Sunday 24 November: The assisted dying legislation would offer security and clarity to terminally ill patients

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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1,135 thoughts on “Sunday 24 November: The assisted dying legislation would offer security and clarity to terminally ill patients”

  3. Bom dia Geoff e a todos
    Today's Tale
    Leo went to the doctor for his annual check-up.
    The doctor checked his heart and blood pressure and
    frowned.
    “You’ve got ten hours to live,” he said.
    “I demand a second opinion,” said Leo, and rushed off to a heart specialist.
    The heart specialist checked him out immediately and said, “Leo, you’ve got nine hours to live.”
    Leo jumped into his car and raced home to his wife.
    “Darling," he said, “I have only eight hours to live.” “What do you want to do in your final hours, Leo?” “I want to make love,” said Leo.
    So they jumped into bed.
    During their post-coital cigarette, Leo said, “I’ve got seven hours to live. Can we make love again?”
    “Of course,” said his loving wife.
    After another hour, and another post-coital cigarette, he said, “Darling, I have only six hours to live. Let’s do it again.”
    “For Christ’s sake, Leo,” she said, “it’s O.K. for you! You don’t have to get up early in the morning.”

    1. "Bom dia a todos", roughcommon? Eu não falo Português!. (PS – The joke was a good one, btw.)

      1. Morning Elsie,

        After spending my January birthday in Madeira for many years, I had a grand holiday in Porto and the Douro Valley in May this year – hence the Portuguese.

        But I love languages, have Japanese and Chinese daughters-in-Law and come into contact with Amazon Drivers, shelf-stackers in Sainsburys and many other non-English contacts. So in my eighties I decided to 'stretch my pore brain' by learning to say "Thank you" in (currently) 24 foreign languages.

        When you ask someone with a slightly foreign accent where they're from, then thank them in Bulgarian, or Portuguese, or Polish, or whatever, it always gets a smile. I know it's just a show-off thing, but it works.

        Years ago I was guarding a 'mile of pennies' for a Rotary fundraiser when a good-looking Asian lady added a pound coin to the line. I thanked her in Japanese, when she replied (in faultless English) "actually I'm Chinese", covering me with embarrassment. So now I always ask where they're from.

        1. Impressive.
          When I was younger and more international, I found I could ask for "Two beers, please!" in about ten languages. Very useful, so it was. Weirdly, that didn't include Welsh…

          1. Dau gwrw os gwelwch yn dda. I sing the Welsh national anthem but I wouldn't know where to start with that.

          2. I can manage to ask if somebody would like a cup of coffee. It was one of the first sentences in my ancient copy of ‘Teach Yourself Welsh’. Strangely I’ve never found a us for it.

          4. Many years ago, I learned "Cariad bach" which means "Little Darling" in Welsh. I think it sounds delightful.

        2. Caroline is Dutch and speaks four languages: Dutch, Spanish, French and English without any trace of a foreign accent. Everyone in France thinks she is French, everyone in England thinks she is English and everyone in Spain thinks she is Spanish.

          She also can communicate effectively in Portuguese, Italian, German and Turkish but she struggled with Greek. I speak French with a heavy English accent and I have an "O" level in Latin but I am no linguist.

        3. As long as you don’t ask them a second time where they are ‘really from’.
          As Lady Susan Hussey found.

        5. It's a delight to read your post, roughcommon, because I too thoroughly enjoy languages after spending my early childhood in Argentina when I learned to speak South American Spanish perfectly. At secondary school in England we were taught Latin – I don't speak that one much although I often travel by omnibus (joke!). I also was taught French at school as well as German, so to a lesser degree I can speak those two reasonably well. And in neighbouring Brazil I learned bits of Portuguese, such as "Muito obrigado".

          My latest language is a little bit of Italian; I do most of my shopping in Aldi where there is a charming chap called Luciano. After initially joking by asking him if he is at all related to Signor Pavarotti, we now have regular Italian conversations where he asks me in Italian if I want to pay with cash or with my credit card. And I always wish him a "Buona Giornata" or "Have a good day" once I have paid. As you may well be aware I regularly go to my local Curzon cinema, and I enjoy watching subtitled foreign films which help me to improve my languages.

          And the same applies to the Talking Pictures site where I often watch Bruno Cremer as Inspector Maigret speaking in French with English sub-titles, thereby improving my French. For example, there are two words for savings; one is "essences" which means small savings, and another (which I forget at present) suggests major sums saved. I think that your own practice of thanking people in their own languages is an excellent one which I hope to emulate.

          Finally I was interested to read that you helped guard coins for a Rotary fundraiser, since I too have been active in Rotary in the past. Isn't it great to be a bit of a polyglot?

    2. Starmer bitterly resents the truth coming out about anything..

      He has decided to award a special prize of £1m to the person from either Ofcom or Verify who can successfully peddle the greatest lie.

    1. Has Adams moved from the Evening Standard? That's the second one you've posted that doesn't appear on the website.

  7. Trump-hating celebs must be crazy to quit the US for Starmer’s miserable Britain

    There’s no bigger sign of Trump Derangement Syndrome than flouncing off to a country that’s now poorer than any American state

    Columnist Michael Deaco

    23 November 2024 7:00am GM

    Ever since Donald Trump’s victory, it’s been fascinating to read about all the horrified Hollywood celebrities queuing up to flee the US. Take, for example, Sharon Stone. The star of Basic Instinct has publicly denounced Trump for “running for office on a platform of hate and oppression”. In fact, she finds him so unspeakably frightful, she has said she’s “considering a house in Italy”.

    Italy? In that case, I hope she enjoys living under the rule of Giorgia Meloni: a leader who is routinely described by opponents as “far-Right”, “populist”, “anti-abortion” and “anti-immigrant”. What a nice change that will make.

    Then there’s Eva Longoria, the former star of Desperate Housewives. She insists that her loathing of Trump (“a convicted criminal who spews so much hate”) isn’t the reason she’s left the US. Earlier this month, though, she told a magazine that she pities ordinary Americans, because they’re “going to be stuck in this dystopian country”. Among the reasons that she gave for her disenchantment were “the homelessness”, and “the taxes”.

    In light of this, it’s interesting to read that she now divides her time between Spain and Mexico. The former, under its current socialist government, has far higher taxes than the US. And the latter has more homeless people (14million) than any other country on the planet. Indeed, it has more than 20 times as many as the US.

    Perhaps most intriguing, however, are the celebrities who are fleeing to a certain other country. This week, it was reported that Ellen DeGeneres, the chat show host, and her wife Portia de Rossi, the actress, have decided to “get the hell out” of the US – and move to none other than Sir Keir Starmer’s Britain.

    Can this really be true? I don’t mean to talk our country down. But I’m struggling to get my head round the idea that anyone could be in such a strop about the result of an election that they would choose to swap the richest country on Earth for a country that is now poorer than Mississippi, the poorest American state. It feels as if they aren’t so much punishing Trump as punishing themselves.

    Of course, given that DeGeneres, according to Forbes, has a net worth of around £360m, I suppose they won’t have to worry about the wretched state of our hospitals, schools, public transport and indeed pretty much everything else. Then again, they might come to resent being forced to pay ever-growing taxes in order to fund these ever-deteriorating services.

    What makes me fear for the couple most of all, though, is their reported choice of location. It’s the Cotswolds. Have they by any chance bought a farm? If so, I hope they aren’t already regretting it.

    Still, there is one aspect of life in Starmer’s Britain that needn’t trouble them. Being Hollywood celebrities, they presumably hold all the correct liberal opinions. So at least they won’t have to worry about the police knocking on their door.
    The awkward truth about ‘dark empaths’

    Is anyone you know a “dark empath”? If so, beware. According to psychologists, this is a highly dangerous personality type. As the Guardian recently warned its readers, a “dark empath” is “someone who appears to be caring and sensitive, but who is actually using those skills to further their own agenda”.

    But hang on just a minute. Doesn’t that perfectly describe the average modern Left-wing activist?

    After all, such activists endlessly preach about “compassion”, “empathy” and “kindness”. Yet at the same time they seem to take tremendous relish in abusing or intimidating others. Look at the Left-wing men who profess to be fighting for trans rights, while bawling insults at any woman who dares defy them. Or the supposed anti-racists who go on pro-Palestinian marches while waving swastika placards. It’s almost as if they’re using “compassion” as a cover for their hatred.

    Anyway, it’s good to have this useful new term. We used to think Left-wing activists were merely misguided. Now we learn that they may be suffering from a serious psychological disorder.

    Perhaps, out of pity, we should be nicer to them. Or at least pretend to be nicer, to make ourselves look good.
    For fox sake

    Jolyon Maugham KC – the revered anti-Brexit campaigner, champion of gender ideology, and all-round paragon of progressive virtue – has demanded that the British Museum do more to emphasise our country’s shameful role in the slave trade. This is a characteristically noble thought. All the same, I can’t help feeling that, in recent years, we’ve already learnt rather a lot about slavery. Purely for the sake of variety, I wonder whether there’s some other injustice the British Museum could highlight.

    I know. How about an exhibition on animal cruelty?

    Unlike slavery, which was abolished in Britain almost 200 years ago, animal cruelty remains a sickening feature of our society. Over Christmas 2019, for example, some delirious maniac boasted on Twitter that he’d just run out into his garden in London, clad in his wife’s satin kimono, and used a baseball bat to club a fox to death.

    Sadly, the name of this unhinged freak escapes me. But, like the righteous Mr Maugham, I believe that the British Museum has a duty to raise public awareness of historic barbarity. Let’s hope that its board is listening.

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

    23 hrs ago

    I’d swap with any celeb leaving the States to get out of this Marxist hellhole

    Comment by Ian Spectre-Blake.
    23 hrs ago

    Somebody should inform the luvvies that Trump doesn't *own* America but Starmer (*thinks he*) owns Britain.

      2. I doubt that de Generes and her ‘wife’ were among them. But maybe there were even more facets to Epstein‘s predilections than we’ve been led to believe thus far…

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

    Wordle 1,254 4/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      Finally got there…too much brain work first thing in the morning.
      Wordle 1,254 5/6

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  9. Republicans rage against state of UK free speech. 24 November 2024.

    Legislation like the Online Safety Act that is said to combat ‘hate speech’ empowers regulators to censor free speech. Congressional Republicans understand that these threats to free speech are part of a broader global push by the Censorship Industrial Complex, which includes not only the EU, UK, and other nations but also malign actors here at home. We are committed to confronting this growing threat alongside the incoming Trump Administration to fight against these assaults on free speech within our borders and around the world.

    Sounds like interesting times ahead for Starmer’s Police State.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/republicans-rage-against-state-of-uk-free-speech/

    2. Of course it the the home secretary, Mrs Balls, who, in response to the Allison Pearson fiasco, wants to increase the control and police investigation of so-called non-hate speech crime.

      She is clearly a very evil woman – but is she as evil as either Theresa May or Rachel Reeves?

  12. 397327+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Dt.

    The assisted dying legislation would offer security and clarity to terminally ill patients

    Not on your nellie,
    It would be a conduit to adjusting the population numbers,leave well alone de-criminalise those love ones who assist, as is.

    Surely it is now taken as a proven fact that the top rankers in both political / pharmaceutical spheres cannot be trusted with assisted living, proving this on a daily basis via manipulation of the elderlies finances, also the importation of death dealers via the Dover invasion campaign.

    Open eyes fully, these ersatz politico's in parliament / linked to the pharmaceuticals are found to be the spreaders of plague, pestilence and famine

    1. Something that all the politicians know but the average man in the street doesn't:

      Suicide is banned by the Qu'ran, so Muslim MPs such as Shabani Mahmoud

      will be strongly against the legislation.

          1. If so why do they produce so many suicide bombers and tell them they’ll be travelling Virgin?

        2. They do like everything their own way.
          It's a shame that our political idiots have never taken that into consideration.

      3. I saw at least one muslim MP who was against it.
        Apart from the koran, only someone who is 100% bought into British society as a true believer could think that it won't be abused.

  13. 397327+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Dt.

    The assisted dying legislation would offer security and clarity to terminally ill patients

    Not on your nellie,
    It would be a conduit to adjusting the population numbers,leave well alone de-criminalise those love ones who assist, as is.

    Surely it is now taken as a proven fact that the top rankers in both political / pharmaceutical spheres cannot be trusted with assisted living, proving this on a daily basis via manipulation of the elderlies finances, also the importation of death dealers via the Dover invasion campaign.

    Open eyes fully, these ersatz politico's in parliament / linked to the pharmaceuticals are found to be the spreaders of plague, pestilence and famine

  17. Morning, all Y'all.
    Heavy overcast, snowed overnight.
    Just signed the election petition, for what it's worth. 281 726 signatures.

    1. If they are really global brands, 90% of the audience isn't white.
      It's why WEF, COP and the UN are so keen for the developed world to send money out, so the poor can buy the global brands.

      1. Adverts are regional though. It's offensive to put out adverts that persistently star one ethnicity in a country that's majority another ethnicity. They don't do it in China, why should we put up with it in Europe?

        Re your last sentence, people with IQ under 85 have limited possibilities for taking part in a technologically advanced society, but they can consume…

  20. 397327+ up ticks,

    Cop29 signs off $300bn climate deal after poorer nations stage walk-out
    Last-minute compromise after tensions boil over at talks

    Probably because they are divvy in the head mindset, the English peoples are putting up with this blatant Christmas divvy up of the biggest scam in town spoils, whilst they are, via global warming freezing to death.

  22. Morning all. Hope you survived the storm comfortably. Snow drifts blocking roads here, and no help from the council, but we'll be fine.

    Today Free Speech returns to the Big One, the biggest scam ever perpetrated, that one that says that we are living through a climate crisis caused by mankind, and that if we don’t impoverish ourselves and submit to the Alarmist’s totalitarian rule, we’ll all be fried any minute. In his article ‘ Project Nuts ’ mikdys tells how he discusses the matter with those who have accepted the lie.

    And we have a request to ask – to sign a petition that has gone viral. The petition to parliament calls for a new general election on the grounds that Labour has broken its manifesto promises, which it obviously has. The scale of its growth is very encouraging: at 22:15 last night 136,784 had signed. Today at 07:30 a total of 266,940 had. Any petition that gets 100,000 signatures is ‘considered’ for debate in parliament. The more that sign, the harder it is for them to ignore. Please sign by following this link .

    Energy Watch: Demand at 0800: 30.097 GW. Supply: Hydrocarbon = 11.1%; Renewables = 65.2%; Nuclear = 13.6%; Biomass = 3.9% and Imports 4.6%.

    https://www.freespeechbacklash.com/

  26. Nice knowing ya Espana..

    A huge Spanish magnet has been erected on the island of El Hierro that previously received 1,000 irregular tourists per week.. as commie Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announces..

    Spain will grant residency and work permits to about 300,000 migrants living in the country illegally each year for the next three years..

    Here's a gem..
    Migration Minister Elma Saiz said in an interview on Wednesday. She contended that the legalization policy is not aimed solely at “cultural wealth and respect for human rights, it’s also prosperity.”

    “Today, we can say Spain is a better country,” Saiz told national broadcaster Radio Nacional de España.
     https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b86e3a062766f87df75c7bda1a732c7b362e68ed83d7b406085813226631ff1b.png

    1. And you can expect a similar announcement in UK.. through an irritating nasal gushing whine.

    2. But they seem to have forgotten that it took more than 300 years to evict a certain agressive element some centuries ago.

    4. But they can easily channel the migrants elsewhere by not giving them free money. There are no jobs for them! Spaniards are working in the rest of Europe because there are not enough jobs at home.

    5. But they can easily channel the migrants elsewhere by not giving them free money. There are no jobs for them! Spaniards are working in the rest of Europe because there are not enough jobs at home.

  27. Morning all 🙂😊
    Blowing a hooly out there but not chucking it down as it has been last night.
    I'm not sure if I agree with assisted dying, it's going to happen anyway if a person is terminally ill.
    Something else is on the adgenda I would say. Our political classes have no regard or respect for anyone outside of their own field.
    And surely this end to life would not be acceptable to all types.
    Gunshots fired at West London night club last night and another item regarding a man with his trusty guid dog being refused entry to I believe a resurant. How quickly these nasty habits seem to catch on these days.
    Most dogs I've known are far nicer than a lot of the people out there.

  28. Good morning all.
    After yesterday's rain, a stormy night with gusts of wind whistling round the house and it's still raining with a tad over 9°C on the Yard Thermometer.

  30. Good morning all ,

    The weirdest weather temperature 18c this morning , blowing a real gale still, noisy , rain on and off .

