Wednesday 19 February: Flood prevention means better land management – not barriers

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/02/19/letters-flood-prevention-means-better-land-management-not-barriers/

795 thoughts on “Wednesday 19 February: Flood prevention means better land management – not barriers”

      1. He found after stopping that the time saved could be put to equally pleasurable but more productive use.

        He misses many of the people but I suspect that that last bout of unwarranted unpleasantness was the breaking point. I also suspect that such episodes have seen off others and will continue so to do.

        2. Morning, Sos. I don’t lurk here in the evenings so I have no idea what upset Bill. Are you able to give me a clue?

          3. So did he but it reincarnates and on the day in question he received numerous down-votes from several apparently different people but in fact merely the idiot child creating accounts just to do so to wind him up.

  3. Dawn Butler’s transgender madness. Brendan O’Neill. 18 February 2020.

    Imagine if a politician went on TV and said ‘The Earth is flat’. Or ‘Man didn’t really land on the Moon, you know’. We would worry about that politician’s fitness for public life. Well, Dawn Butler has just done the trans equivalent of that. She appeared on Good Morning Britain yesterday and said babies are born without a sex. That is easily as loopy and anti-scientific as saying the Earth isn’t a sphere.

    Butler, the Labour MP for Brent, was taking part in another discussion about Labour’s interminable slide down the trans rabbit hole. Labour has completely lost the plot on this issue.

    Morning everyone. It’s much worse than that because it is not limited to the Labour Party or tran’s issues! It pervades the whole elite class and includes everything from Feminism to Free Speech. What we are witnessing is the breakdown of an entire belief system, the very foundation of the UK’s unique brand of Christian/Secular civilisation and which provided the mores and customs that have ruled us all for the last three hundred years. This is all now going down the toilet with no obvious replacement except Cultural Marxism, an ill thought out idyllic Socialist fantasy. The wise person would prepare themselves for much worse times ahead since all this will end in an utter chaos where all the branches of Government and rules of Society will become perverted versions of their former selves and personal survival will predominate over all other issues!

    https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2020/02/dawn-butlers-transgender-madness/

    1. Morning Minty

      No Comments

      Society is in thrall to the mad and bad orthodoxies of the liberal Left
      DOUGLAS MURRAY – 18 FEBRUARY 2020 • 9:30PM

      Green and trans extremists are creating powerful new religions

      All ages have their dogmas, taboos and sacred values. In this regard our age is no different from any other. What is so striking is the sheer oddity of the things we have decided to make holy, the things deemed so crucial that almost everyone feels compelled to agree publicly with them or at least to pretend to agree with them.

      Christianity, in its Protestant and Catholic forms, at least made sense. There was an origin story and a body of learning and scholarship that grew out of it. The occasional burnings at the stake were a reminder that overreach can happen but there was a logic to it that an outsider could comprehend and even a critic might understand. What, by comparison, is the logic of the unifying themes of our own age?

      Being concerned about the wellbeing and future of our planet is a natural and healthy instinct. But how is one to square that instinct with the attitude of the moment? An attitude best demonstrated in an apparent willingness, at any moment, to grip our head in our hands and shout: “We’re all going to burn.” We celebrate strange child prophetesses when they come to tell us we have sinned. We listen when we are told that wholesale societal immiseration is the only way out of our situation. And a disturbingly high number of adults turn out to be prepared to agree publicly to the most insane claims if for no other reason than to keep the peace.

      When Extinction Rebellion vandals dig up a beautiful lawn in the name of saving the environment the police stand happily by. When the same group bring the capital city to a standstill the police seek to appease them and even work with them. Before long every politician is in agreement not just about the debate but the terms we must use to describe it. So now everyone agrees that we are living in a “climate emergency”, a term nobody used this time last year but which nearly all politicians now reach for whenever a river bursts its banks simply because a bunch of fringe extremists have a skill at bullying everyone into agreeing with them.

      What are our other sacred values? Well one is that there is no such thing as biological reality. The same police who are happy to stand by as hooligans wreak violence take any transgression against the emerging trans orthodoxy especially seriously. As do the political class, once again demonstrating why intelligent people steer clear of politics these days.

      On morning television earlier this week the Labour Party’s Dawn Butler was being questioned by Richard Madeley about her party’s recent insistence that people who believe in biology should have no place in the Labour movement. As somebody who wouldn’t be sad if the Labour Party never got anywhere near power ever again one might be tempted to encourage such initiatives. But the problem is that such dogmas have a tendency to break out from the places that nurtured them. The exchange between Madeley and Butler was a fine demonstration of the problem.

      What Madeley was trying to do – very gently it must be said – was tease out whether there might not be some dilemma underneath the claim that the Labour Party is now making about the right to be whatever gender you say you are. Butler would hear none of it. As with all truly dim people she had already decided where the parameters of the discussion should be even though she is majorly, magnificently, mortifyingly wrong. Madeley asked her whether chromosomes and external signs of sex may not be signifiers of some kind? Did they not, in fact, suggest that sex is not a social construct but a visible, provable biological reality?

      “Talking about penises and vaginas doesn’t help the conversation,” Butler countered, wearily, as though such things are so last century. It was clear that Butler’s ideal conversation would be one in which evidence and facts had no place at all. She went on to suggest that Madeley was implying that “trans women aren’t women” which made Madeley backpedal for his life, insisting that of course he wasn’t saying anything of the kind. By introducing genitalia into the conversation he was merely putting forward a possible argument that some lunatic fringe weirdo might still attempt to advance. “I don’t hold that opinion at all,” he insisted, like a man begging for his life.

      “When a child is born they are identified and observed in a particular sex,” he continued, his mouth audibly drying, as anyone’s might when they know the words might be their last. “A child is born without sex,” Butler immediately rejoindered. “The child is informed [sic] without sex at the beginning, but anyway.” And there you had one of the other great beliefs of the time. The insistence that however many days we have left before we all burn to death, we might best use them pretending that the penis is a social construct invented only yesterday by Richard Madeley to give cover for his transphobia.

      If our society’s sacred values have come to seem madly random and ill-thought through that is because they are. And if some of us object to them and would like to see them interrogated more regularly, more publicly and more assertively it is for a number of reasons.

      The first is that the taboos and sacred values that we are currently embedding as a form of replacement religion are mad and bad in and of themselves. It is not good to tell children that they are unlikely to make it into adulthood. It is not wise to pretend that biological reality is merely a figment of some bigoted imagination. But it’s what comes next that is the real problem.

      For a society softened up by such stupidity will in time lose the capacity to push back at anything and will fall for absolutely everything. We are relatively lucky that at present the worst the green extremists have done is some intermittent anti-environmental vandalism. We are lucky that the trans extremists have merely limited themselves to intimidating the occasional meeting of women’s rights activists.

      The test comes when a society is forced to move on from these ideas to ones even more far-ranging and sinister. It’s not enough to just get with the beat. And if you do, then rest assured that the beat after next might be absolutely anything.

      2. The trans ideology is simply the latest front in the culture war against all the norms of Judeo-Christian, Western society. Having won the battle for gay marriage, the next front is the war on gender itself. Essentially, it states that reality is whatever the individual says it is, and the whole world needs to change to accomodate the needs of the individual. And of course, any criticism of this ideology gets you branded as a ‘trans-phobe’ which along with racism is this generation’s version of ‘heretic.’

        We can only hope that the Trans movement heralds a push-back against the whole Woke agenda. People may start to realise that it means that male-bodied people (or simply ‘men’ as we used to refer to them) can at a whim enter womens’ spaces such as changing rooms, shelters and prisons. Do trans rights trump the rights of women and girls to feel safe in their private spaces? We shall see.

        1. Morning JK,
          316462+up✔s,
          When many in a nation are castigated for using the term
          “wotcher c ock” you know that nation has major problems.

          1. thanks, I’ll check it out.

            I find it incredible that it would be illegal for a child to get a tattoo, but it is fine to encourage them to question their gender and take puberty-blocking drugs. It’s madness, tantamount to child abuse.

          2. Morning cynarch and all.

            I’ve been trying to find out the name of the interviewer without success. Can you tell me who it is please?

          6. As far as I can tell it’s an alternative to you tube where he has his own channel to post his videos – there was a link under some of the videos on you tube. Not sure what the technical term is ?host site maybe. I assume it is somewhere he is less likely to get deplatformed.

      3. Morning Z,
        316462+up✔s,
        The second world war set a great many standards of decency and personal self respect, currently those ingredients in today’s society are wearing very thin.
        Submission, PCism,Appeasement are the new guidelines for many, go with the flow, in politics, party before Country was never going to be a winner we are
        suffering the results of that voting mode as we type.

      4. Does anyone else find it ironic that, so soon after a newly appointed adviser to the PM was forced to resign over Social Media posts claiming that Black people have a lower IQ, Dawn Butler proves his point?

      5. Where Madeley went wrong is in confirming her ego.

        Instead of affirming her bigotry – that trans women are women – when they blatantly are not – he should have said ‘people can identify themselves however they wish’ – which leaves out the obvious statement ‘but it doesn’t change what they are’.

    2. The Single Gender Marriage Act from 2014 was pushed through without it being on any party election manifesto, or any Green Paper or White Paper. Nor was it on any Queen’s Speech. The “public consultation” was introduced by Lynne Featherstone (and it is both misogynistic and antisemitic to criticise her!) as “this will happen whether you like it or not; all we want to know is the most effective way to implement it”. It was guillotined through the Commons where opponents were allowed only three minutes to speak competing against supporters catching Bercow’s eye; whereas near-identical supporting speeches of 40 minutes were allowed for Maria Miller and Yvette Cooper to speak in favour. It was rubberstamped through the Lords, and the Queen, Head of the Church of England, had no option but to give assent to this constitutional outrage.

      Similar things have been happening all over the world. No wonder the young are losing confidence in democracy, and feel they must take to “direct action” to get any sense out of our legal representatives. I have also lost confidence in the Church of England being up to the job of upholding the spiritual welfare of the nation, by redefining “marriage” rendering it meaningless, except as a social bauble.

      2. I have long thought that the Archbishop of Canterbury should be sacked. The only time we ever hear from him is when he opines on political matters. You’d never think he was supposed to be the highest representative of our Church of England.

    3. Morning AS,
      316462+up✔,
      I have personally past the stage of being “worried about the fitness of the politico’s to serve” I am cold stone sure there is a school of treachery they attend before entering the HOc old boys moving on to the HOl.
      All the toxic trio have been a coalition
      since the mid 70s, a flood of humanity was always on the cards, b liar was the trigger.
      The repercussions from mass uncontrolled immigration will be bred
      into this nation at the nations cost.
      Regardless of fools / politico’s people will tool up ( American style) starting with say Mace etc in high street stores.
      We will never beat nature but we can
      protect ourselves to a certain extent using common sense maintenance of
      water management.

    4. Morning Minty,

      It’s to support everyone’s self-absorbed delusion that they’re a Unicorn.

      Sincerely, Ag1.

  4. They had someone in from Herefordshire Council who said that 80% of the Council Tax (about £800 for me each year) is being spent on social care, and 20% on everything else. This is due to go up next year, when care staff can no longer be imported, and the British since Thatcher have been taught to adopt the America “Me First” approach to caring. There are therefore not the staff, and those that do qualify and are not disclosed and barred can name their price, or themselves go abroad.

    George Osborne and Philip Hammond had this approach to deny funding for social care from general taxation, preferring to transfer this cost to the Council Tax, where councillors rather than Westminster can be scapegoated when public services break down. I wonder if Rishi Sunak will reverse this by restoring the Central Grant to councils to cover all statutory services, even if this means a hike in Income Tax?

    1. Good morning, unlikely is my answer to your question
      If he did I do not think for 1 moment that a reduction in council tax would result.
      Just call me cynical.

  5. Morning all

    SIR – The current floods are a disaster. The answer, however, is not to find someone to blame, but to understand that the solution involves more than just building barriers.

    Flood prevention can only be achieved by reverting to a land-management approach. Floodplains, drainage ditches, culverts, moorland afforestation – these require a code of practice, adopted nationwide. Barriers and property protection are necessary, too, but they are not enough.

    The code should be managed locally but funded and monitored centrally by a single body.

    Richard Beeson

    Rudgwick, West Sussex

  6. The main problem with the flooding is that the country is run by academics with no practical experience, never having a proper job and radicalised by the green religion looking down their noses at people with no university degrees but who have the generational experience and knowledge of how to stop the worst effects of flooding.
    The green activists are like socialists, they have their goal to attain, they don’t care how they get there or the harm caused to people or the countryside.
    They will keep trying the same things over and over while expecting a different outcome.

