Saturday 7 June: Reform UK may be doomed if Nigel Farage can’t keep talent in the party

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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687 thoughts on “Saturday 7 June: Reform UK may be doomed if Nigel Farage can’t keep talent in the party”

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

    Wordle 1,449 5/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      "NIgel Farage can't keep talent in the party" is a very strange way of putting it!

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  5. Did it again – Failed to use a letter I already had. Not bad though:
    Wordle 1,449 5/6

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      2. 406911+ up ticks,

        Morning DB.

        Those snorts of derision you hear in parliament are not stemming from scorn, they are the intake via the nasal canal of a line of charlie, prior to dishing out a days treachery.

    3. 406911+up ticks,

      O2O,

      Dt,
      Concern over mass migration is terrorist ideology, says Prevent
      Online guidance says ‘cultural nationalism’ could be a reason for referring someone for deradicalisation

      May one ask,
      Now we have submitted to being taken over seemingly in areas of England will this still apply in those areas ?

  8. Good morning all.
    An overcast but currently dry start with a tad below 12½°C outside.

  9. 406911+ up ticks,

    Yes he would do that wouldn't he, the leadership pedestal only has room for one on its standing platform.

    Dt,

    Farage ‘seeks less powerful chairman’ after Yusuf quits
    Senior party figures discuss splitting the role into several positions

    As a point of interest, is anyone discussing the daily invasion ?

    1. Apparently you will attract the attention of "Prevent".
      The organisation that's none too good at spotting disaffected males who slaughter little girls.

    2. Presumably all with an uplift in salary? I think Ben Habib has posted about both NF and RT vis a vis UKIP, there was a video of him.

        2. I was on that march and his description of what it was going to be like is total bollocks.
          There was no drunkenness and the only violence came from Owen Jones's pathetic little counter-march.

          1. 406911+ up ticks,

            Morning Bob,

            I think it was Gerard Batten said it was on par with a family outing.

  10. Another cold morning , heating on .
    I have been awake since 4.30.

    Spaniel had fallen off the bed ( kingsize bed) and couldn't climb back on again, he is finding it very difficult to jump despite the fact he is a slender fit 12 year old dog . He needs to be close to be close to Moh !!

    He is aging quite quickly , deaf now, and not as supple , probably due to his agility training and competitions , and our staircase!!!

    The much missed Jack spaniel was my dog , my shadow .

    I have to lift Pip into his cage in the car tailgate as well as having to lift him out when we are about to take out in the car .

    2. Poor old Pip. Getting old isn't always fun, especially when you can't do things you never thought about before. Can you get a little set of 3 wooden steps from IKEA (stepstool?) and put them by the foot of the bed, so he can get up on his own?

        1. My dog used to, Maggie (a wooden step made by husband), might be worth a try if they're not too expensive (maybe a second hand set on ebay or similar?)

        3. Who knows? You might have to show him… otherwise, good to sit on whilst putting on socks.

      1. Playing catch-up, N? Husband sleeps during day then surprised when he can't sleep at night. Circadian rhythm out of whack. Doesn't help himself watching videos on his phone, even with background blue light on screen.

    4. Poor old boy is ageing- the only dog I've lived with was my mother's dog Nick. I remember her taking him out to the garden held up with a roller towel. He was nearly 16 by then. I was 6 or 7 when eventually the vet came and put him to sleep at home.

    5. My old dog (posted about him recently) needed one of those small steps (kind you see for caravans etc) to get up on the bed, and down again.

    6. When we had our lovely black Lab she never spent any time in any of our bedrooms and I only remember her actually being upstairs twice.
      We didn't encourage it but she was also very gentle and very obedient.

      3. That is a darn good age for a boxer.
        Even better that he was so fit literally up to the end.

  12. Morning, all Y'all.
    Sunny.
    Woke to a huge banging and crashing just outside the bedroom. Turns out it was a magpie who'd got into the house and couldn't find the way out again! Youngish bird, beautiful plumage.

    1. The was a jay flitting from tree to tree across the "garden" yesterday afternoon.

        2. Anne is much better looking and understandably she is a much-loved Nottler

          I was castigated when, a couple of days ago, I posted a picture of a quiz show host alongside a photo of Anne. Some Nottlers were outraged – but I was not trying to be rude – I was pointing out that Anne is a fine looking woman.

          Do any Nottlers have dopplegangers?

        3. :-). I thought of the Muppets as I typed.
          Also, our sons had a tall – and very astute – female accountant always referred to as Big Bird.

    3. We've had a few smaller birds, surprises me they don't hurt themselves. We have a clear plastic feeder (sunflower seed hearts) which attaches to window outside, quite a number of different birds including blackbird babies waiting to be fed. Big advantage is grey squirrels can't reach it.

        1. Brilliant! not seen one here for years, greys pushed them out. Both nest rob tho’

    4. I have been encouraging the Maggies and crows into our garden they seem to drive all the awful wood pigeons away.

      1. We have both here. A pair of fat pigeons love the elderberries but they will be disappointed this year as there are hardly any flowers.

  13. 406911+ upticks,

    Saturday 7 June: Reform UK may be doomed if Nigel Farage can’t keep talent in the party,

    By the same token,
    Saturday 7 June: The UK may be doomed if Nigel Farage can keep talent islamics in the party .

  14. SIR – Suella Braverman MP is a prominent example of that peculiar 21st-century phenomenon, the authoritarian Tory (“Women should not be veiling their faces in Western society”, Comment, June 5).

    Previous generations of Conservatives viewed banning things as a last resort, to be used very sparingly, and usually in response to political violence. Banning Sinn Fein from the airwaves during the Troubles is an example.

    Mrs Braverman’s concern about our national cohesion is laudable. I happen to agree with her that face coverings are to be deprecated. However, she is quite wrong in seeking to ban them as a first resort. What is wrong with trying peaceful persuasion?

    If she has tried it, she did not mention it in her article.

    David McKee
    Borehamwood, Hertfordshire

    Hmmm

    Just wondering what sort of gentle persuasion France and Italy and the rest of Europe are using re the issue of dull featureless black letter box religious face coverings?

    1. Send Mr McKee to Afghanistan. He can try saying pretty please to the Taliban. Stupid man.

    2. Be careful what you wish for Mr McKee, your inside of the M25 area. Barnet Herts and other old towns have already been gobbled up and wrecked by kahnt there seems to be no stopping him and his associates.

    3. Some kind of pressure has to be applied when other western countries are simply banning them. Never forget that the extremist wife of one of the recent French terrorists was living in the UK because life here is more accommodating to her extremism.

      1. I was ahead of my time . Before I did my art degree I put on a show which included burkas as letter boxes.

    5. Mr McKee obviously doesn't understand that the Islamic vail is a deliberate challenge to our way of life. It is political, not religious, the vast majority of women in Islamic countries don't wear them because they are a symbol of extremism toward "moderate" Islam and hostility to the West. To expect such people to voluntarily stop means you don't understand what they are doing at all.

  15. 'Morning All
    Weekend Medley
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    1. As ever, Rik…thanks for the morning smiles (and recognition, dog especially – porridge bowl every morning)…have a good day x

    2. After my wonderful morning yesterday visiting Moor Crichel house , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crichel_House . the gardens were superb , and the walled garden consisted of several acres of beautiful flower beds , themed and GLORIOUS .

      But where do these gardens acquire their special pukka plants from , because they are not the type of plants one finds in places like Dobbies or Haskins ?

    1. And to make things worse as if we haven't realised. Out of control Zelenskyy has scuppered several chances of peace with his Russian neighbours.

      1. Sometimes exchange msgs with a Belarusian chap, some seem to think Z has become very wealthy recently. What do you reckon to that suggestion, Eddy?

        1. I think the Americans, at least Trump, are disgusted with him. All he is doing at this point is destroying his country with all the intelligence of a little man who ended life in a bunker.

          1. I don#t think the little comedian has taken a single step in the whole affair without it being choreographed by the US.

          2. Don’t agree with that at all. What do you think that kerfuffle was about in the Oval Office, if not Zelenskyy going off script?

  19. Morning all! Grey here but not raining at the moment. Quite glad we're not going to the outdoor event.

    1. Not sure about that. What is the going rate for playing the piano with your penis?

    2. I don’t know, wasn’t he a comedian/piano player? perhaps that was AI. The whole thing is murky, seems to have started as a border dispute/aluminium/various other rare minerals, Biden family especially son Hunter although it was originally posited by media as NATO being involved.

  21. Morning all 🙂😊
    It was Raining heavily two hours ago, but now brighter prospects for a better weekend.
    What a lovely evening we had last night.
    Around 150 U3A members gathered in our recently refurbished village hall for a Murder Mystery event, set up and acted by the Rickmansworth Players. With snacks drinks and Supper. We didn't get home until 11:30pm.
    Everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoyed the excellent acting set around the fictitious village Murder.

    1. I am so fed up with seeing the identikit smug, stupid expression on the faces of these left wing politicians. You can see one from any European country and instantly recognise it.

  24. Having just finished haggling over my house insurance renewal premium (they wanted a 14% uplift) I have just received car insurance renewal paperwork from NFU. At a time when Martin Lewis is reporting an average drop in car insurance premiums averaging 16%, NFU want a 17.5% uplift from last year. Same car, no claims, nothing changed.

    Do any NoTTLers have experience of dealing with insurers when making a claim? Response times, UK based call centres, that sort of thing? I don’t want "cheap" insurance, I want good value from a responsive company.

