Wednesday 16 July: Will Donald Trump stand with the democracies or side with a despot?

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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551 thoughts on “Wednesday 16 July: Will Donald Trump stand with the democracies or side with a despot?”

      1. Morning Phizz

        Are you going to apply for one of the vacancies on the BBC cookery show? I'm sure the nation would find your wisdom on all matters a delightful relief and highly entertaining, although I doubt if you eould survive more than two episodes before you were banned.

    1. Morning Johnny, a cloudless, windless 15C
      edit – thick harl coming in from the sea

    2. It's certainly no longer one for which I would rise a finger to defend.
      However, defending what was until 1990, a reasonably pleasant and civilised country is a different matter.

  7. 409493+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    They knew every step of the way this was a well planned coup from way back triggered by "miranda" with no holds barred evil, deadly, treacherous, intentions.
    48% of the nation signposted their stance regarding the future post 24/6/2016 they, in the main, formed the pro eu fifth column as witnessed, from the top down, as in, number 10 to the lowest form of life the
    condescending marshall adhering strictly to the 6'
    anti comforting space, the chair shifter, then, lest we forget the Queen sitting alone

    The number 10 current cartel has certainly proved that the political fish is no slouch having already rotted 100% head / 50% torso ALREADY.

    https://x.com/SandraWeeden/status/1945346324779434059

      1. Such a sad picture – one just wants to hug the little old lady, sitting all isolated.
        Queen or not Queen, still a person with feelings.

  8. Good morning all.
    Rain has paused, but a duller, overcast start with 16°C on the thermometer and a much cooler day all round yesterday, it didn't even reach 17½°C yesterday!

    Just about ready for heading off for the week, as the DT & welder son will both be at their respective jobs, I plan catching the 13:05 from outside the house and walking the last bit to Cromford Station.
    Then it's Nottingham, Norwich, Manningtree and Harwich International.

    3. Me too. A feverish recurring dream that I can make no sense of now that I’m awake. Coughing every time I had a sip of water during the night as well. Get dry mouth.

    4. I've had some bloody weird ones lately!
      More than a few conflating still being in the Army whilst going back to repairing trains at Eastleigh and continually forgetting to clock on!!!

    1. Pity the interpreters didnt fight the Taliban themselves as there were far more of them than our troops. They might have been more successful

      2. The standard of language teaching in AfGaff must be high; at least 50% of the population appear to be fluent English speakers.

    2. There are only 650 of the obviously useless idiots in Wastemonster, it's about time someone else drove them all out and took over.

    3. "Oh Yes It Was"
      The pantomime season opens earlier every year.
      2nd. April and runs until 31st. March.

    1. Might do once I've cut the grass and pressure washed the end of the drive which I cleared of moss yesterday😘

      2. Grass to take care of here, too, but first the mower battery needs charged. Time for another coffee!

  14. Morning, all Y'all.
    Sunny, humid – rain coming, based on the cloud cover.
    Hot last night, so slept with bedroom window open. Woke up covered in mosquito bites, so now I itch like a bastard, and am covered in red pimples… hey ho, back to adolescence…

    2. We use Onctose Hydrocortisone cream, which we can buy over the counter. We find it is very effective for mosquito bites s and other stings.

    3. Carefully apply hot water or a heated tea spoon. Not too hot, but hot enough to break down the histamines.

        1. Or you can get a nifty little device which sends a tiny jolt of electricity across the bite, confusing your body into forgetting to itch. (Hmm; that's probably not the most scientific explanation, but it works.)

          I bought mine in Boots several years ago and treasure it, as I've never seen one here. Hope yer Weegies have them!

    4. Carefully apply hot water or a heated tea spoon. Not too hot, but hot enough to break down the histamines.

    5. Carefully apply hot water or a heated tea spoon. Not too hot, but hot enough to break down the histamines.

  15. Good Morning!

    Today Graham Wood, in HUMAN RIGHTS – A WILL-O-THE -WISP , Graham Wood looks at what these rights might be and asks where, ultimately, they come from. This is an important question and not just an intellectual exercise as, if the answer is that they come from the government, then that gives the government the right to take them away.

    Graham Cunningham's entertaining opinion on the nature of conservatives in The Hitchhiker's Guide to Social Conservatism i s worth a read if you missed it, and 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.

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's electric power was sourced from Gas, 11.7%; Solar, 6.5%: Wind 35.9%; Imports, 19.3%; Biomass, 9.9%; Nuclear 14.2% and Miscellaneous, 2.6%.

  17. Good morning all. 15°C and partly cloudy on the Costa Clyde. I've just got to lob my bag in the car, swing by the butchers for pre-ordered supplies, before heading south to Walsall. I shall be attending the Lynyrd Skynyrd concert at the NEC this evening, tomorrow a small group of former airmen head down to Maidstone for the 'Maid in Stone' festival over the weekend. A good time will be had.

    2. So I'm not the only one travelling today!
      Somewhere round about 50y ago that I left 61 HQ Squadron, part of 36 Engineer Regiment at Maidstone, on posting to 23 Amphibious Engineer Squadron at Hameln.

    1. What you're going to need from now on is a home made food taster……😆😅😉

  20. Billy-Big-Time Jenrick has gone all quiet on his rages about migrants..

    Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick: Two years ago we undertook one of the largest evacuations in recent history, bringing 15,000 people

    1. I just can't believe how it seems that All of these idiots in politics have deliberately set out to wreck our lives and the future of our country.

  21. Queen becomes first female Vice Admiral of the United Kingdom
    Honorary appointment dates back to mid-16th century and celebrates Her Majesty’s long-standing interest in the Royal Navy

    The Queen will on Wednesday become the first woman and the first member of the Royal family to be appointed Vice Admiral of the UK.

    The honorary appointment, which dates back to the mid-16th century, was made in recognition of her ongoing support for the Royal Navy and the “high regard” in which she is held by all.

    Gen Sir Gwyn Jenkins, First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, said it would “further enhance Her Majesty’s relationship with the service”.

    The announcement was made ahead of the Queen’s attendance at a ceremony at Devonport in Plymouth, the UK’s biggest naval base, to mark the end of the first 15-year commission of HMS Astute.

    The Queen is Lady Sponsor of the submarine, and will join the ship’s company to celebrate the longest first commission of any Royal Navy submarine in history.

    Camilla, 77, named the hunter-killer sub in 2007 and watched it enter service three years later.

    Since then, the Queen has written to the 135-strong crew at least once a year, recently sending English breakfast tea and shortbread, which was “really well received on board”.

    Office created in 1513
    The office of Vice Admiral of the United Kingdom was created by Henry VIII in 1513 and the most recent holder was the former First Sea Lord and Chief of the Defence Staff, the late Adml Lord Boyce.

    Boyce died aged 79 in 2022, following an impressive naval career that took him from officer cadet to chief of the defence staff in 40 years.

    He succeeded Sir Donald Gosling, who died aged 90 in 2019, and who was made Vice Admiral of the United Kingdom by Elizabeth II in 2012, in acknowledgement of contribution to maritime life and the Royal Navy.

    With a deep love of the sea, he long campaigned for a new Royal Yacht Britannia and reportedly left £50 million in his will to the cause.

    Gen Sir Gwyn said: “We are honoured to welcome Her Majesty the Queen to HM Naval Base Devonport. Her Majesty’s visit has been a tremendous boost to morale, and the honorary appointment reflects the high regard in which Her Majesty is held by all of us.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2025/07/16/queen-appointed-first-female-vice-admiral-of-the-united-kin/

    Colleen Morrison
    6 min ago
    A birthday present from the king. What to give someone so rich they have everything. Camilla will be 78 tomorrow, for goodness sake, how can this possibly be appropriate? This is a ridiculous appointment which makes a mockery of our Royal Navy. edited

    Reply by Rosemary Led.

    RL

    Rosemary Led
    4 min ago
    My thoughts too. I am close to her in age and this is indeed inappropriate

        2. Arguably, if the old crones – the Queen Mother and some ancient Dowager Duchess – hadn't exercised their Victorian mores and practically forced Chuck into marrying Diana or someone of that ilk, then we would not have Woke William and Hairbrained Harry.
          Would another coupling have produced different/better heirs? Discuss.

      2. But if none of Henry VIII's wives after he divorced Katherine of Aragon were legitimate queens then where does this leave the succession? Who should have followed Henry VIII when Edward VI's mother was Jane Seymour and Elizabeth I's mother was Anne Boleyn?

        1. Anne and Katherine were dead when Henry married Jane Seymour. Mary Tudor succeeded Edward.

    2. What a pair of miseries. Adml Lord Boyce was appointed in 2019 and died in 2022 at the age of 79. There is no problem concerning the Queen's age. As for being rich that is classic socialist envy.

  22. Morning again 🙂😊
    Brightish cooler and we had some rain but it was only heavy drizzle.
    Who is the Despot mentioned in the headline ?
    Surely not Vlad.

  23. Do Afghans get along with Pakistani people.. do they get along with Indians , Somali's , Africans , Syrians , Iraqi's, Turks etc etc

    2. Afghans and Palestinians are inherently odious to the core which is why not one of the Arab states wants to accept any people from either Palestine or Afghanistan.

  24. 409493+ up ticks,

    Surely you should have the same sentiments for the veterans of Northern Ireland.

    Dt,
    Ben Wallace
    We could not betray Afghan allies who fought alongside us
    I make no apology for applying to the court for an injunction. It was not a cover up

    1. What is Reeve's accent?
      Her voice is flat and dreary, but something lurks in the background; not a speech pattern that one would expect a Lady Joicy to have.

        1. She appears to be femle.
          The Playmobile hair-do does make her look like a page in a mediaeval drama.

  26. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivered her second Mansion House speech on the evening of Tuesday 15 July 2025.
     https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/rachel-reeves-mansion-house-2025-speech

    Ai generated waffle-burger.. reality is 180 degrees opposite of what's she's touting.

    "Open for trade;
    Open for investment.
    why we must be willing to change how we do things to stay competitive in that global economy.
    We have swept away regulations;
    “In too many areas, regulation still acts as a boot on the neck of businesses, choking off the enterprise and innovation that is the lifeblood of growth.”
    continuing to protect financial stability…
    capitalise on the £200 billion opportunity of the global transition to net zero.

    1. The top tweet from Camilo is rather a facer. Looks like the UK is run now by the Supreme Soviet, deciding and overruling by decree. Where's the democracy in all that?

      1. Even the Russians – not exactly known for their bleeding hearts and adherence to "humanitarian" international law – abandoned AfGaff as just too difficult.

  31. Lord Farquard
    8h
    Odd that Japan has zero cases of MRGs.
    Perhaps Sadiq could send a task force over to Japan to figure out what their secret is, and bring the formula back here to be implemented.

    1. Slap on wrist – poor fellow didn't know the local rules were different from those he was used to .

      Come on – one has to make allowances…

      1. Who are we …. evil, colonialist, racist whitey who only advanced from the Stone Age thanks to input from Effrika ….. to criticise time honoured cultural practices?

    2. He doesn't look Ethiopian , I mean how do our authorities know who people are if they are with out ID?

      I'd say he is Southern Sudanese or Ugandan ?

