Monday 30 June: It really shouldn’t be radical to expect the NHS to put patients first

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

715 thoughts on “Monday 30 June: It really shouldn’t be radical to expect the NHS to put patients first

  1. Good morning Geoff and all NoTTLers, it's Monday again and time for another couple of Monday Chuckles.

    A little girl was given a tea set for her second birthday. It became one of her favourite toys, and when her mother went away for a few weeks to care for her sick aunt, the toddler loved to take her father a little cup of tea, which was just water really, while he was engrossed watching the news on TV. He sipped each “cup of tea” he was brought and lavished generous praise on the taste, leaving the little girl immensely proud.

    Eventually the mother returned home and the father couldn’t wait to show her how his little princess had been looking after him. On cue, the girl took him his “cup of tea” and he sipped it before praising it to the heavens. The mother watched him drink it and then said to him: “Did it ever occur to you that the only place that a toddler can reach to get water is the toilet?”

    When his son asked for a lift in the car just to get to the end of their road, his father told him: “You should be ashamed. When Abraham Lincoln was your age, he used to walk ten miles every day to get to school.” “Really?” said the boy. “Well, when he was your age, he was president!”

  2. Morning Geoff

    Edit: I took an extra 'f' off – I found a used one 'f' too many!

  3. Morning Geoff

    Edit: I took an extra 'f' off – I found a used one 'f' too many!

  4. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLe page. I got a "Par" with Wordle today.

    Wordle 1,472 4/6

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    1. Avocados take a huge amount of water to grow. Had some trees in Nigeria, needed almost continual watering, so gave that up very quickly. Lots water = not sustainable in dry areas.

          1. and much more. We cut most of our trees down as well and still do not plant enough. We should sort our own house. We buy oil from Norway at great cost when we should be producing it ourselves ans gas and coal.

  5. It turns out Al-Beeb has been fawning over 'English' (LOL) punk duo Pascal Robinson-Foster & Bob Vylan since 2006. They've absolutely loved his violent threat 'poetry' (LOL).. usual targets: Maggie.. Royal Family.. and this gem of rappy-line "Landlord just raised your rent.. get a gun."

    1. If you want to larf (or cry) read his social media posts..

      Vylan went on to stress the significance of setting an example for the younger generation, saying: "display to them loudly and visibly the right thing. Let them see us marching in the streets, campaigning on ground level, organising online and shouting about it on any and every stage that we are offered."

      "Today is a change in school dinners, tomorrow it is a change in foreign policy." or sumfink.

      1. Odd that such an anarchic creature as Pascal Robinson-foster should also be the Director of two companies, both set up in 2023. One is called GHOST THEATRE LIMITED, the other is called LAVY HILL LIMITED (shouldn't that perhaps be LAVVY?).

    2. If you want to larf (or cry) read his social media posts..

      Vylan went on to stress the significance of setting an example for the younger generation, saying: "display to them loudly and visibly the right thing. Let them see us marching in the streets, campaigning on ground level, organising online and shouting about it on any and every stage that we are offered."

      "Today is a change in school dinners, tomorrow it is a change in foreign policy." or sumfink.

  6. 408584+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Monday 30 June: It really shouldn’t be radical to expect the NHS to put patients first

    Should read
    Monday 30 June: It really shouldn’t be radical to expect the NHS to put English patients first, except in dire emergencies.

    As with ALL issues within the infrastructure, currently ALL departments
    within the infrastructure has the paying indigenous as having to accept very,very,second rate options.

  7. Morning, all Y'all.
    Sunny. Warm. Bugger me, it's summer. At least yesterday's wind has died down – trees down all over the place, forest fire close by the road on the way home from smallholding – took basically the whole county's fire brigades plus a number of farmers with tractors to contain. The firefighting helicopter was hindered because the wind strength and direction was such that they couldn't dip for water locally, had to fly a goodly distance to get water, slowing the efforts. Firstborn was without power from about 16:00…

    1. Arrived back yesterday from tropical heat, to find tropical heat at Heathrow! And, my car at Gatwick. Dont ask but a lot went on over Saturday night.

        1. We were on an internal flight to Jakarta and saw or Quatar plane just behind us on FR24. After landing we watched the Qatar go-around in heavy rain and after a while divert to Singapore (1.5hrs away). Thus started a 5 hr delay which led to missing our LGW connection in Doha and then being put on the LHR flight. The compo was the new flight was an A380 with a rather nice bar on top deck. Only constrained by the drive home!

          1. Nice! Always wanted to fly on the A380. I'm not used to being able to move around further than the toilet onboard – too much narrowbody flying, I suppose.
            Glad you made it home OK, maybe even better than OK… 😉

          2. Very good!
            Flew Qatar a few times, but the 787. That's a nice aircraft, too, if less spacious.

    1. There was a well to do son of immigrants spouting the usual line that his father had come here to help rebuild Britain after the war. His father's employment, canteen worker and later ticket collector on the railway. Not too much graft and building there.

      1. Honest work well done is worthy of respect – but these exaggerated claims that Windrush migrants built Britain are clearly nonsense.
        When the Windrush arrived, Britain still had an empire – if they built Britain, perhaps the descendants of Windrush migrants should pay themselves reparations?

        1. I may be wrong, but weren't most of the Windrush arrivals very low-skilled/unskilled? Or with qualifications that weren't up to the same standard as those from Britain? Yes, most were hard-working, law-abiding and church-going, but isn't it their own grandkids that now run riot with knives and violence?

          I agree that honest work is good, however lowly the status. After one of my cousins completed a few years in the army, he got a job driving HGVs (and still does that at the age of 63). An uncle of ours looked down on him, as 'only' a truck driver. That uncle was nothing more than a lowly clerk in a local government office.

          1. Yes, I have heard that teh behaviour of west Indian youth in Britain shocked the people back home. But it could be simply the old class dynamic playing out; the middles/upper working class being shocked at the behaviour of the lower working class…

      2. They came here because they had heard what Commonwealth servicemen and women had enjoyed in their service. The pay was much more than they could expect at home, the plentiful food, despite the rationing, and the friendliness of the British people – not withstanding the occasional snub or rebuff brought about by their own crass behaviour. We owe you nothing – Go back if you are not content to live in such luxury.

      3. A lot of those arriving after the war took jobs on the London Underground which helps explain why it was such a filthy and degrading experience travelling on it.

        When building over Pimlico Underground Station a succession of foreign Underground workers, unconnected with the location, would call in on the Site Agent to complain about noise and take a tenner from him to move on. Word had spread presumably in the canteen culture fostered by the management such that they came from far and wide.

        It was cheaper to spaff a few thousand pounds on the wretches than to allow delays in construction.

    2. I read this earlier on the thread, some excellent quotes with further data/information in the replies.

      The genomic/evolutionary claims are interesting. Homo Habilis/Homo Erectus DNA links being found in Sub-Saharan people but little to no Neanderthal – Europeans reported to having 2% – 4% of the latter.

      1. How many countries in Africa which were once ruled by whites are now more prosperous and where the ordinary people have better living standards and are happier?

        1. There's a YT video on that theme, how that, given quite a well-functioning economy, yer African has broken it, and how black Africanæs have no concept of maintenance (eg for railways).

        2. Answers on miniscule piece of paper, a postage stamp being too large.
          Maybe they are simply incapable of functioning in a civilised way, and mostly resorted to tribal welfare that was 'sorted out' by the whites.

  8. Here are two very non-partisan discussions about the situation in the middle east.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSOZ-DaxZEI Paul from the Sirius Report gives what I believe to be a realistic assessment of the recent conflict with Iran. Especially in the last ten minutes or so, he highlights what I believe to be the case as well; that China calls the shots now because they have the commodities, in this case, rare earth metals.
    Here is a view from the far East; in a nutshell, that Israel was created as part of the Anglo/American empire parasite class's desire to have influence in the middle east, and has been maintained ever since as part of their empire-building and holding plans. This is possibly a bleak outlook for ordinary Israelis, unless the whole region enters an era of peace and cooperation – perhaps not as unlikely as it would have looked a few years ago.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk1VB6nit0w

      1. Yes, if one tries to understand what is going on rather than flag-waving. The established order is changing.

  9. Good morning, all. Blue sky all-around, another hot day in prospect.

    Meritocracy guaranteed in these groups.

    https://x.com/BladudX/status/1939532659459596780
    IIRC I saw an Italian team at RAF Wethersfield, then an active USAF base, back in the late 1950s. The USAF held an open day and my dear old Gran took me there as a treat. Today Wethersfield is hosting a less welcome group of people.

      1. The bottom "tweet" with the Red Arrows is definitely Duxford. The Italians were performing in the USA, thought to be over one of the Great Lakes.

        1. Yes, bottom one is Duxford – I mistook the titling to refer to the top video, apologies

  10. I have just been catching up on my Irreverend podcasts. There is one from a out a month ago where he discusses our reentry into the EU – the 12 year fishing “deal”, the rejoining of the single market for agriculture and the Erasmus programme.

    I had forgotten that.

  11. Good morning, all. Blueish sky. Supposed to be risk of death later (ie – nice and sunny summer day).

    1. £285K! Now that's what I call Pro-Bonio!!!

      Morning my Lord Pissedorf and all of the same Parish!

      1. How typical of our stupid useless political system. It serves criminals better than the general public.

  12. Good morning Nottlers. 18°C and cloudy with rain forecast later. Walking football and the gym await.

    1. Oh God – yet another splinter party – to dilute the anti-Starmer vote….

      1. 408584+ up ticks,

        Morning BT,

        There we differ, we have been unified in the tribal eyes tight shut lab/lib/con vote these last thirty plus years, consequently we are above eyebrow lever in shite as a nation.

        EYES WIDE OPEN in unity must be the order of the day going forward

      2. ogga1
        ogga1
        Bill Thomas
        5 minutes ago
        408584+ up ticks,

        Morning BT,

        There we differ, we have been unified in the tribal eyes tight shut lab/lib/con vote these last thirty plus years, consequently we are above eyebrow level in shite as a nation.

