Tuesday 20 May: The PM’s fishing betrayal is just his latest affront to the national interes

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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516 thoughts on “Tuesday 20 May: The PM’s fishing betrayal is just his latest affront to the national interes”

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

    Wordle 1,431 3/6

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      1. Yes, Citroen, so I've started doing some washing this morning. (Good morning, btw.)

    2. Good morning Elsie and all
      Wordle 1,431 4/6

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  4. Morning all,

    British waters will be denuded of kippers after the French find out how slow they breed.

      1. Yes, we’ve been played just like a kipper on a hooked fishing line! 😉

      1. Are we a dying breed or not, Alec…many younger supporters. Someone said recently 'fight..fight..fight'. ('morning, btw x)

        1. This quote would also seem appropriate under the circumstances, Kate –
          "Do not go gentle into that good night.
          Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
          It came immediately to mind; though the circumstances are different. Perhaps not – in this case the death of Britain.

          1. Fear not, (women and) men of England, I know younger ones ready to carry the torch. If you have the Instagram app, seek out Chris Cork – he’s one.

        2. I fear the damage now being done to the country is irreversible Kate – we’re done for x

          1. We’ll see, Alec, chin up x…are you in UK? It could be a difficult summer..weather very hot, good excuse for water cannon…

          2. I’m up in the NW Highlands of Scotland Kate, living life in the slow lane x

          3. Wish I was. Have a place there, hoping to visit soon. Prob weather change by then 🙄 😄 have a great time Alec are you hoping to paint the scenery? X

    1. How much longer can he be allowed to get away with the damage he is inflicting on our country and its economy, culture and social structure?

      1. Nobody knows. Were the Ukranian rentboys sent on their idiotic arson mission by some Central European Dr No who wanted the story to be well leaked before Starmer got to the final phase of EU Reentry discussions with Brussels? Thus it would ensure that Starmer would panic as he realised that he only had a week or two left in office and would give the EU 12 years of fish rather than the 10 years they were asking for plus much more. What if Dr No was George (and Alex) Soros? I am not Ian Fleming or Polly who used to often post on this thread. Sheer speculation.

        1. Could be Citroën, but there is definitely a ‘spectre’ influence leading our political idiots to make the terrible decisions and the suffering they are forcing on the innocent public.

          1. Yes, and events are not happening in the sequence in which they are being leaked to the press. News management.

      2. How long's a piece of string, Eddy…he's safe until next GE when another Labour stooge (whilst reserving his/her place in EC) will take his place. What say you to Raynor being PM, other side of the coin from Thatcher..?

        1. Think what I’m suggesting is our system of politics needs a massive overhaul. It has to be seen as starting from the top end. The overall lasting social effect they have jointly inflicted on our country is worse than hitler tried to carry out.

  8. Stanley is more amusing than usual but NoTTLers ae still far better at fish puns.

    Starmer succumbs to the EU hook, line and sinker

    Brexit has been de-boned as we’ve returned to paying Brussels for the opportunity to follow its rules

    Tim Stanley

    19 May 2025 7:51pm BST

    Sir Keir Starmer unveiled the agreement with Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president

    “Prime Minister,” asked Chris Hope at the EU/UK summit, “have you been stitched up like a kipper?” It’s worse than that, mon ami: the Eurocrats have put him in his plaice and he’s dancing to their tuna. Excuse the puns, but once you start, it’s hard to break the halibut.

    Let historians note that Brexit was finally de-boned on Sunday night, when Europe’s top diplomats – or, as our Foreign Secretary allegedly calls them, “the f—— French” – took Starmer aside to say they’ve had second thoughts about his offer and would like our fishing industry, too.

    I’m sure it took our very own Metternich about two minutes to fold. This is the trade deal whizz-kid who was meant to sell Chagos to a tiny African country and ended up paying them – plus he loves the EU and would gladly feed Captain Birdseye to the sharks if it got us back in.

    So Keir Starmer, proud son of an EU protocol, looked very satisfied when he unveiled the agreement next day at Lancaster House – the beautiful decor symbolically hidden behind a temporary stage painted battleship grey. Ursula von der Leyen, standing next to him, was subtly dressed as an EU flag. She looked ready to plant herself in the ground and never leave.

    This is Europe. This is our PM. Utilitarian, corporate, moving forward “at pace”. Bear in mind this deal was supposed to be a simple exchange: they get our fish in exchange for faster queues at border control. Perfectly suited to Brits who fly to Ibiza more often than we eat sardines.

    Yet the talk was of being good Europeans and of protecting the “rules-based order”, with visiting rights for noisy foreign students – why do they shout on trains? – pitched as the first step towards a more enlightened world. More summits predicted: climb every butter mountain.

    Finding himself among like-minded bureaucrats, Sir Keir referred progressively to “fishermen and fisherwomen” – but not to “e-gates and she gates”, or to “fisher people”, even though many of them refuse to be defined by their tackle.

    “Britain is back on the world stage,” he declared. Really? Where has it been? Perhaps doing repertory theatre in Outer Mongolia. The cost of his statesmanship – and we’re lucky he didn’t throw in the Elgin Marbles and Princess Anne to sweeten the deal – is that we’ve returned to paying the EU for the opportunity to follow its rules.

    It’s like being a member of the EU minus the pleasures of moaning about being in the EU. In fact, it’s proven harder to get Britain out of Brussels than it was to get Gary Lineker out of the BBC, and, in both cases, one suspects the decision will soon be reversed.

    Cab drivers must now be asking why they voted for Brexit at all. “Twelve years minus our fishing rights? You get less for murder.” (Though longer for joking about it on social media). The Eurocrats, by biding their time and waiting for a proper chump to enter No 10, have seen history move back in their favour.

    Chris Hope was right. They’ve got us by the eel.

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

    Roland Butter
    just now
    I don’t think he is a chump – he is however a fanatical marxist human rights lawyer who loathes democracy, loathes Britain, loathes its history and loathes its heritage – he is the perfect emotionless, empathy free, ruthlessly dishonest, shameless, morality lacking globalist agent to help wreck the nation from the inside. Oh and he really doesn’t care what voters think because his agenda has never been for their benefit anyway

    Adrian Lawrence
    11 hrs ago
    Exactly what has Starmer got against Great Britain? If he doesn’t like us he needs to move out of the country – France maybe? – and leave us to choose a respected leader.

    1. Unable to upvote posts today for some reason, Minty. So I'll simply wish you a Good Morning. Enjoy your day.

      PS – Suddenly, I am able to upvote posts. Computers, eh?

        1. Thanks, Ndovu. Maybe that's exactly what I did; not at all sure. to me it seems as if every time I want some result I need to try a different technique so that eventually I have no idea what I did. (Good morning, btw.)

      2. I sometimes have that, Elsie..usually around 5 to 6 am…maybe something to do with satellite access, where's Musk when we need him….

  10. Sebastian Harwood
    6 min ago
    Not a lot of people know this and it is possible Badenoch is unaware too. The ECHR is an instrument of control and is owned by George Soros. The vision of the court aligns with the EU's ultimate objective and has great appeal to 2TK:

    The EU Parliament:

    European Court of Human Rights – stranglehold of George Soros and accession of the European Union

    25.2.2020

    "In a report published in February 2020, the European Centre for Law and Justice demonstrated the stranglehold of George Soros and his networks of non-governmental organisations on the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). It emerges from this investigation that the billionaire is imposing on Europe his ‘open society’ ideology aimed ultimately at creating a ‘new man’, a true individual without identity or points of reference reduced to the role of ultra- consumer."

    https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2020-001137_EN.html

    1. Whenever I read the words 'George Soros', I think of Pretty Polly who was a Spectator subscriber and commented many times re Soros, and roundly abused because of that. Not so much now tho'…….

      1. She used to plague this page as well with repetative droning about Soros. Uncle Bill was especially fond and protective of her.

  11. Massey Ferguson
    10h
    Good news everyone, in exchange for giving away the fish for another twelve years, returning to freedom of movement, aligning ourselves with EU food standards which will be legally binding by EU courts (thereby becoming vassal state rule takers) and signing up to their Carbon pricing scheme which removes any competitive advantage we could have had, you can have the privilege of using their E gates where you will also receive free fingerprinting and mu g shot, when visiting.
    With the added bonus of being able to take your cat or hamster on holiday with you.

    Ursula and underlings must have laughed all the way back to Brussels.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/57e0a372c2f699afe5f552e05dd387fabccebcb5fb4dd6953ba3e3bd3a85fb3a.png

  12. Morning, all Y'all.
    Sunny & warm. So, rain shortly, that's summer over.

    1. You're too close to Russia and the Urals. No snow on yer boots if you move to sunny Wilts.

  14. "Rishi Sunak was probably the last Conservative PM..
    Sir Keir Starmer will be the last Labour PM.
    Over the last few days Starmer has just opened a can of worms. He doesn't realise it."

    David Starkey

    1. He opened the can of worms knowing full well what he was doing:

      Giving them to the French to go fishing at our expense.

    2. I watched half the Starkey interview yesterday. He's spot on, on everything he says.

    3. I hate to disagree with DS for whom I have the greatest respect…but I think Starmer may well realise it, and his actions reflect that he does.

  15. Steve
    5m
    So net zero was just a ruse to keep us in our lane until TTK could hand over our energy pricing and market control to the EU and ECJ.

    Who Knew!

    HatanakaHacker
    1h
    Seeing as this "deal" will increase GDP by a whopping 0.3% in 15 years, I am sure the BBC will be quick to rubbish it.
    After all, they were adamant that a US trade deal pursued by the last govt that would add 0.87% was a waste of time and amounted to rounding errors.

  16. 405855+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    The rats have it, the rats have,

    On the 11/11/11 best remember to forget, our actions since then
    have totally lost us the right to commemorate the war dead in any shape or form.

    King rodent from start to finish has played a blinder as a treacherous double agent he cannot be surpassed lets not forget ALL done with royal seal.

    The master stroke on reflection, was the flash/bang stunning action in stopping the winter fuel payments

    What are we going to accept next is the question, we cannot say "what's best for the children" because the JAY report proves they never / ever entered the equation.

    Carry on as usual as in, the best of the worst
    dictators / imams /mullahs ?

    Tuesday 20 May: The PM’s fishing betrayal is just his latest affront to the national interest

    1. 405855 +up ticks,

      O2O,

      And the daily asset stripping forecast is
      much,much worse to come.

  18. We've got lamp-posts.
    …
    And I'm not for insurrection, riot or lynching. The worst would (will?) take advantage.
    It's just that these "elites" need to be careful how far they push people.

  20. Good morning, all. Sunny.

    Trump has issued a communique re a discussion with Putin. POTUS lists those leaders whom he thought should know the outcome of the discussion. Looks as if the "Special Relationship" is no longer a 'thing'.

    If Bridgen's analysis is correct then the UK has been neutered and is no longer worth dealing with as an independent state of any importance. Fond Of Lying, Macron etc. have moved up the pecking order.

    https://x.com/Lord_Of_Misrule/status/1924560038665810311

    1. Only wants to speak to the organ grinder, not the organ grinders monkey.
      Or should that be grindr?

        1. What is the Oxford Dictionary's definition of: an orange ball-chewing manacled gimp ?

    2. Some one obviously already knows the truth about the fires, that's exactly why we are not being told.

    3. This was a caption competition in yesterday's Nottlers' column. My entry was: And talking of the UK getting stuffed – do Ukrainian rent boys give a better service than those in other EU countries?

  22. Starmer Hermer Lammy.. Chagos Gibraltar Falklands.. even Stevie Wonder can see this coming from 40 miles away.

    China investors eye Africa's tiny island of Mauritius as it goes green and tries to sweeten trade deals..
    Chagos fears rise as Mauritius pledges closer links to Russia..
    Mauritius and Russia have agreed to strengthen their relationship on fishing and “marine research”..
    Mauritian President Dharam Gokhool (R) talks with Huang Shifang, the new Chinese ambassador to Mauritius..

    1. Can anbody doubt that the total destruction of the UK is at the top of Starmer's agenda?

    1. Not only have they apparently taken over tv advertising. They are now claiming our history.
      Remember peeps it was a long long way to walk back then and still is. And of course there were no free migrant hotels free food etc.

    2. Dark skin has more melanin, which is the substance that creates color in skin, eyes and hair. If your skin is darker, it means you have more of a type of melanin that can absorb a certain amount of the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays.

      Ergo people have dark skin in hot countries to protect them from the sun. However I am sure that meterological data will confirm that there was a sustained period of hot weather in the area of Salisbury Plain from about 3000 BC which gave black people the chance to head north to build Sonehenge.

      1. I believe so, Rastus. And as the hot weather retreated, the ever practical Nature no longer required melanin for protection and gradually switched to lighter skin.

      2. Records from non-existent meteorological stations, no doubt. Nothing much has changed, has it?

    3. Weren't they castrated so they could guard harems? And not rape those they were hired to protect in households?

      1. Another reason amongst many. Barbarians all, the slaves and the slavers.

  24. Morning All 🙂😊
    Oh dear still cloudy and no rain, windy and only 8degs.
    Yes starmer has obviously declared him self as anti anything beneficial to and totally anti British. Well by this obvious token in one way or another he and the rest of his mob, now needs to be removed from office. Before he's left to inflict more permanent damage to the hardworking British public and their dependents.

    1. We can only call for an early GE, Eddy…doubt we'd get one. Still waiting on Reform/Farage announcement.

      1. Charlie could put the boot in.
        But I feel he’s likely to be involved as well.

  25. The first little flicker of a red light flashing over there..

    Japanese bonds slump..
    The rout sent the 20-year yield surging about 15 basis points to the highest since 2000, while the yield on 30-year bonds jumped to the most since that maturity was first sold in 1999. Yields on the 40-year tenor jumped 10 basis points, in a sign of nervousness ahead of a sale of that debt next week.