          1. Not only are you gaining none you are moving deep into minus territory so, unless you change your account, you will remain a member of the zero club.

          3. I don’t know.
            I am informed by other Nottlers that the purpose is to silence anyone with “right-wing” views or views that are perceived to be right-wing. This is accomplished by getting the vote count down to the point that the account looks at first glance to be that of a spammer and posts made by that account can be flagged as such and blocked on sites where one is not an “approved” poster. You are likely to be an approved poster on some sites, including Nottle so it should not affect you unduly.

            I just wear the zero with pride. It suggests that some left-wing troll is so frightened of me that they have to try to silence me.

          4. Yes someone remarked on here the other day that this process is not across the entire Disqus spectrum which suggests that we are being targeted. It’s probably part of a much wider program of disenfranchising “hostile” blogs and their users!

        2. B3,
          316462+up✔,
          The odious phantom up ✔ rustler continues to strike, trust none
          do your own accounting, submission to such issues is not an option.
          Submission could lead to abiding by PCism & Appeasement then where would we be as a nation ?

        3. Perhaps they’re all being hoarded in some electronic tick bank, like those Bitcoin thingies.

  7. SIR – Surely Extinction Rebellion would have more credibility had it chosen to help residents in flooded areas, rather than digging up the lawn at Trinity College, Cambridge.

    Elizabeth Hodgson

    Barnet, Hertfordshire

    1. Of course, in a sane world Elizabeth Hodgson is correct, however, our current world isn’t sane and ER are not an aid group. They are anarchists attempting to take control of the country and force everyone to conform to their world view.

      1. Indeed, that lawn was innocent of any environmental crime. Its most call to fame was Sir Isaac Newton having an apple fall on him while he was dozing on it. We may blame the apple (as did the writers of Genesis) and we may cut down the apple tree for cursing humanity with knowledge.

        Is the apple tree so guilty though? – all it did was to grow to provide nourishing fruit for passing animals.

        The anarchists remind me of Natalie Bennett, the Julia Gillard clone, who led the Green Party through a general election without mentioning the environment. She was a socialist, and I suspect the digging up the lawn more an act of class warfare than anything to do with saving the planet from humanity.

        1. …Its most call to fame was Sir Isaac Newton having an apple fall on him while he was dozing on it.

          This is the second time I’ve read that this week. Years ago I read that the apple tree was at Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire where Newton was staying at the time to escape from the plague.

          Woolsthorpe Manor – Newton’s Apple Tree

          1. You’re right! I have apple trees in my garden; it’s just conceivable that Newton may have sat under one of them, if only in spirit.

            Soon everyone with such a tree can sell indulgences, like medieval monasteries sold access to a blessed relic.

            I have an idea – “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” goes the old proverb. Surely then some enterprising dragon-baiter could translate that into Mandarin, and invite tourists, at a pound a head, to sit under the English apple tree, blessed by the Reverend Cox, as a cure for coronavirus?

            Might even pay for HS2.

          3. Correct, Korky! At least that was what I was told some years ago when I visited Woolsthorpe Manor.

  8. Morning again

    SIR – The Government has decreed that the manufacture of internal combustion engines will be discontinued by 2035, in favour of electric propulsion. While some cars with electric drivetrains are available now, no such devices seem to exist for heavy agricultural vehicles.

    Has any thought been given to our farmers, who rely on powerful tractors to meet the ever-increasing demand for food? How are they supposed to cultivate their fields? Even if an exemption were granted, the cost of diesel would spiral as a result of the decline in demand, leading inevitably to higher production costs.

    Even assuming the availability of electric tractors, how would they be recharged in fields that are often miles away from the farm? How long would it take to recharge? Who would bear the cost?

    Have our eco-warriors, in their eagerness to eliminate all sources of pollution, given any thought to where our food will come from? Surely they can’t be thinking of reintroducing the horse and the ox.

    Peter Lemkey

    Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire

      1. Yes. But instead of rubbishing environmentalism, it would be more helpful if real people, such as farmers, butchers, bakers and candlestick makers took it on and adopted it themselves. Husbandry and stewardship may be hopelessly long words for today’s woke and those so blinkered as to believe that you have to be woke to be liberal or Green, but these two virtues served civilisation well over millennia, and their abandonment is invariably catastrophic.

      2. As I’ve just commented:-

        Robert Spowart
        19 Feb 2020 7:40AM
        Peter Lemkey asks, “Have our eco-warriors, in their eagerness to eliminate all sources of pollution, given any thought to where our food will come from?”
        Does he not realise that “thought” is a totally alien concept to an Eco-warrior?

        Edit ()

        1. I heard one the XR activists on the radio yesterday, it is as if they all have some sort of autism or something.

    2. Good morning

      The Green activists need a short holiday in Mali or Southern Sudan /Congo or several parts of Southern Europe, minus their mobile phones and plastic water bottles.. Those snowflakes wouldn’t survive five minutes!

    3. More pertinently, has the government given any thought about what it’s going to do about the car industry in the rest of the world?

      They appear to be confusing the UK with the entire planet.

    4. Some of the eco-warriors believe we should all become hunter-gatherers. That’ll solve the farming issue.

    5. “how would they be recharged in fields that are often miles away”
      They would have to be changing magnetic fields of course so the tractors could be charged by electromagnetic induction.

    6. The problem is they think that nothing will change for them, but will change for the world. They simply haven’t the intelligence or wherewithall to appreciate the ecosystem they exist in.

    7. More pertinently, has the government given any thought about what it’s going to do about the car industry in the rest of the world?

      They appear to be confusing the UK with the entire planet.

      1. They are sufficiently arrogant to believe that where Britain leads the world will follow. A form of Blairomyopia.

        It has not been the case for a long time.

        1. The real world (outside of Europe) is laughing its proverbial off as it sits back and watches a competitor committing economic suicide.

    8. I assume they are really only talking about cars. There are no viable battery powered buses for most parts of the country as the range of those available is very limited and charging times are very long and the grid could not cope neither. The other problem is the huge extra costs which would make most routes non viable

  9. I called out Caroline Flack for her relationship with Harry Styles – and her anguished response shocked me. Rebecca Reid, 18 February 2020.

    I did not know Flack personally, but I had exchanged messages with her, after some tweets and a magazine article I wrote last year about her relationship with Harry Styles. In the piece, I criticised the fact that Styles wasn’t yet 18 when they started dating, following a throwaway comment she had made about there being “nothing wrong” with an age gap, while presenting Love Island. At the time I was righteous. Why shouldn’t I “call her out” for her relationship with a teenager?

    FFS!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2020/02/17/called-caroline-flack-relationship-harry-styles-anguished-response/

    2. When they had a relationship in 2011, Styles was 17 years old. He is therefore over the age of consent, and it is none of society’s business and none of my business if he wanted to enter into a mutually-consenting relationship with an older woman.

      The only issue is whether as Presented of ‘The X-Factor’ in 2010, Flack had a duty of care over Styles, a minor at the time, when he was a contestant ‘The X-tra Factor’ the following year. Most will remember another example of a popular and famous TV presenter taking advantage sexually with minors involved with their shows. In the case of Styles/Flack, I really do not think any harm was done to the minor by this encounter, and it may well have done him a lot of good.

      Rebecca Reid is therefore being malicious by suggesting that this is an abusive piece of child molestation, and may well be herself suspect of harassment with intent to cause the death by suicide of her victim. This is why she shouldn’t have “called her out”, but rather kept her counsel. Reid’s defence may well be that it was an injunction on her following a domestic incident that led her to suicide. However, malicious suggestions of child abuse are known to be extraordinarily harmful, since they bring up a taboo over which there is no defence – the effect of such a thing on the wellbeing of Sir Cliff Richard is well known. Less known is the priest who held the first mass I went to after deciding to become a Catholic, and a former regular on ‘Thought for the Day; was destroyed emotionally when he was caught up in the Downside Abbey scandal. Although he was found innocent, he never recovered.

      1. Greetings Jeremy, It’s almost as if Rebecca Reid wants to interject her misconceptions into the equation.

        What if Flack knew that Styles was over the age of consent? Doesn’t that make Rebecca Reid’s commentary non-sensical? And this nonsense RR writes about Flack’s “anguished response”. Rebecca, would it have been better if Flack gave you a “callous response”?

    3. If her affair with a 17yo is accepted, then why the hysteria over Prince Andrew’s liaison with a girl of the same age?

      2. Good question. Age of consent in some states is 18, I believe, hence she was considered a minor. Over in the UK, she wouldn’t.

  10. If only Tommy Robinson when young had gone into rap music, he could have won a Brit award, nobody would care about his past transgressions and would listen intensely to his every political observation like he was a fount of all political knowledge.
    He might have had to have a lot of sunbeds first though.

    1. Thank you for using ‘fount’ of all knowledge.
      Those who use ‘font’ are not thinking through the reason behind this expression.

  11. Caroline Flack last message released by her family to the EDP

    For a lot of people, being arrested for common assault is an extreme way to have some sort of spiritual awakening but for me it’s become the normal.
    I’ve been pressing the snooze button on many stresses in my life – for my whole life. I’ve accepted shame and toxic opinions on my life for over 10 years and yet told myself it’s all part of my job. No complaining.

    The problem with brushing things under the carpet is …. they are still there and one day someone is going to lift that carpet up and all you are going to feel is shame and embarrassment.

    On December the 12th 2019 I was arrested for common assault on my boyfriend …Within 24 hours my whole world and future was swept from under my feet and all the walls that I had taken so long to build around me, collapsed. I am suddenly on a different kind of stage and everyone is watching it happen.

    I have always taken responsibility for what happened that night. Even on the night. But the truth is …. It was an accident.
    I’ve been having some sort of emotional breakdown for a very long time.
    But I am NOT a domestic abuser. We had an argument and an accident happened. An accident. The blood that someone SOLD to a newspaper was MY blood and that was something very sad and very personal.
    The reason I am talking today is because my family can’t take anymore. I’ve lost my job. My home. My ability to speak. And the truth has been taken out of my hands and used as entertainment.
    I can’t spend every day hidden away being told not to say or speak to anyone.
    I’m so sorry to my family for what I have brought upon them and for what my friends have had to go through.
    I’m not thinking about ‘how I’m going to get my career back.’ I’m thinking about how I’m going to get mine and my family’s life back.
    I can’t say anymore than that.”

        1. It’s difficult.
          A dear friend killed herself 20+ years ago, and nobody saw it coming. She had a husband & two small children, too. Leaves you wondering what kind of a friend doesn’t see you struggling to keep it together. I still think of her almost daily, and tears are not far away when I do.

      2. The result of this deception
        Is very strange to tell
        For when I fool
        The people I fear
        I fool myself as well..

        ( Whistle a happy tune .. The King and I)

        Good morning OB.

    2. It seems that she flipped, same as Jeremy Clarkson did on that fateful night he lost his job by beating up a production assistant over a cold dinner. I saw the show whereby the show ratcheted up the stress on the poor old fellow to see how far they could wind him up. Whatever it was, Flack got to her snapping point, and it was boyfriend that got in the way.

      I don’t think she was a psychopath, but I do think her defence should have got a psychiatric report on her done to assess the ongoing risk to her boyfriend of another attack in response to her “flipping” again. If this were done in open court, with the evidence tested, then at least she would be made to understand why they had to keep the couple apart for the time being.

      If I am right, then she should have got a suspended sentence with an order to seek Anger Management treatment, probably a course of CBT and a decent counsellor, where she could talk out her suppressed frustrations over handling her job.

      There comes a limit to how much we can blame criminal behaviour onto difficult circumstances, and at what point everyone must take responsibility for what they do, recognise any problems and to deal with them without breaking the law too badly, often finding workrounds. A nice cup of tea, a long walk, and a moan about the state of the world either with a loved one, or online with like grumpy souls, does a lot to alleviate mental troubles.

    3. When considering what the Establishment has put Tommy Robinson through, the number of times he’s faced personal ruin, it’s amazing that he hasn’t completely flipped out.

      1. He is a traditional British male and has a spine that still functions. It was with men such as him that our flag flew in countries around the world. Those same men stopped a swastika flying across Europe and over the Houses of Parliament.

