Monday 14 July: It falls to all of us to protect vital water resources in an era of shortage

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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660 thoughts on “Monday 14 July: It falls to all of us to protect vital water resources in an era of shortage”

  3. Good morning Geoff and all NoTTLers. As it's the 14th of July (Bastille Day) I was going to post some French Jokes, but they're so awful I'm just going to post a few random ones instead for Monday Chuckles.

    A drunk staggered into a Catholic church, sat down in the confession box and said nothing. The bewildered priest coughed to attract his attention, but still the drunk remained silent. The priest then knocked on the wall three times in a final attempt to get the man to speak. “No use knocking, pal,” said the drunk. “There’s no paper in this one either.”

    A farmer was pulling a cartload of horse manure down the lane. “What are you going to do with that?” asked his dimwitted farmhand. “I’m going to put it on my strawberries,” said the farmer. “That’s odd,” said the farmhand. “We put cream and sugar on ours.”

    The Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations met President Trump on a recent visit to New York. At the end of his stay, the ambassador turned to Trump and said: “I have just one question about what I have seen in America. My son watches this show called Star Trek, and in it there is Chekov, who is Russian, Scottie, who is Scottish, and Sulu, who is Chinese, but there are no Arabs. My son is very upset and does not understand why there are not any Iranians in Star Trek. Trump smiled: “That’s because it takes place in the future.”

  4. Good morning Geoff and all NoTTLers. As it's the 14th of July (Bastille Day) I was going to post some French Jokes, but they're so awful I'm just going to post a few random ones instead for Monday Chuckles.

    A drunk staggered into a Catholic church, sat down in the confession box and said nothing. The bewildered priest coughed to attract his attention, but still the drunk remained silent. The priest then knocked on the wall three times in a final attempt to get the man to speak. “No use knocking, pal,” said the drunk. “There’s no paper in this one either.”

    A farmer was pulling a cartload of horse manure down the lane. “What are you going to do with that?” asked his dimwitted farmhand. “I’m going to put it on my strawberries,” said the farmer. “That’s odd,” said the farmhand. “We put cream and sugar on ours.”

    The Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations met President Trump on a recent visit to New York. At the end of his stay, the ambassador turned to Trump and said: “I have just one question about what I have seen in America. My son watches this show called Star Trek, and in it there is Chekov, who is Russian, Scottie, who is Scottish, and Sulu, who is Chinese, but there are no Arabs. My son is very upset and does not understand why there are not any Iranians in Star Trek. Trump smiled: “That’s because it takes place in the future.”

  5. Good Morning!

    Today, in The WHO Treaty: A Quiet Coup Against National Sovereignty and Democratic Accountability , we appeal for you all to demand that the government rejects both the World Health Assembly's 2024 Amendments on the International Health rules, and the WHO's Pandemic Treaty, as they amount to nothing less than a globalist coup and a major step towards the borderless totalitarian New World Order our corrupt Establishment so clearly wants.

    Zhang Ying Yue's article The Jungle of Fraud and Fear: Organ Trafficking, and the Chinese Connection was revealing to many. If you missed it, read and wonder at man's inhumanity to man.

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's electric power was sourced from Gas, 20.4%; Solar, 12.4%: Wind 16.2%; Imports, 21.3%; Biomass, 11%; Nuclear 15.1% and Miscellaneous, 3.4%.

    Once again, imported electricity is the biggest component of our supply.

    freespeechbacklash.com

      2. Read the article Ndovu. It’s not too late. Though no doubt that’s what they want us to think.

    1. Paris Saint-Germain were assured Chelsea would rollover like a Starmer puppy for a tummy tickle. Instead they were slapped hard. And didn't they cry.

    2. In one of the shots of the president at the game he looked as if he'd dozed off……who could blame him.

      1. Breathing normally and has more energy. Major improvement. Not fully fit as there is a leaking valve in her heart. I am much relieved.

        1. Starting the day with good news like this makes everything look better, Delboy!. Best wishes to Herself.

        3. So, so long as she does not exert herself, she should be comfortable until the valve can be fixed.
          Good.

    1. The Serbian point of view is that Albanians moved into Serbia and then declared a part of Serbia to be an independent, Muslim-majority country. When the Serbs fought back, the UN and NATO backed the Albanian migrants in their theft of a part of Serbia.

      1. Daylight robbery, to deflect from Clinton's latest tryst being exposed.

    2. The Serbs have long memories of the fall of their kingdom to the Ottomans in the 15th century. The trouble didn't begin with the end of communism and the break-up of Yugoslavia.

  18. Good morning all.
    A dull but warmer start to the day with a tad over 19°C. Presumably we had cloud cover keeping the heat in overnight.

  20. Morning, all Y'all.
    Just started raining. A bit of damp will help the grass grow even faster in the warm air…

  23. 409346 up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    A MUST start has to be getting shot of those denying the peoples their water supply, water in the "main" is God given NOT government owned, water is then divided up via our personal needs through water treatment installations, not to be used as an investors
    bargaining asset.

    I would also be aware on heath & safety grounds, that until these Isles are governed by a stable government
    water, at least regarding children's consumption is boiled .

    Only God and these governing political
    criminal / employees factors know what current toxic shite is falling from a height, upon us.

    Heaven help us, Monday 14 July: It falls to all of us to protect vital water resources in an era of shortage

    SHORTAGES CREATED VIA CRIMINAL POLITICAL ACTIONS, YOU DON'T SELL OF THE BUCKETS IF YOU WANT TO CONTINUE VISITING THE WELL, ONLY PUCKING CRIMINAL IDIOTS WOULD DO THAT.

  24. Torre Pacheco.. migrant attack on pensioner.
    .
    This is worrisome for small towns in, say, Ireland.
    Torre Pacheco population is barely 35,000.. so a steady influx of 10,000 plus fighting age savages floating around is.. frightening. Especially when it all kicks off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELccANspq0w

    1. The pensioner was beaten up by three Moroccan men for fun.
      When the pushback by locals erupted.. they fought back with machetes.
      The police took lots of copious notes.

  25. It is worth pointing out, as any small cap miner analyst will tell you.. China has been undercutting competition for decades. Many just temporarily closed.
    Chinese rare earth mineral monolopy is a false.

      1. I think we've all lapped up subsidised cheap stuff out of China.
        I can remember a time when there weren't any westernised factories in Canton & The Pearl Delta.. not one.
        A Hongkong tennis coach called Bruce Rockowitz was one of the first to start sourcing. He eventually found two. Funnily enough true to Chinese folklore yarns.. they were both owned by the same guy, playing customers along.
        Those days are over.

        And as a reminder it's all over.. Jacob Rees Mogg set up Somerset Capital with Ed Robertson taking in investor's cash for plays in emerging markets such as China & Russia.
        Somerset shut down in December 2023 after losing two thirds of its assets and its largest client.

      2. I thought China had weekly delivery's of coal and other minerals from Australia.

        1. If the number of huge vessels going in and out of Newcastle is anything to go by it will be several a day.

      1. One almost has to admire the sheer profundity of the Idiot King's stupidity.

    2. Probably just as well, given the make-up of the Commons now. There could well have been heckling. In any case, they wouldn't have wanted to listen to what Trump has to say.

  27. Good morning.
    An era of water shortage? Created on purpose by the traitors in Wastemonster!

  29. Farage Red Flag #19
    Tory defections? Reform PR puts it out there that 'Suella Braverman was not a team player, her record show she is just too disruptive.' LOL

    1. They don't want Braverman in Reform, she is too honest and genuinely wants to improve life in Britain. Doesn't fit in with Reform's role in implementing the digital concentration camp.

      1. Of all political party leaders there is surely nobody who is less of a team player than Farage.

        His fear of competence in his colleagues is so deep that he would never be able to form a cabinet containing any members other sycophantic yesmen.

  30. 409346+ up ticks,

    Has anyone a clue as to how long we must suffer this shite before getting mass physical ?

    Dt,

    Diversity and inclusion experts eligible for skilled work visas
    Home Office also safeguards visa application routes for poets and bloggers on list of protected occupations

    1. Shiite Hall is stuffed with the same ignorant robotic types as Wastemonster.

  31. 1987 is coming back to haunt me. One of the reasons I sacrificed my marriage and my family life then was to prove to my wife that I was a man capable of doing something about my passions, and be a "real man", rather than an inadequate in her eyes.

    In that year, I set myself the the task of unseating fifty Conservative MPs in the South of England, removing Thatcher's majority and thereby preventing the Poll Tax and water privatisation, both of which I considered big mistakes that would blight my country into my old age and probably that of my unborn daughter. After having been one of the four SDP area chairmen (East Hampshire) that limited the damage done by a Liberal/SDP Alliance falling out, when they put candidates against each other, in 1987, I set up a campaigning organisation in a part of Worcestershire (where I since bought a cottage) untouched by the Liberals, by recruiting an SDP member in enough villages there to get a leaflet delivered to every householder there, and make serious inroads into the canvassing. I was offered a job as election agent by one of them, who actually stood for Parliament himself in a neighbouring constituency, had he been elected. At last I could show my wife that I was not a complete failure.

    Except that it was for nothing. Thatcher got her majority; the Poll Tax and water privatisation went ahead, with all the dire consequences I predicted, and my own party disintegrated. I have not joined another party since, and am politically independent today. My daughter, born a week before Polling Day was estranged from me after my wife, influenced by her women's group. found someone else adequate to her needs.

    Forgive me then for suggesting that my compatriots have brought this on themselves.

    1. 409346+ up ticks,

      Morning JM,

      I do agree a great deal of our suffering is very much self inflicted.

  32. Good Moaning.
    I see we have a chance to slavishly follow the ECHR.
    One of the Rotherham Rochdale rapists has done a runner – hopefully to Pakland.
    As we slavishly adhere to all the human rights guff, it is only fitting that his family are sent to join him. That should clear a couple hundred of the vermin straight away.
    Of course, it's equally likely that he's merely melted back into the ghetto.
    Other than that, as Uncle Bill sez, no news.

  34. Morning all 🙂😊
    Bright and breezy 20 c that's much better. Rain Tuesday night ?
    Oh yes water shortage, something else that our political classes have caused. No new reservoirs (apparently one on the way) for around forty years. No wonder our country is in such a bloody mess.
    Apart from that nice weekend, what's in store for us this week I wonder.

  35. Good morning Nottlers, after a sweltering weekend on the Costa Clyde, it's back to normal this morning following a night of rain. 17°C, grey with a promise of more rain before it clears up later. I've been checking the forecast for Maidstone next weekend as I'll be attending the 'Maid in Stone' music festival, and it looks a bit Scorchio! on Friday and Saturday. Thankfully, there will be overpriced drinks available.

    1. It was cooler here so I thought I would get the front lawn cut – and then it started to rain!

  36. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/13/here-is-how-the-blob-will-try-to-stop-a-reform-government/

    I read the article then went to the comments. There's a complete lack of awareness in the fervent Reform supporters of just how colossal the resistance to them will be. One fellow said:

    "Reform could do what Labour and the conservatives have done,control the media and in the case of the former ,the courts.Full force of the law?"

    Both of those institutions will fight Reform tooth and nail to oppose their every policy. How will they be 'controlled'?

    Another:

    Stewart Richards
    13 min ago
    Tory lies. Reform will win with a huge majority. They will pass laws first to enact the things you left wing, clearly not very clever, weak Tories could not achieve…."

    Err.. how? The civil service writes the law and will do absolutely nothing unless pushed at every opportunity, then it will, as the article states, bog down the politicians in lawfare.

    I don't know if Reform supporters are just a bit ignorant, a bit over zealous or just so fed up they refuse to acknowledge the reality of the hard Left state entirely.