    1. Not the only ones, according to Bloomberg app. Main headline is 'Trump hands Putin Win With Retreat from Ukraine Peace Talks'. Also, EU Defense Chiefs to unleash new sanctions against Russia, likely in the mix somewhere.

      1. Bloombug is talking rubbish as per usual. Socialist crap that can't acknowledge that anything good comes out of Trumps activities but disaster despite Trump being the most successful President in recent American history. What upsets these people is he actually does what he promises. The establishment can't stand that. The organization, by the way, is very happy with China and doesn't like it at all when that government and its doings are scrutinized.

        1. I remember being taught to regard Ronald Reagan as a failed B-movie actor not fit to be president. Bedtime for Bonzo was held to be the pinnacle of his achievement. That he left US finances in the black was never mentioned. Only that he once forgot Princess Diana's name.

      2. Bloombug is talking rubbish as per usual. Socialist crap that can't acknowledge that anything good comes out of Trumps activities but disaster despite Trump being the most successful President in recent American history. What upsets these people is he actually does what he promises. The establishment can't stand that. The organization, by the way, is very happy with China and doesn't like it at all when that government and its doings are scrutinized.

  26. Please correct me if I am wrong and do excuse my ingrained naïveté. I was always under the impression that the UK was run by an elected government that debated matters in parliament (Commons and Lords) before making life-changing decisions that affect the country.

    A prime minister is simply the figurehead who chooses his cabinet and advises (or directs) them on what he wants. Matter discussed are then put up for parliamentary debate.

    Where has all that gone? It seems we now have an elected dictator who simply makes seemingly binding decisions, without recourse to discussion or debate. Yet no one seems to do or say anything to stop him or advise him on the proper processes of a democracy!

    No one wants a dictator so I question the legality of his recent actions. In the USA they have this device called 'impeachment'. Time is ripe to introduce it here, methinks.

    3. Looking it up Griz, it seems that impeachment does exist in the UK but because it hasn't been used for 200 years, it is probably redundent as a mechanism for calling Starmer to account. But, it seems to me that it would be worth trying. What I did find disturbing is that apart from impeachment, there seems to be no mechanism for stopping a PM from behaving unilaterally. Again, it goes back to what I was saying yesterday. Action by the monarch seems to be the only way that Starmer can be put back in his anti-democratic box and we can expect very little from that quarter.

      1. Good evening,
        The WEF monarch agrees with everything that Starlin is doing.

    4. Isn't it the case that foreign policy was historically the preserve of the PM and the Cabinet and that consultation of Parliament was unnecessary? This was certainly the case with wars, hence the fuss over Iraq. I think it also influenced Heath, who hoped he could sign the UK up to the EEC without proper parliamentray scrutiny.

      One for our constitutional experts.

  27. "Put The Spectator & Brexity cutlery down.. we are armed."

    Mr Burgess a disabled 92-year-old care home resident with one leg was sprayed in the face with synthetic pepper spray before being shot by a taser and hit with a baton by police officers, PC Smith and PC Comotto.

    Bodycam footage showed Mr Burgess who suffered from multiple health conditions including diabetes and carotid artery disease sitting in a wheelchair still clutching the cutlery..
    Smith drew his baton and struck Mr Burgess, the court heard. Comotto is then said to have deployed her Taser, and Mr Burgess cried out in pain.

    The Police are pathetic and a menace, and should be disbanded.
    Peter Hitchens

    3. He deserved everything he got. He was a white man armed with a penknife and was a danger to everyone within fifty miles of his wheelchair. Those brave police himandhers deserve a medal for preventing a wholesale massacre. Should have shot him!

    1. These police are cowardly thugs. All that was needed was someone to sit and calmly talk with him to see why he was upset.

      Not only do i hope they get fired i would like to see them serve time.

      They have obviously lowered the recruitment bar so low they now employ moronic thugs.

      That's where your far right thugs are Starmer.

      The care home is also at fault for not having procedures in place to deal with this sort of thing.

      Why would the call handler class it as a high level threat?

      Normally when there is a high level threat the police are running in the opposite direction.

      1. The care home people should never have called the police on this matter. they are just as much at fault. This poor old man should never have been attacked in this way.

      2. He apparently had a small weapon. Two carers could easily have taken it from him. They should have been able to calm him down.

  30. 405855+ up ticks,

    Morning G,

    Health & safety alert,

    Take it as both houses are riddled to the hilt
    with treachery throughout.

    1. Indeed, Oggy,

      However, the point of debate — whether contrived or not — is to be OPEN (and recorded in Hansard).

      1. CS records Hansard, Grizzly – wonder how many ministers check the record…

          1. Civil Service, Grizzly – our real government. Sticky fingers all over Starmer and his doings.

  31. Houses of Parliament refuses to ban trans women from female lavatories
    Campaigners furious as Commons says it is waiting for full guidance before making any changes
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/05/20/houses-of-parliament-refuse-ban-trans-women-female-toilets/

    BTL

    We are fundamentally Islamic in our thinking so the rights of women are less important than the rights of perverted men dressed in women's clothes who want to enjoy peep shows in women's loos!

  32. 'morning Grizzly…those of his ministers against him won't speak out, afraid of being cobbed, and they are likely few in number anyway. CS support him to the hilt. As for Labour voters, many voted Leave and are now disillusioned to mad as rats. I imagine Starmer has a job lined up in the EC. You're not naive btw., except in thinking we would/could introduce some form of impeachment, definitely not now under European law, but what we can do is keep calling for an early election (and good luck with that one). Anyhow, sun shining, dog still alive and affectionate, on we go……

  33. I've just written a letter to the Telegraph on this matter.

    I'll publish it on here when the DT refuse to do so.

  34. I am gobsmacked – for the first time in my life renewal of my car insurance with the same company has gone down – from £238 to £223

  35. I am gobsmacked – for the first time in my life renewal of my car insurance with the same company has gone down – from £238 to £223

  36. Romanian charged over Starmer firebomb attacks. 20 May 2025.

    A Romanian national has been charged in relation to fires which damaged properties and a car linked to Sir Keir Starmer, the Metropolitan Police said.

    Stanislav Carpiuc, 26, has been charged with conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life over fires which damaged properties and a car linked to the Prime Minister.

    No comments allowed on any of this affair. Even the charges are devoid of implication. Lol.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/20/romanian-charged-firebomb-attacks-keir-starmer-house-car/

    1. 405855+ up ticks,

      Morning AS,

      The question is, is there any deeper connection betwixt arsonfireliar starmer and the arseforhire illegal romainian.

      1. 405855+ up ticks,

        O2O,

        🎵,

        Have bum will travel reads the card of a romainian man.

    2. So although the Ukrainian rent boy lived with his grandmother, and first came to the UK as a 10 year old and went to school here – he took the oath in Ukrainian because his English was "very limited".

        1. Agreed – but I don't think a Maire (or equivalent) could so dress while on duty.

          1. Agreed, but they are constantly attempting to chip back and becoming more obvious.

  39. Good morning to all. Sunny and cool here at present in West Sussex, high is going to be 69F. And why have I put the temperature in Fahrenheit? Well stupid though it may be it is a little protest against the EU and our forced forced obedience to that tyrannical organization into which we are being dragged by the traitor Starmer. Can he be stopped, is there any legal appeal that can be had to stymy the cretin in his blatant disregard of the democratic will? And, like a proper reactionary, I'm also going back to feet and inches, screw the European crap!

    And, today, another thing to get bugged about. Kids are being taught that blacks built Stonehenge. The propaganda against the British is relentless
    But how about a fight back on the part of us Whiteys?
    It's Time for White Guilt to End
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EKJbQf0BxU

    1. Interestingly it says that he is another Ukie. It looks as though there was a full blown Rent Boy operation going on in Westminster. Starmer is the only name that has come up so far but that can hardly be its limits. I wonder how many paid in political favours as opposed to cash.

    2. Interestingly it says that he is another Ukie. It looks as though there was a full blown Rent Boy operation going on in Westminster. Starmer is the only name that has come up so far but that can hardly be its limits. I wonder how many paid in political favours as opposed to cash.

    2. Giving this country away to the EU when the people had voted to be out of it – should be classed as treason.

    3. I can't express how much I loathe Starmer. I wish him every ill under the bloody sun. May he live a long life afflicted with boils and pestilence and all sorts of relentless misery heaped upon him.

  43. 405855 + up ticks,

    Many won't like this because it is honest fact.

    st

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021

    ·
    15h

    Of course ‘it feels like we never left the EU’ because we didn’t.

    I was the only elected politician who laid out the only way it could be done.

    1) Leave by Unilateral & Unconditional Withdrawal.
    2) Repeal the European CommunitiesAct 1972.
    3) Tell the EU that all EU legislation remains temporarily in place by virtue of existing Acts of Parl.
    4) Tell the EU we will begin the repeal & or amendment of those Acts immediately.
    5) Tell the EU we will proceed in a spirit of friendly cooperation but on OUR terms not theirs.

    Don’t ASK the EU how we are going to leave TELL them.

    I wrote up & published all this. UKIP’s then Leader Farage didn’t want to know; instead he pursued his BS ‘amicable divorce’ policy.

    Now he’s taking the public up the garden path once again.

    1. Alao tell them that we intend to do absolutely nothing about the Irish border, their problem (if they insist) not ours.

    2. The Brexit of Farage was a mirage.

      He is, without doubt, an excellent orator but he is not a person to be trusted and is extremely unreliable at a personal level.

      The nearer he thinks he is getting to actual power the more he is moving away from the ideals of Brexit and the more he is moving to what he thinks is a socially acceptable point just to the left of centre.

      1. 405855+ up ticks,

        Afternoon R,

        The main asset of a confidence trickster
        ( con man) is the art of manipulating
        rhetoric convincingly.

    1. Poland under Tusk will be going the other way. Though the people are very Catholic.

      1. Was speaking to a Pole the other day. She had very traditional Christian views and supported the family.

  48. Richard
    2h
    We have been betrayed, quite simply betrayed. The one lever the UK had over Macron was the end of transition on fishing rights next year. Macron was desperate for a deal, we all know how militant the French fishermen are. Starmer should have played hardball and refused to negotiate on fishing rights at all, unless the small boats are completely stopped, something Macron could readily achieve. But no, Starmer threw away our lever and bent over with his trousers round his ankles!
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a90a1062e8f843ddef0cc82bfa798585855011e43e7442afdbcac1441a26dc5a.png

    1. Because of the European trawlers, Britain's fishing and breeding grounds for the fish were being destroyed. This 12 year period will see them turned into desert

    4. It's not the small artisan fishing boats that bother me. Unhygenix from the Gaulish village can have his licence and ply his trade in Weymouth if he comes over with his cheese and onions.

      It's the "efficient" industrial trawlers that scoop up everything living, not caring because desertification of the British coastline is not their problem. The Spanish have invested in a huge fleet of large ships specifically to take every last fish it can from their old Armada adversaries. The Danes grind their catch into meal to feed their pork industry cheaply for them, and sell us back ther bacon cheaper than it costs our pig farmers to outbid the developers. As for the Dutch, with their electrocution devices that would make Dr Megele glow with pride!

      Such people, not the British electorate, are the core supporters for Starmer's stranglehold over what survives of British democracy, and even all the King can do is to advise and warn, and then despair. I did not vote for this.

      1. None of us did, Jeremy. It makes me despair that we will ever again live in our country. The King is probably quite happy to give our country and all its fish stocks away.

        1. He has no more choice over it than we have. Less, in fact, since he is not even allowed to vote or express a political opinion.

          Every Government in Westminster seems to treat the nation as a car boot sale. Harold Macmillan once lamented that his successor "sold the family silver". Government's response was to sell the gold as well.

          I used to be able to get mini fish & chips for £2.60 in Worcester only ten years ago. It is several times that now. Some are doing very nicely out of it, and they even have the temerity to force the Government to lower taxes on their windfalls, grabbed from the nation, and tax those instead whose lives do not matter.

          In this new morality, so paraded today, it is fashionable to blame those who are being swindled, and not only let the hardworking swindlers off the hook, but to reward them with "growth" of their crime, and spin it as a political virtue.

          I voted Liberal Democrat at the county council election earlier this month. Now a county councillor in an inland county is hardly likely to influence fisheries policy, but I repeat my question to them especially from a pro-EU position. What do they intend to do about the conservation of fish stocks and sea life in British waters? We all need to be told, and I invite anyone living in a constituency with a Lib Dem MP to ask, and post back the response.

          I might well ask the same question of the Greens, who have an MP in the constituency next door to where I live.

          1. The Limp Dims will do nothing. Their leader may do some clown activities for laughs.
            I voted Green this time as our local councillor is active and gets things done – pothole repairs etc. I will not be voting Green when we eventually have a national election, but it seems others here also voted Green and we are now a green patch on the map.

          2. "and even all the King can do is to advise and warn, and then despair."

            I don't see him advising or warning, let alone despairing.

            If he was a real king he would speak out. Whether it would stop this Labour government is another matter. If it brought down the royal family, so be it, he's meant to be our country's guardian.

          3. What can he do? The last time a British king tried to abolish Parliament (curiously another Charles), he lost his head. The fact is that without constitutional reform, the 2024 General Election delivered a landslide to Labour, who have overwhelming voting power in the Commons. The Opposition is too weak now to achieve much, so really the only hope in bringing down this Government is through a revolt from the Left.

            Since the reign of William and Mary, we had a constitutional monarchy whereby the Monarch is not allowed to get embroiled with politics. It hasn’t stopped some of them, but none have dared to take on the will of Parliament or challenge a general election.

            Anne had her favourites within the Conservative Party, Victoria liked Disraeli and disliked Gladstone, but she had to put up with his hectoring. Both George V and Elizabeth II had to change their family name to something less German at a time when we were at war with Germany. Philip’s quadruple-barrelled horror
            Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, ironically linked to the tribe in Germany that gave England its name, was also the last place where the Nazis ruled before many fled to South America. ‘Mountbatten’ was rather more acceptable for the bridegroom of the heir to the throne in 1947, but they still insisted that QEII adopted the royal dynastic name made up by her grandfather than her married name. Philip was just a bloody amoeba.

