Friday 28 March: The assisted dying Bill serves as a textbook example of bad law-making

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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506 thoughts on “Friday 28 March: The assisted dying Bill serves as a textbook example of bad law-making”

  2. Good morning all!!
    And I'm back home again!
    Got back yesterday, but was so knackered I couldn't get myself worked up into a frenzied state of apathy!
    An overcast start appears to be giving way to a brighter spell, but still damp after overnight rain with a tad under 8°C on the yard thermometer.

  4. Starmer to send military chiefs to Ukraine to draw up ceasefire. 28 March 2025.

    British military chiefs will visit Ukraine in the coming days to help develop “operational” plans to enforce a future ceasefire, Sir Keir Starmer has announced, after rejecting Vladimir Putin’s demand to lift sanctions in return for a truce.

    Sir Keir said that defence top brass would travel to Ukraine with French and German counterparts to discuss the implementation of a European “reassurance force” to deter future Russian aggression. He said Europe was mobilising on a scale “not seen for decades” to sustain a future peace deal in Ukraine.

    I suspect that these people are going to short circuit any agreement that Trump negotiates and interfere directly in Ukraine. Which will probably bring on WW3.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/03/27/russia-ukraine-peace-zelensky-putin-war-latest-news/

    2. European “reassurance force” to deter future Russian aggression.

      Is this a step up from a peace-keeping mission or a step down? Cynical old me thinks the former.

      Words to ease the metaphorical wedge in further and therefore to hold the the door to conflict open?

    4. Three followers of the #Schwabstika attempting to scupper peace in eastern Europe, who would have thought it?

    5. These people rre deluded if they think that yhe Russians are going to be bothered with the EU.

  6. Morning all 🙂😊
    Cloudy again not as warm as it's been recently.
    Early start today had to drop my good lady off at our friend's house, cab arrived at 5:15 to take them to the airport for their flight to Dubai.
    Home alone now…..
    The only thing I have to say about 'Assisted dying' is that it should be extended to places like our very expensive time wasting Wastemonster lie factory. At a rate of One a day it would take around two years and keep the undertakers in business.
    As Michael Miles would have said Take Your Pick. 😆😊🤗

    1. Not as warm???
      Hmm. Then you weren't up on the top of Mere Down near Warminster t'other night!
      It was bloody freezing!!

      1. Well Bob, it was announced by our weather 'experts' only a few days ago that it was the warmest day of the year. Safari so goody.

  8. The assisted dying Bill serves as a textbook example of bad law-making

    It's all obviously part of the wef agenda with the way the media has behaved and with the Esther Rantzen back story to soften us up.

    1. Esther Rantzen, who discovered a miracle cure mere minutes after the bill passed it's first reading. It makes me think that dog didn't really say "sausages".

    1. No steel production at home is low-CO2 but utter madness economically and in the face of a potential war with Russia, where we will need all the steel we can get for panzers, ships and munitions.
      At least the redundant steelworkers can be drafted into the military.

      1. I wonder where our new stainless steel will be coming from now ?
        We had a SS shower cubicle wall fixed soap holder made in China that went rusty.

        2. More of the same.
          Depends on the grade of stainless. Austenitic stainless typically won’t rust, but there’s ferritic and duplex that will.

    3. It also makes you very very very very very very very very vulnerable in times of a war or invasion.

      1. If the USA, after doing a deal with Putin, goes to war with Denmark, then guess who is piggy-in-the-middle?

      2. The same with building on your farm land. We are not self sufficient in food at the best of time. It makes no sense to reduce capability to house the enemy.

    4. Yet you voted for the 'climate change' act and for net zero. You can't keep pretending the entire point of the communist farce wasn't to destroy industry and jobs and lives.

      1. Amazing how politicians who have been rejected as being unfit to continue in authority come to see the light. They treat their previous actions as if they hadn't happened: can we trust these people to continue on the new path they claim to have chosen or do we remain wary of their true intentions? Once bitten, or rather multiple times bitten…

        1. Amazing how politicians who have been rejected as being unfit to continue in authority come to see the light

          Mark Carney hasn't even had the good grace to go through the formalities of being rejected, of course.

  10. Good morning. The pandemic treaty really is unflushable…James Roguski is following the threat, which has not gone away.
    He has a list of 30 reasons to reject this appalling freedom grab – here's number 22:

    NO, YOUR AGREEMENT IS NOT OUR RESPONSIBILITY
    The World Health Organization has failed to justify inclusion of text which claims
    that “individuals… are under responsibility to strive for the observance of the objective of the present Agreement.” It is absolutely absurd to claim to place every man, woman and child in a position of responsibility for any agreement in which their participation has largely been prohibited.
    https://jamesroguski.substack.com/p/reject-the-treaty

    All the theatre in the media distracts attention from the pandemic treaty which is a fundamental re-writing of the rights of citizens in all countries that sign up to it.

      1. They did their standard tactic of going away, regrouping and coming back with the same threat again.

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

    Wordle 1,378 4/6

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

  12. As I was up and about at 4 am I feel it's time for breakfast. Scrambled eggs on toasted home made white bread.
    Slayders.

  14. A tale of woe from my trip away, but with a satisfying ending!
    My trip to Frome to pick up an auction purchase coincided with a sale of a pack of welding rods on E-bay and my having to travel past the purchaser's home in Malmsbury.
    Annoyingly, their "Buyer Protection" policy stopped me from contacting my buyer to arrange dropping off in person en-route going down!!!

    However, I did have his address so was able to drop a note off to advise him and we were able to arrange for me to not only drop off the rods on the return run, but we was happy to buy another two packs of rods I'd taken down with me just in case!

    As a bonus, I found that the Three Cups in Malmesbury has a quite decent folk music session on a Wednesday evening, so spent a couple of pleasant hours there!

      1. Not bad!
        Though still a bit chilly for camping in the van.
        Luckily I had my ex-Army Arctic sleeping bag with me, intended as a reserve, but given how cold it did get, it was used.
        I will say though that up on Mere Down the couple of times I was forced to get up to pump bilges, the view of the stars was fantastic!

      2. Heyup Maggie.
        They were the unwanted part of a job auction lot that I picked up during my trip to Denbigh last summer.

    3. eBay seems obtuse these days. You can't even ask them if the item arrived safely. It's all designed to keep buyer and seller apart as much as possible – I imagine so ebay can scam both sides with neither knowing.

      1. Yes.
        I think it's to prevent buyer and seller doing side deals outside of E-bay.

  15. Right. I’m off to the hospital my friends. Something to do with my eyes and my diabetes. Needless to say it is already strewn with confusion. Accusations of missed appointments being just one.

    2. Good luck!
      Sounds like you'll need it, not least because of the admin cock-ups.

  16. 403928+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    This child could be in context anywhere in the Western world currently,especially so in England.

    Symbolic wee person early dawning realization that the legacy left her could very well be run of the mill,rape before marridge to old man Mo, prior to her tenth birthday.

    https://x.com/AdameMedia/status/1904966422700188080

    1. 403928+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      What is sorely needed
      ( you paying attention Mr Lowe) is an assisted living demand as free speaking English peoples, in the Country of their birth.

  18. Good morning everyone ,

    We have rain at last , first wet day for over two weeks .

    Moh off to play golf , yes , an all weather golfer , and amazing how wet weather golf clothes keep you dry and warm !

    Re the Scunthorpe Steel closure .. do you remember this ?

    11 January 2025
    Chancellor Rachel Reeves has defended her decision to travel to China to improve economic ties at a time when soaring government borrowing costs threaten to squeeze UK public finances.

    She says she wants a long-term relationship with China that is "squarely in our national interest" and on Saturday said agreements reached in Beijing would be worth £600m to the UK over the next five years.

    Her trip has been overshadowed by UK borrowing costs hitting a 16-year high and a fall in the value of the pound, with the Conservatives accusing Reeves of having "fled to China".

    Speaking during a visit to UK bike maker Brompton's Beijing store, Reeves insisted she would not alter her economic plans.

    Reeves met Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng in Beijing, discussing trade and investment opportunities as part of efforts to grow the UK economy and raise living standards.

    Following the talks, the UK Treasury said both countries had agreed to deeper co-operation in trade, financial services, investment and climate issues.

