Friday 23 May: The Government’s Chagos deal is a bewildering embarrassment

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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574 thoughts on “Friday 23 May: The Government’s Chagos deal is a bewildering embarrassment”

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

    Wordle 1,434 6/6

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    2. A close run thing here, too.

      Wordle 1,434 6/6

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    1. Mornin' y'all Miss Minty, Marm. Howdy-doody this fine "Dang ma breeches" day?

    1. Telegraph View
      Starmer’s Chagos surrender is a national disgrace
      This deal is an act of political and strategic vandalism that will live on in memories long after this wretched Government has passed

        1. I think many regimes abroad have spotted this, and are eager to make deals with it. Three in one week. Join the queue!

          What can we do about it though?

          2. Saturday 24th May, the Great British Strike. 12 pm. For Worcester, meeting point is the Elgar Statue, Cathedral Square WR1 2HS

      1. Tomorrow. 12 pm. The Great British Strike. Hopefully the first of many. I’m getting in on the ground floor. I will look myself in the mirror and say I did something, even if it was just attending a rally organised by someone else. And what a brave man he is. He doesn’t have to do it; but he is.

    1. 496079+ up ticks,

      O2O

      We sorely need mass support for a patriotic party with a base formed from a peoples core that has a pedigree of centuries old English safe keeping.

      FF& F party,

      We have instead a HOC chock full of ego builders, political covert foreign assets, ALL on
      90K + exes jockeying for scam positions.

      These types are NOT going to seek much needed justified change any time soon.

      Betcha.

  7. Good morning all.
    Back to a bright sunny start to the day but with a chilly 7°C on the thermometer.
    At trip to so Stoke to check on Stepson today, also plan popping over to Burslem to pick up some ales from Titanic Brewery.

    1. I like the Titanic Plum Porter – it goes down a treat (as do all of their ales).

  8. Morning all – bright 🌞 and sunny 🌞 breaking through the clouds ⛅ 😎 but that's just the weather. Gloom and doom otherwise.

  9. Guido exposes the reality..

    Starmer’s press conference on the Chagos surrender was packed full of excuses for the handover. They don’t wash…
    Co-conspirators can read the Chagos deal in full below. There are some eyebrow-raisers apart from the £30.3 billion cost to the taxpayer…
    Starmer has admitted that the Chagos surrender sellout he signed today will on average cost the taxpayer £101 million every year for 99 years.
    .
     https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2ffed019290e059526534c4d15e0557c1f8e7c5c5015f935eb42b863d69db663.jpg

    2. Curious minds might wonder if ……………… (you can fill in the blanks)…..I couldn't possibly comment.

      Morning kbhoy and all…

    3. Chagos is just the start. Falklands?

      When those claiming colonial reparations on spurious grounds, will there be anything left for essential public services, such as housing alien criminals in hotels, paid for by increasing charges and Council Tax and paying inflated bonus-led finance deals?

      There is a precedent for when global bodies took a punitive approach to a loser nation, forcing it into indefinite penury and the collapse of their currency and ethical structure. It was the Versailles Treaty, and salvation came with an Austrian corporal.

      Considering how very similar the Germans and the English are, don't imagine for one moment it could not happen here.

      1. Thinking back to the Convid Era, all too many Britons showed that they would be perfectly at home in 1930's Germany or the old GDR.

  10. Morning, all Y'all.
    Drizzle and cold. A bloke on the train spotted wearing coat and scarf! and I have a moderate jumper on. Threat of snow on the hills locally…
    Where's all that global warming folk get all panicky about? None here.

  12. The Government’s Chagos deal is a bewildering embarrassment

    In every day and in every way Starmer tries to outdo Gordon Brown's gold sell off as the most costly waste of money ever.
    Just this week we have had the Chagos deal and our fishing grounds.
    One wonders who is funding Labour for all this asset stripping

    1. 406079+ up ticks,

      Morning B3

      He is certainly challenging Miranda for the TTT

      Top Treachery Title.

    2. When the "Democrats were in power, in the US, did they not funnel $Billions to organisations that recycled a proportion of those tax dollars back to the Democrats?…..

    3. There is the Gov line that the islands are absolutely vital for our security (minister on R4 this morning). With the RAF run down to a few fighter squadrons of limited range and the air base thousands of miles away from any land, I fail to see what use they are to our forces. The US has strategic bombers but I can't remember the base being used for any recent conflict. The main areas of conflict in the world are just too far away from these islands to be of use to us. I understand it has a deep water port as well which may be of use to the US. So what has Rear Tier actually paid all the money for and are the yanks paying us for use of the base.

  13. 406079+ up ticks,

    OGGA1
    Task "nige" with asking, could prove interesting..

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021

    ·
    22h

    Here is a question that the Leader of the Opppsition, or any MP who gets the chance, could ask in the House of Commons PM Question Time.

    ‘Have you, Prime Minister, ever met, or had, any kind of personal interactions with any of the three Ukrainians arrested on suspicion of attacking your property or former properties?’

    Do you think that will happen? No, neither do I.

      1. 406079+ up ticks,

        Morning R,
        If he told the truth it would work in his favour as in, nobody would believe him.

    1. Can you imagine if the conservatives had suggested “chemical castration” of a cat, let alone a man (or “trans-woman” lol). The Legacy media and the normal assorted screaming loons would be shouting from the rooftops about the inhumanity of it.

      It is truly frightening how partisan it all is.

  15. Trump2 is very different from Trump1.. a lesson for PM Nigel Farage.

    Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General tells Tucker Carlson in one deptarment there were career lawyers

    "..who are very focused on a particular agenda there.. over 400 attorneys and about 200 staff, so a total of about 600 people.. who were actively in resistance mode. There were memos out there by former government lawyers telling current government lawyers in my department how to resist if you're given a direct order. Ask for clarification, send 20 emails, question it, slow down your response time, say it can't be done."

    That's the definition of the deep state. Elections have no effect. It's like there's no way to control these people. They act totally independently from the democratic system."

    1. The only control left is to fire them. Has the benefit of reducing the cost of the civil service as well.

  17. Morning all 🙂😊
    Lovely sunny start again not a cloud to be seen. But only 8 degs. Not sure where and when all this rain forecast is coming from.
    More lies to cover up their gross stupidity, more people are leaving the UK than there are illegal invaders arriving. Oh that's okay then you idiots.

    1. Britain will be so damaged by the next general election that it will be completely beyond repair no matter which new government succeeds Labour.

  21. Cheesed off.

    SIR – A nice, ripe Stilton used to have a smooth, mellow taste, and the fat would ooze out.

    Today, however, Stilton from many supermarkets develops an acid taste, more akin to Danish Blue. No fat oozes out. In my mind this is not real Stilton, though it may be made in the right area.

    J W Budd
    Northampton

    If I were you, Buddy, I'd check that the supermarket was selling proper bona fide Stilton. Don't you have any proper cheese factors or delicatessen in Northampton?

    I used to buy Colston Bassett Stilton (the best) directly from the dairy in south Nottinghamshire. It was exactly as you describe it. These days I buy exactly the same product from a delicatessen in Simrishamn, east Skåne, and it still exhibits the same flavour characteristics that it always has.

    I bet either your supermarket is selling you a pup, or they are clueless as to how to store it properly.

    2. Meanwhile, Former Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband warned that Labour are “perceived to be defending the status quo, even as voters say it is failing”. LOL

      Writing in the foreword to the IPPR's report, he took a pot shot at populist parties, claiming they offer “nostalgia” and “change in the form of blowing up the system”.

      "blowing up the system”. Triple LOL

      1. Hello Mola

        How are you these days?

        Fishing weather , walkies with Oscar?

        I thought I would pop this poem on here , bit obscure , but I think we live in an antique land ..and will soon be strangers in what used to be familiar to us x

        I met a traveller from an antique land,
        Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
        Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
        Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
        And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
        Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
        Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
        The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
        And on the pedestal, these words appear:
        My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
        Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
        Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
        Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
        The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

          2. I think Starmer must have given her the brief to bring the Muslim community on board to vote Labour, having seen the photograph of her with the elders.

        2. Hello, Belle, not enough fishing going on, but always a good walk with Oscar. We've had a whole week of new window installations and Oscar has had to have some house restrictions, but last day today.
          I believe Mr Starmer is officially changing his name to Two Tier Ozymandias by deed poll.

    5. She wasn't even elected. She was appointed by the Council which is obviously full of slammers.

  25. I've had a brief note from "Hat".
    He now posts as Sputnik One and sends his best wishes to Nottle.

  26. Good morning everyone ,

    Cloudy, some sunshine , huge clouds , 13c.

    Golfer golfing again , so, 6 hours of free time for me !

    Last day re my antibiotic course for the muck in my deep molar root and the surgical removal of back molar last week, stitches out next Wednesday. The bruising on my throat and cheek has now faded , still need pain killers though .

    Eating anything is a chore … gargle gargle gargle!

      1. Morning J.

        Just still a little tender , and have to be careful .

        I know what a poor line caught fish must feel like , because my stitches are like fishing thread, strong , I have four of them , funny how one's tongue wanders over to the that side of the mouth !

    2. I had a lower molar removed in February, Belle, and like yourself, 4 stitches. When the anaesthetic wore off, the first evening, I was beside myself with the pain, I couldn't keep still with it. It took two weeks to recover though that first day was the worst, then another week before the stitches were removed. There is relief on the horizon, the stitches removal makes all the difference at the end.

      1. I remember that happening to you, poppiesmum1.
        You were in a lot of pain .. and am pleased that eventually you healed up .

        I am now concerned whether the infection is in my other molar root ..

        Denplan won’t pay for an infill tooth , the cost to me would be £3,000, I cannot afford that .. what a cheek, and I have been with Denplan since they started all those years ago , so thankfully my back molar gap isn’t visible , but I need to be careful when I chew .

        There seems to be one thing after the other , feel as though I am crumbling .