  13. Flooding and Climate Change

    The current flooding has no real connection with climate change. Our weather has always been unpredictable and e have always had very wet spells

    What is causing it in my view is an accumulation of things. Rivers have been straightened out and banks built up so the rivers are contained in quite narrow channels. WE have had nearly all the natural flood plains built on and these are the why rivers naturally deal with exceptional rainfall. Woodlands and shrub lands have been cleared to build houses further add into the problem. The house themselves are built on land that would have absorbed the rain but that rain now has to run off into the rivers. Quite often when builders build house they fill in the small streams which further adds to the problem. Rivers are no longer maintained so yet another problem

    The real problem is the UK has to large a population and we are now paying the price of that. What can you do about the problem? Not a lot. You would have to build new waterways to the sea or put the flood plains back in . Neither are really viable. Building the banks up further does not work as they have found as areas that flooded before had the banks built up and it again topped up and went over the banks causing more severe flooding

    1. When you pave over large areas of England to accommodate a population increase of 20 Million, you tend to get run-off.

      1. Plans exist to provide tens of thousands of new homes on farmland near my home town. One argument against the development is where is the run-off to be directed. The nearest ‘river’, Roman River, is no longer worthy of the description river, both at that location and for miles as it flows towards the sea. The other river is some miles away and drains its own valley and fields and doubts exist as to its ability to take the extra flow.

  14. Diane Abbott on the new immigration plans:

    The Shadow Home Secretary said: “This is dog whistle politics, with no real concerns for society and the economy.

    “The low employment salary threshold will make it very difficult to recruit people like social care workers and without social care workers from the EU, social care in London and the other big cities will collapse.”

    Labour’s policy of ‘open door’ immigration to import a new Labour voting electorate appears to be under threat by these plans. However, reading what the Government says is important. The wording from the government is carefully crafted.

    “We will attract the brightest and the best from around the globe, boosting the economy and our communities, and unleash this country’s full potential.”

    Under the new system, foreign nationals applying to come to the UK for work purposes will have to meet a strict set of criteria.

    The document that announced the move said it would “reduce overall levels of migration”.

    The question that must be asked is, “What about the numbers who will be allowed to come here who will not be coming for work purposes?” Hearing what Priti Patel had to say on Nick Ferrari’s programme this morning re asylum seekers, refugees and people under threat etc – these numbers will NOT be affected – I suspect that Abbott doesn’t have too many worries.

    2. The thing that stood out most to me about these new rules were that anyone can still come into the United Kingdom for a holiday for 6 months without any reported barriers to entry. We have all read the stories of people getting into the country by boats or hidden in lorries. Some are processed, and then join the others as they disappear into the black economy. They are never heard from again until they are caught committing crimes or attacking the public shouting about Alan’s Snackbar. Getting into the country in the first place is their goal.

      It is past time that Boris increased our Border Patrol boats beyond the 3 that we have and began towing all landing craft, or refugee boats, back to Europe. These invaders have managed to wander through several European countries without coming to any harm, so there cannot be any human rights reasons not to take them back to France.

      1. I agree. The figures will give the lie to the charade that Johnson and Patel are attempting to act out.

  15. West is turning a blind eye to Putin’s crimes. Roger Boyes. 18 February 2020.

    Western policymakers, in Europe and the US, are taking advantage of the moment and are plotting to reset the relationship with Moscow. Putin may not suddenly emerge as Mr Nice Guy — that would be beyond even our capacity for selective amnesia — but my betting is that by the end of the year he will be accepted as an indispensable partner, a devil-we-know.

    They are? Well they invented most of them so it should present no real difficulty!

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/west-is-turning-a-blind-eye-to-putins-crimes-kg0dsk3nd

    1. Most realise that Putin is not exactly Mr. Feely-Touchy.
      I would suggest to the Times that we have enough to worry about in Blighty before we try to re-arrange Russia to our liking.
      As a thought, how many Russian police stand around in rainbow outfits allowing XR to trash the lawns of SPSU?

  16. Harry and Meghan to be barred from using ‘Sussex Royal’ brand

    Well they cannot expect to be able to trade commercially using that as a brand

    The Duke and Duchess of Sussex face being banned from using their self-anointed ‘Sussex Royal’ label after stepping down as senior royals, it emerged last night.
    It is no longer appropriate for the couple, who have relocated to North America with their son Archie, to continue using the term ‘royal’ in their branding, the Queen and senior officials are expected to conclude.

    2. That poor half caste baby, no cuddles from his cousins , aunts , uncles , no billing and cooing , no warmth or sense of belonging.

      Are the besotted pair fit parents , or are they just celebrity chavs?

      Morning Bill

      1. Good morning Belle. They are the latter. But don’t worry, he’ll get plenty of attention, albeit sycophantic, from fellow slebs. Until either he stops being cute or his parents lose their sleb status when they are no longer of any use to other slebs, whichever comes first.

      3. It’s difficult when you live away from family. We used to send home videos to grandparents monthly, so they could keep in touch, and weekly or more phone calls, but it’s not the same. Difficult for them to play & hug.

    2. Does anyone else find themselves becoming even more cynical when they compare the current inaction of Cambridge Police with the way they steamrollered into a pub mob handed to force a group of Luton football fans out of the town simply because their number included Tommy Robinson?

  18. NAG, NAG and NAG

    An attorney arrived home late, after a very tough day trying to get a stay of execution. His last-minute plea for clemency to the governor had failed and he was feeling worn out and depressed.

    As soon as he walked through the door at home, his wife started on him about, ‘What time of night to be getting home is this? Where have you been? Dinner is cold and I’m not reheating it’. And on and on and on.

    Too shattered to play his usual role in this familiar ritual, he poured himself a shot of whiskey and headed off for a long hot soak in the bathtub, pursued by the predictable sarcastic remarks as he dragged himself up the stairs.

    While he was in the bath, the phone rang. The wife answered and was told that her husband’s client, James Wright, had been granted a stay of execution after all. Wright would not be hanged tonight.

    Finally realizing what a terrible day he must have had, she decided to go upstairs and give him the good news. As she opened the bathroom door, she was greeted by the sight of her
    husband, bent over naked, drying his legs and feet.

    ‘They’re not hanging Wright tonight,’ she said.

    He whirled around and screamed, ‘FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WOMAN, DON’T YOU EVER STOP?’

  19. The Brit awards are so political .. the BBC are gushing ..

    All about EEEEEqualiddy … and Raaaaacism .. and protest..

    Tell them all to bugger orf to Chicago , Jamaica, Northern Nigeria, Southern Sudan , Uganda and other parts of Southern Africa .. The blacks in Britain are getting too uppity , they don’t know nuffink … they don’t know nuffink about their black cousins , sisters and brothers… tribalism… and murderous regimes..

      1. The only reason that I know that this rapper exists is that they showed him on the news making his tiny minded, virtue-signalling little speech. After 4 seconds I switched over the channel thinking “Who was that mouthy little git?”

        1. What makes it so unbearable is if you or any one else complain about the obvious fraudulent content and the whole misinformed
          notion connected to the whole pile of nonsense.
          A person would be castigated as racist.
          Simply because they don’t like it, or have no interest in such garbage.

      2. I didn’t , just watching the news just now.. felt the need to flick a switch , which I have just done ..

        Morning Anne .

        I feel a bit edgy just now because one of my dogs has just come in from the garden and had a fit, legs shaking and trembling .. He is a very fit lithe dog normally, has he been eating discarded birdseed.. don’t know… sugar balance askew ?… I gave him some honey , and he recovered in about five minutes .. very odd .

  20. Morning all.
    I don’t actually have a lot of faith in any form of British government. It usually goes pear shape pretty quickly.
    However i do hope this one sticks to its word on immigration.
    I listened to a feature about one of many schools in the Midlands where the head was going to resign. His reason for this was the school could not longer afford to pay his salary along with the growing expenses incurred.
    He spoke of the problem with more than 50% of pupils not speaking English as a first language. Also the local council not being able to finance the education system. This will continue to happen when people are allowed to turn up on our shores uninvited have no prospect of work, pay no council tax and live entirely off the UK taxpayer. This stupidity has to stop, now !

    1. Morning RE,
      316462+up✔,
      The best of the worst has surely,surely run it’s course, as for party before Country we have seen the consequences of that, all we have to do now is accept that we have seen the consequences & admit they are out & out sh!te.
      People power in the polling booth used in a common sense fashion CAN be a
      power for good also, it really should be tried.

    2. Funny isn’t it , how many areas of the country have to follow strict recycling our rubbish rules, a bin for this , a bin for that … We have five different colour bins .. the rules are strict and if the wrong stuff goes into the wrong bin, the rubbish is not removed , and a strict note is stuck on the bin, the same at our very efficient recycling depot, 6 miles away … all clean and tickety boo.

      Yet witness the chaos when illegals or recently arrived migrants who have not been inducted properly , start doing their cooking in stainless steel sinks or do not have the ability to use a bathroom properly and subsequently who cause havoc for the buy to let landlords who allow local councils to use their properties to house the homeless/ migrants / single youngsters etc .

      Britain has created a hoist for it’s own petard.. British governments have learned nothing whatsoever.

      1. I totally agree TB.
        BUT……in most cases new arrivals have no intention of blending in with the long established culture and social structure. But spend as much time as possible trying to undermine it.
        If the millions of snowflakes actually realised exactly how much of their hard earned salaries and wages went towards supporting immigration and it’s on going effects. Perhaps they might have a rethink.
        Considering that for doing absolutely nothing more than stepping ashore. Individual migrants can receive up to 4 times the amount of the basic state pension. After working all their lives, it’s no wonder that average Brits are more than a tad angry.

    3. And pupils (NOT students) are kept on at school for at least three years beyond the time most them would derive any benefit.

      2. And they could/should supply much of the unskilled labour which we will be (allegedly) short of, once we tighten up on unskilled Eastern Europeans just coming in without a job offer.

  21. No visas for low-skilled workers, government says

    Low-skilled workers would not get visas under post-Brexit immigration plans unveiled by the government.
    It is urging employers to “move away” from relying on “cheap labour” from Europe and invest in retaining staff and developing automation technology.
    The Home Office said EU and non-EU citizens coming to the UK would be treated equally after UK-EU free movement ends on 31 December.
    Labour said the “hostile environment” will make it hard to attract workers.
    But Home Secretary Priti Patel said the new system was about bringing “the brightest and the best” to the UK.
    She told BBC Breakfast the government wants to “encourage people with the right talent” and “reduce the levels of people coming to the UK with low skills”.
    She added that the system would “make sure that we have a high-skilled, highly trained and highly productive economy in the future”.

    1. BJ,
      316462+up✔,
      Surely this priti character along with the rest of these servants of the peoples
      should be going ALL OUT in regards to
      OUR brightest & best in the form of
      proper trade apprenticeships.

      1. They are trying to do that but currently companies are resisting that. They have 10 month od though to start changing their ways as the unlimited suply of cheap Labour will dry up next year

    2. What about fruit pickers and field hands? Do they have to have a Degree before being allowed in the cabbage patch?

      1. They would have time limited visas.
        The fruit farm near us has many Romanian staff; they arrive in March and go home in October. They live during that time in ginormous caravans.

    1. Many figures show the UK as having achieve a larger per ca pita reduction in CO2 than Sweden

  23. The Syrian crisis can’t be solved by the West. Spiked. Tim Black. 19 February 2020.

    Following on from the establishment of a ‘de-escalation’ zone in Idlib – one of four similar zones in Syria – in 2017, the following year Turkey and Russia reached a further agreement to establish a demilitarised buffer zone in Idlib, to be policed by Turkish and Russian forces. In theory, this agreement was meant to help reduce the fighting between government forces and assorted rebel forces. In practice, not only did intermittent fighting between all sides persist, but Idlib started to serve as a refuge, not just for hundreds of thousands of internal refugees, but for rebel militias, too.

    Oh God. You shouldn’t have added that last bit Tim. You are supposed to pretend that Idlib is populated by small children with more hospitals than the NHS. It is a singular fact that in all the video and photographs from within Jihadi territory not a single soldier appears.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/02/19/the-syrian-crisis-cant-be-solved-by-the-west/

  25. Why we need more than speeches about the problem of whiteness. Wed 19 Feb 2020.

    The admission stands in contrast to wider discussions of racism within our society, especially in the broadcast media – typically with bullish white presenters grilling a black or brown expert on racism on the veracity of their statements. This is a power play intended to portray the very existence of racial discrimination as something to be “debated”, rather than believing the experiences of people of colour.

    I must have missed those programmes. Lol!

