Monday 9 June: Politicians must not shy away from any public debate on face coverings

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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720 thoughts on “Monday 9 June: Politicians must not shy away from any public debate on face coverings”

  1. Good morning Geoff and all you NoTTLers. Another couple of Monday Chuckles:

    One night a woman found her husband standing over their newborn baby’s crib. Silently she watched him. As he stood looking down at the sleeping infant, she saw on his face a mixture of feelings: disbelief, doubt, delight, amazement, enchantment, scepticism. Touched by his rare display of deep emotion, she felt her eyes grow moist. She slipped her arms around her husband. “A penny for your thoughts,” she whispered tenderly in his ear. “It’s amazing,” he replied. “A miracle almost. I just can’t see how anybody can make a crib like this for only £49.95!”

    Jim was seconds away from having a vasectomy when his brother and sister-in-law barged in holding their newborn baby. “Stop!” exclaimed the brother. “You can’t go through with this!”
    “And why not?” asked Jim.
    “Don’t you want to have a beautiful baby some day, like my wife and I have here?” Jim said nothing. The brother grew impatient. “Come on, Jim, I want a nephew. Make me an uncle.” Jim couldn’t take any more of this. He gave his sister-in-law an apologetic look and asked his brother: “Are you sure you want a nephew?” “Absolutely,” said the brother. “Well, congratulations,” said Jim, “you’re holding him!”

    P.S. today's Wordle:
    Wordle 1,451 3/6

    🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩🟩🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  2. Good morning Geoff and all you NoTTLers. Another couple of Monday Chuckles:

    One night a woman found her husband standing over their newborn baby’s crib. Silently she watched him. As he stood looking down at the sleeping infant, she saw on his face a mixture of feelings: disbelief, doubt, delight, amazement, enchantment, scepticism. Touched by his rare display of deep emotion, she felt her eyes grow moist. She slipped her arms around her husband. “A penny for your thoughts,” she whispered tenderly in his ear. “It’s amazing,” he replied. “A miracle almost. I just can’t see how anybody can make a crib like this for only £49.95!”

    Jim was seconds away from having a vasectomy when his brother and sister-in-law barged in holding their newborn baby. “Stop!” exclaimed the brother. “You can’t go through with this!”
    “And why not?” asked Jim.
    “Don’t you want to have a beautiful baby some day, like my wife and I have here?” Jim said nothing. The brother grew impatient. “Come on, Jim, I want a nephew. Make me an uncle.” Jim couldn’t take any more of this. He gave his sister-in-law an apologetic look and asked his brother: “Are you sure you want a nephew?” “Absolutely,” said the brother. “Well, congratulations,” said Jim, “you’re holding him!”

    P.S. today's Wordle:
    Wordle 1,451 3/6

    🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩🟩🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  7. Good morning all.
    Dry with a light overcast and a tad below 12°C on the thermometer.

    Something a bit different to start the morning.
    This is absolutely lovely!
    Am I the only one who think there is more than a touch of '60s/'70s Eurovision in that?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbFVNwHQ8d4

    1. A hefty lump! Some handy French swear words. Some mistranslations. What's all that jigging about?

    2. Ooh la la! May have to watch it again as I didn't know where to look most of the time.

  8. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLE page.

    Wordle 1,451 4/6 (Par)

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

    3. Happy Birthday and of course have 364 Happy Unbirthdays, til the next anniversary

    7. Cheers 🤗😊🥂🍾 For a happy birthday 🍻 have a lovely day today.

    15. "The council said it was 'carefully considering the implications of this judgment' while confirming the scheme would be dismantled."

      'Considering' something different but worse…

      1. They have to pay back all the fines that gave out. and losss of turnover to busines es affected.

    1. Mornin' all, y'all, Miss Minty Marm. Howdy doody today? Dang ma britches.

    2. Mornin' all, y'all, Miss Minty Marm. Howdy doody today? Dang ma britches.

  13. 407081+ up ticks,

    To much talk not enough action, with the illegal invading daily intake being what it is and changing a small towns islamic minority, into a majority, then same change town council, the full blown burka will be the order of the day attire.

    Same with many other issues too much patter followed by MORE patter/ natter with the peoples looking on and nodding in consent with the politico's they still have trust in, as they also wait for visiting time to see their dog in the local communal dog interment camp.

    By the by another pair of racist arrested outside a very, very, young ladies brothel praying, according to the governments law guardians the young uns had made a career choice.

    Monday 9 June: Politicians must not shy away from any public debate on face coverings

    should read,

    Monday 9 June: Politicians must not shy away from any public debate on face coverings, halal in the food chain, the long running invasion of England, paedophilia ongoing, but they are,successfully, with great gusto.

  14. Je suis an hour ahead being in yer France so I'm on earlier than usual aujourd hui

  16. Good morning all

    Cloudy bright green morning sunshine , strange effect . 13c.

    Have you noticed how orange the moon looks ?

    DT letters comments

    John Langdale
    13 min ago
    No comments allowed on the article about the Doom Goblin.

    Perhaps the Israelis could keep her in the tunnels for a while to give her an idea of what it’s like for the hostages.

    1. ‘Morning Belle! It’s the smoke from the forest fires in Canada….apparently! But a ‘strawberry moon’ is due on Wednesday!

      1. And Yesterday on TV there was coverage of a long and arduous saloon car race from Thruxton circuit. I wonder how much kahnt would have made for one of his favourites ULEZ.
        And crowds of people over the weekend breathing enmass around quite a few sports stadium's

        1. We could see Thruxton Circuit from my married quarter at Perham Down!
          A bit far to see any detail, but the cars and bikes going round the circuit were quite visible.

          1. I was also stationed at Perham Down in the early 1960s. In the old barracks at the top of the hill. Years later I went parachuting at Thruxton, long after the race track had closed down. It must have reopened.

          2. A Great (or whatever) Cousin of mine, John Field, used to race motorbikes at Thruxton.

  18. 407081+ up ticks,

    Lets not be hasty in our thinking and for once face reality.

    The pattern for our future was laid down when blair the bogfather ( re, Bow street court historical) AKA miranda, lifted the countries entry latch and introduced decent Brits, to hell on earth.

    Our future is being revealed today in LA.

    https://x.com/SandraWeeden/status/1931939309868757105

    2. From what I can see the Democratic Party in LA and their leaders in DC, along with the sprawling dark-funded leftist NGO networks are trying to orchestrate a coordinated revolution.
      Bass and Newsom have both encouraged the violence, then pretend they didn’t.
      I hope it escalates.. they need to be dealt with.

      1. 407081+ up ticks,

        Morning Per,

        It will be the shit or bust end game no other options.

        All concerned, electorate / politico seen as
        governing factors to blame, IMHO the electorate via displaying mass lethargy, voting ignorance, and downright tribal stupidity, the political overseers acted intentionally The whole issue in total need deep cleansing.

        The LA reaction will be overall, not just contained to the USA.

        The lines have been seen to be chosen that is only too obvious in the United Kingdom.

  22. Red Lip Riots
    @RedLipRiots

    You mock the white working class…
    Call them gammon, thick, racist, irrelevant.
    But they built the bloody roads you drive on.
    They fought wars your academics can’t even pronounce.

    You flood our streets with undocumented men,
    Then call it “enrichment” when our daughters cry for justice.
    You dare speak of tolerance.
    While grooming gangs roam free and our grandmothers are scared to walk to Tesco.

    You tax us to feed invaders,
    Then leave veterans sleeping in doorways like spent shells.
    You censor truth as “hate”…
    Then push porn in schools and call it education.

    You erase Christ from Christmas,
    But kneel for every imported grievance.

    You burned down trust in every institution…
    Then demand obedience to the wreckage.

    You forgot what we are.
    We are not your livestock.
    We are not your servants.
    We are not your shame.

    We are the storm you dismissed.
    We are the righteous fury you triggered.
    We are the lions you thought were extinct.

    And we are coming through the ballot boxes.

    For the children you failed.
    For the culture you spat on.
    For the flag you tried to fold.
    For the country you tried to kill.

    You called it hate.
    It’s justice.

    You called it bigotry.
    It’s memory.

    You called it far right.
    It’s family.

    There will be no apology.
    No compromise.
    No retreat.

    We carry the rage of the betrayed…
    And the hope of the reborn.

    We will carry the day.
    And you…
    will never
    understand
    how
    we
    did
    it.🔵
    7:10 PM · Jun 8, 2025
    ·
    52.3K
    Views

    1. Yes, she parked like a selfish prat, but it's not as if there aren't lots of other available spaces.

  24. Morning all 🙂😊
    Lovely sunny start but a chilly 12c 'pollen haters' are going to less effected from now on.
    And as usual that useless mob in Parliament will not only shy away but back away from public debate. And for their own benefits, simply continue to wreck our existing culture and social structure.

          1. That, too. Probably with an immobiliser fitted so if they don’t like your direction you can be stranded.

      1. Phizzee,

        I only wanted to say Hi on Thursday and not the full on dining event .. I wish you hadn’t pre ordered so quickly ..

        You are probably aware that I have been waiting for a gastroscopy , test to check inside my throat, food pipe (oesophagus) and stomach, known as the upper part of my digestive system since the 25th April .. I have already had an ultrasound , not brilliant .

        I am currently experiencing a serious gastric event , the frequency of occurrences are now dictating my life every few days , nothing to do with home life , a cup of coffee can set me off retching . I have every medication available , but I am scared of the prospect of what is happening inside me .

        My Maggie happy face mind is always enthusiastic , but the practicalities of presenting myself as 100% is nil.

        Please don’t pre order my food .. a fish is just a fish ! I will attempt to say hello if I am not confined to a hospital bed or even a morgue .

        Incidentally , Moh is happy with me meeting up , but is more concerned about my current state of health.

        1. I am sorry to hear about your health, Belle.

          If you had no intention of dining why did you choose a starter and main course?

          1. Because you asked me to , didn’t you .

            The menu was presented and I love sea food , and the chance of eating in a fine dine restaurant with a genuine foodie was an attractive proposition..

            This thing that occurs more frequently than I can cope with ruins everything planned

            I was so thrilled at the prospect of what I assumed was a Nottler meet up after nearly ten years , and I still feel happy about saying hello , I hope you understand that..

            So if I stagger to W/mouth , park up in town and say hello to you, would that still be Okayish?

    3. This is just another result of not stopping the boats.
      It's about time our political idiots were selectively locked in jail.

      1. Cynical me suggests that those yobs are the grandchildren of the Yardie/ Windrush generation .

        One can assume that the various tribal factions , West Indians , Africans , Asians possess different raiding techniques ?

    4. They typically rest at midday and again feed afternoon up to night time, and can exhibit aggression when they feel threatened. While they are powerful and can inflict serious injuries, they usually prefer to avoid work and contact with humans.

  26. Chefofsinners
    8h
    204,600 new homes were built in the 12 months to March 2025, a decrease of 9% from the previous year. This is the lowest number of new homes built in a twelve-month period since September 2016.
    The 1.5 million manifesto pledge will require an average of 324,000 in each of the next 4 years. Now that's what I call turning around the economy. The problem is that it's not going to happen.

      1. The diningsors have just moved into a safe place TB…..the w hole Wastemonster.

  30. Obnox
    10h
    Don't let them tell you that the BBC cannot do comedy any more https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yqe9ve3j1o

    He said levels of crime and antisocial behaviour were "no different within the Gypsy, Roma traveller communities than any other community".

    Lord Trumpmedecine
    Obnox
    8h
    Gone native is the term we used to use. Its why FCO postings and many similar jobs have a short 3-5 year tenure, so those who are required to have a dispasionate view, dont become so tied to the communities they work with. After spending time in Asia, a diplomat is moved to S America or the Middle East, then back to KCS to mitigate the risk akin to Stockholm syndrome. Me thinks our ex bobby neds to be redeployed into another role. Perhaps he'd like to come and talk to the Cumbrian locals who've just had their world turned upside down during the annual Appleby horse and disorder fair.