    1. Reform will bring in a dictatorship and digital slavery. They are the final piece in the jigsaw puzzle.

  37. 'Morning All
    Funny Old World
    A group of locals protesting the sexual assault of their children by a newly arrived doctor/engineer are confronted by a violent mob of bussed in Starmtroopers with the usual "Home made" signs
    https://x.com/EssexPR/status/1944541524160885107
    https://x.com/darrengrimes_/status/1944459847782605209
    Doesn't end well for them have to be escorted away by police maybe someone should have told them about Epping's gangster population……..
    https://x.com/TRobinsonNewEra/status/1944496427444621579

    1. It just goes to show that you really can't fix stoopid, it starts at the top end and filters through.

    2. Perhaps the those in the Far Left should supply their own daughters, girlfriends, partners and wives to slake the lust of over-libidinous migrants?

    1. By my reckoning he's currently living on his island keeping out of sight. An easy thing to do when you are mega wealthy.

        1. Why would a very rich person with all those guilty names and actions stashed away resort to suicide.
          Strange (such a concern) as it happened when his supposed body was being removed from the jail, there was a camera crew right on the spot. And the sheet covering his alleged body slightly moved exposing the face. And there is no way it was Epstien.

          1. Hard to impossible to separate fact from fiction…Maxwell’s dossier, Epstein’s death (and Giuffre’s)…meantime Prince Andrew rolls along, still bankrolled by the King apparently? There are rumours around Trump, but somehow I doubt that’s true.

          2. And the devil himself Robert Maxwell
            Had a tragic boat accident that no one actually saw and was taken ashore and buried the very next day.
            Very convenient.

          5. Have to find it first…? :-))…..seriously, do you know what happened to it, Conway?

          8. Wasn’t Maxwell Jewish? In which case burial the next day is normal, not necessarily suspicious. Sorry, I am starting to sound like Stig.

          9. Yes he was, but conveniently as you say Jewish people are quickly put into a grave.
            He was found floating in the Atlantic off the Canary Islands.
            In this case the investigation would have been very difficult in such a short time.
            He was worth 1.9 billion dollars.

          10. It seems that my reply has vanished.
            It was something like this.
            Oh yes Robert Maxwell had a tragic boat accident which no one actually saw. His 'body' was taken ashore and he was buried with in hours.
            Job done either way.

          3. The Men (and women) in Black have a small device that will cause amnesia for anyone looking at it's light.

    3. If Epstein wasn't murdered and if there is no list of visitors to Paedophile Island then why on earth is Ghislaine Maxwell in prison?

  39. Good morning all.
    Ignored the DT request for £199 for a years subscription. Today I have accepted their offer of £25 for the year.
    Their other offer was for £14.99 a month for 3 months.

  40. Live Aid

    Where is the gratitude?

    The media waxing lyrical about past times and the scruffy swearing Geldof.

    See what the West is suffering from, the effect of black/ brown population explosion, and more hunger , next time the hunger will be ours as will the thirst and poverty .

  41. Live Aid

    Where is the gratitude?

    The media waxing lyrical about past times and the scruffy swearing Geldof.

    See what the West is suffering from, the effect of black/ brown population explosion, and more hunger , next time the hunger will be ours as will the thirst and poverty .

  42. Interesting on AI – Andrew Orlowski in the Terriblegraph:

    “IS THE secret of artificial intelligence (AI) that we have to kid ourselves, like an audience at a magic show? Some fascinating new research suggests that self-deception plays a key role in if AI is perceived to be a success or a dud.
    In a randomised controlled trial, the first of its kind, experienced computer programmers could use AI tools to help them write code. What the trial revealed was a vast amount of self-deception. “The results surprised us,” research lab METR reported. “Developers thought they were 20pc faster with AI tools, but they were actually 19pc slower.”

    In reality, using AI made them less productive: they were wasting more time than they had gained. But what is so interesting is how they swore blind the opposite was true. If you think AI is helping you, perhaps it’s because you want to believe that it works.

    Since Openai’s CHATGPT was thrown open to the public in late 2022, pundits have forecast big productivity gains from AI. They hope that it will supercharge growth and boost GDP. This has become the default opinion in high status policy circles.

    But all this optimism is founded on delusion. The “lived experience” of using real tools in the real world paints a very different picture. The past few days have felt like a turning point, as the reluctance of pointing out the Emperor’s New Clothes diminishes.

    “I build AI agents for a living, it’s what I do for my clients,” wrote one Reddit user. “The gap between the hype and what’s actually happening on the ground is turning into a canyon”

    AI isn’t reliable enough to do the job promised. An IBM survey of 2,000 chief executives found three out of four AI projects failed to show a return on investment, a remarkably high failure rate. Don’t hold your breath for a white collar automation revolution, either: AI agents fail to complete the job successfully about 65 to 70pc of the time, says a study by Carnegie Mellon University and Salesforce.

    The analyst firm Gartner Group has concluded that “current models do not have the maturity and agency to autonomously achieve complex business goals or follow nuanced instructions over time.” Gartner’s head of AI research Erick Brethenoux says: “AI is not doing its job today and should leave us alone”.

    It’s no wonder that companies such as Klarna, which laid off staff in 2023 confidently declaring that AI could do their jobs, are hiring humans again.

    This is extraordinary, and we can only have reached this point because of a historic self-delusion. People will even pledge their faith to AI working well despite their own subjective experience to the contrary, the AI critic Professor Gary Marcus noted.

    “Recognising that it sucks in your own speciality, but imagining that it is somehow fabulous in domains you are less familiar with”, is something he calls “CHATGPT blindness”.

    Much of the news is misleading. Firms are simply using AI as an excuse for retrenchment. Cost reduction is the big story in business at the moment. Globally, US president Donald Trump’s erratic behaviour has induced caution, while in the UK, business confidence is at “historically depressed levels”, according to the Institute of Directors, reeling from Rachel Reeves’ autumn taxes. Attributing those layoffs to technology is simply clever PR, and helps boost the share price.
    So why does the faith in AI remain so strong? Dubious hype doesn’t help.

    Every few weeks a new AI model appears, and smashes industry benchmarks – xai’s Grok 4 did just that last week. But these are deceptive, and simply provide more confirmation bias. “Every single one of them has been wide of that mark. And not one has resolved hallucinations, alignment issues, or boneheaded errors,” says Marcus.

    Not only is generative AI unreliable, but it can’t reason, as a recent demonstration showed: Openai’s latest Chatgpt-4o model was beaten by an 8-bit Atari home games console made in 1977.

    “Reality is the ultimate benchmark for AI,” explained the Zambian AI developer Chomba Bupe last week. “You not going to declare that you have built intelligence by beating toy benchmarks… What’s the point of getting say 90pc on some physics benchmarks yet be unable to do any real physics?” he asked.

    Then there are thousands of what I call Wowslop accounts, social media feeds that declare amazement at breakthroughs. As well as the vendors, a lot of shadowy influence money is being spent on maintaining the hype.
    This is not to say there aren’t uses for generative AI: Anthropic has hit $4bn in annual revenue. For some niches, like language translation, and prototyping, it’s here to stay. Before it went mad last week, X’s Grok was great at adding valuable context. But even if AI “discovers” new materials or medicines tomorrow, that won’t compensate for the trillion dollars that Goldman Sachs estimates business has already wasted on this generation of dud AI. That’s capital that could have been invested far more usefully.

    Rather than an engine of progress, poor AI could be the opposite.

    METR added an amusing footnote to their study. The researchers used one other control group in its productivity experiment, and this group made the worst, over-optimistic estimates of all. They were economists.”

    1. That's interesting. I've tried using AI for writing code, but its use is very, very limited. It can help you find a page in the vast archives of Microsoft technical documentation quickly, but if you ask it for information or code snippets, 50/50 it'll give you a completely wrong answer.

      I think the true value of AI is when you train it on an information set that is too big for a human to easily manage, but still limited. If you try and get help from an general AI that's been trained by someone else with their bias and prejudice on the entire internet, it's never going to be much help.

    2. I tested ChatGPT when it was first released to the public, on information I knew the answer to, and it was wrong. After that, treated it with some caution. I've never used it to do anything than act as a search engine on steroids, by finding me stuff that I could likely find myself through several layers of search, and for that it's pretty good. Especially when it presents the summary, with links to the sources, so I can go direct to the source and check.

  43. SIR – If a fraction of the money splurged on carbon capture and storage, wind farms, solar farms and grid upgrades had been spent on insulation, flood defences and water storage we would be in a far better place than we are now.

    Jonathan Carr
    Shrewsbury, Shropshire

    The Milipede idiot should take note , twerp.

    1. Excellent. We have to fight their “offence taking” with ours.

      Deserves to go viral.

    2. Excellent. We have to fight their “offence taking” with ours.

      Deserves to go viral.

    3. 'Free speech for thee but not for me'……..I wonder if the speaker had wandered in wearing a kippah or similar he'd have been asked to remove it or leave?

    4. It is inappropriate to wear a political symbol whilst sitting at reception of a charitable organisation and if the clown manager can't see that, she ought to go.
      The receptionist is the public face of the organisation to visitors.

  45. Exclusive: ‘Keir Starmer is anti-British’ – Ben Habib on what Advance UK stands for
    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/exclusive-keir-starmer-is-anti-british-ben-habib-on-what-advance-uk-stands-for/

    Habib is not finished with politics; in fact he is only just getting started. Last month he launched a new party, Advance UK, to attract disillusioned Reform UK members. He was keen to work with former Reform, now Independent MP for Great Yarmouth Rupert Lowe, (whose exclusive interview appeared last Friday) but Lowe wanted his own organisation and launched Restore Britain.

    Therein lies the problem – each has the Farage disease – each one wants to be the leader; each one wants to be top dog.

    When everyone is somebody, then no one's anybody.
    [W.S. Gilbert: The Gondoliers]

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f7906004fcdef671fcb571aa236b5558df289122315dcf00116a27aef9922a3f.png

    1. Good morning, Rastus 🙂 Farage also has the Farage disease, he's a lone wolf type. Unless these men ever work together and decide who will lead them, the movement is finished, thereby letting down thousands of voters. I'm not certain the Conservatives will pick up the slack, although I quite like Jenrick. I've voted ever since I was eligible to (first time, the old Liberal party, that's how long ago). Now thinking of not voting again.

      1. Good morning Katie,

        Of course it is Farage's vanity, hubris and fear of anyone competent taking over from him which is going to destroy the Reform Party well before the next general election.

      2. I honestly wonder how much of it is deliberate to fragment the opposition. Reform certainly refused to work with any of the other small parties in the past, and now all the Reform splinters are doing the same.

        At least one Reform candidate at the last election had a very dodgy CV that screams plant. What's the betting this person will be elected next time, Reform govt, straight into the Cabinet? See other well known "experts" and influencers who came from Oxbridge and then gave up a lucrative city career to enter some specialist field that pays relatively little – and then end up on TV or at the top of their chosen field in record time!

    1. Hear you, ogga – however benefits would have to be cut right back and I doubt Starmer/Reeves will do that.

      1. As with tax, debt and welfare it's an interconnected spiral.

        Until someone both cuts taxes and reduces welfare there will be no more jobs. However, we urgently need to also cut immigration and start getting rid of people who are not working who are here.

        Fewer people means higher wages. Lower tax means more money kept by the worker. Lower tax means more jobs offered by businesses. Lower welfare/time limited welfare/targeted welfare (such as none for gimmigrants) means more people choosing to work.

        Labour, however, do not understand economics. Their voting base is also the welfarist, gimmigrant waster so the very decisions they have to make will never be made by the party dependent on ensuring their continuation and expansion.

