Friday 16 May: The answer to suffering is compassionate care, not state-assisted dying

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here.

639 thoughts on “Friday 16 May: The answer to suffering is compassionate care, not state-assisted dying”

        1. Often worse. Had a relative who married a secular Jew. Went the full hog…two of everything in kitchen etc…

          1. If you convert, you have to keep reminding yourself and others that you made the correct decision.

          3. I worked in some homes like that in North London Golders Green.
            A completely Crazy way to live.

    2. A "scholar says" i.e. a man says. How many female scholars exist in this cult, I wonder?

      How does this woman feel about other women being stoned on the words of a "scholar"?

      Does this woman have a line in the sand that she will not cross even if a scholar says…?

      Pathetic!

      1. Apart from the brainwashing aspect of this vacuum-head; does she not consider the health implications of incessantly breathing back in her own exhalations (not to mention the mucus that has no adequate ventilation)?

        1. Ah remember the mask wearers during Lockdowns (how many?), Grizzly. The poor supermarket etc workers, masks all day and behind plastic screens, for which no evidence of non-transmission, and neither recognition nor reward. Who was it making the money and laughing their heads off (if only) at the same time….Pfizer, Johnson et al including the scientist (lol) caught in a headlock by two lads – think they got fined and possibly even time ?

          1. I still come across the odd half-wit wearing one these days, Kate. I delight in telling the pillocks that asking a cloth mask to keep out viruses is as effective as standing inside a tennis court as protection from being shot by someone standing outside and firing a machine-gun at you.

            Not only that, those idiotic masks do not cover the eyes; many viruses enter the nasal passage directly via the tear ducts.

            Both my insanely stupid brothers are of the "get-jabbed-and-wear-a-mask" brigade, despite my warnings. I gave up: you cannot educate pork.

    3. Are you going to the coast from Worksop on the pretty route via Lincoln and the Wolds; or are you taking the M18/M180 wide tarmac route?

      1. Cut across to Retford, then Gainsborough, drop down to Market Rasen, pause at Tealby Village Shop, then North Thoresby to North Coates. I plan stopping the night at Horse Shoe Point and doing a walk to the South.

        1. 👍🏻

          I had my only glider flight from an airstrip just outside Market Rasen. The craft was launched on a long rope pulled by a large winch attached to couple of double-decker 'bus engines working in tandem.

    5. They must be ashamed of themselves to cover their faces.
      Even ashamed of their own hair.

    2. Jacques Cartier (1491-1557)

      Jacques Cartier took possession of Canada in 1534. He was certainly the most famous French sailor of the Renaissance. The “discoverer of Canada”, born in Saint-Malo in 1491 was the son of fishermen from Saint-Malo.

      Jacques Cartier is certainly very much revered in our part of Brittany.

      Macron liked both Trudeau and Carney. I very much doubt whether Jacques Cartier would have thought much of either of them

      1. Did he then move back from Canada and buy a small jeweller's shop, Rastus? Lol.

        1. And that, KJ, is the question we would all like to see answered. But answer, there will be none!

          1. You could be right, but eventually t'interweb seems to expose most things…quite a fan of Musk, myself 😊 (my bet is American dollars)

    2. I was a tad surprised when he welcomed the four Azov guys into his No.10 office, complete with flag.

    3. Had Trump been the president at the time the war started the war would not have started.

  10. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2ba08796ad760254be61908d2e22a9c79c0e0a9ac90ee29c7600f3d39856c396.png But wasn't the taxi driver Italian?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/28868e6708afdde602d6c2194bccd2f34088f3f6a9501f70d5d900d060f0e7ad.png Jack Buntis
    8h
    That's after our top diplomat and his squeeze took a taxi ride.

    Beebsplaining
    3h
    You boy !……..
    Taxi for the Turnip? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/81b380321aace514558093ba44931bb11aad60d9ff4524234d927ccf5257acd8.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f93267b69343bc44ec19f00702b6070d846e3861e6d4534af94a33771a7ce488.png Going on a skiing holiday

    1. At this point, everyone is piling in with new fiction. Lammy is a target the size of a barn door.

    3. Is that Roland Rat looking out the car window…or something nasty from the wood shed……..

    4. Well done the taxi driver for bringing that to public attention. The whole world was involved.

  11. Good Morning!

    As the treacherous British establishment prepares to sell out British fishermen yet again, Graham Bedford reminds us of how important the fishing fleet once was and in his The Great Storm , reminds us of just how hard a life it was. Graham is researching his roots in the Grimsby fishing fleet, and also puts in a lot of unsung, unseen work for us at FSB, so please do support him by reading his short article and – especially – leaving a comment. He loves comments.

    Tortapani has had two heart attacks, and in Are our beliefs preventing us from being cured? he tells of how he recovered by taking responsibility for his health away from doctors. Let us know if you agree, or if you have had a similar experience.

    The God-awful government's war on landlords is intensifying, but make no mistake, it's not only landlords they are attacking, it's also property rights and freedom itself, and part of the same campaign to destroy small, family farmers, as explained in The War on Landlords Is a War on Freedom .

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's electric power was sourced from Gas, 21.6%; Solar, 8%: Wind 27.5%; Imports, 17.3%; Biomass, 5.2% and Nuclear, 17.9%.

    freespeechbacklash.com

    1. How did this imbecile ever become a tutor to Princes William and Harry and then an MP.

      The reason we have such abysmal people in public life is that the British no longer know to select the right people.

          2. Deffo. Spending my time indoors sitting with my dog, him sleeping, me surfing. OK by me, not too keen on hot sunny weather…love in a cold climate 🥶!

          3. Cat can't find anywhere cool. I prefer cool weather as it's easier to get warm than it is to get cool in hot weather.. My little music studio is the coolest room so that's where I'm spending most of my time

    1. Another gem to bite Stoma on the bum.
      I still think that incident has the whiff of the Reichstag fire to it.
      A young foreigner from a country affected by events who miraculously knows the address of one of Stoma's properties and even the identity of his old car? Really?

      1. Must be a whizz on the Dark Web. Elon Musk should give him an offer he can't refuse…….

      2. The chap who put the P in Pyrotechnics while putting the P in Plonker and taking the P out of Politics.

      3. A man has been charged with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life over fires at two properties and a car linked to the Prime Minister.
        Ukrainian national Roman Lavrynovych, 21, of Sydenham, is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on Friday, the Metropolitan Police said.

  16. Good Moaning.
    This BTL comment under the Tellygraff letters is a variation on a theme, but I larfed.

    My brother is participating in a social experiment. He has to wear a T-shirt with the slogan “Gary Lineker speaks the truth" for a week and observe people's reactions. So far, he’s been spat on, punched, kicked, and had several objects thrown at him.
    I can't wait to see what happens when he goes outside.

  17. Kent Police to review the arrest of “Brexity” former special constable

    Following an intervention by the FSU, Kent Police is reviewing its treatment of Julian Foulkes, the 71-year-old retired special constable arrested in November 2023 over a tweet replying to a pro-Palestinian activist. In the post, Julian wrote: “One step away from storming Heathrow looking for Jewish arrivals…” (He later said it would have been better if he’d begun “What next? You are…”, but maintained – accurately – that his meaning was clear nonetheless.)

    His tweet had just 26 views and wasn’t reported by the public. It was, however, flagged to Kent Police – the force he’d served for a decade – by the Metropolitan Intelligence Command. The next day, six officers arrived at Julian’s home, armed with batons and pepper spray. He was then arrested, booked, fingerprinted, photographed, swabbed for DNA, interrogated for eight hours, handcuffed and issued with a caution.

    The officers also searched his house, scrutinising Julian’s books by authors such as Douglas Murray and his issues of the Spectator – describing them as “very Brexity things”.

    The FSU has been in touch with Julian and he’s accepted our offer of help. As he told the Telegraph: “The FSU and Lord Young have generously agreed to fully fund a lawsuit against Kent Police. I’m extremely grateful for such excellent support and would urge anyone concerned about the sustained attack on free speech to please join the FSU. They’re fighting hard every day for all of us.”

    Coincidentally or not, Chief Constable Tim Smith – who’d already rung Julian to apologise for the distress caused – is now understood to have ordered a review by the force’s Professional Standards Department, which could lead to officers being dismissed.

    [From the Free Speech Union's weekly newsletter]

      1. He didn't!

        It is impossible to debate with a progressive Liberal, they are incapable of entering into debate. Their warped thought processes will not permit it.

          2. Sadly very true today.
            After one or some get away with something terrible, like nasties Heseltine and Co getting rid of PM Thatcher. It started a trend inside our political system. And spread outward.

    3. Thanks, Grizzly. Saw this a few days ago, was even reported this week's edition of Spectator. I'm still a subscriber..should I be awaiting the knock at my door………..I've supported Lord Young/FSU since early days, and also when he started Lockdown (now Daily) Sceptic. One of the good guys.

      1. Good morning, Kate. I've never subscribed to anything other than New Musical Express in the 1970s but I soon dropped that subscription when it veered to the Left.

    5. How can our Police Force have come to this. No politician appears to care at all.

    6. "…which could lead to officers being dismissed." But won't, of course.

    7. The arrest has done its job. Even more people will self-censor.
      The process is the punishment.

    8. I'm surprised that the searches in his home were allowed to be shown for public viewing.
      What happened was disgraceful the officer's involved should be ashamed of themselves.

  18. Lord Farquard
    8h
    Looks like old Sadiq has been lying again, and insulting the very people whose country he and his kind have colonised :
    He said a skilled migrant would contribute £16,000 a year towards the economy – including the cost of the public services they may use – and their family would contribute £12,000 a year, net of public services.

    In contrast, the family of a British skilled worker took £4,400 from the economy.

    Yet:

    A Danish study on the true cost of mass immigration found that immigrants from non-Western countries and their descendants have a net negative impact on public finances. In 2018, this cost was estimated to be 31 billion Danish kroner (DKK), or 1.4% of GDP. This study suggests that immigrants from the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan, and Turkey accounted for a significant portion of the net negative impact.

    https://youtu.be/1FLMyKqLFu0

    4. Typically to try and justify their stupid mistakes……
      Wadda loada bolero is spoken.

    2. The one in – one out idea has a problem.
      Think of it this way:-
      Take 1000 litres of fresh drinking water.
      Remove one litre and replace it with one litre of water from a sewer.
      Would you still drink it?

      1. The privatised water company racketeers would not do this.

        Rather, they'd take the litre of water from a river and then chlorinate it like a dead American hen to make it legal.

        I drink water straight out of the Malvern Hills. It carries a Severn Trent health warning, so it must be ok.

        1. One of my nephew's and his family live in the North Pennines.
          All their water come directly from the hills through hundreds of meters of natural filtering processes. But a few years ago they were ordered by the water company to filter their water before use. I'm not sure they do. But they had it tested and it was perfectly safe to drink.

          1. Firstborn's water comes from his own well, after filtering through the mountain. It tastes wonderful, and is bacterially inert (tested regularly). He can't drink UK mains water, as he says (and I agree) it tastes like swimming-pool water with all the chlorine.

    3. No. No. No.
      You have it all wrong. 85% of the British are unrecontructed knuckle draggers.. 15% of the British public are enlightened models of compassion.

    1. Reading down your list and thinking 'clown world' and there you have it Citroen1. What a dope. A dangerous one too.

  21. Morning, all Y'all.
    Beautifully sunny day. Working from home – a mistake, because the house is filled with the sound of carpenting… difficult to concentrate!

    1. How many children have been raped – and will continue to be raped – because of weak politicians being to afraid to tell the truth for fear of being called racist.

      With a Muslim chairman will the Reform Party ever be brave enough to speak up on this issue as Rupert Lowe has done?

    2. It is the leniency of the bleeding hearts on the left that have allowed these gangs to prosper in our country. The Maitlis's of this world are as responsible as the perpetrators themselves. She is, I have no doubt, racist toward Whites. No doubt she protests that Afrikaners are being given refugee status because of the genocide being perpetrated against them.

      1. I know Maitlos has a son, not sure if she has a daughter; and if she did, dahlling, they don’t live anywhere near the rape gangs so why worry?

  24. Good morning, chums, and special chum Geoff. I had to read several clues and hints to (just) get today's Wordle.

    Wordle 1,427 6/6

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

    And, it was so cold in bed last night, that in the end I got up and switched on the central heating. Nice and cosy then, so I overslept. Ah well, c'est la vie!

    1. And she will probably be the one who is done for hate speech by officialdom.

    2. My immediate reaction was to laugh at her accent. But I sympathize with her complaint. But I think her children are in earshot of her colourful prose. She needs to watch her P's and Q's.