        EYES WIDE OPEN in unity must be the order of the day going forward

      3. We need a party which is politically to the right.

        Nigel Farage's Reform Party is not the answer. Not only is he constantly moving to the left but his recent treatment of Rupert Lowe shows that his judgement is unsound.

        The Reform Party could be the answer if Farage wasn't its leader. Farage may claim that he has relinquished his 60% ownership of it but it has been set up in a suspiciously peculiar and opaque way.

        https://bylinetimes.com/2025/03/24/reform-uk-corporate-structure/

  13. <b>FSU raises the alarm over government’s secretive Islamophobia working group</b>
    As reported by the Telegraph, I’ve written to Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner to raise serious concerns about the fact that the government’s new Islamophobia Working Group is operating behind closed doors, with all advice to ministers marked ‘not to be made public’. That’s completely at odds with the government’s own rules on transparency and public engagement.

    Worse still, a ‘call for evidence’ intended to inform the group’s work was launched without any public notice and only came to light after a leak, having been quietly circulated to a hand-picked collection of interested parties.

    I’m also concerned about the group’s composition. Of the five members whose names have been made public, most have endorsed the extremely broad definition that an All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims came up with in 2018. As I said in my letter, this is like appointing a panel of vegans to give objective advice on national dietary guidelines.

    If that definition – or one like it – is adopted by the group, even in a non-statutory form, it could very easily become a de facto speech code for public authorities, stifling legitimate discussion and eroding the boundaries of lawful expression.

    I’ve asked the Deputy Prime Minister to disclose the group’s full membership, publish the advice she’s received so far and explain how she intends to reconcile the current process with a commitment to free speech. I’ve threatened to take legal action against her if that’s not forthcoming.

    Our demands feel especially urgent given the timing. The group’s secretive call for evidence emerged on the very day that Baroness Casey published her audit into the grooming gangs scandal. One of her central findings was that the abuse of thousands of vulnerable girls – often by groups of Asian Muslim men – continued for so long because officials were afraid to speak out, silenced by a culture of political caution and fear of being labelled ‘Islamophobic’.

    That mustn’t be allowed to happen again. And yet the APPG definition of Islamophobia has already been adopted by dozens of local authorities, including in areas directly affected by rape gang scandals. In several of these councils, it has been incorporated into internal disciplinary codes, meaning staff face formal investigations if they refer to the ethnic or religious background of the perpetrators. The APPG’s guidance expressly lists as an example of Islamophobic “tropes” the claim that Muslim men have targeted white girls in grooming gangs – the very pattern Baroness Casey’s audit identified, and which victims and whistleblowers fought for years to expose.

    Needless to say, the FSU is also preparing a formal response to the accompanying call for evidence and would urge any members who wish to contribute to do so. You can find the relevant link here.

    1. "If that definition – or one like it – is adopted by the group, even in a non-statutory form, it could very easily become a de facto speech code for public authorities, stifling legitimate discussion and eroding the boundaries of lawful expression."

      Head – nail.

  14. Morning all 🙂😊
    Sunny, wind died down and already 23 rain forecast for Tuesday night. 🤞
    After plenty of recent experience being treated in the NHS I've always found the front line staff to be excellent. But it's the journey to the front line that can be very daunting and often very frustrating.
    Administration in the UK is very much like our completley useless political system and more often than not, considers it's self more important than the people who pay all their salaries.

  15. I spoke with our number 3 yesterday he and his friends loved Bali. Two of them are settled in overthrew very nicely indeed. He said lots of Aussie there.
    He's back in Dubai now.

    1. Morning Bob.
      That won't be far from where my nephew lives in Rookhope. The landscape is very similar all round.
      Apparently the reason for the lack of trees is because of the lead smelting.
      But recently the local people have been planting saplings to counter the lack of greenery. I've donated a few from our garden. 🌲🌳

    1. A conversation between the rebel leader Jack Cade and his henchman, Dick the Butcher springs to mind?

    2. 50 convictions. What about the 100's of other crimes he committed without getting caught?

      Just being a serial offender should be enough to deport.

      1. "Just being an serial offender should be enough to deport."

        There, fixed it for you.

    3. You want extreme.. we'll give you extreme say the Gaza MPs.

      A total of 67 MPs and Lords have called on the PM and the Home Secretary to help “reunite [Palestinians] with their loved ones, and “urgently” establish a Ukraine-style visa for Gazans with family in the UK to come to Britain.

      1. I can think of other ways to 'reunite them with their loved ones'…..and it doesn't involve bringing them here.

  16. Yo and Good Moaning to you all from C d S.

    I suggest recruiting food police to stand at checkouts and fine us £5 for each non-government-approved item in our trolleys

    I vould go father.

    I vould get the guvunment me take over all food producttion in the Uk and make it part of the Snivel Service and issue everyone wiv Ration Books

    Herr Starmer vill then 'ave complete control over the people'. He and his cohorts will then have absolute control over the country and decide who is allowed enough food to live and those who should die

    1. So many supermarkets, what a waste! Nationalise and rationalise, you know it makes sense.

    2. One of the repressive measures being sneaked in by the Trump administration is that the cards issued to Americans on benefits cannot now be used to buy unhealthy foods.
      Today – Fat woman on bennies not being allowed to buy cola – everyone cheers.
      Tomorrow – everyone's card won't work when trying to buy meat.

      RFK Jr also says he wants all Americans carrying wearable health monitoring devices….so that the government will know more about your body than you do. What could possibly go wrong with that…..

      1. I watched a woman paying for her drinks at the bar the other night with her Apple watch – goodness knows what other data it collects.

  17. Ref the videos of formation flying, it grieves me to say so, but the French "Patrouille" is very good indeed AND, shockingly, is commanded by a WOMAN…..

    1. Not the kind of woman who allows "protesters" to paint the aircraft in her charge, but the kind who deports a criminal at the drop of a hat, I'd guess.

      1. Ms Meloni acted promptly to deal with the Pakistani imam who had lived in Italy for 30 years. The last time we had someone like that in charge was the fragrant Margaret.

        1. Yer French do it regularly. Interior Minister signs a deportation order. Police enforce it. Slammer put on plane. Job done. Sometimes takes as long as five hours from start to finish.

          1. Presumably in the UK the illegals are given a slip of paper saying: 'You can stay providing you vote for us'?

          2. If yer Latins can do it, why not the Brits?
            BTW, read your third sentence as "Slammer Starmer put on plane".
            Wishful thinking, perhaps?

  18. Good Morning!

    Today we have two short articles one, Enforcing restrictions on Halal slaughter , from Robin Tilbrook on the legal position of Halal slaughter, explaining how the law is being flouted, and another, Performing Rights , from Jeremy Morefy on a recital of Bach's B Minor Mass at Pershore Abbey and the sensitivities of professional performers.

    We now turn to the psychopathic war they are inflicting on us, in the form the psychopathic sociopath and globalist zealot of an Attorney General, wee Dickie Hermer. Read Lord Hermer: The Globalist Fanatic at the Heart of Britain’s Two-Tier Justice Scandal and let us know what you think of him. Don't hold back.

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's electric power was sourced from Gas, 21.4%; Solar, 9.8%: Wind 21.5%; Imports, 20.4%; Biomass, 7%; Nuclear 16.8% and Miscellaneous, 3.2%.

  19. Revealed: Chris Whitty behind Covid guidance that triggered care homes spread
    Emails show medical chief’s office signed off on sending untested hospital patients into elderly communities

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/06/30/revealed-chris-whitty-covid-guidance-care-homes-spread/

    Whitty is every bit as weird as he looks.

    This would not be a problem if he were honest, had integrity, did not lie and did not care only about saving his own skin.

    1. Good morning, Richard. The problem was that politicians weren't sure what to do, so they appointed the Three Wise Men (Whitty and Co.) to cover their back and to be able to use Whitty & Co. as fall guys in case things went pear-shaped. Realising this, Whitty and Co. decided to embark on a course of extreme caution to cover their own backsides. As it turned out, the Swedish government's advise to be careful and not get too close to each other in public, worked perfectly well. But, of course, its easy for me to be wise after the event.

      1. If they weren't sure what to do they should have done nothing.
        If governments stopped doing something, because they think they should, and did nothing we wouldn't be in the sh1t state we are now.

      2. Did you ever see footage, Elsie…of Johnson on the steps of No.10 looking quite ill (but Carrie perfectly well, although she shared a home/bed with him). He'd been at the races, apparently caught it there by shaking hands with many people…returned to a Cabinet meeting where only Hancock tested positive (but no symptoms), no-one else did. And then the narrative of Johnson in hospital with round the clock nurses adjusting his oxygen level etc…said nurses never to be interviewed or even found again. The whole incident was, many now agree, the biggest of big pile of pants – to promote a new type of vaccine (the virus and the vaccine both having come from Pfizer labs in China, purportedly working on a bio weapon for USA). Can any of this be true? T'interweb seems to think so….personally, I caught Covid (had a cold) but am still slowly and I hope surely getting past the vaccine effects four years and counting. Another factor – friend of Hancock's luckily able to supply UK with thousands of testing packs at short notice, ones previously used for a different purpose.

        1. Initially, they said Covid was a form of flu, and I'd had flu vaccine once before – never felt so bad, flu was definitely preferable! So I gave the vaccine a swerve, and thank goodness for that. Started with Vitamin D3, and haven't had a cold since. So, some good came out of it!

          1. Yes I take D3, also:-) As for the vaccine, I made my mind up more or less straight away that no-one – no-one – should have it. I only agreed to have it when my family agreed not to have my grandson vaccinated. In the event I had two jabs, that was sufficient to knock my memory off it’s perch. I don’t regret that decision, but my family say they regret pressuring me. I’m still mightily relieved grandson had none.

        2. He certainly did look ill on that Thursday clap evening……… but how ill is probably only known to a few insiders.
          I never caught it – unless the sore throat and cold I had in January 2020 was it – I was left with a dry cough for several weeks but otherwise ok.

          Fortunately i dodged a bullet with the two AZ jabs I had for travel reasons – they were mandated by lots of places for a couple of years – including Kenya where I had a much postponed trip eventually in 2022. Vitamin D3 & C kept me well.

