Sunday 20 July: Time for politicians to confront the moral failures of Britain’s welfare system

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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622 thoughts on “Sunday 20 July: Time for politicians to confront the moral failures of Britain’s welfare system”

  1. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLe site. I did Wordle today in 4 (a Par.)

    Wordle 1,492 4/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      Grrrrr…..
      Wordle 1,492 6/6

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      1. But you finally got it in 6, BB2, so at least it wasn't a "Fail". (Good morning, btw.)

    1. Buckingham Palace and military installations will be paying out big time, then.
      That smacks of BS.

      1. It is bull shit. You can fly what you like providing you stay within the regs. Which are sensible. Like height of pole for instance.

        Though an exception is a controlled area.

        Who decides what a controlled area is???

  6. Good morning, all. Overcast with a very light breeze here. Rain and storms forecast for the day.

    Whilst on the subject of the weather (climate?) here is an explanation of how the "97% of scientists agree" statement was cobbled together. Data manipulation appears to be an art-form within the "climate" debate.

    The 97% Myth

    Positioning of data recording instruments is a source of concern: how about redesigning the housings for those instruments? Anything goes when oodles of money and the lust for control are the end-game.

    https://x.com/craigkellyAFEE/status/1946148156280066312

    1. What has the British Old Man got to do with temperature, Korky? (Good morning, btw.)

      1. Morning, Elsie. Bullace are colouring up but remain a bit firm. I'll let you know when they are soft enough to pick. Shouldn't be too long a wait.

        1. Hope they stay on the tree until ripe.
          Cherry plum trees on Spartie's walking areas have been shedding like May kittens. Judging by the … er … detritus it would seem that foxes like unripe fruit.

  8. 409670+ up ticks,

    Another mission impossible, there is no time span that could cover the time it would take to take on such a project simple reason being,

    Sunday 20 July: Time for politicians to confront the moral failures of Britain’s welfare system.

    To try to explain to the, in situ, politicians, "moral failure" meaning is really a step to far to even contemplate.

  9. Good (beautifully grey and damp) Moaning.

    Nope, complete mystery. Just don't understand why this has happened.

    "It is as yet unclear why the restaurant appears to have closed without warning, with the website down and guests unable to make bookings.
    Mr Garvey, working out of what is widely considered one of London's most opulent dining spaces, charged an eye-watering £139 for a seven-course tasting menu.
    There was also an even more lavish 14-course tasting experience, alongside the normal a la carte menu, The Standard reports."

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14921321/Michelin-starred-chef-shuts-restaurant-finest-dining-room-London-six-months.html

    1. 'charged an eye-watering £139 for a seven-course tasting menu'.

      Considering the Michelin star i find that price very reasonable. Especially so in such a splendid setting.

      1. Some years ago, I was working in Esbjerg for Danish OIl & Natural Gas (DONG). The staff canteen was run by a lady with a Michelin star – she was just fed up with all the other non-cheffing stuff that went with running a Michelin restaurant, so opted for a simpler life.
        Man, was the food good! Especially her salads. To die for.

        1. I thought the only food to die for was an Australian beef and mushroom Wellington. But salad, naw.

          1. Oh, I don't know. The ready-washed stuff can harbour some pretty interesting bacteria…

        1. Not something i would do very often but i would as a special treat with a group of friends.

          You don't go to these places because you are hungry but for the experience.

      3. Ahem …… I'm not sure they descended to vouchers so a group of NOTTL oiks could indulge.
        p.s. we have actually stayed there; years ago when the hotel was first opened and they were desperate for custom.

  11. Morning, all Y'all.
    Beautiful, cloudless day. A fresh 18C outside, fresh coffee in the drip machine, and SWMBO, the darling lady, is frying bacon for breakfast!
    Yesterday was very hot and very waspy, so got mowing and other gardening done despite being clegged, but the wasps wanted intimate involvement in the painting task, being so interested that I gave up.
    Hoping for some progress today, before driving home.
    EDIT: Smelling.

    1. Hoyed it down in north Wales just before and just after the dog show. Roads nearly flooded when I got home.

    2. Where will the pilot DELIVER him? Politicians, officials, executives and many others do nothing but DELIVER things these days, even intangibles, such as ideas. If I were a tyrant, I'd bar the use if that word for a good 5 years to rid people of this herd-like habit of DELIVERING all and sundry.

      1. Oh I think he knows exactly what he's doing. Wrecking our country and its culture and social structure now the economy.
        It's been commonly known as treason.

  14. Good morning all,

    Well now, surprise surprise , after I spent an hour last night watering the pots of plants , soaking the hydrangeas, bedding plants , withering roses , refilling bird dishes etc, the rain gently drifted down from above .. and continued in a very restrained fashion through out the night .. nothing heavy or thundery , and almost dried out already .

    Son has just set off , galloping out to complete an 18 mile run circuit, far and wide , coastal and back ..

    To think he was born a 7lb baby , cute and cuddly and now a 56 year nearly 6ft old racing snake . How did I give birth to an energetic livewire like that ..

    1. Don't forget we gave house room within our bodies for 18 months in total, growing two humans off the fat of the land, Belle! I remind poppiesdad of this from time to time when he is striding out (at 84) and I (at 78) am lagging a few strides behind him. I have noticed within our family (a long lived family of 100+ years) that the longest lived of all the ladies are those who have not had children. The rest made it into their mid-nineties.

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

    Spent yesterday tidying up the bathroom: found a large white 'tub' in the corner.

    Neither myself or SWMBO, could remember what it was for.

    1. malachy81
      11h
      Another protest 6pm Sunday outside the Bell hotel, Epping.
      Should be interesting.

      The Epping locals against the agents of the state. Police, SWP, Hope not Hate.

      1. When the antifa etc turn up in their masks rip the damned things from their faces and film them.

    1. Blair started the irresponsible turmoil in the Middle East .
      Blair caused the tidal wave of illegals coming into the UK.

      Blair allowed unfettered access to the UK by a couple of religions that were not culturally compatible with a Christian country .. his actions have caused the loss of virginal innocence of young British girls by the sexual actions of foreign dark priapic males .

      Blair and his cohorts laid down the foundations of lies and more lies and greed .. and changed the whole cultural landscape of Great Britain .

      1. “A couple of religions” – Islam is obviously one but what is the other?

      2. The United Kingdom's military strategy is to maintain a close alliance with the USA, and when the ghastly and tragic events of 9/11 occurred, Mr Blair was correct to offer support.
        However Iraq was a bridge too far.

  19. Gutten morgen alles!
    Another bright and sunny morning after a beautiful day yesterday.
    After the rather late night on Friday, I had an earlier departure from the bar last night and was in bed by 11!

    Not a bad little hotel with my room overlooking a military cemetery.
    The view from the window; https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0d53823dab57206313d4a824f1be69fd35aaf63b26115c45991510733c145015.jpg
    Yesterday I had a walk past the former Bindon Barracks, aka Scharnhorst Kaserne, round past the site of Gordon Barracks, then found my way to Gundolph Park, the place we parked the Rigs and home to possibly the biggest REME workshops in Germany! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c5b5615f51297d3efe2d353a9b95152b4f745902ca5f012a45394cf1787a4bef.jpg Where we parked the rigs https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e1a6aaf3cf787dd11dd7dfe132f04a27200c496134cdd1d25895b138c11079a3.jpg
    I then made my way back to the hotel for a shower and crashed out for a couple of hours before heading down for the evening session.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2552914c302657a7947296103972a206ea8fd3c00a06b4e37607d87e52793869.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/04a12a291e83b508dd8c58b68635259c601de47831979f81697b728686d38c24.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1ed174e0f0294904d4361b7ab06d05716fa7c960e1600c8586970fbb03b0f734.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/722907466f3ade805b31b3b4b4a91d3705fcc42922184bb90581af356526d323.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a81e68911d010e36988172bdac45001a79e5b0f1820a9c0e76c15458bab7bb1e.jpg
    An excellent website is this one, created by a local historian:-
    https://british-army-in-hameln.com/

      1. More importantly, how much did their beer consumption add to German GDP for July?

      2. A bloody lot!
        Memories of course and how the country has descended into a total shite state!

  21. "A man filmed himself releasing a rat into a mosque as part of a racist attack.
    Edmund Fowler, 66, let a rat out from a cage and into the grounds of the Grand Mosque in Sheffield last month, while filming the incident on his phone."

    He should have released a Jack Russell to chase it round the building.
    Dogs are haram, but I'm not sure about rats.

  22. Morning All 🙂😊
    Half an hour ago high cloud but bright and breezy.
    Even our grass is as green as everyone else's.
    Some rain overnight as well. And as I look out even now.
    Political classes will never come to terms with and admit their mistakes. It would more than emphasis their classic and solely personal objectives and therefore ongoing failures.
    I'ts pretty obvious that the only things that get their attention are their expenses claims their salary and their position in the overall state of play. They never take any notice at all of public opinion. And are only interested in what they can get out of the situations they have created.

      1. Precisely Phizz.
        I wonder how much money they make from 'outside influences' as well, it might be why we are not able to find out.

    1. How about we tell the truth about all the other black men murdered in London. It’s a frequent occurrence. Let’s admit that this case stands out because white on black violence is far more unusual.

  25. On a melancholy note , but worth a read .

    Flt Sgt Roy Woodgate, Wellington rear gunner who crashed into the Mediterranean
    His ditching made him a member of the ‘Goldfish Club’, founded in 1942 for those who owed their lives to inflatable survival equipment.

    ​Flight Sergeant Roy Woodgate, who has died aged 103, was the rear gunner of a Wellington bomber which crashed in the Mediterranean and he spent time in a dinghy before being rescued.

    On the night of November 2 1943, Woodgate and his crew took off in their 36 Squadron Wellington from Tafraoui near Oran in Algeria to carry out an anti-submarine patrol. During the pre-flight briefing, the crew were told that there was no Allied shipping in their search area.

    Flying at 1,000 feet, the crew carried out a search when Woodgate, who was working the radar, detected a blip on the radar screen. His pilot prepared to attack, and Woodgate returned to his gun turret. As the bomber homed in on the target, Woodgate sensed that they were too low and called the pilot to climb. A second attack was set up and the depth charges were primed as the powerful Leigh Light searchlight carried under the wing was lowered and switched on to illuminate the target.

    On this run, however, the Wellington hit the water and broke up. Woodgate was able to scramble clear but was badly cut as he resurfaced. He found two of the crew clinging to the upturned dinghy. Two others were missing. The primed depth charges exploded as the bomber sank. Half an hour later a pinnace came alongside, fished out the oil-covered survivors, and brought them to the corvette HMS Anemone. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2025/07/17/flight-sergeantt-roy-woodgate-wellington-rear-gunner-raf/

    Peter Chapman
    2 days ago
    Roy lived an extraordinary and hugely brave life. We live In a democracy due to the sacrifices men like Roy made during World War 2. I think his obituary should be taught to young people aged 11 to 18. So these entitled teenagers have some idea just how lucky they are !! Rest in Peace Sir. You went way above and beyond the call of duty.

    Comment by Winged Hussar.

    WH

    Winged Hussar
    2 days ago
    RIP, old soldier

    Comment by Group Captain Lionel Mandrake.

    GC

    Group Captain Lionel Mandrake
    2 days ago
    RIP – hero

    Comment by Wayne Ballinger.

    WB

    Wayne Ballinger
    2 days ago
    Blue skies.

    Comment by Al Son.

    AS

    Al Son
    2 days ago
    I often wonder what these old soldiers, sailors and airmen think when they see the state of this once great country falling apart and led by incompetent fools. Was it all worth it? God Bless you Sir.

        2. If that happened then I would hope I have enough sense to realise why my voice had not been recognised, and not run to social media like some drama king.

  27. Good morning all, yet another anniversary, the attempt on a leaders life in 1944. I wonder how things would have turned out had it succeeded.

    1. As a role model for men, Elliott Page lacks a certain something. It's difficult to put one's finger on it (indeed impossible).

    1. This stupid Ongoing TREASON against the British public. It achieves absolutely nothing but discontent and hard ships for the working tax payer's.

      1. But it's not for the people, it's for the top politicians – to boost their egos, to boost their power and bank accounts. Everybody else can eff off.

        1. They are jointly wrecking our country Obs. Something has to be done to stop it.

  33. That's what I thought – until I had one. Made me think – pretty well anyone can make excellent food out of a fabulous piece of steak, but it must take real talent to make a salad even interesting, let alone something that sticks in the mind for ten years or more.

    1. Colour, crunch and flavour. I find adding walnuts and blobs of blue cheese always cheers up a salad. Add a honey vinaigrette and a glass of wine and i'm happy.

    1. Forget definitions of Islamophobia and crimes against saying hurty words about Muslims – what we need is a police force and politicians who do not victimise Christians.

    3. “People have raised concerns”

      The obvious question is: how many people? Who?

    2. So, how will renationalising water help? You'll get the same stuff, but more inefficiently delivered to the taps, likely becoming poorer in quality as the dead hand of the state takes over maintenance and upgrades.
      VAT on education – that's been done to death. Just more tax to be wasted by government.
      Here in the socialist republic of Norway, there was not free school meals. Kids all took a packed lunch. Problem solved! (sweets, crisps, and fizzy drinks not allowed).