    Son up and away to run in the Boscombe 10k race.. nope it hasn't been cancelled , hundreds are taking part .

    1. 16 degs here, it says grab an umbrella ☔…….I think anyone who tried that wouldn't end up where they were heading.

  35. Got there eventually:
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  36. 397327+ up ticks

    I would say with some confidence that even the 48% anti Brits
    along with the 52 % pro Brits wanted NO PART on any war.

    breitbart london,

    Former Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Declares World War III ‘Has Begun’

      1. I can't help thinking that the 52% would be more likely to defend the UK than the 48% who would have surrendered the UK to the EU without a squeak.

    2. Doesn't matter a jot.
      The only thang that matters is the 174 parliamentary majority.

      To make any meaningful change.. you would need a Labour MP death a day from natural causes or Muslim love.. then Reform to win the vacant seat.

      Though there is the short n sweet method.. Trump administration to apply Visa/banking transactions sanctions on UK over some strategic security issue.

      1. I know it won’t happen but at least it’s somewhere to register your feelings and, collectively, shows disquiet across the nation.
        As we all know ‘if voting ever changed anything it would have been abolished’.

        1. Given the nature of this government I suspect that every signature will be followed up and then the individuals will be scrutinised for hurty tweets etc.
          An almost perfect source for hunting down and prosecuting/persecuting people who post on sites such as Nottle and freespeechbacklash

          2. I wondered about that. But they probably already know about me.

            We should go back to greeting the 77th again every day.

    3. Doesn't matter a jot.
      The only thang that matters is the 174 parliamentary majority.

      To make any meaningful change.. you would need a Labour MP death a day from natural causes or Muslim love.. then Reform to win the vacant seat.

      Though there is the short n sweet method.. Trump administration to apply Visa/banking transactions sanctions on UK over some strategic security issue.

  39. Keir Starmer declares war on benefits Britain: Prime Minister vows to crack down on £137billion welfare 'blight due to an increase in benefits for mental health conditions. Get people off benefits and back into work.

    Is this what they call Cognitive dissonance? When the actions &beliefs do not complement each other.

    Hang on a minute.. You've been telling everybody that mental health issues are to blame for everything from terrorism to the work-shy depressed.

    Back to work? LOL.
    You've just taxed businesses to death, increased the minimum wage to an unaffordable level, taken away flexible short term contracts, blighted employers with frightening legislation that will shackle them indefinitely to workers who aren’t productive, and then asked them to create opportunities. LOL.
    Most businesses are freezing recruitment & down sizing before April.

    Benefits will be rising and so will unemployment.

    1. So he's going nake a start with the 8 million plus we spend every day to house illegal invaders.
      Oh no ……I thought not, that's another category completely.

    1. I found this spinless judge offensive. He is not interested in justice at all but will do the bidding of a corrupt system for his own comfort.

    1. I was just thinking exactly the same thing. I don’t know him. I avoid Richmond Park like the plague now – full of bug signs saying “No” and “Don’t” and roads closed off

      1. While I can somewhat sympathise with the requirement for that petition it does, somehow, remind me of the similar obsession among the Remainiacs to have another referendum on EU membership (and even more) until they got the result they desired.

        In a way, similar to how the Irish were asked to vote, again and again, until they succumbed to the EU's diktats.

        1. True, but the right to call an election should be ingrained. The public should be able to remove a sitting administration should it wish to as long as a given threshold is reached. A referendum should be the norm, not the exception with the public able to revoke law on demand.

          The remoaners continually fight democracy because they didn't get their way. Many are still banging on that it was illegitimate. More of a problem isn't the referendum, It's the refusal of government to enact our will after we have given it instruction.

          Even now Starmer is intentionally doing huge damage it seems to deliberately force the IMF to intervene who will, because their leadership board has been rigged this way – force us back in to the EU.

        2. The difference between this and the EU vote is that the choice "leave" got a clear mandate. The premise on which people voted for Labour has proved to be a complete lie; in other words, people did NOT get what they voted for.

    2. Until he has finished his task of completely destroying the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

    3. Well, I don’t see any repercussions for Rachel Thieves after disclosure of her false CV, do you? Caught out in a lie, she’s still there, so why shouldn’t 2TFG Starmer be?

  45. Helena Rees-Mogg: ‘I hate how ludicrously posh my voice sounds on camera’
    The reluctant reality show star on running two houses, being on camera and her high hopes for Kemi Badenoch
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2024/11/24/helena-rees-mogg-interview/

    BTL

    It is abundantly clear to me that the Conservative Party is no longer the place for Jacob Rees-Mogg and the sooner he discovers this for himself the better. The Reform Party is far from perfect but its political philosophy has far more in common with Mr Rees Mogg's thinking than that of the Conservative Party.

    Mr Rees-Mogg should join Reform and improve the party by so doing. Unlike Nigel Farage, he is not a snob so he would not have Farage's ridiculously class-conscious aversion to Tommy Robinson whose ideas are very sound on many issues and need proper consideration as does the way he has been tyrannically treated by the oppressive state and the MSM.

  46. True re regional, but they don't seem to care.
    What I don't know is whether the global companies' advertisements are the same everywhere or whether white females are still used in say, Nigeria.

    3. If it's the one calling for GE now, Rastus..there's a link on Tom's blog (Free Speech Backlash). We've already signed and sent to others.

    1. I believe the king can dissolve parliament. It is one of the few prerogatives he has left if I'm correct?

      Actually, just looked it up. It's another right that has been taken away from the monarch. This sort of thing really pisses me off. It is essential that the king have real powers because he represents the people against parliament. But parliament has seized those powers and, at the same time rendered the people impotent to change.

      This is why I always bang on about the monarchy. It is not supposed to be a figurehead it is a check against the unlimited power of parliament. That it why it was restored after Cromwell died. Which was a lesson in how tyrannical parliament could be. And now we suffer another tyranny with no recourse other than outright rebellion, which will not happen. If you take a look at the other constitutional monarchies in Europe, they still have powers.

        1. The Idiot King's heart, soul and mind – if you can it that – belong to Schwab's WEF.

    2. I believe the king can dissolve parliament. It is one of the few prerogatives he has left if I'm correct?

      Actually, just looked it up. It's another right that has been taken away from the monarch. This sort of thing really pisses me off. It is essential that the king have real powers because he represents the people against parliament. But parliament has seized those powers and, at the same time rendered the people impotent to change.

      This is why I always bang on about the monarchy. It is not supposed to be a figurehead it is a check against the unlimited power of parliament. That it why it was restored after Cromwell died. Which was a lesson in how tyrannical parliament could be. And now we suffer another tyranny with no recourse other than outright rebellion, which will not happen. If you take a look at the other constitutional monarchies in Europe, they still have powers.

    3. I believe the king can dissolve parliament. It is one of the few prerogatives he has left if I'm correct?

      Actually, just looked it up. It's another right that has been taken away from the monarch. This sort of thing really pisses me off. It is essential that the king have real powers because he represents the people against parliament. But parliament has seized those powers and, at the same time rendered the people impotent to change.

      This is why I always bang on about the monarchy. It is not supposed to be a figurehead it is a check against the unlimited power of parliament. That it why it was restored after Cromwell died. Which was a lesson in how tyrannical parliament could be. And now we suffer another tyranny with no recourse other than outright rebellion, which will not happen. If you take a look at the other constitutional monarchies in Europe, they still have powers.

    4. I believe the king can dissolve parliament. It is one of the few prerogatives he has left if I'm correct?

      Actually, just looked it up. It's another right that has been taken away from the monarch. This sort of thing really pisses me off. It is essential that the king have real powers because he represents the people against parliament. But parliament has seized those powers and, at the same time rendered the people impotent to change.

      This is why I always bang on about the monarchy. It is not supposed to be a figurehead it is a check against the unlimited power of parliament. That it why it was restored after Cromwell died. Which was a lesson in how tyrannical parliament could be. And now we suffer another tyranny with no recourse other than outright rebellion, which will not happen. If you take a look at the other constitutional monarchies in Europe, they still have powers.

    5. I believe the king can dissolve parliament. It is one of the few prerogatives he has left if I'm correct?

      Actually, just looked it up. It's another right that has been taken away from the monarch. This sort of thing really pisses me off. It is essential that the king have real powers because he represents the people against parliament. But parliament has seized those powers and, at the same time rendered the people impotent to change.

      This is why I always bang on about the monarchy. It is not supposed to be a figurehead it is a check against the unlimited power of parliament. That it why it was restored after Cromwell died. Which was a lesson in how tyrannical parliament could be. And now we suffer another tyranny with no recourse other than outright rebellion, which will not happen. If you take a look at the other constitutional monarchies in Europe, they still have powers.

  49. Morning all. Very gloomy out and very windy. A tree in the garden, fortunately a small one, has fallen down but there is a very large one in the woods behind my house, leaning ominously over the fence. Is this my punishment for mocking the Millipede and his turbines?

    Anyway. Watched this last night from the Lotus Eaters. It is all about The Starmerfuhrer, his background. It suggests there is something very perverse and twisted about his mentality. Goes a long way to explaining why he is such an unpleasant man. He seems to have been attracted to evil all his life. That he was a "human rights" lawyer and what he was actually defending, makes a mockery of the term. I can hardly say to you, enjoy it, but it will give you greater insight into the evil that he is.

    The Evil History of Keir Starmer

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTmdcynhGi0

    1. The very high winds, while causing damage for many homes and trees, has the silver lining that there shouldn't be too much 'traffic' across the English Channel.

  50. 397327+ up ticks.

    Morning KB,

    They will fight against them eventually, but first their family trees must wither and die.

    We are going through the strong hate period at the moment.

      1. But TB MB will the AHs in Wastemonster take any notice of public opinion. They never have before.

      2. Over 440,000 now. But will it have any effect, I'm not sure, I doubt it, they'll just ignore it. The trouble is, are the alternatives any different?

      3. Over 440,000 now. But will it have any effect, I'm not sure, I doubt it, they'll just ignore it. The trouble is, are the alternatives any different?

      4. Over 440,000 now. But will it have any effect, I'm not sure, I doubt it, they'll just ignore it. The trouble is, are the alternatives any different?

      2. When we built the extension to our house over thirty years ago, Chalky and I did the roof. The French system of fixing slates on hooks clipped onto battens is excellent as you don't have to make holes on the slates with nails.

        I certainly would not dream of going back onto the roof today. But here is the roof we built in 1992 which is still firmly in place
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c302690049f724220952f99ae50d6b17f7cf3ca78d0f9aa5c14d5564a21164f3.jpg
        The top clips onto the batten and the slate goes into the bottom bit. It was a great help when putting up the battens that I am right handed and Chalky is left-handed as I could work from the centre to the right and Chalky could work from the centre to the left and so neither of us had to twist around when we came to the end of each batten. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9f8749b724da0d2e5f8077a2fdf9cf622e685cea8aaa0aae029c4404f518654e.png

    4. OOps! Best get someone who does that sort of thing for a living to fix it – too many middle-aged men die falling off their house roof when fixing "a small job".

      1. As I replied to Ready Eddy, I know a roofer and I know his quality of work, he is coming tomorrow.
        I do not do roof work and I only climb ladders if I have no other option, this old fella likes to keep his feet on the ground.

        1. It could be much worse, its just two broken ridge tiles not too difficult to fix from a gable end.

    6. I'm not sure what I'm looking at. Is it the missing chunk at the top or is a tile not there and I can't see it?

      2. The end ridge tile came crashing down, at least it missed the conservatory roof thank goodness.

    7. −

      Avatar
      Dhobi Mick • 20 minutes ago

      Blocking: Is there a process for politely asking someone why they have blocked me? I think that veryveryoldfella has done this to me and, if they have, I am truly puzzled as, to the best my memory, I have never responded to anything that they have posted and I never, ever deliberately set out to offend anyone (ok, maybe once or twice but not veryveryoldfella).

      •
      Reply
      Share

      Don't reply if you don't want to.

    2. I'd far prefer for the right of recall and repeal to be applied to MPs. Once they're in, they do endless damage without our permission or consent. Calling that 'representative' democracy is a farce. It's simply a mockery of the term.

      Once elected they have to realise they are our servants. We set their pay. We set their roles. If they do something we don't like we don't sign a petition to 'ask them' to change, we instruct them. If they ignore us, they're dragged from the Commons in public by plod and thrown in jail.

      When they enact dangerous legislation we simply refuse it. We also have the right to repeal any previous law. Yes, there will have to be limits on this but fundamentally if the state refuses to control itself then we must control it. Paralysis for a few years while it can enact nothing new and only remove bad law is a positive thing.

    1. I enjoyed that. I particularly liked the bit about the Earl and his mistress Katherine Cavendish.

    2. I loved that article .

      Noble well landed families do have some amazing stories and connections ..

      I can remember when I as a young Naval wife in the 1960's , being questioned by imperious old Naval trouts and being put through the wringer at cocktail do's.. they were keen to know whom one knew .. ( Hmmmm)

      The RN in those days were still full of older types with wartime history , who were not part of the new intake of wartime post war babies , and times were changing rapidly .. society then lost the pink gin set!

      1. Racing and hunting are still like that; do you know X? Mostly I do, but nowadays my memory is not what it was.

  58. That's the woodshed (well, more of a bus shelter) restacked, the waste chipboards reduced to stove-size for their last go at being useful, and the printer ink cartridge changed. Now time for a libation, then maybe some Xmas shopping later.

      1. 😉
        Need lacy ladies handkerhiefs for Mother, and some whimsical stuff, too – we already have a metal bee, for example. Hope she makes it to Christmas, has a cough/lung infection and going to hospital for checkup Monday. When you're nearly 95, these things can be serious.
        And stuff for rest of family.

      2. I did just that. My emails showed i made £600 of purchases at 3.30 am one night. I sent the sillier stuff back.

  59. SIR KEIR STARMER: Jobs are about dignity and pride… not just paying the bills.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-14118885/SIR-KEIR-STARMER-Jobs-dignity-pride-not-just-paying-bills.html

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a8e6f917a2ece128c510a4e5392f767aaf89a7e20bfd237845f4419e7dc98eb1.jpg Commuters walking over London bridge to get to work. Just one black chap. He must be intelligent. I wonder where all the others are.

    South London dole queue…

    Oh ! Here they are… https://x.com/benonwine/status/1814871545396760801

    Starmer proving how completely out of touch he is…

    3. Always thought benefits should work on a sliding scale – for the first three months you get everything – rent/mortgage, income support. Just a huge, quick dump of cash to stop you worrying. That lasts for, 2, maybe 3 months.

      Then it's 70% of your costs, then at 6 months it's 30% and finally 10. For those who find work, fantastic, the withdrawal is 10% a month with support and advice on budgeting, or if needed, support for housing costs which again, tapers off gradually after a year.

      We shouldn't encourage people to sit on benefits. We should encourage work. We should also support those people who do find work on a temporary basis. Currently we just remove all welfare which can leave people up the creek.

      1. Yes, but some of the people looking for lower-paid work will be up against migrants who will work for a lot less. There has to be a way or sorting the wheat from the chaff, but I don't have any faith in our current official sorters (look at the amount of immigrants getting leave to stay, and look at the photos of the people who are giving them that leave).

  61. If the same petition is re-introduced every month with a growing level of support would the government be able to ignore it for ever?

    2. One 'man of faith' (not Christian of course) will roll up at Number 10, with a petition signed by 25,346,872 immigrants, supporting Liebore

  62. They will debate it, blame the Tories, reject it, and just carry on.

    That's if they even bother to debate it.

      1. Good luck with that.
        They'll get the usual suspects out counter-protesting, and you can guess who the police will arrest.

    1. But don't they have a large enough majority in the Commons and enough support in the Lords to extend the Parliamentary term to ten years or more if they so desire?

      How long has Putin been president/prime minister/president? He had to change the rules to stay in power in Russia and I am sure that Starmer will do the same in the UK if he can get away with it.

      Remember too that Hitler was elected democratically in 1933 and held onto power until he died in 1945.

      1. If they did that it would require legislation, I would not put it past them to try, doubtless claiming a national emergency.

    2. In just two weeks' time it will be 4 years and 7 months.

      [July 5 to December 5 is five months.]

