Monday 11 August: Trump cannot be allowed to betray Ukraine in his desperation for a deal

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

498 thoughts on “Monday 11 August: Trump cannot be allowed to betray Ukraine in his desperation for a deal”

  3. Good morning Geoff and all NoTTLer chums. Here’s a trio of Monday Chuckles to cheer you up before another week of Government (?) disasters. P.S. I’m doing this on an iPhone in Epsom, so no special formatting possible.

    A farmer was helping one of his cows to give birth when he noticed his young son watching wide-eyed from behind the fence. “Oh dear,” thought the farmer, “I’m going to have to explain the birds and bees to him.” So when he had finished, he asked the boy: “Well, have you got any questions about what you’ve just seen?” “Just one,” said the boy. “How fast was that calf going when it hit the cow?”

    Two friends were recounting their most recent dreams. “I dreamed I was on vacation,” said one man fondly. “It was just me and my fishing rod and this big beautiful lake. What a dream!” “I had a great dream, too,” recalled the other. “I dreamed I was on a date with two gorgeous women and having the time of my life.” “Hey!” cried his friend, hurt. “You dreamed you were with two gorgeous women, and you didn’t call me?” “I did,” said the other. “But your wife said you’d gone fishing.”

    My daughter said she wanted to get lots of body piercings. So to save on money, I made her bath the cat.

  4. Morning Geoff and chums. Only just made Wordle today.

    Wordle 1,514 6/6

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

    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      Bit more luck here
      Wordle 1,514 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜🟩🟩🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  5. Following the murder of Al Jazeera journalists, it is becoming increasingly clear that the IDF is a terrorist organisation, and any indication of support for this organisation, including the flying of its flag, is an offence punishable by up to 14 years imprisonment.

    It shows how ridiculous and selective our anti-terrorism legislation is.

    1. When you write "murder", is that killed as in "neck shots" (A Nazi favourite, apparently), or killed as in "got in the line of fire"?

      2. It requires intent, which the murder of these journalists certainly had. Without intent, it is manslaughter. Mass murder in the cause of a political campaign and intended to instil terror into civilians is terrorism. Shooting journalists for daring to express an opinion is a form of terrorism.

          3. Who said that journalists were ever unbiased? Even the BBC struggles with bias, and it is written into their Charter. Due weighting is given, when sifting between news and propaganda.

          5. As I said elsewhere, Hamas cannot even defend their own, let alone mount a serious campaign to take Israel by force, rather than murder a few thousand Palestine sympathisers within the kibbutzim. The best that can be said about Hamas is that they are idiots and haven’t a clue how to defend a nation against an enemy. I personally think they are agents provocateurs and are working for the Israelis, or at least have been infiltrated. Note it is always ‘Hamas’ that is the enemy, as if 2 million people in Gaza and even more in the West Bank are all members of that organisation.

            They are only there because Israeli extremists bombed out Fatah and assassinated Rabin just at the point of signing a peace agreement whereby the State of Israel would be recognised by the Palestinians.

          6. Al Jazeera is a mainstream organisation, they do cover the islamic world more but they are fundamentally a big media outlet and won't deviate from the agenda.

  6. Good morning all ,

    14c here , cloudy , was a warm night , and the moon was amazing , roll on harvest moon .

    Distinct smell of smoke in the air , the drifting air from the heath fires which have caused devastation , and how will wildlife recover ?

    Have you all noticed that the hedgerows are full of berries , and hazelnuts and crab apples?

    Betting on a hard winter, yes or no?

    1. I think so, Belle – and good norning! Hard weather-wise, and hard politically, too.

    2. The fruits are the result of a fine and warm spring. We may or may not have a hard winter.
      Blossom this year was wonderful and didn't get frosted hence bountiful fruits. Our apples and greengage crop has been amazing.

      1. I'm coming under local pressure to start the process of cider making again. There are so many beautiful apples available this year.
        And I think my neighbour is going to get a couple of buckets of barley from one of his farmer mates so we can have a go at making some beer. Hops are available from another local source👍

  10. Morning, all Y'all.
    Cloudy & 10C. Wearing woolly pully, it's that chilly.
    First day of leave, so at Firstborn's place for farmwork, as opposed to work work.

      1. Send some over here, Belle. It might make 10C, if everything goes well. Otherwise, it's grey and not very energizing weather.

  12. Well it looks like the governments big plan to solve all our problems is compulsery eye tests for drivers over 70 and more stringent drink driving rules.
    That will do it.

    2. Surely, instead of more stringent rules, more enforcement of the existing would be a good idea?
      SWMBO doesn't drink alcohol, so I'm lucky – a built-in driver from the pub.

    3. Drink driving rules to absorb the pressure from the longskirts.
      But no mention of driving with restricted letterbox vision.

  13. Well it looks like the governments big plan to solve all our problems is compulsery eye tests for drivers over 70 and more stringent drink driving rules.
    That will do it.

  14. A thoughtful letter , don't you think ?

    Faith and science
    SIR – Dr J P Dickinson’s loss of belief in God as his scientific knowledge grew (Letter, August 9) reflects a common but mistaken belief that science and faith conflict with each other. Such a proposition would have been unthinkable to the likes of Nicolaus Copernicus (known for his heliocentric model of the solar system), Gregor Mendel (the founder of modern genetics) and Georges Lemaitre (whose theories heralded the Big Bang theory), all of whom were Catholic priests.

    Indeed, the wonders of the natural world provide a strong reason for believing that an infinite intelligence lies behind the universe.

    Ian Gordon
    London SW11

    1. created in the civil service..

      and the rest, every institution in fact.

      ASA, Ofsted, Electoral Commission, British Library, National Trust, Police arbitration service, Education rainbow schooling camps, Supreme Court, House of Lords, Radio Four, BBC, university academia, NHS management, every single DE&I support group, NGOs, Tony Blair funded quangos, Oxfam, Childline, Ofcom, FIFA, UEFA, SAGE, CoE, College of Policing.. and of course RSPCA.

    2. In my travels round Europe recently, I have seen some current best-selling paperbacks. "How Evil Populism is Ending Democracy and Ushering in Fascism" seems to be a common theme.
      I guess we have it there – Trump's and Farage's job is to end democracy.

        1. No, through the Looking Glass, they are the good guys. It is a world view so warped and alien to me that I found it hard to grapple with!

  17. Good Moning.
    Start the week with a happy story.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/10/outcast-goat-kid-thinks-its-a-dog/?recomm_id=6a41d473-218a-4987-9156-e3379d27420f

    Outcast baby goat ‘thinks it’s a sheepdog’

    Lil the kid learns to round up the herd after being raised by Border collies

    Gemma Brown10 August 2025 3:56pm BST

    A tiny goat triplet shunned by its mother at birth thinks it’s a dog after being raised by two Border collies, staff at a farm park say.

    The five-week-old kid, Lil, was cared for by the sheepdogs at a farm near Swindon, Wilts, when it could not feed from its mother.

    And Julia Stewart, the manager at Studley Grange Farm Park, Swindon, says the tiny goat is now so convinced it is a dog, it is even learning to round up the flock alongside the collies.

    Lil was born weighing just 500g, one-third the typical weight of a baby goat.

    Ms Stewart, 50, said she had to bottle feed the shivering newborn and wrap it in a special suit made from an old sock. The farm’s two sheepdogs, Luna, 14, and Nya, nine months, then took an instant liking to the kid.

    The pair washed the kid, played with it, and snuggled up next to it to sleep, Ms Stewart said.

    She added: “[Lil’s] extremely cute and definitely thinks she’s a dog.”

    Lil apparently becomes very vocal if left in with other goats, preferring to follow Ms Stewart and the dogs around.

    The farm manager said of her bond with Lil: “I couldn’t leave her for days, and she wouldn’t let anyone else feed her. When she was born, she was so tiny she could sit in one of my hands.