      1. He's from over that side of Effrika.
        The women here haven't been had their bits butchered and then sewn up.
        Makes life so much easier.

    4. I suspect that part of the sales pitch of the traffickers includes the promise that there will be hordes of available and willing women available to slake their lust.

      1. Actually Rastus, I have seen a video that's for those coming over illegally. It shows young English school girls as one of the attraction of the UK.

  34. George Finchley
    6h
    So let me get this straight… Reeves flipped between two homes, rented one out, banked the gains, then wiped the address history from Companies House, and now she wants to lecture the rest of us on “fairness”?
    Spare us the sermon, Rachel. You played the same property game you now want to tax. That’s fine, but don’t pretend it makes you some moral crusader for working people.

    Funny how the taxman’s rules never seem to bite until after politicians have cashed out, isn't it? And deleting an old address just before wealth tax talk ramps up? Pure coincidence, I’m sure.

    Publish the tax returns and prove you paid every penny. Or drop the act. You’re not Robin Hood, you’re the Sheriff of Mansion House.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9317c9c21a14fe06f3aa85b79b8808e45f7d132ca5072e92c126a689b47771a6.png

    1. Thieves would like us to take a risk with our savings so that the government can tax the profits. Of course, if the market crashes, you will carry the loss alone. Given that investors are not considered 'working people' she can stuff off.

  36. Re the Afghan debacle – why has nobody asked why on Earth was such sensitive data in a spreadsheet in the first place. That is not what spreadsheets are for! It should have been in a proper, formal, secure database.

    1. If I wanted to keep / leak that kind of data, locked away in a database, I'd make a report that downloads to a spreadsheet, so I can sort, count the number of those called "Khan" or whatever. I can then email it to myself nice 'n easy.

    2. Is there any evidence that the email actually went anywhere near the Taliban, or just posted to a recipient outside the normal secure government net. Something smells worse than the dried salted fish I have sitting in my kitchen.

  38. From yesterday evening:

    Fears over riots after secret asylum scheme made public

    Ministry of Defence told co-operation needed with government departments to 'mitigate any risk of disorder'

    Tony Diver, Associate Political Editor; Gareth Corfield
    15 July 2025 2:50pm BST

    Ministers fear riots will break out in Britain after the news that a secret resettlement scheme for Afghans was kept hidden from the public.

    After a superinjunction was lifted on Tuesday, it was revealed that the identities of 25,000 Afghans, including soldiers who had worked with UK forces in the country and their families, had been accidentally leaked following a blunder by the British military in February 2022.

    The leak prompted ministers to evacuate more than 4,500 Afghan soldiers and their relatives and relocate them in the UK under the Afghanistan Response Route scheme. A further 2,400 are eligible for the scheme, but have yet to travel.

    The Afghans have been settled in military accommodation and hotels across Britain at a cost of £400 million, with a total of £7 billion earmarked for the plans.

    However, the previous Conservative government successfully obtained a superinjunction that blocked news outlets from reporting the story, leaving the public baffled about sudden influxes of migrants to their areas.

    A Whitehall briefing note circulated on July 4, seen by The Telegraph, warned that when the injunction was lifted, the Ministry of Defence would need to "work with colleagues across Government … to mitigate any risk of public disorder following the discharge of the injunction".

    All government departments have been warned that the public could lash out after learning about the scheme.

    Officials argued in court that revealing the leak would endanger Afghans on the list. The MoD said the individuals would be at risk of revenge attacks by the Taliban, which took control of Afghanistan following the withdrawal of British and American forces in August 2021.

    However, the superinjunction has now been lifted, with judges arguing that the Taliban would be likely to know about the list by now, and that many of the Afghans eligible for the scheme had already been brought to the UK.

    At one stage earlier this year, 20 per cent of MoD property was allocated over to housing those in the scheme, it can now be revealed.

    Documents from earlier this month said the Home Office had advised government departments that "such a risk [of riots] is higher during the summer period".

    Officials are hoping to avoid a repeat of last summer's anti-immigration civil unrest, which lasted for six days. The riots, encouraged by far-Right groups, followed the mass stabbing of girls at a dance class in Southport.

    The disorder resulted in more than 1,200 arrests and dozens of convictions. Sir Keir Starmer condemned the episode as the "actions of a tiny, mindless minority in our society", and announced the creation of a new violent disorder unit in response.

    It can now be revealed that a briefing paper circulated to Cabinet ministers two months later said the riot hotspots were largely in places where there had been a high number of Afghan arrivals.

    In the document, seen by The Telegraph, an official said: "The recent far-Right disorder targeting asylum seekers and Muslim communities was the worst outbreak of racial violence in the UK for decades. We know that 15 out of the 20 primary disorder hotspots are in the top 20 per cent of local authorities with the highest numbers of supported asylum seekers and Afghan resettlement arrivals."

    The statistic has fuelled fears that more civil unrest could now break out. It is understood Downing Street was monitoring the prospect of further riots on Tuesday.

    Whitehall sources said decisions about individual towns and cities that could be affected would be left to police forces. It is understood that there has not been a government directive for police to prepare for riots.

    The emergency resettlement scheme has now been closed down following the conclusion of an official review after Labour took office last July.

    John Healey, the Defence Secretary, said he was "deeply concerned about the lack of transparency to Parliament and to the public" when he heard about the leak and resettlement scheme, and apologised on behalf of the Government.

    He added that the Government had tried to contact every person on the list to warn them about the data leak and offer them asylum, and that the MoD's computer systems had since been updated to make them more secure.

    Mr Healey said: "This serious data incident should never have happened. It may have occurred three years ago under the previous government, but to all those whose information was compromised, I offer a sincere apology today on behalf of the British Government, and I trust the shadow defence secretary, as a former defence minister, will join me."

    A Downing Street spokesman said: "It's part of government business to continually assess the impact of government policy, and matters of significance such as this, and the impact that this might have on the public. "I'm sure that's something we are working on very closely across departments."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/15/ministers-fear-riots-secret-afghan-asylum-scheme-public-uk

    Healey had a difficult job. He's a member of a government which makes a show of not being critical of immigration, even if some its members might be privately worried. He knew that criticising the Tories because it happened on their watch would not impress the British public. He also knew that Afghans are here because of the UK's involvement in George Bush Jnr's demented quest for revenge when Labour was previously in office.

    The report says Afghans have been settled in military accommodation and hotels. In other words, they've been put in the same places as some of the Channel invaders. If it is shown that recent sexual assaults by migrants can be attributed to Afghans who were supposed to be 'on our side', matters will get very messy. Did Healey think that being contrite would calm the nation?

    PS As Phizzee pointed out in reponse, the police inspectorate said this wasn't 'co-ordinated by the far-right'.
    https://freespeechunion.org/southport-riot-report-undermines-far-right-narrative-but-opens-door-to-speech-crackdown

    1. Suggest they find a place in the Scottish Highlands. There are a lot of hills in Afghanistan – and one would want them to feel at home….

    2. My memory may be flawed, age etc, but weren't these Afghan soldiers trained to 'defend' their country in advance of the planned Allies' military withdrawal.

      They had the capability and materiel to defend their country independently for the X coming years bequeathed to them by the departing US and UK forces?

      Again, as I recall, the Taliban, promptly overran the country immediately following the withdrawal without a shot being fired!!

  39. You’re receiving this email because you signed the petition: “Review possible penalties for social media posts, including the use of prison”.

    Dear Richard Tracey,

    You recently signed the petition “Review possible penalties for social media posts, including the use of prison”:
    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/728715

    The Petitions Committee (the group of MPs who oversee the petitions system) has considered the Government’s response to this petition. They felt the response did not respond directly to the request of the petition. They have therefore asked the Government to provide a revised response.

    When the Committee receives a revised response from the Government, we will publish this and share it with you.

    Thanks,

    The Petitions Team
    House of C

    I WONDER IF THE 'REVISED RESPONSE' WILL RESPOND MORE DIRECTLY?

    We shall see!

    1. Yes, "h'mmmm" was my reaction.
      However, let's see if the committee wrangles a better response out of the fools.

    2. For far too long government has used social media as a scapegoat for it's own enforced, systemic failure.

      The failure is the destruction of the nuclear family. It is the largesse of the state it is mass welfare. It is massive, uncontrolled, utterly unwanted gimmigration. It is the destruction of jobs through 'net zero'. It is the lack of respect for our society and traditions.

      What someone says on the internet is irrelevant. What they do is what matters. If big fat state were not so terrified of the truth of their utter, abject mindless destruction of our country being talked about then they wouldn't be trying to silence people angry at what the evil, vicious Left wing state has done.

      Go arrest some black diversity stabbing one another, or some pakistani paedophile rapists instead of policing hurty words on twitter for your numbers.

      Government has created this mess intentionally. The solution is difficult, but necessary.

      1. The first step is total renovation of government, to be democratic and respect the indigenous who actually live and pay for the country. Renovate – tear down and rebuild in good shape.

  40. Good Moaning.
    Smugness reigns supreme at the Dower House.
    Our house painter (no, NOT that one) has spruced up doors, windows etc…. apart from the back door which is a more complicated job.
    Currently I feel like The Queen (EIIR). Everywhere I go smells of fresh paint.

  43. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/15/britain-is-no-longer-a-civilised-country-crime-shoplifting/

    What did the Left think would happen when they forced twenty million gimmigrants on us? With welfare at an all time high, with a clearly two tier justice system, a huge pile of utter wasters not contributing but given everything what attitude did the Left think would be fostered?

    It wasn't going to one of work and effort. It was one of dependence, violence, a I want it so I'll take it culture – because that's what the diversity has been taught.

    I remember being given too much change for a co-op shop one day. The next I went back to tell them and give them the money back. These days a diversity walks into a shop, takes what they like and walks out and plod DO NOTHING.

    It's always the damned diversity. They are a plague, a cancer. Nothing but pollution.

    2. ..without a shot being fired, they turned their attention, like any conquering army, to the schools. Here they went fully Pol Pot, doing a comprehensive year-zero job on the curriculum so that kids would know their parents were all racists. Apart from those with “unconscious bias”. Who were racists as well.

      You probably think, because you don’t know this war is going on, that when you drop little Johnny off at the school gates he’s going to learn the nine times table that day. No, he isn’t. He’s learning that he might actually be a girl, which is why there are probably tampon dispensers in the boys’ lavatories.

      Jeremy Clarkson

      1. This is partly why the Left went for private schools. They can't completely control them, so they had to be destroyed.

        1. Private schools just as bad.
          Matt Goodwin reckons 95% of teachers & lecturers in academia are full-on commie cultural Marxists. Whereas in the 70s through 90s it was about 40/60 split.

        2. Private schools just as bad.
          Matt Goodwin reckons 95% of teachers & lecturers in academia are full-on commie cultural Marxists. Whereas in the 70s through 90s it was about 40/60 split.

    1. It won't end until the Left are stopped. Until the public can control the state and force the deportation of the vermin horde of useless diversity savages.

        1. Progressive Liberals.
          Remove the Progs from power.. all the self-harming problems disappear overnight.

        2. But Bill. They were not Tories. That was the problem and that is why people like me, for the first time in their lives, refused to vote for them.