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/19/speeches-whiteness-joaquin-phoenix-archbishop-canterbury

    *Myriam François is a journalist and research associate at the Centre of Islamic Studies, Soas University of London

  26. Look at me,look at meeeeeeeeeeeeee

    “As a goth during my teenage years, every person who shouted at me,

    ‘When’s Halloween?’, made me feel that bit more validated, that bit more

    special and different. If asked why I was dressed as I was, I would

    have explained that prancing about in layers of black velvet wasn’t a

    choice; it was a fundamental expression of my identity, integral to my

    sense of self. Naturally, I would have explained that, more than

    anything, I didn’t want to be stared at. But deep down I thrived on the

    attention. No one flounces about in a velvet cape in July if he or she

    doesn’t want a bit of an audience.”

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/02/18/stop-humouring-the-trans-lobby/
    Spiked on Trannies

    1. Was the poor chap trying to steal the car – and if he was would the police have been interested and done anything about it?

      The events at Cambridge show why the police have lost all respect and are held in contempt.

      1. British Law is the law of the infidel and can be ignored when there are no consequences. The laws of any nation mean nothing next to Sharia law. This is what the serious follower of islam truly believes. This can clearly be seen in the sexual abuse of our schoolgirls.

      2. Bugger All on the Al-Beeb
        Now imagine a Moslem set upon by a white mob,badly beaten,his vehicle destroyed……………
        Headlines for days

      3. Reminds me of a ‘repo-man’ TV episode, where a Muslim car dealer was having a car repossessed by bailiffs. He didn’t like it so he called his mates who arrived en masse and threatened the bailiffs, who promptly called the police. Amazingly the car dealer dealer eventually found the money he owed and paid it over.

        1. My wife once worked at a local college where there was an altercation between two students the Asian boy used his mobile and with in ten minutes 6 cabs arrived the drivers started to threatern the white lad some with base ball bats. The police station at (now a residential block) the time was yards away not one of them turned out to sort it out. One of the female admin staff sorted it all out and sent the thugs on their way. But it just shows you what is out there.

  28. 316462+up✔,
    This priti person say it is not the end of the polish builder
    then it had BETTER BE the start of apprenticeships, that is proper apprenticeships not govn. training schemes, for
    OUR indigenous youth, NOW.

    1. My Polish friends assure me that tradesmen in Poland are now more expensive than their English equivalents.

      1. Afternoon T,
        316462+up✔s,
        I worked on a contract in Poland when there was a Russian behind every tree, construction, pipework, PVC plant.
        Their pipework in regards to the approach to radiators (heating)
        had a very obvious wandering look, but understandable seeing the pevo consumption.

    1. 4. Await arrest for use of excessive force.
      Morning, Grizz. I agree, a robust response is useful, just not sure how popular amongst those who seem to prefer to aid lawlessness rather than prevent it – ref Cambs just now.

      1. And the muggers (sorry, Grizz!) will make a point of picking on people who can’t defend themselves.

      2. Here’s one that works well Obs.
        Turn sideways (Spinning on the ball of your foot) and bring the outside of your footwear down the shin stamping the foot of the person attempting to rob you, as they bend over in agony bring the knee up in their face. And breath then walk on.
        It worked for me once.

        1. Grab them as they lunge at you, and keep it going. As they are off-balance, easy to knock down using violence, then stand on their hand. Or, as Firstborn did, keep the lunge going until the face hits the wall beside you, nose first with a soggy snap.

      3. Well, Paul, if you prefer to be a poof and let twats like that rob you, then you’re not made of the same stuff as I am.

  30. Liberal Democrats ‘to expel ex-leader David Steel’ over his failure to pass on suspicions about paedophile MP Cyril Smith

    Former Liberal leader Lord Steel faces expulsion from his party over his failure to pass on his suspicions about paedophile MP Cyril Smith.
    He is set to be the first politician singled out for censure by the national child sex abuse inquiry, it was reported last night.
    The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) is set to publish its conclusions next week.

  31. UK’s cash system ‘will collapse without new laws’

    You cannot turn the clock back with legislation. If people choose not to use cash than that’s what happens. You eventually gets to the point where cash just becomes to expensive

    1. Apart from carboot sales and small purchases, eg in charity shops or greengrocers, I cannot think of any need to carry much cash. Banknotes are now mainly used by BAMEs and drug dealers. If the US govt were at all serious about organised crime, they would simply re-design the dollar bill. (which would lead to withdrawn dollars being pushed into bank accounts…)

    1. There was a recent Murdoch Mysteries episode involving a campaign led by POC to return black former slaves to Africa from Canada. Strangely, I couldn’t find anything on the internet about whether that actually happened or not.

        2. “Person of Colour,” now the required description for non-white people. Calling them “coloured people” is verboten, according to the AAACP (American Association for the Advancement of Coloured People)….

          1. Then I must be referred to as a POP – Person of Pink. I only go white when scared, therefore Islamophobia may be applied but not homophobia (I’m nor scared of mankind) nor transphobia as I’m not afraid of moving from one place to another.

    2. GV — “The N_zis were this close to annihilating troops at Dunkirk. I wish I had been there to help them.”
      SK — “Me too!!”

    4. “This is how many Christians, Jews, Hindus and Sikhs will be left by the time that we are finished.”

      With Khan adding: “Don’t forget the Buddhists, Wiccans, Druids and Atheists. They are going into the camps as well!”

      People of like minds can have such fun when they get together.

  34. More problems for Boeing

    It clearly means that checks will have to be made of all 737 Max plans and possibly all Boeing planes

    Boeing’s crisis-hit 737 Max jetliner faces a new potential safety issue as debris has been found in the fuel tanks of several new planes which were in storage, awaiting delivery to airlines.
    The head of Boeing’s 737 programme has told employees that the discovery was “absolutely unacceptable”.
    A Boeing spokesman said the company did not see the issue further delaying the jet’s return to service.
    It comes as the 737 Max remains grounded after two fatal crashes.
    The US plane maker said it discovered so-called “Foreign Object Debris” left inside the wing fuel tanks of several undelivered 737 Maxs.
    A company spokesman told the BBC: “While conducting maintenance we discovered Foreign Object Debris (FOD) in undelivered 737 Max airplanes currently in storage. That finding led to a robust internal investigation and immediate corrective actions in our production system.”
    Foreign Object Debris is a technical term that covers any substance, debris or article that isn’t part of a plane which would potentially cause damage.

  35. I’m Shocked,Shocked I tell you…………..

    “Telegraph = Foreign aid corruption paper causes storm at World Bank
    It comes as chief economist quits the institution to return to academia.
    A
    study into large-scale corruption and international aid has finally
    come to light following reports that its suppression led to the World
    Bank losing its chief economist.

    The paper, commissioned by the
    Bank and written by one of its own economists along with two academics,
    found that as much as one-sixth of all international aid sent to the
    most impoverished countries in the world ends up in tax havens,
    indicating the potential scale of corrupt officials pilfering donations.”
    Shocked they think it’s that little of course

    1. Steady on. It was also reported that much of the world’s money ends up in banks.
      Developing countries earn revenue from exports, and many exporters need to keep money abroad to purchase goods and services.

    1. Good God above. What on earth’s that all about. No, don’t tell me – this country’s gone mad.

    2. I though the police were claiming to be short of resource? It appears though they have a surplus

      There are at least 2 officers there waiting there time. I am sure the police are wasting at least 25% of their time. That would be a lot more resource if that waste is cut out

    4. Something wrong with that bloke on the right, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Is it a fancy dress party?

      Something wrong with the other two virtue-signalling tossers too.

    1. I think I must have been been the most beaten boy in my years at Blundell’s. Not only was I beaten by the headmaster and my housemaster, I was also beaten by the monitors.

      It was not my back but my bottom which always seemed to be adorned with scarlet, purple and blue stripes. On one occasion, after have received six of the best from a monitor who was the Devon Junior Squash champion, captain of both rugby and cricket and the School Javelin record holder, my posterior was so spectacular that boys from other houses came to School House during communal bath time after games to get a sighting.

      1. Sounds like sadism. The late Roald Dahl recalled that his headmaster was a brute who was eventually appointed as Bishop of London.

        2. Corporal punishment is always sadism. It gives pleasure to the perpetrator and on occasion also to the spectators.

      2. It was child abuse, Rastus. You may think it didn’t damage you, but would you have wanted your sons treated in that way? My husband was scarred for life by his experience at school. It’s one thing that has, hopefully, changed for the better.

    1. As someone commented elsewhere, the proportion of suicides by hanging increased from 20% to nearly 60% after OTC access to painkillers was restricted. Ironically, in an attempt to decrease the available methods for suicides, an unfortunate consequence has been to increase the success rate since hanging is almost 100% effective, unlike overdoses.

  42. I might be wrong but the picture on the letters page shows ‘a farmer ploughing a field with a tractor’ – it doesn’t look like it’s ploughing to me. Anyone care to give their opinion?

    1. It’s an Alamy stock picture, which is described as ‘a tractor ploughing a field’. However, the earth is already piled into rows, so it’s more likely to be preparing for sowing with a crop such as potatoes or sugar beet. Unsurprisingly, it’s called ‘row cropping’.

    2. Good morning all. Correct Alec, the tractor appears to be compacting/flattening the soil rather than turning it over. The nottler farming expert withdrew last year, so someone else will have to comment. At a guess, it’s something to do with spuds.

    3. TP/PT made a comment regarding that and the consensus appears to be that it’s banking up potato haulms.

    2. A brave lady. I would think worse than having to dig the new borns out of the snowdrifts we used to get.

  44. UK immigration plans ‘devastating’ for Scotland, says Sturgeon

    Why will it be devastating to Scotland to not have endless unskilled and in some cases no English speaking migrants coming to Scotland?

    Economic growth is currently low so why the need for endless migrants

    Nicola Sturgeon

    @NicolaSturgeon

    It is impossible to overstate how devastating this UK gov policy will be for Scotland’s economy. Our demographics mean we need to keep attracting people here – this makes it so much harder. Getting power over migration in
    @ScotParl
    is now a necessity for our future prosperity.

    1. It has been devastating to the English for a long time, trying to understand what Scottish speakers at call centres are saying.
      Does she realise how many will lose their jobs if Scotland becomes independent ?

    3. She makes it up as she goes along. All of her diatribe is based on getting one over on the neighbours, aka tribalism.
      If Scotland want more migrants there are plenty in England she can encourage to her neck of the woods. But I very much doubt that would help her waning popularity.

      1. England would be quite happy to encourage them to go to Scotland. How many does she want ?

    4. She can piss off, we don’t want or need them. Get those who are capable of work off their backsides and benefits

    5. Getting the SNP out of @ScotParl is even more a necessity for any future prosperity in Scotland.

    6. Try implementing some of Victor Orban’s policies to boost native birth rates instead of relying on asset-stripping other countries.

    7. My guess is that around one quarter of the people currently residing in Scotland are non-natives.
      NB. The Scottish Government whether Lib/Lab//Con/SNP describes anyone here as Scottish unless they were born in the EU, even then…

  45. Mexican doctor is arrested in Florida for ‘acting as a Russian spy’ after he ‘snuck into a condo to try and confront a confidential US government source’. Mail 19 February 2020

    The doctor made routine trips to Russia to meet with the official and get his next assignments.

    On February 14, a security guard noted that a rental car belonging to Fuentes was tailing a car to gain access to a Miami building premises.

    A U.S. government source was residing in the area and a woman – said to be legally married to Fuentes – snapped a photo of the source’s license plate.

    Fuentes and his travel companion arrived at the Miami International Airport on February 16, in hopes on making a flight back to Mexico City.

    It’s difficult to decide after reading this drivel who is the bigger idiot here, the writer, the supposed spy or the moron who thought it up!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8018709/Mexican-doctor-arrested-Florida-discovered-Russian-spy.html#comments

  46. Last century, walking and bird watching in the upland districts on the English Scottish Border, giant ‘reels’ of large diameter plastic tubing – blue and or yellow – waiting to be buried in the wide spaces of sheep and cattle grazing, were a common sight. Land drainage combined with chemical inputs received a high priority as livestock production was boosted. The consequences are with us today.

    In another recollection, I watched housing been built in north Kent on land that regularly flooded in winter time. There is even more now.

    1. The photo I posted yesterday of the large puddle is of a field where lots of blue drainage tubing was put in a few years ago in order to prevent the appearance of the big puddle.

    1. “I wouldn’t be leaving except for the fact [the NT] have decided they wanted to have everything barcoded,” she said.

      “I think in a Victorian shop that is so wrong.”

      I would also like to have seen her described as a manageress. Manager is and always has been, a bloke.

      1. I doubt that in that time the term manager or manageress would have been used, At a guess I would say she would have been a shopkeeper

          1. Yes but as she is so keen for the shop to be a 100% authentic she would not be a manager. The sweet jars also would not have plastic lids in fact the jars may even be plastic hard to tell. The shape of the jars is not in keeping with that period neither nor are many of the sweets

      1. Large sweet jars (the same as those i your photograph) had plastic lids in the 1950s. I know that for a fact because my mother had two in which she stored pickled onions and pickled red cabbage.