    “Most kids can stand but she could hardly keep her head up. You don’t take them away from their mum unless you really have to.

    “Including the lambs, we probably have to hand raise a newborn once a year, but I’ve never known one to become so dependent on one person.”

    Lil is among 14 kids born this year at the farm, which has 15 adult goats as part of the petting zoo.

    Studley Grange also has Dexter cows and donkeys, as well as a mini zoo with wallabies, emus, raccoons, meerkats, a reptile house and a butterfly house.

    Ms Stewart plans to keep up with the baby goat’s sheepdog training, saying: “Lil will always have that special bond with me and the team, and most importantly with the dogs.

    “She’ll always be special and different. Nya is her best friend.”
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bbae759e23d523ca3c10b53b755f781e7db0f81c3d714687eafda3dabe7d9541.png

  18. SIR – I can live with uncontrolled immigration, the crumbling infrastructure, the NHS in a permanent state of crisis and all the other horrors we are faced with on a daily basis, but we anglers have now been hit by a shortage of maggots, which are used as bait. Local angling shops have been without them for almost a month now, with no end to the lack of maggots in sight. This really is beyond the pale.

    Ian Rennardson
    Tunbridge Wells, Kent

    A shortage of maggots?

    Why is that.. aren't flies breeding .. or are maggots used for fishing a different type of fly, eugh! 🤔😮

  20. The sister of a vegan mother whose obsession with 'clean eating' led to the death of her severely malnourished toddler has revealed her lasting regret.

    When Naiyahmi Yasharahyalah, 43, first met her husband Tai, 42, he was 'really polite' and 'normal', but their relationship would soon spiral out of control with the pair eventually ostracising themselves from society to start their own 'kingdom'.

    The couple, who were said to be members of an 'obscure religious movement' known as the Royal Ahayah's Witness, lived in squalor.

    They survived on only fruit, nuts, and seeds and followed their own religion and laws.

    In the process, they wilfully neglected their three-year-old toddler, Abiyah, by prioritising their 'distorted system beliefs' over his welfare, and failing to provide him with enough food and necessary medical attention.

    The child died from a a respiratory illness in January 2020, worsened by a 'restricted' vegan diet which caused severe malnutrition, rickets, anaemia and stunted growth.

    In the wake of his death, the couple kept him in their bed for eight days in the hope he would be reincarnated, before burying him in the garden of their former home in Handsworth, Birmingham.

    It wouldn't be until almost three years later that his remains would be found by police conducting a welfare check on the couple.

    In December 2022, the former fitness instructor and medical genetics graduate were arrested while living in a caravan in Somerset, and later sentenced to a total of 44 years behind bars.

    Now Naiyahmi's sister, Cassie Rowe, 47, tragically revealed she became concerned about her 'lovely' nephew when her sibling, with whom she was estranged, stopped posting the tot on social media.

    (Another black family , so called educated, graduate, blah blah living in absolute squalor in Birmingham , how many more primitives are mistreating their babies?) https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14973337/sister-husband-jail-starved-son-death-buried-regret.html

  21. Good Morning!

    The Preston Park Panther pounces with a pullulating piece on what he says is THE BIGGEST TEST OF ALL, COMING YOUR WAY SOON , when AI takes over everything. He asks a question no generation has ever even thought of asking: What's so special about being human? Let us know in the comments, and take part in the poll.

    Graham Bedford's final part of his Should I Stay Or Should I Go series looks at the tax implications of going, only to find that either way, it's a taxing business, and We Should Not Trust Our Elites , says Iain Hunter, in his fascinating and thought-provoking article.

    freespeechbacklash.com

  22. Good morning all.
    A bright and sunny start to the day with 15½°C on the thermometer and I've got to take the DT to the Calow hospital on the other side of Chesterfield to have a camera poked up her bum.
    I think I'll be taking the van so that whilst she's being done I can park up and get my head down. Not a good night's sleep last night.

    However, a very enjoyable day at the Manifold Show on Saturday and a lovely 6 mile circular walk from Wetton and along a part of the trackbed of the Manifold Valley Railway.

        2. My late wife had one but under sedation – she said it wasn't too bad. The night before was the worst part with the nuclear grade laxative

          1. They should give a warning about that laxative in bold red type font. I only just made it to the loo and then Niagara falls !

            I also went through the procedure without any sedation. Lots of grunting as they went around corners but at least i was able to go home right away.

      2. Yo T_B

        The worst thing that I havefound about them (and I have had a lot of them) is that the room seems full of TV screens showing what they are doing

    5. She'll feel a lot better when the procedure is finished, the worst is the event looming over you. A good outcome hopefully.

    1. It makes me feel sick. And very worried for our lovely innocent grandchildren.
      Talking to our neighbours last evening who have just returned after a few days in Dorset. The beach at Bournemouth was packed with them.

      1. Yes , Bournemouth beaches have been ruined , far better to try to get to Poole Sandbanks or across on the ferry to the beaches or onto Swanage .

        1. They went to sandbanks TB. And stayed near Corfe Castle in a borrowed from local friends VW camper.

    2. My comment to the vid: "Where in Norway? Doesn't look recent, there are no leaves on the trees, and it's just after midsummer."

      1. You're probably right Obs.
        But the outcome is the same, an area completely crushed and flattened by their presence.

    3. They've been too generous with the benefits over many years – I remember hearing a long time ago on the grapevine that Norway was the place to go.
      Lots of Vit D deficiency though for those with more melatonin, I would have thought. Got to factor that in as well as the free money.

  25. Morning all 🙂😊
    Sunny start again 16c, possibility of some rain Wednesday. 🤔
    How can the DWP (aka useless government) be allowed to and be able to make changes to long established pension payments through personal bank accounts. They seem to be poking their noses in to anything at the moment. Except of course the biggest problem this nation has ever had to endure.
    A catastrophic invasion of free loaders and the total and ongoing decimation of our economy.

    1. 411158+ up ticks,

      Morning RE,

      We must bear in mind for the future these governing bodies have been elected via a democratic process.

      1. Morning Ogga.
        Yes…..you might think that, but I couldn’t possibly comment 😉
        But believe me I’m quite sure there are many people in positions who have cheated on voting.
        Remember khant and the ‘administration error’ in failing to send ballot papers to the Jewish areas in London.
        And look at the damage he’s done to our Capital city.

        1. 411158+ up ticks,

          RE,
          Granted but, we as a people mass
          played eyes tight shut to much of it, for the, wait for it, good of the party.

        2. Postal votes are all the rage, Eddy. Block voting (as in tower blocks) the thing. Very easy to change one's vote to an online vote, by ..you guessed it…going online and changing your choice. Anyone who has your online vote can then vote as they please. Saves all that tedious stuff of going to an actual voting station and identifying yourself.

    1. I do worry about the educational standards of some commentators on X – apart from the usual "your, you're" and similar I see one suggesting that King Charles [JWK} withholds his "Royal Accent" on the Chagos deal!

      3. To be fair (I am beginning to sound like Stig), it may have been a combination of autocorrect and lack of proofreading. I have been guilty of that myself.

    2. OK, did he say how he'd go about that? have to get it past CS minions first, they'll put a lot of obstacles in his way – our real and permanent government imo.

