Friday 13 March: Rishi Sunak and the age-old art of stealing the Opposition’s clothes

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/03/13/lettersrishi-sunak-age-old-art-stealing-oppositions-clothes/

811 thoughts on “Friday 13 March: Rishi Sunak and the age-old art of stealing the Opposition’s clothes”

  2. Perhaps with Cheltenham on the agenda, this might be apposite:

    A guy calls his buddy, the horse rancher, and says he’s sending a friend over to look at a horse.

    His buddy asks, “How will I recognise him?”

    “That’s easy; he’s a midget with a speech impediment.”

    So, the midget shows up, and the guy asks him if he’s looking for a male or female horse.

    “A female horth.”

    So he shows him a prised filly.

    “Nith lookin horth. Can I thee her eyeth”?

    So the guy picks up the midget and he gives the horse’s eyes the once over.

    “Nith eyeth, can I thee her earzth”?

    So he picks the little fella up again, and shows him the horse’s ears.

    “Nith earzth, can I see her mouf”?

    The rancher is getting pretty ticked off by this point, but he picks him up again and shows him the horse’s mouth.

    “Nice mouf, can I see her twat”?

    Totally mad as fire at this point, the rancher grabs him under his arms and rams the midget’s head as far as he can up the horse’s fanny, pulls him out
    and slams him on the ground.

    The midget gets up, sputtering and coughing.

    “Perhapth I should rephrase that. Can I thee her wun awound a widdlebit”?

  3. The science of soap – here’s how it kills the coronavirus. 12 Mar 2020.

    So why does soap work so well on the Sars-CoV-2, the coronavirus and indeed most viruses? The short story: because the virus is a self-assembled nanoparticle in which the weakest link is the lipid (fatty) bilayer. Soap dissolves the fat membrane and the virus falls apart like a house of cards and dies – or rather, we should say it becomes inactive as viruses aren’t really alive.

    Morning everyone. A puddle of information in an Ocean of drivel.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/12/science-soap-kills-coronavirus-alcohol-based-disinfectants

    1. Robert Spowart
      13 Mar 2020 5:10AM
      Am I the only person amazed by the modern day paranoia against picking up germs left on door handles, cashpoint buttons and anything else other people may have touched?

      The skin on my fingers is tough enough to keep them out of my body and, so long as I wash my hands after using the toilet and before handling food, there is little chance of them being ingested.

      1. Bob: you enter your PIN at the supermarket, and, without thinking about it, you touch your face. Job done!

        1. You beat me to it, JBF. The information is that this virus can survive on a hard surface for some time. So after the supermarket visit you get back to your car and use a hand sanitizer…but your shopping, your purse or wallet, your credit card, the car door handle and possibly the steering wheel, some or all of these are contaminated. Rub your eye and bingo…

          1. I’d never actually thought about it, but I tend to use a knuckle instead of my fingertips for rubbing my eye.

        2. No I don’t.
          I NEVER use my debit card for anything more than drawing money out of the cashpoint.
          To buy things I use cash.

      2. Just because you wash your hands after visiting the loo doesn’t mean that everybody else does.

    2. From memory, soap only emulsifies, whereas detergent dissolves. Soap is cheaper.

      The ‘liquid soap’ is more likely to a be a form of detergent. I await an expert’s clarification.

    1. Morning Bob and everyone.

      It seems that western women have brought a lot of confusion to the party so to speak. There is no outcry by the feminazis about FGM, there are non binary women, cis women, trans women, transphobic women, no doubt lots of other women I haven’t heard about, in fact, all sorts of women, all on their own hobby horse or other. Why can’t women just be what they think they are without trying to pressure others to support their point of view?

      It’s all very confusing. Women against women just like the left is now arguing amongst themselves.

    1. The Israelis can be harsh but I wouldn’t describe them all using that adjective.

    2. Surely Allah protects his own?
      Aren’t they guilty of doubting that he is benevolent and all-powerful?

      1. I think he has severely let them down for quite a while. They should realise by now that he is not to be trusted. Perhaps they would get a better deal if they converted to Judaism, or Christianity or Buddhism, for that matter.

  7. “Nepal closes Mount Everest

    Nepal has closed all of its Himalayan peaks including Mount Everest this climbing season because of fears of the coronavirus outbreak, a government minister said on Friday, Reuters reports.”

    3. Why don’t other countries follow suit by closing their peaks instead of just delaying them?

  8. ‘Gigantic’ wolf shot dead in southern Russian village. 13 march 2020.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/013819a43e710bb35002ded15d7827ac0be63951dc8a72b696b912731a5a2e6d.jpg

    A local man shot the unusually large wolf after it was spotted near a graveyard in the village. He said it had been moving towards populated areas of the village.

    Now that is a wolf!

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/gigantic-wolf-shot-dead-in-southern-russian-village-nh2jc76zt

    1. at this time of year I would expect them to be hungry. Better to have shot a hare or to have put out some dog food.

      1. A wolf that size would eat a whole St Bernard, and still have space left for blancmange for pudding…

    2. They shoot anything and everything , what a shame .. how do we know it was a giant wolf.. the chap in the photo may be undersized.

      1. Morning Belle. You think he’s a dwarf? The head and hand sizes say differently!

  9. Morning all

    SIR – Wednesday’s Budget was a classic example of a government taking over the Opposition’s policies wholesale – as the Conservatives under Sir Robert Peel did with the Whigs’ free-trade policies in the 1840s.

    The success of this bold manoeuvre will depend on two things: how the coronavirus pandemic develops, and whether interest rates remain low.

    In any case, it is a mark of how far Boris Johnson and his colleagues have departed from traditional Tory policies. Time will deliver a verdict on the wisdom or otherwise of what has been announced.

    Rev Andrew McLuskey

    Ashford, Middlesex

    SIR – If Jeremy Corbyn thinks the Conservatives have done so very badly over the past 10 years, can he explain why he didn’t win a landslide victory in last year’s general election?

    Wendy Beavan

    Hereford

  10. SIR – If the Chancellor and Treasury thought Entrepreneurs’ Relief was getting expensive, just see how expensive things get when people stop taking risks to create new businesses – or leave Britain to realise their capital gain. I thought I voted for a Conservative government.

    Graham Holding

    Corby, Northamptonshire

    SIR – Estate agency may not be the most popular business on the high street, but we are just as likely to be affected by coronavirus as the retail shop next door.

    Why, then, do our “shops” not qualify for the 100 per cent Business Rate Relief announced in the Budget?

    James Hayman-Joyce

    Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire

  11. SIR – The milkman comes three times a week. I get milk, bread and eggs from him, and could have many other things too.

    There is no delivery charge, no minimum order, no need for the internet. I pay him by cheque once a month.

    A bonus is if he called and found I had not taken in the previous delivery, he might do something about it.

    Eryl Tucker

    Bedford

    SIR – At last a real benefit is seen in contactless card payments, where fingers and hands are kept free from grubby cash and card-readers.

    A T W Patrick

    Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire

  14. SIR – Deaths per year in the United Kingdom include 39,600 from sepsis and even 644 from falling down stairs. So why is the nation in panic over 10 deaths from coronavirus?

    Dr J C Edwards

    Goostrey, Cheshire

    SIR – May we begin to hear soon of the numbers of people who have had coronavirus and made a full recovery?

    Sue Callard

    Chedworth, Gloucestershire

    1. No, Sue, not for a while yet. The MSM has been very quiet on numbers recovering.

  15. SIR – We commend the article by Dr John Constable (telegraph.co.uk, March 3) on the Government’s revival of wind subsidies. For 20 years, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) in Devon has been fighting against turbines, which, despite massive local opposition, ruined the landscape over a large area of north-west Devon.

    We welcomed the removal of subsidies in 2015, since when no more hideous turbines have been built. There was nothing in the Conservative manifesto about bringing back wind subsidies, which could result in even more destruction of the landscape.

    The Government says the consent of local communities will be needed, but we’ve heard such promises before, when wind farms were forced on us against total local opposition.

    Rebecca Bartleet

    Chairman, CPRE Devon

    Beaworthy, Devon

    1. SIR – How thoroughly depressing to hear that wind turbines could be built on “empty moorland” owned by wealthy landowners, who will receive a further lottery win in government subsidies.

      No one is suggesting siting these eyesores in Hyde Park, on Clapham Common or on Primrose Hill. Imagine the outcry. No, instead they can be dumped on ancient moorland, where they are not an inconvenience to the urban elite.

      The West Country will derive no benefit from HS2 and has just lost Flybe, its regional air carrier, throwing large numbers out of work. The region already has more than its fair share of ugly wind farms; more could cost us the tourist industry as well. What future for the young of Devon and Cornwall?

      John McLachlan

      Wadebridge, Cornwall

      1. These same landowners will also benefit from subsidies to preserve moorlands and encourage wildlife.

    2. BTL Comment on letters page:-

      Stephen Priest
      13 Mar 2020 4:12AM
      Regarding the revived blight of onshore wind turbines Rebecca Bartleet Chairman, CPRE Devon

      My wife’s petition – “Reverse the decision to support new onshore wind farms”

      Click this link to start sharing it:

      https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/300276

    1. Panic is responding to a situation by doing what most other people are doing regardless.

  18. Do you know at the end of the day this flu will just run its course like it did in 1957. i know i was there. Onl 3 in my class of 33 did not go down with it.

      1. I recall Hong Kong flu cutting a heavy swathe through my classmates in ’68.

  19. Daughter has last night Question Time on,
    Had to tell her to turn the S–t off before my pressure valve kicks in

  20. Isn’t all this elderly relative stuff fun?
    Not only do I receive an ear-bashing from my mother’s (admittedly long-suffering) friend about my mother vomiting around her house (like I did it deliberately), but Mother’s promises of an existing Power of Attorney become more like fiction as each day progresses.

    However, I have had assistance from the Office of the Public Guardian, quickly, with links, on how to deal with the situation and apply to be a Deputy – so, the UK bureaucrats aren’t all bad. LIkewise, I recently applied for a passport renewal – in the morning yesterday, I was emailed to say the passport was approved, in the afternoon to say it has already been posted!

    I think it was Anne who posted relevant links a week or so ago (apologies if it wasn’t you, Anne) for which I am extremely grateful!

    1. Well done. I hope you are appointed as a Deputy pdq.
      The PoA is a butter ugger. A quicker process, but you have the delicate job of piggy-in-the-middle; you have to convince both the one you wish to protect and the lawyers. It is a delicate process where your every word and gesture is being judged on either side of an enormous gulf in comprehension. You are trying to interpret legalese to (effectively) a recalcitrant child, while not simplifying matters to a degree that alienates the solicitors and gives them grounds for claiming that you mislead the client.
      By the time I’d persuaded Elderly Chum to sign, I was mentally and emotionally exhausted,

      1. I haven’t even got that far, and already I’m fit to throw stuff at the walls.
        First problem: Is there actually a PoA? Mother says yes, I don’t remember signing anything, and the search at the Court of Protection (now underway) will see in about 2 weeks if anything is registered.
        If not, then I can get one created by Court Order – at noticeable cost, noticeable supervison (also at cost), and a serious amount of buggeration.
        All without travel, of course, as that’s all going t*ts-up with the virus hysteria.