    1. The man's an idiot. 29 years in the police force – did he ever arrest anyone?

  31. Lord Farquard
    10h
    With the 20th anniversary of 7/7 fast approaching, I'm sure the BBC will be running in depth reports and analysis!
    Any minute now!!

    Because they want us to think about it lol!

    I think they'll focus on the fact that the remains of Shahzad Tanweer are buried in P*kistan! But he was born in the epicentre of English child rayp, Br*dford, making him as English as the Turnip! And I'm sure the BBC will mention him being treated as a brave martyr!

    "In a village in Pakistan, a banquet was held to honour one of the young men who committed the murderous crimes. Relatives of Shehz*d Tanw##r, who is buried there, staged the feast to 'celebrate his life' and 'remember him as a martyr' on the third anniversary of the t#err0r attacks which killed 52 people and injured many more.

    As thousands mourned in Britain yesterday, in P*kistan there were prayers uttered for his soul and verses of the K0ran were read out."

    1. I can guarantee it will all be our fault.
      Just by merely existing and paying taxes that keeps these wastes of skin in this country.

    2. Tanweer left behind £121,000, but left no will (Wiki) A 22 year old who is said have worked occasionally in his father's fish and chip shop?
      Where did he get that much money? How many others in the UK have been and are being financed by religious fanatics and leftie liberals?

  32. The Government has cut funding for nursing courses in a move that risks undermining its pledge to end the NHS’s reliance on foreign workers.

    Ministers have quietly frozen grants that are paid to universities to help them cover the higher costs of training medical workers.

    Critics reacted by warning that the move, which represents a real-terms cut, would “worsen an already difficult situation” in the sector and “leave us more reliant” on imported labour.

    It will also prompt fears of further cuts down the line, with education set to be one of the losers in Rachel Reeves’s spending review this week.

    Universities are already struggling to keep nursing courses afloat, with research showing that many are cutting lecturer jobs to save cash.

    In last year’s manifesto, Labour pledged to “end the long-term reliance on overseas workers” with a “workforce and training plan” for the NHS.

    However, Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, has now frozen grants which are paid to universities to cover the extra costs of running medical courses.

    Those include courses for nursing, midwifery and “allied health professionals” such as paramedics, radiographers and occupational therapists.

    In a letter to the Office for Students, she said the per-student funding levels should be kept the same as last year, representing a real-terms cut.

    That is part of an overall reduction of £108 million in the cash that has been made available for the Strategic Priorities Grant this year.

    Patricia Marquis, the executive director for the Royal College of Nursing in England, said nursing courses were already under threat from the “financial crisis” at universities.

    “A freeze in per student funding, effectively a real-terms cut, could make a bad situation worse, resulting in not only more job losses, but impacting the very financial viability of nursing courses,” she warned.

    “University courses are the single biggest route into the profession, and this would be a disaster. Additional funding should be released to protect nursing courses in response to rising costs.”

    ‘A detrimental impact’ on training
    Vivienne Stern, the chief executive of Universities UK, also warned that the cuts to the grant risked “worsening an already difficult situation”.

    She said that the move, combined with a recent decision to slash cash for apprenticeships, would have a “detrimental impact on training our healthcare workforce”.

    “Universities are committed to delivering what this country needs, including a strong and sustainable NHS workforce, and are crucial to training talent,” she said.

    “We can’t create a future-proof NHS workforce without long-term, sustained investment from the government.”

    Ms Phillipson said in her letter to the OfS that universities should prioritise funding for nursing courses as “a strategically important subject”.

    She targeted grants for other courses and in particular media studies and journalism, which have been derided by some as “Mickey Mouse” degrees.

    But despite that, it appears there was still only enough money in the pot for her to restrict the hit to medical courses to a real-terms cut.

    Laura Trott, the shadow education secretary, said the move was “yet more evidence that Labour aren’t serious about cutting immigration”.

    “At a time when we should be training more British people to become nurses, they’ve cut teaching grants for universities and scrapped almost all higher-level apprenticeships, leaving an 11,000 shortfall in the NHS workforce plan,” she said.

    “These decisions will leave us more reliant on foreign labour, when we should be training British people for British jobs.”

    The Department for Education is facing steep real-terms cuts to its budget when the Chancellor unveils her spending review on Wednesday. She will set out the annual funding totals that all Whitehall departments receive from next year until almost the end of the decade.

    Most are expecting to see their budgets squeezed to free up more cash for health and defence, which will be the two big winners.

    Within education, the schools budget is ring-fenced, meaning it cannot be cut.

    Early years provision, meanwhile, is a flagship Labour policy with the party pledging to fund the creation of 100,000 new nursery places.

    That means that higher education, including universities and apprenticeships, is expected to bear the brunt of the cuts imposed on the department.

    The NHS truths the Left don't want you to hear
    Read more
    A Government spokesman said: “We hugely value the work of talented nurses and midwives which is why we have prioritised Strategic Priorities Grant funding for important, high-cost courses, including nursing and midwifery, that are vital for economic growth and our Plan for Change.

    “The dire situation we inherited has meant this Government must take tough decisions to put universities on a firmer financial footing and we’re continuing to support them, including by increasing the amount they can charge in tuition fees.

    “We are rebuilding the NHS for the benefit of patient and staff, and ensuring nursing remains an attractive career choice, including by unveiling a refreshed workforce plan to ensure we have the right staff in the right place so the NHS can be there for everyone.”

    Phil the Fluter
    13 hrs ago
    Must be running scared of Prevent. It would be terrorism to employ more UK care workers instead of migrants.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/06/06/concern-over-mass-migration-terrorist-ideology-prevent/

    Besides, migrants work cheap. It's 21st century colonialism. Why invade their countries when you can just wave them in to skivvy for us.

    1. Morning, Maggie.
      Nursing Does Not Need To Be A Degree Course.
      As most of us on this site know darn well.
      I also remember accountants and solicitors who did a perfectly good job without spending three years at university.

    2. Stop making nurses have degrees. Make them learn on the wards and bring back Matron.

      1. The BMA and NHS management are Left wing. Matrons hold too much power. It ain't going to happen.

  34. Israel Detains Greta Thunberg On Board Gaza Stunt Yacht

    It took a week for Greta Thunberg’s small “Freedom Flotilla” yacht to get from Sicily with the aim of punching through Israel’s sea blockade on Gaza. Over the weekend Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said the country would “take whatever measures are necessary” to stop Greta reaching Gaza while the “Freedom Flotilla Coalition” said their boat was “prepared for the possibility of an Israeli attack.” Not prepared enough..

    Unfortunately for Greta in the early hours of last night Israeli drones dropped an irritant substance onto Thunderberg 2 before it was boarded by soldiers. Greta and her crew were provided with sandwiches…

    Hamas has just said this morning the interception of the Madleen is a “flagrant violation of international law.” Greta is being taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod, 27 k.m. north of Gaza. Better luck next time…

      1. This was an act of piracy against a British-flagged ship. Send a gunboat!

        1. Send a gunboat? Don't be silly. It would just return with several hundred illegal immigrants.

      2. El Gato Malo
        38m
        Hamas citing "international law" must be the best joke of Gaza Pride Month 2025.

        1. There's a meme whereby muslim cause all sorts of problems, provoke a response then squeal how oppressed they are.

          It really is a joke how evil that organisation is.

    2. I suspect that Hamas was planning to kill Greta and then issue their propaganda saying that she had been the victim of an Israeli missile attack.

      Ms Thunberg should be thankful to the Israelis for saving her life!

  35. 497081+ up ticks,

    I'm in complete agreement Gerard, but the lab/lib/con
    tribal voter, not so much agreement, if any.

    They will go for velvet glove manipulation / incarceration every time.

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021

    ·
    Jun 7

    Prevent, the Govnt Org set up to prevent terrorism, wants to identfy as ‘terrorists’ those concerned about the levels of immigration that facilitate more terrorists artiving & wants to ‘deradicalise’ them. That means British people sick & tired of mass uncontrolled immigration.

    They can’t put us all in re-education camps, so they will imprison the most bothersome ones, such as Tommy, & turn Britain into a giant open-air re-education camp for the rest of us, with propaganda blared out 24/7 by the BBC & Scum media.

    1. Sign Our Petition To Boycott Hawksmoor
      You can also contact the CEO by email: Will@thehawksmoor.com

      Dear Will, Huw & Fiona,
      Just double checking.. I have a lunch booking, however, I subscribe to The Spectator and have some Brexity Douglas Murray books. That ok?

      1. I imagine there was a blue hair, nose ringed overmade up 'liberal' who took offence and complained and for a quiet life the owner asked Tommy to leave who, credit to him, did so in good grace.

        1. Apparently not.. it is suspected there was only one person upset by Tommy.. and he was the out of work jobbing actor cum leftie activist cum manager.

        2. Apparently not.. it is suspected there was only one person upset by Tommy.. and he was the out of work jobbing actor cum leftie activist cum manager.

          1. "…… leftie activist cum manager."

            I think you left out the 's' before cum.

        3. If you watch the video you will find that the mother of the CEO is a journalist who writes for the Guardian!

    1. The Left are insane. One wonders if the intent is to poison cows, produce such toxic chemicals to them that they cannot be eaten by humans.

      Thus destroying a vital part of the nature balance and human food chain. It really, really is time the entire demented stupidity of the green communists was eradicated. It is nothing but damaging.

      1. The data sheet warned that it could impact men's fertility so farmers should wear gloves while mixing it for the cows' feed. I would guess that's the target.

  39. The political class won't shy away from such a debate. They'll shut it down. Anything to protect muslim.

    Same as they refuse to talk about leaving the ECHR, same as they sacrificed Ireland to the hated EU, same as Starmer hammered those angry at children being killed while the state desperately spun a narrative to avoid admitting it was yet another diversity murderer. Same as we're neever told the truth about crime these days. Same as the home office deliberately ignored per capita statistics – a basic tenet of analysis – because it didn't suit them (1 in 73 muslim are paedophiles or have been).

    The state crushes all sorts of discussions it doesn't want to have.

    1. Borrow one from the French? Always happy to help an friendly neighbour, so they are.

    1. 407081 + upticks,

      O2O,
      Bare in mind that reform
      are operating within the enemy political hub, where the temptations are so great.
      BUT we are safe in the knowledge that we have a backup party, as in an anti treachery without, hold on, what was that?
      we haven't got a …………

        1. I did wonder that, johnathan. Seems to have recovered from his Cadwallader tussle. Previously supported UKIP, I think…always follow the money.

    3. I did see a council having a 20 year contract for MS Office. I pointed out that in 20 years Microsoft have produced 5 versions of office.

      We rearranged it to 3 years. The problem isn't intentional, it's that public sector think long term but technology moves incredibly quickly and being told the cost is X per seat for 1 year, X -3 per seat for 3 years but X–20 per seat for 20 years they go for the long term cheapest, but also most expensive as no one considers factoring in the annual price hike companies are forced to apply.

      Oddly, this year we've made as much money discussing how companies work with public bodies than actual deployments. There's an irony that the dentist group contacted us for a 10gb upgrade as they're moving ever larger files around – x rays, new imaging kit – and these can be 1gb at a time.

      The fractional return on one more patient every 4 days per dentist vs an investment of £2500 per switch up front is how they think.

  45. this man is not wrong.

    “sir – The Government and HMRC are to expand the Making Tax Digital initiative to more than 700,000 self-employed people and landlords from April 2026. Many taxpayers will be blissfully unaware of this plan to replace one relatively straightforward annual self-assessment tax return with six returns a year, comprising four quarterly returns, a year-end adjustment and correction statement and a final declaration. In addition taxpayers will be required to purchase and navigate new accounting software that many will find incomprehensible.
    Far from reducing errors and saving time, this will create a dramatic increase in costs, administrative burdens and complexity.
    This new system will not just overwhelm many taxpayers; it will put a huge strain on many accountants and further stretch HMRC’S limited capacity, all without delivering any discernible benefit.
    This reform should be paused or – better still – abandoned.
    Clive Slater Arundel, West Sussex”

  46. The truth about yo-yo Yusuf
    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/the-truth-about-yo-yo-yusuf/

    Yusuf strikes me as being a Fifth Columnist in the Reform Party. He realised after his gut reaction against a burqa ban that he had acted rather hastily in resigning and to be an effective Fifth Columnist you have to be within an organisation rather than outside it!