    1. I tried to get a quote from NFU, they refused as I was over 80
      I change my insurer every year through comparison sites and am still paying more or less the same as 15 years ago since I bought the car whose value has dropped from £14k to £1.5k – that's a rip off if ever there was one

      1. I leave the job to brokers after a seemingly reasonable insurer lured extra cost onto me a fortnight into the covered period.
        ("Just" discovered that MB, a named driver on my policy, had been involved in a dunt in which he was the innocent party.)

    5. Shop for another insurer. Well documented here at least that insurers treat long term policy holders as cash cows. Just saved myself a bomb by swiching both car and home – part of the savings was for being "a new customer" –

  25. NFU have been competitive in the 4 years I’ve been with them. I’m guessing that I’ve hit an age milestone that has jacked-up the premium.

    1. The MR deals with car insurance. I am a named driver. If she is younger, try getting your wife to apply. Might reduce the premium….

        1. You can be designated as the driver. You don't need to be the purchaser of the insurance. Not fraud.

        2. Not true. It would be if you were the ONLY driver and your wife did not have a driving licence.

          1. However Mrs Kobeans hasn’t had insurance in her name since 2010 therefore she has no NCB. Square one.

      1. Modern judges don't do justice Ndovu, they do what their political masters tell them. As I once said in court: "If justice was to come in here you would have her arrested and thrown down the courthouse steps like a whore." And no, I wasn't had for contempt because it was and still is the truth.

      2. Modern judges don't do justice Ndovu, they do what their political masters tell them. As I once said in court: "If justice was to come in here you would have her arrested and thrown down the courthouse steps like a whore." And no, I wasn't had for contempt because it was and still is the truth.

      2. Take hom out to the stables, make him get down on all fours and find a suitable male animal to teach the lesson…

      1. No wonder he had to creep up behind a pony. P'raps that's the only way he can get it.

    6. Now now. All cultures are equally valid and must be respected in outr Brave New World.

  28. Ah something on your mind, perhaps. I sometimes have Ovaltine, the original one has magnesium which supposed to aid sleep?

    1. I take magnesium glycinate an hour or so before bed, 300-400 mgms, as a supplement, it really does help. I just have the occasional bad night now. The type of magnesium is important, there are so many. As we get older our bodies do not utilise the vits and minerals in our food so well as they did when we were younger.

      1. Thanks..husband takes Magnesium Malate, I’m not as bad try to drink more water daytime. Food is different too now, don’t you think? Even the fresh has been sprayed etc..

        1. It lacks the nourishment it once did because of all the artificial agro-stuff that is used in its production. Also all the additives one finds in shop-bought ready meals are frightening, what they do to your body. Read ‘Ultra-Processed People’ for more information. The situation is even worse in the US. I do what I can to keep down the chemicals in the home and additives in food.

  31. 406911+ up ticks,

    Morning N,
    All the while we hold the majority it is never to late, will just take longer.

      1. Caroline has a piano, an electronic organ, a piano accordion and a melodion.

        I have several guitars, mouth organs and a kalimba. I must learn how to play them rather better

      2. In the interest of clarity, Z is reputed to have played the piano with his appendage as part of his stage act.

  33. Yes, I tend to have similar.
    Some nights I get straight back to sleep after pumping bilges, other nights I'm tossing & turning for two or three hours.

  34. Right.
    Heavy rain forecast for later and we've already had some light drizzle so I'm going to get some brash burning done whilst the ground is still damp.

      1. My blow lamp became very useful when I had to get rid of the destructive roots of a huge
        bamboo plant. Along with some diesel fuel.

      2. Given that I forgot to cover over some of the stuff I was burning to keep it dryish, I did.

    1. Doesn't surprise me in the slightest. This is a beautiful country with a wonderful history but those in charge are defecating all over it, the animalistic savages that they are.

        1. ogga
          you know perfectly well that abuse victims cannot easily break away from the abusive relationship, and it usually goes on for years.

          2. I don’t know – look how often you see people genuinely thinking that if they vote again, this time it will be different!
            About to be repeated with Reform in the “this time it will be different” seat…

          3. But put the actual and real alternative to people, and see which way they jump. Not many people resort to violent revolution if there is any conceivable alternative.

          4. There is non-violent non cooperation too. eg during covid when the govt was particularly abusive.
            TV licences are one area where an increasing number of the abused majority are silently not complying any more.

          5. The trouble is that non-violent non co-operation has its limits. It can only go so far before we can be imprisoned under some pretext or other. While they can’t jail all of us, none of us wants to be the ones that do get put away…

          6. Very true, but once you look into it you find more and more ways to stop cooperating. Most of them carry no higher penalty than a little inconvenience.
            The authorities always publicise “the people who tried it and got punished” to teach us a lesson that resistance is futile.

          8. Every time society prompts to you to do something that furthers Agenda 2030. Sign up voluntarily for a digital id, upload private information, internet shopping, carry a smartphone, pay digitally instead of with cash, use multinationals instead of local businesses, put your wealth into the financial system, consume propaganda etc. Just don’t do these things or avoid them as much as possible.

          9. 406911+ up ticks,

            BB2

            Agreed, I also know that the abuse carries on a great deal longer when covered up via government employees as in the police and councilors.

        2. "We" didn't elect governments blatantly to lie, cheat and deceive.

          The people were not given true criteria upon which to choose who to vote for – and where were the alternatives? Gradually and insidiously, the NWO tentacles in government (especially in regard to immigration), the civil service, education, the media, police force, judiciary and medicine successfully dumbed down so much of our population that could and might have thought differently.

          As for the incomers – many couldn't care less about this country and our history and heritage. Those of a certain belief system hold that system as their first and only consideration, if they even are able to consider the inherent contradictions between that and the country they are in.

          1. 406911+ up ticks,

            Afternoon HL,

            I could go along with that nearly forty year ago
            but as the political governing fraternity took us into the future via the polling station, the opportunity to vote and change things was NEVER taken up instead we witnessed the vote
            being governed by the party name.

            Vote tory (INO) party keep out lab, things up to date got worse via the polling station with every opportunity to vote, right up until the ultimate in voting treachery via the polling booth, mass childness spite linked to tactical voting forged the knife to finally use on the unprotected back of England.

          3. 406911+ up ticks,

            HL ,

            Hope this finds you well,me, I lost some collagen within the foot, makes me walk like a poof, going down town I got propositioned three times and copped two kisses behind the ear.

            Besides that not to bad.

  38. Morning all. Cold here and overcast. It is going to rain and, perhaps, even a thunderstorm this afternoon, love those.

    Something cheery for those of us at a certain age and for those who don't subscribe to the Telegraph. Enjoy!

    The proof that older people are getting smarter
    A major study has declared 70 the new 50 – here’s why Baby Boomers are more cognitively able than any previous generation

    Fitter, faster, stronger – and smarter. I’m paraphrasing, but that’s how researchers at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently summed up the Baby Boom generation in a recent report on the consequences of global ageing.

    The developed world may be running out of lithe young things to drive our economies forward as birth rates collapse, but the oldies that remain are brainier than any generation before and can pick up at least some of the slack, it said.

    The IMF’s findings rely on data from 41 advanced and emerging market economies and show that, on average, older people from around the age of 50 are smarter or more cognitively able today than ever before. Moreover, of all the indicators of healthy ageing (better retained agility, flexibility, strength, stamina etc), it is an improvement in our mental capacities that is most marked in the data, says the IMF.

    “We aim to offer a new perspective on the old argument that ageing will lead inevitably to slumping economic growth and mounting fiscal pressures”, say Bertrand Gruss and Diaa Noureldin, lead authors of the new report. “When it comes to cognitive capacities, the 70s are indeed the new 50s: A person who was 70 in 2022 had the same cognitive health score as a 53 year old in 2000. Older workers’ physical health – such as grip strength and lung capacity – has also improved.”

    The IMF aren’t the only people who have looked at this trend. A 2022 study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US shows that when it comes to brain power, Baby Boomers (born between 1946 to 64) beat the Greatest Generation (1901-27) on all the researchers’ key measures of cognition.

    “We found better age-adjusted performance in the cognitive domains of processing speed, executive function, attention and verbal fluency in more recent generations compared to the Greatest Generation”, said its authors.

    So why is the world seemingly getting smarter? Prof Axel Börsch-Supan, director of the Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy, said improvements in education have been key.

    “That [Boomers] are smarter is essentially a function of their much better education than earlier generations”, he says. “If you look at the years of schooling, that immensely increased in Europe, particularly in the Mediterranean countries, but also in the north and the east.”

    Education and better nutrition in childhood does not just help preserve good cognition in later years but improves employment prospects. And the longer we stay in employment, with all the mental and social stimulations that brings, the better things are for our brain health. Given the proportion of over 65s participating in the UK labour market has been slowly rising, and has more than doubled since 2000 (participation was at 7.8 per cent over the first three months of that year, increasing to 15.7 per cent in 2025), no wonder our mental fire power is improving.

    Further Department of Work and Pensions data reveals that in the UK, 10 per cent of 70 to 74-year-olds were still in employment in 2024 (up from 5 per cent in 1984) as were over a quarter of 65 to 69s (27.6 per cent, up from 9.5 per cent in 1984). In 2024, the average age of people exiting the workforce hit its highest level since the 1960s (65.7 years old) and its highest level on record for women (at 64.5 years).

    On June 7 The Oxford University Longevity Project will gather for the Smart Ageing Summit 2025 in Rhodes House in the heart of Oxford. The meeting brings together leading longevity experts and enthusiasts from around the world to explore “how we can age smarter and better now”.