  27. Good Morning!

    Today in Tempest and Triumph – Commodore Anson’s Voyage Around the World and the Betrayal of Britain’s Sailors we tell the never-ending tale of betrayal and the willingness of government to sacrifice the lives of brave men. This story, if it involved Americans, would have been made into a Hollywood blockbuster, It has daring raids, incredible fortitude, unimaginable suffering, unparalleled seamanship, treasure galleons and discovery. It's part of our history and we can learn a lot from it.

    In LUCY CONNOLLY AND WHY WE FAIL DEFENDING FREE SPEECH , Paul Sutton rages against the injustices being perpetrated on Lucy Connolly and points out that she said nothing wrong, and had nothing to even apologise for, let alone be jailed for, and that by prefacing any defence of her by disapproving of what she wrote in her tweet, as many do, they are falling into the totalitarian's trap. Tell us if you agree or not.

    If you missed it, Maryam Gholami's well-written and heartfelt plea for an alliance between moderate Muslims , which she says are the majority, and the patriotic conservative Right against both the Islamist extremists and the Globalist Establishment that nourishes them is still generating a lively debate. Not too late to contribute.

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's electric power was sourced from Gas, 20.4%; Solar, 8.9%: Wind 22.7%; Imports, 17.5%; Biomass, 10.4% and Nuclear, 18.4%.

    freespeechbacklash.com

  28. No further comment required from me…(other than my continued annoyance at the Tereibelgraph’s overuse of the verb “to force”)

    “Pregnant women were forced to flee a hospital in Bristol after a solar panel fire broke out on the roof. Large plumes of black smoke were seen emerging from St Michael’s Hospital, near the city centre yesterday. The cause of the fire, which was soon extinguished, is unknown.”

    1. Morning LIR

      “Pregnant women were forced to flee a hospital in Bristol after a solar panel fire broke out on the roof. Large plumes of black smoke were seen emerging from St Michael’s Hospital, near the city centre yesterday. The cause of the fire, which was soon extinguished, is unknown.

      2. Precisely. I mean, how stupid are Terriblegraph reporters? Or just how stupid so they think we are?

    2. Overheated? Faulty wiring? (think Paul Homewood has something to say, not read him yet).

  30. Listening to an interesting interview with David Frost on the Spiked platform. “The EU is laughing at us”.

    1. There is no doubt that the EU is the UK's enemy and was our enemy for many years before Brexit went off at half-cock.

      Theresa May showed how weak the UK's resolve was and then Frost, Johnson and Gove betrayed Northern Ireland and UK's fishermen with the surrender Brexit treaty.

      Once you show your weakness your enemy will exploit it.

      A firm enemy which sticks up for itself will win respect – a risible enemy which crumbles and disintegrates deserves nothing but contempt.

      2. All our men and women who died, all that money spent on WWI and WWII – for what? This country simply can't be forgiven by the USA, the Commonwealth and most of the EU for having given the world more than any other country in terms of invention, civilisation and for having had an empire. Africa is a disgrace, much of the Commonwealth is a disgrace, the EU are a disgrace and the USA is a money-grubbing menace.

    2. Frost – who now poses as a europhobe – has a great deal to answer for.

      1. Yes…sloped off to the Lords, as I recall. Whatever happened to Gisela Stewart? (Johnson doing something or other in USA, Gove editing Spectator). Were they all bought men…….

          1. Do you mean hand in glove, Bill. unusual expression….whose hand, whose glove…

          1. Bit rude but I’m reminded of the old war-time ditty…’Hitler’s only got one b*ll’…they don’t have one between ’em….

        1. Yes, he once again seems to be backing off when he and his colleagues should be attempting to carry out the intentions they have forwarded.

      2. Hols somewhere nice n warm be my bet, Eddy. Maybe Tice have a comment. Or not.

        1. Yes of course. Both.
          I’d imagine any holiday during a none holiday period would have been arranged around certain happenings.

          1. Do we get the politicians we do or don’t deserve, Eddy…..if it weren’t for Daubney I’d probably not watch GBN. And he’d better watch his step…

          2. I just feel the whole of Wastemonster needs flushing out, it has turned into a rotting compost bin.
            Inside of those very ancient walls they have absolutely no respect for other opinions.
            I don’t think i have ever watch GB news. 🤔😊

          3. I don’t think I could do the job, answering to constituents, local party activists, other politicians, journalists, motorists who recognise you and put two fingers up…and so on, need a lot of energy and courage. Perhaps a relatively benign dictatorship, Lee Kwan Yew style. If you’ve ever watched BBC news and find it similar day in day out, then you would recognise the GBN coverage which is also pretty similar day in day out just the other side of the political spectrum. First politician I supported was Thatcher, even she was exhausted by the time she gave up (think that’s where I’m heading..giving up).

    2. All those doctors and engineers…has anyone done a calculation of the ratio of pig-ignorant third-world peasants to educated AND USEFUL people we actually get? My guess would be 900,000:1.

    2. Well they were foolish enough to vote for Jacinda in the first place but hopefully they have learnt their lesson.

  33. SIR – If, when walking on country lanes, you approach a right-hand bend, you should not face the oncoming traffic but cross the road so that you are on the outside of the bend. You will then be clearly seen by all traffic.

    I can get quite cross with people who do not follow this simple Highway Code instruction.

    Michael Skuse
    Ruthin, Denbighshire

    I know exactly what you mean, Mick. When I was a schoolboy we had lessons on the Highway Code in class. By the time I left primary school I knew its contents by heart. For some idiotic reason the majority of people, these days, haven't a clue about its existence, never mind its contents and sensible advice.

    The area around Briston in Norfolk — where I lived for ten years in the 2000s — is criss-crossed with narrow, mainly single-track country lanes. For some ridiculous reason, even though those lanes are used by cars, tractors, horse-riders, cyclists and pedestrians, the Highways Authority have seen fit to leave it with a 70mph speed limit!

    Despite that idiotic speed limit I invariably never exceeded 30 mph when driving along them since you never knew what was out-of-sight around many of the corners.

    On one occasion I was driving slowly around one such corner when I nearly rammed into three women of late middle age, who were out for a stroll and were walking side-by-side across the entire lane, gobbing off inanely to each other — as women of that demographic are wont to do — not taking any notice of the fact that they might encounter a car.

    I had to brake sharply and they all jumped in shock at my 'sudden' appearance (how you can't hear an oncoming car, only they can tell you!). They then started to screech loudly at me telling me to be more 'careful' in my driving. I, being me, was not prepared to take any rollicking from these three gormless witches , especially as it was not me that was at fault.

    I explained to them my speed was slow and careful and then told them off for not following Highway Code advice and preferring to gob off to each other instead of taking proper care on their walk. They were not impressed at that bollocking since they were too dozy and self-righteous to accept their culpability.

      1. I did wonder who would be the first.

        Who would have been at fault if I'd hit those woman with my car?

    3. My job in pipelines meant that I spent much time in the countryside. I ignored the standard "face the oncoming traffic" and always walked on the outside of the bend so I could see in both directions.

    1. The EU. Aim is to weaken the UK…guess what the recommended solution would be…

    1. When the climate changes, as it absolutely will and possibly before long, to a colder spell…we're really going to need all that protein…

      1. Nobody else is saying much at the moment. If it had been Johnson hosting a few harmless drinks the bbc etc would have been all over it.
        As they were.

    2. Recall all the hissy strops when Alexander McQueen contracted HIV from his string of lovers?

      1. GG is a contrary character.
        Mad as a box of frogs over matters Islamic, but often dead on the nail outside that obsession.

  37. Progressive Clown, or, Starmer really is a commie asset?

    The claims about the Labour leader’s meeting with a Czechoslovakian agent are rooted in the conflicted politics of the UK left in the 1980s – and in attitudes that persist today

    How a young Sir Keir Starmer ended up in Communist spy files after joining a Czechoslovakian work camp during Cold War

    2. That image would undoubtedly cause "distress or anxiety" to some communities (as detailed in the Malicious Communications Act). But sadly, the slammers have the rear tier get-out-of-jail card and can sleep soundly without threat of an early morning call by plod.

      1. His mosque may have provided it.
        Probably posed at his true home,.
        Pigshitistan.

          1. His mosque temple may have provided it.
            Probably posed at his true home,.
            Pigshitistan Pigshitia.

  41. Labour’s trilemma: it only has bad choices left
    Spending cuts are hard and decisions can’t be delayed forever. So tax rises are coming our way.
    David Frost: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/22/labours-trilemma-it-only-has-bad-choices-left/

    BTL

    When you, David Frost, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove caved in on Northern Ireland and UK fishing the EU saw that the UK is weak and, if pressed, would always give in.

    Your deal left open the door for the EU in Northern Ireland and – sure enough – the EU managed to get Sunak to cave in yet again on Northern Ireland.

    Your deal left open the door for the EU on UK fishing – and Starmer has surrendered UK fishing for the next 12 years.

    To quote form John Milton's Paradise Lost: "To be weak is miserable." Showing how weak you are is also very poor politics.

  42. Some very good articles on TCW this morning – including one on South Africa – Trump pulled a masterstroke when he "ambushed" President Ramaphosa.

    1. I've just read the Sally Beck article on euthanasia in Canada – it is also very good – a frightening, steep descent into a state determined, non-compassionate society. All mps should read it and ask themselves if that is what they really want.

        1. Many MPs want an ever-increasing personal bank balance. The hows and whys don't really bother them too much.

      2. Canada's MAID was all the warning required to stop Leadbetter's SERCO death panels (working on commission, naturally) in their tracks. Instead we had Esther Rantzen pleading for a quiet death, before her miraculous discovery of a wonder cure just after the Death Bill passed it's first reading. The horror stories of MAID mission creep over the past decade should keep everyone awake at night. A former Olympian consigned to a wheelchair with an injured knee offered death as an alternative to their depressed state!

        1. I don’t know how Rantzen had the nerve to effect her amazing recovery, then a relapse when things weren’t going her way. So transparently obvious. Her daughter said very recently when asked how Rantzen was that her mother did not wish to discuss it.

    2. What amazes me is how many people refuse to believe that white people can be subjected to genocide. It is almost as if these sceptics believe that white man are magical and thus immune to being persecuted. I could ask my South African friends, Rod and Rachel to say something about that magical state of being but, unfortunately, they were murdered by blacks.