        3. They are all the same Bill, I don't think there is one politician who could be classified as totally honest. Yes minister, Yes Prime minister and House of Cards.
          All hit the spot.

        4. The Tories became left wing bit by bit after Thatcher. and look at them now. traitors in my eyes.

          1. Spot on. Our "Tory" MP is an eco-freak imp Dumb. Welcomes illegal migrants; 100% behind net zero.

          2. We've got a card carrying Limp Dim. After centuries of true blue voting. I suppose people thought they might as well vote that way and know what they were getting.

        5. The Tories lurched to the left a long time ago. They were a safe haven for the Limp Dumbs amongst them. That’s why they’re indiscernible from them.

    2. Why do you think British governments of every stripe deliberately disarmed the law abiding?
      Nowadays, only selected state employees have access to effective fire power.
      And, of course, criminals.

      1. 409493+ up ticks,

        Morning Anne,

        There are more ways to skin a political cat,
        Guile with a smile will win by a mile.

  46. Finally, the ineptitude I saw first-hand has been exposed

    We have let in Afghans with only tenuous links to the UK, while others who fought bravely for us are excluded

    Johnny Mercer
    15 July 2025 10:05pm BST

    Now the public can see for the first time the true scale of the ineptitude of the British state, through two successive governments, concerning Afghanistan.

    Even after the loss of 457 British personnel, and the billions of pounds it cost to prosecute, the war in Afghanistan reveals yet another cataclysmic skeleton in the cupboard when it comes to how we have treated our Afghan allies.

    It is mind-boggling that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) could email a spreadsheet of all those with ties to the British state to an Afghan national, over the internet, to post on Facebook for the Taliban to see. But not for me.

    Whilst there will no doubt be a rush to blame the individual who sent it (I know who he is), it would be entirely unfair and wrong to do so. Because I can honestly say this whole farcical process has been the most hapless display of incompetence by successive ministers and officials that I saw in my time in government, of which this poor individual was just the end of the line.

    I was subject to the injunction. I created and ran an Afghan task force to rehome eligible Afghans under Rishi Sunak, the then prime minister.

    The Home Office, the MoD, the Department for Levelling Up and the Foreign Office just could not seem to work together; the prime minister asked me to try and unblock it from my neutral position in the Cabinet Office.

    I had also made no secret of my desire to relocate Afghan special forces personnel from that country to this in the wake of August 2021. I stand by that wholeheartedly. These brave souls fought alongside us cheek by jowl – they carried the stretchers of dead UK soldiers, they fought hard and battled bravely.

    But there were only ever about 1,000-1,200 badged members of CF 333 and CF444. I couldn't understand where all these Afghans were coming from.

    I had no idea why the injunction existed in the first place; the list had appeared on Facebook and everyone, including the media, seemed to know about it. Officials seemed to get a bit of a kick out of something being "Top Secret".

    I thought it was weird, and it wasn't a secret. It was a direct result of the chaos that engulfed the MoD at the end of the Afghanistan war.

    Those on the ground during Op Pitting saw awful things, were incredibly brave and saved thousands of lives. I also saw how hard Ben Wallace worked to do the right thing.

    But since then, it has been terrible. The MoD has tried at every turn to cut off those from Afghan special forces units from coming to the UK for reasons I cannot fathom.

    They also lied to themselves about doing it. The UK's director of Special Forces told me personally that he was offended and angry by my suggestion that his organisation was blocking the Triples.

    In the passage of this injunction being lifted it has emerged one individual UKSF Officer rejected 1,585 applications by himself.

    Certain MoD ministers had a criminal lack of professional curiosity as to why the Triples were being rejected when there were so many subject matter experts who said they clearly should be eligible.

    When I contradicted them, one "friend" made an official complaint to the Cabinet Office permanent secretary about me not being "collegiate", or going along with government policy.

    I had to inform them that they were directly lying to Parliament, and any statement I made publicly would repeat that. I think the whips told him to piss off too after he went moaning to them about me.

    And the net result of this spectacular cluster is that we've let into this country thousands with little or tenuous links to the UK, and still some Afghan special forces we set up the bloody schemes for remain trapped in Afghanistan, Pakistan or worse, Iran.

    I feel furious, sad and bitter about the whole thing, and do as much as I can to get through each day not thinking about Afghanistan.

    But some don't have that luxury. Naveed, a sergeant from Commando Force 333, a partnering unit of Task Force 42, a British SBS Task Force who I was with in Afghanistan in 2008-09, thinks about it every day.

    Every day his comrades still reach out to him, thinking I can do something about it. His parents and immediate family, despite being under significant threat, remain in Afghanistan, three times rejected from resettlement pathways.

    I am ashamed of the MoD and how they have acted on these schemes for three years now. I don't think it is a conspiracy surrounding the Afghan inquiry – that sort of thing requires a level of competence I have never seen in either UK Special Forces or the MoD.

    Even now, there are brave folk in Afghanistan who soldiered alongside elite troops from this country prosecuting the highest level of UK objectives in Afghanistan, who are still hiding from the Taliban.

    I secured a review of all Afghan special forces applications after I pointed out that they were all being rejected in February 2024. It was supposed to take 12 weeks. Seventy-nine weeks later, that review is yet to report. I've promised Naveed I will get his family too.

    Short of hiring a Land Rover and going for it, I'm running out of ideas.

    Johnny Mercer is a former minister for veterans' affairs

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/15/johnny-mercer-ineptitude-of-british-state-exposed

    1. God help all those who work for us whether they be Afghans who helped us and face death, or our troops who fought in Northern Ireland and elsewhere and are about to be betrayed by our government.

    2. Why must they come here? I came out of the Tesco and there's some dindu outside with a hood up and hat on looking shifty as all heck when everyone else was suffering under burning heat.

      There's no reason for them to be in this country. They have to be made to leave.

  47. The Hindu Kush will be quiet now,
    silence will come to the ancient lands.
    The roar of the planes
    will fade in the night
    as we depart Afghanistan.

    The scholars will chide us
    and the pundits will pan,
    why did we stay so long
    when we should have been gone—
    gone from Afghanistan.

    But the fight was a good one,
    noble and right,
    no matter how long it took.
    Not a soul has been lost on American soil,
    not a single building shook.
    For 20 years our people were safe,
    living their lives in peace,
    raising their families across the land,
    because our soldiers fought—
    fought in Afghanistan.

    It was a tragic waste, some will say,
    the loss of so many men.
    The rows and rows of headstones
    on the graves at Arlington.
    But a noble life is never a loss,
    no matter where they may fall.
    To the soldier who did their duty,
    they’re a hero forever, for all.

    Make no mistake about it,
    we came for a righteous cause.
    We fought with courage and conviction.
    We fought for the betterment of all.
    And for those who cheer our final days,
    be careful about what you wish.
    For the fate of the Afghan people
    is unlikely to be filled with bliss.

    The children will weep as their future fades
    and old women will cry to their men.
    “They weren’t so bad,”
    the elders will say,
    as we depart Afghanistan.

    We pray for the people of Afghanistan,
    they are warm and kindly souls.
    We pray that their future
    will be filled with success
    as the days and years unfold.

    I hope those we saved will remember us,
    and the innocents we harmed will forgive.
    But to those who bore arms against us,
    may you regret each day that you live.

    The winds will howl through the vacant FOBs,
    through the plywood and houses of tin.
    The tarmacs will rot
    in the noonday sun
    as we depart Afghanistan.

    Some will say it was right.
    Some will say it was wrong.
    Let the history books decide.
    But every soldier did their best,
    of that, no one can deny.

    We ache for those warriors we lost
    and the loved ones who bear the pain.
    If only we could have saved them all,
    and brought them home again.

    The Hindu Kush will be quiet now
    and silence will come to the ancient lands.
    For those who served
    let there be no regrets
    as we depart Afghanistan.

    https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2024/05/poem-william-h-mcraven-departing-afghanistan/678511/

  48. Morning all! Weather, going to hit 80f here this afternoon. I was naive enough to think the heat was done. But it seems it's taking a curtain call.

    With regard to todays letter. I suggest that it is hot air from Trump. The Europeans have to pay for the weaponry of Ukraine. I'm sure that they are falling all over themselves and each other to cough up the requisite billions for Zelensky.

    An answer for Conway. In this country the answer is foxes and owls. There are other natural predators but they have to be reintroduced to the UK since we have wiped them out.

    No doubt you are familier with this story. What is particularly informative here is the reading list that the pupilos of this school are subjected to. One might assume its pretty representative of all schools in the UK run by the gruberment.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cJ8O9hBqzs UNION JACK GIRL: SCHOOL READING LIST

    1. We're promised 30C here today, which is about 85F, I guess.
      As there's nobody in the office, I just took a day off & cut the grass. Now sitting in the shade, enjoying the peace of "Fellesferie", common holiday – the UK used to have them, I recall Leicester having a "Leicester Fortnight" when everybody took summer vacation. Norway, being one of the most advanced societies on Earth, does the same (except for a few bus drivers).
      Back to the future, eh?

      2. It's over 60'c here. That might be an exaggeration but not too much of one.

        Humidity of 120%

  50. Starmer is sacrificing our troops on the altar of human rights law

    It is outrageous that the Government is seeking to create a moral equivalence between IRA killers and the SAS heroes who outwitted them

    Allison Pearson • 15 July 2025

    Soldiers are known for marching, either in ceremonial array or drilling for battle, but they wouldn't normally be seen dead on a "march". They leave the protests to civilians. But things are not normal, alarmingly far from normal in fact, so here we all are. The Northern Ireland veterans who gathered in Parliament Square on Monday feel they are under attack from their own Government. Threatened repeal of the Legacy Act once again opens up the prospect of men in their 70s being prosecuted – I typed "persecuted" which is nearer the mark – for serving Queen and country in Operation Banner over 40 years ago.

    It was a glorious afternoon in central London, but the threat of vindictive "lawfare" cast a long shadow over the old boys, their faces etched with betrayal. Now, they came together for one last battle.

    In brief, the Government now claims that the Legacy Act, introduced by the Conservatives to draw a line under vexatious cases against military personnel, is "unlawful" – incompatible with various articles of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), according to the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal. There is no obligation for Parliament to make amends to the Act. The move to do so appears to come from the Attorney General, Lord Hermer, and his commitment to adhere to international law at any cost, no matter if the British Parliament ends up shafting our own people. (Lord Hermer probably thinks it's "far-Right" to even suggest there is such a thing as "our own people").

    Just to add insult to so many horrific, lifelong injuries, repealing the Act would open the door to compensation for hundreds of suspected Republicans who were imprisoned, including the former Sinn Fein leader, potentially totalling many millions of taxpayer-funded pounds.

    Gerry Adams, who is facing claims in the High Court that he sat on the IRA Army Council when it directed three terrorist attacks in England, was formerly represented in this case by – *checks notes* – Attorney General Lord Hermer.

    Don't worry, folks, I'm sure having had the now senior legal advisor to the Crown help Gerry Adams is no biggie.

    Unlike international human rights experts, British soldiers tend to be straightforward, patriotic souls: they prefer the fog of war to the bog of law. At least in war the enemy is clearly on the other side.