    China is the world's second largest economy and the UK's fourth largest single trading partner. According to the Treasury, exports to the country supported more than 455,000 UK jobs in 2020.

    Reeves told reporters in Beijing she would "take action" to ensure she met her fiscal rules following a rise in borrowing costs.

    She said: "I have been really clear that our fiscal rules are non-negotiable, that we will pay for day-to-day spending through tax receipts and we will get debt down as a share of GDP."

    But the market movements create a potential problem for Reeves if she wants to meet her self-imposed rules.

    Governments generally spend more than they raise in tax so they borrow money to fill the gap, usually by selling bonds to investors.

    But UK borrowing costs have been rising in recent months and this week the cost of borrowing over 10 years hit its highest level since 2008. The pound also dropped on Friday to below $1.22.

    The market turbulence also comes as growth in the UK economy has been stagnant and businesses are bracing themselves for tax rises due to come into effect in April.

    So did that arrangement include importing crappy Chinese steel , and borrowing £ Billions from them?

    2. You will have no doubt noticed that there is a description of Reeves in the spelling of Scunthorpe

    3. But, but, but… Free trade is always and everywhere beneficial to everyone, isn't it? (Usual star prize for the first correct reply.)

    4. Do all these ministers just "run" their departments completely autonomously, or is there some kind of coordination? Just the use of the first person there, not "We the government" or similar, it's she who wants…

      1. I don't believe they run the department at all. As for co-ordination, they're incompetent. They've done nothing their entire lives except trough.

        Look at Raynor. Desperate to pass a bill giving workers endless 'rights' to destroy their employer, pushing a hard Left unionist class war law. However, she also demands that her department come into the office 5 days a week so on the one hand she is giving wasters more power to strike and ignore boss demands yet on the other wants them in to do her work.

        I know she's thick, but has even this simple example of the stupidity of her ideology not got through the lead in her head to her tiny peanut sized brain?

        1. I don't believe they run the department at all.

          Of course they don't- Sir Humphrey sees to it that they're appointed according to the Peter Principle. Reeves as Chancellor is a prime example of the Peter Principle in action.

        2. She left school with more children than ‘O’ levels according to the London cabbie I hired recently.

    5. Last time Reeves went to China she brought back a pittance that has cost us money. This government's insane 'climate change' farce has destroyed British Steel (owned by China). No surprise that now they'll sell us their steel made with coal fired power. Another 3000 jobs destroyed by the green blob. Likely another 5000 in the wider economy.

      And of course, just stop oil are crowing about their victory. That's why this country is going to the dogs: welfare, Lefties, wasters, tax, stupid policy.

      Reeves is just the epitome of gormless.

      1. 30 seconds into this video of over half an hour, the female presenter states "… with King Charles also rumoured to…" (my bold). I wish these people would report facts and not rumours.

  19. Coming up.. the spotlight will be shining on Diego Garcia Island in the British Indian Ocean Territory.. as eight B2 bombers take off for a couple of sorties to Tehran's nuclear facilities.. starting soooon.

    Brace yourself for a close up of David Lammy's big fat ugly mug in the news.
    Gentle reminder.. Trump aint messin around this time.

      1. Yes. Howver, nothing got better and the country paid an appalling price for their arrogance and hubris.

  21. That US Senator may have been a bit rude, to the reporter but she was totally right in what she said.
    A British journalist going to the USA and questioning them on their immigration policy while completely ignoring the total lack of journalistic scrutiny for what our government is doing in Britain with all the crime and violence towards women and young people that the collapse of our border control has wrought on the indigenous people is total hypocrisy of the highest order.

    1. Yes, but the Left can't understand that. They don't see a problem with massive unwanted immigration. They live in cities where being surrounded by a sewer full of pollution is normal but those minority diversity who do work are in service industries – not theirs. Their day jobs have them only dealing with nice white folk.

      Thus like all Lefties, they're all for diversity – as service, not equals.

      2. "I love to see British journalists treated with the respect they deserve." Arrogant beyond belief. As if British journalists are some special breed.

        1. As they don't deserve respect (it has to be earned) maybe disrespect is appropriate.

  22. Second Lady Usha Vance knocking on doors trying to find anyone who wants to meet with her in the capital of Nuuk, Greenland.

    Hold your horses.. Tom Høyem who served as Denmark's last minister for the autonomous territory of Greenland noted the UK has a long standing "first refusal" should Denmark wish to cede Greenland based on diplomatic talks that happened more than a century ago.

    1. The US stance is not unprecedented – the US Virgin Islands were bought from Denmark in 1915.

    2. Yet there are 2 generations of Labour's children out there. 2 generations of welfare dependent wasters.

      There's endless criminality that keeps getting let off and worse, let out. Without a far tougher criminal code what's the point?

      We need to end welfare, punish career criminals with a bullet to the head, forcibly deport countless million welfare loafing immigrants, undo the promotion of the failed diversity, start publishing the clear and obvious problems the diversity bring, abolish the abomination of DEI and ESG, unravel all the 'rights' culture the Left impose and have never earned and simply start reminding the diversity and Left who's country this is.

      Reform are not going to do that.

    3. Yes true. But the answer is not Reform. It too is part of the Uniparty. No intention of deporting or doing anything about Islam. And what I don't understand Farage made that 100% clear and people still want to vote for Reform. To what end, to what point?

      1. 403928+ up ticks,

        Morning JR,

        Seconded,also, we would NEVER have got to where we are today without the majority voter input.

        Peoples = reform = desperation.

      2. There is a Reform candidate for local elections. I'm torn about whether to vote for him or not. I don't want abstention to allow the LDs in by default. On the other hand, I no longer support Reform because much more needs to be done than they would ever contemplate.

        1. I would vote reform just to keep the Labour party out. But, of course, it is up to you. You could refrain from voting but I think that is pointless.

          1. I think I shall hold my nose and vote Reform. As you observe, not voting does no good at all.

      1. About to strike your chimney, take your roof off and drown you in an avalanche of debt.

      1. Excellent music for long journeys by car. Once I was curious to identify a singer whose voice features in several G&S recordings; turned out to be John Reed (1916 – 2010).

  25. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14543609/Mass-stabbing-Amsterdam.html

    Remember the playbook!

    Day1.
    Do NOT mention the assailant was an illegal immigrant.
    Do NOT mention they're a foreigner.
    Do NOT say muslim.
    Deny the attack was an act of muslim terrorism
    Forbid any mention by witnesses of a loo and a snack bar.

    Day2. Deny all knowledge. Keep denying it.

    Day3. Arrest those saying the attacker screamed for a loo and a snack bar.
    Hide the identit of the killer at all costs.

    Day 4 Admit the attacker was an illegal immigrant, known to the security services
    Have the compliant media keep promoting community leaders and tensions.
    Ignore muslim rioting at the muslim being arrested

    Day 5. Quietly admit it was a muslim illegal gimmigrant and was a terrorist attack.
    Bury truth on page 51 in 2pt font.

    Have Left wing media blame whitey for it all as headline.

    1. Dustin Needle
      16h
      There's been an outbreak of blade related mental incapacity in Dam square, central Amsterdam.
      We are yet to be told whether it was mainly peaceful or not.

      In unrelated news, it's nearly Friday.

      1. By a solitary individual, of course. A 'lone wolf'. Always a lone wolf.

        Rather implies we're sheep to be herded. Perhaps if the state stopped jailing and arresting us we could fight back and put the rabid dog of muslim down for good.

    2. The world and his dog knows who did it just like the many other murders that have been taking place. The problem is that 'They' all read the same book.

    1. He'd do it by taking them off rather than bothering to remember them.

      The Left don't like to put effort into their grifting.

  27. James Eaton
    14h
    The Reverend Sir Christopher Bryant
    Has proved to be always reliant
    To endure a spot of Shakespearean drama
    On behalf of the beknighted Starmer.
    Chris doesn't care for all these scenes
    Of prancing, screaming drama queens.
    He does it for the team, you see –
    He much prefers photography.

  28. Good morning Nottlers, 6°C, wet and windy on the Costa Clyde. I see #TwoTierKeir is still deflecting heavily from his domestic travails (all self-inflicted) by ramping up his enthusiasm for war. Stùrmer and Micron are like two peeved Diddy Men.