        I really appreciate those web links you posted a while ago. saved a shedload of work! I’d kiss you, if I could! At least, give you a huge, rib-crushing hug… :-D)

        1. Busy having her hip replaced, Paul!
          I don’t envy you your current situation, but can do little other than sympathise.

  21. I am really quite confused, and need some proper information over this virus.

    It seems the real issue is global economic collapse brought on by headless-chicken panic by pretty well everyone. What is the difference between this lurg and any bout of ‘flu or common cold that has gone around the population, sometimes around nearly everyone, and killed off the weaker members as it has done time and time again? Only three months ago, a very similar virus hit my village bringing me down and leaving me below par for months; I still have a tickle in my throat from the damned thing. Yet nobody panicked, stock markets didn’t cave in, and the pound did not drop them against the Swiss franc nearly as much as it did when markets judged that our economic managers are useless.

    Is this really a repeat of the Spanish ‘flu of 1918? Is there any mileage in the conspiracy theory that this was an artificial pathogen manufactured in a Chinese lab that got out? Even if it was, might the human immune system be quite capable of taking it on – after all there are so many variants of the common cold, each new strain requires a fresh set of antibodies.

    Now we need some online brainstorming to get some answers. It is not the time for idiots (such as The Spectator) to “upgrade” their user interfaces, rendering them horrible to live with.

    1. The most likely source of the Covid-19 virus is a biological weapons factory in Wuhan. The garbled theories that it spontaneously erupted in bats which were eaten by armadillos which were then eaten as sushi by some daft Chinese people is as preposterous as it sounds. This is simply a cover story, or just mad journalism.
      A biological weapon is not much real use if it renders someone slightly indisposed for 24 hours. To be an effective weapon it need not kill, if it does that then fine. However, what a biological weapon needs to to do is flatten its victims for a month or more and Covid-19 does that. (Occam’s razor.)

      1. The principle behind anti-personnel munitions is not to kill the opposition, but to maim them enough that they need medical assistance. As well as the morale effect, that ties up so much more resource (4 stretcher-bearers, medics, expensive drugs, hospital space…). A dead body can be flung in a hole, dug by a machine, for disposal. Simples. Much more effect.

    2. Last year I had some form of lurgy that left me debilitated and achy for several weeks.
      In years past, I’ve had lurgies that left me with a dry cough or a tendency to lose my voice – effects that lasted well into the spring.
      However, they weren’t given fancy names, so I survived.

      1. I’ve got one of them now. Still traces of the dry cough and a general feeling of being below par from a dose of a bad chest infection that knocked me flat for two weeks from 23rd February.

        I’m hoping I can kick it off before this new one finds me.

    3. If you wanted to dominate the world like China does the easiest way is to manufacture a bug which is easily spread and affects the economics of every country it spreads to – kills off people, panic buying, food shortages, stock market collapse,travel restrictions……..just saying…

        1. Rarely eat a chinky Grizz – an expensive way to eat undercooked crap
          Good morrow mate

    4. I am really quite confused, and need some proper information over this virus.

      Morning Jeremy. Join the club! I think we are going to have to wait to discover the motives and causes behind this. They are hidden at the moment, certainly from me at least. That there are factions taking advantage of it there is no doubt but a prime mover? I don’t yet see it!

      1. I have been watching currency movements unfolding. Hit hardest is the Australian dollar, which has sunk even with the pound. The pound has been hammered against the U.S. dollar and the euro, although the U.S. dollar has dropped a little. Considering the chaos going on in Italy and other places on the continent, the Euro is holding up astonishingly well.

        It is the Swiss franc that has rising constantly through this. A few months ago, it overtook the U.S. dollar, and now is approaching parity with the Euro, Why is this?

        1. I’m not an economist but know that currency is the most easily manipulated of all the financial markets. That they are all at work seeking to make more money I do not doubt!

          1. In September 1992, speculating against sterling was like shooting fish in a barrel.

          2. The value of the £ would not have fallen if the G1T of the Governor hadn’t reduced Bank rate to 0.25%….

          3. The value of the £ would not have fallen if the G1T of the Governor hadn’t reduced Bank rate to 0.25%….

        2. Much to the chagrin of the Swiss, who have taken steps to discourage this kind of activity for more than fifty years. But speculators are not rational. Maybe the Helvetic Confederation could adopt the euro. (Goes into hiding.)

        1. You are assuming someone seeking a financial profit. See Horace above. It may be geopolitical!

          1. it’s a good practice run.

            Demonstrates to the originator how disorganised the Western powers are.

          2. it’s a good practice run.

            Demonstrates to the originator how disorganised the Western powers are.

            Now they just need to get control of the communications of the target country.

      3. Dr. Whitty was quite honest about the bug; there’s an awful lot they don’t know, particularly about its trajectory.
        I found such honesty refreshing. The last thing thing we need is a know-it-all gobshite in the top job.

      4. I suspect that this is more cock-up than conspiracy. If this had been a biological weapon, a real weaponised virus, then they would have used something far more lethal than a variant on flu.

        Let’s hope it doesn’t give any terrorists ideas!

  22. A few years ago, a friend and I crossed from Serbia into Croatia and back, thus leaving and re-entering the EU. All very relaxed, especially on the Croatian side. Friend re-visited that crossing recently, with Croatia now in the EU but no in Schengen – Serbian border control much stricter. Odd.

    2. All prison food, all hospital food, all food served to the military, all food in schools, all food in council canteens is halal.

          2. If one complains , one is erroneously accused of racism!!

            Fixed it for you. The accusations come thick & fast regardless.

        2. 317103+ up ticks,
          Morning TB,
          Sticks & stones, as with many issues currently,reverse the once meant meaning of olden times & reveal the truth.

      2. Unless I know the provenance of the meat, I always choose fish or vegetarian dishes when eating out.
        Now we are leaving the EU, it is time to label the meat.

          1. Ideally. I gather it is EU labelling restrictions that lead to our current dilemma.

      3. 317103+ up ticks,
        Morning HP,
        This being the case then it must be by peoples consent so when the “opposition ” host party is finally devoured by it’s larvae the table for the
        party is already set.

      4. My local butcher told me I would be surprised at the amount of supermarket meat is halal.
        I told him I wouldn’t, that’s why I’m here buying from you!

    3. Halal and kosher slaughter should be banned. Denmark has already done it.
      They are totally unnecessary practices in a world of chillers and freezers.
      Mind you, is the move to ‘green’ electricity part of the scheme to keep the method going?

      1. As someone from a (Reform) Jewish background who has never kept Kosher (I love my sausages and bacon too much!) I agree with you. We should not be causing unncessary suffering to animals, it’s the 21st century for heaven’s sake!

        But it is misleading to lump Kosher in with Halal. If I want to eat Kosher meat, I would need to go to Golders Green and buy it from a specialist butcher. Halal is becoming increasingly hard to avoid, it is in the default in many restaurants, schools, hospitals and supermarkets. My understanding is that a proportion of the money spent on Halal is a kind of Islamic tax, so by eating Halal we are essentially funding Islam, whether we want to or not.

        1. Yes. I know you have to make an effort to get kosher.
          The expansion of halal is largely due spinelessness on the part governments and their fellow travellers.

          1. I cannot understand why the RSPCA and the Animals’ Rights groups are not beating down the doors of all the mosques. Is it because they are more afraid of Islam than worried about how animals are treated?

            Would the best legal advice for an active white paedophile be for him to convert to Islam? It he were caught it seems that he might receive more lenient treatment from the courts if he had done so,

      2. I remember seeing pictures of goats being slaughtered over drains in the streets.
        What has happened since, is the same thing is happening but behind closed doors.

    4. “In 2020, Parliament must be accessible to Muslim & Jewish MPs, Lords, staff & visitors.”

      Let the nation consider the warped logic of that. How many more MPs are as thick as this one?

      1. 317103+ up ticks,
        Morning WS,
        Agreed but by the same token the MP is only supposedly a tool of the people, the same faulty tools are repeatedly being used
        again,again,& again.
        Many MPs are thick and treacherous but then again via their
        repeated voting pattern the electorate are without doubt
        thick, treacherous & dangerous.

    1. How many mosques is he closing due to the virus spreading.
      Let’s face the facts, he’s just a subversive.

    2. Since Varadkar has closed down the Irish schools, are we to take it that Dublin’s St George’s Day parade won’t be taking place on 23rd April?

  26. Morning, Campers.
    One discombobulated small dog enjoyed a chunk of almond croissant at 07.00.
    I didn’t realise it was possible to eat so early in the day.

    1. ‘Morning, Anne.

      Are almonds OK for small dogs?

      Good luck with your OP, when do you expect to come home?

      1. He had the plain croissant end; much as I love him, he’s not having the best part of my breakfast.

    2. Good luck Anne. I didn’t realise you were in for an op today. Hope all goes well. Is it day surgery? We’ll be thinking of you.

      2. Same here, I was unaware.
        I’m sure you’ll be back up and about soon, I believe it’s quite a routine op these days.

    3. Good morning, Anne and Good luck, Nursey, I’m sure that you’ll keep ’em in order.

    4. Do I understand that you are having a hip replacement today Anne ?
      You will never regret it.
      Both my wife and I have had it done. No regrets at all.
      In 3 months you’ll be skipping around.

      1. Three months!?! I plan to be out and walking Spartie round Layer Woods by Tuesday. 🙂
        I just hope I haven’t missed the carpets of wood anemonies.

    8. I understand it’s a hip replacement. A number of people at the bowls club have had that and all recovered well. I am sure you will also recover well. Fingers crossed and good luck.

      1. Stocked up with plenty of books. What with reading and being tortured by the physios, the next few days should be busy.
        Just hope my laptop can be connected.

        1. Do you use WhatsApp? A friend was in hospital recently and it’s the only way he could communicate with the outside world. You can make free phone calls and video call as long as you have WiFi. NHS tend to have WiFi but not connected to the internet. We use it to talk to our far flung family using its messaging service.
          Anyway good luck I know you’ll be fine.

    9. Good luck!

      I had a hip replacement done a few years ago and, with the help of an exercise bicycle, I became fit and cheerful again.

  27. Dame Cressida Dick must clean up the Met or resign
    TELEGRAPH VIEW
    Follow 13 MARCH 2020 • 6:00AM

    Operation Midland was a disgrace: the Met sank millions of pounds into investigating the preposterous allegations of sexual abuse by a serial liar, Carl Beech, described by one officer as “credible and true”. One person who was briefly in charge of Midland was Dame Cressida Dick, who is now head of the entire Met.

    Dame Cressida was handed an opportunity to make amends with the Henriques Report of 2016, which made a series of recommendations designed to prevent another disaster. But a new report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) suggests that a cabal of senior officers, including Dame Cressida, were slow to act and more interested in protecting the force’s reputation than acknowledging and learning from the Henriques findings.