      1. Perhaps the word 'genocide' was only applicable when it referred to Jews in the 1930s and 40s. They are mostly white.

        1. The 'argument' against the use of the word genocide, when referring to white farmers seems to be that only 1% of the South African population is being murdered. The fact that the white farmers only make up 1% of the population seems to pass the defenders of the genocide by.

          See how bBC et al covered DJT showing the RSA president video proof of the calls for murder, apparently it was an 'ambush'. Bizarrely, the media spent time arguing against DJT's tactics without mentioning the content of the video evidence.

    3. What amazes me is how many people refuse to believe that white people can be subjected to genocide. It is almost as if these sceptics believe that white man are magical and thus immune to being persecuted. I could ask my South African friends, Rod and Rachel to say something about that magical state of being but, unfortunately, they were murdered by blacks.

        3. And genital mutilation of women is acceptable compulsory to many all male Muslims – corrected

        1. “White Gold” is an excellent book in its own right and is also an education for those who constantly bleat about the evils of slavery (of non-whites). A kindle version of the book is on Amazon at £2.99.

  44. The Telegraph is about to be sold to a transatlantic consortium led by RedBird Capital Partners for £500 million, ending two years of uncertainty over its ownership.

    RedBird Capital’s founder Gerry Cardinale has signed an agreement in principle to acquire control of The Telegraph from the investment vehicle RedBird IMI, which is majority backed by the United Arab Emirates.

    RedBird IMI was blocked by the government from taking full ownership of The Telegraph last year after parliamentary concerns over press freedom.

    RedBird Capital is expected to be joined in its ownership of the Telegraph by other British media investors.

    Lord Rothermere, owner of Daily Mail publisher DMGT, is understood to be in talks with Cardinale over taking a stake in the business of just shy of 10 per cent, with the aim of making savings by sharing some costs. Such a move is likely to interest the competition authorities.

    IMI, the UAE’s investment vehicle, is expected to retain a stake in the business of up to 15 per cent. Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, has proposed a relaxation of the outright ban on foreign states owning shares in newspapers.

    Cardinale’s aim is for the Telegraph to expand in the US. He also intends to expand the Telegraph’s travel offering and build an events business. The company said in a statement that it would invest in the group’s digital operations to drive digital subscriptions.

    “This transaction marks the start of a new era for The Telegraph as we look to grow the brand in the UK and internationally, invest in its technology and expand its subscriber base,” Cardinale said.

    “We believe that the UK is a great place to invest and this acquisition is an important part of RedBird’s growing portfolio of media and entertainment companies in the UK. Having now spent time with [editor] Chris Evans, Anna Jones and the entire senior management team at The Telegraph, we have tremendous conviction in the growth potential of this incredibly important cultural institution.”

    Cardinale’s consortium is expected to rely on debt of just over £100 million in its deal, or about two years of the Telegraph’s underlying profits.

    Dovid Efune, publisher of the The New York Sun, has recently made a renewed approach for the Telegraph and he is understood to remain in discussions with investors about a deal. The Efune consortium is understood to be pitching their proposal for the paper as a “British bid”, in contrast with RedBird Capital’s more international outlook.

    Anna Jones, chief executive of Telegraph Media Group, said: “RedBird Capital Partners have exciting growth plans that build on our success and will unlock our full potential across the breadth of our business.”

    https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/companies/article/redbird-capital-partners-to-acquire-the-telegraph-ending-ownership-battle-jnfn8h37q

    Nigel Coulthard
    43 minutes ago

    Is nothing owned by British companies anymore?

    Reply

    Recommend (3)

    Share
    JohnM Atkins
    16 minutes ago

    No we have sold everything to fund our insatiable appetite for free benefits

  45. Morning all. Another cool day. Thought I would post this because it is somewhat helpful. Explaining the grounds for Tommy Robinsons ongoing persecution. The lawyer doesn't say it but I suspect this is to do with the grubby Daily Mail reporters that chased him to Spain while he was on holiday during the Southport riots which, as you know, they tried to pin on him. I don't think they are going to stop until they have killed him.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGO95Bf7aTQ

    1. I think he was in Cyprus with his family, not Spain. The journalists harassed him and took photos of his children but that doesn't matter of course.

      1. I read somewhere that the journalists made his whereabouts public knowledge and that he was subsequently harassed by Islamists and had to cut his holiday short, to protect his children.

    2. I can't help thinking that it's the DM that is pushing for the prosecution, and the journalists, if they are the ones claiming harassment are merely following orders.
      The opportunity for exclusive reports should be very clickbait profitable.

    3. https://x.com/vpopulimedia/status/1925301849784991941?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1925301849784991941%7Ctwgr%5E9890f0b67d9d31c06b345c2a2502f74f955b8ca4%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdisqus.com%2Fembed%2Fcomments%2F%3Fbase%3Ddefaultf%3Dnottlt_i%3D493620https3A2F2Fnttl.blog2F3Fp3D4936t_u%3Dhttps3A2F2Fnttl.blog2Fthursday-22-may-the-conservatives-have-a-tried-and-tested-method-for-regaining-office2Ft_e%3DThursday202220May3A20The20Conservatives20have20a20tried-and-tested20method20for20regaining20officet_d%3DThursday202220May3A20The20Conservatives20have20a20tried-and-tested20method20for20regaining20officet_t%3DThursday202220May3A20The20Conservatives20have20a20tried-and-tested20method20for20regaining20offices_o%3Ddescversion%3D3aff0245248612911681b2f961ab8531

    1. Since Thatcher was removed by Heseltine and co, our political idiots have actually done and inflicted more damage and psychological harm to our country than hitler.

  48. My word on Vine (who is not there)
    they are discussing the likelyhood of striking because the payrise is not adequate.
    It seems a consultant in the NHS could be paid 145 thousand just by the NHS alone. On top of their private incomes. GPs don't seem to be worth the pay they have all ready.
    I really don't think Nurses Teachers should not be allowed to strike.
    Anne Widdecombe is rightly losing her temper with presenter judge Rob Rinder because he keeps interrupting her.

  49. Yes, sorry, you're right. I recall that people though he was in Spain, hence the mix up.

    1. Not holding my breath………both out for delivery this afternoon, but apparently not on the same van as times are different.

      1. Yodel? They normally play football with parcels (caught on camera in the warehouse). Hope nothing is fragile.

        1. I'm generally not a fan of any delivery companies, but our Yodel man – Alan – is excellent, as are [generally] DPD and even Evri – mainly because they have people who have been on this route a while and know where people are!!

          1. I haven't had cause for complaint for Yodel before (apart from a box of dead plants in 2018) but this time they really have been the pits. They've had the wine box since May 13th. I presume the driver that used to be on this route has moved on. This one apparently can't read a post code or a map.

          2. I've found Evri are the worst of all the carriers. They have 2 parcels of mine which were sent from St Helens, they are now at Rugby via Milton Keynes and Coalville – so they go south for 150 miles then head back north, perhaps they'll be in Inverness in a couple of days and then who knows when they'll arrive. They've also lost 2 parcels of mine last year.

          3. They are tying bottom with Yodel now. I am the next stop but the driver appears to have stopped about half a mile away from here and hasn't moved in the last 10 minutes. This is what happened a few days ago – he then went back to the depot saying he couldn't find the house.

  52. We are almost at the end of a week's stay in south Devon. It has not been without mishap.

    1. The road to our farm cottage is the worst council road we have ever seen. It is deeply potholed, deep ruts and in places steeply humped. We have a low-slung vehicle, heard horrible noises underneath but (so far) nothing has dropped off. The area that used to be called the running board in days gone by has sustained some damage impeding the opening and closing of the front passenger door. It will need (expensive) attention on our return.

    2. During the third evening here doggo developed a D&V condition. We were up 8 times with him during the 1st night, 4 times during the second and third night, and just once last night. The sickness stopped after 12 hours. He alerted us every time he needed to go out. He has been on a diet of white rice and chicken for the last few days. I am thankful we are staying in a place with a large garden, and we have just a small dog!

    3. Yesterday morning we opened the cottage door to the porch to find a tragedy had occurred – five (five!) tiny swallow nestlings, scattered quite widely, dead on the quarry tiled floor, one just outside. The nest is too tightly located under the porch eaves to allow clearance for a cuckoo. Did another swallow take a fancy to the nest? It is an old nest, we could see that repair work had been done.

    Home tomorrow.

    1. Quite a stressful time then, for a holiday. I hope little doggo will be better when you are back home.

      1. He is almost fully recovered now, Ndovu. The first complete day (Tuesday) he was really quite unwell, I got him to lap water from a shallow tablespoon at the end of day.

          1. We have had a ‘post mortem’ of the events leading up to his stomach’s rebellion. We think it is a combination of a beef dinner, kindly supplied by the Bowd Inn, and chicken chews during the day, a double helping as poppiesdad gave him his daily allowance not realising I had already done so. This against a background of anxiety being in a strange place with other doggy smells around, and a very persistent (but friendly) farm resident dog outside.

          2. It is so easy to overfeed a small dog. Dolly Chihuahua now looks like a Corgi.

          3. Cats too. Little Cat looks like a furry beer barrel with legs – we're sure he dines at several establishments locally.

    2. What a crying shame. We have such hopes for fun and relaxation and then you get all that. I am sorry for you.

      Come to my party in July and i will do my best to cheer you up. :@)

        1. That's great. Bring doggy if you like. Hertslass has my details if you have her email.

          1. It's going to be even better this time. This time we are keeping our clothes on.

    3. Sounds like doggo is getting better. Shame about the swallow chicks, but not the work of a cuckoo I think.

      1. We think it was possibly the work of another swallow which fancied taking over the nest, possibly a previous resident.

    4. Magpie?
      They will travel along the eaves and haul out and butcher nestlings.

  53. I don't know how they live with themselves. They must be mostly psychopathic, completely without empathy and conscience.