  29. On the "try before you buy principle," the Cabinet should be made to try the Assisted Suicide Bill, before they impose it on the general population

    All those in favour ……

    2. If Rancid had had her way, she's have been permanently silenced two years ago.
      ( The only good point I can think of.)

    1. Just had a quick flick through. Am convinced that adequate Vitamin D is thoroughly necessary – but does he mention taking Vitamin K with jt? Apparently it mitigates certain risks.

        1. But of course, darling! 😉🤣

          Might be worth looking it up. I seem to remember that without it there’s a risk that Vit D can calcify arteries.

          2. I asked Grok:

            There’s no solid scientific evidence to suggest that alcohol in the bloodstream helps decalcify arteries. Arterial calcification, where calcium deposits build up in artery walls, is a complex process tied to factors like aging, inflammation, and conditions such as atherosclerosis. Decalcification, or reversing this buildup, is an area of ongoing research, but alcohol doesn’t appear to play a beneficial role.

            Moderate alcohol consumption—typically defined as up to one drink per day for women and two for men—has been linked in some studies to a reduced risk of coronary artery disease, possibly due to effects like raising HDL (“good”) cholesterol or reducing blood clotting. However, this is about prevention, not reversal. There’s a big difference between slowing plaque buildup and actually breaking down existing calcium deposits. No credible studies show alcohol directly dissolves or removes calcium from arteries.

            Excessive drinking, on the other hand, is clearly harmful—linked to hypertension, heart disease, and worsening vascular health. So, any potential benefit has a tight limit before it flips to damage. : -(((

            If you’re curious about decalcifying arteries, research points more toward things like vitamin K2, magnesium, or certain medications (like statins) as possibilities, though even these aren’t definitive cures. Alcohol? It’s not on the list.

  32. If she wants to choose to die, that's up to her. I don't see why government should legislate it.

  33. Why are there updates on the King's health when we haven't a clue what is wrong with him?

    1, A blood disorder
    2 Male probs below
    3 A blood disorder
    4 Male down below problems .
    5 Polyps in his gut
    6 Does he have a stoma ?
    7 A blood disorder
    8 Kidney problems
    9 Bladder problems
    10 Rectal problems ?

    His gait looks unsteady , so why cannot we be told ?

      1. Honestly, I don't really care. I don't know the man or have any connection to him. He could be being treated or an ingrowing toenail for all I know.

        As a ellow human being I wish him well.

        2. I am not normally unsympathetic, far from it, to the plight of people suffering illness but it did seem slightly/ever so convenient for it to be announced on the same day that there was an announcement that the Princess of Wales was suffering from cancer, not to mention Sarah Ferguson, especially when other things connected to the RF were gathering traction.

          1. Aye, the cynic in me thought the same, but it's also a good day. He can say 'so am I' without having to hide it. It isn't taboo.

  35. The sun is now shining so time for me to say hello to my birthday suit and have a shower ..

    If only we could shed our old crinkled shape and come back refreshed and new ..

  36. Blast. Just had a short, heavy shower – just as I was about to go out and collect a barrowload of nice, dry kindling….. It is supposed to be sunny in an hour's time. Yeah, right…

  37. Do you remember that scene in 'Apollo 13' when Jim Lovell disconnected his medical monitoring devices because he did not want the whole world to know about his bowel habits.

    Sometimes even kings want to disconnect from Facebook-style surveillance once in a while.

    1. Yes , but he is the King , and we were party to his sex life and horrible details including the end of his first marriage ..

      William will be worrying .. and probably Harry and Megain will be jubilant .

      1. Wasn't he a wannabe Tampax?

        I do not approve of him, I wish he would abdicate, BUT I do not wish him to be ill or in pain.

      2. We were told, yes. Should we have been? No, not really. I truly do not care what he does. He was married unhappily for politics. She bedded every man going by the back window.

        He may be monarch, but he is still a man. The title and individual are different people.

      3. In defense. It was not his fault. The phones were tapped by the likes of Pierce Morgan and other things you normally put down pesticides for. It is not proper, to my mind, to blame Charles for any of that. Whatever he said was between Camilla and him and should not be repeated by anyone. I think the king is blamed for many things that are not his fault and I do think it grossly unfair. As for his first marriage. That too was not his fault. Brow beaten into it by his father. I can remember him sitting on the lawn with that women and not being exactly enthusiastic about what was to come. But his father obviously did not care at all about his sons welfare.

  38. I take 4000 every day plus Vit B12 (1000 micro gm) and Omega 3. I enjoy excellent health (so far).

    1. MB enjoyed the girlie dust-up when a stray female though she'd drop in and bat her eyelashes.

  42. Morning all. Drizzle and cold. A great English day 😁
    I am, sadly, not that worked up about much today. But came across this earlier this morning. Interesting idea, a national strike.
    Apparently you can find info on Facebook if you are interested.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKKEtmRDH1k

      1. For a change I think I'm more cynical than you are. I don't think anyone will bother to turn up.

    3. Problem is, the wasters and dross won't notice. The public sector still get paid. The only ones who lose out is the worker.

    1. Well, the economy could do with spot of resus.
      I suspect the plum tart will not be the one to give it a new lease of life.

    1. I couldn't buy my refills from them, but I could order them from Smiths online. How stupid is that?

  46. I wish him well because I think it is now three years since I had my cancer treatment and I still suffer a lot of after effects. I often wonder if, on that front, I will ever get to the point where I'm not aware of it. Yesterday I had a shot of Prostap3, that's every three months. But the after effects of the cancer never seem to away. I'm always aware, because of physical effects, that the monster lurks in the shadows. So I admire the King that he goes through what at our age, I was born the same year, is a schedule that most people, even younger, would find gruelling whilst sick. I have one criticism. I think it would help if people actually knew what he was suffering from. It would certainly help people with the same cancer and cancer sufferers in general.

  47. I wonder if a good meal of 100 lampreys followed by a red-hot poker inserted into the anus might be a good cure?

    2. Me, i’m going for the vat of Malmesbury wine, if i have a choice

  48. Good Moaning.
    Just been reading about the town centre WHSmith take over.
    "Modella Capital specialises in investing in retailers. It has previously put money into chains including Paperchase and Tie Rack.
    Last August, it snapped up arts and crafts retailer Hobbycraft for an undisclosed sum. It then bought The Original Factory Shop last month."
    H'mmmm …… I suspect tatty flooring and stock shortages will be the least of the future problems.

  49. From Coffee House the Spectator

    29 Mar 2025
    Coffee House
    Mark GaleottiMark Galeotti
    Zelensky may regret wishing for Putin’s death
    28 March 2025, 9:52am

    Ever since 2013, I’ve been hearing that Vladimir Putin is going to die any day. Is Volodymyr Zelensky now trying to spin the same line? At a press conference this week, the Ukrainian President said of Putin, ‘He will die soon – that’s a fact – and it will all be over’, adding ‘I’m younger than Putin, so put your bets on me. My prospects are better.’

    Admittedly, in actuarial terms, the 47-year-old Zelensky is likely to outlive the 72-year-old Russian leader. However, while the average life expectancy of someone born in the USSR in 1952, like Putin, is just 57, his grandfather Spirodon lived to the age of 86 and his father Vladimir Spirodonovich to 88. More to the point, Putin is cradled in the careful grip of the best medical care Russian science and Russian money can provide (and the best personal protection multiple Russian security services can provide, too).

    These rumours, then, are driven by a mix of helplessness and hope

    This might just have been Zelensky having a little fun at a sombre moment, highlighting the contrast between himself and the ‘grandpa in his bunker’ (as the now-dead opposition leader Alexei Navalny dubbed him). Yet it is unlikely that the media-savvy ex-comedian was also unaware that this would also set the rumour mills grinding again. Unsurprisingly enough, we’ve since had a stream of stories about Putin having Parkinson’s, or cancer, or a stroke, or whatever else, and that his death is imminent.

    Indeed, Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov asserted in 2022 that he was simultaneously suffering from ‘several serious illnesses, one of which is cancer’ and would soon be dead. But he also claimed that a creeping coup was already underway which would lead to his replacement.

