Thursday 14 August: The police must lead the charge against the scourge of shoplifting

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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629 thoughts on “Thursday 14 August: The police must lead the charge against the scourge of shoplifting”

        1. Well…..I guy was walking along the shore line of a lovely beach. In the distance he thought he could see someone sitting on a rock.
          As he came closer he was in amazement to see it was a beautiful mermaid . He said hello and she acknowledged him. She had lovely long blond hair and large blue eyes.
          He commented on theses and she acknowledged his attention. After chatting for a while she shook her head only to reveal her naked breast.
          The guy asked her if she had every been kissed on her wonder lips.
          She replied no I don’t think I have. And he kissed her which they both enjoyed. He couldn’t resist and asked if anyone had fondled her beautiful breasts. She replied I don’t think that’s ever happened. So he took advantage of the invitation….
          After another half an hour he said to her quietly may I ask have you ever been eff u c kayed ? Errm No she said I don’t believe I have…….
          Well he said looking away…… you have now…..the tides gone out.
          I’ll get me trunks……🤭😉

      1. They have some good material. Make them subscription, and remove licence fee support.

        1. I gave up the 'pleasure' of livestream broadcasts a few years ago, rather than pay the bBC tv tax. If all the luvvies, the Leftwaffe, and the lanyard-wearing cabals actually support the bBC as fervently as they claim, the good ship bBC could sail on through subscription. Though I suppose the welfare class and the inhabitants of Whitehall/Westminster will continue to claim through expenses.

      2. Or even the Fur left…..
        It Furking well is.
        Pay to view would see it go into rapid decline.

    2. Why does Redwood fail to understand that the BBC does this on purpose and not by accident or error.

    3. Why do..?

      Because wet Tories allowed this to happened and ushered in, in some cases, all this identity poliktic nonsense.

  7. Good morning all.
    A rather warm start with a tad over 19°C outside and it appears to be clouding over, but another dry day forecast.

      1. Morning JN. I can well imagine.
        Getting my head down in the van on Monday whilst the DT was getting her colon photographed was like being in a sauna.

        1. That description brings all kinds of images to the mind's eye, none of them attractive…

          1. She was in the endoscopy department having it done, I was in the layby over the road from the entrance filling in what turned out to be a 3h wait.

  8. Good morning all, including Geoff. Only just made Wordle today (a Double Bogey).

    Wordle 1,517 6/6

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    🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      Yes, not an easy one today!
      Wordle 1,517 5/6

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  9. The police must lead the charge against the scourge of shoplifting

    So it looks like shoplifting is deliberately being allowed, just like the so called people smuggling, all with ulterior sinister motives, I assume, so that we will allow more sinister surveillance and control over everything we do in the future.

    1. Or, to open for a "crackdown" on lawlessness, leading to much restricted freedom, stop 'n search, and surveillance, as you suggest, Bob.

    2. I went to Tesco at Hatfield yesterday only to get a new photo for my driving licence renewal. I had a look around the massive store. But had a job to get out because I hadn't actually bought anything. But parking was free.
      And in the mid 1980s I was involved in building the roof and dormer windows along one side of the building.

  10. Good Morning!

    Today Sudo Nonym has an amusing tale, Lord Farscape – Illegal Alien with a Business Plan that serves very well to illustrate the utter lunacy of those that run our planet.

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's electric power was sourced from Gas, 39.7%; Solar, 8.6%: Wind 12.9%; Imports, 16.5%; Biomass, 9.4%; Nuclear 9.9% and Miscellaneous, 2.9%.

    Some of you have expressed interest in forming regional groups where you can meet in person from time to time. Anyone who would like to create or join such a group should email us, and we'll put you in touch. Freespeechbacklash@gmail.com – Groups.

    And finally, the overall feeling in our poll about the animated article pictures was slightly negative, so we'll only use them when we think they add value (and because Alpha India likes the challenge of creating them).

    1. Might there be any takers for an "abroad" grouping, Tom? Not so easy to meet up F2F, admittedly, but who knows, the allure of the Sandvika Sportsbar here outside Oslo might be enough to drag a few together! Obviously, a bit of a trek for Ashesthandust, but who knows…?

      1. Well, we have a few waifs and strays, but mostly a fair bit south of Oslo, but I’ll put to them.

  12. SIR – Philip Johnston (Comment, August 13) writes that in London, at least we don’t have to put troops on to the street to deal with crime. If we had to, where would we get them from?

    Alan Orton
    Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.

    The EU of course. It is only a matter of time before foreign military are patrolling our streets.

      1. One of my sons was homeless for a night recently. So he spent it in the waiting room of a large town station which was open all night. The security guard was nice to him and gave him some coffee and they got chatting. Turns out the guard came to Britain from Pakistan in the 90s. Trained as a gas fitter and started his own business. In due course, when his children grew up, his sons joined the company. He was doing the security guard job as a second job – he spent a lot of time asleep. He was very integrated and appreciated the opportunities that Britain had given him.

          1. Second generation migrants notoriously turn against the country to which their parents moved….

          1. I do believe that there are many who are bound by invisible chains to islam, but just want a quiet, prosperous life. The big question is whose side they would come down on when the firebrands want a caliphate in Britain…not many would have the courage to oppose it, I am guessing. Then on the other hand, the split would be far left white people + power-hungry bearded muslims versus Everyone Else (white, black, brown and any other colour of the rainbow). So who knows…

    2. It's obvious this is happening otherwise there would be warehouses and warehouses full of the boats now.

  15. SIR – Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, claims that the photographs of starving children in Gaza are fake (report, August 11).

    There is only one way he can prove his assertion, and that is by allowing the press free access into Gaza.

    Anthony Haslam
    Farnham, Surrey

    The Press will only be allowed to film what Hamas wants them to see. So pointless really.

    1. Israel, not Hamas, controls the borders and stops foreign reporters rather more effectively than the British patrol their borders (except of course when it comes to aggressive paramilitaries raiding political opponents of the Coalition within Israel). Bowen has been trying to get into Gaza for years, in order to report what is really going on, rather than what the combatants are prepared to let him know.

        1. Give the man credit for trying to do his job. Are the Israelis refusing entry into Gaza of foreign journalists or not?

          1. I would be more impressed if the BBC actually did its job at any time rather than pumping out propaganda that reinforces their world view.

          2. I cannot give credit to a man who has consistently fed us the anti -Israel propaganda. He makes no apology for it, and makes no effort to be objective. He learned from his mate John Simpson.

          3. Bowen suffers from survivors guilt. He and his driver ignored safety advice from the IDF, shortly before their vehicle came under fire. Killing the driver and injuring Bowen. He cannot be unbiased in his opinion.

          4. It is the job or the murderer to hide the body, and the job of the detective to find it.

            Regardless whether Bowen and Simpson are as objective as they claim to be, they might actually be right.

        2. The way I see most reporters is, once they have made certain statements, they are committed to trying to prove their points whether accurate or not.
          There has been many examples of fakery from Hamas over the years. They even stored their weapons in hospitals and other public buildings and launched missiles from schools.

      2. I very much doubt his Press Pass would save him from those animals. A high value white Christian as a hostage.

        Remember Terry Waite.

        1. Spare a thought then for those Christians, whose ancestors have been there since the time of Christ, caught up in the crossfire between Hamas and the IDF.

        1. Then for goodness sake get some photographers in who are not directed by Hamas or the IDF for that matter!

          The Damian Day approach to news reporting may be dramatic and good TV, but the truth is more convincing. If BILD insists that the reports from Gaza are a fabrication, why cannot they send in their own reporters and let us all know what is really going on? Or are they covering up the truth in false suggestions of “antisemitic propaganda”?

      1. Agreed.
        And They won't be happy until Israel has been wiped out. Islam is predominantly evil in its intentions.
        Remember that it took the Spanish people more than 300 years to get them out. And they are sneaking back again already.

      2. And attack Israel, knowing that the Israelis don't have the imagination to do anything else but blow up Gazan civilians in response. Then round that merry-go-round again. And again.
        What happened to the explosive mobile phones? At least that was an alternative, targetted at Hamas-ites rather than just any poor bugger who lives in Gaza.

        1. Trouble is hamas use their people as human sheilds. Perhaps they should go for peace.

          1. It's a mindset I can't understand. When they have some form of peace, they kick off all over again, using the innocents as sacrifices for their prophet. Then, after a period, it all quietens down, and after a while, they kick it all off again.
            I recall a meme entitled "The last surviving Muslim" – a guy with a sabre in one hand fighting with a sabre clenched between his toes.
            Sums it up, really.

      1. If they fight over food, there is probably still trama from years or generations of famine. I assume that is why in parts of China they eat things that nobody else on the planet wants to eat.