      1. 405636+ up ticks,

        Morning JR,

        I do beg to differ , I believe her children and the children of others to be uppermost on her mind and on the subject matter her language
        to be very ” conservative”

  26. The poison of the Leftie activist on show here.. scary when you realise they had captured a powerful position..
    .
    James B. Comey former Director of the FBI just so happens to come across some sea shells on the beach.. they just so happen to spell out FBI slang 86.. 47.. (meaning eliminate the 47th president).
    .
    Donald J Trump jnr then posts..

    https://x.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1923118680658862260

  27. A blast from the past. Remember the waif like gymnast Olga Korbut? Well, she is SEVENTY today!!!

  28. Leftie then goes all innocent and righteous..
    "I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message. I didn't realise some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down."

    Get these people out of power.. & make them wear pink conical hats with a spinning rainbow flag on top.

    Oh and their sprogs..

    Prosecutor Maurene Comey – whose father James Comey famously refused to prosecute Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information & then participated in the Russia collusion hoax – joined the prosecution against Combs. The younger Comey has previously worked as lead prosecutor on both the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases, as well as that of former Epstein cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione.

  29. Leftie then goes all innocent and righteous..
    "I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message. I didn't realise some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down."

    Get these people out of power.. & make them wear pink conical hats with a spinning rainbow flag on top.

    Oh and their sprogs..

    Prosecutor Maurene Comey – whose father James Comey famously refused to prosecute Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information & then participated in the Russia collusion hoax – joined the prosecution against Combs. The younger Comey has previously worked as lead prosecutor on both the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases, as well as that of former Epstein cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione.

  31. I would never have worked under such a régime.

    I warned it would come to this when they implemented the appalling graduate-entry scheme, way back in 1978. I was not wrong. The products of that imbecilic system are the gormless cretins running the British police today.

    1. Once again Grizz and like so many other things that have happened and are happening today. How did we get to this stage in our country?

    2. Just as many teachers of my generation would not be prepared to work in schools in the UK today.

    3. They often justify their actions with "We received a complaint…" Well, a complaint doesn't necessarily need raiding someone's house and detaining them. A quick review might be su.fficient to the dismiss such a complaint as trivial or "No further action".
      But a couple of days of paperwork keeps them from real on-the-street policing.

      1. During my two-year period in charge of the communications room at my sub-division, I would decide what constituted a valid complaint.
        And if the complainant wasn’t happy with my decision I told them to complain about me in writing. None ever did.

    1. Does anyone remember George Bernard Shaw's play Candida?

      In this GBS paradoxically concludes that the man we take to be strong is weak and the man we take to be weak is strong.

      1. I’m not familiar with it myself, but I sometimes wonder about people saying you are strong in facing the grief of bereavement. I disagree. I think you have to be strong to successfully go for the final outcome yourself.

  33. Good morning, Grizz x I remember starting to read someone else’s copy of that, and I thought….well prob better not say what I thought….

      2. Presumably in the 70s when Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons were in their prime…

    1. Morning Anne ,

      Yeah , the DTL's go from pigeon billings and coo-ing letters to this .. and of course we are now expecting a flow of letters about disaffected Ukrainians ..

      I liked this DTL comment ..

      Katy Liz
      42 min ago
      What is a 21 year old Ukrainian man even doing in UK? They lowered the call-up age some time ago and ordered all Ukrainian men living abroad back to Ukraine for armed forces training. The government have been so pro-Ukraine-Zelensky, its very hard to believe it is also harbouring Ukrainian draft-dodgers leaving them free to (allegedly) commit UK crimes.

      Now then , can't we ask the same question about single Asian men and economic migrants who float their boat across the English Channel ..

      Why are we allowing fleeing cowards access to seek safety in the UK.

      None of them possess an ounce of true grit.

        1. Morning Sue,

          Antibiotics are causing probs with my stomach , and I have a large bruise on my swollen jaw .. feel a real mess , still , the good news , I hope the infection is being controlled and am pleased I had immediate treatment .

      2. Considering how young Ukrainian men are being obliterated as soon as they get to the front. The boy has sense. Only fools and the insane would fight for Zelenskyy.

      3. I do not blame any Ukrainian young man who doesn't want to die for Zelensky and the Ukrainian laundromat. In fact, one of my colleagues is a so-called "draft dodger" from Ukraine.

    1. That’s the one I normally use. There is a better one at Evendine, near to British Camp, but that’s further out for me.

      The Holy Well on the other side of the hills has resumed its place as the source of bottled Malvern water, after Coca-Cola (which bought out Schweppes) closed down the pretty Victorian Colwall plant and sold it to a developer who knocked it down.

      There is one in the town centre, coming out of a statue of a goddess made in the 1990s, and St Ann’s Well, attached to a cafe, is also popular.

      The Earl of Beauchamp well on Cowleigh Road was condemned because of the sheep in the field draining into it.

      Plenty of others, and each May Day holiday, they dress the wells and people are invited to tour them.

    1. Send bacon sandwiches for lunch. Sausage rolls too. Ham 'n cheese sandwiches. Pizza with salsiccia/spicy sausage.

      1. The school and Police would see that as provocation and try and intimidate the parents.

  37. Morning all 🙂😊
    Sunny but not as warm as it has been.
    I have another message to today to take advantage of another vaccination at my GP practice, RSV, something to do with respiratory, thanks, but no thanks. But ….
    I'm wondering how long it will be before they refuse to see me for other problems because they will say I'm not protected.

  39. There are many attributions to this comment on the Kennedy assassination. Gorbachev, Mao, Zhou Enlai, anonymous Tass employee …..
    “I do not think Aristotle Onassis would have married Mrs Khrushchev.”

      1. A real goer? You mean, when Brezhnev turned up in his nightie, she couldn't wait to be gone?

  40. 405646+ up ticks,

    I do believe that a crowd funding defense fund is estimated to
    total in millions.

    Dt,
    Pictured: Ukrainian charged over Starmer firebombs
    Roman Lavrynovych, 21, has been charged with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life

  41. From the Telegraph

    No country loathes second homes quite like Britain
    Housing shortages won’t be solved by taxing second properties into oblivion
    Matthew Lynn15 May 2025 12:47pm BST
    They already face double the rate of council tax paid by everyone else. But now Sir Sadiq Khan wants to push the taxes on second home owners in London even higher.

    If the Mayor of London gets his way it will soon be £10,000, £20,000 or even £30,000 a year if you have a bolthole in the City, and very soon there will probably be another few hundred pounds a week in a “second bin surcharge” if you want your rubbish collected as well.

    No other country in the developed world demonises second home ownership in the same way – and it is emblematic of the drab, joyless country Labour is creating.

    Councils across England are already making full use of their powers – shamefully introduced by the last Conservative government – to double the rate of council tax on second homes. Sir Sadiq, a man who has never seen a tax without immediately wanting to increase it, is now lobbying for the power to push it even higher. “If you can afford a flat and leave it empty you can pay double council tax,” he told LBC radio on Wednesday. “I think boroughs should be allowed to charge much, much more.” With councils desperately short of money to house more asylum seekers, and to pay for higher National Insurance charges for their staff, it would hardly be a great surprise if the Government gave Khan exactly what he wants. It is an easy tax to raise.

    The UK has become a global outlier in demonising second homes. Around 3 per cent of the British housing stock is made up of vacation properties. That compares to 10 per cent in France, where a family residence somewhere in the countryside is considered completely normal among the middle classes, or Norway, where 40 per cent of households have access to a second home, usually along the stunning coastline. We already have far fewer of them than most other countries.

    Even worse, the extra tax may not even raise very much money. Last April, Fife council doubled the council tax on second homes in a move expected to bring in an extra £3.9 million in revenue. But in the first six months it only raised £1.6 million as second home owners sold up. Anecdotally, I know people are selling up in villages across Norfolk and Cornwall. That might come as a surprise to Sir Sadiq and the high-tax junkies around him, but people don’t have an unlimited appetite for paying punitive taxes. At a certain point they just give up.

    Of course Khan will no doubt argue there is a shortage of homes in the capital. And yet on the very same day he was pushing for higher taxes, we also learned that instead of the “golden era for council house building” he promised, the number of new affordable homes being built in London fell so dramatically last year that the Government had to cut the target. You’d be forgiven for wondering if the shortage of homes has as much to do with Khan’s failure to build new ones as “greedy” second home owners.

    In reality, the war on second home owners is driven purely by spite and envy. We don’t demonise people for owning a second TV, or a second pair of shoes, or a second anything else for that matter. In other countries, and indeed in many that are more egalitarian than the UK, switching between the city and the countryside is seen as perfectly normal. It brings a lot of pleasure to people’s lives, it creates lots of wealth and jobs in places which might otherwise have very little of either, and it is even better for the environment, given that their owners don’t jet off to Italy or Spain instead, as they surely will once they have sold the weekend retreat in the UK. Yet in Labour’s grey, beaten-down Britain they are being driven out of existence – and as much as Sir Sadiq might celebrate it, the country will be a worse place for their departure.

    1. Second home owners keep dying villages alive .. yes maybe for only a few months a year , but they are vital to the local economy .

    2. A cottage in the country or in the mountains (sometimes "and") is almost a mandated requirement in Norway. It's entirely normal.

    3. Here, in Skåne, there are nearly as many second-homes (most owned by Stockholmers) as there are primary residences. Next door to me is one such. Lars-Ove (aged 94) and Catharina (aged 84) travel down from Stockholm every May and stay until October. The rest of the year the house is empty.

      1. True but I understand this was a Tory initiative. The problem is once these irresponsible tax laws have been made they are nearly impossible to repeal. The arguments will then be that the money has been used for Saint Eulalia’s children and pet foundation and these beneficiaries are more deserving than nasty middle class social climbers. I fear the British are stuck with this.

  43. A rare moment of kindness.

    Yesterday, as I mentioned, we drove to Cambridge to go to Evensong at Trinity. Half way there, approaching the dreary town of Brandon (JN will know what I mean!) I noticed a "tyre warning light" had come on. We were in our Sunday best – the last thing to be wearing with wheel issues…

    I turned into what looked like the sort of place where a tyre outfit might be: no luck – but there was a car parts company. The MR went in and asked if they knew of a tyre place – explaining the problem. The young man suggested the MG garage 100 yards up the road. We went there.

    Immediately a chap in his 60s came out, directed me where to park – and checked all four tyres. All down a bit – one more than the others. He then turned off the warning light (something I would not have known what to do). He was kind, thoughtful and efficient. The whole thing took no more than 15 minutes. Fortunately, I happened have half-a-crown in my pocket so that he could treat himself to a pint or two….

    Isn't it refreshing to come across this sort of person these days?

    3. You don't drive a SEAT do you Bill we have those sort of warning lights coming on all the time.

    4. I've had to travel through Brandon many times (en route to Stansted).

      There are more Yanks there than English (from nearby Lakenheath and Mildenhall). They keep the local economy going; without them Brandon would be even more dismal.

      1. My reckoning is that I have been through the benighted place about 2,000 times in the 41 years I have lived here.

        1. I remember the name Brandon just as I remember the name Adlestrop.

          We used to drive through the place on our way to Holt from Bury St. Edmunds when Christo was at Gresham's.

          The difference was that Edward Thomas immortalised the railway station at Adlestrop while nobody in the UK bothered to do the same for Brandon.

          However, the phrase Let's Go Brandon became a synonym for "F*ck, Joe Biden" in the USA.

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d30a8a01b20120229831ab4560a26808196eeca86dc1d4a2a044a378b76d0c49.png

    5. Only half a crown, Uncle Bill? You clearly haven't been to the local pub for a pint recently. Lol.

  44. Ed Miliband’s net zero fantasy is turning into a real-life nightmare
    The Energy Secretary’s green fanaticism exposes Britain to the risk of Chinese sabotage
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/16/ed-milibands-net-zero-fantasy-turning-into-nightmare/

    It seems extraordinary to me that Ed Miliband is still at large. He is clearly completely mad.

    BTL

    Whoever is responsible for having Ed Miliband sectioned is dragging his feet ad is failing to do his job.

    The longer he delays the more inevitable the total and irreparable destruction of UK's economy will be.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d5b0883c8a5c7a1ce7b9e1a478a8f8773d66aaa77f6b6f66938400eb4bdc4cb6.png

        1. My teeth invariably grate when I hear southern muppets say “Doncaaaaahster”, “Newcaaaahstle” and “Glaaaaahsgow”.

          None of the inhabitants of those places would ever pronounce them idiotically like that. After all they are their home cities.

    2. I remember from years ago, this idiot being questioned by Jeremy Paxman, about some funding issue. Talk about a rabbit caught in the headlights. Embarrassing then, with no change now.

    3. Report out this morning, possibly Paul Homewood, Chinese made solar panels have remote off switches…oooer..what could happen…

      1. What people are not picking up on is that this was discovered by the customers in the US. It's normal to test and analyse a new product thoroughly.