    Really, this cottage industry in ‘Putin dying’ stories dates back to 2005, when a piece in the Atlantic claimed on the basis of TV footage that Putin had suffered a stroke that was going to lead to his imminent death. It was, however, in 2013 that things really took off. I remember being in Moscow at the end of that year and being confidently told by a defrocked Russian academic that Putin had cancer and would be dead in six months. The annexation of Crimea in February 2014 was then triumphantly presented as ‘proof’ of Putin making a final bid to shape his historical legacy before the end.

    In the past eleven years, we have had claims of thyroid cancer and blood cancer, strokes major and mini, even leprosy, almost always said to be going to kill him within a mystical six months. Most dramatically, we had claims on the entertainingly bonkers Telegram channel ‘General SVR’ – which unconvincingly purports to be the inside insights of a general in Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service – that Putin died of a heart attack in October 2023 and the country is being ruled through body doubles, while his corpse sits in a freezer in one of his palaces.

    On one level, this can be discarded as nothing more than fringe journalistic froth, or the meanderings of outsiders trying to get attention by claiming secret inside knowledge. However, it also speaks to a sense of futility in the West. Blandishments and threats, overtures and sanctions all seem to have failed to influence Putin. As a result, the prospect of his death fuels daydreams about a deus ex machina resolution. It is hardly coincidental, I suspect, that these rumours really started to come thick and fast in 2014, the year when, as the West would frame it, Putin truly went rogue.

    These rumours, then, are driven by a mix of helplessness and hope. What Zelensky may not fully appreciate is that it can also be used to justify inaction. If Putin is going to die soon, then why not wait and see if whoever replaces him is more amendable? With no anointed successor, and with most of the other real hardliners coming from the same homo sovieticus generation as Putin, this would be a toss of the coin, though.

    It could be that he is replaced by someone equally hawkish, but younger, more energetic, smarter. Or – and I think this more likely – there will emerge a leader driven by kleptocratic greed rather than imperial paranoias. He (and it would be a he) may want to end the war but is unlikely to be willing or able to surrender the territory Russia has seized. More to the point, faced with a new leader offering a restart, perhaps to abandon Iran and North Korea, stop the disinformation and withdraw from Africa, the West might be more tempted to make a deal that throws Kyiv under the bus. Zelensky should be careful what he wishes for.

    Mark Galeotti
    Written by
    Mark Galeotti
    Mark Galeotti heads the consultancy Mayak Intelligence and is honorary professor at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies and the author of some 30 books on Russia. His latest, Forged in War: a military history of Russia from its beginnings to today, is out now.

  50. What business is it of ours? I wouldn't want my internal problems splashed across the news.
    He has no power other than to blather on to the peaceful people. Which might suggest the problems are above the shoulders rather than below the waist.

  51. I came across this BTL under an article in the DT this morning about Starmer's aide resigning.

    Behind every beard hides an inferiority complex.

    Rumpole, when he was a puppy was the only one to like my beard so I shaved if off because it was not a success but I kept the moustache.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/57672b6cfea90c07986dafc8ec5c2566ee3c62d8251a9e0dea52156df20de89f.jpg

    Our first son, Christo, had a beard a couple of years ago which was even worse than mine.

    Grizzly's beard comes and goes – I think he is better looking without it but I think the girls find him more cuddly and teddy-bear like with it!

    Any Nottler views on beards?

    1. It's just facial hair.
      In my case, I hate shaving, so I'm hairy. Both lads have beards, as does my Brother, and my Father did.

    2. I had a beard when my elder son was born. When he was 18 months, I shaved it off between putting him to bed and waking him for his final nappy change. Poor child was mystified. Here was a person who sounded like his Dad but looked quite different. Took him a day or two to adjust!

    5. I had a beard between the ages of 30 and 57 – kept short and neatly trimmed. I shaved it off when I saw a photo of myself and the beard was going white. Now I spend five minutes a day shaving. Perhaps I will grow it back some day, but I would look like Father Christmas.

    7. I had a full beard but neatly trimmed in the mid 70s until early eighties.
      One day i just became fed up with it and cut and shave the lot off.
      My old business partner had a dark beard we sat down for a cuppa mid morning one day and I said are you okay Ian you are looking a bit pale today. I shave my beard off last night he said !!!

      1. My first observation when Richard posted that one before…(I am a passionate Brysonista).

    10. A well kept beard is just about OK but one that is just allowed to grow makes the barer look unkempt and scruffy. When I was 18 on holiday on the Norfolk Broards I didn’t shave for a week. I went to meet my girlfriend, now my wife, from work and she walked straight past me as she didn’t recognise me.
      I have, apart from that, always shaved as I can’t bear the itching accompanied by a beard. The other thing I really dislike is the ‘fashion’ for stubble. Unkempt and slovenly. Our grandson commented recently that he had only ever seen me clean shaven. Both he and our son have stubble occasionally.

      1. 'designer stubble' exhibited by those in high positions to indicate being 'cool', yes they look scruffy

      1. Suits you, Sir. Did you take your bicycle and string of onions with you to The Arctic Circle? Lol.

  52. Right, that's me off into Matlock to sort out my Nationwide passbook account that they are abolishing.
    Bright sunny morning, but it's a bloody cold breeze though.

    1. I swapped my Nationwide passbook account for a current account (Flexaccount) 44 years ago.

      1. The actors in Excalibur are bloody awful. The other lot below, Oscar Winners all round.

    1. South Chicago has always been dangerous because of the gangs. Probably no worse than London now thanks to Khan.

      Miriam Gargoyles visited Chicago and when she told her hosts she was going to the South side they had a look of shock on their faces.

      Regrettably, she survived.

      1. She would repel would-be assailants by farting in their general direction.

  56. Prisoner released early by Starmer killed man the same day
    Liam Matthews was involved in knife attack hours after being released from HMP Holme House as part of Labour’s plan to free up prison space
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03/28/liam-matthews-manslaughter-prisoner-release-keir-starmer/

    Must make more room in prison for those with views to the right of Pol Pot.

    BTL

    The first instinct of the tyrant in office is to imprison those with whom he or she disagrees.

    1. Was just about to post the same article. It needs shouting from the rooftops! Another death to add to Stoma’s non-existent conscience!

    2. As bad as this case is, prisoners such as Liam Matthews are quite capable of killing upon release even if they serve their full term. The only difference being that the victim, place and time would be other than in this specific instance. In other words, the early release didn't make Matthews a killer, it's simply a part of his character to behave violently. It's of little consolation to the bereaved in this case that someone else at another place and time in the future might very well have been spared.

          1. In June last year, Matthews was jailed for 22 months at the same court for violent disorder after kicking and stamping on his victim in a street fight.

            Sounds a bit of a tw@.

      3. If he received a life sentence there would have been a recommendation for the minimum number of years he should serve. It should be up to the Parole Board to decide if and when he should be released not the government. If a life sentence is given and he reoffends within his lifetime he can be returned immediately.
        That was the case when I was a court usher 11 years ago. It may well have been changed knowing how governments of all hues like to muck around with laws.

      4. A great advert for the death penalty then, I would have thought; he wouldn't have been able to reoffend and there would be no more victim, place or time to happen.

      5. As much as I am inclined to feel some sympathy for his family, that urge is tempered by this sentence:-

        "Father-of-one Lewis Bell, 26, was hunted down “like prey” by Matthews, Ashton White, 18, and Sean McLeod, 23, over a drug dispute, a court heard."

        1. I just went back to the page and clicked the title of the clip and it came up as Not Found !?
          Perhaps it was too sensitive for the ‘Net Watchers’.

    5. My former neighbour saw a van like that unloading outside a butcher's shop here in East Birmingham. She phoned the council to report it. The operator said she was terminating the call as the complaint was "racially motivated".

    1. Problem is the conservatives left the gates open for too long anyway.
      And now either labour or anything else our culture and social structure is being killed off.
      Also because of all these problems the nations infrastructure is grossly over loaded.

      1. For me, it explained in a small way why the leftards are happy for everybody in the world to come & live, gratis, in the West, and why the (few) Right-wingers aren’t happy about it.

      2. But as real Conservatives say. The modern Conservative party is a bunch of Liberals. not Conservatives. We haven't had a Conservative Party since Thatcher.

    2. I can't get my head around Blue for the Left (Demonrats) and Red for the Right (Republicans).

      No one talks about the "Blues under the bed!".

  59. This is a massive magnitude 7.7 earthquake!

    Thousands of people are feared dead after powerful earthquakes across Myanmar and Thailand.