        I inherited one and used it for years until I dropped it!

        1. I’ve got a couple that I used to use for sloe gin, but I’ve not made any for a few years.

          Still got a bottle at the back of the drink cupboard.

        2. Bakerlite lids.
          Modern sweet jars have the same look but are now plastic with a lighter plastic lid.
          Quite useful for storing things like birdseed etc.

          2. That’s nothing. Last night on PM, Evan Davies said that a wine glass wasn’t plastic, it was made of polycarbonate.

  49. Rising inflation plus falling rates equals sad savers

    In my view it is not sensible to have such a vast difference between mortgage rates and savers rates. Typical mortgages rates can be 3.8% . Typical savers rates 0.7%

    In the past savers rates used to be typically 0.5% to 1% below mortgage rates indicating that savers rates ought to be about 2.8%

      1. I do. That’s why I try to ensure I never spend more on a credit card than I can afford to pay back.

        1. It’s a mugs game running up debt on a credit card. Plenty do though.

          How the banks are allowed to get away with the extortionate interest rates they charge who knows. A fair rate in my view would be no more than 10%. It is not even really unsecured debt and they tend to only give credit cards to those that they have a good credit history record on. It is not like pay day loin banking where they lend to almost anyone

          At a 20% interest rate the banks must be having incredibly large amounts of bad debt to jusitfy it

        2. I won’t even have a credit card and monitor debit card spending on an account spreadsheet that allows an expenditure analysis.

  50. New bid to allow night-time prayers at Kurdish Centre in Ipswich

    Leaders of the new Kurdish Centre in the former Mulberry Tree pub on Woodbridge Road in Ipswich have applied to remove opening restrictions to allow members to meet for prayers.

    At present the centre can only be open between 10am and 10pm each day – but that restricts use of a new prayer room.

  51. XR planning meetings scheduled for 10am

    The group is apparently set to have their morning meeting to discuss today’s plans at 10 am. The group have said they will target transport infrastructure today, how that will happen we don’t know yet, but seeing as the planning meeting doesn’t start toll 10am your bus journey in today will hopefully be not disrupted.

  52. The Extinction Rebellion protesters police have charged with criminal damage

    Police have named the protesters charged with criminal damage at Trinity College and the Schlumberger building

    Six of the seven Extinction Rebellion protesters arrested yesterday have been charged with criminal damage offences.

    All six have been released on police bail, and will appear before Magistrates Court on March 30.

    The three who have been charged with damaging the grounds at Trinity College are all from Norfolk.

    They are Caitlin Fay, 19, of Tudor Rose Way, Harleston, Norfolk; Gilbert Murray, 62, of Hawthorne Avenue, Norwich; and Gabriella Ditton, 26, of Violet Road, Norwich.

    Three more have been charged after the protest at the Schlumberger building yesterday.

    illy Porter, 21, of King’s Parade, Cambridge, who has been charged with two counts of criminal damage.

    While Annie Hoyle, 26, of Windsor Road, Cambridge, and Donald Bell, 64, of Bliss Way, Cambridge, have each been charged with obstructing a constable in the execution of their duty and criminal damage relating to the incident at the Schlumberger building.
    A 53-year-old woman from Bury St. Edmunds who was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage relating to the Schlumberger building has been released under investigation.

    2. Since we have all their addresses, Bill, it might be a good idea to picket their roads and cause them a little inconvenience.

        1. Looked up both the streets., One is quit long road of nice 1940/59 Terraced and semi detached all of a similar design the other was a short cul de sac of what looks to be modern council flats or maisonettes

      2. I would bet that if you visited the street you would find they have gas central heating and lots of plastic containers etc and one or two cars parked outside

        THey have only given the street not the house number

    3. Interesting to note that several of those arrested are from Norfolk and Norwich. There are a quantity of eco-loons operating in various departments of the University of East Anglia all tied to the fake climate science mob exposed a few years ago.

      Pound to a penny that these XR cretins are part of the same group.

  53. NICOLA STURGEON: “CALLING ME WEE JIMMY KRANKIE IS ABUSE

    NICOLA STURGEON has accused Boris Johnson of abuse after the Prime Minister allegedly called the First Minister “that Wee Jimmy Krankie woman”.

    The Scottish First Minister said she hadn’t heard of the nickname before but claimed the alleged remark is “meant as a term of abuse”.

    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1243308/Nicola-sturgeon-news-jimmy-krankie-boris-johnson-me-too-movement

    Calm down, woman! I’m sure no abuse was intended. Clearly, impressed by your charm and comeliness, Boris just meant that he thought you were ‘FAN-DABI-DOZI’.

    2. Once again, politicians in their bubble. She HASN’T heard her nickname before? She must be the only one…

    3. Afternoon DM,
      316462+up✔s,
      The johnson chap should tell her to “grow up” then she can be called
      ……………….. Lankeycrankie.

    4. I gather the genuine Wee Krankie Woman was very attractive to the opposite sex.
      So it’s a compliment.

        1. Good question.
          I understood it to be in her guise as female woman, rather than a Scottish Jimmy Clitheroe.

      2. Why does she want loads of unskilled migrants. All the research suggest that most unskilled jobs are likely to disappear. Exact timescales are difficult to predict but likely with in the next 10 years. Warehouse jobs will disappear as will call centers and checkout operates jobs will go as will a lot of manufacturing jobs as more automation comes in. Crop picking is another area where jobs will go

        A lot of legal jobs will go. Computers are better lot case history than lawyers. Newspaper jobs will go as reporters are replace by computers. A lot of TV and radio presenter jobs will go as well

  54. This from the BBC News website: “The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) stood at 1.8% last month, up from 1.3% in December, the Office for National Statistics said.” Barely literate – no wonder so many of us rail against the licence fee.

    1. these figures mean nothing in themselves. They have to be sensibly interpreted in context of everything else that is going on. That never seems to happen.

      1. Thanks Bob. Naggers is being a most wonderful help. Ceremonial ‘one last dram for the road’ with Ian & Ollie last night. Bottle of Laphroaig 10 year old not to be opened until safely arrived with kit at ‘new’ cottage. Spoilsports. .

    4. Clearly a member of the “Cambridgeshire Police Farce”

      They have become a total laughing stock

    6. Note the name badge attached with Velcro. Easy to remove and replace with “Superintendent Jane Sutherland” as required.

    10. Morning Anne. That this is a Superintendent tells you all you need to know about the Police!

        1. He ought to be happy considering what he is paid – I nearly typed ‘earned’ – for looking and acting as a prat.

        2. Please aware that committing minor criminal offences in Cambridgeshire is now regarded as legal provided you identify yourself as a protester

          1. Before not too long it will be major criminal offences. Too many people, eh? Just dispose of white man *’in the fastest way possible’. And the police will stand back, because X-R are viewed as a progressive mob and they will be scared to interfere.

            i.e. *shoot

        3. Morning Anne,
          316462+up✔s,
          I am beginning to view
          handcuffs now as in a different light, along
          with whips & masks.

    11. It beats me why they bend over and kowtow to a tiny minority while disaffecting the (I hope) majority .

      1. Precisely that. Common Purpose in action. Support for a minority undermines the majority. It is part of the deconstruction.

    1. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pAs_w3q5nSk
      REPORTS OF TOTAL CHAOS ON DIAMOND PRINCESS AMONG JAPAN HEALTH WORKERS
      “There is total chaos on board the Diamond Princess below deck among health care workers in Yokohama Japan and that the quarantine is not working to protect the cruise ship passengers, crew or even the health workers a doctor from Kobe Japan reports. The ship has been in quarantine for 12 days and the number of cases keeps rising. The doctor noted that basic quarantine procedures are not being followed and he believes that coworkers off of the ship along with immediate family members are a risk of becoming ill. “

  59. And the MRD award today goes to the head of the EA.

    “SIR – The Environment Agency’s dedication to protecting the nation from flooding is clear. We are on track to protect 300,000 properties better by March next year.
    Your report (“Don’t expect to be protected from flooding, agency warns”, February 18) ignores the efforts of our staff, who have worked round the clock to protect over 85,000 properties from severe weather this winter. We have over 1,000 staff responding to Storm Dennis.
    We have seen two storms in as many weeks, both leading to record-breaking river levels, and resulting in hundreds of flooded homes. The nature of extreme weather like this means that flood defences cannot prevent flooding everywhere, all of the time. It is likely that we will see similar events, in more places across the country, due to climate change.
    We need to build climate resilience into everything we do, whether by avoiding inappropriate development on floodplains, working with nature to slow the flow of water or building homes, businesses and infrastructure to be more flood-resilient.
    Our long-term strategy, developed with communities and leaders in flood and coastal risk management, addresses these challenges. Key to this is levelling up resilience to flooding and coastal change across the country.

    You mention that concerns have been raised about our approach to dredging. We will always dredge where necessary – but with rainfall of the kind we have seen, it would do little to protect homes and businesses. Our hearts go out to all those affected by the flooding, and we will continue to do all we can to keep people safe.

    Emma Howard Boyd
    Chairman, Environment Agency
    Bristol ”

    As far as the last paragraph is concerned I would point out to her that the Somerset Levels managed very well this year after being properly dredged and maintained since the 2013/14 fiasco.

    Daft wazzock as we say here.

    2. An article in the Telegraph today includes this quote from Johnson:

      “In a victory speech following his general election victory, Mr
      Johnson pledged to implement “the most far-reaching environmental
      programme” in UK history.
      He said: “You the people of this country voted to be carbon-neutral. And we’ll do it.”

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/02/18/failed-rail-electrification-threatens-johnsons-green-ambitions/

      NO We DID NOT, we voted not to have a Communist government, prat features…

      1. Agreed, Jodie, I certainly don’t remember voting for carbon-neutral as it’s a scam, continually promoted by the gullible and the paid for scammers.

    3. “We have seen two storms in as many weeks, both leading to record-breaking river levels…” Measured from the bottom of un-dredged rivers?

      Emma Howard Boyd’s CV: “She has worked in financial services for over 25 years, in corporate finance and fund management. As Director of Stewardship at Jupiter Asset Management until July 2014, Emma was integral to the development of their expertise in the corporate governance and sustainability field.”

      Is it not reasonable to expect the head of the EA to have a relevant qualification in, say, agriculture, hydrology or land management?

    1. I thought that I was reading about a tragic accident there with a family wiped out in a crash, then I read the story. What sort of sick SOB burns his own children to death on purpose?

      “Rowan Baxter: Ex-rugby player, wife and three children die in ‘horrific’ car fire. An ex-rugby league player, his wife and their three children have died after their car was allegedly set alight in the Australian city of Brisbane. Rowan Baxter and the children, all under 10, were found dead in the car by emergency responders, police said.

      Hannah Baxter, aged 31, died later in hospital from extensive burns. She had reportedly jumped from the car yelling: “He’s poured petrol on me”.

      “It’s a horrific scene,” Det Insp Mark Thompson told reporters. “It is very early in the investigation, but the vehicle was fully involved in fire upon police arriving.” Police were first called to the scene at 08:30 local time on Wednesday (21:30 GMT on Tuesday). They found Rowan Baxter, 42, and his three children aged six, four and three dead in the car. Rowan Baxter had been in the front passenger seat and Hannah Baxter had been driving the car, police said.”

      It is bad enough to get to the point of killing yourself, but to take out your whole family as well by burning them… It would have been better for the human race if this “man” had suffered a horrific accident himself on the day before.

      1. Unbelievably cruel. He deserves his place in hell.
        And why on earth should anyone reading about this need “counselling”? The world has truly gone mad.

      2. I read that earlier today, I could hardly believe it, what a terrible thing to do. His wife and children were beautiful.

      4. I read that about an hour ago when I came home – absolutely horrific. The wife lived just long enough to tell them what he’d done.

  62. WILL THE MODS OF THIS FORUM PLEASE DO A BETTER JOB OF MONITORING WHO IS ALLOWED IN HERE PLEASE?

    WE HAVE A NEW MEMBER, A MATURE WOMAN. SHE’S BEEN PRIVATELY MESSAGING MEMBERS, SENDING THEM NAKED PICTURES OF HERSELF IN NASTY POSES ALONG WITH CLOSE-UPS OF HER UNMENTIONABLES.