    3. Is he about to become the sultan of the UK? That, of course, would make his consort a sultana…

          2. ‘afternoon 😀 x thanks for diversion, trying to make sense of my table – littered with paper, pens, half done portraits (or so they think…)…decided to cob it all and walk dog…see you later…you A-OK today? x

          3. Not bad ta! Been to retinopathy thingy today, eyesight is good but signs of cataract in one eye. Doc also rang about my diabetic annual check results, all levels ok but another P test required as the protein level was up a bit. How are you today – any painting? x

          4. Good news, hope cataract stays that way. Possibly drink more water, sometimes helps? I try to. Of course not, I started tidying my (picnic) table I use for arty stuff, lifted a few things from A to B, took dog for short walk, met new people in wood so answering questions etc. Returned with intention of starting, went online to pay window cleaner, that didn’t work, so now sharing apple with dog and wondering what I should try to scr*w up next….dog days of summer…reading perhaps – got JD Vance’s ‘Hillbilly Elegy’. Another typical day from me 🙂

  30. BUGGER! Bought 5 x 20 litre cans of white paint last week to paint the stonework on Firstborn's barn, but missed out that I need wood paint for the woodwork. Job delayed until I can get some – and Firstborn is away with the transport!
    Oh, well, it'll be raining soon anyhow. Another coffee…

      1. Painting woodwork now… the dullest activity known to mankind. I'd prefer to watch it dry, 'cos then I don't have to bend & twist, or climb scaffolding.

  31. BUGGER! Bought 5 x 20 litre cans of white paint last week to paint the stonework on Firstborn's barn, but missed out that I need wood paint for the woodwork. Job delayed until I can get some – and Firstborn is away with the transport!
    Oh, well, it'll be raining soon anyhow. Another coffee…

    1. First I'd heard of that – none of my 3 pairs of sunglasses seem to have that information on the frames and the paperwork has been "lost". A quite tedious check online suggests that all are Category 3 but it wasn't easy to check!

    2. The biggest problem we have with our politicians is, most of them are flat and bare faced liars. It's all they have to keep their income rolling in.

  34. Just been out to open the greenhouse. Very heavy dew this morning. Sky almost cloudless.

    1. Yes Nigel we know, but when is Reform going to issue an arrest warrant for the whole of labour front bench ?

    2. And your answer to these invading hordes is?

      Promised actions with real intent, not wish-washy words, are needed. If Farage can't/will not recognise that this invasion in intentional then he should step down from the leadership of Reform and let someone with the required testicular strength to step-up and galvanise the people.

      1. LBC Q&A with Nick Ferrari July 2025
        "Do you know what Nick we've got to the point, the size of the Muslim communities is such that anything is quite difficult to do. I'm gonna argue we've got more urgent priorities."

      2. According to eg Hopkins, Habib, Lowe…been here before with NF (UKIP). We'll see, Korky.

    1. Lost the link but I have read that he is in big trouble and may lose his job
      This is where we are……

      3. Probably because he laughed when the house owner said what he told him to say to his boss.

      4. He was just saying what a decent person would say. So yes, will probably lose his job.

    2. That's just intimidation, the government letting people know that they've got their eye on us. Obviously the policeman wasn't comfortable with what he was told to do, hope he finds his way whatever happens.

    3. At least plod is being honest and decent about it but yes, the idea that people will be thoughtcrimed is revolting. It's far, far too Left wing.

    1. Golda Meir born in Kiev carried the British Palestine passport.. vs.
      Yasser Arafat born in Cairo, with Kuwaiti visa (at the time a British protectorate) and eventually he awarded himself a Palestine passport, the very first one issued by the Palestinian Authority in 1995.

      GB 🎵 Stuck in the Middle With You 🎵
      Stealers Wheel

      1. Tsarist Russia persecuted and drove out the Ashkenazi Jews. Most left in the 1880s and 1890s and many returned to the Holy Land where the Ottoman Turks sold them land. It was theirs to sell and was bought legitimately.

        The Jew haters who infest social media today appear to believe that all Israelis are Ashkenazim who turned up in 1948. The reality is that they represent approximately 30% of the population of Israel.

        20% are Arabs, mostly Bedouin who've been there since the middle ages and have complete equality under the law, with representation in parliament and on the judiciary. At least 40% are Mizrahi Jews. The Mizrahi Jews have been in that region nearly three and a half thousand years. They never left and they're damn well not going anywhere.

        The rest are Sephardic Jews. The Sephardim were kicked out of Spain and Portugal in 1492. They'd collaborated with the Moorish oppressors, allowing themselves to become dhimmis and for that reason the Reconquista required them gone.

        1. I wasn't aware of that, Sue. Thank you for the small history lesson.
          I'm none the wiser, just better informed!

    2. Ooooo.. this is good.
      Crank it up.
      Deal with it now rather than in 50 yrs time.

      Ireland goes back to No 1 spot.. Spain down to Number 2.

    3. Ooooo.. this is good.
      Crank it up.
      Deal with it now rather than in 50 yrs time.

      Ireland goes back to No 1 spot.. Spain down to Number 2.

  42. 411158+ up ticks,

    The starmer TOOL would probably agree to losing out
    in a general election, he has shown great success in such a short time for his handlers in the WEF / NWO
    and I would believe he would like to thank the voting
    public for giving him the opportunity to "do his bit" in bringing down a nation.

    https://x.com/GSGB01/status/1954613303453606152

    1. My guess, ogga1 (good morning)…'now is not the time' 'a lot for us still to do' 'won't give in to naysayers'…yadda yadda. Conservatives seem almost toast (witness Jenrick, Philp on manoevres). Reform not quite got its act together yet. Bit of a downer all round, really. Or all to play for, depending on personal outlook.

    2. Yet the petition to repeal the Online Safety Act, although it has now reached 514,400 signatures seems to have been memory-holed on the alternative media, which is now almost as controlled as the mainstream.

    3. Things are changing fast, we live in a world of change, the silicon chip is changing the world…. mandate… plan, better tomorrow, working people, families,, climate change, tackling…

      The usual trite lies that bastard spews out followed by 'Up yours proles! I'm gonna trough and destroy this country forever!'

  43. Tulip Siddiq Given Fawning Guardian Interview on Day Trial Begins in Bangladesh

    El Gato Malo
    2h
    She calls Bangladesh "a foreign country", yet she has a Bangladeshi passport.

    HatanakaHacker
    1h
    "her apparent failure to realise that a flat in King’s Cross had actually been gifted to her"
    I, too, often find that there's no need to show even the slightest interest in the provenance of million-pound-plus properties that I have been gifted. Particularly when there's so many.

    Paleface
    1h
    Only Spanner could appoint a corruption minister on trial for corruption and a homelessness minister sacked for making people homeless
    It's just a gift he has

    Ascended Master
    56m
    I often forget who has given me property in central London too. Does that make me a socialist?

    Mr Davies
    2h
    Move 'em out, head 'em up
    Head 'em up, move 'em on
    Move 'em out, head 'em up
    Ship 'er out
    Rawhide

    1. I was four years old when Rawhide was first on tv and I hadn't a clue what was going on but I liked watching it anyway. The music was definitely part of its appeal. Frankie Laine was the singer?

    2. I must admit to a little sympathy on one point she made. Although English born and bred, it does seem rather like a foreign country to me these days – it's been close to 50 years now since I lived there. I think the first time it really hit me, was when we were flying back to the US some years ago and our hand baggage was searched by a couple of headscarf wearing female security staff.

    1. If one imports 10 million don't be surprised if GDP per capita is stagnant… Frankly I'm surprised it's grown at all and if one factors in inflation in real terms it's fallen significantly…..

      Morning (just) Michael and all..

    2. If one imports 10 million don't be surprised if GDP per capita is stagnant… Frankly I'm surprised it's grown at all and if one factors in inflation in real terms it's fallen significantly…..

      Morning (just) Michael and all..

    3. Gdp static eh – that's better than some.

      Aat the moment, Canadian per capita gdp is shrinking by about 1.5%

      I don't think that I have ever been so disillusioned as I am nowadays with the state of Canada ; yet a majority think that Carney is doing a good job!

    4. GDP static/falling, headcount rising from unwanted immigration.
      GDP per capita falling… wow! Hooda guessed it? And the unwanted immigration almost entirely useless mouths.