        1. Well said, wibbling. Rachel knows it, I think, looks more pale and exhausted by the day. Rayner is finished unless she re-establishes the Union vote, that’s up in the air at present but likely to fall back into line and she could be very dangerous. Starmer doesn’t give a rat’s behind, he’s off to Europe. I doubt immigration will be cut to any significant degree – 90% of it is legal thanks to ECHR, and benefits continue to be the largest pull. What’s the phrase ‘anyone with any sense had already left town’….I know some considering leaving the UK.

      2. 409346+ up ticks,

        Morning KJ,

        Only mass people power, united, in whether the likes
        starmer / reeves are allowed to continue to talk / act going forward, will stop their (politico's) incessant flow of odious shite.

        1. English history, ogga :-)….time for another Civil War? For the first time in my legal lifetime, I think I’m unlikely to vote. The conservative side of politics is fractured, thanks to Reform. Perhaps the CP will find their backbone in time, if they search sufficiently well with all hands.

          1. 409346+ up ticks,

            KJ,
            I am afraid that has been the sentiment for decades, three plus at least.

            They are firmly locked into the
            mass uncontrolled / party controlled, paedophile umbrella,
            pro eu lab/lib/con coalition.
            In my eyes reform IS, unknown to many members, tory (INO) party
            auxiliary.

          2. I worked very long hours before I finally retired, so post-Thatcher didn’t take much interest or even always vote. Too late now, not much point.

          3. I always voted, even if I spoiled my ballot, but I never voted for what’s been done to the country.

      1. 409346+ up ricks,

        Morning BB2,
        Only those with a culling campaign high on the agenda.

        1. It is not fair on countries that do train nurses to poach theirs whilst saving on nursing training ourselves. Also, Britain is not the best destination for nurses when they can earn more and have easier and safer working conditions elsewhere – Britain may suddenly find that it can’t recruit good nurses any more.

          1. 409346+up ticks,

            BB2,

            Agreed, as things stand in the current politico’s mindset is that things should stay as “fair” as lammy’s arse.

          3. No, I’m saying that we will only get the shoddy ones because the good ones will go where they can earn more money and not have to work in a USSR relic of a system!

    3. They will have to change and start training our own people as they used to.

    4. Saw a family of dindus as I was driving home. Male, female and three kids. That’s more than replacement that’s an increase.

  48. How the debate about Islam in Britain is playing out in planning rows over mosques
    A planned mosque in a Cumbrian town has sparked local unease, revealing deeper tensions over faith, identity and change in modern Britain

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/07/14/mosque-planning-rows/

    “There is two-tier engagement at work in Britain among the local authorities,” one told me. “The police and councils go to great lengths to engage with Muslim community leaders,” another said. “Christian churches aren’t viewed in the same way. There is a distinct bias at work.”

    That is certainly a topic touched upon by local people. “I worry about this country,” says Carol Lacey, 71, a grandmother of three. “I’m really not a racist, but seeing mosques being built I think sends out the wrong message to illegal immigrants in small boats. What sort of a Britain will my grandchildren grow up in?”

    Another expert I spoke to claimed that double standards have also been adopted by planning departments across the country.

    “When any sort of planning proposal is submitted for a mosque, it feels very much as though the council will bend over backwards to accommodate them,” this expert told me.

    “As a result, local people are looking at their community and seeing changes they didn’t ask for and didn’t vote for and weren’t properly consulted over, yet they are afraid to speak out for fear of being branded Islamophobic.”

    On the face of it, it’s understandable why Islamic buildings, and most specifically minarets, would arouse strong feelings in a nation of cathedral spires and church towers. The acceptance of minorities who have other religious practices is largely predicated on them not altering the physical landscape.

    “When I moved [here], one of my reasons for selecting the area was that it was a pleasant, quiet, typically turn-of-the-century residential area. Architecturally, the locality, including the church… forms a consistent whole, with buildings of characteristic and pleasing proportions. I feel that the introduction of a minaret would be completely out of character as to be a serious detriment to the area.

    “I can believe, and accept freely, that there is a need for a place of worship such as the mosque in this area, but feel that a minaret is not an essential adjunct to such worship.”

    It is a radical new argument; namely that mosques should be viewed as a robust way of countering radicalisation. For all our cosy nostalgia when it comes to church bells and evocative spires, could it be that the presence of Islamic architecture in suburbia will provide a sense of security rather than provoking unease?

    Maybe not today, but tomorrow. The demographics speak for themselves, concludes Lord Goodman.

    “If you look at population trends,” he says, “Islam is going to play a much bigger role in the life of Britain, and it’s something we all have to try to negotiate successfully.”

    Additional reporting by Meike Eijsberg

    Derek Smith
    just now
    Look at any Islamically run country and consider are there any that offer a decent fair place to live especially if you are gay, a non believer or even a Woman. Yet the political Liberal elite are allowing our country to be progressively over run by a dangerous dogma

    Izzy Eckerslike
    3 min ago
    Lord Goidman is another soros traitor. Since when has Islam been a race? Racist is a word banded about to denounce anyone who is against the spread of Islam in the UK and elsewhere

    Rhona Parks
    9 min ago
    Is Christianity a race ? As a Christian I should know whether I have the same rights and protections as a Jew , Muslim or Hindu . Or do some have more rights and protections than others ? If so why ?

    Does Parliament know ? The law know? The police know?

    1. We should not forget that until the Church of England and the monarchy are abolished the United Kingdom is a Christian country whose head is the current monarch.

    2. Labour MPs told us there was no two tier justice system (despite all the evidence) so shut up and go away. You don't get a choice or a say so accept muslim is being pushed on you and that Lefties get special treatment.

    3. It's nothing to do with race, it's all about the culture and social structure of or long established hard fought for country being uprooted and undermined by a medieval minded religious cult.
      If they don't like it they can go back to where they came from.

        3. Yes of course TB, but it should never have happened. At the children’s birthday party yesterday it was wonderful to see how (12 of them) they all play so well together. But these newly arrived don’t quite fit in with our culture. I feel for all these youngsters.
          And it seems that the only way to be able to safely associate with them, is to do what they want.
          My feeling is, that unless our established culture responds it will die.

    4. ““I worry about this country,” says Carol Lacey, 71, a grandmother of three. “I’m really not a racist, but seeing mosques being built I think sends out the wrong message to illegal immigrants in small boats. What sort of a Britain will my grandchildren grow up in?””

      oh Carol. You are, you really are. It doesn’t matter that you don’t think you are. In the modern world, under DEI anti-racism theory, as embraced by our lunatic politicians and public sector workers (because they are so much nicer than we are), you are without doubt a knuckle-dragging unreformed gammon fascist racist bigot. Because you are hWite and don’t want to be replaced.

    5. Carol Lacey’s grandchildren will grow up in an islamic country if people don’t rise up and do something about it.

  49. Good morning, all. Sunny intervals and a cool breeze here. Forecast for warmer temperature in the afternoon.

    Honestly, at first I thought this had to be a parody account. This loser has no idea of what would be required to achieve putting this nonsensical proposal into reality. Dream on you Waster!

    https://x.com/Free_ByTheSea/status/1944413524127592688

    1. Right, ok. Laying cable under the street. You'll still need a plug on the surface to actually plumb in.

      This 'plan for change' involves wasting money on things we do not want or need. Home charging should be borne (with their own money) by the individual buying the electric car (with their own money).

      Wasting public money is moronic. Sod off, Starmer; you total berk.

      I actually wanted to use harsher language but I am trying to not be as much of a git.

    2. Right, ok. Laying cable under the street. You'll still need a plug on the surface to actually plumb in.

      This 'plan for change' involves wasting money on things we do not want or need. Home charging should be borne (with their own money) by the individual buying the electric car (with their own money).

      Wasting public money is moronic. Sod off, Starmer; you total berk.

      I actually wanted to use harsher language but I am trying to not be as much of a git.

    3. They're just taking the p now. Hope nobody is foolish enough to believe that Two Tier wants everyone to own an electric car!
      Electric cars are the gateway drug to no car. There is not enough silver in the world for everyone to have an electric car and in any case, look where the US is putting its military force – yes, the same oil-producing nations!
      I don't see any plans by OPEC to stop producing oil because nobody wants it any more.

    4. Starmer is telling a truth. The current domestic/street distribution network will not be able to cope with the extra demand put on it by everyone having an electric car, hence it needs upgrading or duplicating. That's vastly costly – and, in reality, bordering on the impractical.

  50. The demographics only speak for themselves because our government keeps doing everything it can to attract and import muslims into the country and shower them with free money, housing and healthcare for every child they have even when they haven't contributed and will never be net contributors.
    Never forget that the wife of one of the Bataclan terrorists lived in Britain because she felt that Britain was more accommodating of her religious extremism than France was.

    1. JL Hm
      24 min ago
      The truth is the Great Britain has already been colonized and it’s much too late to do anything about it. History has shown that Muslims are happy to “play nice” until they’ve become the majority, then the mask comes off and the rest of society is forced to play by their rules. Just look at how Christians are treated in Lebanon, among other places. As for the Jews, it’s time to make Aliyah, quickly!

      1. 409346+ up ticks,

        Morning TB,

        Maybe,I would like it to conceal, that anything odiously upside down can via good heart & common patriotic sense be rectified.

    1. It would help your case if you were to provide dates of the Macron State visit, NT.

    2. It would help your case if you were to provide dates of the Macron State visit, NT.

  53. Both the BBC and Sky have false stories today about climate change. Have you noticed they never allow comments on climate as it is so easy to prove them wrong.

    1. It is the contradictions that they fear. I do not think artificial climate change is false, and defy those who think it is to come up with rather better arguments than bluster and dodgy statistics. Rather than addressing the consequences of a peril I think is very real indeed, Government is selling one thing, but what they are providing is very different.

      For example, they claim to be pushing for energy conservation in order to save the planet, and yet in the same breath push AI, which is an immense and profligate user of both energy and fresh water. They ban small internal combustion engines in cars and combi boilers fuelled by gas, and yet their alternatives – the electric SUVs popular with the aspirationals they favour, and the heat pumps requiring a constant feed of electricity even to provide as much heat as a wood burner, are immensely counterproductive.

      1. There is nothing they can do about it. They do not even set an example in fact just the opposite.

      2. My house has two systems – air to air heat pumps, and a gas boiler/underfloor for when real winter arrives. The heat pumps are more efficient until it gets cold enough to require auxiliary heating, which in a conventional installation would be electric resistance heat, though in my case that's when I switch to the boiler system. Which is far from cheap to run, but does a beautiful job of keeping the house at an even temperature.

  54. More nonsense from a member of our dysfunctional government.

    Tackling the climate and nature crisis is essential to protect the British way of life.

    The British way of life is under constant attack by the hordes of unknown and unvetted young men you and the rest of your useless government are happily importing daily.

    https://x.com/SirJBritain/status/1944677767037194483

        1. We managed with out beavers for over 400 years. We’ll probably find out now why their fur (now banned) became so popular.

    3. Predictably, the BBC is leading on this morning, with more dire warnings about temperature rises.

      1. Been much cooler here today. Cue much wailing and gnashing of teeth in climate apocalypse quarters.

    4. Ah that'll be the so-called 'Poly-Crisis' that The Guardian keep banging on about.

      cost-of-living crisis (on hold now Labour govt in power)..
      transphobe crisis..
      weather crisis..
      Islamophobe crisis..

      I'll add Nature Crisis to the list.

    3. Teach them to play poker, or solve cryptic crosswords – much lore related to real life skills than chess.

        1. I play Chess. I enjoyed the Queen's Gambit. Both book and film. You don't need to be a fan of Chess to enjoy the film.