  64. 'Morning All
    Just back from 4th visit to the walk in centre to get dressing on wounded arm changed new record today 3 people waiting when I arrived just over 2.5 hours to get checked in and seen
    Envy of the world……….
    Sunday Laffs
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/49368ff525ab661def417a2fcab629d3c982e61c292cd38e0fa295ad5918e883.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1fe04eed4ecf589d2b1985633c04c3ed3423b327b291d7c323105b4633e5420a.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b931b6b37051306f5ac860948772c01f98de0808a6a99c7b1c4f9e35aa8f0b90.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8a02bd6eca066bd85089ed503e9945018492bb1cf915fcd69902dbe9c13d3cb5.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dbb9af4b190a5d05aa9b3b637e6ddc16d8685ae5212873f27ed01a6a434fca73.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b53ff6d151734503b4f50c26929f85d1f73be9d6d2ab655c5af382280f7c6eea.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e9eb9c6268ff6038755e4a97cc09d9bc57a8cf7d2457923564332b66c613725f.jpg

      1. Tripped over a computer cable smashed a wooden side table to smithereens left arm took the brunt

        3. Oh dear . that must have been very painful , lacerations ?

          It was this time last year , during a gale , blowing like mad at night, dog found a huge hedgehog in the trimmed down lilac bush , night was dark stormy , he was barking , I leant forward to get him on his lead and I fell over on top of the huge hedgehog ..

          The prickles went straight through my jeans scratched my face etc .

          The next morning I woke up to a very swollen red thigh and knee with hundreds of red indentations .. burning , really burning.. had to go to A+E , given anti whats it jab .. tetanus , and a huge dose of antibiotics.. the quacks could not believe their eyes or my story .. never heard one like that before .. only porcupine injuries .

          A year later , I still have indentations .. the remains of the rash , fading , but a savage reminder that injuries can happen when you least expect them or can afford them .

          We all have to take extra care , hope your arm feels better soon Rik.

  65. Nearly 3 million households with no one working and existing on benefits. Article by Liz Kendall which is a bit rich for one who has never run a business. No figures on the ethnic breakdown. One BTL comment by a retired business owner which is so true:

    There were two categories of people that experience taught me never to recruit:
    The first category was anyone from the job centre – these were the people who were just so beyond hope that they were more trouble than it was ever worth to employ. Anyone with an ounce of gumption or get up and go would find a job themselves, not be sent to you from the job centre.
    The second category of people never to employ was anyone who had worked in the civil service for any period of time. Their work ethic was hopeless added to which they had a petty obsession with rules and watching the clock.
    I don’t think the ideas set out by a Labour politician who never ran a business will make the slightest difference.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/11/23/labours-plan-to-get-britain-working-means-the-end-of-a-life/

  66. Nearly 3 million households with no one working and existing on benefits. Article by Liz Kendall which is a bit rich for one who has never run a business. No figures on the ethnic breakdown. One BTL comment by a retired business owner which is so true:

    There were two categories of people that experience taught me never to recruit:
    The first category was anyone from the job centre – these were the people who were just so beyond hope that they were more trouble than it was ever worth to employ. Anyone with an ounce of gumption or get up and go would find a job themselves, not be sent to you from the job centre.
    The second category of people never to employ was anyone who had worked in the civil service for any period of time. Their work ethic was hopeless added to which they had a petty obsession with rules and watching the clock.
    I don’t think the ideas set out by a Labour politician who never ran a business will make the slightest difference.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/11/23/labours-plan-to-get-britain-working-means-the-end-of-a-life/

  67. Nearly 3 million households with no one working and existing on benefits. Article by Liz Kendall which is a bit rich for one who has never run a business. No figures on the ethnic breakdown. One BTL comment by a retired business owner which is so true:

    There were two categories of people that experience taught me never to recruit:
    The first category was anyone from the job centre – these were the people who were just so beyond hope that they were more trouble than it was ever worth to employ. Anyone with an ounce of gumption or get up and go would find a job themselves, not be sent to you from the job centre.
    The second category of people never to employ was anyone who had worked in the civil service for any period of time. Their work ethic was hopeless added to which they had a petty obsession with rules and watching the clock.
    I don’t think the ideas set out by a Labour politician who never ran a business will make the slightest difference.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/11/23/labours-plan-to-get-britain-working-means-the-end-of-a-life/

        1. I have signed it but all it seems to petition is “call a general election”. When? In 4 years?

          1. Presumably it means now. Not a lot of point in petitioning for someone that is required to take place anyway?

          2. True, but isn’t there a mandatory warning period for a general election? The current wording of the petition leaves a lot of wriggle room for the government.

          4. A bit sooner, hopefully. But it’s obviously struck a chord and at the earliest opportunity we can get rid of these buggers.

      1. Let out the rapists, murderers and embezzlers. Then there'll be space for a few hate criminals.

  69. Dosing on codeine for this ear ache. Got everyone through the washer so could clean it. Went a bit slower as moving up and down is a bit dizzying.

    For once no complaints on taking the dogs out in the rain and wind! Thrown the windows open to get some air in and ventilate the bathroom. Not making that much of a difference to the inside temp, which is quite welcome.

    1. The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham's GM police seem to fall into two categories:
      Tuff UFC beefcake rottweiler baton wielding types.. or Limp wristed Teletubbies.

      Then despatched according to Community types.

    2. The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham's GM police seem to fall into two categories:
      Tuff UFC beefcake rottweiler baton wielding types.. or Limp wristed Teletubbies.

      Then despatched according to Community types.

    1. And this is quite acceptable to Starmer and his government and, of course, all the Islamists in Britain.

      But just imagine if a country with an Established Church whose Head is also the nominal Head of State decided that all mosques in the Unied Kingdom should be destroyed?

      If this isn't TWO-TIERED then what is?

  74. A propos of my post a few minutes ago on Richmond Park, it is in fact completely closed today due to “hazard”. (It may be a bit windy)

      2. That is precisely their “point”.

        Tragically something like that did happen a few years ago. But it is the Outdoors. It is full of trees, deers and cyclists. Tragic accidents do happen.

        But, if it saves just one life etc.

        1. They are closing footpaths and bridleways in part of North Shropshire "in the interests of public safety". What they mean is, they've allowed development to take place over the rights of way and the machinery is a danger to life and limb. There are, however, no alternatives being provided that I can see, so you are going to have to run the gauntlet of heavy lorries and prolific traffic on roads with no pavements. I expect that riders and horses as well as pedestrians will be killed "in the interests of public safety".

        2. There was a tree down on our hill this morning…… one of our neighbours got it sorted with a chainsaw. I did leave my car up there, but it’s stuck in mud.

      3. That is precisely their “point”.

        Tragically something like that did happen a few years ago. But it is the Outdoors. It is full of trees, deers and cyclists. Tragic accidents do happen.

        But, if it saves just one life etc.

  75. Our deadbeat leaders are marching us towards chaos. Why on earth do we trust them on war in Ukraine?

    By PETER HITCHENS
    11:43, 23 November 2024

    Do you have confidence in our leaders on tax, health, policing, farming, immigration, sleaze, housing, education or transport? Every single one a bungle, run by deadbeats where they generally achieve the opposite of what they promise. So why trust them on war in Ukraine?

    Yet here we go again, down the road to chaos. The weaker we get, the louder we shout. How the rest of the world must snigger at our great power posturing in Ukraine last week. They will have laughed especially at how pathetically and quickly we aped the Americans as they went directly into war with Moscow, authorising US Service personnel to guide ATACMS weapons to targets in Russia.

    As soon as Washington announced this dubious plan, London did the same with our Storm Shadow rockets. These cannot be launched without the direct involvement of British military know-how and American guidance systems.

    But as we officially became direct combatants in the Russia-Ukraine war for the first time, our government announced yet more cuts in our pitifully weak Armed Forces. Off to the scrapyard went two assault ships, two tankers, one frigate and a variety of helicopters and drones. The believable excuse for this is that the kit is clapped-out.

    Alas, if all the clapped-out ships, aircraft and tanks in our arsenal were scrapped, there'd be little left. Our submarines mostly cannot move. Our surface ships are little better. The two giant targets called 'aircraft carriers', whose military purpose is impossible to discover, conk out at frequent intervals. If anyone did attack this country, they would find it as ill-prepared as it has been at any time since the days of Ethelred the Unready.

    The much-reviled Neville Chamberlain, during the 1930s, ordered the design and building of the Spitfire fighter, developed radar and significantly strengthened the Royal Navy. That is how we survived in 1940. The politicians who these days sneer at Chamberlain as a dithering weakling have no such record of preparation. Set beside them he is a strong, wise leader.

    Probably the only significant nation whose conventional military is more useless than ours is Russia, with its army of released convicts and ancient howitzers, and its lone aircraft carrier, which appears to be fuelled by cooking oil and is so prone to breakdown that it dare not go to sea without a tug to take it in tow.

    The Russians, in 1,000 days of fighting, have not managed to capture the city of Kharkov, 19 miles from their border. You think this lot are going to march to Berlin and on to Calais? Not really. I mention these things because so much pure tripe is ceaselessly extruded by warmongering pundits.

    Now let us move on to the question of how much we want to turn the European continent into a war zone. For this is the key issue of policy, and our governing, media and thinking classes are busily failing it.

    For 23 years, from 1991 to 2014, Ukraine was a reasonably democratic, partially free and more or less contented country. But in 2008, this sensible arrangement was doomed. That was when the warmonger President George W. Bush – fresh from wrecking the entire Middle East with his Iraq invasion – declared that he wanted Ukraine to join NATO.

    His then ambassador in Moscow, William Burns (now head of the CIA) warned: 'Ukrainian entry into NATO is the brightest of all red lines for the Russian elite (not just Putin). In more than two and a half years of conversations with key Russian players, I have yet to find anyone who views Ukraine in NATO as anything other than a direct challenge to Russian interests.' That is ambassador-speak for 'Don't do this, Mr President!'

    His point was crucial. This wasn't just Putin. It was all the nice, liberal, democratic Russians who we claimed we liked before Putin came to power.

    Put very simply, normal Russians regarded a NATO Ukraine as we would see a Chinese military and naval presence in Dublin, or as the Americans would view – oh, let's think of an equally far-fetched parallel – a Russian nuclear missile base in Cuba. Yet Bush did not give up, and nor did his successors. Finally, in November 2013, Ukraine's democratically elected President, Viktor Yanukovych, refused (despite huge Western pressure) to go any further with plans to link Ukraine with the EU, a first step towards NATO.

    Then, in February 2014, Yanukovych was driven from power by a violent mob, which, among other unlovable things, killed several police officers. The USA and Britain quickly condoned this lawless putsch, and recognised the resulting government – so showing that their supposed commitment to law and democracy is so much lavatory paper.

    These are all facts. You'd strive to learn them from the BBC, but it was this process that brought about war in Ukraine.

    Everything else, horrible as it might be, followed after. I do not defend it. I condemn it, especially the stupid and barbaric Russian invasion of 2022. But you cannot ignore its causes, or the way that Washington repeatedly ignored warnings of what might go wrong.

    I am furious that we, who have no possible interest in this conflict, have been dragged into it.

    Don't be fooled into thinking that lobbing British-owned rockets into Russia will make us safer. The opposite is almost certainly true.

    Our leaders plainly have no genuine concern for our national safety, or they would not have let our actual defences rot and rust as they have. Oh, how we need a proper patriotic opposition.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14117567/PETER-HITCHENS-deadbeat-leaders-marching-chaos-earth-trust-war-Ukraine.html

    We know all this Mr H. It's Westminster that either doesn't know or doesn't want to.

    2. "The Russians, in 1,000 days of fighting, have not managed to capture the city of Kharkov, 19 miles from their border. You think this lot are going to march to Berlin and on to Calais? Not really. I mention these things because so much pure tripe is ceaselessly extruded by warmongering pundits."
      I've made this point endlessly, and nobody listens. Russian army has run out of soldiers – hence the Koreans. Looks like they ran out of panzers a while ago. They are NO THREAT to NATO, so we should leave them alone – they still have nuclear weapons, and I for one am not keen to find out if they work.

      2. Our leaders seem to completely ignore that small fact. Hardly any progress against one non Nato opponent.

    3. ‘The much-reviled Neville Chamberlain, during the 1930s, ordered the design and building of the Spitfire fighter, developed radar and significantly strengthened the Royal Navy.‘
      My grandfather, one of the engineers who worked on the design of the Lancaster bomber, always maintained that Chamberlain was just buying time as Britain was unprepared for war.

      1. That is how I've always understood it. If we had been forced to go to war in 1938 we would have lost.

    4. Westminster is blind to anything Whitehall doesn't tell it. Notice how, immediately on Russia's mobilisation suddenly they were evil and Ukraine glorious heroes?

      No mention of the history of the region? No discussion over why Russia wasn't advancing? Certainly no mention of EU expansionism being the catalyst. Lefties really don't like it when that's raised.

      However, Ukraine is a difficult country riven with corruption, anti democratic government and caught between a two regions with very different perspectives on the direction of political travel.

      Bluntly, it's far too messy a situation simply to boil down to 'goodies' and 'baddies' as the state told the government to sell it. Our interaction should have been to sod off, keep quiet and leave them alone.

  76. I remember a video where one of the fascist Left had his balaclava torn off and a couple of blokes pinned him against a wall. The pathetic wretch was a scrawny kid who started crying. They're pathetic cowards. Lefties always are, egging each other on. When challenged they fall apart. Oh, they're noisy and brattish but like all nasty people they're pathetic when out it's one on one or they're outnumbered.

    2. The perfect present for the ecoloon in your life. A handcrank so they can charge their mobile phone using their own energy.

      Edit. I’m also supposed to be reading my book, not watching YouTube!!!!!

  79. Many of you saw and commented on some twittering about the riots in Montreal on Friday night.Here is the response from Piere Poilievre, Conservative opposition leader (at least one of our leaders speaks sense):

    You act surprised. We are reaping what you sowed.

    This is what happens when a Prime Minister spends 9 years pushing toxic woke identity politics, dividing and subdividing people by race, gender, vaccine status, religion, region, age, wealth, etc.

    On top of driving people apart, you systematically break what used to bring us together, saying Canada is a “post-national state” with “no core identity.”

    You erased our veterans and military, the Famous Five and even Terry Fox from our passport to replace them with meaningless squirrels, snowflakes and a drawing of yourself swimming as a boy.

    You opened the borders to terrorists and lawbreakers and called anyone who questioned it racist.

    You send out your MPs to say one thing in a mosque and the opposite in a synagogue, one thing in a mandir and the opposite in a gurdwara.

    You have made Canada a playground for foreign interference. You allowed Iran’s IRGC terrorists to legally operate here for four years after they murdered 55 of our citizens in a major unprovoked attack.

    You passed laws that release rampant offenders from prison within hours of their 80th arrest.

    And what is the result? Assassinations on Canadian soil, firebombings of synagogues, extremist violence against mandirs and gurdwaras, over 100 churches burned or vandalized (with barely any condemnation from you), all for a total 251% more hate crime.

    And, while you were dancing, Montreal was burning.

    We won’t let you divide us anymore. Call an election now.

    We will fire you and reclaim our citizenship, our values, our lives, our freedom and, most of all, our country.

    2. This is taken from a farcebook post on the page of 'Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers & Businesses of Canada.:

      'Pat King awaits a possible 10-year sentence after being convicted on five counts Friday for participating in Freedom Convoy 2022 backed by cheering Canadians coast to coast. The peaceful trucker convoy protested Trudeau’s unbridled assault on rights and freedoms that many haven’t recovered from.
      Trudeau danced.'
      So Turdeau is still going after truckers.

      He seems to have taken a leaf out of Starmer's book, and accepted very valuable 'gifts' for himself & his family.
      'Those were prime Swift Eras Tour seats at Rogers Centre purchased for Trudeau, his daughter and possibly other family members, his security, and who knows who else may have been in the concert entourage with him.
      Cheap seats with a limited view cost $2,000. The most expensive seats on the floor with a clear view of the stage went for more than $22,500 apiece. This is shameful gouging of Swift cult fans.'

      On Friday evening, our grandchildren were taken to the theatre (somewhere close to the Roger's Centre) to see Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. The parents didn't realise it would clash with the Swift concert. Normally, they would have got there on the subway/street car/bus, but public transit was expected to be very packed, so they went in the car, allowing a lot of extra time because parking was also expected to be difficult – it was chaotic.

    2. The point where those voting for an election as voted for Labour would be the tipping point.

      As it is, voting is pointless while non-contributors and the state dependent can vote. NI needs to be hypothecated, those not contributing NI shouldn't receive a pension and receipt of the pension should be based on either years worked or amount paid in.

      I appreciate there are many Conservative supporters in the state machine so maybe the more rational attitude is to undo the Left wing bias and restore the impartiality element where the service serves, rather than argues.