            Edward VIII was an eager supporter of Adolf Hitler, but thankfully Wallis Simpson saved the nation from him before his political treachery did too much damage. He did advise Hitler to bomb British cities, in order to persuade the British to sue for peace, and he also revealed flaws in the Maginot Line, enabling the Nazis to invade France and corner the British expeditionary force in Dunkirk.

            The result of the Brexit Referendum was too close for any king to plump for one side without serious divisions. The 2015 General Election perverted the course of democracy when 4 million votes delivered one flaky MP for UKIP, leading to the collapse of the party and a major imbalance in Parliament in favour of frustrating Brexit. The public standing of Parliament was rent asunder with the “Equal Marriage Act” which was conducted quite improperly, and Parliament has been in disrepute ever since. This might have been the time for Queen Elizabeth II to intervene, but she chose not to. There is a strong case for reforming the Lords, not for it to become an obedient elected clone of the Commons by Party appointment, but rather a Royal Commission that is as neutral as other national institutions, such as the judiciary, the military, the Church and the monarchy. It is their job to keep the Commons in order when it becomes a threat to the nation.

            All the royals can do is to support charities that remedy some of the damage, and a patronage of charities supporting British fishermen and protecting sea life might give the required message without risking a presidency under Keir Starmer.

          4. No, he could speak out if he thought the UK was being mislead. Unfortunately, he supports the WEF, Net Zero, COP et al. He’s as bad as those who are happy to see the country trodden under.

          5. He is meant to be the governor of the CofE but he doesn’t fight its corner. Instead he hosts and celebrates infidel customs. He’s a disgrace.

  49. The Eurocrats, by biding their time and waiting for a proper chump to enter No 10, have seen history move back in their favour.
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/05/19/starmer-succumbs-to-the-eu-hook-line-and-sinker/

    BTL

    'Chump' is generally a word applied to a foolish, clumsy, affable but benign chap. He's the sort of fellow you meet in P.G. Wodehouse's world like Stilton Cheesewright, Hugo Carmody, Pongo Twistleton and Bertie Wooster.

    Starmer is not a chump – there is nothing warm and benign about him. His life mission is to destroy the United Kingdom and he is proving very successful so far.

  50. Disturbed sleep. Did not want to get up this morning.
    Today's answer is an unusual choice of word. Did not want to use it. Good luck:
    Wordle 1,431 3/6

    ⬜🟨🟨🟩⬜
    ⬜🟨🟩🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Well done, it was hard work.

      Wordle 1,431 4/6

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

  53. Report Finds UK Would Be £220 Billion Better off Without Net Zero Policies

    Energy consultant Kathryn Porter last night released her report into UK energy policy for consultancy Watt-Logic: The True Affordability of Net Zero. The latest in a growing series of research studies that highlights the massive costs incurred by Brits thanks to political choices made in Westminster…

    The report’s key points:

    “High international gas prices” and “dictators” do not explain Britain’s massive electricity prices seeing as all countries that are net gas importers pay the same price for it. UK gas prices are 15th highest out of 24 comparable countries…
    The UK is spending over £17 billion per year on environmental levies, subsidies, carbon taxes, and energy taxes. This will rise to over £20 billion in 2030…
    Wind farms are deliberately built “outside of grid constraints” meaning the grid cannot handle the electricity produced. Porter points out that the Seagreen windfarm in 2024 was “constrained off” twice as often as it was selling electricity to the grid. Consumers at those points had to pay for a gas power station to produce electricity. Leaving them on the hook twice seeing as they have to pay for renewables to not operate…
    Brits pay circa £1 billion each year to curtail renewable generation in this way.
    The Climate Change Committee’s 7th Carbon Budget says savings from net zero are only expected from 2038-2043. And even that is optimistic…
    Had the UK continued with gas-power systems since 2006 consumers would be approximately £220 billion better off in 2025 currency. The gas crisis on the other hand is only worth £75 billion…
    Wholesale electricity prices make up 42% of electricity bills and gas prices determine less than 40% of electricity bills – they do not “drive” household bills. Wholesale and retail prices broadly tracked until 2006 when the costs of the energy transition were added to bills…
    A key error identified by Porter is the decision to prioritise building wind farms over power lines – last year £1.2 billion was spent on “curtailment.” Even NESO’s “independent” report into net zero policies points out that achieving Miliband’s targets will be almost impossible and demand will have to be reduced dramatically.Lights off…

    20 May 2025 @ 10:28

        1. Must check our supply – they are mostly scented ones I think. The log shed is still fairly well-stocked though.

  55. Probably voted for it before it turned into an ugly witch.

    Just look at what it is wearing !

      1. Just read the story in the DT. They seem confused about pronouns. The court used 'he' and the story used 'she'.

  57. I remember Spitting Image doing him.

    When you watch videos of his speeches they are often littered with funny jokes.

  59. This EU 'reset' deal is far worse than even I feared. Tories must now start unravelling it

    Starmer has betrayed Brexit comprehensively. The will of the people has been flouted

    David Frost • 19th May 2025, 5:50pm BST

    I wrote on Saturday about the sorry history leading to Monday's summit meeting with the EU. Well, now we have Starmer's deal, and it's even worse than I thought.

    As usual, the EU played hardball. While the British entry to Eurovision was sinking fast on Saturday night, so too was Starmer's reset balloon, and the British team started chucking most of their negotiating ballast over the side in a desperate effort to keep it afloat. We'll certainly remember this Monday. So what the hell just happened?

    Five bad things. First, and despite Labour's manifesto commitment to the contrary, we are rejoining the single market for agrifood. We must apply EU laws in our farming and food sectors, in all companies and farms, whether they trade with the EU or not, and EU courts will have the final say on disputes.

    Labour seems to believe our food trade has collapsed and their deal will help. They simply don't understand what's going on. Reclassification, trade diversion, substitution of cheaper non-EU goods on our market, even the weather, all this is more important to the trade figures than trading paperwork.

    Labour seem to think the British economic renaissance is going to be rebuilt on minor changes to a food and drink trade that amounts to 2-3 per cent of our exports, yet if they really believed this, why are they killing family farms and making them farm solar panels?

    The actual effect of this deal will be to make it much easier for the EU, a much bigger, more successful, more diverse, and more expensive agricultural producer, to export to us.

    Second, it commits us to joining the single market for electricity, the EU's carbon trading scheme, and their scheme to put tariffs on carbon-unfriendly goods, the so-called CBAMs.

    You may think that energy prices are high enough already, but watch this space, because the EU's carbon price is 50 per cent higher than ours. Worse still, we commit to net zero obligations "at least as ambitious as the EU". Want to get out of net zero? Tough: you can't, unless the EU agrees.

    Third, we've abandoned control of our fishing grounds – otherwise coming back in full next year – until the incredible date of 2038. The UK originally asked for four years and thought the EU might accept six or seven. We finally agreed to 12. Brilliant stuff. I'm reminded of Churchill's wry comment on his dreadnought-building programme: "The Admiralty demanded six ships; the economists offered four; and we finally compromised on eight."

    This agreement destroys the prospect of rebuilding the fishing industry with our own fish stocks. Labour have promised a recovery fund, but more taxpayers' money is not what the industry needs and it is not the same as building a productive fishing industry catching and selling a product that people want. Labour have been tin-eared to our coastal communities and they will pay the price.

    Fourth, there will be a youth mobility scheme. It's rebranded a youth "experience" scheme but the text makes clear that it's for people volunteering "or simply travelling" (can't they do this already?) There is no commitment to a cap on numbers, merely that the "overall number of participants is acceptable to both sides". Who can have confidence Labour would be tough here? Let's hope they don't move their fisheries negotiator to youth mobility.

    And finally, we have to pay. A fee for the right to be governed by the EU on agrifood. Another fee to accept their energy and net zero rules. And a fee to rejoin the Erasmus student scheme. This used to cost us about £150 million a year, and certainly will do so again in future, because we always get more EU students here than we send to Europe, since we have the best universities and the English language. I'm not against EU students coming here, but why can't the EU pay for them, just as we pay for our students abroad under the Turing scheme? But no: soon we will be paying for both.

    All this seems to have been paid to get a security and defence agreement which doesn't contain much of either of those things, merely a long list of meetings we get, or might get, to attend. The text even says it is "based on dialogue and consultation mechanisms to facilitate the exchange of information". Not exactly Nato, and so much the better for it, of course – but why have we paid so much to get it?

    And as for the much-vaunted deal on e-gates at airports, the text provides only for "exchanges" about "the potential use of eGates where appropriate." In many EU airports the "potential" is already actual, and elsewhere – who knows?

    In short: this deal concedes important British interests for very little in return. It begins the process of bit by bit bringing this country back into the embrace of the single market and customs union.

    The Conservatives are right to commit to returning these powers to Britain, and Reform is even more right to say that the Windsor Framework and other EU law relics must be scrapped too.

    All that will take some work. What we have today is a political agreement. The legal texts will take months to sort out. Many important points have simply been put off and Labour are bound to concede even more on the detail. Labour's Red Wall voters, if there are any left, are not going to be happy.

    But the Tories, as the main parliamentary force, must put the work in with real energy and harry Labour every step of the way, in parliament and outside – and then work out a proper plan to take the powers back, and more, in future.

    Labour don't care, of course, about what they have conceded. Their main aim is just to get closer to the EU again.

    The EU are ruthless: they will happily mouth warm words without letting it deflect them from pursuing their interests. But Labour just can't let go of their former partner. Their affections for Brussels are as warm as ever. But it won't help them and it will only do harm to this country.

    We should have realised what was going on last Saturday night – when the Austrians won Eurovision with "Wasted Love". This country will pay the price for it.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/19/eu-reset-deal-lord-frost-comment-betrayal-people-flouted

    How can the Tories unravel it? They have no power. There is no parliamentary opposition. Kur and his cabinet of cretins have another four years to complete the dissolution of the United Kingdom.

    1. To people who think Labour will be gone sooner than their full five year term, you are badly mistaken.
      I predict voting for anyone resident in the UK, students, migrant workers, illegal immigrants, etc, by post if they wish and without valid ID checks.
      Votes will be given to 16 year olds too.

      The outcome won't be Reform, it will be more socialism.

      1. As long as the Conservative, Reform, UKIP and the other splinter parties are unable to work together and find common ground, Labour will win by default i.e. they will be first past the post in most constituencies.

        1. UKIP was willing to work with all the right leaning parties. Guess which one refused.

      2. Plus existing Muslim population, sos…ding ding ding we have a winner……might not be KS as leader, he'll be in Europe by then, but Rayner…..oooeer missus…..

      3. I have been saying for years that the ballot box will not sort this out. It will take, sadly, violent revolution.

  60. Lucy Connolly has lost her appeal and remains in prison for the full 31 months. This is absolutely disgraceful.

    1. This isn't justice. She is being made an example of to shut us all up.

      Do they not realise they are only stoking the flames of rebellion?

        1. I am bewildered that this appalling miscarriage of justice has not been raised in the Commons. If the dotty Badenough wanted to attract a few brownie points….

    2. To call them bastards would be to do a disservice to the illegitimate.
      Tyburn needs to be reopened.

      1. That would be in a different world, and a different time, Ndovu. More's the bleeding pity.

          1. I think too much damage has been done. I think when William becomes King the Markles will be stripped of their titles and made persona non grata.

          2. The king and I are exactly the same age. However, I hope I outlive him just to see William give the boot to Markle and her drone.

    2. Apparently she screeched interminably at her staff after she lost the election to Donald Trump. It was not that she is a thoroughly unlikeable character it was their fault and their failure that she didn't win.

      2. She guaranteed the loss of the state of West Virginia by basically insulting the ex-mining communities, rather than any reasoned discussion of alternative employment. Seems she would fit right in with your "North London" lot.

  62. From Coffee House the Spectator

    One of the most depressing concepts in physics is entropy – the principle that all systems tend toward disorder and breakdown. That’s all I could think of while reading today’s headlines praising the so-called “reset” deal between the UK and the EU.

    I know the tricks of the EU’s trade – and “tricks” is the key word here

    We’re being told this deal represents a new direction for Britain and its neighbour, a “new era”. It’s nothing of the sort. If anything, this “deal” is more of a repeat than a reset, a continuation of a long story of sellouts.

    I can claim some experience here. Having served as the UK’s deputy chief negotiator in the trade talks with the EU in 2020, I spent hundreds of hours sitting opposite the EU’s negotiating team. I know the tricks of their trade – and “tricks” is the key word here.

    Many commentators have expressed some surprise at the sheer paucity of Keir’s deal – and, indeed, it reads more like a glorified press release than a treaty. It’s not so much a contract as it is a set of pinky-swear promises between the UK and EU to hash out and sign a set of treaties in the coming months.

    To my eye, the UK Government – desperate to announce they’d negotiated something – has fallen into a classic EU trap. And I don’t mean the obvious betrayal of fishermen but the fact that, littered throughout the document, are a set of principles that will inform the subsequent negotiations. Accept ECJ (European Court of Justice) jurisdiction? Tick. An obligation to follow EU rules? Tick. The UK should pay shedloads of money for the privilege? BIG tick.

    This is EU negotiations 101. European negotiators know that elected politicians must get deals done as soon as possible to try and get headlines (an issue the unelected Commission doesn’t need to worry about). As one senior member of the EU negotiating team once told me, “elected politicians are temporary. We are eternal.”

    By exploiting this, Brussels can get the other side to agree to a set of principles that will shape the subsequent talks and bind their negotiating partner. They famously did this to Theresa May, getting her to agree early on to the idea of “sequential talks” and a “Northern Ireland backstop.”