    Rather than implementing its recommendations, a special group of officers appeared concerned with the “welfare,… live investigations and civil claims” against the Met. HMIC found that little had been done to make amends for officers searching the homes of innocent men or to prevent something similar happening again.

    There is also still confusion with regards to the guidance that “all victims must be believed”. Some of HMIC’s conclusions on the quality of officers are shaming: “Inexperienced supervisors, weaknesses in understanding, inconsistencies and a superficial approach to supervising crime investigations.”

    Midland turned the lives of its victims upside down and rocked public confidence in the Met, and it is unforgivable that so many problems still haven’t been solved. Dame Cressida’s choice is quite simple: clean up the force, or resign.

    Robert Spowart 13 Mar 2020 8:35AM
    Resign?

    No, she should be sacked, as she should have been after Stockwell.

    Edit ()

      2. You mean investigated knowing it would all fall apart in order to deter others you mean?
        Just like the prosecution of Dr Dhanuson Dharmasena for FGM you mean?

    2. Hilarious.
      And he’s still at it he’s a classic example of ‘not getting it’.

  30. Covid-19
    Did the UK Government send anyone to China to get first hand information?
    Have we heard anything at all from anyone who has had the virus?
    Are the authorities checking the source and contacts of those who are tested positive? Or have they given up on that?

    1. Over many years, I’ve had bugs that have left me debilitated for several weeks afterwards with a cough/dry throat/fading voice/achy joints. But they were not given fancy names and therefore deemed unworthy of dramatic gestures.

    2. Surely after the Hinkley Point, Huawei and likely HS2 giveaways, it’s obvious the Conservative Party is China ?

  31. Morning all. 😕

    🎶Where have all the flowers gone 🎶

    It seems that nothing ever changes in our political circles, today’s experts will once more be, tomorrow’s fools.

    🎶when will they ever learn, when will they e v e r learn ? 🎶

  32. The irony of Trevor Phillips’ suspension. Spiked. 13 March 2020.

    There is something grimly ironic about the Labour Party’s decision to suspend Trevor Phillips from its membership on the grounds of ‘Islamophobia’. For it was Phillips who helped introduce and popularise this bogus word and fraudulent concept in the first place.

    Yes all Marxist revolutions end up eating their own children!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/03/13/the-irony-of-trevor-phillips-suspension/

    2. That is why my sympathy is somewhat limited.
      TP didn’t think it through. Never underestimate the sheer viciousness of the Left and its ability to take logic into the realms of madness.

      1. It shows just how extreme Labour is getting when the like of Trever Philps and Germane Greer are not welcome

      2. To be honest I do not know much about TP but he has certainly been presented in the MSM as having had a Damascene moment when he saw the light that it is not always whitey who is wrong, whitey who is racist and whitey who needs to be punished. Of course this is entirely against the Labour Party line and so he had to be expelled.

  33. First Covid-19 case happened in November, China government records show – report. 13 March 2020.

    The first case of someone suffering from Covid-19 can be traced back to 17 November, according to media reports on unpublished Chinese government data.

    The report, in the South China Morning Post, said Chinese authorities had identified at least 266 people who contracted the virus last year and who came under medical surveillance, and the earliest case was 17 November – weeks before authorities announced the emergence of the new virus.

    Plenty more to come out yet. Time is truths friend. We’ll have to sift through it though. This report for example is from Hong Kong, hardly sympathetic to the Chinese Government!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/13/first-covid-19-case-happened-in-november-china-government-records-show-report

        1. A song he likes to play with his new band ‘A Saucerful of Secrets’. I hope they bring out an album soon though I wonder if there might not be some copyright problems.

  35. “Emiliano Sala: Fatal plane crash report to be published” according to BBC. Whilst this is a sad story it is of no significance except to the Investigators and to the families of those directly involved.
    Now, about the Government report into muslim grooming gangs and widespread rape of children across the UK…

    1. But surely we all understand that it would not be in the national interest for us to know the truth about rape gangs who target underage white girls? I cannot believe that anyone would not trust the judgement of the government or the excellent civil service.

  36. London Underground Tube Driver Tests Positive For Coronavirus

    This shows just how stupid our government id in allowing people to travel to high risk countries and return with no screening

    A London Underground driver has tested positive for coronavirus.

    The man, who works on the Tube’s Jubilee Line, has been off work this week after returning from holiday in Vietnam, sources told the PA news agency.

    2. Spaying the streets is fairly pointless unless you make a habit of sitting on pavements or roads

    5. Sun looks low. Early morning, 06:00 or thereabouts? Might account for a lack of tourists…
      Edit: So low that the whole square is in shadow from not-very-tall buildings.

  41. Okay, now that precious footballers are being affected by the virus, it appears that the government has started to take things seriously. But not enough to stop thousands of Spanish fans arriving in Liverpool for the match !
    None of whom will be tested as we will never have the infrastructure or the staff. But what if we did. And a couple of thousand had tested positive ?

  42. Actors’ union Equity apologises for branding Laurence Fox a ‘disgrace’ over Question Time comments

    Is the tide starting to turn?

    The actors’ union Equity has issued an apology to Laurence Fox after a social media post from its minority ethnic committee branded the Lewis star a “disgrace.”

    All members of Equity’s Race Equality Committee have since resigned as committee members, saying that felt they had “no choice” but to do so.

    Equity’s original post came after Fox claimed that a Question Time audience member was being “racist” when she labelled him a “white privileged male” during a discussion about media coverage of Meghan Markle.

    When academic Rachel Boyle said that some sections of the media had treated the Duchess of Sussex in a “racist” manner, Fox, 41, claimed that the UK is “the most tolerant, lovely country in Europe” and said that the “charge of racism” was “starting to get boring now.”

    1. So they resigned because the main committee made a democratic decision to apologise to Fox?

  44. Cressida Dick faces fresh demands to resign after report into Carl Beech blunders.13 March 2020 • 12:01am

    Critics said the Met Commissioner’s position is now in real jeopardy after the report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) accused her force of waiting three years before acting on a series of urgent recommendations.

    Dick was only made Commissioner because she’s female and a lesbian. The part she played in the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes alone should have disqualified her from the position. This judgement has been more than confirmed by her performance since. Her response to street stabbings and her suppression of the Williamson and Darroch leak enquiries are just two examples that reveal her to be an incompetent lackey of the Government not a servant of the people.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/13/cressida-dick-faces-fresh-demands-resign-report-carl-beech-blunders/

    1. The JCdeM tragedy resulted in her promotion, imho. She knows too much about the killing.

  45. Just been thinking about how soap is supposed to kill coronavirus,
    They say the virus lodges in the throat when first infected.
    Should we be washing out our mouths with soap and water?
    Or alternatively drink lemon and honey with a squirt of soap?

    2. Hand sanitisers of minimum 60% alcohol are advised. So it follows that one should gargle with alcohol to kill a throat infection. No need to spit it out afterwards.

          1. I took a second degree when I felt one degree under.
            I didn’t go for a PhD because I didn’t want to be a doctor.

      2. A pity Johnson & Johnson have dropped the original style Listerine and moved to non-alcohol alternatives.

  46. A Palestinian teenager has reportedly been shot dead by Israeli forces during a clash in the occupied West Bank.
    Palestinian medics said Mohammed Hamayel, 15, was hit in the face by live
    ammunition near the village of Beita, south of the city of Nablus.

    Israel’s military said 500 Palestinians took part in what it called a violent
    riot, hurling rocks towards its troops and setting tyres on fire.

    Today’s pro-Palestinian blurb from the Beeb.
    If 500 rioting Arabs were going for me, I would hope that someone would shoot the bloody lot of them.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-51836468

    2. They must be enormously strong to be able to hurl ‘rocks’. Teenagers generally throw stones.

        1. Nelson Mandela never rejected the use of violence; if it worked for him and his ANC people, why shouldn’t it work for Palestinians?

          1. Because they are not black Africans escaping from the iron heel of the arrogant British Colonialists ?

          2. Good morning Tony,
            My point was originally about the use of the word ‘rock’, which for me is something large enough to be used in a garden rockery. I visualise a rock as being substantially larger than a stone, or cobble, or pebble.
            Ayers Rock is an extreme example.

          3. Large stones, perhaps. Did you see the video a while back of them throwing rocks down onto cars driving along a motorway ? I think there were some fatalities, and the world went mad when one of the stone-throwers got killed.
            I am not an expert on stones, although I weigh quite a few of them.

  47. France is to close all schools while a state of emergency has been declared in New York City as the world braces for further spread of coronavirus.

  49. Good morning all

    I cannot access the rest of this article, but you will all get the gist .

    The effectiveness of Britain’s £14 billion annual aid budget is to be investigated by parliament.

    MPs on the international development committee have begun an inquiry into spending on overseas development, which is ringfenced at 0.7 per cent of gross national income. Some aid projects funded by British taxpayers have been criticised, with doubts voiced about their lasting impact.

    Downing Street is leading a review of foreign, defence and security policy, which is due to conclude by July.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/inquiry-into-usefulness-of-overseas-aid-2vdh6tlsh

  50. From the Tellygraff:

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/12/global-response-coronavirus-shows-nation-state-back/

    “The global response to coronavirus shows that the nation state is back

    The Prime Minister of Jamaica is getting worried about Brits flying into his country. Two of them, he said yesterday, have already brought the coronavirus and he might consider a travel ban. The public reaction to his announcement was one of outrage. Consider a ban? What’s to consider? The Brits have the lurgy, so stop them arriving: put country first. Donald Trump made a similar point and, typically, was lambasted for it. But look around, and we see a lot of leaders behaving in the same way.

    From Brussels, Guy Verhofstadt reached for the moral high ground by telling Trump to focus on American healthcare and not a travel ban for Europeans. But how much European solidarity is on display right now? The Italians are facing their worst peacetime crisis, but Angela Merkel has decreed that Germany’s supply of medical protective equipment is not for export. Her government stopped shipments of masks to Austria, Hungary and Switzerland. So much for the sanctity of the single market.

    Christine Lagarde, now head of the European Central Bank, doesn’t even pretend to be willing to help Italians whose government bonds come under pressure: not her job, she said yesterday. Her remarks sent Italian government interest rates soaring. It’s as if the world is learning a new EU motto: in discrimine, stas solus. When crisis strikes, you’re on your own. But not completely alone. China has dispatched a team of medical experts — along with masks and ventilators — to Italy, in what seems to be a kind of virus diplomacy.

    The coronavirus is testing global alliances, with revealing results. It turns out that, when a pandemic strikes, countries react like people do: they stockpile. Clinical facemasks might not be the most effective tool against the virus but Ms Merkel still wants to make sure that Germany has enough of them before she’ll allow any to make their way to Vienna. It’s not quite logical, but it’s very human. One of the many questions coronavirus has raised is just how exposed importers are to these impulses.

