Sunday 6 July: The benefits Bill debacle offered a valuable lesson for politicians

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its commenting facility (now reinstated, but we prefer ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

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

601 thoughts on “Sunday 6 July: The benefits Bill debacle offered a valuable lesson for politicians”

    3. Stitch-up Tice – just like Lucy Connolly apparently giving one of her two monthly prison visits to you instead of to her family.

    1. I don't understand your sentence, Ogga, but from the image I assume a chap was arrested for pointing out that there was nothing to be proud of in being gay and that trans people are mentally ill.

      In today's insane, twisted world, did he expect plod to let him off for pointing out the truth?

      1. 408887+ up ticks,

        Morning W ,

        The peace guardians would benefit greatly from mental health treatment.

      2. I strongly suspect he was there with his placard to show how far Free Speech had been damaged in the UK and the Met's finest duly obliged.

      3. 11 Police Officers involved in the arrest of a man carrying a sign at a Pride parade.
        Christian Montgomery Toms was arrested for carrying a sign indicating that transgender is a mental illness.

  5. Good morning all.
    Still a warm start, with a tad over 17°C on the thermometer, but dull, cloudy and a few large drops of rain that came down as I checked the temperature have actually turned into rain!!
    Hooray! We could do with it!

    A horrible tragedy in Texas. Still a lot of children missing.

    1. Terrible though it is, a flood warning was issued 12 hours beforehand, and repeated every three hours. It appears the camp was set up on a flood plain. Perhaps the camp was operating under radio silence?

  7. Morning all,

    A little known group of experts have become alarmed because they didn't foresee an unreported major incident that didn't reach the headlines.

    1. Something that isn’t in the MSM that hasn”t been verified by the BBC which we should all be worried about but could’nt care less.

        1. My comments reflect on my predisposition to turn off the BBC news when the lead story suggests that something more important to my dailylife is likely to be happening somewhere in the world yet it is deemed necessary to cover it up.

    1. They tell me that I met my Waterloo at Adlestrop on a hot afternoon in late June but I don't remember it.

  10. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLe site. Got the Wordle in 4 today (a Par).

    Wordle 1,478 4/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie
      with three of us working on it together, we got a 3!
      Wordle 1,478 3/6

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    1. I see no reason to give them a penny. They're criminals. There's no case to answer. The only correct solution is immediate deportation.

      The better solution is to ensure they never get here. Send a drone out and shoot them.

      1. We had a few spots while we were doing the bushes. Our other neighbour said there was a downpour as she came out of Waitrose.

  14. Good morning, all. Overcast and calm at the moment. Forecast of thunderstorms later.

    Bland, worthless, information light statements from a useless politician spouting his usual bullshit versus the reality of someone in business suffering at the hands of that politician and his equally useless cronies.

    https://x.com/EssexPR/status/1941453326857667018

    1. Just more emphasis and detail on how everything they come into contact with they eff it up and big time.

  15. Good Morning!

    Today we run two articles of the four I've had published by that excellent US magazine, American Thinker , the first is The Meaningless Monarchy? and the second on the truth about the American rebellion, American Independence: The Myth and Reality , recently celebrated with much fanfare. If you'd like to look at them in the US publication, they're here and here respectively. Please both, they are short, and comment. If you don't, I'll write even more!

    An old friend, Eleni Papadimitriou, tells of the growing sense of betrayal and hopelessness many Greeks feel in her very well-written piece The Ugly Truth About Greece , and Iain Hunter's third part of his series on Common Law and the Magna Carta is something any believer in free speech and the liberty of the individual should not only read, but also study.

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's electric power was sourced from Gas, 12.7%; Solar, 5.7%: Wind 43.8%; Imports, 12.8%; Biomass, 4.1%; Nuclear 14.9% and Miscellaneous, 3.1%.

    freespeechbacklash.com

  19. I see from the Telegaffe that the shot [intermittent snag with vowels on my keyboard] Starmer has signed the UK up to a raft of UN sponsored crip that encourages more tax on wealth, alcohol, tobacco and things that might harm the environment. No mention of this before he did it, no discussion that I'm aware of in parliament – he's just signed us up! The man is an absolute cint – must get this keyboard sorted!

    1. Gordon Brown signed the Barcelona Declaration.

      Theresa May signed the UN migration Pact.

      They did these things in darkness.

      It is time we had someone in power to represent our wishes.

    2. Poor old chap. And the copper isn't even Fully qualified.
      Soon our useless political idiots will be training the invaders to become the police.
      And we will soon find the same situation we now have at our airports.
      The people who use to be and were suspected of illegal and dangerous crimes going in and out of Britain's airports. Are now those who are checking the credentials and searching the British public.

    1. Americans did it end of WW2, small Southern coastal town UK. Perhaps Mr Dorkicko is aiming to try enhancing precipitation in drought hit countries. Perhaps.

      1. More likely that he's up to no good. It will offer better remuneration.

        1. Before the white farmers were kicked out of Zimbabwe they used to do cloud-seeding to cause rain for their crops. It's routinely done in central Europe and probably other large continents too, to avoid the build-up of clouds that would cause giant car-damaging and roof-damaging hailstones.

          I think the storm that sank the Bayesian just after its owner had won a major court case (and his partner had died in a car crash) was suspect, but the technology is mainstream.

      1. But, as many have predicted for some time, Farage has given up and admits that the Muslim occupation is now too large to do anything about it.

        Douglas Murray seems to be the only coherent voice saying that the problem must be addressed and if it is not addressed that is the end of Britain, its culture, its laws, its history and its predominately Christian faith.

          1. Now that #TwoTierKeir has made it easier for the 'Irish' to obtain a British passport, i suspect the ferries heading to Stranraer and Liverpool will be awash with the 'new' Irish. Dublin's problem solved.

        2. Hallo Rastus! There is also Ben Habib and Rupert Lowe who are also speaking up along with Douglas Murray. Ben has founded a new political party, 'Advance UK' I joined several days ago. Apparently the amount of people joining within the first week was phenomenal. It is what Reform should be rather than being an extension of Farage's ego.

          https://www.advanceuk.org.uk/structure

    2. Of course the Muslims use such places wherever they can.
      It's to show they are taking over.

      2. I have sorted out a major foot problem – chronic pain in the heels that makes morris dancing very difficult – by soaking them in antiseptic, scrubbing them thoroughly and applying Bepanthem cream liberally.

        The Muslims are assiduous foot scrubbers, so this is perhaps one thing we can learn from them.

    4. That was a storming speech, BUT if anyone tried that on in Britain, they would be in prison before their feet hit the ground.
      So cynical me asks…where were the Garda? why did they allow that counter protest, and especially the speech?

    1. Since the 70's the climate changers have said first it's freezing, then melting, then freezing. No one believed them because they were just hysterical but then big government got wind of a way to tax people and the hoax expanded.

  24. Morning All 🙂😊
    17 and hopefully rain mid morning, it could even be mud morning.
    I can't see how our political classes have ever become wiser in any shape or form. They just continue to make the most contentious mistakes and never accept the responsibility of the positions they are in. It's known as government which means running the whole country for the comfort and acceptance of the majority, to the best of their ability. No sign of that ever..

  25. Rather chuffed. 45 minutes of ladderwork to prune the large wisteria. And it isn't 9 o'clock!! Rain on the way, apparently.

    1. I'm impressed! I'm still lurking under the duvet. I may get up in 30 minutes or so…

      1. I put the alarm on for an extra 15minutes this morning. Alas, Winston heard the alarm and I had to get up.

  26. Good morning. Long ago in another time I recall that if an arrest was announced on television news, my parents would declare, “They’ve got him”. Absolute trust that a serious crime had been committed and that the police had identified the perpetrator. Why else would they arrest someone? Are there still people who believe that?

      1. Army Cadets UK it would appear, but who or what the blubber-wallys represent, heaven only knows.

    2. I honestly don't understand what there is to be 'proud' of regarding where you stick your bits.

      I don't care. I don't want to know. It is not relevant. Nor is what bloody colour you are. I'll judge you on who you are. Not what you look like. I look like a brutish oaf but I'm really a complete pushover. The Warqueen looks angelic, but is a straight razor.

      1. I'm with you there, Wibbling.
        And, where's the discrimination? With DEI, anti-discriminatory legislation, and a more grown-up attitude to gays, I see no discrimination, or anything else to whine about – in fact, quite the opposite. So, I guess they are just so used to the narcissism of pride that they can't help but keep on shouting "Me! Me! Me!"

  28. Muslim charity boss delivered sermon on killing Jews six days after Oct 7
    Nottingham trustee sanctioned by regulator after using ‘divisive and inflammatory’ words
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/06/muslim-charity-boss-delivered-sermon-killing-jews-israel/

    BTL

    Why is the murder of Jews, the Jews' wish to hold onto their state and the Muslim desire of wipe out the whole Jewish race not considered to be genocide by the Pro-Palestine mobs.

    However, the Jewish people's determination to retaliate so as not to be murdered, have their state stolen from them and all their race exterminated is genocide?

    1. A bit of a non sequitur there. Being on the "wrong" side of a land rights dispute in the Holy Land is not the same as calling for the total extermination of one camp or the other.

      Have you applied the "sauce for the goose…" approach to your final paragraph without being proscribed by the authorities?

      1. Four legs good : two legs bad.

        [George Orwell : Animal Farm]

        In simple Orwellian terms is the pro-Palestine mantra:

        Muslims good : Jews bad ?

      1. He is also busy signing away our rights away from the scrutiny of Parliament and the public.

    2. To my mind, since this country is the birthplace of freedom, this is an utter disgrace, far more than it would be for any other country, it is intellectual infanticide We now carry the burden of betrayal against freedom, the right of the individual to stand tall as his own man. It's a disgrace so ignominious it is on a par with welcoming Communism or Islamism into our midst, the wild beasts let loose in the arena.
      This is what we have done. Perhaps this is about the EU but we already know it has been done to people like Tommy Robinson and Katy Hopkins. Next week it could be any of us.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkDyipFquxM

    3. The online harm bill did the most damage. It truly is draconian. Of course – and folk forget this – it is EU law happily implemented by Sunak.

    4. Big Ange is planning to put a Kommisar in every work place to monitor the slightest human interaction.

  30. Right chaps! I’m off now as we’ve got all 5 grandchildren and their Mummies descending late morning! The girls are going shopping so we’ll have the kiddywinks! I’ll maybe return later….

    1. Teach them all how to hoover, dust and polish. Their 'mummies' will be impressed.

  31. A good article from TCW

    Freedom is a responsibility, and not ours to relinquish
    By
    Peter Rhodes

    ARISTOTLE believed that a majority of humans were in fact slaves by nature. If we include slavery of the mind, surely Aristotle comes close to the truth? We are narrative driven. We form crowds. We learn rhyme and rhythm. Individual autonomy, creativity and freedom can be swept away by the hypnotic forces of mass narrative, murmuration and totalitarianism.

    Perhaps the only true freedom is freedom of the mind. It should be cultivated. While freedom of thought may be a right, it cannot be taken for granted. It needs to be protected from those who seek authority and power over others. Healthy scepticism should be taught from an early age.