    1. During our psychiatric nurse training, politicians were one the the examples given for psychopaths.

  54. The same people on here who were previously blaming Johnson and Gove for undermining Frost in the EU negotiations are now blaming Frost for 'a bad deal' and for what has happened in the last few days.

    This is part of a long article that he wrote in the days before Starmer's surrender. Who's telling the truth?

    So far, there have been three battles over this terrain. The "reset" is the fourth. The first was during the May government. She tried to exit formally but stay in many of the EU's rules. Her poor deal on Northern Ireland left the province under EU trading rules come what may, and her "Chequers plan" shows she always intended the same would happen to the rest of the UK too. It kept us very close to EU control. That's why, when the deal was signed, one of the EU negotiating team was caught on a BBC camera saying, "We've got our first colony".

    Rightly, that deal collapsed in Parliament, and the second battle began. The Tory party turned to Boris Johnson and to me as his negotiator. Labour, led on Brexit issues by Starmer, saw the chance to reverse the referendum result entirely. The Brexit roulette wheel was set to "winner takes all".

    As so often happened, they underestimated Boris. We reworked the smoking rubble of May's deal, got the country out of the EU, and then negotiated a free trade agreement. Parliament's ban on a no-deal exit meant we had to accept most of her dreadful Northern Ireland agreement, though always provisionally. With that exception, we re-established British freedom and independence.

    Then came battle number three. The Northern Ireland arrangements soon collapsed, as we feared they might, under aggressive handling by the EU. Boris and Liz Truss decided to sweep away the whole Northern Ireland Protocol, whether the EU liked it or not. If this had happened, the Brexit job would have been done for good. But both lost their jobs first. Rishi Sunak lost his nerve instead and bought a quiet life, first by accepting the Northern Ireland deal, cosmetically renaming it the Windsor Framework, and then by leaving most inherited EU laws on our national statute book.

    This locked Britain into an increasingly difficult position. Every time we try to diverge from EU laws, we open a gap between one part of the country and another. It's easier just to follow what the EU does, and so we are slowly back on the road to EU control. We always knew this was the risk if we couldn't get rid of the Protocol. I vividly remember being told by one of Barnier's team that if we annoyed the EU, "You won't be able to move a single kilo of butter into Northern Ireland unless we say so". That threat remains, and now the EU has the upper hand.

    It's against this background that the Labour Government has now begun the fourth battle. They can't rejoin for now, but they can take us, step by step, farther back towards alignment and control – to Chequers or worse. This "reset" will be the first such step. If they get away with it, more will follow.

    That's where we stand. For a time, Boris and I blew open the establishment consensus that Britain couldn't survive on its own. We thought we had achieved escape velocity. But now the EU tractor beam is pulling us back.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/17/labour-sabotaging-brexit

      1. I agree – but I am very disappointed that Frost has never given a full account of why he capitulated on both UK fishing and Northern Ireland when he had been adamant that he would hold firm on both.

        Weakness must be the worst possible trait in any negotiator!

  55. Hard work today
    Wordle 1,434 5/6

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

      1. Aw, telling me it's an Americanism was a vital clue.

        Wordle 1,434 3/6

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

  58. Well done Donald Trump for exposing this and taking in the white flight. Yet in Britain we welcome Julius Malema who calls for white farmers to be killed.
    https://www.frontpagemag.com/dont-complain-about-genocide-if-youre-white/
    In 2009 Newsweek magazine reported on “South Africa’s New White Flight” and the high rate of violent crime there as the main reason for emigration:

    The primary driver for emigration among all groups, but especially whites, who still retain the majority of South Africa’s wealth, is fear of crime. With more than 50 killings a day, South Africa has one of the highest per capita murder rates in the world. The same goes for rape—ranking the country alongside conflict zones such as Sierra Leone, Colombia and Afghanistan…

    Fast forward to 2025 when the BBC reported that “almost 70,000 South Africans, the vast majority of them white Afrikaners and descendants of Dutch and French settlers who began arriving at the Cape in the late 17th century, were interested in United States asylum.”

    In April 2025, South African businessman Rob Hersov, a 5th-generation Afrikaner, told Dave Rubin that the country under President Cyril Ramaphosa is slowly going bankrupt, and that the country was in the midst of a political and economic crisis and fraught with corruption.

    “South Africa is infected with the evil woke mind more than in America,” he said. “We’ve got it times two and there’s no momentum in South Africa to reverse it.”

    He then added: “South Africa needs a big wakeup call.”

    That call has come in the person of Donald J. Trump, who recently granted 59 white South Afrikaners refugee status in the United States because of that country’s racist attacks on its white citizens for being the descendants of whites who upheld apartheid.

    Anti-white South African laws go way beyond the Expropriation Act, signed into law by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in January 2025, that allows land seizures by the state without compensation.

    The law gives the government the right to seize not only farmland but any property from whites, since they are the primary landowners, when the government deems it is in the national interest.

  59. Well they might stub their toes on the case of wine……… let's hope my new vacuum cleaner arrives in good nick.

      1. I heard it in the tearooms of Otterton Mill yesterday. Complaining that the people of the US were so gullible for having elected Trump. I thought the gullibility could be found nearer to home, and arrogance as well; too much media having being digested.

        1. Same people complaining about Trump probably voted for Starmer, Miliband and Co.

          1. Indeed. I heard the word 'Oxford' mentioned more than once. Limp Dumbs, I thought.

        2. Try the YouTube comments on the Owen Jones video Grizz has posted. Saint Gary of Lineker is an enlightened and heroic paragon of virtue. Apparently.

          1. Owen Jones got smacked about on a night out in London. He said he was queerbashed.

            I think any ordinary person that bumped into him would want to give the little shit a smack.

    2. Doesn't the US already have military bases here? It's a good 10 years ago now but I went to Walsingham once with a friend who took a wrong turning close by in Norfolk and her car was stopped by some American soldiers to prevent us driving on to their property.

    3. Why block foreign students at Harvard? Not sure I see the logic of that. Surely that's income for the university?

      1. It is but Harvard are picking pro Hamas supporters. Among other Lefties. Jews certainly don't feel safe there.

      2. He is just PO'd that Harvard has not kowtowed to him as the Great Leader.

        Childish reaction.

    1. There's no mention of the planned redevelopment of East Croydon station, which might explain why NotWork Rail hasn't committed to spending money on ticket barriers on this bridge. It's not obvious from the drawings for the proposals as to whether it will be incorporated in the new station. Two new footbridges are mentioned.

      https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/our-routes/sussex/upgrading-the-brighton-main-line/unblocking-the-croydon-bottleneck

    2. I refer you to Hinckley Point C nuclear plant for money used to no effect. It was the last project I worked on in the power generation industry, and that was in 1990.
      From ChatGPT:

      As of May 2025, Hinkley Point C has not begun generating power. The nuclear power station, currently under construction in Somerset, England, has experienced multiple delays and cost overruns since construction began in 2017. Originally slated to start operations in 2025, the projected start date has been pushed back several times. The latest estimates suggest that Unit 1 may become operational between 2029 and 2031, depending on various factors including construction progress and regulatory approvals .
      http://apnews.com

      In addition to construction challenges, environmental concerns have also contributed to potential delays. For instance, EDF, the plant's owner, is testing a high-frequency acoustic deterrent—dubbed the “fish disco”—to prevent fish from being harmed by the plant's seawater intake systems. The effectiveness of this system is under review, and its outcome could impact the project's timeline .

      Therefore, while significant progress has been made, Hinkley Point C is not yet generating electricity.

      As of May 2025, the projected budget for Hinkley Point C has escalated significantly from its initial estimates. Originally anticipated to cost £18 billion in 2016, the latest projections indicate that the total cost could reach up to £46 billion in current prices. This substantial increase is attributed to various factors, including construction challenges, inflation, labor and material shortages, as well as unforeseen delays.

      The financial strain of these overruns has been considerable for EDF, the French state-owned utility responsible for the project. In February 2024, EDF reported a €12.9 billion impairment charge related to the cost overruns and delays at Hinkley Point C.

      Despite these challenges, Hinkley Point C remains a central component of the UK's strategy to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, aiming to provide around 7% of the nation's electricity once operational.

  62. More TDS!
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/05/23/trump-attacks-net-zero-starmer-drills-north-sea/
    Donald Trump has attacked Sir Keir Starmer’s net zero drive and called for more drilling in the North Sea.

    The US president said he “strongly” recommended the UK shift its focus away from renewables and back to fossil fuels.

    He said Britain should “stop with the costly and unsightly windmills” and instead prioritise modern drilling.

    Energy costs would then go “way down, and fast”, Mr Trump claimed in a post on his Truth Social website on Friday.

    1. He's not wrong. But that is not the plan our so called government has in store for us.

    2. We really need to become the 51st. state.
      The RF could remain as a tourist attraction, rather like the Grand Canyon or the Statue of Liberty.
      Though the current RF doesn't exactly remind one of any commitment to liberty.

  63. Oh well…….better go and hang out the washing or it'll be time to fetch it in!

  64. Off to Weymouth in June. Visiting the last surviving member of my mothers family. Aunt Mary my mothers sister is now 90 years old.
    I wanted to take flowers and looked on Moonpig. £26 for the cheapest bunch plus delivery. Moonpig is now binned.

    Sainsbury's it is. For £26 i can get a huge display of flowers.

    2. Waitrose flowers are lovely and they seem to last longer than other supermarket flowers.

  65. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45wt3d3FEiU&list=WL&index=66 Please don't ask why this popped up on my list of 'recommended videos' and I doubt many NoTTLers will even waste more than a split-second of their lives watching it. I certainly haven't done so.

    I post it for no other reason than the absurd incongruity of one ball-of-Lefty-slime, supporting another ball-of-Lefty-slime after the latter was kicked out of a job with a company run by balls-of-Lefty-slime!

    I never realised that the putrid Left had so many dissonant yet conflicting facets.

      1. There isn't any genocide of Moslems of course. The Moslem population of Gaza (even if were genetically one people, which it isn't) is steadily increasing.