  17. Piece this morning about the conference addressing plastic pollution stalling because of opposition from global big business.

    Quite apart from the quite gruesome images coming out from recent wildlife documentaries on ocean life, I am constantly coming across little green shards of polypropylene from disintegrating garden waste sacks that are ubiquitous, very convenient and a great deal cheaper and more available than the canvas alternatives.

    We know all about fish swallowing bits of plastic that end up in food chain – every portion of fish & chips now has a quantity of plastic that we are ingesting, and creating a cancer risk. What bothers me is the effect of those little bits of green plastic on earthworms, and have noticed a deterioration in soil quality as material does not seem to be breaking down as readily as it used to, and watering seems to have less benefit. I have also noticed a reduction in the quantity of creatures that eat earthworms, from blackbirds to toads.

    I cannot get much sensible information from the internet these days, whose algorithms are increasingly geared to targeted advertising and I have to scroll down many times until I lose the will to live past the sales items, mostly for the woven green plastic sacks, which are these days about two or three to a screen, rather than a text list I can quickly get past. The RHS and such like does not have a public forum, and are primarily interested in generating sales and donations.

    I know the grumpies on this forum are supporters of the various upsprung parties that loathe environmentalists, but I would welcome constructive information from someone not totally enamoured with global big business and "growth".

      2. Problem is, it's very versatile and useful, and really cheap to manufacture. What's not to like? The longevity can be a problem, of course, when thrown into the hedgerows.

        1. WE recycle all we can, the bin is always full for collection. ( mostly wine bottles)

    2. If the plastic is disintegrating then presumably in another few years it will have biodegraded and will therefore not be a problem.

      1. In the meantime, it is still a problem. Breaking into smaller pieces does not make it go away, just more easily ingested by all sorts of creatures, including ourselves. Does it pass through the gut, or does it release small quantities of toxin, which builds up over time?

        Nature might eventually come up with a solution, such as a species of slug or a bacteria that thrives on plastic and breaks it down into benevolent nutrients for others. Evolution takes a while though, so it may not be in my lifetime.

        In the 1980s, I read a report once that foam plastic packing nuggets, attracted plant roots even better than vermiculite. Trees loved them, since if was easier for their roots to push through the soil and anchor themselves. Was it a poisoned chalice though, and that they would then be poisoned or would it kill off the earthworms denying the trees the breakdown of leaves and twigs into nutrients required for long-term health? I haven’t done the science on this myself, but there must be a university somewhere with the curiosity and the funding to find out.

    3. You have us wrong Jeremy it's not enviromentalists we loath I suspect you would be amazed at the support for cleaning up our planet
      It's the Climate Con Net Zero grifters we loath and despise the ones happy to pollute our world with unrecycleable Wind Turbines and Solar Farms and class Biomass deforestation as "Green"

    4. All well and good if it works.
      But I'll bet that the vast majority of British people will have plastic chopping boards in their kitchens and are therfore consuming very small amounts of plastic everyday. I've have made my own wooden board. To avoid as much plastic as possible. I'm sure my stomach will cope with tiny particles of vegetable matter like natural timber.
      But of course eventually something else will get me…….

        1. I never wash mine – just brush it off and give it a wipe. But I don't use it for meat or fish.

          1. There can be dangerous bacteria in soil. Small amounts on potatoes and onions. Best to wash those first.

            I use a layer of fine salt on my board to keep the germs down.

          2. I seldom use it for unwashed potatoes. Onions I generally skin before cutting them.

            Do you use the salt to scrub it off?

          3. Yes like a dry rub. You can give it a quick rinse and dry after.

            Not every time but it was what i was taught. Cracks in a wooden chopping board are also a massive no no.

          4. No cracks in mine and it’s been in daily use for nearly 40 years. I used to moan when my ex bought me household items for my birthday or Christmas but that was one of the good ones.

          5. I was also taught to peel fruit and veg onto paper/newspaper. Then wash them. Then they go to the chopping board. To minimise cross contamination.

          2. I don’t, 🤗 just soapy washing up water.
            Something that water can’t manage on plastic.

      2. I have a wooden chopping board I use every day. But I don't use it when chopping meat or skinning fish. I have a couple of easily wiped melamine surface ones for those jobs.
        I trust my gastric juices to take care of most things.

        1. We have two end-grain wooden boards from IKEA about 20 years ago, and a slice of polyethylene board for use with meat/fish. Works well, and the end-grain helps preserve the edge on the knives.

  18. LOL of the week goes to Dame Diana Johnson.

    Labour’s answer to surging shoplifting is to tell shopkeepers not to stock anything worth stealing.
    Shopkeepers should not place “high value” items close to store entrances because “obviously people will nick”,
    Obviously.

    1. I am sure shopkeepers will be very grateful to Dame Diana Johnson for her invaluable expert advice…

    2. Maybe if all women wore a burka then there would be less chance of them being attacked by rapists

      1. Part of the future plan Bob.
        How are all these new facial recognition cameras going to make positive recognitions with the burka face dodgers ?

    3. In the 60s it was fashionable to deride Thou Shalt Not. So negative. So oppressive. Crushes the creative spirit. Yeah, right. We’ve become a morally bankrupt society.

      Good morning!

    4. Jeeeeze….how stoopid is that ?
      You could not possibly make it up could you, or could anyone out there with common sense.

      We have all seen clips of 'nickers' stealing bottles of booze and different types of food.

    5. But Dame Diana did her bit.
      She reported the scum bag to a minimum wage assistant. And then bu88ered off blanketed in her glow of virtue signalling. Leaving the shop assistant to be stabbed, beaten to a pulp or arrested by plod for causing the tea leaf mental health issues.

  19. Good morning Nottlers, 17°C, light wind, cloudy and close on the Costa Clyde this morning.

  20. 411219+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,
    The police in this instance are filling their commitment to the governing cartel to the letter, then some.

    We must be shot of the top rankers, and the police body must be seriously checked out.

    In ALL departments we are getting what we truly deserve after years of what now shows up as decades of repeated criminal, X of treachery, via the polling station actions.

    Thursday 14 August: The police must lead the charge against the scourge of shoplifting.

    As for charging / diversity there lies an oil / water mix.

    We have witnessed the police in reverse charging mode.

  21. Morning All 🙂😊
    Lovely sunny start some rain yesterday not for long. 18 now 25 max. Breezy, nice.
    The police don't want to tackle crime by putting too much effort into it because they may be considered racist. But let's face it, when two stupid government's allow thousands of drifting invaders to arrive without any consideration of who or what they are, what else can be expected. Yesterday someone on tv was trying to justify the amount of rubbish that they have let in and even tried to blame the massive rise in crime on the indigenous British public for seemingly not being more attentive to what might happen.

  22. 411219+ up ticks,

    As soon as the first pro muslim words left the resident in place royals lips,should have triggered ROYAL REPLACEMENT at the mass subjects request.

    Fast track, Tommy Robinson, Princess ANNE to the throne would have proved to be a very
    Country/ peoples stabilising action

    Princess Anne at 75: The best queen we’ll never have
    Ahead of her birthday, we chart the Princess Royal’s journey from the ‘sparest of spares’ to an indispensable figure.

    1. I sincerely hope not.. not for at least for three & bit years.
      That deputy PM & her husband are the real-deal-Red Ken/ Pol Pot/ Stalin/ Jiang Qing & Mao rolled into one.

      1. 411219+ up ticks,

        Morning Bob,

        Adhering to the same voting pattern you will be correct.

        Radical change, if to late or not, is needed.

        Thereby warding off being taken as complete fools.

    3. Starmer == Biden
      Farage == Trump / Vance

      Same playbook – utter moronic incompetent followed by The People electing a technocratic dictator to "solve" problems created by the moron, followed by "We can't trust democracy and the Right always go to fascism" followed by global marxism.

  24. I never cease to be amazed at the skills exhibited by many (not all) workmen. Clearly, time-served, this man.
    We have a Polish carpenter refitting our stairs from the basement floor to the top floor. The joints are utterly seamless, you can only tell they are there as the colour of the wood (the "nose" of the steps is moulded) is slightly different, with the nose being paler than the rest of the step – reduced the ease that old eyes will have in missing the edge of the step.
    You cannot feel the joint. Superb piece of work! And so it should be, at £60/hour… but every time I look at those joints, I'll be thinking "That's a lovely job!" and be happy about it. So, it's worth it. The old steps were carpetted, and since that was there long before we moved in, the carpet was getting a bit threadbare.
    (an aside, my Parents never changed the stairs carpet from when they bought the house in 1976 to when we sold it for Mother just a few years ago. Very 1970s…

    2. Unfortunately Blair preferred the phasing out of City & Guilds Qualifications & apprenticeships in UK.
      So much easier online..