    1. 640k now, Parliament should be considering a debate over 100k. Interactive map of voting quite interesting.

    2. 640k now, Parliament should be considering a debate over 100k. Interactive map of voting quite interesting.

      2. Myrr, we have been elected to bring change after years of tory mis rule. This demonstration shows that we are on the right track with our program.

        P.S. Just to annoy you we have agreed to rejoin the EU and send 50,000 troops to Germany to join the EU army defending Ukraine.

      3. Myrr, we have been elected to bring change after years of tory mis rule. This demonstration shows that we are on the right track with our program.

        P.S. Just to annoy you we have agreed to rejoin the EU and send 50,000 troops to Germany to join the EU army defending Ukraine.

        1. The accusation is that the Liebour party lied. Although with foresight we should have seen that.

          1. Without even any foresight we always depended on it, more like. A Labour politician couldn't lie straight in bed let alone stand for election honestly.

    2. Charlie Olsen
      Member
      2 min ago
      Featured
      If the petition gets to more than 10% in your constituency you can start a recall petition against your labour MP, based on the same lies as the GE petition.
      If you get more that 10% in the recall, you will force a byelection.
      Might be the only way to get them out, one at a time.
      Keep an eye on the petition map and your local constituency

      1. I thought that they had to commit very specific offences to trigger a recall, merely being a liar isn't one of them.

      3. Hadn't thought of that one.
        Will have another look.
        That's 10% of registered constituency voters, not 10% of the actual vote?

      4. Worth a try. Unfortunately my MP is a LibDem. Because she's always got her picture in the papers people think she's doing a good job.

    1. The legal side of things I don't understand well enough to comment on his jailing. He's a thorn in the side of the state so can't win whatever he does. They'd get him for anything.

      But why does he need to exist at all? Because big fat state set about unevenly enforcing the law. It ignored children raped by pakistani muslim paedophiles – deliberately. When government is partisan the public have to step in. Trouble is, when this man did, the state set about crushing him.

      It all comes back to an utter failure of the state to serve the public will.

      2. 397327+ up ticks,

        Afternoon W,

        A united peoles is the answer as in a peaceful ultimatum delivered to parliaments door, set Mr Robinson
        free or feel the full weight of the peoples non service to the 650 inmates of parliament, window cleaners, butchers, bakers, mechanics, tinkers,tailors, soldiers sailors,all those in point of fact that are not attuned to covering up the mass rape and abuse of children by pakistani miscreants. by those in authority.

    2. I think it’s his birthday around now. Maybe it’s best to have no knowledge of all the stuff that is going on out here. But he’s missing his children growing up, i don’t trust the authorities to protect him and at the end of the day we know what he is saying is correct.

      Edit. Hello, obvs, to the 77th.

    3. I think it’s his birthday around now. Maybe it’s best to have no knowledge of all the stuff that is going on out here. But he’s missing his children growing up, i don’t trust the authorities to protect him and at the end of the day we know what he is saying is correct.

      Edit. Hello, obvs, to the 77th.

          1. And biggest numbers of petitioners too from areas with lame duck MPs. Mine is a Green. Generally it seems he’s a pointlessly insignificant little contributor who only got in because the Tory safe seat holder was booted out by tactical voting. Around here it’s a given that Labour is unelectable. Our Green very likely thinks that Labour is doing a great job of ruining the environment by sticking to the dogma. All he’s done so far is said he’s objecting to the height of the pylons that’ll be running through the constituency, but not that they shouldn’t be required at all.

            It’s a surprising petition to wake up to today, but politicians like turkeys would vote for Christmas? Ah-ha-hahahahs-haaaah!

        2. Aha the Khan effect, James. Also bit low in N.Ireland or so someone posted…perhaps still in pub after church..?😉

        3. Not all that great in Cambridge, either, and only marginally better in that new lib dem hotbed that is s Cambs.

          1. Oh no, I’m sure. I’m very familiar with Cambridge for one reason and another. It’s been firmly “yellow” for decades now. S. Cambs was solidly blue until the Down From Londons began buying it up. Go e yellow too,

          2. S.cambs had a massive blue majority until a few years ago. Then the Referendum, and Cambridge and S. Cambs became Remain territory, in fact Cambridge wanted to declare UDI. Cambridge flirts with Labour from time to time. S.Cambs became Lib Dem for the first time at the GE in July with a small majority of a few thousand. In its Conservative hey-day it had Cons majorities of 30,000 plus or minus a few.

        1. My guess is it’ll be ignored by Starmer as much as poss. Supposed to have a one day debate if surpasses a certain number, we’ll see.

    2. That's surprising seeing as how upset they are about the dumping of economic migrants on their door step.

      1. All the other parts of the UK are happy for England to take them all, though. Perhaps it does them no harm to see what the English have had to, and do, go through.

        Plus, Republic of Ireland is nicely welcoming now, too.

  89. Blocking: Is there a process for politely asking someone why they have blocked me? I think that veryveryoldfella has done this to me and, if they have, I am truly puzzled as, to the best my memory, I have never responded to anything that they have posted and I never, ever deliberately set out to offend anyone (ok, maybe once or twice but not veryveryoldfella).

    1. Not really, as they can't see your posts and you can't see theirs. I don't understand it. It strikes me as the height of petulance, the covering of eyes and ears and squealing 'wah wah I'm not lis-nin! to make the argument go away.

      I've seen this in immature children who don't know any better but would be surprised to see it here.

      1. Blocking isn't necessarily about avoiding argument. If there is someone whose posts annoy one with their repetition of a particular point despite arguments having been made against it, for example, blocking is a way of preserving one's own sang froid.

        1. That's how i do it.

          Another post from you about staying up all night dancing you know what will happen !!!

    3. Someone blocked me to and continues to do so. I have no idea why. Easiest thing to do is take it as a badge of honour. Rather like the snowflakes flouncing out of X because it's no longer their echo chamber.

      1. I only block people who bore me to death. I can cope with a difference of opinion easily enough. Polly has been blocked about 30 times.

      2. Yes, a badge of honour but it does make a long thread with multiple contributors difficult to read when some of the comments are invisible.

    2. Petitions. Pah.

      Our country is being changed forever and our way of life is finished.

      Just emigrate. Just emigrate. Accept it.

    3. 'It is understood the incident is not being treated as terror-related'.

      Yeah yeah. If it ain't deranged muslims it's black gang war over drugs.

      2. Hundreds of police have flooded Westminster and Westminster Bridge is closed in both directions after a man was stabbed with four arrested for attempted murder.

        Presumably they thought it might be a terrorist incident

        1. Nah. After slogging over laptops all week looking for non crimes they all wanted to stretch their legs.

    4. What is it with Westminster Bridge ? I dunno, but they're determined to make 'round 'ere like 'round there and I expect my own lovely little town to become a bit stabby stabby soon too. We have some right dodgy looking 'locals' now.

      I evacuated my boys from London in 2004 and both are fantastically well qualified. One has emigrated as a doctor already and the other is well established as a senior research chemist in an American pharma.

      The fact of it is that there is a brain drain going on that is overshadowed by the gargantuan mass immigration figures. We are exchanging scientists and doctors for goat herders and backward tribesmen. Not that Westminster was (or was not) related to that but that the police have to announce "not a terrorist incident" with every event of this nature.

      Terrorism is at the forefront of all our minds.

      Terrorism from whom, Mr Plod ? Tommy Robinson ?

      And WHY is there The Terrorism (protection of premises) bill whereby village halls will be required to have risk assessments, insurances and bouncers for tombola events where more than 200 people might attend ?

      Mass immigration.

      All going swimmingly, isn't it !

  92. The map is fascinating .. and of course relies on bods having digital access .

    I have been trying to find the actual figures for the July election .. How many voted for each party .. Been searching to no avail.

  93. Beating down with rain, so tropical, amazed there are no fish in the clouds !

    17c .. so mild , what a contrast to 2 days ago. Water everywhere .

    1. It's wet enough that the dogs are being hair dried. Cool air, mind, Hot air would irritate their skin.

  94. Assisted dying.

    I want it. With caveats. Death can be a gruelling and terrifying experience and we would be prosecuted (rightly) if we insisted that our dogs went through it.

    1. You can have all the caveats you like, they will disappear with mission creep. If you doubt me, look at what happened with abortion. This will be no different. The PTB want to get rid of those they distrust and this will give them the perfect excuse.

  95. I go with muslim terrorist, the Warqueen gets 'some black druggie'.

    She's won so far but then she did live and work in London for 15 years.

    1. Funny they had no taser. A white, middle-aged person praying would very quickly have been "stunned".

    2. Laugh! I nearly split my sides. Thanks for that!

      On a slightly different note. When did the “boys in blue” become the ******* (fill your own word in) in black?

  97. Now it’s NATOSOROSO!

    NATO chief Mark Rutte, who is a Soros devotee, has appointed another Soros devotee, Radmila Sekerinska, as the next deputy chief of NATOSOROSO!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/699344996bba44fe5dc0b870a9538d5ab86a34fed84c492a6e88a23d5fbac2e8.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/730e75fcf6c387ead2ab13bd6fa5e6c9a5f9ebfd87efc99e9f44e0aec25cfcca.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9de02e6db7ff84cf629ceb5ffbf574de6fb925b3f3d592fb43899a1ad51defaa.jpg

    1. Rutte is loathed in Holland. Not even Dutch ewes would want to rutte with him!

      The fact that he is in charge of NATO makes me fear that NATO has already gone the way of UNO and the ICC and is no longer fit for purpose.

      1. Same as the British ”government” which really has been Soros since at least 1997 and probably 1990 except for 44 days with Truss!

      2. NATO ceased to have a reason to be in 1990 when the wall came down and the Warsaw Pact no longer existed. European Politicians have been trying to justify its existence ever since.

      3. Precisely. The ICC has imploded following its ludicrous arrest warrants against Putin last year and Netanyahu this year, when neither countries are signatories to the Rome Statute and therefore beyond its jurisdiction. The imminent withdrawal of US funding under Trump will kill it stone dead.

        NATO is going the same way as the ICC thanks to its over reliance on US funding and its stupid idea of admitting Ukraine into its already beleagured ranks. Despite the constant bluff about the weakness of the Russians militarily and the nonsense about Korean soldiers in Russia with whom Korea has a land border and trade links, NATO is militarily weak relying on “penny packets” of US soldiers scattered around the EU countries and old tanks and equipment.

        It is obvious that Russia has assembled a formidable trained army and since the fall of the Soviet Union has developed strong manufacturing industries and the ability to switch to war production as necessary. Russia has also developed guidance systems for an array of advanced high precision hypersonic missiles which can be deployed at safe distances from any enemy.

        Russia does not need to launch nuclear warheads because its new missiles can destroy targets with pinpoint accuracy whereas the nuclear option simply destroys everything. Nobody but a fool would deploy nuclear missiles but regrettably we have a few of those infesting our present government.

        Russia has some of the most advanced military aircraft and integrated air and missile defence capabilities. People such as Hitchins spouting the same lies as the British, European and US agencies are merely imputing their combined weakness onto a strong Russia.

        The attempts by the US, Britain, France and NATO to prolong the war in Ukraine with missile strikes into Russia territory is madness. We should expect Russia to now launch a swift attack on Kiev using its troops followed by the taking of Odessa.

        When this happens we must demand a reckoning and remove Starmer and his cronies from power. There will be a rebellion in the UK, France and Europe. No one voted for much of what is being implemented by the globalists. They were voted out all over Europe and in America but refuse to budge.

  98. This petition thingy. Cur Ikea and the Pencil Monitor will say it is only far-right, swivel-eyed, drooling Brexiteers who voted – so will ignore it completely.

    1. They are quite thin-skinned for all that. If there were enough signatures it might give them the metaphorical willies.

      2. All this Labour candidates who didn't expect to be elected this time (and …. my dear …. for COUNTRY constituencies … bleugh ….) and have adjusted to pay and perks for sinecures, will be bricking it.
        Not this time, maybe, but, the slow drip, drip on even the hardest rock causes erosion.

    1. I have a hard job controlling the former stoker in me when I see that little soy twerp Soros.

        1. They were most likely brought up to believe if you got permission to flounce out the door in a huff, then you'd won the argument.

      2. Yes, but only as long as it takes for them to work out that no one's down to their level of nastiness on it. At which point they'll be back to X. After all, Elon wont be listening to their tantrums on Blue sky will he.

      1. They were Gypsey and Traveler children heading to the Christmas markets. Obviously to rob them blind.

          2. Oh yes. Just small businesses trying to struggle by. And surely this is the persecution of an effnik minority? It's a 'uman roits ishoo.

      2. We have had those in parts of London and the large northern cities for a long time now.

    1. For goodness sake.. when in Rome and all that.

      Sean Dilley should learn the rules & customs when moving to a foreign land.
      Sean lives in London

      1. As the person who refused entry/service was breaking the law i wonder how many prosecutions there have been. Very few if any i expect.

      2. Our "guests" have never heard the expression "when in Rome". How about "when in Medina" – and look what happened there…

  103. Three quarters of a million 750,050 signatures and it is open until 20 May 2025. Could be interesting.

  104. COP29

    Here's a summary of the outcome with views from a variety o delegates about how they felt about the outcone:

    https://www.edie.net/cop29-closes-with-carbon-market-agreement-and-abysmally-poor-climate-finance-goal/

    Basically, 'rich' countries are taking the blame for carbon emissions as being the cause for anthropogenic global warming which has now been assessed as having already exceeded the Paris Areement target level of 1:5 degC. A substantial proportion of COP29 delegates were from 'rich' petrostates so 'poorer' states have asked for a promise of $300 bn per annum in climate compensation.

    Ed is trying his best to get the UK to join the 'poor' state communiy by leading the way to a renewable energy policy.
    Shaving down UK efforts to get free from fossil dependency may now have to be sought in Brazil.

    1. It “calls” for an ambition to mobilise $1.3trn annually by 2035 for climate action. LOL.

      I know one sucker up for that.. his name is Ed.

    2. We can be poorer in real terms than many other countries – that won't mean that we won't continually be asked for more, because "once upon a time" we weren't poor…

      1. Oooh, copyright issue. The BBC holds all UK rights in Citizen Kane. It would be nice if the schedulers could find a slot for it once it n a while.

          4. It amazes me how many lovely people there are around, Phizz. And how many post here on NTTL.

          5. I must say i was gratified that so many made the long slog (Anne Allen and others) to come to an afternoon party at my gaff.

            I'm thinking of making it an annual garden party in competition with the Palace.

            Main reason i ended up with more booze than i started with. :@)

            Take that Kingy !

          6. Have a word with South West Railway.
            I nearly had a seizure when they cancelled my train and sent me hairing off to another platform.

          8. I think June.

            If you can't make it or too much trouble we will set up a Zoom so you can say hello to everyone and gawp at my wonderful buns. :@)

            That's gluten free choux buns filled with a homemade chicken jalfrezi.

          10. Thank you. I just wish some of the quality stuff got an airing. It’s not as if it costs anything. The only thing they can’t do is put it on iPlayer, because online didn’t exist when the rights were acquired.

      1. 397327+ up ticks,

        Afternoon Pip,

        WHAT ! you cannot tazer foreigners,unless you want to be hung,drawn & quartered, then jailed for life.

    4. Reminds me, what I admired about the late Mr Christopher Kaba (an aspiring community worker) was the way that he selflessly placed his head directly in line with the bullet.

    5. Reminds me, what I admired about the late Mr Christopher Kaba (an aspiring community worker) was the way that he selflessly placed his head directly in line with the bullet.

  111. I have two on my Lady Emma Hamilton that have survived right through the cold snap when it got to freezing here for a couple of days. They're ok today, since the temperature is 16⁰C.

        1. Indeed. They really are terrible. Did you know, saying things like “Plod is scum” means you are on a pathway to becoming a FRT (“far-right thug) and therefore you MUST be jailed (pace Mr Peter Lynch).

          Of course, is you call Tories “scum” (as did the fragrant Crayons, who is now a Minister in HM Govt), nothing happens (except you get made a Minister in HM Govt).

          Edit. Hello to you, 77th.

        2. Indeed. They really are terrible. Did you know, saying things like “Plod is scum” means you are on a pathway to becoming a FRT (“far-right thug) and therefore you MUST be jailed (pace Mr Peter Lynch).

          Of course, is you call Tories “scum” (as did the fragrant Crayons, who is now a Minister in HM Govt), nothing happens (except you get made a Minister in HM Govt).

          Edit. Hello to you, 77th.