    SHE IS OFFERING AN IPHONE 8+ IN EXCHANGE FOR SEXUAL FAVOURS. I AM ESPECIALLY BOTHERED BECAUSE IT TURNED OUT TO BE AN IPHONE 6 AND OBVIOUSLY SOMETHING’S WRONG WITH IT. IT’S SUPER SLOW AND THE CAPS LOCK IS STUCK ON.

    THANK YOU!

    1. https://policyexchange.org.uk/publication/extremism-rebellion/

      Extremism Rebellion
      Jul 16, 2019

      Extinction Rebellion has mainstreamed the politics of a radical fringe

      The people behind Extinction Rebellion advocate a political agenda with ambitions that reach far beyond environmentalism. It is a campaign that seeks to use mass civil disobedience over climate change, to impose full system change to the democratic order. Yet, the underlying extremism of the campaign has been largely obscured from public view by what many see as the fundamental legitimacy of their stated cause.

        1. I have a suspicion that the PTB see them as useful to change the minds of the public in favour of more extreme measures to “combat climate change.”

          Next week: how to stop the tides.

          Gail Bradbrook, one of the founders of XR said on Sky News” politicians behind the scenes, including the current [Teresa May’s] government are telling us they need a social movement like ours to give them the social permission to do the necessary.”

          Download the pdf from Policy Exchange, and read on pages 67-69. There’s behind the scenes collusion between this movement and the politicians. And that will now include Boris Johnson’s government. The only thing that will stop it is a much bigger pushback.

        2. The Powers That Be see the Anarchists as a useful tool, just one of many. We had a functioning society 25 years ago. There may have been more general poverty, and people may have needed to work for a living instead of having a DHS funded lifestyle, but it was not breaking down as it is now.

          The people at the top need to tear down working societies so that they can rebuild them in the dark model that they want to have, so that they can rule us all. How many people in a lawful and fair society, where democracy works and criminals are punished, would embrace a totalitarian state such as the EU?

          In order to get our nation to where they want us to be, they need to break it first. It seems insane to many of us, but those at the top of both the Conservative and Labour parties, and those who give them their orders, have been deliberately moving our country in this direction for years. It is happening all across Europe and in the United States as well.

          Even those of us who are quite trusting, and who still believed that our top level politicians are working in our interests, are starting to smell a rat after so many betrayals.

  66. The BBC has backed a presenter who described the Brexit night event in Parliament Square as “very white” after the comment received more than 200 complaints.

    Gosh what a surprise ? Now if a newspaper had said the crowd was very black the BBC would have been baying for blood

    But 209 people complained to the BBC that Guru-Murthy described the Leave-supporting crowd’s lack of racial diversity.

    In a public response to the complaints, the BBC said Guru-Murthy “used the comment about the ethnicity of the crowd to move the discussion onto immigration and Brexit supporters’ desire for more controls”.

    It said she did so after she and her producer spoke to a number of attendees of the event both on and off-air throughout the evening and were told the “main issue offered for why they supported Brexit was more control on immigration”.

    2. The Extinction Rebellion mob also appear to be “very white” but that apparently isn’t a problem.

      1. All middle class. They can take time off. “Daddy is quite high up somewhere, and if I get in bother he can have a word with someone.”

    3. He’s quite clearly a racist.
      Didn’t his fellow news reader John Snow also used the phrase hideously white.

      1. I think it was a very similar comment to Guru-Murthy along the lines of being surprised to see so many white people in the same place – I was surprised to see an almost identical comment made twice in a matter of months.

        Edit: I removed the final sentence of my comment as DW below had already made the same comment and with more information.

    4. Are immigrants usually black in the minds of BBC producers and reporters? Are the two words synonymous in their minds? How very racist of them.

  67. SIR – The Government has decreed that the manufacture of internal combustion engines will be discontinued by 2035, in favour of electric propulsion. While some cars with electric drivetrains are available now, no such devices exist for heavy agricultural vehicles.

    Has any thought been given to our farmers, who rely on powerful tractors to meet the ever-increasing demand for food? How are they supposed to cultivate their fields? Even if an exemption were granted, the cost of diesel would spiral as a result of the decline in demand, leading inevitably to higher production costs.

    Even assuming the availability of electric tractors, how would they be recharged in fields that are often miles away from the farm? How long would it take to recharge? Who would bear the cost?

    Have our eco-warriors, in their eagerness to eliminate all sources of pollution, given any thought to where our food will come from? Surely they can’t be thinking of reintroducing the horse and the ox.

    Peter Lemkey
    Ross-on-wye, Herefordshire

    Answer me this, Farmer Pete:

    If farms need to produce more and more food to feed an unstoppably burgeoning population, why are millions of tons of it wasted, each day, as a result of the insane stupidity of the species that is crying out for it?

    Homes, shops, stores, restaurants, processing plants, factories and catering facilities are sending ever more larger quantities of uneaten foodstuffs to waste disposal sites daily. No other life-form possessing this enormous level of idiocy has ever evolved in the history of the universe.

    I am finding it more and more difficult to feel any form of sympathy for the exponentially growing brain-dead crassness of my own species.

    1. Morning G

      As one’s parents used to say to us as children .. you don’t leave the table until you have cleared your plate ..

      There was no such thing as don’t like ..

      1. or you got it for your supper/next meal. I’m still the same, not a scrap of food gets wasted in my house. I only cook what I need.

          1. Morning FA,
            316462+up✔,
            We use to call butter “best” when we saw it.
            I received butter in little
            sachets in a Libyan canteen out in the middle of the desert ONCE, the mate remarked, must have been an B,cal crash.

          6. Yes, very much.
            I was in the Sportsman in Carlisle a few years ago when the landlord had put the juke box on Free mode so I looked up a couple of Vera Lynn records and put them on.
            The older people in the pub went quiet & thoughtful whilst the younger ones looked impressed by her singing.

    2. The government can’t surely be making heavy machinery and Haulage lorries go all electric. They need diesel. What about small petrol driven essentials such as stand by generators, chain saws, strimmers, golf and football park grasscutters, quad bikes etc.,they will be affected. Tourism will be badly affected particularly in Scotland. The Government has not thought this through. We the people should not sit back and allow the politicians to continue on this ruinous path. The same goes for the decision to withdraw our gas boilers.

      1. Addendum- will foreign diesel and petrol fueled Lorries and cars be allowed to come to the UK once the ban is in place?

    3. Food is too cheap. Raised prices would solve waste due to carelessness, over-purchase, and obesity due to over
      eating. Hard on those with minimal income, though.

    1. Rainfall the same, population over the same period will show a hockey stick rise in the last 40 or 50 years.

    2. Rik,
      316462+up✔s,
      What should really be asked is how much in square yards, back yards front yards, of concrete been laid since we agreed politically to house the world ?
      Along with mass uncontrolled immigration due to governance policies
      we are also suffering mass uncontrolled waters, due in many respects to politico rubber stampers following the eu line, and sod the consequences.

    3. I’ve got this:

      Digital twins – copy and paste
      Private networks to develop capability – use the hard shoulder to get about rather than the congested motorways
      Speed of light warfare – wave a torch at them
      Quantum sensing – Put the feelers out
      Expand our space enterprise – move to a bigger house with a home office
      Harness cognitive manoeuvre – Check if it’s raining before we go outside.

    1. Afternoon Richard

      My favourite spring time potato is a Jersey Royal .. I wonder if that connection sprang to the mind of her Majesty .. Sussex Royal , Jersey Royal , Casino Royal ,

  71. Iain Duncan Smith BBC R4 radio interview this morning , said that we had admitted 1 million migrants in 3 years .. and no wonder facilities were stretched and that extra homes and infrastructure were needed … hence the skills shortages and the requirement for craftsmen re new rules.

    There are 8 million people currently without a skill/job status apparently ..

    What sort of jobs do the unskilled non English speaking sections of society do for jobs .. and what do the densely populated migrant communities contribute , as well as the stabby stabby brigades who one assumes are NOT the best educated , and therefore incapable of contributing to the economy?

    1. What an absolute bloody useless disgrace our political classes are. Outside of living off the taxpayer, none of them would ever hold a job down.
      The have no obvious desirable skills.

        1. Most of them have never carried out a days work in their entire lives Belle.
          A friend of mine daughter in law use to work for a front bench Tory. He didn’t even write his own speeches.
          I expect he put that on his expenses list.

    2. The lunatics hijacked the asylum, way back in the early years of the 20th century, and each successive generation grows more stupid.

      You cannot negotiate with those possessing the brains of amœbæ. The end game is near. Prepare for the worst. Those intent on rebelling will need to recruit in millions and pitchforks will be insufficient.

        1. Stamping feet, Maggie, won’t make them (the politicians and their ‘guests’) go away. It will take something much bigger than that.

  73. Dominic Rowan, 54, from London, also goes under the alias of Aaron Royer.

    Intead of holiday trippers it is crime trippers

    It is believed he also has links to Kent, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire.
    Rowan is described as a black male and around 5ft 9in tall. He has black cropped hair and a scar on the right side of his back.
    Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts is asked to contact DC Jason Thomas at Bury St Edmunds police on 101.
    Alternatively, information can be supplied anonymously to Crimestoppers

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/de5df3af9e685aea55bf9a5a58eba16aabaa7270797c6ec94ac838d18229c42f.jpg

    1. Beat you to it three hours ago !!
      All politicians drop their principles and lick their lips at the thought of a few free quid.

    2. “I do not believe I have done anything wrong”. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

    1. Absolute disgrace – don’t get me stared on state pensions….grr, thank goodness for our work pensions or we’d be stuffed as we are in the midst of home repairs.

    3. Those mainly useless old farts have just voted that in for themselves. I believe they also can claim expenses and eat taxpayer subsidised meals drinks probably included.

      4. I retired in 2010 but deferred my pension for a year so got some sort of enhancement and my new pension will be £170.

    1. “A mother of three who briefly fell behind on the licence fee while caring for her father”
      I hope she remembered to give him his tablets.

      1. used to be you had to pay monthly by standing order or direct debit but it seems they have a payment card system now as well. Regardless she would have received at least 2 reminders to pay and a thirds letter saying if she did not pay she might be taken to court

        1. BJ,
          316462+up✔s,
          It is not the paying that is the problem a good service as was would find ample funding.
          Currently if today’s service was transported
          back to say 1942 the broadcast would be along the lines of
          ” London / Liverpool docks defending AA is being stood down for a week due to ……….

    1. Apart from careless parking & door-opening, many people drive far too fast around supermarket carparks.

      1. They certainly do and I have to come into the road in my power chair to the boot area…..I will be going the upward journey (or downward…lol) one of these days. We can’t back in as there are bollards all along to safeguard the shop windows from other idiots.

        1. The a is also close to the r s & e.
          That’s a very interesting combination of letters that seem to fit Rory Stewart to a T. 🤣

      1. At one time it was almost impossible to let space in railway arches. Now space is at such a premium they can charge a small fortune for them in fact long term tenant of arches are being evicted so they can be re let at a much higher price

    1. “After this date the couple will no longer have an office at Buckingham
      Palace and will be represented through their UK charity, according to a
      spokesman for the couple.”
      How can a charity represent them presumably for their personal affairs ?

  81. Charged protesters banned from staying in Cambridgeshire

    Meanwhile three of the protesters charged this morning have been banned from the county for at least the duration of this week. Three more are not allowed within 100 meters of the Schlumberger building.

  82. Ah so thats alright. If you anticipate an emergency and contact ER in advance they will let you though

    5. Extinction Rebellion say people ‘anticipating’ emergencies can contact them to get through roadblocks faster

    1. Just phone them up and tell them you’ll be falling off a ladder and breaking your leg and two ribs in an hour and a half and they’ll organise a safe passage for you.

      Tossers.

      1. That should clear the roads.
        A few hundred people let XR know that they have coronavirus/had a heart attack/broken a leg (choose your own ailment). Roads are open – provided the police stay out of it.

  84. The blue van which can remove the protester’s glue has arrived

    As it stands there are reportedly around 20 officers at the site dealing with the ‘rebels’ and an update from Cambridgeshire police confirms more arrests have been made at this time.
    A spokeswoman for the force said: “I can confirm that a number of arrests have been made for a variety of offences relating to the ongoing protests in Cambridge.”

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a8c9ffd8401083f5bf2114ca220db722a8039d42a6df3dd7a7ae1b98a4cd2f36.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2c9666e23b7c754ddbe2239ecb8e8452d55231efe70d069498d535a5fa6f2878.jpg

    2. At any time in history, prior to the 20th century, disruptive behaviour, such as this, would not have been tolerated for a second. The Riot Act would have been read and the protestors would have been attacked, without mercy, with whatever weapons were in use at the time.