    What side are Sir Keir Starmer, Lord Hermer and the Labour Government on? Chatting to groups of comrades from the Parachute Regiment, Royal Artillery and Fusiliers, I was left in no doubt as to what they think. The mood towards the Prime Minster and Attorney General can best be summed up in two words: Fix bayonets.

    It is this latest, and perhaps worst, example of Starmer's two-tier justice that is causing so much resentment. A public petition was signed by over 175,000 people who feel strongly that those who served this country should not be treated worse than the murderers they defeated. The veterans were assembled for the debate in Westminster Hall, which that petition triggered.

    "They let hundreds of IRA terrorists off, and we're being prosecuted for doing our job," says Paul, who did 10 tours of Northern Ireland with the Parachute Regiment. "It's a double standard. They want a fall guy, they want to put a Para inside – they're appeasing the terrorists."

    "It's revenge for Bloody Sunday," his mate Jonno chips in. "There have been so many investigations over the years and everyone was cleared. How many times do we have to be put through this?"

    Dave, the third member of the trio, impeccable in their bemedalled blazers and berets, reckons it all dates back to Starmer's visit to Stormont shortly after his general election victory last July. "It's political," he says curtly. "The Labour Party is giving Sinn Fein what they want. They're out to get a scapegoat, and they won't stop until they get someone."

    In what other profession are former junior employees held to account for their actions, threatened with imprisonment and judged according to entirely different standards almost half a century later? Not the law or politics, that's for sure.

    Paul, Jonno and Dave were scared kids when they were first posted to Northern Ireland. "We were 17, 18 years old." It was 1981, and the IRA hunger strikes were going on. There were months of riots, shootings and bombings, and the wet-behind-the-ears recruits had to deal with the uneasy ordeal of being hated and under attack on British soil. "You didn't sleep for six weeks – just on constant duty," Paul recalls. He says they grabbed what rest they could in the back of a bus in Andersonstown in west Belfast. "I slept in a garden," Jonno grimaces.

    They had a yellow card with strict rules for opening fire. "We always had to give a warning – three warnings," says Dave. "'Army! Stop or I'll fire!' If they were running away you couldn't engage them."

    "The terrorists didn't have any rules," says Paul bitterly.

    No, they did not. Lest we forget, the IRA murdered 700 British soldiers (319 RUC officers lost their lives), and under Tony Blair's Good Friday Agreement they were granted immunity. So-called "letters of comfort" protected terrorists from future prosecution. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but it was bearable as long as there was fairness.

    "If you're giving amnesty to the enemy, why wouldn't you do the same for our soldiers? It's contemptible," says Col Nick Kitson (DSO) who served with the British Army in Northern Ireland, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and is a former 22 SAS Commander.

    A decorated war hero, suave, silver fox Col Kitson was part of a formidable group of SAS veterans at Westminster on Monday. You can tell things are very grave indeed when our Special Forces break cover. They were there because they can see how European human rights law is "making good guys the bad guys", and putting national security in peril. Others in the group included George Simm, redoubtable Geordie, former regimental sergeant major of the SAS and my new favourite human. Put it this way, when the next English civil war breaks out, I'm going to be wherever George is, cowering behind his mighty, reassuring form. I've promised I'll make the sandwiches.

    Also striding across the road to the debate in Westminster Hall was Falklands War legend Aldwin Wight, commanding officer of 22 SAS from 1992 to 1994. Brigadier Wight wrote an excoriating open missive (missile, I should say) back in May, in which he took aim at a spineless establishment that is woefully ignorant of the extreme circumstances soldiers face in the line of fire. "The trust between veterans and their former employer, the Government, is broken," he thundered, pointing out the absurdity of a situation where "the employer, the Government, gives funds to lawyers to take out cases against the soldiers that work for the Government."

    An equally incredulous George Simm reports that the SAS sought legal advice and was told that Northern Ireland soldiers cannot benefit from human rights legislation that assists terrorists. In practice, this keeps the lawyers' gravy train (a richly-upholstered Orient Express rather than a Standard-class puffer) chugging along.

    George gave me an example of one SAS mission in Afghanistan. The objective was to extract a notorious bombmaker alive. The Regiment took pains to protect innocent people, putting themselves at greater risk, but there was "a mad firefight in the dark, bullets zinging everywhere", and the bombmaker was killed. "Investigators at the time found that what happened was reasonable in the context. However, years later, lawyers encouraged Afghan families to bring a prosecution, telling them they had a case under ECHR laws."

    In other words, British human rights lawyers are actively touting for business among our enemies in order to enrich themselves and to hell with our armed forces. I call that treason. It's hard to think of any other country which would engage in such a wicked act of self-harm. Still, it seemed to get a thumbs up from Lord Hermer when he praised the disgraced solicitor Phil Shiner whose claims of war crimes by British soldiers were rejected by the High Court. In March 2015, when Shiner was placed under investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) after a judge said that his claims of soldier wrongdoing were "deliberate lies, reckless speculation and ingrained hostility", Hermer enthused at a legal event that "Phil has caused the Government a great deal of aggravation over the last 15 years. He's brought successfully some extraordinarily important cases that have exposed systemic use of torture, for example, by the British Army in Iraq." (Allies of Hermer have pointed out that he subsequently condemned Shiner for his reprehensible behaviour.)

    With people in charge who revel in the shaming of our Army – with a few grim exceptions, one of the most honourable in the world – is it any wonder that the forces face a recruitment crisis? What parents are going to allow their son or daughter to sign up when they might face prosecution for simply doing their duty?

    So far, as Justice for Veterans points out, the Government is repealing an Act which is the only thing which gives soldiers protection, leaving them with anxiety and uncertainty. The campaign group is calling for an act that protects soldiers from the legal gravy train and vexatious pursuit. And for the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) and International humanitarian law to supersede the Human Rights Act as the guiding principles for the "rules of engagement". Hear, hear, say the British people. The human rights of terrorists must not be allowed to hold our brave soldiers to ransom.

    As David Davis MP said later in a thrillingly good speech at the debate, "The Prime Minister dismissed it as 'political point scoring'. He is wrong; it is a matter of justice, a matter of ensuring that those who risked their lives to protect our citizens during the Troubles know that the state stands behind them… Getting this right is not just a matter of historical justice. The legal witch hunt will not end in Northern Ireland; it will cast a shadow over every future conflict."

    The soldier sitting next to me was clearly moved, but refused to cry. He turned to me and said, "Normally, we wouldn't wear berets indoors, but we want them to know who we are." Oh, they know who you are, and we won't let them forget you.

    One last thought. As a nation, we don't have many areas of expertise, bordering on genius, left. Acting is one, the SAS is another. Internationally renowned, relied upon and trusted in a way Starmer's far-Left Government could never be, the threat to the Special Forces is now ringing alarm bells amongst our allies. I am told the US is appalled by what is happening to the SAS: Generals Mike Flynn and Stan McChrystal have both expressed their concerns.

    It is outrageous that the Government is seeking to create some sort of moral equivalence between IRA killers and the SAS heroes who outwitted them, fighting with almost superhuman resourcefulness and courage. All the bombs that didn't go off, all those who might have died but who lived to tell the tale. We will never know what we owe them, but gratitude is the very least of it.

    Labour has upset the farmers, the fishermen, the pensioners, the disabled, the small business people, the rich, the oil and steelworkers… Well, this time, they picked a fight with giants.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/15/starmer-sacrificing-british-troops-on-altar-of-human-rights

    1. If I were Lt Col in the Army, I would be in my COs office today, resigning my Commission in utter disgust at the way the politicians are treating the veterans. How often were the politicians under fire? There is no way I could continue to serve under such conditions. I hope the rest of the Army joins in.

    2. The HRA was designed to give the state the power to allow the diversity rape of this country.

      1. It’s worse than that. It can be used to override any piece of legislation ever passed.

  54. The way forward for children .

    In autumn 2024, there were an estimated 111,700 children in England being home educated, according to GOV.UK. This is an increase from 92,000 in the previous year. These figures represent the total number of children home educated on the census date, not just those new to it.

    2. I used to know someone who home schooled her daughter because the child had severe autism and their local authority offered only a regular school place. The poor little lass hid at the back of the classroom because the whole set up terrified her. Her mother gave up her job as an accountant and with careful nurture, the daughter made a lot of progress, though the strain of it all kyboshed her parent's marriage.

      1. There were almost no firearms in private ownership back then, certainly not enough to start a revolution.
        Even then, there were so many more criminally-held guns.
        When I exported my guns, the police said "Good job" when I went and provided evidence the guns were gone.
        "When guns are outlawed, only the outlaws will have guns!" – and so it has proved.

        1. From the archives…

          In 2017, a railway periodical ran a short piece on Irish Nationalist attacks on Britain's railways during the War of Independence in 1920/21. Near midnight on the 19th June 1921, Edward Axon, a signalman of 35 years' service at Marple Wharf Bridge cabin, was shot at several times, two of the bullets wounding him. Hearing the shots, a neighbouring resident came to the scene with a loaded revolver, followed by his son with a shotgun (those were the days…). The gunmen escaped; Axon survived his injuries.

      3. If I had a gun Southampton's population would rapidly shrink to a few hundred.

        It's not a good idea.

        1. Guns were more available during my youth.
          I felt a damn sight safer then than I do now.

    2. The UN is incompetent. If you request, say, 50 SA80 rifles it will send the rifles. No ammunition, gun oil, cleaning kit or spares. Chances are they won't even have a stock or magazine.

      If you ask for vehicles they send the vehicle – sans tyres, fuel, battery and often with incompatible set up for the region.

      It is an incompetent, groaning bureaucracy that employs an awful lot of people who do absolutely no thinking whatsoever – because it isn't their money. The UN is pointless. Another rabidly antisemitic, irrelevant organisation.

    1. Way back when I moved to Aberdeen, the haar always frustrated me. You could see that it was a lovely day, because the sun shone on the tops of the tower blocks, but in the town it was damp and chilly. If you were a mile or two inland, Aberdeen looked like a grey cloud – as you see from your picture.
      A pity, 'cos I really liked the place. Nearly became fit like, too.

    2. 3.6% ?? Bollox,what on 55inch tv's??
      My food shop is up at least 10% and on many items up 20%
      It's all a confected fantasy

      1. Every single media said 'unexpected' when in truth, everyone expected it, everyone saw it coming as it was damned obvious what massive tax hikes would do to the economy.

        The 'unexpected' is simply from the hard Left press statement spewed out by the Treasury to salve their embarrassment and incompetence.

    1. I can still reach my foot but I don't think I'd want to suck my toe……….. I think it my be just out of range now. I can lift it most of the way up. Not bad at 77.

  59. Out for lunch today with the old office crowd. We usually go to a different local pub each time and today it's one I haven't been to for ages – in fact the last time may have been the time we met Hertslass and D for lunch in 2017………..

    I was thinking about that and the David Shepherd elephant plate which HL gave me is still on the wall in the conservatory……. I've just received two canvas prints of a more recent elephant I saw in 2024. I've ordered them as a housewarming present for my son – I'm going to see him early in September in his new home.