  113. Well, about an hour and a half ago I looked out my little 'office' window and noticed that something seemed to have blown into our back garden and landed on the grass. Took my small binoculars off the window board and saw it was a small hedgehog. I grabbed some left over dried dog food wet it down and put some in front of its tiny nose.
    It jumped at it. During the time I'd left to eat lunch, i grabbed a hedgehog hibernation box ot used often. I'd made a few years ago and hastily refurbished it and stuffed the rear compartment with dry barley straw. Place it in a sheltered spot put on some gardening gloves and introduce the little creature to its new home. With more food inside. Hopefully it'll make it through the winter months with frequent checks and my help.

    3. With you there, Eddy. Husband just made a hedgehog house for young relative, I fear disappointment ahead as no 'hogs seen yet. Ndovu knows a lot on this subject – see Hedgehog Preservation Trust.

        1. Not any more. Down from a Bentley/SLK/Chevy to a Fiat 500. Bills to pay on a fixed income dontcha know.

  115. Afternoon all. The election petition is growing at an amazing speed. It just raced to 825k but will have gone way past that in the time it took me to type this!

    1. Hi Sue ,
      Yes the figures are flying .

      I am having difficulty finding out the proper results for the July election .. How many votes Labour got compared to the others ?

      1. For those unable to apply any intelligent thinking:

        Party name Votes
        Labour 9708716
        Conservative 6828925
        Liberal Democrat 3519143
        Scottish National Party 724758
        Sinn Féin 210891
        Reform UK 4117610
        Democratic Unionist Party 172058
        Green Party 1843124
        Plaid Cymru 194811
        Social Democratic & Labour Party 86861
        Alliance 117191
        Ulster Unionist Party 94779
        Traditional Unionist Voice 48685
        Workers Party of Britain 210252
        Scottish Green Party 92685
        Social Democratic Party 33811
        The Yorkshire Party 17236
        Independent Network 13663
        Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition 12901
        Alba Party 11784
        Rejoin EU 9288
        Green Party Northern Ireland 8692
        People Before Profit Alliance 8438
        Aontú 7466
        Newham Independents Party 7180
        Heritage Party 6597
        UK Independence Party 6530
        Liberal 6375
        Ashfield Independents 6276
        Official Monster Raving Loony Party 5814
        Christian Peoples Alliance Party 5604
        Scottish Family Party 5425
        English Democrats 5182
        Party of Women 5077
        Lincolnshire Independents 4277
        One Leicester 4008
        Socialist Labour Party 3609
        Liverpool Community Independents 3294
        Swale Independents 3238
        Hampshire Independents 2872
        Communist Party of Britain 2622
        Democracy for Chorley 2424
        Independent Oxford Alliance 2381
        Climate Party 1967
        South Devon Alliance 1924
        British Democratic Party 1860
        Alliance for Democracy and Freedom 1769
        True & Fair Party 1695
        The North East Party 1581
        English Constitution Party 1563
        Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party 1521
        Animal Welfare Party 1486
        Consensus 1289
        Women's Equality Party 1275
        Workers Revolutionary Party 1190
        Kingston Independent Residents Group 1177
        Propel 1041
        Scottish Socialist Party 1007
        Independent Alliance (Kent) 926
        Freedom Alliance 895
        Christian Party, Proclaiming Christ's Lordship 806
        Confelicity 750
        Portsmouth Independent Party 733
        Independence for Scotland Party 678
        Shared Ground 664
        Cross-Community Labour Alternative 624
        British Unionist Party B.U.P. 614
        Transform Party 595
        Putting Crewe First, Independent Residents Group 588
        Scottish Libertarian Party 536
        The Peace Party 531
        Taking The Initiative Party 503
        Blue Revolution 397
        Alliance for Green Socialism 378
        Chesterfield And North Derbyshire Independents (CANDI) 363
        The Mitre TW9 349
        Count Binface Party 308
        Sovereignty 304
        Social Justice party 285
        Volt United Kingdom 267
        Rebooting Democracy 265
        The Yoruba Party in the UK 261
        National Health Action Party 247
        Fairer Voting Party 240
        Socialist Equality Party 239
        Communist League Election Campaign 230
        Common Good Party 215
        The Socialist Party of Great Britain 193
        Stockport Fights Austerity No To Cuts 193
        New Open Non-Political Organised Leadership 186
        Save Us Now 170
        UK Voice 150
        Communist Future 131
        Libertarian Party 113
        Psychedelic Movement 99
        The Common People 91
        Independents for Direct Democracy 45

        2. You need to proof-read that before resubmitting. The numbers are just a load of random figures that make no sense whatsoever.

          1. Well you could read the first line across and work it out. I'll make it simpler for you if it's just a little too difficult for those less able.

          2. Or you could format it so the rest of us could use our time in understanding the numbers and their implications, and not trying to work out which freaking column they are in.
            Example:
            Party Constituencies contested Votes Vote share Constituencies won
            Labour 631 9,708,71633.7% 411
            So, Labour contested 631 constituencies, with 9,708,71633.7% of votes, with a share of 411, and blank constituencies won? I don't think so.

          3. Indeed Paul, which I have done. But when someone says "just a load of random figures that make no sense whatsoever", I get fed up with that lazy arrogance.

          6. It happens to me all the time, all my life, Grizzly. Allowed to sit in Maths lessons if I kept quiet…..thank goodness for calculators, and now online help.

        4. Hesitate to ask, MiB, and possibly no answer available as we don't really know the UK total population number, but take a rough guess at what you think the % of UK population this covers? (just trying to get some sort of figure for those who haven't voted, possibly the great unregistered). Hope this makes some sort of sense, ignore if not…Kate x

  118. Good Afternoon.
    Much warmer and had a lovely, if somewhat blowy, walk with Spartie.
    Now watching the numbers click up for the petition for a general election. Won't achieve anything, but it will make the bu88ers squirm.
    Keep up the pressure. The newbies, who didn't expect to get elected will be getting very antsy.
    As things die down (this one runs till May so a drop off in signatures is inevitable over a 6 month period), a new petition with the same sentiments but slightly different wording should be launched.

          1. In Shropshire. Only a couple and they are looking somewhat bedraggled because of the rain, but still.

    2. It is definitely warmer (positively tropical in chateau Conway because the Rayburn is going full blast and turning it down doesn't seem to have had any immediate effect), but we have rain of Biblical proportions. The roads were flooded on the way to church. I only hope my next car will be as good in the wet as the Aygo. As I'm both reading and serving next Sunday I could have problems if the car fails to get me there.

  119. It is with great sadness that I have to mention the loss of a few local businesses as a result of Rachel Reeves' recent budget announcement. A local bra manufacturer has gone bust, a submarine company has gone under, a manufacturer of food blenders has gone into liquidation, a dog kennel has had to call in the retrievers and a company supplying paper for origami enthusiasts has folded. Local strip club has gone t*ts up,Interflora is pruning its business and Dyno-rod has gone down the drain. The saddest one though is the ice cream van man found dead covered in nuts and raspberry sauce. He couldn’t take it any more and topped himself

  123. Uk Govt and Parliament – petition for a general election. Easy to sign. Has reached over 900K now and the figures increase every few seconds in front of your eyes when you access site. It's incredible. Never seen anything like this.

    1. Have you checked the Show on a Map just beneath number, jellybee…will show you how the voting's going in your area…

      2. It is fascinating.
        Just over 1500 in Colchester when I last looked. A bit over 1.0% of the electorate.

        1. 2,006 in Surrey Heath. Just over 2.0%. In one day. I think it's fair to say that most people don't spend their lives surgically attached to their laptops, unlike posters here, and are thus blissfully unaware thus far of this development. Once BBC1 reports this on the Six o' Clock News, the ovine masses may join in. Eventually…

        2. 2,006 in Surrey Heath. Just over 2.0%. In one day. I think it's fair to say that most people don't spend their lives surgically attached to their laptops, unlike posters here, and are thus blissfully unaware thus far of this development. Once BBC1 reports this on the Six o' Clock News, the ovine masses may join in. Eventually…

        1. Optics matter greatly too. We saw that in the US where Trump overwhelmed the MSM with his own Truth Social and many independent podcasters.

          There is also the factor known as contagion. People might stay away or stand back from the actions of a few but are emboldened when they realise there is safety in numbers and join in the protest. This I suggest is the phenomenon we are witnessing with the Election petition.

      2. With Trump working on a cessation of operations/peace deal and the UK having launched Storm Shadow missiles, Starmer is looking a bit of a prat, let alone someone's cat's paw.

  124. I have never seen an online petition to gain pace so quickly.
    The UK government & Parliament
    petition for a general election shall be a million signatures within an hour .
    An indication of how much this venal goverment is hated .
    I doubt very much if it'll change anything but it'll be a huge embarrassment for Labour ( especially the new skittish Labour MPs ) . How embarrassing if the whole country signs it. It's a way of sticking the fingers up to Starmer and warning him that his P45 ie on it's way.

    1. Doesn't count though. Londonistan still behind the government and as everybody knows the rest of the country doesn't matter.

      1. Actual percentage votes in each area quite low, James – think the highest I saw was 2.36%, do you know when voting stops please? if it's going to run for a day or so would possibly increase numbers?

          1. Thanks Sue. Possibly run out of steam before then, but I think they still have to have a one day debate in Parliament – easy to filibuster their way through that.

          2. I doubt it’ll be in Parliament but in Westminster Hall. Isn’t that where they used to try traitors?

        3. Hi Kate. The petition has been running for little more than a day. Most signatories are (a) interested in poliics, and (b) on social media.

          The petition has six months to run. News of the "viral" petition is only just leaking out to the mainstream media. If it kept attracting signatories at the current rate, they would exceed Labour's entire vote by early December.

          Is it likely, in isolation, to change anything? Probably not. But it adds to the pressure on our autistic, tin-eared Premier.

          1. Hello, Geoff 🥰…hope the publicity keeps up, will encourage the voting. Younger family never vote, but they have this time. Can we sign more than once, bet some programmers already on that 😄 It’s not the only subject on which he’s going to come under pressure, watch that space (the one between his ears)…

  125. Tend to agree, Audrey – even if they have a debate in the House it'll either be a) useless opposition or b) good opposition, but ignored anyway.

  127. I don't know when it ends Kate. I did my bit and signed for the sheer fun of it. Lots we probably all agree with in some these petitions, but they are mostly window dressing. It's just another way politicians with tin ears can claim that democracy works in Britain.

    1. Agree, James – excitement die down. I've signed a few petitions previously, not much change far as I could tell…only one vote counts and we're a way off that. Plenty time for Starmer & Co to do their worst, and when they lose next election just move into one cosy job or another..WHO or similar…

  128. SNP defends legal rights of ‘pregnant men’

    The Sunday Telegraph 24 Nov 2024 By Simon Johnson, SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR

    LEGAL protections for those who are pregnant can apply to men, SNP ministers have told Britain’s highest court before a landmark case next week over the definition of “woman”.

    Scottish Government lawyers said references to a woman who is pregnant in the Equality Act 2010 are capable of applying to a “pregnant man” who had been born female. If this was not so, their lawyers argued that “the man would potentially be entitled to bring a claim of direct discrimination on grounds of gender reassignment”.

    In a 40-page legal submission to the Supreme Court, they also said it was unlawful for women-only clubs and associations to exclude biological males with gender recognition certificates (GRCs). For example, its legal submission stated it would be unlawful for a lesbian association to bar biological males with GRCs who were sexually attracted to women.

    The Scottish Government published its legal arguments in the case, which has been brought by For Women Scotland (FWS), the feminist group that led the successful charge against Nicola Sturgeon’s self-ID gender reforms. Five judges, led by Lord Reed, will hear two days of arguments next Tuesday and Wednesday over whether guidance issued by the Scottish Government about the meaning of the word “woman” in the Equality Act is lawful.

    The guidance states a trans person with a full GRC that confers upon them the acquired gender of female is a woman. However, FWS has argued it is unlawful because the definition of woman in the Equality Act is tied to biological sex.

    The case threatens to undermine efforts by John Swinney to move away from the controversial gender policies pursued by his two predecessors as first minister, Ms Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf.

    Feminists warned that the case had the “potential to be just as excruciating for him as images of Isla Bryson” were for Ms Sturgeon. Bryson was jailed in February 2023 after being convicted of raping two women, crimes which were committed while living as a man, Adam Graham. The predator was initially sent to a women’s prison, prompting a public uproar that saw the rapist move to the male prison estate.

    The furore caused huge damage to Nicola Sturgeon and her controversial plans to allow people to self-identify their gender, shortly before her resignation as first minister.

    Ms Sturgeon’s self-ID legislation was later vetoed by the UK Government over concerns it undermined women’s rights, including the protection of safe spaces such as changing rooms.

    More clear and irrefutable evidence that the human species is no longer fit for purpose. It is now a spent force and is physically and mentally decaying by the second.

    The time is ripe for its removal from the ecosystem. All other living things — plant, animal and fungi — will rejoice.

    1. That's great – so person of sex A who identifies as sex B can claim all the benefits attributable to sex A AND to sex B, because not to give them the same benefits as the others of the sex they are claiming in respect of would either be a) sex discrimination or else b) discrimination on grounds of gender reassignment.

      Heads they win, tails they don't lose. What a circus!

    2. That's great – so person of sex A who identifies as sex B can claim all the benefits attributable to sex A AND to sex B, because not to give them the same benefits as the others of the sex they are claiming in respect of would either be a) sex discrimination or else b) discrimination on grounds of gender reassignment.

      Heads they win, tails they don't lose. What a circus!

  129. 307327+ up ticks,

    If they are allowed to pass this bill ,then you know in all seriousness they are coming for you and your family,

    There of course will be a charge say £100 a pop off, cheaper by the dozen.

    Dt,

    Justice Secretary says assisted dying law risks the state offering ‘death as a service’
    Shabana Mahmood tells constituents she is ‘profoundly concerned’ about Friday’s Commons vote

    1. Listening to a very interesting podcast on the topic right now:

      https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/heretics-andrew-gold/id1515932214?i=1000677954906

      Andrew Gold’s “Heretics” programme (also available on YouTube i believe, but i prefer to listen).

      “Dr. Cajetan Skowronski explains why he is set against the assisted dying law being introduced into the UK. It seems like a good idea on the face of it, but actually can cause a lot of problems.”

    2. 397327+ up ticks.

      O2O,
      To allow this bill to pass opens the door to
      selection MK 2, we are going / gone through the experimental stage, Ha, here comes Dr Joseph.

  131. Just wandered round the garden. Lotsa leaves; some debris but not as much as expected. 16ºC. Clouding over. Soon be dark…..

      1. We’re counting on it Conway. At least we know that they are acting truly to our very low expectations.

  134. S.S. Melville E. Stone.

    Complement:
    88 (15 dead and 73 survivors).
    10,538 tons of copper, coffee, balsa, antimony, vanadium and 294 bags of mail.

    At 06.14 hours on 24th November 1943 the unescorted Melville E. Stone (Master Lawrence J. Gallagher) was hit by two torpedoes from U-516 (Hans-Rutger Tillessen) about 100 miles northwest of Cristobal. The ship was less than seven hours at sea when the torpedoes were spotted by a lookout. The first torpedo struck on the port side in the settling tank and the second hit ten seconds later near #4 hold. The explosions opened large holes in the side and extensively damaged the main and auxiliary engines. As the ship settled rapidly on an even keel, the ten officers, 32 crewmen, 23 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, one 3in and eight 20mm guns) and 23 passengers (military personnel) abandoned ship immediately in rough seas. Two of the lifeboats capsized from the suction created by the ship, which sank within eight minutes and several men drowned, including the master. Three boats got away and later picked up men from rafts and debris. The survivors were later spotted by an aircraft, which dropped flares so that the American submarine chasers USS SC-1023 and USS SC-662 could pick them up. Five officers, seven crewmen, two armed guards and one passenger were lost.

    Type IXC U-Boat U-516 surrendered at Loch Eriboll, Scotland on 14th May 1945.
    Later transferred to Lisahally.
    Operation Deadlight:
    Scuttled on 2nd January 1946.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eafa32084095397cc8ac9b266399261bf7b8e59277d675792d3ca1edd5dafb44.jpg

  135. The future is here, Grizz – wasn't there a film with pregnant Arnie Schwarzeneger…how we laughed. SNP might not be amused if the trail to the missing £600k exposed. Anyhow, I think a few individuals worth saving?

  137. Afternoon all, on the Feast of Christ the King. I hope you've all started making your Christmas puddings because it's "Stir Up" Sunday!

