but when i defrosted them i didn't like how they looked. A slight green tinge so i binned them.

      1. I've never been a fan of Cupressocyparis x leylandii (the Leyland cypress). It takes over and excludes too much light.

        1. Kills everything around it.
          Like sitka spruce.
          I once rode through a sitka spruce forest?/plantation? in central Wales. It was absolutely dead; little light, no movement, no bird song. It was actually very creepy.

  64. 9 October 2024

    An investigation into disgraced bone surgeon Mr Yaser Jabbar has been widened to cover five London hospitals, as 721 patients' care is being reviewed.

    His work at St John and St Elizabeth Hospital and Cromwell Hospital, both private, is now being looked into in addition to the Portland Hospital and two NHS hospitals, Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

    A leaked extract of a damning report, by the Royal College of Surgeons, concludes children had "incorrect" and "unsuitable" orthopaedic surgery under Mr Jabbar's care at GOSH.

    This left many with life-altering conditions and suffering from severe harm.

    'Verbal aggression'
    The report has finally been released to some patients' families and BBC News has obtained a copy.

    It highlights a number of issues in the complex lower-limb reconstruction unit at GOSH, including "a lack of a cohesive, united and functional team and department" compounded "by a lack of direction and effective management and leadership".

    The review team also found "serious concerns in relation with the working culture", with staff saying the working environment was "toxic" and they had been "dismissed and subject to unacceptable and unprofessional behaviours, including verbal aggression".

    Staff were also "upset about the standard of care", which was "unsatisfactory" in some cases, the report said.

    And staff in operating theatres did not always feel confident to raise questions or issues over important elements of patient care with surgeons.

    The GOSH Trust "had not been delivering a safe service for patients", the review team added.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgd0xpn253o

    1. Appalling 'care' by certain medics seems to be widespread. I wonder where this disgraced surgeon obtained his 'qualifications.'
      Will he be struck off?
      No doubt, the investigation will state that, 'Lessons will be/have been learned,' ….. then nothing will change, business as usual.

  66. Good afternoon All,

    Free Speech has a sparkling new article by Iain Hunter assessing the system of governance in Britain that he describes as a kakistocracy which, given Rachel Reeves proclivities, will find soon be more accurately described as a kleptocratic kakistocracy.

    And staying on the theme kleptocratic kleptocrats, we have a second article today on Tactics To Combat Kleptocratic Kakistocracy – or how to reduce your inheritance tax liability.

    Please nip over and read/comment if you can.

    freespeechbacklash.com

        2. Some people are naturally androgenous. I have a delivery driver and i can't tell if it's a man or woman.

          3. Androgens are male hormones. Andro and gyno = male and female.

            Next question: why urology and gynaecology?!

      4. Did a concert with Black Dyke band when I was with Yeadon Male Voice Choir. Must have been the junior section, they all looked very young.

      1. Nay, lass. Labi Siffre is a bloke. My photo is of Lena Waithe, an American black lesbian [i.e. the “Black Dyke” part]. Mrs Mills makes up the “Mills” part; and the “Band” bit is self-explanatory.

  68. Just back from visiting Elderly Chum. She is sleeping most of the time.
    That is sad, but not unexpected.
    What brought a lump to my throat was a new patient; a well turned out man – suit, diamond patterned jersey, shirt, tie, polished shoes etc…. sitting dozing in an adjacent chair.
    He appeared to be a retired professional man; solicitor, accountant, possibly an old school proper teacher. It was not just his clothes, but his whole appearance that suggested such a background. And there he was, sleeping away the rest of his life on the 'dark side' of a care home.
    On the plus side, it would have taken the nurses a lot of time and patience to dress him so well in the style that he had always worn.

        2. Exactly. Staff at my dad's home told me all residents were sedated to one degree or another. There was a large strong female resident, fought with staff and other residents. All residents were locked in their rooms at night. Average stay was 2 to 2.5 years, occasionally 3. When a resident died, the funeral service would come in late at night because residents would freak out if they saw them. I only know this stuff because I couldn't visit every week working full time and 4 hour journey, but I used to phone to get his update – got the impression staff were happy to have a break. A new manager came in, Australian, different ideas about drugs, pastimes etc. Didn't last long.

        3. Like on this blog you mean?

          Asking for a noisy Nottler….. Sosraboc …but don’t tell anyone i said so.

      2. Not that I could see apart from medication for physical ailments. Admittedly, the 'dark side' is where the really demented patients reside, but many are just fading away. Sometimes, they have bouts where they are not going quietly into that good night. That can be upsetting for those in the main part of the home who are still more or less still on the planet.
        There are some who are more active and potter around clutching teddy bears or carrying water jugs. There is one who occasionally lashes out, but she cannot walk so the others are safe from her.

        1. If and when my times comes i would appreciate someone like you to be around.

          I would also expect Nottle mates rates ! :@)

    2. I see that every time I play in a care home Anne – talk about Gods waiting room. I must admit the care workers take a lot of time making them smart and presentable – they always seem to be clean and well dressed

      1. Hello FA

        This village resembles God's waiting room .. care workers flit around in their tunics, conversing on their mobiles ..

        We have lived here 25 years , I didn't think we would stay here .. the golf club is the must have and Moh's thing , me well I just walk the dog , fuss around and fret when a neighbour passes on ..

        I dread the call of the tawny owl.. as long as he doesn't hoot for me .