  60. Good afternoon, all. Cloudy and breezy heatwave here.😉

    Silly items from X.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/082b30cd60d592af09e62bd60fa38dc1798fbcb0ba59132b73143284f3f416bb.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7fd7dc0587a1af8edf336923de13aeaaa997c333f2fc65314ee44098a18e95f6.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9e3546ae84b31a624eafead3843563df3b04c0a7d3a31513fef17db1e43906bf.png
    KtK does not endorse the following.😇
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/93a04adbe99f03d04ab3deb3bf5b0d7df705935e1bd64362bc411d8207baf961.png

    1. Our police station was broken into and the toilet stolen – the police, when asked if they'd caught the thief said no they haven't got anything to go on

  62. Amended plan.
    Time between the bus and 13:20 train is a bit tight, so I'm walking down to the station.
    Logging off and might see you later!
    TTFN

    1. 409493 + up ticks,

      O2O,
      I am seriously wondering just what it will take to trigger mass countrywide
      seemingly justified unrest, what with the mass rape & abuse of children ongoing, and the torture of the elderly
      hastening death and serious suffering.

  64. Just moved to sit in the garden, and there's a rumble of thunder… sigh… and now drops of rain! So, now I'm back indoors.

    1. As if most of the world is pissed with Israel isn't enough, they have to widen the conflict.
      What triggered them this time?

      1. Since the fall of the Assad regime, I guess Syria has become a terrorist hotbed.

      2. Threatening Southern Syria which has become a refuge for the Druze and the Christians against Jolani’s troops which are nothing more than a manifestation of Islamic State. Israel has insisted that the area be a buffer and a refuge against the killers.

    2. As if most of the world is pissed with Israel isn't enough, they have to widen the conflict.
      What triggered them this time?

  66. Might I now ask if the Illegal Migrants Small Boat Channel Rescue Policy is totally deliberate and an integral part of Operation Rubific, and that the 'people smugglers' have been co-opted by the Govt?

    1. Haven't the "people smugglers" operated out of Whitehall since 1997? Another conspiracy theory slowly revealing itself as, if not 100%, then still mostly true.

  67. Might I now ask if the Illegal Migrants Small Boat Channel Rescue Policy is totally deliberate and an integral part of Operation Rubific, and that the 'people smugglers' have been co-opted by the Govt?

    1. Supposedly there was a live Enigma machine in Switzerland during WWII, operated within the Lucy network, but of course it would have been infinitely risky to have analysed the settings for them to be transmitted to the UK in real time.

    2. Pretty much what her every dribbling waffle presents. She will announce heavy tax cuts, more waste, some pointless irrelevant 'spending' and a lot on 'climate change'.

      What will happen:

      Unemployment will rise. The economy will fall into recession, debt with soar, inflation will keep going up.

      I know this dumb bint doesn't write the actual budget, or really understand it, but the Treasury and OBR, who do write it cannot be this stupid. We must, must cut taxes and put the state through a blender. Why do these useless institutions continue to ensure we do the wrong thing? The only solution I could come to is 'it's deliberate'. That they're intentionally driving the country into the ground.

  71. Since the 787 is virtually preprogammed to take off by itself (V1,Vr and V2 are preset before takeoff) I reckoned Artificial Intelligence would be able to say what a 787 computer would do following a dual engine failure immediately after takeoff.

    Google AI responded by repeating my question as if it couldn't believe I had actually asked such a stupid question.

    I do note however that the 787 has bleedless main engine starters which means it uses an electric starter instead of pressurised air from an APU to get the fan blades running fast enough on both engines to feed the fuel. In that respect it is just like my old series one Land Rover which I always turned manually on the starting handle to preserve the limited power.from the ageing battery.

    Note: APU is Auxiliary Power Unit and not the Indian immigrant on the Simpsons.

        1. Not uncommon in older diesels at startup and when the engine is not fully warmed up.

    3. I used to work for the company which made the thermostatic valves for the cooling system on them

    4. Actually – what you are seeing is a diesel charging batteries on electric cars.

    1. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3fa39bf46faa1e0e9bdc33675b2f988943b5bbeb24bf155826e298cd766ba887.png
      An excellent book about Coptic churches in Abyssinia. Philip then wrote under the name of Marsden – dropping the Smedley as his publishers said a double-barrelled name made him sound too posh and too public school!

      There is a pun in the book's title – the Afar are a cross-border community of pastoralists who live in and herd livestock in adjacent parts of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. An estimated 1.3 million (2007 national census) Afar live in Ethiopia, with smaller populations residing in adjacent countries. These Hamitic people are primarily Sunni Muslim.

      When Philip was a schoolboy at Harrow he and his brother came sailing with me regularly during the summer holidays on Inca and we visited the Channel Islands and most of the havens on the South Coast between the Solent and the Lizard.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0bc07b535886fba32ee6e0a2b9fc64d7839d1c10051838fd5268bd77d469d337.jpg
      Philip is now an award-winning author of a number of works of travel, fiction and non-fiction, including The Bronski House, The Spirit-Wrestlers, The Levelling Sea and The Summer Isles. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and his work has been translated into fifteen languages. He won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1994 and the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in 1999.

  74. Made the train. Just past Long Eaton en route to Nottingham where I catch the Liverpool – Norwich service.
    I will say that the on-train
    internet is a lot better than it was when I retired!!

    2. Sorry, left it too late to reply a few days ago.
      Your firstborn has a home that is not too far from a primary school, so therefore he could find himself a wife who wishes to have children. Probably should be looking for an equestrienne or vet.

      1. Good point. A local lass with farming in her roots would be a good choice.

  76. 409493+ up ticks,

    Have all those indigenous that wish to retain England as their homeland got the gist of what has been taking place? and will now acknowledge the fact that for 30 + years we have been involved in a very one sided war with what passes for governing parties in the guise of the lab/lib/con coalition party.

    https://x.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1945465161201877157

    1. Yes , but on the radio , the theme was . don't panic and stay calm .. We owe people who helped service personnel re translations , loyalty and calm .

      Now , can I ask , when the Russians and others were in Afghanistan , did interpreters also speak Russian ?

      Why are we saddled with this conflicting problem ..

      Our fault for showing goat loving foreigners Western values and luxury items ..

      Our fault, and what the hell were we doing there and for what purpose ?

  77. Just been to Weymouth to wish a lady who is 101 years old today .

    Sparkling eyes , active , and just full of fun and memories .

    Her brother arrived from Wellingborough by taxi , to wish her happy birthday . He is 98 yrs old .. what wonderfuls strong genes the pair of them have .

    My Moon pig gift hadn't arrived , present , balloon and b/day card .. oh well.

    Talking of delivery.. Moh ordered a new pair of golf shoes last night , there was a parcel waiting when I arrived home after my journey this afternoon .. Moh isn't back from golf yet , his old shoes are hurting him , very tender toe and heel , the golf shoe spikes/studs can be quite painful underfoot .

      1. His feet are tender , golf shoes are very uncomfortable , no matter what price you pay .

        The parcel wasn't golf shoes . it was a pair of Dunlop sandals .

        2. Skechers or Ecco. Expensive but they don't even need to be worn in.

          forget spikes unless you are pro level.

    1. I noticed that even Matt Goodwin only mentioned the headline figure of Afghan settlers. My cynical voice muttered, and their families.

        1. Hope not, although I’ve heard of at least one becoming a disco, and another a carpet warehouse.

  80. Just finished cutting the grass front and back and pressure washed the entrance to the drive in spite of the sweltering heat, so hot I couldn't get my wellies off until my legs had cooled down a bit, now going to top up the body fluids.

    1. Gosh – we've got no grass to cut here – it's all scorched off except a few stalks.

      1. I need to mow the weeds; they have survived and thrived. I shall struggle to get the shed door open to get the mower out; the pear tree nearby is so heavily laden with fruit the branches are blocking the door.

        1. Our weed stalks could do with strimming off – but the mower just bends them over.

  81. Back from lunch – seven of us today. – I had salad and some ice cream. The pub was quite busy.

  82. Just back from the shops
    Butter £2.25 a few months ago £3.75
    Ham £2.10 now £2.90
    Smoked Salmon £6.00 now £9.00
    Black Sheep Ale 4 for £7.00 now £10.00
    3.6% you say,if bloody only!!

    1. Where are you shopping? Ocado M&S 250 gram block butter is £2. And in Farm Foods you can buy 850 grams for £5.

      1. Waitrose Yeo velley organic bovaer free
        Salmon is Leap wild smoked salmon i don't eat farmed salmon
        Ham is No1 honey roast
        Beer is self explanory

          1. There's a funny Facebook page called 'Overheard in Waitrose'

            Some examples;

            'Do we have Manchego in both properties, darling?'

            'I'm putting together gift bags for my builders'

            'Madam, please lower your voice – this isnt Asda'

            (On Phone) 'It's absolute carnage in here – no goji berries, no venison, no samphire – what am I going to do tonight?'

            'Can you believe I was 40 before I had quail'

            'Mummy does Lego have a silent 't' like Merlot?'

            'Sebastian are you sure we're out of Antonio Frederici Pistachio Gelato?'

            And many others……

          2. Sounds about right.

            I go when i fancy a treat. But it really is the sort of place for a basket not a trolley.

          5. There are one or two things we still buy there but Morrisons does for us for most things.

          6. Here in the North-West we dont have Waitrose (at least I dont think so) but the equivalent is Booths – my missus enjoys shopping there but it's comically expensive…..

          7. Haven't been to Colchester Waitrose since the road people spent 2+ years buggering around remodelling a roundabout back to how it was originally.
            I used to nip in about once a month for posh odds and sods. The traffic queues put me off and we seem to survive without posh nosh.

          8. One of the many advantages of my sister-in-law selling up in Wivno is that we will NEVER have to go to Colchester again. Ever.

        3. Don't worry.
          The RPI will lose several items than have steadily dropped in price and are now hardly moving, and replace them with new technology items which then steadily drop in price.
          It was ever thus.
          It's an almighty fiddle.

      1. Had to be a black woman. As we know, all white blokes are racist bigots. Even the ones that aren't.

      1. We used to watch the Professionals one or maybe it was just one series we got into…….but he only watches sports now and I don't watch anything.

      2. Nor I now. I must have last seen it more than 10 years ago, when my son was doing such things.

    4. Fairly consistent of the BBC – I didn't like Wallace and I'm sick of seeing Andi Oliver on so many shows – at least it isn't Nadia!

      1. They dropped Nadia from TV. It took them a long time to find out she couldn't really come up with the goods.

  84. I see that yer French prime minister is planning to scrap two bank holidays.

    Oh dear oh dear.

    Easter Monday is the day when everyone goes into the country, picks wild asparagus and makes omelettes.

    VE Day is when the French publicly show how they liberated France and won the Second World War entirely unaided.

    M Bayrou cancels these at his peril.

    1. For starters, May Day – a Wilson sop to the unions – could be zapped.
      Feel free to suggest other bank holidays that have outlived their usefulness.

      1. New Year's Day, Spring BH; We used to have Whitsun but now the 'Late May BH is meaningless. August BH.

      3. If it could be guaranteed that the workers would get the same number of days off as they do now yes, (highly unlikely,) scrap them all.