    "Security and clarity" to the terminally ill? What planet is the letter writer on? Most of the legislation that's been passed over the last fifty years has been ill thought out and had unintended consequences. This will be no different.

  139. I don't want to be thought of as someone who puts a dampener on things…BUT 99% have NOT added their names…

    1. Some may not be on the Internet, though. It was advertised on a local social media (non-FB) here, so that could give it a wider audience.

    2. Not yet but the petition is not going unnoticed by influential politicians in the US. If we do nothing then half or more of the country will suffer depression and the rest will pack up and move out.

  140. The French moved the capital away from Paris to Bordeaux during WW1 and then in WW2 the capital moved briefly to Tours before the Vichy Régime.

    Let's move England's capital to a city where the majority of the people are ethnic white British.

    5. Hardly an “overwhelming mandate” more that a lot of people couldn’t bring themselves to vote TINO and even more CBA to vote at all!!

  143. That’s a very sweeping statement, grizzly.

    It strikes me that those who advocate the culling of the human race should perhaps set the example?

    1. I’m sorry, vw, but your anticipated response is what I tend to expect.
      Where did I mention ‘culling’? The human species (we are not a ‘race’) will self-implode. Watching (and reading) daily, how our species is becoming more idiotic by the second, shows there is no way out for it. Just look at the execrable standard of all the world’s politicians. Add to that the unchained ambitions of those who are really in charge: the global corporations; Big Pharma; the WEF; the UN; and China.
      How on earth do we get back to what we used to be with an unfettered exploding population of, mostly, imbeciles?

      1. ‘The time is ripe for its removal from the ecosystem. All other living things — plant, animal and fungi — will rejoice’.

        I know you didn’t actually post ‘culling’ but that was the gist, wasn’t it?

        1. I was simply musing that the time for humans, as part of the earth’s biosphere, is possibly now up.

          How much further can a species that has reached this level of crass stupidity survive for?

    1. More unemployment for low skilled agricultural workers.
      Interesting that it appears to use CO², I thought that that was bad for the planet.

      1. Think i’m going to watch as it (hope) goes over the 1 million mark. Back (hopefully) shortly!

        ¥*^%% missed it!! Over 1 million.

      2. Think i’m going to watch as it (hope) goes over the 1 million mark. Back (hopefully) shortly!

        ¥*^%% missed it!! Over 1 million.

      2. The public petition requesting another General Election as Labour have not kept promises made in their manifesto. Now nearly two million. Google Uk Govt and Parliemant – petition for a general election. Easy to sign online.

  149. Mystery drones have been discovered following a British aircraft carrier at sea and hovering over air force bases in England.

    An unidentified 1.5 by 1.5 metre drone was spotted tailing HMS Queen Elizabeth into the harbour of Hamburg, Germany, on Friday, according to German newspaper Bild.

    According to the newspaper, the Bundeswehr positioned guards around the port and attempted to target the drone with HP-47 jammers before the unmanned aircraft flew away.

    The US Air Force (USAF) has also declared that it spotted “small unmanned aerial systems” over RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall, in Suffolk, and RAF Feltwell in Norfolk last week.

    USAF, which uses the bases, said the size and number of drones overhead had fluctuated. The British Ministry of Defence said it would not comment on security procedures.

    While it is unclear whether the drones have hostile intent, the incidents come during a week that saw the most significant escalation of hostilities in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion nearly three years ago.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/11/24/russia-ukraine-zelensky-putin-war-latest-news58/

    Why don't the defence wallahs know who is responsible ?

    1. They are the Five Eyes other wise known as the Five Blind Mice. They are hapless and live in an enormous bubble in Cheltenham oblivious to events in the real world.

    2. May I fiddle please,T_B

      Mystery drones have been discovered following the RN's only seaworthy aircraft carrier!!

      1. From Vladimir Putin's point of view, sinking HMS Queen Elizabeth would be a perfect reprimand for enabling Ukraine to use long range missiles against Russia.

    3. They do know. It's them.

      Doesn't anyone believe these drones are in any way not alien yet !!!

      There has been so much news about them. Though the photo's are always a bit blurred.

  154. looking at the map of petition signatures it’s very heavy in the West Country, Midlands and the North. Perhaps this voting pattern shows the working class really do feel abandoned by Labour. It would be good to think so.

  155. Taliban divided over ‘isolated’ leader’s crackdown on women
    Exclusive: Draconian rules for Afghanistan’s female population cause rifts as guerrilla group adjusts to power
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/11/23/taliban-divided-over-isolated-leaders-crackdown-on-women/

    BTL

    Who knows – when Muslims are in the majority in the UK maybe this will be the sort of Islamic regime to take control.

    I hope our anti-Semitic feminists and the Gays for Palestine have envisaged this possibility.

    1. I have tried to warn two older granddaughters when they questioned why I sent them an article on this subject.

  158. Thanks, Phiz…not seen a ‘hog locally for couple of decades, that was one snuffling round in dead leaves. When I was running, came across one in the middle of the road, luckily had a spare shirt with me to wrap it in and move it.

  159. Knowlton Church:

    This Norman church, which was built in the 12th century, is situated at the centre of a Neolithic ritual henge earthwork. The unusual pairing of the henge and the church symbolises the transition from pagan to Christian worship.

    The 12th century church is built of stone and flint, and the line of the roof remains clearly visible on its eastern face.

    The main earthwork at Knowlton is of a type known as a henge. There are nearly one hundred henges in Britain and Ireland, dating from about 3000 to 2000 BC. Although they are generally believed to have been ceremonial sites, it is likely that they fulfilled many functions, and may have changed their role through time.

    Church Henge, as it is now known, has been protected from plough damage; the earthworks in the surrounding landscape have been less fortunate, but are still clearly visible in aerial photographs.

    There are three other main earthworks nearby: the Northern Circle and ‘Old Churchyard’ (both to the right of Church Henge in the photograph); and the Southern Circle, which encloses Knowlton Farm and is surrounded by a ditch 790 feet in diameter.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a20cf7f2f3878e0eb1bff6ed5454a75ae99eeeceb1892fc71d87b93afaf467f8.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a93391a9feec3e182fe71e9a2d1c448fe7805acea6f7d405fe75bc40d57a047f.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6d98e9b1c8c58f50357dacb1772c5a2e4e082e9eea46887496c12dcb4e69fc94.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/038667af87f957d1b26a04b55b73f7009393761734e8cd93d6bdc0682b1621a0.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3ba0790d2cdd8fc9bbfbc0e0d2876c03f5f04cb07027db2811ba5398b6acd5e5.jpg

    I hope Pat and Steve made it.

    3. GQ a wonderful old church, thank you. Btw I was known to you as Terpsichore – the muse . She who dances on Olympia .

        1. I'm not online much thesedays, I just turn up from time to time doing my muse duties and making tea . Nice to see you GQ, I do remember you don't like mushrooms and eat them very carefully 🙂

  160. The petition is already well over a million signatures, I'm sure it'll humiliate Starmer and his venal goverment, how awkward it'll be for the new skittish Labour MPs knowing how much the voters hate them. It's time to bring an end to this government or at least throw stones at them every day and remind them they'll get their P45.

    1. If you follow informed sources of information it is now obvious that Ukraine is the project which will ensure the fall of the EU, WEF, WHO, ICC, NATO and the governments of the U.K., France, Germany and probably the Baltic States for good measure.

      The war in Ukraine and sanctions on Russia have caused the deindustrialisation of Germany which is growing space. The former power house of Europe is now reduced to impending impoverishment owing principally to its loss of cheap Russian gas. I do not believe that the present German government can survive for much longer.

      Taking France we see a deeply unpopular Macron clinging by his finger nails to power despite his recent rejection in the French elections. The French will not stand by for much longer. His lunatic ideas about sending military materiel and putting boots on the ground in Ukraine is unpopular and likely to bring about his downfall.

      As for the UK and Starmer’s globalist ambitions much the same applies as with the German economy. Starmer is hastening our demise but at an even faster rate than the wretched Germans. This is about sustainable and cheap gas and electricity to rebuild our fragile economy, reindustrialise and stop the insane Climate Change scam. There are many other issues which need to be addressed including the 10+ million illegals in our country queuing at the Dole offices when not reclining at leisure in our best hotels all at our expense.

        1. 'Countryfile' went to town on this a couple of years ago. It featured a black woman from Canada who was studying for a Ph.D. She said: "I came here to honour the ancestors, to honour the black history that's right here in the English countryside. Black people have been here. People of colour have been here. We belong here."

      2. BBC history? What about actual history? One African mercenary in the Legion does not a "community" make.

      1. Absolutely. They definitely need sectioning and should never be allowed to work with either children (boys and girls) or women.
        As I get older, I dread the thought of having to go into hospital and finding a man on a women’s ward.
        Years ago, when my dear old Mum was in hospital (in a women’s bay), the bathrooms were shared by everyone. The men patients were so disgusting in their use of the facilities, that I threw out Mum’s slippers as soon as she was discharged, and bought her a new pair.

        1. The first word is critical to achieving an Eagle. I switch my first words around in the hope that I will be lucky. Wordle can be frustrating and I often am frustrated. I fare better on Spelling Bee.

    3. Happy with a Birdie today!

      Wordle 1,254 3/6

      🟩⬜🟨⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    7. Your curtailed divot show is better than mine.

      It took a really lucky guess to get par
      Wordle 1,254 4/6

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

    1. Has it been publicised anywhere apart from simple word of mouth, do you know?
      The Blair knighthood petition was cynically publicised by the Daily Mail to provide an outlet for people's disgust, and that was the last one to get over a million signatures I think.

      1. I saw it on a non-Facebook social media channel. My constituency has nearly 3% signing up according to the map.

      1. Large numbers of their constituents are deeply unsatisfied by the government they are part of.

      1. If their constituents attend their surgeries and constantly remind them of how unhappy they are, they might get the message before the next scheduled election.

  171. Who said the Taliban are all bad?

    The Taliban has said Afghan women are not allowed to:
    Drive a car
    Speak in public
    Speak loudly inside your house
    Travel alone
    Own a smartphone
    Wear bright clothes
    Wear high-heels
    Go to high school or university
    Sing
    Read the Quran aloud in public
    Look at men they don’t know
    Attend a protest
    Go to the gym
    Go to the park
    Work in the civil service
    Ride in a taxi
    Go abroad
    Show their faces in public
    Speak to a male doctor
    Play sport

    These are their good points.

    2. I remember seeing a sign on a shop door in Riyadh saying 'No animals or women allowed to enter'

    3. There is only one solution for the people of Afghanistan if they want their freedom – they must rise up and kick out the Taliban themselves. They cannot rely on other countries to do it.

  172. 'Countryfile' went to town on this a couple of years ago. It featured a black woman from Canada who was studying for a Ph.D. She said: "I came here to honour the ancestors, to honour the black history that's right here in the English countryside. Black people have been here. People of colour have been here. We belong here."

  173. I admire the optimism of the petitioners.
    Even if it hits 5 million, Labour will still claim they have a mandate.
    Even if it were to be debated in Parliament over several days, which it won't, Starmer and co will ultimately ignore it.

    2. Labour have no mandate . The turnout was 28, 924,725
      Labour got 9, 708, 716 votes
      19,216, 009 didn't vote Labour- they lied there needs to be another election. There certainly will be if the petition reaches an higher amount then those who voted Labour.

      1. They have a huge majority in the HoC and under our FPTP system they can claim the mandate.
        I don't disagree with any of that, but getting them out won't be done with such petitions and even getting more petitioners than people who voted for them is unlikely and even if they did I am reasonably sure there will be all sorts of double voting and other tricks which will be disclosed on investigation and used to discredit the petition.
        I don't particularly like it, but it's how it works.

    3. I kind of agree, but the farmers have huge public support and if they really got organised with a well-coordinated campaign, I believe they have the power to bring this corrupt Government down. It will take time and effort but will be worth it.

      2. If it's to be done it will have to be direct action, a general strike by the workforce perhaps, combined with farmer blockades.
        Too many of the population have a great vested interest in a Starmer style Labour government, little realising they are cutting their own throats.
        I do not believe petitions are other than an imitation escape valve.

    4. It's a gauge of public opinion. I don't remember any government being as unpopular so quickly as this one.

      1. Neither do I, but they really don't give a damn what people think.
        Now they've got power they are going to use it and abuse it.

    5. Just look at how unpopular trudeau is, how they are able to ignore public sentiment and just carry on in their own little world.

      At least you can hope for backbenchers to call Starmer to account and demand a new party leader. As Canadian law stands, even if every liberal backbencher called for numbnuts to go, he could just ignore it and carry on. It would take liberal mps to vote against the government in a confidence vote to oust him.

      1. It will be new MPs, who unexpectedly find themselves representing previously 'unwinnable' seats, who will become very twitchy. And gobby.

    6. Nobody expects the petition to achieve anything, it is just one more way for us to tell 2TK we consider him and his colleagues complete and utter c**ts.

  175. It does indeed.

    It will send a message that your/my/and other's opinions and concerns don't matter to them.
    Unfortunately it will change nothing.
    I hope I'm wrong, but that's where I would place my bets.

  178. I am about to make a cup of tea and eat a toasted tea cake, I'm pleased about the petition, it made me smile today.

  179. Just got back from our afternoon concert – by a vocal group called Octavo – but only six of them could make it. The other two were stuck in rural Herefordshire surrounded by floods. Anyway, the concert, though somewhat curtailed was very enjoyable.
    Can't say the same for the drive home…… we drove through several floods and it's still raining – the lights on modern cars are much too bright and everything looks distorted in the wet.

    1. I also find that on unlit wet roads that it's very difficult to make out road edges and to see potholes.
      Miserable for driving.

      2. I’ve stopped driving at night. Cataract onset, unlit roads, hard to define edges, potholes disguised as puddles, oncoming LED headlights, SUVs with metre-high headlights, etc.

          1. Only at night. Im trying to source a ‘fun car’ for summer use. Maybe a Healey or a Triomph Stag. It’s not a ‘middle age thing’, I’m not old enough for that.

        2. As you know, it’s as dark as my outlook around here, fortunately HG seems to have much better night vision than me.

  181. Ohthat is nothing. How much is going to the poor undeserving countries after this latest COP chinwag

  182. The Labour win appears unassailable on first sight with that huge majority. However, it is shallow. They have won many seats with smallish majorities which would be easily overturned in the present climate of discontent, even among their traditional supporters. It would need a deal with Farage's lot however.

      1. This is the fastest growing online petition of all time. Yes, I accept that on its own it is bordering on valueless, nevertheless it demonstrates the depth of public sentiment on the subject and could be the foundation for some militancy from farmers and others.

        At 5.45pm the petition stood at 1.2 million.

        1. One hopes so, but I won't hold my breath.

          Even if it scares the pants off the backbenchers they know that a general election would see them out in hundreds.
          Five years in a sinecure plus a leaving present and pension or back to work on a fraction of their pay and benefits in a month.
          Turkeys and Christmas?

        2. 10% of the constituency electorate have to sign a recall petition.
          That's an average of 10,000 signatories per constituency.

      1. I’m not considering by elections, I want a general election following this government's collapse should their position become untenable through public opposition and demonstration in various forms.

  183. No sniggerin..

    This one was doing the rounds last week..

    Chicago residents react to closure of Aldi

    "Aldi abruptly closes overnight without so much as a bye your leave.."
    "I don't understand, the store was always packed.."
    "Where are we gonna go now..?"

    Scoop McLean of MSM at a loss of why oh why they should close.. just can't work this out..
    Well, you mean they just can't bring themselves to state the bleedin obvious.
    .
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8fc3bbc5342545e6952cf3cb03ee5afa7ac6440248949c60cac201cf08f28db2.png

        1. Black folks deserve 100 % discounts coz we is slaves bro. Don't mek us brek ya windas just give us all the shit we want.

          Vote Democrat.

      1. I am an Ordained Minister of the Universal Life Church and under Church law I can marry you. I can divorce you. And i can take confession (insert favoured pronoun) my son.

        What would you like to tell me?

          1. Then i shall just have to take his sins and die for them myself.

            You don't think i'm getting a little above myself as the new Archybishy?

          2. "I can marry you. I can divorce you. And i can take confession". But can you cook? >>>>>> runs and hides

      1. As you can see my hair is rising up.
        Not windy Storm Bert, but the crackle of an electrical strike.

        It Missed !