    5. We are a high skill, high tech nation and economy. We did not need or want 20 million foreigners dumped on us.

      The highest increase of 5% over 17 years is terrifying. That's what, 0.3% a year? With inflation at some points well over 10%? This is why the weekly shop is now double what it was in 2000. It's why companies are collapsing. No one has any money.

      The really, really scary bit is the Treasury and OBR are going to raise taxes for ideological reasons. I honestly can't believe the moronic woman doesn't understand the damage high taxes do.

      1. At least one of the members of the OBR has seen the light. Matt Goodwin’s substack had an article about the poor GDP performance due to immigration.

  46. Just received this as an email:

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    I despise these ambulance chasing trouble makers

      2. There is very little anyone can do against government policy. However, his media presence is huge and he continually pumps out the anti illegal/asylum immigrant message to the masses. It will sway public opinion and those small demos by the faarrr right are no doubt heartened by seeing someone in parliament in agreement with their thinking. My only concern, and I see swathes of his comments on FB, is that plod will be aknocking on his door and dragging him away for the i.. word, that which Lucy C was banged up for. His only defences will be that the great unwashed cannot actually deport anyone, but he is raising the temperature and our masters are not going to like that. Will you be going to the TR rally on the 13th, I expect Tommy will be there on Zoom (from prison)!

      3. There's nothing they can do about it – any of them. Starmer doesn't want the tide to stop as his masters have commanded it.

      4. Suella Braverman spent quite a long time at the Home office trying to do somehting about it, and had the rug pulled from under her feet by Sunak!

    1. That'll teach him.

      Of course they don't appear, they genuinely believe our laws do not apply to them.

      2. Managed to do the TriPeaks event in a pretty smoky 33.21 !

        Didnt really struggle anywhere apart from needing about 3 go's at level 19 – 6 Kings I think – but I couldnt see the individual level times like usual…

        1. Blimey, well done.
          I’m only halfway and already over 22.
          I’m currently about to do the last three and first seven.

        2. I got caught by the advert thing where the time is still running even if you’re not playing.
          1h 15, should have been 35.
          You would be 2nd in my group, at the moment.
          A few days ago I got a very good result, 1,220 overall out of 433,000.
          AND I missed a couple of moves that would have made it quicker.

          1. Looks like it might have been close!!

            Did you notice that they didnt give the times for each level? At least it didnt for me – very annoying!

    4. FFS they know perfectly well that the worse problem is the ones who don't work and cannot work in a technologically advanced economy.

    1. Quite a few of the comments point out that the kitten is more likely feral than abused and has just never been socialised. A shame it isn't that easy to subdue feral humans.

      1. We've fostered some very angry, vicious dogs. I say we, mostly I have. The key is consistency and rewarding the good behaviour.

        Dogs, of course, really want to please other pack mates. They can get confused and muddled and upset and that makes them aggressive.

        Humans are able to understand right and wrong and the badly behaving ones do so out of choice, so they are dealt with using a collar around their neck and making them walk at heel until they learn how to behave. Some don't want to learn. They should be put down.

        1. Oscar was very snappy when I got him. I learned what triggered him and avoided it. I also practised T Touch on him when he came near enough and allowed himself to be touched. After he’d gone all gooey eyed a few times he was keen to be massaged 😀

    1. The weather whizzes through the islands and the sun will be blazing down in 10 minutes.

    3. It's not low tide, it's climate change. Yes, they've been saying the seas are rising (which is a lie) but the marketing can't be denied if they say 'change' which covers everything.

  51. Good day Nottlers all!

    An interesting day ahead for me.

    i think I'm ready to throw myself back into dancing (have been laid up with the recurrence of s knee injury and about as laid-back as a wounded tiger).

    I am also going to have a look at a property for rent which interests me. My current contract will not be renewed as the owner's family want to sell. (She was very upset when she had to let me know, and has said she'll do anything she can to help me, though, which is great).

    it's too expensive for me on my own, but as it happens, an English friend is willing to share, and the place is above that of mutual friends, so it all seems a bit heaven-sent. (I shall approach it with an Eeyore mindset today, to counter my inner Tigger.)

    it has a studio which would be perfect for painting (yours truly*) and pilates**(my friend's a pilates i https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2d2876a34e74e7607b5f1120959ade53fa54614a8cb9efde434fe43c4fe34f13.jpg nstructor). Fingers crossed!

    * Just because, here's my latest portrait, of an Argentinian friend enjoying the winter sunshine and rooting back into his country after years in the States.

    ** No, autocarrot. Not pirates. Although that might actually be quite exciting… 🤣🤣

    1. Good portrait, Ashes. It it easier to paint good-looking guys (asking fo a friend…)?

      1. 🤣🤣

        No, actually. Character is generally expressed through individual quirks, so a young, perfectly symmetrical face can be hard to capture.

        This particular friend lived in the desert for a time, and the resulting wrinkles made it far easier to see his sheer enjoyment of the sun.

    2. Top portrait, Kathie – can sense his pleasure at the warmth of the sun..guessing leather? jacket, difficult to paint realistically but nailed it here. Love the slightly blurred background…and that blue..cerulean? poss phthalo turq? 10/10…does pilates work for you, still looking to find something to ease sciatica!

      1. Can’t remember what I
        I threw together for the sky – it really was a gorgeous deep turquoisy blue – but defo not phthalo anything because I hate them all. 🤣🤣

        Pilates seems to work well for some re sciatica – definitely worth a try.

        1. 😀 I used to keep a shade chart of ‘odd mixes’ but would forget about it. Stopped painting for now, square one – graphite. Never done pilates, must try it. Exercises I currently do are Charlie Johnson (YouTuber). Must try to ‘get something done now’..15:20..good grief…

    1. In Germany, the farmers are putting up what they call a HUNGA BAUM (hunger tree).
      It's a dead tree, hung with all kinds of scrap and rubbish. It's a reminder that everyone depends on farming to eat.
      Maybe that ought to spread in Britain too.

      1. 411158+ up ticks,

        Afternoon BB2.

        Good to hear sad that
        I believe in our case we would need the petrified forest.

  54. Migrant decides to take a sh1t on tube saga.. escalates.
    You guessed right. It had to happen.

    Vigilante Tube passengers face arrest over 'assault' of naked man on the Tube after they took law into their hands when he dropped his trousers on packed carriage

    2. There were enough of them to restrain him without kicking him so much but i understand their outrage.

      1. They could ague that they were following the example of the Manchester Airport police…

      2. But the man appeared to lash out, swinging his belt at the passengers.

        That sounded like a kind of right-on type of comment that a Tom Corbyn would make.

        University graduate Tommy Corbyn, 23, said he was set upon by a thief on a moped who tried to “run me over” as he snatched his mobile phone.
        “I’m sure the guy who did it was more desperate than bad and I’m glad it happened to me not someone who would have been badly affected by it.”

        1. There is no doubt we are going to see a lot more vigilantism. The police and the courts treating them so lightly is infuriating.

          The police are always quick to point out mental health issues too when they at that point probably hadn't seen a doctor.

          1. Inbreeding in a way not allowed by the indigenous often results in "mental issues".

            Behaving in a way that would be considered a criminal offence if the perpetrator was indigenous is often blamed on mental issues.

            This country seems to have an awful lot of people with mental issues. Far more than thirty years ago. Now, I wonder how that came about.

        3. I hadn't seen that.

          Clearly Tommy's guilt induction is complete. Will he give up his room for someone more desperate than he is? His shirt? Will he lay on the floor and allow himself to be sexually abused?

          I don't give good odds on Tommy's life expenctancy if he is willing to forgive before the person abusing him before he repents his crimes.

          Can you provide a link to the Tommy article please.