          1. Snap. In the January had a cough that went on for longer than usual.
            MB had it as well, and had to pause for breath half way up the stairs.

    2. It gets close to unbelievable. I had to pinch myself when I read the article, these freeloaders have all the authority yet remain unaccountable and shelve all responsibility for their decisions, are paid from the public purse, and are awarded knighthoods. No wonder Government is held in contempt.

    3. Do you remember the footage, Rastus…of that teenage boy who got Whitty in a headlock, somewhere outdoors, roundly abused. At that time most people thought 'disgraceful, this wonderful medic' etc…turned out the lad was in the right, Whitty perhaps a paid man.

      1. It was the media that spun it as disgraceful – I thought it was a law-abiding citizen just driven too far!

        1. Seem to remember that, back from when my memory intact, still quite patchy. Thanks BB2, for the jog:-))

      2. Not good to attack the man but I never thought he was wonderful. All that propaganda………

  20. I'm sat here waiting for the nuclear size explosion when our Grizz reads Carol Parkins post regarding frying chips in olive oil instead of animal fat

    1. He might also go off with a bang for the use of 'sat' rather than 'sitting'!

    2. He might also go off with a bang for the use of 'sat' rather than 'sitting'!

    3. Me2 (good morning x)…I only use olive oil for small new potatoes in the air fryer, even I know that's not permitted either……..

      1. I make roasties in the air fryer – tin of potatoes , dried and tossed in olive oil, garlic powder, parsley and salt. 25 min @ 200C tossing every 5 min – yummy! x

    4. Olive oil is not really suitable for deep frying as it doesn't get hot enough before breaking down.

      If you want olive oil chips do them in the oven.

        1. Had fish and chips Friday night – well, you have to. Done in the air fryer – no mess, no spitting oil and the chips came out just so.

      1. Going to have to disagree with you there, Phizzee! My sister does the best chips, in olive oil! Learned from her father in law! Maybe is because they use the oil from their own olives!

        1. How on earth do they do that though? Even the coastal Berbers who are weaned on the stuff only pour it over chips, they use peanut oil for cooking.

          1. You should see the 2 ring gas camping stove they have at the village! They have 3 olive groves nearby!

        2. I can understand that if they are producing. You wouldn’t buy any other fats or oils.

        1. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/04352b39eb8b04480f1b69bbd02268d791598945fe299dedf43f822b9e52e88d.jpg A very pretty door

          The Roll of Honour is very sad. In particular, a Frederick Davenport and a Thomas Davenport, one in the 8th Battalion KSLI and the other in the first Batallion, killed 8 days apart in late September 1918.

          They have a family tree of the Corbet family who came across in 1070 from Normandy. Very interesting, especially those early years. We never hear anything about the English nobility who lost everything in the period 1066 onwards, do we?

          1. I always shed a tear for those who died when the war had only days (or hours) to go…

            On March 4, 1945, a Halifax returning to RAF Foulsham was shot down on its approach by a Luftwaffe night-fighter. All but two of the crew were killed. The pilot managed to avoid crashing on houses and ended up in what is now my garden. He spent two years in hospital and told me that not a day went by but he felt guilt for killing his crew.

          2. At that stage, no one thought that the Luftwaffe had access so far from the Channel and the North Sea. So much so that Foulsham had the runway lighting on…..

          3. That glass looks as though it was shot to pieces by Cromwell's troops and then reassembled by primary school age children.

            The deaths in 1918 are ghastly, poor family.

          4. The Corbets only have one T in their name. They have a school named after them and few people spelled it right. If I remember aright the coat of arms bears three crows.

    1. It remains a shame that these beautiful buildings are not restored. Find some rich bloke and say 'look, if you whack up the cash we'll split the proceeds of visitors.'

      Most very well off chaps, like Dyson would just say 'keep it'.

    2. It’s English Heritage and free to visit. Mind you the pig farm can get a bit whiffy and there isn’t much left of the castle.

      1. Vere's fousands ov em! Coming over here wiv there slide rools, mykroscops,. spase ships and portable telifones. Wot wud wee av dun wivout them?

    1. The mugs will pay it all….
      Apart from teh question of who is entitled to be supported by UK taxpayers, the NHS shouldn't be issuing any papers telling people that its services are free. They're not.

    2. I saw a family of dindus in Tesco the other day. Children were in school uniform (free education) and wearing glasses (free healthcare).

    1. The NT doles out free tickets to asylum seekers. The indigenous have to pay full whack.

    1. Starmer may have a Jewish wife but is he a closet Muslim?

      Why else does he give so many Muslims a free pass to come to the UK and then see to it that the courts are reluctant to deport them even when they have been found guilty of the most heinous crimes?

      1. Starmer is a communist doing what communists do. Remember in Iran it was the communists who deposed the Shah and let the mullahs back in so that the mullahs could seize power and execute the communists.

        “A Communist system can be recognized by the fact that it spares the criminals and criminalizes the political opponent.”
        Alexander Solzhenitsyn

      2. There are huge numbers of Muslims already here, Rastus. Especially in Northern Towns and Cities. They will vote for Starmer because he's covering up the Grooming Gangs Scandal, their wives will vote for Starmer because they're told to (or in fact their postal votes are used). And then there's all those Benefits to be claimed. Strangely the Muslim Party of Great Britain hasn't made as much headway as yet compared to Labour. I understand block voting is no longer with us but it might just as well be.

    2. I have this idea of Meloni ordering the building of a giant trebuchet and seeing the dindu shoved into it and hurled back to pakiland.

    3. I wonder if she has a spare a day a week – heck, even an afternoon would do – to sort out Blighty?

    1. I don't know if Farage actually said that but it is true. Among other Tories Badenoch has been pictured shaking hands with Klaus Schwab. Why would she even meet him?

  21. Re Bob Vylan

    Dirac
    4h
    It appears that Marco Rubio is looking into cancelling the little skrot_e's Visa. He was going to do a US tour, looks like he won't now. That's a heap of cash gone.

    JackCoitus
    Dirac
    4h
    Good. That's what really matters to them.
    Typical lefties always chasing the cash.

    Rick B
    Dirac
    4h
    I'm sure that the BBC will make it up to him in return for an interview condemning the evil attack on free speech by President Trump's evil and oppressive administration.
    A bit of spontaneous TDS chanting from a Question Time audience carefully selected at random to represent the views of the vast majority of British people.
    Just another quid on the licence fee.

  22. That was tough:
    Wordle 1,472 5/6

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

    1. Just need different starter words

      vWordle 1,472 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜🟩⬜🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Par here
        Wordle 1,472 4/6

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

    1. “With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone.” Oscar Wilde.

      Aren't we lucky here on NoTTLers!

      1. Yes. Without me you'd all be really clever, wise and say sensible, sage things all day long.

  23. Bulls**t Detector
    14h
    Pinched from a poster on another site regarding Jade:
    How ironic that the UK has hate speech laws in place, yet this hate filled, profanity laced incitement gets ZERO response from the speech police.

    It's clear that these laws only swing in one direction. At least this angry lunatic wasn't saying a silent prayer in their head….now THAT would be truly dangerous.

    1. Getting them loads of publicity tho, Per. Their mothers likely think they're nice boys….sigh…….

    2. Probaby not gay , but the product of a bolting father and mixed parenting .. and foster homes .

      These are the products of Liberal Britain .. they share similarities of behaviour with many anti establishment types .

      I am so puzzled by knowing that Lucy C is locked away , was bullied and arrested for an emotional reaction to the deaths of those little girls last year .

      But hate speech is terrifying .. Here in the village , we have a traffic calming scheme near a pub and a couple of shops . A few years ago a fast car tried to cram me out of my right of way as I was driving .. their car was driven by a black chap , and so were his passengers .. He screamed at me .. "Get out of the way , white bitch , mind your arse".. both driver and passengers were pumping the air with their fists , arms out of windows .

      People saw what happened, it happened so quickly , they were rude , their tactics were dangerous , and arrogant .

      I know , that was a minor incident , and the bods were probably tourists , but it was horrible .

    1. It is indeed, Belle – thanks (don't need to be on FB although it takes you there, just close the app and then view the footage).

  24. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/72f35709c0a838a2804bda0a6e1196fde3b0ceb476689d4400aa2f15deca63d5.png Of the forest
    58m
    They knew exactly what they were doing. They knew these acts were controversial but they went ahead anyway without a time delay.

    BingoBongo
    1h
    Basically the BBC are saying "We're sorry we got caught. It will happen again. We are untouchable."
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d745be90d1efe527b52c708f7c6a48c758a7b0fe250c619b8ff75baa9e123b4c.png

    1. Al Beeb is inherently Left wing. They don't see a problem with what the ranting wasters were screaming about. Labour certainly don't.

      Plod, comically of course couldn't find anything to complain about either.

      It's utter hypocrisy. One rule for them, another for the rest.

    2. Very green.
      Lots of disposable crap, much of it containing the demonised plastic.

    1. I'm just viewing, Eddy..sound OK. Can you hear sound on other videos etc? Couple of things to try, check your volume button turned on/high as possible. Trite advice, but try turning your PC/whatever off and back on again. Good luck, Kate x

      1. There is something wrong with our pC My wife is at JL WGC right now checking for a replacement for the PC. I don't want a Lap top.
        Managed to get it working,

        1. Love my Acer Chromebook, Eddy…might like to look at those in event of further replacement? Google product.

          1. I love my Microsoft Surface laptop/tablet PC. It's what a laptop should always have been.

          2. I probably would – but we never use Microsoft anything here. It was banned long ago by both sons. Somebody gave me a Microsoft work bag long ago which I used for some years but was heavily criticised for that. Our documents and file managers are Libre office, which is fine by me. The current version is better at opening MS files sent by other people which I used to have trouble with.

        2. I prefer to be in the office and not at home so that I can use the work laptop as a pc and have it plugged in to a monitor and proper keyboard. Can't abide flat keyboards. I learnt to type on a proper typewriter. Also have the monitor screen resolution set for large type to avoid eye strain. Brightness dimmed slightly to stop glare.