    For some time now, British officials have been working on a no-deal Brexit, and gameplanning various scenarios where global supply chains choke up. In theory, there ought to be no problem at all: why, for example, should France suddenly decide to quarantine pets that Brits bring to Paris? But in practise, politics might throw up complications. For those involved in the no-deal planning, it’s been an eye-opener to find out what Britain doesn’t make anymore, and what we need to stockpile. The exercise seems a little less theoretical now.

    The feeling in No10 is that such planning will become the new normal, and will occupy government long after the virus is under control. Some see coronavirus as a drill for how to handle the next pandemic. It’s lucky that the last one, swine flu, was so mild: about one in 10 people around the world are understood to have ended up infected. Covid-19 is a nastier pandemic, but not an especially deadly one. A virus as contagious as swine flu and as lethal as Spanish flu could pose a bigger risk to a country than war.

    Defending the realm will, from now on, mean defending it from the next pandemic. This means making hard-headed assumptions about who to rely on. If Austria was attacked by Russia, then its Nato allies would — in theory — unite in its defence. But with a virus, it’s different: the United States has just closed its borders to 20 of its 28 Nato allies. Trump spoke about banning their imports, too. Austria closed its border with Italy earlier in the week and the Czech Republic closed its border with Austria yesterday. A nation’s instinct is to close ranks.

    For years, now, the nation state has been making a comeback in Europe. The Schengen borderless idea was conceived when global migration was a fraction of what it is today. Borders are seen as effective tools in handling migration, managing economies and looking after the nation state. Brexit was part of this trend, forcing Britain to confront pretty difficult questions at an early stage.

    Globalisation, which has brought so many benefits, was being pushed into reverse before the virus struck — assailed by trade protectionists, climate warriors and economic nationalists. Coronavirus might finally kill the hyper-globalisation of the last two decades, making companies paranoid about imports. The average car, for example, has about 25,000 parts brought in from hundreds of different companies. One analysis for Toyota identified 2,200 suppliers for every vehicle rolling off its production line. Doing it this way makes it cheaper, but it may soon come to be seen as insanely risky.

    Trump has spent years saying America was being ripped off by its trading partners. As so often, his critics ended up copying his analysis: every would-be presidential candidate who stood for the Democrat nomination was just as hawkish on China. Dependence on Beijing — especially for medicine and its components — can now be seen as a security risk, a potential casualty of the next pandemic. World trade hasn’t grown for many months and is unlikely to recover soon, given how many world leaders realise how vulnerable their economies are to global supply chains.

    When the virus dies down, we can expect British manufacturers to make this point: that it’s time to buy British. It might not be cheaper, but it might be more reliable. An entrepreneurial tool producer in Northern Ireland pointed out last month that half of British machine tools are now bought from China, so wouldn’t it be safer to have them shipped over from Belfast? A few months ago, this might have been seen as the protectionist cry of a Little Britain. Now, it could be seen as a sensible precaution.

    The advice given to ministers is that we’re still at the beginning of all this, that the number of daily infections will probably keep rising until June. Some in government fear that the supposed worst-case scenario — 100,000 deaths — is looking more like a base scenario. It might never come close to this, but the instinct in government is to prepare for the worst.

    What is for sure is that the old assumptions about globalisation have gone, never to return.”

  51. All elite football in England has been suspended until at least 3 April as a result of the spread of coronavirus.

    All Premier League games, EFL fixtures and matches in the FA Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship have been postponed.

    The Premier League said action would resume on 4 April “subject to medical advice and conditions at the time”.

    The Football Association said England’s games against Italy on 27 March and Denmark four days later are off.

    1. The senior investigating officer said he had just finished debriefing a surveillance team when the “penny dropped”.

      As he sat in the police briefing room and stared at the names of suspects written on a whiteboard, Mr Morton suddenly realised he wasn’t looking merely at a set of sexual predators, but a highly organised crime group.

      Wow! Sherlock Holmes eat your heart out!

      1. You dont get to be a Senior Investigation office without at least having half a brain cell

        1. You don’t need to possess any brain cells to spend all day, every day, posting witless comments on this forum.

        1. Nearly a decade after the abuse of vulnerable girls in Oxford began to be addressed, following years of negligence by police and social services, the last of the so-called Operation Bullfinch trials has ended. How did the sex offenders at the centre of the city’s depraved underworld finally come to face justice?

          This is what passes for BBC reporting. No mention of the part they and the politicians played in keeping it away from the MSM outlets and even here it’s portrayed as a criminal enterprise and not a racist operation by imported perverts

      3. That’s Smiff, Smiff, Smiff, Jones, Brown, Smiff, Jones, Jones, Featherstone Smythe, Smiff, Smiff, Green, Smiff ……

  53. I’m an NHS doctor treating coronavirus – you have no idea how bad things could get

    Almost everyone agrees that Boris is not doing enough. The UK seems to be out on a limb. I suspect that with in a week Boris will be forced to take more drastic measures. You can see by the rapidly escalating numbers that is out of control

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/coronavirus/im-an-nhs-doctor-treating-coronavirus-%e2%80%93-you-have-no-idea-how-bad-things-could-get/ar-BB116j99?ocid=msedgdhp

    1. I am no fan of Boris but what empirical evidence can you provide to support your statement that “almost everyone agrees that Boris is not doing enough”? Most people I have spoken to agree that Boris is making practical, pragmatic and science-based decisions. It is totally irresponsible claims like yours that are exacerbating the situation.

    2. What measures do you want him to take?
      We all agree it could get worse but will it?

        1. ‘Getting worse’ is about the best thing that can happen, as long as it doesn’t ‘get worse;’ too quickly, because it’s not going to go away. We are stuck with it. It’ll be back next year and the year after that and so on. If it gets out now in a controlled manner the many people who get it and suffer the usual mild symptoms that the press are ignoring if favour of the sensational stories will develop a degree of immunity, the way flu victims do. This will lead to some herd immunity reducing the ability of the virus to be passed on.

          This means that when next winter’s epidemic arrives, it won’t be as dangerous, even if the strain has mutated.

          It’s always going to be there, along with flu, colds, heart attacks, strokes, various cancers, broken legs and being hit by a bus.

          1. We had a giggle over the hit by a bus scenario in the office yesterday. One of the ladies has a friend she says is walking around glued to her phone, reading about the virus and not looking where she’s going. We figured the friend has less to fear from Covid19 than from wandering out of Television Centre into the path of a 220 to Willesden Junction.

        3. But what measure do you want taken. It’s no good keep on saying action is needed unless you can say what.

          3. One thing that the powers could do is ensure that enough hand sanitiser. Hoarders have stripped shelves of the stuff, so it is almot pointless to advise using it.
            New York state have now put prisoners to work making the stuff.

      2. They have already called up retired nurses and medics and suggested third year student nurses go to the front line.

    3. I am no fan of Boris but what empirical evidence can you provide to support your statement that “almost everyone agrees that Boris is not doing enough”? Most people I have spoken to agree that Boris is making practical, pragmatic and science-based decisions. It is totally irresponsible claims like yours that are exacerbating the situation.

  56. Which countries are closing schools?

    Schools in the US states of Ohio, Michigan, Oregon, Maryland, Kentucky and New Mexico have been told to shut on Monday for at least two weeks.

    French schools will be closed from Monday for 15 days, while Belgian schools will be closed until Easter.

    The German states of Bavaria and Saarland said their schools would be closed until the end of Easter holidays in late April. The capital Berlin will also start closing its schools next week.

    The governments of the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Karnataka have closed schools and colleges, affecting tens of millions of students.

    The moves follow similar announcements from the Republic of Ireland, Spain, the Philippines, Portugal and Bolivia on Thursday.

    1. They have only had three notified cases in Bolivia so far and they have not yet had any deaths.

      1. At the moment there is only limited data on how it is spreading and No one really knows why the incidence of it in Italy is so high and why the incidence of it in the Shetland Islands is so high. There seems no logical pattern to it

        1. The total population of the Shetland Islands is about 23,000. If six people – who may be all from the same family – have the coronavirus, then in such a small population, it distorts the percentage of those infected beyond any real meaning.

          As somebody pointed out the other day, small numbers make bad statistics.

          1. That was me Duncan.

            Bill has the ‘transmit’ button stuck in the ‘on’ position, but his receiver’s completely buggered.

          2. I live in a county with a population of 300,000. As of the latest figures we have precisely zero recorded cases.

            Egro by extrapolation, Coronavirus doesn’t exist.

            (Sill no bog rolls in the supermarket, though)

        2. Bill, as I replied to you yesterday when you posed the same question about your supposed Shetland anomaly, small numbers make for bad statistics.

          Didn’t you read that?

  57. Wallace warns of ‘strong response’ as US launches air strikes in Iraq. ITV. 13 March 2020.

    “The coalition stands shoulder to shoulder in Iraq. Our forces work together to help the country resist the malign activity of terrorists,” Mr Wallace said in a statement.

    “When we and others are attacked we reserve the right to defend ourselves.

    “We support the right of the United States to defend themselves, as they have done tonight.

    “We reiterate that those who seek to harm our armed forces can expect to receive a strong response.”

    Pathetic posturing. What are we going to do? Cut off their aid? The truth behind this affair is that the attack was almost certainly carried out by Iraqi forces as can be inferred from the targets of the American response which was on “five weapon storage facilities”.

    https://www.itv.com/news/2020-03-13/wallace-warns-of-strong-response-as-us-launches-air-strikes-in-iraq/

  58. Nicked Comment

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/04cdc3d04e6b66756a41389348eea60b05e88ad42b6fe5a39910a001750bb0e5.jpg

    “Where are we going Piglet?” asked Pooh.

    “We need to get supplies,” said Piglet. “For the Coronavirus”

    “Ahh,”
    said Pooh, nodding in understanding. “Things like bread, milk, cough
    mixture, tissues and cat litter even though we don’t have a cat?”

    Piglet
    did a little laugh, and a sort of leap and bit of a cough. “No,” said
    Piglet. “No, those aren’t the sort of supplies we need at all! What we
    need are family sized bags of chocolate buttons, massive toblerone,
    jelly babies and crunchies and a freezer full of stuffed crust pizzas,
    and all of the Prosecco that we can possibly carry, so that when we get
    quarantined we won’t mind it even slightly. THOSE are supplies.”

    All
    of a sudden, Pooh thought that the idea of coronavirus didn’t seem
    quite so bad, and actually, getting quarantined with Piglet and their
    supplies really didn’t sound such a terrible thing after all. “Oh
    Piglet,” said Pooh. “I really do think you are a very wise animal.”

    As they walked along they spotted Eeyore stood by a stream watching the sticks float by…..

    “Hello Eeyore.” Said Pooh, “we’re off to buy supplies to sit out the quarantine, would you like to come?”

    “No
    thank you.” Said Eeyore “I’m just going to stand here, look at the
    stream and contemplate the Economic impact of a media induced panic that
    several companies are projecting folding straight out of Brexit. Also
    the NHS being brought to its knees by a huge panic, and the social
    impact of people distrusting others because they look or are associated
    with China. People are dumb.”