    3. I used to like H F-W but he's become progressively more deranged with time; he now seems to have lost the plot entirely?

      1. The corrosive effect of decades of earning one's bread caviar and champange courtesy of the licence fee payer, I should think. Gary Lineker used to be a harmless football player who had figured out how to put himself in the right place at the right time to score goals.

    4. He was capable of unpleasantries when much younger.
      I try to avoid ad hominem on the internet, but should I ever being passing by Willow Tree Language Academy….

    5. He was capable of unpleasantries when much younger.
      I try to avoid ad hominem on the internet, but should I ever being passing by Willow Tree Language Academy….

    6. Very keen to follow the instructions on a packet of sausages…..Prick with a Fork.

    7. Having completed his education at Eton, he's more than willing to raise the drawbridge by pricing out oikish parents who wish to improve their children's lives by giving them a private education.

  37. We have had nothing but rain since the hosepipe ban started. Just like last time.

    2. The spirit of Denis Howell hovers over Blighty like a rain cloud over Manchester.

    3. Not a problem for me, Johnny. I bought my hosepipe long before the ban on buying them started. Lol.

  38. It strikes me as odd that in this age where we are told to be kind and not be judgemental, the Coldpay couple have been hounded by the masses. It seems that loverboy's values do not align with those of his company. I thought that you were allowed to live your life anyway you chose within the law. Can we now start calling out the depravities in the world of Pride.

      1. Good morning Phizzee and everyone.
        Agreed, but it's not only the money; they are good looking and successful, so their very existence fuels envy amongst the hoi polloi.
        As BB2 explained (badly) it is easy for activists (religious, social, political etc) to manipulate people to rise up and protest. As in Gays for Gaza, etc.

    2. The homosexual 'community' were adamant that people must become more tolerant of homosexuals and homosexuality.

      Now that most people are tolerant of homosexuality it is the homosexuals who have become the most intolerant.

        1. It's like women and feminists though – they are letting all kinds of bullying extremism be perpetrated in their names.
          There are groups like Gays Against Groomers that try to make a difference.

    3. They certainly got a worse punishment than most cheats. However, I'm sure I'm not the only one that had never heard of the man or his company before this incident and has already forgotten both their names!

        1. Why did you post that? Now I will have to forget it all over again and there is a danger that repeated exposure will make it stick in my memory!
          Life is Too Short…

    4. Denunciations were and remain a feature of autocracies and dictatorships; from Napoleon to Stalin, Mao and beyond.

    5. In the good old days, pre 9/11, long-haul aircrew were rumoured to have some occasional interest in hanky panky.
      But that was thousands of miles from home, and could be blamed on excess consumption of alcohol or hot weather etc.
      Such individuals were employees not management, and they could still work efficiently the next day; Mr Byron the CEO has just tapped investors for a tranche of many millions of dollars, and if he fails to respect his own family, he might be capable of ripping off the shareholders.

    6. The lady is head of HR; the department that is forever dictating to employees how they should live their lives.
      Avoid 'micro-aggressions' like complimenting a woman on her dress, asking to share a coffee, making a mild joke etc….. No doubt, CEO lover boy went along with all the bollards she and her fellow mavens spouted.
      As ever, it was the hypocrisy and the feeble cover-up wot did for them.

  39. Well, a quiet Sunday. The MR is out to meet a chum (through whom we met nearly 40 years ago!) and visit an exhibition of hideous "sculpture" at Houghton Hall. There is an online "timed visit" booking system which might have some sense were the show to be indoors – but all the ghastliness is in the grounds – so having timed visits is daft. Their visit is for 11 am – the rain should arrive about 11.30…… Though it may miss Houghton (and here).

    I shall treat myself to baked beans on toast for lunch.

    2. I told a lie. A heavy shower started two minutes ago…. Should end in 15 minutes.

    1. One BTL comment about Sir Keir Starmer suggested that he was not upset by the murder and wounding of young girls in Southport, but was extremely alarmed by the demonstrations afterwards. Now that the British people know a little about the super-injunction, that starts to make sense.

      1. Starmer spent less than 20 seconds laying a taxpayer funded wreath. Then went of to the Mosque and promised them lots of our money.

    2. "Last night Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp (above) said: 'This shocking Mail investigation lays bare the risk posed by these illegal immigrants to the British public'"

      So this snivelling little shit had no access to this information before the Mail exposed it? What pathetic nonsense.

  41. Could someone ask Alec to 'unblock' me (if you, er, see what I mean). I'm feeling rather left out at times!

  42. Could someone ask Alec to 'unblock' me (if you, er, see what I mean). I'm feeling rather left out at times!

    1. “Eventually reality will force Sir Keir to conclude that there will have to be changes or the money will run out”.

      It ran out a long time ago.

    4. Golf is one of those words hurled at you at people who like to hurl words like Tango, Lima, Golf, etc. (assuming that you know exactly what they are on about) when trying to confirm they have got your spelling right. When I spell my name they hurl this torrent of words, so I have re-spell it for them by slowly saying "E as in Elephant, L as in Lollipop, S as in Sycamore, I as in Ignorance, and E as in Elephant." That way they seems to understand when they have NOT got the spelling right.

  46. Minorities in the Middle East are facing extinction

    We must speak out against the regime in Syria for its persecution of religious and ethnic groups, and support Israel's fight against terror

    Jake Wallis Simons • 19 July 2025, 7:22pm BST

    Father Tony Boutros is a Catholic priest in Sweida, southern Syria. He is no stranger to ethnic unrest; in 2015, he was kidnapped during a spate of abductions of Christians in the country.

    The clergyman survived that brush with death. But he may not be so fortunate next time. This week, he recorded a message begging the international community for help.

    "We ask the US, Europe, the Vatican, and the whole world for international protection for this region of Sweida, all of it, for us and for our Druze brothers, my dear ones," he said. "Look at the massacres that happened to us in Sweida."

    As he spoke, hundreds of Druze civilians, including women and children, were being kidnapped, tortured, executed and mutilated, with Christians suffering at their side. They fought back but there were fears of genocide.

    The Syrian Bedouin, who had started the onslaught, were soon backed by forces from Damascus, who joined the violence despite being ostensibly sent to quell it.

    Before long, Sweida was a magnet for every Sunni tribe in the region, with thousands of militiamen brandishing Kalashnikovs and knives streaming south on motorcycles, in cars and in buses.

    "Your fight isn't just with Syrians, it's with the entire Muslim world," one masked jihadi said in a chilling video. "We'll hunt you down wherever you are, just like the Jews."

    The world ignored the priest's desperate pleas. Apart from Jerusalem. This week, Israel Defense Forces jets pushed the murderous mob back for the sake of its own security – Sweida is 45 miles from Israel – as well as that of the Druze. It also provided large quantities of humanitarian aid.

    This stemmed the tide, though appallingly not for long. The violence continues. Israel, you say? Israel? So it was that the UN secretary-general demanded "an immediate cessation of all violations of Syria's sovereignty", while the EU urged Jerusalem to "immediately cease its strikes". God knows what Father Boutros made of that.

    This was just the latest round of ethnic bloodshed to have ravaged Syria since Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the former Islamic State and al-Qaeda terrorist, toppled Assad in December with support from Turkey.

    He has been bafflingly fêted by the West. There was inexplicable appearance on Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell's podcast The Rest is Politics, not to mention visits from world leaders and sanctions relief.

    Under Jolani's rule, Alawites and Christians have been massacred in sadistic scenes that have often been captured on social media. One video showed the corpse of a vintner being trampled face-down in his own wine by the soldiers of Allah in March.

    Was the old jihadi powerless to stop his men? Or had he little desire to do so? This time it was the turn of the Druze. Numbering up to a million, they adhere to a mystical faith that believes both in the God of Abraham and reincarnation. About 150,000 reside in Israel and are counted among its most doughty soldiers. Others live across the Levant. That such an obscure people roused little global sympathy is predictable. After all, they were not being menaced by the Israelis, so who cares?

    From a Jewish perspective, however, and perhaps a Muslim one, it is hard to understand the lack of concern in the Christian West for Christians in the Middle East.

    A century ago, they comprised 20 per cent of the population of the region. After decades of bloody persecution, that number stands at under three per cent. Not a single placard has been raised. For a country embarrassed by its religious heritage, all of this is a bit awkward for us, I suppose. Anyway, back to Gaza.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/19/minorities-in-the-middle-east-are-facing-extinction

    1. Sunday, Jul 20th 2025 12PM 18°C 3PM 18°C 5-Day Forecast
      Advertisement

      David Lammy to pledge £94.5 million aid package in support of Syria's new government in first trip by UK minister for 14 years
      By PADRAIC FLANAGAN

      Published: 23:54, 5 July 2025 | Updated: 02:01, 6 July 2025

      View comments
      Foreign Secretary David Lammy flew to Damascus yesterday to pledge a £94.5 million package in support of Syria’s new government.

      It was the first visit by a British minister to the war-ravaged country in 14 years and signalled the re-establishment of formal diplomatic relations.

      The funds will provide urgent humanitarian aid to Syria and support the country’s longer-term recovery through the development of areas such as education, the Government said.

    1. Sky outbid the Beeb for the rights this year; Beeb spaff all the Licence Fee payers' billions on vastly inflated salaries, bonuses, and pensions for their lefty staff who could never garner such riches based on their own solo talents. It's a racket.

  48. It is Britain's utter disgrace that wearing the Union Flag has become the ultimate taboo

    What happened to Courtney Wright is a microcosm of what has been happening in this country's wider culture for years

    Zoe Strimpel • 19 July 2025, 3:43pm BST

    It was a small and sorry tale that went big. On Friday July 11, as the sun shone down in Warwickshire, Courtney Wright, a Year 7 pupil at the village school in Bilton, Rugby, ought to have had a lovely day. It was the school's "culture day", and so Courtney donned a cute sequinned Union Flag number and a hat to match. It had shades of the famous dress worn by Geri Halliwell of the Spice Girls in 1997, back when Britannia was briefly considered "cool".

    But a few hours later, Courtney's day had turned into an Orwellian nightmare. She found herself sitting outside the school waiting for her father to collect her, having been castigated and expelled. Her crime was wearing British garb, and with it, the suggestion that on a day of cultural celebration for the school "community" in Warwickshire she was somehow … what? Asserting white supremacy? Racist nationalism? Expressing disgust for the "diverse" members of the school? This sweet 12-year-old girl was treated as if she'd come dressed as a member of the Ku Klux Klan, or a skinhead from the National Front.

    Never for a moment dropping the imbecilic woke jargon that led them into this perverse position in the first place, the school issued a sort of bureaucratic apology, which reminded me of the Labour party's apologies for repeated outbreaks of anti-Semitism. Clearly missing the point, it droned that it was "learning from this experience and ensuring that every student feels recognised and supported when expressing pride in their heritage".

    One felt a queasy guffaw rise in the throat as the statement went on. "As a school, we are reviewing our policies and strengthening staff training to ensure our practices reflect our values of inclusion, respect and understanding for all."

    No, you buffoons. This isn't about "reviewing policies" or "values of inclusion". It's about a culture that is so embarrassed and actually hostile to itself that it can't even countenance its own flag worn in sequins and good spirit by a 12-year-old girl.

    It's about the disastrous policies that have led to a moment in which terrorists are painstakingly afforded all the protections of British and European human rights, and pro-Palestine obsessives can drape themselves in keffiyehs and Palestinian flags, but a girl is humiliated, ostracised and sent home by teachers for celebrating, in the most light-hearted of ways, her British heritage.

    It's about the catastrophic melange of bad ideas leading to the blind worship of "multiculturalism". Careful observers have always known that this term was a mess; it has killed off any understanding of the importance of having a flexible but dominant home culture. One that is critically engaged with its history and heritage, but also insistent upon the Western values that are the fruits of that history and heritage. One that could not only handle, but enjoy, a dress like the one Courtney wore.

    We all know that Bilton School's aims are not for a moment about actual diversity, whether it is conscious of this fact or not. They are about brainwashing. And what happened to Courtney Wright is a microcosm of what has been happening, at greater intensity, in Britain's wider culture for years. Indeed, Bilton School's notion of "heritage" as something that's first and foremost "inclusive", and thus worth celebrating so long as it's not British, will feel very familiar to many. For example, the students at university or pupils at school who, for years, have dared not say anything about the British empire lest they end up conveying something other than scathing hostility.

    Britain faces a massive crisis of identity, and the events in Rugby have shone a direct light on it. The anti-Britishness of Britain is leading directly to policies, like those of the police and the security services, that harm British children. The grooming gangs weren't stopped, in part, because of a fear of Islamophobia. The security services didn't chase up a lead that might have stopped Salman Abedi from bombing the Manchester Arena; there is no reason to think this blind-eye-turning wasn't, at least in part, caused by the same fear.

    At the 20th anniversary of the 7/7 bombings in London, the great and the good hung their heads in respect of the victims, but few named what caused the carnage: Islamist terror. Fear of inflaming "community tensions" – the same reason Jews were told not to hang "missing" posters of the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 – no doubt explain that reticence.