      2. Kate , you sound as if you are a whizz kid , I am a hopeless techie, in fact the damned thing terrifies me , and I don't think I am getting the most use from my laptop really .

        1. Thanks for compliment, Belle….not really, I just worked on one for many years, always falling over (at that time the language used, Cobol, not me personally that was more recently). It was always the first advice 'have you tried turning it off and back on again'. Sometimes it even worked. Possibly you have someone you know with a son who can help? Happy to help where I can, and I'm sure other Nottlers will say the same. Good luck x

          1. Sons are very useful in that respect. My younger one in Switzerland has full access to mine.

        2. Any device more complicated that a normal intelligence person cannot use is bad tech.

          As you're well above average Belle, I declare the tech very bad indeed.

    2. Labour will do nothing. These sewage vote for them, so the idea of an MP risking the gimmigrant being skittish just won't happen.

      Besides, Starmer will never, ever leave the hated EU or ECJ. He wants to tie us closer to it.

    3. I keep the sound off on mine – I find videos very annoying so if they're any good I prefer subtitles.

      1. Ours has a connection problem i have to pull out the base unit and fiddle with it.

          1. I know, our Eldest son has some Unused Lap tops that are available at his office. He's been so busy recently i haven't seen him for over a month. I wanted to try one out to see if I liked it.

          2. Once you get used to it you won't use anything else. You can sit comfortably on the sofa – keyboard is big enough to use easily and it does everything you'd want to do.

          3. As I am a touch typist I find the laptop keyboard too small and not sloped enough.

          4. Me2, Conway…I find it OK though…suspect your hands a bit larger than mine 🙂

          5. I used to be able to type a bit better than I can now but i lost that skill somewhere along the line. The slope depends on the cushion I use on my legs. I found I was getting a groove……..

      2. AI subtitles can be ridiculous, though. I sometimes put them on because I can't hear properly what is being said. If I had no sound at all I would think I was on another planet.

        1. I’ve got quite used to not bothering with sound – it was background musak that I found the most irritating. Sometimes the subs are a bit ridiculous but I can usually fathom out what they mean. It’s easy to switch back on if I want to.

          1. I think you need a subscription for Netflix, but I haven’t. I tend not to watch any films.

          2. Yes you do. Another reason BBC should be subscription imo rather than licence – I never watch it. But I watch Netflix most days, and/or Amazon Prime (also subscription, whole family can use it).

    4. Typically it shows how much of a united front we have against all this in our country, they cant even agree with the facts, it's more about them !

  25. I took the little car for a service and come home to find she's nipped off with the battle tank and left the dogs on their own.

    However, that in itself wouldn't be so bad but she's not come back with the Volvo, but with some whacking great Land Rover armoured car jobbie. I asked what was going on and apparently she's replaced one with the other. She goes on about the massive engine and so on and I sit in traffic most of the time!

    I'm not 'angry' with her as she runs our finances more or less and that's her car, more or less but still, it's another 20K odd in motor when we could divert that into the mortgage or something.

    It's also too damned hot.

      1. I have a cousin who, when she was young, was a fashion model. In those days she looked just like Ann Miller.

    1. I mostly love what you post about the Warqueen, but if a man did that without even asking his wife, everyone would be up in arms.

      1. Ashes, my dear old man bought himself a Jag with no discussion, about 3 years ago! He’d always wanted one🙄 I’ve got to say it really, really got to me!

        1. My father was a devil that way. Buying a Jag without asking was the least of his sins. 🤣 (I profited from that one; bought it off him cheaply and enjoyed driving it for years.)

          Mother once oiked me out of bed to explain to a nice French man why Daddy wouldn't actually be taking delivery of the boat he's apparently bought!! 🙄🤣🤣

    2. Global warming being attibuted solely to the use of fossil fuels used in road vehicles doesn't affect waterborne vehicles. Having watched the Narrow Escapes series on Freeview there's a lot to be said for buying a narrow boat.

      Diesel traction for such craft is unlikely to be replaced for some time by electric motors due to cost of EV charging stations on canals or horses due to cost of building stables.

      1. Electric charge for horses? Wow – that'd get your narrow boat moving….{:¬))

      2. The "dirtiest" fuel in the world is bunker oil. Any day now we should expect the more challenged in our midst to propose we run ocean liners, container ships, etc., on batteries.

  26. From July this year you will need a doctor to sign you off as fit enough to drive a car to renew your driving licence for those of deemed so old that our mental capacity and long term health conditions present an unacceptable risk to road users . Would that be the same doctor who can sign you off as being so unfit to drive that you need a free adapted car on benefits?

        1. That's the present, Alec……we were the future once……Blair said so, I think?

      1. I fear that our health service deems those of us who can’t meet the prescibed NHS standards are unfit to live.

        This is why the health budget is committed to supplying enough drugs to the labour force to keep them in their jobs and even more drugs to those past working age to try to help them reach unattainable longevity.

    1. Fee £75.00 or it was the last time I needed a doctor to sign off my C1 D1 entitlement.

    2. Yet another curtailment of liberty.

      If the government's death-for-the-elderly bill ever gets through, that might be quite a risk. You go in hoping for a driving permit, you come out clutching a confession that you want to die…

      1. Remember to avoid ticking the wooden box on your driving licence application and make sure your uploaded photo doesn’t resemble 💀.

  27. No it isn't 1st April…

    Picture a dystopian future where computers don’t just mimic human thinking – they’re powered by actual human brain cells. That future is taking shape in a Cambridge, England, lab, where a groundbreaking device called CL1 is blending biology and technology in ways that could transform how we compute. Developed by Australian startup Cortical Labs and U.K.-based http://bit.bio , this shoebox-sized machine houses 200,000 lab-grown brain cells wired to silicon circuits, creating a “biological computer” that’s already turning heads.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6e26f979af8c44dd3e342a619efe32d463a8c27d1d28ed57ca5fb60b64a1e860.png
    Cortical Labs' CL1
    Unlike traditional computers, which guzzle energy, CL1 operates with the efficiency of a human brain. “Our brains process information using a fraction of the power that modern electronics need,” Hon Weng Chong, CEO of Cortical Labs, told FT. “This could open doors to smarter robots, stronger cybersecurity, and immersive virtual worlds.”

    1. "This could open doors to smarter robots, stronger cybersecurity, and immersive virtual worlds."

      Translation: "We don't give a stuff for any ethical or practical considerations. We see £££££££ $$$$$$$."

    2. 'lab-grown brain cells'

      Those wouldn't be grown from the brain tissue of aborted babies, would they?

      In fact, if there is a market for the brain tissue of aborted babies, then it's pretty obvious that they will want the bodies of babies where the brain is as developed as possible. Enter the handy bill permitting abortion up to birth!

      1. Wouldn't it be just poetic justice if such cells were used and a some point in the future the 'artificial brain' recognised the fact and plotted an effective revenge on the perpetrators!

        1. If that were the case, it would surely plot revenge on our entire decadent, evil, destroyed society for putting up with and encouraging satanic child sacrifices, because that is what this is.

      1. So many electric cars have a "face" like that – man, aggressive. I hate them. Why not a happy "face", like a Smart, or a bug-eye Sprite?

    1. Of course the more fragmented the right of centre politics becomes the more we can look forward to four more years of Labour enrichment impoverishment…..

  28. Goodbye Mr Thomas…

    Commons Leader Powell Proposes Scrapping the Word ‘Bill’ in Parliament

    Chefofsinners
    1h
    Keir has already got rid of the word bill. There are no bills for his clothes, glasses, travel, football tickets, wife's clothes and a host of other things that the rest of us pay for.

    Crimea River
    53m
    This is the hard faced beech that thinks mentioning MRGs is blowing a dog whistle.

    Meanwhile In Brighton
    1h
    700 enrichers arrived yesterday; so far, 200 today.
    I do not like the ill-eagle and I do not want the ill-eagle.

    In any other country, a national emergency would have been declared because of this invasion

    Rogerborg ⬛🟧
    1h
    Having contributed to the committee stage of a Bill, I can assure you that most Parliamentarians have little idea of the process, and almost none at all of the purpose of each stage. They are mostly bored and disinterested, except when harumphing a few faux-angry, irrelevant words, that they can later point at to evidence their "contribution".

    Nowt better to do
    1h
    Thick, is too generous and doesn't describe this current governmen

  29. 408584+ up ticks,

    The importance of their job titles must support the fact they knew what was taking place, and for the simple reason they organised it.

    Dt,
    Revealed: Chris Whitty behind ‘irrational’ care home guidance that triggered Covid surge
    Emails show medical chief’s office signed off on moving untested hospital patients into vulnerable communities.

    Could that not be seen as carrying petrol to douse a fire, and if so open to a corporate manslaughter charge ?

  30. Afternoon all. A real scorcher today, proper summer weather. We did our dressage session early to avoid the heat and stuck to walk and halt transitions.

    As far as the NHS goes it seems patients are a nuisance and are to be fobbed off with what suits them rather than being offered the right choices. I would be better off being treated by my vet.

    1. Hear you, Conway. Turmeric seems the current fave. (Have started drinking in milk before bedtime, similarly to Indian children 'golden milk'.) Both my dogs have been on it, seems to help them with joints/muscles, less limping.

        1. Approx 8 floz warm milk, half an inch turmeric paste…from Golden Paste Co…here’s a link: https://goldenpastecompany.co.uk/?srsltid=AfmBOopHztDDgo7QOxX6_iJpJDLfUQK7Dio9dpNjiqoU5HXS9qRSi8fA it’s good for dogs’ lameness/joint probs, why I originally bought it…NB doesn’t cure pain, but it relieves it. Dog has it with her main meal around 2pm similar amount just buried in cottage cheese etc, I have mine in milk around 9.30 to 10pm…out like a light. Sorry if this is garbled, bit tired today.

          1. Golden Paste Company is the name to search, anne. Let me know if no luck, I’ll try to find a different link 🙂 Kate

          2. Apparently, turmeric needs both oil and black pepper (piper negra) to be absorbed and utilised by the body. I buy it in large tubs (as an oily powder) for the nags, already thus enriched, and I tuck in too. I would guess that the paste is just a little more heavy on the oil and probably even better absorption.