        2. Somehow I don’t think this lot value strategic thinking. It doesn’t seem to have done Reeves much good.

    6. Ha.. Dominic Lawson did a story on his experience playing chess with grandmaster Reeves.
      went something like this..
      She's an idiot..
      played like a reasonably good 6th former..
      where experienced chess players know when they are beaten, give a respectful nod and resign.. not our stubborn Rachel. She played on & on in a pointless exercise of exchanging pieces.
      Thinks no more than one move ahead.. and says out loud.. "damn didn't see that one" after it all goes down hill.

    1. 409346+ up ticks,

      Morning JN,

      Well deserved but why did we wait for the mass instalIation ?

  58. Morning all. Recovering from the heat. I was only able to use one air conditioner, in the bedroom, because Caticus Khan made it clear that he did not approve of the noise of the conditioner in his realm, my playroom, where the computer is. He hid and would not come out even for Dreamies, so I was confined to my cell for the duration. Today is mild and quite pleasant. I thank god for that because I was having real difficulties toward the end.

    I wondered how many are aware of this. It will, no doubt, be coming for us too.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmlI4ICp-OI

    1. Current standings for
      the process of 'questioning need for migration..' LOL
      1st Ireland
      2nd Spain
      3rd Italy
      4th East Germany
      5th Wales
      24th England

    2. A 2nd Reconquista is needed, not just for Spain but the whole of Europe.

  59. That was made obvious where I live – for the last 5 years or so, no permission for home chargers has been given, as the local distribution net cannot cope, it's not dimensioned for so much demand.

  60. Just wandered round the estate – seemed like a very heavy dew. The MR pointed out that it drizzled in the night… Doh!

    1. Morning Bill,

      Not swimming cossie weather , brr factor , back to my jeans and a light sweater .

      Our hydrangeas are thirsty things .. several of them are planted in half barrels .. thank good ness we are not on a water meter.

      1. Ooh! I shall be wearing my cossie in the rain, at this rate! We are swimming this evening!

          2. Loved the smiling faces. The news is dreadful and pics of people enjoying themselves is an antidote to that.

    2. Just harvested 2 pounds of cobra beans. Plus 7 large green peppers. Masses of chillis and Jalepenos. Tomatoes on the way soon.

  61. The USA is a vast country. By comparison, the UK is tiny. Beavers here are an indulgent luxury for a particular type of environmentalist.

    1. I disagree. The point is that we interfere constantly with an attitude of mind that bares little relation to the real world but has everything to do with ideology and our false perception to the world. That is why things constantly go wrong. I am not an ecologist per se, but my field is horticulture and I have witnessed the foolishness of human beings basically shitting on the environment that sustains them out of ignorance about how things work. This is, in many respects, a Western attitude, driven by a decedent materialism that believes we are lords of all we survey and all we survey must bend to our will. Fortunately we are growing out of this attitude and beginning to learn.
      I live in West Sussex, in a very rural community. When it rains, those, apparently, rich farmlands turn to sand and silt that clog the roads because of the constant abuse the land has suffered. We expect abundance but, for the most part, we do not think of the consequences. But the truth is that here, where I live, the land is sustained by chemicals and, in turn, it is harming us and the other creatures that live her. Compared with when I was a child the birds have gone, the bees have gone the butterflies have gone and most of the insects have gone. We now live in a desert anyway, the trouble is that most people don't see it because thewy are not aware of what has been lost and wht little we have gained by those losses.

      1. You disagree with what? Beavers are an indulgent luxury in our small country. They are presented as the future of flood management across the land. They might be useful in some particular locations, especially in those parts of Wales, Scotland and the north of England where popualtion density is very low. In the rest of the UK where land use is intensive, and population density is high, they are not. Where there are experiments in place, they have be managed carefully.

        I share many of your other concerns about the way we treat our environment but this is a small island with a big population and that means difficult decisions. Our half-witted establishment appears to think that any problems that come with agriculture can be solved by abolishing it.

        Population densities per square mile:
        England 1,100
        France 330
        USA 100

        1. Horses for courses.

          Where beavers come into their own are in the headlands of rivers where downstream they pose a flood risk to human settlements. What they do is to slow the passage of stormwater into floodplains and wetlands, which otherwise would overwhelm flood defences downstream. Whilst not good for arable growing, such wetlands are a haven for aquatic life, especially amphibians, which have suffered greatly from the near-total destruction of British wetlands since 1970.

          Another serious consideration is the conservation of fresh water in upstream catchments, rather than running to sea. They are like vast reservoirs, which protect us all during heatwaves.

        2. You really cannot treat the US as one country for these purposes.

          https://state.1keydata.com/state-population-density.php

          It's all over the place from higher numbers than England – New Jersey for example, to very low numbers – usually states with nasty cold weather seasons. Or deserts.

          Where I live is about 75, and from my travels in the US, below 200 per sq mile would definitely be my preference,

          1. The point being that it has vast spaces where environmentalists can experiment. We can't do that here.

        1. Mink aren’t native to the UK. Therefore there are no natural predators. And it was radical animal rights activists that caused that mess by releasing mink from fur farms. People ignorant of ecology under the delusion you could release any old thing and it would be fine.

      1. No no Bill, it's genuine proof that Net Zero is working – we must redouble our efforts!

  63. Ref the Wallace affair. I can't stand the man – never have. But the beeboids hired him years back to be "yer orthentik cheeky, cockerney, chappie" wiv "loadsa banter". That's what they wanted; that's what they got. Now it turns out that the very thing they wanted no longer fits the bill (as it were). Well, tough titty.

    2. I quite like him. He was right when he said middle class women of a certain age. If a chap pinches your bottom give him a slap. Don't whine about it years later.

      2. I hate the guy, but I agree about the whining women! I’d have given him a knee in the nads!

        1. I know people say he was gurning all the time but he wasn't the one doing the editing.

    2. He talks about new builds being something that are needed, but refuses mention the root cause of the population increase.

    3. I don't want to be around anyone who says 'y'all'. A cruise is most attended by older white folk. They don't want a bunch of wobbly blacks making a lot of noise disrupting their holiday.

  67. Morning all from Nantwich. I’ve brought my ex RAF pal to do some banking since we no longer have a branch and am whiling away the time until he’s finished.
    .
    It isn’t water we need to conserve it’s population increase we need to deal with.

    1. There is an excellent farmshop & cafe to the south east of the town. Cheerbrook, just off London Road before the A500 roundabout.

          1. Ah, it’s east of Nantwich, which explains it. I would be travelling from the south.

    2. I have little to no hope of population increase being slowed or stopped, Conway. Anyhow, good morning 🙂 can your ex RAF pal do his banking online, or perhaps he doesn't use online at all….in which case, sensible of him.

          2. Do you remember the brick ones…have you heard the latest news.. Trump is sending tactical nuclear weapons to Ukraine..?

          3. One of my radio amateur acquaintances had one of the early brick mobile phones. We went out for a meal and he plonked this enormous piece of equipment on the table! What?!

          4. Crikey…I remember those, my boss had one, he thought it was the bees knees, everyone else thought he was mad and it would never catch on…:-D

  68. Beebsplaining
    3h
    Charity herbert at my front door , can I help with the floods in Pakistan🤔
    Fine, I said, 🤔 but we have a hosepipe ban at the moment and i dont think it would reach anyway 😳

    1. Perhaps a curlew? we used to have them here, but no more. Wouldn't you think farmers could be aware, and perhaps swerve them, or have them fenced off…not too much to ask.

    1. I think it's 7 trillion cells rather than 7 trillion nerves but he certainly irritates every living cell in the body.

    1. Hate no hope should be banned from any public funding whatsoever, then, when others fund it, freeze their bank accounts and investigate their terrorist leanings.

      Destroy the Left forever. Cut off the Left's food supply – our money!

  72. Remember "Fun With Flags" from the "Big Bang Theory" sitcom? Anyone for Fun With The NHS? A number of you playing already, I know. I was to have a CT scan last Thursday. That was cancelled because The Machine Stopped. Rescheduled for Wembley Diagnostics Centre this afternoon but that's been cancelled too because, "We can't do a full aorta scan here – it has to be Hammersmith". So now booked for Hammersmith this coming Thursday afternoon, the 17th. No letter of confirmation because computer says no to that as well but confirmed verbally on the phone and details discussed (no food for 4 hours before but drink normally etc.). Should be OK if I just turn up on time. Famous last words.

    2. Oh FFS !

      Why didn't the people that booked you not know the WDC couldn't do the scan ? !!!

      1. Another appointment for Starmer to boast about. Why does that man make me want to vomit every time I see or hear him?

    3. Gawd. Everything crossed – safe travel, appointment an actuality, machinery and staff all working well, results quick and good. Is that really too much to ask…..

  73. "Where beavers come into their own are in the headlands of rivers…"

    I said this.

    "Whilst not good for arable growing…"

    Not good for grazing either.

    2. An insurance though, since grass dries up during a heatwave or a spell of dry weather. A bank of wetland returns its water slow enough to keep to grass alive and productively edible for quite a bit longer.

  74. "Where beavers come into their own are in the headlands of rivers…"

    I said this.

    "Whilst not good for arable growing…"

    Not good for grazing either.

    2. They must have had a trial run locally, no power from 10am to 1130am. Had to carefully watch the cricket in retrospect.

    1. Whenever there is a vacancy, the same small pool of black coaches will be invited to apply, knowing that they are only there to make up the numbers. Pure tokenism.

    1. They don't mean to be, it's just that they're determined to prove the idiot savage would be a super successful genius if he hadn't been brutally oppressed by the the real successful geniuses and your lefties are being encouraged and supported in this noble mission by super wealthy thieves.

  81. 787 Dreamliner – a real pilot takes beginners through the whole cockpit procedure from cold to takeoff up to 5000 feet.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMuBr3CSvYg&t=896s&pp=2AGAB5ACAdIHCQn8AKO1ajebQw%3D%3D
    This is long 1hr 15min video, the takeoff taking the last 15 minutes, but is an interesting watch should you make any observations about what might have gone wrong with the Air India flight.

    It is interesting to note that the commentator, who is flying this demonstrator, forgets about the fact that the undercarriage would have been raised soon after takeoff – but then that was not his responsibility.

  82. 787 Dreamliner – a real pilot takes beginners through the whole cockpit procedure from cold to takeoff up to 5000 feet.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMuBr3CSvYg&t=896s&pp=2AGAB5ACAdIHCQn8AKO1ajebQw%3D%3D
    This is long 1hr 15min video, the takeoff taking the last 15 minutes, but is an interesting watch should you make any observations about what might have gone wrong with the Air India flight.

    It is interesting to note that the commentator, who is flying this demonstrator, forgets about the fact that the undercarriage would have been raised soon after takeoff – but then that was not his responsibility.

  83. I've always had the view that it is a good idea to find out in the greatest possible detail the reasons why people behave the way that they do, if the consequences of that behaviour are unwanted or damaging – because unless you understand the complete picture you'll never come up with effective countermeasures or an effective response.

    For example: why do islamist suicide bombers blow themselves (and all those around them) to death? Is it just a destructive malignant hatred? That may well be an element, but it's not the whole picture. This article that I've read in the last few days gives the reasoning:
    https://www.virtueonline.org/post/why-a-doctrine-of-martyrdom-attracts-adherents-the-weight-of-guilt-and-the-desperate-attempt-at-re

    In summary, it comes from believing the diabolical falsehood that the only guaranteed way of expiating ones own guilt is by dying in ths way.

    [Minor edit after one upvote.]

    1. It is also the belief that as a goat hearder with no prospects in life, paradise can be gained by dieing for the islamic cause. It also brings honour upon the family.