    Paraphrase of BTL (Taken down after 4 minutes)

    Yusuf is a Muslim first and a member of the Reform Party a very long way behind in second.

    The Reform Party needs to have a loud and clear voice about the dangers of Islam.

    1. He gave a master-class demonstration of not answering the question on R4 this morning.

      1. Sadly, that's the intent. The Left have never tolerated dissent. Name any fascist, Left wing state and they all set about crushing dissent and free speech.

      2. Probably the trigger words – Muslim and Islam…… disqus programmed to put into pending.

    1. I don't. I want a smaller state, the scrapping of welfare, a restoration of common sense and radical, significant tax cuts.

    1. Only Millibollix believes in Net Zero, wibbling. Starmer has him there as a distraction.

      1. I don't think he does. Rather I think he sees 'climate change' as a way to force communism on this country and to destroy it from within. He's a psychotic but he isn't stupid, that makes him evil.

      2. Oh come on – Willy of Woke is a firm believer – hence his frequent use of private jets and helicopters.

  50. Morning.

    A BTL Comment:

    "Funny how Liberals can differentiate between 85 genders but just can't tell the difference between legal and illegal immigrants."

      1. It doesn't change around here much either. We still have the Mayday fair and the Queen, plus maypole dancers. It is quite, so quite I don't lock my doors. But if I have to go to Chichester or worse, Guilford, it is another world, one that I don't like because it is obvious that the country is being destroyed and that ugliness is spreading like a cancer destroying everything.

        1. I seldom go into town these days – do my shopping in our local small town and that's about it. We only lock the door at night or if we're out.

      2. I don’t live in a city, but my local town has been significantly “enriched “. I am not alone in disliking that.

        1. There's a Muslim girl in the post office, but I haven't noticed any more diversity close by.

          1. Sometimes every fourth person you see is black or asian. Usually jabbering away in their own language. Often with two or three offspring. Some of the women are wrapped up (but the only full kit one I have seen was in Shrewsbury).

          3. We had a Muslim girl on one of our courses a couple of years ago. She wore a head scarf and Muslim clothes but her face was uncovered

            She was a pleasant girl who got on well with the other students and with us.

          4. I see nothing wrong with a simple headscarf – it’s the whole face covering with just eye slits that is so unsettling.

    3. No one wanted it, no one asked for it. The diversity were forced on us as a form of societal rape by the Left.

      Remember, 1 in 73 dindus is a paedophile. One in 73.

  52. Nearly three:
    Wordle 1,451 4/6

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

    1. Apparently she is making nice with China. So are we going to end up as a caliphate, as a Chinese satrapy or are we going to revolt before we live on reservations.

      2. "The natives are revolting!" from a Carry on movie. Sid James' line, I think.

  54. Good Morning!

    In A Pox On Prevent! we look into this program, which like almost all other State organisations, has turned itself into an instrument of oppression, now on clear display as it suggests that having right wing, conservative and patriotic opinions makes you an extremist and potential terrorist.

    As we learn that one four schools has a non-white majority and many schools contain no white British children at all, in The Centre Cannot Hold , Xandra H looks at the mess created by the Globalist 'elite' and concludes that Britain is not a healthy society, let alone a free one and that Britain cannot exist as a concept without its white population.

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

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's electric power was sourced from Gas, 14%; Solar, 9.2%: Wind 33.3%; Imports, 20.3%; Biomass, 5%; Nuclear 16% and Miscellaneous, 2.2%.

    1. Why are we importing energy? What will we do when those exporters decide they want the power more than we do ?

      1. Very good question. it’s all about the net zero lunacy – and ensuring we have the highest electricity prices in the world. For several days recently imports were the biggest component of our electricity supply.

    2. "Britain cannot exist as a concept without its white population." Can we please stop using this terminology and simply say the indigenous or native population? We all know we are white but simply classifying us by colour puts us on a par with every other peoples that presently inhabit this country but are not native to it. We are not guests here or immigrants, we are the people that made this civilization in these islands, that the others seek to destroy. And to admit that is not being racist, after all there are plenty of people I admire who are not native but live here. The difference is this is our home but those people have a home elsewhere that they can go. We are home and there is no where for us other than here.

      1. 'Indigenous' and 'native' are not entirely accurate and you will have them thrown back in your face. "Ancient Britons or post-Roman colonisers?" will be the question. Better to describe us as ancestral Britons. If you can trace branches of your family back through church/parish records to the 18th century or earlier, it's your land by right.

        1. Then that is fine. But our DNA takes us back an extraordinarily long way and our genetic make up goes back around 2000 plus years and if you are Irish, English, Scots or Welsh DNA is district enough to tell which we are. So I'm not sure why you would think 'Indigenous' and 'native' are not accurate. The Romans, by the way, left almost no traces in the DNA record for the UK. Surprising though that may be.

          1. "So I'm not sure why you would think 'Indigenous' and 'native' are not accurate."

            Not for post-Roman European settlers, some 15-20% of the white British gene pool.

          2. “What is clear in this study is that the Romans didn’t leave much of a genetic mark on the British population. Through the Roman empire, Collins says, “There was a great deal of continuity with the Iron Age community.”

            “The idea is that the Roman world was a world of mobility but actually in Britain, it’s the Anglo-Saxons that are making the big difference. They’re the people coming in.”

            https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0120/Where-did-the-British-come-from-Ancient-DNA-holds-clues

          3. "….the Romans didn't leave much of a genetic mark on the British population…"

            I didn't say they did.

          4. So then I don’t see why you would say: “post Roman”. I know that liberals like to say that we are all immigrates but that is because they hate being English. They would never dream of saying that about the Japanese, the Tibetans or the Black South Africans. But that is part of their hypocritical ideology. We are, as near as damn it, the indigenous people of these islands, distinct enough that our DNA tells us that we are from here and no where else. According to my DNA I’m 100% English apart from one glitch, a Dutch ancestor, again identified by traces of DNA although I have no idea who that was. I think most of us would have traces of this, that or the other, but our bedrock, as it were is distinct, As district as a Tamils DNA or a Tuvan. We do not qualify their ancestry and we shouldn’t doubt ours.

          5. I've never had my DNA tested and don't want to – but I have traced my family back many generations and we are all English – apart from the Welsh ones.

          6. As I mentioned on the forum the other day anybody who is in the first 100 in the line of succession to the throne of the United Kingdom should be obliged to have a DNA test.

            This might shut down some conspiracy theories.

          7. The first hundred would catch the whole royal family …… are you suggesting that some might not be who they say/think they are?

          8. *sigh*

            Ancestral white British covers pre-Roman (the Ancient Britons), the post-Roman migrations (mostly lowland, not exclusively Saxon) and post-Norman (a trickle here and there). 'Native' and 'indigenous' causes bleating in Wales and Scotland and, up to a point, they have a point.

            Once again, you're finding a dispute where there isn't one. We do indeed know who we are but we have to have all our arguments lined up against those who deny our right to claim this land as ours.

          9. Well yes, the term “ancestral” does indeed cover those people. You think we don’t carry their genes? And actually, genetically speaking, we differ very little from the Scots or Welsh. The difference is cultural rather than a matter of ancestry.

          10. "You think we don't carry their genes?"

            Where on earth did I say that? Once again, you have turned a proper discussion into a bloody nit-picking contest. Give it a rest, man, for Christ's sake.

          11. Well it is simply that I do not understand your reasoning. There is a strong continuity, genetically speaking, between us and those prior to Roman times, Saxons or Danes. In fact it constitutes the majority of our genetic make up. You seem to think there is a significant difference which, in reality, does not exist. And, I would point out, you were the one that decided to nitpick about the terms “native and indigenous” that I used, with some vague notion you didn’t quite explain were not valid to your mind.

          12. "There is a strong continuity, genetically speaking, between us and those prior to Roman times, Saxons or Danes."

            Once again you have responded by writing something that effectively misrepresents what I have written, as though I have to be corrected. Of course there's a continuity. Where did I say there wasn't? You constantly draw false inferences from what people write and throw them back as accusations.

            "…you were the one that decided to nitpick about the terms native and indigenous…"

            Crap. There is nothing nit-picking about being accurate. That is why I wrote "We do indeed know who we are but we have to have all our arguments lined up against those who deny our right to claim this land as ours." The terms we are arguing over (and yes, you have turned a debate into an unpleasant argument ) is about how we, the true British, describe ourselves as we defend our existence, especially when we who are English are offensively called a 'mongrel race'.

        1. Your husband, Richard, looks very like his son. I forget what your sons' names are – is the striped shirt chap the fanatical runner?

          1. No Richard, son in stripe shirt is not the runner son , who lives with us , son is with his partner who is sitting next to him . The pair of them moved to live on the IOW !

            We are comfortable NOW with modern times , but it took a lot of getting used to , in fact we were almost broken in 2 , 20 years ago, but as I say we are happy now and do appreciate that families do have individual relationship issues .

            Some families have divorce issues , and some never ever see their grandchildren again

            We enjoy their company , and they have stayed with us !

          2. Yes. One of the hardest things since younger son's marriage collapsed, is waiting for the right moment for his daughters to acknowledge us again.
            They are in their twenties and have their own opinions.

          3. That's very sad, Anne. Whatever the cause of a marriage break up, it is between the husband and wife, not the elders, or the children. At least my boys still speak to both their parents.

          4. My elder sister died unexpectedly this April aged 89 – she was very much loved and is very much missed.

            When she was 20 she fell totally in love and told my parents she wanted to get married straight away. My mother forbade the marriage saying that she was far too young.

            However this was in the 1950s and my sister was a very determined young woman and she knew how highly her mother rated social convention. She went to her mother again this time saying I AM getting married – our mother again said she was not – to which my sister replied: "I am pregnant."

            She married in white in church before anybody could have noticed her condition. My first niece was born 6 months later.

            One of the photos on the funeral sheet showed my sister, her first daughter, her granddaughter and her great granddaughter.

          5. Did she stay married? I was only 20 when I married my first husband….. but sadly we were really unsuited and although we had two children it was not a happy marriage. We separated after 21 years and divorced two years later.

            Your sister had a long life – and a four generations photo is wonderful.

          6. No grandchildren, though and nor have I. My sons both in their fifties, both still single.

          7. Yes , but we never ever thought that 56 year old runner son would still be resident here , and has no intention of doing anything else .

            We had all sorts of plans !!

          8. Christo got married to Katy two years ago. No sign of a child yet – he is 31 she is 33.

            Henry met Jess when he was 17 and on his first day at university. Henry is now 29 and Jess is 30 – just nine months older. They will get married when they decide to have children but they are both doing very well with their careers: Jess is a mathematician and has just been appointed a university lecturer; Henry writes sophisticated computer programs.

          9. We put in a lot of effort to remain in close contact with the two lads. Good investment, IMHO.

        3. Women are good like that, Rastus! SWMBO & me, looks like I've been cradle-snatching, whilst in the real world, she's older than me!

    2. It's very unnerving to have middle aged children.
      The plus side is that I can revert to being the stroppy little madam in my avatar.
      Revenge is sweet.
      p.s. pub looks nice. Where is it?

  56. New tyres going on Friday, but having to re-inflate from 20psi to 33 nearside front most days. Not sure if I should bring the new tyres sooner.

  57. Want to know what the Activists are up to.. what they are paid to say and project?
    Obv Rupert Lowe worries them.
    Just read the comments below.
    Is Rupert Lowe a Fascist? His Controversial Vision for the UK!

    1. All have the same number of 'Likes'

      Straight out of the Trump Playbook Fascism with a capital F! !
      Reply

      @chriswood3252
      1 hour ago
      The civil service is there to ensure we follow the national rules and legislation that Lowe is desperate to break.

      @sarahtooldtocare8561
      1 hour ago
      Reform the black shirts and so is he.

