Monday 9 March: To beat coronavirus, the Chancellor must overhaul NHS pension policy

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/03/09/lettersto-beat-coronavirus-chancellor-must-overhaul-nhs-pension/

716 thoughts on “Monday 9 March: To beat coronavirus, the Chancellor must overhaul NHS pension policy”

    2. And a good morning from the Derbyshire Dales.
      No idea what the weather is like, I’m sat up in bed and I’ve not looked out of the window yet.

      1. Glad you have not been stood up and are being properly looked after with someone there to sit you up comfortably.

        1. The DT is back down at her mother’s until next Friday, so it’s me cooking for S@H when he gets home from work until then.
          He’s been doing quarry plant maintenance during a shut-down for the past week with another 2 weeks to go. 12h per day 7 days a week, though he’s off this Friday for a rest.
          I plan doing omelettes this evening, followed by the left overs from a rhubarb crumble I did over the weekend as afters.

    1. Ah, bread and butter pudding – a good reliable standby when we run out of pasta.

    2. ‘Morning, George, an amusing idea to use bread as a petri dish. Effective though.

  4. SIR – William Sitwell’s article (Features, March 6) on the closure of so many top-name restaurants prompts me to wonder if the time has come for a return of places to eat that sell good food at affordable prices.

    What has happened to the old corner café, with its giant teapot on top of a water heater serving fresh tea all day? It was ideal for breakfast on the way to work, lunchtime breaks and for meeting up with mates later in the day.

    Lionel Anderson
    Peñíscola, Castellón, Spain

    Robert Spowart
    9 Mar 2020 7:15AM
    Well said Lionel Anderson!
    A decent Greasy Spoon provides good, tasty and well cooked basic grub at a decent price and is a treasure to be cherished.

    1. Mr Anderson has been in Spain too long. At least where I live, there is an abundance of what would have been called greasy spoons in my youth, but the spoons (and the rest of the cutlery) are definitely not greasy now.

  5. Morning all

    SIR – I have just made a trip across London in the rush hour that included trains, the Underground and buses. I didn’t see one mask being worn.

    Gillian S S Lambert

    Tadworth, Surrey

    SIR – A lack of hospital beds is partly down to many being occupied by those who should not be there. Since we have a social care system that is not fit for purpose, people cannot be sent home or to a suitable care home.

    Should coronavirus reach a nursing home, how are the authorities expected to react?

    James Nicholson

    Southampton

    1. ” how are the authorities expected to react?”
      Joy, probably, at the likely decimation of the inmates and thus freeing up of space for more.
      Morning, Epi.

    2. 317000+ up ticks,
      J,Nicholson,
      A shining example of fault is mass uncontrolled immigration, world wide queue of patients, limited number of beds.

    3. ” how are the authorities expected to react?”
      Joy, probably, at the likely decimation of the inmates and thus freeing up of space for more.
      Morning, Epi.

    4. With regards to the last Question the answer would seem to be lots of beds will become available in Nursing Homes allowing elderly hospital patients to be discharged to them. As the length of stay of the newly discharged patients is unlikely to be very long the costs to the exchequer won’t be too daunting…..

  6. What kind of police force lets gangs get away with stealing from charity shops? Julie Burchill 9 March 2020.

    Talk about poacher turned gamekeeper; from being the best shoplifter in my year I have become a scourge of the light-fingered loiterers, keeping a beady eye out for them at my volunteer job in a MIND shop. Once you’ve made the depraved decision to steal from a charity shop, there are no depths you won’t sink to in; my young boss was once threatened with a used syringe by a thief she chased.

    So I wasn’t surprised to read that charity shops like ours are dealing with a ‘painful’ epidemic due to the police turning their backs on us, with clothes being the main items pilfered, along with bric-a-brac and vinyl records..

    Morning everyone. Perhaps Ms. Burchill hasn’t been keeping up with current events but the Police are no longer in the thief taking business! They’ve abandoned it! They are there to make sure you don’t offend anyone. The thieves and drug runners know this. Why does she not?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/08/kind-police-force-gangs-get-away-robbing-charity-shops/

    1. The police will do nothing if the goods stolen are under £200. It is just a farce. It is little wonder that crime particularly in London is endemic

    2. Not a problem, Ms. Burchill. Just mark up all items to £200-plus, then the police will attend – and the charity’s profits will soar!

    3. 317000+ up ticks,
      AS,
      When you have the establishment overseers consorting with members of PIE,.arranging drug & daisy chain parties with rent boys, active paedophiles, all within the governance parties for years and condoned via the ballot booth then we should consider ourselves lucky with what we have.
      There are different grades of sh!te, voting for the best of the worst proves that.

      1. Ahhhh. If only I were rich and could read the entire article. Morning Anne.

        1. Happy to oblige:

          https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/08/kind-police-force-gangs-get-away-robbing-charity-shops/

          “What kind of police force lets gangs get away with stealing from charity shops?

          Talk about poacher turned gamekeeper; from being the best shoplifter in my year I have become a scourge of the light-fingered loiterers, keeping a beady eye out for them at my volunteer job in a MIND shop. Once you’ve made the depraved decision to steal from a charity shop, there are no depths you won’t sink to in; my young boss was once threatened with a used syringe by a thief she chased.

          So I wasn’t surprised to read that charity shops like ours are dealing with a ‘painful’ epidemic due to the police turning their backs on us, with clothes being the main items pilfered, along with bric-a-brac and vinyl records..

          But all shops are suffering; a report from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) show losses from criminal activity topping £1billion for the first time last year. More importantly there are more than 400 cases of violent or abusive behaviour against shop workers reported each day, with seven out of ten retailers reporting that the police response was poor or very poor.

          Helen Dickinson, the head of the BRC, has called for a stronger police response to retail crime and legislation for tougher sentences for those who assault staff. But it’s not going to happen, is it – for the same reason that the trafficking of children by grooming gangs was turned a blind eye to by numerous police forces for so long. The police have for many years increasingly been abandoning the tasks they are paid for – tackling crime and catching criminals – for the far easier job of policing thoughts and words.

          What is it with the forces of law and order and the new technology? They appear to have morphed en masse into teenage girls, turning their back on the mean streets where they might be in harm’s way in favour of hanging around on social media like a monstrous regiment of flat-footed Kardashians.

          I can imagine these PC PCs poring over the morning’s Twitter-feed as they drink skinny lattes and catch up on who’s hurt whose feelings while minding their pronouns: ‘Bitch disrespected my kween – they’re going down!’

          In California shoplifting has reached pandemic proportions due to the introduction of Proposition 47, a referendum passed six years ago which means that stealing anything worth less than £950 is a misdemeanor rather than a crime, and brings with it little chance of either pursuit or punishment.

          Professional shoplifting rings use addicts, illegal immigrants and children to steal for them, to the extent where some shops have seen losses double since 2014. Big chains can cope but smaller shops, often run by legal immigrants – invariably the hardest-working of people – are the ones who suffer most.

          I’m all for referendums but this one had Big Mistake written all over it. Tellingly it was championed by Jay-Z (one of those clowns who preaches inclusivity from the patrolled lawns of his gated community) and was originally referred to as The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, named by the ultra-Woke Californian senator Kamala Harris. How on earth a law which makes it easier for professional criminals to induct children into a life of crime makes schools or neighbourhoods safe I have no idea, but maybe it loses something in translation from the Orwellian.

          For years we too have been going down this route and the result of turning a blind eye has been the level of knife crime currently eviscerating our capital. How refreshing it was to hear Priti Patel’s speech to the police last month in which she promised increased funding and recruitment but also says: “We need to pull out all the stops to deliver the decline in crime that people want to see.

          These outcomes will be non-negotiable and I will be unapologetic about holding you to account – less crime, safer streets, no excuses.” The dog-day decades of forgive and forget – forgive the criminal, forget the victim – may well be drawing to a close, thanks to our splendid Home Secretary.”

  7. What kind of police force lets gangs get away with stealing from charity shops? Julie Burchill 9 March 2020.

    Talk about poacher turned gamekeeper; from being the best shoplifter in my year I have become a scourge of the light-fingered loiterers, keeping a beady eye out for them at my volunteer job in a MIND shop. Once you’ve made the depraved decision to steal from a charity shop, there are no depths you won’t sink to in; my young boss was once threatened with a used syringe by a thief she chased.

    So I wasn’t surprised to read that charity shops like ours are dealing with a ‘painful’ epidemic due to the police turning their backs on us, with clothes being the main items pilfered, along with bric-a-brac and vinyl records..

    Morning everyone. Perhaps Ms. Burchill hasn’t been keeping up with current events but the Police are no longer in the thief taking business! They’ve abandoned it! They are there to make sure you don’t offend anyone. The thieves and drug runners know this. Why does she not?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/08/kind-police-force-gangs-get-away-robbing-charity-shops/

  8. What kind of police force lets gangs get away with stealing from charity shops? Julie Burchill 9 March 2020.

    Talk about poacher turned gamekeeper; from being the best shoplifter in my year I have become a scourge of the light-fingered loiterers, keeping a beady eye out for them at my volunteer job in a MIND shop. Once you’ve made the depraved decision to steal from a charity shop, there are no depths you won’t sink to in; my young boss was once threatened with a used syringe by a thief she chased.

    So I wasn’t surprised to read that charity shops like ours are dealing with a ‘painful’ epidemic due to the police turning their backs on us, with clothes being the main items pilfered, along with bric-a-brac and vinyl records..

    Morning everyone. Perhaps Ms. Burchill hasn’t been keeping up with current events but the Police are no longer in the thief taking business! They’ve abandoned it! They are there to make sure you don’t offend anyone. The thieves and drug runners know this. Why does she not?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/08/kind-police-force-gangs-get-away-robbing-charity-shops/

  9. SIR – Over the past 20 years, the NHS has become reliant on doctors providing extra capacity by working at weekends and in the evenings.

    However, in the past 18 months a considerable amount of capacity in the NHS has been lost due to a poorly thought-out pension policy, which penalises senior staff when they do extra work. Many clinicians have retired or dramatically cut back on their clinical workload.

    Extra capacity in the NHS must be found urgently to cope with the coronavirus crisis, as we are already running on empty. We must make the most of our current active workforce.

    The new Chancellor’s first budget must unshackle us from this crippling policy. Tinkering will not suffice; people’s lives will depend on it.

    Dr Pete Ford

    Exeter, Devon

    1. 317000+ up ticks,
      Morning Doc,
      First step to be taken then is to STOP
      ALL incoming foreign bodies until we have sorted the NHS problems, & it is back to “as was” originally, before the
      UK destruction campaign was triggered.

    2. Simply solution. The NHS makes O/T non pensionable. Problem solved. Many companies already do this.

  10. SIR – I agree wholeheartedly with Dr Michael J Shield’s sentiment (Letters, March 6) that we need to get a sense of proportion over the coronavirus epidemic. There is already a far more serious one going on: obesity.

    Thanks to this devastating and widespread problem, far more people now die from being overweight than undernourished. Encouraging healthy eating and exercise from cradle to grave would lead to a much healthier population.

    Pressure on the NHS would be reduced and people would be better able to fight off new infections. Let viruses spread through healthy populations and herd immunity builds up, providing protection even for the more vulnerable among us.

    Stella Currie

    Bramhall, Cheshire

    SIR – You report (March 7) that all pensioners may be asked to stay at home as part of the fight against the spread of the coronavirus.

    As a pensioner who goes to the gym five days a week, plays tennis, practises tai chi and volunteers at a charity, can I seek clarification from the Government as to what additional risk I am posing in comparison to some other sections of society?

    Ian Emery

    Ickenham, Middlesex

    3. 317000+ up ticks,
      Morning E,
      Old Emery is rubbing the establishment up the wrong way with his facts.
      Weight will bring down the NHS as intended, that is due to the BMI and
      weight of uncontrolled immigration numbers.

  11. SIR – On Saturday morning, in my local Waitrose, the customer in front of me bought 16 tins of stuffed olives. Does he know something we don’t?

    Jeanna Marie Gallagher

    London N6

  12. So Trevor Philips is persona non grata with Labour now. They do seem to be trying their very hardest to persuade people not to vote for them

    1. 317000+ up ticks,
      BJ,
      I would say in a decent Country any mass uncontrolled immigration party would find it difficult to find support & votes after the likes of the JAY report was released.

    2. ‘Morning, Bill, Labour need a continual supply of thick immigrants to keep up their voter base.