    Leading lights will include the runner and academic Sir Christopher Ball, 90, the pioneering physiologist Prof Denis Noble, 88, and the broadcaster Angela Rippon, 80.

    Physician Sir Muir Gray, 80, a director of the Longevity Project and a pioneer in the area of evidence-based ageing, said the first thing to grasp about ageing is that “ageing by itself” is not the problem. Instead, “controllable factors” including loss of fitness (mental and physical) and environmentally-linked disease were the things to look out for.

    “The trick to healthy ageing is for all of us to have a plan”, says Gray. “A plan to understand ageing, a plan to regain lost fitness, a plan to reduce the risk of disease striking, a plan to better adapt to your environment… It’s knowledge that’s the elixir of life.

    “In the 12 years since my myocardial infarction [heart attack], I’ve had 400 boxes of pills and not one prescription of exercise or diet from the NHS. The pills keep me going but it’s all the other stuff that keeps me young,” he says.

    “All the other stuff” includes the internet – Gray believes it has contributed to gains in cognition by keeping older people engaged with the world. The same applies not just to staying in the labour market for longer, but particularly to career changes – an increasingly common phenomenon that forces us to start over again in our learning and greatly broadens our knowledge and experience.

    Volunteering has a similar impact. “Becoming a volunteer is a very good way of reducing your risk of dementia,” says Gray, because, as with staying in the labour market, it allows you to keep yourself “mentally and physically challenged” by keeping you engaged with society and your local community.

    The threat of dementia is the perfect reason to heed Gray’s call for people to better understand the process of ageing and plan for it. Only around 60 per cent of it is caused by Alzheimer’s, leaving 40 per cent linked to behavioural and environmental factors – many of which we can avoid or mitigate.

    1. People keep telling me I can go home if I’m feeling unwell, as if sitting at home bawling my eyes out is going to be more beneficial than sitting at a desk engaging brain and needing to do stuff for people. I recognise my tendency to self pity. I don’t want to make an art of wallowing in it.

      1. I thought you were very brave; you even passed up a glass of Malbec without going into a melt down.
        Now THAT is Stoicism.

    2. The increased average age when leaving the labour market might have a tiny bit to do with pensionable age increases.

    3. "………. older people are getting smarter"

      Is the corollary to this that young people are getting more stupid?

      1. The younger certainly don't know as much. Try quizzing them about English history, its quite depressing.

      2. I would say less informed. I don’t think it is a matter of lower I.Q.

      3. I think we probably had a better education than most youngsters have now – your students excepted of course!

  41. Good Morning!

    Today we have the first part in a series on the war in Ukraine and, in No War With Russia! we look into what it's all about – and it has nothing to do with defending freedom and (excuse the laugh) democracy.

    Iain Hunter gives the the parking parasites both barrels in Little Yellow Envelopes . Share his indignation and let us know if you've been stung by the car park cowboys, and Tortapani bares his soul in God, Religion, Spirituality and Atheism to reveal, well, please read, find out, and tell us what's in your soul, or even if you have one or not.

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's electric power was sourced from Gas, 18.5%; Solar, 9.4%: Wind 20.4%; Imports, 22.6%; Biomass, 9.3%; Nuclear 15.7% and Miscellaneous,4.1%. For the second day in a row imported electricity was the biggest component of supply. This is utter lunacy.

    PLEASE SIGN The petition to stop supporting asylum seekers (aka as illegal aliens). This one needs to be signed by millions. None of us wants to pay taxes to support these people. Please get signing and sharing. https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/705383

    AND

    PLEASE WATCH Tommy Robinson's new (short) documentary, squeezed out between his release from jail and his court appearance yesterday, is very much worth watching (Youtube, Tommy Robinson v Daily Mail). If you had any doubt as to how vile the low-life vermin of the MSM is, this will dispel your doubts for good. And Tommy needs our support.

    freespeechbacklash.com

  42. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/86c245b9fa8b324a78b58a23362314ec85c72c48d4d822d7b9406466429951e9.png

    Mrs Heartsease
    17h
    Remember the outcry from the Left when having to show some form of photo ID was required for voting? Labour, unions, the BBC and the Guardian were all having fits of the vapours. They've clearly overcome their misgivings (presumably because their usual supporters have gone down the postal vote route en masse).

    Nilnine
    17h
    How does an ID card stop someone without any ID getting in a dinghy and travelling a few hundred yards and then getting ferried to England by the Royal Navy, still without any ID, before being given free accommodation by the Home Office, still without any ID?

    Paleface
    16h
    The paddlers don't even try to "forge" anything to get the full VIP treatment in Britain
    They chuck their passports into the English Channel before the RNLI taxi picks them up

    Then we gibs house, money, phone, health care, dental treatment and free daytrips to Anfield etc without having the smallest idea of who they are

    1. The day that 1200 illegal immigrants arrived in dinghies some friends of ours were delayed for an hour while everyone had their papers and passports checked.

      The moral is: If you have all your papers in order you will be buggered about; if you arrive illegally you will get a free pass.

        1. The political idiots have deliberately lost control of our borders. While allowing ourselves to be used started in 1948, the real rot set in with Tony Blair (as with so much). There is a special corner in Hell for that man, whatever he wants to believe as an RC.

    1. Why are so few politicians in prominent positions not prepared to tell us the obvious truth:

      PROMOTING FEAR OF MAN-MADE GLOBAL WARMING IS A TOTAL AND DELIBERATE SCAM

      2. Global warming is the religion of the Fourth Reich. Yoo vill beleef whot we tell you and do as you arr told – Or else!!

      3. A chap came to give a global boiling talk local village hall, one of attendees told me supported by CofE…I told him what I thought (scam and why) but he wasn't convinced. Maybe he is now.

    2. No wonder we have so many potholes.
      And it's been established that the comparison and overall equivalent between petrol and electric cars works out as 5mpg for electric vehicles and 40 mpg with small petrol engines.

      1. When we drove the car onto the IOW Red Funnel ferry , there appeared to be dozens of electric cars, loads of Indians with very expensive cars, they can afford them , BUT would the extra weight and hazard be taken into account?

        1. RORO, should definitely be, risky enough as it is if too many non EVs are taken on.

        1. We use to have a 2 litre Diesel Passat auto. 55 – 60 to the gallon on a long steady run.

          1. Not sure of my engine capacity but it’s a Peugeor 206 that I bought new in 2007. Just clicked over to 49,000 yesterday. Uncomplicated and nice to drive, though OH finds the steering heavy after his hybrid. We’ve only got the one car now – really can’t justify running two.

          2. We are the same one car now a Seat Leon estate auto. But with ‘leather upholstery’, as I keep reminding our eldest who has the same. 🤭
            Without the leather.

    1. The last time I was immersed in the sea ( I can't say 'swam') was off the coast of France in 1983.

  46. Phew! I smell all smoky!
    Fire started and about 4½ or so oil-drum loads of brash duly burnt.
    The last drum full is well below the rim of the barrel, so, given the soggy state of the ground and the intermittent rain, is safe to leave to it's own devices.

    Because of the aforesaid state of the surroundings, it took a bit of an effort to get it going, having to resort to the blowtorch to do so. Now sat relaxing with a mug of tea then back up to check the fire.
    And yes, I did warn the Derbyshire Fire Control Room before starting!

  48. Well – that's an excellent loaf baked. Will last a week. Very satisfactory. Needless to say, the forecast heavy rain did NOT materialise and the village event is going ahead. EXCEPT that the chap in charge of the barbecue decided that the likely rainfall was so dire – he'd cancel. Pity. But quite understandable.

    1. Serious question for once How do you stop the bread from going hard/stale if you can keep it for a week?

        2. Thank you.
          I've used lemon juice to stop raw pastry going off in the fridge.

          1. How does that work? So you put it in the pastry when you are making it?
            And how long does it work for?

      5. Slice it, wrap individual slices in clingfilm and freeze. Unfreeze as required – it will be ok after months in the freezer

      6. Apparently a way of preventing bread going stale (as opposed to refreshing already stale bread) is to put it in an airtight box like a tupperware box, together with some fresh bay leaves. It seems to have worked with us – we have sourdough bread, but it is eaten very quickly too.

    2. Only four more loaves plus two fish and you can feed everybody in the absence of the barbecue man.

    4. My rye sourdough used to last a week until the current wife became addicted to it. When our daughter comes to visit she has to take a loaf home with her. I have to make 2 or 3 loaves a week now.

  49. The village event we were going to was going ahead with some stalls in the hall and no vehicles allowed to drive onto the field. We had to make a decision on Thursday evening – though we were offered a space in the hall yesterday afternoon……. there was no way we could find or transport a 6ft trestle table.

  50. 4 men, one each corner and the person in charge calls out, "Hands on, lift UP"

  51. A ominous trend comin Britain's way..

    Out of control crazy Leftie lawyers destroying the judiciary.
    "A District Judge with supposedly regional jurisdiction issue blanket pardons on every which issue. In other words the President of the USA elected by the majority of the people.. and I'm the lowest court judge in some district of California or Texas.. but I can issue like that an edict a fiat that's gonna cancel out the whole Trump foreign policy of the United States right in the middle of crucial negotiations about terror. I'll just do it. And maybe if I get reversed.. who cares, because I'm a crazy cherry picked left wing activist judge and with the circuit court and supreme court process that'll be three months wasted of Trump's term.
    And you know what.. I'll high five the other Leftie judges and say "I just took three months off that 48 month tenure.. now it's your turn to come in the tag-wrestling ring now and take your shot."
    So they've destroyed the judiciary. They have made the District Court judge.. the lowest tier of federal judges the most powerful arbiter of US foreign policy. They have more power than The House, The Senate and even the Supreme Court. They gotta be dealt with." Victor Davis Hanson

    There was a reason Oliver Cromwell hated all lawyers.. Mercantile, King's & Church lawyers.. and devised a model where they weren't any where near power. Then along came a lawyer called Tony.