    I'm as averse to chest-thumping jingoism as the next cosmopolitan, rootless Jew whose patriotic grandparents had to flee their nations – their national loyalty counting for less than zero. Nationalism has long been associated with violence, racism, anti-Semitism and loutishness, to say nothing of Nazism, the most terrifying empire the world has ever seen. But Britain isn't plagued with Nazism, or the murderous racism of the Ku Klux Klan. Not even close. We are, in fact, dealing with a country on its knees, suffering from a lethal lack of confidence.

    As ever, Europe both experiences and responds to such tensions in volatile technicolour. In Germany, the far-Right, nationalist, anti-immigrant AfD has closer links, for obvious reasons, to the dangerous rhetoric of Germany's recent past. Indeed, celebrating "Germanness" is, in my view, something that should only be done with the utmost caveating for quite some time to come.

    At any rate, the AfD's Thuringia chapter is considered its most extreme Right-wing and is on German state watch lists. Its leader, Björn Höcke, has many views ranging from dubious to repellent. He has said that "the big problem is that one presents Hitler as absolutely evil", wants less Holocaust education and a return to the "natural gender order", whatever that is.

    But in his book, Never Twice in the Same River, Höcke, a former school teacher, stumbles on a kernel of truth. He tells how one summer, students at the school started wearing T-shirts with the names of countries printed on them, including "Turkey", "Russia" and "Italy", but of course not Germany.

    And then a girl showed up wearing a "Germany" shirt. "The Turkish and African boys were beside themselves," writes Höcke. "These otherwise divided Turks and Africans spontaneously agreed in their aggressive rejection of 'Germanness'." Höcke then turned up in a "Germany" shirt the next day, and he was elated when some students followed suit.

    The point is not that poor old Germany deserves to forget the Holocaust and rehabilitate Hitler; that would be monstrous. It's that societies founder without a clear sense of where they've been, where they are and where they are going. Germany and the rest of Europe do not need to embrace far-Right politics to do this.

    No, they have only, at least in the first place, to refuse to let worries about offending minorities, or being seen to do so, get in the way of asserting the rule of law. And for the rest of us, the job is to assert the customs and values of the land without fear. Without that clarity of mission and identity, we will continue to see travesties from the small to the cosmic.

    Thankfully, Britain is not Germany. We have a history without the atrocities of the Nazi era. Our cultural inheritance is so rich, and has so many brilliancies alongside the less good things, that we have a feast of opportunity to work on, if only we were able.

    Seeing things this way would not only be more interesting and educative for children, it would also save lives.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/19/britain-utter-disgrace-wearing-the-union-flag-taboo-school

    1. I don't know if the lass in question has a brother, but if so she should have asked him to wear the dress – that would have given the school a real quandary to sort out!!

  49. It is interesting to watch police vans driving at and through the people protesting about the criminal activities of our recent imported arrivals housed in hotels in towns and villages throughout the country.
    Yet I seem to remember a different approach was taken by the very same forces when the Just Stop oil protestors were blocking roads and causing no end of hardship to ordinary people going about their business.
    The police protected the protestors and arrested the drivers if they attempted to force their way through.
    Is this another example of two tier politicised policing based on globalist agendas?

  50. This explains everything…

    Border Force chief who ‘suggested game of Naked Attraction’ with colleagues was able to leave civil service with unblemished record

    Exclusive: Review of Home Office procedures ordered after ‘shambolic’ disciplinary process relating to Steve Dann

    A Home Office investigation has found one of its most senior officials harassed and behaved inappropriately towards a female colleague, before being able to leave the civil service with an unblemished record after a “shambolic” disciplinary process.

    The case has caused such alarm in the department that the new permanent secretary, Antonia Romeo, has ordered an immediate review of complaints, conduct and disciplinary procedures to “ensure confidence in the integrity of the system”.

    Steve Dann, the former chief operating officer (COO) of Border Force, was effectively banned from visiting the organisation’s offices in Paris in 2023 after he suggested to female officers that regional directors could play a game of Naked Attraction, the Channel 4 dating show in which contestants stand in front of each other fully nude. He told investigators he did not recall the incident.

    Dann, who was in the £120,000-a-year post for four years, faced other allegations of misogynistic name-calling and making comments to women with sexual connotations, according to Home Office sources.

    He denied the allegations, suggesting comments had been taken out of context and that selected evidence had been used during the investigation by the Home Office’s professional standards unit (PSU). He acknowledged during the process that some of his comments may have been careless, but said he had never intended to upset or offend.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jul/19/border-force-chief-who-suggested-game-of-naked-attraction-with-colleagues-was-able-to-leave-civil-service-with-unblemished-record

    2. Blimey. How did a Border Farce employee meet a woman?
      Did he stand on a Kent beach and compliment the sole female 'refugee' on her fetching yashmak?

      1. You lead a protected life, pet. There are these harridans at the border farce barriers at Eurotunnel ….

  52. A friend of mine is currently involved in one of those four week drugs trials.

    Or The Tour de France as its more commonly known.

    1. It was the unwelcoming glare at an elderly, white, Englishman daring to return to the country of his birth.

    1. Rogerborg ⬛🟧
      Colin Macinnes
      1h
      The [Unmentionable] Council of Scotshire support [unmentionable] "reversion" events. The [unmentionable] people believe and assert that everyone is born as an [unmentionable], but most of us just don't know it. When we submit and become [unmentionables], they call this "reverting" to the true [unmentionable] faith.

    2. Ah. Three islamic centres plus a lot of activism for the SNP…
      A cunning plan to establish an independent islamic state in Scotland or the narrative that will pull Britain into a war against Iran?

      It is slightly disturbing that either scenario is possible!

  56. Dan Salt
    @Danjsalt
    The truth is the British public have asked for lower migration for decades and they have been ignored each and every time

    The Tories were given power in 2019 with a clear mandate to crush migration and instead they gave us the Boris wave and the Afghan invasion

    Mass migration is only going to end when the public finally loses its shit because the establishment will always find a reason to not stop because they have no ideas

    That process is now starting as the polite limits on the subject have simply been blown away and women and the middle class are coming out

    The political class have not even begun to grasp the implications of the change in attitudes that's now rolling through the country

    Less a wave of opinion and more a complete phase change where a system suddenly shifts from one state to another – in this case from tolerant to intolerant

    I don't think even Farage is anywhere near this one – he seems lost in the face of a public mood that's nowhere near where it used to be and is moving ever further and faster

    I don't think the political system can contain what's happening because bluntly people don't trust politicians or the state anymore – serial betrayals and lies over decades will do that

    I expect to see mass protests which will increasingly become violent – more and more people hiding their faces – ramped up ethnic tensions and in the end direct protests against the political class

    Again I repeat we were led here by the political class – they have and continue to refuse to listen because of their worldview – the British could still legal and illegal migration tomorrow if it wanted to

    But clearly the political class have decided that they don't care – well it looks like more and more of the public to care – they aren't stupid and can see what's happening to the country

    By the way I don't think this process is going to play out over a decade – I think you can count this in months – the speed of change in the country is breathtaking

    Labour is dying government which is completely out of touch with the public and that gap is growing – Starmer will never change because this is his world

    So we are running towards a political crisis which may well be triggered by an economic crisis which will cause a massive social crisis

    As I don't think this finishes with mass migration ending – I think we have gone too far for that now – no this end with flows reversing one way or other

    That means the public is going to demand a lot of people be kicked out and if that means citizenship revoked then so be it and that means the current legal system is basically going to die

    Push even the more tolerant people far enough and you'll get a reaction – threaten their families and wives and their entire world and you can guarantee it will be extreme

    We are there now – our entire political settlement is ending – it can't survive what's blowing in and it shouldn't – it has failed the British people – politicians haven't even begun to grasp any of this yet but they will.

    1. That chimes with what I, a resident across the North Sea, observe – from the press and informal sources.
      I fear massive violence – because I don't see how there will be change enough without it – but I have relatives and friend's skin in the game, plus I was born in England, am a proud Yorkshireman from Ilkley Moor, and want the best for my country.
      The best seems most likely the sweeping away of the current form of government and replacement by another. Maybe the King could provide some leadership here? His Mother would certainly have done so, especially when her husband was alive.

    1. I recognise that one – it's the cricket pitch at Lynton, in the Valley of the Rocks.

      2. Yes. Also featured is Bamburgh Castle.

        Ffestiniog football and rugby clubs have dramatic backdrops but there’s no cricket played there.

  60. SC from PACA
    2h
    Pointed out to me by my German ( a very well known journalist ) neighbour last night that William Joyce came to en early end for doing far less damage to the UK and the people of the UK than Starmer, Milliband, Cooper, L-am-ee, Hermer, and all the rest of them, are seemingly enjoying doing right now….Food for thought.

    BTN
    SC from PACA
    2h
    They are doing what they believe (their opinion rather than fact) is morally correct rather than what's actually good for the country and it's citizens.
    Needs to be mote accountability too so can't just clear off to France and leave the permanent mess behind them.

    Lord Farquard
    SC from PACA
    2h
    The regime should be terrified. When the revolution starts the first thing we should do is secure the airports, to catch them trying to escape to their boltholes.

    1. The same thought about William Joyce has occurred to me!
      Posthumous pardon in the post – oh wait, he was a straight white man, memory-holed already

      2. In the Night Garden? If you thought the Tellytubbies were weird, you ain’t seen nuthin’!

  63. 409670+ up ticks,

    I do advise for what it is worth, that people's had really better choose a side because the terrifying pressure hovering over these Isles surely cannot hold much longer, there is only ONE option left to relieve the pressure build up, forced upon the herd, and definitely NOT nice.

    https://x.com/JamesMelville/status/1946557401634644233

      1. I tried LSD once. I didn't need a taxi that night as i just flapped my wings and flew home.

        1. Sadly I remember someone who flapped his way out of an upstairs window.
          Edit: Gravity Falls…

        2. Sadly I remember someone who flapped his way out of an upstairs window.
          Edit: Gravity Falls…

  65. JWK provide "leadership"? You on drugs, Paul?? The man is an incompetent, petulant idiot.

    1. That’s one of the King’s roles. If he can’t, he should step aside.

    2. WTF is a 'Home Office Influencer' and why are we paying for this sinister nonsense?

        1. Anything’s possible, but she doesn’t benefit from the mysterious publicity that surrounds obvious operations like Andrew Tate and Reform, and she does show her face unlike the internet activists that appear in swarms to defend a particular narrative with a lot of insults and swearing.

          2. I don#t think she is stupid. She thinks in a particular way that obviously not everyone is going to agree with.

          3. She cares about women’s and children’s rights, but can’t see what Hamas do to their women and children?? I call that extremely stupid!

        1. See if you can find on line Pete and Dud
          Peter Cooke and Dudely Moore sketch The piano teacher.

  70. 409670+ up ticks,

    Good question,
    I cannon see finance being the answer he could always raise monies, look at the harvest of £25 sheafs he has harvested party building, goes deeper than monies.

    Could be he has a love for his head and, being attached to it, has semi covert pro muslim feelings, etc,etc.

    Whatever the reason is, in regards to the coming issues counting on reform alone going forward is on par with a bomber raid, with no fighter protection that was in abundance.

    No safety net party is an act of criminal negligence.
    https://x.com/WorldByWolf/status/1946642326010417603

  71. 409670+ up ticks,

    Lest we forget,
    Brexit was made possible via a great deal of bloody hard work then entrusted to a multitude of ungrateful bastards intent on denying the victory, success
    .
    Not only the pro eu peoples treachery BUT peoples returning to support the pro eu parties post 24/6/2016
    and ditching the only party that has shown as achieving a political success these past 40 years.

    It was a bloody honour to be a fruitcake in the Batten leadership UKIP

    https://x.com/JChimirie66677/status/1946882434160820283

    1. 4 million votes in 2015 delivered one MP, who then abandoned the party. This skewed the whole debate over Brexit, and led to the parliamentary anarchy of 2019. Parliament has failed us.

  72. 409670+ up ticks,

    Lest we forget,
    Brexit was made possible via a great deal of bloody hard work then entrusted to a multitude of ungrateful bastards intent on denying the victory, success
    .
    Not only the pro eu peoples treachery BUT peoples returning to support the pro eu parties post 24/6/2016
    and ditching the only party that has shown as achieving a political success these past 40 years.

    It was a bloody honour to be a fruitcake in the Batten leadership UKIP

    https://x.com/JChimirie66677/status/1946882434160820283

      2. I went to a wife swapping party once – got a lovely set of golf clubs for her

      1. One of the readers of this article appended this BTL.

        The pen debacle showed this man child for what he really is. I appreciate the Queen had big shoes to fill – but so far this man has barely put his little toe into her shoes. He’s a terribly arrogant man.

        When looked it was the most liked and had well over 200 up votes. The Idiot King is losing credibility and the People's affection by the minute.

  78. Keith
    2h
    On another note.. I am in Switzerland today and the ‘Sonntags Zeitung’ has in its headline news in the business section a listing of various scams and scandals about the Davos WEF and its founder Klaus Schwab.
    It has been revealed that after Brexit the UK’s ranking has been consistently downgraded and manipulated to appear in a far more disadvantageous position as the WEF did not want to have Brexit seen as being in a positive light.

    The Davos elite.. corrupt?.. who’d have thought it..

    Captain Sensible
    Keith
    56m
    There was a time when ‘élite’ meant ‘better than nearly everyone else’. Elite persons formed Plato’s aristocracy – rule by the aristoi, the best people. Now, they are no more than a large clique.