    The tremor caused a 30-storey skyscraper in Bangkok to collapse, killing two and trapping at least 43 people in the rubble.

    At least 10 worshippers were reported to have been killed in a mosque in Mandalay, Myanmar, the epicentre of the earthquake.

    More than 20 children are feared to be trapped in a destroyed school in the city of Taungoo, in the centre of the country.

    The US Geological Survey issued a red alert for deaths and damage, estimating that thousands of deaths are likely.

    1. Poor Thailand seems to be a repeat victim of earthquakes happening in other countries. The 2004 tsunami originated off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.

    3. The Burmese especially, have enough to put up with from their evil government than to suffer a tragedy like this.

  60. Betcha anything.
    Brit arrested & detained at UK border on return from Amsterdam.

    'Hero Brit' is praised for tackling knifeman who stabbed five people including two Americans during Amsterdam rampage

      1. St Michael and All Angels in Tettenhall. Let me think – we must be coming up for 23 years in June. It’s a shame my husband won’t be there to celebrate (as I am going to murder him on Sunday evening).

        2. Yes they say marriage has a familiar ring…

          Engagement Ring
          Wedding ring
          and
          Suffering. !

        3. Yes they say marriage has a familiar ring…

          Engagement Ring
          Wedding ring
          and
          Suffering. !

  62. The King aged 77 experienced temporary side effects that required a short period of observation in hospital following medical treatment for cancer this morning..

    Not my Ayatollah.

    1. I read that as the King and 77 experienced temporary side effects. Noting "Ayatollah", I wondered if he'd gone to collect his virgins but I thought Charles had little interest in virgins, hence his preference for Camilla over the 19 year old Diana in the first place.

  63. It appears to be dry now, so I have been instructed to go out and carry on the apple tree pruning. Today, folks, Tydeman's Late.

  64. My dad went to Perth a week or so ago to visit my brother, but Mum doesn’t want the hassle so stayed at home.

    My work allows us to WFH (work from home) on a Friday, so i decided to come up on Thursday evening and WFW (work from Wolverhampton), and then spend the weekend with Mum.

    To which end on Wednesday evening I put out my second screen, mouse, the slopy-board I use to rest my laptop on, the extension cable/adapter so i can plug the computer and monitor in to the electricity, the cable to connect my computer to the second screen and other work-related paraphernalia, so i didn’t forget them. These are normally in the shed at the top of the garden, and i knew i wouldn’t want to fetch them on Thursday evening after a day at work when i was rushing off to Wolverhampton. My computer was upstairs in the bedroom.

    On Thursday I got home from work, packed my weekend bag and computer, loaded up the car and headed off.

    Halfway up the motorway, i thought – i didn’t see my monitor (and other stuff) which should have been in the hall.

    And sure enough, I hadn’t packed it because my husband had moved it from the hall and put it in the spare room, “out of the way”.

    You couldn’t make it up.

    So i have taken the day off work. I wasn’t keen to as i don’t have much spare holiday, plus i have a lot to do, but i know i won’t get anything done on just a laptop. I need the two screens.

    I have cancelled a day’s holiday that i had pencilled in for August, when we were due to take the boat from Helford to Falmouth. He can do that on his own now.

    And that, your honour, is why i murdered him.

    Meantime i paid a surprise visit to an old schoolfriend who has just retired and i am going to catch up on my books. More on those to follow.

    1. Kudos for saying you need the two screens. I've tried before but you lose so much time context switching.

      1. I manage with one big screen and my laptop. I have a mac next to it with its own big screen, and there isn't room for more on my desk.

    2. Oooh! Imagine how he’d have reacted if you’d tidied his stuff ‘out of the way’! 😳🤬

    3. Oops… Similar incidents arising in the past from my trying to be helpful resulted in my checking with SWMBO first: "Should I put these away for you, love?"
      I still have my head on my shoulders, but it was a close-run thing.

    1. It's astonishing how telling the truth is so embarrassing. Of all the things the Left rail at Putin for, Starmer is doing much the same, only far, far worse.

    3. Read it. Impressive indeed, learnt a lot too. But yes. Starmer could not come up with anything resembling that. One might as well compare a penguin to a whale.

  66. Back from the hospital and having lunch. The cardiologist greeted me with a smile and said she had good news. The scans show that the seriously leaky valve is the problem. The arteries look fine. No bypass surgery needed. She thinks that the valve is the reason that the arrhythmia developed, as the heart was struggling to cope. The heart is responding to treatment and the ejection fraction is up to 55%. She's referring me to a surgeon at Hammersmith to have the valve replaced and was singing his praises. Apparently he has a disconcerting personality but is very talented and only a couple of days in hospital is expected. The worrying part was being told that a synthetic valve necessitates Warfarin. I don't want Warfarin. A biological valve, I'm told, removes that need but will only last about 8-9 years. All of this is now to be discussed with the surgeon.

    2. Apparently some synthetic valves make an audible clicking sound as they operate. That would drive me nuts.

    6. Personality must be a common trait among heart surgeons, I was warned that the surgeon that I had been referred to was at best offhand.

      Having been warned, I didn't expect much and during his first consultation he told me that if I didn't want surgery, I would be dead within two years. The night before my surgery, he came round to check that I was ready and then spent half an hour telling jokes to the assembled patients. Some of the nurses really respected him as well, he would always find time to explain and demonstrate what was needed.

      His demeanor was also very different after the operation, I think that he may have been distancing himself on purpose.

    7. We just heard from our son, he is off for the open heart chainsaw surgery soon. Nice news to end our holiday with

    8. My humble opinion: opt for nine years of biological valve, avoid the warfarin and the clicky plastic gadget.

    10. If you opt for a biological one it might keep the Muslims away. Having said that, I think the surgeon who popped in my 8 stents was a Moor.

    13. I started off on warfarin but once the results set a regular pattern I was transferred to Rivaroxaban and no more testing. I think that was after I had an atrial ablation in 2014. The advantage of warfarin is there is an antidote, vitamin K, but there is no antidote to Rivaroxaban. I’m on it for life as I have a blood condition that makes my blood liable to clot more easily than the other 95% of the population, Factor V (5) Leiden.
      Don’t let it put yourself off life saving surgery.

    14. I have a pig's valve but nothing was said about an 8-9 year lifespan. I'm coming up to 6 years. On the other hand, I was in no condition to discuss the options as my dilated ascending aorta needed immediate attention back in May 2019. I've been happily taking Apixaban ever since, other than recent abdominal surgery necessitating temporary injection with Dalteparin.

      1. Thanks David. Good to know. I’ve read that the pig’s valve can last up to 20 years and in 20 years time I’ll be knocking 90. 8-9 came from the cardiologist.

      1. Fair play. They do make an effort when they smell money.

        Oooooo.. & there goes the Housing Association.. Xmas decorations.. Sharia courts.. Funding for all things Muzzie.. and helpful signage in dual languages.

      2. What is the point? (In voting). There is only one identifiable Brit in there and it's a LibDem.

        2. We've got local elections and I am starting to see LD posters appearing. They've sniffed out an opportunity. I can't see them improving matters, to be honest, but I expect them to do well because people are fed up with the mess that has been made. It's 1997 all over again.

      5. Local elections nearly always have poor turnouts. It's the norm. The apathy party is the most frequent winner but never gets anyone elected.

    1. I am sure that reciprocal arrangements will be made for easter services in the major mosques.

      Isn't charles supposed to be protector of the faith? He doesn't seem to be doing much protecting

          1. But he is King of Canada so historically he could have cut off the power to New York.

          2. He is above meddling in affairs of state, he has refused to speak about Trumps stated intentions.

            I wonder if he will say anything if Trump tries to force the UK back into the EU so that there will be a better European army.

          4. It will be a first if Charles is above meddling in affairs of state. He may not say anything, but he can lend his support to further his ends. If anybody forces us back into the EU it will be Starmer and his gang.

    2. I feel the same, Jonathan. Both threatened and close to despair. How on earth a justifiable human emotion in the face of overwhelming evidence is now a criminal offence (or even an Orwellian "non-crime Hate Incident) is utterly beyond me. I do fear the Islamist zealots and their enablers within our various institutions and I do loathe the one-way system that puts their savage theocracy above our own religion, calling it "peaceful" (when it so clearly isn't) into the bargain. The caterwauling should not be heard in our Christian places of worship.