    The Enlightenment Period will come to be recognised as one of the great misnomers. Our specious clutch at mechanistic rationalism. What we truly seek lies with empathy, intuition and resonance.

    Observations of Galileo Galilei on pendular motion (1582) led to an optimistic period of discovery gained by logic. Rationalism was born. Yet it would take more than three centuries beyond this to discover that Galileo was not quite right. A series of pendulums actually fall into lock step; they synchronise. Theoretical models cannot capture natural phenomena fully – they leave an unexplained remainder that is the very essence of life.

    Sir Isaac Newton recognised that his mechanistic rational deductions could explain only a very limited scope of reality. Other Nobel Prize winners have reached similar conclusions. Niels Bohr understood that poetry gives a better grip on reality than logic. Max Planck said that all matter is grounded in a conscious and intelligent mind (Geist). René Thom suggests that great scientists do not necessarily have exceptional logic or cognitive capacity, but rather an extraordinary ability to empathise with their field. The apprentice must learn the rules, but to master the art, one must transcend regulation. This is described by Stephen Hough, renowned concert pianist: first, keyboard practice must be careful and deliberate; to obtain a great performance, one must somehow ‘let go’.

    Governments, corporates and media puppets all collude to push mass narrative and pull the strings of the enslaved public mind. A new feudalism awaits in modern technocratic form. Whether large scale societal events played out between many minds or a contest held within the individual, some suggest the battle lines are drawn between left and right sides of the brain; the verbal centric dogma of the left hemisphere pitched against non-verbal right hemispheric awareness, empathy and sensitivity.

    If you have trusted the establishment, feel free to blush. Countless numbers have gone before. In World War I, thousands of compliant young men were shuffled towards death in the trenches by foppish Prime Minister Asquith and an indifferent British elite.

    But as modern centralism has brought a new order of magnitude to the vast global stage, we should reflect on a number of serious, fundamental flaws:

    1. Corporate elites with globalist agendas are unaccountable to the public. Activity is beyond the ballot.

    2. Scientific knowledge advances as hypotheses are tested and met with critique. Diversity of activity and experimentation is ideal. Emphasis on consensus works contrary to this. Modelling and Impact Modelling are key examples of failure to test hypotheses in open reality. Centralist trademarks include cancellation, censorship of debate and the use of propaganda to present an absolute. All work against advance in knowledge.

    3. Erosion of rights to privacy and the censorship of open debate as well as brutal physical intrusive actions by security forces have all increased in the last two decades. Demands for hyper-strict governance from within the population itself have also increased (woke culture).

    4. Government control can be harmful to health. Humans can only tolerate a certain amount of control, beyond which a hostage situation arises. When government is plain wrong, a centralised consensus of ‘expert opinion’ is the last thing that we need. Alternative voices and debate are required and should be encouraged.

    5. Perhaps most troublesome of all, totalitarianism, mass narrative and crowd-thought are used by globalist elite to engine their centralist trajectory.

    The Covid-19 pandemic global management fits into a series of desperate societal responses towards objects of fear – terrorism (9/11), viruses (SARS, etc.), climate change – but the centre piece strategy for global elite governance is for each ordinary individual to see themself and their freedoms as an enemy of the very planet itself.

    The First Global Revolution, a key document published in 1991 by the Club of Rome, a Rockefeller funded global think-tank, addresses the identification of enemies. Military-industrial complexes are considered dependent upon the concept of an enemy to be able to continue in perpetuity. Individual humans are identified in this document as the enemy. Individuals who together threaten en masse the future of the planet, a central tenant of Agenda 2030.

    Under the guise of ‘Limits to Growth’ (1971), ‘Our Common Future’ (1987), and later to become the ‘green agenda’, ‘build back better’, ‘build back beaver’ (Boris Johnson) and ‘sustainable development’, the controlled demolition of wealthy Western nations was to take place.

    A vast, global and communitarian programme of centralism in which reality as we have known it would be available only to an elite few. The reality-privileged. As such, the mind of each individual could be shamed into complicity and into compliance with the mandates and the diktats of an elitist agenda in order to save the planet.

    Utopian pursuit of rational control over the universe destroys the essence of life. Uncertainty is inherent in the human condition and indeed risk is a precondition for creativity and individuality.

    Every school child should be taught to welcome and applaud counter narrative, embrace scepticism and explore alternative views. Before graduation, they should be able to recognise the dangers of groupthink, propaganda, mainstream media and censorship.

    Freedom is a responsibility. It is not ours to relinquish.

    1. I agree with all that you say, but I and my sort have been barred from any interaction with the next generation, and are therefore powerless to counter the forces of suppression that claim sole access to the young, on the pretext of "Safeguarding". They allowed it to happen, and we did nothing to stop them other than to harrumph in solitude.

    2. Good article. But I can't agree that: "…Perhaps the only true freedom is freedom of the mind. That is nullified to my mind, if you don't have freedom of action.

      1. I see what you mean, but think it's all the more important in that case. Feels a bit like abstract philosophising until we're right up against the wire, I suppose, but I find the Stoic attitude here very solid. And the Ballad of Reading Jail was a balm during the sheer hell of lockdowns.

        1. Lockdown I simply ignored. But then living in the countryside it was easy. All my neighbours ignored it to. We just didn’t go into towns where the plague ridden dwelled 😊

    3. Good article. But I can't agree that: "…Perhaps the only true freedom is freedom of the mind. That is nullified to my mind, if you don't have freedom of action.

    4. People say these things as if we are ever given a choice. At no point can we refuse the state – it just passes endless law controlling us. If we dissent from it's hateful abuses, we're jailed or worse, simply disappeared.

      We cannot stop their laws. We cannot choose our PM. We cannot prevent the ghastly abuses of taxation.

      We are NOT a democracy.

  32. Morning all. I have been out of action due to the heat and recovering from it. Really does me in. This time round – we get another bout starting Wednesday – I'm prepared and, hopefully, I will be able to deal with it without being pole axed! But, today, the weather is cool and rather nice, cloudy though.

    I notice that the Telegraph has found out that Xi is in trouble. I pointed that out two weeks ago, was it? But, in fact his power isn't just fading, he has lost power altogether. Now what they are doing is keeping him up there as a puppet whilst they decide what to do. Apparently the choice is to exile him without explanation, have a series of "heart attacks" and thus retire him, or last but not least, he dies from a heart attack. I would imagine the first choice is his preference. Apparently, the person I mentioned a while ago, the wonderfully named, Yang Wang, is not in charge. Things are being controlled by two individuals who's names I don't remember. But they are only an interim until they decide what to do.

    I was also really pleased to note that the IDF are still going strong in Iran, despite Trump and his posturing for a Nobel Peace Prize, delusional at best. Lets hope that the Ayatollah, who is, apparently, still hiding in his bunker, comes to the nasty end he richly deserves. Apparently the regular army supports Reza Pahlavi and so do some of the IRGC who have decided that it is more prudent to support a new regime rather than be labeled as supporters of the Mullahs when the current regime falls.

      1. Yes. They can't attack Taiwan. It is all bluster. Ironically all the sophisticated chips that mainland China uses for its military are made by Taiwan. The Taiwanese have, wisely, mined the factories that make the chips. So an attack would be the proverbial, cut off your nose to spite your face. Press of a button and no more chips and the commies military is screwed.

        On top of that, China is now an economic basket case. In fact, on that score it is doubtful it can save itself. That is a major reason why Xi has fallen, mismanagement to the brink of disaster. If you want more information about that you van watch Serpentza on You Tube who goes into that aspect of China in detail.

        1. Yes… but get those factories and you wipe out the west. Not a little bit, all of it. Telecoms – of all types, grid monitoring. Oh, they won't break immediately but let's say we need to replace a router for a customer – if we can't get the kit, we can't do it and that business is off grid. Now make that a core ISP and when the spares run out – and they will, as the factories themselves can't be rebuilt overnight – we're sunk. Logistics, food delivery, aircraft landing, cars, heating, cooling – the works. It all runs on a tiny piece of silicon.

          1. Right Wibbling. But rather clever on the part of the Taiwanese. It guarantees that the West will not sit back and let the Chinese attack. But, I have read, that Trump has decided that chip manufacture needs to go back to the USA for the very reason you point out.

    2. Free Speech Backlash had a very good article on the balance of power in China a few days ago – well worth a read.

      1. Agree. Always thoughtful, and Z's piece especially good, quite a few of them now.

    1. Hippos are the most dangerous of African animals and kill more people than any other.

    2. Cows with calf to protect are also very dangerous, just like that hippo.

      1. 408887+ up ticks,

        Morning JR,

        I would like to see the Farmers Food and Freedom Party which I joined just after it registered as a party,I also could not resist the offer made and joined the Advance party last week.

        My wish is for the Farmers Party to be the true
        spearhead of opposition and umbrella to
        the Lowe / Habib parties.

        You will not find a more proven over centuries, patriotic peoples than the Werzel Gummage brigade.

    2. Mr Condell is right. muslim just pushes too much. They don't integrate, they demand their savage practices be brought here and they actively hate s, despite loafing about on our money. They are simply violent parasites.

      1. And our useless politicians need to check the history books, they will see but never learn from previous mistakes. That it took three hundred years for the Spanish people to get Islam out of their country. And now they are creeping back again..

          1. These people are worse than the nazis culture. And they hate the same people.

      1. I like Javier Milei. He said 'it's going to be hard'. He was honest. Yet there is no alternative.

        And of course, the hard Left call him a 'far Right populist'. Which, coming from rabid infested socialists is really a badge of honour.

        He's also an economist, and the difference between him and the cretinous bint Thieves Reeves – who thinks 'wealth' is generated by robbing people – is staggering.

        1. The Blessed Margaret also said that it would be long & hard to put right all the damage Labour had done, and she was right, too.

    4. Maréchal Pétain the hero of WW1 was a national hero who ended his life in disgrace because of his collaboration with the Gerrmans in WW2. He was condemned to death but this was commuted to a life sentence because of his age.

      Farage – the hero of Brexit?

      Is his collaboration with and surrender to Islam going to lead him to the same ignominy from the indigenous British as Pétain received from the French.?

  35. Not easy:
    Wordle 1,478 4/6

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  36. Just to calm your fears about Grizz I posted last night that he was taking a break to get some outstanding jobs done and thanks you for your concern

    2. Thanks Alec. I hope they are not too arduous and that he returns soon. Blogging is a great thief of time.

    5. OT, Alex – if you do try coloured pencils (crayons) might like Duralar surface, very easy to use, a type of plastic, layers build up really easily.

      1. The only other method I’ve tried is oil based pastels, I find them very hard to get fine details. In my early days I did use crayons (in fact a set which I’ve had for 76 years) but I much prefer watercolours x

        1. Oil based pastels (and normal ones) good for abstract kind of pics…not my choice. Have you heard of silverpoint, Alec?….Victor Koulbak one of my all time favourites. How have you had a set for 76 years….were you drawing as a baby :-)) x

          1. I got them for my 8th birthday and they had hardly any use until a year or so ago x

          2. 😅 8th? I won’t ask how long ago 😄 just watching Robert Palmer that’s another oldie x

        2. You can get water solvent coloured pencils – watercolour pencils, in effect.

  37. It was Ataturk who once decreed after pressure from some Islamic groups that it was wrong to ban the burqa, that it would be permitted for “ladies of the night” in order to preserve their modesty. Few Turkish women chose that option. I’ve never seen the burqa worn as footgear.