        1. Indeed, Alf. Husband seems to think all he has to do is switch it off..hmm…..

    5. If I had worn my hard hat perched on the top of my head like that, I would have been rightly ridiculed. One breeze and it's off.

    1. I've very rarely seen this tellies used in hospital. Maybe that's one of the reasons.
      I wonder how much of a kick-back the NHS gets from the company providing the"service"?

  46. Last time that happened to us was 1977 in North Island NZ. The guy wouldn't accept anything for his technical assistance.

  47. Right, that's me off.
    TTFN for now, unless I find a cafe/pub with internet, see you all on Tuesday or Wednesday.

  49. I wonder how many Roman Lavrynovych's there are, living inside and outside Ukraine, who want the war to stop, even if it means giving up territory to Russia.
    I suspect that he is far from being alone.

  50. I take him for a circumnavigation of the garden every day on his harness and lead. I let him decide where he wants to go, sniffing at every blade of grass and shrub. Only a couple of times has he discerned 'markings' by a stray meandering tomcat so he sprays his own scent (even though he has been castrated) to mark his territory.

    I am still not permitted to let him out alone, though.

    1. I promise you he'll not stray. He knows where his dining room and sleeping quarters (all of them) are….

    2. Give him his freedom – when we got Jessie and Ziggy I intended keeping them in for a few days but I forgot to lock the cat flap as Lily would never use it. Jessie found the catflap after a day or two of being indoors – but she knew the way back again. They know their territory and don't wander.

      1. The only problem with that is he does not yet know his territory. For the first six-to-seven years of his life he lived out in of the countryside in an old farm cottage surrounded by fields.
        Moving him here, to the middle of a village, means he knows nothing of the outside yet nor the dangers of the nearby main road. We are happy to keep him as a ‘house cat’ for the foreseeable future.
        The house is spacious inside with a massive conservatory and workshop are where he loves to explore. That’s before we mention the rest of the house, upstairs and downstairs.

        1. Our current cats and the last one were rescues – all middle aged or elderly. They soon got to know their territory and where to come back to for food and comfort. It’s unnatural to put cats on a lead. Ours are quite happy sprawled out on the table but they go outside when ever they want to. I’ve never confined my cats indoors. Let him get to know the outside and his territory.

  51. Good morning to all and I do hope that all of you are well or nearly so 😊Sunny here in West Sussex and a cool day which I am heartily glad for.

    Haven't been on for a while because my eyes got progressively worse to the point that I was having a great deal of difficulty seeing. I blamed the glaucoma but it turned out that I had developed an allergic reaction to one of the two eye drops I was using. Now things are are somewhat stabilised but my right eye is badly damaged, the left not so bad. Now have to alternate between three sets of glasses, which is a bit much but not so bad considering the alternative.

    Seems that a lot has happened since the last time I posted. New Pope, new country, Baluchistan. Poor Libya is back into civil war. Trump has started to save White South Africans from genocide. But Der Stermerfuhrer is still here lying his way through everything and so is his awful party and the invaders keep coming across the channel. But Rupert Lowe has been exonerated although Farage, the “coward and a viper” as Rupert so aptly characterised him, is still on his way to betraying or destroying Reform as he inevitably will judging by his old patterns of behaviour.

    So fun to be back although I am going to have to be careful because eyes suffer from fatigue very quickly. Oh, and I almost forgot, a very belated but Happy Easter to you all!

    1. Hope your sight improves.

      I recently had a gluey eye and was using drops. Then my eye began to sting. I checked the label and i was putting Otex ear drops in my eye. Dumkopf !

      1. Hallo Pip. Ear drops is not good. I now have a large blind spot in my right eye and, unfortunately, I’m lumbered with it. The worse thing is eye fatigue, it sets in quickly and cause nausea so not to pleasant. But, at least I can still see and that is a lot to be thankful for.

    2. Sorry to read about your eyes…I have prescription sunglasses, very useful. Husband just uses his ordinary glasses with clip on sunglasses, especially when driving. Hope eye drops help…I have dry eye, use Bausch & Lomb Minims artificial tears 0.44%/0.5 ml, very useful, get them on prescription. Good luck 🙂

    3. Oh dear. The trouble with medication is that reasonable people tell themselves things have to get worse before they get better; not be impatient; give it time etc….. (Antibiotics are notorious for that pattern)
      I hope things are now improving.

    4. Good to see you back and posting, Johnathan. Hope the eyes improve quickly – poor sight is a right bind.

  52. I thought it was a while since we'd seen you here…….. hope the new drops will improve things a bit.

    1. Thank you Ndovu. Things could always be worse. Or at least, that is how I prefer to think.

  53. The fact is sos that many of them do consider themselves to be Russian so the answer to your question is — a considerable number. Considering my extended family via my Russian stepfather and via my late wife which like most Russian families had plenty of Ukrainians in the mix, they did not think of themselves as anything but Russian.
    If you watched Putin's interview with Tucker Carlson you might recall Putin telling the story of the Ukrainian soldiers who refused to surrender with the immortal words that "Russians do not surrender." People in the West thought Putin was making that up but he wasn't it was typically Ukrainian, the existential reality of Ukrainians in the face of death that apart from ideology they are Russians.

    1. I view it as rather Scotland and England.
      Kruschev's mother was Ukrainian. I suspect many both sides of the border have familial links with the two countries.

      1. It is far more like Yorkshire or another English county pretending it is another country. The Scots and English are two separate countries with long traditions and institutions. With Russia and Ukraine they are the same people. There is nothing different about them other than what one might call regional differences. That is the tragedy, brothers and sisters killing each other for nothing really. The present regime in Ukraine had to ban the national church and create its own because the Church is Russian, a pathetic attempt to create difference where there was none.

        1. Surely Ukraine and Russia were different people with different customs before the Soviet Union brought them unnaturally together.

          Ukrainian is a different language to Russian. I have a Ukrainian neighbour who speaks both.

          1. That isn’t surprising since one third of Ukrainians, including Zelenskyy use Russian as their first language. I quote: “Today, Russian and Ukrainian are close relations: they share more vocabulary, grammar, and features of pronunciation with each other than they do with the other Slavonic languages. They both use the Cyrillic alphabet, but slightly different versions. There are four letters in Ukrainian missing from Russian (ґ, є, і, ї), and four letters in Russian missing from Ukrainian (ё, ъ, ы, э).

            As Russian and Ukrainian diverged from each other relatively recently (less than a millennium ago), they still share a lot of basic and core vocabulary – but not enough to be considered dialects of a single language.” In other words they can communicate with a little effort. So not exactly a dialect not exactly a language. But then, having needed the help of the postman in talking to two sisters I used to know outside Langholm in Scotland who were both speaking English. It’s rather difficult, in practice, to say something is a foreign language. The two sisters in question were speaking English but it was totally unintelligible to me.

        2. Surely Ukraine and Russia were different people with different customs before the Soviet Union brought them unnaturally together.

          Ukrainian is a different language to Russian. I have a Ukrainian neighbour who speaks both.

    1. Uncontrolled dogs do kill sheep and lambs. It's no laughing matter for sheep farmers.

          1. Once they go feral a flamethrower is the only answer.

            When Dolly kicks off i light the pilot light on mine and show it to her.

    2. Sadly, even the mildest of dogs can become sheep worriers.
      It is stupidity of the highest order to let dogs off a lead near livestock.
      The same often applies to people who are attacked by cows; if they have calves or feel threatened that's a lot of beef hurtling towards you and your dog.

    3. All dogs can maul things to death particularly in a pack situation. It’s in their genes.

      1. I have a vague recollection of a large group of dogs being walked by a professional dog walker going out of control in a pack frenzy to serious consequences but I don't remember any details. Just that dogs can go out of control in larger numbers.

        1. Three is a pack. I just have to make sure I am the pack leader. I go through doors first (even Winston has learned to step back) I eat first I decide where we walk to patrol our territory.

    1. And Another fire at an old RAF Base in Oxfordshire.
      And sadly it caused two deaths.
      Some one is being paid to do this.

      Three people have died and at least two injured in hospital.

      1. Oh no, I didn't know about the deaths 🙁 The old base is now a centre for a lot of businesses around vintage and classic cars. Access is very controlled, you can't just drive in, so it is not like a normal industrial estate. They have very expensive hobby days where you can visit.
        The owners keep trying to build on the airfield, but afaik, they can't because the original owner who sold the farmland to the government for an airbase before the war was very farsighted and put a covenant on the land that it was never to be built on.
        Not sure what the motivation for arson would be.

  56. "Oh, I don't need to do that: he's everso good and always comes when he is called…."

  59. Guido Victory as Chagos Deal Put on Hold

    Fresh briefings from the government overnight. No Chagos deal…

    After Trump signalled his support at an Oval Office meeting with Starmer breathless hacks insisted the deal was imminent. A month and a half later there was nothing. Downing Street is now blocking the “toxic” surrender deal fearing a backlash ahead of Commons votes on welfare cuts…

    This comes as the Chinese ambassador to Mauritius met with the PM Navin Ramgoolam yesterday and pledged “deepening full-fledged exchanges and co-operation between China and Mauritius.” China is allied to Mauritius. As Guido revealed last month the UK government refused to say whether Chagos was up for discussion on Chief of Defence Staff Tony Radakin’s secret visit to China…

    As anti-deal campaigners have pointed out from the start secretly negotiating to hand over many billions for a base we already own would not go down well at the same time as the Treasury pursued cost savings on the grounds of a black hole in the public finances. A source said: “I don’t think we’ll be hearing about Chagos for a while.” Long-grassed…

    16 May 2025 @ 09:12

    George Finchley
    55m
    This whole Chagos saga has never made a shred of strategic or constitutional sense. Let’s stick to the facts: France has never handed back any of its overseas territories, regardless of distance. Mayotte, Réunion, New Caledonia, thousands of miles from Paris, are still French. Yet only the UK seems to be in the business of self-inflicted territorial surrender, and for what?
    The islanders were never consulted. The territory is vital to the UK and US militarily, Diego Garcia remains one of the most strategically important airbases in the Indian Ocean. Mauritius, meanwhile, is over 1,300 miles away. Their claim is rooted in colonial-era admin ties, not geography or practical sovereignty. There's no compelling legal, military, or economic reason to give this up, unless, of course, there's something we’re not being told.

    And that’s the real concern: was this part of some murky backroom deal, linked to trade, UN votes, or appeasement of China’s growing influence in the Indian Ocean? Mauritius is increasingly aligned with Beijing. So why bankroll their ambitions using British territory?

    If the government has finally woken up and shelved this indefensible “deal,” good. But let’s not kid ourselves: this was never in the UK’s best interest. It looked like diplomatic self-harm dressed up as moral virtue. There’s no virtue in weakening your own strategic position while cosying up to regimes playing both sides.

    Hold the line. And maybe, just maybe, we stop acting like the only post-colonial power desperate to give things away.

    HatanakaHacker
    48m
    Two Tier will very shortly announce that he gave up on the Chagos deal as he's buidling a return hub there – and that he's always been quite clear about this being the plan all along.

    Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells
    HatanakaHacker
    42m
    He's promised Chagos to China so this is temporary while he deals with his own party who don't like this new Erstaz Enoch and might vote against his welfare cuts

  60. Lineker's apology is too little, too late

    The BBC's best-paid presenter seems to be one of those deluded folk who persuade themselves that the broadcaster has a pro-Israel bias

    Jake Wallis Simons • 14th May 2025, 8:54pm BST

    And just like that, the man who was about to be branded the Kanye West of soccer has won himself a reprieve in injury time. Or has he? Gary Lineker must be hoping that his belated apology for sharing a pro-Palestine video featuring a rat emoji will save both his job and his reputation. But while it will probably achieve the former – this is the BBC we're talking about – the latter ship sailed long ago.

    Let us allow ourselves, however, a brief satisfied smile. The delay before the apology dropped spoke volumes. One imagines the ageing footie expert being hauled over the coals by our national broadcaster before having the statement of contrition painfully extracted with pincers.

    We can allow ourselves to imagine him rocking in the corner of his £4 million home, his head in his hands, while his phone pings with outrage from Palestine activists making a loud show of the betrayal. So now the BBC has boundaries. Who'd have thought?

    Oh, to be a fly on the wall in Broadcasting House. It is common knowledge that there exists within those gleaming, license-fee-payer-funded walls an army of petulant radicals who feel that the BBC is too soft on Israel and point their fingers at "Zionists" on the payroll.

    Their faces must be a picture right now. With a bit of luck, some of them might just start thinking twice before launching their latest rocket of malice at Jewish members of staff, or into the civilian targets of Britain's sitting rooms. Cry harder.

    This may even be a small mark of progress for Lineker's personal development. The BBC's highest paid presenter has never apologised before when accused of Israelophobia. Not in March, when he shared a post referring to "Israhellis", branding them "incomprehensibly evil" for supposedly "break[ing] a Palestinian minor's leg for playing football" (a claim about which one smelt a different kind of rat).