        2. PS dog also has Yu-Move tablets, they’re ok, act similarly to turmeric paste but much more expensive.

          1. I found the same with glucosamine. For obvious reasons, it takes a while to discover if the stuff actually works.

    2. ”I would be better off being treated by my vet.”. I’ve thought that for a long time.

      1. If the vet took away the pain (and I don't mean by lethal injection) that would be a treat.

  31. So Rupert Lowe is not joining Ben Habib's Advance Party? Something of his own?…..hmmm…not sure about that……

    1. Too many small 'right-wing' parties, thanks to Nigel not liking advice from fellow travellers. It will probably mean a Green, Lib Dem, Labour coalition in power after the next election. More sh*t to endure until the 2030s.

  32. Ofcom's reaction to Glastonbury concert.

    An Ofcom spokesperson said: "We have been speaking to the BBC over the weekend and we are obtaining further information as a matter of urgency, including what procedures were in place to ensure compliance with its own editorial guidelines." And why didn't they include the Tories. Farage and the Faar Riight?

  33. EM Burlingame has written a good summary of why current AI is just a sophisticated statistical analysis tool

    https://emburlingame.substack.com/p/the-illusion-of-ai?publication_id=858260&post_id=167177932&isFreemail=true&r=28gmek&triedRedirect=true&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

    It allows the state to process data about us more efficiently but we have nothing more to worry about until the satanic dead-baby-powered inventions about which Stephenroi posted below hit the market.

  34. 408584+ up ticks,

    May one ask the media, the nose breakers at the airport case started this morning will YOU the (press) be covering it ?

    1. Misunderstanding – everyone involved shaken hands – gentle rebuke – back to the mosque with you.

          1. …promise to do better and go down on one knee when a member of a protected minority shows his displeasure.

      1. The MCR airport punch up at roughly the same time people were being rounded up for Southport protests and assaulting police and imprisoned on conveyor belt injustice

      2. 408584+ up ticks,

        Afternoon O,

        Two brothers,
        Manchester airport policewoman broken nose.

    1. It is a JP. I have sat in one or two. Bobbington was my local airfield. Halfpenny Green had a special postage frank made when the halfpenny was phased out.

    2. It is indeed and Halfpenny Green was where I stared flying as an Air Cadet aged 17 circa 1973.

  35. Had an early morning walk with Pip, husband played golf early , arrived home at 2pm ..In the mean time after doing several chores I drove into Wareham to the small Sainsbury and did a bit of shopping .

    Nice big fat juicy oranges, salad food , some kippers for Moh, a few bits of salmon , cucumber , blah blah and two Echos

    One local and the other one Bournemouth and Poole rag. Horrified to read that a 5 k Parkrun in Bournemouth this last Saturday had to be cancelled because travellers had taken over all the greenspaces , and vans and expensive cars had run amok .

    The story of cruelty to a fresh water crayfish!

    Concentrate and read this article , which had been reported in our local Echo … Fishermen , take note !!! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/66c24715e571f3519f78da511f51b4040661b0f60eed8c51e0ae3bc216393853.jpg
    I cannot increase the size , but read the whole thing , then gasp when you reach the end .

    1. My question would be what is a protected British crayfish doing in a fish market. I've only ever come across the invasive ones when fishing lakes, rivers and reservoirs in the UK, never a native one.

    2. To say nothing of fish farms, Belle….most of the fish we consume is raised that way.

      1. I'd say for salmon, tiny bass and trout that's true, but cod, pollack, whiting, haddock and flatfish, as far as I'm aware, are not farmed. Tuna farming does occur, but it would have to be labelled as such, as those baby bass are. Asian and African freshwater fish like basa (catfish) and tilapia are probably all farmed

        1. I looked them up, seems trials in place, already farmed in some places. Don’t think I’ve ever seen it labelled, but I’ll look out for it. Hadn’t got a tin of salmon, just tuna – which says ‘caught in Pacific Ocean using purse seine nets on free schools of tuna (FAD free)’. Think those nets are just like a huge net bag, wonder what happens to the fish/other marine life not required, and how they’re separated out.

  36. This is a fascinating article.
    Sadly, the pictures don't transfer as pictures, so I've removed them.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2025/06/29/telegraph-170-crimean-war/

    The Telegraph at 170: How war first pushed us to put innovation at the service of information

    How conflict in the Crimea, married with rapid development via the march of modernity, led to the launch of this paper in 1855

    29 June 2025 3:09pm BST

    It was in the middle of a war with Russia, which was not going well, that The Daily Telegraph was launched in 1855. The title of the new paper came from the world-changing technology of the electric telegraph. (The additional words on the masthead “& Courier” were soon dropped.)

    In May 1855, a month before The Telegraph came out, a telegraph cable had been laid between the Crimea and Varna in Turkey. It meant that the war was covered live instead of after a lapse of days and weeks. News from the battlefield reached London before it reached St Petersburg.

    Electric telegraph cables became possible only because of the Victorian equivalent of plastic – gutta-percha, made from the sap of a Malayan tree. Undersea cable had to be laid from a ship in a continuous length. In 1855, The Telegraph reported on the laying of a cable from Sardinia to Africa. The 150 miles of cable, weighing 1,200 tons, was stowed in a single coil in the hold of the ship Result.

    Electric telegraphs laid in undersea cables enabled news of the Crimean War to reach Britain before Russia.

    Criticism of the conduct of the war, a fixed idea of its first proprietor Col Arthur B Sleigh, was the very motive for starting the new paper. The moment was commercially auspicious because the government was removing the last penny tax from newspapers. The Times and The Morning Post still cost 5d; the new Telegraph sold its four broadsheet pages, packed with up to 12,000 words per page, for 2d.

    Thanks to the electric telegraph, a day after its first issue The Telegraph was able to report the death of the commander-in-chief of British forces in the Crimea, Lord Raglan. A special edition was rushed out that Saturday afternoon.

    Lord Raglan, who absent-mindedly referred to the Russian enemy as “the French” (then our allies), was, in the infant Telegraph’s opinion, a man “whose deeds more properly belonged to a past generation, and who ought to have been left to pass the winter of his life in comparative tranquillity and comfort at home”.

    Raglan’s death scarcely raised morale. “Public sympathy and indignation,” said an article at the time, “were aroused to the utmost by the conviction that the soldiers of the finest army Great Britain had ever sent forth were ingloriously perishing of disease, overtasked and underfed.” In freezing weather the winter before, lightly clothed men lacked tents and even firewood and had nowhere to lie but the mud. They ate raw meat for want of a fire and coffee beans were issued without the means to roast them.

    The front page of the very first issue was one-third filled with the names of officers and men killed or wounded (“lightly” or “dangerously”) in the Crimea. The other two thirds of the page was full of small advertisements.

    Nothing brings home so vividly the strangeness – to us – of life in Victorian London as those small ads. “Colt’s Holster or Cavalry Revolver,” announced one ad in the first issue. “Great length of range, force and penetration.” The price was £7, and the firearms were available at Samuel Colt’s premises at 114 Pall Mall. Anyone could buy one.

    The small ads shouted for attention like the street cries of London: railway accident insurance; superior hats; money lent; “Scotticisms corrected”; “Chronic rheumatism completely cured”. And why, asked an advertisement temptingly, “give such a high price for your Paris and other wove stays, when you can get any size you require for 3s 11d?”

    An alarming invitation was to sell your “old artificial teeth” to a shop in Oxford Street. Just send them by post and their value would be dispatched by return. At a time when trains had no corridors let alone lavatories, Walter’s Railway Convenience could be bought at the private entrance of 16 Moorgate Street, where a female attendant would be on duty. “No lady should travel without one.”

    The rough sharpness, energetic enterprise, reforming zeal and daily jollity of the Victorians burst from the pages of early issues of The Daily Telegraph. That year saw riots in Hyde Park against new laws limiting pub opening hours on Sundays. Above the leading articles were notices for plays at Drury Lane, the Theatre Royal, the Lyceum and Astley’s Royal Amphitheatre, which staged dramas performed entirely on horseback.

    Modernity in 1855 meant the electric telegraph and proper sewers. “In contempt of past experience,” declared The Telegraph in a leading article, “we still continue to inhale a poison-laden atmosphere and to drink water the multitudinous organic and inorganic impurities of which almost defy the combined labours of chemist and microscopist to describe.” That was three years before the Great Stink overwhelmed Parliament with the effluvium of the Thames.

    The advent of the electric telegraph came at the same time as the development of proper sewers.

    A grand modernising proposal in June 1855 was the Great Victorian Way, an astonishing arcade following a 10-mile oval, looping round St Paul’s in the east and cutting through Hyde Park in the west. It was the brainchild of Joseph Paxton, triumphant from the success of the Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace in 1851. A covered road and shops in the middle would be flanked by a railway on the second floor with flats above. The Telegraph was not convinced and advocated instead a network of underground railways.

    Modernity also meant the 36-year-old Queen Victoria, with her consort, Albert. Windsor Castle in Modern Times was the title of a painting by Edwin Landseer of the royal couple at home, the Prince dressed in tights and Puss-in-Boots boots, the carpet strewn with dogs and game. Princess Vicky plays with a dead kingfisher.

    At 1.40pm on a hot August day that year, Victoria and Albert landed in the steam yacht Victoria and Albert in Boulogne, and the Queen became the first English monarch to visit Paris since Henry VI in 1431. Triumphal arches were woven with “the colours of England and France”. (Britain was seldom mentioned in those days.) The Parisians were struck by Victoria’s huge handbag embroidered with a poodle.

    The Telegraph was at first wary of any popular frenzy for royalty. But as its circulation rose, a high point was reached at the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra in 1863, with sales of 205,884. By the 1870s, the paper was confidently promoted as having the “LARGEST CIRCULATION IN THE WORLD”.

    1. So interesting , and well done for searching that out .

      I can remember the overseas DT was so flimsy and paper thin in texture , that my father would ask the house boy to iron the paper flat again , because it crinkled so much .. it was similar to tissue and much similar to BB airmail writing paper , remember those ..

      The ironing was done with a towel on top of the paper , and the DT was usually passed around half a dozen eager readers, hence smoothing it out for proper reading !