      3. But the man appeared to lash out, swinging his belt at the passengers.

        That sounded like a kind of right-on type of comment that a Tom Corbyn would make.

        University graduate Tommy Corbyn, 23, said he was set upon by a thief on a moped who tried to “run me over” as he snatched his mobile phone.
        “I’m sure the guy who did it was more desperate than bad and I’m glad it happened to me not someone who would have been badly affected by it.”

    1. It Seems those who have made such terrible and unforgivable 'mistakes' in letting obviously the wrong people into our country, have now turned the whole criminal act against the British public on its head. And our out of control politcians are now in everyway blaming the British public for their own terrible and uncontrollable agrivated sins leading to attacks against the suffering long established humanity.

  56. What with arable land being turned to into solar panel 'farms' and such, I've been practising my foraging along the river with Oscar. A couple of pounds of blackberries today. Saw some decent fish about too.

  57. Well that's the first calendar orders posted! :0))
    I was going to use my new bank card but had a complete brain failure and used the pin for my phone instead of the one for the card which had to be put in as you have to do it that way before it will work contactless. Had to use the shopping card instead. Still Jo the post lady was was as chatty as ever.
    Will have to try again with that (I remembered the pin as I was walking home).

    1. Oops… Terrible security I know, but where I can choose the PIN number I use the same one, othewise try to have a smart way of remembering it – such as bank card has the same PIN number as Firstborn's postcode. Makes it easier.

      2. A four number pin usually works ok if you use a date – eg today is 1108. Provided you remember which date you're using.

  58. A short while ago…the view across the Valley of the River Avon near the Claverton Pumping station. The river is below the railway line which runs from Welsh Wales to Portsmouth & Weymouth via Westbury.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0473e051b2fda3410f2eee7cba3f6c6b6ae038ad346aecb97d99f2cef729f482.jpg

    Claverton's undershot waterwheel which drives the pump that takes water from the river and feeds it into the canal which is just behind where the above photo was taken….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/361e947701559522259e0d0b0188d40f0097175c691ff8484578a5e77e1ef1ea.jpg

  59. Paleface
    4h
    Mastermind Champion the Tottenham Turnip, leading the Chagos negotiations, was asked to calculate the Net Present Value (cash flow / (1 + i)^t – initial investment) and came up with the answer "Henry the Seventh"

  60. Brendan O’Neill
    I’m embracing my inner Karen
    11 August 2025, 6:00am

    I told off four strangers last week. The first was a foreign gentleman lounging on a side lawn at Marble Arch and cooking a meal. He fanned the flames of his makeshift barbecue with a flap of cardboard as four women in long robes looked on, awaiting their feast. ‘You can’t cook here’, I said. He looked at me blankly. His harem scowled. ‘It’s disgusting’, I said. Smoke swirled at my ankles. I left.

    Next up was a middle-aged man at Portman Square who was roaring into his mobile phone in Arabic. Is it wrong of me to consider this doubly rude – not only to bellow so thunderously in a public area but in a language you know few people will understand? ‘Can you stop shouting, please?’, I said. ‘Sorry, sorry’, he replied, and because I still have wet liberal tendencies, that made me feel bad.

    Then there was the boy putting litter into the basket of a Lime bike. ‘That isn’t a bin. That is’, I said, pointing across the road. He shrugged and strolled off.

    Finally there was the young lady on the Tube recording a voice note on her phone. For a moment I was dazzled by her aplomb. At her age I would have turned beetroot red if someone so much as said ‘Good morning’ to me on the Underground. And yet here was this girl noisily regaling a carriage of perfect strangers with the piffle of her social life. My wonderment was shortlived. ‘Can you stop, please?’, I said. She muttered sheepishly into her phone: ‘I have to go, a man is shouting at me.’ I didn’t shout.

    I am a Karen. I have joined that least loved section of society: white people of a certain age who feel a burning urge to rebuke the loutish and ill-mannered. And you know what? We need more Karens. We need more people willing to confront the crisis of manners, to stand against the withering of social decorum that has reduced so much of public life to a cold, lawless-feeling moral minefield. Join me – embrace your inner Karen.

    I’m not a London doomerist. I laugh when people say ‘London is over’, as if this ancient metropolis that survived sackings, plagues, the Fire, the Blitz, the Smog and Sadiq Khan (so far anyway) might now fall down because people are behaving like oafs.

    Yet there is a problem. You can feel it. You can hear it. Sometimes you can smell it. Those cursed e-bikes whizzing by. Tinny music on the bus. Idiots FaceTiming with abandon. People tucking into meals on the Tube. Teenagers who never shut up. Not to mention the graffiti, the phone-snatching, the shoplifting, all of which the police are too busy making pronoun badges to solve. London feels tetchy, acrimonious even. You get the feeling that you’re less a free citizen of a great city than an NPC in the videogame of someone else’s life.

    Some on the right blame it on the surge in migrants. I’m sure that’s part of it, but it can’t be the whole story. I grew up in a community of immigrants in London. There were us Micks, Indians, Pakistanis, some Windrush descendants, a smattering of Italians. And everyone knew how to behave. Indeed, our immigrant parents were often more disciplinarian than the English kids’ parents. A red ear awaited the kid dumb enough to play up in public.

    No, the problem is the slow corrosion of the informal infrastructure through which we once put manners on people. The young are shocked when I tell them we were often told off by strangers when we were their age. It’s true. Old men on the bus would tell us to pipe down. Stressed mums would bark ‘Move it!’ at teens clogging up shop doorways. Once, an old duffer irritated by our noise clocked our distinctive RC school uniforms and said: ‘You go to the convent on the hill?’ It put the fear of God into us: bringing the school into disrepute had consequences, sometimes corporal ones.

    It is these checks and balances of everyday life that have wilted almost to extinction. For me, the most depressing sight in London in 2025 is not the vexing teens or mobile-phone blatherers or supercilious players of music – it’s the cowed older men and women. There they are on public transport, on the streets, in shops, stooped, hushed, always staring ahead to avoid eye contact with the post-social boors.

    These are the men and women who helped to turn even us rowdy, pasty Irish kids into something resembling gentlemen. Yet now, whether from fear or exhaustion, they’ve given up. It’s like they’ve been decommissioned, put out to pasture by a society that thinks discipline is fascism and that someone cooking a meal in Marble Arch is a fab expression of ‘cultural difference’ rather than a smoky, insufferable eyesore. The wings of our elders have been clipped by the tyranny of relativism that grips our rulers.

    Absent that intergenerational duty of care, of course things will fall apart. People need signals, and right now, courtesy of our silence and timidity, the signal they’re receiving is that they can do anything they want. Karens, step up. Call out the anti-social. Demand quiet. Expect respect. The restoration of manners is the starting point of the restoration of Britain itself.

    *****************************
    Graham Ridley
    9 hours ago
    It's quite complicated. So much has gone. Standards are mocked. Everything is selfish.
    When Thatcher made her much scorned comment "There is no such thing as Society" she meant the exact opposite of what her detractors took. She was saying that you bear full responsibility for your own behaviour: don't blame some abstract 'society.'
    The point is Duty to others comes before Rights.
    Rights can not work unless we first acknowledge our responsibilities to others.

    Jeannette Meyers
    2 minutes ago
    As a teacher for 38 years, the one abiding memory of the numerous former students I still encounter in the town or online is “Miss’s look.” Frequently mentioned to their children and grandchildren: “Miss never needed to say anything. She would just look, and we stopped.” Discipline was not an issue, even with the many “rebellious” youngsters I taught. The “look” still works on occasion, as does the “school teacher voice” which has been known to cow the most recalcitrant HMRC employee. Sadly, those days are fast disappearing, and I don’t suppose I would be welcomed in classrooms these days.