      But we do now know why they are doing it in our seats of governance, our Cathedrals and on our streets. It's like a dog pissing on a lamp post to mark its territory.

    3. Deeply offensive. The overwhelming majority in this country don't subscribe to this cult whose texts have values that are fundamentally opposed to British ones.

    1. Why, though? Why sudden;y is the muslim invited here? They're criminals, welfare dependent, they don't integrate, they commit all acts of terrorism and they are violent, uppity, dirty brown savages. They bring nothing to this country except misery. No one wants to live near them, they're thugs.

      Why does the state want them here? Is it really just a client state?

  75. Soooo Labour had a 6,000 majority in South Ilford at the GE2024.
    However, Ginger Gobble Queen Ange's new best friends have had enough and gone their own way.
    Noor Begum Landslide win.

    1. Could you elucidate? I can find no election there since the General Election last year.

        1. I am obliged. Some poxy local council election. If the slammers there are anything like the limp dumbs round here – bugger all will be done about anything.

    2. The current MP certainly doesn't work for his constituents. Most of his questions relate to pallywally, muslim or otherwise more for the pollution of diversity.

  76. Soooo Labour had a 6,000 majority in South Ilford at the GE2024.
    However, Ginger Gobble Queen Ange's new best friends have had enough and gone their own way.
    Noor Begum Landslide win.

  77. Soooo Labour had a 6,000 majority in South Ilford at the GE2024.
    However, Ginger Gobble Queen Ange's new best friends have had enough and gone their own way.
    Noor Begum Landslide win.

  78. Well as most of you know for the past 5 years I've said that Croydon is a war zone….

    "‘Croydon doesn’t feel safe after 5pm. I welcome the new face scanners’
    The town, a hotspot for violent crime, is set to be a test case for AI policing. Despite some privacy concerns, locals are largely in favour"

    2. Before returning to university to do my PGCE in 1973 I worked briefly for a firm called Nobbly Loins (Noble Lowndes and Partners) which tried to find a way round taxes with life assurance. The Threepenny Bit Building was the Noble Lowndes Tower and was generally regarded as an eyesore. I cannot remember Croydon being a crime centre in those days but I wasn't often there at night.

    3. 'welcome the new face scanners' of course you do, you twerp.

      Problem – reaction – 'solution'

    4. When in 3-5 years the state is using them purely as a revenue raising system and the crime has risen, will the residents be happy then?

      The state has caused this mess. The solution is not more state.

  80. Wordle No. 1,378 3/6

    ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩
    ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 28 Mar 2025

    A lyric for Birdie Three?

    2. Par here.

      Wordle 1,378 4/6

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

    3. Well done! Regulation par 4 here, probably should have done better…..

      Wordle 1,378 4/6

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

    4. A process of elimination left me few options

      Wordle 1,378 4/6

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

    5. Well done, par again here.

      Wordle 1,378 4/6

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

    1. I must go along one of these days. Thanks for the link; I've bought a replacement fireguard. Mine has been falling apart for a while, but I hadn't seen a new one and they had them in stock.

  82. Afternoon, all. A day that flattered only to deceive. It was sunny and bright, but the wind was cold. Then it clouded over and started to rain. I didn’t get much done in the garden.

    The assisted killing bill is one of a long line of poor legislation. The Equalities Act, the hate crime legislation, the hunting act, the list is endless.

    1. We've had one brief shower, but otherwise bright, sunny, breezy and bloody cold!

    2. I agree completely. In the end we left Tydeman's Late to be pruned another day – and tackled Lord Derby instead. The sun was nice to see – except when in ones eyes – but there was a very cold edge to the wind.

          2. It's the ladder work that is knackering – and having to work over ones shoulder!

      2. Explains why I like to prune when the sun is not in one's eyes, cloudy days or early evening. Lost an apple tree last year, no apparent reason, disease I suppose.

        1. Or old age. They don’t last for ever – at least, not the ones you want to keep.

    3. I did notice some most magnificent (apocalyptic?) clouds, though, down our way, Connors. NB I am an enthusiastic life member of the Cloud Appreciation Society.

      1. Yes, I spend quite a lot of time cloud watching and love to paint them. I suppose 7 years in Constable Country affected me after all 🙂

          1. The wonderful watercolourist, the late Rowland Hilder, gave the advice: "Paint a sky a day."

          3. My father did beautiful watercolours and his skies and seas were marvellous. I must photograph them and post them here when I have time.

            I do hope you will post more of your paintings on this forum as, to use an apt meiosis: you are not without talent!

  83. Had my annual meeting with the guy at Schroders(Lloyds) who looks after my ISA/stocks & shares account this morning. Their standard risk questionnaire included, "Do news reports about markets worry you"? I said no, I mostly don't believe news reports and assume they're propagandised. He said, "No-one has ever given that answer before". I pointed out that I work for a news organisation. He replied, "No comment".

  84. A question for the Nottler legal team! How can the unelected Sentencing Council change the definition of ‘justice’?

    3. “When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’

      ’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’

      ’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.”

      https://orwell.ru/library/novels/1984/english/en_app

      It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.

      – George Orwell
      1984. Part 1, Chapter 5. Language specialist Syme to Wilson on how the Party is going to destroy the language and replace Oldspeak (Standard English) with Newspeak. It will be used to control the minds of the citizens.

      https://fee.org/articles/would-be-tyrants-capture-language-to-control-thought/

      https://iea.org.uk/publications/dictating-words-the-culture-control-left-and-the-war-against-free-speech/

      The Left are evil. They're fascists. If justice cannot be changed, then it must be applied equally. The Left don't want this. They want to apply force to those they hate.

      I'd point out the root of justice is just – that which is right in the eyes of God. https://www.etymonline.com/word/just

      It implies a morality the Left hate, because they think they and their views superior.

  86. A friend and I are going to a Speccie event at Central Hall Westminster on 14 April. Audience questions have been requested to be submitted beforehand and Douglas Murray promises to answer as many as possible. What would you ask him?

    1. "If Douglas was to be elected Prime Minister tomorrow, what would be his top priority executive decision to improve the lot of ordinary Brits?"

    2. What does he think about the EU announcing a launch date for a CBDC in autumn of 2025?
      Is he worried about the WHO pandemic treaty, due to be agreed in April?

  87. That's me signing off for today. Cold rain this morning; cold sun this arvo.

    Tomorrow, Colin the Tree Man is returned to take down one beech and an oak – plus taking out two branches on the Tydeman's Late. So I shall be out for most of the day. The batteries for my electric baby chainsaw and secateurs are on charge.

    Have a spiffing evening being glad you are not in Burma.

    A demain.

  88. Saint Mary's at Sturminster Newton this afternoon: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0ae494bb4bd7c39fc7707314fd623c461d768e037de532593122824c72d9be82.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6c683b62b221a003af229a16eb86b05327cc6289b52f1c21200da07d1cee3317.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d38b86d52320cbf6de8a3743a0f592ceda8ff1b5153d96f5c535ff7d898c020d.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/09328f73e8ffa9606548a86311f7ffd6bc5ca0685ceee3ae1079615ecac5ae4b.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9d1b5138ccf199f79178fb12e892a0a085345d6dced07401030b9d48bc13a084.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e11ebfd5dbba8467cab35a4518efe511dd720f1a8b4e48da90bb745ed42f49af.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2bff449b13f4375a3661c3b6bc2ce92e96eded5ed024c40a895389f8981a6e1f.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/122c4d05a4be644c7564e6cb47406c3cd359aa94277d96f2de5ca25edc348d62.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/57d3e0b1e45f0bcd3863c34aa4cf7e48f02df575f09bc8db6dfaddd33babfe36.jpg

    4. I got confirmed in a 13th century St Mary's. It had been replaced by a Victorian Holy Trinity because it was expected to fall down due to mine workings beneath it. The Victorian church got struck by lightning and damaged, St Mary's, as far as I know, is still going.

  89. Trump just spoke with Carney and reported a successful meeting where they agreed on many things, he is looking forward to them working together after the election.

    Denigrating the conservatives and peraising the liberals is hardly the actions you would expect from a republican president.

    The fix is now firmly in on the Canadian election, carnage will probably run the country into the ground with his green agenda before Trump picks up the pieces that he wants.