    And now it appears that Starmer has walked into the same trap. Sure, he’s got many gushing headlines today, but he’s also bound himself to a set of commitments that the EU won’t let him wriggle out of. The upcoming negotiations will be characterised by reminders that the UK has already signed up to all sorts of horrors — with Keir Starmer, head in hands, being told: ‘But you agreed to this, Prime Minister.’

    While I want to be enraged, I actually feel despondent. After all, the UK Government falling for the same trick for the umpteenth time is just another example of how successive British Governments have prioritised getting a cheap and easy headline over serious governance.

    Remember, this is the same administration which is currently smashing up successful schools to please vested union interests, which is prosecuting British war veterans and paying to surrender strategic assets to Beijing’s proxies in a desperate attempt to flaunt its so-called “human rights” credentials, and which has been gaslighting its citizenry with announcements based on a fictional drama about incels while shutting down investigations into the real-life rape gangs.

    That’s the real tragedy of this “deal”. It shows that British politicians – of all colours – remain profoundly uninterested in turning the country’s fortunes around. Chasing a sexy headline will always come before serious governance.

    This country is in trouble. Productivity has been flat on its face for nearly 20 years. Crime is out of control. Every day, more and more successful businesses and entrepreneurs move abroad. We are beset with complex problems. While we were in the EU, it was impossible to meaningfully tackle these issues. But the last five years have shown that we face another problem: that both the Tories and Labour, despite now being free to make changes, are profoundly uninterested in doing so.

    Decline is a choice – history is littered with examples of countries that turned their fortunes around. But until we get politicians who are prepared to take on the vested interests that parasite off our national malaise, who are prepared to make tough and unpopular choices, and – yes – who are willing to tell Brussels to shove it when they make a bad offer, things are going to continue to get worse.

    So, sure, this deal is a bad one. The treaties that follow it will deliver little and will end with more of our money being sent to an international bureaucracy to be misspent. But at the end of the day, the fact Starmer has walked into such a blatant trap is just another example of how successive politicians, with their appalling short-termism, have turned entropy from a force in physics into the operating principle of the British Government.

    WRITTEN BY
    Oliver Lewis
    Oliver Lewis was the UK’s deputy chief negotiator in trade talks with the EU in 2020

  63. About to go out to a lecture on painted Romanian churches. Back about 4.15 Play nicely

  64. PMQ's tomorrow so she's spoiled for choice on what to talk about. This, the Russia/Mauritius talks, the EU Betrayal….
    6 questions are not enough.

    1. And presumably the poll was taken before cursed harmer's deal became clear.

    3. "A YouGov poll of 2,222 adults put Reform in the lead …"

      2,222 out of 40,000,000 voting adults is 0·005555% [or 1/18,000 of the electorate].

  66. Heartbroken husband of Lucy Connolly who made social media rant about migrants on day of Southport condemns 'unfair' ruling to dismiss her appeal as she faces two more years of her sentence – saying she has been shown 'no mercy'
     https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14730637/Tory-councillors-wife-social-media-rant-migrants-day-Southport-attack-loses-appeal-harsh-sentence.html

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/787dd6f09047a64fe21fb33b0aae6569f6051f3b22244a4e44bae56775815547.png
    At what point does political assassination become a moral necessity rather than a crime?

    2. The original judge and the three appeal court judges have clearly been given instruction by – who knows?

      How could they ignore the feelings of anger and despair which we all felt when we heard of the slaughter of those three little girls? Some of us kept our feelings under control; some didn't. Remember the last scene in 'Twelve Angry Men' when the Lee J Cobb character lost his temper and threatened to kill Henry Fonda? And what was Fonda's reply?

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

  68. Agree. If I were William I’d be incandescent on his wife’s behalf (who I like very much).

  71. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/87902041d94997873bb52987362c213b86e48c8ecc1acd3f8ae91c679dbf82b0.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fa9011bd9acd3c5e1b1e34da0ddaa362d954e4ea9a5333aaeb8c14d2befe42eb.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d1aa3d8cf0d2f83e47b86d1d230ed2a663c03ae7cced7d8504aeb9a5d3bca72d.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/08bcb7c3571c3cc196731b9500b26f1099b8678c145b4963bbf47ac54cfab49d.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a8b5abf78672c28a3763844956cda9bf5b9e7dc793409c5e65f576069f87d875.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/669812031d78a16c9f48a69e35cdfe16806e6c779da1bc70d8e413ebc2ad0804.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d225195e58b7a8c66b0aa0194ca9da87d77077b52c273e014cff7bd0b0eb96d5.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7e19f4cc6fd298f92209212f12919101cc8d380bddd27ac07786d92f2da8ee9d.png Is it just me; or do those who possess soulless eyes have something in common?

    [Key, Top to Bottom: 1. Adolf Hitler, 2. Joachim von Ribbentrop, 3. Joseph Göbbels, 4. Rudolf Hess, 5. Martin Bormann, 6. Heinrich Himmler, 7. Keir Starmer, 8. Hermann Göring.

  72. Perhaps some of you missed this earlier.

    Grizzly:
    Please correct me if I am wrong and do excuse my ingrained naïveté. I was always under the impression that the UK was run by an elected government that debated matters in parliament (Commons and Lords) before making life-changing decisions that affect the country.

    A prime minister is simply the figurehead who chooses his cabinet and advises (or directs) them on what he wants. Matter discussed are then put up for parliamentary debate.

    Where has all that gone? It seems we now have an elected dictator who simply makes seemingly binding decisions, without recourse to discussion or debate. Yet no one seems to do or say anything to stop him or advise him on the proper processes of a democracy!

    No one wants a dictator so I question the legality of his recent actions. In the USA they have this device called 'impeachment'. Time is ripe to introduce it here, methinks.

    Me:
    Isn't it the case that foreign policy was historically the preserve of the PM and the Cabinet and that consultation of Parliament was unnecessary? This was certainly the case with wars, hence the fuss over Iraq. I think it also influenced Heath, who hoped he could sign the UK up to the EEC without proper parliamentary scrutiny.

    One for our constitutional experts.

    1. I would certainly be interested to know just how much power the PM actually does possess in peace time on foreign policy.

      It makes sense for them to have such power when the country is at war, but surely he cannot make unilateral — willy nilly — decisions without proper debate, in peace time, that have a severely deleterious effect upon the lives of the population.

      1. Many agreements – minor treaties, if you like – have been made over the years, dealing with relatively small matters of trade or administration and are often simply announced in the HoC with little comment or debate. This, however, is a much bigger deal in every sense of the word and should not simply be waved through – except, of course, if MPs were given a vote, barely 100 would be against it.

      2. I think the entire establishment is bought and paid for. They're allowed to say the right things but act according to orders.

        In 1917, the communists though the proletariat would willingly embrace the Marxist utopia they offered. Instead, they met with resistance. A high percentage of Russian people remained faithful Christians and baptised their children secretly, as Vladimir Putin's mother did.

        The communists have learnt that the people must be deceived, corrupted and demoralised if they're to accept Marxism. You'd think that would tell them that it can't be utopia but apparently not.

    1. My sympathies Ndovu. This morning I really didn't know where to start. It seems that everything is being taken from us or disintegrating and there is little we can do to stop it.
      Things that I think we need I dare not say because I would be arrested. It's not good when one reaches that point of despair. And, I suspect I am far from being the only one that feels that way, millions of true British people probably do.

      1. Back in 1940, it all looked pretty hopeless, but by 1945, by dint of a huge effort and sacrifice, it was turned around.
        So, it's never too late. Courage, mon brave!

      1. I was – but I still have the plants to water so I’ll have to go out again.

    3. Don't put stones in your pockets and walk into the stream. It's ironic that Virginia Woolf was a leftie but she became convinced that Hitler was going to invade and she and Leonard were headed for the gas chamber.

      1. Oh – I’m not going that far! I did a bit of weeding, then sat outside with a book. I haven’t watered the plants yet so I’ve still got to do that.

        I’m awaiting two deliveries via Yodel – whose driver can’t find our house…….. I’ve spent ages trying to tell them where we are – and their divers have been here many times. It’s very frustrating.

    4. Sitting outside now in late 20s temperatures, with a cold half-litre if stout. Perfect drink for the conditions.
      I, too, may be some time.

  74. Poor old man of 93 died a few days after this assault. They say he caught covid in hospital and died from that.

    1. A likely story! 'Covid' covers a multitude of sins. Age is no protection from the far right police thuggery these days.
      He would be among the first to be volunteered by the Assisted Dying brigade.

    1. Thanks for posting, Sue. The point is being made that Lucy Connolly has been refused freedom and there’s mention of a Wayne O’Rourke, whom i will look up

      1. “Stirring up racial hate on line”

        I hate the expression “stirring up”. We have a wonderful language and that’s how the law is written? Ffs.

    2. Just be careful what you talk about chaps, you never know who might be eaves dropping.

  78. Not only everything you have said Godfry. But the EU mafia are filling our country with illegal invaders.
    Probably for a complete take over.

  79. It's not often that you cheer a BBC presenter trying to interrupt a guest. On today's World At One, Sarah Montague couldn't get a word in edgeways when Labour drone Pat McFadden was in full flow about the deal that was "better than the one that JOHNSON gave us". He spat the word out with contempt. If you'd been in the same room with him, you'd have found it hard to restrain yourself as he told us in a bored yet condescending manner that the awful restrictions on movements of goods and people were coming to an end.

    I'm all for good relations with other countries but this is not a mutually beneficial deal. It's Brussels dictating the terms again.
    "Hello Ursula. We want to change this part of the deal because it's not working for either side."
    "What do we get in return?"
    "A better working arrangement."
    "We must have more."
    "More what?"
    "More money, more access, more control."
    "Why?"
    "Because that's the way it works."
    "Where do we sign?"

  80. From BTL on the Daily Sceptic:

    The BBC says (Woman jailed for race hate post on X loses appeal):

    Lucy Connolly called for “mass deportation” and hotels housing migrants to be set on fire on a social media account
    She urged readers to “set fire” to “all the hotels” that were “full” of those she wished to deport.
    She did not – ‘for all I care‘ is the important qualifier.

    If only BBC had a group which could verify what a would-be journo like Martin Heath writes. Perhaps we should follow Mr Heath’s progress in the business; I’m sure he’ll go far.

    Another person has responded to that post:

    I’ve registered a complaint with the BBC for that and urge anybody else to do the same. Journalists working for a supposedly impartal news organization certainly should fabricate politically convenient statements by selective quoting and outright fabrications. Connolly’s tweet didn’t address anyone and hence, she obviously wasn’t urging anyone to do anything, either.

    1. I have complained to Al-Beeb:

      “Lucy Connolly did NOT tweet what your website says. You are providing misinformation. Journalists working for a supposedly impartial news organisation should not fabricate politically convenient statements by selective quoting, and outright fabrications. Connolly’s tweet didn’t address anyone and hence, she obviously wasn’t urging anyone to do anything, either. You need to retract the article and issue an apology. Preferably within 2 hours of its publication (like Connolly did with her “for all I care” tweet.”

    2. Lucy also included 'politicians' in her wishful thinking, which is why Sir Shtarmer was anxious to avoid a jury trial.
      Those alleged European arsonists should def. opt 4 trial by jury.

  81. No leader for 300 years has done more to undermine our interests than Starmer

    Europe’s leaders have long ignored their voters. Now Britain’s Prime Minister has caught that contagion

    Robert Tombs
    20 May 2025 12:16pm BST

    For the first time in three centuries – since the Hanoverian kings made Britain serve German interests – we are ruled by a political and administrative elite that does not put this nation first.

    Our other rulers, whether they were kings, aristocrats or parliamentarians, took it for granted that their duty was to Britain. They laboured long and hard for the country in which they had a stake.

    But not today. Sir Keir Starmer’s “reset” is only the latest example of decisions made since 2005 that obey other priorities. The Net Zero utopia is the most dangerous. The Chagos Islands fiasco – now “on hold” – is the most incomprehensible. The “reset” with the European Union is merely the most predictable. Michel Barnier predicted years ago that Starmer would lead Britain back into the EU.

    I was naïve about Brexit. I thought a democratic decision would be honoured in good faith. I hoped that lowered immigration would accelerate improvement in education and training for neglected British communities. But the former Labour Europe minister Denis MacShane, with whom I appeared in my first Brexit debate in Cambridge in 2016, saw more clearly: “It doesn’t matter how people vote,” he said smugly, “the Deep State won’t let it happen.” Sure enough, the Deep State – let’s call it the Blob, that indistinguishable mass of politicians, officials, and lobbyists– have won a victory.

    I was doubly naïve. I thought that the British electorate could not simply be told to vote again and change their mind, as happened to the Irish and the Danes. Technically that has been true. But instead, our vote is simply ignored, like the French and Dutch votes in 2005. We are not being given the opportunity of a second referendum to rejoin the EU because that would require a proper campaign examining the pros and cons, and the BBC, for example, would be required to give a voice to all sides. In Greece and Italy, governments simply disobeyed their own voters and democracy was nullified. At least they had the excuse of being intimidated by brutal threats of financial destruction. What is Sir Keir Starmer’s excuse?

    Can anyone suppose that his “reset” is the outcome of a dispassionate analysis of Britain’s needs, thrashed out in a hard-nosed negotiation with the EU? Or is it a desperate attempt to reach any deal to placate blinkered Remainers and allow Starmer to declare victory? It is the Chagos deal on a vast scale: we give away things of huge value, and then pay the beneficiaries to accept them. How they laugh!

    This reset floats on the ocean of misinformation with which the country has been inundated since 2016, and to which even some Leave voters have surrendered in despair. On one hand, propagandists declare that British trade has taken a huge “hit” from Brexit – a “hit” that can be found nowhere in the statistics. Goods exports have suffered not from Brexit, but from Whitehall’s own policies, which have deliberately slashed exports of oil, cars and chemicals in the name of net zero, and decimated some of our major export industries by the highest energy costs in the developed world.