  13. Cobra meeting today. The Government seem to be at long last looking at bring in some proper controls

  14. At last. A kick back against the masked thugs of the Left.

    SIR – As the Government raises concerns about free speech after Amber Rudd was no-platformed at the University of Oxford (report, March 6), the University of Kent is set to welcome the Oxford historian, Professor Selina Todd.

    Predictably, there have been calls to no-platform her and an open letter was circulated warning about “hate speech”. The university’s leaders ruled that the invitation will not be rescinded, in line with its policies on free speech and academic freedom.

    It would be wrong to imagine that academics are oblivious to the importance of what is at stake. In response to my support for Professor Todd’s visit, colleagues across many disciplines have told me that they agree with the university’s decision.

    We are alert to the importance of tolerance as the central value of academic life, disagreement and debate. We understand the dangers of the idea that someone should be prevented from performing their normal academic duties (giving a lecture) on the spurious grounds that they are a threat to others’ welfare. Academics must speak up, and leaders at universities need to follow Kent’s example. This will be much more effective than any new law.

    Professor Ellie Lee

    University of Kent

  15. Easyjet starting to cancel flights to many parts of Italy from today. Probably because the government have changed the advice to to Only Essential Travel to most parts of Italy

  16. SIR – The Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, hit the nail firmly on the head with his comments on the “narrow urban outlook” of the London-centric BBC (report, March 5).

    I find it increasingly difficult to recognise the beliefs, values and real people of my country in much of its output, which claims to portray British life.

    Charles Smith-Jones

    Landrake, Cornwall

    1. We would probably find on deeper analysis that his daughter-in-law has a mother who has had lots of work for the BBC. Furthermore, she has a sister one of whose sprogs works at the BBC – and they also have lots of friends who get occasional work from the BBC. Why only last week the Minister was at a party where Lord Peter Hennessey and Lord (Melvyn) Bragg told him that it would be like the sacking of the monasteries by Henry VIII if Dowden defunded the BBC. No disgruntled voters from Mansfield, Blyth Valley, or Workington got anywhere near the minister.

    2. That country I was born into has been destroyed! Ironically by the very people who were supposed to protect it!

      1. 317000+ up ticks,
        Morning AS,
        Same as that, intentionally by the politico’s, foolishly by many via the polling booth.

        1. The BBC just represents the Independent Islamic Republic of Londonstani
          That’s a bit more accurate, I think.

  18. ‘Morning All

    As I said I return to the suspension of Trevor Phillips

    “The Times reported that he is being investigated over past comments

    including remarks on Pakistani Muslim men sexually abusing children in

    northern British towns.

    The paper said many of his statements date back years but that

    Labour’s general secretary Jennie Formby suspended him as a matter of

    urgency to “protect the party’s reputation”.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/09/trevor-phillips-suspended-labour-islamophobia-allegations/

    “protect the party’s reputation”. as an apologist for moslem rapists?? Aye Right,Naz Shah and her ilk must be chuckling this morning as they chuck Phillips out “In the name of diversity”

    1. “protect the party’s reputation”.
      (Ponders deeply)
      Bwaaah haaaaa hahahahahahahah ….

  19. Man in his 60s is third person to die in UK after positive coronavirus test

    So now the government and NHS are trying to trace everyone he may have been in contact with . An almost impossible task. Why an earth were no checks made. The other problem as well is the information the government are putting out is vague and confusing and when you add in that at present if you have paid for a holiday if you cancel it in most case you will not get a refund so many people take a chance rather than lose the money

    The patient, who was being treated at the North Manchester General Hospital, was over 60 years old and had significant underlying health conditions.”

    Mr Whitty added that contact tracing was already underway.

    1. The expression “underlying health conditions” means what? Ingrowing toe nails?
      I am beginning to suspect that the phrase is applied to anyone who dies as a result of a Covid19 infection.

      1. Alternative would be ” would have died anyway soon from something nasty”, which may not always the case.
        Perhaps what they suffered from is not revealed to avoid creating a panic ?

  20. “Paul Fregosi in his book

    calls Islamic Jihad “the most unrecorded and disregarded major event of
    history. It has, in fact, been largely ignored,” although it has been a
    fact of life in Europe, Asia and Africa for almost 1400 years. As
    Fregosi says, “Western colonization of nearby Muslim lands lasted 130
    years, from the 1830s to the 1960s. Muslim colonization of nearby
    European lands lasted 1300 years, from the 600s to the mid-1960s. Yet,
    strangely, it is the Muslims…who are the most bitter about colonialism
    and the humiliations to which they have been subjected; and it is the
    Europeans who harbor the shame and the guilt. It should be the other way
    around.”

    Islamic Jihad raids started in the Mediterranean in the seventh century AD. A proto-typical Muslim naval

    occurred in 846 when a fleet of Arab Jihadists arrived at the mouth of
    the Tiber, made their way to Rome, sacked the city, and carried away
    from the basilica of St. Peter all of the gold and silver it contained.
    The reason why the Vatican became a “city within the city” in Rome with
    fortifications was due to repeated attacks by Muslims (Saracens)”

    https://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2009/05/europeans-as-victims-of-colonialism.html?m=1
    The Islamic hordes are at the gates of civilisation again,ably aided by those already within and their useful idiots on the Left

  21. For airline passengers and crew
    Just in case you need a laugh:

    Remember it takes a college degree to fly a plane, but only a high school diploma to fix one…a reassurance to those who fly routinely in your job.

    After every flight, UPS pilots fill out a form, called a ‘gripe sheet,’ which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight.

    Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humour.

    Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by UPS’ pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers.

    By the way, UPS is the only major airline that has never, ever had an accident.

    P: Left inside main tyre almost needs replacement.
    S: Almost replaced left inside main tyre.
    *
    P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
    S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.
    *
    P: Something loose in cockpit
    S: Something tightened in cockpit
    *
    P: Dead bugs on windshield.
    S: Live bugs on back-order.
    *
    P: Auto pilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent…
    S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.
    *
    P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
    S: Evidence removed.
    *
    P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
    S: DME volume set to more believable level.
    *
    P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
    S: That’s what friction locks are for.
    *
    P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.
    S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.
    *
    P: Suspected crack in windshield.
    S: Suspect you’re right.
    *
    P: Number 3 engine missing.
    S: Engine found on right wing after brief search
    *
    P: Aircraft handles funny.
    (I love this one!):
    S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right and be serious.
    *
    P: Target radar hums.
    S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.
    *
    P: Mouse in cockpit.
    S: Cat installed.
    *
    And the best one for last
    *
    P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
    S: Took hammer away from midget
    *
    And two I have actually been involved with
    P: Dirty rag in cockpit
    S: Dirty rag removed, washed, ironed and replaced
    *
    P: Bendix radio does not work
    S: PTR 170 radio removed: Bendix radio fitted and functionally tested

    1. It is certainly not true that there have been no air accidents there have been several

      1. If several = 3 then so be it – remember they are CARGO planes and fatalities are likely to be crew members only (and possibly illegal immigrants being smuggled in in rolls of carpet).

  22. Alex Salmond to stand trial on sex offence charges

    Alex Salmond is to stand trial on allegations that he sexually assaulted 10 women while serving as Scotland’s first minister. The former SNP leader will face a total of 14 charges at the High Court in Edinburgh. They include allegations of 10 sexual assaults, two indecent assaults, one attempted rape and an assault with intent to rape.

    Mr Salmond says he is innocent, and has pled not guilty to all of the charges. He has vowed to defend himself vigorously during the trial, which will be held before judge Lady Dorrian and a jury of 15 members of the public.The trial is expected to last about four weeks.

    It is alleged that the offences were committed at various locations across Scotland, including the Scottish Parliament and the first minister’s official Bute House residence in Edinburgh.

    The alleged attempted rape is said to have happened in June 2014 at the first minister’s official Bute House residence in Edinburgh. He is alleged to have pinned a woman against a wall and to have removed her clothes and his own, before pushing her onto a bed and lying naked on top of her.

    The other 13 charges allege that Mr Salmond:

    Indecently assaulted a woman on a number of occasions in Glasgow in June and July 2008 by kissing her on the mouth and touching her buttocks and breasts with his hands over her clothing
    Sexually assaulted the same woman in December 2010 or December 2011 in the Ego nightclub in Edinburgh by touching her arms and hips with his hands over her clothing
    Indecently assaulted a woman in October or November 2010 at Bute House by repeatedly seizing her by the wrists and repeatedly pulling her towards him and attempting to kiss her
    Sexually assaulted a woman in a car in Edinburgh in February 2011 by touching her leg with his hand over her clothing
    Sexually assaulted a woman on various occasions between 2011 and 2013 at Bute House, the Scottish Parliament and other locations by touching her buttocks with his hands over her clothing, stroking her arms, and touching and stroking her hair
    Sexually assaulted a woman at Bute House in October 2013 by removing her foot from her shoe, stroking her foot, lifting her foot towards his mouth and attempting to kiss her foot
    Sexually assaulted a woman at Bute House in November or December 2013 by kissing her on the mouth
    Intended to rape the same woman in December 2013 at Bute House by causing her to sit on a bed, lying on top of her, making sexual remarks to her, touching her buttocks, thighs and breasts over her clothing with his hands, repeatedly kissing her face, struggling with her and pulling up her dress
    Sexually assaulted a woman in 2012 at the Ubiquitous Chip restaurant in Glasgow by touching her buttocks with his hand over her clothing
    Sexually assaulted the same woman at Bute House in April 2014 by placing his arm around her, making sexual remarks to her and attempting to kiss her
    Sexually assaulted a woman at Bute House in May 2014 by placing his arm around her body, placing his hand under her clothing and underwear and touching her breast, repeatedly kissing her on the face and neck and stroking her leg with his hand
    Sexually assaulted a woman at Bute House in September 2014 by seizing her by the shoulders, repeatedly kissing her on the face, attempting to kiss her on the lips and touching her leg and face with his hand
    Sexually assaulted a woman at Stirling Castle in November 2014 by touching her buttock with his hand over her clothing

    1. “Pled”? Isnt that a Yankism. Dont we say ‘pleaded’? Even if we dont, we should. It sounds much better.

      1. ‘Morning, Stormy, Scotland has different laws containing different phrases and numbers of jurors. Pled is not unusual (what is the past tense of ‘plead’? Pleaded seems clumsy). There is also, apart from ‘guilty’ and ‘not guilty’ a third verdict of ‘Not Proven’.

        1. However, there is another of those force’s/rugby songs with a chorus:

          Virgin sturgeon needs no urging
          That’s why caviar is my dish!

          1. You should, as it were, keep the verse virgo intacta :

            Caviar comes from the Virgin Sturgeon
            The Virgin Sturgeon’s a very fine fish
            The Virgin Sturgeon needs no urging
            That’s why caviar is my dish!
            :

          2. “That’s why caviar’s a very rare dish”.
            My parents didn’t waste their money on school fees!

          3. ‘Morning, Tom

            The Germans have a saying…

            Es muss nicht immer Kaviar sein
            aber auf den Sekt wollen wir nicht verzichten

            It doesn’t have to be always caviar but we won’t go without the Sekt.

      1. 317000+ up ticks,
        Morning Msk,
        A sinister victory dance methinks, not just a blown thermostat
        on the underfloor heating.

    3. ‘Morning, Ogga, is that a practice for the dance around the adulterous woman who is being stoned to death?

      1. 317000+ up ticks,
        Morning NtN,
        Seeing as the ballot booth dictates the erasing of hamlets,
        villages & towns, stonings, headlopings will be a regular feature
        in ALL city squares.
        The lab/lib/con supporting / voters are a curious, self annihilating species.

  25. Well, well. Scotland beat France yesterday despite wearing the worst kit in the history of international rugby. I think it’s what must have put Les Bleus off.

          1. Nice set of Scottish teeth on the left.
            (Dives for cover and cancels trip to Edinburgh.)

  27. How incredibly fortunate……………….
    So tens,nay hundreds of thousands of Corvid Virus test kits were available within a couple of weeks of the outbreak???
    Hmmmm

    1. If David Lammy is “so at home” in Guyana the obvious question is – why not go back there? Could it be that life here in the U.K. is not so bad after all?

  29. Virgin Money to axe 500 jobs and close branches

    Like many Virgin businesses it is no longer owned by the main Virgin group

    It will close 22 branches and consolidate further 20 branches into near bye branches

    It currently trades as Virgin Money, Clydsdale bank and Yorkshire bank but they will all be going forward branded as Virgin Money

        1. Anne, I guess you searched Google images for a cartoon of a nun on the back of a clown (as I just did).

          Since it’s so bluddy obvious as a cartoon for “vergin’ on the ridiculous”, it must now be classified as non PC. No humour these snowflakes.