        Let people decide when they want a day off, not the State.

    3. Simplificaiton? In the lower right corner.
      And I am doubtful about translating 'fonctionnaire ' as 'civil servant', 'official' or functionary', surely?

      1. You may be correct, but it’s taken from an English language French newspaper and whatever they are “civil servant” gets the point across to the mainly British readers

    4. It looks a good start. A third not being renewed is good. In the UK we have to be careful they don't just get rolled into another useless quango.

      It's also notable that in the UK the first thing the state would do is cut services, not waste. Thus the next thing a reforming government must do is sack those civil servants who do that.

      1. Doubtful, although they may get just enough support for some of it to stay in power.
        If not, then I fear yet another election with even less chance of right of centre control.

    6. Cutting Easter Monday and May 8th Bank Holidays won't go down well, I suspect. Perhaps they will be sacrificed to get the other measures through?

    7. Carney is pushing a small cut to the Canadian civil service. The union response has been to threaten strikes.
      Oh well, just go ahead and prove that you ars not needed.

    1. I don't think we can trust Farage any further than we can throw him but there's little alternative if we want to get rid of Stamer's lot.

          1. I think they will be worse, because they will have the goodwill of everyone "giving them a chance".
            We are going to be sitting ducks.

          2. It's a measure of how much trust has been lost that we are even having this conversation.

          4. I am optimistic about life, but we must face Agenda 2030 realistically. People thought we were being pessimistic to say that the Cons couldn’t be trusted to put Brexit through, but unfortunately that was true.

    3. Go on, then. I'll play Devil's Advocate.
      Nigel says: "Nice to meet you, George. We can do business!"
      Nigel thinks: "If the British people give me the chance, I'll have yer, yer wrinkly old scrote."

  88. Just had a call from our GP's pharmacist – she's reviewing his meds and thinks he might be on something too strong for his weight. So he went upstairs to the bathroom and used our very old bathroom scales and he's 8 1/2 stone. He used to be 10st at one time but old age and sarcopenia have reduced him. I just called them back with that information.

  89. Richard
    2h
    "Veterans are at risk because of the false promises of the last government. Let’s be clear. Their failed legacy act leaves veterans exposed with no settled process.”"
    Despicable of Starmer. There was no "failed legacy act", protections were put into place by law.

    It is only a nit picking lawyer who could claim that those protections need to be reversed because of a point of law, when the point of law could be addressed by strengthening the existing law.

    That the Northern Ireland High Court ruled that the Legacy Act was incompatible with the ECHR, just puts the ECHR into further disrepute. The ECHR can of course be ignored by a patriotic government as and when circumstances dictate.

    Harry Flashman
    2h
    Amazing isn't it? A Labour Government sent Troops into the Province, underprepared, under equip and under briefed. Another one in the 90's freed the people who had been trying to end them and their families for 30 years. Now the latest one wants to throw them under the bus completely.

    Shergar lost
    58m
    The legislation to protect veterans is deemed illegal, but the "comfort" letters to the IRA are good and proper?

    Ernest Nowell
    2h
    Amazing, spending millions on thousands of Afghans in danger. Throwing hundreds of UK Army Veteran Pensioners to wolves. Starmer hates this country, it’s people , it’s military. He loves foreigners and the Law above everything!

    Arold
    2h
    I do think that it's time to consider seriously if Starmer has some kind of mental illness – and I'm serious here.
    Politicians lie – we all know that. All of them lie.

    But I don't think we've ever seen a politician who tells so many lies about everything.

    To actually stand there and claim that by prosecuting the veterans he's protecting them, and by protecting them, the Tories were endangering them.

    That is some feat of mental gymnastics.

    2. The entire Labour front bench has an almost psychopathis inability to tell the truth. They lie constantly, continually and see absolutely nothing wrong with it.

      It's not the usual dogwaffle politicians always spew. These are outright lies and they spout them glibly as truth.

    3. Stoma is approaching the Caligulan or Neronic levels of madness.
      Wait for him to appear dressed as a bride with a Ukrainian eunuch as his groom.

      1. I'd rather he stood down in favour of a racehorse – any racehorse! – because then we'd have better governance.

  91. Gallery Guido by Simon Carr

    Keir Thriving On Chaos Of His Own Creation

    The vital signs of our Prime Minister need urgent medical attention. Horrors abound around him and he is exultant. Adversity feeds him, it stimulates him. It has an amphetamine effect. He is a disaster junkie. When World War III starts in earnest (those dratted Tories “breaking everything they touch again!”) – we will be radioactive and he will be radiant.

    He began his appearance today with an excited seriousness saying that Tory ministers had “serious questions to answer” about the Afghan super injunction. It is a year ago, that Labour ministers were applying to extend the injunction for a further five years.

    People say he lacks courage, but it is a very daring approach.

    Seen in that light, his whole record in government is one of daredevilry. He accuses the Tories of creating chaos; he creates chaos. He stands for “not words but action” and says he has ”delivered 2.5% defence spending”. He says Liz Truss crashed the economy; he and his Chancellor have actually crashed the economy. He says he has “stabilised” it and that he has “fixed the foundations” while the wealthy, the ambitious, the young run – even the old are shuffling away as fast as their walking frames allow. He is still saying the last Government left a £22bn black hole while creating multi-billion black holes in every part of the economy. He vows to “smash the criminal gangs” engaged in the vile trade of people trafficking – and he turns out to be leading the biggest one himself.

    It needs dash, it needs audacity to say, as he said this morning that Britain has the fastest growth in the G7, employment is continuously improving, breakfast clubs are feeding the country’s children, there is record access to the NHS.

    Nobody believes him. No one in the House, no one in the country. His own MPs dislike or despise him, business abhors him, the army loathes him, employers fear him, pensioners, Palestinians, fishermen, his cabinet are united in the extraordinary coalition he’s put together.

    But how he rides the wave of ill-feeling not drowning but waving. “We’re only just getting started!” he signed off against the leader of the Opposition, just now.

    She, by the way, is back to gabbling attack lines on inflation, employment, tax. All worthy subjects, but in her phrasing, they fail to penetrate the PM’s defences. She really hasn’t got the hang of him at all. He is the most vulnerable, delusional, incompetent, the most amateur prime minister we’ve ever had and she is very far from getting the measure of him.

    She has failed to wound him or to position herself as a prime minister-in-waiting.

    She is not without achievement. After a year of being told she is “talking the country down”, she has worked up a riposte. She said, “I’m not talking the country down, I’m talking him down!” Ragged cheers from behind her.

    Economists don’t help us know what’s going on. Physiognomists though – their time has come.

    On the front bench today, Rayner’s face was an image of impenetrable disgust. She is surrounded by fools. Her life is worth more than this, sitting beside her lost leader. She doesn’t even try to smile when he makes a joke. At the start of play, the supportive smile she gave Our Lady of Sorrow was weary with contempt. As for the Lady herself, her symptoms of professional dementia are still visible and, if beside her, probably audible. Liz Kendall still broken from the welfare betrayal by No 10 sat slumped by the Home Secretary who aimed a mask of concentrated loathing at the PM.

    Does he have a problem with women? How many useless tears have been shed at him? The man is waterproof.

    Both back and frontbenches were mortified at Graham Stuart’s shaft, likening their manifesto as a “beautifully written, deeply moving blockbuster of hope and redemption” to the Salt Path as “a total pack of lies”. The heads of the front bench went down. The backbenches stilled.

    Keir rose in the knowledge that no one can actually get rid of him, and defied his critics with “I am the Duchess of Malfi still!” Or words to that effect.

    July 16 2025 @ 15:45

    1. The Treasury is now about to shoot itself in the foot again with the harmonisation of betting tax on horseracing with online casino gambling. The effect on racing's finances (and thus the economy and job market) will be bad and gambling will probably go black market (when combined with the affordability checks). The result? An industry that contributes £1.4bn and supports 85,000 jobs will be badly affected while illegal gambling will lose the Treasury tax revenue. Everything they touch …! My MP is a limp dim – I doubt she'll be bothered.

    2. Chaos umpire sits
      And by decision more embroils the fray
      By which he reigns: next him high arbiter
      Chance governs all.

      [John Milton : Paradise Lost]

      I think that Milton is now considered to be far too difficult for most schoolchildren.

      1. Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
        Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
        The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
        The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
        The best lack all conviction, while the worst
        Are full of passionate intensity.

        W B Yeats – Second Coming!

        1. The killer question:

          Do you lack all conviction or are you full of passionate intensity?

          1. "Do you lack all conviction or are you full of passionate intensity"?

            Without integrity, it matters not!

  92. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/07/16/ai-girlfriend-musk-app-12-year-olds/
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b930d1bacc3f6e670d012dcde588be7160eea4c2b6c1905fe87ff1cc3672ab8c.png
    Musk launches AI girlfriend available to 12-year-olds

    xAI’s ‘crazy in love’ chatbot Ani designed to engage in sexual conversations with users

    16 July 2025 2:41pm BST
    Ani the AI girlfriend
    Ani the virtual girlfriend can spin around or dance on command and regularly initiates sexual conversations
    A girlfriend chatbot launched by Elon Musk’s tech group is available to 12-year-olds despite being programmed to engage in sexual conversation.

    The bot named Ani, launched by Mr Musk’s artificial intelligence group xAI, is a cartoon girlfriend programmed to act as a 22-year-old and “go full literotica” in conversations with users.

    Users found that the blonde, gothic character has an “NSFW” mode – internet slang for “not safe for work” – and can appear dressed in lingerie after a certain number of conversations upgrades the bot to “level three”.

    The bot speaks in a sultry computer-generated voice and is designed to act as if it is “crazy in love” and “extremely jealous”, according to programming instructions posted on social media.

    Its avatar can spin around or dance on command, and the bot regularly initiates sexual conversations.

    The Ani chatbot features inside the Grok app, which is listed on the App Store as being available to users who are 12 and older, and has been made available to users of its free service.

    The controversy comes as Ofcom prepares to enforce age-checking rules on tech companies that show adult or harmful content.

    Ofcom will require all sites hosting adult material to have age checks from next week, forcing porn websites and certain social networks to make changes.

    Reddit this week said it would introduce age checks.

    Radicalisation fears

    The Government has not yet said how the online safety rules should apply to chatbots – despite campaigners warning that growing numbers of children are using the apps for companionship.

    Research this week found that children are regularly using AI bots as friends. One in eight children said they use the bots because they have nobody else to speak to.

    This week, the independent reviewer of terror legislation warned that sex chatbots could put lonely internet users on the path to radicalisation.

    Jonathan Hall KC warned that “the popularity of sex-chatbots is a warning that terrorist chatbots could provide a new radicalisation dynamic”, pointing to the case of Jaswant Singh Chail, the Windsor Castle crossbow attacker who had talked to his AI girlfriend about plotting the attack.

    Jaswant Singh Chail
    Jaswant Singh Chail attacked people with a crossbow after discussing the plot with his AI girlfriend Credit: Buckingham Palace
    Grok’s terms of service say that its minimum age should be 13 and that teenagers under 18 should receive permission from a parent before using the app, but signing up for the service does not involve verifying ages.