    On the other hand, the EU, economically stagnant, politically crippled and strategically impotent, is hailed as a miraculous cargo cult, which will shower down wealth from the skies and make us somehow more economically successful than any of its actual members. Can anyone follow the logic here?

    The EU’s negotiators have ensured that what Starmer has presented as his gains are far outweighed by what we lose. As with EU research funds, we will doubtless pay in more than we get out. Does anyone think that the strategic defence fund will be different? Will the EU fund frigates and submarines we need for our defence rather than tanks made in France and Germany? How many rich European kids will be subsidised by British taxpayers to take coveted university places? How much of a regulatory burden will be placed on our struggling economy for decades to come without any choice by us?

    But don’t worry: we might be able to use e-gates when we go on holiday, and rock stars will roam the Continent unhindered. The frivolity of this whole exercise is utterly depressing. Have we as a country ceased to be able to think seriously and make proper decisions on matters of historic importance? Are we now incapable of distinguishing sense from nonsense?

    The Labour Party once contained people like Attlee, Bevin, Gaitskill, Barbara Castle and not least Peter Shore. Listen to Shore’s 1975 speech at the Oxford Union on You Tube: he spoke with wit, certainly, but also with a seriousness of mind now extinct in Labour ranks.

    This “reset” is depressing enough for its superficiality. But it is not just about trivial gains and losses. Above all it displays careless indifference to fundamental British values. The greatest of these is the belief that the people, finally, decide. This has been a golden thread in our history: Magna Carta; the Glorious Revolution; the Great Reform Bill; the People’s Budget; Women’s Suffrage.

    Part of this is myth, critics might say, but it is a healthy myth, an aspiration to democracy and a warning to politicians that they are not the masters. But this week the people did not decide. Who did? Keir Starmer. He is counting not on popular consent but on popular apathy.

    In short, the significance of the “reset” goes far beyond its details, many of which will be trivial. It is significant as one sign – not the only one, alas – that our fundamental political values are despised. So I return to my opening thought. They are being despised by a governing Blob that no longer cares much about its country. “Lives there a man with soul so dead?” asked Robert Burns. Yes, all too many. They are a post-national, globalised, post-democratic (that follows inevitably) elite happiest behind closed doors. The EU is their Eden.

    The Opposition must not only say that it will reverse every concession that damages the national interest, as Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage have rightly done. I am sure they both mean it: it is Farage’s raison d’etre and Badenoch was often the only Tory minister trying to make Brexit work. But words are cheap. Badenoch is a planner, and she must explain in detail exactly how to extract us from this sorry mess and reassert popular sovereignty.

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

  82. Oliver Lewis
    Keir Starmer has walked into the same Brexit trap as Theresa May
    20 May 2025, 10:42am

    One of the most depressing concepts in physics is entropy – the principle that all systems tend toward disorder and breakdown. That’s all I could think of while reading today’s headlines praising the so-called “reset” deal between the UK and the EU.

    We’re being told this deal represents a new direction for Britain and its neighbour, a “new era”. It’s nothing of the sort. If anything, this “deal” is more of a repeat than a reset, a continuation of a long story of sellouts.

    I can claim some experience here. Having served as the UK’s deputy chief negotiator in the trade talks with the EU in 2020, I spent hundreds of hours sitting opposite the EU’s negotiating team. I know the tricks of their trade – and “tricks” is the key word here.

    Many commentators have expressed some surprise at the sheer paucity of Keir’s deal – and, indeed, it reads more like a glorified press release than a treaty. It’s not so much a contract as it is a set of pinky-swear promises between the UK and EU to hash out and sign a set of treaties in the coming months.

    To my eye, the UK Government – desperate to announce they’d negotiated something – has fallen into a classic EU trap. And I don’t mean the obvious betrayal of fishermen but the fact that, littered throughout the document, are a set of principles that will inform the subsequent negotiations. Accept ECJ (European Court of Justice) jurisdiction? Tick. An obligation to follow EU rules? Tick. The UK should pay shedloads of money for the privilege? BIG tick.

    This is EU negotiations 101. European negotiators know that elected politicians must get deals done as soon as possible to try and get headlines (an issue the unelected Commission doesn’t need to worry about). As one senior member of the EU negotiating team once told me, “elected politicians are temporary. We are eternal.”

    By exploiting this, Brussels can get the other side to agree to a set of principles that will shape the subsequent talks and bind their negotiating partner. They famously did this to Theresa May, getting her to agree early on to the idea of “sequential talks” and a “Northern Ireland backstop.”

    And now it appears that Starmer has walked into the same trap. Sure, he’s got many gushing headlines today, but he’s also bound himself to a set of commitments that the EU won’t let him wriggle out of. The upcoming negotiations will be characterised by reminders that the UK has already signed up to all sorts of horrors — with Keir Starmer, head in hands, being told: ‘But you agreed to this, Prime Minister.’

    While I want to be enraged, I actually feel despondent. After all, the UK Government falling for the same trick for the umpteenth time is just another example of how successive British Governments have prioritised getting a cheap and easy headline over serious governance.

    Remember, this is the same administration which is currently smashing up successful schools to please vested union interests, which is prosecuting British war veterans and paying to surrender strategic assets to Beijing’s proxies in a desperate attempt to flaunt its so-called “human rights” credentials, and which has been gaslighting its citizenry with announcements based on a fictional drama about incels while shutting down investigations into the real-life rape gangs.

    That’s the real tragedy of this “deal”. It shows that British politicians – of all colours – remain profoundly uninterested in turning the country’s fortunes around. Chasing a sexy headline will always come before serious governance.

    This country is in trouble. Productivity has been flat on its face for nearly 20 years. Crime is out of control. Every day, more and more successful businesses and entrepreneurs move abroad. We are beset with complex problems. While we were in the EU, it was impossible to meaningfully tackle these issues. But the last five years have shown that we face another problem: that both the Tories and Labour, despite now being free to make changes, are profoundly uninterested in doing so.

    Decline is a choice – history is littered with examples of countries that turned their fortunes around. But until we get politicians who are prepared to take on the vested interests that parasite off our national malaise, who are prepared to make tough and unpopular choices, and – yes – who are willing to tell Brussels to shove it when they make a bad offer, things are going to continue to get worse.

    So, sure, this deal is a bad one. The treaties that follow it will deliver little and will end with more of our money being sent to an international bureaucracy to be misspent. But at the end of the day, the fact Starmer has walked into such a blatant trap is just another example of how successive politicians, with their appalling short-termism, have turned entropy from a force in physics into the operating principle of the British Government.

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

    Mary Reed
    3 hours ago edited
    It is no accident – this is what Starmer wants for the country. He has wanted to destroy Brexit and reconnect with the EU by any means possible. That he despises Brexit and, it is increasingly clear, those who voted for it was made evident when he called for a second referendum.

    Pravda Verify Mary Reed
    3 hours ago
    Yes and let’s not forget the LibDems under Ed Davey are even more insane than Labour – quite a thought.

    Cunningham Lowe Mary Reed
    3 hours ago
    Starmer despises the country and its people. Brexit has merely given him expression for this.

    JamesR
    3 hours ago
    Teresa May and 150 + of her parliamentary party were traitors to this country. Harsh words I know and I don't use them lightly but they were. Then, denying Boris a WTO option was the real sickener.
    I despise them still.

    Steven Carr
    3 hours ago
    'Keir Starmer has walked into the same Brexit trap as Theresa May'

    Nonsense. Walked?
    He asked for directions for this trap and then ran as fast as he could in case it got closed before he could get there.

  85. 405855+ up ticks,

    More useless rhetoric, who can tell where we will be in
    four days /weeks / months / time, let alone four years.
    surely Reform leaders should be advising its masses on constructing and laying in of arrows for the protection of
    kith / kin & homeland.

    Live Reform tells Starmer: Your EU deal will cost you at next election

    1. "Your EU deal will cost you at next election."

      It's still over four years to the next election. Irreparable damage to the fabric of the entire country will have been wreaked by then … while the indigenous population remain sitting and tut-tutting with their thumbs up their arses!

        1. Agree. People still say "you'll be punished at the ballot box" not understanding that nobody cares any more because the ballot box is irrelevant in the cartel system.

    2. 405855+ up ticks,

      O2O

      I do believe this starmer chap has declared war
      on the indigenous peoples of what remains of this nation, should we not be putting patriotic guards on ALL farmland, for starters food will
      get to be in very short supply, rapidly and meat will go into the 1940s mode especially now rustlers abound.
      The likes of tesco / co-op/morrisons etc,etc contrary to what many believe only sell food on
      and do NOT actually construct it on site.

  86. News item in the DT:- "Romanian ‘model’ in court over Starmer firebomb attacks"
    Surprisingly, no comments are allowed but he's quite a nice looking boy. Doesn't look like an arsonist…

  87. Tommy Robinson to be released next week..
    Did I miss anything? He asks.
    Well, Starmer has managed to pee off the following:
    .. actually an easier list would be.. who he hasn't pissed off.

    1. Unpatriotic language. LOL
      Surrender!
      Humiliation!
      SellOut!
      Betrayal!

      It's not that difficult pug-face.
      Johnson surrendered & sold out.. did everything asked of him by the EU.
      Starmer does the same.. but over many more years.

      That makes both of them.. and you.. traitors.

    3. [4 letter word that describes urinating] off Marr, you spiteful, bitter, miserable remoaner.

  89. Another fire? It could be 'Hot under the collar' Marr bursting into flames:
    https://scontent-cdg4-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/499051723_1049011394038125_6737755924062596741_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=833d8c&_nc_ohc=nMJi5dUWN_sQ7kNvwH0ITeb&_nc_oc=AdkrY_mqwHG97_IHo0gafbZVeXMBR_mXbY_t_yfXFr3OU2WeB6l9ywU2bFV505fKbvcCrcx3dNH1rjR9aEime-Fi&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-cdg4-2.xx&_nc_gid=6xo51wypzVuP9hQfdoIDeQ&oh=00_AfIoY7TBVpRMEuff5fy6uS394zjvW9tpWcpRB7hwgymB6g&oe=68326960

    1. Diversity is our strength. I really don't know what the problem is…

      © Keir dead eyed Starmer.

    2. Murderer freed from prison early because he was 'polite' stabbed his great-uncle to death less than a year later.

      Released in 2023 after serving 12 years of a life sentence imposed in 2011 for stabbing an innocent bystander to death outside a New Year's Day party. Freed from prison for being 'polite' went on to stab his great uncle 71 times in bed in a frenzied attack.

      Released after only 12 years of a life sentence for murder. Woman jailed 31 months for silly WhatsApp message, The justice system is broken.

    3. Murderer freed from prison early because he was 'polite' stabbed his great-uncle to death less than a year later.

      Released in 2023 after serving 12 years of a life sentence imposed in 2011 for stabbing an innocent bystander to death outside a New Year's Day party. Freed from prison for being 'polite' went on to stab his great uncle 71 times in bed in a frenzied attack.

      Released after only 12 years of a life sentence for murder. Woman jailed 31 months for silly WhatsApp message, The justice system is broken.

  93. Gosh – what a brilliant lecture. An hour's talk about (inter alia) painted churches in Romania – withut a note.

    1. Romania – Religions:

      84.7% Christianity
      73.6% Romanian Orthodoxy
      6.4% Protestantism
      4.4% Catholicism
      0.2% other Christian
      0.8% no religion
      0.4% other
      13.9% unanswered Are there that many muzzies there?

    2. We live in a police state where the fascists dictate what is right and wrong. As has been for far, far too long, every single thing is back to front.

    3. Today, we decided to apply for citizenship outside of the UK.
      Shit like this is a main issue. We can't be part of it.

  96. I like warm weather.
    Just popped into my south-facing conservatory to get something.
    It was a cosy 46.2 degrees Celsius (that's 116.5 degrees Fahrenheit in old money).
    It was 49 degrees C (120.2 F) a little while ago.
    Out into the garden instead for a brisk 21 Celsius (69.8 Fahrenheit).
    If I DO move house again, remind me NOT to build a conservatory on a south-facing wall.

  98. Wordle No. 1,431 2/6

    ⬜🟨⬜🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 20 May 2025

    Escorted by an Eagle?

    1. Good stuff Rene! I really struggled with this one – disappointing bogey…..

      Wordle 1,431 5/6

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

    2. Well done, just a par today. Found it tough.

      Wordle 1,431 4/6

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

    3. Impressive! I didn't do too badly though.

      Wordle 1,431 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
      ⬜🟨🟨🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    4. Twice the fun
      Wordle 1,431 4/6

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

    5. Well done. Your first word looks like one I used to favour: CRANE.

      Straightforward Birdie here.

      Wordle 1,431 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
      ⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  99. Blimey – just had thunder and an absolute downpour lasting around 20 minutes here in the NW!!

    1. Sir Keir has actually been in a German supermarket today, chatting to the camera. A German supermarket. Couldn't be Morrisons – they support British farming, and SK doesn't.

  104. How are electric cars like a condom?
    There's usually a dick inside, and nobody wants a used one!

  106. That's me for today. Brilliant lecture this afternoon. Then half an hour watering. We DO need some rain.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain.

    1. As mentioned below we had an absolute torrential downpour (with thunder) at around 4.30pm for about 20 minutes here in the NW!

    2. Looks like there might be a drop of rain tomorrow with thunderstorms brewing.
      Glad you enjoyed the lecture.

      1. Jules – it was stunning. I went to Romania in 1992 – to Bucharest and Cluj – the "Romanian east" and the VERY Hungarian (actually Austro-Hungarian) west. Totally different. One of my life changing experiences.

        This chap was SO good – and well informed and an excellent talker (he didn't "lecture". A wonderful afternoon.

        1. I saw the pic you posted of the "Painted Church" – absolutely stunning! I didn't know they were there.

  107. Good afternoon folk people. I have been in the hospital having this abscess removed.

    The hosp. staff were great, but what could have been done in a day took 4. I'm honestly not sure why, maybe it is the sheer workload.