  79. Ernest Nowell
    2h
    Things we have learned this weekend. Get caught on Kiss cam, many lives are ruined. Sing a rude word 8 years ago, you lose your job and are cancelled. Let thousands of names into enemy hands, costing the UK taxpayer billions, nothing happens, not even named a shamed , nobody resigns. Brilliant !

  81. Notional Trust
    2h
    Labour are outraged at the state of our water industry, especially Thames water.

    In a parallel universe, in 2007, when Labour were in power, Macquarie, the Australian merchant bank acquired control of Thames water, this they did by borrowing £2.8 billion acquisition debt that they transferred onto Thames water via a Thames water Cayman Islands company. During the 10 years they owned Thames water the debt on the company rose from £6bn to 11bn.

    I get the impression that Macquarie were cold shouldered by the government after that, but clearly this wasn't the case in another parallel universe in Oct last year at the Labour Government's investment summit where they were boasting about the £20bn investment they were getting from Macquarie.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2357e7d9f52743a102fd31c625562ee1e13034caf93eb4a63b6d140c8c079266.png
    It doesnt add up
    Notional Trust
    42m
    Yes. OFGEM are having National Grid sell off the gas network, which will then be depreciated at a rapid rate for net zero. And who gets the depreciation charges, and who pays? Macquarie and billpayers. All part of trying to make gas look expensive, you understand.

    1. Captain Sensible
      2h
      Far more outrageous than the CEO’s pay rise is the way that Macquarie and other foreign financial parasites have been able to structure UK water companies so as to be able to extract huge ‘rental’ profits from them.

      It doesnt add up
      Captain Sensible
      48m
      A massive regulatory failure – and they already had the warning from M6 Toll too.
      OFGEM is compounding the error by letting them squeeze us dry over the gas pipeline network for net zero.

    2. Labour had a long time to renationalise it. They didn't. Bluntly, our utility companies are a farce. A lack of investment, now panicked investment for all the wrong reasons, an invented hoax to soak tax, massive expense all dumped on the tax payer, not the responsible company. The regulators, intentionally chock full of placemen, ex civil servants, wasters and troughers have proven incompetent and useless – just as designed.

      At every point, the problem comes down to the state failing in it's duty because it's untouchably incompetent.

    2. The idiocy of these sites. It's always about filter and swipe. If he as a short man wanted a relationship with someone of any value then he should look around and be nice to people. Not whinge about being short.

      Is he worried his date would be shorter?

      These dating sites are mostly for sex anyway.

      1. Apparently it is now quite acceptable to use dating sites.

        In my day it was considered to be an admission of failure if you couldn't meet someone in the normal run of events.

          1. The best ploy is not to look and then something is far more likely to turn up!

    3. The Warqueen is 5'8 or so, 5'10 in boots or heels. If she were 5' it simply wouldn't work. I've dated a woman who was that tall. You work things out by sitting down.

      2. I'm 5'8" and found a 5'2" lass who seemed to like me enough in 1980 to marry me in 1982. 43rd avviversary earlier this month.

        1. I was just under 6 ft. HG was 5 ft 3.
          I'm now 5 ft 10, she's still 5 ft 3. Much better posture and no osteo-arthritis, which has made me shorter.
          It's very strange, when we're back in the UK I'm shorter than average, here I'm taller.
          52nd anniversary coming up soon.

    5. At 6'2" I'm almost exactly a foot taller than my wife – it has never seemed unusual or problematic.

      I'm not sure however if it would work the other way around. I'd never date a 7'2" woman……

        1. Maintaining the same volume over the years doesn't have the same ring to it!

        2. To be honest I’m the same.

          In my Rugby days (I was a fair bit lighter when I boxed) I always quoted my ‘stats’ as 6’2″ and 240lbs – I think I’m a little bit shorter (but only about 1/2 inch) and a little bit heavier (maybe 20 pounds on a bad day…..) but I very rarely weigh/measure myself, I’m too nervous about the results.

          If the trend continues I’ll be like Jabba the Hutt in about 50 years…….

          1. I need my prescription renewed every six months

            As well as testing my blood pressure and telling me to have a blood test I am weighed.

            My blood test was done yesterday and they have emailed back the results which are most encouraging I but I fear I will not be happy with my weight when I have my appointment in a couple of weeks timer.

            I usually play a game with my doctor before he takes my b.p. and weight I tell him what I think the results will be and I am usually pretty spot on.

          2. I try not to go on any prescription drugs. My BP is high, but it always has been, and, if I’m careful what I eat (low on salt) and exercise a lot I can keep it around the 150/90 level (I have my own monitor) – while I can do that I will turn down the (slightly suspicious if I’m honest) intense pressure to take drugs.
            My weight is a different issue and my unwillingness to monitor it doesnt help – although as you get older you can spend more and more time fretting about this and that when you should be enjoying what little (?) time you have left.

  83. Cripes. It's absolutely tipping it down.
    At this rate, the Noddy car will be clean.

    3. We've had a couple of hammering showers and then sunshine. Skies are clear now. Be nice to get some more.

    4. Torrential in North Wales. Such a difference from yesterday when we missed the threatened showers. It was raining hard when I got home, too.

    1. Sadly true. I do not believe Reform will make any of the changes people are hoping they will.

      Most of this is because they vastly underestimate the size, scale and incestuous nature of the blob, the other that they'll be bought. When ten thousand people give you half a million quid, but one person gives you a million you listen to the one handing over the million (unless you're me, and turn down such folk as outside the scope of your ability and are honest enough to say so).

      1. I don’t think they have the strategy in place to hit the ground running on the first day.

        1. I don't think they have the fainest idea of what needs doing at all, let alone a strategy to do it.

          If they win – which I doubt they will, given the colossal edifice in front of them then they'll just hit the ground and find themselves unable to do anything, immediately tied up in red tape, legal challenges, banking fights, quangocracy pettiness. The entire edifice of state will, from before the election even starts, gear up to destroy them.

          1. That is why it's so hugely important that they develop and implement a strategy to overcome it.

  86. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/07/20/british-gas-boss-green-levies-abomination/

    “The energy transition is not cheap and it is not simple,” said Mr O’Shea. “If it were, then we would have done it already.

    He urged the Government to take a more honest approach when it came to net zero.

    “What renewables will do is give you more price stability,” he said. “You will get fewer highs and fewer lows. Home-grown renewables give you more security than imported gas.

    Only because unreliables are heavily subsidised whether they work or not. Our energy market was far more stable, far more reliable and energy far, far cheaper before the Left forced 'climate change' on us.

    1. It's the revocation of universal franchise that's most important. Then referism, recall and direct democracy.

      Then you could put Blair in office. He'd be paralysed. The entire state machine wouldn't be able to operate without our permission. He would be forced to oversee every law he has passed repealed and undone. He'd like to resign, but he won't be allowed to. Corbyn put in and forced to enact strong market principle, Right wing policies. He'd hate it.

      That's democracy. It's for the good of the people, not the Left.

      2. Just adopt the Swiss system, anyone can drum up support and force a binding referendum on laws the government has passed. That's how mosque building got shut down,

    2. There’s a young lad just started at the kennels (very smart, polite and hard working) . I doubt he’ll be voting Labour.

    1. My father died over a decade ago. My mother still hasn't sorted out his suits, ties, shoes let alone the utter carnage in the garage.

      2. When my father died, there was still plenty of our mother's stuff around; she'd died 16 years earlier.

    2. Afternoon all. Doesn’t apply to me as I don’t have any children and I have cars in my garage.

    3. Oh god! My life, after my mother died. Couldn't even give anything away for soooo long, because of effing covid restrictions.

          1. Entering classes in the family dog show . Best pedigree (Winston) , best crossbreed and veteran (Kadi), most handsome dog (both of them) and best rescue (both).

          3. I am very proud of them. Even the yappy nearly a Norfolk (he’s a Cairn x Westie) was quiet. I think he wore himself out before we got in the show ring. Winston had his nose glued to the turf because the hounds had been showing there yesterday.

      1. I was really pleased. Two firsts (one each), three seconds (one for Kadi) and two thirds (both Kadi’s). A good haul. They placed in every class they contested. Best pedigree, best crossbreed, most handsome dog , best veteran and best rescue.

    3. The only award Mongo has ever won is friendliest competitor. Mainly because he didn't really care about the daft activities and just whiffed about getting tummy rubs. No that's not 100% true. He won the pulling event with about 170kilos. He was pulling our bed as a puppy, so he is a big strong boy. Just a fluffy one.

    1. Interesting. A few years back I wrote on this platform that I could foresee a time at some point in the future that a government would give up and invite its citizens to subscribe to one of several major corporations that had the size and wherewithal to offer the full range of public services, eg Education, health, social security, law and order (and possibly an element of defence) etc. I could imagine a bit like insurance companies rather that each corporation being given a single geographic area in which to operate several would operate across regions (combing their resources to achieve for example seamless law and order services).
      As the article suggests perhaps all that is required is for a cohesive society to breakdown and become ungovernable for the government to give in, et voila, the corporations step in to restore order.
      I guess such a strategic plan would require the establishment of vast data centers to enable all the new subscribers to be registered quickly and subscription monies to be gathered efficiently…….

      "You will own nothing and be happy……"

      1. Yes indeed; those same data centres that governments and corporations are pouring trillions into despite them being at 90° to the prevailing narrative about net zero…

    2. Unfortunately I think Wikstrom is pretty much spot on.
      When you look at all the international groups and how they've acted over the last century or so I think it's impossible see it without some sort of conspiracy.
      His analysis of Trump is spot on, I believe. It's become clear that just as the orange-man-bad campaigns manipulated the left (and gave them permanent TDS), so the right were manipulated by events like that ridiculous fake assassination attempt.

      I didn't know about the Curtis Yarvin book – I have heard of him, but can't remember in what context. It's basically just the latest iteration of fascism being proposed.
      I don't think it will work for long. But I hope I see the end of it.

  93. Revealed: Palestine protester at Royal Opera House attended £48k-a-year school

    ‘Queer dance artist’ Daniel Perry unfurled a Palestinian flag during the curtain call of Il trovatore

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/946f524a89ba62094257af86c352628d57f7a6584e9fc4052ee5965be4b96595.png
    He looks like a live one
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2025/07/20/TELEMMGLPICT000433000061_17530207099010_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqiy2PE5hN9UHUfH8dtnNX0DXaG_3FkRG2WH2SGzlVXbs.jpeg?imwidth=680
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/19/palestine-flag-raised-during-royal-opera-house-show/
    ******************************************
    Release The Sausages
    8 hrs ago
    pinned
    I can imagine how deflated and depressed the audience felt when the berk tried to turn an expensive evening of entertainment into a political protest! If I’d been in the audience, I’d be booing and then demanding a refund of my ticket!

    Barney Rubble
    15 hrs ago
    pinned
    Waiting for the day one of that lot flies the Union Jack. They'll fly the flags of terrorists and our enemies but never show any support for Britain.edited

    Felix Leo
    11 hrs ago
    pinned
    Some cast members wore Keffiyehs for the curtain call at a Sydney Theatre Company production last year. All the Jewish patrons pulled their funding, other Jews stopped buying tickets, and the theatre has never recovered.

      1. I think queers are 'any orifice anywhere will do', or morally bankrupt in most people's thinking. As I mentioned earlier, we castigate people having affairs but off-the-plot sexuality is 'celebrated' (ugghh).

      1. I posted this an hour ago:

        One of the readers of this article appended this BTL.

        The pen debacle showed this man child for what he really is. I appreciate the Queen had big shoes to fill – but so far this man has barely put his little toe into her shoes. He’s a terribly arrogant man.

        When looked it was the most liked BTL Comment and had well over 200 up votes. The Idiot King is losing credibility and the People's affection by the minute.

    2. Children's instincts are often right.

      As a child I sensed that Prince Charles was not a very nice child and many – if not most – children of my generation felt the same. On the other hand we all liked Princess Anne.

      How right our instincts were. The Idiot King is a most unpleasant and petulant man just as his sister has turned out just as splendid as we sensed she would.

      1. I am not so sure that I agree with you, Richard. Charles' father did him no favours by sending him to Gordonstoun and he (Prince Philip) and his sister Anne ribbed him mercilessly. Having said that, King Charles the Third is not at all to my liking.

  96. To counteract my previous uncharacteristically doom-riven post, here's a little vignette from last night.

    The milonga I went to put on a show with a few couples, and as I was admiring their dancing, I suddenly realised that I'd met and danced with the man who kept drawing my eye due to his elegant moves and – I have to admit – his devastating attractiveness.

    For their final tango, the organiser announced that due to it being el Día del Amigo (a day celebrating friendship), the couples were to change partners. Usually they swap amongst themselves at this point, but she also gave them the option of fishing people out of the audience.

    Mr Handsome made a beeline for me and held out his hand!

    So I, with a potent stab of joy and terror combined, got up to dance my first show. Didn't even have time to think, so I just revelled in dancing with him, very much enjoyed his comment afterwards that I was dancing beautifully, and floated home on a cloud of elation.

      1. One of the definitions of tango is falling in love for three minutes. 😎

    6. Buenos dias, Senorita Katy. (Sorry, but I am struggling to add an acute accent on the "i" of "dias" and a tilde on the "n" of "Senorita".) I have just sent a "Dia Del Amigo" greeting to my friend in Cordoba, Argentina, so with this post I am sending one to you too.