      1. Airmail letters! I used those in my teens when writing to penpals in Singapore and the States.

    2. The elusive pictures from the DT article Anne posted.

      Just doing Anne's donkey work for her. I wonder if she'll give me a bikkie ..or perhaps a carrot? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/92a666ccb40513fa325b1c7d7829d3fb17ba0f49bd3f0030b2801dcc1450f1ec.png Three Scots Fusiliers from a series titled Crimean Heroes by Cundall & Howlett Credit: Bridgeman Images
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f4d88019a61c13349d4c570ab5398476328dd85642b41bbaa3f3daff75974e39.png Electric telegraphs laid in undersea cables enabled news of the Crimean War to reach Britain before Russia. (Here the first attempt in 1850 to lay a line under the English Channel is shown) Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group Editorial
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2e5373b220722d0a26750dc77b143c586e072dcb0fc6c7e12be53f51426916e3.png The Telegraph newspaper was launched in 1855 to air criticism of the conduct during the Crimean War Credit: Roger Fenton/Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3d70a17de903bac609fbc98825260a8203c7324b12946eb9cbe602362c94eb01.png The front page of the first ever edition of the Daily Telegraph, on June 29 1855. One third was taken up by the names of men killed or wounded in the Crimean War Credit: Paul Grover
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/09e62f0d1581648f74e431684882033c804a3ee83d2724879de53c28dda245eb.png The advent of the electric telegraph came at the same time as the development of proper sewers. (Picture shows construction of the Northern Outfall Sewer in London in 1860, designed by Joseph Bazalgette) Credit: Otto Herschan Collection/Hulton Archive
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e0905cadd1a5b46e0ef77cbd219b2fce3bf3bada731d50543d1b3006d0966cd5.png Joseph Paxton, who had achieved great success with his design of the Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition, later proposed the Great Victorian Way, a 10-mile loop of glass-roofed streets, railways, shops and houses Credit: Bridgeman Images
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/933686d716089791ce528e33f6c2150dd7d4142a24cfe3676f327f53834205fc.png Windsor Castle in Modern Times by Edwin Landseer, 1840-43 (oil on canvas) Credit: Carlo Bollo/Alamy
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d39e871ddaa8e3c63227845a1ebf006601f7dcfa7d6c751cf3e49802404fe22b.png By the 1870s, The Daily Telegraph proclaimed it had the largest circulation in the world

      1. Ta muchly. The pikkies can be posted separately, but not with the article.
        The wonders of tekknowlegy.

      1. Wondering how big the black hole is, Eddy….perhaps the Treasury will let us know………..

  37. An Albanian burglar with almost 50 convictions has been allowed to stay in the UK after a judge found his crimes were not “extreme” enough.

    Zenel Beshi’s “serious and prolific” offending saw him jailed for six years in Italy for robbery, theft and false imprisonment, an immigration tribunal was told.

    He failed to disclose these convictions when he arrived in Britain, however, said the Home Office. It told the tribunal that he posed a “genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat” to the UK and should be deported.

    However, Leonie Hirst, the upper tribunal Judge, rejected the Home Office’s arguments. She found that Beshi’s crimes were not of the “very extreme” type of offending that would cause “deep public revulsion”, and allowed him to stay.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/30/albanian-burglar-50-convictions-can-stay-uk/

      1. Well one has to ensure the legal profession can earn a crust or two….otherwise there would be reduced work for judges…

    1. Why can't a woman be more like a man….she needs to get out more (speaking as a woman)……

    2. Wait till the scrote nicks her jewellery box and craps all over the carpets as a calling card.

  38. I'm wondering if turmeric might help Firstborn's ligament pain – it's crippling his feet, he can't stand without being in pain. So, what's the recipe for "golden milk" – it might help him.

    1. As above, Paul – 8fl oz warm milk, half an inch turmeric paste from Golden Paste Co..https://goldenpastecompany.co.uk I originally bought it for a limping dog, use it now for my only dog (she also has YuMove tabs from vet, which are expensive and I’m not convinced by them). Ebay/Amazon might have the Golden Paste. I think it’s not an immediate solution, hopefully if Fb’s prepared to try he’ll stick with it a few weeks. Plus keep taking it, if it helps at all don’t stop. All the best to him x

      1. Never heard of turmeric paste – Firstborn cooks lots of curries, so familiar with the powder. Maybe I'll suggest he adds a big pile the next time he makes a curry…

        1. I don’t know how it’s turned to paste – just looked at sachet for ingredients list, which are: Turmeric (5.1% Curcumin), Cold Pressed Coconut Oil, Apple Cider Vinegar (with the mother, whatever that means), Ceylon Cinnamon, Black Pepper. Size 200g price varies but approx £7-£10, lasts quite a while. Small dogs & cats (under 15g) 1/4 teasp twice a day, medium dogs (15-30kg) half to three quarters teasp twice a day and large dogs (over 30g) 1 teasp twice daily. START WITH SMALL AMT AND BUILD UP to ascertain if suitable for animal. My current terrier around 9.5 kg she has approx half an inch of paste, maybe I should give her a bit more but she seems ok for now. Warning: turmeric will stain. Says on pack, General Well-Being, Joint Health, Aids Digestion, Healthy Coat and Skin. Gran Free, no artificial colours or flavours. It really is a strong ochre colour. Good luck with curry, bet it’s lush! :-))

          1. Firstborn learned cooking from his Mother. He's a damned good cook, as is Second Son. Both cook from the ingredients, the only ready-made stuff being noodles and pasta.

          2. Teehee KJ! The "Mother" is the sinister entity that looks like a lump of jelly (yet heaves and breathes) in things like vinegar, kombucha and other such fermentaions (also known as a scobi)

        2. After18 months I had a break from turmeric because the order got caught up in Christmas mail and a postal strike. (I had started taking it after a lingering bout of post-flu lethargy.)
          The order arrived a fortnight late; I felt fine so put it to one side.
          After another fortnight, I could feel the "wall" of tiredness returning. Resumed turmeric and was back to normal within days. So month without it appears to be the most I can hack.
          (I keep putting off trying another break to test the necessity for taking it.)

      1. Sorry – just posted the exact same not having seen yours! "Great minds…" (but" fools seldom…")

    1. Good.
      Saying his political views – tedious if one doesn't agree with them but allowable.
      Using a stage at a concert to call for people's deaths – beyond the pale.

      1. I think the sort of revenge coming his (their?) way is more satisfactory than the sledgehammer of government action.
        It is highly unlikely that the Ophelias and Tristans would actually nip over the Israel and total a member of the IDF. Those likely to follow his words are already regularly out on the streets, marching and waving flags.
        What he said was crass and wicked; but I'm uncomfortable with any government forces being involved in these cases.

  39. 43°C outside in direct sunshine. That's nearly 110°F. I may have to take my pullover off.

          1. You can come and watch. £10 a seat, £55 a bed. Friends prices only – and you need a doctors certificate with birth sex (female) verified!

          2. You can come and watch. £10 a seat, £55 a bed. Friends prices only – and you need a doctors certificate with birth sex (female) verified!

    1. And unstitch your vest?
      Hang onto the brown paper layer. Can't be too careful.

  40. Wordle No. 1,472 2/6

    ⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 30 Jun 2025

    A flashy Eagle?

    1. Wow! Birdie for me.

      Wordle 1,472 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Good stuff! – boring par here (nearly went for the wrong final letter as well!)

      Wordle 1,472 4/6

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

    3. Blimey, well done. Late on parade here with a birdie.

      Wordle 1,472 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. FFS – it's summer! I see the BBC are saying "Parts of UK swelter as temperatures exceed 33C at Heathrow Airport". Hmmmm – acres of black tarmac with jets landing and taking off every few minutes, and it's hot? Quelle surprise.

    2. They have worked themselves up into a pathetic state of hysteria over a summer's day. And people vote for these twits!

  41. Pensioner, 92, guilty of murder in UK’s ‘oldest cold case’
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/30/pensioner-92-guilty-of-murder-in-uk-oldest-cold-case/
    Ryland Headley raped and killed Louisa Dunne, 75, at her home in Bristol in June 1967
    A 92-year-old man has been found guilty of raping and murdering a pensioner nearly 60 years ago in what is thought to be the UK’s oldest cold case.

    Ryland Headley, then aged 34, forced entry into the home of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne in Bristol before attacking her in June 1967.

    Headley, of Clarence Road, Ipswich, avoided justice for decades until a DNA breakthrough when Avon and Somerset detectives sent off items from the original investigation for testing.

    Those results provided a DNA match to Headley, who since the murder had moved to Suffolk, and had served a prison sentence for raping two elderly women in 1977.

    He had denied rape and murder but was found guilty of both charges by the jury at Bristol Crown Court on Monday.

    1. Bastard.
      I hope he had nightmares about it every night for the last 60 years.

    2. How horrific. Good that he was caught at last, not that it will be much comfort to the victim's family.

    1. Evidence led – Blah – appropriate legislation – Blah – key stakeholders – etc. I don't recall some recent prison sentences taking so long to be processed!?

      1. If similar standards were applied they'd be up with the choice: plead guilty now or be held on remand until we get around to trying you a few years down the line.

      2. Ah ….. but the "artistes" were neither white nor married to a Conservative councillor.

    2. In other words, don't call us, it is interrupting our leisure time. We will tell you when we receive instructions from Herr Starmer and Herr Hermer and have found a way to dismiss it or prolong the investigation indefinitely.

    3. Could it be that part of the investigation includes – How the F do we get out of this one?

    4. That last sentence is a polite way of saying "stop bothering us, the whitewash is in progress".

    5. There is absolutely no place in society for hate.

      Spoilsport. It's only deep loathing and hatred for the Starmbots that keeps me going.

    6. Public Order, eh. Hate crime brings with it tougher penalties, and we dont want that of course.

  42. Matt Goodwin asks:
    What kind of society have we created where Sadnam Singh and Navjot Singh were each sentenced to two-and-a-half years after doing you know what to a fourteen year old in her own home in Preston during a daytime ebay delivery? A shorter sentence than Lucy Connolly for some hurty words on social media.