      @ScoobyPatchyDoo
      52 minutes ago
      He is an elitest. He uses arguments of animal cruelty to want to ban halal but doesn't question fox hunting or shooting.
      He seems to think that because he gives his salary away each month makes him better than anyone else.
      He is fortunate to have made a fortune out of care homes and bankrupting Southampton FC plus his family was already fairly wealthy.

      @User-x9v2w
      1 hour ago
      Yes with a Capital C !

      @User-x9v2w

      13 hours ago
      If it Walks talks & Quacks like a duck ..🦆

      @andrewdavies5048
      45 minutes ago
      He wants to throw out rules, checks and balances, and replace them with a personal wish list. A stream of abject nonsense.

      @64px3
      18 minutes ago
      This fool of a man should be shown to due contempt he deserves. Lowe is a despicable man that craves power without accountability and would burn down the forest to satisfy that list.

      @GaryDixon-ww9so
      59 minutes ago
      JUST A RACIST

      @richardjames3022
      58 minutes ago
      You don't need to watch the video to know he is a fascist, past record speaks volumes as to is views

      @woodsyshroomer
      57 minutes ago
      I think the problem we have now, is that the fascists on this side of the pond can see how much money the fascists on their side of the pond are raking in. They don't care about how much destruction is caused, to the man on the high street, or main street.

      Reply
      2 replies
      @User-x9v2w
      18 hours ago (edited)
      Straight out of the Trump Playbook!

      2. These fools are in the frying pan surrounded by fire and to stupid to see their predicament.

      3. They don't seem to know fascists are leftists. Leftys are so vicious and nasty aren't they?

      4. I rather think the destruction is caused to the man in the street by the likes of these posters.

  59. From Coffee House the Spectator

    07 Jun 2025
    Coffee House
    Sam LeithSam Leith
    Will Donald Trump’s defenders finally admit the truth?
    9 June 2025, 6:38am

    So, there we have it. The President of the United States wants to bypass state governors and deploy the National Guard and the US Marine Corps against his own citizens. This comes after Donald Trump’s administration, apparently impatient with the existing legal immigration process, started bundling black and brown people into vans with a view to summary deportation.

    Trump wants to be king. He doesn’t even slightly attempt to conceal it

    Is there some point at which those who like to sneer at the “orange man bad” school of thought will swallow their pride and come round to the realisation that the orange man is, in fact, bad? Come on, my chickadees. We can call bygones on all the warning signs that were so easy to miss: the criminal record, the sucking up to tyrants, and the pardoning of the insurrectionists. We should now, surely, be on the same page. It would be nice to think that what happens in the US is their own affair, on which outsiders should reserve judgment, but like it or not, what happens in the US is the world’s affair.

    Look, I get it. Mr Trump, at least for a bit, seemed attractive because he “owned the libs”. He was lively. He drove dreary centre-left technocrats and blue-haired progressives alike into conniptions of rage and despair. This struck folk who despise both those categories of person as a result to be savoured. On a my-enemy’s-enemy-is-my-friend basis, a callow and frivolous, or at least a short-sighted, faction of the British right gave him a welcome. He was sticking it to the “smug liberal establishment” and he was “shaking things up” and he was speaking for the left-behind.

    But it is now as plain as any pikestaff that the only “establishment” the Trump administration is seeking to destroy is the established constitution of the United States, its rule of law and its norms and decencies. In doing so, he goes to war on the whole American idea – which, however imperfectly it has been instantiated through that country’s history, remains one of most compelling and beautiful ideas in politics: government of the people, by the people, for the people.

    Everything about the US constitution is geared to the rejection of the arbitrary power of a monarchical state. Its separation of powers, its checks and balances, its emphasis on states’ rights, its two-term limit on the top job, its unequivocal assertion of the inalienable rights of citizens to free speech, freedom of assembly, and due process; even the roots of the much-contested right to bear arms are in the service of an idea that can be summed up as “no more kings”.

    Trump wants to be king. He doesn’t even slightly attempt to conceal it. Underlying the soap-opera melodrama of his exchange of insults with Elon Musk was a shared worldview. Musk insisted that Trump owed him for swinging the election in his favour. Trump threatened to unilaterally remove government contracts for Musk’s companies. Musk threatened to unilaterally cancel a keystone of the US space programme. Trump threatened that there would be “consequences” if Musk switched his support to the Democrats. The framing presumption in both cases was that power is arbitrary and personal, and that clientilism is the natural order of things.

    So the divide in our politics should not be one between right and left when it comes to Trumpism. I hope that I can find myself in common cause in this respect with colleagues such as Douglas Murray or Rod Liddle or Toby Young with many of whose views on more or less everything I’ll tend to respectfully disagree. That couldn’t matter less. This isn’t about the content of political disagreement: it’s about the forms and structures that make political disagreement possible in the first place. Even our fiercest culture-war spats in the UK are still, thank goodness, about such issues as how the law should be applied and how democracy should represent public opinion rather than about whether the law should be applied and whether democracy should continue to exist.

    Whether you’re a command-and-control socialist or an Ayn Rand libertarian, a United Colours of Benetton multiculturalist or an enthusiast for an autarkic ethnostate, if you believe in some version of democracy or the rule of law – rather than the absolute personal power of a tyrant – Trump and Trumpism are your enemy.

    What’s happening in the US should terrify us all – not least because it shows how fragile liberal democracy is even in the country that has been its global torchbearer since the middle of the last century.

    I repeat: it’s a matter of form rather than of content. It doesn’t matter if Trump, or any leader, gives perfect voice to the desires of his country’s silent majority: the important thing is that his authority proceeds, temporarily and as it were on loan, from his being in tune with his countrymen; rather than his views being an accident of his disposition and his authority being the defining fact. It’s a dangerous fool who thinks the form of politics doesn’t matter as long as the content seems agreeable to them. Democracy, as has been said, is less valuable for what it enables than for what it prevents.

    The line from Robert Bolt’s A Man For All Seasons also comes to mind. When one character declares that he’d gladly “cut down every law in England” to get at the Devil, Thomas More retorts: “This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down, and you’re just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?”

    Sam Leith
    Written by
    Sam Leith
    Sam Leith is literary editor of The Spectator.

    1. Pathetic and silly article. The National Guard is frequently brought in when there is unrest. I doubt that there is a president in recent history that hasn't deployed it.

      1. Talking Sam Leith here, johnathan. Spectator not what it used to be, Gove is Editor now. The comment is a cut n paste.

      2. Forty million people living in harmony in California. He was elected to deal with the problems on the border, not to create disturbances in Los Angeles amongst people who have been living and working in peace for generations. Typical of government administration to always attack the weak and innocent instead of dealing with serious criminals.
        Sam Leith is right to point out the advantages of the rule of law. Without it we are all at risk as pointed out by Thomas More in the play and later the movie.

        1. The rule of law is that illegal immigrants have no right to remain in the USA.

        2. I lived in California for 40 years. People were not and are not “living in harmony” There are whole sections of LA that if you are white you would not dare go into. But people know the rules so don’t go. What has actually happened in California is that those that could have left and gone elsewhere because California is a disaster. San Francisco has been turned into a ghetto, businesses have left and down town is a ghost town. That is typical of what has happened in California. And, presiding over this mess is Governor Newsom. Under him the population for the first time in history is shrinking. No one want to be there except for the uber wealthy because it is to expensive and taxed to the hilt. The debt of California now exceeds $500 billion. It is a disaster. The end of paradise thanks to socialism. And the riots are a symptom, illegals who think they are entitled because they are encouraged by the Democrats. The place is rife with gangs and disorder. It is a disaster.

          1. Well, my son and his family have been living there for the last ten years and my wife and I spend some weeks there every year. Nothing like your description
            The people who were protesting were indignant Californians disgusted because their society was being attacked.
            Yes it’s an expensive place, immigrants often have to work hard to scratch a living.
            No go areas? I have even walked downtown, surrounded by the homeless, mainly tramps, abandoned war veterans for the most part from what I could see.
            It’s a pretty safe place, at least the residential areas where my son lives, the areas where his kids go to school and the university where my daughter in law works. Lots of public investment. The big problem is the long distances.
            But yes lots of diverse people living in harmony.

          2. Ask your son about the white truck driver who got off at the wrong exit and was torn to pieces by a black mob. Or you could go to San Francisco, once said to be the most popular tourist city in the USA, now unlivable due to human waste in the streets. I lived in Berkeley. Here is my old apartment, up for rent . Small bedroom, shower, no bath and as you can see a kitchenette all for 1,550.73 in pounds. A complete rip off at the price. But the light was nice!

          3. Very anecdotal. Some Americans did regard black citizens as latecomers but they really don’t form part of the immigration experience. San Francisco I am told is a great place but it’s a five hour drive from LA.
            Back to Los Angeles where my family live surrounded by Armenians, dour but very civic Latin Americans, as nice and friendly in the US as they are in Spain where I live. Probably the most convivial newcomers you can hope to have in your country.
            It’s a pity Trump has taken this attitude with Californian Mexicans. He’s lucky to have them there.

          4. If you are from California a 5 hour drive isn’t anything.
            Trump has taken the correct attitude. You might notice the Mexicans are flying their flag not the flag of California or the USA. They are not Americans and have no intention of being so. Their intention is to live off America without contributing much. If you understood the politics of the place you would understand that they don’t even recognize California as America. To them it is occupied Mexican territory. There is an entire political movement dedicated to that notion, reclaim American land for Mexico.

          5. Actually one of the most impressive thing about the US is the common denominator that they are all American Whereas in Britain the atmosphere has always been one of resentment, one class against the other, Irish against English,Welsh and Scottish chips on the shoulder, then the new immigrant populations getting stuck into the victim culture, the American ideal of e pluribus unum is very present. Neighbours are Armenian, Polish, Japanese, Latin American, Chinese Thailandes, the list goes on.
            I’ve been going there for years now and find it a celebration of diversity united by a desire to live in America, people who consider themselves fortunate to live there.
            The Mexican people I met in LA are really friendly people, very polite, well looked after properties, shops work premises people who share Christian values.
            Trump has made a great mistake taking personal revenge against California. The people, aren’t accepting this, the population in general, not just one ethnic group.

          6. Then I suggest you watch the video I posted this morning by Tim Poole. His take is far more realistic than yours. The Mexicans you met are obviously middle class and not the type that are rioting in the streets right now. I can assure you those are not friendly people in the least.

          7. Oh don’t be silly. I met all kinds of people in LA. Lots of Mexicans and other Latin Americans doing many different jobs. I speak Spanish, probably spike more in Spanish than in English in California.

          8. SO? My wife was Venezuelan and I understand some Spanish. What sort of an argument is that?

          9. My point is that in California I meet people from all walks of life. My family is bilingual, if we walk into a restaurant, shop or go anywhere speaking in Spanish we tend to meet lots of Spanish speakers. From different social classes Lots of Spanish speakers amongst actors I met at parties and other social events.

          10. Yes, it’s also about the same distance to Las Vegas. My point is that if you’re writing about Los Angeles stop moving the goalposts and stick in comments about some old apartment house where you lived many years ago in another town.

          11. I was not “moving the goal posts” I was simply pointing out that your paradise California is a fiction. That if you think things are fine in California, then you have ostrich syndrome.

          13. That's a really depressing description, JR. I don't doubt that you are right, it's just that the same shite seems to be coming th Western Europe.

      3. Before Saturday, the last time a president sent Guard troops in to deal with civil unrest without cooperation from a state’s governor was in 1965

        1. What has "without cooperation from a state’s governor…" got to do with it? The last time, in fact, that it was called upon was 2020 for George Floyd riots.

          1. A bit like a game of ping pong. A group of black Americans attacking a van driver, the price of an apartment in San Francisco and now you don’t understand why we think it’s irrelevant that presidential powers should be used for the first time in 60 years.
            None of this gets us anywhere.
            Trump has caused unrest in Los Angeles where before people were living in peace. Nothing to do with illegal immigrants crossing the southern frontier, just upsetting people who have been living and working in LA for generations.