    2. Islam teaches that people who do not accept it should be killed, and that Allah commands it. I fail to understand the mentality which believes that God instructs his followers to murder human beings whom He has created.

    3. It seems strange to characterise murder as martyrdom. Were the Romans the martyrs or the Christians they killed? If we were killing these people because they refuse to renounce Mohammed then they would be martyrs but when they kill us because we're Christians, it's we who are being martyred not them.

      1. It is the usual mistranslation of a totally negative, alien concept into a noble and palatable one, Sue. As in the confusion between "peace" and "submission".

  84. Celeb chef James Martin on X:
    'So in a week two of my friends cars got stolen, one other mate got mugged and now I had this happen all in broad daylight all in central London.
    'London is broken big time… next time I’m bringing the Malis.'

    Did you & yer mates all vote for Labour & Sir SadSack perchance?

  85. Celeb chef James Martin on X:
    'So in a week two of my friends cars got stolen, one other mate got mugged and now I had this happen all in broad daylight all in central London.
    'London is broken big time… next time I’m bringing the Malis.'

    Did you & yer mates all vote for Labour & Sir SadSack perchance?

  86. Tea at Lords. Al-Beeb going around celebrating the “indian diaspora’s” turnout.

    1. Brilliant Test Match – I wont say any more or someone will complain about wanting to watch the highlights later!

        2. That’s exactly what my audit committee chair said in an email on the topic! I had stopped listening at that point as I thought…you know, England…snatching something from the jaws of something etc etc

    1. Wimmin eh, Alec..actually purchased a book from Oxfam online recently, a bargain. Did you resolve your cabling issue (or whatever it was)….xx

    3. Loose, near Maidstone in Kent, used to have a Women's Institute and they really did call themselves the Loose Women's Institute.

      1. There is a women's Morris Dancing group based in Loose – going by the name 'Loose Women Morris'.

      3. Chubby Cambridgeshire ladies often pinched the village sign at "Six Mile Bottom"…

    4. No, I think they've got it about right; their kill rate for strays is very high.

  90. Wordle No. 1,486 2/6

    🟩⬜🟨🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 14 Jul 2025

    Repeal for Eagle?

    1. Well done. I'm having a run of pars.

      Wordle 1,486 4/6

      ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
      ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟨🟩🟩
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    2. Impressive. "Only" a birdie for me.

      Wordle 1,486 3/6

      ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨
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      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. I thought you might do well today given your starter word!

      Didnt like this at all, even when I submitted the only answer I could come up with, I wasnt sure it would be right! Bleedin' Bogey!!

      Wordle 1,486 5/6

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

        1. I'm actually most of the way through sos – got badly held up at level 15 (5 Queens in 2 deals) – I'll let you know my time later when (if) I finish!

          2. That's a very good time!

            55.14 here – 19.47 of that on level bloody 15 – I nearly gave up, and 7.57 on level 20…..

          3. I doubt I’ll be in the top three in this group.
            Too many bots.
            I came 6th in a group recently, but ended in the top 10,000 over-all.
            It’s a shame the system can’t place the machines/bots in their own competition.

    4. Continuing my run of most divots

      Wordle 1,486 5/6

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

  92. There is rain falling about two miles away. Not a drop here – nor any to come…Grrrr.

  93. Moh still playing golf in Weymouth, competition , very very breezy .

    I have had a pleasant hour or so with a wonderful lady who will be 101 years old on Wednesday .

    She is mobile, able bright and sparky , has an office , has macular deterioration sadly , but has her computer set up with large letters so that she can type and do her F/B , order food , keep up with friends , order stuff off the internet and generally keep busy .

    She has had two husbands , first one was in the RN during the siege of Malta 1942 , and her second one was in Normandy , Royal Engineer .

    I cannot keep up with details , but when she was a girl , she was working in the shoe industry in Northampton, and then became a whatever you call it in the factory that made men's shoes .. then also she was during the war something to do with trains in Wellingborough.

    During World War II, Wellingborough's railway station, part of the Midland Railway's Leicester to Hitchin line, was a crucial link for transporting troops and supplies. While not directly targeted by bombs, the station and surrounding areas did experience some close calls with bombs falling nearby. The war effort heavily relied on the flexibility of the railway system, with trains being adapted to transport troops and equipment to various destinations.

  94. Moh will be furious he has missed an exciting cricket match .

    We have a little ceramic plaque on our wall near front door .. A cricket lover lives here

    He is still playing golf in a competition at Weymouth golf club .

          1. Don't mention those things. We have to live with their noise every summer. Then there are the periodical cicdas – the 17 year brood are supposed to appear this year, as they were last seen in 2008.

          6. Old neighbourhoods here see huge swarms popping up, every 13 or 17 years. I remember, I think it was around 1980, they were so bad we were warned not to drive with windows open as they were getting into cars, causing the drivers to end up crashing. And many motor bike riders got equally spooked. It was like the Biblical plagues of locusts. Also, there were so many "husks" that the local council had to send trash trucks round to collect them all. I remember seeing huge piles of them in the streets.

          7. Why do you think they do it? What is their purpose in the scheme of things? Does anyone know, or even have a workable theory?

          9. One of my fondest memories of youthful summers in Provence is catching those huge blue flying ones and studying their beauty before release

    1. A film franchise where the MiB are an agency that controls Alien interaction with humans on earth without the population being aware of it.
      If a member of the general population sees something they should not, the amnesia device erases a short section of their memory.

  97. I know, I know – what’s the bat for? But I did feel (briefly) for the chap.

        1. It was Siraj getting in the faces of our batsmen. If he'd stayed in to the end the Indian crowd would probably have deified him.

          1. Well, at least one English player put out his hand and shook him warmly by the throat (© the Estate of the Late Harold Wislon)

    1. Haven’t been to a film in years. Once a year on t’telly, perhaps. Though I DID see “Conclave” at the village hall and thought what a vey stupid story line it was – though very well acted.

  99. That's me for this disappointing day. Got more hedge trimming done – and hoped for the rain which we could see coming towards us on t'radar.
    Not a drop. Oh well, perhaps tomorrow…

    Have a snazzy evening reshuffling your cabinet.

    A demain.

    1. Even Baldrick could come up with cunning plans more cunning than Milliband’s.

  102. A reasonable day.
    Got the chainsaw out for a couple of hours and stacked the larger logs up to await further sawing and splitting then, after a much needed cold bath did myself a meal of tinned mackerel in tomato sauce on toast and, half way through a mug of tea, fell asleep in my chair for an hour!

    A rather delightful little episode from yesterday.
    Was up the "garden" and about to come back down to the house when, during a lull in the traffic, I heard a rather beautiful ladies voice singing. As the singer, a rather attractive young lady, perhaps in her 30s, came level to me, she stopped singing so I congratulated her on such a lovely voice.
    I then made my way down to meet her as she crossed the road and was had a lovely 4 or 5 minute chat which finished with me singing a song for her!
    After my encounter with the Carpet Muncher earlier, it was absolutely delightful!

    1. Of course she has reported you for a hate crime, gender questioning crime etc etc. We'll club together to send a cake with a file in it.

    1. That's just embarrassing. Singapore is far richer than we are and it has a higher average IQ too. Like taking candy from kids, honestly.

      1. And a much, much higher average IQ than Lammy – or anyone else on Labour's front bench for that matter.

          1. If you were ever considering inviting me to lunch i will be indisposed. Before and after.

    1. Why are they all so nasal and asinine? Is it the voice coach? And I still can't decide whether their wilful destruction of our country is just twattish idiocy (Lammy, Abbot, Nandy) or active evil (Hermer, Starmer Blair & co)

      1. It is deliberate, calculated evil. We are to be destroyed, razed to the ground so that they can build their communist utopia; for their benefit, not for those of us who are left (should any survive what is to come) and our replacements. If we do not fight back soon, future inhabitants of these beautiful isles OF OURS may never know that our peaceful, once-cohesive, high-trust society ever existed.

    2. Miliband comes across as a fool leading to many people disregarding what he says. But they miss the point.

      He is not just a fool, he is a VERY dangerously misguided fool totally wrapped up with Green and Communist Zealotry.

  107. Rachel Maskell MP with finger on the pulse.
    Shout it loud louder.. "20,000 – 30,000 more in your area is not enough!
    What does it matter if you have to wait longer for a hospital appointment?
    What does it matter if your child can't get a placement in school?
    What does it matter if you can't get housing?"
    .
    https://www.facebook.com/reel/1086770886385968

    2. What does it matter if you're blown up, hacked to pieces or run over? What does it matter if your wife/daughter/sister is raped? Enjoy the diversity! We definitely need to stop the madness.

  108. An interesting piece of fanciful speculation here about whether the UAE could be the new City of London (i.e. headquarters of international finance)

    "Could this mark a 300-year base, as I'm beginning to very much speculate was put in place under the guise of the War on Terror? With traditional powers strained by debt and defiance from Russia, China, Iran, and others, the Islamic world offers a vast frontier to be enslaved. With not only oil, but the most important resource necessary to sustain the Financialist Kill Chain, young men to die in useless wars."
    https://emburlingame.substack.com/p/is-the-uae-and-the-islamic-world?publication_id=858260&post_id=168073640&isFreemail=true&r=28gmek&triedRedirect=true&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

    2. Publix Supermarkets are so far down market that I have never been in, or even seen one where I live,

    2. I hesitate being a pedant but it's the clash of a civilisation with stone age savagery.

      1. Chris Rock is a black American comedian. (i find him quite funny).

        He said about race and racists…There are black people…and then there are niggers.

      1. The sea level round the Southern English coastline is not rising, it is the coastline that is sinking.
        All part of the Post-glacial Rebound which sees the Scottish coastline rising as the ground below, once compressed by billions of tons of ice, relaxes and lifts the top crust..

        1. Lots of flooding in Spain…..after they removed all the dams. Fits their narrative though.

          I wonder if these presenters believe what they are saying.

    3. That Essex coast is very flat. I remember the massive flooding of 1953 when Canvey was completely inundated with many fatalities.

    4. Lornas Haddock sounds a bit fishy with her dire warnings. It must be sinking under the weight of all these illegal immigrants.

      1. Now come on, MM, it's Lorna Shaddick. Laura Haddock is a British actress who, unlike some, hasn't adopted the trout-pout.

    5. The studio presenter is the gormless Sean Fletcher, girning champion of 'Countryfile'.

      1. No, no! It’s the weight of people who have entered the UK in the last 50 years!

    9. I guess the fact that water levels itself isn't a factor in this excitement?

      1. Exactly so. Along with its non-existent weather stations giving apocalyptic readings and measurements. The Met Office thinks we are all stupid.

  114. Babylon bee at it again:

    Trump Honors Gay Community By Attending Soccer Match

    EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ — In what political experts said was a bold move to reach across ideological boundaries, President Donald Trump honored the gay community by attending a soccer match.

    Venturing into territory that was largely foreign to most heterosexuals, Trump agreed to visit the FIFA Club World Cup finals between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, a gesture insiders said was a historic step forward by the administration to bridge the gap between it and all the gays.

    "It's nice to come here and see what the gays like to watch," Trump told reporters. "I'm a little disappointed, I must say. They told me, ‘Mr. President, we're going to watch some football,' and this is not what I was expecting, but it's fun to see what kind of sports the gay folks enjoy. Very nice. A lot of kicking. Not so much throwing. All of my lovely gay friends can never say I didn't do anything for them, believe me."

    Advocates for the gay community hailed Trump's willingness to appear at the match. "This is a lot more than other straight men would do," said one gay. "It's inspiring to see him at least make the effort to see what sports are like on our side of the fence. He really is a president who brings everyone together. The masculinity of the stadium increased palpably when he walked in. Hopefully, this is a sign that President Trump is willing to work with us in the future."