        1. The moslem population of everywhere is steadily increasing. As is their influence, and it shows.

    2. People like Owen Jones think calling genocide at Israel will fill the gaping void in their hearts.

    3. People like Owen Jones think calling genocide at Israel will fill the gaping void in their hearts.

    5. Jones, a Trotskyist gayboy 'married' to a Brazilian poufter by the name of Joao Vitor Knop, who claims to be a doctor and aspiring psychiatrist.. He'd be better of learning about syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhoea and HIV. It will come in handy in the very near future.

  66. Good Mo Afternoon.
    Feeling rather flat. The weather appears to be gearing itself up for a bank holiday.

    1. No doubt we shall see the usual pall of cloud in the distance hanging over East Anglia as we slither on to the M25.

    3. We are staying home, two of our sons and families are off for a well earned break. One in Devon one to Cornwall.
      The youngest in Dubai. We will be on our own. Counting the rain drops.
      Shame is I can hardly walk now, my knee couldn't be any worse.

  67. Good Mo Afternoon.
    Feeling rather flat. The weather appears to be gearing itself up for a bank holiday.

  68. "Look, I get it.. Our plan for change is working.
    But I know there’s more to do — I will go further and faster to make sure people across Britain feel the benefits."

    Reform celebrate another by-election win over Labour – 78% of vote in Shelley ward of Ongar Town Council, in the Epping Forest District in Essex.

  69. Good day, fellow Nottlers all!

    I haven't yet perused the comments, having just crawled out of my pit, but on the (justifiable 🤣) suspicion that there may be a fair old dose of doom and gloom, I thought you may like to see a birthday card I made yesterday for one of my teachers.

    I used a photo of her and her dance partner, who is organising a group present in secret, and you really don't want to hear about my travails trying to.fimd bog-standard card-for-making-cards here, so I'll just say it's on watercolour paper and rendered in pencil and acrylic. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dce661831af537974ddac39d6f49f3d3b96b8478c0015fab7805608a9c52eaad.jpg

    3. Goodness, that's good!
      Sorry to sound surprised, but I was taken aback!

      2. Swept off your feet? Katie has that effect. That was the clinch she had me in. Up close and personal. My breathing became heavy. Then she thrashed me at Scrabble.

  70. I guess we know now why the Conservatives completely threw the last election on purpose, they must have had a good look at the WEF agenda for the next five years and thought, there is no way that they could deliberately impose such madness on their own people, the covid pandemic was bad enough and they didn't have the stomach for any more nation state seld destruction.
    Starmer on the other had was built for it and has proven to be well up to the task, even taking pleasure in it, I bet he wants to take it even further

    2. Only six years for forging and selling up to 40,000 false driving licences possibly worth three million pounds. Don't worry, they will only serve six months and be freed to make room for some nun who prays within half a mile of a mosque in Bradford.

        1. They just released a report in the US showing how many truck drivers are unlicensed and uninsured.
          No coincidence but they are also introducing a la that requires rivers to have a basic understanding of English so that they can read road signs.

    4. Making money through an honest, decent, constructive way seems to pass such folk by. Does it never occur that a country cannot sustain this kind of thinking if widespread? Silly question.

  73. I was chatting to my next door neighbour while I was hanging out the washing…….. they had a recent trip to France in their campervan, with their elderly black lab. He has a pet passport – it's an Irish one, and Caroline is Irish. At Plymouth they were told it wasn't valid and "Ireland is not in the EU"……… sparks flew……. in the end, the apparatchiks wouldn't back down and they were forced to pay £250 to have a vet come out and check the old dog over, to ensure they would take him on the ferry. They enjoyed the rest of the trip.

    2. The ignorant apparatchiks may have thought Ireland is only Norn, which isn't in the EU.
      Did your friends make it clear it was Eire or did they say "Ireland"

        1. They might, but the border people would have dug their heels in.
          We sometimes get a border person who doesn’t realise our titre de sejour means we don’t need to get our passports stamped and does so reflexly, and we have to get them to cancel the stamp, usually after they’ve checked with a superior.

    3. Ah. Ireland is not considered part of the EU because spiritually, deep in its soul, it isn't. and never will be.

  76. Holy Smoke!
    Do telly executives actually watch their own programmes?
    MB is watching Look East. The presenter – with the unfortunate name of Felicity Simper – has a voice that would open an oyster at fifty paces.
    The assault on the ears is painful.

      1. Nearly every time I look she's hunkered down. I've only glimpsed the one chick so far.

  77. 406079+ up ticks,

    May one ask

    Could a one off dispensation be introduced betwixt GOD and President Trump, allowing the decent English indigenous too become temporary Americans for the duration of this rank foul
    labour parties term in office.

    Dt,

    Trump attacks Starmer’s net zero plans
    US president tells PM to get drilling in the North Sea

    1. Makes our local council quite docile in comparison. A recent vote of non confidence against the mayor did not pass when the mayor voted against the motion.

  80. Net Zero achieved by solar farms using PV (PhoioVoltaic) arrays suffers from the complexity and risky vulnerability of the control system that regulates a PV's current to the grid. Here is schematic showing how thr direct current from a PV array is converted to a synchronised alternating current to deliver power to the grid:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/23d80abd9129901a751b294fff83e5bfb1401492e2b706cc10153a079b5e7d37.jpg This looks straightforward enough until you realise that the converter output equation is calculated as:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/af09ad10fe42ac589e0074beab67435f13d5608957ea4e78b98f2a3dc9912fc7.jpg https://pcmp.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s41601-023-00285-y

    This equation is thought to be as flexible as Angela Rippon in dealing with fluctuating weather and grid conditions but clearly has limitations in dealing with an escalating grid blackout which may have to be solved by Albert.

      1. Well, there are now doubts whether on E does equal mc squared or if we are all heading for a Net Zero.

      1. Ambrose Evans Pritchard has been very unsound on everything for several years now.

  81. Well that's a bummer. It has rained non stop since Wednesday afternoon and the golf course is closed] because of all the soggy bits.

    In other news, sonny boy survived four hours in the OR and is about to be booted out of intensive care into a more conventional hospital room. Now he has the long recovery.

    1. All the best for him! My OH was turfed out of the hospital on the fifth day after the op. He made a good recovery, with the exception of AF – that was finally dealt with a year later by cardioversion. He's in fairly good shape now at 82.

    3. Good for him – you must be very relieved. No doubt the fact that he is on the road to recovery will help you all through the coming times.

    4. Phew. Your children being ill – other than the usual childhood ailments – seems to be against the natural order.

  84. Here's another very good article by the Mid Western Doctor – about the link between Sudden Infant Death syndrome and early infant vaccination -especially with the DTP one. The comments are interesting, too.
    https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-century-of-evidence-vaccines

    The more i read about this kind of thing, the more I realise how lucky I am to have two sons living……… the younger one, born in December 1973, had the first dose of DTP at the age of four months – which i think is somewhat later than they do it in the USA. That evening, he had a mild seizure – went very pale, very still……… I didn't know what to do… i just held him close till it passed. The next day there was something in his nappy which might have been a blood clot. He stayed at the same weight for several months afterwards, though his development was normal.
    I did mention it to the doctor but he didn't think it was of any significance, and unbelievably, given what we know now, he went on to have all the other childhood jabs.
    If I had my time again I wouldn't have been browbeaten into complying with all of this.

    1. J , my younger son was born August 1973, he had problems with feeding , was quite a sickly child prone to coughs colds , bad breathing , stomach etc , deafness , which was sorted by having his tonsils and adenoids removed when he was 3 years old .

      You will have seen F/B pics of him because he is a strapping lad now , BUT still prone to coughs / colds /nasal probs .

      So very glad your lad had the strength to overcome his particular seizure which must have scared you to your wits end .

      1. It did scare me and I've never forgotten it and still have his infant weight card and jab record. But they were both healthy children ( though he was prone to nose bleeds – and had it cauterised to stop them)
        A few weeks before the jab incident, we'd all had mumps – me, my three year old and three month old…. they had no protection from me for that. But I had had whooping cough as a child so they should have got some antibodies from me for that – I think none of these jabs were really necessary.

        Mumps left me very depressed for a long time.

        1. Supposed to to be the worse for you the older you are, think mumps the one responsible for sterility some men?

          1. Yes. It was very painful and nasty. It can affect the testicles in older boys and men. My boys recovered quickly though they found eating painful. I watched the two sides of my face meet in the middle as I swelled up. It left me with deep depression for a long time.

    2. That's awful, Ndovu, very scary and worrying. I'm completely on board with RfKJr vaccine stance. Do you remember Dr Andrew Wakefield, years ago, he spoke out I think about the MMR jab. Mine had that, but not the whooping cough one.

      1. Yes. I think Dr Wakefield was right but he's never been vindicated. My elder son got chased round the surgery by an incompetent nurse trying to give him the measles jab – she didn't succeed but he had one later from the GP after we'd moved. Not sure when the MMR started but they both caught mumps at the same time I did.

        1. I think he may have ended up in Australia, with Elle McPherson? I don’t trust any medics now, always been suspicious of them. My parents were very keen on the NHS, it having been formed in their lifetimes. My husband been a Type2 diabetic for many years, many different medications but no lifestyle advice. He read something about Carnivore Diet just by chance, changed his diet one day to the next, been off his meds going on couple years now. Lifestyle doesn’t ever seem to be mentioned by medics, that might be changing in some quarters.

    3. Thank you for posting. The link should be compulsory reading for every GP in the UK!

      Well worth reading

  85. Had my walk with Pip earlier .. https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=642680827a50424a&rlz=1C1GCEU_enGB1161GB1161&sxsrf=AE3TifMDkSLputwPdb1UgxxyA870pHvzZg:1748007259714&q=Stoborough+heath+national+nature+reserve+walks&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjrx56-2rmNAxWSXkEAHdvUEPgQ1QJ6BAhsEAE&biw=1266&bih=544&dpr=1.5

    Couldn't walk too far , because cattle and horses were grazing and there was a keep dogs on lead notices , ground nesting birds, but hang on , what about the cattle and the horses , donkeys and hairy pigs?