      Time, methinks, to get mediæval on their sorry arses.

      1. Well bit OTT but they would certainly have been arrested and put to the back of a police van and put in the cells

      3. If anyone needs to practice their medieval practices, we still have a small assembly of mohawks holding the country to ransom.
        Twelve days now and all Trudeau is doing is talk about talking about it.

          1. It worked last time with smallpox blankets.
            But apparently that is now being questioned, the Indians were apparently in a bad way when the Europeans arrived.

          2. I’m pleased you spotted the connection.
            I started off writing small pox but thought a more modern equivalent might work better.

        2. We could adopt the approach of chopping of his hand. It would be worth it to see his face if an officer come up with an axe

          (For the snowflakes I am not suggesting we chop peoples hands off

          1. Just cut a chunk out of the van and leave the idiot attached. Naturally include the cretin for needed repairs.

        3. I have a couple of friends who live near Toronto. They hate Trudeau. But how did he get re-both elected ?

          1. Reelected thanks to the liberal luvvies in Toronto.

            Your London elites are not unique you know.

    3. Those who have glued their hands to vehicles should be left alone. The police should have arrested the X-RAY people digging up the lawn at the college straight away.

      1. Leave him there overnight . He will then probably pee in his trousers and be panicking like hell

    4. Wasting time and resources as usual. The actual response should have been…one two three pull !

    3. Hiding………. another low skilled migrant worker with little future prospect. Not too Priti.

      1. My doggie doesn’t like the sea or rivers but she enjoys her warm bath in the sink after a muddy walk.

  87. BT account scammers jailed for £358k fraud

    Scammers who infiltrated BT customer accounts as part of a “sophisticated” £358,000 fraud have been jailed.
    The gang targeted in excess of 2,000 people, predominantly in the Portsmouth area, between May 2014 and July 2016.
    They used the details to set-up Paypal accounts to order expensive items which were then delivered to addresses in the city controlled by the group.

    There was me thinking a couple of them might be white British but no

    The gang, who pleaded guilty to all charges, were sentenced as follows:

    Festus Emosivwe, 36, of Newcome Road, Portsmouth, was jailed for 44 months for conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.
    Chloe Maylott, 27, of Purbrook Way, Havant, was jailed for 16 months for conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.
    Charles Onwu, 31, of Wells Close, Portsmouth, was jailed for 43 months for conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation
    Victor Ngo, 30, of Lowestoft Road, Portsmouth, was jailed for 43 months for conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and conspiracy to convert criminal property.
    Pinelopi Chatzikonstantinou, 30, formerly of Highlands Road, Southsea, was fined £1,000 and a £100 victim surcharge for conspiracy to convert criminal property.
    Adel Qadir, 35, of Woofferton Road, Portsmouth, was jailed for 29 months for conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.
    Molade Fasuyi, 37, of Methuen Road, Southsea, was jailed for two years for committing fraud by false representation.
    Olukayode Adepoju, 40, of London Road, Portsmouth, was jailed for 19 months for conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0327c932b5aaf80a0be0829a3b62676ba174029373f2e1a3a213f8cf0019bcd2.jpg

  88. Labour in retreat in Wales

    I was not aware of the scale of the Labour wipe out in Wales. They have 1 seat left in North Wales. None in Mid Wales and only a few seats in West Wales
    The only place they are still strong is in South Wales but many of those seats are no longer safe seats

  89. Axminster Carpets collapses into administration

    The sad demise of a one large carpet company. In its last days it is a pale shadow of what it used to be

    Axminster Carpets has collapsed into administration after weeks of trying to secure a rescue deal.

    The 265-year-old firm, a supplier of carpets to the royal family, appointed Duff & Phelps as administrators on Wednesday.

    It is the second time the company has gone into administration in seven years.

    In 2013, Axminster Carpets was bought by a consortium led by private investor Stephen Boyd.

    About 80 employees at its Axminster factory in Devon have been made redundant, but a handful of staff have been kept on to complete existing orders, the administrators said.

    When appointed on Wednesday, Duff & Phelps sold the Axminster Carpets underlay division, Axfelt, to Ulster Carpets.

    It also anticipates selling the Axminster Carpet Shop to Wilton Flooring.

  90. Latest list of Vegan Demands

    The Vegan Society has shared suggested guidelines to help businesses look after their vegan staff.
    They range from offering vegan menus at events to providing vegan-friendly work-wear for people who want it.
    The charity wants vegans to be exempt from corporate events like horse racing or activities that might include cooking a “hog roast” on a barbecue.
    Other recommendations include colour-coded kitchen equipment and separate areas to prepare meat-free food – as well as non-leather phone cases, being exempt from any part of purchasing non-vegan goods and the chance for staff to have discussions about vegan-friendly pension options.

      1. So if a vegan is a buyer he or she will not want to buy most of the items and as for a Vegan Pension scheme they will not find one

        1. Should probably go for a pension scheme that doesn’t invest in oil, cigarettes or alcohol then.

          Then hope that they die young because that pension pot will not grow very quickly.

          1. Presumably nothing that is involved in farming. clothing manufacturing. make up and perfumes, sweets etc etc far to many to list

      1. Absolutely crazy. So a vegan buyer will be able to refuse to buy over 80% of the items in many cases. What next teetotal buyers to be allowed to not buy alcohol. Non Snookers being allowed not to buy tobacco

          2. If you hit them hard enough, Probably a No No for XR people as they are generally made of plastic

        3. Veganism to me is just hog wash never mind hog roast. I am veggie as most know….I have no problem serving meat to guests nor hubby although he does the cooking now. But this is pure nonsense and needs nipping in the bud.

          1. People might go to a hog roast that don’t like pork . They just eat whats there that the like or if incredibly fussy dont eat or bring their own food

          3. Exactly……I would not want pandering to because of my own personal choice. If I go to a restaurant for a family birthday or occasion, there is always something I can have…sandwiches or salad. There is too much of this pandering today imo.

          4. The two Michelin star Chef Sat Bains said he was not prepared to rip off his customers by providing a Vegan or Vegetarian option. The ingredients being so cheap that his restaurant would have to charge huge amounts to customers from cheap ingredients.

            Good evening Jenny.

          6. My next door neighbours have oodles of friends and acquaintances being ex-RN get around the problem by having a plate party.

            The last one was attended by some vegetarians and they supplied a very tasty Lasagne swapping out the meat for butternut squash.

            I did a leg of lamb. :o)

            It is when people start trying to force their own way of living on others that is annoying.

          7. Spot on!!! Keep your beliefs to yourself and don’t ever allow them to interfere with others. If you are the host, obviously you can have a choice for veggie guests or they can cater for themselves. I see no problem there at all. Hope you enjoyed your lamb…Hubby’s favourite.

          8. I was inspired by this recipe https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/whole_braised_leg_of_76596

            I served the table the lamb as the centrepiece and a big shallow bowl of the rice and the guests had to serve themselves using their spoon and fork.

            It all went and Dolly worried the bone for a couple of hours until her jaw ached.

            Easy peasy this hosting when you know what you are doing. No last minute rushing around.

          9. My hubby would love that!! I think we should have many more evenings like this. Life is for living Phizz…..we don’t have enough of them and time is limited in the grand scheme of things –

          12. A bit like when I was dancing with the King John’s Morris, only we’d call if an “American Supper”.

            Quite often I’d be the only one bringing hot food, especially for the New Year parties when I’d do a great big pan of broth.

          13. We do that with friends a couple of times a year during the summer. Designated side dishes and puddings cheeses are preselected and brought by the guests, bring your own booze and food for the shared BBQ. It’s a great Sunday gathering for around 25 people.

          15. The standard curling club approach to dining.

            We did cheat once and get together and decided that we would all bring the same type of dish. The display of brightly coloured jelly moulds did not make up for the lack of nutritional value.

          17. I have my views on Michelin starred Chefs. I want my food to eat and not turned into a work of art on a plate

          21. He’s right and wrong, at the same time, about the “work of art” though. In many ways it’s the presentation that makes the huge difference between good and great.

            On Valentine’s day HG and I went to a small restaurant. The presentation of every course was beautiful and the skill that went into that presentation was extraordinary. It was very pricey by their usual rates, but worth every penny because of the extra effort that went into it and the sheer pleasure we got from the spectacle and the textures and tastes..

          22. They do say we eat with our eyes. Presentation is very important as is taste and texture.

            I’m lunching at Simpson’s in the Strand on Friday and i’m having their roast beef from the Gueridon which they have only been doing for the last 150 years so it will probably be okay.

            Worth paying extra sometimes.

          23. Cooking for 150 years seems a little excessive. Mrs Mac generally finds that roughly twenty minutes per pound works well.

            But what does she know – she has no formal training as a cuisinière.

          24. There was an earlier conversation about client entertainment.

            I was taken there, probably 40 years ago now, by a Broker, and it was superb

          25. I will be at the theatre that evening so i wanted a decent lunch. I have also been lucky enough to be invited to the IET building at Savoy Place. I said yes please because i know they have a cocktail Bar. :o)

          26. I presume you’ve eaten at Brown’s.

            I was head of the London operations and the external team were usually put up there when joining me for projects here.

            The Grande Bretagne in Athens was nice, but not as good in my view.

          27. Yes i have dined at Brown’s but not for 20 years sadly. After moving out of London it can be very expensive. Travel form Hampshire by train, Taxis, Dinner, Theatre and accommodation costs nearly as much as a week long holiday in the sun.

          29. As long as there is enough to eat. Playing with the meal is one thing, just fancy arrangement of a half cooked sprout is not food.

          30. That was part of the skill.

            Lots and lots of beautiful courses, so we were completely full, but not over-faced.
            Much better than many of the tasting menus that one sees.

            Totally agree re the sprout approach.

          35. The population of the world would be 14 Billion?
            And of those most would be several score centuries and ten?

            };-O

        1. There are so many people claiming special dietary requirements that you cannot possible meet all the requirements

    4. In my nearly 40 years of working life, I have never been invited to a corporate day at the races either by my employer or my clients.

        1. But most dog tracks have gone to the dogs. Not many left now. I think London has a couple left

      3. I was invited to the Epsom Derby back in the eighties when Ever Ready sponsored the event. I made the mistake of taking the train to Tattenham Corner which took ages in stifling heat. I should have taken the open top bus on offer.

        We drank lots of champagne and ate seafood.

    5. What is vegan friendly workwear? Are they just saying no leather or wool?

      During one of my trips to Johannesburg I was taken to a restaurant that served many kinds of wild animal meat, would that be OK in this brave new world?

      Despite what they said, crocodile does not taste like chicken.

      1. Funy how some food have gone out of favor. Few people eat offal now . Even shellfish is less common. Time was at least in London and the home counties many pubs would have a shellfish stall outside at weekends

          2. A couple of times the train I was working on was timed for 1 hour PNB at Leigh on Sea so I’d have a wander to the fish stalls by the harbour. Very nice!

        2. I love liver, but unfortunately no one else in the family does and it’s a bit of a hassle to do some just for myself.

          1. One frying pan. Fry the bacon. Fry on top the chopped onion. Add a knob of butter and Push to the side of the pan and fry the calf liver for 60 seconds a side. Flambé with brandy. Preferably serve with fried bread. Takes 12 minutes.

            Donald Russel sell it in individual portion sizes.

            https://www.donaldrussell.com/calfs-liver.html

        3. Haggis and calves liver are still big sellers. Kidney and heart are also popular when cooked right. Chicken livers are in demand.

          I wonder…where do you shop Bill?

          1. I had some calf’s liver last week. It was tough and nowhere near as tasty or tender as lamb’s liver.

          2. I suppose it’s because you live in Sweden.

            How on earth can calf liver be tough !? I won’t question your cooking skills so must question who supplied you.

            Lamb liver is too sweet for my taste.

          3. Used to try & get a couple of haggis whenever I was up in Scotland with work.
            A PNB in Largs allowed me to get to Patten’s and I also knew butchers in Hamilton, Inverness and Portobello.

        5. I love kidneys (all sorts) and liver (lamb, chicken or rabbit – not cow) and I’m a great fan of shellfish.

    1. Are you remaining in the village with your moving house?

      I’m looking forward to seeing you all again.