    2. …further 20 branches into near bye branches

      Are we to take it that these are soon-to-close branches?

      1. Morning Anne

        One thing for sure is she is unpredictable , rather insecure , with coercive control over Harry .. She looks as if she has had the full Hollywood makeover , new teeth I think and probably a bum lift .

        Why should any of us care .. normally we shouldn’t care , but the pair of them are behaving like immaculate spivs of the first order , and costing the country a small fortune ..

        Leave them alone in their Hollywood bubble , let them self finance themselves.

      2. Mum also used to say that. Like you, she learnt it in the school lesson, “Old Wives’ Tales”, every Monday morning between Domestic Science and Needlework. 🤣

      3. I believe it was George Orwell who observed that by the time one is 50 one has the face one deserves.

      4. It is probably not the thing to say but she looks as if she is of the type that does age well.

        Why, for example, why did Brigitte Bardot lose her looks as she aged while Catherine Deneuve became more attractive as she aged?

        4. BB didn’t have the cheek bones to hold things up. And she sunbathed incessantly.

          1. I still don’t understand how he could behave the way he has. And he had no idea, I bet, that the Queen would act so decisively and well, ruthlessly really, to protect the monarchy. The pair of them are really out on a limb now and Harry will soon long to be “back in the fold” again, if he doesn’t already. Wonder when the split will happen! That’s if there’s not a second sprog on the way yet.

          2. The second sprog is a given. An insurance policy.
            Harry is a perfectly pleasant chap, but a bear of very little brain; and both those cells are not positioned above his neck.

  32. https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/18291093.first-cruise-ship-season-arrives-portland-port/?action=success#comments-feedback-anchor

    THE first cruise ship of the season has docked at Portland Port.

    The Norwegian cruise ship Fridtjof Nansen arrived this morning.

    Portland Port previously said it is monitoring the coronavirus situation ahead of the first arrival.

    Portland Port’s cruise calendar for 2020 was announced earlier this year, with an all-time high of 46 cruise liners bringing a record 79,102 passengers to the port. The figure rises to above 80,000 when the number of crew is added.

    (What idiotic bod allowed this)

    1. bringing a record 79,102 passengers to the port.
      Doesn’t say they will be allowed to disembark…
      Morning, Belle!

    2. Morning all.

      My sisters neighbours were stuck on the Caribbean cruise ship. Return home was over a week over due.
      Good for Saga, it’s inclusive they bring passengers home.
      My theory is they do that in case you’ve forgotten where you live. 😕

      1. Dorset , darling , Dorset .. Portland port here is recieving cruise ships .. The passengers are whisked away in coaches to see places like Stone Henge , Salisbury , the odd stately home , crumbled castle , and some good old fashioned pubs !

  33. UK Government sets up ‘counter-disinformation unit’ over fears Russia is spreading fake news to stoke coronavirus panic. 9 March 2020.

    A British official said there were fears that countries such as Russia could exploit the crisis and spread fake news, as they did during the Novichok poisonings in Salisbury, to ‘sow the seeds of doubt’.

    ‘You’ve got to be on your guard,’ the official said.

    ‘It is not beyond the realms of possibility that they are using coronavirus for propaganda purposes, that is the Russians’ modus operandi.

    Morning everyone. One of the most interesting things about the “Novichok Poisonings” at the time was the lack of Russian response. We now know why that was of course. They had no idea what was going on. As to the Coronavirus panic, if there is such a thing, it’s in the MSM not Social Media, but as they say, never let a crisis go to waste!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8090053/Government-sets-counter-disinformation-unit-fears-Russia-spreading-fake-news.html

    1. They must have secretly bought ownership of all our newspapers and television channels.

        1. “Never interrupt the enemy when he is in the middle of making a mistake”
          (c) some famous general.

  34. Good morning all.

    Kippers for breakfast – Yippee!

    The cat’s delighted too.

    1. Morning Peddy .

      Moh had a nice large kipper for breakfast the other day .. He burped and belched all morning .. the house stank of kipper!

      1. Morning, Maggie.

        My tummy reacts the same way after eating any oily fish: herring, mackerel and — especially — sardines!

      2. Don’t hold back TB 😆
        I know what you mean though.
        We had Craster smokies for lunch one day while we were staying in Northumberland in January.
        Delicious but pongy.

        1. Craster kippers – food of the gods. Who cares if they smell of food?

          Food is good.

          5. G’day 😊

            Like the kiwi chap who was a greeter in the diy store who asked me if I needed to look at some dicking.

        1. Remember Sydney Carter? As well as The Lord of the Dance he wrote this eulogy to the London sewers

          When to Billingsgate you come, down below
          When to Billingsgate you come, down below
          When to Billingsgate you come
          Then things really start to hum
          And the smell will knock you dumb, down below

          (For some reason this verse was omitted in this version sung by Ian Wallace.)

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

  35. ‘Woke Wombles’ remake is an insult to my mother’s memory, says son of creator. 8 March 2020.

    But a new revamp of the popular 1970s BBC series has come under fire from the family of their creator, who say that attempts to make them politically correct and ethnically diverse insinuate that their mother was racist, and that it insults her memory.

    In January, a new CGI trailer of the show was teased on social media, showing two of the fictional creatures with different skin tones hugging, along with the caption: “Diversity is beautiful. In humans, in animals, in nature.”

    BBC! Say no more! Woke Central.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/08/woke-wombles-calling-wombles-racist-insult-mothers-memory-says/

    1. This is what happens when you sell your rights. Look at what they did to Thomas the Tank Engine.

      1. ‘Morning, Basset, not only Thomas the Tank Engine but Winnie the Pooh and Kipling’s ‘Jungle Book’ to name but a few.

        Eternal dumbing down in the schools, universities and meejah, doncha know?

    2. Watch last night’s Countryfile for your weekly dose of diversity instruction. Oh, and some more beavers, who shall save us from The Flood.

      1. The adulation with the beavers contrasts with the views of some Scottish farmers who have had then foisted on them without consultation and are causing mayhem on their land

  36. Good morning all
    A big day for us today. It’s our 52nd Wedding Anniversary. I think I’ll have a glass of Vouvray to celebrate. 😂

        1. Thank you! And I love the happy dog! I will report back on Poppie’s verdict on the deliciousness of the dish. I wasn’t very well last week (um, cough; er, um sore throat accompanied by fatigue) which rather got in the way of panic buying, in fact any sort of buying, I simply couldn’t be bothered to panic – it was as much as I felt like doing to acquire the bare necessities.

        2. For a moment there I thought you were about to deliver a Korean style recipe!

          Morning NTN..

    8. Well done to both of you. A few weeks and it will be our half century. Just hoping that the party will still go ahead.

  39. Coronavirus: Two more cases in Wales bring total to six

    And guess where they had just returned from ? They will have traveled a reasonable distance as Cardiff airport has hardly any flights to Italy.. Bristol is a good possibility

    Health officials have confirmed a further two cases of coronavirus in Wales.

    It takes the number of cases in Wales to six.

    Public Health Wales (PHW) said the latest cases are not linked, and the individuals had travelled from different parts of Italy back to Wales.

    One patient is from the Neath Port Talbot area, the second is from the Newport area.

    Dr Giri Shankar, PHW incident director for coronavirus, said: “The process of identifying and contacting close contacts of the two new cases is under way,

    “We are taking all appropriate actions to protect the public’s health.”

  40. Croydon bus stabbing teenager dies

    A teenager has been stabbed to death on a bus in south London.

    The victim, believed to be 17, was found injured when police were called to Whitehorse Lane in South Norwood, Croydon, at about 20:30 GMT on Sunday.

    The teenager was treated by paramedics but died at the scene 40 minutes later.

    Scotland Yard said no arrests have been made. A Section 60 order, giving police additional stop and search powers, has been put in place across several areas until 13:10.

    They are: Selhurst, Thornton Heath, Bensham Manor, South Norwood, Woodside, New Addington North and New Addington South.

    1. “They are: Selhurst, Thornton Heath, Bensham Manor, South Norwood, Woodside, New Addington North and New Addington South.”
      The virus is spreading rapidly. It is believed to have originated in Jamaica.

  41. Almighty crash’ as roof of Arsenal Tavern in Finsbury Park collapses

    The roof of the recently refurbished Arsenal Tavern, at the junction of Blackstock Road and Mountgrove Road, fell in at about 5.15pm – but police say there were “no serious injuries”.

    Mountgrove Road remains closed to traffic this morning, as workers atop hastily erected scaffolding seek to secure the structure.

    Jane Robertson, 56, who lives above the adjacent Sunlight Kebab shop, told the Gazette: “I was sitting in my living room, it was about quarter past five and there was this almighty crash. The roof has crashed right through the building and you can see the debris on the ground floor. There were some people in there but they were obviously in another part of the ground floor because there didn’t appear to be anybody hurt. And then there was a bit of confusion, people were trying to stop the traffic going past, but the main concern was the building would fall down.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c3edc1b571cd26f9f5687c50f9d7013d5a91c3e9eea5b99864857321057a3dd0.jpg

    1. …who lives above the adjacent Sunlight Kebab shop…

      One of the more salubrious residential spots in Finsbury Park? Replete with all the sights and smells of the mysterious Orient.

      2. It’s been in a state of disrepair for years looking at it on Google Earth. Blackstock road Highbury.
        Nothing to do with the huge mast planted on the roof ?
        Or the ‘must have’ Hot tub.

  42. County lines: Hampshire schools pay private firms for sniffer dogs

    Teachers have taken action against the potential risk to children being recruited by county lines drug gangs in Hampshire.

    It comes after reports gangs are moving their trade to the south, prompting police to warn that drug runners target young or vulnerable people to sell their product.

    1. A couple of years back, it was obvious that runners were taking advantage of a secluded lane and lunch breaks near local secondary schools.
      I warned the school that seemed to supply most of the customers (and, no, it didn’t occur to me to contact the police). From my observations, the problem has gone away; or at least isn’t occurring at that location.

      1. It seems to be big business with them coming out of London for the day to sell their drugs

      2. How things change: I think that the lane you refer to was one of our play areas or access to other areas e.g. Hilly Fields when we were young.
        Last year my son and DiL enquired of one of the schools in that area if their daughter was eligible for a place and were turned down flat. Recently my son and DiL received a letter telling them that their daughter can now have a place; it appears that the school is under subscribed this year. Too late, thank goodness, my granddaughter is going to St Mary’s, with the help of the bank of G&N, and although quite close to the other area she will be using the school’s minibus to travel back and forth to the village where she lives.

        1. Shady Lane
          The lovely old orchard beside it is now sprouting 6 executive dwellings.

          1. I haven’t been over there for a few years. The new houses, are they backing on to CRGS sports field?

          2. Side on. They are behind Irvine Road.
            At the moment, I often take Spartie that way as there are usually other dogs on the fields so he can bounce around and wear off surplus energy. Which is handy while I’m having to ration my walking.

        2. Yes. Philip Morant used to be a good school under Mr. Jones.
          It has had an interesting trajectory since he retired.
          One of our friends worked at another school with one of the series of headmistresses; she said that it never occurred to her that the woman was head teacher material.

          1. It has had an interesting trajectory since he retired.

            It certainly has, the moon shot was well off target: no, “The Eagle has landed,” from that period.

  43. “Westminster shooting: police kill suspect who had knives, says Met”
    The United Nations say the Met over-reacted.

    1. WTF have British policing tactics to do with the United Nations?

      The UN. is nothing more than a motley collection of rabble from dysfunctional dictatorships and banana republics, who seem to think that dressing-up in bespoke suits instead of wearing grass-skirts or bed-sheets and wearing Rolex watches instead of bones through their noses, gives them a certain cachet in civiiised circles and entitles them to utter definitive words-of-wisdom from on high.

      It’s a sad fact that since most of the countries in the world fall into the aforementioned categories, the rabble will always be in the majority at the UN so consensus has no value. Puts me in mind of the old adage:

      “You never reach a wise decision by consulting a thousand fools, nor a brave one by consulting a thousand cowards”

      1. ‘Afternoon, Duncan, Churchill spoke wise words when he said, “A committee should consist of one person – me.”

    2. 317000+ up ticks,
      T,
      Also believed to have a fork & spoon &
      ready to attack a three course meal in the canteen.