    Saw lots of Black caps and Stone chats, and a cuckoo was calling to her/ his mate , and what an absolute rumpus because hidden away in a chunk of willow and blackthorn bush was a family of young magpies , making a real din.. now aren't they more of a hazard than a dog off a lead .

    Arrived back home , let Pip out of the car etc emptied the post box on wall , and 2 invitations for Covid jabs for Moh and me , thankyou NHS , have any of you taken up their offer?

    Moh back from golf , he has eaten a mini quiche heated up in airfryer and is now mowing the grass .. In a couple of hours he will be snoozing!

    1. We both got letters today from the NHS inviting us to book our "Spring booster" – they went straight in the bin after being ripped up!
      Moh has plenty of energy! OH has been having his afternoon snooze for the last couple of hours.

      2. I had my tenth invite, Ndovu. They send text messages. Don't they have anything else to do?

        1. I get the texts, the emails and the letters – all ignored! What a waste of their time and our money.

          1. Exactly. Don't know what our GP does now, or even who it is. Specialist nurses seem to run the surgery. Place like a ghost town, local A&E packed because that's where they send people who phone wanting an emergency appointment.

          2. I had a letter emailed from the surgery yesterday – I had to download it to read it. It seems enough people have complained about their online triage system for them to send out a letter saying you can now book appointments by phone, or in person at the surgery. The last time I phoned (to make an appointment for OH) they asked all the questions but did make an appointment for the same week.

          3. Ours similar. I have a regular prescription for eye drops (dry eye), can sometimes repeat order online but other times falls over……

          4. The last medication I had was five days' Acyclovir for shingles in 2019. Along with a lot of paracetamol…….. haven't taken so much as a painkiller since then. Though I did have years of anti breast cancer treatment. I just keep away from the surgery these days. I've lost all trust in medics since covid.

          5. Shingles pretty nasty. I had it years ago, when dad had it he was in bed for weeks…the rash was in a circle around his chest. I don’t take anything now..headache, cup of tea, drink sufficient water. Me too, wouldn’t recognise my GP if I saw him/her. Yes, nasty bout of covid here too, surgery closed down – bit different to how medics behaved Spanish Inquisition. (Also, I think vets going/gone the same way…)

          6. I don't get my cats jabbed……. I assume they had them as kittens and also at the rescue. The two girls we have now are bright and active and happy. The last time we went to the vet was for Lily's final journey. Sad day – but she was with us for four happy years and she must have been quite elderly.

          7. Shingles was very painful – I've never taken so many paracetamols – but I didn't feel ill at all and we were away for a family weekend, and then walking in the Dales with friends….. bad timing but I was ok.

          8. I know someone developed palsy one side of his face, prognosis would improve with exercises. No wonder some warmongers want viruses as weapons.

        2. It's all fully automated. Youcan get PC apps that do this. The only "cost" is annoying the recipients.

  86. Just been viewing Chelsea FS on the box.

    Being a total spoilsport , but diversity seems to have claimed a new hobby re garden show presenting !

    1. Even MB has given up watching.
      Every time mental health/well being etc… is mentioned his foot strays dangerously near to the screen.

  87. Just been viewing Chelsea FS on the box.

    Being a total spoilsport , but diversity seems to have claimed a new hobby re garden show presenting !

    1. They may be British but they certainly aren't English and they don't give a damn about our country.

      1. Yes, there’s British and then there’s British. People from other countries should not be given the right to vote as quickly as they are and certainly not without some sign of allegiance to this country, and someone like that should simply be barred from standing.

    2. Being British is a piece of paper.
      Being English is a much more profound.
      As, indeed, is being French, Thai, Moroccan or belonging to any other nationality. There are cultural beliefs and instincts that are way deeper that holding a passport or social security number.

  89. Well. Relief all round. Gus came in for his breakfast, left the house at 9 am. Failed to reappear at noon for his lunch. Failed to respond as I circled the garden, whistling. (He normally appears within 5 minutes). Got out bike and scoured the road for signs of mangled cat – or injured cat on verge. Zilch. At 3 pm was about to put up "Missing" signs. E-mailed neighbour to ask if I could explore her many sheds. As I pressed "send", Gus sauntered in and demanded a late lunch. Cats, eh? (Was able to "undo" e-mail to neighbour).

    Off to the greenhouse. Back later.

    1. Get yourself an Iphone. Implant a chip in the kitty cats. You will know exactly where they are 24 hours a day. This is what the Chink government does to their citizens and ours is about to adopt. Be ahead the the wave !

    2. a regular occurrence in the sunny weather Bill, the stomach always guides them home

  90. Dr David Unwin – a GP in Manchester I think, had some interesting videos a few years ago and a lot of success with diabetics and diet. I watched some of his discussions when we were confined during covid lockdowns. Cutting down on carbs and sugar is the way to go.

    1. If your intake is low enough, the body will deal with blood sugar. In fact "severe" dieting is one of the recommended treatments for certain categories of diabetes.

      I still have the weight loss diet sheet issued by Essex County Council back in the 1970's – it's a 1,000 cal/day diet, and defines what should be eaten for each meal. It works.

  92. Or a Chinese manufacture of windmill vanes and solar panels.
    https://scontent-cdg4-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/500212135_683997934492178_7503553472789783482_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p526x296_tt6&_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=833d8c&_nc_ohc=9lOsvYIfhAkQ7kNvwHqyjuX&_nc_oc=AdnXx7WMKs_2szuAXhLV_c5ED-U679Pd2zwqB3h–TNVC-OZ25c8cNeLbywkNr_qodsdAjIXHU9y05cetAYEm5EZ&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-cdg4-1.xx&_nc_gid=GgwzJfZkZ08Kk3W7hW7eEg&oh=00_AfIm2-TRvKfv3uuaMD9fOfUjIQ92S2PfSegb_uHPOahG_Q&oe=68366A9B

  93. It's all starting to come out in the USA now……….
    https://www.malone.news/p/analysis-of-the-maha-report
    The 68-page document outlines the worsening chronic disease crisis among American children, identifies possible causes, and lays the foundation for a strategy to tackle these issues. The following report is expected in August 2025. The report emphasizes transparency, scientific rigor, and collaboration with farmers while criticizing corporate influence in health policy. Below is a summary of its key points, organized by main themes.

    You'll need to read Malone's summary for the gist of the rest. It's very detailed.

  94. Wordle No. 1,434 3/6

    🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 23 May 2025

    Husk for Birdie Three?

    1. Par again

      Wordle 1,434 4/6

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

      Shows how good my memory isn't. I played this morning on my tablet and birdied, trying to recall on my phone and par!

    3. Par here. Needed Merriam-Webster for this one.

      Wordle 1,434 4/6

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

    4. Very good Rene! Boring old par here…..

      Wordle 1,434 4/6

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

    5. A close call for me. Did it this morning but just back from Friday 5 O'Clock club.

      Wordle 1,434 6/6

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

  95. Well – the Yodel delivery was aborted again – I could see from the tracker than the driver was half a mile away as the crow flies – a little further round the lanes…….. The online chat bot said they could still be delivering this evening up until 9pm…….. I'll have to go and do the shopping now.

  96. Afternoon all. Haven’t done wordle for a few days but did today. Anyone else or have you all been and gone?
    Wordle 1,434 4/6

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

      1. Me too. I did it the famous Churchillian American way of doing things – i got the right answer, but only after exchausting all other possibilities first…

        Wordle 1,434 6/6

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

        1. It wasn't yer propper Inglish in my book.
          Wordle 1,434 6/6

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

          1. It wasn’t in my book either, but it was all I could think of by that stage.

    2. Early doors I managed a 'phew!'

      Wordle 1,434 6/6

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

  98. That's me for today – an anxious one until the blighter Gus strolled in as if to say, "I know where I have been…"

    Tomorrow they say we'll have some rain until midday. I DO hope so.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

    1. Digging up the tomatoes and depositing cat faeces in your vegetable patches.

      1. Nah – he was at least 400 yards south of the garden. Out of earshot. Asleep.

        1. Pickles writes:
          “Servant was asleep, as usual, and when called he ignored us.”

    1. Does that mean that the UK has to obey the recommendations or is it a watered down version of what the WHO wanted?

      2. It means that WHO diktats are binding on the UK.
        It isn't all agreed yet – this is only part of it. But Starmer will be first in the queue to sign Britain away.

        This is one world government. The binding laws are not just for 'pandemics' but for ANYTHING that the WHO decides is a threat to health. So if they decide that climate change is a threat to global health, they can dictate that you and I won't be allowed to drive our cars.

      3. I think you know what a bunch of useless morons our political idiots are Sos.

        1. I know that bit; but is it definitive, or can our courts be used to stop a total lockdown?

          1. Probably can but that’s why they aren’t or wont do anything. Because they actually can.

      4. 406079+ up ticks,

        Evening S,

        I think it means anything they want it to mean on any given day, they will have additives and new rings to jump through ,if you’re daft enough.

        1. I hope I'm not, but given the drivers of my life, e.g. having to get back to the UK, I would like it to be challengeable.

          1. 406079+ up ticks,

            S,

            Understandable,

            There is a great deal to be challenged and little time to do it.

            In my book nothing in parliament is to be trusted, I believe as it stands we need a party
            with proven deep honest love & interest in England & the only one that fits the bill in my eyes are the Farmers Food and Freedom party.

      5. Makes little difference. We will receive the advice from the WHO, gold plate the guidance, enshrine it in law, pay facebook to ban anyone commenting unfavourably and finally, lock up anyone who dares to cause distress or anxiety to any politicians by means of any form of communication. Thereafter millions of £ will be sent to help the WHO with their wonderful work.

    2. It's OK, Ogga. Apparently, the indigenous population of our benighted isle were 'blik'. They built Britain, and must have been mightily pissed off when the pale-skinned intruders appeared, from I know not where…

  100. Starmer has really missed a trick while giving away the spoils of our fishing waters to the French.
    What he really needed to do was give them a £ 100 million a year for the privilege of taking them off our hands, just as he did with the Chagos Islands.
    The French must be feeling a bit miffed now that they didn't hold out for the extra cash.
    Still that is two tier for you.
    Maybe the French will complain to the UN for being so badly treated.