    1. What an odd title. For decades, car makers built what car buyers wanted. This was based on simple supply and demand.

      I would argue that more efficient engines, lighter cars are an arguably good thing as it saves the customer money, but I won't say that Joe can't buy his truck that does 1 mile to the litre if he wants to.

      Surely Trump is just saying 'buy what you want'. Personally I like the idea of an electric car. Most of my journeys are spent sat in traffic jams thanks to Soton CC so for me it makes sense. The Warqueen commutes to Bournemouth and wanted a bigger engine, so that works for her.

      But we don't have a home charger and, being blunt, I can't justify spending £30,000 on an electric car while our runabout works. 1. We don't have 30K sat around and 2. It's an egregious amount to spend on a car.

      1. I drive a Renault Zoe (electric), the range is OK but it's really just local driving – fully charged battery may take me say 70 miles? It can lose six on the clock just going out of drive – it's unreliable. Once got stuck in a few inches of water. I have to pay £59 per month D/D for batter insurance alone. Husband bought it, exchanging my VW petrol (with a CD player!) I'd never have another EV, taken all the fun out of driving.

      2. One of our neighbours opposite have an electric Volvo SUV.
        They quite often visit friends on the North Coast of Cornwall near Padstow and the convenience of electricity home charging has added nearly two hours to their long journey.

        1. Two of our neighbours have electric cars – one is used as a runabout, and next door's is a company car. He does do long distances sometimes.

      3. Let people decide what to do and not the governments who were never voted in for all this.

    1. I've always wondered about that claim, why would they?
      They need all the virgins they can get, if the 72 figure for martyrs is correct.

  40. We all look forward to his return with new stories to entertain us. Don't we Sosraboc… :@)

  41. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/07/06/wealth-tax-will-only-make-chancellors-problems-worse/

    How is income tax not a wealth tax already? Or is it 'we've taken 70% of what you earn, now we want another 5%. Oh, and next year it'll be 10% and apply at 20,000.

    Labour really are effluent but worse is that the Tories won't scrap it. They didn't remove any of Brown's stealth taxes. This is the problem: once they ram their claws in, they tear ever deeper.

    1. Just shows that they are, basically, all the same. They know better than you how to spend your money, they just can't earn it so highway-rob you of it.

  42. Good Moaning.
    Well, dog walk along Frinton Beach has been nixed. None of us fancies being a lightening conductor; even me, who would definitely not be the tallest object on the strand.

    An article from ConHome. Even when canvassing, we used to have fun, something as silly as guessing voting intentions by the colour of the front door or the layout of the garden.

    "After the doom loop of Labour’s first year, and the tears that ended it, can the Conservatives please rediscover fun

    Giles DilnotJuly 6, 2025

    “I have of late—but wherefore I know not—lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory” Hamlet, William Shakespeare.

    Of many masterfully melancholic recitations of these famous lines, my favourite is Richard E Grant, in ‘Withnail and I’ swigging wine from a bottle in the pouring rain and looking at the wolves in London zoo. It’s quite the cinematic image.

    In a past week that will be marked for years by an image, that of the UK’s Chancellor in tears behind a Prime Minister seemingly unaware of her distress and failing to back her in his Parliamentary exchanges, I longed for a Pythonesque dose of something completely different, now.

    The Prime Minister as it has turned out is not just hopeless but humourless. He hates being laughed at, and doesn’t always realise why people are. His navel -or should that be nasal – gazing annoyance that people sneered at his tool maker father, was a good example, since nobody was laughing at his poor old dad, just him for wanging on about it so much.

    It’s like when he accuses Kemi Badenoch most weeks of “talking the country down”, he doesn’t seem to register – she isn’t, she’s talking you down!

    But it is to Kemi, and her promises I want to turn to this weekend.

    They said she was lazy; she isn’t. They said she couldn’t charm the donors; she has. They said she’d lost the verve of her Commons performances of the past; well she herself said she keeps getting better – and last week she did. Last week I asked for blood, and to misquote AC/DC – I got it.

    However, there’s something she talked about during the leadership that I haven’t yet seen enough of, something we could all do with and something that would counter the wearisome dour Brownesque demeanour and intensity of the left. As one sharp Tory talent said to me at the Spectator party, speaking of Education Secretary Bridget Philipson:

    “She is almost East German in her joylessness”.

    Kemi wanted being a Conservative to be fun again.

    Not frivolous.

    Politics that is frivolous or unserious doesn’t convince people, but it doesn’t have to be, as my 6 year old says of any activity he’s not keen on, “no fun”.

    Kemi can be serious, or come across as too serious, and tackling the problems Britain faces is a serious business, but for someone who told the ConservativeHome audience back in September of last year that she can “chew gum and walk at the same time”…I for one would like to remind you all of what she went on to say:

    “The bit of myself that people probably don’t see is the fun side. I’m all about having fun, and I think our party stopped being fun. Keir Starmer is no fun, and he’s gonna… the rest of this decade is going to be absolutely miserable. I mean, look at that speech he gave. It was the most depressing thing. And I’m actually a very optimistic fun person”

    There it is.

    The speech she mentioned was from Starmer’s “blue period” remember? Before the Budget that was going to fix the foundations of the economy and ended with Rachel’s tears. It was back when both Starmer and Reeves spun a £22bn black hole of doom from their imaginations and made it feel like the country was dying. It wasn’t dying but this was politics written as “misery memoir”

    There’s a few serious points tabout bringing back an element of fun to being a Conservative again.

    For a serious business it’s been fun at periods in the past. When current average aged Tory voters were born, the party was as much a social organisation as political. Tony Hancock jokes about not joining “because I wasn’t looking for a wife” in an early 60’s episode. The Conservatives are a party who do a good party.

    It would fit also more with James Cleverly’s conference speech suggestion that Tories should just be a bit more “normal”. Door to door, face to face, oddly positive trumps positively odd. Normal people have a sense of fun.

    Consistently intense, serious, and obsessed is not normal. You know the type the left seems to cultivate, you say you had a great meal and they want to remind you some people can’t afford nice food. Every. Single. Time. Labour long ago outsourced completely humour to all those comedians beloved by BBCRadio4.

    So finding the fun again, draws a distinction with the left.

    Just as Reform think they have sorted the Tories and seen them off and are now focussed on attacking Labour, given where Starmer is after a year, where some of the things Rishi Sunak predicted have come true, I think the Tories hammer Labour, and work out what to do about Reform when, and if, they can get back out from third or fourth in the polls.

    The Conservatives now ‘under new leadership’, have said they’ll tell the truth (the harder course set against snake-oil populism) and that some really tough choices that their opponents will duck or be forced to duck are coming in the future. Rewiring the state, and “gripping the third rail” difficult and challenging as it will be, needs to be offset by hope.

    Sell hope and positive vibes.

    Because it is, even if you dislike the fact, all about vibes. The success of Reform UK in the polls is because Nigel Farage and his team are good at creating and fostering vibes. Clever deliverable policy still remains to be seen, but vibes they do well.

    I haven’t actually asked him during our many conversations, and I should have, but I’ll bet Robert Jenrick, is not just pleased with his opposition hit-job videos but he has fun making them.

    I think Mel Stride is enjoying himself when he’s at the dispatch box chucking political grenades over the aisle, and Kemi herself is never better than when she’s either genuinely angry or having fun taking her opponent on.

    Away from political performances, and at a door to door level the fun I’m talking about rediscovering is not about clowning or trying to entertain, though getting people to laugh at Starmer is a powerful kryptonite, it is that sense of positive purpose that makes you feel good to be part of something.

    Tories, politics, the public could do with that.

    I’d love it if voters mirrored my son when they looked at Labour’s last year, and turned away with the same added deficit “they’re no fun”.

    .A menu of serious but necessary misery won’t attract anyone.

    The public don’t want tears, or change you can’t believe in.

    While the Tories try to find answers to serious questions, they should also find the fun that should go with selling it."

    2. My aunt liked to go to Frinton – on several visits I would take her shopping and then to the beach.

  43. Comments have been closed on this DT article, so I will post here what I would have written: Justice at last!
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/07/01/trans-swimmer-lia-thomas-stripped-medals/

    "A transgender swimmer’s medals are to be stripped, the University of Pennsylvania has agreed.

    The university will also have to issue formal apologies to every biological female competitor who lost out to a biological male, marking the end to a landmark legal battle.

    The US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found UPenn violated Title IX by “allowing a male to compete in female athletic programs and occupy female-only intimate facilities”.

    The case focused on Lia Thomas, who last competed for the Ivy League school in Philadelphia in 2022, as the first transgender winner of an American collegiate title."

    1. About time, let's hope that the few stones tumbling set off an avalanche for ridding these creatures from women's sport

      1. I found it funny that a bloke identified as a woman to dead lift about 300kilos and then became a man again – setting a record no woman will ever be able to match.

      2. Allow me to make a slight adjustment Sos 🤗
        Replace ridding with Forbidding.

    2. He competed against women, knowing he had a clear advantage.

      The women he competed against were not going to be able to win thus the race was inherently unfair.

      Which raises the question for him: knowing he had an advantage did he enter to assuage his ego as a pretendy woman and didn't think of the other competitors? Or was he so deluded he thought he was a woman and thus considered the race fair?

      In which case, why didn't race officials stand in before and simply put a stop to his competing?

      1. It was reported here that he would become "excited" in the women's dressing room, so I don't think that he really thought he was a woman.

    3. Good. Seems to me that what Mr Thomas did was tantamount to theft.

      2. More like cheating. He could not win at the highest levels as a man, so…

    4. I was surprised to find out his real name is William. I thought it would have been John.

    1. I imagine it was a degree of not setting the rabid Lefties off and starting a riot. The Left are not known for being rational.

      Monty Toms did much the same at a communist joiler rally and after exposing the stupidity and ignorance of all those attending because they couldn't make a rational argument they started to get violent.

      But plod are far too close, deliberately intimidating, penning him in. That'd properly set me off.

  45. Good Morning, all

    Internet gorn phut. Am at friend's house

    Sunday Grimes
    ‘The cupboard is bare’ — inside the race not to be Archbishop of Canterbury

    1. Is that because nobody (including Welby) wants to be the infamous Archbishop that closes all the churches, as dictated from the parasite class?

  48. With regards to China it is the Dalai Lama's 90th birthday today. The person that the Chinese fear most. While there are 44 million Christians in China. Buddhism has 254.7 million and all look to the Dalai Lama. Oddly that wasn't always the case but this Dalai Lamas behaviour has made him the leader even though, technically, there is no Buddhist leader. It is purely moral force and his spiritual stature that has made him attain the position. And like the Popes legions that Stalin could not fight, the Dalai Lama is the force that the Chinese cannot fight. The largest monastery in China is Seda in Sichuan. It houses a phenomenal 40,000 monks, nuns, students and pilgrims. The Communist Chinese have, in trying to kill off Buddhism, made it more powerful than any other force in China.