      Online Plumbing Course | CPD Accredited at £29 only
      http://oneeducation.org.uk
      https://www.oneeducation.org.uk › Courses
      Learn essential plumbing skills online with our flexible, self-paced course. Covers plumbing systems, heating, drainage,

      1. Firstborn defied the trend of getting a Bachelors and Masters degree, and instead went for an apprenticeship. Not because he can't do the brainwork, he's more than well equipped that way, but because he likes to DO things. Now, he's owned his own place for ten years, has about 400 acreas of land (at approx 45 degrees to the horizontal, laid mainly to forest) and is Subject Matter Expert in his company. Very good he is, too.
        Practical skills always needed to put the brainboxes ideas into action, with many improvements on the way.
        (as an aside: I have enough degrees for anyone – 4 – and am not so smart with my hands. Thank God for timeserved folk!)

        1. Afternnon, Paul.

          Apprenticeships were de rigueur in the 1960s; they were the way to learn and get on in life. I am a time-served plater (fabrication and welding engineering technician) between 1967–1972.

          Trouble is, even then the number of apprenticeships being offered was going down; something to do with the governments of the era cutting down on payments to companies operating them.

          1. Also the Unions, led by the NUM, began claiming that apprentices were being used as "cheap labour" and campaigned for them to be paid a more "realistic" wage which private industry was unable to afford.

      2. City & Guilds was phased out because the Institute was unwilling to water down it's qualification, hence the introduction of NVQs and GNVQs.

    1. Crikey!
      Didn't catch what clipboardman was trying to achieve, before the camerawoman kicked off and started screeching… any ideas?

      2. 411219+ up ticks,

        Morning O,
        Not really, but I recognise the ladies screech and back it to the hilt, it comes just prior to pulling back the string on a long bow to its full extent.

      1. That article is illustrated with what looks like two publicity pictures that appear to show a young man handling Bovaer with his bare hands. Yet the safety sheet says, should be handled with gloves as may damage male fertility. Nudge, nudge, the photo says do otherwise.

        1. Better line one's gullet and gut with rubber, then. Unless cooking it turns it into water.

    3. Why isn't this happening in Britain too?
      Though I do wonder how many farmers are actually giving this stuff to the cows. Meanwhile, I stick with goats' milk products or organic cows milk as it can't be fed to outdoor reared cows. I emailed St Helens goat farm and they said they don't give it.

      1. 411219 + up ticks,

        Morning BB2
        We still have it delivered and have checked
        the farms stance on it as in no additives, if short we purchase Grahams.

      2. It's a lovely pastoral scene around Firstborn's place. The field by the house is rented to neighbouring farmer, who has this season's heifers on it (beautiful brown & while animals, all young and lithe), and sheep. Both penned in with GPS collars – neat! They beep at an increasing pitch as the animal gets close to the (invisible) line, then shock the poor animal if it starts to cross. They quickly learn!
        Just pure grass for these lot. And plenty fertiliser left in recompense!

    2. The govt is 'the gangs'. That is why they are never 'smashed'. (An aside and also an irrelevance, but: how I detest that term. It is so irritating.)

      1. 'morning 'mum…complicit or turn a blind eye, same result…question never addressed let alone answered is 'why?' Hope everyone saw Philp's video at the migrant camp in France, threatened with a machete by one of the inhabitants.

  31. Norm
    7h
    Allister Heath in his weekly rage in the DT focuses on shoplifting this time. What even he doesn't quite mention is the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 which gave carte blanche for the police to not bother if the amount nicked was less than £200 was introduced by the terminally useless Theresa May as Home Secretary. Yes it was the coalition government but no attempt (as usual) was made to amend it in the 9 Tory years that followed.

    1. Oh, man.
      RiP, Jill.
      That news takes the shine off the day, to be sure. Thanks for passing it on, Caroline.

    2. Sorry to hear that, Caroline. Thanks for the information. Is Jack the Lad still alive?

      1. Jack the Lad is very much alive and recently began posting here again – mostly in the evenings because he's in the USA and several hours behind the UK. He's got a lot to say.

          2. Let's hope that helps reduce his feeling of loss.
            Hell, it's bad enough here, and I only ever knew her slightly online.

    1. Not that I'm expecting that to happen, but….. I've already got the right sort of equipment along side the front door just incase.
      Just an innocent walking stick and a very large golf umbrella.

        1. My gunsafe is just down the corridor. By the time you break my heavy door in, the retaliation will hurt!

      2. I keep a crowbar and a pair of loppers by my door – for use in the garden as it happens, but you never know ..

  37. Salve Grumio ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ
    10h
    Laws for thee and not for me.
    Two Tier fishing.

    Ian Gillman
    11h
    Did Lamy ever pay that Italian Taxi driver his dues ?

    2. I saw the photo of them both 'fishing' the other day. No reels on the rods, but in theory could have been using poles with the line tied to the rod tip. No American angler, or at least not post Tom Sawyer, would fish like that. Probably more embarrassing to admit it was just a setup photograph than to be caught without a licence.

      1. Yeah…I noticed that and didn't know what to make of it. Electrode fishing? Not very sporting!

          1. I would be very surprised if Lammy is a fisherman!
            This whole 'holiday' by the Vances seems to be about a series of meetings with UK politicians. Is Vance giving them their orders by any chance?

        1. Er … you don’t like being called ‘Billy’.

          Something to do with Harry Paget Flashman at Rugby school?

  39. South Sudan’s cabinet has agreed to receive Palestinians from the Gaza Strip following a request from Israel, The Telegraph has learnt.

    A foreign ministry official in Juba said the government had approved the request as part of a deal which also involved the US and United Arab Emirates.

    The move comes as Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is attempting to revive the controversial idea of “voluntary” resettlement of civilians from the enclave.

    On Wednesday, South Sudan described claims of a deal as “baseless” and not reflective of official government policy.

    However, it has been claimed that the government has in fact agreed to work with Israel, raising the potential of a serious row from countries who oppose any suggestion of resettlement of Gazans.

    The UAE would provide accompanying funding, which would be an economic lifeline for one of the poorest countries on Earth, the foreign ministry official said.

    Meanwhile, America would lift sanctions on South Sudan, and Israel would invest in health and education.

    “The South Sudanese land is enough to host more people from different nations, and also it’s good for the South Sudanese to open wide the window for external business to grow the economy,” the official said.

    He added that the deal had been agreed by the cabinet but faced stiff opposition elsewhere, meaning the government was unwilling to acknowledge it.

    “This kind of deal is not easy for South Sudanese to understand right now and also we have a very complex political situation in South Sudan,” he said.

    On Tuesday evening, South Sudanese politicians voiced their unease over the plan.

    One MP told The Telegraph that the matter had been discussed in Parliament but rejected by a majority of parliamentarians.

    He said: “I myself reject it because South Sudan is a very young country. We are not able to feed ourselves, how can we get more people to live with us?

    “In the next meeting we are going to reject it again from the Parliament. This idea is unacceptable to us.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/08/13/israel-wants-to-send-gazans-to-south-sudan/

    David Hammond
    6 min ago
    Surely the poor S Sudanese have enough problens without that extra and highly risky burden. Why not give Gaza to Egypt and then with no border the Palestinians can expand into northern Sinai. Plenty of room there.

    Oh sorry, I forgot – the Egyptians dont want to help the Palestinians. Silly me.

    Me talking now ..

    The Southern Sudanese are tall elegant very black people, cattle herders , Dinka tribesmen..

    Muslims have caused so much trouble in the Sudan , they have invaded , murdered and caused havoc whereever they go .. and remember the Mahdi?

    The Southern Sudanese were regarded as beautiful people ..

    When I was a teenager my father ( when parents lived in the Sudan, Khartoum ) flew me on a day trip to Juba , Malakal . etc in an old army Auster spotter plane ..

    Why on earth should Muslims go to Southern Sudan , ethnic cleansing .. and have they never ever heard of the Sud.. floating reed beds which aren't sustainable except to wandering tribesmen ..

    Has my memory failed me and have I got this wrong?

    Please read this .. https://www.britannica.com/place/South-Sudan

      1. They are incredibly beautiful. I remember seeing a group of them at a railway station in France, you just want to stare at them (constrained by politeness obv).

    3. Some years ago, had work vising South Sudan 10+ years ago. Great place, good people, and yes, the Dinka are really something.

    4. "We are not able to feed ourselves, how can we get more people to live with us?"

      Same in Britain!