          2. My point is obvious, the land of peace and harmony that you depict is a fantasy. As I pointed out more people are leaving the state than are going in for the first time in history. Your son might think it is all hunky dory but then he must be a Democrat with his head in the sand. Further what you don’t understand is this is to do with sedition, the sedition of a Democrat Party seeking to make the USA a one party country by swamping the place with illegal aliens who will vote for the Democrats. Newsome and his cronies, simply put, are criminals with the typical intentions of the far left. No different in practice to Starmer and his gang in the UK.

          4. No. That is just one factor. You really need to get up to date about California because you really don’t have a clue.

          5. I haven’t mentioned my family’s opinions at all. These opinions are my own I’ve spent time in California, lived in the US. My father was American, half my extended family are American going back to the beginning of the 17th century.

      1. The US got Trump because the alternative was an incompetent candidate who had been improvised in the last moment. The Democrats are to blame for it all.
        Trump should never have been reelected. Too old, too authoritarian and frankly incompetent.

        1. It's been 30 years in the making. It's why he was elected in 2016. It's the same disease that we have here.

    3. Sam Leith is biased and has used rather a lot of words to prove it. He has allowed his hate of Trump to colour everything. He mentions the legal immigration process but not that it does not deal with illegal immigration. California is bankrupt under Newsom. It is a failed state.

    4. All moronic Libtards use the phrase.. "Look, I get it."
      Then proceed to spout on & on as before..
      Just like the Wet Tories such as Iain Dale & Michael Gove.. you haven't a clue what you are up against.

        1. 😆 omg, Sue…did you have one? I absolutely loved mine. Think my daughter had Sindy?

          1. I wasn't into dolls – I was more of an outdoor girl, I had some much older friends who used to look after me. Golden rod skirts were good.

          3. I couldn't stand dolls like Sindy and Barbie – had lots of little teddies and other animals.

          4. I collected china animals – especially horses. When I was 10 I made one at a pottery class at school. I still have it now.

        4. My wife has one of those Barbie dolls from the early sixties complete with wardrobes. The doll has arms and legs which bend with no obvious jointing mechanism evident.

          I remember my late sisters had plastic dolls in the fifties. The arms and legs moved but were attached to the body with elastic bands. The boyhood torture technique was to wind the limbs around and around until the rubber bands snapped.

    8. BEAUTIFUL????
      With those kipper lips, she looks more than slightly grotesque and unnatural.
      She ought to sue for her money back!

    9. Never mind , when she is eighty , and wrinkly , a few sags here there and everywhere , she will remember her botox and exposure .

      When I was forty , plumpish and uncertain , an artist called Sven Berlin , who lived in Wimborne , ( when we lived there ) wanted me to be a still life model for him .. er I had to ask Moh's permission , I knew he would say no!

      Wise man , why, because you must Google Sven Berlins art, although he was a gorgeous man , clever charming and what a character .. his art is an acquired taste.. I don't know why he approached me , he used to greet me when the butchers shop was still in existence , when I was shopping .

      Easily flattered? Me, No way!!!!

        1. I was just thinking that, maybe her next step on her route to the circus freak job.

    13. Who'd want to be with a self-obsessed narcissist like that anyway – well I suppose some men might – for one night.

      1. Maybe she was unhappy with how she looked before, saw an opportunity to change it and went for it. It's her life. for me once you get past the appearance you need character, wit.

        1. $1 million worth of unhappy? And the way she is flaunting herself now by the look of it, it is not just normal unhappiness with one aspect.

    15. I think it was kicked off dating apps for looking like a Thunderbird puppet – there could be strings attached.

    1. If he is deported once then that decision should stand, in the absence of compelling reasons why the first decision was wrong. And that case should have been brought from whatever country outside the UK that worm crawled back in from. Tony Blair's nobbling of our judiciary in full view. TB deserves a special place in Hell – and his conversion to "do anything but it's OK it you repent on your deathbed" RC Christianity isn't going to get him out of that.

          2. Except that they marry them. Why should the fact that a deportee has married someone from the EU make a difference?

    2. If he is deported once then that decision should stand, in the absence of compelling reasons why the first decision was wrong. And that case should have been brought from whatever country outside the UK that worm crawled back in from. Tony Blair's nobbling of our judiciary in full view. TB deserves a special place in Hell – and his conversion to "do anything but it's OK it you repent on your deathbed" RC Christianity isn't going to get him out of that.

  63. Just been listening to some of the mainstream media coverage of the LA riots on radio and tv, Isn't it strange how the election steal protesters were all treated as evil insurrectionists by our mainstream media and Biden the good guy and the sinister way they called in the national guard to protect Biden's swearing in , but the rioters in LA are all somehow nice protesters while Trump is the bad man for trying to rid his country of potential gangsters and terrorists.
    It's a funny old world

      1. Can't say anything but our spineless wimps kneel before opportunist crooks who sanctify a violent criminal.

        1. Whilst the usual suspects are rioting and looting it would be a good time to pardon and release Chauvin.

      2. 407081+ up ticks,

        Afternoon N,
        Maybe at a later date ………. when hooked on the very cheap, till hooked price.

        Utterly butterly, you wouldn’t believe it wasn’t butter.

        Fakely steakly, you wouldn’t believe it wasn’t steak.

      3. Like halal is often isn't. Why should we sell so much halal meat to pander to such a small proportion of our population?

        1. Just getting their ducks in a row. You won't be able to buy anything else before long.

          1. Exactly.

            Edit – became they scream and screech and blow us up if we don't? Such civilised behaviour enriches us, don'tyaknow.

        3. The Jews have similar dietary laws – that's where Mo got the idea, after all – yet Ollie Cromwell allowed the Jews to return to England in 1656 and in 350 years there were none of these problems?

          1. Because the Jewish population don’t try to make everything in this conform to their particular standards, the way slammer are trying to do.

          2. The Jews tend to be hard working and entrepreneurial compared with the slammers.

          1. Not just if they are angered – if they are “offended” which they are by our very existence, or “upset” which they are if we don’t do what they want as they want and when they want.

  66. Well – that's the second and last tomato frame done and dusted. Only took 1½ hours. I get quicker each time! Now to dead head the roses (imagining each is a slammer.).

    1. I have a lovely rose, Bill (bought for me by m-i-l) 'Bathsheba', multiple blossoms – perhaps you have one? (good plan to let off some steam btw)

      1. Goodness – our Cobras went out four weeks ago. The plants are now five feet high and the first crop about an inch long.

        1. Excellent !

          I don’t have a greenhouse but i do have a conservatory. I brought up a lot of plants from seed including San Marzano tomatoes, which is supposed to be particularly sweet, chillies, peppers, courgettes, and other stuff like marigolds and sunflowers. Not forgetting all the ‘erbs.

          I also use my conservatory as a dining room, piano room and for painting.

          Timing is everything. No time for sex though. Not enough room. :@(

        2. Our four plants – bought for 50 p each from a lass in our road – are scrambling up the lilac tree.
          We got them for sheer fun – if we get beans as well, that will be a bonus.

  67. I preferred Sindy but what strikes me now is that Barbie back then was actually quite demure when compared to the photo above. It was calculated at the time that if made life size with the same proportions, Sindy would be a healthy teenage girl whereas Barbie would be, well…dead.

    2. I had a Tressy! Her hair grew! Well, a portion of it came out of a hole in the top of her head so you could ‘style’ it, then you rewound it in with a key! Which was fine until my sister told me it really grew and I cut it!😱

  69. I trust the IDF tape Greta’s eyelids open so that she has to watch the entire video of what her new Besties-For-Life get up to.

    1. I agree. She should be forced to watch. 'Netanyahu releases picture of dead and charred baby'.

      And she has the damned cheek to accuse boomers of stealing her childhood. She needs a bloody good slap.

      1. She's just a spoilt brat. Whose parents are monetising her for all they can get.

    2. There was a statement made by the Israelis that those taken from that boat will be made to watch the Hamas videos of what they did to the women and children capture back in October.

  70. Bloody Frogs !

    Thurs lunch at Les Enfants Teribbles.

    You can only contact the restaurant by phone. His email doesn't work. He has a very thick French accent. I would probably understand him better if he just spoke French.

    You have to give him the pre-order verbally. He wrote it down and now can't find it so i have to text him half the bloody menu.

    The food had better be bloody worth all this rigmarole.

      1. It certainly put my blood pressure up. It was like speaking to Manuel from Fawlty Towers. Except he's Spanish.

      2. It certainly put my blood pressure up. It was like speaking to Manuel from Fawlty Towers. Except he's Spanish.

  71. You've gotta hand it to Farage.. he's the one traipsing up & down the country with these shows.
    LIVE: Nigel Farage makes major speech in Wales after week of Reform rows

    2. A murderer's dream. I'm going up to York this evening for the funeral of one of my sisters-in-law tomorrow morning. It will be a burial, with a graveside service.

      1. bah, we've already had dissolving chemicals – sodium hydroxide (I think?) springs to mind.

        I'm dead. I don't care what you do with the organic machine that kept what was me alive.

    3. A murderer's dream. I'm going up to York this evening for the funeral of one of my sisters-in-law tomorrow morning. It will be a burial, with a graveside service.

  73. We had really nice bread at the Lanesborough. Fresh baked mini loaves that looked like souffles. Painted with an onion butter. Tasted great but i don't appreciate sticky fingers.

    1. What if that thing had still been alive! Crikey! I can't do bees at the best of times – although I don't mind bumblebees, but wasps are simply evil and want to kill me.

      I have to say it – Mongo is bigger than the adult bear. And I hope they fed the baby one.

      1. The wasps nest in my shed I reported t'other week is doing well and has not caused any problems yet.
        OK, so when I open the door it's attached to, a small swarm comes out, but because no one is actually attacking or interfering with the nest, they soon settle down again.

        1. We had them in different parts of our roof for several years. Mostly they were nice and just left us alone, but one year they used to swoop down and sting us in passing as we wanted to go in and out of our own front door! I hope I've blocked all the places where they were getting in now.

        2. A wasp is nature's equivalent of an A10 warthog, flown by a misanthrope with a full complement of ammo and a massive chip on his shoulder.

          1. Not these ones so far! I’ve had several land on me, wander round on my arm and then fly away.

        3. A wasp is nature's equivalent of an A10 warthog, flown by a misanthrope with a full complement of ammo and a massive chip on his shoulder.

  75. £1,000,000 spent on shopping. A crazed dash about the 'Spencers as the three bears waited outside and got far too much attention from just about everyone. Then a nip into Tesco for the better-but-not-as-good-as-Waitrose quiches where I forgot to get cream for the strawberries.

    Dressing change at the docs, some advice on this dry skin on my leg and then stopped at the corner shop for some cream.

    Folk do look in the windows (as they're down) to see the dogs looming out. It's quite funny when Mongo sticks his head out of the window as it's the size of a football. Then we set off again, Mongo trying to drive, Oscar navigating, Lucy putting up with it all.

    In about 2 hours we'll repeat it going to the park where they'll get a run about and we'll end up on the shore so they can play in the shallows or, if you're Mongo, half way out and having to be rescued by me.

    1. You have spoken about your weight before. As much as i like cream with my strawbs try some strained Greek yogurt instead. Good for the gut too.

      If you want it sweeter then a little honey goes a long way.

      1. I did the Greek yoghurt thing for a while. I never got the taste for it. I'm especially annoyed as while the wound is healing I can't really do anything, so mostly just sat about sans walking the dogs. Even then I have to lie down for a good while afterward.

        I don't mean to go on about my being fat. I'll never be light. My lean weight is some 110 kilos, but I've a sack of spuds around my middle that I can't shift and it's getting to me.

        1. Go on about it as much as you like. We don't mind.
          Have you been tempted by ozempic? Seems to work but of course there are some side effects.

        3. The sack of spuds is simply carbs. I still carry a bit of a belly but have managed to get to 95 kilos down from 110 in six months and was much heavier prior to diet change.

          Try to eat meat, lamb chops, bacon, steak of any description and green vegetables or salad for a bit of colour.

          Try like me to do 5000 steps daily and twenty minutes on an exercise bike most days.