    Link to Seda Gompa. https://www.chinahighlights.com/ganzi/attraction/seda-monastery.htm

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

    1. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a49db8682d0e3d02916532b07ec417ee0d9a8585281352d028921b64e56e3f25.png
      The Llama is a woolly sort of fleecy hairy goat,
      With an indolent expression and an undulating throat
      Like an unsuccessful literary man.

      And I know the place he lives in (or at least- I think I do)
      It is Ecuador, Brazil or Chile- possibly Peru;
      You must find it in the Atlas if you can.
      The Llama of the Pampasses you never should confound
      (In spite of a deceptive similarity of sound)
      With the Lama who is Lord of Turkestan.
      For the former is a beautiful and valuable beast,
      But the latter is not lovable nor useful in the least;
      And the Ruminant is preferable surely to the Priest
      Who battens on the woeful superstitions of the East,
      The Mongol of the Monastery of Shan.

      1. The trouble with that is it depends on a mispronunciation. The double LL is a Y in Spanish. Hence Vallejo, a rather nice city in California pronounced Vayeho. And, although I'm an Orthodox Christian, the Buddhist define our religion as: A primitive belief about reality." Because, frankly, from the philosophical point of view, Buddhist philosophy makes mince meat of Christian belief. But, unfortunately, arrogance was always a trait of the West when applied to the East which continues into the present day.

        1. I cannot agree with you there. Have nothing against Buddhism but it is not stronger than Christianity.

          1. I regard them as complementary. Christianity is faith. Buddhism is practice.

          3. Exactly why the Western Church, in particular Anglicanism, is dying!

          4. It really depends what you mean by that. Are you talking numbers of adherents or something else? But to be honest with you, I think historically speaking, Buddhism embodies love (agape) in practice far more than Christianity. There has never been a war in the name of Buddhism and persecution in the name of Buddhism is decried, whether that is persecution of a group or of an individual.

      2. The one L lama he’s a priest. The two L llama he’s a beast. And I will bet a silk pyjama there isn’t any three L lllama

  49. What comes around, goes around – and there seems to be no end to human stupidity.

  50. The so-called rain started at 10.30 – heavy drizzle. No sign of the thunder threatened by the Wet Office. Now semi-sunny. There may be some more showers this arvo – but I rather doubt it. So much for "refilling the water butts"… {:¬((

    2. We had so much last night that the roads had standing water almost across them when I drove to church. I drove through some squally showers as well.

    3. We've had a decent soaking with more forecast tonight, but at the moment it's warm & sunny.

      1. Stopped some time ago. May drizzle about 5 – not useful rain, though.

    1. All a bit sad because it's true. The criminal invaders must be removed and they must be turned back in the sea, but Starmer refuses to do that. He doesn't care if the country is polluted. He wants the dross here, he never has to deal with their savagery.

  55. Colin Macinnes
    5h
    The Reeves effect.
    Rachel Reeves’s tax hikes have been blamed for putting 69,000 people out of work across pubs, restaurants and hotels.

    Hospitality industry leaders are now predicting that the jobs bloodbath will continue, with as many as 200,000 likely to lose their livelihoods if the chancellor’s increase to employers’ national insurance contributions in her budget last October are not reversed.

    New figures, sourced from the Office for National Statistics, show that the hospitality sector has lost 69,000 jobs since then. In the same period in the year before, under the last Conservative government, pubs, restaurants and hotels created 18,000 posts.

    1. The Reeves' effect is one arm of the "Change" agenda so beloved by Starmer et al.

      Fewer pubs and restaurants – preferably none – will result in less alcohol being drunk and music, dancing and generally enjoying oneself in public will fade away. The "changes" will please at least one demographic.

      "Change" for those affected by Reeves' tax hikes will be no job, less money, losing one's home, hardship etc. Time for more people to wake up to what this Labour shower stands for, and it isn't "Change" for the better.

    2. Not seen/read Polly for a while. Would have something to say about this, I think.

        1. I see her there the occasions I read, thanks Hertslass. I don’t read too often now Gyngell seems to have moved on.

    1. On the Grauniad Comment is Free (oh the irony!) I was called both a Fascist and a Nazi in the same reply.
      This was one of my proudest blogging achievements.

      1. I gave up commenting long ago. My posts were often deleted or the time open to post replies to articles was so limited that time has expired by the time I had read the article. Most articles of course, the silliest normally, didn't offer the option of commenting.

        2. "When beech leaves are falling, – er'e we roam, Old memories come calling; of Halton – and home"

  59. Been hedge-trimming this morning – we have a lot of overgrown bushes and they really needed tackling – so while our next door neighbour had a go at the ivy next to the elder which he took down for us a couple of days ago, I did the big bush next to the drive – he'll finish the bit on his side that I couldn't reach.

    In the meantime – swift -watching and tidying up. Having a drink.

    1. 'In the meantime – swift -watching and tidying up. Having a drink'.

      The most sensible thing i have read today.

    3. I have been cutting back the winter jasmine and the holly. I'd left it far too long and it became a big job. Looking through the window now, I see I have missed a couple of bits and will have to try to complete it tomorrow.

      1. We had help from our neighbour this morning – he did a good job and cut down a dead elder tree the other day for us. I will have to have another go at the bushes tomorrow.

  60. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9cdf3605df01f6f36024f9d758daf7582621e0f3ef8d0260ebabfac58ad0ff57.jpg Tomato – Bellandine
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fe7ef6603918ef518398858bbb8a1dce4d160a39b43def312ae77c3d1abda050.jpg Sungold
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f81cb8ef187d4c28f98a9be2e945871a64178f71d33a0a1dc80e23a11e7b1809.jpg Pots
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/746e7c826284b40e916c368f7b020d0f7bf28d8dd54952ce8921a55bc804e45c.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4882840d8df7fbdee2d3809bde436ce388176a85b35b74c467fe7930f7a3749e.jpg

      2. Off to the nursery with you to ask the nice man to show you his Bellend selection.

        1. He might even get a job as a Bellend representative and/or a representative Bellend

  61. Welsh Windbag to the rescue. 2Tier and Reeves preparing the ground…

    Neil Kinnock: Labour Should Introduce Annual Wealth Tax on Assets Over £10 Million
     https://youtu.be/2zArcJ85naA
    Martin Adamson
    1h
    Says a man on a tax-free Europension.

    Martin Adamson
    1h
    Plus his UK MP pension. Not forgetting his wife's pension pots he will have received on her death.
    His son, daughter in law and daughter Rachel all grifted from the EU including UK taxpayers.

    Lord Farquard
    1h
    Odd that a party obsessed with introducing "hate" legislation obviously harbours a bottomless well of hatred for those who have become successful.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3a3866156e08d851aa172fd0ceea84337f222bbc39acfcfb0de7936cd1470df8.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/663fb0bb66fc601ff9e76b1bd6ad0c6d0eb6fd538f787b33ebdb7f032cb19a0f.png

    1. Are there any millionaires with more than £10m left in Britain? Would it be legal in the Isle of Man?

        1. In the USA a person who delivers the mail is called a Person Person, Bill. Lol.

    2. People with that amount of money can afford to live well elsewhere.
      The proposed tax will almost certainly lose more tax than it brings in and cost jobs.

        1. If it hurts one class enemy they regard it as worthwhile. A stupid saddo-masochism

    3. I'd suggest a regular tax on Labour ministers past and present. Say… 8% of earnings every year, with ability to take them in any form, whereever hidden. Rising to 16%, then 24% until every penny Blair, Brown, Cameron, Kinnock, unionists have stolen from the tax payer is recovered.

    6. Kinnock and his wife were infamous for “signing on and sodding off” every Friday whilst members of the EU Parliament.

      Friday was a non-working day when the place was deserted but you could claim expenses by simply signing on, then sodding off on Eurostar back to Wales or wherever.

    1. Maybe I am lucky in that I am able to see a doc when I need to. However I appreciate others cannot.

      The solution though, is not more money for the NHS, but to better manage how that money is spent. That can only be done by forcing markets on the NHS – scrap the trusts and department for health for a start.

      I think these people thinking they speak for everyone is offensive. I am paying a lot of money for the NHS. I don't say thank you to it. I say thank you to the staff, but not the system.

      Of course, the problem the NHS has is obvious: go to a doc appointment and see a Chinese couple yabbering in Mandarin. Another bloke gibbering in Iranian. Another woman shouting in Polish. Two more blithering to one another in dindu with another baby and 3 Britons.

      And no, Starmer. We don't say thank you for your family.

    3. If the NHS had anything to do with the birth of that miscreant, the country says FAIL. Sod off and be replaced by something better.

  63. From the Daily Sceptic. Good for you, Blessing – wishing you all the best in this:

    “Camden council installed the painted blue, pink and white crossings nearly four years ago in Bloomsbury in a bid to “help celebrate transgender awareness” and to act “as a reminder of the rich LGBT+ history in Camden.”

    But Blessing Olubanjo, a Camden resident, is now threatening to bring a legal challenge to have the four crossings at Tavistock Place and Marchmont Street removed or redesigned because, she claims, it “constitutes unlawful political messaging”.

    The 57 year-old claims the installations, which cost £10,464 in taxpayers’ money, constitute a violation of political neutrality laws under the Local Government Act 1986, as well as an infringement of freedom of belief and expression under the Human Rights Act 1998.

    The NHS administrator, who is an Evangelical Christian, told the Telegraph: “I brought this case because I believe in fairness, freedom of belief, and the proper role of public institutions.

    “As a Christian and a taxpayer, I should not be made to feel excluded or marginalised by political symbols in public spaces.

    “This crossing sends a message that only one viewpoint is welcome, and that’s not right in a truly democratic society.” …

    Andrea Williams, the chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, who is supporting Ms Olubanjo, added: “Not only is this crossing a matter of public safety and Christian freedom, it’s about the misuse of public resources for political campaigning.

    “The crossing is a visual endorsement of a contested ideology, installed by a public authority in breach of its legal duties.

    “This is not the role of local government.””

    1. He could also bring an action to have the crossing removed because the coloured stripes do not comply with the Road Traffic Act.

      1. You'd think councils simply have better things to be doing than wasting public money promoting mental illness.

        1. Like wasting public money on all the other things they waste money on. They are like governments – somehow once the money has been wrung out of the people, it is owned by the councils, no strings.

      2. That was my immediate reaction – is it allowed to drive over people using it, as it's not painted properly?

        1. It always annoys me when I drive over the rainbow crossing in Gloucester – it's just outside the Council building.

          1. You could ask your county councillor to point out to the Council that the "crossing" is illegal as it fails to comply with the 1997 Regulations.

    2. Ohh, what will the council do! They've got a diversity bringing the issue so can't squeal 'waycist!' and ignore them.

      Exciting times!

      1. Don’t make me resurrect the “Brian is a good name for a horse” story!!!!

  64. Here's a Q. Why are sheds not measured in metric? Why do they use an ancient system of feet and inches?

      1. Yet every other tool and kit is in metric – it's difficult to even find rational measurements. I'm looking for a 2m cubed shed. Even googling for that returns 8 x 6 or 6 x 4 – what are these gibberish numbers?!