  40. OT – phew. A Level results day…….beloved Grand-daughter just phoned to say she managed three A Star subjects. I said, "That all?"…

    Basking in reflected pride.

    3. Many congratulations to her.
      We're mid season with ours, but it started well with an extremely high score driving test pass.

      1. Having been offered a place at Worcester, Oxford – she decided to ask to defer for a year. Oxford don't like that – but they are obviously so keen to have her that they readily agreed. She has received an e-mail congratulating her and saying they are looking forward to seeing her in 2026.

        1. If she's going travelling in her gap year, we could offer a bed for some nights. Just as long as you vouch for her being house-trained…

          1. Thanks, Paul. Her plan is to be employed for most of the year and travel for two months at the end.

        2. I hope she enjoys the year and makes the most of the opportunity.

          I hadn’t realised that she’s from an ethnic minority getting special treatment.

          }:-O

          1. Because she is an accomplished painter, I have suggested that she applies to Christie's for a six month internship. With pay – £13.85 an hour….!

  43. I have been away. There's fg smoked tofu in the fridge and no cheese!
    Eat my cheese and replace it with smoked tofu…………!

    1. What kind of person eats tofu? or does anything else with it, such as model igloos?

  44. 50 years ago today – the great Hampstead storm. Official recordings show that 170.8mm (6.72in) of precipitation fell over a 24-hour period, the largest daily total recorded in the London area. Almost all of it fell in a downpour of rain and hail from 5.30pm to 8.00pm. Some estimates suggest that eight inches might have fallen in Hampstead.

    Here in Northants, we haven't had six inches of rain in the last six months.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0ada480f17efaad5753f4556f386699efd31a3bd03819f7af0c4a75eb434bde4.png
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/14/weatherwatch-1975-hampstead-storm-record-rain-north-london

    2. I remember driving north, home from work in London that day and I had my drivers window open. I was held up alongside a keep left island and a crazy speeding van drive overtook on the wrong side of the road splashing a lot of water through my open window. I was soaked.
      He was held up at the next traffic lights I was two behind. I got out, grab his keys from the ignition and chucked them away and drove off 🤗😆😁😂

  45. 50 years ago today – the great Hampstead storm. Official recordings show that 170.8mm (6.72in) of precipitation fell over a 24-hour period, the largest daily total recorded in the London area. Almost all of it fell in a downpour of rain and hail from 5.30pm to 8.00pm. Some estimates suggest that eight inches might have fallen in Hampstead.

    Here in Northants, we haven't had six inches of rain in the last six months.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0ada480f17efaad5753f4556f386699efd31a3bd03819f7af0c4a75eb434bde4.png
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/14/weatherwatch-1975-hampstead-storm-record-rain-north-london

  46. 50 years ago today – the great Hampstead storm. Official recordings show that 170.8mm (6.72in) of precipitation fell over a 24-hour period, the largest daily total recorded in the London area. Almost all of it fell in a downpour of rain and hail from 5.30pm to 8.00pm. Some estimates suggest that eight inches might have fallen in Hampstead.

    Here in Northants, we haven't had six inches of rain in the last six months.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0ada480f17efaad5753f4556f386699efd31a3bd03819f7af0c4a75eb434bde4.png
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/14/weatherwatch-1975-hampstead-storm-record-rain-north-london

  47. Beebsplaining
    2h
    Who says labour don't facilitate growth🤔
    👆Dhingy miasma up
    👆unemployment up
    👆closed businesses up
    👆exodus of talent and money up
    👆non working households up
    👆benefit claims up
    👆taxes up
    👆state borrowing up
    👆interest only payments on state borrowing up
    👆Numbers in the public sector up

    I wonder on what sunlit upland it will end🤔 https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e63e4a928c7e69bab4995782137dc37ad2ab5fb5470cd63c1d2499fa1dd1dc18.png

      2. It's worse than that…

        From Alasdair Macleod:
        "According to its government, the UK economy grew 0.3% in Q2.
        Correction: this growth is entirely due to government spending. The private sector is in a developing slump."

          1. They are printing it, Eddy! As well as stealing citizens’ hard-earned cash.
            My son says he is always being begged to take out more loans (= banks magicking money into existence of course).

    3. Depends on how you define bankruptcy. Did we default in our debts? No. Did we devalue our currency? Yes, but that applies to every nation on Earth, if we're going to be fussy.

      1. Ther is no provision in the Bankruptcy Code whereby a country can 'Go Bankrupt'. But there are lots of different ways a country can fail to meet its obligations.

  48. TV Debate ongoing about restricting and rationing the use of water. Not one mention of the facts that Include the hundreds of thousands of recently arrived people who are living here for free everything. Including water usage.

      1. Funny how xenophobia has become more prominent over the past 15 years. It must have been something we've all said. 🤗😉

        1. As a resident and native of the second city, it's reassuring to know that my council tax is being well-spent.

  50. I've got the Van back. Straight through with 5 advisories and the DPF warnings sorted, £50.

  54. Morning, all. Just popping in for a dose of Nttl before I head off to the photo shoot. The laptop seems to have recovered, but my phone has lost all the emails. That's unfortunate as I have an e-ticket by mail for an event I'm going to on Saturday. I've had to take a photo with the phone of the email showing the ticket which is still there on the laptop. Why is life so complicated? I must have been on automatic pilot when I arrived yesterday. I put the gas on, but when I came to make my morning cuppa – no gas. I went to turn it off again and realised that I'd turned on the spare bottle because that's the one I always used before it ran out and was replaced and I started using the other one. As soon as I turned on the right one, I was cooking with gas (literally). Duh!

    The police are too busy trawling the Internet for hurty words to bother with real crime. Our Police and Crime Commissioner came to a council meeting to tell us they were prioritising "hate crime" and they'd deal harshly with "vigilantes". Britain is truly broken and those who should be mending it are making the problem worse.

    1. I’m sure the dogs will behave beautifully for the shoot, Conway! Have a great time!

      2. They did! They were real stars. Even Kadi (who's very shy and nervous) acted well. Winston was in his element – "look at me!" There were some lovely shots. I'm going back tomorrow morning to look at the proofs and spend a fortune buying the prints.

      1. Not without a printer that will connect to the laptop. I might be able to do it when I'm home if I fire up the ancient desktop.

    3. I've just printed off 6 rail tickets for a trip to London with d-in-l and granddaughter.
      When I returned from a journey a few weeks ago, the e-ticket failed at the check out. Luckily I had printed the ticket as well. The lass at the 'gate' was heartily grateful.

  55. Constantly teaching children that immigrants are good and should be welcomed is almost certainly making them more vulnerable to approach and attack.
    Any positive interaction will be regarded as a "come on" by most of the illegals, particularly when their grapevine tells them that western women and girls are easy pickings and willing participants because they dress immodestly.

    1. Working with skill and beauty sounds like balm to the soul. Very socially acceptable, too.
      Me, banging on about steam traction, the workings of aeroplanes and such engineeringy sttuff gets labelled a nerd, if people are feeling kind…

  59. When you sack someone, that's pretty much coercion.
    Also, in Austria they were threatened with being fined or jailed – each unvaxxed person got an individual letter telling them that the law was going to come into force within a few weeks. The govt only pulled back from compulsory vaxxing at the last moment because more than a million Austrians held out and it was clear that they were prepared to go to jail over it.
    My daughter was living there at the time, she got the letter and promptly binned it!

  60. 411219+ up ticks,

    In my book for the last 30 years we should have been in 100% disagreement with so called
    "government "factors.
    Instead we have been giving them succour via the polling stations.

    Political treason erring politico's deck of cards
    really is required, that being the only ID card needed. https://x.com/ABridgen/status/1955903325641351219

    1. It's toxic behaviour whoever is doing it.
      And lie down with dogs, get up with fleas unfortunately.

  62. Maybe the digital ID stuff might wake a few people up as to the personal tracking devices that they are carrying around with them at all times!

    My phone broke recently. It was great! I had a week of complete freedom. No being called. No worrying whether it is charged or not, or where it is.
    I now have a new, candybar non-smart phone. If I don't want to be tracked via the network, I can take the batteries out.

    1. What a nasty, angry, entitled little pos. Fully deserved what he got based on the filmed behaviour.

  67. On topic: about a year ago, some chancers stole bottles of wine from the local Iceland and tried selling them outside the 'Spoons about 50 yards away. To their credit, Surrey plod soon had two cars on the case.

  69. Like the Leftie replies.. whimper whimper #BeKind.

    Funny how you suddenly see ‘hijabs’ before you see 90-year-old women being arrested. Some people’s vision is selective, not 20/20.

    Yet people still blame immigrants for everything, the hypocrisy really has no limits.