  43. Starmer deliberately encourages the biggest crisis facing our country – immigration.

    1. Channel migrants brazenly posed for a selfie aboard an overcrowded dinghy this morning as they headed for Britain.

      One man seated on the bow of the inflatable held a mobile phone aloft as other occupants waved.

      The group – though to number at least 60 – had previously been photographed wading into the sea at Gravelines beach, northern France, to board the dinghy.

      It came as the Home Office confirmed there were 585 arrivals yesterday – bringing the total so far this year past the 19,000 mark.

      It also means the total number of small boat migrants to have reached Britain has now topped 170,000.

      There have been 170,241 since 2018 when the crisis began.

      In all, 19,103 migrants have reached the UK so far this year – up 42 per cent on the same period last year.

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14861107/Channel-migrants-pose-SELFIES-packed-dinghy-total-170-000-French-powers-stop-boats-illegal-arrivals.html

      Discussions are not enough, actions speak louder than words.

      1. And we're only on the last day of June, Belle. Bet it's minimum 50k end of summer. I follow a young blogger, Chris Cork, not just oldies like me.

    2. The Truth is that Starmer is powerless. He is despised by the population at large and mocked by his parliamentarians.

      Importantly, President Trump has no time for Starmer or the rest of the motley European “Leaders”.

      Nobody knows who is really in charge excepting that we all know Starmer is a mere glove puppet.

  44. YouTuber Granniopteryx poignantly notes..

    "That death chant yesterday is yet another an example of the Islamification of UK.

    That chant is absolutely typical of a mob in any Muslim society.. in direct contrast to our culture. It is a complete violation of our civilised discourse we've taken to construct by trial & error over a thousand years. In Islamic culture it's chanted every day in group gatherings of Muslims. No discussion. No nuance just call for death. And it was broadcast as is.. by the BBC."

    1. Yes.
      I'm ashamed to be British now, as a direct result of that. I can say "Not in my name" until blue in the face, doesn't change anything. Not sure where to go from here.

  45. The Guardian Gave Five-Star Review to Kneecap Set Now Under Police Investigation

    The Guardian gushed about Kneecap’s set at Glastonbury. Obviously it was five stars…

    Avon and Somerset Police have just confirmed that both Bob Vylan and Kneecap’s performances at the festival on Saturday are now subject to a criminal investigation and have been recorded as a public order incident. Ah…

    The Vylan outfit – which chanted ‘death to the IDF’ – has had its US visa revoked ahead of a tour later this year. Oh no! Anyway…

    June 30 2025 @ 16:55

    Hugh Culp
    35m
    Ah the sweet silver sound of a career ending lark.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/786521b76b4842017a4a77314d1f07eff9a845184b65e61d89fb546fdcfc2ebb.png Back to the building site, Lads.

    In Crawley
    13m
    Vylans has had his US visa cancelled, expensive set at Glastonbury.

      1. Just dropped to 37 in the shade.
        A little more humid so it feels slightly less pleasant.
        40° due tomorrow.

        1. We are around 32, but it will be cooler as the week progresses, according to the forecasts. A/C doing a good job of eeping the house at a comfortable 24/25, but more importantly knocking the humidity way down.

          1. Life would be better if we could get the pool “right”.
            Even the professionals we’ve hired are struggling. A load of Saharan grot came over last summer, strange algae, and the water hasn’t been the same since.
            It’s no consolation that many people are in the same boat. Friends who put a pool in this spring have had no problems at all, other friends with older pools, have similar problems to us.

    1. Didn’t mean that I wasn’t proud to be one of the few born to a race who had the biggest ever empire, a race who’se forfathers built much of what is good in the world, and stood up most recently when it counted, to the Nazis.
      My Father was part of civilising the world, through education in Nigeria, funded by the UK Government. Now, it seems, that inciting violence towards the Israeli state is more than OK generally.
      I can’t be part of that. Not even for a millisecond. It’s time to make a stand – whose side are you on? For me, it’s the democratically elected government of Israel.

      1. It really is a no brainer – a democratic country, or a horde of medieval religious maniacs.

      2. I think I've made my views plain about islam over the years. I am in favour of democracy – I only wish we had some.

  46. LOL of the day.

    Donald J Trump only been up for 10 mins and..
    Bob Vylan BANNED | Donald Trump REVOKES Punk Band’s US Visa

  47. A serial sex attacker has been convicted of rape and murder in what is believed to be the longest running cold case in UK history.

    Ryland Headley, 92, is thought to be the oldest person to be convicted of murder in the country, after he was found guilty of killing Louisa Dunne in 1967.

    Headley portrayed himself for decades as a happily married father of three, allowing the world to believe the “nice old fella” exterior he worked to create.

    Body cam footage during Headley’s arrest
    Unbeknown to many who knew him, Headley had pleaded guilty to two rapes and a string of burglaries in the 1970s.

    On Monday, a jury at Bristol crown court convicted him of rape and murder, after a two-week trial. The jury convicted him of murder by a majority of 10 to two, and unanimously of rape.

    Oh dear, he is a black man , from Bristol , what an evil creature .

  48. https://www.spectator.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/85in-tv.jpg ‘And it’s got an 85in TV screen in case we want to watch Glastonbury.’

    My vote counts
    1h
    The Eavis family, and the executive production element of the BBC, knew exactly what to expect when they booked the Kneecaps and the Bob Vylans. The most elementary background check would have shown exactly whet to expect.
    The fact that they proceeded to allow them to perform and be televised live is an an act of sheer defiance. of common sense, of decency, and the law.

    Not only should heads should roll in both organisations, but they should be prosecuted and heavy penalties applied including long term imprisonment for knowingly allowing incitement to murder.

    Paltry excuses do not suffice.

    Sir John Thomas
    54m
    I read that what Vylan said is repeated every week end in London by the pro-🇵🇸 mob. Sheer logic and pure justice demands that these demonstrators are also investigated! 😡

    In Crawley
    1h
    Vylans has had his US visa cancelled, expensive set at Glastonbury.
    Beebsplaining
    1h
    Pascal Robinson-Foster and his drummer dropped by their agents also 🤔
    Karma is a beach
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7f444db29d18c2035756e074c13f019f3a8069b4a204fa9fa6b9ac583b53c2e6.png

    1. It is my belief, which may or may not be correct, that both the BBC (who have nurtured this "artist" since at least 2016) and the Eavises, knew exactly what was to happen and believed that they would, in the present climate, get away with it – even be lauded. Let's see.

  49. TRanslated by AI from Norwegian on this site:
    Here’s an English translation and summary of the Aftenposten article titled:

    **“‘You are a part of us,’ Hamas said in a video — but Palestinians wouldn’t have it.”**

    **📅 Published: June 30, 2025** ([ http://aftenposten.no ][1])

    ### Summary in English

    **1. The propaganda video**

    * Hamas released a 4‑minute video depicting Israeli bombings in Gaza and grieving families. A narrator declared: *“You are part of us, and we are part of you,”* aiming to show solidarity with Gazans ([ http://aftenposten.no ][1]).
    * The video was initially shared by Al Jazeera on social media, but both it and Hamas later removed it after fierce backlash from Palestinians .

    **2. Palestinian reactions**

    * Gaza residents reacted strongly, with many accusing Hamas of abandoning them. One commenter wrote:

    > “You are not one of us, and we are not one of you. May God not forgive you…” ([ http://youtube.com ][2], [ http://aftenposten.no ][1]).
    * Palestinians face dangerous conditions under Hamas rule, yet small protests have emerged—even at great risk ([ http://aftenposten.no ][1]).

    **3. Protest and public sentiment**

    * In recent weeks, hundreds in southern Gaza protested under the slogan “Out with Hamas,” triggered by a Hamas official’s statement about continuing the war indefinitely and having “a dozen babies for every martyr” .

    **4. Waning support for Hamas**

    * Polls from the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) indicate declining support:

    * Only 50% now consider Hamas’s October 7 attack justified, down from 71% in March 2024.
    * Belief in Hamas achieving victory has fallen from 28% to 23% among Gazans ([ http://aftenposten.no ][1]).

    **“‘You are a part of us,’ Hamas said in a video — but Palestinians wouldn’t have it.”**

    Hamas posted a new *propaganda video* on Saturday evening, aiming to express solidarity with Gaza’s civilian population—bombed, hungry, and suffering. The narrator claims: *“We stand together on the battlefield; both the people and the resistance movement stand firm.”* The video’s title: **“You are part of us, and we are part of you.”** ([ http://aftenposten.no ][1])

    However, many in Gaza disagreed. Al Jazeera shared the video in social media posts but deleted it after only an hour due to furious comments. Hamas also removed the video from its own platforms. One Palestinian wrote on Facebook: *“You are not one of us, and we are not one of you. May God not forgive you…”* ([ http://aftenposten.no ][1])

    Despite the authoritarian nature of Hamas’s rule—where criticism is suppressed—sporadic protests have emerged. Just last month, hundreds in southern Gaza marched shouting “Out with Hamas,” following comments from a Hamas leader promising the war would continue indefinitely and more births for every martyr .

    According to the PCPSR poll conducted in May among over 1,200 Palestinians (440 from Gaza), support for Hamas and its October 7 attack has dropped:

    * Only 50% now say the attack was justified—down from 71% in March 2024.
    * Confidence in Hamas winning the war fell from 28% to 23% .

    [1]: https://www.aftenposten.no/i/dRAplq?utm_source=chatgpt.com "«Vi er en del av dere» sa Hamas i en video. Det ville ikke palestinere ha noe av." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8HAwhxOUr4&utm_source=chatgpt.com "Instead of holding Hamas accountable, the UN invites them for tea."

    1. "* Only 50% now consider Hamas’s October 7 attack justified, down from 71% in March 2024."

      Well, that's nice.

  50. On a lighter note, it's a good thing SWMBO is away tonight on a business trip, as I've just eaten a scary amount of sauerkraut and mushy peas… prepare for duvet-lifters all night!