    “Well that’s sad.” Said Pooh “I much prefer getting shitfaced and eating Pizza.”

    “The
    ironic thing.” Smiled Eeyore is that Panic induces the Stress Response,
    and the first thing the stress response does is switch off the immune
    system.”

    “Huh.” Said Pooh. “why would the media do that.”

    “I don’t know.” Said Eeyore “I just watch sticks.”

  59. Sitting in my room and connected to the interwebby thanks to a helpful young man.
    Chosen my supper so presumably I will be conscious some time this evening.

          2. Hah!
            Found out how to increase upvotes.
            Vote up through the notifications (logged as “Guest”), then vote up again through the main page.
            Yaay!! Two for one!

      1. X – or rather an arrow – marks the spot.
        Surgeon’s reminder to himself.
        Should I worry?

        1. I would worry more if there wasn’t an arrow, or if it was on the wrong side…

    10. You could always sluice out a few bedpans (and listen to some hip-hop) to pass the time until your op! 😂

      Joking apart, best wishes for a speedy recovery. 😘

  62. I was in Waitrose yesterday. No toilet rolls or tissues or anything containing paracetamol in its many forms.

    I have just returned from a dash out to Tesco’s. I had forgotten icing sugar and SR flour for a Victoria sponge I will be making for Mothering Sunday. The car park was full, inside the supermarket it was like shopping for Christmas, 10.30 am. Again, there were no toilet rolls, tissues, paracetamol products. Dried goods were fast disappearing, empty boxes abounded on shelves, not helped by signs such as those seen by the porridge oats *£2.20 or two for £3.00*. Flour was fast disappearing, I did get my SR flour but it was the last few packs and only the small ones were left, Tesco organic SR. The icing sugar – 6 packs on the top shelf at the back, I had to jump up and down to see what was there; I had to ask an assistant to reach one down (seeing I am a little old lady….). Thus people are not buying for need, they are mindlessly reaching out for goods as they pass by, just in case, it might come in useful sometime, you-never-know-sort of attitude. The world as gone mad.

    The grand-daughter of a friend of mine has just been diagnosed with CV-19. She is 13 and her symptoms are mild. Her parents, who are physios, and the rest of the family have put themselves in quarantine.

    1. “I had forgotten icing sugar and SR flour for a Victoria sponge I will be making for Mothering Sunday.”

      What? You have to bake your own Mother’s day cake? Shame on Poppie and her siblings! 🤣🍰👍🏻

          2. ‘Afternoon, Paul we have a Pernilla living next door to us, She’s Swedish but has got over that by living in Ireland for decades.

      2. Poppie is my little white dog….. our younger son usually bakes a batch of cupcakes, but he has a toddler and a wife who is expecting her second so I volunteered as he is starting to look somewhat frazzled.

    2. Just come in from ASDA with the normal weekly shop. The looters have been.

      My wife’s been suffering with her sinuses after a cold she’s had for the last couple of weeks and Sinutabs were on the shopping list to ease her constant headaches. No Sinutabs. No Ibuprofen, Paracetamol, Aspirin or any other painkillers either. The shelves were empty. Stop-smoking stuff was there in abundant supply, but no painkillers. Considering each customer is limited to only two packets in normal times, there’s been a lot of buying ‘just in case’.

      The soap and handwash shelves were bare too. I wasn’t wanting any, just noticed in passing.

      Spaghetti; absent, although there was some of those twisty pasta things there when I passed. Didn’t need any anyway.

      I got to the toilet rolls where the ample rows of shelving were bare apart from one single plastic-wrapped bundle of 9-packs. I buy them in 9s or 12s every few weeks as necessary and we needed a re-supply, so I picked one pack from the bundle. I had to work my way around a woman with a pack of 9 in each hand and a look of anger on her face. She was complaining to the world at large, in response to a notice on the shelf ‘They are
      limiting us to only two packs per person. That’s PATHETIC!’

      No pet. What is pathetic is that people like you are let out without a carer so you can moan about not being allowed to buy more than 18 bog rolls at a time, when people who really need them can’t get any at all, nor any painkillers for existing conditions because of parasites like you clearing the shelves for no reason.

    3. I did a shop t6his morning and had no problems finding what I wanted.
      Place looked a typical Friday morning.

    4. Iceland have many thing now that cannot be ordered online. I assume this is because they have no means of making stock reservations online so you might order it o line only to find they had none

  63. The end of the world is nigh, and the BBC has confirmed that nonagenarians who do not pay their TV licences may be taken to court.
    Stop the world, anyway. I want to get off.

    2. Hope for a jail term.
      Dry & changed bedding, free meals, entertainment. Company.
      What’s not to like?

    3. Hope for a jail term.
      Dry & changed bedding, free meals, entertainment. Company.
      What’s not to like?

    4. No problem.

      If the scare-mongers are to be taken seriously, we won’t have any over-75s left to pay the licence anyway.

      The courts will remain untroubled.

      1. The comments made by Clementi to the HoC committee are unbelievable. He is either senile or totally thick. Or both…

  65. KBO
    My neighbours recently returned from Italy and booking another cruise in April,

    2. They may not get there most Cruise companies have suspend cruises to Italy at least until early April

      1. Experiencing probs with Ws10 – unable to post pics

        when I post a pic the post tag disappears!
        HELP!

          1. Just posted some pictures and it is working fine

            Using Chrome browser and Windows 10

          2. I’m using chrome and Win 7 pro but when I try to post a picture it tells me I must be logged in – which I am, even tried logging out and back in.

          3. Could be Windows 7 issue . It is a very old and no longer supported. Is Plum Tart using Windows 7 ?

          6. When my laptop played up, I found I could post pictures by clicking on the little ‘mountain and sun’ square in the line under the reply box. This brought up my whole desktop list and I clicked on the picture I wanted to use.
            About a week ago, Disqus reverted to ‘drag and drop’ – well, for Macs; can’t speak for other systems.

          8. Nah, still doesn’t work for Macs – at least, the Safari browser. Still get the ‘You must be logged in to post pictures’ message.

        2. I bet you’ll soon have a little message in the corner of your screen telling you to update.
          I had quite a few problems for ages. I updated it took hours. I do have my cd /dvd player back, but haven’t got round to testing other things.

  69. Government drafts in military to help local areas cope with coronavirus crisis

      1. Flamethrowers. Bayonets won’t deal effectively with objects measuring about 100 nm.

        1. Children are major carriers of the virus, especially when they are sent to the grandparents. Therefore they have lifted the “Always keep away from children” when it comes to bayonets; it only applies to washing powder, and optionally old people.

          1. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said MoD planners would use their expertise in helping local areas to prepare for the outbreak.

            “It is 38 non-uniform MoD planners who will be helping local areas to draw up their plans as to how they will support public services and emergency services throughout the outbreak,” the spokesman said.

            “They will also be in a position to help them test their existing plans.”

  70. Coronavirus latest: Woman ‘trapped in apartment with husband’s dead body after they were quarantined’

  71. Emiliano Sala crash: Pilot Ibbotson ‘not licensed for flight’

    The pilot of the plane that crashed killing footballer Emiliano Sala was not licensed to fly the aircraft, a report has found.

    Sala, 28, and pilot David Ibbotson died in the crash, two days after the Argentine striker signed for Cardiff City in January 2019.

    The Air Accidents Investigation Branch published its findings on Friday.

    It said Sala would have been “deeply unconscious” from carbon monoxide

    1. I’m confused. What has the pilot being ‘unlicensed’ to do with Sala being unconscious from CO?

    1. Very informative.

      Is Wee Jimmy Krankie complaining that Scotland isn’t getting its fair share and as usual England is hogging the lion’s share?

      1. She’s got the shadow foreign secretary up there hand cranking the numbers with her slide rule. Well she will have, once she’s worked out how to take it out of its case.

    6. Is his marketing punch line: “Before sleeping, put a cotton ball dipped in violet oil to the anus, and you’ll wake up smelling of roses”?

    1. St Patrick’s day parades in Boston and Savannah have been cancelled. In Hilton Head the parade has been postponed from Saturday at 9AM until Sunday at 3PM – how that is supposed to help offset covid19, who can tell!

  78. From Mike Holden.

    In light of recent of panic buying UK supermarkets have introduced purchase limits.

    Asda: 2 hand sanitisers, 24 toilet rolls max.

    Tesco: 1 Hand sanitiser, 18 toilet rolls & 2kg rice.

    Co-op: 12 rolls toilet paper, 1Kg rice.

    Aldi: 2 Trumpets, 1 diving suit & a MIG welder.I

  79. If I get coronavirus I will almost certainly die. I have all the markers. Yesterday evening I suggested to the Sultana that I might as well go out and buy a motorbike. “Why not, ” she replied.

    5. If you are likely to pop your clogs soon you may with to pre book your funeral as the slots and there is a back log. Only one funeral can be purchased at a time to prevent hoarding

          7. It didn’t come over as funny. I mentioned that the funeral directors would be busy, a while back, but I didn’t see anything remotely funny about it.

          8. The nearer we get to needing their services, the less funny it is. But it’s the British way.

        1. In the case of a funeral, if you are buying well in advance, at a reduced rate, it’s probably justified.

  80. BREAKING NEWS

    More total inconstancy. It is fine to travel abroad but to dangerous to vote

    All Local & Mayoral Elections due to take place in May have now been postponed to May of next year

    1. It’s probably because the staff needed for the counts will be transferred to other duties.

      1. Very likely. I did a conference call with a couple of NHS finance staff today; next week they’re being trained as porters, just in case (I guess doing the books can wait).

      2. Very likely. I did a conference call with a couple of NHS finance staff today; next week they’re being trained as porters, just in case (I guess doing the books can wait).

  81. A world in chaos: Five countries order schools to close, churches in Rome shut their doors, and showpiece sporting events are axed as global death toll from coronavirus nears 5,000. 13 March 2020.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bf51c93e7d09626a26c8cbe955e09b067be9c518da74224882ca2cf1dfcac25c.jpg

    Coronavirus panic tightened its grip worldwide yesterday as scores of countries dramatically upped their response to the deadly pandemic.

    It’s Planet of the Apes! They’re taking over!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8107295/A-world-chaos-Global-death-toll-coronavirus-nears-5-000.html

    1. They are not apes (apes don’t have tails) but they’re certainly making monkeys out of us.

      1. I believe Bob is married to a woman called Jean and when people meet her they always say: “Hi, Jean!”

  84. Britons told to stay away from parts of Spain

    That will go down well at Easter although it is mainly away from the Costas at present . It is likely the airlines will stop flights to airports i the affected regions

    Other than Madrid I am no familiar with the other regions

    he Foreign Office has advised against all but essential travel to certain regions in Spain.

    The restricted areas are Madrid, La Rioja and the municipalities of La Bastida, Vitoria and Miranda de Ebro.