    Not last year, when the veteran player who never got a yellow card reposted a demand to boycott Russian, Iranian, Chinese, North Korean, Venezuelan and Burmese goods. Oh, sorry, make that Israeli goods. (Silly me. Why would anyone want to boycott Putin, the Ayatollahs etc? The Jews are far worse. Them and their "democracy".)

    Not when the former nice guy of football condemned Israel's killing of Ahmed Daraghmeh – "how awful" – and reposted an allegation that he had been killed "treacherously", when in fact he had died during an attack on Jews and was then mourned by Hamas as a jihadi.

    And certainly not, of course, when he pocketed £1.6 million from Qatar, in which 300,000 Arabs lord it over two million "migrant workers".

    To be fair to the man, he has only seemed to show an interest in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs since October 7, so perhaps he hasn't had time to bone up. Scratch that: the footie star didn't show any concern on October 7 itself. On the day 1,200 Israelis, both Jews and Muslims, were slaughtered by Hamas, Lineker posted only: "Super Spurs are top of the league (handclap emoji)".

    No, his interest was only piqued when the Israelis looked in danger of doing something other than dying. Since then, it has become quite the preoccupation. Old Gary's worst indiscretion was calling language used by the government over immigration policy "not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the Thirties". New Gary is posting material that apparently compares Jews to rats.

    Perhaps he's been radicalised by the Internet. The account that shared the rat emoji, for example, has also posted a clip captioned "how Israel controls the US government" in which the "pro-Israel lobby" is labelled the "deep state". If this is the sort of stuff he's absorbing, it would be strange if none of it stuck.

    Nevertheless, it takes some brass neck to sign a letter condemning the BBC for pulling the documentary that had been roundly denounced as Hamas propaganda. The programme, if you recall, had been narrated by the scion of a jihadi family, constantly mistranslated Arabic to make the Palestinians seem more palatable, pushed dodgy casualty figures, featured laughable inconsistencies, and managed to avoid filming a single weapon, giving the false impression that Israel was waging war on civilians.

    In February, Lineker joined 500 other cretins from the industry to insist that the programme should never have been deleted. Perhaps the man who won the golden boot in 1986 should be awarded a golden keffiyeh today.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/14/linekers-apology-too-little-too-late

    1. This bit of chutzpah propaganda is profoundly disingenuous.

      That story about breaking a Palestinian boy's leg for playing football is just silly. It is not the Israeli style, and more the work of a fanatic jihadi, if true. If Israelis were cross about Palestinian kids playing football in the war zone they created, then they would send over a drone and bomb the field, breaking a dozen legs for the price of one bomb, and then claim there was a Hamas member in the team, which rationalises everything they do.

      There is a saying – you cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs. I cannot see how, even with the best weaponry American money can buy, it is possible to empty a city of 2 million undesirables in order to clear the site for some "beautiful" beachside real estate without breaking a few legs. Best to bomb the hospitals, so that casualties do not make it to the official statistics.

      Israel's stories would be more believable if they allowed independent war reporters into Gaza unsupervised by the IDF, rather than pushing the cop-out that the only news is coming out via Hamas sources.

        1. A particularly creeping bit of ad hominem. It suggests that I hit the nail on the head.

          1. It did nothing of the sort. The writer is correct to criticise the BBC, whose reporting of this wretched episode in history has been poor, though he could have been a bit sharper – it's a bit sixth-form.

            And there is nothing ad hominem about observing your position on the subject.

      2. "Israel's stories would be more believable if they allowed independent war reporters into Gaza unsupervised by the IDF"

        Do you think that Hamas would allow "independent war reporters " to operate freely without attempting to influence them?

        2. Please remove the quote marks before answering me. I am calling for the arrival of true independent war reporters well experienced with dealing with those trying to influence them, and quite capable of reporting what they see, rather than what they are being told to see.

          Between the lines, I am picking up as much frustration with Hamas among Palestinians as there is frustration among some Israeli and many Jews abroad about the perpetuation of atrocities being done in their name. Hamas is not the prime target of the IDF, I argue. Far more civilians than fighters are being attacked, and it seems that Hamas is merely the excuse for the ‘Final Solution’ clearance of Gaza, similar in intent (but not in scale) to the ‘Lebensraum’ of the Nazis. The West Bank is not far behind, and already sovereign states such as Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran are under threat; they must be tempted to take pre-emptive action, but fear that a wounded nuclear-armed Israel is extremely dangerous. It is setting a woeful example to the rest of the world, where powerful tyrants feel they can try it on and profit from it. The civilised world that collectively set up Israel as a ‘Homeland for the Jews’ in 1948 are feeling quite betrayed by the Knesset’s attitude right now. The way the IHRA perverted the definition of “antisemitism”, destroying the career of the British Leader of the Opposition in the process, was a disgrace that hit home with me here in the UK and landed us with Starmer as PM.

          Even the Israeli hostages (which seems the only ones the Israelis have any interest in) are more under threat from Israeli bombardment than they are being freed by it. It would be madness to release them now. If it weren’t for the hostages affecting public opinion in Israel and their American suppliers, the bombardment of Gaza with its 2 million citizens would be total. There need be no mercy, and Netanyahu and Trump have made this quite clear.

          1. The quotation marks are to indicate that I am quoting someone else and answering a specific comment. It is standard practice and I will continue the do this.

          2. They are also used to cast doubt on what someone else has said, which I believe to be the intention here.

          3. I had no intent to cast any doubt – merely to highlight the text to which I was replying. As for my perceived intention, you can’t possibly know this. Get over yourself.

          4. This was the case with your direct quote from my post in your comment yesterday, but the use of quotes in the question you then asked did indeed raised doubts over the concept of the independence of war reporters there, otherwise you could have left these out, and asked the question straight.

            What I believe to be your intention is my opinion, and I do not see why anyone here should “get over” their freedom to express an opinion. You sincerely seem to believe in something I consider to be indefensible, but I am not asking you to “get over” what appears to me to be delusional. For all I know, you could be playing devil’s advocate or simply trolling, but only you know what your real intentions are.

    2. I posted this earlier on tvlicenceresistance.info:

      Quite simply, the BBC, while ostensibly having an editorial "chain of command", does not acknowledge any form of hierarchy. That would be too militaristic or authoritarian. Everyone does their own thing. regardless of where they lie in the great scheme of things.
      They are accountable only to themselves.

      Jeremy Bowen was found wanting in one of his reports. His response? He refused to acknowledge the censure and carried on as normal. They are incapable of being wrong. It's all about egos

      A self perpetuating band of intellectual, ethical and moral elitists. No hand may touch their sainted brows.

  61. An alternative to rotten Reform is coming soon

    The Metropolitan Police have confirmed they are are dropping their investigation into me

    Rupert Lowe • 14th May 2025, 3:03pm BST

    Politics is a rough game – we all know that. Insults are thrown around, real friendships are uncommon, and proper loyalty is even rarer. I'm not naive, when I entered politics after a successful career in business, I expected a hail of gunfire to come from opponents. I never expected it to arrive from my own party, my colleagues, my friends. How wrong I was.

    That's exactly what happened when I heard that the Reform Chairman, Zia Yusuf, had made a complaint to the police in March, about an event in December, almost immediately after I made reasonable concerns public about the direction of the party following months of pushing for real change behind the scenes – the timeline of the complaint tells its own story.

    This was not normal political infighting – this was a coordinated campaign to not only ruin my reputation, but ultimately to put me in prison. It is simply not the British way of doing things. Parties have disagreed for decades without resorting to cruel and vexatious police complaints to silence political opponents. Yet the Reform leadership felt it appropriate to deploy lawfare in an attempt to crush one of their own, all because I dared to bruise Farage's ego.

    The Metropolitan Police confirmed that they are dropping their investigation into these allegations. A viperous misuse of police time, and a disgusting weaponisation of the justice system which the party supposedly stands against.

    I consider myself to be a robust individual, but it has been a challenging two months. When you are placed under police investigation, and publicly named, for such allegations it would take a toll on anyone. I have done my best, with my team's help, to continue serving the good people of Great Yarmouth. In fact, I was informed of the good news as I stepped foot on a boat to tour the beautiful Norfolk coast in order to deliver significant investment for the constituency. A rollercoaster week, to say the least.

    Farage has tried to distance himself from these complaints, unsuccessfully. But he cannot be trusted with the full apparatus of the British state at his fingertips.

    Such use of the justice system is a tactic of the Left that we should all stand against. To the millions of decent Reform supporters – you must do what you believe is right. I, personally, could not remain in an organisation. They do not deserve your support, your time, your energy, your money, or your vote.

    I instructed my solicitors Brett Wilson LLP to send letters of claim to Reform's leader and director Nigel Farage, Mr Anderson and Mr Yusuf asserting claims for defamation. Answers are due soon.

    They wanted to smear me. Ruin me. Silence me. All because I questioned Farage and took a firm line on deporting illegal migrants. When the time comes, we will work together to advance a political movement that is credible, professional, decent, democratic and honest.

    There will, very soon, be an alternative to the rotten leadership of Reform. I promise you that.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/14/an-alternative-to-rotten-reform-is-coming-soon

    1. Yet another small party will not serve us well, especially if it has another Reform/Reclaim/Relate name.

      1. Something has to happen soon. Many commentators think that Max & Co are safe for for the full term but such is the state of this country that it's not impossible that events could overtake them.

        2. Kurten/Habib/Lowe together would be something….they would probably all be convicted of rape/spying for Russia immediately, as they would be a genuine threat to the status quo.

    2. The only people enjoying this saga are the 20% of the electorate who voted for Labour.

  62. Got there in the end:
    Wordle 1,427 6/6

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

    1. But, but, but. As any fule no, 1976 was due to global warming.

      Since that was banished and replaced with climate catastrophe, Springs have — mainly — become wetter!

    2. It was only last year (2024) in Spring that there was too much rain, and farmers were reporting being unable to harvest their crops or plant new ones.

    3. It was only last year (2024) in Spring that there was too much rain, and farmers were reporting being unable to harvest their crops or plant new ones.

    1. What stands out a mile in this review of the article is the prevalence of case reports involving men under the age of 40.

      And what do men under 40 keep doing more than anybody else – having sex of course. I have already established today that there is a 0.6% risk of death having sex so the marked increase in deaths due to having sex during COVID lockdowns is going to be obvious.

        1. Well, it could even be better than a consensual choke hold during sex for a sharp exit.

    1. I remember a "trans person" in the early 1990s running a haberdashery shop with a woman who I assume had been/still was his wife.
      It wasn't so much the height that gave him away as the fact that he was dressed very nicely in Jaeger stuff, including a silk scarf (possibly to hide the Adam's apple). His fellow shopkeeper dressed more appropriately for running a shop in a London suburb. i.e. rather more dowdily.

    2. I wish someone would challenge these assertions.

      Go on, Gazza. Give us 10 examples from the UK in the last year which backs up your assertion.

      I am waiting.

    3. Trans people (ie usually the cocks in frocks) do some of the most persecuting of women, on the planet.

  66. There was a news item in the last few days on the BBC Red button about a draft document relating to children's sex education.

    A paragraph said it was OK to choke your partner as long as they had consented. Could this be a loophole if incorporated into the assisted dying bill?

        1. Didn't the INXS singer Hutchence (I don't remember his first name) die like that? The one that the talentless Paula Yates cuckolded her husband with? I wonder what his dc said.

    2. FFS Don't let any vegans watch that.

      It will make them feel invincible!😲

    3. Hippos are the most dangerous animal in Africa, responsible for more human deaths than any other animal. I think I remember reading that their incisor teeth on either side of their mouths are exceedingly sharp.

  69. Ah ..like my dog, a fur coat he can’t take off. #me2 cooler weather. Are you playing or listening? I picked up a piece of charcoal with the intention of drawing, but couldn’t settle so here I am..

    1. I give my keyboards a blast for an hour a day if I can just to keep the fingers supple and because I don't read music I have to keep playing to remember the notes 😕

      1. Sounds like a good plan. Best to push through a dry patch, that’s what I tell myself. If I leave it, I’ll keep leaving it…😍 you play piano or similar? favourite tunes? x

      1. People like Lineker, and his followers, are unencumbered by gorm, by hap, by feck, by chin, by sense, by worth, by meaning, by virtue, by dimension, by purpose, by talent, by sense, by soul, by motive, by pleasure, by guide, by spirit, by use, by clue, by helm, by wit, by value, by care, by passion, by conscience, by hope, by vision, by pity, by art, by help, by thought, by agenda, by ambition, by system, by colour, by humour, by class, by tact, by character, by fruit, by order, by joy, by meaning, by guile, by plot, by rudder, by charm, by standard, by expression, by content, by aim, by merit, by backbone, by spine, by base, by cheer, by tooth, by point and by brain.