  71. Wonder what the old ladies had done to warrant being arrested – a fate that seems not to befall violent youg males from Slammer countries.

    1. Where is the evidence that she (and her friend behind) were being arrested? That film clip comes across as a load of over-excitable bollocks to me. Those old ladies look as though they were being protected from the mob, not being arrested. She's spending most of her time looking at her mobile phone, FFS!

      1. I believe they were "captured" at the pro Palestine protests at the weekend and arrested for holding banners supporting the proscribed organisation.

        One wonders why the police didn't just ignore them and concentrate on the worst instances.

    2. 411219+ up ticks,

      Afternoon O,

      They probably were heard to say ” they won’t arrest any violent young males from slammer countries”.

      By the by, how’s your lads feet ?

      1. Not a lot better, thanks for asking. Not sure what the remedy can be. I keep suggesting another consultation with a specialist to confirm or otherwise, but even when I offer to pay, he doesn’t press for it.

        1. Still playing up, Elsie. Saw the Doc this morning and he agrees that I've damaged soft tissue on my lower left side. Probably because of the posture I've taken to do certain repetitive tasks e.g. removing bark from large bags. Time required to mend the problem.
          Thanks for asking.

          2. Sadly, no. However, last evening the pain passed away again without any intervention from a painkiller. I remain free from pain this morning, fingers crossed. I will be taking care not to do anything silly over the next few days.

          3. That’s excellent news, Korky. You are allowed to do any kind of silliness you choose, just not physical silliness.

          4. Taking it fairly easy today. Used hose to water tubs etc. instead of heavy watering cans/buckets and picking some fruit for tonight’s dessert. Considering the heat I do not think that I would be doing anything too physical today, anyway.

          1. Of course. Paki Asian are far too busy raping, drug dealing and claiming benefits.

            It is no wonder they refuse to publish crimes by ethnicity but we know who they are.

  74. Second time, I saw the phone.
    Nobody seems to be pulling the ladies along, they seem to be following, surrounded, in a chanting crowd. Somewhat alarming for them, I'd say.

  75. GBN managed to find a white lad who shared his A Level results this morning. He had bright pink hair, which went unmentioned. His results were good.

    1. Makes me weep for two years ago when they deliberately downgraded results. My lad and hundreds of thousands more affected. Last year and this year we are back to normal. But that one year will never be remembered for what it was.

    1. No camps. Just export the illegals. Immediately. No visa, no set foot in the UK.

    2. Just not doing it properly.
      That's the explanaton for everything that doesn't work…

  81. Mario Inecco picked up on an announcement by the US Treasury yesterday. Apparently they have just awarded themselves the power to take dollar reserves owned by their allies and re-direct them into infrastructure projects in the US.
    A sort of controlled recall of US debt? Mario Inecco compares it to customers in Cyprus getting their account balances trousered and being awarded bank shares instead.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlvFpBUzSaM

      1. Bessent floated it on Fox News apparently. Maybe just seeing what the reaction is? But if they want to do it, countries like Japan and the UK probably can’t do anything about it

    1. Where are those children's parents?
      Don't you find all these videos of diversity behaving badly that are suddenly flooding the internet a bit suspicious?
      Almost as though someone wants the British majority to get hopping mad?
      We've got such a lovely hot summer too, perfect for rioting!

      1. Have you ever been on one of those things?! They are crazy, and impossible to stay on! I speak from experience, and bruises!

          2. Ditto! I remember when we could play out for hours at that age, every one of us knew the one wrong ‘un to swerve, and not be alone anywhere nearby.

          3. That’s exactly the thing! We knew at a very early age who were the dodgy ones! Just ‘felt’ something and got out of the way! Bet you’re not allowed to think that way now!

          4. Today, more likely a group of ferals accuse a lone man out walking, think that may have actually happened.

          5. You mean the three teenagers who have killed a man on the Isle of Sheppey? They probably knew he'd been convicted at stalking a woman.

          7. Quite. I don't think that those guys are necessarily pervs. Just agog and rather childlike. The fact that they may be (pervs) though. does put children trained to see them as cuddly friends at risk. How sad is that?

  84. Daughter's FIL has defib mode on his pacemaker.
    He was shocked when he activated his car boot with his fob.
    I reckon because car fobs and pacemakers use the same frequency the fob gave the pacemaker a signal to shock him.

    1. ARGH! That's scary! Who in the pacemaker world thought to use the car fob frequency? What if you're just walking by…?

      1. People with EVs having keyless starting/entry found that every time they walked past their car with the fob in their pocket the mirrors flipped out and the car prepared for starting.

        This put a heavy strain on the 12 volt auxiliary battery when the car was not being used and when the auxiliary battery failed they just had to wing it.

        1. That "feature" is common on cars with fobs. My 2017 Genesis has it. On mine it works with a small button let into the handle, i.e. approach the car, the mirrors pop out and the door can then be unlocked via the button. There's also a slot to use the key normally hidden in the fob, if all else fails.

  85. Recently, I was asked to verify my identity by giving a 180 degree scan of my head taken via a smartphone, to some private company, so that the solicitor who I wanted to employ could fulfil their “money laundering” obligations.
    They kept sending me the link to upload this scan.
    I looked on their website and deep in the terms and conditions, discovered that they only needed a copy of my passport and proof of address to verify my id. The constant emails did upset me though, as I wasn’t sure and they were very persistent. If sols had refused to do business with us it would have been a problem.
    Daughter said calmly “Well, you aren’t going to do the scan Mum, so don’t worry about them.”
    Sure enough, after a while, the emails stopped coming. They did not need the facial scan after all. Surprise surprise.
    This is the same girl who was driving the only car on a ferry to France during deepest lockdown. She simply turned up at the port and refused to take no for an answer, being fairly sure that people were not actually forbidden from crossing the border.

  86. You’re receiving this email because you signed the petition: “Call an immediate general election”.

    Dear Maggie S

    The Government has responded to the petition you signed – “Call an immediate general election”.

    Government responded:

    This Government was elected on a mandate of change at the July 2024 general election. Our full focus is on fixing the foundations, rebuilding Britain, and restoring public confidence in government.

    The Prime Minister can call a general election at a time of their choosing by requesting a dissolution of Parliament from the Sovereign within the five-year life of a Parliament. The Government was elected by the British people on a mandate of change at the July 2024 general election.

    This Government is fixing the foundations and delivering change with investment and reform to deliver growth, with more jobs, more money in people’s pockets, to rebuild Britain and get the NHS back on its feet. This will be built on the strong foundations of a stable economy, national security and secure borders as we put politics back in the service of working people.

    On entering office, a £22 billion black hole was identified in the nation’s finances. We inherited unprecedented challenges, with crumbling public services and crippled public finances, but will deliver a decade of national renewal through our five missions: economic growth, fixing the NHS, safer streets, making Britain a clean energy super-power and opportunity for all. This is what was promised and is what we are delivering.

    The Government’s first Budget freed up tens of billions of pounds to invest in Britain’s future while locking in stability, preventing devastating austerity in our public services and protecting working people’s payslips.

    Mission-led government rejects the sticking-plaster solutions of the past and unites public and private sectors, national, devolved and local government, business and unions, and the whole of civil society in a shared purpose. The Government will continue to deliver the manifesto of change that it was elected on.

    Cabinet Office

    Click this link to view the response online:

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/727309?reveal_response=yes

    This petition has over 100,000 signatures. The Petitions Committee will consider it for a debate. They can also gather further evidence and press the government for action.

    The Committee is made up of 11 MPs, from political parties in government and in opposition. It is entirely independent of the Government. Find out more about the Committee: https://petition.parliament.uk/help#petitions-committee

    Thanks,

    The Petitions Team
    House of Commons

    1. If the committee "…is entirely independent of the Government…" – how come the response reads as though written by a Starmer apparatchik?

      Just asking…

    2. "On entering office, a £22 billion black hole was identified in the nation's finances…"

      …and we threw even more money into it!

        1. I got the impression it was £50 billion ON TOP of the £22 billion they claim to have found.

      1. “Fixing the foundations”

        Lol

        Do they realise how stupid they sound? Absolutely no-one other than the most ideologically-committed Leftard believes them.

        2. The foundations of our society are the foundations that need fixing. Our culture, history, morality, the way in which we treat women and children, these are the values that support our way of life.

          The implementation of the Globalist agenda of open borders by various means is deliberate. Starmer is merely a placement put there by the Globalist elite to complete the task started under Blair.

          Much the same sort as Starmer hold positions in the EU and are put there in order to accomplish open borders. We see failed national politicians, Ursula van der Leyen, Rutte, Merckx along with leaders hated by their own populations such as Macron and Tusk desperately working against the will of the people.