  97. Wordle No. 1,492 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
    ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 20 Jul 2025

    Vacant for Birdie Three?

    1. I think you've done well there, almost Scottie Scheffler-like!

      I nearly blew it completely – Double Bogey Phew!

      Wordle 1,492 6/6

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

      1. My combination s of search-words is chosen to facilitate elimination; your search-words do not appear to be related, GGGG?

        1. Well I used my usual three starter words, which serve me well, but just had three orange letters – a couple of unlucky calls thereafter and bingo!

    2. Eagle by chance. (Later thought about alternative words and found six possibles).

      Wordle 1,492 2/6

      ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. First eagle in a long time.

      Wordle 1,492 2/6

      🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    4. Par for me.

      Wordle 1,492 4/6

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

    1. As a rule of thumb, countries that pay higher benefits have higher levels of rape….well, well, well…

  99. Ernest Nowell
    2h
    Surprise surprise , Reform allegedly getting hostility from officials and employees at some councils they have recently taken control of. Deliberately being obstructive and withholding information legitimately requested in order to make decisions on spending and the like.

    Blasphemous Duck
    Ernest Nowell
    1h
    Go full on Regan, sack the lot.

    1. It must have been expected, but it's tough on the new council members, having to fight for the community against what is, basically, a local civil service.

  100. StuckInUK4Now
    2h
    From the Jerusalem Post, a warning:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/76313fe073cf97779810520ade79261bd36751f2ffdcda1fe280d4a049c4e7c2.png
    Ernest Nowell
    StuckInUK4Now
    2h
    Do they mean certain people are getting into senior positions in public organisations via DEI, then ignoring it to employ people of similar backgrounds to themselves?

    Lord Farquard
    StuckInUK4Now
    2h
    A society that tolerates the intolerant eventually becomes intolerant.
    We are past that point.

    Winning the freedoms back that we expect from our homeland – free speech, freedom from the dangers posed by violent foreign religious fundamentalists, freedom from the burden of economically draining culturally incompatible foreigners – will only come through a fight. A physical fight. The sooner we realise that and prepare, the fewer of us will be lost in that fight. War is a simple equation. To win you must be prepared, and organised.

    1. So, bugger the 'hearts and minds' strategy and go all out for 'search and destroy'? Probably the best way.

  101. Michael Deacon
    All NHS ‘diversity officers’ must go – and this unhinged trans row shows why

    Why should our taxes fund fat salaries for woke busybodies who claim not to know what sex they are?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2025/07/18/TELEMMGLPICT000432600300_17528504805040_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq0quQUhCPHdUHY_XWT5Ck715NUcTKNHKqy85KLqtvPLE.jpeg?imwidth=960
    Isla Bumba departs the tribunal of Sandie Peggie after giving evidence

    19 July 2025 6:00am BST
    Michael Deacon

    For men, at least, one of the biggest mysteries about the rise of trans activism is this. Why have so many women – and in particular young women – eagerly embraced and helped to enforce an ideology that robs them of their own rights? Their rights to women-only changing rooms, public lavatories, sporting contests? Even their right to be placed in a prison that doesn’t also contain convicted rapists?

    It does seem rather a head-scratcher. One that we yet again had cause to ponder this week – when we read the mind-boggling words of a self-declared “trans ally” in Scotland.

    Isla Bumba, 29, is a senior “diversity officer” at NHS Fife. At an employment tribunal on Wednesday, she was questioned about her advice that a trans woman – that is, a biological male – should be allowed to use a hospital’s female changing room. And, during one extraordinary exchange, she told the tribunal that she doesn’t know what sex she is.

    “I would hazard a guess that I would be female,” she said, with all solemnity. “But no one knows what their chromosomes are, or their hormonal composition, unless you’ve had that tested – and I at least have not.”

    In which case, I very much hope that she will get her chromosomes tested. And that her husband will get his tested, too. Certainly if they ever decide to start a family. Otherwise, they will have absolutely no idea which of them, if either, is capable of getting pregnant. Mrs Bumba will be fretting about her sperm count, while Mr Bumba scurries anxiously to the bathroom with a little blue box from Boots. (“I think I must be pregnant, Isla. I haven’t had my period this month. Or, in fact, ever.”)

    At any rate, I believe that Mrs Bumba’s remarks have a significance that extends far beyond the trans debate. As we know, junior doctors are planning to go on strike over their pay. There are still hopes they’ll back down. But imagine if a junior doctor on a salary of £38,831 finds out that a young “diversity officer” like Mrs Bumba is getting almost £60,000. They’ll be manning the pickets before you can say “No LGB without the T”.

    There’s only one solution. Sack all these absurd NHS diversity officers, and give their money to the junior doctors. Two birds, one stone.

    Why votes at 16 is a great idea after all
    Have I done Sir Keir Starmer a dreadful disservice? I fear so. This is because, when he confirmed that he’s going to give the vote to 16 year-olds, I assumed that it was a devious piece of gerrymandering, brazenly designed to boost Labour’s prospects of re-election.

    Now, though, I feel ashamed to have been so cynical. Because I can see that the Prime Minister’s motives are in fact unimpeachably noble.

    I realised this on Thursday after I heard him explain why the voting age must be lowered. Sixteen year-olds, he said, are “old enough to go out to work, they’re old enough to pay taxes, so [they] pay in. And I think if you pay in, you should have the opportunity to say what you want your money spent on.”

    Disappointingly, Sir Keir did not reveal exactly how many 16 year-olds “go out to work” and “pay taxes”. It would have been interesting to hear a precise number, given that all children nowadays, in England at least, are required by law to remain in education or training until they turn 18. But let us set that quibble aside. Because there’s a far more important issue at stake.

    Sir Keir is arguing that the right to vote is earned by “going out to work” and “paying in”. So, following his own logic, those who don’t “go out to work” and “pay in” will presumably now be having their right to vote removed.

    If so, what a heroically selfless plan. Sir Keir must be well aware that this will disenfranchise a vast chunk of his own party’s core support. Yet, purely for the sake of principle, it seems he’s willing to end Labour’s hopes of ever winning an election again.

    And to think I took him for a conniving, opportunistic, hypocritical charlatan. The moment he confirms this courageous new policy, I’ll offer him my most humble apologies.

    Sadly, I suspect, not all Left-wing politicians are as principled as Sir Keir. Some, no doubt, will be rubbing their hands at the lowering of the voting age, and taking it for granted that children’s votes are in the bag.

    If I were them, however, I wouldn’t be so complacent. Children’s political views can be unpredictable – as I learnt just over a year ago, when my son, then aged 10, had a lesson at primary school about the general election.

    He and his classmates were handed a list of the key election pledges from each manifesto, and asked to discuss which party they would vote for, if they could. Naturally I assumed that, in the sweet innocence of youth, they’d all choose Labour. But they didn’t. According to my son, every single one of them said they’d vote for the Liberal Democrats.

    Bemused, I asked him why. He informed me that it was because the Lib Dems “have the best policies” – such as “give more money to schools” and “save the environment”.

    Sir Ed Davey shouldn’t celebrate too soon, however. Because, perhaps rather heartlessly, I then pointed out to my son that the Lib Dems also wanted to make milkshakes more expensive, by taxing them. He was aghast, and renounced his support on the spot.

    Wait till he and his friends find out that Labour is now planning to tax milkshakes, too. When they turn 16, they’ll all be voting Reform.

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

    Carpe Jugulum
    1 day ago
    Oh dear, a simpleton pretending to wisdom and displaying sheer moronic stupidity.

    Even worse is the attempt at sophistry from a scientific illiterate.

    In common with the overwhelming majority I have not been genetically tested but I can state, with complete confidence, that my genotype is XY. How do I KNOW that? The first point is I was identified as male at birth according to one of the oldest diagnostic observations developed by mankind. After a few thousand years its accuracy has never failed. The very rare cases of developmental errors do not invalidate that.

    The second point is the development of secondary sexual characteristics and indicators of primary characteristics. I presume, at 29, Isla Bumba has had more than a few periods. If those indicators of an unfertilised egg have still not convinced her of her XX genotype she really should be in care rather than a position of responsibility. Of course the likelier explanation is that she is a liar and that should also lead to her removal from a position of responsibility.

    Sorry Isla, sometimes sophistry can work but you need considerably more knowledge and intellect than that pathetic effort indicates.

    And there was I thinking my opinion of HR oiks could not sink lower.

    Kate Wydra
    1 day ago
    Get rid of every single DEI officer in the NHS. Give the money wasted on their salaries to nurses, doctors, physiotherapists, radiologists etc. DEI officers go around looking for trouble to justify their existence.

    Sack Isla Bumba immediately. She is responsible for the escalation in the Dr ‘Beth’ Upton/ Nurse Sandra Peggie debacle, which has made NHS Fife a laughing stock around the world. She has shown herself to be completely unfit to work in public service

    Upton is male and shouldn’t be anywhere near the female changing room. He was only in there to dominate and humiliate his female colleagues. If he had a scrap of decency, which he hasn’t, he would have used a disabled loo to get changed in, or asked management about separate facilities.

    It is completely unreasonable to expect women to get changed in front of men AT WORK. If Bumba cannot see this, she is more ridiculous than her name.

    1. Oh give over! We know why. Lucy Connolly defied the hard Left state. These are the clients of that state. Big fat state will not tolerate dissent, it must destroy resistance at every turn. The clients, the criminal, the dindu, the anti social, the welfare addict gimmigrant it doesn't care about.

    1. Comedically, it's a gay Lefty. The sort muslim throw off buildings.

      All such wasters who support muslim humus should be forcibly sent to palestine where they'll be dealt with properly.

    1. They are hilariously accommodating of respectful tourists. Those who get too close have to be booted away. You never know if they're carrying a weapon and without armour or weapon of your own you're in danger.

  105. Lunch time here. Still not too hot, only around 28C. A good layer of haze keeping the sun from cooking us up. We are at the same latitude as southern Sardinia, so hot sun is no surprise.

    1. They're lucky to have police stations that are open – all ours are shut, you have to phone 111

      1. 409670+ up ticks,

        Afternoon FA,

        I’ve tried, but still fail to see how on being strangled a call center in India is going to help.

        1. Hi Ogga – the call centre is in Dundee I believe and manned by coppers (mainly female) – or should that be womanned by coppers. Strangulation calls for a 999 call

          1. 409670+ up ticks,

            Evening FA,
            I’m at odds with could the Delhi
            one be a better bet ?

            Visited a bloody great scrap yard in Dundee, seeking channel iron for a support bracket, when installing a valve chamber in Blairgowrie
            water treatment works.

          2. scrap yard in Dundee ? That IS Dundee (where I spent the first 2 years of my life)

        1. You only have to say something a tiny bit unacceptable on social media and are guranteed to get a nice home visit from the guys in blue….

    1. Islam is a blight on Civilized Society. The worst part? We’re handling over centuries of building, inventing and creative thinking to an archaic, murderous “religion” that is determined to eliminate or convert the West to their fanatical cult. Stupidity or self destructive?

    2. Seems that only Israel gives a shit. Otherwise, Islam can do what it likes to whom.

  108. That's me for today. Useful rain. Some of the waterbutts are full again – others less so. More rain promised tomorrow.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

      1. You don’t meet that many Dianas. It’s always surprised me.

    3. "Who's the queer on my left?"

      "Do I wipe my arse on the turd or the turd on my arse?"

    4. "Well, blow me, whoever you are, I can see my hice, one of them at least, from here."

  112. YOU IDIOTS. 4 out 0f 5 on the panel are Muslims marking their own homework. The 5th is Grieve! …God help the non-believers.

    Labour’s Islamophobia law could hand Reform 100-seat majority

    Angela Rayner’s proposal would ‘set off a tinderbox’ under party’s working-class vote, says pollster

    Daniel Martin
    Deputy Political Editor
    20 July 2025 4:00pm BST

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/politics/2025/07/20/TELEMMGLPICT000431585272_17530205248730_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq6844extr6dIv-d8O8PIpPreHsZFrEmHQDi0eQN40zhg.jpeg?imwidth=960 What an apparition

    Angela Rayner’s proposal for an official definition of Islamophobia would hand Reform a 100-seat majority at the expense of Labour, a poll has found.

    The Deputy Prime Minister has appointed a panel to draw up a new definition to be applied across the public sector, despite fears it will prevent politicians speaking up about Asian grooming gangs.

    Now a survey of 2,000 people has found that Labour polls significantly worse among voters who are told about the Islamophobia plan.

    Before voters were told about the proposal, Reform polled 29 per cent, Labour 23 per cent, Conservatives 17 per cent, and the Liberal Democrats 14 per cent.

    But when the people polled were asked how they would vote if Labour brought in a definition of Islamophobia, Reform rose by one point to 30 per cent and Labour fell three points to 20 per cent.

    If replicated at a general election, that would be the difference between a Reform majority of 20 without the Islamophobia definition, and 106 if it were brought in.

    Bringing in the definition would cause a loss of one million votes to Labour, and a fall in its seats in the Commons from 155 to 103.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/07/20/islamophobia-law-would-cost-labour-50-seats/
    The poll was carried out by J L Partners, whose founder, James Johnson, said: “This polling shows that if Labour introduces a new definition of Islamophobia, it would be like setting off a tinderbox under what remains of their working-class vote.