        Think of a suitable four-letter suffix that aptly appends to all the above.

      2. Lol. Wiggle out of that, you Jug-Eared racist. (I think following the Lawrence Fox case, it’s OK to accuse white men of that, so i should be Ok, given his…er…apparent racism).

    2. But it doesn’t work the other way? So we have nothing to fear here from Islam?

      Roflmao.

  71. ‘This is why people aren’t donating any more’. 16 May 2025.

    Olivia – who has previously suffered from the illness her charity raises money for – is not alone. The public increasingly sees six-figure CEO salaries as the number one reason to stop giving. The sector is struggling more than ever – services are being cut, helplines are being disbanded and entire teams are being made redundant – and yet those ensconced in the executive suites are earning healthy salaries.

    Sadly I no longer donate to any charities whatsoever. This is not because I do not think that some deserve it but because you cannot be sure that the cash is not going into some government scheme. The RNLI is fabulously wealthy and is controlled by establishment stooges. This is one of the reasons that they were able to transform it into a migrant entry program.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/15/the-controversial-row-over-charity-ceos-six-figure-salaries/

    1. It’s not just that the CEOs are being paid a lot, the “charities” are nothing of the sort. An awful lot of them are given money by HMG – in other words, you and me – whether we like it or not. My idea of a charity is one who asks for public donations and receives no money from HMG (you and me!). Who gave HMG the right to ‘give’ on our behalf?

      1. …and then the "charidee" turns round and uses lots of its loot to relentlessly lobby government on one lefty cause or another rather than alleviate whatever ill it was established to solve. Its CEO gets invited to all the Whitehall receptions and gets a big Christmas bonus. Blair's "3rd Sector Rip-off."

        1. None of our trustees and volunteers is paid – we have no paid staff. All the money we raise through donations and our own efforts goes to pay for the care of the hedgehogs – including medication, food, equipment and consumables like cleaning kit.

      2. We do receive some money from HMG – via Gift aid and the HMRC – if our donors sign a Gift aid form. Most of our supporters would rather we made use of their taxes than the government.

      3. A lot of them are subsidising their officers via 'expenses' – it doesn't have to be a six figure salary.

    2. I have donated to Ndovu's hedgehog charity because i trust her and her friends. I have also donated £50 to a Church fund that another Nottler had the begging bowl out for.

    3. For decades, gave money to the RNLI, but when they started escorting illegals in, starting in France, that was it. Stopped.

      2. The RNLI were the main beneficiary to my Will. No longer.

        They were revered in all our fishing ports. Now we are giving away all the fish i no longer see the point of them.

    4. #me too.

      The Government gives our tax money out willy-nilly to “charities”, on condition they promote Govt. Policy.

      And then “Charities” such as Stonewall, Mermaids and LGBT Scotland promote mutilation of children.

      Good podcast from Andrew Gold today (“Heretics”) – someone called Rosie Millard, former chair of BBC Children in Need and “renowned journalist” (no, me neither), who “opens up about the shocking reasons behind her resignation. From disturbing revelations about LGBT Youth Scotland to internal hypocrisy, cowardice, and failures of due diligence at the BBC, Rosie speaks out for the first time about what really happened.”

      https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/heretics/id1515932214?i=1000708561663

  72. Afternoon all.. Too hot to sit outside . Just finished my lunch (fish and chips as it’s Friday)and am girding my loins to cut the front lawn.

    Of course good palliative care is the way to go rather than killing off the inconvenient, but it’s cheaper to get rid of those who have paid into the system and who, moreover, know what life was like before the wrecking crew took charge.

  73. Afternoon Phizzee. We can go with Ndovu's charity because we know her but that is probably the only reliable criteria nowadays. It's quite obvious that some of these charities are started for the sole purpose of funding the organisers lifestyle.

    1. I give monthly to a local hospice and the Air Ambulance Service for Devon & Somerset. Nothing else.

      1. I fundraise for the RAF Benevolent Fund and the RAFA Wings Appeal. Self interest you could say.

  75. 405646+ up ticks,

    The time the talking stops and action taken could leave us in dire straights Mr Lowe, numerically wise in power seats.

    I would without a doubt, put this nation's future in the hands of
    genuine farmers who have deep patriotic roots in the earth they are tilling

    Dt,

    The Daily T: Lowe – ‘Farage is leading a cult, I might start my own party’
    The former Reform MP continues his attack after being told he will not be charged over alleged threats against the party’s chairman

  76. I would let your lunch settle and for it to cool down a bit before tackling the lawn.

        2. Thankfully he ran off when I started the mower. All done now and for good measure I transferred the solar lights from the defunct back arch to the front one which is not yet defunct. I know the lights work because they lit up when I dumped them on the table.

      2. It does sound like you are rapidly improving, Conners. I am so glad for you.

      1. Is your boat sea worthy and would you be able to take two passengers and two dogs the hell out of here? I can pay !

    1. There’s a good sound, applause from me x grandson had one for a while, moved to classical stuff, now wanting to try church organ (I follow Ben Maton on YouTube).

      1. Thanks Kate, funnily enough I can’t really play the piano, I can also tinker around on the guitar which I started playing in the mid 50’s (my claim to fame being I was at school in the same class as John Lennon and played guitar with him before he formed the Quarrymen) x

        1. Aha! your claim to fame…had a crush on a boy one time who looked a bit like him (not a nice person, tho, soon went off him). So what did you think to JL as a person? (so many rumours about him and Paul). I can’t play a darned note, but I like to sing…usually alone, if not usually told to pipe down 😂

  81. Arold
    2h
    I can actually see Starmer suddenly quitting one day soon. I really don't think he expected it to be like this. I think he expected being PM to be like being DPP: no one would criticise him, he would have no oversight on his decisions and policies and everyone should just shut up and let him get on with it. That and his belief that if he writes something down in one of his numerous folders, it will magically happen.
    Career civil servant cosplays as a politician and as PM and it ends in disaster – who'd thought that eh?

    Dissident
    Arold
    2h
    Yep. The fact he's nearly constantly abroad, often with no real purpose, speaks volumes.

    1. Oh come on, cut him some slack. He failed again in Albania yesterday. Even wearing one of "Lord" Comical Alli's suits.

    2. Starmer knows what he's doing but he probably didn't expect to be sussed. Führer Schwab told him that the common people are stupid.

    3. No, I can't see it. Labour aren't like the Tories, who like to indulge in back-stabbing. Starmer will totter along for the next four years, flip-flopping along the way until the next General Election, at which point they should lose but won't, as the right-of-centre opposition will still be as splintered as it is today (if not more so), thus allowing Labour (and Starmer) another term in government.

    4. Usually, Prime Ministers get the world statesman bug in the last year or so of their regime.
      Back-slapping in posh palaces is so much more rewarding than coping with dissatisfied proles back at home.

    5. Do you think he'd actually foist the educationally sub-normal gormless ginger slapper on us?

      As prime minister?

      1. I remember listening to them on the radio in the 40's/50's and my mother remarking how good Peter Brough was then wondering why the whole family fell about laughing

        2. Different generation. I could never understand why people of my parents' generation found the Crazy Gang funny.

          1. Ditto. But, then, my parents didn't understand The Goon Show or Monty Python.

          2. As a teenager I thought Tony Hancock was funny – bought a DVD of him which never raised a smile

          3. I think Tony Hancock was a radio comedian. I've seen snatches of his telly programmes, and they just didn't transfer well.

          6. I thought Tony Hancock was funny, too. Haven’t revisited any of his skits to see if I still do.

          7. My father couldn't understand why his generation found the Marx Brothers funny. He preferred the Three Stooges.

            I was the exact opposite of him (as I was in most things).

      2. I remember listening to them on the radio in the 40's/50's and my mother remarking how good Peter Brough was then wondering why the whole family fell about laughing

        1. I wanted to emphasise the importance of Education – according to Mr Blair!

    3. You're not as good as Tony Blair, he put his hand up my rectum. I liked that, said Starmer.

      1. Oh, sorry! I thought that was the prime reason for they're their visit to these shaws shores! 😮

  84. Two hours to Salcombe and we have just been blessed by sight of two shoals of dolphins.

  85. Pushback in France on the "assisted dying" bill. From yesterday's Le Monde https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2025/05/15/debat-sur-l-aide-a-mourir-les-responsables-religieux-de-france-alertent-sur-de-graves-derives-possibles_6606207_3224.html

    Good to see that, for once, all the religious leaders are in agreement!

    French religious leaders warn of "serious excesses" in assisted dying bill

    On Thursday, May 15, leaders of France’s main religious faiths warned of “serious excesses” and a “radical shift” that they believe could result from the proposed bill on assisted dying, which has been under debate in the National Assembly since Monday.

    “Behind an apparent desire for compassion and regulation, this bill represents a radical shift: it legally introduces the possibility of administering death—through assisted suicide or euthanasia—profoundly upsetting the foundations of medical and social ethics,” they stated in an op-ed sent to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

    The statement was signed by Antony Boussemart, co-president of the Buddhist Union of France; Metropolitan Dimitrios, president of the Assembly of Orthodox Bishops of France; Chems-eddine Hafiz, rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris; Haïm Korsia, Chief Rabbi of France; Pastor Christian Krieger, president of the Protestant Federation of France; and Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, president of the Conference of Bishops of France. The Conference of Religious Leaders in France (CRCF) “solemnly warns of the serious excesses implied by” the bill, they wrote.

    A divisive issue even within the government

    Among their many criticisms, they lament the terminology used—“assisted dying”—which they say “conceals the true nature of the act” and represents a “distortion of medicine.” “Many healthcare professionals are expressing their distress: being tasked with causing a patient’s death constitutes a radical transgression of their mission and risks establishing a culture of death where medicine has always been built as a service to life,” they wrote.

    They also pointed to a lack of “ethical and procedural safeguards,” particularly concerning the timelines for processing requests (fifteen days) and the reflection period for applicants (forty-eight hours). “The establishment of this ‘right’ risks exerting a silent but real pressure on elderly people, the ill, or those with disabilities. The mere existence of such an option can instill in patients a toxic sense of guilt—that of being a burden,” the religious leaders argued.

    Viewing the bill as heralding an “anthropological rupture,” their op-ed calls for the “discernment” of lawmakers. “Legalizing administered death will not be a step forward but an ethical, social, and medical regression. We must choose investment in palliative care, training in attentive listening, and holistic support for people until the end of their lives,” they added.

    1. Do religious "views" carry any real weight, considering yer France is a lay country?

    2. Interesting that France is debating a similar Kill the OldiEs bill to the U.K. Co-ordinated attack seems like.

  86. As most of you know, two of my friends were murdered in South Africa for the crime of being white. Also a wonderful person named Celeste, my lifeline is a 5th generation Afrikaner who left South Africa because it was not safe for her. It is not good to be an honest and unbribable lawyer in SA. so now she is here. I worry for her because her parents are still there, refused to leave because they say they are to old. They are vulnerable and if they were turfed out of their home they would not survive and, of course, if they were murdered there would be no consequences for the killers. Thus it goes in South Africa.

    So, in reference to that country, a country on the road to hell, I'm posting this. It came into my feed a few minutes ago.
    Plaasmoorde: The Killing Fields (2018) Katie Hopkins' documentary about South Africa
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjBu6VZWE7k

    1. I can't watch this horror film…..

      The way things are going such atrocities could so easily happen here in the not too distant future….

      1. But, but all cultures are equal (except that whitey's is worst) and we owe them all reparations.

    2. I'm not going to watch that. I know many white farmers in SA have been murdered in very horrible ways.
      I didn't know about your friends though – that's terrible.

    2. F F#, F F#, F F#, F F#, F F#, F F#, F F#, F F#, F F#, F F#, F F#, F F#, F F#, F F#, F F#, F F# …

        1. I can't find S♭or S♯ on my keyboard! 😂

          That system of Fs and F#s is the ominous two-note warning music in Jaws.

          1. Hashtag on mine is far right, fourth row down, next to return button. I don’t have the other one, it’ll probably be a mix of three keys – search online for details? Good luck x

          2. Hashtag? It's a sharp. T'other is a flat.😊

            On my Mac I just click "Show Emojis and Symbols" then click on "Musical".

            Macs are far more intuitive than Billy Goats' machines.

          2. No point. Cat can get over if he wants to.
            Ours climb up the side of the house, and mooch about on the roof.

        1. Take him on the lead to the side of the busy road and let him see for himself.

          Cats are not stupid.

          2. GOOD. They he’ll keep away from it. Go on – you know he wants his freedom

    4. Is this because he's killing birds, Grizzly? My dad chopped down a lilac tree because my mother complained about neighbour's cat killing the blue tits which came to feed on the buds. I planted that tree, wasn't too impressed. Or perhaps you're near a busy road he tries to cross?