    1. A young woman sat down next to me on the tube yesterday wearing nothing but a cropped t-shirt and lycra knickers. It was very tempting to ask what happened to her skirt but she would probably not even have understood. There were at least no tears or ladders in the lycra. So many go out in public now looking as if they've crawled out of a dustbin. No standards. No self-respect. Yet they expect deference. They expect to be afforded respect that they haven't earned.

      1. He may well have seen those events, but I think he said nothing, and these are just his musings.

    4. Quite a few things in this mix, imo. Lockdown where people just lost themselves and their place in society generally..then online, combined with marriage/relationship breakdowns, lack of respect for teachers, schools, education…could go on, but that's enough to be going on with.

    6. The author forgot to list the stabbings, shootings and rapes. The immigrants of his youth were expected to fit in. There was no rubbish like multiculturalism where every culture except the indigenous is celebrated. Immigrants were expected to learn and speak English. It isn’t as though it isn’t a world language.

  61. Crimea River
    4h
    OT. Just back from my morning walk. I’m very close to Scout Moor wind farm; one of the (if not the) biggest onshore wind farms in the country. Not one of them is generating any electricity. Every single turbine effectively motionless.

    1. If they were turning it would probably have been using electricity to do so to prevent their seizing up.

  63. Wordle No. 1,514 3/6

    🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩⬜🟨🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 11 Aug 2025

    Antipodean Birdie Three?

    1. Well done, same here.

      Wordle 1,514 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. After a run of bogeys, better luck today.

      Wordle 1,514 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
      🟩🟨🟨🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Well done, unremarkable par here……

      Wordle 1,514 4/6

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

  64. Afternoon all. I should have thought that if anybody betrayed Ukraine it was Zelensky, NATO and the EU.

  66. Can anyone explain what this headline means?
    "British backpacker pleads guilty to killing man while drunk on e-scooter" ( https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0e999y7vq2o )
    1. Had she been drinking a cocktail called e-scooter and subsequently killed someone?
    2. Was the deceased intoxicated on the e-scooter cocktail?
    3. Was she riding an e-scooter whilst under the affluence of incohol?
    4. Was the deceased riding the e-scooter? Drunk or otherwise?
    I think we should be told…

      2. In the context of all the other provocative reports in the media, it has crossed my mind to wonder whether the M&S incident really happened. It almost seems as though the media is begging us to go out on the streets and start a civil war sometimes.

        1. Well, Lady Nicholson would look pretty daft (she IS a Limp Dumb, of course) if it isn't true.

          2. Why would she know any more than the rest of us do? We only know what was reported in the media. I mean, it’s not as though they would ever lie to us or anything is it.

        2. Well, Lady Nicholson would look pretty daft (she IS a Limp Dumb, of course) if it isn't true.

  68. News headline: How unwise…
    "Woman in Morocco faces stoning after wearing T-shirt with "Allah is lesbian" on it.
    Even a dipshit like me could see that might end up in trouble…

    1. Trouble is, yer actual ropers have no sense of humour. It was bad enough when The Life of Brian was shown here and stirred up all the Southern Baptists, etc., so imagine the effects of an equivalent Life of Abdul would have had. The cinemas would have been torched for a start, followed by mobs going on a rampage.

    2. Those teachers involved should be forced to house as many fighting age Muslim gimmegrants as possible.

  72. It has gone all cloudy and grey. If I didn't know better, I would expect some rain. None will arrive, of course.

    Gus sent most of the day lying as close to the AGA as possible, without actually opening an oven door! Pickles just slept in the sitting room until about 4, then sauntered about the garden, doing his rounds.

    Nice haircut today. Now it is time to think about wine o'clock.

    Have a jolly evening

    A demain.

    2. That's censorship. Where is ofcom and BBC bias? Oh, of course, it's choc full of ex BBC types.

      What next? Directing what stories it can report on? I'm sure that's the way the Left would prefer it.

  74. Firstborn is preparing supper – he's a damned good cook, never does a "boil in the bag" or "Oven-ready", always from scratch. Thus, eating at his place is always a good experience! I've been here to work on his smallholding – painting was today, so my hands are multi-coloured…
    SWMBO is at ours, and to my surprise, I really miss her tonight. She's only 90 minutes drive away, but still, out of sight and not within hugging range. I've not felt this way before, so rather struggling to deal with teh emotions. Red wine is helping!
    And it's only Monday… four more days of "vacation" left.

    2. Obviously it’s a case of absence makes the heart grow fonder rather than out of sight out of mind.

  75. Sigh.. swoon..
    President Donald Trump takes back control of US capital and declares DC Police under "direct federal control"

    Meanwhile Farage capitulates to Islam by fielding a muslim candidate for London Mayoral race.
    Head to head with Ant Middleton.

    1. Nigel has shown where his loyalties lie. It isn't with us kuffars. No wonder he was so vitriolic about Gerard Batten spilling the beans about Submission.

  76. Lots about causes of wildfires in France.
    I would include throwing a cigarette end from a car window as deliberate when compiling the statistics.

  77. Youngest granddaughter was 21 last week and she had her party on Saturday. Both sets of grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends. Her sister was unable to be there as she’s in Australia with her boyfriend for the next 9 months or so working to get enough money to visit Vietnam, Cambodia and other countries in that are. As she couldn’t be there daughter and sil had life size cardboard model of her made and she ‘appears’ in all the photos.
    We’re staying with daughter and sil for tye next 3 weeks until our home alterations are finished.

    We’ve been busy for the last 3 weeks keeping an eye on progress with the alterations to our kitchen and utility room. Cabinets being fitted with kitchen taking priority as the quartz worktops are being templated on Friday. Enlarged shower room has been created and will be priority for the next 3 weeks.

    Will comment once in a while.

  78. For those who have a belief that there is something beyond this life, have you ever thought that if you have lost a loved one, they are enduring the same grief that you are because they no longer have you?

    1. I believe in life after death and that is through our children and grandchildren ad infinitum.
      Being alive and having children and grandchildren means we have a direct line back to the beginning of the universe, according to Bill Bryson, and that seems reasonable to me.

      1. I'd love to discuss how things have developed since my Father died, and get his advice. Smart man, went from being the son of a mineworker in West Hartlepool to Professor, Head of Department (Chemistry) and Deputy Vice- Chancellor establishing a new University in Northern Nigeria, by way of setting up a department in Southern Nigeria. Not bad for a working-class mineworker's kid, eh?
        The nicest compliment my Mother paid me was, when I was being difficult some decades ago, was for her to say "You're just like your Father!" in relation to the move to Norway.

        1. I wonder if you know, in the recesses of your mind, what his advice would be. Sounds like a man who knew himself and didn’t care two hoots about any obstacles in his way (working-class mineworkers a good example of that). I was always ‘the awkward one’, too…my father especially thought so, I remember my mother always keeping her distance.

          1. It's the awkward ones who make things happen, make changes, make it better.
            I'm not surprised to read your post about being awkward… Excellent! Ref my post to Ericthebee below, have a massive hug!

    4. I was just wondering that in relation to a friend who killed herself in 1998, and whom I miss fiercely. I was wondering whether she would be missing her relations and friends still on Earth, and maybe looking forward to joining up again in the Afterlife.
      When I get there, I'll be giving her a blasting – the upset she caused to her friends here on Earth, by choosing self-deletion, certainly hurts with me even now… when I hear this piece, I think of her, and get quite emotional. Every time.
      Too much explanation.
      Just note that you aren't alone, however it might feel at the time. There's always someone out there who is on your side.
      https://youtu.be/7O049oi2Dxw?si=cxJo1A8v_CjpnshM

        1. I don't know where the association came from, but every time I hear this piece I think of Elaine who killed herself, and become very emotional. I am now… sigh.