        1. A metre is a yard +10%. Not difficult and we English people maintain our eccentricity.
          Vive lá differénce as the English would say.

    3. Don't be perverse. Number are numbers. I don't think 8' x 6' is too difficult to understand.

      1. It is if you live in a metric world. I didn't measure in feet, I have a 2 metre space. Not some bizarre confection.

        It's as bad as my mother converting into shillings or asking that is 2m – 200cm? 2000mm? No, what is it she bleats ? No, it's those things. Nothing else.

    4. The feet and inches system is British. Metric is French. Metric was forced on Britain to try to convince de Gaulle that we were good Europeans – no other reason. Didn't work, he still vetoed the Common Market membership spplicstion at the time.

      We still use "imperial" measures (with modifications) in the US. The main differences being 16 fl oz to a pint, thus our gallons are smaller; also we have "short tons", 2000 lbs, and "long tons" 2240 lbs.

      As to "equivalants". 7.62 mm is 0.300 ins, for the shooters among us. And a 5.56 is a .22, while a 12.7mm is of course a .50 cal.

      100mm x 25mm timber is a as close to a 4 by 2 as can be imagined. We are different, we call them 2 by 4's, so the old rhyming slang does not work…

      We should be thankful nos Amis Francais did not decide there should be 10 hours in the day, and 100 minutes in an hour – they did screw up temperatures, after all.

      1. They tried to introduce the 10 hour day/100 minute hour/100 second minute during the French Revolution but i didn’t really catch on and was finally dropped in 1806.

      2. They tried to introduce the 10 hour day/100 minute hour/100 second minute during the French Revolution but i didn’t really catch on and was finally dropped in 1806.

  65. Afternoon all. Last minute call up to serve this morning, but all went off okay.

    Politicians learn lessons? They’re having a giraffe.

  66. I am so often berated on newspaer comment sections when I mention my very modest lifestyle. Yet in the same newspapers one reads articles about lifestyles most people can only dream about.

    from the Telegraph

    The A-levels are over and my eldest child, Isaac, is snoozing in his bedroom, the wonders of Lancastrian history now a distant memory. It’s strange to think how the cliché that schooling is over in a flash has come to pass, and was, in fact, spot on.

    For Isaac, there won’t be any more waiting around in the park for my younger children to finish playing after school, or getting to grips with the leaky local rural transport infrastructure, or lecturing me about American politics.

    Come September, he will hopefully be off to university, grades permitting – and once more there will be a gaping hole in the household, usually filled with so much Isaac-shaped energy.

    But this won’t be the first time that Isaac has fled the nest. In fact, he was a flexi boarder at his preparatory school Holmwood House School in Colchester from the age of nine and then weekly boarding at his public school Felsted in Essex. He was there for three years, from year 9 (aged 13) to the end of year 11 (aged 16).

    But then – driven more by Isaac’s choices than our own – we decided to switch him to the local state school near our home, Thomas Gainsborough School in Sudbury.

    Boarding on and off

    Isaac had never been to a state school before – in fact, we bypassed primary and sent him to private school from day one. His nursery school headmistress advised us that Isaac would benefit from a smaller class size, and the only state school we managed to get him into was bilingual. We thought it might confuse him, so aged five he went to Holmwood, a mixed prep school.

    He did indeed benefit, not only from the education but also the sport and extracurricular activities. I found some of his old school work from year 1 the other day, and I could not believe how advanced it was – and how advanced he was.

    By sending a child to a private school, you are outsourcing a lot of grief. I recall seeing Isaac get into a scrap in the local park with some other boys during the holidays, when he was aged around 10, and I guiltily admitted to myself I was pleased I didn’t have to marshal such mishaps myself continually – especially since I had four other younger children to care for.

    Sybilla Hart and son Isaac
    Hart: ‘As he got closer to his GCSEs, he told us that he wasn’t keen on boarding anymore’ Credit: Andrew Crowley
    Having Isaac entertained during the week at prep school meant that I was not encumbered with endless arguments over screens and sweets, of which there would have been many.

    He boarded on and off whenever it suited. Every time there was a showing of Underdog or a Mexican-themed boarding night, Isaac would put his hand up – an evening with his mates definitely trumped one with parents trying to settle a teething baby as well as three unruly younger sisters.

    Wanting more time at home

    At the age of 13, Isaac had to take the common entrance exam and won a drama award. He was bright, enjoyed sport as well as music and was in all the school plays, so we chose Felsted on the basis that it offered a good all-round education and was fairly close to our home.

    The fees were admittedly quite a jump. At the time they were around £12,000 a term, including three nights a week boarding – this would now be more with VAT – whereas the prep school cost around £5,000 a term.

    He was happy at his school but as he got closer to his GCSEs, he told us that he wasn’t keen on boarding anymore – announcing at the grand old age of 16 that he would “like to spend more time at home in [his] own bed”.

    We could have switched to him becoming a day boy, but the school was 45 minutes away, and I balked at the thought of managing the school run for five children at five different educational establishments, which would test our logistics to the limit. At the time, Beatrice and Florence, then aged 13 and 11, were at Thomas Gainsborough School, and Celestia, then eight, was at Bures Primary School. Benny, our youngest, then aged four, divided his time between two different village nursery schools.

    The girls had started at state because we’d moved close to the primary, and it had an amazing reputation – plus I only had three kids at the time, and was keen for more. The school was just three minutes by car from us, which made life easier. Then when the time came for them to go to secondary, they moved with their friends to Thomas Gainsborough.

    Plus, Isaac had decided to give up rugby. My husband, Charlie, was becoming increasingly nervous about him playing the sport, as he and his teammates were fully grown. Thankfully Isaac was understanding and agreed to bow out.

    The rewards outweighed the risks

    I can’t deny that we were anxious about switching him from what was a positive schooling experience to another. However, our daughters had been at Thomas Gainsborough for a couple of years and we rated it and its leadership.

    I had been nervous when they started, but I need not have been. I was initially concerned the classes would be out of control, but every class is streamed and there’s no difference in the quality of the teaching. You will find the same issues in every school, whether they are private or state. Teenagers face the same challenges, no matter where their parents send them.

    Once I had met the head of Thomas Gainsborough School sixth form, I was sold on sending Isaac there too. He was energetic and engaged, with a great sense of humour. The possible rewards outweighed the risks, in our minds.

    It was decided that Isaac would finish his academic year at Felsted, do his GCSEs and then move to TGS for sixth form to study politics, history and economics.

    In September 2023 we dropped Isaac off at college for the first time. Although he didn’t think he’d know anyone, he bumped into a friend he’d been at prep school with and someone else he used to play football with. At the end of the first day he came home beaming from ear to ear, telling us about his new mates. I could tell he instantly felt at ease with his new friendship group.

    Isaac, Sybilla and their dogs
    ‘We got to enjoy more time with our precious teen’: Isaac, Sybilla and their family dogs Credit: Andrew Crowley
    It’s been the making of Isaac

    Now, two years later, I couldn’t be happier about how his A-level experience has been. It’s been the making of Isaac, and made our life a lot easier. Now, although he has an offer from Exeter and York, he is considering reapplying to Cambridge to study politics and international relations if he gets the grades.

    As I drove to his school today to pick up my two girls, I felt more than an inkling of regret that I wouldn’t pick Isaac up there ever again, walking out with his friends, laughing at something or other with his school backpack slung over his shoulder.

    He’s said the friends he made during sixth form were some of the best he has ever made in his life. I think he wished he had had more time with them and that he’d met them earlier.

    I am not even sure whether the celebration of the end of Isaac’s A-levels really differed to what he would have experienced at his boarding school. I doubt they sprayed each other in champagne, Brideshead-style – it’s far more likely that they did what he and his sixth form mates did and went down the pub for a pint or two.

    OK, so he missed out on a speech day, with its interminable list of prizes followed by a posh sit-down lunch – but even then, when I went to one at Felsted (his old school), I sat next to a woman whose daughter had just won Love Island. I remember thinking I wished I’d applied a bit of lip gloss for the occasion. And my battered Toyota definitely looked out of place amid all the smart cars.

    Admittedly his end of term wasn’t quite like mine, where we sang Jerusalem or I Vow to Thee My Country and had a party. I still have the pictures of me wearing a rather awful pale-blue dress from Designers at Debenhams.

    There’s no prom for Isaac, but they are going to Hintlesham Hall, a nearby hotel, for a leaver’s dinner, with yours truly no doubt acting as chauffeur.

    I’m proud that Isaac has experienced the kind of great state education this country can offer – and what’s even more important is that we got to enjoy more time with our precious teen before he heads off to pastures new.

    Recommended

    1. We do know a 'Jocasta'. It's quite funny. She's a stripper and softcore model. She met the Warqueen while they were grid girls. Hers is a proper rebellion against very rich, very successful parents. The Dad, realising this said – when she announced her new career – good on you lass, go for it! Her mother doesn't speak to her.

      As for living frugally. Our biggest cost is the dogs, by far. They run to hundreds every month in food alone. Yet Lucy is laying beside me and Oscar is not too far away and creeps a bit closer. I pretend not to notice as he's a proud fellow.

      I find it frustrating that slapping tax on private education punishes the trying parents. The very rich don't care, but those who want better than they had got hammered. In my view, all schools should be private schools.

    2. privilege, privilege, privilege, feel sympathy for me because I drive a battered Toyota, privilege…

      The system is still working for people like her, so they don't see any need to change it.

    3. That was a lot.
      Got to the end and realised I don't know what the point being made is and I can't be arsed to read it again.

      1. Her son slummed it at some plebby school for his last two years and it didn’t seem to harm him too much

    4. Bures, a village divided by the River Stour, Bures Hamlet on the Essex bank and Bures St Mary on the Suffolk bank. After retiring from BT I took a relief postman's job in Bures for just under two years. I had worked there in my telecommunications days but I had no idea of the number of wealthy people in that area: two high court judges, a number of international business men and lawyers and one diminutive and aging pop star, Jack Bruce, of Cream fame, to mention a few.

      A week today I'll be at the closing day of the Bures Festival, listening to an array of music, mostly pop/folk/tribute, performed by mainly local bands and individuals. A five day festival with a range of music with, I think, two evenings in the church.

      1. Remember to take your Palestine flag and your stupid black and white scarf thing.

        1. I doubt that that would go down well. Fun, music, jollity, dancing and stacks of beer in a huge beer tent wouldn’t sit easy with the demographic you’re highlighting.

  71. Nicked
    "You'd think that the 20th anniversary of the London bombings might have got a mention on the front pages – or would be that deemed islamophobic under the new rules?"

    I think there is a prog on it tonight I saw a trailer whose thrust was "we need to understand why it happened"
    I already do matey our "leaders" allowed us to be invaded by a rabid supremacist death cult started by a rapey warlord who hate our civilisation and everything we stand for
    Now our "leaders" shrug their shoulders (yes i'm looking at you too Farage) and tell us "too late nothing to be done too many of them"
    It's not going to end well

    1. It is going to end very badly. We have seen how destructive they are where ever they settle. Appeasers like Farage and Starmer won't survive it either.