      1. If only the priest behind the scandal that brought down Justin Welby was a mere kiddie-fiddler. By all accounts, he was a sadist who delighted in punishing his victims until they bled. He was a monstrous religious fanatic who thought that lascivious brutality would cleanse the young souls in his charge of impure thoughts. He was no better than those Muslim tyrants in Afghanistan imposing their draconian doctrines on the subjugated and demeaned women and girls in that benighted country.

      2. If only the priest behind the scandal that brought down Justin Welby was a mere kiddie-fiddler. By all accounts, he was a sadist who delighted in punishing his victims until they bled. He was a monstrous religious fanatic who thought that lascivious brutality would cleanse the young souls in his charge of impure thoughts. He was no better than those Muslim tyrants in Afghanistan imposing their draconian doctrines on the subjugated and demeaned women and girls in that benighted country.

  185. Agreed, not that they care, they just know they are doing the "right things" and won't be swayed.
    I hope I'm badly wrong on this one.

    1. They insist we're skint/huge £22bn black hole, in order to raise general taxation, which RR will give xxx/£ to Public Service salary demands (their voting bloc). Plain English – buying votes.

      1. It seems that the Yanks' "one time, two times, three times, etc" has now universally supplanted the correct and sensible English "once, twice, thrice, etc". I've not heard an Englishman or woman use the correct version for years now. It seems that Americanese, jargonistic slang is now the language of everyone born since 1990.

        "Thuh onion", "thuh egg", and "thuh ink" are now standard idiocy everywhere since no-one has the wit or intelligence to pronounce the definite article "the" as "thee" before a word commencing with a vowel sound. It sounds disjointed, staccato and, frankly, is an ear-sore.

        2. "Thuh" is certainly a bugbear but worse than that is 'yeah' at the end of sentence. However, the opening 'so' appears to be on the wane.

        3. Yeah, it's a funny thing, language develops, probably not for the better, but you and I are dinothesauruses.

          6. That's just a ruse of his, to keep the [edited – certain non- pork-loving people] out of the conversation (and anywhere else).

          7. That's just a ruse of his, to keep the [edited – certain non- pork-loving people] out of the conversation (and anywhere else).

          11. They make a lovely easy pudding with with sherry and whipped cream…

            Edit: chocolate hobnobs, for the avoidance of doubt!

          14. I do believe in the teachings. I don't need a Starmer government to enforce respect under the threat of imprisonment.
            I would have been a better Archbishop than Welby, but then so could almost anyone.

        1. Unlike Starmer i intend to return it to the vestry and not at the same time claim a tax rebate because i am not a fucking bastard. Ahem…

    1. I'm so glad there aren't any hotels here, including in nearby market towns.
      But I have seen a couple of dubious-looking young black/African men recently in our village. There are a couple of black families who have been here for many years, and they are just ordinary, decent people; these new individuals are not wanted.

    1. Different topic 'mum…you mentioned the McCann case recently, I asked around..you're not alone, by a very long chalk.

      1. Dang. You have piqued my curiosity.

        I remember where i was when o first heard about the disappearance. She is (was) exactly 3 months older than my daughter. I have mentioned before perhaps i have a good friend who is a good friend of the man that did that final check. It’s a terrible thing.

      1. Not more than I have, Phiz…they actually seem to have followed me from one house to another…..Better Half made a bat house, they've ignored it – what a surprise….

  193. The difference between our new government and the old one is that under the old one our economy was under palliative care, under the new government our economy is under assisted dying

    1. On asking someone if they've completed a task…
      Yank: "I didn't do it yet."
      Literate English speaker: "I haven't done it (yet)" where 'yet' is an optional extra.

      1. And of course there also was the alleged plagiarism in her book, which she said was a 'mistake'. Loathsome and unintelligent.

  196. As long as you don't support throwing matches, Pip. Too many of our sportsmen have done that.

    2. I searched Church Times for the St Gargoyles cartoon where the Bishop's wife searched for her fish-shaped oven glove, only to find a mitre…

      Sadly, I found this… You may need to click through. https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2024/6-september/features/features/st-gargoyle-s-closes-its-doors

      Ron Wood was Rector of the united* parish of Seale, Puttenham and Wanborough when I turned up in 2005. Love his sense of humour. He deserves his retirement, but I'll miss the cartoons.

      The only example I can find on this 'pooter follows…

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/65023f3f6d3f07aae278009df8bf3a90591f7d83468c8490107aa43297fbccb4.png
      *Increasingly, I believe that "United" is a typo. the word is "Untied"…

      1. The church I lived opposite when I was a child had a tower like that. One of the finials was struck by lightning.

          1. True, but then we don't speak KJ English, normally.

            I know a lot of Americanisms are in fact old English, but over 300 years later some of it sounds or looks weird here. And given that it comes from the US, it is not current English, it is Americanese. I can't really read the word gotten (except in places like the KJ Bible) without hearing the American twang.

  199. Crikey…I’d probably burn the blasted house down, knowing me. Once had a pipestrelle bat in the house, summer evening, windows/doors open…husband absolutely freaked out, laughed my socks off. Another occasion, he left the lid off water butt in garden, bat barely alive managed to resuscitate it on back of Aga top. Bats are responsible for pollinating many crops worldwide, one of the oldest species on earth, and thought to be unrelated to all others. Love ’em!

      1. I think they’re slightly larger Pipistrelles, corimmobile. There are many varieties worldwide. Fascinating creatures 🙂

  200. The Huffington Posts says that a Labour source has said that Starmer shan't call an election because of some people signing a petition, that Labour have an overwhelming mandate for change and those who lost will have to accept they lost '.

    I don't see they have a overwhelming mandate when only 25% voted for them – their mandate is weak and fractured and I'm sure the new Labour MPs are upset about being hated , Starmer has no friends in Parliament. The Labour source Is arrogantly assuming that no Labour voters signed the petition – he's wrong – Labour lied and are venal – they are hated by everyone including their own voters. Regardless of Starmer not calling an election- he'll know his days are numbered and the electorate must show him how much he's hated . We have the right to protest and sign the petition.

    2. He'll cling on for dear life because he doesn't work for us. He told us that before he was elected. We're irrelevant.

    3. 20%.
      These petitions and other methods of harassment are part of a war of attrition against this loathsome government.

    5. You're too generous. This government had the positive support of 20% of the electorate, although some would argue that those who don't vote are not much fussed about which is the party of government. As for the 20%, even that is being kind. Some of them were not so much keen supporters of Labour so much as determined to ensure that the Conservatives had no say in government for the time being, hence the tactical votes for the Liberal Democrats. Anyone but the Conservatives seemed to be the overriding consideration for most voters.

    1. Yum,
      yum yum
      yum yum yum
      yum yum, yum yum
      yum yum yum
      yum yum

      There, I could make a brilliant reviewer…

      As an aside, we went to a Michelin star and had several courses, it was extraordinarily good, completely changed my view on such places.
      If I won the Premium Bond million I would dine out more frequently

        1. Normally I would agree, but this was, without a shadow of a doubt, the best restaurant meal I have ever had, by a long way.

          Everything, but everything, was absolutely superb, from the place settings on arrival to the farewell. The attention to detail was extraordinary.
          It was a gift from our best man for our 50th wedding anniversary, and they didn’t know, so there was no extra effort.

  202. Apparently there is an arrest warrant out for someone known as Bert. He's managed to find away to carry out a procedure that none of our political classes have been able to achieve for over a decade. Stopping the effing boats.
    The answer my friends is blowing in the wind.

      1. Maybe storm Birt or Burt whatever its called, should just stop the blowing and sit down and have a nice cup of tea. He must be exhausted 🙂

        1. It's Bert, Kitty, which got me thinking – are there any famous Berts?

          The only one I could think of was Bert Kaempfert, who produced endless LPs of 'mood music' in the 80's….

          Anyone know any others??

          2. Blimey sos, nice one – should have known that – my old man was a keeper and he always went on about Trautmann (who was a POW in Britain during the war, apparently) and kept for City in a Cup Final(?) with a broken neck!

          11. Thanks sos, that’s pretty similar to the Home Page I see.

            I’ve looked again and have to say that I’ve never really taken any notice of both the ‘Today’s Event’ and ‘Daily Challenges’ links which appear just below the 5 main games. I’ll have a mess around with them and see if I like them!

          14. Yesterday's tri peaks I came in at 8,010 out of 442,943, so I had a very good run.

            In my group of 50 I placed 4th, so no medal.

            It really annoys me that there are significant numbers who can only be cheating, or bots.
            If I had had no mistakes at all I doubt I would have been higher than 3rd in my 50 group.
            My best ever result on one of the challenges was under 2,000th in a 500,000+ "experts only" world tour and even then I was many, many minutes outside the top 100, all of whom I suspect of being bots or having some AI assistance.
            It's impossible to press the controls on my mouse anywhere near as fast as the cheats manage.

            Yes, I know it's only a game, but it still bugs me

          19. He was such a good man, taken suddenly in his mid-50s, so he never met his grandchildren.
            He would have been fuming at what is going on in this country and the world these days.

          20. Awww what a shame – he clearly left a fine legacy though, I bet you tell the grandchildren all about him!

        2. I went to a concert presentation at the Wigmore which told the life story of Kathleen Ferrier. The singer said that performing this song was the hardest part. She did it beautifully but Kathleen herself stood on that stage so many times and her image was projected on to the back wall. Impossible not to be moved to tears.

  204. It's quite mesmerising watching the numbers go up by hundreds every few seconds. (Yes, what a sad life I live !)

    1. I’ve been staring at it cat-like too. Not far off 1.5m now and it was 900k when I looked this afternoon.

    2. Just now:
      1,367,448
      I hoped it might make 1 million by 6.0 pm. It reached that mark by 4.0 pm.
      1,500,000 by bedtime?

      3. I think we need to hope that it gains a broader momentum – despite everybody's understandable excitement at 1M supporters, it really needs to be around the 10M-20M mark before it will even register – but who knows what might happen??

      5. It will be 1.5 million by the time dinner is served this evening. Another half hour to go, then! 2 million by bed-time….! (We are owls.)

      1. Could the Musks establish a dynasty in Blighty?
        I understand there are a few children to spare.

        1. Some with remarkably silly names – XAEA-12 for example, rolls off the tongue, doesnt it? Happy Birthday dear…. errr…..

        1. Surprisingly KJ, I (and my buddies) have always just said ‘He/It’s the dogs…’ the ‘bollocks’ was aspirate/silent…..

    1. The fact that Biden reversed policy as soon as Trump was confirmed makes me sure he's trying to poison the waterhole.

    1. Oh dear.
      How will he and Mrs Asaduzzaman (No.1?) cope with all the vibrant types not beloved of Allah?

      1. Given how infested Brighten is with the 'vibrant types', they probably voted for this mayor. They really are stupid.

  210. The Government is putting the UK’s national security at risk, a former MI6 chief has said, accusing Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, of being “clueless” over Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest warrant.

    Sir Richard Dearlove, who was head of Britain’s foreign intelligence agency between 1999 and 2004, said the Government showed no urgency in the face of international crises.

    He told he the Camilla Tominey show on GB News: “I’m deeply worried about aspects of this new Government, particularly when it comes to national security – and these are ultimately issues of national security.”

    Asked to expand on his concerns, Sir Richard said he was most worried about the defence budget, saying: “We’re in a state of international crisis. We have a defence review, but there’s no urgency at all on the Government’s part.

    “We’ve just seen them cut various military equipment to make a saving. OK, they’re saying it’s outdated, but you don’t do that when you are threatened by probably the worst security situation in Europe.”

    The comments mark Sir Richard’s strongest criticism of the Government to date. The last time he made such an intervention was in 2019 when he said that Jeremy Corbyn, the then Labour leader, was a danger to national security and unfit to lead the country.

    Sir Richard said defence should be the Government’s number one priority over the NHS Credit: Alamy /Jeff Morgan
    He accused Ms Cooper of not “having a clue” on whether she would rule out arresting Mr Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant.

    “She certainly should. But having heard her interviewed earlier in the week, she clearly hadn’t a clue what to say. She ducked and weaved,” Sir Richard said.

    “She just ‘blahed’ her way through the interview without really saying anything. I mean, it shows that they’re in a very tough position, but they need to take a clear stand on this.”

    Earlier this week, the ICC, based in The Hague, issued an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister over the Israel-Hamas conflict. Britain, along with the other 123 members of the ICC, is responsible for enforcing arrest warrants it issues.

    The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the Government respected the court.

    Last week, John Healey, the Defence Secretary, announced that the British Armed Forces will be hit by £500 million worth of cuts, hours after British Storm Shadow missiles were fired into Russia for the first time.

    The cuts, to six major defence programmes, came despite Vladimir Putin warning that the conflict in Ukraine could escalate to nuclear war.

    Gary Mathison
    3 min ago
    Having watched him on Camila's show this a.m. gbnews., he's quite correct that Hamas is responsible for all the deaths in Gaza. Hamas knew what they were starting.

    Comment by Dave Mills.

    DM

    Dave Mills
    4 min ago
    Starmer gives authority to start a nuclear war but cuts defence spending. Please explain that to me. Maybe he thinks we will all be dead.

    Reply by Andrew Peterson.

    AP

    Andrew Peterson
    3 min ago
    Simply you don't need defence spending if you want to lose

    Reply by Dave Mills.

    DM

    Dave Mills
    1 min ago
    Maybe he just wants a showdown with Orange Man Bad.

    Comment by Mary Clarke.

    MC

    Mary Clarke
    4 min ago
    No mention of the petition calling for a new election which has gathered almost 1.5million signatures in less than 24hours.

    Comment by Ann O Nimity.

    AO

    Ann O Nimity
    4 min ago
    DT also ignoring the 1.4 million petition, I see.

    Reply by Mary Clarke.

    MC

    Mary Clarke
    4 min ago
    Snap😁

    Comment by Peter Fernie.

    PF

    Peter Fernie
    5 min ago
    Defence of your country is no 1. Keep all weapons whether outdated or not until replenished and updated. Cut welfare to ensure monies available. Shoot down these "unknown" drones flying over US bases and Carriers. What's going on?? People asleep on the job. Mrs F.

    Comment by Arqu' Atim.

    AA

    Arqu' Atim
    6 min ago
    Would anyone trust this Labour government with the safekeeping of our country.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/11/24/starmer-government-national-security-at-risk-mi6-chief/

      2. Never vote Labour again?…we can't withhold taxes, PAYE/VAT, any personal liability will be chased down by accountants – you could refuse to pay but you'll get a fine, same with road tax etc. Or Guy Fawkes? (kidding)…

  211. I've just had a crazy idea. Both choirs in our united parish have been laid low by natural wastage / lockdowns / whatever. St John the Baptist, Puttenham (GU3 1AR) had a good choir. Until it didn't. The junior choir turned up on Tuesdays, but eschewed Sunday services. The more advanced juniors won all sorts of RSCM awards, but grew up and buggered off to university, never to be seen again. Their Director of Music became increasingly frustrated, not least with increasing deafness. He retired, and I took over. Not to universal acclaim, it must be said. At choir practices there, I was as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit…

    I'm told that Seale and Puttenham were on opposing sides in the Civil War, and memories are long…

    The difficult ones are either now sadly departed or in care homes. Which makes life easier.

    I've just received the December Service Rota. At 10:30 am on Sunday 22nd December, I need to produce a service of Nine Lessons and Carols. It may have to be purely congregational singing. But I'm e-mailing local musicians to see who/what I can get together. It's only 9 years since I managed to assemble enough to do Faurés Requiem…

    I know that there are a few decent musicians hereabouts. But, throwing the net wider, here's an open invitation to join us. Being a morning service, there's an opportunity to visit the Good Intent, afterwards…

    We've done NTTL lunches with success – I propose a NTTL Carol Service…

    Interested? I'm at Geoff.graham1@gmail.com, or on WhatsApp at 07870 146635. Or just phone / text that number.

    2. Nice idea, Geoff. Unfortunately it’s a non-starter for us, seasonal family commitments and distance are factors.

    3. That's when our 9 Lessons and Carols are taking place, albeit later in the day. Can't manage bi-location, I'm afraid.

    4. Lol you wouldn’t ask me if you heard me sing.

      I was walking down your neck of the woods today. A bit blowy!

    6. Wish you every success, Geoff – you'll have an enjoyable time, perhaps even record it? – I was just watching Ben Maton on YouTube, think he was in Chettle – he seemed to record the whole thing on his mobile phone. Good luck, love Kate x

    7. Wish you every success, Geoff – you'll have an enjoyable time, perhaps even record it? – I was just watching Ben Maton on YouTube, think he was in Chettle – he seemed to record the whole thing on his mobile phone. Good luck, love Kate x

    8. Well I know where Puttenham is now. I am afraid it's too far old bean. Good luck with the project sir.

  212. Further to the earlier announcement that a number of businesses are closing due to the Chancellor's tax attack… News in from Horsham is that the Turkish Dance Studio has just gone belly up!