  91. Well, that was a pleasant surprise!
    Transferring my Passbook Account to the new "Branch Reward" saver account, I discovered that I had a 2nd passbook account which, I suspect, dated back to the one of the Derbyshire's extra interest accounts before it got taken over by the Nationwide, with a tad over £500 in it!

    Other than sorting out the thing's I've bought for t'Lad and doing a post-trip sort out of the back of the van, it's been a bit of a "nothing day", not helped by being a bit concerned because the DT's had one of her migraines and is only just recovering after spending the day in bed.

  95. Lots of details about the five victims in Amsterdam.. identity of each of the victim, where they were from, favourite football team & fav colour.. though absolutely nothing about the attacker. Shocker.

    Mayor of Amsterdam is shaken & shocked. LOL.

  96. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/police-arrest-parents-who-complained-in-school-whatsapp-group-6r6lb2fgn

    When Maxie Allen complained to his daughter’s primary school about the recruitment process for a new head teacher, he hoped it would result in more openness and transparency.

    Instead six uniformed officers from Hertfordshire police were sent to arrest Allen and his partner after the school objected to them sending numerous emails and to their criticisms including “disparaging” comments on a parents’ WhatsApp group.

    Allen and Rosalind Levine were detained in front of their young daughter before being fingerprinted, searched and left in a police cell for eight hours. They were questioned on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications and causing a nuisance on school property. After a five-week investigation, police concluded there should be no further action.

    Photo of Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine, arrested for malicious communication.
    Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine
    SIMON JACOBS FOR THE TIMES
    The couple had previously been banned from entering Cowley Hill Primary School, in Borehamwood, after questioning the appointment process for a head and “casting aspersions” on the chair of governors on WhatsApp.

    They say they were blocked from attending the parents’ evening for their daughter Sascha, nine, and were not allowed to be in the audience for her Christmas performance. Crucially, even though Sascha suffers from epilepsy and is neurodivergent and registered disabled, the couple were unable to meet teachers to inform them how to administer medication and ask questions about her learning progress.

    Advertisement

    Allen, a producer at Times Radio, told The Times that their treatment showed “massive overreach” by Hertfordshire police, as well as a sinister approach by Cowley Hill primary to “silence awkward parents”.

    Exterior view of Cowley Hill Primary and Nursery School.
    Cowley Hill Primary School
    SIMON JACOBS FOR THE TIMES
    He added: “It was absolutely nightmarish. I couldn’t believe this was happening, that a public authority could use the police to close down a legitimate inquiry.

    “We’d never used abusive or threatening language, even in private, and always followed due process. Yet we have never even been told what these communications were that were supposedly criminal, which is completely Kafkaesque.”

    • ‘Two months later I still shudder whenever a police car goes past’

    Cowley Hill primary said it had sought advice from police after a “high volume of direct correspondence and public social media posts” that had become upsetting for staff, parents and governors.

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    The case is likely to raise fresh questions about police handling of free speech issues. It follows widespread controversy over the arrest of the Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson over a year-old deleted social media post. The Times revealed that more than 13,200 hate incidents had been recorded in the 12 months to June despite the chilling effect on freedom of expression. Forces across the country have been criticised for making arrests over relatively minor infractions on social media while complaining about limited resources to tackle crimes such as burglary.

    ‘My first thought was that Sascha was dead’
    Levine, 46, was clearing out toys for charity and looking after her three-year-old daughter, Francesca, on January 29 when there was a knock at the front door of their home in Borehamwood.

    “I saw six police officers standing there. There were two cars and a police van. My first thought was that Sascha was dead. I could not think of any other reason why six police officers would be at my door.

    “My heart was thumping, thinking something terrible had happened. So when I was placed under arrest, in a weird way I was briefly relieved. And then I started to think, ‘what on earth? What the hell is going on?’ Francesca was cowering in the corner, she was terrified.”

    Parents and their two daughters pictured at home, arrested for malicious communication.
    Allen and Levine with their daughters, Sascha, nine, and Francesca, three
    SIMON JACOBS FOR THE TIMES
    Allen, 50, was in a Zoom meeting on his computer in another room and realised that police were in the house when they stepped into his video screen.

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    “I was just in complete disbelief,” he said. “It was just unfathomable to me that things had escalated to this degree.”

    As officers searched the house, Levine, a television producer, called her 80-year-old mother to come over and look after the children. Levine said she had begged police not to put her in handcuffs in front of her toddler, adding: “There was a female officer — she agreed not to use cuffs but said she’d be staying right beside me in case. Then I’m chucked in a cell all day long.”

    The couple spent the next 11 hours at Stevenage police station where they were interviewed under caution before being released at about midnight. They grappled to understand how a relatively trivial dispute had escalated so severely.

    The warning and the WhatApps
    In May 2024 Allen had written to the school governors questioning why, given the head teacher had announced his retirement six months earlier, an open recruitment process had not begun.

    Allen, who had been on the board of governors until the previous year, hoped there would be a meeting with parents to explain the recruitment process, but his questions were rebuffed.

    The following month Jackie Spriggs, the chair of governors, wrote to the parent body about “inflammatory and defamatory” comments on social media and warned that the school would take action against anyone who caused “disharmony”. Allen and Levine do not know whether these messages were related to them.

    On a private WhatsApp group, parents including Allen and Levine expressed their incredulity over the warning, questioning how a school could control their private messages.

    There were some mocking the school leadership. Levine predicted her own fate, writing: “Can you imagine what the ‘action’ is? ‘Hello 999, one of the school mums said something mean about me in a school mum WhatsApp group. Please can you arrest them?’”

    She made a disparaging comment about Louise Thomas, the acting head teacher, in which she suggested the school was overreacting to social media posts, and cast aspersions on Spriggs’s capabilities.

    Spriggs wrote a letter to Allen and Levine over “inflammatory and disparaging comments made on social media” and told them to stop. Levine said she was outraged that the school was collecting private messages, and posted Spriggs’s warning on her personal Facebook profile.

    Shortly afterwards the couple were banned from the school premises. A teacher had to take Sascha to the gate every day, instead of her being picked up in the playground as usual. When Allen and Levine asked for the ban to be temporarily lifted so they could brief her new teacher over what to do if Sascha had an epileptic seizure, the request was refused. The school told them the only permitted correspondence was by email.

    Allen and Levine say they emailed regularly to address issues relating to Sascha’s needs. They repeatedly tried to persuade the school to overturn the ban and launched a formal complaint, including their concerns about the head recruitment process. Allen sent a further email about this.

    The school then asked Hertfordshire police for advice when it considered the volume of emails was too great. An officer issued a warning to the family in December, and told them to take Sascha out of the school, which they did the following month, a week before the arrests.

    Police officers on a residential street.
    The six police officers sent to Allen and Levine’s address
    The Times asked the school, council and police for information about the quantity of emails and for examples of what constituted malicious communications. All three declined to give details. Allen and Levine said they could find about 45 email threads, some involving multiple emails because of replies, during their six-month ban on entering the school premises.

    The couple asked to be told what they had done that met the threshold for the offences, but both the police and school refused to give details. They said the nuisance allegations were never properly explained.

    “That’s what makes it more dystopian,” Allen said. “At no point were we given a smoking gun — the email or comment that formed the basis of this. The reason they haven’t given it is because it doesn’t exist.”

    Allen believes that the school acted to shut down dissent. “I believe the school tried to use the police to close down legitimate inquiries, and for some reason the constabulary played along,” he said.

    Cowley Hill Primary School said: “We sought advice from the police following a high volume of direct correspondence and public social media posts from two parents, as this was becoming upsetting for staff, parents and governors. We’re always happy for parents to raise concerns, but we do ask that they do this in a suitable way, and in line with school’s published complaints procedure.”

    Hertfordshire county council said Thomas had been appointed as interim head for one term before a proper recruitment process was carried out, adding: “The role was advertised publicly, and the recruitment was supported by external professional advisers. We are confident that this was a fair, transparent and timely process.”

    Hertfordshire police said the number of officers sent to Allen and Levine’s home was needed to secure electronic devices and care for children at the address. “The arrests were necessary to fully investigate the allegations as is routine in these types of matters,” the force said. “Following further investigations, officers deemed that no further action should be taken due to insufficient evidence.”