        1. They're hooting this time of year Belle, establishing their territory..hopefully you'll see some young 'uns in '25.

    3. There was a male inmate very similar in my dad's Bupa home, anne – his wife visited every day (three buses, didn't drive, I offered lifts but never accepted) with freshly laundered clothes. He had dementia, worsening state, when near to the end the staff offered drugs to ease his passing, his wife wouldn't accept – took him over two weeks to pass, she slept on the floor at the side of his bed. She was a lovely, gentle person, Christian…I (and staff) found it difficult to accept – but, their choice. Your post reminded me very much of him neatly turned out, hair combed, freshly laundered clothes, always asleep, holding a small plastic toy car.

  71. Many conifer plantations are similar. Awful places.

    Contrast that with a natural deciduous beech woodland: lots of light, lots of undergrowth and lots of bird and animal life.

    1. Many years ago when we still had a document registry at work, we discovered that one of the filing clerks was filing every contract under the same letter because the first paragraph of every one of them began with, "The British Broadcasting Corporation." We had to explain that you look to see who the other party to the agreement is and file it under that name, not your own!

    2. What "National Wealth Fund"? Taxpayers' money is finite. The high earners will high tail it to a more tax-friendly nation. Then, when it comes to black holes, you won't have seen nuttin' yet!

  74. Polish up your Mandarin…some chopsticks are going to be shoved up Lammy's derrière

    Chinese Press Praises Lammy For Obsequious Beijing Visit

    Surprise, surprise – the Chinese press is celebrating Lammy’s obsequious visit to Beijing. The Global Times says “the visit may have the purpose for the UK to review and adjust its China policy.” The state-run paper says it’s about abandoning Tory opposition to the regime:

    “The Labour government needs to change the UK’s chaotic China policy over the past decade or so, therefore the visit could be an attempt to stabilize and improve the relationship with Beijing… Although the new Labour government reportedly seeks less confrontational ties with China and to resume trade and investment talks, they still need to balance the impact of the Conservative Party. To bring China-UK relations back on track, the Keir Starmer administration needs to make a clear distinction between its China policy and that of the Conservative Party… the UK should reassess its China policy from a more practical and impartial perspective.”

    The praise doesn’t stop there:

    Xinhua celebrates that the UK and China will “have in-depth communication on enhancing strategic mutual trust and strengthening dialogue and cooperation in various fields.“
    China Daily points out that since Labour has come to power “China and the UK have seen good momentum in exchanges at various levels, as senior officials from the two countries, including ministers, have held talks or made phone calls covering areas such as economy, finance, diplomacy and energy.“
    People’s Daily says the governments will now “strive for mutual benefits and a win-win situation, and promote the sustained and steady growth of bilateral relations.“
    Obviously none of them bother mentioning the FCDO’s briefing to concerned Western journalists that Lammy will “raise human rights concerns about China’s treatment of the Uyghurs and its support of the Russian war in Ukraine.” Cursory castigation from Lammy which will be ignored…

    China sees this as a sign that Labour is taking the opposite approach to the Tories. Lammy has walked into the dragon’s mouth…

    18 October 2024 @ 14:00

  79. Just had an interesting conversation with a charming Indian chap waiting for our bags. He cannot understand why our Government isn’t on the side of business.

    1. I think it is quite simple – they are not on the side of business because they are communists who wish to destroy private enterprise so that the state can control everything.

        1. Very upsetting story.

          The headmaster is sending messages to all Old Blundellians and I received an email message today which tried to put a positive spin on they way the school community is pulling together and coping with the shock.

          This is a PR disaster for the school and this coupled with VAT on school fees is very worrying for the place's future which has a long history dating back to 1604.

          As I have said here before, 90% of our students come from private schools and when their parents face a 20% rise in school fees they will have less money to spend on our excellent courses even though we do not charge VAT and have kept our prices at the same level since 2022.

          Apparently the attacker is autistic – we are trying to find out something about the attacker and his two victims but of course their identities are hidden though everyone at Blundell's will know who they are. Of course Epsom College, another independent public school, suffered a catastrophe last year when the female head (and her daughter) was shot dead by her husband who then killed himself.

    2. Not sure it's about 'sides' to Starmer. Because he has never made anything, done anything, worked for anything and neither has anyone else in the Labour party, they just see business as 'things' they can take from with impunity. To them, they are simply a no consequence blob to rob and regulate.

      1. That's known in the North as having too much 'side', wibbling i.e. he thinks he knows/is better than anyone. Hard road ahead.

    3. Perhaps a more pertinent question might be "why isn't the government on the side of the natives?".

  80. A skimpy Birdie Three!

    Wordle 1,217 3/6
    ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
    🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Well done. Five for me.

      Wordle 1,217 5/6

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

      1. Same pattern, lucky second guess!
        Wordle 1,217 3/6

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

    2. Should have been a Three but I stupidly jumped the gun third line.

      Wordle 1,217 4/6

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

    3. Rubbish bogey here. When presented with numerous options I always think – Nah, it wont be the double letter – and it has been of late!!

      Wordle 1,217 5/6

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

    4. Back from the local.

      Me too.

      Wordle 1,217 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜
      🟩⬜🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

        1. High octane is supposed to be ‘efficient’! This bunch of fools are very far from being that! I do hope it all blows up in their stupid faces!

  84. That's me gone. Funny day. Sunny but not warm. Finished the tedious job of dismantling the tomato frames. A bucket full of ties to burn in the stove. One of the many things I learned from sharing an allotment in yer France with four French people was the use of cloth tape to tie up tomatoes, beans etc. And, indeed, to build frames. By chance I discovered a product in a needlework stall on Norwich Market that sells cotton tape. Marvellous stuff. A roll lasts for three seasons and is cheap as chips.

    Wet Office predicts rain tomorrow and Sunday. Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain.