    “With Reform nipping at Labour’s heels in hundreds of seats, that is not something they can afford.”

    Critics have warned that some proposed definitions of Islamophobia would make it impossible for people to raise concerns about Asian grooming gangs.

    And the Tories have accused Ms Rayner of appointing a committee with “extreme” views to come up with the official definition.

    The working group – chaired by Dominic Grieve, a former Tory cabinet minister – is meeting in secret and members of the public will not be able to offer their views.

    Mr Grieve has praised a 2019 report which called the discussion of “grooming gangs” an example of “anti-Muslim racism”.

    Claire Coutinho, the shadow equalities minister, has said a “culture of secrecy around matters relating to race and religion” was a key factor enabling “gangs of men to groom, rape, and torture young girls with impunity”.

    Last month, Baroness Casey’s report on grooming gangs found that hundreds of girls had suffered unimaginable sexual abuse in part because some in authority had not tackled the issue because they feared appearing racist.

    Ministers insist the definition of Islamophobia will be written in such a way as not to stifle free speech.

    The J L Partners poll of 2,035 British adults was conducted between July 16 and 18.

    It found that 37 per cent of respondents felt that protections against hate speech have gone too far – while 28 per cent believed they have not gone far enough, and 19 per cent said they were at about the right level.

    Some 30 per cent said protections against Islamophobia had gone too far, compared to 28 per cent who thought they had not gone far enough.

    When asked to compare the issue of Islamophobia to other issues facing the Government, 54 per cent said it was relatively unimportant, with 30 per cent saying it is relatively important.

    When Labour voters were asked, 45 per cent said it was relatively unimportant.

    Across all voters, just 37 per cent said a definition of Islamophobia was necessary in Britain today, and 45 per cent said it was unnecessary.

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

    BTL comments exploding

    1. Migrant hotel sex tape scandal: Fury as 'two asylum seekers are found filming OnlyFans porn video in their taxpayer-funded room' – sparking major probe

      Two asylum seekers were caught making an OnlyFans sex tape in their taxpayer-funded hotel room, it has been reported.

      Astonished staff at the Metropole Hotel in Blackpool allegedly walked in on a Syrian man romping a migrant woman during a room inspection.

      It is understood he had a tripod set up at the end of the bed and there were sex toys littered around the room.

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14921705/Migrant-hotel-sex-tape-scandal-probe.html?ito=social-facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawLqCDBleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETBVYzdseHh5VzJxd1hFUmp1AR7F2wdNq5-2rec6o5LQTSdVsv0cvDzFSGl22HzGdFQUmqTbA9RNxI0kwf1GZg_aem_GZFtu56V91gMz5K-meal9Q

    2. Just seeing Rayner sets me off now! It's unusual that somebody is photographed so consistently with RBF, Active BF and every shade of BF in between!

      It is impossible to write a definition of not being allowed to criticise islam without stifling free speech.

        1. Resting Bitch Face. The theory that some women have mean expressions which they can’t help because it is just their normal relaxed face. Though in my opinion, it does reflect people’s character! There was a cashier in Lidl who had a terrible case of RBF, I went in there once with my daughter and bought two doughnuts among other things, she put 20 doughnuts through the till and thought I wouldn’t notice!

  114. Richard Harpin. My part in his success, by Less Information Required.

    When I lived in Brum, I had a boyfriend from Newcastle and he took me to the Gosforth rugby club ball. At the bar, I got chatting to a young lad who had just moved to Brum and so I said I would introduce him to people and help him settle in (later on, I reflected he knew damn well I was from Brum and it was no chance encounter at all). Probably 1993-ish.

    He and his pal had had the bright idea to set up what became Homeserve, and he was working very hard on it.

    I was true to my word and hope he remembers me and what I did for him. Famously, we held a “Blind Date” party and he got his mates down and I supplied the girls and we all went off to different restaurants and back to his pad for a party. I don’t think there were any romances stemming from it, but the local blac cabs were still talking about it a year later.

    I was out with him the night my Nissan Scummy was stolen from outside my house with my golf clubs in the boot. I reckon that was the summer of ‘96. I left later that year to go travelling and then moved to London and we lost touch.

    He was a nice lad but very ambitious and would have sold his grandmother if necessary. Also, a bit too ginger for my taste – having the gene myself, why tempt fate?

    1. “unning rabbit kennels, selling conkers, becoming a magician: Richard Harpin’s entrepreneurial prowess began in primary school, with each path yielding its own particular charm. “I don’t think I ever had a longterm plan other than: I do want to one day run my own proper business,” the 60-year-old reflects. “I’m looking for that big idea.”
      It’s fair to say that he got there in the end (and then some), selling HomeServe, his home assistance service business, to a Canadian asset management firm for £4.1bn in 2023.
      The sale has prompted the writing of his upcoming book, How to Make a Billion in Nine Steps. Part memoir, part business toolkit, it charts the wins and inevitable failures that made HomeServe a multibillion-pound British success story, and secured Harpin a spot on The Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated personal wealth of £700m.
      Harpin never set out to make so much as £1m, he says. (MIR comment: that’s a downright lie).Born in Huddersfield and raised in Northumberland, business was just part of who he was. “As a boy, I built businesses the way my school friends built Airfix kits,” he says. The most successful of these was a fly-tie fishing company he started in his teens, which had staff in Kenya and Newcastle, where Geordie housewives would package the goods. It gathered enough profit for a car and a 10pc deposit on his first house by the time he left university.
      He later landed a graduate role at Procter & Gamble, working as a brand assistant for Fairy Liquid (the reason, he says, that his hands remain soft now) – but doing a day job alone didn’t cut it.
      Harpin began shifting Christmas trees in pub car parks to make extra cash. Once other vendors who were paying rental rates realised he was selling his wares without such costs, however, they complained, and Harpin was left with a vast – and dying – inventory. “I lost a couple of my selling sites and ended up with about 1,000 trees that I wasn’t going to be able to sell, so I got up at 4am and sold them at the fruit and veg market every morning,” he says. “I managed to get rid of every tree and worked so hard. [I] made no money that year, but [it was] a big learning point.”
      Another would come a few years later. He had met Jeremy Middleton, who would become his business partner, at Procter & Gamble in the early 1980s, with the pair going on to start a lettings agency, ironing service and decorating company and other ventures.
      They egged each other on in search of the “big idea”, undertaking the unusual strategy of attending prospective staff ’s homes to interview them, so they could eye up their kitchen table (with a view to choosing an employee based on one they wanted to work from).
      Their first member of staff was hired on that basis; their weekly tête-à-têtes and meetings with prospective renters were held at that kitchen table, too.
      Pivoting to property management gave Harpin his next step – a home repair and maintenance business, funded by his and Middleton’s life savings. But trouble struck when FastFix (then renamed A1 FastFix, to get it to the top of the Yellow Pages) expanded.
      They had secured investment from
      South Staffordshire Water. “I thought that we’d get economies of scale and therefore the business would get to profit – it didn’t,” Harpin says. “The losses got bigger because it was the wrong model, so I became increasingly unconfident, and thinking: ‘how am I going to find a way through this?’”
      The business lost half a million in its first year, leaving Harpin down to his last £10,000. Even Middleton told him: “You’ve got to admit your life’s dream of becoming a successful entrepreneur is over, you better go back and work for Procter & Gamble.”
      He had other ideas. With that final chunk of cash, he devised a new company, inspired by the plumbing insurance cover he had seen offered by Sutton Waters, a water company in Surrey. He mailed an offer for an equivalent service to 1,000 of his customers, 38 of whom sent back a cheque for £50. “That was the magic moment. I got on my desk in front of those 23 [staff ] who thought they were going to lose their job,” he says, and told them: “We made it.”
      Harpin was convinced that if this take-up rate within 1,000 households could be replicated at scale across 100,000 households, the business could work millions of times over. By the end of the company’s second year, it had more than 100,000 customers pumping turnover up to £3.67m, that first-year loss becoming a profit of £700,000. The following year, with an affinity partnership signed with Anglian Water, turnover had doubled, doubling again by the end of the 1997-98 financial year to £14m.
      Harpin is loath to dwell on the negatives in his business past – which may well include the £30m fine HomeServe was issued by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2014 for mis-selling insurance policies and failing to properly investigate complaints.
      “Mistakes are fuel,” he believes. “I’m resilient and determined, and I knew that I’d find a way through because that was my life’s dream, and nobody was going to stop me.”
      According to Harpin, 50pc of entrepreneurs are struck by their big idea later in life, while “50pc of entrepreneurs are born entrepreneurs, and that was definitely me”.
      That hardwired drive explains why Harpin isn’t sitting back and enjoying the spoils of his sale. He stayed on for two years as non-executive chairman of HomeServe (he says sacking himself as CEO was “the best business decision I ever made”); has invested £150m of his own cash into different ventures – including a Yorkshire pub, and Checkatrade. He’s also acquired a business magazine and podcast, written a 25-year business outline and written the book.
      He is also on a mission to double the number of large companies in the UK, which he believes is a vital step in stimulating the economy.
      Taking his foot off the pedal is clearly not on the cards for Harpin, who was a major Conservative party donor until earlier this year (he’d given the party more than £3.5m since 2010; Rishi Sunak used Harpin’s helicopter for campaign stops ahead of last year’s election).
      He will not be spending his days troubling local golf courses or seeking out “sun-drenched tax exile,” but instead splits his time between homes in Marylebone and a property close to York, spending non-work hours on pursuits like half marathons and triathlons with his children, skiing, and going on a selection of bucket list holidays.
      I ask Harpin what the word “retirement” means to him. “Death,” comes the response. “The day that I die will be the day that I’ve retired.”

  115. We have a thunderstorm rumbling around at the moment. No rain as yet but it can’t be far away.

  116. Impressive stats from The Home Office..

    312 asylum seekers receiving bed and board have been charged with 708 criminal offences in just three years.

    For starters.. stop arresting them.
    Secondly, cease calling them asylum seekers.. rebrand them as undocumentated British citizens.
    Lastly, pretend they & the offences didn't happen.. never have.. never will.
    Tidy up by instructing High Court judge to implement a permanent gagging order.

    Problem solved.

    1. And our stupid useless political idiots still try to ignore it and do absolutely eff all about it.

      2. Turn them straight round back to France. If Starmer had any balls they wouldn’t even need to enter our territorial waters.

  117. Matthew Lynn
    It’s time the world woke up and noticed the Argentinian miracle
    Moody’s upgrade shows Javier Milei’s free-market gamble is paying off

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/1d306d8eba15b725

    Michael O'Kane
    1 day ago
    Before World War II, Argentina was one of the five richest countries in the world. The phrase 'as rich as an Argentinian' was in fairly common usage. By the 1950's its slide into bankruptcy was well established and by 2023 4 out of 10 Argentinians lived in poverty. The Socialist Peronists in the 1950s accelerated the process. Britain is on the same track as Argentina. Socialists interfering and meddling and industry and commerce declining as a result. Before long Britain, already bankrupt, will be in the hands of the IMF and the Falklands under Argentinian control. Starmer is to Britain as Peron was to Argentina. Starmer is both a traitor to his people and a naive incompetent whose main interest lies in securing work and income for his Human Rights lawyer friends.

    2. I went for a walk with my friend who used to work for the civil service. Perhaps for 10 years. She is 48 and expects, when she retires, to have a lump sum of £90k and then an annual pension of about £30k, index linked and then payable to a next of kin.

      There is no “pot” of money. Just future tax receipts.

      I did say to her, “You do know you might not get this pension?”

      She totally misunderstood me but anyway said, no she would get it, it was hers.

      Well. We will see. If there’s no money, there’s no money.

      1. I followed your logic LiR. All my company pensions from my first employer onwards,I took with me when I moved on, they are all baked into a scheme owned by me alone, and not in the UK. Now getting to be worth something.
        Of course, I am exposed to currency risk, and that the scheme may be stolen, or forbidden by politicians, but currently, it's looking OK.

      3. If you are referring to her CS lump sum and pension, the numbers are not consistent with the rules at least when I was a CS. A pension of £30,000 per year for 10 years of service would indicate a salary of around £240,000 per year. In addition, her NOK would receive at most 50% of her pension. I think that the rules have become far less generous since my time.

    1. Do these tossers actually want to be elected as more than ink monitor? They have absolutely no clue about politics and presentation.

  123. The cause of death of the newborn killed after being allegedly dropped by a six-year-old who was left to roam a French maternity ward has been revealed.

    Five-day-old Baby Zayneb-Cassandra was found lying unresponsive on the floor beside her crib with a traumatic brain injury at the Jeanne-de-Flandre Children's Hospital in the northern city of Lille, France, on Friday, July 11 and succumbed to her injuries on Tuesday.

    Lille's prosecutor's office on Friday confirmed that the infant died from trauma 'consistent with a fall to the floor'.

    A boy who was found standing on a chair beside her is believed to have plucked the tiny baby from her crib and dropped her on the floor, although her official cause of death had not been disclosed.

    'A six-year-old child, a member of another family, was indeed seen near the crib and the child on the floor,' prosecutors also confirmed.