  44. My thoughts are with Rishi Sunak. I cannot recall such a momentous background for a first budget by such a new Chancellor (Ok, then, Alastair Darling in 2008) and with the Bank of England having very little ammunition left (unlike in 2008). I’m glad it’s him anyway rather than Sajid Javid who always looked a bit like a rabbit trapped in the headlights (or with his Treasury advisers).

    1. Can someone explain to me what exactly is so shocking about women’s nipples that they have to be blanked out in photographs – but not in photos of men, nor in paintings of nude women?

      1. It’s because they feed children. As we are constantly being reminded during the advertising breaks on TV – always keep away from children.

        1. ‘Morning, jeremy, at my age I now do my damnedest to keep away from children.

  47. Infection rate in China no falling rapidly

    The measures China put in place appear to be working and they appear to have the situation under control

    1. Thanks for the second (clarifying) paragraph, BJ. At first I was wondering whether “no” meant “not” or “now”.

      (Actually, the news that the Corona Virus had peaked in China was reported a couple of days ago.)

  48. A further UK death this time someone in there 60’s who had significant underlying health issues and had recently returned from Italy

    The main source of infection in the UK is at present with people coming from Italy yet the government has no real controls in place. They have now changed the advice though to Only Essential Travel to most parts of Italy

    1. Those Italians who are facing lockdown in Italy are finding it essential to travel out of the country.

    2. According to the tellygraff, flights still arriving unchecked from Northern Italy. No screening of folk on arrival. Someone is seriously cocking it up. Another Civil Service balls-up, in an attempt to embarrass the government? It’s been made pretty clear that the CS refuse to take direction, so whose fault is it, actually.

      1. A doctor speaking on LBC stated that passengers disembarking in the UK are not having their temperature taken because those who may be experiencing a high temperature may have taken paracetamol and false readings will be the result. Instead, everyone is sent home and advised to self isolate. Makes sense. Not!😷🥵😱😰

        1. Talk about being inconsistent. Remember the first few incidents ? They were met by the Government officials and police and taken by coach to be isolated for 2 weeks. It seems the government quickly lost interest in doing that

  50. Man With Knives Shot Dead By Police In Westminster

    A man has been shot dead by police in Westminster following an incident which is not being treated as terror-related, police said.

    The man was “acting suspiciously” and produced two knives when challenged by officers, police said.

    Armed officers responded by firing a Taser and a gun. The man was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later.

  51. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advise against all but essential travel to the following areas in northern Italy, due to an ongoing outbreak of coronavirus (Covid-19) and various control and isolation measures imposed by the Italian authorities on 8 March: Lombardy region (which includes the cities of Milan, Bergamo, Como) and the provinces of Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia and Rimini (all in Emilia Romagna); Pesaro e Urbino (in Marche); Alessandria, Asti, Novara, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and Vercelli (all in Piemonte); Padova. Treviso and Venice (in Veneto).

    British nationals remain able to depart Italy without restriction. Residents of other parts of Italy are permitted to leave the isolation areas to return home. Otherwise entry into and exit from these areas is forbidden without official permission on the grounds of strict necessity; the authorities have confirmed to us that this will be granted for reasons such as medical need or work requirements. Travellers should check flight details with airlines. Additional restrictions include the closure of museums, cultural institutions and the suspension of all public gatherings, social events including pubs, nightclubs and games halls. Religious ceremonies and funerals are suspended. Ski facilities in the affected mountain areas are closed. Restaurants and bars remain open from 06.00 to 18.00.

    Across the whole of Italy, museums and cultural institutions are closed and all sporting fixtures must be played behind closed doors. Childcare facilities, schools and universities are closed until 15 March. Public and social gatherings should be avoided with cinemas, pubs and clubs closed. Restaurants and bars remain open with reduced seating.

    If you’re returning to the UK from Italy, consult the latest advice from the Department of Health and Social Care on actions to take.

    You can find more information on measures on the Ministry of Health website (in Italian).

    Call Italy’s 112 emergency number if you believe you have symptoms. English speaking operators are available.

  55. Do banks deliberately make their procedures as difficult as possible to deter pesky customers from visiting their premises?
    I went to our local (and now, only branch of) Lloyds in the High Street; the first time for years.
    There were lots of sofas and chairs dotted about; plenty of people – particularly men for whom this is a step (up?) the career ladder – wandering around. Bonus points for carrying a clipboard and/or sheets of paper. Their job seemed to be to direct customers to the ever-lengthening queue at the cashier desks; two out of four of which were actually manned.
    And there we stood as I got chatting to a Romanian builder and then a woman of my age group who had memories of greater levels of efficiency.
    Twenty minutes later, I actually paid in the cheque.
    Apparently I was lucky; MB has had occasions when only one desk has been manned and the queue has stretched back to the High Street. According to MB, this happens every time he visits, and when he complains the excuse is always ‘sickness’.
    Should Lloyds check their sickness rates or discipline their backsliders?

    1. Do banks deliberately make their procedures as difficult as possible to deter pesky customers from visiting their premises?

      Yes they just want you to leave your money and forget about it!

    2. I went to my local HSBC to open an ISA. Loads of forms which the minion filled out for me. Took 30 minutes. 3 months later the ISA had not begun so i withdrew all the money to TSB and opened one online in about 3 minutes.

      I don’t actually think they want customers to visit their premises. They can then say footfall is so low so we are closing the branch.

      They are now closing my local TSB.

      B’stards.

      1. The last time I visited my bank branch in person was the Nat West one at 208 Piccadilly W1 in 1978… Did telephone banking for a bit, then the internet arrived, Nat West were slow off the mark so I left them.

      2. Online as well they have stopped the daft system of asking for endless bits of paper which they wanted only the original and less than 3 months old. Most people only have online bills now and they don’t accept them. If you go into a branch though they still want to go through the daft paper system of which of course in most cases you will not have

  56. Do banks deliberately make their procedures as difficult as possible to deter pesky customers from visiting their premises?
    I went to our local (and now, only branch of) Lloyds in the High Street; the first time for years.
    There were lots of sofas and chairs dotted about; plenty of people – particularly men for whom this is a step (up?) the career ladder – wandering around. Bonus points for carrying a clipboard and/or sheets of paper. Their job seemed to be to direct customers to the ever-lengthening queue at the cashier desks; two out of four of which were actually manned.
    And there we stood as I got chatting to a Romanian builder and then a woman of my age group who had memories of greater levels of efficiency.
    Twenty minutes later, I actually paid in the cheque.
    Apparently I was lucky; MB has had occasions when only one desk has been manned and the queue has stretched back to the High Street. According to MB, this happens every time he visits, and when he complains the excuse is always ‘sickness’.
    Should Lloyds check their sickness rates or discipline their backsliders?

  57. Max von Sydow death: The Exorcist and Star Wars actor dies aged 90. 1 minute ago.

    The actor, born Carl Adolf von Sydow in Sweden, had a stage and screen career spanning five decades and starred in many high-profile American and European films.

    His credits include in The Seventh Seal (1957), The Exorcist (1973) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).

    Not to forget he was also in Conan the Barbarian as well.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/max-von-sydow-death-age-cause-star-wars-exorcist-flash-gordon-movies-a9387446.html

    1. ” I must rule with eye and claw—as the the hawk among lesser birds “.

      R.I.P Max.

      1. That which does not kill us makes us stronger.

        I just watched it the other night Phizzee!

        1. It’s a good film. I also liked the remake starring William Hurt. Then of course there is a sequel, Children of Dune which i also thought was great starring James McAvoy. Ian McNeice makes for a really nasty Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. Alice Krige playing the Paul’s mother. Susan Sarandon playing Wensicia.

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6aa9386b98f3d3280831d016501feb58c008e9a5d4f79dcbf30e173c0ea0071e.jpg

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/aa090b3c2425f494065b95a3028b75070276fbb9d1e67c42d291699ff2f38ef5.jpg

      3. I remember him being quietly menacing in the Quiller Memorandum and Three Days of the Condor, excellent filums…

  58. Max von Sydow death: The Exorcist and Star Wars actor dies aged 90. 1 minute ago.

    The actor, born Carl Adolf von Sydow in Sweden, had a stage and screen career spanning five decades and starred in many high-profile American and European films.

    His credits include in The Seventh Seal (1957), The Exorcist (1973) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).

    Not to forget he was also in Conan the Barbarian as well.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/max-von-sydow-death-age-cause-star-wars-exorcist-flash-gordon-movies-a9387446.html

  59. Just been out and managed to get a bottle of hand sanitizer for the wife . Which I consider a pretty fair swap

  60. This just in – following this morning’s COBRA meeting the Government has decided to close down the BBC until further notice to prevent the spread of bulls**t.

  62. Just what are the Police playing sat allowing roads to be illegally blocked

    Waterloo Bridge blocked as topless activists from Extinction Rebellion stage International Women’s Day protest

        3. Any follower of Father Ted will recognise those nipple guards as H*tler moustaches. Not sure what point they are making by putting them there, rather on the stiff upper lip.

    1. Alternatively, to arm themselves.
      Glock is a fine autopistol, made in Austria. Comes in a range of sizes and calibres. Even many colours.
      Just saying.

        1. Your local gunshop will likely help you out there. You’ll need a permit from Polisen, though.

      1. 317000+ up ticks,
        Morning LD,
        A can of mace more like, or pepper spray as a Christmas
        gift would be most acceptable.

    3. It’s just wholly typical of anything to do with islam.
      Western culture
      has made the biggest mistake in the history of mankind.

    1. “A veritable Nazi-Soviet pact for our times”.Islam and the Feminists
      Just brilliant,thanks for posting King S

  65. Fraser Nelson – “The integration of Muslims can now be seen as one of the great success
    stories of modern Britain. While the Dutch and the French have huge
    troubles with integration, and are caught in agonised struggles about
    their national identities, Britain is marked out by the trouble that we
    are not having. Dig a little deeper, and the real story is the striking
    amount of harmony.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10742683/The-British-Muslim-is-truly-one-among-us-and-proud-to-be-so.html
    The delusional cretin wrote that 6 years ago,6 years of ghettoisation voter fraud, terror,murder and mass rape of children
    If that’s successful integration and harmony I’d hate to see what failure looks like

    2. 317000+ up ticks,
      Afternoon Rik,
      The lab party certainly triggered the successful up until now,campaign of rape & abuse of both
      Children / Country, followed by the other two governance party’s,be in no doubt of that.
      ALL, over the decades, condoned via the ballot booth.

    3. We have an increasingly dysfunctional UK consisting of ghettos of cultures that are totally alien to the UK and this cultures have no desire to integrate

    4. I cannot think of any State in history that has been both “diverse” and long-lasting. Some States have broken up in revolution and bloodshed, (India) others have quietly split up (Czechoslovakia).
      The UK has very successfully absorbed all who wished to be like us, who wished to join our homogeneity. These have included, Italians, Poles, Sikhs, Jews, Hindus and many other minorities. They have obeyed our laws and recognised our social mores.
      On the other hand we have 6m+ who have no such wishes. Instead they wish to destroy our culture and replace it, destroy our laws and replace them, destroy our religions and replace them. It is not consistent with our history or our society and it will never work peacefully. The war has already started but is being hushed up by those in charge of our country in order to avoid open warfare on our streets. For how long?

      1. I would query the statement that Sikhs have obeyed our laws. They refused to wear helmets on motorcycles and got the law changed.

        1. Good Point. But on their head be it. Sikhs also traditionally carry knives. We have little to fear from this*. Of course my original comment, being brief, should be interpreted as a little fuzzy round the edges, that is, some leeway should allowed to “lesser breeds” within the law, as long as there is no disturbance of the peace.

          *I remember passing a good-going argument at “security” at CDG airport on the way back from an international match. The French security blokes/police were getting worked up about a skean dubh in a Scotsman’s sock. The French had lost the match.

    5. Suppression of free speech? legislation to shut people up and stop them complaining? Accusations of xenophobia, islamophobia, racism if you say anything negative about the RoP? Grooming/rape gangs?
      What planet is Nelson living on? No wonder the Spectator is starting to rival the Guardian in its articles.

  66. Infection numbers fall in China but coronavirus experts remain cautious

    China’s Hubei province has reported its lowest number of new coronavirus cases since January, giving officials hope that the outbreak may be approaching its peak even as experts remained wary about its spread outside of China.

    Zhong Nanshan, an epidemiologist who is leading a government-appointed group working to control the outbreak, said on Tuesday that the numbers of new cases were falling in some provinces. He forecast that the epidemic could peak this month.