  52. Rogerborg ⬛🟧
    2h
    "Տо, Nаԁiүаh, հоw ԁо yоᴜ 𝚏eеl abоᴜ𝚝 үоur cоо𝚔іng shоԝ beiոg cancelled?"

    "Gaᴢа Gaᴢа ɡeոоϲiԁe mυѕlіm Is𝚛aеl mᴜѕlіm gеnоϲide."

    Wհү сaո't 𝚝հеү juѕ𝚝 be nоrmаl?
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/51a8f5609cdd2cf943aa5263613c782dab382c9b5f4451c8a4d4ece6e17efa08.png

    UK Legislation
    Rogerborg ⬛🟧
    31m
    The TV chef also discussed her feelings about the Gaza war, and her desire to work with brands who share similar values to her.
    "I'm way more mindful of who I work with, brands I work with, especially if they are brands that support the genocide," she said. "I've made sure I'm actively working with brands that align with me."

    another Hamas supporter then

      1. I've never watched the show she won but it was clear from the line-up at the start who was going to win before they baked anything. I remember us discussing that here at the time. Well – she's had her day and now it's someone else's turn.

    1. I always used to calculate inflation over the years by the price of beer. I used to use the price of a typical bitter though, as Guinness is very variable in price. My local currently charges £6 for Guinness while the Queen's Head at Albaston 2 miles away charges just a fiver.

      When I started work in 1969 a bog standard pint of bitter was 2s, so 10 to the £. Currently the average pint of bitter is about £4.50. So by my bitter calculation makes an increase of 4,400%.

  54. A good hatchet job here from Simon Heffer on Sarah Vine's book.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/non-fiction/review-how-not-to-be-a-political-wife-sarah-vine-memoir/
    The “misery memoir” was a genre one thought peculiar to the early years of this century. However, with this strange book, Sarah Vine, formerly Mrs Michael Gove, has resurrected it. Its title, How Not to Be a Political Wife, seems flippant, and one expects, when beginning it, to experience some sort of extended stunt. What one gets is in turns interesting, embarrassing and, fundamentally, mildly tragic.

    Ms Vine’s contention is that she married a journalist and ended up with a politician; that politics is horrible; and it ruined her marriage and, to a great extent, her life and her children’s. How far this is true must be up to each reader to judge. Because of the detail into which the author chooses to go, it seems to this reader that certain factors had shaped her life and her character long before her husband arrived.

      1. Or was it being treated as a skivvy by the Camerons (Lord and Lady Greenswill)?

      1. The conceited little trud His-sloppy calling other people vain??? Wotta larf.

      2. The conceited little trud His-sloppy calling other people vain??? Wotta larf.

    4. Gove is apparently portrayed in the book as a man with principles. Well that's utter codswallop for a start!

    1. I often refer to the infiltration of the left as a cancer, they appear silently, are very difficult to get rid of and will kill the host. Society is now so infiltrated that there is little hope for a return to what we knew, even such a colossus as Trump is having difficulties.

    2. So effectively, Antifa is running the country (judean people's front/people's front of judea). What a sh*show.

    1. I'm not sure the questioner is very bright either.; "all four hemispheres"

      3. Remember that, according to J Caesar (whatever did he do for us?), Gaul was quartered into three halves.

    2. I think most of us already know this has happened to our country. But The UK doesn't have a separate capital.

    3. I think that rather explains why there is not as much diversity in TV quiz shows as there is in TV advertising.

    4. Did those people ever go to school? They are stupid? Or just completely uneducated? What are they all doing for a living – benefits!!! Because none of those dossers could hold down a job.

  59. What a plant she was! My grandchildren bake better than she did! That cake she ‘made’ for the Queen….what a joke!🙄

        1. "= what an abomination. It looks as if it might explode any moment now. Get it, or me, out of here."

      2. I remembered that pic of him dancing…..if you could call it that. I also remember Kamikhazi sweating like a pig at the Queen’s funeral.

  63. Two young boys walked into a pharmacy one day, picked out a box of tampons and proceeded to the checkout counter.
    The pharmacist at the counter asked the older boy, 'Son, how old are you?'
    'Eight', the boy replied.
    The man continued, 'Do you know what these are used for?'
    The boy replied, 'Not exactly, but they aren't for me. They're for him. He's my brother. He's four."
    "Oh, really?" the pharmacist replied with a grin.
    "Yes." the boy said. "We saw on TV that if you use these, you would be able to swim, play tennis and ride a bike. Right now, he can't do none of those."

  65. I don't believe this >:-((
    I lost my secateurs about two weeks ago. Finally bought another pair today, having looked everywhere.
    Guess what I found just now in a dark corner of the cellar stairs…..

    2. Still haven't found a set of back door keys.
      Nearly three months, now.
      I suspect I will find them somewhere embarrassing that suggests I haven't cleaned/dusted/tidied up for months – possibly not since we moved house.

        1. Yes. Yes. And Yes.
          Also dog walking jackets, shoulder bags I haven't used for years – even moved sofa cushions.

          1. There are several items lurking in the house somewhere that the DT put "somewhere safe" over the years and which have NEVER seen the light of day!

          2. Aaaand relax, whilst thinking ‘there’s another hour I’ll never get back…’ x

          1. If you have one set of back door keys, get another set cut – the missing ones will immediately appear…

      3. Drastic action will be required, like searching for something else.

        I emptied a couple of moving boxes a few weeks ago. Also hung some curtains and a lamp shade. We moved in 2013…

        2. I bought a house in Clapham in 1977. Sold it in early 1984. Had to rush in the last three weeks to complete the construction of a large unit in the dining room! The grout on the tiling was still damp as I left!!

        1. Erm- don't think keys to the back door of the new house would be left in the old house, somehow… :0)

          Perhaps ask the sellers of the new house where they left them?

  66. I am still hoping o locate the former kitchen knife that I used for weeding…..It is in the bloody garden somewhere!!!

  67. I still think I might find my old ones somewhere – but they haven't turned up yet.

  68. Mrs Heartsease
    2h
    Another BBC 'star' found to be a wrong 'un. 'Bargain Hunt expert jailed for selling art to suspected Hezbollah financier.'
    BBC deploys its standard obfuscation: "Ojiri is not a member of staff but a freelance presenter."

    1. Mrs Badenoch is of course an import herself. Conceived and gestated abroad, delivered in the UK.

      1. She said that in 1998. A US lawyer friend of mine was a Rhodes scholar alongside Bill C and went to work for him in the White House. They exited in under 8 months.

        1. Tbh, Citroen…their voters/supporters walk among us, there’s the real deal…….

    2. Ain't that the truth.
      The war cemetary outside Siracusa, Sicily, is a special place.
      Beside the main road, it looks very much like the picture above, yet there's no traffic noise… it's all silence and peace. And awfully sad.
      1 063 Commonwealth soldiers buried there about 1943.

      From ChatGPT:
      The Syracuse War Cemetery, located just east of Siracusa in Sicily, is the final resting place for 1,063 individuals, primarily Commonwealth servicemen who died during the early stages of the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943. ([ http://wikisicily.com ][1])

      ### Nationalities and Proportions of the Burials

      The breakdown of the burials by nationality is as follows:

      | Nationality | Number of Burials | Approximate Proportion | |
      | ——————- | —————– | ———————- | ———————————————————————————————- |
      | United Kingdom | 985 | 92.6% | |
      | India | 41 | 3.9% | |
      | South Africa | 7 | 0.7% | |
      | Australia | 5 | 0.5% | |
      | Canada | 4 | 0.4% | |
      | New Zealand | 1 | 0.1% | |
      | Other Commonwealth | 11 | 1.0% | |
      | Greece | 3 | 0.3% | |
      | Netherlands | 2 | 0.2% | |
      | Unknown nationality | 6 | 0.6% | |
      | **Total** | **1,063** | **100%** | ([ http://italymagazine.com ][2], [ http://it.wikipedia.org ][3], [ http://liberationroute.com ][4], [ http://findagrave.com ][5]) |

      The vast majority of those interred are from the United Kingdom, constituting approximately 92.6% of the total burials. The remaining graves include servicemen from other Commonwealth nations and allied countries. Notably, there are also six individuals of unknown nationality buried here. ([ http://liberationroute.com ][4])

      The cemetery also contains the ashes of several British war widows who requested to be interred alongside their husbands. ([ http://liberationroute.com ][4])

      Established in 1943, the Syracuse War Cemetery serves as a poignant reminder of the sacrifices made during the Second World War, particularly during the Allied landings in Sicily.([ http://en.wikipedia.org ][6])

      [1]: https://www.wikisicily.com/siracusa/syracuse-war-cemetery-history.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com "HISTORICAL INFORMATION OF SYRACUSE WAR CEMETERY by 1°ITIS M. Bartolo – PACHINO"
      [2]: https://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/siracusa-war-cemetery-lest-we-forget?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Siracusa War Cemetery: Lest We Forget | ITALY Magazine"
      [3]: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syracuse_War_Cemetery?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Syracuse War Cemetery"
      [4]: https://www.liberationroute.com/pois/2108?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Siracusa cemetery"
      [5]: https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2163081/syracuse-war-cemetery?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Syracuse War Cemetery in Syracuse, Sicilia – Find a Grave Cemetery"
      [6]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syracuse_War_Cemetery?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Syracuse War Cemetery"

      1. The Lotus Eaters podcast from 6th June was dedicated just to D Day landings. Worth watching/listening to.

  71. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/07/prison-governor-skull-smashed-inmate-crime-shabana-mahmood/

    Prison governor has skull smashed in by inmate

    Union chief calls for ‘supermax-style’ jails as assaults on staff triple over 10 years

    07 June 2025 10:33am BST
    Home Affairs Editor

    A prison governor has suffered a fractured skull after an inmate attacked them in the latest assault in Britain’s overcrowded jails.