    At publishing time, Trump had signed an executive order officially renaming soccer as "gay football."

  115. We’ve just watched our grandson at his graduation ceremony at Birmingham University live streamed on YouTube . He is now a Master of Pharmacy with a 1st class Honours degree. Very proud moments and we videoed him also saw our son and daughter in law in the congregation.

  118. 'No Irish, no blacks, no dogs': the myth that will not die

    We shouldn't impose a cliché on one of the great immigration stories of 20th century Britain

    Michael Murphy • 14 July 2025, 5:34pm BST

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/492189b39ff11c06f36f8016ec637cbab1c80fa9c88c948b4244f866a523b96f.jpg
    Some myths are just too good not to be true. The infamous sign, "No Irish, no blacks, no dogs", has come to symbolise the liberal narrative of Britain's recent past: a country where hard-working immigrants were met with crude racism by the native English until the 1960s ushered in a slow march toward equality.

    These six words have become central to how Irish and Caribbean migrants, in particular, understand their place in post-war Britain. They've been quoted in Parliament, used as the title of an autobiography by Johnny Rotten (the lead singer of the Sex Pistols), and most recently featured in a BBC Radio 4 segment on the contribution of Irish nurses to the NHS throughout the 20th century.

    One BBC guest repeated the claim made by Irish activists in the 1980s that these notices were "commonplace" in England in the 1950s and 60s. But is there any evidence for this?

    A decade ago, John Draper, a Guardian reader, wrote to the letters page questioning whether the signs had existed at all. He noted there was "no evidence for such signs in any British or Irish archive," including the parliamentary record during the 1960s race relations debates.

    More damningly, he pointed out that the "much-reproduced" photograph of the sign outside a bed and breakfast "emerged only in the late 1980s," and that the university which had hosted the image later conceded it was of "somewhat uncertain provenance."

    "An old news clipping which I have presented to the university," he added, "points to the image having been mocked up for an exhibition called 'An Irish Experience' mounted at the now-defunct Roger Casement Irish Centre in Islington, London."

    This makes sense. The term "blacks" only entered widespread usage in Britain in the 1970s, after "coloured" was deemed offensive. The idea that it appeared frequently on signage decades earlier is a clear anachronism. As the historian Enda Delaney writes in The Irish in Post-War Britain, there is "little doubt that the terminology was subsequently altered to take account of more recent nomenclature."

    That said, there do appear to have been housing-related signs specifying "no coloured; no Irish" in Manchester, Birmingham, and "parts of London" in the 1950s, according to a contemporary study by sociologist John Jackson. Residents reportedly expressed anxiety that these minorities would "lower the tone of the neighbourhood" and "bring down property values".

    But that wasn't the universal experience for Irish migrants – 1.6 million of whom came to Britain in the 20th century, forming its largest immigrant group. These migrants found opportunities unavailable at home, sending remittances that, in 1950 alone, accounted for around 3 percent of Ireland's GDP. The historical consensus is that while some immigrants were discriminated against, Irish integration was highly successful overall.

    Of the hundreds of London Irish I've met and interviewed who arrived in Britain during the 20th century – especially before the Troubles – most say they were generally welcomed. Sean Flattery, a former publican who came over in 1955, put it plainly. "We were treated properly," he said. "I know a lot of people want me to go the other way – 'no Irish need apply' and all that, but that wasn't my experience."

    Sean's account aligns with John Jackson's broader verdict on the period. By the mid-1960s, Jackson wrote, Irish immigrants mostly enjoyed "equal opportunities in the labour market with the native worker."

    There remains scant photographic evidence of anti-Irish signs in England, a pattern mirrored in the United States, where "No Irish Need Apply" (NINA) signs have taken on a similarly folkloric status.

    Probing the mystery of these phantom signs, the American historian Richard Jenson wrote: "The fact that Irish vividly 'remember' NINA signs is a curious historical puzzle. There are no contemporary or retrospective accounts of a specific sign at a specific location."

    Jenson traces the likely origin of the NINA slogan to post-1798 England, following the Irish Rebellion. "By the 1820s," he writes, "it was a cliché in upper and upper middle-class London that some fussy housewives refused to hire Irish and had even posted NINA signs in their windows."

    Given the thin evidence, it is possible that an anachronistic myth has taken root in the collective memory of Irish migration on both sides of the Atlantic. One potential explanation is that, through word of mouth, the myth has merged with genuine unpleasant memories.

    Of course, their existence cannot be conclusively disproved. But to treat these signs, whether literal or symbolic, as representative of the Irish experience in Britain is to impose a cliché onto a far richer history. That history is, in fact, one of the great immigration success stories of the 20th century.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/14/no-irish-no-blacks-no-dogs-the-myth

    2. The Irish migrants literally gave us a new word for a destructive, violent person. While many worked hard, stayed and assimilated, they did have an unsurprising reputation for Friday night drunkenness.

      1. I grew up in Liverpool, with a large Irish population, mainly dock workers.

        Definition of a mixed marriage in Liverpool in that era was a Protestant marrying a Catholic.

    3. I had never seen a black person until 1959, when I was in hospital having had my appendix out. She was a nurse.

    4. My grandmother ran a guest house from 1940 to 1980. What was expected of guests was that they were civil.

      I know a lot of Irish have a reputation for hard work and hard drinking but myths abound.

      Landladies had a fierce reputation in those days and though there may have been odd instances generally their rules were followed.

      Flop houses were a different matter.

  120. Re the cricket. Norman Tebbitt. Did he die in vain?

    (With apologies to Messrs Sellars and Yateman)

  122. Evening all………..been feeling a bit fragile this afternoon – I had some fruit for lunch as I usually do………but it all came back up! Terrible waste of a nice nectarine and cherries.

    Just had a boiled egg with soldiers, and hopefully it will stay down.

    Early night tonight – maybe I've overdone it a bit the last few days.

    2. N…it's 20 minutes short of 8pm here…go…to…bed….x hope you feel better tomorrow, Kate.

    3. Not a good experience, I hope it settles down.
      Did you wash the cherry's first ?

          1. Morrisons best……… there were also some nice local ones at the Show on Saturday.

        1. It does, though, help. Not just the flat, the phizzee too. It is my go to on such bouts (I have a horrid congenital condition), even though I do know that such drinks are allegedly bad for you. But the full fat ones do seem to settle things (ginger beer the best). Even the "lite" ones do the trick. Black or green tea also helpful.

          1. I had some tea earlier on (with a little milk as usual) and that went down ok. But we haven't any soft drinks here as we never use them.

    1. Thankyou – I will. The pots can go unwatered tonight. We did have a short, light shower this afternoon.

  126. Old friend of mine, if tired as he grew older, would have three early nights in succession….just saying 🙂

      1. He was retired at the time, rising early, but liked to watch TV until late – I think that was what kept him awake and then tired the day following.

    2. I cannot make up my mind as to whether Dominic Grieve or Chris Bryant is the more odious.

  131. That's very bad luck, I've been having that for lunch daily since the start of the cherry season here, with no adverse effects.

    Admittedly I've also been eating lots of cold meats cheese and various salads as well.

    1. I've now listened to both.

      I'm sorry, but Gawd, Norwegian is an ugly sounding language.

        2. I adore you Obers, but I'm afraid they do sound to me as if they are taking the pissout of themselves

  134. Likely the heat and the stress over a busy time. Be the tortoise and not the hare.

  135. Blair and the wrecking crew put in place what cursed Harmer and the chimpanzees' tea party are using to destroy the country.

  137. Norwegian Country is a bit special… helps if you know the words, and the "violin" is usually the Hardingfella, a violin with double strings and a "screechier" voice. Love it, me.

  138. Got a problem that I'd like some advice on.
    My best mate, living in Bristol, is suffering badly just now from the death of his lovely wife about 3 years ago, whom he was totally besotted with (+ 2 children).
    There's an anniversary, and it's hit him hard.
    Does the wisdom of NoTTL have anything tooffer, that might make it more bearable for him?

    1. It might be trite, or a cliché, but he should celebrate the good memories and enjoy them with his children.

    2. I have nothing to offer, sorry to say Paul. You may be interested in how I came to live where I am now. I was a neighbour of the elderly man who lived here alone, I never met his wife. His daughter came to live with him until his death – after which, she found her mother's clothes still in the wardrobe alongside his, her mother having died around 20 years earlier. Contrast this with my mum's death – my father immediately discarded every single thing in the house that related to her, clothes, ornaments, paintings of hers, telling me I could choose one thing. Personally, I would say – do nothing, the anniversary will hit him hard for a good while, but he'll settle in his own way in his own time – just be there for him when he needs you. Wish you both the best, Kate x

      2. Thanks for your input.
        Yes, I see both approaches. Remember, or be quit all physical memory.
        I have a powerful memory of a friend who I worked with in Sicily back in mid 1990s. I returned to UK; then to moved to Norway. Web search for her gave me that she'd killed herself.
        What kind of a friend does that make me, who wasn't in a position that she, feeling so bad that she wanted to die, couldn't contact and ask for at least advice or sympathy?
        It's been a learning experince, should we say, and a really hard one. Husband and two lovely lads… now 30 years older. Yet, I can't get by that I didn't know to support her when she needed it. I hope I'm smaretr now.
        Making it worse, I have connected the music below to her memory… what a dipstick, eh? It rally breaks me up, even now, when I hear it.
        https://youtu.be/_eLU5W1vc8Y?si=LyYLqwG0qUl8_lVG

        1. Just remember, you aren't guilty of anything; if she was determined to kill herself she would have and you couldn't have prevented it. Been there and had to deal with it.

          1. Indeed, Conners. I respect your experience.
            But the thought that she was so miserable that she wanted to die, and that nobody was on her side, really breaks me up.
            It also shows that, whatever we do with our lives affect others, whom, if we care for, will be made unhappy by the experience.
            For me, I can't get by this: I just have to hear that most beautiful Albinoni to become a blubbering wreck.
            It's hard work, eh?

          2. She must have been suffering from clinical depression. If anybody is to blame, it's that she didn't get treatment. The health system let her down.

          3. People can be on your side but to you it isn’t enough. I have had great support over the past six months from family and friends but the only thing that keeps me here is a lack of courage. To me, there are too many downsides in various methods that if you don’t get it right, you end up with serious physical disabilities as well as the mental anguish you are currently suffering. So for that reason, you don’t have to worry about me. I will keep on facing each day until my time comes.

          5. But, if by worrying about you – someone who posts interesting and stimulating material – we can ensure you have a longer time to the time it's over? I'd be really upset on the day that it was revealed you had passed on.
            Had a day like that not so long ago that the phone rang, and the number was Tom Hunn – I was delighted that he was calling, but it turned out it was Judy to announce Tom had passed on, and could I forward the message.
            That was a bit of a surprise. Very upsetting, too.

          6. What I meant by that is no one need worry that I will ‘do something stupid’, but that doesn’t stop people worrying/showing concern that my general health etc is okay.

            This month is particularly difficult for me – 6 months on from the demise of mrs bee, the 42nd anniversary of us meeting and me having a milestone birthday. The pain of grief is there, but is tempered slightly by being out with both friends and family doing things to distract my attention. On the 42nd anniversary I didn’t go to where we met (too far) but did go somewhere we went to several times to confront the necessity of going alone to places we went together.

            Grief affects us all differently and we each have to deal with it in our own way. Friends and family can help, but for some even with that help they are still overwhelmed. Unless we see or hear something that indicates possible self harm (some are good at putting on the brave face so you think they are okay), it’s difficult to suggest contacting Samaritans, but there are other agencies that give advice on bereavement and grief that would be easier to suggest.

        2. Suicide is a dreadful option for anyone to take, but those who knew and loved the person should not blame themselves "for not being there for them".