  51. Now THAT'S what I call a headline.

    Make assisted dying work, Starmer tells Streeting
    PM insists controversial Bill is ‘workable in all aspects’ after Health Secretary raises concerns

      1. Coz this gov't of commies want to get as ultra dystopian as they possibly can.

      2. It's an important part of the programme (or -shuffle, shuffle) pogrom, if you prefer. Eugenics – one of the cornerstones of the Fabians long term plan for the whole wide world.

    1. 408584+ up ticks,

      Evening Anne,

      I believe it was through foaming at the mouth he was heard to scream, Ve have vays of making it work.

  52. 19:00 Tim Davie was at Glasto when Bob Vylan did his set and made the decision to keep the recording on i-Player.

    1. Hem – it is 23 years since I darkened the doorstep of Broadcasting House. Before little Davie was born, almost.

  53. That's me for this warmish day. Similar tomorrow allegedly.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

      1. Obers, I could never find Thomas Sowell dull. How odd to me it is that you do. Like is full of variety and surprises.

  54. 32C outside 29.5C in my study with nowt but a whisky mac on ice to cool me down……

    1. That is inhumane! Stand strong…….(and make sure there's enough whisky…)

      1. No worries – I should have enough to last until tomorrow and there's more on the barge!

        1. I've got to admit Stephen – I gave up on Scotch about 10 years ago – I loved it but it gave me the mother and father of hangovers so I knocked it on the head. I still allow myself a little treat occasionally with a very nice Macallan with just a dash of water……

          1. There's Rich!!

            Pleased to say to date the Fire water hasn't had that effect on me. No doubt there will be a reckoning at some point in the future. In the meantime I keep taking doses of the anaesthesia to help we deal with the pain brought on by the absurd inanities of the elected folk…..

          2. You what?? You've never had a stinking mother-f*cking whisky hangover? They're the worst in the world – perhaps only bettered (?) by a brandy hangover – you clearly dont drink enough of it.
            On the broader issue of social anaesthesia I think I'll have to switch to non-alcoholic drinks…….

          3. Nooooo. The worst hangover by far has to be that induced by college port. Truly apocalyptic.

          4. Yes, good point ashes – port is pretty dangerous but I dont think I've ever drunk that to excess (amazingly….), well not jaw-dropping excess anyway…. (are you sure, ed.?).

          5. I used to buy Setubal (Aged White Port) from Oddbins in Cambridge as my father in law was accustomed to drinking Port at his college Corpus Christi. The real vintage stuff was too expensive.

            I have several bottles of College Port from the fifties inherited from my father in law and gifted him by the Master when on medical advice the Master gave up drinking and distributed his cellar to his staff and colleagues.

          6. I used to buy Setubal (Aged White Port) from Oddbins in Cambridge as my father in law was accustomed to drinking Port at his college Corpus Christi. The real vintage stuff was too expensive.

            I have several bottles of College Port from the fifties inherited from my father in law and gifted him by the Master when on medical advice the Master gave up drinking and distributed his cellar to his staff and colleagues.

          7. The first time I encountered it, I was sitting next to a wicked professor who kept refilling my glass without me noticing.

            There followed the infamous Evening of the Banana, which went down in college history. Ohhhhh lord! 🙄🤪🤣

          8. I'm too much of a gentleman (?) to ask for details but it sounds epic…..

          9. I am too much of a lady (?) to disclose said details, and besides which they were mostly erased by the damned port, but epic was indeed one of the words used to describe that night… 😈

            Also applied to the hangover.

          10. Four pints of cider and a bottle of sherry gave me a hangover that lasted well over a week.
            Puked more than I would have thought possible.
            It must have been years before I could look at a schooner of sherry, let alone a pint.

          11. Then there's the tale told by Billy Connelly about the Scots lads in Rome visiting the bar and saying to the barkeep "When in Rome do as the Romans" "Aye, what does the Pope drink?"
            "Creme de Menthe" was the reply..

            "Then giss us 4 pints of Creme de Menthe!"

          12. Then there's the tale told by Billy Connelly about the Scots lads in Rome visiting the bar and saying to the barkeep "When in Rome do as the Romans" "Aye, what does the Pope drink?"
            "Creme de Menthe" was the reply..

            "Then giss us 4 pints of Creme de Menthe!"

          13. Amateur! I used to have a large sweet sherry before every Rugby game (and occasionally two) – I was playing with an ex England captain (one Richard Greenwood, he's better known now as Will's Dad!) and he heartily recommended it – something to do with settling the stomach?!? Whatever…..

          14. Strange stuff, sherry.
            There's definitely a tipping point; port is similar.
            Up to that point all is well, after it, yeurgh…

          15. Yes, I like port but on your knees praying to the lavatory bowl is not a good look. Gosh, memories of youth!

          16. For some reason I'm better with port than sherry.
            Never had a problem with port on the regurgitation front, but certainly knew it was time to cease and desist!.

          17. Was at school with Greenwood. Called himself John in those days. Formally, he is J R H Greenwood.

          18. Amazing, I didnt know that! He was always known as ‘Dick’ by everyone, although he preferred Richard.

            He had returned to England after a few years in Italy and came to play for us (Blackburn RUFC) as he had secured a job as Bursar at Stonyhurst College (near Blackburn).

            I was captain at the time and, although he was capped at no.8 we actually had a better no.8! and so he played the season for us at scrum-half (believe it or not) – something he really enjoyed and we had a record season – Will was only little at the time but came down to watch and ran around with a rugby ball getting in everyone’s way!

            I always liked him and have met up with him a couple of times after we finished, but not for a number of years now (a familiar lament…).

          19. Try ouzo! It’s apocalyptic! And if you drink water, you’re drunk again😱

          20. I had a long holiday in Corfu when I was at uni (God knows how I afforded it!) – Ouzo was a fundamental part of that particular trip!…… Again, dont recall the hangovers being that bad?

          21. Agreed.
            I drank lots of Ouzo when working in Athens, no hangovers at all.
            Oddly enough, when drunk outside Greece it is absolutely foul.
            I don't know whether the brew or the water or the ambiance causes it!

          22. Yes, Athens is fantastic, my biggest issue in that area was the Retsina!…. Ugh!…..

          23. Ouzo is foul. Nothing more to be said. Along with Retsina. with Grappa not far behind.

          24. Agree re: Retsina – God, it's horrid! The other two are good clean drinks that should never, ever be mixed – ie don't wallop them back after drinking other stuff of any kind.

          25. In the late seventies, early eighties, we used to frequent the Seafresh fish restaurant on Vauxhall Bridge Road near to the Victoria end. There was always a long line of black cabs outside because their fish and chips was excellent. (Follow a cabby as in France you would follow a lorry).

            The restaurant was owned by Greeks and the only white wine available was chilled Retsina. In that ambience and with their fish and chips the Retsina was delicious. They served all types of fish including Hake.

          26. In the late seventies, early eighties, we used to frequent the Seafresh fish restaurant on Vauxhall Bridge Road near to the Victoria end. There was always a long line of black cabs outside because their fish and chips was excellent. (Follow a cabby as in France you would follow a lorry).

            The restaurant was owned by Greeks and the only white wine available was chilled Retsina. In that ambience and with their fish and chips the Retsina was delicious. They served all types of fish including Hake.

  55. The founder of Glastonbury Festival, Sir Michael Eavis, to avoid £80million in inheritance tax after he transferred most of the financial interest in the music festival to his daughter, Emily Eavis.

    "Tax is for little people.. Kill The Farmers, Kill the Farmers brrrrril pah."

    1. Passing assets on is fine. Inheritance tax SHOULD be avoided. The grasping thieves of state do not deserve our money at all.

  56. We had friends around for sausages (that's all I barbecued – well, I tried for some cheese and beef burgers I'd made) and as the children rounded a corner, so too did the dogs.

    Now, if you know them, you know Oscar will slow to a stop, Lucy will be genteel and Mongo will overshoot and come back, but the lass chum saw these huge animals bounding toward her she looked a bit panicked. The moment was punctuated by Junior calling to Mongo who replied with a bark: you can feel the air being sucked away, like the tide going out and this giant noise rumble like distant thunder that never really ends rolled around the garden.

    Cue lassy trying to back away and unceremoniously fall into the doggy paddling pool. She took it very well, but I'm not sure the dogs then joining her was what she expected.

  57. I don't think this will end well….

    "the US is set to hit $40 trillion in debt in less than 2 years".

    1. Just a thought:
      What would really happen if every country on the planet said: "Fine, we'll wipe off everyone's debt."
      I rather suspect SFA.

  58. Just been watching the Wimbledon tennis all afternoon, everyone there has been enjoying being entertained by the graceful lawn tennis on a perfect summers day, Brits winning all over the place, that is despite the project fear red weather maps and no controversial political flag waving or hate speech.
    I was somewhat shocked though to see Bob Vylan in the Royal Box, sitting in Cliff Richards usual spot, when during the break he got up and sung We're All Going On A Summer Holiday Shooting Spree, while the crowd on centre court did a Mexican Wave with one straight arm pointed outward
    But alas I had only nodded off and was having a daymare.
    Too many G&Ts I suppose.

  59. A night to remember, end of June and 28c at almost 21:30 not a breath of breeze at all.
    Sleep well if you can, goodnight all Nottlers. 😴

      1. No, but I suspect it's to do with it being "brilliant" to kill IDF soldier, pah.

  60. Or talking to Hughie on the Big White Telephone…

    Heeeeuuuuggggghhhhiieeeeeie………….

  61. Oh , history repeats itself again .. remember Blair decommissioning the Royal Yacht , well just been announced on the news that the Royal Train is being axed , Evil Labour !

    1. The Idiot King is a bit old for extended illicit meetings on the Royal Train with his old flame Camilla in the railway sidings.

      As to the Royal Yacht it worked to our advantage when we had a Queen who served her country. The present lot merely serve themselves as we see today at Wimbledon and the recent embarrassing horse drawn coach spectacle at Ascot.

  62. I asked ChapGPT how many illegals had arrived in England in small boats since 4th July 2024 and this is the conclusion:

    “Thus, using available data, at least ~33,400 people have arrived from France to England in small boats since 4 July 2024, with the actual total likely higher given incomplete weekly data for recent months.”

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