    On another note, as I braved the bus home after the dressing change today I noticed that we, the natives are simply being replaced. At 11-12 am on a week day all I saw was the diversity, everywhere. Maybe most are students. Maybe some are actual business men and not just money launderers.

    Not one taxi driver was British. Although almost all the nurses were from overseas – Latvia, Spain, Lithuania, Nigeria, Morrocco. The surgical team and anaesthetists were locals, but the consultant Iranian.

    But the bloke in the bed beside me was Polish. The chap opposite Vietnamese (and spoke no English) and despite claiming poverty his son was clarted in tattoos from head to foot.

    I don't like what the Left have done to our country.

      1. No, mine stats collapsed like a stone. I went from about 140/70 to about 110/60. Heart rate soared but otherwise all fine.

        I am off warfarin though. Got some other drug to take now that the hospital like better.

        2. Heart rate has to increase to compensate for the fall in blood pressure; to maintain the status quo. I am pleased to see you are doing well, I didn't realise you had been MIA, I haven't been around so much myself recently – I've not a lot to say, just tired and exhausted by it all.

          Keep on keeping on, I hope you have an uneventful recovery.

    3. Welcome back, wibbling! Good to see you back and glad you’ll be feeling a lot botter…oops better!

    4. Glad to see you back Wibbling – we were all worried last night that you'd been silent for over a week. I do hope they've managed to clear the abscess and it heals well.

      1. "Glad to see you back Wibbling – we were all worried last night that you'd been silent for over a week"….
        Abscess makes the hearts grow fonder?

    5. Welcome back! Hoping it heals nicely. Yes, when I was in hospital for a few days last December, I met some nice people but very few were English.

  108. One Ukie rent boy arsonist??
    Happenstance
    Two Ukie rent boy arsonists??
    Coincidence
    Three Ukie rent boy arsonists…………
    Apparently the Sun has the photos but no doubt the superinjuctions and D notices will protect the pervert

    1. How marvellous it would be if some deeds of Starmer came to light that were so obscene, so horrible and disgustingly depraved that by comparison even Huw Edwards and Jimmy Saville would seem innocent.

        1. I never knew it was possible for one person (other than Blair) to be hated by so many……

          1. As always, what continues to frustrate me is that we, his employer, his master cannot simply remove these useless fools.

  109. I see the "Dunkirk little ships" are preparing to celebrate the 85th anniverasry.
    Wouldn't it be splendid if they took as many gimmegrants back to Europe and the number of soldiers rescued.

  110. Starmer is probably innocent of involvement with rent boys.

    Homo sexuals don't like cunts

  111. Afternoon, all. Camped up near Oxford at the moment. Very warm! Kadi is flat out and Winston is demolishing an antler. I have my feet up and don’t intend to do much before I move on tomorrow.
    Starmer is probably scheming even more destruction. He just hasn’t decided what yet.
    Good to see wibbling back.

  112. Number two ishoo for HM Govt in parliament.. after airport funding in Pakistan.

    UK suspends Israel trade talks and summons ambassador over 'intolerable' Gaza offensive..

    Trump says Finish the job.

    1. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they could spend even a week discussing the ruins they’re making of Britain and let the rest of the world carry on what they’re doing.

    2. Starmer has been working overtime and single mindedly to maintain the Ukrainian conflict. The Ukrainians have committed many war crimes yet accuse the Russians of doing what they themselves have done. Starmer as per usual takes the wrong side.

      So Starmer is comfortable with support for the killing in Ukraine but wishes to censure Israel. The idiot Starmer is a perfect hypocrite.

    1. Why are these big black gold encrusted coons such appalling and disgusting people?

      Just asking for a friend.

      4. I remember those BBC messages, invariably spoken by an actor or actress, begging for aid to some Biafran or other African charity. The accompanying film would show emaciated children and fat evidently well fed mothers. We never saw the father of the poor starving child.

        There is a wide disconnect between the family and the fathers in Africans. Diddy is just an extreme and exotic version of the basic black model. No regard whatever for women and as you note utterly depraved.

  114. So how can leaving the EU be so easily abandoned without public consultation when it took decades just to get a referendum and years of political shenanigans to even get some sort of leaving deal, when it can all be swept away at the drop of a hat under a Starmer bum rush deal.
    Now it even looks like he is to give up Gibraltar.
    He appears to be on a scorched earth mission to completely destroy the country before Reform can attain power.
    While the mainstream media is focusing on Lineker leaving the BBC like we are in some midsummer silly season.

    2. Gib is in our genes, writ through our DNA. The Chagos not so much, if hardly at all.

    1. Sarah Pochin been giving quite a few interviews, might have raised Reform profile especially with female voters.

      1. She was all for the 'assisted dying' bill just a few days ago even though all promised safeguards have been dropped.

      1. Most of these memes are now. Just as 'Yes, Minister' and 'Yes, Prime Minister' comes across as no longer funnny, but a documentary.

  118. Is Ricky Jones down the memory hole??
    You know the chap who called for a bit of throat cutting?/
    Now due in August I understand
    Out on bail of course
    What are the odds of 3 years+ custodial ala Lucy??
    Aye Right no Two Tier to be seen for the Leftard
    I flucking despair

    1. And what happened to those thugs who broke the policewoman's nose in Manchester Airport?

  119. In utter desperation I've cast a few quid in the direction of the Euro millions. If by some miracle my numbers turn up trumps you won't see me for dust!!!

  122. With today's news I guess we can add to the ever-growing nomenclature – 'Two Queer Kier' ?

  123. Last weekend I one a fiver and also a lucky dip for tomorrow.
    I promise if I win 140 million after my immediate family and long-term friends. I promise to give Nottlers two million for a get together party. All expenses covered. 🤗🤞

    1. When Starmer's gone to the EU, she may well be our next PM if only fleetingly……

    2. "…The memo looks set to become the blueprint for changes that the Left will push for in the Autumn Budget, amid mounting speculation that Ms Reeves will be forced to raise tax owing to challenging economic forecasts…."

      You mean that massive tax hikes have destroyed jobs, investment, growth, created unemployment and added to the welfare bill?

      And your response to the damage your taxes caused is to hike those taxes further?

      Cretins.

      Socialists / Lefties really are a pigeon playing chess: no idea what they're doing but smash everything up, knock over all the picees, shat all over the board and think they've won.

      She, and Reeves, are fools.

    3. She looks as though she's just been propositioned by Phizzee, offering her Bill Thomas's advice on how to trim her bush..

  127. I don't like it when people swear on here but if that is true…..what a fucking horrible bitch.

      1. There's a degree of mendacity and spite in all this, the strench of 'you've got what I want'. There's no consideration for future plans, it's all short termist money grubbing to waste.

      1. I plan to spend a substantial amount (but not a completely total amount) on my friends. The less I have in my savings accounts the less this government can take from me.

        1. Undeniably true!
          People I know have spent on home improvements, moved money to accounts in other currencies, taken cash out or bought gold or silver.
          Each plan has its advantages and drawbacks!
          I read a quote from a doctor, I think during the Great Depression where he said “the only thing they can’t take from me is my medical knowledge” – so investing in useful skills is also good.

  129. Thanks ‘mum…I didn’t know that. Hope she changes her mind. She seems to think ‘sufficient checks and balances in place’, or did a few days ago when I looked for her online, apparently without saying what those checks and balances are and why she thinks them sufficient. Will keep an eye and ear out for further news.

    1. Yes, I saw that – about the sufficient checks and balances in place' – I wondered if she was trying to justify her decision or genuinely hadn't kept abreast of the complete abandonment of the promised safeguards during the consultation period (Danny Kruger was a hero here and well worth watching, he is a brightly shining light under the proverbial bushel).

      1. Perhaps both and bluffing. Kruger seems a good guy, one to keep an eye on…he seemed to be more or less on his own but still spoke out.

  130. This is one grim granny. On grab a granny might this thing would be left in a corner.

    1. Yes – we have to wend our way through this mess and make it work to our best advantage (as best we can) to survive. Our younger son years ago asked me something along the lines of ‘what were my aims and ambitions in life?’ when I was young (not as blunt as that but you get the idea). I told him it was to survive as best I could, and anything else was bonus. It still holds good.

  132. Evening thoughts:

    When the PM is so obviously mired in somethingS sexuslly sleazy and at odds with his nominal family does it not send a terrible message to British residents of all ages. At least in times past major philanderers kept their shenanigans out of the public gaze. Where they couldn't (zprofumo) resignations cam e quickly.

    Given the widespread use of social media, the past tactic of no MSM coverage can no longer keep these matters u der wraps.

    This is setting such a bad example that I feel that questions need to be asked of the First Lord of the Treasury: explain to the House of Commons ( and the wider country) why some foreign male "models" have been firebombing his houses + cars.

    1. I couldn't care less if two tier is a shirt lifting woofter. It's his life, his choice.

      I feel sorry for his wife and children – if they're just political manipulation for optics they deserve a flippin' medal and public apology.

      What bothers me more is the utter hypocrisy of the man. He's a liar, a crook, a thief, incompetent, cretinous, spiteful, vicious and an active fifth columnist intent on destroying this country.

  133. I think I deserve a second glass of red before bed.
    I've been partially busy cut up a pallet and glued together four decent pieces of pine to make two drawer fronts. I've been meaning to do this for years. It'll be finished before lunch tomorrow..
    Good night all, fingers crossed
    for the lottery 🤞

    1. When I was being ferried around Bath in a pram and thereafter I remember the shops my mother visited.

      They were a local butcher, Woolworth, David Greig (for butter, cheese and bacon) the Co-op, Colmers, Timothy White and Macfisheries.

      Of these only the Co-op survives.

      1. Me…a small village in Yorkshire…Co-op was grocer, green grocer, chemist, drapers inc shoes. Other shops were grain supplier, newsagents. All we needed, really. There was a saying at the Co-op in the larger town ‘the darker the night the bigger the parcel’…relating to theft by some staff. Ah, Macfisheries – remember them, good to shop early as trays being put out but watch for yesterday’s being included 😀

    2. At the age of four I had memorised both my mother's and my grandmother's divi check numbers, 4611 and 843 respectively. I gave them when I nipped a couple of doors away to our local Co-op for a bar of Fry's 'Five Boys' chocolate.

      1. Postcard still available on ebay, Grizz…back to the future. Good you enjoyed the chocolate. Think I remember liking Aeros, the lime green ones – but that might have been later.

  136. wibbling I am so happy to see you back I hope your bottom is now fully healed. Was worried.

  137. From the Telegraph

    We have just surrendered to the EU
    This is a naked and unashamed U-turn on the Prime Minister’s pre-election promises

    Nigel Farage20 May 2025 2:14pm BST
    Who would have guessed. Keir Starmer, the man who campaigned to overturn the democratic vote of 17.4 million people, has just signed what is little more than a surrender agreement with the European Union.

    Be in no doubt, this document pushes us back into the orbit of Brussels, giving away vast amounts of our sovereignty for very little in return. This is nothing more than the start of a slippery slope to rejoining the EU – an outcome I have little doubt the Prime Minister and his cabinet would welcome with open arms.

    One of the key benefits of Brexit was that we would finally have a competitive edge over Europe. The SPS provisions agreed as part of this deal means that we will continue to be prisoner to EU goods regulations by forcing us to dynamically align with EU rules.

    More concerning is that the UK will be forced to accept the role of the European Court of Justice as the ultimate authority on any disputes in this area, meaning we will be subject to a foreign court once again.

    Starmer’s total inability to grasp what people voted for in 2016 now means that one of the core pillars of the Brexit campaign – that laws made by UK courts should be judged on and interpreted in the UK – has been totally betrayed.

    To make things worse, Keir Starmer has even offered to fork out for the pleasure of losing this core Brexit benefit, agreeing to “support the relevant costs associated with the European Union’s work in this policy area”.

    On fishing, this agreement has essentially set out the government’s roadmap to kill off the British fishing industry once and for all. It is a complete betrayal of a sector that could have flourished after we left the EU, but was instead sold down the river by successive Conservative and Labour administrations.

    This further betrayal of a once great industry will be the final nail in its coffin.

    Granting European fishermen access to British waters for 12 years is enough to practically give European boats permanent access to our waters. As older British fishermen leave the industry, and with no opportunity or incentive for younger people to join or for investment in new boats, this will be the end of the fishing industry in Britain.

    This also puts us in the ludicrous situation where European super-trawlers catch fish in British waters just to sell them back to us, devastating our fishing communities in the process.

    This is extremely on brand for the same Prime Minister who targeted family farms with inheritance tax. Now he’s set his sights on our fishing sector. This Labour government is wreaking havoc on our ability to produce our own food.

    What do we have to show for this sell out? Surely, having given so much away, the Prime Minister has secured some serious concessions from Ursula von der Leyen?

    Unfortunately not. The main benefit being flaunted by Keir Starmer is that Brits travelling to Europe will now be able to use e-Gates at airports. But even this seeming benefit is completely misleading.

    Let’s be clear: the text of this deal does not automatically mean Brits can use EU queue lines and e-Gates. There is nothing here that mandates EU Member States to allow Brits to use this queue, despite the fact we already afford them this courtesy.

    So, for a betrayal of 17.4 million people, making the UK subject to a foreign court once more, and the overt assassination of our fishing industry, the Prime Minister has managed to get the EU to commit almost nothing in return. This will go down as one of the worst deals in British history.

    During the General Election, the Prime Minister pledged that he would not betray Brexit. He claimed he did not want to reopen the wounds. What we have seen here is a naked, unashamed U-turn on that promise.

        1. Sorry I didn’t get back to you last night, 4G. Did you find the discussion re the 93 year old being tasered?

          1. Yes, thanks, I did Sue – but part of me wishes I hadnt…. I was apoplectic with rage at the treatment of that poor old man – how can people be so evil?