    2. Love it! When I had my wolfhound cross GSD he used to sit on the passenger seat of the Transit camper and people would talk to him through the open window. I gave one person a fright by replying when I was out of sight in the back.

      1. Mongo will happily reply to anything when people talk to him. You'll get whuffs, panting, slobber, burps, the occassional bark if he's over excited.

  77. Ol' M Markle didn't do too badly out of plastic. But then she did bag Harry, who no other woman he had ever dated actually wanted to be with.

  79. Afternoon all. I seem to be temporarily back on line so I am making the most of it. Went into town and sussed out mobile routers (thanks wibbles, I didn’t know such things existed), but for the moment I am not indulging. Will probably get one for when I go off in the motorhome next.

    There are a lot of things that the government shouldn’t shy away from, but face coverings is a start. Probably they will just ban full face motorcycle helmets, though.

    2. You might already know this but many/most modern mobile phones can act as a wifi hotspot and, thus, behave like a router. It has whatever data limit your mobile phone plan has but many plans these days have no limit. If you are dead in the water because your wifi router or your internet service has failed, then using your mobile phone as a hotspot is a good palliative,

      1. I used somebody else’s hot spot (with their permission) to let my phone provider know I needed to start the paid for plan begin early because I had run out of data.

    3. I’m in two minds about face coverings because of digital face recognition technology.

      1. Good point.
        Depends how it is applied though.
        Last week in south London a convicted paedo was face recogged and Police attended as he was in the company of a girl under 10. Which is against the conditions set by the court.

        All well and good but i believe this was made public to suggest the technology is a good thing. A PR puff piece.

        It may have even been set up with actors.

        This is what 'they' want. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_surveillance_in_China

        You can't access anywhere without the social credit. Even crossing a bridge the barrier won't open unless your score is high enough.

    4. One of my neighbours has Starlink on his camper.

      Says it does a good job.

      BTW, i have had it here at the house ever since it became available. I tested it the other day by setting my phone to wifi only and running an on line speed test. 190+mbps, so no complaints.

        1. He went to accompany his mother. And show his young son what happened and where. That child will never forget the experience.

          1. But the child didn’t need to be back until January!
            Edit Just read it again and he took the child out pre Christmas, for 3 weeks. So a bit of a fuss on his part. I know it must be hard for he and his mother, but..

          2. What about the Covid era when teachers ‘worked from home’ and also the strikes? Just playing devil’s advocate.

          3. Oh you’re quite right, but it’s all a bit ‘off’! Perhaps it’s me?

          5. I don’t think they said the actual dates but the mother changed hers and he needed to be with her. How much actual work/learning goes on just before Christmas?

            The only time my mum took me out of school was in June 1959 (last term at primary school) and we spent two weeks in London, seeing the sights and old friends/family and so on. Always remembered – I don’t think I’d remember a couple of weeks at school in the same way. I already had my place at the girls’ grammar school lined up.

        2. He went to accompany his mother. And show his young son what happened and where. That child will never forget the experience.

    2. If he doesn’t pay the fine he will be taken to court. I, from my experience many years ago, think it unlikely the Magistrates would enforce it. They are more down to earth and not as likely to be politically driven.

  82. We are, of course, to understand that is what they mean, but it ain’t necessarily so.

    1. Especially when the 'uman rights industry gets involved. They will try to argue for "special circumstances" in each and every case.

  86. 407081+ up ticks,

    Great viewing for a family watch, will they make a blockbuster of it, if so surely biden MUST take the lead
    having mastered the art of multi falling.
    I found it had more content than listening to the continued hissing from the question time pit political participants, hissing sid starmer & co.

    Dt,
    Watch: Trump falls on stairs of Air Force One
    US president publicly mocked Joe Biden, his predecessor, for similar stumble

    1. Far, far too familiar. It must be wonderful to not have to worry about traffic or anything like that.

    2. Kadi likes to sleep against my left leg when I’m driving. So long as he doesn’t interfere with my changing gear he’s okay. He is secured as regs demand. Winston is a back seat driver when I am sitting at the wheel. As soon as we stop and I vacate the seat, he’s there. I keep reminding him he doesn’t even have a dog licence never mind a driving licence.

  88. The Warqueen heads off to Ascot next week, tickets to the Royal enclosure thanks to the only gay in the village she's going with. I went one year bu it was 28'c, I had to wear a stiflingly uncomfortable suit, wasitcoat and shirt and after a few hours the jacket was soaked through, I was miserable, had a headache and was achingly thirsty (you have to buy water!), so she banned me and goes with this gay fellow called Bobby.

    She's bought this white silk trouser suit and hat thing and some dresses. I don't pay much attention to be honest as I know she'd far prefer to be mucking out around the horses.

      1. She picked it. I wore it. Then I went home early and called the hire shop to ask if I should have it dry cleaned or destroyed and pay the diff. They were actually really nice and said 'we'll get that cleaned, it happens'.

        I really, really didn't enjoy it at all. To her this is 'her thing'. She knows people who go there, she's comfortable hob nobbing where I find people difficult. Isn't helped by people's reaction to her being fawning adoration as if she were an angel come to earth as opposed to my Balrog-ian first impression. She's just more socially capable than I am.

        2. My idea of hell. My sister in law flies over from Oz each year to attend.

        3. A linen suit with a silk cravat. A panama hat. A silver topped cane. Comfortable elegance in warm weather.

    1. One defied the state. The other is endorsed by it. They want to push a narrative for their own benefit.

      More, I think it was the physical proximity of the public that really scared the statists. They don't like to actually deal with the people, despite them being staff and the buildings they work in the property of the public to do with as they choose.

    1. I'd bet you there're many Britons who would go through the gate. We're good like that.

      1. That's why the EU was not appropriate for the British who do what they're told to do.

        It works for the French because if they are told to do something they don't want to do then they don't do it.

      2. There is a gate like that outside a large house recently converted into flats.
        The spindly hedge twigs planted round it only emphasise the silliness.

    1. And the better off Arab states "hire" Palestinians as indentured servants to do the jobs they don't want to do. Slavery in all but bane.

  92. EXC: Starmer May Swerve Meeting With Bangladesh Interim Leader as Tulip Siddiq Scandal Continues

    Matters are coming to a head this week as Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus visits London to receive an award and – according to Bangladeshi officials – speak with Keir Starmer. The UK side has been strangely quiet about the upcoming meeting sought by Yunus, suggesting there is nervousness in Downing Street about what might be brought up…

    Last week Yunus said he would raise Bangladesh’s efforts to recover funds allegedly embezzled by Awami League figures in Sheikh Hasina’s regime and stored in assets abroad. Former anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq has also put herself on the agenda this weekend…

    In a letter to Yunus which was briefed to The Guardian Siddiq requests a meeting with Bangladesh’s leader in order to “help clear up the misunderstanding perpetuated by the anti-corruption committee in Dhaka that I have questions to answer in relation to my mother’s sister, the former prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina.” Siddiq promoted her enthusiasm to clear matters on an X post with the comments turned off…

    Tulip and her lawyers have always denied all wrongdoing and she adds in the letter: “I have no property nor any business interests whatsoever in Bangladesh. The country is dear to my heart but it is not the country where I was born, live in or have built my career in.” Meanwhile over the weekend the Anti-Corruption Commission in Bangladesh said it had seized 87 pages of tax returns filed in the country by Siddiq which “cover the assessment years 2006–07 to 2018–19″…

    The Awami League party of Tulip’s aunt Sheikh Hasina is protesting the visit, telling Downing Street “that any formal meeting lends legitimacy to an unelected and unconstitutional administration.” As revealed on these pixels Starmer has hobnobbed with senior Awami League staff – including Hasina – for years and was seen doing so as recently as December…

    Yunus’ office for its part says it never received that letter from Tulip and therefore “we cannot comment on something we have not seen.” If Starmer actually meets with Yunus the pair has the opportunity to discuss the case in detail…

    June 9 2025 @ 11:27

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

    The Lotus Eater
    4h
    “I have no property or business interests whatsoever in Bangladesh.”
    That doesn’t mean she doesn’t have such interests elsewhere that might be related, just not in that geographical entity.

    Its always what lawyers don’t say.

    Shergar lost
    3h
    International law is sacred and must be followed, except when it applies to the great leaders friends.

    Truth Hurts
    4h
    If she has no property or business interests in Bangladesh, why is the anti-corruption Commission looking at 87 pages of tax returns in the country?

  93. The ghastly Swedish muppet seems to get younger and behave more childishly the older she gets.

    2. Does she actually have an occupation? How does she support herself? Professional irritating goblin?

    4. The smug grin has still not been wiped off her face in the photos from the boat being intercepted. Makes one suspect that they knew perfectly well they would never be allowed to reach the dangers of Gaza.
      What utter scum they are, to be trying to profit off the backs of people's suffering with stupid publicity stunts.

      2. "Charli XCX is expected to draw a huge crowd when she headlines the Other Stage this year" – I've absolutely no idea why…..?

        1. As you are clearly an expert in modern popular music – could you tell me how this young woman (if they are a woman) pronounces its name?

  95. Between a Rutte and a Hard Place!

    "Russia could launch an attack against Nato within five years, the head of the military alliance warned.

    Mark Rutte, the secretary general, said in a speech in London today that there was “no longer east or west” given the speed and lethality of Russian missiles.

    “Let’s not kid ourselves, we are all on the eastern flank. There is no east or west, there is just Nato,” Mr Rutte said. “The distance between European capitals is only a few minutes [for Russian missiles].”

    Mr Rutte also warned that danger “will not disappear when the war in Ukraine ends” as he called on members of the alliance to boost defence spending.

    The Nato chief has called on Nato members to increase air and missile defence spending by 400 per cent as he pushes members to spend a combined 5 per cent on defence spending and security to placate Donald Trump. "

    1. a) Why would Russia do that?
      b) especially when they cannot even take Ukraine, even with the manpower from North Korea.

      1. Russia was initially unwilling to take Ukraine excepting those areas which are predominantly Russian speaking and which had been attacked by the Kiev government forces.

        As the conflict has developed it is becoming apparent that Ukraine has lost the war. Ukraine has lost the major industrial cities and is no longer viable as a State.

        Without continuing funding and military support by the US and its proxy NATO, Ukraine ceases to exist. Western Ukraine will eventually be returned to historical claimants upon its territory which are Poland Romania and Hungary.

    2. Good grief. Russia is a superpower with more nuclear missiles than the US. The US is a superpower and both China and India are fast approaching superpower status. Europe meanwhile, if represented by the EU member states plus the UK, are nowhere near comparable superpower status and are disintegrating as a supposed power bloc.

      The EU might once have been a large trading bloc but that influence has been diminished owing to the Ukraine project and its belligerence towards Russia. The EU is fragmenting at long last as member states look to their own interests and those of their own peoples.

      The UK is an exception in that its political class retains some idiotic notion that it has power and influence in the modern world. It does not and should instead look inwards to ensuring the prosperity of the British people and forget about foreign adventures such as funding the disaster in Ukraine.

      1. Ditto. Having seen footage of Moscow, looks better than London (if it's to be believed that is, which my husband tells me it is, having been to Moscow a few times business tripsw.

  96. I hope Israel takes the boatload of cretins into Gaza on one of the next aid lorries and then dumps them there for a week, and tells them to get on with life under Hamas first hand.

          1. Samson Agonistes, but pagers might work as well.
            Should Israel from Philistian yoke deliver;
            Ask for this great deliverer now, and find him
            Eyeless in Gaza at the Mill with slaves …

          4. Eyeless in Gaza at the mill with slaves

            The phrase is from John Milton's Samson Agonistes and describes Samson who finally gave in to the pleading of his treacherous wife, Delila, to reveal the source of his remarkable strength.

            Once the Philistines had the secret they cut off Samson's hair (wherein lay his strength) and blinded him and put him on public show.

            When we sailed to Valetta on Mianda we passed the island to the North of Malta is called Gozo which is a magnet to many drunken lascivious people whom I described as being:

            LEGLESS IN GOZO

            (Sadly very few people understood the reference.)