          The notion that we should be collectively supporting and funding Ukraine amplifies the distorted policies of these politicos. Estimates put the numbers of dead Ukrainian soldiers at anywhere between 1.7 and 2.5 million with many more injured and maimed. It is obvious to any sane person that Zelenskyy (and his backers) care not a jot for the people of Ukraine.

    4. 18% of the voting population voted for Labour, everyone else either didn't vote or chose someone else – they have zero mandate.
      But their job is just to break the country so as to prepare us for the authoritarian technocracy that is planned.

  87. Good day, Nottlers all!

    it's been an interesting morning here. awoke at seven, which is not my wont as I am a committed night owl, and padded through to the kitchen to put the kettle on, only to realise that I was in fact paddling; there was water dripping through the light onto the wooden floor…

    Luckily my Spanish was up to ringing the janitor and telling her so; hopefully it will be fixed soon, but meanwhile I have been collecting water just in case and using what electricity I may as I am sure everything will be turned off at some point. 🙄

    I am dressed very conservatively, to minimise the risk of plumberine infatuation. 🤣🤣

  88. Good day, Nottlers all!

    it's been an interesting morning here. awoke at seven, which is not my wont as I am a committed night owl, and padded through to the kitchen to put the kettle on, only to realise that I was in fact paddling; there was water dripping through the light onto the wooden floor…

    Luckily my Spanish was up to ringing the janitor and telling her so; hopefully it will be fixed soon, but meanwhile I have been collecting water just in case and using what electricity I may as I am sure everything will be turned off at some point. 🙄

    I am dressed very conservatively, to minimise the risk of plumberine infatuation. 🤣🤣

    2. Don't touch anything electrical wherever water is (I think you'll know this). Hope you get sorted soon. Have you managed to locate source of leak, and gets fixed asap. Stay safe! (an order..xxx)

      1. Don't worry – I am well aware of the dangers. Thank you!

        A plumber has been (not my would-be suitor, thank goodness 🤣). We stood and contemplated the dripping ceiling for a while before he said "You need an umbrella for that."

        "Ah," I replied, "I do appreciate expert professional advice."

        We stood and sniggered silently for a few moments. He's now gorn upstairs to see what's what. Fingers crossed!

  89. I've Just seen on the news a mention of problems in the NHS, apparently there are now over 7 million people around the UK waiting for appointments.
    Not enough doctors and nurses arriving in rubber boats ? Oh dear they'll probably be a water shortage next.
    As has been said many many times before ……everything single thing our political (idiots) classes come into contact with they eff it up and big time.

  90. Private school closures

    SIR – For more than 50 years Abingdon Swimming Club has provided swimming lessons to all ages. My wife and her daughter have been involved in it, as both teachers and administrators.

    Yesterday morning we received an email giving notice of the club's closure. The pool used for teaching is in Our Lady's Abingdon School, and the school is closing. The main reason given? The addition of VAT on private school fees.

    While the closure of a private school may not affect too many people, the loss of the facilities the school provided to the wider community does, and is very sad.

    The swimming club has tried to find alternative facilities within the local area but none are available. The other clubs that use the pool will presumably discover the same – and so our community risks losing an important service. It feels particularly upsetting that people who have worked hard to keep the club going through the years are now unable to do so through no fault of their own.

    Our history and our ability to choose are being eroded little by little.

    Alan Lewis
    Radley, Oxfordshire
    ________________________________________

    SIR – Congratulations to the Labour Government for achieving its primary aim: to close independent schools, thus hitting hard-working parents, putting teachers out of work and preventing students from attaining the qualifications they deserve.

    Socialism at its very best.

    Paul Ballard-Whyte
    Oxford

    1. You won't be alone, William. Hope someone thinks about possible crowdfunder, depending on amount of funds raised. Sounds like you'd have quite a few assistants to keep it running.

  91. More than 3,000 truckloads or 80,000 tons of food alone may have entered the country contaminated since 2016, experts said.

    Lorries – or refrigerated trailers – were the most common route used by people smugglers to hide migrants before tighter security around ports and the Channel Tunnel prompted smugglers to change their tactics to favour small boat crossings.

    Migrants stowing away in lorries typically board them in northern France before remaining hidden until the vehicle has entered Britain.

    But this has put trailers packed with chilled and frozen food, household goods and pharmaceutical products at risk of contamination, logistics firm Oakland International, who published the report, said.

    The true figure could be even higher given just a small sample of refrigerated trailers are checked by Border Force.

    Dean Attwell, Oakland International co-founder, said: 'The rise in clandestine infiltration is not just a statistic, it's a ticking time bomb for food safety, driver security, and public health.

    'Every compromised load puts the public at risk and costs the industry millions per year.'

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-14999353/Outrage-safety-chiefs-reveal-illegal-immigrants-hiding-lorries-recent-explosion-food-poisoning-outbreaks-80-000-tonnes-food-contaminated.html

    1. This has been known for years!
      I remember travelling from Dunquerque around the turn of the century, the port was hardly developed at all, no security at all, migrants would just enter trucks which were parked next to the cars openly and so casually that you hardly even realised what you were seeing.
      Why is the DM suddenly drawing people's attention to stuff that we've known for years?

      1. Silly season "journalism", innit?

        I do recall one splendid incident when a lorry, stuffed full of illegals, reached its destination and the back door was opened. They were slap bang in the middle of RAF Lakenheath!

        1. If I suspected that a migrant was hitching a lift in my car, I would turn round and drive straight back to France!

    1. But but, but – haven't they shined an enormous image of the slammer hamas flag on city hall?

    4. British flags do, but dindu ones are fine?

      This is Britain. That is our flag. If folk don't like it, leave.

    1. Yes, but same as it is our economy, our taxes – the state doesn't care because there are no constraints of democracy upon it.

    2. Err, he's got that wrong. The EU was designed to conquer and control the nations of Europe. For Hungary to refuse the chains is why the EU keeps threatening it. The hated EU has tried many times to get rid of Orban and his party.

  100. Made a treacle tart. Very thin base, almost too thin. Went over mad on the treacly bit as that was about 3cm deep.

    I thought it'd last us 2 days at least, with everyone having a third. They did to start, then Junior and Warqueen ate the rest as half each.

    (What they don't know – because I am cunning! – is that I made two… )

      1. There is. A post on X:-

        McDonald's in some UK locations, including the one involved, introduced a "5 p.m. rule" in 2022 that bars under-18s from dining in after 5 p.m. without an adult, to reduce antisocial behavior.

        The girl and her classmates were served food just before 5 p.m. (around 4:50 p.m.) and wanted to stay and eat in, which was against the policy. When asked to leave, the girl reportedly became hostile, throwing insults and acting aggressively towards staff.

        The police were called due to the girl's behavior, which included resisting removal, and reports mention she scratched and kicked an officer during the incident.

        She was forcibly removed and arrested, but this was not simply for violating the 5 p.m. policy. It was largely due to her aggressive behavior and escalating conflict, not just being an unaccompanied minor after 5 p.m.

          1. The staff may be sick to death of stroppy teenagers assaulting their colleagues.

            Just saying.

          4. She should have been wearing a life jacket – the police would then have escorted her to a 5* hotel.

      2. 411219+ up ticks,

        Afternoon Bob,

        If there wasn’t would you be surprised ?
        I wouldn’t, lessons are being taught.

    2. What the blither does one say? It feels like plod are our jailers, paid to ensure the criminals are allowed to do as they please while suppressing the decent and law abiding.

        1. No it isn't – she was a stroppy, aggressive young person who did not do as she was asked … see the explanation below.

          1. 411219 + up ticks

            Afternoon BT,

            A wee bit excessive don't you think I counted three plods surrounding her, if that be the current strategy how many for a hardened criminal ?

          2. No, I don’t. A dose of taser would bring it home to her that she should behave better.

          3. Looks stroppy. Prob never been told 'no' before.
            Minejew, why cant they do the same with the scumba… shoplifters

  103. Last week my good old neighbour gave me a kilo of wild cherries, from his FiL's garden, they have been in the fridge. I took them out and a couple had started to go a bit rotten. I removed them put the rest in a saucepan with 50 grams of sugar and some water. Boiled them crushed and removed all the stones. Then found a carton of large strawberries chopped them up and added them. Ran the blender through and when cooled ended up with a thick sweet very tasty sauce. It is Superb poured on to vanilla ice cream. And of course eaten.
    I gave our neighbour David a container as well.

  104. Wordle No. 1,517 4/6

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

    Wordle 14 Aug 2026

    A peal for Par Four?