    The governor is understood to have been attending a celebratory event held on one of the wings at HMP Ranby in Retford, Nottinghamshire, when he was attacked on May 16.

    It is rare for a governor to suffer such an assault and he is said to have been so seriously injured that he is still recovering in hospital nearly three weeks after the attack.

    It has sparked calls by Tom Wheatley, the head of the Prison Governors’ Association, for the Government to consider US “supermax-style” regimes within prisons for the most violent and dangerous offenders.

    Supermax units in the US see inmates confined for most of the day in single cells with facilities made of poured, reinforced concrete to deter self-harm. They have few privileges and are kept under 24-hour supervision, with high staff–inmate ratios.

    Violent assaults

    His call follows a series of violent assaults over the past month which have seen prison officers stabbed and seriously injured.

    Hashem Abedi, a plotter of the Manchester Arena bombing, attacked and injured three officers in a separation unit in the high security Frankland jail in County Durham. Abedi, who is serving life, threw hot cooking oil over them and stabbed them with two makeshift knives he had fashioned from baking trays in the kitchen.

    Police are also investigating an attack by Axel Rudakubana, the Southport killer, a who is alleged to have thrown scalding hot water from his kettle over a prison officer at HMP Belmarsh high-security jail in south London.

    A prison officer was seriously injured this month when he was stabbed in an unprovoked attack by an inmate with a knife believed to have been flown into HMP Long Lartin high-security jail in Worcestershire by a drone.

    Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, has ordered a review of separation centres used for dangerous Islamist terrorists, which could see them expanded.

    This week she also announced front-line prison officers overseeing separation centres and other segregation units in high-security jails will be given stab vests. A trial is also planned for staff to carry Tasers.

    However, Mr Wheatley said the attack on the governor at HMP Ranby, a category C training prison, showed that serious violence was not restricted to only high-security prisons.

    “These attacks are not about the method of the assault, it is about the intent. What we need to change is something about the environment that deals with the intent of people to cause our staff harm,” he told The Telegraph.

    “What we need to carefully consider are different regimes for prisoners who exhibit that level of violence. Every prison currently has a segregation unit and these violent prisoners can expect to be segregated.

    “They may get an additional sentence [as a result of the assault] but if you are serving a life sentence like Abedi, that is not going to make a difference.

    “We need to consider things like administrative segregation regimes, like in America, which are about keeping people without very many possessions away from everybody else because they have been violent. There should be proper consideration of that. I am not supporting it but we need to think about it.”

    Mr Wheatley acknowledged there would be resource implications. It would require extra exercise yard space in prisons as each isolated prisoner would have to get their supervised daily exercise hour on their own – or a change to the requirement for every inmate to have at least an hour every day of fresh air.

    Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of terror legislation, has been appointed by Ms Mahmood to review separation units. He has said he will consider the “human consequences” of segregating prisoners in such a way that it reduces the risk of violence to “near zero”, including super-max regimes.

    Some 10,605 assaults on staff in male and female jails were recorded in 2024, up from 9,204 in 2023 and nearly three times the 3,640 in 2014.

    1. The authorities' response is nowhere near harsh enough, so prisoners have no fear.

      1. Exactly, KJ. "Supermax units in the US see inmates confined for most of the day in single cells" – and Tommy was thus confined because of the nature and violence of the other inmates.

        1. Lucky they prevented the slammers attacking TR. With recent judgements in mind, he could have been charged with a public order offence for an attack upon his person. Are mad judges never held to account.

  72. David Gee
    19m
    "A Home Office spokesperson said: "We inherited an asylum system under exceptional pressure, and continue to take action, restoring order, and reduce costs."
    From a BBC news website piece about the foreign aid money being spent on UK hotel rooms for ill eagles.

    Clearly a dimwit spokesperson: the Labour government inherited the situation, whereas the Home Office had always owned it and failed to take action, restore order and reduce costs.

    1. Yes, Citroen…our real and permanent government – the Civil Service. Thatcher sussed them out pdq.

    3. Reducing costs for who? Them, by hiking taxes. Restoring peace? What gibberish . They're making everything worse.

  75. And in other news – the decision to cancel the barbecue fully justified. It was to serve food between 12.30 and 1.30. At 12….15 steady and very wet rain began to fall. Not pouring, but certainly enough to deter one from queueing – and James (the gentil organisateur) to stand there cooking.

      1. We've had some rain – but nothing like the thunder and monsoon we were promised by the Wet office.

  76. Checked the oil-drum incinerator and found a very hot heap of ashes at the bottom, so filled another one of the mini-bulk builder's bags with brash from up the hillside and added that to the fire.
    As a rule of thumb, one mini-bag full of brash is very handle-able equals ½ a drum full.
    Very handy especially when I only have to walk over to one of the engineering firms in t'mill and relieve them of a waste disposal problem!

    1. Hope you have done the compulsory three-day training (at your expense) in handling empty drums…. Elfin Safety and all that….

      1. Quite simple really.
        Use jigsaw with hacksaw blade to cut lid off, use a hand-pick to knock several holes in the base and lower section of the drum, then using a core drill, put three or four 1½ to 2" round the sides about 3 to 4" above the base.

  77. My grandson's diagnosis is Mohr-Tranebjaerg Syndrome (deafness, dystonia & optic atrophy). He has bilateral cochlear implants but so far no sight problems but rapid onset of dystonia means he can't take food by mouth any more.

    A Gastrostomy was done 30th April at the Noah's Ark hospial in Cardiff. Mon-key button fitted, (very appropriately named in his case!) Back home on 8th May.
    I stayed the night to help with the meds and pump so his mother could finally get a bit of sleep after 10 days in hospital with very little.

    Powys health board are incredibly poor at providing for his needs. He needs 2000ml of feed a day through his tube, that is 4 500ml bottles a day. Where are the supplies? Order gone astray so a big rush to Cardiff to pick up some more.

    An electric wheelchair has been ordered but can't be delivered until the council have installed a ramp to their front door. In any case it will be too big and heavy to lift into my daughter's car.

    Today they had an early start for a couple of days in Dublin. God knows where they found room for 8 feed bottles on the flight.

    1. Dear God, Rusty. That's awful for everyone, especially the little lad.

      I don't know whether this will be of any use:

      Metabolic Support UK at 0800 652 3181.

      2. I may be wrong but couldn't see any relevance for that organisation. We are lucky to have access to a children's hospice where he goes a few days a month.

        1. Sorry. I just googled the dreadful disease and "help available" and Metabolic Support came up.

    4. Lordy, that's hard on the wee lad. What happened to Dad? Best wishes to Grandson, Mother and you, Twig.
      It's difficult to think how, but let me know if there's anything I can do to help.

        1. Double sympathy for the lad. The last thing he needs is for his Dad to run away. Yes, this stuff is hard, probably the hardest thing you will ever be tasked with, but then is the time to stand up, give love and support. Not just vanish.
          I guess it’s about growing up, to realise that other’s feelings may be more iomportant than yours. That was one realisation when I was due to be a Dad: No longer could I always do what suited me, there were other, more important people in the relationship.

          1. Most disabled kids grow up in single parent households because the fathers do a runner. Sad but true.
            A former colleague of mine had a severely disabled daughter – he was a devoted father – they went through hard times though.

          2. Running away from such a situation is a cowardly act. Anyone who does that has no right to be called a man. Just scum. And, yes, there will be hard times, but you can look yourself in the eye and tell yourself you did the right thing by your family.

          3. You say that, but a co-worker of mine has a disabled daughter and the mother did a runner. He stayed to care for her. I can't say I like him as a person but as a Dad he's gone through some crap.

          4. Good on him. Done the manly thing – stood up for his responsibilities.

          6. This is, sadly, and very honestly, something the Warqueen didn't really learn until much later.

          7. I hesitate to comment, as I’m not the most relationship-aware on the planet.
            What changed me was a friend who killed herself, and I never knew she as feeling that way. If I’d have had even an inkling, I’d have done something about it, including flying down to see her – but no, and she’s dead nearly 30 years, and I still cannot get past it.
            I was supposed to be her friend, and I didn’t notice such a huge problem in her life, and now she’s been dead so long – husband and child (now nearly middle-aged man) have lost her.
            At least, I learned how suicide affects all around you.

    5. Good grief, RT! I’m so sorry for the little lad, and all the family. What a dreadful disease to have to deal with, and so young. Sending good wishes to you all.

    6. So sorry to hear this, RT.
      But do encourage his parents Mum to explore Peronal Independence Payment: a successful clain could secure a Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle from Motability…

    7. I'm really sorry to hear that. It is incredibly unfair that far less deserving people are perfectly healthy while your grandson suffers so.