      1. Not at all, Kate. I explained earlier today that we only got him after he had spent the first six-to-seven years of his life living at a remote farm cottage with access to open fields. He first turned up at my late mother-in-laws house as a stray kitten and remained there.

        When we took him on, back in January, he had to move to a strange house in a village next to a fairly busy road. It took him a while to get his bearings here but he has a run of the place (except for the bedroom — I don't allow pets in there). He spends most of his time (and sleeps) in our huge conservatory with panoramic views over the garden and fields to the rear. I let him out every morning and he runs into the kitchen to be fed. He also spends a lot of time exploring my large workshop and studio; as well as running up and down the stairs to our first floor living accommodation. He sits on most of the window sills looking out, or dossing wherever takes his fancy.

        We made a decision to get him used to the garden by taking him out for 15 minutes each day on his harness for a mooch and a good sniff around, which he looks forward to. He gets spooked by the sound of lorries and tractors on the nearby road. I don't want him run over and I don't want him to run off. That is why we have made a decision to carry on like this, despite the number of people who are urging us to let him loose outside. That will not happen. He is an exceptionally friendly and happy cat and we want it to remain that way.🐈

        1. Lovely post, Grizzly. I think you’re doing the right things with him. Not every cat likes to roam. Friend of mind, donkeys years ago, had an ‘Outdoor cat’ and an ‘Indoor cat’…they’re not all mouse/bird killers, or fighters (I wouldn’t want a full tomcat).

          1. Indeed, Kate, indeed. Thanks.

            Funnily enough my late mother-in-law also had an 'indoor cat' and an 'outdoor cat' when I first knew her 22 years ago.

          2. I think people think they choose, when in fact it’s the cat that chooses. My dog chose me, 15 years ago.

  89. How is it that even commentators who say that "It would obviously be wise to focus on the most unpopular and enraging form of migration – the illegal kind taking up hotel spaces" then invariably say something like " – but that would entail withdrawing from the ECHR or even the Refugee Convention". Why? Hungary has prevented illegal immigration, and is in the EU, which is a signatory to the ECHR. Ditto with Denmark, which has effectively stopped illegal immigration.

    I am not a subscriber to Ed West's blog (so it's an intro only below), but I am fed up with reading about this restriction. This restriction, which seems to apply to us and us only, is ridiculous.

    "Strangers in a strange land – Welcome to Starmer's HATE Island
    Ed West, May 16
    ‘Nations depend on rules – fair rules. Sometimes they’re written down, often they’re not, but either way, they give shape to our values. They guide us towards our rights, of course, but also our responsibilities, the obligations we owe to one another. Now, in a diverse nation like ours, and I celebrate that, these rules become even more important. Without them, we risk becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together.’

    I’m literally shaking as I read these words, spoken by the British prime minister on Monday at Downing Street, although it might well have been Nuremberg in 1930s Germany.

    The embattled PM’s speech came with fresh new plans to reduce immigration, now again the most important issue for the British public and the source of the Reform Party’s runaway success.

    One doesn’t need to be the world’s greatest cynic to treat the headline ‘British Government promises immigration crackdown’ with a degree of scepticism, which makes me question whether this is politically astute. The Tories talked tough on the subject but people do notice results; Labour will find it extremely hard to get immigration down to levels most voters find acceptable, and indeed the same goes for Reform. The problem comes down to an ageing population and an electorate unwilling to put posterity ahead of comfort in their twilight years.

    Starmer faces an immensely difficult political balancing act, trying to hold onto a large number of moderates alarmed by the intense number of arrivals, and a socially liberal core – overrepresented in the media – who find such language immoral and even threatening.

    The latter are a minority within a minority, since some 61 per cent of Labour voters want to see immigration ‘significantly reduced’, and I assume that Morgan McSweeney has some dark data about how furious their voters are. (I have no idea if McSweeney is the strategic genius some believe him to be, but out of ethnic pride I like the idea of a man from Co. Cork being behind the machinations of Westminster).

    It would obviously be wise to focus on the most unpopular and enraging form of migration – the illegal kind taking up hotel spaces – but that would entail withdrawing from the ECHR or even the Refugee Convention, which goes against every fibre of Starmer’s being. Eventually it’s going to happen, but the current occupant of Downing Street is not the man to break convention.

    For now the best that Starmer can manage is talk tough and do what he can to reduce the numbers – but this does feel like an alcoholic pledging to get his drinking down to one bottle of wine a day by 2030. (Indeed, that analogy doesn’t even do justice to the culminative effects of migration – the more you get, the greater the pressure for more.)

    While I’m not the target audience, Starmer’s speech seemed like something aimed at balancing those concerns. More than anything, the term which most offended actually brought to mind Roger Scruton’s phrase ‘a society of strangers’, although Scruton meant it in a positive sense – a high-trust society where people can depend on non-relatives to play by the rules. But even around one in two Labour supporters agreed with Starmer’s speech and a similar number found his language acceptable, numbers which contrast with its reception among Labour-leaning commentators. …" (

    1. I've read the reason for UK being/staying in ECHR is because of NI Agreement to ensure parity with Republic, and if UK leaves it would mean breaking an international treaty which is generally frowned on. I still say 'leave it'.

      1. So do I. International treaties are broken all the time. Quite honestly, let the Irish get on with it.

        1. I think the Republic are happy to have it, Hertslass, they are firmly in the EU. It’s NI/UK needs to leave. Was embedded in NI Agreement by Sunak/von der Leyen, why they went to see the Queen to get her signature – I wonder if she was fully aware of what she was signing, seemed quite infirm at that stage. Charles would likely have signed it in any case.

          1. Of course the Republic are happy to have it. It goes all their way. If only the Rwanda plan had materialised they might have become a bit fed up with illegals choosing to stay in the ROI.

          2. I think Conor MacGregor on the case, pretty fiery from what I read. Republic fed up with their streets looking like those in London.

    2. I don’t celebrate diversity. My once white local town looked like Mogadishu again with four dindus in school uniforms blocking the pavement as they walked abreast and others on the street in the shops and wandering around. I am, frankly, sick of it.

      1. Only the woke and the diverse celebrate diversity. And some of the latter are starting to wise up that too many isn't good even for them, in this country.

      2. Yesterday afternoon I went into town. In the shopping centre (a depressing place even 20 years ago when the economy was working), a group of black schoolkids, boys and and girls, about 20 of them, ambled through, making way for no one. They were followed by three slack-jawed white girls from the same school, each of them looking as though they'd slept in their clothes for a week.

        Out I went, round the corner and past the black guy selling tat from a trestle table, and down the hill to the post office. Steaming up the hill on the narrow pavement was a yob on a scooter. I had to step aside quickly because he wasn't stopping. He shouted some abuse back as I jumped out of his way. He wasn't young either, mid-30s maybe. I was disappointed that he didn't fall under the wheels of the lorries thundering by.

        Home-grown trash, imported trash – there's little difference in the behaviour but the racial element makes it so dangerous.

        1. And, eventually, the native, white, English born population will leave. And the wogs will play merry hell with the place.

          1. The latter already are. Aided and abetted by our woke governments. Paid for by our hard work and taxes.

          2. I watched a bit of a TV programme which featured Kedleston (the reason I watched) and followed with observations on Lord Curzon.

            The proposition was a question as to how many modern Indians or UK natives for that matter, knew that Lord Curzon ordered the restoration of a dilapidated Taj Mahal and many more significant Indian architectural monuments besides.

      3. Yesterday afternoon, I went into town. In the shopping centre (a depressing place even 20 years ago when the economy was working), a group of black schoolkids, boys and and girls, about 20 of them, ambled through, making way for no one. They were followed by three slack-jawed white girls from the same school, each of them looking as though they'd slept in their clothes for a week.

        Out I went, round the corner past the black guy selling tat from a trestle table, and down the hill to the post office. Steaming up the hill on the narrow pavement was a yob on a scooter. I had to step aside quickly because he wasn't stopping. He shouted some abuse back as I jumped out of his way. He wasn't young either, mid-30s maybe. I was disappointed that he didn't fall under the wheels of the lorries thundering by.

        Home-grown trash, imported trash – there's little difference in the behaviour but the racial element makes it so dangerous.

      4. I found that the Muslim women and their brats delight in obstructing pavements. A few years ago, when working on a project in Leicester, a young white woman pushed her way past such a gang and a Muslim woman dressed entirely in black with the headgear and gobslot then muttered “Foreigner” at the white woman.

        And so we have it, the indigenous white population are seen by Muslims to be foreigners in our own land. We need rid of these ridiculous mediaevalists.

  92. `405646+ up ticks,

    These farmer chaps have generations of deep rooted interest I would guarantee regarding what is MOST beneficial for England,
    and the English indigenous peoples, rather that others seeking power seats with rhetorical, tested to prove failure in past
    decades, of pledges,promises, & vows.

    https://x.com/FarmersToAction/status/1923300450826162613

  93. Wordle No. 1,427 4/6

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

    Wordle 16 May 2025

    A quinary Par Four?

    1. Came sixth today.

      Wordle 1,427 6/6

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

    2. Tricky little bugger today, I thought – Bogey!

      Wordle 1,427 5/6

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

    3. Late on parade. Should have made Par but silly mistake left me with a Bogey.

      Wordle 1,427 5/6

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

    4. Late today and didn't do well.

      Wordle 1,427 5/6

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

    5. Even later than Mola and cori
      Wordle 1,427 5/6

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

      1. #metoo
        Wordle 1,427 5/6

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

        1. When i say i wish i were there what i mean is not having to arrange transport for others some of them needing wheelchair access and special dietary requirements.

          Gin time !

    1. Are you sketching them, Alec…a painting? Young chap here raises all his own sheep, he slaughters/hangs/cooks/eats them as required and drinks only water from the fells. Fit as a lop!

        1. He seems pretty fit to me, it’s not still water. We all have parasites in our guts, guess it depends on which ones tho.

      2. No Kate they don’t keep still long enough 😂 They’re nice to watch when they are all playing together

        1. Agree:-) (good morning) how old are they, Alec? My dogs played when they were young, not so much now.

          1. Morning Kate – about 2 weeks now, they belong to my neighbour but I let him use my croft for grazing x

          2. We have similarly here, Alec…what age will they be when neighbour takes them away?

  96. 405646+ up ticks,

    Surely the answer lies pre anthony charlie lynton, the ghoul from the public park toilet days and the treacherous latch lifting,

    We even had convalescent homes ,as for assisted dying that comes under currently, the war department rulings.

    Dt,

    Friday 16 May: The answer to suffering is compassionate care, not state-assisted dying

    1. Blair never went away but took the filthy lucre and thereby placed himself in a position to maintain his odious influence on UK political affairs.

    1. Clearly I haven't been paying attention because that one went whoosh straight over my head!

      1. Matt does sometimes make me wonder if dementia is coming early but then i read a copy of Private Eye and know all is fine.

        1. I recently cancelled my annual subscription after thirty years or more. I wrote to the Eye suggesting they find a new editor because the present one is now establishment and boring.

          I also remarked that the current editor is unfunny, less funny even than Harry Worth, Arthur Askey and most crappy stand-up comedians of our current era.

          1. Oh blimey! Harry Worth! Now he was seriously unfunny! Apart from the reflection in the window sequence! That made me laugh when I was about 6,

          2. Like wise. Their only saving grace in years was to highlight the Horizon scandal. They perhaps could have covered the contaminated blood scandal more but i expect the lawyers for the other side had more clout.

          3. I only occasionally flip through Private Eye when I see one in the supermarket. But I have to confess I still like both Harry Worth and Arthur Askey.

          4. I have no issues with your preferences. I am simply becoming curmudgeonly in my old age and I hope more discerning, but who knows?

      2. Tut, tut, tut. You weren't paying attention first thing this morning. Matt was referencing this Gov't Initiative. The weepy brat in the cartoon was showing his lack of 'Grit' in being failed in his grit exam.

        Children to be taught to show some ‘grit’
        Pupils need more robust mental health, say ministers in drive to tackle worklessness crisis

        Poppy Wood
        Education Editor

        16 May 2025 12:01am BST

        Children will be taught the value of “grit” to tackle a growing mental health crisis in schools, The Telegraph can reveal.

        Writing below, Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, and Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, say that children need to be prepared for life’s “ups and downs” in the classroom.

        Deteriorating mental health is driving record school absences, Department for Education data published last week showed, with the knock-on effects having an influence on pupils through to adulthood.

        Under the government drive to improve mental health in schools, children will be offered sessions to “tackle anxiety and low mood”, with struggling schools receiving extra support through “attendance and behaviour hubs”.

        The classroom interventions mark Labour’s latest effort to crack down on worklessness, which in part has been fuelled by a surge in mental health problems since the pandemic.