  85. Lammy Gives up on Substack Vanity Blog

    It’s now been a month since David Lammy last wrote a post for his “Progressive Realism” Substack after he produced two long reads in three days. He started it up in September to “explore” how to reach “progressive ends” with “realist means”…

    So far the blog has only managed to achieve some typos like “I am the first Black Britain to go to Harvard Law School” and triggering a diplomatic incident. Lammy praised Azerbaijan’s bloody campaign to reclaim the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh as a “liberation.” Forcing the FCDO to clarify that UK policy – to “urge meaningful dialogue” – had not changed as a result…

    Lammy has done a lot to put his mark on foreign policy in a month – thawing relations with China, giving away the Chagos Islands, and “forging a closer relationship” with the EU. Is he not keen to explain himself on his personal blog?

    1. Apparently Zelenskyy is in the market for nuclear weapons.
      Someone who might have a small amount of common sense should have a word with him. ……Hello is there anyone out there ?

  86. I realise I am in cahoots with my grandson against his father. Am I going through a second adolescence?
    Sonny Boy and D-in-L are on holiday this week, so we have been keeping an eye on dogs and grandson.
    18 year olds are not early risers on days when they are not at work or college. Sonny Boy is a middle aged father, so MB and I don't volunteer information.
    "He's fine." Truth.
    "Yes, he was up……". Just about.

  87. Canada owes America an apology – for Kamala Harris

    Did her teenage years in Montreal help determine her Left-wing politics?

    The vice president recalled her time in Canada fondly in a conversation with Justin Trudeau Credit: DAVE CHAN/AFP

    Michael Taube
    18 October 2024 4:46pm BST

    When Vice President Kamala Harris replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, many assumed her Left-wing ideology would immediately take centre stage. Lo and behold, that’s what happened.

    Harris is a progressive’s progressive. She’s pro-affirmative action and supports gun control. She is weak on illegal immigration, has defended sanctuary cities, and was one of ten senators who opposed the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement in part because it didn’t tackle climate change.

    It’s tempting to blame Harris’s politics on her upbringing. Her parents met at University of California’s Berkeley campus in the 1960s, at the time a hotbed of radical activism. Her father, Donald J Harris, a retired Stanford University economics professor, was described by The Economist as a “combative Marxist economist” whose writings are “sprinkled with obscurantist theorising.”

    Yet, there’s another part to this story. My country, Canada, may have to apologise for its unfortunate contribution to Harris’s progressive thinking.

    Harris lived in Montreal, Quebec between 1976 and 1982 while she was a teenager. Her late mother, Shyamala, took a research position at Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital and taught at McGill University. Harris attended FACE (Fine Arts Core Elementary) School before graduating from Westmount High School. She also went to Vanier College.

    “The thought of moving away from sunny California in February, in the middle of the school year, to a French-speaking foreign city covered in 12 feet of snow was distressing, to say the least,” Harris wrote in her memoir, The Truths We Hold. She braved the cold and survived in the land of igloos, back bacon and ice hockey. It may have helped transform her way of thinking, too.

    Anu Chopra Sharma, a former classmate of Harris, recalled in an August 12, 2020 CTV News interview that her daughter had asked her, “How Canadian is she?” Sharma replied, “There’s no way I could have told you that she was American.” Sharma described Harris as “very liberal-minded, and that was one of the things that I liked about her … I personally think universal health care is going to be her baby … She got to see the other side of the coin, growing up.”

    Nicholas Boston, who also attended Harris’ school, wrote in the Independent that she “found her voice early”. Here’s an example. A May 8, 2019 piece in the San Jose Mercury News noted that Harris and her younger sister, Maya, successfully organised a demonstration at their apartment building. They protested a policy that banned young children from playing (association) football on the building’s front lawn.

    The demonstration “had nothing to do with language or race,” according to Boston. Fair enough. What it did show was that Harris had an inclination to be a political disruptor early. The football battle of her youth turned into a struggle for illegal immigrants and extreme environmental policies in adulthood.

    Harris rarely discusses her years in Canada. She “recalled fondly” her time in the country during a 2021 phone call with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Yet, she’s seemingly kept in touch with an aunt and uncle who live here.

    Her aunt, Chinni Subash, told CBC News on January 17, 2021 that, while politics wasn’t top of mind during conversations with her young niece, this gradually changed. “As Kamala got more involved in politics, she showed a keen interest in understanding how things worked for us,” Subash said. “Like our health care system … how Canada was managing the Syrian refugee crisis and stuff like that. She was very interested in understanding how things were done here.”

    Well, then. If Harris is elected president and incorporates elements of Trudeau’s policies into her own Left-wing agenda, more apologies may be in order.

    Michael Taube, a columnist for National Post, Troy Media and Loonie Politics, was a speechwriter for former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper

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

    Duncan Bardsley
    29 min ago
    One cant really define a vacuum as being left, right or bonkers.

  88. Canada owes America an apology – for Kamala Harris

    Did her teenage years in Montreal help determine her Left-wing politics?

    The vice president recalled her time in Canada fondly in a conversation with Justin Trudeau Credit: DAVE CHAN/AFP

    Michael Taube
    18 October 2024 4:46pm BST

    When Vice President Kamala Harris replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, many assumed her Left-wing ideology would immediately take centre stage. Lo and behold, that’s what happened.

    Harris is a progressive’s progressive. She’s pro-affirmative action and supports gun control. She is weak on illegal immigration, has defended sanctuary cities, and was one of ten senators who opposed the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement in part because it didn’t tackle climate change.

    It’s tempting to blame Harris’s politics on her upbringing. Her parents met at University of California’s Berkeley campus in the 1960s, at the time a hotbed of radical activism. Her father, Donald J Harris, a retired Stanford University economics professor, was described by The Economist as a “combative Marxist economist” whose writings are “sprinkled with obscurantist theorising.”