          2. Stupid, evil and utterly contemptible. The two thugs are claiming that the poor old soul was aggressive towards them!! With one leg, and a urinary infection? He was confused, for goodness sake!!

          3. So terribly sad – if those coppers dont have the book thrown at them it will be just another small step towards the police state our Lords and Masters desire….

  139. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    To the Commons, where just after midday Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivered a statement on his brand new UK-EU deal. Sir Keir told MPs that the new agreement would ‘strengthen our borders’ and ‘release us from the tired arguments of the past’ on Brexit. But as opposition politicians heckled – ‘tell that to the fishermen!’ one yelled – there was one notable absence in the Chamber. The Brexit kingpin himself, Reform UK’s very own Nigel Farage, was nowhere to be seen. How very strange…

    One would think that this was a moment Farage would not want to miss – given Starmer’s deal has given rise to accusations that the Labour PM is ‘betraying’ Brexit less than a year into his premiership. Already, Sir Keir’s deal – which includes a controversial youth migrant scheme and makes concessions to the EU over fishing rights – has been torn apart by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, who slammed it as a ‘stitch up’, with Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey bemoaning the fact the deal didn’t go further and the SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn calling Starmer’s EU market access claims ‘simply absurd’. At this point, Steerpike would have been rather interested to hear the thoughts of Brexit campaigner-in-chief Farage – yet it was his deputy Richard Tice who had to take the reins instead.

    Wherever could the Reform founder be? Well, it has since transpired this evening via the Times that instead of attending the Commons debate, Farage has, er, jetted off to France. Alright for some! For his part, the Reform leader said: ‘There seems to be great consternation in the press that they have not seen me for 48 hours. Well, they will have to wait some time. After months of touring the UK in the run up to our hugely successful local election campaign I will resume travelling the country next week.’

    Farage may not be a fan of Sir Keir forging closer ties with Europe – but he seems to have no problem basking in the delights of the EU when it suits him…

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

  140. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    Events have a useful way of illustrating changing fortunes in political stock. Keir Starmer’s EU reset yesterday proved to be one such occasion. The fishing deal, mobility scheme and legal obligations prompted predictable fury from the Tory press. But one voice dominated in the chorus of criticism: Boris Johnson. It was the former prime minister’s arresting description of Starmer as ‘the orange ball-chewing gimp of Brussels’ which led both the Telegraph and Mail’s write-ups today.

    A minority in his party view Boris Johnson as the only character big enough to eclipse Nigel Farage and his Cheshire cat grin

    Such prominence is not unsurprising. Johnson’s role in the 2016 referendum and then the 2019 election ensures that he, more than anyone, can credibly claim to be the enabler of Brexit. He is also a gifted penman, whose anti-Brussels screeds have delighted Fleet Street copy-editors for decades. But the timing of this fresh intervention has sparked excited chatter about a possible comeback, coming at a time when the Conservative party is facing an existential crisis.

    A new YouGov poll out today makes for grim reading for Kemi Badenoch. Her party has now slumped to fourth, on 16 per cent, behind Reform (29 per cent), Labour (22 per cent) and the Liberal Democrats (17 per cent). A dire set of local elections looks to have put rocket boosters under Reform, which is clearly no longer seen as a wasted vote. One Tory MP says: ‘Forget renewal. More like resuscitation.’ ‘The Greens gaining on us as well’, adds an ex-MP. ‘Fifth place here we come.’

    The problem for Badenoch is how best to cut through in a crowded market. Labour and Reform are happy to deny the Tories oxygen: last night Keir Starmer told his MPs that the next election would be all about the 'moral imperative' of ensuring 'Farage never becomes PM.' Against the inane-but-effective Liberals, a surging Reform and a landslide Labour government, Badenoch – one of the most high-profile and interesting Tories in office – risks being cut out of the picture completely.

    Which explains the renewed focus on Boris Johnson. For all his known baggage, his flair, guile and sheer stage presence mean that a minority in his party view him as the only character big enough to eclipse Nigel Farage and his Cheshire cat grin. A poll earlier this month by More in Common suggested that Johnson was the only Conservative who could outpoll Reform. It was shared with much interest among friends, critics and other observers on Tory WhatsApp.

    Of course, chatter is one thing, returning to Westminster would be quite another. With four years left in the life of this parliament, a by-election would seem the most obvious way for Johnson's return. But given the dire state of the party's polling, Tory holds, let alone gains, seem unlikely. For now, Boris Johnson might be content to just watch from afar – as his successor tries desperately to turn it all around.

    James Heale
    WRITTEN BY
    James Heale
    James Heale is The Spectator’s deputy political editor.

  141. Nigel Farage admits he's skipping the Commons this week as he's on HOLIDAY – after 'part-time' Reform UK leader faced questions over his absence as PM reveals Brexit 'reset'

    What the Hell!!!

    Don't these lazy bastards already get enough holiday time?

    If he was a serious politician instead of a show-pony he would have returned to the UK for PMQ's.

    Reform? forget them, it's Labour all the way now.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14732535/Nigel-Farage-admits-hes-skipping-Commons-week-hes-HOLIDAY-time-Reform-UK-leader-faced-questions-absence-PM-reveals-Brexit-reset.html

    1. As I've said before – Farage is all fur coat and no knickers. You can rely on him to always let you down.

      1. I've wondered about him too (& Tice), post Lowe, Hopkins, Habib. There's a lot of momentum around Reform, they seem to have some good candidates, be a terrible shame if everyone let down.

  142. Off topic and apologies for being boring, given my fixation about wild orchids.

    One of the delicate white variety has "crossed the Rubicon"

    One has appeared on the other side of the drive up towards the garage, and is thus potentially in a position to get onto the road verge.
    If that should happen there is a good chance that over the years passing traffic will allow them to spread much further afield.
    I am very lucky that the local council verge cutter appears to appreciate my efforts (they are protected here) and avoids cutting around my orchids and they are spreading slowly.
    The new arrivals will be a real bonus.

      3. You have such a great variety – we have orchids here on our limestone grassland common – but only a few different ones. Mainly pyramidal and early purple ones. Lovely but your bee orchids and the white ones are different.

          2. No idea, but having looked it up I doubt it.

            Mine might be a helleborine, but the leaves and flower shapes suggest orchid.
            I am totally ignorant as to names, I just like them.

        1. An example of one of a group of white orchids, a new one has appeared on the other side of my drive, a good sign that they should carry on spreading.

    2. Twenty years ago we spent three weeks in the Cévennes. The wild orchids were stunning with many varieties. Also fields and fields of other wild flowers. How much we have lost in the UK. It has lost its soul.

  143. Deceptive, a larger one might reach a foot perhaps a little more.

    They are very delicate. Unfortunately Disqus only allows me 5Mb for pictures, so the photographs are trimmed and don't show them in all their glory.

    1. When I posted pics the other day of our wisteria – I had to crop them even though they were well under 5Mb – it gave me a warning each time.

      1. It's a shame, because one can't see the real detail in the pictures.

        I often wonder how other people seem to be able to post such fantastic pictures, eg BT's Romanian church.

          1. We have similar that appear early Spring.
            They number in their hundreds here, if not thousands.
            They appear just before the various tongue orchids, which certainly number in the thousands.

          3. Lovely things to have growing naturally as opposed to being cultivated.
            Do you have a lot of funghi in the garden?
            I find that there is a very close correlation between the funghi and the orchid spread.

          4. I haven't noticed funghi here – we are quite high in the hills – calcareous grassland – and our garden was carved out of that many years ago. We have mainly cowslips, bluebells, primroses and wild garlic and cow parsley – and the orchids – but not as numerous or as varied as yours. We do have a rarity quite near here as well – pasque flowers.

          5. PS
            I'm roughly 6 weeks ahead of you for Spring flowers, so that looks about right.

  144. Kier Starmer has overturned our Democracy , the will of the people re Brexit has been denied , we are living in an oligarchy.

    Our vote has been ruined .. we have lost our freedom of choice thanks to a fibbing dictator .

  147. Nearly 3 weeks ago my doctor decided I needed gastroscopy urgently , and put in what ever request is required to order one.. He was shocked into action when he (my family doctor ) asked me how long I had had the pain I was experiencing , upper right quadrant , under my ribs .. I told him … it is all on my medical notes … 10 years!!!!

    Fobbed off with Buscopan , Metoclopramide ( anti nausea) and acid reducing tablets for years , re repeats on my prescription .. doctors just stare at their screens .. and don't feel their patients.

    I still haven't heard a word , meanwhile during that period , I have had a back molar removed surgically, have 4 stitches which will remain in my gum for another week until the dentist removes them(not dissolvable ) and a course of antibiotics which have made my stomach even worse (Erythromycin)and bruising which goes down to my throat and pain in my jaw that is hardly tolerable .

    I am a little bit pre occupied with pill taking , pain and trying to decompress after the visit from my 2 younger sisters from SA ..

    It took me nearly 6 months to tidy , clean and put everything in order away from critical eyes , thank goodness I was given 6 months notice before their visit ..

    It cost them a fortune , flights were not cheap,and neither was their Norwegian cruise , plus the hire of a car !!

    1. It's been a lot to cope with visitors – even though they are your sisters and you don't see them very often – while you have been in such a lot of pain. Your digestive troubles and the molar extraction all at the same time as the visitors must have been (sorry) a real pain…………

      Those antacids are not doing you any good – have you read any of the articles by A Midwestern Doctor – on lots of different topics, but I remember one on acid suppressants – I'm not sure if they are searchable by topic – but I do believe too much medication makes you more ill.

      1. Very grateful for the link you provided , J.

        The article was very deep and to the point , and there were many useful research notes worth considering .

        My goodness , are we all being manipulated by Big Pharma ?

        1. Absolutely, yes we are. Especially the Americans – though that may start to change. The AMW doc’s articles are all worth reading though some are behind a paywall. There’s no indication whether male or female, but my guess is she’s a woman. Read some of the others on various topics. With your nurse/medical training you’d probably understand the finer points better than I do.

    2. Poor poor you Belle. You need to be a lot less hard on yourself. I hope to goodness your visitors mucked in and didn’t rely on you for everything. Do look after yourself xxx

      1. I have a esophageal hernia that can cause a lot of discomfort but I have been taking a daily when I remember PPI pill for years now. it definitely works or at least the lack of pill over more than a few days can be quite uncomfortable.

    4. Bloody Hell, Maggie. I know you've been going through the mill lately, but didn't realise you'd been suffering for 10 years.
      I hope it gets sorted quickly and you begin to feel better.

  149. Robert Tombs
    No leader for 300 years has done more to undermine our interests than Starmer
    Europe’s leaders have long ignored their voters. Now Britain’s Prime Minister has caught that contagion

    For the first time in three centuries – since the Hanoverian kings made Britain serve German interests – we are ruled by a political and administrative elite that does not put this nation first.

    Our other rulers, whether they were kings, aristocrats or parliamentarians, took it for granted that their duty was to Britain. They laboured long and hard for the country in which they had a stake.

    But not today. Sir Keir Starmer’s “reset” is only the latest example of decisions made since 2005 that obey other priorities. The Net Zero utopia is the most dangerous. The Chagos Islands fiasco – now “on hold” – is the most incomprehensible. The “reset” with the European Union is merely the most predictable. Michel Barnier predicted years ago that Starmer would lead Britain back into the EU.

    I was naïve about Brexit. I thought a democratic decision would be honoured in good faith. I hoped that lowered immigration would accelerate improvement in education and training for neglected British communities. But the former Labour Europe minister Denis MacShane, with whom I appeared in my first Brexit debate in Cambridge in 2016, saw more clearly: “It doesn’t matter how people vote,” he said smugly, “the Deep State won’t let it happen.” Sure enough, the Deep State – let’s call it the Blob, that indistinguishable mass of politicians, officials, and lobbyists– have won a victory.

    I was doubly naïve. I thought that the British electorate could not simply be told to vote again and change their mind, as happened to the Irish and the Danes. Technically that has been true. But instead, our vote is simply ignored, like the French and Dutch votes in 2005. We are not being given the opportunity of a second referendum to rejoin the EU because that would require a proper campaign examining the pros and cons, and the BBC, for example, would be required to give a voice to all sides. In Greece and Italy, governments simply disobeyed their own voters and democracy was nullified. At least they had the excuse of being intimidated by brutal threats of financial destruction.

    What is Sir Keir Starmer’s excuse?

    Can anyone suppose that his “reset” is the outcome of a dispassionate analysis of Britain’s needs, thrashed out in a hard-nosed negotiation with the EU? Or is it a desperate attempt to reach any deal to placate blinkered Remainers and allow Starmer to declare victory? It is the Chagos deal on a vast scale: we give away things of huge value, and then pay the beneficiaries to accept them. How they laugh!

    This reset floats on the ocean of misinformation with which the country has been inundated since 2016, and to which even some Leave voters have surrendered in despair. On one hand, propagandists declare that British trade has taken a huge “hit” from Brexit – a “hit” that can be found nowhere in the statistics. Goods exports have suffered not from Brexit, but from Whitehall’s own policies, which have deliberately slashed exports of oil, cars and chemicals in the name of net zero, and decimated some of our major export industries by the highest energy costs in the developed world.

    On the other hand, the EU, economically stagnant, politically crippled and strategically impotent, is hailed as a miraculous cargo cult, which will shower down wealth from the skies and make us somehow more economically successful than any of its actual members. Can anyone follow the logic here?

    The EU’s negotiators have ensured that what Starmer has presented as his gains are far outweighed by what we lose. As with EU research funds, we will doubtless pay in more than we get out. Does anyone think that the strategic defence fund will be different? Will the EU fund frigates and submarines we need for our defence rather than tanks made in France and Germany? How many rich European kids will be subsidised by British taxpayers to take coveted university places? How much of a regulatory burden will be placed on our struggling economy for decades to come without any choice by us?

    But don’t worry: we might be able to use e-gates when we go on holiday, and rock stars will roam the Continent unhindered. The frivolity of this whole exercise is utterly depressing. Have we as a country ceased to be able to think seriously and make proper decisions on matters of historic importance? Are we now incapable of distinguishing sense from nonsense?