    2. You don't need to give them any ideas Bob the Froglès 🐸 are pretty good at spotting an opportunity.

  101. Evening, all. Just back from Goodwood where my horse finished fifth. She got unbalanced on the camber coming down the hill as she made her challenge. Heading back home in easy stages tomorrow.

    The government is a bewildering embarrassment, to be honest.

    1. Fifth out of five – or fifth out of twenty?

      Asking for a betting friend…

        1. Four and thruppence, well done!

          Realistically, how many weeks training etc does a fifth placed prize cover?

    2. When you say "my horse", is that all of it, or a couple of legs and the tail?

      1. This one was bred by the syndicate who owns the horse. We just get the opportunity to play at owner when she runs. I do have horses where I actually own a bit – usually a share in a hair in the tail.

        1. It must be good fun though, “having skin in the game”
          Enjoy it while you can.

          Just a thought:
          You could train your dogs to bark at your horses, then place the dogs strategically along the track and collect the winnings as the horses run from the hounds rather than with the hounds.

          1. I am not sure she’s still got any; the one she bred doesn’t seem to be running any more and I don’t know of any others.

    3. The Government got unbalanced on the camber of the national finances and is coming down hill fast…..

      2. The government is on three legs and should be humanely destroyed. A good use for state assisted dying.

  104. Thought for the day:

    Does Islam count as a filthy disease that can be locked down by the WHO?

    3. Fortunately not. It is our future, inshallah. Allahu Ackbar.

      Irony alert – It's OK for you, living in relative freedom Those of us in Airstrip One have to be careful wha we post.

  105. Ndovu has just bought a copy. I should set myself up as a literary critic.

  106. Nice day out on Windermere with the grandson – weather excellent – great ice cream in Bowness (Blackpool-in-Lakes, never seen so much ink in my life….) and back to Lakeside (the Hotel there is very good) – popped into their rather excellent aquarium -sharks, piranhas and all!
    Cumbria Tourist Board signing off…..

    1. An exiled Cumbrian writes: while you're there, seek out Traditional Cumberland Sausage, and fill yer boots. A fellow parishioner here in leafy Surrey was born a few years before me in Carlisle, a few hundred yards from my parental home. He has a second home in Bownes, and has occasionally delivered offerings of the same.

      I have a small quantity of sausage in the freezer imported from my last trip North (to have lunch with Sue McF, Richard and poor Tom (RIP).

      I'm defrosting a couple of links for tomorrow's breakfast…

      1. Enjoy, Geoff! I’ll be thinking of you!
        Poor Eric the bee is in Dumfries Infirmary atm with gall bladder problems. I did ask if the food was as bad as old Tom reckoned, but he said he wasn’t eating much as his temp was spiking!

        1. I think gb is one of those 'superfluous' additions to human body, bit like appendix…perhaps operation to remove. I improved mine by following higher fibre diet.

        2. Give Eric our best wishes when you see/contact him next, please, Sue.

      2. Yes, I knew you were a Carlisle lad, Geoff, we’re never short of Traditional Cumberland Sausage, although since ‘er indoors went pescatarian (I mean, what the bloody hell is that all about??) I have to eat it all myself! The things we do for love…. (cue 10cc…)

          1. Oh no – not again! I humbly apologise….. I must be hard of herring….

      3. On a trip to Grasmere one (typically) wet Lakes day back in the early 1980s I repaired to a hostelry for a pint and a bite. I bought a small pot of Cumberland stew and it was a sensation. A very thick gravy filled with chunks of tender lamb, chunks of Cumberland sausage and chunks of black pudding. Served with a hunk of freshly-baked bread. It was very chunky. It was also extremely delicious …. memorably delicious.👍🏻😋

          1. I wish I had the strength of memory to recall things like that from 43 years back, DC. All I remember is it was a welcome refuge from the torrential rain. 😊

          2. heh heh!

            I only asked because my old man *loved* the food at the Trav.

      5. Geoff, try Tescos Cumberland sausage 8 pack – you'll be pleasantly surprised

        1. Blimey, 8 proper Cumberland Sausages aligned must be nearly as tall as you.

      1. Thanks DC – I know when I post this stuff it must tug at your heartstrings but I like to think I’m keeping the home fires burning!

  107. Goodnight, all. Signing off early as the Internet is slow and somewhat intermittent.

      1. His most recent reply to me:
        SOS happy Friday, I hope you are in good health, I have been in bad health for some time now, in old age I am suffering from chronic pain in my lower back, shoulder & neck on my left side and pain from time to time in both legs as well as bouts of Migraine attacks. As Charles de Gaulle wrote "Old age is a Shipwreck" I will be 75 soon – so much for the "Golden Years" of old age. I am no longer posting as actively as in the past but usually manage to post pages on here a few days a week & on Words and Brush https://disqus.com/home/for … at least twice a week as well as The Coconut Whisperer once in a while. https://disqus.com/home/for …

        1. Poor old bugger. Age related health conditions are extremely variable. I blame my mother and father, she made it to sixty six and he managed three score and ten.

  109. The EU carbon trap
    by Steve Loftus

    Only a government with a profound indifference to the economic welfare of its citizens could contemplate voluntary alignment with the EU Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS). Yet here we are, with ministers preparing to saddle British households and businesses with punishing carbon costs at the moment when economic recovery demands the exact opposite.

    The EU-ETS is the cornerstone of Brussels’ climate strategy, imposing a steadily rising price on carbon dioxide emissions. Current prices hover around €80-90 per tonne — significantly higher than the UK’s domestic carbon pricing. Alignment means importing these elevated costs directly into our economy, with electricity prices being the first casualty.

    When electricity generators face higher carbon costs, they don’t absorb them out of charity. These costs spread through the economy like a virus, infecting every sector from manufacturing to food production. The result? Higher prices for everything you buy, consume, or use.

    This is economic masochism on an industrial scale. While the Treasury might view carbon charges as convenient revenue streams, businesses and consumers experience them as a stealth tax on existence itself. Energy is not a luxury good; it is the fundamental input for all economic activity and modern life.

    But the real pain begins in 2027, when the EU’s sequel to its carbon pricing blockbuster arrives. EU-ETS2 extends carbon pricing to buildings and transport fuels. Translated from Brussels-speak, this means your home heating bills and the cost of driving your car will increase substantially as carbon charges are applied to household fuels. The “soft cap” on day 1 of €45 per tonne that ministers tout as some kind of protection will still add approximately 10p to every litre of petrol — around £100 annually per vehicle — and £84 per year to the average gas bill.

    That’s just the beginning. EU projections, hardly known for understatement, suggest that carbon prices could reach a staggering €340 per tonne by 2030. At such levels, the impact on lower-income households will be devastating. These families already dedicate a disproportionate share of their income to energy costs. The regressive nature of these charges appears to have escaped the government’s attention entirely. Worse, they might simply not care.

    The government’s justification for this self-inflicted economic injury centres on avoiding the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) tariffs, set to begin in 2026. This reasoning collapses under even modest scrutiny.

    CBAM is fundamentally a tax paid by EU importers, not UK exporters. It aims to protect EU producers who pay carbon costs by levelling the playing field against imports from countries with lower or no carbon pricing. By aligning with EU-ETS to avoid CBAM, we’re forcing every household and business in Britain to shoulder higher energy costs to benefit a small subset of exporters to the EU.

    The economic irrationality is breathtaking and outrageous

    This is comparable to requiring everyone in the country to purchase Netflix subscriptions so a handful of viewers can watch shows without individual payments. It is like forcing the entire population to buy premium petrol so a few race car drivers can enter a European competition. The economic irrationality is breathtaking and outrageous.

    What makes this particularly galling is that we’re voluntarily adopting a system that many within the EU itself recognise as deeply flawed. Several EU member states have expressed serious reservations about EU-ETS2’s impact on their citizens, already struggling with persistently high energy costs.

    By aligning with EU-ETS, we’re effectively handing Brussels the keys to British energy pricing. A foreign power will determine what British households and businesses pay for their energy, with no accountability to UK voters. Brussels designed CBAM to protect their industries, not to help consumers. We are voluntarily submitting to their regulatory framework, surrendering our sovereign ability to set carbon prices according to our own economic circumstances. Truly, this is the worst of all possible worlds.

    A rational approach would maintain our independent carbon pricing system at levels that align with our economic interests and industrial competitiveness, then provide targeted support for the small number of exporters potentially affected by CBAM. This would shield British consumers from unnecessary price increases while still supporting our industrial base.

    Perversely, our alignment will actually benefit EU consumers at our expense. By joining their carbon market, our additional carbon credits will effectively lower the overall carbon costs within the system. We pay more so they can pay less.

    Perhaps most troubling of all is the Prime Minister’s brazen misrepresentation of basic facts to justify this economic self-harm. Keir Starmer recently claimed: “Closer co-operation on emissions through linking our respective Emissions Trading Systems will improve the UK’s energy security and avoid businesses being hit by the EU’s carbon tax due to come in next year — which would have sent £800 million directly to the EU’s budget.”

    This is, to put it plainly, a straightforward falsehood. The UK would never send a single penny to Brussels under CBAM. The Prime Minister either does not understand or deliberately misrepresents the fundamental nature of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. CBAM is an import tax paid by EU importers, not UK exporters. The EU has every right to collect €800 million in new taxes from its own companies if it wishes — that’s their prerogative. What Brussels cannot do is directly tax British companies or the British Treasury.

    By repeating this £800 million fiction, the government attempts to frame voluntary alignment as some kind of clever tax avoidance strategy. In reality, it’s exchanging a hypothetical cost affecting a limited number of exporters for a very real, economy-wide burden shouldered by every household and business in Britain.

    The current approach sacrifices the many for the few — it is poor economic policy masquerading as climate responsibility. Ministers appear to be so desperate to flaunt their climate credentials in front of their EU masters that they have forgotten that their primary duty is to the economic welfare of British citizens.

    At minimum, the government must conduct a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis before proceeding with this alignment. The British public deserves transparency about exactly how much this voluntary carbon straitjacket will cost them, and what, if anything, they stand to gain from it.