  93. Brexit Party

    AS far as I can tell the Brexit Party is at best dormant. It was always really just a 2 man band. Whether they intend to fight any seat in the may local elecitions who knows

    1. BJ,
      316462+up✔s,
      What the 25 pounders, tory top up ? is the leader, what’s his name, still about.

  94. It as all gone quiet on what is happening with the deportees that did not depart as a judge said a mobile phone mast was down. In my view it was a totally daft decision as they had access to a phone if they wanted and had access to a lawyer if they wanted. What next they cannot be deported because their phone battery went dead and their charger was broken

  96. Last summer we walked up Scafell Pike, twice. Once from Wasdale Head via Lingmell, and once from Eskdale via Scafell. The walk from Eskdale we thought was the best of the two. We even jumped over Broad Stand, albeit with a safety rope. Don’t try it without!

    https://twitter.com/walkscafellpike?lang=en

      1. There are no parrots in the Lake District, but there are ravens to be seen sometimes soaring majestically in the sky.

          1. It is a lovely hobby. The lighting is a nightmare but once you get the hang of it…..easy peasy.

        3. That reminds me of one of my favourire museums.
          Carnavalet le musée de histoire de Paris.
          It’s closed for renovations but if you have never been there it is well worth the detour when it reopens

          1. Decorating the rooms is the best part. I remember finishing each one in turn and just sitting looking in for ages. I even built the greenhouse for the garden. If you open the cabinet in the bathroom you will find toothbrushes, toothpaste and toilet rolls, even a bootle of indigestion pills…..this is the grand entrance….as you come through the front door.

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7f7435a62ade37306eda0c59e9fedee58b52a2b1c9562689a9d292d4858a8f2e.jpg

          3. Loads of folks have visited…..when I had my miniature business. The stair rails were straight….I had to soak them in warm water and bend a little more each day to make them curved. There is a cat themed room too…..

          7. I do feel sorry for the maids in the attic, apart from all the stairs they have to run up and down, there’s a heck of a lot of dusting for them. {:-))

    3. Wow!! That’s incredible.

      Your great great great grandchildren will be the stars of antiques roadshow 100 years from now.

        1. I’m absolutely serious here:

          You should approach the BBC or an independent producer to do a programme on it.

          1. Well that is very kind….thank you so much! I asked my daughter what she would like to do with it when i am goe…she asked if she could donate it to a museum so many people could enjoy it. I said that was a lovely idea.

          2. You could approach the people who do “The Repair Shop” I’m sure they would be very interested.

          3. I have loved sharing it in the past…to see people’s faces when they first ope the door to the room where it stands. It has given me great joy to share it. I do have a Bridal shop too with huge crystal chandeliers – but I have no images as they were in my other computer which crashed. I will take more but for now, you are spared….lol.

          2. I run out of superlatives… Jenny, you made me frget my Unflu with these pictures and descriptions. You are one talented lady!

          9. Your eyesight must be A1 … I cannot even thread a needle now .. and I wear varifocals..

            Can you paint as well, I always marvel at the skill that miniaturists possess.

          12. That is better than my actual kitchen, Jenny. Its amazing. You must have had such patience.

      1. Every single bit and a lot of the furniture too. I took my measurements to a local woodstocking place and they cut all the mdf I needed…then it was just a case of piecing it together and buying the lights, wallpaper and carpet…oh it was great fun.

      1. Thank you very much H…no lift. It is the Edwardian era. Feel sorry for the maids in the attic!……lol.

  99. Maybe being ill with Unflu isn’t the worst. The skiing holiday I cancelled yesterday is suffering high winds and 3m snowfall. Even the Bergensbanen is closed due to avalanche and the plough train is stuck in the snow… Home & illness seems preferable just now.

    2. Absolutely….keep warm and take care. Hope you feel better soon and there are always other holidays and safer ones!

  101. Good evening from the most famous Saxon Queen, the slayer of
    Vikings and who kidnapped a Welsh kings wife ( she betrayed Æthelfled,
    either that or she was singing ghastly Welsh songs ).

  103. I am a vegan and I’m quite chuffed with myself.

    I’ve just made a large pot of vegan soup, which will last me a number of days. In it I put half large cabbage, finely shredded; two onions, chopped; three cloves of garlic, chopped; a yellow pepper, chopped; a whole head of celery, chopped; water, salt, black pepper, and two Knorr beef stock pots.

    Boss woman says: “That’s not vegan! It’s got beef stock in it.”

    I replied: “Hello! … beef is from cows. OK? Cows are vegan!

    I’m a vegan, me!

    1. So no fresh bread or sausage rolls or pork chops , bacon sarnies, or home made beef burgers, fish pie , nice bean soups , moussaka’s , prawn cocktails and chelsea buns?

      1. I can eat as many pork chops as I like. Also the sausage meat but not the roll. Bacon without the bread. I can eat as much meat, fish, eggs, cheese and all kinds of fat as I like. I just keep off the bread, cakes, ice-cream, buns, pasta, rice, pastry, potatoes, root vegetables and alcohol.

        [There is no such thing as a “beefburger” (silly bloody word). They are hamburgers (made from beef) which originated in Hamburg (not “Beefburg”). You don’t call a frankfurter a “porkfurter”, do you?]

      2. I wish you hadn’t written that, Maggie. I’m just about to go to bed and now I feeling super-hungry!

        :-))

      1. Nah! I’m on a low-carb, pissy, Keto diet (and it’s working). I gobble stuff like this and the pounds drop off.

          4. Yes, Paul. I’m a seven stone weakling and the big lads keep kicking sand in my face. Must get me a Bullworker!

          5. What matters is the journey Grizz…not the destination which is obviously great to reach…just enjoy the difference as time goes by….xxx

        2. You could consider adding some chopped fennel; for me it gives a pleasant aroma, although it might overpower the other flavours.

          1. Oh, I do all sorts of variations with soups. My favourite two veg for making a good stock are celery and leeks. This recipe I got from some Yank on YouTube. I must have watched 80 videos for advice on Ketogenic diets lately. It’s becoming addictive.

            Today I enjoyed a large plate of three rashers of fried bacon, four small beef sausages, two fried eggs, five mushrooms and half a tin of tomatoes. Strange to eat it with no bread but it is all good nourishing food and it tasted wonderful.

            It’s hard to get your head around the now proven scientific fact that eating lots of fat is good for you. It goes straight through the body and doesn’t clog your arteries or make you fat as was once thought. The lipid fat that your body puts down to give a pot belly and obesity does not come from fatty foods. It comes from sugar, and the sugar provided by carbohydrates, which urges the body to produce more insulin. It is this insulin that the liver stores as a lipid fat which is the enemy.

            Since I upped my fat and protein intake and dropped my carb intake, I’m losing weight, feeling stronger and more alert, and sleeping much better. A Keto diet is also good for those diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes.

          3. It is. My Diabetes Dr gave the same advice, and it works – as well as the weight dropping off.

          4. I’m of the school that believes that our digestive tracts and teeth suggest that the omniverous diet is what we as humans, were designed to consume. Totally agree re sugar, but I’m a great eater of honey and maple syrup as sweeteners.

            I eat far too much salt, but I work in the garden doing “heavy lifting” and am a sweaty pig at the best of times, so I take the view that it needs replacing. I eat fresh French bread “tradition” as a conduit for butter, demi-sel of course, as well as lots of cheese.

            We have a totally different diet for Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Always seasonal foods and almost invariably fresh from the market or from our particularly good French fresh food supermaket.

            We use a lot of celery and I am always surprised by the number of people who claim to hate it, leeks are also “standards”.

            We also eat lots of nuts, almonds (yeah, yeah destroys the planet) and walnuts in particular.

            I’m not complaining, I’m happy as a clam.

            It helps that HG is a superb cook!

          5. Yeah, bread’s a big problem. I love it and love making it, and my limit is 2 slices of homemade toast in the morning with lashings of butter.
            If I’m making pizzas then no toast for me. The last 3 years have seen me drop from 15st to 12st 12lb. It’s easier when spring and summer come and the salads seem to fill me easily. Exercise by walking and 15 boring minutes on my rower. This enables me to drink to excess, but it’s well worth it, cheers.

          6. Sourdough is both low sugar and high flavour, with a good, heavy structure that means you only eat half the number of slices. You can get sourdough crispbread, too, which is deffo the best crispbread.

          7. Unfortunately, gluten doesn’t agree with me either. I suffer bread and love it despite my body’s slight intolerance.

          8. Unfortunately, gluten doesn’t agree with me either. I suffer bread and love it despite my body’s slight intolerance.

          9. Unfortunately, gluten doesn’t agree with me either. I suffer bread and love it despite my body’s slight intolerance.

          11. Sourdough might have low added sugar, Paul, but it’s the carbohydrates (starch) in the flour that turns to sugars in the liver. It is the sugars converted from starch that creates the problem.

          12. Years of lies about food. and people are still eating butter substitutes. Keep it fresh, simple, local and good quality. i refuse to eat any prepared food that you cannot tell what it is by looking at it. So many of these modern recipes look like slop as that is what they are.

          13. Indeed. It’s good for everybody to avoid sugar as the carbohydrate. Lost lots of kg that way. As simple as that. Buy the low sugar version (not artificial sweetener either. That way lies damnation)

          14. I add no sugar to my meals, excepting a bit into my tomato based sauces as I often add fresh lime juice to them. Tea, coffee and cornflakes au naturel Luckily I don’t have a sweet tooth.

      1. Goodnight TB……yes, we are getting there – then the decorators are in next week and we’ll all be topsy turvy again….xxx

        1. I’ve just scrolled down and saw the pics of your wonderful dolls’ house! I thoroughly agree with all the comments about your talent and patience – the detail in those tiny rooms is amazing!

          1. Oh thank you very much N….it seemed to have been enjoyed and that made me very happy. Bless you.

    3. We may have been ripped out of the EU against our will – translation; the democratic vote didn’t go the way I wanted, so I’m going to thcream until I’m thick!

    1. Clever clogs!
      There is a Session on at the Nelson up in Middleton tonight, but the weather is a bit too foul to walk up the hill.

          4. Yes, but my memory isn’t what it was. I remembered when you corrected my spelling.
            Knowing isn’t remembering.

    1. That is sad news. I rather hoped that Heather would take over The Sky at Night when Patrick Moore died.

      2. Patrick Moore

        Proudly declaring himself to be English (rather than British) with “not the slightest wish to integrate with anybody”,[69] he stated his admiration for controversial MP Enoch Powell.[73] Moore devoted an entire chapter (“The Weak Arm of the Law”) of his autobiography to denouncing modern British society, particularly”motorist-hunting” policemen, sentencing policy, the Race Relations Act, Sex Discrimination Act and the “Thought Police/Politically Correct Brigade”.[74] He wrote that “homosexuals are mainly responsible for the spreading of AIDS (the Garden of Eden is home of Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve)”.[75]

        He would be shot now, for his views

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

        2. Then I too would be shot, OLT, as those views expressed by Patrick Moore are very much in accord with my own.

        3. I met PM once when I worked in Foyle’s bookshop many years ago while a student. I worked in the science section and was tasked with reorganizing it. PM came in one day and asked me where the astronomy books had been moved to. I took him to the section of shelving but asked what he could possibly want as he had written almost all the books we stocked. He was looking for a particular book about the Apollo missions which I then had to order for him.

          On other days, Julie Andrews came in looking for books on needlework, Keith Floyd asked me to help him find a book on Rover cars but my finest moment was when David Niven wanted to make a large international payment of some kind (I forget the details), and I flummoxed him by asking him for ID!

  111. If I recall, there was a LOT of fuss about domestic violence -against women.
    There was lots of pressure on the authorities “to do something” about it. So, they have. In the interest of fairness, it seems they prosecute anyway, whether the violence is against men or women.
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/like-caroline-flack-cps-pursued-assault-case-against-even/
    Seems like the law of unintended consequences to me.
    Edit: so, regardless of withdrawn charges, they prosecute. With occasional unfortunate effects.

    1. From the information available it seems to have been a gross over reaction by the police and CPS. It does not appear to have been domestic violence but just a minor argument which resulted in a very minor injury. Seems to be something the police should have dealt with, with a caution unless there is more to it than i in the public domain

      1. Blood on the door isn’t serious? But I recall a lot of strident voices saying how any violence against a woman must lead to huge consequences, so I suspect that the ability for the local officers to make their own decision about how to proceed was removed to pacify said strident voices.
        Applied equally, it’s bound to go badly eventually.
        Caroline needed supportive friends to help her through the shitstorm, and didn’t get it. Poor lass.

        1. We seem to have a useless police force and useless CPS. On one hand we have the police grossly over reacting and in Cambridge we get the police petty much refusing to do anything

          1. Use of “common sense & experience” is no longer allowed, as it doesn’t tick the right boxes.

        2. That’s the problem with social meeja ‘friends’. The absence of human contact results in the loss of the perception of those deep feelings normally sensed between individuals.

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