          1. sos – I know several people who have committed suicide (what does that say about me?) In two cases it was through rage and spite and access to a shotgun whilst angry and drunk. Another hanged himself in the woods over accusations of pedophilia (he wasn't a pedo but he was gay at an awkward time and in an awkward job for such accusations). Some others were debatable (young lads on motorbikes. Maybe it was an accident after all). I don't even want to share the latest one, because what she did was so cruel and calculated.

            Suicide is never, can never, be other than premeditated.

            I do think that suicide is, although it may be through pain and despair, also the ultimate act of spite towards those you wish to hurt, forever, and you do achieve that. Like the angry child saying "I'll run away and then you'll be sorry", which morphs into "I'll kill myself and then you'll be sorry".

          2. I think in some cases, all they think about is themselves. "I want this to be over". I'm sure they don't think about the effect on other people. I know when I was reduced to that state, all I thought about was myself and my misery.

        3. I would say, Paul…you can’t know all that happened in her life following your move. Have looked over that edge – we have to say there but for fortune, cowardice saved me. I’m sorry to read she thought it was her time, her husband and sons will mourn but still remember the happy days – the ones which are often fleeting in many lives. I would say – don’t beat yourself up, sure she wouldn’t want that. There’s something to say for not getting old and infirm – I used to visit my grandfather in hospital before his death, quite a small ward so guessing they were all end of days…I would go from bed to bed, telling jokes, hoping for a smile, listening to what was said. Very likely I would need a qualification to do similarly today – some just liked the newspaper being read for five minutes:-)

          1. "Have looked over that edge" – oh, Lord. Glad you chose to stay this side of oblivion.
            Still doesn't stop me feeling that I could have done better, if I had been a real friend. Or, just a bit more awake.

          3. I look back and see lots left undone (procrastinator..) Bet if she were still with you she would say you were a real friend. I think many ‘suffer in silence’ – no-one would know they were hurting (I’ve never mentioned it before, anywhere…thanks for your post 🙂 Possibly it’s a slow burn, gathering over time, gaining or losing steam with life’s events. I suspect it hits many for the first time as they age; it concerns me greatly the number of young people depressed/suicidal – online will be part of that, not every blog is as good as Geoff’s….for which, as ever, thankful to him x

          4. Who knows? Nobody to answer.
            Just a powerful feeling of loss and uselessness.
            But – a powerful sense of not letting anyone else get there, either.

          7. No. You could not have stopped her, Obers, and…see my post to sos above. I do think that a lot of what is classed as "mental illness" (now mentoo welf) is just complete commitment to selfishness. Unfortunately now a quasi cult. There are choices to be made by us all.

            You have, to your immense credit, a very big heart, Others take advantage.

            You may also like this:

            https://youtu.be/CprYUY9RQ_0

        4. You really should not beat yourself up over her suicide.
          Even close family members can be taken by surprise.
          Strangely enough, it's when a depressed person is seemingly on the up that they take such action; when really in the depths of despair, they are too paralysed – mentally and physically – to take such action.

      3. Well I'm a hoarder and although my Mum died 36 years ago I do still have some of her things around.

        1. Yes I have some of my Mum’s, too. I also hoard old paints etc that I will very likely never use again. Thought you were having an early night? 🤣

    4. I have tried to type three times.

      I think the most important thing is that they know you care. No words.

      1. I suspect that you have the key there Phizzee. That somebody undersands and cares.
        Thank you for cutting to the core.

    5. Sorry, Paul: In 54 years as a church organist, I've lost count of the funerals I've attended. which may well have hardened me to such things.

      (My Dad was wiped out in a RTA in Shap village in 1963. I was five).

      This was a life-changing moment.

      1. Oof, Geoff.
        That's really hard, that was. I'm sorry.
        Difficult to compete with that, so it is.

        1. Dear Paul…compete isn't the right word. We all lose ones we love. And our time will come too.

          The best advice is to live as well as one can. Show our loved ones how much we love them in simple day to day things.

    6. Got the T shirt Paul and although 4 years ago I still have all her clothes and her ashes (to be mixed with mine). Everyone acts and reacts differently, They say time is a great healer – in my opinion it isn't and anniversaries bring back so much – you can only hope the pain eases over time and console oneself she's in a better place now (that's how I look at it anyway). I think talking about it helps too.

    7. No wise words here.

      We found that just being there helped several of our friends come to terms with their grief. We didn't realize that we had done anything special, just listened and offered no comment. One friend would just come and sit quietly in our garden, that is all she wanted (with maybe a visit from our old cat).

      It's not just anniversaries, I remained remarkably calm after my mother died until Christmas three years later – absolute breakdown for about thirty minutes.

      As others have said, just be there for him without being pushy.

  140. Islamophobia is a grievous concept for free speech

    Dominic Grieve's working group does not seem to grasp that a definition forged for Muslims by Muslims is inherently divisive

    Charles Moore • 14th July 2025, 1:26pm BST

    Dominic Grieve lost the Conservative Party whip over trying to block Brexit in Parliament. He stood unsuccessfully as an independent in the 2019 general election. Perhaps as compensation, the arch-Remainer Sir Keir Starmer made him head of a working group tasked to find the right definition of "Islamophobia". Mr Grieve is its only non-Muslim member. The report is expected soon.

    Several peers, including myself, have written a letter to Mr Grieve, expressing concern. Last week, at a stormy meeting in Parliament, Mr Grieve alarmed most of his audience.

    They wanted to know what power his group would have. Would its definition offered become official, therefore compelling public bodies, universities, schools, museums and the media to operate it? Would Parliament have the chance to debate the definition in advance?

    Mr Grieve said any definition would be "non-statutory" and so would not chill free speech. But it would be bound to do so if it imposed penalties on those so accused. He even said he hoped his definition would come down on "micro-aggressions", a cant concept of the diversity and inclusion trade. He also refused to make public the advice he has received.

    When the working group was started in February, its press release stated that the Islamophobia definition would be "reflective of a wide range and perspectives and priorities of British Muslims". What about the perspectives and priorities of adherents of other religions who are not being offered such protection? And what about the very large proportion who have no serious religious affiliation but wish to be free to express their views?

    Mr Grieve does not seem to see that a definition forged for Muslims by Muslims is inherently divisive. How can "community cohesion" be assured if one group can impose its definition on everyone else?

    A possible counter argument is that Jews are specifically protected against anti-Semitism, so why not Muslims against Islamophobia?

    There are two answers here. The first is that Jewishness is defined by ethnicity. A Jew is a Jew regardless of what he or she believes. Anti-Semites hate him or her equally regardless. Islam, like Christianity, is not a race, but a universal faith. No free society could exist if one could not criticise the tenets of a faith or the behaviour of its adherents.

    The second answer – more controversial, I admit – is that the official sanction of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of anti-Semitism may have been a mistake. Examples of anti-Semitism attached to the definition include "accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations", and "denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour".

    I would strongly agree that many people who say such things are anti-Semitic. I would disagree that such remarks are intrinsically anti-Semitic. We can judge them for ourselves without force of law.

    Similarly, it may be that some people angry about the "grooming gangs" hate Muslims; but it is also the case that fear of being called Islamophobic prevented proper investigation of the gangs for many years. Does Mr Grieve really want to help cover-up?

    Let me make a proposition: too many Muslim leaders in this country are over-sensitive to criticism of their faith and of them. Does that make me Islamophobic?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/14/islamophobia-blasphemy-law-wimbledon-archbishop-canterbury

    1. "Muslim leaders in this country are over-sensitive to criticism of their faith"

      They are manipulating us through our suicidal empathy/ tolerance. The constant displays and preachings of Jew-hatred, the foreign clothes, the Hate marches, the hairstyles and beards, the mass men-only praying in the streets, the constant whingeing after one of their own has committed an atrocity ("Muslims are frightened of an Islamophobic backlash" – but never a condemnation of the murder, nor a "not in my name", from any of them).

      No. NO.

      If it is made illegal to criticise Islamofascism then our country is lost

      1. They want a blasphemy law to protect their ideology. It must not be allowed to happen.

  141. Islamophobia is a grievous concept for free speech

    Dominic Grieve's working group does not seem to grasp that a definition forged for Muslims by Muslims is inherently divisive

    Charles Moore • 14th July 2025, 1:26pm BST

    Dominic Grieve lost the Conservative Party whip over trying to block Brexit in Parliament. He stood unsuccessfully as an independent in the 2019 general election. Perhaps as compensation, the arch-Remainer Sir Keir Starmer made him head of a working group tasked to find the right definition of "Islamophobia". Mr Grieve is its only non-Muslim member. The report is expected soon.

    Several peers, including myself, have written a letter to Mr Grieve, expressing concern. Last week, at a stormy meeting in Parliament, Mr Grieve alarmed most of his audience.

    They wanted to know what power his group would have. Would its definition offered become official, therefore compelling public bodies, universities, schools, museums and the media to operate it? Would Parliament have the chance to debate the definition in advance?

    Mr Grieve said any definition would be "non-statutory" and so would not chill free speech. But it would be bound to do so if it imposed penalties on those so accused. He even said he hoped his definition would come down on "micro-aggressions", a cant concept of the diversity and inclusion trade. He also refused to make public the advice he has received.

    When the working group was started in February, its press release stated that the Islamophobia definition would be "reflective of a wide range and perspectives and priorities of British Muslims". What about the perspectives and priorities of adherents of other religions who are not being offered such protection? And what about the very large proportion who have no serious religious affiliation but wish to be free to express their views?

    Mr Grieve does not seem to see that a definition forged for Muslims by Muslims is inherently divisive. How can "community cohesion" be assured if one group can impose its definition on everyone else?

    A possible counter argument is that Jews are specifically protected against anti-Semitism, so why not Muslims against Islamophobia?

    There are two answers here. The first is that Jewishness is defined by ethnicity. A Jew is a Jew regardless of what he or she believes. Anti-Semites hate him or her equally regardless. Islam, like Christianity, is not a race, but a universal faith. No free society could exist if one could not criticise the tenets of a faith or the behaviour of its adherents.

    The second answer – more controversial, I admit – is that the official sanction of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of anti-Semitism may have been a mistake. Examples of anti-Semitism attached to the definition include "accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations", and "denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour".

    I would strongly agree that many people who say such things are anti-Semitic. I would disagree that such remarks are intrinsically anti-Semitic. We can judge them for ourselves without force of law.

    Similarly, it may be that some people angry about the "grooming gangs" hate Muslims; but it is also the case that fear of being called Islamophobic prevented proper investigation of the gangs for many years. Does Mr Grieve really want to help cover-up?

    Let me make a proposition: too many Muslim leaders in this country are over-sensitive to criticism of their faith and of them. Does that make me Islamophobic?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/14/islamophobia-blasphemy-law-wimbledon-archbishop-canterbury

  142. Going somewhere tropical on your holiday?

    https://www.thetimes.com/uk/science/article/inside-the-snake-lab-thats-close-to-curing-bites-with-a-pill-svf2z59lf

    Snakebites kill 130,000 people a year. This UK lab may have the answer
    Welcome to Liverpool, where researchers are close to designing a pill to replace antivenom that can only be given in hospital.

    The snake was clearly unhappy. The terciopelo — a species known in its native Latin America as “the ultimate pit viper” for its aggression and the potency of its venom — darted across the floor of the lab, the tip of its tail rattling as it looked for someone to take out its anger on.

    “This one is a big mean old girl,” said Edd Crittenden, a senior animal technician at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine’s Centre for Snakebite Research and Interventions, as he prepared to trap her to extract her venom. “She has quite an attitude — she doesn’t like us some days.”