    Yet, there’s another part to this story. My country, Canada, may have to apologise for its unfortunate contribution to Harris’s progressive thinking.

    Harris lived in Montreal, Quebec between 1976 and 1982 while she was a teenager. Her late mother, Shyamala, took a research position at Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital and taught at McGill University. Harris attended FACE (Fine Arts Core Elementary) School before graduating from Westmount High School. She also went to Vanier College.

    “The thought of moving away from sunny California in February, in the middle of the school year, to a French-speaking foreign city covered in 12 feet of snow was distressing, to say the least,” Harris wrote in her memoir, The Truths We Hold. She braved the cold and survived in the land of igloos, back bacon and ice hockey. It may have helped transform her way of thinking, too.

    Anu Chopra Sharma, a former classmate of Harris, recalled in an August 12, 2020 CTV News interview that her daughter had asked her, “How Canadian is she?” Sharma replied, “There’s no way I could have told you that she was American.” Sharma described Harris as “very liberal-minded, and that was one of the things that I liked about her … I personally think universal health care is going to be her baby … She got to see the other side of the coin, growing up.”

    Nicholas Boston, who also attended Harris’ school, wrote in the Independent that she “found her voice early”. Here’s an example. A May 8, 2019 piece in the San Jose Mercury News noted that Harris and her younger sister, Maya, successfully organised a demonstration at their apartment building. They protested a policy that banned young children from playing (association) football on the building’s front lawn.

    The demonstration “had nothing to do with language or race,” according to Boston. Fair enough. What it did show was that Harris had an inclination to be a political disruptor early. The football battle of her youth turned into a struggle for illegal immigrants and extreme environmental policies in adulthood.

    Harris rarely discusses her years in Canada. She “recalled fondly” her time in the country during a 2021 phone call with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Yet, she’s seemingly kept in touch with an aunt and uncle who live here.

    Her aunt, Chinni Subash, told CBC News on January 17, 2021 that, while politics wasn’t top of mind during conversations with her young niece, this gradually changed. “As Kamala got more involved in politics, she showed a keen interest in understanding how things worked for us,” Subash said. “Like our health care system … how Canada was managing the Syrian refugee crisis and stuff like that. She was very interested in understanding how things were done here.”

    Well, then. If Harris is elected president and incorporates elements of Trudeau’s policies into her own Left-wing agenda, more apologies may be in order.

    Michael Taube, a columnist for National Post, Troy Media and Loonie Politics, was a speechwriter for former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper

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

    Duncan Bardsley
    29 min ago
    One cant really define a vacuum as being left, right or bonkers.

    2. That was very good – I've never seen one of those before, and she was extremely easy on the eye!

  91. An Egyptian-born surgeon who harassed two of his female colleagues for dates tried to blame his behaviour on Britain’s “open culture” of socialising.

    Dr Hosam Halim, 48, who worked at the Royal Free Hospital London and then at Ipswich Hospital in Suffolk, was investigated by the General Medical Council after the incidents.

    At a tribunal hearing, Halim claimed he had felt isolated and lonely after seeing his colleagues drinking in wine bars.

    The hearing heard how Halim offered to plait one black woman’s hair which he compared to a “brush” and grabbed her striped ID badge, saying “ooh leopard print” before cupping his hands over his mouth to roar in her face.

    In another encounter, Halim told the woman that if she were to be his wife he would “not let her work” and offered to take her out for a drink.

    A second woman said Halim followed her for ‘‘almost a day’’ around an operating theatre and promised he would be a ‘‘good husband” to her, adding: “Why are you single? Why don’t you marry me? Do you live alone? Can I call you at night?”

    A third colleague was said to have been left feeling uncomfortable after she was confronted by Halim in front of patients for wearing a rainbow coloured lanyard around her neck on NHS shifts which had been given to her by the British Medical Association.

    Halim is said to have told her: ‘‘Do you know what those colours represent? You’re not gay, are you?

    “Do you know that it’s wrong to wear a lanyard that supports that. What the pride flag represents is wrong.

    “It’s a sin to wear it. You should take the lanyard off and I’ll give you a different one to wear.’‘

    She later said his behaviour was bigoted against people in the LGBTQ+ community.

    When questioned over his behaviour Halim said he felt isolated and lonely and blamed the “open culture” of British socialising habits.

    He told the tribunal he had seen other colleagues drinking in wine bars and so thought it was a ‘‘normal part of British culture’’ that women drink in public.

    Christopher Rose, a legal representative for the GMC, said: ‘‘Dr Halim does try to give the impression he was entirely new to both the UK and the culture of working in the NHS.

    “But he has been here since 2016 and it’s difficult to imagine he has not gathered his behaviour was not the cultural norm.’‘

    In his evidence Halim apologised for his actions but said he did not intend harm and recognised the ‘‘negative impact’’ his conduct might have had.

    He claimed the encounters were a “misunderstanding of our dynamics” and that he came from a “friendly culture with not much boundaries”.

    At the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service [MPTS] in Manchester, Halim was found guilty of serious professional misconduct, direct discrimination and sexual harassment.

    The incidents took place between April 2021 and August 2022. He has since been struck off.

    Catherine Moxon, the chair of MPTS, said: ‘‘Dr Halim persistently seeks to excuse his behaviour by victim blaming. He has claimed if people made him aware of his inappropriate behaviour he would have stopped.

    ‘‘At this time his issues are attitudinal whilst his insight and remediation are in their infancy on most issues. At present he is inconsistent regarding his personal responsibility.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/18/i-harassed-colleagues-uk-open-culture-says-nhs-surgeon/

    1. "Dr Halim persistently seeks to excuse his behaviour by victim blaming." He's a muslim, isn't he? That's what they do, it's always the kuffar's fault. If he can't cope in an "open culture" he should eff off back to where a benighted closed culture is the norm.