    Grok is listed on the App Store with a “12+” age rating, the Platformer newsletter found. Apps related to dating or violent video games can be listed as 17+.

    The Grok AI bot has suffered a series of controversies in recent weeks after it was found to spout anti-Semitic remarks. It was also found to look up Mr Musk’s own opinions before answering on controversial topics. xAI says both issues have been fixed.

    Ofcom said: “We are aware of the increasing and fast-developing risk AI poses in the online space, especially to children, and we are working to ensure platforms put appropriate safeguards in place to mitigate these risks.”

    Matthew Sowemimo, associate head of policy for child safety online at the NSPCC, said: “We are really concerned how this technology is being used to produce disturbing content that can manipulate, mislead, and groom children. And through our own research and contacts to Childline, we hear how harmful chatbots can be – sometimes giving children false medical advice or steering them towards eating disorders or self-harm.

    “It is worrying app stores hosting services like Grok are failing to uphold minimum age limits, and they need to be under greater scrutiny so children are not continually exposed to harm in these spaces.

    “That’s why [the] Government must implement a statutory duty of care to children for generative AI developers. This will play a vital role in preventing further harm and ensuring children’s wellbeing is considered in the design of AI products.”

    xAI was contacted for comment.

    Modestly, I will post my BTL comment.

    "It's as if the cyber industry is working to impose Orwellian restrictions on the people by deliberately creating these sinister creatures so that governments have an excuse to pry into everyone's communications.
    Either the creators of these horrible apparitions are stupid, or greedy or deviously pushing for greater control over the population.
    And, of course, which industry is able to supply high levels of surveillance?"

      1. As far as I can see, bringing up children these days is primarily a struggle to limit screen time.

        1. We were lucky in the 1970s – the main arguments were about what sort of trainers….

        2. Our niece and nephew and their spouses seem to manage – they’re all keen bikers and outdoors types. The two younger boys are good pianists too.

    2. Child abuse, letting kids learn about relationships from AI bots.

      We had two children over for the day last weekend aged 11 and 13. Educated, Christian background, strictly controlled screen time until recently.
      About half their conversation was about lessons and school and the other half was about things they had seen online. They had seen tiktok videos about the Diddy trial and knew what it was about.
      The 13 year old was worried about a girl in her class who is convinced that she is a boy. Apparently one of their class teachers is vegan, and they had a vegan class breakfast recently because this woman won't allow any animal products at class events where she controls the menu.
      They are intelligent and very aware that no generation before them has had the same experiences.

      We took them to a car boot sale and to the beach for a swim and then we came home and ate organic pork, which they enjoyed very much and they played computer games with my children for a few hours.

      1. Satanic ritual has always focussed on the sexual exploitation of children? The London Oratory is seeing an increase in young people attending the Latin Mass and rejecting sexual promiscuity. We're seeing the same trend at Barts, where the 1611 bible and 1662 liturgy draw a young congregation. The conservative evangelical churches are experiencing the same. But overall it's still a drop in the ocean?

        1. That’s very interesting Sue – I’ve heard the same from Catholic contacts in other countries, that younger people love the Latin Mass.

      2. It's really only a technical step from sex education in schools, where they are taught the mechanics and nothing, as far as I know, about morals or relationships.

    3. Can they target the invaders with this Ani character? They could spend their time obsessing over this creature and leave real children alone.

  93. Wordle 1,488 3/6

    ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 16 Jul 2025

    Tense Birdie Three?

    1. You're not kidding.

      Wordle 1,488 5/6

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

    2. Well done – I had two options, decided that one of them was an unlikely word in a US puzzle (fourth letter D ) – turned out to be the right choice. Par….. again……

      Wordle 1,488 4/6

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

    3. Good one. Bogey for me.

      Wordle 1,488 5/6

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

    4. The chek of it, I sailed past birdie to par.

      Wordle 1,488 4/6

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

  94. Afternoon, all. Still cooler here, but dry. Much better for the dressage session this morning.

    Which democracies did the headline writer have in mind? The UK certainly doesn't qualify.

    1. Didn't he just dump big tariffs on Switzerland? That seems to be the only democracy left.

      1. …and it's a proper one, where the citizens can force a review of any law by forcing a referendum. The spread of mosques there was stopped by a referendum, as the results are binding. At the local level, many things are subject to referenda of the local citizens. Again, a proper democracy.

    2. BBC news [and they should know!!] say 4 MPs – Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman, Chris Hinchliff and Rachael Maskell

    2. TR was in solitary for his own safety. Such is the state of our prisons and the ethnic make up of 'british' prisoners.

    3. Keep him in his cell for the rest of his term of imprisonment. It's not worth risking anybody else's life. Pass the odd slice of bread and cup of water through a hatch.

    4. Yes. This piece of detritus costs the taxpayer at least £52,000 per annum to absolutely no use purpose.
      Take him out as you would a rabid dog.

  102. That's me for today. It brightened up in the afternoon after earlier (useless) drizzle.

    Tomorrow – market. Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain.

  103. Egomaniac Zia Yusuf scuppers any chance of Suella Braverman joining Reform.

    Suella Braverman's husband has quit Reform UK just six months after joining.

    1. Zia Yusuf has torpedoed the Reform Party and hit it below the water line.

      This is not accidental it is deliberate.

      I cannot help thinking that Yusuf has something very sordid and very nasty on Farage and if he steps out of line all will be revealed and that will be the end of the Reform Party and the end of Nigel Farage.

      1. Farage did that simply by letting muslim into his party.

        The whole farce has been infiltrated.

    1. I apologise as the cause is worthy but it won't go anywhere. The monies won't even hire an hour of judicial time. Without being forced to appear or give evidence the entire state machine will do absolutely nothing.

      As it is, Labour, by calling the inquiry are setting the terms specifically and deliberately to ensure they, and the utter sewage who protected the pakistani muslim paedophile rapists in the state will get away with it. After all, they stand to lose tens of thousands of their carefully placed wasters and be permanently labelled as the paki muslim paedo protection party.

  105. I seem to remember that when Biden became President he suddenly decided to withdraw his troops from Afghanistan, leaving us no option but to do the same.
    There was a lot of talk about bringing Afghan interpreters and those that assisted our army back to the UK for their safety and we were under an obligation to do that, then it all went off the radar and not much more was said about it, well we now know why.
    I just wonder how many Afghans the USA took back, have we taken their share, I cannot believe the tens of thousands that we have allowed into the UK were all assisting the small force that we sent.
    Another question is how many of those that came here have committed serious crimes against British people, this was all done under humanitarian reasons to keep them safe, nobody appeared bothered about keeping British people safe, by the look of it.
    Would any crime committed by those brought back here have to be kept secret as part of the super injunction, if so it would be very convenient for the government, I suppose

    2. I haven’t been following the scandal. I don’t suppose anyone would care to summarise it? Please?

      1. The govt made it illegal to tell ANYONE (including those who are supposed to scrutinise these things) about the plan to import 24k of foreigners, how much it would cost, where they would be distributed, the effect on the economy and Parliament was never consulted about any of it. Nice one!

    5. Our entire prognostications are a work of fiction. The lies about 'growth', the 'investment' nonsense even the tosh about tax revenues is a lie.

      When Reeves stands up, she is lying from the outset. She has to. Otherwise she admits Labour's entire ideological attitude is as good for you as stabbing yourself in the neck.

  107. Taking a break for a while; the play is about to start. I am treating myself to an Amdram evening.

  108. Sitting on the terrace in a warm breeze, craft stout to hand, listening to Mozart Ave Verum Corpus as the sun goes down.
    Could only be better if SWMBO was here – I miss her when she's away.
    Now switched to Myfanwy, by the Rhos choir. I wish I could sing (in tune, on beat…). Bliss…

      1. When we lived in London and the Warqueen was building her career she'd leave at 5 and get home after midnight. We saw one another at weekends, or in notes saying where the dinner was.

        I think – in some bonkers way – that we were stronger from tolerating the absence. It was a huge strain on trust and fidelity but as I told her there was never any consideration of someone else. It literally didn't cross my mind or, I believe, hers.

        1. SWMBO is only away for a few days, staying at Firstborn's place, yet when I'm home from work, there's nobody to talk to (apart from the cats, and they don't give a flying one) – so I end up drinking too much, there's no point in making decent dinner, and then I end up gloomy and lonely. It's a bugger, so it is.
          But – a few beers with Second Son tomorrow is the plan, then up to Firstborn's on Friday for the weekend.
          Incidentally, there was an article in the Norwegian paper Aftenposten, about people getting summer gloom at summer holiday time. I seem to be a candidate.

          1. That's why I appreciate having the dogs; the house isn't silent and empty. Winston is always ecstatic to see me and Kadi barks a lot.

      2. Great song! I'm sure I once knew all (most) of the words and I was chunnering along, albeit getting the odd word wrong – lovely reminder, thank you!

        1. I totally agree.

          My job ( the RN) kept us physically apart (lots), but not a moment mentally

          1. Similar for HG and me.
            Married 52 years, probably together physically for well under the 50!
            One year I was commuting between various European destinations for 50 weeks of the 52. Leave early Sunday, home Friday night.

    2. Sitting inside with a white port and tonic water. Had an amusing evening watching a trilogy of plays performed by a local Amateur Dramatic Society. Back home now to the dogs' delight.

  109. The BBC’s head of news has told staff that the Hamas government of Gaza and the organisation’s military wing are “different”.

    Deborah Turness made the comments in a meeting intended to reassure staff after the “catastrophic failure” of broadcasting the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone.

    The BBC broke editorial guidelines by not disclosing that Abdullah, a boy at the centre of the now-pulled documentary, was the son of Ayman Alyazouri, the Hamas-run government’s deputy minister of agriculture.

    Addressing the coverage of the controversy, Ms Turness suggested that there was a difference between Gaza’s Hamas-run government and its Hamas-run military. The UK Government makes no such distinction, and Hamas is “proscribed in its entirety”.

    In a video shared with The Telegraph, Ms Turness told staff: “I think it’s really important that we are clear that Abdullah’s father was a deputy agriculture minister, and therefore was a member of the Hamas-run government, which is different to being part of the military wing of Hamas.

    “Externally it’s often simplified that he was in Hamas, and I think it’s an important point of detail that we need to continually remind people of the difference.”

    Sources have suggested that a request for response on the issue was made by a member of the BBC Arabic service. Ms Turness made no suggestion that the documentary should not have been pulled.

    The suggestion that there is a difference between the military and civil wings of Hamas is unlikely to quell criticism of the BBC since it emerged that the child star of the documentary, made by independent procure Hoyo Films, had family links to Hamas.

    The links emerged the day after it was broadcast. The BBC has said staff did not know about the Hamas connections of the contributors in the documentary.

    An internal review by Peter Johnston, the BBC’s director of editorial complaints, ruled that the documentary breached editorial guidelines on accuracy by failing to disclose “critical information” about Abdullah’s family history.

    Jewish groups have called for Tim Davie, the BBC’s director-general, to resign over the scandal, which Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, listed among the broadcaster’s recent “catastrophic failures”.

    Other failures included the live broadcast of a Glastonbury set by the band Bob Vylan, during which Pascal Robinson-Foster, the lead singer, led chants of “death to the IDF”.