      1. The latest problems with eating only started at Easter but they got the gastrostomy sorted very quickly.

    1. Wonder if the play/musical ("The Lost Colony") put on every summer season in Manteo will need a re-write. Went to see it back around 1981-1982, the first time we had gone to the Outer Banks. Have gone semi regularly since, but these days further north in Corolla – literally miles and miles of yellow sandy beaches and sunshine guaranteed in summer. And best of all, not crowded – plenty of room to pitch a couple of awnings and spread out, even if we don't hit the beach until the afternoon.

    1. Magnificent! I think they grow quite tall, Alec…or is that a different variety? x

      1. Yes Kate they can grow quite big, in my previous house I had some which were over 10ft and more than that wide x

          3. Yes It’s a nickname I got 65 years ago in the RAF because I got a bad crew cut, hardly applies now because I have very little x

          4. My mother once cut my hair like that, I remember sobbing 😭 hair grey now but still long and thick…cba to have it cut…😄 Alec is better, a good name x

    3. I rather like the American idea of justice. Two men tried to break in to a recently widowed woman's house. She shot and killed one of them, the other escaped, however he was found. He was put on trial for first degree murder and found guilty. The widow was not even prosecuted, justifiable homicide on her part.

      1. Saves the cost of a trial, too.

        I always thought the Houston attempted robbery wasa good example – guy comes in waving his gun around and demands money from customers, The one customer pulls his gun and shoots the robber. Case presented toa Grand Jury, whi decided no action should be taken. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4xNs0HwQ7c

        1. Bet you the crook was a black.

          As for shot multiple times – it's a bullet. You don't keep going!

        2. In Texas, you go into a restaurant waving a (toy) gun around and threatening people, it'll not go well. For you.

      2. Don't want nasty things to happen… don't try to rob/murder folk. It's easy to understand, really.

      4. In the UK were that to happen the woman would be arrested, charged, punished by two tier Kier, jailed and her property sold to compensat the family of the scum.

    4. I rather like the American idea of justice. Two men tried to break in to a recently widowed woman's house. She shot and killed one of them, the other escaped, however he was found. He was put on trial for first degree murder and found guilty. The widow was not even prosecuted, justifiable homicide on her part.

    5. Not my idea of a man. increasingly fewer real men around in this country nowadays.

    6. What sort of mind thinks that's funny?

      These creatures are vermin. It's long past time to remove the pollution from this country.

  82. Younger daughter, husband and the twins left mad Harry here early this morning, and drove up to Lossiemouth for the Open Day at the RAF base. Daddy is ex RAF radar, and they are having an absolute ball! Daughter says she’s now got 3 kids in tow! The fabulous Red Arrows went over before and the boys were ecstatic! They’ve been able to sit in the cockpit of a couple of planes and are in heaven! So is Daddy!

    1. I think Daddy can be lumped in with the rest of the kids Sue.

      5. Butter wouldn't melt….
        In 20 years they will have their own to fly.

  86. I don’t think we are contradicting each other – the seeds were sown many decades ago, but the conditions for the apathetic, uninformed, lazy plant that is much of the electorate were simply increased.

    1. I don't really understand what they think. It's as if they've forgotten that hte conflict is the fault – as it always is – of muslim.

      Humas keep whinging, but they had a choice not to bomb Israel and kidnap Jews. They chose to. Thus they provoked a response. Frankly, Israel is being very restrained.

    2. In Crawley
      1h
      Apparently another BBC type has had to remove something online that’s caused offence, Dawn French decided to get involved with the on going situation in Israel and Gaza, she has apologised so that’s all ok then.

      Send in the Clones
      In Crawley
      51m
      Others are in prison (without appeal) for much, much less.
      This is a disgrace.

    1. Madeline Grant & Rupert Lowe doing a great impersonation of the 2TK nasal whine.
      Michael, you wasted yr 80 seat majority. How much did you hand out during covid?
      Nigel Farage is a beech tree.. nothing grows under a beech tree.
      Repeal. Cut the lawyers off at their knees.
      So a reformed Tory party wins the 2029 election with Katie Lamb as PM, says Gove. Madeline Grant & Michael Gove high five.       LOL

      1. Yes. He is spot on about politicians as well. We need to go back to having fewer “profesional” ones and more like him. Another Bliar atrocity

  89. Another dinner party tonight. Menu today is tomato soup and olive bread rolls; pulled beef and coleslaw two ways (the second one is very odd; neither has mayonnaise) and picked red onion; chocolate mousse and/or lemon posset; seedy crackers with a selection of English cheeses. And i’ve finally crakes open the green tomato chutney from a few years ago. All home made.

  90. Wordle No. 1,449 3/6

    🟨🟨⬜⬜🟩
    ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 7 Jun 2025

    Rehash for Birdie Three?

    1. Well done, me too… I had 4 of the letters but it still took me some time to come up with a couple of options – then guessed right!

      Wordle 1,449 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟨🟨🟨
      ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Guessed as well.

      Wordle 1,449 3/6

      🟨⬜⬜🟨🟩
      ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      Bad smoke from those forest fires in western Canada. Al out foggy and smells like uncle Bill Thomas has another bonfire going.

    4. Well done. Bogey for me today. (Predictive text wanted to turn that into Bogart. Play it again, Sam.)

      Wordle 1,449 5/6

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

    5. Well done, same here.

      Wordle 1,449 3/6

      ⬜🟨⬜🟩🟩
      ⬜🟨🟨🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  92. Re the link to the Hawksnoor restaurant tweet, where they said they had asked a public figure to leave becaise “staff felt uncomfortable” (and now the CEO is whinging a out the fallout.

    Damn right there should be fallout. That chain of restaurants deserves to fold.

    But. Who was the “public figure”?

      1. That has made me very cross, and very sad. Do these morons not understand democracy?

        1. Of course not. The number of cars I saw with EU logos that were registered after we voted for Brexit was disappointing. Even 70 plates.

      2. And former prominent EDL member Guramit Singh Kalirai, who was with Robinson, claimed they were thrown out "for no reason".

        Sounds like – at least two – good reasons!

      1. That is the Hawksmoor chain off my list. And a boycott of their supermarket products.

  94. Apparently in 2023 the Netherlands government signed a secret NATO document that commits the Netherlands to "preparedness" goals for NATO. But it is so secret that it can't be discussed, though "preparedness" can apparently be as widely interpreted as the WHO's "threats to public health". Funnily enough, "preparedness" goals seem to bear a remarkable resemblance to the UN's Agenda 2030.
    https://sashalatypova.substack.com/p/bombshell-dutch-government-admits?publication_id=870364&post_id=165410262&isFreemail=true&r=28gmek&triedRedirect=true&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

    What's the betting that our traitor of the hour signed it too?

  95. Just read a long account of the exploits of Mad Jack Churchill. John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill, DSO & Bar, MC & Bar
    The man was amazing, unbelievable. I can't find the link and it is a long tale but I have posted the link to a shorter account on Wikipedia
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill

  96. Breaking news:

    Don’t believe everything you read in the press. Zia Yusuf did make a couple of hasty statements and resigned as our chairman.

    But I am pleased to announce that he will now take up a new role and head up our DOGE team, visiting the County Councils where we are in control and looking to save the taxpayer money.

    He has done incredible work for the party and deserves much of the credit for our recent successes.

    He will continue to be an important part of the team that we are building to fight and win the next general election.

    There will be more appointments over the next few days.

    Yours,

    Nigel Farage

      3. I've been with UKIP, the Brexit Party, and Reform, Bill. I was active in UKIP; less so in the others, but its well known that Nigel's judgement of character leaves something to be desired. Yusuf was directly appointed by Farage. Not a popular appointment among the grassroots, but – give him his due – he has done a huge amount of work to create branhes and professionalise the party (akin to herding cats).

        His (Yusuf's) man-management style is abysmal. I've encountered his type, and still have the scars…

        I believe his first sacking was Gawain Towler; Ben Habib's departure may have been before Yusuf's tenure, but he left a trail of ex-Reform types, culminating in Rupert Lowe, who in my opinion, is a better Parliamentarian than the remaining 5 Reform MPs put together. He's a greay loss to the party, for which I hold Yusuf entirely responsible. The clash of two planet-sized egos could have been managed in due course, but for Yusuf…

          5. She’s deluded if she thinks he’s working for the British people. His allegiance will be to the ummah.

        2. 'Evening, Geoff…good to see you here. Possibly this is a case of 'funding should it be required'. I know a few supporters, no longer quite as enthusiastic as they were post-Habib. I've read UKIP failed because Farage/Tice took funding for personal reasons – obviously can't vouch for veracity for that. For now, keeping powder dry, but watching/waiting to decide if continuing to vote Reform. K x

        1. Don’t agree – Farage would have hung the slammer out to dry; vice versa (if that is how you like your vice) he dare not let the damaging info out.
          Hullo Petard -good evening Hoist.

      1. I hesitate to upvote that ogga, as I have no idea what it means but it sounds rude…

  97. That's me for this damp, inhospitable day. I hope it is better tomorrow. It will still rain.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

  100. Colin Macinnes
    3h
    Even Sweden's had enough
    Estonia will lease space at Tartu Prison to Sweden and accept up to 600 inmates under a new agreement being negotiated between the two countries. The draft legislation has been sent to the parliament.

    Meanwhile, the Estonian Office of the Chancellor of Justice and the Internal Security Service emphasise the risks that placing foreign prisoners in Tartu may bring.

    Amid the possible worsening situation for the Estonian prisoners, the main concern is that people with connections to extremism or international organised crime may arrive in Estonia.

    The Internal Security Service has forwarded the recommendations to the government and hopes that it will take them into account to the greatest extent possible.