    “I hope this outbreak or this event may be over in something like April,” he told Reuters. Zhong previously forecast an earlier peak that turned out to be incorrect.

      1. The Labour Party needs the votes now that it’s clear that the indigenous working people are no longer a priority for the LP. Decent working people will move further away from the LP as it becomes more islamophile. The idea of the Islington set representing the values of islam is risible.

        1. 317000+ up ticks,
          Morning KtK,
          The lab/lib/con are a proven coalition party
          virtue of being mass
          uncontrolled immigration parties &
          submissive, PC,Appeasement, users.

    2. Has anyone seen this in the MSM? Is mentioning this outrage soon to be a ‘hate crime’ in the UK? How widespread is this outrageous behaviour? Questions, questions, always questions about this culture’s ‘norms’.
      Apologies for being a bit crude but the idea that, “If they bleed they can breed,” has no place in a civilised society.

      https://twitter.com/JOHNHAR33008313/status/1236763594815135747

      1. Once it becomes accepted by law that for Muslims Sharia Law takes precedence over Brtiish Law then the incidence of statuary rape in Britain will greatly increase.

        That idiot Archbishop Williams aggravated the rot and his successor shows no sign of making things any better.

        Is it not time that The Church and the State came out strongly against the barbarism practised by some on the grounds that it is a religious right for Muslims to practise their religious rites?

        1. The Church of England has thrown the Gospel out of the pulpit. It now preaches the Guardian headlines.

        2. The Church of England has thrown the Gospel out of the pulpit. It now preaches the Guardian headlines.

      1. Always worth posting again for any who have missed it. I see it is now heading towards the 85K mark.

    4. ‘Morning, Mags, “White girls do not form part of the Labour core vote, do they?”

      But thick (Mohammedan) illegal immigrants do, with or without ID.

    1. It’ll only be a few more years until the first adopted child placed in a non-traditional family home sues the local authority.

      1. 317000+ up ticks,
        S,
        My belief is keeping up the same self destructive vote pattern in a few more years it will be seen as norm, under sharia law &
        islamic rulings.

    2. Ogga, Mengeles rides again – The Germans are good at this and, as part of their experiment, they appear to have imported bunches of Middle and Far Eastern rapists, to make sure that all our children and little girls may partake in the “fun.”

      1. 317000+up ticks,
        Afternoon NtN,
        As soon as I saw the white coat it triggered word association as in mengeles.
        We in England have / are still importing uncontrolled migrants
        & make no mistake there will always be another mengeles
        willing to dabble.

        1. ‘Afternoon, Peddy, time and more pressing thoughts, cause memories, especially German spellings, to fade. I notice the Mr Hilter often gets a mention on this forum.

          1. Much to my surprise I was given a copy of “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” for Christmas, so my knowledge has been refreshed.

    3. This is nothing is it? The entire UK political class looked on without a qualm as mass rape was perpetrated on its most vulnerable charges!

      1. …without a qualm as mass rape was perpetrated.

        Araminta, I’m not convinced that the mass rapes are in the past. Stories leaking out from previously infected towns indicate that the crime is still ongoing and again nothing is being done to curb it, least of all pathetic sentences when token groups are prosecuted and their clients get away scot free. The Trevor Phillips’ situation is an indication that at least one of the major political parties isn’t too troubled by its association with the culture responsible.

        1. They are all accomplices by deliberate negligence if nothing else Korky. I am reminded of that story from my junior shool days where the Angles were sold as slaves by their own rulers!

        2. I am irritated by the adverts for “stand up for girls” or whatever it is. They whinge on about girls (in Africa and far off places) being mutilated and forced into marriage, when it’s happening right here and no one is doing a thing about it. Grrr!

      2. 317000+ up ticks,
        Afternoon AS,
        As did the bulk of the electorate even with what the JAY report revealed, not in our road, town, seems to be the mindset.

  70. Nearly Half of Labour Party Members ‘Ashamed’ of British History, 53 Per Cent Back Abolishing Monarchy

    Labour has totally lost it. It is now only a Party for London in my view

    1. Re designed head line Bill……….Nearly half of the Labour Party Members are Absolutely stoopid.
      They have just ‘sacked’ Trevor Phillips
      Shadow minister says Labour has ‘lost its way’ as party suspends anti-racism campaigner Trevor Phillips.
      Shadow Europe minister Khalid Mahmood said the move to discipline the former head of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission had brought “disrepute” on the party, while ex-Cabinet minister Lord Falconer and senior backbencher Ben Bradshaw also hit out.
      Mr Phillips was told last month that he had been handed an administrative suspension over a string of public statements on Islam, as well as a pamphlet on race and faith he wrote for the think tank Civitas.

    2. Bill, you forgot the RoP. The erstwhile LP of decent social democrats is morphing into the islamist Party of the UK. Its intolerance will grow and more of its supporters will drift away. Time for a new right of centre democratic party.

      1. “and the good ol’ boys were drinking whisky & rye, the day the music died….”

        1. Afternoon Stephen. I don’t mind making prophecies but I get a little nervous when they look like coming true!

  72. ‘A global recession is inevitable’: Analysts warn of ‘utter carnage’ as oil crashes and global stocks tumble. Mar. 9, 2020,

    Neil Wilson, the chief market analyst at Markets.com:
    This will be remembered as Black Monday. If you thought it couldn’t get any worse than the last fortnight, think again. The blood really is running in the streets, it’s utter carnage out there.”

    “Equities have been caught in the blast from the oil bomb. There’s a risk of losses in oil positions needing to be covered by selling down elsewhere — we’re in a vicious circle. Equity markets are hideous today and these kind of moves are to be afraid of as they can lead to aggressive tightening in credit that can spiral into real financial distress. We don’t know even know what kind of impact the coronavirus will have on the economy yet bond and equity markets are screaming recession. This is going to take a massive fiscal effort — slicing rates by 50 bps ain’t going to cut it.

    My God he sounds worse than me!

    https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/global-recession-inevitable-analysts-comment-on-market-crash-2020-3-1028975432

    2. “…-slicing rates by 50 bps ain’t going to cut it.”

      I never thought that rates, market or otherwise, were ever measured in bits per second.

    1. Still some way to go to meet the flu death rate of 17,000 per year.

      1. I believe he works in a TfL office but probably uses TfL bus or train services. It is probably only a mater of time till it spreads to TFL bus and train service they are an ideal breeding ground for it

  76. Without any real publicity the Government has changed the advise for those returning from Italy. It is now saying regardless of whether you have any symptoms you should self quarantine

  78. Nineteen killed after bus plunges into ravine in Pakistan. 46 minutes ago.

    A passenger bus tumbled off a winding mountainous road and into a ravine in northern Pakistan on Monday, killing at least 19 people and injuring several others, a government spokesperson said.

    That’s sad. They must all have been decent people since all the paedophiles and rapists are here!

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/pakistan-bus-crash-death-toll-gilgit-baltistan-a9385862.html

  79. 317000+ up ticks,

    To revive the MSM newspaper collapse ALL papers should be produced
    with 6′ X 4′ perforated squares every page, end product being they ALL contain double the amount of sh!te than as usual.

  81. The more I hear about the symptoms of the corona virus the more I think that people have already had it.

    1. When you say people have already had it, do you mean people have already had it, or people have already… had… it…?!

    2. I am sure it was around long before the whistle-blower blew his whistle – months, in fact. At first they would not know what they were dealing with, just deaths from ‘flu. You would have to have a substantial number before someone says ‘Ere. Some-fink funny going on….’ and then some time to ponder and dither. Plenty of time for the virus to take a plane or two, three or four or maybe more, into the great adventure of the world at large.

  82. Complacent governments will be torn to shreds as a coronavirus quake reshapes the global order. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard. 8 March 2020.

    The world’s geopolitical order will be unrecognisable once Covid-19 has done its worst. Long-standing regimes will be badly compromised. Political systems that have never fully recovered from the Lehman crisis will suffer a second body blow.

    Those Western democratic governments that have been most complacent or incompetent will be torn to shreds by unforgiving electorates. Social media will see to that.

    This must rank as an Ambrose Orgasm. He’s been forecasting the Apocalypse for as long as I can remember and it’s beginning to look like he might be right this time!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/03/08/complacent-governments-will-torn-shreds-coronavirus-quake-reshapes/

    2. My doctor told me that I could never get bird flu because I’m a geezer.

      Don’t know what Dominic Lawson’s problem is….

    1. Why should I pay again for something I have already paid for through my taxes?

    2. Add an electric vacuum cleaner motor for lift, and it’s the perfect Gretamobile. It’s even painted mainly in green.

  85. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/03/09/trevor-phillips-absurd-expulsion-shows-labour-beyond-redemption/

    Trevor Phillips’ absurd expulsion shows Labour is beyond redemption

    Phillips seems to have been thrown out of the Labour Party for stating facts

    It would be a shame if the controversy surrounding Trevor Phillips’ suspension from the Labour Party were to be wrongly identified as a blow against anti-Muslim prejudice. This is the Labour Party we’re talking about, after all, and nothing is ever quite what it seems.

    In less than a month from now, Keir Starmer will (probably) replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader, bringing to an unhappy end the ambitions of the extreme Left in this country, who saw Corbyn as the first and last best chance to impose proper, red-in-tooth-and-claw socialism upon us. But the Marxist clique who remain, for now, in control of the party are not about to go quietly, not without a fight.

    There are scores still to settle and three weeks is more than enough time to do that. Given the rout the party faced in December – a rout entirely of its own making and arrived at via a series of poor choices made over the last four years – Labour is in dire need of a period of calm reflection.

    Granted, a leadership election is hardly the best context for such reflection to happen, but the contest has been, on the whole, conducted in a civil, if not entirely friendly, atmosphere. But having found itself on the wrong side of so many political divisions – particularly on the vexed question of identity – it needs to take a step back and examine its own motivations and principles and ask why so few members of the British public share them. So a confected controversy over the former head of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission is the last thing the new leader will wish to have to deal with.

    One might almost conclude that the actions of the general secretary, Jennie Formby, form part of the hard Left’s scorched earth policy as it heads into retreat. The act of sending the letter notifying Phillips of his suspension was in itself an irresponsible, incendiary one. It immediately placed the party on the side of those who believe that even discussing the culture and religion of the rape gangs who have killed and abused young white girls in parts of the north is to undermine “diversity” in the rest of the country – an argument that puts more importance on “diversity” than on the right of girls to live their lives in safety.

    The sending of the letter to Phillips places Labour on the opposite side of the divide from those many, many Britons who feel frustrated that the facts of the cases – the perpetrators being overwhelmingly drawn from the Pakistani Muslim community – must be ignored or dismissed as racist. But facts cannot be racist. Facts are facts. They are, by definition, true.

    Trevor Phillips seems to have been thrown out of the Labour Party for stating facts without the obligatory petticoat-clutching that the Left now insist must always accompany such statements. Take, for example, another of the charges against Phillips; that, in reference to Enoch Powell’s infamous “Rivers of blood” speech in 1968, he said: “This much-studied address is, simultaneously, lauded as an epic example of the use of political rhetoric.” It is a fact that the speech is so lauded. Phillips didn’t say he was the one doing the lauding; he simply pointed out the undeniable fact that some people have done so. Nevertheless, this is reason to expel someone from the Labour Party. The fact that, more than 50 years on, people still refer to the speech suggests it was a significant political intervention. But if you’re a Labour Party member and wish (for whatever reason) to remain so, best not to say so.

    Another charge accuses Phillips of quoting the findings of an opinion poll. Again, the findings were factual, in that they were, without doubt, the results of a polling exercise carried out by a professional polling exercise. The poll’s conclusions – that a third of British Muslims would prefer their children to be educated separately from non-Muslims, and that a quarter of Muslims were “sympathetic” to the aims of the terrorists who killed the Charlie Hebdo journalists in Paris – were not invented by Phillips. He merely quoted the results, and in the Labour Party of 2020, this is a crime.

    Thoughtcrime? Speakcrime? Factcrime? The most ill-judged charge against Phillips is that he joked about having been awarded an “Islamophobe of the Year” award by the Tehran-supporting Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC). This is the same organisation that, for a “joke”, awarded the title posthumously to the Charlie Hebdo journalists so brutally murdered by Islamist terrorists for the crime of publishing a cartoon. Does Labour really want to place itself on the same side of the divide as the IHRC and of the homophobic, misogynist, terrorist theocracy of Iran?