        Ms Phillipson and Mr Streeting say: “By deploying NHS-led, evidence-based intervention during children’s formative years, we will not only halt the spiral towards crisis but cultivate much-needed grit amongst the next generation – essential for academic success and life beyond school, with all its ups and downs.”

        More than a fifth of eight to 16-year-olds had a probable mental health problem in 2023, according to the latest NHS data, an increase of seven percentage points since 2017.

        Poor mental health has been blamed for school absence levels, which remain near pandemic highs five years on, with more than 20 per cent of children missing at least one day each fortnight last term.

        “The worse your mental health, the worse your school attendance and vice versa,” say Ms Phillipson and Mr Streeting, adding that the Government will not sit back and “dismiss the issue as something that children will grow out of”.

        Bridget Phillipson said problems around children's mental health should not be dismissed as something that they would grow out of
        Bridget Phillipson said problems around children’s mental health should not be dismissed as something that they would grow out of Credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
        The Education and Health Secretaries cite recent government research showing missed school days harmed future career prospects, with frequently absent pupils earning £10,000 less aged 28 compared with their peers with clean attendance records.

        They also say that helping children while they are at school will help break the “doom loop” of unaddressed mental health problems that end up costing the NHS millions.

        Mental health or behavioural conditions now account for almost 45 per cent of disability claims from working-age people.

        Sir Keir Starmer has promised to clamp down on benefits claims for minor mental health problems in an attempt to reduce the welfare bill and worklessness crisis plaguing the country.

        Mr Streeting has also been tackling worklessness, saying earlier this year that people on benefits who want to work must be supported to return to employment.

        In his role as Health Secretary, Wes Streeting has warned against the 'overdiagnosis' of mental health conditions
        In his role as Health Secretary, Wes Streeting has warned against the ‘overdiagnosis’ of mental health conditions Credit: Heathcliff O'Malley for The Telegraph
        He also warned against the “overdiagnosis” of mental health problems, calling it a “spectrum” and saying that too many people were being “written off”.

        Ministers are also concerned about worsening behaviour problems among children, amid record suspension levels.

        Teachers in England handed out almost 295,600 suspensions in the spring term of 2023-24, compared with around 263,900 during the same term the year before.

        Experts have warned that is likely a hangover from disrupted social norms during the pandemic, when children were made to stay at home while schools were shuttered during repeated lockdowns.

        Under the new measures, the number of specialist mental health support teams will rise from 607 to 713 by March 2026, which will help provide one-on-one support to pupils “who need it but don’t need an NHS referral threshold”.

        The Government will also recruit new attendance and behaviour ambassadors to “prevent greater problems mounting up down the line”.

        Ms Phillipson and Mr Streeting say the measures will tackle the “triple threat of attendance, behaviour and mental health” and “supercharge a co-ordinated effort to address the root causes of issues causing disruption and chaos in classrooms”.

        “Early interventions in mental health support for young people can have positive ramifications for the rest of their lives,” they say.

        We will intervene early to help struggling children
        By Bridget Philipson and Wes Streeting

        A lot has changed since we left school more than 20 years ago.

        Children today, who have been brought up in an increasingly digitised 21st century, are facing new and complex challenges in their childhoods that simply didn’t exist when we were younger. Negotiating your school days in the face of this is having a serious impact on some children’s mental health.

        It’s a problem that has been getting worse in recent years. Around 20 per cent of young people experience some type of mental health issue in any given year, up from 14 per cent in 2017.

        And this is just the tip of the iceberg – there are likely to be many thousands more struggling with their wellbeing who don’t meet the threshold for a clinical diagnosis.

        Much as it might be tempting to dismiss the issue as something that children will grow out of, the evidence tells a different story.

        New research published by the Government last week proved the direct, escalating impact that poor mental health has on children’s school attendance. The worse your mental health, the worse your school attendance and vice versa.

        These aren’t small effects either. A little absence quickly accumulates devastating impact: pupils missing merely 10 days more than peers have half the odds of achieving good GCSEs. They earn £10,000 less at age 28 on average, compared to pupils with near-perfect attendance.

        Early interventions in mental health support for young people can have positive ramifications for the rest of their lives. The same is true in lots of different areas of public policy. This Government is embarked on a public service reform agenda focused on intervening early to prevent greater problems mounting up down the line.

        We know this approach delivers better outcomes for patients and pupils, and better value for taxpayers. It is the key to breaking out of the doom loop where the costs of public services continually rise, while the quality of services declines.

        As Education Secretary and Health and Social Care Secretary, we are also taking action to improve the mental health of the country’s children.

        We will deliver on our manifesto commitment to get every child who needs it access to mental health support within school – and over the course of this year we will roll that support out to nearly a million extra children. Supporting teachers to identify which children need support. Running group sessions to tackle anxiety and low mood. One-to-one support for those who need it but don’t meet an NHS referral threshold.

        By deploying NHS-led, evidence-based intervention during children’s formative years, we will not only halt the spiral towards crisis but cultivate much-needed grit amongst the next generation – essential for academic success and life beyond school, with all its ups and downs.

        Already on the school attendance front, we are seeing encouraging signs in the months this Government has been in office. Children have clocked up 3.1 million more days in the classroom this year compared with last year.

        But it is from now that we will see a real step change, as we really start to tackle the triple threat of attendance, behaviour and mental health in a joined-up way.

        We are following proven methods that work. Led by data and guided by best practice. We are launching innovative new attendance and behaviour hubs, led by the highest-performing schools in the country, that alongside the mental health support teams, will drive the highest standards in how schools get more children in the classroom, engaged in learning.

        Once at scale, the hubs will provide intensive one-to-one help and advice to 500 schools with significant attendance and behaviour problems, challenging and supporting them to turn this around. A further 4,500 more schools will get support through practical resources and training days.

        Today we supercharge a co-ordinated effort to address the root causes of issues resulting in disruption and chaos in classrooms.

        Through our Plan for Change, this Government will give every child the chance to thrive in classrooms where brilliant teachers have the time, tools and support to deliver an outstanding education.

        Bridget Philipson is the Education Secretary and Wes Streeting is the Health Secretary

        http://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/05/16/children-to-be-taught-to-show-some-grit/

    2. Clearly I haven't been paying attention because that one went whoosh straight over my head!

  99. That's me for this cheerless, cold, grey day. The Wet Office says it will be sunny tomorrow: yeah, right. They said that about yesterday and today.

    Have a jolly evening staying warm.

    A demain if I am spared.

    2. Blooming very warm here today – wall to wall sunshine – currently at 25.6oC in my study with the curtains closed all day!

    3. We had the woodstove on earlier. Since I let it go out, the house is quite cold! Am sitting at my computer swathed in a rug.

      1. How lucky your partner is to have such a vision…..

        Our stove was lit first thing this morning.,

    1. Emily has checked with her billionaire neighbour Lakshmi Mittal, all is ok.. there is absolutely zero problems with migrants. See bigots.

        1. Just asking as it will be a topic of conversation at the forthcoming lunch with some Nottlers.
          Not that we are prone to gossip of course but then wanting a fight is always salacious. Ahem.

          1. Looked in my diary and I had a hair appointment booked for 1pm on 3rd June. My hairdresser has moved me to 9.30am on 5 June. Shame my hair will be a mess but more of a problem is the acid reflux cough that comes with multiple meds. I apologise in advance.

    2. More fun ensued if it were neat Gin. Imagine how much more emphatic they would be when stealing your fish and chips and demanding tartare sauce and napkins.

      1. Are they aware do you think? Or do they not give a fuck because they are following an ideology/agenda not voted for.

    2. I am paying US 10 cents/kwh. Or about 7.5p. Our electricity is a mixture of (mainly) coal fired, with natural gas fired, and (some) hydro (pumped storage) and solar. They are building a big solar plant not far from here on the site of an abandoned power station.

    3. Our electricity prices are not only reasonable, but the winter before last, when we had three longish cold spells, the government paid part of everyone's electricity bills.

      When did that last happen in the UK?

    1. It would need my mum yelling at us and then kicking us out of the garden.

  109. Camilla Tominey
    Don’t believe Starmer. He is about to betray Brexit

    This ‘surrender summit’ already has all the hallmarks of another bad deal

    16 May 2025 6:20pm BST

    Is arch Remainer Sir Keir Starmer really the right person to be negotiating new terms with the EU? After his humiliation in Albania this week, is the Prime Minister really the right person to be negotiating anything?

    Brussels bigwigs will descend on Lancaster House in London on Monday for what is already being dubbed a Brexit “surrender summit”. Labour insists it’s to “reset” the UK’s relationship with the EU because the Withdrawal Agreement “isn’t working”, but sceptics sniff the scent of a sell-out. And who can blame them?

    We keep on hearing a great deal about what the EU wants from us – access to our fishing waters, a possible youth mobility scheme – but no one can quite work out what Britain is set to get out of this jamboree, beyond unnecessarily conceding yet more to Brussels.

    Eurocrats are reported to be already demanding eleventh hour concessions on everything from food standards and fishing rights to access to the UK’s universities. The bloc is expected to insist that Britain rejoins its Erasmus student exchange programme, as well as allowing young Europeans to work, travel or study here.

    Five minutes ago Keir Starmer was making his controversial warning about our “island of strangers”. Only last September, he was insisting that the Government had “no plans for a youth mobility scheme”. Britain is also poised to sign a new defence and security pact, come to an agreement on energy and potentially “dynamically align” on trade. According to EU sources, Brussels would have accepted a looser “mutual recognition” arrangement with Britain, but two-tier Keir, ever the Europhile, is playing it strictly by the EU rulebook.

    This presents a number of problems. While the Government claims it will not cross its red lines of rejoining the single market and customs union, this sort of New Zealand-style capitulation represents the worst of both worlds, with the UK once again becoming a EU rule taker.

    And this would be precisely the opposite of what 17.4 million people voted for in that “once in a lifetime” referendum on June 23, 2016. Labour fails to realise that the ballot was the only “reset” voters wanted with Brussels. As far as I can tell, no one has voted for a second one, despite the best efforts of former Remainer-in-chief Starmer and his acolytes.

    Let’s take the higher education proposals, for starters. British students are already missing out on places at top universities to overseas students paying much higher tuition fees. A series of investigations has revealed that cash-strapped vice-chancellors have been offering courses to foreigners with lower grades than their UK counterparts – simply because they are paying more for the privilege.

    This problem will only get worse if we rejoin Erasmus and/or a youth-free movement scheme. In true EU form, there is even talk that while the youth mobility programme would allow European students to study across the Continent, British ones might be confined to just one European country.

    The EU wants us to reduce trade barriers on food and agricultural products and negotiate away our hard-fought-for fishing rights amid talk of burdensome red tape at the border, with endless compulsory checks on products like meat and cheese resulting in lorries waiting for hours on end while food goes off. But whose fault is that? Brussels has put up these blocks, not Britain. Perhaps that’s why UK exports to the EU are down roughly 18 per cent since 2019, while imports have reportedly seen a smaller decrease.

    How quickly Starmer and his gang forget that, before Rachel Reeves’s disastrous October Budget, the IMF judged Britain’s economy to have grown faster than France, Germany and indeed the whole eurozone since the end of 2020. Contrary to the claims of Project Fear, has anyone had any problems buying French brie, German sausage or Italian salami at the supermarket? Of course not.

    I sincerely hope that the UK will stick to its demand that we end the ridiculous Animal Health Certificates to take pets abroad – which need to be signed by a vet, and can only be issued one trip at a time. And all EU nations install Brit-friendly e-gates in their airports in return for any concessions made on our side.

    On security and defence, Starmer appears poised to sign a pact that would reattach UK policy to that of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy. According to defence experts, this was a plan drafted under the Conservatives in 2017 but quietly dropped by Boris Johnson two years later.

    It is expected that this agreement will form part of a wider pact that would include energy and visas, and would be rolled into the existing EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. But as critics have pointed out, this will make it very difficult to change.

    Again, Labour insists it will only sign a deal with the EU if it is “in the nation’s interests” – but the Chagos surrender and net zero zealotry indicate this Government doesn’t always fully grasp what’s best for Britain.

    Then consider who we have got leading the negotiations. Alongside Starmer is fellow Remainer, Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Paymaster General and minister for EU Relations. Although a well-respected and well-meaning minister, Thomas-Symonds proclaimed his support for a second referendum instead of a no-deal divorce in 2019, when he described another Brexit vote as a “preferable outcome”. He has joked to friends that he has been seeing more of EU Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič than his wife since being tasked with negotiating the “reset”. Both men apparently share a love of wine and whisky.

    As former home secretary, Thomas-Symonds is understood to be keen to work with the EU to tackle illegal migration, pointing out that Brexit has resulted in us removing key areas of co-operation, like joint police intelligence sharing. Yet many might question the point of “mutual co-operation” when the £700 million we have allocated for the French to stop Channel people smugglers since 2014 has only resulted in record numbers of arrivals by dinghy.