  102. 406911+ up ticks,

    What can be seen as "doing a nige"

    Dt,

    Zia Yusuf returns to Reform 48 hours after resigning
    Former chairman blames ‘exhaustion’ for decision to leave party

    The future muslim vote in the future will have a great deal to answer for.

    2. My friend is at a Reform meeting in Cardiff right now and promises to tell me what happens

  105. Ernest Nowell
    11m
    Looks as though Starmer is advising England on how to beat Andorra!

    2. Q. How does a Geordie cook stew during a power cut?
      A. By using a wey haye box.

    3. Funny, Alec….serious side, use an air fryer all the time, like it. Slow cookers good if you're going to be out all day.

    2. Which all goes to prove that Miliband is a far greater threat than the Big Bad Wolf!

  108. A quiet afternoon as I had to have a couple of hours in bed as I had a migraine type "aura" of flashing light before my eyes.
    However, did get another mini-bag of brash filled up and burnt.

    2. I get that type of migraine. No headache, just the flashing lights. Naps have to be taken sitting. No going back to bed once the makeup is on. Have you ever tried doing nowt all day?

      2. I used to get those, Sue…gradually stopped with menopause, thank goodness. Never get headache now. Wish you all the best with yours x

      3. I get "zigzag" eyesight when I'm over-tired.
        Have had it at irregular intervals since my early teens.
        It was only a few years ago that I learnt it was a form of migraine.

  112. Comment of the week..

    We can not even trust Mohammed Zia Yusuf to resign.

  113. White British children are now minority in one in four schools
    Department of Education figures follow predictions that white Britons will be a minority in the next 40 years

    Ben Butcher
    Data Editor
    07 June 2025 12:38pm BST

    White British pupils are now the minority in one in four schools in England, official data reveal.

    Analysis of school census data, collected from more than 21,500 primaries and secondaries in January, shows that in a quarter of them, the majority of the cohort is recorded as ethnic minority or white non-British.

    In 72 schools, no white British pupils are recorded, and in 454, they make up less than 2 per cent of the student body.

    The demographic shift is apparent in many of the country’s big cities such as London, Birmingham, Manchester, Bradford and Leicester.

    Some schools recorded no white British pupils at all, while others had a very small number Credit: SolStock/E+
    At Rockwood Academy, in Birmingham, for instance, none of the 1,084 students were recorded in the census as “white British”, while just 12 of the 2,779 pupils at Loxford School, in the London borough of Redbridge, were white British.

    The figures, released by the Department of Education this week, have been published as a report predicted that white British people will become a minority in the UK population within the next 40 years.

    The Buckingham University study projects a big rise in the proportion of the UK population comprising foreign-born and second-generation immigrants, from below 20 per cent to 33.5 per cent within the next 25 years.

    By the end of the century, six in 10 people in the UK will either not have been born in the UK, or will have at least one immigrant parent, and one in five will be Muslim, according to the report by Prof Matt Goodwin.

    The dramatic population change raises “profound questions about the capacity of the UK state to both absorb and manage this scale of demographic change”, he claimed.

    Concern about legal and illegal immigration levels, and their long-term impact, is fuelling a surge in support for Reform. In this week’s Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, in Scotland, Labour prised a win from the SNP but only Reform saw a significant swing in its favour, taking 26.1 per cent of the vote.

    The party’s performance has led to predictions that Reform is on course to pick up more than 10 seats in next year’s Scottish Parliament elections, and poses a real threat in the 2029 general election.

    The school census data demonstrates that the white British share of the young population is in decline in many areas. Children in state schools in a third of council areas are now mostly ethnic minority or white non-British, up from about a quarter a decade ago.

    In all 32 London boroughs, apart from Bromley, white British children are in a minority. In Bromley, they make up 50.3 per cent. In Newham, just 5 per cent of children were recorded in the school census as white British. The figure in Harrow was 7 per cent.

    Other local authority areas in England where the majority of children are not white British include Manchester, Nottingham, Coventry, Luton, Milton Keynes, Peterborough, Oldham and Blackburn and Darwen.

    The analysis of the school census figures excludes independent schools, schools where a high proportion of students had no ethnicity classification, and those where there were a very low number of pupils.

    Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, raised the “scandal” last week of white working-class educational failure, saying that children had been “betrayed” and “left behind in society”.

    Government data shows that only 21 secondary schools in England where more than a fifth of pupils are white working class had any record of success with this group.

    Nick Harrison, the chief executive of the Sutton Trust social mobility charity, said white working class underachievement was “a ticking time bomb for equality of opportunity in our country”.
    In an attempt to steal ground from Reform, Ms Phillipson announced a new independent inquiry into white working class educational outcomes, which will be led by Sir Hamid Patel, the chief executive of a leading academies trust, and Estelle Morris, a former Labour education secretary.

    While the issue has been widely researched in the past, it has resulted in little or no action to try and tackle the problem. A comprehensive inquiry undertaken by the Commons education committee in 2021 found a significant educational achievement gap between white working class children and their more advantaged peers, and between this group and their equally disadvantaged ethnic minority counterparts.

    According to the report, attainment gaps are fuelled by high concentrations of poverty, inadequate resources, low teacher quality, and a lack of aspiration and investment in disadvantaged areas. Use of the term “white privilege” was also criticised for potentially alienating disadvantaged white communities.

    Lesley Snell
    3 hrs ago
    The poorer migrants, less educated, unable to speak English end up in the working class areas . Then there is head scratching about why white working class children especially boys are the worst performing in the country . Presumably many of the teachers are also from ethnic minorities to help with language etc. These working class white kids must feel like strangers in their own country . What role models do they have ? The Conservative and Labour parties allowed and facilitated this. It wasn’t an accident

    Comment by Cynthia Sherborne.

    CS

    Cynthia Sherborne
    3 hrs ago
    Whenever there is any news item about Education on any TV news station only Black, Asian, Arabic or Eastern European children are shown. You would think that there are NO white indigenous children in any of our schools. When white British children get a mention, it's always in the context of how poorly they are doing. I cannot recall any reporter giving any airtime to the successes of white pupils.

    Lesley Snell
    2 hrs ago
    They are also being erased in advertising

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/07/white-british-children-now-minority-one-in-four-schools/

    2. Have a copy of Atlas Shrugged, Sue…only partly understood parts of it. Will give it another try, on your recommendation.

    1. They are good company, too. And the eggs are fab if fed on mixed corn (not layers pellets)..Hissex finished by ~10/11 months, pure breeds a little longer. Need good fences to keep out foxes, unless you want to keep hens in hut 24/7.

    1. I think he is in the UK at the moment.

      I don't put anything much on the Nottlers' forum when I am away from home as I use a desktop rather than a laptop computer.

  119. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/07/koran-burner-told-of-imminent-terror-threat-to-his-life/

    I don't know what to say here. First the state goes for him, now it ignores the very problem he was pointing out from his own experience.

    It's utter;y putrid. The muslim must be burned out of this country. They have got to go. Made unwelcome, all welfare stopped, all housing stopped, if they so much as flicker criminality, hang them. Stop this namby pamby approach and go full blown medieval.

    Stop watching them for security and actively arrest them. Plod has no problem with thought crime, so actually enforce it against the real threat – muslim.

  120. Just watched England hammer mighty Andorra 1-0 – to be fair they were playing away, but alas so were Andorra as the game was played in Barcelona as the Andorra stadium (park ground) was not ready.
    Still not happy about England picking a Kraut as manager – he'll probably deliberately lose/underperform just to spite us!!

    2. Of course he will – just as the French are very happy to take our money but very reluctant to stop illegal immigrants crossing the channel to England.

      1. If a weak government said to me 'Look, don't bother actually doing anything. We aren't really interested in stopping the invasion so you shouldn't be. Here's half a mill to keep quiet about it.' would you blab?

  121. OK, but it will be a struggle to forgive Zia for the Americanism "dumb".

      1. Once somebody flounces out, they will do it again.
        Any employer can tell you that.
        It's a matter of when, not if.

  122. The closing of a local hair salon tells you why Britain is going bust
    Businesses are facing an onslaught of expanding regulation and rising taxes from Labour. It will leave us all poorer
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/07/closing-local-hair-salon-tells-you-why-britain-bust/

    BTL

    The greatest cause of tax evasion is impossibly high rates of tax.

    Pay tax – your business goes bust; evade it and you might scrape a meagre living.

    Unfortunately virtually none of our politicians and civil servants have ever had the experience of being self-employed and trying to run a small business.

    1. It was the electricity bill that killed the one in Cromford a couple of years ago.

    2. And no one can kick the men in the place where it would hurt them the most. Because they are all wearing skirts.

      1. How odd of God to choose the Jews!

        But not so odd as those who choose a Jewish God and spurn the Jews.

    2. Yet no matter what we do, what we demand, what happens – bombs, stabbings, death threats, terrorism – the Left keep forcing the vile savages on us and then have the gall to scream 'waycist' when the facts are pointed out.

  127. Funny how all those foreign ‘barbers’ are flourishing, isn’t it?

    1. HMRC doesn't care as long as the taxes roll in. Had to explain to lass at the gym that they were simply drug money launderers, and all the dindu pedalos were biking cash and drugs around.

  128. Afternoon, Nottlers. Another lovely day up here in the wilderness. So far we seem to be far enough north to be missing most of the forest fire smoke blowing into parts of the south of Ontario. Lots of bees around feeding on the last of the dandelions (the ones we didn't pick for wine, that is!). 🙂

    1. The other day a colleague at work shared with me a notice from the National Film Board of Canada that until further notice they will only sell footage featuring indigenous people to indigenous film makers. We could argue that we’re indigenous to our own country or just tell them we’re Mohawk but really, the NFBC have lost their marbles. You’re safe from all that in the wilderness?