  213. Further to the earlier announcement that a number of businesses are closing due to the Chancellor's tax attack… News in from Horsham is that the Turkish Dance Studio has just gone belly up!

  214. GB News reporting that person thought stabbed on Westminster Bridge this morning, actually suffered a cardiac arrest. Easy mistake for anyone to make to make as symptoms are remarkably similar.

        1. Around 5 years ago I was with 5 old old friends in a local pub. One use to be an inspector in the Met. He told us that his son in law had just been given a job as one of the armed protection officers for the little git.
          Symiltaineously we all reach for our wallets and ask how much does he want ?

  219. Thought for the day for you petitioners:
    If, in the unlikely event it succeeds in causing a change, what makes you think that the "Left" won't see that, and then organise themselves to use the same process to take down any government they don't like?

    And believe me, hate them as much as you like the Left are far far better at organising such things than the Right are and ever will be!

    1. Answer to that is to make sure they deliver on what they promised in the run up to the election.

    2. Sadly the Petition will be dismissed out of hand as its main theme is "I would like a General Election"…….

  220. The way it's going the petition will be over 2 million tomorrow. This'll mean 5,000+ signatures in quite a few constituencies. Noticeablethat Muslim dominated and university seats have very low signature rates.

    1. I’d noticed that the areas with low signature counts invariably had MPs with “exotic” names.

  221. Thank you.
    I will certainly tell our baby grandchild (& any siblings who come along in the future) when he is old enough, but I haven’t decided about telling the girls in Canada. Their Dad, my son, has discarded the momentos he had kept (here) from my Mum who died 12 years ago. Needless to say, he was more than happy to keep the money she left for him. My dear mum doted on him from the day he was born.

  225. Goodnight all let's hope that public opinion isn't again just ignored this time. We already know what this tiny minority are trying to do to our country.

  229. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    For more than a decade, viral petitions demanding an immediate election were the preserve of Remainiacs and much of the Twitter left. So with Labour now in government, it is to no surprise then that it is now much of the right which is demanding another vote. A parliamentary petition to ‘call a general election’ has gone viral overnight, thanks to supportive posts by Elon Musk (who else?) among others. Numbers currently stand at more than 650,000 signatories: six times higher than the threshold of 100,000 required for a parliamentary debate. Wonder what the government response will be eh?

    Such petitions rarely, if ever, succeed in their goal and those hoping to see Keir Starmer swept out of office will probably have to wait another four and a half years at least. But there is an interesting sub-plot to this petition with the number of signatures by constituency giving some flavour of the strength of feeling around the country.

    Mr S has done some digging and it turns out that at the top of the list there are a fair few 2024 swing seats where Labour made gains at the expense of the Conservatives. Newly-elected ‘Keirleaders’ who ought to be worried include David Smith, Kevin McKenna, Andy McNae and Josh Newbury. Their seats ranked 7th, 9th, 13th and 14th on the list of seats with most signatories on the aforementioned petition.

    If their voters are this disillusioned after 150 days, just think about how they’ll feel by 2029 eh?

    Steerpike
    WRITTEN BY
    Steerpike
    Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

    1. Currently 1,630,202 signatures, but will probably add up to no action. Just good to see some anti-government rebellion, even if it's totally ignored.

      2. No probably about it, but any opposition politicians failing to capitalise on it relentlessly in the House for the next 4-years I declare here and now is rubbish at his or her job.

    1. Errr, if you knew the circles I moved in, I’m not sure you’d say that…. but they were the salt of the earth etc etc

      1. Pretty much my neck of the wood, too. Can be quite surprising the numbers of bad un’s who have good hearts, the ones made of stone are elsewhere.

  232. Watching brilliant prog on TV 5Select on the 1947 big snow .. which was severe .. and deep snow , power cuts for months .. The year I was born .. in County Durham .. My great aunt was a district midwife in Guiseley nr Leeds , the Army had to convey her around so she could do home deliveries .

    The country was at the point of economic disaster, power cuts were ordered to save coal and electricity .. Labour government , wasn't it .. Clement Attlee .

    The snowiest winter since 1814.

    1. Ooh, Guiseley, another northern place name southerners won’t pronounce correctly. Guys-lee, assuming we all say guy in the same way?

        1. Yes. My mum and dad ran a fish and chip shop in Acomb, York, but we checked out the better known competition!

        2. As well as Harry Corbett of Sooty and Sweep fame ..

          Harry Ramsden's was a tiny place in those days .. delicious treat .. and served by proper waitresses with pinnies with little tiara type white hats .. pots of tea and piles of freshly made bread and butter .. all very jolly .. How it became so famous , I have no idea .

          1. I have eaten fish and chips at a Harry Ramsden's and I was completely underwhelmed. It is a million times inferior to any of the fish and chip shops in Whitby or Bridlington.

          2. I was about 12 years old when I ate there with Auntie , it was a shed /shack or whatever you call it , hence my comment earlier , how on earth did it become so famous ..?

          5. I went to Harry Ramsden's when stationed in York in 1983.Yes it was underwhelming. There were better fish restaurants in York itself.

          7. Probably some hack like Malcolm Muggeridge promoted it on the BBC. He managed to cause that wicked old Armenian hag Mother Theresa to become a Saint and hoard millions of cash donations to the Black Hole of Calcutta (Kolkata if you will).

            Sisters of Mercy my arse.

            We would at one time visit The Shed in West Mersea for very good fish and chips but that is no longer any good.

            Generally seaside fish and chip shops are better than those inland so to speak. The Shed on Dunwich Beach was good the last time we visited. There are two excellent fish and chip shops in Aldeburgh (My wife Carol designed the refit of one of them and both have the same ownership).

            If you can find an older establishment shovelling coal into the end of the fryer and using fat as opposed to oil then you stand a chance of a decent meal.

          8. Probably some hack like Malcolm Muggeridge promoted it on the BBC. He managed to cause that wicked old Armenian hag Mother Theresa to become a Saint and hoard millions of cash donations to the Black Hole of Calcutta (Kolkata if you will).

            Sisters of Mercy my arse.

            We would at one time visit The Shed in West Mersea for very good fish and chips but that is no longer any good.

            Generally seaside fish and chip shops are better than those inland so to speak. The Shed on Dunwich Beach was good the last time we visited. There are two excellent fish and chip shops in Aldeburgh (My wife Carol designed the refit of one of them and both have the same ownership).

            If you can find an older establishment shovelling coal into the end of the fryer and using fat as opposed to oil then you stand a chance of a decent meal.

    2. I remember the old London Victorian house we lived in at the time.
      The balcony was solid with snow right up to the railings; so probably 2 -3 ft deep.
      Our very reluctant landlady (we had been billeted on her after my father was discharged from the Navy on medical grounds) cut off the gas, water and electricity, so my mother was warming up water – including water for washing – on a Primus camping stove. Lighting was candles.
      The water came from my father's pre-war landlady who lived a few doors down. My parents would collect buckets of it from her.

      1. Goodness me , times were so difficult then .. and I hope we don't see a repeat .. and I mean burning our furniture to stay warm ..

        I daresay your early memories were pretty solid and stark .. Your poor father and mother .. life was unfair , but they coped..

        I am certain that is the very reason my father wanted to clear off to Africa in 1951.. he hated the cold ..and took us with him , I would have preferred to stay here .. which in fact I did later on in life .. through thick and thin .

        I think we should grab pallets and store wood .. we have a coal fire using nuggets now, no coal anymore . No heating upstairs , but gas c/h down stairs .. heat water etc .

        1. When our lovely plumber and gas man comes to service the boiler, I'm making inquiries about replacing the conduction hob with a gas one.
          He has dealt with this house for years before we moved here, so he know where all the pipes are.
          Conduction hobs are not, to put it mildly, my preferred form of cooking. And I'm uneasy that all my cooking is dependent on electricity.

          2. That's why I changed my electric cooker for a Calor gas one. Not only have I bought the fuel before I use it, I am not dependent on external supply.

          3. I know that many of my best stainless steel pots and pans will not work on induction jobs.

            You need magnetic pans for induction hobs. We have two sets of pans because we anticipated a move to a new property which had an induction hob and purchased replacement pans. Those are presently in a box in the shed.

    3. The Labour Party just happened to be the incumbents. The snow would have snowed regardless of who was in government.

  233. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    Gordon Brown, who is in the news this weekend having come out against assisted dying, occasionally has a tendency to hold back. He held back from standing against his close friend John Smith for the Labour party leadership in 1992, though that was always an unlikely prospect. More agonisingly, he held back from running against Tony Blair for the same role in 1994, sacrificing his personal ambition for the New Labour cause. He even held back from the No campaign in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, at one point telling a friend ‘They don’t need me,’ until the 11th hour when he tilted the balance and helped save the UK union.

    Brown was careful to avoid referring to religious arguments

    And in a similar vein, he has over the years drafted a number of interventions that he never pressed send on. Some of these, including an eventually withheld controversial chapter from his own memoirs, will feature in a new biography I’m writing on the former prime minister who, according to recent YouGov polling, is today the most popular Labour figure in the country ahead of, among others, Andy Burnham, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner, Keir Starmer and Blair.

    Brown’s position on assisted dying – while highly significant, coming as it does ahead of the week in which MPs will vote on the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s private member’s bill – is not, in fact, new. He has stated it in several broadcast interviews in recent years but in the end he decided against publishing a draft article on it earlier this year. In that, he had drafted: ‘Assisted suicide is an emotive issue where I personally disagree with what is now becoming a majority position…I worry about legislation that requires a doctor whose role has always been to preserve and extend life, to administer death as the final act of a bureaucratic procedure and I worry too about the pressures to agree such a process that in a fit of depression people may choose a course they might later regret and I worry too if older people feel they have become a burden on their relatives and put themselves under pressure to end their life.’

    Brown’s decisive intervention this weekend, in his monthly comment piece for the Guardian which opened movingly with the tragic death of his and his wife Sarah’s baby daughter, was carefully thought through. ‘The experience of sitting with a fatally ill baby girl did not convince me of the case for assisted dying; it convinced me of the value and imperative of good end-of-life care,’ he wrote, before going on to call for a commission on improving palliative care instead of a law change.

    A son of the manse, Brown, admired personally by Dr Rowan Williams and the late Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, retains to this day an ingrained, quiet faith but he was careful to avoid referring to religious arguments in an article which was essentially aimed at influencing an increasingly secular House of Commons.

    As well as much reading as ever, Brown was involved in the commissioning of new polling via Focaldata which he leant on to form his arguments. On the surface, the headline figure of that polling showed that more than 70 per cent of the British people record support for assisted dying. Brown knows that the natural instinct of decent people who see terrible deaths is that where there is pain we want to prevent it, and where there is suffering we want to alleviate it. But when we dig deep into what people really want to happen, we find a more complicated picture. When asked whether ‘Labour should prioritise sorting out palliative, social and end-of-life care first before even thinking about assisted dying’, 66 per cent strongly or somewhat agree, and just 20 per cent per cent somewhat or strongly disagree.

    Further, there is even more support for a statement which says: ‘Before parliament considers introducing assisted dying there should be a royal commission to examine the future of palliative and end of life care’. Here, more – 69 per cent – are in favour with those against now reduced to 15 per cent. There is a majority for a prior commission which pre-empts any legislation even among those inclined to support assisted dying.

    The reasons for this apparent paradox – support for an assisted dying law and yet for a commission and strategy on end of life care before such a law is introduced – becomes clearer when we dig deeper still into the public’s views. People don’t think end of life care is or will be good enough. Only 31 per cent are confident that the government will be able to pay for their end-of-life care in the future as opposed to 53 per cent who are not. And 53 per cent believe – as against 28 per cent who dissent – that given the state of the NHS it would push people into assisted dying if it was made legal.

    Brown believes that the responsibility that now falls on government, is clear: to persuade people that we can improve and fund quality end-of-life care and make it available to all on an equitable basis.

    Brown spent many weeks planning his intervention this weekend. He is likely to follow it up with broadcast interviews, ahead of the vote on Friday. This time, he didn’t hold back. And it is likely that a number of MPs will be influenced by the comments of this, perhaps the most respected member of the eight-strong living former prime ministers’ club.

    WRITTEN BY
    James Macintyre
    James Macintyre is the author of Gordon Brown: The Inside Story, to be published in 2025

    1. [Gordon Brown] is today the most popular Labour figure in the country ahead of, among others, Andy Burnham, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner, Keir Starmer and Blair." I'm sceptical of that claim, depends on how you frame it. They kicked Jeremy Corbyn out of the party. Let's not forget he was the Labour leader until a few years ago.

        1. Well yes to some. Didn't that version of
          Labour win more votes than the current lot? That was despite their position on the Brexit vote. If Corbyn had actually honestly stated his Brexit position he might well of won even more votes.

      3. I think we were all conned into thinking that Corbyn would have been worse than Starmer. Events, dear boy, events have shown that Starmer is far worse.

        1. There's a good video by Lotus Eaters on Prime Minister Starmer’s working life and student activism. He might well be to the Left of Jezza on some issues.

        2. Starmer and Corbyn two peas in a pod. Those two just got all stabby like factional types do and it so happens that Starmer came out on top. It never meant they were in any way different. They both believe the same things and Corbyn would have been the same as Starmer had he got in.

        1. I once had the misfortune of sitting with my site engineer in an otherwise empty carriage apart from George Brown and his Physician. We had spent the day visiting the granite quarries at Hantergantick and De Lank near Bodmin Cornwall to inspect progress on the granite masonry for my project Richmond House Whitehall.

          It was late evening and obvious that George Brown had been drinking heavily presumably consuming the fine clarets then provided in the Buffet Cars on British Rail as was. Brown’s voice boomed throughout the entire journey from his joining the train at Exmoor to our arrival in Paddington.

          When we arrived back in London the Paddington Station porters were obliged to stretcher Brown from the train.

          Perhaps George Brown would have been a better pick than the more sober Harold Wilson but we shall never know for sure.

    2. I worry too about the pressures to agree such a process that in a fit of depression people may choose a course they might later regret…

      If you agree to this course of action, you'll be in no position to regret it.

      1. One is just calling for a general election, the other seems just to want a change of leadership. To change leader would be like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic; Labour are toxic to the health of the country. They always have been; Attlee, Wilson, Callaghan, Blair, Brown and now Starmer.

        1. Change leader to who, though? When you look at the alternatives it seems like the devil and the deep blue sea!!

          1. Exactly, which is why I likened it to moving the deckchairs on the Titanic. Whoever of the current Labour lot is in power, we are heading for the iceberg.

        2. It would have been better to aim it at Theives, she might have got the message that a lot of people do not like what she had done.

          1. I don’t think she’s any more receptive of other people’s opinions than Starmer and the rest of the government.

  236. It's not yet my bedtime of 11 pm, but I am tired so will wish you all Good Night. Sleep well, and hope to see you all tomorrow.

    2. It's the consequence of the running commentary on the 'Call a General Election' petition.

      1. The petition that has been launched demanding a new election (read down) – not sure how that would change anything though…..

  242. Mesmerising to witness the votes in the Call a New Election Petition. At time of logging off the vote in favour is increasing even at this late hour: 1,778,623.

    And on and on it goes. Any person supposing that this motion will be ignored needs to grow a couple and clue up. Starmer and his cronies are toast.

    1. You would think, wouldn’t you? Yet the metropolitan “elite” continue to give them a free pass. Quite unbelievable.

    1. Good morning Sir!
      Here's one that people seem to be ignoring:-
      Petition
      Reverse changes to Winter Fuel Payment
      We want the Government to restore the Winter Fuel Payment to how it was paid last winter immediately. We are concerned that pensioners could die if MPs do not act, and that the NHS could be under more pressure.
      https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/700074

      2. It's probably not being publicised by Elon Musk.

        We always knew that THEY would switch their manipulative efforts from the legacy media over to social media, and this is looking like a good illustration of that.
        Everyone's corralled into Twitter now, in the belief that it offers free speech (it doesn't), and Twitter can promote whatever it wants. People think they're communicating with other people, so it seems more independent than reading a newspaper or watching TV.

    2. An EXTREME Pedant writes:
      Ever so sorry, Citroen, but…
      It's either 06:00 or 6:00 am.
      The leading zero tells you it is morning rather than evening.

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