      2. Supposedly they were all sat down and forced to watch video recordings of the Octomer massacre but you are right, they probably didn't see anything wrong.

    2. Correction if I may: “hope Israel takes the boatload of cretins into Gaza on one of the next aid lorries and then dumps them there”.

  97. Wordle No. 1,451 3/6

    ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 9 Jun 2025

    Beam for Birdie Three?

    2. Well done.

      A bit annoying here – does this count as an 'anagram birdie'? If not, just a par….

      Wordle 1,451 4/6

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

    3. Birdie for me too.

      Wordle 1,451 3/6

      🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟨🟨🟨🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    4. Well done, same here.

      Wordle 1,451 3/6

      🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜🟨⬜🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    5. Been Golfing more pars and birdies here

      Wordle 1,451 4/6

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

  98. Letters to the Editor
    Politicians must not shy away from any public debate on face coverings
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c3643093d1b0b3c50ccd83b939429469724e1d87d1a3bae29b9b02bacea511f1.png
    Nigel Farage has said that ‘we deserve a debate’ on the wearing of face coverings in public places Credit: Alamy

    Letters to the Editor 09 June 2025 12:03am BST

    SIR – Nigel Farage is quite right to call for a debate on the subject of people covering their faces in public, and brave to consider making it a Reform UK policy. It is clearly part of our culture that people’s faces are visible.

    This is very important in looking to protect the public against criminals and others who wish to hide themselves behind any form of face covering. There are people who like to believe that it is part of their religion to cover their faces, but all politicians must know this is not a specific religious teaching.

    Face covering is unacceptable in our society and any political party knows that policy on the matter risks losing votes from that element of society that demands women cover their faces in public. Politicians need to raise divisive subjects, rather than evade them, and make difficult decisions for the benefit of social cohesion.

    Jonathan Longstaff
    Buxted, East Sussex

      3. A Israeli friend just got me an amazing deal on this phone , it's a real blast.

    2. Why are these people taking advantage of the comfortable ambiance of the UK , why haven't they discarded their desert attire , that includes the men in their strange galabia's, this is Great Britain and not some sandy cruel outpost in some barbaric Muslim enclave overseas.

      After all , over 60 years ago , the Lebanon, Syria , Iran , Iraq were not compelled to cover themselves completely , only remote uneducated peasant corners of their countries wore cover … and that was to keep the sand out of their nostrils .

      The idiotic West have no idea how the radical Muslim culture has swamped modern times .

      Mediterranean countries had the tradition black garb, yes Roman Catholic culture insisted on veils and scarves on heads .. I can remember Maltese women wearing black shawls and veils in the 1960's .

      Remember how terrifying British Nuns looked , many of them wore what appeared to be white and black medieval garments and head wear , no hair showing, modesty etc . There were some head garments that Nuns wore that were really frightening to look at.

      Dark skinned people are naturally frightening to look at anyway ..many are totally expressionless and never give eye contact .. their expressions are difficult to read .. as are psychotic whites!

      1. Nuns wore the habit by their own free choice, not through any coercion by men; and they never covered their faces.

        1. My first school was a convent in Hammersmith. I had never come across nuns before and I found them unnerving. I couldn't wait to move up to the next class where the form teacher was a normally dressed woman.
          By the following September, I had moved up – to Essex.

          1. I was taught by Nuns in my primary school (it was a 50-50 mix of Nuns and secular teachers). They came across as kindly middle-aged ladies, but perhaps that was because they were teaching children from ages 5 to 11. I’ve heard stories of girls having a bad time with some Nuns in secondary Convent schools but of course I would have no knowledge of that.

      2. "and not some sandy cruel outpost in some barbaric Muslim enclave overseas."

        To them, that's exactly what the UK is.

      3. My primary and junior school in London EC1 is where my two brothers and two sisters went along with the majority of my cousins. The flats we lived in were owned by the Improved Industrial Dwelling Company who had strict requirements for you to get a flat. My Nan, four aunts and an uncle lived there and my dad’s brother and his family. It was like a small village. My mum and did moved into the flats when they married in 1933 and all us children were born there. I lived in the flat from birth in 1946 until the flats were compulsory purchased by Islington council in 1965. We moved 100 yards to a brand new 19 stories block of flats. The village atmosphere was broken.

    3. Huh. I suspect if more white people started covering their faces with scarves we'd soon get a debate.

  99. Starmer Told Xi ‘We Have Taken Action’ on Chinese Mega-Embassy Despite White House Warnings

    The US has issued a stark warning against the UK building the Chinese mega-embassy after David Lammy and Yvette Cooper overrode security concerns to force through the 20,000 square metres building on the Royal Mint Court site. Intelligence services had warned that it could grant China access to vital communication cables…

    Now Trump has personally warned Starmer against giving the mega-embassy the green light, and a senior US official has told The Sunday Times: “The United States is deeply concerned about providing China with potential access to the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” Labour’s love for Beijing could derail any ongoing US-UK trade talks…

    Guido thought it worth noting that Starmer directly raised the issue of the mega-embassy during a meeting with Xi Jinping in Rio de Janeiro last November. He said:

    “You raised the Chinese embassy building in London when we spoke on the telephone. We have since taken action by calling in that application now we have to follow the legal process and timeline.”

    Walking into the dragon’s mouth…

    UPDATE: Influential US congressional committee the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party now attacks Labour’s mega-embassy gift to Xi Jinping.

    “If reports are accurate, placing a PRC embassy of unprecedented size over sensitive cabling that supports US and UK financial systems would pose an unacceptable risk to our institutions.”

    June 9 2025 @ 12:34
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c7f70e8760bbfe7ce0ffdec09f4c49aec6d19cda7e55d5c76ced2f7e476e603b.png

    1. This man and his party are traitors. We do not want a 20,000 sq m embassy here. Anywhere in the U.K.

    2. I was more worried about the small chambers in the cellar on the plans, that were thought to resemble dungeons and torture chambers, though the Chinese embassy insists they are storage rooms.

    1. Fact: For passing the 11 plus examine my school presented me with the book "Man of Everest" by Sir Edmund Hillary.

  102. Well, this very productive day ended with drizzle – just after I had put cushions on the garden chairs then gone indoors….

    Tomato frames completed; potatoes earthed up, tomatoes dosed with Tomorite; trombetti ready to plant out in ten days time.
    Lawn mowed (not by me – but a slave). Very shortly time for a drink. And tomorrow is my elder son's 59th birthday. How toime fly.
    Both his parents ar still here. I lost my mother when I was 32; and my father at 47. The MR was 54 when he mother left us; and 44 when her father died.

    Funny old thing, life and death.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain.

    1. We’ve been out looking at various things as we’ve some major work coming up in July, likely to take 5/6 weeks, and we need to replace with items that are smaller than current old stuff to fit in our reshaped bungalow. Lots of measuring and trying to envisage how they would look.
      Enlarging the shower room and kitchen and the kitchen will be open plan with the living room.

        1. A case of having to take on the challenge Belle. Alf with very dodgy knees, needs one replacing at least the stairs were really difficult for him. The bungalow is great although it needs major work, new kitchen, new shower room, updated utility. Luckily we can live at our daughter’s house in crowthorne. Will have to come back frequently to see what’s doing on and we’re crossing our fingers that it all comes together. There are kind to be unexpected problems but we’ll have to face them as and when.

          Must admit I’ve not heard of people moving to South Africa, more the other way round.

        2. South Africa is headed to be another Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. It's just a matter of time.

          If I lived there, I would be looking to leave – no future for whites there, sadly.

          1. Where do us English go as we’re turning into a 3rd world country with a 99th rate government and opposition.

          2. That's difficult these days. When I was young, we could have easily gone to Canada, or Australia/New Zealand. But none of them want older immigrants these days, unless they have a lot of money.The US tightened up (a lot) around about 1970 – we came on a company transfer, which meant the immigration skids were well greased. We floated from our original Visas, to Green Cards and then citizenship.

          3. I don’t know if you remember but we came to Washington and New York in 2018 to celebrate our Golden Wedding. Cruising back to Southampton on the QM2 we met an American chap who lives in Nebraska. Although he is of Russian heritage he considers England to be the mother country. He envies us when we send pictures of visiting Littlehampton, our nearest seaside town that’s about 43 miles away. He lives 800 miles from the sea.

          4. Yes I recall your trip. We are about 80 miles from the Chesapeake Bay, but almost another 100 to get to
            "proper ocean". But the house has frontage on the Potomac River, even if getting to it is not easy – there being a cliff in the way.

            Nearest "big water" to Nebraska is Lake Michigan – and it's big enough for there to be nasty storms.

      2. Invest in Acrow props… 🤣

        I took a couple of solid partition walls out from Dianne the Ex's place in Sheerwater, to ceate a larger kitchen. They weren't structural: I checked. Bungalows are prolly easier – my internal "walls" are "Paamount partitions" – Two skins of rather flimsy plasterboard, sandwiching a cardboard core, 50 mm overall thickness.

        1. Lived in a bungalow in deepest Essex for years – 13 to be exact, less a year on assignment at company HQ in the US. The nice thing is you can go up into the loft space and fairly easily work out which walls are actually holding stuff up vs. just separating rooms, etc. We added about 50% to the size of that place by extending it both sides to be much closer to the fence lines. Ended up with a huge kitchen, a new dining room and took it from 3 to 4 bedrooms.

          interestingly, when we sold in 1979, for got £30k for it. It's now valued at about £480k. In contrast, the house we bought in the Washington suburbs for $110k in that same timeframe is now worth about $600k. Just a dramatic difference in house price inflation.

          1. Here one gets twice the house for half the money, compared with where we moved from in the UK

          2. Similar here. At least twice the house, and far better equipped to boot. There is just no comparison. Plus of course energy is a lot cheaper. Petrol as an example being about 1/2 of UK prices.

        2. We have a builder who we’re confident with. Had a structural engineer to work out what was needed as we are removing a load bearing wall. Our bungalow has a wood frame with a brick skin. Has worked that into his calculations. Also stud wall between the kitchen and living room coming down.

      3. kitchen will be open plan with the living room.

        Make sure you have a good extractor.

    2. Time waits for no one Bill.

      There seems to no way one can overcome sadness, apart from distracting oneself with do able tasks , and appreciating the amazing progress of our plants in the garden.

      Sadly , one of the 3 new rhododendrons Moh planted last year .. brilliant red , it flowered a few weeks ago , has crumbled and wilted and looks very fragile, no not lack of water , but no sign of disease .. the other two one on each side of the wilting plant , have new leaf growth.

      Why does this happen , I don't know .

      1. Perhaps it’s red varieties? I have had several red rhododendrons do the same thing.

  103. BREAKING

    Freddy Forsyth has died. Now there was a man whose views were always crystal clear.

    7. "There's a great spirit gone …."

      [Antony of Fulvia in Antony and Cleopatra]

      If only he had been in government – he had the clarity, conviction and personality needed – unlike most politicians.

    1. Send her, and all the other slebs into Gaza on an aid convoy and leave them there for a week.

  106. No one I repeat no one is to mention these words in a sentence for the next ten months.. by Law.
    Gindr Fire Nancy-Boys Starmer Stasi.
    Anyone that does is obv a far right divisive Na(z)i, and certainly won't be welcome at any Hawksmoor restaurant.

  107. No one I repeat no one is to mention these words in a sentence for the next ten months.. by Law.
    Gindr Fire Nancy-Boys Starmer Stasi.
    Anyone that does is obv a far right divisive Na(z)i, and certainly won't be welcome at any Hawksmoor restaurant.

  108. No one I repeat no one is to mention these words in a sentence for the next ten months.. by Law.
    Gindr Fire Nancy-Boys Starmer Stasi.
    Anyone that does is obv a far right divisive Na(z)i, and certainly won't be welcome at any Hawksmoor restaurant.

      1. Ricco Douglas, 25, of The Bungalow, Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park, attacked his victim shortly after arriving in the town on December 14, 2024.