      1. Hey, Sue! How you doing?

        I haven't heard anything about that – and can't find anything recent about it after a brief search out of interest.

        Generally, I don't bother with what anyone or anything else gets up to, because unless it's a local issue I don't give a flying fuck anymore. There is no government up here, so what other parts of Canada does is irrelevant. It also helps once you stop contributing to the lunacy financially through absolutely minimizing what you give them in taxes.

        I do of course still contribute to the beast when I buy petrol, or gin. So I'm not completely out of it.

          1. Sounds like a decent plan. I’m propagating Rosemary. I mean rosemary.

            #NotFilfth

    3. There may come a point in the not too distant future when Viking raiding parties will be welcomed in England!

      1. When I first visited the Jorvik Centre in York with my mum, she was reading about the raiding parties and said, “Ooh, rape and pillage, I’ll have some of that”. With a perfectly straight face, the gallery attendant answered, “I’m sorry madam, we’re out of rape and pillage today”.

  131. Visiting this charming Norfolk seaside town feels like stepping into another century
    Sheringham has managed to dodge the social issues seen in so many of our seaside towns, without losing its soul to gentrification
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/sheringham-norfolk-seaside-town/

    BTL

    My son, Christo, was at Gresham's School in Holt.

    Gresham's is an Anglican school and so Christo, a Roman Catholic, got permission to cycle to Sheringham Catholic Church each Sunday morning so that he could go to mass. He became friends with the Sheringham priest who came to Gresham's to help Christo prepare for confirmation.

    1. When I as at prep school, we had endless sporting engagements with Greshams.
      Takes me back.

  132. Off topic
    Just back from the first marche gourmande of the season.
    These are essentially village evening fetes with various stalls selling food and drink and sometimes trinkets in the tourist areas.
    Music, either live or DJ'd
    Lots of people there and given how France Rurale we are it was great to see lots and lots of young families, it bodes well for the future.

    On the downside, I was staggered by how fat the population has become on average.
    15 years ago, when we moved here it was noticeable how slim everybody was, the change has been extraordinary.

    1. Hey S. The marche gourmande sound like just my cup of tea glass of Pastis.

      1. They are certainly good fun.
        I retain every 2 euro coin I receive between September and May and I usually collect sufficient for the wine on the evenings and HG"s ice-creams to be covered. We take home the equivalent of a bottle between us too.
        We usually attend three or four a week.
        A tasty main course usually comes in at around the 10 or 12 euro mark.
        This evening I had a very good steak brochette, chips and sautéed peppers for 8 euros.
        We had a small plate of very tasty nibbles, cheeses, pates, fish for 3 euros. 5 pieces each.

        Covid was a disaster, very few of them have really recovered.
        On the positive side they seem to be growing, albeit slowly.

    2. The Frogs do do these things well. On my rare visits to a town it is amazing how many obese people you see here in Cornwall or Devon.

      1. What I really like is the way they greet each other; hand shakes, bisous (air kisses) and just geniality.
        The Mayor and most of the administrative team go to almost every function and they make a point of greeting us.
        There aren't many "Anglais" in our part of the Dordogne, one of the reasons we chose to live here, and the locals seem to go out of their way to be pleasant.
        We try to talk with whoever is nearby and they accept our mediocre Franglais and chatter away happily.
        It's a great life; a shame our French isn't better, but now I forget nearly as much as I learn!

    4. We used to enjoy the 'marche gourmande' when we lived there. Great fun and mostly good food and wine. Sadly the ones near us became overrun with Dutch holidaymakers, some of whom brought their own food.

    5. Medium term consequences of processed food, IMHO. Interesting that it is not only the Brits and the North Americans who are suffering. As per Grizzly, I am sceptical about maize products and rapeseed oil.

      1. I’m certainly sceptical about rape seed oil, but I eat a balanced diet and, if his pictures are to be believed, I’m not as fat as he appears to be.

  133. Evening, all. Was absent yesterday because I won a free ticket to Dogfest at Knebworth House. Unusually for me, who plans everything in advance down to the last detail, I packed up the motorhome and the dogs and headed south in about an hour. I only found out about it when I used the racecourse internet to read my emails. As my horse was running in the 4.10 it didn’t leave much time to get sorted.

    It all went okay, though, apart from the dogs pulling and unbalancing me then stepping into the very space I needed to put my feet to stay upright. I have a mighty bruise on my thigh where I fell on my wallet that was in my trouser pocket.

    1. It could have been worse.
      Your wallet might have fallen on you and you would have been crushed.

      };-))

      1. Still sore. Some idiot is letting off fireworks and Kadi is a nervous wreck.

    1. That's what I wrote
      Your wallet might have fallen on you and you would have been crushed.

  135. What scares me at the moment is that Rachel Reeves will be replaced by an even keener tax and waster.
    Imagine Abbott, Lammy or Rayner in the role.

  140. Liam the Bull … 1 ❤
    Backstreet Barbaric Birmingham Halal Slaughter House …. 0
    So glad he escaped and as the hero he is will live out a peaceful life .. he deserves it .

    Bull on the run given new lease of life
    A young bull spotted trotting through Birmingham city streets after a daring escape is now safe – and has found a forever home 150 miles away at an animal sanctuary in Norfolk.
    The two-year-old Dexter bull, now named Liam, was seen weaving through traffic near New Bond Street in Digbeth on Friday morning (6 June).
    Street cleaners and council staff managed to corral the “beautiful albeit misplaced” animal until he was safely handed over to West Midlands Police.
    It’s believed Liam escaped from an abattoir somewhere in the backstreets of Birmingham.
    He was traced to a Leicestershire farm by his ear tag, but with no one stepping forward to claim him, Hillside Animal Sanctuary stepped in.
    Wendy Valentine, founder of the sanctuary, said: “We were contacted by concerned supporters and knew we had to help. He’s now arrived safely and will live out his days with our 750 other rescued cattle.”
    A bold bid for freedom – and a happy ending.
    📷 Hillside Animal Sanctuary

    1. Given how the number of abattoirs appears to be falling rapidly, how does the Birmingham back street one even exist?
      Illegal or ignored by the council.

    2. A clear case of premeditated Two Tier Slaughter. + high-value rustling or farmer avoiding regulation costs.

    3. Surely they meant, "It’s believed Liam escaped from an ILLEGAL abattoir somewhere in the backstreets of Birmingham"?

    1. The things you see when you're not wearing your Doc Martin's steel toe-capped boots.

  145. In town this morning, there was a lengthy peal of the Abbey's bells followed by a Hogwartesque procession…

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/31b912b165928ece2d40bba761dd65e0bc73f3d465779ba4d30326d138a70108.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/067a20d44f199adc515572a45131d8d737a382582ba1b48ebf3a442a5706c293.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bfd1113c8b7fa0e0b418b213d461fdeca8afa2f5e97636f351f25b2ddc3adde0.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/237b7e0d3184c5fa575b2d8a8141b1cce061583750a152bee7293bc250aaedd1.jpg

  149. Goodnight all. About to fill a hot water bottle and go to bed. I have had to put the heating on.

    1. Another muslim country, formerly East Pakistan. They enjoy living in squalor.

  152. This week’s dinner party (for 6) surprisingly more civilised than last week’s (4 of us).

    I got a few old tapes out to try and listen to (my sound system is screwed) and came across a favourite song from my “Born in the North Die in the North” phase (it is hard being from the Midlands). I looked up the singer and he is doing a gig tomorrow afternoon at the Half Moon in Putney. Serendipity. I have said i want to go there, and so tomorrow afternoon is my opportunity. I can still be in bed by 7 pm – what’s not to love?

  153. Well, chums, it's now past my bedtime. So I wish you all a Good Night. Sleep well and see you all tomorrow morning.

  156. Well it's been raining most of the day I've been trying to cut back the edges where the lawn meets the foot path paving slabs and looks messy. It's a bit easier to do when it's wet.
    But I did enjoy the rugby league I saw.
    Now I'm orff to read a couple of chapters of my current book.
    Good night all Nottlers.
    😴

    1. That rugby league game was brilliant. Fast flowing, non contested scrums etc. it moves so quickly and fluidly. The third official also made quick decisions that kept the game flowing.
      More enjoyable than rugby union especially as it takes them ages to get started again when a scrum’s awarded. The ‘sets’ system of play makes for very attacking and defending play.

    2. Oh dear I've been having problems with my phone, it seems to have suddenly developed a mind of its own.
      That message was originally suposed to have been posted around 10 pm. Saturday.

  158. I already do nearly all of that anyway. just wondered if there were stealth things that weren’t immediately obvious. Whenever I pay by cash (which I try to do as much as possible) I always say to the people I’m paying “use or we’ll lose it” – they invariably agree, but obviously their businesses would go down the pan if they refused cards.

    1. Recently I was asked to upload a video of myself turning my head from one side to the other, to some unknown database run by some unknown company because moneylaundering. I was told that if I didn#t do this, I would be unable to use services that are essential to me. With my spine stiffened by obstinate daughter, I questioned this, and after about ten intrusive and worrying email reminders to send my data it turned out they only needed to see my id and proof of address. (they never actually admitted that; they just stopped sending the reminders).
      This was outside my comfort zone, as it was made very clear that uploading my face was expected, “normal” behaviour and the subtext was that everyone else did it without a fuss.
      They are always finding new cr*p like this to throw at us.

Comments are closed.