          1. Chin up, Buddy – I'm sure, even in her torment, that she would have been delighted to know you cared so much…..

          2. I was one of many: husband, two lovely boys, many friends… She was a gorgeous Blonde from Liverpool, Husband a Sicilian filmstar look-alike, the kids were really good looking.
            Then one day, she was gone. Found out through the press, as I was back in Norway by then, and had lost contact.
            I thought she had everything one might want, but clearly not. Wish she had reached out, might have been able to help out with whatever was the problem (he writes in his male arrogance).
            That Vivaldi piece always breaks me up. Become tearful and (even more) incoherent.

          4. That's very kind of you, GGG. One does one's best, still learning all the time. I'll get it right one day.

        2. It's clearly a God-given gift to be able to compose and/or play music that affects people's emotions.
          I'm the group on the receiving end – the only instrument I can manage is the CD player.

      3. Thank you for this post, Paul. I’ve been quite down lately – no particular reason, other than unrelenting poor/bad news, worrying about family, and ageing myself, wondering if it’s worth the dime. Will keep your post, thanks again – Kate x

        1. It's worth much more than a dime, Kate. Ageing is something we can all look forward to, and isn't so bad – think of all that wisdom gathered… and who needs to be able to jump hurdles at speed, anyway? Likelwise, the friends gathered – close and remote, such as those of us here on NTTL (what a blessing this site is! – thanks again, Geoff). We're all getting older – me, my eyesight is getting even crapper, memory fading (effects of stroke 10 years ago), but I still seem to be able to help out.
          Call me if you're down. I speak some kind of English, men norsk går også helt greit!
          :-*)

          1. Norwegian is fine (thanks to Google translate), your English is very good, so either or. Most of the time, I’m doing better than OK, just not for the last couple of days. Sometimes, someone I know takes me by surprise, this case a family member…goes to show, never can tell 🎶 Have a lovely evening, and thanks again xx

          5. I'm the archetypal Yorkshireman – literally born on Ilkley Moor! Scots roots, Hartlepool Father, Leicester Mother. Grew up in Nigeria and in the UK midlands, almost no family, so I come from nowhere in particular. What a mess, eh?
            Still, the offers are open.
            I'll try to remember to delete the phone number tomorrow, in case of impersonation.
            Take care, lass.

        2. I just reviewed what I wrote a few minutes ago, below.
          If you feel that a face-to-face talk will help, you are more than welcome to come over here, or I'll fly to you, and we can talk.
          Don't be alone or lonely – you have far too much value for that!

      4. I do like a bit of Vivaldi myself, but back in the early 1970s Kid Jensen on Radio Luxembourg introduced me to a ‘prog rock’ group called Gracious! (Yes with the ! on the end). Some people said they were a cross between King Crimson and Wishbone Ash. They broke u before their second album hit the shops. Not all of it would be everyone’s cup on tea but on their first album there was a track entitled Fugue in D minor which features a harpsichord.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26A3jBNdi8s

    5. When our brains die, we stop being. We live on in the memory of those we leave behind.

      Although, having said that I believe it for humans as I don't think much of the human species but there's this giant green park full of trees, hedges, flower beds where Mongo plays with all the other dogs and when I go, I'll see him again.

      Beast the cat has a big comfy sofa, a log burning fire, a garden to play in and picks fights with all the other cats who lay about sleeping there, all governed by a giant black Jaguar who pads them home at night. I'll see her again as well.

  79. Home and fed!
    Dropped her off just before 14:00 and went to park up in the layby over the road by the entrance, did my self a mug of tea and got my head down in the back of the van. Had a decent hour's to be woken up by a phone call from the DT. "We're running an hour late."
    So had a VERY sweaty snooze for another hour before stretching my legs and getting my right knee in some sort of motion.
    And I saw a couple of apple trees with a VERY nice fruit on them, at least a couple of weeks before my own fruit.
    Then got called by one of the nurses to be told she'd be ready to pick up about 10 to 5. Tried to start the engine, battery flat from my keeping the radio on!
    Got someone to give me a jump start and went into one of the car parks, making sure I was pointing downhill.
    Went to the Endoscopy Department and was back at the van within ½h, so no parking fees.
    Bump started the engine and drove home with a pause in Cromford for a bit of shopping.
    Van started on the key and got home just the back of six.
    Van battery is now on charge and it's the MOT on Wednesday, so will be dropping it off tomorrow morning.

    I now need a cold bath as it was far too warm to be comfortable last night in bed, plus the DT was over my side of the bed with her elbow digging into my back!

      2. When I was little wolf cub and you were a brownie
        We always remembered our good turn each day
        First it was your turn and then it was my turn
        And life was so wonderful and carefree and gay
        Follow me, follow me
        Tonight is the night of the jamboree
        When I was little wolf cub and you were a brownie
        We learned all of the regulations of which there were lots
        We wandered into the clover and tried them all over
        And you did your Semaphore – while I did my knots
        Follow me, follow me
        How's about that for a change of key
        When I was little wolf cub and you were a brownie
        We did everything a wolf cub and brownie should do
        I wanted to be a boy scout so's I could salute you
        With three fingers vertical instead of just two
        Follow me, follow me
        We'll go to the grotto and get slightly blotto to hell with the motto
        Just follow me

    2. My father used to joke that being born in Bethnal Green made him a Cockney. Born within the sound of Bow Bells and all that. He fully understood that he wasn’t a Cockney because both of his parents were Russian Jews. Men, horses and stables. However, today…? What would he make of it all, I wonder?

      1. Fascinating history, Sue!
        I don't know that the parents birth had anything ro do with Cockney-ism…

          1. As a youngster (as in 19+ years old), lived with SWMBO on the Bow Bridge Estate, then in 1981 Millwall next to what was the the Millwall dock (now filled in, sadly) on the Isle of Dogs. A close neighbour was a Kray, who SWMBO got to know. Great place.

          3. No, a Brother. I didn't get the name, and SWMBO is away just now so I can't ask.
            It was to do with a group who played loud music in their flat all night. SWMBO couldn't sleep, but I can sleep anywhere, anytime. So, one evening she was wandering round the estate very late at night, was accosted by a bloke who turned out to have the surname Kray, who offered to take a shotgun to the stereo making the row… she declined, but I'd have loved to see the result!

          4. I've seen the film starring Tom Hardy (always a favourite) playing both twins. Shotgun to the stereo…perhaps Ronnie?

          5. Don't know. From SWMBO's description, a more remote relative. However, she refused the offer (sadly, would have made a really good story!)

        2. I always thought it was just being born within the sound of bow bells? And there always was a heavy Jewish influence, just think of of some of the entertainers who came out of that area – everyone from Bud Flanagan to Tony Newley.

          Of course these days, a totally different demographic has taken over.

      2. I once saw a Russian cartoon, Sue…it's not especially funny, but I find it so. Guy is sitting at an empty bar, just him and the barman. Guy is drunk as a skunk, glass (vodka?) in hand. Speech bubble above his head contains a drawing of a small gherkin. That's it….I'm here all week (and God willing, beyond)…..

        1. Have you been to Russia, Kate? If not, I recommend it.
          Had work inside the ex Soviet Union in 1991, including St Petersburg (material testing), and the place was fabulous! Just unSovietised but not capitalized, it was lovely – amazing architecture, wonderful people, I was blown away. The opposite to how the place was portrayed back then in the press.
          And I learned how ro drink Vodka… still love a few cold Stolly Red labels. Brings back all kinds of wonderful memories!

          1. No I haven't, but husband has been a few times (mostly Moscow) and very impressed. Everywhere very clean, everyone polite and eager to learn (software). He follows online a young Canadian family who wanted to farm but the cost was prohibitive Canada, so went to Russia instead and bought an old homestead there – they have settled, and doing very well. (I like vodka very much too, Paul x but then I also like Asahi beer, and I would also like to visit Japan mostly for the artwork, and landscapes.)