    1. Bogey again for me.

      Wordle 1,517 5/6

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

    2. Made the same error twice. Brain fade for deserved Bogey.

      Wordle 1,517 5/6

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

      1. Blimey cor, I can see one of your wrong answers with E in position 4 (like I did!) – but what was the other one??

        1. I repeated the error. I had the correct answer but read the wrong line on my notes, then repeated the error. My found letters were L, N and E. The letter E could never be the fourth letter, which I knew.

          As I say I must have suffered a brain fade. I had just completed an awkward Spelling Bee in record time.

          1. I like Spelling Bee also!

            Although I must admit I have to tip my hat to you – I’ve often repeated a wrong letter (I did today!) but I’ve never repeated a wrong word, respect!!

    3. Same here, it took its toll.

      Wordle 1,517 4/6

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

    4. Silly error on guess 4 makes mine a bogey – grrrr!

      Wordle 1,517 5/6

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

    5. Lucky to get there
      Wordle 1,517 4/6

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

    2. You idiot – your lot had 14 years to stop this. Why didn't you? And we all know that, were you (by some ghastly misfortune) to form a government tomorrow – you would do exactly what you did for 14 years. Nothing.

      1. Apparently JD Vance has during his "holiday" met with Jenrick, but not with Badenoch. Make of that what you will.
        I have my doubts about the technocratically connected Mr Vance…

      2. I wish I could uptick you a dozen times, Bill. You are, as usual, entirely right. They had every chance to stop it and did nothing because it was too 'difficult'.

    3. Starmer doesn't want the invasion to stop. He's encouraging it.

      There is no reason whatsoever that it couldn't be stopped day 1, instead, he keeps making sure they're brought in.

  107. Blow to Miliband as Britain’s Biggest Power Generator Warns Low Wind Driving Up Energy Bills

    In a latest blow to Red Ed’s net zero crusade, Britain’s biggest power generator has warned that falling wind speeds are driving up energy bills – and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon. RWE, which supplies around 15% of the UK’s electricity and increasingly relies on wind power said:

    “Wholesale electricity prices in our European core markets also rose. Contributing factors were an increase in the price of fuels and emission allowances as well as unfavourable wind conditions.”

    The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forecasts that global winds will continue to slow in the decades ahead. Though when there’s too much wind, bill-payers have to pay farms to turn turbines off. Brits are set cough up £1.26 billion in “constraint payments” this year…

    At the same time, Miliband is planning to pay developers up to £116 per megawatt hour for the power they generate from wind farms, adding an estimated £24 a year to the average domestic power bill. Red Ed’s big energy plan just more hot air…

    August 14 2025 @ 16:07 https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f2251ac47b8230ffc24b38632a792b28bc528fba0a50e11b9afc4adc0a5b05d7.png
    Addolff
    43m
    New wind contracts = £117 per mWh.
    Gas without Carbon taxes = £55 per mWh.
    We are being mugged.

    Dover Sentry
    1h
    The world makes 38,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.
    And we are going to spend £30,000,000,000 to remove just 48 tonnes per year?

    This is madness!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3db174ebabba78eddef0f45a922ae72532daeda6771d0903b17684e586edb8e1.png

      2. Two nutters waffling on about things they don't understand while getting rich off the backs of others who know they're wrong.

      3. That look on his face is positively predatory. The pic would make for a great caption contest.

        1. Yes – were she my daughter, I'd move my chair to between the two of them. And keep it that way.

    3. "The world makes 38,000 tonnes of CO2 per year."

      That sounds a bit odd, to say the least.

  108. Farage Red Flag #21

    Suella Braverman MP makes history as the first MP to speak at an anti-migrant hotel protest this evening in Waterlooville!

    Meanwhile Reform ban all their councilors from attending any such protests.

        2. Braverman is just about the only Conservative MP who can be accused of seriously trying to do something about the cross Channel invasion during that time!

  109. That's me for this humid, sticky and really unpleasant day. More follows, so the Wet Office would have us believe. (Cats still in the same places as in the snap posted at 3.16 pm!!)

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain.

    1. Maybe I am wrong but it is looking like the advanced stages of a plan that is already in place when the US Vice President comes over and meets with people who are NOT IN POWER like Farage and Jenrick. Possibly the pushier Mr Jenrick has already been selected a long time ago, maybe before the Conservative leadership election, as their preferred Conservative ‘leader’.

  113. Dewbs & co on GBN talking about Saturday jobs. I worked in Boots for £5 a Saturday in the early 70s. (The day they put me on the pharmacy counter was fun.) Anyone?

    1. I took a summer job as a chamber maid in a hotel in Tenby during the early sixties whilst waiting to start my student nurse training at Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar , Gosport.

      I needed money to buy medical and surgical text books and many other nursing text books and some decent clothes .. ( our uniforms were provided , and we lived in nurses quarters ) but the holiday money I earned was generous , I was given tips , and I was able to open my own post office savings account .. and be totally independent of parental help .. I had 2 sisters and a brother , and I didn't expect a penny from my parents , nor did they offer help.

    2. Lots of my friends worked in Woolworths. I had a very well-paid job share as a doctor’s receptionist 5.30 pm – 7 pm 2 or 3 nights a week and alternate Saturday mornings 9 – 10:30 am, which left me free to play the One True Sport on Saturday afternoon.

      Edit. I also did Christmas post, strawberry picking, bar work and I worked in a greengrocers too.

        1. Yes, i believe i do. Selling potatoe’s and tomatoe’s by the lb.

          (Back on my phone – my ipad is hopeless for tech, too old and slow).

        2. Yes, i believe i do. Selling potatoe’s and tomatoe’s by the lb.

          (Back on my phone – my ipad is hopeless for tech, too old and slow).

    3. I worked in a cafe and later in a market stall selling jeans. For years after I could tell you the make of your jeans just by looking at the stiching on the seams.

    4. Worked as a "maintenance technician" aged 16 – the job was to sweep and thereafter keep tidy the hangar at Leicester East aerodrome. Took a week just to sweep it (by broom).

    5. 15 Shillings for a Saturday's work, in a Gents Outfitter in Coventryl in the late 1950's

    6. Worked for Baird Television on the production line. My job was to put the cathode ray tube into the cabinet and fasten it down.

    7. Bakers. Nice job, apart from the boss who was grabby. Everyone took care not to be alone with him.

    8. Working a fruit Yard in Erith breaking artic loads of fruit,veg and dried flowers into smaller loads for Bristol,Birmingham and Covent Garden
      Brutal hard work but as many hours as you wanted (if you could hack it)
      at 50p an hour occasional treat run to Covent Garden to unload
      Large mug of builders with a large rum was the tip bloody marvelous at 5am when you've put in 14 hours straight

    1. I'll point out that we are constantly being told to use less – less water, less energy, less fuel, less food. To ration, lesser and reduce our lives.

      This is not right. It's is appallingly suppressive, a route backward when we should be moving forward to abundance and luxury. Why does the state continually insist on diminishing our choices and lives – while, of course, troughing for their own.

      It's utterly wrong. It's hypocritical, it's abusive.

      1. Every successful economy is underpinned by copious inexpensive energy. The Americans and the Chinese understand that. Apparently many Western European countries do not.

        1. Oh, they understand. The intent isn't to make any difference to the environment. If that were the intent then there'd be huge incentives on re-use, recycling.

          It's all about forcing us backward, to destroy market capitalism and replace it with a some sort of deranged, demented socialist command economy.

      2. Every successful economy is underpinned by copious inexpensive energy. The Americans and the Chinese understand that. Apparently many Western European countries do not.

      3. I don't claim to understand why we should delete all of our old emails, just that I refuse to do anything asked for by this Government "for the greater good" when this self-same Government doesn't do anything for our good.

    2. Storage of a lot of data uses datacentres, and these require cooling, and that uses water.
      Why is the water not in a closed circuit, and so recycled, with it's heat dumped through water-air heat exchangers, to atmosphere? Solve the water issue, imcrease global warming.
      Maybe paper was better, after all?

      1. One of our datacentres was hybrid. Normally closed loop cooling via cooling units, but in mid-west winters, our centre there took in cold air directly from the outside and saved a lot of energy that way. The others used conventional closed loop cooling units all year round. The only way there could be water wasted is if they were using cooling towers. We literally had rows of top end mainframes, and they required complicated cooling – the core components were liquid cooled, while all the peripherals used conventional under floor cold air.

        2. Usually the hot air is passed over radiators. These then go to great water towers as a heatink which cool due to the outside/water delta. The cooler water is pumped through the cooling units to push out dry, cold air.

          It's typical to use that hot air to operate the pumps as well. Modern data centres don't just burn masses of electricity for the hell of it, they're incredibly efficient.