      1. No I am not. There is nothing at present to stop people going there. It will though be against FO advice so you might manage to get there but not get back. Any health insurance may be invalidated as well

    1. From that webcam I visited Rome, Milan and Venice. They were almost as deserted as the ski resort.

      1. THe airline and tourist industry will face a big hit at Easter as that’s when the tourist traffic really build up. Some tour operator and airlines may not survive. Most of the small airlines are already loss making and have been for a few years

  86. In Europe, where the virus is present in all 27 EU states and infected more than 25,000 people, governments have adopted strict measures to contain the outbreak, with France, Spain, Ireland, Austria, Norway and Denmark among the list of countries to have closed all schools, universities and kindergartens.

    Others have gone further, with Belgium deciding on Thursday night to shut bars and restaurants too, and allow only essential shops such as supermarkets and pharmacies to stay open on weekends. Citizens are being advised to work from home.

    In other developments:

    India and Norway announced their first deaths, while Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines confirmed the first infections.
    Iran declared a further 85 deaths, pushing the country’s total death toll to 514 amid 11,364 confirmed cases.
    France joined Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and others in cancelling professional football.
    The Portuguese government put the country on a state of alert to mobilise civil protection, police and the army.
    The Bulgarian parliament voted unanimously to declare a state of emergency until 13 April after the number of confirmed cases more than tripled to 23.
    The entire Romanian cabinet is in quarantine after coming into contact with a senator who has tested positive.
    The Czech government banned all foreign travellers from entering and all Czechs from leaving the country from 16 March.
    Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said foreigners and migration were to blame for the emergence and spread of the virus in Hungary.
    Italy, by far the hardest-hit European country with 15,000 infections and more than 1,000 deaths, is in nationwide lockdown, with all travel banned unless certified necessary on professional or health grounds and the 62m-strong population expected to stay mainly at home.

    In France, which has reported 2,867 cases and 61 deaths, President Emmanuel Macron said the country faced its worst public health crisis in a century and unveiled a raft of social distancing measures, calling for a “sacred union” of the nation – as well as international cooperation – to defeat the epidemic.

    France would do “all it takes” to preserve its economy, jobs and businesses, Macron said. The economy minister, Bruno Le Maire, pledged on Friday that workers would “not lose a centime” due to temporary lay-offs during the crisis. Local elections this Sunday will, however, go ahead, with voters advised to bring their own pen.

    Germany reported more than 3,000 confirmed infections on Friday, with six deaths. Of the country’s 16 states, Berlin, Bavaria and two others have announced the blanket closure of schools and kindergartens, with more expected to follow.

    The German federal government has announced a far-reaching reorganisation of the nation’s hospitals to cope with the crisis, and on Friday legislated to compensate companies so they could continue to pay workers on reduced hours their full salary. “We will not abandon anyone,” Olaf Scholz, the finance minister, said.

    More than 60,000 people were confined to four towns in Spain’s first mandatory lockdown, while the situation in and around the capital, Madrid, with nearly 2,000 cases, was a source of particular concern. Officials admitted on Friday that the region was “in dire need” of medical supplies.

    Spain reported a total of more than 3,800 cases on Friday and 84 deaths. The government has closed museums and sports centres, sent home nearly 10 million students and asked people to work remotely.

    In Brussels, EU interior ministers said any border restrictions inside the passport-free Schengen zone must be coordinated to ensure they are not counterproductive. Individual member countries are responsible for health and public safety, which do not fall within the remit of the EU’s institutions.

    1. Most of these are panic measures designed to spread alarm and they are virtue signalling. Closing schools will do nothing to stop the spread of the virus, particularly if the children are then looked after by grandparents, who are at more risk.

      How are shopworkers, etc supposed to work from home?

  87. DM Story

    Has Boris bottled it? Ex-Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and ex-cabinet minister Rory Stewart blast Boris Johnson’s ‘risky’, ‘defeatist’ and ‘concerning’ decision not to lockdown UK NOW to tackle coronavirus ‘national emergency’

    If these two failed Conservative Party leadership candidates end up in hospital with corona virus nobody should take them any more grapes – they already have a full supply even if they are sour grapes.

    1. Boris is following the advice of the chief medical officer and scientists. You can’t lock down the whole country for an indefinite period. They already estimate +/- 10,000 have had a mild dose of the virus. Most people will recover, but the old and frail need protection.

      1. I listened to what they said and what they are saying has no science to back up their claims

        What you should be looking at is risk management and dealing with the highest risk situation ,. So travel to and from high risk countries should be stopped

        Stop UK International Sports Events.

        Close Gyms and swimming baths

        2. Bill.

          I think I prefer to heed the advice of ‘the chief medical officer
          and scientists’ than you.
          For goodness sake stop your continual pontificating on
          every subject under the sun, you are not an expert.
          You are becoming very boring.

          1. Morning G

            Becoming? But I’d miss him if he was absent. He keeps us up to date with the headlines.

          3. ‘Afternoon, little g, fixing it for you.

            “You are have becominge very boring.”

        3. Do stop lying about there being no science backing up the government’s strategy. You’re completely without qualification to question the government’s position on this.

          1. So quote me the scientific bases for their claims and the data to support their claims ?

      2. I agree with you, J. Good afternoon.

        I was due to attend a meeting tomorrow,
        where several hundred people, from
        across England, are due to attend.
        I decided, yesterday, not to go.

        1. I had a virus in January which gave me a persistent cough and lasted three or four weeks – perhaps this was it – lots of people had the same kind of thing.

          3. I picked up a nasty lurgy on a visit to London in early November (to meet up with Elsie and Toots). I was coughing and sneezing right up to the end of the year and the resultant catarrh is only now abating.

          4. Serves you right for visiting Londonistan. I don’t go there any more. I prefer Khartoum, even Lagos.
            :-))
            But nice to meet E & T.

          5. Yes, I had something similar, it started at the
            beginning of February and I was quite poorly
            for two weeks…..I think that whatever it was
            has at last finally cleared up.

          9. Interesting. I’ve had the same thing. Raised temperature for two days, and a cough that’s still with me two weeks later.

          10. #metoo. I had a heavy cold in October but didn’t feel too ill with it at the time. The cough lasted until about three weeks ago however

          11. Yes, it was the worst cough I have ever had. It sounded like that of a lifelong 40 fags per day man.

          12. I had the same thing but in November – took ages for the cough to go although the flu symptoms lasted about 3 weeks

          13. Evening, all. I suffered my dose in February. I’m still affected with a slight, dry cough. Maybe I’ve been corona-ed?

          14. Me Too. Still got it since third week in February.

            My wife didn’t. She got a persistent cold instead, a week after me. Hers came from the post office assistant. Runny nose, they lot. She’s still got that too. I didn’t have a blocked nose, just a bad chest that flattened me. She hasn’t had the bad chest, so in my book that’s two different infections, maybe old friends from our mutual, but seperate pasts. She’s had mine before and I’ve had hers.

          15. My cough was just a dry one in my throat. Fortunately I don’t suffer with chest problems. My husband had it too.

      3. If that estimate is correct then according to reported cases elsewhere after 4 days 20,000 people will be infected doubling gain in a further 4 days….:-(

    2. Caroline was going to get some inside track on medical thinking on the nature of this beastie and how it might best be dealt with. Did she succeed Richard?

  89. Which countries are closing borders?

    The Czech Republic, Ukraine and Slovakia are closing their borders to foreigners without residence permits.

    Other EU member states including Austria and Hungary have also suspended the rules of the passport-free Schengen travel zone and reimposed border checks.

    Malta has announced mandatory quarantines for new arrivals.

    Meanwhile, Pakistan is shutting all of its land borders and limiting international flights for 15 days, its foreign minister says.

      1. If Pakistan can close its borders to us, why can’t we close our borders to Pakistanis ?

    2. It was never like this in On the Beach. Just lots of Stiff Upper Lip and KBO. Mind you they were Brits!

      4. Travelling all that way to find out that the bloke sending the message was just a window blind in a draught.

        Now that’s what I call getting stuck in.

      1. I know, but there is usually a little symbol marker visible too. ‘x’ marks the spot: it must be very small.

    4. That’s the first in a long while. I bought a solar filter for my scope 6 months ago and haven’t seen one yet. Mind you it had been a very wet and cloudy winter 🙂

    1. So far so good in South London, to date just 150% of the historic average rainfall for March and only another couple of weeks to go….

    1. Exactly. There will be a lot of this going on, with the tax payer footing the bill.

  95. Europe now epicentre of the pandemic, says WHO

    I think we can regard Boris’s approach as being passive rather than agressive

    Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries to use aggressive measures, community mobilisation and social distancing to save lives.

    “Do not just let this fire burn,” he said.

    His comments came as several countries in Europe reported steep rises in the number of infections and deaths. Spain is now the worst affected after Italy.

    On Friday, Spain reported a 50% jump in fatalities to 120. Infections increased to 4,200.

    Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says a state of emergency will come into effect there on Saturday for two weeks.

    1. Somebody doesn’t understand the meaning of the word ‘epicentre’. There are many more like that out there in the media these days and they almost always mis-use the term.

      An epicentre is some distance away from the actual centre or focus, which is what they think they mean. Yet another word is being diluted and corrupted by mis-use by those who don’t know.

      1. Hear, hear – it grinds my gears every time I hear it outside its correct context.

      2. Are you sure it is usually the center of an event such as an earthquake or nuclear explosion

        1. The epicenter,
          epicentre (/ˈɛpɪsɛntər/) or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the
          Earth’s surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where
          an earthquake or an underground explosion originates

        2. Wrong. It is never the centre of an event such as an earthquake or a nuclear explosion.

          In the case of earthquakes it is a point vertically displaced from the focus – the true centre of the earthquake. The focus is some miles underground. That is the ‘centre’. The epicentre is a false centre, being the point on the earth’s surface vertically above the focus.

          In the case of nuclear explosions it is the point on the earth’s surface either immediately above or below the explosion, depending on whether it’s underground or an air-burst. These days it is usually corrupted by the over-excitable media who prefer to use the US military term ‘ground zero’, which itself has been further corrupted by the same media since the events of 11-9-01.

    1. Have a bit of fun. Whisper to as many people as you can that you’ve heard there’s going to be a shortage of Marmite.

      1. You’ve got the market in marmite cornered ?
        As the jihadist said to the apostate, you’ll be worth a bomb.

        1. I’m a hater. The world can’t be short enough of the vile smelly stuff as far as I’m concerned.

          2. Toast with Marmite & peanut butter was a treat I concocted on the OLE inspection coach MENTOR when I doing a snack for my mate & myself during a long transit run.

          3. When I was a kid, I loved it. Used to get it all over my fingers and transfer it the tablecloth.
            Still do, occasionally.
            Bovril always made a better drink.

  97. Location of Corona Virus cases

    Seem to be some significant variation although the table does not express it as a percentage

    What the graphical view does show though is a massive increase in numbers. If they keep increasing at the current rate we could get 5000 cases with a couple of weeks

    Clearly the containment phase failed and we are now officially in the delay phase although next to nothing has changed

    WE could each about 1500 cases tomorrow

      1. We will never get a proper epidemic until they stop making people keep away from one another.

        1. Tony I’m not sure your sentence makes sense. There’s a 10 minute video over on the Beeb website about the Lockdown of Wuhan -The last Caption reads: “After 50 days of lockdown the number of virus cases is declining.”..