      1. What is Reform for if they won't address the fundamental problems facing the country?

        1. Farage is an opportunist and just wants to stay on the gravy train. Just as with everything else he has been involved in it's all about him. Then it fizzles out.

    2. Tomorrow is the anniversary, not today. There are some features on the BBC news pages and in the Guardian. Take a deep breath…
      https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/06/positive-legacies-7-7-london-bombings
      https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/06/iraq-war-made-extremists-of-people-ex-police-terrorism-chief-looks-back-at-77
      https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/06/7-7-london-bombings-british-muslims-counter-terrorism-islamophobia

      1. Islamophobia? Balls. Why didn't the vermin just leave?

        Invasion of Iraq? No, Iraq invaded another country first. Everywhere muslim always kicks the bear then complains when the claws come out. Then because the bear is a decent sort, doesn't deal with muslim and muslim kills the bear cub.

    3. We brought it on ourselves, of course, by not converting to slammerdom.

      1. You missed your true vocation. You ought to be writing Headlines and Opinion pieces for The Guardian {:^))

        Iraq war ‘made extremists of people’: ex-police terrorism chief looks back at 7/7
        Exclusive: Former Met officer Neil Basu says there is link between UK foreign policy and radicalisation, and atrocity did lasting damage to race relations
         https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/1333164eab537b1526c3f8145a5b59250f51a29a/81_0_1841_1473/master/1841.jpg?width=620&dpr=2&s=none&crop=none
        https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/06/iraq-war-made-extremists-of-people-ex-police-terrorism-chief-looks-back-at-77

        1. Basu is an extremely unpleasant and prejudiced person. Plays the race card at the drop of a hat.

        2. Basu is an extremely unpleasant and prejudiced person. Plays the race card at the drop of a hat.

        3. Basu would, wouldn't he? So what made slammers extremists – throughout history?

    4. Why it happened? Because some muslim nutter decided to kill people because he wanted to and his stone age sky man fantasy said he could.

      There, that's the why.

      muslim could have killed my wife solely because he was told by his fictional sky man fantasy that he could. Rather than immediately halting the tide of savages, the Left forced ever more of them on us and worse, defended the swine.

    5. It’ll be blamed on the removal of Saddam and Gaddafi but without acknowledging that it wasn’t an act of revenge since those men were against the Islamic extremists responsible for the bombing and had kept them in check. The leftists in the West caused the problem, not the conservative right. Likewise with Iran.

        1. Because his "team" thought that by importing dross, they could create permanent, dependent, Labour voting puppets.

          It worked – look at London today.

          1. Throughout the UK, jack. And still they come, and multiply. I recall being in Bradford with my dad, decades ago, and seeing the stream exiting from the mosque even then. CofE should be so lucky. Anyhow, Blair was correct, witness Starmer’s election (and the ones to come).

          3. Won't be permanent, though. Once the muzzies get their own party they'll ditch Labour.

  72. It is if you live in a metric world. I didn't measure in feet, I have a 2 metre space. Not some bizarre confection.

    It's as bad as my mother converting into shillings or asking that is 2m – 200cm? 2000mm? No, what is it she bleats ? No, it's those things. Nothing else.

    1. In France they sell hardboard and blockboard sheets in some bizarre and meaningless combination of millimetres – but they are and remain 8 ft x 4 ft!

      1. Precisely. Nowadays much of the plywood sheeting is manufactured from African hardwood in Africa. It was not always so until the British established the facilities and in particular the glue used to bond the thin sheets together effectively.

        Even today Birch plywood manufactured principally in Canada and Finland is still produced in 8 x 4 feet sheets.

        The standard door height was for centuries 6’6” or 1981mm. This is currently 2040mm following the change to Metric.

    2. Pardon me, but I really cannot accept that you don't know that 2 metres is slightly more than 6 feet.

      1. 6 feet 6 inches. The 2 metre distancing for Covid had me looking for the third 6.

        1. 6' 6.74", actually, Pity it was not 6.6, then we would know to keep looking over our shoulders.

  73. Yet that makes no sense for a metric world. Same as we measure in grams/kilograms and not pounds and pence, we cook at 'c, not farheight, or whatever nonsense.

    Bah. It appears that you cannot buy a shed in metric, only in antique, therefore nothing will fit.

    1. Come on, Wibbers, this is illogical! 'Nothing will fit'? Is everything in metric world like bits of Lego, all locking together tidily? Are the contents of your garden shed entirely rectilinear, all stacked up in neat columns with no spaces between?

      0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. Numbers.Numbers in metric, numbers in imperial (customary). Numbers are numbers. Their usefulness depends entirely on your ability to use them by means of +,–, /, X in whatever job you're doing.

      Customary measures are human. Life is awkward and nobbly, with bits sticking out at awkward angles. It doesn't conform to mathematical purity.

    2. I buy a one lb jar of jam or marmalade in something like 454 cubic centimetres these days. (Same thing.)

    3. I buy a one lb jar of jam or marmalade in something like 454 cubic centimetres these days. (Same thing.)

  74. I am 191cm tall. The space is 208cm. The dimensions of the structure should be in metric.

    Rant rant rant, ranty rant rant. Rant rant, rant. Rant rant.

    2. So I really can't picture how tall you are. When things are measured in periodic divisions like ft and inches it is easier to picture than metres and cm. Decimals are for people who can only count to ten. And who aren't very good at division in fractions.

      A quarter of a cake is easy to visualise – even an eighth. But 0.25 or 0.125 – give me a break!

      1. Understanding the merit of the Imperial over the Metric System is a generational thing.

        If you shopped for 2lbs of sugar or half a pound of butter there is a persistent picture and feeling for those weights. Likewise if you collected pennies and converted them to pounds and shillings you have mastered multiplication and division.

        When I survey buildings or, say, joinery which was built in Imperial measurements every dimension fits. To try to measure such elements in Metric just leaves one dithering because the article was built using 1/32nd, 3/64ths, 1/8ths, and so on. In my area of work everyone understood Code 4,5,6,7 Lead sheet represented the weight in pounds and corresponding thicknesses. Likewise 16 gauge steel sheet was 1/16th of an inch in thickness.

        It was a grave error to adopt the French Metric System over our long established Imperial System. The change has left several generations unable to comprehend its advantages, unable to easily divide and multiply and left counting their fingers and toes.

  75. Obstinacy is not a virtue.

    Some of us are quite at ease with both because we grew up with both.

    1. If I had grown up with Pride, Trans- and Labour I might accept those as well. But I didn't, and|I don't – not because I didn't grow up with them, but because I knew a time when things worked a bit better.

  76. 40 centimetres means absolutely nothing to me. 15 inches on the other hand, I can visualise immediately.

      1. Keep on saying "black man good, white man bad" – no doubt that is what the PTB are trying to do too. Practice makes perfect whatever is being indoctrinated.

    2. Agreed. I have to visualise the wooden ruler I had at skule which showed the 12 inch markings on one side approximating the 30 centimetre markings on the other side.

      1. Bloody hell. I should read under!!!!!!! We should have a NOTTL motto. No posting without reading under, or whatever the Latin equivalent is

    4. Yes. I have to remember 12” is the same as a 30 cm ruler and convert from there.

      This is virtually the only thing i disagree with Wibbling on (unless he is a “daylight saver”)

  78. Ah, I get it. Tennis. I thought they were going swimming, the net being pool tiles.

    1. It's not a very good one by Matt's standards. My first thoiught was that they were the French Horn section of the LSO.

  79. I see the prejudiced one who caused a bit of a spat last night closed his account. (again).

      1. Not a lot – just some insults between him and 4G which I even-handedly deleted after giving a warning.

        1. I have been in a thoroughly bad mood for some weeks. Once the wound heals, the ear infection goes, the vet bills are paid and some savings are made, hte company picks up after the summer and the Warqueen stops telling me I'm really fat (which really, truly doesn't help, dear) I'll be less cantankerous.

          2. True, carbs so addictive. Very tired lately, started taking iron tabs, feel even worse….now to cut down carbs and move more, back to yoga….(and cob the iron tabs). PS bad to read about some arguing or something yesterday evening, glad it's sorted (if it is).

          3. I'm not overweight but if I find I'm getting a bit porky round the waist I cut down a bit – no bread, no biscuits, etc but otherwise just eat normally. It works. I spend too much time sitting with the laptop, so a bit of moving about a bit helps too.

            I'm 77 this month and take no medication – I'm well and very lucky, I know.

            Yesterday evening's little spat was nothing much – we've had a lot worse in the past. I gave them both a warning and deleted the insults. 4G took it in good heart but the other one deleted his account. Not for the first time. If he's who I think he is, he has a tendency to overreact but he's a good man and has had some tragedy in his life. So I hope he'll be back when he's calmed down again.

          4. I think it’s a really good site, Ndovu, good-natured. Only use a couple of other sites (I’d spend far too much time online otherwise). First came to look at it because of Geoff and then Peta both Spectator. Still love to hear from Geoff, but sadly no longer Peta who I still miss most days. (btw I’m also porky round the waist, will try to follow your lead x

          6. Very much so. We’d had completely different lives, but somehow ended up in a similar place on most issues. Didn’t always have the same opinion, but great respect, and had a lot of fun. When she died, quite a number of people asked me about her – ones I’d never heard of, possibly ‘graph subbers who somehow seemed to follow our ramblings – a couple of old women with their knitting at the guillotine. Definitely a good egg, Angus J – one of the very best.

          7. I missed it all yesterday, but going on what you’re saying I think I know! I may email him.

          8. I think you do. He’s a good man. I wasn’t going to ban him. Please give him my best wishes.

          9. I believe I now know the BB you referred to earlier, just rec’d a message. Yuk.

          12. No – I don’t think he’s ever been part of Nottl.
            Anyway Sue M is going to send him my best wishes as she knew who he was. I had no intention of banning him but we don’t resort to insults.

    3. Do we know who he is? I noted that he knows your name so gathered that it’s an old foe in new guise but who?

    4. I still think it's 'wannafight'. He's probably bored because it's too wet to play golf so the spiteful little shit does what spiteful little shits do and try to spoil everyone elses fun.

      2. The only post I saw (and reported) contained nothing but insults to a couple of forum members – Sos and Geoff, IIRC.

  81. As will his "party" now that they have been seen to have espoused the same old same old.

    1. The fact that the media is saying he is going to be the next PM has convinced me he won't be.

      2. I'm tempted to replicate Nagsman's private views on Farage but I would be banned for life.

    1. No. I have my suspicions but will keep quiet on those for now. It's not the first time he's gone off in a huff.

    1. Good for you. The exact reason i would make a bad MOD. Me being a blabbermouth and all that.

      1. No – he was Lotl's husband and they both died. Grizz gave us the low-down on him.

  87. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/07/06/tories-have-done-the-apologies-badenoch-aide-tape/

    Listen: Tories have ‘done the apologies’, says Badenoch aide in leaked tape

    I don't want them to ruddy apologise. They failed this country utterly. I want them to say what they are going to do to restore us. I want a series of tax cutting, small state, low tax, efficient, border controlled, welfare managed, anti EU Conservative party.