      1. According to our media the once boss of that large store in London also seemed to be in on the act.
        Same book ?

    2. When chums go out for drinkies I don't tend to, but I still go and drink orange juice or coca cola. The argument he felt lonely is pathetic. If he wanted a good grope, there are plenty of women who offer that in London.

  92. Evening, all. Just spent a very enjoyable day Christmas shopping. Nearly everything bought now! Just a few odds and ends to get. Also managed to buy some solar lights for the garden. At this time of year it's so miserable I like to have starry lights and three old sets had disintegrated and/or stopped working.

    Did anyone who lived through the seventies and the Blair/Brown Terror seriously think "things will be different this time – Labour will suddenly become fiscally competent and not hose tax-payers' money up the wall on pet projects"?

    1. During his first term of office, Blair kept to his promise to adhere to the Conservative's spending plans, which nobody had expected the Cons to do had they won. Blair inherited what the Treasury call "a Rolls Royce economy". The 63 consecutive quarters of economic growth which ended in early 2008 were not of his making, but at least he didn't screw it up. And if you blame him for the economic collapse of that uear, you need to get out more.

      That was then, this is now. No comparison.

      1. I would venture to suggest that after the brakes were let off and the BoE became "independent", the banking "corset" was loosened and being in debt was no longer considered a bad thing to be, those things were a contributory factor to the 2008 crash, so "it wasn't me, guv" is a poor excuse.

        1. Nothing compared to the Greenspan put. But yes, I refer you to my letter in the Daily Telegraph of April 20, 1989.

      2. Errr. Brown's first budget – his first one – destroyed the pensions and savings industry. He fiddled with the tax and banking code repeatedly, adding over 12,000 pages with each budget.

        Blair inherited it, yes, but Brown and Blair ruined it as fast as you could say 'Stupid Lefties'.

  93. Listening to 2TK on telly, he lies so easily and with a flat tone but apparent conviction. He does KNOW he’s lying? Or can he convince himself that his duplicity is truthfulness?

    2. He is not human. Scott Tracy (Thunderbirds) has more personality, charisma and panache (and you couldn't see the strings).

      2TK is simply an AI bot whose strings are being pulled by Soros and his Big Brother cartel of scum.

  94. Husband has just mentioned Lucy Connolly sentence vs Huw Edwards. He’s not wrong in his ire.

    1. I was sailing in a 6-Metre, Nancy, owned by the late Captain Mike Henry, RN, when HMS Conqueror returned to the Clyde.

      A proud moment, when they arrived at Rosneath Point on a Saturday – flying the Jolly Roger!

  98. My dream has been shattered,’ says Nigerian nurse accused of cheating after arriving in UK
    Nurse says she has lost ‘my name, my integrity’ after being accused of using proxy to sit tests to work in Britain

    Nigerian nurses urge UK minister to intervene over test cheating claims

    When I was a little girl in my village in Nigeria going to school was something I could not even dream of because we did not have money. Then my mother sold everything we owned to pay for me to go to school.

    I knew this was my only ticket to make something worthwhile out of my life and my family’s life.

    My father had abandoned my mother because she gave birth to girls not boys and he said “girls were worth nothing”. That put a lot of pressure on my little self but made me determined to strive. I felt I had something to prove to my father and that education was the way I could do that.

    A blur of motion in a hospital ward
    Nigerian nurses urge UK minister to intervene over test cheating claims
    Read more
    Eventually I was able to study nursing at university and became the best student in some of my exams, graduating with a degree in nursing science.

    I worked in two different hospitals in Nigeria and passed the exams I needed to do to work in the UK, including the CBT – computer-based test – which I did at Yunnik. I studied hard for this test.

    No concerns were raised about my performance in the CBT by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) while I was in Nigeria and I travelled to the UK after undergoing a series of interviews, criminal checks, health checks, work and school tests.

    I sat and passed the OSCE – objective structured clinical examination – after arriving in the UK. This is another requirement needed to practise as a nurse here. In the autumn of last year, NMC contacted me raising concerns about fraud at Yunnik test centre, which they said they were going to investigate. I was accused of using a proxy to sit the test there because of the quick time I completed the test in. I deny this. I believe that what is happening to us is a witch-hunt.

    I sat the test again in the UK and passed it in a similar time but NMC said they are questioning my integrity even though I completed the test in similar times in Nigeria and UK. Nobody from NMC has ever worked with me and I have provided good character references from my line manager and university lecturers in Nigeria.

    I have always been a studious person and am very self-motivated. But now I have lost my name, my integrity, my dreams and I feel like I have failed everyone who believed in me and the little girls back in my village who believed in themselves and their dreams because of me.

    I don’t sleep at night. My pillows are always wet with crying. This feels like the end of my world because I have had to give up on all my dreams I worked so hard to achieve to get a better life for myself and my family. I am now a miserable person with a broken spirit and I am about to have the word “criminal” added to my name. My dream of being an international nurse able to work anywhere in the world has been shattered.

    I expect British standards are higher and somewhat different ?
    Who knows.

    1. Yet… where do children, and thus the next generation, come from? If the other sex was absent, one man can repopulate the world, one woman can produce a baby a year. At best.
      Man's an arsehole.
      "Then my mother sold everything we owned to pay for me to go to school." Excellent, smart lady.

    2. Blame those people who have imported third world standards. We never used to have this problem.

  99. My dream has been shattered,’ says Nigerian nurse accused of cheating after arriving in UK
    Nurse says she has lost ‘my name, my integrity’ after being accused of using proxy to sit tests to work in Britain

    Nigerian nurses urge UK minister to intervene over test cheating claims

    When I was a little girl in my village in Nigeria going to school was something I could not even dream of because we did not have money. Then my mother sold everything we owned to pay for me to go to school.