    Many people have come to Phillips’ support in the hours since these absurd charges were brought against him, most prominent among them Khalid Mahmood, the longest serving Muslim MP in the Commons, who wrote: “It was with no small measure of astonishment that I learnt that my own party, the Labour Party, had initiated proceedings against Trevor Phillips on grounds of ‘racism’ and ‘Islamophobia’. The charges are so outlandish as to bring disrepute on all involved in making them; and I fear they further add to the sense that we, as a party, have badly lost our way.”

    I’ve known Khalid for many years and he’s a good person to have on your side. But he had better watch out: in these last days of Saigon, the regime is getting desperate as its principles rush towards the last heavily-laden helicopter. If he’s not careful, Khalid will himself find himself suspended for alleged Islamophobia too. The only question left after this farcical sequence of events has been played out is, why would Trevor Phillips, Khalid Mahmood or any other sensible person even want to remain a member of the Labour Party?

    1. Thank you, Anne, while I whole-heartedly agree with the sentiments expressed, I cavilled at Islamic Human Rights Commission.

      Do they, a totalitarian theocratic tyranny, seriously and actually think they are fooling anyone by calling a “Star Chamber” by a customer-friendly name. Not here, they don’t.

      They might as well change the rulers’ rank to that of Cuddly Ayatollah!

    3. ” its principles rush towards the last heavily-laden helicopter….”
      The Principals have no principles.

    2. Er NO.

      Gove has just released this statement.

      Negotiators from the UK and the EU met in Brussels on
      2 – 5 March 2020 for the first round of negotiations on the UK-EU
      future relationship.

      The negotiations were formally
      launched by the UK’s Chief Negotiator, David Frost, and by the European
      Commission’s Chief Negotiator, Michel Barnier, in a plenary session on 2
      March.

      The substantive discussions then took place
      within eleven separate negotiating groups, as agreed between the parties
      and as set out in the Terms of Reference (here). The session closed with a further plenary on 5 March.

      Both
      sides presented their positions as set out in the EU mandate and in the
      document “The Future Relationship with the EU – The UK’s Approach to
      Negotiations” (CP211). The UK’s team made clear that on 1 January 2021
      the UK would regain its economic and political independence in full, and
      that the future relationship would need to reflect that reality.

      Discussions
      in some areas identified a degree of common understanding of the ground
      that future talks could cover. In other areas, notably fisheries,
      governance and dispute settlement, and the so-called “level playing
      field”, there were, as expected, significant differences.

      The
      next negotiating round will take place on 18-20 March in London. The UK
      expects to table a number of legal texts, including a draft FTA,
      beforehand.

      1. I wonder if our ‘negotiators’ have realised that we in the UK voted out.

        1. Yes that is quite clear from there stance and they are looking to negotiate an FTA

      2. Despite all the slagging-off, the amount of know-how and work required of our negotiators is immense.
        We are lucky that we have such a highly motivated, educated and competent team to deal with things.
        (Err…we have, haven’t we ?)

    3. Something I have been suspecting for some time. June 30th will be the crunch date; it’s the last date for extending the transition period.

  87. Annoyingly, Guido Fawkes appears to have stopped using Disqus and is now using something called ‘Vuukle’. Which stops me, and most other people, seeing their comments unless I register with their outfit…

    Looking around the web at comments on this, it appears to be a ‘woke’ version of Disqus and allows Google to auto-veto posters they do not like:

    https://medium.com/blogacious/vuukle-partners-with-google-to-allow-publishers-to-fight-back-trolls-and-haters-perspective-api-543c15dd058c

    “For example, if you type “you are not polite”, the toxic rating will be 8%, while “you are an idiot of the first order” will fetch a toxic rating of 90%. All this happens in real-time in the Vuukle comments widget. So commenters can see how “toxic” their comment is even before they press the submit button.”

    Not a positive move in my view… It seems to be the online equivalent of ‘no platforming’.

      2. Pleading Homosexuality is one of the go to reasons for illegal gimmigrants to try and avoid deportation Paul
        “I would be in danger in my country of origin”

    1. Your reference does point to a further article specifically relating to 2019-nCOV which is now known as COVID-19.
      That article further references the action of COVID-19 on ACE2 receptors.
      This is highly relevant to the treatment of COVID-19 infections because of the action of coronaviruses on epithelial cells.

      https://www.sinobiological.com/ace2-cov-receptor.html

  90. Trumps latest Tweet

    So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year.
    Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on.
    At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths.
    Think about that!

      2. Who could possibly benefit from coronavirus apart from the manufacturers of bog roll…

  91. It has started raining in Derbyshire and looks as if it will be for the next 18 hours plus.
    I doubt if i’ll be going anywhere tonight!

    2. I cleaned our car earlier.
      It’s raining here now as well.
      You can blame me Bob. ☔

        1. I always clean ours once a year wether they need it or not. 😀
          The window cleaners kept breaking our roof tiles. We have lower level roofs front and rear.

    3. I cleaned our car earlier.
      It’s raining here now as well.
      You can blame me Bob. ☔

  93. Just back from Fish&Chips and a couple of pints at Wetherspoons,great value and absolutely delicious
    While waiting for my grub I browsed the ‘Spoons magazine,now I remember Owen Jones trying to slag Brexiteer Tim and his company off so I thought I’d share a few facts
    42,000 well paid employees (Ironically Guardian Top employer awards)
    In house apprenticeships and paid for degree courses to upskill employees
    Expansion plans to create 10,000 more jobs
    Vast amounts raised for charity by their staff and patrons

    Now the tax
    2019 £764.4 MILLION to the Exchequer………….42% of sales

    Perhaps when Jones and the Guardian have contributed a fraction of these monies and jobs to society their opinions may have merit,until then just STFU

        3. Geoffrey Chaucer
          Sat in a saucer
          And brought those old words into play
          His pretty young daughter
          Said he really didn’t ought to
          As nobody used those words today

        4. Geoffrey Chaucer
          Sat in a saucer
          And brought those old words into play
          His pretty young daughter
          Said he really didn’t ought to
          As nobody used those words today

        1. Den gamla geten was my nickname for my extremely irritating old colleague in Kopparberg.

          2. She – even looked like a goat face on, with strangely yellow irises & a fleshy nose.

            I suspect that one meaning of sågbock in Swedish is the same as Nervensaege in German – IOW a PIA.

          3. Strangely enough, a sågbock is the Swedish equivalent of our saw horse! We saw timber on a ‘horse’; they saw it on a ‘goat’!

          4. Yes, I know what it is; I just thought there might be a hidden alternative meaning.

    2. It looks as though they are having an Arctic party and are waiting for an outgoing vessel to break the ice.

  96. The “grooming gang” petition is at just under 91,000 so very likely to reach 100,000 soon – and yes, I know it only means that a couple of MP’s might turn up in the HoC chamber because they took a wrong turn looking for the loo and their “debate” will result in a routine dismissive-says-nothing e-mail but it’s still satisfying to see that there’s sufficient public interest.

    1. I signed two earlier this year Sue, or was it the end of last ? I had a recent email saying at least one of the petitions had been kicked out. They don’t seem to give a damn for public opinion.

      1. 317000+ up ticks,
        Evening RE,
        They know from years of past experience that they are immune regarding the peoples, the support & vote will continue, whatever.

          1. 317000+ up ticks,
            Evening RE,
            The revolving, reshuffled lab/con know that in power / in waiting they are still on a good thing counting on the electorate
            following the same voting pattern, and the electorate ain’t let the politico’s down yet.

          2. Like I have said so many times Ogga all we ever end up with after an election is an Elected dictator ship. The majority of votes are against the incoming government. Fortunately it’s closer in nature to what most of the people want, but the system we have is in dire need of a vast reshuffle and overhaul. But it ain’t gonna happen.

          3. 317000+ up ticks,
            RE,
            Then the electorate that choose to follow the same destructive voting pattern will surely find shortly that there are only two options left, them being, break the odious stranglehold lab/con
            have regarding political governance of these Isles or islamic
            ideology dominance.

          4. 317000+ up ticks,
            RE,
            That is guaranteed when all politically concerned within the
            lab/lib/con coalition party are political dictators who ride roughshod over the electoral needs time & time again.
            The electorate know this so in reality the main body of the electorate are getting what they voted for.

          5. I wasn’t going to vote last election our MP doesn’t seem to do much, which is not unusual for political figures. But when it was mentioned several times that labour were heading for victory i put my self out.

          6. 317023+ up ticks,
            RE,
            The 650 politico’s count on you doing just that eddy, it safeguards their continuing lifestyles.

  97. – Italian man flies in from Milan to Heathrow and complains there are no checks for corona, if he thought he might have it why did he choose to fly here in the first place?

    1. And nothing can go wrong, click, can go wrong, click, click, click zzzzzzzzz……….👀

    1. A person in their 70s is the fourth death connected to the coronavirus outbreak in the UK.

      A Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust spokesperson said that a patient in their 70s with underlying health conditions has died.The patient had tested positive for Covid-19.

      “The family has been informed and our condolences and our thoughts are with them at this difficult time”, the spokesperson added.

      1. ”
        underlying health conditions”
        Old people should be careful before practising this ” woman on top ” thing.

  100. Who will blink first? What an all-out oil price war means for the US, Saudi Arabia and Russia. MAR 9 2020

    “We are experiencing, within a short period of time, a demand shock with corona and a supply shock now with OPEC,” Johannes Benigni, chairman and founder of JBC Energy Group, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Monday.

    “I mean, figuring that out is absolutely amazing, we are making history here. You can call it now a world war of oil. It is not that actually Saudi Arabia is taking on Russia which everyone is talking about. They may do that, but Russia always said they want to take on a little bit more of the shale industry.”

    “By Saudi Arabia actually now declaring war, they are front-running the Russians in declaring war on U.S. shale,” Benigni said.

    This is all coming together nicely, what with the stock market tanking as well. You do need to panic and get some supplies in not because of Coronavirus but against the probability that there is going to be the biggest economic crash in history!

    https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/09/oil-prices-what-a-price-war-means-for-the-us-saudi-arabia-and-russia.html

    1. Oil prices have dropped by a third, so when do garage forecourt prices come down? 1st of Never?

      1. Since most pensions are heavily dependent on Oil companies, I hope not. Keep the profits high please.

        1. Pension funds are getting out of fossil fuels at a rate of knots. It’s the St. Greta Effect.

    2. Oil prices have dropped by a third, so when do garage forecourt prices come down? 1st of Never?

    4. I don’t think you need to advise folk to panic, Minty. We’re beyond that stage. Thought I’d do a routine online shop this morning – Ocado had no delivery slots before Saturday evening. The other supermarkets were a similar picture. Having used the last squirt from an ancient bottle of hand wash, I thought I might buy a replacement. No chance. Usual bread making flour? Nope. I didn’t bother wasting time looking for loo rolls…

      1. Afternoon Geoff ! I was just testing the new government Online Russian Troll Council! I thought you would have been arrested by now!

  101. Tribunal ruling questions status of construction contractors

    n Employment Tribunal has thrown into question the status of construction industry contractors in a ruling finding that two contractors were in fact employees and should therefore be afforded the protections open to all employed staff.

    According to law firm Collyer Bristow, the decision could have a significant and costly impact on the construction industry.

    The case – Harris and Kearny v Excel Brickworks Ltd – examined the employment status of two men, Mr Harris working as a site foreman and his son, Mr Kearny, a bricklayer. The foreman had worked for the company for 17 years, and the bricklayer for less than a year. Both had signed a ‘self-employed contract for services’ and were subsequently dismissed without notice.

    The building company, Excel, argued that the claimants were self-employed and sought to rely on the contract that stated they could work if and when they so decided, refuse work, use their own working methods, leave site without permission and send a substitute with similar experience and qualifications to carry out the work.

    The Employment Tribunal considered the facts and determined that, in reality, none of the above ever happened and that Excel would not have agreed to Mr Harris or Mr Kearny exercising these rights under the contract. As such, regardless of the wording of the contract, in reality the relationship was one of employer and employee with the statutory benefits that arise as a result.

  102. St Patrick’s Day: Dublin cancels its St Patrick’s Day parade

    Dublin has cancelled its annual St Patrick’s Day parade amid fears about the spread of coronavirus, Irish broadcaster RTÉ has reported.

    Earlier on Monday, Cork moved to cancel its parade, the second largest in the country attracting up to 50,000 people.

    The city council said public welfare was paramount and cancellation was the correct decision.

    Irish Health Minister Simon Harris has said the coronavirus situation is very serious.

    He said it was going to require not just a whole of government approach, but a whole of society approach.