    At the moment there's nothing of that.

    1. They STILL appear not to understand that THEY wrecked the country….but expect us to let bygones be metric bygones.

    2. Know exactly how you feels. However, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s all being done deliberately and controlled by shadowy sources for the purpose of bankrupting the U.K., to bring in the IMF, CBDC and digital ID.

      Total control then over what we can buy, how much of it we can buy and how often we can buy it, etc. Did you see the video by Dr Mike Yeadon about the fact that nobody actually “owns” their property? Expect you can find it on YouTube if you wish. Quite scary.

      1. We own nothing except by dispensation from the Crown. This is the reason why, if you die intestate, your property reverts to the Crown and is administered by the Crown Estate Commissioners.

        This of course assumes that some Hungarian fraudster has not been granted Power of Attorney and Probate over your affairs and property. It seems (and I have direct experience) that any Tom, Dick or Harry can find a way to steal from us, such is the ease with which Power of Attorney and Grant of Probate can be obtained by criminals without proper checks.

      2. We own nothing except by dispensation from the Crown. This is the reason why, if you die intestate, your property reverts to the Crown and is administered by the Crown Estate Commissioners.

        This of course assumes that some Hungarian fraudster has not been granted Power of Attorney and Probate over your affairs and property. It seems (and I have direct experience) that any Tom, Dick or Harry can find a way to steal from us, such is the ease with which Power of Attorney and Grant of Probate can be obtained by criminals without proper checks.

    3. Would you believe them if they promised those things? You'd have to risk giving them power to find out. Better to let them whither on the vine and disappear from the political scene forever.

  88. I lost nearly a stone when the NHS put me on Furosemide. It removes all the excess fluid.

    2. Some people remember the phone hacking saga, and worse still the fake photos in The Mirror!

  91. Wordle No. 1,478 3/6

    ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 6 Jul 2025

    Quad for Birdie Three?

    1. Strange word, took me ages to come up with it and still didnt really expect it to be correct – even though I couldnt, after some time, come up with any alternatives! Just a par…..

      Wordle 1,478 4/6

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

    2. Well donw, same here.

      Wordle 1,478 3/6

      🟩🟨🟨⬜⬜
      🟩⬜🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Ditto 4G.

      Wordle 1,478 4/6

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

  93. A Birdie. I had just finished Spelling Bee which figured this word.

    Wordle 1,478 3/6

    ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨
    ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  94. Odd Word today

    Wordle 1,478 4/6

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

  96. Be careful what you wish for, Owen, ethnic tribalism may engulf us all

    In truth, this has been done to us by centrist fundamentalist elites

    Jake Wallis Simons • 5th July 2025, 7:21pm BST

    It is not very British to wish death to things. That's a translation of an Arabic chant that has been injected into our culture by the hard-Left. Welcome to Britain of 2025.

    The departure from traditional slogans like "down with" in favour of "death to" in the progressive lexicon is symbolic. For years, the Corbynites and jihadis have been travelling in tandem, or as Magic Grandpa himself once put it, as "friends". Now we are seeing them converge.

    In the process, the Left is being dragged away from Britain's shared values and customs and into ugly new depths. Take the The Guardian firebrand Owen Jones. Don't sniff: he has 500,000 fans on Instagram, almost 800,000 on YouTube and a million followers on X.

    On the day Zarah Sultana announced her new political venture with Jeremy Corbyn, Jones couldn't contain his excitement. "We need a Red-Green Alliance to tax the rich, invest in people and services, support public ownership, stop arming genocide," he posted.

    This was the first time I'd seen that term used outside of a disparaging context. "Red," of course, means the hard-Left, while "Green" in this context appears to refer to sectarian Muslim voters. Is that what you meant, Owen?

    Ever since the Enlightenment, our political preferences have been distinct from ethnic or religious backgrounds. Hindus or Jews or Sikhs may have a particular fingerprint of priorities, but they vote like any other citizen according to their consciences, not as a tribe.

    Some Hindu Britons may tack to the Left, others to the Right. Members of Conservative Friends of Israel may include many Jews, as well as Gentiles, but it is not an alliance between Conservatives and Jews, seen as two distinct groups. And, of course, there is also a Labour Friends of Israel. According to our way of doing things, it would be nonsensical to call for a coalition between a political party and an ethnic bloc.

    Ironically, it was Britain's emphasis on individual rights that allowed the successful integration of outsiders. Half of my family is Jewish, from both Sephardi and Ashkenazi lineages, while the other is mixed British and Burmese. They could all belong to this country – indeed, fight for it – due to the separation of ethnicity and Britishness. Different relatives voted in different ways. This is unique to the West.

    As Sir Roger Scruton observed: "Our obligations to others, to the country and to the state have been revised in a direction that has opened the way to the admission of people from outside the community – provided that they, too, can live according to the liberal ideal of citizenship." This is our miracle.

    Only now it is being undone. Before our eyes, great numbers who reject Scruton's "liberal ideal of citizenship" are organising along tribal lines. Once this foundation-stone is lost, the cathedral of our civilisation will be in danger of collapsing into tribalism, demolishing the synagogue within it.

    In truth, this has been done to us by centrist fundamentalist elites. Did they really think that abandoning our schools, universities, public institutions and – worst of all – our borders to radical progressive ideologues would have no effect?

    The backlash against the proscription of Palestine Action was another sign of this cultural shift. In one revealing video, a middle-class activist in a short skirt and two keffiyehs, flying a Palestine flag, accused the government of choosing "war and profiteering".

    Her closing remark was chilling. "As always," she chuckled gleefully, "I cannot wait for the West to fall." God knows what she hoped would replace it. But it couldn't be clearer. This is not Israel's problem, it's ours.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/05/corbyn-immigration-gaza-sultana

    1. Owen Jones. Don't sniff

      LOL.. everybody online sayin the little fella clearly has a coke problem judging by his erratic, twitching behaviour on Piers Morgan show.

    2. Owen Jones. Don't sniff

      LOL.. everybody online sayin the little fella clearly has a coke problem judging by his erratic, twitching behaviour on Piers Morgan show.

    3. I wonder where Jones hides his money? After all, he is “richer” probably than the rest of us on here.

    4. I rather doubt that the 'middle-class activist in a short skirt' realises that if the West falls, the replacement ideology will require her to wear more modest dress, and may well beat her if she refuses. (See Iran for precedent.)

      1. Beat her? Probably a lot mre personal than that. Rape is seen as punishment in these backward countries.

    1. So, what is the strategy? Apart from to piss everybody off and bankrupt the country, I don't see it.

      1. The strategy? I believe you are correct and there is nothing else in the playbook. It is the globalist agenda writ large and being enacted by people who conned their way into power. The Tories are complicit and it's a case of handing on the baton until the job is done.

  100. The Teletubbie mother of the innocent wrongly accused mostly peaceful brothers.. the one that went to Starbucks to identify the target.. well, the Department for Work and Pensions want to know why she's been claiming 'disability benefits' whist living in Pakistan for the last two years.

  101. The Teletubbie mother of the innocent wrongly accused mostly peaceful brothers.. the one that went to Starbucks to identify the target.. well, the Department for Work and Pensions want to know why she's been claiming 'disability benefits' whist living in Pakistan for the last two years.

    2. Acid attacks aren't exactly a traditionally British method of expressing discontent. Nor are beheadings, systematic mass rapes or some of the other new crimes that seem to infest this country.

      Neither have MPs traditionally wanted to shriek Allan's snackbar when voted in, or stood up in Parliament to argue for funds for a new airport for their constituents, in another sub-continent.Or in favour of first cousin marriage because their constituents would ignore a ban in any case.

      The Ugly Face of change in this country.

    4. Klingon? That smear of poo that you just can't wipe off? A bit harsh, surely?

      1. Insulting to Klingons, if you ask me. Klingons are a warrior race built on honour and courage. She's just a corrupt, violent diversity.

  103. Anyone get 18 across in todays 50-50 crossword?
    "After meal, mail money for South African – one in China" (12 letters)
    The letters I've got (which I think are correct) are O_P_P_A_D_A_

      1. You are now on my pub quiz team. We never win, mostly because we're all a bit dim. And drunk.

      2. Sounds good thanks Bill – I'll have to check those letters yet the letters I have must be correct – something isn't right
        Stances = pOstures
        Hopeful person = oPtimist

  104. Anyone get 18 across in todays 50-50 crossword?
    "After meal, mail money for South African – one in China" (12 letters)
    The letters I've got (which I think are correct) are O_P_P_A_D_A_

  105. That's me for this disappointing day. Yes, did the wisteria first thing – but the promised rain has been useless. Dry all afternoon. Due to restart at 5.30 – it did – drizzle. Quite useless. Just makes everything damp but does no good; let alone refilling the now empty waterbutts. Grrr.

    I have been absent from NoTTL because the MR was recording a half hour training video. The first take was perfect except that the sound (working well) did not actually record. She did it twice more – then on a different computer. Fine. Then spotted two typos….and had to do it a 4th (or 5th) time – I am losing count.

    Trying to be very tactful and avoid asking, "How was your day?"… by proffering a glass of vino.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain ….in the rain?? I think not.

  106. I'm not a great fan of much that is known as classical music but there exists a number of pieces that have grabbed my attention over the years. Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concert is one. Here, a Ukrainian Lady is playing the Russian's music accompanied by a Dutch Orchestra. Doesn't get much more international than this.

    And, by the way, she is playing all the right notes in the right order. Unbelievable talent.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEGOihjqO9w

      1. Our children were taken in by the Covid scam unfortunately and all 3 grandchildren were jabbed. It’s not discussed as they know our stance.

        1. My elder son refused the jabs, the younger one had at least two. Both are well.

          1. D'you mind me asking, Ndovu – did either of your sons still contract Covid virus? and if so did the vaccinated one fare better, please? (my own history is I had two vaccines, that was enough…lost a lot of memory, still catching up on some of them).

          2. I had two as well – both AZ – and I had no reactions to them. They were clearly going to be mandatory for travel, and I had a trip to Kenya booked, which was twice postponed. I had to show my vax cert in Nairobi in ’22 and ’23.

            Neither son had covid as far as I know. The younger one needed his in order to fly home at Christmas ’21, and also had to do the pcr tests. Neither of them made it home at Christmas 2020 – the elder one in Wales was restricted due to their silly travel nonsense and the one in Switzerland was unable to fly.

            I haven’t had covid either, unless that was what I had in January 2020 – a sore throat, cold and a dry cough that lasted a few weeks. I wasn’t particularly ill with it.

            I’m sorry you had memory loss – my OH has too – but I think probably due to the statins he was prescribed after his heart op. He took them for about 18 months but I think it hasn’t really
            got any worse since he stopped. It’s mainly his map memory that is most affected. I’ve always got lost so that’s normal for me but not for him. We just have to rely more on satnav if we go anywhere.

          3. Thanks…hope for me yet, I hope. Sorry to read about stating mine had them too for a short while but stopped on GP orders after causing serious leg muscle pain. I travel badly, always dark glasses due to flashes of traffic/light. Worse post injections. Luckily never get lost walking, yet. Satnav very useful in car.