    I knew this was my only ticket to make something worthwhile out of my life and my family’s life.

    My father had abandoned my mother because she gave birth to girls not boys and he said “girls were worth nothing”. That put a lot of pressure on my little self but made me determined to strive. I felt I had something to prove to my father and that education was the way I could do that.

    A blur of motion in a hospital ward
    Nigerian nurses urge UK minister to intervene over test cheating claims
    Read more
    Eventually I was able to study nursing at university and became the best student in some of my exams, graduating with a degree in nursing science.

    I worked in two different hospitals in Nigeria and passed the exams I needed to do to work in the UK, including the CBT – computer-based test – which I did at Yunnik. I studied hard for this test.

    No concerns were raised about my performance in the CBT by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) while I was in Nigeria and I travelled to the UK after undergoing a series of interviews, criminal checks, health checks, work and school tests.

    I sat and passed the OSCE – objective structured clinical examination – after arriving in the UK. This is another requirement needed to practise as a nurse here. In the autumn of last year, NMC contacted me raising concerns about fraud at Yunnik test centre, which they said they were going to investigate. I was accused of using a proxy to sit the test there because of the quick time I completed the test in. I deny this. I believe that what is happening to us is a witch-hunt.

    I sat the test again in the UK and passed it in a similar time but NMC said they are questioning my integrity even though I completed the test in similar times in Nigeria and UK. Nobody from NMC has ever worked with me and I have provided good character references from my line manager and university lecturers in Nigeria.

    I have always been a studious person and am very self-motivated. But now I have lost my name, my integrity, my dreams and I feel like I have failed everyone who believed in me and the little girls back in my village who believed in themselves and their dreams because of me.

    I don’t sleep at night. My pillows are always wet with crying. This feels like the end of my world because I have had to give up on all my dreams I worked so hard to achieve to get a better life for myself and my family. I am now a miserable person with a broken spirit and I am about to have the word “criminal” added to my name. My dream of being an international nurse able to work anywhere in the world has been shattered.

    I expect British standards are higher and somewhat different ?
    Who knows.

    1. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have been the CO who ordered "Shoot!" back then? Not so many alive now have done that.

  101. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/10/18/rachel-reeves-freeze-income-tax-thresholds-past-2028/

    So she is raising taxes on working people? Good grief, why doesn't she just admit it? She's dumb! Reeves has no idea what she's doing and is solely wanting to hike and waste tax to spaff on things we do not want or need. If she said this and got on with it the economy could tank, welath escape, jobs be lost and Labour would be removed before Christmas.

      1. Peaceful and very respectful of the “old fart’s” life. That was his wife who said that.
        He was an all round good oldboy.
        I had to say goodbye to him with a large Jura and ice. 🥃🤗

        1. I hate funerals – they are so final. And always leave something unsaid.
          But to be seen off with Jura – pretty damned good!

  103. "Man rushed to hospital after stuffing 15 hard-boiled eggs up his bum!"
    Picture post
    Argh! Why? How?

    2. Shell on or peeled? We need to know.🙄🙄

      Didn't Paul Newman's character in a film eat an excessive number of peeled hard-boiled eggs? Can't recall the name of the film.

    9. Were they hard boiled when inserted? Maybe the man's body temperature was enough to slowly boil them – or would they have just been coddled?

  104. "Man rushed to hospital after stuffing 15 hard-boiled eggs up his bum!"
    Picture post
    Argh! Why? How?

  108. The case didn't even get as far as the ECHR.

    Migrants in Albanian offshore camp must be returned to Italy, court rules in blow to scheme

    Plan hailed as an innovative solution to migration crisis thrown into doubt just days after the first asylum seekers arrive at facility

    Nick Squires in Rome; James Crisp, Europe Editor

    An Italian court has dealt a major blow to Giorgia Meloni's multi-million euro plan to send migrants to an offshore camp in Albania by ruling that they cannot remain there and must all be brought back to Italy.

    The first group of 16 Egyptian and Bangladeshi men arrived at the facilities in northern Albania on Wednesday at the start of what had been hailed as an innovative new way of dealing with Europe's illegal migration crisis. The model was being closely watched by other European countries, including Britain.

    The 16 men were rescued in the central Mediterranean this month but instead of being shipped to Italian shores, as has happened with tens of thousands of migrants and refugees, they were transported to the Adriatic coast of Albania in an Italian navy ship.

    A bilateral accord drawn up by Rome and Tirana last year envisages migrants being taken to the port of Shengjin in northern Albania and then transported by bus to a brand new facility that was built on a former Albanian air force base dating back to the Cold War, next to the village of Gjader, about 15 miles inland.

    There they are meant to have their asylum requests assessed. Under the plan, they would be either deemed genuine refugees fleeing war or persecution, in which case they will be sent to Italy, or economic migrants, in which case they should be sent back to their home countries.

    The conservative coalition run by Ms Meloni had hoped that the system could handle as many as 36,000 migrants and refugees a year. But a ruling on Friday by a court in Rome has now thrown the entire five-year scheme, estimated to cost €670 million (£557 million), into doubt. The court ruled that the migrants cannot be sent back to Bangladesh and Egypt because they are not safe countries.

    Judges ruled that 12 migrants should be taken to Italy. Four others had already been spared repatriation because they were deemed to be minors under the age of 18 or in a vulnerable physical state.

    The court said it had decided not to validate the detention of the migrants "due to the impossibility of recognising as 'safe countries' the states of provenance of the people held".