    If the government truly wants to implement effective climate policy, it must be done thoughtfully, with full consideration of economic impacts. Blindly following Brussels into a carbon pricing regime that will hammer households already struggling with the cost of living isn’t just economically illiterate — it is politically suicidal.

    Climate action need not come at the expense of economic prosperity. Unfortunately, the current plan delivers all of the former’s costs with none of its supposed benefits.
    https://thecritic.co.uk/the-eu-carbon-trap/

    1. The Left don't care. They have a weapon, it's called 'climate change' and they intend to use it to tax the nation into socialism. It is simply weaponising a hoax, a lie for social control.

  110. Jewish protester charged over placard mocking terrorist leader
    Two-tier policing row after activist is arrested for holding up cartoon for three minutes at demonstration
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/23/jewish-protester-arrested-mocking-terrorist-leader/

    Why is it acceptable for Muslims to parade with placards saying that Jewish people should be killed while a Jewish person merely mocking a Muslim terrorist is arrested?

    Britain has ceased to be a remotely pleasant, fair and just country in which to live.

    1. It's isn't acceptable at all; but it is simply accepted by the traitors in Parliament, the judiciary etc. etc.

    2. Let us be entirely clear, there is no free speech in UK. I often mention the Malicious communications Act, if anyone is caused distress and anxiety by a message communicated in any way, the law has been broken. The distress is subjective to the subject of course, but if someone says they have been affected then the law will have to recognise that. Similarly, stirring up racial hated, as in this case, can be sited by 'disrespecting' any character of a different race to yourself. I think it is roundly accepted in UK that certain things will set off the slammers and thus promoting those ideas will bring plod down upon you whereas if "death to the infidel" posters are paraded nothing is done. Two tier justice, you bet; free speech, that ship has long sailed. Looking forward to another week sailing out of Fethiye in Sept with the family, that's if I survive a family holiday in Indonesia next month.

      1. Yes, that particular piece of legislation, brought in solely to protect the muslim was utterly vile.

        Worse is the Tories did nothing to remove all of this guff and in most cases made it worse.

      2. The way forward is to complain constantly, as do the perpetually offended.

        If the complaints are ignored complain again, write to MPs, if the complaints are still ignored sue them.

        Fight fire with fire, break, no not break, butcher their system against them.

    3. But, but… the hypocritical hard Left Labour party said there was no two tier justice in the country.

      And being impartial, they'd know, wouldn't they? After all, Lefties have never promoted double standards for their own benefit, have they?

  111. Well, Stepson was not at his best, but still holding things together.
    I did try and get him to come out to Hanley with me but he was not interested.

    Sorted out a couple of things for him, then drove to Burslem for the Titanic Brewery Shop.
    Instead of using the Customer Bell, I played a tune on my mouth organ and the lass who came out of the office was delighted!
    She was even more delighted when I sang her a verse of "Bring us a barrel"!
    Bought a dozen bottles for myself and a half dozen for t'Lad, it was his birthday last Wednesday, and then went to Hanley for a bit of shopping, a cash point and to tank the van up at the cheapest filling station I know of before coming home.
    Stopped off at Ibstones to use the new butcher's there and when I got home prepared a salad for lunch.

    Lovely weather all day, but it's gone cloudy now and we're actually forecast several hours rain, some of it heavy, overnight!

    Now off for a bath and away to bed.

    Good night all.

  112. Afternoon, Nottlers.

    Raining for 3 days straight up here in the wilderness. I don't mind it, the absence of post-snow Spring rain has been a significant factor in early forest fires over the last couple of years. Only downside is having to keep the ever-growing number, and size, of seedlings happy for another few days. We are past the 50/50 last frost day though, and every day beyond that date adds another 5% chance in my favour.

    In other unsurprising news, I shall mostly be drinking Empress 1908 gin and mixing up no-knead olive bread dough for tomorrow.

  113. Off topics
    I've been puzzling over how to weed the wall garden by the pool.
    It's been getting more and more unmanageable over the years as the various shrubs have overgrown and died back in the centres, every weed type in the garden seems to be drawn in as if it's a weed magnet.
    Clippers?
    No.
    Trowel and small fork?
    No.
    Proper garden fork and spade?
    Who are you kidding?

    Final solution; no jeremy not the Palestinians

    The pick axe.
    What a splendid piece of gardening kit that is.

    HG isn't convinced, but I'm at the point of "dig it all out and start again" and Mr Pickaxe has provided the most efficient route

    1. Nice one, Sos! Are you looking to plant it again this year, or prepare the area for next year?

      1. I'm hoping to set it up this year.
        It's not really a proper bed, too shallow and too cramped.

        1. Maybe some shallow stuff like lettuce, spring onions, basil, if the light is right?

          1. Good idea if it was for kitchen purpose.
            It's there to complement the pool: sage, lavender, miniature roses, rosemary etc. We want colour and scent and a few culinary bits.
            The roots seem to grow reasonably well along the trench.

          4. It’s just the back swing that’s the real danger. You’ll need to be coned off 😉

        1. I had a problem with a bamboo plant a few years ago.
          I cut it down but could not get any known garden tool anywhere near the roots. The roots were like bouncy rock.
          My old ozzie buddy Bruce advised me, pour diesel fuel on the roots let it soak in and burn them. It worked. After the bloody roots had punched holes in my pond liner.

    4. Probably impractical, but a traditional method would be to borrow a sow and strain (piglets).

      1. The “flower bed ” is only about a foot across, they wouldn’t be able to access it.
        It’s a dig out and start again task.

    1. Only when we actively, violently oppose the EU will they start to get the message. That requires a political class not wedded to undoing democracy in this country.

      It's alsmost as if they're working for our enemies.

      2. President Trump has divorced the US from Europe and is withdrawing 4000 plus troops from Europe just for starters.

        Meanwhile the EU imposed sanctions on all and sundry of those trading with Russia which includes those who import oil from Russia. India and China are the principal importers of oil from Russia.

        For those worried about Starmer’s mission to force the UK back into the EU all I can say is hold fast. The EU and its powerhouse economy, Germany, is on the skids and about to fall. Merz is a half-wit and is cutting off Germany from its trading markets. Germany’s captive markets will be overwhelmed by China.

        Who the hell is advising the morons in the EU and Macron, Merz, Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen? Or must we assume that they are taking instructions from WEF apparatchiks.

        We really have to be shot of Starmer before he inflicts yet more harm on our country. It is not as though there are many experienced advisers around the world able to proffer sound and honest advice.

  116. I'm done for another Friday, a few years ago I would have been walking into the pub door about now and getting started on my first pint of four or five.
    But I'm getting into bed now.
    How times have changed.
    Good night Nottlers 😴 sleep well.

      1. I had to walk home after with two of my neighbours, up a very steep hill.

  117. I caught a few minutes of the Chelsea Flower Show with Monty Don and a couple of familiar commentators. The exhibitors and some ugly woman presently running the RHS were banging on about eco nonsense and energy efficiency and the rest of the current prescribed verbiage.

    I can think of nothing less eco, in all its forms and incarnations, as to construct enormously elaborate and expensive gardens for showing for just a few days, dismantling the same, flogging on a few to unsuspecting morons in the shires and otherwise throwing the lot away.

    As to the three presenters at least two of the three appeared drunk or at least a bit rosy. The black lady with red lipstick was the most knowledgeable and coherent. For quite how much longer this absurd jamboree survives in its present form is anyone’s guess.

    I switched off when Andy Murray and his wife with the posh accent pretended to gardening.

    1. MB and I are old fashioned.
      We just want somewhere outside that is pleasant and relaxing.
      Sod mental health/sustainability/climate change etc….

      1. Same here .

        I have gone off Monty Don using words that are better used in Grand Designs – fronted by Kevin McCloud .

        I like Kevin McCloud being introspective and using long words , but I was so irritated by Monty Don waving his hands around using a different narrative.

        1. M Don would give Lineker himself a run for his money in the narcissism stakes,

          1. I know what you mean, O, but he loves his doggies and has been very open about his mental elf ishoos… I've got to admit I quite like him!…..

      2. Sustainability is the Earth. Been around in its present form for about 4.6 billion years. As matter can neither be created nor destroyed what was here then is still here although some may have been slightly modified ie apes in to humans and now on their way back.

        2. Tomorrow (today) if I remember i will post on latest book club* (“Orbital” by Samantha Harvey) and my views on when homo sapiens will be extinct (spoiler alwrt: less than 1,000 years).

          *Yes, I am a member of three book clubs plus i am attempting to read all my non-read books

          NB and a full-time 60-hour week job.

          1. [MIR, are you feeling in need of validation?]

            Probably, yes 🙂

            Big day tomorrow (today). 12 pm, Downing Street👍

    2. I know what you mean but my missus loves it so I've been watching a lot of it…

      Monty Don and Rachel de Thame are pretty inoffensive (I used to have a bit of a 'thing' for Rachel) – some of the 'guests' less so……

    1. I was at prep school, St Christopher's, in North Road in Bath. The school closed in 1959 and the premises were bought up by St Edward's. My father was at Monkton Combe School and one of my best friends used to have a cottage at Conkwell so I know the area quite well.

  119. Things we have learned: the Warqueen is a dreadful nurse, 2 going to the loo is a palava, lying down all day is exhausting and human bodies are painfully slow to repair.

    1. With regard to the last item you just wait until you gets older!

      In the meantime KBO!

      1. I'm worried about falls now. Never was before. I've been kicked, punched, walked into doors, slammed them open, fallen against walls and now I'm worried about falling over.

        2. Completely bemused as to why an abscess on the bum should lead to a greater likelihood of falling over. ?

  121. I had an abscess cut out caused by an infected blood clot. 2cm wound with a 5cm track (wound depth).

    5. That was very nasty! Infected blood clot? 5cm deep? No wonder you were in agony and in hospital for days.

  123. You are pal, thank you! I have no regrets, but I do love the reminders.

  125. Well, chums, my bedtime has arrived. Good night all, sleep well, and see you all tomorrow morning.

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