    2. It's all nonsense. The body's DNA cannot be affected by vaccines. More than 13 billion Covid vaccinations have been administered, many/most of them being mRna technology. No sign of mass die offs…

      1. Tell that to all those who thought thalidomide was safe for years.
        It takes time for the real problems to surface.

        1. If the mother took it when pregnant, the effects were quickly visible. Covid vaccinations started in 2020. Anyway, I am haviing a booster next week – been having them regularly since it was rolled in early 2021 in this area.

          1. It still took 4 years to remove it.

            And there was not the same degree of coverup of adverse effects that there has been over the Covid vaccinations.

    1. An interesting start to the article, but when I was asked to take out a subscription (with 7-day free trial before payment) in order to carry on reading I cut and ran. The author had rather blown his(?) credibility by referring to Jeff Bezos's wife as 'suboptimal'.

      1. On substack you can usually click “no thanks” and carry on reading. I find some of the stuff I read on that site a bit sus but I think the suggested answer to the question is correct, which is because everyone in positions of power is someone who is allowed to reach that position because they are obedient and non-threatening to Agenda 2030. Hence why we get a miserable procession of Sunaks, Starmers, Lammys and Rayners, not one of which would occupy his/her current job if talent came into the question.

    1. Watched most of it – when are England going to stop behaving like idiots in pursuit of the Bazball nonsense, they won the toss and that was a 10 in 10 bat first wicket – but no, arent we clever – they've just given away the series…..

      1. Agreed. Some orthodox batting would be good but it's the threadbare bowling resources that are really worrying.

        1. Yes, its not surprising they are struggling to replace Anderson and Broad, two greats of the game, Archer and Atkinson seem injury-prone and there's not a lot beyond them…… spinner's a problem as well (not convinced by Bashir).

  115. I took these last Tuesday whilst having a very pleasant stroll around Westbury (on Severn) Court Gardens and the next door St. Mary, St. Peter, and St. Paul's Church. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d37de4159cd864e72e1fbdef62e97588e0259b81ad845e6e020474d59d2c16d8.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5d46833d7adaa1f5d2d6b116308f92e92f2390887f6c8431caee89856eb5ae92.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/de88ff89f86bc2e67e6adaddee7ada9e10c04802c94bd91d5a372f194c821304.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e89815ef1f99ee7b78d7e9393f53935cac05c78248e73c76aced3b96f4739a4a.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5126efdc7c8ff902ce4bcf9f70ef59346d1afe4c5aa44c8eb4d1b54c108b7c0d.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d30b87e0aa2df36379a95d4d8197e1840844346f02eb52bbfe59a67e118b66f6.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9a3bb29dbf7112ae98db6399b21f834a4670ecc54407acd2b576e2cf5a828f1a.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/acd023146dd46f9a0a213f438d93ecd99650a296e223ba901e71020e814d7412.jpg

    2. Quite a few of my ancestors are buried in Westbury churchyard. Last week I met my friends for lunch and we passed through Westbury on the way to Littledean.

      1. Yes, not unlike an equally beautiful church in Ledbury:
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ad494b874e8b4a884e63a60a964ea7fd3ac301f056582954711d9b9e5fc69915.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/23183113d053dbf390a885300c604ab2ebba24b39a0258ab11255d99fc6ef519.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/046e10dd97637cdeac32e6caf9f3bf6c235027085d84234945c8ea1e63fcbe1f.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3e67d96c21e9cd90ec08066fede92e595a6af6ba55d34cab57084772adc5b2cf.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e98b5eaa6577b4c196a7a7fb13110c34fce56c2c7e44884490b678e5265e5708.jpg

        1. Quite similar in style.

          Did you have a look round the graveyard at the tombs?

          This one was the most important one we found there.

  116. After some of the wifi speed comments posted recently, today I did a comparative test.

    First run at 7:30 am., second at 2:30 pm. This morning I was hitting north of 100Mbps downloads, this afternoon, around 70 Mbps. So even Musk's magic satellites get loaded as the day progresses and more people pile on.

      1. Starlink!

        I've been a customer from when it was still a "no guarantees" service. Not cheap, but our only real alternative was to pay for one of the big companies to run 800 ft. of cable from the road to the house. They wanted thousands to do that, and told me even if I got the trench dug and the cable laid, they would not hook it up. So when Elon came along, I signed up. Then added an Ooma box ($100) for telephone service (free, just pay the line tax). BIg monthly savings overall.

          1. Starlink is available across France according to various reports online.

        2. It’s very expensive for what I really need.
          My internet usage isn’t all that great.

    2. That photo of Rayner – wouldn't want to come face to face with that on a dark night.

    1. Tax them more and they will leave, taking their money and employment with them.

    4. More British billionaires than ever before? You must be relying on out-of-date statistics, mate, they've all emigrated to get away from Reeves's tax rises.

    5. The more money we throw at “poor” people, the poorer they become. It’s almost as if they don’t bother with the responsibility. And yes, i know that’s a big generalisation. But we all see it.

      2. Lefties don't accept that paying people to do nothing has more people doing nothing.

    6. The children are not in poverty. They have more than ever. The problem is they're born to parents who are feckless wasters who won't provide for them because morons like you keep funding their appalling lifestyles.

      It is utterly unfair to rob the successful parent to pay for the useless one. The child deserves better. Just be honest Jezzbollah. You want to steal from the earner to pay the waster to vote for you.

    7. Corbyn would be luck to find a millionaire in this country let alone a billionaire as they’ve all fled the clutch of the socialists in parliament.

  119. The net gains of Wimbledon stars — stealing 500 towels a day
    Some of the biggest names to grace SW19, including Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, have admitted to pilfering the £40 purple and green towels

    When you’re handing out £53.5 million in prize money, you wouldn’t have thought there was any incentive for Wimbledon players to steal one of the championship’s £40 towels. You’d be wrong.

    About 500 a day were “not returned” by players last week, with some laughing about their enthusiasm for relieving the All England Club of its cotton green and purple towels.

    In fact, Wimbledon has this year for the first time resigned itself to the fact that players all love stealing the towels, with staff told to not even try to get them back.

    https://www.thetimes.com/sport/tennis/article/wimbledon-tennis-towels-stolen-athletes-j8qkvjlqs

    1. I can strip wire using an ordinary pair of scissors (although cutters are more effective).

        1. So, you cut your toenails with your teeth.
          Respect!
          I would struggle to lick my knees.

    1. Both. God designed evolution. Many of the same people who deny God, also can’t cope with evolutionary biology. Hence born in the wrong body and black people originating in the frozen north. Theirs is an ideology completely divorced from reality.

      1. I do not believe in any sort of god. The idea than an omnipotent sky man exists is an outdated and daft concept.

        1. You miss the point. We are pre-programmed (your sphere) to recognise choice and distinguish between good and bad, right and wrong.

    2. Something started the big bang, be that a natural event or otherwise. In terms of evolution, our biology is continually evolving. The great thing about being human is we can create technology – be that a stick all the way to a data centre to make our lives better.

      The problem we have is that same technology has given pathetic creatures the ability to undermine natural selection and evolution – the weak and useless can be forced to succeed by the useless political class giving wasters the successful's money.

  122. We went to Cornwall this weekend as i have (had) taken next week off so we could attempt to take the boat to the Scilly Isles. Typically, today and tomorrow (and Tuesday morning) the forecast was for more wind than i was prepared to contemplate. So i will surprise work by turning up tomorrow and looking at the weather forecast for a week off in August.

    1. When yr next in Cardiff, give me a shout. Im back from the East, it was more an experience than a hol! Next adventure is offshore in Turkey in Sept with old and new family.

  123. Not a lot done today, but did a decent dinner.
    Baked potato, sliced chicken breast with cauliflower cheese.
    Very tasty.

    But that is me off to bed, goodnight all.

  125. Well I'm orff, we had a lovely afternoon, family visited. Our youngest grand daughter is two next week. Little family party for next weekend.
    Good night all Nottlers sleep well. 😴

  126. Understatement of the year so far:

    "I think as the game unfolded we probably looked back on that toss and said 'did we miss an opportunity there?' and it's probably fair," McCullum told BBC Test Match Special. "We didn't expect that the wicket would play quite as it did and hence we probably got it slightly wrong."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/cn86xq3jqnxo

    2. You got it woefully wrong you cretin despite winning the toss and having the vital choice advantage.

      It is far better to have runs on the board (in the bank so to speak) than to leave your team having to heroically chase implausible targets.

      Wickets inevitably deteriorate over five days. Nobody but a fool would want to bat on the fifth day of a worn and tired out English wicket.

    1. Spot on. We saw the “con” but regrettably many were susceptible to the government narrative and complied.

      Many of the compliant now regret their mistaken trust in government and their obedience and a lot more are either seriously disabled or else dead.

  129. Phillipson Rates Labour’s First Year Seven Out of Ten

    Boudica
    15h
    For all the lies and scandal I would give 10 out of 10, for the rest zilch. Now I see we have given Syria £98m. That hole in the economy only seems to be there when it affects or could be used here, never when its to spaff money overseas.

    Beebsplaining
    15h
    Ann Cryer evidence to Home Affairs select committee 2013 on nonce rings🤔
    Who sat on that committee Bridget Phillipson 🤔

    Colin Fisher
    14h
    Perhaps it should be scored as a school report
    Maths – F, cannot make the most basic of sums add up
    Geography – F unable to define UK borders
    English Language – F only support those who speak Urdu and Arabic
    English Literarture – F all banned as it triggers people
    Theology – F banned so as not to offend the one true faith
    History – E only the 18th century allowed to be viewed through the prism of the Triangular Trade and how much reparations people who had nothing to do with it should pay people who never suffered from it
    Biology – F unable determine the most basic biological distinction of male and female without Supreme Court assistance
    Chemistry – F you only have to look at the front bench, they have not got any
    PE – A+ manage to run away from any difficult questions or challenges with ease

    Fireytas
    15h
    Gaslighting and lying is so common to these people that it’s meaningless asking them a question.

    Send in the Clones
    15h
    She obviously can’t do her sums and forgot to add the nought on to the 10.
    7 out of 100 is still being generous.
    Educashun Secretary?…… another mate of the unions not up to the job.
    A pocket full of mumbles
    15h
    She just lists all the money they have given to people who do not contribute. Now some of them will have hit hard times and need help but many of them do not deserve a sausage.

    Mr Blue Sky
    14h
    Labour's claimed successes:
    – More free school meals and breakfast clubs
    – A slight reduction in NHS waiting lists, which were already falling under the Tories.
    Labour failures:
    -WFA u-turn
    – Welfare u-turn
    – GDP falling
    – Inflation doubled
    -Taxes up £40 billion
    -Government borrowing and interest up
    – Unemployment up £275k since October budget

    And that's a 7/10??????
    I'd give it 1 if I was being generous…….

  130. Nilnine
    5h
    Just after 10pm 37 years ago tonight the oil platform Piper Alpha exploded. In a few hours the power of the inferno reached 100GW, four times the entire UK electrical power output tonight. 167 died.

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