    The Rome court's ruling was in line with a decision handed down last week by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which limited the definition of what can be considered a safe country. The ECJ said that countries such as Egypt and Bangladesh cannot be declared safe unless their entire territory is free of dangers.

    The decision by the court in Rome was met with fury by Ms Meloni's hard-Right party, Brothers of Italy.

    "Absurd! The court does not validate the detention of migrants in Albania," the party wrote on X.

    "Politicised judges have decided that there are no safe countries of origin: it is impossible to detain those who enter illegally, it is forbidden to repatriate illegal immigrants. They want to abolish Italy's borders. We will not let them."

    Even before the Rome court's ruling, the scheme had got off to a distinctly shaky start. Critics questioned why the first batch of migrants sent to Albania had consisted of just 16 men. The cost of transporting them from the central Mediterranean to northern Albania was estimated by opposition MPs to be at least €18,000 per person.

    Matteo Villa, a senior researcher with the ISPI think tank in Rome, said the Italy-Albania scheme had proved a flop, just days after it had begun. The difficulty of sending migrants back to their countries of origin meant that the plan was always likely to fail.

    "I had no hopes that it would work but I'm surprised that it went so bad, so fast. It was always destined to be a disaster. It is mind-boggling that it went ahead in the first place," he told The Telegraph.

    He said that on the basis of the Rome court's ruling, there is now only one African country to which migrants could be repatriated: Cape Verde.

    The government has limited options in trying to keep the offshore scheme alive. "They can legally try to circumvent it but it's going to be very hard," said Mr Villa.

    Matteo Piantedosi, the interior minister, said the government would appeal against the courts' ruling. "We will move forward with the objective to affirm our position through the relevant institutional channels, through the judicial mechanism," he said.

    Ignazio La Russa, a founder and senior member of Brothers of Italy, said he was "astonished" by the court's ruling.

    Elly Schlein, the head of the centre-left Democratic Party, said she knew the Italian court would rule against the detention of the migrants, "not because we are clairvoyants, but because we read the laws". She told the prime minister: "Dismantle everything and apologise to the Italians. Far from being a model, the agreement you made with Albania…violates international, European and national law." [Sanctimony. Ms Schlein is a bisexual feminist and progressive. She has apparently faced antisemitic abuse including comments on her nose, which she describes as of Etruscan and not Jewish origin.]

    The setback comes as Ms Meloni's stock in the EU is high, with many European countries echoing her calls for a tougher migration policy. The Albania model has been cited as inspiration for the idea of EU offshore deportation camps for failed asylum seekers. That was discussed at a European Council summit on Thursday, despite having been previously ruled out by Brussels as neither "feasible or desirable".

    Ms Meloni touted the Albania model as a "new, courageous, unprecedented path" that would allow more failed migrants to be repatriated. She said earlier this week that while the Albania model had excited interest from several European countries, it was being undermined by attacks from opposition MPs.

    "The Italian Left thinks only of attacking our initiatives in a gratuitous manner. Defending our borders and stopping human trafficking is not just our duty, but a priority for Italy and all of Europe."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/18/italy-migration-refugees-albania-giorgia-meloni

    1. The entire territory is free of dangers? Europe is not entirely free of dangers. They must leave.

    2. Only terrorism will achieve the ends Ms Meloni seeks. It cannot be achieved through democracy, legislation or the judiciary. If you think it's worth it, you must be prepared to murder, including innocent civilians, to achieve your ends. I don't think it is worth it, but those who do must have the courage to act, even though many will be martyred for their cause.

  109. The case didn't even get as far as the ECHR.

    Migrants in Albanian offshore camp must be returned to Italy, court rules in blow to scheme

    Plan hailed as an innovative solution to migration crisis thrown into doubt just days after the first asylum seekers arrive at facility

    Nick Squires in Rome; James Crisp, Europe Editor

    An Italian court has dealt a major blow to Giorgia Meloni's multi-million euro plan to send migrants to an offshore camp in Albania by ruling that they cannot remain there and must all be brought back to Italy.

    The first group of 16 Egyptian and Bangladeshi men arrived at the facilities in northern Albania on Wednesday at the start of what had been hailed as an innovative new way of dealing with Europe's illegal migration crisis. The model was being closely watched by other European countries, including Britain.

    The 16 men were rescued in the central Mediterranean this month but instead of being shipped to Italian shores, as has happened with tens of thousands of migrants and refugees, they were transported to the Adriatic coast of Albania in an Italian navy ship.

    A bilateral accord drawn up by Rome and Tirana last year envisages migrants being taken to the port of Shengjin in northern Albania and then transported by bus to a brand new facility that was built on a former Albanian air force base dating back to the Cold War, next to the village of Gjader, about 15 miles inland.

    There they are meant to have their asylum requests assessed. Under the plan, they would be either deemed genuine refugees fleeing war or persecution, in which case they will be sent to Italy, or economic migrants, in which case they should be sent back to their home countries.

    The conservative coalition run by Ms Meloni had hoped that the system could handle as many as 36,000 migrants and refugees a year. But a ruling on Friday by a court in Rome has now thrown the entire five-year scheme, estimated to cost €670 million (£557 million), into doubt. The court ruled that the migrants cannot be sent back to Bangladesh and Egypt because they are not safe countries.

    Judges ruled that 12 migrants should be taken to Italy. Four others had already been spared repatriation because they were deemed to be minors under the age of 18 or in a vulnerable physical state.

    The court said it had decided not to validate the detention of the migrants "due to the impossibility of recognising as 'safe countries' the states of provenance of the people held".

    The Rome court's ruling was in line with a decision handed down last week by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which limited the definition of what can be considered a safe country. The ECJ said that countries such as Egypt and Bangladesh cannot be declared safe unless their entire territory is free of dangers.