  98. Travel company Saga suspends all cruise operations for two months

    Saga, which provides travel for over-50s, says all cruise operations from March 15 to May 1 have been temporarily suspended.

    A statement reads: “On Thursday the government announced changes to cruise travel advice for those over 70 and those with an underlying medical condition.

  99. People Not Walls warns of risk of spread among migrants in Calais

    A support group is calling for action to help prevent the spread of coronavirus among migrants gathered in Calais.
    It says they are particularly vulnerable to the respiratory disease because of the conditions they live in.

    Barbara Kentish, acting coordinator for People Not Walls, said: “We are very concerned that, given the rapid spread of this virus, migrants who sleep mainly outdoors and without sanitation are at great risk .

    “We call on the French authorities to take the necessary precautions, not only for migrants, but also for those who try as far as possible to provide them with basic aid every day.”

    The group says there are already a few cases of COVID-19 in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais area.

    People Not Walls stresses that the virus among migrants may get out of control as they are in an unprotected environment, they lived in unsanitary conditions and lack washing faclities.

    The group says migrants survive in conditions that favour the onset and spread of infectious diseases.

    But a Border Force trade unionists says that colleagues are on their guard IF COVID-19 in case migrants, originating from worst-hit countries. show symptoms.

    Hetold the Mercury: “Any migrant is a potential hazard.

    “We have ensured additional personal protective equipment and officers are given clear guida

    1. They could all be invited over here to take the front of the queue at our NHS hospitals.

      1. The fact that they are still gathered there indicates a lot are getting across the channel

  101. Getting a bit worried now, daughter is set to get married in two weeks, will we be in lock down, will i have wasted all that money?

    2. Look on the bright side, at least the bloody stabbing reports have taken a back seat.

      On a serious note, I hope it all goes OK for you and your daughter.

    3. Did you take out wedding insurance? I did, for both my daughters’ weddings – £57 each.

        1. No, I don’t know either. The main cost of a wedding is the reception, so I’m not sure if the venue would be liable to refund the cost if the government banned all such gatherings or closed premises.

  102. A couple of weeks ago I sent an email to the V&A requesting advice on the provenance of an 11inch vase which I was given some 20 years ago. (Picture below)

    Much to my delight I received the following reply:

    “Dear Stephen,
    Thank you for your email and please apologise the slow reply.
    You have a tall blue-and-white vase painted in rich underglaze blue with a variety of different decorations; lotus leaves on the neck, phoenix quite prominent on the side .The mark on the bottom reads “Kangxi nian zhi”, made in the year of Kangxi; Kangxi being a Qing dynasty emperor who ruled from 1661-1722.

    Tears of joy obscured the next sentence:

    “The four character mark without a double line square border however is an indication for the manufacturing of a later date, around the late nineteenth / early twentieth century.”

    Bugger! Back to the lottery…

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/25af1abe43154f5fad9aacfe02d8fa6eedcca2ff8ac9aa28207c31f096078a4c.png

  103. Any minute now the Kingdom of Spain is likely to declare a state of emergency. Will try to keep you posted.
    About 1300 new cases since yesterday.

    3. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advise against all but essential travel to the following regions that the Spanish Ministry of Health have designated as areas of community transmission of coronavirus: Madrid and La Rioja, and the municipalities of La Bastida and Vitoria (both in the Basque Country) and Miranda de Ebro (in Castilla y León).

      The Spanish government has suspended all incoming flights from Italy until March 25. The Spanish government has also asked people to avoid unnecessary travel and to consider remote working where possible.

      Authorities in the most affected regions (Madrid, the Basque Country, La Rioja, Catalonia, and Castilla y León) are putting in place extraordinary measures such as the temporary closure of schools, public sports centres, theatres and day care centres for the elderly due to an increase in coronavirus cases. The affected regions are prohibiting gatherings which involve more than 1000 attendees. All educational centres, including nurseries, schools and universities will close for 15 days or until further notice. In other regions, individual schools are being closed where there are suspected cases of the virus. National museums in Madrid (Museo Nacional del Prado, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza) are closed until further notice. Some local festivals such as Las Fallas in Valencia and sporting events have been postponed. You should follow local authority websites for further information. See Health

      People intending to travel to Spain should consult their airlines and tour operators. Further information about airports in Spain can be found here

  104. I have a theatre ticket for Monday and a room booked in the Victory Services Club on Marble Arch. I can’t decide whether I should go.

    1. A neighbour works part time in Harrods she was advised not to travel to work today because there are so few customers (especially the high net worth ones!)

    2. Yes. I live 4 miles west of there and we’re not in lockdown. Life is going on as normal. I’m still attending Wigmore concerts. No problem

    5. I once gave a short presentation to a local Rotary Club and during the announcements the Club President said that he and his wife were booked to go to the annual conference for rotary clubs. However, another commitment meant that he could no longer attend. Conference fees and the hotel were all paid for, could any other member take his place and were there any questions?
      From the back of the audience a member raised his hand and asked: “Does your wife snore?”…..

      1. Deperate times…

        The guy at the checkout had two packs of 9 bog rolls.
        I offered him 100quid……..he turned it down.

  106. At the risk of replacing Bill at the top of the Leader Board I bring you this sad news:
    “For at least the second time in the last week or so, Italy has reported its largest single-day jump in deaths since the country’s coronavirus crisis kicked into overdrive at the end of last month. Officials reported on Friday that the country had counted 250 deaths on Thursday, bringing its total to 1,266

    The number of new confirmed infections soared by more than 2,500 to 17,660.”

    2. There is very likely to be a time lag due to the incubation period which the general seem to think is up to 2 weeks. so it will be at least 2 weeks before we can see if the lock down is having an impact

    2. Big Mistake.

      At the expiry of Sad Dick’s due term as Mayor of London, the Government should declare the office “sede vacante” and impose direct rule from Westminster.

      1. Exactly, DM. Then when everything has settled down London should be released from the grip of useless despots like Khan and given back to its people in the boroughs.

      2. Unless Britain agrees to be run by Donny, I think direct rule by Arlene Foster in perpetuity without elections would be the best possible outcome for London and Britain as a whole.. and incomparably better than the twerp Johnson.

          1. Each to their own, but anyone who sells out to the Chinese as he has done is a twerp, imho.

  108. As of 9am on 13 March 2020, 32,771 people have been tested in the UK, of which 31,973 were confirmed negative and 798 were confirmed as positive. 10 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 have died.

    PLus 208 since yesterday

      1. Yes and the UK’s approach to testing is very targeted at those most at risk.

    3. Are you saying the government IS doing something and it’s not looking as bad as you would like it to.

  111. I just discovered that all performances at the Metropolitan Opera this month have been cancelled. We have been looking forward to seeing some of them at the Vue.
    This coronavirus thing – something about it must be done. It is causing immense financial problems world wide, and there is going to be one hell of a crash sooner or later.
    I think I will put up some nice opera selections from You Tube and will sit back and watch you all run…

    1. Thanks for the up-vote, Sue. What is your favourite opera ? (And don’t say La Favorita!)

      1. Traviata. I have the Zeffirelli production on DVD but it was good to see it at Covent Garden last month. 25 year old proper production with a great cast.

          4. Thank you, Belle.

            Lovely!

            Before postings of operatic singing became an item on here
            I was a complete Philistine; I am not much better now but
            I do enjoy yours and others posts.

          1. Alas !! Sutherland ? Give me Callas. Pavarotti ? Give me Domingo.
            Sutherland was a note machine, incapable of expressing emotion. Pavarotti was good, but Domingo (as tenor) was superb.

          4. I prefer Pavarotti’s voice. Perhaps too theatrical, but for me, Domingo’s voice is a touch strangled, like he isn’t relaxed properly.
            But then, I am half deaf…

          5. I think it is the interpretation rather than the notes that makes it different for me. I seem to have learned to appreciate Pavarotti more since he passed away, strangely.

      2. So much good opera, it’s not easy to pick a favourite but if I had to choose, it would be “Cavalleria Rusticana”

          1. Video won’t play, Tony. Just getting a black screen – or perhaps I should say, a screen of colour.

      5. La Traviata does it for me. Verdi wrote some rollicking good music!
        Edit: sorry to butt in :-((

    2. Which would you prefer, temporarily penniless, or lifeless?

      At the local benefits office they are featuring the song ‘Your tiny handout is frozen’.

  113. Health minister’s 84-year-old mother tests positive
    Nadine Dorries, a health minister in the UK government who has tested positive for coronavirus, has tweeted that her elderly mother also has the disease.

    She added that the 84-year-old was “made of strong stuff”.

      1. With her age she could be at risk but it sounds like she is in good health for her age. So far all the UK deaths have had significant other health conditions

        Could smoking also play a part I dont know if any analysis has been done on that. Smoking compromises the lungs

        1. But could the deaths so far be due to interaction with blood pressure drugs usually taken by the elderly which can give rise to known side effects remarkably similar to COVID-19 viral infection?

          e.g. dry cough, breathing difficulty:

          If this were the case, we might be able to reduce the risk of fatal Covid-19 courses in many patients by temporarily replacing these drugs.’

          See Pretty Polly comment below:

        2. Good gracious, Bill.

          Are you saying you do not have an answer to this?
          ……or indeed a solution?

  114. Poland announces travel ban on foreigners
    Poland has become the latest EU country to close its borders to foreigners, following Denmark and the Czech Republic in implementing strict measures to stem the spread of coronavirus.

    Foreigners will be banned from entering Poland from Sunday, the country’s prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said.

    A 14-day quarantine will be imposed on Polish citizens who return home, he said.

    “The state will not abandon [its citizens]. However, in the current situation we cannot allow ourselves to keep borders open to foreigners,” Mr Morawiecki said at a news conference.

    Restaurants, bars and casinos are to be shuttered and public gatherings will be limited to 50 people, Mr Morawiecki.

    Poland has confirmed 68 cases of coronavirus so far with one death.

    1. That’s something. If all the ” experts ” self-isolated, one of them might come up with a cure.

    3. Hi, Belle. We all ‘discover’ gravity from a very early age as we fall over. I prefer the expression, “Newton developed the theory of gravity”.
      I’ve just been searching for a biography of him that I know is in the house somewhere, but can’t find it.

          1. Belle, many cuttings have been taken from the original and grafted on to rootstocks and then planted around the World: Australia, MIT in the USA, York University etc. Flower of Kent is a pretty poor apple by all accounts.

        2. Newton had earlier formed a tentative theory of gravity, when a Winter Nelis fell on his head, but it soon went pear-shaped.

          Not a lot of people know that.