  97. 403928+ up ticks,

    This must have fully comprehensive answers on very regular interim reports, not drag on for years, and be a sound basis inclusive of banning halal and ALL things odiously islamic, a corner foundation stone of a new party.

    Asked I believe by a genuine political type person.

    Richard Braine
    @AgainBraine
    ·
    22m
    Please support Lowe's initiative with actual funds.
    https://x.com/RupertLowe10/status/1905566679268294896

    1. Trump is a climate change sceptic, yet he wants access to Greenland because of the opportunities which will open up with retreating glaciers and melting sea ice. So, which is it, Donald? Is a warming planet real or bunkum?

      1. It depends on what type of scepticism about climate change. I think there is little doubt that the climate is changing, but is it due to man-made activity? I am somewhat sceptical on the latter but not the former.

      2. The US has shown an interest in Greenland for a lot longer than the current Global Boiling.

        "Though the president's rhetoric may seem unusual, a succession of US presidents have tried to gain control of Greenland for more than a century.

        "The US has tried a few times to push the Danes out of Greenland and take it over as part of the US, or at least to have full security tutelage of Greenland," said Lukas Wahden, the author of 66° North, external, a newsletter on Arctic security.

        In 1867, after buying Alaska from Russia, US Secretary of State William H Seward led negotiations to buy Greenland from Denmark, but failed to reach any agreement.

        In 1946, the US offered to pay $100m (equivalent to $1.2bn; £970m today) for the territory, judging that it was vital for national security, but the Danish government refused.

        Trump also tried to buy Greenland during his first presidential term.

        Both Denmark and the Greenlandic government rejected the 2019 proposal, saying: "Greenland is not for sale.""

        https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c74x4m71pmjo

  99. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2025/03/28/sex-with-husband/

    I think one of the reasons the Warqueen and I haven't killed one another work is because we do actually talk to one another. She doesn't dance around topics and tells me what she wants: not just in the bedroom, but for just about everything.

    If she doesn't how will I know what she wants? Women 'allude', hint and suggest. That isn't how a man's brain works.

  103. From the Telegraph

    Vance tells Greenlanders: Your country is cold as ‘s—’ and China’s coming for you
    President doubles down on annexation comments, saying US ‘cannot do without’ territory

    Benedict Smith 28 March 2025 8:55pm GMT

    Mr Vance declared that the US could no longer “bury our head in the snow” and ignore China’s attempts to establish itself in the semi-autonomous territory during the first ever visit to Greenland by a US vice-president on Friday.

    He explicitly urged Greenlanders to vote for independence from Denmark, urging its citizens to join the US’s “security umbrella” in comments that have caused outrage in Copenhagen.

    Donald Trump has repeatedly said the US should take over Greenland and has not ruled out the possibility of using military force to do so. When asked by reporters if he thought that would be necessary, Mr Vance said he did not think it would come to that.

    One Danish politician told The Telegraph that the remarks were “deeply concerning” and said they would “not tolerate foreign interference”.

    Mr Vance travelled to Greenland on Friday accompanied by Usha Vance, the second lady, where the vice-president was briefed on Arctic security at the US military’s Pituffik Space Base alongside Mike Waltz, the US national security adviser.

    JD Vance arrives at the US military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland
    Mr Vance is expected to receive a security briefing during the visit Credit: JIM WATSON
    “It’s cold as s— here”, Mr Vance said as he met troops, adding; “Nobody told me.” Temperatures in the capital were a chilly -8C (18F) on Friday afternoon.

    After being briefed on national security matters, Mr Vance ramped up the Trump administration’s attacks on Denmark and waded into a debate on Greenland’s independence.

    “Denmark hasn’t done a good job at keeping Greenland safe,” he said, accusing the US ally of failing to spend enough protecting the territory and endangering “world peace”.

    He urged Greenlanders to vote to secede from Denmark, after the pro-independence Democratic party took a shock victory in its elections earlier this month.

    “This has to happen, and the reason it has to happen, I hate to say it, is because our friends in Denmark have not done their job in keeping this area safe.”

    Mr Vance said the alternative would be to “give up the North Atlantic, to give up the Arctic to China, to Russia and other regimes that don’t have the best interests of the American people at heart”.

    The US vice-president accused China and Russia of taking “greater and greater interest” in Greenland, accusing Beijing of setting “ridiculous debt traps” and deploying military forces to the region.

    “We need to wake up from a failed 40 year consensus that said that we can ignore the encroachment of powerful countries as they expand their ambitions,” Mr Vance added.

    “We can’t just bury our head in the sand or in Greenland, bury our head in the snow and pretend that the Chinese are not interested in this very large land mass.”

    During Mr Vance’s speech on Friday, Mr Trump posted a video on social media about how the US had defended Greenland from the Nazis during the Second World War with the tagline: “America stands with Greenland.”

    The video was paid for by Securing American Greatness Inc, a campaign group that has previously spent millions of dollars producing adverts attacking Joe Biden, the former US president and political rival of Mr Trump’s.

    It came after Mr Trump doubled down on his comments about annexing Greenland, claiming US national security was being threatened by Chinese and Russian warships in the region.

    “It’s not a question of, do you think we can do without it? We can’t,” the US president told reporters in the Oval Office.

    “If you look at Greenland right now, Chinese and Russian ships all over the place, and we’re not going to be able to do that.

    “We’re not relying on Denmark or anybody else to take care of that situation. And we’re not talking about peace for the United States. We’re talking about world peace. We’re talking about international security.”

    Mr Trump and Mr Vance have become unpopular figures in Greenland following their comments about annexation.

    Mrs Vance had been due to make a solo trip to the region, but Mr Vance later announced he would accompany his wife amid reports of planned protests and Greenland’s prime minister called the US delegation’s visit “aggressive”.

    Protesters ahead of the visit by the US delegation
    Two protesters ahead of the visit by the US delegation Credit: Leon Neal
    On Thursday, it was reported members of the US consulate had gone “door-to-door” trying to find businesses willing to host the Vances, without success.

    Anders Vistisen, a Danish MEP, told The Telegraph that the repeated snubs were “not only a diplomatic humiliation” but “a disgrace to the office of the American presidency”.

    He accused Mr Vance of talking “fiction” in his speech, saying: “Denmark and Greenland have made it abundantly clear: we will not tolerate foreign interference – no matter how high up it comes in Washington.”

    Photos appeared to show a two-woman protest taking place in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, as the Vances landed.

    One of the women, standing on top of a snow mound, carried a sign demonstrating against the installation of US B-2 stealth bombers on the military base.

    1. "Nobody told me", said Vance. Well, Mr VP, in the unlikely event of you reading this comment, should you entertain any thoughts of visiting the Panama Canal ahead of giving consideration to unilaterally annexing it, regardless of the wishes of its inhabitants, it's hot and sticky there. Don't wear winter woolies.

    2. Unfortunately Greenland is in a strategically important position and the US can't afford for it to come under Chinese or Russian influence. Same goes for the UK probably – we and Ireland extend US influence a long way east. Oh well, at least it probably protects us from being colonised by the Chinese which would not be fun. Pity they seem to have decided to repopulate Britain.

    1. I expect Grok is in a huff because I missed putting a comma in between smell and touch…

      1. Yes, not too bad anyway.
        It’s not so good as it was back in the day, but what can you do?

  117. Mark Carney accused of plagiarism in Oxford thesis
    Canadian prime minister forced to deny allegations he copied 10 passages of text for 1995 doctorate
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/03/28/mark-carney-accused-of-plagiarising-oxford-thesis/

    Plagiarise
    Let no one else's work evade your eyes
    Remember why the good lord made your eyes
    So don't shade your eyes
    Just plagiarise. plagiarise , plagiarise

    (But be sure always to call it 'Research')

    Tom Lehrer

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1833f0ad55d9d17fd2d7d928663163168a1f6834265e1db664e0f55d57b31cf5.png

    1. All these second and third rate brains churning out PhDs can't be producing original research!

    1. I am disappointed in the Telegraph using that word in a headline. The King might say it in private, but it's certainly not appropriate to splash it all over the newpapers.
      There is a precedent, but George V was dead when the story was told, and I bet the papers of the day didn't run it as headline news because we understood in those days that standards in public life are important.

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