    The decision by the court in Rome was met with fury by Ms Meloni's hard-Right party, Brothers of Italy.

    "Absurd! The court does not validate the detention of migrants in Albania," the party wrote on X.

    "Politicised judges have decided that there are no safe countries of origin: it is impossible to detain those who enter illegally, it is forbidden to repatriate illegal immigrants. They want to abolish Italy's borders. We will not let them."

    Even before the Rome court's ruling, the scheme had got off to a distinctly shaky start. Critics questioned why the first batch of migrants sent to Albania had consisted of just 16 men. The cost of transporting them from the central Mediterranean to northern Albania was estimated by opposition MPs to be at least €18,000 per person.

    Matteo Villa, a senior researcher with the ISPI think tank in Rome, said the Italy-Albania scheme had proved a flop, just days after it had begun. The difficulty of sending migrants back to their countries of origin meant that the plan was always likely to fail.

    "I had no hopes that it would work but I'm surprised that it went so bad, so fast. It was always destined to be a disaster. It is mind-boggling that it went ahead in the first place," he told The Telegraph.

    He said that on the basis of the Rome court's ruling, there is now only one African country to which migrants could be repatriated: Cape Verde.

    The government has limited options in trying to keep the offshore scheme alive. "They can legally try to circumvent it but it's going to be very hard," said Mr Villa.

    Matteo Piantedosi, the interior minister, said the government would appeal against the courts' ruling. "We will move forward with the objective to affirm our position through the relevant institutional channels, through the judicial mechanism," he said.

    Ignazio La Russa, a founder and senior member of Brothers of Italy, said he was "astonished" by the court's ruling.

    Elly Schlein, the head of the centre-left Democratic Party, said she knew the Italian court would rule against the detention of the migrants, "not because we are clairvoyants, but because we read the laws". She told the prime minister: "Dismantle everything and apologise to the Italians. Far from being a model, the agreement you made with Albania…violates international, European and national law." [Sanctimony. Ms Schlein is a bisexual feminist and progressive. She has apparently faced antisemitic abuse including comments on her nose, which she describes as of Etruscan and not Jewish origin.]

    The setback comes as Ms Meloni's stock in the EU is high, with many European countries echoing her calls for a tougher migration policy. The Albania model has been cited as inspiration for the idea of EU offshore deportation camps for failed asylum seekers. That was discussed at a European Council summit on Thursday, despite having been previously ruled out by Brussels as neither "feasible or desirable".

    Ms Meloni touted the Albania model as a "new, courageous, unprecedented path" that would allow more failed migrants to be repatriated. She said earlier this week that while the Albania model had excited interest from several European countries, it was being undermined by attacks from opposition MPs.

    "The Italian Left thinks only of attacking our initiatives in a gratuitous manner. Defending our borders and stopping human trafficking is not just our duty, but a priority for Italy and all of Europe."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/18/italy-migration-refugees-albania-giorgia-meloni

  111. Bruce Springsteen: 'Trump is an insurrectionist – not to mention mentally ill'

    As he releases a new tour film, the Boss talks Kamala Harris's election chances, the tragedy of Liam Payne and the truth about his finances

    Springsteen has endorsed Kamala Harris in the upcoming US presidential election, describing Donald Trump in a video as "the most dangerous candidate for president in my lifetime". How anxious is he about the possibility of Trump winning? "On one hand, I'm not that anxious, because I do believe Kamala Harris is going to win," he says.

    "Of course, I've been wrong before about this. I think in the States, there's an enormous anxiety, however, at losing the things that are dearest to us, the danger of losing democracy, rule of law, peaceful transfer of power. And this is a guy who is committed to none of these things. He's an insurrectionist. You know, he led a coup on the United States government, so there's no way he should be let anywhere near the office of the presidency."

    Jon Landau, Springsteen's long-time friend, manager and producer, describes Trump's message as the opposite of Barack Obama's, "diametrically, literally, line by line".

    "Not to mention, he's mentally ill," Springsteen interjects. "The whole thing of standing and swaying for 40 minutes at your town hall? I mean, swaying to music, that's my job." He's genuinely concerned, describing this as "one of the most consequential elections in our nation's history", and adds: "Are you going to sleep well knowing that the nuclear codes have been given to Donald Trump? No. No one is."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/interviews/bruce-springsteen-interview-trump-is-mentally-unstable

    If Springsteen thinks the USA will be safe with today's Democrats, infected as they are with the cultural Marxism that has given the States and the UK critical race theory, DIE, ESG, BLM, multi-gender pronouns and everything else that suffocates freedom of thought and choice while defying science and nature, then he will be happy with Harris.

    On the other hand…

    1. Disappointed in Springsteen here, he's always banging on about being blue collar – Born in the USA etc etc – which would normally indicate Republican tendencies.
      However he seems to be just another stupid lefty to go along with the rest of his showbiz luvvie friends…. what a twat……

      1. He's a great pop artist apart from the fact that his voice is rough and tuneless and his guitar playing is terrible.

      1. His stupidity kind of spoils the music for me…plus he has a couple of creepy lyrics…I reckon he got captured by Hollywood very early on.

    3. Springsteen suffers from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. The only person with a worse recorded case is De Niro.

  112. Well, chums, it's my bedtime now. So I wish you all a Good Night. Sleep well, and I'll see you all tomorrow morning.

    2. Good night. #MeToo… though i will probably read my kindle until i pass out.
      Don't know what you're reading is but Stanley Tucci is a good and easy read.

      1. Just finished The Day the Nazis Came by Stephen R Mathews. It's about Channel Islanders who were deported to Germany.

  114. Goodnight, folks. Early start tomorrow morning; I'm off to watch someone having a dressage lesson. Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest.

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