    Police launched a criminal inquiry into the horror that unfolded at the Rainbow ward last week, while witnesses have claimed that the six-year-old boy had been left to roam the wards unattended.

    The boy and the baby were discovered by Delphine, a young woman who had recently given birth herself, who rushed into the room after hearing what she described as a 'loud bang'.

    Baby Zayneb, who was born six weeks premature by caesarean to parents Mohamed-Hamza and Sephora, was resuscitated twice before she died this week after spending the weekend on life support.

    Delphine later told Le Parisien that the boy in question had been disruptive for days and was not being supervised as his mother was also recovering from giving birth.

    'He was running around everywhere and had already touched a baby in a stroller,' Delphine said.

    Meanwhile, Karima, a cousin of Zayneb's grieving father claimed that hospital staff had been 'warned' of the boy's 'abnormal behaviour'.

    She also alleged that the boy had fixated on Zayneb, calling her 'my doll', and had likely touched her unsupervised a day prior to her fall.

    'The day before, Zayneb had already been found without a diaper or electrodes, wet and suffering from hypothermia,' Karima claimed.

    Now, questions are mounting as to how the boy was able to gain access to Zayneb's crib in the neonatal unit alone, despite being reported as a 'disruptive presence' in the hospital.

    Karima explained how the boy was running riot in the halls for days after being dropped off at the hospital each morning by his father.

    'The father would drop him off in the ward from 7am to 8pm,' she said.

    Zayneb's grandmother, Fatma, told the Voix du Nord newspaper: 'The boy would arrive at 7am and spend all day running up and down the hallways.

    'All the mothers were complaining, and a nurse even warned the child's mother that there was a problem. He was entering the other rooms.

    'He also entered Zayneb's room for the first time. He said she looked like a doll, and my husband, who was there, took him out.'

    'It seems he tried to grab her by her nappy, and she fell on her head,' Fatma concluded.

    'My family is destroyed… My daughter is devastated. Coming home without her baby is inconceivable.'

    Zayneb's distraught father, Mohamed-Hamza, told Le Parisien he doesn't blame the boy who allegedly caused his daughter's life-ending injuries, but hit out at the hospital for their lack of care.

    'Every six-year-old is a little disruptive. I don't blame the mother; she had just given birth… But the child should have been supervised,' the 23-year-old declared.

    Fatma added that she had to push medical staff to arrange psychological support for her inconsolable daughter-in-law after she was informed her child had died.

    A criminal investigation into the tragedy was opened this week by the juvenile unit of the Lille Judicial Police Service, in conjunction with local prosecutors.

    The hospital also announced the opening of 'an internal administrative investigation'.

    A spokesperson said: 'This human tragedy has deeply affected the staff and teams of Lille University Children's Hospital, as well as the other families present.'

    A separate statement provided to French press acknowledged 'a particularly serious and upsetting exceptional event, unrelated to care'.

    'The thoughts of the University Hospital professionals are first and foremost with the young victim, her family, and her loved ones,' it read.

    The hospital also added that 'measures to strictly limit visits to the neonatal units of the Lille University Hospital have been taken as a precautionary measure'.

    Mohamed-Hamza and Sephora have not yet filed an official complaint, but dismissed the statement.

    'It won't bring my daughter back… But we're waiting for answers. There was a breach, and I'm going to fight to identify those responsible.

    'Justice will do its job,' he told Le Parisien.

    1. Poor tiny wee lassie. Barely had the chance to draw breath.
      That's really upsetting, Belle.

  124. I visited here today Saint Andrew's, Nether Wallop:

    St Andrews Church dates from the first decade of the 11th century at a time when Nether Wallop was the property of Earl Godwin but, following William the Conqueror's victory in 1066, the manor was confiscated and retained by the crown until Henry II gave the church to York Minster – 250 miles away – in whose hands it remains to this day.
    From a simple building it has been extended over the centuries, with the addition of a south aisle in the 12th century then, In the 13th century, a north aisle.

    In the mid 1500’s the chancel was lengthened and both aisles widened. The present tower was constructed in 1704 following the collapse of an earlier tower and steeple as a result of rotted timbers.

    All of these separate elements didn’t seem to me to sit very well together looking at it from the outside but, once we entered the spacious interior it was a different matter.

    Many who visit St Andrew’s do so to see a series of Saxon and Medieval wall paintings. The earlier paintings are thought to be the only Anglo-Saxon paintings in situ in any English parish church. They are completely unique, and a remarkable historic treasure.

    One painting shows St George slaying the dragon to rescue Princess Cleodolinda, the king’s daughter. The dragon figure is worn, but you can see the coils of his tail. St George is watched by the king and queen. Each has a different expression; the king looks on in admiration at the knight’s skill in vanquishing the dragon, while the queen is alarmed for her daughter’s safety. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b486d161e36fcdf00d7c8db3166a087cbf845f7a94885d42290ac1143cc82cf4.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7aab086463f38fead91055d823bf0cc89754c047e270faf8f8e926142be99f58.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8f9cf60b22218dab0905315d3d21f39534c96ba7ddc18d69f0ac312a7878e578.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/737d1be22e6b875bbdf1fb375466fc27b34aca870ebccad3f28dce447cf98d11.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/49fdbd0189d4b59913a02b17162d5acb8c1b459e978aa8f3c0ffbe4ccf5bf4af.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7fc63ec6732fc68c42be19576eb9ef92b7100ea7dde38bc5ecd04b45b719eaf6.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/61bb6e0406f198698e2345846679cbec870c0cb20db33bb72c85c3ae467ed703.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eae953cefe8e24bcbcb2ac994e33f1fd6e902ac2c2ffb06d390531b145c677cd.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6f8659db46b3ef07b4274d9bc9485e75db0286a2775d47d2c727eb532f1ae417.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4268f4e22f62c34c3ff20233a01cc452214209b190c7f4aa116fd24aa7eb1f5c.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2190b8fd3e0190e56de8ed2cf815ee8dd62bd914c511e96e30854118d8c22175.jpg

    1. The artistry involved is so sophisticated..

      I love the way horse is drawn and the angle of St George and the dragon .

      Wonderful.. and of course facially , the characters are brilliant , sensitive and telling us something .

      1. The Anglo-Saxons were more sophisticated than we sometimes give them credit for! I discovered recently an Anglo Saxon poem (maybe others knew it, but I didn't!)

        The Ruin
        translated into English, thought to be about the Roman city of Bath. Gaps where the book is damaged.

        This masonry is wondrous; · fates broke it
        courtyard pavements were smashed; · the work of giants is decaying.
        Roofs are fallen, · ruinous towers,
        the frosty gate · with frost on cement is ravaged,
        chipped roofs are torn, · fallen,
        undermined by old age. · The grasp of the earth possesses
        the mighty builders, · perished and fallen,
        the hard grasp of earth, · until a hundred generations
        of people have departed. · Often this wall,
        lichen-grey and stained with red, · experienced one reign after another,
        remained standing under storms; · the high wide gate has collapsed.
        Still the masonry endures · in winds cut down
        persisted on__________________
        fiercely sharpened________ · _________
        ______________ · she shone_________
        _____________g skill · ancient work_________
        _____________g · of crusts of mud turned away
        spirit mo________yne · put together keen-counselled
        a quick design in rings, · a most intelligent one bound
        the wall with wire brace · wondrously together.
        Bright were the castle buildings, · many the bathing-halls,
        high the abundance of gables, · great the noise of the multitude,
        many a meadhall · full of festivity,
        until Fate the mighty · changed that.
        Far and wide the slain perished, · days of pestilence came,
        death took · all the brave men away;
        their places of war · became deserted places,
        the city decayed. · The rebuilders perished,
        the armies to earth. · And so these buildings grow desolate,
        and this red-curved roof · parts from its tiles
        of the ceiling-vault. · The ruin has fallen to the ground
        broken into mounds, · where at one time many a warrior,
        joyous and ornamented · with gold-bright splendour,
        proud and flushed with wine · shone in war-trappings;
        looked at treasure, at silver, · at precious stones,
        at wealth, at prosperity, · at jewellery,
        at this bright castle · of a broad kingdom.
        The stone buildings stood, · a stream threw up heat
        in wide surge; · the wall enclosed all
        in its bright bosom, · where the baths were,
        hot in the heart. · That was convenient.
        Then they let pour_______________
        hot streams over grey stone.
        un___________ · _____________
        until the ringed sea (circular pool?) · hot
        _____________where the baths were.
        Then is_______________________
        __________re, · that is a noble thing,
        to the house__________ · castle_______

        1. Perfect, our language wasn't gibberish , our learned language was expressive ..

          I wish I knew how the Latin we are familiar with translated into our language , and how an absolutely indecipherable language like Russian or German survived despite our English language spreading through out the world .

    2. Lovely! just as my mind's eye picture of a small parish church. Older than time, stone/flint, unassuming, exactly the kind of place I'd like to worship in. Congregations having worshipped there for millenia, the quiet religiosity seeps into the stonework, and generates a special peace when you open the door.
      We have a few old churches in Norway with that same spiritual property, but ours are wooden.

      1. Indeed, the small, ancient parish churches have a peace and tranquillity absent from the great cathedrals, as wonderful as they undoubtably are.

    3. Suggesting ever so nicely…a space between your photos will enchance them.

  126. Is anyone in the mood to discuss religion and worship? It's getting late, I know.
    I always wonder why it seems necessary, when worshipping God, to metaphorically kiss his ar**, to smarm up to Him, or is that just human interpretation of how most, as humans, would like people to look up to us? Cringing, bowing & scraping, making sacrifices, using creepy words? Because, that approach to a Deitiy does nothing for me, it seems to be just how a shallow Tony Bliar-clone would like to be treated. But if God is all-powerful and all-knowing, why would He want or need that?
    Discuss…

    1. God created man in his own image and man, being a generous sort did the same.

      It's the same with any ruler weak people pay obeisance to: they want to believe someone powerful influences their life, so it probably pays to be polite to the embodiment of power you've ceded responsibility to.

      I, on the other hand, don't believe. If there is a god, when I meet the git, I'd like a few choice words.

        1. A while ago, I declaimed how all religion was bunk, just a way to manipulate people. Then railed on about Christianity, because I know a bit more about it.
          Then I heard a small voice in my head that said "Do you really think that?"
          Rendered utterly speechless by that. Was it God or my conscience – and are they the same? – speaking to me? It's not normally a matter for discussion, as you get branded a nutter.

          2. Jesus suffered far more for me than merely being called a nutter.
            If that's all they've got I can live with it.

    2. I tend to just chat because I figure as he can see straight into my heart he can see everything in it anyway.

    3. We don#t make sacrifices. Jesus did that for us for once and for all. Yes, God does like us to praise Him. But He knows if we are honest about it or not. As God personifies a steady standard of what is good and opposes evil, why wouldn't we love Him if we are attracted to good rather than to evil?
      I suppose what I am trying to say is that if you love God then you praise him by your actions all the time. So maybe you find the formal word spoken in church to be a bit unnatural?
      I think they are to do with practicing and examining one#s own conscience, motives and desires. You wouldn't expect to be a concert pianist without practicing scales and exercises, so why would you expect to be able to be the best version of yourself without practicing some exercises that might look pointless on their own? if you see what I mean.
      (am going to bed now, sorry as have early start tomorrow).

        2. Imagine that sketch but with Islamic sources.
          Dave Allen would be dead within the week.

    4. For the first fifty years of my life, I was a devout Roman Catholic. Then I lost my faith. I cannot believe that a good God, all-knowing, all-powerful, would create a world with such evil and cruelty in it.

      Were I still religious, believing in God and the devil, I would be certain that Mohammed was the devil incarnate.

      2. "I cannot believe that a good God, all-knowing, all-powerful, would create a world with such evil and cruelty in it."

        Did he set out to create perfection? If so, why did he give us a conscience?

        2. I don't know – none of us can. I am an agnostic, not an atheist. All I can say is that if I were God (and I'm not), I could not stand by and allow the cruelty, the slavery the misery to continue if I had the power to stop it.

          1. I don't speak from a religious point of view. I too went to Catholic schools, went along with it, mumbled the words in the Masses, and then left.

            I wasn't 10 when I piped up in class one day and snorted "God didn't create the Earth. It was made from dust." That caused a stir. "Ooh, Miss, Miss, he says God didn't make the world, Miss!"

            Miss wasn't a Catholic (even in the 60s the church was struggling to find RC staff) and wasn't much moved to make a fuss. Nevertheless, there is something about the silence and calmness of a church, even the soulless (!) modern RC types, that some of today's angry people might find helpful – unless they're the kind given to uttering "I can't stand silence. It does my 'ead in."

          2. "…there is something about the silence and calmness of a church…"

            I couldn't agree more. I miss the certainty, the fellowship of belonging, the stillness of the churches (which I still appreciate) and I'm sad when I see the closed churches, but…

          3. I don't speak from a religious point of view. I too went to Catholic schools, went along with it, mumbled the words in the Masses, and then left.

            I wasn't 10 when I piped up in class one day and snorted "God didn't create the Earth. It was made from dust." That caused a stir. "Ooh, Miss, Miss, he says God didn't make the world, Miss!"