    The Labour Party once contained people like Attlee, Bevin, Gaitskill, Barbara Castle and not least Peter Shore. Listen to Shore’s 1975 speech at the Oxford Union on You Tube: he spoke with wit, certainly, but also with a seriousness of mind now extinct in Labour ranks.

    This “reset” is depressing enough for its superficiality. But it is not just about trivial gains and losses. Above all it displays careless indifference to fundamental British values. The greatest of these is the belief that the people, finally, decide. This has been a golden thread in our history: Magna Carta; the Glorious Revolution; the Great Reform Bill; the People’s Budget; Women’s Suffrage.

    Part of this is myth, critics might say, but it is a healthy myth, an aspiration to democracy and a warning to politicians that they are not the masters. But this week the people did not decide. Who did? Keir Starmer. He is counting not on popular consent but on popular apathy.

    In short, the significance of the “reset” goes far beyond its details, many of which will be trivial. It is significant as one sign – not the only one, alas – that our fundamental political values are despised. So I return to my opening thought. They are being despised by a governing Blob that no longer cares much about its country. “Breathes there a man with soul so dead?” asked Sir Walter Scott. Yes, all too many. They are a post-national, globalised, post-democratic (that follows inevitably) elite happiest behind closed doors. The EU is their Eden.

    The Opposition must not only say that it will reverse every concession that damages the national interest, as Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage have rightly done. I am sure they both mean it: it is Farage’s raison d’etre and Badenoch was often the only Tory minister trying to make Brexit work. But words are cheap. Badenoch is a planner, and she must explain in detail exactly how to extract us from this sorry mess and reassert popular sovereignty.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/20/no-leader-300-years-done-more-undermine-interests-starmer/
    Robert Tombs is emeritus professor of history at the University of Cambridge

    Margaret Graham
    1 hr ago
    Again, an excellent article. This time by an historian, to amplify Ambrose as an economist. I agree entirely that our democracy is a sham, but I do feel the popular apathy of which Robert Tombs speaks is becoming something else. There is a dark and deep stirring in the shires, as they might say. Never have I witnessed such broad fury at we plebs being ignored, at a dissolute Govt destroying our international reputation and economy, at the two tier judiciary system which cavalierly abuses justice.

    1. The trouble is that we have had it – there are too many others and they breed far more prolifically than the indigenous. The latter think "we can't afford it", the former just appear to expect more handouts from taxpayers.

      We have simply got to deport those who should not be here, whether by entering illegally, staying illegally or committing crimes here. Stop benefit for those who just come here with their hands held out, without a word of thanks. Let those who come here in boat sleep in tents – if it's good enough in Calais, it's good enough here. Denmark and Hungary and Poland are managing to deport without their lawyer bleating on about the ECHR. If countries like Albania won't take their criminals back and France won't take those boat people that they happily wave off, despite being paid £millions by this country to stop them, then so be it. A bit of "splendid isolation" might this time open up our oil fields, our gas fields and our coal mines. Our farmers might be encouraged to produce. And the Uniparty might sink into oblivion…

      …And then I woke up :o(

  150. From Allison.

    “When is Mummy’s letter coming?” “Is Mummy’s letter here yet, Daddy?” Over the past week, hope and excitement have been building in the Connolly household. Mummy was coming home! Ray Connolly has done his best to manage his 12-year-old daughter’s expectations, keeping the likely date of the Court of Appeal’s decision as vague as possible, but Holly wouldn’t stop asking. It was disappointing last Thursday when, after several hours of evidence, Lord Justice Holroyde said there would be no decision that day, instead a written ruling would be issued as soon as possible. Just after 10.30am today, on the 284th day of Lucy’s incarceration, “Mummy’s letter”, that much longed-for email, arrived. It was a hammer blow. Devastating. Lucy Connolly had lost her appeal for early release. The three judges had decided that a 31-month sentence for one very nasty, hastily-deleted tweet posted on the day of the Southport massacre by a woman of previously exemplary character was perfectly just and reasonable.

    Normal people, that is the millions of us who don’t inhabit the rarefied legal bubble of the Royal Courts of Justice, were shocked and horrified. What on earth was that poor woman even doing in jail in the first place? Seldom can common sense (and its tender sister, common humanity) and legal opinion have been so estranged. The law was no longer just an ass, it was a whole stable of braying donkeys in horsehair wigs.

    I am ashamed of my country, a country I barely recognise. A country where the judiciary appears to have lost its independence along with its marbles, a country where sentences allow posts on social media to be treated more harshly than physical violence and leniency is extended to bad people if they’re from a protected minority but God help you if you’re white or working class and blaspheme against the liberal deities. A Britain that can treat a Lucy Connolly with such monstrous callousness is, frankly, a frightening place. No one is safe.

    “Shame on them,” said Lucy, who called me from HMP Drake Hall minutes after we got the terrible news. “Those three judges that were sitting there in court should be ashamed of themselves, they are cruel, Allison. Women here in jail, they have made mistakes and you listen to their stories and you think, ‘You are poor, you are vulnerable, you didn’t know better, you made really bad choices, you can be forgiven.’ But those judges, intelligent men, they didn’t make a mistake. It’s cruel and twisted what they did.”

    Lucy always somehow manages to sound chipper, resilient, able to see the funny side of her crazy predicament and determined not to let them break her. But not any more. This time, she was raging. “Absolute rotten b——s. Rotten, dictating b——d judges. They’re keeping me away from my child. It’s three more months without her, and her without me.” At the thought of further separation from her daughter, and the very clear harm it is doing Holly (an innocent child suspended again from school but not worthy of sympathy from that trio of eminent judges), she starts to sob.

    Two days ago, when I asked how she thought the appeal would go, Lucy laughed and said, “I think this Government would keep me in for a hundred years if they could.” It wasn’t funny any more. Lucy did not hesitate to blame the Prime Minister for the judges’ refusal to reduce her sentence.

    As someone who has grown close to the Connolly family, I felt sick hearing the news that she would stay in prison, of course, but sadly not surprised. Since the morning Lucy was arrested last August, surrounded by the infants in her childminding group, pretty much everything that has happened to her stinks to high heaven. Astonishingly, Lucy, a first-time offender and no flight risk, was denied bail, twice (men on rape charges are regularly granted it).
    Lucy Connolly
    Lucy Connolly: ‘Whatever you think of what I did, I think 10 and a half months inside is long enough’

    Lucy pleaded guilty because she believed, if she did so, she’d be out in time for Christmas. At her sentencing, which had the queasy feeling of a Stalinist show trial, Justice Melbourne Inman delivered a woke, worryingly political sermon which began, “It is a strength of our society that it is both diverse and inclusive.” Reading the judgment, it is hard to suppress the thought that Lucy’s views on immigration (shared by a majority of her fellow countrymen) may as well have been in the dock alongside her. Paying precious little attention to Mrs Connolly’s multiple mitigations – a diagnosis of PTSD after her toddler Harry died beside her after catastrophic NHS negligence in 2011, frequent anxiety attacks triggered by the suffering of children, glowing testimonials from Nigerian, Bangladeshi and Jamaican parents who insisted their beloved childminder was not racist – the judge imposed a vastly disproportionate sentence which even horrified experienced lawyers.

    It was the first, but far from the last, indication that Lucy Connolly was a political prisoner. With the Labour Government refusing to tell us key information about the Southport killer in order to preserve the “diversity is our strength” narrative, Keir Starmer warned of “swift action” against “far-Right thugs” and of “no let-up against far-Right violence”. Lucy, a Conservative councillor’s wife, fitted the bill perfectly. The bright, funny, caring 42-year-old from Northampton became a handy head to stick on a spike to deter others who might be tempted to question a weak regime terrified of civil unrest.

    You have to admit the demonisation of Lucy Connolly was a roaring success. A few weeks after she arrived at Peterborough prison, a couple of the officers with whom she had got friendly teased her, “You’re nothing like they said you were, Lucy.” When a startled Lucy asked what they meant, the officers said they’d been warned by the authorities to watch out because that Connolly woman could be violent. “But I’ve never had a fight in my life,” Lucy protested.

    It certainly seems to suit some people for Lucy Connolly to remain a hate figure. “You shouldn’t even be in prison, it’s ridiculous,” a probation officer at Peterborough, told her. This man apparently made that point several times to the governor, although Lucy’s probation officer then changed. In one of her many carefully-argued letters to the governor, protesting her blatantly unfair treatment, Lucy complained of a “corrupt system”.

    The discrimination against this exemplary prisoner continued when she was transferred, at her own request, to Drake Hall in Staffordshire. Since November, Lucy has been entitled to RoTL (Right of Temporary Leave) which would allow her to spend a precious night at home with Holly and Ray, who holds the fort stoically but has bone-marrow failure. Her requests were repeatedly denied. When Lucy’s mother, Heather, asked the Home Office why her daughter wasn’t getting the leave to which she was entitled, the reply came back that she “hadn’t been assessed yet”.

    There is a Kafkaesque quality to this endless denial of Lucy’s human rights. Her probation officers say they can manage her risk in the community, but the authorities ignore them. “It torments her,” says Ray. “The governor says she’s fed up of having to tell Lucy, ‘No’. Like she’s getting her orders from on high.” Yes, exactly like that.

    Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood this week announced that 40,000 prisoners, some of them dangerous, would be allowed to leave prison wearing a tag to free up places. When I told Lucy about this, I could envisage the major eye-roll at the other end of the phone. “I have been entitled to a tag since February,” she sighed. “The prison says I’m deemed unsuitable, but the law says I’m eligible for it. I never get told off, I never fight, I’m polite, I toe the line.” Lucy says they let out prisoners who boast, “‘I‘m going to get my crack pipe, and I am going to rob a granny to pay for drugs.’ And they say I am deemed unsuitable!”

    After I first wrote about Lucy in The Telegraph, she was summoned to the governor’s office to be punished. For the offence of “speaking to the media”, she was told she would once again be denied RoTL. “Don’t blame yourself, Allison, they were never going to give it to me,” Lucy said. “That was a lie.” Prisons expert Ian Acheson points to potentially negligent treatment. “There seem to have been multiple detriments in the way Lucy has been treated in relation to risk in prison [linked] to her ‘notoriety’, including [denial of] RoTL. This obviously contributes to psychological damage as well as potentially impeding a faster release.”

    Doesn’t this sound like mental torture to you? During the Southport riots, to distract from the barbarous slaughter of three little girls in what sounded suspiciously like an Islamist terror attack, it suited the legal and political establishment to demonise Lucy Connolly – as if she were the Myra Hindley of Twitter. Having made her notorious they now use that notoriety as a reason to keep her in prison because of “media interest”. What they really fear, I think, is losing control of her – a free Lucy Connolly is a threat to a weak, authoritarian prime minister who told JD Vance in the Oval Office that he was “very proud” of free speech in Britain. At the time his legal muckers were breaking a butterfly upon a wheel.

    Popular belief that we have a two-tier justice system has grown and the Court of Appeal’s decision that Lucy was an “incredible” witness (they didn’t believe her notably impressive testimony) only pours petrol on that fire. Lucy tells me she will now carefully be watching the case of Ricky Jones, a Labour councillor who was caught on video telling a crowd that “We need to cut their throats and get rid of them.” (But the “their” meant white protesters, so who cares, right?) Unlike Lucy, Jones got bail and won’t stand trial till the end of the summer, a whole year since his alleged offence. Meanwhile, Gary Lineker shares a grossly anti-Semitic tweet – an incitement to racial hatred if ever I saw it – but the TV star is allowed to apologise. It beggars belief that Lucy Connolly should be treated so much more harshly.

    “I was thinking the judges would release her and I might be picking Lucy up from prison today,” Ray Connolly told me wistfully.“ But then I thought, ‘How would the Government do it and save face?’ People are watching around the world.” They are, Ray. Watching in horrified disbelief as “hurty words” are treated like major crimes while judges show unforgivable leniency to major crimes.

    “Whatever you think of what I did,” Lucy says. “I think 10 and a half months inside is long enough.” Most would surely agree with her. Yesterday, prison officers were coming into her cell saying, “Omigod, Lucy, I can’t believe it, we were sure you were leaving.”

    Lucy was deeply upset about the judges’ rejection of her appeal when we spoke. “It’s political, I know that it is, but they’re playing politics with a 12-year-old child.” Never fear, Lucy will come back stronger. “The worst thing has already happened to me, that was Harry dying. So, yes, this is bad, but it’s not the worst.”

    When I spoke to Ray he was still plucking up the courage to tell Holly that Mummy won’t be home for the birthday when she becomes a teenager. I tell Ray to soften the blow by showing Holly the crowdfunder for Lucy and promising her some new summer clothes. Thousands upon thousands of people, including many incredibly generous Telegraph readers, have donated an astonishing £88,000 – some £6,000 in the hours since that appalling and cruel Court of Appeal decision – to help Lucy rebuild her life and to show that they stand against two-tier justice. (You can still donate to Lucy online.)

    “I think they’re putting two fingers up to two-tier Keir,” joked Lucy when I told her about the amazing support for her. There’s a bit of that, undoubtedly, but there are also a huge number of Britons who want to show that we mind deeply that our country has a political prisoner whom the state thinks it can use to suppress free speech. People who are saying they will march on Downing Street if need be.

    “I think this Government would keep me in for a hundred years if they could,” she said. We won’t let that happen to you, dear Lucy, you can count on it.

    1. Starmer didn't spend his time in Czechoslovakia in the 1980s to admire the architecture or experience genuine Budweiser beer in the land of its making. He went there to study how to use the law not to protect people from harm but as a weapon to punish them should they voice the wrong opinions.

      He learnt well.

  154. I nodded off listening to the radio and am only just getting ready for bed. Good Night all; sleep well and I hope to see you all early tomorrow morning.

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