    2. To be rescheduled on April 23rd?

      Sorry, I confused the true meaning of cancelled with the American interpretation of postponed!

  103. Greta

    It appears she may have been receiving payment and payment in kind during her UK visit, Whilst not an issue whilst we are in the EU it may mean she will need a work permit next year

    3. I’m confused. Does this have anything to do with drag racing? Do they all race against each other in high heels?

      1. It’s a very difficult job and the only way to get through it is we all
        work together as a team. And that means you do everything I say.

  108. Am I alone in thinking that, whatever the hopes and aspirations of BoJo, those “doomsters and gloomsters” have been having a helluva party in 2020 and it’s spilled out into the street these last few days.

    1. More along the lines of one of Hammond’s Goth gatherings surely, all weepings and wailings, renting of garments and gnashings of teeth.

  109. In defence of Trevor Phillips. Spiked 9 March 2020.

    In a seeming attempt to undermine the reputation of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which is currently investigating Labour over allegations of institutional anti-Semitism, the party has decided to suspend former EHRC chairman Trevor Phillips on the grounds of ‘Islamophobia’. The suspension reveals an ideologically purist Labour Party that is now under the control of identitarian leftists.

    I’m not an unequivocal admirer of Phillips, he was Labours Racist Attack Dog for many years and now like many a zealot before him finds himself on the receiving end. It’s no accident that Stalin shot all the old Bolsheviks first! That said Labour is no longer a Political Party but a quasi-religious cult espousing beliefs far outside Socialist norms!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/03/09/in-defence-of-trevor-phillips/

      1. Afternoon AA. This is probably the collapse under its own gravity before it goes Supernova!

    2. “Phillips is also a passionate advocate of free speech – placing him at odds with the thoughtpolicing tendencies of the contemporary British left.”

      Only the Left?

  110. The winners of the Audio and Radio Industry Awards 2020 station of the year is.

    BBC Radio 2

    ………..and the average day is!

    £355,000
    a year Vanessa Feltz hands over to £370,000 a year Zoe Ball who hands
    over to £280,000 a year Ken Bruce who hands over to £290,000 a year
    Jeremy Vine who hands over to £465,000 a year Steve Wright who hands
    over to £235,000 a year Sara Cox who hands over to £270,000 a year Jo
    Whiley.

    Radio 2: Amazing music. Played by an amazing line-up.

    …………………………at an amazing cost!

  111. Miriam’s Big Fat Adventure, which airs tonight on BBC Two at 9pm.

    After seeing a sneak peek of herself dancing with plus-size women during the show, Miriam Margoyles revealed that she thought she looked ‘hideous’ and that she was ‘p***** off with herself’ for being fat.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8091417/Miriam-Margolyes-78-admits-thinks-looks-hideous-hates-body.html

    I for one will not be watching….can’t bear the woman..

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9eed7f44b7c92e8a2a87b84beeaaada955490a7b4fc7459b02903329f0f8307c.jpg

    1. How an earth the BBC considers that as entertainment I have no idea. Why she is even on TV beats me

    2. She is of the other persuasion .. and has a Mrs stashed away somewhere .. and seems to me to be very farty , leftie and argumentative.

  112. FTSE on course for biggest fall since financial crisis. Mon 9 Mar 2020 10.51 GMT.

    Global stock markets have suffered their biggest falls since the 2008 financial crisis while the oil price crashed amid panic selling because of the double threat of a coronavirus-driven global recession and an oil price war.

    Yep all that and no mention of Russia, Putin or Novichok.

    We are doomed!

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/mar/09/ftse-plunges-to-below-6000-amid-global-coronavirus-sell-off-oil

  113. Hugh Grant weighs in with his two-penn’orth criticising the Government’s coronavirus response:

    He tweeted indignantly: “Because the present UK government is utterly incompetent and irresponsible. Careerists, narcissists and ultra right wing nut jobs.”

    …. that’ll be as opposed to careerist, narcissist and ultra-left wing nut jobs like Hugh Grant.

    1. Couldn’t stand the sight or sound of him when I first saw him all those years ago, and he’s done nothing since to improve my opinion of him.

    4. Could you imagine a Labour government doing a better job? They can’t even organise their own leadership contest!

    6. He’s still upset that of all the prospective MPs he backed, not one of them won a seat.

  114. – If I was billionaire globalist devising a cunning plan to wipe out Billions of people to save the planet, I would create a bit of fake news about a common flu virus, then put a deadly poison in hand sanitizers and loo roll.

    1. A fifth patient in the UK has died after testing positive for coronavirus, NHS England said.

      The patient died in St Helier Hospital in the London borough of Sutton.

      Daniel Elkeles, chief executive for Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We can confirm that sadly, a patient in their seventies who was very unwell with a number of significant and long-term health conditions has passed away at St Helier Hospital.

      “They had tested positive for Covid-19.

      1. In the UK it is estimated that an average of 600 people a year die from complications of flu. In some years it is estimated that this can rise to over 10,000 deaths (see for example this UK study from 2013 , which estimated over 13,000 deaths resulting from flu in 2008-09).22 Nov 2019.

        1. With non of them have they given any information about the underlying conditions they had. I suspect it may be that Covid-19 just accelerated their death they may well have died from the underlying condtion they has anyway. We just do not know for sure

          1. That has already been said. They do not give details of the ” underlying conditions ” so as not to create an unnecessary scare for others with a similar condition.

    1. Bilateral interstitial pneumonia as is what the doctor identifies as resulting in a morbid outcome.
      This is very dangerous because it is bilateral. Up until now whilst pneumonia is dangerous it often affects parts of a lung and survival is based on the correct functioning of the unaffected parts.

      When it is bilateral even the administration of oxygen may even become counterproductive because the whole lung is involved.

      There are three paliative treatment regimes that may be attempted in situations like this which I posted earlier.
      The simplest one which may be used in a domestic context without oxygen is to maintain a prone position.

    4. If there were no doctors, he could be a writer.
      It reads very frightening. Fortunately he only sees the bad cases, which are still a tiny proportion of the total. Lets hope that the virus withers.

  117. EU Chief: If UK Wants Access to Single Market It Must ‘Play by the Rules’

    They need to try to keep up. We do not wish to have access to the single market. We are negotiation an FTA

    European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said that if the UK wants a trade deal with access to the Single Market, Brexit Britain must stay constrained by EU rules.

        1. They’re all worried about their massive salaries and gold plated pensions.

      2. She keeps waffling on about she does not know what we want. It has been made perfectly clear to her. WE are leaving the EU and that includes the custom union and single market and ECJ. What is not clear about that?

    1. Almost all the deaths have been down to travel to Italy (expet the 5th one at present as there are no details on it at present)

      IKt seems the height of stupiity to not be checking anyone coming back from Italy

    2. ” BRITS will be told within the next fortnight that anyone with a cough or fever should stay
      at home, the UK’s chief medic warned today.
      Dr Chris Whitty said that “probably within the next 10 – 14 days”
      doctors will tell anyone who has a minor fever or respiratory infection
      to self-isolate for seven days.”
      Virus or no virus, they should stick at home rather than pass it on, anyway.

  119. Boris dithering again

    First it was n o change now he says we will be moving to the delay phase. Well that’s today it could all change again tomorrow

    Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the UK Government is making extensive preparations for a move to the “delay phase” of the coronavirus outbreak.

    Speaking to the press on Monday afternoon, Mr Johnson said that while the UK as a whole remained in the “containment phase”, he admitted it was “extremely unlikely to work on its own”.

    The delay phase of the Covid-19 battle plan includes potentially closing schools and cancelling major events. However, he said measures to delay the virus’ spread with “social distancing” will not be introduced yet.

    Some 319 people have now tested positive for coronavirus across the UK – six in Wales – with four confirmed deaths.

    Wales Health Minister Vaughan Gething said at this stage there was “no justification” for closing schools or stopping mass gatherings here.

    Mr Johnson said there was no hiding from the fact that the coronavius outbreak will present “significant challenges” to the UK and will get worse before it gets better.

    We remain in the ‘contain’ phase of the outbreak, but watching what is happening around the world our scientists believe that containment is unlikely to work on its own,” he said.

    “There is no hiding from the fact that the coronavirus outbreak will present a significant challenge for the UK, just as it does in other countries.

    “But if we continue to look out for one another to pull together in a united and national effort I have no doubt that we can and we will rise to that challenge.”

    He added that the best thing people could do was to wash their hands for 20 seconds with soap and water.

    Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs the UK Government has enlisted an extra 700 people to support a growing number of enquiries to NHS 111 in England, which he added is now dealing with more online enquiries than telephone calls.

    People on social media have accused the government of not implementing stronger measures to help stop the spread, such as closing schools, compared to drastic action taken by Italy putting quarantines on the Lombardy and Veneto regions.

    Click to expand

    1. Strange use of the term ‘containment phase’, given hundreds of flights were allowed into the UK from China and N Italy. Time to ramp up to ‘stiff upper lip’ phase?

    2. Strange use of the term ‘containment phase’, given hundreds of flights were allowed into the UK from China and N Italy. Time to ramp up to ‘stiff upper lip’ phase?

  120. Here’s an idea to deal with the BBC and help balance up the lagging/left behind regions/smaller towns.

    1. Divide the English BBC 9- fold.

    2. Invent 9 new organisations – BBCLondon, BBCSunderland, BBCMansfield, BBCLeigh, BBCGloucester BBCTorquay, BBCClacton, BBCBognorRegis, and BBCAldershot

    3. Budgets depend upon licence-fees received. Most residents in the UK will be able to designate which BBC organisation receives their licence fee

    London may start with the largest budget, but competition and defections by some Londoners may well lead to BBCClacton and some others receiving their licence-fees. The organisations would be free to buy and sell programmes from each other and indeed from other places.

    There are lots of other aspects but I am trying to mimic the stimulus which Europe received in the 19th century from competition between numerous small states. I think it would divert a significant part of tax-funded expenditure and intellectual and creative impulses away from London and towards other areas. It would “spread it around”.

    1. Far to expensive. BBC2 is rationalized though. It could carry mainly the same programs but have opt out for regional news and weather. A consortium of local papers could produce the local news and weather programs

      1. How can it be more expensive if the licence-fee is unchanged?

        BTW it’ll lead to large downward pressure and cuts in BBCLondon’s highest salaries …. This scheme can offer you Steve Wright and Gary Lineker for half (possible a quarter of) the price.

  121. I have tried to respond to Corimobile on 3 separate occasions and other posts have disappeared. I think i will sign off for tonight.

    Have a good evening folks.

    2. Hello Phizzee

      I wondered why I was receiving repeat posts from you. If you will read my original post you will see that I ackowledged that there are several different accounts citing the source of the bricks used in the construction of Royal Albert Hall.

      I suspect that bricks in the quantities required were sourced from a number of brickmakers. Wikipedia is not an altogether reliable source.

      I mentioned that Ballingdon bricks from Sudbury were transported in large quantities from a special cut on the River Stour and taken to Manningtree by lighter barges in tandem for transference to coastal vessels bound for London.

      If I have some spare time I will check my own sources in an attempt to identify the bricks used and their source. Fareham bricks were red so they were not used internally whereas Ballingdon Whites are a more likely source for internal walls the face of which are white. Ballingdon also produced fine red bricks.

      I gave you the example of Hampton Court Palace where examination of historical accounts show that the red Tudor bricks were sourced both locally and as far afield as Sawbridgeworth.

      Edit: multiple spellings.

      1. Thanks for that.

        I do seem to be having the odd spot of bother on Disqus at the moment.

        I can accept your account of what has happened. Some people possibly claiming something they didn’t actually do.

        1. I reckon there will be accurate accounts somewhere.

          I have been a member of The Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain since 1966 and retain every annual volume dating from Volume 1: 1958. I expect there will be references to The Royal Albert Hall in several papers but will have to check the Index.

          There are of course other reference sources. I have an extensive architectural library so should be able to add something to the debate about the bricks employed.

          1. Please don’t waste too much time over this. You are the professional and i just believed what i was told.

            Off topic ish….

            A lorry turned around in my Cul De Sac and managed to take down my and my neighbours garden wall.

            Both walls were Fareham brick and we both had ornate Iron gates.

            It took almost two years to get them to repair the damage.

            They replaced them with bricks that have at the top dissolved and the fastenings to support the gates were put in after the wall was replaced.

            None are able to hold an Iron gate and the fastenings have fallen out.

            The lorry was repairing the road. Lol. Which is still full of potholes as it was before.