      2. That "barging" reminds me a group of black shits marching through Waterloo station doing similarly to commuters.
        One of them smashed into my shoulder, presumably hoping I'd drop my briefcase.
        Bad error.
        He was probably giving away three or four stone in weight and at that time I was still very fit and very solid.
        He spun off and landed on his arse.
        I resisted the temptation to kick the little bastard.

          1. The friends would probably have stopped laughing at him and given me a good kicking.

    2. Armed officers from 3 forces are on their way. Eight high security prisoners have just been released early to accommodate these fascist nationalists.

  113. A bit of work done on the steps done and a few photos taken.
    After levelling off and squaring up the kerb stone for the lower step of this pair, I then got the other stone set in place. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8c9784d22222d7d7c17649a66a4a890e0ed94e3dd0bef21a3f62de9cf35b3357.jpg
    I now need a load of material to infill behind the upper stone;
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7d1b2db44544869f2239345b3d5766065c6d30820c624ee6ae613240a616bbac.jpg And I have three rather beautiful smelling roses to admire from bushes I VERY nearly got rid of!!! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/94fb3e4d6c7d5e450f344411171955e7f2f534ccbb6decc3e4cff075af805e6e.jpg Two on one bush and and the other on a second. They look as if they are the same variety.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2a119eda9d34a2ee252c26e34d0fa25d7f8b59065c2cd8e7b30b3c11de07000d.jpg As I mentioned earlier, the wasps are fairly non-aggressive, so it's very much a live and let live situation https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/713e3e649a3cd6e72eedb73207b054433263ed3031b51b43c86b6c013e0ecaf8.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/568209d7ab4b4c2f9d4d7189eb3c3aa2bcbf4fce9dcc4488a632b667b73d25ef.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8371d2c7a048aa2af8d2d46b61d43045695ceabd8e69fe020bfdd4837fa5477a.jpg

    1. I don't mind wasps but the current wife has spheksophobia. So to cut down on having wasps nesting we hang fake nests in the garage, porches and sheds. This does appear to work.

          2. In the top 5000 overall yesterday but 2nd in group.
            It’s a shame that the bots/cheats can’t be filtered out.

          3. Well bugger that for a game of darts! – I was doing really well, just held up a little bit on level 16 (I think it was 14 9s in 2 deals or something) but absolutely bombed out on level 20 – l must have had about 20 goes at it before I just gave up – bollocks!

          4. Oops, not tempting Providence here, done all the “expert” ones in 10 minutes total.
            Doubtless I’ll trip over an easier one later.

          5. I knew it was a bad day when I had to do level 1 again! Impressed if you did level 20 – for the life of me I analysed it forensically (well, as forensically as you can after a couple of pints) and just could not see the solution……

            PS You should be alright, there's nothing to scare the horses early on!

          8. I knew it was a bad day when I had to do level 1 again! Impressed if you did level 20 – for the life of me I analysed it forensically (well, as forensically as you can after a couple of pints) and just could not see the solution……

            PS You should be alright, there's nothing to scare the horses early on!

    2. I don't need to plant oak and walnut nuts as I have a very obliging pair of grey squirrels that do that. Some years back I transplanted a walnut seedling thinking it would take many years to grow to any size: big mistake, I had to remove it as it started to dominate the top end of my garden. The source of walnuts is my neighbour's tree, he had it reduced a couple of years ago. Another bad mistake, it's much larger now and continuing to grow. I think the old lady next door to him on the other side is worried about It growing and making contact with her home. It should be in a forest.

      1. A woman, a spaniel and a walnut tree, the harder you beat them the better they be is an old saying.

      2. I have the same problem with horse chestnuts which the squirrels plant all over the place.
        Given how many ash trees we've lost locally, I feel bad having to pull up the conker seedlings.

      3. I have the same problem with hazels. I have a tree and an amnesiac squirrel that lives in a tree next door.

  114. Though I am not a real gardener, I do like to plant things, especially fruit seeds and see what grows.
    This is one of three oak seedlings I have. I think it grew from an acorn I picked up on a walk to Mow Cop some years ago; https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/28889a1991d0caf1e9e4d027220bd1164de63e3ff2391a1cf2c5454080e4a1ff.jpg This is a sweet chestnut that has, over the years, been dried out almost to the point of extinction yet has still come back. I can't recall if it's from a chestnut I picked up at Ashford 6 or 7y ago, or from a Christmas nut that escaped being roasted. I did have 5 or 6 plus a few walnuts, but they have been passed out to a couple of the big gardens in the village. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/88953f87fbaa39de246b50b5cab52f2685a6ed4493101193fdfe1a34c130f2c1.jpg A Scots pine seedling from a cone I picked up just on the edge of Crewe https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3640ad39bb535fb7248b0f956b6e8ff307e62c586c5b0ec8920db5d08c6812ab.jpg Blending in a bit too much with the grass behind it, is this rather nice beech https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f1bb1bc4f1e38ccdda77849cb558b832598ba315614246f09a7c405933cc8f48.jpg And a tiny oak https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b4e73b92639d2d53f58aa4e3cad06146220663482f2e6e3b291ab4c42fbe365b.jpg With a more substantial oak beside it. One of the three oaks might be from an American variety of oak that was in the Railway Tech Centre in Derby that blew over in a storm and smashed a couple of the office windows!
    I managed to salvage a couple of the rather squat acorns off it and planted them too. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/66e5ef3ec6deb4dd97396f25efadb80dbb7a9539e8098f7a67103dcce563d9f5.jpg I've a nice covering of wild strawberries that are just ripening rather nicely!
    The DT picked a few that I put in with her breakfast Weetabix the past couple of days. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d9130d690045f81aa0aa6010433df7637b806293dfde42cb931abd66767090a2.jpg And another view of the strawberries which, if you look closely at the twiggy bits, includes a couple of the seed grown quince seedlings that, if I live long enough, I MIGHT actually see some fruit on!!!

      1. A lot of my other tree seedlings, apple, pear, plum and a few others, have become rather jumbled up, though I have planted several, maybe half a dozen or so, up the hillside, two of which bore a tiny little apple each last year. One rather sharp and acid, the other a rather nice sweet flavour.

    1. Thanks Paul, I love this kind of footage, get it quite a lot on Instagram 🙂

  116. Michael Deacon
    Dawn French’s moronic outburst on Israel spells the death of celebrity virtue-signalling
    At long last, Left-wing luvvies will see that mindlessly parroting fashionable opinions can come at a cost

    09 June 2025 6:00pm BST

    There’s no denying that Dawn French’s video about Israel was mind-bogglingly crass. In particular the bit when she put on a silly, babyish voice and referred to the October 7 massacre as “a bad fing”.

    Even so, let’s not be too hard on her. In time, I believe, we may end up owing her our deepest gratitude.

    Because, thanks to the sheer, blistering ferocity of the backlash she’s received, other mush-brained luvvies may finally take the hint – and stop inflicting their witless political views on the rest of us.

    To be clear: I’m not suggesting that these people deserve to be cancelled for their opinions. Cancel culture is a blight on our age, and famous actors have got just as much right to free speech as anyone else.

    The problem is that, all too often, what they say is so cluelessly conformist. It’s obvious that they’re only passing comment because they think trotting out the fashionable line on a given topic – Israel, gender identity, net zero or whatever – will make them look good. With any luck, therefore, Ms French’s experience will deter them from expressing a view on such issues until they’ve bothered to give them some actual thought.

    And if that sounds too much like hard work, and they’d prefer not to say anything, that’s absolutely fine. Why on earth should we expect actors to have intelligent opinions on current affairs, anyway? Their day job is to recite words that have been written for them by other, much smarter people. It doesn’t require them to think. So you might as well seek geopolitical analysis from a performing seal, or a parrot.

    Ms French, however, seems to have believed she had some kind of duty to air her criticisms of Israel’s military strategy. In a subsequent statement apologising for her “tone”, she wrote: “I have felt my silence is complicit or even somehow sanctioning.”

    Allow me to put her mind at ease. Dear Ms French, I promise you: your previous “silence” was not responsible for a single death in the Middle East. Even if you’d published your video months ago, Benjamin Netanyahu would not have said, “Stand down, everyone – I’m ordering an immediate ceasefire. Look, I know we want to defeat Hamas and save the hostages. But, as a nation, we simply can’t afford to incur the wrath of that woman from The Vicar of Dibley.”

    So please, dear Dawn, try not to feel guilty. In fact, be proud. Because if your calamitous own goal does indeed prompt other celebrities to abandon their narcissistic virtue-signalling, it will be the greatest contribution to human happiness you’ll ever make.

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

    john sinclair
    1 hr ago
    Can you imagine if we were today in the early stages of WW2 against German.

    There is no doubt in my mind that the BBC and idiots like Dawn French would be taking the side of the Germans and ignoring the death of the Jews in the death camps

    chris
    1 hr ago
    Like Greta, Dawn French should be made to watch the whole unedited film of the massacre of over 1,000 innocent people.

    I doubt she would refer the massacre of men, woman, pregnant women and children as "a big fing", after watching the film.

    Dawn, your day is over as a celebrity, go and enjoy your retirement and reflect on the anti-Semitic nature of your crass and immature social media post.

    K Pinkney
    1 hr ago
    If I hear that voice on a M&S advert again I will have made my last purchase there. This was so unacceptable. Dawn needs to remember the background of the founding fathered of M&S. This post was disgusting.

    1. Oh, dear. The result if you don't understand some simple things in life.

    3. Dawn French wrote: “I have felt my silence is complicit or even somehow sanctioning.”

      The old saying goes "It's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak up and remove all doubt".

    4. This makes me sad. I used to like Dawn French as an actress, and now… she's revealed herself to be the same, unthinking, poseur as so many others, and so sinks into the mud of mediocrity and dullness. Someone wrote about "feet of clay"… well, there's another pair.

    5. Belittling the 7th October 2023 raid on Israel by aggressive and hostile paramilitaries is playing into the hands of the brutes on both sides of the ill-guarded fence.

      It is a pity, since French is right in condemning the much worse assault on Gaza since that atrocity for the same reason; she is inconsistent by belittling what happened on 7th October.

      Why does the Doom Goblin's hairdresser model her these days on a Starmer clonebot?

  118. getting my picnic ready for my trip to the Rosebowl tomorrow and my husbands shouts me to say Robbie (Cummings, of Canal Boat Diary fame) was at Hampton Court. He’s now at Brentford, on everyone’s favourite canal (the Grand Union).

    In Lockdown, my daughter indulged me by cycling to Wolverhampton with me along the canals. Don’t ask about the Shrewley Tunnel incident.

  119. There were more than 50,000 offences involving knives in England and Wales in the year to March last year and 262 deaths, according to House of Commons research.

    1. but i feel so much safer knowing lucy connolly is in jail and mr peter lynch rip is dead.

      (/sarc, obvs)

    2. Surely there’s CCTV somewhere? Or maybe it’s the staff themselves doing it! Somebody must witness it being done?

  121. And, having just shifted half a dozen sandbags of scalpings for backfilling onto the steps, that's me off to bed.
    Good night all.

      3. Hair and scalp removed from a defeated enemy. Whilst alive preferably, but dead will do. Originally started by settlers, apparently some say. Your 'sporting' native American would be more friendly and just 'count coup' to show he had you beaten.

        1. It is what is scraped off a tarmac road when preparing it for resurfacing. A waste byproduct, but has value as a low grade aggregate.

    1. Good night, Conners – and Kadi and Winston. Can you let us all know tomorrow how Winston is progressing in his behaviour training?

    1. They should sentence her to a year in Gaza without the internet or publicity of any sort. Or perhaps the latter would be deemed torture.

  124. Today's Wordle defeated me, with three perfectly good words rejected, and the actual answer a mildly prejudicial ethnic nickname, likening a people to thieves. I looked it up, and it seems to have a different meaning in the USA.

    Does anyone remember the furore over 'Coon' cheese, popular in Australia?

    1. Oi do you mind, some of us had not done wordle yet….
      Wordle 1,452 1/6

      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  127. No I think it’s you who haven’t a clue. Lived in America many years ago and still harping on about it

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