  116. It’s just taken me 15 minutes again to open the Nottlers page.
    Things are not looking good are they.
    Now, heaven forbid Footballers are out of work.
    Ace inhibitors are a target for the corona virus and are being diagnosed for thousands in the UK.
    I’m out of here, I might catch something. 😨

  117. Well, folks, after a very busy week I have decided to skip my supper and have an early night. Buona notte a tutti.

      1. Well I couldn’t, molamola. I slept for just under a couple of hours, then had to give up and get up again.

    2. “Williams’s friends and supporters, who were following the hearing on monitors in a separate room, gasped as the decision was read out. One of them started applauding sarcastically.”
      Sarcastic applauding, WTF.

    3. “Ms Ball added that racial bias had played “no part” in her decision, although the Metropolitan Black Police Association argues Williams has been unfairly targeted because she is black and accuses the force of “institutional racism”.

      Good job she wasn’t white, otherwise the MBPA would be calling for her head.

      1. …and what did the Metropolitan White Police Association have to say?

        Oh, wait a minute…

  119. I think there is going to be a bit of a glut of bedding plants this year. Looking at my terrace, all my pelargoniums and argyranthemums have come through the winter, and there are flowers and shoots on the smaller plants like verbenas. I’ve already had some new ones delivered from Fibrex nurseries, and I am not strong willed enough to turf out the old ones when they seem to be thriving. I shall just have to buy some more planters. But then I won’t have room to move…

      1. Not at this time of year. I always feel better than in the autumn! And yesterday, I saw the first Comma butterfly in the garden and heard a woodpecker pecking. Spring!

    2. I won’t need to buy many this year – most of my geraniums and fuschias survived the winter, and the hanging basket ones are beginning to flower again. I didn’t get to hang up my hanging baskets of pansies as the geraniums were still on the hooks. Some of the ones in pots got chomped by the deer so they look a bit sorry.

        1. You can still get to Spain at present but that may change quite quickly as airlines stop fling to the restricted areas

      1. I am receiving daily e-mails from T&M, they have
        some very good offers + p.f,
        Unfortunately [or perhaps fortunately!] my bank A/c
        has been attacked, the Bank logged it and will be
        sending me a new card.

        1. I had an attack on my account in January last year. The bank was on to it before I noticed, and they were very quick to cancel my card and send me another.

          1. Yes, so was my bank. It was them
            who notified me…….But they did.

            A couple or so years ago, they authorised
            two payments to Next, one for £487.??
            and one for £118.?? on the same day.
            I don’t know how they picked it up but they
            repaid the money, albeit after a B.H. W/E.

  120. “Trump is asked why the UK was exempted from the travel ban list. He says
    that was the expert advice and, looking at the increase in the number
    of cases in the UK, the country may be added to the list soon, while
    other countries might be taken off it.”
    There is absolutely nothing that he can say or do for which he would not be criticized, by those with loud mouths and small brains.

  121. Coronavirus: 11th person dies in UK after testing positive for Covid-19

    he first person has died in Scotland from coronavirus, bringing the total death count in the UK to 11.

    The patient was an ‘older person’ with pre-existing health conditions, according to Scotland’s chief medical officer Dr Catherine Calderwood.

    They were being treated by Lothian Health Board, which covers Edinburgh, Midlothian, East Lothian and West Lothian, at the time of their death.

      2. ‘Pre’ has to prefix (or should that be ‘pre-prefix’) every word now.
        My two biggest irritations are ‘pre-book’ instead of just ‘book’ and ‘pre-sliced onions’, which would, in fact, be onions.

        Edit – Oh, and I nearly forgot the most ridiculous of all – ‘pre-prepared’.

  122. Breaking News – Due to the threat of spreading the corona virus the solo round the world yacht race has been cancelled this year, the participants will have to come ashore and self isolate.

    2. BTW are you serious about the Morrisons’ shelves being empty, I shopped at one yesterday and all seemed pretty much normal.

      1. No chicken breasts,loo roll,pasta,flour,heinz beans last few sliced loaves,4 for a quid toms/beans gutted

        Huge holes in tinned meat and fish
        Plenty of beer and nurofen by the tills
        Hic

        1. Oh dear. Did notice the lack of pasta, but Morrisons’ own brand is from Italy. The other stuff was all available. I’ll go for more booze tomorrow.

  125. Big Fall in Number of patients visiting A&E

    2,100 fewer patients visited A&E at Colchester & Ipswich hospital in February this year

    2. I’m sure many people who go to A&E don’t actually need to be there. The clue is in the name – Accident and Emergency.

      1. The report is almost certainly misleading and nothing to do with coronavirus. A new urgent treatment centre has opened in Colchester specifically to stop people going to A&E.

      1. Watched that on tv. Top Flat Left, Rosemount, Aberdeen. Just after I’d moved out of the caravan I’d lived in all winter.
        Happy days.

  131. The only thing I want to know about coronavirus is when supermarkets will start clamping down on these idiotic panic buyers.

    1. What differentiates a panic buyer from someone with a big family or small hotel, or a sudden rash of visitors or… Ie, how does one tell a panic buyer from a buyer??

      2. Obs, you are familiar with the phrase “underlying health issues” when the media announce that death of an elderly victim of the Chinese created virus.
        As mentioned by TB about two hours ago. Apparently people who are taking Ace inhibitors are more vulnerable to the virus.
        Perhaps the underlying health issues are high blood pressure and they have all been taking an ace inhibitor.
        If this is so, now It’s more than just a worry.

    2. When the BBC and online media stop starting the panic off with scare stories the night before, they won’t need to.

      1. Then there will be plentiful supplies of hand sanitiser, toilet rolls and pasta.

        1. A volunteer colleague of my wife’s found a packet of hand wipes in a cupboard at home unopened since purchase dated 2016. It listed on the packet the germs it could eliminate. Crorona virus was one on the list.
          FFS …….How long has this been known about and has been going on ?

          1. The common cold is caused by a coronavirus. This one that everyone is worrying about is a new one. Coronaviruses as such have been around as long as we have and longer.

  135. “One hour after the close of another one of the most tumultuous weeks in Wall Street history, Bill Gates, the billionaire founder of Microsoft, resigned from the company’s board.”

  136. Interesting analysis and questions relating to Covid-19 in higher risk patients. From the BMJ……..

    https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m810/rr-2

    ”ACE inhibitors as a potential risk factor for fatal Covid-19

    Dear Editor,

    The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) outbreak from Wuhan, China, is spreading worldwide and is a major international concern as it has the potential to become pandemic [1].

    The largest Chinese study with 44,672 confirmed cases of Covid-19 shows a high overall case fatality rate (CFR) of 2.3% [2]. Important co-morbidities are hypertension (CFR 6.0%), diabetes (CFR 7.3%), cardiovascular disease (CFR 10.5%) and age >70 (CFR 10.2%) [2]. Similar co-morbidities were noted for the SARS outbreak in 2003.

    It is widely unclear what the commonality of these risk factors is. This is somehow surprising as compared to for example the 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza outbreak, immunosuppressant patients were primary affected. Cardiac patients seem to be at higher risk in Covid-19. One possible answer could be the following: Patients with the comorbidities of hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular disease might fulfil the indication for the use of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor antagonists [3].

    The question is, does there exist a connection between the use of these drugs and severe sequela of Covid-19? While the epidemiological association has not been investigated yet, several indicators underline the hypothesis of the link between ACE inhibitors and Covid-19:

    On the one hand, it has been shown that the Covid-19 agent (also known as SARS-CoV-2), uses the SARS-COV receptor angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) 2 for entry into target cells [4]. The interface between ACE2 and the viral spike protein SARS-S has been elucidated and the efficiency of ACE2 usage was found to be a key determinant of SARS-CoV transmissibility [4].

    On the other hand, it could be shown in animal experiments that both the ACE-inhibitor lisinopril and the angiotensin-receptor blocker losartan can significantly increase mRNA expression of cardiac ACE2 (5-fold and 3-fold, respectively) [5]. Further, losartan also significantly increases cardiac ACE2 activity [5].

    Is a link between these observations possible? Is the expression of ACE2 receptor in the virus targeted cells increased by the use of ACE-inhibitor/angiotensin-receptor blocker and is the patient therefore more at risk for a severe course? We need rapid epidemiological and preclinical studies to clarify this relationship. If this were the case, we might be able to reduce the risk of fatal Covid-19 courses in many patients by temporarily replacing these drugs.”

    1. That is very bad news for us .. I am on Losartin and Moh is on Candesartin.. have been for years !

      Trying to contact the quack is nigh on impossible !

      2. Most blood pressure meds are either ARB’s or ACE inhibitors. The other common BP drug is Amlodopine which has it’s own set of side effects.

    1. That will please the Bbc. Not. Perhaps they will reduce the TV licence fee?

  141. Great BTL comment on the DM website of all places:

    daverave5387, here, United Kingdom, 1 hour ago

    I got it all wrong… now stuck with 185 mini sausage rolls and 83 scotch eggs, I misread it as picnic buying

  142. Great BTL comment on the DM website of all places:

    daverave5387, here, United Kingdom, 1 hour ago

    I got it all wrong… now stuck with 185 mini sausage rolls and 83 scotch eggs, I misread it as picnic buying

  144. As Friday 13th March draws towards its closing hours I reflect on the tremendous escape my country managed in the last 8/9 months, an escape which means:

    Theresa May is NOT Prime Minister when the CoronaVirus crisis arrives

    Now that is some escape.

    2. I really don’t even like reading or hearing her name. BJ, who I’m far from sure about, is still an improvement by several orders of magnitude.

  145. I haven’t seen any posts from Jenny for a while. Does anyone know if she’s OK?

        1. I believe it was a stranger to this site, i.e. a ‘wandering star’, i.e. a troll.

    2. She will be 60 at some date this year. So with luck she will be back eventually when she reaches the median age for Nottlers. I miss her informed comments, just as she missed the point about a group of cheerful people grumbling endlessly about life and other stuff.

        1. Silly me, I was thinking of Jennifer SP. Similar names, but one is more jolly than the other. I hope she is well, ditto Bill Thomas.

    3. I was wondering that, too – I haven’t seen her since we came home a week ago. I hope she’s ok – she did say there would be some disruption while they had decorators in.

  147. Why does the WHO boss misuses the seismic* term ‘epicentre’ – the point on the earth’s surface vertically above the focus of an earthquake?

    Why does the ‘Scientific Expert’ use the term ‘Herd Immunity’ – I’d prefer to hear the opinion of an expert Vet ..

    *correction

    1. I think you mean ‘seismic’. Anywho, the term ‘epicentre’ is more general if you consider its linguistic origin, so the WHO bod is using it correctly. As for ‘herd’, IMO that is quite appropriate, given how the public tend to act like their bovine equivalents when it comes to matters scientific, e.g. Climate Change, vaccinations?

      1. Corruption of language continues. Teaching from the bottom up.

        The use today of ‘epicentre’ was 100% wrong as it usually is these days when ignorant journos get loose with technical terms and the fact that loads of people use the term wrongly does not make their use right.

      2. Where can I get a Climate Change vaccination? That’d keep the Thunderbugs away!

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