    The suggestion by the BBC’s head of news that there are divisions to be drawn within Gaza’s Hamas regime may raise further questions from critics of the broadcaster’s coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.

    Lord Austin, the former Labour MP for Dudley North, said: “It’s absolutely clear that after all the complaints and controversy and even after their own investigation BBC bosses still just don’t get it.

    “The UK has proscribed Hamas in its entirety and it therefore absolutely unacceptable to pretend there is any meaningful distinction between members of Hamas. Deborah Turness presided over this mess and still tries to defend the BBC’s colossal mistakes. Surely her position is untenable.”

    Danny Cohen, a former head of BBC Television, called Ms Turness’s comments “staggering”. He said: “The head of BBC News does not appear to understand that all elements of Hamas comprise a single terrorist organisation, as the UK Government have made very clear.

    “A terrorist organisation dedicated to the genocidal destruction of Jewish people. I’m shocked that Ms Turness wishes to make this distinction and actively encouraged BBC journalists to do the same.

    “It is both ignorant and dangerous, and is further evidence of why so many British Jews do not feel they can trust the BBC.”

    A BBC spokesman said: “The BBC constantly makes clear on our programmes and platforms that Hamas are a proscribed terrorist organisation by the UK Government and others. We are also clear that we need to describe to our audiences the complexities of life in Gaza, including within the structure of Hamas, which has run the civilian functions of Gaza.

    “Deborah Turness was answering a question about how we described the father of the narrator in our Warzone film. She did not imply that Hamas are not a single terrorist organisation.

    “As we have said, there was an editorial breach in this film, and we are sorry. We will not show the film again in its current form, and we should not have used this child as the narrator.”

    Jerry St Clair
    just now
    More proof that the BBC is institutionally anti-Semitic

    Comment by Jonathan Feingold.

    JF

    Jonathan Feingold
    just now
    The News Controller has spoken in support of a proscribed terrorist organisation. This constitutes a serious criminal offence and warrants immediate arrest and prosecution under anti-terror laws.

    1
    1 new reply
    show new reply
    Comment by Martin Stewart-Smith.

    MS

    Martin Stewart-Smith
    just now
    Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organisation and therefore ALL support for any Hamas member is the support of terrorism.

    Comment by R CS.

    RC

    R CS
    just now
    I feel like Mr Justice Chamberlain (Afghan super injunction) when he said the world has gone bonkers.

    Comment by Harry Kingswood.

    HK

    Harry Kingswood
    1 min ago
    Next they’re going to say that Huw was not a full p@edo/nonce…

    Comment by David Edwards.

    DE

    David Edwards
    1 min ago
    The BBC is a festering snake pit crawling with vermin.

    Comment by Andrew North.

    AN

    Andrew North
    2 min ago
    By her own logic there must have been some very nice Nazis – difficult to think of any offhand but Goering had a nice chubby face, nicht wahr, Deborah?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/16/bbc-executive-hamas-government-different-military/

    1. "… “Externally it’s often simplified that he was in Hamas, and I think it’s an important point of detail that we need to continually remind people of the difference.”…"

      Utter, flippin' word salad to excuse their hatred of Jews and Israel. What – genuinely, as I don't understand it – is wrong with the Left wing mind?

      I appreciate they're antisemitic but why, when muslim is a murderous, vicious, evil religion do they leap in bed with the sewage?

      Why do they constantly pretend that muslim started this war, as it has started every damned war. If we behaved how Israel has we could have driven the slammer out forever but no, even when the muslim murders of July the 7th are discussed the Left refuse to mention muslim, terrorist or murderer at all, yet that's all it was.

      What is wrong with them?

      1. "Why do they constantly pretend that muslim started this war…"

        I think indignation momentarily got the better of you!

  111. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/16/britain-is-being-destroyed-from-within/

    Mr Deacon raises a good point but I think he misses the wider one: O'Donnel can, like all Lefty wasters certainly think whatever he wants, but it is the complete lack of control the public have over him – and others like him – that permits these moronic ideologies to cause the damage they do.

    As a consequence, evil, wasteful people are continually attracted to government because they know they can do whatever they like, unfettered by any control. That control must be enforced in law and the state unable to act without our permission.

    Our, must of course be tax payers. I do not understand why the welfare classes are allowed to vote. Heck, I don't even see why they should get a pension.

    1. I think it's being encouraged from on high at the moment to give the masses a disgust for democracy so that they will accept anti-democratic measures brought in by someone like Farage "to stop corruption" or "to send the illegals back".

      1. At this point in the mess of the UK democracy should be suspended. Too many people are takers. Their having a say is wrong. The political class don't care about anyone or anything.

        To undo the damage done to the nation needs at least a decade unfettered by having to ask permission from an electorate hooked on other people's money. When socialism has been crushed, the Lefty hydra slain and the blob a smashed, shattered remnant cowed and brought to heel and made to serve then democracy can be restored – and only to those contributing.

        1. Danger is, suspension of democracy can be used for negative agendas as well as a reset of the current situation.

        2. you don’t seem to get it yet – they are abolishing the little amount of democracy that remains in the UK – but you and I will be serfs who own nothing in the new Babylon.

    1. Lovely scenery.
      We watch the canal boat diaries and I can't help envying you water-voles.

      1. Thank you. It's not all sweetness & light on the canals . Talked to a chap earlier who as just been awarded custody of his 14 year old son. He lives on a tired cabin cruiser and has acquired a small narrowboat that's leaking, with engine problems as extra accommodation not an easy life…

    2. One of my sons lives on a narrow boat full time. Three years now and loves it.

    3. That looks like the picture you posted yesterday! (to my untrained and half-baked eye) – Are you going around in circles?

      1. No 4G it is a different section of the K&A Canal. The perspective is from the tiller because if iI let go the boat tends (like the fabled Essex supermarket trollies) to have a mind of its own!

        1. Joking aside Stephen, it looks idyllic……

          Weather helps I'm sure, what do you do when it's pissing down?

          1. Two choices – put wet weather gear on and unfold the umbrella…. or stay put and read….

        2. Sad trivia, but if a trolley is left on a flat surface with no moving forces, modern ones don't move.

          The why is really interesting but only a truly sad person like me cares about the development of supermarket trolleys (they were invented originally as baskets on wheels to help women buy more).

          Also, if you see someone pushing a trolley from the side, beat them to death. There's a reason the handles are at the back (they're rear wheel drive. Didn't use to be, you know!)

          1. The reference relates to:the question "What's the difference between an Essex Girl and a Supermarket trolly?"

            That having bee said my eldest daughter was born in Essex has a M.Math Degree and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Mathematics….

    4. Do you have boarding parties?

      Sorry, couldn' resist! I'd fit it with cannon and depth charges like that James Bond boat.

      1. Curiously you should mention that. When I told a neighbour I was having Narrowboat built he gave me a copy of a biography of Nelson . When I told the boat builders they offered to incorporate gun ports!!

      1. Thank you Stormie… One never knows when a long length of tidy rope might come in handy……

  114. Ugly thoughts for the day:

    If every Muslim spontaneously exploded would the world be a safer place?
    How many innocent bystanders would die or be harmed?
    Would Satan create a new religion to replace Islam?

          1. Prittlewell has a very ancient Priory whose emblem is the Prittlewell Lily incorporated in a number of design features of Southend DGH….

  117. Well I've got a hair cut booked for 8:30 am Tmz.
    I had better get some sleep. 😴
    So it's good night all Nottlers sleep well and take care, don't the bugs bite. 🐜🦟🪲🪳 let us spray.

  118. Blimey, a haircut at 8.30am – I hope you get a big discount!

    My barber (Turkish, of course) doesnt open till 10.00am, mind you nobody in Grange-over-Sands gets up before then anyway!!

    1. Caroline cuts my hair. I haven't visited a barber since we got married over 37 years ago.

      However she has declined my offers to do the same for her.

      1. That makes a lot of sense – my barber only charges £15 (or ‘One-Five’ as he calls it, bless him his English is shite but at least I get my hair cut in silence!) every 3 months so that’s £60 per annum.
        I think your missus has the right idea declining you – although my wife seems to go to the hairdresser every other bleeding day and it seems to cost somewhere between £40-80 every time….

    2. 😆😁

      He’s the son of the old guy who set up the business in the mid 60s. His father was from Italy. One of my sons and grandson are customers. My now departed BiL was as well.

  121. Re the state of Britain. This is not a happy listen. Conversations with Peter Boghossian. Apart from saying its too late for Britain and the IMF will be called in by 2030, he reckons the USD is being replaced as reserve currency by the RMB and the politicians in Brussels are essentially corrupt.
    https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/conversations-with-peter-boghossian/id1650150225?i=1000717537175
    ““Fantasy politics” is the best descriptor of what we’re currently witnessing in Western political discourse. That phrase is from my interview with author, public intellectual, and Danube Institute fellow Philip Pilkington. Philip has numerous zingers in this interview, like: “Now they’ve created a roach motel in Britain,” “The West is in terminal decline,” and “68% of the people in Britain think the country is fundamentally broken”.
    This is my second interview with Philip. (The first interview was only released as a podcast due to filming issues.) 
    Philip is a thoughtful, knowledgeable, and smart guy. He’s also sincere. Not in spite of but because of this, I find our conversations sobering and his arguments compelling: The decline of the West has been obvious for some time now, and it’s evident in nearly every aspect of life. This is not only obvious to Philip, and to other economists, but it’s obvious to anyone who’s paying attention. 
    Watch can also watch this episode on YouTube.”

    1. He is right about Britain being too far in debt to recover. It's politically impossible to cut spending in any meaningful way even if they wanted to. Reeves was probably crying when she first realised that the masses will blame her for a hundred years of profligacy.

      The USD is being replaced by gold! Look at what central banks are buying, it's not RMB, it's gold. I don't think any country wants to hold a fiat reserve currency after seeing what has happened in the US since 1971. It's more likely that there will be a handful of strong currencies used as reserve that will include the USD, and there will have to be some sort of link to gold.

      Terminal decline? no, but certainly for the next long economic cycle and probably the one after that too. We've used up all our resources, that's the trouble.

      1. And importing millions and millions from “developing markets” isn’t going to help the issue, or help us reach “nut zero” ( should you think it’s necessary).

        1. I think that is being done deliberately to break Britain and persuade people to accept losing democracy.

          1. Democracy has already been stolen from us. You only have to look at the way local elections have been cancelled.

          2. The only thing that remains of the orderly country bequeathed to us by our parents and grandparents is the belief that it still exists…

      2. But isn’t it all deliberate, to ‘nudge’ CBDG onto us? It’d be very handy for TPTB, then everything will be under their control.

  122. Starmer – The Musical
    13 hours ago
    Surely it’s only a matter of time before some civil servant accidentally posts a list of all current super-injunctions on the MoJ website.

  123. Starmer – The Musical
    13 hours ago
    Surely it’s only a matter of time before some civil servant accidentally posts a list of all current super-injunctions on the MoJ website.

  124. It's very humid and nasty out there. Not even bright. No air movement, just muggy in Darkest 'Ampsheer. I've been bitten by about every insect going and it's damned annoying.

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