          4. One thing that none of the guides that I ever read told me, was that one of the greatest pleasures of walking around Tokyo is to go into the small parks by the side of the roads, particularly if there are temples there.
            One can move from traffic noise to absolute tranquillity.
            I don't know how they do it, but it's an unforgettable experience.

            Strange to think that most of those places either survived the 1945 firestorms or were built/renewed after them.

          7. Hadn’t heard of it, so looked it up (I quite like Vodka), notice they do a Lemon and also Raspberry variations (not so keen on those). Will deffo try it, seems reasonable price 🙂 thanks for h/t x

          10. My first foreign port was Murmansk, March 1972, aged 16. It was not at all welcoming. But I've been back several times, and generally liked the people and thought St. Petersburg first class. Vladivostock was great, as the local lads just drink themselves into a stupor, leaving a lot of very frustrated women around.

  81. As soon as these creatures surface they should be sacked.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14990779/Trans-Met-volunteer-officer-groomed-child-told-enjoyed-raped-court-hears.html

    A transgender Scotland Yard volunteer officer raped two young girls after grooming them online, a court heard.

    Gwyn Samuels, who was born a man named James Bubb, told one victim she ‘enjoyed being raped’ and forced her to perform a sex act in public which was interrupted by a dog walker, prosecutors said.

    The 27-year-old groomed both victims, one of whom was just 12, on internet ‘chat roulette’ site Omegle while posing as a 16-year-old, jurors heard.

    1. Being forced to perform a sex act in public and then interrupted by a dog walker sounds like a shaggy dog story.

      1. Or as Phizzee might say: a dogging shag story

        But the reality is that these cases are no laughing matter.

    2. In my (very) younger days, we had a sanitorium within a few miles, where such people were placed, and sedated – often for life. (Indeed, I knew a chap who was a nurse there, stole and took some of the medication, and ended up as an inmate.) Kindness really doesn't work in these circumstances. Probably a good job I'm not a judge, or a magistrate.

        1. No, Eddy – Yarkshire, I hail from there. My grandparents were originally from Brittany, and my DNA test showed me I think around half. And also some Russian/Asian. Mongrel, obvs…

          9. That's a scary thought… Going to bed shortly (I do everything shortly, only being 5'7"), but writing seriously for a moment: Call if you feel the need, OK? Promise?

          10. No worries (I’m 5’1″ wet thru)…..yes of course, feeling better now…and thanks again for your efforts to cheer me, you did xx sleep well, see you tmrw? xxx

          11. I'll delete the phone number below, then. In 10 minutes. Make a note, just in case…

          15. Eee lad th’art a mistry. (I don’t know what ‘ A ooptup thoop’ means.) Gordon Buckman, a Speccie mate, lives Scarbro’ I think. Lovely man. Anyhoo…I love England, and the English, these times grieve me.

    1. Hell, I'll pay for the magazine, the wall he's stood against and I'll clean the blood off, take the wall down and sell the bricks for momentos.

    3. Something about this case has a very nasty taste/smell.

      I would be very wary of speculating

          4. Sue – I'd like to contact you direct with a question about Greece.
            Do you have an e-mail address that you are willing to tell me?

          5. Of course! It’s
            Let me know when you’ve seen it and I’ll put it in the ‘fridge and eat the bit of paper!

          9. Got it! And it didn’t! You struck doubly lucky! Brother-in-law, Vaggelis is a fanatical gardener, and my sister was a pharmacist! What are the chances?

    4. “The community in Leysdown has been shocked by the incident”

      But no mention of “community leaders”, which itself is a clue

  88. Bob and Obs beat me to it.
    I've just been watching a programme about the history of Europe by Simon Sebag Montifeori.
    The word muslim came up a few times.
    And they are still at it……
    Good night all Nottlers sleep well. 😴

  92. Thousands 'disappearing' proves we just don't know who is in Britain

    These statistical black holes have real consequences

    Michael Simmons
    6th August 2025, 6:08pm BST

    Thousands of migrants who came here legally on work or student visas overstay and purposefully slip into illegality. The state's ability to track them seems non-existent. They could be anywhere, doing anything – and Whitehall wouldn't know.

    Just a month ago, the Commons' Public Accounts Committee found the Home Office had accidentally opened Britain's doors to record levels of migration. Officials "made changes to the Skilled Worker visa route without a full assessment of the risks or potential impacts, including the risks of non-compliance with visa rules and exploitation of migrant workers."

    Those "risks of non-compliance" are no longer hypothetical – they are happening. The Committee's report urged civil servants to do more to monitor compliance when visas expire.

    Shocking as this is, it's hardly surprising. The British state has only the vaguest idea of how many people live in the UK – legally or otherwise. The evidence is everywhere. There are 63.8 million patients registered with GP practices in England, but according to the ONS the entire population is 58.6 million. During Covid, some local health areas even managed the mathematically miraculous feat of vaccinating more than 100 per cent of their population.

    We saw the same blind spot during Brexit: the campaign group "the3million" was so named because it was thought there were three million EU citizens in Britain. The real number? Closer to six million.

    Migration statistics are in constant flux, and they are never revised down. The net migration figures released at the end of last year would have matched the record had the same dataset not quietly revised up 2023's figure – at the height of the Boriswave – by 166,000 to 906,000. When it comes to knowing who is entering the country, the government is just guessing and it's guessing badly.

    These statistical black holes have real consequences. Last year's revisions to the nation's headcount meant GDP per capita in the second quarter may have fallen by twice the officially reported rate. The domino effect is obvious: find a few hundred thousand extra people down the back of the sofa and the entire economic story of the country – past and future – changes overnight.

    Whilst the government is not responsible for every statistic, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) should set the standard. Instead, not a week seems to go by without the ONS's Wales-based staff issuing an apology for a data error or the UK Statistics Authority stripping another ONS publication of its "official statistics" status.

    In 2014, the ONS admitted it had undercounted European migrants arriving in Britain by hundreds of thousands, partly because passenger survey staff had not been posted to airports like Luton. MPs Keith Vaz and Mark Reckless were ridiculed at the time for turning up at Luton on New Year's Day to count arrivals themselves – a stunt, but arguably more proactive than the nation's official head-counters.

    And things only seem to have got worse. It's not just population figures: in June, the ONS reported that inflation had fallen the previous month when it had in fact been flat. Their no revisions policy meant they stuck to a month-on-month comparison figure they already knew was wrong, thanks to a government department supplying faulty data. It is not just that they make mistakes, their policies can lock them into defending the indefensible.

    The Government has recognised the scale of the problem. Increased scrutiny coincided with the resignation of Sir Ian Diamond, the national statistician and head of the ONS, citing health issues. Since then, a review has recommended splitting the roles of national statistician and permanent secretary. This week, Keir Starmer approved the appointment of Darren Tierney from the Cabinet Office as the ONS's new permanent secretary.

    Yet despite advertising the national statistician role externally, many question the wisdom of filling the perm sec post from an internal pool and appointing someone with no statistical background to lead an organisation whose failures are overwhelmingly statistical. Might a private sector bean counter do a better job?

    This is not just about missing migrants – it's about a state that cannot reliably measure, monitor or manage one of the most basic facts it should know: who is in the country, and in what numbers. Without that, immigration policy is guesswork, economic planning is fiction, and public trust collapses. This isn't just carelessness, it's an acceptance that all too often Britain is flying blind.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/06/thousands-disappearing-who-is-in-britain

    2. Government presents…

      Create a problem – allow hundreds of thousands of foreigners into Britain and don't track them
      Tada! produce a 'solution' – digital ids.

      With thanks to the loyal Daily Telegraph for playing along and nudging the public.

  94. Well, chums, I'm off to bed now. Good Night all, sleep well, and see you all early tomorrow morning.

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