            Miss wasn't a Catholic (even in the 60s the church was struggling to find RC staff) and wasn't much moved to make a fuss. Nevertheless, there is something about the silence and calmness of a church, even the soulless (!) modern RC types, that some of today's angry people might find helpful – unless they're the kind given to uttering "I can't stand silence. It does my 'ead in."

          4. I don't speak from a religious point of view. I too went to Catholic schools, went along with it, mumbled the words in the Masses, and then left.

            I wasn't 10 when I piped up in class one day and snorted "God didn't create the Earth. It was made from dust." That caused a stir. "Ooh, Miss, Miss, he says God didn't make the world, Miss!"

            Miss wasn't a Catholic (even in the 60s the church was struggling to find RC staff) and wasn't much moved to make a fuss. Nevertheless, there is something about the silence and calmness of a church, even the soulless (!) modern RC types, that some of today's angry people might find helpful – unless they're the kind given to uttering "I can't stand silence. It does my 'ead in."

    5. For me it has always been private. The family and the village I was brought up in I was the wrong side of the tracks.

      1. Gratefulness for the good things in life doesn't go amiss, whoever you are addressing. For a lovely little yellow flower, or whatever.

        1. I was lucky to meet at the youth club a couple of people who without intent opened my eyes.

          I didn't know at that time they were both renegades in their own way.

          In as much they laughed at the silly side of things.

          I would watch University Challenge with Jenie and then go to the pub and have a bowl of chips with Dougal. Often on those nights the Vicar would be around.

          I remember them with deep gratitude for these simple things.

          It was their attitude to life and the Church that sustained me.

          Never once did they preach at me. They showed me.

          1. That’s difficult to answer, Phizzee. I think I understand what you mean.

          2. I was 14 at the time. I only realised much later they were both on the Parish Council.

            That's what i mean about the other side of the tracks. They were the first as far as my family was concerned.

            When you live on a council estate like Leigh Park you won't bump into people like these. God bless them.

            Leigh is apparently the largest council estate in Europe or it was.

            It was always troublesome and now it really is much worse.

    6. One of the reasons that I can never and not bring myself to believe in any form of a god is because all the horrible ah souls seem to survive for so much longer. And so many innocent people die far too soon.

      1. It's a problem, isn't it? Maybe humans are left alone, having been given good advice on how to live a reasonable life, to get on with it – and many can't, without screwing over others.
        Natural disasters I have no answer to, other than maybe God views all sentient life equally, and so a landslide affects all in the way equally – whether elephant, squirrel or human.
        Dunno.

  128. Watching the one handed pianist play with his left hand ..the piano .. with the BSO , BBC Proms BBC4.

    Impressive .. yes .. impressive .

    God bestows great gifts, of this I am certain.

        1. When you hear Honoria stammering to Charles – it gets me every time.

          The Warqueen didn't want to watch a 'war film' and after the first series was watched almost back to back she started on the second almost immediately – at about 3am!

          1. The nurse's face on the plane afterwards following the suicide is painless sketch.

      2. More than those two involved, all those other hidden scumbags who never show their faces.

      1. Given the available tech why are they all holding phallic stems to their mouths?

        Asking for Andrew Tate…

        2. Those yellow mikes annoy me – they are completely unnecessary with modern sound tech.

    2. Glad you posted that, Belle.

      I was thinking about it but i didn't want to be called a XXXXXXXXXwoteva.

  132. A fairly predictable result in the open golf. He made a few unforced errors, even with a double bogey he pulled it back and the best player won the magnificent trophy and prize money.

        1. I have never heard of him, Sue …

          However, I have met Jack & Barbara Nicklaus at The Open at Muirfield!

          1. Hello Lacoste

            Scottie Scheffler is unfortunately an American .. but a clever determined player !

            I am still listening to the proms .. I am unfamiliar with a couple of the offerings, but I like the BSO.

            Son had a girlfriend for several years who was 4th violinist with them , a clever Anglo Indian girl .. She was delicate and talented and very highly strung , we trod on eggshells .
            We liked her , and it was a sad time when they went their different ways .

          2. Do you mean Jack Niclaus. I am not really sporty, but Jack Nicholson is a film star.

    3. It was all a bit tame and processional in the end. Where are the characters these days?

      He's the 18th US winner in the last 30 Opens.

      1. I think there are too many of them playing. The fairways were covered in divots. I’m not sure if they get relief from them.

  136. Currently sitting outside 'cos it's been hot, but as the sun's gone down, thunderclouds have rolled in. Looks like it might be wet soon, and next door have a bunch of small children sleeping in their garden… they may well het wet! Some big fuckoff black ants flying around, too. I shall be sleeping in bed, even though the bedroom was scorching when I went upto open the window and ventilate a bit. Hopefully, no ants…

    1. It could be worse. While you are falling to sleep those ants start biting the little ones camping. and the screaming starts…….what to do what to do………….me…ear plugs.

      1. I can see the rain coming. They'll be indoors soon, with bedding, teddies, and a great pile of other stuff.

  137. King Charles, the disquiet at Highgrove and the gardeners’ exodus
    Memos fired off by the monarch to correct grammar and demand single flowers be moved are wrecking morale among staff who are paid as little as minimum wage

    What you need to know
    King’s demands, staff shortages and low pay led to gardener exodus at Highgrove
    Royal charity which runs gardens told to offer mental health support after formal investigation
    Charles has lost 11 of 12 garden staff since 2022 including two head gardeners who quit within a year
    Monarch said of one worker: “Do not put that man in front of me again”
    After Ukraine invasion King proposed plugging staff shortages with war refugees or the elderly
    At one point half of staff were on minimum wage
    The King appeared in a circlet of feathers and a scarf draped ceremonially around the shoulders of his cream suit. It was a nod to the traditional cultures and forms of healing that underpinned his inaugural “Harmony Summit” at Highgrove House last weekend — an event attended by indigenous tribesmen, herbalists and craftspeople.

    There could have been no more fitting backdrop to the event than the gardens at his nine-bedroom residence in Gloucestershire. For 45 years, Highgrove has served as a laboratory for the King’s belief that humanity should work with nature, not against “her”. He still regularly spends time at the house, tending to the exotic flowers and plants that are his pride and joy.

    Yet as “sacred smoke” spiralled over the apple trees, elders read spiritual incantations to honour Mother Earth and the Amazon Prime documentary cameras whirred, an inconvenient truth was hidden. For, despite the King’s pronouncements, life at the gardens has at times been far from harmonious.

    In summer 2021, Charles signed a deal to preserve his influence over the property when he became King, a legal and technical necessity as it was due to be inherited by his son, William. Since then, he has remained involved on the most minute level, supervising everything from the size of peaches to the shade of roses. He does this by attending walkabouts at the property, then sending notes in thick red ink to garden staff who are expected to act before his next return.

    ‘Don’t put that man in front of me again’
    The memos are often strikingly specific and emotional — demanding, for instance, that staff move a single, unacceptable ragwort from the perimeter of his swimming pool; telling them their failure to cultivate his beloved delphiniums had caused an almighty disappointment and spoilt one of his favourite moments of the summer; and even correcting grammar. Others are more positive: Charles expressing his giddy delight at the progress of a particular specimen, or affixing several exclamation marks to an upbeat comment.

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    In the background, the King has entrusted a manager to become his go-between with the gardeners, many of whom say his requests are impossible to fulfil given the lack of resources. Others have complained of poor conditions, including pay as low as minimum wage. Charles is shielded from some of the issues, but not all. He was sufficiently aware of staff problems that, after the invasion of Ukraine, he dashed off a note proposing that war refugees could be recruited to help out.

    Of 12 full-time gardeners employed in 2022, 11 have left, including two heads of gardens and a deputy head gardener who departed within the space of a year. One had served the King for decades. Another failed his probation after revealing a lack of knowledge about a particular flower, instantly losing Charles’s trust. The monarch said of him: “Don’t put that man in front of me again.”

    In late 2023, one staffer launched a grievance against the gardens’ management, saying the team was overwhelmed, under-resourced and constantly struggling to fulfil the King’s requests. His complaint said staff had developed physical injuries trying to keep up, and that the team suffered from low morale. It added: “There is little management of HMTK [His Majesty the King’s] expectations, and I know I would not be allowed to say we are understaffed.”

    In turn, The King’s Foundation, which now runs the gardens, commissioned an external investigation. It found evidence of “staff shortages” and “poor” management practice; that pay was an “issue for recruitment and retention”; and that churn was so severe the gardens had been given “carte blanche” to hire temporary workers. It recommended “management training for all managers”, “mental health support and counselling” and a pay review. Yet insiders say issues have persisted.

    Charles’s charity has done away with the title of “head of gardens”, appointing only a “head gardener” after successive departures, and removed the role of deputy head gardener. Two more staff walked out around the start of this year. In turn, the gardens have continued to rely on staff sent from Charles’s other estates, as well as career-changers and local volunteers.

    The fact Highgrove is a demanding workplace has been hinted at in the past. Almost two decades ago, The New York Times published an article entitled “Organic looks easy, if you’ve got a royal staff”. In it, the newspaper’s gardening columnist said the eight gardeners “may seem like a lot until you grasp the amount of labour involved”, pointing out that their productivity was hard to believe given they are not allowed to use pesticides. Yet today is the first time that concerns have surfaced publicly.

    In a statement, The King’s Foundation cited many “positive” developments at Highgrove since assuming management including higher profits and visitor numbers. It said the public “enjoy discovering” the King’s “personal impact” on the estate. Of the charity, which includes several of the monarch’s properties, it reported “high satisfaction rates” among staff.

    A spokesman said: “At The King’s Foundation, we strive to be an exemplary employer and are proud to regularly report very high satisfaction rates in our annual staff survey. Our staff turnover is well below the national average, as is the number of formal grievances raised.”

    By March 2022, out of 12 staff, three were on an hourly wage of £8.91, the minimum wage; two were on £9.50, the minimum wage for the following year; and one, a student, was on £8.36. Innemée did permit modest pay increases for some of the replacements, but sources say gardens elsewhere remained more competitive. One source said low pay was a “notorious” fact of royal life and a sacrifice people were willing to make because of the “kudos” on one’s CV. Yet in the modern era, and with staff now answering to a charity, not the household, fewer appeared willing to tolerate it.

    Rachel Anderson
    1 day ago

    For someone so wealthy to employ staff on the minimum wage is disgraceful. And to get volunteers to do your garden rather than pay like the rest of us well that says it all.

    https://www.thetimes.com/uk/royal-family/article/king-charles-highgrove-gardening-investigation-8rs7bt2m0

    Blimey around here , gardeners charge £15 per hour .. no joke , window cleaners charge £30!

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    R Adams
    23 hours ago

    Even stranger, why does the Queen have volunteers at Ray Mill? I get fed up mowing my lawn, are there any local OAP’s who’d like to volunteer to cut it for me?

    1. Not doing too well, is he? We went there a few times in the 1980s to do various events. Later on I did go on a trip to see the gardens. 2008 I think. It's changed a bit since the early days.

      1. Hi J,
        I am totally uncomfortable saying this , but he is an arrogant rude shit .

        Decades ago when Moh was in the RN and had some seniority and was also flying helos .

        I had to drop Moh off at RNAS Yeovilton and as Moh parked the car, and when I jumped out of the passenger seat to get into the drivers side , kissing Moh goodbye .. a car next to us , quite a swish car, disgorged a young grumpy HRH from the driving seat , he got out slammed the door of his car , grimaced /scowled , looked over his shoulder at us , no acknowledgment and dashed off ..

        It was his bearing and and bad stroppy attitude that was so shocking .. just an impression that stuck with me for decades .

        His brother Prince Andrew was amiable , friendly , amusing and had a good connection with people , and that impression stayed with me forever , and that is why I feel sorry for Andrew .

        1. He certainly had no empathy with Diana when she was clearly feeling ill with pregnancy sickness or bulimia.
          We also did an engagement party drinks and nibbles for them at Highgrove. She was wearing a jumper with deer on.

          When J lived on St Agnes he met Prince Charles as he got off the boat – he was the postmaster there at the time. I think he seemed reasonably affable at that time.

          I remember the bells ringing for Prince Andrew's birth in February 1960 – my mother had taken me on the bus to Painswick to see a young foal…… someone she knew at the time had invited us to come and see the foal – its mother was a racehorse.

    2. In woking we were paying £25 an hour for an RHS qualified gardener, really knowledgeable, and he was Hungarian. Applying for citizenship here. He eventually stopped coming to us as he then moved to Crowthorne and travelling time to and fro was obviously not good for his bottom line.

      Do have much of a garden now (sob) and, besides, staying at our daughter’s house in Crowthorne while major works carried out at the bungalow.

  140. I just made a whole comment and it's disappeared!
    Trying again……….
    Sitting down now after our dinner – we were treated to a wonderful display of flying from our swift colony. At least a dozen or more birds whirling round the house at high speed.
    We still have a few youngster not yet fledged – and the parents will stay for a while to regain their strength before their flight back to Africa.

    1. We use to have a lot of wildlife in our garden bat's owls and swifts. Newer neighbours have the 'must have' garden lights, obviously putting off the little creatures..

        1. No only from movement.
          It’s the only thing I can think is the reason for the missing wildlife.

  144. Well, chums, I guess I'm having an early night tonight. So Good Night all, sleep well, and I hope to see you all well and rested tomorrow morning.

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