    Speaking of which, one wonders how David Lammy’s chairing of the summit will go after a taxi driver accused the Foreign Secretary of yelling “F—ing French” during an alleged row over a fare for a journey between Italy and France.

    The meeting next week comes amid talk that the Chagos “deal” has been put on hold thanks to threats of a “toxic backlash” by Labour MPs – and follows concerns about the UK’s newly inked trade deals with India and America. The former appears to undercut British workers while the latter has resulted in us having to pay tariffs five times as high as the US.

    Meanwhile, Starmer has returned from Tirana humiliated, having failed to agree an asylum hubs scheme with Albania’s trainer-wearing PM, Edi Rama.

    I fear this EU “reset” doesn’t just bear all the hallmarks of a done deal – but another dud one.

    1. Starmer wouldn’t recognise the truth if it bit him on the nose. He hates democracy and he loathes Britain.

      1. We can all be sure that taxes and prices will go up for British on what ever 'deal' he makes.

    2. If the UK were to rejoin the EU, the initial cost to the UK would be substantial. The "Brexit divorce bill," which is a financial settlement with the EU, has a total cost of approximately £30 billion, according to The House of Commons Library. While the exact cost is uncertain and depends on future events, the UK has already paid a significant portion of this, with £23.8 billion paid as of December 2023, according to The House of Commons Library.

      Rejoining the EU:
      If the UK were to rejoin the EU, it would be subject to the standard EU budget contributions and potentially other membership costs, according to the Institute for Government.
      No Guaranteed Rebates:
      As a new member state, the UK would likely not have the same financial privileges as the UK had previously, such as a rebate on its EU contributions, according to the Institute for Government.
      Negotiation and Approval:
      Any attempt to negotiate a rebate or opt-outs would require the unanimous approval of all member states and a majority in the EU Parliament, according to the Institute for Government.

      As of December 2023, the UK had paid £23.8 billion towards the "divorce bill" owed to the EU, leaving a remaining outstanding amount of £6.4 billion. This final cost, estimated at £30.2 billion (€34.8 billion), is spread over several years and will continue until 2065.

      Does the twat Starmer understand this and the Chancellor .. what does she have between her ears?

      2. … and the Chancellor .. what does she have between her ears?

        Starmer's groin?

          2. Too late. I recognise those types from under the arches on the south bank.

            Trust me. You wouldn't want to go there.

    1. Fat: good.

      Sugar: bad.

      Mixed: an unnatural abomination! It even makes mice and rats obese.

  111. I would just like to scream 'thing' and 'thing' and 'thing.

    Trying to arrange a lunch where my 90 year old Aunt can't decide if she can make it or not and a pre-book menu. for four or five and possibly six.

    The Chef patron only accepts bookings over the phone and i can't understand most of what he is saying.

    Because of his hugely Franch accente.

    His up to date menu is delivered via smart phone. So ! I had to find someone that has one and then explain and deliver to the others…………………………………………………….oh fuck it.

    3. I am trying to arrange a fundraising meal at a local restaurant. They are dragging their feet; I've told them what menu I want but they won't confirm it. I even got someone who was going there to chase them up for me – nothing. I feel like telling them to stuff it and I'll find somewhere else. As for smartphones; I got a newsletter from a campsite that I had intended staying at telling me that to use electricity I need to download an app and scan the QR code to get the EHU to work. That's them off my camping sites list!

    1. Not funny really . An implied threat.

      Passive aggressive.

      My normal response is to accept what is being said (denial of treatment) and be particularly polite to them.

      I can do passive aggressive too.

      1. "Thank you for letting me know, on the off chance that you do use my conversation, please pay the royalties to the RSPCA."

      2. Yes , I regard that message as a threat as well.. just like a QUEUE in a post office / NHS clinic/ checkout re rude behaviour to staff.. nonsense , a message like that stirs everyone up .

    2. Second image is also all recorded images of terrorists on their way to carry out atrocities, despite everyone and his dog now owning a high definition mobile phone camera.

  117. Hey Belle. COVID kind of came and went up here without much changing, so watching it unfold in more populated places was quite surreal. I did wonder how there was enough stock/spare capacity in the plexiglass manufacturing industry to supply all those screens for huge numbers of customers who don't usually buy the product, but were now buying and all needing it at the same time.

  118. Hey Belle. COVID kind of came and went up here without much changing, so watching it unfold in more populated places was quite surreal. I did wonder how there was enough stock/spare capacity in the plexiglass manufacturing industry to supply all those screens for huge numbers of customers who don't usually buy the product, but were now buying and all needing it at the same time.

  119. Hey Belle. COVID kind of came and went up here without much changing, so watching it unfold in more populated places was quite surreal. I did wonder how there was enough stock/spare capacity in the plexiglass manufacturing industry to supply all those screens for huge numbers of customers who don't usually buy the product, but were now buying and all needing it at the same time.

    1. Microsoft Surface.
      A Windows pad with detachable keyboard that doubles as a screen cover. Thin, touch screen, touch/mouse pad. It's everything a PC should be.

      1. Ah..Husband won’t have anything to do with Microsoft products, developers wouldn’t either, but that one sounds good 🙂

  123. Make sure you tell the Chef he’s missing a ‘d’ on the word ‘required’ on the menu footer, and not to capitalize every word. That shit drives me nuts – it takes seconds to spot, and really damages the message of ‘quality and care’. A bit like saying “I am a proffessionall” on a C.V.

    Are you binning the guests so you get to order Les Enfants Terribles all to yourself? 🙂

    1. Take a look at Chef Eric responses on Tripadvisor.

      I quite like his attitude. When i mentioned i had trouble understanding his French accent he was most apologetic and began to speak to me as if i was an idiot English person.

      I said if i saw his face when speaking i would know what he was thinking.

      1. An independent observer writes:
        He got that one spot on:
        "You are an idiot."

      1. Afternoon, pal. Bloody lovely up here yesterday and today – in the mid to high 20’s. Then back to minus 4 for the night time low in a couple of days. Give it 10 to 14 days and I’m going to be planting seedings like a maniac, I have a feeling it’s going to be a good season or two given the vast number of bees that are already out.

        Did you have a good weekend with the offspring last weekend?

        1. Yes mate, a cracker, including there statutory bickering. I have learned not to say anything because otherwise they gang up on me.

  125. Thanks, very generous of you.

    Shame I can't make it, it certainly looks delicious.

    1. I am getting annoyed about wishywashy guests and just going it alone.

      One of the guests is 90 and the others are on a cruise ship.

      1. Your problem, and I wish that I was as kind and generous as you, is that you try too hard to please people who don't really appreciate the effort that you put in for such gatherings.

        Give them a fixed time to respond and if they don't:
        To Hell with them.

        I like eating alone, so I might be slightly biased…

        1. Nail. Head.

          I try to arrange lunches, dinners, suppers, orgies .

          I am close to giving up.

          The orgies needed too many wheelchairs and ramps.

  126. I first heard that as a discussion between Lady Penelope and Parker (her chauffeur) and the punchline was;

    'And Parker, if I ever catch you wearing my clothes again you'll be down the effing road!!'

    'Yuss, milady'…….

    1. Fabulous! I first heard that when I was a student and laughed my socks off! 1976

      1. Yes Sue, I love most of his monologues, especially the Driving Instructor.

        1. The incredulity in his voice when he says ‘No don’t tell me – you set fire to it!’ Hilarious!

  128. This afternoon, the NHS excelled itself; I have been chasing up a referral that is over a year old. Now they have sent me a cancellation for an appointment I didn't even know I had (because they hadn't bothered to tell me!). It was August so I suppose I should be grateful that they weren't taking me off the list because of non-attendance.

    1. I feel this is standard for the 'seat polishers'. In the NHS.

      All boxes ticked.

      I have seen this in action.

    1. They have no place here; they do not fit in, their culture is the complete opposite of our historic culture.

    2. Absolutely awful. Can't imagine what they would go through, very distressing.

      1. Dog Rescue places now seem to be run as businesses…when I took one (or more), the owner/staff grateful especially if I left a donation, but even then vet friend told me several euthanised each week, beyond help. Now, a business, only keep a few pets they know will rehome, and they are for 'sale' in that each animal has a price. I think euthanasia likely on quite a scale. There are many dogs for sale online, various places. Man's best friend…yeh right…

        1. When I got my first rescue, I didn't have to give them anything. The second one I made a donation. Then I had a "free to a good home" (not a rescue centre) and one I intercepted before he went to a rescue centre. Then I had to pay £120 for a nearly 12-year old dog from a rescue centre (and I had to jump through lots of hoops to be allowed to adopt). My current dogs I inherited (his owner, my neighbour, died) and I rehomed Winston without going through a rescue centre. I have heard some dodgy things about the Dogs' Trust through someone I know who sponsors a dog there.

          1. I’ve owned many dogs over 70 odd years, a good number of them rescues. Doubt I’ll take any more. Was surprised to see Rescues being run as businesses – I guess it’s less work but they would likely rehome more animals if they would accept a donation, or even none. It is so expensive now to feed a dog, let alone vet fees – current dog problem cost (so far, and more to come) around £800+.

          2. I know, but sometimes it’s style over substance – or maybe it’s me getting a bit cynical!😳

          3. Heh heh! I'm a long time out of date with UK costs. Especially so for local catch of the day. But I liked the simplicity of the menu – it implies that you get what you pay for.

            Didn't like the footer, as noted below – and on second glance, the reference to a 'Kids Menu' also seems out of place to me at those prices – but not unusual for a French fella to do that given their culture.

          5. Given the price of the raw ingredients i thought it was good value.

            Plus…you only get posh riff raff like me going there. Not the other sort you find up North. :@)

          6. We were here with my sis and BiL last week and we chuckled at the children’s menu
            Oops won’t load!

          7. We were here with my sis and BiL last week and we chuckled at the children’s menu
            Oops won’t load!

          8. Baked 'sea' bass annoys me. We have one species of bass in the UK, and it's not a freshwater one.

          9. I am having the seafood platter for one. And seeing as my B-I-L tends to take a fancy to what is on my plate i will be eating it from inside a lobster pot.

  131. I am going to bid you all goodnight; I'm off racing tomorrow. I've had a busy and quite productive day so I must be on the mend at last.

    1. Good night, Conners – and Kadi and Winston. Glad to hear you are on the mend at last.

  132. Ooof. Just typed the same to you down below – think you beat me to it though.

  134. Hey Mola! Yup, it’s a marketing play. There’s always been a thin argument that this way you know it’s not an freshwater import – a bit like keeping the head on the fish at service used to be – and it sits better on the menu than:

    Dicentrarchus labrax stuffed int’ th’oven forra bit. 😉

    1. The average Brit doesn't even know that freshwater bass, as well as other marine bass exist. TBH, I've never seen any other type of bass on a UK menu. I've never had the chance to fish for a striped bass, but I still have a bit of time left. Not too interested in north American small and large mouth bass.
      To tell the truth, I'm just jealous of the fish variety you have over your way.

      1. And here’s me missing salt water. Grass is always greener, right? 🙂

    2. I have 3 Dicentrarchus labrax currently in the freezer. They are gorgeous fish and sometimes I feel guilty when knocking them on the head.

  136. I hear ya, Sue. I’m not saying that this is some kind of magic equation, or that it’s universally applicable – or even that it makes any fecking sense. But just as positive pricing has been known as an effective technique for decades, so is Location + Provenance + Experience. The demographic that is happy to spend (on median average) ‘a lot’ on other peoples food, don’t go to those places for the added labour and fussy detail – often seen as price justification. They go there for the LPE. A pal of mine described it as being why people will spend $300 a night to live in a Yurt in the middle of nowhere with no Wi-Fi and sleep on a straw mattress. 🙂

    1. LPE. That sounds a bit like the Scilly Isles. Difficult to get to, expensive local food and accommodation, but busy all year round.

      1. “Have you heard how hard it was to get there? OMG. We really struggled. But it’s soooooo worth it.”

          1. Am pretty sure from hanging out here for a few months or so, that there’s a dozen or more posters on this site who could say the same as I just did. All I have is my own self-appointed advantage of it coming across as a comment on industry trend, rather than personal opinion. 🙂

            Those things are not that far apart in reality. Night night!

  137. Well, chums, it's well past my bedtime. So Good Night to you all. Sleep well, and I hope to see you all tomorrow.

  139. Straw man or what? And spare me your false assumptions about my motivation.

    1. The best guy on the bonfire is made of straw! Since I make no assumptions, only conjecture, I cannot see how they can be false.

      We could play this “last word” game forever, but I am getting bored and the garden needs attention.

  140. Straw man or what? And spare me your false assumptions about my motivation.

Comments are closed.