    A bite from this angry snake — 5ft long, with vivid yellow and black markings — has the potential to trigger internal bleeding and cause tissue to wither and die. If untreated, it can be fatal. More than two million people are bitten by venomous snakes around the world each year, and as many as 138,000 die as a result.

  143. Diners are right to be fed up with rip-off prices

    SIR – Although I am sympathetic to the hospitality sector in general, not least because of the way it suffered during lockdown, and latterly the unacceptable raise in employers' National Insurance contributions, it does seem a bit rich complaining about the Government's ideas to open cheap eateries for those who are struggling financially ("Restaurateurs deride war-time diners idea", report, July 11).

    Eating out in this country has become so expensive that most people, whatever their income, are beginning to feel ripped off. Recently I met a friend in a run-of-the-mill garden centre for a quick breakfast. He had scrambled eggs on toast. I had the full English, simply because it was cheaper than ordering the egg and bacon I wanted. The cost of the above with a small pot of tea and a coffee was £25. I then realised that the full English didn't come with toast (it did a couple of months ago), so I ordered two slices, costing another £2.85. An additional rasher of bacon was £1.80; a half of tomato, £1.50. This is profiteering at its worst, and it's everywhere you look.

    I realise that everything has gone up across Europe, but in the UK, we are being taken for a ride. Friends of mine over from Italy were shocked at the prices they have been paying to dine out in the most simple of eateries. Many of them are not very good, and none of them offer value for money.

    Where this all ends I have no idea, but it cannot go on as the pips are squeaking now.

    Anthony Rowland
    Byfleet, Surrey

    Perhaps Mr Rowland should ask some of these businesses about their overheads. I suspect many of them are facing costs many times greater than a few years ago. There must also be a big difference between pubs, tearooms and coffee bars, cafes and restaurants that are stand-alone businesses, those which are chains and, as in his case, operations within other businesses.

    And what has Covid done to the spending power and habits of the average Briton?

    1. An awful lot of people just don't go out after covid. Taxes have reduced discretionary spending power.

      1. I go out to lunch fairly frequently – meeting two groups of old friends from work and school. Usually get away with around £20.

        1. If you drink that bumps it up. The mark-up on drinks is the real scandal. Food is prepared by paid staff, so fair enough, but drink (including non-alcoholic)? Yes, there are people serving it, but there is little excuse for a 300% mark-up.

          1. I agree and disagree at the same time. Get me !

            It depends how the business finances are structured and what they want to achieve.

            If you want a boozy crowd then the answer is obvious. Though that comes with additional costs as in having to pay for Security and a clean up crew.

            For as long as i can remember the mark up on wine was 200%

            Often it is the case that the booze mark up supports the bottom line.

    2. Yesterday I had a skewer of melt in the mouth filet mignon, peppers and tomatoes, a good tub of chips and a a very good tub of sauteed peppers, plus a bottle of very palatable red wine, for the princely sum of 20 euros. I could have bought a cheaper bottle of red, but I am very keen on Pecharmant.

      2. Chateau Tiregand by any chance? Read a lot about it but having difficulty finding a US supplier.

        1. It wasn’t, but I do often drink their wines.
          All wine tends to be a matter of personal taste, but I would not place that one in my top five Pecharmants.
          The very best ones are quite expensive, but nothing like the prices charged for the “big Bordeaux”.

          The best Pecharmant I’ve had was bought by HG from https://www.chateauterrevieille.com/
          It was their top of the range and superb, but well outside my normal price range.
          Harry Kobeans is also a fan of this vineyard.

          1. It seems Bergeraac wines have not made it to the US. Need to give marching orders to Number One Grandson who works for a wine importer. They sell plenty of Bordeaux and Bergundies, plus the usual other stuff, like the various Loire and Alsace wines. In fact he rolled up the other day with a six pack of Mersault for his aging grandfather…good lad.

    3. Oh dear. Eating out in a garden centre? It isn't their primary business so one would expect to pay extra.

      The additional pricing of a slice of bacon or half a tomato are to discourage you from being so damned picky.

      If you can't afford it Mr Rowland then stay at home. Or go to Spoons !

      Eating out isn't about feeding. It is about dining.

    4. The labour is the cost. And so it should be. I so love to have decent food cooked for me, and am happy to pay for that – but do feel miffed if it's not as well prepared as the food I cook myself.

    5. At least you are not getting the ever increasing demands for tips that we see on this side of the Atlantic.
      A twenty percent tip is sneered on, servers are looking for twentyfive percepnt or more nowadays.

  144. Just about to watch tonight’s Tousi TV appeal but have asked ChatGPT for a summary. It says:

    “Here's an updated summary of the latest "They Are Shutting Tousi TV Down" live stream:

    Context & Focus: The host addresses real and mounting discussions around government or regulatory bodies (like Ofcom in the UK) targeting independent media outlets. The video suggests Tousi TV may face shutdown due to political pressure and heightened scrutiny over its commentary and coverage.

    Key Themes:
    Regulatory Warnings: Examines recent proposals or threats emanating from oversight authorities, possibly including new rules or investigations into broadcasting standards.

    Political Pushback: Highlights criticism from political figures or parties upset with Tousi TV’s editorial stance, referencing earlier reports indicating efforts to ‘cancel’ or suppress certain independent channels.

    Viewer Engagement & Support: A push for community support, encouraging audience members to subscribe and donate to keep the platform alive and resilient.

    Tone & Presentation: Urgent and somewhat defensive—a live broadcast full of direct address to viewers. The host tries to rally support, stressing the importance of independent journalism and warning about the dangers of media censorship.

    Next Steps for Viewers: The stream ends with a call to action: stay informed, subscribe or sign up for premium access, and share the channel widely. The implication is one of urgency—the channel needs backing now more than ever.

    1. Ok i am getting through the Tousi TV video. On 9th August there is a conference, NMC (New Media Conference) and they have had to change venues because of their original venue being targeted by one or other of the “Stop Hate” (sic) activist mons. The new venue is in Westminster (not yet disclosed) but the appeal is for bums on seats – to make it a really big event.

      Tousievents.tv/
      Promocode TOUSI50

      Don’t forget either the TR rally on 13th September.

  145. Abandoned by Labour

    SIR – On Saturday I attended my 64th Miners' Gala in Durham as a musician in a colliery band.

    The event marks the heritage, history, suffering and endeavour of men like me, my grandfather and his before him. On this occasion the gala was hijacked by Jeremy Corbyn as he launched his new pro-Palestinian party in front of thousands of his supporters. There were more Palestinian flags than miners' banners.

    Communities like mine across this once great industrial region have been deserted by the Labour Party, with not a single Labour politician present. We have seen the end of a region that built London, powered the Industrial Revolution and made Britain great.

    A sad day for Durham, and a sad day for the country.

    Jeff Bryant
    Sunderland, Tyne and Wear

    Many in today's Labour Party would probably regard the attendees of the Durham Gala and similar events as 'gammons'.

      2. Very pleasant to see you so bright-eyed and bushy tailed, Geoff! I hope this means that you are genuinely on the mend again x

  146. Quite a busy morning lots of walking. We went to John Lewis WGC to look for a replacement for our now exhausted PC.
    Very helpful staff as usual, when we had decided on the model we wanted to buy we found out as it wasn't an upto date laptop but an older type with keyboard and screen. They were out of stock and that was the only one they had. Now we have to start all over again.
    Oh well that's life eh.
    Both tired now perhaps an early night again 🙂
    I am recording a bbc prog that seemed to be centered upon their theory on white people weren't the ancient ancestors we have been led to believe. I can't imagine how long it might have taken the person who's skull they alleged was of a black person, to get here from Africa.
    Probably two to three life times……a time traveler I guess..
    Good night all Nottlers 😴 sleep well.

    1. They're gaslighting us with those stories about our ancestors. This country was settled by white ancestors in pre-Roman times.

        1. Can’t believe any of their propaganda. Trouble is younger people do and they’re brainwashed.

          1. They lack the experience of us old fogies and think we know nothing thanks to Blair’s kult of yoof.

    3. We’ve just updated our computer to another Apple desktop. So much faster and bigger. This one has a 24 inch screen and the latest M4 chip, whatever that means. We bought Microsoft Office, 2024 version, online for £30 as a onetime purchase. A bit sceptical but their support is excellent. At £1550 it’s a bargain compared to large laptops.

    4. Have you tried 'decluttering' your exhausted PC? Deleting cookies and unused stuff and doing a hard-drive cleanup?

      1. Already tried all that Max, we’ve got a computer savy neighbour who look at it.

  148. At least you don't need to chew it. What with you having to share other diners dentures.

    1. Speak for yourself.
      They might not be in best of condition but they’re still all mine.

      1. Gosh. It's unusual for someone of your age to have their own teeth. Were you too poor for sugar during the Boer war?

  149. Utterly off topic
    There is an article in the Wail about honour killings.
    I've tried three times to post that this is a feature of the religion of peace and that the vast majority of such murders are done by the adherents of that death cult.
    I appear to be being censored

    3. Well I've been bumped off the Speccie three times for trying to post my far right pro Israel views. Very politely on my part. A weird message pops up, though, on a red banner, saying that I need to use a different email address. i think i will shortly have to re-cancel my sub.

    1. Fabulous film! But it has always foxed me why Ingrid B is considered a major beauty. She has such a weird, porcine nose. I s'pose it takes all sorts.

      1. Beauty is a compilation of many facial attributes, in film stars at least. In real life a beautiful character can make up for a lack of physical beauty, Even then, beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder. As for Ingrid, I would not use the word porcine in any respect.

        1. I suppose that ole humps is not exactly classical either. I agree with you that so many people one knows are simply beautiful because they are themselves. Filmstars are different. Take Barbara Stanwick…I suppose it's acting – a mixture of acting and self-belief that makes everyone believe that someone rather plain is a great beauty.

  155. Watching a prog about the origins of mankind .

    She says friendliness is what makes us extraordinary ?

    Did she say friendliness?

    Travelling beyond and further to create another unusual species ..

    Does she mean us?

    It all started in Africa you know!

  158. authorities are at it again:

    “A 12-YEAR-OLD girl was put into isolation for wearing a Union flag dress to her school’s culture day, her father has said.

    “Straight A” student Courtney Wright wore the Spice Girls-esque dress and wrote a piece about British history and traditions as part of the celebrations on Friday. She was later told the dress was “unacceptable”, was hauled out of lessons and made to sit in reception until her father collected her. Her father Stuart Field, 47, said he was surprised to learn she had been segregated from her peers baecause of her choice of attire at Bilton School in Rugby, Warks.

    Mr Field, who works in marine restoration, said: “Courtney was so embarrassed and couldn’t understand what she’d done wrong. She should not be made to feel embarrassed about being British. And she shouldn’t be punished for celebrating being British – nobody else I’ve spoken to can quite get their heads around it.

    “Somebody at the school has politicised a Union Jack dress even though that was clearly not Courtney’s intent.

    “Courtney didn’t do anything to be political. It’s about being British, the Spice Girls and even the freedom at being able to wear a dress. This is just what being British means to her.”

    In a permission letter sent to parents, it said the day was “designed to promote inclusion, understanding, and appreciation of different backgrounds, traditions and heritages”.

    But Mr Field said the school’s actions went against the message and other pupils with St George’s flags and Welsh flags were also turned away from the school gates. A spokesman for Stowe Valley Trust said: “On Friday 11th July, an incident occurred during our Culture Celebration Day that caused considerable upset to one of our pupils, her family, and members of the wider community. We have since spoken directly with the pupil and her family to listen to their concerns and reflect on how this could have been handled better.”

    3. Who ever the hell ordered that should be taken to court and sacked for an offensive racist hate crime.

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