        1. The two on the extreme left and extreme right of the photo are surely unicorns, aren't they Herr Oberts? Lol.

  117. right. I have come home to 8lb of greengages, which I must attend to in a minute. I think I might just freeze them for now, and make some jam and jelly at another date.

      1. Very nicely, probably. I have frozen them for now because i am tired. My neighbour has just texted that there are many, many more!

    2. Many areas, mine included, people will sell excess veg/fruit at this time of year…those 'honesty' boxes, outside their houses. Probably no longer such a good idea, some will steal goods and/or honesty box, or case your place…….

    1. The police have made it very clear that from their point of view he, and his ilk, are free to enter any property that they choose to enter and to conduct themselves as they wish. It is none of our business what these privileged individuals choose to do. Bigot.

    2. Yeah right. They are desperate for us to see Farage as the little guy battling the deep state.
      Evidence suggests otherwise.

      Edit: Cummings is wearing a rainbow lanyard. Believe it when he tells you his allegiance…

        1. I take your point but it's evident I'm referring to Cummings, though the other two could also fit the bill – Nigel less so, I still hold out a scintilla of hope for him…..

          1. I don't know what he wants or why. As a 'political operator' he's certainly capable but as you say, I don't trust him either.

            I think Farage will be captured or simply give up – because what he needs to do is so difficult I don't think he has the will or energy to carry out.

            To undo the damage done will require Herculean stamina: he has to identify the sources of funding for the blob, then dismantle the quangos and bureaucracy – all while fighting unions and the legal system. While doing that he needs to legislate an entirely new tax code that penalises unreliables (as the most damaging system) and combat the entire civil service who will use every opportunity to undo and stifle his agenda.

            The regulations they reply upon would need to be undone at the same time – the equality act, HRA, commuity act, unions act: all would need tearing apart to make the state obey and do as he might want. That means dealing with the EU and likely leaving the ECHR, which also means revoking the Northern Ireland arrangement. The Left tied these knots deliberately to ensure that nothing changed.

          2. I agree with all of that – I would have suggested a UK equivalent of Doge with a UK equivalent of Elon Musk – do we have one?
            Alas, that didnt work out too well in the US, did it? So I suppose we could use Elon (if he fancied it)……..

          3. My husband for some reason mentioned there were Reform hustings taking place in Woking and there were some intelligent businessmen stepping up.

            Unfortunately we knew a very capable couple who went all out flr the Brexit Party and were understandably cross qhwn they were atood down. So i don’t suppose they will be standing for Reform.

          4. It appears to be at that level of detail where Reform are found wanting – I'm not surprised about that but it again underlines the absolute mountain they have to climb to 'break through'.
            Momentum (no, not them!) does, however, seem to be building and I think they are the only game in town, however flawed…..

          5. Can only wish for many efficient foot soldiers, G4…some seem to think NF will wave a magic wand and the CS will just cave and fulfil his wishes. I also wonder if he might not get bored battling with few wins to show. Maybe I'm too despondent…don't seem to see/hear much of him lately – on jollies perhaps..

        1. Maybe so, KJ, but he makes an art form of it – a totally poisonous piece of shite……

          1. Have seen pix of him wearing a shoulder bag, stuffed with paper, long time ago. He had a website, I signed up, it was in English but my understanding stopped there.

          2. He makes a point of carrying a man-bag, I agree. But the proudly (ostentatiously) worn rainbow lanyard is making a point that does not agree with what he is broadcasting, does it?

    5. I like to hear him, although I don't always believe him – but that may be more about me than him.

  121. Firstborn to collect more bees this weekend. Accommodation (hives, racks, etc) all ready, it's just for the immigrants to be housed.
    Should be good – it's quite an arrangement.

      1. Honey bees are lovely. Big ball of buzzy fuzz… until you get carried away, think they are a cat, and try stroking them… then you know about it.

        1. I've just been reading, in Old English, an ancient Anglo-Saxon remedy to stop them swarming.

          2. Wið ymbe nim eorÞan, ofer-weorp mid þinre swiþran handa under þinum swiþran fet and cwet:

            Fo ic under fot,funde ic hit.
            Hwæt, eorð mæg wið ealra wihta gewhilce
            And wið andan and wið æminde
            And wið þa miclan mannes tungan.

            And wiððon forweop ofer greot, þonne hi swirman, and cweð:

            Sitte ge, sīgewīf, sīgað tō eorðan,
            næfre ge wilde tō wuda fleogan
            beō ge swā gemindige, mīnes gōdes,
            swā bið manna gehwilc, metes and ēðeles

          3. Thanks Tom…had to translate, very interesting how some can ‘talk to the bees’. Not sure I’m one of them, but I at least try. Neighbour of mine kept bees for some years, hives at the bottom of her garden which butted onto village lane which was tarmac apart from the edges where grass grew. Another neighbour went down the sides with weedkiller, you can guess the rest, very distressing. Usual for Z 🙂

          7. No, I hadn’t. Thanks.
            Yes, OE has a lot of similarities with German, especially Platte Deutsche, with all the cases and inflexions. Hard going, for me at least.

    2. Good (and interesting) news…fancy some myself, will be very interested in any updates, Paul? Sleep well x

    1. It is an utter waste of money and worse, borrowed. This is why nothing works. The state keeps wasting money on nonsense we do not want or need – because there's no consequences for them.

    4. Fair enough. Canada is closer to bankrupt than many of the other countries that you send aid money to.

  124. Too knackered, so hitting the sack. See all Y'all in the morning.
    spare some thoughts for Jill the Lass, and her man, Jack, who will not be sleeping happily tonight.
    Go with God.

        1. It's bad enough going to bed alone when SWMBO is away for a day or two, never mind how awful that night when your other half isn't coming back at all.
          RIP, Jill.
          Take care, Jack.

  127. Not a lot done today, but at least the Van's MOTed for another year!
    I'm off for a bath then bed.
    TTFN all.

  128. Goodnight, all. I'm signing off early. Both I and the dogs are shattered. It's hard work doing a photo shoot!

    2. Good Night, Conners – and Kadi and Winston. Be sure to show us the photos tomorrow morning.

    4. Now look here Conners, it's now 4.30 pm on Friday and still you haven't posted any photo-shoot photos on our NoTTLe site. Bad boy!

      1. That’s because I spent this morning deciding which ones to keep and which ones to discard. Then I drove home. I have no internet and I am on my phone using data. It will be about three weeks before I get the album. I can only say I was VERY impressed.

        1. Understood. I thought there must be some reason. I look forward to seeing the results in early September, then. Keep well.

    5. Now look here Conners, it's now 4.30 pm on Friday and still you haven't posted any photo-shoot photos on our NoTTLe site. Bad boy!

  129. We've just watched the programme about Alfred Brendel, recommended by Bill – good choice and well worth watching.
    What a phenomenal pianist! We were very fortunate to go to a concert in Bristol by him and his son, Adrian.

    1. AI was in desperate need of good PR. And there it is.

      I think they used AI to do what they already know how to do.

  133. Just had a swift visit to Charing Cross Hospital. I’ve been given injectable blood thinners prior to the operation and administered the first one myself (in the tummy muscle) this morning then had an ultrasound scan of the abdomen this afternoon. Injection site bleeding this evening. One of the nurses has put a dressing on it and if I get there as soon as possible after 7am tomorrow and Saturday, he’ll do the injections for me. His shift ends at 8am. Very kind. Too scared to do it myself again.

    1. Gosh – I'm glad you managed to get there ok and also see someone who was kind and helpful.

    2. I sympathise Sue. I have a wife who was happy on several occasions to do the injections for me. I now have developed an umbilical hernia which would be of concern should I have to do similar injections ‘in-house’.

      I now realise that post the prescribed age of three scores and ten, then moreorless everything else falls apart.

      After a productive life as an accomplished Architect I now realise that I may have neglected my own health whilst seeking always to doing good things for others.

      I have frankly experienced more than my fair share of bloody awful medical conditions.

      Edit: The first time I self administered I was so keen to do it that I quickly shoved the needle and emptied its contents too swiftly into my stomach fat. This haste left me with a tennis ball sized purple bruise.

    3. Had insulain that way for a whle, to get blood sugars down for a PET scan. Biggest buggeration was to get the dose to actually administer – after pressing & holding the button, nothing had gone through until I pulled the needle out… WTF?

  134. Bedtime – bit of a panic with the hot tap earlier on – it's eaten the washer…………all gone quiet now so I'm hoping OH has fixed it.

  135. Well, chums, it's now my time for bed. So I wish you all a Good Night. Sleep well, and I hope to see you all bright and early tomorrow morning.

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