            Bill Thomas tells us never go to law but sometimes one wants to nail the bastards.

          2. I doubted parts of Wikipedia because there is a reference to Scott viz. Sir Gilbert Scott who we know was not directly involved in the Albert Hall but who had designed the adjacent Albert Memorial which has extensive works both behind and below the plinthwork.

      2. I seem to recall at HCP that there is a possibility that some of the bricks coming from some of the more distant producers were brought in green and fired in clamps in the palace grounds.

        1. I do not immediately have that information.

          My projects, for which I was the Architect, comprised two Landmark Trust Apartments, the Great Kitchen Chimneys Restoration Project, the Privy Garden Restoration Project and the Resurfacing of Base Court.

          I also prepared drawings, organised and wrote the specification and restored a number of ornate ‘cut and rubbed brick’ Chimneys in Base Court.

          1. Have just looked up an article on the HCP bricks in the Archaeological Journal V.147, which concludes from the accounts’ evidence that during the Wolsey & Henrician building works, the brickmakers from furthest away in fact came to the palace and produced & burnt the bricks on site, whilst the more local brickmakers made the bricks at their own kilns.

  122. “Conservative”? I think not…………

    When it comes to climate change, this Government has put aside any

    notional attachment to free markets, or indeed to reason. With the

    rushed introduction of a target to achieve net zero carbon dioxide

    emissions, it appears there is no policy too expensive or poorly thought

    through if it is done in the name of stopping the so-called ‘climate

    crisis’

    https://www.thegwpf.com/conservatives-need-to-start-being-rational-about-climate-change/

    1. Are you surprised, I am not.
      There are very very few politicians who have the integrity or fortitude to do what is best for this country.
      There are however many who seem willing to do what is best for them.

    2. I subscribe to a Conservative think group and one of their surveys recently was all in favour of more taxes (to be fair, many of the respondents were first time Con voters). In my view, we need to reduce taxes and certainly not climb on the “climate change emergency” bandwagon.

    2. London could do with a clean up, the other little organ talks about it a lot but just Khan’t manage it.

  125. Some good news. The Speaker has announced that Parliament will not close because of the Corona Virus. That means the parasites in the Lords will spread it amongst themselves.

    2. As this sort of thing never seems to effect the rich, famous, the self important, amongst many others. I suspect they have already been inoculated against it.

  126. Right, off to open mic at the pub. I wonder if the Chinese lady who sometimes plays and sings will be there.

  129. Ahem………..Breaking………….

    The whole of Italy is being put on lockdown as the country tries to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

    All public gatherings are banned, sports events have been suspended, and movement is being restricted across the country.

    Italy is the worst-hit nation in Europe with 463 virus-related

    deaths, an increase of almost 100 in a 24-hour period, and more than

    9,000 confirmed infections.

    Around 60 million people will now

    effectively be placed under quarantine by the strict measures which had

    already been introduced in northern and some central areas over the

    weekend.

    https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-whole-of-italy-put-on-lockdown-11954097

    1. That will probably put a stop to all flights to Italy . The government seems unable to manage risk. We do no that all the deaths have been linked to trips ttaly . There seems to be no information on the 316 that tested positive

    2. China

      South Korea
      Iran

      Italy

      Those are the big ones. The rest are tiny in comparison.
      Something fishy.

    3. Well, it was a great day skiing. The slopes strangely quiet and conditions excellent. Unfortunately, the areas are closed from tomorrow and we are to be repatriated. Acchooo..

  130. Police pin two men to ground outside Westminster Abbey ahead of royals arriving for Commonwealth Day Service

    The pair were stopped by police after running into the road outside the central London church.. Does the white flower indicate he is surrendering ? ?

    Police said they arrested two men for allegedly breaching anti-terrorism road traffic regulations. Both remain in police custody.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f21ea5f283851191a31afde94147316dd8923366d83bf26e858fa5b389ef86d0.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a0d88e0eebc944fa48419eaaff40b3f3aefab87a57f5bcf1d487cd0899518319.jpg

    5. I would think any Black or Asian around would be suspect.

      Take a look at the Memorial Parades and anything to do with Pageantry. Hardly a tanned face in any of the crowds of well wishers. Certainly never a Burka in sight.

    2. Only inasmuch as we now wave to each other rather than shake hands during the Peace 🙂

      1. If I remember correctly, people are always coughing in church especially as they rise for the hymn. It is ages since I attended, the church left me, very much like the conservative party, when it turned left with the emergence of vicarettes 25 years ago (can it be as long as that?!). I like a peppering – or a blasting – of fire and brimstone; I do not like this shaking hands stuff.

        1. #Me too, but we have a proper rector (he’s the reason I left my nearest church and headed over the border to Cheshire – I couldn’t stand our vicarette).

        2. The first time i encountered the ‘peace be with you and shaking hands’ i turned to the stranger on my left and had nothing to say. I wasn’t trying to be intentionally rude but that was not the way i was brought up.

          Perhaps i should have known better. I had been to a Christian retreat In Poole. I think it is called the Greenhouse now but i’m not sure. Singing and tambourines was very nice at age 12.

          It was certainly better than life at home.

          1. It is just that I am shy and reserved – honestly! – and until I know people, I am uncomfortable with all this touchy-feely physical stuff. France was a nightmare with the kissy-kissy-kissy and I have been known to climb over deckings and crawl through oleanders and ‘go the long way round’ to avoid it (and them) – by the end of summer I was more than happy to return to the traditional sang-froid of dear old Blighty. What a relief.

            I don’t want to be misunderstood, at first it is delightful but after a while it does get to be a bit much.

  132. In the UK it is estimated that an average of 600 people a year die from complications of flu. In some years it is estimated that this can rise to over 10,000 deaths (see for example this UK study from 2013 , which estimated over 13,000 deaths resulting from flu in 2008-09).22 Nov 2019

    We do not stop anything for this remember.

      2. I thought something is wrong when we saw whole cities such as Wuhan in lockdown and mechanised fumigation of streets and motorways.

        As ever we are not being told the truth.

        1. The Chinese knew about it but kept it quiet as long as they could.So, by the time it “broke” they were already in cleanup mode.

          –Jack.

        2. I dont get the sense there is any conspiracy going on. Listen to the guest scientists on the news etc. The government has made it plain it is following scientific advice.

          Half the population complains not enough is being done while the other half says mountains are being made out of molehills.

          Any criticism of the way this is being handled should be directed at the scientific advisers, not the politicos.

    2. The difference here is that as this is a new and very dangerous virus, it is necessary to take precautions to prevent it spreading like wildfire before a cure is known. The problem is that we are not used to those in charge acting responsibly, or telling the truth.

      1. The NHS hve given out almost no information . We know 5 have died but there have been about 316 potive tests and we have no information as to there health. Is it no more than the flu or are some in a more serious condition ?

    3. The PTB have lost control. The plebs voted the wrong way in favour of Brexit. 80% of the plebs voted parties who committed to leaving the EU and the politicos reneged. In 2019 despite have the ‘best policies’ Labour was humiliated. The Conservatives don’t seem certain about really leaving the EU.

      Coronavirus is a godsend. Their chance totally control the plebs and finally put them in their place aided and abetted by a compliant media.

  133. Evening, all. I’m just back from a meeting in a local church about whether it is to close or not. My view is that they’ll miss it if it goes, but frankly, the management doesn’t seem very enthusiastic. There’s no choir, no organist and they only have services on Sundays. My church has weekday services and a really good choir (we certainly miss them when they take a holiday in August!). They have no website, no F/B page, don’t have a Friends of group. They don’t seem to realise that if it is to be viable, they need to spend the money on refurbishment (loos for a start and maybe a kitchen) and fundraise for it. Every suggestion I made seems to be countered with “it’s the same people doing it”. Well, yes, that’s the way it works. It’s the same in every organisation of which I’m a member. Younger people don’t want to commit.

      2. They do a lot with the primary school – it’s CofE – but I don’t think they carry it through. I don’t know what the answer is. They didn’t seem to realise that they’ll need to spend the cash to bring the building up to standard (loos and a kitchen for starters) before they can use it for “other purposes” to “grow the church”. My feeling was, they’d be quite happy to close it to give the money in the bank account to charity! I didn’t get an answer when I asked exactly what repairs were needed to the building. In my view, they need to assume that the church is needed (it’s a listed building) and then work from there to raise money for repairs and increase its use. It seemed to me they were looking for “the community” to say, we don’t need it, close it. Or maybe that’s just cynical me 🙂

        1. Most rural churches can survive without a kitchen (don’t forget the village hall) but they all need a loo if at all possible. Sometimes there are already facilities nearby.

    1. 317000+ up ticks,
      Afternoon B3,
      Posted four hours ago from a far right racist named
      Gerard Batten.
      We are in dire need of many more of his ilk.

        1. 317000+ up ticks,
          B3,
          If you mean the English / GB ones easy, people power, & the hope factor, time & time again the peoples depending on hope a great deal & using the regular vote in to keep out method sod the consequences, have virtually done for these Isles, via the ballot booth.
          The three monkeys & the submission,PC,Appeasement brigade have a great deal to answer for.

    2. I can’t read the whole article. Paywalled.

      Do we know what their reasoning behind this was?

      EDIT. Just read it in the Sun.

  135. The pound is up against the dollar again – $1.31 mmp.
    The media have reported the stock exchange falls, but have missed out ” The Pound Collapses because of Brexit, Coronavirus and Meganexit “.
    Strange.

      1. Last time I looked it was a bear market everywhere….I don’t really follow it because I don’t have any shares, and am cynical about market movements…….

        1. Bear market suits me. My shares and pension are doing fine with all the erm…excitement.

  137. Sky report.

    A woman has told a court she felt “scared” and “humiliated” after
    Alex Salmond stripped and lay on top of her at his official residence
    while he was Scotland’s first minister.

    The woman, who was giving
    evidence on the opening day of Salmond’s sexual assault trial, said she
    felt like she was being “hunted” during the alleged incident at Bute
    House in Edinburgh in June 2014.

    Salmond is standing trial at Edinburgh’s High Court charged with 14 sexual offences against 10 women, all of which he denies.

    They include one of attempted rape, 11 of sexual assault – including one with intent to rape – and two of indecent assault.

    Giving
    evidence on Monday, the first witness – a Scottish government official –
    said she was touched “inappropriately” by Salmond at Bute House in May
    2014 and, on another occasion, he “pounced” on her at the same premises
    the following month.

    The former SNP leader is accused of two offences – sexual assault and
    attempted rape – against the woman, who cannot be named for legal
    reasons.

    She told the court she felt “internal panic” and “just wanted to get
    away” after Salmond began touching her legs and kissing her neck and
    face during the second alleged assault.

    1. Much like Weinstein and Prince Andrew. Girls were warned by mum about predatory men and to be careful. These girls/young women don’t appear to have received the correct parental advice.

      I blame the parents.

        1. Of course, but let’s put the blame where it belongs. Our present social ‘situation’.

        2. Them too, but it isn’t like these young women were dragged off the street and into the woods. They went willingly into hotel rooms alone and naive.

          Some of them repeatedly.

  138. I purchased a litre of anti-wotsit throat gargle earlier today to ward off the Angel Of Death – Whyte & Mackay Wishky (SIC)!

  139. How an earth are planes still allowed to fly to Italy. Italy is in lock down and i a know high risk area and the government advice is only essential travel. Surely as well the airlines have a duty of care which they seem to be ignoring

  140. Just watching the Bbc News (yes, I know) and I noticed Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Advisor, bears an uncanny resemblance to Chris Grayling. Hopefully it’s just coincidental.

    1. Lisa Nandy can go and settle in the EU as she’s clearly not happy here in a country that believes (at least the people do) in democracy.

  144. God help us, we were all shaking hands and kissing at the pub. A brilliant bunch of musician/singers.

  147. The thingy petition about the groomers is about to hit the 100,000 mark. Now we just have to wait for the HoC to say “Move along, nothing to see here.”

  148. My layabout son came round yesterday. I thought he wanted money but actually he was after my virus pasta stash.I looked him in the eye. For once, you are not getting a penne son

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fed22539246e473259f76d88c928a3ca0d2b639710061da3178a7d0984028911.gif
    Edit
    Due to the coronavirus outbreak..there has been a shortage of pasta in the shops.
    The government is urging the public not to panic buy based on the actions of a fusilli individuals

    3. At a music performance, how can you tell when the stage is level ?
      The drummer dribbles from both sides of his mouth.

Comments are closed.